In the mountain forest, Li Chi’s company had stopped to rest while they awaited word from the scouts up ahead. Gujing County lay less than twenty li away.
Mister Yan and the others were organizing the troops within the treeline, while Li Chi had gone on ahead with Yu Jiuling and a few others, taking only several dozen personal guards.
Perhaps Fang Yuzhu and his people had grown wiser after their last setback — they were no longer so openly brazen about seizing a county seat to build up their forces, proceeding with more caution this time.
For one thing, at Linbing County they had been entirely too conspicuous, doing everything out in the open, which was precisely why they’d been swept up in one fell swoop.
For another, this place was not far from Liangzhou City — less than two hundred li — which put it squarely within the operational reach of the Liangzhou Iron Army.
Once word reached Liangzhou, that undefeated general Dantai Qi could send a force over at his leisure, and Fang Yuzhu would have no hope of holding him off. However arrogant Fang Yuzhu might be, he would never dare make an enemy of Dantai Qi — that man was a genuine god of slaughter.
More than that, the awe the local people held for Dantai Qi surpassed even their reverence for gods and Buddhas.
The truth was that Fang Yuzhu had few options to begin with. Having been routed by the Yanshan Camp, he dared not flee further east, let alone attempt to expand in that direction. He also couldn’t venture too far south — if he drew too close to Jizhou and suffered another defeat, he might not even be able to run, stranded too far from the frontier. He could only scheme in places near the border, where if things went wrong he could slip across to the other side.
So his only choice was to continue pressing northwest, which was comparatively safer. Moreover, because of the proximity to Liangzhou, this area had long been free of bandits — even rebel forces and rogue soldiers didn’t dare get close. Such was the deterrent power of a truly formidable army.
To avoid drawing attention, Fang Yuzhu and his people were this time using the Daoist faith as a pretext to recruit followers cautiously, without resorting to the extreme methods of before. They came bearing considerable gold and silver, and first went directly to pay their respects to Gujing County’s magistrate, Liu Shengchun.
Liu Shengchun accepted a generous offering from Fang Yuzhu, who further promised that once the Eastern Mound Way was established in Gujing County, half the donations from its congregation would go to Liu Shengchun. It was a rare opportunity to enrich himself, so Liu Shengchun was quite pleased — he even gave Fang Yuzhu and his people an abandoned Daoist temple in town to reside in.
At the city gate, Li Chi looked over the soldiers on guard duty. Seeing none of the Eastern Mound Way’s people, he had a fair idea that Fang Yuzhu still didn’t dare act too brazenly.
Dantai Yajing carried the command token of the Liangzhou Commandery — a single flash of that token and the gatekeepers would not dare to inspect them. But Li Chi had no intention of doing that. Where was the fun in that?
At the gate, Li Chi caught the eye of the militia squad leader on duty; the man stared back. It seemed the squad leader rarely encountered anyone bold enough to hold his gaze. The two stared at each other, as if whoever looked away first had lost. They kept at it for a good while.
“What are you looking at?!”
In the end, it was the squad leader who lost his temper first.
Li Chi still said nothing, just kept looking at him. Yu Jiuling knew his cue had come — without a word, he stepped forward and delivered a kick to the squad leader.
“State your name!”
Yu Jiuling barked at him.
This truly frightened the squad leader. He couldn’t immediately place these people’s origins, but looking them over more carefully, he could see they carried themselves with no ordinary bearing.
“May I ask…” the squad leader ventured carefully, “who you all might be?”
Yu Jiuling said loudly: “This gentleman is General Li, Inspector dispatched by Commandery Lord Pan of the Jizhou Military Governorship.”
The squad leader was left completely dumbfounded. “Ji… Jizhou Military Governorship?”
He was genuinely incredulous. Although Liangzhou was technically under the Jizhou administration, officials from Jizhou had simply never come out this way. The road was far too long and treacherous, there was nothing of value to be gained here, and everyone knew that General Dantai was not a man to trifle with. Those officials in Jizhou had no interest in making a journey of thousands of li to a place with nothing to show for it, only to be given a dressing-down by General Dantai.
Dantai Qi in Liangzhou was like Luo Geng in Youzhou — even the former Jizhou Military Governor Zeng Ling had not dared show Luo Geng disrespect within the walls of Youzhou City.
So the squad leader asked with careful politeness: “May I ask, sir — what sort of inspector?”
Yu Jiuling stepped in with another kick. “Hurry up and go fetch your county magistrate and all the county yamen officials to come receive us!”
The squad leader, seeing this manner, dared not offend them. Anyone bold enough to summon the magistrate himself must have serious backing. So the squad leader immediately ran back to the yamen and recounted everything to Liu Shengchun, who dared not be negligent either.
True, no official from Jizhou had ever come before — but wasn’t the current situation rather exceptional? It wasn’t impossible. The previous Military Governor Zeng Ling was dead, and it was entirely legitimate for the new Military Governor, Lord Pan Nuo, to send men to inspect the various prefectures and counties.
And so County Magistrate Liu Shengchun, Deputy Magistrate Gao Youxin, Jail Warden Li Zhi, and Chief Clerk Cui Xicai led the full complement of yamen runners and constables, hurrying in a rush to the city gate.
Li Chi’s party was small in number, but Liu Shengchun’s eyes went straight to the armed guards behind him — their equipment marked them as garrison troops.
He promptly stepped forward, bowed, and said: “This official, Liu Shengchun, Magistrate of Gujing County, pays his respects, sir.” He bowed first, then asked with careful caution: “May I ask who you are, sir?”
Yu Jiuling looked toward Li Chi and said: “This official has been specially dispatched by Commandery Lord Pan of Jizhou to serve as Inspector over the regions north and west of Jizhou, including the northwest — encompassing Xinzhou, Daizhou, and other areas, as well as portions of Liangzhou.”
Liu Shengchun paused, mentally running back over what had just been said, and realized he hadn’t caught the official’s title at all.
Li Chi unclipped the Jizhou Commandery waist token from his belt and handed it to Liu Shengchun. He had plenty of these tokens to spare. Never mind Jizhou — you could want any kind you liked, right down to one bearing an imperial command. His master Changmei the Daoist’s craft was no laughing matter.
Liu Shengchun accepted the token most deferentially, examined it, and saw it bore a general’s rank insignia — no room for doubt. Though the string of titles that man had just rattled off still left him with the faintest twinge of puzzlement.
“General Li, please, come into the city.”
He bent at the waist and gestured welcomingly, stepping aside.
The Deputy Magistrate, Gao Youxin, bent low beside him and murmured: “What does that mean, exactly — ‘including portions of Liangzhou’?”
Liu Shengchun said: “He probably doesn’t dare go to Liangzhou City itself — ‘portions’ would mean everything except the border city where General Dantai is garrisoned.”
This interpretation was reasonable enough. However overbearing officials from Jizhou might be, none of them would dare make a show of themselves in front of General Dantai.
What neither Liu Shengchun nor even Yu Jiuling had anticipated was that the made-up title Yu Jiuling had invented off the top of his head, these people were now straining their wits to rationalize on his behalf.
About two quarters of an hour later, everyone had entered the county yamen. Liu Shengchun hastily ordered tea. He and his officials stood below in respectful attention.
Li Chi took the seat of honor, swept a glance over the assembled officials of Gujing County large and small, and cleared his throat.
“I have come by Commandery Lord Pan’s orders to inspect the various prefectures and counties. Beyond that, there is a more pressing matter — the Lord has charged me to proceed to Liangzhou City and convey his birthday congratulations to General Dantai on his behalf.”
Liu Shengchun, hearing this, found everything falling neatly into place.
Li Chi assumed a stern expression. “On my journey here, I have witnessed the shameful conduct of officials across the prefectures and counties — the idle, the derelict, and the outright criminal!”
The sudden severity in his tone gave Liu Shengchun a start, and the others all bent their backs a little lower.
Then Li Chi’s tone shifted; he smiled and said: “Yet upon arriving here at Gujing County, what I have seen and heard has given me considerable satisfaction. Compared to all the disorder I witnessed before, Magistrate Liu’s administration is like heaven and earth.”
Liu Shengchun quietly exhaled in relief. Good, good.
Then Li Chi’s tone shifted again, and he looked at Liu Shengchun. “However…”
Those two words instantly caused Liu Shengchun’s heart to leap into his throat.
He waited with bated breath for Li Chi to continue — but after those two words, there was nothing more.
Li Chi rose to his feet. “I’m somewhat tired. First, arrange accommodation for me.”
That was uncomfortable. Liu Shengchun had half a mind to curse — however what?! Say it! What, damn it, however what?!
“Magistrate Liu?” Li Chi looked at him. “Did you not hear me?”
“This official heard, heard perfectly,” Liu Shengchun said hastily. “This official will arrange lodgings for you immediately.”
By the time he’d sent people scrambling to put the official post-station in order and deployed men to stand guard and maintain order, a full hour had passed — and still Li Chi had not said what the “however” was.
When Li Chi’s party settled into the post-station, Yu Jiuling couldn’t hold it in any longer. The moment he was through the door he demanded of Li Chi: “What were you going to say? However what?”
Li Chi said: “What do you mean, however what?”
“Back in the yamen,” Yu Jiuling said, “you said to that Magistrate Liu Shengchun, ‘however’ — and then nothing.”
Li Chi smiled. “Just a casual however. There’s nothing to it.”
“…”
Li Chi went on: “However…”
“You!” said Yu Jiuling.
Li Chi smiled: “But with that however I just dropped in there, tonight Magistrate Liu won’t be able to stand it — he’ll put on a lavish banquet and try every possible way to find out what it was I was going to say.”
Dantai Yajing, having listened to this, gave a slow nod. “A scoundrel through and through.”
The county yamen.
Liu Shengchun and all the officials returned and huddled together to debate those two words, trying to work out what lay behind them.
“What on earth does this General Li mean?”
Deputy Magistrate Gao Youxin said: “Being left to guess like this is quite agonizing. Guess what, exactly — in which direction?”
Chief Clerk Cui Xicai thought for a moment, then said: “My guess is that he simply wants something from us. Men like him, sent out to inspect the prefectures and counties, naturally won’t let even a copper coin’s worth of opportunity slip past.”
Gao Youxin said: “How about this — tonight we hold a banquet to receive him at Jiuxian House, and first thing tomorrow morning we send someone to Liangzhou to report this to the General.”
“Reasonable,” said Liu Shengchun. “Whatever he’s after, once General Dantai sends someone over, it becomes none of our concern — receiving guests, making arrangements, all that falls to General Dantai’s people.”
“Then…” Gao Youxin asked, “What do we offer him?”
Liu Shengchun suddenly had an idea, and smiled. “Having us foot the bill ourselves is rather painful. That Fang Yuzhu…”
Gao Youxin immediately burst into a smile at these words.
Fang Yuzhu of the Eastern Mound Way was flush with money — he’d come bearing generous gifts for all the officials present.
Summon him, give him a few instructions, and Fang Yuzhu would obediently comply.
“Old Gao, you go and send for Fang Yuzhu — you see him, I won’t.”
Magistrate Liu Shengchun said: “Just tell him that the Jizhou Inspector has arrived and has already noticed what the Eastern Mound Way has been up to — he needs silver to smooth things over.”
Gao Youxin nodded. “Leave it to me, sir. Never mind the bribe for this General Li — tonight’s arrangements at Jiuxian House are also going to come out of Fang Yuzhu’s pocket.”
“Ha ha ha ha ha!”
The officials all burst into laughter, thoroughly delighted with themselves.
—