Chapter 11 Hostage-taking

The day slipped away as the sun gradually sunk, giving way to twilight.

Liu Xun was to go with the soldiers to camp at the bank of Zhang river at the southern foot of Western Hills. A’Shu would follow her elder brother and sister-in-law to the post station in the city.

Just as they were about to embark on their own ways, sudden drumming sounds were heard from the hillside sheltered by trees along the river. Immediately, thousands of bandits poured out from the dense forest. With the speed of thunder, they roared and surrounded Liu Xun’s party.

Frightened to death, Xie Jin lost his usual demeanor. After trying to scramble back to his carriage two or three times, he shouted at Liu Xun, “Your Highness, meet the enemy quickly!”

Liu Xun, barely sparing him a glance, turned over and mounted his horse. He fearlessly looked down at the thousands of enemies.

The soldiers nearby suddenly turned pale, but they were, after all, battle-hardened. Liu Xun’s display of sangfroid greatly restored their confidence. They quickly held the weapons in their hands and formed into a battle array.

For a time, the red turbans and the black armours faced each other, with the wooden spears making a striking contrast against the iron halberds. Zhao You shielded his wife behind him as he shouted orders to protect A’Shu. The servants under Zhaos were all well-trained. They promptly surrounded the carriage that A’Shu was riding.

This maneuver, unfortunately, fell into the eyes of the bandit leader, Wang Shu, who was watching on the hillside. This rough man might be born in an uncivilized land, but his father used to be a village constable. He was smart and always had a good plan. Seeing the movement, he immediately turned around and whispered a few words to the man next to him.

Liu Xun looked at the bandits. Facing the hillside, he said in a loud voice, “Dare to ask, are you the leader of the Red Turbans, Wang Shu?” There was no contempt or disgust in the voice, only some respect.

As a humble commoner, Wang Shu was used to the arrogant and scornful manner of noble officials. Today, he confronted Liu Xun, yet he was not treated coldly. He couldn’t help but be dumbfounded. However, in a moment, he angrily shouted back, “Yes, that’s right! Are you that Prince of Xiao Liu Xun? Now that you know who I am, I advise you to leave all the food, hay and money behind. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being careless!”

He waved a hand, and the man beside him suddenly hurled a wooden spear out of his hand. The wooden spear pierced the air with lightning speed, passing over the crowd and deeply nailing into the ground at the foot of a servant in front of Xie Jin’s carriage.

The servant stared at the quivering tail of the wooden spear and fell down on the ground in fright. Xie Jin also panicked and almost fell out.

Wang Shu’s troops, known as Red Turbans, took the Western Hills as a stronghold. Because there were no iron ores in the mountains, ordinary refugees did not know how to smelt. They used the trees in the mountains to make wooden spears. With the skill they accumulated from practising everyday, they had been effectively deterrent among the past troops passing through. Just now, it was really staggering to see their range and strength.

Liu Xun glanced at the wooden spear. He smiled and untied his side pouch. He raised it at Wang Shu from afar and said, “Look, there are more than a thousand people in our army, each carrying a bucket of grain. That means more than a thousand bucket in total. But if ten thousand people share the food, I’m afraid it will be consumed in only half a day.”

This statement was not a lie. The imperial court allocated very little grain rations for this expedition. The army had to make do with the provisions in various counties along the way. Having only reached the county, they had not yet the time to replenish their supplies. It also happened that when the soldiers fled, they took away a lot of their rations. What was left was only enough food for five days.

Wang Shu frowned at the words. He immediately swept his eyes at the soldiers and found that the sacks of grains that everyone carried were almost empty.

But the rough man who had just thrown the spear shouted angrily, “Don’t listen to his nonsense! The Emperor sent him here to recover Hebei. With such a great task, he must have ample food. If one can’t get enough meal, how can he work hard?”

This man was Xu Guang, Wang Shu’s sworn brother. He was also the deputy leader of the Red Turbans. He could shoot a hundred times with the unerring accuracy of a bull’s-eye to the target. The shot just now came from him.

His eyes wandered and immediately settled on the hundreds of boxes in the team. “What’s in all of these? Liu Xun, don’t try to deceive us!”

Liu Xun didn’t answer but Liu Ji beside him shouted, “His Highness is an upright person who always shared weal and woe with his soldiers when marching. When did he deceive others? Except for the boxes of the military inspector and the Zhao family, only one in twenty belonged to the Prince. Aside from a box of clothes, the rest contains books and letters. There isn’t personal food!”

Wang Shu said nothing. His eyes narrowed slightly, ostensibly judging whether Liu Ji was telling the truth or not.

Aware of his suspicions, Liu Xun immediately ordered to unpack the boxes. The volumes of books and letters in the boxes were displayed to Wang Shu and others. Sure enough, he did not make a false claim. Wang Shu and the others had been bandits in the Western Hills for more than a year. From the princes down to the petty officials they robbed, they had never seen such a scene. At that time, the five thousand bandits whispered to each other: As a feudal prince surnamed Liu, he could eat with his men and officers when they are marching. Instead of personal food, he only carries books and letters. Indeed, he is just like what the rumors said. He is one of the rare real gentlemen in the world.

With this fruitless pursuit, the bandits gradually retreated. But Xu Guang was unwilling, so he stopped the crowd and pointed at the remaining boxes and chests belonging to the Zhaos and Xie Jin. “What about the rest? I’m afraid they have hidden all the food!”

Wang Shu waved his hand to stop him. “Second Brother, there are belongings of the Zhao family in here. We have a prior agreement with Lord Zhao. We can’t act rashly.”

Xu Guang, who was sinister and fierce, sneered angrily. “Elder Brother, don’t be fooled by their words. How do we know whose things are these?”

Wang Shu was obviously displeased. “Don’t be rude! I also came from Dongjun. Who doesn’t know the name of Brother Liu Chang in Dongjun? This is the most faithful person in the world. How can I be fooled?”

Seeing the dispute, Liu Xun looked at Zhao You and Xie Jin. “Gentlemen, will you open your boxes to be checked?”

Zhao You had no objection but Xie Jin was a little afraid to be found out. He looked around and saw the covetous looks in the thousand pairs of eyes. He clenched his teeth and agreed.

The dozens of boxes were opened and exposed to the public.

Zhao family’s boxes held nothing extraordinary. Most of them were A’Shu’s dowry such as lacquer ware and jade ware. They fell into the eyes of mountain bandits, but these extravagance were not as appetizing as a grain of rice. On the contrary, Xie Jin’s suitcases not only contained luxurious silk clothes, but two boxes contained refined grains and dried meat.

These two boxes suggested Xie Jin’s dissatisfaction with the course food of the army. Just looking at those silk clothes, one could see the greedy face of this man.

Thousands upon thousands of eyes threw contemptuous and disgusting glances at him.

Xie Jin felt guilty and hid himself in the carriage.

Wang Shu felt ashamed. Cupping a fist with one palm to Liu Xun, he said in a loud voice, “The Prince of Xiao really lives up to his reputation of being benevolent and righteous. I admire him immensely. Please go ahead.”

Everyone was immediately relieved, only Xu Guang was not reconciled. When he heard the remarks, his eyes flashed cold with calculation. While Liu Xun was relaxed and the others were distracted, he launched a wooden spear. With the speed of lightning, it fell into the back of a horse which was attached to A’Shu’s carriage. Startled, the horse immediately neighed and pulled the carriage out, knocking down dozens of people as it headed towards Xu Guang, who spurred his mount.

“Little Sister!” Zhao You and his servants turned pale in fear as they helplessly watched the carriage galloped towards Xu Guang’s horse.

Xu Guang was very skillful. Seizing the opportunity, he went deep into the carriage and dragged the person out. He held her in front of him, pointed a sharp wooden spear against her neck, and threatened, “Liu Xun, my Elder Brother always stresses benevolence and righteousness, but I don’t believe in this rubbish. Since you don’t have surplus food, you can just transfer the official provision. We have twelve thousand five hundred people waiting. If you don’t give us the food, the woman in my hands will die!”

He drew his hand closer as he glanced down at the woman who was being held hostage.

The sight stupefied him for a moment.

This woman’s face was as fair and bright as a lustrous pearl. Hers was a beauty that these bandits had never seen before.

Not only Xu Guang but Wang Shu was also stunned. He immediately guessed that such beauty could only be Lady Zhao, Liu Xun’s newly married wife!

Shocked, he bellowed angrily at Xu Guang, “Second Brother, let go of that woman! That’s Lady Zhao!”

When he was observing from a high place earlier, he only thought that the person inside the carriage protected by hundreds of people must be very important. But due to the situation, he only told Xu Guang to take this person as a hostage in case of emergency. Now, he realized that the person in the carriage was Lady Zhao.

Who was Lady Zhao? She was not only famous for her beauty, but she was also widely known as the daughter of the Empress Dowager. A few months ago, the Empress Dowager personally summoned her to Chang’an.

Even though this place was at the junction of three states and was very chaotic, Wang Shu and the others were not unfamiliar with the maxim that the whole world belonged to the Emperor. Looting ordinary households and even the princes of a small and declining country was of no difficulty, but they still didn’t dare to touch the closest relatives of the Son of Heaven.

Moreover, he had a prior agreement with Zhao You that he would not touch the Zhao family.

Xu Guang was reminded of the identity of the woman in his hands, but he was still holding his breath. He realized that he indeed acted rashly, but he had to finish it to the end. He gritted his teeth and said, “Elder Brother, what are you afraid of? Our brothers turned to banditry that day so that they won’t starve to death. Now that our food is in short supply, are you just going to sit back and watch our brothers die of hunger?”

His hands tightened around A’Shu. He dragged her straight back into the mountains.

These bandits were indeed starving for a long time. They recognized the viability in Xu Guang’s plan. One by one, they turned their eyes at Wang Shu, which made him hesitate.

A’Shu was seized like this. Her head was lifted, revealing the column of her snow-white neck. Her breath was trembling, but she dared not move at all.

When the carriage ran out, she instinctively held the frame tightly to avoid being thrown out. She never expected that she would be plucked out and be takn as hostage? At first, she was not afraid, but now that her consciousness was gradually returning, the fear in her heart began to rise.

She bit her lower lip and clenched her hands. She tried to restrain the tears in her eyes and not look at Xu Guang’s evil face.

Zhao You’s heart broke to pieces seeing his sister struggling to keep a calm appearance.

His composure scattered. He looked at Xu Guang with red eyes and said, “You have made a pact with my Zhao family beforehand. How can you hold my younger sister as hostage? She is just a weak girl. Let her go!”

Xu Guang laughed several times. “If you want me to release her, you can exchange her for food!”

Seeing that his younger sister was in danger, Zhao You hurriedly shouted, “If you let her go, I will go to Shexian right now and buy you all the grains stored by the merchants!”

Xu Guang, neither yielding to carrots nor to sticks, insisted, “This place is not Handan. No matter how rich your Zhao family is, you can not buy so much grain at once. No more talking. I only need Liu Xun to transfer the official provision in Shexian!”

Zhao You was so distraught that Xie Jin was also flustered. In any case, it was well known that Lady Zhao was the daughter of the Empress Dowager. If she fell into the hands of these mountain bandits here, wouldn’t it disgrace the royal family?

While the two sides were locked in a stalemate, Liu Xun suddenly stepped forward. “Take it easy. Since you want food, this orphaned one consents. But my wife is delicate and weak, this orphaned one is concerned. How about taking this orphaned one to the mountains with you until the food arrives?”