Chapter Seven: Guo Shanmao

The border troops from Yuhe Fort managed to find shelter in a village before dusk, amidst the expanse of deserted fields. The village was once called Guo Mountain Knoll.

A "knoll" in the northwest refers to a loess hill with a gentle top and steep slopes. The village was built beside such a hill, with numerous cave dwellings dug into the sheer cliff face, and even more courtyard homes scattered about. In the past, this had been a large village with over a hundred households.

Just last spring, a few families still remained here. When Liu Chengzong left the fort to recruit soldiers, he had seen a shepherd from Guo Mountain Knoll singing folk songs by the roadside.

Memories of those times lingered vividly. Yet this year, all that was left were collapsed, ruined courtyards and cave dwellings with doors and windows sealed by blocks of yellow earth.

A greater sense of desolation had settled in.

The nearly two hundred border troops released from Yuhe Fort by He Renlong split into three groups at the river mouth. One group, leading their men northeast, intended to skirt Yulin City and head to Baode Prefecture—their destination being Shenmu and Fugu counties.

The squads bound for Qingyang and Pingliang also parted ways by the river, wading barefoot through the more than a foot-deep Wuding River to the western bank, on their way to Hengshan.

Only the squads of Liu Chengzu and Cao Yao, totaling fifty men, headed south.

Shizhang Tian Shoujing led his men to chop firewood, while Liu Chengzu, the elder brother, had already climbed the steep hillside to scout the terrain as soon as they arrived at Guo Mountain Knoll.

Familiar faces all wore anxious looks, uncertain about the future. Only Cao Yao’s men seemed at ease, having split open a dead tree for a battering ram and rampaged through the village, smashing the mud-sealed cave doors left by fleeing villagers and searching everywhere for anything useful.

They claimed lots were drawn, but Liu Chengzong suspected that the troops He Renlong released all had their issues.

Liu Chengzu’s squad had been recruited from among refugees last year. With food and supplies insufficient throughout the year, their training was incomplete and their skills limited. By old border soldier standards, their only redeeming feature was their ability to form ranks.

So only twenty of them were sent out.

As for Cao Yao’s squad, every man was over thirty, each highly skilled, with many veterans of the Battle of Sarhu. But all had spent years as outlaws and were hard to manage.

Old bandit Cao, who led them, was in high spirits, instructing his men to break down doors and set up bonfires, boasting to his woman about the bronze mirror he’d bought with three handfuls of beans. No one knew what was roasting over the fire. When Liu Chengzong wandered the village, Cao Yao called out to him:

"Lion! Lion! I’ve seen you wandering the village for ages—what are you looking for?"

"Nothing much. I took Little Whirlwind out to the fields, didn’t see a living soul," Liu Chengzong replied, shaking his head as he approached. "Just wanted to check if… Captain Cao, I circled the place twice and didn’t see Brother Gao. Have you seen him?"

Shizhang Gao Xian was the third son in his family, so everyone called him Old Third.

Cao Yao grinned, waving dismissively. "Oh, what are you worrying for? Don’t mind Old Gao—he went over the hill to the Seven Eyes Cave looking for a woman. Probably won’t be back till midnight, or even tomorrow. Even borrowed three pecks of grain from me, said he wanted to buy the woman home."

"I told him, but he wouldn’t listen. If you ask me, he should just take two men and snatch her back. That bastard’s been sleeping alone for a year, and now wants to pay in grain…"

It was true—among these two squads, Cao Yao was clearly the wealthiest. When they left Yuhe Fort, his baggage filled two mules, and he had his men carry other goods.

Perhaps this explained why his men were so carefree; they knew they wouldn’t starve. If things got tough, they could always slaughter the mules and eat for a few days.

"So, did you lend him the grain?"

"Lend? I gave it to him. He claims that family once saved his life—psha!" Cao Yao spat into the fire. "Saved his life? What kind of luck is that? Why didn’t he come to me for help?"

Cao Yao’s grin turned lewd, but before he could say more, his wife twisted his waist sharply. "Cao Liu’er! Help him? Shameless!"

Cao’s wife looked a decade younger than him, a beautiful woman with an oval face. She had followed him ever since he defected to He Renlong, always living outside Yuhe Fort. She was also skilled with her hands.

"Hey, I was just saying. If I’d known, he wouldn’t have needed to give his woman away… Lion, look." Seeing his wife angry, Cao Yao quickly changed the subject, pointing to several chunks of meat roasting over the fire. "Look familiar?"

The aroma of meat was already wafting through the air. Before Liu Chengzong could speak, Cao’s wife laughed, "Stop teasing Lion. That’s the wild goose he hunted."

She glanced at Liu Chengzong. "You know your brother—he’s always been reckless. Drew the short lot and couldn’t accept it, so before leaving the fort, he sent someone to beg He Yong for a goose."

"Only got one," Cao Yao said, checking the doneness of a goose leg and handing it to Liu Chengzong. "Here, this is for you. That one’s for your brother. The rest will be stewed for the lads."

Liu Chengzong stared blankly at the willow skewer Cao Yao held out. "You only got one?"

"You hunted those geese. Leaving them one is generous enough. Who knows if we’ll ever meet again—better to eat our fill while we can."

Fair enough. Liu Chengzong doubted he’d have done the same, but the goose leg now roasted to perfection was too tempting to refuse. He sat down and began to eat.

Seeing him sit, Cao’s wife stood and brushed the dust from her patched cotton jacket, smiling. "You brothers talk. I’ll go inside to heat the brick bed—can’t sleep tonight if I don’t tidy up."

She disappeared step by step into a cave dwelling, out of sight. Only then did Cao Yao turn his twisted neck back around, his broad, scarred face still wearing a dreamy, lovesick smile. Regaining his senses, he shook his head and sighed, "Your sister-in-law is a good woman!"

Cao Yao’s words were wasted on Liu Chengzong, who had no wife and understood little of such things. He nodded, curiosity piqued. "Brother Cao, how long has she been with you?"

"How long?" Cao Yao paused mid-reach for the goose leg, leaned back, closed his eyes, and pondered. "Ten years, maybe? Yes, ten years. The year of the Sarhu campaign… ten years."

"Ten years?" Liu Chengzong stopped, eyes wide in shock, blurting out as he handed back the goose leg, "She can’t be more than twenty!"

"She was eleven when she came with me. If not for Sarhu, I, Cao Liu’er, would never have won such a good woman." Cao Yao took the goose leg and bit into it, juices running down his chin. "Delicious!"

"Want to hear the story?" He handed back the goose leg, prodding the fire with a stick, his eyes reflecting the flames as his speech slowed.

"That year, in the great battle, our army was routed. I escaped with the general, a low-ranking officer. Before we could enter the Pass, the general was executed by Xiong Tingbi. I gathered nineteen brothers, swore an oath to live and die together, and fled inside the Pass."

"We reached Guangping, snow falling thick. Couldn’t risk the county or prefectural towns, so we tried to find a village to buy food. Don’t look at me like that—I was your age then, not half so wild, just wanted to survive, even if it meant selling my boots to get back to Henan."

"We found a village, but it had already been ransacked by earlier retreating troops, who were far worse than us. All the men were dead, only women left to cook. We were starving."

Cao Yao took a deep breath, and his words flowed easily. "There was still grain in the village, so we drew our knives on those men, and many died in the fight. I saw her—so pretty, so fair-skinned—I didn’t know what to say, just offered to take her home. She took me to her house, a wealthy family’s home—I still remember it: three courtyards, snow piling on the tiled eaves. It was wonderful."

"The side rooms were burning, six dead in the front yard, two in the back. I helped her bury her parents—took quite a liberty… We bowed to heaven and earth atop their graves."

"People say I’m reckless, but I’m no fool. If I weren’t wild, I couldn’t keep a woman like her. After that oath, I was determined—even if I went back to Henan, I’d become a bandit. If I stayed a farmer, my wife would eventually end up with someone else."

"Later, I took to the roads—she became a bandit’s wife. I went up the mountain—she became the head lady. I became a squad leader—she became the squad leader’s wife."

"She’s like me—no, she is my brother!"

Cao Yao turned and looked at Liu Chengzong with serious intent. "If I’d stayed honest, I’d have died a dozen times over by now."

With that, he drew another deep breath, the look of reminiscence fading from his face. He reached out, gesturing between the two of them. "Brother, shall we talk business?"