Chapter 161: Rain-Slick Roads, Safety First (Monthly Tickets, Monthly Tickets)

Contrary to what Duolong and Geng Zhongming had expected, before Geng Zhongjin could even go to the fort to put his scheme into action, a minor Ming officer holding Fort Shoumu had already brought a few men to kowtow to the Prince of Dai and Supreme Commander Wang.

The Prince of Dai naturally would not receive them — how exalted was a Ming prince? What business did a piddling little Platoon Leader have seeking an audience with him? Being allowed to kowtow to Supreme Commander Wang Yongji alone was already a blessing earned over eight lifetimes.

The man impersonating Wang Yongji was Geng Zhongming himself. He cut a fine figure — tall, imposing, very fair-skinned, with a long beard and the bearing of one long accustomed to standing above others. Even the real Wang Yongji, had he come, would not have matched such presence.

When the little Ming officer saw him, how could he suspect any trick? He knelt at once in the mud and water before the false Wang Yongji, kowtowing as he spoke in an ingratiating tone: "This humble one, Tian Gui, pays his respects to the Supreme Commander. The Supreme Commander has had a hard journey. The fort this humble one garrisons is rather crude, so I beg the Supreme Commander and His Highness to move inside and rest. Once the pontoon bridge is fully repaired, this humble one will escort you across the river."

"What? What did you say?" Geng Zhongming cut him off. "The pontoon bridge is damaged? How did you people manage that?"

Tian Gui — that is, the xiucai Tian — seeing the false Wang Yongji angered, kowtowed repeatedly and said: "Supreme Commander, do not blame this humble one. It was all this great rain's doing. When the floodwaters struck, the pontoon bridge was damaged in many places. This humble one has already set men to urgent repairs."

"It cannot be crossed at all?" Geng Zhongming asked hurriedly.

"It can be crossed," said the xiucai Tian, "but the road is slick with rain and the bridge deck is damaged in many places. A rough soldier like this humble one can certainly walk it, but the Supreme Commander and His Highness—"

"His Highness cannot walk it, but what is there that this official cannot walk?" Geng Zhongming waved a hand. "Lead the way. This official has urgent matters to report to His Majesty!"

"Then this humble one shall lead the Supreme Commander." The xiucai Tian wasted no more words. He rose and called over the soldiers who had come with him, and together they led the way.

Geng Zhongming and Duolong exchanged a glance, both unable to suppress their smugness. With a mere trifling trick, they had won a pontoon bridge by wit! Such cunning, if it could not match Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, was not far behind Xu Shu.

At that moment the two of them suspected nothing. They ordered Geng Zhongjin to the front, Duolong in the middle, and Geng Zhongming himself bringing up the rear, and together they advanced toward the pontoon bridge. Just as they reached the wooden gate of the bridge fort, the xiucai Tian, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped and said to Geng Zhongjin behind him: "General, please dismount and walk."

"Dismount?" Geng Zhongjin was taken aback. "Why dismount?"

"General, you may not know," said the xiucai Tian with a smile, "but the road is slick with rain, and the pontoon bridge is damaged and keeps swaying. Riding across, one might easily slip — and if one fell into the water, that would be a disaster."

"Oh." Geng Zhongjin thought it over and found it reasonable. He was wearing armor, after all! If he fell into the water, he would not be able to float.

With that thought, he not only dismounted himself but sent word to Geng Zhongming and Duolong to dismount and walk across the bridge as well — of the ten thousand roads, safety comes first!

Leading their horses, they followed the xiucai Tian into the fort. By then the rain had stopped, and a bright moon hung in the night sky. Many torches had been lit on the fort and the pontoon bridge. Geng Zhongjin suddenly noticed that no one was garrisoning the fort — it was completely empty.

"Where are the men?" Geng Zhongjin asked.

"All sent off by this humble one to repair the bridge," said the xiucai Tian with a smile. "Besides, today is the auspicious day when His Thousand Years took the Wu family's daughter as a Lady of Talents. Wine and food were bestowed, and all the men with nothing to do are drinking in the fort to the south!"

Heaven itself aids the Great Qing!

Geng Zhongjin was overjoyed at these words. The Zhu traitor was enjoying his wedding night, and his officers were all drunk senseless — the perfect chance for the Great Qing's heavenly troops to seize them all in one stroke! Once the Zhu traitor and his son were captured, the Zhu Ming realm would be finished, and the Great Qing could pacify the Central Plains with a single proclamation! He, Geng Zhongjin, would then be a meritorious subject and would surely gain several steps of "advancement," would he not?

At that thought, the last trace of vigilance in Geng Zhongjin's mind vanished. Leading his horse, he cheerfully followed the xiucai Tian onto the pontoon bridge. The bridge seemed already repaired — no one was working on it, and it was quite steady, perfectly fit for riding. But Geng Zhongjin did not mount his horse. Caution never hurts.

The xiucai Tian deliberately slowed his pace, walking side by side with Geng Zhongjin with the warhorse between them, sizing up Geng Zhongjin's head out of the corner of his eye as they went. Geng Zhongjin wore a helmet with his queue stuffed inside it. But a careful look still revealed the problem — the Manchu queue of this era was the "coin-and-rat-tail" style, not the shaved-pate-with-tail commonly seen in later television dramas. Only a tuft of hair at the back of the head was left, braided into a queue. That is to say, most of the hair on the head was shaved clean, so it looked very neat, with no stray hairs sticking out from under the helmet's edge.

No mistake — this was a Tartar! After the xiucai Tian had finally confirmed that Geng Zhongjin was a Tartar, he suddenly cried out in alarm: "Aiya! General, how is it you have a queue?"

His queue had slipped out?

Geng Zhongjin instinctively reached back to feel the back of his head — and found nothing there at all.

"There's nothing — it hasn't slipped out. You must be mistaken. I've hidden it very well..." Only then did he realize something was wrong. He was about to draw his blade and cut the man down when the sound of "splash, splash" reached his ears.

Geng Zhongjin looked around and discovered that the Ming officer called Tian Gui and the Ming soldiers with him had all jumped into the Wei River.

What was this? They had discovered he was one of the Eight Banners' heavenly troops and, terrified, had thrown themselves into the water to die? These Ming soldiers were utterly useless!

Geng Zhongjin was just about to order a rapid crossing of the bridge when a burst of crackling and popping suddenly rang out from the wooden fort to the south, followed by the "moo, moo" of oxen and the "clatter, clatter" of hooves.

Geng Zhongjin whipped his head around and saw several startled wild oxen galloping at full speed along the pontoon bridge, and behind the oxen came a company of spearmen!

"Spears! Raise your spears!" Geng Zhongjin knew he had no time to mount and retreat. If his men were all on horseback, they might have used their superb horsemanship to fall back quickly. But now everyone was on foot, all wearing armor and carrying long-shafted weapons — how could they mount so easily? The only option was to set their spears and hold off those oxen first.

But how could the xiucai Tian and Yu Daren give him such a chance? Yu Daren had waited until the xiucai Tian had lured the Tartars to within less than twenty paces of the bridge's southern fort before lighting the firecrackers and driving the oxen. (The firecrackers had been issued because Zhu Cilang had taken a Lady of Talents; the oxen were used to haul boats — if the pontoon bridge were dismantled, the grain barges would have to be pulled away by oxen.) Thus Geng Zhongjin's men were given no time at all to form ranks and raise their spears.

Geng Zhongjin knew it was too late, so while shouting orders, he himself kept backing away, and as he retreated he grabbed the Plain Yellow Banner Han troops under his command and shoved them forward, hoping they could hold the line for a moment.

But on the narrow pontoon bridge, how could Plain Yellow Banner Han soldiers who had no time to form ranks withstand several maddened oxen? Before the knife-bound ox horns could even reach them, the Han soldiers at the very front were already falling into the water as they scrambled to dodge.

And they were all wearing cloth-faced iron armor and cotton armor as they fell into the Wei River. At first they could thrash about a few times, but then the cotton armor soaked through with water, becoming dead heavy, and wrapped around their exhausted bodies, dragging them to the bottom. Their warhorses, with no masters to control them, also panicked — some leaped into the Wei River, others wheeled and fled, crashing into the terrified Plain Yellow Banner Han soldiers. The scene was utter chaos: human screams, the neighing of warhorses, the bellowing of startled oxen, the battle cries of Yu Daren's men, and the splash after splash of bodies hitting the water all mingled together.

The entire pontoon bridge had instantly become a scene of horrific traffic carnage!

Geng Zhongjin, retreating desperately, was caught at last by the stampeding oxen. Just as the blades on the ox horns were about to gore him, he had no choice but to dodge recklessly, and was forced to the very edge of the bridge. As he struggled to steady himself, the bridge suddenly began to heave violently!

It turned out that the ropes securing the pontoon bridge on the southern bank of the Wei River had been cut!

Now Geng Zhongjin could no longer keep his footing. Flailing his arms wildly, he toppled into the waters of the Wei River. He was wearing full-length iron armor! With dozens of catties of wrought iron pressing down on him, what chance did he have?

He never became a founding meritorious subject — instead he became a drowned water ghost!

The next chapter is at six o'clock. See you at six!

(End of Chapter)