Fragrance of Laurel Branch

Chapter 4: The Mystery of Western Xia's Map

"Lady of Bright Countenance, the epitaph of Shangguan Wan'er." Wang Anshi pondered, "Power of old ministers from Tang Dynasty?"

"Princess Taiping committed suicide after writing the epitaph for her best friend, Shangguan Wan'er. Later generations said that they were incompatible and irreconcilable as enemies, but it was not until seeing her tombstone, that people knew the deep friendship between them." Sima Guang observed the partition door. In just a few words of eulogy, she wrote all the grievances and affectionateness in her life.

"No, maybe this is just the surface of mystery." Wang Anshi erased the dust off the door frame, "See, here wrote 'To Wei Lingjun, the governor of Dunhuang.'"

"Wei Lingjun is the daughter of Wei Xuantong, Provincial Governor of Hangzhou. Her father was sentenced to death by Empress Wu Zetian because of offending Zhou Xing. To compensate Wei Lingjun, Empress gave her the scepter and ordered her to go to Western Regions with Dugu Deyin. Because of her extraordinary achievements, she was appointed as Governor of Dunhuang."

Wang Anshi sighed: "Dunhuang was once a place of peace and harmony, but now it is occupied by Western Xia. How the misfortune of our Song Dynasty!" He moved his hand away a little and saw another name.

Dugu Deyin.

"Dugu Deyin, Ningyuan General during Wu Zhou period, had royal blood from Sui Dynasty." He muttered to himself, "In the end, Emperor Xuanzong was afraid that if she still supported Emperor Wu, so he killed his Imperial Aunt, Princess Taiping, and her best friend, Shangguan Wan'er; then set up an ambush in the battle of Jade Gate Pass, and killed her on the battlefield."

"Yes," Sima Guang mentioned the names of these two persons, "Wei Lingjun vowed to defend Dunhuang until her death. Emperor Xuanzong sentenced her to death by drinking the poisoned wine, but she was so unyielding that she jumped from Baidi Tower. Her head was broken and bleeding. Her blood incarnadined the desert."

They walked up wooden ladders one by one. After exhausting the way, Wang Anshi and Sima Guang were in a cave for storing scriptures.

"I didn't think of this cave for storing scriptures was built between two caves and was suspended in the air!" Wang Anshi picked up a scroll of scriptures at random, which was called >. When he opened the scroll, it was full of annotations in Western Xia characters.

"Do you know about Western Xia language?"

"I don't know." Sima Junshi shook his head, "But there is a text in this volume that is indeed written in malachite green, which is different from the other cinnabar-colored markings. There must be something strange about it. I will copy this text and study it back home, then the truth will surely come out."

"Okay." Wang Anshi turned to the next page with a serious expression: "Western Xia's Map?"

"Important information! But if we take it away, it will definitely alert the enemy."

"What's strange about it?"

"Xizhou."

Sima Guang followed the map and saw that the other place names were all written in Hairpin Flower Small Script, but this place was written in the vigorous Liu Gongquan's style.

Suddenly, someone behind him clapped his hands and laughed wildly: "Wang Anshi, Sima Guang, you two really fell into the trap and found this place!"

Mu Zheng put his hands behind his back. His eagle eyes were as vicious as if they were soaked in poison, "I set up a plan to alienate you two and lure you away from the court, just to make Song Dynasty worry about external and internal troubles, and be unable to surmount the difficulties! Now, the great objective has been accomplished. From now on, my Western Xia will expand its territory and reach Bian Jing!"

Sima Guang subconsciously looked at Wang Anshi, but the latter signaled with his eyes to let him calm down.

"Put these two hostages in the dungeon to intimidate the court of Song Dynasty!"

The guards on the left and right nodded in agreement. When they were about to detain the two, an army of Song Imperial Guards galloped on horseback, raising a cloud of dust. The leading general was Li Shizhong, Governor of Shuzhou.

Fan Qingchen rode on the side, looking anxious. Seeing that Wang Anshi and Sima Guang were safe, he finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Prime Minister Wang! Privy Counsellor Sima! I am so anxious about you two! If it weren't for Prime Minister Wang investigating Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes Case in open and ordering the army to defend Xizhou in secret, and asking the messenger to inform me to find Li Shizhong in Shuzhou, I could not imagine how terrible that will be!"

Sima Guang was confused, "What's going on?"

A hundred miles away, another messenger rode a horse through the snowy desert, out of breath, panicked: "Your Majesty! Xizhou, Xizhou has occupied by Song army!"

"What?" Mu Zheng couldn't believe it, "What did you say? Didn't Dong Zhan lead his troops to capture Xizhou?"

"Wang Shao and Li Xian broke through Xizhou and approached Dong Zhan's army at Tabai City, with thousands of casualties!"

"Useless fool!" Mu Zheng was furious and took his sword to kill him.

"Mu Zheng," Wang Anshi said slowly, "You call yourself the emperor of Western Xia, but you dare not call yourself with the self-proclaim of emperor. I think you have high aspirations, but a cowardly life! I have already embattled in Xizhou. You are defeated, so just surrender."

"Li Shizhong, didn't you get along with Wang Shao and be demoted to Shuzhou? Didn't the spies I planted in Sima Mansion lead these two to Dunhuang? Shouldn't the Song Dynasty court be in a state of collapse?"

"Mu Zheng, you don't know about Prime Minister Wang's far-sighted strategies!" Li Shizhong laughed sarcastically, "You are not as good as Zhou Gongjin, neither Sun Bofu!"

Mu Zheng laughed up to the sky, "I have nothing to say." He straightened his back and knelt down to surrender, "I surrender on behalf of the four towns of Xizhou."

"I thought that with your temperament, you would commit suicide to apologize."

"Li Shizhong, you think too highly of me." Mu Zheng sneered, "It's better to surrender alive and become an official than to die for the empire and become a ghost. Doesn't it? In the future, we will all be officials of Song Dynasty. Please bear with me, Governor Li?"

"A slave of three surnames." Li Shizhong flicked his sleeves and bowed to Wang Anshi: "Prime Minister Wang, please give us orders to deal with this traitor."

Wang Anshi waved his hand and asked Mu Zheng to draft a surrender letter, sign and seal it, and send someone to escort him back to Bianjing.

Fan Qingchen walked quickly to his side, "Prime Minister Wang, there is one more thing. Because Governor Li ordered me to conceal it, that I need to use a trick to subdue Mu Zheng, so I was unable to report it to you."

"What is it?" Wang Anshi said calmly.

"General Jing died in the battle. Our army won the victory, and Mu Zheng's troops have already surrendered."

"Build a tomb for Jing Sili and bury him with great rites." Wang Anshi sighed, "It's time to return to Bianjing."

Several persons escorted Mu Zheng and his remaining party. They returned to Bianjing in a mighty manner.