Futile Devices Scans

Li Si was not able to meet His Majesty alone.

Because of the defeat, His Majesty was suffering headaches and fever, and his heart palpitations and fainting had flared again. He had no desire whatsoever to listen to such “nonsense” from some minor figure whose name he could not even remember. The moment he heard that Li Si wanted to follow Li Gang to war, he waved his hand and granted permission, telling Administrator Li to make the arrangements himself—hurry and drive all those pro-war people who kept shouting about fighting yet could not win out of the capital.

Li Si waited outside the room. When Administrator Li emerged and first nodded to him, then shook his head, Li Si could only take a step backward and swallow everything he had prepared to say to His Majesty. He had never expected this Emperor to listen to him anyway.

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Qiao Shen happened to arrive at that moment with Perfected Master Shenxiao, hurrying along with his head lowered and saying nothing. When he came close and saw Li Si there, he barely managed a smile before following Perfected Master Shenxiao inside.

Before long, incense smoke curled through the room again, and the sharp, grating sound of ritual chanting began once more. Li Si frowned and endured it in silence, treating it as the last time he would have to listen to this irritating demonic wailing.

＊

Once the ritual ended, Li Si asked Administrator Li for a favor and requested the assignment of escorting Qiao Shen back to rest, wanting to say farewell to Little Brother before leaving.

Ever since moving into the palace, perhaps because he was unaccustomed to the place, Qiao Shen had grown weaker and weaker. Several days earlier, he had fallen while walking, split open a small wound on his forehead, and become seriously ill.

His Majesty pitied his young brother and bestowed many things upon him, even specially granting him a sedan chair so he could travel through the palace seated inside and be carefully pampered.

Li Si was walking silently beside the sedan with his head lowered when he suddenly caught a faint scent of blood on the wind.

He had fought and killed on battlefields and was extremely sensitive to the smell. His head immediately snapped up, and he looked warily toward Qiao Shen.

The noon sun was fierce, and the small four-man sedan had no covering overhead. Qiao Shen sat beneath the blazing light with a deathly pale face. Suddenly, his body tilted sideways—

Li Si shot forward like an arrow, caught him in time, and shouted for the bearers to stop immediately.

The whole party fell into confusion. The young palace maid accompanying them said she would summon an Imperial Physician, but Qiao Shen stopped her, insisting that he only needed to return and rest.

Seeing Qiao Shen clutching his arm in panic, Li Si immediately grew suspicious. He seized Qiao Shen’s wrist and was about to pull up the gold-threaded sleeve of his robe.

Qiao Shen pressed down on his hand and cried miserably, “Brother Sisi!”

Weakly, he said urgently, “Not here… let’s go back first…”

＊

Li Si brought him back to his quarters and helped him sit in a chair, then stared directly at him.

Seeing that he could no longer hide it, Qiao Shen lowered his eyes and hesitated before calling in a young eunuch. “My head hurts and I feel dizzy. Go brew me a bowl of sour plum soup to relieve the heat.”

The young eunuch’s expression became strange, and he hesitated. Qiao Shen abruptly slapped the table and shouted, “I am the dignified Duke Protector of the State. Can I not even order you around? Do you want this duke to report you to His Majesty tomorrow and have you punished for disrespect, or do you want this duke to have you whipped to death right now?”

Li Si had never seen such violence on Little Brother’s face. Although he had once seen Chief Commander Wang “furiously behead” Brother Xiao and could vaguely guess this was also an act, the unprecedented viciousness still startled him.

The young eunuch kowtowed repeatedly, begging for mercy, then hurried away.

After watching him go, Qiao Shen invented one errand after another and sent the remaining palace maids away too. Only then did he put aside the hostility on his face, lower his eyes numbly, and silently raise his sleeve.

Li Si’s heart jolted again.

Aside from the deep wound cut during the sacrifice that day, more than ten small wounds crisscrossed Qiao Shen’s arm, some deep and some shallow, some new and some old. Qiao Shen lifted a freshly wrapped medicinal dressing from his forearm. Li Si’s pupils contracted—the wound beneath was still bleeding, the flesh turned outward, unmistakably fresh.

Li Si asked in a trembling voice, “What happened?”

Qiao Shen lowered his eyes and said numbly, “The illness-curing ‘immortal medicine’ Perfected Master Shenxiao gives His Majesty after performing his rites requires human blood as a catalyst. Since I bear the ‘State-Protecting Fire Vein,’ my blood is naturally the best.”

Li Si shook his head in disbelief, pain written across his face.

They had endured countless hardships to reach Kuiyuan and, after so many twists and turns, finally found Little Brother. Elder Sister and Brother-in-law had sent him away with tears in their eyes, reluctant to part, believing they were sending Little Brother onto a ladder to the clouds, onto a road leading straight to Heaven—to become imperial kin and rise to glory. In reality, they had only sent him into a mountain of blades and a sea of fire, into Avici Hell.

Elio’s Notes: Avici Hell is the lowest and most terrible hell in Buddhist cosmology, associated with continuous suffering without respite.

What dignified Duke Protector of the State? He was clearly a two-legged sheep being penned up so his flesh could be eaten and his blood drunk.

Elio’s Notes: “Two-legged sheep” (两脚羊) is a historical euphemism for human beings treated as food. Song writer Zhuang Chuo records the term in a passage describing wartime cannibalism.

Qiao Shen suddenly pressed down on Li Si’s sleeve and called in a trembling voice, “Fourth Brother…”

Qiao Shen’s eyes were lifeless. He was not looking at Li Si, but staring fixedly into a corner of the wall, as though gazing into a patch of emptiness that did not exist.

“Fourth Brother, have you heard? The venerable Commissioner Zuo fell ill, the younger Commissioner Zuo was defeated and died in battle, and the several forces sent to aid Kuiyuan were almost completely wiped out… His Majesty was furious and said the younger Commissioner Zuo was incompetent at commanding troops, and then said the Privy Council had made errors in its orders… Fourth Brother, to me, the truly incompetent person is someone else…

“When his imperial father handed him the throne and abandoned him by running away, he was pushed onto the throne crying and fainted from terror right there on the dragon seat. Ever since then, he has suffered fainting spells… When the Xiao bandits surrounded the capital, Defense Commissioner Li defended the city properly, and reinforcements from all directions arrived very quickly. Originally, the three towns never needed to be ceded. It was only because he had been scared out of his wits that he immediately agreed to every demand from the Xiao bandits, giving away both cities and gold and silver and begging only for them to leave quickly…

“When the reinforcements went to Kuiyuan, he refused to relinquish military authority and still had the Privy Council command them. The younger Commissioner Zuo had originally wanted to advance steadily and fight carefully, but the Privy Council forced him to march in haste. Supplies were insufficient and military pay was lacking, causing a mutiny, which led to the younger Commissioner Zuo being surrounded and killed…

“The entire court of civil and military officials is still arguing endlessly and pushing the blame onto one another… Now they’re saying again that they should never have gone to aid Kuiyuan in the first place… The moment he heard that, he started wavering again. He wants to cede the three towns and sue for peace again… He wants to cede the three towns and sue for peace again!”

Qiao Shen clutched Li Si’s sleeve tightly, raised his head, and looked at him with a trembling voice. “If he and his imperial father could have scraped together even the tiniest speck of courage between them, Great Xuan would never have come to this! Those brothers and uncles of his, those so-called princes and marquises, are only more cowardly and more useless than father and son! With two Emperors as timid as mice, with a whole clan of weak and incompetent imperial kin, with an entire court of scheming ministers, how can Kuiyuan possibly be saved? I do not believe it. I do not believe it at all!”

Li Si did not believe it either. That was why he was going to Kuiyuan himself.

He looked down into Qiao Shen’s eyes, his own gaze calm and resolute. “I’m going north with Defense Commissioner Li. I’ll save Kuiyuan myself. Before I leave, I’ll have Zheng Jiu lure Perfected Master Shenxiao to the military camp and find a chance to kill him. He will never be able to hurt you again.”

Qiao Shen trembled all over.

After a moment of blankness, as though infected by Li Si’s resolve, Qiao Shen’s gaze abruptly darkened. He gripped him even more tightly and shook his head. “No! Leave his dog life for now! He deserves to die, but not yet!”

A trace of firm killing intent rose in Qiao Shen’s murky, chaotic eyes. “Fourth Brother, you do not understand. Someone else deserves to die even more… You are going to Kuiyuan. That is good. You have what you ought to do, and I have what I ought to do…”

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Li Si could not read Qiao Shen’s gaze, nor did he understand what Little Brother intended to do. But Little Brother was smarter and quicker than he was, and Brother Xiao had told him that after returning to the capital, if there was anything he could think about but still did not understand, he could ask Little Brother for advice. Presumably, Little Brother had his own reasons.

So he would leave Perfected Master Shenxiao’s rotten life for Little Brother for now.

Qiao Shen asked him several more questions: why Administrator Li of the Imperial City Directorate always helped him; what had happened with the Commander; and about Zheng Jiu, the Strongman.

Qiao Shen gradually steadied himself, and a tiny trace of light slowly returned to his eyes. “Fourth Brother, go without worry. I know you are concerned about Grandma and Godmother, and I will have people look after them too. As for your reward money and the reward money of the other elder brothers, if Administrator Li encounters any obstruction, I will personally speak to His Majesty and make sure it is issued as quickly as possible. When the time comes, have Tao Shi help Grandma and Godmother buy a proper residence so they can settle down completely.”

Li Si nodded, then somewhat awkwardly opened his arms and finally hugged Little Brother, patting his thin, bony arm.

“Thank you, Little Brother. You must take care of yourself too.”

Qiao Shen tugged at the corners of his mouth and forced a smile. “Don’t worry. I won’t die. I was originally only a descendant of a fallen princely house, and in this life I should never have amounted to anything. Who would have thought I’d become this damned ‘Duke Protector of the State’? Since I didn’t die in the tunnel at the earthen fortress, I suppose Heaven arranged another road for me.”

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Li Si felt that Little Brother had become mysterious and secretive, almost as though Perfected Master Shenxiao had infected him. Little Brother was, after all, a “Fire Vein.” It seemed that anyone who became connected with the word “fire” eventually learned how to put on mysterious airs.

He bid Little Brother farewell and returned to the duty room of the Imperial City Directorate, where he also said goodbye to Administrator Li and completed all the necessary transfer procedures. His Majesty had granted him no military post, so Administrator Li could only make certain arrangements in the paperwork. He still gave Li Si an Imperial City Directorate Envoy token, counting it as the Directorate temporarily lending him out to supervise the army on His Majesty’s behalf.

Li Si held the token and examined it, his fingers brushing a faint, dried patch of blood on its surface—it was still the same token the Commander had left behind.

He raised his head and looked gratefully at Administrator Li, opening his mouth as though to speak. Administrator Li shook his head, signaling that superiors and subordinates surrounded them and there were too many eyes and ears. He merely said quietly, “Go.”

Li Si bowed deeply, then bowed to Tao Shi beside him as well before resolutely turning away.

＊

At dusk, Li Si returned home and told Grandma and Godmother that he was going to aid Kuiyuan.

The moment Godmother heard, she began wiping her tears. “Son, must you go? Kuiyuan is so dangerous now, and you barely managed to come back safely! If something happens to you after you leave, how are your grandma and I supposed to live…”

When she cried, Li Si felt terrible as well. He lowered his head and choked up, unable to speak.

He knew that going to Kuiyuan was not merely for the sake of seeing Brother Xiao. It was to save Kuiyuan, to save Hedong, and also to save all of Great Xuan. For the great righteousness of family and country, even his own life and death had to be set aside, and naturally reunion with his family had to be set aside too.

But when he asked his own heart, was it not because his heart had been aching all this time as though torn apart? Was it not because his desire to see Brother Xiao—even his willingness to die together with Brother Xiao—had outweighed everything else?

He was no towering hero filled with righteous conviction. He was simply an ordinary mortal full of tender attachments and selfish thoughts.

He knelt beside Grandma’s bed, tears of self-reproach falling onto the bedding, only to be wiped away by a wrinkled, aged hand.

The old woman’s cool fingers brushed over the damp bedding, felt along his arm, then stroked his temples and hair.

“Good grandson,” the old woman said, her cloudy gray eyes turned in his direction as she stroked him with pity and reluctance. “You’ve grown up. You have your own mind now. Since you’ve made your decision, just go and do it. Don’t worry about this old woman. This old woman’s life is tough. I can endure anything. Our family has been a military household for generations, and we have never produced a coward afraid of death. Your Second Uncle was the most timid one, yet even he earned merit on the battlefield.”

“Grandma,” Li Si rubbed his face against her rough palm and cried chokingly, “Second Uncle, he… he…”

How unjustly he had died. How inexplicably. How absurdly and insignificantly. Li Si did not dare tell Grandma.

The corners of Grandma’s eyes were wet too, yet she said, “My second son was timid and useless his whole life and never amounted to much, but didn’t he still raise you? You are his greatest achievement. Stand up properly now. Don’t cry anymore.”

Li Si rose and forced back his tears. The old woman held his hand and patted it. “You say you’re going to save Kuiyuan. Grandma believes you can save it. Grandma and Godmother will wait here for you. Go safely, and come back safely.”

Li Si sniffed and nodded heavily.

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Early the next morning, after arranging everything at home, packing a simple bundle, and saying farewell to Godmother and Grandma, Li Si went to report under Defense Commissioner Li—no, now he was Pacification Commissioner Li.

Several days earlier in court, Pacification Commissioner Li had been saddled with a great share of the blame. He and the venerable Commissioner Zuo had always advocated war, but before the venerable Commissioner Zuo could achieve victory, illness had struck him down, and his younger brother, the younger Commissioner Zuo, had died tragically in battle. The peace faction now held the upper hand in court and argued that they should simply have ceded the three towns obediently from the beginning. Instead, they had tried to gain an advantage and ended up worse off—not only failing to save Kuiyuan, but offending Xiao yet again. Li Gang tried to argue his case, but the peace faction turned the blame on him: since you still insist that the three towns must be saved, then go save them yourself.

His Majesty immediately issued an edict.

And so, as a civil official who had fought only a three-day city-defense battle, Li Gang became the new commander of an army.

That “army” consisted of only twenty thousand men, most of them newly recruited soldiers.

Moreover, the “army” had almost no horses. Great Xuan had always lacked horses, and when the Xiao bandits besieged the capital and demanded gold and silver, they had extorted the army’s horses as well. The remaining civilian horses had been taken away by the younger Commissioner Zuo and perished along with the previous great defeat.

Even worse, there was hardly any military pay. The army was desperately poor.

Thus the shabby, beleaguered Pacification Commissioner led twenty thousand poorly equipped recruits and stationed them outside the capital’s northern gate, worrying so much that he kept tugging at his beard.

When a subordinate reported that an “Envoy Li” from the Imperial City Directorate had come to “inspect” them, Li Gang became deeply suspicious, thinking the peace faction must believe he was not dying quickly enough and had deliberately planted a spy beside him to make trouble.

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Li Gang was alone in the main command tent studying military maps when Envoy Li entered behind him, saluted respectfully, and said, “Pacification Commissioner Li.” Without even turning his head, Li Gang merely bristled his beard in irritation and gave a quiet laugh.

Li Si did not urge him. He simply waited quietly at the entrance. Only after a long while did the upright and unyielding Pacification Commissioner Li finally turn and look at him, as though he had only just noticed him. Coldly, he said, “Military affairs are busy. I truly did not know an honored envoy had arrived. Please come in.”

The young envoy wore the Imperial City Directorate uniform of black futou and red robe. His features were handsome, and he stood straight as a green pine. An ordinary bow and arrows rested on his back, a shriveled bundle hung at his side, and the saber at his waist was not the standard Imperial City Directorate-issued type; it was noticeably slimmer and longer.

In both hands, he carefully carried a thick stack of oil-paper packages. After entering, he saluted again, then selected one package and placed it on the desk.

Li Gang frowned. “What is this?”

Li Si answered honestly, “My mother asked me to bring some specialties from the capital to Commander Zhang of Ant County, so I bought peanut cakes. The shop was offering buy two, get one free and gave me too many. They’re inconvenient to carry on the march, so I’m giving one package to the Pacification Commissioner. They were freshly made. Pacification Commissioner, please eat them while they’re still warm.”

Pacification Commissioner Li: “…”