Chapter 103
Chapter 103
[Li Erfeng Becomes Wanyan Gou – 23]
After thirty lashes, Wang Bian had practically lost half his souls and spirits. He hung outside in the freezing cold, the blood from his wounds turning to ice. Even his tongue seemed frozen. How could he possibly speak?
The Prince Consorts were not fools. Their brother-in-law had been beaten into this state, and a group of women who clearly looked like concubines hung around the courtyard. Given Wang Bian’s usual reputation, how could they fail to understand?
The bastard must have committed another wicked act and grievously offended His Majesty, earning both himself and his beloved concubines a whipping. He had become the chicken killed as a warning to the monkeys.
Better for a fellow cultivator to die than this poor Daoist. Wang Bian had no close friendship with the other Prince Consorts, so they had no desire to plead for him. And judging by His Majesty’s face and Wang Bian’s miserable condition, even a close friend would not dare stick out his neck!
The Prince Consorts lowered their heads and kept silent. The Wang Family’s legs trembled as though they stood at the edge of an abyss. The bolder among them stole glances at Wang Bian, who had nearly been beaten into a bloody pulp; the timid stared only at their toes, afraid that the slightest movement might catch the emperor’s eye and make them the next Wang Bian.
Li Shimin rested one hand on his chair and snorted at the sight. Then he said, “Today, the Empress and I held a palace banquet in honor of the two empress dowagers. All our sisters attended except Zhuzhu, who claimed illness made it inconvenient to enter the palace. The Empress was worried and sent someone to visit her. What an eye-opening visit it proved to be.”
The Prince Consorts had left the banquet only a short while ago and knew Princess Huifu had supposedly been ill. Hearing this, they formed their own guesses, exchanged discreet looks, and continued watching like wooden statues.
Wang Bian’s parents knew better than anyone what sort of creature their son was. They immediately understood that Princess Huifu’s absence must involve him, and their unease deepened into panic.
Li Shimin did not keep them guessing. He sneered. “Only after the palace lady sent by the Empress saw Zhuzhu did she learn that illness was never the reason for her absence. Wang Bian, driven mad by viciousness, beat an imperial princess and severely injured her face. Zhuzhu did not wish to worry the two empress dowagers, so she kept silent and endured it all alone!”
Shock appeared on the Prince Consorts’ faces.
The princesses of this dynasty might not hold the exalted position enjoyed by Han and Tang princesses, but they were still Daughters of the Emperor, born to the Imperial House. Some Prince Consorts had cold relations with their wives, but to beat a princess and injure her face…
It was almost inconceivable.
Wang Bian’s father looked shocked too, then dropped to his knees to plead guilty. The Wang Family knelt behind him in a dark mass.
He repeatedly confessed fault. “My son was foolish and ignorant in his youth to commit such an absurd act. This subject failed to teach him properly. Your Majesty was right to beat him!”
Wang Bian’s mother watched her son hang there like a bloody gourd, scarcely a patch of intact flesh on his body, and her heart ached unbearably. Yet intimidated by the might of the Imperial House, she had not dared speak.
Now, hearing her husband insist that the emperor was right and their son deserved it, resentment flashed in her eyes. She glared angrily at him and shed several bitter tears.
Had Li Shimin truly been an inexperienced young man in his twenties, Wang Bian’s father’s respectful, remorseful manner might have fooled him. Unfortunately, he was not.
How long had Princess Huifu been married to Wang Bian?
Did the man truly not know his own son’s character?
Had Princess Huifu never visited and begged her parents-in-law to discipline their outrageously insolent son?
Now Wang Bian had kicked an iron plate and his crimes had come to light, so his father suddenly posed as a man of profound justice?
Where had he been before now?
In the end, he only wanted the matter to stop here, to reduce a great scandal to a small one and then make it disappear!
Mockery flashed in Li Shimin’s eyes, though his face remained calm. “Minister Wang, do you know why Zhuzhu quarreled with the Prince Consort?”
Unable to detect emotion in his voice, Wang Bian’s father grew even more anxious and shook his head. “This subject does not.”
“Then I will tell you. The Prince Consort took jewelry from Zhuzhu’s dowry and gave it to a concubine he ransomed from a brothel. When Zhuzhu learned of it and came to reclaim her property, he beat her. Now do you understand?”
Wang Bian’s father had hoped the young couple merely exchanged words: two conflicting accounts, a muddled domestic dispute that could be blurred and forgotten. He had never imagined his son was such a thoroughbred bastard. No wonder the princess had been furious.
A dowry was a woman’s private property. In any respectable family, using a wife or daughter-in-law’s dowry invited ridicule. It might be barely excusable if needed for the household, but using it to please a brothel woman…
Even if the bastard had married an ordinary family’s daughter rather than a princess, no woman could endure such humiliation!
At last, Wang Bian’s father understood the emperor’s fury.
Though the day was freezing, sweat appeared on his brow. He kowtowed hurriedly. “My son first behaved without restraint, then insulted the princess. He truly is…”
Before he could continue, Li Shimin raised a hand. “Minister Wang, when did you last visit the Princess Manor?”
The man paused, thought back, and replied, “Around last month.”
“Last month.” Li Shimin nodded. In the cutting wind, his expression cooled inch by inch. “You are neither blind nor witless. How did you fail to notice that the Prince Consort occupied the principal chambers while forcing Zhuzhu into the side rooms?!”
Wang Bian’s father had arrived to find his son in such a miserable state and could hardly think clearly. He had loudly cursed the man several times to demonstrate his principles, never noticing the trap in the emperor’s question. Only now did he realize his mistake, but spilled water could not be gathered. It was too late to take back his words.
He forced himself to explain. “This subject only visited the principal chambers that day. The imperial princess was there as well, so I thought nothing of it…”
“What a fine excuse! Do you take me for a fool? Did you imagine I would question you without first asking Zhuzhu?”
Li Shimin snatched the teacup from the stone table and hurled it. “You keep calling Wang Bian young and ignorant. What of you? At your age, has lard blinded your heart and water flooded your brain? Have you forgotten rank and propriety so completely that you watched Wang Bian abuse a princess of the Imperial House? They say a father’s failure to teach is to blame for a son’s misconduct. If you had not indulged him and set the example by despising Zhao princesses, how would Wang Bian dare go this far? He is a mad beast, but you old thief are even more shameless!”
The tea had been hot when first brought out, but after standing outside so long, it had frozen solid.
Li Shimin’s aim was excellent. The cup struck Wang Bian’s father squarely on the head, propelled by all the force of his shock and fury.
Caught unprepared, the man heard a dull thud. It felt as though a club had struck him; pain and numbness spread through his head, and his brains turned to paste.
He swayed several times, collapsed, and began convulsing.
Wang Bian’s mother cried out and reached for him. “Husband? Husband!”
The cup fell and split in two. The tea inside had frozen into a lump that rolled far across the ground.
She felt for her husband’s breath and relaxed when she found it, but when she touched the injury, her hand came away covered in blood.
Never having witnessed such a scene, she wailed and threw herself over him. The rest of the Wang Family trembled in fear.
Li Shimin swept an icy gaze over father and son. “Wake them both.”
Had they been meritorious ministers or pillars of the state, someone would have moved them indoors, kept them warm, and summoned an imperial physician. But the Imperial Guards knew these two had utterly offended His Majesty and might not remain warm for much longer in any sense. Who had leisure to show them kindness?
They brought two basins of cold water, throwing one over Wang Bian and the other over his father.
Wang Bian’s mother still clutched her husband and wailed like an opera singer. The sound hurt the guard’s ears, so without warning her, he poured the basin directly over both their heads.
In this weather, even a little water left unwiped would turn skin red and stiff the moment the wind blew. A full basin over the head was misery beyond words.
Wang Bian came to groggily, still hanging from the tree. His father also regained consciousness. Water dripped from his mother’s hair and clothes, her makeup running until she resembled a pheasant revealing its true form, every feather standing on end.
She had watched her son beaten bloody, her husband struck unconscious and bleeding, and now she herself had been drenched in midwinter. With all dignity lost, she broke down and cried, “When Founding Emperor Taizu established the dynasty, he commanded that civil officials be treated generously! Emperor Shenzong also abolished the rule lowering generational rank when a princess married. How can Your Majesty humiliate us this way? Are you not afraid of the ridicule beneath heaven?!”
Wang Bian’s father had only just been shocked awake and his thoughts remained muddled. By the time he understood his wife’s words, it was too late to stop her.
Li Shimin smiled but did not argue. He turned to the Imperial Guard beside Wang Bian. “Cut him down. Chop off one hand.”
A cold wind swept through, and everyone shuddered.
Wang Bian’s mother’s soaked clothes chilled her to the heart, yet neither wind nor wet fabric was as cold as the emperor’s words.
The last trace of color vanished from her face. Before she could plead, Li Shimin looked at her. “Unless I permit you to speak, keep your mouth tightly shut. I am neither Founding Emperor Taizu nor Emperor Taizong. I do not possess their boundless benevolence. Your voice is truly irritating. Say one more word, and I will order your tongue cut out.”
Her protest had already reached her lips, but instantly retreated. She clapped both hands over her mouth, not daring utter half a syllable, and watched the Imperial Guards lower her son and sever one of his hands. Hot tears streamed from her eyes while sobs clogged her throat.
Wang Bian clutched the stump and screamed. In the utter silence, the sound was especially shrill and horrifying.
The Prince Consorts knew this young emperor was fierce enough to take an enemy general’s head amid a million soldiers as easily as reaching into a sack. But this degree of ferocity…
He could not be provoked. Absolutely not.
Wang Bian screamed and rolled on the ground. His violent struggles pulled at his other wounds, adding pain atop pain.
His mother accidentally let out a sob, then quickly covered her mouth again. His father watched his eldest son in agony, his own heart feeling carved apart. He closed his eyes and wept silently.
“Oh? So you are human after all. You love your son? Seeing him like this hurts, and you do not feel like buying firecrackers to celebrate at the gate?”
“But Minister Wang,” Li Shimin continued, “the old saying tells us to extend respect for our own aged to the aged of others, and love for our own young to the young of others. You love your son. Do other parents not love their children? Your son feels pain when injured. He rolls, weeps, and screams. Are other people’s daughters wooden puppets molded from clay, unable to feel pain or suffer humiliation?”
“Now you understand distress. Now that the needle pierces your own flesh, you know it hurts. But when Zhuzhu came to your door again and again, begging you to discipline the Prince Consort, what did you do?!”
Li Shimin slammed the table and nearly roared, “Zhuzhu kept silent because she was kindhearted and did not want matters to become irreparable. To you, that meant she was weak, easy to bully, and deserved to be trampled underfoot by that beast Wang Bian and the entire Wang Family, didn’t it?!”
He pointed at the Wang Family one by one. “Look at your conduct, then look at that beast Wang Bian. Not one good pig in the entire sty!”
Wang Bian’s father wept from eyes and nose alike, knocking his head against the ground as he begged for mercy.
Wang Bian’s mother watched her motionless son in frantic worry. Only when her husband tugged her sleeve did she reluctantly lower her head and kowtow beside him.
Wang Bian’s aunt had never witnessed such imperial wrath and was already white with terror. Hearing His Majesty condemn the Wang Family and remembering that he had summoned even its married daughters, how could she not fear for herself?
She shuffled forward on her knees and wept. “Your Majesty, this concubine married out of the family and truly knew nothing of the affair between Wang Bian and the imperial princess. Wang Bian is guilty, and my brother and sister-in-law were at fault, but neither this concubine nor the Wang Family’s other married daughters ever harmed the princess!”
“I know,” Li Shimin said. “If I ordered you brought here, naturally I have my reasons.”
He glanced at the Prince Consorts sitting rigidly nearby with lowered eyes and gave a soft laugh. “Eldest Brother-in-Law?”
The First Prince Consort jerked. Forcing a smile, he replied, “This subject is here. What does Your Majesty command?”
Li Shimin asked amiably, “Do you know why I summoned all the Prince Consorts?”
The man instinctively glanced at Wang Bian, bloody and motionless as a dead dog, and silently chanted *Amitabha*. “Presumably Your Majesty wishes us to take Wang Bian as a warning and never behave so insolently, disrespect an imperial princess, or shame the Imperial House.”
Li Shimin smiled and shook his head. “You understand one part, but not the second.”
Left with no choice, the First Prince Consort forced himself to play the perfect straight man. “May Your Majesty instruct us?”
Li Shimin’s expression sharpened. “Yesterday, Wang Bian took jewelry from Zhuzhu’s dowry and gave it to that brothel woman. Zhuzhu went to reclaim it, and they quarreled. Do you know what this beast said to her?”
Everyone froze and shook their heads.
Li Shimin sneered. The words were too filthy to soil his own mouth. “Wang Bian, you tell them!”
Wang Bian had endured thirty lashes, hung bleeding for half a day, been drenched in cold water, and lost a hand. Lying on the ground, he truly resembled a dead dog.
But the emperor had questioned him, so he was not permitted to remain silent. An Imperial Guard threw a basin of hot water over him. It melted the frost on his body while making every torn wound burn and itch, but it also cleared his mind.
Knowing he was unlikely to survive and exhausted beyond speech by the torture, Wang Bian simply lay there feigning death. The water streamed from his body in dark and pale ribbons of blood.
Li Shimin did not grow angry at his shameless surrender. He merely smiled. “If he refuses to speak, never mind. Take him away and execute him by lingchi.”
Wang Bian: “…”
Everyone else: “…”
What did it mean to utter the cruelest words in the gentlest voice?
This.
Wang Bian was a pampered wastrel who had suffered little and spent every day seeking novelty and pleasure.
When the two Jin impersonators of the former emperors were executed not long ago, he had gone to watch. Their lingchi lasted three full days. He attended on the second, took one look, and vomited on the spot. His legs shook, and nightmares plagued him for several nights.
He had heard the two Jin remained conscious as they watched themselves sliced down to bone and did not die until the third day!
Wang Bian could not imagine that punishment inflicted upon himself.
He broke at once and dared feign death no longer. Abasing himself, he cried, “I’ll speak! I’ll tell you everything!”
Li Shimin waved the approaching guards back and smiled. “Then speak.”
Wang Bian’s face twitched. “At the time I said… I said…”
“Said what?!” Li Shimin barked.
Wang Bian hardened his heart, lowered his head, and said, “That the princess had been defiled by the Jin too, that she was scarcely nobler than a brothel woman and had no right to despise anyone!”
Knowing he was doomed, he stiffened his neck and voiced his true thoughts. “With the Wang Family’s standing, what chaste girl could we not marry? Why should we pick up damaged goods played with by the Jin? She kept silent because she knew she was ruined!”
Every face changed. Some were indignant, others shocked and furious, while a few lowered their heads to conceal agreement.
Li Shimin could guess without looking. He ignored the Prince Consorts for now and asked Wang Bian’s parents, “What do you say?”
His mother twisted her handkerchief and remained silent for a long time.
His father stammered, then finally murmured, “The ancients taught that purity and tranquility, preservation of chastity and order, shame in one’s conduct, and propriety in action constitute womanly virtue. That beast is rebellious, but perhaps there is some reason in his words…”
His mother agreed. “Precisely.”
Li Shimin did not grow angry. He nodded. “If I recall correctly, when the two emperors were carried north, your family went with them?”
Wang Bian’s father’s face turned ugly. He smiled awkwardly and gave an almost imperceptible nod.
Li Shimin asked, “Minister Wang, did the books of the sages teach you loyalty to your sovereign and service to the state?”
“They did,” he whispered.
“He Li, Zhang Shuye, Mei Zhili, Li Ruoshui… Did the Great Song lack loyal men who died for their ruler? They faced death with heroic resolve. Minister Wang, why didn’t you die? Did you never find the opportunity?”
Wang Bian’s father: “…”
He struggled to defend himself. “This subject wished to preserve his useful body, serve the two emperors upon their return south, and remain loyal to the country.”
“I see.” Li Shimin looked moved and said delightedly, “With a loyal minister like you, the two emperors may rest peacefully in the underworld. Since you miss them so deeply, why not descend immediately and reunite with them? You can be a loyal subject of the Great Song and serve them like an ox or horse.”
Wang Bian’s father: “…”
Cold sweat poured down him, soaking the clothes against his back like a damp, venomous snake flicking its tongue. He shuddered.
Wang Bian’s mother defended her husband in a small voice. “My husband was hardly the only man who did not kill himself for the country. Your Majesty’s demand seems somewhat harsh…”
“Those words came from a son of the Wang Family, not some other house. Naturally I must ask whether the family that raised him was as unyieldingly loyal and chaste as he desires.”
Li Shimin turned to her and asked bluntly, “Madam Wang, were you raped by the Jin? You still possess some beauty. I imagine they favored you during the journey north?”
Her face instantly flushed scarlet. “This concubine was already advanced in years…”
“Don’t belittle yourself,” Li Shimin said. “You retain a certain mature charm.”
He looked at the Wang Family behind the couple and smilingly asked the father, “Minister Wang, were your daughters raped by the Jin? Your daughters-in-law? Your concubines? Surely the Jin did not see the women of your family glowing with divine light too dazzling to approach and therefore leave them untouched? With such immortal magic, why have Guo Jing forge golden-armored divine soldiers? The two emperors should have sent your women to defend the city!”
Wang Bian’s father had studied the sages since childhood and had never heard speech so crude and explicit. Mortified, he could not utter a word.
The Wang women fared worse. The younger, more thin-skinned ones remembered the horrors of the north, hid behind their sleeves, and began sobbing. The men flushed and lowered their heads in shame.
“Oh? Why are all the women crying? Were they all raped by the Jin? And the men have lowered their heads-did none kill himself for the country? Ah, of course. Anyone who did wouldn’t be here.”
“How strange!” Li Shimin said. “By the Wang Family’s rules, when Dongjing fell and the Jingkang Incident occurred, every man should have killed himself for the country and every woman for her chastity. How are so many of you still here?”
He kicked over the brazier. Red-hot coals rolled across the ground.
Every trace of amiability vanished from his icy face. “Are the people kneeling before me ghosts?! You call the imperial princess damaged goods defiled by the Jin and despise her for losing her chastity. Then what are all of you?!”
The Wang Family kowtowed without cease, terrified and silent.
Overawed by imperial wrath, the Prince Consorts no longer dared remain seated. They rose and knelt to one side.
Li Shimin approached Wang Bian’s father. “Loyal Minister Wang, why haven’t you died for the country? How could you shamelessly abandon the two emperors and cling to life?”
Humiliated beyond endurance, the man knelt weeping without reply.
Li Shimin turned to Wang Bian’s mother. “Pure, tranquil, chaste, and orderly Madam Wang, raped by the Jin again and again-why didn’t you hang yourself with your daughters and daughters-in-law to preserve your chastity and the Wang Family’s reputation?”
She lowered her head in utter shame, digging her nails into the frozen earth.
Li Shimin kicked Wang Bian over. “If you’re so capable, how did you get captured and taken to the Supreme Capital? When demanding things of others, could you try demanding the same of yourself?!”
He asked Wang Bian’s younger brother, “Did your father never teach you loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and righteousness? Dying for your country requires only a knife across your throat. Why didn’t you dare? Did a dog eat your courage?”
Then he faced the Wang women. “Why didn’t you die? Why didn’t you preserve your chastity? A whole courtyard of ruined women-aren’t you ashamed when you look in a mirror? You should have dashed your heads against stones long ago!”
The women could endure no more and wailed.
Moved by their grief, Wang Bian’s father and the other men also began howling, tears streaming without end.
Li Shimin smiled. In a soft voice, he asked, “What is this? You possess shame too? You know what suffering feels like?”
Then he seized Wang Bian by the topknot and shouted, “In that case, put yourself in Zhuzhu’s place and imagine how she felt when you spoke those words! Did she choose to be violated by the Jin? Was she guilty?! You are a grown man who failed to kill himself after capture. What right have you to demand her death? Your worthless life means nothing if lost. My imperial sister’s life does!”
“And all of you.” His gaze swept the Wang Family. “Did you enjoy watching Zhuzhu humiliated? Did it make you proud to see an imperial princess humble herself and beg at your door again and again? After the Jingkang Incident, did no Wang man bend his knees? Were no Wang women violated? You sit in your own filth and turn around to call someone else dirty. What are you?!”
Shame and guilt overwhelmed them, and their crying grew louder.
Li Shimin ignored them. Still gripping Wang Bian’s topknot, he dragged him before the Prince Consorts and passed down the line. “Look. Every one of you, look clearly!”
The Prince Consorts stared in terror, faces pale.
“I know some of you think as he does. You’re merely clever enough not to say it aloud. So hear me today! You were captured in the Jingkang Incident and did not die. Stop fucking feeling wronged and imagining that princesses of the Imperial House are unworthy of you!”
Their hearts shook. Trembling, they prostrated themselves. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Li Shimin threw Wang Bian down and looked across their bowed heads. “The past was the past. The present is the present. It is time to change the rules established by Founding Emperor Taizu and Emperor Shenzong. What do you think?”
How could they voice disagreement?
They immediately replied, “We obey Your Majesty in all things and have no objections.”
Li Shimin laughed loudly, then feigned displeasure. “We merely exchanged a few words. Why are all my brothers-in-law kneeling? We’re family. There is no need for such formality!”