Chapter 188: Salt Goods

Entering the tenth month, the temperature in Guangdong had noticeably dropped, though it was still much warmer than in the north.

But late at night, there was still a chill in the air, and with the strong wind blowing off the river, the teeth of the several black-clad men hiding in the reed beds by the bank were chattering.

The reeds all around had long since withered yellow and were covered with dew; the men hiding among them were constantly brushed by the dew, and with the muddy tidal flats underfoot, it was thoroughly unpleasant.

The sky held only scattered black clouds, and the moon, veiled by them, showed only a sliver of itself, casting a pale, dismal light. The reed beds were pitch-dark and silent, with only the occasional "coo-coo" of some unknown bird.

The black-clad men had been lying in wait here for a long time, yet none of them had grown impatient with the waiting. On the contrary, they had remained crouching motionless the whole time.

When their legs went numb, they would only stretch a leg forward slightly and rub it with a hand, but never once stood up.

"Ah-choo!"

Perhaps the cold had seeped into his body, for one of the black-clad men, after holding it in several times, finally could not help himself and let out an uncontrollable sneeze, startling the man beside him, who quickly turned and glared at him.

The black-clad man who had sneezed reddened under his companion's gaze, then muttered somewhat dismissively: "Who'd come out here in the dead of night? Relax, Fourth Brother.

We've been here several times already. The Qing demons don't keep a tight watch on this stretch; no one comes to patrol.

They won't hear a thing."

The black-clad man called Fourth Brother gave a slight snort at this: "Being careful is never wrong. If the Qing demons really did spot us, our own worthless lives wouldn't matter, but what about the task the Battalion Commander entrusted to us?

What about the several thousand people inside the city?"

The moment Fourth Brother brought up the Battalion Commander and the several thousand people in the city, the man who had sneezed immediately fell silent and lowered his head in shame.

Seeing this, Fourth Brother did not scold the man further. He signaled to the others, and at once they all turned back and continued staring motionlessly at the river, as if nothing had happened at all.

The river's surface was pitch-black and nothing could be seen. From the bank came the ceaseless sound of water lapping against the shore, and the river wind carried the peculiar fishy smell of the water.

After another half stick of incense had passed, one of the men seemed to spot something, but could not make it out clearly. He peered hard, then cried out in a low, excited voice: "A boat's coming!"

At the word that a boat was coming, the black-clad men all hurriedly looked out over the river. Sure enough, in their line of sight a dark shape was slowly making its way toward the bank.

The men stared at the dark shape for a good while longer, and only after confirming that it was indeed a boat did the black-clad man called Fourth Brother let out a breath of relief. As he rose, he ordered: "Same as always. The two Song brothers stay here; the rest of you come with me."

"Right!"

The black-clad men answered and rose one after another, following Fourth Brother as they felt their way toward the bank.

When they reached the water's edge and saw that the boat was about to come ashore, Fourth Brother suddenly stopped, looked around once more, then pinched his throat and imitated a bird call: "Coo-coo, coo-coo."

The others spread out warily around him, keeping watch on their surroundings. After Fourth Brother had called twice, someone on the approaching boat answered back with the same "coo-coo."

Hearing the reply, Fourth Brother finally truly relaxed and said to his men: "It's them. Move!" With that, he stood there waiting for the boat to come ashore.

The wind on the river was strong tonight, and the little boat tossed and pitched about. Fortunately, the man at the oars was an old hand on the water, and the whole way had been more frightening than dangerous, and they came safely to shore.

There were four men on the boat, but it was too dark to make out their faces. The hold was piled with several bundles of something, covered over with sackcloth, so it was impossible to tell what they were.

Seeing Fourth Brother and the others waiting on the bank, one of the men jumped down from the boat and walked up. Without wasting words, he asked the black-clad man called Fourth Brother directly: "Qi Laosi, is the silver ready?"

Qi Laosi gave a slight nod and said in a muffled voice: "It's ready. One thousand taels, not a bit more, not a bit less." He paused, then glanced toward the hold. "And you?"

The man who had come ashore pointed at the hold: "It's all here. No problem at all."

"Count the silver. If it's all there, hand over the goods."

Qi Laosi motioned to the men behind him, who untied the cloth pouches wrapped around their waists and set them down in front of the man.

The man picked up the pouches one by one and weighed them in his hand, then gave a light laugh: "Not a bit off." So saying, he turned and called to his companions on the boat: "Bring them five sacks."

"Why only five sacks?" Qi Laosi's face changed drastically the moment he heard the wrong quantity, and he said angrily: "Wang De, what's the meaning of this? It's always been ten sacks before!"

"Ten sacks?"

The man called Wang De gave a mirthless smile: "Qi Laosi, the market's different now. Your one thousand taels of silver will only buy five sacks. If you're not willing, then I'll just take my boat and go, and we can forget about doing any more business from here on!"

The black-clad men all had to restrain themselves from cursing at Wang De's words, and Qi Laosi, his face like frost, fixed his eyes on Wang De: "Wang De, pulling a stunt like this will hurt the bond between brothers!"

"You serve Cao's camp and I serve Han's—what brotherly bond is there to speak of?"

After saying this, Wang De felt a little uneasy inwardly, afraid that Qi Laosi would turn on him, so he shifted his tone and added: "Qi Laosi, don't blame me for this. It's really what the higher-ups want.

You know as well as I do that a man can't run this kind of business without someone backing him. If I were doing this trade on my own, it wouldn't matter, but I've got someone above me pressing down, and that man takes a hard cut.

Most of the silver ends up in his pocket. On top of that, the naval camp has been checking up on things lately, and my brothers are risking their heads—they can't deal with you for nothing and end up with hardly anything in their own pockets.

So the price has to go up. Not just this time, either; next time it'll be the same price.

If you want more, you'll have to double the money! Otherwise, go find someone else!"

At this, the black-clad man who had sneezed earlier said angrily: "Who else can we turn to besides you!"

The other black-clad men were all glaring with rage, wishing they could draw their blades and hack apart this black-hearted Wang De.

Wang De, however, did not even glance at the black-clad men, and said with contempt: "That's your problem. Not my concern."

Qi Laosi frowned and motioned for his men to stay put. Staring hard at Wang De, he said in a deep voice: "Wang De, you may not value brotherly bonds, but surely you still honor the rules of the road."

"I'm a soldier and you're a bandit.

There are no rules between you and me. I tell you, Qi Laosi, count yourself lucky.

I, Wang De, am a man alone in the world, and I'm the only one who'd dare tie his head to his belt and do this trade with you. Ask anyone else in the naval force—who'd dare?...

If this ever leaked out, the first one to die wouldn't be you, Qi Laosi—it'd be me, Wang De!"

Having said his piece, Wang De had no wish to ramble further, and asked outright: "Are you buying or not? Give me a straight answer!"

Qi Laosi stood there in silence, thinking of the instructions the Battalion Commander had given him before he set out, and then of what these few sacks meant to the several thousand people in the city. After a long while, he finally gritted his teeth and said: "Buy!"

"Now you're talking!" Wang De chuckled, clapped his hands, and ordered the men on the boat: "Bring them up."

"Yes."

The three men on the boat hurriedly carried the sacks from the hold onto the bank. In the blink of an eye, five large sacks were set on the shore, and then the three turned and climbed back aboard with quick, practiced movements—clearly men who made their living on the water.

"Bring more silver next time. With money, there's salt!"

The salt was delivered and the silver collected, and Wang De did not dare linger here any longer. If a Green Standard patrol happened by, his head would roll in an instant.

He was about to tell Qi Laosi he was leaving, but the words changed as they reached his lips, and instead he asked: "Qi Laosi, I hear you Taiping Army folk have been besieged in that city for half a year now. The food in the city must be nearly gone, isn't it?"

"Whether we're out of food or not is none of your damn business!" Qi Laosi was still simmering over Wang De's price-gouging, and had no kind words for him.

"Hey, I may only care about money and not people, but after all, we once scooped rice from the same pot.

There's some feeling between us, isn't there? So take a bit of good advice: before the city falls, break up and get out while you can.

Others may not be able to run, but can't you? If you really wait until the city falls, then even if you want to run, there'll be nowhere left to run to."

As Wang De said this, there was actually a trace of sincerity on his face; it was clear he truly did not wish to see Qi Laosi die in the city.

Qi Laosi said in a muffled voice: "My affairs are none of your concern. You've got your silver, so go. Remember to come again in three days."

"Fine. If you really won't leave, there's nothing I can do. But when that old bandit besieged the city last year, the sins committed inside Xinhui were no small thing. If you run out of food, heh heh..."

Wang De did not finish his sentence, but Qi Laosi understood perfectly well what he meant. His brows shot up and he said angrily: "We of the Taiping Army are not Qing demons. Even if we starve to death, we would never do such a thing as eat human flesh!"

"When a man is starving, what won't he do?"

Wang De shook his head.

"Still, I imagine you haven't run out of food yet, or you'd be coming to me to buy rice instead of salt.

Even so, how much longer can you hold out? Xinhui is a dead city.

Don't expect anyone to come rescue you. And let me make one thing clear to you: salt, I can get you a few sacks of, but grain—I truly can't get my hands on any.

And even if I could, a few sacks of grain wouldn't even fill the gaps in your teeth. Look out for yourself."

Qi Laosi's face was dark, and he said nothing.

Wang De knew that Qi Laosi had once served in Li Dingguo's army, so after a moment's thought he added: "For the sake of the silver, I'll give you one more piece of news."

Qi Laosi was puzzled: "What news?"

Wang De opened his mouth and delivered a piece of news that left Qi Laosi stunned. He said: "Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang have started fighting."

"The Lord of State and the Western Residence have started fighting?" Qi Laosi stood frozen, unable to react for a long while.

"I've given you the news. I'll be on my way now. Oh, right—when you get back, give my regards to your chief, that bandit xiucai. If he wants to run too, he can come find me then. As for the price, heh heh."

With that, Wang De paid no more attention to the stunned Qi Laosi and his men. He turned and boarded the boat, and before long the little boat had drawn far from the bank and vanished into the night.

"Fourth Brother, is this news about the Lord of State and the Western Residence fighting true or false?"

The Zhu-surnamed man who had sneezed earlier had also served under Qi Laosi in the Daxi Army, and so he was very worried about whether the Lord of State and the Western Residence had really come to blows.

"Most likely true. Wang De wouldn't lie about something like this. And back when we served under the Western Residence, we already knew that relations between the Western Residence and the Lord of State weren't good."

Qi Laosi sighed. If the Lord of State and the Western Residence really started fighting, then was the sky of the Great Ming truly about to collapse?

"If the Lord of State and the Western Residence start fighting, then doesn't that mean our Taiping Army truly has no reinforcements coming to save us?" Gazing at the pitch-black river, the Zhu-surnamed man's face showed bitterness.