Winning unfairly
A Qiu secretly wiped away a cold sweat, extremely grateful that Xie Tiao had rescued her in time. Otherwise, she really wouldn't know how to deal with Shangguan Yuqi's sharp and perceptive questioning.
Fan Liancheng said in a deep voice, "Would they attempt an assassination in the palace?"
This question suddenly made the situation serious.
Although it is unknown how many people the Northern Qiang Army Dance Troupe will have, military dances and music require a grand and imposing presence, so there must be at least a hundred people carrying weapons to enter the arena and present a magnificent scene of battlefield combat. Anyone would find it inappropriate for such a fully armed Northern Qiang army to enter the palace.
But refusing would seem petty and lacking in manners.
Zhao Lingying's voice rang out from outside: "An assassination attempt in the palace is unlikely."
She entered the hall with a yellow dress and a judge's pen tucked into her waistband, catching everyone off guard. They thought to themselves that it was fortunate they hadn't been discussing anything significant.
Zhao Lingying first bowed to Xie Tiao, and after exchanging greetings with everyone else, he said, "Jianzhang Palace is, after all, our territory. A legion of only a hundred or so men is nothing. If the other side dares to make any move, not to mention the tens of thousands of Jianzhang soldiers guarding the capital, the nearly ten thousand Imperial Guards in the palace alone are enough to annihilate them. Besides, didn't Xiao Yue say that the envoy will include Prince Ning, Hulü Guang, who is the nephew of the current emperor of Northern Qiang, Hulü Jin, and also an important and powerful minister? In my opinion, his trip is to gain merit in the future struggle for the throne, and he has no intention of sacrificing himself to achieve the great cause of Northern Qiang unifying the world."
Ah Qiu remembered that this Prince Ning, Huli Guang, was the person Xiao Chang'an's sister, Xiao Yu, had once proposed marriage to. Even the Xiao family had to use their eldest daughter as a matchmaker to try their best to win him over, which shows how important this person was to the Northern Qiang court.
Furthermore, since Zhao Lingying said that Prince Ning intended to vie for the throne, if Li Wujiu's affair hadn't occurred, Xiao Yu might have become the next Empress of Northern Qiang, and Xiao Chang'an would have become the Emperor's brother-in-law. Thinking about it this way, one can't help but admire the purity of Li Wujiu's cultivation even more.
It was astonishing that the future empress of the Northern Dynasty could disregard the readily available power and leave, choosing instead to live in seclusion in the mountains and marshes, just so she could forever gaze in the direction of his seclusion.
Zhao Lingying changed the subject, saying, "But even so, we still have to be careful. When the Northern Qiang delegation enters the palace, all the weapons carried by the soldiers must be removed and used only for ceremonial display. In addition, the two most elite Imperial Guard legions will also accompany General Sikong into the palace to serve. We can call it observation and learning."
Fan Liancheng asked, "Isn't it too passive to just let the Northern Qiang soldiers come to our country and swagger around like this?"
Strictly speaking, although the imperial court was comprised of roughly equal numbers of civil and military officials, the majority were still administrative officials, while the true military generals spent their days in the barracks. Furthermore, the court established since the southward migration had very few officials who had personally witnessed the fighting prowess and might of the Northern Qiang army. That was a completely different kind of ruthlessness and cruelty, entirely unlike the verbal battles fought in the court.
Zhao Lingying glanced at A Qiu and said with a half-smile, "Then we'll have to see if our Grand Musician has any way to curb the arrogance of the Northern Qiang's military dance troupe."
Only now did everyone realize that Zhao Lingying's purpose in coming to the Eastern Palace was to discuss countermeasures against the Northern Qiang's "Breaking the Formation Music." Presumably, she had also received word through other channels that the other side intended to challenge them to a duel with music and dance.
When A Qiu recalled the "White Silk" dance, Wan Qiqing effortlessly used the sound of her flute to induce a hallucination in everyone present. Her master, back in the previous dynasty, was already a leading musician in the court; his personal training of the dancers this time must have been well-prepared. Whether in musical skill or knowledge of music and dance, she was no match for Wan Qiqing, and for a moment, she hesitated, unable to make a decision.
Seeing her expression, Xie Tiao said, "It's not difficult to ruin the other party's performance."
A Qiu knew that this senior brother of the Crown Prince might not be worth mentioning in other aspects, but in terms of music and law, he was probably the second best in the Southern Dynasty after Gu Yi. So he immediately asked humbly, "What good strategies do you have?"
Xie Tiao smiled and said, "If you go to the Music Bureau and ask Lady Sun, you will find out a lot of such unorthodox methods. They are nothing more than sabotaging the music, props, venue, and even the personnel."
A Qiu immediately recalled the incident twenty years ago when Xue Hongbi's costume was torn before the White Silk Dance performance, making it almost impossible for her to perform. It seems that sabotaging a rival's performance has indeed been a practice that has been secretly circulating since the beginning of the dance and music world, with many unorthodox and unorthodox methods.
A Qiu said, "I can think of tampering with the props and even the costumes. But how do we sabotage the music?" With Wan Qiqing's skills, wearing a mask and infiltrating the backstage musicians is an incredibly audacious act. If it weren't for a master like him with extraordinary musical and martial arts skills, but an ordinary musician, he would probably be captured by the Imperial Guards as soon as he got in and thrown into the imperial prison for severe torture.
Moreover, ordinary musicians, even if they manage to get in, don't have the ability to disrupt the rhythm of the entire performance like Wan Qiqing.
Xie Tiao replied, "For example, sneaking backstage beforehand to apply medicine to the strings or crack the flute. You should know that every musician has their own preferred instrument, which cannot be changed at the last minute. These things are extremely subtle and not easy to notice. By the time the problem of broken strings occurs on stage, it will be too late."
This method was much easier than Wan Qiqing's use of demonic sounds to disrupt the entire venue. A Qiu had never heard of such things before and asked curiously, "Then how do you tamper with the venue?"
This time, it was Xiao Chang'an who answered on Xie Tiao's behalf: "Some dances or acrobatics involve difficult jumps, spins, and somersaults, which require a flat ground. If the ground is uneven or too slippery, causing a fall, or even worse, someone sticks a few embroidery needles in, then you suffer in silence with no one to complain to. Throughout history, many traveling opera troupes and dance groups have fallen victim to this."
Ah Qiu thought to herself, "So even Xie Tiao and Xiao Chang'an know more about these things than I do. It's clear that my experience with the human relationships and worldly affairs required for survival in the arts of dance and music is not as good as theirs."
Fan Liancheng then interjected, "From a military strategy perspective, musical instruments and props can be considered as provisions and supplies, while the venue and stage are like terrain. The enemy is a guest from afar, and we have the supplies and venue under our control, so it's not a big deal. But their performers are their own people, so how can we cause trouble?"
Xie Tiao smiled bitterly and said, "Even their own people need to eat and drink. The easiest way is to poison them. The mildest thing is to cause stomach pain and dizziness, making it impossible to go on stage. There are also vicious ones who can ruin a person's voice with just one cup of water, making it impossible for them to sing again. These are all old tricks that my teacher told me about before."
He glanced at A Qiu and said, "Junior sister was originally a musician in the palace. The music bureau never performed for outsiders and had no need to meet people from all walks of life. It's normal that she doesn't know these things."
When A Qiu heard him mention the word "teacher," she immediately recalled Li Wujiu's past as a fortune teller on the Luoyang city wall. Recalling these old stories of wandering arts and entertainment from all walks of life, how could Gu Yigui, as the imperial tutor, know all this? It must be because he himself had a similar experience of wandering.
From this sentence, A Qiu also learned one thing: that Xie Tiao was unaware that she was originally a Lanling assassin, otherwise he wouldn't have only mentioned that she was a palace musician. It is clear that Xie Lang had indeed gone to great lengths, and it is likely that apart from a few former Fei Fengs, he had kept it completely hidden from everyone else.
Without a second thought, A Qiu casually said, "Should we poison them, sabotage the venue, or damage their props? In short, we absolutely cannot let them steal the spotlight so easily with this 'Breaking the Formation Music'."
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Shangguan Yuqi and Xie Tiao staring at her in disbelief.
Fan Liancheng and Xiao Chang'an showed no surprise. Fan Liancheng, a military man, admired the art of war and had witnessed the brutality and cruelty of the Hu people, knowing that mercy towards them would only harm their own side. Xiao Chang'an, on the other hand, was the progenitor of the phrase "any means necessary," so he naturally saw nothing wrong with it.
Zhao Lingying, however, gave A Qiu a half-smile and said, "The Grand Master of Music himself is a musician and dancer. Putting yourself in others' shoes, don't you feel any resistance at all to such underhanded schemes that harm your colleagues?"
A Qiu was speechless and immediately felt ashamed.
This kind of meticulous mindset can only be understood by those who have worked in the dance and music industry. If A-Qiu really was a dancer, and she was a famous performer who had worked so hard and practiced diligently in the coldest and hottest winters to finally rise to fame, how could she not feel resentment if she were to fall victim to a fellow dancer's needle or nail, resulting in her being crippled for life and unable to dance again?
Putting oneself in another's shoes, a famous dancer and musician would naturally find it despicable to harm one's rival in this way, because one cannot accept losing not to a fair and square competition, but to being defeated by underhanded tactics.
But A Qiu was originally an assassin, and when she carried out an assassination, she only cared about achieving her goal, so she would stop at nothing. Since she already regarded the Northern Qiang as her enemy, she had no feelings about them.
At this moment, she realized that she had inadvertently given herself away, but she just smiled and stuck out her tongue, saying, "I didn't think too much about it. I was only thinking about how to thwart their strategy of demoralizing our troops without a fight."
Xie Tiao did not suspect anything, but said with relief, "What I just said can only be regarded as casual conversation and jokes. Even when two countries are at war, they do not kill envoys. In any case, the other party came to express goodwill. If they cannot even tolerate this and insist on using underhanded means, if my teacher were here, he would only say four words."
A Qiu and Shangguan Yuqi said at the same time, "It's not a fair victory."
A Qiu spoke out because she knew Gu Yi's personality well, while Shangguan Yuqi spoke out because it was exactly what she herself thought.
"Martial arts" are for conquest and demonstration, but such underhanded tactics, even if victorious, lose the original meaning of victory, because dignity and integrity are two sides of the same coin.
Confucius said of the music of Shao: "It is perfectly beautiful and perfectly good." He also said of the music of Wu: "It is perfectly beautiful, but not perfectly good."
Even the "Great Martial Arts" which praises King Wu's achievements in overthrowing King Zhou, because it advocates conquest and proclaims bravery, is considered by the sage to be beautiful in form and sound, but it has never achieved pure virtue. How much more so is it "not a martial victory"?
Aqiu said with a headache, "Then how should we deal with it? The opponent is strong and powerful, and their martial dance is performed by soldiers. Our dances in the Music Bureau are beautiful, but they lack gentleness and elegance in comparison. If we show them to those Hu soldiers, I'm afraid it will not only fail to subdue them, but will also increase their covetousness and improper thoughts."
Zhao Lingying said in a deep voice: "Therefore, I want all of you present to pool your wisdom and efforts and do your utmost, do you understand? If we are not careful, not only will we fail to enhance our national prestige, but we will also be like showing off our wealth in front of thieves, stirring up desires and inviting disaster."
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