Li Zicheng

The city gates stood wide open, with rows of cheval-de-frise piled before them. Blades and spikes had been set into the crisscrossed wooden beams, polished bright and sharp. Beside the barricades stood a squad of roughly a dozen soldiers in cloth armor, spears in hand, lined up on either side. Around a hundred Disaster Victims gathered in small groups across the open ground before the gate, their dull eyes occasionally turning this way, as though waiting for something. More Disaster Victims clustered on a nearby hillside. Mining had riddled the entire mountain with caves of all sizes, packed with sallow, emaciated Disaster Victims in ragged clothes, sheltering from the blazing sun.

"Uncle, is this Yulin?" Jiang Shuo walked over and asked a Disaster Victim huddled in the shade.

The Disaster Victim raised his head from within his tattered collar. His cloudy eyes, veiled in dust, looked toward Jiang Shuo. Parting his cracked, peeling lips, he replied weakly, "It is."

Pity rose in Jiang Shuo's heart. Unable to bear looking any longer, he left the Disaster Victim behind and headed straight for the city gate. When he reached it, he turned sideways, intending to squeeze through a gap in the barricades, but a sharp-eyed soldier stopped him. "Get back! Yulin City isn't a place you Disaster Victims can enter."

"I'm not a Disaster Victim," Jiang Shuo said righteously. After the grueling journey, his mud-caked hair lay stiff and dry against his scalp like a heap of weeds, and he was filthy from head to toe, but he had never considered himself a Disaster Victim.

"You keep saying you aren't a Disaster Victim. Then do you have a fixed residence in Yulin City?" The soldier lifted his chin, looking as though he had seen through Jiang Shuo's sophistry, impatience plain on his face.

Jiang Shuo froze for a moment, then asked, "Fine, count me as a Disaster Victim. But who are you? What gives you the right to keep me from entering the city? Don't tell me this city belongs to you?"

The soldiers were momentarily dumbfounded. Once they came to their senses, they erupted in anger. "Behind us stands the Imperial Court! Under Heaven, is there any land that is not the king's land? Along the shores of the realm, is there anyone who is not the king's subject? The ground beneath your feet, the sky over your head—even you and I—all belong to the Imperial Court. Let alone this mere Yulin City!"

"The Imperial Court? The king's land?" Back in Chiyun Village, Jiang Shuo had mainly been taught the principles of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. Though he had learned a little about dynasties, the isolated environment meant that even the Great Elder's explanations had never truly helped him understand.

"Stop playing dumb and get the hell out!" Having lost his patience, the soldier grabbed Jiang Shuo by the back of his collar and heaved, ready to fling him away. Yet Jiang Shuo's feet seemed to have taken root, and he could not be budged at all.

Seeing Jiang Shuo resist, the other soldiers rushed forward as well. The weapons in their hands gleamed brightly, flashing with chilling cold light.

"Brothers, please show mercy." At that moment, a young man hurried over from outside the city. He stepped between them, then pulled the leading soldier aside. Taking out a string of coins from his robe, he secretly slipped it into the man's palm. "Brother soldier, that was my younger brother just now. He hit his head when he was little and is a bit foolish. He got separated from me on the road, which is why he ended up in such a sorry state. We aren't Disaster Victims. We came to Yulin specifically to do business."

The soldier weighed the coins in his hand, looking deeply troubled. "You understand too. These Disaster Victims are a mixed bag. Let them into the city, and theft and robbery are bound to happen, disrupting public order."

"Of course, of course. You brothers have worked hard guarding the city gate." The young man bowed repeatedly and slipped over more coins. In a low voice, he said, "Consider it Li's treat—some tea to beat the heat."

The soldier's rigid expression finally gave way to a satisfied smile. "Be more careful next time. Don't let your brother wander around outside looking like that. Others won't be as easy to talk to as I am."

With that, he waved behind him. His companions put away their weapons and moved to either side, clearing the road through the middle.

The young man nodded and bowed in agreement as he dragged Jiang Shuo into the city.

The famine had also affected Yulin City to a certain degree. The shops lining both sides of the streets had little business. The few vendors there were hid beneath the eaves, too lazy to call out their wares. Now and then, small groups of pedestrians passed by with their heads lowered, concerned only with hurrying along without speaking a word. The vast city was frighteningly silent. Still, compared to the Disaster Victims outside the walls, these people looked fairly decent in both clothing and complexion. The several-zhang-high city walls had divided the common people into two utterly different worlds.

Even after the young man had half-dragged, half-pulled him into the city, Jiang Shuo was still completely bewildered. "Who are you? Why did you help me?"

"My name is Li Zicheng. As for why I helped you..." The smooth, worldly expression on Li Zicheng's face suddenly darkened. With a bitter smile, he said, "There are tens of millions of Disaster Victims under Heaven. If I can help one, I'll help one."

That smile was filled with helpless bitterness, without the slightest trace of pretense, and it struck a chord within Jiang Shuo. Recalling what had just happened, he could not help shaking his head with a sigh. "Along the way, I saw the forests on entire mountains stripped of a layer of bark, and every blade of grass beneath the soil dug out by the roots. There is nothing left outside that can keep people alive. These Disaster Victims were forced to leave their homes, placing all their hopes on Yulin City, only to be mercilessly shut out in the end. A mere entry ban from the Imperial Court crushes their only chance at life beneath its heel. How cruel is that?"