Volume Three: The Storm at Xuanwu Gate Chapter Eighty-Nine: Infiltration

The night was deep, and the third watch had already passed. Cold winds raged, and the snow fell in thick, whirling sheets.

Chang'an at night had fallen completely silent from the clamor of the day. Save for a few places such as the Fragrant Peace Quarter, where lanterns still glowed red and wine, song, and dance carried on, the rest of the city lay in darkness. Still, solemn, it seemed like some ancient beast, sleeping in the void.

The massive city gates had long since been shut tight. All around was silence; the only sounds were the moaning of the bitter wind, and now and then the flicker of lantern light along the walls as the garrison soldiers made their rounds.

As the imperial capital of the realm, Chang'an naturally possessed the strongest and highest walls.

Li Mingyu looked up at the wall before him, some ten yards tall, built entirely of stone blocks, towering magnificently like a dragon stretching across the earth, and frowned.

He had brought rope with him, but with so crude a tool, never mind whether he could actually climb such a lofty, sheer wall covered in snow and ice; the patrols on the battlements alone were a formidable obstacle.

What was more, for the sake of security, Chang'an had always enforced a curfew at night. The one hundred and eight quarters divided the city into neat squares and straight lines, orderly as a chessboard. By day, the streets teemed with carts and horses, with crowds flowing like a tide; by night, every gate in every quarter was shut. There were even special officers on night patrol. Anyone caught wandering about after dark without business was certain to receive fifty blows from the board. No mercy was ever shown.

Curfews had existed since antiquity, traceable as far back as the Zhou dynasty. The Rites of Zhou listed an office called the Keeper of the Night, whose duties were clearly defined: to oversee the hours of night, to divide the darkness by the stars, to announce the night prohibitions to the night watch, and to forbid those who traveled at dawn, those who moved about after curfew, and those who roamed by night. This was the earliest record of a curfew.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, curfew enforcement was severe and strict. Even high ministers and feudal lords had to obey. By the Tang dynasty, although society was freer and more open than before, the curfew remained even stricter than in earlier ages.

After leaving the secret stronghold of the Fierce Tiger Gang, Li Mingyu had gathered what he could use, set out through the night, and intended to infiltrate Chang'an and find the gang's lair for revenge.

There was little of use in the Earth Temple. After rummaging through everything, he had found only a bundle of rope, a few sets of old clothes, and the two straight sabers he already carried. That was the sum total of Li Mingyu's equipment.

He had originally thought his plan was sound. In his past life, when he had served in the special forces, he had received all manner of professional training, and had especially excelled at infiltration, ambushes, concealment, assassination, and other special operations techniques.

During exercises, he had even been able to slip into enemy headquarters guarded by heavy troops, riddled with traps, and protected by every kind of high-tech reconnaissance and counterreconnaissance method. Could he not deal with a city from more than fourteen hundred years ago?

Modern buildings several stories high, smooth as a mirror and offering not a single place to grip, could be climbed with nothing more than a rope. What was a mere ancient city wall in comparison?

But after seeing it with his own eyes, Li Mingyu felt somewhat speechless. The height was nothing; the steepness was nothing. But damn it, there was still a great deal of snow and ice on top, slick and damp to the touch. What was he supposed to do about that?

Retreating in the face of difficulty had never been his habit. He concealed himself in the shadows, eyes fixed tightly on the soldiers above, searching for blind spots in their patrol routes and places suitable for climbing.

The Tang dynasty had not been founded long, and military discipline was still fairly strict. Although the weather was freezing and the snow fell in heavy gusts, teams of city guards still faithfully patrolled their assigned sectors, almost sealing off the immense wall with a tight, seamless guard.

Persistence rewarded him. After nearly half an hour of observation, Li Mingyu finally found a weakness.

A stretch of wall here likely marked the boundary between two patrol sectors. Only once every quarter hour would the two teams meet there, exchange greetings, and then turn back to continue their separate rounds.

Less than half a quarter remained before the next meeting of the city guards. He had to seize every second and get ready.

He took the time to run through several rounds of military boxing, loosening his limbs, which had nearly gone stiff from the cold wind, and bringing his body to its best condition.

Then he crossed the two straight sabers over his back in an X, and raised his hands and legs; they were not hindered in the least.

He tore the old clothes he had found in the Earth Temple into strips about two inches wide and more than a foot long.

Next he twisted the strips into a rope, and began wrapping them around his boots, tying knots in the soles. Every inch or so, he secured them with a dead knot. Before long, each foot was wrapped in nearly a dozen cloth strips.

"Hm, that should do."

Li Mingyu hopped in place and took a couple of steps back and forth. Since it did not affect his walking, he nodded in satisfaction.

There was no help for it. The wall was covered in ice and snow, wet and slippery. He could only bind knotted strips to the soles of his boots in hopes of increasing the friction between boot and wall. As for how much effect it would actually have, heaven alone knew.

Then he wrapped his hands in cloth as well. He did it with great care, making sure the wrapping was not too thick, lest it diminish the sensitivity of his fingers and make it harder to grip the rope, but not too thin either, lest it prove useless, causing him to slip and skin his palms.

At last he found a branch nearby of suitable length and thickness, tied the rope firmly to it, and made a crude grappling hook.

By the time he had finished all this, the hour was nearly upon him. Lowering his head and bending his body, Li Mingyu moved to the foot of the wall.

Listening intently to the soldiers' boots crunching over the snow above, he silently counted the seconds in his head.

The footsteps came nearer, then slowly receded.

Li Mingyu drew a deep breath.

The opportunity had come.

He took out the rope, aimed for the top of the wall, and, with a soft and supple motion, hurled it upward. Watching the branch tied to the rope fly toward the parapet, Li Mingyu's heart climbed into his throat. Success or failure hinged on this one throw.

The situation above was unclear. He prayed the branch would not strike the ground with too much noise and alert the patrols, ruining everything at the last moment.

The branch carrying the rope landed atop the wall with only the faintest sound, thanks to the controlled force he had used.

It was a success. No one noticed.

Exhilarated, Li Mingyu gave the rope a gentle tug downward. Unfortunately, the straight branch had not caught on the crenelations. Under the pull, it slipped free and fell back down.

He was not discouraged. His climbing gear was simply too crude. To expect a branch with a rope tied to its center to catch perfectly between the battlements did require some luck.

While continuing to save time, he repeated the throw again and again, muttering to himself that when he had the chance, he would have a blacksmith forge him a proper grappling hook and claw set. It was always better to be prepared; one never knew when it might be needed.

After several throws, it finally worked.

Li Mingyu let out a long breath.

He checked the time. There was still a little more than half a quarter before the next patrol arrived, which was enough.

Leaning forward slightly and threading the rope between his legs, he alternated his hands on it and climbed upward with force from his arms. At the same time, he braced one foot firmly against the wall and pushed up with the other.

A wall three zhang high translated to just over ten meters by modern measure. It seemed impossible to scale, but in truth it was only about the height of three stories.

For a trained modern soldier, with the right tools, it would take less than a minute to climb.

Even thieves who specialized in scaling eaves and walls, after endless hard practice, could climb by hand along a corner or between cracks all the way to the height of a twenty-story building in just five minutes.

Fortunately, whether it was because the cloth strips on his feet truly helped with traction, or because the snow and ice on the wall were not as slippery as he had imagined, Li Mingyu reached the top in short order.

Once atop the wall, he looked left and right. The torches in the hands of the patrol soldiers were still some distance away. He gathered up the rope and turned toward the side facing the city.

Compared with the climb up, descending was much easier. The only thing to worry about was the rope left behind on the wall, which could easily be discovered by the patrols.

For that, Li Mingyu had already prepared. He chose a relatively concealed crenelation, tied the rope there, made a secure knot, and cut away the middle section that bore no weight.

That way, once he was down, he could shake the rope and haul in most of it, leaving only a small portion above. It would not be completely hidden, but it was far better than leaving the whole bulky length hanging there.

Using the same method, Li Mingyu descended smoothly from the wall and entered Worthy Assembly Quarter.

Worthy Assembly Quarter lay next to the western city gate. Since the western side was the city wall, the quarter had walls on only three sides. Being close to the Western Market and blessed with heavy foot traffic, it was filled mostly with gambling houses, taverns, pawnshops, and brothels.

After the daytime searches conducted door to door by the magistrate's officers from Yongzhou Prefecture, together with the guards from Prince Qin's residence, and after all that commotion, the gambling dens and the like had seen little business.

By now, the gates of the quarter were already shut for the night. The streets within were empty and silent, pitch-black in all directions. Only outside the doors of a few shops and gambling houses did dim lanterns hang, flickering in the cold wind.

After walking along the deserted street for a short while, the sign for the Grand Fortune Gambling House came into view. Li Mingyu pressed the straight sabers at his back and let out a cold laugh.

"Duan Hu, your little master has come to claim your life."