Putting aside thoughts of home, Chen rode back to thesociety's mansion near Hangzhou where he foundeveryone gathered around 'Melancholy Ghost' Shi whohad just arrived from Beijing. Shi immediately brokefree from the group and bowed before Chen.
"I found out in Beijing that the Emperor had comesouth, and travelled day and night to get here to tellyou only to find that the brothers had not only seenhim, but had clashed with his men as well," he said.
"You've had a hard trip, Twelfth Brother," repliedChen. "Did you hear any other news while you werethere?""Once I heard about the Emperor, I disregardedeverything else," Shi said.
Chen noticed his haggard look and guessed he was wornout after the hard ride. "Go and get a good sleep.
We'll talk again later," he said.
Shi bowed and walked off. As he passed Luo Bing, hesaid: "That white horse of yours is very fast. Butdon't worry, I took good care of him...Oh," He stoppedagain. "I also saw the horse's former owner, HanWenchong, on the road.""What? Did he want his horse back?""He didn't see me. I came across him in an inn inYangzhou with several lead escorts from the Zhen YuanBodyguard Agency. I heard them cursing our Red FlowerSociety, so I went across and eaves-dropped. Theycalled us low and vulgar, and said we had killed thatfellow Tong Zhaohe."'Mastermind' Xu and Zhou Qi smiled at each other.
"What is the Zhen Yuan Agency up to this time?" Xuasked.
"I gathered that they were escorting a consignment oftreasures presented by the Emperor to the Chen familyof Haining." He turned to Chen. "It was for yourfamily, Great Helmsman, so I told the local societyleader to quietly make sure it was delivered safely.""Thank you," Chen replied, smiling. "For once we canwork together with the Zhen Yuan Agency.""The head of the agency is with them, which is anindication of the importance they attach to theconsignment."Chen and the others gasped at the news that the NorthChina Earth-Shaker Wang Weiyang was escorting theconsignment personally.
"Wang hasn't escorted a consignment for more than tenyears," said Lord Zhou. "Great Helmsman, your familyobviously has great prestige.""I thought it strange too," added Shi. "But later Iheard that apart from the valuables for the GreatHelmsman's family, they were also carrying a pair ofjade vases.""Jade vases?" Chen asked.
"Yes, treasures from the Muslim regions. The Muslimsscored a victory over General Zhao Wei's army, butwith the Manchu forces so powerful, they can't holdout for much longer. So they have sent the vases as apeace offering."The heroes excitedly asked Shi for details of theMuslims' victory.
"I heard that General Zhao Wei's troops starved forseveral days as a result of us stealing their rations,and finally had to retreat. The Muslims organised anambush on the road and killed two or three thousand ofthem." The heroes clapped and laughed.
"The Manchu army finally received more supplies," Shicontinued. "It began to advance again, but I didn'thear any further news. When the Muslim envoys arrivedin Beijing, the court officials didn't dare to make adecision, and sent him and the vases down south forthe Emperor to dispose of.""The vases won't make any difference," Chen said. "Nomatter what valuable treasures they send, he willnever agree to peace.""I heard the agency men say that if peace was agreedto, the vases would be kept. If not, they will have tobe returned, so it is vital that they not be damagedin any way."Chen glanced at Xu, and the two walked away from themain group into a side chamber.
"Brother Xu, last night I saw the Emperor. He saidthat he would be returning to Beijing in three days'
time, and that before he left he intended to killFourth Brother.""Then we'd better start making arrangements to savehim immediately," Xu replied.
"The Emperor is probably not back in Hangzhou yet, andmost of their top fighters are with him, so it shouldbe relatively easy to rescue him if we move fast.""The Emperor isn't in Hangzhou?"Chen told him about their meeting in Haining. Xufiddled meditatively with the pens and paper on thetabletop in front of them.
"The only plan I can see at the moment is to steal thejade vases," Xu said finally. "Since the Emperor hasalready sent a huge army out west, he is certain to beunwilling to talk peace, which means he will have toreturn the vases. If he is unable to, his word willlose all credibility, and the Emperor, as we know, isobsessed with his own prestige.""Once we have the jade vases, we can go to him and saythat if he touches one hair on Fourth Brother's head,we will smash them," Chen added.
"Exactly! Even if we can't exchange the vases forFourth Brother, we can at least postpone things for afew days which will also be of benefit to MasterMuzhuolun and his Muslims.""All right," said Chen. "Then we attack this NorthChina Earth-Shaker, Wang Weiyang."Wang Weiyang was sixty-nine years old. The Zhen YuanBodyguard Agency, which he had built up with his ownhands, had prospered in north China for more thanthirty years in spite of strong and sometimes violentopposition, and there was a saying in the fightingcommunity: 'It is better to bump into the Devil thaninto old Wang.' He planned to retire the followingyear in the expectation of living to a venerable oldage, but when the agency was entrusted with the taskof escorting the jade vases to the Emperor, he decidedto accompany the consignment personally. In light ofthe diplomatic sensitivity of the mission, he did notdare to be neglectful. From each of his agencybranches, he detailed six top fighters, while thecourt also supplied four Imperial Bodyguards andtwenty Imperial Guardsmen to accompany the Muslimenvoy on his journey south. Precautions along the waywere most strict, and there had been no incidents ofany kind.
Noon was approaching as they arrived at a town lessthan three miles from Hangzhou. The agency men wentinto the largest restaurant and ordered food, and werejubilantly discussing how they planned to celebrateonce they got to Hangzhou when a horse neighedoutside.
Lead Escort Han pricked up his ears and ran out tofind his own beloved white steed walking slowly pastwith a heavy load of firewood on its back. He tried tograb the reins, but the peasant with the horse gavethe animal a rap on the rump and it cantered off downthe street. Unwilling to give up, Han ran after them.
Once outside the town, the horse turned off the roadand galloped into the trees with Han following as bestas he could.
"Brother Han's gone crazy thinking about that whitehorse of his," said another of the lead escorts with asmile. "Every time he sees a horse on the road witheven a couple of white hairs, he has to chase after itto see if it's his. When he gets home tomorrow andsees his old lady's snow-white skin, I expect he'llprobably think she's his horse and immediatelyjump..."The others exploded into laughter.
Just then, one of the waiters suddenly called out:
"Master Liang, please sit over here."A man with the appearance of a rich merchant enteredwith four servants behind him, one of them carrying awater pipe. He seated himself at a table and a waiterhurried round pouring him a cup of tea and chattering:
"Try this Dragon's Well tea, Master Liang. It's madewith fresh spring water brought in only yesterday."Liang grunted and said in a voice thick with theaccent of Hanzhou: "Bring me a few slices of meat, abowl of eel soup and three catties of the best ricewine."The waiter bowed and a moment later, the fragrance ofhot wine assailed their noses as he returned with alarge flask.
"What is Brother Han doing away so long?" Master WangWeiyang asked.
Suddenly the main door of the restaurant was kickedopen, and a dwarf shuffled in followed by a girl and astrong young man, all three dressed in rough clothes.
The dwarf bowed in all four directions and announced:
"I am a humble travelling player who can do a fewtricks to make you laugh. If you are impressed, pleasemake a contribution. If you are not, please accept myapologies."He picked up a teacup from a table and covered it withhis tattered cap. "Change!" he shouted, and whiskedthe cap away: the cup had disappeared. He waved thecap around to show that the cup was not inside.
Intrigued, Master Liang stood up and walked over toget a closer look.
"May I borrow your snuff box, sir?" the dwarf askedhim. Liang laughed and handed the snuff box over. Thedwarf placed it in his cap and made it disappear inthe same way.
"That snuff box is very precious," one of Liang'sservants warned. "Don't damage it now."The dwarf smiled. "Please look in your pocket, sir,"he replied. The servant felt around in his coat pocketand pulled out the snuff box.
Liang and his servants were amazed, and so were theLead Escorts and Imperial Guardsmen. All crowded roundto watch the dwarf's conjuring. Liang pulled a jadering off his left hand and handed it to him saying:
"Make this disappear too."The dwarf put the ring on the table, covered it withhis cap and blew on it.
"Alter east and transpose west, Topsy-turvy like therest!" he shouted and whipped away the cap. The ringhad disappeared. The onlookers gasped.
"Please feel in your pocket, master," the dwarf said,and Liang pulled the ring out and stared at it insurprise.
"Excellent, excellent!" he cried.
Several dozen people had entered the restaurant bythis time, to see what was going on, including anumber of army officers.
"What's so special about a trick like that?" one ofthe officers said. "Let's see if you dare to make thisdisappear." He slapped an official document down onthe table and the onlookers saw it was marked "Urgentdispatch for Master Wang, Beijing Military Bureau",underneath which was written "Zhejiang ProvincialCommander-in-chief Li".
"Please don't be offended, sir," the dwarf replied. "Imay earn my living in a rather casual way, but I wouldnever dare to touch an urgent official dispatch.""What does it matter?" Liang said to the dwarf. "It'sjust a game. Go on, make it disappear." He turned tohis servants. "Give me five taels of silver," he said.
One of the servants pulled an ingot of silver from abag and handed it to Liang who placed it on the table.
"If you make the dispatch disappear, this silver ingotis yours," he said to the dwarf.
The dwarf looked at the ingot, then turned and held awhispered conversation with the girl.
"I have found some more courage," he finally said. Hecovered the document with his cap and shouted "Change!............