The lid of the golden pot was missing, and its interior was divided into two compartments by a thin copper sheet, once holding fine wine and poisoned wine respectively. Correspondingly, there should have been two air holes on the handle, but most of it was clogged with mud. Li Yuangui pondered for a moment, deciding the layer of grime on the pot was no longer useful, and scraped it off with his fingers.
As the dirt fell away, two small holes side by side were indeed revealed on the handle. The handle was crafted in the shape of a walking dragon, attached to the pot's body, with the two holes cleverly hidden beneath the dragon's neck scales—difficult to spot unless deliberately sought. By pressing the left hole with a thumb, wine would pour from the right compartment, and vice versa, making it impossible for outsiders to detect any trickery. It was perfect for surreptitiously poisoning drinks during banquets.
Such a complex and precise wine pot could only have been used for poisoning. No wonder the Pei family (father and son) had considered the case closed upon finding this pot, and even esteemed officials like Wei Zheng and other former ministers of the Crown Prince's Palace had raised no objections to this conclusion—after all, the victim had collapsed after drinking at the Crown Prince's banquet, and the poisoned pot was found nearby. Naturally, the entire incident was attributed to the former Crown Prince's orders.
Li Yuangui sighed, shifting his attention from the handle to the pot's body.
The surface of the golden pot was now pitted and uneven, but the exposed parts beneath the grime revealed intricate and fluid engravings, seemingly depicting some beastly form. He continued peeling away the dirt until reaching the base, where he discovered the entire pattern was that of a strange creature with a dragon's head and horse's body, galloping through clouds with an animated and spirited demeanor.
Dragon-headed and horse-bodied... Why did this description sound vaguely familiar?
"If only Third Brother-in-law and Fifth Brother-in-law were here," Li Yuangui mused, handing the golden pot to Yang Xinzhi. "They should take a look—could this be the very wine pot Yi Niang used to serve them drinks at the wedding banquet in the eighth year of the WuDe Era..."
"This pattern," Yang Xinzhi suddenly remarked, "this seems to be the dragon-horse motif commonly used by the Tuyuhun royal family."
"Tuyuhun?" the others in the room echoed in unison. How did Tuyuhun come into this?
"Indeed. Most of Tuyuhun's people herd by Qinghai Lake, where there's an island called Dragon Colt Island. In winter, when the lake freezes, locals drive mares across the ice to the island. Come spring, when the ice melts and the island is deserted, sea dragons come to mate with the mares, producing dragon colts—exceptionally strong and swift. The following winter, herders return to retrieve the colts as studs for breeding. Qinghai's horses are renowned for their divine speed, thanks to this legend. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty once attempted the same during his campaign against Tuyuhun, sending mares to the island in hopes of breeding dragon colts, but naturally, he failed."
Yang Xinzhi spoke with authority, reminding Li Yuangui that during the fifth year of the Daye Era, his grandfather Yang Xiong had commanded the Sui forces in Emperor Yang's campaign against Tuyuhun. Yang Xiong's success in that battle earned him the title "Prince of Guan," marking the zenith of the Yang family's prestige. Campaigns by the Guanlong army often involved plundering, so it was likely the Yang family had acquired many precious gold and silver artifacts from Tuyuhun, which Yang Xinzhi had seen growing up.
"The Murong royal family of Tuyuhun particularly favored this dragon-horse motif," Yang Xinzhi pointed at the golden pot. "Tuyuhun's people are scattered, and craftsmen follow their own interpretations. While the dragon-horse patterns vary slightly across artifacts, the general design—a dragon-headed horse surrounded by clouds—is unmistakable..."As he spoke, he passed the golden pot to Chai Yingluo. The female Taoist took it, frowning as she examined it closely, murmuring in doubt:
"How could a poisoned wine pot bearing the royal insignia of the Tuyuhun people have made its way into the Crown Prince's Palace during the eighth year of the WuDe Era..."
This was also Li Yuangui's question. Although the Tuyuhun people had frequently raided Tang borders since the mid-WuDe period, engaging in continuous battles with Tang forces, overall, their interactions with Chang'an were limited. Apart from border garrison commanders, most Tang citizens were unfamiliar with the Tuyuhun.
"Probably brought by foreign merchants," Yang Xinzhi said. "At that time, the western trade routes were blocked, so merchant caravans often took the Qinghai route, passing through the Tuyuhun royal city, where trade was frequent. The nobles of Chang'an favored gold and silverware, while the Tuyuhun people greatly admired the silk and fine fabrics from our heartland. The Qinghai rivers also yielded abundant placer gold. Foreign merchants traded silk for local gold and silverware, transporting them to Chang'an to sell to high-ranking officials and nobles, making several times the profit... Ah, High Truth Master, give it back to me."
Suddenly remembering something, he reached out to Chai Yingluo to retrieve the golden pot. Turning it over, he lightly scraped away the mud caked at the bottom with his fingernail. After a while, he exclaimed, "Just as I thought!"
"What?" Chai Yingluo stood up and leaned in to look. "What did you find?"
"Look at the bottom of the pot—there's indeed an inscription in the foreign merchant script." Yang Xinzhi pointed to the small area he had just uncovered. The female Taoist narrowed her eyes and asked hesitantly:
"Is this... an inscription? And in such a script?"
Li Yuangui also stood and leaned in to look. Sure enough, after the mud was cleared, there was a row of patterns unlike the surrounding cloud motifs—resembling interconnected circles with occasional arcs and dots, utterly dissimilar to Chinese characters. Most people would never guess this was actually a line of writing.
"What does the inscription say?"
Yang Xinzhi spread his hands with a wry smile. "You've stumped me there, Fourteenth Young Master. I only recognize this as foreign merchant script because I've seen it before at home. I have no idea what it says."
Li Yuangui thought for a moment and said to Chai Yingluo, "Yingniang, is my foreign maid Fen Dui still at the monastery? Have someone summon her to take a look."
After the group left Xianyang the previous day, Li Yuangui had instructed A-Chen, Fen Dui, and the others not to return to the Great Peace Palace but to wait for him at the Purple Void Monastery. They had reunited that evening. Chai Yingluo agreed and stood to send someone to fetch the foreign girl. Soon, she was brought in.
The black-haired girl, her hair in twin buns and dressed in a robe and trousers, entered timidly and bowed. Li Yuangui called her over and asked if she could read foreign script—though this foreign girl claimed to have learned Chinese from her Han mother since childhood, as the daughter of a foreign merchant, she must have also been taught her paternal family's script if she was literate.
Fen Dui indeed replied that she could. Chai Yingluo showed her the peculiar line of patterns recently uncovered from the bottom of the gilded dragon-horse pot. The black-haired girl knelt, tilting her head as she scrutinized it carefully from top to bottom, then said softly:
"This is the craftsman's signature after completing the piece. These characters are the craftsman's name, which in Tang language can be called 'Pantuo.' Below it says, 'Made in Fuqi City, a pair of golden pots weighing thirty stats.'"
"Fuqi City? The Tuyuhun royal capital?" Though prepared, Li Yuangui couldn't help feeling a surge of excitement. So this golden pot truly came from the Tuyuhun?"What is a Stat?" Chai Yingluo pressed. Fen Dui replied, "It's a unit of measurement used by foreign merchants for weighing, roughly equivalent to 'jin' or 'liang' in Tang terms."
In other words, this Golden Pot was crafted by an artisan named "Panto" in the royal city of Tuyuhun, weighing thirty "Stats." It was also common in Han regions to inscribe the weight on gold items after completion, mainly to prevent handlers from secretly skimming gold, silver, copper, or other precious materials—nothing unusual there. Li Yuangui then asked Fen Dui:
"You've seen many goods from foreign merchants in your household—have you ever come across any vessels with patterns similar to this pot? Or does this object remind you of anything?"
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