Chapter 629: Come, Down This Bowl of Crane-Crest Red Wine

Over a thousand men in motley uniforms, helmets discarded and armor thrown aside, more than half of them empty-handed militia soldiers, sat huddled together in a camp by the banks of the Little Wen River.

It was called a camp, but in truth there was no order to it at all — utterly scattered, without so much as a single tent, just a ring of fencing stuck around the perimeter, crudely lashed together from thin branches and twigs. As for ditches, breastworks, or anything of the sort — not one was to be seen.

These militia were the household retainers and servants of the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage's line, nominally the Qufu Training Army, but always firmly controlled by the ducal household — a completely different thing from the training army under Shi Kefa. The latter actually drilled, and sortied every few days; though they lost more than they won, their fighting strength was gradually tempered into being — good generals are mostly forged in battle, and only a very few can be raised by nurture. Shi Kefa's Qufu Training Army had fought and fought until it became seasoned; now it was an elite force.

But the household retainers and servants of the ducal household, though well paid and well equipped, had never once gone to war as a formed unit. Escorting the Duke's whole family in flight was their "first battle"!

That crude fellow Kong Yinzheng had often gone out of the city on missions, but he had only ever led a few men, and had never commanded more than ten in combat. Suddenly promoted by Kong Yinzhi to the post of household steward — how could he not make a mess of it?

If they had held the Qufu bastion fort, the problem would not have been great. Inside the Qufu fortress there was an artillery battalion left behind by Shi Kefa; they could have helped organize the defense, and holding a strong city would have posed no problem.

But instead they had fled the city — and not a light escape either, but great carts and small sedan chairs, jars and pots, dragging along the whole household, in chaos and at a crawl. Because the commotion was so great, they were spotted by Qing cavalry the moment they left the city! After that came harassment and delay all along the way, and by the afternoon of the second day, the Qing main force came charging in, each man racing to be first.

Kong Yinzheng knew they could not win, so he had no choice but to abandon the wagon train and take the more able-bodied retainers and household officers to escort Kong Yinzhi ahead. The filial son Kong Xingxie volunteered to stay behind and bring up the rear with the wagon train — and now there was no word of him; whether he had died a martyr or fallen into the water and become a traitor, no one knew.

But Kong Xingxie's filial deed had still served its purpose: the pursuing Qing cavalry paid no attention to those fleeing empty-handed. They had come to get rich, and had no time to hunt down Kong Yinzhi and Kong Yinzheng. Besides, they had another engagement to rush to — after robbing the living here, they still had to go back and plunder the dead!

So Kong Yinzhi and Kong Yinzheng had escaped by luck, and fled until they reached the Little Wen River at the foot of Mount Liangfu, where they could run no farther. For they had run into that lawless villain Shi Kefa.

Shi Kefa and Huang Degong had of course not dared to take a straight line from Feicheng to Qufu — that would have been looking down on the Tartars too much. So they had taken a roundabout route: first through Tai'an Prefecture (abandoned by Dorgon and then recovered by Li Chengdong's subordinates), then through Mount Culai and Mount Liangfu, and south to the Little Wen River. There they happened upon the fleeing Kong Yinzhi.

And although this stretch of the Little Wen River belonged to Jinan Prefecture, because it was close to Qufu and mountainous, Shi Kefa had taken it over to manage, making it the great rear area of the Qufu Training Army, with many stockaded villages where the training army's families lived.

Now Shi Kefa invited the distressed Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage's line to rest in a stockaded village at the foot of Mount Liangfu. Kong Yinzhi, uneasy, had Kong Yinzheng accompany him.

But the moment the old man reached the village gate, he knew something was very wrong. It was not that there were executioners lined up at the gate — just a crowd of furious common folk staring at them.

These people were all family members of the training army, and they still had many relatives and friends inside Qufu city. With Qufu lost, could those left in the city possibly come to any good?

Shi Kefa himself naturally wore no pleasant expression either. He had several beloved concubines in Qufu city, and now who knew whose hands they had fallen into! Of course, he had taken so many concubines not out of lust, but to beget sons!

Kong Yinzhi knew things were bad, but he could not leave. Kong Yinzheng, who accompanied him, had a few pounds of brute strength, but before the personal guards of Huang Degong and Shi Kefa he was nothing at all.

The two of them had no choice but to follow Shi Kefa and Huang Degong deeper into the village, where in a heavily guarded hall, fine wine and fine dishes had already been laid out.

"Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage's line, please!"

Shi Kefa pointed at the table laden with wine and food, his face dark, and addressed Kong Yinzhi.

Kong Yinzhi sat down beside the table but did not touch his chopsticks — he was no fool; how could he not feel the killing intent?

And he knew his own status: Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage's line! A public execution was impossible, and even arrest and imprisonment could not be done. At most, someone would have him swallow a bit of poison and die of its effects, and in the end he might even get a grand funeral and the like.

But Kong Yinzheng, who had come with him, had no such thoughts. He sat down with great swagger, then set to gorging and guzzling. Shi Kefa, Huang Degong, and Kong Yinzhi all kept their chopsticks still, just watching him eat and drink.

Shi Kefa even said with a smile, "Brave fellow, drink more, eat more — eat and drink your fill, the better to set out on the road!"

"Right you are!" Kong Yinzheng was so famished his wits had left him; he could not even hear the wrongness in the words, and just kept eating and drinking. Huang Degong sat right beside Kong Yinzheng and personally poured wine for him.

It was all white liquor, cup after cup poured down his throat, and before long he could not hold out — he passed out drunk.

Seeing Kong Yinzheng drunk senseless, Shi Kefa then said to Kong Yinzhi, "Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage's line, your turn now!"

As he spoke, he had already produced that bottle of crane-crest red he had treasured for three years!

Huang Degong poured another large bowl of white liquor and set it before Shi Kefa. Shi Kefa pulled out the stopper and emptied the entire bottle of crane-crest red into the wine bowl, then took a pair of chopsticks and stirred vigorously for a while — this bottle of crane-crest red was not instant-dissolving, so even after stirring a long while it had not fully dissolved, and the color of the white liquor had turned ugly, tinged dark red and very murky.

Shi Kefa shook his head — and this was supposed to be top-grade crane-crest red? His Majesty must have been cheated. This wine needed no silver needle to tell it was poisoned!

He rose to his feet, carried the wine bowl over to the Duke, who was already frightened witless, and said with a smile, "Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage's line, come — down this bowl of crane-crest red wine!"

"You — you — you —" The Duke was so terrified he could not speak — Help! This lawless villain means to kill me!

Shi Kefa sighed. "Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage's line, this matter cannot be escaped. You abandoned Qufu, so death is hard to avoid! But do not be afraid — your death will still be weightier than Mount Tai! The future histories will not write that you fled the city and killed yourself out of fear of punishment; they will only record that you held fast and fought bitterly in Qufu city, personally braved arrows and stones, battled the caitiffs hand to hand, and when your strength was spent still cried out to slay the caitiffs, and at last cut your own throat and died. I have already written your eulogy — shall I recite it for you first?"

"No, no, I cannot die yet," Kong Yinzhi could only shake his head. "The bloodline of the ancestors cannot be cut off with me! My son Xingxie stayed behind with the able-bodied men to cover the rear, and most likely has already died a martyr. If I die, the line of the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage's line is severed! Shi Kefa, can you bear the guilt of that?"

"How would it be severed?" Shi Kefa pointed at the dark fellow drunk senseless. "Is he not also surnamed Kong? And of the Yin generation too."

"Him?" Kong Yinzhi was now frantic. "He is of a distant branch — his line split off in the Northern Song, so distant it could not be more distant. How could he become Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage's line? It violates all ritual and law!

And besides, he looks like that — like a bandit!"

Shi Kefa glanced at Kong Yinzheng and said with a smile, "The Ultimate Sage and First Teacher was not born of the principal wife, nor was he the eldest son."

Confucius was popularly called Kong the Second — of course he was not the eldest son, and he was not born of the principal wife either, but of a concubine.

Shi Kefa went on, "Moreover, your family archives record that the First Sage was nine chi six cun tall, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, with boundless strength." He pointed at Kong Yinzheng. "This gentleman here does bear some resemblance to the Sage."

Kong Yinzhi was speechless. Kong Yinzheng truly did resemble the First Sage more than he did — the First Sage had been a giant! Far more formidable than Kong Yinzheng; otherwise how could he have traveled through the states teaching the barbarians? If it were today, the foremost warrior of the Manchus, meeting the old gentleman, would have no choice but to obediently receive his teaching. Why had he himself not grown so fierce and mighty? Otherwise he would not have come to this pass!

Seeing Kong Yinzhi speechless, Shi Kefa said gently, "Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage's line, drink quickly — once it is down, all will be well!"

(End of Chapter)