Chapter 516: Fleeing at Full Speed

In the dark camp, faint moans drifted intermittently from the direction of the trench.

Tan Laizi, lying beneath a carriage, stared wide-eyed. He knew it was the bondservants dragged by horses that afternoon — perhaps some were still not dead. The Tartars often let the punished struggle for a long time, to terrify the other bondservants.

Occasional sounds of mules and horses came from the camp, and snores rose from all around. Tan Laizi could tell who was asleep. In truth, very few could sleep soundly. When they were first taken captive, most could not sleep all night from fear and dread.

On the march, with the road ahead uncertain, the bondservants' mental strain had not lessened much, but they had somewhat adapted. Having dug the trench today, Tan Laizi felt that by the latter half of the night, nearly everyone would fall asleep from sheer exhaustion.

He just did not know when Tang Ershuan would make his move, and hoped it would not be too early, because he could tell from the breathing that at least two others were still awake. One of them was a man standing night watch, right beside the carriage.

Tan Laizi curled up, both hands tucked against his belly. In his right hand, a shard of broken porcelain was slowly sawing at the hemp rope around his left wrist. To prevent escape, all the household members under their unit had been strung together at night. The first step to fleeing was cutting the hemp rope. He had picked up this porcelain shard outside Xianghe city. The bondservant who broke the bowl had his legs broken, screamed for half the night, and then died — just like those few outside the trench.

He listened intently to every sound around him, terrified of missing Tang Ershuan's signal. Tan Laizi was psychologically utterly dependent on this hero who had been in the newspaper. If he could not go with Tang Ershuan, he felt he could hardly escape on his own, because the Tartars' Ambush Army lay outside the camp. Many runaways were caught just beyond the camp perimeter.

The low moaning still carried over, piercingly harsh in the silent night. A burst of footsteps came from the trench — the night-patrol Armored Soldiers. From the sound, there were three or four of them. Usually there were only two; this was probably because of the approaching Ming Army.

Tan Laizi shut his eyes, only sensing a sweep of light pass over his face. The Armored Soldiers did not stop, heading straight toward the west side of the camp.

When he opened his eyes, all around was pitch black, and the underside of the carriage above his head was even darker. Tan Laizi felt his mouth parched and tongue dry. He tilted his head outward a little. The night sky's fine rain slanted down, drifting. Tan Laizi opened his mouth, letting the rain mist fall onto his tongue — icy cold yet moist, giving him slight relief. His hand continued sawing the hemp rope with the porcelain.

The shard in his right hand suddenly went slack — the hemp rope had been frayed through. Tan Laizi's heart pounded violently several times. He tried drawing his hand back; it was indeed free of the rope.

He froze for a moment. After making sure nothing was amiss around him, he reached out and grabbed a piece of wood he had prepared long before, carefully tying the hemp rope around it, so that when the person beside him tugged, they would not notice. If someone ran, others would be punished under the Mutual Responsibility System, so all bondservants kept watch on each other. Tan Laizi had to guard against everyone.

Tan Laizi's movements were very light, to avoid being heard by the bondservant on night watch. Just as he finished tying, he heard footsteps. Tan Laizi hurriedly pressed the wooden stick under his arm. A figure emerged. Tan Laizi's eyes opened a slit and he saw it was Wei estate steward dragging that woman out of the tent.

The estate steward probably found it troublesome and had not strung her with hemp rope, simply tossing her beside the carriage. After dropping the woman, Wei estate steward walked along the place where the bondservants slept. Tan Laizi closed his eyes and tucked the wooden stick further beneath himself.

The footsteps slowly approached and finally stopped right in front of him. Tan Laizi even stopped breathing. He could not help but crack his eyes open slightly, seeing only Wei estate steward's feet.

Wei estate steward paused a moment, muttered something, and returned to the tent, leaving the woman lying on her back on the ground, occasionally murmuring to herself.

He did not know how much time passed. The breathing all around grew even. The bondservant standing night watch and that woman also fell silent. In the distance, someone occasionally let out a brief shriek, quickly cut off. Everything in this dark night felt unreal. Tan Laizi had a sensation — he did not even know how he had come to this strange land in the north. His left hand reached into his chest and touched that Banknote. It seemed only this fifty-tael Banknote was real.

The rain in the sky grew heavier, pattering against the surrounding oil cloths with a rustling sound. Tan Laizi felt not the slightest drowsiness. He waited with eyes wide open, while also noting the timing of the patrols passing by.

From the west side suddenly came the sound of a horse blowing through its nose. Listening carefully, Tan Laizi noted it was slightly different from a real horse.

Tan Laizi's heart pounded wildly. After catching his breath a little, he listened again to his surroundings, slowly shifted outward a fraction, then immediately stopped, cautiously observing the bondservant beside him for any movement.

There was no movement around. Tan Laizi pressed himself to the ground and slowly shifted his body out from under the carriage.

His clothes scraped against the ground, making a soft rustling sound. Tan Laizi concentrated utterly, his body gradually emerging from beneath the carriage.

Because the Ming Army had appeared during the day, the Qing troops were in a Dark Camp, and pitch blackness surrounded them. This made Tan Laizi feel considerably safer.

He quietly stood up. Tan Laizi's mouth was parched and tongue dry. While still under the carriage, he could have given up on escape, but now that he had come this far, there was no return path. He had cut the rope, which meant he definitely intended to flee. If caught, it was a dead end.

He rose in a crouch, relying on his memory from the daytime to avoid the clutter piled on the ground, and moved toward the trench.

Their camp was not far from the trench. Tan Laizi suppressed the violent pounding in his heart and moved with extreme caution. It was a very short distance, yet it felt like he walked forever. Finally, his foot touched the piled-up earth.

The soil dug from the trench was all piled on the camp side. Tan Laizi climbed the dirt mound; below it was the trench. But he dared not move along the trench, because he had no shoes, and before nightfall the Armored Soldiers would scatter Caltrops inside it. If he stepped on one barefoot and got injured, he would be unable to run. So he had to cross the trench first.

He sensed something unusual behind him and quickly turned his head to look — a blur of blackness, he saw no one. After panting for a moment, he slowly slid down the dirt mound. The soles of his feet touched the trench bottom. Tan Laizi felt slightly relieved. He probed his way across the trench. Just as he climbed over the opposite bank, two shouts rang out from far away in the direction of the river channel.

Tan Laizi hurriedly threw himself flat. Ahead, a sharp whistling sound rose and screamed away toward the west. Then, all around, piercing whistles rose one after another, transmitting in different directions, like the shrieks of night owls.

These were the warning Whistling Arrows of the Ambush Army. Tan Laizi had heard them many times. Just as he was at a loss, suddenly a thunderous boom erupted. A blinding cannon flash burst on the opposite bank, and the surroundings were instantly lit.

Tan Laizi's scalp went numb. He happened to be facing west, and seemed to glimpse Tang Ershuan's figure, crouching not far beyond the trench.

The cannon flash flared and vanished, plunging everything back into darkness. Tan Laizi threw himself to the ground and crawled toward Tang Ershuan's direction. A shout and a curse rose behind him, then clamor began to erupt in the camp, the neighing and braying of all kinds of livestock rising one after another.

Another flash of light streaked by. Tan Laizi felt he had already been spotted by the nearby Armored Soldiers, and his heart burned with desperation. He had reached the edge of the trench. No longer caring to fear the Caltrops, he simply tumbled in, his body plunging into the dark trench.

Tan Laizi lay on his back at the trench bottom, panting. In his field of vision, both sides were the dark trench walls. The inner side, piled with the excavated earth, was even higher.

Another cannon blast boomed by the river channel. The flash illuminated the inner earthen wall, outlining the shape of the soil. Inside the trench, it remained utterly dark, which made Tan Laizi feel much safer.

Shrieks of alarm rose everywhere in the camp, shouts, curses, and angry roars unceasing, mixed with agonized screams. The neighing and braying of livestock merged into a single din.

He only heard a burst of shouting above the trench, as a group of figures crossed it and rushed toward the river channel.

Tan Laizi hurriedly pressed himself to the ground, watching a continuous stream of Armored Soldiers and Masters leave the camp as reinforcements. The uproar inside the camp grew louder and louder.

In the black night sky, red light flickered repeatedly. The roar of the Cannons echoed through the wide river valley. Tan Laizi knew that the estate steward would soon discover someone had run. Being caught meant a dead end, and a terribly miserable death at that. He had no retreat left.

The cannon flash was about to die, the earth returning to darkness. Tan Laizi flipped over and rose, about to rush toward Tang Ershuan's direction. In the last sliver of afterglow, a human figure suddenly lunged violently into the trench and slammed Tan Laizi to the ground.

Tan Laizi's soul nearly fled his body in terror. Just then, another cannon flash streaked by, and he saw that woman from the same household unit. He had no idea when she had followed him. The woman's hair was disheveled; she clung to Tan Laizi desperately, shrieking, "You killed my son!"

The clamor of men and beasts filled the air everywhere, but the woman's voice was still piercingly shrill. In his panic, Tan Laizi clamped a hand over her mouth and hissed, "I didn't kill him — Wei estate steward killed him."

"You killed him, I saw it!"

The woman shook her head wildly, screaming without pause. Tan Laizi's hand could not cover it; the shrieks rang out one after another.

"Stop screaming, I'll take you with me!"

The woman kept shrieking, "If we run, the Master will kill people! No running, no running!"

The woman in her frenzied state possessed monstrous strength. Tan Laizi was seized by her so tightly he could barely move. All around, he could hear the northern accents of the Armored Soldiers; they might have already drawn the attention of the Armored Soldier lords.

Just as his heart burned with desperation, suddenly a muffled thud sounded. The woman's shrieking stopped abruptly. A tall figure appeared behind her. Gurgling sounds came from the woman's throat, but her hands still did not release their grip on Tan Laizi.

A cannon flash flared, and Tang Ershuan's calm face appeared in the light. In his hand, a long, sharp wooden spike had already been driven into the woman's neck. Blood spurted out with a hissing sound, spraying onto Tan Laizi's hand.

The light gradually dimmed. The woman's face, mouth agape, was contorted. Her hands loosened. Her body was pulled backward by Tang Ershuan as she fell. The woman's hand lifted, revealing the trench, her skin coated with a sheen by the dying glow of the cannon flash. As the cannon flash faded, the woman's hand also fell backward into the darkness.

Tan Laizi froze in the darkness, staring blankly as Tang Ershuan's figure rose in the blackness.

Tang Ershuan grabbed Tan Laizi with one hand and pulled him up out of the trench. By now, the uproar in the camp was growing louder and louder. Figures began to appear near the trench, and the whistling of arrows rose all around.

Ahead, many torches had been lit. Some lay discarded on the ground, still flickering with flame. By this faint light, he could see many figures over there — all Armored Soldiers who had just rushed over.

A burst of shrieks rose from behind. Several figures dashed past the two of them, running toward the river channel. Immediately after, bowstrings twanged, and two agonized screams came from ahead.

Tang Ershuan pulled Tan Laizi and headed west. The dazed Tan Laizi suddenly jolted awake. He grabbed Tang Ershuan's hand. "We can't go that way — there's plague over at Turge's company on the west side."

Tang Ershuan's voice said, "That company has plenty of forage — perfect for burning."

Tan Laizi twisted a couple of times, then suddenly gave up struggling, letting Tang Ershuan pull him as they ran west.

Turge's company was not far. Because of the plague outbreak, there was no Ambush Army nearby, nor any along the way from here to the river channel. The shouts, curses, and whistling arrows behind them gradually grew distant.

This stretch of camp was deathly still, without the slightest movement. A cannon flash streaked by, illuminating the chaotic jumble of tents and carriages.

Tang Ershuan came to a carriage piled with forage. He fumbled in his chest, took out a Flint and tinder, and began striking them. As he struck, he asked in a low voice, "Tan Laizi, that woman's son — did you kill him or not."

Tan Laizi rushed over in a few strides, his voice choked with tears as he urgently hissed at Tang Ershuan, "I told you it wasn't me, it wasn't me! It was that Wei estate steward who killed him, Wei estate steward…"

He anxiously grabbed Tang Ershuan's sleeve, but heard Tang Ershuan's voice say, "Damn it, the grass is wet, how do we light the fuse…"

Tan Laizi panted heavily in the darkness. He stood frozen for a moment, turned his head to look back at the trench in the dark, and when he turned back, he said in a low voice, "I'll light it."

Tan Laizi let go of Tang Ershuan, walked slowly to the forage, and took out the last fifty-tael Banknote from his bosom. He rubbed it briefly in his palm, then skillfully crumpled and tore it into several pieces. After arranging the tinder, he took out the flint from his bosom and began striking it, over and over.

The muzzle flash of the cannons flickered from time to time, and thunderous cannon fire echoed through the river valley. Tan Laizi struck the flint earnestly, the sparks from the collision flying into the tinder.

Tan Laizi carefully cupped the tinder, blew on it twice, and white smoke rose from within. Then a flame appeared. Tan Laizi placed the pieces of the Banknote onto the flame, and the fire immediately blazed up.

In the flickering firelight, the Banknote turned to ash. The forage on the carriage began to burn fiercely. Tan Laizi, silent and indifferent, grabbed a pitchfork nearby. The two of them worked together, lifting the burning forage and tossing it onto the other carriages.

The fire grew fierce. Turge's company position had a large accumulation of flammable materials and no guards. The wind carried the flames, spreading them to the surrounding area.

From the east side came the twang of bowstrings. Two arrows streaked through the darkness. Tang Ershuan shouted, and the two of them retreated southward.

Tan Laizi let out a shriek in the darkness, his hands flailing wildly in the air, and he sprinted with all his might in the direction of that river channel.