The Deer and The Cauldron - Unabridged Thread

[foxs]

Chen Yuanyuan withdrew to the corner of the room; her countenance was deathly pale, she closed her eyes tight, yet the scene from her past flashed in her mind, “When I was in the Ming Dynasty Palace, when Chong Zhen came to visit at night fall, he highly praised my beautiful appearance. The next day the Emperor did not attend the morning court, he stayed in the bedroom in my company, he told me to sing songs for him, he told me to put on rouge and powder, he even picked up eyebrow brush and drew my eyebrows for me. He promised me that he would make me an imperial consort, and then in the future he would make me the Empress. He said that from now on, he would not cast another glance toward all the imperial concubines and consorts in the Palace.

The Emperor was very young; when he was laughing joyously and freely, he could suddenly anxiously stop in daze. He was the Emperor, but in my heart, he was no different than those young masters of nobility or rich families who visit the prostitutes at the courtyard. In three days, day and night he did not leave me even for a single step. Early morning the fourth day, I woke up before he did; I saw a bloodless face on the pillow next to me, his cheeks were hollow, his eyebrows knitted closely. He was anxious even in his sleep. I thought, ‘Is this the Emperor? If he is the Emperor, why is he unhappy like this?’

That day, he went to the morning court. When he returned in the afternoon, his countenance was even paler, his eyebrows wrinkled even tighter. He suddenly threw a fit at me, he accused me of interfering with the national affairs. He said that he was a brilliant ruler, hence he must not lose himself in female charms and turn into a muddleheaded ruler. He wanted to strive harder; therefore, he immediately ordered Empress Zhou to send me out of the Palace. He said that I was a witch who harmed the country, and that while I was in the Palace for three days, the rebel thief Li Zicheng had already broken through three cities.

I was not grieved; men are just like that, whenever something unpleasant happens, they always blame the women. The Emperor was worrying all day, his heart was scared; he was afraid of this man named Li Zicheng. At that time I thought, ‘Li Zicheng is such an amazing man, he can make the Emperor afraid; I wonder what kind of man is he?’”

Chen Yuanyuan opened her eyes; she saw Li Zicheng was brandishing his monk staff, striking Wu Sangui again and again. Wu Sangui was dodging and evading, fast and nimble, all along the monk staff failed to hit him. Chen Yuanyuan thought, “His movement is still very fast. These last several years, he still train martial art every day, because … because he wants to be the Emperor, he wants to lead his troops to attack Beijing.”

She remembered that when she left the Palace, she returned to the Zhou Guo Zhang [lit. the Emperor’s father-in-law] Mansion. One day, the Guo Zhang Mansion held a big feast, inviting many guests. She was ordered to come out to sing and dance, to entertain the guests. It was that night that Wu Sangui saw her. To this day, she could still remember it clearly, under the candlelight, she saw his eyes were burning with desire as he stared at her across the banquet table. In all her life she had seen this kind of stare too many times. Following the stare, the man, who was like a beast, may pounce on her, he may embrace her tightly, and may tear away her clothes. It’s just that at that time it was a public place with a big crowd …

Suddenly she thought, “When that baby high-ranking official saw me a moment ago, his eyes also revealed that kind of look. It’s so funny. Such a young baby also shows a burning desire toward me. Ay! All men are like that, old men are like that, little boys are also like that.”

She looked up and cast a glance toward Wei Xiaobao. She saw his face was full of excitement as he watched the fight between Li and Wu, two people. By this time Wu Sangui had begun to counterattack, the lance in his hand continuously attacked the enemy.

“He asked Zhou Guo Zhang for me,” she continued her reminiscing, “In just a few days, the Emperor sent him to guard the Shanhai Pass, to defend the border against Manchurian troops’ invasion. But Li Zicheng broke through Beijing first, Emperor Chong Zhen hung himself on the Coal Hill. Li Zicheng’s troops captured me, and presented me to him. This straightforward man, is he the one the Emperor Chong Zhen dreaded even in his sleep? He had broken into Beijing, but he was very busy. The Ming Dynasty’s officials were murdered by him by the dozens. His troops raped and pillaged Beijing, they arrested countless people, tortured them and demanded ransom for them; countless innocent common people were also massacred by them. But every night when he came to accompany me, he was always very happy, his laughter was very loud. His snoring was also very loud, he often woke me up in the middle of the night with the noise of his snoring. The hair on his arms, his legs, and his chest was very long, very thick. I have never seen a man like him.

Actually, Wu Sangui had already surrendered to him. But as soon as he heard that he had snatched me, he borrowed Manchurian troops, leading them to breach the Pass. Ay, this is the ‘One wave of headgear-lifting anger propelled him, all for the sake of the fair-faced one’ part. Li Zicheng led his army out to meet him, he fought Wu Sangui on a slab of stone. Manchu’s elite troops suddenly appeared, Li Zicheng’s army was utterly defeated. They said that on the slab-of-stone battlefield there was blood everywhere; along several dozen li road, there were dead bodies everywhere. They said that these people died because of me; it was me who caused these several tens of thousands people’s death. Have I really heaped such a heinous sin upon myself?

After his defeat, Li Zicheng returned to Beijing and ascended the throne as the Emperor, he called himself the Emperor of the Great Shun Country. He took me fleeing to the west, Wu Sangui was hot on our trail. Although Li Zicheng was defeated, his laughter was still very much straightforward. The soldiers and officers under his command numbered less and less as the days gone by, his situation was more and more unfavorable, but he did not seem to care. He said that he started with nothing, at worst he would end up with nothing; what’s so strange about that? He said that there were three things he was most proud of in all his life: first, he had hounded the Ming Dynasty Emperor to his death, second, he had been an emperor, and third, he had slept with the number one beauty in the world. This man’s talk was very vulgar; he said that among those three accomplishments, he was most proud of the third.

Wu Sangui also wholeheartedly wants to be the Emperor; he has never said it, but I know. It’s just that in his heart he is afraid, he always hesitates; he thought about making his move, but did not dare to do so. As long as he did not die today, there will come a day that he may become the Emperor. It’s all right if he became the Emperor here in Kunming, it’s all right if he became the Emperor only for a day.

Emperor Yong Li fled to Myanmar, Wu Sangui pursued him and killed him. People say that three Emperors have died in my hands: Chong Zhen, Yong Li, and this Emperor Li Zicheng of the Great Shun Country. How did I become responsible of Emperor Chong Zhen’s account? I wonder if Wu Sangui is going to die today. If he became the Emperor in the future, will they say that I killed another Emperor? The Great Ming’s rivers and mountains, several hundred thousand soldiers, several millions common people, plus four Emperors; it was I, Chen Yuanyuan, who killed them all. Yet I have not committed even a single bad deed, I have not even uttered any harmful word to anybody.”

Her ears kept hearing the ‘bing, bing, bang, bang’ of the weapons colliding with each other; when she looked up, she saw Li Zicheng and Wu Sangui were jumping high and crouching low, their fight was very fierce. Although these two men were already old, their movements were still very agile. In all her life, she was most afraid of watching men killing each other, and right now that loathing feeling was evident on her face. She also recalled what happened in the past, “After the crushing defeat, the troops and soldiers under Li Zicheng’s command scattered everywhere. Even in the night, he was no longer with me. Wu Sangui’s subordinates found me, and hastily presented me to their commander-in-chief. Naturally he was overjoyed. He said that people cursed him as the big traitor, but for my sake, bearing this bad reputation was worth it. I really appreciate his affection. I don’t care if he is the big traitor or a big loyal minister, because he was being true to me; for my sake, he would do anything. Other than him, nobody has ever treated me this way.

At that time I thought that from now on I would live a peaceful and happy life. I don’t care about first-pin rank Madame, or second-pin rank Madame; I only hoped that I would not have to run around in circles from one man’s hand to the other. But … but … after living in Kunming for several years, he was bestowed the title Qin Wang [Prince], and a Qin Wang must have a fujin [Manchurian word for ‘wife’]. His first wife has passed away early on. His younger brother Wu Sanmei came to me and told me that because of this fujin matter, Wangye was in great distress. By right, he should have taken me as his fujin, but everybody in the world knew my family background. If he reported my name so that the Emperor could confer an honorary title by imperial edict, unavoidably he would profane the imperial court. Naturally I understood that as a Qin Wang, he resented my background as a lowly woman, a prostitute; that I was not fit to receive honorary title by the Emperor. I did not want to make things difficult for him; without waiting for Wu Sanmei to finish, I told him that it was an easy matter, I told him to ask Wangye to pick a wise and virtuous woman from a famous family as his fujin, to avoid smearing his reputation. He came to apologize to me, telling me that he had indeed been unfair to me. Humph, becoming fujin or not, what’s the big deal? It’s just that eventually I understood that his affection to me had also reached its end. I moved out from the Mansion, because Wangye wanted to officially marry, he had to establish his fujin.

Right around that time, Li Zicheng suddenly appeared in front of me. He has become a Buddhist monk. I was scared out of my wits. I thought he had already died, and I was grieving for him for several days; who would have thought that he is still alive? Li Zicheng said that he wore Buddhist monk attire simply to deceive people’s ears and eyes, while it also give him the excuse of not shaving his head and wearing the Tatars’ attire. He told me that for the last several years he had been thinking about me daily; he had been living in Kunming for more than three years, and had always been looking for an opportunity to see me, until that day. Ay, could it be that his affection to me was a lot deeper than Wu Sangui’s?

Every night he came to accompany me, until finally I got pregnant with this little baby girl. I could not see him anymore, I must return to the Mansion immediately. I told Wangye that I missed him very much, and I wanted him to accompany me. Wangye has never had heartfelt fondness toward his fujin anyway, he happily took me back. Afterwards the baby girl was born. I wonder if he ever had any suspicion.

When the baby girl was a little over two years old, she suddenly disappeared in the middle of the night. Although I hate to part with her, I thought it was Li Zicheng who sent someone to kidnap her. She is his child, if he wanted her, then that’s good. He was alone, he must be distressingly lonely, if there was a child by his side, he would not feel so much alone and forsaken. Who would have thought … ay, who would have thought that that was not the case …”

Suddenly a drop of liquid fell on the back of her hand; when she looked down, it was a drop of blood. She was shocked and quickly looked up to the two men who were still fighting. She saw there was blood all over Wu Sangui’s face, but he was still brandishing his lance in a hard fighting. The drop of blood naturally was splashed from his face.

Outside the room, the officers and men were shouting and cheering loudly, some were hurling threats toward Li Zicheng and Jiu Nan, but nobody dared to join the fight for fear that they would hurt their Wangye.

Wu Sangui was panting continuously; there was fear in his eyes. Suddenly the tip of the lance changed direction and went straight toward Chen Yuanyuan’s chest.

“Ah!” Chen Yuanyuan cried out in alarm. “He wants to kill me!” This thought flashed in her mind.

‘Dang!’ the lance was parried by Li Zicheng. It was as if Wu Sangui had gone mad; he thrust his lance repeatedly, each one was directed to Chen Yuanyuan. Li Zicheng bellowed in rage, while desperately blocking and parrying; he was no longer able to attack Wu Sangui.

Wei Xiaobao was hiding behind his Shifu’s back, he was greatly astonished, “Why would the big traitor not attack the monk, but attacking his wife instead?” Bu he immediately understood, “Ah, right; he must be angry that his wife has sneakily met the monk, hence he wants to kill her to vent his anger.”

But Jiu Nan had been able to see Wu Sangui’s real intention, “This evil man is extremely treacherous. He cannot beat Li Zicheng, hence he resorted to this evil scheme.”

Sure enough, because Li Zicheng wanted to save Chen Yuanyuan, he was flustered and his mind was thrown into disorder, several gaps appeared in the movement of his staff. Wu Sangui’s lance changed direction again, ‘stab’, he suddenly hit Li Zicheng’s shoulder. Li Zicheng lost the strength of his right hand, his monk staff fell. Wu Sangui seized this opportunity to pounce, he pointed the lance toward the pit of Li Zicheng’s stomach. Laughing maliciously, he said, “Rebel, aren’t you going to kneel down and surrender?”

“Yes, yes,” Li Zicheng replied. Slowly he bent his knees.

Wei Xiaobao mused, “I always thought that Li Zicheng was such an amazing man, but actually he is greedy for life …” He had just had that thought, suddenly Li Zicheng rolled away to evade the tip of the lance, grabbed his monk staff from the floor, and swept it horizontally toward Wu Sangui’s calves. Li Zicheng then sprang up, the monk staff struck down on Wu Sangui’s shoulder, and in the third strike the staff shot down onto the top of Wu Sangui’s head.

Wei Xiaobao did not know that when the circumstance was unfavorable, surrendering in order to take a breather and then seizing the opportunity to gain an upper hand, was exactly the tactic Li Zicheng was very good at in all his life. When he was leading the rebel troops in the past, on the seventh month of his seventh year Chong Zhen surrounded him and trapped him in the bottom of Juxiang Gorge at Xing’an county of Shaanxi Province, the imperial army laid a siege all around, there was no way out, the troops had no food, the horses had no straw; at a glance it looked like a total annihilation. Li Zicheng surrendered, and was taken into the imperial army. As soon as he was out of the plank road, he rose into rebellion again immediately. When he bent his knees to feign surrender to Wu Sangui just now, it was no more than executing his old trick once again.

Jiu Nan thought, “These two men are equally ruthless and crafty, no wonder the Great Ming’s rivers and mountains were lost in these two men’s hands.”

They all saw that if Li Zicheng’s third strike hit, Wu Sangui’s brains would burst out. Chen Yuanyuan suddenly jumped and threw herself on top of Wu Sangui’s body, “Kill me first!” she called out.

Li Zicheng was shocked, the momentum of his staff strike was swift and fierce, his right shoulder was injured, he had no strength in his right hand to hold the staff. Immediately his left hand pushed to the right, ‘Bang!’ the iron monk staff struck the wall. “Yuanyuan,” he angrily shouted, “What are you doing?”

“He and I were husband and wife for more than twenty years,” Chen Yuanyuan replied, “In those years he … he was sincerely treating me very well. I cannot let him die because of me.”

“Get out of the way!” Li Zicheng shouted, “He and I have enmity as deep as the ocean. I must kill him.”

“Then kill me too,” Chen Yuanyuan replied.

Li Zicheng sighed. He said, “Turns out … turns out your heart is still leaning toward him.”

Chen Yuanyuan did not answer, but in her heart she thought, “If he wants to kill you, I will also die with you.”

From outside the room, the officers and soldiers saw Wu Sangui fell, they also cried out loudly while surging forward. A general shouted loudly, “Quickly release Wangye, or all of you will die.” It was precisely Wu Sangui’s son-in-law Xia Guoxiang. He continued shouting, “Your companions are all here, if you harm a strand of Wangye’s hair, their heads will fall to the ground immediately.”

Wei Xiaobao looked outside, and saw Mu Jiansheng, Liu Dahong and the other Mu Palace people, and Xu Tianchuan, Gao Yanchao, Priest Xuanzhen and the other Tian Di Hui people, Zhao Qixian, Zhang Kangnian, and the other Imperial Bodyguards, Valiant Cavalry Canling [Regimental Commander] and Zuoling [Company Commander]; all of them with hands tied, each of them had a Ping Xi Wang military officer behind his back, with unsheathed saber placed on their neck.

Wei Xiaobao thought, “Even if Shifu could take me out of Kunming, all these friends will inevitably die. We want to kill Wu Sangui, but there is no hurry to do it at this time.” Thereupon he pulled his dagger and put it on Wu Sangui’s back; he said, “Wangye, all of us die together, there is no sense in it; it would be better for us to do a business transaction.”

“Humph,” Wu Sangui grunted, “What business transaction?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “You promise to let everybody go, my Shifu will spare your life.”

Li Zicheng said, “This traitor is a lowly person, a repeat offender; what he says cannot be trusted.”

Looking at the people with their hands bound outside, Jiu Nan also felt that she could not kill Wu Sangui today; she said, “You give an order to let everybody go, I will also let you go.”

“What about Ah Ke?” Wei Xiaobao said in a loud voice, “That female assassin?”

Xia Guoxiang shouted, “Bring the assassin here.”

Two Mansion guards pushed a young woman, which was none other than Ah Ke. Her hands were also tied behind her back, and a glittering saber was also placed on her neck.

Chen Yuanyuan said, “Xiaobao, you … you are always thinking of saving my child’s life.”

Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, “That’s strange, you did not ask your husband, did not ask your lover, but came to ask me. Could it be that Ah Ke was born for me and you?” But as soon as he saw Ah Ke’s lovely yet pitiful look, he had made up his mind, even if he did not want his own life, he simply must save her life; on top of that, he now saw Chen Yuanyuan’s lovely yet pitiful look as she beseeched him, he did not need to think twice.

[foxs]

“The two of you,” he pointed to Li Zicheng, “If you give me your word to allow Ah Ke to be my wife, how could I not save my own wife’s life?”

Jiu Nan glowered at him. “In time like this you still talk this kind of frivolous talk!” she shouted.

Although Chen Yuanyuan knew Wei Xiaobao only for a short time, yet her knowledge of his temperament and intention had already far surpassed Jiu Nan’s; she knew that if this little smart-aleck did not take advantage of other people’s misfortune, to fish in troubled water, he would not be a high-ranking official in such a young age. Thereupon she said, “Fine, I give you my word.”

Wei Xiaobao turned his head toward Li Zicheng and asked, “And you?”

There was an angry look on Li Zicheng’s face, he was about to curse, but then he saw the earnest pleading expression on Chen Yuanyuan’s face, hence he struggled to suppress his anger. “Humph,” he snorted, “Whatever she said, let it be that way.”

Wei Xiaobao giggled and turned toward Wu Sangui, “Wangye, you and I are ‘river water does not interfere with well water’, why not get the best of both worlds? You can be the Ping Xi Wang, let me be the Wei Jueye?”

“Very well,” Wu Sangui said, “What did I do to make life difficult for Wei Jueye?”

“Then issue an order to free all of my friends,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I will also ask my Shifu to release you. This is just like playing Pai Jiu [pai gow], in the front we have ten, at the back we have supreme, nobody loses nobody wins, nobody kills nobody pays. You are not thinking of making a big kill on the three directions, I will not shovel your bank. Not losing in gambling is better than everybody’s head falls down on the ground.”

“So be it,” Wu Sangui replied, while slowly standing up.

“Please ask Shizi to come here, and the Princess as well,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I will also have to toil Wangye to personally escort us out of the City of Kunming, and I ask that Shizi will accompany the Princess to go back to Beijing and bow to the heaven and the earth and get married there. Wangye, although we have had the agreement, I still cannot set my heart at ease, I need to have Shizi as my guarantee. If you suddenly change your mind and dispatch your troops to give us a chase, we will have no choice but to split Shizi with a saber. Wu Yingxiong, Wei Xiaobao, plus Princess Jianning, everybody will happily go together to see Yan Wang. Our journey to the underworld will be exciting and fun.”

Wu Sangui thought that this kid was indeed very shrewd; he would not easily let me go based on my words alone. Since he was presently in a dangerous territory, the sooner he escaped the better; therefore, after making a prompt decision he said, “Fair enough, we will do as you said.” Raising his voice, he called out, “Xia Zongbing, quickly send someone to fetch the Princess and Shizi and bring them here.”

Xia Guoxiang said, “I heard and obey. When Shizi heard the news, he promptly led the troops here.”

“Good filial son,” Wei Xiaobao praised, “What a little darling meek, garlic chives sautéed in leek!”

Not too long afterwards, Wu Yingxiong did indeed arrive leading his troops. His injury had not healed, he arrived outside the building, riding on a soft sedan chair carried by eight of his personal attendants.

Wu Sangui said, “Shizi has arrived, everybody can go.” He also issued an order, “Untie our friends’ hands.” To Wei Xiaobao he said, “You and Shitai follow me closely, let me take you out. If laofu go back on my word, naturally you could stab me on my back. Shitai’s martial art skill is superior, even I cannot escape her Tathagata Buddha’s palm.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed. “Wonderful,” he said, “Wangye is indeed frank and straightforward; when you lose, you lose, when you win, you win, you wanted to oppose the Ming, you opposed the Ming, you wanted to surrender to Qing, you surrender to Qing. Indeed there is not the least bit of wishy-washiness in you.”

Wu Sangui’s face turned ashen. Pointing to Li Zicheng he said, “This rebel, I wonder if he is also Wei Jueye’s friend?”

Wei Xiaobao cast a glance toward Jiu Nan. Before he could respond, Li Zicheng announced in a loud voice, “I am not this Tatars’ little dog official’s friend.”

“Good,” Jiu Nan praised him, “You, this rebel, actually have hard bones! Wu Sangui, let him go with us.”

Chen Yuanyuan looked at Jiu Nan, her eyes revealed her gratitude, but they also carried a pleading look. “Shitai …” she said. But Jiu Nan turned her head away, she was unwilling to meet her eyes.

Wu Sangui was only concerned over his own survival, he did not care whether he could kill Li Zicheng or not. Walking toward the opening, he called out, “Shizi is going to escort the Princess back to the Capital to have an audience with His Holiness, to respectfully escort the holy self of Her Highness the Princess.”

The sergeant under Ping Xi Wang’s command blew the bugle, the troops lined up in formation to send them off. Wei Xiaobao and Wu Sangui walked out of the room side-by-side, with Jiu Nan following closely behind them.

Wei Xiaobao walked toward the sedan chair and said, “Whether the goods is genuine or fake, one examination will confirm it.” He raised the sedan chair curtain and looked in. He saw Wu Yingxiong’s face was completely without color. Leaning inside, he said with a laugh, “Shizi, how are you?”

Wu Yingxiong called out, “Father, you … are you all right?”

Of course he was calling out to Wu Sangui, but Wei Xiaobao replied, “Very good, I am all right.”

When they were outside the Three-Sage Nunnery, he looked around; east, south, west and north, everywhere was tightly packed with troops and horses, their number could not be counted. “Wangye,” Wei Xiaobao praised, “Your troops and horses are indeed not a few. If you are going to attack Beijing, I think you already have enough.”

With a calm face Wu Sangui said, “Wei Jueye, when you see His Majesty, if you talk nonsense, I will certainly also present a memorial to the Emperor, reporting that you are colluding with the rebel thieves Mu Family of Yunnan and Li Zicheng.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Uh, that’s strange. Li Zicheng only loves to collude with the number one beauty in the world, how could he collude with me, the number one smart-aleck in the world?” Wu Sangui was furious; he clenched his fist and wanted to punch the bridge of Wei Xiaobao’s nose very much.

“Wangye must not be angry,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You, Senior, must calm down. Being an official for a thousand li is only for the sake of wealth. If I talk rubbish to His Majesty, whatever reward His Majesty bestows to me, it will fall short of what you, Senior, send as a gift year after year, what you spend in soldier’s pay and provision year after year. The two of us brothers are striking a business deal, when I return to Beijing, I will only praise you as a loyal and devoted minister, matchless under the heavens. I will do my best to protect Shizi, at New Year and other holidays, you will send a little bit of gold and silver as a gift to Xiao Jiang; what do you say?” While saying that, he walked alongside Wu Sangui.

“Wealth is merely worldly possessions,” Wu Sangui said, “If Wei Jueye really want to use some, I can’t see any reason why you cannot. However, if you really want to make things difficult for me, although laofu lives in Yunnan, with a massive military force at hand, I am not afraid of you.”

“Naturally,” Wei Xiaobao said, “With a lance at hand, Wangye’s bravery is unstoppable, you killed the rebellious thieves around the world that they piss in their pants in terror. Xiao Jiang is taking my leave today, the spending money Wangye promised earlier, please bestow it now.”

Listening to him chattering and unceasingly asking for bribe, Jiu Nan was getting more and more annoyed. “Xiaobao,” she shouted, “How could you talk so shamelessly like that?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Shifu, you did not know, but the number of people under me is quite a lot. When I return to the Capital, the civil and military officials of the imperial court, the imperial concubines and court eunuchs in the Palace, all of them must be given a present. If the gift is unsatisfactory, everybody may put the blame on Wangye.”

“Humph,” Jiu Nan snorted, but she no longer say anything.

Actually, as the guest Wei Xiaobao demanded bribe, his main reason was to escape with their lives. He repeatedly talked about bribe with Wu Sangui, his intention was to occupy Wu Sangui’s mind, so that he would not change his mind or have the thought of killing them; besides, after giving the bribe, he could not possibly make things difficult for Wei Xiaobao. It was a standard practice of officialdom. By saying all those things, Wei Xiaobao was trying to make Wu Sangui feel relieved. Naturally Jiu Nan did not understand this reasoning.

As expected, Wu Sangui was really thinking, “He wants the money, this matter is easier to manage.” Turning toward Xia Guoxiang, he said, “Xia Zongbing, quickly get 500,000 taels of silver for Wei Jueye to give to the officers and men of the Imperial Bodyguards; also, prepare a generous gift for Wei Jueye, so that when he return to the Capital, he can distribute it for our behalf.” Xia Guoxiang complied, and turned toward his trusted aide to prepare everything.

Wu Sangui and Wei Xiaobao mounted their horses and rode side-by-side. Jiu Nan also mounted a horse and followed closely behind them. Knowing that this nun’s martial art skill had reached perfection, Wu Sangui abandoned all hopes of running away from her; he also thought, “Things ended this way, it is actually very satisfactory. Otherwise, even if I could kill this nun and this little smart aleck, kill Li Zicheng and all those rebellious thieves, injuring an Imperial Envoy carried a maximum penalty; I would be forced to deploy my troops immediately. This moment the help from the outside has not been properly decided; acting with confusion will only result in endangering this matter. Humph, when Beijing is broken later, will I have to be afraid that this little smart aleck would fly to the sky?” Therefore, he did not want to go back on the deal right away; along with Jiu Nan and Wei Xiaobao he went to Anfu Garden to fetch the Princess, and then escorted them out of the City of Kunming.

Although the soldiers had their suspicion, seeing their Wangye came out unscathed, they did not have any choice but to obey the orders and did nothing else.

Wei Xiaobao inspected the troops and horses under his command, undoubtedly Ah Ke stayed by his side, the others included Tian Di Hui and Mu Palace people, as well as Imperial Bodyguards, officers and men, nobody was lacking. He turned toward Wu Sangui and said with a laugh, “Wangye sends us off a long way out of town, you are extremely courteous. This time we received Wangye’s generous treatment, next time Wangye come to Beijing, let Xiao Jiang invite you.”

Wu Sangui laughed aloud and said, “I will definitely disturb Wei Jueye.”

The two men cupped their fists farewell. Wu Sangui walked toward the Princess’ sedan chair to pay his respect and bid her farewell, and then he stuck his head in Wu Yingxiong’s sedan chair and whispered something for a while, before leading his troops back to the city.

Although Wu Sangui’s troops did not show any sign that they intend to attack, Wei Xiaobao did not feel at ease; he said, “This fellow’s words cannot be trusted, let us leave quickly, the farther we are from Kunming the better.” Thereupon the group left immediately.

After traveling for more than ten li and did not see any troop chasing them, they stopped for a while to take a rest.

“Princess,” Li Zicheng said to Jiu Nan, “I have received your kindness in saving me so that I did not die under the big traitor’s men’s hands, I really am deeply grateful. Now please make your move.” While saying that, he took the saber he was wearing, reversed the hilt, and handed it over to her.

“Hey,” Jiu Nan mumbled, with an awkward expression on her face; she thought, “He is the big enemy who killed my father, how can I not avenge this enmity? But he has his hands tied waiting for the butcher, I can’t kill him just like that.” Turning her head toward Ah Ke, she cast her a glance, and muttered, “Turns out she … she is your daughter …”

“He is not my father,” Ah Ke said loudly.

“Nonsense,” Jiu Nan angrily said, “Your Mama admitted it herself, how can it be wrong?”

“Naturally he is your father,” Wei Xiaobao busily said, “He and your Mama have betrothed you to me to be my wife; this is called ‘a father and mother’s order …’”

Ah Ke’s heart was filled with resentment and indignation, yet she could not vent it out anywhere; suddenly she sprang up and punched Wei Xiaobao’s face. He was caught off-guard, the punch hit the bridge of his nose; immediately blood flowed in abundance.

“Aiyo,” Wei Xiaobao cried out, “You are murdering your own husband.”

Jiu Nan angrily said, “The two of you stop speaking unreasonable words! Stop making a mess!”

Ah Ke retreated several steps back, her small face was completely red; she pointed her finger to Li Zicheng and angrily said, “You are not my father! That woman is not my mother.” Pointing Jiu Nan she said, “You … you are not my Shifu. You … you are all bad people, you bullied me. I … I hate you …” She covered her face and cried loudly.

Jiu Nan sighed. “You are right,” she said, “I am not your Shifu, I snatched you away from Wu Sangui, not with good intention. You … you can go on your own. But your birth parents, you cannot not acknowledging them.”

Ah Ke stomped her foot and said, “I don’t want to acknowledge them, I don’t want to acknowledge them. I don’t have any father, I don’t have any mother, and I don’t have any Shifu.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “But you have me, your husband!”

Ah Ke’s anger shot to the roof, she picked up a stone and hurled it to him. Wei Xiaobao dodged sideways. Ah Ke turned around and ran along a small path toward the west.

“Hey, hey,” Wei Xiaobao called out, “Where are you going?”

Ah Ke halted her steps, turned around and hatefully said, “There will come a day that you will die in my hands.”

Wei Xiaobao did not dare to pursue anymore; he looked on helplessly as she ran away. Gloomy mood filled Jiu Nan’s heart, she waved her hand toward Li Zicheng without saying anything and rode off.

“Yuefu [father-in-law] Daren,” Wei Xiaobao said, “My Shifu won’t kill you, you’d better go quickly.”

In his heart Li Zicheng also felt inexplicably unhappy; he turned toward Wei Xiaobao and glowered at him. Being stared at like that, the hair on Wei Xiaobao’s body stood up; he was scared and withdrew two steps back. “Pei,” Li Zicheng spat on the ground, turned around and strode toward a small path.

Wei Xiaobao shook his head, thinking, “Even her own father and mother Ah Ke does not want to acknowledge, naturally she won’t acknowledge me, her husband, even more.” When he turned around, he saw Xu Tianchuan and Gao Yanchao standing behind him with weapons in their hands. The two men were afraid Li Zicheng would suddenly assault and harm their Wei Xiangzhu.

“This man turned the sky and the earth upside down in the past, and ruined out Great Ming’s rivers and mountains,” Xu Tianchuan said, “Until he is old he still carries the lofty quality of a hero like that.”

Wei Xiaobao stuck out his tongue. “He is very fierce,” he said; and then he asked, “Did you bring that Hantiemo?”

“He is a very important character,” Xu Tianchuan replied, “We did not dare to leave him.”

“Very good,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Gentlemen must be very careful in taking care of him, don’t let him escape along the way.”

The party continued their journey northward. Wei Xiaobao went over to Mu Jiansheng, Liu Dahong and the others to exchange some pleasantries. In their hearts Mu Jiansheng and the others were also very unhappy; they all thought, “All our lives were saved by him, from this day onward, how can our Mu Palace strive for superiority against their Tian Di Hui?”

“Wei Xiangzhu,” Liu Dahong said, “About toppling Wu Sangui or what have you, we cannot compete against Tian Di Hui anymore. Please report to Chen Zongduozhu on our behalf, tell him that henceforth the Mu Palace concede defeat to Tian Di Hui. Wei Xiangzhu’s kindness in saving our lives, I am afraid in our whole life we will never be able to repay.”

“How could Liu Laoyezi [old master] say such thing?” Wei Xiaobao said, “All of us were in mortal danger and we escaped alive; we all managed to snatch our lives back.”

“That little thief Liu Yizhou,” Liu Dahong hatefully said, “There will come a day when I will make mincemeat of him.”

“Was it him who disclose your secret?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

“If not him then who else?” Liu Dahong replied, “This kid … this kid …” Speaking to this point, his anger shot up to the heavens.

Wei Xiaobao said, “Did he remain at Wu Sangui’s place?”

“Most probably,” Mu Jiansheng said, “That day Liu Shifu sent him out to scout the enemy; he was captured by Wu Sangui’s men. That very same night, a large number of troops and horses surrounded our residence. The place we stayed was extremely secret, if that man did not tell, there is no way Wu Sangui would ever find us.” Speaking to that point, he heaved a deep sigh before continuing, “It’s a pity that Ao Dage has sacrificed his life for his country.” Cupping his fist toward Wei Xiaobao, he said, “Wei Xiangzhu, if Tian Di Hui has anything in the future, the one surnamed Mu will obey the order. The green mountain will not change, the crystal-clear water will always flow, let us part here.”

“This place is still the big traitor’s territory,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Let us be together, there is strength in number. When we leave Yunnan, we will go our separate ways.”

Mu Jiansheng shook his head and said, “Thank you for Wei Xiangzhu’s good intention, if we ever fall head first into the big traitor’s hands again, we will not have any face to live among the people.” Thinking, “Mu Palace is at home in Yunnan, if we still rely on Tatar officers and soldiers for protection, what else can we say?” Therefore, leading the Mu Palace people, he bade his farewell and left.

Mu Jianping walked at the very last of the line; after only a few steps, she turned around and said, “I am leaving, you … you take care of yourself.”

“Yes,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You must do the same.” Lowering his voice, he said, “You stay with your Gege, don’t come back to Shen Long [Divine Dragon] Island. I will think about you every day.”

Mu Jianping nodded; she said in small voice, “I will too …”

Wei Xiaobao pulled the horse he was riding and turned the reins over to her hand, saying, “I give this horse to you.”

Mu Jianping’s eyes turned red; receiving the reins, she straddled the horseback and rode away to catch up with Mu Jiansheng and the others.

[foxs]

Chapter 33 - Those without chronic disease find it hard to laugh, being distinguished and accomplishment are not the same.
(Translated by Foxs)

LuDingJi-33.jpg

The log was chopped into two sections. Feng Xifan fell into the water. Hu Yizhi threw his saber toward Feng Xifan. Submerged in the water, Feng Xifan did not have any way of evading, he quickly threw his sword. ‘Clang!’ the saber and the sword collided midair; both weapons fell into the river.

[foxs]

After several days of travel, they had left the City of Kunming far behind them. Since all along they did not see Wu Sangui’s troops or horses pursuing, gradually everybody was relieved. One particular day they arrived at Qujing [prefecture, still in Yunnan]. When the night fell, four riders were rushing directly toward them. One rider jumped down for the horse and talked to the Valiant Cavalry vanguard that they had an urgent military intelligence to report to the Imperial Military Minister.

As soon as Wei Xiaobao received the report, he granted them an audience at once. He saw that the one in the front was a thin and small man with dark complexion; he had just about to ask the man what kind of military intelligence, when Qian Laoben, who was standing behind him, suddenly said, “You are Kuang Xiong, are you not?”

The man bowed and said, “Xiongdi is indeed Kuang Tianxiong. Qian Dage, how are you?”

Wei Xiaobao looked at Qian Laoben. Qian Laoben nodded and said in a low voice, “Our own people.”

“Very good,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Kuang Laoxiong has toiled much, let us go sit at the back.”

They went to the rear hall; all the attendants were Tian Di Hui brothers. Qian Laoben said, “Kuang Xiongdi, this is our Green Wood Hall’s Wei Xiangzhu.”

Kuang Tianxiong bowed with cupped fist; he said, “By Heaven my father and Earth my mother, fighting the Qing restoring the Ming. Scarlet Fire Hall’s Gu Xiangzhu’s subordinate Kuang Tianxiong pays his respect to Wei Xiangzhu and all Green Wood Hall Dage.”

“Turns out it is Scarlet Fire Hall’s Kuang Dage, nice to meet you, nice to meet you,” Wei Xiaobao said.

Qian Laoben had met this Kuang Tianxiong several times in Hunan in the past; presently he introduced Li Lishi, Qi Biaoqing, Feng Jizhong, Xu Tianchuan, Priest Xuanzhen, Gao Yanchao, and the others to him. In turn, Kuang Tianxiong also introduced his three Scarlet Fire Hall brothers. Everybody knew that the Scarlet Fire Hall was in charge of Guizhou province. In just a few days they would reach Guizhou border. Having made contact with their fellow Society brothers, the Green Wood Hall warriors were very happy.

Wei Xiaobao said, “Last time I parted with Gu Xiangzhu in Zhili, and we have not seen each other ever since. Is everything going well with Gu Xiangzhu?”

“Gu Xiangzhu is well,” Kuang Tianxiong replied, “He instructed subordinate to send his regards to Wei Xiangzhu and all Green Wood Hall Dage. We have heard that Wei Xiangzhu and all Dage have accomplished many important matters in recent days, and we admire you very much. Today we can pay a formal visit, this is indeed the blessing of three lifetimes.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “We are all brothers here, there is no need for words of politeness. In just a few more days we are going to arrive at your honorable province, I wish to chat with Gu Xiangzhu.”

Kuang Tianxiong said, “Gu Xiangzhu instructed subordinate to report to Wei Xiangzhu that it would be best if gentlemen change route eastwards, do not go through Guizhou.”

Wei Xiaobao and the warriors were startled. Kuang Tianxiong said, “According to Gu Xiangzhu, he also wishes very much to have a chat with Wei Xiangzhu and all Dage, however, it would be best to meet within Guangxi.”

“And why is that?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Kuang Tianxiong replied, “We obtained information that Wu Sangui has dispatched troops and horses to Xuanwei [county level city in Qujing], the town of Hongqiao, and Xin Tian Pu district to intercept Wei Xiangzhu and all Dage to bring you harm.”

“Ah!” all Green Wood Hall warriors exclaimed in surprise. Wei Xiaobao was shocked and angered at the same time. “His granny,” he cursed, “This traitor is indeed unwilling to concede. He is even willing to forfeit his own son’s life.”

“Wu Sangui is very sinister and ruthless,” Kuang Tianxiong said, “He dispatches not a few martial art experts, saying that they are to deal with certain Shitai by Wei Xiangzhu’s side, whose martial art skill was extremely high, and then have his son, the Tatar Princess, and Wei Xiangzhu captured, while the rest of the people would be killed to shut their mouths. Presently the Shaoguan mountain pass between Qujing and Zhanyi [another county in Qujing] has been closed, nobody could go through. The four of us took a detour through small paths on the mountain to get here; we were afraid that Wei Xiangzhu would come too late and fall into the big traitor’s scheme, hence we hurried along day and night to catch up.”

Wei Xiaobao saw the four people’s eyes were bloodshot, their cheeks hollow, obviously they were extremely weary. He said, “Four Dage have toiled very much, we are very grateful.”

Kuang Tianxiong said, “Finally we managed to deliver the news in time and have not harmed the important matter.” He sounded very relieved.

Wei Xiaobao asked his subordinates, “All Dage, what do you think?”

Qian Laoben said, “I wonder if Kuang Dage know the total number of troops that Wu Sangui sent to ambush us.”

Kuang Tianxiong replied, “Wu Sangui did not have enough time to dispatch his troops from Kunming. I heard he sent the letter via flying pigeon to mobilize northern Yunnan and southern Guizhou’s military forces, altogether there will be more than thirty thousand men.”

Everybody cursed and swore. The number of troops under Wei Xiaobao’s command was no more than two thousand men, less than 10% of the opposite party’s force; indeed the few are no match for the many.

Qian Laoben asked again, “Did Gu Xiangzhu say where in Guangxi he wants to meet us?”

Kuang Tianxiong said, “Gu Xiangzhu has already sent people to notify our Society’s Latter Family Hall's Ma Xiangzhu in Guangxi; if Wei Xiangzhu agrees, the three Xiangzhu can meet at Lucheng, Guangxi. From here to Lucheng in the east, the road is not too easy to travel, the distance is farther, but there won’t be Wu Sangui’s troops guarding it. Latter Family Hall's brothers will provide support along the way, nothing should go wrong.”

When he heard that Wu Sangui had deployed more than thirty thousand troops to intercept them, Wei Xiaobao’s heart was already trembling in fear; but when he heard that Gu Xiangzhu had made appropriate arrangement and Ma Xiangzhu would also send people to provide support along the way, his spirit was boosted instantly. “Good,” he said, “We are going to Lucheng. That old fellow Wu Sangui, damn it, there will come a day we will show him good.” Immediately he issued an order to change their course southeast. He also ordered Kuang Tianxiong, four people, to sit in a large carriage so that they could rest.

When his troops heard that Wu Sangui was sending his army to intercept and kill them, nobody was not alarmed; knowing that they were in a dangerous place, they all hastened on with their journey. Not daring to alert the local authorities, every night they pitched camp in the wilderness.

One day they arrived at Lucheng. Ma Chaoxing, the Xiangzhu of Latter Family Hall and Gu Zhizhong, the Xiangzhu of Scarlet Fire Hall of Tian Di Hui, as well as the other brothers holding leadership positions of the two Halls had already waited in Lucheng. As the three Halls’ brothers met, the meeting was very warm.

That evening Ma Chaoxing prepared a large banquet to welcome Wei Xiaobao and the Green Wood Hall warriors. During the banquet they talked about how the Mu Palace had conceded to Tian Di Hui; everybody was in high spirit.

After the banquet, the Scarlet Fire Hall’s sentry post reported an incoming message: Wu Sangui’s troops found out about Wei Xiaobao making a detour into Guangxi, they urgently pursued, and were currently at the Guangxi border, but did not dare to enter. They had already sent urgent report to Kunming, asking for instructions, whether they should disguise themselves as robbers and infiltrated Guangxi to handle this matter.

Ma Chaoxing laughed and said, “Guangxi is not Wu Sangui’s territory. If that traitor leads his troops across the border, it will mean open rebellion. If he sends his troops masquerading as robbers, thinking that he could push the blame toward Guangxi’s Kong Sizhen, even though he is rushing, it would still be too late.”

They rested in Lucheng for one day. Wei Xiaobao still thought that they were too close to Yunnan, he was still afraid, hence he urged his party to continue their journey eastwards. By early morning the third day, he took his leave from Gu Zhizhong and Scarlet Fire Hall brothers, and led his entourage heading to the east. Ma Chaoxing and the Latter Family Hall's brothers accompanied them.

The farther they left Yunnan, the more Wei Xiaobao felt at ease. Along the way, they never stopped more than a day in one place, until they finally reached central Guangxi. After being frightened and were in limbo for a while, the Imperial Bodyguards and other officers and soldiers reverted back to their old ways, once again they extorted the local prefecture and county officials and harassed the region.

One day they reached Liuzhou [prefecture, Guangxi]. When the local prefectural magistrate heard about the arrival of the Princess, he did his utmost to curry her favor by supplying everything, nothing was too difficult. The Imperial Bodyguards and the Valiant Cavalry officers and soldiers were like fish back in water; they gorged themselves and indulged themselves everywhere in the city.

In the evening of the third day, Wei Xiaobao was having idle talk with Ma Chaoxing and other Tian Di Hui brothers in a side room, when the captain of the Imperial Bodyguards Zhang Kangnian hurriedly walked in, and called in a loud voice, “Wei Fu Zongguan,” and stopped without continuing, his face looked awkward.

Wei Xiaobao noticed that the left part of his face was swollen, his right eye was black; obviously he had been fighting and lost. Wei Xiaobao thought, “The Imperial Bodyguards don’t hit people, others are already happy; who would be brazen enough to beat him up?” He did not want the Imperial Bodyguard to lose face in front of the Tian Di Hui brothers, hence he said to Ma Chaoxing, “Ma Dage, please continue sitting at ease, Xiongdi must excuse myself for a while.”

“You are too kind,” Ma Chaoxing said, “Wei Jueye, please do as you wish.”

Wei Xiaobao went out of the side room, with Zhang Kangnian followed behind him. As soon as they were outside, he said, “Reporting to Fu Zongguan, Zhao Erge is arrested.” What he meant by ‘Second Brother Zhao’ was the other Imperial Bodyguard captain, Zhao Qixian.

“Damn it,” Wei Xiaobao cursed, “Who has the guts to do that? Is it Liuzhou guard? Or prefectural magistrate yamen? What did he do? Kill people?” He was thinking that if it were not for major violation, the local authorities would not dare to arrest Imperial Bodyguards.

Zhang Kangnian looked embarrassed. “Not local official,” he said, “It’s … it’s a gambling establishment.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud. “His granny,” he said, “Liuzhou casino dares to detain Imperial Bodyguards, it’s indeed huge news. You lost, didn’t you?”

Zhang Kangnian nodded. With a forced laugh he said, “The seven of us went to gamble, it was ‘big or small’. Damn it, that casino has a ghost in it, thirteen times in a row it produced ‘big’; the seven of us lost more than two thousand taels. Before the fourteenth throw, Zhao Erge and I both said that this time it must be ‘small’ …”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, “Wrong, wrong. Most likely it would be ‘big’.”

Zhang Kangnian said, “Too bad we did not invite Fu Zongguan to guide us in gambling, otherwise we would have not fallen into this mess. The seven of us cleaned up our silver and banknotes, and bet everything on ‘small’. Ay!”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “When it was opened, it was ‘big’, wasn’t it?”

Zhang Kangnian spread out his arms with the palm up, gesturing a hopeless situation. He said, “The banker wanted to take our money, we did not allow him; we said that in all gambling establishment under the heavens, there is no way you could have fourteen ‘big’ in a row; they must be cheating. The casino owner came out to help to resolve the dispute, he said this time it did not count, nobody wins, nobody loses. Zhao Erge said no, he did not accept; this time it should have been ‘small’, the banker must have been cheating. We have lost such a lot of money, and this time obviously we won big, how could he say it did not count?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed. “Damn it,” he cursed, “You guys have no shame; clearly you lost, yet you still made a scene. Fourteen ‘big’ in a row is nothing, I have seen twenty four ‘big’ in a row.”

Zhang Kangnian said, “The casino owner said the same thing, but Zhao Erge said that in Beijing, under the Son of Heaven’s foot, there is no such rule. He threw a fit. I pulled my saber. The casino owner was so scared that his face turned white. He said that he was indebted to the Imperial Bodyguard Daren for our visit, he said that for the last several play, how could they dare to win our Imperial Bodyguard Daren’s money. Whatever amount the Imperial Bodyguard Daren lost, Xiaoren would return everything along with his gratitude. Zhao Erge said, ‘Alright, we did not lose, you just swindled our money, three thousand one hundred fifty three taels. We don’t want the change, just consider it our bad luck; you can pay us back only three thousand taels.’”

Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud. In the meantime, they had reached the garden. “Doesn’t it mean that you have just gotten rich?” he asked, “Did he pay?”

Zhang Kangnian said, “The casino boss was also very straightforward, he said that with friends, yi qi must be held first and foremost. He presented three thousand taels with both hands and handed it to Zhao Erge. Zhao Erge took it without so much of a thanks, he said that he accepted his gesture, just consider it his good luck. If he cheats again next time, he would not let him go.”

Wei Xiaobao knitted his brows and said, “This time it is clear that Zhao Qixian is in the wrong. Others have given you face, plus let you walk out with shining white silver in your hands; not only you have your face intact, you also gain wealth, why would he say such thing?”

“That’s right,” Zhang Kangnian said, “If Zhao Erge said some pleasant talk and thanked him, it would be all right. But, after taking the money he still had to say offensive words …”

“Correct!” Wei Xiaobao said, “We eat and make our living in Jianghu; stealing, robbing, swindling, everything is permissible, but we must never offend our friends. There is a saying, ‘When one split the bamboo into two, one must not harm the bamboo shoot.’”

“Yes, yes,” Zhang Kangnian replied, but in his heart he thought, “Clearly we make our living in the Palace, you are the Imperial Envoy Minister, first class viscount; how could you say that we eat and make our living in Jianghu?”

Wei Xiaobao asked further, “So how did the fight start? That casino owner’s martial art skill is very high?”

“It’s not that,” Zhang Kangnian replied, “The seven of us took the money, we were about to leave the casino, when one of the casino guests suddenly cursed, ‘Damn it, if getting rich is that easy, why would we have to gamble a fart? It would be better if everybody just enter the imperial palace to serve the Emperor … Emperor …’ Fu Zongguan, when that rebel thief mentioned His Majesty, he spoke very disrespectful words, I do not dare to repeat it.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded. “I understand,” he said, “This fellow’s nerve is indeed not small.”

“Isn’t that so?” Zhang Kangnian said, “When we heard him, naturally we were enraged. Zhao Erge threw the money onto a table; he drew his saber, and tried to grab that man’s chest with his left hand. ‘Bang!’ that man punched Zhao Erge that he passed out. The rest of us, six people, made our move together. This rebel thief’s martial art skill is indeed not low. Before I could see clearly, my face was punched; I was thrown out of the casino door, immediately the sky was dark and the earth black. I did not know what happened next. When I woke up, I saw Zhao Erge and the five brothers lying on the floor. That man put his foot on Zhao Erge’s head and said, ‘There are seven animals in here, one thousand taels each. You go quickly to get the money to redeem them. Laozi will only wait for four hours [orig. two sichen]. After four hours, if you don’t come back, laozi will slaughter them and sell them off. For ten taels a catty, if the business is not bad, I can sell one animal for more than a thousand taels.”

Wei Xiaobao was amused and shocked at the same time; he asked, “Do you know which group this fellow belongs to? Did you manage to find out?”

Zhang Kangnian replied, “This man is very tall, his fist is bigger than a rice bowl, his face is covered in grizzled beard, his clothes were tattered, he almost looks like a beggar.”

“How many companions does he have?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

[foxs]

Zhang Kangnian replied, “This … this … subordinates is not too clear. There were about seventeen, eighteen guests in the casino at that time, but I don’t know if they are his companions or not.”

Wei Xiaobao knew that since Zhang Kangnian was beaten by the man that he passed out, naturally he wanted to get away as soon as he could without daring to look around too much. He thought, “This old beggar must be a Jianghu hero; seeing the Imperial Bodyguards gambled shamelessly, he could not refrain from making his move. He would not necessarily want to slaughter them and sell them. I don’t think anybody would agree to pay ten taels a catty of Zhao Qixian’s meat. If I deployed large military force to deal with him, one person, it’s not the conduct of a real man.”

He thought further, “This old beggar has a very good martial art skill. If I ask Shifu to help me deal with him, I am sure it would be a cinch; but how could Shifu be willing to spend some effort for the Palace’s Imperial Bodyguards? If I let this matter known to Ma Ziangzhu and the others, they would definitely laugh at my subordinates, thinking that the Imperial Bodyguards are useless.” Hence he also thought that asking for Feng Jizhong, Xu Tianchuan or the other’s help would also be inappropriate. Suddenly he remembered two people. “Don’t be anxious,” he said, “I will personally look at this matter.”

Zhang Kangnian’s face lit up. “Yes, yes,” he said, “I’ll get a hundred men, I think it should be enough.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, “No need to bring that many.”

“Fu Zongguan should be a bit more careful,” Zhang Kangnian said, “That old beggar’s hands and feet were very fierce.”

“No worries,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You have me.”

Returning to his own room, he fetched a large fold of banknotes, a dozen or so gold ingots, and stuffed everything into his pocket. Next he went to a room in the eastern wing and knocked, “Are the two gentlemen here?” he called.

The door opened, Lu Gaoxuan appeared and said, “Please come in.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Could the two gentlemen come with me? We have something to handle.”

Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo were wearing Valiant Cavalry Sergeant uniform; they always go with Wei Xiaobao as his companions, but in Kunming and along the way, they had not done anything for fear that other people might recognize their identity. Day in and day out they always hid in their room, and were quite bored. Hearing Wei Xiaobao was going to take them on some errand, they followed him enthusiastically.

Seeing Wei Xiaobao was only taking two Valiant Cavalry Sergeants, Zhang Kangnian was greatly disappointed. “Fu Zongguan,” he said, “Let subordinate call several Imperial Bodyguard brothers to wait upon Fu Zongguan.”

“No need,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Too many people will be troublesome instead. You brought a hundred people, if he gets us all, a thousand taels each, a hundred thousand taels total, it is going to hurt me a little bit. But if only four of us going, it is only four thousand taels, merely a trifle, I won’t take it to heart.”

Zhang Kangnian knew he was only joking, but seeing him casually bringing only two sergeants to face such a serious danger, he thought Wei Xiaobao was pulling his rank too much. “Yes, yes,” he said, “But that rebel thief’s martial art skill is really high.”

“Fine,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Let me have a match with him. If I lose, he only needs to cut my flesh in pieces and sell it; it’s not such a big deal.”

Zhang Kangnian knitted his brows, he did not dare to say anything anymore. He did not know that these two Valiant Cavalry Sergeants were first-class characters of the Wulin world. Any rogue character of the casino, no matter how high his martial art skill, he could not possibly surpass the two martial art experts of the Divine Dragon Cult.

Zhang Kangnian took Wei Xiaobao to the gambling establishment. They had just reached the door when they heard someone inside the casino called out loudly, “I have a pair of seven here, isn’t it big enough?”

Another man laughed aloud and said, “Awfully sorry, in Xiongdi’s hand, I just happen to have a pair of eight.” Followed by a loud slap, apparently the first man slapped his tiles [of card] onto the table, while cursing loudly.

Wei Xiaobao and Zhang Kangnian looked at each other; they thought, “How come they are still gambling inside?” Wei Xiaobao stepped in. Zhang Kangnian cowered behind him. Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo stepped into the door and stopped at the threshold, waiting for Wei Xiaobao’s instruction.

They saw a large platform in the hall, four people were sitting on the four corners, gambling. Zhao Qixian and five Imperial Bodyguards were lying on the floor. On the east sat a man, his face was covered in grizzled beard, his clothes were tattered, from the holes in his garment they could see hairy, dark-colored muscles; he must be the old beggar.

On the south sat a young, handsome scholar. Wei Xiaobao was startled, he recognized the man as Li Xihua, whom he had met in Beijing. His martial art skill was rather good, he was hit by Chen Jinnan’s ‘Blood Clotting Divine Claw’, and since then Wei Xiaobao had never seen him. Unexpectedly now they met again at a Liuzhou gambling establishment.

On the west sat a man dressed as a farmer, a peasant, about fifty years or so, with an anxious expression, drooping eyebrows and lowered eyes; evidently he had lost and could not recover his money.

The one sitting on the north looked very peculiar, he was very short and very fat, his entire body looked like a meatball, but his clothing was extremely luxurious, his long robe and magua [buttoned mandarin jacket] were embroidered. The five sense organs on his face [i.e. nose, eyes, lips, tongue, ears] were crowded together, as if someone had taken his head and rubbed it between his palms, turning it into a ball. This short and fat man’s hands were holding a pair of dominoes, his pair of big eyes turned into a slit, as he focused his attention to the tiles.

Wei Xiaobao mused, “I wonder if this Li Xihua recognizes me? It has been a long while, plus I am wearing officer’s uniform today; most likely he does not recognize me. There is no hurry to greet him.” Thereupon he laughed and said, “Four friends look very exciting, Xiongdi also wants to play a hand, I wonder if I can?”

While saying that, he walked over to the table. He saw piles of money, about five or six thousand taels, and surprisingly, the pile in front of the peasant was the biggest. He was the biggest winner, yet his face carried the biggest loser expression; Wei Xiaobao felt a bit strange.

The short and fat man reached out to slowly draw a tile with his three fat fingers. Suddenly, “Aha!” he yelled. Wei Xiaobao jumped in fright. The short and fat man laughed aloud and said, “Wonderful, wonderful! This time I won’t lose to you, will I?” ‘Slap!’ he slapped the tile onto the table. It was a ten-dot, a ‘plum blossom’ [i.e. five dots and five dots].

Wei Xiaobao thought, “Most likely the tile in his hand is also a ‘plum blossom’; a pair of plum blossoms’ chance of winning is very high.” The short and fat man was all smiles. ‘Slap!’ he slapped the other tile onto the table.

As the other people looked at it, they were staring blankly for a moment, and then broke into hearty laugh. Turned out it was a ‘four and six’, also a ten-dot; ten-dot plus ten-dot was no more than a departing ten. In Pai Jiu [paigow], nothing is smaller than a departing ten. He was only a player; even if the banker also had a departing ten, departing ten beats departing ten, the banker still wins.

The peasant still had a distressed look on his face, it did not have the least bit of smiling expression. Wei Xiaobao looked at the tiles in front of him, it was a pair of nine. Currently he was the banker, hence the difference between his pair and the short and fat man’s was 108,000 li. Wei Xiaobao thought, “This man has neither word nor movement; he is a very formidable gambler.”

“What’s so funny?” the short and fat man asked. He turned to the peasant, “My pair of tens beats your pair of nines. A hundred taels, quickly pay.”

The peasant shook his head, “You lost,” he said.

The short and fat man was angry. “Are you nuts?” he cried out, “Count it; this tile has one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, ten dots. That tile also one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, ten dots. Aren’t they a pair of tens?”

Wei Xiaobao cast a glance toward Zhang Kangnian; he thought, “This short and fat man will make a good Imperial Bodyguard; winning he takes the money, losing he makes a racket.”

The peasant still shook his head, saying, “This is a departing ten. You lost.”

The short and fat man could not restrain his rage, he sprang up. However, as he stood up, unexpectedly he was a head shorter than when he sat. Turned out when he sat on the stool, his legs were hanging in the air, hence he was taller compared to when he was standing up. Extending his fat hand, he pointed his finger to the peasant’s nose and shouted, “I got an a departing ten, you got a departing nine. Naturally departing ten beats your departing nine.”

The peasant said, “Mine is a pair of nines, yours is a departing ten. Departing ten means zero.”

The short and fat man said, “Isn’t this a plain bullying?”

Wei Xiaobao could not hold his peace much longer. “Laoxiong,” he interjected, “What you have is not a pair.” While saying that, he picked a plum blossom, and a four-and-six from the tiles scattered on the table, then he paired the plum blossom with the other plum blossom, and the four-and-six with the other four-and-six. “Now these,” he said, “Are pairs. Your two ten-dots have different pattern, plum blossom are all black, while four-and-six have some reds on it. They are not a pair.”

The short and fat man still refused to accept; pointing to the pair of nines, he said, “Are you saying that your pair of nines has the same pattern? One tile is entirely black, the other has some reds on it, they are not the same. Ten dots is bigger than nine dots.”

Wei Xiaobao thought that this man was stubborn and always wanted to win the argument; temporarily he was at a loss as how to make him understand. He said, “This is Pai Jiu’s rule, it has been always like that.”

The short and fat man said, “Even if it has been always like that, it is still illogical. Anything illogical is out of the question. Are we following reason or not?”

All along, Li Xihua and the old beggar were only sitting quietly with a smile on their faces, they did not interrupt at all. Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Naturally in gambling we must follow the rule; if there is no rule, how can we gamble?”

“Alright,” the short and fat man said, “Let me ask you, the little baby: why is it that my ten dots cannot beat his nine dots?” While saying that, he picked a pair of plum blossoms and slammed it in front of him.

“Uh, yours was not this pair,” Wei Xiaobao said.

The short and fat man was furious; both sides of his cheeks were bulging, as he shouted, “Muddleheaded kid, who says mine was not this pair?” Picking up the pair of plum blossoms, he casually flipped it over, slapped it onto the table in front of him, flipped it back up, and said, “When I slapped it earlier, it left a mark on the table, just look!”

He saw a clear impression of the tiles on the table, as if the dots of a pair of plum blossoms were embossed on the wood. His hand strength was indeed not weak; Wei Xiaobao was agape and tongue-tied, he was speechless.

The peasant said, “Right, right, laoxiong won. Here’s a hundred taels.” He picked a silver yuanbao and pushed it to the front of the short and fat man. And then he picked thirty-two tiles and turned them over. After shuffling it for a while, he arranged the tiles, eight tiles in a row, four rows in total, neat and tidy rows of tiles. Lightly he pushed the rows of tiles to the middle of the table, and then he also pushed the large pile of money in front of him forward.

Wei Xiaobao had keen eyes; he could see a neat and tidy impression of the thirty-two tiles on the table. Although the impression was not as deep as the plum blossoms earlier, it was only a faint and barely visible imprint on the wood, but considering his movement was very light, apparently his martial art skill was not below that of the short and fat man’s. As he pushed the tiles forward, most of the imprint was uncovered. In a glance Wei Xiaobao could see pair by pair of ‘heaven’, ‘earth’, and ‘men’ in a row. He knew the peasant was secretly playing tricks.

The short and fat man pushed two hundred taels toward the Heaven Gate as his stake. “Throw the dice, throw the dice!” he called out. Turning toward Li Xihua and the old beggar he said, “Quickly put your bet down, why are you so slow?”

Li Xihua laughed and said, “Laoxiong is so impatient, why don’t the two of you gamble?”

“Very well,” the short and fat man said. Turning to the old beggar he asked, “Are you going to make a bet?”

The old beggar shook his head. “I won’t. Departing ten beats departing nine, this kind of Pai Jiu I don’t know how to play.”

The short and fat man was angry. “Are you saying I was wrong?” he asked.

“I said I don’t know how to play,” the old beggar replied, “I have never said you were wrong.”

“Damn it,” the short and fat man angrily cursed, “You are all not a good thing. Hey, little baby, you are babbling nonsense in here, are you going to gamble or not?” Naturally the last question was directed toward Wei Xiaobao.

Wei Xiaobao laughed. “Let me help the banker,” he said, “Dage here, I want to form partnership with you to be the banker; can I?” While saying that, he took eight or nine small gold ingots from his pocket and put them on the table. The shiny gold was gleaming, it worth at least a thousand taels of silver.

“Alright,” the peasant said, “Xiao Xiongdi has good fortune and good luck, we are guaranteed to win.”

The short and fat man angrily said, “Are you saying I am guaranteed to lose?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “If you are afraid of losing, you may bet a little less.”

The short and fat man was furious. “I want to bet two hundred more taels,” he said, while taking two more yuanbao and put them on the Heaven Gate.

The peasant said, “Xiao Xiongdi’s luck in gambling is good; you throw the dice.”

“Alright!” Wei Xiaobao replied. Picking up the dice, he weighed it in his hands, and to his great delight, he found out that the dice were loaded with lead. He thought, “Unexpectedly the dice in this gambling establishment also have this kind of secret.” At first he was afraid that he was a bit rusty, his hand was out of practice, but as soon as he picked the lead-loaded dice, he felt relieved instantly. His mouth mumbled, “Spirit of Heaven, spirit of the Earth, the first spirit of gambling deity, Bodhisattva, little demon of the dice carrying the yuanbao, one by one enter in! Clear kill!” While his mouth was shouting, his fingers turned, he threw the dice into the bowl; as expected, he got seven dots. The Heaven Gate took the first set, the banker took the third set.

By looking at the impression on the table, Wei Xiaobao knew that the short and fat man had a ‘four and six’, and a ‘tiger head’ [i.e. five and six], valued at one dot, while his side got two pairs of ‘earth’ [i.e. double one]. “Laoxiong,” he said to the peasant, “I threw the dice, you look at the tiles. Win or lose, it is decided by the mandate of Heaven.”

The peasant picked the tiles, felt it with his fingers, and put it down on the table.

“Ha!” the short and fat man exclaimed as he flipped the ‘four and six’ tile. “Ten dots,” he said, “Wonderful!” And then with another ‘Ha!’ he flipped the ‘tiger head’ and said, “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven; eleven dots. Wonderful!” Reaching out, the opened up the banker’s tiles and said, “One, two, three, four; four dots altogether. My twenty-one dots eat your four dots. I win!”

Wei Xiaobao and the peasant looked at each other in dismay. The short and fat man said, “Quickly pay!”

Wei Xiaobao said, “More dots win, less dots lose, regardless of heaven or earth, pair or no pair, is that right?”

“Why not?” the short and fat man said, “How can more dots lose to less dots? Your four dots want to win against my twenty-one dots?”

[foxs]

“Alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, “That’s the rule.” He paid the short and fat man four small gold ingots, saying, “Each gold ingot worth a hundred taels of silver. Place your bet.”

The short and fat man was very happy; he laughed and said, “I still bet four hundred taels, if I bet more, I am afraid you will lose and become anxious.”

Wei Xiaobao looked at the tile imprint on the table, he threw five dots. The banker picked the tiles first, it was a pair of ‘heaven’ [i.e. double six]. The short and fat man got a ‘long three’ [i.e. double three] and a ‘bench’ [i.e. double two]. Both tiles combined, the number of dots was still less than one ‘heaven’ tile. He cursed under his breath, yet he had no choice but to pay. And then he bet four hundred taels again.

Three sets of hand later, the short and fat man lost everything, there was not a single tael left in front of him. His face was bulging deep red like a blood ball. His short and fat arms groped around his pocket, but he could not find anything that he could bet. Suddenly he pointed to Zhao Qixian, who was still lying on the floor, and said, “This fellow worth several hundred taels, doesn’t he? I bet him.” While saying that, he picked Zhao Qixian and put him on the table.

Zhao Qixian’s acupoints were sealed, he could not move a hair. The old beggar suddenly said, “Wait a minute, it was zaixia who caught these several Imperial Bodyguards, how could laoxiong take them as your bet?”

The short and fat man replied, “I just want to borrow them, can I?”

“If you lost, how are you going to pay me back?” the old beggar asked.

The short and fat man was startled. “I won’t lose,” he said.

“Just in case laoxiong’s luck is not good, and you lost?” the old beggar asked.

“That’s easy,” the short and fat man said, “Presently in the city of Liuzhou Imperial Bodyguards are indeed not a few; I’ll just go grab some and pay you back.”

The old beggar nodded. “That will work,” he said.

The short and fat man urged Wei Xiaobao, “Quickly throw the dice.”

By this time the set of tiles had already been used up. Wei Xiaobao said to the peasant, “Would laoxiong shuffle and arrange the tiles just like before?”

Without saying anything the peasant shuffled the thirty-two tiles back and forth on the surface of the table. After a while, he arranged the tiles in a square. Wei Xiaobao was startled; not only he did not see any new imprint on the table, even the previous imprint was also erased by him secretly exerting his internal energy while he was pushing and rubbing the tiles around; what’s left was only faint traces of horizontal and vertical lines so that Wei Xiaobao could not distinguish the dots anymore.

If the short and stout man was still betting gold and silver, Wei Xiaobao would not mind too much, he would let the peasant gamble with him; who would win, who would lose, it had nothing to do with him. But right now, placed on the Heaven Gate as the bet was Zhao Qixian, while he could not shirk from being the banker. Since he would not know where the strong suit would be, loaded dice or not, it would be worthless.

“Since only two people gambling,” he said, “Why must we play Pai Jiu? Won’t it be better just to play dice? He who has more dots, win.”

The short and fat man shook his round head like a kettledrum, “Laozi loves to play Pai Jiu,” he said.

“You don’t understand Pai Jiu,” Wei Xiaobao said, “What will you play?”

The short and fat man was furious; he grabbed Wei Xiaobao’s chest, raised him up, and gave him a good shaking. “Your granny,” he said, “Are you saying I don’t understand Pai Jiu?”

Being shaken randomly like this, the bones in Wei Xiaobao’s body were crackling. Suddenly he heard someone behind him calling out, “Let him go, you must not do that!” It was precisely Fat Toutuo’s voice.

The short and fat man’s right hand raised Wei Xiaobao high in the air. “Uh, how can you be here?” he asked in surprise, “Why can’t I do this?”

They heard Lu Gaoxuan’s voice replying, “This is Wei … Wei Daren; he has a very special background, you must by all means not offend him. Quickly put him down.”

The short and fat man was delighted. “He … he is Wei … Wei … damn it, he is Wei Xiaobao? Ha ha, wonderful, wonderful! I happen to be looking for him. Ha ha, finally I found him.” While saying that, he turned around and headed out toward the door, with his right hand still carrying Wei Xiaobao.

Both Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan barred his way. “Shou Zunzhe [lit. thin revered master],” Lu Gaoxuan said, “Since you already knew Wei Daren’s background, why are you still this rude? Quickly put him down.”

The fat and short man said, “Even if Jiaozhu is here personally, I would still not letting him go. Unless he gives me the antidote.”

“Don’t make a scene,” Fat Toutuo said, “You did not take the leopard … that pill, what do you need the antidote for?”

“Humph,” the short and fat man replied, “You don’t understand anything. Quickly get out of the way, don’t blame me for being impolite to you.”

With his body hanging in the air, Wei Xiaobao heard the exchange between these three people, he mused, “So this short and fat man is actually Fat Toutuo’s Shixiong, Thin Toutuo. No wonder he is unusually fat, and amusingly short.”

At the Palace of Compassionate and Peaceful the other day, there was a big-meatball-like freak hiding inside the fake Empress Dowager’s quilt, who was then ran out stark naked while carrying her out of the Palace. Afterwards Wei Xiaobao inquired of Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan, and found out that it was Fat Toutuo’s martial brother Thin Toutuo. It was because that day he was running away so fast that Wei Xiaobao did not see his appearance clearly, so much so that although he had been gambling with him for half a day, he had not recognized him.

Wei Xiaobao’s mind was churning, “Fat Toutuo once said that in the past he and his Shixiong, Thin Toutuo, two men, were sent on a mission overseas by Jiaozhu, and were unable to return within the appointed time, to such an extent that the leopard embryo tendon-altering pill they took flared up. Fat Toutuo became tall and thin, while thin Toutuo became short and fat. By this time the two of them have already taken the antidote, yet their original stature did not return. So why would this short and fat man want the antidote? Ah, right, the poison of the leopard embryo tendon-altering pill in the old wh0re fake Empress Dowager’s body has not been neutralized. This Thin Toutuo slept with her under the same quilt, obviously they are lovers.” He said in a loud voice, “You want the leopard embryo tendon-altering pill antidote, yet you still have not put me down?”

As soon as Thin Toutuo heard the five characters ‘leopard embryo tendon-altering pill’, his entire fat body immediately shivered. Bending his right arm, he put Wei Xiaobao down, stretched out his left hand and said, “Bring it out quickly.”

“You are so rude to me, humph, humph! What did you just say to me?” Wei Xiaobao said.

Thin Toutuo suddenly leaped forward, pressed his left hand on Wei Xiaobao’s back, and shouted, “Bring the antidote out quickly.” The point his fat left hand pressed on was precisely the ‘Da Chui’ [big hammer/spine] acupoint. If he exerted a bit of strength in his palm, Wei Xiaobao’s heart arteries would be shaken and would break immediately.

Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan called out together, “You must not do that!”

Their voice had not disappeared, three palms already landed on Thin Toutuo’s body. The old beggar’s palm rested on the ‘bai hui’ [hundred meeting] acupoint of the crown of his head. Li Xihua’s palm was pressing on the ‘yu zhen’ [jade pillow] acupoint on the back of his head. The peasant’s palm was actually pushing on his face, the forefinger and middle finger were pressing above his eyelid. The ‘bai hui’ and ‘yu zhen’ were two vital acupoints on a human’s body, plus if the farmer exerted slightly more strength onto his fingers, he would be able to dig the Thin Toutuo’s eyeballs out. Thin Toutuo, however, was really too short; compared to Wei Xiaobao, he was still half a head shorter, so that when the three of them made their moves together, they had to target his round head, because they could not conveniently reach the vital acupoints on his chest or back.

When Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan saw the way the three men move, they knew that these three were martial art experts. If the three of them exerted their strength simultaneously, perhaps Thin Toutuo’s fat head would be immediately crushed to pulp. “You must not do that!” they cried out together.

“Short and fat,” the old beggar said, “Quickly let him go.”

“As soon as he give me the antidote, I’ll let him go,” Thin Toutuo replied.

The old beggar said, “If you don’t let go, I’ll exert my strength!”

Thin Toutuo said, “If I have to die anyway, we’ll perish together …” Suddenly, Fat Toutuo’s right palm moved toward the old beggar’s flank, while Lu Gaoxuan’s palm went toward the back of Li Xihua’s neck.

Fat and Lu, two people, were standing really closed behind them. They were wearing the uniform of Valiant Cavalry Sergeant. Although from the earlier exchange the old beggar and Li Xihua knew that these two men were acquainted with Thin Toutuo, they had never expected that these two people’s martial art skill was extremely superior. In just one move they already fell under their control.

Fat and Lu, two people, spoke at the same time, “Everybody let go!”

The peasant suddenly removed his palm from Thin Toutuo’s face, and swiftly moved both palms toward Fat and Lu, two people’s backs. “You two let go first,” he said.

“Ha ha,” Li Xihua laughed, “This is fun! Interesting, interesting!” He removed his palm from Thin Toutuo, but quick as lightning the palm landed on the top of the peasant’s head.

This way, Wei Xiaobao, Thin Toutuo, Li Xihua, Lu Gaoxuan, Fat Toutuo, the peasant and the old beggar, seven people were under the other’s control, each one of them had his vital point under the other’s palm. In that instant the seven of them were like clay figurines or wooden statues, nobody dared to make a reckless move. Wei Xiaobao was the only one being threatened, but did not threaten anybody else. He was also the only one who was fully aware of why his vital point was under someone else’s control; it was an unfathomable mystery to the other six people.

“Zhang Kangnian!” Wei Xiaobao called out.

By this time, other than several casino workers huddled at the corner, only Zhang Kangnian remained inside the gambling establishment. “Cha!” he replied. ‘Shua!’ he pulled his saber.

“Dog Imperial Bodyguard,” Thin Toutuo yelled, “Come here if you have guts!”

Zhang Kangnian raised his yaodao saber; but afraid that this short and fat man might harm Wei Xiaobao, he did not dare to take even one step closer.

Wei Xiaobao was surrounded in the middle. He felt that in among the strange things that had happened to him in his entire life, nothing was more strange than this. “Interesting, interesting!” he called out, “Short and fat, kill me with one palm, it’s not a big deal. You yourself will die, it’s not a big deal. But you will never get the leopard embryo tendon-altering pill’s antidote. That old lover of yours, the flesh of her entire body will rot piece by piece; she will have a rotten bald head first, and then …”

“Stop it!” Thin Toutuo shouted.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Her face will rot, one by one her eyes, nose, ears will fall, the holes will appear …”

Right this moment, suddenly from the entrance of the hall someone said, “In here!” And then someone else said, “Seize them all!” Everybody turned their heads at the same time toward the entrance. Suddenly a white ray flashed; someone with a sword in his hand circled around them. They felt the vital points on their back, flank, waist, shoulder, slightly went numb, as their acupoints were sealed. In an instant, they all went down to the floor.

They saw three people were standing at the door. Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted. “Ah Ke,” he called out, “You have finally come …” But as soon as the word ‘come’ came out of his mouth, his heart sank, and he stopped immediately. He saw two men standing by her side, on her left was Li Zicheng, on her right was the person he loathed the most in all his life, Zheng Keshuang. On the east was a man who had just put the sword back into its sheath, standing with arms akimbo, and a cold laugh on his face; it was none other than ‘One Sword without Blood’ Feng Xifan.

Thin Toutuo, the old beggar, Li Xihua, Fat Toutuo, Lu Gaoxuan and the peasant, six martial art masters had their hands threatening each other’s vital points; this one did not dare to move, that one also did not dare to move. Suddenly another martial art master appeared, without expending the slightest effort he managed to paralyze them all; even Zhang Kangnian was also hit by the sword.

Thin Toutuo was sitting on the ground, but compared to when he was standing, he actually did not appear too much shorter. “What kind of ‘thing’ are you?” he angrily shouted, “You dare to seal laozi’s ‘yang guan’ [positive pass] and ‘shen tang’ [divine hall] acupoints.”

With a cold laugh Feng Xifan said, “Your martial art skill is not bad at all, unexpectedly you know which acupoints of yours are being sealed.”

Thin Toutuo angrily said, “Quickly unseal laozi’s acupoints, I’ll fight you. What kind of damn hero are you, launching a sneak attack like that?”

Feng Xifan laughed, “Are you a hero?” he said, “Damn it, a hero who is lying on the floor, unable to move at all.”

Thin Toutuo angrily said, “Laozi is sitting on the floor, not lying on the floor. Damn it, don’t you have eyes?”

Feng Xifan raised his left foot and lightly pushed on Thin Toutuo’s shoulder. Thin Toutuo fell face up. But the fat on his buttocks was unusually thick, the weight on his entire body was concentrated there, so that when he fell down, although he could not exert any strength, his body involuntarily sat back up.

Zheng Keshuang laughed aloud and said, “Ke Mei, look, don’t you think this roly-poly toy is fun?”

Ah Ke smiled and said, “It’s very strange.”

Zheng Keshuang said, “You wanted to find this little demon to take revenge, finally your cherished dream has arrived. Are we going to catch him and slowly control him, or just kill him with a stab of the sword?”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked; he thought, “Little demon, these two characters can only mean me; could it be that Ah Ke is looking for me to take revenge? But I have never offended her.”

Clenching her teeth, Ah Ke said, “As soon as I see this man, I get angry; I’ll just kill him with a stab of the sword.” While saying that, ‘shua!’ she drew the sword and walked toward Wei Xiaobao.

“Don’t kill him!” Thin Toutuo, Fat Toutuo, Lu Gaoxuan, the old beggar, Li Xihua, and Zhang Kangnian, six people shouted together.

“Shijie,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I have never …”

“I am not your Shijie!” Ah Ke angrily said, “Little demon, you are always thinking of harming me, of humiliating me!” Lifting her sword, she thrust it toward the pit of Wei Xiaobao’s stomach.

Everybody cried out in alarm. But they saw the sword bounced back. Turned out Wei Xiaobao was wearing his treasured vest to protect his body, the sword was unable to penetrate.

Ah Ke was startled. “Pierce his eyes!” Zheng Keshuang said.

[foxs]

“Right!” Ah Ke said. Raising her sword, she thrust it forward again.

Suddenly from the corner of the roof someone flew down and threw himself on Wei Xiaobao’s body. The sword stabbed the person’s shoulder. Holding Wei Xiaobao in his arms, the person brought him rolling toward the corner of the hall, away from the sword, while pulling the dagger from Wei Xiaobao’s boot and held it in his hand. This person was also wearing Valiant Cavalry Sergeant uniform, his movement was nimble, his stature short and small, his face was covered in mud and dirt, hence his appearance was unclear.

Seeing he willingly took the sword on Wei Xiaobao’s behalf, everybody thought, “This person is very loyal.”

Feng Xifan drew his sword and slowly walked over. He shook his sword that it turned into a flower sword with more than a dozen petals. Suddenly there was a ‘Ding!’ the sword in Feng Xifan’s hand was cut into two, while blood was gushing from the Valiant Cavalry Sergeant’s shoulder. Turned out the person used Wei Xiaobao’s dagger to break the sword in the opponent’s hand; if not for the fact that Wei Xiaobao’s dagger was incomparably sharp, perhaps by this time he was dead. With the sword stab from Ah Ke on his shoulder earlier, his shoulder suffered two sword wounds in a row.

Feng Xifan’s countenance turned pale. “Humph,” he snorted, and threw the broken sword to the floor. Temporarily he could not make up his mind; should he fetch another sword and attack again or not?

“Ha ha,” Wei Xiaobao called out, “One Sword without Blood Feng Xifan, you stab a soldier under my command that he shed this much blood. Your title should be changed, you should be called ‘Half Sword with Blood’ Feng Xifan.”

With his left hand pressing on the wound on his shoulder, with his right hand the Valiant Cavalry Sergeant massaged the acupoints on Wei Xiaobao’s chest and back, trying to unseal them.

Fat and Thin, two Toutuo, Lu Gaoxuan, Li Xihua, and the others were controlling each other when suddenly someone else launched a sneak attack and hence all of them had fallen into this plot, in their hearts they all were very dissatisfied. Hearing Wei Xiaobao, they all burst out laughing. The old beggar said in a loud voice, “Half Sword with Blood Feng Xifan, marvelous, marvelous! Speaking about shameless people in the world, Sire can be considered number two.”

“Why is he considered number two?” Li Xihua asked, “Would you care to advice?”

The old beggar said, “Compared to Wu Sangui, this Half Sword with Blood’s skill seems to be a bit lacking.”

They all burst out laughing. Li Xihua said, “In my opinion, the difference is quite a lot.”

Feng Xifan had always been extremely proud of his martial art skill; hearing everybody was scoffing at him like that, he could not stop his entire body from trembling. If right now he picked another sword and attacked that Valiant Cavalry Sergeant, to injure him would be as easy as turning his hand over; but of course it would not be fitting to his status. Staring at the sergeant, he asked, “What’s your name? I won’t take your life today, but next time you come into my hand, I will make you die a miserable and unspeakable death.”

The sergeant replied, “I … I …” His voice was very tender and delicate.

“Ah!” Wei Xiaobao cried out in surprise and delight, “You are Shuang’er, my precious, good Shuang’er!” Reaching out, he removed her hat, her long hair fell down, draping over her shoulder. Wei Xiaobao embraced her waist with his left arm, and said, “She is my little servant girl. Half Sword with Blood, you can’t even defeat my little servant girl, yet you are still tooting your horn?”

Feng Xifan was extremely angry; he raised his left foot, ‘Crash! Bang!’ he kicked the gambling table in the middle of the hall, along with all the piles of coins and yuanbao, plus Zhao Qixian who was lying on the table. The table flew up and crashed onto the roof. Money and Pai Jiu tiles rained down on Thin Toutuo and the others’ heads; they all cursing and yelling. Without saying anything Feng Xifan turned around and left.

Right this moment, two men walked side-by-side through the main gate. “Get out of my way!” Feng Xifan shouted, and pushed with both hands. The two men blocked with their palms; as their two palms met Feng Xifan’s two palms, the three of them made stifled grunts. The two men fell back several steps, their backs crashed heavily onto the wall. Feng Xifan swayed; he took a deep breath, and walked out in big strides. ‘Wah!’ the two men spurted out a mouthful of blood. Turned out they were Feng Jizhong and Priest Xuanzhen.

In quick steps Wei Xiaobao walked over to support Feng Jizhong, while asking Priest Xuanzhen, “Daozhang [Taoist priest], are you alright?”

Xuanzhen coughed twice before answering, “I am alright. Wei … Wei Daren alright?”

“Not bad,” Wei Xiaobao replied, as he turned his head to look at Feng Jizhong. Feng Jizhong nodded with a forced laugh. His martial art skill actually far surpassed Xuanzhen, but when exchanging palm strike just now, he happened to receive Feng Xifan’s right palm, hence he received a lot stronger palm force, consequently, his injury was heavier than Xuanzhen.

“Wei Xiongdi,” Li Xihua said, “In your Valiant Cavalry Regiment the number of capable persons is indeed not a few!” Turns out the clothes Feng Jizhong and Xuanzhen were wearing were also Valiant Cavalry Sergeant uniform.

“Ashamed, ashamed!” Wei Xiaobao replied. He heard more footsteps, Qian Laoben, Xu Tianchuan and Gao Yanchao, three people also walked in.

Seeing the increasing number of Wei Xiaobao’s subordinates, Ah Ke signaled Li Zicheng and Zheng Keshuang with her eyes, she wanted to retreat.

Li Zicheng walked over to Wei Xiaobao, he stomped the monk staff in his hand heavily to the ground, and said in a stern voice, “A real man clearly distinguish gratitude and grudges; the other day your Shifu did not kill me, today I will spare your life. From now on, if you cast a glance toward my daughter, speak a word to her, I will smash your body into mincemeat.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “A real man gave his words, so what? The other day at the Three-Sage Nunnery you and your lover Chen Yuanyuan have already promised to give Ah Ke to me in marriage, could it be that you want to renege? You won’t allow me to cast a glance toward my own wife, to speak a word to her, how can there be such a father-in-law in this world?”

Ah Ke was so mad that her face turned deep red. “Father,” she said, “Let’s go. Don’t talk rubbish with this kid! He … his dog mouth will never grow ivory, how can he speak anything good?”

“Very good!” Wei Xiaobao said, “Finally you acknowledge him. This is your parents’ order, are you going to obey or not?”

Li Zicheng was angry; raising his monk staff up, he shouted, “Little b@stard, you haven’t shut up?”

Qian Laoben and Xu Tianchuan charged forward immediately; two sabers went to chop Li Zicheng’s back. Li Zicheng swung his monk staff backwards, ‘Dang!’ he parried the two sabers.

Gao Yanchao had already drawn his saber and held it across his chest, while he stood in front of Wei Xiaobao to protect him. He shouted, “Li Zicheng, in the city of Kunming, who has saved your lives, father and daughter? Forget favors and violate justice, you have no sense of shame!”

In the past Li Zicheng ran amuck in the world, founded a dynasty and called himself the Emperor, nobody in the world did not know that. As soon as Gao Yanchao shouted his name, the old beggar, Thin Toutuo and the others cried out in alarm.

Li Xihua loudly said, “You … you are Li Zicheng? You are unexpectedly not dead? Good, good, good!” His voice was filled with rage.

Li Zicheng stared at him. “What is it?” he asked, “Who are you?”

Li Xihua angrily said, “I wish I could eat your flesh and sleep in your skin. I thought you have died long ago. Laotianye have eyes. Very good!”

“Humph,” Li Zicheng snorted. “In all my life laozi have killed people like scything flax,” he said with a cold laugh, “I don’t know how many tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands people in the world wanted to kill me to take revenge, yet isn’t laozi still alive and well? You want to take revenge, I am afraid it won’t be that easy.”

Ah Ke pulled his sleeve and said in a low voice, “Father, let’s go.” Li Zicheng stomped his monk staff on the ground again, and then he turned around and walked toward the door. Ah Ke and Zheng Keshuang followed behind him.

“Li Zicheng,” Li Xihua called out, “By this time tomorrow, I am waiting for you in here. If you are a hero, come and fight me one on one, we’ll decide who will live and who will die. Do you have the guts?”

Li Zicheng turned his head to look at him, his face showed contempt; he said, “When laozi traversed the earth, you, this kid, have not even been out of your mother’s womb. Whether the Ol’ Li is a hero or not, I don’t need Sire to tell me.” Stomping his monk staff, he went out.

Everybody looked at each other in silence; they all thought that there was a truth in what he just said. Li Zicheng killed people like scything flax, common people slandered him much but praised him little. Yet he was a hero who dared to do what he said he would do. Even people who hated him to their bones cannot deny this fact. By this time he was already old, yet he still carried that god-like imposing aura around him. Almost nobody in the hall had weak martial art skill, they were all Jianghu veteran, yet when he swept them with his gaze, they still could not stop fear from creeping up their hearts.

“Damn it,” Wei Xiaobao cursed, “You clearly betrothed your daughter to me to be my wife, but now you denied it. I say you are a coward, a fart hero.”

Seeing Shuang’er was tearing her clothes to wrap the wound on her shoulder, he helped her attending to her injury. “Good Shuang’er,” he asked, “How did you come? I am lucky that you arrived coincidentally to save me, otherwise my wife would have committed premeditated murder on her own husband, she would have pierced my eyes blind.”

“It was not a coincident,” Shuang’er replied in a low voice, “I have always been by Xianggong’s side. It’s just that you did not know.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly surprised. “You were always by my side?” he repeatedly asked, “How can that be?”

“Hey,” Thin Toutuo called out, “Quickly unseal my acupoints, quickly give me the antidote; otherwise, humph, humph, laozi will immediately smash your head into pulp!”

Suddenly the hall was filled with ha ha, heh heh, hey hey, and hee hee laughter. Wei Xiaobao’s subordinate kept coming in, while this extremely short and extremely fat fellow had his acupoints sealed, he was unable to move a single step, yet he unexpectedly uttered some threatening words; everybody thought it was laughable.

Thin Toutuo angrily said, “What are you laughing at? What’s so funny? When my acupoints are unsealed and he still has not given me the antidote, you’ll see if I am going to smash his head into pulp or not.”

Qian Laoben raised a single-blade saber and with a giggle he came over, saying, “Right now if I chop your damn head three times, I wonder if laoxiong’s head will burst open or not?”

“Do you have to ask?” Thin Toutuo angrily retorted, “Naturally it will burst open!”

Qian Laoben laughed and said, “While your acupoints are not opened yet, I will smash your head into pulp first, so that when your acupoints are unsealed, you can’t smash my master’s head into pulp.” When the people heard this, they roared in laughter again.

“My acupoints are not sealed by you,” Thin Toutuo angrily said, “If you smash my head into pulp, you can’t be considered a hero.”

Qian Laoben laughed. “Why do I care whether you consider me a hero or not,” he said, “I am not a hero to begin with.” While saying that, he raised his saber.

Fat Toutuo called out, “Wei … Wei Daren, my Shixiong is rude and has offended you, please forgive him, let subordinate apologize on his behalf. Shige, quickly apologize. Wei Daren is also your superior; don’t you know it?” He could not turn his neck, so when he talked to Wei Xiaobao and Thin Toutuo, he was unable to face them.

Thin Toutuo said, “If he gives me the antidote, let’s not talk about apologizing, I am even willing to kowtow, or be his ox or his horse. But if he does not give me the antidote, I am going to smash his melon head into pulp.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “What’s so good about that old wh0re that you unexpectedly show her this much kindness and devotion?”

While they were still talking, suddenly they saw the peasant cupped his fist and walked out from among the crowd, saying, “Everybody, Xiongdi must say good bye now.”

All of them were shocked; the eight of them had their vital acupoints sealed by Feng Xifan. Other than Wei Xiaobao who had his acupoints massaged by Shuang’er, the remaining seven people were unable to lift a finger. Feng Xifan’s internal energy entered the acupoint via the tip of his sword, it was very formidable, even people with higher martial art skill would still need two to four hours to be able to move again. This peasant’s appearance was just like ordinary farmer of rural area. When he was playing Pai Jiu a moment ago he was able to press the tiles until they created an impression on the table; obviously he was a martial art master with profound internal energy; however, in just a short period of time he was unexpectedly able to open his own acupoints, it was indeed a skill that was seldom heard. They saw him dragging his shoes as he limped away.

Wei Xiaobao told Qian Laoben, “Unseal our brothers’ acupoints. This Li … Mr. Li is also one of our own.” While saying that, he pointed toward Li Xihua.

“Yes,” Qian Laoben complied.

He put the saber back into its scabbard, and was about to unseal Li Xihua’s acupoints when suddenly the old beggar said, “Ming restore Qing fought, mother Earth father Heaven.” [ming fu qing fan, mu di fu tian]

“Ah,” Qian Laoben exclaimed in surprise. Xu Tianchuan stepped forward to massage the old beggar’s back several times, and then he walked around to face the old beggar with the thumbs of both hands bent toward the old beggar’s face.

Tian Di Hui brethren were numerous; it was hard for them to know their fellow brothers. When someone was initiated into the Society, often times they would use the phrase ‘Heaven is my father, Earth is my mother, Fighting the Qing, Restoring the Ming’ [tian fu di mu, fan Qing fu Ming] eight characters to recognize a fellow brethren. But in the presence of outsiders, they must not reveal their secret; hence they usually reversed the eight characters, so that even if the outsiders heard it, they could not make head or tail of it. Xu Tianchuan saluted the old beggar with crooked fingers was also part of the secret signal they used in front of other people.

Qian and Xu, two people successively opened the sealed acupoints of Li Xihua, Fat Toutuo, Lu Gaoxuan, three people. Only Thin Toutuo was left sitting on the floor. His entire face was bulging red, as he shouted, “Shidi, why haven’t you unsealed my acupoints? Damn it, what are you waiting for?”

“Unsealing acupoints is not difficult,” Fat Toutuo replied, “But you must not be rude toward Wei Daren.”

“Who told him not to give me the antidote?” Thin Toutuo angrily said, “It is he who offends me, not I offend him! If he gives me the antidote, I’ll consider he apologizes to me, laozi will let bygones be bygones, and that’s the end.”

Fat Toutuo was hesitant, “This is difficult,” he said.

The old beggar shouted, “You, this short and fat fellow, you keep rambling on and on. Let’s not talk about Wei Xiongdi does not give you the antidote, even if he wanted to give, I will urge him not to give.” Stretching out his right hand finger, ‘Chi!’ a gust of strong wind shot toward Thin Toutuo. Followed by two fingers, ‘chi, chi’, the acupoints on Thin Toutuo’s body were immediately opened.

Suddenly a large meatball shot up from the floor and pounced on Wei Xiaobao. ‘Whoosh!’ the old beggar’s palm swiftly struck out, Thin Toutuo’s body was still in the air, his palm also struck out, his body shot up again. His martial art skill was indeed superior. He flipped midair, and pounced on the old beggar with both palms struck toward the top of the beggar’s head. The old beggar’s left foot flew up toward Thin Toutuo’s lower back. Thin Toutuo swiftly reversed his palms. The force of his palms collided with the force of the old beggar’s leg, his fat body flew up to the air.

[foxs]

Thin Toutuo’s body stayed in the air like a big rubber ball. The old beggar striking with his palms and kicking with his feet, but all along he failed to hit him. This short and fat fellow looked clumsy and funny, yet he was surprisingly very agile; his feet never touched the ground, yet he was able to turn around as he pleased.

Li Xihua and the Tian Di Hui warriors could be considered experienced and knowledgeable, yet in all their lives they had never seen movements like Thin Toutuo was demonstrating just now. Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan watched the fight with rapt attention. They saw how in each move the old beggar’s strength was swift and fierce; Thin Toutuo’s more than two-hundred-catty body was kept fluttering in the air and did not fall down by the old beggar’s sheer power.

The two people fought tighter and tighter, the wind from the fists and palms were forcing the spectators to stand with their backs against the wall. Suddenly they heard Thin Toutuo shouted with his strange voice as he launched the move ‘five nails opening the mountain’; his left palm struck out first, his right fist followed, both were aimed at the crown of the old beggar’s head.

“Good move!” the old beggar shouted. He squatted and launched the move ‘the King of Heaven supporting the pagoda’, to meet the attack head-on.

Two tremendous forces collided. Thin Toutuo soared back into the air, his back crashed onto the beam. ‘Crack! Bang!’ The roof tiles, mud and dirt rained down; the dust and sand in the hall rose up. Thin Toutuo pounced down again, the old beggar pulled back to evade. Thin Toutuo’s attack hit an empty space, ‘Crash!’ he fell heavily to the ground.

The old beggar roared in laughter, but before his laugh stopped, Thin Toutuo had already shot up again; fast and nimble beyond belief his head flew toward the old beggar’s chest. Everybody could see that this strike carried an overwhelming power. The old beggar sidestepped; his right palm landed on Thin Toutuo’s buttocks, with a loud shout he exerted his internal energy to give him a push.

The momentum of Thin Toutuo’s strike was already huge, on top of that, the old beggar’s internal strength was also very powerful; two tremendous forces worked together, Thin Toutuo flew even faster, his head crashed into the wall. Everybody thought that his brains would definitely burst open from the impact. They all cried out in alarm. Fat Toutuo grabbed a casino worker standing on the corner and threw him toward the wall. ‘Bonk!’ Thin Toutuo’s head struck his chest and abdomen, penetrated his belly and crashed into the wall, creating a big hole on the wall.

He stood up shakily, his big fat head hung down, dripping with the casino worker’s blood and intestines. Frantically he wiped his face with both hands while cursing angrily. “Damn it, what trick was that?”

Everybody was overwhelmed with shock and amazement. The old beggar shouted, “Are we going to continue fighting or not?”

“If my body was still big and tall like in the past,” Thin Toutuo replied, “You would not be able to beat me.”

“What about now?” the old beggar asked.

Thin Toutuo shook his head. “Now I cannot beat you,” he said, “I am finished, I am finished!” Suddenly he leaped and slammed through the wall. With a loud rumble another large hole appeared on the wall, even the casino worker’s body also vanished into the hole.

“Shige, Shige!” Fat Toutuo called out, and flew out through the hole.

“Wei Daren,” Lu Gaoxuan said, “I’ll go take a look.” With feet first his body flew horizontally out through the hole, he still managed to cup his fist to salute Wei Xiaobao; his style was amazing, the people cheered together.

Xu Tianchuan, Qian Laoben and the others all thought, “Where did Wei Xiangzhu get these two subordinates? Their martial art skill is surprisingly amazing; it is ten times higher than ours.”

Li Xihua cupped his fist and said, “I can’t accompany you much longer.” And he left via the main door in quick steps.

Wei Xiaobao cupped his fist toward the old beggar. “Xiongtai [another way of saying ‘brother’],” he said, “Would you let them go?” While saying that, he pointed to Zhao Qixian and the others.

The old beggar chuckled and said, “Sorry for the offense.” Casually he pulled Zhao Qixian and the others up. Nobody saw him massaging those men, but with just these grabs, he had opened these Imperial Bodyguards’ acupoints.

“Many thanks,” Wei Xiaobao said, and ordered Zhao Qixian, Zhang Kangnian and the others to return first.

Xu Tianchuan looked at Shuang’er and asked, “Is this Miss Wei Xiangzhu’s trusted friend?”

“Yes,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “We don’t need to conceal anything from her.”

The old beggar said, “Although this Miss is young, her loyalty and righteousness is difficult for others to follow. If she had not acted boldly, disregarding her own safety just a moment ago, protecting her master with devotion, Wei Xiongdi’s eyeballs could not be protected.”

Pulling Shuang’er’s hand, Wei Xiaobao said, “True, true. Luckily she has saved me.”

Listening to these two people complimenting her in front of everybody, Shuang’er was bashful; her entire face reddened, she lowered her head and did not dare to meet anybody’s gaze.

Xu Tianchuan took a step forward, and spoke to the old beggar in a loud and clear voice, “Five men separately compose a poem, nobody knows the Hong Ying [lit. great courage. See also Chapter 8 for more info on Tian Di Hui] on their body.”

The old beggar replied, “Henceforth it is passed on to the brothers, afterwards we will know each other and have a reunion.”

When Wei Xiaobao was initiated into the Heaven and Earth Society, the brethren had informed him on all kinds of ceremonial protocol and secret codes within the Society, they also made sure that he memorize everything well. The secret codes were actually very unrefined and common, the sentences seemed to make sense, yet they did not really made any sense. Tian Di Hui brethren were mostly Jianghu people, more than half came from the same background as Wei Xiaobao; their eyes could not recognize the letter ‘T’ [i.e. totally illiterate]. If the secret codes were too abstruse, how could the Society brothers remember?

When he heard the old beggar reciting the secret codes to identify each other, Wei Xiaobao immediately caught on, “Entering the Hong Gate for the first time, one swears brotherhood with older brothers; that day the oath was clearly made with sincerity.”

The old beggar recited, “Two trees pine and cypress standing on the left and right, in the middle was Hong Flower Pavilion where the oath of brotherhood was made.”

Wei Xiaobao continued, “The brothers are in front of the Loyal and Righteous Hall, the elected general with millions of soldiers in the middle of the city.”

The old beggar said, “Coming to the front of Fu De [lit. good fortune and virtue] Ancestral Hall willing to swear brotherhood, fighting the Qing restoring the Ming I am Hong Ying.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Xiongdi Wei Xiaobao, the current Green Wood Hall Xiangzhu; may I ask Xiongzhang’s [I don’t understand why the Chinese use so many different words for ‘brother’] respected surname and great given name? Which Hall do you belong to? And which duty do you currently serve?”

The old beggar said, “Xiongdi Wu Liuqi, currently serving as the Red Banner Xiangzhu of the Great Obedience Hall. Today I can meet Wei Xiangzhu and the other brothers, truly I am delighted.”

Everybody was pleasantly surprised to learn that this man was unexpectedly the well-known-throughout-the-world ‘Iron Beggar’ Wu Liuqi; they all bowed with cupped fist to pay their respect. Xu Tianchuan and the others announced their surname and given name; they all said that they have long admired him.

Wu Liuqi was the provincial governor of Guangdong, commanding the massive military force in the whole province. In the past he was advised by Zha Yihuang, and his ‘fighting the Qing restoring the Ming’ spirit was aroused; he secretly joined Tian Di Hui, and had held the Red Banner Xiangzhu position of the Great Obedience Hall ever since.

Tian Di Hui paid special attention to the character ‘Hong’. First, it was because Ming Taizu’s [first Ming Emperor] regnal name was Hong Qu. Second, the ‘hong’ ( 洪 ) character was actually the character ‘han’ ( 漢 ) minus the character ‘tu’ [earth] ( 土 ); the idea was that our Han people had lost our land, had become captive in an occupied land. Thereupon the Tian Di Hui brethren call themselves ‘Hong Ying’, signifying they would not forget their origin, and that they were determined to restore their land.

The Red Banner Xiangzhu was not the official Xiangzhu, it did not involve commanding the Hall’s brethren either, but this position was actually above the official Xiangzhu, a position that was highly respected in the entire Society, second only to their Zongduozhu. The fact that Wu Liuqi was the Red Banner Xiangzhu of Tian Di Hui was a top secret, even Xu Tianchuan, Qian Laoben, and the others did not know.

Wu Liuqi pulled Wei Xiaobao’s hand and said with a laugh, “Wei Xiangzhu, you went to Yunnan on a mission to deal with the big traitor Wu Sangui, Zongduozhu dispatched an order to our Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou, four provinces’ brothers to provide support as the circumstances allow. As soon as I received the order, I sent ten competent brothers to Yunnan to provide help in secret. However, Wei Xiangzhu handled everything appropriately, Green Wood Hall brothers are also very able, in everything you were able to turn peril into safety; our Great Obedience Hall did not need to help anything. A few days ago we heard that Wei Xiangzhu and the brothers have arrived in Guangxi, hence Xiongdi put on my disguise to rendezvous with you, brothers.”

“So that’s how it is,” Wei Xiaobao happily said, “My Enshi [benevolent master], the Senior is very attentive; Wu Xiangzhu’s good intention, your Xiongdi is indeed very grateful. Wu Xiangzhu’s great name, on the four seas no one has not heard; turns out you are our Society brother, that is a top-notch, made-me-want-to-jump-with-joy, seriously-pleasant kind of news.” Actually, today was the very first time he ever heard of Wu Liuqi’s name, but seeing Xu Tianchuan and the others showed deep veneration to him, their faces lit up with delight, he simply blurted out several bootlicking sentences.

Wu Liuqi laughed and said, “Wei Xiongdi killed the big treacherous court official Oboi with your own hand, now that is something ‘on the four seas no one has not heard’. We are all on the same side, no need for words of politeness. I have offended the Imperial Bodyguards under Wei Xiongdi’s command, it was only to invite you to come here; please do not blame me.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed. “His granny,” he said, “Those fellows are dog skin who were unlucky, they lost money yet did not want to accept. Wu Dage made them eat a little bit of suffering, you taught them a lesson, so that next time they gamble they would follow the rule. Xiongdi still needs to thank you very much.” Wu Liuqi roared in laughter.

After they were all seated, Wu Liuqi asked about the Yunnan mission. Wei Xiaobao briefly explained to him. When Wu Liuqi heard that they had obtained conclusive evidence that Wu Sangui was about to revolt, he was greatly delighted, and talked incessantly of his commendation. “When this traitor rises into rebellion, he will definitely attack Guangdong. This time we must go all out with him. When this treacherous bandit has been defeated, we will withdrew the troops again to the north to strike Beijing.”

While they were still talking, the Latter Family Hall Xiangzhu Ma Chaoxing rushed in; he was introduced to Wu Liuqi, it was a warm meeting. They talked about what had just happened in the gambling establishment. Wu Liuqi cursed Feng Xifan all around, saying that he surreptitiously carried out sneak attack, that he was treacherous and despicable, and that Wu Liuqi would definitely have a good fight with him. Wei Xiaobao also told them about how Feng Xifan was trying to kill Chen Jinnan in Beijing. Wu Liuqi stretched out his hand and heavily slapped the gambling table, saying, “In this case, we will deal with him in here; first, to avenge Guan Fuzi, second, to get rid of one big danger from a trusted aide for Zongduozhu, third, to wipe away the humiliation we suffered today from his sneaky scheme.” In all his life he seldom met a worthy adversary; this time he unexpectedly fell under Feng Xifan that he was unable to move a finger, no wonder he was incomparably furious.

Ma Chaoxing said, “Li Zicheng was the big rebel who caused the Son of Heaven Chongzhen’s death; since he has come to Liuzhou, we must not let him off easily.” Tian Di Hui was loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Chongzhen was hounded by Li Zicheng until he finally hanged himself on Coal Hill. Since that time, Tian Di Hui had been regarding Li Zicheng as their enemy.

Wei Xiaobao said, “The Zheng Family of Taiwan flaunts the Great Ming’s Banner, yet this fellow Zheng Keshuang is going the same way as Li Zicheng, in which case he also has become a rebel. Since we started, we might as well carry it through whatever happens, we’ll deal with him as well. We will get rid of one more big danger from a trusted aide for Zongduozhu.”

Everybody looked at each other in dismay, nobody said anything. Tian Di Hui was a subordinate of the Zheng Clan of Taiwan. There was no harm in killing Feng Xifan, but they must not kill Zheng Er Gongzi [Second Young Master]. Besides, it was very clear in everybody’s mind that Wei Xiaobao wanted to kill Zheng Keshuang, 99% was to use his official authority for private interests.

Wu Liuqi changed the subject by asking Wei Xiaobao about the background of the Fat and Thin Toutuo. Wei Xiaobao gave a vague answer, saying that Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan were Jianghu friends who were indebted to him, hence those two were very loyal to him. Wu Liuqi admired that peasant who was able to unseal his own acupoints very much, he said, “In all my life Xiongdi only submit to very few people, this gentleman’s martial art is extremely brilliant, Xiongdi is ashamed of my own inferiority. There are very few people with this kind of skill in Wulin world. I have racked my brain trying to think it over, yet I cannot find out his identity.”

They all discussed it over briefly. Ma Chaoxing sent his Hall’s brothers to investigate where Li Zicheng, Feng Xifan’s and the others were staying, while helping Feng Jizhong, Xu Tianchuan and Shuang’er to tend to their injury.

Wei Xiaobao asked Shuang’er how did she follow him along the way? What happened was that after she lost contact with Wei Xiaobao on Mount Wutai, she looked for him everywhere. Later on she learned from the monks at the Qing Liang Temple that Wei Xiaobao had returned to Beijing, hence she also returned to Beijing, naturally the man Wei Xiaobao sent to summon her could not find her. By that time Wei Xiaobao was heading south, immediately she set on a journey to catch up with him, and managed to overtake him before they even reached the border of Hebei province. Being a young girl, she had different thought; she was worried that after Wei Xiaobao became a high ranking Tatar official, he would not want her to serve him anymore. Thereupon she stole a set of Valiant Cavalry Sergeant uniform, disguised herself and mingled among the Valiant Cavalry Brigade. She had been following him to Yunnan and back to Guangxi. It was at the gambling establishment did she see Wei Xiaobao was in danger, Ah Ke was about to stab his eyes, that she boldly jumped forward to save him.

Wei Xiaobao was very grateful in his heart, he held her in his arms and kissed her cheek gently. “Silly girl,” he said with a laugh, “How can I not want you to serve me? I want you to serve me for the rest of my life, unless you yourself are not willing to take care of me, you want to go off and get married.”

Shuang’er was happy and bashful at the same time, her face blushed as she said, “No, no, I … I won’t possibly go off and get married.”

That evening Ma Chaoxing arranged a banquet in honor of Wu Liuqi in a Liuzhou brothel. When they were drinking, the Society brothers arrived to report that they have found Li Zicheng and his party, they were in a wooden raft hut on Liujiang River. Liuzhou was rich in lumber. Liuzhou coffins were world-famous. There was a saying, ‘Live in Suzhou, doing business in Hangzhou, eat in Guangzhou, die in Liuzhou.’ The lumber were tied together into rafts, and floated east on Liujiang River. There were countless wooden rafts on Liujiang River. When someone went to hide in one of the raft, it would be difficult for others to find him. If not for the fact that Tian Di Hui had a large number of people locally, perhaps they would be unable to find out.

Wu Liuqi slapped the table and stood up. “Let us quickly go,” he said, “No need to drink the wine.”

Ma Chaoxing said, “It’s still too early, gentlemen may drink slowly. Let Xiongdi make arrangement first, they won’t be able to run away.” And he walked out to instruct his subordinates.

[foxs]

By the second watch that night [between 9-11pm], Ma Chaoxing led everybody to the bank of Liujiang River, and they all boarded two boats. The three Xiangzhu rode on one boat. Without waiting for any instruction, the boatmen rowed immediately. Soon afterwards, seven or eight boats followed some distance away. After rowing for about seven, eight li along the river, the boat stopped. A boatman entered the cabin and said in a low voice, “Reporting to three Xiangzhu: the target is inside the wooden raft directly in front of us.”

Wei Xiaobao peeked out from the cabin’s curtain, and saw a small cabin on the raft, from which came a flicker of yellow light. He looked around and saw boats to the east, and boats to the west; at least there were thirty, forty boats altogether. Ma Chaoxing said in a low voice, “Those boats are ours.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted, he thought that if one boat had ten people in it, they had three, four hundred people on their side; even if Li Zicheng and Feng Xifan were more formidable, could they fly up to the sky?

Right this moment, suddenly they heard someone calling out from the river bank while dashing along the same direction the boat was traveling, “Li Zicheng … Li Zicheng … you shrink your head like a turtle, where do you think you can hide? Li Zicheng … come out if you have guts … Li Zicheng …” It was Li Xihua’s voice.

From the wooden raft cabin someone shouted, “Who is making a racket in here?”

From the riverbank a shadow leaped toward the wooden raft, the sword in his hand flickered under the cold moonlight. Someone came out of the wooden raft cabin, holding a monk staff in his hand; he was none other than Li Zicheng. “You are bored of living, aren’t you? You want laozi to deliver your little life away, don’t you?”

“I am going to take your life today,” Li Xihua replied, “I am just afraid that in your death you will be a confused ghost. Do you know who I am?”

“The Ol’ Li killed people by millions,” Li Zicheng said, “How could I ask their names one by one? Come up here!” These three words ‘come up here’ sounded like clap of thunder in the air; it echoed far on the river. With a loud shout the staff swept toward Li Xihua.

Li Xihua leaned sideways to evade, he stuck the flat of his sword against the body of the staff, and leaped up. And then the tip of his sword shot down from the air. Li Zicheng thrust his staff straight up. Since he was still flying in the air, Li Xihua had no way of evading it, his left foot kicked the head of the staff, borrowing the momentum he made a somersault backward and landed on one foot at the edge of the wooden raft.

Wu Liuqi said, “Row the boat closer so we can see clearly.” The boatmen pulled the oars that the boat moved forward.

Ma Chaoxing said, “While someone else is holding him, we’d better make our move.” Turning to a boatman standing at the bow he said, “Send the signal.”

“Yes,” the boatman replied. He took a red lantern from the cabin and hung it on the mast. Immediately from the boats all around them people were slipping into the river.

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted. “Wonderful, wonderful!” he repeatedly exclaimed. His martial art skill was too low, he was not too interested in watching one-on-one combat. This time there were several hundred people on his side besieging two people of the opposite party; it was a ‘grasp it and victory is assured’ situation, exactly where he wanted to be. Moreover, the people on his side were all skilled in water, they only had to swim to the bottom of the raft, cut the ropes connecting the raft, and the logs would immediately separate. Wouldn’t capturing the opposite party be as easy as stretching their hands?

As soon as he thought about the wooden raft disintegrating, he said busily, “Ma Dage, there is a young woman in that little cabin, she is Xiongdi’s betrothed wife; you must not let her drown.”

Ma Chaoxing laughed and said, “Wei Xiongdi, don’t worry, I have already arranged it. Among the brothers going down into the river, ten are specifically tasked with rescuing your Madame. These ten brothers have first-class water skill, even live fish will not escape their grasp; I guarantee there won’t be any accident.”

Wei Xiaobao happily said, “That’s wonderful.” He thought, “It would be best if they let Zheng Keshuang drown.” He wanted to ask Ma Chaoxing to issue an order not to save Zheng Keshuang, but eventually he was unable to say so.

The boat slowly came near. They saw a clump of black shadow and a strip of white shadow circled around and fluttered on the wooden raft in a tight combat. Wu Liuqi shook his head and said, “Li Zicheng has not trained upper-class martial art, he only relies on brute force; in no more than thirty moves, he is going to lose his life under Li Xihua’s sword. It’s hard to imagine that an ambitious and ruthless character of our generation will unexpectedly meet his fate on Liujiang River.”

Wei Xiaobao could not see the fight clearly; he only saw that Li Zicheng was forced to withdraw step by step. Suddenly he heard Ah Ke’s voice from the cabin saying, “Zheng Gongzi, please ask Feng Shifu to quickly help my father.”

“Very well,” Zheng Keshuang said, “Shifu, please drive that kid away!” The cabin’s door opened, Feng Xifan walked out with a sword in his hand. By this time Li Zicheng had been forced to withdraw to the edge of the raft; just one more step and he would have fallen into the river.

“Hey little kid,” Feng Xifan called out, “I am going to stab the ‘ling tai’ [spirit platform] acupoint on your back.” His sword slowly moved forward, it was really going to stab Li Xihua’s ling tai acupoint.

Li Xihua was about to swing his sword backward to block, suddenly from the cabin’s roof someone shouted, “Hey little kid, I am going to stab the ling tai acupoint on your back!” White light flashed, like a bird someone pounced down, the weapon in his hand went straight toward Feng Xifan’s back.

This turn of events was indeed beyond everybody’s expectation; nobody expected someone was hiding on the roof of the little cabin. Feng Xifan could not continue his attack toward Li Xihua, he sidestepped and raised his sword to parry the enemy’s blade. ‘Dang!’ there was a continuous ringing. The weapon in the newcomer’s hand was a single-edged saber. As two blades collided, both of them were forced to take a step back. “Who’s there?” Feng Xifan shouted.

The man laughed and said, “I know you are the ‘Half Sword with Blood’ Feng Xifan; don’t you know me?”

Wei Xiaobao and the others were able to see clearly by now, the man was wearing coarse homespun cloth clothing, a plain white cloth was wrapped around his head, a strip of wide blue cloth was wrapped around his waist, and a pair of straw sandals on his feet; he was none other than the peasant who was able to open his own sealed acupoints in the gambling establishment earlier that day. Presumably he was unhappy because had fallen under Feng Xifan’s sneak attack, and had come to avenge the humiliation by the sword.

Feng Xifan imposingly said, “Based on Sire’s skill, why did you act like a nameless character, hiding the head showing the tail, sneaky and evasive like this?”

The peasant replied, “Even if I am a nameless character, I am still better than a ‘Half Sword with Blood’.”

Feng Xifan was furious; he raised his sword and stabbed straight forward. The peasant neither evaded nor blocked the attack, he simply lifted his saber and chopped down on Feng Xifan’s head. It looked like a desperate move in a fight where both side would suffer, but actually while the saber started to move later, it arrived earlier; the speed was extraordinary. The tip of Feng Xifan’s sword was still about a chi away from the opponent, the opponent’s saber had already reached his forehead. In great alarm he jumped to the left to evade.

The peasant swept his saber horizontally toward Feng Xifan’s waist. Feng Xifan waved his sword down to parry. The single-blade saber in the peasant’s hand suddenly changed direction, light as feather, hacking down on Feng Xifan’s left arm. Feng Xifan leaned sideways to evade, and counterattack with a stab. Still the peasant did not block, he simply turned his saber toward Feng Xifan’s wrist.

The two of them had exchanged three moves, unexpectedly the peasant had attacked three times. His appearance was simple, wooden and slow, with 30% sign of stupidity, but his saber technique was swift, fierce and ruthless. Saber technique like his was seldom seen in Wulin world. Wu Liuqi and Ma Chaoxing were secretly surprised and amazed.

“Hold on!” Feng Xifan called out suddenly. Leaping two steps back, he said, “Turns out Sire is the Hundred Victory …”

“If you want to fight then fight,” the peasant shouted, “Why talk too much?” Leaping forward, ‘whoosh, whoosh, whoosh’ his saber attacked three times.

Feng Xifan was unable to speak leisurely, he had no choice but to brace himself to counter every move. Feng Xifan’s swordsmanship had also reached profound attainments; since he now focused all his attention to withstand the enemy, the peasant could no longer hold the upper hand. The sword and saber moved sometimes fast sometimes slow, sometimes the two weapons collided with each other several dozen times in rapid succession, sometimes they circled around each other without colliding for even once.

On the other front, Li Zicheng and Li Xihua were still fighting fiercely. Zheng Keshuang and Ah Ke, each with unsheathd weapon in their hand, were standing close to Li Zicheng, ready to help. Li Zicheng brandished his monk staff to block each attack, the power behind it was ‘hard’ and violent; although Li Xihua’s swordsmanship was exquisite, for a short while he was unable to close the distance.

After fighting for a while, Li Xihua suddenly pulled his arms and legs close to his body, and rolled around. When he rolled close to the enemy’s legs, suddenly the tip of his sword went up diagonally toward Li Zicheng’s lower abdomen. “Do you think you can live pass today?” he shouted.

It was the move ‘lying on overturned cloud’, the unique skill handed down by Song Dynasty’s Liangshan Lake hero Langzi [wanderer] Yan Qing, a very exquisite technique, incomparably fast and nimble, impossible for the opponent to guard against. Ah Ke and Zheng Keshuang were shocked; but by the time they realized Li Zicheng was under the enemy’s control, it was already too late to help.

Suddenly Li Zicheng threw his head back and roared. Everybody was stunned, their ears were buzzing. The power behind this roar was just like a jolt of thunder. Li Xihua was startled, unexpectedly the sword fell from his hand. Li Zicheng’s left leg flew up and kicked him, sending him tumbling away. The head of the monk staff rested against his chest, Li Xihua was pressed in between the staff and the raft, he was unable to move a single step.

In just a split second the victory and defeat was easily flipped; Li Zicheng only had to pound his monk staff and the ribs in Li Xihua’s chest would be broken, his heart and lungs would shatter into pieces, and he would not be alive anymore. Li Zicheng shouted, “If you admit defeat, I will let you live.”

“Just kill me quickly,” Li Xihua replied, “I cannot avenge my father’s big enmity, how can I have the face to live in this world?”

Li Zicheng let out a long laugh, and then said, “Very good!” He was about to send his strength to his arms to push the monk staff into Li Xihua’s body when a ray of clear, cold moonlight from behind happened to illuminate Li Xihua’s face. He saw his face looked tranquil, with a faint smile on his lips; unexpectedly there was not a trace of fear on it. Li Zicheng’s heart was shaken. “Are you a Henan man by the surname of Li?” he shouted.

Li Xihua replied, “It’s a pity that from our surname Li there is someone as narrow-minded as you are, a coward who failed to accomplish great things.”

Li Zicheng’s voice was trembling, “Li Yan, Li Gongzi, who is he to you?”

“So you know,” Li Xihua replied, “That’s very good.” While saying that he showed a faint smile.

Li Zicheng lifted the monk staff and asked, “You are Li Xiongdi … Xiongdi’s son?”

Li Xihua said, “It’s a shame you still have the face to call my father ‘brother’.”

Li Zicheng’s body swayed several times, his left hand was pressed on his own chest. “Li Xiongdi left behind a descendant?” he muttered to himself, “You … you are Hong Niangzi’s[1] son?”

Seeing Li Zicheng’s monk staff was raised several chi up, Li Xihua sternly said, “Quickly make your move! What do you bring these matters up for?”

Li Zicheng withdrew two steps back, he rested the monk staff on the wooden raft, and said slowly, “My first blunder in life was precisely harming your father. You cursed me as narrow-minded, a coward who failed to accomplish great things. You are right, absolutely right! You want to avenge your father, which is only natural. In all my life I, Li Zicheng have killed people beyond counting, and I never take it to heart. But killing your father, I … I am truly ashamed.” Suddenly ‘Wah!’ he threw up a mouthful of blood.

Li Xihua had never expected this turn of events; he leaped up and picked his sword. Seeing Li Zicheng’s white beard was full of drops of blood, Li Xihua could not thrust his sword forward. He said, “Since I have seen the shame and remorse in your heart, it beats killing you with the sword.” He flew up, his left foot kicked on the very thick rope connecting the wooden rafts, with several leaps he reached the shore, and then after bounding ups and downs several time, he disappeared into the darkness.

“Father!” Ah Ke called out, and rushed toward Li Zicheng to support him.

Li Zicheng shook his hand. He walked to the edge of the raft, his left foot stepped out, his body then went down into the river. “Father!” Ah Ke cried out in fear, “You … you must not …” They all saw no movement on the surface of the river, and thought that he must have killed himself by drowning; they were all startled and found it surprising.

After a while, they saw the top of Li Zicheng’s head appeared on the surface of the river. Turned out he was holding his breath while walking along the bottom of the river. The iron monk staff in his hand was very heavy, hence his body did not float.

They saw his head and shoulder gradually emerged from the river as he treaded on the shallow water of the river bank. Step by step he climbed up the shore, dragging the iron monk staff, hobbling away slowly.

Ah Ke turned around and said, “Zheng Gongzi, my father … he … he’s gone.” ‘Wah!’ she broke into crying and threw herself into Zheng Keshuang’s bosom.

Zheng Keshuang wrapped his left arm around her and gently patted her back with his right hand. “Your father is gone, but you still have me!” he consoled her. But before he could finish, the logs beneath his feet disintegrate. “Aiyo!” they both screamed and fell into the river.

The experts of Tian Di Hui’s Latter Family Hall who were proficient in water skill dived into the river and cut the bamboo rope binding the wooden raft; the logs separated immediately. Feng Xifan anxiously leaped up; spotting a large log, he lightly landed on it. The peasant also leaped after him. ‘Whoosh!’ his saber hacked down on Feng Xifan’s head. Feng Xifan brandished his sword to parry. The two of them continued their fierce combat on the log.

This fight was several times more difficult compared to the fight they just had on the wooden raft. The log was rolling continuously on the water, hence it was difficult to get a steady footing, plus they could not use it as the base with which they could jump around; yet Feng Xifan and the peasant were able to fight steadily; saber and sword moved back and forth without slowing down the slightest bit. Brought by the river’s current, gradually the log floated to the middle of the river.

“Aiyo!” suddenly Wu Liuqi exclaimed, “I remember now. This Xiongdi is the ‘Bai Sheng Dao Wang’ [Hundred Victory Saber King] Hu Yizhi. He … how did he turn to be like that? Quickly pursue them, row the boat!”

“Hu Yizhi?” Ma Chaoxing asked in surprise, “Isn’t he also nicknamed ‘Mei Dao Wang’ [Handsome (lit. beautiful) Saber King]? This man is outstandingly handsome; it was said in the past that he was the number one handsome man of Wulin; unexpectedly he disguises himself as a stupid-looking peasant!”

In the meantime, Wei Xiaobao kept asking, “Have you rescued my wife?”

---

[1] Hong Niangzi literally means Red Madame. Coincidentally, these two names (Li Yan and Hong Niangzi) also appeared in Liang Yusheng’s White Haired Demoness (See WHD, translated by Faerie Queene and yours truly. The story of Li Yan and the Red Madame can be found in Chapter 21).

[foxs]

Wu Liuqi showed a displeased expression, he stared hard at him, obviously he was saying, “‘Bai Sheng Dao Wang’ Hu Yizhi is encountering a powerful enemy, the water surface is treacherous, how can we not immediately go forward to help him? You are only concerned about your woman, you are paying more attention to a lover than friends; it’s not a hero’s conduct.”

Ma Chaoxing called out, “Quickly pass the order: get more people, we must rescue that girl.” The boatman on the stern shouted the order.

Suddenly they saw two men appeared on the surface of the river, holding soaking wet Ah Ke. “We got the girl,” they called out. Immediately afterwards, someone on the left also appeared, pulling Zheng Keshuang’s collar and pushed him up to the boat; the man called out, “We also got the boy.” Everybody burst into loud laughter.

Wei Xiaobao felt relieved immediately. Beaming from ear to ear he said, “Let’s go to that ‘Hundred Victory Saber King’, see how he is doing against that ‘Half Sword with Blood’.”

Under Wu Liuqi’s urging, the four oars had already been rowing that the boat rapidly approached the big log on which Hu and Feng, two people were fighting. Under the bright moonlight they saw white rays flashing on the surface of the river; the two of them were still engaged in close combat.

Originally these two’s martial art skill was more or less equal, but when Feng Xifan exchanged palm strikes with Feng Jizhong and Priest Xuanzhen earlier during the day, due to Feng Jizhong’s strong internal energy, he had already felt the chi and blood in the pit of his stomach could not flow unimpeded. This moment, after a prolonged battle, he started to feel a dull ache on the right side of his chest.

Fighting on a continuously rolling log, other than advancing or retreating a step or half step, really there was no room for freedom of action. Hundred Victory Saber King Hu Yizhi’s saber technique was dangerous, the power behind it was fierce, he only attacked and did not defend, each saber strike looked to be a desperate attack with the intention of perishing together. Fighting technique like this, if it was used by someone with mediocre martial art skill, would appear brutish, brazen act of playing dirty; but Hu Yizhi’s saber technique was a style of its own, although it looked dangerous, it was actually executed in calmness. His martial art was strange to begin with, and now he was attacking swiftly and fiercely in a seemingly desperate all-out effort with total disregard of his own life, Feng Xifan could not help but was intimidated, plus he also noticed the boat that was coming fast. On the bow stood several men, as he took a quick glance, he was surprised to recognize the old beggar, whom he had met at the casino earlier, was among those men.

Giving a loud shout, Hu Yizhi struck to the left once, and to the right twice, he struck upward once, and downward twice; six saber strikes altogether, one after another. Feng Xifan did everything he could to block, yet in his frantic effort he still managed to counter with two sword strikes. His defense was exceptionally tight.

“Good saber technique! Good sword technique!” Wu Liuqi praised.

Hu Yizhi brandished his saber directly onto Feng Xifan’s face. Feng Xifan retreated half a step, while bending his upper body backward to evade, his sword swept to the front to shield his body. By this time his left foot was stepping on the tip of the log, his heel was already in the water, he could not retreat even for half a cun more. Hu Yizhi chopped down three more times, Feng Xifan countered with three sword strikes, unexpectedly he did not retreat at all. With a loud shout, Hu Yizhi raised his saber up and hacked down. Feng Xifan leaned sideways to evade, to his surprise, however, Hu Yizhi did not pull back, the saber continued chopping down. ‘Crash!’ he chopped the log into two sections. Feng Xifan was standing on the tip of the log, as soon as the log was cut, “Ah!” he cried out and fell into the water.

Hu Yizhi threw his saber toward Feng Xifan. Submerged in the water, Feng Xifan did not have any way of evading, seeing the steel saber flying toward him, he also quickly threw his sword. ‘Clang!’ the saber and the sword collided midair, creating sparks in the dark; both weapons were thrown far away and fell into the river. Feng Xifan dived into the water and disappeared.

Hu Yizhi was secretly alarmed, “This man has a superb water skill; had I fell into the river together with him a moment ago, I would have fallen into his evil scheme.”

Wu Liuqi called in a loud and clear voice, “Hundred Victory Saber King, your name is not in vain! I have witnessed your divine skill today, it has indeed broaden my horizon. How about coming onboard and drink a cup of wine?”

“Thank you for your hospitality!” Hu Yizhi replied, and leaped onto the boat.

The bow was only sinking slightly, unexpectedly the hull did not sway at all. Wei Xiaobao did not understand the difficulty of this jump, but Wu Liuqi, Ma Chaoxing and the others were full of admiration. Wu Liuqi cupped his fist and said, “Zaixia Wu Liuqi. This gentleman is Ma Chaoxing Xiongdi, this one is Wei Xiaobao Xiongdi. We are all Tian Di Hui Xiangzhu.”

Hu Yizhi raised his thumb and said, “Wu Xiong, the fact that you belong to Tian Di Hui is a top secret; if this matter is leaked out, the lives of your entire family cannot be protected. We just met for the first time today, yet you did not conceal anything to Xiongdi. This kind of heroic spirit is worthy of other people’s admiration.”

Wu Liuqi laughed and said, “If I don’t trust Hundred Victory Saber King, won’t that mean Xiongdi is a despicable lowly person?”

Hu Yizhi was greatly delighted; he grabbed Wu Liuqi’s hands and said, “These years Xiongdi lives in seclusion, growing vegetables, no longer pay any attention to Jianghu matters; yet unexpectedly today I can become good friends with the Iron Beggar Wu Liuqi.” While speaking, they walked hand-in-hand into the cabin. He merely nodded slightly toward Ma Chaoxing, Wei Xiaobao, and the others, and did not pay them any attention.

Seeing he had defeated Zheng Keshuang’s shifu, Wei Xiaobao was full of admiration and gratitude; he said, “Hu Daxia [great hero] defeated Feng Xifan and threw him into the river, the turtles and terrapins in the river must be biting his body bloody. The ‘Half Sword with Blood’ has turned into ‘Without Sword with Blood’. Ha ha …”

Hu Yizhi smiled and said, “Wei Xiangzhu, your skill in throwing dice is indeed not bad.” In saying that, he was actually mocking Wei Xiaobao in that his martial art skill was lacking, that he was only skilled in throwing the dice, in cheating those ‘cattle’.

But Wei Xiaobao did not think it was an insult; he felt very proud instead. He laughed and said, “Hu Daxia’s skill in arranging the tiles is first-class. The two of us brothers working together as the banker, we won not a few of that short and fat fellow’s money. Hu Daxia owns half, when we return, I will give you your share.”

Hu Yizhi laughed and said, “Next time when Wei Xiangzhu becomes the banker, Xiongdi will still help you. Gambling with you, I will definitely not lose.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Wonderful, wonderful!”

Ma Chaoxing ordered his men to replenish the wine. They drank on the boat together. After drinking several cups, Hu Yizhi said, “Since as soon as we met we hit it off right away, Xiongdi does not dare to conceal my problem. Speaking of which, I am actually quite ashamed. For more than twenty years Xiongdi has withdrawn from Jianghu, and live in seclusion at the outskirts of the city of Kunming; it was all because of a woman.”

“In her song,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Chen Yuanyuan did mention some hero’s affection. Since he is a hero, naturally he is passionate.”

Wu Liuqi knitted his brows; he thought, “Little kid loves to speak nonsense. What do you know anyway?”

Unexpectedly Hu Yizhi’s countenance changed slightly; he sighed and spoke slowly, “A hero has no choice but to be passionate. Wu Meicun’s poem was very well-written, but that Wu Sangui is not a hero, he is not passionate either; he is no more than a dirty old man.” And then he hummed ‘Yuanyuan Song’ softly, “How could a wife consent to shut down such a matter of paramount importance? Reluctant hero is full of affection.” Turning to Wei Xiaobao he said, “Wei Xiangzhu, when you were at the Three-Sage Nunnery that day, you listened to Miss Chen singing this song; your ears’ good fortune is indeed not shallow. I have lived by her side on and off for twenty-three years, I have heard this song three times. The last time was thanks to your good luck.”

Wei Xiaobao asked in surprise, “You have lived by her side for twenty-three years? Are you … are you also Chen Yuanyuan’s love … lover?”

With a bitter laugh Hu Yizhi said, “She … she … hey hey, she has never even looked at me straight in the eye. I live in the Three-Sage Nunnery, growing vegetables and sweeping the floor, chopping firewood and carrying water, she only knew me as a countryside farmer.”

Wu Liuqi and Ma Chaoxing looked at each other, they both felt strange, thinking that this ‘Handsome Saber King’ must be infatuated with Chen Yuanyuan’s beauty so much so that he was willing to be her servant. This man’s martial art skill was very high, his prestige was grand; in the past, he was considered as a first-class character of the Wulin world. Unexpectedly he was most willing to humble himself and do servile work; it was indeed very puzzling. Looking at Hu Yizhi, they saw a man with grey hair, his sparse beard had more white than black, his face was full of wrinkles, his skin dark; how could he be called ‘handsome’?

“Hu Daxia,” Wei Xiaobao asked in amazement, “Your martial art skill is superb; why didn’t you just grab Chen Yuanyuan and take her go?”

When Hu Yizhi heard this, an angry look flitted through his face, a murderous intent flashed through his eyes. Wei Xiaobao was terrified; his grip loosened, the wine cup in his hand dropped, the wine splashed all over the place. Hu Yizhi lowered his head, sighed and said, “That day I was in Chengdu, Sichuan when inadvertently I caught a glimpse of Miss Chen. Ay, that was a predestined relationship. Since that day my soul and spirit turn upside-down, I can’t no longer free myself. Wei Xiangzhu, the ol’ Hu is someone without any future prospect, a man without any ambition. When Miss Chen was in Ping Xi Wang mansion, I became a gardener in the mansion, growing flowers and pulling the weeds for her. When she moved to the Three-Sage Nunnery, I followed her and gathered firewood for her. I have no other desire than to stole a glance of her every morning and evening, and then I would be perfectly contented. How … how could I treat a beautiful woman with the slightest degree of rudeness?”

Wei Xiaobao asked, “In that case, you love her this much, but these past twenty years or so, she did not know?”

Hu Yizhi shook his head with a bitter laugh, “I am afraid to reveal my real identity. Usually, I rarely speak more than three sentences in one day, in her presence I became even more dumbstruck and unable to reply. These past twenty-three years, I only spoke thirty-nine sentences to her. In return, she has spoken to me fifty-five sentences.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “You remember very clearly.”

Wu Liuqi and Ma Chaoxing felt sorrowful, they both thought that he even counted clearly the number of time those two people spoke; it was indeed a case of infatuation to the extreme. Wu Liuqi was afraid Wei Xiaobao would babble more nonsense and hence hurt his feeling, so he said, “Hu Dage, our nature is different from each other. Some people like to study martial art like crazy, some love to drink wine, some like to gamble. Chen Yuanyuan is the number one beauty in the world, you appreciate beauty, but your feeling toward her is pure, it is really rare. Xiongdi is being bold, I would like to offer an advice, I wonder if it can be accepted.”

Hu Yizhi replied, “Wu Xiong, please speak.”

Wu Liuqi said, “Thinking about that Chen Yuanyuan, naturally in the past her beauty was incomparable, but by this time, she is growing old, it may be assumed that …”

Hu Yizhi repeatedly shook his head, he was unwilling to hear the rest. “Wu Xiong,” he said, “Some people are ambitious, yet Xiongdi is a silly big melon. If you look down upon me, let us part now.” While saying that, he stood up.

“Wait a minute!” Wei Xiaobao said, “Hu Xiong, Chen Yuanyuan’s beauty, no one in the mortal world has it; she is like the eternal, celestial fairy. Fortunately Wu Xiangzhu and Ma Xiangzhu have never seen her; otherwise, as soon as they saw her, I am afraid they would also be willing to grow vegetable and fetch water for her, and then our Tian Di Hui will be short two Xiangzhu …”

Wu Liuqi secretly cursed in his heart, “Damn it, the little demon is speaking without thinking.”

Wei Xiaobao continued, “… I have seen her with my own eyes. Her daughter Ah Ke is only half as beautiful as she is, but to be really honest with you, I have already made up my mind that even if I am hacked to pieces, that my body is torn and my bones crushed, I simply have to take her as my wife. At the casino yesterday, she wanted to dig my eyes out, she was vicious and merciless, yet laozi did not care. This matter, laoxiong has seen it with your own eyes, this is not a pretense at all.”

When Hu Yizhi heard this, he was overwhelmed with the feeling that they were fellow sufferers who empathized with each other. He sighed and said, “In my opinion, that Ah Ke seem to be a bit uninterested in Wei Xiongdi.”

“What do you mean a bit uninterested?” Wei Xiaobao said, “She practically hates me to the bones. Damn it … Hu Dage, please don’t misunderstand, I am simply cursing thoughtlessly, I was not cursing her Ma, Chen Yuanyuan … [note: damn it (ta ma de) lit. ‘his/her mother’] Didn’t that Ah Ke already pierce my chest hatefully with her sword? Later on she also pierced my eyes; if not for my luck was good, she would have murdered her own husband early on. She … she … humph, she has taken a liking to that Zheng Gongzi of Taiwan, she is concentrating her thoughts and efforts to be husband and wife with him. Unfortunately that surnamed Zheng did not drown to his death in the river.”

Hu Yizhi sat down, held his hand, and said, “Xiao Xiongdi, in this world, a matter involving feeling like this cannot be forced. You can meet Ah Ke, and can have Shijie Shidi relationship with her, it was already predestined affinity, not whether you can be husband and wife with her. In all your life, you have already seen her many, many times, you have talked to her many, many times. She beats you, she curses you, she uses blade to stab you, it can be said that in her heart she already has you. This is your share of enormous good fortune.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded, “What you said is very true,” he said, “If she take no notice and ignore me, that means in this world there is no me; this feeling is definitely very unpleasant. I’d rather she curses me and beats me, using blades trying to kill me; as long as she does not kill me, it’s alright with me.”

Hu Yizhi sighed and said, “Even if she killed you, that would be very good. If she killed you, she would inevitably feel a little bit guilty. When she is asleep in the night, perhaps she would dream of you; when she is idling with nothing to do during the day, she would occasionally be thinking of you. Don’t you agree that it surpasses the thought that she has never had you in her heart?”

Wu Liuqi and Ma Chaoxing looked at each other in amazement; they both thought that this man had brought the word ‘sentimental’ to the extreme. If not for the fact that they had witnessed his battle against Feng Xifan just now, that they had also seen his martial art skill, which had reached perfection, they would have not believed that this man was the distinguished and accomplished, the elegant ‘Handsome Saber King’, whose name was well-known in the four seas.

Wei Xiaobao was nodding his head again and again, however, as he said, “Hu Dage, indeed you cannot say those words more clearly than that. I had not thought about it before, but when I like a woman, I am determined to make her my wife; I don’t have patience like yours. If Ah Ke really wants me to grow vegetables and fetch water, if she wants me to accompany her for a lifetime, naturally I would do it. But if that Zheng Gongzi is also by her side, laozi will stab him with the knife that a white blade came in, a red blade came out.”

“Xiao Xiongdi,” Hu Yizhi said, “What you said is not exactly correct. If you like a woman, you must make her happy, for her sake, not for yours. If she wanted to marry that Zheng Gongzi, then you should help her accomplish her heart’s desire by ‘thousand ways, a hundred plans’. If someone is going to harm Zheng Gongzi, for the sake of your beloved, you ought to protect Zheng Gongzi with all your strength; even if you have to deliver your life in the process, you must not harm the essentials [?? Not sure].”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, “I am afraid I must harm the essentials. Doing business and suffer a loss, Xiongdi is not willing to do. Hu Dage, Xiongdi admires you very much, I really want to bow to you and take you as my master. Not to learn your saber technique, but to learn about your infatuation toward Chen Yuanyuan. This kind of skill, Xiongdi is far inferior to you.”

Hu Yizhi was greatly delighted. “Bowing and taking me as your master is not necessary, but there is no harm in the two of us brothers compare notes and encourage each other.”

Both Wu Liuqi and Ma Chaoxing have never had any regards for women, they thought that the joy houses had no lack of pretty women, as long as they produced white, shiny silver, they could get however many they wanted. It seemed to them that Hu and Wei, these two fellows, had lost their minds and went insane. But the more Hu and Wei, one was old the other young, talked to each other, the more they found out that they shared much in common, they both felt regret of not meeting each other earlier.

[foxs]

Actually, Wei Xiaobao’s desire to take Ah Ke as his wife was a firm resolution, he was determined to overcome countless difficulties, and was willing to undergo any hardship to the end; it was completely different from Hu Yizhi’s infatuation. One was passionately devoted to Chen Yuanyuan, the other was set on possessing Chen Yuanyuan’s daughter. Although their aspirations differed, they found some common ground in this matter. Besides, Hu Yizhi had already concealed this affection in his heart for twenty-three years, he had never revealed it to anyone else. This moment he freely poured out his heart, unexpectedly there was someone nearby who sighed in admiration. Being able to ramble on incessantly, the delight in his heart was unspeakable.

Seeing Hu and Wei, two people were chatting amiably, Ma Chaoxing felt it was inappropriate to break the two people’s moods. At first he was still listening to their conversation, but as time went by, he felt it was growing more offensive. Both he and Wu Liuqi frowned secretly, they thought, “Wei Xiangzhu is a little child who does not understand anything, nothing we can do about it. You, Hu Yizhi, are old but do not show respect of your seniority, teaching this youngster bad things.” They could not stop the disdain in their hearts to grow several points.

“Xiao Xiongdi,” suddenly Hu Yizhi said, “You and I feel like old friends at the first meeting. The one hardest to come by in this life is an intimate friend. As the saying goes, ‘Finding a good friend, dying will have no regret’. The Ol’ Hu used to have acquaintances all over the world, but not one person knew me intimately. Today we are brought together by fate, how about the two of us swear brotherhood?”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted. “That is very good,” he said; but suddenly he hesitated. “I am afraid there is something that is not proper,” he said.

“What is it?” Hu Yizhi asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, “In case you and I both accomplish our hearts’ desire, you marry Chen Yuanyuan, and I marry Ah Ke, you will be my wife’s father. If we become brothers now, it won’t be appropriate later.”

As soon as Wu Liuqi and Ma Chaoxing heard this, they could not help but bursting into loud laughter. Hu Yizhi’s countenance changed, “Ay,” he said indignantly, “You never understand my affection toward Miss Chen. In all my life, I will never raise a finger to touch the corner of her clothes. If I am speaking empty words, let me be like this table.” While saying that, he reached out with his left hand, ‘crack!’ he grabbed a corner of the small table inside the boat’s cabin, and rubbed it between his hands, the piece of wood turned into splinters, which rained down to the floor.

“Good martial art skill!” Wu Liuqi praised.

Hu Yizhi cast him an angry look; he thought, “What’s so good about my martial art skill? My deep love is what’s considered rare. Obviously you are not my intimate friend.”

Wei Xiaobao did not have the ability to copy him grabbing the wood and turning it into dust; he pulled his dagger and lightly cut the other corner of the table, put it on the table, raised the dagger, and conveniently chopped it several times, turning the wood into several small pieces. He said, “If Wei Xiaobao cannot marry Ah Ke to be my wife, let me be like the corner of this tea table, cut by other people into eight pieces, without able to retaliate.”

When the others saw the sharpness of this dagger, they were all amazed, but listening to his oath, they were all amused. Wei Xiaobao said, “Hu Dage, in that case, in all my life I won’t be your son-in-law; let’s swear to be brothers then.”

Hu Yizhi laughed heartily. He pulled Wei Xiaobao’s hands to the bow, took him kneeling down side by side toward the moon, and said, “Hu Yizhi today swear to be brothers with Wei Xiaobao. Hereafter blessing will be enjoyed together, difficulties will be faced together. If I violate this oath, let me be drowned in the river.”

Wei Xiaobao repeated the oath, but on the last sentence, he changed it to ‘let me be drowned in this Liujiang River’. He thought, “Definitely I will never betray Hu Dage, but if by any chance I commit a mistake, from now on I won’t come back to Guangxi, hence I won’t be drown in this Liujiang River. If it was any other river, it does not count.”

The two of them laughed aloud, and returned to the cabin hand-in-hand; they looked very intimate to each other already. Wu Liuqi and Ma Chaoxing congratulated the two, the four of them made a toast and drank together. Wu Liuqi was afraid that if these two lovesick sworn brothers would talk about Chen Yuanyuan and Ah Ke again, he would be sick of listening to them, thereupon he said, “Let’s go back.”

Hu Yizhi nodded his head. “Very well,” he said, “Ma Xiong, Wei Xiongdi, I have a request: I want to bring this Miss Ah Ke back to Kunming.”

Ma Chaoxing did not care. Wei Xiaobao, however, was greatly shocked. “Whatever for?” he busily asked.

Hu Yizhi sighed and said, “That day when Miss Chen saw her daughter for the first time at the Three-Sage Nunnery, that very same night she fell ill. She only called, ‘Ah Ke, Ah Ke, why haven’t you come to see your mother?’ She also said, ‘Ah Ke, mother only have you, my darling, my precious; mother misses you very much.’ I could not endure listening to her, hence I hurried along to catch up with you. Along the way I painstakingly persuaded Miss Ah Ke to come back, to accompany her mother, but no matter what she flatly refused. This matter cannot be forced; my hands are bound and I am unable to do anything. My only choice was to follow her in secret; my only hope is to persuade her to change her mind. Now she has fallen into your hands, if Ma Xiangzhu wants her to promise that she returns to Kunming to see her mother before you can release her, perhaps she won’t have any choice but to comply.”

Ma Chaoxing said, “In this matter Zaixia does not have any objection; I’ll leave it to Wei Xiangzhu’s discretion.”

“Xiongdi,” Hu Yizhi said, “You want to take her as your wife, there will be enough time to do that later, but if Miss Chen does not recover from her illness, she may not see her daughter anymore. This … this will be a lifelong regret.” While speaking the last sentence, his voice broke.

Wu Liuqi shook his head secretly; he thought, “This man’s heroic spirit has worn down completely, he had turned into a fainthearted man. For the sake of Wu Sangui’s beloved concubine unexpectedly his spirit and soul have turned upside-down like this; where has the lofty quality of a hero and warrior gone? Chen Yuanyuan is one of the chief offenders who forfeited the Great Ming’s rivers and mountains; next time laozi leads my troops to invade Kunming, I will stab her with a knife first.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Dage wants to take her to Kunming, of course you can. But … but let me be honest with Dage: she and I have been officially wed, we have bowed to the Heaven and the Earth long ago, acting as the matchmaker was Mu Family’s Shaking-head Lion Wu Lishen. Unfortunately my wife is unwilling to get married with me, she wants to remarry that Zheng Gongzi. If she agrees to be husband and wife with me, naturally we can let her go.”

Listening to this point, Wu Liuqi flew into a rage; he could not endure patiently anymore. Raising his palm he slapped the small table heavily, all the wine pot and cups were overthrown. “Hu Dage, Wei Xiongdi,” he said in loud voice, “This little girl is unwilling to see her mother; she greatly violates filial piety. She and Wei Xiongdi have bowed to the Heaven and the Earth, and thus they are bound in marriage contract as husband and wife, yet she still wants that Zheng Gongzi, she greatly violates chastity. This kind of unfilial and unchaste woman, why should we let her live in the world? The more beautiful her appearance, the worse her moral quality is. I might as well go and wring her neck, ‘crack!’ and be done with it, so that those who hear it won’t be annoyed, those who see it won’t be provoked to anger.” With a stern voice he ordered the boatmen, “Row faster, row faster!”

Hu Yizhi, Wei Xiaobao and Ma Chaoxing, three people looked at each other with changed countenance. They saw his awe-inspiring presence, his scathing murderous intent, the blue veins on his forehead were bulging; obviously he was extremely angry, who would dare to persuade him?

Their boat gradually approached the river bank. Wu Liuqi called out, “Where are those boy and girl?”

“They are bound in here,” someone on another boat replied.

Wu Liuqi signaled the boatmen, their boat turned easterly toward the other boat. Wu Liuqi said to Wei Xiaobao, “Wei Xiongdi, you and I are brothers of the same Society, we are as close as flesh and blood brothers. As your Gege, I cannot bear to see you making mistake because of woman’s charm, and thus ruining your life. Today I am going to break it for you.”

With a trembling voice Wei Xiaobao said, “This matter … must be … must be discussed carefully.”

“What is there to discuss?” Wu Liuqi said in a stern voice.

The two boats were getting close to each other. Wei Xiaobao was very anxious as if he was burning inside, he had no choice but to turn to Ma Chaoxing to appeal for help, “Ma Dage, please persuade Wu Dage.”

“There are a lot of good women in the world,” Wu Liuqi said, “Your Gege will guarantee that I will find you a wife from an agreeable home to your satisfaction. Why do you reluctant to part with this kind of lowly woman?”

Wei Xiaobao looked distressed. “Ay, this … this …” he said.

Suddenly, ‘whoosh!’ someone leaped up toward the bow of the opposite boat; it was Hu Yizhi. They saw him entering the cabin, and went out from the stern; there was someone in his arms. His movement was extremely fast and nimble, immediately he leaped onto the shore, and then with several ups and downs he was already several dozen zhang away. His voice came from the distance, “Wu Dage, Ma Dage, Wei Xiongdi, I am really sorry for the offense. Someday I will visit you to beg forgiveness and receive punishment.” His voice gradually went far away, but because of his abundant chi, it could still be heard clearly.

Wu Liuqi was startled and angry; he was about to jump to chase after him, but then he saw that Hu Yizhi was already far away. After thinking the better of it, he could not help but roaring in laughter. Wei Xiaobao also clapped his hands and cheered; he presumed that Hu Yizhi took Ah Ke away, naturally he was taking her to see Chen Yuanyuan.

[foxs]

Chapter 34 - Rise and fall of a document to take care of restoring the deer, thousand years of ash to take the great wild goose from the deep by force.
(Translated by Foxs)

LuDingJi-34.jpg

The large white sheet on the table was full of several thousand embroidery needles, the several thousand pieces of skins had been assembled together into a complete, whole large map. What was amazing was that several thousand pieces of skin fit together; there was not a single extra piece, and there was not a single hole either.

[foxs]

Shortly afterwards the two boats drew close to each other. The Tian Di Hui brothers pushed Zheng Keshuang out.

“His granny,” Wei Xiaobao cursed, “You murdered Tian Di Hui brothers, and wanted to harm Tian Di Hui Zongduozhu; I must cut your chest and open your belly. Hot piece mama, you know very well that Ah Ke is my wife, yet you dare to fool around with her.” While saying that, he stepped closer and ‘slap, slap, slap, slap’, he slapped him on the face from left and right four times.

Zheng Keshuang had drunk a lot of river water, he had lost the will to resist; seeing Wei Xiaobao’s devilish appearance, he begged, “Wei Daren, please consider my father’s face and spare my life. From this day forward, I … I will no longer dare to speak one sentence to Miss Ah Ke.”

“What if she speaks to you?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

“I will not reply,” Zheng Keshuang said, “Otherwise … otherwise …” Whatever it was, momentarily he was not able to decide.

“You speak like you fart,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I’d better cut your tongue first, so that even when you want to speak to Ah Ke, you won’t be able to.” While saying that, he pulled his dagger, and then shouted, “Stick out your tongue!”

Zheng Keshuang was greatly alarmed. He hastily said, “I won’t speak with her; if I speak even one word, I am a scoundrel b@stard.”

Wei Xiaobao was afraid Chen Jinnan might punish him, hence did not really dare to kill Zheng Keshuang. “In the future, if you ever be rude to Tian Di Hui Zongduozhu and brothers later, if you ever dare do some dubious thing to my wife, thinking to make a green hat for laozi to wear, laozi will insert a sword into your adulterer head.” He raised the dagger and lightly tossed it forward. The dagger went straight into the bow of the boat.

“I don’t dare, I don’t dare,” Zheng Keshuang hastily said, “I will not dare to do that anymore.”

Wei Xiaobao turned his head toward Ma Chaoxing and said, “Ma Dage, it was your Latter Family Hall who caught him, please deal with him.”

Ma Chaoxing sighed and said, “Guoxing Ye [Koxinga, lit. ‘Master of Guoxing’] is such a hero, his grandson is actually a good-for-nothing kid.”

Wu Liuqi said, “When this man returns to Taiwan, he would surely make things difficult for Zongduozhu, we’d better cut him into two, then I guarantee we won’t have any future trouble.”

Zheng Keshuang was greatly alarmed. “No, it won’t happen,” he busily said, “When I return to Taiwan, I will ask my father to make Chen Yonghua, Mr. Chen an officer, a very high-ranking officer.”

“Humph,” Ma Chaoxing snorted, “Do you think Zongduozhu will like that?” Lowering his voice, he said to Wu Liuqi, “This man is Zheng Wangye’s son; if we kill him, I am afraid the charge of ‘killing the master’ will fall upon Zongduozhu.”

Tian Di Hui was founded by Chen Yonghua under Zheng Chenggong’s [Koxinga’s real name] order. Chen Yonghua was the head of Tian Di Hui, but he was still an officer under the Taiwan’s Yanping Jun Wang. If the Society brothers killed Yanping Jun Wang’s son, although Chen Yonghua was not present, he would not escape responsibility.

Wu Liuqi thought he was right; pulling with both hands, he snapped the ropes binding Zheng Keshuang. Standing him up, Wu Liuqi shouted, “Get lost!” and threw him to the shore. Immediately Zheng Keshuang flew out as if he was soaring over the clouds or riding on the mists, crying out ‘wah, wah’ while still in the air; he must have expected that when he dropped, his muscle would be broken and his bones fractured. Who would have thought that as his butts landed on the ground, he slid over a grassy lawn? Although his body was aching from the shock, he was not injured at all. Quickly he crawled up and ran away. Wu Liuqi and Wei Xiaobao roared in laughter.

Ma Chaoxing said, “This fellow disgraced Guoxing Ye’s face.”

Wu Liuqi asked, “How did this fellow murder our Society brothers and harm our Zongduozhu?”

“It’s a long story,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Let’s go ashore, Xiongdi will tell Dage in details.” Looking at the horizon, he said, “There are black clouds over there, I am afraid heavy rain is coming; let us come ashore quickly.” A burst of strong wind came, it blew everybody’s clothes that it made rustling noise; they mouths and noses were blown by the wind.

Wu Liuqi said, “This storm will be most likely a big one, let us sail to the middle of the river, we can drink wine and talk in the midst of big wind, big rain; it must be very interesting.”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked; he hastily said, “This little boat may not be able to withstand the wind; if it capsized, won’t it be bad?”

Ma Chaoxing smiled. “No need to worry about that,” he said. Turning his head around, he gave the boatman some orders; the boatman complied, he went to the bow and raised the sail.

By this time the wind was picking up speed, the sail received the full force of the wind, like an arrow the boat sailed to the middle of the river. The waves billowed, the small boat went up and down abruptly, the water from the river splashed into the cabin. Wei Xiaobao bore the nickname ‘little white dragon’ in vain, since he did not have any water skill. While it’s true that he was still ‘little’, and by now his face was ‘white’ from the terror, apparently he had nothing to do with the character ‘dragon’.

Wu Liuqi laughed and said, “Wei Xiongdi, I don’t have any water skill either.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly surprised. “You can’t swim?” he asked.

Wu Liuqi shook his head, “I never learn,” he said, “As soon as I saw water, I am dizzy and light-headed.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Then … then why did you tell the boat to sail to the middle of the river?”

Wu Liuqi laughed and said, “Everything in the world, the more frightening it is, the more I wanted to try it. The worst that could happen is that the billow will overthrow the boat, then everybody will become Liujiang River ghosts; it’s not such a big deal. Besides, Ma Dage’s nickname is ‘Xijiang Divine Dragon[1]’; how excellent do you think his water skill is? Ma Dage, let us agree in advance: if the boat did capsize, you must rescue Wei Xiongdi first, and then rescue me next.”

Ma Chaoxing laughed. “Alright,” he said, “It’s a deal.” Wei Xiaobao felt slightly better.

Presently the wind and waves were getting stronger, the little boat was tossed around, sometimes it went up more than a zhang into the air, and then suddenly dropped straight down as if the boat was heading to the bottom of the river. Wei Xiaobao was thrown up, and then ‘bang!’ he landed heavily on the cabin’s floor. “My goodness; that was serious!” he cried out in a shrill voice.

The sail made a loud flapping noise, the rain poured down, followed by a burst of gale, blowing the lanterns on the bow and the stern of the boat off; the lantern inside the cabin also went off. Wei Xiaobao cried out again, “Aiyo, not good!” From inside the cabin he peered outside, and saw the surface of the river was white with the surging waves. The wind was strong, the rain heavy; there was grandeur in the power of nature.

“Xiongdi, don’t be afraid,” Ma Chaoxing said, “This storm is indeed violent, I will take the helm.” Walking to the stern, he shouted at the boatman, ordering them to go into the cabin. The storm was usually bad, the two boatmen had just reached the mast when they were blown by the wind that they nearly fell into the river. They held on to the mast tightly and did not dare to let go.

In the big storm, the boat was suddenly blown that it leaned to one side. Wei Xiaobao was thrown to the left; he screamed in terror, while in his heart he cursed, “This is the old beggar’s damned weird idea. You yourself don’t know how to swim, you don’t want to go someplace else to play, yet you are going to this gale and heavy rain in the river to play a joke? The wind is big the rain is big, your Mama’s belly is also big.”

The gale brought torrential rain with it. Burst after burst of rain invaded the cabin. Wei Xiaobao was already drenched from head to toe. Suddenly they heard loud crashing noise, the sail mast broke, the hull leaned to the side. Wei Xiaobao was thrown to the right. ‘Crash!’ his head bumped onto the small table. Suddenly he had a thought, “I have not been unfair to Hu Dage, why should I be drowned to death in Liujiang River today? Aiyo, that’s right, when I made that oath, I was having evil designs in my heart that someday I would cheat on him. Jade Emperor, Yan Wang of the Ten Palace, Guanyin Bodhisattva who helps those in distress, with all sincerity Wei Xiaobao wants to enjoy blessing and endure hardship together with Hu Dage. But what blessing would we enjoy together? If he marry Chen Yuanyuan … could it be that I will also …”

Amidst the wind and the rain, suddenly he heard Wu Liuqi opened his mouth and sang loudly, “Walking to the waterfront, the heart is filled with resentment, but to whom can I talk to? Old tears are blown by the wind, a lone city walls, the eyes piercing the distance hoping for a rescue, exerting all my strength to destroy the troops in bloody battle. Jumping out the tight encirclement, longing with grief of the old country, who knew the song would end leaving the bamboo mat empty? Along the Chang Jiang [Yangzte River], the head in Wu and tail in Chu in three thousand journeys, home exhausted the surname left behind, the rain turns over the cloud changes. Cold wave rolls up to the east, everything is handed over to the smoke in the air. The spirit moves in a prominently big way, the voice pursues the horizon where the sea meets the sky.”

The sound of singing was carried far on the surface of the river; although the wind and the rain were loud, they could not suppress his voice. From the stern Ma Chaoxing did not stop cheering. He called out, “What a good verse! The voice pursues the horizon where the sea meets the sky!”

Listening to him singing fervently, Wei Xiaobao did not understand what he was singing about. He cursed in his heart, “You have such a nice voice, why don’t you go up the stage and become an actor [orig. ‘hua mian’ – flowery/fancy face]? The Old Beggar, with a loud voice calls, ‘Master, Madame, please give alms some leftovers and cold rice’, then you won’t die hungry.”

Suddenly from the distance someone with a clear and resonant voice called out, “Throughout the ages the Southern Dynasties’ words were passed on, grieving heart and tears of blood scattered on mountains and plains.”

The call was coming from a very far distance, yet in the mid of storm it was heard very clearly; obviously that man’s internal energy was very profound. Wei Xiaobao was startled. He heard Ma Chaoxing called out, “Is that Zongduozhu? Xiongdi Ma Chaoxing here.”

“Precisely,” from the other side came the reply, “Is Xiaobao there?” It was indeed Chen Jinnan’s voice.

Wei Xiaobao was pleasantly surprised. “ Shifu,” he called out, “I am here.” But in that storm, how could his voice travel far?

Ma Chaoxing called out, “Wei Xiangzhu is here. We also have Great Obedience Hall’s Red Banner’s Wu Xiangzhu.”

“Wonderful!” Chen Jinnan replied, “No wonder he sang a song on the river, his voice resounding into the clouds.” From his voice it was evident that he was genuinely happy.

Wu Liuqi said, “Subordinate Wu Liuqi pays his respect to Zongduozhu.”

“We are all brothers here,” Chen Jinnan said, “No need to be polite.” His voice sounded closer, the boat he was riding was approaching fast.

The storm had not abated, from inside the cabin Wei Xiaobao looked out, the river was pitch black, with only a dot of light slowly moving on the river’s surface toward them, Chen Jinnan’s boat still had a lantern on it.

After quite a while, the lantern arrived near them. The bow of their boat sank slightly; Chen Jinnan had already jumped onboard. Wei Xiaobao thought, “Shifu is here, this time my little life will be saved.” He rushed toward the cabin entrance, but in the darkness he could not see Chen Jinnan’s face, so he only called out again, “Shifu!”

Chen Jinnan pulled his hand and dragged him back into the cabin. “This storm is really bad,” he said with a laugh, “Are you scared?”

“Not bad,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

Wu Liuqi and Ma Chaoxing also entered the cabin to pay their respect. Chen Jinnan said, “I went into the city, and was told that you went to the river, hence I came to look for you. I did not expect the storm to be this bad. If it were not for Wu Dage singing loudly, I would never found you.”

Wu Liuqi said, “Subordinate’s spirit was aroused, I was only incurring Zongduozhu’s ridicule through my poor performance.”

Chen Jinnan said, “We, brothers, match each other. The song Wu Dage sang, was it the ‘Sinking in the River’ from the play ‘Peach Blossom Fan’?”

“Precisely,” Wu Liuqi said, “This song was written about the history of Ge Bujing who loyally fought the enemy, and sacrificed himself by drowning in the river. Xiongdi usually love to listen to this song the most. This time the storm flared up on the river, I could not stop myself from singing it.”

“You sang very well,” Chen Jinnan praised, “Indeed very good.”

Wei Xiaobao mused, “Turns out this song is called ‘Sinking in the River’. Why didn’t you sing form a good play, but sang this bad luck play instead? If you want to sink into the river, please excuse Xiaodi for not keeping you company.”

Chen Jinnan said, “The other day on the Jiaxing boat, Zhejiang, I heard Mr. Huang Zongxi, Mr. Lu Liuliang, and Mr. Zha Yihuang, the three Jiangnan scholars telling me about Wu Xiong’s past achievements; Xiongdi was full of admiration. Although you and I are brothers of the same Society, Xiongdi has so many complicated businesses I need to take care of; all along I failed to pay you a visit in Guangdong. Wu Xiong’s capacity is unusual, you cannot come to the north either. Unexpectedly today we can be together here; this is indeed a great comfort in my life.”

Wu Liuqi said, “Ever since Xiongdi entered Tian Di Hui, there was not a day I did not wish to see Zongduozhu. There is a saying in Jianghu, ‘Whoever never knew Chen Jinnan, he calls himself a hero in vain.’ Starting today, I can call myself a hero. Ha ha, ha ha …”

Chen Jinnan said, “Jianghu friends praised me too much, I am really ashamed.”

The two of them were genuinely happy to see each other, there was instant bond between them as they talked freely about their long life’s aspiration; immediately they forgot the wind and the rain outside the boat.

After chatting for a while, the storm gradually subsided. Chen Jinnan asked about Wu Sangui’s affair, Wei Xiaobao told him everything in thrilling details, unavoidably he added spices and soy paste; as well as everything else they had been through, so that it was the first time even for Ma Chaoxing to hear about it. Chen Jinnan was very delighted to hear that they had obtained the Mongolian emissary Hantiemo, a conclusive proof that Wu Sangui would definitely raise arm to rebel. When he heard about Luocha Country was going to respond Wu Sangui from the north by seizing a large of territory outside the Pass, he could not help knitting his brows and did not say anything for half a day.

“Shifu,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Luocha Country people have red hair and green eyes, those we do not need to be afraid, at most we won’t look at their faces too much and that’s the end. Their firearms, however, are very formidable. When their guns explode, no matter what kind of hero or warrior you are, you won’t be able to withstand.”

“That is the reason I am worried,” Chen Jinnan replied, “Wu Sangui and the Tatars fighting each other until both sides suffer, that is exactly the golden opportunity bestowed by the Heaven to restore our Han people’s mountains and rivers. However, we drive the tiger out from the front door, and let the wolf come in from the back door. We drive away the Tatars, the Luocha Country, who is more ferocious that the Tatars, will come and occupy our beautiful rivers and mountains. How can that be good?”

Wu Liuqi asked, “Is there really nothing we can do to handle the Luocha Country’s firearms?”

---

[1] Orig. ‘Jiao’ – a legendary dragon with the ability to control rain and floods.

[foxs]

“There is one person,” Chen Jinnan replied, “I may introduce him to the two gentlemen.” Walking to the cabin’s mouth, he called, “Xingzhu, come over here.”

From the opposite boat someone replied, “Yes.” He leaped onboard and entered the cabin. He bowed slightly toward Chen Jinnan. This man was about forty years old, his stature was thin and small, his face carried a heroic expression.

Chen Jinnan said, “Please meet Wu Dage, Ma Dage. And this is my disciple, surnamed Wei.” The man bowed with cupped fist. Wu Liuqi and the others stood up and returned the propriety.

Chen Jinnan said, “This is Lin Xingzhu, Lin Xiongdi. He has been in Taiwan working with me, a very competent man. When Guoxing Ye defeated the red-haired devils in the past and captured Taiwan, Lin Xiongdi has rendered great merit.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Lin Dage has fought with the red-haired devils; that is very good. Luocha devils have firearms, the red-haired devils also have firearms. Lin Dage must have a way to deal with them.”

Wu Liuqi and Ma Chaoxing applauded together; they both said, “Wei Xiongdi’s brain is very quick.”

At first Wu Liuqi did not take Wei Xiaobao seriously, he thought that it was only because he was the Zongduozhu’s disciple that he achieved such a high position as the Xiangzhu of the Green Wood Hall. Although for the past few years the Green Wood Hall had accomplished not a few meritorious deeds, it was not necessarily because of this young fellow. Seeing him to be infatuated with Ah Ke, his despise was elevated by several degrees. However, this time he could not help but admiring him, “This little baby can see matters very quickly, he must have some ability.”

Chen Jinnan smiled and said, “When Guoxing Ye attacked Taiwan in the past, the red-haired devils’ firearms were very formidable, it was indeed extremely difficult to withstand. At that time we built earth embankment, encircling several thousands of the red-haired troops in the city. We cut the water supply to the city, so that they had no water to drink. The red-haired troops could not endure anymore, they charged out of the city. We did not fight during the day, we only engaged them at night. Xingzhu, why don’t you tell everybody how we fought the battle?”

Lin Xingzhu said, “Our Jun Shi’s [lit. army master – military strategist] divine strategy was very clever …” Chen Jinnan was serving Zheng Chenggong as his military strategist, and was able to render great merit, hence the armed forces called him the ‘Jun Shi’.

“Jun Shi?” Wei Xiaobao questioned. He saw Lin Xingzhu was looking at Chen Jinnan, his Shifu smiled; immediately he understood. “Ah,” he said, “Shifu, turns out you are Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Jun Shi defeated the rattan-armored troop, Chen Jun Shi defeated the red-haired troop.”

Lin Xingzhu said, “Guoxing Ye offered sacrifice on the river on the first day of the second month of Yong Li’s fifteenth year, leading all civil and military officials, personal guards and armed self-defense troops. They sailed on battleships, from Ke Luo Bay out to the ocean, and reached Penghu [county, Pescadores Islands, Taiwan] twenty-four days later. By the first of the fourth month they arrived at Taiwan’s Lu Er Men [lit. deer ears gate]. There was sandbar outside the Gate, several dozen li long, the red-haired troops drilled holes on their ship and scuttled it to block the harbor, our battleship could not enter. While we were at a loss of what to do that time, suddenly the tide sharply rose, the soldiers’ cry of joy shook the heavens, our battleships rode the water and went ashore at the naval base port. The red-haired troops opened fire. Guoxing Ye told everybody that if we retreated a single step and were driven back to the ocean, it would mean we die without a burial site. Although the red-haired devils’ firearm was formidable, everybody charged forward courageously. The troops followed the order together, with Jun Shi personally led the assault. Suddenly, there was an explosion by my ears, as if several hundreds or thousands thunderclap struck together, a row of the brothers in front fell down. We panicked and ran away.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “The first time I heard the red-haired gun exploded, I was also so scared that I collapsed and lost my mind.”

Lin Xingzhu said, “Just as I was moving my hands and feet in confusion like a fly without a head, I heard Jun Shi’s loud voice, ‘After red-haired devils fire their guns, they must reload the gunpowder and the bullet, everybody charge!’ I hastily led the brothers to charge forward. Sure enough, for a short while the red-haired devils could not open fire. However, we have just charged forward, the red-haired devils opened fire again. I immediately rolled down on the ground to evade, not a few brothers were killed. There was no other way; we were forced to retreat. The red-haired devils did not dare to pursue. Several hundred brothers died in this battle, we were all crestfallen. Thinking about the red-haired devils’ firearms, ‘our heart was alarmed, our flesh leaping’.”

“And then Jun Shi figured out an ingenious plan?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

“That’s right!” Lin Xingzhu shouted, “That evening, Jun Shi came to me and asked, ‘Lin Xiongdi, you are a disciple of Mount Wuyi’s [in Fujian] Di Tang [paradise terrestrial] School, are you not?’ I said yes. Jun Shi said, ‘When the red-haired devils opened fire earlier, you immediately rolled down on the ground; your movement was very nimble.’ I was extremely ashamed; I said, ‘Reporting to Jun Shi: Xiao Jiang [little/lowly general – referring to self] will not dare to be greedy for life, afraid of death anymore. In the battle tomorrow, I will definitely not dare to roll around to evade, and thus damaging our Great Ming’s officers and men’s power and prestige. Otherwise, you may just chop my head.’”

“Lin Dage,” Wei Xiaobao said, “My guess is that Jun Shi did not blame you for being greedy for life, afraid of death; he was praising the way you rolled around to evade as very good, and he wanted you to impart that skill to the other brothers.”

Chen Jinnan cast him a glance; there was a hint of smile on his face, apparently he was praising his disciple. Lin Xingzhu slapped his thigh and loudly said, “That’s right. You are Jun Shi’s disciple, indeed brilliant master produces brilliant student …”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “You are my Shifu’s subordinate, indeed there are no weak soldiers under a capable general.” Everybody laughed.

Lin Xingzhu continued, “That night Jun Shi indeed instructed me just that. He said, ‘You must not misunderstand my meaning. I think your Yan Qing [lit. swallow green] Eighteen Tumble, Flying Squirrel on the Grass’ style will be very useful; you can roll to the enemy, and then use the saber to hack their legs. How’s your mastery of Di Tang Saber Technique?’ When I heard that Jun Shi was not scolding me as a coward who was afraid to die, I was relieved. I said, ‘Reporting to Jun Shi: Xiao Jiang did practice some Di Tang Saber Technique. In the past Shifu told me that if I go into battle, I could roll forward and hack the enemy horse’ legs; but the red-haired devils do not ride on horses, I am afraid it is useless.’ Jun Shi said, ‘Although the red-haired devils do not ride horses, we can chop their legs; why can’t we?’ When I heard that, I suddenly saw the light. ‘Yes, yes,’ I repeatedly said, ‘Xiao Jiang’s brain did not work, I did not think about that.’”

Wei Xiaobao smiled; he mused, “Just because your Shifu told you that this saber technique could be used to chop horses’ legs, you assumed it cannot be used to chop people’s legs. Laoxiong’s [old fellow] brain is really not too bright.”

Lin Xingzhu said, “And then Jun Shi instructed me to demonstrate the saber technique. He praised my mastery as adequate, he said, ‘Your Di Tang School’s saber technique, if you had not had ten summers and winters worth of training, you would not have reached this level. But we must fight the battle tomorrow, if we want everybody to train, there won’t be enough time.’ I said, ‘Yes, Xiao Jiang’s training in this Di Tang School Saber Technique is not good, but I have indeed trained it for more than ten years.’ Jun Shi said, ‘We will catch-up by building earth embankment, and defend it with bow and arrow. You will immediately teach the soldiers and generals the technique of rolling and chopping the enemy’s legs. If everybody can learn only three or four styles, that will do. You should not need to teach them the profound martial art of Di Tang School.’ I accepted Jun Shi’s order, and that very same night I taught the troop of our own team. Early in the morning the next day, the red-haired devils attacked. We returned with bows and arrows. Our team had mastered five moves of the Di Tang Saber Technique, in turn they taught the officers and soldiers of other teams. Jun Shi also instructed everybody to cut down tree branches and tie them together as shields to keep off the red-haired troops’ lead bullets. Early morning the fourth day, the red-haired troops launched a large-scale attack. We went up to meet the enemy head-on. Rolling forward, we managed to completely rout the red-haired devils. The battlefield was littered with several hundred hairy legs. Even the head of the red-hairs, Chikan City’s garrison commander’s left leg was also chopped down. And thus this head of the red-haired devils surrendered. Afterwards, when we attacked the defense cities, we also used the same method.”

Ma Chaoxing happily said, “When we fight the war against the Luocha devils someday, we can use this skill to deal with them.”

“However,” Chen Jinnan said, “The situation is somewhat different. In those days, there were no more than three, four thousand red-haired troops in Taiwan; we kill one, their number decreases by one. If Luocha troops came to invade, at least there would be several tens of thousands people. If they come in a steady stream, we won’t be able to kill them all. What’s more, Di Tang Saber Technique can only be used in close combat. If Luocha troops used cannon to bombard us, it would be difficult to withstand.”

Wu Liuqi nodded his agreement. “In Jun Shi’s opinion, what should we do?” he asked. He noticed that when Chen Jinnan introduced him to Lin Xingzhu, he did not address Wu Liuqi as ‘Xiangzhu’; presumably because Lin Xingzhu did not belong to Tian Di Hui. Therefore, he also refrained from addressing Chen Jinnan as ‘Zongduozhu’.

Chen Jinnan said, “Our China’s land is vast and its people numerous; if there is no traitor who respond to them from the inside, it will be extremely difficult for foreigners to force their way in.”

“Precisely,” everybody said, “The Tatars occupies our rivers and mountains, they were entirely dependent upon that traitor Wu Sangui to lead the way.”

Chen Jinnan said, “Nowadays Wu Sangui is colluding with the Luocha Country. When he deploys his troops to rebel, in one vigorous effort we must try to destroy him first. If Luocha Country does not have anybody inside to respond, they will not invade rashly.”

Ma Chaoxing said, “But if Wu Sangui is defeated too quickly, he won’t fight the Tatars until both sides suffer.”

“That is also correct,” Chen Jinnan said, “But in term of formidable power, Luocha people are more dreadful than the Tatars.”

“That’s right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Tatars also have yellow skin, black eyes and flat nose; not much different than us. Their language is also similar. Foreign devils have red hair and green eyes, plus they talk gibberish; who could understand?”

They discussed the affair of the country for a while. The sky gradually brightened, the storm had also abated. Ma Chaoxing said, “Everybody’s clothes are wet, please come ashore and drink a cup to drive the cold away.”

“Very well,” Chen Jinnan said.

The storm had blown the boat more than thirty li; by the time they returned to Luizhou, it was already almost noon. They all disembarked from the same dock they left. They saw someone rushed over and called out, “Xianggong [young master], you … you are back.” It was none other than Shuang’er. Her whole body was dripping wet, but her face looked happy.

“Why are you here?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Shuang’er replied, “There was a big storm last night, and you were travelling by boat; I was really worried. I only hoped Xianggong would come back sooner safe and sound.”

“And you have been waiting here all along?” Wei Xiaobao asked in surprise.

“Yes,” Shuang’er replied, “I … I … was worried …”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Worried that the boat I ride on would sink?”

Shuang’er said in a low voice, “I know your luck is good, your boat can’t possibly sink, but … but …”

A boatman standing nearby on the dock said with a laugh, “This young master, late at night last night, when the storm was the fiercest, wanted to hire our boat to go to the river, saying that he must look for someone. At first he offered fifty taels, nobody took it. And then he offered a hundred taels. Zhang Laosan [ol’ Zhang the third] was greedy for the money; he agreed. But as they were about to set sail, ‘crack!’ the storm blew his mast and broke it. When that happened, nobody dared to go. He was so anxious that he could only cry.”

Wei Xiaobao’s heart was touched; he grabbed Shuang’er’s hands and said, “Shuang’er, you are very good to me.” Shuang’er blushed, and lowered her head.

The party arrived at Ma Chaoxing’s temporary lodging and changed their clothes there. Chen Jinnan instructed Ma Chaoxing to send his people out to investigate Zheng Gongzi and Feng Xifan’s whereabouts. Ma Chaoxing complied. He sent his people to investigate, and then he reported the Latter Family Hall’s business.

Ma Chaoxing prepared a banquet and asked Chen Jinnan to sit on the seat of honor, with Wu Liuqi sat on the seat next to him. He asked Wei Xiaobao to sit on the third seat, but Wei Xiaobao said, “Lin Dage broke through Taiwan, Di Tang Saber chopped the red-hair’s ham. He has established such a great merit, even if Xiongdi has to stand up to accompany him drinking, I am most willing. This kind of hero, how could Xiongdi dare to sit above him?” He pulled Lin Xingzhu and had him sit on the third seat. Lin Xingzhu was greatly delighted; he thought that although Jun Shi’s disciple was young, he was truly a good friend.

After the banquet was over, the four Tian Di Hui men gathered in the side room to discuss official business. “Xiaobao,” Chen Jinnan said, “You have an important matter at hand, this time we, master and disciple, still cannot be together too long. Tomorrow you may head north.”

“Yes,” Wei Xiaobao said, “It’s a pity that this time I cannot listen too much to Shifu’s instruction. Actually, I also wanted to listen to Wu Dage’s heroic exploits, but I have to wait until Wu Sangui is defeated before I can listen to his story.”

Wu Liuqi laughed and said, “Your Wu Dage does not have any heroic exploits. In all my life, I have actually committed not a few bad things. If not for Mr. Zha Yihuang giving me a lesson, I would have still acted as an accomplice to the tiger, haplessly giving my life for the Tatars.”

Wei Xiaobao took out the foreign-made gun presented by Wu Sangui as a gift, and said to Wu Liuqi, “Wu Dage, you have travelled far to see Xiongdi, I really can’t thank you enough. Please take this Luocha Country’s gun as a souvenir.” Actually, Wu Sangui gave him a pair. When Wei Xiaobao was rescuing Mu Jianping, he gave the other one to Xia Guoxiang as a proof. And then in his rush to leave Yunnan, he did not have time to ask it back.

Wu Liuqi thanked him and received the gun. He packed the gunpowder and installed a bullet in it. Igniting the fuse, he aimed the gun toward the front courtyard. There was a spark, followed by a loud bang; the green flagstone on the front courtyard shattered, fragments of stone flew everywhere. Everybody was scared.

Chen Jinnan knitted his brows, thinking, “Luocha Country’s firearms are surprisingly this sharp; if they send troops to invade, it would be really hard to stop them.”

Wei Xiaobao took out four sheets of five thousand taels banknote, and gave them to Ma Chaoxing; he said with a laugh, “Ma Dage, I will have to bother you to invite your precious Hall’s brothers to drink a cup of wine.”

Ma Chaoxing laughed and said, “Twenty thousand taels? Might be too much. Even if we drink for three years, there will still be some left over.” He thanked him and accepted the gift.

Wei Xiaobao kneeled down in front of Chen Jinnan to take his leave. Chen Jinnan reached out to help him up; he patted Wei Xiaobao’s shoulder and said with a laugh, “You are very good, you become Chen Jinnan’s disciple not in vain.”

Wei Xiaobao stood close to him, he could see him clearly; he saw both sides of his temples were graying, his countenance was thin and pallid. Wei Xiaobao thought that his Shifu was always on the go in Jianghu over the past few years, braving the wind and frost and hardships; he could not help but was grieved, and wanted very much to give something to him. He mused, “Shifu does not want money; jewels, curios or toys he also does not like. Shifu’s martial art skill is superb, he won’t want my dagger or precious clothes.” Suddenly he said on impulse, “Shifu, there is something I need to report to you, Senior.”

Knowing that those two, master and disciple had something to discuss, Wu Liuqi and Ma Chaoxing withdrew.

[foxs]

Wei Xiaobao reached into his inner pocket, the one closest to his flesh, and took a package. Untying the string outside the package, he uncovered a layer of oilcloth, and then inside there were two more layers of wax paper. Finally he showed the pieces of sheepskin he took from the cover of the eight copies of the Forty-two-chapter Sutra. “Shifu,” he said, “Disciple does not have anything to show filial respect to you, Senior; please accept this package of skin pieces.”

Chen Jinnan was greatly astonished. “What are those?” he asked.

Thereupon Wei Xiaobao told him everything about the history of these pieces of skin. The more Chen Jinnan listened, the more his face turned serious. He heard about the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, Oboi, the Great Lama of Tibet, the one-armed nun Jiu Nan, the Cult Leader of Divine Dragon Cult, and the others, people with special background, not one of those people did not rack their brains trying to get these pieces of skin. He heard about the secret hidden in these skins involving Manchurian Qing Tatars’ dragon vein and large amount of treasure. Not even in his wildest dream would he think about these things. He questioned Wei Xiaobao in details, and Wei Xiaobao told him everything. Naturally some details, like the Cult Leader of Divine Dragon Cult taught him some moves, and that he bowed to Jiu Nan to take her as his Shifu, were skipped.

Chen Jinnan was deep in thought for half a day. Finally he said, “This package is really no small matter; we, master and disciple, could lead the brothers of our Society to dig the Tatars’ dragon vein, take out the treasure, send the troops in an uprising; this is indeed an amazing merit of our age. However, I am about to return to Taiwan to appear before Wangye. If I carry this package with me on the sea back and forth, I am afraid I might lose it. For the time being you’d better keep it. When I am back from Taiwan, I am going to Beijing to see you, and then we will attempt to do this important matter together.”

“Alright!” Wei Xiaobao said, “In that case, Shifu, please come to Beijing as quickly as possible.”

“Don’t worry,” Chen Jinnan said, “I won’t stay a moment longer. Xiaobao, your Shifu has been rushing about all his life, for the sake of conspiring to restore the Ming. I see it with my own eyes that as the days go by, the previous dynasty is gradually fading from the common people’s mind. The Tatars’ young emperor is running the administration very properly; the great undertaking is getting more and more uncertain. Unexpectedly Wu Sangui is finally going to raise the troops in rebellion, plus you obtained this buried treasure map. This is indeed a huge favorable turn of events.” Speaking to this point, his countenance brightened considerably.

His facial features were actually elegant, but he always appeared to be filled with concerns. This moment his spirit was greatly aroused, Wei Xiaobao was very happy to look at him.

“How is the poison in your body?” Chen Jinnan asked, “Is it better?”

“Disciple has taken the antidote given by Shen Long Jiao’s Hong Jiaozhu,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “The poison is completely neutralized.”

“That’s very good,” Chen Jinnan happily said, “You are bearing the ten-thousand catty of great responsibility of fighting the Qing restoring the Ming on your shoulders, in everything you must take a good care of yourself.” While saying that, he put his hands on Wei Xiaobao’s shoulder.

“Yes,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Disciple is a hideous mess, I don’t understand anything. Obtaining these pieces of skin is no more than stroke of luck. Each time it was just like I was being the banker, eating the bounty of the family for free. Heaven’s pole eats heaven’s pole, departing ten eats departing ten; winning is very easy.”

Chen Jinnan smiled. “When you get back to Beijing,” he said, “Bolt your door and close your window at night, slowly piece these skins together, construct the map, and then record the map firmly in your mind, memorize it well. After you can remember it without any mistake, disassemble the pieces of skin, divide it into seven or eight packages, and hide them in different places. Xiaobao, there will always be good things and bad things about someone’s luck; you can’t expect to always have propitious wind throughout the journey. In such an important matter like this, we must not depend on good luck alone.”

“Shifu is right,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Just like when I play Pai Jiu and become the banker, until now I have won eight plays; if I happen to lose and have to compensate, this package of pieces of skin might be taken away by other people, won’t that be a total defeat of an army, a leveling off of my bank? Therefore, after successively winning eight plays, I have to stop being the banker.”

Chen Jinnan thought that this child’s gambling character was really strong. He smiled and said, “It’s good that you understand this logic. Winning or losing in gambling is not a big deal. In the important matter we are planning, even if we have to deliver our lives, it is also a common matter. But the object in this package involves the lives and properties of million upon millions of people in the world; you must absolutely not lose it.”

“That’s right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “After I won, I brought the money home, and hid it under my bed. I would chop my finger so that I cannot gamble anymore; that way I will never lose.”

Chen Jinnan walked to the window and looked up to the sky. “Xiaobao,” he softly said, “After hearing this news, even if I had to die immediately, my heart is very happy.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “When I saw Shifu in the former days, he was always in high spirit; why is it this time he is always thinking of dying?” He said, “Shifu, whatever it is that you have to attend to at the Yanping Wang palace, your heart is not too happy; is that right?”

Chen Jinnan turned around with a surprised look on his face. “How do you know?” he asked.

Wei Xiaobao replied, “I can see that Shifu does not appear to be very happy. But I know that in this world, even more difficult things, you have never taken it to your heart. All heroes and warriors of Jianghu are also holding you in high regards. I think that you are not afraid of even the Emperor himself. Throughout the world, only Zheng Wangye, one person, could give you reason to worry.”

Chen Jinnan sighed. After half a day of silence, he said, “Wangye has always treated me with respect, plus he relies on me heavily.”

“Um, it must be that fellow Zheng Er Gongzi [second young master] who put on damned obnoxious airs and offended you,” Wei Xiaobao said.

“In the past,” Chen Jinnan said, “Guoxing Ye’s kindness to me was as heavy as the mountain. I have early on pledged my life to repay it, to bend to a task and spare no effort in attending to his Zheng family’s matters until the day I die. Zheng Er Gongzi is young, he may have said some improper things to me, but I do take it to heart. Wangye’s heir apparent is wise and loves the people, but he is born of a concubine.”

Wei Xiaobao did not understand, “What do you mean ‘he is born of a concubine’?”

“That means he was not born to the Wangfei [wife of a ‘king’, I guess the western equivalent would be a duchess],” Chen Jinnan explained.

“Ah, I understand,” Wei Xiaobao said, “He was born of Wangye’s mistress.”

Chen Jinnan felt that Wei Xiaobao’s wording was too vulgar, but remembering that he was uneducated, he did not care too much. “Right,” he said, “In the past, Guoxing Ye’s death was also closely related to this issue, for this reason Wangtaifei [mother of the ‘king’] did not like the heir apparent very much. She repeatedly told Wangye to depose the heir apparent, and set up the Er Gongzi as the heir apparent.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head vehemently and said, “Er Gongzi is a useless muddle head, and he fears death; that won’t do! This fellow is a scoundrel, useless, a damned b@stard son of a b1tch. The other day he was trying to kill Shifu, you, Senior.”

Chen Jinnan’s countenance sank slightly. “Xiaobao,” he reprimanded, “Clean your mouth a bit! Didn’t that mean you were cursing Wangye?”

“Ah!” Wei Xiaobao exclaimed, while pressing his hand over his mouth. “I deserve to die!” he said, “I must not curse people with these three characters ‘wang ba dan’ [s.o.b.] casually.”

Chen Jinnan said, “Comparing those two young masters, in everything Er Gongzi cannot surpass his Gege; only his facial features are smart, his mouth is sweet, he knows how to make his [paternal] grandmother happy …”

Wei Xiaobao slapped his thigh. “That’s right,” he said, “Womenfolk don’t know anything; seeing a pretty boy who knows how to flatter, they thought he is a treasure.”

Chen Jinnan did not know Wei Xiaobao was referring to Ah Ke. He shook his head and said, “Wangye has not agreed to change the heir apparent. All the civil and military officials are also urging Wangye not to change his mind. Consequently, while it’s true that these two young masters have become estranged, oftentimes Taifei and Wangye, mother and child, are also in disagreement with each other over this matter. Sometimes when Taifei is angry, she would summon us to vent her anger.”

“This old …” Wei Xiaobao started; he was about to say ‘old wh0re’, three characters [lao biao zi], but managed to stop just in time. Hastily he changed his statement, “When elderly ladies [orig. lao tai tai] grow old, they become muddleheaded. Shifu, since you cannot solve the Zheng family problem and you cannot offend them, you might as well let each of them sweeping the snow from their own front door, don’t care if there is frost on the tiles of their roof.”

Chen Jinnan sighed, “My life is no longer mine,” he said, “I have already sold it to Guoxing Ye long time ago. In this life, when you receive kindness you ought to repay. In the past Guoxing Ye has entrusted our country’s territory to me, I should be responsible for our country’s territory to repay him. Presently the number of capable people by Wangye’s side is diminishing with each passing day, I simply cannot cultivate my own moral worth and abandoning him. Ay! The great undertaking is difficult. All I can do is to let this matter runs its own course.” Speaking to this point, he sounded like he had lost any enthusiasm.

Wei Xiaobao wanted to say something to console him, but momentarily he did not know what to say. After a while he said, “Yesterday we were originally going to …” while saying that, he raised his hand and ran it across his neck, “… with one knife cutting that Zheng Keshuang into two, to get rid of him completely. But Ma Dage said that if we do that, we may make Shifu lose your standing, you would be charged with something like ‘tearing the master’ [si zhu] accusation.”

“Yes, ‘killing the master’ [shi zhu],” Chen Jinnan said, “Ma Xiongdi is absolutely right. If you killed Zheng Gongzi, how could I have the face to see Wangye? Another day in the next world [orig. nine springs], I will have no face to see Guoxing Ye.”

“Shifu,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Why don’t you take me to see this Wangtaifei of the Zheng Family? Disciple has various techniques to deal with this kind of elderly lady.” He thought that since he managed to deal with the fake empress dowager, that even the real Empress Dowager was very obedient to him, dealing with one Wangtaifei should not be any problem.

Chen Jinnan smiled and said, “Don’t fool around!” Holding Wei Xiaobao’s hand, he took him out of the room.

[Book note[1]: Taiwan’s Yanping Jun Wang Zheng Jing’s eldest son, Keshang, was Chen Yonghua’s son-in-law; he was a resolute and decisive man. Zheng Jing appointed him as the heir apparent, and to act as the Regent in military campaigns. As Keshang solidify his power and win public approval, his numerous [younger] uncles and [younger] brothers became resentful of him. They made up a story that his mother pregnancy was with certain Butcher Li. After the deaths of Zheng Jing and Chen Yonghua, Keshang murdered Dong Taifei and his numerous [younger] brothers.]

Immediately Wei Xiaobao took his leave from his Shifu, Wu Liuqi and Ma Chaoxing. Wu and Ma, two people, walked him to the door.

“Wei Xiongdi,” Wu Liuqi said, “Your little servant girl, Shuang’er, I have sworn brotherhood with her, we are now brother and sister.”

Wei Xiaobao and Ma Chaoxing were stunned. They turned their head to look at Shuang’er, and saw her looking down, but her cheeks were blushing; she looked extremely bashful.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Wu Dage is very good at making jokes.”

With a serious expression Wu Liuqi said, “It’s not a joke. My Yi Mei [foster/sworn younger sister] is loyal, righteous and brave; she surpasses men. She is precisely the woman of our generation. As her Gege, I respect her very much. I saw how you swear brotherhood with the ‘Hundred Victory Saber King’ Hu Yizhi; your brotherhood is very strong. I wanted to follow suit, thereupon I wanted to become the sworn brother of Shuang’er. She said she did not want to, no matter what, saying that she could not climb the social ladder. I told her I am an old beggar, what climbing or descending social ladder? I simply must swear brotherhood with her. She had no choice but to comply.”

Ma Chaoxing said, “So when the two of you had a private discussion in that room a moment ago, you were talking about this brotherhood.”

“Exactly,” Wu Liuqi said, “Shuang’er Meizi [younger sister, term of endearment] told me not to say anything about this. Ha ha … becoming sworn brother and sister is just and honorable; why can’t I tell anybody?”

Only after listening to him did Wei Xiaobao realize that he was not joking. He looked at Wu Liuqi, and then he looked at Shuang’er, he felt it was very strange.

“Wei Xiongdi,” Wu Liuqi said, “From now on you must view this Yi Mei of mine in a new light. If you offend her, I will make life difficult for you.”

“No … that’s impossible,” Shuang’er busily said, “Xianggong, he … he treats me very well.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “With a Dage like you supporting her, even the Jade Emperor, the old man Yanluo [Yama, King of Hell] would not dare to offend her.” The three of them roared in laughter. They cupped their fists across their chests and bade farewell.

Returning to their temporary lodging, Wei Xiaobao asked Shuang’er about the sworn brotherhood business. Shuang’er was very bashful, she said, “That Wu … Wu Ye [master] …”

“What Wu Ye?” Wei Xiaobao cut her off, “Dage is Dage; you have sworn brotherhood with him, don’t tell me it did not count.”

“Yes,” Shuang’er said, “He said that in his opinion, I am not bad; hence he was determined to become sworn brother and sister with me.” From her pocket she took out the gun and said, “He said that he did not bring anything good with him; this gun was presented by Xianggong as a gift to him. In turn, he gave this to me. Xianggong, please take it to defend yourself.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his hand repeatedly; he said, “It was a gift from your Dage, how can you return it to me?”

Remembering Wu Liuqi’s conducts had always been beyond other people’s expectation, he could not help but clicking his tongue in wonder; he also thought, “His name is ‘Liuqi’ [six strange/wonderful/weird]; no wonder, no wonder! I wonder what are the other five?”

The party slowly headed back to the Capital. Along the way Jiu Nan taught Wei Xiaobao a boxing technique, and told him to practice. But Wei Xiaobao was unstable and jumpy, no matter what he just could not concentrate on learning martial art. Jiu Nan told him to demonstrate in her presence, but from her disciple’s stance and style, she could tell that he had not learned even half a part of real martial art. She sighed and said, “Although you and I have a master-disciple relationship, but looking at your temper, frankly you are not a martial art practitioner material. Very well, let’s do it this way: our Tie Jian Men [Iron Sword School] have a skill called ‘Shen Xing Bai Bian’ [divine line hundred changes], it was created by my Enshi [benevolent master] Priest Mu Sang. It is the chief among the qinggong skills in the world. This type of qinggong needs profound internal energy as its foundation that even you will not be able to comprehend. You don’t have even one school’s skill on you; someday when you meet a danger, how would you deal with it? I have no choice but to teach you a technique with which you can escape.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he said, “When the soles of the feet can rub oil, fighting is nothing to worry about. If Shifu teach me the technique to escape, definitely no one can overtake me.”

Jiu Nan smiled and said, “‘Shen Xing Bai Bian’ is incomparable in the world, in those days its prestige shook Wulin, yet now you only want to use it to rub oil on your feet. If under the ground Enshi knew, he would not want to acknowledge a lacking-prospect grand-disciple like you. However, apart from this, I have no other skill to pass on to you that you can learn.”

---

[1] This book note does not exist in the book (3^rd edition), but it does in the online text (2^nd edition).

[foxs]

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Shifu accepted a lacking-prospect disciple like me, you have already shown great favor. However, in gambling there are winning and there are losing; this time Shifu’s luck is no good and thus have accepted this kind of disciple. It can be considered that you have lost big. Laotianye has eyes; He will bless Shifu so that in the future Shifu will win eight plays in a row, you will accept eight good disciples whose prestige will shake the world.”

Jiu Nan let out a ‘hey, hey’ laugh; she patted his shoulder and said, “Those with good martial art skill are not necessarily good people. You don’t like learning martial art, it was your inborn nature; we can’t force it. Other than your glib tongue, you can be considered my good disciple.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted, there was a burst of excitement bubbling up in his heart, and on impulse he wanted to give the sheepskin pieces to Jiu Nan; but then he thought, “I have already given these skin pieces to my man Shifu, I can’t give it to my woman Shifu as well. Fortunately both Shifu wish to drive the Tatars away, to recover our Han people’s rivers and mountains, it does not matter if I give it to one or the other.”

Thereupon Jiu Nan explained a little bit of the stance and footwork of the ‘Shen Xing Bai Bian’ that did not require any internal energy foundation. Strange things happened. Generally, when he learned fist technique or palm technique, he would dabble and stop, and was unwilling to train diligently. Toward this escape technique, however, he showed great interest. The whole journey he learned it with keen interest; as soon as he was free, he would practice. Sometimes he would ask Xu Tianchuan, whose qinggong was outstanding, to chase him around, while he would run to the east and flee to the west to evade. Seeing his marvelous movements, Xu Tianchuan was quite impressed. Initially Xu Tianchuan was able to overtake him several times, but as Jiu Nan continuously imparted new tricks, by the time they reached Zhili’s border, no matter what Xu Tianchuan was not able to catch him anymore.

Seeing that Wei Xiaobao seemed to have a predestined affinity to the ‘Shen Xing Bai Bian’ qinggong, Jiu Nan herself was also greatly amazed. She said, “Looks like you were born with a natural talent in ‘escaping without a trace’.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Disciple’s training is inadequate. The ‘Shen Xing Bai Bian’ has become the ‘Shen Xing Mo You’ [divine line rubbing oil]; in the end it was not a total failure.”

He poured a bowl of fresh tea and presented it with both hands to Jiu Nan. “Shifu,” he asked, “Since Shizu [ancestor master] Priest Mu Sang has passed away, in the world today, you, Senior, are the number one in martial art?”

Jiu Nan shook her head. “I am not,” she said, “How can I dare to make the claim those six characters ‘the world’s number one martial artist’ [tian xia wu gong di yi] without justification?” She cast her glance outside the window and grimly said, “There is someone who deserves the title ‘the world’s number one martial artist’.”

“Who is that?” Wei Xiaobao hastily asked, “Disciple surely must call to pay my respect.”

“He … he …” Jiu Nan said; suddenly her eyes reddened and she stopped talking.

“Who is this Senior?” Wei Xiaobao asked, “If by fate someday disciple is able to meet him, I will respectfully kowtow several times to him.”

Jiu Nan waved her hand, telling him to get out. Wei Xiaobao was very baffled; he slowly stepped out, while thinking, “Shifu’s expression is very strange. Could it be that this ‘number one martial artist in the world’ was her old lover?”

At this moment Jiu Nan’s mind was precisely on Yuan Chengzhi, who was ten-thousand li away across the sea. She had fallen in love to Yuan Chengzhi, but Yuan Chengzhi’s feeling toward her was different. For more than twenty years this feeling had been buried deep at the bottom of her heart, but this time it had resurfaced due to Wei Xiaobao’s provocation.

The next day he came to Jiu Nan’s room to pay his respect, but she had already left, and left only a brief note. Wei Xiaobao took the note and asked Xu Tianchuan to read it for him, it says, ‘Do your best’ [hao zi wei zhi], four characters. Wei Xiaobao felt a twang of heaviness in his heart; he mused, “I asked Shifu yesterday about ‘the world’s number one martial artist’; is it possible that my question have offended her?”

One day the party arrived in Beijing. Princess Jianning and Wei Xiaobao went to have an audience with the Emperor together. Kangxi had already received the memorial to the throne, and had issued an imperial decree to allow Wu Yingxiong to come to the Capital to conclude the wedding ceremony. Upon seeing his younger sister and Wei Xiaobao, his heart was very happy.

Princess Jianning threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around Kangxi. Bursting into tears, she said, “That fellow Wu Yingxiong bullied me.”

Kangxi laughed and said, “That fellow is this brazen, let me spank his bottom later. How did he bully you?”

The Princess cried, “You ask Xiao Guizi. He bullied me, he bullied me! Huangdi Gege [big brother emperor], you must back me up.” While crying, she repeatedly stomped her foot.

Kangxi laughed and said, “Alright, why don’t you go back to your room and take a rest. I will ask Xiao Guizi.”

Early on Princess Jianning and Wei Xiaobao had decided on how they were going to report Wu Yingxiong’s rudeness when they saw Kangxi. As soon as the Princess withdrew, Wei Xiaobao then told Kangxi in details.

Kangxi frowned, he listened quietly until Wei Xiaobao finished. After pondering for half a day, he suddenly said, “Xiao Guizi, you are very brazen!”

Wei Xiaobao jumped in fright. “Your servant does not dare,” he said hastily.

“You are in cahoots with the Princess, you dare to deceive me,” Kangxi said.

“I did not,” Wei Xiaobao said, “How can your servant dare to deceive Your Majesty?”

Kangxi said, “Wu Yingxiong being rude to the Princess, you did not see it with your own eyes. How could you report to me in this way based on the Princess’s one-sided statement?”

Wei Xiaobao mused, “My goodness, this is serious. The young Emperor is very formidable; he is able to look through the flaw.” Busily he kneeled down and kowtowed, saying, “Your Majesty can see clearly for ten-thousand li. As how Wu Yingxiong was being rude to the Princess, your servant indeed did not see it with my own eyes; but at that time there were many people standing outside the Princess’ window. Everybody could hear it with our own ears.”

“That is even worse,” Kangxi said, “This man Wu Yingxiong, I have met him twice. He is competent and efficient, a talented individual. Plus he is not too young, I don’t know how many good-looking concubines he had in his house; how could he have the audacity to be arrogant and treated the Princess impolitely? Humph, do you think I don’t know the Princess’ temperament? It must be that she had some disagreement with Wu Yingxiong, and she cut … she cut his damned eggs.” Speaking to this point, he could not help but bursting in laughter.

Wei Xiaobao also laughed; he stood up and said, “It’s not convenient for the Princess to tell this kind of matter in details; your servant naturally did not dare to ask too much. Whatever Princess said, that was what your servant reported.”

Kangxi nodded. “You are right,” he conceded. “This fellow Wu Yingxiong has been wronged. Go pass on my edict, tell them to select an auspicious date to conclude the wedding in the Capital. After a full month, they may return to Yunnan.”

“Your Majesty,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Concluding the wedding is not a big deal, that fellow Wu Sangui is about to rebel, you must not let the Princess return to Yunnan.”

Kangxi remained calm and collected; he simply nodded and said, “So Wu Sangui is about to rebel. What did you see?”

Thereupon Wei Xiaobao told in details how Wu Sangui colluded with Tibet, Mongolia, Luocha Country and Divine Dragon Cult. Kangxi listened with serious expression, he was deep in thought and did not say anything. After quite a while, he finally said, “That traitor! Unexpectedly he is colluding with that many foreign powers!”

Wei Xiaobao knew early on that this matter is extremely thorny; hence he did not dare to make a sound.

After a while, Kangxi asked again, “And then what happened?”

Wei Xiaobao told him that they had captured the Mongolian Prince’s emissary. He recounted how he pretended to be Wu Sangui’s younger son and swindle the emissary into spilling everything; how Wu Yingxiong wanted to seize Hantiemo back by setting the Princess’ dwelling on fire, but suffered castration instead; how Wei Xiaobao sent the troops under his command to masquerade as the Palace’s guards, and fight in a brothel over some beauties, and thus gave the impression that they killed Hantiemo.

Kangxi was listening leisurely while stretching on his chair; he said, “That’s much more fun.” He continued, “This man Wu Sangui, I have never seen him. That day there was news spreading in the Palace that when Fu Huang [father emperor] returned to Heaven, Wu Sangui led a massive military force to the Capital to offer sacrifice. I wanted to go see him, several regent ministers wanted to guard against him entering the Capital with his soldiers and suddenly revolted; therefore, they told him to mourn and offer sacrifice outside Beijing, they did not allow him to enter Beijing’s city walls.”

Speaking to this point, he stood up, paced back and forth, and said, “That servant Oboi failed to see this matter clearly. If he was worried that Wu Sangui would enter the Capital and revolt, he only need to issue a decree granting them, father and son, to enter the Capital to worship, while his large army must remain outside the city; what could he possibly achieve? If he did not dare to enter the City, that means his etiquette was lacking. By not allowing him to enter the city, the message was clear: ‘We are afraid of your large army, we are afraid that you will enter the Capital and revolt. You must not come in!’ Hey, hey, it was a display of utmost weakness! Wu Sangui must know that the imperial court is suspicious and jealous of him and also afraid of him; how can he not know? Perhaps his rebellion scheme was born because of this incident.”

Listening to Kangxi’s detailed analysis, Wei Xiaobao’s admiration grew from the bottom of his heart. “Supposing he saw Your Majesty that time,” he said, “Your Majesty could enlighten him well, maybe he would not dare to revolt.”

Kangxi shook his head. “At that time I was too young,” he said, “I did not understand military and national affairs. If I did see him, I would not have any formidable things to say to him, he might rise in rebellion sooner.” And then he inquired in details Wu Sangui’s appearance and mannerism. He also asked, “About that white tiger skin in his study, what exactly is that?”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly surprised; he described the appearance of the white tiger skin, and then said, “Even small matter like that Your Majesty also knows.”

Kangxi smiled, but did not say anything. He then asked about Wu Sangui’s troops and horses deployment, about the temperament and talent of the ten great zongbing [regional commander] under Wu Sangui’s employment. In these questions, he seemed to have a detailed knowledge of Wu Sangui’s situation; he knew which great general under Wu Sangui was greedy for money, which one was given to lust, which one was courageous, which one was muddleheaded. He clearly understood everything.

Wei Xiaobao was already stunned, now he was full of admiration. “Your Majesty,” he said, “You have not been to Yunnan, yet you know about Ping Xi Wang Mansion’s inside situation better than your servant.” He suddenly realized, “Ah, right, you must have sent not a few spies to Kunming.”

Kangxi laughed and said, “This is called ‘know yourself, know your enemy, emerge victorious in every battle’. He wholeheartedly wants to rebel, do you think we will simply ignore him? Xiao Guizi, your merit this time is very big, you managed to verify Wu Sangui’s collusion with Tibet, Mongolia and Luocha Country. My spies are not able to uncover this big secret. They can only find minor matters, but cannot investigate important matters.”

Wei Xiaobao felt the bones in his body were considerably lighter. “This is all due to Your Majesty’s flood of good fortune fills the heavens,” he said.

Kangxi said, “Bring that Hantiemo into the Palace; let me interrogate him personally.” Wei Xiaobao complied. Leading ten Imperial Bodyguards, he brought Hantiemo to the Upper Study Room.

As soon as Kangxi saw him, he started questioning him in Mongolian. Hantiemo was surprised to hear his native tongue Mongolian was spoken, but he also felt warmness in his heart. Seeing the grandeur of the Palace, he no longer dared to cover up the truth, he told Kangxi everything he wanted to know ‘in fives and tens’.

Kangxi interrogated him for more than four hours; other than about the collusion between Mongolia and Wu Sangui, he also asked in detail about Mongolian military strength and disposition, the monetary, grain and production situation, the mountain and river topography, local conditions and customs, as well as various Mongolian ruling class, the princes and dukes: who were astute, who were mediocre, who had enmity with whom, and who had close relationship with whom.

All along Wei Xiaobao was waiting on Kangxi on the side, listening to these two people talking gibberish incessantly. He saw sometimes Hantiemo looked impressed, some other times he looked afraid, until finally he went down on his knees and kowtowed repeatedly, as if he was expressing a deep gratitude. And then Kangxi ordered an Imperial Bodyguard to take Hantiemo back to prison.

A little eunuch delivered a bowl of ginseng soup. Kangxi received it and drank it. He said to the little eunuch, “Pour another bowl for Wei Fu Zongguan [deputy chief].” Wei Xiaobao kowtowed to express his gratitude for the kindness shown, and drank the soup.

They heard the sound of footsteps outside the Study Room. A little eunuch appeared and said, “Reporting to Your Majesty: Nan Huairen[1] and Tang Ruowang[2] are here to serve Your Majesty.” Kangxi nodded. The little eunuch called out the notification. Two big and tall foreigners came in, kneeled down and kowtowed before Kangxi.

Wei Xiaobao was greatly surprised; he mused, “How come we have foreign devils in the Palace? This is really strange.”

After doing their obeisance, the two foreigners both took a scroll from their bosom, and placed the scrolls on Kangxi’s desk. The younger one, the foreigner by the name of Nan Huairen said, “Your Majesty, we are going to discuss about the shooting of the cannon today.”

Wei Xiaobao could hear Beijing dialect in his speech, sharp, clear and fluent; he could not help but exclaiming in surprise. In great amazement he thought, “Strange, strange, very strange; the devils cannot release foreign fart.”

Kangxi laughed at Wei Xiaobao, and then he turned his attention to the scroll on his desk. Nan Huairen stood by Kangxi’s side; with finger on the scroll he made some explanations. Whenever Kangxi saw something he did not understand, he immediately asked.

Nan Huairen talked for about an hour. The other foreigner, the old and white-bearded Tang Ruowang, continued by speaking about astronomy and calendar system; he also talked for about an hour. And then the two of them kowtowed and withdrew.

Kangxi laughed and said, “The foreigners speak our Chinese language, you were surprised, weren’t you?”

“At first your servant felt it was very strange,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “But after thinking about it, I am not surprised anymore. The Sacred Son of Heaven is blessed by a hundred gods. The Luocha Country conspires against you, the Heaven then sent two foreign devils who can speak Chinese language to assist the Sacred Dynasty in manufacturing firearms to sweep away the Luocha.”

Kangxi said, “Your mind is quick. However, the foreign devils can speak Chinese is not due to divine providence. That old man arrived in China during the Ming’s Tianqi Emperor[3]; he is a German. The younger one is from Belgium, he came during Shunzhi’s reign. They are Jesuits clergymen, and came to China to do missionary work. To preach, they need to learn how to speak Chinese.”

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[1] My dictionary did not give me any names, but Yahoo! Babelfish returned ‘Ferdinand Verbiest’. Wikipedia has an article on him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Verbiest

[2] Johann Adam Schall von Bell, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Ruowang.

[3] Regnal name of the 15^th Ming Emperor, Zhu Youxiao (1605-1627), reigned 1620-1627. Zhu Youxiao (or Youjiao?) also appeared in Liang Yusheng’s White Haired Demoness (See WHD, translated by Faerie Queene and yours truly).

[foxs]

“So that’s how it is,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Your servant has always been worried that Luocha Country’s firearms are too formidable. After listening to those foreigner talking clearly and logically about those cannon or short gun today, I am relieved.”

Kangxi paced back and forth slowly in the Study Room. “Luocha people are humans,” he said, “We are also humans. If they can build firearms, we can do the same thing. It’s just that all along we did not understand how. When we fought the Ming Dynasty at Liaodong Peninsula in the past, the Ming troops had cannon, we suffered quite a bit of defeat. Taizu Huangdi [posthumous title for the founder of a dynasty] was injured by gunfire, he rode the dragon and returned to Heaven. However, didn’t we still manage to take the Ming Dynasty’s land under the heavens? It can be seen clearly that firearm is important for the people to use, but if the people using it fail to live up to expectations, even a more formidable firearm will be worthless.”

“Turns out Ming Dynasty had cannon,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I wonder where are those cannons now? We can take them and blast Wu Sangui that old fellow, blast him so that one Buddha get reborn, two Buddhas ascend to heaven!” [not sure about this]

Kangxi smiled and said, “Ming Dynasty’s cannons were only a few, they were purchased from Aomen’s [Macao] red-haired people. Only buying the devils’ firearm is useless. If we fight a battle against the devils, they will refuse to sell it to us, won’t that be terrible? We must build it ourselves, then we won’t be afraid other people would make us desperate.”

“Very true, very true,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Your Majesty is still concerned that those Jesuits clergymen would build western cowrie shells to swindle you, thus you personally want to know how to do it. From now on, let those devils give an exaggerated account of things, trying to confuse you [orig. seven meat eight elements], you won’t be deceived.”

“You understand my intention,” Kangxi said, “The technique to build firearm is very complicated and very difficult. Just to refine the highest quality fine iron is greatly not easy.”

“Your Majesty, let me go get all blacksmith inside and outside of Beijing,” Wei Xiaobao volunteered, “We call them together, everybody pump the bellows, push and pull, push and pull, refine several million catties of those fine iron.”

Kangxi laughed and said, “When you were in Yunnan, we have already refined several tens of thousands catties of fine iron. Tang Ruowang and Nan Huairen are in the process of supervising the building of cannons. When the time comes, you will come with me to take a look.”

Wei Xiaobao was delighted. “That is very good,” he said. Suddenly he remembered something and said, “Your Majesty, foreign devils are malicious and two-faced, we must guard against either one of those. The place we build cannon will have gunpowder and lots of ironware. Your Majesty must not go personally, let your servant supervise it for you.”

“No need to be worried,” Kangxi said, “This matter concerns the country’s destiny. I won’t feel reassured if I do not see it with my own eyes. Nan Huairen is loyal and upright. Tang Ruowang’s old life was rescued by me, he is very grateful to me. These two men can’t possibly have different feelings toward me.”

“Unexpectedly Your Majesty has saved the foreign old devil’s old life,” Wei Xiaobao said, “That is indeed strange.”

Kangxi smiled and said, “Kangxi’s third year, Tang Ruowang said that the imperial observatory’s calculation of the solar eclipse contains errors; he and the imperial observatory’s Chinese officials had a sharp debate. Imperial observatory Chinese official Yang Guangxian[1] argued, but failed to find any flaw in Tang Ruowang’s argument; hence he submitted a memorial to the throne, saying that Tang Ruowang formulated the document ‘Great Qing Constitution Period Calendar’, in which he calculated a total of two hundred years. But our Great Qing has obtained the Heaven’s provision, the divine blessing has no bound, our rivers and mountains will last tens of thousands of years. Tang Ruowang’s calendar stops at only two hundred years. Isn’t that the same as putting a curse on our Great Qing that it will only last for two hundred years?”

Wei Xiaobao stuck out his tongue. “Formidable, formidable! This foreign old devil can calculate astronomy and geography, but he cannot calculate the trick of the government official.”

“Isn’t that so?” Kangxi said, “At that time Oboi was in power. That fellow randomly accused Tang Ruowang of cursing the imperial court, hence he deserved to be executed by lingering death. The decree was sent to me to review, immediately I was able to see a flaw in it.”

“Kangxi’s third year, that means you were only ten,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Yet you were already able to see the deceit in it. Indeed the Sacred Son of Heaven is intelligent and wise, a rarity from time immemorial.”

Kangxi laughed. “You should pat the horse hindquarters less,” he said, “Actually, this case was quite shallow. I asked Oboi, when did Tang Ruowang finish the ‘Great Qing Constitution Period Calendar’? He said he did not know. Upon further investigation, he returned with a report that it was finished during Shunzhi’s tenth year. At that time the Late Emperor bestowed a commendation by conferring him the title of ‘Tong Xuan Jiao Shi’ [lit. master/teacher who understands mystery]. I said, ‘That’s right, because when I was six, seven years old, I have already seen this ‘Great Qing Constitution Period Calendar’ book in the Study Room. This document was finished ten years ago, why didn’t anybody say that he was wrong back then? At this time someone is having a strife with him, isn’t that simply settling an old debt? This is not fair. Oboi thought I was right, hence he did not have him killed, but have him locked up in prison. Afterwards I have forgotten about this matter. Only recently Nan Huairen brought it up to my attention, and then I issued a decree to have him freed.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Let your servant put some thoughts in him to create the ‘Great Qing Ten Thousand Year Calendar’.”

Kangxi chuckled for a moment, and then his expression turned serious as he said, “I have read the previous dynasty’s history book; those who cherish common people were sure to reign for a long time, otherwise, what good would it bring to simply say auspicious speech? Since the ancient times, everybody always call the Emperor as Lord of Ten Thousand Years, while in reality, forget ten thousand years, not one of the emperors had ever reached a hundred years. What ‘ten thousand years of boundless longevity’? It’s all nonsense to deceive people. Fu Huang earnestly urged me to obey his particular instruction of ‘never raise taxes’. As long as I observe these four characters [yong bu jia fu], our rivers and mountains will be as strong as iron. All those foreigners’ cannon, Wu Sangui’s troops and horses, are nothing to worry about.”

Wei Xiaobao did not understand all these governing-the-country principles; he only repeatedly nodded and made some noise to voice his agreement. From his pocket he took out the copy of ‘Forty-two-chapter Sutra’ he stole from Wu Sangui’s desk, and presented it with both hands to Kangxi, saying, “Your Majesty, this sutra was indeed embezzled by that old fellow Wu Sangui. Your servant saw it in his study room, hence I led away a goat in passing, and return it to its rightful owner.”

Kangxi was greatly delighted. “Very good, very good,” he said, “The Empress Dowager is always concerned over this matter. I’ll go and present it to her, the Senior, and then take it to the imperial ancestral temple and cremate it there. No matter what secret is hidden inside, henceforth nobody will find out.”

Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, “It is best that you are burning it! This is called ‘destroy the corpse and leave no trace’. Nobody will ever find out that I stole the pieces of thin leather inside the sutra.”

He returned to his viscount mansion. When the night fell, he bolted the door, took out the bundle of skin pieces, and summoned Shuang’er. “I have a ‘rubbing the water’ job I’d like you to do for me,” he told her. And then ordered her to assemble and restore the several thousand pieces of thin leather into its original state.

Bending over the table, Shuang’er slowly looked at the cutting mark, and paired the pieces one by one to see if there was a match. But these several thousand pieces of skin were jumbled together at random; restoring the pieces into the original condition was indeed easier said than done.

At first Wei Xiaobao was still sitting by the table, offering some advice, taking a piece from the east, a piece from the west, trying to find a match. But after doing it for half a day, he could not find even a pair of matching pieces; his interest waned, he went to sleep without saying anything.

When he woke up the next morning, he noticed that there was candlelight in the outside room. With a piece of skin in her hand, Shuang’er was staring at the table as if she was in daze. Wei Xiaobao tiptoed behind her back, and then ‘Ha!’ he yelled. Shuang’er jumped in fright. She laughed and said, “You are awake?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “These pieces of skin are very troublesome, I don’t need it right away, why didn’t you sleep the whole night? Quickly go to bed!”

“Alright,” Shuang’er said, “I will tidy up first.”

Wei Xiaobao saw a large sheet of white paper on the table, on which about eleven or twelve pieces of skin were pinned down with embroidery needles; the pieces were joined together in a good fit, he was delighted. “You have fitted quite a few pieces,” he said.

“The beginning was the most difficult,” Shuang’er said, “Right now I already understood some logic behind it, later on I should be able to assemble the pieces a bit faster.” She put the pieces back into the bundle and carefully wrapped it with oilcloth, along with the large sheet of white paper, and locked everything inside a gold-painted chest.

Wei Xiaobao said, “These pieces of skin are very useful, we must not let anybody steal it.”

Shuang’er said, “I will stay to guard here, I won’t leave even for half a step. I am only afraid if I fell asleep, something bad might happen.”

“No worries,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I will get a small group of Valiant Cavalry Brigade sergeants to guard outside the room, and guard you as well.”

Shuang’er smiled and said, “I feel much better.”

Wei Xiaobao saw her pair of beautiful eyes was bloodshot, obviously she worked really hard the previous night; he felt tenderness toward her. “Quickly go to sleep, I’ll carry you to the bed.”

Shuang’er’s face blushed of shyness, she repeatedly waved her hand and said, “No, no, not good.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “What do you mean good or not good? You helped me, you worked hard the entire night, I carry you to the bed, what’s the big deal?” While saying that, he reached out to carry her. Shuang’er squealed and slipped out of his arms.

Wei Xiaobao tried to grab her several times, but each time he only caught empty air. He knew that his qinggong was far below hers, in his heart he was quite dismayed. Taking a deep sigh, he sat down on a chair. Shuang’er chuckled and came near him, saying, “Let me serve you have a wash and eat light breakfast, and then I’ll go sleep.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head without saying anything. Seeing him in low spirits, Shuang’er was worried. “Xianggong,” she said in a low voice, “Are you … are you angry?”

“I am not angry,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “My qinggong is too lacking. Shifu taught me a lot of good techniques, I always cannot learn it. Even a little girl like you I cannot catch, what a useless fart am I?”

Shuang’er smiled and said, “You wanted to carry me, naturally I ran away desperately.”

Wei Xiaobao suddenly sprang up and called out, “I must catch you.” With arms spreading wide, he threw himself toward Shuang’er. Shuang’er giggled and leaned sideways to evade. Wei Xiaobao pretended he was pouncing to the left, but as soon as she fled to the right, he reached out to grab the corner of her garment. “Ah!” Shuang’er cried out. Afraid that he might tear the garment, Shuang’er did not dare to pull too hard. Wei Xiaobao reached out with both arms and grabbed her waist. Shuang’er only giggled. Wei Xiaobao’s right hand went down behind her knees, and carried her horizontally across his chest, and put her on his own bed.

Shuang’er blushed deep red. “Xianggong,” she cried, “You … you …”

Wei Xiaobao laughed. “I what?” he said. Pulling the quilt, he covered her body. And then he bent over and planted a gentle kiss on her face. “Quickly close your eyes,” he said with a laugh, “Go to sleep.” And he turned around, walked out the room, and closed the door behind him. “This girl was afraid that I was angry, she deliberately let me catch her,” he mused. When he got to the hall, he ordered his personal guard to summon a squad of Valiant Cavalry Brigade sergeants to guard outside his room.

For the next several days he distributed the money and gifts he received from Yunnan to the imperial concubines, princes and dukes, court ministers, imperial bodyguards and palace eunuchs; scheming in his heart, “If I said it is a gift from Wu Sangui, that means these people would receive favor from that old fellow. I’d better let laozi be the good man.” Therefore, these several hundred thousand taels of gold and silver from Wu Sangui became the Imperial Envoy Minister, the Valiant Cavalry Brigade Commander Wei Xiaobao’s gifts. Naturally the recipients of his gifts poured high praise on him. Everybody in the Palace and the Imperial Court said that the Emperor was indeed an enlightened sage, he promoted this astute, capable and experienced young commander into a very fitting official position.

These days, Shuang’er worked hard every day assembling the pieces of sheepskin. Each time she found a matching piece, she would pin it to the sheet of paper with an embroidery needle. Wei Xiaobao watched her every night; he saw the finished section was growing bigger and bigger. As expected, he saw mountains and rivers terrain drawn on the map, there were also curvy characters written on the map. “These are foreign characters,” Shuang’er said, “I do not recognize even one of them.”

Wei Xiaobao had lived in the Palace for a long time, hence he knew that those were Manchurian characters; but since he did not know even Han characters, he could not care less of what were written on the map.

At the evening of the eighteenth day, Wei Xiaobao returned to his residence, and saw Shuang’er with happy expression all across her face. He reached out to stroke her chin, and asked, “What is it that makes you this happy?”

Smiling, Shuang’er said, “Xianggong, go ahead and guess.”

Before he went to sleep the previous night, Wei Xiaobao saw there were still two, three hundred pieces not assembled yet. In this kind of assembling effort, one piece assembled means one piece less remaining, and the task became one part easier. The first one or two days were the most difficult, in one sichen [2 hours] she may not necessarily be able to find two matching pieces; afterwards, however, she was able to make a rapid progress.

He guessed that Shuang’er had been able to assemble the entire map, and thus her delight overflowed to the tip of her brows. Wei Xiaobao laughed. “Let me guess,” he said, “Hey, you must have wrapped some Huzhou zongzi for me.” [See chapter 17, first time Wei Xiaobao met Shuang’er.]

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[1] Yang Guangxian, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Guangxian (Courtesy of Smurf120)

[foxs]

Shuang’er shook her head, “Not that,” she said.

Wei Xiaobao said, “You found and picked up a treasure from the floor?”

“No,” Shuang’er said.

Wei Xiaobao said, “Your Yi Xiong [foster/sworn older brother] sent some good things for you from Guangdong?”

“No,” Shuang’er replied, “He is so far away, how can he send something for me?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “The Zhuang Family’s Third Mistress sent a letter to you?”

Shuang’er shook her head, her eyebrows slightly knitted. “She did not,” she said softly, “I wonder how the Zhuang Family’s Third Mistress and the others are doing? I often think about them.”

“I got it!” Wei Xiaobao exclaimed, “Today is your birthday.”

Shuang’er smiled and said, “It’s not. My birthday is not today.”

“When is it?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Shuang’er said, “It’s ninth month ten[1] …” Suddenly she blushed and said, “I forget.”

“You lie,” Wei Xiaobao said, “How can you forget your own birthday? Right, right, it must be the old monk, your friend when you live by Shaolin Temple, came to visit you.”

“Pfft!” Shuang’er stifled her laugh. “Xianggong is funny,” she said, “How can I have a Shaolin Temple old monk as a friend? It is you who have some.”

Wei Xiaobao scratched his head and muttered, “It’s neither this nor that; this is a difficult riddle. I was actually going to guess that you have finished piecing the map together, but last night I saw there were still two, three hundred pieces not joined together yet, at the quickest you will need five, six more days.”

Shuang’er’s pairs of eyes were gleaming with delight as she smiled and said, “What if I finished it today for real?”

“You are deceiving me,” Wei Xiaobao shook his head, “I don’t believe you.”

“Xianggong,” Shuang’er said, “Come and see, what is this?”

Wei Xiaobao followed her to the table and saw the large white sheet was full of several thousand embroidery needles, the several thousand pieces of skins had been assembled together into a complete, whole large map. What was amazing was that several thousand pieces of skin fit together; there was not a single extra piece, and there was not a single hole either.

Wei Xiaobao cried out in delight, turned around and gave Shuang’er a hug. “It is a great success, you deserve a kiss,” he called out, while planted a kiss on her mouth.

Shuang’er was shy, her face blushed as she turned her head sideways, so that Wei Xiaobao’s kiss landed on her earlobe. Shuang’er felt her body had turned into a jelly. “No, I don’t want it!” she cried out in fear.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and let her go. He pulled her hand and had her stood next to him as they looked at the map together, while he clucked his tongue incessantly and praised her, saying, “Shuang’er, if you did not help me with this task, if I had to do it myself, I am not sure if I would not be able to piece everything together in three years and six months.”

Shuang’er said, “How many important matters you have to manage? How can you find the time to do this kind of stupid effort?”

“Aiyo,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Did you call this a stupid effort? This is the most brilliant effort in the world.”

Hearing his praise, Shuang’er was very happy.

Wei Xiaobao pointed to the map and said, “This must be a mountain, and this is the river.” He pointed at a bend of a big river, where eight small circles with different colors gathered together, and said, “The entire map is drawn in writing brush, but these eight small circles are red, white, yellow, blue, and there’s yellow circle with red border. Ah, I know, these are Manchu people’s eight banners. The location of these eight small circles must be very special. I wonder what mountain this is, and what river this is.”

Shuang’er took out a pack of thin cotton paper, there were more than thirty sheets altogether, each sheet had some curvy Manchurian characters. She gave the papers to Wei Xiaobao. “What is it?” Wei Xiaobao asked, “Who wrote it?”

“I did,” Shuang’er replied.

Wei Xiaobao was pleasantly surprised. “Turns out you know Manchurian characters,” he said, “You were deceiving me a few days ago.” While saying that, he stretched out his arms to hug her.

Shuang’er hastily moved aside to evade. “I didn’t deceive you,” she said with a laugh, “I don’t know Manchurian characters. I only put these thin sheets on the map and traced every stroke every line.”

“Ingenious plan, ingenious plan,” Wei Xiaobao delightedly said, “I’ll summon the Manchurian secretary to read it and translated it into our Chinese characters, and then we’ll know what’s written on the map. Good Shuang’er, precious Shuang’er, you are very attentive, you knew this map is a matter of great concern; hence you divided these Manchurian characters into several dozen sheets. I am going to ask several different people, so that the secret won’t be leaked.”

Shuang’er smiled and said, “Good Xianggong, smart Xianggong, as soon as you saw it you have guessed my intention correctly.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “It’s a great success, you deserve a kiss.” As soon as Shuang’er heard him, she turned around and leaped, fleeing outside the room.

When Wei Xiaobao went out to the hall, he ordered one of his personal guards to summon the Valiant Cavalry Brigade’s Manchurian clerk. He took out a sheet from his pocket and asked him the meaning of the Manchurian characters written on it. The clerk replied, “Reporting to Dutong [commander] Daren: these are ‘Argun River’, ‘Jing Qili River’, Huma Erwoji Mountain’, they all are our Manchuria place name outside the Pass.”

“What ‘Jili Gulu’ [lit. gibberish] River, ‘Huni Made’ [lit. shouting at your mother] Mountain? Those are so vulgar,” Wei Xiaobao said.

The clerk said, “Reporting to Dutong Daren: Argun River, Jing Qili River, Huma Erwoji Mountain are great rivers and great mountain of our Manchuria.”

“Where are they?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

The clerk replied, “Reporting to Dutong Daren: they are at the extreme north outside the Pass.”

Wei Xiaobao was secretly delighted, “That’s right,” he mused, “These places must be where the Manchu people hiding their treasure. They moved the gold, silver and valuables outside the Pass, naturally the farther they hide it the better.” He said, “Write these Jili Gulu River and Huni Made Mountain names in Chinese characters.” Following his order, the clerk wrote the names.

Wei Xiaobao took out another sheet and asked, “And what river and what mountain are these?”

The clerk replied, “Reporting to Dutong Daren: this is Silimu River, Amur Mountain and Amur River.”

“Damn it,” Wei Xiaobao cursed, “It’s getting stranger and stranger! Are you sure you are not just speaking nonsense? Why didn’t you pick good names, but picked something like Xini Made [lit. admiring your mother], Ama’er [‘amah’], Aba’er [‘abba’]?”

The clerk’s face was filled with terror, he bowed in respect and said, “Lowly officer does not dare to speak nonsense. In Manchurian, those names have different meaning.”

“Alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You write down those Ama’er, Aba’er, and that Xini Made River in Han characters on these papers. Later I am going to ask other people, I want to see whether you are talking drivel or not.”

“Yes, yes,” the clerk said, “Even if lowly officer had gargantuan nerve, I would not dare to talk drivel with Dutong Daren.”

“Ha, do you have gargantuan nerve?” Wei Xiaobao said.

“No, no,” the clerk replied, “Lowly officer is a coward like a mouse.”

Wei Xiaobao roared in laughter. “Guard,” he called, “Go get fifty taels for this friend who is a coward like a mouse. Hey, if you ever mention these Xini Made River, Xini Bade Mountain to other people and I find out about it, I will immediately take your fifty taels back, both principal and interest, a total of a hundred fifty taels.”

The clerk was overjoyed at the unexpected good news; his monthly soldier’s pay was no more than twelve taels of silver. Dutong Daren bestowed fifty taels, busily he bowed to express thanks and repeatedly promised, “Lowly officer will definitely not dare to talk at random.” While thinking, “With fifty taels capital you want a hundred taels interest. My mother, what a heavy interest. Even if you cut my head, I won’t be able to pay it.”

For the next several days, Wei Xiaobao had asked around seventy, eighty names. When he looked at the map, he found out that those eight small circles in four colors were located north of Heilongjiang, right where Amur River and Heilongjiang [lit. black dragon river] converged, due north of Huma Erwoji Mountain, and northwest of Amur River. There were two Manchu characters written among the eight small circles, when translated into Han characters, they became ‘Lu Ding Shan’ [Deer and Cauldron Mountain], three characters.

Wei Xiaobao committed the map and the places’ names into memory, he also told Shuang’er to memorize it. Thinking that if these pieces of skin were taken away by other people, inevitably the secret would be leaked; thereupon he threw it into the stove to burn it. Seeing the blazing fire, he felt an unspeakable joy in his heart. He thought, “Shifu told me to divide it into several packages and bury it in several different places, but other people might still be able to find it. Right now it is buried in my heart; even if they dig my heart out, they won’t find the map inside. It’s just that naturally I must not let anybody dig my heart out.”

Turning his head around, he saw the flame illuminated Shuang’er’s face; she looked rosy and very tender and beautiful. “My little Shuang’er is very beautiful,” he praised in his heart.

Being stared by him, Shuang’er was bashful, she lowered her head. “Good Shuang’er,” Wei Xiaobao said, “We have pieced together the map, we have found out the places’ names, those Xini Made River, Xini Bade Mountain, have also been stored in our hearts; don’t you think it was a great success?”

Shuang’er hastily leaped back, and said with a laugh, “Oh no, no … you don’t.”

“What do you mean I don’t?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Shuang’er laughed while rushing out through the door. “I don’t know,” she said.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and ran after her. “You don’t know, but I do,” he said.

Suddenly he saw a personal guard hurriedly walked in and said, “Reporting to Dutong: His Majesty summons you, he wants you to come quickly.”

Wei Xiaobao made faces to Shuang’er, and went out to the Palace. He saw a row of Guards of Honor lined up at the Palace gate, Kangxi’s imperial chariot was just coming out from the Palace. Wei Xiaobao circled behind the cavalcade, and knelt and kowtowed by the road. Kangxi saw him; he smiled and said, “Xiao Guizi, come with me to see the foreigners testing the cannons.”

Wei Xiaobao was delighted. “That’s great,” he said, “They managed to finish the cannon very quickly.”

The party arrived at the Long Tan [dragon pool] Artillery Field inside the Zuo’anmen [lit. left peaceful gate]. Nan Huairen and Tang Ruowang had already knelt far away by the street to welcome the imperial chariot. “Rise up, rise up,” Kangxi said, “Where are the cannon?”

Nan Huairen said, “Reporting to Your Holiness[2]: The cannon are outside the city. Respectfully request Your Holiness to take the trouble to visit and do the inspection.”

“Very well!” Kangxi said. He stepped out from the chariot. Surrounded by the Imperial Bodyguards, he went out the Zuo’an Gate and saw three cannon arranged in a row.

Kangxi approached the cannon; he saw the cannon’s body was shiny gunmetal blue, the barrel was thick, the wheel, axle and so on were all built extremely solid. Kangxi was delighted. “Very good,” he said, “Let us try firing the cannon several times.”

Nan Huairen personally loaded gunpowder into the barrel, and packed it solid with iron rod. Picking up a cannonball, he loaded it into the barrel; and then he turned around and said, “Reporting to Your Majesty: this cannon’s firing range is a li and a half; the target has been set up over there.”

Following his finger, Kangxi looked up into the distance. He saw about a li and a half away, there were ten earthen blocks standing side by side. He nodded and said, “Good, you may fire.”

Nan Huairen said, “Respectfully request Your Majesty to take the trouble to move ten zhang away; that way, you will be completely safe.” Kangxi smiled and withdrew to get out of the way.

Wei Xiaobao volunteered, “Let your servant fire the first shot.” Kangxi nodded. Wei Xiaobao walked toward the cannon’s side and said to Nan Huairen, “Foreign Old Friend, you aim, I ignite.”

Nan Huairen had already calibrated the muzzle’s height, this time he checked the alignment one more time. Wei Xiaobao received the flare; he lighted the fuse and hurriedly jumped back. Casting the flare aside, he lifted his hands to tightly cover his ears.

There was a flash, followed by a loud explosion, black smoke rose up, and then one earthen block in the distant exploded, a column of flame ascended to the sky. Turned out there was a large amount of sulfur hidden inside the earthen block. As the cannonball landed, it ignited the sulfur so that the power of the cannon appeared more astonishing.

The crowd of sergeants cheered in one voice, they turned toward Kangxi and shouted, “Long live, long live, long, long live[3]!”

---

[1] In Chinese, ten to nineteen start with the character ‘ten’, shi, shi yi, shi er (ten, eleven, twelve), and so on. Hence Shuang’er birthday could be anywhere between ten and nineteen.

[2] Orig. ‘shengshang’ [lit. ‘the saint’], courtier’s or minister’s form of address for the current Emperor.

[3] Orig. ‘wan shui’ – ten thousand years.

[foxs]

The three cannon were fired in turn, altogether they shot ten cannonballs, and hit seven earthen blocks; only three blocks were not hit squarely, they leaned sideways, but did not explode. Kangxi was extremely pleased, he bestowed great rewards to Nan Huairen and Tang Ruowang; he promoted Nan Huairen as the Supervisor of the Imperial Observatory on the spot. Tang Ruowang was originally a high-ranking official of the Minister of Ceremonies department and a government communication envoy, with the title ‘Tong Xuan Jiao Shi’. He was removed from office during Oboi’s reign. Later on Kangxi reinstated his office, but changed his title to ‘Tong Wei Jiao Shi’ [lit. master/teacher who understands profound matter]. Kangxi’s given name was ‘Xuan Ye’ [lit. mysterious blaze of fire]; therefore, the character ‘Xuan’ became taboo and must not be used for other people. The three cannon were dubbed the ‘Shen Wu Da Pao’ [Cannon of Supernatural Might].

Returning to the Palace, Kangxi summoned Wei Xiaobao into the Study Room; with a grin on his face he said, “Xiao Guizi, we will work around the clock to build several hundred ‘Shen Wu Da Pao’, set them up in a row, and damn blast that old fellow Wu Sangui. Do you think he will still rebel?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “With divine strategy and amazing calculation, even if there was no ‘Shen Wu Da Pao’, to Your Majesty, dealing that old fellow Wu Sangui is as easy as stretching a hand and grab it. But with the ‘Shen Wu Da Pao’, it’s like … like … like a dragon that has grown wings.” He was about to say ‘like a tiger that has grown wings’; but then he thought that comparing an emperor with a tiger was very disrespectful.

Kangxi laughed and said, “You said those words without any knowledge. The dragon can fly in the sky, why would it need wings?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed. “Yes, yes,” he said, “It can be seen clearly that even without the cannon, Your Majesty still does not fear Wu Sangui.”

Kangxi laughed, “You always know what to say,” he commented. Suddenly he frowned and said, “Speaking of dragon, I remember something: Wu Sangui colludes with Mongolia, Tibet and Luocha Country, and also with a certain Shen Long Jiao [Divine Dragon Cult]. That old wh0re to committed treason and heresy by masquerading the Empress Dowager, she was sent by Shen Long Jiao to bring filth and chaos in the Palace, wasn’t she?”

“Exactly,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

Kangxi said, “If I don’t catch this rebel and cut her to pieces, how can I avenge the enmity of my queen mother’s murder and the disgrace of Empress Dowager’s imprisonment?” Speaking to this point, he gnashed his teeth, obviously he was extremely enraged.

Wei Xiaobao thought, “From the tone of his voice, the Emperor wants me to catch the old wh0re. But that old wh0re is with that short and fat Thin Toutuo; I don’t know where they are right now. To catch this person is indeed not easy.” In his hesitation, he did not dare to say anything.

Sure enough, Kangxi said, “Xiao Guizi, this matter is top secret, other than sending you to deal with it, I can’t send anybody else."

“Yes,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I was just wondering where did that old wh0re run away? That meatball lover [orig. male adulterer] of hers seems to know some witchcraft.”

Kangxi said, “If the old wh0re ran to some remote mountain or desolate land, naturally catching her will not be easy. But there is a clue you may follow. You lead the troops, go and eliminate the Divine Dragon Evil Cult, arrest the evil cult’s henchmen, interrogate them one by one, you will most likely find the old wh0re’s whereabouts.” Noticing the awkward expression on Wei Xiaobao’s face, he said, “I know this matter is like fishing a needle from the sea, it is very difficult to do. However, one, you are very competent, two, you are a person with tremendous good luck. Other people may find some matters to be extremely thorny, but in your hands, oftentimes it turned into instant success. I won’t set any time limit for you, I will send you outside the Pass first to handle several matters for me. Once you are out of the Pass, you mobilize your force at Fengtian [modern day Shenyang, Liaoning province], and wait for an opportunity to break into Shen Long Island.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “The Emperor is licking my behind. If I did not accept this mission, it would be inappropriate.” He said, “Your servant’s good fortune was bestowed by Your Majesty. Your Majesty has shown me particularly great favor, naturally my portion of good luck is also great. I only hope that by relying on Your Majesty’s flood of good luck this time, I can capture the old wh0re.”

Hearing that he was willing to go, Kangxi was overjoyed. He patted Wei Xiaobao’s shoulder and said, “Although taking revenge and wiping out old grudge is important, compared to national security, it is a small matter. If you can capture the old wh0re, no doubt it would be the best; but the most important matter is still breaking through the Shen Long Island. Xiao Guizi, outside the Pass was where our Great Qing’s dragon arose. Shen Long Jiao is staring maliciously from the side. If they join hands with Luocha people and occupy the area outside the Pass, the Great Qing will lose its foundation. By breaking the Shen Long Island, it’s just like you are cutting off the stretched-out five fingers of the Luocha people.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Precisely.” Suddenly he raised his voice and cried out, “Ahluowu! Guluhu!” while lifting up his right hand and fling it around randomly.

Kangxi laughed and asked, “What are you doing?”

Wei Xiaobao replied, “Luocha Country broke its five fingers, naturally they are crying in pain in Luocha language.”

Kangxi burst out laughing. “I promote you to be Viscount First Class,” he said, “And I bestow you the title ‘Ba Tu Lu’ [I think this is Manchurian word, ba – long for/wish/close to/next to, tu – diagram/map/drawing, lu – crass/stupid/rude]. Your mission will be to mobilize the troops and horses stationed to guard Fengtian, to eradicate the rebels of Shen Long Island.”

Wei Xiaobao kneeled down to express his gratitude; he said, “Your servant’s official position is rising higher and higher, my portion of good fortune is also increasing bigger and bigger.”

Kangxi said, “This matter must be kept without any fanfare to guard against Wu Sangui, Shang Kexi and the others knew about it, and then their hearts would be troubled and they may rebel earlier. Everything must be done ‘the gods did not know, the ghosts did not realize’; Shen Long Jiao must be destroyed in complete surprise. Let’s do it this way: tomorrow I will send you as an imperial envoy minister to offer sacrifice at Changbai Mountain. Changbai Mountain is the sacred place where my Aisin Gioro [Manchu: Golden Clan] ancestors were born. I am sending you to offer sacrifice to my ancestors, nobody would suspect anything.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “With Your Majesty’s divine strategy, the Shen Long Jiao’s Jiaozhu’s long life will be the same as the insect’s.”

“What do you mean his long life will be the same as the insect’s?” Kangxi asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, “That Jiaozhu’s life span will be no more than a small insect’s; he won’t live much longer.”

In Kangxi’s presence Wei Xiaobao braced himself to accept this mission; however, thinking about Cult Leader Hong’s unsurpassed martial art skill, about the martial art masters surrounding him like a cloud, while he would bring some troops who could only whirling the sabers in their hands or shooting some arrows to attack Shen Long Island, he knew that most likely it would be Wei Xiaobao whose long life the same as the insect’s.

Leaving the Palace, Wei Xiaobao was depressed. But then he had a thought, “Laozi definitely won’t go to Shen Long Island. Even if Xiao Xuanzi treated me better than this, it’s not worth losing my life in vain for his sake. My life as a government official has reached the end; as soon as I am outside of the Pass I’d better seize the opportunity to go to Lu Ding Shan north of Heilong Jiang, to dig the buried treasure, to obtain great wealth in one stroke, and then quietly return to Yunnan, to get Ah Ke’s hand in marriage. Henceforth I will hide: I will gamble and watch the play every day; won’t I be happy, free and unfettered?”

Thinking about this, his anxiety was somewhat reduced. He thought, “Although running away just before the battle is not so brilliant on the face, plus I am turning my back on Xiao Xuanzi’s great trust, but this is a matter of life and death; how can I play a joke on it? After digging the buried treasure, I won’t dig and cut Manchu people’s dragon vein; this way I am also doing the right thing for Xiao Xuanzi.”

During the audience with the Emperor the next day, Kangxi proclaimed a decree, raising Wei Xiaobao’s official position, and sending him to Changbai Mountain to offer sacrifice to the ancestors. After the court was adjourned, one after another the nobles and the ministers came to congratulate him.

Songgotu’s friendship with him stood out from the masses; he especially accompanied Wei Xiaobao back to his viscount mansion to continue their chat. Seeing Wei Xiaobao’s enthusiasm was somewhat waning, he said, “Xiongdi, going to Changbai Mountain to offer sacrifice is naturally not as lucrative as going to Yunnan to knock on Ping Xi Wang Mansion’s bamboo pole; the difference is as far as the Heaven from the Earth. No wonder you are not too interested.” [See note 11, Chapter 10 on ‘knocking on bamboo pole’.]

Wei Xiaobao said, “Be honest with Dage, Xiongdi is a southerner, I am always most afraid of cold. As soon as I am thinking about the world of ice and snow outside the Pass, I am already shivering in cold. Tonight I must have my stove burning high and roast myself well.”

Songgotu burst into loud laughter; he said consolingly, “You don’t have to worry about that, when I go home, I will send you a fire sable overcoat here, so that Xiongdi can resist cold. Inside the warm sedan chair put some coal pots, then you won’t feel too cold. Xiongdi, going on a mission outside the Pass still has some benefits.”

“This Liaodong is a place where people could freeze their noses off,” Wei Xiaobao said, “How can I reap any benefit? Would Dage please advise?”

Songgotu said, “Our Liaodong has three treasures …”

“That’s great,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Three treasures. If I can get one, I can spend it all.”

Sonngotu laughed. “There is a saying in Liaodong, I wonder if Xiongdi has heard it?” he said, “It is called ‘Guandong[1] has three treasures: ginseng, mink fur and wula grass’.”

“I have never heard it,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Ginseng and mink fur are valuable goods. But that wula grass, what’s so valuable about it?”

“Wula grass is Kuhaha’s treasure,” Songgotu explained, “When winter arrives in Guandong, the weather gets cold, the ground gets frozen. Poor people cannot afford mink fur, they cannot take warm sedan chair to travel; if their feet are frozen, who would carry Wei Xiongdi’s sedan chair? You can find Wula grass everywhere in Guandong, as long as you pull a handful, dry it in the sun, and pound it into pulp, you can stuff it into your shoes, and your feet will very nice and warm.”

“So that’s how it is,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Wula grass is a treasure, but we have no need of it. But there is no harm in getting several dozen shoulder pole buckets of ginseng and several thousand mink fur to bring back, and then I can divide it to relatives and friends.” Songgotu roared in laughter again.

While they were chatting, Wei Xiaobao’s personal guard came to report, saying that Fujian’s Navy Tidu [local commander] Shi Lang had come to pay his respect. Wei Xiaobao immediately remembered Zheng Keshuang had mentioned that Shi Lang was a martial art expert from Wuyi Pai [See also note 2 of Chapter 26], who had taught Zheng Keshuang some martial art; later on he surrendered to the Great Qing. He could not stop his face from changing as he thought about the possibility of this man surnamed Shi was sent by Zheng Keshuang to make things difficult for him. Feng Xifan was so vicious and formidable, this man surnamed Shi must also be difficult to deal with. “What does he want?” he asked the personal guard, “I don’t want to see him.”

The personal guard complied and went out to inform the guest. Wei Xiaobao still did not feel at ease; he called another personal guard, “Quickly summon Ah San and Ah Liu [ol’ third and ol’ six, respectively].” Ah San and Ah Liu were Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan’s fictitious names.

“What kind of friendship Wei Xiongdi have with Shi Jinghai[2]?” Songgotu asked.

Wei Xiaobao was rather shaken. “Shi … Shi Jing what?” he asked.

Songgotu said, “Shi Tidu was conferred the nobility title ‘Jing Hai Jiang Jun’ [lit. the general who pacifies the ocean], don’t Wei Xiongdi know him?”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head, “Never met him,” he said.

While they were speaking, Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan, two people arrived; they stood behind Wei Xiaobao. With these two great martial art masters to protect him, Wei Xiaobao felt a bit better.

The personal guard returned to the inner hall, carrying a tray in his hands. He reported, “General Shi presents the Viscount this gift.”

Wei Xiaobao saw an open brocade box on the tray, inside the box there was a white jade bowl, and inside the bowl there were several rows of characters engraved on the surface. The jade bowl was pure white, it was of extremely fine quality jade, the engraving was also very exquisite. Wei Xiaobao thought, “He gives me a present, apparently he is not here to deal with me; but I must still guard against him.”

Songgotu laughed and said, “This gift is not light, the meticulous effort Old Shi spent must not be small either.”

“What?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Songgotu explained, “The engraving inside the jade bowl has your, laodi[3], respected name, and the four characters ‘jia guan jin jue’ [to confer a title of official position/to be promoted], and then below it says ‘Junior Shi Lang respectfully present’.”

Wei Xiaobao muttered to himself, “This man and I are total strangers, yet he is this courteous to me, he must be harboring malicious intentions.”

Songgotu laughed and said, “The Old Shi’s intention cannot be more clear. He wholeheartedly wants to attack Taiwan, to avenge his father and mother, wife and children. These last several years is always entangling us, wants us to talk to the Emperor on his behalf. For this matter, he has spent if not twenty thousand taels, then at least fifteen thousand taels. He knew Xiongdi is His Majesty’s most favorite person; naturally he is here to get the right social connection.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly relieved. “So that’s how it is,” he said, “Why is he bending on attacking Taiwan?”

Songgotu said, “The Old Shi was originally a great general under Zheng Chenggong. Later on Zheng Chenggong suspected that he was about to rebel, hence he was going to be arrested, but he managed to escape. Zheng Chenggong was so angry that he had Shi Lang’s father and mother, wife and children …” he ran his right palm across his neck to the left, signaling execution; and then he continued, “This man is very skilled in naval warfare. After surrendering to the Great Qing, he led a battle against Zheng Chenggong, and unexpectedly he defeated Zheng Chenggong.”

Wei Xiaobao stuck out his tongue. He said, “Even such a hero and warrior like Zheng Chenggong also suffered defeat in his hands; this kind of person, I simply must see.” Turning to his personal guard he said, “If General Shi has not left, tell him that I am coming out.” Turning to Songgotu, he said, “Dage, please come with me to see him.”

Although he had Fat and Lu, two people to protect him, there was still dread toward Shi Lang in his heart. Songgotu was an imperial court minister of the first-pin rank; with him by his side, supposedly Shi Lang would not dare to play rough without careful consideration. Songgotu laughed and nodded. Hand in hand they entered the main hall.

---

[1] Northeast China/Manchuria. Lit. ‘east of the Pass’ (Shanhai Pass).

[2] Jing – quiet/peaceful/to make tranquil/to pacify, Hai – ocean/sea.

[3] Lit. old younger brother, an affectionate form of address to a much younger man.

[foxs]

Shi Lang was sitting on the farthest seat on the right, the lowest seat. As soon as he heard the sound of boots, he stood up. Seeing the two people walking out from the inner hall, he immediately took several steps forward and bowed respectfully. “Suo Daren, Wei Daren, lowly officer Shi Lang pays his respect,” he called in a loud and clear voice.

Wei Xiaobao cupped his fist to return the propriety and said with a laugh, “I do not dare to accept the honor. You are a general, I am only a small Dutong [commander]; how can I accept the propriety? Please sit down, please sit down; everybody should not use too much formality.”

Shi Lang respectfully said, “Wei Daren is so modest, you make other people full of admiration. Wei Daren is a first-class Viscount, your nobility rank is a lot higher than lowly officer; much less Wei Daren rises to your current rank when you are still young. To be conferred the title ‘Gong’ [Duke] or ‘Hou’ [Marquis] is just a matter of time; in less than ten years, Wei Daren will surely be conferred the title ‘Wang’ [king].”

Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud and said, “If that day indeed comes, I should thank your precious words [orig. golden mouth].”

“Old Shi,” Songgotu said with a laugh, “Being in Beijing these past several years, you have learned how to be oily-mouthed and talk smoothly, unlike when you first came to Beijing, you offended people left and right.”

“Lowly officer is an uncouth military man; I did not understand the compass and set square,” Shi Lang replied, “It was entirely due to all Daren who tolerated me graciously that now lowly officer can thoroughly rectify my misdeeds.”

“You have learned everything well,” Songgotu said with a laugh, “Unexpectedly you knew that Wei Daren is His Majesty’s most favorite officer. By using him to get the right social connection, your chance of success is better than if you ask ten or even a hundred princess and dukes, or various ministers.”

Shi Lang bowed respectfully to the two people and said, “For all two Daren’s advice and instructions, lowly officer will be eternally grateful.”

Wei Xiaobao sized Shi Lang up; he estimated his age to be about fifty, his physique seemed to be solid and his eyes bright, indeed he had a heroic aura around him. However, his countenance was wan and sallow, rather like someone who was weary of the wind and the dust. “General Shi gave me that jade bowl; it is very valuable,” he said, “But there is something that is not so good.”

Shi Lang was quite terrified; he sprang up immediately. “Lowly officer is a muddle head,” he said, “I wonder which part of the jade bowl is defective; would Daren please advise?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed, “There is no defect,” he said, “It’s just that it is too much of a liability. When I eat rice, I would hold it in my hand with fear and trepidation. I am scared that if I am not careful, I would shatter the rice bowl. Ha ha, ha ha …”

Songgotu also roared in laughter. Shi Lang had no choice but to accompany by letting out some hollow laugh.

“When did General Shi arrive in Beijing?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

“Lowly officer has already been in Beijing for three whole years,” Shi Lang replied.

Wei Xiaobao was surprised. “General Shi is Fujian’s Navy Tidu,” he said, “You are not leading the troops in Fujian, but having fun in Beijing instead, why is that? Ah, I know, General Shi surely has a good sister in Beijing brothel, with whom you are reluctant to part.”

“Wei Daren is teasing me,” Shi Lang said, “His Majesty summoned lowly officer to the Capital to discuss the strategy to pacify Taiwan. Lowly officer is muddleheaded, I failed the imperial decree, all along His Majesty has not instructed me to proceed. Lowly officer stays in the Capital, it is precisely to wait respectfully on His Majesty’s order.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “The young Emperor is very astute; among the important matters he is thinking in his heart, other than securing the three borders, is how to attack and seize Taiwan. Even if your speech were not pleasant to hear, as long as you really know what you are doing, His Majesty would definitely tolerate you. There must some other reason behind this.”

Thinking about what Songgotu had told him earlier, he thought, “This man has rendered not a few merits, he must be arrogant. His Majesty summoned him to the Capital, he definitely did not admit being in the wrong at all, and thus has offended not a few people of authority, to such an extent as they deliberately gave him a lot of trouble.”

Therupon he laughed and said, “His Majesty is extremely wise, if he wants General Shi to wait for his decree in the Capital, he must have a profound reason. You don’t need to be impatient, the time has not yet come, worrying is useless.”

Shi Lang stood up and said, “I have received Wei Daren’s instruction today, the murky darkness suddenly opens. For the last three years, lowly officer has been terrified in my heart, I was afraid I had been disobedient and offended His Majesty. Turns out His Majesty have some other profound reason, lowly officer feels a lot better. Wei Daren’s enlightenment is an immeasurable kindness. When lowly officer return home today, my rice I will be able to eat, my sleep I will be able to enjoy.”

Wei Xiaobao was very good at patting the horse’s back, hence he also did not take other people’s flattering seriously; however, listening to Shi Lang flattering him, he was nonetheless happy. He said, “His Majesty has said that when someone is too arrogant, he will be unfit for anything; hence his arrogance must be set back first. Let’s not talk about His Majesty did not strip you of your official post, even if he take away your troops, have you beaten and put you in prison, it is all to cultivate your good intention.”

Shi Lang repeatedly voiced his agreement; he could not stop the palm of his hands from sweating. Songgotu stroked his beard and said, “That’s right, nothing is more correct than what Wei Jueye has just said. If the jade is not cut, it won’t become a utensil. If your jade bowl were not shaped with a lathe and ground, it would stay a block of rough stone; what’s the use?”

“Yes, yes,” Shi Lang said.

“General Shi, please sit down,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I heard you used to be Zheng Chenggong’s subordinate, for what matter did you have fallout with him?”

Shi Lang said, “Responding to Daren’s question: lowly officer was originally Zheng Chenggong’s father, Zheng Zhilong’s subordinate, afterward I was transferred under Zheng Chenggong’s command. Zheng Chenggong raised troops in rebellion, lowly officer could not see this matter clearly, in my confusion I followed the order by working for him.”

“Um, you fought the Qing restoring …” Wei Xiaobao started; he was going to say, ‘You fought the Qing restoring the Ming, so you should do what you were supposed to do.’ He was used to be with the Tian Di Hui brothers, hence he was used to the way they speak, and almost reveal his secret; fortunately he managed to stop in time, and hastily said, “And then what happened?”

Shi Lang said, “That year Zheng Chenggong fought a battle in Fujian; originally he was based in Xiamen, the Great Qing’s troops launched a surprise attack and captured Xiamen. Zheng Chenggong had no choice; he was in a very difficult situation. Lowly officer indeed deserve to die ten thousand deaths, not understanding to which king and master I should vow my loyalty and devotion, unexpectedly I led my troops and seized Xiamen back from the Great Qing troops’ hand.”

“Hence you rendered a very great merit to Zheng Chenggong,” Wei Xiaobao said.

“At that time Zheng Chenggong also promoted lowly officer’s rank,” Shi Lang said, “He bestowed not a few gifts. However, because of a minor matter later on, we had a big argument.”

“What matter was that?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Shi Lang replied, “Under lowly officer’s command there was a low-rank soldier, lowly officer sent him out to spy the enemy. Unexpectedly, not only this person was afraid of death, he was also lazy; he went out to the wilderness and slept for several days. When he returned, he spoke some nonsense. As I listened to him, I knew something was not right. Upon careful investigation, I found the truth. Immediately I ordered him to be locked up and beheaded the next day. Unexpectedly this low-rank soldier was very sly; he escaped in the middle of the night and ran to Zheng Chenggong’s mansion, he complained tearfully to Mrs. Zheng Chenggong, Madame Dong, saying that I have wrongly accused him. Madame Dong’s heart was soft; she sent someone to plead with me, asking me to forgive this low-rank soldier, saying that when I sent someone on a mission, I must not kill my subordinate without authorization, so as not to terrify the soldiers.”

Hearing him mentioning Madame Dong, Wei Xiaobao remembered Chen Jinnan told him that this Madame Dong favored her grandson Keshuang and that she repeatedly wanted to set him up as the heir apparent. He could not stop his anger from flaring up, “That old wh0re,” he cursed, “What did that woman know about military matter? His granny, important things in the world fail in this kind of old wh0re’s hands. If a soldier violating martial law was not beheaded, everybody would violate martial law; how can you lead troops to war that way? This old wh0re is thoroughly muddleheaded, she only knows how to favor ‘little white face’ [i.e. pretty boy].”

Shi Lang had never expected that when he heard about this matter, Wei Xiaobao would be that angry; immediately feeling of friendship arose in Shi Lang’s heart. Slapping his thigh, he said, “Nothing can be truer than what Wei Daren has just said. You are also accustomed to leading the troops, you know martial law is as rigid as the mountain. Subduing the enemy and scoring a victory all depend on strict commands.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “You don’t have to pay attention to that old wh0re; just grab that low-rank soldier or high-rank soldier, ‘ka-cha’, one saber and it is done.”

Shi Lang said, “Lowly officer’s thought at that time was exactly the same as Wei Daren’s. I said to the person sent by Madame Dong that the one surnamed Shi was Guoxing Ye’s subordinate, I only accept Guoxing Ye’s military order. My meaning was that I was not Madame Dong’s subordinate, hence I was not obligated to accept Madame Dong’s order.”

“Absolutely right,” Wei Xiaobao was fuming, “Whoever wanted to be the old wh0re’s subordinate must be a big pustule.”

Hearing Wei Xiaobao repeatedly cursing Madame Dong as the old wh0re, Songgotu and Shi Lang were amused; but how could they know that Wei Xiaobao had a different, selfish reason?

Shi Lang said, “That old … that Madame Dong was angry at lowly officer’s reply, unexpectedly she made that low-rank soldier a Mansion’s personal guard, and also sent words to me, saying that if I had the ability, to capture and kill that low-rank soldier myself. Momentarily lowly officer could not endure that kind of words, I personally went to grab that low-rank soldier, and with one chop I separate his head from his body.”

Wei Xiaobao clapped and praised him greatly, “Kill him well, kill him swell, kill him neatly, send him packing to hell, to the satisfaction of everyone.”

“After lowly officer killed that low-rank soldier,” Shi Lang continued, “I realized I had run into a disaster, hence I thought I would go to Zheng Chenggong to apologize. I thought I had rendered great merit, a troop under my command violated martial law, killing him was not wrong at all. But Zheng Chenggong was listening to the Madame’s words, he said I had offended my superior and was insufficiently respectful to her, so he put me in custody. I thought Guoxing Ye was a hero and a broadminded man, momentarily he was upset and had me locked up several days, so I did not mind much. Who would have thought that after quite a long time, my father and my younger brother, as well as my wife and children, were all arrested and put in prison. It was then that I knew this matter was far from good, Zheng Chenggong wanted to chop my head. Taking advantage when the man in charge of me was being negligence, I escaped. Not too long afterwards, I received the news that Zheng Chenggong had executed my whole family that not even one survived.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head and heaved a deep sigh; he repeatedly stated, “It’s all because that old wh0re Madame Dong was not good.”

Gnashing his teeth, Shi Lang said, “My enmity with the Zheng Family is as deep as the ocean. It’s a pity that Zheng Chenggong had already died, it’s hard for me to avenge my enmity. Lowly officer has sworn a heavy oath, there will be a day I will kill the Zheng Family, each and every one of them, I will wipe them clean.”

Wei Xiaobao was already aware that Zheng Chenggong was an overseas king, a big hero, but hearing that Shi Lang wanted to kill the entire Zheng Clan, which naturally included his big rival Zheng Keshuang, he felt Shi Lang and he were like-minded. Nodding his head repeatedly, he said, “You should kill them, you should kill them! If you do not avenge this enmity, you are not a hero or a warrior.”

Ever since Shi Lang was summoned by Kangxi to Beijing, he only saw the Emperor one time, and then he was lying idle in Beijing. His official position was Fujian’s Naval Tidu, his nobility title was still ‘Jinghai Jiangjun’ [the general who pacify the ocean], but in Beijing he received his soldier’s pay in vain, because he did not hold any authority; in fact, compared to a lowly officer of Shun Tian[1] yamen, his power was still inferior. To an aggressive and grand man like him, naturally being confined in the city with an anxious heart, he was like an ant in a hot pot.

For the last three years, every few days he would go to the Ministry of War to beat around the bush. He gave present excessively, and had spent considerable amount of money; the savings that he accumulated from his career over the years had actually been thrown away into the bottomless pit of Beijing bureaucracy, but the Emperor no longer granted him any interview. He did not even know when would he receive the imperial edict sending him back to his official post in Fujian. Afterwards, when the Ministry of War yamen heard Shi Lang’s name, they would feel a headache. His personal fund had been depleted, he no longer had money to give gifts, nobody paid him any attention anymore. This time, hearing Wei Xiaobao was in complete agreement with everything he said, he felt that returning to his duty in Fujian was no longer a hopeless desire, his face was full of excitement.

“General Shi,” Songgotu said, “Zheng Chenggong killed your entire family, he really should not do that. However, you are also reaping a profit from this disaster: you renounced the dark and sought the light. If this matter did not happen, I am afraid by this time you would still be in Taiwan defying your king and master, committing those treason and heresy.”

“Suo Daren is right,” Shi Lang said.

“Zheng Chenggong killed your entire family, and then in rage, you surrendered to the Great Qing?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

“Yes,” Shi Lang replied, “The Late Emperor’s benevolence was as heavy as the mountain; when lowly officer surrendered, the Late Emperor sent me to Fujian on a mission. Lowly officer was grateful and seeking to repay the kindness, I dashed on bravely with no thought of personal safety, and set up some minor merits, hence I was promoted to be the Fujiang [deputy general] of Tong’an [district of Xiamen city], Fujian. As it turns out, Zheng Chenggong led his troops to attack, lowly officer staked everything I had against him, relying on the Late Emperor’s flood of good fortune, I seized total victory. By his great benevolence, the Late Emperor promoted me to be Tong’an’s Zongbing [regional commander]. Later on I captured Xiamen, Jinmen and Wuyu; and then in alliance with the red-haired troops, riding large sailing ship and using foreign firearms and ocean cannon, we beat Zheng Chenggong out to the sea. The Late Emperor promoted lowly officer to be the Fujian Naval Tidu, and bestowed the title ‘Jinghai Jiangjun’. Actually, lowly officer did not have even half a part of contribution; one, I was a dog, enjoying great part of Qing Emperor’s good fortune, two, I received appropriate instruction from various Daren of the Imperial Court.”

Wei Xiaobao smiled and said, “You were formerly in Zheng Chenggong’s army, and you have won several tough battles with him in Fujian, naturally you are also very familiar with the situation in Taiwan. His Majesty summoned you here to discuss the strategy to attack Taiwan, what did you tell him?”

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[1] Shuntian (lit. ‘obey-the-heaven’) is an another name for Beijing.