Chapter 10: Li Hongji

Li Hongji came from horse-registered household stock — a household registry specifically for raising horses.

His father and grandfather both worked at this trade. His childhood name was Huang Laier, which really just meant Yellow Baby.

When he was little, his family was so poor they sent him to a monastery, where they called him Huang Lai Seng. At nine he returned to lay life and began herding sheep for the Ai clan. Later he even worked as an odd-job helper, until his father passed away and he took over as a runner at the Yinchuan post station — a proper post with a roster spot, inside the system.

Right now he bore heavy dark circles, his face weary, the beard running into his sideburns untrimmed, making him look like a little old man in his thirties.

Spotting the Chengzu and Chengzong brothers delighted him beyond measure. Rubbing his hands, he glanced left and right, saw the off-duty soldiers resting all over the wineshop — some sitting, some squatting — and didn't dare get too close. Only when Liu Chengzong stood and beckoned did he come over, leading his donkey.

"Hey, Chengzu brother! The Liu family lions are still so tall and strapping. I was wondering how a village wineshop could have so many army gents — never imagined it'd be you two here."

Seeing Li Hongji, Liu Chengzong was happy from the bottom of his heart. Scenes surfaced in his mind of Li Hongji teaching him horsemanship in the past, but two sets of memories wove together, his heart crowded with tangled thoughts. For a moment he could only grin, at a loss for words.

His elder brother Liu Chengzu, though, was brimming with warmth. He came right up, seized Li Hongji by the arm, and beamed. "Yellow Baby bro, your timing couldn't be better — we just stewed some mutton. Come, come! Ladle him half a jin of mutton and pour the broth over."

"This — no, I can't. You're on official business, you eat. I've still got matters to attend to in the county seat. I'll just say a few words and be off."

Li Hongji was deeply embarrassed, looking all around for an excuse to leave, but Liu Chengzu pushed him down onto a stool at the table and shot a look left and right. At once, a frontier soldier stepped forward, took the reins, and tethered his donkey.

He sat there somewhat sheepishly. Before he had a chance to refuse, a large tea bowl filled halfway with mutton soup was set before him.

This bowl of meat gave him no chance to decline. The aroma entered his nose, and he couldn't help swallowing his saliva.

When he opened his mouth again, his stomach, half-starved for the day, betrayed him first with an ill-timed growl.

The words of refusal on his lips turned into an awkward smile.

He paused, then looked first at Liu Chengzu, then at Liu Chengzong, before smiling. "Aiya, ever since Fourth Master was promoted and went to Yan'an Prefecture, we haven't met — it's been over two years.

Later I heard about Fourth Master's affairs, and that you two went to Yuhe Fort to join General He. Last time I delivered a letter I was thinking of that, but I didn't see either of you. Looks like you're doing pretty well now — both squad leaders."

Liu Chengzu chuckled. "Don't even mention it. The court won't pay our wages, and the fort can't issue army rations. So here we are — the General sent us brothers out to forage. We figured we'd head back to Yan'an Prefecture first and take it one step at a time."

"Yo, that's a tough spot." The smile froze on Li Hongji's face. He shook his head. "The times outside are bad right now. None of the young fellows from our Mizhi want to stay put and behave in the fields — a good many have turned bandit."

"In past famine years, soldiering for your meals was still a way out..."

Li Hongji shook his head, actually worrying about the brothers' prospects, when he heard Liu Chengzong ask, "Yellow Baby bro, enough about us brothers — what about you? Has the post station not even got horses anymore?"

That one line brought a bitter smile to Li Hongji's face.

"Ha, that's a child without a mother — a long story to tell."

He sighed, glanced around, and then said, "The post station's been short on fodder for ages. The horses are terribly weak. Last year, with rebellions breaking out everywhere, the dispatches and reports were urgent. Everyone worked three post horses to death and had to pay for them, and there was no one who could shoulder the burden."

"Those uncles and elders are all getting on in years. I had the strength, so I took the matter on myself."

Thinking of this, Li Hongji didn't seem particularly troubled — but then his teeth itched with fury. He slapped the table. "Who knew that just as I'd taken it on, the court would decide to abolish the post stations!"

His slap on the table shook the row of frontier soldiers eating mutton-soaked flatbread behind him so hard they all stood up. One even instinctively pushed his blade an inch out of its scabbard with his thumb, the lanyard already looped around his wrist.

Liu Chengzu raised a hand to signal everyone it was nothing, and Li Hongji, embarrassed, cupped his fists repeatedly at the crowd with an apologetic smile.

The man was only in his twenties this year. Post runners at the station, on the one hand, bore the mission of delivering official dispatches and military intelligence; on the other, they were an excellent reserve pool of soldiers with riding and archery skills.

Not just post runners — the three-shift yamen runners and patrol archers were all among them. This kind of work inherently carried a certain significance in maintaining stability.

They were all idle young men with no money and no land, yet many possessed fist, foot, blade, and staff skills. Left in the countryside, they were destabilizing elements who would defy the law by force.

Having a job that could earn a few mace of silver a month to stave off hunger — not full, but not starving either — meant they wouldn't endanger public order and could still be of use to the court.

At least in Li Hongji's case, even if the young men of Mizhi had all turned bandit, Liu Chengzong saw no hint of rebellious intent in him.

Instead, he kept wringing his hands and sighing, clearly the suffering look of a man long accustomed to being a docile subject. "And now, just wonderful. The moment they talk about cutting post runners, someone like me who rode three post horses to death is the first to go. Lost my livelihood, and still have to pay for three horses."

"If the Old Ancestor Emperor were still here, how could such a thing ever happen under heaven? Even if you sold me, I wouldn't be worth three horses."

Liu Chengzu had been listening quietly the whole time. Now he glanced at Liu Chengzong, smacked his lips as if having made some resolution, and turned to Li Hongji. "How about this, Yellow Baby bro — come with us to Yan'an. We brothers will think of something for the three horses.

Anyway, when you've got too many lice, you stop itching. The debts we two have to worry about are huge — three more horses won't make a difference, and three fewer won't either."

At these words, Li Hongji burst into hearty laughter. Without bothering whether Liu Chengzu's words were mere courtesy or sincere, he waved his hand with feeling. "Hai! If only I'd run into you two brothers sooner, how good that would've been? It's too late now — I've gone and taken on another job.

Thanks to the regard of the clan elders, they jointly recommended me, Li, to serve as village head. One hundred and ten households of fellow villagers, struck by disaster, can't pay their taxes to the court. They've entrusted me to go to the county seat and seek out Old Master Ai to borrow some seed grain, rations, and silver. As long as I can borrow the money, the villagers will help me settle the matter of the three post horses."

Liu Chengzong had already lost count of how many times this strapping man, barely past twenty, had shaken his head and sighed. He only heard him say, "Ai, I know this borrowing is no solution, but there's no other way.

"This year, sixteen households in the village couldn't pay their taxes. They abandoned their fields, burned their houses, and fled into the mountains. Their taxes got spread onto the heads of those who stayed. And it's a famine year — every family's meals are cut off, no one can look after anyone else. If this isn't resolved, the people of both villages will all run off. Borrowing is the only option.

Wait till next year!"

Li Hongji's eyes widened. "This year we plant and get a harvest. Next year, even if we have to pay back a bit more, once it's repaid we can find the villagers who fled into the mountains and bring them back. They're not shirkers or cowards — they're willing to put in the sweat and scratch a living from the dirt. Their livelihood won't go bad."

Liu Chengzong had tried several times to speak, each time not knowing what to say. Now, his voice rough, he asked, "Elder brother, think clearly — what if this year is drought again?"

"Heaven has to leave a path to live, doesn't it?"

Li Hongji frowned, utterly serious. He had clearly considered this possibility too. He raised two fingers toward the sky. "Even if it won't let people live, can the court, our sovereign father, just watch small folk like us starve to death, be driven to death?"

"If I truly can't repay the money, then whatever Old Master Ai wants to do, let him. First we have to get through this year. Heh — a living man won't let himself be choked to death by piss!"