Shimen Fan (Part 3)

I stepped closer and gently patted Luo Erying's back. "Tell Aunt Qing what you know, and we'll figure something out together, okay?"

“Hmm…” Luo Erying sobbed, “Ten days ago, a barbarian came to find Father, claiming to be the secret envoy of the newly appointed official of the Shimen tribe.”

He said that the Han people have always looked down on us barbarians. When we surrender our land, they give us some benefits, but before the second generation, they will take it back with even greater benefits. Right now, the Changning Army is suppressing the rebellion in Yanzhou, which is a good time to rebel and establish our own rule.

“Shimen Fan and Nan Guang were brothers on the Bo Road. If Father is willing to lend him a hand, after the matter is accomplished, he will not only be made a king, but also return the land of Weixin to us.”

"Nonsense!" I shouted angrily. "Why didn't your father capture him then, and why didn't he consult with Lord Wei afterwards?"

"That man's martial arts skills were exceptionally high. It just so happened that Lord Wei was away on official business in Rongzhou, and they had already planted an inside agent in the mansion." Luo Erying said, wiping away her tears. "When my father refused, the next night, thieves appeared and kidnapped my brother Luo Dayong and my younger brother Luo Sanqiang. On the third day, my elder brother's finger and my younger brother's buttock flesh appeared in the evening meal. My stepmother—my younger brother's biological mother—was so frightened that she fainted on the spot and has not yet woken up."

"So, in order to save the lives of your family, your father had no choice but to cooperate with the Shimen Fan, and that so-called 'official's secret envoy' has now become his 'personal follower,' is that right?"

Luo Erying nodded silently.

"They—" The shrill voice startled even myself. I closed my eyes, trying to calm my agitated mind. "They control the prefectural government, imprison the prefect, and your father is the leader of the five tribes. The 'local militia' recruitment order for Nanguangxidong has always been in his hands. Do you know what their next plan is?"

"I—" Luo Erying's eyes flickered, "I overheard some things, but, but I was far away, so I couldn't hear them clearly..."

"What kind of time is this? Stop trying to hide things from me!" I grabbed her shoulders, lifted her up, pulled her right hand to her left chest, and said sternly, "Mountain God, Elder Bamboo, tell me with your hands on your heart—not a single word is to be left out! Speak now!"

Luo Erying said in a trembling voice: "Winter... on the winter solstice, the inside should be combined with the outside, and the earth should be offered... as a sacrifice... as a flag..."

"Say it again!" I held Luo Erying tightly, "Whose flag will be used as a sacrifice? Whose flag will be sacrificed!"

Luo Erying trembled as she replied, "Use...use Lord Wei's head to...sacrifice the flag of the Nan Guang tribe!"

I took a deep breath and tried my best to speak in a calm tone and enunciate clearly: "Yingzi, there's an old saying among the beekeepers in the mountains—release the bees when you see a monkey, and hide the bees when you see a bear."

"The common people under heaven are just like bees, working hard all their lives to make honey and feed the queen bee, generation after generation, endlessly. And the queen bee, supported by thousands of bees, not only lays eggs constantly, but also has to choose a suitable place to build her nest. If the queen bee is incompetent, the bee colony's reproduction will be limited, and guess what will happen?"

I stared into Luo Erying's eyes and slowly said, "The bees that feed it will build queen cells to raise new queens and kill the old queen."

"Aunt Qing!" Luo Erying cried out anxiously, "My father—"

“Listen!” I interrupted her, speaking swiftly, “‘To be rude and insult one’s great neighbor is tantamount to certain death.’ (Note 1) Prefect Wei is a local official appointed by the imperial court. Killing him as a sacrifice to the flag is tantamount to breaking ties with the Song Dynasty, especially since the Nan Guang tribe has already surrendered its territory. At that time, your brothers will still be doomed; your father will not be able to become king; your entire family will be exterminated; and countless innocent people from Nan Guang will be dragged into the war and lose their lives!”

"No, I don't want this!" Luo Erying gripped my arm tightly. "Aunt Qing, what should I do? Tell me, tell me!"

"Lord Wei is kind-hearted. As long as your father pulls back from the brink, he will not hold it against you. Yingzi, you must understand—protecting Lord Wei is protecting your father, and even more so, protecting your whole family. Now, we must delay the flag-raising ceremony. As for your brother, Aunt Qing will find a way to rescue him."

"But the Changning army is still fighting a bitter battle at Yujing, and the Shimen Fan army is almost here. With the strength of our Nanguang tribe, we are completely unable to resist. Yuezhou is not a legitimate prefecture of the Song Dynasty. Will the court... will the court send troops to help us?"

"Yes!" I said solemnly. "Whether it is Zhengzhou or Jizhou, it is all within the territory of Song; whether Han or Liao, they are all citizens of the Great Song. The Shimen barbarians are fickle in their loyalty and have been provoking and invading the border. The court will certainly not stand idly by."

Luo Erying rammed her head into my arms: "Aunt Qing, I'm so scared!"

“Good child, don’t be afraid.” I patted her back and said, “You are your father’s daughter, and even more so, you are the daughter of Nanguang. The mountains and rivers of Nanguang have nurtured us, and it is the responsibility of every son and daughter of Nanguang to protect her. After so many years of fighting and strife, we have finally settled down, and the lives of our fellow villagers have just begun to improve. We can’t go back to the way things were before!”

"Yes!" Luo Erying's gaze suddenly hardened. "Aunt Qing, I should go back!"

"Okay." I nodded and said, "Remember to bring back two bolts of fabric from Sister Peng's place."

"I see."

"Wait a minute!" I suddenly remembered something and quickly called out to Luo Erying, "Which side did your father and the secret envoy from Shimen calculate the winter solstice according to? Is there a specific date?"

Luo Erying looked confused: "Winter Solstice is Winter Solstice, how could it be any different?"

I explained, “Nowadays, Nanguang is under the control of the Song Dynasty and uses the Song calendar. Shimen Fan is nominally still under the jurisdiction of Dali. If they use the Dali calendar, the winter solstice will be one day earlier.”

Luo Erying tilted her head and thought for a while, then resolutely said, "They didn't mention a specific date. But don't worry, Aunt Qing—Father can't get away, and my stepmother is sick. I'll arrange the sacrificial ceremony for the sacred tree. I'll make sure it's postponed until the winter solstice of the Song calendar!"

After leaving the cloth shop, the shadows gradually lengthened.

I guessed that Guo Cheng had already finished inspecting the market and was heading south to Qingling, so I instructed Huai Xu to take a shortcut to find him, and we would all meet at Yanziping later.

Back at the inn, I called Lin Zhong and Feng Qiao, gave them a few brief instructions, and were about to set off when someone outside the courtyard wall called out urgently, "Qing Niangzi, Qing Niangzi!"

Feng Qiao rushed out: "Auntie, it's the Wazhi Big Pot Headmen, they're injured!"

Wazhi, the head of the large inn, came from the lower reaches of the Hengjiang River. He traded tea in the spring and autumn and rode horses in the winter. He was an optimistic and open-minded person. When I first took over the inn, I was often questioned by various caravans, but only he and the Pahan family always stood by me.

"Bring him in quickly for bandaging!" I gestured for Lin Zhong to come forward and then turned back to get the medicine.

The group of nine, led by Wazhi, were all disheveled and dressed in rags. Fortunately, most of their injuries were scrapes and bruises, and none were life-threatening. After tidying them up for a while, I asked Feng Qiao to heat up some porridge. Wazhi forced himself to stand up and clasped his hands in greeting to me.

I quickly stopped him, saying, "Don't move! Your arm has just been reattached." Then I asked, "What happened to you? Did you run into bandits on the road?"

The crowd responded all at once: "We've run into government troops! Those are the ones who chop off heads!"

"Isn't that right? They're even more ruthless than bandits!"

"Not only did they steal our goods and horses, they also forced us to join their army!"

"Government troops? When did the Shimen barbarians get here—" Feng Qiao brought over the food, and everyone swarmed around him. "Slow down! Be careful, it's hot!"

Wazhi sighed: "Some time ago, the Nare chief of the Wumeng tribe became the new official of the Shimen tribe."

"We thought the battle was finally over, and we were riding our horses out of the mountains with great enthusiasm. But we didn't expect that the infighting among us would stop, but the external war was about to begin. On the way, we encountered this band of bandits who forcibly requisitioned our horses without even giving us a written agreement. They also confiscated our food and travel expenses, forcing us to risk our lives to accompany them."

"After spending a few days in the barracks, I finally figured out that Nare has brought his troops upstream of the Niu Guang River. It seems they're going to target your Nan Guang tribe."

"A wolf in sheep's clothing!" I spat. "Nanguang is already under the control of the Song Dynasty. Yuezhou is not a place for him to run wild!"

Wazhi took the hot porridge handed to him by Feng Qiao, drank most of it in one go, and put down the bowl, saying, "That's true, but Nare also has his reasons."

"At the beginning of the month, the leader of the Dali Bipan tribe defected to the Shimen Fan. Dongchuan is rich in copper and iron, and its terrain is treacherous, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. Nare swallowed this piece of fat meat without much trouble, and the morale of his army is high."

"Shimen Fan has swallowed up Dongchuan?" I was both shocked and furious. "Dongchuan was a prefecture under the Dali Kingdom. How could Dali turn a blind eye to the loss of territory?"

"Dali, ever since their last emperor became a monk, its national strength has declined significantly. Furthermore, due to the tense relationship with various Tibetan tribes over the salt wells on the Yunnan-Tibet border, their military forces have been concentrated in the Shanju area for a long time and cannot be freed up. This time, they have no choice but to swallow their pride and bear the consequences."

"How did Brother Wazhi and his party manage to escape from the army?"

“I carried a packet of emetic powder with me, luckily it wasn’t confiscated. Last night when we were setting up camp, I secretly mixed the powder into the evening meal when the cook wasn’t looking. Not long after, the people around us started vomiting and having diarrhea, and a few of us took advantage of the chaos to run away.”

I nodded: "Brother Wazhi is very sharp. Where did you get all these injuries?"

"We were assigned to the vanguard battalion to lead the charge, and there was no way to retreat, so we had to flee north, crossing the Niu Guang River, where we were blocked at a pass. The Song soldiers guarding the pass saw that we had no horses or goods and assumed that we were refugees from the Luo Kingdom, so they resolutely refused to let us pass. However, there was an abandoned beacon tower near the pass, a section of which had been washed away by a flash flood during the rainy season. In the middle of the night, we secretly climbed over it, and in the dark, we fell and got like this."

I was startled: "How many people know about this road?"

Wazhi shook his head: "Not many. But the passes in the Nanguang area were built by the previous dynasty, and the brick walls are old and not as sturdy as the fortified cities where Han people live."

I composed myself and asked, "Brother Wazhi and the other brothers, what are your plans next?"

Wazhi smiled bitterly: "I can't go back for the time being. I have a little aunt who married into Rongzhou many years ago. Now her son is a deputy general in Huaiyuan Village. I want to go and seek refuge with this cousin to see if I can find a job on his estate. Once the situation is settled, I will try to return home."