Chapter 2623: Welcome

"Set tea for me in the pavilion."

The speaker was Li Guangyuan, a man of about fifty who wore a black gauze Dongpo cap and a Taoist robe patterned with swirling clouds and water. A wisp of beard hung neatly from his chin. One glance was enough to mark him as a powerful local gentry, head of a great household.

Servant boys set up a folding table in the pavilion and arranged a complete tea set upon it. A bamboo-framed brazier stewed water to boiling while another servant fetched a rattan chair produced in Qiongzhou.

Li Guangyuan settled into the chair and gazed out at the river. The pavilion stood on his family's private wharf, built for welcoming and sending off distinguished guests while sheltering them from wind and rain.

The guest he awaited today was not, strictly speaking, particularly prominent. But this man's arrival would determine his family's future fortune—a thought that churned anxiety in his gut as he calculated again and again whether the step he was about to take was right or wrong.

Li Guangyuan's family was the largest grain household in Li Family Enclosure. He served as patriarch of the Li surname not only in this village but in several surrounding ones. Beyond his holdings here, he owned businesses in neighboring markets and in Dongguan County. Though he could not claim to be a figure of renown throughout the county, in this particular area he stood like one leg of a tripod—a local power whose authority could not be ignored.

A servant boy lit the tea and poured for him. Li Guangyuan lifted the cup and sipped slowly. He was neither thirsty nor possessed of any particular appreciation for tea. He drank only to mask his anxiety and pass the tedium of waiting.

The man he awaited was named Luo Heying. They were not strangers. Luo Heying lived in Wuxian Village—a broad-shouldered, thick-waisted man who had loved knight-errantry since childhood. He had traveled extensively throughout Guangzhou Prefecture and possessed abundant knowledge. Zealous for public good and justice, he came from a family of means. The good fellows who worked both land and water routes in the Guangzhou region all gave him face. His wife's family was a branch of Master Li's own clan, within five mourning grades.

When bandits had sailed upstream to attack Sanliang years ago, Wuxian Village was one of the villages bound by mutual-defense agreements. Luo Heying was also a nephew by clan to the Luo Tianqiu family in Sanliang Market. When Luo Tianqiu served as Vice Regiment Commander of the Dongguan County Regiment Training Bureau, he recommended his nephew to the county authorities to serve as "Acting Leader of Braves."

This recommendation saved Luo Heying's life. When Sanliang was besieged, he happened to be on duty in the county seat. Hearing that bandits had surrounded Sanliang, he rushed to lead several hundred regiment braves back to rescue his home. But the village braves gathered in the county were not his family's trained soldiers. Hearing of the bandits' fearsome reputation, they grew terrified and refused to march to their deaths. By the time word came that the bandits had withdrawn, Luo Heying had gathered his own family soldiers and raced back to Sanliang, only to find devastation everywhere. When he reached the Luo family residence, he found it had long since been looted empty. Not one in ten of Sanliang Market's gentry households had survived. He sought out Monk Daole, who was maintaining order in the market, and learned that most of the town's leading men had been killed or had taken their own lives. Their dependents had likewise committed suicide in great numbers. Those who remained had been abducted by the bandits, their fates unknown.

Monk Daole had gathered and encoffined the corpses of the slain gentry and their households, storing the coffins temporarily in his temple. Luo Heying wept loudly before that crowd of coffins, swearing to exact his revenge.

But the bandits had vanished without trace. Fortunately, one of the two principals of the Rehabilitation Bureau, Li Cunfa, was a clan brother to Luo Heying's wife. From him, Luo Heying learned of everything that had transpired before and after Sanliang's fall.

When he heard how his clan uncle had cursed the bandits and chose death over submission, only to be strangled on the threshing ground, Luo Heying's tears fell like rain. When he then heard of Sai Qingxia's fate, he said at once: "Who would have thought such a remarkable woman! Though humble in station, she acted with the spirit of the legendary knight-errantesses Nie Yinniang and Hong Xian. Where is her body?"

"Already encoffined and buried," Li Cunfa said.

"Good. Burn incense and paper for me." Luo Heying pressed a tael of silver on Li Cunfa and questioned him closely about every detail of Sanliang's fall, so that he might settle accounts when the time came.

But bandits remained active in the area. Luo Heying had stayed in Sanliang less than a day when his patrolling soldiers raised several alarms. Left with no choice, he returned to Wuxian Village first, planning to lie low and make plans later.

Yet he had not been home long before trouble found him. Because Wuxian had been bound to Sanliang by mutual-defense agreements, the bandit army turned its attention toward Wuxian Village next. Rumors flew: they said Master Luo had wounded a bandit officer while leading braves abroad, and that the bandits had come to slaughter the village in revenge. Instigated by a few troublemakers, a mob of villagers stormed the Luo residence, meaning to seize his family and offer them to the bandits. Luo's wife was seven months pregnant. The shock sent her into early labor, and in the end both she and the child perished. When the bandits finally arrived, they abducted the entire Luo household to Qiongzhou. The family's real estate and land deeds were sold at cut-rate prices to an evil gentry named Yuan Laoyuan. Luo Heying secretly reinterred his wife in the Lin family ancestral cemetery, dug up his hidden cache of money, and fled to Foshan.

Foshan in those days was a place where people from all directions mingled. With money in hand, he lived tolerably enough. He made regular inquiries about the bandits, intending to petition the Prefect once they withdrew, return to Wuxian and Sanliang, punish those troublemakers and gullible fools, and reclaim his family property. But when the bandits finally retreated, before he could mount his counterattack, he found himself visited instead by family soldiers sent by "Yuan Laoyuan" to collect rent.

This "Yuan Laoyuan" was said to be local gentry, yet no one had ever seen him. But the gang of family soldiers under him were utterly ruthless. Twice a year, in summer and autumn, they descended on Wuxian like tax collectors, demanding payment of the "Burden." The money they extracted naturally went straight to the bandits. Luo Heying submitted petitions and worked through his network of teachers and friends, constantly bringing the matter to the attention of presiding officials. Every appeal sank into silence like stones dropped into the sea. The officials of Guangzhou Prefecture either colluded with the bandits or shrank from any document that accused them. Cases involving "Anti-Bandit" activities, however, were handled with urgent speed. When Luo Heying sent family soldiers to apprehend "persons colluding with bandits," those he captured were released the moment they reached the county—while his own soldiers received forty strokes of the cane before being sent home.

On the soil of the Great Ming, bandits had openly stolen and sold his land, then had the audacity to send men to levy "Burden" upon it. The government pretended to be deaf and mute, even aiding the tyrant in his evil. Luo Heying's eyes burned with rage. From that day forward, he never again placed his faith in the Court or its officials. He thought only of taking revenge with his own hands.

He did not return to Wuxian. Instead he stayed hidden in the Foshan region, wandering from place to place, making friends among men of exceptional ability, quietly raising sworn soldiers, preparing to assassinate a few True Kun and avenge his destroyed family.

During his years in hiding, he came to know many capable strangers active in Foshan. Among them were members of the Eight Immortals Society (Baxian Hui).

The Eight Immortals Society was a branch of the Tianmen Dao God Society. Ordinarily, Luo Heying would have had no interest in such a low-level secret society. But as he learned more about them, he came to see them as a force that could be put to use.

Since the Court—that supposed "gentleman"—had proven unreliable, he would have to rely on "small people." Luo Heying joined the society. With his talents, it was not long before he rose to become Third Road Master of the Eight Immortals Society. It was around this time that the bandits made their comeback—this time not merely besieging Guangzhou and raiding the countryside, but capturing the city outright, establishing a state with all its systems and trappings like so many monkeys donning official caps.

Foshan had originally possessed a Loyalty Battalion, and many powerful clan households. Luo Heying had expected a battle. Instead, the local gentry surrendered to the bandits with unseemly haste. The Loyalty Battalion transformed overnight into the Australians' "National Army."

While Luo Heying hesitated, uncertain where to turn, he encountered a good fellow at an Eight Immortals Society ritual gathering. From that moment, he threw himself into the "Great Cause of Anti-Banditry."

But Foshan had become a "Model County." A group of "Little Bandits" arrived—young ones still smelling of mother's milk. Luo Heying and the Eight Immortals Society members could no longer maintain their foothold in the county. They split up and scattered to Nanhai, Xiangshan, Sanshui, and other places, lying low and waiting for their opportunity.

Ten days ago, he received a letter from Li Guangyuan. Master Li had made up his mind to join the "Great Cause." Luo Heying immediately sent several good fellows ahead with his name card. He himself waited a few more days, gathered two additional companions, and then took a boat directly to Li Family Enclosure.

When he disembarked, Li family servants were already waiting to receive him. They escorted him all the way to the tea pavilion, where Li Guangyuan emerged at once to welcome him. The two men exchanged greetings.

"Brother Luo, you look as hale as ever." Li Guangyuan clasped his hands and bowed. "And who might the two gentlemen behind you be?"

"This is my clan younger brother, Luo Hetu." Luo Heying indicated a young man behind him who carried a long wrapped bundle slung across his back. "He fought his way out of Sanliang Market with me back then."

In truth, neither he nor Luo Hetu had participated in the Battle of Sanliang Market at all. But over the years, Luo Heying had constantly boasted of his exploits there: how he had personally led village braves until blood flowed in rivers; how the bandits could not advance a single step into Sanliang; how the bandits had finally brought up all their cannons and bombarded the town until heaven shook and earth trembled, the sun and moon growing dim; how he alone had cut a bloody path through ten thousand soldiers and escaped with his life.

Fortunately, the current principal of Sanliang, Li Cunfa, was his wife's clan brother and had told him everything about the town's offense and defense. This gave Luo Heying the material he needed to embroider his tales.

"A hero of tiger might indeed—majestic and awe-inspiring."

Luo Heying turned and lowered his voice to introduce a monk in simple robes: "This is Master Haixiang. He hails from Lingao County in Qiongzhou Prefecture and fought the bandits when their iron ships first landed. He later traveled to Guangzhou Prefecture to study. He can be called the Great Ming's foremost expert on bandit affairs. He was originally on his way to the capital to present details of the bandits directly to the Emperor and help formulate strategy. I specially persuaded him to linger here a few days first, so that he might brief us on their tactics."

Gou Xunli had drifted for many years, and his face had grown thick as diamond. Hearing Luo Heying's extravagant praise, his expression did not change nor his heart beat faster. He merely adopted the posture of a worldly-wise sage and clasped his hands in greeting to Li Guangyuan.

Li Guangyuan heard this introduction and could not help studying the man more closely. He was thin and wiry, his movements crisp and assured—clearly someone who had weathered storms. This so-called "monk" was almost certainly a "Wild Fox Zen," a false monk without an ordination certificate (Dudie), who had probably shaved his head to evade the bandits. Li Guangyuan returned the greeting: "So this is Master Haixiang. I hope the Master will grace my manor with his presence for a few more days. The bandits have come in force this time. As to their true intentions, I would be grateful for your instruction." He then addressed the entire party: "Please, everyone, come to the house first. I have prepared a banquet to wash away the dust of your journey."

(End of Chapter)