Chapter 561

Between Liaodong and Jiaodong, in the Lesser Sea, lies a chain of islands. Tens of thousands of years ago, this long, narrow strip of land was submerged by the Lesser Sea and broken apart. Now only a few dozen barren, desolate isles remain, battered day and night by the waves.

The largest among them is called Shamen Island, located several dozen li northwest of the Jiaodong coast. It has fresh water, wild beasts, and can even support a few crops, along with several natural harbors suitable for anchorage.

In the past, when Qi traded goods with the Nine Yi, seagoing vessels traveling from Jiaodong to Liaodong and Joseon had to stop here for shelter from the wind. Over time, a small fishing harbor formed, where some people fleeing taxes came to live — no more than a hundred or so.

But when Qi fell, two to three thousand people fled to the island...

They were all Qi soldiers and officials unwilling to bow and serve Qin. When King Jian of Qi surrendered to Qin, those who refused to be slaves of a conquered state followed the Yongmen Commander, who would rather die than yield, to the coast. They seized the navy's great ships, raised their sails, and sailed north to Shamen Island to take temporary refuge, hoping one day to launch a counterattack on the mainland.

But at the time, none of them imagined they would remain on these islands for six or seven years. And as word spread, more and more people came to join them. Now, across the five main islands, their numbers have swelled to nearly four thousand! Their boats number over a hundred. The court calls them "bandits," but they are not bloodthirsty pirates — they are simply the defeated.

On this day, in the early morning hours, after the First Emperor of Qin's oral decree arrived, a furious argument erupted inside the crude, stone-built "Commander's Residence" on the island!

Tian Heng, dressed in sturdy attire with a sheathless sword hanging at his waist, his slanted brows reaching his temples and his beard flamboyantly upturned, exuded elegance tinged with arrogance. He stepped forward, cupped his fists, and said:

"Commander, this is an excellent opportunity! Why not follow the plan we agreed upon with my elder brother and immediately dispatch troops south? With our force of four thousand, once we land, the people of Qi will surely welcome us with baskets of food and jugs of drink — the great cause can be achieved!"

The Yongmen Commander was no longer the man he once was. The hawkish general who had urged King Jian of Qi to resist to the end seemed to have aged. In the lamplight of the oil lamp, flecks of white hair had sprouted from his head. Though he remained as strong as ever, with a chest as broad as a bull's and the flat stomach of a young man, his face now bore a hint of hesitation.

He sighed and said, "I have heard that the First Emperor of Qin is not dead, and has even issued a decree to the realm to overawe the heroes. How can we rashly rise up?"

Tian Heng raised an eyebrow and said, "This so-called decree from the First Emperor of Qin is false. He has already been assassinated and is dead. The Qin people are merely keeping his death secret to calm the populace."

"Whether it is true or false remains unknown. It is still safer to wait a while longer."

Indeed, the Yongmen Commander no longer possessed the sharp edge of his younger years. Back then, he was fulfilling his duty as a subject. But now, the lives of four to five thousand people rested in his hands. This was the last hope for restoring Qi. If they rose up at an inopportune moment and provoked a brutal Qin crackdown, then the restoration of Qi would vanish like a mirage.

Thus, he tactfully declined the call to battle from Tian Heng and Tian Du, and decided that he would soon dismiss the sea bandits waiting outside for orders, ready to sail to Qi territory. This so infuriated the two Tians that after they left, they complained:

"The Commander has grown old, and he is not of the Tian clan — he does not understand our peril!"

They could not afford not to be anxious. Tian Du bore a blood-deep vendetta against the Qin officials and yearned every moment to return for revenge. Tian Heng, for his part, saw that after the Tians of Jiaodong had been swept away, it might soon be the turn of the Tians of Linzi. When that happened, not only would the state be lost, but their families would be destroyed as well. Without the support of the Tian clan, any talk of restoring Qi would be nothing but a fool's dream.

"If the skin does not exist, how can the fur adhere?"

Tian Heng gritted his teeth and said, "Everything is already prepared in Di County. The arrow is on the string and must be loosed. Since the Yongmen Commander is old and timid, we shall help him make the decision!"

The sea breeze dispersed the thin mist. The dawn light of the rising sun illuminated the clouds, turning the sky a fish-belly white tinged with red, while the dark sea became a mossy gray-green.

Hermit crabs poked their heads from the sand and crawled toward the sea. Seagulls cried as they skimmed over the islands. The bandits of Shamen Island all awoke as well, throwing off their no-longer-dry straw blankets, emerging from their huts, and pounding their aching bodies.

They were clad in tattered rags, or in garments of fish-skin and deerskin. Wielding bamboo spears and fishing harpoons, carrying short bows on their backs — this group the court labeled "bandits" had once been respectable nobles, wandering knights, and scholars. Now they had fallen to such a state, looking almost like savages.

There was no helping it. Although Shamen Island was habitable, the conditions were truly harsh. The terrain was rugged, and most of the shoreline consisted of sharp rocks and sheer cliffs, covered in dark moss and smeared with bird droppings. Every summer and autumn, fierce gales raged like wolves. After winter set in, not only were the winds strong, but it was also bone-chillingly damp. In the past, only fishermen and escaped convicts with absolutely no other way to survive would come here to eke out a living.

An island that originally could only support a few hundred people was now crammed with several thousand, making the situation even more dire.

At this moment, people were lighting dried trees and reeds to prepare a crude breakfast. Those without grain could only swallow their saliva and watch, and scuffles over food broke out from time to time.

Everyone was battling the gnawing hunger in their bellies, but no one left. They had gathered here today only to await a decision from their leaders on one matter.

But the Yongmen Commander was long in showing his face. Just as the crowd was growing puzzled, it was instead the island's second-in-command, Tian Heng, and the newly joined Tian Du, who strode through the morning light to stand before them.

Tian Heng stepped forward first. A chivalrous man, he was well-regarded by the bandits. Now, he bowed to the crowd and came straight to the point:

"I will not hide it from you, my friends — the people on this island can barely survive any longer!"

At these words, everyone was stunned.

It was true. There was neither a comfortable life nor any future to speak of on this island. Here, whether one toiled as a fisherman battling the sea or as a farmer trying to dig a few crops from the barren soil, the yield was pitifully meager.

Moreover, every year when winter arrived, their shacks could not withstand the sea wind, and they froze night after night, yet the island offered no benefit of mulberry or hemp for clothing.

To obtain grain and clothing, they had to rely on the support of the Tian clan from the Qi homeland, or occasionally sail out to plunder the Qin government's salt fields and relay stations. Fortunately, in those years, the Tians of Ye, Di County, and Jimo had all secretly sent grain and clothing, so life was barely tolerable.

But since last year, obtaining supplies in Qi territory had become increasingly difficult. The bandits' biggest patron, the Ye Tian clan, was wiped out. Its patriarch, Tian Guang, was deceived by Heifu, arrested, and executed. His son, Tian Du, fled to the island with a hundred-odd followers.

In autumn and winter, the First Emperor of Qin entered Jiaodong on an inspection tour, and a great army gathered. A fleet was even transferred from Kuaiji to station in Jiaodong, making the bandits even less daring to take risks.

Although the First Emperor of Qin had now left, and there were rumors on the mainland that he had been assassinated, Jiaodong's coastal defenses were even tighter than before. Since the start of spring, the bandits had tried to harass the Jiaodong salt fields, but were first dealt a head-on blow by Cao Shen, then attacked by Ren Xiao's tower ships. They suffered heavy losses and could only retreat, leaving behind dozens or even a hundred corpses.

After this back-and-forth, the remaining grain on the islands dwindled day by day. Although the Yongmen Commander promised that Lord Canghai would send ships with some grain, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. Four thousand mouths simply could not be filled.

Their rumbling bellies told the bandits that everything Tian Heng said was true.

Tian Heng poured all these matters out in one breath, and finally said, "I know that you, like Tian Heng, came here only to restore Qi, only to preserve the last shred of Qi's backbone! But for these six or seven years, we have all been suffering from hunger and cold! These past six months have been even worse! Dozens have already starved to death one after another."

Many others, unable to bear it any longer but too afraid to return to Qi, had gone east to Joseon or Canghai City, where at least they could find a way to fill their stomachs.

Restoring Qi seemed like a distant dream. Perhaps it was time to wake up.

But Tian Heng was unwilling.

He laid bare their situation to the crowd: "I manage the island's storehouses, so I know that the granaries are empty! Though we can catch some fish, crabs, shrimp, and clams from the sea every day, even if we sent out all our boats and men to fish, it would not be enough to feed four thousand mouths. Relying solely on Shamen Island to be self-sufficient, at least several hundred will starve to death this winter! And several hundred more will freeze to death!"

All of this was the fault of Heifu. From the moment he took office in Jiaodong, Heifu had been meticulously weaving a net to catch these big fish, leaving everyone with a lump in their throat.

Governor Heifu had seen clearly that the island bandits could not be self-sufficient and continuously struck at their small landing parties. Tian Heng knew very well that if this continued, once the newly established port of Qingdao in Jiaodong built enough sea-going vessels, a great army would attack and wipe out the bandits in one fell swoop.

"If we wait here idly any longer, we will become fish in a net, left to be butchered on the chopping block!"

What Tian Heng said was the truth, not alarmist talk. The bandits were stunned, and then someone wailed mournfully:

"Lord Tian, wasn't it said that the First Emperor of Qin is dead, and that we were to follow the Commander and fight our way back to Qi?"

"That's right."

The crowd clamored. They were all men of hot blood, which was why they had crossed the sea here with the Yongmen Commander when their state and families were destroyed. Rather than scraping by on this island, they would rather rise up and fight! They believed that once Qi was restored, the dignified and comfortable lives they once had could all be reclaimed!

Tian Heng's voice lowered: "But the Yongmen Commander believes we must wait a while longer..."

"Wait? Wait until when? Until we are all old and can no longer lift our halberds and spears?"

A former Qi martial champion bellowed.

"Right, we can't wait any longer!"

Tian Du also stepped forward at just the right moment to chime in. He was the great-grandson of Lord Anping, Tian Dan, and held high prestige in Qi. Ever since his family was exterminated and his father was deceived and killed by Heifu, he had remained silent and withdrawn. But now, it was as if a floodgate had opened, and he roared rapidly:

"When the Qin army entered Qi and the King of Qi was about to surrender, the Yongmen Commander and the Grandee of Jimo called everywhere for the Tian clan to rally troops and remonstrate with the king. My father said to wait, because our family might be able to survive by lying low."

"When that Governor of Jiaodong took office and the assassination failed, I proposed we try again, to eliminate evil completely. My father again said to wait, clinging to the hope that Heifu had not discovered it was our family's doing."

"When Jiaodong suppressed the private academies, my family still acted as if it had nothing to do with us, because we thought it was merely a matter of some scholars and students, unrelated to restoring Qi."

His voice gradually grew indignant, and with his hair bristling with rage, he said:

"When that Heifu deceived my father and turned his butcher's blade on the Tian clan of Ye City, the Tian clan of Jimo, and the various Tian branches in every county, they likewise chose to wait — because it was not they who were being exterminated. Each of them thought, 'Perhaps I can survive.'"

"But what came of it afterward? Not long ago, the Tian clan of Jimo and the various Tian branches of Jiaodong were just as brutally uprooted, driven from their homes, their very clan names changed, their ancestors left without blood offerings. At this very moment, in Jiaodong, there is no one left to speak for them!"

"If we wait idly any longer, it will soon be the turn of the Tian branches in Qi to perish. When the nest is overturned, can any egg remain whole? We who cling to this empty island will sooner or later be hunted down and slaughtered. By then, what talk of restoring the kingdom, what talk of revenge — it will all be a joke!"

"Indeed!"

Tian Heng also shouted, "Rather than sit and wait for death, better to rise up and stake everything on one throw. Now that the First Emperor of Qin has been assassinated, perhaps even dead — this is a chance that comes but once in a thousand years!"

"We will never sit and wait for death!"

The crowd seethed with righteous fury. The masses boiled over. Ox-horn horns and conch shells sounded from time to time, while even more people beat upon swords and wooden shields. More and more joined in, the pounding din resounding across the island, until Tian Heng pressed both hands down heavily, silencing them.

He bared his clothes, revealing his muscular right shoulder, and raised his arm, shouting:

"Those willing to follow me in petitioning the Marshal of Yongmen, to return to the Kingdom of Qi and reclaim our homeland — bare your right shoulder!"

That day, on Shamen Island, four thousand people bared their right shoulders to the last man!

They were no longer fighting merely to restore Qi!

They were fighting to survive!

PS: First day, three-chapter challenge complete. It's October now — begging for monthly tickets!

(End of chapter)