Chapter 37: Yang Shuai

In the morning, after breakfast, Yang Xuan suddenly asked, “Why haven’t you remarried all these years, Yi Niang?”

Yi Niang was startled, then lowered her head. “I have always thought of you, my lord.”

Cao Ying laughed. “Back then, Yi Niang brought you to Yang Lue’s house and has stayed there ever since…”

“I understand,” Yang Xuan replied. A gentle warmth flickered in his eyes as he prepared to leave.

Cao Ying followed him out, seeming as if he wanted to speak but hesitated.

Yang Xuan glanced over. “Don’t play at saying something and stopping halfway. If you’re going to hesitate, then don’t say anything at all.”

Cao Ying said, “Chang’an is like a great beast. For a young man still so weak, this is not a place of kindness.”

“I know.” Damn it, he thought, I have only two men under me. In this state, how could I hope to rebel in Chang’an? The ward constables could crush me just by gathering together.

Leaving Chen Qu, Yang Xuan looked up and spat toward the dawn.

When he arrived at the Imperial Academy, a crowd had gathered beneath a large tree.

Bao Dong’s voice rang out. “Yesterday the Right Chancellor spent the night with ten maids, and rumor has it that he emerged this morning without a sore back or wobbly legs…”

Someone asked, “What did he take?”

Bao Dong replied with pride, “He took this medicine…”

Tch!

The crowd dispersed. Bao Dong was left standing there in surprise, still holding an oil-paper package.

“Your method is wrong,” Yang Xuan said, shaking his head.

Bao Dong’s eyes lit up. “Yang Xuan, want to try one?”

“Do you take me for a fool?” Yang Xuan snapped, smacking him so hard Bao Dong grimaced in pain. “What happens if you take this? Tell me the truth, or I won’t be responsible for what I do.”

Bao Dong glanced around, then grinned sheepishly. “To tell you the truth… it aids digestion and appetite. Of course, it does help the kidneys a bit too.”

Damn swindler!

Yang Xuan pointed. “How many latrines are there in the Academy?”

“Three,” Bao Dong replied confidently. “I’ve been to them all.”

He’s probably been spreading rumors in all of them, Yang Xuan thought.

“Cut three pieces of paper, a bit smaller, and write on them: ‘Want to go from feeble to vigorous, from dawn to dusk? Mysterious medicine from the Western Regions, freeing you from all a man’s troubles.’ What’s this medicine called?”

Bao Dong was dumbstruck, blurting out, “Nourishing Pill.”

“Idiot!” Yang Xuan shook his head. “Change the name. Call it… Revitalizing Elixir. Write this: ‘Revitalizing Elixir—She’ll be pleased, and so will you.’”

Bao Dong was utterly befuddled.

“Hurry, before someone finds out. Before class, there’ll be a rush to the latrines.”

“Oh, and make sure you write how to contact you at the bottom.”

Bao Dong hurried off, somehow managing to be late on his return.

“Hold out your hand,” the old teacher said, raising his ruler.

Smack!

“Ow!”

With a hand as swollen as a pig’s trotter, Bao Dong returned to his seat and shot Yang Xuan a look.

The fellow was a bit uneasy, but Yang Xuan paid him no mind, focusing on the teacher’s lecture on history instead.

Before, he hadn’t cared much for these lessons, but now he listened with undivided attention.

When the class ended, everyone hurried off to the latrines. Qiao Huiyan and Hua Yuxie went out hand in hand as well.

Bao Dong was restless.

Yang Xuan busied himself sorting through the content of the lesson, pondering those figures of history.

The fall of the Chen Kingdom, to his mind, was well-deserved—an emperor lost to decadence, nobles consumed by greed, the people reduced to suffering, until at last, revolution erupted…

Then came the wars between the lords. The Great Tang was founded.

Even after its founding, the Tang faced crisis after crisis. When the throne passed to Emperor Wu, he sent generals to the frontiers time and again. After many hard-fought battles, Northern Liao was struck by disaster after disaster, and in the end, peace was brokered.

The throne changed hands several times, and by the time of Emperor Xuande, the Tang still dominated the Central Plains. Then chaos arose… The Crown Prince, later posthumously honored as the Filial and Reverent Emperor, was deposed and poisoned… Li Yuan and his son profited from the turmoil. After Li Yuan took the throne, he focused on internal strife, never suspecting his own son, Li Mi, would stab him in the back, forcing him to abdicate and become the Retired Emperor. Then Li Mi, now the present emperor, ascended.

What was astonishing about this father and son was their intense, almost disturbing hunger for power.

“Bao Dong!”

Qiao Huiyan and Hua Yuxie had returned.

“You shameless scoundrel! How dare you!”

Yang Xuan was puzzled. “What did you do?”

Bao Dong laughed awkwardly. “I, uh, I happened to post a notice at the entrance of the girls’ latrine as well. Just out of habit.”

Yang Xuan: “…”

Students trickled back into the classroom, most of them casting looks at Bao Dong. These were all scions of wealthy families, most of whom had tasted carnal pleasures in their early teens.

One student coughed at Bao Dong, then slowly walked outside.

Bao Dong shot Yang Xuan a look and slipped out after him.

One, two, three…

Before noon, class was dismissed. Bao Dong, beaming with satisfaction, left with Yang Xuan.

“Yang Xuan.”

Bao Dong handed him a heavy bundle.

It was a share of the profits. The fact that Bao Dong needed to hawk medicine at the Academy showed his family was in trouble. Yang Xuan shook his head lightly. “It was only a few words, not worth it.”

Bao Dong stopped and watched Yang Xuan’s receding figure, suddenly choking up.

Yang Xuan went on to Wannian County.

“The report of your achievement has been submitted. The rewards are to be given out today.”

Tang Xiaonian was a little excited, smoothing his hair again and again.

Yang Xuan sat down.

Wen Xinshu remarked with envy, “Yang Xuan, you’re the top achiever. You might even be appointed Chief of Constables directly.”

Yang Xuan smiled. “Tang and old Zhao both did great work, and you as well. Without your archery, we’d never feel safe leaving the house.”

Tang Xiaonian gave him a look, a bit surprised.

Zhao Guolin murmured at his side, “Broad-minded.”

Tang Xiaonian nodded. Just then, a young clerk arrived.

“Commander Tang, Yang Xuan.”

They went to Huang Wenzun’s office, where he greeted them with a smile that set them both on edge.

“Tang Xiaonian has served Wannian County for years. This time, with his accumulated achievements, he may be promoted to Clerk.”

A shift from military to civil! No more licking blood from the blade.

Tang Xiaonian lowered his head, his voice choked with emotion.

He had worked and waited so long for this day.

Huang Wenzun turned to Yang Xuan, his gaze gentle.

“Yang Xuan may be a student at the Imperial Academy, but back in the day, Emperor Wu decreed that students with proper credentials who serve in the two counties can earn merit for promotion. This time, you’re the top achiever. Now that Tang Xiaonian is moving on, someone must take charge of the constables. You shall go.”

The two left together.

Inside the office, Qiu Sheng asked in confusion, “Sir, no student from the Academy has ever been promoted in our two counties. Why not just slap Yang Xuan down?”

Huang Wenzun replied calmly, “I’d like to slap him down, too. But Minister Song of the Ministry of War saw the report. He was astonished that a student from the Academy could earn such merit and promotion. He studied it closely, then slapped the table in praise. Tell me, could I slap him down after that?”

“Minister Song?” Qiu Sheng was startled. “He was an unrivaled general in his day. If not for his many old wounds, he’d be commanding a region by now. Even he praised Yang Xuan?”

Song Zhen, Minister of War, a formidable general of the Tang. During the great war with Northern Liao, the fighting was fierce and Tang forces were too few, slowly losing ground. At the critical moment, Song Zhen charged single-handedly into the enemy lines, slew six enemy generals, and was gravely wounded. Only through the combined efforts of army medics was he dragged back from death’s door.

Yang Xuan returned to the constables’ office.

Tang Xiaonian came in after him.

“Commander Tang…” Wen Xinshu rose.

Tang Xiaonian pointed at Yang Xuan. “This is Commander Yang now.”

Zhao Guolin and Wen Xinshu paused, then saluted. “Greetings, Commander Yang.”

As his first act as chief, Yang Xuan took the three of them out for a feast, both to celebrate Tang Xiaonian’s promotion and to drink together.

Later, a bit tipsy, Yang Xuan returned home.

“My lord, you’ve been drinking?” Yi Niang supported him inside, shouting at Cao Ying, “Cao Ying, hurry and heat water for the bath!”

Cao Ying, who had sworn to become a strategist, crouched by the stove, close to tears.

Later, after bathing, Yang Xuan summoned the two to his side.

Rubbing his temples, he vowed never to drink again. “Cao Ying, when you spread the news yesterday, did anyone notice you?”

Cao Ying replied, “I disguised myself. Just as Song Zhen was heading in, I passed behind him and said, ‘It’s rare for students of the Imperial Academy to slay a Southern Zhou spy, yet someone else takes the credit…’”

“What did that mean?” Yi Niang, massaging Yang Xuan’s temples, asked in confusion.

Yang Xuan closed his eyes. “Huang Wenzun has always been hostile to the Academy. Now that I’ve earned merit, he’s sure to try to suppress me. I thought about it: most of the senior courtiers are crafty old foxes. Only Song Zhen, that fierce general, cannot stand to see others steal credit.”

Yi Niang still didn’t understand. She looked up and saw the false gentleman staring at Yang Xuan in amazement…

Yang Xuan opened his eyes. “I am now Chief of Constables.”

Yi Niang was overjoyed. “Congratulations, my lord!”

Cao Ying, the self-styled strategist, was shocked, but couldn’t help asking, “How did you think of this plan, my lord?”

Yang Xuan stretched his neck. “A small beast, hunted by a predator, deliberately runs past the tiger. The tiger rises, and the hunter flees… If Huang Wenzun dared suppress my achievements, Song Zhen—the tiger—would tear him apart.”

That night, he opened the screen and entered some text.

A line appeared:

—Cao’s army raids the grain; Cao Cao must come in person; when he leaves, the camp will be empty; let the troops strike at Cao Cao’s camp first; when Cao hears of it, he will hurry back. This is Sun Bin’s ‘Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao’ strategy.