HPC, Anh, Jaya, you are welcome. Here's the last chapter of Book 1, we will finish it this week.
Book 1 Chapter 11 - Pursuing Troops' Sudden Arrival
When darkness fell that day, because the two boys' riding skill was not perfected yet, the four people rode on two horses, leaving one horse as spare, in case they had to make their escape by taking advantage of the dark. Li Jing and Xu Ziling rode together, while Kou Zhong and Susu rode the other horse.
Kou Zhong wrapped his arms around Susu's waist, leaning close to her fragrant back, smelling the sweet fragrance of her body and her hair; he was wishing that they could continue like this forever.
On one hand, Susu was still fearful and nervous, secondly, she already regarded Kou Zhong as her little brother; although she did feel the close contact between them, the feeling was not intense. It had never occurred to her that this kid Kou Zhong was immersing himself in this pleasure.
Li Jing was definitely not an ordinary character; from time to time he would dismount and put his ear on the ground to listen whether there was hidden troops on the road ahead. He also knew how to make use of the terrain to mask their route; he was not impatient or reckless at all.
By daybreak, the four of them finally left the danger zone and entered the suburb on the outskirt of Danyang County area.
Jiangdu of Yangzhou was the last big city on the tributary of Yangtze River before it flows into the ocean. From here to the west were precisely Danyang and Liyang, two big strategic cities along the river. If Liyang fell into the hands of Du Fuwei, the river route along Yangtze was immediately cut off, while at the same time threw Danyang into a state of emergency.
But Li Jing pointed out that it would not be easy for Du Fuwei to capture Liyang, he only had enough power to invade the neighboring villages and towns nearby, which were powerless to resist. Even stabilizing Liyang would require him to ask for the Heaven's blessing, so invading Danyang would be out of question.
Second reason was that Yang Guang remained in control of the Capital, Daxing, the eastern capital Luoyang, and the coastal Jiangdu, three of the country's most important strategic cities.
After the three big canals, Guangtong, Tongji and Yongji, were connected to each other, the north and south were also connected into one stretch, and the water transportation had the three strategic cities closely linked with each other, enabling the Sui country's army, whose power was growing, to be deployed rapidly to the south to suppress the rebellion.
Supposing that Luoyang was Emperor Yang's eastern capital, then Yangzhou's Jiangdu was his southern capital. Both were areas that must be fought over, and both were areas that Emperor Yang must defend. Therefore, the Sui army spared no expense in defending Danyang, so that no disaster would reach Jiangdu.
From this, it can be seen that Du Fuwei occupying Liyang was the turning point in the struggle between the rebel's army and the Sui army.
The closer they were to Danyang, the more they felt the tension of the situation. They saw continuous flow of warships going toward Jiangdu, as well as warships bound for Danyang. The Sui army set up checkpoint everywhere, prohibiting members of Wulin from entering Danyang, causing people who did not live in Danyang to turn back and spread rumors that Danyang was already closed.
Fortunately they had no intention of entering Danyang to begin with, so they simply entered the neighboring rural county and sold the three war-horses and made a small fortune.
Li Jing divided the silver into four parts and urged the others to keep to money and hide it well; he said, "At the time of turmoil and chaos of war, anything might happen. Right now the three biggest power among the rebels, Dou Jiande occupied Hebei, Du Fuwei took over Huai River, while Zhai Rang held control over the Central Plains[1]; the situation will gradually become clear. It also put the Sui army fragmentation in the open. However, taking the opportunity of the uprising, four black hegemons started to loot, the black road [again, ‘black' here refers to criminal/underworld] powers intending to get their share of the action are measured in cartloads and gallons. If anyone meets some mishaps along the way, we will try to rendezvous at Gaoyou [county level city in Yangzhou], and we'll find a ship from there to go up north by the canal, trying to make it to Luoyang.”
After giving Susu a couple of glances, he noticed that due to her thin clothing, she was shivering from the cold. He said, "Tonight we'll find a hotel here to get some rest. You two and Susu go buy some warm winter clothes to avoid getting sick due to the exposure to cold weather and snow. When you are done, we'll meet again here.”
"Li Dage, where are you going?” Kou Zhong wondered.
Li Jing squinted his eyes under the bright afternoon sun to scan the shops lining both sides of the street; he seemed to be looking for something. "I want to look for a weapon store, to see if I can find two similar long saber for you to defend yourselves. I hope the price is not too high! In time like this, selling sabers and swords is the best business.”
Kou Zhong was greatly delighted. "In that case,” he said, "Let's go our separate way to do our business!”
Upon splitting up, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling walked on the right and left of Susu, following the crowd of pedestrians along the long street trying to find clothing store. This town was near Danyang; it was extremely thriving. Due to refugees who fled from Liyang, it was even more lively. However, there was a faint impenetrable fear and nervousness in the air. Most of the shops have already closed their door.
Xu Ziling said, "Maybe we'd better go to the marketplace to see if there is any mobile vendor stall over there?” Thereupon the three of them changed direction toward the marketplace.
Because of the crowd, Susu reached out to hold on to the two boys' arms so that they would not get separated, but also to get a bit of warmth from them. This had made the two boys pleased and a bit bewitched by her.
Kou Zhong whispered in Susu's ear, "Jiejie'd better buy men's clothing; if you wear hat, it will cover Jiejie's beautiful hair, others won't be able to see that Jiejie is actually a very beautiful woman.”
Being praised like that, Susu nodded her head cheerfully.
In the meantime the three of them have entered the marketplace. Sure enough, there were a large number of street stalls with their merchandise laid out on the ground, hawking all kinds of goods, especially winter clothing.
Xu Ziling also whispered in Susu's ear, "We'd better trim your long hair a little bit, and have your hair in a male bun like ours. It will be even more foolproof [orig. in ten thousand, not one fail].”
Susu happily said, "Will you do that for me?”
The two boys bragged, "Naturally that would be best!”
Susu pulled the two boys to stop at one of the street vendors, and enthusiastically selected a set of winter clothing and a pair of winter boots with exceptionally high heels. Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were highly amused, while their hearts were filled with warm feeling.
Suddenly, almost at the same time the two of them noticed several rogue, local-ruffian like, strong and muscular men nearby were staring lecherously at Susu, who were squatting on the ground, while whispering to each other. The two boys felt very uneasy, while cursing in their hearts.
Kou Zhong hurriedly stooped down to help Susu picking suitable set of clothing. And then, without haggling over the price, he painfully paid at more than twice the price, and quickly turned around and left.
As soon as they were out of the marketplace, the two boys breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Bang!' They were just entering the main street, someone crossed the street and fiercely bumped his shoulder against Xu Ziling's shoulder.
Xu Ziling was caught off-guard, naturally his shoulder recoiled a little before he sent out his strength to react; at the same time the sole of his feet felt hot, as if there was a stream of heat flowing toward his shoulder.
"Ah!” the man cried out in pain and fell back, nearly sitting on the ground.
When the three of them halted their steps in shock, six other men came out to block their path and shouted, "You hit people!”
The two boys took a closer look; sure enough, four out of six were the hoodlums who stared at Susu a moment ago, immediately they knew what was going on.
[1] Strictly speaking, ‘Central Plains' consists of middle and lower region of the Yellow River, including Henan, western Shandong, southern Shanxi and Hebei; but Central Plains is also interchangeable with China.