Page 14 of 20 FirstFirst ... 4567891011121314151617181920 LastLast
Results 261 to 280 of 393

Thread: The Deer and The Cauldron - Unabridged Thread

  1. #261
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 34 - Part 10

    Shi Lang said, “Lowly officer submitted a report to His Majesty: Taiwan is sitting alone in the ocean, it is easy to guard, hard to attack. The officers and soldiers of Taiwan are crack troops who have followed Zheng Chenggong in hundreds of battle in the past. If we want to attack Taiwan, our officers and men must be united under one command, there must not be any pulling or elbowing inside, people who act as they see fit; only then we will achieve success.”

    “Are you saying that you want to take charge in this important task and to let you one man have the authority to boss people around?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

    “Lowly officer does not dare to have such arrogance,” Shi Lang replied, “But attacking Taiwan must be done when it is the least expected, attack when they are not prepared. The Capital and Fujian are several thousand li apart, when the good opportunity to attack Taiwan arises, and we have to submit a memorial to the throne to ask for instruction, by the time the imperial court makes decision, perhaps the good opportunity will be lost. Taiwan’s various generals and officers are not a big deal; there is one Chen Yonghua who is full of stratagems, and then there is one Liu Guoxuan who is brave and good at fighting. In all honesty, these two are greatly formidable opponent. If we send the troops in haste, victory will be hard to grasp.”

    Wei Xiaobao nodded and said, “That is true. His Majesty is extremely brilliant, he would not blame you as saying wrong things. What else did you tell him?”

    Shi Lang said, “His Majesty also inquired about the strategy to attack Taiwan. In response to the imperial inquiry, lowly officer reported: Although Taiwan’s troops are exquisite, when all is said and done, their number is small. When the Great Qing attacks Taiwan, we should attack one problem from two angles at the same time [orig. ‘painting using two brushes’]. The first step is to use spies, we scheme to set the people inside to be at odds with each other. It would be best if we could disseminate rumors, saying that Chen Yonghua is harboring the desire to abandon his master and be independent, that he and Liu Guoxuan, two people, are plotting to seize the throne. As soon as Zheng Jing is suspicious, there is a good chance that he would kill Chen and Liu, two people. Even if he did not kill them, he would not put them in important position, he would strip them of any authority. Chen and Liu, two people, one an important figure the other a general, they are indeed Taiwan’s two pillars. If we can deal with both, that is certainly the best. But if we can only get rid of one of them, one of them working alone, a single log cannot support a large building.”

    Wei Xiaobao was secretly shocked, “Damn it,” he mused, “You want to harm my Shifu.” He asked, “Isn’t there a certain ‘One Sword Without Blood’, Feng Xifan?”

    Shi Lang was greatly surprised, “Unexpectedly Wei Daren also know about Feng Xifan.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “I heard His Majesty mentioned it when we were chatting. His Majesty is very clear about Taiwan’s inside story! His Majesty said, ‘Madame Dong is fond of her ‘little white face’ grandson Zheng Keshuang, she does not like the heir apparent Zheng Keshang; she wants her son to change the heir apparent, but Zheng Jing is unwilling. Is there really such thing?”

    Shi Lang was startled, but was also full of admiration, “The Holy Son of Heaven is intelligent and wise, indeed a rarity since the dawn of time. He resides deep in the Palace, but can see clearly ten thousand li away. His Majesty’s words are not the least bit incorrect.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “You said that there are two ways to attack Taiwan; one is using scheme to kill Chen Yonghua and Liu Guoxuan, what is the other one?”

    Shi Lang said, “The other is to attack using naval force. Attacking only in one direction won’t be easy to succeed, we must attack it from three directions at once. From the north attack Jilong Gang [lit. chicken coop port], in the middle attack Taiwan’s government seat, from the south attack Dagou Gang [lit. beating a dog port; my dictionary says ‘old name for Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan’]. As long as one direction succeed, the landing will definitely plant our feet in Taiwan, the people’s heart will be thrown into confusion, it will be a clean sweep.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Leading naval forces, fighting naval battle, you are the expert.”

    Shi Lang said, “In all my life lowly officer has been in the navy, I am well acquainted with naval warfare.”

    Wei Xiaobao had a brainwave; he pondered, “This man wants to kill the entire family of surname Zheng, hence he will get rid of that kid Zheng Keshuang; that won’t be so bad. However, Zheng Chenggong was a great hero, killing his entire family cannot be justified. Much less attacking Taiwan means bringing harm to my Shifu; that won’t be good at all. This man is an expert in naval battle, by sending him on this mission, I will kill two birds with one stone.”

    Turning toward Songgotu he asked, “Dage, what do you think we must do?”

    Songgotu said, “His Majesty is wise, he stands tall and sees far, his reckoning will not fail. As his servants, all we need to do is just listen to his instruction, and that’s that.”

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “What a crafty fellow you are; you are unwilling to take any responsibility.” He picked up the teacup with both hands. The servant waiting on them loudly announced, “See the visitor out!”

    Shi Lang stood up, saluted, and took his leave. Songgotu stayed for a short chat, and then he also took his leave.

    Wei Xiaobao went to the Palace to see the Emperor, he reported Shi Lang’s wish to attack Taiwan. Kangxi said, “Eliminate threats from three borders first, then pacify Taiwan; this is the basic order of priority. This man Shi Lang indeed has talent, but I am afraid after I let him go back to Fujian, this man will become impatient to render merit and take revenge, he would act blindly without thinking, and then Taiwan would be alerted instead; therefore, all along I keep him in Beijing.”

    Wei Xiaobao was immediately enlightened. “Right, right,” he said, “As soon as Shi Lang reached Fujian, he would want to build battleships and recruit the troops, he would beat the grass to scare the snake. While if we want to attack Taiwan, it has to be ‘the gods did not know, the ghost did not realize’; everybody has to think that we are not attacking, and then we suddenly attack, so that the kid surnamed Zheng will be thrown into confusion.”

    Kangxi smiled and said, “That should be the way to move the troops. Besides, dispatching a general is not as good as stimulating a general; I keep Shi Lang in Beijing, so that his strength won’t be used, he will be bored half-dead. By the time I send him out, he will do everything he can to follow my order, and will not dare to goof off.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “This strategy of Your Majesty’s, even Zhuge Liang cannot surpass. Your servant has seen the play ‘Ding Jun Shan’ [lit. Fixing-the-army Mountain], Zhuge Liang stimulated Huang Zhong[1] that he staked everything and fought ruthlessly, and thus with one saber he chopped that ‘chunxiaqiudong’ [spring, summer, autumn, winter – the four season] painted-face.”

    Kangxi smiled, “Xia Houyuan,” he said.

    “Right, right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Your Majesty’s memory is really good, you watched the play, and remember that big painted-face’s name.”

    Kangxi laughed. “That big painted-face’s name is actually written in the book,” he said, “What did Shi Lang give you?”

    Wei Xiaobao was surprised. “Your Majesty knows everything,” he said, “That Shi Lang gave me a jade bowl, but I don’t like it too much.”

    “So what’s not good about the jade bowl?” Kangxi asked.

    Wei Xiaobao replied, “Although the jade bowl is precious, once it fell it breaks. Your servant has worked for Your Majesty, my pair of hands are holding a golden rice bowl [an allegory to ‘secure and lucrative job’], which for a thousand years won’t break when it fell, for ten thousand years won’t rust. That is the big difference.”

    Kangxi burst out laughing. Wei Xiaobao said, “Your Majesty, your servant suddenly thinks of an idea, would you hear it and tell me if it is possible?”

    “What idea?” Kangxi asked.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “That Shi Lang said that he is a naval commander, and is very good at naval warfare …”

    Kangxi slapped his left hand on the table. “Good idea, good idea,” he said, “Xiao Guizi, you are very smart. You may take him to Liaodong, send him to attack Shen Long Jiao.”

    Wei Xiaobao was very amazed in his heart, he stared at Kangxi for half a day before saying, “Your Majesty must be an immortal descending into the world; your servant had not even said the thought in my mind, Your Majesty already knew.”

    Kangxi smiled. “Enough patting the horse’s butt,” he said, “Xiao Guizi, that is a wonderful idea. I was anxious, you are going to attack Shen Long Jiao, I don’t know if you will succeed. This Shi Lang is a talent in naval warfare, I’ll have him going Shen Long Island to practice first, but he must not leak the secret beforehand.”

    “Yes, yes,” Wei Xiaobao hastily said.

    Kangxi sent for Shi Lang at once. When he arrived, Kangxi said, “Zhen is sending Wei Xiaobao to Changbai Mountain to offer sacrifice to the Heaven. He highly recommends you, saying that you handled matters competently; he wants to take you along. Zhen accepted his words a bit reluctantly, I am not quite convinced yet.”

    Wei Xiaobao was amused inwardly. “Zhuge Liang is stimulating the Old Huang Zhong,” he thought.

    Shi Lang repeatedly kowtowed; he said, “Your Servant [orig. ‘chen’, a minister referring to self in front of the Emperor] will go with Wei Dutong on this mission, I will definitely display utter loyalty in obeying his order, I will dash on bravely with no thought of personal safety, in order to repay Your Majesty’s as-high-as-the-sky kindness.”

    Kangxi said, “This is a test for you. If you succeed, I will send you on different mission in the future.”

    Shi Lang was greatly delighted; he kowtowed and said, “Your Majesty’s kindness ascends the sky, it is broad and powerful.”

    Kangxi said, “This is a secret mission, other than Wei Xiaobao one person, nobody else in the Imperial Court knew about it. In everything you are to follow Wei Xiaobao’s order. You are dismissed.”

    Shi Lang kowtowed. He was about to withdraw, Kangxi suddenly smiled and said, “Wei Dutong treats you well; go, send him a big golden rice bowl.”

    Shi Lang complied, in his heart he did not understand a thing, he was unclear of the Emperor’s intention; but seeing ‘the Heaven’s countenance’ was very happy, he believed it must not be a bad thing.

    By the time Wei Xiaobao returned to his viscount mansion, he saw Shi Lang was already waiting at the gate, saying a lot of things about gratitude for the promotion. Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “General Shi, this time I have no choice but to wrong you: I would like you to be a tiny Canling [Regimental Commander[2]] in my brigade, to protect against outsider knew about this.”

    Shi Lang was greatly delighted; he said, “In everything I will follow Dutong Daren’s instruction.” He realized that the lower the official position Wei Xiaobao assigned to him, that means the more Wei Xiaobao considered him as his own people, the more opportunity for him to gain meteoric rise [orig. ‘the divine steed Huang flashes past’] in his career later on. If Wei Xiaobao assigned him to be his personal guard, that would be even better. He also said, “His Majesty instructed lowly officer to make a golden bowl and present it as a gift to Dutong; I wonder which style Dutong Daren likes the most, lowly officer will send for some master artisan to manufacture one overnight.”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “That was His Majesty’s grace; no matter what style, we as the servants will hold the golden bowl with both hands to eat our rice, with our hearts full of gratitude for the vast and mighty benevolence of the Emperor.” Shi Lang repeatedly voiced his agreement.

    Wei Xiaobao mused, “Laozi originally wanted to escape without a trace, to resign and not have anything to do with government anymore. And now I found you, this scapegoat, it would be best if you fight desperately with Hong Jiaozhu that both of you perish together; then you two brothers’ long lives will be the same as the bugs.”

    After Shi Lang left, Wei Xiaobao summoned Li Lishi, Feng Jizhong, Xu Tianchuan, Priest Xuanzhen, and the other Tian Di Hui brothers; he told them what had happened in details. Li Lishi said, “This thief surnamed Shi rebelled against Guoxing Ye, and he wants to attack Taiwan and frame Zongduozhu; it’s by the Heaven’s providence that he came across Wei Xiangzhu. What should we do to manipulate him?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Shen Long Jiao colludes with Wu Sangui and Luocha Country, presently the Emperor is sending me leading Shi Lang to destroy Shen Long Jiao. Let’s let this surnamed Shi fight with Shen Long Jiao until the sky turns dark and the earth black, until both sides suffer, and then we’ll come to pick the fish out of the net.” Everybody approved this plan in one voice.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “This surnamed Shi is astute and competent, I need to rely on him to strike Shen Long Island, so we cannot kill him yet. All Gege must be careful, don’t let him see through our secret.”

    Gao Yanchao said, “We will dress as Valiant Cavalry Brigade Tatars; ordinarily we won’t see him too much. Even if we do, he won’t dare to offend the Tatars.”

    By the afternoon of the next day, Shi Lang came to the viscount mansion asking for an audience, carrying a brocade box with both hands. Wei Xiaobao opened the brocade box, and sure enough, he saw a big golden rice bowl, weighed at least six or seven taels[3]. Shi Lang said, “Lowly officer should make it a bit bigger, but I am afraid … I am afraid it would not be convenient for Dutong Daren to use.”

    Wei Xiaobao weighed the golden bowl with his left hand. “It’s heavy enough,” he said with a laugh, “General Shi, what do these many characters say?”

    Shi Lang said, “The middle four large characters say, ‘Gong Zhong Ti Guo’ [serving one’s country loyally’. This line of little characters above it says, ‘Personally presented to Internal Imperial Bodyguard Deputy Minister, simultaneously holding Valiant Cavalry Brigade Plain Yellow Banner Dutong position, the wearer of Yellow Magua, Batulu Brave title, First Class Viscount Wei Xiaobao.’ Below, in even smaller characters, are ‘Made by Minister Jinghai Jiangjun Shi Lang on imperial orders.’”

    Wei Xiaobao was very happy; he laughed and said, “Thank you very much for this.” He said in his heart, “That’s right, my golden bowl is bestowed by His Majesty; how can you give me any golden rice bowl [i.e. secure and lucrative job]? This Old Shi is actually not a fool?”

    Two days later, Kangxi proclaimed the imperial edict, ordering Wei Xiaobao to take the ten ‘Shen Wu Da Pao’ and set out to sea from Dagu[4], passing through Liaodong Bay to the north; first to offer sacrifice at Liaohai [east and south of Liaoning province], and then to land at Liaodong, travel to Changbai Mountain and set off the cannon to offer sacrifice to the Heaven.

    Wei Xiaobao accepted the imperial edict; thinking that since this time they were going to attack Divine Dragon Cult, he could not bring Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan along, hence he ordered the two of them to stay in Beijing. He brought Shuang’er and Tian Di Hui brothers, leading the Valiant Cavalry Brigade troops, and set off to Tianjin.

    Hundreds of civil and military officials welcomed the Imperial Envoy Minister; some of them were respectful and solemn beyond ordinary, a hundred-percent bootlicking; some of them flattered appropriately, it was just perfect. There was only one bearded military officer with haughty air, when he saluted, it was clear that he was saluting half-heartedly, obviously he did not have any regard toward Wei Xiaobao.

    Wei Xiaobao was angry, he was about to lash it out immediately when he had a second thought, “His Majesty’s order: this time everything must be kept in strict confidence, must not create too much disturbance and attract unnecessary attention. You look down on me, do you think Laozi will look up to your big beard? Let us, two boys, have a contest, whose official position is higher?” And then another official highly praised him for his heroic deed in killing Oboi with his own hand. Wei Xiaobao was immensely proud of himself, and was no longer bothered with the big beard.



    [1] A general of Shu in Romance of the Three Kingdons, portrayed as an old fighter.

    [2] FYI, Wei Xiaobao was a Dutong [commander], under him was Fu Dutong [deputy commander]; and then Canling. Hence he made Shi Lang two ranks below him.

    [3] 1 tael = 1/16 catty, approximately equal to modern 50 grams.

    [4] Da – great, Gu – abbreviation for Tianjin (also called Jin Gu).
    Last edited by foxs; 04-19-13 at 04:14 PM.

  2. #262
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 34 - Part 11

    That evening Wei Xiaobao invited Tianjin’s Naval Zongbing [regional commander] to come over, and showed him Kangxi’s secret order. The Naval Zongbing was called Huang Fu. He read the imperial decree ordering him to lead the naval officers and men to board the ships and follow the Imperial Envoy Minister’s direction, in an important clandestine military mission. He received the imperial decree and bowed, saying he was ready to hear the direction. Wei Xiaobao inquired about the strength of the navy: how many sailors they had, how many boats were available, and so on. And then he summoned Shi Lang to join them. He ordered Shi Lang and Huang Fu to discuss the plan to go to sea, while he himself went to the rear barrack and gambled and played Pai Jiu with the soldiers.

    They stopped over in Tianjin for three days, the Naval Force Brigade loaded food, fresh water, ammunition, bows and arrows and other stuffs onto the ships. Wei Xiaobao led the Naval Force Brigade, the Valiant Cavalry Brigade, ten big battleships, and thirty-eight second-class battleships, to set sail.

    It was not until after they left Dagu and reached the open sea that Wei Xiaobao announced the imperial decree, that their mission this time was to eliminate Divine Dragon Island, that all officers and men must follow the order bravely, and that after their success, there would be promotion and rewards all around. The officers and soldiers saw that their side had overwhelming numerical strength, plus the Imperial Envoy Minister had ten western-style cannon, while their opponent on the Divine Dragon Island was no more than a bunch or pirate who illegally occupied the island. With a series of bombardments from the cannon, the pirates would be struck that none will remain. This time meritorious service and promotion were guaranteed. Immediately they broke out in cheers, their spirit was boosted a hundred times.

    Wei Xiaobao rode the main ship. He reminisced about the last time he went to the Divine Dragon Island under Fang Yi’s deception. Although that young woman was crafty, looking back this time, he was greatly charmed by the warmth of their being together for several days on the ocean. He thought, “As soon as we reach the Island, if the cannon fire randomly, most of the Cult members of Shen Long Jiao will die by the explosion first. Once the several thousand officers and soldiers rush ashore, even if Hong Jiaozhu’s martial art skill were higher, he won’t be able to resist the enemy. However, if this happens, perhaps my Xiao Niang Pi [little mother skin] Fang Yi will be blasted to death; that will be very far from good. Even if she did not die, if she lost an arm in the explosion, that will be too bad.”

    Originally, he was afraid of Cult Leader Hong, and only wanted to smear oil to the soles of his feet and would feel very lucky if he could escape alive; but now with Shi Lang in charge plus several dozen battleships deployed to the ocean and ten newly-manufactured ‘Shen Wu Da Pao’, this battle would only result in victory and not defeat. If only he could find a way to guarantee Fang Yi’s safety while destroying the Divine Dragon Cult completely, then he would get the best of both worlds. Thereupon he summoned Shi Lang and asked him about the plan of attacking the Island.

    Shi Lang opened the file he brought along in his hand; he took out a large map and spread it out on the table. Pointing to a small island on the map, he said, “This is the Shen Long Island.”

    Wei Xiaobao noticed that there was a red circle drawn on the island, with three arrows from north, east and south pointing to the red circle. He was full of admiration, saying, “Turns out you have already prepared a plan to attack the Shen Long Island. I only announced the Emperor’s secret order after we left Dagu, how could you have a nautical chart ready?”

    Shi Lang replied, “Lowly officer heard that Daren was going to leave Dagu and proceed toward Liaodong by the sea, thereupon I prepared this nautical chart. Lowly officer has always loved to have a career in the ocean, I am accustomed to look at nautical charts.”

    “So that’s how it is,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Apparently in our mission this time we are bound to win a victory on raising the flag, to succeed upon embarking the ships.”

    “That is entirely dependent on His Majesty’s sacred virtue and Wei Daren’s prestige,” Shi Lang said, “In Lowly officer’s humble opinion, we must divide our forces into three groups; we’ll launch tree-pronged attack from the north, east and south of the Island, and leave the west side of the Island free of any assault. After the cannon blast, the bandits on the Island won’t be able to withstand, most likely they would run to the west of the Island to escape to sea. Behind this little island about thirty li or so west of the Island, we prepare an ambush of twenty ships. As soon as the bandit escapees arrived, these twenty battleships will appear to cut their escape route, the cannon blast, the battleships from the north, east and south will catch up, and surround the pirate ship in the middle. At that time we can catch everything in one net, not one pirate would be able to escape alive.”

    Wei Xiaobao cheered and applauded, repeatedly saying that it was an ingenious plan. Shi Lang said, “I am asking Daren to lead the troops, by setting up a central command and supervise the battle from this nameless island, please do not get on the boat and join the battle. The central command must be as steady as Mount Tai. If there is any slightest damage to the command flagship, the mast is broken by the gale or what have you, inevitably the morale of the troops will be shaken. Lowly officer will lead the battleships to launch the three-pronged attack. Huang Zongbing will lead the ambushing ships to intercept the enemy. Ten little ships will come and go to communicate military intelligence. About how the operation should be executed, Daren may give orders at any time, Lowly officer and Huang Zongbing will follow.”

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he thought, “This man is actually very perceptive; he knew perfectly well than I am afraid of death, hence he let me assume personal command on this little island more than thirty li away, so that I will be absolutely safe. Even if you are completely wiped out, laozi will still have enough time to go onboard a ship and make a dash out of there. Ingenious plan, ingenious plan.” Thereupon he praised him greatly.

    Shi Lang said, “When Lowly officer first heard of Wei Daren’s prestige, I found out that Wei Daren has killed the Manchu’s Number One Warrior Oboi with your own hand, and has snatched the title Manchurian-Han’s Number One Warrior; therefore, you were bestowed the ‘Batulu’ title of bravery, your courage became famous all over the world. Lowly officer is only afraid that in your desire to repay the Heaven’s benevolence, Daren might dash on bravely in battle with no thought of personal safety. Supposing the cannon harm Daren’s one little finger, His Majesty would surely greatly blame Lowly officer. That my whole life career would be ruined is not a big deal, but I would fail to live up to Daren’s kindness by entrusting this heavy responsibility to me, a crime that Lowly officer will not be able to redeem by ten thousand deaths. Therefore, I urgently ask Daren’s to show understanding by taking a good care of your ten-thousand-gold body.”

    Wei Xiaobao sighed and said, “Fighting a battle on a ship is a very interesting experience. I originally wanted to personally lead the attack and capture that Shen Long Jiao’s Jiaozhu. But since you put it that way, I have no choice but to let you do it.”

    “Yes, yes,” Shi Lang said, “Daren is showing understanding, Lowly officer is deeply grateful.”

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “You were simmering in Beijing for three years, already you are very proficient in the way of the government officials. Laozi originally wanted to deal with you, but seeing you this well-behaved, I cannot bear to do it. This is the first time I‘ve ever heard the title ‘Manchurian-Han’s Number One Warrior’; only you can fabricate such title.” He said, “There are several hundred young women on Shen Long Island, including several women who escaped from the Palace. His Majesty instructed that they must be captured alive. When attacking the Island, you must be very careful, the cannon cannot be fired randomly. If those several palace maids die in the blast, His Majesty will definitely blame us; even if you render bigger merit, your merit cannot make up for it. This is most important.”

    Shi Lang was shocked; he said, “If not for Daren’s warning, Lowly officer nearly rush into a disaster. When we attack the Island, as long as it is a female, we will capture her alive, no one can kill or injure them; we’ll send them all to Daren to be dealt with.”

    “So be it,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I have seen these several palace maids, as soon as I see them, I would be able to recognize them. But this kind of imperial palace’s matter, um, you know.”

    “Yes,” Shi Lang replied, “Daren please set your heart at ease, Lowly officer will guard my mouth like a closed bottle. The matter of the Palace, who dares to speak thoughtlessly and talk randomly?”

    The battleship continued their voyage northeasterly, they happened to meet headwind, hence the progress was very slow. One day Shen Long Island was not too far away ahead. Shi Lang pointed to a small island to the port side and said, “That is the place where Dutong Daren will set up your command station. This small island does not have any name, would Daren bestow a name to it?”

    Wei Xiaobao scratched his head, “You want me to think of a name is like you want me to deliver my old life,” he said, “Hmm, this time I am the banker, you are my subordinate, the banker’s assistant who opens the corner of the tiles; we are playing Pai Jiu, and we must beat Shen Long Island and sweep it clean. Hence, this small island will be called ‘Tong Chi’ Island[1].”

    Shi Lang laughed. “Wonderful, wonderful!” he said, “Wei Daren assumes personal command on Tong Chi Island, indeed it is great luck, great profit; no matter how strong or formidable the enemy is, we will always ‘eat’ them clean. Daren was dealt ‘heaven’ pair first, this is Daren’s own hand. Later you’ll be dealt ‘supreme treasure’, that will be His Majesty’s. With these two sets of card, how can we not sweep the deck (of cards) clean?”

    Wei Xiaobao burst out in laughter. “Generals!” he shouted, “Move the troops to Tong Chi Island!” He had seen an actor shouted that order on the stage; now he shouted it out, it was indeed majestic, extremely high-spirited and vigorous.

    Dozens of battleships all around followed the flagship of their commander-in-chief, slowly sailed to the Tong Chi Island. Suddenly a sailor in one of the smaller ships shouted. Soon afterwards the small ship came near to report, saying that they saw a body floating on the water. Wei Xiaobao frowned; he thought, “It’s a bad omen for the deployed troops to come across a floating corpse! Could it be that this time I become the banker I must pay all[2]?”

    Shi Lang said, “Congratulations Daren on winning a victory on raising the flag; before we even fire the cannon and shoot the arrows, one of the enemy is already dead; this is indeed a greatly lucky omen. Let lowly officer go over to look.” Finished speaking, he jumped onto the small ship.

    A moment later, Shi Lang returned to the flagship and said, “Reporting to Dutong Daren: the floating corpse has its hands and feet tied behind its back. Apparently the pirates killed him for his money and pushed him into the ocean.” Just as he spoke, there was another shout from the small ship, saying that they saw two more floating corpse.

    Wei Xiaobao’s countenance turned really ugly. This time Shi Lang could not say anything auspicious. He jumped onto the small ship again, and when he returned to the command ship, there was a happy expression across his face. “Reporting to Daren,” he said, “It seems that these three floating corpses came from Shen Long Island.”

    “How did you know?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

    Shi Lang said, “The first corpse did not show anything, but the following two corpses are obviously pirates; their bodies look strong, clearly they knew martial art.”

    “Could it be that there is an internal strife within the Shen Long Island?” Wei Xiaobao wondered.

    Shi Lang said, “The wind is blowing from the Shen Long Island’s direction, most probably these three corpses were blown here by the wind. If there is indeed an internal strife within the enemy’s rank, this time Wei Daren become the banker, you can eat them all as simmer-fried tofu; no need to bite, just swallow them all clean.”

    Wei Xiaobao cast his gaze to the distance, but fog was rising from the ocean, the white mist filled the air, he was unable to see Shen Long Island. Suddenly he seemed to see something like a ball bobbing up and down on the surface of the water, the ball gradually floated near. “What is that?” he asked.

    Shi Lang focused his gaze. “There is something strange about that thing,” he said. He transmitted an order to the small ship to fish the object up. Following the order, the small ship sailed away to dredge the object up from the water. The officer on the ship shouted loudly, “Another floating corpse. It’s a short and fat guy.”

    Wei Xiaobao’s heart was moved. “Could it be him?” he mused. He said, “Lift it up here, let me look.”

    Three sailors heaved the floating corpse onto the flagship, and lay it down on the deck. This floating corpse’s hands and feet were also bound with leather rope. As soon as Wei Xiaobao saw it, sure enough, it was Thin Toutuo. He was already very fat, and by this time he had drunk a lot of water, his belly was bloated up, just like a fully blown leather ball. He saw sea water gurgling out from his mouth, after a while, his fat tummy started to rise and fall, he started to breathe. The soldiers called out, “The floating corpse came back to live!”

    Shi Lang raised Thin Toutuo and propped his lower back on the chain block at the bow of the ship. With head hanging down, the stream of seawater from his mouth flowed faster. After a while, Thin Toutuo jerked up and cursed, “Your granny!” But then he dropped down again, sitting on the bow. The soldiers were scared, but then they roared in laughter.

    Thin Toutuo struggled, but the leather rope was wet with seawater, it became even more tough and pliable, how could he break it? He shook his head with a bewildered look on his eyes “Damn it,” he said, “Is this the Dragon Palace[3], or the underworld?”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “This is the Dragon Palace, and I am Hai Long Wang [sea dragon king].” The officers and soldiers roared in laughter again.

    Thin Toutuo opened wide his pair of slit eyes, and stared hard at Wei Xiaobao. “You … you … why are you here?” he said.

    For fear that he might reveal his secret, Wei Xiaobao said, “This man is a freak, perhaps he knows the inside information on Shen Long Island. Quickly take him to my cabin, let me interrogate him.” Two personal guards brought Thin Toutuo into Wei Xiaobao’s cabin. “Wait outside,” Wei Xiaobao ordered them, “If you do not hear my call, don’t come in.”

    After the personal guards closed the cabin’s door, Wei Xiaobao asked, “Thin Toutuo, your martial art skill is very high, how could you get tied and thrown into the ocean?”

    Thin Toutuo said, “Laozi is not the number one martial artist under the heavens, why can’t I get tied and thrown into the ocean?”

    Wei Xiaobao was taken aback. “Ah, you are unable to defeat Jiaozhu,” he said with a laugh.


    [1] Lit. ‘eat all’, in the context of playing cards: ‘sweeping the (card) deck clean’.

    [2] Orig. ‘tong pei’, again, in the context of playing cards: ‘lost to everybody’.

    [3] According to Chinese legend, the Dragon Palace is where the Dragon King resides, at the bottom of the Eastern Sea.

  3. #263
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 34 - Part 12

    Thin Toutuo said, “What’s so funny about that? And who can possibly defeat Jiaozhu?”

    “How did you offend Jiaozhu?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

    “Who dares to offend Jiaozhu, the Senior?” Thin Toutuo said, “Madame said that Mao Dongzhu did not do her best in her mission in the Palace, she deceived Jiaozhu, therefore, she was to be sent into the Divine Dragon Cave to be fed to the dragons. I … I … I …” Speaking to this point, his eyes were bulging, his teeth clenched, the expression on his face showed that he was extremely outraged.

    Wei Xiaobao suddenly understood; that night at the Palace of Compassionate and Peaceful the fake Empress Dowager, the old wh0re told his Shifu Jiu Nan that she was the daughter of a great general of the Ming Dynasty by the name of Mao something Long, her real name was Mao Dongzhu. He laughed and said, “In the Palace you slept with Mao Dongzhu under the same quilt; that was extremely fun!”

    Thin Toutuo looked very pleased with himself. “Isn’t that so?” he said.

    “I have saved your life, haven’t I?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

    “Just consider it yes,” Thin Toutuo said.

    “What do you mean just consider it or not consider it yes?” Wei Xiaobao said, “If you want to say that I did not save your life, isn’t that also very easy?”

    “What do you mean very easy?” Thin Toutuo asked.

    Wei Xiaobao replied, “I’ll simply push you back into the ocean, then you can consider that I did not save your life; that’s it.”

    “That won’t do, that won’t do!” Thin Toutuo yelled, “You drown me, it’s not a big deal, but my Dongzhu Meizi [younger sister, term of endearment] won’t stay alive.”

    “Whether she will stay alive or not, in any case you are dead,” Wei Xiaobao said.

    “That won’t do, that won’t do!” Thin Toutuo yelled.

    “If I let you go,” Wei Xiaobao asked, “What are you going to do?”

    “Then I will thank you very much,” Thin Toutuo replied, “But I still have to return to Shen Long Island to save my Dongzhu Meizi.”

    Wei Xiaobao raised his thumb and praised him, “You have both the passion and the righteousness!” while thinking in his heart, “His Majesty wanted me to capture the old wh0re, I was just worried that I could not find her, now I am certain I will find the old wh0re from this fat and short fellow. But this man’s martial art skill is superior; if I let him go, it will be like ‘releasing the tiger is easy, catching the tiger is difficult’. Can’t say for sure, perhaps with an ‘Ahoy’, he will bite me instead.”

    Thin Toutuo said, “Luckily there is fighting on Shen Long Island that the sky and earth are turning upside down; it will be a lot more convenient to save someone.”

    As soon as Wei Xiaobao heard it, his heart was shaken. “How can there be fighting on Shen Long Island that the sky and earth are turning upside down?” he busily asked.

    Thin Toutuo said, “The Five Dragon Gates, you hit me, I strike you, they have been fighting for more than ten days. Whoever got caught by the other party would be immediately bound hands and feet and thrown into the sea to feed the Dragon King.”

    “Why are they fighting?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

    Thin Toutuo leaned his fat head sideways, he cast a sidelong glance toward Wei Xiaobao and said, “Dongzhu Meizi said that you are our Cult’s White Dragon Envoy, wielding the Five Dragon Command; how can you not know?”

    “I received Jiaozhu’s order to go to the Central Plains on a mission,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Hence I am not clear of what’s been happening on the Island.”

    Thin Toutuo suddenly cried out some strange noises. Wei Xiaobao jumped in fright and withdrew two steps back. The four personal guards outside the door heard the strange noise. Afraid that this fat and short man might injure their Commander, with sabers in their hands they burst into the room. Ony after seeing the fat and short man was still bound hands and feet and was sitting nicely on the floor did they feel relieve. Wei Xiaobao waved his hand and said, “You may get out, I am all right.” The personal guards withdrew from the room.

    Wei Xiaobao asked, “Why did you let out those strange noises?”

    “That’s bad!” Thin Toutuo said, “You are Jiaozhu and Madame’s trusted aide, but I’ve told you everything.”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “It’s not that bad. You can just consider that I have not saved you, that you are still floating around on the ocean, ‘glug, glug’, drinking the seawater to your heart’s content.”

    “His granny,” Thin Toutuo said, “That saltwater really does not taste good.”

    “If you don’t want to drink saltwater,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Then tell me truthfully, why did the Five Dragon Gates fight each other?”

    “By the time Dongzhu Meizi and I returned to Shen Long Island, they have already been fighting for a few days,” Thin Toutuo said, “When I asked someone, I was told that the Blue Dragon Envoy Xu Xueting was suddenly murdered one night. There was one bloody saber on the floor. After some investigation, turned out this bloody saber belonged to the Scarlet Dragon Envoy Priest Wugen’s first disciple, He Sheng.”

    Hearing that Xu Xueting was murdered, Wei Xiaobao was slightly startled. He immediately thought, “Most likely Hong Jiaozhu sent someone to kill him.”

    He heard Thin Toutuo continued, “Jiaozhu was greatly furious; he asked He Sheng why he plotted against the Blue Dragon Envoy. He Sheng adamantly denied, saying that he did not kill the Blue Dragon Envoy. Afterwards the Blue Dragon Gate’s members avenged their Zhangmen Shi [sect leader envoy, see also Note 1 of Chapter 20] and killed He Sheng. And thus the Scarlet Dragon Gate and Blue Dragon Gate are fighting each other.”

    “But that is the Scarlet Dragon and Blue Dragon, two Gates’ business,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Why did you say the Five Dragon Gates are fighting each other silly?”

    “I don’t know why,” Thin Toutuo said, “But Black Dragon Gate helped the Blue Dragon Gate, Yellow Dragon Gate helped Scarlet Dragon Gate; you kill me, I kill you, they have been fighting to their hearts’ delight.”

    “What about my White Dragon Gate?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

    Thin Toutuo stared at him; he said, “You are the White Dragon Envoy; how come you did not know your own Gate’s business?”

    “I have told you,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “I was not on the Island; naturally I did not know.”

    “Your Gate is divided into two factions,” Thin Toutuo said, “Older brothers became one faction, helping Blue Dragon Gate; the younger disciples are the other faction, helping the Scarlet Dragon Gate.”

    Wei Xiaobao knitted his brows. “The Five Dragon Gates are beating each other, could it be that Jiaozhu does not pay any attention?” he asked.

    Thin Toutuo said, “Everybody is rising on their own, Jiaozhu is unable to suppress it.”

    Right this moment, suddenly they felt that the ship had stopped; they heard the sailors yelled, the chain rattled, dropping the anchor into the sea. They had arrived at the Tong Chi Island.

    Wei Xiaobao stepped out to the bow. He saw lush vegetation on the island, rolling hills all around; it was indeed a very good place. Turning to Shi Lang he said, “There are snakes everywhere on the island, you need to send people to scout first whether there are snakes on Tong Chi Island or not.”

    Shi Lang complied and transmitted the order. Immediately ten small boats were rowed onto the island. The sailors went ashore and entered the woods to look for snakes. Not too long afterwards they lighted a torch to signal that the island was peaceful and nothing to worry about, there was no footprint, and there were no poisonous snakes.

    The vanguard landed first, and put up army tents. One large command banner, embroidered with a large graceful character ‘Wei’, was raised in front of the tents. Wei Xiaobao then disembarked; with Shi Lang and Huang Zongbing walking on his left and right he stepped down onto Tong Chi Island. Bugle horns and firecrackers sounded, the troops bowed to salute. With head held high Wei Xiaobao entered the army camp and took his seat. He ordered his personal guard to imprison Thin Toutuo at the back of the tent, and to give him some wine and meat for him to eat, but not to loosen the leather rope binding his hands and feet; instead, he added several links of iron chain to bind him before Wei Xiaobao felt completely safe.

    Following which, he issued an order to have Shi Lang leading thirty battleships and attack the Shen Long Island from the east, north and south, three directions; he also ordered Regional Commander Huang to lead the rest of the battleships hiding on the west side of the Tong Chi Island. As soon as they hear Shi Lang’s cannon signal, they were to appear and cut the enemy’s escape route. Which battleship would sail in the front, which battleship would provide support, how to launch the assault, how to make flank attack. All assignments were laid out clearly and in orderly manner, the directives were very detailed.

    Regional Commander Huang, as well as the deputy generals and the regimental commanders of the Navy, the garrison commanders, the Valiant Cavalry Brigade’s regimental commanders, the company commanders, and the others military officers, high and low, all gasped in admiration to see that although their Dutong Daren was young, he was surprisingly very well versed in naval warfare; his tactic was exquisite, his commands were appropriate. They did not know that it all came from Shi Lang’s scheming, this Dutong Daren was no more than an actor in front of the stage, singing a shuanghuang[1].

    That evening the troops stuffed themselves with eve-of-battle dinner. When the night fell, one by one the battleships sailed out. The three-pronged attack was scheduled at dawn, at the maoshi hour [between 5-7 am].

    The next day at dawn, Wei Xiaobao climbed onto the observation tower the sergeants erected in haste. He looked eastwards, and heard the distant sound of artillery, saw faint flash of sparks, and gusts of thick smoke rising up from the surface of the ocean. He knew that Shi Lang had already started the assault, and could not help but was anxious over Fang Yi’s safety. However, thinking that Shi Lang would handle this matter discretely, plus he himself had repeatedly warned Shi Lang not to harm the women on the Island, he presumed Shi Lang would definitely be particularly careful.

    After standing on the observation tower for a while, his feet were aching. He returned to the command tent and asked for six dice. He mused, “If we seize total victory this time, let me throw a hall full of red[2].” But when he threw the dice, unexpectedly all were blacks, not even one red dot turned up.

    “Damn it,” he cursed, “You are messing up with me!” Employing his cheating technique, he held the dice in such a way that all three-dots are facing up, and then using a bit of strength in his hand he rolled the dice. This time, as expected, there were five dice showing reds, all four-dots. There was only one showing blacks, a five-dot. He was fully aware than he cheated, hence it could not be considered as a good throw; yet he was quite happy.

    Shuang’er came with a bowl of tea for him. “Xianggong,” she said, “Don’t be anxious, this time we will definitely have a greatly successful battle.”

    “How do you know?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

    Shuang’er said, “We have fired the cannon many times, how can the enemy withstand it?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Come, Shuang’er, throw the dice with me. If you win, I’ll give the control to you. If I win, this can be considered great success.”

    Shuang’er blushed; she hastily said, “No, I won’t come, I won’t come.”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed. “Let’s gamble for money then,” he said, “If I win, you pay me one qian [one-tenth of a tael]. If you win, I will pay you one tael of silver. Won’t you say this way you’ll have nothing to lose?”

    Shuang’er laughed and said, “I have no money to lose to you.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “You want money? That’s not easy.” But he took out some banknotes from his pocket and gave them to her.

    Shuang’er laughed and said, “I have no use of money.”

    “Ay,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You have no gambling nature. I’d better release that fat and short man and have him gamble with me.”

    Speaking to this point, suddenly they heard repeated cannon shots. Wei Xiaobao sprang up to embrace Shuang’er. “Great success,” he said, “You deserve a kiss.”

    Shuang’er hastily laughed and lowered her head. Wei Xiaobao planted a couple of kiss on the back of her neck. “Your neck is really white!” he said.

    They heard the ‘toot, toot’ of bugle horn, he rushed out of the command tent and climbed up the observation tower. He saw in the distant three columns of flame rose up from Shen Long Island, went up straight to the sky, while the whole island was blanketed in black smoke; presumably the explosion had turned Shen Long Island into a piece of scorched earth. He also saw one by one the battleships were sailing eastwards; he thought, “This fellow Shi Lang calculates like a half smelly cobbler, his ‘prophecy with supernatural accuracy’ is not worth mentioning, his ‘predicting future matter like a ghost’ is only so-so.”

    The battleships went back and forth on the ocean very slowly, he had been standing on the observation tower for half a day, yet did not see any ships from Shen Long Island escaping his way, let alone seeing Shi Lang and Regional Commander Huang’s converging attack from east and west; thereupon he returned to the command tent to take a rest.

    After waiting for more than four hours, his personal guard came to report that he had just seen fireworks signal, two groups of battleships were reporting their success to Dutong Daren. Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he thought, “Laozi sits quietly in the command tent, my eyes see victory report arrives, my ears hear good news. In this battle victory comes as easy as blowing off dust. I just hope that Fang Yi, that ‘little mother skin’, won’t have even a strand of her hair scorched by the cannon.”

    [1] A form of theatrical double act, popular since Qing dynasty, with one player seated stage front and acted out the poem or song of the second player hidden backstage.

    [2] Hall full of red (Man tan hong) – success across the board, victory in everything one touches.

  4. #264
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 35 - Part 1

    Chapter 35 - Once following the road east, west, south and north, there is only a fate of ice, frost, rain and snow.
    (Translated by Foxs)


    LuDingJi-35.jpg

    Wei Xiaobao sprang up and mounted the deer’s back, while reaching out to hold onto the antler. Shuang’er lightly and deftly also jumped onto another spotted deer’s back. The flock of deer was startled, they kicked their hoofs and leaped away. Spotted deer has tall body and long legs, when they run, their speed is not inferior to that of fine horse.

  5. #265
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 35 - Part 2

    More than two hours later, the sun was slanting to the west; a personal guard came to report that several boats carrying prisoners were heading toward Tong Chi Island. Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he sprang up and rushed to the shore. Sure enough, he saw five boats were sailing to the island. Wei Xiaobao ordered the personal guard to shout the question, “Who are the prisoners?”

    The people on the boat shouted back the answer, “These are the women; the men will come later.”

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted, “Shi Lang indeed works reliably.” Focusing his eyes, he tried to look for Fang Yi’s beautiful figure. Naturally it would be best if they could capture the old wh0re alive; if they also caught the ‘thousand-tender hundred-charm’ Madame Hong, so that he could look at her several times a day on the boat, it would be too wonderful for words.

    After waiting for a good while, the five boats reached the shore. The Valiant Cavalry Brigade troops cheered; they have captured more than two hundred women. Wei Xiaobao looked at them one by one, he noticed that these women were the young girls of the Scarlet Dragon Gate. They all hung their heads dejectedly, some had tattered clothes, some were injured. But after looking at all of them, Wei Xiaobao did not see Fang Yi at all. Wei Xiaobao was quite disappointed. “Are there any more women?” he asked.

    A zuoling [company commander] replied, “Reporting to Dutong Daren: there are more coming. We have three teams searching around the Island, it’s just that there are too many poisonous snakes, the search was quite slow.”

    “Has the Shen Long Jiao’s Jiaozhu been captured?” Wei Xiaobao asked, “How did the battle go?”

    The zuoling replied, “Reporting to Dutong Daren: early in the morning today, thirty battleships approached the shore, while firing the cannon at the same time. Everybody was following Daren’s instruction; we fired the cannon three times, and then paused. We only hit empty space on the Island. When the people of the Island went out to fight the enemy, we fired repeatedly. Dutong Daren predicts things like a deity, using this technique, we only need to fire three times, four, five hundred Cult bandits died of the explosion. Afterwards there was a large group of young men who were not afraid of death came charging in, their mouths shouted something like ‘Hong Jiaozhu emerge victorious in every battle, he lives as long as Mount Nan …”

    Wei Xiaobao shook his head, “Wrong,” he said, “It’s Hong Jiaozhu will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, his long life the same as the heaven’s.”

    “Yes, yes,” the zuoling said, “Turns out Dutong Daren has already had thorough understanding of the Cult bandits, no wonder as soon as we deploy the troops, we make a clean sweep of the enemy. The Cult bandit shout was indeed ‘his long life the same as the heaven’s’. Lowly officer has spoken incorrectly.”

    Wei Xiaobao smiled and asked, “And then what happened?”

    The zuoling said, “Those young men acted like they were crazy, they charged toward the beach and got into their boats, thinking that they could board our big ship and seize the cannon. We did not pay them any attention; we waited until the several dozen small boats sailed into the ocean, then we fired the cannon. ‘Bang, bang, bang’, more than thirty small boats sank into the ocean, more than three thousand boys, the Cult bandits, were buried at the bottom of the ocean. At the death’s door, those little bandits was still shouting Hong Jiaozhu’s long life the same as the heaven’s.”

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “You exaggerate military intelligence. Shen Long’s young disciples are at most eight, nine hundred people; how can there be more than three thousand boys? Fortunately, killing more enemy means bigger merit, even if you reported four thousand, five thousand, what harm is there in doing that?”

    The zuoling continued, “After the children Cult bandits were gone, there was a large group of people fleeing to the west, they got on the boats and ran away. Following Dutong Daren’s directive, our battleships chase after them. Lowly officer led my team searching on the Island. Men and women, we caught about three, four hundred of them. Shi Daren instructed us to send the women Cult bandits to Tong Chi Island first for Dutong Daren to interrogate.”

    Wei Xiaobao nodded. Although this battle was a great success, not being able to see Fang Yi, he felt quite uneasy; he wondered if she was killed by the cannon blast. Turning around, he scanned the group of women again. Suddenly he saw a young girl with round face; immediately he remembered that when he was summoned by the Cult Leader to the general assembly the other day, this young girl had said that Wei Xiaobao was Fat Toutuo’s b@stard son; she also pinched his cheek and kicked his butt. Recalling these past events, his mischievous intention was aroused. Walking toward her, he reached out and pinched her cheek as hard as he could.

    The young girl screamed and cursed, “Dog Tatar, you … you …”

    Wei Xiaobao giggled and said, “Ma, don’t you remember your son?”

    The girl was greatly surprised. She started at him, and vaguely felt that his face looked familiar; but no matter what she could not remember that this Qing troops’ commander was their own Cult’s White Dragon Envoy.

    “What’s your name?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

    “Quickly kill me,” the girl said, “Whatever you want to ask, I won’t answer one word.”

    “Alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You don’t want to talk? Guards!”

    “Cha!” several dozen personal guards immediately responded.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Take this girl down, strip her clothes, her pants, everything, flog her butt a hundred times.”

    The personal guards chorused again, “Cha!” And stepped forward to drag the girl away.

    The girl was so scared that her face was devoid of any color. “No, don’t!” she hastily said, “I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”

    Wei Xiaobao waved his hand to stop the guards; he smiled and said, “Alright, what’s your name?”

    For a few moments the young girl was extremely terrified; only now did she burst into tears. “I … I am called Yun Sumei,” she said.

    “You are Scarlet Dragon Gate disciple, aren’t you?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

    Yun Sumei nodded. “Yes,” she said in a low voice.

    “In your Scarlet Dragon Gate there is a certain Fang Yi, Miss Fang, who later on joined the White Dragon Gate. Do you know her?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

    “I do,” Yun Sumei replied, “After joining the White Dragon Gate, she was promoted to be a platoon leader.”

    “Good for her, she is promoted,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Where is she now?”

    “This morning,” Yun Sumei said, “When you … when you opened fire, I still saw Fang Jiejie; afterwards … in the chaos that follows, I did not see her anymore.

    Hearing that Fang Yi was still on the Island that morning, Wei Xiaobao felt slightly relieved. Thinking that that day you kicked my @ss, today this b@stard son of yours was going to return this one kick to you. Thereupon he circled behind her and lifted his leg. He was just about to kick her when outside the tent a personal guard reported, “Reporting to Dutong Daren: another batch of prisoners arrived.”

    Wei Xiaobao was delighted; his leg did not continue. Rushing toward the beach, he saw a small battleship sailed toward the island. He ordered his personal guard to shout, “Are the prisoners women or men?”

    At first, since the distance was still too great, the men on the ship did not hear. A moment later the battleship was close enough that a military officer standing on the bow responded, “There are men and women.”

    Another moment later, Wei Xiaobao was able to see clearly that there were three or four women standing on the bow, he could vaguely recognize one of them as Fang Yi. In his great delight, he rushed to the water until the water reached his knees. Focusing his eyes, while the battleship was several zhang closer, he could see that the woman was indeed Fang Yi.

    To say that his delight this time was mild would be a gross understatement. “Quick, quick, make the ship move faster!” he called out.

    Suddenly the battleship shook; unexpectedly it spun around. The sailors on the ship cried out, “Aiyo, we hit a shoal, we run aground!”

    Suddenly Fang Yi’s voice was heard, “Xiaobao, Xiaobao, is that you?”

    By this time Wei Xiaobao had already forgotten all about his status as Dutong Daren; he called out, “Good Jiejie, it’s me, Xiaobao is here.”

    “Xiaobao,” Fang Yi called out, “Come quickly and save me. They tie me up. Xiaobao, Xiaobao, come quickly!”

    “Don’t worry,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “I am coming to save you.” Jumping into the skiff used to pass on military intelligence, he ordered the sailor, “Quickly row, quickly row.” The four sailors on the skiff raised the oars and immediately rowed away.

    Suddenly someone jumped from the shore into the skiff; it was Shuang’er. “Xianggong,” she said, “I am coming with you to take a look.”

    Wei Xiaobao was elated. “Shuang’er,” he said, “Do you know who she is?”

    Shuang’er smiled and said, “I do. You told me that she is Shaonainai [wife of the young master]. That day I called her ‘Shaonainai’, but … but this Shaonainai was unwilling to respond.”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed. “She was just bashful at that time,” he said, “This time you call her, she will definitely respond.”

    The battleship was still spinning slowly, the skiff was rowed rapidly toward it. Fang Yi called out, “Xiaobao, it is really you.” Her voice was brimming with happiness.

    “It’s me,” Wei Xiaobao called back. He shouted to the military officer standing next to her, “Quickly remove the Miss’ binding.”

    “Yes,” the military officer responded. He leaned over to untie the rope on Fang Yi’s hands.

    Fang Yi opened her arms wide, waiting for Wei Xiaobao to come over. As the two boats getting closer to each other, the military officer on the battleship said, “Dutong Daren, please be careful.”

    Wei Xiaobao leaped up, the military officer reached out to pull him up. As soon as Wei Xiaobao reached the bow, he threw himself into Fang Yi’s embrace. “Good Jiejie,” he said, “I miss you so much that I feel like dying.” They hugged each other tightly.

    Holding Fang Yi’s soft body, smelling the fragrant perfume on her body, Wei Xiaobao’s mind went blurry, he did not know where he was. The last time he came to Shen Long Island with Fang Yi, it was the first time he began to be interested in the opposite sex; also, he did not understand the matter between men and women too clearly yet. Later on during his journey to Yunnan, he recklessly fooled around with Princess Jianning. This time he was back in Fang Yi’s embrace, he could not help but was flushed with excitement [orig. ‘face red, ears scarlet’].

    Suddenly the hull rocked. Wei Xiaobao was too busy to think about it, he simply held Fang Yi tighter, and even wanted to kiss her lips. Suddenly he felt the back of his neck tightened, someone was grabbing his collar. A sweet and charming voice spoke, “White Dragon Envoy, how are you? This time you brought people to destroy Shen Long Island, your merit is indeed not small.”

    As soon as Wei Xiaobao heard this, he recognized it as Madame Hong’s voice; he felt his soul was flying to Heaven. Knowing that the turn of events was far from good, he struggled hard to free himself, but Fang Yi was holding him tight that he was unable to move a single step. And then there was a stab of pain on his waist, someone sealed his acupoint.

    This unforeseen event happened so suddenly, all along Wei Xiaobao felt it was like a dream; the only thought in his mind was, “Bad, bad, this little wh0re Fang Yi swindled me again.” However, with his mouth he yelled, “Guards, guards! Come and help me!”

    Fang Yi gently let him go and retreated to the side. Since his acupoint was sealed, Wei Xiaobao was not able to stand, he fell dejectedly in sitting position to the deck. He suddenly noticed that the battleship had hoisted its sail and was sailing rapidly to the north; while the skiff he took earlier had already more than ten zhang away. Vaguely he could hear the officers and soldiers on the beach were shouting and yelling.

    He secretly prayed, “Thank Heaven and thank the Earth, let Shi Lang and Huang Zongbing quickly send boats to intercept, just don’t let them fire the cannon.” However, he heard the voices from Tong Chi Island gradually diminished, until finally he could not hear them anymore. Looking at four directions, what he saw was boundless ocean, unexpectedly not a single ship was in sight. Although the ships under his command were numerous, all of them were sent to attack Shen Long Island, some were stationed between Shen Long Island and Tong Chi Island to intercept the enemy. Let’s not say that they did not know that their Commander-in-chief was captured; even if they did, they were separated several dozen li away, how could they possibly catch up with him?

    Sitting on the cabin’s deck he slowly raised his head, and saw several Valiant Cavalry Brigade officers was looking at him with cold laugh on their faces. His brain was muddy; he tried to clear his head, and was able to see clearly. He saw an ugly, fat and round face of Thin Toutuo’s, a lean and slim face of Lu Gaoxuan, an extremely long face, almost like a horse’s, of Fat Toutuo. He was baffled, “The short winter melon is tied up behind my command tent; he must be rescued by Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo. But these two are clearly in Beijing; how can they be here?” Turning his head the other way, he saw the beautiful, sweet and pretty face, which belonged to Madame Hong.

    She was looking at Wei Xiaobao while chuckling gently; reaching out, she pinched his cheek and said with a laugh, “Dutong Daren, you are young yet you are very formidable.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Jiaozhu and Madame will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven’s. This time subordinate did not do my job properly, I did not render any merit.”

    Madame Hong laughed and said, “It’s very appropriate, nothing is improper. Jiaozhu, the Senior, greatly commended you, saying that you are leading the Qing troops to blast the Shen Long Island’s trees and houses to ashes. He, the Senior, has always prophesied with supernatural accuracy, yet this time unexpectedly he was mistaken. He is very full of admiration to you.”

    Wei Xiaobao understood the trouble he was in; he knew that his life was in their hands, begging for his life would be useless; thereupon his only chance presently was to make up wild stories and act according to the circumstances. He laughed and said, “Jiaozhu, the Senior, has the good fortune of always in good health, I long to see him again very much. These days subordinate has always been thinking about Madame; every day I pray that you will grow younger and younger and more good looking, so that when Jiaozhu is in your company, he will enjoy immortal good fortune forever!”

    Madame Hong giggled and said, “You, this little monkey, are still acting recklessly until now, you are still being oily mouthed and smooth talking to me. Tell me, am I growing younger and younger and more beautiful?”

    Wei Xiaobao sighed and said, “Madame, you deceived me so much that I have to suffer like this.”

    Madame Hong laughed and said, “In what matter did I deceive you?”

  6. #266
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 35 - Part 3

    “Just now the Qing troops captured a group of sisters from the Island,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “All are Scarlet Dragon Gate’s young ladies. And then I was told that there was another boat-load of sisters coming. I stood on the beach to look; I saw Madame, but temporarily could not recognize you. I said to myself, ‘Aiyo, since when did the Scarlet Dragon Gate have this kind of young and pretty lady as new member? Is she Madame Jiaozhu’s younger sister? Such a beautiful woman, I would have seen her earlier.’ Madame, I was so flustered and my heart was in turmoil that I scrambled on to the boat to look at this beautiful girl. Who would have thought that it was you, yourself, Madame.”

    Hearing this, Madame Hong let out a peal of laughter, her body was shaking uncontrollably. Although she was wearing Valiant Cavalry Brigade’s officer’s uniform, the clothes could not conceal her outstandingly graceful figure.

    Thin Toutuo lost his patience; he shouted, “You, lecherous little demon, in front of Madame you still dare to talk rubbish. Let’s see if I don’t pull your tendon apart and peel you skin!”

    “You are such a muddle head,” Wei Xiaobao retorted, “I don’t have any desire to talk rubbish with you.”

    “How can I be a muddle head?” Thin Toutuo angrily said, “You are the muddle head. I pretended to be a corpse floating on the sea, you could not see through my ploy; unexpectedly you rescued me and inquired about the affair of Shen Long Island. I follow Jiaozhu’s instruction and talked nonsense to you, yet you accepted it as the truth.”

    Wei Xiaobao cursed in his heart, “Muddle head, muddle head! This fellow, Wei Xiaobao really deserves to die; how could you not think that Thin Toutuo’s internal energy is profound, to pretend to be floating corpse is very easy. Yet unexpectedly I believed his words firmly and had no doubt at all; I believed that on the Shen Long Island an internal strife did indeed arise. I did not guard against him at all.” He said, “I have fallen into Jiaozhu and Madame’s scheme; it was not that I am a muddle head.”

    “Humph,” Thin Toutuo said, “You are not a muddle head, are you saying that you are smart?”

    “Naturally I am very smart,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “But let me tell you this: even the smartest man in the world, as long as he falls into Jiaozhu and Madame’s hands, nobody can escape. This is Jiaozhu and Madame’s divine strategy and wonderful calculation, none of their calculations failed, sweeping with irresistible force, a great success …” When he spoke about ‘great success’ four character [da gong gao cheng], he could not help but casting his glance toward Madame Hong’s red-like-cherry small lips, which was slightly trembling.

    Madame Hong laughed, exposing a row of spotlessly white fine teeth. “White Dragon Envoy,” she said, “You are after all a lot smarter than Thin Toutuo; he will never win arguing against you. Why do you say he is a muddle head?”

    “Madame,” Wei Xiaobao said, “This Thin Toutuo has seen you, a young woman whose beauty is like the immortals. Actually, whoever has seen Madame one time, how could he look at the second woman? I said he is a muddle head because I know that in his heart he always remembers and is anxious for the second woman. Thin Toutuo, who is this woman? Do you want me to say it?”

    Thin Toutuo roared; he shouted, “You cannot say it!”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed. “You don’t want me to say it, then I won’t,” he said, “Your Shidi is a lot smarted than you are; ever since he saw Madame, he said that henceforth he will have no interest in looking at the second woman.”

    Fat Toutuo’s horse face blushed; “Nonsense,” he muttered, “How can there be such matter?”

    “There isn’t?” Wei Xiaobao asked in surprise, “Are you saying that after you see Madame, you still want to see the second woman?”

    Fat Toutuo lowered his head and said, “Lao Na [old cassock] has left my home, six purifying from defiling illusion, four elements are vanity, since long ago there is no more man-woman affair in my heart.”

    “Tsk, tsk, tsk!” Wei Xiaobao clucked his tongue, “Old Monk recites sutra, but gives lip-service. Your Shige is just the same as you are, he is also a Toutuo; but why does he remember his good friend daily?” While in his heart he said, “I clearly ordered him and Mr. Lu to stay in Beijing waiting for me, how did they get together with Madame? It’s very strange.”

    Fat Toutuo said, “Shige is Shige, I am me, you cannot lump two different matters together.”

    “I’ll say the two of you are more or less the same,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Although your Shige is more muddleheaded than you are, but he is comparably more honest than you. However, you two martial brothers have spoiled Jiaozhu and Madame’s important matter; indeed your crime is great, your evil extreme.”

    “Rubbish!” Fat and Thin, two Toutuo said together, “How did we spoil Jiaozhu and Madame’s important matter?”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed coldly, but did not reply. Actually, for the time being he could not find any false accusation to be charged to those two men; however, he needed to lie low first, he had to understand how Fat and Lu, two men could go from Beijing to Shen Long Island before he could fabricate something to accuse them, to rise Madame Hong’s suspicion.

    He turned his head around to look at the ocean; unexpectedly there was not a single ship to be seen on that vast and boundless ocean. Occasionally he would hear the sound of cannon from a distant, presumably Shi Lang and Regional Commander Huang were still leading the battleships to surround and annihilate the escaping boats from the Divine Dragon Island.

    Seeing his twinkling eyes, Lu Gaoxuan said, “Madame, this man is a big criminal of our Cult. Let’s report to Jiaozhu and then throw him into the ocean to feed the ocean dragon.”

    Wei Xiaobao was shocked; he mused, “I, the Little White Dragon, am a western cowrie goods [i.e. a fake]; fake white dragon enters the sea, I will lose my life.”

    Madame Hong said, “Jiaozhu still wants to talk to him.”

    “Yes,” Lu Gaoxuan replied. He pushed Wei Xiaobao’s back and said, “Go pay your respect to Jiaozhu!”

    Wei Xiaobao secretly groaned, “In front of Madame, I can still give her graceful words, flowery speech, I can make her roar in laughter. Turns out Jiaozhu is also on board, today if the Little White Dragon did not enter the Palace of the Dragon King, it would be indeed an offense to Heaven and to reason.”

    Casting a glance toward Fang Yi, he saw her wooden expression, completely devoid of any emotion. “Stinky wh0re,” he cursed in his heart, “Little mother skin!” But in his mouth he said, “Miss Fang, congratulations!”

    “For what?” Fang Yi asked.

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “You have set up great merits for the Cult; didn’t Jiaozhu give you promotion?”

    “Humph,” Fang Yi snorted, but did not say anything.

    Madame Hong said, “Everybody come in.” Lu Gaoxuan grabbed the back of Wei Xiaobao’s neck and carried him into the cabin.

    He saw Cult Leader Hong was sitting grandly in the cabin. With his body still hanging in the air, Wei Xiaobao seized the opportunity to say, “Jiaozhu and Madame will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven’s. Subordinate White Dragon Envoy pays his respect to Jiaozhu and Madame.”

    Lu Gaoxuan put him down. Fang Yi and the others bowed together and chorused, “Jiaozhu will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven’s.” Although they also wanted to win Madame Hong’s favor, but they were accustomed to say these words, they did not have the thicker face to add the three characters ‘Madame Hong’ [Hong Fu Ren].

    Wei Xiaobao noticed that Cult Leader Hong’s eyes were gazing at the ocean outside the cabin, as if he did not hear anything. He also noticed that there were four men standing by his side, namely, Scarlet Dragon Envoy Priest Wugen, Yellow Dragon Envoy Yin Jin, Blue Dragon Envoy Xu Xueting, and Black Dragon Envoy Zhang Danyue. Wei Xiaobao had a sudden inspiration. Turning toward Thin Toutuo he shouted, “You, this fellow blindly fabricated rumor, saying that Jiaozhu and Madame were in danger. Disregarding everything I rushed over to save their honorable selves; who would have known that Jiaozhu and Madame are not in the least bit of trouble? Why did you say that these several Zhangmenshi were revolting?”

    “What did you say?” Cult Leader Hong coldly asked.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Subordinate received Jiaozhu and Madame’s order to infiltrate the Imperial Palace. I obtained two sutras, and later on I went to Yunnan, Wu Sangui Ping Xi Wang’s mansion, and obtained three more.”

    Cult Leader Hong raised his eyebrows slightly. “You obtained five sutras? Where are they?” he asked.

    “The two I obtained in the Imperial Palace,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Subordinate has already sent Lu Gaoxuan to present them to Jiaozhu and Madame. Jiaozhu and Madame said that subordinate handled this matter reliably, and sent Lu Gaoxuan to bestow the immortal medicine.”

    Cult Leader Hong nodded. Wei Xiaobao continued, “The three copies that subordinate obtained in Yunnan, I keep it in a very secure place in Beijing, and ordered Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan to guard …”

    Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan’s countenances immediately changed greatly, “Did … did not,” they said, “How can there be such thing? Jiaozhu, you Senior should not listen to this boy’s nonsense.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Altogether there are eight copies of sutra. Subordinate has found the trail, I am optimistic to get my hands on the other three. I was prepared that as soon as I obtained the rest, I will present them all together to Shen Long Island. After obtaining those three copies, subordinate was afraid someone might steal them; for that reason I hid them inside the wall. I ordered Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo to keep an eye on them. Lu Gaoxuan, Fat Toutuo, I ordered you to guard inside the house, you must not come out, why did you come here? If the treasured sutra is lost, we will spoil Jiaozhu and Madame’s important matter; who would bear this heavy responsibility?”

    Fat and Lu, two people looked at each other in dismay, they were at a loss. After a while, Lu Gaoxuan was able to open his mouth, “You did not say anything about sutra inside the wall; how could we know?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “The matter that Jiaozhu and Madame entrusted to me, the more secretive it is the better. One more person knows about it, the danger of the secret being revealed will increase by one part. To be frank with you, I do not trust the two of you too much. Every day I wake up I always recite aloud, ‘Jiaozhu and Madame will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven’s.’ Every day before I eat, every day before I sleep, I always recite one time. But ever since the two of you left Shen Long Island, you have never praised Jiaozhu’s extensive magical power, ‘raw bird fish soup’ [niao sheng yu tang].” He did not know that the phrase ‘yao shun yu tang’ was only applicable to be used in singing praises to the Emperor. But although he said it, nobody else understood his meaning anyway.

    Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo’s faces alternated between green and white; they both were secretly shocked. After they left Shen Long Island, they indeed had never recited ‘Jiaozhu and Madame will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven’s’; they did not expect that this boy would use it against them. But when did this boy ever recite it?

    Lu Gaoxuan said, “You have committed a monstrous crime, yet at this time still uttering graceful words, flowery speech, desiring to win Jiaozhu and Madame’s favor so that they would spare your life. Humph, this time the casualties among our brothers on the Island, young and old, are serious. Jiaozhu’s dozens of year’s painstaking effort in establishing the Cult, everything is destroyed in your hands. You still think of escaping alive? Dream on!”

    “You are greatly mistaken,” Wei Xiaobao said, “As we throw our lives to be Jiaozhu and Madame’s subordinates, early on our lives already did not belong to us anymore. Whatever Jiaozhu and Madame send us to do, everybody ought to do it with loyalty and dedication, ten thousand deaths should not prevent us. Jiaozhu and Madame want us to die, then we will die; Jiaozhu and Madame want us to live, then we will live. If you want to make decisions for yourself, that means you are not ‘heart is dead, no plans for anything new’ enough toward Jiaozhu and Madame, you are not displaying utter loyalty enough toward Jiaozhu and Madame.”

    Hearing his speech, Hong Jiaozhu stroke his beard and nodded slowly. Turning to Fat and Lu, two people, he said, “You said that White Dragon Envoy led the navy to do some harmful business toward our Cult; what did actually happen?”

    Lu Gaoxuan caught the displeased tone in the Cult Leader’s voice; he hastily said, “Reporting to Jiaozhu: the two of us received the order to keep a close watch over the White Dragon Envoy, to be very careful toward his every movement, to be in constant alert; we did not dare to have the least bit of negligence. The day the Emperor promoted his official position, Navy Tidu [local commander] Shi Lang came to pay him a visit. Subordinates, two people listened to their discussion closely. We have reported this matter to Jiaozhu. Not many days later, the White Dragon Envoy went to take Shi Lang on an official business, but he wanted him to pretend to be a lowly official in the Valiant Cavalry Brigade, plus he did not want subordinate and Fat Toutuo to accompany him. In my heart subordinate was very suspicious.”

    Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, “Good; turned out Jiaozhu sent the two of you to spy on me.”

    He heard Lu Gaoxuan continued, “Several days earlier, subordinate searched the wastepaper basket in White Dragon Envoy’s room to find out what’s going on; I found a lot of torn scrap papers. When I pieced them together, I saw that it was actually names of places in Liaodong, written in Manchurian and Han characters. The White Dragon Envoy is illiterate, even more, he did not know Manchurian script; naturally these names of places were written by the Emperor for him. Later on I also found out that in this journey, he is to bring many cannon. The two of us subordinates talked it over, and came to the conclusion that White Dragon Envoy received the Emperor’s order to travel to Liaodong region, accompanied by high-ranking naval officers, and to bring cannon; naturally he did not have any favorable intention toward our Cult. Therefore, as soon as the White Dragon Envoy left the Capital, subordinates two people rode on fast horses, we travelled day and night to hurry back to the Shen Long Island to report. Madame still said that White Dragon Envoy is devoted and loyal, he could not possibly do this. Who would have thought that one may know a person for a long time without understanding his true nature? This White Dragon Envoy has the heart of wolf and the lungs of dogs [i.e. cruel and unscrupulous]; he failed to live up to Jiaozhu’s trust.”

    Wei Xiaobao sighed; he shook his head and said, “Mr. Lu, you think you are intelligent and competent, but how can you reach ten-thousandth of Jiaozhu and Madame’s intelligence? Let me tell you: you are wrong. Only Jiaozhu and Madame are eternally right.”

    Lu Gaoxuan angrily said, “You speak non …” As soon as those words came out of his mouth, he knew he had committed a blunder. Although he did not continue, everybody knew that after the word ‘non’, the next word must be ‘sense’.

    “Did you say I spoke nonsense [orig. ‘hu shuo’]?” Wei Xiaobao asked, “I said you are wrong, only Jiaozhu and Madame are eternally right. You are not convinced? Could it be that Jiaozhu and Madame are eternally wrong, and only you, Mr. Lu is eternally right?”

    Lu Gaoxuan’s face turned beet-red. “That’s not what I mean,” he said, “It was you who said it, I didn’t say it.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Jiaozhu and Madame said that I, the White Dragon Envoy am loyal and devoted, and can’t possibly defect. The two Seniors predict like deities, how could they be wrong? Let me tell you, the Emperor sent me to bring naval cannon and go to Liaodong, we said we are going to Changbai Mountain to offer sacrifice, but actually … actually … humph, what do you know?” While his mind was racing, “What should I say, the Emperor sent me to do what?”

    “So?” Hong Jiaozhu asked, “The Emperor sent you to do what?”

  7. #267
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 35 - Part 4

    Wei Xiaobao said, “This matter is actually top secret, no matter what I cannot say it; once it leaks, the Emperor would want my head. But since Jiaozhu asked, in subordinate’s heart, Jiaozhu and Madame are a hundred times higher than the Emperor; he is ‘ten-thousand years’, you are ‘million-years’. He is ‘long live, long, long live’, you are ‘hundred times longer live’. Jiaozhu wants me to say, naturally I cannot conceal it.” While thinking, “How should I say it so that Jiaozhu and Madame will be convinced?”

    Listening to Wei Xiaobao’s wave of flattery, Hong Jiaozhu did not have the slightest suspicion; he twirled his moustache with a slight smile on his face. Looking happy and content, he slowly nodded.

    Wei Xiaobao continued, “Reporting to Jiaozhu and Madame: by his side, the Emperor has two red-haired foreigners. These two men, one is called Tang Ruowang, the other Nan Huairen. They were bestowed official position as supervisors of the Imperial Observatory.”

    Hong Jiaozhu said, “This name Tang Ruowang, I have heard about it. I heard he understands astronomy, geography, yin and yang calculation, and such science.”

    “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Wei Xiaobao clucked his tongue in praise, “Jiaozhu did not go out, yet you know the matter of the world. After much calculation, this Tang Ruowang has calculated that on the north there is a Luocha Country, who is planning to do some harmful things to the Great Qing.”

    Hong Jiaozhu’s eyebrows rose up. “And then what happened?” he asked.

    Wei Xiaobao had heard the big beard Mongolian Hantiemo mentioned that Wu Sangui was colluding with Luocha Country and Divine Dragon Cult. Wu Sangui was in the far away Yunnan, he could not use him to his advantage; however, Luocha Country was next to Liaodong region. Sure enough, at the mention of the three words ‘Luocha Country’ [luo cha guo] Hong Jiaozhu’s expression changed at once. Wei Xiaobao knew that this subject fit the opposite party’s concern; he was greatly delighted.

    “When the young emperor heard this,” he continued, “He was immediately being cautious and worried. He immediately asked Tang Ruowang to calculate the auspicious day, to quickly offer sacrifice. Tang Ruowang presented a memorial to the Emperor: ‘Let your minister go back and look at the heavens at night, calculate yin and yang during the day, and calculate everything carefully.’ Several days later, he came back to present a memorial: Luocha Country’s dragon vein is in Liaodong, on something like ‘hu tamade’ [shout his mother/crying ‘damn it’] mountain, and some ‘ama’er’ [amah] river.”

    Hong Antong had lived in Liaodong for a long time, he was very familiar with local mountain and river. Hearing Wei Xiaobao’s explanation, he turned to Madame Hong and said with a laugh, “Madame, did you hear this boy said some amusing things? He changed Huma’erwoji Mountain to ‘hu tamade’ mountain and Amur River [amu’er] to ‘ama’er’ river. Ha ha, ha ha …!” Madame Hong also squealed in laughter.

    “Yes, yes,” Wei Xiaobao said, “There is nothing that Jiaozhu did not know, there is no place you did not understand; subordinate greatly admires you. That foreign red-haired demon also said a lot other things, which subordinate could never remember. The young Emperor then wrote everything down in Manchurian and Han scripts, and handed it to me. But subordinate is illiterate, these ‘hu tamade’ mountain and ‘ama’er’ river, I can never remember.”

    Hong Jiaozhu burst into a ‘hee hee’ laughter. He turned his head, and shot a sidelong glance toward Lu Gaoxuan, his gaze was harsh. Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo groaned inwardly.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “That Tang Ruowang said that we must quickly manufacture ten red-haired cannon, and transport them to Liaodong via the ocean, and aimed them at that whatever river and whatever mountain and fire two hundred times to destroy the Luocha Country’s dragon vein; and hereafter for the next two hundred years the Great Qing will have peace and security without any trouble. It is called ‘one cannon shoot guarantees one year of peace and security’. The young Emperor said, ‘In that case, if we fire one thousand cannon, won’t we have one thousand years of peace and security?’ Tang Ruowang replied, ‘On the contrary, too much cannon fire will not work’. He also said something like ‘mysteries of heaven must not be revealed’, yellow way and black way[1], and some other gibberish for half a day. Subordinate did not understand even half a word; listening to them I was bored to death.”

    Hong Jiaozhu nodded. He said, “That Tang Ruowang authored the book ‘Great Qing Constitution Period Calendar’; there is indeed only two hundred years. Apparently the Manchurian Qing destiny will last at most for two hundred years.”

    Wei Xiaobao knew that there is a trick in lying; all the little details must be comprehensive, furthermore, they must be completely verifiable. Only in the significant juncture he could talk a bit of rubbish. He learned this technique from when he was still living in brothel. By lucky coincidence, Hong Antong was a very learned man; he knew the content of Tang Ruowang’s ‘Great Qing Constitution Period Calendar’. Hence Wei Xiaobao’s lie was unexpectedly fit together with the truth.

    Madame Hong said, “In that case, the young Emperor is sending you to Liaodong to fire the cannon?”

    Wei Xiaobao pretended to be amazed. “Uh,” he exclaimed, “How did Madame know?”

    Madame Hong laughed and said, “I’ll say that what you said is not a complete truth. The young Emperor is sending you to Liaodong; how did you end up at Shen Long Island?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “That foreigner said: Luocha people’s dragon vein is an ocean dragon; for this reason these ten cannon must be transported by the ocean. When the cannon are aimed at the dragon’s mouth, and after careful calculation of the best time, waiting for the right time when it just about to take water from the ocean, the cannon will be immediately fired. The dragon’s body will be seriously injured, and it will not be able to move. If the cannon are fired from land, the dragon will eat one cannon and immediately fly to the sky. One cannon guarantees one year of peace and safety, next year we must comeback and fire another one; that would be very troublesome. He said that our cannon must be transported by the ocean, taking the long way around, so that we won’t alert the dragon vein.”

    From the beginning, when fengshui and divination are mentioned, people always pay particular attention to ‘dragon vein’. But when talking about terrains that look like a dragon, it is not a real ‘dragon’. Therefore, the dragon vein could be alerted and flee to the sky and so on was entirely Wei Xiaobao’s fabrication. When Hong Antong heard this, he could not help feeling half believing and half doubting.

    Seeing his changed countenance, Wei Xiaobao realized that he was not too convinced; thereupon he busily said, “That foreign demon can speak Chinese; he drew quite a few pictures to show to the young Emperor. He took several measurements, drew a circle here, a line there, explaining how the dragon vein could flee. Subordinate was too stupid, I did not understand the least bit. But actually the young Emperor was listening with keen interest.”

    Hong Antong nodded; he thought that when foreigners practice fengshui, they must have different technique, which was superior to Chinese fengshui.

    Seeing he accepted his explanation, Wei Xiaobao was relieved. He thought, “As soon as this matter passes, later the Buddhist conch will go ‘whoo hoo hoo’; it definitely won’t break!” [Translator note: This is literal translation, I am not sure what it means, I guess he was thinking that his lie wouldn’t be exposed.]

    He said, “One day the young Emperor ordered the Imperial Observatory to select a yellow way propitious day, he issued an imperial decree sending me to Changbai Mountain to offer sacrifice to the Heaven. There was a Fujian Navy Tidu Shilang, who surrendered from Taiwan, came over. He said that even Zheng Chenggong had suffered defeat under his hands. This man is adept at firing cannon from the ship. The young Emperor sent him to go with me. He warned repeatedly ten million times that this affair must be kept in the strictest confidence; if it is leaked out, this important matter will be spoiled, maybe the Luocha Country would send seagoing ships to intercept. We were to go out to sea from Tianjin, going around the longer distance, to quietly go to Liaodong. Who would have thought that yesterday afternoon we saw a lot of floating corpses on the sea; some were fake, and among the fakes was this Thin Toutuo. With good intention I rescued him. He said the situation was freakily and desperately serious; the fighting on the Shen Long Island has turning the sky and the earth upside down, Hong Jiaozhu has sent someone to murder Blue Dragon Envoy Xu Xueting.”

    “False!” Thin Toutuon yelled, “I did not say Jiaozhu murdered Blue Dragon Envoy!”

    Madame Hong’s beautiful eyes glowered at him. “Thin Toutuo,” she said, “In front of Jiaozhu, do not shout and quarrel.”

    “Yes,” Thin Toutuo said.

    “You said that the Blue Dragon Envoy was murdered, didn’t you?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

    “Yes,” Thin Toutuo replied, “It was Jiaozhu who instructed me to deceive you like that.”

    Jiaozhu told you to play a joke on me; that is possible,” Wei Xiaobao said, “But you said that in order to take revenge, Jiaozhu has murdered Blue Dragon Envoy and Scarlet Dragon Envoy. Jiaozhu puts the common good above everything with no regard for personal interests, he has great kindness and great righteousness, there is no way he would bear grudges toward his subordinates!”

    For each sentence that he said, Thin Toutuo yelled one word, “False!”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “You said that in order to take revenge, Jiaozhu has murdered Blue Dragon Envoy and Scarlet Dragon Envoy!”

    Thin Toutuo said, “False! I did not say that.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Jiaozhu puts the common good above everything with no regard for personal interests.”

    Thin Toutuo said, “False!”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “He has great kindness and great righteousness!”

    Thin Toutuo shouted, “False!”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “There is no way he would bear grudges toward his subordinates.”

    Thin Toutuo said, “False!”

    Lu Gaoxuan knew that Thin Toutuo was hot-tempered and naïve, he had already set foot in Wei Xiaobao’s trap; he did not stop yelling ‘False!’, each time he shouted that, Jiaozhu’s countenance turned one degree uglier. Lu Gaoxuan was afraid that if Thin Toutuo continued yelling, the Cult Leader might lose his temper, it would be beyond redemption; therefore, he tugged Thin Toutuo’s sleeve and said, “Just listen to him reporting to Jiaozhu, don’t interrupt his train of thought.”

    “This boy spouts nonsense,” Thin Toutuo said, “Are you saying that I should let him continue endlessly?”

    Jiaozhu is intelligent and wise,” Lu Gaoxuan said, “There is nothing he did not know, nothing he did not understand, you don’t have to worry, naturally Jiaozhu understands clearly.”

    Thin Toutuo said, “Humph! That may not necessarily …” As soon as he said those words, his mouth stayed open but nothing came out of it; his entire face looked terrified.

    Wei Xiaobao’s pair of eyes was gazing fixedly at him; suddenly he made faces. Both of them were short, but Thin Toutuo was shorter. When he made faces, Wei Xiaobao was looking down, hence nobody else saw it, but Thin Toutuo could see it clearly. Immediately his temper flared, but he was afraid to enrage the Cult Leader, hence he struggled hard to curb it. His expression looked awkward. In that instant the cabin was quiet, save for Thin Toutuo’s labored breathing.

    After quite a while, Hong Jiaozhu asked Wei Xiaobao, “What else did he say?”

    Wei Xiaobao replied, “Reporting to Jiaozhu: he also said that Jiaozhu stirred up trouble, inciting disharmony between the Scarlet Dragon Gate and Blue Dragon Gate …”

    “I didn’t say that …” Thin Toutuo called out.

    Hong Jiaozhu glowered at him; he spoke harshly, “Can’t you shut your beak for me? You squawk one more time, I am going to split you, this short winter melon, into two damn sections.”

    Thin Toutuo’s face bulged purple; Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo were also overwhelmed with shock that their faces turned white. Everybody knew that Cult Leader Hong was very reserved; ordinarily, whether he was happy or angry, he would not show it on his face. It was very seldom that he spoke roughly or threw a fit. That he cursed Thin Toutuo harshly like that, he must be extremely angry.

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he thought that since Thin Toutuo could not open his mouth anymore, whatever Wei Xiaobao said, he could not refute at all. Thereupon he said, “Jiaozhu, please stop being angry. This Thin Toutuo did not say anything that dishonor Jiaozhu; he only said that Jiaozhu was narrow-minded. Last time everybody plotted rebellion but failed, that important matter was spoiled by subordinate, one child; everybody was indignant, but Jiaozhu wanted to seize the chance to take revenge. He said that Jiaozhu was sending someone named He Sheng to do the deed. This man was Priest Wugen’s head disciple. Your disciple actually did not know if there is indeed someone by that name in our Cult.”

    “There is indeed someone named He Sheng,” Madame Hong said, “So what?”

    Wei Xiaobao had an idea, “This He Sheng is Priest Wugen’s disciple, he must be a young fellow.” He said, “Thin Toutuo told me that this He Sheng saw Madame’s beautiful appearance, these past several years he always do this and that to Madame; he said many things that are unpleasant to hear. Your disciple was furious, I was angry that he was being disrespectful toward Madame behind her back; I ordered my men to slap his mouth. At that time he was still tied with leather rope, hence he could not resist. After we beat him more than a dozen times, he did not dare to speak anymore.”

    Madame Hong was so angry that her countenance paled. “Did he really drag me down like that?” she hatefully asked.

    Thin Toutuo said, “I … I did not say it.”

    Jiaozhu did not let you open your mouth, you should not speak,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I ask you: did you or did you not tell me about this man called He Sheng? If yes just nod your head, if no just shake your head.” Thin Toutuo nodded.

    “That’s right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You told me that He Sheng and Xu Xueting were fighting over jealousy, they strived to win Madame’s favor by fawning on her; thereupon this He Sheng had killed Xu Xueting, and Madame was very happy. He also said that Jiaozhu was kept hoodwinked inside a drum; he did not know anything. You said that Blue Dragon Envoy was killed by He Sheng, and that a saber was found lying on the floor inside the room, and that the saber belonged to He Sheng, isn’t that so? Did you or did you not say those things?”

    Thin Toutuo nodded his head and said, “But the front …”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Since you already admitted it, that’s enough.” Actually, Thin Toutuo only said the last half, the front half was added by Wei Xiaobao. However, by nodding his head, Thin Toutuo seemed to admit that he did say the whole thing.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “You said the Blue Dragon Gate, Scarlet Dragon Gate, Yellow Dragon Gate, Black Dragon Gate, plus my White Dragon Gate, were fighting each other silly. Jiaozhu had already lost his authority, that he was completely helpless to put down the fight, yes or no?”

    [1] Yellow way [huang dao] – the ecliptic (plane of the solar system); Black Way [hei dao] – usually refer to underground/clandestine operation.

  8. #268
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 35 - Part 5

    Thin Toutuo nodded his head. Wei Xiaobao said, “You said that everybody on the Shen Long Island revolted, that Jiaozhu and Madame were being captured, that Madame’s clothes were stripped clean and she was paraded publicly on the Island. You said that Jiaozhu’s beard were pulled clean, and that he was dangled upside down on a tree, and that he was deprived of any food or drink for three days and three nights. These words, I am sure nowadays you are unwilling to admit; isn’t that so?”

    To this question, nodding his head would be wrong, shaking his head would also be wrong; Thin Toutuo’s face was bulging very red, as if the blood inside his skin was about to burst. Wei Xiaobao said, “This moment you certainly want to deny, and don’t want to admit that you have said those words; isn’t that so?”

    Thin Toutuo angrily said, “I did not say those words.”

    “You said that you fought with Jiaozhu,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You kicked Jiaozhu twice, and struck Jiaozhu’s face three times, but Jiaozhu’s martial art skill was higher than yours, you were unable to defeat him, hence Jiaozhu tied you up and throw you into the ocean, didn’t you? You said that our Cult was in complete chaos that they sky and earth were turning upside down, and that it has collapsed silly. You said that the people, more than half were tied up by Jiaozhu and were thrown into the ocean, the rest were you kill me, I kill you; Jiaozhu and Madame were already in an extremely sorry condition that even if by now they had not died, they would not live much longer; didn’t you?”

    “I … I … I …” Thin Toutuo stammered. He was so confused by Wei Xiaobao that he did not know what to say. He definitely said that he was unable to defeat the Cult Leader, and that the Cult Leader had tied him up and thrown him into the ocean; he also said that on Shen Long Island, the Five Dragon Gates were massacring each other that the Cult had collapsed silly. However, it was definitely not the same as what Wei Xiaobao had said.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Reporting to Jiaozhu: Subordinate was originally leading the navy ships toward Liaodong, to blast away the Luocha Country’s dragon’s vein, but as the ships reached here, subordinate was concerned about Jiaozhu and Madame, plus that Miss Fang. Because subordinate is thinking … is thinking of taking her as my wife, I wanted to see her; it would be best if Jiaozhu and Madame would allow me to take her go. Consequently, I ordered the ships to slowly proceed near the Isand; even if I could only look from the distant, I would be satisfied. If I could see Jiaozhu and Madame one time …”

    Madame Hong smiled and said, “And that Miss Fang.”

    “Yes,” Wei Xiaobao said, “This is subordinate’s selfish desire, I was not wholeheartedly loyal and devoted to Jiaozhu and Madame. I indeed deserve to die.”

    Cult Leader Hong nodded. “You may continue,” he said.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Who would have thought that Thin Toutuo was rescued from the sea, I did not know what thought he harbored, unexpectedly he unreservedly reviling Jiaozhu and Madame. Subordinate was a muddle head; as soon as I heard him, I panicked, and wished very much that I could grow wings and fly to Shen Long Island, to stand by Jiaozhu and Madame’s side, and fight to the death against all those renegades. Subordinate immediately opened my mouth to curse, saying that that day Jiaozhu has solemnly commanded us that the matter of the past should not be regarded as bad debts, that we are not supposed to even raise it up; how could they harbor hard feelings and rebel against Jiaozhu? Subordinate was only worrying about the danger Jiaozhu and Madame were in, I thought about Jiaozhu, who was hung upside down by the rebels, I thought about Madame, who was stripped naked by them; I could not bear to wait even for a second more. I was really muddleheaded and deserve to die, all along I have never thought that Jiaozhu’s magical power is extensive; if some people are rebelling against their superior, Jiaozhu only needs to stretch out several fingers, and they would be pinched dead like ants. How could Jiaozhu be possibly humiliated by the rebels? It’s just that subordinate was anxious, immediately I ordered all our ships to go out to sea to attack Shen Long Island. I instructed them: the good people on the Island are being caught by the bad people, if anybody come out to resist, you may fire at will to bombard them. As soon as you come ashore, quickly search for one majestic Senior, whose appearance grand, who looks like the Jade Emperor, who look like the deity Bodhisattva; that is precisely the Shen Long Jiao’s Hong Jiaozhu, everybody must listen to his command. Subordinate also told them: the women on the Island must not be offended, especially the young woman who is as delicate as a flower, as refined as a precious jade, whose appearance is beautiful, who looks like immortal descending to the world, who is precisely Madame Hong; everybody must be even more respectful.”

    Madame Hong giggled and said, “So from what you said, the only reason you sent the troops to attack Shen Long Island was because of your loyalty to Jiaozhu? Not only you are innocent, you have rendered merit instead?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Subordinate does not have the least bit of merit; it’s just that seeing Jiaozhu and Madame are safe and sound, several Zhangmenshi are still loyal and devoted, and still serving Jiaozhu and Madame well, my heart is very happy. Subordinate’s first hope is that Jiaozhu and Madame will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven’s. The second hope is that in our Cult, everybody will display utter loyalty and dedicate ourselves to the service of our country; whatever Jiaozhu says, everybody will act accordingly. The third hope … the third hope …”

    Madame Hong laughed and said, “The third hope is to have Miss Fang as your wife.”

    “This is a minor matter,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Subordinate has already decided in my heart that as long as I perform my duty with every effort to Jiaozhu and Madame’s liking, Jiaozhu and Madame naturally will not treat your subordinate unfairly.”

    Hong Antong nodded. “Your mouth surely can talk really well,” he said, “But you said you were concerned about me and Madame; why didn’t you lead the troops personally to the Shen Long Island? Why did you send people to open fire and shoot randomly, while you yourself hid faraway in the back?”

    This question actually hit the key point, Wei Xiaobao was agape and tongue-tied, momentarily he was speechless, knowing that as long as his answer was not completely convincing, Hong Jiaozhu would be suspicious, and then the previous big lie would be exposed, and then even his little life would be difficult to protect. In a moment of desperation, he had no choice but to say, “Subordinate really deserves to die; in all honesty, I was not loyal enough to Jiaozhu and Madame. When I heard from Thin Toutuo how vicious the people on the Island were, that even Jiaozhu and Madame were caught by them, subordinate was terrified. Last time … last time they betrayed Jiaozhu, it was subordinate who spoiled their major effort. If they caught me, they would definitely pull my tendon apart and peel my skin. Subordinate is afraid of death, hence I hid myself faraway in the back and only sent the troops under my command to save Jiaozhu and Madame. This … this … I really deserve to die.”

    Cult Leader Hong and Madame looked at each other, and nodded slowly. They both thought that since this child admitted that he was afraid of death, he must be telling the truth. Cult Leader Hong said, “Whether you are telling the truth or you are lying, I will examine carefully. If I find out that you are lying, humph, humph, you know what’s coming.”

    “Yes!” Wei Xiaobao said, “Whatever punishment Jiaozhu and Madame decide, subordinate will accept it delightedly. However, please do not hand subordinate over into Fat Toutuo, Thin Toutuo, and Lu Gaoxuan’s hands. This time … this time they set up an ingenious plan, swindling the Qing troops into bombarding Shen Long Island, killing not a few brothers and sisters; it was a huge plot. In my subordinate’s opinion, this Lu Gaoxuan surely wants to be Lu Jiaozhu. When we were in Yunnan, he said, ‘I don’t want to enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven’s; as long as I can enjoy his fifty years of good fortune, it would suffice very much …’”

    Lu Gaoxuan roared angrily, “You … you …” Waving his palm, he struck toward Wei Xiaobao’s back.

    Priest Wugen rushed a step forward with outstretched arm to block. ‘Bang!’ Lu Gaoxuan was jolted back two steps. Priest Wugen was only shaken that his body swayed. “Lu Gaoxuan,” he shouted, “How could you dare to commit violence to injure someone in front of Jiaozhu?”

    Lu Gaoxuan looked deathly pale. He bowed and said, “Jiaozhu please forgive me, hearing this fellow fabricated a lie, subordinate could not hold back; it was indeed very disrespectful.”

    “Humph,” Hong Jiaozhu snorted. He said to Wei Xiaobao, “You may go down.” Turning to Priest Wugen, he said, “You guard him personally, don’t let anybody harm him, and don’t let him wander about aimlessly. Don’t speak with him. This child is full of devilish tricks and cunning stratagems, you must be particularly careful.” Priest Wugen bowed in compliance.

    Henceforth for the next several days Wei Xiaobao stayed in the same cabin with Priest Wugen day and night. Early morning every day he saw the sun was rising up on the starboard and setting down on the port side, hence he knew the ship was sailing north. The first day or two he was still hoping that Shi Lang and Huang Fu’s navy ships would be able to catch up and rescue him, but as time went by, he lost all hopes. “My nonsense talk,” he mused, “Jiaozhu and Madame believed about ninety percent; it’s just that I led the troops to blast Shen Long Island that it collapsed silly, even if it stemmed from good intention, in the end I am still guilty. Fortunately that short winter melon deceived me by pretending to be floating corpse was Jiaozhu’s own idea. Otherwise, there is a good chance that in his anger he might lump me together with the short winter melon and kill us, and make a pot of little treasure [xiao bao] winter melon soup.” He also thought, “This ship is sailing to the north; could it be heading toward Liaodong?”

    He tried to ask Priest Wugen several times, but Priest Wugen always replied, “I don’t know.”

    Wei Xiaobao teased him to talk, Priest Wugen said, “Jiaozhu’s order, I must not talk to you.” He also did not allow Wei Xiaobao to leave the cabin even for one step.

    Wei Xiaobao was bored, he thought, “That dead girl Fang Yi is clearly on the ship, yet she did not come to accompany laozi to divert my mind from boredom.” He recalled that this time he got captured by Divine Dragon Cult was also because of Fang Yi who lured him. “If laozi could escape this time,” he mused, “If later on I cast even a glance toward that little mother skin Fang Yi, laozi is not surnamed Wei. I have fallen into her trick twice, how could I let myself to fall again the third time?” Yet thinking about Fang Yi’s tender and beautiful appearance, her gentle manner, he could not restrain his heart from being moved. On the second thought, he mused, “So what if I am not surnamed Wei? Laozi does not even know my father, what is my real surname anyway?”

    The ship continuously sailed northward, the weather was getting colder and colder. Priest Wugen had profound internal energy, he was not affected by the cold. Wei Xiaobao, however, felt so cold that he did not stop shivering, his teeth chattered, making ‘click-click’ noise.

    Several days later, the north wind roared, the sky was dark, suddenly heavy snow fell. “I am freezing to death here,” he called out. He thought, “Songgotu Dage sent me a mink fur robe, too bad I left it in the camp and did not bring it here. Ay, if I have known that Fang Yi, that little mother skin, was going to swindle me again, I should have worn that mink fur robe when I embraced her, so that I would not freeze to death on the ship. Frozen White Dragon Envoy; it’s terrible indeed.”

    The ship sailed into the night. Suddenly he heard continuous clanking noise. After listening carefully, Wei Xiaobao realized that it was the sound of ice on the surface of the sea breaking; he was shocked. “Aiyo, not good!” he cried out, “If the ship freezes in the middle of the ocean, won’t that be terrible?”

    Priest Wugen said, “The ocean can’t possibly freeze; we must be nearing land.”

    “Have we arrived in Liaodong?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

    “Humph,” Priest Wugen snorted, but did not say anything.

    The next morning, when he pushed open the cabin window to look outside, Wei Xiaobao saw vast expanse of whiteness; the ocean was full of ice floe, with white snow accumulated on the ice. In the distant he vaguely saw land. That evening, the battleship sailed toward the shore and dropped anchor; it appeared that the next morning they were going to ride the skiff to come ashore.

    That night myriads of thought surging through Wei Xiaobao’s mind: how would Hong Jiaozhu deal with him? It was not easy to guess. He seemed to believe Wei Xiaobao’s explanation, but did not seem to believe it either. Why did they go to this world of ice and snow?

    After thinking for a while, he finally fell asleep. In his sleep he saw Fang Yi suddenly sat by his side; he reached out to embrace her. In his daze, he seemed to hear Fang Yi said, “Don’t make trouble!”

    “Dead wife,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “I want to make trouble.” He felt Fang Yi was struggling in his embrace.

    Still half-asleep, he heard the person in his bosom said in a low voice, “Xianggong, we have to leave quickly!” It sounded like Shuang’er’s voice.

    Wei Xiaobao was startled, and sobered immediately. He felt there was indeed a soft and tender body in his embrace, but since it was dark, he could not see who she was. “Is it Fang Yi? Is it Madame Hong?” he wondered in his heart. There were only those two women on the battleship. He thought, “I don’t care if it is Fang Yi or Madame Hong, I would kiss her first and talk later; I’d better take this advantage!” He held the person in his bosom tighter and tried to kiss her lips. The person laughed softly and turned her head to avoid. This time, although the laugh was soft, it was very clear that she was indeed Shuang’er.

    Wei Xiaobao was pleasantly surprised; he whispered on her ear, “Shuang’er, how did you get here?”

    “Let’s go quickly,” Shuang’er said, “I will tell you slowly.”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “I am freezing to death, you quickly get into my quilt, you are so warm and nice.”

    “Ay,” Shuang’er said, “Good Xianggong, you really love to make trouble, and you also don’t want to think about what time it is.”

    Wei Xiaobao held her even tighter. “Where are we going to flee?” he asked.

    Shuang’er said, “We are slipping away from the aft, and row the skiff to come ashore. Even if they find out, they won’t be able to pursue.”

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted. “Brilliant scheme, brilliant scheme!” he called out, “Aiyo, how about that priest?”

    Shuang’er said, “I sneaked into the cabin and sealed his acupoint.”

    The two of them tiptoed out of the cabin. A burst of cold wind assaulted their faces. Wei Xiaobao’s entire body nearly froze; he quickly turned back into the cabin, peeled the Taoist robe from Priest Wugen’s body and wrapped it around his own. The sky was cloudy, the moon and stars did not shine, heavy snow was still coming down incessantly. The two of them stealthily went toward the stern, their ears did not hear any noise anywhere. The ship had already dropped anchor, even the helmsman who operate the rudder had also went into the cabin to sleep.

    Holding Wei Xiaobao’s hand, Shuang’er led him step-by-step to the aft. She said in a low voice, “I jump down first, you follow!” Taking a deep breath, she quietly jumped into the skiff tied behind the ship.

    Wei Xiaobao looked down; it was pitch-black and he was scared. Closing his eyes, he jumped down. Shuang’er raised her palms to catch his back and his buttocks. She had to circle around on the skiff to break the momentum of the fall before she could finally set him down.

    Suddenly from the hold of the ship someone shouted, “Who’s there?” It was the Cult Leader Hong’s voice.

  9. #269
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 35 - Part 6

    Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er were shocked; they crouched at the bottom of the skiff, did not dare to make any noise. They heard a clatter, then saw flame from the window of the cabin. Shuang’er knew that Hong Jiaozhu had heard the noise and lighted a candle to look. Hastily she picked up the wooden oar on the skiff and rowed furiously.

    She only rowed twice when Hong Jiaozhu’s was shouting loudly, “Who is it? Don’t move!” Suddenly the skiff shook and stopped moving forward. Turned out in their panic they forgot to untie the mooring rope of the skiff. Wei Xiaobao hastily reached out to untie; it was ice-cold. Actually, the skiff was tied to the ship with iron chain.

    They heard quite a number of people shouting on the big ship, “White Dragon Envoy disappeared!” “This boy has run away!” “Where did he go? Pursue quickly, pursue quickly!”

    Wei Xiaobao pulled the dagger from his boot and swung it forcefully. ‘Shua!’ the iron chain broke, the skiff immediately shot forward. As soon as the noise was heard, one after another Hong Jiaozhu, Madame Hong, Fat and Thin Toutuo, Lu Gaoxuan, and the others rushed to the stern. Under the reflection of the light from the ice and snow, they could see the skiff was already several zhang away from the big ship. Hong Jiaozhu reached out to grab a piece of wood from the ship’s side and hurled it toward the skiff. Although his internal strength was deep, the wood was too light, it was two chi short from the skiff. ‘Splash!’ it plunged into the water.

    At first Lu Gaoxuan, Fat Toutuo, and the others were unclear of Hong Jiaozhu’s intention, they did not dare to shoot secret projectiles for fear that they would harm the White Dragon Envoy and would have to bear the responsibility instead; but when they saw the Cult Leader grabbed the block of wood from the ship’s side and threw it out to strike, they understood his intention. Those with secret projectiles in their possession immediately shot their weapons. However, in such a short period of time the skiff was already rowed two more zhang forward. Secret weapons were usually small, it was difficult to reach far. Arrows, steel dart, flying locust stone, and various heavy objects were not close at hand; people could only shoot spring-loaded arrow concealed in their sleeve, poison needles, and so on, which all fell into the ocean.

    Thin Toutuo said, “This boy is so sly, I knew it all along that he is not a good person; we should have just kill him with a chop, by letting him alive we only ask for trouble.”

    Hong Jiaozhu was already furious; with this cynical remark Thin Toutuo was obviously mocking him for not able to see the matter clearly. Reaching out with his left hand, he grabbed the back of Thin Toutuo’s neck and shouted, “Quickly go and catch him back for me.” His left hand went up, he lifted Thin Toutuo up into the air, with his right hand he grabbed Thin Toutuo’s buttocks, and shouted, “Quickly go!” He pulled his arms slightly, and then exerting all the internal energy into his arms, he hurled him out.

    Shuang’er gave everything she had to paddle. “Aiyo, not good!” Wei Xiaobao cried out, “Incoming human cannonball!” His cried had not finished, ‘splosh!’ Thin Toutuo plunged into the ocean. He fell only a few chi behind the skiff. As soon he resurfaced, his left hand managed to grab the edge of the skiff.

    Shuang’er lifted up the oar and smashed it down as hard as she could, she struck his skull. Thin Toutuo grunted out in pain, but his right hand also grabbed the edge of the skiff. Shuang’er was greatly anxious; she struck down again, ‘crack!’ the wooden oar broke into two, the skiff immediately spun around. Thin Toutuo was dizzy, he shook his head to clear it up. Wei Xiaobao scratched with his dagger, four of Thin Toutuo’s right hand fingers were cut clean. In severe pain, he was unable to hold himself; his right hand loosened, his body bobbed up and down in the water, as he screamed and cursed.

    Shuang’er picked up the remaining oar and paddled desperately; the skiff once again sailed toward the shore.

    After sailing for a while, they left the big ship far behind, and knew that those people could not possibly overtake them. The big ship only had one skiff. Although Hong Jiaozhu and the others possessed high level of martial art skill, they would not dare to jump into the sea and swim to pursue them, not in this weather where the cold penetrated their bones and marrow. Besides, even if they swam faster, they would still be unable to catch up with the skiff.

    Wei Xiaobao took out a plank from the bottom of the skiff and helped paddling. They heard the faint noise of people on the big ship cursing angrily. But a moment later, the north wind finally masked the people’s voices. Wei Xiaobao let out a deep breath and said, “We finally escaped!”

    The two of them rowed for almost an hour before they finally reached the shore. Shuang’er jumped into the water. The water reached her knees. She pulled the skiff by the remaining half of the iron chain to get it closer to the shore. “It’s enough!” she said.

    Wei Xiaobao jumped out of the skiff and landed on the shore. “Great success!” he called out.

    Shuang’er giggled and retreated a few steps. “Xianggong, please don’t fool around,” she said, “We must leave quickly, don’t let Hong Jiaozhu and the others catch up with us.”

    Wei Xiaobao was startled. “What kind of ghost place is this?” he asked with knitted brows. He looked around, but all he could see was brilliant white snow covering a boundless plain. In the dark of the night he could see nothing else.

    “I don’t know what kind of place this is,” Shuang’er replied, “Xianggong, where do you think we should go?”

    Wei Xiaobao was so cold that he did not stop trembling, his brain seemed to be frozen stiff as well, unexpectedly he could not think of even half of a good idea. “His granny,” he cursed, “It’s all Fang Yi, that dead little mother skin’s fault; she harmed us so that we’ll freeze to death in this snowy place.”

    “Let’s go,” Shuang’er said, “Walking will make our body warmer.”

    The two of them started to walk toward the snowy area. The snow accumulation was about a chi thick, as they stepped into it, their entire calf was submerged; hence taking stride was very difficult.

    Although it was a hard going, Wei Xiaobao pressed on, remembering that Hong Jiaozhu’s magical power was extensive [i.e. resourceful], he would find a way to come ashore. But on this snowy ground their footprints were really deep, where could they escape? Even if they continued running for several days, most likely that in the end they would still be captured; therefore, he did not dare to pause even for a moment. While they were rushing along, he asked Shuang’er how she ended up in the ship.

    Turned out when Wei Xiaobao saw Fang Yi that day, with ‘lost soul, dropped spirit’ he rushed over to talk to her, while Shuang’er was following him on the skiff. When Wei Xiaobao fell and was captured, while everybody’s attention was on him, Shuang’er was very sharp-witted; she immediately hid on the stern. This battleship was seized by Hong Jiaozhu and the others from Qing troops’ hands, the helmsman, the sailors, everybody on the ship was Qing troops. Shuang’er was wearing Valiant Cavalry Brigade officer’s uniform; mingled among the other officers and soldiers, nobody detected her. It was only after the ship reached the shore that she came out in the middle of the night to rescue him.

    Wei Xiaobao greatly praised her intelligence and quick-wit; he said, “Fang Yi that dead girl always swindles me, always do me harm; Shuang’er this sweet treasure always saves my life. I do not want her to be my wife, I want you to be my wife.”

    Shuang’er hastily pulled her hands away and drew back several steps. “I am your little servant girl,” she said, “Naturally with one heart one mind I will take care of you.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “To have you as my little servant girl, my previous generation ancestors must have tapped four times seven, twenty-eight wooden fish[1], read over three by seven, twenty-one ‘Forty-two-chapter Sutra’ until they rot. Only then would I have such a good fortune in this life.”

    Shuang’er giggled and said, “Xianggong always know how to talk.”

    When the dawn arrived, they had walked far away from the shore. Looking back, they saw two sets of clear footprints on the snow, stretching out to the horizon. Looking forward, the plain seemed to be vast and limitless. Although Hong Jiaozhu and the others had not caught up with them, it seemed to be just a matter of time.

    Wei Xiaobao was very anxious in his heart. “Even if we walk ten more days and nights, in the end they will still overtake us,” he said.

    Shuang’er pointed to the right and said, “That looks like a forest; if we enter the forest, it would not be easy for Hong Jiaozhu and the others to find us.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “If that is indeed a forest, it would be great, but it does not look like a forest.”

    The two of them changed their course; picking up speed, they walked uphill toward the snowy mound. But after walking for two hours, they could see clearly that it was nothing more than a knoll rising up in the middle of the great plain; it was not a forest at all.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Let’s go around the hill, perhaps we’ll see some place we may hide.” By this time he was already panting, his strength had almost gone.

    After walking for another hour, they reached the back of the hill, but all they saw was still a vast white plain, just like a snow-covered ocean; there was no place to hide. Wei Xiaobao was weary and was very hungry; he plopped himself down on the snowy ground and said, “Good Shuang’er, if you don’t hug me, give me a kiss, I won’t have any strength to walk anymore.”

    Shuang’er blushed; she thought about complying, but she also thought that this matter was very improper. While she was hesitating, suddenly ‘crack’, they heard a noise behind their backs. Turning their heads, the two of them saw seven, eight big deer appeared from behind the small hill.

    Wei Xiaobao was delighted. “My tummy is starving to death!” he said, “Do you happen to know a way to catch a deer and kill it? Then we’ll have roast venison to eat.”

    “Let me try,” Shuang’er said. Suddenly she leaped toward those several big deer.

    Who would have thought that with their four extremely long legs, these Spotted Deer [orig. ‘plum blossom deer’] were able to leap as if they were flying; as soon as they turned around and ran, they already rushed several dozen zhang away. It was impossible to run after them. Shuang’er shook her head and said, “I can’t catch them.”

    Actually, these spotted deer were not afraid of human; seeing Shuang’er stopped, they also stopped and turned their heads. Wei Xiaobao said, “Let us lie down on the ground, pretend to be dead. Let’s see if the deer would come over or not.”

    Shuang’er laughed and said, “Alright, I’ll give it a try.” Finished speaking she immediately lay down on the snowy ground.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “I am already dead, my wife good Shuang’er is also dead. The two of us are buried in the grave, cannot move anymore. Good Shuang’er and I had eight sons and nine daughters, they all are in front of the grave, crying loudly, ‘Ah my father, oh my mother …’”

    “Pfft,” Shuang’er let out a giggle, her entire small face blushed bright red; she said, “Who is going to give birth to that many sons and daughter for you?”

    “Alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Eight sons and two daughters are too many, then we’ll have three!”

    Shuang’er laughed and said, “Not …”

    Several spotted deer slowly walked toward the two, apparently they were very curious. In the animal kingdom, deer’s intelligence is very low, far inferior to dogs, horses and foxes; as a result, there is a saying, ‘stupid like deer and swine’. These several spotted deer lowered their heads to scratch and sniff Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er’s faces with their nose, while letting out some noises.

    Wei Xiaobao called out, “Turn over and get on the horse, Di Qing subdued the dragon!” He sprang up and mounted the deer’s back, while reaching out to hold onto the antler. Shuang’er lightly and deftly also jumped onto another spotted deer’s back.

    The flock of deer was startled, they kicked their hoofs and leaped away. Shuang’er called out, “Use your dagger to kill the deer!”

    “No hurry to kill,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “We ride the deer and run for our lives, Hong Jiaozhu will never catch up with us.”

    “Yes, absolutely right,” Shuang’er said, “But we must not separate.” She was afraid that the two deer, one would run to the east, the other rush to the west, then it would be bad for them. Fortunately spotted deer are usually in flocks; these eight big deer ran together for quite a while. And then there were other seven or eight big deer joined the flock. Spotted deer has tall body and long legs, when they run, their speed is not inferior to that of fine horse; it’s just that riding on a deer was very rough, they were jolted and shaken very bad.

    The flock ran northwesterly and covered a stretch of several li before slowing down. The two deer with riders on their backs were bucking and kicking, trying hard to shake their riders loose, but Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er held on to the antler tightly, whatever happened they won’t be thrown down. Wei Xiaobao called out, “Once we get down, it would be difficult to get back up; we might as well run away the farther the better. This is called ‘A real man gave his words, live deer cannot chase.’”

    That day, although the two of them were so hungry that they almost fainted with blurred vision, they still held on tight to the deer’s neck and grabbed the antler, letting the flock of deer galloped on the vast and obscure, limitless snow-covered plain. They knew that the longer the flock of deer ran, the farther away they were from Hong Jiaozhu and the others, while at the same time the snow would not have their footprints anymore.

    By nightfall, the flock of deer entered a forest. Wei Xiaobao said, “Good enough! Let’s get down!” Pulling his dagger, he ran it across the male deer’s neck. The deer ran a few steps before it collapsed to the ground.

    Shuang’er said, “One deer is enough, let’s spare my deer.” And she leaped down from the deer’s back.

    Wei Xiaobao’s body was weary, his strength exhausted, the bones in his entire body felt like they were about to disintegrate. He was lying on the ground, gasping for breath for quite a while. Finally he crawled toward the stag’s neck and put his mouth on the cut. ‘Glug, glug’ he drank several mouthful of the warm blood. “Shuang’er,” he called out, “Come and drink some.” Quite a bit of deer blood entered his stomach, his spirit was revived, his body was also slowly warming up.

    Shuang’er also drank the deer blood. She sheared a deer leg with the dagger, gathered some dry sticks, and built a fire to roast it. “Oh deer,” she said, “You have saved our lives, but we kill you and eat you instead. We have really wronged you.”

    After eating the roasted deer leg, the two of them were in high spirit. “Good Shuang’er,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You and I should live in this forest as a pair of huntsman and huntswoman; let’s not return to Beijing.”

    Lowering her head, Shuang’er said, “Wherever Xianggong go, I will follow and serve you. I don’t care if you return to Beijing to be a high-ranking official, or live here as a hunter. I will always be your little servant girl.”

    The flame shone on her face, Wei Xiaobao saw a rosy, tender, beautiful and cute face. He laughed and said, “In that case, didn’t we achieve great success?”

    “Ah!” Shuang’er cried out and leaped onto the pine tree above her head. She laughed and said, “We did not, we did not.”


    [1] Wooden percussion instrument used in Buddhist meditation.

  10. #270
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 35 - Part 7

    That night the two of them huddled up by the bonfire, and slept peacefully for the whole night. The next morning they woke up, Shuang’er roasted some more deer meat. The two of them ate to their hearts’ content. During the riding on the deer’s back the previous day, Wei Xiaobao’s hat fell down. Shuang’er peeled some deer skin and made one for him.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “We ran away for a whole day yesterday, it won’t be easy for Hong Jiaozhu and the others to find us, but there are still some dangers that they would. We’d better ride the spotted deer and rush to the north three, four more days, then I, Wei Jiaozhu and you, Madame Shuang’er, would enjoy immortal good fortune forever, our long lives would be the same as the heaven’s.”

    Shuang’er laughed and said, “What Madame Shuang’er? So unpleasant to hear. You want to ride the deer? That won’t be difficult, isn’t that another flock of deer coming over?”

    Indeed they saw more than twenty big deer and little deer from the east strolling over the snowy ground. They stretched out their necks to chew the tender leaves of the trees. Human’s footprints were rare in this forest, when the flock of deer saw these two, they were not afraid at all.

    “Deer are very good-natured,” Shuang’er said, “It would be best if we don’t kill them too much. This big deer of yesterday is enough for us to eat for a dozen of days.” She cut several large chunks of meat from the dead deer, and using deer skin as ropes she wrapped the meat and divided it between Wei Xiaobao and herself to be carried on their backs; and then they walked slowly toward the deer.

    Wei Xiaobao reached out to gently pet a big deer. The deer turned its head around and licked his face; it was not scared at all. Wei Xiaobao called out, “Aiyo! This deer has achieved great success with me.”

    Shuang’er giggled and said, “You get up first.” Only after the two humans leaped onto their backs that the two deer were startled and ran.

    The flock of deer ran along the forest. The two humans held on to their antler to steer them to the north, leaving Hong Jiaozhu and the others farther and farther away. By this time Wei Xiaobao had learned how to ride the deer; it was not difficult at all. After riding more than four hours, he and Shuang’er jumped down and let the flock of deer run on their own.

    Traveling this way, they rode the deer in the forest for more than ten days. Occasionally they did not meet any deer, in which case they would go on foot slowly. When hungry, they would eat roast venison. Their original clothes were already unbearably tattered by the thistles and thorns of the forest, Shuang’er made new sets of upper garment and underpants from deerskin. Even their shoes were made of deerskin now.

    One day they were out of the forest, suddenly they heard the rumbling noise of water. After walking for a while, they reached the bank of a big river. They saw in the river the water was surging up violently, the current was very strong. The two of them had been in the dense forest for more than ten days, suddenly seeing this big river, they felt that the darkness in their heart was suddenly lifted up.

    After walking for several hours northward along the river, they suddenly saw three men wearing animal skin clothing; they had hoe and iron fork in their hands, from their appearance, they seemed to be hunters. Wei Xiaobao had not seen any other people for quite a while, he was greatly delighted. Hurriedly he came forward and asked, “Three Dage, where are you heading?”

    A man about forty something replied, “We are going to the market at Mudanjiang[1]. Where are you going?” His accent sounded very strange.

    “Aiyo,” Wei Xiaobao said, “So Mudanjiang is that way? We took a wrong turn. Nothing can be better than following the three Dage.” Immediately they followed the three hunters.

    Bit by bit Wei Xiaobao tried to strike conversation with them. Turned out the three men were Tungus people who made a living by hunting and gathering ginseng. They always went to the market at Mudanjiang to do their business with Han people, hence they knew a little bit of Han language.

    Mudanjiang was actually a small town of considerable size. Wei Xiaobao had always had the banknotes, he never lost it; he invited the three Tungus men to an inn to drink some wine. While they were still drinking, suddenly he heard someone on the adjacent table said, “This wooden club of yours looks very fine. Last month, there is someone who came down from Huma’erwoji Mountain …”

    As soon as Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er heard the words ‘Huma’erwoji Mountain’, their hearts were shaken. They looked at each other, and then turned toward the speaker. They saw two old men fiddling with newly picked ginseng, tied with a strip of leaf, in their hands. Wei Xiaobao took out an ingot of silver and handed it over to the waiter, telling him to get more wine and meat, and a large slice of cooked beef, two catties of white wine, and deliver everything to the next table.

    The two ginseng pickers were greatly surprised; they wondered why this young hunter was so hospitable, immediately they expressed thanks repeatedly. Wei Xiaobao went over to their table and toasted them several cups. With his eloquence, in just a few words he was able to find out the location of Huma’erwoji Mountain. Turned out it was located due north of where they were, still two, three thousand li away; but those two ginseng pickers had never been there either. Wei Xiaobao called Shuang’er over, and told her to ask about some mountain and river’s names on the map. The two ginseng pickers gave direction to those places one by one, along with the general situation of those places. Indeed their explanation did not the slightest bit disagree with the information from the map.

    After drinking wine and eating their meal, they took their leave from the Tungus men and the ginseng pickers. Wei Xiaobao pondered in his heart, “Turns out that Lu Ding Shan [deer and cauldron mountain] is still several thousand li from this place. But since we don’t have anything else to do, we might as well go dig some treasure.”

    Actually, whether to dig or not to dig the treasure, he did not care too much. In the deepest part of his heart, he was afraid to meet Hong Jiaozhu, Thin Toutuo, and that bunch of people. Since Hong Jiaozhu and the others were in the south, if he went north two, three thousand li, no matter what Hong Jiaozhu would not be able to find him. He thought further, “If Shuang’er and I wait for him in the wild, mountainous country for ten or eight years, Hong Jiaozhu will definitely die. Could it be that his long life is as long as the damn heaven’s?”

    Thereupon he went to a leather store and bought two sets of fine mink fur coat, which he and Shuang’er put on immediately. Afraid that Hong Jiaozhu would still be able to overtake them, outside the mink fur coat they were still wearing the coarse deerskin clothing. They also used soot to blacken their faces, so that even if they were overtaken, he hoped that they would not be recognized. He hired a large carriage, and travelled north. Inside the carriage he chatted with Shuang’er. Occasionally he would ‘achieve great success’; their relation was warm and happy.

    They rode the carriage for more than twenty days. The farther north they went, the colder the weather got, until finally the road was covered with ice and snow that the large carriage could not continue. The two of them then bought horses and continued north, until even the horses could not continue anymore, hence just like in the forest before, they continued on foot on snowy ground.

    Luckily treasure hunting, along with seeking refuge, was what Wei Xiaobao was good at; seeing the barren hills and treacherous rapids, uninhabited open plain everywhere, he felt safer instead. Shuang’er’s memory was very good, following the direction on the map, they searched slowly to the north. Whenever they met hunters or ginseng pickers, they would inquire about the name of the place to verify their location based on the map. The map had eight small circles in four colors, which marked the location of Lu Ding Shan, where two great rivers converged.

    One particular day, according to their calculation they were not too far from their destination. The two of them were walking hand in hand in a pine forest. Suddenly there was a loud bang from the northeast direction, it sounded like a firearm was being shot. Wei Xiaobao was startled. “Aiyo, not good!” he cried out, “Hong Jiaozhu has caught up with us.” Hastily he pulled Shuang’er and hid in the long thick patch of grass behind a tree. And then they heard more than a dozen people were shouting and screaming as they rushed over toward them, followed by the sound of hoof beats.

    Wei Xiaobao was only afraid that Hong Jiaozhu was coming to capture him, to pull his tendon and peel his skin; this moment, as he heard the noise had nothing to do with Hong Jiaozhu, he felt slightly relieved, and looked out from among the thick patch of grass. He saw more than a dozen Tungus hunters screaming wildly while running for their lives. Suddenly there were unending ‘bang, bang, bang’; the Tungus hunters fell down, rolled around several times, and died, blood was seeping out from their bodies. Wei Xiaobao gripped Shuang’er’s hands; he thought, “This is foreign devils’ firearms.”

    Following the sound of hoof beats, seven or eight riders charged in; the riders were indeed yellow-bearded, blue-eyed foreign troops. Each and every one of them was tall and powerfully built, with fiendish expression. Some were holding guns, some brandishing their cutlass wildly. In just a short period of time the rest of the Tungus hunters were all hacked to death.

    The foreign troops laughed aloud, jumped down from their horses, and started raiding the hunters’ belongings; they took away several sheets of mink fur, six or seven silver fox fur, talked gibberish for a while, and then mounted their horses and left.

    Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er waited until the sound of hoof beats go far away before they slowly came out of the thick patch of grass. When they looked at the hunters, they found not one person was alive. The two of them looked at each other in dismay, they both saw abject terror on each other’s eyes. Wei Xiaobao said quietly, “Those foreign devils are robbers.”

    “They are more vicious than robbers,” Shuang’er said, “After robbing their belongings, they also killed the people.”

    Wei Xiaobao suddenly remembered something. “How could there be foreign robbers?” he wondered aloud, “Could it be that Wu Sangui already arise in rebellion?” He knew Wu Sangui and Luocha Country had made a pact; as soon as Yunnan sent their troops, Luocha Country would attack from the north. This moment they suddenly saw a lot of foreign troops, could it be that for several weeks they did not hear any news from outside, Wu Sangui had already made his move? Thinking about the troops and horses under Wu Sangui’s command were numerous, he could not help feeling anxious for Xiao Xuanzi. Looking at the bodies scattered around on the ground, he only felt worry.

    Shuang’er sighed and said, “These hunters are really pitiful; right now their father and mother, wife and children at home must be waiting for them to come back.”

    “Oh,” Wei Xiaobao mumbled. Suddenly he said, “I want to see the young Emperor.”

    Shuang’er was greatly surprised, “You want to see the young Emperor?” she asked.

    “That’s right,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Wu Sangui is sending his troops to revolt, the young Emperor must have a lot of things he wanted to talk to me. Even if I cannot offer any ideas, I can still talk to him to relieve his boredom. Let us go back to Beijing.”

    “We are not going to Lu Ding Shan?” Shuang’er asked.

    “Not this time,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “We’ll go again next time.” Although he was eager to find the treasure, but he had already amassed gold, silver, money and valuable that he did not even know to spend it all. Thinking that Lu Ding Shan was related to Xiao Xuanzi’s dragon vein, in all honesty he did not really want to unearth it; he was afraid that as soon as he dig it out, he would jeopardize Xiao Xuanzi’s life.

    He searched and discover the eight copies of ‘Forty-two-chapter Sutra’, found the pieces of sheepskin, assembled the pieces into a map, ascertained the mountains and rivers’ names on the map, all along he was enthusiastic; but by the time he had really arrived on Lu Ding Mountain, suddenly fear overcame his enthusiasm. He was only hoping to find an excuse to go as far as possible. If he said that he really wanted to give careful consideration of yi qi toward Kangxi, it might not necessarily be the truth, it’s just that this ‘digging treasure on Mount Lu Ding’ business was simply too great. He only had Shuang’er, one person, by his side; at the last moment, he could not stop cowardice from taking over. If he were leading several thousand of Valiant Cavalry Brigade officers and men, perhaps by this time he would yell, “His granny, send the troops to Lu Ding Shan!”

    Shuang’er did not have any idea, naturally she would follow obediently. Wei Xiaobao said, “We go back to Beijing, but must be careful not to bump into any foreign robbers. We’d better follow the riverbank and see if we can catch a boat.”

    Immediately they entered the forest and walked toward the east. Traveling until the afternoon, they reach the bank of a big river. In the distant they saw a fortified city wall. Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he thought, “When we reach the city, we can either hire a boat or ride on horses. Having money makes everything easy.” Thereupon he walked faster.

    After walking several li, they saw another big river winding from the northwest and merged with this turbulent-water big river. Shuang’er suddenly said, “Xianggong, these are Amur River and Heilongjiang [river], and that … that … that must be Lu Ding Shan.” While saying that, she pointed to the fortified city.

    “Are you sure you remember correctly?” Wei Xiaobao asked, “This is such a happy coincidence.”

    Shuang’er said, “The map is indeed drawn like this, but on the map there were only eight colored circles, it did not say anything about fortified city.”

    “There is a fortified city on Lu Ding Shan; that’s really strange,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I’ll say this city cannot be trusted. Let’s not go in there.”

    “What do you mean the city cannot be trusted?” Shuang’er asked.

    Wei Xiaobao replied, “Look, there is a demon cloud above the city, apparently there is a big demon inside the city.”

    Shuang’er jumped in fright. “Aiyo!” she hastily said, “I am most afraid of demon. Xianggong, let’s go quickly.”

    Right this moment, suddenly they heard sound of hoof beats, several dozen riders were galloping along the riverbank from the south. All around them was open plain, there was no where they could hide. Wei Xiaobao pulled Shuang’er, the two of them rolled away from the river shore and withdrew behind a large rock by the riverbank. Not too long afterwards, they saw a group of horses sweeping past; the riders were indeed foreign officers and men.

    Wei Xiaobao stuck out his tongue; he followed the foreign troops with his eyes until they disappeared into the city wall. “Didn’t I tell you?” he said, “I said this city cannot be trusted, and I was right. Turns out that is not demon cloud, those are foreign cloud.”

    Shuang’er said, “We have found Lu Ding Shan with great difficulty, who would have imagined that this mountain has been occupied by foreign robbers?”

    “Aiyo,” suddenly Wei Xiaobao exclaimed; he sprang up and cried out, “Bad, bad!”

    Seeing the huge change on his face, Shuang’er busily asked, “What is it?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “The foreign robbers must have found out the secret of the map, otherwise how can they be here? The hidden treasure and the dragon vein cannot be guaranteed.”

    Shuang’er had never heard him mentioning anything about hidden treasure and the dragon vein, but the map was constructed with great difficulty, hence she had already guessed that the secret of Lu Ding Mountain must be concerning something of grave importance. Seeing the deep frown on Wei Xiaobao’s face, she said consolingly, “Xianggong, if the foreign soldiers have found the secret first, there is nothing we can do. Foreign robbers have firearms, they are very ferocious, the two of us cannot fight with them.”

    Wei Xiaobao sighed and said, “I just feel strange, after we put the map together, it was only a few days before we burned it; how did the secret leak? I wonder if the foreign robbers have dug the hidden treasure and broken the young Emperor’s dragon vein. We must investigate clearly.”

    Thinking about the viciousness and ruthlessness of the foreign soldiers when they massacred the people in the woods a moment ago, he could not help but shiver. “I want to go to Lu Ding Shan to investigate clearly,” he muttered to himself, “But it’s too dangerous. I must think of a better way. Good Shuang’er, let’s wait until it is dark before going, that way it won’t be too easy for the devils to detect us.”

    [1] A prefecture level city in Heilongjiang province, northeast China.

  11. #271
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 36 - Part 1

    Chapter 36 - Predator birds over ten-thousand li of barbarian flower’s sky, the beginning of the edge of the clouds over thousand winding snowy roads.
    (Translated by Foxs)


    LuDingJi-36.jpg

    Wei Xiaobao leaped up and made somersault in the air and landed on the captain’s shoulder. With the forefinger of both hands pressed against the captain’s eyes, he steered him back into the Princess’ room. Sophia was startled and delighted at the same time; she took the short gun from the captain’s side, and pressed it against the captain’s back.

  12. #272
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 36 - Part 2

    The two of them ate some dried venison, and then slept on the beach; by the time the second watch of the night [between 9-11pm] arrived, they quietly moved toward the fortified city. It was quiet all around, that night the moonlight was bright. They noticed that the fortified city was constructed from big lumber and big stones, the circumference was indeed not small; it was definitely not a one-day, one-night effort. Wei Xiaobao thought, “This fortified city was built sometimes ago, so nobody peeked at my map and informed Luocha people to come over here and build the city.”

    He saw his own shadow as well as Shuang’er’s on the ground, and could not help but was afraid, thinking that if there were Luocha soldiers guarding on the wall, with several shots, Wei Xiaobao would turn into Wei Sibao [xiao bao – little treasure, si bao – dead treasure]. Thereupon he pulled Shuang’er and crouched on the ground, trying to see if anything was astir. He saw on the southeast corner of the fortified city there was a small log cabin, with light coming out from the window; apparently it was where the guards lived. Wei Xiaobao whispered on Shuang’er’s ear, “Let’s go over there to take a look.” The two of them slowly crawled toward the log cabin.

    Just as they were outside the window, suddenly they heard a woman’s laughter from the inside, the laughter sounded so lascivious. Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er looked at each other; they both felt strange, “How could there be a woman?”

    Wei Xiaobao peeked through a small crack on the window. But the weather was cold and the wind strong, all the cracks on the window were tightly sealed; he could not see anything. Yet the voice from the inside continued, one man one woman, they were talking and laughing gibberish that Wei Xiaobao did not understand at all. He knew that this pair of Luocha man and woman was not doing any good deed; his heart was moved. Reaching out, he embraced Shuang’er in his bosom. Shuang’er heard the voices from the inside, she seemed to understand, but not quite understood; there was a vague feeling in her heart that it was improper. When she was held in Wei Xiaobao’s arms, for fear that they would be found by the people inside, she did not dare to make any noise.

    To Wei Xiaobao, it was exactly what he wanted. His left arm hugged her even tighter, his right hand gently stroked her cheek. Shuang’er’s body went weak, she leaned on his bosom. Unexpectedly, since the ground was packed with ice, in his eagerness Wei Xiaobao forgot to mind where he stood; his foot slipped, he could not hold his stand, ‘bang!’ his head hit the window heavily. “Aiyo!” he could not help but letting out a cry.

    The voices inside stopped; a moment later a man’s voice shouted a question. Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er crouched on the ground, and were momentarily at a loss of what to do. They heard a latch being pulled, the wooden door creaked open, someone with a lantern in his hand standing at the door looking outside. Wei Xiaobao sprang out lightly with his dagger going straight into the man’s chest. The man did not even grunt; his body slumped and he fell down without any noise.

    Shuang’er rushed into the room, but she saw the room was absolutely empty, there was no one inside. “Uh,” she exclaimed in surprise, “Where’s that woman?”

    Wei Xiaobao followed her inside. He saw a kang [heatable brick bed] inside, a wooden table, and a wooden trunk; the room was illuminated by a bear fat candle on the table, but the woman had actually disappeared without a trace. “Search her quick, don’t let her go announcing our presence.” He noticed that other than the front door, this house did not have any other exits.

    He dragged the dead body inside and closed the door. He saw the dead man was a foreign soldier, the lower part of his body was naked, he did not were any pants. Wei Xiaobao looked up to examine the beam, but did not see anything out of ordinary, “She must still be here,” he said. He rushed to the trunk’s side, opened the trunk lid, and quickly stepped aside to guard against the Luocha woman opened fire.

    After a moment without seeing anything astir, Shuang’er said, “She is not inside the trunk. This is really strange.”

    Wei Xiaobao went near the trunk to examine it, and saw the trunk was full with fur clothing. He reached in and scooped some, but underneath it was also fur clothing. Suddenly he sniffed a strong fragrant; obviously it was the smell of women’s cosmetics. “Something can’t be trusted in here,” he said. He grabbed the fur clothing and tossed them all to the ground. To his surprise, there was a hole at base of the trunk. “In here!” he cried out in delight.

    Shuang’er said, “Turns out there is a tunnel in here.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Quickly intercept that Luocha woman. If she talked, a large group of foreign robbers will swarm over, we will be in a terrible mess.” Hurriedly he took off the leather clothing that he bundled up on his body, pulled his dagger, and crawled into the hole. He was very afraid of foreign troops, but he did not take foreign women to heart.

    The tunnel was inclining downward, and he could only crawl, but he was slim and agile, he was able to crawl fast and nimble in the tunnel. After crawling for more than ten zhang, he heard voices ahead. He increased the strength in his hands and feet, and crawled even faster. The voice ahead was getting closer. He reached out with his left hand and grabbed as hard as he could, and touched a smooth and soft calf. The woman cried out in low voice, and frantically fled forward. Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he thought, “If I kill you with one stab, I am not a hero or warrior. Good man does not fight with women, Chinese men do not fight with Luocha demon granny[1]. Foreign male demons I have seen a lot, but what foreign female demons look like, I must take a good look.”

    He re-inserted the dagger into its sheath, and charged more than a zhang forward. With both hands he grabbed the woman’s calf. Inside the tunnel, the woman was unable to turn around; she crawled forward desperately. The woman’s strength was indeed not small, unexpectedly Wei Xiaobao was unable to pull her back, instead, he was pulled forward about a zhang or so. Wei Xiaobao spread his legs toward the tunnel wall to brace himself, only then did he manage to hold himself and not dragged forward by the woman.

    The woman struggled hard, Wei Xiaobao’s hands slipped; unexpectedly the woman was able to free herself. She quickly crawled forward. Wei Xiaobao threw himself to her and grabbed her waist. Suddenly he felt his head was free; they had actually reached the part of the tunnel, which was fairly spacious. The woman let out a couple of soft laughter; she turned around and kissed him. But since it was dark, she kissed his nose instead.

    A burst of strong fragrant assaulted Wei Xiaobao’s nostrils, the body of the woman in his bosom was smooth and slippery; to his surprise, she did not wear even one thread. He felt the woman reached back and embraced him; his mind was blurry. He heard Shuang’er asked in a low voice, “Xianggong, what is it?”

    Wei Xiaobao hummed and hawed; he was just about to reply when the woman in his bosom suddenly kissed his mouth. Immediately he was unable to speak. Suddenly he heard a voice above his head saying, “We found out that Zongdu [governor-general] has arrived at Yakesa[2], therefore, we rushed over to meet him.”

    As soon as these words entered Wei Xiaobao’s ears, it was as if a bucket of iced water was drenched over his head. The speaker was unexpectedly the Divine Dragon Cult’s Cult Leader Hong. How could Hong Jiaozhu be over his head? And the Luocha woman in his bosom, how could she be so flirtatious and intimate? The number of unusual things he had seen in his life was indeed not small, but what he came into tonight in this tunnel was totally new and unthinkable. The woman in his bosom was like a warm, fragrant soft jade; the Hong Jiaozhu in his mind wanted to pull his tendon and peel his skin. In his terror, hastily he pushed away to woman in his bosom, he wanted to turn around and flee; who would have thought that the woman embraced him tightly, and did not want to let him go.

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly anxious; he said in her ear, “Jiligulu, xilihuala, hulihutu.” He only hoped that she would understand this made-up Luocha language. The woman let out soft laughter, twice, and said a few words in his ear; presumably she was speaking genuine Luocha language. And then she reached out to his cheek and twisted it hard.

    Right this moment, a man overhead was speaking a string of gibberish foreign words. When he finished, another man said, “Zongdu Daren said, Jiaozhu of Shen Long Jiao have honored us with your presence; he wishes to welcome you very much, yet did not come to greet you, it was very lacking in manners, hence he begs for Jiaozhu’s forgiveness. Zongdu Daren wishes Hong Jiaozhuon a long life of a hundred years, great good fortune and great longevity, that everything will be according to your wishes, and wishes to be good friends with Hong Jiaozhu, to work with a common purpose, attempting the important matter together.”

    Wei Xiaobao mused, “This interpreter[3] is uneducated; he changed the ‘enjoy immortal good fortune forever, long life the same as the heaven’s’ into ‘long life of a hundred years, great good fortune and great longevity’.”

    He heard Hong Jiaozhu responded, “Biren [humble one, referring to self] wishes Luocha Country Emperor ten thousand years of boundless longevity, wishes Zongdu Daren good fortune, long life, health and peace, and to rise in promotion soon. Biren will do my utmost wholeheartedly, to work with Luocha Country on a common goal, attempting the important matter together. From now on blessing will be enjoyed together, difficulty will be faced together, both sides will not renege on this oath forever.” The interpreter spoke for a moment, the Luocha Country governor-general responded with some continuous gibberish.

    Wei Xiaobao asked the woman in a low voice, “Who are you? Why aren’t you wearing any clothes?”

    The woman laughed in a low voice and said, “Who are you? Why are you wearing some clothes?” While saying that, she reached out to untie Wei Xiaobao’s undergarment.

    In this kind of situation, how could Wei Xiaobao have the mood to do this kind of loose, merry-making shady business? He had heard Tang Ruowang and Nan Huairen spoke Chinese; now he heard this Luocha woman spoke Chinese, he was not surprised. “It is very dangerous in here,” he busily said, “Let us get out quickly.”

    The woman said in a low voice, “Don’t move! Don’t move! You move, they hear.” Although she spoke Chinese, the tone was very stiff, it sounded very awkward. Thereupon Wei Xiaobao stayed still, he did not dare to make the slightest move.

    He heard Cult Leader Hong and the Luocha Country governor-general discussing how as soon as Wu Sangui deployed his troops from Yunnan, Divine Dragon Cult and Luocha Country would attack Manchurian Qing from two sides. They laid out the plan, and sure enough, it was identical to the one explained by the Mongolian big beard Hantiemo. As the discussion progressed, Cult Leader Hong offered an idea, saying that if Luocha Country attacked from Liaodong, not only the distance was great, the route was tightly guarded by Qing troops. It would be better to take the sea route and land in Tianjian, and then go straight to Beijing with firearms and cannon; that way they might take over Beijing earlier compared to Wu Sangui. The governor-general was greatly delighted; he repeatedly praised it as wonderful plan, he said that Cult Leader Hong was so loyal that in the future he would definitely take control of several provinces of China, and would be established as ‘king’. Cult Leader Hong did not stop expressing his thanks.

    Wei Xiaobao was startled and angry at the same time; he thought, “This fellow Hong Jiaozhu is also a big traitor to China, not the least bit different than Wu Sangui. His plan is very vicious, I must report to the young Emperor and have him install a lot of cannon at the Tianjin seaport. When the Luocha Country warships come to attack, ‘bang, bang, bang, bang’ we’ll blast those damn ships.”

    He heard Hong Jiaozhu said, “Zongdu Daren has come from afar to China, we do not have anything good as a present to you; hereby we present a hundred Dadong [district, Liaoning] pearls, a hundred sheets of mink fur, and a hundred catties of ginseng to Zongdu Daren. Outside we also have tribute to be presented to Luocha Country Emperor.”

    Listening to this point, Wei Xiaobao thought, “Unexpectedly this old dog has prepared these many gifts; indeed his magical power is extensive.”

    Suddenly he felt his face was warm, the woman put her cheek against his, and then he felt she reached out to grope about his body. Wei Xiaobao said in a low voice, “You grope me, I won’t be polite to you.” He also reached out to grope around her breasts. The woman suddenly let out a squeal, and broke into laughter.

    This laughter was not soft, Hong Jiaozhu immediately heard it, but he thought that the governor-general hid a woman in his room, it was nothing out of ordinary; thereupon he pretended not to hear. After exchanging some pleasantries, he said that they would discuss everything in more details the next day, and then he took his leave.

    Wei Xiaobao suddenly heard a racket above his head, followed by a dazzling light. Turned out he and the woman in his bosom were inside a large wooden trunk, and the trunk’s lid had just been opened by someone.

    The woman giggled tenderly, and then jumped out of the trunk. She took a robe to cover her own body, and then said to Wei Xiaobao with a laugh, “Come out, come out!”

    Wei Xiaobao slowly stepped out of the trunk. He saw a tall and powerfully built foreign military officer standing by the trunk with his hand pressed on the hilt of a saber hanging on his waist. The woman laughed and said, “There is one more!”

    Shuang’er originally wanted to hide inside the trunk, if Wei Xiaobao got into trouble, she would think of a way to rescue him, but since the woman had already called out, she had no choice but to jump out of the trunk as well.

    Wei Xiaobao saw the woman’s hair was yellow like gold, draped over her shoulder; her pair of dark green eyes looked very lively. Her skin was snow white, her appearance was very beautiful, it’s just that her nose was a bit too high, and she was also half a head taller than he was. Wei Xiaobao had never seen a foreign woman before, he could not guess how old she was, but he presumed she must be around twenty.

    The woman was looking at Wei Xiaobao with a grin on her face, she said, “You, little child, groped me, scoundrel, hee hee …”

    The governor-general’s face looked calm and collected; he mumbled something in foreign language. The woman also mumbled something in reply. The governor-general’s manner was very respectful, he bowed several times. The woman spoke several sentences, she pointed to Wei Xiaobao. The governor-general opened the door and summoned the Chinese interpreter back into the room. All the time the man and the woman did not stop talking to each other.

    Wei Xiaobao noticed the room was furnished with quite a bit of fur, there were quite a few glittering female clothing spread on the couch. Looking at half-exposed woman’s snow white, silky breasts, her sparkling and translucent calves and skin, he thought, “I had this woman in my bosom just now, why did I only grope her carelessly and simply let it pass like that? I got a very good pair of cards in my hand, but forgot to make a kill. That Hong Jiaozhu has frightened me silly.”

    He heard the interpreter said, “The Princess and Zongdu Daren ask: who are you?”

    Wei Xiaobao was surprised. “She is the Princess?” he asked.

    The interpreter replied, “This is the Luocha Country Emperor’s imperial elder sister, Her Highness Princess Sophia. This is His Excellency Governor General Galitzine. Quickly kneel down to pay your respect.”

    Wei Xiaobao mused, “Her Highness the Princess, how could she be so wild?” But he immediately recalled Kangxi’s imperial younger sister Princess Jianning was also very wild, in fact, in term of wildness, she was not inferior to this Luocha Country Princess. All the emperors’ imperial older sister or younger sister must be beautiful and wild, so this princess must be a genuine article. Thereupon with a giggle he bowed to pay his respect, saying, “Your Highness the Princess, how are you? You are extremely beautiful, you look like a celestial fairy descending into the world. In our China, there has never been any woman as beautiful as you.”

    Sophia knew several most shallow Chinese words; hearing Wei Xiaobao, she knew he was praising her beauty; immediately she beamed up and said, “Little child, very good, must reward.” She went over to the desk, pulled a drawer, took a dozen or more gold coins, and put the coins in Wei Xiaobao’s hand.

    “Thank you very much,” Wei Xiaobao said. He held out his hand to receive the coins. Under the candlelight, he saw the Princess’ five fingers were indeed like green jade; he could not stop himself from reaching out to grab her hand, and brought it to his mouth and kissed it.

    The interpreter was greatly alarmed; “Don’t be rude!” he shouted. He did not know that the ritual of kissing one’s hand was actually in general use in western foreign country, it was an expression of utmost respect to the ladies of nobility. Wei Xiaobao was acting without thinking, unexpectedly he did the right thing. Only he should have kissed the back of the lady’s hand, but he was grabbing Princess Sophia’s palm and sucked her fingers randomly, hence it appeared rather awkward. Sophia giggled tenderly, but surprisingly she did not pull her hand away.

    [1] Orig. ‘gui po’, foreign b1tch or foreign woman (Courtesy of Ren Wo Xing and CFT).

    [2] Albazino is a village (selo) in Skovorodinsky District of Amur Oblast, Russia, noted as the site of Albazin, the first Russian settlement on the Amur River. Later in 17th century, the town was center of a petty kingdom known as Yagsi (Manchu: Yaksa; Chinese: Yakesa). The name of state came from Nikifor Chernigovsky's coat of arms - Jaxa.

    [3] Actually, the literal translation is: one who passes on a story or communicates a message, not necessarily an interpreter.

  13. #273
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 36 - Part 3

    “Little child,” Sophia asked with a laugh, “What you do?”

    Wei Xiaobao replied, “Little child, go hunting.”

    Suddenly from outside the door a loud and clear voice said, “This little child is a high-ranking minister under China’s Emperor, don’t be deceived by him.” It was precisely Hong Jiaozhu’s voice.

    Wei Xiaobao was so scared that his soul had flown to the outer space; pulling Shuang’er’s sleeve, he wanted to dash out of the door. But as soon as he pushed the door open, he saw Hong Jiaozhu was blocking his exit with arms spread open. Shuang’er leaped forward with a direct punch. Hong Jiaozhu parried with his left hand, while his right hand finger went toward Shuang’er’s waist. Shuang’er groaned and fell to the ground.

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Hong Jiaozhu, you, Senior, enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven’s. Where is Madame? Has she also come?”

    Hong Jiaozhu did not reply, his left hand grabbed the back of Wei Xiaobao’s neck, and he brought Wei Xiaobao back inside. “Reporting to Your Highness the Princess and Zongdu Daren,” he said, “This person is called Wei Xiaobao, he is a high-ranking minister most trusted by the Chinese Emperor, he is the Fu Zongguan [deputy chief] of the Emperor’s Imperial Bodyguards, personal guards’ Dutong [commander], Imperial Envoy Minister, and was conferred the title First Class Viscount.”

    The interpreter translated these words. Princess Sophia and the governor-general showed incredulous expression. Sophia laughed and said, “Little child, no high-ranking minister. Minister, fake.”

    Hong Jiaozhu said, “Biren has the proof.” Turning his head around, he said, “Bring this kid’s clothes over.”

    Wei Xiaobao saw Lu Gaoxuan entered in, carrying a bundle wrapped in cloth. When he opened it, surprisingly it was Wei Xiaobao’s original hat, clothing and personal adornment. Wei Xiaobao was greatly amazed, “How could these clothes end up in his hands? Hong Jiaozhu’s magical power is indeed extensive.”

    Hong Jiaozhu ordered Lu Gaoxuan, “Put the clothes on him.” Lu Gaoxuan complied. He shook off the clothes and put them onto Wei Xiaobao.

    These clothes, along with the yellow magua, were torn apart by the thistles and thorns of the forest, but put on Wei Xiaobao’s body, obviously it was extremely well-fitting. The hat, with the peacock feather on it, obviously belonged to a high-ranking minister of the Qing court. If these clothes did not belong to Wei Xiaobao, it would be very difficult to find such a high-ranking official uniform in such a small size on the earth.

    Wei Xiaobao giggled and said, “Hong Jiaozhu, your ability is indeed not small; I threw those clothes along the way, but you picked them all up from the roadside along the way.”

    Hong Jiaozhu ordered Lu Gaoxuan, “Search his body, see if you can find anything.”

    “No need to search me,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I’ll get everything out.” He pulled a big wad of banknotes from his pocket, the amount was staggering.

    The governor-general had lived in Liaodong for a long time, he knew banknotes. Casually he flipped some, and was greatly amazed. He turned to the Princess and mumbled something, as if he was saying, “This child indeed has some background, the money he brings is really a lot.”

    Hong Jiaozhu said, “This little demon is very crafty, search his body.”

    Lu Gaoxuan searched Wei Xiaobao and took everything out of his pocket, including the secret order written in Kangxi’s personal hand writing, which said, ‘Imperial Envoy Minister, Deputy Commander Minister of the Internal Imperial Bodyguards, holder of concurrent office of the Commander of the Valiant Cavalry Brigade of the Manchuria Plain Yellow Banner, has been granted by the Emperor himself bravery title of Batulu, and the right to wear yellow magua, the Viscount First Class Wei Xiaobao, is ordered to go to Liaodong region on official business. The civil and military officials along the way are to wait for his instruction and render their assistance.’ The top of this imperial edict bore the imperial seal.

    The interpreter read the edict in Luocha language. When Princess Sophia and Governor General Galitzine heard it, they clucked their tongue in praise and amazement.

    Hong Jiaozhu said, “Reporting to Princess: Chinese Emperor is a young child, and loves to use young children as high-ranking officials. This little child loves to play games and joke around with the Chinese Emperor, he is good at patting the horse’s buttocks, he is good at blowing the cowhide, the young Emperor likes him.”

    Sophia did not understand ‘patting the horse’s buttocks’ and ‘blowing the cowhide’; after asking the interpreter, she giggled and said, “I also like people patting the horse’s buttocks and blowing the cowhide.” Wei Xiaobao was immediately delighted. But Hong Jiaozhu’s countenance turned very unsightly.

    Sophia asked further, “Chinese young Emperor, how old?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Chinese big Emperor, seventeen years old.”

    Sophia laughed and said, “Luocha big Tsar, is my little brother, is also a child, twenty years old, not a tou laozi[1].”

    Wei Xiaobao was startled. “What tou laozi?” he mused, “Ah, she spoke incorrectly, it must be laotouzi[2] and she said tou laozi.” Thereupon he pointed at her and said, “Luocha beautiful princess, not tou laozi, very good.” Pointing at himself, he said, “Chinese high-ranking official, not tou laozi, very good!” Pointing at Hong Jiaozhu, he said, “Chinese bad egg [scoundrel/b@stard], tou laozi, not good, not good!”

    Sophia bent over with laughter. The Luocha Country governor-general was a young man of about thirty; he also laughed aloud. Hong Jiaozhu’s countenance, however, turned iron-grey, he so wished to strike Wei Xiaobao dead with one palm.

    Sophia asked, “Chinese high-ranking official, come here, for what?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Chinese Emperor heard Luocha Country’s high-ranking official is coming to Liaodong, he sent me to take a look. His Majesty knew Luocha Country Emperor is not a tou laozi, he knew Luocha Princess is a fairy descending to the world, he sent Xiaoren to present gifts, to give Princess and Zongdu Daren two hundred Dadong pearls, two hundred catties of ginseng. Unexpectedly en route we came across this big robber who took the gifts away …”

    Wei Xiaobao had not finished speaking, Hong Jiaozhu was already unable to restrain his anger; raising his right palm, he chopped down at the top of Wei Xiaobao’s head. When he was inside the trunk, Wei Xiaobao had heard Hong Jiaozhu was presenting not a few precious gifts to the governor-general, thereupon he doubled the amount, and said that it was a gift from the Emperor. When his mouth was busy talking, he paid full attention on Hong Jiaozhu. As soon as he saw he raised his palm, he immediately executed the qinggong ‘Shen Xing Bai Bian’ [divine line hundred changes] taught by Jiu Nan, and slipped away behind Princess Sophia.

    ‘Crack, crash!’ one wooden chair was destroyed by Hong Jiaozhu’s palm strike. Galitzine was shocked; he pulled his short gun and pointed it at Hong Jiaozhu, ordering him not to move randomly.

    The long speech that Wei Xiaobao had just made, Princess did not understand, she ordered the interpreter to translate. And when he finished, she laughed and said to Hong Jiaozhu, “Your gift, snatched from him, you took half, not good!”

    Hong Jiaozhu anxiously said, “No, no. This kid is very good at talking nonsense, Princess must never believe him.” He saw the Luocha governor-general was pointing the gun at him, although western firearm was formidable, but based on his martial art skill, he was not afraid. However, they were in the middle of conspiring on more important matter, he needed the Luocha Country’s strong support, he must not offend the governor-general just because he could not control his anger. Thereupon he slowly withdrew toward the door without showing any sign of resistance.

    Galitzine pulled back his gun and spoke several sentences. The interpreter said, “Zongdu Daren is asking Hong Jiaozhu not to be angry. He knew this little child is spouting nonsense. Princess Sophia has come to the east in secret, it’s impossible that the Chinese Emperor would find out about it. It is also improbable that the Chinese Emperor would give gifts to a Luocha Country Zongdu.”

    Hong Jiaozhu’s anger subsided; he smiled and said, “Zongdu Daren is wise, you are able to see things clearly; indeed you would never fall under this kid’s deceit.”

    Galitzine asked about Wei Xiaobao’s background. Hong Jiaozhu explained to him how Wei Xiaobao had killed the high-ranking minister Oboi, how he was sent to escort the imperial younger sister to Yunnan to complete the marriage, how he blew cowhide and patted the horse’s buttocks, and did many and varied crimes; he also added oil and sprinkled some soy sauce on how Kangxi favored Wei Xiaobao. Finally he said, “This kid is the young Emperor’s left and right hands, if we killed this kid, the young Emperor must be very unhappy. We are deploying troops on a great undertaking, chances are our success will come quicker.” While he was speaking, the interpreter unceasingly translated it into Luocha language.

    With a grin on her face, Princess Sophia was looking at Wei Xiaobao with great interest; apparently, the more Hong Jiaozhu said that Wei Xiaobao was unpardonably wicked, the more she was delighted.

    Galitzine was deep in thought for half a day before asking, “Chinese Emperor likes this little child very much?”

    “That’s right,” Hong Jiaozhu replied, “Otherwise, he is this young, how could he hold a very high official position?”

    “This little child must not be killed,” Galitzine said, “Send a letter to Chinese Emperor, tell him to get a large quantity of gold, silver and jewels as an exchange if he wants him back.”

    Sophia was greatly delighted, she pecked a kiss on his left cheek, and then she spoke several sentences. These words were not translated by the interpreter; it may be assumed that she was praising him as being intelligent. Wei Xiaobao was secretly rejoicing, “As long as they don’t kill me, then it’s good. If they wanted the young Emperor to take gold, silver and jewels to ransom me, that will be very easy.” Hong Jiaozhu did not look happy at all, but he had no choice.

    Wei Xiaobao took the wad of banknotes back and divided it into three packs. One pack he gave to Princess Sophia, the other pack he gave to Galitzine, from the third pack he took two banknotes worth a hundred taels each, and gave it to the interpreter, and then he put the rest into his own pocket.

    Sophia, Galitzine and the interpreter were very happy. Sophia ordered the interpreter to count the money, she wanted to know how much in total, and then she ordered him to think of a way to send someone inside the Pass to exchange the banknotes into hard cash. Upon counting the banknotes, the total came to more than a hundred thousand taels; suddenly finding unexpected great wealth, they could not help but were ecstatic. She hugged Wei Xiaobao, and repeated kissed his cheeks left and right; she said, “The money is enough, let the child go back!”

    Wei Xiaobao thought that if he was let go this time, Hong Jiaozhu would definitely pull his tendon and peel his skin; thereupon he hastily said, “Such a beautiful princess, I have never seen one. I want to see you for several more days.”

    Sophia giggled tenderly; she said, “We, tomorrow, return to Moscow.”

    Wei Xiaobao had no idea what kind of place was this ‘Moscow’, he said, “Beautiful Princess, go to Moscow, little child high-ranking official, also go to Moscow. Beautiful Princess, go to the moon in the sky, little child high-ranking official, also go to the moon in the sky.”

    Seeing his wit, Sophia was very fascinated; she nodded and said, “Very well, I take you to Moscow.”

    Galitzine knitted his brows slightly; he was about to prevent her, but then he smiled and nodded. “Very good,” he said, “We will take you to Moscow.” And then he waved his hand toward Hong Jiaozhu.

    Hong Jiaozhu did not have any choice but to take his leave. As he walked out the door, he glowered at Wei Xiaobao. Wei Xiaobao stuck out his tongue to him and made faces; he said, “Hong Jiaozhu enjoys immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven’s.” Hong Jiaozhu was extremely angry; he led Lu Gaoxuan and the others leave without saying anything.

    Luocha Country Emperor was called the Tsar, that year he was twenty years old, his name was Fyodor the Third[3]. Sophia was his older sister. This Fyodor III was born with disability, he was unable to move freely; day-to-day he handled the national affair from his bed.

    Luocha’s social custom was greatly different from China’s propriety, the relationship between men and women was always casual. Sophia’s natural disposition was unrestrained, plus she was beautiful; considerable number of princes and dukes, and high-ranking military officers were her lovers. Governor-general Galitzine was handsome and elegant, he was the Princess’ favorite. He was sent to the East, to two fortified cities Nerchinsk and Yakesa, to attempt to enter and scout China’s Mongolia and Liaodong. The city of Yakesa happened to be the place where the Manchurian Eight Banners’ treasure was hidden. This place was the major crossroad where two great rivers converged; unexpectedly as if by prior agreement Manchu people and Luocha people picked this very same place.

    By nature the Princess was very active and always wanted to have a good time, hearing that the East was mysterious and strange, plus she missed her lover, she went so far as to come after him, traveling tens of thousands li from Moscow to this remote place. Although Sophia liked Galitzine, she would never dream of being faithful and single-minded. That day she discovered the tunnel inside Galitzine’s room, her interest was piqued, hence she went down to investigate. The tunnel went outside of Yakesa city, it was connected to the sentry post cabin; originally it was prepared by the governor-general as an escape route for fear that there was a rebellion in the city. When Sophia saw that guard, she spoke to him and teased him, and then fooled around with him.

    At this time hearing that Wei Xiaobao wanted to go to Moscow with her, she thought that it was a fascinating idea, hence she decided to take him and Shuang’er along. Sophia had a team of two hundred Cossack soldiers as her escort; sometimes they rode horses, sometimes they sat on sleds, journeying westward every day on the boundless great snowy plain.

    After traveling for more than twenty days, they had left Yakesa city very far behind, Hong Jiaozhu could not possibly catch up with them anymore. When Wei Xiaobao asked, to his surprise he learned that Moscow was still more than four months away; he could not help but was shocked. “Isn’t that at the ends of the earth?” he asked, “Traveling for four more months, Chinese little child will turn into foreign tou laozi.”

    “Do you want to go back to Beijing?” Sophia asked, “Are you tired of looking at me?”

    “Looking at beautiful princess for a thousand years, ten thousand years, I will never tire,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “But I am scared of a journey this far.”

    During the last twenty days or so, Sophia had been chatting with Wei Xiaobao to relieve boredom; she learned quite a bit of Chinese words. Wei Xiaobao was intelligent and sharp, he also learned not a few of Luocha words. The two of them on a lonely journey, one was originally not a chaste woman, the other was not a gentleman at all; one already failed to keep herself pure, the other was unwilling to sit quietly without letting his mind wandered randomly. Inevitably they were ‘tying some misty water marriage affinity’ with each other. [This is literal translation, I am sure the reader would understand what it means.]

    Now that Sophia heard that he wanted to return to Beijing, she could not help but feeling somewhat reluctant to part with him. “I won’t allow you to go,” she said, “You escort me to Moscow, accompany me for a year, then I let you go back.”

    Wei Xiaobao groaned inwardly. After being together with her for the last several days, he knew that the Princess was resolute; if he did not follow her wish and decided to simply leave, most likely she would send the Cossack soldiers to kill him. Thereupon with smile across his face, he repeatedly said that he was utterly delighted.


    [1] Tou laozi: tou – classifier for animal, laozi – old man, father, ‘I, your father’.

    [2] Laotouzi: old man, used contemptuously.

    [3] Fyodor (Theodore) III Alexeyevich of Russia (9 June 1661 – 7 May 1682) was the Tsar of all Russia between 1676 and 1682. (From Wikipedia)

  14. #274
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 36 - Part 4

    That evening, he quietly discussed with Shuang’er whether they might have an opportunity to escape. Shuang’er said, “Whatever Xianggong thinks is the best, I will follow your instruction.”

    Wei Xiaobao turned his gaze toward the boundless snowy plain, and heaved a deep sigh. He shook his head, knowing that if the two of them run away without enough provision, even if Sophia did not send anybody to pursue them, they would definitely freeze or starve to death in this great snowy plain. Previously, in the forest and snowy plain of Liaodong, although it was desolate and frigid, they could still go hunting and look for food. This time, even small birds were barely seen; sometimes they travelled for a whole day without seeing a single track of animal footprints, let alone spotted any deer. Without any other choice, they had to follow Sophia to the west.

    At first Wei Xiaobao was worried about the young Emperor, whether Wu Sangui had started the rebellion, whether that beautiful little girl Ah Ke was in Kunming or not; he also wondered where Hong Jiaozhu and Fang Yi had gone. But after traveling on the great snowy field for more than a month, even these thoughts had gradually faded away. In this world of ice and snow, it seemed like his brain had also frozen into ice. Luckily his natural disposition was cheerful and carefree without any worries; sometimes he spent time with Sophia telling nondescript Luocha jokes, sometimes he told Shuang’er some crazy tale that he invented himself, this way he did not feel too lonely.

    One day they finally reached the outskirt of Moscow. By that time it was already the fourth month, the weather was getting warmer, ice and snow had already melted. He noticed that although Moscow city wall was solid, thick and gigantic, the construction was very crude. Looking far toward the city, he saw that the buildings inside were also filthy, simple and crude. Forget about comparing it to Beijing, Yangzhou or other big cities, even compared to Central Earth’s small and medium-sized towns, it was still far inferior. Only several big cathedrals with domes and spires looked magnificent.

    As soon as Wei Xiaobao saw all these, he held Luocha Country in contempt, “Dog-fart Luocha Country, what’s so great about it? In our China, this kind of place is only fit to raise cattle and raise pigs. Yet along the way this Princess has always been tooting her horn about the bustling city of Moscow.”

    When they were still several dozen of li from Moscow, the Princess’ guards had already galloped into the city to report. They heard the bugle, from the city a squad of soldiers carrying firearms came out on their horses. By nature Luocha people loved to invade and occupy, and annex their neighboring countries, as a result, their territory was vast, from east to west the distance was several tens of thousands li. The people were mixed. The nation’s elite troops were Cossack cavalry; they charged to the east and fought to the west, besieging towns and seizing lands, subduing people of various races. The other one was firearm battalion, a brigade of sharp-shooters; they were the Tsar’s personal guards who surround and protect the national capital.

    When these gunmen[1] galloped near, Sophia was shocked because she saw black feathers on the numerous officer and soldiers’ hats and black cloth hanging from their guns. It was the sign of national mourning. Hastily she galloped her horse forward and asked loudly, “What happened?”

    The firearm brigade captain dismounted and stepped forward; he bowed and said, “Reporting to Princess: His Majesty has suffered the misfortune of being summoned by God, and has left the country and its people to go to the Paradise.”

    Sophia was deeply grieved; with tears in her eyes she asked, “When was that?”

    The captain said, “If Princess were to arrive four days earlier, you would be able to bid farewell to His Majesty.”

    Although Sophia was aware that her Tsar brother was weak and she knew that he would not live long, but suddenly receiving this terrible news, she was still unbearably grieved; she bent down on the saddle and cried bitterly.

    Seeing the Princess suddenly cried, Wei Xiaobao asked the interpreter, and learned that the Luocha Country Emperor had passed away. He was inwardly delighted, “Luocha Country Emperor did not enjoy immortal good fortune, the country must be chaotic for a period of time; it won’t be easy for them to dispatch troops to attack China.”

    Sophia and her retinue followed the captain entering the city; she wanted to go straight to the Palace. The captain said, “Empress Dowager instructed me to ask the Princess to rest in the Hunting Palace outside the city.”

    Sophia was both startled and angry. “What Empress Dowager?” she shouted, “Which Empress Dowager wants to deal with me?”

    The captain waved his left hand, the gunmen raised their firearms and took aim at the guards escorting the Princess, telling them to surrender their swords and spears and ordering the guards to dismount.

    The Princess angrily said, “You want to rebel?”

    The captain said, “Empress Dowager is afraid that when Princess is back, you won’t obey the new Emperor’s imperial decree, thus she ordered Xiao Jiang [lowly general] to protect Princess.”

    Sophia’s face was bulging red. “New Emperor?” she said angrily, “Who is the new Emperor?”

    The captain replied, “New Emperor is His Majesty Pyotr the First.”

    Sophia tossed her head backward and laughed aloud. “Pyotr?” she said, “Pyotr is a ten-year old little child, what kind of Tsar can he be? You said about Empress Dowager, are you talking about Natalya?”

    “Precisely,” the captain replied.

    Sophia’s father, Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich married two empresses. The first empress gave birth to many sons and daughter, the former Emperor Fyodor the Third and Princess Sophia were her offspring, she had another little child names Ivan. The second empress Natalya was a lot younger, she only gave birth to one child, which was Pyotr.

    Sophia said, “Take me to the Palace, let me see Natalya to reason with her. My younger brother Ivan is older than Pyotr, why not set him up to be the Tsar? What about the cabinet ministers in the imperial court? Don’t anybody talk reason anymore?”

    The captain said, “Xiao Jiang only follow Empress Dowager and Tsar’s order, Princess please don’t take any offense.” Finished speaking, he took the bridle of Sophia’s horse and led it eastwards.

    Sophia was seething in anger; in all her life, who dared to be this rude to her? Raising her horsewhip, she lashed it out on the captain’s head. The captain simply smiled and moved sideways to evade. He jumped onto his own horse, and then led his troops to surround the Princess, along with Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er, and took them to the Hunting Palace outside the city. The firearm brigade then set up a perimeter guard to prevent anybody from going out.

    Sophia was crazy with rage; she trashed the furniture and whatever she could find in the bedroom. The Hunting Palace chef had already prepared food and beverage for her, it was also thrown onto the chef’s face.

    After several days like this, they saw the guarding outside the Hunting Palace was not the least bit relaxed. Sophia summoned the captain, she asked how long they would shut her off in this Palace. The captain said, “Empress Dowager’s order: Princess is to rest in here until His Majesty Pyotr the First celebrate his fiftieth year of ascending the throne. By that time Princess is going to be released to participate in the celebration.”

    Sophia was furious, “What did you say?” she asked, “Pyotr celebrates his fiftieth anniversary of ascension, won’t that mean I will be confined here for fifty years?”

    The captain smiled and said, “Xiao Jiang will turn forty this year, I believe I won’t be able to serve the Princess for fifty years. In ten or fifteen years, there will be a younger captain who is going to take my place.”

    Thinking that she would be confined in this place for fifty years, Sophia shivered all over although it was not cold. Forcing a laugh, she said, “Come here Captain, I think you are exceptionally handsome.” She was thinking of enticing him by her beauty, let the captain grovel under her flowing skirt, and then in his confused state of mind he would let her go.

    The captain bowed deeply and took a step back instead. He said, “Princess please forgive me. Empress Dowager has issued an imperial decree: all the officers and men of the firearm brigade, whoever touches just one of Princess’ fingers will be beheaded immediately. If the captain is killed, deputy captain will rise to take his place; if the deputy captain is killed, the first squad’s platoon leader will rise to take his place. Everybody wants to get promoted, they are watching everybody else very closely.” Turned out the Empress Dowager had known for some time that the good-looking Sophia was a loose woman; if she did not issue this stipulation, perhaps they would not be able to lock her up.

    After the captain withdrew, Sophia had no strategy left to try, she could only crouch on the bed and cry, while continuously hurling curses to Empress Dowager.

    After being locked up in the Hunting Palace for many days, Wei Xiaobao saw that the Princess was throwing a temper tantrum every day, the musketeers who were guarding them were also very rude and cruel; he thought that it was only natural that a demon place like this would have demonic air. He talked it over with Shuang’er several times, they both felt that to escape from this Hunting was achievable; however, if they wanted to return to the Central Earth, it would be more difficult than difficult. If they had no one to guide them, they could be lost in the great prairie. Forget about riding on a carriage or on horseback for four to five month to reach Beijing, they would be confused and disoriented only after four or five days of travel, and would not know east from west or south from north. The two of them were at their wit’s end. With nothing better to do, Wei Xiaobao spouted nonsense endlessly just to win Shuang’er’s laughter and to ease the load in their minds.

    One particular day he was telling the story of Tang Xuanzang leading Sun Wukong, Sha Wujing and Zhu Bajie to the Western Paradise to fetch the Sutra. Wei Xiaobao said, “I’ll wager that the Western Paradise that Tang Xuanzang visited was not as far as Moscow. Therefore, I am more formidable than Tang Xuanzang. If you don’t believe me, let’s make a bet.”

    Shuang’er had no interest in gambling at all; she said, “If Xianggong says that you are more formidable than Tang Xuanzang, then so be it. I don’t want to bet with you. I am not as formidable as Zhu Bajie.” While saying that, she pursed her lips and laughed.

    Suddenly from the Princess’ room they heard the noise of things thrown down, the rattling of the bed, the stomping of feet, and the sound of crying. Wei Xiaobao sighed and said, “I’ll go to console her; always crying and making noise, what’s the use?” Going to the Princess’ room, he said, “Princess, don’t cry. Let me tell you some jokes.”

    Sophia was lying face down on the bed, her feet kicking randomly. “I don’t want to hear, I don’t want to hear,” she said while crying, “I want the Tsaritsa [English: tsarina or czarina] to go to hell, I want Tsaritsa Natalya to go to hell.”

    Wei Xiaobao did not understand the meaning of ‘Tsaritsa’, upon inquiring, he learned that it means ‘Tsar’s Mama’; instantly he was very happy. “I wonder what kind of evil person a Tsaritsa was, turns out she is the Empress Dowager,” he said, “Let me tell you: Chinese Tsaritsa was called the old wh0re; she was also a greatly evil person. Later on I thought of a way to drive her out of the Palace. The Emperor was very happy, hence he made me high-ranking official.”

    Sophia was greatly delighted; she turned around and sat up. “How did you do that?” she asked.

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “I expelled the old wh0re just because she was the fake Empress Dowager. Your Luocha old wh0re is actually genuine goods at fair prices, the real Tsaritsa. Naturally my way won’t work here.” He said, “I was in cahoots with the young Emperor in dealing with Chinese Tsaritsa.”

    Sophia knitted her brows, “Pyotr loves his mama very much, he won’t listen to me to fight against the Tsaritsa. If only … if only …” She shook her head, got out of bed, and paced back and forth barefooted on the carpet, while biting her lip in deep thinking.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “In China we had a female emperor, called Wu Zetian[2]. This female emperor married many male empresses and male wives, she was very merry. Princess, I’ll say you are more or less the same as she was, it would be better for you to be the female Tsar.”

    Sophia’s heart was moved. She had never thought about it, Luocha Country had never had female Tsar, she always thought that women could not be Tsar. If China has had female emperor, why can’t Luocha Country have female Tsar? Ever since she was kept prisoner in the Hunting Palace, she was frightened and angry; her brain had never stopped churning, but she was only thinking about how to escape the Palace. Even if she had to go east to Yakesa and be with Governor-general Galitzine, it would be much better than being imprisoned by the Empress Dowager in this place. Hearing Wei Xiaobao bringing up ‘female Tsar’ just now, it was as if a new heaven and earth had just appeared before her eyes.

    She turned around, with sparkle in her eyes she placed her hands on Wei Xiaobao’s shoulders, planted a light kiss on his left cheek, and said with a smile, “If I become a female Tsar, I will make you my empress.”

    Wei Xiaobao’s heart jumped in fright; he thought, “This absolutely must not happen.” He said hastily, “I, Chinese, cannot be Luocha Country’s male empress; you can make me high-ranking official.”

    Sophia said, “You can be the empress and high-ranking official at the same time.”

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “You don’t even know if presently your life can be guaranteed, yet you are exhausting your delight by making me the empress and high-ranking official at the same time.”

    Sophia said, “Quickly think of a way to make me female Tsar.”

    Wei Xiaobao frowned; speaking about important military or national matters, his knowledge and experience was indeed very shallow. Undoubtedly compared to Kangxi it was like the difference between the heaven and the earth; but compared to Chen Jinnan, Songgotu, Wu Sangui, and the others he was still far too inferior. “Princess,” he said, “This matter is very difficult, I cannot think of anything. Let me go back to Beijing immediately, and ask our young Emperor, let him come up with an idea. And then I will come back here with a group of highly skilled people to catch that Tsaritsa Luocha old wh0re, and catch young Tsar Pyotr; it will be a great success.” When he spoke about ‘great success’, four characters [da gong gao cheng], he could not stop himself from embracing Sophia and kissing her.

    “Oh,” Sophia exclaimed, “That won’t do! That won’t do! You return to Beijing and come back to Moscow, a year won’t be enough. I will be dead by then, go to Paradise.”

    Wei Xiaobao thought she was right; he sighed and said, “Beautiful Princess, go to Paradise, Chinese little child high-ranking official, also go to Paradise.”

    Sophia pushed him back gently, she said, “Chinese little child, know how to speak and deceive people. Joyous roar of the crowd, useless. Pat … pat cow’s buttocks, blow horse’s skin.”

    Hearing her saying ‘pat horse’s buttocks, blow cow’s skin’ [both idioms mean ‘to flatter’ or ‘boot-licking’] backward, Wei Xiaobao could not help but roared in laughter. But then he saw the despising look on her eyes, obviously she was looking down on him; he was enraged. He pondered hard, “How can I make her a female Tsar? How did Wu Zetian become female emperor? There is no harm in us in Luocha Country to leave our mark in history [orig. make a stamp on the board]. Too bad it’s too far away from Beijing, there’s no way for me to ask young Emperor or Suo Dage.”

    Wei Xiaobao’s literary knowledge came from, one, listening to the storytellers, two, watching the opera. Ever since he became a high-ranking official, he did not listen to the storytellers too much anymore, although he had watched operas more. However, he had never heard or watched the tale on how Wu Zetian became a female emperor.


    [1] The dictionary definitions are gunmen/musketeer (from ‘musket’), but when the word ‘musketeer’ my mind, I would imagine Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D’Artagnan; hence I opted to use the first definition. Addtitional info, courtesy of Ace High: Streltsý is the Russian version of musketeers. They were armed with firearms (arquebuses, muskets). They are also collectively known as Marksman Troops (Стрелецкое Войско).

    [2] Wu Zetian (624-705), Tang Empress, reigned 690-705.

  15. #275
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 36 - Part 5

    Gazing out window, he stared blankly and was lost in thought. Myriads of stories and plays flashed through his mind: “Female emperor I do not know, how about the male emperors? How did they become emperors? Zhu Yuanzhang [Ming Dynasty founder] appeared to the world by fighting, under his command there were great generals Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Hu Dahai, Mu Ying …” He gleaned this fact from the tale ‘Legend of Heroic Deed of Ming Dynasty’. He also thought, “Li Zicheng led his troops to attack Beijing, thus my Sifu’s Papa, Emperor Chongzhen was forced to hang himself, and Li Zicheng became the Emperor. Qing troops then defeated Li Zicheng, old master emperor Shunzhi ascended the throne to become the Emperor. Wu Sangui wants to be the emperor; hence he raises troops to revolt. It seems that no matter who wants to be the emperor must raise arms and fight a great war, must kill until the sandstorm rolled on, until the blood flow and become a river, until the bones pile up like mountain.”

    As soon as he thought about war, he was scared. He thought further, “We are being locked up in here, what troops do we have? What war do we fight? If we don’t fight the war, how can we become the emperor?” His knowledge of China’s history was indeed very limited, he only knew that the only person who became the Emperor without fighting a war was the young Emperor Kangxi, and that was because the old Emperor left home and abdicated the throne for him. Naturally he could not use this method.

    He thought further: in the many operas that he watched, there was this story ‘Beheading Yellow Robe’, in which the Song Dynasty Emperor Zhao Kuangyin [Song Dynasty founder] killed the great general Zheng En. His wife and children raised the troops to avenge their husband and father. Zhao Kuangyin was no match for them, he was forced to entreat piteously. He took off his yellow robe and let her chopped it with a saber into two pieces, it was considered a substitute for the Emperor to let Madame Zheng venting her anger. The Emperor was greatly humiliated.

    And then there was this historical opera ‘Hatred of the Deer Platform’, about the tyrannical King Zhou. Jiang Taigong[1] helped raising the troops for Zhou [different spelling] Wuwang[2], forcing King Zhou to be burned to death on Deer Platform, and thus Zhou Wuwang became the Emperor. (Book note: naturally Wei Xiaobao did not know that at that time there was no ‘Emperor’ yet.)

    How about Cao Cao[3]? How did that big white face treacherous court official become the Emperor? The historical opera ‘Fording the River Free and Unfettered’ depicted Cao Cao leading his troops to hound Emperor Han something to death, and then he rose to the throne to be the new Emperor. The great generals under his command, Zhang somebody, and Xu somebody, were very formidable. (Book note: Wei Xiaobao remembered it wrong, Cao Cao did not become the emperor.)

    And then there was Liu Bei; how did he become the Emperor? Wei Xiaobao did not know. It must be Guan Gong, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun helped him fighting the battle.

    In short, to become the Emperor, one must fight. Even after one become the Emperor, if he was unable to defeat other people, then other people may snatch the Emperor position away, or if other people did not snatch it away, they may humiliate the Emperor and he would have bad luck.

    The storytellers told the tale of ‘Military Instructor Lin’s fiery alliance with Wang Lun’ of the ‘Water Margin’ [Outlaws of the Marsh], Chao Ge wanted to become the leader of the bandits, he colluded with Lin Chong to kill the original big boss of the Liangshan Marsh, Wang Lun. It can be clearly seen that even to become the boss of the bandits, one must fight.

    Seeing him gnashing his teeth and punching the air with clenched fist Sophia laughed and asked, “What are you doing?”

    Wei Xiaobao was startled and awakened from his deep thought. “Want to be the Emperor, one must fight,” he said.

    Sophia stared at him blankly. “Fight?” she asked, “Fight whom?”

    “Naturally fight Luocha old wh0re,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

    Sophia heard him saying ‘the Luocha old wh0re’ several times, but did not understand what ‘the old wh0re’, three characters [lao biao zi] mean. She was just about to ask, suddenly the door was pushed open, the firearm brigade captain entered the room. He grabbed Wei Xiaobao’s chest, while speaking some gibberish, and then dragged him out and kicked him heavily on the butts.

    The captain burst into loud laughter, and sent another kick to him. Wei Xiaobao was furious, suddenly he leaped up and made somersault in the air and landed on the captain’s shoulder. It was precisely the ‘Di Qing Subduing the Dragon’, one of the three moves to save his life taught by Hong Jiaozhu. Actually, he had not trained this move perfectly, if it was used against a martial art master, it would be far too inferior; however, how could this Luocha captain know Central Earth martial art? Although Wei Xiaobao carelessly and haphazardly turned over and leaped, unexpectedly he still succeeded. With the forefinger of both hands pressed against the captain’s eyes, he shouted, “Don’t move! Eyes, dead!”

    He wanted to say ‘Don’t move, otherwise I’ll dig your eyes out’ in Luocha language, but did not know how; without any better option, he simply said, “Eyes, dead!” But the captain’s perception was not weak, unexpectedly he understood. In great shock he stopped moving altogether.

    With his right hand Wei Xiaobao pulled the captain’s right ear and shouted, “Go!” Then, just like riding a horse, he steered him back into the Princess’ room. “Close door! Firearms, take.”

    Sophia was startled and delighted at the same time; busily she closed the door and took the short gun from the captain’s side, and pressed it against the captain’s back. Wei Xiaobao jumped down from his shoulder. He loosened the captain’s waistband to tie up his feet, and then he loosened up the belt of his pants to tie his hands behind his back. As soon as the belt was taken off, the captain’s pants fell down, exposing his naked lower part of the body. Sophia and Wei Xiaobao roared in laughter. The captain’s entire face blushed deep red; he gnashed his teeth in extreme anger.

    The door was pushed gently, Shuang’er stuck her head inside and asked, “Xianggong, is everything alright?”

    Wei Xiaobao beckoned her to come in and close the door. Seeing the captain’s distressed situation Shuang’er was amused and puzzled at the same time. Sophia asked, “We caught the captain, what for?”

    Actually, Wei Xiaobao caught the captain simply because he was furious, he did not expect to use him for anything. But now that Sophia asked, a bright idea suddenly occurred. “Tell him to led the troops to rebel,” he said. He did not know how to say the word ‘rebel’ in Luocha language, hence he said it in Chinese. He also said, “Tell him to kill Tsaritsa, kill Tsar, you, become female Tsar.”

    Sophia did not understand the Chinese word ‘rebel’, but she understood the sentence ‘kill Tsaritsa, kill Tsar, you, become female Tsar’ perfectly well. She was taken aback, but was immediately delighted. Turning toward the captain, she spoke some gibberish.

    Wei Xiaobao did not understand a word of Luocha language the two were speaking in, but he saw the captain repeatedly shook his head; presumably he was unwilling to comply. Wei Xiaobao called out, “He doesn’t want to listen to you, kill him.” From his boot he pulled his dagger and swiped it on the captain’s left cheek. ‘Chi!’ a large clump of beard was shaved instantly.

    “What a sharp dagger,” Sophia said with a laugh.

    The captain was so scared that his face turned ash grey; he thought, “Turns out this little barbarian still has a dagger hidden in his leather boot; that’s really strange, why didn’t he use it that time?”

    “Are you willing to surrender or not?” Sophia asked, “And support me as the female Tsar?”

    The captain said, “It’s not that I don’t want to support Princess, but the troops under my command won’t possibly obey my order. Moscow has twenty firearm brigades; we are only one of them. Even if we revolt, we cannot fight the other nineteen brigades.”

    When Sophia heard this, she had to agree that what he said made sense; however, she had a hard time explaining it to Wei Xiaobao. Without better option, she had to resort to sign language; when she tried to explain about the twenty firearm brigades, ten fingers were not enough, she had to take off her shoes and used her ten toes before she could count to twenty.

    With great difficulty finally Wei Xiaobao was able to understand her. He thought that it was a very difficult matter indeed. Sitting on a chair, he painstakingly pondered, “This captain is unwilling to rebel, killing him would be useless.” He said to Sophia, “Captain unwilling, get the deputy captain to rebel.”

    “Deputy captain?” Sophia asked.

    “Right,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Call the deputy captain.”

    Sophia pushed the captain toward the door; with the gun on his back, she said, “Call the deputy captain in! If you warn him, I’ll shoot you immediately.” The captain had no choice, he called loudly to summon the deputy captain.

    A moment later, the deputy captain pushed the door and came in. Shuang’er had already hidden behind the door, as soon as the deputy captain came in, Shuang’er stretched out her finger to jab at his back several times, sealing his acupoints, rendering him immovable. “Xianggong,” Shuang’er said delightedly, “Foreigner devils’ acupoints are just the same as ours; I was afraid the devils’ acupoints would be different.”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Foreign devils also have eyes, have nose, have hands and feet; naturally they also have acupoints.” He drew the girdle ornament saber the captain wore on his waist, and said to Sophia, “Tell him to kill the captain and rebel. He is unwilling, call the platoon leader here to kill him.”

    Sophia thought it was a wonderful idea; she said to the deputy captain, “Kill the captain, lead the firearm brigade, you become the captain, obey my command. You are unwilling to kill the captain, I’ll get the platoon leader to kill you and the captain, and I’ll make the platoon leader captain. Will you kill or not?”

    “Shuang’er,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Open the acupoints on his body, but do not untie the ones on his legs.” Following Wei Xiaobao’s order, Shuang’er unsealed the acupoints on the upper part of his body; she also handed the saber over to him.

    Sophia asked one more time. The captain swore and repeatedly threatened her. Ordinarily the deputy captain was not in a good term with the captain. When he was asked to rebel, he was actually scared, but hearing the captain’s malicious swearing, he thought, “If I don’t kill you, the first platoon leader who wants to be captain will definitely kill you, and then I will also lose my life.” Thereupon he raised the saber, ‘Ca!’ he chopped the captain’s head.

    As the saber chopped down, Sophia, Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er, three people cheered at once. It’s just that Sophia was cheering in Russia, “Helaxiao!” while Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er naturally cheered in Chinese.

    Sophia held the deputy captain’s hand and repeatedly praised his bravery and loyalty. She promoted him to be the firearm brigade on the spot, saying, “Sit down, we will discuss it in details.”

    The deputy captain knitted his brows; pointing to Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er, he said, “These two foreign children used magic; the lower part of my body cannot move.”

    Sophia turned to Wei Xiaobao and said, “Please, magic, gone!” Shuang’er smiled and unsealed the acupoints on the deputy captain’s lower body.

    Sophia ordered the deputy captain, “Go, call three platoon leaders and their deputies, I want the Chinese children to use their magic so that their hands can move, but their legs cannot.” And she repeated her words in Chinese to Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er.

    The deputy captain complied and left. Not too long afterwards, six platoon leaders and their deputies were lining up outside the door. The deputy captain called them to come in one by one. One by one Shuang’er sealed the ‘zhi she’ [abandon hope] acupoint on their waist and the ‘huan tiao’ [jumping the hoop] acupoint on their thigh.

    Sophia said, “The deputy captain is determined to support me to be the female Tsar; we are going to dispatch the troops to kill Tsaritsa. Will you obey or not?”

    The six platoon leaders and their deputies saw the captain’s body lying on the floor, they knew that the situation was far from good; listening to Sophia, they were even more fearful and apprehensive, and could only looked at each other in dismay, nobody dared to say anything.

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “When the Manchurian Qing entered China and robbed our rivers and mountains, in the ‘Ten Days of Yangzhou’, Tatar troops killed and burned, raped and pillaged, and thereupon the old emperor became the Emperor. Damn it, I’ll have them do ‘Ten Days of Moscow’, stir the whole country in rebellion, the more chaotic the better. Monk holding an umbrella, no hair no sky! [i.e. no protection from the law, ‘fa’ (hair) sounds like ‘fa’ (law, Buddhist teaching)] If we did not do this, how can we become the Emperor?” He said to Sophia, “Tell them to enter Moscow and fight, kill people, set fire, promise them that they will become generals and high-ranking officials, plus lots and lots of gold and silver, everybody can seize beautiful women as their wives!”

    Sophia thought it was not a bad idea; she said to the deputy captain, “Go gather all the gunmen, I want to speak to them.”

    More than 600 gunmen assembled on the Hunting Palace square. The deputy captain sent for twelve gunmen and had them carried the six platoon leaders and their deputies, whose acupoints were still sealed, to the square.

    Sophia stood on the stone steps and spoke loudly, “Gunmen, you are Luocha Country’s brave warriors, you have rendered great merits for the country, but your pay is too low; you have no beautiful women, no money to spend, not enough wine to drink, the house you live in is too small, too uncomfortable. Inside Moscow there are many rich people, they have big houses, with lots of servants, and lots of beautiful women, which you do not have. Is this fair?”

    When the numerous gunmen heard this, they all shouted together, “It’s not fair! It’s not fair!”

    “Those rich people are fat and stupid,” Sophia continued, “Probably they eat fat pigs every day. If they have a duel with you, can they beat you? Can those wealthy people’s marksmanship surpass yours? Can their swordsmanship surpass yours? Have they rendered any merit to the country? To the Tsar?”

    For each question she asked, the crowd of gunmen replied in loud voice, “Niante!” [I think this is supposed to be ‘nyet’, Russian word for ‘no’] Wei Xiaobao heard the crowd responding with ‘Niante’ after ‘Niante’; he knew that in Luocha language, this word means ‘no’. He did not understand what Sophia was saying, he thought the Princess was still trying to persuade the gunmen to rebel, but the crowd was unwilling to listen and obey; he could not help but was worried.

    Sophia continued, “You deserve to be generals, to be rich! Each and every one of you deserves to be promoted and gain wealth.”

    The crowd of gunmen cheered loudly. Someone asked, “Princess Sophia, what can you do to make us get promoted and gain wealth?”

    “Do you want to be generals?” Sophia asked.

    “We do!” the crowd of gunmen shouted.

    “Do you want to have lots and lots of money?” Sophia asked.

    “Of course we do!” the crowd of gunmen shouted.

    “Do you want to have beautiful women?” Sophia asked.

    The crowd of gunmen roared in laughter; “We do! We do!” they shouted even louder.


    [1] Jiang Ziya (dates of birth unknown - 1015 B.C.), a Chinese historical and legendary figure who resided next to the Weishui River about 3,000 years ago. A sage and military strategist, Jiang Ziya was called upon by King Wen of Zhou to serve as prime minister. His purported teachings to King Wen form the basis of the Six Secret Teachings.

    [2] King Wu of Zhou (-1043), personal name Ji Fa, reigned 1046-1043 BC as first king of Western Zhou dynasty 1046-1043 BC

    [3] Cao Cao (155-220), famous statesman and general at the end of Han, noted poet and calligrapher, later warlord, founder and first king of Cao Wei, father of Emperor Cao Pi. Cao Cao was the main villain of novel the Romance of Three Kingdoms.

  16. #276
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 36 - Part 6

    “Alright!” Sophia said, “All of you, go to Moscow, enter the city and tell the other nineteen firearm brigade that you are under Princess Sophia’s order, I am the female Tsar, the entire Luocha Country must obey my command. I am allowing you, every gunman, to pick a wealthy man’s house, challenge that big fat pig rich man for a duel; whoever can kill him, that rich man’s big house, his gold and silver, his beautiful women, carriage, steed, clothes, servants, maids, fine wine, everything will belong to that brave gunman. Do you have the guts? Are you a man, a real man? Do you dare to kill people, to seize their money, their women?”

    The crowd of gunmen yelled with one voice, “We dare, we dare, we dare! Killing people, seizing their money, seizing their women, why should we be afraid?”

    Sophia was greatly delighted. “That’s very good,” she shouted, “I was afraid you are all cowards, you don’t dare to do great things! Quickly get the vodka! Hey, go to the cellar, bring the best vodka out.”

    There were several bottles of decades-old vodka stored in the cellar of the Tsar’s Hunting Palace, very famous and valuable; originally it was intended for the enjoyment of the Tsar, the Empress, the Princess, the Prince, as well as the aristocrats and high-ranking ministers, how could these gunmen ever have a taste? Upon hearing Sophia’s order, the crowd of soldiers exploded in cheers; immediately several dozen of them rushed to get the wine.

    Shortly afterwards, the soldiers in the square drank bottle after bottle of vodka to their hearts’ content; they yelled in delight, “Sophia, female Tsar, Wula, wula, wula! Sophia, female Tsar, Wula, wula, wula!”

    In Luocha tongue, ‘Wula’ means ‘long live’ [orig. ten thousand years]. Although Wei Xiaobao did not understand, seeing the crowd of soldiers yelling ‘Sophia, female Tsar, Wula, wula, wula!’ incessantly, he guessed they were giving their allegiance to her. Tugging Sophia’s sleeve, he said, “Tell them to kill the twelve platoon leaders and their deputies, there will be no turning back.” [I checked both the online text and the book, and both have ‘twelve’; I think Jin Yong made a mistake here.]

    Sophia nodded again and again; she called out in a loud and clear voice, “Luocha Country’s handsome and strong warriors! Everybody listen to me: I order you to kill wealthy men, seize their money, seize their women, but the Tsaritsa won’t allow you, she sent these scoundrels to control you so you won’t commit any crime!” While saying that, she pointed to the twelve platoon leaders and their deputies.

    Immediately a dozen or so gunmen drew their sabers and shouted, “Kill the scoundrels!” More than a dozen sabers chopped down, hacking the six platoon leaders and their deputies to their death.

    Luocha people were originally violent and insolent; now that they drank some vodka, their body temperature rose. Immediately the flesh and blood of the twelve platoon leaders and their deputies flew everywhere; these people were even more uncontrollable. They yelled, “Kill the scoundrels, seize their money, seize their women!”

    Sophia said, “Go to Moscow, tell the other nineteen firearm brigades to do this together. Whichever captain is not willing, kill him immediately. Whichever aristocrat, general, or high-ranking minister does not allow you, kill him immediately, seize the gold, silver, beautiful wives and daughters in their homes and divide it among yourselves. Set those scoundrels’ homes in fire.”

    The crowd of soldiers cheered loudly; one after another they drew their long sabers, slung their firearms, pulled their rides, and turned around and mounted their horses. A moment later, they heard the hoof beats as the soldiers galloped toward Moscow.

    Sophia said to the deputy captain, “Why don’t you go too? Why be polite? The most important thing is: don’t have any conflict with the other firearm brigades, everybody must fight together. You led your people into Kremlin, arrest the Tsaritsa and Pyotr. Have everybody seize all the gold, silver and jewels, and beautiful maids in the Palace, as much as possible; I am bestowing everything to you all.” The deputy captain was greatly delighted; he complied and mounted his horse and left.

    Sophia sighed, she felt her entire body was devoid of any strength, she sat down on the stone steps and said, “I am so tired!”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Let me help you to rest inside.”

    Sophia shook her head. After a while, she said, “Let us go to the watchtower to look.”

    The entire Hunting Palace was constructed of thick granite, the watch tower was about eight or nine zhang high [about 80, 90 feet], it was intended to be used to observe the enemy situation. Before Luocha Country was established, it was originally called the Grand Duchy of Moscow, where Moscovian dukes and independent warlords established themselves as Tsars. The previous dynasty’s tsars was afraid that when they went hunting, the enemy would seize the opportunity to attack, therefore, they built the Hunting Palace outside the city of Moscow, so that when the enemy arrived, they would be prepared to help in defending the city.

    Sophia took Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er to climb the watchtower. Looking to the west, they faintly saw dots of light inside Moscow’s city wall. In the dark of the night, the city looked very tranquil. Sophia started to worry. “Why haven’t they fought? They, afraid?”

    Wei Xiaobao did not know Luocha soldiers’ character, he was not sure if they would cower in battle or not; he had no choice but to console her, “Don’t worry, don’t worry.”

    Sophia asked, “How did you know that by telling the soldiers to kill people, to seize their money and seize their women, they will kill Tsaritsa and Pyotr?”

    Wei Xiaobao smiled and said, “Chinese are always like that.”

    He recalled what happened in Yangzhou city in the past; he had listened when older people telling about how the Manchurian Qing soldiers besieged the city. After the Manchurian Qing entered the Pass, they met fierce resistance by the Han people in places such as Jiangsu and the others, especially Yangzhou, which held fast to their defense. The Qing army commander-in-chief hence permitted the soldiers, after they broke the city defense, to rape and pillage for a total of ten days. This ‘Ten Days of Yangzhou’ was incomparably tragic and atrocious. Wei Xiaobao grew up in Yangzhou; how the Manchurian Qing troops besieged the city without being able to break it, how the commander-in-chief gave permission to the common soldiers to seize money and women, how the Qing troops assaulted relentlessly, he had heard all these stories since his childhood, a lot.

    Afterward, when he was in Beijing, he also listened to people telling the story of how Li Zicheng’s soldiers also robbing money and seizing women; how Zhang Xianzhong[1] always promised his troops that when they broke the city’s defense, they would be allowed to plunder for three days. Apparently, if they wanted the rebellion to succeed, they must incite the whole country into rebellion. To incite the whole country into rebellion, they must allow the common soldiers to rob money and seize women. Therefore, when he saw that the firearm brigade troops did not dare to revolt, he automatically mentioned the five magic words ‘seize money seize women’ [qiang qian qiang nu ren]. Sure enough, Luocha troops and Chinese troops were just the same; as soon as the five magic words were uttered, it did work like magic.

    After waiting for a long time, in the darkness they suddenly saw fire in the city of Moscow. Sophia was greatly delighted. “They have made their move!” she shouted. Hugging Wei Xiaobao, she kissed him while jumping up and down.

    Wei Xiaobao happily said, “They have started the fire. This will work. Killing and burning will definitely work in tandem.”

    Shortly afterwards, they saw fire sprang up everywhere in the city, black smoke arose on the east side, flame blazed on the west side. Sophia clapped her hands and cheered, “Everybody is killing and burning. Xiaobao, you are really smart, the stratagem you thought is very clever.”

    Wei Xiaobao smiled; he thought, “Speaking about killing and burning, rising in rebellion, our Chinese people’s skill is a hundred times better than your Luocha demons’. What’s so strange about this stratagem? We have always done it this way.”

    Sophia said, “You told everybody to kill the captain, kill the platoon leaders, everybody did not have any choice but to continue; even if they wanted to turn back, they cannot. Little child, very smart, Chinese high-ranking official, amazing.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “It is called ‘throwing away one’s good name/reputation’ [tou ming zhuang].”

    “What ‘throwing/losing one’s life’ [diu ming shang]?” Sophia asked.

    Wei Xiaobao roared in laughter, “Yes, they are throwing away their lives, they have to fight desperately.” In his heart he scolded Luocha people as being unlearned.

    In the Chinese lulin [green wood, crime world], when someone was about to join the band of bandits, the bandit chief would definitely send the new brother to make a legal case, oftentimes by killing someone. After this person committed major crime of homicide, henceforth he would not inform the authority against the band of bandits. In the ‘Shui Hu Zhuan’ [Water Margin/Outlaws of the Marsh], when Lin Chong went up Liangshan Marsh to join the group, Wang Lun ordered him to kill someone and hence made a legal case; it was called ‘throwing away his good name’. Wei Xiaobao had heard many stories from the storytellers, he was well-accustomed to this practice; he thought, “Our Chinese people’s way of doing things, Luocha demons did not understand even one. It seems that although these Luocha people are vicious, harsh and rough, in the end it’s not that hard to deal with them.”

    Seeing the fire in Moscow was getting bigger and bigger, and it spread all over the place, Sophia started to worry again; she was not sure what the situation would be after the firearm brigades officers and soldiers finished their random killing and pillaging. She asked Wei Xiaobao, “After killing and burning, seizing money and women, and then what?”

    Wei Xiaobao was taken aback; he only knew that to rebel one must incite the soldiers to kill and burn, rob money and seize women; but what happen after that, he had no idea. Without anything better to say, he said, “That? When they rob enough money, they will stop robbing. When they kill enough people, they will stop killing.”

    Sophia knitted her brows; she thought that it was not what she meant, but momentarily she was also left with nothing else to do. The three of them watched for a while, and then they returned to the Palace to quietly wait for the news.

    Early in the morning the next day, the deputy captain of the firearm brigade returned to the Hunting Palace, accompanied by a small group of riders, to report to Sophia: the previous night all twenty firearm brigades obeyed the female Tsar’s order; they rampaged for the entire night, and gained gold, silver and beautiful women that their number cannot be counted; they had also killed the Tsaritsa Natalya.

    Sophia was greatly delighted; she sprang up and called out, “Natalya is killed? How about Pyotr?”

    The deputy captain said, “Little Pyotr is arrested and is being locked up in Kremlin’s wine cellar.”

    “Helaxiao! Helaxiao!” Sophia yelled.

    They heard sound of hoof beats, a large number of riders was rushing over. Sophia’s countenance changed. “Who are they?” she asked in alarm.

    The deputy captain replied, “Moscow’s princes and dukes, cabinet ministers and generals are coming to ask Your Majesty to ascend the throne, to be Luocha Country’s female Tsar.”

    Sophia was ecstatic; she hugged Wei Xiaobao and repeatedly kissed his cheeks left and right. “Chinese little child,” she called out, “Good strategy!”

    They heard the sound of hoof beats stopped outside the Hunting Palace, followed by the sound of leather boots striking the ground; a group of people entered the Palace. The leader was the chancellor, Prince Bodonich. He walked to Sophia, bowed and said, “The nobility, ministers and generals have reached unanimous agreement to ask Princess Sophia to return to the Palace to preside over the present situation, to pacify the upheaval and restore peace and order.”

    With smile all across her face, Sophia nodded her agreement. She asked, “The renegade faction chief Natalya, has she been killed already?”

    Prince Bodonich reported, “Natalya disturbed the country, she murdered loyal subjects, she arrogated power out of selfish ambition, she harbored evil intentions. She had already obeyed the Heaven’s decree and was executed to the satisfaction of everyone.”

    “Very good,” Sophia said, “We go to Kremlin.” The numerous ministers and the firearm brigade soldiers flocked behind Sophia to go to Moscow.

    In short moment, the Hunting Palace was deserted with only Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er remained. In his heart Wei Xiaobao was furious. “Damn it,” he cursed, “This Luocha Princess crossed the bridge and pulled the plank; the bride and groom entered the chamber, the matchmaker is pushed aside to the wall. She has become the female Tsar, now she does not want us.”

    Shuang’er smiled and said, “You want the female Tsar to make you a male empress, don’t you?”

    “Ah, you are making fun of me?” Wei Xiaobao said, “You think I cannot catch you?” Finished speaking, he pounced on Shuang’er. “Pfft!” Shuang’er laughed and leaped sideways to evade.

    By this time it was already summer, the weather was sunny and warm, mass of flowers covered the Hunting Palace ground like brocade, hundreds of birds were singing. Only Luocha Country’s flowers and plants, birds and bugs are greatly different from the ones in China, the flowers’ beauty and fragrance, as well as the chirping of the birds, was considerably different. Wei Xiaobao grew up as uncouth marketplace boy, he did not pay any attention to such distinctions. Together with Shuang’er he roamed around the Hunting Palace ground, nobody came to disturb him; contrary to his expectation, he was quite enjoying himself.

    After spending seven or eight days in peace and quiet, Sophia suddenly sent a squad of soldiers to take the two of them to the Palace. As Wei Xiaobao entered Sophia’s bed chamber, he saw her hair was in a mess, she was walking around kicking the furniture that everything was crashing down in loud noise; she was throwing a fit. When she saw that Wei Xiaobao had arrived, immediately her face looked happy. “Chinese little child, quickly come,” she called out, “Make a plan, think of a way.”

    In his heart Wei Xiaobao said, “If you did not come across difficult problem, you would not think of me. This time I have to knock the bamboo pole [See Chapter 10]; I should not help you thinking of any stratagem that easily.” He asked, “Your Majesty Female Tsar, what difficult problem do you have?”

    Sophia continuously shook her head. “I, female Tsar, no. They, don’t agree, I, female Tsar, cannot do.”

    After talking for half a day Wei Xiaobao finally understood. Turned out Luocha Country had always followed the rule that women cannot be the Tsar. Although the Empress Dowager Natalya had died, a large number of generals were still throwing their support to the young Tsar Pyotr, they resolutely refused to depose him as the Tsar. By this time the riots in the city had already been stilled. Although Sophia still had the firearm brigades supporting her, the numerous ministers were well-prepared, they stationed a large number of Cossack cavalry outside the city, ready to respond by entering the city at any time. It would not be easy for Sophia to summon the firearm brigade to rise in revolution again.

    For the last few days the princes and dukes, cabinet ministers and generals were having a general assembly in Kremlin, they were divided into two factions; one faction supported Sophia, the other faction supported Pyotr. Each side refused to concede to the other. The people who supported Tsar Pyotr were mostly cabinet ministers and generals who were already in power; they were afraid that when the female Tsar ascended the throne, she would stripped away their power and gave it to new people. The ones who supported Sophia were dissatisfied aristocrats and businesspeople who were hoping that with the new ruler rising to power, they would be able to fish up some oil from the water. Sophia was fortunate enough to have the firearm brigades’ support, to have the military power in her hands, so that the monarchists [‘emperor defenders’] did not dare to be reckless. But the monarchists had control over the Cossack cavalry, whose strength must not be ridiculed. If the two factions clashed, victory or defeat would be hard to tell.

    [1] Zhang Xianzhong (September 18, 1606 – January 2, 1647), nicknamed Yellow Tiger, was a Chinese rebel leader who conquered Sichuan Province in the middle of the 17th century. Upon capturing it, he declared himself emperor of the Daxi Dynasty. According to Chinese chronicles, many scholars rejected that claim, so he had them massacred. After killing the scholars, he went after the women, merchants, and all the officials. Then he had his soldiers kill each other and the officers' wives' feet cut off and put on top of a mound.

  17. #277
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 36 - Part 7

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “This kind of national affairs, I don’t have a clue; what kind of fart stratagem can I think of? I’d better slip away, roll the damn salted duck egg, so that when those two factions engage in free fight, Wei Xiaobao will not be blasted away and turn into Luocha caviar.”

    Rolling his eyes, he said, “That’s very easy; naturally I have an idea. But I have … I want to knock on bamboo pole.” He wanted to say, ‘I have a condition’, but he did not know how to say that in Luocha language, hence he just said it in Yangzhou dialect, ‘knocking on bamboo pole’ [qiao zhu gang].

    “What is ‘knocking on pig’s jar’ [also ‘qiao zhu gang’; different characters, different intonation]?” Sophia asked.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Knocking on bamboo pole is … this … the idea that I have, it’s not enough to simply give it to you. You give me something, lots and lots of things, then I will give you my idea.”

    Sophia was greatly delighted. “Very good, very good,” she busily said, “Knocking on pig’s jar; we will knock on pig’s jar together! Whatever you want, I give you. You want to be my male empress?”

    Wei Xiaobao was startled. “This, I do not dare to oblige, thank you,” he mused, “If I want to take a wife, Ah Ke is much better than you. Even Shuang’er that little servant girl is a lot better than you, Luocha woman whose whole body is hairy.” He laughed and said, “To be your male empress is naturally very good, but if this happens, you cannot be female Tsar.”

    Hastily Sophia asked the reason. Wei Xiaobao said, “Because … this … that hot piece mama does not blossom!” [辣块妈妈不开花 (la kuai mama bu kai hua)] Temporarily he could not think of strong enough reason, hence he simply blurted out some Yangzhou slang. How could Sophia understand something like ‘what a little darling meek, garlic chives sautéed in leek’? [I am making it up, the original is 乖乖龙的东,猪油炒大葱 (guai guai long de dong, zhu you chao da cong), which if translated word by word won’t make any sense.]

    Sophia asked, “Are you saying if Chinese man becomes male empress, Luocha people won’t be happy?”

    “That’s right!” Wei Xiaobao hastily replied, “Luocha men, they say they, themselves, are good-looking, cannot be male empress. They will hate you, beat you.”

    Sophia thought he was right, Luocha men would be jealous. She said, “You won’t be my male empress. Whatever else you want, I’ll give you.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “First, I want to be Luocha high-ranking official.”

    “That’s easy,” Sophia replied, “After I become the female Tsar, I will bestow you the title of Earl, ruling over the eastern Tatars. You have yellow face, low nose; Tatars also have yellow face, low nose. They will submit to you.”

    “Second,” Wei Xiaobao continued, “You and Chinese Emperor must not go to war. You write a letter, I will deliver it to Beijing. The female Tsar of Luocha and Chinese Emperor, be good friends, kissing each other, hugging each other. Chinese soldiers are very formidable, everybody knows magic, once they point their fingers, Luocha soldiers cannot move. If you go to war, Luocha people will die. I love you, you die, I cry!”

    When Sophia heard this, she was deeply touched. Shuang’er made her move by sealing acupoints, the firearm brigade’s deputy captain and the six platoon leaders and their deputies immediately could not move; Sophia had seen it with her own eyes. She did not know that it was Chinese’s upper-class martial art skill, it was extremely difficult to learn that even Wei Xiaobao could not do it. She thought that everybody in China knew this enchantment; she thought that if she went to war against the Chinese Emperor, she would only lose without any chance of victory. She was even more touched that this Chinese little child expressed his true feeling to her; immediately she reached out to hug him and planted a deep kiss on his lips. “Chinese little child,” she said, “I love you too. Very well, Luocha troops cannot defeat Chinese troops, everybody won’t fight, we’ll be good friends.” Clicking her tongue, she kissed him again, and then asked, “What else you want to knock on the pig’s jar? Knock again, knock again!”

    Wei Xiaobao thought for a while, and then said, “Nothing else.”

    “Very well,” Sophia said, “Quickly teach me, how to become female Tsar.”

    Wei Xiaobao thought that it was not an easy task; he had no choice but talking about this and that, inquiring the affair of the imperial court, but still could not come up with an idea, hence he pretended not to understand her.

    Sophia gradually sensed that he was using deceit; her countenance turned ugly as she said, “If you lie to me, I’ll kill you.”

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly anxious. “No lies, no lies!” he busily said.

    Sophia said, “In that case, I want to be the female Tsar; how?”

    “This … this …” Wei Xiaobao stammered.

    Sophia was furious. “What ‘this’ or ‘that’?” she said, “In the court, one faction supports me, the other faction opposes me. If these two factions fought each other and my faction lost, what do I do?”

    Wei Xiaobao suddenly remember that once, the young Emperor told him that in the past, Manchurian Taizu Huangdi [Great Ancestor Emperor, i.e. the founder of the dynasty] set up four Beilei [see chapter 13]. The first Beilei was Daishan, second Beilei was Amin, third Beilei was Manggu’ertai, fourth Beilei was Huang Taiji[1]. (Book note: it was only natural that Wei Xiaobao was not able to remember the names of the four Beilei correctly.) At that time all four Beilei had his own power; hence there was power-struggle among them. Afterwards the fourth Beilei Huang Taiji won the support of the first Beilei Daishan, and then he was able to overpower the opposition, and was able to seize the great position. For this reason Daishan still had a tie with the throne, and was able to maintain his power somewhat. The prominent Prince Kang was precisely Daishan’s descendant.

    Thinking about this matter, he said, “Don’t fight, take your time. You and Pyotr can be the Tsars. In the future, the cabinet ministers and generals who oppose you, one by one, you can kill slowly. And then you can kill Pyotr, and be the female Tsar.”

    Sophia thought that this idea was actually very brilliant, but the ministers repeatedly said that women could not be Tsar; she was exasperated, hence she told Wei Xiaobao the situation.

    Wei Xiaobao thought that when the Qing Dynasty was first founded, Emperor Shunzhi was still a young emperor; the real power lay on the Regent Dorgon’s hands. Thereupon he said, “You cannot be the female Tsar, you can become the Prince Regent first.”

    “What is Prince Regent?” Sophia asked.

    “Prince Regent is not the Tsar,” Wei Xiaobao explain, “But he can issue a decree to kill people, beat people’s buttocks, can give reward, promote their official position. Tsar, fake, no power. Prince Regent, real, has power; can kill people, beat people’s buttocks, can promote their official position, can give rewards, everybody is afraid, everybody listen to Prince Regent, does not listen to the Tsar.”

    Sophia was greatly delighted. “Helaxiao! Helaxiao!” she shouted.

    The number of princes, dukes and generals who supported Sophia was actually in the minority. Sophia summoned the leaders into the Palace to discuss the strategy presented by Wei Xiaobao. Sophia had the military leadership of Moscow in her side, but she could not ascend the throne to become female Tsar, the main reason being because there was no precedent. When the numerous ministers heard the idea of ‘regency’, they thought that it was a brilliant strategy. As long as they had the power in their hands, becoming the Tsar or not would not make any difference.

    After deliberating for quite a while, they came up with another idea: set up Sophia’s sibling, younger brother Ivan as the senior Tsar, let Pyotr still be the Tsar, but he was the junior Tsar. Senior and junior Tsars ruled side-by-side, to avoid opposition from the faction of supporters of Pyotr. Princess Sophia became the ‘Queen Regent’, she would handle all imperial court politics.

    As soon as the decision was made, Sophia immediately gathered the firearm brigades, and summoned all princes, dukes and ministers, and declared the new system. She also made a guarantee to all ministers that no one would be recalled or removed from his post, and that everybody who supported the new system would be promoted and rewarded. Seeing that their authority and interest would not be harmed, plus the previous dynasty’s custom would not be broken, none of the numerous princes, dukes and ministers raised any objection.

    Someone from the ‘Sophia supporter faction’ took the initiative to step forward and bow to Queen Regent Sophia; the rest of the people followed. Sophia was greatly delighted, she sent someone to invite her younger brother Ivan, and release the Junior Tsar Pyotr from the wine cellar, and have the two of them sat side-by-side as the Tsars; while she herself sat on the right hand seat of her two younger brothers. The hundreds of ministers’ affairs: memorial to the throne, promotion and reward, dismissal and appointment, everything was adjudicated by the Queen Regent. That time Ivan was sixteen, Pyotr was ten; they were young and their knowledge shallow, in everything they listened to their elder sister’s advice.

    Sophia was in a position of power; she thought that in this matter, that Chinese little child high-ranking official had rendered a great service. If he did not repeatedly come up with these several ingenious ideas, at this time she would have been still locked up in the Hunting Palace, and then several months later, most probably the Empress Dowager Natalya would force her to leave the secular world to become a nun and would be hidden and locked up in some convent for the rest of her life. Thinking about this tragic fate, the warm sunny days would immediately turn into severe winter. Immediately she sent for Wei Xiaobao and praised him greatly.

    Wei Xiaobao thought, those methods of mine are not the least bit special to Chinese people; in China, I was a stinky cobbler, but in Luocha Country, I turned into Zhuge Liang, this is really funny. He was thinking of tooting his horn a bit, but then he suddenly realized that it was not a good idea; if from now on this Luocha Princess wants me to be the ‘Luocha Zhuge Liang’, and wants me to remain by her side and will never allow me to return home, won’t it be desperately serious? Therefore, he said, “Lady Queen Regent, you have become the Regent, to become female Tsar in the future is very easy. Only you must observe one thing, and everybody will submit to you.”

    “What is it?” Sophia asked, “Tell me quickly.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Once you give your word, three-horse chariot cannot pursue it.” Actually, Luocha people’s horse-drawn carriage only used three horses to pull, unlike Chinese carriages, which used four horses. For this reason, Chinese saying ‘a team of four horses cannot pursue’, in Luocha Country it became ‘three-horse chariot cannot pursue’.

    Sophia did not understand. “What is ‘three-horse chariot cannot pursue’?” she asked.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Once you gave your word, you must keep your promise. In China, our Emperor’s words are called the Emperor’s golden mouth, he must never go back on it.”

    Sophia was suddenly enlightened; she laughed and said, “My promise to you, you are afraid I might renege, aren’t you? My darling Chinese little child, Luocha Queen Regent’s word is precious stone mouth; it is more precious than your Chinese Emperor’s golden mouth.”

    Immediately she proclaimed an edict in the name of the senior and junior Tsars, conferring Wei Xiaobao the title of Earl, governing the Eastern Tatar. She also ordered a minister to write an imperial document to be delivered to the Chinese Emperor. She sent Wei Xiaobao off, accompanied by a Russian ambassador, escorted by two squads of Cossack cavalry, bringing gold, silver and precious objects, and not a few of rewards. The several tens of thousands taels banknotes that Wei Xiaobao bribed her was returned to him. In addition, she also sent a lot of presents to the Chinese Emperor, such as mink fur, precious stones and other Luocha Country special products.

    By this time Sophia had already picked several good-looking Luocha Country men to accompany her, so she was not intimate with Wei Xiaobao anymore. But when the day Wei Xiaobao was taking his leave arrived, Sophia remembered the affection of the past several months, she was also grateful for his great merit in establishing her as the ruler, hence she was really reluctant to part with him.

    According to Russian true historical record, the firearm brigades’ rebellion lasted for three days between the fifteenth and the seventeenth of the fifth month. By the twenty-ninth of the fifth month, the firearm brigades, under Sophia’s prompting, presented a petition requesting Ivan and Pyotr to be joint Tsars, and asked Sophia to be the Princess Regent, adjudicating the military and national affairs. By the time the chaos was resolved, it was already the middle of the sixth month.

    The weather was sunny and warm; Wei Xiaobao was striding over a fine horse, under the protection of two squads of Cossack cavalry, speeding eastwards along the great Siberian prairie. The gentle breeze stroked his face; the sound of hoof beats filled his ears. Glancing to his left he saw his smart servant girl Shuang’er, with skin as white as snow and lips like cherry. Looking to his right he saw the Luocha Country Ambassador with his bluish green eyes and yellow beard. Mink fur and gifts, in fully loaded carts, followed behind them. Wei Xiaobao was extremely high-spirited; he thought, “This time I escape alive from mortal danger, not only my little life is protected, I also rendered great service to the Luocha Princess; and it was all because laozi had heard many stories and watched a lot of plays.”

    China has been established for several thousand years, in terms of struggles to gain imperial power as the emperor, rebellion and massacre, it has abundant experience, unequalled throughout world. What Wei Xiaobao knew was superficial knowledge circulated among the common people, yet it was enough to strike awe in foreign land; unexpectedly he was able to help someone scheming against the imperial court and usurping the throne, bringing peace and order to the country.

    Actually, this matter was not surprising at all; the founding commander-in-chief of the Manchurian Qing was an uncouth, unlearned man. The strategies he used in marching the troops into battle mainly came from the novel ‘The Romance of The Three Kingdoms’. In those years Qing Taizong [founder of Qing Dynasty] employed the stratagem of sowing dissension, he swindled Emperor Chongzhen into destroying the Great Wall by killing his great general Yuan Chonghuan. The stratagem was copied from the story in ‘The Romance of The Three Kingdoms’, in which Zhou Yu ordered Cao Cao to behead his own navy’s commanding officer.

    In the real historical record, Zhou Yu swindling Cao Cao into killing his naval unit commander did not exist; it was fabricated by the novel writer. Unexpectedly, later on the novelist’s words became a fact, shaping China’s destiny for several hundreds of years. The things in life are strange, even stranger than the story in the novel. After the Manchus entered the Pass, they opened up new territory and expanded their lands, tripling the original China’s territory during the Ming Dynasty, far surpassed the Tang Dynasty, where the history of Han people was at its peak. Until today, the merit of novel, play, storytelling, et cetera has not died.

    (Book note: Russian gunmen rebellion, Ivan and Pyotr, Senior and Junior Tsars’ co-existence, Sophia became Queen Regent, and so on, were historical facts. However, Wei Xiaobao’s involvement in this matter was considered by Russian people to be morally offensive and brought disgrace to their national prestige; therefore, history books did not have any written account on this matter. In the meantime, since Chinese court recorders have not witnessed it, plus it was a strange occurrence in some barbarian foreign land, it was considered nothing more than hearsay, not suitable to be recorded in China’s history, so much so that this matter had passed into oblivion.)

    [1] Hung Taiji (1592-1643), eighth son of Nurhaci, reigned 1626-1636 as Second Khan of Later Jin dynasty, then founded the Qing dynasty and reigned 1636-1643 as Emperor; posthumous name Qing Taizu.

  18. #278
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 37 - Part 1

    Chapter 37 - Whoever in Yamen submits a plan to pacify the barbarian, the imperial court will suggest to send out an Imperial Edict of Sichuan Document first.
    (Translated by Foxs)


    LuDingJi-37.jpg

    Wei Xiaobao took a brocade bag from his pocket and held it up high above his head. Everybody could see that the bag was embroidered with four red characters, ‘Ping Xi Wang Fu’. He opened up the bag’s mouth and poured out the contents, several dozens of valuable objects scattered on the Hall’s floor. The pearls sparkled the gems shone, the light dazzled everybody’s eyes.

  19. #279
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 37 - Part 2

    One day Wei Xiaobao and the Luocha Country Ambassador arrived in Beijing. Seeing his return, Prince Kang, Songgotu and all the other princes, dukes and ministers were surprised and delighted at the same time. Ever since he went out to sea with the Navy, nobody knew his whereabouts. Several times the imperial court sent expeditions trying to locate him, all came back saying that on the boundless ocean there was no track of him at all, unexpectedly not a single battleship, not a single soldier came back. Kangxi thought that the fleet came across hurricane in the ocean and everybody perished; each time he remembered this, he was always downhearted. As the news reached the Palace, Kangxi immediately summoned Wei Xiaobao for an audience.

    Wei Xiaobao saw smile all across Kangxi’s whole face; after kowtowing to him, Wei Xiaobao summarized his experience straight away. This time Kangxi sent him out to sea, the primary mission was to exterminate Divine Dragon Cult and capture the fake empress dowager. At this moment, as he heard that the Divine Dragon Cult was destroyed, although the fake empress dowager had not been captured, they had forged an alliance with the Luocha Country. Ever since Kangxi interrogated Hantiemo, the Mongolian envoy who was sent to visit Kunming, and learned that Wu Sangui was colluding with Luocha Country, Mongolia, and Tibet, three strong allies, Kangxi was deeply concerned. As for Shang and Geng, two border defenses, as well as Taiwan rebel Zheng Clan, he merely consider them as secondary. Seeing Wei Xiaobao returned safe and sound, he was already genuinely delighted, now that he learned about the arrival of the Luocha Country Ambassador to cultivate friendship, he was even more pleased. Busily he asked for more details.

    Wei Xiaobao told him from head to tail, about how he taught Sophia to instigate the firearm brigades to rebel, how he taught her to set up two little Tsars, while she herself became the regent. Kangxi laughed aloud and said, “Damn it, you have learned our Great Qing’s shrewdness, and was able to teach this Luocha Country’s female demon.”

    The next day during the morning audience, Kangxi summoned the Luocha Country Ambassador. In the imperial court, Wei Xiaobao was the only one who understood Luocha language. Actually, Luocha language was very difficult to learn, in those short several months, he only learned limited numbers of Luocha words, while the Luocha Country Ambassador’s words were full of eulogy. Out of ten words, he did not understand nine of them. Taking advantage of the fact that the others did not understand either, he fabricated the speech, he went as far as to recite the inscription made up by Lu Gaoxuan the other day, such as ‘In a thousand years, the Great Qing will be loved’, and ‘its supernatural spirit reaches out to relieve, its grand, awe-inspiring might is all powerful’; subsequently he recited several sentences.

    While reciting, he stole a glance to see Kangxi’s expression, but he saw Kangxi was beaming with smile; hence Wei Xiaobao knew that the inscription had come in useful. Thereupon he continued with a loud voice, “Subduing monsters conquering demons like a rising sun. The feathered wings support his rule, breathing out stale air and breathing in fresh air. Ten thousands luck a hundred good fortune, there will never be a year without plentiful harvest. Immortal happiness will be enjoyed forever, all the world will venerate. Its long life will be the same as the Heaven’s, a kind sage of both pen and sword. In a moment, in the sky …”

    As the words ‘in the sky’ came out of his mouth, he stopped talking immediately; thinking that if he continued, he would expose the fox’s tail[1]. Therefore, he said, “Luocha Country young Tsar, the Queen Regent, respectfully wish Chinese Great Emperor, the Lord of Ten Thousand Years, the Holy Sage, good health.”

    These sentences were originally composed by Lu Gaoxuan as a eulogy to the Cult Leader Hong, and now Wei Xiaobao recited it out; although it felt a bit nondescript, but ‘all the world will venerate’, or ‘sage of both pen and sword’ and so on were well-disposed praise and good wishes. As they heard it, the numerous ministers repeatedly nodded their heads.

    Kangxi knew that in his belly Wei Xiaobao did not have this kind of speech, he did not have these ancient and elegant sentences, hence it was impossible that he translated these sentences on the spot; Kangxi guessed that Wei Xiaobao must have asked the gunmen to translate in advance, and then recited it in the Palace. Kangxi would never have guessed that it was originally praise to the cult leader of a heretical cult; Wei Xiaobao was simply using it like ‘grafting flowers onto a tree’, or ‘leading away a goat in passing’[2].

    Immediately the Luocha Country Ambassador presented the gifts. Luocha Country was even colder than Liaodong, the black fox and mink furs it produced were even more gorgeous and richer than Liaodong products. Manchu high-ranking officials were people who can judge the quality of goods; as soon as they saw it, no body did not utter praise. Immediately Kangxi ordered Wei Xiaobao to receive the gifts properly and prepare Chinese gifts in return.

    After the morning audience was over, Kangxi summoned Tang Ruowang and Nan Huairen, two people, he ordered them to see the Luocha Country Ambassador. Nan Huairen was a Belgian, whose language was similar to French. The Luocha Country Ambassador could speak French, hence the two of them were able to communicate. Nan Huairen praised Kangxi’s brilliance and benevolence, which was seldom found among the monarchs since times immemorial. He told other things so that the Luocha Country Ambassador was convinced.

    The next day, Kangxi ordered Tang Ruowang and Nan Huairen, two people to demonstrate the cannon on Nanyuan [lit. southern park], and then, along with Wei Xiaobao, he accompanied to Luocha Country Ambassador for an inspection. Seeing the sharpness and accuracy of the cannon, he was inwardly quite impressed. He asked Nan Huairen to convey to the Emperor that the Queen Regent of Luocha Country was determined to cultivate friendship with China, and to be nation brothers forever.

    After the Luocha Country Ambassador took his leave and returned to his country, Kangxi recalled that Wei Xiaobao went to a military campaign this time, he managed to get rid of two strong allies of Wu Sangui in one stroke, his merit was indeed not small. Thereupon Kangxi issued an edict to grant Wei Xiaobao the title of First Class Loyal and Brave Count. Immediately the princes, dukes and cabinet ministers thronged to congratulate him.

    Wei Xiaobao remembered Shi Lang, Regional Commander Huang, and the others, who, unexpectedly, not a single person returned. He presumed it was because their commander-in-chief went missing on the sea. He was the number one favorite of the Emperor, the person closest to him. If the Emperor was furious, he might charge them with ‘fault in military operation, shrinking back on approaching the battlefield, crime for letting the commander-in-chief fallen into the deathtrap’, et cetera, all kinds of criminal charges added together, so that everybody was afraid to be beheaded, hence they wander destitute around the Tong Chi Island and did not dare to come back.

    When the Manchurians sent the troops for the first time, their military law was extremely strict; when they went to war, if the captain of a unit died in battle, and the troops shrank back and ran away, frequently the entire unit would be executed. Even until the Manchus enters the peaceful years, this law still existed; for this reason, Manchurian troops were very refined and unrivalled. Thereupon Wei Xiaobao sent out two envoys toward Tong Chi Island and Shen Long Island, to summon Shi Lang and the others back to the Capital.

    One day Kangxi summoned Wei Xiaobao to the Upper Study Room. Pointing to three memorials lying on the desk, he said, “Xiao Guizi, these three memorials came from three different places; can you guess whose memorials these are?”

    Wei Xiaobao craned his neck to look at the three memorials; but he did not see anything that would give him any clue. “Your Majesty must give me a bit of clue, then your servant can guess well,” he said.

    Kangxi smiled; he raised his right palm and made chopping gestures, as if he was beheading someone, three times. Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Ah, that’s right; it must be that big … big treacherous officials Wu Sangui, Shang Kexi and Geng Jingzhong, those three fellows’ memorial.”

    Kangxi laughed. “You are very smart,” he said, “Guess again: what do these three memorials say?”

    Wei Xiaobao scratched his head. “It’s very hard to guess,” he said, “Did those three memorials arrive at the same time?”

    “Some arrived earlier than the other,” Kangxi replied, “But the difference is not much.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Those three treacherous officials are harboring malicious intentions, they must have the same ideas; your servant guesses that the content of the memorials are more or less the same.”

    Kangxi lightly patted the memorials on the desk and said, “Precisely. The first memorial arrived was from that old fellow Shang Kexi. He said that he is old, and wanted to return to Liaodong. He asked to have his son, Shang Zhixin to replace him in guarding Guangdong. I wrote a comment on the memorial: if Shang Kexi wants to return to Liaodong, he does not need to leave his son in Guangdong. When Wu Sangui and Geng Jingzhong heard the news, one after another they also submitted memorial to the throne.”

    Picking up a memorial, Kangxi said, “This one is the old fellow Wu Sangui’s. He said, ‘For twenty years the minister has received the Heaven’s kindness, with wasted contribution it is hard to repay; only wearily guarding the border for a period of time, how can I dare to ask rest from responsibility? Today I heard Ping Nan Wang [king who pacify the south] Shang Kexi has given a full account in a memorial to the Emperor, and has already received favor, to be allowed to withdraw completely from guarding the border. Relying on great compassion, I boldly ask the Heaven to listen, asking to be removed from this assignment.’ Humph, he is testing me, he wants to see whether I dare to remove him from guarding the border? He is not doing it alone, he must have communicated with Shang Kexi and Geng Jingzhong, the three of them together trying to scare me!”

    Kangxi picked up another memorial and said, “This one is Geng Jingzhong’s. He said, ‘Minister has held two hereditary rank of nobility simultaneously, my heart longs for the Emperor’s imperial city watchtower, only because of the ocean atmosphere I dare not suddenly ask to cease leading the troops. Recently I saw Ping Nan Wang Shang Kexi submitted a memorial begging to return, and has received the imperial decree. Remembering that minister has led officers and men into punitive expedition to the south for more than twenty years, I am looking up in earnest on the Emperor’s kindness, asking to be removed from this assignment.’ One in Yunnan, the other in Fujian, separated by ten thousand li, how could the wording of these two letters be similar? In one hand they say they must not cease leading the troops, on the other hand they beg to withdraw. These fellows, do you think they still have me in their eyes?” While saying that, he angrily tossed the memorials unto the desk.

    “That’s right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “These three memorials contain heresy and treason, it is actually rebellion’s war declaration. Your Majesty, we dispatch the troops, seize the three rebel thieves and bring them to the Capital, the whole families … humph, the whole family, the males must be killed, the females must be given to meritorious ministers as slaves.” He was about to say ‘the whole family must be executed unto the third generation’, but suddenly remembered Ah Ke and Chen Yuanyuan; thereupon midway he changed his statement.

    Kangxi said, “If we dispatch the troops, we will give the common people of the world a reason to say that I slaughter meritorious ministers; to say that the birds are no more, the bow is put away; the rabbit is dead, the dog is boiled alive. It would be better to remove their posts as border defense, and see what those three men would react. If they obey the Emperor’s decree and withdraw from the border, respectfully and submissively obey the Mandate of Heaven, so be it; otherwise, if they deploy the troops to battle, I will have enough reason to send the troops on a punitive expedition.”

    “Your Majesty prophecy with supernatural accuracy, your servant has only utmost admiration,” Wei Xiaobao said, “It’s just like in the opera: Your Majesty asked: ‘Who’s there kneeling down?’ Wu Sangui replied, “Minister Wu Sangui is here to have an audience with the Emperor.’ Your Majesty shouted, ‘How dare you Wu Sangui, why don’t you look up?’ Wu Sangui said, ‘Minister is guilty and does not dare to look up.’ Your Majesty said in singing, ‘What offense have you committed?’ Wu Sangui replied, ‘Your servant is unwilling to withdraw from the border, I want to revolt.’ Your Majesty shouted, “Ay, what a brazen thing! Wei Xiaobao!’ And then I strode into the stage and sank to my knees, saying, ‘Xiao Jiang [little general, referring to self] is here!’ Your Majesty called out, ‘Here is the arrow banner of command! I send you to lead a hundred thousand troops to suppress the rebel thief Wu Sangui!’ Your servant received the arrow banner of command, and called out, ‘I obey!’ and my leg flew, kicking Wu Sangui on his buttocks; immediately Wu Sangui was kicked around that he piss in his pants in terror. All is lost!”

    Kangxi roared in laughter. “You want to lead the troops to attack Wu Sangui?” he asked.

    Wei Xiaobao could see the teasing in Kangxi’s eyes, hence he knew the young Emperor was just joking. He said, “Your servant is so young, and has no ability at all, how can I lead the army? It would be best if Your Majesty personally becomes the Grand Marshal, I will become your vanguard officer; coming across a mountain I will open up a path, encountering water I will build a bridge. Majestically we will rush to Yunnan to strike.”

    Listening to him, Kangxi’s heart leaped in excitement, thinking that if the Emperor personally leads his troops into battle against Wu Sangui, it would be so much fun. He said, “Let me give it a careful thought.”

    Early morning the next day, Kangxi convened the princes, dukes and cabinet ministers at the Hall of Supreme Harmony to discuss military and national affairs. Although Wei Xiaobao had been promoted several ranks in succession, his official position in the imperial court was still low; actually, he was not qualified to participate in discussion of national affairs at the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Kangxi issued a special decree, saying that since Wei Xiaobao was sent as the imperial envoy to Yunnan, he was privy of Border Defense Wu’s inside information, hence he was summoned to accompany the Emperor in this high-level meeting.

    The young Emperor was seated on the dragon chair, Qin Wang [prince, royal blood], Jun Wang [prince, not of royal blood], Bei Lei [see chapter 13], Bei Zi [son of Beilei], Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, and other high-ranking officials were standing according to their rank, Wei Xiaobao stood at the very end of the line.

    Kangxi handed over Shang Kexi, Wu Sangui, Geng Jingzhong’s, three memorials to the Hall of Central Harmony’s [Zhong He Dian] Da Xue Shi [lit. senior ministerial of great learning], who simultaneously acting as the Director of Board of Rites, Batai; he said, “Three border defenses submitted memorial, pleading to be removed from the border. How we should respond, everybody present me your own memorial.”

    After the various princes, dukes and ministers read and circulated the memorials, Prince Kang Giyesu said, “Reporting to Your Majesty: in your servant’s humble opinion, the three border defenses pleading to be removed from the border, it was not due to their own conscience; it seems that they are merely feeling out the imperial court.”

    “How did you see it?” Kangxi asked, “Explain.”

    Giyesu said, “In these three memorials, they all said that the responsibility over local military affairs is heavy, they did not dare to depart without authority. Since they knew that the military affair is a heavy responsibility, why would they plead to withdraw from the border? Obviously it is self-contradictory.” Kangxi nodded.

    The Hall of Preserving Harmony’s [Bao He Dian] Da Xue Shi Wei Zhouzuo was a very old man with white hair and white beard; he said, “In minister’s humble opinion, the imperial court should issue a warm imperial decree to comfort and exhort them, saying that the three border defenses’ meritorious service were outstanding, His Imperial Majesty rely heavily upon them, they must do their jobs diligently, acting as the screen to guard the border. The matter of withdrawing from the border need not be considered.”

    Kangxi said, “So in your opinion, the three border defenses should not be removed from their posts?”

    Wei Zhouzuo said, “The Holy Sage [referring to the Emperor] understands it very well: Lao-tze[3] said, ‘Fine soldier is inauspicious’; even if they are good soldiers, they are still inauspicious. Some critics said that the character ‘fine’ (佳) was an error, it should be ‘only’ (惟); thus it should say ‘only soldier is inauspicious’, then it will be even clearer. Laozi had another saying, ‘troops are inauspicious tool, the wrong tool of a nobleman, to be used against his will’.”

    Wei Xiaobao was inwardly bewildered, “This old fellow is so brazen; in the Emperor’s presence he unexpectedly dared to say Laozi this and Laozi that. And the Emperor is not angry.” He did not know that this ‘laozi’ was a sage of antiquity, Li Er, not the ‘laozi’ [I, your father] used jocularly by the people of the marketplace to refer to themselves.

    Kangxi nodded and said, “Troops are vicious, battles are dangerous; the ancient has clear examples. When there was military expedition, inevitably the living thing would turn into charcoal. So you say that if Zhen issue a warm imperial decree to comfort and exhort them, not allowing them to withdraw from the border, this matter will be settled?”


    [1] According to legend, fox demon often disguise itself as beautiful woman, but it was not able to hid its tail; hence the saying ‘exposing the fox tail’ means ‘revealing one’s evil nature’.

    [2] These idioms mean ‘surreptitiously substitute one thing for another’, and ‘walk off with someone else’s possession’, respectively.

    [3] Lao-tze, Chinese philosopher (c. 500BC), the founder of Taoism.

  20. #280
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    3,333

    Default Chapter 37 - Part 3

    The Da Xue Shi of Hall of Literary Glory [Wen Hua Dian] Dui Kana said, “Please Your Majesty understand: since Wu Sangui guarding Yunnan, that region is peaceful, the barbarians do not dare to disturb, the southern part of our Dynasty does not have any trouble. If he is relocated to Liaodong, perhaps Yunnan and Guizhou will suffer. If the imperial court does not allow him to withdraw from the border, Wu Sangui will be grateful and will strive to repay the kindness, Geng and Shang, two border defenses, as well as the Kong army of Guangxi, will definitely look up to respect the Heaven’s kindness. Henceforth the Yellow River is clear and the sea is calm, the whole world is at peace.”

    Kangxi said, “You are very much afraid that after the border defense is removed, the southwest region will lack a strategic town, and perhaps there would be foreign invasion?”

    “Yes,” Dui Kana said, “Wu Sangui’s troops and defense is highly perfected, it usually is prestigious, the barbarians are afraid and submit to him. Once this defense is removed, whether it will bring good fortune or calamity, it will be hard to predict. In minister’s humble opinion, one more problem we have is not as good as one less problem.”

    Minister of Revenue Mi Sihan said, “Since the ancient time the Holy Sages ruling the country, they always esteem Huang Lao’s technique [not sure]. When Western Han governed the world, they abide by the rules laid down by their predecessor, seeking peace and inaction [referring to Taoist doctrine of inaction] in politics. Your Majesty is an enlightened sage, your virtue is nearing the Three Sovereigns, who is rarely matched even by people in the most flourishing period of Han and Tang. In the years that Your Majesty rises in position, you grasp the political power, give the people rest, and harmonize the four barbarians; all the world is grateful for your kindness. In minister’s shallow opinion, the matter of the three border defenses can only be handled according to the old rule, there is no need to restring our bow by having a reform and start all over again, since right now we have favorable weather for the crops, the country prospers, the people at peace. The Holy Son of Heaven rules by hanging down the bow, there is no need to entertain such thought.”

    Kangxi asked Da Xue Shi Du Lide, “What do you think?”

    Du Lide said, “The three defenses were originally established as a reward and an opportunity to render merit. Right now the three defenses do not have any serious offense, if they are suddenly withdrawn, I am afraid there will be ignorant people who will say that the imperial court fails to be lenient toward former minister who has given outstanding service, perhaps there will be someone who would hinder the Sage’s court political aspiration.”

    After much discussion, the princes, dukes and cabinet ministers all stated their position that the border defenses must not be removed.

    Listening to all these people’s speech, where everybody dropped quotations to appear learned, although he did not understand what they were saying, Wei Xiaobao knew that everybody advised against removing the border defenses; in his heart he was anxious. Busily he tried to attract Songgotu’s attention and signaled him with his eyes, while slightly shaking his head, hinting him to speak against everybody else’s proposition.

    Seeing him shaking his head, Songgotu misunderstood his meaning, he thought that Wei Xiaobao also advised him to oppose the removal of the defense. He thought that Wei Xiaobao understood clearly the Emperor’s true regard, and he noticed how Kangxi showed neither approval nor disapproval to the discussion, he presumed the young Emperor must be afraid to fight with Wu Sangui. Songgotu said, “Wu, Shang, and Geng, three people are adept at using military force, if the imperial court removes the border defense, and in spite of everything the three defenses refuse to accept orders, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong, Fujian, and Guangxi, five provinces deploy their troops at the same time, perhaps there will be other rebels responding by sending out their troops, it won’t be easy to deal with. In your servant’s opinion, Wu Sangui and Shang Kexi are already old, they won’t live too much longer, there is no harm in waiting a few more years, let those two people die of old age. The three defenses’ veterans of a hundred battles, a large number of the old troops and veteran generals will also die; if the border defense is removed at that time, our chance of victory will increase a lot.”

    Kangxi smiled and said, “That is the plan coming from your experience and knowledge.”

    Songgotu thought the Emperor was praising him; busily he kneeled down and kowtowed to express his gratitude. “In discussing the important matter of the country, your servant does not dare not to be completely loyal and exhaust all considerations to come up with a completely safe plan.”

    Kangxi asked Da Xue Shi Tu Hai, “You are skilled with both the pen and sword, have deep understanding of three military strategies and six plans, adept at maneuvering troops; what do you think of this matter?”

    “Your servant’s talent and wisdom is mediocre, it was all due to Your Majesty’s grace that I am promoted to this position,” Tu Hai replied, “Your Majesty can see clearly for ten thousand li; imperial court’s military forces are in excellent condition, if the three defenses have rebellious intention, they won’t be a major problem. It’s just that if all tens of thousands people under the three defenses’ command depart for Liaodong at the same time, we have to carefully consider one thing.”

    “What matter we have to consider carefully?” Kangxi asked.

    Tu Hai said, “Liaodong is the place where our Great Qing originated, the place where our ancestors and predecessors were buried; if the three defenses indeed have disloyal intention, tens of thousands people making a ruckus and acting unreasonably in Liaodong, it would not be easy to guard against.”

    Kangxi nodded. Tu Hai continued, “If the three border defenses’ troops withdraw from their original posts, the imperial court must deploy other military forces toward Yunnan, Guangdong and Fujian to be stationed there. Several tens of thousands large army moving north, several tens of thousands large army moving south, no matter how you look at it, it is a great waste of resources, undoubtedly there will be trouble in those places. The three border defenses’ troops have been quite harmonious with the local people for quite some time, and there is no news of any conflict. Guangdong and Fujian’s dialect is very strange and unusual, when the new army arrived, they have to adjust, everybody can’t understand each other, the custom is different, perhaps it will stir up mass uprising; and then Your Majesty’s sacred intention to love common people as your own children would be harmed.”

    The more Wei Xiaobao listened, the more anxious he was; he knew the young Emperor had made up his mind to remove the border defense, yet each and everyone of the princes, dukes, and cabinet ministers was timid and was afraid of getting involved. His own official position was too low, in term of age, he was too young, he could not speak rubbish in the imperial court; hence he was in a very difficult position.

    Kangxi asked the high official of the Ministry of War, Ming Zhu, “Ming Zhu, this is the Ministry of War’s business. What do you think?”

    Ming Zhu replied, “The Holy Sage Son of Heaven is very bright, you stand tall and see far, your view of this matter is a hundred times better than the ministers. After giving this matter a careful consideration, your servant thinks that removing the border defense has some advantages, but not removing the border defense also has its own advantages; in my heart I find it difficult to make up my mind, for several days I lost sleep over this matter. Afterward I suddenly recalled something, and then I was relieved immediately, and last night I was able to fall asleep. Your servant thought that Your Majesty has given this matter meticulous consideration. All the thoughts that the ministers have, Your Majesty has already foreseen each and everyone accurately. The stratagems that all your servants could think of, even if it were more brilliant, it would not be more brilliant than Your Majesty’s direction. Your servant only has to listen to Your Majesty’s instruction on how to handle this matter. Whatever Your Majesty say, all your servants need to do is advance bravely with dead heart, without any plan for anything new. In the end we will definitely obtain great luck, great profit, and have everything our hearts desire.”

    As soon as Wei Xiaobao heard this, he was admired him greatly; he mused, “All these civil and military ministers of the court, nobody surpasses this fellow’s skill in becoming a government official. This man’s skill in bootlicking has reached perfection; laozi should do obeisance to him and take him as my master. In the future this fellow’s career will enjoy meteoric rise; his scholarly achievement, fame and honor will be immeasurable.”

    Kangxi smiled and said, “I asked you to think of an idea, not to sing praises.”

    Ming Zhu kowtowed and said, “Holy Sage, please understand: your servant is not singing the praise, it was really the truth. Ever since the Ministry of War learned the news about the instability of the three border defenses, day and night your servant was anxious, thinking about how to deal with this matter. If by any chance we must use military force, how to move the troops and send the generals. If we want to assure victory, we must let the Master not to have the least bit of worry. However, after thinking back and forth, in all honesty the Master is simply too brilliant, while your servants are too worthless. We rack our brains painstakingly, the end result will definitely be inferior to Your Majesty’s casual thought. The Holy Sage Son of Heaven is the crape myrtle star descending to the world, naturally not someone ordinary people like your servant could even reach. For this reason, your servant thought that as long as Your Majesty issues your order, I am sure it will be the best. Even if your servants do not understand, as long as we do it with all our hearts, in the end we will see the light.”

    When the numerous ministers heard this, they all cursed him in their hearts as being shameless, flattering the Emperor in front of everyone else, being completely unscrupulous; yet they had no choice but to parrot him.

    Kangxi said, “Wei Xiaobao, you have been to Yunnan, let me hear your thought: how should we deal with this matter?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Your Majesty, please understand: your servant does not understand national affairs, it’s just that Wu Sangui has spoken a few words to your servant. He said, ‘Wei Dutong, if there is some unforeseen event in the future, you don’t have to worry. Your Dutong [commander] position can only go up, not go down.’ Your servant did not understand, hence I asked, ‘What unforeseen event in the future?’ Wu Sangui laughed and said, ‘When the moment comes, you will naturally know.’ Your Majesty, Wu Sangui is thinking of rebelling. This matter is absolutely true; right now I am afraid he has already prepared the dragon robe. He compared himself as a fierce tiger, and compared Your Majesty as a black-naped oriole.”

    Kangxi knitted his brows slightly, “What fierce tiger, black-naped oriole?” he asked.

    Wei Xiaobao kowtowed several times and said, “That servant Wu Sangui has spoken a good deal of treason and heresy talks, your servant will not dare to repeat it no matter what.”

    “You’d better repeat it,” Kangxi said, “It’s not like you are speaking on your own account.”

    “Yes,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Wu Sangui has three treasured items. He said that although these three treasures are fine, he regrets the fact that there is a fly in the ointment. The first treasure is a red ruby as big as a pigeon egg, it’s really as red as chicken blood; he has it embedded in his hat. He said, ‘The gem is very big, it’s a pity the hat is too small.’”

    “Humph,” Kangxi snorted. The numerous ministers were looking at each other; they all thought that by saying ‘the gem is very big, it’s a pity the hat is too small’, he was implying that he wanted to wear the crown on his head.

    Wei Xiaobao continued, “His second treasure is white-based, black-striped white tiger skin. Your servant has been waiting upon Your Majesty in the Palace for a while, yet I have never seen this kind of white tiger skin. Wu Sangui said that this kind of white tiger is rarely seen even once in several hundred years. In the past the Song Taizu [founding emperor of Song] Zhao Kuangyin had one, Zhu Yuanzhang also found one, Cao Cao and Liu Bei each has also had one. He has the white tiger skin draped on his chair, saying, ‘White tiger skin is hard to come by, it’s a pity the chair is too ordinary.’”

    Kangxi nodded again; he was secretly amused, he knew that Wei Xiaobao was speaking without thinking, framing Wu Sangui. He also knew that Wei Xiaobao was completely uneducated, thinking that Cao Cao was also an emperor.

    Wei Xiaobao continued, “The third treasure is a piece of large marble screen, with painting of natural scenery. In the painting there was a little black-naped oriole perching on a tree, underneath the tree there was a big tiger. Wu Sangui said, ‘This screen is very valuable; it’s a pity that the tiger is underneath the tree, yet the little black-naped oriole is standing on high branch.’”

    Kangxi said, “Those three things he said are no more than metaphors, it does not necessarily mean that he had a mind to rebel.”

    “Your Majesty is magnanimous, you are cherishing your servants,” Wei Xiaobao said, “If Wu Sangui only has thirty-percent of conscience, and know how to be grateful and seek to repay the kindness, that would be great. However, it’s a pity that he gives present to the princes, dukes and ministers of the court; this prince a thousand taels of yellow gold, that duke twenty-thousand taels of white silver. He is desperately serious in spending his money. Those three treasures of his, however, are not part of the tribute to Your Majesty.”

    Kangxi laughed. “I do not covet his belongings,” he said.

    “That’s right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Wu Sangui always want to pay the imperial court’s salary, to treat them with rewards; most of the money he obtained stay in Beijing, given to civil and military officials. Your servant said to him, ‘Wangye, you sent all those gold and silver to the high-ranking officials of the court, you are indeed too generous, I can do the spending for you.’ Wu Sangui laughed and said, ‘Xiao Xiongdi, all those gold and silver only stay in their homes temporarily, let each and every one of them help me speak good words on my behalf. In a few years, they will nicely add the interest, and then both principal and interest will return to me.’ Your servant did not understand it, so I asked, ‘Wangye, once those belongings enter other people’s home, how can they return it to you? You were willingly giving it to them, it’s not that they borrow the money from you, how can you expect any interest?’ Wu Sangui laughed aloud; he patted my shoulder, took a brocade bag and gave it to me, and said, ‘Xiao Xiongdi, this is a small token Xiao Wang is giving you, with the hope that in front of His Majesty, you would speak good words on my behalf a lot. If His Majesty wanted to remove the border defense, you must say that the border defense must never be removed. Ha ha … don’t worry, these things, I will not ask you to return to me in the future.’”

    While saying that, Wei Xiaobao took a brocade bag from his pocket and held it up high above his head. Everybody could see that the bag was embroidered with four red characters, ‘Ping Xi Wang Fu’ [King who pacify the west’s mansion]. He bent down to squat, opened up the bag’s mouth and poured out the contents. A series of ‘ding ding dang dang’ was heard, pearls, precious stones, emerald, gems, several dozens of valuable objects scattered on the Hall’s floor. The pearls sparkled the gems shone, the light dazzled everybody’s eyes. Some of these gems were indeed gifts from Wu Sangui, some were given by other people as gifts or bribes to Wei Xiaobao. But in that moment, who would know the difference?

    Kangxi smiled and said, “You went to Yunnan this time, you have actually attained much.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “These pearls and jewels, your servant does not dare to desire, would Your Majesty bestow it to others?”

    Kangxi giggled and said, “They were gifts from Wu Sangui, how can I take them from you and gave to others?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Wu Sangui gave them to your servant, because he wanted me to tell lies in front of Your Majesty, to help him speaking good words on his behalf, to say that the border defense must never be removed. Your servant is loyal and devoted to Your Majesty, I must not covet a bit of gold, silver, money and valuables, and say that a rebel thief was a loyal minister. But on the other hands, having received Wu Sangui’s thing, I feel a bit unfair to him. In any case, gold, silver, money and valuables throughout the world belong to Your Majesty. Whomever Your Majesty wishes to give it to, it is Your Majesty’s benevolence, no need to make Wu Sangui a good person by letting him buy the people’s heart.”

    Kangxi roared in laughter. “You are exceptionally loyal to Zhen,” he said, “In that case, just consider I give these pearls and jewels as a reward to you.” From his pocket he took out a western spring gold watch and said, “And I am giving you another treasure from the west.”

    Wei Xiaobao hastily kneeled down and kowtowed. He took several steps forward and received the gold watch with both hands.

Similar Threads

  1. The Deer and The Cauldron
    By foxs in forum Wuxia Translations
    Replies: 3144
    Last Post: 03-16-17, 03:11 PM
  2. The Deer and The Cauldron ( Unabridged Thread )
    By littleli in forum Wuxia Translations
    Replies: 81
    Last Post: 12-08-10, 03:26 AM
  3. The Deer and the Cauldron
    By O Rei do Frango Assado in forum Wuxia Fiction
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: 07-17-06, 10:58 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •