Chapter 73: Summer Palace
Lu Yun followed Eunuch Hu through the hundred-foot-high Ying Tian Gate into Ziwei City, where a vast and majestic square appeared before them, situated between Ying Tian Gate and Jian Yuan Gate. Standing on this square and looking at the tall and imposing palace walls surrounding it made one instantly feel one’s own insignificance and the unattainable height of imperial power!
But to Lu Yun, every brick and stone here felt so familiar. Father Emperor had once brought him here to gallop on horseback across the square, scaring his little face pale as he clung tightly to Father Emperor’s broad chest. Father Emperor had also once held his small hand and walked with him down the central imperial path paved with white marble and carved with dragons and phoenixes, explaining the history of this palace to him…
Ten years had passed, and he was standing on this square again, yet he could no longer see Father Emperor charging on his steed, nor could he approach that imperial path which only the Son of Heaven could tread…
“Stop daydreaming and hurry up.” Seeing him lost in thought, Eunuch Hu assumed it was just a child who had never seen the world and urged, “Don’t look around everywhere; what kind of decorum is that?”
Lu Yun nodded, took one last deep look at the sea-green railings on the imperial path, then withdrew his gaze. He followed Eunuch Hu along the bluestone path beside the imperial path across the square and into Jian Yuan Gate. Ten years ago, this had still been called Qian Yuan Gate…
Passing Jian Yuan Gate led to the imperial palace’s main hall, Jian Yuan Hall. Lu Yun followed Eunuch Hu through the west gate street of Jian Yuan Hall across the Qian Dynasty, arriving at the Imperial Harem. The main gate of the Imperial Harem was Chang Le Gate, and at this time, the transverse street in front of Chang Le Gate was already filled with carriages and ceremonial guards like a river of dragons—countless carriages and ceremonial guards, over a thousand Imperial Guards and eunuchs, all fully equipped and ready, just waiting for the carriages of the nobles from the palace to emerge.
Though there were many people and horses, the transverse street was utterly quiet. Everyone stayed in their positions, eyes straight ahead, with no one daring to whisper, which could not help but shock one with the royal family’s stern demeanor…
Eunuch Hu’s words and actions were much more cautious as well. He led Lu Yun to several carriages at the westernmost end, first quietly instructing the eunuch in charge, then turning to Lu Yun and saying softly, “From now on, obey everything this Eunuch Ma says.” With that, he turned and left without looking back.
Lu Yun cupped his hands toward the eunuch surnamed Ma. Eunuch Ma waved his hand and said in a low voice, “Get in the carriage and wait. We’ll talk when we arrive.”
Lu Yun was thus stuffed into a carriage by Eunuch Ma. Inside the carriage sat five people, all dressed in neat official robes, the youngest of whom appeared to be over thirty. Seeing him enter, the five officials made space for him. Lu Yun knelt and sat down, making the already cramped carriage even more crowded.
The several officials looked solemn, sitting upright without any intention of conversing with each other. Seeing no one paying attention to him, Lu Yun secretly breathed a sigh of relief—he feared most this kind of nutritionless small talk. Thus, he was happy for the quiet and simply closed his eyes to rest his mind.
Lu Yun had practiced meditation and cultivation since childhood, so his ability to sit silently was far beyond ordinary people. Unknowingly, over half a hour passed. When he opened his eyes again, he found the carriage still motionless. The officials beside him were already drenched in sweat, long gone was their initial official demeanor; they kept wiping sweat and fanning themselves. They also began to talk quietly…
“Why haven’t we left yet? How long have we been waiting?”
“We have to wait for Your Majesty, the Empress, the imperial concubines, and the princes to come out. It’s good if we can depart before noon.” An elderly official unfastened the front of his official robe, wiping sweat and sighing, “Others think accompanying the emperor is such great glory, little knowing how much suffering it entails…”
Hearing that this man had accompanied the emperor more than once, the other officials eagerly asked for advice. It turned out that the elderly official was surnamed Qin, a secretary in the Secretariat. Every time the emperor traveled, the Secretariat sent someone to attend, ready for the emperor to consult classics or inquire about past and present. He had followed the emperor on patrol several times already.
This Secretary Qin looked at Lu Yun and the others with a pitying vision and said, “Although Your Majesty allowed you to accompany him, he may not summon you. If he remembers one day, he might call one of you over for a chat; if not, you’ll have made the trip in vain. So keep a normal heart and don’t expect too much.”
“Ah!” Lu Yun was already prepared for this, but the other officials were clearly very surprised. “After finally accompanying once, not even seeing Your Majesty—what kind of thing is that?”
“In short, it depends on luck…” Secretary Qin sighed, though it always felt somewhat schadenfreude.
Another full half hour passed, the sun already high, when finally the rumbling sound of carriages rose outside. After a good while, their carriage finally started moving slowly, heading toward the Summer Palace on Mount Mang.
.
The Summer Palace was located on Cuiyun Peak of Mount Mang outside Luoyang City, only six or seven li from Ziwei Palace. Even for ordinary people walking, it wouldn’t take more than half a hour. But the Initial Emperor’s procession was enormous—with over a thousand carriages alone, and nearly ten thousand accompanying Imperial Guards, eunuchs, and palace maids. When leaving the city, two wan fully armed Feilin Army joined the ranks, and the vast procession didn’t arrive at Cuiyun Peak until dusk.
At this point, the carriages stopped. The emperor, empress, imperial concubines, and princes went up the mountain in imperial palanquins and sedan chairs, while the rest naturally walked. The officials nearly suffocating in the carriages were as if granted a general amnesty, hurriedly straightening their official robes, getting out to stretch their sore muscles and bones.
Lu Yun also got out of the carriage. With the sun setting in the west and the summer heat fading, he took a deep breath of the fresh suburban air and looked up toward the Summer Palace on Cuiyun Peak. He saw that this temporary palace was built along the mountain contours, with layers of pavilions and halls covering the upper and lower slopes of Cuiyun Peak—grand in scale and magnificently luxurious, leaving one dumbfounded.
Besides the buildings scattered across the mountain, Cuiyun Peak was encircled by walls several zhang high outside. The walls were equipped with battlements and watchtowers, guarded by countless official soldiers. Any uninvited guest daring to approach the Summer Palace would immediately face devastating strikes!
Lu Yun vaguely remembered that in his childhood, he had also come here with his parents to escape the heat, but the Summer Palace back then was limited to a cluster of buildings on the mountain top, far from the today’s scale of pavilions densely covering the mountain slopes, and without such encircling walls or this level of stern defense.
He and the five officials waited at the foot of the mountain for a long time, not entering the palace gate with Eunuch Ma until nightfall, settling in a courtyard halfway up the mountain. Lu Yun and the five officials shared one room, sleeping on a large communal low couch… Not only Lu Yun, even those officials had never squeezed several people onto one low couch like this; all showed troubled expressions.
Yet Secretary Qin was calm as ever, smiling at them, “This is already good. One year, over ten people crammed in one room, unable to fit on the couch, had to sleep on the ground…”
“I see this Summer Palace has no fewer than a thousand palace halls—how could the accommodations be so cramped?” an official asked puzzled.
“What are you thinking? Thousands of halls are for Your Majesty to live in. We servants just need a place to stay.” Secretary Qin laughed somewhat Yin and Yang-ly, “Of course, if you’re a high official or noble, you’ll get a single room. If clan leaders from the various clans come, they’ll even have their own palace courtyards—too bad you’re not…”
“Sigh…” The officials were quite disheartened by Secretary Qin’s words, and with exhaustion and fatigue setting in, they lost all interest in talking, lying down to sleep one after another.
The night passed uneventfully. The next day, Lu Yun got up early and began wandering around the Summer Palace.
Though the Summer Palace was a temporary residence, it still followed the front court and rear harem layout. The emperor and imperial concubines lived in the inner palace at the mountain top, while adult princes, accompanying ministers, and Imperial Guards resided in the outer palace halfway up. Of course, those princes all lived in independent palace courtyards, which unnecessary people could not approach.
Last night it had been too dark to see clearly when ascending the mountain; today Lu Yun discovered that though this was the emperor’s summer retreat outside in the suburbs, the splendor of its halls was no less than that of the Ziwei Palace in the inner palace. He saw thousands of gates and doors, eaves and corridors, halls and pavilions layered densely without end, so that one could easily lose one’s way if not careful.
Lu Yun shuttled through the high gates and corridors of the outer palace, occasionally seeing steward eunuchs coming and going nonstop, and on-duty Imperial Guards who would come over to check. Lu Yun showed the waist token Eunuch Ma had given him upon entering the palace, and those Imperial Guards let him pass, though they still cautioned him not to approach the palace courtyards of the several princes, lest he offend the nobles.
