Chapter 384: The Lone Wild Goose

"Your Majesty, watch out!"

As Gao Jianli rose, ready to hurl the zhu in his hands at Qin Shi Huang, a great shout also rang out behind him, from the entrance of the hall.

Gao Jianli stood within five paces of the royal couch, but Heifu was over ten paces behind him, and his weapons had already been confiscated by the Halberdiers of the Imperial Guard outside the hall — now he was utterly unarmed.

In desperation, Heifu could only snatch the bronze helmet off the head of the nearby court gentleman Dong Yi, and just as he had done countless times playing "soldier-ball" with his men, acting as the thrower, he hurled it with all his might straight at Gao Jianli, hoping to stop him!

Just as the helmet Heifu threw smashed heavily into Gao Jianli's back, the zhu in Gao Jianli's hands left his grip, and at nearly the same instant, a figure within three paces of the Emperor also sprang up, flipped the low table before him high into the air, and collided it with the zhu hurtling toward Qin Shi Huang!

It was Zhao Gao — the Prefect of the Office of Imperial Chariots, who had been watching Gao Jianli the entire time!

Gao Jianli's zhu, already knocked off course by Heifu's helmet strike, was then blocked by the low table Zhao Gao had flung. In the end, it barely reached a bronze pillar several chi from the Emperor's side, striking it with an ear-splitting clang!

Qin Shi Huang was also startled by this sudden attack. He instinctively stood, looking at the bronze pillar that had shielded him from disaster, then at Gao Jianli, whom Zhao Gao had already pounced on and pinned to the ground, and then at Heifu, who was running over in small steps from the hall entrance...

In a daze, it was as if he had returned to many years ago — to that limping white-robed assassin, blade in hand, chasing him through the great hall and humiliating him utterly! When Lady Xu's dagger struck the bronze pillar, had the sound not been just the same?

Qin Shi Huang could never forget Jing Ke's eyes. Now, though Gao Jianli's eyes were blind, they seemed just as they had that year, blazing with the same flame of hatred.

And Qin Shi Huang's left ear was filled with the reverberation, buzzing incessantly.

The Emperor sat back down. Zhao Gao had already twisted and broken Gao Jianli's arms. Heifu also entered the hall and prostrated himself, saying he had come too late to rescue His Majesty.

Qin Shi Huang, however, merely stared fixedly at the zhu, smashed to pieces, and in his fury, laughed instead:

"With your lips you sang of eternal prosperity, of a thousand autumns and ten thousand years — but in your heart, you wanted me dead!"

"A fine one, this Gao Jianli!"

"A fine lot, these leftover wretches of the Six Kingdoms!"

Gao Jianli was dragged away by Dong Yi and the others. Palace servants cleaned the mess on the floor; the shattered zhu was quickly carried off, and the low table was replaced with a brand-new one. But the Emperor sat with a dark face, silent for a long time, and all the ministers in the hall could only stand, eyes on their noses and noses on their hearts.

The "Ode to Qin," which moments ago had sung praises and extolled virtues, had in the blink of an eye become a joke — but no one could laugh.

Heifu was stealing glances at Zhao Gao. Just now, he had once again witnessed this man's ruthlessness.

By the time he had dashed in with the Halberdiers of the Imperial Guard, Gao Jianli was already subdued by Zhao Gao. Zhao Gao had been a chariot warrior; his arms could rein in galloping horses. He seized Gao Jianli's slender arms and twisted them out of shape. As Heifu passed by, he could even hear the crisp crack of breaking bones and dislocating joints, while Zhao Gao wore a smug, savage grin.

What agony that must have been — yet Gao Jianli clenched his teeth, his face flushed red, and did not utter a single groan.

Though they stood on opposite sides, Heifu still admired such a man. It was only a pity that the hands capable of playing the world's most exquisite music had already been destroyed by Zhao Gao, and his fate, the moment he hurled that zhu, had long been sealed...

As he was dragged away, Gao Jianli offered no struggle, merely closing his eyes, a faint smile on his lips.

As Heifu's gaze swept past, Zhao Gao happened to look up at the same moment. Their eyes met, then quickly shifted away.

Heifu was marveling at Zhao Gao's ruthlessness, while Zhao Gao was somewhat sullen and displeased. He had always been suspicious of Gao Jianli — how could those scholars from the Six Kingdoms east of the mountains possibly submit so easily? Sure enough, Gao Jianli raised his zhu to strike the King. Zhao Gao had seized the opportunity, flipped the low table, and blocked that blow for the Emperor.

This was the merit of saving His Majesty's life, but the blemish on it was that Heifu, arriving neither early nor late but precisely at that moment, had also thrown a helmet that struck Gao Jianli in the back, sending his zhu wide. Given the circumstances at the time, even if Zhao Gao had not intervened, it could not have hit the Emperor...

"Why must you be everywhere?" Zhao Gao cursed inwardly.

At that moment, the Emperor, who had been silent for a long while, spoke.

"Heifu, Wang Li and Dong Yi said you rushed into the palace gate, claiming you had urgent business to see me. You took the steps three at a time ascending the hall, and when Gao Jianli rose to throw his zhu, you shouted a warning and struck him with a helmet. Could it be that you knew beforehand this man intended treachery?"

Zhao Gao pricked up his ears. He was keen to hear just how Heifu would explain this!

Heifu prostrated himself and said, "Last night I arrived at Du County and heard Zhang Han say that Gao Jianli was a friend of Jing Ke, and that now, having been pardoned by Your Majesty, his eyes blinded with smoke, he serves as a music master in the Bureau of Music, often able to approach Your Majesty. I grew suspicious at heart..."

He weighed his words and continued, "Furthermore, the Archivist Zhang Cang has recently been studying musical pitch with Gao Jianli at the Bureau of Music. This morning, when Gao Jianli was summoned to the palace by order, Cang sensed something amiss in his speech. Encountering me at the gate of the Privy Treasury, he told me of this. He had always felt Gao Jianli's conduct was perverse and harbored unease, and asked me to enter the palace to warn Your Majesty to be wary of this man. I hurried over, but was still a step too late. I am guilty!"

"Is that so?"

Qin Shi Huang nodded and sighed, "Heifu cares for me, emulating the deed of Xia Wuju."

He then glanced at the Commandant of Justice Li Si, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, his face covered in sweat, but skipped over him and directly summoned the General of the Palace Gentlemen, Meng Yi, ordering him to immediately dispatch palace guards to question Xia Wuju, Zhang Cang, and the others who had the most contact with Gao Jianli.

Heifu was not flustered in the slightest. He had long ago given Zhang Cang a heads-up, telling him that if something happened in the palace, he should be mentally prepared to be investigated. Zhang Cang was a clever man and knew how to speak to preserve himself at such a sensitive moment.

Without those words from Heifu, Zhang Cang, having been far too close to Gao Jianli lately and often bringing him things, would have been under great suspicion. He likely would have been thrown into prison by the Commandant of Justice for a thorough investigation, and even if he cleared his name, his official post and noble rank would probably have been lost.

"Zihu, ah, Zihu, don't waste your pity on Gao Jianli. Think about yourself first. You befriended someone you shouldn't have, and your little brother here can only help you this far..."

Having ordered a thorough investigation into the matter, Qin Shi Huang's mood remained difficult to settle. After a moment, as if speaking to himself, and yet as if addressing Li Si, Zhao Gao, Heifu, and the others in the hall, he said:

"Have I been too lenient with these leftover wretches of the Six Kingdoms?"

In the twenty-seventh year of Qin Shi Huang, autumn, the eighth month. The morning glow had just pierced the clouds when the heavy beat of drums and horns rose over Xianyang City, sobbing and wailing, mournful and sorrowful.

The execution ground by the Wei Bridge was already packed tight with Qin folk who had come to watch the spectacle. One hundred and twenty convicts in reddish-brown prison garb were lined up in a row, hands bound behind their backs, kneeling on the ground, wailing and lamenting without end. Behind them stood the expressionless executioners.

These were all people connected to Gao Jianli: the wealthy household of Songzi County in Julu Commandery, all the families in Songzi City who had treated Gao Jianli well, several music masters from the Bureau of Music who had been in close contact with him, and the petty clerk of the Privy Treasury who had sympathized with Gao Jianli and secretly supplied him with lead blocks...

And at the center of the execution ground was the main subject of today's punishment. Five horses were positioned in five directions, ropes attached to their bodies, the ropes tied to the neck and four limbs of a man with disheveled hair and tattered clothes.

The Qin people cursed and spat at Gao Jianli without cease — he had actually dared to attempt to assassinate the supreme Emperor. Meanwhile, the scholars and merchants from east of the passes on the periphery wore varied expressions; they harbored sympathy but dared not show it.

Gao Jianli's death was imminent, yet he wore a faint smile the entire time.

The one in charge of the execution was Sima Xin, the jailer of the Southern Market of Xianyang. He cleared his throat lightly and went over to ask Gao Jianli, "Gao Jianli, you have dragged your old friends from Yan and Zhao to die with you. Do you have any regrets?"

"It is Zhao Zheng who kills them, not I."

Gao Jianli replied, "If you gave me another chance, I would still strike him with my zhu! Only this time, my aim would be truer!"

"A clownish buffoon, a moth darting into the flame!"

Sima Xin's face darkened with displeasure, but Gao Jianli burst into loud laughter.

"However fierce the fire, if only the moths unafraid of death are numerous enough, how can it not be extinguished?!"

At these words, Sima Xin's expression changed drastically. He ordered Gao Jianli's tongue cut out, to spare himself any more of his talk.

His bright eyes were already blind, his deft hands already ruined, and now the tongue that once unfurled his clear, resonant singing voice was gone too, the bloody lump of flesh tossed to the ground. Gao Jianli was now, like his beloved zhu, shattered beyond repair...

He could not see the scene on the execution ground beside him. He could only hear, with the chopping sounds of the executioners' axes and halberds, the wretched screams of those who had helped him, and the stench of blood, feces, and urine gradually permeating the air.

Gao Jianli's heart was bleeding, and from his eyes, two trails of bloody tears burst forth.

At last, when all sounds had returned to silence, it was his turn.

The ropes on his limbs and neck began to pull taut. Gao Jianli knew the final moment was about to arrive.

But he did not care. He was listening intently, to the high, high sky above, where wild geese were calling — jiū jiū …

In the eighth month, geese fly south.

He opened his blood-mangled mouth, wanting to say something, but no words came. He could only tell himself in his heart:

"This lone goose — at last, I return to the flock!"

With the crack of the whip and the scream of horses, the elegant musician was torn limb from limb by the harshest punishment of Qin law!

In a corner of the Xianyang city wall, Heifu and Zhang Cang watched it all from a distance.

Amid his lingering terror, Zhang Cang could not hide his grief. He turned his head away and secretly wiped away tears.

Heifu only watched as the heads of one hundred and twenty wealthy households and scholars of the six kingdoms tumbled into the Wei River. The banks of the Wei were dyed red. Blood flowed into the murky river and turned orange. A little farther off, the stain of blood faded, as if nothing had happened at all.

His premonition had been right. The Emperor had resolved to tighten control over the former lands of the six kingdoms. From the moment of Gao Jianli's assassination attempt, the relationship between the Qin government and the remnant scholars of the six kingdoms would likely drift further and further apart …

……

After the assassination attempt by Gao Jianli, the Emperor ordered the Commandant of Justice to carry out a purge within the palace. Not only were those closest to Gao Jianli imprisoned one by one and subjected to harsh investigation, but from that point on, no musician or painter from the six kingdoms would ever again set foot within the forbidden inner palace!

Even the three Chu painters who had once painted the portrait of the Queen Mother of the West for Qin Shi Huang were no exception.

Even so, the Music Bureau could still assemble over a hundred Qin native music officials to perform the newly arranged "Ode to Qin" for Qin Shi Huang in the Zhangtai Palace.

Completely different from Gao Jianli's melodies, the musicians struck bells, blew yu pipes, and plucked qin zithers — but none played the zhu. With their sheer numbers and imposing presence, the music they made was grand and mighty, carrying across dozens of paces to reach the Emperor's ears.

Yet Qin Shi Huang was disappointed. The same lyrics, played by over a hundred musicians, lacked the force and spirit that Gao Jianli had drawn from a single zhu. It felt dull and lifeless.

"Enough. Withdraw!"

With a sweep of his broad sleeve, the hundred musicians bowed their heads and slowly retreated, like an ebbing tide, soon vanishing outside.

The hall was empty once more. No figures in sight, only the howl of the wind. The Emperor sat high above, alone, his eyes half-lowered, his expression unreadable …

In this moment, he too seemed like a lone swan that had flown too high and too far, far from the flock of geese, beyond the understanding of the world.

Only when Chancellor Wang Wan and Grandee Secretary Feng Quji entered the hall to pay their respects did the Emperor raise his head and proclaim:

"Zhao Gao shielded us from Gao Jianli's strike, rendering lifesaving service. Diligent in royal affairs, he is promoted one noble rank, to Left Geng, and remains Prefect of the Office of the Imperial Chariots. Additionally, he is awarded two hundred yi of gold!"

"Heifu, in the urgency of the moment, hurled his helmet to strike the assassin — also rendering lifesaving service. He further submitted memorials proposing westward expansion, military farming, the high saddle and stirrup, and other policies, all of which benefit the state and the people and greatly accord with our will. For these several merits rewarded together, he shall be promoted two ranks directly, invested with the noble rank of Middle Geng! He is also awarded two hundred yi of gold!"

Having spoken, Qin Shi Huang asked Wang Wan and Feng Quji:

"Among the thirty-six commanderies, which still lacks a Commandant?"

Wang Wan and Feng Quji exchanged a glance, the same thought in both their minds.

Heifu is about to be put to great use by the Emperor …

(End of chapter)