Chapter 68: Tiger's Waist

After the battle.

Liu Chengzong lay on the dirt, sweat trickling past his ears and soaking the ground beneath him.

Sunlight fell on his closed eyelids, warm and glowing red.

He had fought the entire engagement from start to finish. During the battle, with his nerves taut, he'd been fine — but the moment it ended, he was so exhausted he couldn't even bear to speak.

"Brother Chengzong."

Liu Guoneng came over holding a large earthenware bowl, blocking the sunlight, his face full of appeasing smiles. "Have some water."

"Piss off! You're a real bastard."

Liu Chengzong sat up in a huff, jabbing a finger at Liu Guoneng. "How could you have that much faith in me? If you'd just called over two more men who could fight, I wouldn't be half-dead like this!"

"Drink, drink."

Liu Guoneng just kept smiling placatingly. He really had handled this badly.

In the heat of the moment he hadn't thought it through. From the hillside he'd only seen that there weren't many enemies on Liu Chengzong's side, so he'd hurried around to the other flank, hoping to bottle up all the government troops.

He hadn't expected that once bottled up, the government troops would all break out toward the side with fewer men.

Still less had he expected Liu Chengzong's fighting prowess to exceed anything he'd imagined.

A whole band of government troops — Liu Chengzong alone had taken down half of them, one after another.

What impressed Liu Guoneng most was that any weapon felt perfectly at home in this man's hands.

Pick up any random object, and once it was in his grip it became a divine arm.

Like a god of war.

Liu Chengzong was in no good mood. "Let me tell you — you owe me a set of clothes."

"I'll make it good. Once this is settled I'll send someone to the prefectural seat to order clothes for you — inner and outer, spring and autumn, four full sets, all guaranteed fine material, alright? Now, my fierce general, drink some water. I put salt and sugar in it."

After a few more coaxing words, Liu Chengzong finally took the earthenware bowl and gulped it down.

After sweating so much, water with a little salt and sugar went down wonderfully.

He set the bowl down and said, "Those six guard troops — did you get anything out of them?"

Liu Guoneng looked deeply troubled. "Centenarian Yang is still questioning them. It seems they really are government troops from the south. The camp commandant is surnamed Chen. They were pursuing Wang Zuogua's routed troops, chased them into the mountains, and got lost."

"What a coincidence. I think I know this Commandant Chen."

Liu Chengzong searched his memory a moment — there was something there. His uncle had mentioned the name.

When Wang Zuogua struck Sanyuan and raided Yunyang, the government troops had stayed put in camp, content to watch the loyal militias bleed against the bandits. The camp commander then had been Commandant Chen.

What was that saying?

If the top beam is crooked, the ones below will be out of plumb.

Seeing Liu Guoneng's face full of worry, and the villagers nearby looking anxious too, Liu Chengzong said, "What's there to agonize over? First find out if anyone knows they're here. If not, drag them into the mountains, dig a pit, and bury them.

Tell the villagers: no funerals. If out-of-town kin come looking for someone the government troops killed, just say they fled the troubles. Treat the whole thing as if it never happened."

"Can't we report it to the authorities?"

The moment Liu Chengzong heard that, he got up and started walking toward the mountain, glancing back as he went. "Go ahead and report it. But remember — the killing of those men has nothing to do with me. It was all you, Liu Guoneng. I was never here."

Li Wanqing happened to be resting nearby. Hearing this, he scrambled to his feet in an instant and added, "How can you do that? We helped you kill bandits, and now you turn around and report us to the authorities, bring trouble down on our heads? To hell with that — I'm taking those sabers."

With that, the man stripped off his clothes, ran over and threw a guard-issue nailed-cloth armored vest over his shoulders, bundled up five or six waist sabers under his arm, and took off running, shouting as he went, "Fierce General, wait up, wait for me!"

Yang Yanchang, however, watched the two departing figures and sighed at Liu Guoneng. "You — you know perfectly well the Fierce General has rebellion in his heart, yet you still had to bring up reporting to the authorities. If he hadn't been here today, how many in this village would have died?

If you're going to report it, pin the killings on me. Don't make more trouble for those two."

Liu Guoneng had been scolded by all three in turn. Watching the two figures recede into the distance, he was utterly baffled. Helplessly, he said, "I only said report it to the authorities. Why would I ever shift the blame for the killings onto someone else? What are they so worked up about?"

Liu Guoneng stayed behind to settle the village's aftermath.

Liu Chengzong and Li Wanqing went up the mountain, gathered their things, and rode out of Nanjia Mountain together.

Before leaving, Li Wanqing didn't forget to sweep up the wine and food from the table.

Once they were out of the mountain pass, Li Wanqing said, "Brother Fierce General, why not come to my place and have some fun? At the meal I thought what you said was right on — this is exactly the time to be drilling troops."

He thumped his chest so hard it boomed. "Over two hundred tax dodgers, and thanks to you, grain's no worry now. But eating through your stores with nothing coming in — that's no solution.

Chuang Tatian is useless. You're so formidable — come to my camp and give those lads some pointers. Whoever you say we hit, we'll hit."

Liu Chengzong thought to himself: his original plan had been to turn bandit after robbing the princely estate anyway. Going to Li Wanqing's camp now might not be a bad thing at all.

He grinned. "Whoever I say we hit, we hit. Li Bei — dare you strike him?"

Li Wanqing paused, thought it over, and said, "They're afraid of Li Bei. I'm not. At worst I give him my life."

As he spoke, Li Wanqing waved a hand through the air beside him, then pointed at Liu Chengzong. "As long as you dare, I'll follow you and hit him."

Liu Chengzong laughed.

Li Wanqing was genuine — just as he'd been back in the village.

The man had arrived late; he'd probably spent a good while wrestling with himself inside.

When he finally came charging up, his original intent might have been just to pass on a message — figuring they couldn't beat the government troops, he'd wanted Liu Chengzong to flee with him. But when he saw Liu Chengzong wasn't running, he didn't run either. He gritted his teeth and fought.

Simple-minded, uneducated, loyal to a fault, no mind of his own.

Thought and learning can be acquired later; having a mind of one's own can be slowly cultivated. But a deep sense of loyalty — in times like these, that can't be cultivated at all.

A cruel age only makes the loyal slowly shed their loyalty.

It will never make the disloyal grow a sense of loyalty.

More likable than Chuang Tatian.

Liu Chengzong said, "I've got a guest at home. Why don't you come with me instead? In a few days I'll go back with you, spend some time at your place."

Li Wanqing burst out laughing at that. He patted the weapons wrapped in clothes on his horse's back and said, "Done. I'll take these toys back, tell my men to fend for themselves for a while, and then I'll go with you."

Li Wanqing was like a textbook roving-bandit chief.

The kind who'd get his name known to the magistrates in two days, and two days later get it onto a merit roster — with his own head.

But when it comes to people, you only really know them once something happens.

If nothing had gone down at South Jia Mountain this time and it had just been a meal, Liu Chengzong figured he would have liked Liu Guoneng, the scholar-turned-bandit, a lot more.

The two of them made a detour to Tiger's Waist.

It was just a barren mountain gully with hardly anyone around.

A few dozen tax-evading common folk had taken over some unclaimed cave dwellings in the gully.

Every household had carved out tiny patches of farmland, but no sunlight reached the gully, so most of the grain they sowed never sprouted, and come autumn they'd have to dig it all back out again.

It was a refugee camp and a bandit den all in one.

Li Wanqing was the head man here.

First, he took Liu Chengzong home to pay respects to his crippled old father, Hunter Li, then coaxed his younger brother who had a goiter, and only after that did he step out, looking every bit the mountain king.

Picking men as he walked, halfway along he'd rounded up five young fellows, handed each a waist saber, and was thoroughly pleased with himself.

He said to Liu Chengzong, "My place is a bit poor — even the weapons were painstakingly saved up for. I've got over fifty: sabers, spears, bows and crossbows.

Only thing is, they all know too little, no idea about drilling. Once drilled, they wouldn't be any worse than Chuang Tatian's lot."

Short on drill instructors, huh.

Liu Chengzong asked, "Can they obey my every word?"

"They can! Rest easy on that. The place is poor, but we all know right from wrong."

"Then that'll do."

Liu Chengzong thought to himself, Black Dragon Mountain was short on everything too — except drill instructors.

His uncle could already recite the entire "Practical Record of Troop Training" by heart.