The Deer and The Cauldron - Unabridged Thread

[foxs]

When they reached the mouth of the alley, Wei Xiaobao saw a grand mansion towering above the houses around it, compared to his old earl mansion it was a lot bigger. Above the main gate there was a vermillion-painted horizontal inscribed board, but it was completely empty without a single character on it. Characters as big as watermelon, Wei Xiaobao’s knowledge was limited to only a handful, but even he was able to see that the board did not have any character on it; he could not help but was stunned.

Prince Kang laughed and said, “Wei Xiongdi, His Majesty’s grace and favor to you is indeed as high as the sky and as deep as the earth. That year when your earl mansion caught fire and was burned down, you were not in town. When His Majesty was informed, he immediately ordered your Gege to build another mansion for you. The imperial edict did not mention any budgetary number; it only mentioned that all expenses are to be covered by the internal treasury. This is His Majesty bestowing you a reward, why would your Gege try to save His Majesty some money? Naturally I did not spare any expense. Xiongdi, look, is this acceptable?” While saying that, he stroked his beard with a smile on his face.

Wei Xiaobao busily expressed his thanks. From the main gate he entered in. It was indeed a splendid and magnificent building, not much different compared to Prince Kang’s mansion. All the ministers clucked their tongues in praise, they all expressed their admirations.

Prince Kang said, “This mansion has been ready for quite some time, all along it stayed empty, waiting for Xiongdi to come back and live in it. It’s just that we did not know what other grace His Majesty would bestow you, what title and honors he was going to confer to you, hence the plaque above the mansion’s gate is still empty. The ‘Lu Ding Gong Fu’ [Duke of Deer and Cauldron’s Mansion], four characters, I will ask our Li Da Xueshi to move his brush.”

Li Lei was the Hall of Preserving Harmony’s [Bao He Dian] Da Xue Shi [see also Chapter 37], while holding the post of Minister of Revenue at the same time. The Da Xue Shi with most profound experience in wealth management was appointed the head. This moment he did not decline; picking up the brush he wrote in regular script, ‘Lu Ding Gong Fu’, four large characters. A minor government official was ordered to have an artisan cast gold lettering and embed it on the plaque.

That evening Wei Xiaobao held a big banquet at the Duke of Luding’s mansion to entertain the high-ranking ministers who had personally come to congratulate him earlier. Zheng Keshuang, Feng Xifan, and other Taiwan people who surrendered also sent some gifts, but they did not personally come to congratulate him.

After sending off the guests, Wei Xiaobao had another banquet for his family. His seven wives raised their wine cups to celebrate. Wei Xiaobao mentioned that he was going to take Shuang’er to accompany him in this punitive expedition to the north. The other six wives raised their voices at once to protest, saying that he was too partial. Wei Xiaobao was obliged to explain with graceful words, flowery speech, saying that it was His Majesty’s imperial edict; because he knew that Shuang’er has been to Luocha Country and understood Luocha language, he was sending her to serve in the army.

The six wives did not have any choice but to drop this matter. Luckily Shuang’er was gentle and amiable, her friendship with every single one of the other wives was very good, so nobody was jealous of her. Only Princess Jianning was thinking that based on her status as the Emperor’s imperial sister, a golden branch, jade leaves, unexpectedly she could not compare to a little servant girl with humble background, in her heart she was quite angry. However, usually when the seven wives had an argument, the other six women would unite to deal with the Princess. Princess Jianning was on her own, even Wei Xiaobao did not side with her; for the past few years her fiery temper had mellowed considerably, she did not dare to rashly pick a quarrel.

The next day Wei Xiaobao asked Shuang’er to take out Zheng Keshuang’s I.O.U. which was written in blood on Tong Chi Island that year. He invited Dolong to come over and handed it over to him. Dolong was greatly delighted; he said, “With a hand-written I.O.U. like this, we can even squeeze oil from a stone. If that kid Zheng Keshuang dares to renege and refuse to pay, we, the Imperial Bodyguards and the Valiant Cavalry Brigade officers, won’t have any face to mingle in the Capital anymore.”

For the next several days, Kangxi repeatedly summoned Wei Xiaobao to the Palace. He gave Wei Xiaobao a giant map; how to advance, how to engage the enemy, how to besiege a city, how to strike at the enemy’s reinforcements, he gave Wei Xiaobao detailed instructions. With vermillion brush he drew on the map clearly.

Wei Xiaobao said, “This war is just like Your Majesty personally leading the troops and fighting it, your servant will not dare to act on my own initiative, I will do everything in accordance with Your Majesty’s instruction. Otherwise, even if I am victorious, Your Majesty will not be happy.”

Kangxi smiled and nodded. What Wei Xiaobao said was very close to his heart’s intention. Since he was little he learned martial art, and had never been able to put it to use, only with Wei Xiaobao he could wrestle and have fun. Later on he unceasingly sent Wei Xiaobao on various missions outside; in the deepest part of his heart he always thought that Wei Xiaobao was a stand-in for him. Wei Xiaobao was younger than he, in terms of martial art skill, intelligence, knowledge and foresight, none could surpass Kangxi’s. If Wei Xiaobao could successfully accomplish the mission, naturally Kangxi would be able to handle the butcher’s knife with more ease. Recalling Ming Dynasty’s Emperor Zhengde who conferred himself the title Weiwu Dajiangjun Zhen Guo Gong [see Chapter 43], and personally went into battle, Kangxi was unwilling to be left out, he wanted to display his talent too. Kangxi would never make fool of himself like Emperor Zhengde, but by sending Wei Xiaobao on missions like that, he derived inside satisfaction.

During the years of Wu Sangui’s rebellion, Kangxi had to deal with a high-ranking minister, a veteran general. Wu Sangui was a fierce general, a veteran of a hundred battles, not a simple matter at all; if he had sent Wei Xiaobao, he would have been defeated for sure. By this time Kangxi had gained several years’ worth of war. Although he did not personally go to the front line, he always inquired in details that he understood clearly every military campaign, its merits and drawbacks, gains and losses; not a single battle he did not know like the palm of his own hand. From the actual combat he learned the art of war.

This time he was about to start a war with the Luocha Country, he would deal with any matter, regardless of its importance; everything has been prepared properly. Before the main force even marched out the gate, he already had confidence that he would achieve victory. Indeed it was a far cry [orig. ‘mustn’t speak of two things on the same day’] from when he was trembling with fear in dealing with Wu Sangui in the past.

Since his departure for war was imminent, Wei Xiaobao did not dare to mess with Tian Di Hui brothers. He thought, “His Majesty did not tell me to exterminate Tian Di Hui, it means he has surrendered to me, it means he has given me enough face. If I am not being sensitive, and go to visit Li Lishi, Xu Tianchuan and the others, and His Majesty finds out, he might raise the former matter again. This is the same as Wei Xiaobao picks up a rock and smashes it against my own foot. Being a human being I must not be overly stupid and act too tactlessly.”

The directorate of astronomy picked up an ecliptic propitious day for the main force to set off on their punitive expedition to the north. That day Kangxi bestowed a feast at the Taihe Men [Gate of Supreme Harmony]. There was a large sandy field outside the Wu Men [Meridian Gate], where His Majesty’s yellow tent was erected. The imperial throne was set up, royal seal was on display, hundreds of princes and dukes and ministers congregated. Kangxi took his seat. The Great General Fuyuan, Duke of Luding Wei Xiaobao led his military officers Peng Chun, Sabusu, Lang Tan, Lin Xingzhu, and the others, the logistic officer Songgotu and the others, to step forward and kneel down. Internal courtyard cabinet minister declared the imperial order in Manchurian, Mongolian and Han, three languages. He handed over the great general seal of authority, and conferred a set of clothes, a horse, a bow and a saber.

The officers going into battle separately sat on the north of Jinshui [golden water] Bridge. There were music everywhere, hundreds of play were being performed. Kangxi ordered the Great General to step forward toward the throne. When they were face-to-face, he personally conferred the imperial wine. The Great General received it, kowtowed, and drank it. The commanders, deputy commanders, and so on also stepped forward. The Emperor ordered the Imperial Bodyguards to bestow the drink. Afterwards he ordered the hundreds of government officials everywhere to offer the wine to the troops, along with money and some clothes. The hundreds of officials and all the troops expressed their gratitude, and then the main forces set out.

Kangxi personally sent them off outside the Meridian Gate. The Great General and all the officers kneeled down to ask the holy self to return home. Afterwards the water and land main forces set off to the north. All the ministers saw Wei Xiaobao in his complete martial attire, happy and giggling, without the slightest bit of mighty air of the Commander-in-Chief of a large army. They already knew this man was without learning or skills, a marketplace hoodlum; he was leading the troops into battle, most likely he would spoil the great endeavor and might bring disgrace to the country and make it lose face. But they also knew that Kangxi doted on him very much; who would dare to utter even half a sentence of objection? Not a few of these princes, dukes and ministers put on a smile on their faces, but in their hearts they were sighing. It was:

The ministers swarm around the stage like a school of fish, the general majestically ascends the sacrificial altar[1].

Ever since Wei Xiaobao went out on mission for the Emperor, he has never gone out with this kind of pomp and circumstances; the pride in his heart need not be mentioned. He knew this time the stake was very high, in the army he exercised strong self-control, unexpectedly he did not dare to gamble at all. When boredom hit along the way, he would invite several high-ranking generals to throw some dice, the loser was punished by drinking some wine; nothing more.

One day the main force went out the Shanhai Pass [eastern pass of Great Wall], and continued north to Liaodong [peninsula]. It was the place Wei Xiaobao previously visited, only that time he and Shuang’er had to catch deer in the forest to eat while they were hiding to the east and escaping to the west, battered and exhausted; there was no awe-inspiring authority like this time they went out of the Pass on a military campaign to the north.

It was a crisp, clear autumn weather, the cloudless sky spread for thousands of li, the army marched farther and farther north, the north wind was getting stronger by the day. Until one day they were only a hundred or so li away from Yakesa. He You from the Vanguard Battalion reported to the main force: the reconnaissance team had been informed by the locals, common people, that Luocha troops had been harassing the people, killing people, burning houses, raping, robbing; no crime that they did not do. Every ten days or so they would come out once; hence he estimated that they would come out again in a few days.

Wei Xiaobao had already received Kangxi’s instructions on what to do under given circumstances; he ordered the main force to pitch camp right there and did not advance farther. And then he ordered He You to lead ten hundred-man squadron to set ambush about thirty li from the city of Yakesa. If any Luocha troops came out in large number, they were to lie low and did not come out to avoid an open war. But if they encountered the enemy force in small groups, they were to attack, kill and captured all of them, no one was to be allowed to go back to the city. He You received the order and left.

Several days later before noon they heard faint noise of firearms from the distant, shot after shot, long and continuous; the noise did not cease for quite a long time. Presumably the Vanguard Battalion was engaged in battle with the Luocha troops. Later that afternoon He You sent his people to the main force to report their success, saying that they wiped out twenty-fice Luocha men and captured twelve. Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted.

That evening the Vanguard Battalion escorted the twelve prisoners to the main force. Wei Xiaobao had them in his tent and personally interrogated them. Hearing Wei Xiaobao unexpectedly could speak Luocha language, the twelve Luocha troops were greatly astonished; however, everyone of them was extremely unyielding, they said they were ambushed, that Qing troops had superior number, that the victory was without honor. Wei Xiaobao was very angry; he ordered two Luocha troops to step forward. He took dice from his pocket and said, “You two throw the dice!”

Throwing dice had existed in the West since ancient times, the ones excavated from ancient Egyptian tomb were no different than the ones used in China; Luocha troops had also been accustomed to playing with dice. Two Luocha troops looked at each other in shock; they wondered what kind of trick this young general if the Qing troops was playing. They followed his order and threw the dice. One got sevent dots, the other five.

Wei Xiaobao pointed to the Luocha troop with five dots and said, “You lost! Simanji!” In Luocha language, ‘simanji’ means ‘death’. He turned his head around and ordered his personal guard, “Take him out and chop his head!”

Four personal guards dragged the Luocha troop to the entrance of the tent and chopped his head, and then they presented the severed head to Wei Xiaobao. The remaining eleven Luocha troops saw this and their countenances changed greatly.

Wei Xiaobao pointed to two more Luocha troops and said, “You two throw the dice.”

How could the two men be willing to throw the dice? As if by prior agreement they both said, “I won’t throw!”

“Alright, you won’t throw,” Wei Xiaobao said. Turning to his personal guards he said, “Take both out and chop their heads!” In an instant two more people died.

Wei Xiaobao pointed to two more Luocha troops and said, “You two throw the dice.”

The two men knew that if they did not throw, they would be killed immediately, but if they threw, there was a fifty-fifty chance that they would live. One of them picked up the dice, while trembling with fear. He was about to throw when the other Luocha troop scrambled past him and said to Wei Xiaobao, “I’ll throw against you!” His expression looked extremely arrogant.

Wei Xiaobao laughed, “Alright,” he said, “Since you have the audacity to challenge me, you throw first.”

The soldier threw a seven-dot. Wei Xiaobao threw a ten. “How about it?” he asked with a laugh.

The soldier looked distressed. “My luck is not good,” he said, “I have nothing to say.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “You came to China, how many Chinese people did you kill?”

The soldier was upright and unafraid. “I lost track,” he said, “At least seventeen, eighteen people. You kill me, I don’t lose out anyway.”

Wei Xiaobao commanded his guards to chop his head. Pointing to the other Luocha troop he said, “You throw.”

The soldier picked up the dice, his hand was trembling. The two dice rolled on the table one after another, surprisingly he got eleven-dot, his chance of winning was very big. Wei Xiaobao wanted to play the trick to get twelve-dot; who would have thought that due to the lack of practice his technique failed, the two dice did not have their six-dot sides facing upward but downward instead, producing only two dots. He was stunned, but then he laughed aloud and said, “I win!”

The soldier hastily said, “I got eleven, you only got two; what do you mean you won?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “This time the smaller dots win, the bigger dots lose.”

The soldier did not give in; he said, “Naturally the bigger dots win. In our Luocha Country the rule has always been so.”

Wei Xiaobao pulled a face and said, “Are we in China, or is this Luocha’s land?”

The soldier replied, “It’s … it’s China.”

“Since this is China, naturally we use Chinese rule,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Who told you to come to China? Next time when I am in Luocha and I throw the dice against you, we can play with Luocha rule. You ‘simanji’!” Turning toward his personal guards he said, “Take him out and chop his head!”

---

[1] It appears to be a reference to an obscure poem written by Qing dynasty poet Zha Shenxing [see the author’s note at the end of Chapter 1] named "大清军威", "The Great Qing's Military Might". The full poem is as follows:

赚得儿童仰面看，彯缨袨服最无端。
国门他日生悬价，驵侩何人敢卖官。
丞相鱼鱼工拥笏，将军跃跃俨登坛。
星奴结柳翻多事，五鬼争弹贡禹冠 (Courtesy of Ren Wo Xing)

[foxs]

He called another Luocha troop to come out. The soldier was careful, he asked first, “According to Chinese rule, is this time bigger dots win, or smaller dots win?”

“According to Chinese rule,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Chinese people win. If the Chinese man’s dots big, then bigger dots win; if the Chinese man’s dots small, then smaller dots win.”

The soldier angrily said, “You are very unreasonable, you don’t follow logic at all.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “You Luocha troop’s came to China, killing and robbing. It’s not us, Chinese people who came to Luocha killing and robbing. Is Luocha people unreasonable, or Chinese people unreasonable?” The soldier was speechless.

Wei Xiaobao said, “Quickly throw, quickly throw!”

“I will lose anyway,” the soldier said, “Why bother?”

“You don’t throw, simanji! Simanji!” Wei Xiaobao said.

He called another Luocha troop to come out. This soldier was big and tall, with long whisker on his face; he said in a loud voice, “Chinese kid, you don’t need to play crafty trick, just be straightforward and kill me. This time you have superior number, you set an ambush on snowy ground and caught us by surprise; there is no honor in that kind of victory. When our Luocha Country’s main force arrives, each and every one of you will be killed.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “You were caught by us, and in your heart you refuse to submit, is that right?”

“Naturally I won’t submit!” the soldier replied.

Wei Xiaobao said, “If we have the same number of people, and have a battle face to face, you are so sure that you will win; is that right?”

“Of course!” the soldier haughtily replied, “One of us, Luocha man, can beat five of you, Chinese men. Otherwise, we would not have come to China. I bet you, send five of your men to fight with me. If you win, you can chop my head, if I win, just let me go.” This man was the most famous warrior of the Luocha army, he was born with supernatural power. Seeing all the generals and personal guards in Wei Xiaobao’s tent were at least a head shorter than he was, he thought that even fighting five to one, his chance of winning was still very high.

All along Shuang’er has been sitting quietly on the side. This moment as she heard his arrogant talk, she opened her mouth for the first time, “Luocha men, useless. Chinese women, will beat you.” While saying that she stood up and came over to stand by Wei Xiaobao’s side.

Seeing her delicate figure, her beautiful face, the soldier could not help bursting in laughter. “You have to have a duel with me?” he asked.

Wei Xiaobao ordered his personal guard to cut the rope binding the man’s hands. He smiled and said, “Good Shuang’er, let him experience Chinese women’s fierceness.”

The soldier said, “Chinese woman, you can talk Luocha language. Very good, very good.”

Shuang’er’s command of Luocha language was actually far below Wei Xiaobao’s, she could not express her ideas very well, hence she was unwilling to talk to him too much. Waving her left hand, she launched a feign slap toward his face. The soldier hastily raised his head while stretched out his hand to block. Shuang’er’s right leg flew up, ‘pow!’ she kicked his lower abdomen.

The soldier howled in pain, he rained down punches with both hands. He was Luocha Country’s boxing champion, his punches were fast, heavy and powerful. Seeing his fierceness, Shuang’er leaped toward his back, using the move ‘striking water right and left’, ‘whack, whack!’ she kicked both sides of the small of his back with her left and right feet. It was so painful that the soldier squatted down. “You use your legs; a foul, a foul!” he hollered. Turned out according to Luocha people’s boxing rule, they must not use their legs.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “This is China, we fight according to Chinese rule.”

Shuang’er called out, “With Luocha rule, I still win.” She dodged in front of the soldier; with her right fist she punched his lower abdomen. The soldier held out his hand to block. Shuang’er’s punch was actually an empty move; without waiting for his block to arrive, she pulled her right fist, and struck the pit of his stomach with her left fist. Again the soldier stretched out his arm to block. Shuang’er launched left punch, right punch; she sent twelve punches in succession. But all her punches were empty move, in Chinese martial art technique, it was called ‘the mirage’, meaning everything is imaginary. Just because each move was not really striking and it was executed without any real power, it was several times faster than ordinary punch.

The soldier blocked several times, but each time he blocked an empty punch; he laughed aloud and said, “Little girl’s trick, it’s useless …” Before he could finish, ‘whack, whack!’ twice, his left and right cheeks were hit by Shuang’er’s palms. The soldier roared, his two arms attacked violently up and down. Shuang’er leaned sideways to evade, the forefinger of her right hand suddenly jabbed, it hit the ‘taiyang’ [sun] acupoint on the soldier’s right temple. The man was overwhelmed with dizziness, his body swayed. Shuang’er leaped up, her palm hacked down, and hit the ‘yuzhen’ [jade pillow] acupoint on the back of the man’s head. It was a vital acupoint on human’s body, although the soldier was big and sturdy, he could not withstand it. ‘Wham!’ he tumbled down to the ground and was unable to crawl back up.

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; holding Shuang’er’s hand, he kicked the soldier’s forehead and asked, “Do you submit now?”

Still in daze, the soldier said, “Chinese woman … use witchcraft … she is a witch …”

“Stinky pig,” Wei Xiaobao cursed, “What witchcraft? Take him out and chop his head! You, Luocha troops, which one of you won’t submit? Let him come out and have a duel.”

The remaining five Luocha troops looked at each other in dismay; they saw how their warrior was defeated, there was no way they could beat her. Nobody dared to say anything.

Wei Xiaobao said, “If you concede and surrender, you will be spared and won’t be killed. Otherwise, you may throw dice against me. We will play by Chinese rule; if you win, you will live, if you lose, then simanji!” While saying that his right hand made a beheading gesture.

The five soldiers thought, “According to Chinese rule, it does not matter how many dots, he wins.” Thereupon one soldier bowed and said, “I surrender!”

Wei Xiaobao happily said, “Very good! Get some wine and meat, let him eat.”

His personal guards went to the back of the tent and returned with a large bowl of wine and a large bowl of meat. The soldier was released from his bound and was free to eat and drink.

In Luocha Country the weather was bitter cold, everybody drank wine. Although Wei Xiaobao was not a drinker, the wine in the army was the best quality sorghum wine. As soon as this bowl of wine was brought in, the aroma filled the entire tent; as soon as the four Luocha troops smelled the wine, their mouth watered. When they saw the surrendering soldier drank and his eyebrows rose up and his eyes twinkled, their hearts were unbearably itchy. One after another they all said, “Surrender, surrender! I want wine.”

Wei Xiaobao commanded his guards to untie the four soldiers and ordered four other personal guards to get four bowls of wine and meat and gave it to them. The Luocha troops ate and drank, but they were still not full. Wei Xiaobao ordered his guards to get another set of wine and meat for each of them. The five Luocha troops were drunk, they waved their hands around and sang. After singing for a while, they remembered that they had just escaped mortal danger, unexpectedly they could eat and drink as much as they liked; they were very happy and bowed to Wei Xiaobao to express their thanks.

Afterwards, every several days He You continuously sent Luocha troops as prisoners, as many as sixteen, seventeen soldiers, and as few as one or two soldiers. After these prisoners talked with the five soldiers who surrendered first, they found out that if they threw the dice, they death was guaranteed; but if they surrendered, there would be meat and wine for their enjoyments. Thereupon everyone surrendered.

These Luocha troops were originally scoundrels who fled to the east to avoid prison; if not thieves and robbers, then they must be criminals who were exiled by the court of law. Out of ten, perhaps eight or nine of them would not shrink from any crime. They went east to take their chances, nobody had any good intentions in their heart. When they first went out to kill Chinese civilians, their missions always went without a hitch, hence in their hearts they despised Chinese people. Therefore, when they were captured, they were still very arrogant. It was not until Wei Xiaobao had several troops executed and thus established his prestige that the rest realized how formidable the enemy was. These arrogant barbarians bullied good people but were scared of wicked ones; seeing the opposite side was even more barbarian and even more wicked, they obediently surrendered.

By this time the Governor-general Galitzine had been summoned by Princess Sophia back to Moscow to hold higher office. The general in command of Yakesa troops was called Tu’erbuqing (Alexi Tolbusin). Small groups of Luocha troops went out to plunder, they went missing for several days running. Tolbusin sent out people to investigate, but these people also never came back. He felt something was not right, thereupon he picked half of the cavalry in the city, totaling more than two thousand men and horses, and personally led them out of the city to investigate.

Along the way Tolbusin did not see any sign of the enemy; whenever he saw Chinese people’s farmhouse or residence, he ordered his men to burn it down, and killed the people, ordinary men and women. After traveling for more than twenty li, suddenly he heard hoof beats, a group of cavalry was charging their way. Tolbusin shouted his order to have his troops scattered. He saw a group of Qing cavalry galloped toward them, approximately five hundred men, shooting them with arrows. Tolbusin laughed aloud and said, “Chinese barbarians only know how to release arrows, how can they fight our Luocha Country’s formidable firearms?” He shouted his order, his men fired, a dozen or so Qing troops fell down from their horses.

The Qing troops turned their horses around and galloped away to the south. Tolbusin ordered his men to pursue. The horses this Qing cavalry rode were all handpicked fine horses, they ran very fast, for a short while the Luocha troops were unable to catch up.

After pursuing for seven or eight li, they saw a yellow dragon banner standing by the wooded area ahead of them, when the Luocha troops came closer, they saw seven, eight military tents belonging to the Qing troops. The Luocha troops rained their bullets to the tents, several dozen Qing troops ran out of the tents, while shooting arrows at the Luocha troops, and then mounted their horses and galloped southward.

The Luocha troops on the front rushed into the tents, they saw the Qing troops had run away completely. Tolbusin dismounted his horse and entered the tent. He saw the wine, meat and vegetable dishes on the table were still steaming hot, while gold and silver ingots, as well as brocade clothes, pearls and jewels were scattered around on the ground. Tolbusin was greatly delighted. “The Chinese barbarian great general is running away in a hurry, he did not even have time to carry all these gold and silver. Everybody, let’s get on our horses and run after them! Whoever catches this barbarian great general will be rewarded heavily; the barbarian great general must be carrying a lot of gold and silver, we will seize everything away!”

When the soldiers saw gold, silver, pearls and jewels, they just like ‘you grabbed I took’; some even picked up the wine and meat from the table and ate it. Hearing their commander’s order, they cheered and rushed out of the tent, jumped onto their horses, and galloped toward the southeast, following the hoofprints. Along the way they saw gold ingots, silver ingots, swords and spears, bow and arrows scattered on the ground by the road. They all said that Chinese troops saw the arrival of Luocha troops, they were scared and pissed in their pants in terror, that they even threw their weapons away.

After pursuing for a while, they saw several pairs of boots and several red-tasseled hats. Tolbusin called out, “Chinese barbarians’ marshal changed his clothes to run for his life; most probably he disguised himself as a lowly soldier. We must not let them hide him.”

His attendant said, “General can prophesy with supernatural accuracy; it must be so.”

Tolbusin ordered his men to pick up the boots and hat; he said, “When we catch the Chinese barbarians, it doesn’t matter if he is a lowly soldier or a gunman, tell them to try the hat, clothes and boots. If everything fits, most likely he is the great general.” Again his subordinates chorused their praise, saying that the General was intelligent and wise, that no one could ever match him.

After pursuing several more li, they attacked and seized another Qing army’s tent. Scattered on the ground, they saw not only gold, silver and weapons, but also a lot of red and green, bright colored women’s clothing. They even found rouge, face powder and other cosmetics, handkerchief, hairpins, and other women’s accessories. The soldiers’ sexual desire was aroused; they all cried out, “Quickly pursue, quickly pursue! Chinese barbarians brought some women.”

Pursuing this way, they successively seized seven more army tents before from ahead of them they heard faint noise of people shouting and screaming. Tolbusin halted his mount and took out his telescope to look. He saw several li ahead a group of Chinese soldiers were running for their lives; seemingly in great distress, their banner was in disarray, their formation in disorder. Tolbusin was greatly delighted, “We got them!” he shouted. Pulling out his saber, he waved it in the air several time while shouting, “Charge! Kill!” Leading his troops and generals, he swiftly charged forward.

Along the way they saw more than twenty Qing army’s horses fallen dead on the road. The soldiers and generals happily said, “The barbarians’ horses had no strength left to run!” Urgently spurring their horses on hot pursuit, they pursued farther and farther away.

They saw that the Qing troops had escaped via a narrow passageway in between two hills. Tolbusin pursued to the mouth of the road, and saw the dangerous terrain ahead. He was slightly startled. “If the enemy prepares an ambush here,” he thought, “It won’t be good.”

Suddenly he heard from the valley ahead someone shouting in Luocha language, “Chinese barbarians, you have surrendered. Very good, very good!” Another voice called out, “Ha ha, this time Chinese barbarians suffer disastrous defeat.” It was the voice of their own soldiers, no doubt about it.

Tolbusin was greatly delighted, his suspicion was gone, he spurred his horse into the valley. Behind him more than two thousand cavalry followed in. Tolbusin called out, “Which unit is in the front? Where are you?”

He only heard behind the mountain wall a dozen or so men responding in chorus, “We are here! Chinese barbarian soldiers have surrendered!”

“Marvelous!” Tolbusin called out. He was just about to pull his horse’s reins when suddenly he heard ‘bang, bang!’ from behind. Tolbusin was shocked; turning around, he saw the mouth of the valley was covered in smoke, fire flashed from the woods on the mountain walls on his left and right, volley after volley of firearms shot down. The Luocha officers and men screamed together. Tolbusin shouted, “Turn around, get out of the valley!”

He heard from the top of the mountain walls on both sides several thousand people shouted together, “Luocha troops, surrender, surrender!” Countless large rocks and logs of wood rolled down, in an instant the mountain path was blocked. The Luocha officers and men were crammed into a narrow mountain path, you push I shove, the people screamed the horses neighed, it was a total chaos.

From the top of the mountain the Qing troops looking down, arrows and bullets rained down continuously. Tolbusin groaned inwardly, he knew they had fallen into the enemy’s trick. Seeing the escape route was cut off, he had no choice but turn his horse again and shouted, “Everybody charge forward!”

They only rushed out for several zhang, suddenly they heard ‘Bang! Bang!’ loud explosions, cannon were fired at them, killing a dozen or so soldiers. Tolbusin was so scared that his soul flew to the outer sky; he had never anticipated that the Qing troops’ firearms were this sharp, unexpectedly they also had cannon on this rugged mountainous terrain. He jumped down his mount in panic and called out, “Abandon your horse! Focus our firepower, let’s charge out of the mountain road.”

[foxs]

One after another the Luocha troops dismounted from their horses, and crawled over the huge stones and logs blocking the entrance to the valley, while the team on the back opened fire at both sides of the mountain walls to provide cover for their comrades. Luocha troops’ firearms had greater firepower, the range was also farther, in the end they managed to kill not a few Qing soldiers. But the Qing troops’ cannon continuously bombarded them, the momentum was fierce.

Several hundred Luocha troops were just crawling on top of the rocks blocking the way when suddenly a loud explosion was heard, the earth under their feet exploded, some of the several hundred officers and men were thrown a dozen zhang into the air, some of them lost their heads or limbs, flesh and blood flying everywhere. Those who were fortunate and did not die hastily crawled back down.

Tolbusin saw there was no way out ahead and behind, he was completely helpless in this crisis. A very brave officer led several dozen troops in a suicide mission to climb the north side of the mountain wall, they attempted to kill the enemy to open up a way out. But the mountain wall was very steep, plus it was slippery, there was no place they could put their feet on; after climbing for several zhang, several dozen of them slipped and fell down, either dead or injured. The Qing troops on the hilltop threw rocks at them, wiping out the remaining several dozen troops. The officer leading the mission was thrown down, his skull was smashed and he immediately met a violent death.

All this time the Qing army’s cannon did not stop firing, the mountain walls were full of Luocha troops’ wretched scream. Knowing that in just a short while they would be completely wiped out, Tolbusin called out, “Stop fighting! Ceasefire, ceasefire!” But the explosions and the scream of the troops drowned his voice. The officers and men around him immediately cried out together, “Ceasefire, ceasefire!” Soon the rest of his troops also cried out.

The Qing troops halted the artillery barrage. Someone called out in Luocha language, “Throw down your guns, your sabers and swords, take all your clothes off!”

Tolbusin was angry, he shouted back, “Throw the weapons, don’t take off your clothes!”

Someone in Qing army called, “Throw down your guns, your sabers and swords, take all your clothes off! Helaxiao! Come out and drink wine. If you don’t take off your clothes, simanji!”

Tolbusin called out, “We won’t take off our clothes!”

As soon as those words went out of his mouth, there were explosions, the Qing cannon resume their firing. Some Luocha troops were afraid of death, at once they threw their weapons down and started to take off their clothes. Tolbusin raised his short gun and shot dead a soldier who was taking off his clothes. “Those who undress will be executed!” he shouted. But under the violent artillery barrage of the Qing army, nobody paid attention to their general’s strict order. More than a dozen soldiers, already stripped naked, clambered over the rocks blocking their way out.

The Qing army on both sides of the mountain walls clapped their hands and cheered. “Quickly undress!” they shouted. More and more Luocha troops took off their clothes and fled for their lives. Tolbusin repeatedly fired his short gun, killing two more soldiers, but how could he stop his men?

The Qing cannon temporarily stopped. From the top of the mountain wall someone called out, “Those who want to live, quickly take off all your clothes.”

By this time the Luocha officers and men had lost their will to fight; eight or nine out of ten people already took off their boots. Tolbusin heaved a deep sigh and put his gun toward his own temple, ready to kill himself. A lieutenant standing by his side wrestled the gun from his hand and said, “General, don’t! As long as the eagle still have its wings, it can still fly across the high mountain.” It was a Luocha idiom, equivalent to Chinese idiom ‘while the green hills last, there’ll be wood to burn’.

They heard someone in the Qing army called in Luocha language, “Take Tolbusin’s clothes off, and then come out together; otherwise the firing will commence.” These Luocha words were spoken with very articulate pronunciation, because it was actually a surrendering Luocha troop who was forced to say it.

Tolbusin was unable to restraint his anger, but he was aware that several troops under his command were staring at him, clearly they harbored malicious intentions toward him. He reached out to pull the saber hanging on his waist, but as soon as his fingers touched the hilt, a soldier pounced him from behind and wrapped his arms around Tolbusin’s neck. Five or six soldiers pounced together, they pinned him to the ground. Seven hands eight feet, immediately his clothes were stripped clean before he was carried out.

For each one of the Luocha troop who came out, there were two Qing troops who stepped forward to receive him, binding his hands behind his back, and leading him to walk several li toward a spacious empty field. In this incident, out of more than two thousand Luocha officers and men, six or seven hundred were killed or were seriously injured, the remaining eighteen hundred soldiers or so had their hands tied behind their backs and were forced to stand in line. The autumn wind was blowing, they could not help shivering from the cold.

The Qing troops held Tolbusin in custody in front of the rows of Luocha troops. The Luocha troops were originally hanging their heads dejectedly, their hearts were alarmed, they were trembling in fear, but suddenly they saw this strict general, who was usually harsh and ruthless, was reduced to this kind of appearance, they were amused. When they saw their commanding general’s smooth naked buttocks, several dozen men could not help laughing. The laughter was getting louder and louder, not too long afterwards more than a thousand officers and men were laughing aloud.

Tolbusin was furious; he turned around and shouted, “Stand in attention! What are you laughing at?” He was not wearing even a thread on his body, yet he was still assuming this awe-inspiring demeanor; it was extremely comical. Although the officers and men were usually very afraid of him, how could they refrain from laughing this time?

In the middle of the laughter, suddenly the cannon were fired eight times, followed by the drums, as a squadron of Qing troops appeared from the back of the mountain, flying a yellow banner, and stood in formation on the east side. And then three more squadrons of Qing troops, flying red, white and blue, three colors banners, separately standing on the south, east and north, three directions, surrounding the Luocha officers and men in the middle. The Luocha officers and men saw all the Qing troops were carrying either long spears, broadswords, bow and arrows, or even firearms; their body armor and helmet were shining, their weapons looked sharp, while they themselves did not wear even a cun of thread. They were feeling even more intimidated by the enemy’s weapons, one by one they stopped laughing, while a great sense of dread started to overwhelm their hearts.

When the Qing troops were in formation, the cannon from the back of the mountain were fired again three times; and then accompanied by string and flute instruments two large banners appeared. The large banner on the left had these characters on it: ‘Fuyuan Great General Wei’; the large banner on the right had these characters on it: ‘Great Qing Duke of Luding Wei’. Several hundred soldiers with broadswords in their hands marched out around a young general riding on a horse. This general was wearing red cap on his head and a yellow magua on his body, his eyebrows were raised, his eyes gleaming with laughter, he looked extremely wily. He lightly shook a feather fan in his left hand, just like Zhuge Liang; in his right hand he solemnly held a broadsword, just like Guan Yunzhang. It was none other than Duke Wei Xiaobao.

He dismounted from his horse, threw his head back, and let out three laughter, “Ha ha ha!” Just like Caocao in the opera. Too bad that there was no lackey by his side who would ask, “General, why are you laughing?”

By this time Tolbusin’s heart was filled with anger, yet he was unable to vent it out; in his rage he no longer cared about life or death. In a loud voice he cursed, “Chinese little demon, you use trick to capture me, you are not a hero. If you want to kill just kill, why do you humiliate me like this?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “How did I humiliate you?”

Tolbusin angrily said, “I … I am like this, isn’t this … isn’t this humiliation?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and asked, “Your pants, who took them off?”

Tolbusin was speechless; his clothes and pants were stripped by his own subordinates, obviously he could not blame it on this little demon general. In his fury, his face was bulging deep red; he rushed forward, wanted to stake his life in desperate fight against Wei Xiaobao.

Four personal guards by Wei Xiaobao’s side immediately rushed forward with long spears in their hands, the gleaming spearheads were pointing at him. Tolbusin had no choice but to stop; his hands involuntarily went down to cover his genitals. Seeing this, the officers and men of both sides roared in laughter.

Wei Xiaobao said, “Since you have surrendered, you will submit to the Great Qing, go to Beijing immediately to kowtow to the Chinese Emperor!”

“I won’t surrender,” Tolbusin said, “Chop me and make mincemeat out of me, but I won’t surrender.”

Raising his voice, Wei Xiaobao asked the rest of Luocha officers and men, “Are you all going to surrender or not?” The officers and men lowered their heads without saying anything.

Wei Xiaobao pointed to the white flag on the west side and called out, “Officers and soldiers who surrender, stand over there!” The officers and men stood still. Some of them wanted to surrender, but seeing nobody did, they did not dare to go first.

“Very well,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Since nobody surrenders, Cooks, come out!” From behind the group of personal guards ten cooks came out. Their upper body was bare, there were daggers and iron skewers in their hands; they stepped forward and bowed to take the order.

Wei Xiaobao said to Tolbusin, “Your Luocha Country has some kind of dish called shashlyk [‘xiashunike’[1]], I have enjoyed it in the past when I was in Moskow, the taste is really not bad. Right now I want to eat some!” Turning his head toward then ten cooks he said, “Make some shashlyk!”

The ten cooks replied, “We receive the order!”

Twenty soldiers pushed out ten iron stoves out, the charcoal in the stoves were glowing red. The Luocha officers and men looked at each other in astonishment; they wondered what trick this Chinese general was playing.

Wei Xiaobao waved his hand, immediately twenty of his personal guards pulled ten Luocha troops out. Wei Xiaobao shouted in Luocha language, “Cut their flesh, roast it into shashlyk!” Shashlyk was beef on iron skewer, barbequed over open fire; it was Luocha Country’s most famous dish.

The ten cooks walked over to the ten Luocha troops with the gleaming dagger in their hands raised high and thrust it down. The ten Luocha troops let out a blood-curdling screech. The personal guards dragged the ten Luocha troops toward the back of the hill, the ground was drenched with blood. Shortly afterward the iron skewers in the ten cooks’ hand had pieces of meat on it, which they brought to the charcoal stove and roasted it over the fire.

The Luocha officers and men watched in horror. In the quietness that ensued, they heard the crackling noise of the fire, and the fat dripping onto the fire, making a ‘chi, chi’ noise. Wei Xiaobao called out, “Get ten more Luocha troops, make more shashlyk!”

Twenty personal guards immediately pulled more Luocha troops. From ten Luocha troops being pulled away, four immediately shouted, “Surrender, surrender!”

“Alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Those who surrender stand over there.” The personal guards dragged the surrendering troops toward the white flag. Immediately several guards served them wine and meat.

The personal guards dragged four more Luocha troops. These four soldiers saw that those who surrendered enjoyed wine and meat, while those who did not surrender had their body cut and roasted to be shashlyk. Although they did not see which body part was cut, they saw that the Qing troops’ gaze was always fixed on the lower part of their bodies, which was not a good sign at all. Heart alarmed, trembling in fear, they could not help but screamed, “Surrender!”

By this time the six soldiers who previously did not surrender had also lost their stubbornness; they all cried out, “Surrender!”

Since there were people who set the example by surrendering first, the rest of the soldiers did not dare to flaunt their bravery. Without waiting for the personal guards to pull them, some of them walked over to the white flag. In a short period of time, more than eighteen hundred Luocha officers and men had surrendered, leaving Tolbusin alone standing stiffly on his original position.

“Are you going to surrender or not?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

“I would rather die than surrender!” Tolbusin replied.

“Very well!” Wei Xiaobao said, “I’ll let you go back to Yakesa.” He ordered Hong Chao to lead five hundred troops to escort Tolbusin back to Yakesa.

Tolbusin thought that since he was so unyielding, this Qing army commander would definitely kill him; unexpectedly he was willing to set him free, he was caught by surprise. “Since you agree to let me go, please return my clothes!” he said.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “I can’t return your clothes.” Turning to Hong Chao he said, “Escort him to Yakesa’s city wall, relay my message that we are going to besiege the city. Lead this naked-butt Luocha general around the city wall three times before letting him go into the city.”

Hong Chao received the order. He led the Qing troops away, shouting and laughing, dragging the stark naked Tolbusin along.

Lin Xingzhu said, “May I ask Commander, since we already caught this Luocha general, why did we let him go? The subtlety of this matter, would Commander kindly enlighten me?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Today we scored a great victory, do you know which stratagem we are using?”

“That is Commander’s divine strategy and amazing foresight,” Lin Xingzhu replied, “Subordinate can only prostrate myself in admiration.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head, “It was not my divine strategy and amazing foresight,” he replied, “It was the scheme that His Majesty has personally arranged. His Majesty said that in the past Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times, the strategy worked very well; he instructed me to imitate him. Have you seen the play ‘Seven captures of Meng Huo’? If you haven’t, have you at least heard mister storyteller narrated this story? Zhuge Liang ordered the state of Wei to prolong the battle, they could only lose, must not win. After fifteen consecutive defeats, he let Meng Huo captured seven army camps, luring him to enter the Pan She [coiling snake] Valley, and then burned the rattan-shield troops. The stratagem we used today was exactly Zhuge Liang’s stratagem.”

All the generals voiced their admiration. Wei Xiaobao continued, “His Majesty is merciful, he said that Zhuge Liang was too cruel in burning the rattan-shield troops, there were too many lives lost. If the Luocha troops surrendered, their lives should be spared.”

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[1] Shashlyk (literally ‘skewing meat’) is a form of Shish kebab popular throughout the former Soviet Union, parts of Eastern Europe, Mongolia, Iran and Israel. Shashlyk is originally lamb (in some extent pork or beef) depending on local preferences and religious observances. These skewers of meat are either all meat, all fat, or alternating pieces of meat, fat, and vegetables such as bell pepper, onion and tomato. Meat for shashlyk (as opposed to other forms of shish kebab) is usually marinated overnight in a high-acidity marinade like vinegar, dry wine or sour fruit/vegetable juice with the addition of herbs and spices. (Courtesy of Ace High)

[foxs]

Fu Dutong [deputy commander] Lang Tan said, “If not for Commander using that shashlyk tactic by cutting ten Luocha troops’ flesh and roasted it so that they were scared that their souls flew to the outer sky, these Luocha troops are extremely valiant, I am afraid they would not be willing to surrender. This stratagem is actually superior to Zhuge Liang’s.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Actually, the ten cooks have already prepared ten pieces of raw beef and hid them; they only made several cuts on the Luocha troops’ thigh, making them shouting and screaming loudly. The meat roasted on the stove is actually high-quality beef; as for what it tastes like, there is no harm in gentlemen having a taste.” The generals burst out in laughter. They instructed the cooks to present the ten pieces of beef shashlyk, cut it in pieces and put it into their mouths. Sure enough, it was sweet and tender, the skewered beef was delicious.

The generals asked again, “Since Commander has caught the enemy’s chief, yet you let him go, are you going to capture him seven times and release him seven times, so that he will not dare to rebel anymore?”

“It’s not that,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Actually when I was still in Beijing I also asked His Majesty the same question. I said that His Majesty is a ‘raw bird fish soup’, he is magnanimous, would he want to copy Zhuge Liang, capturing the Luocha commander and release him seven times? ‘That’s not it,’ His Majesty said, ‘If we want to copy Zhuge Liang, we must use strategy that is alive, not a dead one. Meng Huo was a barbarian tribal chief; if he said that he would not rebel, he would not rebel forever. We captured Luocha troops’ Commander-in-chief, even if he said he would not rebel, it would not do us any good. Luocha Country’s Tsar and Queen Regent may send other Commander-in-chief, and come here to infringe on our border.”

The generals nodded their head in agreement. Wei Xiaobao said, “Yakesa’s garrison soldiers are fierce and tough, their cannon formidable. If we kill Luocha Commander, the officers and men inside the city might elect another commander, who is more aggressive. Right now we stripped the Luocha Commander naked, and have him march around the city three times. From now on the Luocha troops inside the city will look down on him. He no longer has the prestige; when he boss people around later, he won’t be respected too much.”

The generals expressed their agreement together. Lin Xingzhu asked, “Was it part of His Majesty’s instruction to strip the enemy’s Commander-in-chief’s clothes and pants?”

Wei Xiaobao roared in laughter and said, “How could His Majesty think about something so preposterous? His Majesty only told me to find a way to boost our own troops’ spirit, while breaking the Luocha troops’ power and prestige. His Majesty said, ‘Luocha troops are big and tall, their entire body is hairy, they look like savages, plus their firearms are very sharp. When we go into battle against them, our troops will see their fierceness, most likely they will be afraid in their hearts; once their spirit is broken, it would be hard to achieve victory.’ His Majesty said, ‘Xiao Guizi, you know a lot of tricks, find a way to make our troops, from top to bottom, to look down on those barbarians.’ I thought about it long and hard, but did not find anything good. Until one night, suddenly I remember when I was small I went to gamble.”

The generals all thought, “What does you went to gamble when you were little have anything to do with Luocha troops?”

Wei Xiaobao smiled and said, “When I was small I went to gamble with other people in Yangzhou. My gambling temperament was not good, when I won some money, I would leave my pouch behind; when I lost I would be so engrossed in it that I lost my mind, if someone provoked me I would fight him, I am not afraid. There was one time someone fixed me up really good; the winner grabbed me, stripped my pants and let me go home with naked butts. People on the street clapped their hands and laughed at me. From then on my gambling temperament made considerable progress.” The generals roared in laughter.

Wei Xiaobao also laughed and said, “His Majesty said that fighting war must be flexible and adaptable, His Majesty can only point out the strategy in large scale, the actual execution of the plan will depend on my own thinking. I remember when I was little, I was afraid people might take my pants off, how could these Luocha troops not afraid? Sure enough, as soon as their pants were stripped, they obediently surrendered.”

The generals chorused their agreement, they were all very impressed. Some even thought, “This ‘pants stripping tactic’, even Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War’ does not have it. This Wei Tzu’s Art of War is actually very formidable.”

Wei Xiaobao ordered to have the Luocha generals and soldiers to be dressed in Qing troops clothes and hats, and then he sent a Canjiang [regimental commander, colonel] leading two thousand Qing troops to escort the surrendering troops to Beijing to be presented as prisoners of war to the Emperor. He retained twenty surrendering soldiers with loud voice to be used later. The secretary composed a memorial to the Emperor, saying that following His Majesty’s imperial instruction Fuyuan Great General Wei Xiaobao has won a victory on raising the flag, that Luocha troops admired China as a superior nation, that their hearts were bathed in submission, and thus they acknowledged our Emperor as the Holy Sage whose heavenly virtue transformed the barbarians, and so on. That evening Wei Xiaobao bestowed great rewards to the three armies.

By dawn the next day he personally led various army units to Yakesa. He saw smoke and fire covering the top of the city wall, within and without the city the cry of the battling soldiers shook the sky, the guns and cannon rumbled unceasingly. The besieging troops commander Peng Chun reported to the main force: the artillery barrage from the city was fierce, our besieging force suffered not a few injuries and deaths. Wei Xiaobao said, “Use our cannon, blast the damn city.”

Peng Chun left to relay the order. Not too long afterwards from east, south, west and north the cannon were fired simultaneously. Blast by blast the cannon bombarded the city. But Luocha people had lived in Yakesa for a long time, the defensive structure was built extremely strong, the soldiers and generals hid inside the solid rampart. Although the Qing troops had numerous cannon, the bombardment collapsed quite a number of building, the Luocha troops held fast and did not come out, in the end nothing could be done to them.

After several day of heavy assasult, He You led a thousand warriors climbing up the wall, from the top of the wall the enemy fired down over and over, killing three to four hundred Qing troops. Seeing the unfavorable situation, Peng Chun beat the gong to recall the troops. The Luocha troops standing on the wall clapped their hands and cheered. Several dozens Luocha troops even pulled down their pants and shot their pee down the wall; they were extremely haughty.

Heilongjiang’s general Sabusu was very angry, he personally led the troops to besiege the city. The troops on the wall rained down their bullets, Sabusu was shot and he fell from the horse. The Qing troops were immediately thrown into confusion. The city gate opened, several hundred Luocha troops charged out. Leading the rattan-shield troops Lin Xingzhu rolled down on the ground to intercept, brandishing his broadsword. The Luocha troops hastily jumped to evade.

This rattan-shield team was personally trained by Lin Xingzhu, they were adept in ‘Ditang Saber Technique’; as they rolled on the ground, the rattan-shield on their left hand blocked the enemy’s bullets, while the broadsword in their right hand hacked the Luocha troops’ leg. Seeing the unfavorable situation, Tolbusin hurriedly ordered his troops to withdraw. Lin Xingzhu was able to rescue Sabusu. The right side of Sabusu’s forehead was grazed by a bullet, luckily the bullet did not enter his skull; although his injury was serious, his life was not threatened. In this battle both sides suffered heavy loss, but the number of casualties on Qing troops’ side was higher.

Taking the military doctor along, Wei Xiaobao personally went to Sabusu’s tent to express his sympathy and his wish for speedy recovery. He also rewarded Lin Xingzhu heavily. And then he issued an order to withdraw the camp five li away from the city wall. That night he held a general assembly in his command tent to discuss the strategy to besiege the city.

Several generals said that that day the rattan-shield troops had set up great merit, tomorrow they should lure the demon troops to get out of the city so that the rattan-shield troops could chop the demons’ legs. Some said that the demon troops’ spirit was broken, perhaps they would not dare to get out and fight; it would be better to build long rampart to besiege the city all around, so that the enemy would die of starvation. Some proposed to dig tunnel and attack from underground.

Digging tunnel in besieging a city was an ancient technique in China. This idea reminded Wei Xiaobao of the tunnel underneath Yakesa, which he himself had used in the past, when he embraced the stark-naked Princess Sophia. Presently she had become the Queen Regent wielding power over the Luocha Country’s army and government, while Wei Xiaobao fought with the troops and horses under her command in here. He mused, “If right now she is in the city of Yakesa personally commanding the troops, I can enter the city from the underground tunnel and climb into her bed, one touch, two touches, touching her whole body I make her weak, this loose woman will definitely cry ‘surrender’.”

Seeing Wei Xiaobao was deep in thought but there was a hint of smile on his face, the generals thought that he had a brilliant idea. Immediately they all shut up and quietly wait for the Grand Marshal’s instruction. It never occurred to them that right this moment Wei Xiaobao was thinking about how to gently caress and stroke the golden-hair covered naked skin of Princess Sophia. They saw his eyes were closed, as he quietly muttered, “It’s so troublesome, even if I have the strength, I cannot eat her up completely.”

The generals looked at each other in bewilderment. They heard their Grand Marshal, “Damn it, with one kick she kicked me off the bed.” The generals were even more at a loss. They heard he said again, “Although this Luocha s1ut is formidable, Laozi will eventually find a way to handle her.”

“Commander is right,” Peng Chun said, “Even if Luocha demons are more formidable, we will eventually find a way to deal with them.”

Wei Xiaobao was startled. He opened his eyes and said in surprise, “We? So you are going to touch her as well?” But immediately he burst into loud laughter and said, “Right, right! The tunnel is too narrow, only one person can crawl at one time; also, the exit is in the general’s room, I believe by this time he has already had it blocked. We must dig another tunnel.” The generals were even more confused.

Wei Xiaobao stood up and said, “All gentlemen generals’ ideas are very good, we are going to eat them all, Green Dragon, White Tiger and Heaven’s Gate. Early in the morning tomorrow, everybody will separately build long rampart, dig the tunnel, while at the same time firing the cannon, luring them to come out and fight, then we’ll send the rattan-shield troops to chop the demons’ leg.” Since all their recommendations were accepted by their Commander-in-chief, the generals exited the tent with happy hearts.

Just before dawn the next day, the generals ordered the troops under their command to do different tasks. Peng Chun supervised and directed the troops to carry soil and build the rampart. Lang Tan arranged and set up the cannon, Ba Hai excavated the tunnel. Heading five hundred soldiers Hong Chao went to learn cursing words from the Luocha officers and soldiers to be used under the city wall. Only a pity Luocha people were shallow and unlearned; their cursing vocabulary was rather limited. Although the soldiers could curse loudly, the meaning was only so-so; after cursing back and forth it all came down to something like 'you are a stinky pig', or 'you ate feces', and so on. How could it be compared to our Chinese cursing with a lot of flavor, many postures and endless variation? After listening for a while, Wei Xiaobao was completely bored.

The Luocha troops suffered heavy setback the previous day by having their legs chopped; seeing the Qing troops’ might, they resolutely refused to come out; they only hid behind the city wall and cursed back.

The Qing troops fired cannonballs into the city, but the damage was minimal. In those days, gunpowder was stuffed into the cannon’s barrel, ignited, and catapulted the iron cannonballs into the city. If it was a direct hit, it could break human’s tendon and smash the bones, but if it fell on the ground, it would not cause sufficient damage.

For the last dozen of years or so, the common people in that area had suffered Luocha troops’ mistreating and killing them, countless families went bankrupt and more people died. When they learned about the Emperor sending troops to fight the Luocha demons, no one was not wildly delighted. Immediately some people brought wine and food to express their support for the officers and soldiers. Some even brought their hoes and shoulder poles to help building the earthen rampart. The news spread far and wide, even people from within several hundred li from this area also came to support the war.

From the top of the city wall Tolbusin looked down, and saw people like ants, continuously carrying earth to build the rampart; the long barrier outside the city was growing taller and taller, he knew that if this situation continued, they would be trapped to death. His hope was that the Luocha troops from Nerchinsk to their west would come to their aid. Only with pincher attack from inside and outside would they have a hope victory. He did not know that Kangxi had already anticipated this and had dispatched another unit of cavalry to pretend to attack Nerchinsk, hence gaining control over the enemy’s movement. The defending general of Nerchinsk was also hoping that Tolbusin would come to their rescue.

Luocha troops’ firearms had longer range, the Qing troops did not dare to be too close to the city. Yakesa was the base of Luocha troops’ operation on the east. Luocha people had grand ambition, they were planning on occupying the vast land over the Heilongjiang and Songhuajiang [Songhua River, Jilin province through Harbin] regions first, and then invade southward to collect the entire China into their domain, they wanted the millions upon millions people to acknowledge allegiance to them and became an empire. For this reason the Yakesa city wall was solid and thick, with enough ammunition in the city, army provisions piled up like a mountain, and would be able to withstand a siege for three years or five changes of seasons without suffering any deficiency. Deep wells were dug inside the city, there was no lack of fresh drinking water. Tolbusin was afraid the Chinese people inside the city would rise in revolt and join the attack from the inside, hence he brought all Chinese males to the city wall and killed them all, throwing their bodies down the city wall. When the Chinese soldiers and people outside the city saw this, they all hatefully hurled curses.

Gradually the tunnel was dug closer to the city. Wei Xiaobao thought that Mount Luding was the place where the Emperor’s dragon vein was located; if they dug and cut the dragon’s vein, he would have caused Kangxi’s demise, it would be greatly inappropriate. Thereupon he issued an order not to dig straight into town, but only to the ground underneath the city wall so that they could bury explosive and blow up the city wall, and then the main force could break into the city.

One day several wells inside the city suddenly dried up. Tolbusin was adept at military strategy, after receiving the report he thought about it for a while, and guessed correctly than the enemy troops were digging a tunnel, to such an extent that the source of underground water was cut somewhere upstream. Immediately he surveyed and evaluated the direction of the tunnel, and then dropped explosive on top of it. With a loud bang more than a hundred Qing troops digging the tunnel were killed, the tunnel was also blocked.

The city of Yakesa could not be broken, the weather was turning colder as the days gone by. Late autumn in this extreme-north, bitter-cold place, the temperature drop was not a small matter. When winter came, a water drop would immediately turn into ice. If one was not sufficiently protected, oftentimes one’s nose or ear would freeze and fall off. The tip of one’s finger stiffen, hands and feet freeze rotten, was a common occurrence.

After several days of heavy snow, the common people who helped the attack already could not withstand the cold; they bade their farewell to the officers and men, promising that they would return early summer the following year, when the ice thawed, to help the attack. They also advised the officers to withdraw to the south so that they would not freeze in this world of ice and snow.

Sabusu, Ba Hai, and the other officers had been stationed in the north for a long time, they knew when the winter came, the situation would be extremely dangerous. If there was a cold wave attack in the night, it would not be surprising if more than half of the officers and men would freeze to death in just one night. The Luocha troops lived in buildings, the walls would stop the cold air, but the Qing troops lived in army tents on the wilderness. Even though they could make fire, it would not be of any use. Thereupon they submitted their recommendation to Wei Xiaobao to withdraw to the south to avoid the cold.

Wei Xiaobao thought that the Emperor sent me to go into battle, not even a single city was taken, and he already wanted to withdraw the troops, inevitably he felt he was too useless; hence he hesitated for several days, without being able to make up his mind. His subordinate later reported that there were dozens of injured soldiers who were not able to withstand the cold and had been frozen to death. Wei Xiaobao was out of his wits when suddenly an imperial edict arrived.

[foxs]

Kangxi’s imperial edict said, “The troops sent out under the Fuyuan Great General Wei Xiaobao have done well, their excellent effort is to be commended. Presently the Luocha’s surrendering generals have received the Great Qing’s imperial order to go to Moscow to announce the imperial edict to the Luocha sovereign, urging him to cease dispatching troops, both countries will be reconciled forever. Thinking about the bitter cold weather, the soldiers and generals toil and sleep outdoors on ice and snow, Zhen’s heart is sorrowful; hereby Wei Xiaobao is to withdraw the troops to the south and station in Aigun and Kumarsk, two cities, to rest the troops and recuperate the warriors. When spring arrives and the Luocha troops are still obstinately resisting, and refuse to accept the beneficial influence of the sovereign, then you can march the troops again and sweep away and pacify the enemy in one stroke. Hereby Fuyuan Great General, as well as the generals, commanders, vice commanders and all officers and men under their command are to be rewarded with a set of clothes, gold and silver, wine, and food according to their rank. Various officers and generals must comply with Zhen’s desire, to cherish common soldiers, not greedy of quick meritorious service. Elite troops are sent on a punitive expedition to the north, the original intention was to protect the people; soldiers are also people. By the Emperor himself.”

Wei Xiaobao and his generals expressed their gratitude for the imperial decree. The generals all said that the Lord of Ten Thousand Years cherished officers and soldiers, the imperial kindness was vast and mighty, only thinking about by withdrawing from the siege, inevitably they had to abandon the meritorious deed in front of their eyes, everybody thought it was a pity. The imperial envoy delivering the imperial decree went around the camp to announce the decree and bestow rewards, the sound of soldiers’ cheering shook the earth.

The next day Wei Xiaobao ordered Sabusu to lead his troops to be the first to withdraw; he then ordered Ba Hai and Lin Xingzhu to stay behind, if the Luocha troops dared to get out of the city, they were to kill them and rout them completely.

Seeing the Qing troops retreating, the sound of Luocha troops cheering inside the city rose up; more than a thousand Luocha troops stood on top of the city wall and shot their pee down. Wei Xiaobao was enraged; he ordered his troops to pee toward the city together. Tens of thousands Qing troops urinating together, it was indeed a magnificent sight. On top and below the city wall, the roar of laughter and cursing mixed together. However, the Luocha troops were on higher plane looking down, their urine shot down the city wall, while the Qing troops could not shoot their urine up; hence in this urine battle they had lost.

There was urine everywhere under the city wall. When the cold wind blew, in an instant the urine turned into a layer of glistening yellow ice. Wei Xiaobao was so angry that he almost choked; pointing his finger to the top of the city wall he rained curses. The imperial envoy who had come to deliver the imperial edict tried to calm him down, “Luocha troops are just like beasts, Grand Marshal need not lower yourself to their level.”

“Can’t do,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “If we lose, we lose too much face!” He ordered his men to fetch the fire hose.

The fire hose was firefighting equipment; to guard against fire, whenever the troops march out and pitch camp, they always brought some. His personal guards came back, pulling more than a dozen fire hose equipment. Wei Xiaobao ordered them to push the equipment to the top of the earthen rampart. By this time the river water already froze, no water could be used. Thereupon he ordered the firefighting captain to melt ice and snow in a large cauldron, and pour the hot water into the hose. Wei Xiaobao pulled down his pants and peed into the hot water, and then he shouted his order to his personal guards, “Shoot to the top of the wall!”

Seeing their boss, the Commander-in-chief came up with this brilliant trick, the personal guards were excited; in high spirit they pulled the lever of the fire hose, pumping the water in the pipe so that a stream of hot water shot straight toward the top of the city wall. The personal guards shouted together, “Grand Marshal Wei bestows Luocha demons some urine to drink!”

As the hot water arrived, the Luocha troops shouted, cursed, and jumped around to evade. Some of the generals under Wei Xiaobao’s command inwardly exclaimed, “He’s making a scene!” Some others wanted to curry the Grand Marshal’s favor; they shouted and cheered on the side. It’s just that the weather was simply too cold, almost in no time at all the hot water inside the fire hose turned into ice so that they had to add more hot water.

Wei Xiaobao was in high spirit; he boasted and praised himself, “Zhuge Liang set the Pan She [coiling snake] valley on fire; Wei Xiaobao shot urine on Mount Luding. Both are equally impressive!”

Standing on the side, Vice Commander Lang Tan praised, “Grand Marshal’s urine shot greatly broke Luocha demons’ fighting spirit.”

Suddenly Wei Xiaobao was startled, his eyes grew big as he stared blankly. “Wow!” he cried loudly, jumped up and down, and laughed a loud. “Wonderful, wonderful!”

Wei Xiaobao ordered the drum to be sounded to summon the generals into his command tent; he asked, “How many fire hose altogether we have in the camp?”

The Canjiang in charge of military supplies responded, “Reporting to Grand Marshal: altogether we have eighteen units.”

Wei Xiaobao frowned. “Too few, too few!” he said, “Why didn’t you bring a bit more?”

“Yes!” the Canjiang replied. In his heart he mused, “Army camp caught on fire very rarely happened, eighteen fire hoses are more than enough.”

“I want a thousand units,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Quickly send people to the cities and towns around here to get more. When can we have it?”

That place was extreme north, close to the border, the area was vast, but sparsely populated, the nearest town was several hundred li away. These cities and towns only had several hundred families, the residents were impoverished and destitute, it was not likely that they would have fire hose in town; collecting a thousand fire hoses was a definite impossibility. The Canjiang looked distressed as he said, “Reporting to Grand Marshal: a thousand fire hoses, I am afraid we cannot find outside the Pass; we must go inside the Pass, to Beijing, Tianjin, and ship them here.”

“Fart!” Wei Xiaobao angrily said, “Go to Beijing, Tianjin and ship the fire hose back here, how long will it take? Fighting a war, even half a day delay is not acceptable!”

The Canjiang mumbled his agreement, his countenance changed greatly; he thought, “This time my head will be removed.”

The imperial envoy was sitting on the side; he could not bear not to advise, “Grand Marshal, you have already shot your precious urine up the Luocha people’s city wall. This … this precious spirit is not too honorable. We have already won the war, in Xiongdi’s humble opinion, it seemed that the cornered enemy … the cornered enemy need not be shot again.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head, “No, can’t do!” he said, “Without a thousand fire hose, this great undertaking cannot be accomplished.”

The imperial envoy thought, “You, the Grand Marshal, is just acting willfully and make a scene; shooting urine to vent your grudge, playing joke once in a while is not a big deal, why would you want to do it with such great fanfare? The Young Emperor loves to use young general; these two, a ruler and his minister, are of kindred spirit, other people do not dare to talk too much. But if you are making a scene, excessively doing things not according with decorum, unavoidably we will be the laughingstock of the world.”

He wanted to advise further, but he heard Wei Xiaobao said, “Gentlemen, generals, which of you can propose a brilliant scheme to immediately obtain one thousand or two fire hoses, it will indeed be a meritorious service of utmost importance.”

Peng Chun said, “May I ask Grand Marshal: you want these thousand fire hoses, is it to be used for … used for shooting urine to the top of the wall?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “If we have the thousand fire hose and want to use it to shoot urine to the top of the wall, how can we have enough people to pee? One million soldiers will not be enough.”

“Precisely,” Peng Chun said, “Subordinate is extremely stupid, I must ask for Grand Marshal’s direction.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Just now I saw our Marshal’s precious urine shot to the top of the city wall, it turned into ice instantly. If we use a thousand or two fire hose, day after day, night after night we shoot hot water into the city, what will happen?”

The generals were startled. Those whose brain was quick cheered first, and then the rest also understood; joyous cheers thundered inside the big tent, all generals cried out, “Brilliant, brilliant! Water floods Yakesa, ice freeze Mount Luding!”

After the joyous cheering subsided a moment later, someone said, “Even if we can have it shipped from Beijing and Tianjin, those thousand fire hose must be sent overnight.” Immediately several Fujiang and Zuoling volunteered to accept the order to obtain the fire hose.

Hong Chao’s official rank was rather low, he stood at the very back row. This moment he bowed and said, “Reporting to Grand Marshal: lowly general has a shallow opinion, would Grand Marshal hear it?”

“You may speak!” Wei Xiaobao said.

Hong Chao said, “Lowly general is a Fujian native, my hometown is very poor, we could not afford fire hose, when the countryside caught fire, everybody used bamboo tube as water guns to fight the fire. The bamboo water gun is made of coarse bamboo, with the blocks removed, at the tip we drilled a small hole, about the size of a copper coin. On the other end we used a wooden piston inserted into the bamboo tube. During the firefighting, the end with small hole was dipped into the water, the piston was pulled back, hence the bamboo tube sucks water until it was full, and then we pushed the piston, the water inside the water gun then shot out.”

“Hmm,” Wei Xiaobao muttered; he was trying to figure out how the water gun would work.

He You said, “Reporting to Grand Marshal: this water gun can be made big or small. When I was little, lowly officer played with my friends, we used water gun to shoot at people; it was fun. It’s a pity this area does not have big coarse bamboo. If we want to make water guns, this kind of coarse bamboo must be shipped from around the Changjiang [Yangtze River].”

“Do you have a better idea?” Wei Xiaobao asked Hong Chao.

Hong Chao replied, “Lowly general was just thinking, this area does not have big coarse bamboo, but big pine, big fir trees are abundant. We can chop down trees; if the center is gouged out, we can make big water guns.”

“Isn’t gouging the center of a big pine log not easy to do?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

A Fujiang [deputy general] surnamed Ban was born into a carpenter family in Shanxi; he said, “Reporting to Grand Marshal: this is actually not too difficult to do. We can saw the big log into two halves first, and then on the center of each half we can scoop out a semicircle groove, grind it really smooth, afterwards we join both halves together, the log will then have a hollow circular hole in the middle. When we put together the two halves, if we want to be exquisite, we can use bamboo shoot; but if it just a rough work, using big iron nails will also work.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted. “Wonderful!” he cried out, “How long will it take for you to build this big water gun?”

Ban Fujiang replied, “If lowly general work on it myself, I can make one in a day. If I work a day and a night, I may be able to produce two.”

Wei Xiaobao frowned, “Too slow, too slow,” he said, “You go around the camp to select your assistants, do it together, you be the Shifu, teach your apprentice. This is a rough work, you are not making the bride’s red-painted chamber pot, or a rich man’s wife’s coffin. The tree bark outside the water gun need not be stripped, as long as it can shoot water into the city, it’s good enough. Generals, let’s do it right away, cut the trees to make water guns!”

The generals received the order; they separately went out to lead their soldiers to do the assigned task. Some went to the woods to fell the trees. Some were dispatched on fast horses to common people’s houses to borrow hatchets, chisels, saws, carpenter’s planes, and other woodworking equipment.

Outside the Great Wall there were pine and fir trees everywhere, Argun River area was practically a forest, with countless century-old towering trees everywhere. The Qing army set to work, in less than half a day they already felled several thousand big logs. The number of soldiers who were originally carpenters was more than a hundred.

Ban Fujiang gathered these soldiers together, plus he selected four, five hundred handymen among the soldiers to be the assistants. They started to work that same night to make water guns. Ban Fujiang made the first water gun as the model. The water gun had a two-chi diameter hole in the middle [about 2 feet, 60cm], the barrel was about a zhang long [about 10 feet/3 meters]. At the end of the wooden piston he put a wooden crossbar, six soldiers, three on each side, were to pull and push this crossbar together. After the muzzle was put into hot water, Ban Fujiang gave the signal, six soldiers pushed the piston together, the hot water shot out of the water gun more than two hundred steps away.

Watching the demonstration, Wei Xiaobao cheered repeatedly. He said, “This is not water gun, it is a water cannon. We must pick a good name for it. Let’s call it … call it White Dragon Water Cannon.” Taking out some gold and silver, he rewarded Ban Fujiang and the officers and men who helped him building the cannon, while ordering them to work day and night to build more.

Seeing the Qing troops retreated, but then they came back, Tolbusin stood on the city wall to survey the situation; he saw countless logs piled up in the Qing army camp and thought, “Chinese barbarian cut down woods to build fire to warm themselves, apparently they wanted to continue the siege and not leaving. Humph, in half a month the blizzard will arrive, you will have to bear the brunt of it. Even if you build bigger fire, you won’t be able to block the ill wind and cold air in this ice hell.” He went down the city wall, ordered his personal guards to add fuel to the stove heating his room, and then he poured some strong Luocha wine and summoned two Chinese young women prisoners to serve him drinking the wine.

Peng Chun, He You, and the others dispatched the cavalry to go to the common people homes within several hundred li radius to borrow iron cauldrons and iron pots and brought everything to the main camp. They dug the ground to make furnace, piled the firewood, and collected ice and snow into piles so that from a distant the piles looked like small hills. They also covered each finished ‘White Dragon Water Cannon’ with tree branches so that the Luocha troops would not find out about it.

Several days later, Ban Fujiang reported that they had manufactured three thousand White Dragon Water Cannon. According to the position of the sun, the next day was an auspicious day, in the maoshi hour [between 5-7am] Wei Xiaobao was already out of his tent. The drums were struck to assemble the generals. He ordered the water cannon to be brought to the top of the rampart, with the muzzles aimed toward the city. The bugle horns were sounded, ‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’ the signaling cannon were fired nine times in succession. Officers and soldiers of all units immediately moved; they shoveled the ice and snow into the iron cauldrons and pots to melt it.

Tolbusin was sleeping peacefully underneath his warm blanket, suddenly he heard the cannon blasts outside the city. Hastily he jumped up and hurriedly put on his clothes, draped a sable fur coat over his shoulder, and ran to the top of the city walls to watch. At that time a blizzard was blowing, the sky looked like it was dusk; in the haze he saw wooden logs spread along the long rampart built by the Qing troops. While he was wondering what was going on, suddenly he heard the Qing troops shouted together, as if the mountain was split the earth cracked open, several thousand tree trunks suddenly shot water; from four sides eight directions water spurted into the city.

Tolbusin was shocked. He could only cry out one word, “Aiyo!” as a stream of hot water hit his chest. Actually the weather was really too cold, so that when the hot water was shot, it did not burn at all, but the momentum was enough to knock him off his feet that he stumbled and fell on the top of the wall. The personal guard standing next to him hastily helped him up.

They heard all around them people were screaming, while above their heads the water swooshing incessantly. Just like white dragons streams of water flew into the city. In an instant the city of Yakesa was covered in boundless thick fog, created by the water vapor condensing due to the contact with cold air. Tolbusin’s heart was shaken, “Chinese barbarians are using witchcraft!” he called out. Big tree trunks unexpectedly could spurt out water, no doubt it was witchcraft.

[foxs]

In his fright, he shouted, “Everybody open fire, don’t let the Chinese barbarians break into the city!” However, ever since that day when the Qing troops stripped him naked and paraded him around the city three times, he had suffered great lost in term of prestige in the eyes of his people, when he barked his order, the troops under his command did not jump to it like before. It was only because the situation was urgent due to Qing troops’ siege that the Luocha troops were afraid that if the city was broken none of them could survive alive, hence they defended the city with everything they had.

Suddenly seeing the huge and unexpected change this time, with several thousand columns of water shooting into the city, the troops scattered in all directions; how could they find the time to heed his order? Fortunately the Qing troops only shot water without trying to attack the city. After panicking for a while the Luocha troops started to calm down, yet they saw the water on the ground was turning into ice, while overhead streams of water freely rained down like it was poured from the sky, splashing down on them.

By this time in the city of Yakesa all the Chinese males had been killed, only some young women left, forced to be army camp prostitutes and to provide degenerate pleasures to the Luocha troops. Other than Luocha soldiers and military officers, Yakesa residents included civil officers sent by Moscow, missionaries and army chaplains, some military merchants, some rogue characters who went to the east to get rich by ill-gotten wealth, and some small thieves and big robbers, and criminals who avoided prison. In no time at all everybody was drenched like a drowned rat.

At first the water was still rather warm, but very soon the wet clothes turned cold; another moment, the wet clothes began to freeze. Everybody was shocked. In panic they took off their clothes, underpants and leather boots. They all knew that if the clothes froze, it would stick onto their skin; by that time their fingers would be too stiff to take it off. Even if someone helped them, oftentimes the skin would be torn, along with the clothes, pants, shoes or boots. It was really dangerous.

The level of water on the ground rose steadily, it slowly solidified into something like thin porridge. Since the Luocha people were barefooted, the cold penetrated their bones; they could not help jumping around while screaming, “Chilled to the bones, chilled to the bones!” Everybody tried to scramble to higher elevation, some people even climbed up their roof. Someone in the crowd cried out, “Surrender, surrender! If we don’t surrender, all of us will freeze to death.”

Wearing sable fur coat and holding an umbrella in his left hand, Tolbusin rode on a big and tall horse going back and forth on inspection. Hearing someone cried ‘surrender’, he shouted in anger, “Who is disturbing the troops’ heart here? Spy! Pull him down and shoot him dead!”

Everybody could see that the sable fur coat he was wearing was waterproof, his body was warm, yet he was shouting and cursing in here, while other people were freezing and hovering between life and death; everybody was indignant. Immediately someone picked up a piece of ice chunk and made a snowball, and threw it to him. Tolbusin raised the short gun, ‘bang, bang!’ he shot randomly toward the crowd, and killed two people instantly. The rest of the people immediately threw ice chunks and snowballs to him. Someone even pounced on him to pull him down from the horseback. His bodyguards brandished their saber to attack and kill, but how could they stop the mob?

In this chaos a small team of cavalry rushed over, Luocha mob dispersed in confusion. Tolbusin crawled up from the ground. By lucky coincidence two streams of water above his head happened to pour down, immediately his entire body was drenched. He bounced around while cursing loudly, and had no choice but to order his bodyguards to help him shedding his clothes and boots.

The Qing troops could see the sorry situation the Luocha troops were in, their shout of joy thundered over the earthen rampart. In mixed accent, north and south, they started to sing vulgar songs. One of the songs was inevitably Wei Xiaobao’s ‘one touch, two touches’, the ‘Eighteen Touches’ song.

Peng Chun and the other officers were busy giving directions. The team of carpenters led by Ban Fujiang intensified their effort repairing the failed water cannon. The water-boiler team was busy adding firewood to maintain the fire, while continuously shoveling the ice and snow into the pots. The water-transporter team brought hot water bucket by bucket and fed it into the cannon’s muzzle. When the barrel was full of water, “One, two, three, fire!” Six gunners pushed the piston as hard as they could. A stream of water like arrow shot out of the muzzle and flew into the city.

The Qing troops’ water cannon shot hot water columns as straight as a pillar. Some columns of water burst into water droplets as they reach the sky above the city, and sprayed down just like heavy rain. Some others were shot low, but maintained their shape and did not scatter as the stream hit a person. The quality of the water cannon differed one from another, some had great power and were able to shoot far, some had very short range, some even had their barrels cracked and burst open after only several shots; as a result not a few of the Qing troop’s ‘gunners’ were scalded.

After shooting hot water for more than two hours, out of three thousand water cannon, about six or seven hundred cannon went bad. At the same time, the water-boiler team could not boil ice and snow fast enough to feed the cannon, eventually the ‘ammunition’ failed to keep up with the firing of the cannon. After shooting for more than another hour, more water cannon were damaged, the hot water supply diminished, only about eight or nine hundred water cannon were still operating, the assault power was greatly reduced.

Wei Xiaobao was frustrated; suddenly he saw the city gate opened wide, several hundred Luocha troops rushed forth and shouting, “Surrender, surrender!”

By this time the gunshot wound on Sabusu’s head was almost healed; immediately he led his thousand-man cavalry forward to intercept. “Those who surrender sit on the ground!” he shouted.

The Luocha people looked at each other, they did not understand. One low-level officer in Qing army sat down on the ground, he shouted, “Sit down, sit down!”

Right this moment, the city gate closed again. From the top of city walls several volleys of gunfire shot down, killing several dozen of surrendering Luocha people. The rest of them scattered in all directions. The Qing troops aimed the water cannon to the Luocha soldiers and generals who opened fire at top of the city wall, streams of water were shot, the Luocha troops fell on the city wall.

By this time the water inside the city had reached two chi, and for the most part had turned into ice. For the whole city to be covered in ice and turned it into one big freezing city, it would need at least ten days to half a month. But the Luocha troops were without clothes without shoes, and they could not light fire, everybody was shivering in cold, their faces started to turn blue. Several soldiers pressed their bodies close together trying to warm themselves.

Tolbusin ran around freely while shouting and berating his troops, ordering them to defend the city. But his troops turned their heads around and ignored him. Tolbusin was angry, he reached out to slap an officer. The officer turned around and ran, Tolbusin chased him. Suddenly his foot slipped on the ice and he fell to the ground. A soldier nearby reached down to push him into a hole to collect water on the ground. Tolbusin struggled hard, but his hands and feet were numb, he was unable to crawl up. “Help me, help me!” he cried out.

The soldiers and officers all looked at him in despise, they congregated around the water hole. Not too long afterwards, the water in the hole started to freeze into ice, freezing Tolbusin along. His upper body was still outside the ice hole, he was still gasping for breath, but from the chest down it was as if he was buried alive in the ice.

At this point everybody had the same thought; they opened the city gate and shouted, “Surrender!” and swarmed outside.

In his ecstasy, Wei Xiaobao was dancing and flailing his hands and feet, while babbling nonsense. He tried to issue an order, but his words were completely unintelligible. Fortunately the high-ranking officers in the Qing army were all veteran generals who had been through many battles; they all responded, “We receive the order!” but actually they handled the surrendering troops on their own. They entered the city, disarmed the soldiers, and cleared up all formalities; everything was executed in clear and orderly manner, but actually it had nothing to do with Grand Marshal Wei’s order at all.

When they previously shot water into the city, they were afraid it was not enough, but now they wanted to burn the ice to melt it, turning it into water and disgorged it outside the city; however, it was not easy at all. In the end they had to let nature take its course.

Lang Tan led his troops to clear up the governor-general mansion first, they tidied it up properly before inviting Wei Xiaobao, Songgotu and the imperial envoy to enter. And then he went to the ammunition storage, firearm armory, gold and silver warehouse, and other strategic locations to seal them up, and assigned his troops to guard.

In those days the Qing Dynasty was strong, discipline in the army was strict. Inevitably high-ranking officials like Wei Xiaobao, Songgotu and the others could seize the opportunity to make easy money, but military officers and soldiers did not dare to take even one object without permission.

Inside and outside the city people were slaughtering the cattle and butchered the sheep in large scale celebration. Flattery from Songgotu and the others surged like the tide; they said that Grand Marshal Wei deployed the troops like deity, that even if Sunwu [Sun Tzu] of the ancient time was reborn, he would not be superior. The imperial envoy said, “This time Xiongdi went out, His Majesty repeatedly advised Grand Marshal Wei not to kill and injure too many people. Today Grand Marshal Wei took strong city, admittedly you have rendered amazing merit; what’s more impressive is that unexpectedly saber, spear, sword and halberd, bow and arrow and firearm, not a single one was used, not even one lowly soldier was killed in battle. In one day we devastated strong enemy, subdued famous city, without losing a single general a single troop; since ancient time, Grand Marshal Wei is the only one who can do this. Not only it is unprecedented, I am sure it will not be repeated in the future.”

Wei Xiaobao was immensely proud of himself; he blew his horn, “Breaking Yakesa would have not been difficult. The difficulty lies in the vast and mighty imperial kindness, who empathize with officers and soldiers, and do not allow too much casualties. For this reason Xiongdi wanted to wait until today to use this tactic, so that Imperial Envoy Minister can see it with your own eyes. We are working for His Majesty, fighting a victorious battle, that is nothing, anybody can do it, it cannot be considered rare. But to look up to honor His Majesty’s holy intention, to fight a victorious battle without killing people, this is a bit more difficult.”

All the generals thought that although he was tooting his horn, but to fight a victorious battle without killing people was indeed an enormous difficulty; thereupon they all nodded their heads. Songgotu said, “This is His Majesty’s flood of good fortune that Grand Marshal Wei is a genius.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Today, from top to bottom, everybody has rendered very big merit. If not for Imperial Envoy Daren and Suo Daren went in person to the front line, dauntlessly supervised and directed the battle, we would not achieve the victory this easy.”

The imperial envoy and Songgotu were greatly delighted, they were extremely grateful. During the battle just now, the two of them, civil officials, were hiding far away, for fear that they would be injured by firearm, arrow or rock; there was no such thing as ‘going in person to the front line, dauntlessly supervising and directing the battle’. But since Wei Xiaobao said so, that means in the report of their success, there would be a mention of their part in rendering some great merit.

Manchurian Qing army’s system of bestowing rewards for merit was most generous, far above any other meritorious service in other areas. There was a common saying, “Everybody carries the spending [money] sedan chair.” Wei Xiaobao was deeply versed in the way of the government officials, giving the imperial envoy that kind of merit did not cost him anything, he also had nothing to lose. When the imperial envoy returned to Beijing, he would definitely report and brag on Wei Xiaobao’s behalf in front of the Emperor, increasing his contribution from fifty-percent to a hundred percent, while at the same time, if Wei Xiaobao had done something that was beyond army regulation or went over his boundary, the imperial envoy and Songgotu would definitely spare no effort in concealing it, in guarding their mouths like a closed bottle.

After everybody had had their fill of food and wine, Sabusu’s subordinate who was in charge of the Luocha troops came to report that they had dug Tolbusin out of the icy hole, and brought him to the steps outside the building. By this time Tolbusin had already frozen to death, his whole body was blue. Wei Xiaobao sighed and said, “This man picked an unlucky name. If he was not called Tu’er Bu Qing [this is the transliteration of Tolbusin’s name, with ‘bu qing’ means ‘spreading blue’], but Tu’er Bu Cai [‘bu cai’ means ‘spreading wealth’], he couldn’t possibly turn blue, but he could make a fortune.” He ordered his men to fetch a coffin and prepare Tolbusin for burial.

After the surrendering troops were counted and the property, equipment, weapons, etc. in the city were properly inventoried, Wei Xiaobao, Songgotu and the imperial envoy jointly prepared a memorial to the Emperor. They then dispatched riders on fast horses to Beijing to report the success of their mission to the Emperor.

Book note:
In the military campaign this time, Deputy Commander Lang Tan was acting as the famous general Wu Bai’s son. Wu Bai was originally conferred the title ‘Jing Qi Ni Ha Pan’ (that is, ‘viscount’). After rendering great merit in Yakesa, Lang Tan was also conferred nobility title.

[foxs]

Chapter 48 - Duhu cannot establish Yumen [jade gate] Pass, generals attach utmost importance to copper pillar as boundary marker.
(Translated by Foxs)

Lu Ding Ji 48.jpg

Utilizing Ditang Saber Technique the Qing’s rattan shield troops used rattan shield to protect their bodies, while rolling around on the ground. In an instant the Cossak cavalry charged forward, the two troops clashed with each other. The rattan shield troops brandished their sharp blades, chopping the horses’ legs. The horses neighed and fell one after another.

[foxs]

That evening Wei Xiaobao and Shuang’er went to sleep in the governor-general’s bedroom. The fire was blazing high in the stove, they had fox fur quilt and sable fur mattress, the room was as warm as spring. This was the place he had previously visited. He opened the lid of the big wooden chest by the bed to look, inside the chest there were army uniforms and some firearms.

Shuang’er smiled and said, “Xianggong is hoping that a Luocha Princess is going to come out of the chest, right?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “You are a Chinese Princess, much better than a Luocha Princess.”

Shuang’er said with a laugh, “Too bad your Chinese Princess is in Beijing, she is not here.”

“Good Shuang’er,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Don’t you agree that today we have achieved ‘great success’?”

Shuang’er smiled sweetly, her cheeks blushed. Although she and Wei Xiaobao had been husband and wife for a long time, hearing her husband’s teasing she was still very bashful.

Wei Xiaobao wrapped his arm around her waist, the two of them sat side-by-side on the bed. Wei Xiaobao said, “You pieced together the map, spending not a few heart’s blood, in the end we reached Mount Luding, His Majesty conferred me the title Duke of Mount Luding, most likely he would let me govern this city. Underneath this mountain countless gold, pearls and treasured objects are hidden, we can slowly dig it out. I, Wei Xiaobao can change my name to ‘Wei Duobao’ [‘xiaobao’ – little treasure, ‘duobao’ – lots of treasure].”

Shuang’er said, “Xianggong already has a lot of gold and silver, you won’t be able to spend it all in several lifetimes; more pearls and jewels will be useless. I think becoming Wei Xiaobao is better.”

Wei Xiaobao gently kissed her face. “Right, right!” he said, “These days I cannot make up my mind. If I dig the treasure up, I am afraid I would sever the Manchuria’s dragon’s vein, and kill the Emperor. His Majesty always treated me not too badly, if he is killed, I would be rather unfair to him. But if I don’t dig the treasure, I feel it’s a pity. So, let us for the time being not dig the treasure out, wait ‘till His Majesty’s imperial self ascend to heaven, we turn poor and are hungry, then at that time we will dig.”

At this point, suddenly they heard a light ‘crack’ in the wooden chest. The two of them signaled each other with their eyes, while fixing their gaze on the wooden chest; after quite a while, however, nothing astir. Wei Xiaobao lightly clapped his hands three times, Shuang’er went over to the door and opened it, the four personal guards on duty outside the room bowed to receive the order. Wei Xiaobao pointed to the wooden chest and said in a low voice, “Someone’s inside!”

The four personal guards were shocked. They rushed over to the chest and opened the lid, but saw the chest was full of clothes. Wei Xiaobao signaled with his hands, the personal guards moved the clothes away, and lifted up the bottom of the chest, revealing a big hole. Right this moment, ‘Bang!’ a shot rang from the hole. “Ah!” one of the personal guards cried out as his shoulder was hit by the bullet and he tumbled backward.

Shuang’er hastily pulled Wei Xiaobao back and shielded him with her own body. Wei Xiaobao pointed to the charcoal stove and made a sign of dumping it. A personal guard picked up the charcoal stove and poured the blazing coals into the hole. They heard someone inside the hole cried out in Luocha language, “Don’t dump fire, I surrender!” followed by a series of coughing.

Wei Xiaobao called out using Luocha language, “Throw your guns up first, and then climb out.”

A short gun was tossed out of the hole, followed by a Luocha soldier’s head. A personal guard grabbed his hair and pulled him up, another personal guard pressed a saber on his neck. The Luocha soldier’s beard was caught on fire and it has not been extinguished; he was in so much pain that he bawled out ‘wah, wah!’ while climbing out of the hole in a very difficult situation.

“Anybody else down there?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Someone in the hole cried out, “There’s one more! Surrender! Surrender!”

“Throw your gun up!” Wei Xiaobao shouted. With a white flash a cavalry sword was thrown up the hole, followed by a ball of fire appeared. Turned out this Luocha soldier’s hair was on fire.

The other personal guards outside heard the commotion in the Grand Marshal’s room, several of them rushed in. Seven or eight personal guards grabbed the two Luocha soldiers and put out the flame on the two’s head and beard before tying their hands behind their backs.

Wei Xiaobao suddenly pointed to one of the Luocha soldiers and called out, “Hey, you are Wangba Siji [lit. tortoise (b@stard) dead chicken].”

The soldier’s face lit up. “Yes, yes,” he said, “Chinese little child high-ranking official, I am Huabosiji [needless to say, completely different set of characters. Vassili Poyarkov (Courtesy of Ace High)].”

The other Luocha soldier also called out, “Chinese little child high-ranking official, I … I am Qiluonuofu [Onufriy Stepanov (Courtesy of Ace High)].”

Wei Xiaobao stared at him for half a day; he noticed that his beard was burned into a mess, his face was red and swollen, but in the end he recognized him. “Right!” he said with a laugh, “You are Zhuluonuofu [lit. pig tribe coward]!”

Stepanov was greatly delighted. “Right, right!” he called out, “Chinese little child high-ranking official, I am your old friend.”

Poyarkov and Stepanov were Princess Sophia’s bodyguards. That year from Yakesa they travelled back to Moscow together with Wei Xiaobao. The two of them joined the gunmen rebellion at the Hunting Palace, and had rendered great merit. After Princess Sophia grasped the power, she rewarded the imperial guards and promoted her personal bodyguards to be captains. Four of them went to the east wanting to render more merit and get rich. When the city fell, one died in battle, one froze to death, the other two quietly slipped into the underground tunnel, thinking that they could escape out of the city. Who would have thought that the tunnel entrance outside the city was already blocked long ago? These two men could not advance or retreat, finally their trail was discovered.

In those days Wei Xiaobao called them ‘turtle b@stard dead chicken’ and ‘pig tribe coward’, how could the two of them understand the meaning? They only thought that the Chinese little child could not pronounce their names properly, hence they responded. They heard the Princess calling him ‘Chinese little child’, then they simply followed their example by calling him ‘Chinese little child’. After Wei Xiaobao rendered meritorious service, the Princess conferred him a nobility title. Thereupon the bodyguards also called him the ‘Chinese little child high-ranking official’.

Wei Xiaobao told them to tell him their story, and then he ordered his personal guards to untie them, and to take them out and serve them wine and food.

The personal guards were afraid there were more spies in the tunnel, they went into the tunnel and searched carefully. Only after verifying that there was no other tunnel leading to the city wall did they withdraw from Wei Xiaobao’s presence. The personal guards’ captain was terrified and repeatedly admitting his guilt; he thought that he was indeed very luckly, if these two Luocha troops came out in the middle of the night and murdered Grand Marshal Wei, the captain would have been executed along with his whole family unto the third generation.

The next morning Wei Xiaobao summoned Poyarkov and Stepanov, two people, and asked them the current situation of Princess Sophia. The two of them said that Her Highness the Princess was the Premier over the imperial court. The entire Luocha country, the princes and dukes, high-ranking ministers, generals and bishops, nobody dared to disobey her. The two Tsars were still young, in everything they obeyed their older sister.

Stepanov said, “Her Highness the Princess miss Chinese little child high-ranking official very much, she sent us here to find any news about you. She told us that when we see you, we must invite you back to Moscow to play, Princess will heavily reward you.”

Poyarkov said, “Her Highness the Princess did not know that Chinese little child high-ranking official led the troops here to fight. Otherwise, we all are beloved sweethearts, we all are old friends, there is no need to fight the battle.”

“You are speaking nonsense,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You lie!” The two of them swore an oath, saying that what they said was absolutely true, definitely not a lie.

Wei Xiaobao pondered, “His Majesty actually wanted me to find a way to make peace with Luocha country, there’s no harm in having these two fellows convey my message to Princess Sophia.” He said, “I'm going to write a letter, I want you to deliver it to the Princess, but I can't write Luocha earthworm characters, you write the letter for me.”

Poyarkov and Stepanov looked at each other in dismay; they both had an awkward expression on their faces. They only knew how to ride horse and shoot firearms, but when it comes to take up the pen and write, it did not even enter a single aperture of their head. Stepanov said, “Chinese little child high-ranking official wants to write a letter, the two of us cannot do it. We … we go find a priest to write.” Wei Xiaobao agreed, he ordered his personal guards to take these two men to the Luocha prisoners to find someone who can write.

Shortly afterwards, the two of them returned with a full-bearded army chaplain. At that time most of Luocha troops were illiterate; other than praying on their behalf and counseling the troops on spiritual matters, these clergies also had a very important duty, namely, writing letters for these troops to be sent home. The chaplain was wearing Qing troop uniform, but the uniform was too small; it looked as if the clothes were ready to burst at any time, he looked very ridiculous.

Trembling with fear, the clergy followed the two captains to see Wei Xiaobao. He said, “May God bless Chinese Great General, the Great Nobility, I wish for the Chinese Great General’s entire family to be safe and sound.”

Wei Xiaobao told him to sit down; he said, “I want you to write a letter for me, to be sent to your Princess Sophia.” The clergy repeatedly said yes.

Wei Xiaobao’s personal guards had already prepared the four treasures of the study [i.e. brush, ink, paper, and ink stone] on the table. The clergy picked the brush, spread the paper, and wrote curvy Luocha characters. He felt the brush was too soft, the stroke varied thick and thin uncontrollably; it was unspeakably difficult, yet he did not dare to criticize Chinese pen and ink even for half a sentence, for fear that he might provoke this Chinese general.

Wei Xiaobao said, “You write: Since we parted, I often miss Princess, I only wish I could marry the Princess and take you as my wife …”

The clergy jumped in fright. The brush dripped a blot of ink on the paper. Stepanov said, “This Chinese little child high-ranking official is Her Highness Princess Sophia’s lover. Her Highness the Princess loves him very much, she often says that Chinese lover surpasses Luocha lover a hundred times.” He wanted to curry Wei Xiaobao’s favor, inevitably he exaggerated greatly.

The clergy nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes,” he said, “Surpasses a hundred times.” His heart was shaken, his train of thought in writing was distracted, but he did not dare to write what Wei Xiaobao had said verbatim; he had no choice but to write some cliché that he usually wrote, which was the letter from the soldiers to their wives at home, some corny sentences like ‘my dear sweetheart’, or ‘last night I dreamed about you’, or ‘I want to kiss you ten thousand times’, et cetera.

Seeing his brush moved like flying, Wei Xiaobao was very satisfied; he said, “You, Luocha troops, occupy our Chinese territory, you killed many Chinese common people, the Great Emperor of China is very angry, he sent me leading the troops here, to catch all of you. I want to cut them all piece by piece, to roast them into ‘xiashunike’ …”

The clergy was startled, “Ah!” he exclaimed, “Oh my God!”

Wei Xiaobao continued, “But looking at you, the Princess’ face, I am not going to cut and roast them for the time being. If you promise that later on Luocha troops will not come again to violate our Chinese boundary, China and Luocha country will become friends forever. If you don’t obey, I will send troops to wipe out your Luocha men, and then you won’t have any Luocha men to accompany you in bed. If you want a man to sleep with you, you can only find Chinese man in the world.”

The clergy disagreed greatly in his heart; he thought, “Other than Luocha men, there are only Chinese men in the world, this sentence is too illogical.” He also thought that this kind of disrespectful sentences should never be written to the Princess; therefore, he decided to revise these several sentences with more respectful and intimate ones, presuming that this Chinese general would not know the difference anyway. But he was a careful man; afraid that his trickery would be discovered, he changed these several sentences into Latin. After he was done, he could not refrain from smiling.

Wei Xiaobao continued, “Now I am sending Wangba Siji and Zhuluonuofu to deliver this letter to you, along with my gifts. Whether you wish to be my lover or my enemy, you must decide for yourself.”

The clergy also changed the last sentence to a very respectful one. He wrote, “Cherishing the memory of Your Highness’ grace, the Chinese young minister sincerely offers tribute, as a token of his devotion and honesty. The young minister has grown over the year, but he has never been double-minded toward Her Highness. He hopes both countries to become reconciled, so that the Luocha army and civilian prisoners can be returned to their homeland; this would be Your Highness immeasurable benevolence.” This last sentence was due to his own selfish desire; he thought that if the two countries could not find agreement, he and the rest of the surrendering Luocha people would undoubtedly die in a foreign land, and would not return to their homeland forever.

When he finished writing, Wei Xiaobao said, “That’s it. Read it again for me.”

Holding the letter with both hands, the clergy read aloud; but when he reached the part where he revised the wording, he recited Wei Xiaobao’s original wording. Wei Xiaobao’s comprehension of Luocha language was rather limited. He heard the letter was seemingly more or less correct, how could he ever suspect that the clergy had the impertinence to alter it at will? He nodded his head and said, “Very good!” He took out the golden official seal ‘Fuyuan Great General Wei’ and stamped the letter using vermillion ink.

This letter was not exactly a love letter, yet it was not exactly an official document either. He ordered his guards to give the clergy a reward, and to summon the army secretary to put the letter into an envelope and write Princess Sophia’s name in Chinese characters on the envelope.

The secretary ground the ink stick to make thick ink. Dipping his brush he started to write the first line, ‘The Great Qing’s Fuyuan Great General Duke of Luding Wei offers the letter.’ The second line was, ‘E’Luosi Queen Regent Sufeixia [苏飞霞] Her Highness the Princess Gulunchang.’

The two-character ‘Luocha’ in Buddhist texts carried the meaning of ‘devil’, for this reason it was called ‘E’guo’ [i.e. another name for Russia in Chinese], to avoid giving any offense; in the formal document, it became ‘E’Luosi’. The secretary also felt that the three-character ‘Su fei ya’ [苏菲亚] did not sound too elegant, since the character ‘fei’ would remind people of ‘luxurious fragrant grass’ [芳草菲菲 (fang cao fei fei)], which would appear to be mocking her entire body which was covered in hair; thereupon he changed it into ‘Su fei xia’ [‘fei xia’ means flying red cloud], an allusion to the classical quotation ‘in the red cloud of the setting sun, a flock of ducks fly’, as well as the idiom ‘like red clouds hitting someone in the face’ to describe a woman’s beauty. Princess Gulun Chang was a title granted to the Qing Dynasty’s most respected Princess. The Emperor’s older or younger sisters were ‘Princess Chang’, the Emperor’s daughter was ‘Princess’. Since this noble woman was the Regent, plus she was the older sister of the two side-by-side Tsars, naturally she was a first-class princess.

When the secretary heard Wei Xiaobao said with a laugh, “This Luocha Princess has personal relationship with me. We have not seen each other for several years, I wonder how is she?” he added two more lines on the envelope: ‘Matter of personal, military, and the good fortune of the country. Like harmonious music, if there is any discordant, please take part in building harmony.’ [Translator’s note: sorry, it’s beyond me.] He thought that too bad the Luochas were unlearned nation that they could not necessarily understand Chinese classical works, or catch the meaning of play on words, or even analyze it, so that to them this quotation from the ‘Mr. Zuo’s annals’ was like a blind looking at smart countenance, inevitably this was a case of ‘pearls cast before swine’; he could not help but sigh.

[foxs]

Actually, not only the Chinese characters ‘E’Luosi Queen Regent Sufeixia Her Highness the Princess Gulunchang’ were foreign to Wei Xiaobao, even the phrase ‘The Great Qing’s Fuyuan Great General Duke of Luding Wei’, other than his own surname and two ‘da’ [大, from ‘Great Qing’ and ‘Great General’] characters, he did not recognize a single character. Seeing the secretary wrote lines of character in front of and at the back of the envelope, he said, “Enough, enough. Your handwriting is very good, a lot better than the Luocha’s big beard.”

He ordered to have the secretary rewarded by precious gift, fortunately it came from the treasury of the captured Yakesa, he did not need to spend a single wen of his own capital. And then he had Poyarkov and Stepanov, two captains, summoned to his presence. He instructed the two of them to select one hundred Luocha soldiers as their escort, and to deliver the letter to Moscow immediately. The two captains were overjoyed at this unexpected news; they did not stop bowing to express their gratitude, they also picked up Wei Xiaobao’s hand and repeatedly kissed the back of his hand. Tickled by the two men’s moustache, Wei Xiaobao was unable to refrain from laughing aloud.

The city of Yakesa was small, it could not hold the entire army. After discussing this matter with Songgotu and the imperial envoy, Wei Xiaobao assigned Lang Tan and Lin Xingzhu with two thousand troops to guard the city, while the main force would withdraw to the south, to Aigun and Kumarsk two cities to wait for the imperial decree. Before leaving, Wei Xiaobao solemnly warned Lang Tan and Lin Xingzhu, two people, not to dig well or excavate any tunnel within Yakesa’s city walls.

The army marched south. Wei Xiaobao, Songgotu, Peng Chun and the others were stationed at Aigun. Sabusu let the other army unit to be stationed at Kumarsk. Wei Xiaobao ordered the surrendering Luocha troops to wear Qing army uniform, and sent someone to teach them Chinese language. He had them memorize sentences like ‘Long live, long, long live to Our Emperor’, ‘The Holy Son of Heaven lives ten thousand years of boundless longevity’, ‘Chinese Emperor’s virtue reaches the four oceans, his imperial kindness vast and mighty’, and some others, and then he dispatched troops to escort them to Beijing. He told the prisoners to shout loudly along the main streets of Beijing, and when they had an audience with Kangxi, they must shout even louder. He said that the louder and more energetic they shout, the Emperor would reward them even more handsomely.

Several months passed, the winter turned into spring. Although in Aigun Wei Xiaobao lived comfortably, he missed Ah Ke, Su Quan, and his other wives, as well as Hutou and the others, his sons and daughter. He even dispatched his personal guards to deliver gifts back home. In return, his six wives also sent back clothing and other supplies. They all knew that he was illiterate, hence they did not send any letter; they only told the personal guards to convey their oral message: everybody in the family, big and small, were safe and sound; they all hoped the Grand Marshal would return triumphantly soon.

More than twenty days later, Kangxi’s written imperial order arrived; he greatly commended the officers and soldiers who went to war. Wei Xiaobao was promoted to be Duke of Luding, Second-class, the rest of the officers and soldiers were also promoted one rank. The imperial envoy who delivered the imperial edict handed a small wooden case sealed with burned lacquer to Wei Xiaobao, saying that it was a gift from the Emperor. Wei Xiaobao kowtowed to express his gratitude before opening the wooden case; he could not help but staring blankly. Inside the box was a golden rice bowl. The bowl was engraved with these four characters: ‘Gong Zhong Ti Guo’ [serving one’s country loyally’]; very likely it was the rice bowl Shi Lang gave him in the past. It’s just that the engraving was damaged, but was repaired.

Wei Xiaobao remembered that he left this golden bowl in his earl mansion at Tong Mao Alley; that night he escaped in panic, hence he did not bring it along. After thinking for a while, he understood the reason. After bombarding the earl mansion that night, the Vanguard Regiment sergeants must have been searching through the ruins to make a list of the remains of his property, to be presented to the Emperor.

This golden bowl had been damaged once, this time he held it carefully in his hand, so that he would not damage it again. Wei Xiaobao thought, “The young emperor is upholding yi qi toward me. We are even, I must not dig his dragon’s vein.”

That night he held a grand banquet, the imperial envoy and various generals came to be his guests.

Another month passed, Kangxi sent another imperial edict. This time he rebuked Wei Xiaobao harshly, saying that Wei Xiaobao deliberately acting willfully and making a scene by sending the surrendering Luocha troops to shout ‘ten thousand years of boundless longevity’; it was extremely senseless. The imperial edict said, “As the ruler, guardian of the government, it is my duty to do the will of Heaven, to cherish the common people. Although Luocha is a barbarian country outside the sphere of civilization, its people are also human beings. Since they have already surrendered to submission, they should not be bullied and humiliated. You as a high-ranking minister must reflect the ruler’s way of loving the people. If Zhen favors the crowd, although not having long life, I will be wise ruler. If I am arrogant, presumptuous and tyrannical, this ‘ten thousand years of boundless longevity’ will only bring suffering all over the world. High-ranking minister resorts to heretical flattery, it indicates the ruler is not virtuous. The guilt is the most grave, definitely it has to be prohibited.”

This time Wei Xiaobao wanted to pat the horse’s butts, but he patted the horse’s foot instead; he bumped into a hard nail. Luckily his face was very thick, he did not give it another thought. In front of the imperial envoy who delivered the edict he cursed himself, saying that he deserved to die, but in his heart he said, “Who in the world does not love to be flattered? It must be that those Luocha troops did not say the Chinese words correctly, so that the Emperor could not make any sense of it, hence he was angry.” He summoned the several secretaries whom he ordered to teach the Luocha troops to speak Chinese, and reprimanded them severely. Finished cursing, he opened up a table and gambled with them; they threw several rounds of dice, Kangxi’s reprimand was already tossed beyond the topmost clouds.

One day another imperial edict arrived from Beijing, appointing Wei Xiaobao and Songgotu as high-ranking minister to negotiate peace, to draw up a peace treaty with the Luocha country. Kangxi also sent the Bordered Yellow Banner’s Han Army’s Commander, First-class Duke Tong Guogang, Army Guardian Commander Ma La, Shangshu [see Chapter 37] A’erni, and Left Imperial Censor Ma Qi, four people as their assistants.

Finished reading the imperial edict, Tong Guogang took out another scroll of document and read it aloud. Actually it was the letter sent to Kangxi by the Luocha country’s two Tsars, which was translated into Chinese by Dutch missionary in Beijing. The official document read, “Sincerely offered to pacifier of the far away Huaxia [old name for China, Cathay], steeped in the universe, leading the worthy ministers for a common plan to govern, appointing separate territories, unified by the Manchurian Qing, your reputation reaches far and wide, the Great Sage Emperor said: toward his father Aleksey Mikhailovich, who has bestowed Nicolai and the others the Celestial Empire, to have friendly relations, yet was not well-versed in Chinese ceremony, language and manners; for the vulgarity, uncouthness and lack of culture, we hope for forgiveness. In praise of the Emperor, any erroneous, confusing or lacking in manners, are also because our location in the desolate, distant place, rituals are unadorned and concealed from us, hence the Emperor did not see it and put the blame on us.

In the past the Emperor has bestowed a letter, our humble country did not understand the meaning, not because it was intentional. Until Nicolai and the others returned and inquired, still they stated that we do not owe the Celestial Empire’s Minister escaping people like Gentemu’er and the others, as well as any news of disturbance on the frontier. When we heard the Emperor is dispatching troops, it brings disgrace to the border, and loses the friendly relations. In the event that our humble country’s people who live on the border starting a dispute and rise in revolt, the Celestial Empire should dispatch an envoy to clearly indicate the situation, and propose a strict measure to control the guilt; why bother to easily resort to arms?

Today receiving the imperial decree, only then did we understood the situation from beginning to end, thereupon we issue an order to dispatch our humble country’s officers and soldiers, by no means to engage in war. Respectfully requesting our people who started the rebellion to be sent back to face the law, while at the same time dispatching an envoy minister to agree upon the boundary of our countries, Xianlingmoqi, Fo’erweiniugao, Ivan, Fa’eluowa and the others [these must be Russian names, but I have no idea the correct transliteration] to rapidly confer the letter. Begging you to remove the siege of Yakesa, to document all cases in details, and let our humble country know. When all of these are put to rest, forever we will look back at it from the distant.

Your precious country’s high-ranking minister, His Excellency Wei Xiaobao in the past has met our Her Highness the Imperial Sister Queen Regent Sophia, and from afar has visited our capital Moscow, has brought order out of chaos, and has rendered great merit to our humble nation. For your precious country’s favor, our humble country’s ruler and his ministers will not dare to forget. We sincerely send the heaviest gift to be presented to Your Majesty, the Great Sage Emperor, and next in line to be presented to His Excellency Minister Wei Xiaobao, to show our humble nation’s genuine desire to cultivate friendship with our neighbor.”

(Book note: This official document sent by Russia was verified in accordance with historical records. Only the last section pertaining Wei Xiaobao was perhaps only exist in the novel, and should not be taken at face value.)

After Tong Guogang finished reading the official letter, the secretary explained in details the content of the letter to Wei Xiaobao. It was a standard procedure in the army; official documents come and go, sometimes the writing was rather complicated, while the number of illiterate generals leading the troops was in fact numerous. Although those generals went to school for several years, sometimes their knowledge was rather limited. Military communications concerned important military and intelligence information, if it was misunderstood, the responsibility was too great; for this reason, any Manchurian army unit always had a secretary who explains the provision of the document.

Tong Guogang laughed and said, “This Queen Regent of Luocha country cherishes old friendships with Grand Marshal Wei quite a bit, the gifts she sent are indeed not a few. His Majesty instructed Xiongdi to bring everything to be handed personally to Grand Marshal Wei.”

Wei Xiaobao cupped his fist and said, “Thank you very much, thank you very much.” And then he added, “Luocha people do not understand etiquette, they did not say that their gifts are light, they really blow their horn by saying that their gifts are heavy. The gift to His Majesty is heaviest, the gift to me is the next heaviest; they are not afraid people would laugh at them.”

“Yes,” Tong Guogang replied, “The surrendering Luocha people Grand Marshal Wei presented to the Capital have been personally examined by His Majesty; he found out that among them, there is one high-ranking Luocha official …”

“Ah!” Wei Xiaobao exclaimed in surprise, “Is there such thing?”

Tong Guogang said, “This man is extremely crafty, he mingled among the lowly soldiers, not making the slightest bit of word or movement. That day His Majesty interrogated the surrendering people one by one, he had a Dutch missionary as the interpreter. After the interrogation, His Majesty spoke several Latin sentences to the missionary, among the surrendering Luocha people, there was one lowly soldier whose face suddenly changed. His Majesty asked him if he understood Latin. The lowly soldier repeatedly shook his head. So then His Majesty said in Latin, ‘Take this soldier out and chop his head.’ The soldier’s countenance changed greatly. He kneeled down and begged for mercy, confessing that he understood Latin.”

“What is Latin language?” Wei Xiaobao asked, “When those Luocha people were talking about pulling able-bodied men to carry army provision[1], how can His Majesty understand?”

“His Majesty is intelligent and wise,” Tong Guogang replied, “Nothing that he does not know. Luocha people were talking about pulling able-bodied men, he can also talk like that.”

“Why is it when Luocha people speak about other thing His Majesty does not understand, but then they are talking about pulling able-bodied men he can understand?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Tong Guogang did not know how to answer that question; he laughed and said, “The reason behind it, none of us can understand. Next time the Grand Marshal have an audience with His Majesty, you may kowtow and ask him personally.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded. “What happened to that Luocha man?” he asked.

Tong Guogang said, “His Majesty interrogated him carefully, in the end that man could not conceal the truth, bit by bit he told him everything. Turned out that man was called Ya’erqingsiji [Yerofei Khabarov?]; he was the governor-general of Nerchinsk and Yakesa, two cities.”

When everybody heard this, they could not help exclaiming, “Ah!”

Wei Xiaobao said, “This fellow’s official position is not low.”

“Isn’t that so?” Tong Guogang said, “Among the government officials Luocha country sent to the east, his official rank is the highest. When the city of Yakesa fell, he must have changed into lowly soldier’s uniform so that he was well-hidden.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said with a laugh, “When we made a breakthrough on the Yakesa city that day, Luocha’s generals, lowly soldiers, high-ranking officials, low-ranking officials, everybody was stripped naked. Looking back and forth, they all looked the same, there was really no distinction one from another. We could not see that those with higher official rank would have a bit bigger thingy. Xiongdi did not … I could not recognize this high-ranking official, it’s actually not our fault.” The generals roared in laughter; they then told Tong Guogang about the fall of city of Yakesa that day.

Tong Guogang laughed and said, “So that’s how it is. No wonder. His Majesty said: Wei Xiaobao captured Nerchinsk and Yakesa, two cities; his meritorious credit is not small. But he thought this man was an ordinary soldier, the way he work is too muddleheaded. His merit compensates for his guilt, in this case there is no reward and no punishment.”

Wei Xiaobao stood up and respectfully said, “His Majesty’s grace, his servant is extremely grateful.”

Tong Guogang said, “His Majesty interrogated this Ya’erqingsiji six days in a row. Luocha country’s army and government, territory and products, everything was questioned in details. His Majesty is indeed divinely brilliant, from this Ya’erqingsiji he found a secret. According to Grand Marshal Wei, when this man was captured, he was not wearing one thread; who would have thought that he had a way to conceal secret document?”

“His granny,” Wei Xiaobao cursed, “This A’erxiansiji [lit. ol’ second convulsing dead chicken] is really full of devilish tricks and cunning stratagem. Next time I see him, I must look at him really well. This secret document, where did he hide it? Could it be he hid it inside his @ss … @ss …”

Tong Guogang said, “Before the surrendering Luocha people had an audience with His Majesty, naturally their whole body would be searched carefully by the Imperial Bodyguards; hair, beard, must be groped, pants and boots must be taken off and examined. Foreigners who conceal wicked intentions, if they hide sharp weapon in their body, what would happen then? Naturally this Ya’erqingsiji was also searched carefully, but nothing was found on him. However, His Majesty can see clearly down to the smallest detail; he saw his right shoulder was bulging, and he was constantly looking askance on it, so he asked him what the object on his shoulder was. Ya’erqingsiji pulled his sleeve, showing a thick bandage on his arm, saying that it was an injury he received in Yakesa. His Majesty ordered him to step forward, and then with force he pinched on his arm. Ya’erqingsiji cried out, ‘Aiyo!’ but his voice did not sound like he was in pain.”

“Interesting, interesting!” Wei Xiaobao said with a laugh, “This Luocha demon’s injury is fake.”

“Isn’t that so?” Tong Guogang said, “His Majesty immediately ordered the Imperial Bodyguards to take off the bandage on his arm. Ya’erqingsiji’s countenance turned ash grey, he was so scared that his whole body trembled. Grand Marshal Wei, can you guess what was hidden in his bandage?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Just now you said it was a secret document, could it be it was exactly that?”

Tong Guogang clapped his hands and said, “Exactly. No wonder His Majesty often praise you and say you are smart, sure enough you got it with only one guess. The object hidden inside that Ya’erqingsiji’s bandage was precisely a secret document, the imperial order given to him by Luocha country’s Tsar. His Majesty had the Dutch missionary translated it to him, and I have a copy of it here.”

---

[1] Latin – ‘la ding’; pulling able-bodied men (capable of fighting in a war) – ‘la zhuang ding’. ‘La ding’ itself can mean ‘kidnaping and forcing people into service’.

[foxs]

From an envelope he took a document and read it in loud voice, “Thou shalt make Chinese Emperor aware: The owner of the entire Great E’luosi [Russia], the Minor Russia, the White Russia is the authoritarian monarch, the Great Sovereign Emperor and the Great King over many nations His Majesty Russian Emperor. When the Emperor arrives at distant places, the sovereign kings of many nations take refuge under His Majesty the Great Emperor’s supreme rule. That Chinese Emperor should also try to obtain the owner of the entire Great Russia, the Minor Russia, the White Russia, the authoritarian monarch, the Great Sovereign Emperor’s grace, and take refuge under His Majesty the Great Emperor’s supreme rule. His Majesty the Great Emperor will definitely love and protect the Chinese Emperor according to his vast and mighty imperial kindness; furthermore, he will protect him, will save him from the enemy threat. If that Chinese Emperor alone takes refuge under His Majesty the Great Sovereign, submit himself under His Majesty the Russian Emperor’s supreme rule, and everlastingly faithful, and bring tribute to the Great Sovereign, His Majesty the Great Sovereign’s subordinates shall be allowed to have freedom in setting up military camp and conduct trades within the Chinese border. For this reason the Chinese Emperor should agree to let His Majesty the Great Emperor’s envoys and ministers to pass freely without hindrance. Furthermore he should respond to His Majesty the Great Emperor’s letter.”

(Book note: This document is authentic. When Kangxi arrested Russian minister, he was imprisoned for half a month before being sent back to his own country. This document was confiscated from his possession, and was stored in the Palace’s archive. The original photograph can be seen in the ‘Forbidden City Russian History’.)

For each sentence Tong Guogang read, Wei Xiaobao cursed one word, “Fart!” By the time Tong Guogang finished, Wei Xiaobao already cursed several dozen of “Fart!”

Tong Guogang said, “His Majesty issued an imperial edict: Luocha people has grand ambition, they are extremely rude. The Luocha Emperor who issued this secret document was the father of current two Tsars; he had already passed away. At that time he still did not know that we, Chinese people, are formidable. Now Luocha people have suffered hardship, presumably they would not dare to be as wanton as they used to be. But when we are negotiating peace with them, we still have to use gentle methods and force [i.e. carrot and stick]; we can’t be too careless.”

“Absolutely,” Wei Xiaobao said, “His Majesty has commanded, we give them a few slaps on their mouths, a few kicks, but also a few pats on their shoulder, and a few rubs on their back.”

Tong Guogang continued, “That Queen Regent is very crafty, she pretended that she did not know that Yakesa has fallen into our hands, she issued an order that Luocha troops must not have armed confrontation with us. But the official document has exposed the horse’s foot, she asked the Emperor to send back the captured Luocha people so that they could face the law.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “How can it be so easy? She sent me several mink fur coats, several pieces of precious stones as the next heaviest gift, and then wanted us to release her officers and men?”

Tong Guogang said, “His Majesty’s order: Since the Luocha people are looking for peace, there is no harm in negotiating peace with them. But we must bring the main force along, and set the terms of their surrender [orig. ‘pledge under the city wall’].”

“What is that ‘pledge under the city wall’?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Tong Guogang explained, “When two countries are at war, our main force besieging a foreign city. The foreigners ask for peace, we set up peace treaty under his city walls. This is called ‘terms of the surrender’. Although the foreigners can’t be considered surrendering, in the end they are admitting defeat.”

“I see,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Actually, we sent the troops to take down Nerchinsk, it was not too difficult.”

Tong Guogang said, “His Majesty’s imperial edict: to attack and take over several more cities is actually within our grasp. But Luocha is a big country in the present age, the number of small nations under its command is a lot. If they are defeated silly in the east, their prestige would suffer great damage, the smaller nations under its command would not accept it. If that happens, Luocha will definitely send their main force to retaliate, and then we will be ravaged by successive wars, which will last for I don’t know how many years, how many months. His Majesty interrogated that Ya’erqingsiji, and found out that west of Luocha there is another big country called Sweden, and these two countries are on the verge of a great war. If Luocha has to fight both wars, east and west at the same time, they will have a headache. If we seize this opportunity the set up peace treaty with them, it would be greatly advantageous to us. At least we can guarantee a hundred years of peace and security north of Xinjiang.”

After achieving great victory, Wei Xiaobao was still very fired-up that he wanted to take down Nerchinsk as well; but when he heard that the Emperor has agreed to pursue peace agreement with the Luocha country, his spirit was greatly dampened. However, this was the Emperor’s strategic decision, no matter what he wanted to do, or how far he wanted to go, he simply could not disobey the imperial edict. But then he thought, “You are His Majesty’s jiujiu [maternal uncle], hence you are also my wife’s jiujiu, so you can be considered my elder. You are a first-class duke, I have just been promoted to be a second-class duke. This time negotiating peace with Luocha people, His Majesty is sending you to be my assistant; the face His Majesty is giving me is indeed not small.”

Tong Guogang’s father, Tong Tulai was Kangxi’s mother, Empress Xiao Kang’s father, a Han. As a result, Kangxi’s lineage was actually half Manchu half Han. By this time Tong Tulai had already died, Tong Guogang inherited his title as the First-Class Duke. In his early years Tong Tulai surrendered to the Manchurian Qing outside the Pass, and joined the Bordered Yellow Banner. His military contribution was outstanding, his reputation was well-known. Only Wei Xiaobao thought that his name was quite disappointing. Tulai, Tulai, it sounded like someone lost in gambling and wanted to renege [‘du’ – gambling, ‘lai’ – renege; different characters from Tulai]; a magnificent country’s father-in-law, why would he want to do that?

That evening, after the feast to welcome the guests, under the Grand Marshal Wei’s recommendation, they threw several rounds of dice. Indeed Tong Guogang lost; but pushing away six hundred taels, he did not even blink, not in the least wanted to renege. Seeing he could take the loss in a frank and straightforward way, without putting on an air at all, Wei Xiaobao was quite impressed. It was not until he returned to his bedroom and lay down on his bed that he suddenly realized, “His name is Tong Guguang [‘gu’ – bones, ‘guang’ – bright, different characters from Guogang], clearly I must beat him clean [‘qing guang’] in dominoes [‘gu pai’]. This man’s gambling character is fabulous, I can make friends with him.”

The next day Wei Xiaobao had a meeting with various ministers. Everybody agreed that since they were going to discuss the terms of surrender with the opposite side, there was no harm in bringing the main force along, to wait leisurely for the exhausted enemy. Wei Xiaobao nodded his approval, and promptly issued an order for the forces in Aigun and Kumarsk to start moving and meet outside the city of Nerchinsk. By this time it was already summer, the weather was warm, the snow had disappeared completely; the army marched very comfortably.

One day they reached the bank of Hailar River, the vanguard unit came back to report that there was a small company of Luocha troops, the captain of this group was seeking an audience with the Grand Marshal. Wei Xiaobao summoned the captain. Turned out they were Poyarkov and Stepanov, two people.

“Very good, very good!” Wei Xiaobao said, “Turns out it’s tortoise b@stard dead chicken [Wangbasiji] and pig tribe coward [Zhuluonuofu].” The two men bowed and saluted before presenting Princess Sophia’s letter.

Up to this time the Luocha clergy still remained in the Qing army camp in case his service was still needed. In order to negotiate peace and sign the treaty document, Kangxi also dispatched a Dutch missionary to help them. Wei Xiaobao summoned both clergies to his tent, and ordered them to translate Princess Sophia’s reply.

That day the Luocha clergy altered the intent of Wei Xiaobao’s love letter; right now he was very anxious and fearful, afraid that the Princess’ letter would expose the horse’ foot. Hastily he took the letter and scanned it once; only then did he feel relieved. The Dutch missionary then translated the Luocha text into Chinese.

The letter said: Ever since we parted, I often think of you, hoping that after the peace treaty is signed, Wei Xiaobao can visit Moscow and rekindle old friendship. Wei Xiaobao is doted on by the rulers of both countries; therefore, he must explain and clear up all kinds of misunderstanding, remove the estrangement, and establish the foundation with which both countries will be reconciled for all ages.

The letter also said: China and Luocha were separated east and west; furthermore, both are great countries of this age. If the two join hands and form an alliance, we can dominate the world, no other country will be able to defy. If the two countries are in hostility with each other, engaging in long-term conflict, inevitably both sides will suffer. For this reason I hope Wei Xiaobao can facilitate this matter; while admittedly he will set up great merit to China, Luocha country will definitely also reward him heavily. In addition, would Wei Xiaobao please talk to Chinese Emperor, to release the prisoners, the captured Luocha coutry’s officers and soldiers, so that their family and beloved will be delighted to meet again.

After the Dutch missionary finished translating, Wei Xiaobao saw Poyarkov and Stepanov, two men, repeatedly gave him meaningful look; he knew that there must be another matter. Dismissing the two clergies, he asked, “Is there anything else you want to say?”

Poyarkov said, “Her Highness the Princess wanted us to tell Chinese Little Child High-ranking Official that Her Highness the Princess miss you very much, Luocha men are not good, Chinese Little Child High-ranking Official is number one in the world, she insists on inviting you to Moscow.”

“Humph,” Wei Xiaobao thought, “This is Luocha flattery [orig. confusing soup], absolutely cannot be trusted.”

Stepanov said, “Her Highness the Princess has a few other things she would like Chinese Little Child High-ranking Official to do. This is the gift Her Highness the Princess gives you.” While saying that he removed a copper chain from his neck, at the end of the chain was a leather purse. Poyarkov also did the same. Presumably because the two of them were traveling a long and difficult trek, they were afraid they might lose it, thus they tied it on their neck using copper chain.

The openings of these two leather purses were locked using copper locks. Poyarkov took out a key from his belt to unlock Stepanov’s copper lock. Stepanov also took out his own key to open the lock on Poyarkov’s leather purse. The two of them respectfully put the leather purses on the table in front of Wei Xiaobao.

Wei Xiaobao turned the leather purse upside down, with a ‘ding dang’ jingling noise several dozen precious stones came out, all kinds of sizes and colors, rich and diverse, glittering gloriously; there were huge ruby, sapphire, and yellow gem. The other purse contained diamonds and emeralds. Instantly the tent was filled with their glitter, dazzling and beautiful. Wei Xiaobao has seen countless jewels and precious stones in his life, but he had never seen these many big precious stones lumped together. He laughed and said, “Princess gives me this kind of heavy gift, I really cannot accept.”

(Book note: According to ‘Yanjing [old name for Beijing] Scholarly Journal’, volume 25, Liu Xuanmin wrote the ‘Examination on China-Russia early commercial trade’, Russia sent the ambassador Feodor Alekseyevich Golovin to negotiate with China on the boundary, trade relation, and economic affair. During his journey east, Golovin received imperial court’s secret order, seriously instructed him: if he could obtain favorable trade relationship with China, there was no harm in giving up Yakesa to the Chinese. Furthermore, as long as it did not damage the Russian Emperor’s prestige and within limit, he was authorized to secretly give considerable gifts to the Chinese delegation as a bribe.)

Poyarkov said, “Her Highness the Princess said that if Chinese Little Child High-ranking Official succeed, there will be more precious gift for you; plus beautiful women from Great Russia, Minor Russia, White Russia, Cossack, Tatar, Sweden, Persia, Poland, Germany, and Denmark, ten countries, one from each country, each one is young and good looking, all are virgins, no widows at all. Everything will be delivered to Chinese Little Child High-ranking Official.”

Wei Xiaobao roared in laughter. “I can’t deal with my seven wives already,” he said, “With ten more beautiful women, Chinese Little Child High-ranking Official will immediately breathe his last.”

“Can’t be, can’t be,” Poyarkov repeatedly said, “Her Highness the Princess has already prepared these ten beautiful women, we have seen them with our own eyes, everyone’s countenance is as pretty as a rose, their skin is as white as milk, their voice as beautiful as nightingale.”

Wei Xiaobao was hooked; he asked, “What does Her Highness the Princess want me to do?”

Stepanov said, “First, both countries must become reconciled, the demarcation of boundary is fair, and from now on we won’t have armed-conflict.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “The young Emperor also wants the same thing; consider it done.” He said, “West of your Luocha country, there is a country called Swe … Swe something; they send an emissary, wanting us to send troops together, to attack Luocha country from east and west, and divide your country evenly. At that time those Great Russia, Minor Russia, not-big-not-small Russia, Black Russia, White Russia, multi-colored Russia, no matter how many beautiful women we want, we will get, no need for your Her Highness the Princess to send us any. Besides, each one you sent will be too clumsy and miserable from the cold!”

As soon as the two Luocha captains heard this, they were shocked. At that time Sweden was under the rule of King Karl XI, an astute and promising young monarch, who was training the army and refining the military; he was inclined to launch a military expedition to Luocha on the east. These days his large cavalry was moving to the east. All the civil and military officials in Moscow were concerned; unexpectedly Sweden wanted to form an alliance with China. Although Luocha was strong, if they had to face multiple enemies, their power would fail.

Looking at these two men’s countenance, Wei Xiaobao knew that his empty threat has hit its target; thereupon he said, “But Her Highness the Princess and I are lovers and good friends; how could I agree to Swe something’s request? Right now our Chinese Emperor has not made up his mind; if Luocha country sincerely wants to make peace, I can chase that Swe something’s envoy back to his country.”

The two captains were greatly delighted; they repeatedly said, “Luocha country is one hundred per cent sincere, there is not the least bit falsehood. Would Chinese Little Child High-ranking Official quickly chase that Sweden envoy back to his country? Even better, with one chop of a saber, off with his head.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head, “Envoy’s head cannot be chopped at will, much less he also sent me a lot of precious stones, dozen or so beautiful women. This saber cannot be chopped down, can it?”

The two captains repeatedly voiced their agreement; they thought, “Turns out Sweden pays particular attention to win their favor; they deliver gifts first and receive the payment later. This trick of the trade is more sophisticated than ours.” They also thought, “Fortunately the Chinese Little Child High-ranking Official is our Princess’ lover; otherwise, this matter would turn significantly worse.”

Wei Xiaobao asked, “What other thing Her Highness the Princess wanted me to do?”

Poyarkov smiled and said, “The thing that Her Highness the Princess really wants Chinese Little Child High-ranking Official to do is for you to go to Kremlin Palace in Moscow, and do it in the Princess’ bedroom.”

Wei Xiaobao made a ‘hey’ sound; he thought, “This is Luocha’s confusing soup [see above], definitely a Luocha soup; I can drink it but I can’t trust it.” He laughed and said, “Turns out Luocha men are unfit for anything.”

“It’s not that Luocha men are unfit for anything,” Stepanov said, “It’s just that Her Highness the Princess particularly miss Chinese Little Child High-ranking Official.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “Another bowl of Luocha soup.” He said, “Since that’s the case, the Princess does not have anything else in mind?”

Poyarkov said, “Her Highness the Princess wants to ask His Majesty the Chinese Emperor’s permission to allow the merchants to come and go and trade freely across the two countries’ border.”

Stepanov said, “If the two countries’ merchants are coming and going in abundance, Princess could write a letter or send gifts more often.”

[foxs]

“Damn it,” Wei Xiaobao mused, “Another bowl.” He said, “In that case, the reason of two countries having trading relations is for Princess’ selfish desire, not for the public?”

“Yes, yes,” Stepanov said, “Totally for the sake of Chinese Little Child High-ranking Official.”

“Right now I am not a little child anymore,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You must not call me Chinese Little Child High-ranking Official anymore.”

The two men bowed deeply together. “Yes, yes!” they said, “Your Excellency Chinese High Official.”

Wei Xiaobao smiled. “Alright, alright,” he said, “Go and rest. We are going to Nerchinsk, you two may come with us.”

The two of them were startled; they looked at each other and thought, “What is Chinese army doing in Nerchinsk? Are they going to besiege it?”

“Don’t you worry,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I promise the Princess that the two countries are going to be reconciled, and not going to fight any war.”

The two men bowed together again, they said, “Thank you very much Chinese Little … no … Your Excellency High-ranking Official.” Poyarkov added, “Princess heard that Chinese bridges are well-built; no matter how wide or how big a river, you are able to build the bridge using large stones, without stone pillars underneath it for support. Princess loves Your Excellency Chinese High Official, she also loves Chinese stuffs; therefore, she asks that Daren send several bridge craftsmen and technicians to Moscow to build several Chinese magical stone bridges. Her Highness the Princess will look at Chinese stone bridge every day, she will take a stroll on the bridge; it’s like seeing Your Excellency High-ranking Official every day.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “Bowl by bowl Luocha soup is pouring; if I drink it again, I might vomit. The Princess especially likes our Chinese stone bridge; I wonder what’s the reason behind it? There must be some strange reason. I must not fall into this Luocha fox-spirit’s trickery.” He said, “Princess miss me, there is no need to build a stone bridge, the project is too big. I’ll send her some Chinese silk quilt, several Chinese pillows, let her hold it in her arms when she sleeps; it will be as if every night there is an Excellency Chinese High Official accompanying her in bed.”

The two Luocha captains looked at each other; their expression looked very awkward. Stepanov said, “This … it looks like …” Poyarkov’s brain was a lot quicker; he said, “Your Excellency Daren’s idea is extremely lofty; Chinese silk quilt, Chinese pillows, we will definitely bring back some. The Princess cannot embrace Your Excellency Chinese High Official, holding Chinese silk quilt and Chinese pillows is all right. But after several years, silk quilt and pillows will be worn-out, it’s not as sturdy as a stone bridge. Therefore, we would like Daren to still please send the technical experts to build the stone bridge.”

Hearing the tone of the two men’s voice, Wei Xiaobao thought that Luocha imperial court seemed very eager to have the technical expert of building stone bridges; hence there must be crafty scheme behind this. He did not know that at that time Chinese technology in bridge building was the first under the heavens. When foreigners came to China and saw the construction of magnificent stone bridge, they would definitely click their tongue in amazement, and would admire incessantly. Seeing an arch bridge that can span the surface of the river without requiring pillars underneath it, they felt it was magical beyond human’s comprehension. Luocha people were hoping to learn this bridge building technology, actually it was due to their admiration to Chinese science and technology, not because any other crafty scheme.

(Book note: In Kangxi’s fifteenth year, Russia did send N.G. Spatnary as the imperial envoy, leading his fellow countrymen, experts in precious stones and specialists in herbal medicine to Beijing. They submitted many requests, among which was ‘To allow Russia borrow bridge building experts’. However, because the imperial envoy was unwilling to kowtow to Kangxi, the Qing imperial court expelled them back to their own country.)

Wei Xiaobao thought, “The more you want it, the more laozi does not want to give you.” He said, “I know, go now!” The two captains did not dare to say more; they saluted and withdrew.

One day, Luocha imperial envoy minister Feodor in Nerchinsk received report that the large Qing army has arrived. Busily he sent people to send word, asking the Qing army to stop where they were, while he immediately set off to meet them.

(Book note: Luocha imperial envoy who negotiated peace was actually Feodor A. Golovin, but at that time the Chinese did not know that western people has their given name first and surname last; thereupon in Chinese history book he was known as Feodor.)

Wei Xiaobao said, “No need to be polite, we had better come to pay our respect!”

With grandiose the Qing army pressed on to Nerchinsk city wall. Sabusu, Peng Chun, Ma La and the others separately leading the cavalry going around Nerchinsk to block all major roads on the north, west and south of the city; not only they were cutting off Luocha troops escape route from Nerchinsk, they were also stopping any reinforcement from the west. Wei Xiaobao personally commanded the main force on the east of the city. The army shot fireworks, cannon and fiery arrows to the sky to signal each other.

Inside Nerchinsk, Luocha ministers, military generals, and the soldiers all were looking on as the Qing army coordinated the siege, displaying their magnificent military power; no one in the Luocha camp did not have their spirit shaken. At once Feodor prepared gifts and sent people to the Qing army to deliver a letter to the Chinese imperial envoy minister, saying that the emperors of both countries have agreed to cease-fire and negotiate peace, the purpose of the meeting this time was to sign a peace treaty, hence it was inadvisable to have the troops of both side to stay too close to each other, in order to avoid inciting armed conflict and thus damaging the good relationship of the two countries.

Wei Xiaobao and the other ministers discussed this matter over. Everybody agreed that as a superior nation, China must not be rude and be a bully; that they must strive to use peaceful measures before using force. Thereupon Wei Xiaobao issued an order to have the troops withdrawn several li, and stationed at the Shilka River; he also ordered the Qing army on the north, west and south of Nerchinsk to retreat to the hills and wait for order.

Seeing the Qing army retreated, Feodor was slightly relieved. He wrote another letter, proposing four-point condition of the meeting: One, they were to meet in the middle between Nerchinsk and Shilka River. Two, on the day of the meeting, the imperial envoys of both countries may bring forty attendants each. Three, both countries may dispatch five hundred troops each, Russian army would be stationed outside the city wall, Qing army would be stationed on the riverbank. Four, the number of personal guards both countries’ diplomatic envoys may bring was limited to two hundred and sixty men each; other than saber and sword, they must not bring any firearms. He set up these four conditions because the Qing army had superior number, Russian army was small; if both sides did not limit the number of people, the Russian army would be put in a disadvantageous position. But Luocha troops’ firearms were formidable, if both sides had equal number of troops, Russian soldiers would occupy a dominant position, he expected the other side would not agree; hence he proposed in advance that the bodyguards could only bring saber and sword. The letter also proposed that the meeting to be held the following day.

After discussing it with the other ministers, Wei Xiaobao deemed the proposal feasible and immediately accepted it. That same evening he sent the troops to build a tent as the meeting place.

Early morning the next day, Wei Xiaobao, Songgotu, Tong Guogang and the other imperial envoys led the attendants, along with two-hundred sixty rattan-shield troops, to the meeting place. They saw Nerchinsk’s city gate opened, more than two hundred Cossacks on horseback with long sabers in their hands, rode around a group of Luocha officers out of the city. This company of cavalry was imposing, the men were tall the horses big. The Qing army’s rattan-shield troops were infantry, they looked small in comparison, their prestige was considerably less.

“His granny,” Tong Guogang cursed, “Luocha demons are very crafty; the first step and we already cannot match them. They only say about two hundred sixty bodyguards; he just forgot to mention cavalry or infantry. And now they are already two hundred sixty horses superior to us.”

Songgotu said, “This matter reminds us that when we are dealing with the Luocha demons, we have to be twelve times extremely alert; if we have only half a part of carelessness, we will put in a disadvantageous situation.”

While they were still talking, the Luocha troops arrived. Tong Guogang said, “We are following His Majesty’s instruction, in everything we must give careful consideration to China being a superior nation in observing etiquette; let us dismount.”

“Very well,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Let us dismount.” Everybody dismounted from their horses and cupped their fist in greeting while standing tall.

When the Luocha imperial envoy Feodor saw this situation, he shouted his order, all the officers also dismounted from their horses and bowed to salute. Both sides walked over toward each other.

Feodor said, “Russian Imperial Envoy Feodor, under the order of the Tsar, humbly offers the Great Qing Emperor the wish of safety and well-being.”

Copying his words, Wei Xiaobao also said, “The Great Qing Imperial Envoy Wei Xiaobao, under the Great Emperor’s order, humbly offers the Luocha Tsar the wish of safety and well-being.” But he added another sentence, “We also wish the Queen Regent Her Highness the Princess Sophia beauty and happiness.”

Feodor showed a faint smile; he thought, “The Great Qing Emperor wishes our Princess beauty and happiness; this wish is rather weird. But if the Princess hears it, surely she will be delighted.”

The two of them exchanged some pleasantries while introducing their delegation. The interpreters of both countries translated everything.

Wei Xiaobao noticed that the Luocha officers were standing tall and listening respectfully; they were quite polite and attentive. However, the two hundred sixty Cossack cavalry stayed upright and unafraid on the horsebacks, their hands were still on their long sabers as the horses stood in formation, carrying the expression that ‘they were living high and looking down’ on the other side; there was even a hint of threatening look on their faces. The more Wei Xiaobao looked at them, the more he was angry. He said, “Your bodyguards are too rude; seeing Chinese high-ranking officials, why didn’t they dismount?” His Luocha language was grammatically upside-down, his words and sentences jumbled together; but in his anger, without waiting for the interpreter he simply blurted out in Russian.

Feodor said, “According to our humble nation’s law, when the cavalry is on duty, even seeing His Majesty the Tsar, they do not need to dismount.”

“This is Chinese territory,” Wei Xiaobao said, “When you are in China, you must follow China’s rule.”

Feodor shook his head, “I’m sorry,” he said, “Sire is mistaken. This is Russian Tsar’s territory, not Chinese territory.”

“This is clearly Chinese territory,” Wei Xiaobao insisted, “You are occupying it by force.”

“I’m sorry,” Feodor said, “Your Excellency Chinese Imperial Envoy Minister misunderstood. This is Russian Tsar’s territory. Nerchinsk was built by Russians.”

The reason the two countries were having a meeting this time was originally to draw border and strife for land, whether certain ground belong to China or Russia was the key point. The two imperial envoys had just met, they had not even entered the tent yet, the dispute had already started.

Wei Xiaobao said, “You Luocha people built a city on our Chinese land, and you want to consider it yours? Where’s the logic in that?”

“This is Russian land,” Feodor said, “Russian people built fortification in here, Chinese people did not build fortification in here; this is the proof that this is Russian land. Your Excellency Chinese Imperial Envoy Minister said this is Chinese land, I wonder based on what proof?”

The Nerchinsk region had always been no-man’s land; China-Russia, the two countries’ border had not been defined, when all is said and done, whether the land belonged to China or Russia, nobody had any proof yet.

Hearing Feodor asked such question, Wei Xiaobao could not help feeling at a loss. He wanted to win the debate; too bad his Luocha language was insufficient to express his ideas. If regular answer already difficult to contest the question, how could he come up with a clever answer? His heart was enraged, he said, “This is Chinese land, the proofs are many.” And then he cursed using Yangzhou dialect, “Hot piece mama, f*ck your demon’s seventeen, eighteen generations ancestor.” As soon as he started, vulgar Yangzhou cussing words immediately flowed from his mouth like running water. He cursed Feodor’s great-great-grandmother, paternal great-grandmother, down to paternal grandmother, mother, older and younger sisters, maternal grandmother, maternal aunt, paternal aunt; he poured dog’s blood on everybody [i.e. curse], not one of all the female members of the Feodor family in Luocha was lucky enough to escape.

When both sides, the Chinese and Russian officials, saw the Chinese Imperial Envoy Minister was angry, nobody was not stunned. It’s just that his speech was like a string of firecrackers; forget Feodor who was unable to make head or tail of it, even Chinese officials and the interpreters of both sides were also at a loss and could not understand what he was talking about. Wei Xiaobao’s curses were entirely Yangzhou’s marketplace vulgar and low-class people’s language. Even Yangzhou’s gentlemen and ladies could not necessarily understand twenty, thirty-percent of it, much less Songgotu, Tong Guogang and the other Manchurian banner men, who had perhaps lived as military official in the north for a long time.

After raining curses for a while, Wei Xiaobao felt better; he could not help bursting in laughter. Although Feodor did not understand what he was saying, looking at his expression, he knew Wei Xiaobao was angry; but then suddenly he roared in laughter. Feodor was even more confused; he asked, “Excuse me, may I ask just now honorable envoy spoke a lengthy talk, what instruction were you giving? Honorable envoy’s words were profound, the humble one’s scholarly knowledge is shallow and crude, it was difficult for me to comprehend. Would you repeat it slowly so that I could receive the advice?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Just now I said, you were speaking unreasonably. I want to have your paternal grandmother as my sweetheart, as my wife.”

Feodor smiled and said, “My paternal grandmother was indeed a well-known beauty in the city of Moscow, she was Count Peter Marek Jankulovski’s daughter. Turns out Your Excellency Chinese High-ranking official has also heard my paternal grandmother’s fame; the humble one is extremely honored. Unfortunately, my paternal grandmother has passed away thirty-eight years ago.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “In that case, I want your mother to be my sweetheart, my wife.”

Feodor had an amused look on his face, he was even more delighted. He said, “My Mama is an offspring of a famous family, her skin is white and tender, she knows how to compose French poems. In Moscow, not a few princes, dukes and generals adore her very much. In Russia we have a poet, he wrote several dozen poems in praise of my Mama. Although this year she turned sixty-three, her appearance is still comparable to that of a woman in her thirties. When Your Excellency Chinese High-ranking official visit Moscow in the future, the humble one will surely introduce you to my Mama. However, I am afraid you cannot marry her. As for becoming her lover, as long as my Mama agrees, that is still possible.”

According to western social custom, when people praise one’s mother or wife as beautiful, not only one would not think it as inappropriate, one would be deeply honored instead; he would be more happy than if he himself was being praised. However, Wei Xiaobao erroneously thought that Feodor was afraid of him, unexpectedly he agreed to offer his own mother and was willing to take Wei Xiaobao as a stepfather. The hot anger filling his heart immediately vanished. He laughed and said, “Very good, very good. If I go to Moscow, I will definitely visit your mansion.” Pulling Feodor’s hand, he took him into the tent.

The assistants and attendants of both parties followed into the tent. Wei Xiaobao and his party sat on the east side, Feodor and his party sat on the west side. Feodor said, “Our humble country’s Queen Regent Her Highness the Princess instructed us that this time we are drawing the boundary and discuss peace, we have great faith that both sides will be fair, neither will take advantage of the other side. For this reason our humble country proposes that we decide Heilongjiang as the border between the two countries. South of the River belong to China, north of the river belong to Russia. After the border is defined, Russian troops can no longer cross the river to the south, Chinese troops also cannot cross to the north.”

[foxs]

Wei Xiaobao asked, “Is Yakesa south of the river, or is it north?”

“It’s north of the river,” Feodor replied, “The city was built by us, the Russian; hence it can be clearly seen that the land north of Heilongjiang belong to the Russian.”

When Wei Xiaobao heard that, his anger flared again. He asked, “There is a small hill inside the city of Yakesa; do you know the name of that hill?”

Feodor turned to ask his assistant; he replied, “It is called ‘Gaozhulue’ Mountain.”

Wei Xiaobao knew that in Luocha language, ‘gaozhulue’ means ‘deer’. He said, “In Chinese we call it Mount Luding. Do you know my nobility title?”

“Your Excellency is Duke of Luding,” Feodor replied, “In our Luocha language that would be Duke of Gaozhulue.”

“In that case,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You are deliberately making my life difficult. You clearly know that I am the Duke of Luding [deer and cauldron], yet you want to occupy my Mount Luding; won’t that mean you want me not to be Duke anymore?”

“No, no,” Feodor hastily said, “Definitely no such intention.”

Wei Xiaobao asked, “What is your nobility title?”

Feodor replied, “Humble one is the Marquis of Luomonuoshafa.”

“Very well,” Wei Xiaobao said, “In that case Luomonuoshafa can be considered Chinese territory.”

Feodor was taken aback; but then he smiled and said, “The Luomonuoshafa granted by the Emperor to the humble one is located west of Moscow; how can it be Chinese territory?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “You said the territory granted to you is called Laomaolashifa [‘old cat defecating method’] …”

“Luomonuoshafa,” Feodor said.

Wei Xiaobao ignored him; he continued, “How far is it from our capital Beijing to Laomaolashifa? How many days of travel?”

Feodor said, “From Luomonuoshafa to Moscow there are five hundred li altogether, five days of travel. From Moscow to Beijing, it will take at least three months.”

“In that case,” Wei Xiaobao said, “From Beijing to Laomaolashifa will require three months and five days of travel. It’s very far.”

“Very far, very far!” Feodor said.

Wei Xiaobao said, “Such a distance, naturally Laomaolashifa cannot be considered Chinese territory.”

Feodor smiled and said, “Nothing is more reasonable than what the Duke has just said.”

Wei Xiaobao raised his wine cup and said, “Please drink.”

Luocha people loved wine as their lives, the wine cup was placed in front of Feodor for quite a while, the aroma of wine had already assaulted his nostrils for quite some time. But since the host did not offer a toast, he did not dare to drink. This moment as Wei Xiaobao offered him a drink, he was greatly delighted; quickly he picked up the cup and drank it in one gulp.

The Qing attendants quickly refilled his cup. They also took out vegetable and meat dishes from the food box. All dishes were the culinary arts of famous Beijing chefs. At this time Luocha country had just entered civilization not too long ago. When the Emperor Peter the Great grew up, to prevent his older sister Princess Sophia from seizing power, he had Sophia imprisoned in a convent. Later on he aggressively imported Western Europe culture. By the time Wei Xiaobao arrived in Moscow, the entire system of civilization, culture, and arts was far removed from China. As for culinary arts, even until today Russia was still 108,000 li away from China.

That day outside Nerchinsk Feodor has had a taste of Chinese gourmet, he was dumbstruck, he even nearly swallowed his own tongue into his belly. Wei Xiaobao accompanied him sampling every dish, and explained to him that that was shark fin, this was swallow’s nest. He also explained how to prepare duck feet into treasure dish, how to turn chicken liver into precious gourmet. Feodor was sighing in admiration; his delight knew no bound.

Wei Xiaobao casually asked, “I wonder which day did Honorable Envoy leave Moscow this time?”

Feodor replied, “Humble one received Her Highness the Princess’ imperial order on the twelfth of the fourth month, and immediately set off from Moscow.”

“Very good,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Come, let’s have another cup. Our Tong Gongye [duke] here, his wine capacity is very good. The two of you must toast each other.” Immediately Tong Guogang offered Feodor a toast. They drank three cups in succession.

Wei Xiaobao asked, “Did Honorable Envoy arrive in Nerchinsk this month?”

Feodor replied, “Humble one arrived on the fifteenth of last month.”

“Wow,” Wei Xiaobao exclaimed, “From the twelfth of the fourth month to the fifteenth of the seventh month; you have travelled more than three months.”

“Yes,” Feodor replied, “I have travelled more than three months. Fortunately the weather was warm, it was not a hard journey at all.”

Wei Xiaobao raised his thumb and praised, “Very good! Honorable Envoy is telling the truth; finally you admitted that Nerchinsk does not belong to Luocha country.”

After drinking more than a dozen cups of wine, Feodor was slightly drunk. “I … when did I ever admit that?” he asked in shock.

Wei Xiaobao said, “From Beijing to Laomaolashifa, it will take more than three months, a very great distance, and this Laomaolashifa is not Chinese territory. From Moscow to Nerchinsk, you also travelled for more than three months, the distance is not near either. Naturally Nerchinsk is not Russian territory.”

Feodor opened his eyes wide, momentarily he was at a loss of what to say. After staring blankly for half a day, he finally said, “Our Russia is so big; it’s not the same at all.”

“Our Great Qing is not small either,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

With a forced laugh Feodor said, “Honorable Envoy loves to joke. These … these two matters cannot … cannot be lumped together.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “You insist that Nerchinsk is Luocha country’s territory, in that case let’s swap. I am going to Moscow and ask the Princess to confer you the title Count of Nerchinsk, and confer me the title Duke of Laomaolashifa. Then this Laomaolashifa can be considered Chinese territory.”

Feodor’s face bulged red; he said anxiously, “This … how can this be?” He could not help feeling anxious because the Princess was Wei Xiaobao’s lover; if he poured a large quantity of Chinese ‘confusing soup’ by the pillow, she might agree to swap, then it would be more than awful. He also thought, “My Luomonuoshafa is a territory granted by the Emperor and has been in my family for generations, a rich land. If the Princess swapped it with Nerchinsk, this place is cold, the population is scarce, it will drive me to my death. Much less right now I am a marquis, if I become the Count of Nerchinsk, won’t that mean I am being demoted?”

Seeing Feodor’s deeply worried and sick at heart expression, Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “You wanted to take my Yakesa as your territory, making me cannot be the Duke of Luding; what can I do? Without any better option I must become Duke of Laomaolashifa. Although your land’s name is so unpleasant to the ears, what ‘old cat defecating’ or ‘little dog defecating’, I have no choice but to accept it.”

Feodor considered, “You, China, want to take over my Luomonuoshafa; that would never happen. But you, Wei Xiaobao, have already received nobility title from my Russian Empire; if you want to overtake my land, it would be troublesome for me. We do not really want to keep Yakesa anyway, you have already attacked and taken it, if I want you to retreat, naturally you are unwilling.” Thereupon with a smiling face he said, “Since Yakesa is Honorable Envoy’s territory granted by the Emperor, we are willing to withdraw one step. The two countries still have Heilongjiang as our border, but Yakesa and the area within ten li of the city belong to China. This arrangement is completely for Honorable Envoy’s sake, the maximum concession we have ever made.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “You have been defeated in battle, yet still put on such an air. If this battle was won by you, Luocha people, I am afraid you will even want to have Beijing as your territory.” He said, “We have fought a battle. I wonder if it was you who won, or was it us?”

Feodor knitted his brows and said, “It was a tiny battle, we can’t say who won who lost. Her Highness the Princess has already issued a strict order, in order to give careful consideration to the reconciliation with your respected country, we must not open hostilities; as a result when your respected country’s troops attacked, our humble country’s officers and soldiers did not fight back. Otherwise, the situation would be greatly different.”

When Wei Xiaobao heard this, he was enraged. “So Luocha troops firearms cannot be considered fighting back?” he asked.

Feodor said, “They are merely defending our country’s land, it cannot be considered fighting back. If Luocha people really fight a battle, they would not stay still and did not attack. If the two countries are really at war, Luocha gunmen and Cossack cavalry would attack the city of Beijing.”

Wei Xiaobao was extremely furious; he thought, “Your granny, you yellow-haired demons talk big to scare people. If I am frightened by you, I will take your surname, I will become your son, my name is not Wei Xiaobao, but Xiaobao Feodor.” He had been to Moscow, so he knew that Luocha people’s custom was to have given name first and family name last, but Feodor was his given name, not family name; this fact he did not know. He said, “That’s very good! That’s great! Hojue [marquis] Daren, do you know what is the one thing that my heart desires the most?”

“I do not know,” Feodor replied, “Please advise.”

“Currently I am a duke,” Wei Xiaobao said, “But in my heart I hope for promotion to the nobility, to become a Junwang, a Qinwang[1].”

Feodor thought, “Promotion to the nobility, who does not want it?” He smiled and said, “Gongjue [duke] Daren is able and efficient, plus your respected country’s Emperor dotes on and trusts you; you only need to render several more merits, you will be conferred the title Junwang or Qinwang. I have no doubt about it. The humble one earnestly and sincerely wishes you will succeed earlier.”

Wei Xiaobao lowered his voice, “This matter can only succeed if you help me, otherwise I am afraid I would fail.”

Feodor was surprised. “Humble one will definitely help,” he said, “But I wonder how can I help?”

Wei Xiaobao leaned over to put his mouth near Feodor’s ear and whispered, “According to our Great Qing rule, only after achieving great victory in battle and rendering military service will one be conferred the title Wang [king]. Right now our country is peaceful, there is no disturbance, all rebellions are already suppressed. In the next twenty, thirty years, I am afraid there won’t be any battle to fight. My desire to be a Wang would be very difficult to achieve. This time we are drawing boundary and negotiating peace, you do not want to yield at all; it would be best if you send your troops to challenge us, to kill one or two of our high-ranking ministers in here. Our two countries will fight a war, you send your gunmen and Cossack cavalry to attack Beijing. We make an alliance with Sweden, have them send their troops to attack Moscow. We kill until the sand surging on, until the blood flow becomes a river; at that time I can be a Wang. Please, please, by all means, help me in this big effort. But don’t talk too loud, don’t let others hear it.”

The more Feodor listened to him, the more he was surprised; he thought that this youngster was too brazen, in order to be conferred the title ‘King’, he did not hesitate to provoke both countries to war, he even wanted to form an alliance with Sweden. If this war really broke, although in the future who won who lost were still unknown, but right this moment the other side was numerous while my side was few, there was a wide gap between the two sides’ military power, right away his defeat was guaranteed. In his heart he quite regretted that he had made the threat earlier by saying those things about gunmen and Cossack cavalry attacking the city of Beijing. This youngster thought it was real, not only he was no afraid, he was delighted instead. This time Feodor felt like he had outsmarted himself. However, if he exposed any hint that he was intimidated, he knew Wei Xiaobao would look down on him. Momentarily he was at a loss of what to say.

Wei Xiaobao continued, “Moscow is too far from here, if the Qing troops is going to attack, in all honesty I do not have any confidence we would win; perhaps we will be defeated and then His Majesty will blame me instead …”

Hearing this, Feodor saw an opportunity to take a turn for the better; his face lit up as he busily said, “Yes, yes. If I may offer a bit of advice, Your Excellency had better not take the risks.”

“I only want to render some merit so that I could be conferred the title ‘King’, it’s not that I want to wipe out Luocha country,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Your respected country is so big, I don’t have the capability to wipe it out.” Feodor repeatedly agreed.

Lowering his voice again Wei Xiaobao said, “How about this: you send your troops to attack Beijing, I will send my troops to attack Nerchinsk. The two of us brothers attack our respective target; conquering Beijing will be your merit, conquering Nerchinsk would be mine. Don’t you think this strategy is wonderful?”

Feodor groaned inwardly; in his hands he only had a little more than two thousand cavalry, even to attack Yakesa he was powerless, much less to attack Beijing. He thought that if he did not admit he was wrong, perhaps this youngster would turn pretense into reality. Without any choice he forced a laugh and said, “Gongjue Daren, please do not take offense. Just now I said gunmen and Cossack cavalry would attack the city of Beijing, you must not think it was the truth. I made a mistake, and I want to take it back completely.”

“Something that you have said, how could you take it back?” Wei Xiaobao asked in surprise.

Feodor said, “Humble one was only provoking Gongjue Daren, please forget that I ever said those words.”

“In that case,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Your Luocha troops will not attack Beijing?”

“We won’t,” Feodor said, “Definitely we won’t.”

“And you won’t take over my Yakesa either?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Feodor shook his head, “We won’t, we won’t,” he said.

Wei Xiaobao said, “How about Nerchinsk? You decided you won’t dare to covet it anymore?”

Feodor was startled. He said, “This Nerchinsk is our Tsar’s territory, Gongjue Daren please forgive me.”

---

[1] Both are prince: Qinwang - Prince of the Blood or Prince of the First Rank. Granted solely to direct male-line descendants of an emperor, with the only known exception was Wu San Gui. Junwang - Prince a Commandery or Prince of the Second Rank. Wu San Gui (previously), Geng Jing Zhong, Shang Ke Xi and Zheng Jing were of this rank. (Courtesy of Ace High)

[foxs]

Wei Xiaobao thought, “Suzhou people say ‘the whole sky demand for value, the whole earth still has to pay’. I asked him for Nerchinsk, he does not want to hand it over. I want to see what he would say if I ask for the land west of Nerchinsk.” He said, “This time we negotiate peace, we have to have fair dealing, cheating neither old nor young, neither side can suffer any loss; is that right?”

Feodor nodded. “That’s right,” he said, “Both countries are defining the boundary, establishing lasting peace.”

“That’s very good,” Wei Xiaobao said, “If we draw the border too close to Moscow, you Luocha people will suffer loss. If we draw the border too close to Beijing, we Chinese will suffer loss. The best method is to draw it right in the middle; one half equal to zero point five.”

“What does ‘one half equal to zero point five’ mean?” Feodor asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, “From Moscow to Beijing is approximately three months; is that right?”

“Right,” Feodor replied.

Wei Xiaobao said, “Three months divided by two, is what?”

Feodor did not understand his intention, he simply replied, “Is one and a half month.”

“That’s right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “We don’t need to talk too much. Everybody go back to our own capital. And then from Moscow you set off to the east, from Beijing I set off to the west. We all travel for one and a half month, naturally we will come across each other, right?”

“Yes,” Feodor replied, “But I still don’t know Daren’s intention.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “This is the most impartial way of defining the border. The place where we meet is the border between the two countries. That place is one and a half month away from Moscow, it is also one and a half month from Beijing. You do not take any advantage, and we do not suffer any loss. However, our recent victory would be considered void. In the end you are still having the advantage, are you not?”

Feodor’s entire face flushed red. “This … this … this …” he said, while standing up.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “You also think that this way is extremely fair, don’t you?”

Feodor shook his hand at once. “No, no!” he said, “Absolutely not. If we draw the border this way, won’t that mean half of the Russian Empire will fall into your hands?”

“Can’t be half,” Wei Xiaobao said, “West of your Moscow, there are a lot of land. Those areas need not be divided evenly with China; why be so polite?”

Feodor was so angry that his beard was sticking out. After quite a while, he finally said, “Gongjue Daren, if you sincerely want to negotiate peace, you ought to offer fair and reasonable proposition. This … this kind of method, in which you want half of our country, you are … you are bullying us too much.” Panting with rage, he sat back down on his chair. ‘Bang!’ he landed so hard that the chair was creaking incessantly.

In a low voice Wei Xiaobao said, “Actually, negotiating peace and drawing boundaries is not so much fun, I like the idea of us fighting a war first. What do you say?”

Feodor panting for breath continuously; he could not refrain from slapping the table and standing up. “If you want to fight then let’s fight!” he shouted on top of his lungs. But then he thought that if the war continued, the aftermath was indeed too grave; his side was completely without hope that they would win. He had no choice but struggling hard to restraint himself and keep silent.

Wei Xiaobao suddenly reached out and slapped the table. “I got it, I got it!” he said with a laugh, “I know another fair way.” Putting his hand into his pocket, he took out two dice, blew it, and tossed the dice onto the table. “You don’t want to fight a war, you don’t want to go fifty-fifty either. Let us throw the dice; let’s just say that there is a ten thousand li of road from Beijing to Moscow, we divide it into ten equal parts, each part is one thousand li. You and I will throw the dice for ten rounds, for each round, the stake is one thousand li of land. If your luck is good and you won all ten rounds, then all the land up to Beijing’s city wall will belong to Luocha country.”

“Humph,” Feodor said, “And if I lose all ten rounds?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Why don’t you tell me?”

Feodor said, “Could it be that east of Moscow, ten thousand li of rivers and mountains, will belong to China?”

“I am guessing that your luck will not be that bad,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I can’t imagine that in ten rounds you won’t win at least one round. For each round you win, you preserve a thousand li of land, two rounds two thousand li; if you win six rounds, you already gain advantage.”

“What advantage?” Feodor angrily said, “East of Moscow, six thousand li is originally Russian territory. Seven thousand li, eight thousand li, are also Russian territory.”

While Wei Xiaobao and Feodor were having these incessant exchanges, on the side, the Dutch clergyman also constantly translated it into Chinese in low voice. Tong Guogang, Songgotu and the others listened attentively. At first they thought that Feodor was capricious, harsh and unreasonable; unexpectedly he demanded that Heilongjiang to be the boundary between the two countries. How could he force China to give up Liaodong, which was the Manchuria’s dragon rising place? In their hearts they were quite angry. Afterwards they heard how Wei Xiaobao conveyed his voracious desire to fight a war to establish meritorious service so that he could be conferred the title ‘King’, and the Russian envoy appeared to show strength while weak inside; he did not dare to respond. And then they heard how Wei Xiaobao was rambling incoherently, about swapping the territory granted by their respective emperor, how he proposed to go fifty-fifty, and lastly how to throw the dice to define the boundary, with one thousand li of land as the stake for each round. They knew he was talking rubbish, the opposite party could not possibly agree to this. But they could also see that Feodor’s arrogance has been greatly dampened; they thought, “Luocha people are harsh and unreasonable, certainly it is a fully justified reputation. If we negotiate with them in deadly earnest, we will definitely be put in a disadvantageous position. His Majesty sent Wei Gongjue to be in charge of this negotiation, he really knew how to use a man according to his ability. This foreign demon is a barbarian, only a marketplace hoodlum without learning or skills like Wei Gongjue can oppose him with equal harshness, fighting barbarian with a barbarian.”

Although on their faces Tong Guogang, Songgotu and the other ministers were very respectful and courteous toward Wei Xiaobao, in the bottom of their hearts they actually looked down on him; they all felt that he was no more than a clown, a court jester whom the Emperor doted on. His day-to-day speech and action was oftentimes shameful; he was clever, but clearly had no sense of shame, one who think highly of himself. This time he was appointed envoy minister to stop the enemy at the banquet table, they thought it would be difficult for their country to avoid humiliation in front of a foreign nation, to cause their country to lose face. Who would have imagined that the Emperor actually had the capacity to judge character and utilize people to their ability? If he did not send this mischievous character on this particular mission, among the civil and military ministers in the Manchurian Qing’s court, there was really no other man who would be able to accomplish it. The more the crowd of ministers listened, the more they admired him; they felt that the Emperor was extremely wise and farsighted; far from the reach of anybody among the high-ranking ministers.

Listening to this point, Songgotu suddenly interjected, “Moscow is actually our China’s territory.”

The Dutch priest translated the sentence. Feodor was stunned; he thought, “This youngster is babbling nonsense; that is still all right. But you, an old man, also shamelessly talk drivel? You said our country’s capital, Moscow is your China’s territory?”

Songgotu said, “According to Honorable Envoy’s argument, as long as Luocha people temporarily occupy an area, that land will be considered Luocha country’s territory; is that right?”

“Isn’t that so?” Feodor said, “Honorable Envoy said that Moscow is Chinese territory, hey hey, that … that is a joke, a ridiculous argument.”

Songgotu said, “Luocha country’s people consist of Great Russia, Minor Russia, White Russia, also Cossacks, Tatars, and the other. Those are all Luocha people.”

“Absolutely right,” Feodor said, “Our country’s territory is vast, the people are numerous.”

Songgotu said, “The ethnicities of our country’s common people are also numerous. We have Manchu people, Mongolian, Han, Miao, Hui, Tibetan, and so on.”

“Exactly,” Feodor said, “Russia is a great country, China is also a great country. Our two countries are the biggest countries of the present age.”

Songgotu said, “The bodyguards that Honorable Envoy brings this time seem to be Cossack cavalry.”

Feodor smiled and said, “Cossack cavalry’s bravery is unequalled, they are the most formidable warriors in the world.”

Songgotu said, “Is Cossack cavalry a lot more formidable than Russians?”

“We can’t say that,” Feodor replied, “The Cossacks are Luocha’s common people, Russians are also Luocha’s common people; there is not the least bit difference between the two. Just like Manchu people are Chinese, Mongolians, Hans, are also Chinese; there is not the least bit difference.”

Songgotu nodded. “That is so,” he said, “Consequently, Moscow is our Chinese territory.”

Listening to this point, Wei Xiaobao still did not understand Songgotu’s intention; he was fully aware that Moscow was tens of thousand li away, definitely it was not Chinese territory. But he saw that Songgotu seemed to be pressing the issue, and that Feodor’s veins were bulging on his forehead, his countenance alternated between ashen and deep red, he appeared to be very angry that he had turned mad. Thereupon Wei Xiaobao interrupted, “Moscow is Chinese territory, that is absolutely true. Chinese Emperor is magnanimous, he let you did like Liu Bei borrowed Jingzhou, but after borrowing it he never returned it back.”

Naturally Feodor did not know anything about Liu Bei borrowing Jingzhou, he just felt that these Chinese barbarians did not speak with reasons, they talked not as civilized people. He said with a cold laugh, “I previously heard that China was long-established, that Chinese people were very well-learned; who would have thought … hey, hey, you are experts in talking drivel without any proof.”

Songgotu said, “Honorable Envoy is a high-ranking minister of Luocha country, even if you did not have much learning, but you would know Luocha country’s history, I presume?”

Feodor said, “Our country’s history is well-written as a proof, everything is written down clearly, not at all like other people speak thoughtlessly and casually.”

“That’s very good,” Songgotu said, “In the past China had an emperor, called Genghis Khan …”

As soon as Feodor heard the name ‘Genghis Khan’, four characters [cheng ji si han], he could not help blurting out ‘Aiyo’, while in his heart he groaned, “Bad, bad! Why was I so muddleheaded that I completely forgot about this big matter?”

Songgotu continued, “This Genghis Khan, in China we call him Yuan Taizu [lit. grand ancestor], because he was the Great Ancestor who founded our China’s Yuan Dynasty. He was a Mongol; Honorable Envoy has just said that Manchus, Mongols, Hans, are all Chinese, there is not the least bit difference. At that time Mongolian cavalry launched military expedition to the west, and have had quite a few major battles with the Luocha troops. Your respected country’s history books have the proof, everything is written down clearly, it’s not something that other people speak thoughtlessly and casually. These several battles, I wonder if they were won by us, the Chinese, or were they won by your respected country, Luocha people?”

Feodor was speechless. After quite a while, he finally replied, “The Mongols won.”

“And Mongols are Chinese!” Songgotu said.

Feodor stared blankly for half a day, finally he slowly nodded his head.

Wei Xiaobao did not know that there was such thing in the past; when he heard that, immediately his spirit received a big boost. “Chinese and Luocha people fought a war, undoubtedly Luocha people would lose. Your ability is a bit inferior, next time we fight another war, we only need to use one hand. Otherwise, the difference between the two sides is too far, the war would not have been fun to fight.”

Feodor glowered at him; he mused, “If not for Her Highness the Princess has issued a strict order that this time we could only use peaceful method and not use force, just based on this word of yours that you are insulting us, Luocha people, I would have challenged you for a duel.”

With a giggle Wei Xiaobao asked Songgotu, “Suo Dage, how did Genghis Khan defeat Luocha troops?”

Songgotu said, “In those days Genghis Khan deployed two ten-thousand men companies on the military expedition to the west, altogether there were only twenty thousand men and horses. They attacked and inflicted heavy damage to more than a hundred thousand men Luocha coalition army. Genghis Khan’s grandson, Batu was also a great hero, his army defeated the Luocha troops utterly, and he occupied Moscow, striking all the way to Poland, Hungary, and crossed the Danube. For the next several hundred years, Luocha’s princes, dukes, and the nobles had to obey us, the Chinese. At that time our Chinese Mongolian heroes lived in gold-inlaid tents. Moscow’s princes and dukes oftentimes had to come and kowtow to Chinese people. When the Chinese said they wanted to spank these people’ bottom, they would simply spank their bottoms. When they said they wanted to slap, they simply slapped, the Luocha people would still giggle and cry out that the beating was good, the beating was too few. Otherwise, he could not be a duke anymore.”

(Book note: In 1238AD Mongolian Great General Batu took over Moscow and Kiev. From 1240 to 1480AD, for 240 years the Mongolians ruled Russian vast territory, they established the ‘Golden Horde’ [lit. golden tent Khanate]. The ‘Encyclopedia Britannica’ has the following entry on the subject of Russia: ‘The Princes and Dukes of Moscow must go to Sarai city at the mouth of Volga River to have an audience with the Mongolian Khan in his golden tent before they could receive the nobility title. They had to endure many different kinds of humiliation. After paying their respect and returning to Moscow they then could collect taxes from the Tatars and could push around the neighboring smaller states’ feudal vassals.’)[1]

Hearing this, Wei Xiaobao was radiant with delight; he struck the table and exclaimed happily, “Dear dragon of the east! Turns out Moscow indeed belongs to China.”

Feodor’s face alternated between green and white. Songgotu was stating a historical fact, it was not a false statement at all, it’s just that Luocha people previously did not admit Mongolians as Chinese. This time, however, Mongolia indeed belonged to China, hence the inference that Moscow also belonged to China was not completely baseless.

“Your Excellency Marquis,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I’ll say this discussion about defining border need not be continued. Please go back and ask the Princess when she is going to return Moscow to China. I will also go back to Beijing, to procure leather and gold to manufacture golden tent, and then tear down Kremlin Palace and erect the golden tent on its place, and ask Princess Sophia to sleep in it. Ha ha, ha ha …!”

---

[1] The original expedition to the west during Genghis's reign indeed consisted of 2 tumen (a tumen is a division of 10,000 men). The tumen were commanded by Jebe (Guo Jing's teacher) and Subedei. Jebe was dead by the time Ogedei decided on a full-scale invasion of the west, but Subedei was still alive, and he was the chief subordinate commander under Batu (Jochi's son). After a couple of crushing victories over European armies, the campaign was cut short by news of Ogedei's death, which necessitated the return of Batu and other members of Genghis's family to elect a new leader. After the election of Guyuk, Ogedei's son, much of Batu's forces were stripped from him, and he was obliged to reorganize his conquests rather than further them. What is now western Russia was organized into vassal states under Batu's Golden Khanate. (Courtesy of Pannonian)

[foxs]

Hearing to this point, Feodor could no longer show restraint; he sprang up and rushed out of the tent. They heard his angry voice like thunder, shouting order and issuing his instruction, followed by the sound of hoof beats. More than two hundred horses rushed over. Wei Xiaobao was shocked. “Aiyo!” he cried out, “These hairy people are going to attack, we’d better run for our lives.”

Tong Guogang had been through many battles, he was completely calm. “Wei Gongjue don’t panic,” he shouted, “If he wants to fight then let’s fight; who is afraid of him?”

They heard outside the tent the Cossack cavalry shouted together. Wei Xiaobao was so scared that his entire body trembled. He ducked down and hid underneath the table. Tong Guogang and Songgotu looked at each other in dismay; in their hearts they could not help but panicking as well.

The tent curtain was opened, a general strode in, it was none other than the commander of the rattan shield troops, Lin Xingzhu. He said in a loud and clear voice, “Reporting to Grand Marshal …” but he did not see the Grand Marshal.

From underneath the table Wei Xiaobao said, “I … I … I am here. Everybody quickly … quickly run for your lives.”

Lin Xingzhu squatted down to speak to the Grand Marshal Wei underneath the table, “Reporting to Grand Marshal: Luocha troops’ prestige is impressive, but we must not show weakness; if we have to fight then let’s damn fight.”

Hearing he spoke with confidence, Wei Xiaobao’s spirit calmed down; immediately he crawled out of the table. Just now he hastily took refuge under the table, but actually he was not being a coward blindly. Patting his chest he said, “Right, if we want to fight then let’s fight their grannies. Laozi being a soldier, bravely go … bravely go not … not in the front. No, that’s not right! Bravely go to show my worth.” (He wanted to say, ‘Bravely go to show one’s worth, not bravely go is of little value’.)

Pulling Lin Xingzhu’s hand he strode out the tent. As soon as he was outside, he saw two hundred sixty Cossack cavalry raising high their long sabers, riding on their fine horses, surrounding the tent to show off their military strength, speeding along in circles around the tent. Feodor shouted his command, the cavalry rushed away from the tent. They stopped approximately two hundred zhang away and arranged themselves in formation; two hundred sixty riders in ten neat and tidy rows. Suddenly they shouted together and rushed toward Wei Xiaobao.

“Mother!” Wei Xiaobao cried out, and turned around, ready to dash into the tent. But then he thought, “If the Luocha demons want to kill me, even if I hide inside the tent, they will still grab me. I must not lose this face.” His body was trembling, his face was the color of the earth, but unexpectedly he stood upright and did not move.

Lin Xingzhu thundered, “Rattan shield troops, protect the Grand Marshal! Come over!”

The two hundred sixty rattan shield troops responded in chorus, “Yes.” Quickly they moved and stood in front of Wei Xiaobao and the other high-ranking ministers.

From his boot Wei Xiaobao pulled his dagger, thinking, “If Luocha demons really want to resort to violence, everybody will fight desperately together, yi qi cannot be disregarded.” He rushed over in front of Songgotu and called out, “Suo Dage, don’t be afraid, I will protect you.”

Songgotu was a civil officer, he was already scared that his body and soul separated. He said, “I completely … completely rely on Xiongdi.”

They saw ten rows of Cossack cavalry charged swiftly toward them. When they were about five zhang away from the Qing troops, the captain in the front waved his long saber in the air and shouted his order. The cavalry straightened their backs and pulled the reins, two hundred sixty horses immediately stopped. The captain shouted his order again, the cavalry divided into two groups, a hundred and thirty riders split to the north, the other hundred and thirty riders went to the south. After speeding along for several dozen zhang, they made a big circle and returned to their original position, about two hundred zhang away from the tent and stopped. The formation was strictly maintained, they were not in disorder at all. These two hundred sixty men and horses were like one man one horse, indeed they were a highly trained group of elite troops.

Feodor laughed aloud and cried in a loud voice, “Gongjue Daren, what do you think of our Luocha troops?”

It was only then did Wei Xiaobao know that he was merely showing off their military prowess. In his heart he was furious. “That is no more than circus monkey stuff,” he cried, “In a real battle, it will be completely useless.”

Feodor angrily said, “We’ll do it again!” In his heart he said, “This time let them charge right in front of you, I want to see if you are going to run away or not.” He called out, “Knock the Chinese troops’ hat off their heads.”

The Cossack cavalry captain shouted his order, two hundred sixty cavalry charged forward again.

“Chop the horses’ legs!” Wei Xiaobao called out.

“Receive the order!” Lin Xingzhu responded. “Chop the horses’ legs! Don’t hurt the people!”

They heard the thundering hoof beats, two hundred sixty horses were getting closer and closer, Cossack cavalry’s long sabers flickered under the sunlight, soon they were only about thirty zhang away, then twenty zhang, ten zhang … and still they did not stop. When they were about four, five zhang away, Lin Xingzhu shouted, “Roll down, move, move, move!” Two hundred and sixty rattan shield troops leaped forward and rolled on the ground.

These two hundred and sixty men were under Lin Xingzhu’s personal training, they were expert in Di Tang Saber Technique; their movement and saber playing had been trained to perfection. As they rolled forward, the rattan shield protected their bodies, but did not reveal the least bit of saber’s glitter.

The Cossack cavalry suddenly saw the Qing troops rolled on the ground, they were all stunned. The troops defending Yakesa had suffered defeat under the rattan shield troops’ hands, but those defenders were either dead or taken captive; they were completely wiped out. The Cossack cavalry was fresh from Moscow, escorting Feodor to the east; they had never seen the rattan shield troops’ movement, they all thought that by rolling around on the ground, you look really silly, so don’t blame us if you are trampled to your death by the horses.

In an instant the first row of cavalry clashed with the rattan shield troops. Suddenly the horses neighed and fell down one after another. The rattan shield troops brandished their sharp blades, one saber sweep chopped one or two horse’s legs. With the rattan shield protecting their bodies, they continuously rolled around and chopped more horses. Amidst the cry of Luocha troops and the neigh of their horses, the rattan shield troops already swept pass all ten rows, chopping a hundred seventy or a hundred eighty horses’ legs. And then they all stood in formation behind the Cossack cavalry. Under Lin Xingzhu’s leadership the rattan shield troops then ran quickly back and lined up in front of Wei Xiaobao. From the two hundred sixty men, only about a dozen or so suffered bruises from the horses’ kicks, but their injuries were light, the injured bore their pain silently as they stood in formation.

More than half of the two hundred and sixty Cossack cavalry were thrown down from their horses, some were crushed by their own mounts, they were lying on the ground, groaning and crying out in distress. Only several dozen men still stayed on their horses as they ran far away. Most of them stood on the ground, at a loss of what to do. All their lives these cavalry troops spent their time on the horseback; only by riding their mounts would these men be swift, fierce and brave. With their feet on the ground, they were like fish out of the water, without their mounts they had nothing to rely on.

Wei Xiaobao called out, “Divide the troops, surround the high-ranking Luocha officials.”

Lin Xingzhu shouted his order, immediately a hundred rattan shield troops surrounded Feodor and the others, a dozen or so Luocha ministers, a hundred broadswords formed a large blade ring, the blades were facing inward; just with one order these hundred broadswords would press in, Feodor and the others would definitely turn into Luocha meatloaf.

Seeing this situation, the deputy captain of the Cossack cavalry dashed forward and shouted, “Must not harm people, must not harm people!”

Wei Xiaobao turned his head around and spoke to Shuang’er, who was wearing personal guard uniform, “Go seal their acupoints.”

“Alright!” Shuang’er replied, and leaped out behind the Cossack cavalry captain; stretching out her finger she sealed the acupoint on his lower back, and then she also sealed the deputy captain’s acupoint.

A junior captain put his hand into his pocket and pulled a short gun. “Don’t move!” he shouted.

Shuang’er grabbed a Luocha soldier by her side and held him in front of her body. With the soldier as a shield, she pressed several steps forward. The junior captain did not dare to open fire. “Don’t move!” he shouted again.

Shuang’er threw the Luocha soldier toward him. The junior captain was startled; he dodged sideways. Shuang’er leaped forward, and sealed the acupoints on his chest and waist, and then she grabbed the gun in his hand, pointed it to the sky, and then ‘bang!’ it went off.

Wei Xiaobao shouted loudly, “Well, well, both sides have agreed not to carry firearms; you Luocha demons cannot be trusted at all.” Taking several steps forward, he said to Feodor, “Hey, tell your men to throw their weapons down, get down from their horses, and stand in line. Those who carry firearms must hand it over.”

Feodor knew he could not defy, hence he issued the order; the Cossack cavalry had no choice but to throw down their sabers and swords, dismounted from their horses and stood in formation. Wei Xiaobao ordered the two hundred and sixty rattan shield troops to surround and searched the Luocha troops. From two hundred and sixty men, they found more than two hundred and eighty short guns; some men carried two.

The Luocha troops standing guard at Nerchinsk city wall saw the turn of events, they advanced slowly. The Qing troops on the east also slowly moving forward. When the distance between them was about several hundred steps, both armies arranged themselves in formation, facing each other. Seeing their commander-in-chief was surrounded, the Luocha troops could only groan inwardly, they did not dare to move further.

Wei Xiaobao asked Feodor, “Hojue Daren, what did you bring that many firearms for?”

Feodor hung his head and said, “I am so sorry, my bodyguards did not obey the order, they secretly carried firearms. When we get back I will severely punish them.”

Wei Xiaobao called out, “Rattan shield troops, open your clothes, let them see if you are carrying firearms or not?”

Two hundred and sixty rattan shield troops tossed their shields aside, with their left hands they undid their clothes, with their right hands they held the broadsword high to guard against the enemy making a move. Everybody opened their clothes, exposing their chests, and hopped several times. Sure enough, nobody carried any firearm. Feodor was very ashamed, he hung his head low and did not say anything.

Wei Xiaobao shouted in Luocha language, “Luocha people have no sense of shame, strip their clothes and pants, see if they still conceal firearms or not?”

Feodor was greatly alarmed; he hastily said, “Gongjue Daren, please show mercy. If you … you strip my pants, I … I will have no choice but to commit suicide.”

“This stripping of pants must be done,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

Feodor said, “Please forgive us just this one time, in other matters we will obey whatever you tell us to do.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Just now your cavalry rushed over and scared me that I hid under the table; the Gongjue Daren has lost a lot of face. What do you do about that?”

Feodor thought, “You are the one who is a coward, what can I do about it?” But since the Qing troops’ blade flickered around him, he had no choice but to say, “The humble one is ready to pay for the damage.”

Wei Xiaobao was secretly delighted; he thought, “Luocha bamboo pole is coming.” [See note 11, Chapter 10 on ‘bamboo pole’.] Momentarily he could not think of what he wanted Feodor to give him; he turned his head around and issued an order, “Cut the belts of all Luocha high-ranking officials and lowly soldiers’ pants.”

“Receive the order!” the rattan shield troops shouted. They lifted their blades, insert it into Luocha men’s waist with the sharp of the blade facing outward, and pulled. The belts were immediately cut. From Feodor down, all Luocha men were scared out of their wits. With both hands they held their pants tight, for fear they would fall.

Wei Xiaobao roared in laughter. He issued another order, “Escort the Luocha people back to our camp in triumph!”

By this time all Luocha officers and men were worried that their pants would drop down, nobody dared to resist; they followed the Qing troops marching to the east.

Tong Guogang said with a laugh, “Grand Marshal Wei’s brilliant scheme is indeed admirable. Cutting their belts is the same as instantly tying the hands of two hundred and sixty Luocha officers and men behind their back.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Luocha men are very afraid to take off their pants, on the contrary, Luocha women are not afraid at all; isn’t that very strange?” Tong Guogang and the others laughed at this sexual innuendo.

The party met with the main army. The Qing troops pushed out more than four hundred cannon and took off the cannon covering, the cannon’s muzzles were trained at the Luocha troops. Although Luocha country’s firearms were sharp, in their mission to the east this time, their preparation was not as good as Kangxi, who had half the number of cannon available in the entire country sent to Nerchinsk. Therefore, in term of firepower, the Qing army was several times more superior. When the Luocha troops suddenly saw these many cannon, they all looked at each other with fear on their faces. Their commander hastily issued an order to return to the city and close the city gate tightly. The Qing army did not continue besieging the city either.

In the meantime the Cossack cavalry captain, deputy captain, and the junior captain’s acupoints were still sealed by Shuang’er, they were unable to move a single step. The three men were standing on the open space like clay figurine or wooden statue. When the Luocha troops returned and entered Nerchinsk, they were in such a hurry that they did not pay attention. By the time they climbed the city wall and looked, they were astonished, but nobody dared to get out of the city to help. After about an hour, they saw the three men were still unmoving, so then a company of Cossack cavalry went out of the city to rescue them. But they only walked a dozen of zhang or so, the Qing army’s cannon were fired several times. The general defending the city hastily ordered the trumpeter to sound the bugle to order the cavalry to return to the city; he was afraid the Qing army would attack so that the rescuing team would also fall into their trap.

On top of the city wall, under the city wall, the two armies watched from a distance the three men were still standing motionless in a rather weird posture. The Qing troops roared in laughter. The Luocha troops were overwhelmed with shock. Wei Xiaobao invited Feodor and his delegation to enter the command tent and have everybody sat separately as the hosts and guests. Wei Xiaobao only chuckled without saying anything.

“Gongjue Daren,” Feodor angrily said, “You don’t need to play tricks with me. If you want to kill me then just kill me.”

Wei Xiaobao said with a laugh, “You and I are friends, why would I want to kill you? Let us continue the talk about defining the border.” He thought that since the ministers, the opposite party’s delegation to discuss the border had fallen into their hands, no matter what condition he raised, it would be hard for the opposite party to refuse.

[foxs]

Who would have thought that Feodor was born from a military family, he was extremely unyielding. Boldly he said, “I am your prisoner, not a diplomatic envoy of equal standing to discuss the border. I am under your threats, any talk cannot continue. Even if the talk continued and the treaty signed, it cannot take effect.”

“Why can’t it take effect?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Feodor said, “Because all clause are decided by you, what is there to talk about? You cannot force me to negotiate with you.”

“Why can’t I force you to negotiate with me?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

“I will never surrender,” Feodor replied, “Brandish your blade and kill me, shoot me with your gun, feel free to make your move.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “What if I have people strip your pants?”

Feodor was enraged; he suddenly stood up and shouted, “You …” He only said one word, ‘you’, his pants suddenly slipped down; hastily he reached down and grabbed them. His belt was cut off, when he sat down, he did not need to hold his pants, but in rage he stood up and forgot about it. Fortunately he managed to grab his pants promptly that he did not make a fool of himself. All the ministers and attendants on Qing’s side in the tent roared in laughter.

Feodor was so angry that his face turned snow white, his hands held on to his pants, his expression looked extremely awkward. He wanted to make a vehement speech, too bad he could not brandish his hands to add emphasis; no matter how passionate he spoke, it would be bound to be limited. “Pei!” he spat angrily and sat down. “I am His Majesty the Tsar of Luocha country’s ambassador, you cannot humiliate me,” he said.

“You may rest assured that I will not humiliate you,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Let us discuss the national boundary nicely.”

Feodor took out a handkerchief from his pocket, wrapped it around his own mouth, and tied it behind his back; the meaning was that he was resolved not to talk. Wei Xiaobao ordered his personal guards to get some fine wine and delicious food and set it up on the table. He poured a cup of wine and said with a laugh, “Please, please, don’t be polite.”

Smelling the aroma of the food and wine, Feodor was unable to resist; he untied the handkerchief, picked up the cup and drank. Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Marquis, you are using your mouth?”

Feodor continued drinking wine and eating the food, but did not answer, stating that his mouth was only used to eat and drink, and not for anything else. Wei Xiaobao repeatedly urged him to drink more wine, thinking that if he could get him drunk, perhaps he could get him to surrender. Who would have thought that even after drinking a dozen or more cups of wine, eating several chunks of beef, he used the handkerchief to wipe his mouth, and tied it again over his mouth? Seeing that, Wei Xiaobao was quite amused. He ordered his personal guards to take Feodor to a tent in the back to let him rest, and to guard him well; while he discussed how to deal with this matter with Songgotu, Tong Guogang and the others.

Tong Guogang said, “This man is so stubborn, he resolutely refuse to talk peace in our army camp. But I am not willing to let him go back to his camp.”

Songgotu said, “We can detain him for ten days, eight days, every day we slaughter one Luocha demon in his presence, I want to see if he will still be that stubborn.”

Tong Guogang said, “If we hound him to death, inevitably this matter will be brought to deadlock. We use military force to capture the opposite side’s minister to negotiate peace, perhaps His Majesty would put the blame on us.”

“Tong Gongye [duke] is right,” Songgotu said, “Blindly using force on him is not the way to deal with him.”

After long deliberation, the high-ranking ministers still could not come up with a wise policy. Today they were able to capture Feodor; although it was a victory, it was not the original idea of the Emperor in seeking peace. It could be said that they had violated the imperial court’s project of paramount importance, that they had handled this matter poorly; it was possible that the table would turn and they would be charged with the serious crime of disobeying the imperial edict.

At the end of the deliberation, all the ministers advised Wei Xiaobao to release Feodor. “Very well!” Wei Xiaobao said, “Let’s detain him for one night, early morning tomorrow we will let him go.”

Returning to his tent, he paced back and forth while considering this matter. Suddenly he recalled something, “Earlier I copied Zhuge Liang burning down the Coiling Snake Valley, and achieved great victory by taking down Yakesa. Laozi can also copy Zhou Yu’s trick in the play ‘Meeting of Heroes’.” After thinking about it for a while, he came up with an idea.

Returning to the command tent, he invited the translator, the Dutch missionary to come over and had a serious discussion with him. Wei Xiaobao asked him to teach him some twenty Luocha sentences, and he learned to say those sentences correctly. He also summoned four high-ranking military officers, along with the captain of his personal guards, and instructed them to do certain things. Everybody received the order and left.

Feodor was sleeping in a tent on the back. Different thoughts surging in his mind; there was fright, and then there was remorse, how could he sleep? He tossed and turned until midnight, and then he heard snores like thunder coming from the entrance to the tent, unexpectedly the three personal guards who were on guard duty had fallen asleep.

Feodor thought, “If I don’t agree to the Chinese barbarians’ terms, it would be difficult for me to escape. If tomorrow I provoke that little demon and he gets angry and kills me, won’t I die in injustice? Heaven helps me that these three guards are asleep, why not take chances and escape now?” Quietly he got up from the bed, untied the leather strap across his back and wrapped it around his waist to prevent his pants from falling down, and then he tiptoed to the tent entrance. He saw the three personal guards were leaning against the tent posts and were sleeping soundly.

He reached out toward a personal guard’s waist with the intention to pull the saber hanging on the guard’s waist. The guard suddenly sneezed. Feodor jumped in fright and hastily pulled his hand back. After a while and he still did not see any movement, he went for another guard’s saber. The personal guard suddenly stretched out and mumbled some indistinct words. Feodor did not dare to tarry anymore, he quietly went out of the tent, fortunately the three personal guards neither saw nor sensed that he was gone.

Once Feodor was outside, he hid in the shadows; he saw the night guards on patrol with lanterns in one hand and saber in the other. There were patrolling soldiers to his north, east and south, only the west side was pitch-black, obviously there was no one on that side. Thereupon step by step he crept to the west, each time he saw a patrolling guard, he shrank behind a tent. Luckily all the way to the west the terrain was flat with nothing obstructing him.

He had just reached a large tent when suddenly he saw from the west a group of patrolling soldiers approaching. Feodor hastily crouched behind the tent. He heard someone inside was speaking; surprisingly the man was speaking in Luocha language. He heard the man said, “Gongjue Daren is determined to attack Moscow, it is not impossible, it’s just that it’s too far, it is really dangerous.”

Feodor was greatly alarmed. At once he crouched even lower to open a corner of the tent and looked inside. Once he got a good look, his heart was thumping madly. Inside, the tent was as bright as daytime. Wei Xiaobao was wearing full military attire, he was sitting in the middle, on either side of him stood a dozen or so high-ranking military officers, and further down there were several dozens of personal guards with broadsword in their hands. Standing by the table in front of Wei Xiaobao was the Dutch missionary, who acted as their interpreter earlier, talking to him.

He heard Wei Xiaobao spoke in Luocha language, “We drink wine and chat with Feodor in here, everything is fake, not real. We can talk with him for a month, two months, speaking back and forth, everything is fake, while our main force stealthily advancing to the west. Let Luocha princess receive that fool, Feodor’s report, constantly, letting her know that we are still talking, then she won’t be afraid, let her dance and go to bed with her sweetheart every day. Chinese main forces will suddenly arrived outside Moscow, with a sudden attack, the two Tsars and Princess Sophia will be captured. Luocha people will weep, kneel, surrender!”

The Dutch missionary said, “I don’t know anything about marching to war and fighting a battle, but holding a peace talk while sending troops for a sneak attack on their capital, won’t that mean we are breaching their trust too much? God gave us commandments, we must not cheat, we must not lie.”

“Ha ha,” Wei Xiaobao laughed, “It was Luocha people who cheated first, we have had an agreement, the guards of both sides carry firearms, not allowed. But on their bodies they hid firearms, short ones. They cheated, we cheat back. He bit me, once, I want to bite him, twice; bite him hard!”

“Hey,” the missionary exclaimed. After a while, he said, “I still advise Gongjue Daren not to go to war. The two countries go to war, the dead are all God’s people …”

Wei Xiaobao shook his hand, “No need to say too much. We only believe Buddha, we don’t believe God. If that Feodor is willing to have a fair negotiation, letting China has a bit more land, we can have a peaceful talk. But he is unwilling to yield even one li of land. After we attack and take over Moscow, Luocha men will go to heaven; the women, become Chinese people’s wives.”

The more Feodor heard, the more scared he was. “Oh my God,” he mused, “Chinese barbarians really disregard the law and natural morality, they are indeed daredevils.”

He heard Wei Xiaobao continued, “Today I sent a personal guard, on the three Cossack cavalry captains’ body, use finger to jab several times. These three captains, cannot move. Did you see that?”

“I did,” the missionary replied, “What kind of magic was that? It was very strange.”

“Chinese magic,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Genghis Khan, handed down. Genghis Khan used this method, attacked Luocha people, they kneeled and surrendered. We use the same method to attack them, Luocha country, will die!”

Feodor thought, “In those days Mongolia only had twenty thousand cavalry, they attacked all the way to Poland and Hungary; nobody in the world was able to stop them, apparently they were using magic. Eastern people are very strange, they are coming and will use magic; this … what should we do about it?”

He heard the missionary said, “If Luocha people open fire from the distance, your magic will be useless.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “That’s right. Consequently, we must pretend to have the negotiation in here, while the main forces are attacking Moscow. Just like little thieves, we sneak into the city. I have been to Moscow, there are a lot of Tatars in the city. Our troops will masquerade as Tatar shepherds, and sneak into the city. I guarantee the Luocha guards will not find out.”

Cold sweats started to run down Feodor’s back; he thought, “This Chinese little demon’s devilish plan is indeed formidable. Chinese soldiers traveling in disguise as Tatar shepherds, infiltrating our capital, unleashing their magical skill, how can we resist?”

He did not know that Shuang’er’s acupoint sealing technique was a high-level martial art skill, it required internal energy cultivation to reach high level stage before the practitioner could use it. From among the tens of thousands officers and men of the Qing army, she was the only one who could use the acupoint sealing technique. But Feodor thought that the magic only need to be taught, then anybody could use it. With just one touch of a finger, the opponents would be unable to move a single step. If tens of thousands Chinese soldiers used this technique in sneak attack against Moscow, perhaps Luocha country would be destroyed, its people annihilated.

He heard the missionary said, “If Gongjue Daren wants to send twenty thousand Chinese troops to sneak into Moscow, using the magic passed down by Genghis Khan to control the Luocha troops, then your plan to capture the two Tsars and the Princess may indeed be successful. However … however, this matter must be kept top secret. A big army traveling to the west, Luocha people must not find out about it. Gongjue Daren, Luocha country today is very strong, it is substantially different from when Genghis Khan fought the Luocha people in the past.”

“I have been to Moscow,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “I know the Luocha country’s situation very clearly. Early morning tomorrow we will release Feodor, let him go back. Afterwards we can continue negotiating with him; of course everything is fake. He is unwilling to agree, we negotiate in here for one day, Chinese main force is one day closer to Moscow.”

“Yes, yes,” the missionary said, “Daren must be careful in everything. This matter is really very dangerous.”

“I know,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You must not say anything. Don’t raise Feodor’s suspicion.” The missionary complied and withdrew.

Wei Xiaobao shouted, “Summon ‘tortoise b@stard dead chicken’ and ‘pig tribe coward’!”

His personal guard went out the tent, and returned with Poyarkov and Stepanov in tow. Wei Xiaobao said to the two men, “Tomorrow, I send two teams to Moscow, with many, many gifts, for Princess Sophia. On the road, robbers are many, send more troops to protect.”

Poyarkov said, “From here to Moscow there are only some small groups of Tatar bandits, plus they are not too ferocious. Gongjue Daren may set your heart at ease.”

“You don’t know,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Tatar robbers, eight or nine thousand men per group, some even twenty thousand, thirty thousand men.” Poyarkov and Stepanov looked at each other, their expressions showed their disbelief.

Wei Xiaobao said, “The two teams I send, will take two separate routes to Moscow, north and south. Wangbasiji will lead the one taking northern route, Zhuluonuofu will lead the southern route. These two routes, how are they?”

Poyarkov said, “Taking the northern route, from here going west to Chita, pass through Wusiwude [Ulan-Ude?], around the southern end of Great Lake Baikal, westward pass through Tomsk, Omsk, and the other cities, to Moscow.”

Stepanov said, “Taking the southern route, at first we will take the same road, after Lake Baikal the roads separate, heading southwest pass through the place where the Kazakhs live, continue westward through Osk, Uralsk, and so on, to Moscow.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded. “That’s right, those are the routes. My gifts, letter, and the Chinese envoy to deliver it to the Princess, the two of you lead the way. Lead well, rewards, lots of reward. Lead not well, Chinese generals will lead the troops, chop your heads. Dismiss!”

After the two Luocha captains withdrew, Wei Xiaobao picked up the golden arrow banner of command and issued his order. One by one the Chinese great generals bowed to receive the order. Feodor did not understand what they were speaking, but he saw that all Chinese great generals who receive the order had vehement expression on their faces; they struck their own chest with their fist and raised their hand to the sky as if making an oath. Apparently they pledged to their Grand Marshal that whatever happened they would achieve great success. Some even ran their palm across their own neck, some pulled their dagger and made a motion of stabbing it to their own chest, while with their mouth they did not stop chanting, “Moscow, Moscow.” Presumably they were saying that if they fail to take down Moscow, they would commit suicide.

Wei Xiaobao rambled on for a while. Four personal guards picked up a large map from the table, the map happened to face Feodor. He saw Wei Xiaobao traced his finger on the map, from Nerchinsk all the way to the west, following a thick red line, stopping at a red circle. Although Feodor could not read any Chinese character on the map, by looking at the bearing, he knew that the red circle represented Moscow. Wei Xiaobao rambled on again, his finger traced another line to Moscow. Feodor thought, “These Chinese barbarians are really vile; turns out they have thought through deliberately and methodically, they have long been prepared to attack Moscow.

Wei Xiaobao went on to say something, he repeatedly mentioned the name ‘Feodor’. When the generals heard him, they all roared in laughter. Feodor said in his heart, “You must be laughing at me, calling me an idiot; you are fooling me to negotiate the boundary, stalling me here for days, while surreptitiously you send troops to attack Moscow. Humph, I will not fall into your trick anymore.”

Slowly he stood up, thinking, “God bless me, He lets me discover Chinese barbarians’ big crafty scheme. It is clear that God shows concern for my Russian Empire, the fate of our nation will definitely be prosperous and grand. In any case, he is going to release me tomorrow, there is no need for me to take risks by running away tonight.”

He saw on the west side the patrolling soldiers come and go unendingly, but the east side was pitch-black and no one was in sight. Quietly he returned to his tent. Luckily the Qing troops did not see him at all. When he reached his tent, he saw that the three guards were still asleep; thereupon he entered his tent and went to sleep.

[foxs]

The next morning Feodor ate a sumptuous breakfast before following a personal guard back to the command tent. Wei Xiaobao laughed and asked, “Did Hojue Daren sleep well last night?”

“Humph,” Feodor said, “Your guards guarding me thoughtfully, naturally I slept very well.”

“Today you are not angry anymore?” Wei Xiaobao asked, “Are we going to talk about the terms in defining the boundary?”

Feodor did not reply. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped it around his mouth. Wei Xiaobao was enraged; he shouted, “You are so stubborn. I will kill you immediately.”

Feodor was not afraid at all; he thought, “You already decided to release me today, why putting on airs? Who’s afraid of you?”

Wei Xiaobao threw a tantrum, but seeing Feodor did not budge, he was helpless. He had no choice but to say, “Very well! You are so brave, I admire you. I will let you go. Go back and rest well. After ten days, we will select another place to negotiate the boundary.”

Feodor thought, “You desperately want to delay, I am afraid by this time the troops to sneak attack Moscow have already left. I must not fall into your trick.” He said, “You let me go, then I thank you very much. To express our good faith, I propose we continue the negotiation in the afternoon today, no need to wait ten days.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “There is no rush, we all can rest first and slowly reconvene later.”

Feodor said, “Both countries’ sovereigns are hoping that the negotiation will succeed sooner rather than later. We can sign the treaty on the border definition first, taking a rest later will not be too late.”

“Our Emperor is not in a hurry,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Let’s continue the talk in five days.”

Feodor shook his head and said, “No need to delay, let’s do it today.”

“How about three days?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

“No, today!” Feodor replied.

“Tomorrow?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

“Today!” Feodor replied.

Wei Xiaobao sighed and said, “You are so resolute, I have no choice but to give up. But I must warn you, when talking about drawing the borders, I will definitely not budge casually. We will haggle one foot by one foot, one inch by one inch.”

Feodor thought, “Drawing the national boundary you want to haggle every foot every inch, by the time this matter is settled, you already breach Moscow’s city wall. You still think I am such a silly big melon?” Immediately he stood up and said, “In that case the humble one will take my leave, thank you for Gongjue Daren’s food and drink.”

Wei Xiaobao walked him out the tent. He dispatched a team of rattan shield troops to escort Feodor back to Nerchinsk, but he did not release the two hundred sixty Cossack cavalry.

When Feodor was outside the tent, he saw the place where the army camp was standing yesterday was absolutely empty, the main forces of the Qing army have already struck the camp and left. He was secretly fearful, “Chinese barbarians say something and immediately do it, indeed they are very formidable.”

When the group reached the tent where they had the talk the previous day, they saw the three Cossack captains were still standing at the same place, even their posture was still exactly the same as yesterday, they did not move at all. A thin and small officer leaped out from among the Qing troops. The officer went to the three captains while chanting loudly, “Genghis Khan, Genghis Khan!” and then patted and kneaded several places on the three men’s body. The three captains were then able to move slowly. It’s just that after standing half a day and one full night, they were extremely exhausted, their legs were numb, they dropped sitting down on the ground.

Six rattan shield troops stepped forward to help them up. After walking a dozen zhang or so, the three captains were able to walk by themselves. Feodor was even more astonished, “The magic passed down by Genghis Khan is incomparably formidable, no wonder he was able to move unhindered throughout the world and nobody was able to stop him. Fortunately right now the firearm is already invented so that we can keep the enemy from getting too close. Otherwise, the Chinese pagans would rule the world again, we who believe in God, the Christians, would become their slaves.”

The rattan shield troops escorted Feodor to Nerchinsk’s eastern city gate before returning to their camp. Feodor asked the three Cossack captains on how they were hit by magic. The three captains all said that at that time they only felt the middle of their back and their waist went numb, and then their whole body stiffened and could not move.

Feodor asked, “Are you wearing crucifix on your body?” The three captains untied their jacket, exposing the crucifix hanging on their necks, one even had the image of Jesus on it.

Feodor knitted his brows; he mused, “Genghis Khan’s magic is really formidable, even Jesus Christ’ crucifix cannot dispel the demonic influence.” Immediately he wrote three memorials to the throne and sent fifteen cavalry to take three different routes toward Moscow to report an emergency: Chinese army already left to launch sneak attack, they disguised themselves as Tatar shepherds to sneak into the Capital, must increase vigilant to guard against the attack.

By noon, one after another the three teams of messengers returned to the city, saying that all the roads to the west have been blocked by Chinese troops; as soon as they saw Luocha cavalry, they shot arrows from a distance; it was really difficult to go through them. Feodor was even more worried, “I must reach an agreement with the Chinese barbarians on the border treaty, so that they would withdraw the troops and horses immediately.”

By the wei hour [between 1-3pm], Feodor took a dozen or so attendants and went to the tent where the meeting was being held. This time he did not bring any Cossack cavalry at all, in order to show his good intention. Besides, even if he brought bodyguards, they could not withstand Chinese troops’ ‘Genghis Khan Magic’ anyway, hence they would be useless. Feodor had profound scholarly knowledge, he was a capable and experienced minister; he was actually not a person who was prone to be deceived by others, but the fear of Genghis Khan in Luocha people’s heart was deep-rooted, Shuang’er’s acupoint sealing skill was utterly exquisite, he had seen it with his own eyes, hence he cannot not believe.

He arrived at the tent first. Not too long afterwards Wei Xiaobao, Songgotu, Tong Guogang and the other, the high-ranking Qing delegation also arrived. Seeing the opposite party did not bring any guards, Wei Xiaobao also ordered the escorting rattan shield troops to withdraw. Both parties spoke some polite greetings, nobody mentioned anything about what happened yesterday, they went straight into negotiating the boundary.

Feodor aimed for speedy negotiation, he conceded to everything, his manner was completely different from the previous day. Wei Xiaobao laughed in his heart, knowing that the Zhou Yu’s trick in the play ‘Meeting of Heroes’ last night was highly successful. He did not understand anything about defining boundaries, hence he handed this matter over to Songgotu with the assistance of the Dutch missionary as the interpreter, to discuss the terms of the treaty with the opposite side.

He saw the two men, Songgotu and Feodor spread out a large map on the table. Songgotu’s finger constantly moving to the north, Feodor knitted his brows, cun by cun his finger retreated to the north. For each cun the finger yielded on the map, a hundred or so li of land fell under the jurisdiction of China.

After listening for a while, Wei Xiaobao could not endure anymore; he sat on another table and ordered the attendant to fetch the food case. Sitting cross-legged, he slowly chewed the pastries and delicacies, while softly humming the song ‘eighteen touches’.

Feodor had made up his mind to yield, but Songgotu was afraid of getting into trouble, hence he refrained from going to the extremes. However, the wording of the treaty was thorough, the clergymen of both sides translated everything into Latin, they discussed everything over and over again, it was a very time-consuming process. By the evening of the fourth day, the ‘Treaty of Nerchinsk’ with six clauses was completed.

Wei Xiaobao had Songgotu and Tong Guogang explained everything to him, he knew the substance of the treaty was very favorable to China, the land that was taken back into China’s territory was extremely vast, far more than Kangxi had intended in his imperial order. The treaty was made into four copies, one in Chinese, one in Luocha language, and two in Latin, explicitly provided for both sides so that when the text in both sides’ languages had a substantial difference, the Latin copy would serve as the reference.

Immediately the attendants ground some ink and dipped the brush, and then respectfully invited the Chinese Chief Imperial Envoy to sign the treaty. Wei Xiaobao knew the three characters comprising his name, it’s just that he often confused the character ‘zhang’ [章 – chapter/section] with the character ‘Wei’ [韋 – his surname], and character ‘mai’ [賣 – sell] with character ‘Bao’ [寶 – treasure]; hence when the characters were mixed together he often made mistake. Albeit with difficulty, he could handle the character ‘Xiao’ [小 - small]; the other two characters in front and in the back [orig. ‘head and tail’], however, he simply could not write, no matter what.

In all his life he seldom blushed, but right now unexpectedly a cinnabar color appeared on his face. It was not from anger, he was not drunk of wine either, but because he was somewhat ashamed. Knowing Wei Xiaobao very well, Songgotu said, “This kind of official document only need to be signed in some symbol used in place of a signature. Wei Daren may randomly write the character ‘Xiao’, it can already be considered your signature.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he thought, “Writing the character ‘Xiao’, I am an expert.” Immediately he picked up the brush and started by drawing a circle on the left, another circle on the right, and one thick vertical bar straight down in the middle. Songgotu smiled and said, “That will do; you wrote it well.”

Wei Xiaobao cocked his head sideways to admire his ‘Xiao’ character. Suddenly he threw his head back and laughed aloud. “Grand Marshal Wei, what’s so funny?” Songgotu asked.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Look at this character, one small bird and two eggs, doesn’t that look like that thing?”

The high-ranking ministers of the Qing side could not help bursting in laughter; even the attendants and personal guards were also laughing. Feodor just stared at them; he did not understand why everybody was laughing.

Right away Wei Xiaobao put his signature on the four copies of the treaty. On the Luocha copy, he made the straight vertical line extra thick. And then Feodor, Songgotu, and the Russian lieutenant envoy also signed the treaty. Thereupon the first treaty between China and Russia was completed and signed.

It was actually the first treaty China has ever signed with any foreign country. Due to Kangxi’s meticulous planning and preparation, and his all-out effort plus the very capable personnel he dispatched to handle this matter, the Treaty of Nerchinsk defining the boundaries between the two countries was highly advantageous to China. The treaty defined the northern Xing’an mountain range as the boundary; the whole modern day Soviet Union’s Amur province and the provinces bordering the sea belonged to China, as well as east and southeast regions all the way to the sea.

During the negotiation to define the boundaries, both sides did not take the previous owner of any localities into consideration. None of Chinese land fell into Luocha territory, but the forts and colonies that Luocha already built were forced to retreat after the signing; indeed it was a Chinese military and diplomatic victory. According to the treaty, the land incorporated into China covering a total of two million square kilometers, about twice the area of northeastern Chinese provinces of today. After the treaty took effect, China’s northeast frontier enjoyed more than a hundred and fifty years of peace, while Luocha’s endeavor of eastern invasion was blocked, and their ambition to encroach other country was somewhat restrained. Since Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, and other imperial rulers after them, Manchurian Qing has taken part in signing treaties with other countries, China has never lost either land or authority. Kangxi and Wei Xiaobao greatly raised national prestige into an awe-inspiring level that year, no one in later generations has ever seen nor repeated.

(Book note: Wei Xiaobao’s odd signature on the treaty was unrecognizable. Later generation’s historians only knew Songgotu and Feodor’s names. Even archeologists of Guo Moruo[1] caliber, who understood oracle script, did not know that there was a ‘Xiao’ character signature on the Treaty of Nerchinsk; so Wei Xiaobao’s great name passed into oblivion. The historical records of later generations stated that the Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed by Songgotu and Feodor. Throughout the ages, those who know that the character Wei Xiaobao once existed on the earth are only the readers of ‘The Deer and The Cauldron’. With the exception of supplementary account involving Wei Xiaobao, which the history books omitted, our book’s narrative on the signing of the Treaty of Nerchinsk, as well as its content, are all based on historical records.)

According to the custom of those days, both parties released salvo simultaneously, made an oath to the Heaven, promised to be unswervingly faithful. Qing side’s four hundred cannon were all fired together on Nerchinsk’s east, south, west and north sides, the explosion shook the earth. Russian side’s cannon were only about twenty, the sound was weak, the difference in intensity and momentum could not be measured by li. Feodor inwardly admitted that they were lucky; if the peace negotiation failed, and war broke, Russia would definitely suffer a crushing defeat.

Right away the envoys of both countries exchanged gifts. Feodor presented Wei Xiaobao and the others with watch, telescope, silverware, mink fur, saber and sword, and other gifts. Wei Xiaobao presented the opposite party’s diplomatic envoys with horse, saddle and reins, golden cups, silk garments, silk fabrics, and so on. In addition, the two hundred sixty Cossack cavalry received twenty taels of fine silver each to compensate their belts being cutoff by the Qing troops.

That evening there was a big feast to celebrate the completed treaty. Feodor was still worried, he did not know whether the troops sent to attack Moscow had been recalled or not. He continuously tried to sound out Wei Xiaobao, but Wei Xiaobao pretended not knowing anything.

Two days later Feodor received a report that a large group of Qing troops arrived from the west. He climbed to the top of the city wall and looked using the telescope. Sure enough, he saw a large group of Qing troops were approaching from the west, marched pass Nerchinsk, and pitched camp to the east. Feodor was greatly delighted; he knew that the Qing troops to attack the west had been recalled. He did not realize that this large group of Qing troops set up camp only about two hundred li west of Nerchinsk, waiting for orders. As soon as they heard the cannon, they struck camp and slowly pulling back to the east.

Several days later, stone carvers already completed the boundary markers. The upright stone tablets had inscriptions in five languages, Manchu, Han, Mongolian, Latin and Luocha. The border markers were erected on the eastern bank of Gorbitsa River, southern bank or Argun River, as well as other places throughout the northeast via the Great Mountain Yike’alin, and other places.

The inscription on the tablet stated clearly that Gorbitsa River was the boundary between the two countries: “Following this river going upstream to the barren land, to the great Xing’an down to the sea, where the river flows from the region south of the mountain into Heilongjiang, everything belongs to China; the river north of the mountain belongs to Russia.” It also stated clearly, “The Argun River flowing into Heilongjiang is the border, the southern bank of the river belongs to China, the northern bank of the river belongs to Russia. Therefore, all the Russian settlements on the southern bank toward Meile’erke estuary must be moved to the northern bank.” It also stated clearly, “The buildings of Russian people in Yakesa, as well as various belongings, must all be removed toward Chahanhan.” It also stated clearly, “Ordinary citizen, livestock, and so on must not cross the border. If the people meet while holding hunting weapons in their hands, those who kill and loot will be promptly arrested and persecuted by law. Small affair must not be allowed to spoil big affair. China and Russia, two countries are reconciled, this fact is not to be disputed.”

The imperial envoys of both countries sent their subordinates to survey the land, after it was verified that there was no mistake, the boundary markers were erected. These border marks ought to define the unchanging border between China and Russia, two countries, for ten thousand years. However, a hundred and some dozen of years later, Russia took advantage when China was in decline, unexpectedly they nibbled away China’s territory step by step, disregarding the border markers that were installed in the past, annexing China’s wide expanse of rich and fertile land into their territory. When the later generations read the history of this affair, they could only sigh and comment, “The land Kangxi and Wei Xiaobao secured, as well as their effort in chasing away the ambition of wild wolves of Luocha people, how could we restore it to our homeland?”

The establishment of boundary markers finished, the imperial envoys of both countries saluted each other and bade farewell, separately returning to their capital to give report on the completion of this mission.

Wei Xiaobao summoned Poyarkov and Stepanov, instructing them to present his gifts to Princess Sophia, included among these were brocade quilt, embroidered pillow. The northern country was a desolate and rural land, these items could not be purchased anywhere in that area, so these items actually belonged to Shuang’er. Wei Xiaobao said with a laugh, “If the Princess really miss me, she can cuddle the silk blanket and pillow.”

Poyarkov said, “Her Highness the Princess’ affection to Your Excellency Daren is enduring while the world lasts, blanket and pillow are easily worn out, it would be better if Daren assign several bridge-building experts to Moscow to build a stone bridge. A stone bridge will not wear out forever.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “I have given this matter a lot of thought, you need not be long-winded.” He ordered his personal guards to lift up a large wooden chest, about eight chi long, four chi wide, all in all, it looked a lot like a coffin. Eight personal guards carried it using large shoulder poles; it appeared to be very heavy. The outside of the chest was wrapped with heavy iron strips, sealed with hot-lacquer seal. Wei Xiaobao said, “This gift is extremely important, you must protect it well, do not damage it. When the Princess sees it, she will definitely be happy. This enduring-while-the-world-lasts affection will be completely as secure as a Chinese stone bridge.” The two Luocha captains did not dare to ask too much, they received the wooden chest and left.

This large wooden chest weighed more than a thousand catties, it was transported tens of thousands of li from the remote Nechinsk all the way to Moscow; it was indeed a hard work. After Princess Sophia received and opened it, to her surprise it was a naked stone statue of Wei Xiaobao, beaming from ear to ear, vivid and lifelike. Turned out Wei Xiaobao had the stone carvers who prepared the boundary markers to carve his image; he also had the Dutch missionary write ‘I will always love you’ in Luocha character, and carve the words on the stone statue’s chest.

When Sophia saw it, she did not know whether to laugh or to cry; she recalled that this Chinese little child was an eccentric elf, but no Luocha men could match him. She could not help remembering him with fondness, her spirit seemed to gallop ten thousand li. This stone statue was kept inside Kremlin Palace. Later on Peter the Great launched a coup, he expelled Princess Sophia out of the Palace; since the stone statue was related to her, it was smashed to pieces. Only a piece of the stone statue was smuggled out by an ordinary soldier. Ignorant Luocha women who prayed for a child would gently caress and stroke the stone statue’s lower body, allegedly it was very effective.

(Book Note: ‘Duhu’ was the army and government governor-general of Han Dynasty who ruled various states in the western region. ‘Yumen Pass’ was the major road going through the western region during the Han era. ‘Cannot establish Yumen Pass’ means the territory was so large, the original gate of the Pass could not become a strategic focal of frontier defense. ‘Attach utmost importance to copper pillar as boundary marker’ refers to after the Eastern Han’s Ma Yuan conquering the former southernmost province of the Chinese Empire (Annan), he opened up new territory and set up copper pillars to demarcate the boundary, thinking that it would be beneficial to China’s border.)

---

[1] From the dictionary: Guo Moruo (1892-1978), writer, communist party intellectual and cultural apparatchik.

[foxs]

Chapter 49 - Good government official adorned the carriage by strengthening it with fur coat, lone visitor suspected the heart of an old friend.
(Translated by Foxs)

Lu Ding Ji 49.jpg

Sitting on an open top ox cart with his hands tied behind his back,Mao Shiba was brought to the execution ground at the mouth of the food market,while common people crowded by the street to watch. Mao Shiba shouted and yelled, “After eighteen years, Laozi is still a hero, that’s why I am called Mao Shiba. I already knew that I was going to be beheaded.” The common people by the street cheered in praise.

[foxs]

Wei Xiaobao returned to the capital in triumph. When the main force arrived outside the city of Beijing, the high-ranking ministers of the imperial court greeted them at the city gate. Wei Xiaobao led Tong Guogang, Songgotu, Ma La, A’erni, Ma Qi, Peng Chun, Sabusu, Lang Tan, Ba Hai, Lin Xingzhu, and the others to have an audience with Kangxi. The Emperor spoke to them warmly, he encouraged and exhorted everybody. He issued an edict, promoting Wei Xiaobao to be the First-class Duke of Luding [deer and cauldron]; Tong Guogang, Songgotu and the other high-ranking officials, as well as military officers and common soldiers, all received promotion and reward.

In the next several days, Kangxi repeatedly summoned Wei Xiaobao, asking him the details about the capture of Yakesa, about the talk to define the boundary, and so on. Wei Xiaobao reported everything according to the fact, surprisingly he did not exaggerate or blow his horn. Kangxi was extremely delighted; he praised Wei Xiaobao by saying that he had made a lot of progress. Kangxi also bestowed rewards to his seven wives and two sons.

One day Kangxi held a banquet in honor of the Great General Fuyuan, the Duke of Deer and Cauldron Wei Xiaobao and various ministers who had rendered great merit. During the banquet Kangxi discussed two poems, all the members of the Hanlin Imperial Academy who attended the banquet respectfully joined the discussion, celebrating the heroic deed and magnificent triumph.

After the feast, carrying the precious things bestowed by the Emperor, immensely proud of himself, Wei Xiaobao went out of the Palace. With an officer shouting in front of him and his personal guards thronged behind him, he went home in a ceremonial procession. Suddenly by the main street someone shouted, “Wei Xiaobao, you are a dog thief who forget favors and violate justice!”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked, especially since he thought the voice sounded familiar. Turning his head sideways, he saw a big man ran from under the eaves to the middle of the street, pointed his finger to him and cursed, “Wei Xiaobao, I want to hack you, this little thief, to pieces. You are a Han, yet you surrendered to the Manchurian Qing, becoming Tatar’s hunting dog and slave. You murdered your own Shifu, you killed your own good Xiongdi, today the Tatar Emperor bestowed you the title Duke and Marquis, you have glory, splendor, wealth and rank, you are showing off your air. Your granny, laozi will stab a white blade into you, and it will be red on exit, I will stab your little thief’s body using your Ma’s blade seventeen or twenty eight times. I want to see if you can still be a Tortoise Duke, a Turtle Duke?” The big man was naked from the waist up, his chest was covered in long, shaggy black hair, his eyebrows were thick, his eyes big, his expression looked fierce and malicious; he was none other than Mao Shiba, who had taken Wei Xiaobao to Beijing in the past.

While Wei Xiaobao was stunned, a dozen or so personal guards already surrounded Mao Shiba. From his leg wrappings Mao Shiba pulled a short blade to fight back. The personal guards moved together, some placed their blades on Mao Shiba’s neck, some snatched away the short blade in his hand, some pounced on him and dragged him down to the ground and tied him up.

Mao Shiba was still cursing incessantly, “Wei Xiaobao, you little thief, son of a wh0re, that year laozi took you to Beijing, it was my biggest mistake. I have wronged Chen Jinnan, Chen Zongduozhu, I have wronged the heroes and warriors of Tian Di Hui. Today laozi no longer wish to live, I want to let everybody in the world know that you, Wei Xiaobao has betrayed your friends to seek glory, a dog thief who forget favors and violate justice; in your desire to be promoted and gain wealth, you have become the Tatar Emperor’s hunting dog …”

The personal guards struck his mouth, Mao Shiba was still cursing incessantly. Wei Xiaobao hastily shouted his personal guards to stop, he told them not to use violence. A personal guard took out a handkerchief and stuffed it into Mao Shiba’s mouth. Mao Shiba was still grunting endlessly, presumably he was still cursing.

Wei Xiaobao ordered his personal guard, “Bring this man inside, guard him well, don’t give him trouble, give him wine and food, in a moment I will interrogate him personally.”

When he was back at his mansion, Wei Xiaobao arranged a feast in his study room, and invited Mao Shiba to accompany him. Afraid that he might resort to violence, he asked Su Quan and Shuang’er, two women to accompany him, dressed as personal guards. His personal guards dragged Mao Shiba inside. Wei Xiaobao ordered them to remove the shackles on Mao Shiba’s hands and feet, and then he ordered the personal guards to withdraw.

With a smile on his face Wei Xiaobao said, “Mao Dage, long time no see, how are you?” [reminder: in Chinese, ‘how are you?’ is ‘ni hao?’ – ‘are you good?’]

“What’s so good or not good about me?” Mao Shiba angrily replied, “Originally I was perfectly all right, but ever since I met you, I became not good.”

Wei Xiaobao said with a laugh, “Mao Dage, please sit back and relax, let Xiongdi toast you three cups of wine to cool your temper first. How did Xiongdi offend Mao Dage, you may curse me after drinking; it won’t be too late by then.”

Mao Shiba took a large stride forward and shouted, “I will beat you, this little thief to death first before I drink the wine.” Swinging his rice-bowl size fist, ‘whoosh!’ he punched Wei Xiaobao’s face.

Su Quan darted forward and stretched out her left hand to grab Mao Shiba’s wrist. She lightly twisted it, and then using her right hand she tapped his shoulder twice. Instantly half of Mao Shiba’s body went numb; he could not help but fell sitting down into a chair. He was shocked and angered at the same time; struggling hard he leaped up and cursed, “Little thief …”

Su Quan stood behind him, with both hands she seized the ‘jian zhen’ [shoulder chaste] acupoints on his shoulder, and then she lightly pressed downward. Mao Shiba was unable to withstand, he fell back into the chair again. He was a big and tall man, he was at least twice as big as Su Quan, but with her profound martial art she was able to control him; it was as if with hands and feet tied he was forced to sit down. He was even more enraged as with a loud voice he said, “Today laozi cursed you, this little traitor (to Han), in the middle of the street, I have already given up any hope of staying alive. I just want the people throughout the world to know that you are a despicable and shameless man who betrayed your master and your friends …”

“Mao Dage,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I was away on a mission for His Majesty, it was to attack the Luocha demons, not to kill any Han people; you can’t call me a traitor to Han.”

Mao Shiba said, “Then … then why did you kill your Shifu Chen Jinnan?”

“How could I kill my Shifu?” Wei Xiaobao anxiously asked, “My Shifu was clearly murdered by that fellow Zheng Keshuang.”

“You still deny it?” Mao Shiba angrily rebuked him, “The Tatar Emperor’s damn imperial edict cannot state it more clearly than that.”

Wei Xiaobao was startled, “His Majesty’s imperial edict?” he said, “How … how can it say that I killed my Shifu?” Totally confused, he turned his eyes toward Su Quan.

Su Quan said, “A few days ago His Majesty promoted you to be a first-class duke, he issued a statement listing your meritorious service as the basis of granting you the title. I don’t know who wrote the statement, but it says that you ‘recommending able generals, sweeping away and pacifying the rebel Wu, recovering Taiwan as our territory, leading the army into battle, capturing cities, propagating the national prestige in foreign country’, which are true. However, there are a few words like, 'Capturing and beheading Tian Di Hui rebel leaders Chen Jinnan, Feng Jizhong, and the others, successfully crumbling the pillar, creating setback leading to total collapse, putting the bandits into confusion, leading them to renew their faces and wash their hearts'. Those words are incorrect."

Wei Xiaobao frowned. "What exactly is renewing the faces and wash the hearts?" he asked.

Su Quan said, "The statement says you captured Chen Jinnan, Feng Jizhong, and the others, and killed them, scarring Tian Di Hui people so that they do not dare to rebel anymore."

Wei Xiaobao jumped and cried out, "How … how can there be such thing? Isn't this wrongly accusing me?"

Su Quan slowly shook her head. "Feng Jizhong was a spy, we did kill him, the imperial edict was not wrong," she said, "However, it has three extra characters: 'Chen Jinnan'."

Wei Xiaobao anxiously said, "Chen Jinnan was my benevolent master, I … how could I harm him, the Senior? His Majesty … His Majesty's imperial edict … ay … when you saw the imperial edict, why didn't you tell me?"

Su Quan said, "We discussed this matter over, the imperial edict has three extra characters 'Chen Jinnan', if you knew about it, you would be greatly unhappy."

Wei Xiaobao understood that 'we discussed this matter over' means his seven wives talked it over together; turning his head, he looked at Shuang'er. Shuang'er nodded. Wei Xiaobao said, "Mao Dage, my Shifu was definitely not harmed by me. Feng Jizhong was Tian Du Hui's traitor, he secretly disclosed information to the Emperor …"

With a cold laugh Mao Shiba said, "So you are actually the good guy?"

Wei Xiaobao dejectedly sat down and said, "I will explain to His Majesty, I will ask him to change ... to change ... to change ..." He said the words 'to change' three times, but knew for sure that just because there were three extra characters 'Chen Jinnan' in the imperial edict, Kangxi would not issue another imperial edict to amend it. He thought, "I wonder which dog thief blabbed too much and told His Majesty that I killed Shifu. In His Majesty's eyes, it was the evidence of my loyalty, but … but … how can I, Wei Xiaobao, still be considered a human being?" His heart was anxious, "Wah!" he suddenly cried. "Mao Dage, Quan Jiejie, Good … Good Shuang'er," he called out, "I did not kill my Shifu!"

Seeing him suddenly broke into crying, the three people were stunned. Su Quan hastily came over and wrapped her arms around his shoulder, she said tenderly, "That Zheng Keshuang killed your Shifu at Tong Chi Island, all of us have seen it with our own eyes." She took out a handkerchief and helped him wiping his tears. It was only now that Mao Shiba saw that this 'personal guard' with strong martial art skill was actually a woman; he could not help feeling greatly amazed.

Wei Xiaobao suddenly remembered something. "Mao Dage," he said, "That fellow Zheng Keshuang is also in Beijing; let us confront him directly. I'll say he will not dare to deny. Right, right! Let us go now …"

Right this moment, suddenly they heard outside the door the personal guard loudly said, “Imperial edict is here. Imperial Bodyguard Duo Zongguan has arrived to announce the Imperial Decree.”

Wei Xiaobao stood up and went to the door to welcome the guest; he saw Dolong walked in with a smile on his face. Wei Xiaobao kowtowed to the north, while respectfully wishing the Holy Sage well. Dolong waited until Wei Xiaobao finished the ceremony before saying, “His Majesty’s instruction: he wants to personally interrogate the rebel thief who cursed you on the street.”

Wei Xiaobao’s heart turned cold; he said, “That … that man? Xiongdi has already arrested him and questioned him in details; turns out he is a mad man. This man babbled about Jade Emperor, Taishang Laojun [Taoist deity], that kind of nonsense. Xiongdi could not make any sense of it. After I had him flogged for a while, I let him go. How did His Majesty find out about this matter? Actually it’s not a big deal …”

Listening to this point, Mao Shiba could not bear anymore; he slapped the table so hard that the bowls and cups jumped up and crashed onto the floor, ‘bing bing bang bang!’ “Damn Wei Xiaobao,” he cursed loudly, “Who is the mad man? The man who cursed the Tatar Emperor on the street today was Laozi! Laozi is not afraid to be hacked to pieces, do you think Laozi is afraid to see the damn Tatar Emperor?”

Wei Xiaobao groaned inwardly; he was hoping he could fool Kangxi and Dolong, and then he would let Mao Shiba go. Who would have thought that this man was completely oblivious of his intention to protect him; he insulted the Emperor in public, even if Mao Shiba had eighteen heads, he would not be able to protect even one. [Reminder: the ‘shiba’ in Mao Shiba’s name means ‘eighteen’.]

Dolong sighed and said, “Xiongdi, you have exceptional yi qi toward Jianghu friends, for that I am full of admiration. In this matter you have done your best, it can be considered extreme benevolence, utmost duty already. Let’s go.”

Mao Shiba walked to the door in large strides; suddenly he turned back and shot a mouthful of saliva toward Wei Xiaobao’s face. Wei Xiaobao’s mind was tumultuous, it was too late for him to dodge, ‘slap!’ the saliva hit right between his eyes. Several personal guards immediately pulled their weapons and rushed toward Mao Shiba. Wei Xiaobao waved his hand and sadly said, “Forget it, don’t give him any trouble.” Dolong’s men took out a pair of handcuffs and shackled Mao Shiba.

Wei Xiaobao pondered, “His Majesty personally interrogates Mao Dage, I guarantee before he even asks three questions, he would have him pushed out and beheaded. I must go to see His Majesty immediately. No matter what I have to think of a way to save him.” He said to Dolong, “I want to go asking His Majesty, to explain everything clearly; don’t let this crude man come across His Majesty.”

The party arrived at the Palace. Wei Xiaobao heard that the Emperor was in the Upper Study Room, immediately he went over asking for an audience. Kangxi summoned him in. Wei Xiaobao kowtowed several times before standing up.

Kangxi said, “The man who cursed you and cursed me on the street today, he is your good friend, isn’t he?”

Wei Xiaobao replied, “Your Majesty can see clearly for ten thousand li, there is nothing that you need to guess twice.”

“Does he belong to Tian Di Hui?” Kangxi asked.

“He has not officially joined the Society,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “But he knew quite a number of people in the Society. He admires my Shifu very much. Your Majesty’s imperial edict says that I killed Shifu, as soon as he heard that he was very angry, hence he reprimanded me severely. As for toward Your Majesty, he did not dare to be disrespectful even for half a word.”

Kangxi smiled and said, “You have made a clean break with Tian Di Hui, from now on you won’t have any dealings with them, is that right?”

“Yes,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “This time I went to fight the Luocha demons, your servant did not bring any Tian Di Hui people.”

Kangxi asked, “If later on your old Tian Di Hui friends come to find you, what are you going to do?”

Wei Xiaobao replied, “Your servant simply will not see them, so that everybody will not feel uncomfortable.”

Kangxi nodded and said, “For that reason in that statement I personally added Chen Jinnan and Feng Jizhong, two names, to spare you a lot of trouble in the future. Xiao Guizi, one man cannot always have his feet on two boats. If you are loyal to me, single-mindedly work for the imperial court, you must not tread the muddy water of Tian Di Hui anymore. If you are determined to become Tian Di Hui’s Xiangzhu, then you must single-mindedly rebel against me.”

Wei Xiaobao jumped in fright; he kowtowed and said, “Your servant definitely will not rebel. When your servant was little, I was muddleheaded, I did not understand reason; but now I have a high notion of my duty, I have ‘washed my face and renewed my heart’, I am completely different now.”

Kangxi nodded and said with a laugh, “That’s very good. The lunatic who cursed you on the street today, I want you to personally supervise his execution tomorrow. Just kill him.”

Wei Xiaobao kowtowed and said, “Your Majesty please understand, your servant came to Beijing and was able to see Your Majesty’s golden face, it was entirely due to this man. Your servant has not repaid his kindness, I boldly beg Your Majesty to spare this man. Your servant would rather … would rather my contribution of defeating the Luocha demons, Your Majesty take back everything. Your servant is willing to go back to become Marquis of Luding.”

With a wooden countenance Kangxi said, “The nobility granted by the imperial court, you treat it as a trivial matter? You are conferred the title First-class Duke of Luding, it was by my grace, yet you use the rank and benefit of nobility to bargain with me, to haggle over the price; what a nerve!”

[foxs]

Wei Xiaobao repeatedly kowtowed; he said, “Your servant is reaching out to the sky asking for grace, Your Majesty may reach down and grant me my request. If Marquis of Luding does not work, how about move me back to Count of Tong Chi or Viscount of Tong Chi?”

Kangxi wanted to scare him, he wanted to let him know some imperial court rules and regulations; who would have thought that this man was a lowly person of the marketplace? Although he achieved the titles First-class Duke, Great General, his hoodlum character did not change the least bit. Kangxi could not help feeling angry, but was amused at the same time. “Damn it!” he shouted, “Stand up!” Wei Xiaobao kowtowed and stood up.

Still maintaining a wooden expression Kangxi said, “Your granny, Laozi reaches down to you, you ask me to spare this rebel, so I want to have your head in exchange of his head.”

Frowning and worried, Wei Xiaobao said, “Your Majesty’s counter offer is too aggressive, please rise it some.”

“Alright,” Kangxi said, “I will yield one step. You cut your own egg, and enter the Palace as a real eunuch.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Please Your Majesty rise your offer more.”

Kangxi said, “That’s my final offer. If you don’t kill him, that means you are not loyal to me. When one is loyal, he is loyal to the end; if he is not loyal, then he is not. How can there be any bargaining?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Your servant is loyal to His Majesty, holding righteousness to my friends, filial to my mother, loving to my wives …”

Kangxi laughed aloud; he said, “Unexpectedly you, this fellow are everything: loyal, filial, and holding to moral integrity and righteousness. Alright, my utmost admiration. By this time tomorrow, get a head to show me. If it is not that rebel’s head, then it must be your own head.”

Wei Xiaobao had no choice; he kowtowed and withdrew. When he reached the door, Kangxi said, “Xiao Guizi, are you thinking of escaping?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “This time I do not dare. Your servant is going home, put a pillow under my head, lie down and think it over carefully. It would be best if I could make Your Majesty happy while upholding yi qi toward a friend, and keeping your servant’s head firmly attached to my body at the same time.”

Kangxi smiled, “Very good,” he said, “I have not seen Princess Jianning for a long time, I miss her very much. I have already had her brought into the Palace.” After a short pause, he continued, “Your other six wives, three children, will also accompany the Princess to the Palace to have an audience with the Empress Dowager. Empress Dowager said that your contribution is not small, she wants to reward your wives and children well.”

“Thank you very much for the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty’s grace,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Even if my body turns to dust your servant finds it difficult to repay.” Retreating two steps, he could not bear not to say, “Your Majesty, your servant once said to you, you are the Tathagata Buddha, I am Sun Wukong. No matter what your servant cannot jump out of your palm.”

Kangxi smiled and said, “You possess great magical power, there is no need to stand on ceremonies.”

Wei Xiaobao went out the study room; he could not help but moaning and groaning in his heart, “His Majesty detains all my seven wives and three kids, even if I have the guts to run away, I cannot bear to part with them.”

When he reached the long corridor, Dolong came over to meet him with a laugh, “Wei Xiongdi, Empress Dowager summoned your wives, young masters, young miss; the reward must not be a few. Congratulations to you.”

Wei Xiaobao cupped his fist and said, “Thanks to your lucky influence, thank you.”

Dolong smiled and said, “This time before Xiongdi led the troops into battle, you instructed me to demand payment for you. To date, we have had seventy, eighty percent. Two million six hundred and some taels of banknotes, I will have it delivered to your mansion.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Dage’s ability is not small, unexpectedly you managed to extract that much.” Immediately he said hatefully, “That fellow Zheng Keshuang murdered my Shifu, until today, he is still giving me a lot of headache. His granny, that mad man who cursed me on the street, I bet you it was Zheng Keshuang who planted the root of trouble.” The more he thought, the more hateful he became. “Dage,” he said, “Please get more men, let us go to demand payment.”

Dolong heard that they were going to the Zheng mansion to demand payment, it was the number one pleasure of his heart. Today they had the Great General Fuyuan, the First-class Duke of Luding Wei Gongye leading the troops, the way they handle this matter would be even more unrestrained. At once he repeatedly agreed and ordered the Deputy Chief of the Imperial Bodyguards to take over his duty in the Palace, while he took a hundred Imperial Bodyguards to escort Wei Xiaobao to the Zheng mansion.

Although Zheng Keshuang was also conferred the title duke, compared to Wei Xiaobao’s dukedom it was like heaven and earth apart. One was a surrendering rebel of border defense king, the other was a high-ranking minister who has given outstanding service, the Emperor’s personal favorite. Both had duke mansions, but the size, as well as the style, were substantially different. The four characters ‘Hai Cheng Gong Fu’ [Mansion of the duke who settled the ocean] written on the horizontal inscribed board above the main gate were in black, not as good as Wei Xiaobao’s gold lettering of ‘Lu Ding Gong Fu’. When Wei Xiaobao saw it, he was somewhat happy; he said, “The signboard on this fellow’s door is not as good as my gold lettering signboard.”

The Imperial Bodyguards were accustomed with visiting the ‘Hai Cheng Gong Fu’ every two, three days to demand payment. Without waiting for the doorkeeper to announce their arrival, they simply burst into the mansion. Wei Xiaobao sat on a chair in the middle of the main hall, Dolong sat next to him. When Zheng Keshuang heard about the Great General Fuyuan’s arrival, which was his number one nemesis, he could not help but panicked, but he did not dare not to meet him. Without any choice he changed into his duke attire; trembling with fear he came out to meet them. Taking a step forward he cupped his fist and greeted, “Wei Daren!”

Wei Xiaobao did not stand up; he sat unmoving, with head held high he snorted and said to Dolong, “Duo Dage, this Zheng Keshuang is very rude. We have been here for half a day, he neither pay attention nor care about us; isn’t he looking down upon people?”

“That’s right!” Dolong said, “Killing people one must pay with his own life, owing money one must pay back. Always shrinking his head like a turtle, in the end he still won’t be able to hide.”

Zheng Keshuang was furious; it’s just that ‘under other people’s eaves, one must lower his head’. One of his guests was the great general holding power over the military, the other was the Chief of the Imperial Bodyguards, while Zheng Keshuang was not only without power without authority, he was always under suspicion. Although he had the honor and glory of nobility, actually his plight was even worse than common people; without any choice he struggled hard to contain his anger. He coughed lightly and said, “Wei Daren, Duo Zongguan, how are you two gentlemen?”

Wei Xiaobao slowly lowered his head. He saw standing before him was an old man with bent waist and crooked back, his hair grizzled, his countenance unbearably haggard. After looking at the man carefully, Wei Xiaobao realized that this man was not too old, it’s just that he was frowning and worried, the corner of his eyes were wrinkled, the short beard under his chin was also grizzled. Upon more concentrated look, Wei Xiaobao recognized the man; who else but Zheng Keshuang? They had not seen each other for several years, unexpectedly he had aged twenty, thirty years. At first Wei Xiaobao was greatly surprised, but then he understood. For the last several years Zheng Keshuang lived in torment, no wonder he suddenly aged. Wei Xiaobao could not help feeling pity, but then he recalled how in the past with his own hand Zheng Keshuang viciously killed Chen Jinnan at Tong Chi Island. Wei Xiaobao’s anger immediately bubbled up. With a cold laugh he said, “Who are you?”

“Zaixia Zheng Keshuang,” Zheng Keshuang said, “How can Wei Daren not recognize me?”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, “Zheng Keshuang? Isn’t Zheng Keshuang the Yanping Jun Wang of Taiwan? How can he be in Beijing? You must be a fake.”

“Zaixia surrendered to the Great Qing,” Zheng Keshuang replied, “I received His Majesty’s grace and was conferred the rank and emolument of nobility.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is,” Wei Xiaobao said, “In the past you blew your horn in Taiwan, saying that you wanted to attack Beijing and seize the throne, saying that you wanted to do this and that; do those words still count?”

Zheng Keshuang’s back was wet with cold sweats; he thought, “He wants to put criminal charge on me, fabricating some words indiscriminately. His Majesty always listens to him, he can’t possibly listen to me.”

Ever since Dolong led the Imperial Bodyguards and Valiant Cavalry Brigade’s sergeants came to cause trouble unceasingly, for Zheng Keshuang, a day dragged on like a year. The large sum of money, his family property that he brought from Taiwan, eight or nine parts out of ten had been extorted by these men. In order to raise some two million taels, which was a huge amount of money, he had already sold off his pearls, jewels, everything, until practically nothing left. In his heart he already repented several hundreds or thousands times: he should not have surrendered. When Shi Lang came to attack, if he did everything he could to lead the troops and fight to the death, they might not necessarily be defeated. Besides, even if they failed and he died in battle, he would not have let his (paternal) grandfather and his father’s spirits in heaven down. Not in such a way that after he surrendered, he would suffer this endless distressing humiliation. This time as he heard Wei Xiaobao, he felt even more dejected and really wanted to die.

“Duo Dage,” Wei Xiaobao said, “In the past, this Zheng Wangye’s prestige was very impressive. Recently Xiongdi heard people say that some people want Zheng Wangye back to Taiwan and establish his kingdom there. Zheng Wangye, I wonder what did those people who want to join you say? Xiongdi wants to investigate this matter clearly, so that I can report it to His Majesty.”

With a trembling voice Zheng Keshuang said, “Wei Daren, please be magnanimous. Those things that you are talking about, those are completely … completely non-existent …”

“Huh? That’s odd,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Duo Dage, didn’t we arrest a rebel yesterday? He cursed His Majesty, he also scolded Xiongdi. This man said that he was Zheng Wangye’s old subordinate, he said that in Beijing Zheng Wangye is being bullied, so he wanted to avenge him, he wanted to wipe out Manchurian Qing Tatars or something like that.”

Listening to this point, Zheng Keshuang could not bear any longer; he bent his knees and dropped to the ground, and said in a trembling voice, “Wei Daren please have mercy! In the past Xiaoren has offended you, Senior; I deserve to die ten thousand deaths. You, Senior, is magnanimous, please leave me a path of life, I pray Laotianye will bless you and grant your ten thousand generations to be duke and marquis.”

With a cold laugh Wei Xiaobao said, “When you murdered my Shifu that day, did you ever imagine that a day like today will come?”

Suddenly from the rear hall a man walked in in big strides; his stature was slim, his expression swift and fierce. He was none other than the ‘One Sword Without Blood’ Feng Xifan. He rushed to stand by Zheng Keshuang’s side, and stretched out his hand to pull him back. Turning his head toward Wei Xiaobao he said, “The murder of Chen Jinnan that day was entirely my idea, it has nothing to do with Zheng Gongzi. If you want to avenge your Shifu, please feel free to come to me.”

Wei Xiaobao had always been very afraid of Feng Xifan; seeing his fierce and intimidating expression, he could not help shrinking back into his chair. “You … you want to hit people?” he said in a trembling voice.

Dolong sprang up and called, “Guards!” Immediately more than ten Imperial Bodyguards rushed over and surround him.

Seeing his side had many men and great force, Wei Xiaobao was relieved; he said in a loud voice, “This man dared to commit violent crime in the Capital, arrest him.” Four Imperial Bodyguards immediately reached out to grab Feng Xifan’s arms.

Feng Xifan did not resist; he said in a loud and clear voice, “We surrendered to the Imperial Court, His Majesty conferred Zheng Gongye the title of ‘Duke of Hai Cheng’, he conferred me the title of ‘Earl of Zhongcheng’ [lit. devoted, loyal]. His Majesty’s golden mouth has said it, this matter has been sealed with one stroke of a pen, it is not something that can be disputed. Wei Daren, you want to use official authority for private interest, wrongly accuse good people, we have no choice but to appeal before His Majesty to explain everything clearly.”

With a cold laugh Wei Xiaobao said, “You are a good person, hey, hey, turns out ‘One Sword Without Blood’ Feng Daren is a very good person. This is the first day that I have ever heard about it!”

Feng Xifan said, “Ever since we arrived in Beijing, we have never seen outsiders, we do not dare to violate half a law even more. These Imperial Bodyguards Daren unceasingly came to demand payment, we dealt with it by losing our family fortune, it was nothing. Wei Daren, you want to put criminal charge on us, His Majesty can see clearly for ten thousand of li, I am afraid he will be beyond your control.”

This man had guts and knowledge, he was far superior compared to Zheng Keshuang, he spoke with confidence and matter-of-factly, it was difficult for Wei Xiaobao to refute. He thought that although these two men were surrendering people of Taiwan, they were conferred nobility titles by the imperial court; while it was true that it was not difficult to bully them, if he really wanted to drag them down, the Emperor only needed to ask a few questions, hs true colors would be exposed immediately. The Emperor had already anticipated that Wei Xiaobao would want to avenge his Shifu; he would definitely put the blame on Wei Xiaobao. Wei Xiaobao’s heart had softened, but in his mouth he was still extremely unyielding. He said, “Yesterday we arrested a rebel, he personally confessed that he wanted Zheng Wangye back to Taiwan; could it be that he was lying?”

Feng Xifan said, “This kind of people casually make presumptous claim, how can we consider that their words count? Daren please bring this man over, we will have direct confrontation in front of the Ministry of Justice.”

“You want direct confrontation?” Wei Xiaobao said, “That’s great, wonderful, very nice, very exciting.” Turning his head he asked Zheng Keshuang, “Zheng Wangye, the money you owe me, when are you going to pay back?”

Feng Xifan noticed that left and right Wei Xiaobao was trying to evade him subtly, and his countenance had changed; he guessed that Wei Xiaobao was afraid the Emperor would find out. He thought that since he had gained this piece of farmland, he might as well enlarge his courage and raise a ruckuss in front of the Emperor. He thought that although the Emperor was young, he was very brilliant, definitely he would be able to differentiate right from wrong. If Feng Xifan did not seize this opportunity, this matter would drag on endlessly. He really thought that he should not yield to this fellow surnamed Wei anymore, a cornered dog will jump the wall, a cornered man will hang from the beam. If you force me to hang myself, I would fight back desperately. Having made up his mind, he said, “Wei Daren, Duo Zongguan, let us appeal to the imperial court.”

Wei Xiaobao was startled; he thought that if this matter was reported to the Emperor, he himself would have to bear endless responsibility, but he simply could not back off. “Very good!” he said, “Take this surnamed Zheng along! Take both of them into the jail first and keep them in confinement, let them live enjoy a happy and prosperous life for a year or a half, and then we will slowly present the memorial to explain everything to His Majesty.”

Dolong was hesitant, Zheng Keshuang was a duke by the Emperor’s appointment, there was no harm in demanding payment from him; but arresting him would definitely require an imperial edict. He said in a low voice, “Wei Daren, we must go present the memorial to His Majesty first, and then come back to take them away.”

Zheng Keshuang was relieved; he hastily said, “That’s right, I have no crime, how can you arrest me?”

To see the wind and setting his sails was actually Wei Xiaobao’s expertise. He immediately said, “Whether you have crime or not, it is not yet known. The money you owe me has not been paid in full, what are you going to do about it? You pay me back, or you want to come with me?”

Hearing that he might be saved from arrest, he repeatedly exclaimed, “I will pay, I will pay!” Hastily he went inside and returned with a stack of banknotes, followed by two servants holding trays filled with gold, silver and jewelry.

Zheng Keshuang said, “Wei Daren, lowly officer has turned over the chest and flipped the sack upside down, I managed to find thirty or forty thousand taels, I really cannot come up with anything anymore.”

[foxs]

“You can’t come up with anything anymore?” Wei Xiaobao said, “I don’t believe you. Let Xiongdi accompany you inside to look.”

Zheng Keshuang said, “This … this … this is not too convenient.”

Feng Xifan said in a loud voice, “We did not violate any law, Wei Daren wants to search our home, do you have an imperial edict, or do you have any official document from the Ministry of Justice’s main hall?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “This is not a search. Zheng Wangye said he can’t come up with anything anymore, I say he still have a lot to present. Perhaps among his gold, silver, pearls and jewels there are still a large quantities of sabers, spears and firearms, perhaps there are dragon chair and dragon robe hidden in the secret rooms in the basement. Since he could not find anything, everybody will help him look.”

Zheng Keshuang busily said, “What sabers, spears and firearms, dragon chair and dragon robe? I … How can I dare to hide those things secretly? Besides, lowly officer is just … is just a duke. This ‘Wangye’ appellation, I really dare not accept it.”

Wei Xiaobao said to Dolong, “Duo Dage, please count for me, how much money in total?”

Dolong and two Imperial Bodyguards counted the banknotes; they said, “The banknotes are thirty four thousand and three hundred taels, and then there are some jewelry of little value, I don’t know how to value them.”

Wei Xiaobao reached out to rummage through the jewelry, he picked up a golden phoenix hairpin and pretended to be shocked. “Aiyo,” he said, “Duo Dage, this is a forbidden object, His Majesty is the dragon, the Empress is the phoenix; how … how can Zheng Wangye’s Wangfei [king’s wife] also wear golden phoenix hairpin?”

Feng Xifan was even more enraged. “Wei Daren,” he loudly said, “You want to pick a bone from an egg, the one surnamed Fan will stake everything against you today. Among the gold, silver and jewelry stores throughout the world, which one does not have golden phoenix hairpin? All the women of the official families in Beijing, which one does not wear golden phoenix hairpin?”

“Turns out Feng Daren have looked at the women of the official families around Beijing,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Mm, what do you think, which family’s Taitai, Xiaojie [madame, miss, respectively] is the most good-looking? Tsk, tsk, tsk, awesome, awesome; you have looked at a lot of womenfolk from different families, such a treat for your eyes, you are lucky. Prince Kang’s Wangfei, Ministry of War Shangshu Daren’s young lady, have you seen them?”

Feng Xifan was so angry that he could not say anything; in his heart he was rather afraid, knowing that this young man had a good relationship with each and every one of the influential officials of the imperial court. If he added some oil and paste and spoke these words openly, Feng Xifan would definitely be in a lot of trouble.

Zheng Keshuang repeatedly bowed with cupped fist and said, “Wei Daren, please be lenient, lowly officer beseech you.”

Wei Xiaobao knew that his words had scared Feng Xifan that he did not dare to make any noise. Feeling that he has had enough tail wind, he laughed aloud and said, “Duo Dage, Xiongdi’s face is actually not as good as yours. Duo Dage came to demand payment, you managed to get more than two million taels, Xiongdi personally came, I only got such a meager amount.”

Zheng Keshuang said, “Lowly officer really does not have anything left in my house, it’s not that … it’s not that I dare to renege on my debt.”

“Off we go then!” Wei Xiaobao said, “I’ll wait ten days, half a month, after Zheng Wangye get more gold and silver from Taiwan, I will be back to settle the account.” While saying that, he stood up and walked out of the hall.

When Feng Xifan heard that, he knew that Wei Xiaobao was framing Zheng Keshuang up, saying that he conspired against the law by still maintaining contact with his former subordinates in Taiwan; which was a capital offense punishable by extermination of the entire family. If they did not explain clearly, for the rest of their lives they would live under forced submission, it would be difficult for them to conduct themselves. Thereupon he said in a loud and clear voice, “We are law-abiding citizens, we do not dare to take even half a step on the path of fault. Today what Wei Daren, Duo Zongguan have spoken in here, we must present in a memorial to His Majesty systematically and in full details [orig. ‘count by fives and tens’]. Otherwise, although the Heaven and the Earth is big, we will not have a place to set out feet on.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “You want a place to set your foot? There is, there is. If Zheng Wangye and General Feng return to Taiwan, won’t you have a lot of land to set your feet on? If the two of you want to discuss about establishing your foothold, we are not going to bother you.” Pulling Dolong’s hand along, he walked out the door with his head held high.

When Wei Xiaobao was back in his mansion, immediately he prepared a feast; he invited the Imperial Bodyguards to drink wine. Dolong had his subordinates, the Imperial Bodyguards to fetch four big chests and opened them; all were full of gold, silver, pearls and jewels, as well as stacks of banknotes. He laughed and said, “After several months of collecting the debt, most of this fellow Zheng Keshuang’s family property is in here. Wei Xiongdi, you double check it.”

Wei Xiaobao took a stack of banknotes, worth about more than a hundred thousand taels; he said, “This dog thief murdered my Shifu, yet His Majesty conferred nobility title to him, my enmity cannot be avenged. Thank you very much Dage and all Xiongdi for making his life miserable, and vent this anger on Xiongdi’s behalf. My Shifu did not have either wife or children, Xiongdi wants to take some of this money and have people go to Taiwan to build a grand memorial hall to enshrine and worship my Shifu. As for the rest of the money, I’d like Dage and all Xiongdi to divide it among yourselves.”

Dolong repeatedly shook his hand, “No, can’t do; no, can’t do!” he repeatedly said, “This is the money Zheng Keshuang owed Xiongdi. You only need to send out several Qing troops, every day pay a visit to demand payment, I am not afraid he won’t pay up. We are only doing you a tiny favor, we all are family, how can we covet your money?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “To tell you the truth, Xiongdi’s family property is already too much that I cannot use it up my entire life. A good friend is well-off, everybody can use it together, why bother about mine or yours?”

But Dolong was adamant, he simply refused to receive it. The two of them strived to best each other until their faces were flushed with excitement. Finally it was decided that the Imperial Bodyguards would receive one million taels as the ‘debt collection fee’. The other three hundred thousand taels were given to the Valiant Cavalry Brigade brethren to be divided among themselves. Dolong took the rest and personally brought it to Wei mansion’s inner hall.

All the Imperial Bodyguards, even those who were on duty in the Palace, received their share, about several thousand taels per person. Everybody was happy and excited, they ate and drank to their hearts’ content, and then they opened up Pai Jiu and dice tables in the Duke mansion’s reception hall. Since he was playing against the brethren, Wei Xiaobao did not practice any cheating.

They gambled until the second watch of the night [between 9-11pm]. Wei Xiaobao said to Dolong, “Duo Dage, Xiongdi has another favor to ask you.”

Dolong’s gambling luck was flourishing, he was in a very good mood. “Alright,” he said with a laugh, “No matter what, you only need to instruct me.” But he immediately recalled something; he said, “Only one matter I cannot do! That lunatic who cursed you on the street, His Majesty commanded me to have strict custody over him; early in the morning tomorrow you and I will supervise his execution. If for personal gain I let him go, His Majesty will definitely have my head chopped.”

The favor Wei Xiaobao was going to ask was precisely this matter; who would have thought that before he even mentioned it, Dolong had already shot him down. He thought, “His Majesty indeed has supernatural foresight, he has anticipated everything. Even one million taels of silver cannot buy Mao Dage’s life.” He was angry and his heart was full of grievances, thereupon he wanted to come back to Zheng Keshuang’s house to demand payment. But then he recalled Zheng Keshuang’s dejected appearance, he felt that to bully such a pitiful creature was not the conduct of a hero. He thought better of it and said, “It was His Majesty himself who give us the order concerning that lunatic, even if I had gargantuan guts I would not dare to let him go. Today we went to demand payment, that fellow Zheng Keshuang is alright, but his subordinate, that Feng Xifan was really annoying, he took unfair advantage of us. When Xiongdi remembers this, I really cannot swallow.”

Several Imperial Bodyguards nearby heard him, they all parroted his words, “When we saw that today, everybody was angry. Wei Daren need not be worried, let us all pay him a visit. He is a surrendering soldier of defeated army, unexpectedly he has the audacity to flaunt his prestige inside the city of Beijing. This kind of disregard of the law and natural morality, do we still need to tolerate?” The more they talked about it, the angrier they got; the Imperial Bodyguards all said that they would leave immediately to tear down Feng Xifan’s earl mansion.

Wei Xiaobao said, “If we are going to deal with this son of a turtle, we must not come publicly and let the imperial censor finds out and submits a memorial to the Emperor. It won’t be too good for the Imperial Bodyguards’ reputation.”

“Yes, yes,” Dolong hastily said, “Xiongdi’s apprehension is very true.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Duo Dage do not need to act personally, let’s just have Zhang Dage and Zhao Dage take several men to do it.” Turning to Zhang Kangnian and Zhao Qixian he said, “Disguise yourselves as Vanguard Battalion’s Tai Dutong’s [commander] subordinates. Pretend that you have an urgent official business, ask Feng Xifan that son of a turtle for a discussion. Even if he has suspicions in his heart, he won’t dare not to come out. Somewhere along the way, put his hands and feet on shackles, cover his eyes with black cloth, stuff his mouth with rags, take him in circle to the east of the city and the west of the city, finally bring him here. We all then beat him severely, strip off his clothes, and send him to Tai Dutong’s concubine’s bed.” All the Imperial Bodyguards roared in laughter; they repeatedly praised it as a brilliant scheme.

Imperial Bodyguards and Vanguard Battalion had always been at odds with each other; when they came across each other, oftentimes they would fight. The Vanguard Battalion’s commander was originally Ajichi; that day Wei Xiaobao schemed against him and put him in prison, although later on he was released, Kangxi blamed him as useless, did not do his job properly, thereupon he was deposed from his position. Nowadays the Dutong was a man surnamed Tai. Dolong and Chief Tai were ‘struggling in the light and fighting in the dark’; the animosity had been going on for a long time, but neither one could overcome the other.

Dolong was even more elated; he said, “That fellow Ol’ Tai is afraid of his wife, he took maids and concubines, but did not dare to take them home. His newest concubine, the number eight concubine, lives at the Tian Shui Jing [Sweet Water Well] Alley, Ol’ Tai does not stay overnight there. We strip Feng Xifan stark naked and then put him in the new concubine’s bed, Ol’ Tai will definitely be half-dead angry. Even if he suspects it was us who play him trick, as long as all of us keep our mouths shut, he won’t be able to do anything.”

Immediately the Imperial Bodyguards took off their uniforms and insignias before going out the door, giggling and laughing. Wei Xiaobao and Dolong waited in the hall, drinking.

Wei Xiaobao’s subordinates, his personal guards constantly made discreet inquiry and came back to report the progress of the operation: the Imperial Bodyguards had arrived at the door of ‘Zhongcheng Earl Mansion’ and identified themselves as Vanguard Battalion, they knocked the door asking for an audience. Feng Xifan came out to greet them and invited everybody in for some tea. Zhang Kangnian said that they received Tai Dutong’s order, there was an urgent military intelligence from Taiwan, asking for his presence for immediate consultation. Feng Xifan climbed into a sedan chair, the Imperial Bodyguards escorted him to the western city. The Imperial Bodyguards put Feng Xifan in shackles, they even arrested the people who came with him. The group then went to the northern city; the Tidu [local commander] of Jiu Men [Nine Gate] on night duty shouted questions, Zhao Qixian loudly replied that they were Vanguard Battalion, inside the sedan chair Feng Xifan definitely could hear the exchange clearly. The crowd was heading back here to this mansion …

After the time needed to burn an incense stick, the Imperial Bodyguards with Feng Xifan in custody came in. Zhang Kangnian said in loud voice, “Reporting to Tai Dutong: the rebellious officer Feng Xifan is here.”

Wei Xiaobao’s right hand clenched into a fist, he made a gesture to beat him. The Imperial Bodyguards called out, “Rebellious officer Feng Xifan colludes with the rebels, he conspires against the law. Tai Dutong’s order: beat him severely.” Punches and kicks flew toward him at once.

Feng Xifan’s martial art skill was extremely high, he was also very perceptive; when the Imperial Bodyguards, posing as the Vanguard Battalion, came to get him, he immediately saw something was amiss. If he wanted to escape, although the Imperial Bodyguards were superior in number, they would never be able to capture him. However, since he surrendered and was conferred the title Earl, he thought that although the opponents intentionally wanted to frame him, the Emperor was wise, he was always able to distinguish right from wrong. If Feng Xifan ran away, inevitably he would be charged with the offense of escaping arrest, henceforth his honor and glory, his rank and emolument of nobility, would go down the drain. Therefore, all along he did not resist. Just because he coveted riches and honor, this martial art master of the present age had unexpectedly fallen into the hands of these Imperial Bodyguards and was beaten until he was hovering between life and death.

Seeing his bleeding nose, and knowing that his internal injury was quite heavy, Wei Xiaobao was overjoyed; at last the enmity of the murder of his Shifu was avenged to some degree. If the beating continued, he was afraid Feng Xifan would die; thereupon he shook his hand to stop them. He then ordered his personal guards to strip Feng Xifan naked, and wrap him inside a felt blanket. By this time Feng Xifan was at his last gasp, he had already lost consciousness.

Dolong laughed and said, “Take him to the Ol’ Tai’s eighth concubine’s house.”

Zhao Qixian said with a laugh, “It would be best if we also strip the Ol’ Tai’s eighth concubine naked and tie the two of them together.”

The Imperial Bodyguards were greatly delighted; they all roared in cheers. Dolong wanted to see the Ol’ Tai’s eighth concubine being stripped; he laughed and said, “This time I am going to lead the troops.”

His party carried Feng Xifan and was about to leave when suddenly two personal guards came in in quick steps and reported to Wei Xiaobao, “Reporting to Daren: there is a fight going on outside Tai Dutong’s residence in Tian Shui Jing Alley right now, the sky and the earth are turning upside down.”

Everyone was shocked, thinking, “How did the secret leak out? Tai Dutong already guards against it, this matter could turn bad.”

“What kind of people are fighting?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

A personal guard said, “Eight of us, Xiaoren received Daren’s order to scout out the Tian Shui Jing Alley, suddenly we saw a group of armed women, about thirty or forty of them …”

Wei Xiaobao frowned, “What armed women?” he wondered aloud.

The personal guard said, “Reporting to Daren: this large group of people consists of women with big feet, some carry bread rollers, some carry laundry sticks, and then there are some carry door bolts and shoulder poles; they all stormed into Tai Dutong’s residence. ‘Bing, bing, bang, bang!’ they ransacked the place and dragged a young woman who did not have time to escape and lashed her fiercely with a whip.”

“That’s strange!” Wei Xiaobao exclaimed, “Go and find out more.” Two personal guards received the order and left.

The second team of scouts arrived and reported, “Reporting to Daren: riding on fast horse Tai Dutong arrived at the Tian Shui Jing Alley, his clothes was in a mess, his left foot was wearing a boot, his right foot was bare. Turns out the leader of the armed women attacking Tian Shui Jing Alley was Madame Tai Dutong.”

As soon as they heard it, the whole room roared with laughter. It was only then did they realize that Madame Tai Dutong drank vinegar [i.e. jealous] and went to attack his ‘outside’ residence.

When the personal guard spoke to this point, he also could not help laughing before continuing, “That Madame grabbed Tai Dutong and ‘slap, slap!’ she slapped him on the face, followed by a kick; she was really formidable. Tai Dutong bowed respectfully and repeatedly said, ‘Madame, calm down!’”

Dolong waved his hands in excitement; he said, “This time Ol’ Tai received what he deserved.”