Chapter 38: Snowy Crossing (Part 2)

"Your Majesty, the city is just ahead!" Seeing the sheltering inner ferry wall right before them, with the watchtowers on the wall brightly lit, Yang Yizhong suddenly turned back to warn. "According to those who came over earlier, there are burned ships and wooden palisades in the channel, and several water gates are mostly broken. Someone will need to guide us through. Please do not speak for now, Your Majesty."

"Do as you see fit, Zhengfu." Zhao Jiu hugged the food box in his arms, unconcerned.

"You lot still dare to come to Xiacai?" When a boat sailed in and Song Jun sailors called out, the soldiers guarding the water gate at Xiacai City directly cursed back. "You bastards are living it up south of the river, leaving us grandpas here abandoned—have you no conscience at all?"

"Get lost, get lost!"

Before Yang Yizhong could respond, another figure dressed as an officer emerged from the watchtower on the wall, speaking even more bluntly. "If any bastard dares to bother me again, I'll loose arrows straight at them!"

"Is that Li Laosan from Hezhongfu?!" As soon as Yang Yizhong heard the man's voice, he nearly flew into a rage. "Who gave you the nerve to speak foully to me? I carry an imperial decree and need to see Grand Defender Zhang. Send someone down immediately to guide us, and have Commander Tian (Shizhong) come to the inner ferry to receive us. Don't make trouble!"

The man apparently recognized Yang Yizhong's voice as well. After a moment's pause, he sent someone to report and personally came down with a lantern to point the way. Yet, when he reached the water gate, he couldn't help muttering from the bank: "Yang Dalang is now the favored man before His Majesty, so naturally he's fierce and overbearing. How would he know our hardships? We've been abandoned here, the inner ferry burned—like orphans without father or mother…"

"Li Laosan!" Under normal circumstances, Yang Yizhong might have let the man ramble on, but with the emperor in the boat today, how could he allow such endless grumbling? "His Majesty has already executed Liu Guangshi, and given the current situation, the councilors on the opposite bank urged His Majesty several times to leave first, but he refused—wasn't it because of you? Now that things have come to this, what is there to complain about? In your position, just look at His Majesty's dragon banner across the way!"

"This way, don't bother with the water gate—it's half burned out, boats can pass straight through…" Li Laosan stood on the bank inside the gate, directing the boat into the city in a muffled voice, but couldn't help muttering loudly. "Who knows if it's just a dragon banner? Maybe His Majesty himself has long fled to Yangzhou? I've heard Yangzhou is a mountain of gold and a sea of silver… And Liu Guangshi—they just bluff me. A Grand Defender, bigger than Grand Defender Zhang, and his own father was a Grand Defender—how could he be executed? Who are they fooling? Send his head over for me to see!"

Yang Yizhong was half-dead with rage, but seeing that His Majesty showed no reaction at all, he had no choice but to pretend he hadn't heard.

And so, after the boat entered the inner ferry sheltered by the city wall through the water gate, though the space opened up, the complex water conditions forced them to wind around for a long time, listening to that Li Laosan's complaints the whole way, before they finally found a suitable spot to dock… By then, Tian Shizhong, the central army general under Zhang Jun, had long been waiting there.

"Don't speak, don't look around—His Majesty is here." As soon as Yang Yizhong stepped ashore, he grasped his former colleague and whispered. "Don't alert anyone. Take us to see the Grand Defender quickly."

Tian Shizhong was startled and suspicious, but dared not say a word. He only turned back to order his men to bring some horses, then couldn't help stealing glances one by one, until his eyes fell on Zhao Jiu himself, who was holding the food box. Only then did he quickly turn around. Soon the horses arrived, and he led the way in silence.

This time, perhaps because the night was deep and the snow had piled up considerably, the roads were not congested. In almost no time, the group had arrived at a spacious mansion that had long since fallen quiet.

Now, Tian Shizhong was the most trusted of Zhang Jun's confidants, the innermost of his inner circle. So there was no need for any announcement. He sent someone ahead to rouse Zhang Jun, while he himself led Zhao Jiu and Yang Yizhong straight to the backyard, to the door of Zhang Jun's bedchamber. The lamp inside had only just been lit.

After a short wait, a maidservant opened the door, and Zhao Jiu, no longer hiding, went in alone, carrying the food box.

"Your Majesty!"

Zhang Jun was bare to the waist, with two fully naked concubines in his bed. He had been about to curse the intruder, but when the man set down the food box and removed his helmet, he was so startled he hurriedly turned over and knelt. "Your Majesty, how did you get here? The councilors, the censors, the eunuchs, and Yang Yizhong should all be executed!"

Seeing this, Zhao Jiu first waved his hand, signaling the two terrified concubines and the other maids in the room to wrap themselves in bedding and leave. Then, after Yang Yizhong—who 'should have been executed'—and Tian Shizhong had cleared the area and closed the door from outside, he shivered and sat down by a brazier in the room:

"The weather is cold. I crossed the river and my hands are icy, so I won't help you up. Grand Defender Zhang, please get up and sit. I'm just here to deliver a few things, say a few casual words, and I won't stay long!"

Zhang Jun hurriedly rose at this, then found an exquisite silver hand-warmer on his bed and handed it over. Only then did he awkwardly fasten his clothes and sit cautiously across from Zhao Jiu, his mind still a blank.

"Open it and take a look." Zhao Jiu gestured with his chin toward the food box on the table.

Zhang Boying dared not delay. He opened the food box directly and was stunned to see inside a salted duck missing one leg. For a moment, he had no idea what to say.

"Today is New Year's Eve. I hosted a banquet for the civil and military officials of the temporary court on the northern slope of Mount Bagong in Huainan. This was specially prepared for me by Lin Jingmo, the Prefect of Shouzhou." Zhao Jiu spoke, holding the hand-warmer. "I ate one leg, and then suddenly thought of our conversation at the East Terrace Pavilion on the North Fei River. I felt I had to send it to you no matter what… It's not good to eat now. Steam it tomorrow morning and have it then!"

Zhang Jun opened his mouth but still didn't know what to say.

"There's another layer underneath!" Zhao Jiu continued, gesturing with his chin.

Zhang Jun quickly pulled out the middle layer, only to fall back in shock. It turned out that the bottom of the food box was lined with a layer of snow and ice chips, and atop the ice chips lay a frozen, rock-hard head—the head of none other than Grand Defender Liu Guangshi! At this point, one could only lament that a man from a long line of Western Army generals had, after his death, fallen to a state worse than a duck. Truly pitiable.

"Actually, I didn't originally want to bring Liu Guangshi's head." Zhao Jiu continued, speaking rapidly. "Bringing something like this during the New Year would only spoil the mood. But if I didn't bring it, I didn't know what else to bring…"

"Liu Guangshi is really dead?!" Zhang Jun finally couldn't help speaking, though it was unclear whether it was an exclamation or a question.

"Really dead." Zhao Jiu answered frankly. "He died the night I crossed the river. I had Wang De hold down his left hand and Fu Qing hold down his right. I took the blade myself and killed him before me… Then I cut off his head and displayed it to the three armies. I brought it specially tonight for you to see, for fear you wouldn't believe it."

Zhang Jun looked rather embarrassed: "When the decree came from the opposite bank telling of this matter, I thought it was just a rumor."

"Let's not talk about that anymore." Zhao Jiu set down the hand-warmer and took something else from his bosom. It turned out to be a cluster of grapes covered in frost. When he placed it on the table, it clinked and clattered. "This is also for you."

Zhang Jun reached out to touch it and only then realized that the lifelike grapes were made of glass. Needless to say, this was an extremely valuable treasure.

"This was a tribute from the Prefect of Yangzhou." Before Zhang Boying could make a show of thanking him, Zhao Jiu continued bluntly. "The various prefectures and armies in the southeast sent many fine things this time. Councilor Lu urged me to smash them all to show frugality… If Councilor Li (Li Gang) were here, I'm afraid I'd have no choice but to smash them. But since it was Councilor Lu, I said there was no need, so I kept them. Then, during the day, I distributed them all as New Year's gifts. This bunch of grapes, I reckon, is probably the most valuable of the lot. And I happened to hear that you, for all your good qualities, are greedy for wealth, so I kept it aside for you alone."

Zhang Jun opened his mouth to speak but still didn't know what to say.

"Actually, these past few days, all the civil and military officials in the temporary court on the opposite bank have been discussing it. They all say you will surely surrender, and they urged me to leave this place early and head for Yangzhou." Zhao Jiu continued, still holding the hand-warmer. "And I thought so too, because a man greedy for wealth is necessarily greedy for life… And given the current situation, if you suddenly surrendered or abandoned the city and fled, I truly would have nothing to say."

Zhang Jun hurriedly tried to kneel again, but Zhao Jiu reached out and grabbed his arm. The former dared not move and could only force himself to sit back down.

"Grand Defender Zhang, I came today to reassure you, of course, but I myself don't know if this trip will be of any use at all. Yet if I didn't come to bring you this duck, this head, this bunch of grapes, and say these few useless words, what else could I, as Your Majesty, do right now?"

Having said this, Zhao Jiu set down the hand-warmer with one hand and sighed. "Coming here today, this is my intent… First, to give you New Year's gifts, and through them, to reaffirm the promise I made at the East Terrace Pavilion—as long as you fight against the Jin, I will never be stingy with what I can give you. Second, to make a gentleman's agreement with you. Liu Guangshi caused a great disaster, leaving Xiacai City isolated. So, if you can hold this city, hold it. If you cannot, and you prepare to surrender or abandon it, I will not blame you. But if my dragon banner is still on the opposite bank at that time, please, for the sake of today, be sure to send me word in advance! That is all!"

With that, Zhao Jiu wasted no more time. He stood up directly, fastened his helmet, and prepared to leave.

Zhang Jun rose in a daze, ready to follow, but Zhao Jiu raised a hand to stop him. He could only let His Majesty come and go in haste… And after a full half-hour more, when the sky was beginning to lighten, Tian Shizhong, who had seen His Majesty back to the boat and returned, found that Grand Defender Zhang was still sitting at the table, staring blankly at the salted duck beginning to ooze oil, the head beginning to bleed, and the cluster of grapes that would never fade.

"What's wrong with the Grand Defender today?" Tian Shizhong entered, first glancing at the head. After a long while, he swallowed his saliva and recovered, but couldn't help looking puzzled. "Yang Dalang and I sat outside and listened for a long time. His Majesty was truly sincere. If the Grand Defender wanted to leave, why not take the opportunity to say so? If you intended to hold fast, why not take the chance to show your loyalty? How could you just hem and haw for so long without a single word?"

"I'm still in a dream myself!" Zhang Jun suddenly looked up, revealing two bloodshot eyes. "Xiao Tian, tell me—is such a person, who bares his heart yet mixes softness with hardness, really the Son of Heaven of Zhao Song?"

Tian Shizhong fell silent instantly.

After a full incense-stick's worth of time, Tian Shizhong finally spoke again with emotion: "Let me inform the Grand Defender of one more small matter… Yang Dalang secretly asked me for Censor Zhao earlier in the courtyard, so I arranged for someone to send Censor Zhao to the ferry to wait."

"That was the right thing to do." Zhang Jun replied casually.

"Then, after Censor Zhao saw His Majesty at the ferry, he no longer wished to cross back south of the river. Instead, he stamped his foot on the spot and made a decision, saying he would stay to help the Grand Defender defend the city. And His Majesty granted him the post of acting Prefect of Shouzhou… He is now Prefect Zhao."

Zhang Jun stared blankly at Tian Shizhong for a moment, then fell speechless.

Now, as the heavy snow of the night gradually stopped, before dawn, two small boats once again crossed paths on the Huai River from afar. Their outlines grew clearer, yet they paid each other no mind, each carrying their own key figures back to their respective camps.

By the time the sky turned light and the second year of the Jianyan era officially arrived, the Song Jun on the south bank were still breaking ice along the river as before, while the Jin Jun on the north bank were scouting on horseback as usual. The vast majority had no idea what their respective commanders had done during the night. Even Xiacai City, which had spent a disheartening New Year, gradually began to stir back to life.

Then, in the morning, the Jin Jun suddenly sent an envoy into the city to urge surrender… Regardless, the tide of events flowed on without cease, just like the endless waters of the Huai, while the rhythm of war never changed, as immovable as Mount Bagong had been for millennia.

PS: Good night, everyone.