SINCE THE TIME of the Wei and Zhou dynasties hundreds of years before, the shadow of the Göktürk Khaganate had loomed over the north. In the interest of maintaining a fragile peace, generations of emperors had practiced appeasement and reconciliation, narrowly avoiding direct conflict with the Göktürks. But a wolf was a wolf: it didn't forget its hunter's instincts just because it was fed for a while. The moment a meal was late, its ferocity would surge to the surface, and it would bare its fangs to bite.
During the Northern Zhou dynasty, Princess Qianjin had married Ishbara Khagan to seal the alliance between the Central Plains and the Khaganate. Peace reigned between the two sides for some time, but after Yang Jian ascended and Sui replaced Zhou, Princess Qianjin resented the new emperor for usurping the throne and killing her family and parents. She encouraged her husband Ishbara to invade the Central Plains. Ishbara himself wasn't a timid man; he was driven, and saw the Sui dynasty surrounded by foes on all sides. Glimpsing an opportunity for the Khaganate to crush their enemies and expand, he steered his boat into the current and agreed to his wife's request, dispatching troops to invade the Sui dynasty.
The war had begun the year before last, and fighting had continued intermittently since. Ishbara Khagan, along with the surrounding tribe leaders such as Apa Khagan, had deployed hundreds of thousands of troops. They crossed the Great Wall, then pushed southward from Mayi, Keluo Mountain, and elsewhere. Though the Sui army rose up in its own defense and achieved both victories and defeats, overall, they were at a disadvantage. Yang Jian had to preserve sufficient strength to guard against attack from Southern Chen and Goguryeo; he couldn't throw everything he had against the Göktürks. Thus he had no choice but to take a multipronged approach: he made overtures to Princess Qianjin, aimed to stabilize his relationship with the Chen dynasty, and leveraged existing conflicts between the various Göktürk tribes to divide them and diminish their strength.
It was under these circumstances that Cui Buqu had arrived in this remote western city.
Cavalry Commander Zhangsun Sheng and Crown Servant Yuan Hui had received secret orders from the emperor and set out, one to Huanglong and one to Yiwu, to treat with Bagha and Tardu Khagan, who had conflicting interests and a poor relationship with Ishbara Khagan. Meanwhile, Cui Buqu was ordered to liaise with the envoys of Apa Khagan and persuade him out of an alliance with Ishbara. Thus did they plan to divide the Khaganate from within.
But Ishbara Khagan held enormous power. Even if Apa Khagan wished to make contact with the Sui dynasty, he didn't dare do so openly. He had dispatched envoys in secret to Liugong City.
Over a month ago, shortly after Cui Buqu arrived in Liugong City, Apa Khagan had sent his envoy to meet them. But the envoy contracted food poisoning while stopping overnight in Qiemo and ultimately died puking his guts out. Qiao Xian and Zhangsun Bodhi had quietly arrived in Liugong City on Cui Buqu's orders around the same time. Cui Buqu sent them to investigate, but though the envoy's death was suspicious, their search turned up nothing. This only put them more on their guard.
The news traveled back and forth, eating up several weeks. It wasn't until recently that Apa Khagan secretly dispatched a second envoy. This trip had been arranged with even greater secrecy, and it had been agreed that the Zuoyue Bureau's scouts would only send word to their chief when the envoy arrived in Qiemo. Now that word had come, the envoy was sure to arrive within the next handful of days.
That was Cui Buqu's mission, and it should've had nothing to do with the duties of the Jiejian Bureau. But then the Khotanese envoy had been murdered and the jade stolen. He was already in Liugong City. He wouldn't have been Cui Buqu if he'd sat by and done nothing.
Feng Xiao himself had shared the leads in the case with him, and it was from this that he hit upon the key evidence of the cold plum blossom fragrance. He'd passed the message to Qiao Xian and Zhangsun Bodhi, sending them to investigate this clue in an attempt to find the jade first and steal the credit for the Zuoyue Bureau. Feng Xiao had hardly let Cui Buqu out of his sight, yet he'd never imagined the newly opened Wuwei House they'd patronized had been established by the Zuoyue Bureau for the purposes of espionage.
Cui Buqu had also intentionally misled Feng Xiao. It was he who passed word to Zhangsun to hide in the crowd and attack Wen Liang with the needle. Feng Xiao had noticed and stopped it, leading him and his team to mistakenly believe Wen Liang was a key figure in the investigation.
Now that he'd agreed to cooperate with Feng Xiao, Cui Buqu briefly outlined the details. He didn't reveal everything, but only what he thought was necessary.
After listening, Feng Xiao sighed. "Daoist Master Cui was by my side the entire time, never leaving for a moment. Yet he was capable of hamstringing my entire investigation. Truly amazing!"
Even sitting in a cramped, dark, and smelly crevice, Cui Buqu couldn't help his buoyant mood. The corners of his lips curled slightly. "Hadn't you already guessed Wen Liang was a red herring?"
Feng Xiao sighed again. "If I'm not mistaken, Fo'er's target isn't me, but you."
Apa Khagan had approached the Sui court; even if he didn't pledge his loyalty, he wanted to ally with them. The various Göktürk tribes were wary of their fellows, but they also provided mutual assistance. Word of this would inevitably make its way back to Ishbara Khagan. And at the very same time, Fo'er, Ishbara Khagan's number one martial expert, had arrived in Liugong City. What—or who—was his goal? It was an intriguing question.
Fo'er had no interest in the jade, but he was determined to kill Feng Xiao. There was only one explanation: he mistakenly thought Feng Xiao was here to represent the court with Apa Khagan's envoy. If he wished to stop their secret negotiations, the surest way was to kill Feng Xiao. He could intimidate the Sui dynasty and the other Göktürk tribes in one fell swoop, thereby demonstrating the power of Ishbara Khagan. They'd be too fearful to act recklessly then.
The deputy bureau chief was flamboyant and well known, and thus he'd become Fo'er's target. Fo'er had never guessed that the one preparing to meet Apa Khagan's envoy in secret negotiations wasn't Feng Xiao at all, but Cui Buqu.
"We both serve the throne; what's the difference between targeting you or targeting me? If we want to get into specifics, Deputy Bureau Chief Feng also used incense of helplessness on me, subjecting me to rather horrific torture. How should we settle this score?"
Feng Xiao shrugged, the picture of innocence. "If you'd confessed your identity sooner, it would never have happened."
"If I'd confessed it sooner, you'd have been wary around me, hampering all my movements. Then how would I have found this crucial lead for you?"
They stared at each other, unblinking.
Finally, Feng Xiao said, "What kind of cooperation are you proposing?"
"Within the next few days, the envoy sent by Apa will arrive in Liugong City. Continue to keep Fo'er and anyone else with ulterior motives occupied. Don't let them upset the negotiations."
"Very well. Then what's this lead you mentioned?"
Cui Buqu gave a rough overview of how Qiao Xian's team had followed the trail of the cold plum blossom fragrance to discover Lady Qin. When he was done, he said, "Qin Miaoyu is likely a Goguryeon, and the jade is on her."
"How do you know?"
"Had she always been such a skilled martial artist, she could have fled right after murdering him. There was no need for her to lurk in the city. My two subordinates fought her together, yet she managed to escape. We must presume her martial arts have improved greatly in a short period of time. Otherwise how could she survive an impossible battle with only blind courage?"
"The Jade of Heaven Lake."
Cui Buqu nodded. "The jade possesses the legendary ability to enhance one's martial arts within ten days. She's injured now, so she won't be able to sneak out of the city at night. When you head back in the morning, gather some people and search the city. It shouldn't be difficult to find her."
Feng Xiao mulled this over. "Then, considering what her strength would have been a few days ago, she couldn't possibly have killed Yuchi Jinwu and his entire party by herself."
"Yet she escaped alone with the jade," Cui Buqu continued. "Whoever her companions are, they may also be searching for her. The jade stone Linlang Pavilion auctioned off was likely placed there by her accomplices. It wasn't done to deceive us, but to lure out Qin Miaoyu."
"But Qin Miaoyu discovered the secret of using the jade to improve her martial abilities," added Feng Xiao. "She knows she's holding the real thing; she would never take the bait."
The two of them finished each other's thoughts, one after the other. In this manner, they pieced together most of the original story. Finding Qin Miaoyu wasn't enough. They had to catch her accomplices too if they were to eliminate any future difficulties.
"What about Go Nyeong? How does he figure into this?"
"He may have nothing to do with the case. Or perhaps someone was worried about Qin Miaoyu and her accomplices, and sent him here as insurance. If you're interested, send people to look into him."
"Mm." Feng Xiao changed the subject: "Ququ was sent here to meet privately with Apa's envoy. Your position in the Zuoyue Bureau must be quite high, no? You already know my identity; shouldn't you be honest with me as well? After all, we're so familiar with each other now."
Who's familiar with you? Cui couldn't help but mutter to himself. Feng-er's shamelessness knew no bounds. But outwardly he remained composed and pretended to ponder a moment. "At this point, I may as well come clean. In truth, my surname isn't Cui, and my given name isn't Buqu."
"Oh?" Feng Xiao said, his tone rising.
"My surname is Zhangsun, and my given name is Bodhi. Deputy chief of the Zuoyue Bureau."
Somewhere in the city, Zhangsun Bodhi sneezed.