The Prisoners of Fate: Sequel to The Emperor's Prey

by Jeremy Han

She suddenly changed the topic. “And now, your direct superior the Director of the Ceremony himself is under arrest in Nanjing.”

  “Most unfortunate!” Kong rasped defending his boss. “Grand Commandant Liu Ning is a good servant of the throne.”

  “He may be, or may not. We’ll see," the empress replied. "I have to burden you with the administration of the Directorate of Ceremonies now. At this time of the year, you will have to prepare for the winter harvest sacrifices.” She paused. “This is why I summoned you, to appoint you as the acting director.”

  She was referring to the sacrifice offered at the Tian Tan ‘the Temple of Heaven’. The temple complex had been built by Emperor Yong Le in 1406 to offer sacrifices to heaven in return for a plentiful harvest. As the son of heaven, the emperor had to perform this annual duty on behalf of his subjects to ensure the population had enough to eat in the coming year. Crop failures or natural disasters were seen as signs of heavenly displeasure, and an indication that the emperor had lost the favour of heaven. During the sacrifices the entire imperial household encamps in the vast temple grounds, where they fast and go through an elaborate ceremony to prepare for the ritual. The temple compound would be sealed off and only the Jinyi Wei and the eunuch departments in charge of the rituals, as well as the imperial household, would be allowed access.

  “Majesty,” Kong replied, “I am honoured you let me share the burden of ensuring a bountiful harvest for our people.” He dropped to his knees and bowed. “May I also suggest, the security of the temple be entrusted to us as we are facing enemies who do not seem human.”

  After a long, thoughtful pause she replied. “What will you call this eunuch agency, Grand Eunuch Kong?”

  “Let’s just call it the Xi Chang ‘Western Depot’, your Majesty. And I propose the Imperial Chamberlain Lei to be its first commander. He has to coordinate the movement of the imperial family, and he will be best to look into its security. I will select the best men from the Directorate of Ceremonies to aid him.”

  “Ji Gang will be displeased,” she said.

  “Majesty, every human foe of the throne has been destroyed by the Dong Chang. It is no shame for the commander to admit he could not take on demons and spirits. Moreover,” he emphasised, “what happens if the demoness appears during the ceremony? Can Ji Gang fight that?”

  The empress thoughth about that, and after a long, quiet pause she said, “Draw up the plans for my approval.” She rose, and the meeting was over.

  “Yes, your Majesty," he said, bowing after her. "Ten thousand years.”

  When she had finally left he broke into a cold smile.

  55

  “The yinsu hua is highly prized. And hence, it is restricted – very, very controlled in its use. Lord Ji, why do you ask about this rare plant?” the Taiyi ‘imperial physician’ looked at Ji Gang with doctor’s eyes as though the bald man had some strange illness.

  The commander sat opposite the old man in his medical hall. The doctor wore the uniform of a court official, but he did not participate in the deliberations of state affairs. The uniform conferred a rank for the most senior medical officer in the empire. Ensuring the well-being of the imperial family was his duty, and he was widely respected for his medical skills.

  His small eyes blinked, as he waited for the reply.

  Ji Gang hesitated for awhile, wondering how much he should reveal. “Let’s just say the flower has turned up in an Eastern Depot investigation, and I need to know all I can about it.”

  “Hmmm…” the physician hummed as he frowned, stroking his beard like a wise man about to impart forbidden knowledge.

  “Anything you share may help me to solve a mystery,” Ji Gang pressed, getting a little impatient but the doctor was not bothered by him. He continued to stroke his long, white beard as his head bobbed in thought, but he did not probe. Anything that had to do with the Eastern Depot was very bad.

  “This flower is both a blessing and a curse,” he said finally.

  “Why?”

  “It was brought into our empire hundreds of years ago by traders who came over the western deserts. It was then called fo cha ‘the Buddha’s tea’ because the juice of this plant, when consumed as a tea, could take one to heaven.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. But the wonders did not stop there. It was most effective as a ma ‘painkiller’. For years those whose organs were eaten by disease who had no cure lived only because of this flower. Medicine made from it reduced pain to levels where one could live decently and die with some dignity.” He paused to sip his tea. “Not only did it cure the ills of the body, but also the soul. People swallow pills made from it to forget their sorrow. The drug transports one to a place where only happiness is found, where there is no sorrow.” He shook his small head sagely. “You have no idea how many people in this place,” he indicated the palace, “depends on it to live.”

  Ji Gang did not miss the insinuation. The Forbidden City, despite its grandeur, was a miserable place where every single life revolved around the happiness and satisfaction of one person – the emperor. Lives, futures, and hopes were raised or crushed depending on the whims of the son of heaven. Eunuchs by the thousands, concubines by the hundreds, were like stars that revolved around the sun. Whether their lives were filled with light or darkness depended on the season, and their distance from the sun. Beneath the glamorous façade were dungeons, chambers where bodies were broken, murders were carried out, and prisons where people faded away. Concubines and empresses were notorious for the use of the yinshu flower. It diminished their loneliness, and made them forget their wasted years.

  “And also it did wonders for those who had great access to women.”

  “The emperor?”

  “Exactly. The Yinshu hua could heighten sexual arousal and pleasure, while at the same time slow down one’s orgasm.” Once he had started on the topic of the flower the physician could not stop. He spoke about it with both fascination and awe, as though nature had created the flower to baffle medical practitioners across civilisations. “For a man who has the time, and the means to many ladies, it was the perfect drug.”

  “Is it easily accessible?”

  “Oh no!” the physician exclaimed. “It better not be!”

  “Why?” Ji Gang tilted his head in curiosity.

  “Because the juice of the flower destroys you slowly! It controls your mind. Those who take it without restrain slowly grow to think about nothing but it. The body ceases to function unless it is fed the extract of the flower.” The old man became more and more agitated, and Ji Gang guessed he must have seen how the flower had robbed uncountable lives in this gilded cage. He remained silent, allowing the doctor to speak.

  He continued in a high pitched voice, “Then slowly the body weakens. It erodes strength and destroys the mind. I have seen brilliant minds wasted by the yinshu hua and men of great prowess reduced to skin and bones because all they could do, all they consumed, was the juice of the flower.”

  Patterns were forming in Ji Gang’s mind. Slowly, he could see a picture form. “You said it could weaken a man?”

  “Yes,” the expert replied firmly without hesitation.

  “How?” Ji Gang was getting excited.

  “Why does it reduce pain? How does it slow down arousal? How do you think it takes away sorrow?” Like a teacher waiting for his student to respond, he leaned forward and looked into Ji Gang’s eyes.

  The commander whispered as the realisation hit like an arrow. “By relaxing every muscle in the body, and by deceiving the mind.”

  The physician nodded once to acknowledge the commander’s conclusion. “That is why people call it Buddha’s tea. Because when you take it you can see gods and demons. You enter the celestial realm. For eunuchs who could never marry, they consume the flower and they have a thousand feitian ‘fairies’ as wives.”

  “Why is it…restricted?” Ji Gang tensed as he asked this. Everything was falling into place.

  “Think about it
, Commander.”

  “I asked you a question,” Ji Gang replied testily. He was here to solve a murder that could compromise the safety of the imperial family, not take a test. Unlike imperial medical students he was not here to discover arcane medical secrets for enlightenment’s sake.

  The old man smiled. He knew Ji Gang’s reputation but he did not care. He was not an enemy of the state, and he enjoyed baiting the man feared by the empire. “What do you think will happen if everyone in the country lies soft and dreamy? What would happen to our army? Would the economy function? Could farmers bear the weight of labour?”

  “The empire would crumble.”

  “Exactly, Commander. The Yingshu flower would destroy everything the Eastern Depot is trying to protect the court from. Imperial collapse.” The old man said this forcefully.

  “So why does the court allow it for the imperial family?”

  “Because pain and sorrow is for the common man, Commander. The rich think they are exempted from earthly misery.”

  Ji Gang frowned at the choice of the doctor’s words. It was a crime to insinuate any weakness in the royal family, yet he knew the physician spoke the truth. Ji Gang had eyes to see for himself.

  “So who controls it?” Ji Gang asked, though he already already knew the answer to this.

  “We, the Imperial Academy of Medicine, control it.”

  “How is the extract of the flower handled?”

  The old man looked troubled. “When we diagnose that a patient is in pain, that is wasting him away, we will prescribe it.”

  “And?”

  “Eunuch herbalists who staff the academy will prepare it. They work with the chamber eunuchs who are caregivers, and they will feed the juice according to our instructions.”

  “Eunuchs have access to it?” Ji Gang re-confirmed excitedly.

  “Yes. And often,” he complained, “they smuggle the drug to the nobles and concubines they serve.”

  “Without prescription?”

  The old man nodded.

  “But how do you know the drug is smuggled?” Ji Gang asked, frowning.

  “Commander, the eunuchs do it to win favour, or to avoid punishment. Princes, once they tasted the drug, could never escape its grip. Eunuchs gain great favour or suffer extreme punishment depending on whether they could feed the addiction of the noble house.”

  “You speak very badly of the House of Zhu,” Ji Gang remarked, stareing at the man.

  “Life in the palace, Lord Ji, like war, produces casualties. This is a fact.”

  Ji Gang rested his hands on his knee and asked one final question. “Is this available outside the Purple Palace?”

  “Yes, and no.”

  “Explain.”

  “Something like this, despite the ban, could never be kept out. Where ever there are people who demand an escape from pain, from sorrow, and from mundane living, there will be a supply. And yet no, because those who are found with it without imperial permission, are subjected to punishment. Only the emperor could poison himself legally,” he added bitterly,

  Ji Gang got up and left abruptly without thanking the imperial physician. He had work to do. His mind raced and his pulse quickened at the knowledge he now held. He had the answer for the death of General Wang! More importantly, it confirmed what Meng had told him.

  Eunuchs! Hallucinations! Muscle relaxant!

  He clenched his fist as he strode out of the academy like a storm waiting to explode.

  He had found his enemy.

  56

  “The Western Depot? What lunacy is this!?”Ji Gang shouted.

  A junior officer stood before him with his head bowed. It was not his fault, he had merely been the messenger. “Lord Ji…Ji," the nervous man stammered, "according to our sources, it is to balance the power of the Eastern Depot. They will have powers to investigate and seize enemies of the throne like we do, except….”

  “Except what?” he demanded.

  “Except they have the powers to deal with cases that are related to the supernatural, which the empress dowager had deemed us incapable of.”

  Ji Gang fumed. He knew what this whole thing was about, and nothing concerning this news was coincidental.

  “Get my carriage.”

  Two hours later, Ji Gang stood before her Majesty. The boy emperor was by her side, but the child was not impressed with the proceedings that would determine the fates of many. He was more concerned with a wooden horse.

  He looked at Ji Gang with a pout., asking, “When is Eunuch Wang coming back to me? I am bored without him.”

  “Soon, Majesty,” Ji Gang replied, trying his best to keep his voice neutral. Before he spoke further, Kong Wei entered the room and knelt before the throne.

  “Ten thousand years!” he declared to the mother and her child.

  “Rise, Grand Eunuch Kong,” she said, indicating with her hand.

  At last, face to face with my adversary, Kong thought as he smiled innocently at the man.

  “Kong Wei," she started, "Commander Ji does not approve of your recommendation to establish the Western Depot. What do you have to say in defence of your plan?”

  He turned to her, saying “Yes, Majesty,” before returning his gaze to him. He put on his best smile, the smile of a man who knew his place and Ji felt sick to his core at the hypocrisy. “Commander Ji Gang, what is your concern regarding the Xi Chang?”

  Ji Gang wasted no time on courtesies. “Stick to running imperial ceremonies," he said. "You know nothing about security matters.”

  Kong feigned a troubled look. “Lord Ji, we are just trying to help. We all know the difficulties of hunting spirits. That is not the Dong Chang’s job after all. Surely, you must agree with me that the safety of the throne surpasses any territorial disputes.”

  “This was never about territorial disputes, Half-man,” Ji Gang said with hooded eyes. Ignoring the eunuch, Ji Gang addressed the empress dowager. “Majesty, I have made some investigations since we returned.”

  “Oh…?" she asked. "What did you discover?”

  He told her everything about the yingshu flower, from the discovery of it in Hangzhou to what the imperial physician had said.

  “Majesty, look at it this way," he said once he had finished. "The attack at the villa was timed too perfectly. No one except the Jinyi Wei and the eunuchs knew your location. At the same time the Grand Commandant of Nanjing is framed for murder and rumour has it the governor of Nanjing was killed by a demoness similar to General Wang. These prevent any meaningful effort against the emergence of the bandit Zhu Wenkui. And most importantly, I believe we could debunk the mystery of the woman with many hands. It is the result of a hallucination due to the effects of the flower.” Pausing to glare at Kong, he concluded decisively, “There is no woman with many hands. It is a cleverly staged plot to divert attention away from the real motivation of the plotters.”

  “And what may that be Lord Ji? Enlighten us,” Kong taunted him, smile still plastered on.

  “The killing of General Wang and the framing of Grand Commandant Liu paralyses the eastern military command. The mysterious woman with many hands and the re-emergence of the lost crown prince distracts the Dong Chang by drawing us to the south to fight shadows. This is all to chase a ghost while the action takes place here against the throne.”

  Kong’s eyes were fixed on Ji’s, “Lord Ji, this all sounds very clever of you to put the matter together. But what if,” he paused for emphasis, “you are wrong?” He did not have to add the obvious ‘and you have already been wrong once’.

  Ji Gang clenched his fist. He knew what the eunuch was trying to insinuate. He had served in the palace long enough that words not spoken were more deadly than those that left the tongue. “All investigations take time, Grand Eunuch Kong," he bit back, "especially if the plot has been cleverly planned…from the inside.” He twisted the proverbial knife.

  “And who might it be, who planned such an elaborate scheme?”

  “There is one thre
ad that ties everything together, Grand Eunuch, and surely with your intelligence, you can see where it leads.” He stressed the word eunuch, eyes narrowing as he spat it out as though it were bitter on his tongue.

  “Don’t play games, Commander. If you have the guts, speak your mind plainly before her Majesty,” Kong retorted, his chin jutting out in defiance.

  Ji Gang turned to the empress dowager. “Majesty, the eunuchs have access to all the threads that tie this matter together, and a very senior eunuch must be involved to link everything. I request permission to commence investigations into their matters.”

  “Majesty,” Kong was fast to rebut the commander, “what Lord Ji suggests is preposterous. Eunuchs serve the throne as loyally as anyone. What motivation is there for a eunuch rebellion? He is merely jealous that the eunuch Xi Chang will mean that the Eastern Depot no longer holds unchallenged power. For the safety of the throne, let the Western Depot be established with full powers to guard the house of Zhu against all threats.”

  Her majesty remained silent. She was as still as a statue, as she weighed their arguments, and a brief flash of Ji Gang in her embrace, their naked bodies together as she tried to ensnare his loyalty made her blush with disgust. No doubt Ji Gang was powerful and could ensure the safety of her son but what if, just what if, there were really elements outside the Dong Chang’s power to deal with? She stole a glance at him and recalled what he had said before.

  The Eastern Depot does not hunt demons and ghosts, your Majesty.

  Superstition filled her mind, egged on by the fact that so far Ji Gang had indeed failed once. Perhaps the Eastern Depot is really not up to the task, she thought. Now was not the time to be weak. Not when my son’s life and throne is on the line.

  She mustered her courage and spoke.

  “The Western Depot will be established as suggested by Grand Eunuch Kong," she proclaimed. "From now on, the Xi Chang will work with the imperial bodyguard to ensure the safety of the throne. Ji Gang, you will return to the south to continue to hunt for the man known as Zhu Wenkui, who so daringly tried to assassinate the son of heaven. Your mission is to bring his head to me. Do not fail me again.”