Chapter 239: The Seventh-Day Rite

《The Stubborn Bandit》 source:

Ma Ke was locked in the dungeon of Chieftain Chen's house.

He knew Chen Shiwen — they'd even fought as kids when Chen was the chieftain's heir — and he knew Chieftain Chen had no dungeon.

Besides, come to think of it, whose family dungeon reeks of pickled vegetables everywhere?

This was a vegetable cellar. Because Liu the Lion needed a dungeon, Chen Shiwen, swamped with warehouse construction, had hastily cleared out a vegetable cellar overnight to serve as Ma Ke's new home.

Ma Ke had been pretty resolute about assassinating Liu Chengzong — no selfish calculations, he just didn't want to live anymore, happened to have a grudge against you, so they'd be reincarnation buddies and keep each other company on the road to the Yellow Springs.

But now he was seriously questioning his life.

The cellar had a small window; for half a shichen each afternoon, sunlight came through. Ma Ke squatted against the damp earthen wall, and by the light from the window, reached out and crushed a tiny bug scurrying across the dirt floor.

He didn't know why he'd come home, nor why he'd tried to assassinate Liu Chengzong.

If it was to fill his belly, he'd robbed someone while masked in Yulin once — it wasn't that hard; filling his belly was easy.

If it was to avenge General Li, he'd seen Li Bei. Li Bei was indeed still alive, and living quite comfortably.

The general ate with Liu Chengzong's father every day, with a dedicated cook. Old Master Liu's meals were one meat dish, one vegetable dish, and a bowl of soup per meal; Li Bei got two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and a bowl of soup.

Word was that General Li's social circle had elevated its cultural level — no military men in his daily dealings, only Scholar Liu or Advanced Scholar Yang.

Not only had he suffered no hardship, he'd gained twenty jin, his face filling out, looking much gentler.

So Ma Ke was pondering: what exactly had driven him, from northern Shaanxi to Xining, braving wind and weather over two thousand li, to plunge headfirst into Chieftain Chen's vegetable cellar?

As for the consequences of trying to assassinate Liu Chengzong, Ma Ke figured things wouldn't go too well for him, but seeing General Li's high treatment in Lion Camp, he probably wouldn't just stand by and watch him be killed.

He estimated his death sentence would be commuted, but harsh punishment unavoidable.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Before Ma Ke could figure this question out, someone knocked on the cellar window above ground level.

Ma Ke understood — time was up. The soldier guarding him delivered two meals a day: one of thin porridge and a bowl of water, the other of stir-fried horse offal and highland barley buns.

Word was that Liu Chengzong's Lion Army didn't understand the prices in the Hehuang Valley. They'd painstakingly hauled hundreds of thousands of shi of grain over, grain that east of the Liupan Mountains could sell for five taels or even seven taels of silver per shi.

But when they reached Lanzhou and Xining, they discovered that local grain prices — highland barley and wheat flour — fluctuated between eight qian and one tael two qian per shi.

They'd put in enormous effort and taken a huge loss.

To recoup his losses, Liu the Lion took out a portion of the grain and bartered with Chieftain Li, who monopolized the Xining grain market, trading hard-to-find white rice and white flour for more highland barley flour and beans.

But this trade was barely better than nothing — no matter how you looked at it, bringing two million taels of silver would have been far simpler.

Silver alone would've been just over a hundred carts; instead they'd brought a mountain of grain, thousands of carts requiring relay stations along the road for round-trip transport.

No matter how you looked at it, it was a loss — which, in turn, gave Ma Ke a faint sense of relief about his own foolishness.

In these muddled times,

Liu the Lion's nearly twenty thousand men, terrified of starvation, hadn't thought to convert the grain to silver before bringing it. He himself had been terrified of starvation too — it was no surprise he'd had some foolish ideas.

Thinking these thoughts, Ma Ke reached out and touched the wooden tray. A voice from above warned, "Careful — there's more than usual today."

Ma Ke was just thinking he'd be eating that stir-fried horse offal again.

He even suspected Liu Chengzong had someone make this dish specially for him. Simply put, it was taking all the messy stuff from a horse's stomach, smoking it, storing it, then chopping it up and stir-frying it — the technique and seasoning both sorely lacking.

It was something to keep you alive, far from the point where you could consider flavor.

Then he lifted out a bowl of soup — seemed like horse meat soup, scallions floating on top, fragrant and enticing. He also felt out three oil-swirl pastries stuffed with donkey meat. The person above said, "There's more — keep taking it."

Then a jug of highland barley wine was lowered. The Lion soldier above, seemingly tired of watching him take things one by one, said "Catch," and tossed down a red apple.

Ma Ke set down the various delicacies he hadn't eaten in ages, only then taking time to smell each one. He squatted against the wall, bit into the apple first — his taste-deprived mouth unusually satisfied — and casually asked upward, "Brother, what's the good news today?"

The man above said, "Good news? If you want to call it that — after today, I can rejoin my unit."

Ma Ke, ever optimistic, said, "Changing guards? Congratulations, brother."

"No one's coming."

The man above was silent for a moment, then said, "Your time's up. Someone will come this afternoon to take you away. To die in your own homeland — it's not the worst thing."

Ma Ke froze, only then processing what the cellar guard had said.

He sat there blankly for a long time. Truth be told, after seeing Li Bei, he hadn't thought he'd be killed.

With Li Bei treated so well in Lion Camp, how could Liu Chengzong kill him?

At this thought, he suddenly sprang up, jumping as he shouted at the window, "Wait — won't General Li save me?"

"Ah, that General Li of yours is just a guest. It's only the Marshal's father who treats him kindly. All this time he's never even spoken to the Marshal. We all follow the Marshal's orders — he can't save you."

Ma Ke's body slowly slumped against the wall. The apple slipped from his hand. The oil-swirl pastry stuffed with donkey meat and the donkey meat soup with floating oil droplets — they no longer smelled appetizing.

The cellar guard continued, "Hey, at this point, what are you afraid of? Didn't you know the consequences when you did it? Here, you tried to assassinate the Marshal. If I had my way, I'd tie you to a post and blast you with twenty cannons in turns — scare you to death if not blast you dead."

"In the imperial court's eyes, this is attempting to assassinate a third-rank official. Never mind that Li Bei's no general — even if he were still a Regional Commander, he couldn't protect you."

Ma Ke was dumbstruck. Furious, he picked up the apple and hurled it against the opposite wall.

So Li Bei's high treatment was an illusion? Then wasn't he finished?

He thought, then why the hell give me an apple? Should've just tossed me two buns, made my life miserable so I'd be ready to die.

Letting me enjoy one good meal, taste the world's pleasures, then dragging me out to slaughter — isn't that just torture?

Even if he didn't want to live, he couldn't die like this.

Whether it was starving before becoming a bandit, or Li Bei actually being dead and him succeeding in assassinating Liu Chengzong before being killed — at least that counted as loyalty and valor.

But dying like this — it was just too suffocating.

Strange to say, for someone like him who'd been on the battlefield many times, give him a spear and send him beyond the pass to fight ten Tatar raiders with blades, and he'd march forward with head high and chest out.

Yet in this filthy vegetable cellar, learning his death was near, he felt a bit cold, sweat streaming from his forehead.

Ma Ke wiped his face.

He stood up and thought for a long time facing the window above, until the donkey meat soup had gone cold, before finally speaking: "Brother, do me a favor — bring a message to Marshal Liu. I was a Squad Commander in the government army before. I know how to lead troops. I surrender."

The man above said, "Oh, give it a rest. You think dying alone's too lonely and want to drag me along? You tried to assassinate the Marshal, and now you want me to plead for you? This afternoon the Marshal will kill us both together."

The cellar guard consoled him: "Alright, alright. Calm your heart. Life is just like this — brief and hurried. Eat well, eat your fill before you hit the road."

Calm my heart, my ass!

Ma Ke crouched down on the ground, his tone flat: "Brother, you've brought me meals for days. What's your name?"

"Wu Panlong, from Zhenyuan."

"Wu Panlong, I'll remember that. Now you listen." Ma Ke's voice came muffled from inside the cellar: "If you don't pass on my message, I'll come back for you on the seventh-day return of my soul!"

Up above, Wu Panlong gave himself a slap. Why the hell had he given his real name to a dead man?

But he had studied books and then joined the outlaws, after all — he wasn't the least bit afraid of playing the rogue. After a brief moment of shock, he let out a dark chuckle: "I think you've forgotten what kind of place Xining is. These hills are crawling with monks. Once the Grand Marshal has you executed, I'll have a monk perform the rites to send your soul off right away! And you still think you can come back on the seventh day? Come back, my foot!"

Ma Ke was so furious his teeth itched, but he was helpless. Inside the cellar, he took a bite of oil-swirl pastry, a mouthful of cold soup, swallowed, and then chased it with a sip of wine to ease the resentment in his heart.

Just then, he suddenly heard the sound of Wu Panlong's footsteps walking away above: "Grand Marshal!"

Liu Chengzong had arrived.

It had only been two days since he let slip the word that he would kill Ma Ke, and his father had already brought Li Bei to plead for mercy on his behalf. Seizing the opportunity, he made Li Bei the drill instructor of the Central Army Battalion, with the rank of Chiliarch.

So now he had come to release Ma Ke, and also to take Red Flag out for a walk and show off the new horse armor on him.

That fellow Red Flag — as soon as they reached the Beichuan River, he had plunged headfirst into the water, and his mane had lost its color again.

Liu the Lion suddenly felt that having to dye Red Flag's head every few months was a bit childish, unbecoming of a Grand Marshal who should be devising strategies from his command tent.

So he decided to have a suit of horse armor made for Red Flag.

Anyway, winter was almost here. By attaching the red-tasseled fake mane directly onto the horse armor, he could both reward a meritorious steed that had fought bravely in battle and save the time, effort, and red pigment wasted on dyeing.

One arrow, two eagles; one effort, lasting ease.

Truth be told, Red Flag's performance when fighting Ma Ke had been quite striking. He had seen warhorses trample enemy lines, kicking forward and backward with their hooves to attack soldiers, but this was the first time he had ever seen a warhorse stretch out its mouth to bite someone's shield.

Red Flag was quite capable, but this was not a good habit. If he dared bite a shield this time, next time he might just dare bite a blade.

The army did have ready-made horse armor, but the warhorses of the northwestern border forces had already evolved from half-barding toward no barding at all, emphasizing mobility — the lighter the better. So for a long time, there hadn't been any proper full barding.

But Cao Wenzhao had given him over five hundred sets. Liu the Lion had kept them all undistributed, intending to use them as rewards for meritorious officers.

This time, to make armor for Red Flag, he had selected a set of lamellar barding made of small plates. But the cloth covering of that set was torn, so Liu Chengzong had the men from the work sentry replace the cloth cover of the padded horse armor with a new set of fabric and stitch it up properly.

As a reward for Red Flag, this suit of horse armor looked extravagantly imposing.

Behind the pure iron-colored chamfron hung long red tassels. Below the neck of the padded armor, the plates were arranged in alternating light and dark rows — one row outside, one row inside — and in between, Liu the Lion had used the finest fabric in his possession.

Material for the regular court robes of a third-rank official, with a dark pattern of crimson auspicious clouds.

The chest plates of the horse armor were all concealed as hidden armor inside, while the outside bore the dazzling rank badge of a third-rank military officer: a tiger.

He wanted to use this suit of horse armor to tell everyone: even though they had entered Qinghai, they were still not the Great Ming.

Walking up to the vegetable cellar, Liu Chengzong asked Wu Panlong: "Is Ma Ke still inside? I heard you shouting something about the seventh-day return as soon as I entered the courtyard. What happened?"

He remembered Wu Panlong. This was a certified student from Zhenyuan County, and also the first person from Zhenyuan to submit to him. He had previously served as his puppet county vice-magistrate in Zhenyuan for a time, and had done a decent job.

The man had good horsemanship and some skill in mounted archery. During the journey west with the main group, he had held no actual post, serving for a time as an aide to Yang Dingrui.

This was a person who could display his talents within the confines of a single county, but Liu the Lion felt he still needed strengthening in military matters. In the future, he could be a figure who governed the people when dismounted and commanded troops when mounted.

After saluting, Wu Panlong said: "Grand Marshal, this Ma Ke just said he was formerly a Squad Commander in the government army, that he knows how to lead troops, and wants to surrender. He told me to pass on a message for him. I refused, and he said he'd come back for me on the seventh day."

"Ha!"

Liu Chengzong stood by the cellar window and said: "You're a man who goes into battle to kill people, and you still believe in returning on the seventh day?"

Ma Ke thought to himself: believing at least gives you something to hold onto; if you don't believe, then once you're dead, there's nothing at all!

But at this moment, how would he dare talk back to Liu the Lion? He quickly seized the opportunity and said: "Commander Liu, I did a foolish thing. I've thought it through clearly in the cell. Don't kill me here — spare my life, and I'll kill your enemies for you!"

"Those words sound just like Lü Bu. You take me for Cao Cao." Liu Chengzong laughed to Wu Panlong, then asked toward the cellar: "You've thought it through? You won't try to kill me anymore?"

"I tried to assassinate the Grand Marshal to avenge General Li. I didn't know the Grand Marshal was so magnanimous and tolerant. General Li isn't dead — he's doing quite well. Why would I still want to assassinate the Grand Marshal?"

Ha!

Liu Chengzong let out an amused laugh: "Where was this earlier? Back when you lost that battle, you should have just surrendered then. I heard that after you returned, the court stripped you of your rank. You suffered plenty as a common soldier, then ran back to your hometown... Come out."

"Let him out."

"L-let him out?"

Wu Panlong froze for a moment, then hurriedly complied and opened the cell door for Ma Ke.

Ma Ke squinted and raised a hand to shield his face. Emerging from the cell that never saw the light of day, his eyes couldn't see clearly for a moment. As soon as he was out, he prostrated himself and said: "Ma Ke thanks the Grand Marshal for showing mercy. From now on, I will fight to the death to repay the Grand Marshal's grace in sparing my life!"

"No need for such courtesy. The one who should be thanking for a spared life is me — surviving an assassination attempt." Liu Chengzong gave Ma Ke a light laugh and said: "Get up. If you want to thank anyone, thank General Li. He persuaded my elder brother to plead for you. He has now accepted an official post from me, serving as a Chiliarch in the Central Army."

Hearing this, Ma Ke thanked him again. He had just risen to his feet when he saw Red Flag clad in the horse armor of a third-rank military officer, and his eyes nearly popped out of his skull.

But perhaps because he had been an outlaw, he quickly recovered, composed his expression, and asked: "Where does the Grand Marshal intend to assign your humble subordinate?"

"Where? You failed to kill me, and now you want to secure a general's post under me?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head: "I'm not killing you because my elder brother pleaded strongly on your behalf. But you also said just now that you would fight to the death for me from now on. So now, you are a common soldier."

"But as long as you harbor no disloyalty going forward, I can promise that the matter of your attempt on my life is hereby put behind us. From now on, I will treat you the same as everyone else: punishment for every fault, reward for every merit."

Liu Chengzong saw Ma Ke hesitate as if about to speak, frowned, and asked: "Do you have a problem?"

"Grand Marshal, a common soldier..."

Ma Ke took a deep breath and asked the question he most wanted to ask: "Can a common soldier eat his fill?"

As soon as he said it, he quickly shook his head: "I'm not asking for rank. Grand Marshal, just make me a squad leader — as long as I can eat my fill. I starved so badly in Yulin, it terrified me."

"If that's the reason, then you don't need to be a squad leader. Just be a common soldier."

Having said this, Liu Chengzong lifted his chin proudly and declared: "I am not that emperor who owes his soldiers their rations. Follow me, and every man can eat his fill."