Outside the western chamber of the Great Peace Hall, there were quite a few palace maids and eunuchs, but none posed any threat. When the chaos erupted late at night, everyone was at a loss. Hearing the shouts and sounds of killing, they didn’t know where to hide, scurrying around the corridors like headless flies.
The assassins led by Sang Sai weren’t numerous—including Li Yuangui, there were only twelve in total—but each was agile and skilled. They charged straight for the western chamber’s door, cutting down anyone who stood in their way without hesitation, barely slowing down as they burst through the entrance.
The outer room of the western chamber was dimly lit by candlelight, where two palace maids cowered in a corner, trembling. Qibi Luo didn’t hesitate—he swiftly dispatched them with his blade. Sang Sai kicked open the inner partition door, shouting “Li Yuan—” as he rushed inside. Without caring how many people might be in the pitch-black room, he swung his sword toward the curtained bed surrounded by screens.
Before the partition door even opened, Li Yuangui had already noticed a distinct foul odor in the western chamber. His mind raced as he followed closely behind Sang Sai into the inner room. The Tuyuhun prince hacked through the bed screens with a single slash and yanked at the curtains, but Li Yuangui had already relaxed—it was clear no one was in the bed.
He called out to Sang Sai, “Wait a moment,” then turned back to the outer room to grab a candleholder. Holding it aloft, he hurried back into the inner chamber and raised the light, illuminating a woman crouched in the corner behind the door.
Her hands and feet were bound, a cloth gag stuffed in her mouth, her hair disheveled and dressed in a Taoist robe—it was Chai Yingluo.
Li Yuangui stepped forward and sliced through her bindings with his knife. Chai Yingluo freed herself from the gag, spitting twice before exclaiming, “Fourteenth Uncle—” But before she could say more, Sang Sai, having searched the bedroom and found no one else, came over and pressed his blade to her chest, demanding, “Li Yuan—”
“The Supreme Emperor was kidnapped by Consort Yin!” Chai Yingluo didn’t wait for him to finish, eagerly confessing to the black-clad men who had entered. “After dark, he was wrapped in blankets and carried away! Consort Yin said she wanted to move him somewhere farther away! Once the room was emptied, she had me tied up and thrown in here!”
Sang Sai couldn’t understand her words, but Qibi Luo, who had now entered the inner chamber, translated for him. The two exchanged a few words in their foreign tongue. Li Yuangui, standing nearby, heard them both mention “A-Ta,” guessing they suspected Yin Tuo had conspired with his sister to deceive them.
“Are you telling the truth?” Qibi Luo turned back to Chai Yingluo, his blade still pointed at her. “Lie, and you die!”
“Don’t act recklessly!” Li Yuangui pushed their blades aside with his own. “This is the Supreme Emperor’s own granddaughter, here to tend to her grandfather’s medicine! Her words are reliable! Kang Sabao and An Sanlang both know and respect her well!”
The two Tuyuhun men exchanged a few more words, and Sang Sai nodded as if confirming something. Qibi Luo barked at Chai Yingluo, “You—lead us to Li Yuan!”
Chai Yingluo obediently stood up, rubbing her wrists and frowning. “Who knows where that wretched Yin Shi has taken the Supreme Emperor… She only said she wanted to get as far away from this western chamber as possible… Ah, but I did see the direction they went. Fine, follow me.”
The female Taoist strode out of the western chamber’s door first, with Li Yuangui holding the candleholder close behind her, the dozen or so foreigners surrounding them. By now, the alarm had spread beyond the palace walls—drums and horns sounded from all directions, and the shouts and footsteps of large numbers of imperial guards grew louder. The Great Peace Hall had clearly reinforced its defenses, and the time advantage the assassins had seized through surprise was nearly spent.Chai Yingluo turned the corner of the western pavilion and ran north along the covered walkway, with two or three assassins clearing the path ahead, cutting down any unfortunate maids or eunuchs in their way. The rearguard of Hu tribesmen began setting fires everywhere, hoping to further sow chaos and confuse the imperial guards. Taking advantage of the turmoil, Li Yuangui bent down to draw his dagger from his boot and rushed forward to grab Chai Yingluo, loudly asking, "Are you sure it's this way?" while slipping the dagger into her palm.
The female Taoist calmly accepted the weapon and replied just as loudly, "I saw the group heading toward the rear palace! Ah... Look, isn’t that Consort Yin?"
She pointed toward a small hall where several women had just emerged from the connecting corridor, Consort Yin among them.
At the sight of the black-clad intruders, the women screamed and turned to flee, but they were no match for the swift assassins. Li Yuangui sprinted ahead with his long strides, seizing Consort Yin first while the other women were quickly subdued by the Hu warriors.
"Where is Li Yuan?" Qibi Luo barked at Consort Yin. She hesitated, barely opening her mouth when Li Yuangui pointed toward the small hall at the end of the corridor. "He must be there!"
With that, he shoved Consort Yin toward Chai Yingluo and dashed toward the hall, Sang Sai and the others close behind. In just a few steps, Li Yuangui kicked the door open and, holding up a candle, scanned the bed before turning back to shake his head at Sang Sai. "Not here! Empty!"
"He definitely isn’t here!" Chai Yingluo shouted from the corridor. "She said she wanted to move the Supreme Emperor farther away—this place is too close to the western pavilion!"
Sang Sai and Qibi Luo hurried inside to check the bed, confirming it was indeed empty. The Tuyuhun prince gnashed his teeth in fury, storming back to Consort Yin and snarling a question in his native tongue. With a flash of his blade, he lopped off the head of a nearby maid.
The women shrieked in unison. A young girl’s trembling voice pleaded, "Don’t kill me... I know where the Supreme Emperor is... I’ll take you there..."
Li Yuangui turned toward the voice, locking eyes with Wei Shufen.
"Lead the way!" Qibi Luo roared. Pale-faced, Wei Shufen turned around, with Chai Yingluo twisting Consort Yin’s arms behind her back as they followed. The remaining palace maids were hacked down mercilessly by the Hu assassins, their screams filling the air as they fled in terror.
The group didn’t get far along the corridor before imperial guards blocked their path from both directions. Wei Shufen, her voice choked with tears, pointed toward the rear palace. "The Supreme Emperor is still further back..."
After a quick exchange with Sang Sai, Qibi Luo shouted, "Fall back to the garden first!" He leaped off the walkway, waving his blade to signal the others to take cover among the rocks and foliage. Worried that Chai Yingluo couldn’t drag Consort Yin along, Li Yuangui grabbed the woman’s arm and shoved her forward, eliciting a sharp cry.
Amid the roaring flames and clamor filling the palace, her scream went largely unnoticed, heard only by those nearby. Sang Sai and Qibi Luo both turned to glare at Consort Yin. "I’ll tie her up!" Chai Yingluo said hastily, yanking off Consort Yin’s silk scarf and tearing it in two—half to gag her and the other half to bind her hands.
Three or four black-clad Hu warriors stayed behind on the walkway to hold off the guards. Sang Sai and the others tried to weave through the garden toward the rear palace, but the converging guards grew thicker by the moment, surrounding them from all sides. After several failed attempts, they had no choice but to retreat back to the Green Cloud Peak watchtower.Only five of the Hu tribesmen remained with them now, making seven in total including Sang Sai and Qibi Luo, along with three women. Running through the garden was manageable, but when they reached the whitewashed wall and had to climb over, Wei Shufen struggled, while the bound Consort Yin couldn't climb at all.
Impatiently, Sang Sai raised his blade, seemingly intent on killing Consort Yin to rid themselves of the burden. Li Yuangui swiftly grabbed his wrist:
"No! This woman is the mistress of Great Peace Palace. The Supreme Emperor only listens to her! Even if we can't find the Supreme Emperor tonight, capturing her will be of great use!"
After Qibi Luo translated, Sang Sai lowered his blade with a grunt and climbed onto the wall first. Perched atop, he bent down and gestured for Qibi Luo to lift Consort Yin up to him.
Li Yuangui turned to look at Consort Yin, only to find the vile woman staring back at him, her eyes flickering with a mix of terror and venom—she had recognized him.
Qibi Luo tossed Consort Yin over the wall, while Li Yuangui and Chai Yingluo helped Wei Shufen climb over. Luck was on their side—no one was outside the wall. The guards had likely been summoned into the palace to hunt the assassins. The group dashed into the woods, stumbling uphill until they returned to the watchtower atop Cuiyun Peak.
The guards Sang Sai had left behind were still stationed on the third-floor lookout. The eight Hu tribesmen armed themselves with crossbows and arrows from the first-floor arsenal, preparing to defend the watchtower. Until now, they had relied on close combat, but it seemed they were readying for a stand.
Li Yuangui and the three women climbed the ladder to the second floor, collapsing onto the guards' bunks to catch their breath. Wei Shufen spotted the four dead guards and shut her eyes in sorrow. Consort Yin, however, let out a cold sneer. Though gagged, she could still scoff.
Curious about what she might say, Li Yuangui pulled down the gag. Consort Yin immediately erupted in venomous curses:
"You little wretch! You and that Chai woman played your parts well! I don’t expect to return to the palace alive tonight, but when I die, my vengeful ghost will ensure your entire family is slaughtered, your men turn to thieves, your women to whores, and your lineage ends!"
"Pah!" Chai Yingluo retorted before Wei Shufen could speak. "You vile adulteress, do you think your soul will even escape the depths of Diyu to haunt anyone? May you suffer eternal torment in the halls of flaying and pools of blood, beneath the fangs of hellhounds!"
Wei Shufen shook her head with a sigh and tugged at Chai Yingluo’s sleeve. "Sister Ying, don’t waste your breath arguing with her. It’s exhausting. Let’s go up for some air."
The two women ascended the wooden ladder to the third-floor lookout. Consort Yin’s gaze shifted to Li Yuangui, her smile icy:
"What a loyal subject and filial son you are! Conspiring with assassins to murder your own father—quite the accomplishment! Oh, I nearly forgot—this behavior suits your true father. A born rebel with a cruel streak..."
"What?" Li Yuangui froze. He had been contemplating how to silence and control Consort Yin—"Stay quiet, obey me, and I’ll spare your life"—but her mention of his "true father" struck him like a pair of boulders to the face.
His involvement with Sang Sai’s assassination plot was partly to secure his sister’s release, as they had promised to free her afterward. But he also aimed to abduct Consort Yin in the chaos, keeping her alive and under his control to use as leverage against Crown Prince Li Chengqian.He firmly believed that Li Chengqian's decision to propose the "marriage alliance of three women" was largely instigated by Consort Yin, with the two having discussed it repeatedly on multiple occasions. However, Consort Yin had harbored deep enmity with the current Son of Heaven and his Empress since the WuDe Era. If the imperial couple were to learn that their legitimate son had colluded with Yin Shi, they would undoubtedly be furious. By controlling Consort Yin’s mouth and sending a warning to Li Chengqian, the Crown Prince—fearing that Yin Shi might implicate him before the Emperor—would at least refrain from rashly bringing up the marriage alliance plan in the near future.
The steps of action Li Yuangui and Chai Yingluo’s group of four had agreed upon were now proceeding smoothly. Watching Yin Shi’s disheveled hair and tattered clothing in her wretched state, Li Yuangui felt a surge of vengeful satisfaction. From the time he could remember, this vile woman had always lorded over them with haughty arrogance, bullying him and his mother. Who would have thought she would ever come to such a day?
But what did she mean by "real father"...? Seeing Li Yuangui’s stunned expression, Consort Yin burst into wild, almost hysterical laughter:
"You don’t know... I knew that slut A Zhang wouldn’t dare tell you... Hahahaha... She’d rather hang herself with a rope than speak the truth to her own son... Hahahaha..."
A surge of rage overtook Li Yuangui. He stepped forward and struck Consort Yin across the face, sending her flying sideways until her head slammed against the wooden stairs of the watchtower.
The slap was brutal. With her hands still bound, Consort Yin writhed and groaned by the stairs, blood trickling from her nose and mouth. Yet when she turned her face toward Li Yuangui, her gaze remained venomous and triumphant:
"Kill me... what good would it do... I won’t live long anyway, I’ll surely follow the Supreme Emperor in death... You think I fear death? Bastard... a lowborn wretch through and through... always ungrateful... Do you know why I sent you to the Temple of Common Vocation to escort Crown Prince Jiancheng’s daughter to her wedding?... I wanted to grant you a chance at familial loyalty, yet you spat on it... Do you know why Yi Niang died?..."
A thunderous roar seemed to explode in his ears, and the clamor inside and outside the watchtower grew deafening. Ignoring it, Li Yuangui grabbed Consort Yin by her hair and demanded:
"Wretch! How did Yi Niang die? Who killed her?"
Consort Yin let out a few hoarse laughs before answering: "Who killed her? Who killed her... Of course I know... Why should I tell you? Bastard... Go ahead and rack your brains, figure it out yourself..."
Li Yuangui raised his hand to strike her again, but before he could, hurried footsteps echoed from below the stairs as Sang Sai and Qibi Luo climbed up.
The two men, in addition to their waist sabers, now carried bows on their backs and quivers filled with arrows at their waists. Qibi Luo barked at Consort Yin: "Where is Li Yuan? Is there another way in? Speak! Or I’ll carve you to pieces!"
Consort Yin glanced at the long blade in the foreigner’s hand, a flicker of fear crossing her face, though she forced a composed smile:
"The Great Peace Palace is irregularly built, with winding paths. The Supreme Emperor hides deep within—even if I told you the hall’s name, you’d never find him... You’ll have to take me back inside, I’ll guide you..."
Having steadied her nerves, she now sought to return to the Great Peace Hall—a bold move indeed. But Qibi Luo frowned and slashed his blade across Consort Yin’s shoulder. As she shrieked in pain, he snapped: "Tell us the location! We have our own guide!"
The foreigner then glanced at Li Yuangui, who suddenly realized he was referring to himself—well, that was fitting.Consort Yin was still hesitating when another slash cut into her leg. Amid the spurt of blood, she cried out, "I'll talk... I'll talk... The Supreme Emperor is in..."
At that moment, a shout came from above. Everyone on the second floor looked up to see the Hu assassin who had remained on the top platform for lookout shouting in his foreign tongue. Li Yuangui couldn't understand the words, but the urgent tone was unmistakable, and the commotion outside the watchtower was now audible through the walls—likely indicating that the Imperial guards from Great Peace Palace had searched their way here.
Qibi Luo swung his blade at Consort Yin again. The pampered imperial consort screamed in pain and dared not delay further, shrieking, "I'll speak! The Supreme Emperor is... in the Ninghui Hall!"
The two Hu leaders looked at Li Yuangui, who nodded to indicate he knew how to get there. Sang Sai gave a vicious grin and drew his knife to stab at Consort Yin's heart.
Li Yuangui swiftly unsheathed his own blade, deflecting Sang Sai's strike with a clang, and shouted, "She's still useful!"—though what exactly she was useful for, he would need to come up with a convincing explanation for these two brutal Hu chieftains.
But the noise outside was growing louder, leaving no time for the three of them to deliberate. Qibi Luo glanced at the long blade in Li Yuangui's hand, seemingly unwilling to argue, and pointed at the wooden ladder leading to the third-floor sentry platform. He barked at Consort Yin, "Up you go!"
The Cuiyun Peak watchtower was a tall structure, with a significant height difference between the second and third floors. The ladder hung almost vertically in midair. With her hands bound and her leg wounded, Consort Yin timidly raised her wrists to Qibi Luo, gesturing for him to cut her bonds.
Qibi Luo sneered and kicked her hard, sending her sprawling onto the ladder. He brandished his blade and roared, "Climb!" The message was clear: if she didn't want to be cut, she'd have to figure out how to ascend with her hands tied.
Helpless, Consort Yin raised her bound hands to grip the rungs above her and began hauling herself up. She had to climb twenty or thirty steps to reach the third-floor platform, which was open on all sides with no escape route. If she jumped and landed on the tower's base or the ground, she'd be severely injured if not killed; if she leaped far enough to clear the cliffside, she'd be smashed to pieces. There was no fear of her escaping from there.
Sang Sai and Qibi Luo began arguing again in their foreign tongue. Ignoring them, Li Yuangui kept his eyes fixed on Consort Yin as she painstakingly climbed. She was nearly halfway up when a sudden rush of wind brushed past his ear. Before he could react, his long blade was knocked from his grasp with a clatter.
Qibi Luo had struck the weapon from his hand, and Sang Sai followed up with a kick that sent Li Yuangui sprawling. He rolled, trying to spring back up, but Sang Sai pounced on him, pinning him down. The cold edge of a blade pressed against the back of his neck, freezing him in place.
"What are you doing?!"
"Apologies, Prince Wu!" Qibi Luo's apology was stiff. The fierce Hu warrior swiftly tore strips of cloth from nearby and bound Li Yuangui's hands behind his back before Sang Sai allowed him to rise. The two men scrutinized their captive—a Tang imperial prince—then yanked off the black cloth masking his face and head. They sliced away his black outer robe, revealing the embroidered sleeveless jacket beneath. In moments, the black-clad assassin was transformed into a disheveled, unlucky noble hostage.
With a shove, the two men marched Li Yuangui downstairs. On the ground floor, the sounds of shouting and combat assaulted their ears. Several black-clad Hu warriors guarded the watchtower entrance with crossbows, exchanging fire with the Imperial guards outside. Torchlight flickered beyond the door, and the clamor of battle suggested a sizable force. Unaware of the situation inside the watchtower, the guards had yet to charge.Qibi Luo shouted a few phrases in a foreign tongue, and the Hu men inside the watchtower responded in unison—except for Sang Sai, who remained silent. Holding a long knife against Li Yuangui’s back, Qibi Luo, flanked by two Hu men, moved toward the entrance and yelled outside:
“Don’t shoot! Look who this is!”
So this was the “way to escape unscathed” that Sang Sai had mentioned. Li Yuangui gave a faint, bitter smile but remained composed. As he stepped out of the watchtower’s doorway, the glow of over a dozen torches illuminated him, prompting several exclamations: “Prince Wu!” “Fourteenth Young Master!”
At least fifty or sixty Imperial guards surrounded the watchtower, with reinforcements continuously emerging from the woods. Seeing that the Supreme Emperor’s own son and the Son of Heaven’s younger brother had fallen into enemy hands, the guards stirred in agitation. Those readying their crossbows halted, and the leading officer stood dumbfounded, unsure what to do.
But such hesitation wouldn’t last long. The Tang Dynasty’s laws on banditry clearly stated: “Those who refrain from combat to spare hostages shall be exiled for two years.” In other words, anyone who abandoned a fight out of concern for hostages would be punished, whereas no blame would fall on those whose actions led to a hostage’s injury or death. Yet, while the law was the law, when the hostage was someone of noble status and powerful connections, rescuers couldn’t help but hesitate.
At a command, the Imperial guards outside retreated slightly. Just as the officer was about to speak, agonized screams and the sound of bodies collapsing erupted behind him.
Crossbow bolts rained down from above—the Hu man Sang Sai had left on the watchtower’s lookout platform was firing upon them. The officer barked orders to return fire. Li Yuangui’s heart clenched as he thought of Chai Yingluo and Wei Shufen, still trapped on the platform.
Suddenly, a woman’s piercing, agonized shriek tore through the night sky, unbroken and continuous. Judging by the sound’s trajectory, she had plummeted from the watchtower into the sheer cliffs of Cuiyun Peak behind it.
#####Li Yuangui wore two layers of sleeveless jackets beneath his outer robe to alter his silhouette. For explanations and illustrations, visit the author’s Weibo. Search “Tang Dynasty Travel Guide Forest Deer” on Sina Weibo—exchanges are welcome.
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