Chapter 551

The sun hung low in the west, already past the time for traveling. Oxcarts and armored soldiers on the official road had grown sparse. Zhou Wu urged his horses onward, still racing ahead. He was now close to Yaozhou Post Station; in a single day he had covered nearly two hundred li. Both horses were drenched in sweat. Although Zhou Wu had undergone special training for riding with two horses and knew how to regulate their stamina, he planned to leave the official road after dark and enter the wilderness near Yaozhou, where riding at night was impossible, so he had not deliberately conserved the horses' strength.

Yaozhou Fort soon came into view. Located between Haizhou and Gaizhou, it was an important junction. When Gaizhou lay abandoned, this place had served little purpose, but after the Battle of Lvshun it began to receive attention from the Later Jin. They repaired the walls of Yaozhou Fort and relocated some true Yi of the Bordered Red Banner to live there.

The official road passed straight through the fort. Although other paths could bypass it, they all lay within sight of the walls. Abandoning the official road for a side trail would instead draw the notice of Later Jin armored soldiers, so Zhou Wu decided to pass directly through the fort.

The city gate was not yet closed at this hour. Zhou Wu mimicked the manner of Later Jin post riders, pulling out a banner flag and raising it high. A Later Jin White Armor soldier on sentry duty glanced at him lazily and did not stop him to question him. Zhou Wu put away the banner flag and spurred through. The roadside inside the city was packed with oxcarts, making the road extremely congested. Once inside the fort, Zhou Wu immediately slowed his horse and fell in behind a line of Bordered Red Banner bondservants transporting grain.

The sound of hoofbeats came from behind. Zhou Wu did not turn his head to look. The hoofbeats drew up behind him, and a warm voice said, "Ha, a brother of our Bordered White Banner too. Where are you headed?"

Zhou Wu turned his head and saw a young true Yi post rider smiling at him from behind. Zhou Wu returned a smile and said in Mongolian, "Just delivering a message. Where are you coming from? Your face is very unfamiliar to me. Which niru are you under?"

Zhou Wu casually brushed him off and turned the question back on the post rider. The post rider was very young, with a rather outgoing nature, and seemed to have little wariness. He cheerfully told Zhou Wu, "I've come from Haizhou. Master Yierhan sent me to Gaizhou to check the grain and fodder figures for our Bordered White Banner. I've only just become an armored soldier, so it's no wonder you don't recognize me, elder brother."

Zhou Wu nodded and said, "So you're under Master Yierhan's niru. Then you all march with the Fourteenth Beile. Your camp is also far from ours, and your grain and fodder are kept separate from ours."

The true Yi post rider nodded repeatedly, because what Zhou Wu said was all true. The Bordered White Banner was divided into two large sections, under Ajige and Dorgon respectively. Dorgon normally had no authority over Ajige's self-governing niru, and there was even considerable private friction between the two sides. Zhou Wu was an elite of the Intelligence Bureau and knew the situation of every Later Jin banner like the back of his hand. He had deliberately spoken this way to hint to this true Yi post rider not to get too familiar, so as to avoid giving himself away by talking too much.

Unexpectedly, the true Yi post rider was extremely enthusiastic. He went on asking Zhou Wu, "Then you must be on the side of the Twelfth Beile, elder brother. What business takes you to Gaizhou?"

Zhou Wu replied coldly, "That I cannot tell you."

The post rider had met a rebuff but did not mind it in the least. "Which niru are you from anyway, elder brother? I have two relatives who are also in the Twelfth Beile's niru. Perhaps they know you, elder brother."

Zhou Wu was inwardly very impatient with this true Yi post rider. Had there been no one around, he might well have cut him down with a single stroke. He steadied his mood and asked the post rider calmly, "Then tell me their names. Perhaps they really are from the same niru as me."

The true Yi post rider, having no second thoughts, immediately gave two names. One was his maternal uncle. Zhou Wu asked doubtfully, "I seem to have heard of them. Which niru are they under?"

The true Yi post rider said, full of expectation, "The niru ejen is Master Enke."

By now the two of them, following behind the oxcart convoy, were nearing the south gate, where there were many armored soldiers on sentry duty. Zhou Wu pretended to be thinking hard, stalling for time. The true Yi post rider was the sort who gets familiar at first meeting and kept prompting Zhou Wu.

Zhou Wu suddenly clapped his hands. "Is it the family that just married off a daughter?"

The true Yi armored soldier said excitedly, "Not marrying off a daughter — they just took a daughter-in-law last year."

Zhou Wu had been speaking at random. Judging by the true Yi armored soldier's age, he guessed his maternal uncle would be around forty, about the age when children marry. After hearing the true Yi armored soldier's words, he frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "It seems so. Someone from our niru went to offer congratulations, but I did not go myself. It must be that family."

Having established a connection, the true Yi armored soldier immediately opened his chatterbox, starting from this relative and pulling in other relatives. The two of them at once appeared very warm and familiar. Zhou Wu observed the surrounding situation while keeping up the conversation, trying his best to steer the topic far afield. The true Yi had been speaking Mongolian the whole time, and the armored soldiers nearby, seeing how the two of them looked, did not come over to question them. At last the oxcart convoy left the city, and Zhou Wu breathed a sigh of relief.

Once out of the city, Zhou Wu gave his horse a lash on the rump. The true Yi armored soldier shouted, "Elder brother, my horse is spent. Slow down and let's go to Gaizhou together. We can stay the night at Boluoguo. I've got some wine hidden on me."

The thought of taking this true Yi post rider along and finishing him with one stroke in a deserted place flashed through his mind, but Zhou Wu immediately rejected the idea. What he needed was to deliver the message to the coast as quickly as possible, not to stir up trouble by killing a man. He shouted loudly, "I have urgent business. I won't wait for you. We'll talk again in Gaizhou." As he spoke, he whipped his horse onward. The armored soldier was not carrying an urgent message and had only one horse; he dared not race ahead like Zhou Wu and could only call out from behind, "My name is Musege. Elder brother, when you reach Gaizhou, you can find me at the Fourteenth Beile's camp..."

Zhou Wu answered from far off and at last shook off this chatterbox. His mood relaxed considerably.

"The next time I find you, you'll be in trouble," Zhou Wu thought smugly to himself.

Zhou Wu continued racing on and soon left the armored soldier far out of sight. Past Yaozhou Fort, ahead lay Boluoguo, about thirty li from Gaizhou. It could already be considered the front line, and inspections would be much stricter. Zhou Wu reckoned that post rider would also spend the night there, but Zhou Wu had no need to enter Boluoguo.

Boluoguo had been thoroughly cleansed by Daišan in earlier years, and some population had been moved there later. However, because it was close to Gaizhou, it had suffered repeated raids during Dengzhou's previous offensives. Apart from the Boluoguo fort itself, the surrounding countryside was completely abandoned, especially the area from Boluoguo toward the coast, which was now uninhabited. Dengzhou's special operations teams often used that stretch of land for landing operations. There were also two fixed rendezvous points there, and sometimes special operations personnel would be waiting to make contact. All of this was highly favorable for Zhou Wu's covert movement. So Zhou Wu planned to leave the official road before Boluoguo and, under cover of darkness, slip toward the coast to get a boat.

The sun drew ever closer to the western horizon. The armored soldiers coming and going were all hurrying on their way, in no mood to speak with Zhou Wu. With success in sight, Zhou Wu smugly hummed a little tune, though he still kept his guard up — even the tune he hummed was one of the Jianzhou bandits.

After about a quarter-hour of quiet, a dozen or so armored riders appeared by the roadside. They were all wearing chain mail and were watering their horses by a pond. Zhou Wu reined in his spirits, for these armored soldiers were brawny in build and steady in movement, faintly exuding a murderous air. They were clearly not green recruits like that post rider just now. Moreover, they were also Bordered White Banner.

Zhou Wu struck his horse to quicken his pace. The two sides soon drew near. Zhou Wu did not avert his gaze but sized them up for a few glances like a normal true Yi would. The armored soldiers feeding their horses by the road merely looked up once; most of them paid Zhou Wu no heed.

Just as he thought he would pass through, a voice in the Yi tongue rose from among that group. Zhou Wu had learned some Manchu and made out that it was telling someone to go ask. Sure enough, an armored soldier emerged from the group and loudly asked Zhou Wu, "Which niru?"

Zhou Wu had no choice but to stop. In fluent Mongolian, he said crossly, "Which niru are you? Stopping me for what? Don't you know that delaying a post rider is a serious crime?"

The armored soldier saw Zhou Wu's aggressive manner. The Later Jin did indeed have rules against delaying post riders. He coughed and said, "We are under Master Bazhali's niru..."

Zhou Wu stared into the armored soldier's eyes and cut him off. "I don't need to tell you my niru. I was sent to Gaizhou by the Fourteenth Beile."

The armored soldier clenched his teeth and asked, "What are you running off to Boluoguo for at this hour?"

Zhou Wu said coldly, "The Fourteenth Beile does not wish it known. Are you qualified to ask me? But I can tell you this: I have urgent military business. If you value your dog's head, get out of my way."

The armored soldier's eyes blazed with ferocity, the several scars on his face seeming about to spout fire. But Zhou Wu was certain he would not dare to make real trouble, because Bazhali was a subordinate of Ajige, while Zhou Wu had claimed to be a trusted man of Dorgon. Although the two superiors were in conflict, Dorgon was after all the Banner Lord Beile, and those below would not lightly dare to offend his people.

Sure enough, someone among those feeding horses called out. The armored soldier grudgingly stepped back two paces and cleared the way. Zhou Wu, not showing the slightest weakness, locked eyes with him for a moment, and once he had stepped aside, whipped his horse and left. In a short while he was far from those armored soldiers.

Having slipped through once more by luck, Zhou Wu's back was already soaked with sweat. Those armored soldiers were all veterans of a hundred battles. If they had seen through him, he would have had absolutely no chance of escape. But a moment later he thought of a flaw, and beads of sweat again oozed from his forehead.

Zhou Wu immediately gave his horse a fierce lash on the rump. The mount snorted and quickened a few steps, then immediately slowed again. A full day of breakneck riding had basically exhausted both horses' stamina; now, even if he wanted to go fast, he could not.

Zhou Wu cursed inwardly and at once glanced back at the sun's position. At a bend in the road he surveyed his surroundings. Here the official road was flanked by plenty of wild grass and shrubs taller than a man — an excellent spot to break away. He spurred off the official road, first heading east into the wild grass by the roadside. After riding a stretch, he dismounted, took down the two saddlebags, put four stones inside them, and placed them on the back of the horse he had just been riding. This horse was slightly weaker and already struggling to accelerate; he planned to use it as a decoy.

Once the saddlebags were secured, Zhou Wu led the horse by the head and aimed it east, then drew his short blade and stabbed the horse fiercely in the rump. The horse gave a pitiful scream and bolted eastward. Zhou Wu examined the trampled tracks in the grass, then broke a few branches off some nearby shrubs. Immediately afterward, he turned, mounted the other horse, crossed the official road, and entered the overgrown wilderness to the west.

"I bought three head of cattle, pulling a cart of curd, with fescue grass tied around my body..." The chatterbox post rider hummed his song, ambling leisurely along the official road. He planned to spend the night at Boluoguo and should be able to reach it before the sun set.

A dozen or so armored soldiers appeared by the roadside. Seeing they were Bordered White Banner, the post rider shouted with great delight, "Elder brothers, I'm Bordered White Banner too. Where are you headed?"

Those armored soldiers looked unwilling to bother with him. The post rider pursed his lips and was about to move on when he heard someone among them give an order. An armored soldier reluctantly stepped out and asked, "Which niru are you? Which master are you delivering a message for?"

The post rider said in detail, "I'm a subordinate of the Fourteenth Beile, going to Gaizhou to check our banner's grain and fodder. I've been traveling all day today and have already run into people from our Bordered White Banner three times. Are you elder brothers heading back to Gaizhou? We can go together."

The armored soldier waved his hand wearily and shouted toward the horse-watering spot, "Master, it's another man of the Fourteenth Beile."

The post rider said, overjoyed, "So you've also run into someone from the Fourteenth Beile. I met a man of the Twelfth Beile back at Yaozhou Fort just now. He should have passed by only a moment ago — two horses. Did you see him?"

The armored soldier replied lazily, "We saw him..."

"Which Beile's man did you say he was!" A cold, sharp question from the pond side cut off the armored soldier's reply. A few of the armored soldiers on the outside parted to make way, revealing Xing Na's grim face. (To be continued...)