Chapter 77: To Bear a Sharp Blade

As for whom to seek refuge with, they could only take things one step at a time.

After all, everyone was on the move — it wasn't as if they could find someone just because they wanted to.

Besides, Liu Chengzong and the others had no idea whether their luck was good or bad.

They might well be found by Li Bei before they ever located Wang Jiayin.

On the twentieth day of the sixth month, the deadline for the neighboring county office to deliver grain to Liu Chengzu drew near.

Cai Zhongpan's brother-in-law Chen Ruji returned.

Perhaps by unspoken mutual understanding, Cai Zhongpan's wife, née Chen, had urged him urgently along the road; once they passed Yijun County with the grain transport party, she pressed Chen Ruji to hurry on ahead.

A group of ten or so split off from the grain merchant convoy and rushed along the road, arriving at Black Dragon Mountain a full ten days early.

No one expected that the moment they reached Black Dragon Mountain, the mountain would already be a place they could no longer stay.

Chen Ruji was somewhat troubled. He had waited impatiently for Liu Chengzong to return to Black Dragon Mountain, and now hurried forward at once.

He could tell that in the mountain stronghold nowadays, Liu Chengzong's word was law.

Then, feeling he had walked over a bit too hastily, he turned back to retrieve a bundle, spread his arms wide, and called out, "Lion, my brother-in-law asked me to bring you a gift from Sanyuan."

Of late, a multitude of tangled affairs had weighed on Liu Chengzong's mind, giving him no ease.

But hearing that Cai Zhongpan had sent a gift with Chen Ruji, who had gone to Sanyuan, Liu Chengzong was still very pleased. Smiling, he took the bundle and asked, "Is it books?"

The shape inside the bundle suggested it was three books.

"Yes — Master Kuixin's Illustrated Record of Far Western Mechanical Devices, published in the seventh year of the Tianqi reign. The three volumes had to be bought separately; I nearly couldn't get them."

Master Kuixin was none other than Wang Zheng, the scholar who had rallied the gentry in Sanyuan to form the Loyal Unity armed force. Liu Chengzong had heard Cai Zhongpan mention this name before, and he happily put the books away.

Wang Zheng was a major figure. When the Jesuits opened a mission in Sanyuan, they set up the church right in his home. The Loyal Unity gentry militia numbered barely over a hundred men, yet it possessed three 1,500-catty red-barbarian cannons, cast under his guidance.

Only then did Liu Chengzong look at Chen Ruji with suspicion. "Brother Chen, there's something else, isn't there?"

He and Chen Ruji were not close. The fact that Chen Ruji was now standing beside him with an ingratiating smile meant he definitely had something else on his mind.

Chen Ruji thought for a moment and decided not to stand on ceremony. The two of them moved to a corner, and he said, "We're family, so I won't beat around the bush. When I came back from Sanyuan, I brought two wanted craftsmen with me. I originally intended for them to settle on Black Dragon Mountain.

But after hearing what my brother-in-law said about Fourth Master's situation, Black Dragon Mountain can't be stayed in any longer."

Liu Chengzong felt this was no problem at all. He nodded and said, "Craftsmen are great. Send them to Liu Family Village — everything there needs rebuilding, and woodworkers and stonemasons can all be put to use. Even after we leave, they can still make a living."

"They didn't commit any serious crime, really — they just failed to finish the work the government office assigned them. Their skills aren't for everyday use; they can only work as casters and forge-smiths."

Chen Ruji said with some difficulty, "They don't know carpentry or stonework."

Liu Chengzong froze. He paused a moment before it dawned on him. "Brother Chen, you didn't... bring me back two military armorers, did you?"

The clang-clang-clang, armor-beating kind?

Chen Ruji slowly nodded. "One is called He Xin. The finished bird-gun barrels — he and his son can drill and polish two of them in twenty-five days.

The other is called Shi Chengwo. He had a hand in those three great Western divine engines in Sanyuan, though Master Kuixin only taught him one set of rules for the width and taper of cannon bodies."

Liu Chengzong stood stunned, the corners of his mouth slowly curling upward as a tremendous joy surged through his heart.

To be precise, these two men were indeed of little use right now.

The first, a father and son, were skilled hands at bore-drilling. Cao Yao had told him this was the hardest part of making a bird gun — whether the bore was drilled smooth directly determined whether a gun shot true and how durable it was.

A good gunsmith could drill one barrel in a month.

The skill to finish drilling two barrels in twenty-five days, as long as the quality held up, was without question the mark of a supremely skilled craftsman.

But compared to the first, the second man was even more remarkable.

The "rules for cannon body width and taper" that Chen Ruji had mentioned with such disdain were, in fact, the secret of the red-barbarian cannon.

And the one weak point of Ming dynasty artillery: modular proportion.

This set of modular proportions, combined with China's native iron-core bronze-shell casting technique, amounted to some of the finest artillery in the entire seventeenth-century world.

These were two families of treasures. Liu Chengzong felt an urge to grab Chen Ruji and plant a fierce kiss on him.

"No problem. Let them live well in Liu Family Village. If they can't farm, that's fine too — I'll give them grain, support them."

Liu Chengzong agreed with the utmost alacrity.

These two men were of little use for the time being. Even if someone gave him a red-barbarian cannon right now, all he could do was toss it into a cave and hide it.

Red-barbarian cannons were far too heavy. Their power was immense in siege and defense battles, which meant Liu Chengzong would have no use for them in the next several years.

As soon as you assault or defend a city, you inevitably fall into the predicament of resisting an entire nation with a single corner of territory.

Liu Chengzong had thought this through very clearly: without the ability to counter encirclement campaigns, establishing a base area was just resisting a nation from one corner — a path to certain death.

After all, the troops encircling and suppressing rebels were not outside soldiers, but government forces made up of northern Shaanxi locals — they would not lose their way on the mountain paths.

With his uncle's family settled and Yang Yanchang having moved all the weapons into the city bit by bit, everyone was relieved of a burden on their minds.

On the twenty-second day of the sixth month in the second year of the Chongzhen reign, Liu Chengzong, dressed in his official cap, belt, and robes, dismounted outside the city at the South Gate.

He handed the red banner to his elder brother Liu Chengzu, who had accompanied him there.

The two brothers cupped their hands to each other outside the city, just like an ordinary farewell.

He stood beyond the dry moat and gazed out at the famine refugees' huts that stretched from earth to sky.

Li Wanqing raised his head from amid the crowd and watched Liu Chengzong linger for a long while on the drawbridge before vanishing into the deep, dark tunnel of the city gate.

While undercurrents surged, the city of Yan'an Prefecture remained as it always was.

The yamen runners and militia levies drooped listlessly in the sun. Passing through the barbican, the desolate market street held only a tea-stall waiter calling out to passersby to come drink a bowl of water.

In front of the shuttered shops, Guo Zhashi paced back and forth in a bamboo hat. At last he saw his employer enter the city, turned back, and rapped a few times on the tightly closed wooden door of the shop.

The shop was packed with people. Nineteen men, including Cheng Yun, squatted in the corners, leaned against the walls, and sat on the counter.

The moment Liu Chengzong entered, everyone stood up. Cao Yao spat out a melon-seed shell, a grin mixing nervousness and excitement spreading across his face. "Lion, shall we begin?"

"Where are the weapons?"

"Yours — the six of you — are under the counter. Feng Rang, bring them out." After saying this, Cao Yao raised a hand and pointed toward the rear courtyard. "Ours are hidden in the hay cart in the back. We push it to the foot of the city wall steps, charge straight up, seize the barbican, and take the gate tower."

Feng Rang, the squad leader of Cao's unit, lifted a large wrapped bundle from under the counter and set it on the countertop with a clanging, clattering din of metal on metal.

The bundle was spread open, revealing over a dozen weapons of various kinds inside.

Cai Zhongpan picked up a double-barreled hand cannon. His hands were unsteady as he loaded the powder, making him shake his head in embarrassment. "I never imagined we'd be seizing a prefectural city's defenses with just twenty men."

Gao Xian took a waist saber, then tore off two strips of cloth to wrap the bow and arrows. He slung one bundle onto his own back, and for the other, he wrapped an extra goose-wing saber inside and tied it behind Guo Zhashi. "Here, Zhashi, carry these bow and blade well for your master."

Liu Chengzong picked up a pair of short axe blades, weighed them in his hands, and hid one inside each sleeve of his official robe.

He looked around at everyone and said, "Elder brothers all, be careful. Stay alive, and we shall meet again outside the city."

The door opened.

Sunlight slanted into the dim shop, and Liu Chengzong stepped out of the shadows.

From this day forward, they would wander destitute, keeping company with the wilderness, until the colossal empire came crashing down with a thunderous roar.