The Emperor's Prey

by Jeremy Han

  Zhao burst into action. He met an attack with an even more vicious one. He lunged into the path of an attacking man and gripped his throat in a death crush. He could feel the Adam’s apple collapse in his fingers. The man stared at him with shock, as though he did not know that dying was part of a soldier’s job and he could not accept this fate even as he slid downward, gravity winning against his dead legs. He gave his command without thinking,

  “Long and Yula, take the emperor and the girl to the boat. Khun, take them away!”

  Then he was fighting again. He had drawn his own sabre and he brought it down hard against another man who came at him. He saw uniformed men coming out from the forest. And more ominously, men in civilian clothes, armed and charging with a definite purpose unlike the foot soldiers.

  Dong Chang! He screamed!

  As they ran toward the boat, a man materialised before Yula and she hacked downward with a double-handed blow. Blood landed on her face, but she took no notice of it. A man thrust a spear at Long who parried it forcefully to throw his attacker off balance. His main objective was to haul the monk to safety so he left the unbalanced attacker to his partner. Yula drove her blade into the soldier’s back as she followed up from her lover’s attack. She cheered in her own tongue as she kicked the dying man off her blade. She covered Long’s back as the warrior brought Li Po and Jian Wen to the boat. They made it to the jetty and their heavy footsteps thudded across the wooden platform. Suddenly, a soldier lunged onto their pathway but Khun punched him so hard he fell into the water. His entire body weight was in the unstoppable punch. They jumped into the boat with no thought for elegance, rocking the vessel violently. The boat threatened to throw them off like a vengeful bull. The first thing Yula did was to reach for her bow. Seeing them board safely, Long faced the jetty with his sabre drawn, ready to defend the pier so that his comrades’ retreat would not be cut off. From the other boats tied to the pier came men hidden under the deck. These pseudo fishermen were disguised soldiers and their job was to cut off their retreat. They tried to swamp the lone former imperial guard. A whistling sound and one of the soldiers clamped his throat; an arrow severed his wind pipe. Two soldiers swung their blades at Long, who parried one and dodged the other. He counter attacked by kicking one of them hard, breaking his knee and then jumped out of the way as the other man attacked again. Before the attacker could regain his balance, Long executed a backhand slash that almost took his head off; then he stabbed the man with the broken leg. Both corpses fell into the river. The jetty was secured and the surrounding waters turned red.

  FORTY SIX

  Those soldiers who came at Fu Zhen the Farmer, because of his small size, regretted. The man moved like the river behind him; fluid but uncontainable and landed blows with beauty and grace. He pulled one of the soldiers forward as the man thrust his sword, using the soldier’s own energy against him by directing him face first onto the table. The man crashed unceremoniously. Then he grabbed his staff and struck another man in the face. It was a circular motion; he moved away from the blade and followed through the movement in a cycle so that his staff came back to the point where his assailant was. Two soldiers slashed together and Fu lifted his staff seemingly to block; only to flip the soldiers into a forward roll. Instead of hitting them, he ran.

  It was clear that they could not win against the numbers and with the secret agents now joining the fray, their only chance was the boat. Zhao shouted the retreat order. They ran before the Eastern Depot agents could reach them. One of them did. Zhao felt a burning slash across his shoulder and he turned to see a flash of silver flying away from him. Li Wei, the agent who wielded the chained sickle charged toward Zhao Qi with a loud roar. Zhao turned to meet the agent who killed Tu. Steel clanged as Zhao’s sabre was whipped by the chain. Li pivoted and leaned in, slashing with the sickle. Zhao blocked the blow by jamming his palm against Li’s elbow so that the hand with the sickle could not close in, denying Li a chance to throw the deadly weapon. Li did not expect Zhao to close in with him. The commander was inside his radius, which meant he could not unleash the deadly chain whip with the sickle. With that advantage, Zhao pressed in. He forced Li backward with his forearm pressing against the agent’s throat, the pressure forcing the man backward unwillingly. Zhao was so close he could smell the other man’s breath. Then he head butted Li and smashed his face with his elbow. Li fell back dazed, nose broken.

  Li’s partner Lu Ximing was not far behind. His sword flashed brilliantly as he took on the Acrobat. Li Jing’s shortened guan dao parried the raining blows; he could not counter attack against such a vicious and quick enemy. Fu Zhen held the pack of foot soldiers away with his swirling staff; breaking many bones and limbs. The common soldiers were not a match for the small man. With a shout, Li Jing spun the guan dao and thrust toward Lu. Lu dodged rather than block the attack. The blade sang as it cleaved the air as Lu lowered his head to dodge. Lu jumped and executed a flying kick which connected with Li Jing’s blocking arm. At that split second, Lu kicked again, hitting Li Jing’s chest and the older man grunted and fell back. Lu Ximing’s aerial attack impressed even the Acrobat. The agent pressed the attack with his sword again. Li became a monkey again, dancing away unpredictably. He had earlier underestimated Lu. Now he won’t make the same mistake again. When he found the opening, Li Jing attacked as ferociously as a alpha monkey guarding its turf. The guan dao slashed across the air and Lu defended. The blows were heavy and fast and the agent was forced backward. Then suddenly Lu fell. Fu Zhen had sneaked up behind Lu and bashed him on the head.

  “Run!”

  He called out to Li Jing, who turned and ran with the Farmer. Zhao was running toward to the boat too. But Li Wei was not far away; he had recovered from Zhao’s elbow strike and he looked like he was out for payback. And then Zhao saw something he did not like: Archers. Li attacked Zhao again with the swinging sickle but this time the commander was prepared. He dodged and rolled on the ground. When he got to his foot, he attacked again with a series of slashes that drove Li away. Li was relentless; he did not want to let Zhao get away but Zhao was too powerful. Li came at Zhao again and the commander avoided the straight thrust, then he was put on the defensive as Zhao struck at him with his ‘tiger claw’, narrowly missing his face. Zhao turned and ran just as he heard the whirl of an arrow narrowly passing his ear. However the arrow was going the opposite direction toward Li Wei. Li’s chain whip intercepted the arrow before it could do any damage but it bought Zhao enough time to reach the jetty. A second arrow zipped past and pushed Li back further. Zhao looked and saw Yula holding a bow. She smirked at him, I just saved your ass! Zhao smiled at her. Then he heard more whistling and realised the Ming archers were firing at them.

  Li Jing and Fu Zhen ran. But they did not run blindly; they fought a rear guard action to fend off the arrows. One by one they reached the boat and they felt the boat push off, just as the nearest soldier who almost reached the boat got punched back by Yula’s arrow. They did not know that the Mongol tigress was a dead shot. In the haste and confusion of fighting they did not realise that Long was rowing the boat. Slowly the boat moved out of range and more and more arrows fell into the water. The figures standing at the jetty became smaller in size as the boat moved. Long rowed and rowed until his arms felt like lead.

  Khun Sa laid bleeding. Li Po and Jian Wen were holding his head up, but it could not stop the man from vomiting blood. Two arrow shafts stuck out from his chest and as he tried to speak, the blood gurgled and he wheezed from a punctured lung. All except Long who was still rowing gathered around the dying man. Jian Wen told the rest,

  “He stood bravely rowing the boat. He waited until you came before he pushed off. When the soldiers could not get you, they aimed for the boatman. He continued rowing until he collapsed and Long took over.”

  Zhao Qi did not know what to say. He hardly knew the man, but yet he knew this man had suffered in life, and is now dying for a fight that was not his. He could not help but feel f
or him. But there was no sentimentality in Khun’s eyes. Instead, they became even more focused now that he knew he could not finish the mission his best friend the Grand admiral had tasked him. With quaking fingers, Khun reached into his pocket and took out an envelope,

  “Take this and go to Quanzhou. They will know what to do.” Khun’s voice was soft. It did not match the big, valiant man.

  “Who?” Zhao asked urgently.

  “The priests...go to the Temple of the Twin Pagodas”. The fading voice spoke. “Give them the envelope. All will be explained when you get there. Speak to no one about the letter except the priests. Go overland...to Yunnan and seek refuge. Give this to them...” He took an amulet and handed it over to Zhao.

  “We will get you there. Hang on.”

  Khun smiled and revealed bloody teeth. “No commander...I am going home. As Allah wills.”

  Khun wheezed as he took a deep breath. He coughed and the others quickly tried to reduce his suffering by comforting him. But Khun no longer felt any pain. Instead of the stark, eternal cliffs around them, he saw the snowy peaks of his hometown. The azure expanse stretched beyond and the endless green filled it below. He took a deep breath of the cool mountain air that flooded the valley of the Kunyang. He saw his best friend running beside him and remembered their childhood pledge to die for one another. Then his head lolled and his sightless eyes closed with the satisfaction of a man who finished his mission. Khun Sa had many regrets and sorrows in life, but he died feeling proud of himself.

  A few hours later, Ji Gang got on the boat with his re-united team to continue the search. His men had arrived earlier than he. Once he got news of the sprung trap, he rushed over. Tactically, Li and Lu did correctly. They lured the prey into the trap but the ambush was not strong enough. Li and Lu were not a match for Zhao’s entire team. Again, he was troubled by the mysterious archer. In the confusion, no one paid any notice and could not identify the archer. The two agents knelt before him as he came, acknowledging their failure and awaiting their punishment. He dismissed it. Why would he want to reduce his manpower at the middle of a hunt? It was not their fault. If their whole team was here, the outcome would be different; Jian Wen would be trussed up before him, and before long he would be carrying a box with the former emperor’s head in it, on the way back to the capital to conclude this tiring affair. In fact, while he did not say it, he was impressed with the agents. They had correctly deduced that if the enemy would escape by boat, then they would have to pass this way. And if they had sailed the whole night, then they must eat. A fight on water would have been risky because Jian Wen could jump and disappear in the water. So they lured them into land and correctly planted an ambush. His men were flawless but the quality of the local garrison assisting him was lousy. How could he cook a gourmet dish if he was given poor ingredients?

  Twice he had been forced to split his forces, twice it led to his failure to capture them. But it was fine, such things happened. He did not feel too bad about it because now, they knew where the prey was. The first time they crossed swords it was by accident, the second was a deliberate trap. They were getting closer. The third time they meet, it will be at Ji Gang’s arrangement. They would not survive a third encounter with him. Yet, something troubled him; the mysterious boatman was not an imperial bodyguard, so they must be getting help from somewhere. If they were getting help, then there must be somewhere for them to go to. He just needed to know where. Then suddenly one of his men shouted. He followed their pointing and walked quickly over. The other agents stood a respectful distance behind their leader. They found the fishing boat beached ahead. The boat listed at an angle as the tide receded, its hull in firm contact with the gravelly beach. There were blood stains on the floor but there was nobody inside. Ji Gang looked around him. There were no trails or it was carefully hidden behind curtains of thick bamboo. He ordered his men to search. Then he heard another shout.

  “Baooooo!” ‘Reporting’! A soldier knelt in front of him.

  “Lord, orders from Beijing. The emperor had returned to the Purple City. He summons you there.”

  Then still kneeling, he lifted the signed orders for Ji. Ji Gang fumed at this unexpected order that will take him away from the chase. What would the emperor want to hear from him? And why did he suddenly return from his campaign? He turned to his assembled agents. “An Deli. You are in charge while I am away. Continue the chase, and send word to me.”

  “Yes Lord.”

  Ji stormed off with a thousand questions in his head.

  FORTY SEVEN

  Guizhou

  The south western provinces of the Ming Empire were populated by minority groups. Guizhou was one of them. Populated by several different minority groups, the province became a part of the empire during the Song dynasty when the tribal kings accepted the suzerainty of the Han Chinese. However, it was only during the reign of Yong Le of the Ming dynasty that saw mass migrations of the Han people into the region to populate and expand the territory of the empire. With the coming of the Han came government officials and the military to enforce the laws of the Ming. In the heart of the Han, the ethnic groups were labelled as ‘Miao’ which translates roughly to ‘barbarian’. The Han people treated them as such. Of course the minorities were not all the same; each tribe had their own name and identity but it made no difference to the Han; they were all Fan ‘uncivilised’.

  Officials posted to these regions were often sent there for either of two purposes: they were either disgraced or incompetent mandarins exiled or violent men sent to quell a rebellion. Those sent to settle matters of unrest were usually capable men, for the minorities were prone to rebel violently. When fighting for one’s home, one becomes a greater foe. For example, the generals who crushed the Muslim cities in Yunnan fought against a courageous and resourceful foe. It was common during the reign of Hung Wu for fighting captains to be deployed to bring to heel troublesome tribal leaders. Now during the reign of Yong Le, the Ming was at peace, so the officials there were either minor mandarins who did not know the right person or had a suitably influential relation, or they were sent there as a punishment.

  The county military commander shivered as he waited for his guest. The man quivered both from the cold as well as from the thought of dealing with such an unsavoury character. Hong He was in his mid-forties and already showing for it. He remained a Grade Five officer and commanded a garrison of troops that protected a county. He was balding and lanky; he had lost all taste for military training and war. And that was why he was sent to Guizhou. Hong He used to serve in a regular infantry unit as an officer but was caught sleeping on duty. Sleeping was serious enough, but he was also drunk. And that fateful day, the governor actually visited. And after that, he was sent to Guizhou province to guard an ethnic group that could not even speak the Han language. It was the end of his career. But while he disdained the rigours of military life and shunned the glories of victory that could only be achieved through heroism and suffering, he did not consider himself stupid. In fact, he liked the posting here. The emperor was far away and the high command would never send someone higher ranked than him unless there was a war. With a little power and enterprise, he could retire a rich man here, his own little fiefdom.

  He cracked his knuckles as he waited impatiently for his guest. He sat in a lone pavilion amidst a bamboo grove. The winter chill lingered. If he had a choice, he would not conduct his meeting here, but he had to defer to his associate; the man could not be seen in the open with anyone from the authorities, much less the military commander of the county. Behind him were his guards, and behind them another platoon hidden. His associate was not someone you could underestimate or slight. Either way it was bad for business and in business, image was important. He must look like a man whom the triads could do business with without being taking advantaged.

  Creaking wheels called his attention to the road. The large man rode a horse and behind him was a carriage. The rider jumped off the horse in an athletic way despi
te his bulk and strode toward Hong He in a cocky way, chest puffed out. The man grinned and the sun gleamed off his golden teeth. This man was known as the One-eyed Dragon ‘Du Yan Long’. He was the bandit chief of the region. Like all gangsters worth their salt, the One-eyed Dragon wanted to expand his business territory and to do so, he knew who to bribe. Hong He had made it known that he was such a man, a man of enterprise open to all business ideas. Today criminal and government were united in illegal means to wealth. Comparing the two, the officer looked like a merchant and the bandit looked like a soldier. The One-eyed Dragon sat uninvited and smiled,

  “Thank you for coming commander. I appreciate you coming out here far away from the comforts of your camp.” Ironically, there was nothing comfortable about their base.

  “I heard you have a proposal for me.” Hong He spoke with as much official arrogance as he could muster. He sounded like a man bored with such requests because he had heard too many of them and had just the patience to hear only one more. It was crucial that such power relationships be maintained.

  “Yes, yes. I heard that you are a man that we can do business with; a man who understood that profits...could be shared.”