Jiang Shan says nothing.

He busies himself with thinking about Wei Bo’s plan.

Jiang Shan’s invasion of the Jin capitol would have started a war between Jin and Xiazhou. Each nation possesses a powerful army. Millions of people would be caught between them. Their suffering could go on for years. The Brotherhood of Crows could not allow this to happen.

And so Wei Bo collected Jiang Shan and Gu Feng to propose an alternative.

Invade the Song capitol instead.

Emperor Gaozong inherited the Song Dynasty when the rest of the Imperial Family was captured in the Jin siege of Kaifeng. Emperor Gaozong has not had time to consolidate political influence and what remains of the Song military offers no resistance to Jin expansion.

Emperor Gaozong has no allies among the court, the military, the governors, or the people. His removal would not cause war.

Wei Bo supplied a list of sympathetic men and women to be recruited to their cause.

Leaping Cloud.
Most Observant Eagle.
Six Sword Wu.
Iron Whirlwind.
Invisible Killer.

They are all strangers to Jiang Shan. Except Six Sword Wu and he has nothing but doubts about their ability to recruit him. Gu Feng seemed happy with the list and went so far as referring to them as Heroes of the Age. Such is the power of drink.

Wei Bo, as an accomplished merchant, will provide funds. Jiang Shan, as an accomplished general, will provide leadership. And Gu Feng…

Uh, Gu Feng.

Jiang Shan turns to his twitching friend and asks, “What was all that ‘Master Gu’ business?”

Gu Feng gulps down a mouthful of wine. It warms his insides and this has a positive effect on the itching. He says, “Wei Bo was obviously raised with more manners than a barbarian. He respects his elders.”

Jiang Shan considers this. The nomads of Xiazhou respect their elders, of course, and Jiang Shan is no different. But Gu Feng never struck him as the kind of elder who gets respected.

“Wei Bo acted like he knew you.”

Gu Feng burps. “He’s Grandfather of Crows. He knows everybody worth knowing.”

“But you’re just a drunk old man.”

Gu Feng adopts what he imagines to be a sagely demeanor, but the wine sloshing out of the jug and onto his sleeves tarnishes the execution. “Ah, but a drunk old man worth knowing.”

Jiang Shan snorts. “Well, I know you and I haven’t found it terribly worthwhile.”

Gu Feng waggles his fingers. Apparently to imply mysticism? “That’s because you don’t know where to look.”

“I’ve seen you naked. I’m afraid to look further.”

Gu Feng raises his jar to Jiang Shan in a sloshy toast. “To the sacred and the profane.”

Jiang Shan laughs. “Since when are you sacred?”

Gu Feng downs another gulp of wine. “I’m a monk is when.”

“That was almost a sentence.”

Gu Feng swats at the barbarian but the space required by the horse, the mule, and the cart makes it more of a gesture than an attack. In any case Gu Feng straightens himself up and says, “You’re a foreigner. Everywhere you are, you’re already lost. Me? I’ve been everywhere two or three times. Jade Devil Fist is known throughout the land!”

Jiang Shan raises one eyebrow. “I thought it was Jade Devil Hand.”

Gu Feng clears his throat. “So what if it is? Hands make fists.”

The odor of the Yangtze is strong.

It’s not the river, it’s the things people take out of it. Battlefields stink of gore and shit, but as far as Jiang Shan is concerned these docks are worse because battlefields do not also stink of fish and the insides of fish.

Jiang Shan snorts the smell out of his nostrils but it’s an entirely too temporary a solution. He watches Gu Feng haggle for passage on a boat. Technically Jiang Shan is in charge of the money but his approach to the fine art of haggling is to issue orders backed by threats.

And so Gu Feng does the talking now.

There is a saying. “In the north, travel by horse. In the south, travel by boat.” They seek passage further south to find the reclusive Shaolin monk Leaping Cloud. Jiang Shan thinks one monk is more than enough.

Jiang Shan and Gu Feng leave Wei Bo one week later on very friendly terms.

How friendly?

Gu Feng’s new donkey pulls his new cart. It’s much roomier than the old one. It carries a ludicrous supply of grape wine with room to spare. Gu Feng thinks of this extra space as entirely wasted but Jiang Shan is glad to have some supplies that are not alcohol.

Jiang Shan has a new saddle for Smoke. It’s not much, but his needs are not great. The saddle was custom made by, well, a craftsman of some distinction according to Wei Bo. In any case it’s quite comfortable. His armor is stowed and his weapon is wrapped up so the locals won’t panic at the sight of a foreign warlord.

As well, both men now have a collection of tailored robes, gowns, and coats.

They have a cache of silver and gold taels along with a considerable sum of banknotes to be used at Jiang Shan’s discretion. Gu Feng is not to be trusted with any of it. Jiang Shan has been assured banknotes are as good as real money. He doesn’t see how, but if the Chinese will give him food for paper he won’t be the one to tell them how stupid it is.

Outside the walls of Wei Bo’s home is a very prosperous district of Jiankang. The banks of the Yangtze River are in some other far away district of the city to minimize the odors from industries dependent on the bounties of the Yangtze.

But Gu Feng can still catch a hint of them in the air. He had cultivated a powerful sense of smell as a survival mechanism. The line between poison and sufficiently potent drink being a thin one.

Jiankang is one of the few cities north of the Yangtze that is not governed by the Jin. Several attempts were made to change this, but the sieges went all wrong. Poisoned supplies, sabotaged equipment, and mysterious deaths ran rampant through the ranks of every Jin army to stand at the walls of Jiankang.

The city had been spared from sieges for over a year at this point due to the persistent rumor among the Jin that Jiankang was ruled by a secret order of assassins.

Of course, this is not true, but rumor is as good as fact in most cases. To clarify: the Brotherhood of Crows is secretive but not itself a secret. They do not rule Jiankang, but they inform the tenor of some policies. And, yes, occasionally the Brotherhood is responsible for the deaths of very specific people, but that does not make them assassins.

Jiankang had been capitol to several powerful dynasties and it seems likely this is why Wei Bo’s estate is so very palatial. Jiang Shan and Gu Feng ride into the street at a leisurely pace. Around them servants escort their masters on all manner of business in all manner of conveyances. People who live in this district are too rich to do something as pedestrian as walk somewhere.

Even in the fine clothes Wei Bo gave them, the traitor and the monk stand out among this crowd. They carry themselves in all the ways rich city people with servants do not.

Also there is Gu Feng’s constant twitching and scratching.

“It’s not fleas, is it?” Jiang Shan says.

Gu Feng huffs. “Of course it’s not fleas!”

“Don’t pretend it couldn’t have been though.”

“There were baths at Wei Bo’s. And servant girls. So, it’s probably not fleas.”

“Then what is it?”

Gu Feng plucks at his robes and says, “These damn clothes!”

Jiang Shan nods. “You can roll around in the dirt when we leave town. That should help.”

Gu Feng grunts and says, “Or! I could go through the stacks of clothes taking up the back half of my cart for no good reason. Maybe there’s one outfit in there that won’t bedevil me!”

Jiang Shan laughs. “In the first place, the back half of your cart is packed with wine and a few provisions and spare coats and robes. We will be traveling far and winter is near. Wei Bo’s closets are deep. We’d have been fools not to take them.”

Gu Feng shifts. He twitches. He is determined to find an angle where the robes do not touch his skin. In the meantime a drink will help! He breaks into the first wine jar.

It is a bright and warm day for autumn. Late-afternoon.

Gu Feng and Wei Bo stand in an immense courtyard. Everywhere you look is a garden manicured to look like it hadn’t been manicured at all. You’re meant to think it fell from heaven fully formed and perfect. Coincidentally they also line up with perfect little paths between them. How fortuitous.

The walls of the courtyard are high and they block whatever is on the other side from view. Gu Feng detects a hint of the sea in the air. He has no idea where the Brotherhood of Crows brought him, but it must be a large city near the sea.

Firstly, small cities simply do not contain compounds like Wei Bo’s palace.

Secondly, nothing else stinks quite like fish. He has a few guesses about where he is now.

Smoke is brought from the stables. Looking at the animal up close Gu Feng is gripped by the fear that it’s a fake. The horse is far too large. But then again this is the first time he’s seen Smoke while very nearly sober, so there’s that to consider.

In fact, this very nearly sober stuff irritates Gu Feng. It makes him doubtful and he frets about all sorts of things that ordinarily never bother him. For instance: whether or not escaping will get him killed.

Wine makes the noise of the inconsequential disappear. If that’s not harmony, he doesn’t know what is. Of course, Gu Feng long ago made peace with the notion that he may not, in fact, know a single goddamned thing about what harmony is. Wine works well enough in the meantime though.

Jiang Shan is led into the courtyard by a pair of Wei Bo’s servants. Gu Feng cannot help but think he looks ridiculous in such delicate robes. Jiang Shan is all smiles as soon as he sees Smoke.

The horse takes one look at its master and says, “Hruff.”

Jiang Shan approaches Gu Feng and Wei Bo. The three salute one another with fists.

Jiang Shan says to Gu Feng, “This is our host, Wei Bo then?”

Wei Bo says, “Ah, I could hardly be considered a host after the way I’ve allowed you to be treated.”

Jiang Shan laughs and says, “Oh, yes. The best bed, and food, and wine, and women. Luckily, I’m a veteran soldier. I can endure these discomforts.”

Gu Feng laughs along with his friend.

Wei Bo flashes his merchant’s smile.

We’re all friends here, that’s the message.

Wei Bo says, “I think you’re making fun of me, General Jiang.”

Jiang Shan pets Smoke on the neck as he says, “I have no rank.”

Wei Bo bows his head in silent apology. He says, “My mistake. It’s only that Master Gu calls you General.”

Jiang Shan inspects the animal’s haunch. “He says a lot of things, and gets away with it too, because everyone knows he’s a useless old drunk. Anyway, I’m not a general.”

Wei Bo says, “But maybe you could be one again.”

Jiang Shan turns his full attention to Wei Bo.

Wei Bo waves his own suggestion away and says, “No, I’m being presumptuous. You still need to see your weapon and armor.”

At that moment a servant rounds a corner that just happens to be there and certainly not because it’s perfectly manicured to be there or anything crass like that.

He carries a large polearm. Its blade carries the polished icy shine unique to whatever goes into the steel of Xiazhou. Another servant follows him. This one carries the robes and cavalry armor of a high ranking Xiazhou soldier. The servants approach Jiang Shan with their eyes to the ground. They kneel before him and offer the weapon and the armor.

Jiang Shan takes the glaive. He spins it through a few simple forms. It seems weightless in his grasp. Satisfied by the familiar heft of his weapon, Jiang Shan brings it to a rest across his shoulders.

Jiang Shan says, “How would I become a general again?”

The escape plan Gu Feng proposed in Jiang Shan’s quarters wasn’t exactly a plan. It was more accurately the suggestion of escape. They’d get Wei Bo to relinquish Smoke and the Avalanche Glaive and shortly thereafter make their move.

Whatever that would be.

But it was decided one of them would signal the other when the moment to strike came along.

The signal hadn’t been decided upon either.

Now Gu Feng worries. This is what he gets for sobering up between the plan and its execution.

Probably the signal would not be conversation though. Right?

Wei Bo smiles his merchant’s smile and says, “Your attack on Kaifeng would have worked had our agents not informed Emperor Taizong.”

Jiang Shan doesn’t even flinch.

Wei Bo says, “You’d have seized the capitol, but the Jin would not give up the rest of their newly claimed lands so easily. You couldn’t rely on the citizenry’s support either. The Jin are unwelcome foreign conquerors, yes, but so would be the army of Xiazhou.”

Jiang Shan shifts imperceptibly but says nothing.

Wei Bo says, “The Brotherhood of Crows can’t stop wars, but we can minimize the suffering of wars.”

Jiang Shan’s expression is blank.

Wei Bo looks to Gu Feng who merely shrugs and says, “Don’t look to me for answers. I got him down here with the understanding we’d fight our way out, but here we are talking.”

Wei Bo loses his smile and replaces it with confusion. “Escape? In your condition?”

Gu Feng laughs and says, “What condition? Jade Devil techniques can unblock vital points. We’re healed up and ready for deadly hand-to-hand combat!”

Jiang Shan puts his hand on Gu Feng’s shoulder and says, “There are more ways to escape than by violence.”

Gu Feng turns to Jiang Shan. Slowly. Suspiciously. He eyes the barbarian like he’s a cup full of an unknown foul smelling liquid that’s bubbling for reasons no one can articulate.

At last Gu Feng says, “Are you doing philosophy again?”

Jiang Shan staggers back. “No. No, stop that.”

Gu Feng stalks forward like a predator. “Admit it. You philosophized.”

Jiang Shan shields himself with the Avalanche Glaive. “Stay back!”

Wei Bo begins to doubt the wisdom of hinging his plans to stabilize all of China on these two.

Chapter 6, Heroes of the Age

About an hour later Gu Feng is led to Wei Bo’s office. It’s lined with bookcases and elaborate tapestries. Wei Bo sits at a table at the far end of the room. He reads quietly from a large book.

Gu Feng does not wobble into the room. He needs a few more drinks to get back to that level. He approaches Wei Bo and waits. Wei Bo finishes the page, places a marker, closes the book, and looks up.

Gu Feng clears his throat. “He wants his spear and his horse.”

Wei Bo flashes the practiced smile of a merchant who likes to get along with customers even when they’re making patently absurd demands. He says, “That’s not possible.”

Gu Feng shrugs. He wants to look like he has no interest in these matters beyond the wine it will fetch him. He says, “He’s a barbarian. And moreover a military man. They have their traditions. It’s an ancestral spear. His father’s or something. The horse is of some value as well. He wants to know they’re safe.”

Wei Bo’s smile does not waver. He says, “Jiang Shan can see them. That should be sufficient, yes?”

Gu Feng does not look convinced. He says, “For the horse, almost certainly. But it’s not so difficult to duplicate a weapon. Especially for a man with your resources.”

Wei Bo says nothing.

Gu Feng sighs and says, “If he’s too dangerous to hold a spear, I dare say he’s too dangerous whether or not there’s a spear in the room.”

“In the first place it’s not a spear.”

Gu Feng makes a series of gestures that are supposed to somehow communicate the shape of the weapon. He just looks old and impatient though. “The pole with a butcher’s knife at one end then.”

Wei Bo says, “The last time he was trapped, the horse and the glaive rather famously extricated him.”

Gu Feng says, “How could he be trapped? He’s your guest.”

Wei Bo’s smile almost falters, but he catches it and instead says, “What did you tell him that there’s all this talk of weapons and horses suddenly?”

Gu Feng waves the question away. It’s nothing but an insect. “You’ll have to ask the wine. Don’t give me that look, he’d have been suspicious if I wasn’t properly soused. But I was, so whatever I said, he knew it wasn’t of any consequence. You worry too much. He’s a barbarian general. They are fond of their horses and their spears. That’s all there is to it.”

Wei Bo says, “Glaives.”

Gu Feng nods, “Sure, those too.”

Wei Bo says, “I only ask because it would be so very foolish to attempt escape while your vital points are still blocked. Your techniques will get you nothing but killed.”

“What is there to escape from? Free wine and servant girls?”

“Well, as you say, he’s a barbarian. They don’t always see things the way we civilized men do.”

Gu Feng says, “Hence this business with the cherished glaive and the horse. They aren’t complicated people.”

Wei Bo stands up. He paces. He looks at Gu Feng. “Fine. He may inspect them.”

Gu Feng says, “And his armor.”

Wei Bo loses his merchant’s smile instantly. “Now, this is asking for too much.”

Gu Feng beams a monk smile right back at him and says, “He woke up in the nicest bed he’s ever known and beautiful girls served him Ping Fei’s amazing food. Escape is not on his mind.”

Wei Bo calculates.

Gu Feng sighs and says, “He can’t be loyal to a man who would deny him these things. It’s as simple as that.”
Wei Bo nods. His merchant’s smile returns and he says, “Master Gu has a way of getting straight to the heart of things. Come. We shall meet Jiang Shan in the north courtyard. His armor, his glaive, and his horse will be brought there.”