"The Xuanzong Emperor was at first a wise ruler, but
he became muddle-headed in his later years. He was far
inferior to his ancestor, Emperor Taizhong," Qian Long
replied.
"Taizong was certainly a very capable ruler," said
Chen.
The two men Qian Long most venerated in all the world
were Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty and Emperor Taizong
of the Tang dynasty. Both had greatly expanded the
empire, and their reputations had carried far beyond
their borders. Ever since he had ascended the throne,
Qian Long had worked single-mindedly to emulate them
and had sent armies out on long expeditions to the
Muslim border regions with the intention of carrying
on their work.
"Emperor Taizong was wise and courageous," he said.
"The barbarians cringed in fear at the sound of his
name. He was proficient in both letters and war. Such
talent would be hard to equal."
"I have read the Emperor Taizong's works," said Chen.
"He makes some points which I feel are very true."
"Such as?"
"He said: 'The ruler can be compared to a boat, and
the common people to water. The water can support the
boat or sink it."
Qian Long was silent.
"Sitting as we are in this boat, the metaphor could
not be more apt," Chen continued. "If we row smoothly,
we will have a very stable ride. But if we row about
frenziedly, or if the water should rush by in a raging
torrent, the boat will certainly capsize."
His words contained not only the implication that the
people could overthrow the Emperor whenever they
wished, but also the threat of throwing Qian Long into
the water there and then. Never in his life had Qian
Long had such threatening words addressed to him. His
anger surged up and unable to control himself, he
threw his wine cup at the floor.
The cup flew downwards, but just as it was about to
hit the deck, Xin Yan shot out and caught it. He
presented it to Qian Long on bended knee. "Master
Dongfang, you dropped your cup," he said.
The speed of his move startled Qian Long. Commander Li
took the cup from Xin Yan and watched for some sign
from the Emperor's eyes. But Qian Long composed
himself and laughed.
"Brother Lu, this little helper of yours is very
agile," he said, and turned to one of the guardsman.
"Play with the little fellow," he said.
The guardsman, who was surnamed Fan, bent down and
struck out at Xin Yan with his pair of large swords.
Xin Yan somersaulted over backwards and landed on the
bow of the boat.
"Let's play hide and seek," he said to Fan with a
smile. "If you catch me, we'll say I've lost and then
I'll chase you."
Fan was furious at having missed his target and
bounded after him, but the boy soared off through the
air like a great bird and landed on a small sampan
nearby. The two chased each other across more than a
dozen boats before Fan finally cornered Xin Yan at the
end of a string of three boats. He thrust the sword in
his left hand at Xin Yan's chest, and Xin Yan
countered by striking out with his fist at Fan's
stomach. Fan then leapt up in the air, aiming to fall
on Xin Yan from above. But as he jumped, the boatman,
'Crocodile' Jiang, twirled his oar and spun the boat
around. Fan shouted in fear as the boat disappeared
from under him, and he fell heavily into the lake. Xin
Yan clapped in delight.
Two of Qian Long's bodyguards dived into the water to
save Fan, who was splashing and clutching at the air
in desperation. Meanwhile, Jiang placed his oar in
front of Fan, who grabbed it and held on tight. Jiang
then swung the oar up, tossing Fan over towards Qian
Long's boat, and shouted "Catch!" A bodyguard ran to
the bow and caught him. Another bodyguard, surnamed
Long, stepped forward.
"I understand this little brother is also very
proficient with missiles," he said darkly as Xin Yan
moved back to Chen's side. "Let us spar for a while."
"You and I are already firm friends," Chen said to
Qian Long. "We should not allow our servants to
disturb the pleasant atmosphere with their bickering.
As this gentleman is an expert in the use of darts,
let us ask him to display his talent on something
other than my serving boy. What do you think?"
"Fine, except we don't have a target," Qian Long
replied. Xin Yan leapt over onto the boat on which
'Iron Pagoda' Yang was sitting and whispered into his
ear.
Yang nodded, waved to Zhang Jin in the next sampan,
and pointed to another boat nearby. "Grab the end of
that boat," he said, and took hold of the other end
himself. "Up!" he shouted and the two lifted the
little boat out of the water while their own boats
sank lower. The others gasped at this awesome display
of strength.
"Master, will this do as a target?" Xin Yan shouted.
"Please come and draw a bulls-eye on it."
Chen raised his wine cup and drained it, then flung it
at the boat. It sliced into the keel without
shattering. The onlookers clapped and cheered. Bai and
the other bodyguards frowned at the sight of such
phenomenal power: a man whose Inner Strength Kung Fu
allowed him to drive a porcelain cup into a boat keel
as if it was a steel dart was a formidable opponent.
"Use the cup as the target," Chen suggested,
smiling.Bodyguard Long silently pulled five spiked
balls from his bag and threw them one after the other.
They struck the target with a quick "rat-a-tat" and
slivers of porcelain flew in all directions.
Xin Yan slipped out from behind the boat. "Not bad!"
he shouted.
Long was suddenly swept with a wave of malice, and he
threw another five of the spiked balls at Xin Yan.
A shout of surprise went up from the others, and
greatly frightened, Xin Yan lunged to one side, but
one of the spiked balls struck his left shoulder.
There was no pain, but the shoulder immediately went
numb. The heroes edged their little boats forward, all
eager to match themselves against Long.
The other Imperial bodyguards were ashamed that Long
should use such a low trick against a boy in front of
the Emperor. But protecting His Highness was of
overriding importance, and they immediately pulled out
their weapons. Commander Li gave a sharp whistle,
signalling the troops on the shore to mobilise.
"Brothers!" Chen called. "Master Dongfang is my
honoured guest. We cannot show any impoliteness
towards him. Move back, all of you."
The heroes rowed back several yards. Yang and Zhang
Jin had already put the target boat back to the water,
and Luo Bing was inspecting Xin Yan's wound.
'Mastermind' Xu also jumped over to see how he was.
"Don't worry, it's not painful," Xin Yan said. "But
it's very itchy."
He moved his hand up to scratch the wound and Xu
quickly stopped him. He could see the spiked ball had
been dipped in a very powerful poison.
"Let go of me," Xin Yan yelled. "It's too itchy to
bear!" He struggled powerfully to break free.
"Be patient for a moment," Xu told Xin Yan, trying not
to look as worried as he felt. He turned to Luo Bing.
"Ask Third Brother to come over."
Another boat moved swiftly up alongside with the Red
Flower Society's Hangzhou chief Master Ma standing on
the brow. He leapt over next to Xu and whispered:
"Master Xu, the whole lake is surrounded by Manchu
troops including Imperial Guard units."
"How many altogether?"
"Seven or eight thousand not counting the reserve
forces waiting further away."
"Go and call together all the brothers in Hangzhou and
surrounding areas. Tell them to gather near the lake
and await orders. Also tell them to have a red flower
hidden on their persons." Ma nodded.
"How many can you get together immediately?" Xu asked.
"Including the workers from my factories, about two
thousand," he replied.
"Two thousand of our brothers should be enough to deal
with fifteen thousand of them," said Xu. "And what's
more, many of the troops in the Chinese units are
society members. Go and make the arrangements." Ma
nodded and left.
'Buddha' Zhao's boat glided over. He looked at Xin
Yan's wound and frowned deeply. He carefully pulled
out the poisonous spiked ball, then took a large
medicine pill from his bag and placed it into the open
wound. He looked up at Xu.
"There's nothing I can do," he said, desolation in his
voice. "The poison is extremely potent. No-one can
save him except the man responsible."
"How long can he hold on?" Xu asked, greatly
frightened.
"At the most, six hours."
"Third Brother, let's go and get that fellow over here
and force him to deliver the antidote."
Zhao leapt in three great bounds over to the boat in
which Chen and Qian Long were sitting, with each bound
touching down on the deck of a different boat.
"Master Lu," he said. "I would like to ask this
gentleman to acquaint me with some of his tricks."
Chen, who was furious at the wonding of Xin Yan,
turned to Qian Long.
"This friend of mine is also quite good with
projectiles," he said. "It would be interesting to see
them matched against each other."
The Emperor was eager to see any spectacle, the more
dangerous the better. "Go on," he said to Long. "But
don't lose." Long bowed.
"That's the Thousand-Arm Buddha," Bai whispered. "Be
careful."
Long knew the name well, and shuddered at the thought
of facing him. But he had never yet met his equal in
the field of projectiles. "This is just between you
and me," he said to Zhao.
"Do you think we would trick you?" Zhao demanded
angrily.
"Right. That's what I wanted to hear you say," Long
replied, and leapt onto the prow of a boat nearby.
Zhao sent off a flurry of darts and sleeve arrows
after him, and Long's heart froze at the sight of such
speed. He threw himself down onto the deck and the
darts struck the boat with a quick succession of
popping noises.
Long jumped up again, and spotting Zhao's figure in
the moonlight, flung a dart at him. Zhao dodged to the
right to avoid it, and suddenly found three of the
poisoned spiked balls winging towards him. He leant
over backwards and the spiked balls whizzed passed the
tip of his nose. Three more spiked balls followed in
quick successsion. Zhao knocked two of them into the
water with darts of his own, then caught the third and
placed it inside his gown.
Long leapt towards another boat and Zhao threw out a
boomerang-shaped blade. Long ducked and watched in
surprise as the blade swirled over him and returned to
Zhao's hand. Fascinated by the sight of the strange
weapon, Long failed to notice two other darts flying
towards him which simultaneously struck both his
shoulders. His body went limp and he fell to his
knees.
The Imperial Guards were astounded at the sight of him
falling. Chu Yuan, one of Long's comrades, raced over
to defend him, but another swordsman intercepted him.
Chu saw in the moonlight that the man was dressed in
Taoist robes.
"Who are you?" he barked.
Priest Wu Chen smiled. "Do you mean to say you are a
swordsman and you don't know me?" he asked.
Chu attacked with a 'Buddha Ambushing the Tiger'
stroke followed by a 'Nine Successions' stroke.
"That's very good," Wu Chen said, still smiling. "Now
continue with a 'Gold Wheel' stroke".
As he spoke, Chu did indeed attack with a 'Gold Wheel'
stroke. "How did he know?" he wondered, startled. The
priest also guessed his next two moves correctly, just
as if he was a teacher instructing a pupil. Chu
retreated two paces and stared at him, embarrassed.
Meanwhile, Zhao had grabbed Long and was pressuring
him to hand over the antidote. Long, however closed
his eyes and said nothing. "Just as long as I don't
give in, the Emperor will surely reward me when we get
back," he thought.
Priest Wu Chen continued his game of forcing Bodyguard
Chu to counter with the moves he called out. Qian
Long, although a mediocre fighter himself, had a
thorough knowledge of kung fu and was amused by the
spectacle. But he felt the chill of anxiety too.
"Chu is one of the top Imperial Bodyguards," he
thought. "What use are they if these bandits can play
with them in such a fashion?" He watched for a few
more moves and then decided he had had enough.
"Tell him to come back," he said to Bai.
"Brother Chu," Bai shouted. "The Master asks you to
come here."
Chu breathed a sigh of relief. The Emperor's order was
like a reprieve from the death sentence, and he
prepared to jump away. Priest Wu Chen, however, had
other ideas.
"Just a moment," he said. He struck forward with his
sword and Chu felt a cool breeze course across his
face and body as the sword flashed about him. The
courtesan Beautiful Jade suddenly laughed out loud,
and Chu looked down and saw that his clothes had been
cut to shreds by the priest's sword. Not only that: he
felt his head and found his hair and queue had been
shaved completely off. As he shook with fear and
shame, his trousers suddenly fell down.
"These friends of yours are extraordinarily skilled in
the martial arts, Master Lu," Qian Long said to Chen.
"Why don't you all offer your services to the court?
It is a pity to waste such talent."
Chen smiled. "We would prefer to do just as we
please," he said. "But thank you. We are very grateful
of the offer."
"Since that is the case, I will take my leave. It is
getting late." Qian Long looked meaningfully over at
Bodyguard Long in the other boat.
"Brother Zhao," Chen called. "Let Master Dongfang's
servant come back."
"Absolutely not!" Luo Bing answered. "Xin Yan has
poisoned by him and he refuses to hand over the
antidote."
Qian Long whispered some instructions to Commander Li,
then turned to Long. "Give him the antidote," he
ordered.
"I deserve to die," Long replied. "I didn't bring the
antidote with me. I left it in Beijing."
"Brother Zhao, give me two of those spiked balls,"
said Xu. Zhao pulled them out of his bag and handed
them over. Xu ripped Long's gown off his chest and
drove the balls into him. Long cried out in panic.
"Master Lu," Xu shouted. "Please send over some wine.
We want to drink a toast with our friend here to seal
our friendship, and then we will let him go."
"All right," said Chen. Beautiful Jade filled three
cups with wine, and Chen threw them one by one over to
the other boat. Zhao calmly stetched out his hand and
caught them without a drop being spilled.
Xu took one of the cups. "Master Long, let us drink a
toast," he said. Long knew that the alcohol would
greatly speed up the effects of the poison and clamped
his mouth shut.
"Go on, have a drink. There's no need to stand on
ceremony," said Xu with a smile. He grabbed Long's
nose between his third and little fingers then pressed
strongly on his cheeks with the thumb and forefinger,
forcing Long to open his mouth, and poured all three
cups of wine into him.
Long decided his life was more important than his
reputation. "Let me go," he said. "I...I...I'll get
the antidote," Zhao laughed and loosened his grip.
Long pulled three packets of medicine from his bag.
"The red one should be taken orally, the black one
sucks out the poision and the white one closes the
wound," he said and fainted away.
Zhao hurriedly poured the red medicine into one of the
wine cups, mixed it with some lake water and gave it
to Xin Yan to drink, then spread the black medicine
onto the wound. A moment later, black blood welled out
of the gash. Luo Bing wiped it up as it appeared, and
gradually the blood turned red. Xin Yan cried out in
pain as Zhao administered the white medicine.
"Please forgive my friends," Chen said to Qian Long.
"They are very unrefined."
Qian Long laughed. "It has certainly been an
interesting day. I will take my leave now."
"Master Dongfang wishes to go home," Chen called.
"Head back to the shore!"
The flotilla glided slowly off, and soon reached the
lakeside. Commander Li jumped ashore and helped Qian
Long across onto land as the bodyguards formed a
protective semi-circle. Li pulled out a pipe and blew
three sharp notes on it, and several hundred Imperial
troops appeared.
"You insolent wretches!" Li shouted at the Red Flower
Society fighters. "You are in the sight of the Emperor
and still you don't kowtow?"
Xu gestured with his hand, and Master Ma and his son
fired flares up into the air above the lake. A moment
later, a huge roar went up from all sides, and men
rushed out from the trees, from behind buildings and
from under bridges, each one with a red flower on his
lapel and a sword in his hand.
"Brothers!" Xu shouted. "The Great Helmsman has
arrived!" The society men roared their approval and
surged forward.
The Imperial Bodyguards and troops drew their swords,
fixed arrows to bows, and the two sides confronted
each other, each determined not to yield. Commander Li
mounted a horse and waited for Qian Long's order to
seize the Red Flower Society fighters.
Chen walked calmly over to an officer of the Imperial
Bodyguard and pointed at the horsewhip he was holding.
Hypnotised by Chen's gaze, the officer meekly
dismounted and handed the whip over. Chen then leapt
onto his horse and pulled a red flower from his pocket
which he fixed to his gown. The flower was made from
the finest silk stitched with gold thread and the
green leaves around it were studded with jewels which
glittered and sparkled in the torchlight. It was the
badge of the Great Helmsman and the Red Flower Socety
heroes bowed before him in respect.
Suddenly, a large number of the soldiers broke from
the Manchu ranks and swarmed forward despite shouts
from their officers. They raced over to Chen, bowed,
then ran back to their ranks as another batch ran out
to pay their respects. The Red Flower Society's power
was so great in the south that many soldiers in the
Manchu armies, especially those in units under Chinese
command, were members.
Qian Long was flabbergasted at the sight of so many of
his own troops breaking ranks to bow before Chen. The
Imperial Guard units he had brought with him from
Beijing were clearly the only ones he could trust, and
considering the danger of his position, he decided a
fight had to be avoided at all costs.
He turned to Commander Li.
"So these are your trusted soldiers," he said coldly.
"Tell them to retire."
"Yes sir," replied Li, stunned with fear. He ordered
the troops back to camp.
"Brothers!" 'Mastermind' Xu shouted when he saw the
Manchu troops were retreating. "Thank you all for your
trouble. Please go now."
An answering roar went up from the mass of the Society
followers: "Great Helmsman, goodbye!" The thunderous
cry echoed out over the lake.
Qian Long raised his hands towards Chen. "Thank you
for a very pleasant outing on the lake," he said. "We
will meet again." |
