Wu Du says, “I was just thinking about this yesterday, but today it looks like it’s actually come true.” And he starts smiling halfway through saying this.
Duan Ling recalls the words Wu Du said yesterday — he’d wanted to meet him when he was very young, and take him home to raise him. As he’s thinking this he can’t help but smile as well, the thought sweeping away what little sadness was inside his heart.
“How do you say ‘dad’ in Tangut?” Wu Du asks.
“Older brother, father, and uncle on both the maternal and paternal sides,” Duan Ling replies, “are all called Ada.”
“Got it.” Wu Du nods, and after some thought, he says, “But I can’t speak as I have to play a mute, so all I can do is sign randomly.”
“That’s alright. Let’s do that then,” Duan Ling replies. He’s thought about it; with Wu Du playing a mute, the Han does have a set of simple sign language they use to communicate with, but the Tangut has their own set. If they simply gesture randomly, the Khitans probably won’t be able to tell.
Wu Du helps Duan Ling into his clothes. “Once we fulfil this mission, maybe Chancellor Mu will have to owe us a favour.”
“What favour do you want?” Duan Ling asks.
“Get some money to move the White Tiger Hall. Buy a mountain villa so that in the future I can take you home on vacations.”
Duan Ling and Wu Du look into each other’s eyes, and a tender atmosphere suffuses the room. When Chang Pin and Chang Liujun begin speaking outside, the two of them turn away together. Wu Du does up the button-knot by Duan Ling’s waist and helps him put on his hat before they go outside to find Chang Liujun standing by the wall, holding up a mirror as tall as a man.
They study their reflections in the mirror and find that they do look somewhat Tangut. Chang Pin says in Tangut, “Tell me what you’re going to say when you get there.”
Duan Ling replies in Tangut also. “My father and I came from the Tianshui Village in Xiliang, and my ancestors were from Shazhou. We do some fur trading to earn our keep, and we’ve come to the central plain to buy some tea for ourselves. My father is both deaf and mute so I act as his tongue and speak for him. If there’s anything I can’t quite handle on my own, I’d be so thankful if you all would help us out, seeing how the two of us have only got each other. The Han says that at home we rely on our parents, but out here we must rely on friends. Apologies in advance if I should offend.”
As he’s saying this, Duan Ling puts his hands at his sides with his thumbs pointing out in front of him and his palms facing the floor. Then he takes a half step forward with his left foot before bowing, as is Tangut etiquette. Wu Du had been standing still before, but he imitates the gestures with a slight bow when he sees what Duan Ling is doing.
Duan Ling turns around and helps Wu Du adjust his posture, adding in Khitan, “We should make more friends when we’re away from home, to begin with. More friends mean more of us can take care of each other.”
Chang Pin laughs heartily. “Your Tangut is very good indeed.”
Duan Ling replies, “Thank you.”
“Wu Du isn’t Tangut,” Chang Pin says, “I only worry that he may expose your ruse. He could pretend to be an idiot, however. That way, no one would suspect him anymore.”
Wu Du opens his eyes wide and looks confused.
Duan Ling laughs so hard he nearly forgets to breathe. “That’s good.”
Just as easily, Wu Du gathers that expression again and goes back to looking as cold and indifferent as before. “Master Chang Pin, this isn’t easy at all you know.”
Chang Pin bows and says, “I must truly thank you both. If you successfully fulfil this mission, when we’re before the Chancellor again I’ll make sure you’re both well compensated.”
Wu Du is standing there casually, but as soon as he stops playing an idiot he naturally gives off an intimidating aura. He says offhandedly, “There’s only one thing I want, so why don’t you just agree to it in advance, Master Chang Pin.”
“Please go ahead,” Chang Pin says.
“You of course know what’s going on between me and Wang Shan.” Wu Du says, “So I don’t want to hear the Lord Chancellor talking about getting Shan’er a wife anymore.”
Chang Pin seems taken aback, and Duan Ling also; Duan Ling immediately turns red in the face, as he never imagined that’s the thing Wu Du would ask for.
Chang Pin is a tactful man. “The chancellor was only doing so because he thought it would be for the best, but since you’ve mentioned it, leave it to me. This way please.”
Duan Ling and Wu Du get on Benxiao’s back, while Chang Liujun takes the other horse with Chang Pin. They head in the direction of Luoyang, leaving Runan behind.
They arrive in Anxi by dusk that day, but Anxi had also been abandoned. Early morning the next day, Wu Du finds a rundown cart and puts its yoke over Benxiao’s neck, making it pull them along. Duan Ling is only able to get some sleep then.
By the third day at sundown, they come to the outskirts of Luoyang.
“Master Chang Pin, you should be telling us how we’re going to get into the city right about now.” On the higher ground of Mount Luoyang, Duan Ling looks down at the city below. To the north of Luoyang are boundless plains, and if you keep going north from there, you’d reach the Great Wall; head northwest for four hundred miles, it would be Yubiguan, and past that would be Tongguan.
Luoyang is surrounded on three sides by mountains. The north-facing side of the city is the only side without a barrier, and that’s why this border city always gets extremely cold every winter.
And now the plains to the north of Luoyang is densely packed with Mongolian soldiers, with almost fifty thousand men encamped. In the night, as a gale tumbles through, it sets the military banners fluttering, making it feel like a battle could begin at any moment.
Chang PIn says, “Well, I won’t be heading down there. Once you two enter the city, Chang Liujun will figure out some way to sneak in and help you. I’ll be heading to Ye from here, so if you have any messages you can give them to me, and I’ll take them back for you.”
Duan Ling is reminded that Fel Hongde is in Ye right now, and he tells Chang Pin this. But Chang Liujun is saying, “Master Chang Pin, you mustn’t travel on your own.”
“You can’t enter the city if you take me with you.” Chang Pin says, “There’s no difference between staying here and going back to Ye. Waiting in Ye would actually be a bit safer.”
Zheng Yan is in Ye too, Duan Ling thinks, so it’s unlikely for anything to go all that wrong. On the other hand, if they ask Chang Pin to stay here and conceal himself somewhere beneath Mount Luoyang, he’ll be too close to the Mongolian army and could be easily discovered by their scouts.
Chang Liujun is still hesitating when Chang Pin adds, “What the Lord Chancellor wanted was for us to bring that old gentleman back. Chang Liujun, you ought to know what our priorities are.”
Chang Liujun searches his thoughts for a long time, and at last, he nods gravely.
Chang Pin says, “If you manage to find him, bring him back to Jiangzhou. You cannot afford a moment’s delay.”
Chang Liujun hums an assent. Chang Pin calls Duan Ling over and takes him aside to give him these instructions by his ear, in the quietest voice possible, “He’s a blind man, eighty-three this year, and has no children. His surname is Qian, and he’s Han. Make sure you remember all of that.”
Duan Ling looks utterly baffled. He really can’t recall who this may be. Could it be a pseudonym? But at the same time, he also realises why Chang Pin didn’t ask Chang Liujun to track him down. All he has is the last name, so how is he supposed to track that down? All he can do is check the name against a register.
“I got it.” Duan Ling contains his curiosity. As long as they can find him, it probably won’t be difficult to find out who he is.
Chang Pin asks, “Do you have any other questions?”
“Master Chang Pin, please enlighten me,” Duan Ling says, “how are we to justifiably break our way into such a well-guarded city?”
Chang Pin turns his gaze towards the army camp at the base of the mountain and smiles. “There’s always a way. Have you noticed the prisoner camp over there?”
Surrounded by darkness, Duan Ling can’t see anything. Chang Pin begins to relate the plan, and before long, he’s saying his goodbyes to them. Duan Ling speaks quietly with Benxiao then, asking it to return with Chang Pin. Knowing Benxiao, it won’t let just anyone mount it, so all he can do is tie its reins to Chang Pin’s horse and try to make it follow.
In the pitch blackness of the night, Wu Du approaches the prisoner camp relentlessly with Duan Ling. Soon, they dismount outside the camp, and with a bundle slung across his back, he peeks inside before walking over.
“Who’s there?!” The Mongolian soldiers discover Wu Du immediately. Wu Du waves his hands around randomly and cries out meaningless words that sound like ah, ah. Duan Ling goes up to him and tries to drag him away, but the Mongolian soldiers already have them surrounded.
Duan Ling tries to explain in Tangut to the Mongols that he and his dad had come to this place on business, and there’s no need to get violent. Yet he’s just beginning to talk when his bundle’s taken away and he’s searched. This is quickly followed by having his hands tied together with a rope and escorted into the prisoner camp.
While they’re being searched, Wu Du spends the whole time staring at those Mongols who are touching Duan Ling, lest they start taking off his clothes because he’s so beautiful.
Ordinary ropes that they use to tie people up can’t hold Wu Du at all, and if he wants to, he can rip them apart any time he feels like it. But fortunately, it’s nighttime and the Mongols can’t get a good look at him. From the Mongolian soldiers’ point of view, they just think they managed to grab a couple of rich, easy marks.
In the western camp, the Decanus tries to question them, but Wu Du simply looks panicked while Duan Ling stammers for mercy in broken Mongolian. Finally, the Decanus gets impatient and he waves them off to be taken away.
Then the gate to the prisoner camp is opened, and both Duan Ling and Wu Du are kicked inside.
Most prisoners inside the camp are asleep, not stirring even when they hear the noise, though from time to time someone would raise their head to look at them. Wu Du puts on a show of moving them into the corner with difficulty, and putting his back against a wooden fence, he lets Duan Ling lean on him.
“Sleep for a bit,” Wu Du whispers. “Let’s just wait for Chang Liujun. Do your hands hurt from the rope?”
“We did it.” Duan Ling moves closer to Wu Du’s ear and whispers, “They don’t hurt.”
Day breaks slowly, and the captives begin to speak to each other in hushed voices. They’re all men, some are sighing in sorrow, and others are grumbling about their circumstances. And so Duan Ling speaks with them in Khitan and finds out that many of them had escaped out of Luoyang.
Some ask where Duan Ling and Wu Du came from, and Wu Du keeps quiet the entire time while Duan Ling tells them that he’s come to trade in Luoyang with his father and that as soon as they got close to the city they were captured by the Mongolian soldiers.
Of course, everyone believes them. Duan Ling takes note of a Khitan man covered in cuts and bruises. He seems kind of familiar, but Duan Ling can’t remember where he’s seen him before.
“What’s wrong with him?” Duan Ling asks.
A middle-aged man replies, “He’s sick.”
“What’s your name?” Duan Ling shuffles over and nudges him.
The man is running a high fever and unconscious, dressed in Khitan clothing, and his hair is dishevelled. The more Duan Ling looks at him, the more he feels that he knows him from somewhere. He asks the captives around them about him, but no one’s ever seen him before.
The middle-aged man laments, “We’re all going to die. Don’t waste your strength.”
The middle-aged man has the surname Shen, and his full name is Shen Chong, an official of Luoyang. He got wind in advance that the Mongolians were going to attack, and so he took his family and tried to get out of the city, but ultimately ended up running into the Mongol horde on the road and got himself caught. The Mongols asked him to write a letter to order people in the city to ransom him, but Shen Chong has no money left. That’s why all he can do is remain here as a captive.
Duan Ling shuffles back to Wu Du. Wu Du writes in his palm with a finger, You know him?
Duan Ling glances at Wu Du with hesitation in his eyes. A furrow appears between his brows and he shakes his head.
Why isn’t Chang Liujun here yet? Duan Ling writes back.
Tonight. Wu Du’s long finger draws the word over Duan Ling’s palm. He wraps his fingers around Duan Ling’s hand and squeezes it.
Duan Ling leans against Wu Du’s chest, so hungry that his stomach is growling, but there’s nothing he can do. In the evening, the Mongolian soldiers finally toss in a basket full of beans, scattering them all over the ground. It’s like they’re feeding chickens.
When the captives see food, they all crawl around on the ground, using their mouths to pick up the beans.
Duan Ling and Wu Du just stare at them. Not a moment after, the Mongols carry over buckets and splash water into the room. The captives all open their mouths trying to catch water to drink.
Duan Ling is so thirsty it feels like smoke is coming out of his throat, and he thinks to himself that this job isn’t even fit for humans. If Chang Liujun doesn’t show up tonight he’s going to hit his palm with a ruler.
Just like that, a whole day has gone by, and the captives gradually calm down again.
At nightfall, as Duan Ling is nodding off, a finger pokes him from behind and cuts the rope tying his hands together. Chang Liujun is finally here.
“Let’s do this,” Chang Liujun says.
Wu Du rips his rope apart with his hands, and Duan Ling stretches his arms. Chang Liujun moves on to cut everyone’s ropes one by one, letting the captives go.
“Run!” Duan Ling tells him, “Get outside!”
More and more captives are freed from their bindings, each whispering in one another’s ear. Duan Ling beckons them over and tells them to follow Chang Liujun. Chang Liujun guides them through a twisted path towards the stables, following the path he made on his way there.
“Go!” Duan Ling gets on a horse, pulls Wu Du onto the horse’s back, and lead more than a hundred prisoners out of the camp. The Mongols haven’t noticed yet that anything is amiss. The captured Khitans are all escaping, as they know this is the only chance they’ll have to get out of this alive, they all spur their horses on as fast as they could as they gallop towards Luoyang.
The Mongols are finally alerted by the commotion. The prisoner camp is situated on the westernmost edge of the whole encampment, and as soon as they ring the gong people are chasing after them, shooting arrows towards them in the dark. At the same time, Chang Liujun has also led them to the city walls. He shouts, “May we meet again!”
Chang Liujun moves along the city wall, and after a quick turn, he disappears around the corner without a trace, leaving Wu Du and Duan Ling to blend in with the rest of those hundred or so people as they gallop on to the city gates.
“Open the gates —!” Someone is starting to yell.
“Hurry up and open the gates!” All the captives begin to shout.
This is Chang Pin’s plan number one: they’ll disguise themselves as prisoners, save a bunch of people, and enter the city. If it works, then they’ll pass this round just fine. The captives can even corroborate Duan Ling and Wu Du’s story.
And if they don’t manage to fool the authorities, then all they can do is sneak into the city, avoid the patrolling soldiers, and wait for a chance to look for the old man.
This translation is by foxghost, on tumblr and kofi. I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you see this message anywhere else than on tumblr, it was reposted without permission. Do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎
Wu Du says, “I was just thinking about this yesterday, but today it looks like it’s actually come true.” And he starts smiling halfway through saying this.
Duan Ling recalls the words Wu Du said yesterday — he’d wanted to meet him when he was very young, and take him home to raise him. As he’s thinking this he can’t help but smile as well, the thought sweeping away what little sadness was inside his heart.
“How do you say ‘dad’ in Tangut?” Wu Du asks.
“Older brother, father, and uncle on both the maternal and paternal sides,” Duan Ling replies, “are all called Ada.”
“Got it.” Wu Du nods, and after some thought, he says, “But I can’t speak as I have to play a mute, so all I can do is sign randomly.”
“That’s alright. Let’s do that then,” Duan Ling replies. He’s thought about it; with Wu Du playing a mute, the Han does have a set of simple sign language they use to communicate with, but the Tangut has their own set. If they simply gesture randomly, the Khitans probably won’t be able to tell.
Wu Du helps Duan Ling into his clothes. “Once we fulfil this mission, maybe Chancellor Mu will have to owe us a favour.”
“What favour do you want?” Duan Ling asks.
“Get some money to move the White Tiger Hall. Buy a mountain villa so that in the future I can take you home on vacations.”
Duan Ling and Wu Du look into each other’s eyes, and a tender atmosphere suffuses the room. When Chang Pin and Chang Liujun begin speaking outside, the two of them turn away together. Wu Du does up the button-knot by Duan Ling’s waist and helps him put on his hat before they go outside to find Chang Liujun standing by the wall, holding up a mirror as tall as a man.
They study their reflections in the mirror and find that they do look somewhat Tangut. Chang Pin says in Tangut, “Tell me what you’re going to say when you get there.”
Duan Ling replies in Tangut also. “My father and I came from the Tianshui Village in Xiliang, and my ancestors were from Shazhou. We do some fur trading to earn our keep, and we’ve come to the central plain to buy some tea for ourselves. My father is both deaf and mute so I act as his tongue and speak for him. If there’s anything I can’t quite handle on my own, I’d be so thankful if you all would help us out, seeing how the two of us have only got each other. The Han says that at home we rely on our parents, but out here we must rely on friends. Apologies in advance if I should offend.”
As he’s saying this, Duan Ling puts his hands at his sides with his thumbs pointing out in front of him and his palms facing the floor. Then he takes a half step forward with his left foot before bowing, as is Tangut etiquette. Wu Du had been standing still before, but he imitates the gestures with a slight bow when he sees what Duan Ling is doing.
Duan Ling turns around and helps Wu Du adjust his posture, adding in Khitan, “We should make more friends when we’re away from home, to begin with. More friends mean more of us can take care of each other.”
Chang Pin laughs heartily. “Your Tangut is very good indeed.”
Duan Ling replies, “Thank you.”
“Wu Du isn’t Tangut,” Chang Pin says, “I only worry that he may expose your ruse. He could pretend to be an idiot, however. That way, no one would suspect him anymore.”
Wu Du opens his eyes wide and looks confused.
Duan Ling laughs so hard he nearly forgets to breathe. “That’s good.”
Just as easily, Wu Du gathers that expression again and goes back to looking as cold and indifferent as before. “Master Chang Pin, this isn’t easy at all you know.”
Chang Pin bows and says, “I must truly thank you both. If you successfully fulfil this mission, when we’re before the Chancellor again I’ll make sure you’re both well compensated.”
Wu Du is standing there casually, but as soon as he stops playing an idiot he naturally gives off an intimidating aura. He says offhandedly, “There’s only one thing I want, so why don’t you just agree to it in advance, Master Chang Pin.”
“Please go ahead,” Chang Pin says.
“You of course know what’s going on between me and Wang Shan.” Wu Du says, “So I don’t want to hear the Lord Chancellor talking about getting Shan’er a wife anymore.”
Chang Pin seems taken aback, and Duan Ling also; Duan Ling immediately turns red in the face, as he never imagined that’s the thing Wu Du would ask for.
Chang Pin is a tactful man. “The chancellor was only doing so because he thought it would be for the best, but since you’ve mentioned it, leave it to me. This way please.”
Duan Ling and Wu Du get on Benxiao’s back, while Chang Liujun takes the other horse with Chang Pin. They head in the direction of Luoyang, leaving Runan behind.
They arrive in Anxi by dusk that day, but Anxi had also been abandoned. Early morning the next day, Wu Du finds a rundown cart and puts its yoke over Benxiao’s neck, making it pull them along. Duan Ling is only able to get some sleep then.
By the third day at sundown, they come to the outskirts of Luoyang.
“Master Chang Pin, you should be telling us how we’re going to get into the city right about now.” On the higher ground of Mount Luoyang, Duan Ling looks down at the city below. To the north of Luoyang are boundless plains, and if you keep going north from there, you’d reach the Great Wall; head northwest for four hundred miles, it would be Yubiguan, and past that would be Tongguan.
Luoyang is surrounded on three sides by mountains. The north-facing side of the city is the only side without a barrier, and that’s why this border city always gets extremely cold every winter.
And now the plains to the north of Luoyang is densely packed with Mongolian soldiers, with almost fifty thousand men encamped. In the night, as a gale tumbles through, it sets the military banners fluttering, making it feel like a battle could begin at any moment.
Chang PIn says, “Well, I won’t be heading down there. Once you two enter the city, Chang Liujun will figure out some way to sneak in and help you. I’ll be heading to Ye from here, so if you have any messages you can give them to me, and I’ll take them back for you.”
Duan Ling is reminded that Fel Hongde is in Ye right now, and he tells Chang Pin this. But Chang Liujun is saying, “Master Chang Pin, you mustn’t travel on your own.”
“You can’t enter the city if you take me with you.” Chang Pin says, “There’s no difference between staying here and going back to Ye. Waiting in Ye would actually be a bit safer.”
Zheng Yan is in Ye too, Duan Ling thinks, so it’s unlikely for anything to go all that wrong. On the other hand, if they ask Chang Pin to stay here and conceal himself somewhere beneath Mount Luoyang, he’ll be too close to the Mongolian army and could be easily discovered by their scouts.
Chang Liujun is still hesitating when Chang Pin adds, “What the Lord Chancellor wanted was for us to bring that old gentleman back. Chang Liujun, you ought to know what our priorities are.”
Chang Liujun searches his thoughts for a long time, and at last, he nods gravely.
Chang Pin says, “If you manage to find him, bring him back to Jiangzhou. You cannot afford a moment’s delay.”
Chang Liujun hums an assent. Chang Pin calls Duan Ling over and takes him aside to give him these instructions by his ear, in the quietest voice possible, “He’s a blind man, eighty-three this year, and has no children. His surname is Qian, and he’s Han. Make sure you remember all of that.”
Duan Ling looks utterly baffled. He really can’t recall who this may be. Could it be a pseudonym? But at the same time, he also realises why Chang Pin didn’t ask Chang Liujun to track him down. All he has is the last name, so how is he supposed to track that down? All he can do is check the name against a register.
“I got it.” Duan Ling contains his curiosity. As long as they can find him, it probably won’t be difficult to find out who he is.
Chang Pin asks, “Do you have any other questions?”
“Master Chang Pin, please enlighten me,” Duan Ling says, “how are we to justifiably break our way into such a well-guarded city?”
Chang Pin turns his gaze towards the army camp at the base of the mountain and smiles. “There’s always a way. Have you noticed the prisoner camp over there?”
Surrounded by darkness, Duan Ling can’t see anything. Chang Pin begins to relate the plan, and before long, he’s saying his goodbyes to them. Duan Ling speaks quietly with Benxiao then, asking it to return with Chang Pin. Knowing Benxiao, it won’t let just anyone mount it, so all he can do is tie its reins to Chang Pin’s horse and try to make it follow.
In the pitch blackness of the night, Wu Du approaches the prisoner camp relentlessly with Duan Ling. Soon, they dismount outside the camp, and with a bundle slung across his back, he peeks inside before walking over.
“Who’s there?!” The Mongolian soldiers discover Wu Du immediately. Wu Du waves his hands around randomly and cries out meaningless words that sound like ah, ah. Duan Ling goes up to him and tries to drag him away, but the Mongolian soldiers already have them surrounded.
Duan Ling tries to explain in Tangut to the Mongols that he and his dad had come to this place on business, and there’s no need to get violent. Yet he’s just beginning to talk when his bundle’s taken away and he’s searched. This is quickly followed by having his hands tied together with a rope and escorted into the prisoner camp.
While they’re being searched, Wu Du spends the whole time staring at those Mongols who are touching Duan Ling, lest they start taking off his clothes because he’s so beautiful.
Ordinary ropes that they use to tie people up can’t hold Wu Du at all, and if he wants to, he can rip them apart any time he feels like it. But fortunately, it’s nighttime and the Mongols can’t get a good look at him. From the Mongolian soldiers’ point of view, they just think they managed to grab a couple of rich, easy marks.
In the western camp, the Decanus tries to question them, but Wu Du simply looks panicked while Duan Ling stammers for mercy in broken Mongolian. Finally, the Decanus gets impatient and he waves them off to be taken away.
Then the gate to the prisoner camp is opened, and both Duan Ling and Wu Du are kicked inside.
Most prisoners inside the camp are asleep, not stirring even when they hear the noise, though from time to time someone would raise their head to look at them. Wu Du puts on a show of moving them into the corner with difficulty, and putting his back against a wooden fence, he lets Duan Ling lean on him.
“Sleep for a bit,” Wu Du whispers. “Let’s just wait for Chang Liujun. Do your hands hurt from the rope?”
“We did it.” Duan Ling moves closer to Wu Du’s ear and whispers, “They don’t hurt.”
Day breaks slowly, and the captives begin to speak to each other in hushed voices. They’re all men, some are sighing in sorrow, and others are grumbling about their circumstances. And so Duan Ling speaks with them in Khitan and finds out that many of them had escaped out of Luoyang.
Some ask where Duan Ling and Wu Du came from, and Wu Du keeps quiet the entire time while Duan Ling tells them that he’s come to trade in Luoyang with his father and that as soon as they got close to the city they were captured by the Mongolian soldiers.
Of course, everyone believes them. Duan Ling takes note of a Khitan man covered in cuts and bruises. He seems kind of familiar, but Duan Ling can’t remember where he’s seen him before.
“What’s wrong with him?” Duan Ling asks.
A middle-aged man replies, “He’s sick.”
“What’s your name?” Duan Ling shuffles over and nudges him.
The man is running a high fever and unconscious, dressed in Khitan clothing, and his hair is dishevelled. The more Duan Ling looks at him, the more he feels that he knows him from somewhere. He asks the captives around them about him, but no one’s ever seen him before.
The middle-aged man laments, “We’re all going to die. Don’t waste your strength.”
The middle-aged man has the surname Shen, and his full name is Shen Chong, an official of Luoyang. He got wind in advance that the Mongolians were going to attack, and so he took his family and tried to get out of the city, but ultimately ended up running into the Mongol horde on the road and got himself caught. The Mongols asked him to write a letter to order people in the city to ransom him, but Shen Chong has no money left. That’s why all he can do is remain here as a captive.
Duan Ling shuffles back to Wu Du. Wu Du writes in his palm with a finger, You know him?
Duan Ling glances at Wu Du with hesitation in his eyes. A furrow appears between his brows and he shakes his head.
Why isn’t Chang Liujun here yet? Duan Ling writes back.
Tonight. Wu Du’s long finger draws the word over Duan Ling’s palm. He wraps his fingers around Duan Ling’s hand and squeezes it.
Duan Ling leans against Wu Du’s chest, so hungry that his stomach is growling, but there’s nothing he can do. In the evening, the Mongolian soldiers finally toss in a basket full of beans, scattering them all over the ground. It’s like they’re feeding chickens.
When the captives see food, they all crawl around on the ground, using their mouths to pick up the beans.
Duan Ling and Wu Du just stare at them. Not a moment after, the Mongols carry over buckets and splash water into the room. The captives all open their mouths trying to catch water to drink.
Duan Ling is so thirsty it feels like smoke is coming out of his throat, and he thinks to himself that this job isn’t even fit for humans. If Chang Liujun doesn’t show up tonight he’s going to hit his palm with a ruler.
Just like that, a whole day has gone by, and the captives gradually calm down again.
At nightfall, as Duan Ling is nodding off, a finger pokes him from behind and cuts the rope tying his hands together. Chang Liujun is finally here.
“Let’s do this,” Chang Liujun says.
Wu Du rips his rope apart with his hands, and Duan Ling stretches his arms. Chang Liujun moves on to cut everyone’s ropes one by one, letting the captives go.
“Run!” Duan Ling tells him, “Get outside!”
More and more captives are freed from their bindings, each whispering in one another’s ear. Duan Ling beckons them over and tells them to follow Chang Liujun. Chang Liujun guides them through a twisted path towards the stables, following the path he made on his way there.
“Go!” Duan Ling gets on a horse, pulls Wu Du onto the horse’s back, and lead more than a hundred prisoners out of the camp. The Mongols haven’t noticed yet that anything is amiss. The captured Khitans are all escaping, as they know this is the only chance they’ll have to get out of this alive, they all spur their horses on as fast as they could as they gallop towards Luoyang.
The Mongols are finally alerted by the commotion. The prisoner camp is situated on the westernmost edge of the whole encampment, and as soon as they ring the gong people are chasing after them, shooting arrows towards them in the dark. At the same time, Chang Liujun has also led them to the city walls. He shouts, “May we meet again!”
Chang Liujun moves along the city wall, and after a quick turn, he disappears around the corner without a trace, leaving Wu Du and Duan Ling to blend in with the rest of those hundred or so people as they gallop on to the city gates.
“Open the gates —!” Someone is starting to yell.
“Hurry up and open the gates!” All the captives begin to shout.
This is Chang Pin’s plan number one: they’ll disguise themselves as prisoners, save a bunch of people, and enter the city. If it works, then they’ll pass this round just fine. The captives can even corroborate Duan Ling and Wu Du’s story.
And if they don’t manage to fool the authorities, then all they can do is sneak into the city, avoid the patrolling soldiers, and wait for a chance to look for the old man.
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