Chapter 117: The Great Era

In the twenty-second year of King Zheng of Qin, the first month of spring, the east wind thawed the ice; hibernating insects began to stir; fish rose beneath the river ice; otters lined up their catch like sacrificial offerings; the great swan-geese returned.

Outside Fangcheng County, standing on grassland where the snow had nearly melted, Heifu drew a hard bow of one stone and two dou to a full-moon shape, the arrow aimed at the flock of geese returning north in the sky. After taking aim for a few breaths, his hand released — the arrow left the string and flew!

Although his stance was thoroughly impressive, his accuracy was off by a hundred thousand miles; he did not even shoot down a single goose feather…

"Hahaha, Constable Heifu's archery is only good for shooting mallards. Trying to shoot down a swan-goose? Better just forget it."

Gong Ao, standing nearby, let out a mocking laugh, but when he himself drew his bow and shot at the great geese, he also missed. The two of them tangled with the geese here and got nothing for it; instead, it was Xiao Tao and Dongmen Bao who had already come back carrying two mallards.

Heifu and his group had arrived at Fangcheng County in Nanyang Commandery as early as the start of the twelfth month. The weather this year was poor — the entire north encountered heavy snow, the snow depth reaching two chi and five cun, so the convict laborers and garrison conscripts from Nan Commandery were ordered to wait in place at Fangcheng.

Fangcheng was not a city, but a "long wall." As early as the Spring and Autumn period, to guard against the war chariots of the various Hua-Xia states driving straight south, Chu had built numerous defensive strongholds, mainly square fortresses, on the lofty mountains and steep ridges around the Nanyang Basin, calling them Fangcheng. By the Warring States period, these fortresses were linked by stone-built or earth-packed walls, forming the Chu Long Wall that stretched for over three hundred li, arching like the character 門 to protect Chu's northern border.

Fangcheng County was precisely the eastern opening of this square-shaped long wall.

But ever since Nanyang Commandery was seized by Qin, Fangcheng had become a forward post for Qin armies striking Chu. This time, when the army advanced east to attack Chen and Cai, the great host had set out from Fangcheng County. The encampments left behind when the Chu-punishing army had been stationed here the previous year became ready-made shelters for the convict laborers and garrison conscripts who arrived afterward.

Because the rain and snow did not stop, Heifu and his group's on-site encampment lasted an entire month. Since they were idle anyway, Heifu and his men continued to take up weapons and practice. In particular, his weak point, archery, had also been strengthened under Xiao Tao's guidance. Still, he could only manage to hit the mark without fail within a range of ten-odd paces; any farther and his aim would falter. As for high-difficulty operations like shooting geese, that was truly too much to ask of him.

The thief-catcher Gong Ao from Yan County and the garrison conscripts he was escorting were also quartered next to Heifu and his group. Although Gong Ao's mouth was a bit caustic, and from time to time he would make snide, sarcastic remarks mocking the Qin government, they were at least fellow countrymen from Nan Commandery and interacted frequently in daily life. They would also arrange from time to time to leave camp together to shoot birds and improve the conscripts' meals.

By the time everyone returned to the vicinity of the wall where they were camped, Ji Ying and Bu Cheng were already squatting by the earthen stove, having boiled water. As everyone worked together to pluck the wild game, Li Xian, who had gone into the county town to buy salt, also came back, and he brought Heifu a piece of news.

"Constable, another batch of garrison conscripts and convict laborers has arrived at Fangcheng. I asked around; they said they're from Nanzheng in Hanzhong Commandery."

Heifu listened, and a thoughtful look came over him.

"Nanzheng is quite far from here. Even the Nanzheng conscripts have arrived — this is probably the last batch."

During this month and more, the garrison conscripts and convict laborers had been idle here, sheltering from the wind and snow, but many major events had occurred in the world!

First, in the middle of the eleventh month, Chen Ying, which had been besieged by the Qin army for a long time, surrendered to Qin. It was said that the former Qin Chancellor, Lord Changping, had persuaded them to surrender. Unfortunately, Heifu's history was half-baked; he knew a few famous figures from the Chu-Han contention, but of the chancellors under Qin Shi Huang, he only knew Lü Buwei and Li Si. The name of this Lord Changping, Xiong Qi, was something he had truly never heard before, and he knew even less about his complex relationships with the royal houses of both Qin and Chu.

Chen Ying, as the secondary capital of Chu and a key northern stronghold, had fallen. The King of Chu, already terrified of the Qin army, became like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow. Ignoring the opposition of the pro-war faction at court, such as Xiang Yan, he hastily negotiated peace with Qin.

After having assassinated the sovereign and usurped the throne, King Fuchu of Chu, who had not yet stabilized the internal situation, agreed to cede Chen Ying, Shangcai, and the area west of Qingyang south of the Great River to Qin, in exchange for peace.

When the news of the Qin-Chu ceasefire arrived, the garrison conscripts from Anlu County were all very happy. They had been conscripted precisely because of this war; now that the hostilities were over, they assumed everyone would soon be disbanded and able to return home.

The others were fine — although the marching had worn through many pairs of shoes, they had also seen big cities like Wancheng in Nan Commandery and felt the trip was worthwhile. Only the habitually bellicose Dongmen Bao was impatient and restless. By his reckoning, his wife was nearing her due date, and Dongmen Bao was in a hurry to get home and hold his son…

But Heifu poured a ladle of cold water over everyone, telling them not to be too optimistic.

"The fighting with Chu has temporarily stopped, but the war is far from over. The day we are disbanded and return home is still a long way off!"

Heifu had already figured out the intent of Qin's attack on Chu this time: one objective of the Qin army's assault on Chen Ying was to rap Chu on the knuckles and make the King of Chu abandon any thoughts of a vertical alliance.

The second objective was to control the Honggou Canal. The Honggou was a waterway dug during the time of King Hui of Wei, connecting the Wei capital of Daliang with Chen Ying. It was the most vital transport line between Liang and Chu. Now that Chen Ying had changed hands, Wei's rear support was completely cut off.

So Heifu guessed that next, the Qin army in the Chen and Cai region would probably turn back around to attack Wei, and these convict laborers and garrison conscripts were precisely prepared for this war to destroy Wei…

His guess was confirmed; the Qin war machine showed no sign of stopping at all. Throughout the entire twelfth month, garrison conscripts and convict laborers from various counties in Nan Commandery, Hanzhong, and Nanyang continuously assembled at Fangcheng County.

Every day, new contingents arrived and were assigned to rest in the old encampments beneath the wall.

The number of convict laborers and garrison conscripts slowly grew from the initial few hundred to a thousand, several thousand, ten thousand, tens of thousands… until the entire area stretching ten li along the inner side of the Fangcheng wall was densely packed with temporary shelters. When they cooked the morning meal, black smoke rose from half the sky.

When Heifu went out, he would encounter these people, greet them, chat, and exchange food. Everyone spoke with a variety of accents: the thick Chu accent of the Nan Commandery people sounded utterly familiar and warm; the Nanyang people's accent, if spoken slowly, could also be understood. But those garrison conscripts from Hanzhong, especially some fellows with unbound hair, wearing animal skins, and dressed like barbarians — the obscure dialect they spoke was completely unintelligible…

Heifu knew that what had made everyone cross distances of several hundred li, undertaking the toil of a long journey to assemble here, were the documents sent from Xianyang to each commandery and county, one after another. Carved into those documents was the will of the King of Qin!

Under the King of Qin's command, these people from different commanderies and counties were like individual small streams, manipulated and gathered together by a colossal force, gradually merging into rivers, and then converging into a lake.

The strength of Qin's control over the grassroots level was displayed vividly and thoroughly in this moment when war was approaching.

Just as Heifu had expected, after the snow melted with the onset of spring in the first month, everyone was assembled together, standing so densely packed inside Fangcheng that they rubbed shoulders and jostled, a sea of heads surging.

Heifu made a rough estimate: there were about thirty thousand people in total. Among them, around five thousand were from Nan Commandery, ten thousand from Hanzhong Commandery, and fifteen thousand from Nanyang Commandery.

The Nanyang Commandant and the Fangcheng County Commandant, who were in charge of commanding these garrison conscripts and convict laborers, ascended the wall and shouted down to the crowd. In this era, there were no loudspeakers; they could only have several tall, stout soldiers stand at intervals of several tens of paces, relaying the message in turn so that the Commandant's words could reach every corner.

"The King decrees: The King of Wei initially agreed to submit and enter Qin."

"But then he reneged on the covenant and plotted with the remnants of Han and Zhao to launch a surprise attack on Qin."

"I intend to use soldiers and officers to punish him."

"Order Junior Shangzao Wang Ben to lead the army at Chen Ying and go first."

"The commanderies of Nanyang, Hanzhong, Nan, and others shall send out garrison conscripts and convict laborers to support him."

"Convict laborers and garrison conscripts, exert yourselves to the utmost and obey orders. If you achieve merit, you shall be rewarded with rank; if you disobey orders, you are guilty, and the generals and colonels are ordered to punish you!"

After the King of Qin's edict was read out, the military laws and regulations that the garrison conscripts and convict laborers had to obey were also read aloud once more. At this moment, everyone, including Gong Ao, had already turned their heads to look at Heifu. The meaning was clear: "Heifu was right — we really are going to attack Wei!"

…

Early the next morning after this assembly, the county commandants escorting the convict laborers gave the order for everyone to set up their stoves and cook a meal. After eating their fill, the thirty thousand-plus people left their shelters, crossed the ancient Chu Long Wall, and marched out of Nanyang Commandery.

Because the numbers were too great, when they exited Fangcheng, they were divided into two groups, each roughly fifteen thousand strong, taking two separate routes: Yingchuan Commandery and Shangcai.

"Heifu, where do you think we're going?"

Heifu and his group took the Yingchuan route. The ten thousand-plus garrison conscripts and convict laborers formed a long serpent on the winding road. They passed towns and villages along the way but made no stops; the pace was pressed very urgently.

Ji Ying and the others were all from small county towns and had never seen such a grand spectacle. The county commandant leading them forward had not announced their destination either, so everyone was somewhat uneasy. Wei was so large — where would they be assigned to fight?

Heifu, however, knew.

"There's only one possibility."

He pointed to the northeast and said with a smile: "Daliang!"

Daliang, the capital of Wei, the richest and most prosperous city in the Central Plains. There were glorious flowers and splendid scenes there, majestic capitals and palace towers, as well as Wei soldiers and knights-errant, the righteousness of Lord Xinling, blazing renown in Daliang…

A vast war to destroy a state would unfold there.

"In the end, I still caught up with it."

Heifu sighed with emotion. He knew that he had still been swept into the tide of this great era, step by step, drawing closer and closer to the heart of the storm…

Although at this very moment, he was only a minor constable, just an inconspicuous little droplet in this black billowing wave. Tossed among tens of thousands of people, he vanished into the crowd, his traces hard to find.

But Heifu firmly believed that when the dust of war settled, he would surely become one of the wave-riders in this great era when "the six kings are finished, and the four seas are one"!

Ride the wind and cleave the waves, stand atop the cresting tide!

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(End of chapter)