Taiheiki

Chapter 237 The Fugitive

"Father is right. Jiaozhou is the result of your hard work, and we absolutely cannot let the court take it back!" Nie Sheng said in a deep voice. "Then let's just ignore the court's urging and stay in Jiangling to observe the outcome. As long as the Moth Rebels are not quelled, the court can't do anything to us. At worst, we can retreat to Jiaozhou and give up Jiangling and Yuzhang. Jiaozhou alone is enough for you, Father, to do as you please!"

“Ah Sheng, you’ve improved a lot lately, you even know how to sit back and observe the outcome!” Wei Cong laughed. “Actually, what you said isn’t wrong. With Jiaozhou, defending the north and attacking the south is enough to establish a kingdom and become the emperor of the south. But people’s hearts are the foundation of everything. People aren’t fools. Everyone can see that we’re sitting back and observing the outcome in Jiangling. On this land, if you only want to be a selfish person, you’ll eventually find that you can’t even be a selfish person! If we want to live comfortably in Jiaozhou, we have to do something in Jingzhou and Yangzhou. Those who think that the Five Ridges are too dangerous for others to cross will all end up in a bad way!”

"I understand!" Nie Sheng nodded. "Then I'll go back and summon Zhou Jin!"

"Yes!" Wei Cong nodded: "Asheng, with your Uncle Zhao gone, I feel like I've lost an arm. You have to work hard, understand?"

Nie Sheng was slightly taken aback, then his face lit up with excitement: "Father, please rest assured, I will do my best to be your right-hand man!"

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Lujiang County, Yangzhou.

Zhou Yi led his people along the official road for four or five days, traversing vast stretches of scorched earth. As far as the eye could see, there were only destroyed farmlands and manors, withered fruit trees standing starkly in the wilderness like dried-up skeletons. Bridges were burned down, and summer rains caused floods, forcing them to search for a ferry across the river. By day, wolves howled, and by night, blue-eyed wolves roamed freely. The land stretched for miles, barren and desolate.

The banners of the Han Dynasty still fluttered atop Juchao City, but the market towns, marketplaces, and orchards outside the city were long gone. Several sections of the city wall had collapsed, and the city gates were no more, replaced only by wooden palisades. Clearly, the Moth Bandits had once stormed the city, looting all its wealth and people. After the bandits left, a few officials led refugees back into the city, attempting to repair the walls and restore them. But the efforts were largely ineffective. Zhou Yi and his companions saw several wild dogs munching on something not far from the walls, but they vanished at the sound of human voices.

"Would you like to go into town to rest for the night?" It was Zhou Yi's brother-in-law, Wu Kuang, who spoke. He was a wiry young man with a few small cuts on his dusty face and tired eyes.

Zhou Yi didn't speak. He turned around and looked at the tribesmen behind him. Half of the forty-odd people were young and strong men, and the rest were women and children. There were no elderly people. He gritted his teeth and said, "No, let's go south a bit further. To be honest, I have a very bad feeling about this city!"

"Isn't there an official flag?"

“A flag doesn’t mean anything!” Zhou Yi said in a low voice, “Besides, don’t you find this strange? This place is already considered the territory of the Moth Bandits, yet a flag of the imperial court is being flown in the city, and the city walls haven’t even been repaired yet!”

Wu Kuang shuddered: "You think this is a trap?"

“Hmm!” Zhou Yi said in a low voice, “If we have good people lying in ambush in the city, and someone mistakenly thinks the city is still under government control and goes into the city to seek refuge—” At this point, he made a clenching gesture with his right hand, “wouldn’t that be much simpler than wasting energy searching and capturing people everywhere!”

"Damn those moth thieves!" Wu Kuang cursed.

"Forget it, let's save our energy for walking!" Zhou Yi said in a low voice. "Let's keep heading south, find a boat, and sail into the Yangtze River. Whether we go upstream to Jiangling or downstream to Xuzhou and Guangling, we'll have a chance to survive! No matter how many bandits there are, they can't possibly blockade the river!"

"Hmm!" Wu Kuang nodded, looking at Zhou Yi with admiration. "This time, it's all thanks to you. Otherwise, if we had fled north or west like the others, we would all have been wiped out long ago!" It turned out that Zhou Yi was a collateral branch of the Zhou clan of Lujiang. Zhou Jing was, in a sense, his cousin. When the bandits swept through Lujiang County, the other members of the Zhou clan fled north or west, trying to reach nearby counties. Only Zhou Yi led his family south, and as a result, they escaped the bandits' army. The cities that the other clansmen fled to soon fell, and most of them met with dire straits.

"Well, it's just luck!" Zhou Yi sighed. "Whether we can escape in the end, nobody knows!"

"We will definitely escape!" Wu Kuang said confidently. "Didn't you say that once we get to the Yangtze River, we'll find some boats and go to Jiangling or Guangling?"

They were crossing a millet field, and about thirty or forty paces to their right was a low stone wall. Zhou Yi heard a soft "whoosh," and a dozen birds took flight. "Get down!" he shouted instinctively, pressing his body against the neck of his mount. In the blink of an eye, an arrow pierced the horse's rump, and the horse reared up with a shriek. Several more arrows flew forward, and Wu Kuang fell headfirst from his saddle, his feet tangled in the saddle's cords. The frightened horse bolted wildly, and Wu Kuang's head slammed against the ground repeatedly, emitting a piercing scream.

Zhou Yi's mount spun blindly, snorting in pain. He looked back at his people and saw that they were not in chaos. Although some had been hit by arrows, the young men had raised their shields, shielding the women and children. This relieved him. Zhou Yi drew his ring-pommel sword, twirled it, and shouted, "The enemy is behind the stone wall! Kill these bastards!"

Zhou Yi shouted, kicking his horse's belly twice. Arrows whizzed through the air again. "Kill!" The rider charged through the fields, crashing through countless bushes. Zhou Yi thought to himself with trepidation: The others need to stick close to me, otherwise I can't handle these thieves alone! Then he heard shouts of battle behind him: "Charge! Slaughter these bastards!"

The ambushers behind the stone wall hastily fired a few arrows and then turned to flee. Zhou Yi caught up with them, cut down a few, and the enemy disappeared into the woods twenty paces away. Zhou Yi pulled on the reins; it would be too foolish to just ride into the woods like that.

"Follow me!"

"Come on!"

The clansmen caught up, but Zhou Yi raised his knife to stop them: "Forget it, it's too dangerous inside. What about Wu Kuang? How is he?"

The group exchanged bewildered glances, clearly having forgotten about Wu Kuang in their excitement of the chase. Zhou Yi shook his head helplessly: "You few, take inventory of the corpses and see if there's anything we can use. The rest of you come back with us."

When Zhou Yi returned to the original spot, Wu Kuang had already been found—or rather, his corpse. He had been shot in the arm and shoulder, but the fatal wound was to his head. Pulled by the horse, his head looked as if it had been struck many times with a hammer; it was completely deformed. Zhou Yi reached out and touched it; the back of his head was covered in blood, a sticky mess like a lump of mud, containing many bone fragments.

"Is there any hope?" someone asked, leaning closer. "Old Hu seems to know a little about medicine. I'll call him over!" "Call him over!" Zhou Yi shook his head; he had already given up hope. He didn't even feel much grief, not because he didn't love his brother-in-law, but because too many things like this had happened recently, and he had become completely numb.

At this moment, Lao Hu came over. After a brief examination, he came to the same conclusion as Zhou Yi. The group dug a pit next to the stone wall, buried him in it, and erected a stone tablet on top of it so that he could be reburied in the ancestral graves in Shuxian County in the future. Deep down, Zhou Yi was even a little envious of him.

After burying Wu Kuang, it was already late, so Zhou Yi ordered them to camp near the stone wall. The group sat around the campfire, eating their meager rations, and soon fell asleep. Zhou Yi, on his night watch, found a dry spot, sat cross-legged, and began oiling his sword. A gentle night breeze blew, and he couldn't help but think of the good old days. He thought, "I'd probably be asleep in a soft bed by now." He wondered when this war would end, but even if it did, he could never go back to the way things were!

The next morning, after having breakfast, Zhou Yi continued south. After traveling for half a day, a large body of water appeared ahead—that was Juchao Lake. The group cheered. In their view, once they reached this point, they wouldn't need to walk anymore; having a boat would save them a lot of effort.

Zhou Yi was also very happy. After all, the group had almost run out of food. Now that they were by the water, food would be much easier to obtain, which saved him a lot of trouble.

Upon reaching the lake, before Zhou Yi could give any orders, the women and children rushed to the water's edge, washing the dust from their faces. The livestock also rushed to the water's edge and drank heartily. Zhou Yi smiled helplessly: "Alright, everyone, let's drink some water and rest first. Then we'll gather some fish, shrimp, clams, snails, reeds, and vegetables, have a good meal, and then we can go find a boat!"

"Okay!" Everyone responded in unison.

"Okay!" Everyone responded in unison.

Zhou Yi held his breath, his eyes fixed on the shimmering fish shadows underwater. Suddenly, he swung his arm forcefully, the sharp bamboo spear slicing through the water and piercing the fish's body. A two- or three-pound grass carp thrashed painfully at the surface, splashing water, but Zhou Yi managed to lift it out of the water. He excitedly waved his arm and waded towards the shore. This was his fourth catch today; it seemed his childhood skills hadn't faded after all! Zhou Yi thought smugly.

Zhou Yi went ashore, put the fish into the reed basket soaking in the water, let out a long breath, and turned around to go back into the water when suddenly his movements froze—a row of boats appeared on the distant lake surface—at least seven or eight boats, heading in his direction.

"Quick, quick, go and call everyone else to get ashore and hide! There's a thief's fleet coming from the lake!" Zhou Yi ran quickly, shouting at everyone and shoving them to gather the women and children together and hide them in the reeds.

"Young master, how do you know it's a pirate ship and not a government ship?"

"Fool! How could there be a fleet of government troops here?" Zhou Yi roared. "Hide quickly! Don't waste time, or it will be too late!"

Despite Zhou Yi and his men's best efforts, the women and children had scattered too far, or rather, the unfamiliar boats had arrived too quickly. When the boats were only an arrow's shot's distance from the shore, Zhou Yi had no choice but to abandon the women and children he hadn't yet found, and led the remaining people to hide in the reeds. Watching the unfamiliar boats approaching the shore in the distance, Zhou Yi closed his eyes and thought to himself, "Don't blame me, I had no choice. For the remaining people to survive, I had to abandon you!"

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“Young master, Juchao County is not far to the north!” Zhou Jin bowed slightly and said respectfully to Nie Sheng.

"Hmm!" Nie Sheng glanced at Zhou Jin, then turned to the officers beside him and said, "After we get ashore, we should follow the old rules and send out scouts to survey the surrounding area, especially the reed marshes, caves, and other places where people can easily hide. We must not become complacent just because we can't see anyone around!"

"Here!"

"Young Master is indeed a true general!" Zhou Jin gave a thumbs up and praised, "In my opinion, you have learned at least seventy or eighty percent of Marquis Wei's military skills!"

"Stop flattering me!" Nie Sheng snorted coldly. "I still have some self-awareness. I haven't learned even a fraction of my godfather's skills! Zhou Jin, don't worry. Before we parted, my godfather instructed me that although we have a past grudge, this is official business. I know the principle of separating public and private matters. If you handle things well, I will naturally reward you!"

"Yes, yes!" Zhou Jin hurriedly replied, "Young Master is broad-minded and magnanimous, so naturally he wouldn't stoop to the level of a nobody like me. Please rest assured, Young Master, our Zhou family has been operating in Lujiang County for six or seven generations. Don't be fooled by the fact that the bandits have occupied this place; they can't shake the foundation of our Zhou family!"

Nie Sheng, too lazy to waste words with Zhou Jin, gestured for him to leave, then climbed to the bow of the ship and began to carefully observe the surrounding terrain. He had been ordered to lead two thousand men as a separate unit of the main army, marking his first time leading troops independently, and coupled with Wei Cong's previous encouragement, Nie Sheng was now filled with a strong desire to achieve merit and relieve Wei Cong's burdens. Despite his calm demeanor, he secretly wished for an enemy force to appear so he could have a good slaughter.

"Reporting to the general, the scouts have spotted something!" an officer nearby reminded him.

"Oh? Bring it over quickly!"

Halfway through the meal, Nie Sheng looked at the two children and three women kneeling on the ground with some disappointment: "Is this all you've found?"

"Reporting to the general, these people are not local villagers!" an officer beside him reminded him. "Look at the clothes the women and children are wearing; they are not clothes that ordinary people would wear!"

After being reminded, Nie Sheng immediately noticed that, just as the officer had said, although the clothes of these women and children were covered in dust and mud, they were at least made of fine linen, and one of the women even had a fine silk shawl, which was not something an ordinary farmer could afford.

(End of this chapter)