Legend of Great Tang’s Twin Dragons

Kou Zhong returned to Li Yuan’s side, the latter signaled with his hand, Wei Gonggong and a group of imperial guards immediately retreated to a distant place, and then he spoke heavily, “What did Zhao Deyan have to say?” Just by listening to him calling Zhao Deyan’s name directly, it was clear that his dragon heart was not pleased, only that he could not do anything to Zhao Deyan.

Kou Zhong met Li Yuan’s gaze, a strange feeling grew in his heart. He and Li Yuan represented the two most powerful military forces in the north and the south, respectively. Their seemingly small talk could in fact, determine the future of Central Earth in three words two sentences. And he was certain that in the long history of Central Earth, the delicate relationship and situation between he and Li Yuan had never appeared before.

Song Que’s words were not incorrect, history is indeed created by people, and Kou Zhong was in the middle of making history.

Li Yuan frowned again and said, “If Shaoshuai has a hidden trouble hard to mention, you could not answering my question.”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “Fazhu must not misunderstand, because Zhao Deyan’s words touched on my old friendship with Tuli and the others, I just feel a little uncomfortable. Zhao Deyan, this fellow wholeheartedly wanted to drive a wedge in the brotherhood between me and them, and in this aspect, he will surely be very successful. In the end, everything can only be solved by military force, which will make my brothers beyond the Great Wall and I become enemies.”

Slightly shaken, Li Yuan said, “Zhao Deyan therefore threatened Shaoshuai with the invasion of the allied armies, am I right?”

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “In this regard, the more certain the tone of Zhao Deyan’s voice is, the more it means that the allied armies have not yet prepared their invasion operation, otherwise he would not mention a single word in order to lower our vigilance. And thus, by pushing this matter, it is another scheme to deal with me, Kou Zhong. Previously, on his way to Yu He An, Ziling fell into an assassination attempt at the East Market, it must be Zhao Deyan’s own scheme, so much so that he personally participated in it.”

The murderous intent in Li Yuan’s pair of eyes flaring greatly, he spoke heavily, “He has the impertinence to act wantonly in my, Li Yuan’s place?”

Kou Zhong said, “Fazhu need not take this kind of trivial things to heart. Lao Zhao, I can take care of all by myself, Fazhu watching on the side will be enough. Losing Zhao Deyan will definitely be a heavy blow to Xieli.”

Li Yuan was silent for half a day; he spoke slowly, “Shaoshuai is more familiar with the situation outside the Great Wall than me. In Shaoshuai‘s estimate, if we form an alliance, will Xieli give up the invasion of the South?”

Kou Zhong sighed inwardly, Li Yuan was so out of touch with the world outside Chang’an, plus he was deceived by lowly people’s instigation, someone like Li Shimin would not ask such a question.

He said, “First of all, Xieli will do everything possible to destroy our alliance, only if it is completely without any chance of success will he invade our territory with all his strength. This situation is a done deal, no one can change it, not even Xieli, Fazhu, or me, Kou Zhong.”

Li Yuan’s pair of eyes revealed a thoughtful look.

Kou Zhong continued, “Therefore, we must negotiate the details of the alliance and cooperation as soon as possible, and then formally announce our oath to fight side by side to the world, afterwards we wait respectfully for Xieli’s good-self. At present, this is our top priority.”

Li Yuan asked, “Will Song Que personally come to participate?”

Shaking his head, Kou Zhong said, “Song Que has clearly said that I have the full authority to handle everything, Du Fuwei is of the same mind. The Song Family Army, the Jianghuai Army and the Shao Shuai Army, there is only one person in charge, and that is me, Kou Zhong.”

Knitting his brows in deep thought, Li Yuan said, “If we announce the alliance at the palace courtyard banquet later, what will be the consequences?”

Kou Zhong knew that his mind was finally moved; he said, “The most direct response would be Bi Xuan and Zhao Deyan’s delegation will immediately brush their sleeves and leave, because anybody would know that our alliance is in response to Xieli. Subsequently, the allied armies from beyond the Great Wall will go down south on a large scale to take advantage of the moment our alliance is still fragile and have not undergone any testing, to gain the initiative by striking first.”

Li Yuan’s dragon countenance showed a shocked expression, his face changed a few times.

Just like Li Shimin described, the decaying life deep in the palace, borrowing the red and leaning on bluish-green has already whittled away Li Yuan’s spirit and the color of his guts. Especially when Xieli pointed his spearhead directly at Chang’an, it made Li Yuan hesitant to contradict even more. On the one hand, he wanted to use Kou Zhong’s power to make Xieli sound out the difficulties and retreat to avoid defeat; on the other hand, he did not want to anger Xieli excessively. Toward Bi Xuan’s delegation, he did not wish to dismiss the current situation and rely on luck – even more. As a result, with three hearts and two intentions, he could not make decision.

Kou Zhong continued in heavy voice, “The top priority for you and me, two sides is to quickly reach an agreement on the overall combat plan for joint operations, so that our Central Earth coalition forces can meet the enemy at the optimum condition and stored-up momentum, plus with adequate preparation.”

Li Yuan pondered again for a moment, he said, “Shaoshuai, please give me a bit more time, let me consider it carefully.”

Kou Zhong understood that he had to consult Jiancheng, Yuanji, and various trusted aides, cabinet ministers and the others for their opinions. Fortunately, he already had no illusions and extravagant hopes for Li Yuan, his only hope was for him to restrain himself until after the allied armies from beyond the Great Wall were resolved before turning his spearhead around to deal with him and Li Shimin, so that they would have ample time to deploy counterattack operation.

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He had a bit of urge; he very much wanted to say clearly that the reason Bi Xuan was willing to accept the invitation and come was to help Jiancheng and Yuanji to put Li Shimin in order. However, if he did that, the consequences would be hard to fathom, perhaps it would even strengthen their suspicion of Kou Zhong secretly joining hands with Li Shimin to topple the Great Tang.

He nodded and said, “Of course, but there is not much time, Fazhu needs to make decision early.”

A displeased expression flashed through Li Yuan’s face, but it quickly faded, showing his dissatisfaction with Kou Zhong’s urging on this matter. Deep in the palace, one should exhaust scolding and use flattery as much as possible. Someone who was accustomed to being an emperor like Li Yuan, all along he was not used to hearing unpleasant-to-the-ears blunt words.

Kou Zhong sighed secretly, not because he blamed Li Yuan, but because he was blaming himself for not being slick and sly enough, his experience in this matter has not reached the sophisticated level yet, hence it was hard to avoid slip of the tongue.

As if nothing had happened, Li Yuan said, “They should have been waiting for a long time! We must not delay anymore, please!”

“Xu Ziling Xiansheng, Ba Fenghan Xiansheng have arrived.”

The two teams of musicians on the side of the palace hall played a welcoming tune, everybody in the palace hall fell silent, none did not raise his head and look, vying to see the two men’s elegant manner. Since they did not have any official titles within the Shao Shuai Army, the herald at the door simply addressed the two men as ‘Mister’.

In front of the palace hall, representing Li Yuan to welcome them into the palace hall was Li Jiancheng. On the surface, he was polite and courteous, but both sides were well aware that everything was just a façade, the actual situation was that in their bosom, they wanted to stake it all in a you die, I live, and the two cannot exist together mentality as soon as possible.

After Li Jing and others handed over the two men to be received by Li Jiancheng, they walked into the hall in advance and sat down at the banquet table on Li Shimin’s side.

The banquet tables were evenly distributed on both sides of the main hall, with two rows each on the left and right, each row had eight banquet tables. It was far less crowded and less lively than the Lunar New Year’s Eve palace courtyard banquet. The number of attendees was reduced by half, approximately around four hundred people.

The main banquet table was located on the elevated platform on the north side of the palace hall, quite with an only-me-holding-the-supremacy impression. There were several people have already been seated on the table, including Li Yuanji, who had just fought a verbal battle with them.

Xu Ziling stepped over the entrance and exit of the secret passage, which was sealed without showing the slightest bit of traces, a burst of strange feeling welled up in his heart, as if at that moment, he was connected to the world outside the exits at the other two ends of the passage.

A pair of bright and beautiful eyes attracted his attention, the owner was precisely Hu Xiaoxian, who went to the Xing Qing Palace to call on him but did not meet him. She was throwing flirtatious glances toward him. On the same table, there were also her father Hu Fo, Chi Shengchun, Ren Jun’s Furong Ye, Yin Zuwen, Song Shidao and Lei Jiuzhi. Just by seeing that Lei Jiuzhi, in his capacity as the housekeeper, was also invited to attend, it could be seen that Yin Zuwen was giving Situ Furong enough face.

Li Jiancheng leaned over to his ear and said, “Xu Xiong‘s old friend has already taken his seat, he is waiting for Xu Xiong’s good-self.”

Xu Ziling was shocked inwardly, could it be that Li Jiancheng has seen through Ren Jun’s disguise? However, listening to the tone of Li Jiancheng’s voice, he must be talking about something else. No longer dared to look at Hu Xiaoxian’s banquet table, he frowned and said, “Old friend?”

Acting as if he did not hear the exchange between the two men, Ba Fenghan’s pair of eyes gleaming, he cast his gaze towards the living-high-and-looking-down main banquet table.

Li Jiancheng revealed a teasing, proud-of-himself expression, he slyly spoke as he kept walking, “Isn’t Ge Dashi, Ge Suwen Xu Xiong‘s old acquaintance in Longquan?”

Xu Ziling knew that Li Jiancheng could not help making fun of him, he smiled calmly; he did not take it to heart at all, but he was not drawn to look at the main banquet table either.

His gaze continued to sweep around. From the right side, the table closest to the main banquet table was full of Li Yuan’s important ministers, including Pei Ji, Feng Deyi and the others, his gaze moved to the various tables on the left. Suddenly an inner mountain appeared in front of him. Turned out it was Ma Ji, whom he had not seen for a long time, rising from his seat, raising his cup to salute him from a distance. The fat on his face trembled and shook, but his pair of eyes shot spiteful gaze, which was in sharp contrast with the smile that stretched over every cun of his fat face.

Sitting by his side was the young martial art master of his party, Tuoba Miefu. He did not follow him to stand up, only staring at him coldly, his gaze was sharper than a saber blade.

Xu Ziling cupper his fist in a polite response, thinking that this should be regarded as peaceful measures before using force! But his mouth seemed to be replying to Li Jiancheng, “Ge Suwen, oh, Ge Suwen, he belongs to Kou Zhong. It has nothing to do with me.”

Li Jiancheng was dumbstruck and unable to reply, he did not know how to answer him. Because the tone of Xu Ziling’s voice and its content were like Jianghu’s rough and coarse talk, which was incongruous with the situation before his eyes, totally beyond his expectation.

Ba Fenghan smiled and said, “I hope Kou Zhong will be willing to part with his cherished desire, Ge Suwen seems to fit my taste [orig. spleen and stomach] very much.”

Finally Li Jiancheng’s countenance changed; flame was appearing in his eyes. Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling’s casual, idle-chat style exchange showed clearly that they did not consider him, the grand Crown Prince of the Great Tang Kingdom, to be worthy in their eyes. It finally made fury written across his face, he was unable to control the extremely deep hostility in his heart.

By this time the three men reached the bottom of the steps to the platform. From the main banquet table, someone rose up to his full height, left the banquet table and moved to the edge of the steps. Looking down, he let out a long laughter and said, “That day at the Little Longquan I lacked the karma to meet, fortunately the Emperor of Heaven did not disappoint resolute person, finally let me, Ge Suwen fulfill this cherished desire in a faraway place. Hereby I sincerely pay my respect and send my regards to Xu Xiong and Ba Xiong.”

When he was sitting on the table, he already gave up an ample overbearing, majestic like a mountain impression. This moment he straightened up his tiger-body, it was even more like a pine and cypress that have been through the wind and the rain for a long time, tall and straight, and lofty. Even more deeply impressive was the unexplainable cultured, elegant air penetrating out through the rough exterior.

He was about the same height as Xu and Ba, his build was strong and solid, but his fingers and palms were slender and flexible. He was dressed in a crimson warrior’s casual attire, covered in a plain white and bundles of blue flowers cloak, white leather boots on his feet, his hair rolled up in a heroic bun on top of his head, under the light of the brilliant, glorious decorated lanterns, his black hair was gleaming, extremely eye-catching.

The cultured, elegant air was mainly originated from his unique facial appearance, clean fair skin without beard, his narrow and slender face seemed to be a bit out of place sitting atop his particularly broad shoulders, the size was a bit out of proportion. Yet on this narrow face grew a pair of slender, extending-to-his-temples phoenix eyes, squinting like two sharp knives.

Although there was no weapon visible anywhere on his body, his bearing and movements could make people feel that within his body there was a huge explosive power brewing. In itself, it has more destructive power and more dangerous than any weapon, forming a unique and intimidating, so much so that it appeared to be strange – charm, worthy to be Gaoli petal’s [not sure] most resounding and outstanding figure below Fu Cailin. No wonder that as soon as he entered the palace hall, Ba Fenghan’s attention has been attracted by him.

Ba Fenghan laughed aloud and said, “Didn’t Ge Xiong always carry around five sabers on you, as inseparable as form and shadow? You troubled Ol’ Ba to mistakenly think that I mis-recognized the individual concerned, wondering about where did a figure who look like Ge Xiong suddenly appear from?”

Ge Suwen revealed a laughing-involuntarily expression, he spoke cheerfully, “Unexpectedly Ba Xiong is someone who loves to chat and laugh, Suwen is greatly surprised. Were it not that tonight I am attending a banquet rather than going to the battlefield, Ba Xiong would definitely see that my whole body is full of scrap metal hanging on it, there won’t be any misunderstanding.”

Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling exchanged glances, they both felt that joy and anger, this person did not show on his face, shrewd and extremely deep, definitely not a bold but not very astute, easy character [in a story].

Right this moment, a burst of formless yet solid cold air filled the platform and came down the steps, straight to pursue the two men, causing them to have a dreadful feeling of a strange chill invading their bodies, but it was quickly disappeared.

Ba Fenghan knew that he was displaying severity immediately on taking office [idiom: initial show of strength], but on the surface, this move did not reveal the slightest bit of trace; it was extremely brilliant. He was about to counterattack in secret, Li Jiancheng said, “How about we sit down first and talk later?”

Kou Zhong and Li Yuan boarded the imperial carriage, under escort of personal cavalry they drove towards the Taiji Palace Hall. Coming to meet Kou Zhong, Li Shimin spurred his horse ahead to open up a path.

Kou Zhong peeked out of the curtain to watch the beautiful scenery outside the window along the way, but a feeling of weariness surged from the bottom of his heart. The reason was Li Yuan’s contradictory personality. This was a conclusion drawn from Li Yuan’s behavior, not a wild speculation at all.

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In terms of women or even polo games, Li Yuan showed fanaticism and passion, brimming with ardent love for life, but on the other hand, without remembering old affection, he ruthlessly executed Liu Wenjing. Toward Hulao and Pingyang like Li Mi and Dou Jiande, he even murdered them mercilessly. Toward Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji, also Pei Ji, who had become his trusted aide, favored minister, for fear of he did not take enough good care, he forgave them for all their faults, but toward Li Shimin, the son who made countless outstanding military meritorious service for him, his grievance was extremely deep. Even if there was no conclusive evidence, he still acted if you want to condemn somebody, don’t worry about the pretext [idiom, from Zuozhuan: give a dog a bad name, then hang him], he progressively pushed Li Shimin into the danger spot, his prejudice and stubbornness was very hard to believe.

Not only his previous way of life of roaming all around the country was still lingering in Li Yuan’s memory, he also indulged himself in a life of debauchery deep in the palace; the wind, flower, snow and moon, trite poetry subject, as well as phony pleasure-seeking, completely wiped out his magnificent aspiration. On top of that, with the serious blow of unsuccessful encirclement and annihilation operation against Shi Zhixuan, he no longer dared to venture into danger. Under pressure of the threat from the allied armies from beyond the Great Wall directly aimed at Chang’an, without any room to advance or to retreat, making it impossible for him and Kou Zhong’s alliance to be implemented. It looked as if he was going to simply sit and waste a good opportunity.

He appeared to be strong, but in fact he was still bewilderingly fragile. On the surface, he projected a heroic spirit, but inwardly he was really indecisive, secretly thinking of relying on pure luck.

The most annoying thing was that their current success or failure depended on Li Yuan’s thoughts, yet he was so hard to predict that Kou Zhong felt a little body weary, strength exhausted. Toward the future, he no longer had the confidence like before.

Li Yuan’s voice entered his ears, saying, “Didn’t Tuli and Xieli become like fire and water? How did they suddenly become breathing from the same nostril?”

Kou Zhong did not feel like turning his head to look at him, keeping his eyes out of the window, he spoke indifferently, “The key lies in Bi Xuan. Among the Tujue, he has a god-like transcendental status, he is the cohesive force of the Tujue people. Tujue actually consist of large and small tribes forming one ethnic group. Xieli and Tuli are the leaders of different tribes. Anything that involves the interests of each tribe depends on the intentions of the tribal chief. In this case, personal grievances are not important, so Bi Xuan has a bigger role. Therefore, when Bi Xuan went down the arena to rope in Tuli and Xieli, it was very difficult for Tuli to disagree, otherwise his status could not be protected.”

Li Yuan remained silent.

Kou Zhong turned his head to look at him, he spoke slowly, word by word, “To break Tujue people’s alliance, to destroy their morale, the best way is to knock down Bi Xuan, to pierce the myth of his invincibility.”

Li Yuan jumped in fright, he hurriedly said, “This is not a small matter, the chance of success is next to nothing, Shaoshuai must not act blindly without thinking.”

Kou Zhong sighed inwardly. With Li Yuan’s attitude like this, his battle with Ke Dazhi would be circumstances that require action [idiom: absolutely necessary]. Only this way they would be able to force Bi Xuan to have a decisive battle against Ba Fenghan, but this would involve a humongous risk. Because no matter how much progress Ba Fenghan has made in recent years, his opponent was the unrivalled-beyond-the-Great-Wall ‘Wu Zun’ Bi Xuan, who would dare to assert the outcome of the battle? If Ba Feng Han suffered defeat and died, the aftermath would indeed be unimaginable.

However, the moment they entered Chang’an, they were already riding on a tiger’s back, there was no possibility of turning back.

Li Yuan’s only-me-holding-the-supremacy main banquet table on the dragon platform was one and a half times bigger than various tables under the steps, it occupied the north side of the hall, so that all those sitting in the main banquet table were more or less facing the main hall, which was convenient for enjoying the singing and dancing performances.

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Li Yuan’s dragon position was located due north, with Ge Suwen on the left and Kou Zhong on the right.

Under Ge Suwen were, in order, Li Shimin, Han Chao’an, Li Nantian, Jin Zhengzong and Li Shentong.

Under Kou Zhong were, in succession, Li Jiancheng, Xu Ziling, Li Yuanji, Ba Fenghan, and Dugu Feng [Peak].

Looking at the symmetrical arrangement of the people, it was clear that it had been through a meticulous planning; to the greatest extent, they try to make Kou, Ge, two positions to be on the same importance, there was no big and small distinction between them.

Dugu Feng was the only one representing the host family that did not belong to the host clan. From this, his deep relationship with Li Yuan and the friendship between the cabinet ministers of the old Sui Dynasty could clearly be seen. Yuwen Shang did not attend, obviously, due to the hatred and the desire for revenge, he refused to attend, not because Li Yuan favored one and discriminated against the other.

Ge Suwen was the first to speak, using his voice brimming with magnetism and masculine power, touching resounding words, he said, “The game that Xu Xiong and Ba Xiong and Shaoshuai were playing in Longquan was indeed very beautiful. Frankly speaking, since I started to understand the ways of the world, I have never suffered such pent-up unspoken grievances, before even fighting I was already disappointed and had to go back. However, in retrospect, there was a fresh and interesting feeling. My utmost admiration, my utmost admiration!”

Xu Ziling then moved his gaze to Liexia who was sitting on Yin Zuwen’s table. Seeing that this kid was responding with a sinister smile, he withdrew his gaze, met Ge Suwen’s, and spoke indifferently, “Although we and Ge Shi [master] are of different ways, our goals are not very different, it was for Longquan’s military and civilians’ sake. Otherwise, losing Longquan, this buffer, it will be harmful without any benefit to your distinguished country.”

Snorting coldly, Han Chao’an said, “Xu Xiong is wrong. Bai Ziting’s grand plan of founding his kingdom has been prepared for many years, plus he had sufficient preparations, so he had a great hope of success. If it weren’t for you flagrantly destroying it, how could Bai Ziting end up in hatred? My humble country, from top to bottom, will never forget this.” His words were brimming with the smell of gunpowder [idiom: combative tone].

Li Jiancheng and the others could only listen, it was hard to butt in, because both sides were honored guests, plus as the host, they must remain polite and neutral. Naturally, deep in their heart, Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji and Li Nantian were all cheering happily.

Ba Fenghan blurted out laughing and said, “The reason why Bai Ziting was so bold as to publicly establish his kingdom was because he had seen accurately that Tuli and Xieli did not get along well with each other; who would have thought that his action facilitated the two men to join hands to deal with him? Without needing to be told, strong or weak, victory or defeat, should already be clear early on. Han Xiong should be grateful to us like the people of Longquan.”

Ge Suwen had a smile on his face but remained silent, his demeanor was beyond anybody’s depth.

Xu Ziling had a faint feeling that his target was Kou Zhong, so he did not want to bother with Han Chao’an and Ba Fenghan’s pointless argument. From this, he could infer that this person was not only courageous and scheming, but was also extremely shrewd; the air of a great general.

In order to ease the with-swords-drawn-and-bows-bent [idiom: tense] atmosphere around the banquet table, Li Shentong interrupted, “Although I did not personally experience it, I can still imagine the danger that the city was facing at that time, the thrilling situation in forcing the Tujue Golden Wolf Army to retreat; it must be fascinating. Ha! Huangshang and Shaoshuai must be chatting extremely congenially, they are delaying the dinner time.”

His words were still in the air, drum music rose up to the sky, the drummers arrayed on both sides of the palace hall door were playing energetically. Everyone in the palace hall stood up and shouted loudly, ‘Long live!’

Li Yuan and Kou Zhong entered the venue side by side, followed by Li Shimin.