LITMIR.BIZ

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and their servicemen but also senior government officials. Among the robbers, there are a lot of people with experience in military service, and although the peasants are mostly disorganised and not prepared for a war with the imperial army, nothing prevents them from doing this seriously in the very near future. The Emperor took a golden bell from the table near the throne and waved it once. Before the ringing of the bell had time to dissolve under the arches of the reception hall, the "nightingale floors" sang softly, almost inaudibly in the hallway. It was Ji Chao, the devoted dog and chief eunuch of the Emperor, who is hurrying up to attend the call. When his corpulent silhouette appeared on the doorstep, Huangdi had already put on a mask of "sovereign concern" and was ready to talk. Ji Chao habitually dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead against the floor. The Emperor chuckled. "Easy, Chao. This way, you will either split your forehead or damage the floor… Both are dear to me… for now…" "I'm all attention, my lord." Chao still did not look up from the floor. Chung Zhen chuckled. For a long time, he had no illusions about the obedience of the chief eunuch, but there was nothing that could be done – one has to live with what one has… "Tell me, my dear, putting away all these grimaces of increased love and respect: is it that bad in the provinces?" "Which ones, my Emperor?" said the chief eunuch, slipping away from the topic of hunger, but the Emperor did not give him the freedom to manoeuvre. "For example, in Shaanxi…" "Should I tell the truth, my Lord?" "Does a servant have the right to lie to his Emperor?" The Lord of the Celestial Empire answered with a question. The eunuch sighed, still not lifting his face from the floor. "This province is like a wineskin full of gunpowder, with unreasonable boys trying to make a fire under it." The emperor was alert. "Who do you mean? I mean, what boys…" The eunuch got frightened to death: the young Emperor was only seventeen! The eunuch knew that he already said too much and had to correct the awkward situation. "Your Imperial Majesty, mighty Huangdi, you perfectly understand that all uprisings begin in the provinces, but the fuse is set on fire in the capital…" "Well, go on…" "In my humble understanding, the Jurchen leaders are behind all this, my Lord. They have already approached the walls of the Forbidden City and entered Korea. What prevents them from setting a camp near the Capital once again? Or even take charge of the rebel troops?" "The capital is impregnable," the Emperor objected, without being too confident. The eunuch grinned at the floor. "The gates that a great army cannot break open can be easily opened by a donkey laden with gold. Do you think that all people surrounding you have no interest, my Emperor?" "I have never made wrong choices about my entourage," the Emperor said brusquely. "Do you have something reasonable to offer, or you will get off with quotations from the treatises of wise men again?" Ji Chao finally lifted his face from the floor and looked into the Emperor's eyes. "Yes, my Lord and Emperor. Otherwise, what else is an old eunuch needed for if not to give good advice on time?" Yujiao nodded brusquely and turned to the window.

Somewhere in the North of Shaanxi Province.

      …Livay He's gang turned out to be the first gang of robbers on the path of Zicheng and old Luo. The travellers quickly found it, following the smell of fire and delicious cooking, and it turned out that it was not difficult for Li to neutralise the bandits. And now, having eaten around the campfire of the robbers, the travellers had to decide what to do next. To begin with, Zicheng dug a large hole with a Dao sword found in the bale of one of the robbers and dumped the bodies. "So that wild animals do not tear them to pieces," he explained to his companion, somehow embarrassed. Luo Yang nodded in approval. Slightly bewildered, he asked: "Do you feel pity for them?" Li shrugged. "Hardly… It is a pity that it was I who killed them." "This is not quite typical of a warrior. A warrior would have been proud of such an impressive victory." "I am a peasant who became a warrior by the will of fate. If I have the choice, I try not to shed too much blood. And they are also not to blame for the fact that I got in their way. Everyone has their own path. Our paths crossed here by chance." "A nobleman blames himself, a small man blames others," Luo muttered. Zicheng looked at him with interest. "Is that yours?" "It's a Confucius. I am not a source of wisdom, I only bring someone else's wisdom to the ears of those who have a desire to learn about it." Li nodded in understanding, put aside the robber's sword, and looked around. "Looks like that's it. We can go." "Well, then point the direction." Zicheng waved his hand north towards the distant mountains. "There, a couple of days away is the village where I was born. Be my guest, wise Man." "Thank you, valiant Li, that will be an honour for me. Shall we go?" "Yes. I'd like to leave this place as soon as possible," Li Zicheng nodded and grabbed his travel bag from the ground. The old man picked up his staff, and the travellers headed north to the distant village of Michzhi that the young warrior talked about all the time to the wandering philosopher. They didn't make it. Later, Luo Yang reproached himself more than once for making long stops, allowing himself and his companion to relax, admiring the picturesque views for a long time. But deep inside, the old man understood that they still could not have prevented the tragedy, the consequences of which they had witnessed. When the last ascent was overcome, a view of the Michzhi valley and the village opened in front of them. The young warrior wanted to say something sublime, something appropriate for the moment, but the words froze in his throat… The old man also froze at the top of the hill. What they saw in the valley was truly terrible! There was no village. That is, it was absolutely gone… Here and there, they saw scattered fragments of pitchforks and spears, jagged sickles, and arrowheads in the posts that had remained in the place of the fences. They could find whole arrows with white plumage in the grass, with excellent hardened tips. Li Zicheng, who had not said a single word during the entire time that they had been examining the ashes, dropped a short word – "army", and continued searching. Luo stood aside and tried to understand what was that unusual sweetish smell over the ashes, a smell so unpleasant and annoying. Tired of waiting for his young companion to finish his examination, he called him with a nod. "What do you think happened here? And where have all the villagers gone?" He looked up at Li and staggered back: there were so much pain and despair in him. The warrior closed his eyelids slightly and said hoarsely: "They all died…" "But where are the bodies then?" Zicheng shook his head to the side, and only then the old man saw something similar to the ashes of a huge fire, with a faint smoke still rising…Then the old man understood what that sweetish aroma over the village: it was the smell of burnt human flesh was… Li fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands… Old Luo Yang slowly walked up to him and sank down beside him… He put his hand on his shoulder, covered with rough leather armour. "Cry, warrior, weep, for your soul being purified, and your tears washing away their sins," the wise man shook his head towards the funeral pyre. Li looked up at the old man, his eyes dry and full of hidden pain. "I have long ceased to cry, wise Man. Even as a child when my mother was taken by the almighty Heaven. Or in my youth, when Heaven called my father. Can you explain to me why everyone was killed? They did not harm anyone! And they were attacked not by robbers, but by a detachment of the regular army!" "I don't know yet," Luo said dully.

      He scanned the ashes once more. "And I don't even have any thoughts about this. But once you are able to assess the situation soberly, we will talk about everything. And we will take the only correct decision." Li Zicheng's eyes suddenly froze. "I'll take revenge," he muttered dully.

      The philosopher shrugged his shoulders. "It's your right and your choice. Just remember that the one who is going to take revenge must dig two graves first…" "Why two?" "For your enemy and for yourself. Because everything that you do in this world comes back to you sooner or later." Luo rose from his knees and slowly walked away from the burned village. "Where are you going?" Li called him over his shoulder, without turning around. Yang stopped and said in a deliberately calm voice: "It's time to think about an overnight stay. Trust me, friend, the dead are not the best neighbours for this. Or am I wrong?" Nodding his head to some of his own thoughts, he walked towards the road. Li Zicheng gazed after him for a while, silent, then got up, grabbing a handful of earth mixed with ash in his glove, pulled out a piece of canvas from his bosom and wrapped the earth in it. He put the bag behind the lapel of his robe and looked once again around the burned village with a cold glance. His distracted attention was suddenly riveted by a hawk flying over the road. The bird of prey gave a shrill, sharp cry and rushed into the sky with lightning speed. Li Zicheng watched the predator carefully. What he saw instilled a vague premonition in the young man's heart: now his life will be somewhat similar to the life of a hawk, filled with the same tiresome stalking of prey.

      第二章

      Chapter 2

      The

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