Immediately after
seeing the Empress Dowager out of
the Martial Hero Pavilion, Qian Long called for his
bodyguards. Bai Zhen came forward to report.
"Master Chen has escorted the lady back to the palace,
and she is now awaiting Your Highness in the Precious
Moon Pavilion," he said.
Qian Long was
delighted with the news and walked
briskly to the door of the Martial Hero Pavilion. Then
he stopped and turned. "Was there any trouble on the
road?" he asked.
"Your slaves came across a large number of Red Flower
Society fighters at one point, but luckily, Master
Chen intervened and prevented an incident."
When Qian Long arrived at the Precious Moon Pavilion,
he found Princess Fragrance seated as before, facing
the wall.
"Did you have fun at the Great Wall?" he asked
happily. She ignored him. Qian Long
decided to deal
with more pressing matters first before questioning
her further. He went into the adjoining room and gave
orders for his favourite, Fu Kangan, to be summoned.
Before too long, Fu rushed in and Qian Long ordered
him to lead a troop of Imperial Guardsmen and lay an
ambush around the Lama Temple. After he had departed,
Qian Long ordered Bai Zhen to also hide near the
temple.
"I intend to hold a great feast in the Lama Temple
tomorrow evening," he added. "Tell Master Chen and all
of the
senior Red Flower Society people to attend."
Bai Zhen immediately guessed the Emperor intended to
deal with all the Red Flower Society leaders at one
stroke and shuddered at the thought of the slaughter
that would take place.
"Also," Qian Long added, "summon the Head Lama of the
temple immediately."
As the old Lama kowtowed his way into the Imperial
presence, Qian Long asked: "How many years is it since
you came to the capital?"
"Your
vassal has served the Emperor for twenty-one
years."
"Do you want to go back to Tibet?"
The Lama kowtowed again but said nothing.
"There are two Living Buddhas in Tibet, the Dalai Lama
and the Panchen Lama," Qian Long continued. "Why isn't
there a third?"
"Your Highness, that has always been the way, ever
since..."
Qian Long silenced him with a wave of his hand. "If I
made you the third Living Buddha and gave you an area
to govern, no-one would dare to defy the order, would
they?"
The Lama's joy soared to the skies, and he kowtowed
furiously, unable to believe his luck. "Your
Reverence's benevolence will be difficult to repay,"
he said.
"I want you now to do something for me. Go back to the
temple and gather together all your trusted lamas and
prepare
gunpowder,
firewood and other inflammable
materials." He pointed at Bai Zhen. "When he gives you
the signal, you will put the temple to the torch."
The Head Lama began
frantically kowtowing again, this
time in fright. "But it is the former residence of the
late Emperor," he protested. Many of his possessions
are there, I wouldn't dare..."
"Do you dare to
disobey my command?" Qian Long roared,
sending the old Lama into a cold sweat.
"I...I will do as Your Highness commands," he replied
in a quavering voice.
"If half a breath of this matter leaks out, I will
have you and every single one of your eight hundred
lamas executed." After a moment, he added in a more
friendly tone: "There will be Banner troops guarding
the Suicheng Pavilion in your temple, so you must be
careful. When the time comes, I want those troops
trapped inside and burned to death. When things have
been
successfully completed, you will be the third
Living Buddha of Tibet. Now go!" He waved his hand and
the Lama left with Bai Zhen, thanking the Emperor for
his benevolence as he went.
His preparations completed, Qian Long considered how
his plan would enable him to kill two birds with one
stone, both the Red Flower Society and the Dowager's
forces. After tomorrow evening, his position secured
and stable, he could continue his reign in peace.
He felt very satisfied. Looking round, he noticed a
lute sitting on a tabletop and went over to play it.
After a few phrases, his playing became increasingly
strident and
aggressive, and with a twang, the seventh
string broke. He started in surprise and laughed
loudly. Then, pushing the lute aside, he stood up and
walked back to the other room.
Princess Fragrance was sitting at the window staring
up at the moon. As she heard his footsteps, there was
a glint of light as she pulled the
dagger out again.
Qian Long frowned and sat down at a distance.
"When you and Master Chen were at the Great Wall, did
he tell you to kill me?"
"He told me to do as you said."
"Are you going to
disobey him?"
"I would never do that."
Qian Long was both
delighted and jealous. "Then why
are you still carrying the
dagger? Give it to me!"
"No, I'll wait for you to become a good emperor
first."
Aha, thought Qian Long, so that's how he hopes to
control me. Anger,
jealousy, lust and hatred rose
within him all at once, and he laughed
harshly. "I am
already a good emperor," he replied.
"Huh! I heard you playing the lute just now. You're
going to kill people, you're going to kill many, many
people. You're...you are evil."
Qian Long realised that his thoughts had indeed
revealed themselves through his playing. "Yes," he
replied. "I am going to kill people. I have already
caught your Master Chen, but if you do as I say, I can
release him. If you don't do as I say..." He laughed
again. "Then you know I will kill many people."
Princess Fragrance was shocked. "You would kill your
own blood brother?" she asked in a quavering voice.
Qian Long's face went white. "So he told you
everything?"
"I don't believe you've caught him. He's much cleverer
than you."
"Cleverer? Huh! And even if I haven't got him today,
what about tomorrow?" She did not answer. "I advise
you to forget this idea," he went on. "Whether I'm a
good emperor or a bad emperor, you are never going to
see him again."
"But you promised him that you would be a good
emperor," Princess Fragrance protested. "How can you
renege on your promise?"
"I will do whatever I want," he roared. "No-one can
tell me what to do." All his pent up anger from the
humiliating audience with the Dowager spilled out.
His words struck Princess Fragrance like a fist-blow
to the chest. "So the Emperor is going to cheat him,"
she thought in
anguish. "If only we had known earlier,
I wouldn't have had to come back here." She almost
fainted at the shock of it.
Seeing her face suddenly go pale, Qian Long
immediately regretted being so coarse. "If you will
treat me well," he said, "I will naturally not harm
him. In fact, I will make him a
senior official and
allow him to become rich and powerful."
But Princess Fragrance was not listening. She was
trying to work out a way of letting Chen know of the
Emperor's deceitfullness, so that he wouldn't fall
into a trap. She frowned deep in thought, her
expression adding to the beauty of her face, and Qian
Long stared at her, mesmerized.
"Everyone in the palace is a servant of the Emperor,"
she thought. "So who can deliver a letter for me?
There's only one way to do it."
"So you promise not to harm him?" she said.
Qian Long was
delighted. "I promise, I promise," he
replied immediately. There was not the slightest touch
of
sincerity in his voice, and Princess Fragrance
glanced at him in hatred.
"Early tomorrow, I want to go to a mosque," she said
evenly. "I will only do as you say after I have prayed
to Allah."
Qian Long smiled. "All right," he replied. "But there
is to be no more delay after tomorrow."
Princess Fragrance watched him leave, laughing as he
went, then found a pen and paper and wrote out a
letter to Chen
warning him of the Emperor's
intentions, and telling him that the plan to overthrow
the Manchus was just a dream. She urged him to quickly
devise away to rescue her. When she had finished, she
wrapped the letter in a blank sheet of paper and wrote
on it in the Moslem
script: "Please deliver speedily
to the Great Helmsman of the Red Flower Society, Chen
Jialuo." She knew the respect all Muslims had for her
father and sister, and the way in which they
worshipped her herself, and felt certain that if she
just had a chance to pass the letter on to any Muslim
in the mosque, they would certainly find a way to
deliver it.
Having written the letter, her heart felt much easier.
She was certain Chen was capable of anything and would
easily find a way to rescue her. At that point, a
sense of
indescribable warmth and
sweetness swept over
her, and tired out from the day's exertions, she fell
fast asleep.
Through the mists of slumber, she became aware of
bells chiming around the palace, and opened her eyes
to find the sky was already growing light. Hurriedly,
she arose and washed herself, then combed her hair.
The maid servants went to look after her knew she
would allow no-one near her and watched from a
distance. She carefully secreted the letter in her
sleeve and then left the
pavilion. Eunuchs were
already waiting outside with a palanquin and took her
to the mosque on the West Avenue of Eternal Peace
while bodyguards
crowded round both before and aft.
Seeing the round dome of the mosque as she descended
from the palanqin, she felt both happiness and
anguish. She walked through the mosque's entrance with
head bowed and noticed two men walking on either side
of her. They were dressed as Muslims, and she was
about to pass the letter to one of them, then stopped
herself. His features and manner were not at all those
of her people. She glanced at the other man and saw he
was the same.
"Were you sent by the Emperor to guard me?" she asked
quietly in the Muslim tongue. Both men nodded, not
understanding what she had said.
Disappointed, she turned round and saw there were
another eight palace guards dressed as Muslims behind
her, and that all the real Muslims were being kept at
a safe distance. She walked over to the chief Imam of
the mosque and said: "Please make sure this letter is
delivered no matter what happens." The Imam started in
shock as Princess Fragrance pushed the letter into his
hand. A guard rushed forward and snatched the letter
away and gave the Imam a heavy push on the chest,
causing him to stumble and almost fall. The other
worshippers looked at each other in surprise,
wondering what was going on.
"What do you people think you're doing?" the Imam
demanded angrily.
"Mind your own business," the guard hissed at him. "We
are from the palace."
Severely frightened, the Imam did not dare to say
another word, and turned to lead the
gathering in
prayer.
Princess Fragrance knelt down with the others and
tears welled out of her eyes like water from a spring.
In the midst of her pain and sorrow only one thought
remained: "How can I warn him to be on his guard? I
must let him know even if I die doing it, but how?"
"By dying!" The realisation streaked across her brain
like a flash of lightning. "If I die here, word will
get out and he will hear of it. That's it. There's no
other way!"
Then the Prophet's words sounded in her ears like
thunder: "Those who take their own life will fall into
the eternal fires and will never escape." She was not
afraid of death, and believed that people who died
could ascend to Paradise and be re-united with their
loved ones for
eternity. But with
suicide, there was
nothing to look forward to but never-ending pain!
A violent shiver ran through her and she suddenly felt
extremely cold. She listened for a moment to the
congregation reciting the
scriptures.
For a true religious
believer there is nothing more
terrible than the consignment of the soul to eternal
Hell, but she could see no other way. Love overcame
the greatest fear of all.
"Most sacred and Holy Allah," she whispered. "It is
not that I don't believe you care for me. But there is
no other way except by using my own blood."
She took the
dagger out of her sleeve and on the stone
in front of her, carved out the words "Don't trust the
Emperor." Then she lightly called out the word
"Brother!" and thrust the blade into the purest, most
beautiful breast in this world.
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