Yongle Year Eighteen: The Blood Death Ambush

"Th-that...?"

Mae Young and the palace matrons of the Ten Princes' Office blinked in bewilderment.

Wasn't that the same brat they'd seen just moments ago? The one whose insolence had pierced the very heavens. And yet they had clearly just been told he was a Gamseung...

While Mae Young and the matrons' tangled thoughts failed to find any purchase, Jin Myeong swept a glance over them, then cupped his fists toward the Empress.

"Your Majesty the Empress."

He did not forget to accompany that glance with a faint smile.

No matter how you thrash about, you're still in the palm of this Gonggong's hand.

Having heard the full account from the princesses and their consorts, Jin Myeong had gone straight to the Inner Court's tent. The palace matrons' destination was obvious. When it came to pressuring princesses, the Empress—head of all palace women—was the right person for the job, and when it came to pressuring eunuchs, a woman was always more effective than a man. The Inner Court's tent was the answer. Besides, he had been on his way to find Zheng He anyway. Two birds, one stone.

"So you've arrived. Tell me—was it snowing outside?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. This humble official stopped at the Ten Princes' Office tent, and when I emerged, the snow had begun to fall."

"Sit. As it happens, these people came to me speaking of you."

The Empress indicated an empty chair.

Even that trivial invitation struck Mae Young and the palace matrons like a thunderbolt. Zheng He was Grand Director—that much they could swallow. But for the Empress to offer a seat to some fledgling inner attendant? It was unthinkable.

A sudden, creeping sense that something had gone terribly wrong stole over them.

"I dare not, Your Majesty. How could this humble official sit beside Your Honored Majesty, the noble ladies, and my own superior? That is not the law of the palace. The snow on my fur coat is melting—I shall merely remove this."

Just as Jin Myeong said, the snowflakes that had settled on his outer coat were dissolving in the warm air of the tent.

"Very well. But know this: there is no one here who would look down on you. Is that not so, Crown Princess?"

"It is so, Your Majesty. Who would dare look down on an inner attendant of the fifth rank, a Gamseung who wears the Touhou?"

"Indeed. If anyone looks down on the Heaven's Eunuch who will succeed the Grand Director, the fault lies with them."

Hearing the exchange between Empress and Crown Princess, a single thought crystallized in the minds of Mae Young and the palace matrons.

Heaven's Eunuch...? The one who saved the Empress?

There had been a stir not long ago, hadn't there? A young eunuch had saved the Empress from a seizure of the heart, and for that merit had been granted silver, a rank, and the title of Heaven's Eunuch—along with a Touhou Robe.

It couldn't be that this brat is...?

The true shape of the situation was just beginning to come into terrible focus when a voice called from outside.

"Your Majesty, the inner attendants of the Ten Princes' Office request an audience."

"The Ten Princes' Office? Let them in. At this rate there won't be room to set foot in the Inner Court's tent."

The Empress gave a small, dry laugh of assent.

Four middle-aged eunuchs pushed aside the tent flap and entered.

"Your Majesty the Empress. Noh Gwang, Jeonbu of the Ten Princes' Office, and three others, present their respects."

Noh Gwang spoke for the group. All four were Rank 6 Jeonbu—two grades below Jin Myeong—and they were thick as thieves with Mae Young and the palace matrons.

Noh Gwang had been catching up with old acquaintances among the palace eunuchs before returning to the Ten Princes' Office tent. Finding the matrons gone, he had asked the princesses and consorts what had happened, then come running straight here. The sixty-year-old eunuchs, hurrying in as they were, failed to notice the ominous cast that had settled over the matrons' faces.

"Well. And what brings you?"

"It is this, Your Majesty. We are told that an inner attendant of the Directorate of Ceremonial entered the Ten Princes' Office tent and committed an act of grave disrespect. We sought an audience to report the matter to Your Majesty and to confer with the Grand Director."

"As it happens, the palace matrons came to me with that very complaint. Matron Mae. Did this Empress not ask you? Is the man you spoke of not that one there?"

The Empress nodded toward Jin Myeong, who was in the corner removing his fur coat.

Every head from the Ten Princes' Office snapped around at once.

The faces of the Ten Princes' Office men twisted in horror as they took in Jin Myeong without his coat. Then their eyelids flew wide, and the pupils within began to tremble like aspen leaves.

Lustrous black silk. Upon it, an imugi embroidered in gold thread, two horns rising from the serpent-dragon's head. The so-called four-clawed dragon. There was no mistaking it. That garment was a Touhou Robe—the robe bestowed by the Emperor's own hand.

Chaos erupted in the minds of every man from the Ten Princes' Office.

A child in a Touhou Robe? A eunuch?

H-Heaven's Eunuch...!

Mae Young and the palace matrons staggered as if struck. They had arrived early enough to overhear the Empress and Crown Princess, and they had already begun to suspect Jin Myeong's identity.

So that's why the Empress...!

A dizzying chill swept through Mae Young, and gooseflesh rose across her entire body. Come to think of it—when she had made her report, neither the Empress nor the Crown Princess had shown so much as a flicker of anger. That sudden interest in the young man's appearance and height had seemed strange, even unsettling. Now she understood. If you did not favor the man who had saved your life, whom would you favor?

She had never dreamed that this little castrated brat was the Empress's own man.

I walked into this on my own two feet...! Heavens...!

Mae Young squeezed her eyes shut, realizing too late that the tent she had entered thinking it paradise was in fact a tiger's den. She had lived past sixty. She had prided herself on having reached an age when little could surprise her. She had been entirely wrong.

"Jin Myeong. The women and eunuchs of the Ten Princes' Office have come to accuse you. Are you aware?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. This humble official came regarding the same matter."

"I see. And what is the meaning of this?"

"This humble official heard it in full from the princesses and their consorts. Siyeok Mae Young, Jeonbu Noh Gwang, and the palace matrons and inner attendants of the Ten Princes' Office conspired together to extort the consorts' wealth. And if the wealth was not given, they barred the consorts from meeting their princesses."

The moment Jin Myeong's report ended, Mae Young and Noh Gwang scrambled forward and prostrated themselves before the Empress. The rest of the Ten Princes' Office followed suit.

"It is not so, Your Majesty. How could your humble servants commit such a wretched conspiracy?"

"It cannot be, Your Majesty. We are wronged. Your Majesty."

"Not so? It cannot be? And what is your proof?"

"This humble official anticipated as much, and brought the proof himself."

The answer came from Jin Myeong's lips. He grinned as though he had known they would say exactly that, and reached into his robes. His chest had looked rather bulky—and from it he drew three thin ledgers.

Proof? What proof?

The prostrate officials of the Ten Princes' Office questioned it inwardly. What proof could there possibly be? Witnesses, perhaps—but physical evidence?

While they still doubted the meaning of that word, Jin Myeong opened a ledger and began to read.

The ledgers Jin Myeong had brought were account books kept by the imperial consorts themselves. The place and time of every transfer of wealth had been recorded—and so bitter had the writers been that round tear stains wept across the pages.

The longer Jin Myeong's voice went on, the colder the gazes that fell upon the officials of the Ten Princes' Office.

And who were the people gathered here? The consorts of the Inner Palace, called ghosts of the imperial court alongside the eunuchs. They understood the fate and the sorrow of palace women better than anyone alive. The princesses were no different. Even carrying the Emperor's own blood, they were married off to the sons of wealthy houses or military families chosen by the state. In that sense, the Inner Court and the princesses were fellow sufferers.

And now they were told that mere servants had conspired to bleed the consorts dry and torment the princesses for the rest of their days. Worse still, the guilty parties had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠come before the Empress and the Inner Court and lied to their faces with such brazen confidence that words failed entirely.

"You... you wretches! You dared to defile the princesses you were bound to serve and revere! Grand Director!"

Twin flames ignited in the Empress's beautiful eyes as she stared Mae Young down.

"As you command. Speak, Your Majesty."

Zheng He, who understood the shifting atmosphere better than anyone, rose at once and cupped his fists, observing every solemn formality to preserve the Empress's dignity.

"Is there an executioner in the hunting camp?"

"I report with the utmost reverence that there is not. If Your Majesty commands the Jinyiwei, it shall be done."

There had been no reason to bring an executioner to a hunting ground, so Zheng He offered a solution. The executioner's work—the cutting of condemned men's heads—was considered a base occupation, and the authorities typically summoned such men only when a beheading was required. But the situation being what it was, and the Jinyiwei being born blade-bearing military officers charged with administering punishment, they would not take offense. Still less so when the necks to be severed belonged not to commoners but to ranked officials.

Facing the prospect of having their heads struck off and hung on display within moments, the palace women and eunuchs of the Ten Princes' Office began to plead from the floor. It was closer to wailing than to speech.

"Silence!"

Jin Myeong's shout, laden with true qi, slammed their mouths shut.

They choked. Startled, throats seized, the matrons and eunuchs gagged and gasped. The thick shadow of death became a chill, then a fever. Tears and snot poured forth. Their entire bodies shook beyond all control.

"Your Majesty the Empress. If it is Your Majesty's august command, this humble official will not refuse even the executioner's work. This humble official shall drag these people who defiled Your Majesty and the princesses out into the snow and behead them."

Even as they trembled, Jin Myeong murmured words as terrible as a messenger from the underworld. Neither his tone nor his bearing left any room for bluff. That a man of his years could speak of cutting off human heads as though it were nothing at all—they cursed themselves for ever having taken this eunuch for a fledgling. His true face had been King Yama's all along.

They were going to die. They were truly going to die. Their very souls felt as though they might scatter and flee.

In the end, Mae Young, Noh Gwang, and the rest of the Ten Princes' Office wet themselves where they lay prostrate.

Meanwhile the Empress shoved back her seat as though she had made up her mind.

"No. Come. This will not do—I shall go to His Majesty and report it myself. You insolent creatures! Gamseung Jang, lead the way! Summon the princesses and consorts as well!"

"As you command! Inner attendants attending the Inner Court—drag the criminals and follow Her Majesty the Empress! We go to His Majesty!"

"As you command, Gonggong!"

In due course, the Empress's party emerged from the Inner Court's tent and set out toward the east, where the imperial pavilion stood. The Inner Court's tent occupied the westernmost ground; the Yongle Emperor's pavilion, the easternmost. Between them, the tents of the great ministers and the Ten Princes' Office clustered in ranks running north to south.

Laughter rolled from some twenty zhang ahead—the Yongle Emperor's party. Zheng He had gone to fetch the Emperor the moment they left the Inner Court's tent, and as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it happened, the Emperor himself was returning to take tea.

"His Majesty is returning at just the right moment. Come quickly, Jin Myeong."

Jin Myeong had not planned it this way, but the fact that this affair had drawn the entire Inner Court and Ten Princes' Office toward the Yongle Emperor's tent was a stroke of extraordinary fortune.

"Your Majesty the Empress, I fear for your precious health—please go slowl— Ambush!"

At ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that very instant.

A hideous scream of splitting air tore through the sky, and the assault of the Blood Death Archery Corps began.

Jin Myeong and the inner attendants of the Inner Court, thrown into shock by that colossal tearing sound, struck aside the iron arrows pouring down upon them. The enormous arrowheads, axe-bladed and weighing a full ten taels apiece, came screaming down from overhead. These were Blood Death Arrows, appearing for the first time in years—the arrows said to shatter bone and drag out a man's entrails the instant they punched through.

Screams rang out. Mae Young, Noh Gwang, and the others were pierced by iron arrows they could not fend off. Noh Gwang, struck dead-center through the throat, had his neck-bone severed; his head lolled and swung. The eunuchs had thrown themselves forward to shield the princesses and the Inner Court, and so there was no one left to protect the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠palace matrons and eunuchs of the Ten Princes' Office. The imperial consorts, too, drew their swords and stood over their wives.

"Ambush!"

From every direction came the warning shouts of Jinyiwei guards, and the blare of horns signaling a general alarm.

"Your Majesty the Empress—forgive this humble official!"

"Ah—!"

Having swept aside one volley of arrows, Jin Myeong scooped the Empress into his arms at once. The body of a woman in her mid-twenties, in the full bloom of her years, filled his embrace with a startling, abundant warmth—yet the arms of a youth standing six chi tall still had room to spare.

"Your Highness the Crown Princess, take the princess!"

"Understood. Princess!"

"Inner attendants! Escort the Inner Court and the Ten Princes' Office to the imperial pavilion!"

"As you command, Gonggong!"

Holding the Empress and the Crown Princess in either arm, Jin Myeong launched himself. In a single bound he covered twenty zhang and appeared before the Yongle Emperor's pavilion.

"Your Majesty!"

"Your Highness!"

The Empress and Crown Princess, alighting at the Yongle Emperor's side, each called to her husband. Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi's party had been on the verge of entering the tent themselves.

"Empress, Crown Princess, quickly—!"

The Yongle Emperor, exhaling in relief at the sight of the women who had arrived with Jin Myeong, was urging them into the tent when—

"Father!"

Another shriek of splitting air. Zhu Gaochi seized the Yongle Emperor and spun, wrapping his father in his arms.

When the stunned onlookers collected themselves, they saw that Sa Hapji's golden saber had barred the path of an iron arrow racing toward the Emperor. The blade shuddered violently, proof that the true qi and the traitor's power loaded into that arrow were anything but ordinary. A torch flared to life in the Yongle Emperor's pupils.

"Your servant is here!"

"Protect Our son!"

The Yongle Emperor looked, with reddened eyes and a swelling chest, at the eldest son who had turned and held him. Outwardly he gave no sign, but Zhu Di was shaken to his core by what the boy had done.

You fool. You should have looked to your own body.

A son who had lost his martial arts, whose health was already failing, had stepped forward to save his aging father. And this was the son born of the wife of his youth, dead these thirteen years. What's more, Zhu Gaoxu—who had reached the Intermediate Peak Realm—had been standing right beside them, and yet the eldest, stripped of his martial power, had been faster than the second. An eldest son was an eldest son after all.

"Father! This son will stand and fight the traitors as well!"

"You are the foundation of the state! Into the pavilion! That is a command! Sa Hapji!"

"Your servant obeys! Your Highness the Crown Prince—allow me to escort you!"

While the golden sabers of the guards ringing the Yongle Emperor's pavilion whirled and struck down iron arrows, every woman of the Inner Court and the Ten Princes' Office was brought inside the Emperor's tent. Zhu Gaochi went with them.

Steel rang on steel. To the left, Prince of Han Zhu Gaoxu and Zhang Fu, Left Commander-in-Chief of the Central Military Commission; to the right, Zheng He and Sa Hapji, Commander-in-Chief of the Jinyiwei—all of them batting aside the incoming iron arrows. The Yongle Emperor swept his gaze across every quarter, then clenched both fists.

At last, from within that gentle gold, the Yongle Emperor's mouth opened.

"As you command!"

The roar that shook the mountains and rivers and set every blade of grass trembling shook the snow from the forest and startled every beast from cover. Flurries whirled up from the blanket of snow, and above them birds of every kind took wing until they blackened the sky.

The command given, the Yongle Emperor strode into the tent, sat facing them, and received Zheng He's cupped-fist salute.

"As you command!"

Then Jin Myeong took his place before the tent flap as though he would not permit a single step past it, looked upon the Yongle Emperor and all those assembled, and raised the first cry.

The chant of the martial eunuchs ringing the tent and the Jinyiwei guards split heaven and earth. When it ended, the Yongle Emperor met Jin Myeong's eyes and nodded.

And the great counterattack of the Eastern Depot of the Great Ming and the Jinyiwei Imperial Guard began.