After the midday rest, Bai Mu came to report that a man claiming to be a minor flag officer was outside seeking an audience.
A Centurion Office had two Zongqi, each commanding fifty men, and ten Xiaoqi, each commanding ten men. Although a minor flag was merely an unranked low-level officer, Xie Xuanying had nothing better to choose from at the moment. “Let him in.”
“This humble officer Liu Haiping pays his respects to the Commander, my lord.” The Xiaoqi who entered was a man in his twenties, with ordinary features, an inconspicuous patch on the hem of his robe, a medium build, rough skin, and a face full of barely concealed unease.
Xie Xuanying glanced at him, his tone flat. “You wished to see me?”
“Yes. I heard that my lord is… is seeking men to deal with the pirates.” Liu Haiping stared fixedly at the ground, able to see only his own boots.
Those were merely a pair of ordinary black boots. After days of rushing about, their snow-white soles and side panels were already covered in dust. Even so, the qingguang satin used for the boots still shimmered in the sunlight with hidden patterns – clusters of bamboo leaves.
He thought of his newly wedded wife. He had clearly planned earlier to buy a bolt of red satin in the county to make her a wedding dress, but a bolt of silk cost five taels of silver. After thinking it over again and again, he still could not bring himself to be ruthless enough, and instead chose wood to make furniture.
His wife said, “This is what the money should be spent on. A wedding dress is worn only one day, but this fine wooden furniture can be used for ten or twenty years.”
But Liu Haiping was unwilling to accept it.
He did not want to spend his whole life as merely an undistinguished minor flag. He did not want his wife to be left with a regret that could never be made up for, all because of five taels of silver.
He wanted to rise above others.
“I grew up in Huai’an and also has some understanding of the pirates here.” Looking at those black boots, Liu Haiping’s speech gradually became smoother. “The bandits in our area are divided into two groups. One gang is led by Chen One-Eye. They rob merchant ships and also have connections ashore. But they are sharp-eyed and know who can be provoked and who cannot. My lord is a nobleman from the capital; they would not dare touch your ship.”
Xie Xuanying raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”
Liu Haiping’s heart, which had been hanging in his throat, settled back into his belly. Steadying himself, he continued, “The other group is the Eastern sea rovers. They are well versed in martial arts and savage by nature. Most of them pilot small boats and can move freely in shallow waters. They frequently come ashore to raid fishing villages, and wherever they pass, there are often cases of whole households being massacred.”
He paused for a moment, then boldly raised his head and stole a glance at Xie Xuanying’s expression.
Then, as expected, he was stunned silly by the face before him and for quite a while could not recover.
Xie Xuanying impatiently tapped the table.
Only then did he awaken as if from a dream, hurriedly lower his head, and rack his brains to recall what he had just said, “That… I do not know which kind the… Commander, uh, encountered?”
“Several were clearly pirates,” Xie Xuanying said. “But they seemed to be colluding with people from the fishing villages.”
Liu Haiping now had a rough idea and said with great respect, “My lord, if you will permit me to report: two months ago, a major matter had just occurred on the sea. Among Chen One-Eye’s subordinates there was a strategist called Black Abacus. He had originally been a xiucai, but someone exposed him for examination fraud, and his scholarly rank was stripped away. With nowhere to turn, he threw in with the bandits.”
Fraud, and then joining bandits – this showed the man’s base character. Xie Xuanying listened with his brows tightly furrowed.
“Chen One-Eye was narrow-minded, but since he was illiterate, he always needed someone to keep the accounts. The two had long been at odds while appearing friendly.” Liu Haiping sorted through his thoughts. “Some days ago, I heard people say that Chen One-Eye and Black Abacus had fallen out. Black Abacus took a group of men and left, colluded with the Eastern sea rovers, and was preparing to plot something big.”
Xie Xuanying said slowly: “You mean, the ones I encountered were their people?”
“Chen One-Eye has many informants, so inevitably some fell into Black Abacus’s hands. The Eastern ships cannot compare with those of Great Xia. What those rovers want most is a large ship that can be equipped with firearms. And it just so happened that after Black Abacus left Chen One-Eye, he also urgently needed a foothold.”
Liu Haiping said impartially, “At present, only these two groups have this many men, this kind of ability, and this sort of ambition.”
This analysis was reasoned and well supported, and it coincided with what Xie Xuanying had learned. He already believed a good part of it in his heart. But without showing any emotion, he asked in return, “I have spoken with the two centurion officers Wu and Wang. Even they did not know as much as you.”
His tone suddenly turned cold. “You – why do you know so much detail?”
Liu Haiping’s forehead oozed beads of sweat that dripped down along his face. He did not dare wipe them, nor did he know whether he should kneel. Bracing himself, he said, “I would not dare conceal anything from my lord. Three years ago, my younger brother was abducted by Chen One-Eye’s men and had no choice but to join the bandits. All these years, he has been trying every possible means to contact me, wishing to leave the darkness for the light and return ashore to live.”
That made sense.
Xie Xuanying did not care about the fate of a minor figure, but he could not immediately agree either. He said lightly, “That will depend on how far you can go.”
What Liu Haiping wanted was nothing more than an opportunity.
He immediately said, “I am willing to serve with the utmost devotion.”
Over there, Xie Xuanying’s presence at the Centurion Office stirred up all sorts of thoughts among different people. Here, Cheng Danruo had Nanny Zhang buy medicinal ingredients and continued to observe the patients’ conditions.
The others were relatively easy to handle. Their wounds had been treated in time, and there were no symptoms of fever or infection. As bodyguards, their constitutions were not poor, so good food and good care would be enough to nurse them back.
But the youngest bodyguard, named Ah-Cheng, had his pulse taken when he woke this morning, and unsurprisingly, he was found to have developed a fever.
In modern times, this would be a matter of a few antibiotics, but in ancient times it could very likely cost a person his life.
Cheng Danruo did not dare use medicine rashly, and a person in a high-fever coma could not take it in anyway, so she had no choice but to check the wound once every two hours, clean it, and disinfect it.
Whether it was because he was young and had a good foundation, his condition did not worsen further, and his heartbeat and pulse were still relatively stable.
Cheng Danruo felt slightly reassured.
She could not stay by a man’s side for a long time, so she called over the bodyguard left on duty and instructed, “Change his cooling cloth once every half hour. If he burns severely and starts raving, go find Zi Su and call me.”
The other party hurriedly agreed.
But Cheng Danruo’s work was not yet finished.
She walked into the tea room and said to Zi Su, who was brewing medicine, “Go and rest.”
Since yesterday evening, the medicine in the tea stove room had not stopped. In the first half of the night, Nanny Zhang had been busy; in the latter half, Zi Su had taken over. Now that the sun was slanting westward, she should also be unable to hold on much longer.
But Zi Su was reluctant to let her mistress do the work, and forced her eyes open. “Miss, let me do it.”
“No arguing. Go sleep, and I will take over tonight.” Cheng Danruo would not allow any objection.
Zi Su was extremely sleepy. Seeing her firm words, she found it hard to decline further, and hurried back to rest. As soon as her head touched the pillow, she fell asleep.
Cheng Danruo watched over the stove. The bodyguards were all wounded, so two doses of medicine a day for each was indispensable. Fortunately, the prescriptions were largely similar, which saved a good deal of trouble.
But besides them, there was also Yan Hongzhi’s medicine.
She decocted the medicine and brought it over to take care of Yan Hongzhi.
Whether it was due to worry and anxiety, his gout, which had already eased, had flared up again. When he rose this morning, he had also developed cold symptoms including a stuffy nose and dizziness.
“How does the old gentleman feel? Do you have fever or aversion to cold?” Cheng Danruo asked.
The young servant took the medicine bowl from her hands and answered, “The master says his throat hurts somewhat and swallowing is rather difficult.”
“That is how e-feng is.” E-feng was tonsillitis. She said, “I only used dandelion and licorice, so it should not be bitter.”
A doctor’s probing of a patient was exactly like a detective’s probing of a suspect. She had long since discovered that Yan Hongzhi feared pain and bitterness, which showed that he had been pampered for most of his life and had never suffered hardship.
Yan Hongzhi tried a small sip. It was indeed not bitter, so he drank it all in one go.
Cheng Danruo said, “Rest well, and you will be better tomorrow.”
“How could I not know that I ought to rest well? But I truly cannot set my mind at ease. I do not know how San-lang is doing either.” Yan Hongzhi’s brows were tightly locked as he sighed without cease.
“Young Master Xie is highly skilled in martial arts. Nothing will happen to him.”
“That may be so, but blades and swords have no eyes.” Yan Hongzhi leaned sideways against the cushion, thinking carefully. “What happened yesterday was truly very strange.”
Cheng Danruo was also concerned about this matter, and pondered. “Do you think there is collusion between the pirates and the fishing village?”
“Nine times out of ten.” He said, “When pirates raid, there is no reason for them to bury the corpses. If the surviving fishermen buried the bodies, why did they not come to report it to the authorities?”
“But the pirates and Great Xia do not share a language, and the Eastern realm is in civil strife. How could they have spare strength to encroach on coastal defense?” Cheng Danruo was equally puzzled.
Yan Hongzhi looked at her and did not ask where she had learned about the affairs of the Eastern realm. “There must be someone behind the pirates.”
This was what worried him most.
A few roving bandits, to be honest, could not accomplish anything great. But the great sea pirates on the sea were not only equipped with warships, but even possessed no small number of firearms. Some had leaked out from the Ministry of War, while others had been obtained from Western merchants. They were absolutely not to be trifled with.
Xie Xuanying was just starting out. Dealing with twenty or thirty bandits was not a big problem, but if he provoked the great sea pirates, matters would become much more troublesome.
Especially since his grandfather had become famous throughout the southeast for encircling and suppressing pirates, and had been enfeoffed as a marquis because of it.
Yan Hongzhi thought it over again and again, and could not set his mind at ease no matter what. He called the young servant. “Mo Dian, prepare brush and ink. I want to write a letter.”
The young servant assented and hurriedly spread out paper and ground ink.
Cheng Danruo had no intention of prying into others’ private affairs, and sensibly said, “Sir, rest more and drink more water. I will come again in the evening.”
Around 3 p.m., Centurion Wu returned with a group of men.
He first apologized on behalf of his brother-in-law, saying that he had twisted his back earlier during training and was now lying prone on the couch, unable to come and pay his respects to Xie Xuanying.
Xie Xuanying did not believe a single word, and stared at him coldly.
Centurion Wu had been rushing about all day and was inwardly complaining of his hardships too. But his brother-in-law refused to come – what could he do?
In this matter today, even if handled well there might be no credit, but if something went wrong there would certainly be blame. Only a fool would wade into muddy water. To live peacefully in Huai’an as a deputy chiliarch, send a little money to one’s superiors, and muddle along – was that not better than courting death?
Centurion Wu understood his brother-in-law’s approach perfectly. But with the commanding commissioner, he still had to think of an excuse to deal with things, and could not let the nobleman from the capital feel slighted.
He bent his waist even lower, his tone even more reverent. “The chiliarch, upon hearing of your matter, was furious beyond measure, and ordered me to obey your instructions without fail and immediately muster men and horses to come over.”
Since the man refused to come, Xie Xuanying could hardly rush to his house and drag him out of bed. “How many?”
“A full twenty-five men, all skilled hands.” Centurion Wu said with exaggeration, “He also told me to bring ten fine horses, twenty bows, and fifty long sabers.”
Xie Xuanying’s expression slightly eased, and he shot Li Bowu a glance.
Li Bowu understood. “I will organize them a little for the young master.”
Xie Xuanying nodded and said, “First scout out the bandits’ traces, make clear their purpose, and also, where the people of the fishing village have gone.”
“Yes.” The arrow was on the string and had to be released. No matter how much Li Bowu disapproved in his heart, at this moment he could only do his utmost to assist.
Centurion Wu also secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and forced up a smile. “I was negligent at noon. I have already prepared a banquet, and tonight I will host a welcome dinner for my lord. I beg my lord to do me the honor.”
“How can one drink and make merry before battle?” Xie Xuanying refused without even thinking, but after a brief pause, he softened his tone again, “After the matter is done, I will invite everyone to drink.”
The gloom in Centurion Wu’s eyes immediately vanished. He patted his own cheek and pretended to be vexed. “Look at me, I actually forgot all about serious matters. I beg my lord not to take offense. It is only that the banquet has already been prepared. Even if we do not drink wine, we should still eat some food.”
Xie Xuanying drew a deep breath.
Even in the capital he had never been so stifled.
But when a man is under another’s roof, he has no choice but to bow his head. He could only suppress his anger and say calmly, “Very well.”
Centurion Wu was overjoyed. “My lord, please.”
Xie Xuanying strode toward the banquet hall, but he never expected that the things that would challenge the limits of his bottom line were still to come.
