The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 2 – Part 1

The Seven Eccentrics of Jiangnan

Yan Lie stepped out of his room. Down the corridor towards him came a middle-aged scholar, his shoes trodden down at the heels and slapping clack, clack, clack as he walked, yawning all the way. He wore a smile that was not quite a smile, screwed up his eyes and pulled faces, the very picture of idle insolence. He was greasy from head to foot, his clothes and cap in disarray, his face caked with grime. By the look of it he had not washed it in ten days at the very least. He carried a tattered black oil-paper fan and waved it as he walked.

Yan Lie saw that the man was plainly dressed as a cultured scholar, and yet so filthy. Frowning in spite of himself, he quickened his step for fear of brushing against the fellow’s dirt. All at once the man gave a few dry, grating laughs, and as he passed he casually reached out with his folding fan and brought it down on Yan Lie’s shoulder. Yan Lie swerved aside and still failed to dodge it. Furious, he barked, “What do you think you’re doing?”

The man gave a few more dry laughs and clacked away down the corridor. Yan Lie heard him reach the far end and say to the serving boy, “Hey there, lad. Don’t you go by the rags on my back. I’ve silver to spare. It’s some of these young fellows who are the crooked ones, bluffing folk with their fine clothes. Swindlers, seducers of women, men who eat and lodge and never pay, that sort are all the same. You keep your eyes open. Play it safe and make him pay for his room and board first.” Without waiting for the boy to answer, he clacked off.

Yan Lie’s temper flared higher still. He thought, Insolent wretch, wasn’t that aimed straight at me? The serving boy, having heard the man out, gave Yan Lie a sidelong look and could not help growing suspicious. He came up to him, bobbed a bow and said with an ingratiating smile, “Please don’t take it amiss, sir. It’s not that I mean to be rude…” Yan Lie knew what he was driving at. He snorted. “Put this silver in your till!” He reached into his robe, and froze.

His purse had held forty or fifty liang¹ of silver, but when his hand went in, it found nothing at all. Seeing his embarrassed face, and the hand that lingered inside his robe and brought out no silver, the serving boy decided the shabby scholar had been right, and at once his manner was a good deal less respectful than before. Straightening his back and thrusting out his belly, he said, “What’s this? No silver on you?”

Yan Lie said, “Wait here. I’ll go back to my room and fetch it.” He supposed he had simply come out in a hurry and left the silver behind. But back in his room he opened his bundle and found that the several dozen liang of gold and silver in it had vanished without trace.

How it had gone he had not the faintest notion, and that was strange indeed. He thought, Just now Madam Bao went out to relieve herself, and I was in the privy for a while as well. All told it was less time than an incense stick takes to burn. How could anyone have got into the room and played such a trick? The cat burglars of Jiaxing Prefecture are formidable indeed.

The serving boy was poking his head round the door and peering in. When he saw that Yan Lie could not produce the silver, he flared up. “Is this woman your lawful wife? If you’ve run off with her, you’ll drag us into it!” Bao Xiruo² was mortified and frantic, her face flushed scarlet.

Yan Lie reached the door in a single bound and struck backhanded, a blow that left the boy’s face streaming with blood and knocked out several of his teeth. Clutching his face, the boy bawled, “Oh, very nice! Won’t pay for his room, and beats people up as well!” Yan Lie planted another kick on his backside, and the boy went head over heels out of the door.

Bao Xiruo cried in alarm, “Let’s get away quickly. We won’t stay at this inn.”

Yan Lie laughed. “Don’t be afraid. If our silver’s gone, we’ll ask them for it.” He fetched a chair and sat himself down in the doorway of the room.

Before long the serving boy came back with a dozen or more ruffians, flourishing clubs and staves as they charged into the courtyard. Yan Lie roared with laughter. “Looking for a fight, are you?” He sprang out, snatched a stave from one of them and laid about him, striking east and west, and in the blink of an eye four or five of them were down.

Those ruffians had only ever got by on bluster and menace, bullying decent folk. Seeing how things were going, they threw down their clubs and squeezed out through the courtyard gate in a swarm, while those lying on the ground crawled and rolled after them, terrified of being left behind.

Bao Xiruo had long since gone white with fright. Her voice shook. “This has got out of hand. I’m afraid it will bring the authorities down on us.”

Yan Lie laughed. “The authorities are just what I want.” Not knowing what he meant by it, Bao Xiruo could only hold her tongue.

Before half a shichen³ had passed there was a hubbub outside, and more than a dozen yamen runners burst into the courtyard with iron truncheons and single daos, rattling their iron chains with a great clanking and shouting in a confused din, “Abducting a woman and beating folk on top of it, what is the world coming to? Where’s the culprit?”

Yan Lie sat upright in his chair and did not stir.

Seeing his rich clothes and lordly bearing, the runners did not dare rush at him. The constable at their head barked, “Hey, you, what’s your name? What brings you to Jiaxing Prefecture?”⁴

Yan Lie said, “Go and tell Ge Yuncong to come here!”

Ge Yuncong⁵ was the prefect of Jiaxing, and hearing their superior called bluntly by his name, the runners were shocked and angry. The constable said, “Have you lost your wits? Shouting His Honour Gai’s name about like that.”

Yan Lie took a letter from his robe and tossed it on the table. Turning his eyes up to the ceiling, he said, “Take that and show it to Ge Yuncong. Then see whether he comes or not.”

The constable picked up the letter and was startled by the writing on the cover, though he could not tell whether it was genuine. He said quietly to the runners, “Keep an eye on him. Don’t let him get away.” Then he dashed off.

Bao Xiruo sat in the room, her heart pounding, her face ashen.

Before long several dozen more runners came crowding in, and two officials in full official robes hurried forward and knelt before Yan Lie. “These lowly officials, Ge Yuncong of Jiaxing Prefecture and Jiang Wentong⁶ of Jiaxing County, kowtow to Your Excellency. We did not know Your Excellency had arrived and failed to come out and receive you. We beg Your Excellency’s pardon.”

Yan Lie waved a hand and half rose from his seat. “I have had some silver stolen in your county. I must trouble the two of you to look into it.”

Ge Yuncong said hastily, “Yes, yes.” At a wave of his hand two runners came forward bearing two trays, one heaped with glittering yellow gold, the other with gleaming white silver.

Ge Yuncong said, “That villains under my administration should dare to steal Your Excellency’s travelling funds is entirely my fault. I beg Your Excellency to accept this trifling sum for the present.”

Yan Lie smiled and nodded. Ge Yuncong then respectfully handed back the letter. “I have had the official lodge swept and made ready, and humbly invite Your Excellency and Her Ladyship to grace it with your presence.”

Yan Lie said, “I’d rather stay here. I like peace and quiet, so don’t come bothering and pestering me.” His face darkened as he spoke.

Ge Yuncong and Jiang Wentong said hastily, “Yes, yes! If Your Excellency requires anything else, you have only to give the word, and we shall see it done for you.” Yan Lie looked up without answering and waved them off again and again. Ge and Jiang hurriedly withdrew with their runners.

The serving boy, grey-faced with terror, was brought in by the innkeeper to kowtow and beg forgiveness. He begged only to be spared his life, and would gladly take as many strokes on the backside as they cared to give. Yan Lie took an ingot of silver from the tray and tossed it on the floor. “That’s for you,” he said with a laugh. “Now clear off.” The boy still could not believe it. Seeing no malice in Yan Lie’s face, and afraid he would lose patience, the innkeeper quickly picked up the silver, kowtowed several times and dragged the boy out.

Bao Xiruo was still shaken. “What sort of magic charm is that letter? How can officials be so frightened at the very sight of it?”

Yan Lie laughed. “I have no authority over them anyway. It’s just that these officials are no use. Zhao Kuo⁷ fills his service with nothing but these milksops. If his realm isn’t lost, there’s no justice in heaven.”

Bao Xiruo said, “Zhao Kuo? Who is that?”

Yan Lie said, “That is the present Qingyuan Emperor.” (Note: The Qingyuan Emperor was the fourth emperor of the Southern Song, later known as Ningzong. His reign titles were Qingyuan, Jiatai, Kaixi and Jiading.)

Bao Xiruo started, and said quickly, “Hush! How can you bandy His Majesty’s name about like that?”

Yan Lie was delighted to see that she was anxious for him. He laughed. “It does no harm for me to say it. When we get to the north, what else would we call him but Zhao Kuo?”

Bao Xiruo said, “The north?”

Yan Lie nodded. He was about to speak when there came a rapid drumming of hooves, and several dozen horsemen pulled up outside the inn. A little colour had just crept back into Bao Xiruo’s snow-white cheeks, but at the sound of hooves she remembered at once the night the soldiers had come to arrest them, and her face went pale again. Yan Lie, for his part, knitted his brows as though much put out.

There was a tramp of boots, and several dozen soldiers in brocade came into the courtyard. At the sight of Yan Lie every face lit up. “Your Highness!” they cried as one, and knelt to salute him.

Yan Lie smiled. “So you’ve found me at last.”

Hearing them call him “Your Highness”, Bao Xiruo was more astonished than ever. The men rose to their feet, big fellows every one, broad-backed as tigers and thick-waisted as bears, and very hardy-looking.

Yan Lie waved a hand. “Out, all of you!” The soldiers chorused their assent and filed out. Yan Lie turned to Bao Xiruo. “What do you think of these men of mine? How do they compare with Song soldiers?”

Bao Xiruo said in surprise, “You mean they aren’t Song soldiers?”

Yan Lie laughed. “I may as well tell you the truth now. These are crack troops of the Great Jin!” With that he threw back his head and laughed long and loud, hugely pleased with himself.

Bao Xiruo’s voice shook. “Then… you… you’re one of them too…”

Yan Lie smiled. “I won’t hide it from you, madam. This humble one’s surname wants one more character, Wan, in front of it, and my given name one more, Hong. Wanyan Honglie,⁸ sixth prince of the Great Jin, enfeoffed as Prince Zhao, is your humble servant.”

Ever since she was small, Bao Xiruo had heard her father tell of the havoc the Jin had wrought upon the lands of our Great Song, how the emperors of the Great Song had been carried off by them, never to return, how the people of the north were slaughtered and abused by Jin soldiers. And since her marriage to Yang Tiexin,⁹ her husband’s hatred of the Jin had been fiercer still. Who could have dreamt that the man she had been with morning and night these past few days was a prince of Jin? In her shock and horror, she could not utter a word.

Seeing the colour leave her face, Wanyan Honglie stopped laughing at once. “I had long admired the splendour of the Southern Court,” he said, “so last year I begged my father the Emperor to send me to Lin’an¹⁰ as his envoy to offer New Year’s congratulations. Besides, the Song ruler still owed several hundred thousand liang of silver in annual tribute that had not been paid on time, and my father the Emperor wanted me to come and press for it.”

Bao Xiruo asked, “Annual tribute?”

“Yes,” said Wanyan Honglie. “The Song begged our nation not to attack them, and pay us tribute in silver and bolts of silk every year. But they’re forever pleading that their taxes have fallen short, and they will never just pay the whole amount promptly in one go. This time I didn’t mince words with Han Tuozhou.¹¹ I told him that if it wasn’t paid in full within a month, I would come at the head of an army and fetch it myself, and he needn’t trouble himself further.”

“And what did Chancellor Han say?” asked Bao Xiruo.

“What could he say?” said Wanyan Honglie. “Before I’d even left Lin’an, the silver and silk had already gone across the river. Ha ha!”

Bao Xiruo knitted her brows and said nothing. Wanyan Honglie went on, “Pressing for silver and silk and the like didn’t really need me. An envoy would have been quite enough. What I really wanted was to see the landscape of the Southern Court, its people and its customs. I never imagined I would come to know you, madam, still less that you would save my life. Truly, it is the good fortune of three lifetimes.”

Thoughts surged back and forth in Bao Xiruo’s mind. Lost and bewildered, she still said nothing.

Wanyan Honglie said, “I’ll go and buy you some clothes.”

Bao Xiruo lowered her head. “There’s no need.”

Wanyan Honglie laughed. “Chancellor Han slipped me some gold and silver of my own on the quiet. If I spent it on clothes, you couldn’t wear them all out in a thousand years. Don’t be afraid, madam. My own guards are keeping close watch all round the inn. No villain would dare come near to harm you.” And with that he swaggered out of the inn.

Bao Xiruo went back over everything that had happened since she first met him. He was a prince of the Great Jin, and yet he humbled himself like this before a common widow like her. Surely he meant her no good? Her husband had met a cruel and untimely death, leaving her, a helpless woman, alone in this awkward plight. By rights she ought to get away from him, but heaven and earth were so vast, and where was she to go?

Utterly at a loss, she could only bury her face in the pillow and sob her heart out.

Footnotes

1. 两 — liǎng. A traditional unit of weight, one-sixteenth of a jin, and the unit in which silver was reckoned. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 包惜弱 — Bāo Xīruò. Her name meaning “cherishing the weak”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 时辰 — shíchén. Traditional Chinese unit of time equal to two hours; the day was divided into twelve shichen. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 嘉兴府 — Jiāxīng fǔ. Administrative division in Southern Song. Modern day Jiaxing and Haining in Zhejiang province. See Wikipedia. ↩

5. 盖运聪 — Gě Yùncōng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 姜文通 — Jiāng Wéntōng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 赵扩 — Zhào Kuò (1168—1224). The personal name of Emperor Ningzong of the Southern Song. To speak an emperor’s personal name aloud was taboo. ↩

8. 完颜洪烈 — Wányán Hóngliè. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 杨铁心 — Yáng Tiěxīn. His name meaning “iron heart”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 临安 — Lín’ān. Capital of Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1276) known for its cultural refinement and West Lake scenery. Modern day Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. See Wikipedia. ↩

11. 韩侂胄 — Hán Tuōzhòu (1152—1207). Chancellor of the Southern Song, who led the war against the Jin (historical). See Wuxia Wiki. ↩