Chapter 129: Fire in the Armory

The July sunlight was overly enthusiastic, inevitably stirring up impatience and restlessness among those forced to endure it.

A summer cicada crouched on the trunk of a locust tree, shrieking shrilly in a continuous din. Its oblivious and arrogant posture deeply irritated Zhou Liu, who was standing beside the pavilion.

With a flash of cold light, the proud cicada was sliced cleanly in two. As if unsatisfied, Zhou Liu proceeded to hack the insect into tiny fragments with repeated blows. Glancing at the sticky fluid coating the blade, he slowly wiped it clean against the tree bark before turning his attention to another cicada that was still screeching relentlessly.

"What madness has seized you, Zhou Liu? Why pick a fight with an insect? Can you possibly kill every summer cicada in existence?" Lu Lelia murmured irritably, tossing about as he feigned sleep in the cool pavilion.

"These bothersome pests deserve nothing less than death," Zhou Liu muttered, ruthlessly pinning another cicada with a single thrust of his blade.

"What is the point of it all?" Lu Lelia swept his sleeve in annoyance and lay back down.

With a stifled expression of frustration, Zhou Liu pulled his blade free, retreated to the bamboo couch, and sat heavily upon the bamboo chair, fixing his gaze squarely on Lu Lelia.

"When I was an assassin, I always felt that people weaker than myself were no different from these insects. I constantly wondered when I, too, would be slaughtered like a bug by someone else. The world I knew from childhood was built entirely on that principle—the weak at the mercy of the strong. Later, when I left the mountains, I found the world remained unchanged: ruthless and cold.

"But you are different, Master. You have never treated people like mere insects. That is why I, Zhou Liu, follow you with unwavering loyalty. Master, please tell me you will not become like the rest of them."

Lu Lelia’s body stiffened. He remained silent for a long time.

"Fetch some healing salve and tend to Cang Si's injuries."

Upon hearing this, a rare, genuine smile broke across Zhou Liu’s face.

Life is often helpless in this manner. When you harbor no expectations, the person you least anticipate keeps crossing your path. Yet when you yearn desperately to see them, you may wait in anguish to no avail, as they persistently fail to appear. Heavy with unspoken worries, Lu Lelia was naturally waiting for that elusive figure, Li Sansui.

Days slipped by, and as Lu Lelia's expression grew increasingly grim, Tang Xiaodao, cradling their infant daughter in her arms, finally broke down in soft sobs.

"It is all my fault for being so stingy back then, offering a mere ten copper coins in incense money before the Buddha. I am being punished by the Buddha with the birth of a daughter—unfavored by her grandfather, uncherished by her father. Ping'er, help me down from the bed; accompany me to offer incense and repentance before the Buddha."

Lu Lelia felt a splitting headache coming on. After offering gentle and patient consolations for a long time, he finally managed to lull Tang Xiaodao back to sleep. As he walked alone toward the study, he discovered that Li Sansui was already waiting for him.

"Imperial Censor Yang Guozhong has memorialized the Emperor, reporting that the military forces of Jiannan Circuit Regional Commander Xianyu Zhongtong have advanced in two columns into Quzhou and Jingzhou, scoring illustrious military achievements. Shortly thereafter, the Emperor issued another edict broadly recruiting troops from the two capitals, Henan, and Hebei to strike against Nanzhao. Does the Sage intend to achieve total victory in a single campaign and utterly annihilate the state of Nanzhao?"

Li Linfu stared at a map of the southwest, speaking half to himself, his head crowned with a multitude of newly sprouted white hairs.

"Uncle Master! Xianyu Zhongtong's grand army suffered a catastrophic defeat as early as the fourth lunar month at the battle of Xi'er River, with virtually the entire force annihilated!" Lu Lelia could no longer contain himself. Without waiting for Li Linfu to question him further, his face flushed with agitation as he blurted out the intelligence he had gathered.

Li Linfu's body swayed. He turned his head and stared fixedly at Lu Lelia with a stern expression. "Is this report true?"

"This disciple would not dare speak falsehoods!" Lu Lelia bowed deeply and recounted the entire process by which he had acquired the intelligence.

Li Linfu remained entirely silent, looking as though he had aged immensely in a single instant. He walked with trembling steps to his chair and lowered himself into it.

"Ever since the fourth year of Yonghui, the state of Zhao, situated in the remote southwestern borderlands, has submitted to our Great Tang and has never once betrayed us. With the Tibetan Empire growing formidable, our Great Tang supported Munshe Zhao in unifying the Six Zhaos and conferred upon Piluoge the title of King of Yunnan. To what end? A unified vassal state could more effectively check and balance the mighty Tibetan Empire.

"First, our Great Tang overawed them with military might; then, we controlled the economic lifeline of their populace through grain, silk, and porcelain. Aside from faithfully submitting to our Great Tang and holding the Tibetans at bay, how could that King of Yunnan, Geluofeng, ever dare to rebel?

"Oh, Sage! Must you shatter this equilibrium purely to flaunt your supreme authority?"

Gazing in the direction of Daming Palace, Li Linfu's tone was laden with sorrow.

"The territory of Nanzhao features towering mountains, dense forests, and miasmic swamps. Even if our Great Tang were to conquer it, our soldiers, unaccustomed to the local climate and water, would find it difficult to maintain a long occupation. Does this not simply present an opportunity to the Tibetans? When that day comes, the danger will not be confined to the Shu region of Jiannan Circuit alone; ten thousand miles of the western frontiers will also be plunged into perilous jeopardy."

Frowning, Lu Lelia interjected.

"Ah! It seems you have made much progress during this period. However, the greatest danger of all is that the King of Yunnan, Geluofeng, driven to fury by humiliation, might turn around and pledge allegiance to the Tibetan Empire, joining forces with them to launch a pincer attack against our Great Tang."

Li Linfu shook his head, heavy with anxiety.

"The Sage has suppressed the news of Xianyu Zhongtong's crushing defeat and is broadly summoning northern troops in preparation to wash away the disgrace. This shows he is resolved to drive Nanzhao into the arms of Tibet. Uncle Master, what should we do now?"

Lu Lelia looked blankly at Li Linfu.

Dropping his gaze slightly, Li Linfu pondered for a long time before finally hardening his resolve.

"Come closer." Li Linfu beckoned Lu Lelia to his side and whispered into his ear.

Upon hearing the plan, Lu Lelia’s expression altered drastically. He stared at Li Linfu in utter disbelief. "Uncle Master! Would doing this not be tantamount to self-destruction, crippling the martial strength of our Great Tang?"

"Those are merely lifeless objects. As long as our Great Tang remains prosperous, we can recover at any time. To sacrifice the minor for the greater is a lesson you still need to learn well."

With an unyielding expression, Li Linfu waved his hand dismissively.

Returning home, Lu Lelia sat alone in his study for a long time. Pushing open the window to gaze at the moon, he realized how late the night had grown.

Wang Liuli blinked her hazy eyes, glanced down at her heavily swollen belly, and offered a helpless, bitter smile. Turning her gaze toward Lu Lelia seated by the bed, she noted his grave and solemn expression and asked suspiciously, "What brings you to my quarters instead of staying in Qing'er's room?"

"I have a matter of utmost importance to discuss with you." After weighing his words for a long time, Lu Lelia ultimately decided against keeping secrets from Wang Liuli.

Seldom seeing Lu Lelia speak to her with such solemnity regarding a crucial matter, Wang Liuli instantly shook off her drowsiness. "What earth-shattering event could possibly require discussion at this hour?"

Nodding with profound earnestness, Lu Lelia replied, "Liuli, we are husband and wife; I have no wish to keep secrets from you. Aside from you, I can find no one else with whom I might deliberate."

An indescribable wave of happiness flooded Wang Liuli's heart. She gazed deeply at Lu Lelia and listened attentively as he recounted everything. Yet, once he finished, she remained frozen on the bed, taking a long time to recover her wits.

The current Chief Chancellor Li Linfu was his martial uncle; the grand army led by Jiannan Circuit Regional Commander Xianyu Zhongtong had been virtually wiped out at the Battle of Xi'er River; Emperor Xuanzong and Imperial Censor Yang Guozhong had suppressed the news of the defeat; the benevolent elder sister figure from the Five Poisons Sect in years past had suffered a tragic death; and he had even taken a princess of Nanzhao as a bride.

Had Tang Xiaodao been in Wang Liuli's place, she likely would have fainted long ago from the sheer shock of these staggering revelations. Yet, once Wang Liuli regained her composure, her eyes burned even brighter than usual.

"Lu Lelia, oh Lu Lelia, to think I have been married to you for so long, yet you still harbored so many secrets. Tell me honestly, is this newly wed Nanzhao princess beautiful?"

Stunned, Lu Lelia stared at Wang Liuli in disbelief. "I have just shared all of that with you, and your primary concern is her appearance?!"

"Of course! Because I am a woman, and a woman's natural concern is precisely this question." Wang Liuli tilted her chin up with a look of absolute righteousness.

"Sigh!" Lu Lelia let out a profound sigh. "You have changed. Marriage has altered you far too much."

"Naturally. Or did you prefer me to remain forever like Lu Jiu?" Wang Liuli tilted her head, gazing at Lu Lelia with a mischievous smile.

Lu Lelia was left utterly speechless. It seemed that seeking Wang Liuli's counsel had been a monumental misjudgment.

However, Lu Lelia was proven entirely wrong. Just as he sank into the depths of disappointment, Wang Liuli began discussing the matter with him point by point. Long after dawn broke, the two of them were still furrowing their brows, occasionally breaking into intense discussions.

Scarcely five days after his meeting with his martial uncle Li Linfu, Lu Lelia came to fully appreciate the chancellor's decisive and lightning-fast style of execution. With a single official appointment, he—a seventh-rank military officer who had served less than a year as Assistant Director of the Imperial Armament Directorate under the Directorate of Military Weapons—was transferred to the Left and Right Yingwu Guards of the Imperial Army, assuming the sixth-rank post of Director of Logistics and Baggage, as well as Guard Officer of the Imperial Escort.

A lively farewell banquet was held within the Arsenal. Fine wines and sumptuous dishes were served without stint, leaving the officers and soldiers thoroughly satisfied and flushed with wine.

Judging that the time was right, Lu Lelia instructed several trusted guards to relieve the sentries stationed at the entrance and the doorway of the warehouse.

At the Hour of Hai, as the night grew pitch black, dozens of large carts appeared silently outside the gates of the Arsenal. Led by Wang Shiyi, dozens of robust men stepped down from the carts and immediately spotted Hu Xiaoyun frantically waving at them from the entrance.

His martial uncle Li Linfu had intended for him to resign his post first and subsequently find an opportunity to put the Arsenal warehouses to the torch. Ultimately, however, Lu Lelia could not bear to see all those fine armaments reduced to ashes, so he took it upon himself to add a stratagem of replacing the genuine with the fake—a scheme that naturally required the assistance of his wife, Wang Liuli.

The personnel of the Arsenal had been rendered unconscious by sleeping potions and would not wake for a full two hours; how much weaponry could be transported away in that span? Gazing into the pitch-black sky, Lu Lelia felt his heart pounding with intense anxiety.

Fortunately, the operation passed without mishap. Two days later, Lu Lelia welcomed his successor as Assistant Director of the Imperial Armament Directorate.

Catching sight of the newcomer's smiling countenance, Lu Lelia could not help but feel a profound surge of admiration for Li Linfu. Pei Hui—the beloved son of Lady虢 and the husband of Princess Haoguo—was destined to become the scapegoat.

In the eighth month, on the Bingchen day, a fire broke out in the Chang'an Arsenal, consuming thirty-seven thousand weapons.

In a state of utter panic, Pei Hui sought out his mother, Lady虢, who promptly struck him across the face, sending him spinning in disorientation. She then ordered attendants to escort Pei Hui back to the scene of the fire, where they smeared his entire body with soot and ruthlessly scorched his hair and face. Only then did she wail aloud as she dragged Pei Hui toward the Daming Palace.

It was reported that a giant rat had chewed on lamp oil, triggering a fire in the armory. Yet Pei Hui had disregarded his own safety, leading a squad of soldiers to extinguish the blaze with fearless heroism, narrowly escaping death in the line of duty.