The Longest Day in Chang'an

Translator: DragonRider

When the wooden box was opened, the left side was a boiled leather ink cartridge.

And the right side was embedded with a short writing brush with a brush tip of 3cm long and a roll of bamboo fiber paper.

This was specially prepared for caravans; using the box as pad, they could write when riding camels or horses in long-distance business travel. Wei o’clock, Jan.14, the third year of Tianbao period (744 DC).

Chang’an, address unknown.

For the second time, several open double-shafts wagons, loaded with rows of greenish-yellow bamboo poles instead of round barrels, drove into the remote warehouse. There were at least a thousand bamboo poles, straight like countless spears. These bamboo poles were made of three-year-old mottled bamboos, as thick as arms and three feet long. Both ends of the bamboo poles were carefully sawed into a circular wedge, probably designed for certain embedment. At the raising tail of the wagons, there were also piles of wet river mud.

Along with the wagons came a dozen of prairie craftsmen. They had puffy eyes and tired faces, and supported the side of the wagons while walking, appearing to be slightly feeble. They had been working overtime for several days and had hardly slept.

When the fleet entered the warehouse, some wolf guards immediately came out holding brooms, sweeping off the wheel ruts around, and then shut the door.

Cao Poyan jumped out of the first wagon, and commanded wagons to park on the edge of the platform. The whole Chang’an was immersed in the Lantern Festival atmosphere, and the fleet carried not dangerous goods, so no one had noticed them.

Long Bo came over chewing mint leaves. He walked around the wagons, pulled out a few bamboo poles to examine, and then tilted his head, indicating that they could be unloaded. The door of the warehouse was creaked open and out came an unpleasant smell, as if something was being boiled on the fire. The prairie craftsmen knew that it was the soul of “Kailu Hodo”. They shouted excitedly and some of them bowed down to it on the spot.

The last process was about to begin, meaning the “Kailu Hodo” would soon be one, no one could prevent Chang’an from being destructed.

“Ok. Bring them inside for assembling.” Long Bo ordered. 𝘧r𝑒𝘦𝒘𝘦𝙗ｎovel.𝐜o𝒎

Out of the warehouse came a few servants, who covered their mouths and noses with water-damp linen towels. They first handed the same linen towels to the prairie craftsmen, then methodically took the bamboo poles out of the wagons and carried them in bundles to the warehouse.

Cao Poyan stood with folded arms, silent, observing the overall process. Long Bo came over and patted him on the shoulder, “General Yousha gave order that your last job is to keep watch here. Do you understand?”

Long Bo stressed “the last job”, and Cao Poyan slowly nodded. Since his hairs on the top of his head had been taken away, he was destined to be sacrificed in Chang’an, for which he had been ready.

It was just that Cao Poyan had some complaints that the General Yousha didn’t come on such a critical occasion, and assigned a backseat man from Kucha instead. He said he had more important things to deal with, but what was more important than Kailu Hodo?

Long Bo entered the warehouse, covering his face with a linen towel. The door creaked shut behind him. What really happened inside was unknown to outsiders.

Cao Poyan slowly sat down at the door of the warehouse with his back to the pillars, and took off a colorful stone necklace from his neck and played it in his hands. His daughter picked round beach stones by the Onon River, and strung them together with a string made of white horse hair to make this necklace, in which also mixed her three hairs and one breath. It was said that no matter how far apart they were, their souls could communicate with each other. Cao Poyan’s fingers slid dexterously over every colored stone, like the monks fingering prayer beads. God knew how many times he had rubbed the beads to make the stone smooth, and every time he could calm himself down.

General Yousha had cut Cao Caoyan’s hair off the top of his head, and according to the prairie shamans, if he showed sign of betrayal, his soul would suffer in the hell after he died. However, Cao Poyan didn’t care at all. What he really cared about was not the boring thing like his own life, but whether the task could be successfully completed, and the will of the Khan be executed.

Just two more hours, all would all be over. Cao Poyan held the necklace and smiled for the first time.

Not long after, there was a bang on the yard door, three short and four long knocks, and it repeated four times. Cao Poyan put on the colorful stone necklace; instead of rushing to open the door, he climbed onto a high tower nearby and looked out of the door.

Seeing Mag’er and two people stood outside, holding a woman of the Central Plains, he couldn’t help frowning.

Cao Poyan knew that they kidnapped Wang Zhongsi’s daughter, but they should keep her in the safe house in Xiuzheng Fang, how could they bring her here? Moreover, there were eight wolf guards when they set out, why only three came back?

He opened the door quickly, let them in and then shut it again. Cao Poyan grabbed Mag’er by the collar, and said grimly in Turkish, “What happened?”

Mag’er said a bit ashamed that they had been attacked by Tang spies, and were lucky enough to escape with the help of advance retreating solution. In order to show that he did not lie, he also took out a copper seal and a hanging bag. The seal read “Jing’an Ce Ping”, in the bag were smoke bomb, leather rope and a crossbow, all captured from the aggressive spy.

Counting all the stuff, Cao Poyan looked solemn. The equipment, which was the same as those of the soldiers who had attacked the C6 warehouse before, showed that they were members from the same group – this was a very dangerous signal that Jing’an Department had dug up the connection between the safe house and the wolf guards.

Cao Poyan did not dare to underestimate this opponent, who was entrenched in Chang’an like a spider. A slightest touch of the spider’s web would bring them death.

Loss of a safe house was not worth regretting, more important was, how did the Tang people find it? Would other safe houses be exposed? Maybe the troops of Jing’an Department were on the way here. General Yousha’s stupid plan had led to complications and was likely to endanger the resurrection of “Kailu Hodo”.

Mag’er saw Cao Poyan’s face fall and quickly courted him, “We have brought Wang Zhongsi’s daughter and didn’t let them take her away.”

Cao Poyan asked, “I remember you catching two women. How did you identify them?”

Mag’er replied somewhat proudly, “I took them back to the safe house and found this woman smell sweeter.” Then he roughly pulled Wen Ran’s Ruqun apart to both sides, revealing her pink inner clothes. She screamed, but her arms were clenched tightly, and her body gave off a delicious perfume.

Cao Poyan looked her over, motioned them to temporarily take her to the nearby well pavilion, and then went to the warehouse. He knocked at the door and it soon was pulled open, greeted first by a pungent smell, then Long Bo impatiently popped his head out, removing the linen towel on his mouth.

Cao Poyan told him that it might not be safe here, and he’d better withdraw now. Long Bo directly rejected, “It’s crunch time for assembling, we can’t leave. Are you sure Jing’an Department is approaching?”

Cao Poyan said, “The safe house in Xiuzheng Fang has just been attacked by the Lubi Army, and only less than half of Mag’er’s subordinates escaped. So, you’d better think about what you’ve done recently, anything missing or overlooked?”

Long Bo was very unhappy. He was the hero who saved the entire plan, while the Turk who failed to fulfill his duties was quibbling, “Hey, I’m a partner to the General Yousha, not subordinate to wolf guards, so don’t question me like this.”

Cao Poyan raised his arm in front of him and insisted, “Is it possible that the place you settled and the people you dealt with are related to the house in Xiuzheng Fang?”

Hearing this, Long Bo’s face changed. He instantly thought of a possibility, but it could never be revealed. He asked back, “That house is close to Qu River, and is a backup place for retreating. What are your people doing there?” The question hit home, and Cao Poyan remained silent.

Both of them had something to hide, and thus fell into a stalemate. Long Bo scratched his head and reluctantly said, “Well, I arranged this separate warehouse. Even if they come to Xiuzheng Fang, they can’t dig out this place. Are you reassured?”

Cao Poyan’s arm still hung on.

Long Bo stared into his eyes and sighed, “Do wolves in the prairies suspect as much as you? Well, under the flag pavilion in the west side of the warehouse, there is a nursing home where dozens of idle beggars gather all year round. You can hire a couple of men to stand around watching it, so they can inform you in advance if someone suspicious approach.”

“Beggars, are they willing to do this?”

Long Bo said, “They won’t refuse anything if they are paid enough.” Then he bent over, whispered to Cao Poyan, and slammed shut the warehouse door again – “Kailu Hodo” waits for no one.

Cao Poyan didn’t like Long Bo, but he had to admit that Long Bo’s proposal was indeed the best option at the moment, which solved the problem of insufficient security. Deep in thought, Cao Poyan turned around, thinking about how to find the leader of the beggars, and when he looked up, his anger flamed up.