The battle-hardened veteran who had just withdrawn from the front lines sighed and refrained from further complaints. Shifting his finger, he pointed to another smaller tent not far from the Queen of Tuyuhun's rear encampment:
"That's where their Prime Minister, King Sky Pillar, resides. The Khan's family fled their capital in haste, originally leaving King Sky Pillar to lead the main force in resisting our Celestial troops. But after just one battle, his men were either dead or had fled, and he himself was wounded and captured. The journey has been arduous, and a few days ago, he fell ill with fever, lying unconscious in the prisoner's cart. I fear he might not survive to reach Chang'an, and then I, Zhang, would be held accountable. Alas!"
Li Yuangui's keen eyesight allowed him to spot a man with a black headscarf and a long robe, carrying a basket of herbs, emerging from the tent. The man turned back to say something inside, likely a physician Zhang Shigui had summoned to treat King Sky Pillar.
King Sky Pillar was the Queen's brother and had served as Prime Minister for twenty years, deeply trusted by the old Khan. The siblings had incited Murong Fu-yun to ally closely with Tibet, provoking the Tang borders year after year with raids and land grabs. Finally, Emperor Li Shimin of Tang, in his fury, dispatched troops, leading to the downfall of the Tuyuhun Khanate and the Khan's solitary flight. The Fu-yun family deserved their fate, but the suffering of the common people on both sides during the war was truly pitiable.
"With both the Queen and Prime Minister of Tuyuhun captured, what of their Crown Prince, Zun Wang?" Li Yuangui asked Zhang Shigui again. "Is he by his mother's side now, or did he flee with his father?"
Zhang Shigui shook his head: "This Zhang is also unclear. The Queen has two daughters and a son, but the boy is only six years old—likely not Zun Wang. After capturing Fuqi City, Duke Yaoshi inquired about Zun Wang's whereabouts. Everyone said he had long left the capital for his own pastures and likely wasn't with his father, Fu-yun. Duke Yaoshi surmised that this was likely a setup by Fu-yun, intentionally separating father and son so that if one were captured by our forces, the other could continue rallying their people to resist."
This was indeed a complication, Li Yuangui thought. By the time his brother-in-law Chai Shao finished training the fake royal descendant in Chang'an and sent him to Fuqi City to support Murong Shun—now installed by the Tang army as the ruler of Tuyuhun—they would have to contend with the challenge posed by the legitimate Crown Prince Zun Wang, whose whereabouts and fate remained unknown.
The Murong clan had ruled Tuyuhun for over three hundred years, with the tribes revering and fearing the royal family as if they were deities. With Zun Wang's rightful claim, inciting the tribes to rebel against Murong Shun and his son's rule would be an easy task. His father, Murong Fu-yun, had done the same—scattered by the Sui army, only to resurge during the chaos of the Central Plains.
"Precisely to cut off Crown Prince Zun Wang's ambitions, Yuangui was ordered to handle official duties in the capital and now seeks to select individuals from among these captives to send back first..." Li Yuangui attempted to persuade Zhang Shigui once more to cooperate with him. But the deputy commander, upon hearing him mention this additional manpower-consuming plan, waved his hand dismissively, shaking his head impatiently before turning his back entirely, refusing to listen or engage.
I'm not causing this trouble for my own sake... Li Yuangui rolled his eyes inwardly and was about to persist when he suddenly noticed a youth emerging from King Sky Pillar's tent below. The boy carried a wooden box and walked alongside the physician. His figure seemed familiar, and when he turned his face slightly, it bore a striking resemblance to that Tuyuhun prince "Sang Sai," with whom Li Yuangui had once conspired to stir trouble in the Great Peace Palace.Li Yuangui was startled. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, but the youth had already followed the physician into the distance, his face no longer visible. Li Yuangui pointed at their retreating figures and turned to Zhang Shigui with an "Ah!" when suddenly a shout came from below the earthen mound: "General!"
Zhang Shigui turned his head and asked, "What?" A messenger below called out, "The tribute horses have arrived at Qinzhou! Governor Zhao sent someone to inform Commander Zhang!"
This was the long-awaited arrival of the Tuyuhun horses. Zhang Shigui was overjoyed and immediately started down the slope. Li Yuangui grabbed him, crying "Wait!"—still wanting to mention the possible sighting of Sang Sai—but Zhang Shigui instead seized his wrist in a vice-like grip and dragged him toward the city gate, his tone stern:
"Prince Wu, forgive me. Military affairs are urgent and cannot be delayed. I have no time to accompany you in idle wandering and chatter. I must also ask Prince Wu not to hinder official business and to depart at once!"
The slope near the ruined city gate was steep and treacherous. Pulled along with such force, one misstep could send them both tumbling down. Furious and alarmed, Li Yuangui momentarily held his tongue. Once they stumbled safely to the bottom, he tried to speak again, but Zhang Shigui loudly called for someone to "escort the guest," clasped his hands in a bow, and hurried off toward his horse without another word.
This was clearly a dismissal... Fuming, Li Yuangui didn’t press further. Instead, he ordered Yang Xinzhi to "find that physician who just entered the city and the person he brought with him." But Zhang Shigui’s attendants, following their master’s orders, insisted that Li Yuangui and his servants leave immediately, prolonging the argument at the gate. By the time Yang Xinzhi could break away to inquire about the physician, the two had long since vanished from the ruins of Chengji, leaving no trace.
Unwilling to give up, Li Yuangui mounted his horse and led his men in widening circles around the area, searching for any sign of the pair. As they rode, he told Yang Xinzhi about the possible sighting of Sang Sai. Yang Xinzhi was equally surprised and cautious, saying, "If Sang Sai escaped Chang’an and is free to move, it’s entirely possible he’d be here."
According to both Sang Sai and Kang Su-mi, the youth was the son of King Sky Pillar and the nephew of the queen, as well as a close friend of the Tuyuhun Crown Prince Zun Wang. After his own prison break, Li Yuangui had questioned Cheng Yaojin about the captured assassins from that night at the Watchtower in Great Peace Palace. He learned that Sang Sai was not among them—nearly all the other black-clad men had died in battle. Thus, Sang Sai must have escaped. How he fled Great Peace Palace and the forbidden garden, then disappeared within or beyond Chang’an, remained a mystery.
With his mission in Chang’an failed and his men wiped out, the young Tuyuhun prince would likely attempt to return home. Without official travel documents, he couldn’t take the main roads. Moving in secrecy would slow his journey. By May of that year, the Tang army’s great victory over Tuyuhun had been proclaimed in Imperial Bulletins along the northwestern routes—news Sang Sai, deeply invested in the war, couldn’t have missed. His father and aunt were prisoners; it was only natural he’d try to rescue them. The only frustration was Zhang Shigui’s lingering resentment, refusing to listen properly...
Their search around the ruins of Chengji expanded in ever-widening circles, but even as the sun dipped toward the horizon, they found no suspicious traces. This only deepened their suspicion—ordinary people wouldn’t vanish so completely, so quickly.Li Yuangui reined in his horse and pondered for a moment before turning back toward the camp at the ruins of Chengji. Zhang Shigui had already ridden to Qinzhou to receive the tribute horses and wouldn't return by nightfall. Still, he could warn the deputy general and others left behind by Zhang Shigui, alerting them to the suspicious individuals he'd spotted who might attempt to help the prisoners escape, urging them to remain vigilant.
Yet even this simple task proved impossible. By the time he reached the camp's gate, darkness had fallen. Everyone had closed the gates and withdrawn into the ruined walls of the old city to guard the camp. No matter how he called out from outside, the response was always the same: "The military gates do not open at night—this is the rule. Please return at dawn."
He couldn't very well shout about Sang Sai or the Tuyuhun prince over the gate—especially since the matter was complicated and involved the prisoners inside. Who knew what consequences might arise from announcing it publicly? Frustrated and furious, Li Yuangui yanked the reins and called to Yang Xinzhi and the others:
"Let's go! We're returning to Qinzhou!"
"What? Traveling through the night?" Yang Xinzhi grimaced, but seeing his lord's dark expression, he quickly backtracked. "But what if something happens tonight? Shouldn't we try to persuade them to open the gate and let us stay? If trouble arises, we could lend a hand..."
"Stop dreaming!" Li Yuangui scoffed. "A little hardship like traveling at night is too much for you? Nothing will happen tonight—I know exactly when that little rat Sang Sai will make his move, how he plans to do it, and where he intends to flee!"
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