Chapter 4: Righteous Courage Is the Duty of Every Qin Person

"Heifu, Heifu, you really are a reckless fool — you've gotten me into deep trouble…"

Ji Ying gripped his short sword, warily guarding against the bandits before him, his heart full of regret. He was usually such a shrewd person — how had he let impulse take over and followed Heifu to stand before these four robbers?

The man being chased earlier was probably a local merchant; even as he fled for his life, he hadn't forgotten the heavy bundle on his back. Seeing people step forward to block the bandits, his face lit up with joy, and he immediately ducked behind them. With a quick "Many thanks," he vanished without a trace, leaving Ji Ying and Heifu to face four foes with only two.

Those four bandits were clearly outlaws from the Cloud Dream Marshes. Three of them wore tattered clothes, their faces dark and grimy, wielding crude weapons — a dagger-axe head tied to a short stick, a hatchet, a fishing spear. Only the bearded brute in the center was outfitted in a battered leather cuirass and held a polished, gleaming iron sword!

This man was the bandit leader. Seeing that Ji Ying and Heifu had spoiled their prize, he spread his arms wide, signaling his three accomplices to fan out, and said in a thick local accent, "If you value your lives, step aside!"

Heifu showed no fear. In his previous life, during his internship at the local police station, he had gone on plenty of operations and seen many such scenes. He laughed and said, "Those words should be mine to you." At the same time, he pointed toward Ji Ying and said, "You take one, I'll take three!"

With that, Heifu surged forward, closing in on the bearded brute and making a thrusting feint, forcing the bandit leader to retreat several steps…

It all happened so fast. By the time Ji Ying registered what was going on, Heifu had already drawn the attention of three men, leaving the remaining bandit to come for him.

Although Ji Ying boasted of his martial prowess, in truth he had only learned a few basic self-defense moves. Fortunately, the bandit he was facing had no real skill either. The two amateurs pecked at each other for a long stalemate; apart from being covered in dirt and panting heavily, neither had actually been wounded.

But Ji Ying's heart still ran cold. He figured Heifu, fighting three men alone, was surely no match for them. Once those three finished off Heifu, they would come and gang up on him.

What rotten luck! Ji Ying was close to tears, cursing inwardly, "I'm only nineteen, I haven't even taken a wife yet! If I die like this, how can I face my parents?"

Just as he was racking his brain for a way to escape, he heard a muffled grunt from behind. Ji Ying was horrified, thinking Heifu had been hit. He stole a glance during a lull and saw that it was the axe-wielding bandit who had viciously lunged at Heifu — now collapsed on the ground, a sword wound to his ankle, clutching his stomach with an expression of utter agony!

"Huh? That fellow Heifu has some decent moves."

Before Ji Ying could voice his praise, the bandit before him lunged again. The two grappled together, only separating after a long while. Just then, he heard another miserable shriek and hurriedly turned his head. He saw the bandit with the short dagger-axe also struck down by Heifu, both hands clutching his blood-soaked thigh, wailing uncontrollably. The short sword was buried deep, only the hilt showing.

Now Ji Ying was somewhat astonished. "He took down two in a row — Heifu really is formidable!"

It had all happened so suddenly that Ji Ying had no idea what had transpired behind him, but what came next was something he would never forget.

At that moment, Heifu's sword was still lodged in the second fallen bandit's leg, leaving him empty-handed. Yet he still had to face the fully armed bearded brute — what was he supposed to do now?

The bearded brute realized this too and burst into arrogant laughter. "You little whelp, no matter how skilled you are, without a weapon, you're no match for your old man!"

With that, he roared, "Die!" and charged at Heifu, sword held in one hand! The momentum was meant to run Heifu clean through!

Ji Ying's heart leapt into his throat, yet Heifu remained unflustered. He stood his ground, legs apart, feet making subtle adjustments, both fists raised before his chest, his eyes locked dead on the bearded brute's movements, gauging his attack range.

When the man was nearly upon him, Heifu suddenly sidestepped. At the same time, his right hand shot out and seized the bandit's left arm, yanking it toward himself with force, while his left hand formed a fist and smashed down toward the bandit's elbow!

Clang! In one clean motion, he knocked the short sword from the bearded brute's grasp.

Not only Ji Ying, but even the bearded brute was stunned — this was bare-handed disarming!

The bearded brute recoiled in shock, stumbling backward. Though disarmed, malice still swelled in his heart, and he made to swing his fists in retaliation.

Heifu had anticipated this. First, he parried and grabbed the man's arm. Then, his left foot rose and kicked viciously toward the bandit's abdomen, landing squarely in the gut!

As the brute doubled over in pain, Heifu drove his left elbow hard onto the man's back, forcing the bearded bandit flat onto the ground, unable to move. Heifu then picked up the fallen weapon and pressed it against his throat…

The entire process took only an instant. With fluid, seamless movements, Heifu had cleanly and efficiently taken down three bandits!

Ji Ying's mouth hung agape in shock. The bandit he had been facing, seeing this turn of events, had long since fled in panic…

Heifu pinned the bearded brute down, already panting heavily. He knew the situation just now had been very dangerous, far from as effortless as it looked.

Qin prized martial valor; men carried weapons when they went out. His short sword was just over a foot long, the same length as the combat daggers used at the armed police academy in later ages — and reverse-grip dagger fighting happened to be the skill Heifu had practiced most. Moreover, in both his past and present lives, he was left-handed, so his moves differed somewhat from the norm, making them hard to defend against.

The two bandits who had rashly charged him had long suffered from hunger; their bodies were frail and small, so of course they were no match for Heifu and were put down in just a couple of moves.

The trouble was, when Heifu stabbed his short sword into the leg of the dagger-axe bandit, the bearded brute had also been attacking him, forcing Heifu to abandon his sword and retreat, leaving a gash on his elbow in the process.

Fortunately, he still had one trump card — the "Qin-Di Quan" he had learned at the armed police academy in his previous life! After arriving in this era, he would practice a few moves whenever no one was watching, and he never expected it would come in handy today.

Qin-Di Quan has sixteen forms, using both hands and feet, combining throws and joint locks, capable of fighting in all four directions depending on the situation.

Front-line officers often face not systematically trained martial arts experts, but thugs with brute strength, or armed violent offenders. So Qin-Di Quan was perfectly suited for dealing with these petty bandits who had turned to brigandage in ancient times.

As for the "bare-handed disarming" that seemed so miraculous in Ji Ying's eyes, it was merely the fourth form of Qin-Di Quan, "Grab Wrist, Smash Elbow" — the best move against an armed assailant. Then a "Leg Trip, Twist Throw" and a "Side Kick, Downward Smash" had subdued the bearded brute.

Though these bandits were desperate outlaws, their victims were mostly unarmed merchants and fishermen. They had never seen such professional techniques before. Add to that their carelessness in fighting three against one and attacking in turns, which gave Heifu the chance to defeat them one by one. If they had rushed him all at once, Heifu felt he might not have won.

"What are you standing there dumbstruck for? Hurry and help me tie them up."

Just then, the bearded brute beneath him began struggling desperately. Heifu quickly restrained him. Seeing Ji Ying still standing there in a daze, he called out several times before Ji Ying snapped out of it and limped over to lend a hand — he had twisted his ankle during the earlier scuffle.

"Heifu, so your martial skill is actually this formidable — no wonder you weren't afraid of being outnumbered."

Ji Ying untied his belt, found some vines, and helped Heifu bind the three bandits tightly, all the while praising his skills effusively.

"Then why did you step forward with me?" Heifu had also seen Ji Ying's clumsy, amateurish fighting. But he didn't look down on him — not running away immediately was already quite decent.

"I was just afraid the officials would hold me accountable afterward."

Ji Ying explained with some resignation, "You were right. The statutes say: if someone commits robbery or murder on a main road, and passersby within a hundred paces do not render aid, they shall be fined two suits of armor!"

"Zi" means a fine. Heifu knew this regulation, and it was one of the reasons he held Qin law in reverence. In later ages, righteous courage was merely a "virtue," but in Qin, righteous courage was explicitly protected by written law and had become a duty — a duty every Qin person was obliged to fulfill!

"If only later ages could be like this too…"

Heifu sighed with emotion. It wasn't that he was biased toward the ancient over the modern, but those bizarre twenty-first-century phenomena — the elderly falling and people not daring to help them up, or helping only to be extorted — truly chilled the heart. One could only lament that "the hearts of men are no longer as they were in antiquity."

If this were Qin, try daring not to help an elderly person who has fallen. Try daring to extort someone after they help you up.

Qin officials would waste no time in using the law, not morality, to teach you how to be a proper person!

"Do you know how much a fine of two suits of armor is worth?" Ji Ying tied the final knot and looked up to ask.

"That…" Heifu had only recently arrived in this era and was not yet clear on the various prices.

Before he could recall, Ji Ying rattled off like a string of firecrackers, "In Nan Commandery, one suit of armor is 1,344 cash, so a fine of two suits of armor is 2,688 cash!"

"That expensive!"

Heifu clicked his tongue. He at least knew that in Anlu County, the price of millet ranged from forty to one hundred twenty cash per shi depending on whether it was a good or bad harvest year. Taking this year's price of "eighty cash per shi," a fine of two suits of armor equaled thirty-three shi of millet — a year and a half's rations for a seven-chi tall man like Heifu. No small sum.

If one were to describe the defining trait of Qin law, one word would be: meticulous — even trivial matters like rats gnawing grain sacks were regulated. Another word: severe! The severity of Qin law's punishments was evident from its fines alone.

This meant that merely failing to help a fallen old granny could inflict enormous economic loss on a common soldier-farmer who was already not well-off. No wonder later ages often called Qin law harsh and cruel.

But on the other hand, where there are severe punishments, there must also be generous rewards!

As he bound the three bandits and found some herbal leaves to treat the wound on Heifu's hand, Ji Ying asked again with a mysterious air, "Do you know, then, how much reward the authorities give for capturing one member of a bandit gang?"

Heifu said, "Don't keep me in suspense — just tell me."

"This is something I heard from the Patrol Officer back in the village."

Ji Ying picked up a branch and wrote "fourteen" on the ground, then "three," and pointed at them: "The statutes say: capturing one bandit alive is equivalent to two heads taken in battle, and the authorities reward fourteen gold! One tael of gold is worth 576 banliang coins…"

Before he could finish counting on his fingers, Heifu had already done the mental math and drew a sharp breath: "Fourteen gold — that's 8,064 coins… heavens."

"Exactly, exactly! You captured three men, so the reward should be over twenty-four thousand coins!"

At this, Ji Ying clapped Heifu on the shoulder with envy: "Heifu, you've struck it rich. If you prosper, don't forget the rest of us!"

PS: The reward amounts for capturing bandits are based on the Qin bamboo slips held at Yuelu Academy, "Case of the Doubtful Reward for Shi and Others Capturing Bandits": "For capturing one bandit alive, a reward of fourteen taels of gold." Whether these bandits here qualify as the crime of "organized banditry" will be discussed later.

(End of chapter)