Han official!

Chapter 184 The Disaster of Witchcraft
When the autumn wind of the sixth year of the Yuanshou era swept locust leaves into Weiyang Palace, a deadly item appeared in Crown Prince Liu Ju's deerskin quiver.

Guo Jie's fingers traced the cool crown of the wooden puppet; the twelve tassels were actually made of jade tribute from the Xiongnu.

The seven bone needles in the puppet's heart gleamed with a faint blue light, and the wolf head patterns carved on the needle ends reminded him of the golden statue of the Xiutu King that Huo Qubing had beheaded on the battlefield of Hexi twenty years ago.

"It was discovered when the Imperial Stud was counting the arrows at noon."

Huo Guang's voice was very low, the candlelight flickering on his young face, "Jiang Chong's men have already surrounded Bowang Garden."

Outside the hall came the sound of embroidered-clad messengers clashing in their armor, and Guo Jie suddenly broke off the wooden puppet's left arm.

Half a bamboo slip floated out from the cracked paulownia wood. The mottled ink marks were the secret document he had written to Wei Qing before the decisive battle in the northern desert, outlining the allocation of grain and supplies.

This silk scroll, which should have been burned, was copied onto the sacrificial bamboo slips used by the Xiongnu people.

"Uncle!" Crown Prince Liu Ju grabbed Guo Jie's sleeve, the jade belt hook scraping against the old general's old wound on his wrist.

Those were arrow wounds left from the siege of Mayi in the fifth year of the Yuanshuo era, but now they hurt more than a knife cut: "These words written in blood."

"Does Your Highness remember how the white fox was caught in the trap during last month's hunt?" Guo Jie suddenly asked.

He ran his fingertips over the two characters "Liu Ju" on the puppet's clothes, and the vermilion powder shimmered with an eerie golden hue under the candlelight.

This is malachite pigment presented as tribute by the Kingdom of Kucha in the Western Regions, which was just added to the Imperial Treasury last year.

As the fifth watchman's clapper sounded, Guo Jie sat alone in a secret room in the Marquis of Zhi's mansion. Three pieces of evidence were laid out on the table.

A broken puppet, cinnabar dusted with gold powder, and half a Hunnic arrowhead.

When the water clock dripped for the seventh time, the window frame suddenly trembled slightly, and the bronze mask gleamed coldly in the moonlight.

"The snow in the Qilian Mountains is going to block the roads." The man took off his mask, revealing the frost on Huo Qubing's temples. "In the secret passage of Jiang Chong's villa, there are thirty cartloads of this kind of paulownia wood."

He tossed over a blood-stained sack, from which rolled an unfinished puppet.

The five fingers of his left hand are clearly in the posture of holding a sword, which is completely different from Liu Ju's habit of holding a bow when hunting.

Before the morning mist had dissipated, Huo Guang strode through the fish market in the East Market.

The fishy smell of the pickled goods masked the muttony odor of the secret letter in his sleeve, which was a freight bill obtained from Jiang Chong's groom.

Seven days ago, a batch of wooden boxes labeled "lacquerware" entered Beijing from Taiyuan, and the escorting officer was none other than Li Guangli's brother-in-law.

"Lord Zhi, please look at this." Huo Guang spread out a silk cloth in the secret room. Under the emblem of the Taiyuan Lacquerware Workshop, the wolf head fire lacquer seal of the Xiongnu royal court could be faintly seen.

Guo Jie used a silver needle to pry open the interlayer, and a few grains of red sand, unique to the northern desert, fell out. When Huo Qubing launched a surprise attack on Hexi, his boots were often filled with this kind of sand.

Suddenly, the bells and drums of Weiyang Palace rang out in unison.

The old general gripped the Dingjiang sword tightly, and the pearl on the tassel, a gift from Empress Wei, suddenly cracked open.

This was an emergency signal they agreed upon three years ago before Huo Qubing "died of illness".

Just three strikes of the clapper at dawn, Guo Jie was already squatting on the eaves of Jiang Chong's villa.

The autumn wind swept withered leaves past the stone lanterns in the courtyard, and in the swaying light and shadow, two embroidered-clad messengers were carrying the last wooden box into the cellar.

The old general squinted. The black stains seeping from the bottom of the box snaked like snakes on the blue bricks. It was the grease water he had smelled for twenty years on the battlefield in the northern desert.

With a "whoosh," the bronze mask flipped up from the eaves.

Huo Qubing, his face covered with a veil, flicked a shard of ice from his fingertip, striking the guard on the back of the neck: "The third room in the southeast corner has windows made of birch wood from the Qilian Mountains."

Guo Jie was startled.

During the surprise attack on Hexi in the fourth year of the Yuanshou era, Huo Qubing used this type of wood to build a pontoon bridge to cross the Ruoshui River.

The two of them darted across the rooftops like cats, but stopped at the same time at the corner.

From deep within the cellar came the sounds of conversation in the Xiongnu language, mixed with the harsh scraping of metal.

"The Chanyu doesn't want the Crown Prince's life, he wants the map of the Weiyang Palace's underground tunnels." The broken Mandarin was accompanied by the clinking of metal. "Tomorrow at dawn, transport the last ten cartloads of paulownia wood to Changping Temple."

Huo Qubing suddenly gripped the hilt of his sword.

Moonlight slanted through the half-open window, where Jiang Chong was fastening a golden wolf-head belt hook to his waist. Underneath the fur coat of the Xiongnu envoy opposite him, the standard-issue sword of the Weiyang Palace Guard was clearly visible!

"Who?!"

A sudden whistling sound arose as three whistling arrows pierced through the window paper.

Guo Jie spun around, his cloak billowing out as the arrows fell, while Huo Qubing's sword had already pierced the Xiongnu envoy's face mask.

That scar across his left cheek belonged to Lan Tu, the Xiongnu Grand Commandant who had escaped capture in Hexi three years ago!
"Uncle, watch out!"

Before Huo Qubing's urgent call had even finished, a deafening roar suddenly erupted from the cellar.

Three hundred barrels of rock grease water transformed into a fiery dragon soaring into the sky, and the tiles that were blown away by the heat wave fell like raindrops.

Amidst the thick smoke, Guo Jie grabbed a half-burnt sheepskin, on which a blood-drawn map of a secret passage pointed directly to the Jiaofang Palace!

At dawn, Huo Guang knelt before the medicine stove in the Jiaofang Palace, and the imperial physician used his silver needle to pick out a grain of cinnabar from the dregs of aconite.

The crimson hue made his pupils shrink sharply.

The same cinnabar was also embedded in the eye of the wild goose that the prince shot down three days ago.

"Commander Huo has quite the refined taste."

The sinister voice startled the medicine furnace, causing sparks to fly.

Han said, leading the Imperial Guards to block the palace gate, their armor still stained with locust leaves from Bowang Garden: "How dare you touch the Empress's medicine dregs?"

Huo Guang suddenly coughed violently, and the peach wood talisman hidden in his sleeve slid into the charcoal ash.

Just as Han Shuo approached, Guo Jie's angry shout suddenly came from outside the palace: "How dare you! The Empress is unwell, how dare you disturb her!"
The old general, still clad in black armor, had drops of Xiongnu blood from his Dingjiang sword sizzling on the blue bricks.

Han stared at the cracked pearl on the sword tassel, his face turning deathly pale.

That was the South China Sea pearl that Empress Wei had given to Huo Qubing three years ago!

"This humble general is acting on the orders of Commandant Jiang."

"What is Jiang Chong anyway!" Guo Jie slammed his sword into the ground, causing Han Shuo to stagger back three steps. "Go back and tell your master that I know better than him what's buried under the floor tiles of Weiyang Palace!"

As dawn broke, the three gathered in the secret room.

Huo Qubing soaked the charred sheepskin in mare's milk wine, and the faint ink lines that appeared perfectly matched the drainage channels of Weiyang Palace.

Huo Guang suddenly pointed to a certain spot: "Here! Last month, the Imperial Household Department repaired the palace walls and used an extra 300 catties of lime here."

Guo Jie's white beard moved without wind.

During the Rebellion of the Seven States, King Liu Bi of Wu launched a surprise attack on Weiyang Palace using a secret passage marked with lime.

He suddenly ripped open his shirt, revealing an arrow scar on his chest: "Twenty years ago, when I shielded His Majesty from an arrow here, the arrowhead of that Xiongnu wolf-tooth arrow..."

"It shares the same origin as the bone needles on today's puppets."

Huo Qubing continued, his fingertips tracing the half-section of paulownia wood salvaged from the fire, "What's even more coincidental is that the incense made from this batch of paulownia wood is identical to the calming incense formula that Li Guangli presented last month."

Before they could finish speaking, a rapid knocking on the door interrupted their private conversation.

The Crown Prince's personal attendant, covered in blood, rushed in: "Bowang Garden is surrounded by the Embroidered-Robed Envoys! They've found them...found them!"

"What did you find?" Huo Guang asked urgently.

"The Empress's witchcraft puppet!"

Guo Jie smashed the table with a single palm strike.

Between the broken pieces of wood, a secret letter that Huo Qubing had buried three years ago before faking his death was revealed.

The pattern of the jade belt hook that went missing in the case of Zhang Tang's sudden death is exactly the same as the gold wolf head belt hook that Jiang Chong wears today!
"Qubing, you take the Crown Prince and leave the city through the secret passage west of the river." The old general untied his military tally and tossed it to Huo Guang. "Use this tally to mobilize the Northern Army, and tell them..."

"Tell me about the Xiongnu Hunye King's tribe knocking on the gate." Huo Qubing suddenly chuckled, his eyes under the mask as intense as when he was young. "Uncle, don't forget that when the news of my 'death in battle' reached the northern desert three years ago, the Chanyu held a three-day memorial service for heaven and earth."

As the morning bell tolled, Guo Jie rode alone towards Weiyang Palace.

The rising sun dyed his white hair golden-red, and the cracked beads on the tassel of the Dingjiang sword jingled in the wind.

At the palace gate, Jiang Chong's golden wolf-head belt hook dazzled onlookers: "Is the Marquis of Zhi planning a rebellion?"

"I've come to tell His Majesty a story," Guo Jie said, pointing his whip directly at the other man's waist. "In the spring of the fourth year of the Yuan Shou era, Zhang Tang died suddenly in the Shizhi Water Case, clutching half of a Xiongnu gold seal before his death."

He suddenly spurred his horse forward and, amidst the exclamations of the Imperial Guards, snatched the belt hook: "This, along with the seal hidden in the secret compartment of this belt hook, might be able to complete a set!"

Amidst the sound of jade shattering, the belt hook split in two.

The blood-stained sheepskin map fell to the dust, and every secret passage beneath the Weiyang Palace was marked with Xiongnu script in cinnabar.

That was a secret message from the royal court of Yizhixie Chanyu!
The bronze incense burner in front of Weiyang Palace lay overturned on the ground, its ambergris ash mixed with blood. Guo Jie's Dingjiang sword was held against Jiang Chong's neck, drops of Xiongnu blood dripping from its blade onto the "Jiaofang Palace" mark on the sheepskin map.

"Your Majesty!" Jiang Chong cried out hoarsely, "Guo Jie has trespassed into the palace; his intentions are despicable!"

Emperor Wu of Han's crown tassels shook violently, and the twelve jade tassels swept across the golden wolf-head belt hook in Guo Jie's hand.

The old general suddenly flipped the hook, and half of a bronze tiger tally fell out of the hidden compartment where the mechanism opened.

It fits perfectly with the military tally that Huo Qubing lost when he "died in battle" three years ago.

"In the autumn of the fourth year of the Yuan Shou era, before the Marquis of Champion ventured deep into the northern desert, he split this talisman in two." Guo Jie's voice boomed like a bell. "One half was buried with him in the Qilian Mountains, and the other half—he flicked the hook with his sword tip—should be in the golden tent of Yizhixie Chanyu!"

Huo Guang suddenly rushed in from outside the hall, carrying a charred fragment of a paulownia wood box in his arms: "Your Majesty, I found this item at Jiang Chong's villa!"

The rubbings of the golden statue used by the Xiongnu to worship Heaven are clearly visible on the fragment, and they are exactly the same as the sacred artifacts of the royal court that Huo Qubing captured back then.

"What a loyal minister and general!" Emperor Wu of Han grabbed the jade paperweight from his desk, but stopped abruptly when he saw the ink stains on the fragment.

The crooked characters "Liu Ju" were surprisingly similar to the handwriting in the Empress Chen witchcraft case twenty years ago!

A commotion suddenly arose outside the hall.

Amidst the exclamations of the Imperial Guards, Huo Qubing, wearing a bronze mask, strode over the roof tiles, carrying a Xiongnu scout whose body was still dripping blood: "Your Majesty, this man sneaked out of the secret passage of Ganquan Palace and found a copper pipe layout map of Weiyang Palace in his pocket!"

The crisp sound of the mask hitting the ground shattered the deathly silence.

The white frost at Huo Qubing's temples reflected the morning light, and the old scar that ran across his brow bone made Emperor Wu stagger backward.

These are the scars left from the bloody battle at Langjuxu Mountain in the fourth year of the Yuanshou era.

“Go away from illness. You.” The old emperor’s hand hovered in mid-air.

"I faked my death for three years, just to find out the truth behind Zhang Tang's sudden death." Huo Qubing knelt on one knee and presented a blood-stained secret letter. "Jiang Chong and Li Guangli colluded with the Xiongnu, and the route for transporting tar water was exactly the same as what Zhang Tang planned back then!"

Liu Ju suddenly tore open his sleeve, revealing a festering wound on his arm: "Your subject inspected the fire at Bowang Garden the other day and was poisoned by the Xiongnu wolf poison!"

The black blood seeping from the wound dripped onto the gold brick, and surprisingly, it corroded wisps of blue smoke.

Jiang Chong suddenly sprang up, thrusting a short sword from his sleeve straight at the Crown Prince.

As Guo Jie spun around to block, Huo Guang threw the peach wood talisman from the medicine dregs at the palace pillar.

The cinnabar on the talisman ignites upon exposure to wind, revealing the "Li" character emblem!

"What a spectacle!" Emperor Wu laughed in fury. "Summon Li Guangli!"

At noon, the ground in Ganquan Palace shook violently.

As Li Guangli rode his horse into the palace gate, Huo Qubing's hidden assassins activated a mechanism, causing three hundred barrels of rock grease hidden in the tunnel to explode with a loud bang.

Amidst the towering flames, Guo Jie protected Emperor Wu as he retreated to the watchtower. In the distance, on the imperial road, Huo Guang was leading the Northern Army to intercept and kill the Xiongnu cavalry who were providing support.

"Your Majesty, please look." Huo Qubing split open the charred remains of the carriage, revealing boxes of malachite and cinnabar. "These pigments, which share the same origin as the blood-written words on the puppets, all came from the Taiyuan lacquer workshop of Li Guangli's brother-in-law!"

As dusk fell, the truth came to light in the front hall of Weiyang Palace.

The gold wolf-head belt hook on Jiang Chong's waist, the secret letter from the Xiongnu in Li Guangli's sleeve, and the lime markings in the secret passage of the Jiaofang Palace were all exposed under the examination of the thirty-seven Mohist craftsmen brought by Huo Guang.

"I have wronged the Crown Prince." Emperor Wu patted Liu Ju on the shoulder, but his gaze turned to Huo Qubing, "Marquis of Champion."

"I am still a dead man." Huo Qubing put his mask back on. "The Right Wise King of the Xiongnu has arrived at Juyanze. I should go and meet my old friends."

Guo Jie suddenly coughed incessantly, and the blood in his handkerchief soaked through the broken pearl given to him by Empress Wei.

Huo Guang, with his keen eyesight, discovered that a piece of silk was hidden inside the hollow cavity of the pearl.

It turned out to be the real confession from the Empress Chen witchcraft case back then!
Three days later, the undercurrents in Chang'an City intensified.

Guo Jie burned all the witchcraft and sorcery case files at the Marquis of Zhi's residence, but kept only half a bloodstained bamboo slip.

When Huo Guang visited late at night, he saw the old general wiping his sword under the moonlight, the blade reflecting the newly added cracks in the north gate of Weiyang Palace.

That was the residual force of the explosion of the petroleum water, and also resembled the faint, hidden wounds on the Han Dynasty's empire.

"What is Uncle waiting for?"

"Wait for the gift your brother brings back from the Qilian Mountains." Guo Jie threw the bamboo slips into the brazier, and in the firelight, Xiongnu characters appeared: "The Chanyu presents General Guo with the following words: After our meeting at Changping Temple, I still remember the old alliance at Mayi."

As the water clock ticked, a magnificent Akhal-Teke horse quietly left the city.

In the lacquer box hanging beside the saddle, Jiang Chong's head had its eyes wide open, and the golden wolf's head with a hook was still firmly biting into its mouth.

Huo Qubing's crimson banner swept across the Wei River, and tied to the corner of the banner was the left ear of the son of Yizhixie Chanyu.

As the bronze crane incense burner in Jianzhang Palace exhaled its last wisp of smoke, Jiang Chong was dragged by iron chains across the blue bricks in front of Weiyang Palace.

His golden wolf-head belt hook had long been trampled into dust by the people, and his tattered embroidered clothes were covered with rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs.

Guo Jie sat upright on the execution platform, holding in his hands the letter of surrender from the Xiongnu, which had been delivered by Huo Qubing with an urgent message.

The head of Yizhixie Chanyu's second son is hanging at the pass of the Qilian Mountains.

"His Majesty has decreed!" The attendant tore open the imperial edict, his voice startling the crows under the eaves, "Jiang Chong will be torn apart by five horses and his body will be displayed in the East Market for three days!"

Liu Ju's crown as crown prince gleamed golden in the autumn sun.

As the first horse neighed and galloped off, he looked toward Huo Guang behind the execution platform.

The young Fengche Duwei nodded slightly, and thirty elite Northern Army soldiers suddenly escorted out the Imperial Censor who was present at the meeting.

The secret letter that slipped from the man's sleeve was irrefutable evidence of Jiang Chong's dealings with the princes!

Three days later, the hot springs of Ganquan Palace began to steam.

Emperor Wu of Han removed his imperial robes, and the arrow scar on his chest was faintly visible in the mist: "Does the Marquis of Zhi know the origin of this scar?"

His fingers traced the Dingjiang sword that Guo Jie had presented, "In the siege of Mayi in the fifth year of Yuanshuo, you took that poisoned arrow for me."

The old general suddenly coughed, and the bloodstains in his handkerchief stained the Langjuxu Mountain stone sent by Huo Qubing.

Liu Ju's hand holding the medicine cup trembled suddenly.

This black jade medicine cup was originally a birthday gift bestowed upon Guo Jie by Empress Wei.

"Your Majesty, it's time to take your medicine." Huo Guang's voice came from behind the screen, holding a lacquer tray filled with snow lotus, a tribute from the Xiongnu. "The Marquis of Champion has pacified the four prefectures of Hexi and has petitioned to open the Yumen Pass market."

Emperor Wu drank the bitter medicine, then suddenly grabbed the tiger tally from his desk: "Issue an imperial edict! The Crown Prince shall oversee the state, and the Marquis of Zhi shall be in charge of all affairs of the Secretariat!"

The sound of the jade chisel startled the Yellow Gate Attendant, who knocked over his inkstone, spilling ink onto the draft of the "Luntai Edict," making the phrase "My ignorance" appear shockingly blurred.

During the grand ceremony on the Winter Solstice, the brass instruments of Weiyang Palace played the "Anshi Le" (Peaceful Life Music).

Liu Ju, dressed in black, sat beside the dragon throne, while Guo Jie's Dingjiang sword lay across the jade steps.

As Huo Guang read the "Edict of Self-Reproach," the old emperor suddenly removed his crown and rose, his twelve-tasseled jade ornaments sweeping over Empress Wei's memorial tablet: "I wish to emulate the Yellow Emperor and ride the dragon."

"Your Majesty, you mustn't!" Chancellor Gongsun He knelt down to remonstrate, but Huo Qubing's whistling arrow shot off his official hat.

Amidst the horrified silence of the entire hall, the bronze-masked general strode in through the snow, his fish-scale armor still bearing the frost of Juyanze: "The Hunxie King's 30,000 cavalry have breached the gates. Your Majesty, I request the Crown Prince to bestow upon us the Tiger Tally!"

Liu Ju suddenly stood up, his jade-hilted sword clashing sharply with Guo Jie's Dingjiang sword: "Granted! Granted the insignia of the Marquis of Champion, and appointed commander-in-chief of the military affairs of Hexi!"

On the first day of the first year of Yuanfeng, a funeral bell rang out from Ganquan Palace.

Guo Jie, supporting the ailing Emperor Wu, wrote his final edict: "The throne shall be passed to Crown Prince Ju, and the era name shall be changed to Zhenghe."

The imperial brush suddenly fell, and the splashed ink landed precisely on the dragon's eye on the Imperial Seal of the State.

That was precisely the shortfall Huo Qubing had filled twenty years ago.

"Uncle." Liu Ju turned around with red eyes, only to see that Guo Jie had already taken off his court robes.

The old general's white hair was tied up with the tail of a wolf from the northern desert, and the banner in his hand pointed towards the Qilian Mountains: "Your Majesty should go to the top of Chang'an City and see the 100,000 Zuo Gong Willows newly planted by Huo Qubing."

On the day the new emperor ascended the throne, the people of Chang'an saw a strange celestial phenomenon.

The Big Dipper, with its seven stars aligned, forms a sword, pointing directly at the northern gate of Weiyang Palace.

Some veterans say they once saw a silver-armored general drawing his bow and nocking an arrow atop the Qilian Mountains, the arrowhead carrying the still-warm soul of Jiang Chong.

When Huo Guang was organizing the archives, he found half a bamboo slip in the interleaving of the "Witchcraft Case Records".

The faded Xiongnu script was deciphered by the Mohists and revealed to be the last words of Yizhixie Chanyu: "Han had Guo and Huo, but the Mandate of Heaven was with Liu."

Meanwhile, the Marquis of Zhi, who had supposedly died of illness, was riding out of Yumen alone at that moment. In the lacquer box hanging beside his saddle, the snowmelt from the Qilian Mountains, bestowed upon him by Emperor Wu on his deathbed, was shimmering with tiny sparkles as the camel bells rang.

(End of this chapter)