The Rendezvous

This was the drill method handed down from Panlong City: forged amid forests of spears, baptized in blood and fire. Those who survived grew at breakneck speed and earned handsome rewards. Simple, brutal, and harsh, yet effective. What every recruit received here was not tender care, but a trial of life and death. The southern trade route had also turned into a training ground for the Yuheng City army, where at times they fought up to two battles a day. He Lingchuan himself was as busy as a spinning top: how to handle skirmishes with the water bandits, how to adjust patrol squads, which officers were due for promotion... nothing could do without him. He even reviewed the latest battle reports over meals, having not been home for at least a fortnight, let alone having time to keep Master Sun company. Beyond dealing with the water bandits, he was also deeply involved in the civil affairs of Yuheng City. He had originally thought it would be enough to oversee only military affairs—simple and iron-blooded. Ha, he had been too naive. In cities like Panlong City and Yuheng City, virtually all administrative matters revolved around the military and warfare. The number of officials of every rank He Lingchuan had to meet was no fewer than Wen Daolun's. He even had to squeeze out time to give speeches at Yuheng Academy to bolster the morale of scholars and soldiers. Big figures had big-figure troubles—such as a dire shortage of time. Wen Daolun had even pulled him aside to discuss tax reforms, for the bandit scourge in Longchuan was a historical legacy—Xiji's rapacious extortion had driven commoners to rebel and turn to banditry. Therefore, Yuheng City needed to extend maximum goodwill toward the populace and do everything possible to draw a clear line between the authorities and the bandits. On this point, Wen Daolun was quite urgent. He Lingchuan also noticed that the time he spent lingering in the Panlong World grew longer and longer. At first it had been only a dozen shichen, later extending to four or five days, and now easily lasting ten days to a half-month. The longest stretch had seen him spend over twenty days in the Panlong World while merely a single night passed in reality. Sometimes he could hardly tell which was reality and which was the Panlong World, because the time he spent in Yuheng City was visibly longer than in reality. Could this have something to do with the Dafang Pot retrieving its lid? He had a feeling that this world seemed to be growing ever more tangible and real. In any case, after a dozen or so guerrilla clashes of hacking, slashing, chasing, and fleeing, the frequency and scale of the Longchuan water bandits' raids began to drop markedly. After all, their numbers and reinforcements were limited. Following several fierce counterattacks by the Yuheng City army that spared no expense, the bandits' arrogance was thoroughly dampened. Bandits did not fight the authorities; objective laws always took effect in the end. Under the fierce crackdown of the new Yuheng City army, the Longchuan trade route began to revive once more. *** At the north-central stretch of the Longchuan trade route stood the Qinglang Courier Station. At this time of year, the small lake behind the station was alive with the sound of frogs from dawn till dusk, yet one heard them without seeing them, as the lotus stalks grew taller than a man. Under the blazing sun, He Lingchuan, clad in coarse cloth and wearing a straw hat, entered Qinglang Courier Station. He tossed some bits of silver to the station attendant and asked for a set of low tables and chairs to be placed out back by the edge of the lake. It was cool here, with a breeze. He was not the only one doing this. Seven or eight tables were set out along the lake at wide intervals, none bothering another; unless people shouted back and forth, no one could overhear anyone else. He Lingchuan ordered a large pot of the local specialty, bayberry wine, along with a plate of salted crisp peanuts, and crouched by the table to munch on them. Waves of aroma from charcoal embers drifted his way. Not far off, a skinny, dark-skinned fellow had set up a grill, just loading on dozens of meat skewers and fanning vigorously with a cattail leaf fan. He Lingchuan also ordered a dozen skewers to sample the taste. Before the skewers were done, someone approached from across the way, wearing a green bamboo conical hat. He strolled right up to He Lingchuan before stopping and asking, "Is anyone sitting here?" "No. Have a seat." He Lingchuan took out a wooden cup and filled it to the brim with bayberry wine. The newcomer was Skinny. Not having seen him in two months, he had grown even thinner and darker. "Why is it this wine again?" Skinny grumbled as soon as he sat down. "I've drunk so much of it in the stronghold that I could throw up." Funnily enough, though Longchuan was a bandits' den, the finest bayberry wine for a hundred li around was produced right there. The bandits within robbed people on their outings while selling their local goods outside—robbing money and making money at the same time, without missing a beat on either front. "Which stronghold makes the best bayberry wine?" He Lingchuan had poached Skinny from Panlong City precisely to plant him undercover in Longchuan. This fellow was a born streetwise operator who could thrive wherever he went. "Qianjin Stronghold, of course! The bayberries borne by those old trees are this big!" Skinny brought his thumb and index finger together; He Lingchuan guessed it was roughly the size of a ping-pong ball. "There's also a clear spring behind the stronghold. Good fruit and good water are the only way to brew good wine." He Lingchuan asked in surprise, "Weren't you going to the Lujia Gang? How did you end up tasting Qianjin Stronghold's fruit and spring water?" Skinny sighed. "The Lujia Gang disbanded last month. I pulled some strings through connections and joined Qianjin Stronghold." "Disbanded?" He Lingchuan picked up a peanut. "Such a huge gang, how could it just fall apart like that?" The Lujia Gang claimed to have eight hundred water-dwellers. While not the strongest bandit outfit in Longchuan, they were the most numerous. In the later era of the Yuan Kingdom, local regular armies might not even number eight hundred. Relying purely on strength in numbers, the Lujia Gang had made quite a name for itself in Longchuan. "Three months ago, during the assault on Yuheng City, the Lujia Gang sent Lu Laoliu. He was a pivotal figure in the gang—Boss Lu favored him the most and had originally intended for him to take over. But..." "Right, Lu Laoliu died." He Lingchuan naturally knew. When tallying military merits after the battle, he had even seen that severed head. "Last month, Boss Lu died of illness too. The remaining chiefs refused to defer to one another. After fighting a few rounds, they each took their men and left, so the gang fell apart." Skinny paused here, as the skinny, dark-skinned young fellow from the grill brought over ten skewers. "The rest are still grilling." "No rush." He Lingchuan ate a skewer of grilled mutton and immediately said, "Ten more mutton skewers!" Fragrant, tender, with just the right smoky charcoal aroma infused into the mutton fat—neither burnt nor tough. "Coming right up!" The patrons around the lake also found the food delicious and placed more orders one after another. The skinny young fellow walked off smiling. Skinny jutted his chin toward his retreating back. "Could that be an informant from somewhere?" "Good eye," He Lingchuan murmured. "He's one of ours." Skinny was relieved. "Kid's got talent. Even if he doesn't work as an informant for you down the line, with this craft he could go back to Yuheng City, set up a barbecue stall, and make a good living." "He enlisted two months ago and showed plenty of potential. Later, everyone realized his greatest talent wasn't fighting—it was grilling skewers." Skinny stripped a few skewers of fat-and-lean meat off the sticks while they were hot before continuing, "The breakup of the Lujia Gang is also largely tied to Yuheng City. Over the past few months, patrols along the Longchuan trade route and the plains villages have grown tighter and tighter. Six out of ten raids by the water bandits come up empty, and complaints are everywhere." "This is only the beginning." He Lingchuan picked up a piping-hot skewer of grilled aorta—crispy, fragrant, with a hint of sweetness. "Every kind of monster and scum swarms into Longchuan; I'll make sure none of them finds a single bite to eat!"