Chapter 306: Winter Night

Outside the city of Nanyang Prefecture in Henan, bandit campfires dotted the hills and plains like scattered stars.

This place was the hub of routes leading to Shaanxi, Henan, and Huguang. The roving bandits emerging from the mountain regions of Shaanxi and Henan would converge here after leaving the hills — a pattern that had become routine over the past few years.

What differed somewhat from previous years was that before, when they broke a place, the common folk would flee at the first rumor, and they still had to seize able-bodied men and women everywhere to serve as servants. This year, far more came on their own initiative to join the gang, and the ranks swelled quickly.

During last year's great defeat at Chuzhou, Xiao Wazi lost every last bit of his possessions and was left a bare-stick commander with nothing but himself. Later in Henan he seized five servants; three died over the winter. This year, shortly after emerging from the mountains, his servants had expanded again to seven.

Two old servants were feeding the horses. Xiao Wazi walked over to look — a little black beans mixed in among the dry hay. When he reached out and touched the horse's body, the skin felt full and firm; the horse was nearly fattened up.

This horse was an unclaimed mount picked up at Fierce Tiger Bridge Head. It had cost him no effort, yet it was a warhorse, better than any horse Xiao Wazi had ever ridden before. Even during the pursuit at Zhulong Bridge, amid the hellish scene all around, this horse had not panicked and leaped into the river — it had saved Xiao Wazi's life. With such a fine horse, Xiao Wazi felt at ease wherever he went; at the very least, his chances of escaping with his life far exceeded anyone else's.

"Xiao Wazi! Let's go eat blood trough!"

When he looked up, it was a former companion from the Child Army, now a Team Commander himself, leading seventeen or eighteen servants.

"Not going, already ate." Xiao Wazi waved his hand. The companion did not insist and hurried off toward the south.

"What use is blood trough? See if that horse turns dragon-tiger." Xiao Wazi murmured, stroking the horse's body in a slight daze. Blood trough meant a person's abdominal cavity. There was a persistent legend in the ranks that if a horse ate blood trough it would transform into a dragon-tiger, and the government troops' horses would flee at the mere sight of it. But the old master had told him before that it was false. After Chuzhou he had never seen the master again. On the road to Henan, Xiao Wazi had kept an eye out the whole way and had also asked other acquaintances who had escaped — no one had seen him.

By the Pure Stream River, amid the chaos of war, Xiao Wazi knew the old man was most likely dead. Even if he had not died then, at the old man's age, the government troops would not have kept him alive. Any underling of Lu Yanwang would have cut him down with a casual stroke of the sword.

"Add salt soon. If they aren't fattened up within a month, I'll kill you two for blood trough."

The two servants nodded and bowed. Xiao Wazi went straight back to the campfire. If the old man were here, feeding the horses would be nothing to worry about. After sitting blankly for a moment, he drew his waist saber, preparing to sharpen it. With so many new servants under him now, he felt more at ease doing these life-preserving tasks himself.

Before he could pull out the whetstone, someone plopped down beside him with a whoosh. He turned to look — it was Post Commander Second Locust.

"The master has decided — we're heading south to Macheng." After sitting down, Second Locust adjusted the hem of his padded coat to make himself more comfortable, then produced a duck leg and held it over the fire to roast. It looked already cooked; he just wanted it heated through for better flavor.

Xiao Wazi quickly brought out salt and helped Second Locust rub it onto the duck leg. "Are the masters of the other camps going too?"

"Neither Sweeping Earth King Master nor Chuang Tatian Master is going. General Li Chuang can't get out of the pass, so our master isn't waiting for him." Second Locust turned the duck leg over the fire, paused, and added, "Many of the former troops of the Chuang Camp have followed General Chuang. He has power now and refuses to combine camps with others, not like the old Gao Chuangwang. Our master has also taken in some men from the Chuang Camp, but still not as many as Cao Cao took in."

Second Locust finished speaking indignantly and spat. "What gives him the right to take in so many men? If he hadn't let those Jiangnan troops through at the Chuzhou riverbank, how could Lu Yanwang have killed so many?"

Xiao Wazi said quietly, "Those Jiangnan troops were actually Jiangbei troops."

Second Locust did not pick up that thread. He pulled out a small knife, scored the duck leg a few times, then held it over the fire again. "If Lu Duye hadn't scattered us at Chuzhou, how could Gao Chuangwang have been captured? I heard he was sent to the Capital and cut thousands of times before he died."

The two fell silent for a moment. Last year, Gao Chuangwang had been a figure they looked up to in awe — hundreds of thousands obeyed his commands. Wherever he went, a great crowd of Sentry Commanders and generals followed him. For the likes of ordinary camp Treasure Banner bearers and High Shine attendants, even getting a word with him was difficult. And in the blink of an eye he was dead — and dead so gruesomely.

The duck leg turned over the firewood, its glossy, oil-bright color reflecting the flames. Amid the smoke and fire, the faint fragrance of meat drifted out. Xiao Wazi stared at the firewood and said blankly, "If the government troops want my life in the future, I'll just give it to them. But I'll be damned if I ever let them catch me."

The skin of Second Locust's face twitched faintly. "Better not let them catch you. Nothing good comes of being caught. Last time, when the master seized that County Magistrate and put him to torture, what was it he wailed in the hall — something about life and death…"

"Something like 'a living death.'"

"That's it." Second Locust slapped his forehead. "I first followed Red Wolf Master out here. By year's end it'll be five years. I've gone through eleven chiefs — some died of illness, some were killed by government troops. Not a single one survived. Dead is clean."

Xiao Wazi thought back. "I haven't followed that many."

"Actually, ten died — one more, I don't know where he went. Last year, the Qu Post Commander I was following, he suddenly vanished when we were at Taihu County. That very day, during the daytime, we'd even found a boat. The next morning the boat was gone, and so was he." Second Locust lowered his voice. "Qu Post Commander knew how to row. Some of the Team Commanders said the old Post Commander took the silver and ran — didn't take a single person with him. Must have rowed across the river to live as a rich man."

"Took the silver and ran. Didn't take a single person." Xiao Wazi repeated it blankly.

Second Locust pulled back the duck leg, waved it in the air a few times, then casually tore it in two and gave Xiao Wazi the boneless piece. "Qu Post Commander was originally a traveling merchant. He'd been to many places and could mimic the speech of people from anywhere perfectly. He could survive anywhere. We can't."

Xiao Wazi bit into the duck leg. The duck meat, coated with salt grains, was delicious. Chewing, he said, "In this world, no matter where you flee, it's hard to live."

Second Locust gnawed the duck leg clean in a few bites, then licked the bone with lingering relish. "Truth is, I don't want to go to Macheng either. I've been that way many times — nothing much to loot. Not like Sweeping Earth King, heading for Yangzhou."

"Going to Yangzhou means going via Hezhou and Chuzhou. We just passed through there last year. Yang Baodao says there's nothing to eat to be looted along that road."

"A few of Sweeping Earth King Master's Zhangpanzis say that last year they attacked Jiangpu but couldn't take it, and still lost so many men. This year they're going for revenge — determined to scrape Jiangpu City clean."

"Second Chief, I once had an old servant. He said that if you plunder and slaughter all the way like this, the next time you go back there'll be nothing left to loot. Once we've roamed everywhere under heaven, where do we go to find food then?"

"Why think about that? When there's no food left, we all die together — clean and done. I've killed plenty; this life's already earned its keep. Every day I live is a day earned; every extra man I kill is one more earned." Second Locust pulled out a wine flask, took a swig, and handed it to Xiao Wazi.

"Xiao Wazi, where do you most want to go?"

"To Tongcheng in Anqing." Xiao Wazi held the wine flask but did not drink.

"Anqing… there's a garrison battalion there." Second Locust's eyes shifted slightly as he shot Xiao Wazi a glance.

"Last year, the ones who came ashore at Jiangpu were the Anqing Garrison Battalion. And later, the ones who came across at the Chuzhou riverbank — them too." Xiao Wazi looked at Second Locust. "They're different from the northern government troops. I saw it with my own eyes: troops shipped over by boat, even the horses on the boats, and cannons too."

Second Locust averted his gaze, tilting his head to look up at the murky dark sky. "If the government troops are that fierce, why go there?"

"My brother died in that place. Killing too many people gets dull. Only the ones in Tongcheng I still feel like killing."

Second Locust gave a dark chuckle. "Let me tell you — if you find killing dull, it's because you're killing the wrong people. Killing a man, a woman, a child, an old man, an old woman — each has a different flavor. But the most interesting of all is killing an official. You know the biggest official I've ever killed?"

Xiao Wazi shook his head. The corner of Second Locust's mouth twitched as he grinned. "In Yingzhou City — we caught a Minister Zhang, a former Minister of War. His white beard was groomed neater than a woman's hair." (Note: When Yingzhou fell, former Minister of War Zhang Heming was killed.)

He tilted his head back with a look of savoring recollection. "I stabbed him three times with my spear. His beard was covered in the blood he coughed up. Killing a high official — the flavor is different."

Xiao Wazi watched the Second Chief's expression and, with a faint, ambiguous smile, chimed in, "Next time we catch a high official, I'll let the Second Chief do the killing."

Second Locust clapped Xiao Wazi on the back and stood up. "I'll help you too — we'll fight our way to Anqing together."

"Second Chief, your wine flask…"

Second Locust strode off toward his own camp, waving a hand. "It's yours."

Xiao Wazi took back the wine flask. Campfires scattered across the open fields surrounded him, stretching as far as the eye could see. The night was deep now; in the firelight, the occasional shadow of a figure moved about, and now and then a sudden furious shout or a long, drawn-out wail would break out, then fade back into stillness.

The winter night's chill came in wave after wave, colder than he had ever felt before. Xiao Wazi's hands hung down at his sides, as if he no longer had the strength to lift them. He looked up at the murky dark sky and murmured, "Didn't take a single person… where is there to go?"