Chapter 133: Bugeng

"Platoon Commander, put on the cap quickly and let us have a look!"

In the Waihuang city outskirts at the start of the third month, inside the Qin army encampment where Xin Platoon was stationed, a burst of laughter rang out — Ji Ying and the others had crowded around Heifu, urging him to hurry and put on the newly issued cap.

Heifu did not decline; he swiftly took that trapezoidal board cap, the symbol of the "Bugeng" rank, and set it steadily atop the hair bun at the crown of his head, then tied the chin ribbon under his jaw...

"What a fine Bugeng!"

Everyone cheered for him — after all, Heifu was the first person in this platoon to reach the Bugeng rank.

"Bugeng" certainly does not mean "no more updates." As the name implies, upon reaching this rank, one is exempt from serving as a geng conscript. Although military campaigns and garrison duties still cannot be avoided, one is spared the month of corvée labor each year, which naturally makes others envious.

Although Heifu's rank had been issued a few days ago, the corresponding benefits still needed to be implemented by the commandery and county; by the time a messenger delivered the official document to Nan Commandery, it would be about a month later. That being so, Heifu's family's fields could increase by another hundred mu — he wondered whether his elder brother Zhong would be troubled by that.

Once this news was sent back, it would also be tantamount to telling his family: I am fine, rest assured.

But what Heifu wanted even more to see, upon learning this "good news," was the expression on the face of County Left Commandant Yun Man — it would surely be quite a sight! The very Heifu he had tried to frame had not only escaped punishment for the convicts' escape, but was rising step by step in rank!

At that moment, the entire platoon had gathered around; everyone looked at Heifu's getup with both envy and delight, and at the same time they all touched their own hair buns, sighing, "Who knows when we will be able to wear caps."

A cap is headwear; the ancients all grew their hair long and tied it in a bun, and the cap was an ornament used to secure the hair bun.

In the Spring and Autumn period, this was something only nobles such as shi, grand masters, and ministers were qualified to wear after the capping ceremony upon reaching adulthood. By the Warring States period, rites had collapsed and music was corrupted; many rigid ritual systems were no longer observed, but the cap, as a marker of status and position, continued to be used. The Qin state even made cap styles a distinguishing marker for discerning rank and displaying high or low status.

For example, in this army, if you encountered those with shaved heads standing in the front ranks to fill the moats, those were convicts serving as wall-builders — they were the lowest-status people in the army.

As for those with round, mallet-shaped buns set toward the back, that meant these men were conscripted live-in sons-in-law, merchants, or hired farm laborers — their status was higher than slaves and convicts, but lower than ordinary people.

Ordinary rank-and-file soldiers in the army all uniformly wore their hair buns to the left, since Qin esteemed the right and debased the left; apart from a black headwrap, no other ornaments were permitted on the hair bun.

Low-ranking titles such as Gongshi were allowed in the army to wear their hair buns to the right.

Shangzao and Zanniao were permitted to wear a headscarf on their right-side hair bun — a red headscarf for Shangzao, a gray headscarf for Zanniao.

These distinctions in hairstyle all reflected Qin army discipline and military bearing, and no transgression or mixing was tolerated.

For all the above, even those with ranks like Shangzao or Zanniao could still only be counted as "lowly menial officers." It was not until Bugeng that a defining distinction appeared: a Bugeng could wear a cap.

"It is only the shortest cap," Heifu nevertheless said. Among those who wore caps, the height and style of the cap were also markers for judging their status. Although Heifu had managed to get a cap, he was still the lowest among cap-wearers.

Only a Grand Master or an Official Grand Master could wear a seven-cun-long single-board long cap.

He was already coveting Long after capturing Shu — having just attained Bugeng, he was already eyeing the higher ranks of Grand Master and Official Grand Master, and thinking maliciously: "Yun Man's rank is Official Grand Master. If, when I return home, he discovers that my rank is actually equal to his, or even already higher than his — what kind of expression will he wear then?"

However, Bugeng, as the fourth-rank title, was already equivalent to a "High Shi" of the Spring and Autumn period. One step further up and one would enter the domain of the Spring and Autumn "Grand Master." Between these two lay a deep chasm, very hard to cross. It was easy to imagine that the ranks to come would be harder and harder to ascend; Lord Shang, who devised the military merit rank system, was shrewd indeed and would not let people easily obtain high positions.

Besides Heifu, after the Battle of Waihuang, everyone in Xin Platoon had their merits assessed and ranks conferred.

Among them, apart from Gong Ao and Xiao Tao, who each took one head and were promoted from Gongshi to Shangzao, Li Xian and Ji Ying both became Gongshi on the strength of one decapitation each.

Bu Cheng had no chance to earn merit and remained a rank-and-file soldier, but Heifu decided to teach him the techniques of bandaging wounds, making Bu Cheng his platoon's medical orderly, dedicated to rescuing the wounded.

Compared to the others, Dongmen Bao, still lying on his sickbed, could be called the greatest winner of this battle. Because of his merit in fighting to the death and being first to ascend the wall, Heifu allotted him three heads, and so from Gongshi he shot up two ranks in one go, becoming a Zanniao!

Heifu and the others went to visit Dongmen Bao once more and told him this good news...

"At least this old man didn't get wounded for nothing. This way, even if I die, my son will be a little Zanniao!"

Dongmen Bao's fever had subsided, and he had regained consciousness, only he kept saying the wound was somewhat itchy and he really wanted to scratch it.

Heifu thought this was a good sign — an itchy wound meant that granulation tissue was beginning to grow. It seemed Chen Wujiu's golden wound medicine did have some effect. However, Dongmen Bao had still not passed the danger period; he would have to stay bedridden for at least half a month, and only when the wound had completely scabbed over would he be considered safe.

When Heifu and the others visited him, Dongmen Bao seemed to have been holding things in for a long time and spoke quite a bit. He even pulled from his bosom a corner of the Wei state banner that Heifu had torn off when bandaging him, and said with emotion:

"Before, I never knew what name to give my newborn child at home. Now I have decided."

"What name do you plan to give?" Ji Ying and the others asked curiously. Knowing Dongmen Bao as they did, it wouldn't be Wolf, Tiger, or Biao or something like that, would it...

Dongmen Bao, however, said: "When he was born, I went on campaign with the army against Wei, was wounded in Wei and nearly died, and was saved by the Platoon Commander using a Wei banner to bind my wounds..."

Ever since he learned that Heifu had pulled him back from the road to the Yellow Springs, and had used bandaging techniques to trade with Physician Chen so that Chen would use his golden wound medicine to save his life, Dongmen Bao no longer addressed Heifu by his given name, but respectfully called him Platoon Commander.

Unable to get out of bed, Dongmen Bao straightened his torso and bowed with clasped hands toward Heifu: "Therefore, I shall call him 'Wei'! And I will give him this corner of the banner, so that he never forgets the Platoon Commander's kindness!"

"Ah Bao, after two years of friendship between us, there is no need for such formality."

Heifu consoled him: "Rest easy and recover in the camp. Once you are well, come rejoin us and return to the unit."

"Where is the Platoon Commander about to go?"

Seeing that everyone was already clad in armor and wearing new shoes, looking as though they were about to set out on a long journey, Dongmen Bao asked: "May I know which city we are attacking this time?"

"It is an order issued by General Wang at Daliang city. He has instructed Commander Yang, after occupying Waihuang, to split his forces in half and go garrison Yangwu County, a hundred li to the north. Xin Platoon is also to redeploy with the Five Hundred Leader — we set out today!"

Heifu said with some regret: "Yangwu County has only just surrendered. Sending us there to garrison this time, I'm afraid there will be no battles to fight for a while..."

Just as Heifu was gloriously promoted to Bugeng and about to follow his superior's orders to garrison Yangwu County, two hundred li east of Waihuang County, in Wei's Shanfu County, the Waihuang Magistrate Zhang Er, who had fled in panic, was bidding farewell to the retainer and youxia Liu Ji, who had "escorted" him the whole way, at a fork in the road...

"May I ask where Lord Zhang is heading?"

Liu Ji asked with clasped hands. Although they had been fleeing for many days and his striking large beard was covered in dust and grime, it still could not conceal Liu Ji's youxia bearing; weary as he was, he showed no trace of dejection, and his eyes remained bright and spirited.

By contrast, the county youxia Zhang Er, who had lost his territory, looked somewhat destitute and despondent.

Although Zhang Er had planned in advance to resist for a while and then withdraw, he had not expected the Qin army's combat strength to be so formidable; those Qin soldiers had charged onto the city wall so fiercely, utterly heedless of death. Before Zhang Er could figure out how the west side of the city had been breached, the south side also quickly fell. He could only be swept along by the fleeing youxia and head toward the north of the city...

The originally meticulously planned withdrawal had turned into a rout of chasing the fleeing and pursuing the defeated.

Fortunately, although Zhang Er was somewhat panicked, he did not lose his head. He did not choose to go to Yangwu County, where his wife and children were, because Zhang Er knew that he was certainly a major target of the Qin manhunt. Going to Yangwu would instead bring disaster upon his wife and children.

He had to flee far away; only when the situation had calmed would his family have a chance to reunite.

And so, Zhang Er had his charioteer race straight east! As for those retainers, he could not be bothered with them anymore; in any case, everyone had lost their nerve, and moving as a group at this point would only draw the Qin army's pursuit.

It was just then that Liu Ji appeared out of nowhere, shouting "Protect Lord Zhang!" as he hitched a ride on Zhang Er's chariot, and even kicked away several youxia who were also trying to climb aboard...

By this time, the state of Wei was already riddled with gaping holes. Apart from Daliang, which had already been surrounded by diverted river water, from Jiyang and Taoqiu in the north to Suiyang in the Great Song Commandery in the southeast, several Qin armies of over ten thousand men each were separately attacking key locations. In between, everywhere were counties and townships surrendering to the Qin army, and Qin patrol cavalry roamed as if through unpeopled land.

The only road still relatively unobstructed was the one leading east.

By the time they fled to Zi County, Zhang Er's chariot had broken down, and he could only proceed on foot together with a dozen or so youxia.

When they reached Chuqiu, Zhang Er woke up to find only three or four people left beside him; all the rest had scattered under cover of night.

Only Liu Ji and two servants from Zhang Er's wife's family had stayed with him the entire time.

Now, having reached the east–north fork of the Noon Road outside Shanfu County, Liu Ji gazed in the eastern direction and seemed to finally make up his mind. He began to take his leave of Zhang Er, asking where Zhang Er planned to go.

Hearing Liu Ji's question, Zhang Er looked toward the county seat of Shanfu not far away. It had not yet been occupied by the Qin army and still appeared to be a peaceful little town.

In Shanfu County there was a wealthy man known as Elder Lü, quite famous in several counties along the Chu–Wei border. As the great knight-errant of eastern Wei, Zhang Er naturally had some acquaintance with him. The year before last, when Elder Lü's youngest daughter was born, Zhang Er had even sent a small gift…

But although he and Elder Lü had dealings, their friendship was not deep. Zhang Er was not worried that Elder Lü would refuse to take him in; rather, he feared that going there would bring trouble upon the Lü family. He knew very well that Wei's collapse was only a matter of months, and Shanfu would not be spared either.

So he turned his head and looked north, toward the direction of the Great Wild Marsh.

"I will go to places like Juye, Shanyang, and Changyi, and then seek an opportunity to proceed to Qi."

Zhang Er had already thought it through: first take refuge for a while in Qi, which seemed the safest, and wait for his close friend Chen Yu to get his wife and children to safety, then send them to Qi to reunite with him.

"And where will Liu Ji go?"

Zhang Er looked at the big-bearded wandering swordsman. Liu Ji had been his retainer for only a few months, but after this journey together, Zhang Er had been deeply impressed by the man's boldness and courage, and now felt that this man would certainly prove no ordinary fellow in days to come. Those of them who walked the underworld had to have a good eye for such things.

Though those retainers and gallants had spoken with oaths of boundless loyalty, in the end, only Liu Ji alone had followed him this far…

So Zhang Er extended an invitation: "Why not come with me to Qi? Not to boast, but though I have lost Waihuang, once I reach Qi, within three years I will surely rally my forces again and be a knight-errant of great renown in those parts!"

Zhang Er hoped Liu Ji would continue to follow him, to serve as his retainer, his enforcer, his man.

"This…"

Liu Ji gripped his sheathless sword, looking at the road east from Shanfu that led home to Pei County, then at Zhang Er's earnest face.

Standing at this fork in the road of life, Liu Ji fell into hesitation…

(End of chapter)