Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 21 Concert of the Concubine
To the north of Taiji Palace, past the Xuanwu Gate, is a polo field, and past the Chongxuan Gate is the royal forbidden garden.

The Forbidden Garden is vast, extending to the Wei River in the north, facing the Chan River in the east, and the Weiyang Palace from the Han Dynasty to the west.

Ganye Temple is also located in the Forbidden Garden.

In the northeast corner of the Forbidden Garden, there is a flat area surrounded by wooden fences, called the Tiger Pen. It was originally where the imperial palace raised tigers, but is now abandoned.

At the entrance to the tiger enclosure, there is a small courtyard which serves as a warehouse for storing food for the tigers.

Li Zhi walked around the courtyard. There were eleven rooms in total, three on the north side, two on the east side, two on the west side, and two upside-down rooms on the south side.

He thought to himself, "This place is remote and there's no one around. It's perfect for making gunpowder."

Chao Wang Fusheng ordered, "Send an order to the Imperial Medical Bureau to transfer 750 stones of 'Xiao Shi', 150 stones of sulfur, and 100 stones of charcoal to this courtyard for storage."

Wang Fusheng accepted the order and was secretly surprised: "Why do you want so many medicinal herbs? Are you trying to make an elixir?"

Li Zhi then turned to Xue Rengui and said, "Mr. Xue, send one hundred Qianniu Guards to carefully guard this place. No open flames are allowed. No one is allowed to approach without my order. Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"

Xue Rengui accepted the order.

Li Zhi wandered around the Forbidden Garden again, and returned to Ganlu Palace near noon. He issued another decree, asking the Chief of Works to select twenty craftsmen to be used.

Today's memorials have already piled up on the imperial desk.

Li Zhi ordered several eunuchs to classify them and only look carefully at the memorials of impeachment, advice, and personnel transfers, and ignore all others.

Not long after reviewing it, he found that there were many memorials impeaching Chen Wang Li Zhong today, saying that he disrespected the virtuous and neglected the scholars, and even whipped two great literary scholars.

Li Zhi said to Wang Fusheng, "Go and find out what happened when Prince Chen beat someone."

After noon, Li Zhi took a nap for half an hour.

After waking up, Wang Fusheng came to report that the queen had sent a letter to Liu Chong'e, and Prince Chen entered the palace again that day. After leaving the palace, he beat the two Confucian scholars.

Li Zhi asked, "Are these two from aristocratic families?"

Wang Fusheng said: "Although it is not confirmed, it should be close."

Li Zhi was silent for a while, then said, "I heard that my uncle has been writing a lot of books recently. Please take a few history books and send them to him. Tell him that I am looking forward to his book."

Wang Fusheng was slightly startled and took the order.

In the evening, it suddenly started to drizzle. After a while, the rain became heavier and heavier, hitting the eaves of the corridor with a crackling sound.

Li Zhi was originally running around Beihai Lake for exercise, but was interrupted by the sudden rain and had to take shelter in Qianbu Gallery.

The sound of raindrops falling in disorder seems to hit people's hearts, making people feel empty and uneasy.

Just as he was feeling sentimental, a sharp voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Where are you going, you little bastard? I'm going to kill you!"

A group of people came running down the south corridor. They were several senior eunuchs chasing a junior eunuch.

The young eunuch slipped and was caught up by the other eunuchs.

A thirty-year-old eunuch picked him up and slapped him several times, making his face swollen. He cursed, "You little bastard, keep running!"

Li Zhi frowned and was about to speak when Wang Fusheng rushed over and shouted at the eunuchs, "The sage is here! Who dares to be so presumptuous?"

All the eunuchs were shocked and knelt down and kowtowed.

Li Zhi sat on the corridor and waved to everyone.

"Come here, tell me what happened."

The eunuchs stood up and walked over.

The Imperial Household Department has a total of six bureaus: the Palace Bureau, the Ye Ting Bureau, the Xiguan Bureau, the Inner Servants Bureau, the Inner Court Bureau, and the Inner Court Bureau.

The leading eunuch was the head of the Imperial Household Department, a lower eighth-rank official, responsible for the supply of palace utensils, candles, baths, etc.

The eunuch in charge said, "Everyone, this little fellow has dishonest hands and feet. He stole something from the warehouse and was caught by me. Instead of surrendering, he tried to escape!"

Li Zhi said to the young eunuch, "Did you steal anything?"

The little eunuch was only about twelve or thirteen years old, and was quite handsome, but his face was swollen from being slapped, and there was blood at the corner of his mouth.

He lowered his head and crossed his arms, saying, "I didn't steal anything."

The eunuch in charge was furious and said, "Nonsense! You didn't steal anything, so why did you run away from me? And what's that bulge on your chest?"

Wang Fusheng walked up to him, slapped him in the face, and said, "Who allowed you to speak before we even asked you any questions? Is this how Young Supervisor Zhang disciplined you?"

The six bureaus of the Imperial Household Department are each managed by two junior supervisors, and the Imperial Household Department is under the jurisdiction of Zhang Duohai.

The eunuch in charge saw that Wang Fusheng was planning to punish him, so he quickly knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "I have been reckless, please forgive me."

Li Zhi ignored him and asked the young eunuch, "What's your name?"

The young eunuch whispered, "My name is Xiaoji."

Li Zhi asked, "Xiao Ji, if you didn't steal anything, why did you go to the warehouse?"

Xiaoji said, "I didn't go to the warehouse. I was just walking in the corridor when Commander Zhou ran towards me, yelling and screaming. I was scared, so I ran away." Li Zhi was slightly startled and waved to Xiaoji, "Come closer, let me take a look at you."

Xiaoji took a few steps forward on his knees.

Li Zhi looked at him carefully for a while, then asked the eunuch in charge, "Where did you find the thief?"

Zhou Zhangling said, "He was in the inner treasury near Leng Ning Palace. I chased him all the way and finally caught up with him."

Li Zhi said: "He is not the person you met in the inner treasury. You are chasing the wrong person."

Zhou Zhangling was surprised and asked, "How did everyone know?"

Li Zhi said, "I'm here to ask you, what kind of wind is blowing tonight?"

Zhou Zhangling was stunned and said, "Replying to everyone, the wind is blowing from the east."

Li Zhi said, "Look at your shoulders."

Zhou Zhangling turned his head to look over his shoulders, puzzled, "Everyone, what do you want me to look at?"

Wang Fusheng sneered, "Fool, your right shoulder is a little wet, but your left shoulder isn't wet at all. Didn't you notice?"

Zhou Zhangling still looked confused, with his eyes wide open.

Li Zhi said, "Look at Xiaoji's shoulder again."

Zhou Zhangling turned around and saw that Xiaoji's shoulders were soaked. He slapped his forehead and said, "I really deserve to die. I really chased the wrong person."

It is raining heavily and the wind is blowing from the east. If someone runs from south to north, his right sleeve will be wetter than the left.

Xiaoji's left shoulder was wet because he was walking from north to south. Later, he met Zhou Zhangling and fled from south to north, and his right shoulder was wet again, so both of his shoulders were wet by the rain.

Li Zhi said, "If you can't even see through such a small matter, how can you manage people? Send an order to dismiss this person and select someone else to replace him."

Wang Fusheng said softly, "I obey your command." He then said coldly to Chief Zhou, "Why don't you withdraw?"

Zhou Zhangling's face was ashen as death, and he staggered back.

Li Zhi said, "Xiao Ji, get up."

Xiaoji saluted politely and then stood up.

Li Zhi felt pity for him when he saw that he had entered the palace at such a young age. He asked, "Xiaoji, why did you enter the palace at such a young age? Where are your family members?"

Xiaoji whispered, "My father and mother both died of illness. My sister-in-law sold me to a trafficker, and later I was brought into the palace."

Li Zhi asked again, "Where do you work?"

Xiaoji said, "I work in the inner servants' department."

Li Zhi said, "From now on, you will follow me, Fu Sheng. I will assign him some tasks in Ganlu Palace."

Wang Fusheng smiled and said, "I'll remember that."

After hearing this, Xiaoji secretly looked up at Li Zhi.

Li Zhi laughed and said, "Your chest is bulging. What's stuffed in there? Can you let me see it?"

Xiaoji hesitated for a moment, reached into his clothes, and took out a pile of waste paper.

Wang Fusheng picked up a piece of paper, glanced at it, and frowned. "Everyone, these are scraps of paper used by palace servants. They contain trivial matters. Hey, what's written on the back?"

Li Zhi took it and looked at it, and soon understood it.

This child collected other people's leftover waste paper and used the blank space at the back to write some crooked words.

It’s just that the words he wrote didn’t express his ideas clearly and weren’t fluent.

Wang Fusheng said, "Xiao Ji, are you studying secretly?" His tone was a little more severe. It was taboo in the palace for eunuchs to study secretly.

Xiaoji said, "I haven't studied, those... are the musical notations I wrote."

The written notation is the ancient musical notation.

Li Zhi took another look and found that it was indeed a written score, but it was recorded very roughly and there were many mistakes in it.

It seems like someone who doesn't understand musical notation is recording it while learning by himself.

Li Zhi asked, "What kind of music score is this? Why did you secretly write it down?"

Xiaoji bit his lip, tears welling up in his eyes as he choked out, "Slave, slave... in Xunfeng Palace, I overheard the Imperial Concubine playing... and slowly wrote it down..."

Li Zhi pulled him up and said, "Don't be afraid. I won't blame you for this. You think the imperial concubine's playing is beautiful, so do you want to take note of it?"

Xiaoji shook his head, wiped his tears, and said, "This song... Mother used to play it for me often. I missed her so much that I secretly learned the music notation and wanted to memorize it..."

Li Zhi stood up and said, "Don't cry. Come, follow me to Xunfeng Palace."

Xiaoji looked up at him, nodded vigorously, and tears flowed uncontrollably again.

Li Zhi helped him wipe away his tears and took him to Xunfeng Palace.

(End of this chapter)