novelAbuy Chapter 16 Forced Intrusion
Chapter 16 Forced Intrusion
Sun Deshan's fingers trembled violently, the pain stemming from cuts blackened by gunpowder and cracked by the cold wind. He gripped the cold iron barrel of the matchlock musket tightly, his right hand pulling out a greasy cloth bag from his bosom, revealing a piece of dried fuse. The flint struck the flint, blinding sparks flying into the sand, and with a crisp "crack," a dark red glow flickered in the wind.
"We've got our food, Li." Sun Deshan's throat was thick with the smell of blood, and his iron saddle was positioned horizontally across the saddle, pointing diagonally forward.
The "dark figures" on the barren slope of the Liu family's house pressed down completely. There were no shouts of killing as expected, only the rustling sound of hundreds of feet grinding against the hard, dry soil, like a group of rats gnawing on a coffin lid. Some of them were hunched over, while others were on all fours, their empty eye sockets reflecting the green glow of phosphorescent fire, and thick, guttural "hoarse" sounds coming from their throats.
"Stay calm, don't lose your temper." Li Qian's legs gripped the horse's belly tightly. The old horse snorted uneasily, and the earthy smell from its hooves mingled with the smell of death.
A tall man in a tattered robe emerged from the crowd of refugees, carrying a spear whose red cloth at the tip had long since turned a filthy blackish-purple. His eyes, seemingly half-blinded by dust and sand, were tightly clutched to the leather pouch at Li Qian's waist. In his eyes, it was not just silver, but his very lifeline, the means to exchange for "two-legged sheep" or livestock meat.
"Meat... horse meat..." With each step the bald donkey took forward, the hundreds of starving corpses behind him surged forward.
"Li Qian, they're going to tear us apart!" Awang cried out, while the Wang family's wife behind him trembled like a leaf. Even though her mouth was gagged, the despair of impending death still seeped into Awang's neck through the hemp rope.
"Shut up." Li Qian drew his knife with a backhand motion, the tip of which sank diagonally into the soil. He bent down, breathed hot air into the old horse's ear, and then yanked the reins sharply.
"Run it over!"
Li Qian took the lead, his horse's hooves thundering across the wasteland. The group of refugees opposite him seemed to be startled awake by the noise, bursting out in unison a wild, beast-like howl.
"Fire!"
Less than twenty paces from the bald monk, Sun Deshan pulled the trigger.
"Bang--!"
A tongue of fire, over ten feet long, instantly tore through the darkness, white smoke splattering everyone's faces. The explosive roar of gunpowder rolled through the valley, making everyone's head throb with pain. The bald monk leading the group had a bloody hole ripped open in his chest by lead bullets and iron slag, and he flew out like a rag doll. The row of refugees looked as if they had been slashed by a sickle, their limbs and blood mist mingling into a paste under the phosphorescent light.
The noise shattered the courage of these hungry ghosts; their greed finally shrank back in the face of death.
"Charge! Ah Wang, old man, don't turn around!" Li Qian's blade flashed, severing a withered hand that lunged at him to grab the horse's tail at the root.
Su Mo'er clung tightly to the horse's mane, her face pressed against its neck. She could feel the warm blood splattering on her forehead, carrying a rusty and pungent smell. She didn't close her eyes; they were fixed on Li Qian's back, as if trying to etch that image into her bones. She knew that in this world, following this ruthless thief was her only chance of survival.
The cavalry force carved a bloody path through the wreckage and crossed the mountain ridge bordering Linzhang.
Only when the wailing behind him subsided did Li Qian rein in his horse. He touched the lining of the sheepskin map, which was scalding hot with sweat. In the tenth year of the Xianfeng Emperor's reign, the Qing Dynasty was like this leaky, tattered piece of paper, without a single good spot. From Zhili to Yunnan in the southwest, a distance of over three thousand li, one had to first cross Henan, then enter Shaanxi and Sichuan. To the south, the Taiping Rebellion was besieging Nanjing; the foreign devils had reportedly entered Tianjin; and the government troops and the Nian Rebellion were conscripting men fiercely in northern Henan.
"Report the numbers."
"All done..." Sun Deshan coughed violently, the phlegm he coughed up was tinged with dark red.
Awang lay slumped on his horse, his face as white as paper, his crotch soaked. Wang's wife remained silent, her eyes fixed on the front, as if her soul had been blasted away by the gunshot.
Li Qian jumped off his horse and walked behind Awang's horse. The dead infant in the bundle was jostled and deformed, and a putrid stench rose straight to the top of its head.
"Wang family, I told you, I'll take you to your grave. But behind this ridge is Linzhang, and the scattered soldiers of the government troops hate those of us with horses even more than the refugees." Li Qian wiped the blood off his knife and pointed to the abscess on the horse's neck.
"Old Sun, how much gunpowder do we have left?"
Sun Deshan shook his medicine gourd, his face darker than the night: "Less than three qian. That last bang almost emptied my pockets. This iron thing, if it makes another sound, it'll be completely useless as a fire poker."
Li Qian didn't reply. He pulled out a map and pressed his fingertip firmly on the three characters "Xiangshuitan". It was a reed marshland in the old riverbed. The road was difficult to travel, but the soldiers were afraid of getting their horses stuck, so they generally didn't like to go there.
"Go to Xiangshui Beach. Old man, take out your copper coins. When you see a 'water rat' later, just scatter them."
Old Zhao shakily pulled out the bag of blood money, which he had earned by risking his life by the well.
The cavalry crept down the mountainside in the shadows of the ridge. In the fields of Linzhang, the crops were overgrown with weeds, and the roof beams had long been dismantled and used for firewood. By mid-morning, a pungent, stench of rotting mud filled the air.
The reeds at Xiangshuitan are taller than a person's head, and the ground beneath your feet is all black mud. Every step you take makes a "slurping" sound, as if countless mouths are hidden in the mud.
"Halt. Which side are you from?"
Several dark-skinned men emerged from the reeds, shirtless, carrying bluish-glowing crossbows.
"I'm from Cheng'an, and I have some 'goods' with me. I'm asking for help passing through." Li Qian slowly raised his hands, his palms covered with dried scabs.
The leading man sized up the wrecked horses and the dead baby behind Awang, then spat, "Bringing dead people to seek a way to survive, you're probably not so lucky to have such a benefactor. If you want to cross the river, leave two horses behind."
Without wasting words, Li Qian untied the grain sack and tossed over the reins of the two thinnest horses.
After crossing the riverbank, the caravan plunged into a dilapidated temple that had collapsed halfway. It was impossible to tell who the temple was dedicated to; the head of the statue had long been smashed and used as a base for the stove.
Awang untied Wang's wife, and she knelt down with a thud, tightly embracing the black swaddled baby, letting out a mournful cry that sounded inhuman.
"Bury him. There are mountains and water here, it's better than going to western Yunnan to eat sand." Li Qian said, then turned to Su Mo'er, "Go help Awang dig the hole. Your hand isn't broken, so get to work."
Su Mo'er struggled to her feet and walked silently to the backyard. With her hand wrapped in a dirty cloth, she grabbed a sharp piece of tile and, together with Awang, began digging into the hard, frozen ground. Blood seeped through the cloth and dripped into the yellow earth, where it was instantly absorbed.
At night, the fire crackled and popped as it burned rotten wood taken from the roof beams. Li Qian stared at the map—Daming Prefecture, Cizhou, Guangping—each name like a blood-red trap.
"Boss Li, if we have any connections at the Cizhou Escort Agency, can we make a living?" Sun Deshan came over and rubbed the few lead bullets.
"Don't have any illusions. In Cizhou, there are only cannibalistic soldiers and cannibalized people. Trust no one except your knife." Li Qian stuffed the half-eaten black bread into his mouth, chewing until his cheeks ached.
In the backyard, Awang and Old Man Zhao finally dug a small pit. Wang's daughter-in-law placed the swaddled baby inside, not daring to cry out, and simply filled the pit with soil, handful by handful. Su Mo'er stood beside them, looking at the small mound of earth, and suddenly asked, "Brother Li, is there really a way for us to survive in western Yunnan?"
Li Qian didn't turn around, his voice as cold as ice: "I don't know. But I know that if you stay here and can't cross the Zhang River, you'll be nothing but meat on the roadside. If you want to live, bury your petty thoughts along with this dead baby."
The next morning, just as the sky was beginning to turn a leaden gray, Li Qian kicked away the sparks. He didn't even look at the small mound in the backyard, but mounted his horse, cracking his whip in the air.
"Let's go."
Three old horses, with a few barely alive, once again plunged into that boundless wilderness.
Li Qian led the charge out of the dilapidated temple, the sound of his horse's hooves on the frozen earth cold and lonely. He knew in his heart that Linzhang was just the beginning; as they entered Henan and passed through Guanzhong, he wondered how many people would survive the journey of three thousand miles.
"drive!"