Chapter 5: Never Seen So Much Money

"Over twenty-four thousand cash!?"

Heifu was stunned by this "astronomical figure."

Damn, that could buy ten suits of top-grade armor. Converted into grain, that's over three hundred dan — nearly twenty thousand jin!

But thinking it over, it made sense: in a king's governance, nothing takes priority over bandits and thieves. Qin law, like its predecessor the Canon of Laws, places the statute on apprehending bandits first, because bandits running rampant on the roads wreak havoc on public order. The Governor of Nan Commandery, in his official dispatches, was bitterly distressed by this state of affairs, so it stood to reason that he would use heavy rewards to encourage officials and commoners to capture bandits.

At this, Heifu felt rather pleased with himself. If everything was as Ji Ying said, then he, a poor rank-and-file soldier who owned nothing, would transform overnight into a Qin "ten-thousand-cash household."

But then he noticed the earnest look Ji Ying was giving the three bandits, and a thought flashed through his mind. He smiled and said, "Ji Ying, you're wrong."

"Wrong about what?" Ji Ying was taken aback.

Heifu said, "Clearly, the two of us encountered the bandits committing violence on the road and together seized them. This credit should have your share in it!"

"I…" Ji Ying found himself at a loss for words. He had been feeling some regret just now — why hadn't he taken down the bandit he'd been facing off against? He'd also been a little envious of Heifu's good luck, but he'd been too embarrassed to ask for a share of the credit. Because all three bandits had been taken down by Heifu alone! He had just stood there dumbly watching, not helping at all.

Heifu didn't see it that way. "It was thanks to you tying up one bandit. Otherwise, if all four had rushed me at once, I'd be a corpse by the roadside right now."

"I truly don't deserve it."

Ji Ying's face reddened, and he was about to refuse again, but Heifu had already made up his mind. He clapped him on the shoulder and said, "We've faced life and death together — this wealth, we share!"

This moved Ji Ying beyond words. Several times he opened his mouth, only to swallow his words back down. After a long moment, he bowed deeply to Heifu and said, "Heifu, from this day forward, I, Ji Ying, will treat you as my own blood brother! Whenever you have need of me, just say the word!"

Heifu quickly helped him up. In Heifu's view, although Ji Ying's martial skills were a bit lacking and he talked too much, he was a decent man at heart — especially since he hadn't fled when things got dangerous. So Heifu felt this was a friend worth making. Earning his pledge might actually prove useful someday.

Besides, a common man without guilt is guilty for possessing a jade. Heifu felt a bit uneasy receiving such a huge reward all by himself. He alone couldn't keep watch over three men at once — better to have a co-conspirator to help escort the criminals. After all, even subtracting one man, the remaining two would still get him over sixteen thousand cash in reward. That was more than enough.

With this money, even if he ended up in the army a few years from now, Heifu wouldn't have to write home asking his mother for money and clothes. The gears of his fate had been nudged, just a little, by this turn of events.

While the two were busy deferring to each other, among the three bandits, the two injured ones were groaning in pain, but the bound, bearded giant of a man suddenly burst into loud laughter.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

He laughed so violently that drool ran into his beard, as if he had just witnessed the greatest joke in the world and wanted to laugh his innards out.

Ji Ying flew into a rage, went over and gave him a hard kick, and cursed, "Bandit! What's so funny!"

The bearded giant raised his head and bared his teeth. "What I find funny is that I never knew I was worth so much. Why, in over thirty years of living, did I never know?"

Heifu and Ji Ying were stunned. The bearded giant rattled on: "My name is Pan. Same as you two, I was once a Qin rank-and-file soldier, a law-abiding commoner. I never left my home county, not even half a step — until one day the authorities conscripted me into the army. So I set off in rags and tatters, my heart full of urgency, thinking I could cut off a few heads, earn a noble rank, and bring glory to my village. Who would've guessed…"

"Who would've guessed you'd find the taste of the battlefield not the least bit pleasant?"

Heifu could roughly guess what this bearded giant had been through. In his past life, he'd had an uncle who'd fought in the Self-Defense Counterattack, and he'd once told them that not everyone can adapt to the battlefield. For some, just a whiff of death is enough to make them break. When you're charging forward, there are always people running the other way.

It was even more so in ancient times. Qin never had a year without raising troops. In theory, each person was only conscripted twice, but this particular statute alone had become dead letter. The reality was that, by the will of the Qin king, every rank-and-file soldier had to join countless campaigns, year after year. On the battlefield, younger brothers watched their older brothers die, fathers lost their sons, the bellies of fellow villagers were slashed open by sharp blades… Even those who survived the first ten battles might break in the eleventh slaughter.

And so there were deserters, there were fugitives. And in the Qin legal code, such men were already synonymous with the dead, with slaves.

"In Qin, desert once, and you can never be a rank-and-file soldier again, never return to your village. Even if you go back, your parents and brothers have long since been punished under collective liability." The bearded giant's voice dropped low. This was the story of how he'd been forced to become a bandit.

Heifu fell silent. This criminal reminded him of the Heifu brothers from history. With just one wrong thought, they might have ended up just like this man.

A dozen or so years later, that Han founder Liu Bang was probably in a similar predicament — hiding out in the mountains, hoping in vain for an amnesty, his wife and children arrested and thrown in jail, until finally he just rebelled.

"You tell me — when you're a rank-and-file soldier, you're as worthless as a blade of grass, not worth a single coin. But become a bandit, and your value multiplies. Isn't that hilarious?"

Ji Ying scratched his head, then hardened his heart, gave the bearded giant another kick, and cursed, "But you became a bandit in Cloud Dream Marsh — you must have taken plenty of lives, robbed plenty of money! What's happened today is exactly what you deserve!"

The bearded giant looked as if he'd suffered the greatest injustice. His face flushed red, he spat on the ground — dislodging a tooth knocked loose in the fight — and roared, "Bullshit! I've got a few lives on my hands, I won't deny that, but every one I ran into was dirt poor. Never mind fourteen gold pieces — I never even saw one!"

Ji Ying ignored him and came up with another idea. "Brother Heifu, since we're both headed to the county seat for labor service anyway, and it's only twenty or thirty li from here — if we push hard, we can make it by nightfall. Let's just march these three bandits straight there. The sooner we hand them over to the county jail and collect the reward, the sooner we can rest easy."

"Makes sense." Heifu nodded. Though he felt a pang of sympathy — the fox mourning the rabbit's death — this concerned his own future survival. He couldn't afford to be soft-hearted. He'd just have to let these men serve as stepping stones to his own prosperity.

The bearded giant, his hands bound behind his back and tethered to the other two, was still shouting: "From the day I fled the army camp, I knew this day would come. Whether I'm boiled alive or hacked to pieces, I'm ready for it. I just have one request…"

Heifu looked at him. "Speak."

With an expression somewhere between weeping and laughing, the bearded giant said, "After you two hand me over to the authorities, if you get the reward, you must let me see it — let me touch it! Let me know I'm really worth that much money!"

"Shut up!" A wave of inexplicable bitterness rose in Ji Ying's heart. He kicked the giant again, but this time, not so hard.

Heifu and Ji Ying hauled the three criminals to their feet and forced them onto the road. But just then, a group of men came charging down the road, huffing and shouting. They were fully armed, carrying bows, dagger-axes, spears, short swords, and shields — and there was even one man on horseback.

Spotting Heifu and the others from a distance, the rider spurred his horse and galloped over. From far off, he was already shouting, "Where are the bandits?" He reined his horse to a stop a few paces in front of Heifu, and the dust kicked up by the horse's hooves smacked both Heifu and Ji Ying full in the face.

Ji Ying spat out sand and dirt and roared, "You bastard, what's the big idea!"

The man on horseback was in his twenties. He wore a red headscarf, a leather cuirass over crimson clothes, and a sword at his waist. He had a long, gaunt, horse-like face.

Seeing the three bandits bound, the newcomer's face lit up with delight, and he made to dismount and inspect them. Heifu, thoroughly annoyed by the man's arrogant attitude, reached out a hand and blocked his path.

The man instantly looked deeply displeased. He stiffened his face and said, "How dare you! Do you know who I am?"

"I don't. I only know the bandits have been captured by me." Heifu did not yield an inch.

Their eyes met, and for a moment, the atmosphere grew tense, swords drawn and bows bent!

"Valiant sirs… Chief… a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding."

Just then, the merchant who had fled from the bandits earlier came panting up to them. He hurried forward to mediate, bowing to Heifu and Ji Ying. "Many thanks to you two valiant sirs for saving my life."

Then he introduced the man. "This is the Chief of Huyang Village, the reinforcements I went to find. Chief, these are the bandits who ambushed and attacked me here…"

"Village Chief?"

Heifu had a sinking feeling. Sure enough, at that moment, the men carrying weapons arrived one after another. There were four of them, and with a great clamor they surrounded Heifu and Ji Ying, aiming their bows and weapons straight at them!

(End of chapter)