Magomet Timov - The Path of Li

Chao Ding looked around with a feverish glare. His warriors crowded behind him and eagerly awaited the order of their commander.

"Damn! To the hell with this village! It's time to get out of here!" The gallant foreman decided, but, as it turned out, someone had different plans. A red-hot arrow flew out from behind the acrid grey smoke of burning grass and pierced the throat of one of the fighters. He wheezed, grabbing it with both hands, releasing the sword from his hands, and began to fall on his side. No sooner had the Boar realised the danger of the situation than a the second arrow of the same kind knocked down the second warrior, breaking through the armour and getting stuck under his left shoulder blade.

The Boar whirled around and, drawing out his Dao sword, yelled with all the might of his throat polished with cheap beer:

"Cover-up…"

The remnants of a dozen rallied around their commander, but the soldiers did not see anything because of the veil of smoke. Their eyes were watering, many began to cough, but the small detachment still began to move towards the exit from the valley. Chao Din was already beginning to think that they would be able to escape under cover of a smoke veil created by unknown enemies, but at the moment when the saving edge of the forest was already close, men armed with peaks fell out of the nearby bushes and rushed to the remnants of the squad.

They used round shields made of willow and covered with leather. These home-made protective devices could only stop the first blow of a spear or sword, while the second one destroyed them completely. However, there was no need for a special firmness: the unknown repulsed the first blows and were already close to the soldiers. The shields flew to the side. The spears of Boar's warriors were useless, as several precious seconds were irretrievably lost. The homemade spears of the attackers pierced the leather armour easily. The governor's soldiers fell one by one, choking on blood, for the enemies did not know mercy: they cut the throats of those who were slightly wounded. In less than a couple of minutes, the Boar was left alone with a dozen spears aimed at his chest. The attackers looked at him with undisguised fury from under the wide-brimmed hats. The Boar sighed hoarsely and released the blade, falling on the roadside boulder with a melancholic clang. He knelt and folded his hands behind his head, indicating that he was giving up. He made no illusions about his future fate. Those whose families he had so persistently and diligently harassed finally got him. He couldn't hope for mercy…

The attackers made an opening in the ring they had formed, and a tall warrior, clean-shaven, wearing good armour, approached Chao Ding. "It's the leader," the Boar realised. Suddenly he recognised him. Somewhere in the depths of his soul, the thought of possible salvation arose.

"I know you. You are Liu Hei, the tax collector from Xianyang! Don't you recognise me, your old friend Chao?" The Boar tried to jump up, but immediately felt a spear butt between his shoulder blades and fell to his knees again.

Liu Hei looked at the foreman with unspeakable contempt. Yes, he recognized him. He saw him more than once in the eateries of Xianyang, the largest city in the province. He even remembered how they called him the Boar behind his back… But this man did not cause any emotions in him. He called out to Master Luo:

"Tell me, sage, what does this man deserve?"

"Anyone deserves to live," Luo Yang replied sadly as he walked up.

A spark of hope lit up in the Boar's soul. Liu Hei stared at the old man in surprise.

"He'll go away like that?"

"The dead are useless, and he can be of use," the sage said, perplexing everyone. The Boar and Liu stared at him with the same confusion. The old man sighed.

"Cut off both of his hands. If fate deems him worthy, he will have time to reach people before the sun rises, and they will help him. If he doesn't have time, the dry belt will split his skull like a blacksmith's hammer splits a nutshell. That would mean he had no chance…

The Boar howled in impotent rage as a man in the armour of a princely warrior was approaching him with a naked changdao in his hand.

"What use of him did you talk about, old man, when you persuaded me to let this bastard go?" Liu Hei inquired when the Boar disappeared into the forest thicket, howling in pain, both arms cut up to the shoulders, with wounds seared by fire and a rawhide belt on his head.

The wise old man nodded in the direction of the rebels, who were collecting the weapons of the governor's warriors, chatting merrily among themselves.

"You showed them your nobility by giving the defeated a chance," the old man said simply.

The old man turned and walked towards the forest towards the camp. The leader of the rebellious peasants was watching him in silence.

Zhu Youjian, the Great Huangdi of the Celestial Empire, the Emperor of the blessed country, was in slight confusion. He was just informed about a conspiracy among the dignitary eunuchs in the province of Sichuan to overthrow the imperial family. Most likely, these were only rumours and would remain rumours, but it was time to decide something about the eunuchs.

The tradition of placing these "sub-men" in leading positions in the provinces and in the palace was established centuries ago and pursued a completely understandable goal for the ruling dynasty: to prevent the hereditary succession of local authorities when positions passed from father to son. Not being particularly concerned about reforming administrative legislation, the Emperors of the old days took a simple path: they castrated all the confidants admitted to power unless they were members of the imperial family or someone from the "noble" families.

The problem arose immediately after the young Emperor ascended to the throne of the Celestial Empire. He accepted it after the untimely death of his elder brother, Emperor Zhu Yujiao, who did not bother with offsprings, and therefore, did not leave any sons. Being the fifth son of his father, Emperor Zhu Changlu, who had many children, and his third wife, Zhu Youjian could not even think about the throne in his childhood, and, probably, that is why his childhood memories were so vivid. No palace intrigues or undercover games with power at stake! All this became the fate of his older brothers. But, apparently, an external observation also brings results, sometimes more significant ones, than direct participation in the life of the palace.

Perhaps that is why, barely ascending the throne in the year 4324 of the Shan-Yin era, bearing the sacred name of Ding-Mao, he immediately ordered to execute Wei Zhongxian, the senior eunuch of the departed Emperor, the squabbler and intriguer and the favourite of the supreme Ruler Ke Shi, as the two practically ruled the Celestial Empire behind Huangdi's back. It wasn't easy for him, but he didn't grow up in an ivory tower. Since he was a child, he somehow understood that the right of the strong reigns in the palace. Moreover, his kind and faithful mentor, who seemed to be engaged in his upbringing and training from the first days of his life, considered such measures vital, though cruel.

The young Emperor accepted the country in a disgusting state: one crisis followed after another, as the weather seemed to take up arms against the Celestial Empire, as bad years repeated in succession. The Jurchens roamed in the North, and the Portuguese pirated in the South. Several provinces were constantly engulfed in flames of peasant rebels, which, however, were extinguished by his loyal generals for some time. Despite this, his army was still the strongest in the visible world and even its northern neighbours reckoned with it.

And still, he had to do something with the dominance of eunuchs in power… These reformers from the Dunlin party invited him to familiarise himself with their proposal for state reorganisation. He had to choose the time and deal with this. It was also time to think about a child… He couldn't leave the country without an heir. You can't leave such questions unattended… So, he should forget about the chambers full of concubines for a while and pay more attention to his Empress at night.