Cui Buqu had no intention to make a name for himself; compared to that, he preferred to lay in hiding while he schemed and plotted.
Although the Zuoyue Bureau was a special place, and the Zuoyue Commander held immense authority, he rarely showed up; before the events of the City of Six Crafts took place, even Feng Xiao had never seen Cui Buqu before.
It was until the expedition to Göktürk, after they ruined the alliance between Khan Ishbara and Khan Apa, then forced Yu Xiu to escape heavily injured, and rendered Western Göktürk to thoroughly bent the knee to the Sui Dynasty, that Cui Buqu's name had spread far and wide in Göktürk even if he didn't wish to make himself known.
Kuhezhen had come to Daxing, into the territory of the Sui Dynasty under the direct orders of Khan Ishbara; Kuhezhen had long heard everything about this Zuoyue Commander.
Both of them looked at each other; Kuhezhen faintly raised a brow with a passing look of being astonished.
He heard that Cui Buqu suffered from ailing health, but he hadn't thought his health was this bad.
The other's face practically rivalled that beautiful white jade bestowed upon to Kuhezhen by the Sui Emperor a while ago.
"The weather is cold; burdened with so many court affairs, Commander Cui should take good care of himself."
These words of concern came genuinely and sincerely from the Seventh Prince's mouth.
Just like how Kuhezhen has never seen Cui Buqu before, it was also Cui Buqu's first time interacting with this Seventh Prince from Göktürk.
The other was wearing Han outfits with his hair tied; he didn't look any different from a Han.
His voice was in the genuine accent of the North, but it was precisely exactly because it was genuine, that it made him look a little strangely unfitting.
That pair of eyes revealed tints of blue when the sunlight shone upon them; they were gentle and serene and it was impossible for one to see their depths.
"Many thanks to the Seventh Prince's concern. This humble one surnamed Cui had been on a field trip and had just returned only two days ago. For the lack of my absence before, I beg the Seventh Prince's forgiveness."
Kuhezhen's line of sight moved away from his face, to observe the large army at Cui Buqu's back, and then he suddenly laughed.
"And so, Commander Cui brought so many people. Is this your meaning to beg for forgiveness?"
He had gentle features, perhaps coming from some Han blood in him. These were not the pure sharp features of the men of Göktürk.
Especially when he tipped the corner of his lips; it was very easy to remind one of the willowy leaves of Jiangnan in March that swayed under the gentle wind.
But Cui Buqu's heart hadn't softened just because of this.
He had been to many places and seen many Göktürks.
Among them included these people whose mothers were Han, who gave birth after they were kidnapped to Göktürk, and so these children were Göktürks who carried the blood of the Central Plains.
These people grew up in Göktürk and endured many prejudices due to the blood that flowed in them when they were born. In order to obtain the love and trust of Göktürks, they need to work harder and make more sacrifices than Göktürks of pure blood. In order to get to higher places, they needed to be crueller than normal people.
Yu Xiu was such a person.
As for Kuhezhen—
Cui Buqu put his hands together in greeting, but his actions were not genuine, and he looked like he was just humouring him.
"Tomorrow in the festival of the Buddha's Birthday, His Majesty will come to the Daxingshan Temple to beg for blessings in person. It's difficult for the capital to be void of people who bear evil intentions and wish to cause harm. In order to protect the Seventh Prince's safety, as well as the friendship between the Great Sui and Göktürk, I could only enforce the worst choice of plans. I beg your forgiveness."
He moved his fingers, and at Guan Shanhai's whistle, the royal guards departed to both left and right, quickly surrounding the Seventh Prince's manor.
Most of Kuhezhen's servants and guards from Göktürk were chased out. Watching the unfolding of these events, they were driven into fury and cussed at Cui Buqu in Göktürk, saying that these mannerisms of his were picking a fight.
Cui Buqu carried no expression on his face as if he could not understand the language of Göktürk.
Compared to his own followers, Kuhezhen remained calm and obedient. He even looked like he had the patience to reason with Cui Buqu.
"Commander Cui, although I came to the Central Plains to serve His Majesty, it cannot prove that we are chickens who allowed just anyone to slaughter us. You allowed His Majesty the Emperor to deploy so many people—if I sent a message back to Göktürk, do you know what will happen between these two kingdoms?"
Cui Buqu, "To avoid someone hurting the Seventh Prince at night, I could only enforce the worst of choices. After the Budda's Birthday tomorrow, the house arrest will be lifted, and His Highness the Seventh Prince will be granted his freedom once more. For the sake of your own life, please endure this for a day or two. From the way I see it, you should be able to understand His Majesty and the Imperial Court's good intentions."
He paused as he looked at Kuhezhen's deep and observing gaze, "Or is that to say, you have somewhere you want to go, or there is something you want to do? That you could only achieve only if you left this place?"
Kuhezhen replied to him with an innocent expression, "I fear Commander Cui has taken it wrongly. I am only worried that after the Budda's Birthday, you will not find it pleasant. When that time comes, how will you hand it over to His Majesty the Emperor, to Göktürk?"
Cui Buqu, "There is no need for the Seventh Prince to be concerned about this."
Kuhezhen sincerely said, "I have heard of many matters pertaining to Commander Cui, and I hold great respect for you. I am unwilling to see you killing a path you could fall back into."
After he finished speaking, he took a few steps forward.
Guan Shanhai immediately placed his hand on top of the hilt of his knife, turning sideways to block.
But Cui Buqu stopped him.
Kuhezhen made it up close, and whispered, telling Cui Buqu word by word:
"Have you ever thought about how you'd take care of this, after making such a huge scene of it?"
Cui Buqu asked him instead, "Does the Seventh Prince think that this ally of his, Xiao Lu, is reliable in a way that he would not sell you out regardless of anything?"
Kuhezhen faintly smiled and shook his head. He took a few steps backwards and said something that didn't make sense.
"It's such good weather today."
Before Cui Buqu could figure out what his words meant, he heard some movements from around him.
A commotion surged through the originally highly disciplined royal guards suddenly. All of a sudden they'd forgotten about their own identity, turning around and chattering.
Even the handsome horses they were riding on panicked. They ran in circles, their riders pulled their reins and placed a hand onto the horse's back, yet still failed to put them completely at ease.
At this moment, Cui Buqu heard Guan Shanhai's voice.
This was the first time he could hear Guan Shanhai's voice, that was usually steady and deep, had suddenly turned shaky and fearful.
"Commander…. Look at the sky!"
What was in the sky?
Even if Xiao Lu and Kuhezhen in the league were altogether powerful, they could not have gone up to the sky.
But very quickly he noticed, the light around him had turned dark.
The light of the day, the first rays of the morning sun, had suddenly sunk westward like dusk.
"The Heavenly Dog is eating the sun! It's the Heavenly Dog eating the sun1!"
"Hide quickly!"
"What shall we do?!"
Everyone carried frightful faces on them; even the royal guards could not escape it.
The Göktürks around Kuhezhen similarly looked at the sky, giving a frightful and panicking expression.
Some of them had even begun to run around looking for a place to hide.
Guan Shanghai mustered the strength to calm himself down and hollered for the royal guards to quiet down.
For as far as the eye could see, other than Kuhezhen and Cui Buqu, no one was as calm as they started out.
Cui Buqu raised his head.
The sunlight was no longer piercing to the eye because the entirety of the earth was now shrouded in darkness, seemingly like a Heavenly Dog had eaten it.
Cui Buqu knew even without leaving this place that at this moment, the capital, and even various other places must be in chaos as people ran around not knowing what to do.
There were words from the ancient—
The day was the spirit of the sun; as its owner cultivated morals and virtue, they will be reflected in the Lord of the people.
As the eclipse expanded all its light, this indicated an impending calamity for the Emperor; within three years, death shall fall upon his country.
An Emperor who was fickle in temperament, who killed innocent lives lightly and was not found guilty; as time passes slowly in Heaven and Earth, the gods and demons are ignored, an eclipse shall come2.
From the times of the ancient, regardless of whether it was among the officials or the common people, nothing good was said about the solar eclipse.
Its severity was even linked between countries.
From the responses of these people, one could see it all.
But something was wrong.
The Grand Historian Cao knew of the astronomical phenomena, he could have predicted an eclipse such as this, as well as swayed the hearts of the country. Why wouldn't the Grand Historian report such a matter to the Emperor earlier?
Or perhaps, the Emperor knew, but hadn't told him about it?
Very quickly, Cui Buqu struck off this theory.
The Emperor was obviously ignorant of this matter, otherwise, he would have reminded him.
Cui Buqu looked Kuhezhen in the eye.
The latter curved his eye at Cui Buqu affectionately; there were ripples of blue in the depths of his eye, a beauty that could not be described.
As if Cui Buqu was someone he held a deep passion to, not allowed to be betrayed.
Kuhezhen said nothing, but Cui Buqu felt that he must have known that an eclipse would take place today.
"The sun and moon fade in a country without virtue!"
Cui Buqu suddenly said. He raised his voice on purpose, loud and clear.
Many people turned to look at him on their own accord.
"The Lord of the country in Southern Chen has long been impotent; he engrossed himself in myriads of entertainment, evil concubines loved, with evil subjects at his side! As for our Great Sui, all was wrought anew, ruled by a brilliant Emperor and virtuous subjects, just like the rising sun in the East! As one bathes in brightness and the other in the darkness, such is what the Heavens are hinting at us! Our country the Great Sui shall flourish, and the Southern Chen shall sink! Where the Emperor's army goes, their banners will flourish in victory and carry the world before them with a striking force!"
As Cui Buqu spoke, Guan Shanhai knowingly pressed a palm to Cui Buqu's back, passing qi into him so it would soothe his breath and allow his voice to travel further.
Many people were in such a confusing state, these words obviously worked wonders.
At the second half of his words, everyone couldn't help but think: That's right, the Sui Dynasty had only begun for three years. His Majesty mended the laws, revised the penalties, restored the classics of the Ming Dynasty and gathered people of virtues. Regardless of how one looks at it, it's moving towards the air of a new dynasty. How would the eclipse refer to their country?
Since the eclipse was not referring to their country, then it was as Cui Buqu said: it is referring to the South, or perhaps, they were referring to these people of Göktürk who carried the hearts of greedy wolves!
There was no need to lay it out in words. The royal guards who had begun to calm unanimously looked at Kuhezhen and the others with hostile glares.
Compared to the numbers of these royal guards, Kuhezhen and those few people were weak in numbers. How would they be able to withstand such pressure? At that moment, they were incredibly alert. Everyone around Kuhezhen was afraid they would suddenly attack.
Kuhezhen himself has a light expression of shock on him.
This shock wasn't directed at the eclipse, but at the change of his situation, and it was because he knew how much the eclipse affected the people of the Central Plains and that it was as good as the fear the people of Göktürk had for the Celestial Gods.
Yet Cui Buqu was unaffected, instead, he could think of such a method where he stood to counter it and forcibly levelled their grounds, making those royal guards convert their fear into hostility towards them.
After his shock, Kuhezhen laughed.
"Commander Cui truly lived up to his name. The people often told me that you are the most difficult person to deal with in the entirety of Great Sui, and now I have seen it for myself."
Cui Buqu had no intention to waste his time with him. He immediately allowed Guan Shanhai to secure the manor of the Seventh Prince, then immediately headed into the direction of Daxing Palace.
However, there was no need for him to reach the palace gates. Someone was already waiting for him there to report the news to him.
One of them was Qin Miaoyu.
She tailed Zheng Yi under orders to avoid him sharing the same fate as Liu Fang and Li Mao.
Originally, it was a mission that could not go wrong. Qin Miaoyu could not have thought that something did indeed go wrong.
Because Zheng Yi was dead.
The other one was Ming Yue.
He originally wanted to present himself in court, but in the end, he got the news after the eclipse and quickly came over to report to Cui Buqu.
The Grand Historian Cao Hongyuan was dead.
Author's Notes:
At this moment, Feng-er who was inside the prison: … What smell is this?
[1]天狗食日: Heavenly Dog refers to the 'Tiangou' (Sky Dog) is a legendary creature from China. The tiangou resembles a black dog or meteor, which is thought to eat the sun or moon during an eclipse.
[2] These are lines from 'Treatise on Astrology of the Kaiyuan Era', a Chinese astrology encyclopedia compiled by the lead editor Gautama Siddha and numerous scholars from 714 to 724 AD during the Kaiyuan era of Tang Dynasty.