Chapter 149: A Thousand Catties

A wild roadside tavern in Sangbi Mountain.

Hong Bi, a centurion of the Ningshan Guard hailing from Zezhou, crouched on the ground, holding his waist-saber high above his head with an expression that suggested he had just swallowed a fly.

Behind him, forty banner-men looked much the same, all of them squatting on the ground, looking more miserable than one another.

Two red-barbarian cannons were loaded onto horse-drawn carts, their barrels and carriages transported separately. Only the cannons and a single cannonball without gunpowder made up the cargo, distributed across four carts drawn by eight horses.

This should have been a very easy transport mission.

From Zezhou to Xizhou, the roads were not particularly difficult to traverse, plenty of rations were brought along, and it was entirely within the provincial borders.

Moreover, there was the silver rewarded by the company commander for this transport—four cents of silver for every man.

Along the way, Centurion Hong had reasoned that if the company commander could spare twenty liang for them, the regional commander must have allocated at least fifty.

Still, this wasn't bad. Their company commander was a good man, and wasn't that just how things worked? The boss ate meat, and the underlings just needed a sip of soup at the back.

Besides, this was not a military deployment; they were merely delivering some goods to a retired official residing in Xixian County, so the schedule did not need to be tightly pressed.

The greatest danger came from the border troops fleeing after the emperor-rescuing campaign. They had kept their guards up along the way, but after waiting the entire journey, no deserters had appeared.

Thus, Centurion Hong's journey had been quite comfortable. Every day consisted of marching, sleeping when it was time to sleep, eating when it was time to eat, and stopping to watch rural sumo wrestling or temple fairs with the brothers whenever they came across them.

Whenever there was a teahouse by the road, he would let the brothers rest and drink a bowl of foamy tea to quench their thirst.

After all, with these cannon carts, one couldn't rely solely on mules and horses; men had to push the wheels alongside them, which was quite exhausting.

Just moments ago, he had decided to rest his feet at Sangbi Mountain, since they were not far from their destination. He planned to let the brothers have a cup of tea and had sent two cavalrymen ahead to notify the old gentleman, lest the passing imperial troops frighten the common folk.

He knew all too well that commoners were more terrified of government soldiers than they were of bandits.

After finishing their tea and resting, once Elder Huo sent people to meet them, with locals to guide them, they wouldn't disturb the civilians.

He had just cut a qian of silver for the tea stall owner, feeling all the while that he had taken a loss, and wanted the tea-server to give him ten cash coins in change when he saw his trusted banner-man rush over and whisper, "Brother! Border troops are coming!"

He turned his head to look, and goodness gracious.

The scout cavalrymen with small banners thrust into their backs stood at attention by the side of the road.

The imperial highway was quite spacious, but in the distance came a procession of three horses riding abreast, stretching endlessly into the distance. Each rode a tall, fine steed, and every single man wore red cotton-padded armor with iron arm-guards over their sleeves, topped with bell-shaped helmets whose helmet-spikes practically pierced the sky.

Damn it, the equipment made Centurion Hong genuinely envious.

He even went over to ask one of the scouts whose general's command they belonged to. Who would have thought that the young scout would look down his nose at him and then turn his head, staring straight ahead.

Centurion Hong thought to himself: Elites.

He hurriedly told his brothers to get up, clear a space by the side of the imperial highway, and bow in salute.

He had grown used to this all along the way. Who knows when you might meet an official's carriage or sedan on the imperial road, and saluting by the side was the end of it. Anyway, nobody else had any interest in paying attention to him, at most sending someone to check his official documents.

If you actually ran into someone who *did* pay attention to you, it wouldn't be anything good. For this job, the company commander gave him twenty liang in total, and after dividing it among the banner-men, he would only have four liang left for himself.

Accommodating the brothers for meals and tea along the way had cost less than one liang, and the return trip would probably take another liang. He had already planned how to spend the two liang he would ultimately have left.

One liang would be used in Linfen to buy rouge and brocade fabric for his wife, as he had promised her before leaving home.

The final remaining liang could be used at the Panyunsheng in Zezhou to buy that pair of deerskin boots he had been yearning for. He had been eyeing them for two years, but could never spare the money to buy them.

As a result, he had run into a eunuch along the way, who had extorted one liang from him through his retainers.

There goes the joy of buying boots, poof, gone.

There was nothing he could be done about the extortion. Although the emperor had abolished all local garrison eunuchs, last year's Jisi Incident had shown a trend toward employing eunuchs once again.

Hong Bi didn't understand any of these lofty matters; he only heard about them when the captains and company commanders mentioned them while drinking. In reality, no matter how the emperor treated eunuchs, he himself was utterly powerless against them.

He could only be grateful to the eunuch lords for taking time out of their busy schedules to come and harm him.

That had been the only person who spoke to him.

He certainly didn't want this general to speak to him either. What if the man demanded his cannons? He wouldn't be able to protect them.

So he simply knelt properly by the roadside, lowered his head, and watched that endless line of horse hooves pass before his eyes.

As long as I keep my head down, they won't see me.

Hong Bi had never considered encountering bandits. He had just passed through Xizhou City, and outside the walls was complete peace.

Right now, Yonghe County City was not far ahead, and he was on the imperial highway; how could he possibly encounter bandits?

Moreover, such bandits couldn't possibly look like this. They ought to be running around bare-assed and holding wood-chopping cleavers.

One cavalry troop passed, another cavalry troop passed, yet another cavalry troop... The cavalry troop had stopped?

A pair of straight-seamed leather boots drew closer and closer in his field of vision. Centurion Hong cautiously raised his head and saw a young man dressed as a military officer.

The young officer smiled at him and asked, "Did you pay for your tea?"

"Paid, paid, paid. I gave a qian of silver, and the tea-server gave your humble subordinate ten cash coins in change," Hong Bi didn't dare to stand up, only asking, "Your humble subordinate is Hong Bi, centurion of the Ningshan Guard. May I ask whose general you are?"

"My surname is Liu. You're the one transporting two cannons from Zezhou to the Huo Family Fortress? Let me see your official documents."

Liu承宗 (Liu Chengzong) was practically bursting with laughter inside. The moment he reached out his hand, Centurion Hong hastily fished out the documents.

Liu Chengzong glanced at them. Nothing much was written on the documents anyway, so he simply folded them up and tucked them into his bosom: "Alright, cannons received. You can head back now."

"No, General, you can't do that! Your humble subordinate received orders to deliver the cannons to the Huo Family Estate, and I must deliver them to the Huo Family Estate."

And then Centurion Hong's soldiers were disarmed.

The group squatted by the imperial highway beside the teahouse, holding their weapons high above their heads, as the soldiers of the Lion Battalion collected them one by one.

Then, quite a few people came down from the mountain. Those people looked very much like garrison soldiers, all wearing helmets marked with the character for 'courage' (勇), some wearing earth-colored robes, while others had outer layers of nail-studded armor.

Those who came down went straight to driving the carts and escorting the prisoners, heading directly toward the Huo Family Fortress.

From beginning to end, the tea-server stood on the side, not daring to make a sound.

Those government soldiers had no intention of paying attention to him either.

The division of labor in the Lion Battalion was very clear. The combat platoons were responsible for causing no disturbance—in simple terms, ignoring the common folk.

Interacting with the common folk was the responsibility of the supply platoon; it had nothing to do with anyone else. The officers kept them strictly restrained, as long as they didn't add trouble for the civilians.

Therefore, until these 'government soldiers' took the people away and dragged the cannons off, the tea-server still had no idea what on earth had happened in his teahouse.

Slowly putting two and two together, the teahouse assistant asked the owner, "Boss, what was that all about just now?"

The owner replied, "Maybe that centurion committed some fault? It's none of our business. Just keep your mouth shut."

Timing was crucial in human interactions.

When Liu Chengzong had just dealt with those banner-men from the Fenzhou Guard, and then encountered a banner-man like Centurion Hong who actually paid for his tea, he suddenly felt his hope for the world return.

He had genuinely intended to let Centurion Hong go, but Centurion Hong refused to leave, insisting on personally delivering the cannons to the Huo Family Fortress. Liu Chengzong had no other choice but to take both the cannons and the men along with him.

"Centurion Hong, do you know that the rebel forces from Shaanxi have entered Shanxi?"

Seeing his subordinates disarmed and himself being ignominiously escorted away, Centurion Hong felt exceptionally disgruntled, yet he didn't dare show it. He could only nod and say, "So the General is troops from Shaanxi coming to suppress the rebels? As for these cannons, my company commander said I must personally deliver them to the Huo Family Fortress. I hope the Military Lord can grant this convenience."

He could tell that Liu Chengzong's accent didn't quite sound like Shanxi. Although the accents of the two places were relatively similar, he could still discern a slight difference.

Who would have thought that Liu Chengzong wouldn't even answer him? It wasn't until the procession turned from the imperial road onto the mountain path that Liu Chengzong finally said to him: "I'm not suppression troops from Shaanxi. I am the rebel from Shaanxi."

Did this general like joking around this much?

The crucial point was that it wasn't even funny.

Yet Centurion Hong still cooperatively chuckled a few times: "The General sure knows how to joke."

"I'm telling the truth. Those men transporting the cannons are starving refugees from Shaanxi; the earth-colored robes they wear were made by themselves."

Liu Chengzong actually found it rather strange why this centurion refused to associate him with rebels at all. He was particularly adorable.

Even now, Centurion Hong still didn't believe it, and stubbornly analyzed it from aspects like strict discipline, unoffending conduct, and armored military equipment, finally concluding: "These are clearly border troops, and those over there are garrison troops."

"We used to be soldiers of the Shaanxi Three Borders; some are deserters, some are surrendered troops. Look at those helmets—they were captured from the Fenzhou Guard banner-men a few days ago. Those bastards were truly wicked; they slaughtered two villages on their way here."

Centurion Hong's mindset shifted.

His neck felt a bit stiff. He turned his head back to search for his banner-men within the military formation, only to discover that his men were receiving the exact same treatment as he was.

That was, each of them had at least two armored border soldiers with their hands on their hilts walking alongside them, keeping them company in conversation.

"G-General, are you telling the truth?"

"True. My name is Liu Chengzong." Liu Chengzong looked at him and asked, "Have you ever heard this name?"

Hong Bi shook his head.

"No matter, you'll know in the future. Your luck is bad; I told you to leave, but you wouldn't, and now you can't."

Hong Bi swallowed hard as he watched the mountain path grow narrower and the scenery on both sides of the road become increasingly desolate. He couldn't help but plead: "Ge-General, please don't kill us! I'm just a minor centurion, and my brothers don't have any money or grain on them. Look at these boots of mine—my toes are almost sticking out!"

Centurion Hong's fabric-faced black boots were indeed on the verge of exposing his toes.

It wasn't that he was truly as poor as all that; he actually had an old pair of leather shoes at home, but because this trip was a long one, he hadn't had the heart to wear his good shoes.

Who would have thought they would come in handy right now.

Liu Chengzong didn't care about his shoes, nor did he intend to kill them. He waved a hand and said, "Behave yourselves, I won't harm you. I'll let you go in a few days. How much reward money did your superior give you for transporting these two cannons?"

"Reward money... the reward money was given, twenty liang."

Centurion Hong's heart hammered against his ribs. He wondered if it would be appropriate to state a smaller amount, but didn't quite dare. He hurriedly felt inside his tunic and said, "Sixteen liang were distributed among the banner-men, one liang was demanded by the eunuch lord's retinue along the way, another liang was spent, and I have this..."

He cupped two liang of silver together with a handful of copper coins in his hands: "This is all I have left. I hope the General will kindly accept it."

Pfft.

Liu Chengzong couldn't hold it back and burst out laughing: "What kind of person do you take me for? Haha, put that little bit of money away. Behave yourselves. When you go back, I'll give each of you two liang. Don't go talking nonsense when you return either—just say the cannons were delivered, understand?"

Whether they talked nonsense or not didn't really matter. Liu Chengzong kept these men merely to buy time for the transport of supplies to Shaanxi.

They were about to advance toward Fenzhou Prefecture, and before that happened, these men could not be allowed to go to Pingyang Prefecture to file a complaint.

Once they crossed the Lüliang Mountains, these banner-men could go file complaints wherever they pleased; by then, it wouldn't matter anymore.

Telling them to return to Zezhou and not talk nonsense was actually just Liu Chengzong showing consideration for them.

As for the two liang of silver, on one hand, he felt pity for these banner-men, and on the other hand, it would steady their minds. Living in peace for a few days would benefit everyone.

Hong Bi's eyes rolled rapidly. Hearing the implication in Liu Chengzong's words, it seemed he truly had no intention of killing them, so he asked: "Then... what about Elder Huo?"

"Elder Huo?" Liu Chengzong turned to glance at him: "He won't be able to file any complaints against you."

When Centurion Hong and his men finally delivered the cannons to the Huo Family Fortress, they were settled on a small hill not far away. Aside from having no weapons, they weren't mistreated in any other aspect.

And they behaved quite obediently indeed.

If one had to describe Centurion Hong's inner feelings—well... the horse-meat buns were truly delicious.

Cao Yao had been waiting anxiously at the Huo Family Fortress, craning his neck.

The moment the two red-barbarian cannons were hauled into the mountain path, this fellow had rushed over, practically wanting to fling himself upon the cannons.

Liu Chengzong laughed: "Why don't you hug it and sleep tonight?"

"Sounds good!"

Cao Yao wore a matter-of-fact expression and directly gestured to his subordinates: "Tonight, send it to my tent—this bronze one right here."

It was also at this moment that Liu Chengzong carefully examined these two cannons.

The two cannons were virtually identical in caliber, but the iron one was thicker and heavier, and both bore inscriptions beginning with the Shanxi Yiguo Iron Metallurgy Bureau.

In fact, the inscriptions were quite lengthy, starting with the date of donation and names, followed by the official titles and names of the supervisors, and the names of the founders.

Afterward, it detailed the weight of the cannon, the weight of the gunpowder used for firing, the types of cannonballs, the firing range, and maintenance methods.

If left unused for more than a year, it had to be greased once with rice chaff.

More than four hundred characters were eloquently cast onto the barrel, reading almost like an essay.

This was Liu Chengzong's first time seeing a red-barbarian cannon. Its form was indeed better-looking than the earlier general cannons, and its narrow-mouthed, wide-breech proportions were likely the modulus that Shi Chengwu had learned from Wang Zheng.

The cannonball was quite interesting: the total weight was four *jin* and eight *liang*, of which the main solid shot weighed two *jin*, while the remaining two *jin* and eight *liang* consisted of cloth-wrapped fragmented iron beans.

When firing, gunpowder was poured in first, then tamped down tightly with straw to serve as a wad, followed by the cloth-wrapped iron fragments, and finally the main shot.

Cao Yao said this wasn't the only loading method: "Firing like this is suitable for field battles. For defending or attacking cities, it's better to use large iron shot. Besides, this iron cannon is just too heavy; we won't have much use for it."

Actually, the iron cannon wasn't bad, but for them, it severely hindered mobility. Normally they could cover seventy or eighty *li* a day, but bringing this heavy cannon along might reduce their daily march to sixty *li*.

That twenty-*li* difference could very well cost them their lives.

"Let Cheng Yun send it back to Yan'an Guard. Actually, I think the best cannons are still the five-hundred-jin bronze cannons—they're convenient for movement and can be deployed in military formations for field battles."

Liu Chengzong pointed at the iron cannon as he spoke, then looked toward the bronze cannon: "I think the carriage is no good. We need to change it to two wheels; it'll run much better on mountain paths."