Volume 1, Chapter 41: Chen Jing'er Laughs the Corrupt Official to Death

A baggage cart, followed by more than a dozen horse-drawn heavy wagons.

Before even looking at what the carts carried, Zheng Zhiguo was overjoyed just laying eyes on the dozen draft horses pulling them.

He said, "Brother Gao said, wouldn't it be great if all of us could have mounts? Well, aren't the mounts here now?"

Wang Xuda, Qin Jingsi, Luo Zhong, and the others all came forward to welcome them.

Hearing Zheng Zhiguo's words, Wang Xuda laughed and said, "These are mere pack horses, passable for riding perhaps, but useless for charging into battle." He had already inspected the contents of the carts. Compared to the horses, the items inside the carts appealed to him far more. Beaming with joy, he invited Li Shandao to come over and take a look, leading the way in front and turning his head to say, "Lord! It's a good thing we listened to you and handled this ourselves instead of asking Leader Nie to help. Otherwise, with all these fine treasures, we would have had to split them fifty-fifty with Leader Nie, and that would have been a terrible pity."

While they were talking, they reached the convoy.

The felt canvases covering the carts had already been peeled back.

Li Shandao looked into the carts and saw that the first cart was filled entirely with damasks, silks, and satins; the second cart was also filled with damasks, silks, and satins. Inspecting them car by car, out of a total of fourteen carts, five were loaded entirely with silks and satins; one was filled with porcelain, jade, and silverware; three contained garments for men and women, turbans, belts, shoes, and hair ornaments; two held household sundries such as incense burners, hand warmers, folding fans, and woolen blankets; one cart carried precious sabers and swords; and the last two were packed with gold, silver, jewelry, and bronze coins. — These bronze coins had been minted during the Kaihuang era of Emperor Wen of Sui.

After making the round of inspections, Li Shandao muttered, "Damn it, the rumors really aren't false. This bastard official was a colossal embezzler."

Wang Xuda cared not a whit whether the man was an embezzler, laughing as he said, "Lord, the more corrupt the official, the better! If he weren't corrupt, how could we have reaped such a bounty?"

"Where is Wulang? Why hasn't he come over to take a look?" Li Shandao suddenly noticed that only Zheng Zhiguo and the others were following him, while Chen Jing'er was nowhere to be seen. Surprised, he asked the question, turned his head to look back toward the baggage cart, happened to catch sight of a horrifying scene, and was so startled that he immediately turned around and strode rapidly toward the baggage cart.

Wang Xuda, Zheng Zhiguo, and the others also saw the spectacle, each feeling a jolt of shock, and hurriedly rushed back toward the baggage cart as well.

By the time Li Shandao hurried back to the baggage cart:

A pool of blood had already spread on the ground beside the vehicle, and blood was still welling out from the wound on Cheng Huan's neck.

Cheng Huan lay in the pool of blood, his mouth agape, making indistinct bubbling sounds. His eyes were wide open, filled with terror. He raised his hands, kicked his legs, and struggled for a brief moment before his arms went limp and dropped, moving no more. Chen Jing'er, still fearing that he wasn't entirely dead, stabbed him a few more times in the neck and ribs. Then he wiped the blood off his dagger onto Cheng Huan's clothes before sheathing the weapon.

Squatting on the ground, Chen Jing'er raised his face, bared his teeth in a smile at Li Shandao, and said, "Lord, I've slaughtered him."

His face was spattered with quite a bit of blood, and coupled with his exceptionally white teeth, this grin of his was rather terrifying.

Pushed down onto the ground nearby, the "Chief Clerk Hou," the two surrendered county soldiers' officers, and the two women who had been pushed out of the carriage alongside Cheng Huan had all been scared completely pale, their wits frightened out of them.

Wang Xuda stamped his feet and slapped his thighs, crying, "You, you... Oh, you Wulang, why did you go and kill him?"

"This bastard is a corrupt official who has harmed no one knows how many commoners. What? Third Brother thinks he didn't deserve to die?"

Wang Xuda spoke in a tone of supreme exasperation, "Wulang, I know you loathe corrupt officials and tyrannical bureaucrats the most, and I have nothing to say against you killing him, but you were far too impatient! This fellow was a rare prize! I had already questioned him. Although his family is far away in Nanyang, waiting for them to send a ransom might take too long, but he has friendly officials and associates here in Dongping Commandery. We could have forced him to send someone back to Dongping to raise a ransom! Wulang, this scoundrel is a former commandery vice-administrator, and his family is extremely wealthy in Nanyang. Just think how much ransom we could have extorted! Twenty or thirty thousand strings of cash would be a conservative estimate! And you just killed him like this? What a waste! What a pity! Even if you were going to kill him, you should have waited until after we got the ransom!"

"That was indeed a failure of this younger brother's foresight." Chen Jing'er stood up, made a bow to Wang Xuda, and smiled, "Next time I kill a corrupt official, I will surely heed the wise brother's words: extract the ransom first, and then I'll kill him."

Li Shandao had long been familiar with Chen Jing'er's past experiences. Just as Wang Xuda had said, though Chen Jing'er usually appeared cheerful, whenever he encountered corrupt officials, he truly looked upon them as sworn enemies. That Cheng Huan was killed by him without a sound was unexpected, yet entirely within reason. Li Shandao had not yet decided how to deal with Cheng Huan, but now that Cheng Huan was already dead, there was no need to deliberate further. He waved his hand and said, "Forget it. Since he is already dead, there's no use talking about the rest."

He paused to think, realizing he still needed to admonish Chen Jing'er once more. With a solemn expression, he said to him, "Wulang, I know you hold a grudge against corrupt officials, and these scoundrels truly deserve death every single one of them. But hereafter, when you encounter such a situation, you must not strike without giving word first. Whether to kill or not must await my command."

Chen Jing'er bared his teeth and replied, "I have remembered the Lord's words. This once, but never again. I humbly beg the Lord not to punish me."

Li Shandao nodded and did not dwell on the matter further. He looked toward the others pressed down onto the ground and asked, "Who are these people?"

Qin Jingsi introduced them, saying, "This ugly fellow with rat-like whiskers claims his name is Hou Youhuai, and says he is the chief clerk of Suanzao County; these two scoundrels say they are military officers of the Suanzao county garrison. The three of them were ordered by the magistrate of Suanzao County to escort Cheng Huan across the border. These two women are Cheng Huan's concubines and maids."

Hou Youhuai was none other than the "Chief Clerk Hou." The spot where he was forced face-down was quite close to Cheng Huan, and Cheng Huan's blood had already flowed to the edge of his cheek. Daring not to move a muscle, letting the blood trickle near his own mouth, he pleaded and wailed in sheer panic, "Heroes! I am merely a lowly county clerk who has always been despised by the magistrate, which is why I was given this wretched chore of escorting Cheng Huan across the border! I am no corrupt official! I am no corrupt official!"

Li Shandao didn't answer him. He smiled, looked him up and down a few times, and said, "Third Brother, you really are damn well cut out to be a bandit!"

Wang Xuda already knew that Li Shandao's favorite expletive was essentially equivalent to an oath, often just a verbal tic with no actual intent to curse, so he didn't take offense. Instead, he chuckled flatteringly and asked, "What makes the Lord say that?"

"If I guess correctly, were you about to suggest that I take these three as hostages and extort a ransom as well?"

Hou Youhuai and the two military officers were scared out of their wits, pissing and shitting themselves, and cried out in unison, "Our families are willing to offer a ransom! We only beg the hero not to kill us!"

A single phrase could describe Wang Xuda: he would squeeze every last drop dry. No wonder Li Shandao said he was a born bandit.

Li Shandao was ready to accept good advice and smiled, saying, "Very well! What you say makes sense, Third Brother. We'll do as you suggest. Spare these three their lives, but the ransom won't just be demanded from their respective families."

"What does the Lord mean?"

Li Shandao said, "A county chief clerk and two garrison officers—all of them hold official posts, and this trip was official business. Now that they've fallen into our hands, demanding eighty or a hundred thousand strings of cash from the Suanzao County yamen as ransom for their three lives isn't asking too much, is it?"

Wang Xuda gave a thumbs-up and praised from the bottom of his heart, "This humble subordinate lacks intelligence and has the vision of a mouse; it is hard for me to compare with the Lord!"

Li Shandao said, "I'll leave this matter in your hands to handle."

Wang Xuda respectfully accepted the order.

This was the official highway, not a place to linger.

By now, travelers and refugees had already appeared at both ends of this stretch of the highway, though upon seeing such a large band of outlaws here, none dared to approach.

To prevent Suanzao County from getting wind of the incident and dispatching garrison troops, Li Shandao decided not to halt here any longer.

First, he ordered that Hou Youhuai and the other four be tossed into the baggage cart; next, he ordered Wang Xuda, Qin Jingsi, and Luo Zhong to assign men to gather up all the weapons dropped by the fleeing county soldiers, either tossing them temporarily onto the cargo wagons or carrying them; finally, he ordered that the felt canvases be put back over the cargo wagons, assigned two men to drive each cart, and had the baggage cart driven as well. The group then departed from the spot and headed toward their hiding place.

Passing by Gao Chou奴 and the others, who were guarding Gao Xi and other captives, the latter joined the formation and traveled together.

As for the slain Cheng Huan, since everyone despised him as a corrupt official, his corpse was left unattended by the roadside.

Most of the county soldiers brought by Hou Youhuai, along with Cheng Huan's personal slaves and escorts, had managed to flee. The number of captives was small—only a dozen or so. The captured county soldiers were mainly three or four who had been hit by arrows, while the rest were Cheng Huan's servants.

If they were returning to the stronghold right now, capturing these soldiers and servants might still have some utility, as they could be put to work as laborers in the camp. But since Li Shandao and the others were not heading back to the stronghold just yet, these captives served no purpose, and keeping them would require dispatching extra men to guard them, which was a waste of manpower. Therefore, after having their weapons collected, Li Shandao simply let them all go.

The hiding place—a small copse of woods—was more than ten li away.

After walking a short distance along the official highway, Li Shandao and his men turned off the main road and switched to minor paths.

The narrow path was rugged and bumpy, and the carts jolted severely as they rolled over it. Fearing that the porcelain and other delicate goods would be smashed, Wang Xuda personally kept watch by the cart carrying the porcelain, lifting the canvas to inspect inside every few moments. From time to time, cries of "Ouch!" and "Ah!" from men and women drifted out from the baggage cart ahead, where Hou Youhuai and the other four were squeezed together, bumping their heads against one another with every jolt.

Li Shandao was also in quite high spirits.

What made him happy wasn't just the bounty of wealth, but also the horses and the hundred-odd weapons they had seized. Weapons went without saying, and as for these horses—even if they had to give seven-tenths of them to the stronghold, they would still get to keep four or five for themselves. And even if they were just draft horses rather than true warhorses, they couldn't charge into battle, but like Nie Heitan's troops, they could still be ridden ordinarily to speed up marching; that alone was already quite good.

Furthermore, there was the capture of such a fierce and robust fellow as Gao Xi.

Riding on horseback, Li Shandao thought of this and glanced to the side.

Gao Xi had been shouting curses and struggling continuously, making it difficult to push him along, so Gao Chou奴 and the others simply gagged his mouth, bound him tightly to two long poles, and had four lackeys carry him on their shoulders, walking right alongside Li Shandao's mount.

Li Shandao addressed him by his courtesy name and spoke to him warmly with a smile, "Muyang, bear with this grievance for a little while. Just endure it for a bit longer; once we reach our encampment, we'll untie you and let you down."

Lying flat on his back between the two poles, Gao Xi glared upward with fierce eyes, struggling with his arms and legs while mumbling indistinctly behind his gag—certainly nothing pleasant.

Li Shandao turned his head back, pondering to himself: "This fellow called Gao Xi is truly valiant and robust. While it's hard to say how he'd fare in a wrestling match, when it comes to the raw ability to kill, Wang Xuda might not even be his match. If I can win him over to my service, he will be useful not only in future battles, but even in current training. But how can I make him submit and willingly follow me?"

From Gao Xi, his thoughts drifted to Hou Youhuai and the others piled in the baggage cart behind. He continued thinking: "It's a pity those two garrison officers and that Chief Clerk Hou are useless; I can only extort some ransom from them. If only those three were as brave and fierce as Gao Xi..." Suddenly, a thought popped into his head. He froze for a moment, his expression turning delighted. He clapped his hands and said, "Right! Why didn't I think of this just now?"

Before he even had time to consult Wang Xuda and the others, Li Shandao loudly called Chen Jing'er, Qin Jingsi, and the others over, issuing the order: "Wulang, Jingsi, take two or three men, unhitch the horses from the carts, and hurry back to chase down those county soldiers we let go!"

Qin Jingsi asked in astonishment, "Chase those county soldiers?"

"Don't ask questions yet, or it might be too late to catch them. Go after them first, and once you catch them, bring them back!"