Natural Disaster, Human Calamity?

Longwu Year Six, Wei Residence.

The courtyard suddenly erupted into chaos as a tiny figure darted through the halls and around the pillars, running at full speed. The steward chased closely behind, shouting again and again, "Slow down, slow down! Little Young Master, my little ancestor! If you fall and hurt yourself, you'll be the death of me!"

The boy was Wei Yuan. Though he had only just turned three that year, he was unusually tall. Children in the poor mountain villages were generally small and skinny, so he already seemed taller than many seven- or eight-year-olds in town.

A delicious aroma drifted from the main hall. Little Wei Yuan was running when he suddenly seemed to be hooked by a fishing line and lifted into the air; he immediately changed direction.

In the main room, Great Benefactor Wei and the two madams sat at the table, where the food had already been laid out. Two earthenware bowls sat on the table. One held several steamed flatbreads and brown mixed-grain buns; the other was filled with yellow porridge made from assorted grains. There were also four small plates of food: pickled beans, salted radishes, stir-fried shredded radish, and a small plate of pickled pheasant.

This was the midday meal in the home of Great Benefactor Wei, one of the wealthiest households in the county.

Little Wei Yuan was already ravenously hungry. He broke open a bun almost as big as his own head, stuffed chicken into it, then buried his face in his meal and polished it off in no time. One bun still wasn't enough. He ate two flatbreads and a bowl of porridge as well, and only then was he full. Once he'd finished, he hopped off his stool, bowed to Great Benefactor Wei and the two madams, and dashed out.

Great Benefactor Wei and the two madams had barely touched their chopsticks. They waited until Little Wei Yuan had eaten his fill and left the room before starting their meal. Third Madam said, "Yuan'er is growing so fast. He already eats as much as an adult, and he has such good manners, too. He just doesn't like to talk. If only Fourth Sister were still here..."

Second Madam hurriedly tugged at her sleeve. Third Madam immediately came to her senses and fell silent.

Outside, Little Wei Yuan paused for a moment, then ran toward the front courtyard as if he hadn't heard anything. The old maids, servants, and attendants he passed stepped aside and bowed to him, but from farther away, the servants' quiet gossip all reached Wei Yuan's ears.

"The young master is growing so fast. He eats even more than an adult. It's just a shame he lost his mother."

"Keep your voice down! The master said we're not to let the young master find out."

"What's the big deal? Who doesn't know Fourth Madam ran off with someone not long after giving birth to the young master? The master only said she died, then put on a show by having a grave built. But who could that fool?"

Little Wei Yuan didn't stop walking. He left the rear courtyard and entered the front one, where things were rather noisy, with farmhands, kitchen workers, and household servants bustling back and forth.

He walked to an open space in the front courtyard. Stone locks, spears, and cudgels were set out there; it was where the household guards usually trained. The moment he stepped into the open space, he heard more whispers.

"The young master is a handsome little fellow, but he doesn't look much like the master."

"You think Fourth Madam might have had a bastard with some other man...?"

"Keep your voice down!"

"What are you afraid of? There's no one nearby. Who could hear us?"

Wei Yuan tried to shut the voices out of his mind, but no matter what he did, he could hear every word clearly. Two household guards were whispering ten zhang away. They were far off and speaking softly; under normal circumstances, no one could possibly have heard them. Yet Wei Yuan heard them perfectly. In fact, no matter where he stood, he could hear what was going on throughout most of the residence.

In Wei Yuan's memories, there had been a moment when he was very young when he'd suddenly begun hearing these voices. As he heard more and more, it wasn't long before he understood the meaning of most of what people said.

Country folk were coarse, and servants gossiping about their masters behind their backs naturally had nothing nice to say.

Ever since he'd learned to understand them, Wei Yuan had grown quieter and quieter. He could understand what people said, but he couldn't understand why they said such things.

As usual, Wei Yuan went to the stone locks and picked up the ten-jin one he usually played with. But after lifting it only a few times, he felt an itch inside his body. It was an itch that seemed to burrow out from between his bones. Only running or carrying heavy loads could ease it a little, and the stone lock in his hand was now far too light to help.

Little Wei Yuan walked over to a larger stone lock nearby. It weighed a full fifty jin, the heaviest one the household guards used for training. Little Wei Yuan got both hands under it and heaved. The stone lock lifted slightly off the ground.

Just then, Wei Youcai's voice rang out from a distance. "Put it down! Put it down, quick!"

Little Wei Yuan turned around and saw Great Benefactor Wei hurrying toward him. "How could you handle such a heavy stone lock? What if you hurt your muscles or bones? I know you like playing with these, so I had someone make you a proper one."

As he spoke, Wei Youcai took out a little stone lock carved from white jade. It was delicate and lovely, and weighed a full jin.

Little Wei Yuan reluctantly took the jade lock.

Though it weighed almost nothing in his hand, Little Wei Yuan could feel his father's concern. So although he was unwilling, he moved away from the stone lock and pretended to play with the little jade one.

Wei Youcai wiped the sweat from Wei Yuan's face. After all that fuss, he was the one drenched in sweat. Squinting, he looked up at the sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and the scorching sun hung overhead, pouring down heat and light like flames.

Wei Youcai told Little Wei Yuan to go play by himself, then called the steward over and asked, "It's already the Start of Summer, isn't it?"

"Master, it was the Start of Summer yesterday."

Great Benefactor Wei frowned. "It's already the Start of Summer? How are things in the fields?"

The steward grimaced. "The crops are just forming ears, but there's only been one rain in the past two months. They can't survive like this! The fields near the mountains have already yielded nothing. The ones by the Tong River are a little better. But drawing water from the river is backbreaking work. Two people in the villages below have already died from exhaustion!"

"Saddle a donkey. We're going to the village."

A short while later, Great Benefactor Wei set off toward the mouth of the valley with the steward and a household guard. It was only eight li from Wei Residence to the valley's entrance. Beyond it lay Lower River Village, beside the Tong River, with the best farmland in the county. If it didn't rain soon, Lower River Village might be the only village in all of Ye County with a harvest.

As soon as they left the residence, a glaring expanse of yellow met their eyes.

The fields were yellow, the roads were yellow, the trees were yellow, the mountains were yellow, even the wind was yellow.

As far as the eye could see, only the old tree behind the Wei family's courtyard remained lush and green, a solitary patch of green in this corner of the world. In truth, if household guards hadn't watched over it day and night, the tree would have been stripped bare long ago. People could peel off all its bark in a single night.

A gust of wind suddenly swept up, whipping yellow dust into Wei Youcai's face.

Wei Youcai spat several times before he managed to get all the dirt out of his mouth. He wiped his face, jumped off the donkey, and walked into the fields on either side of the road. He dug into the earth with his hands, but all he brought up was dry soil. The crops along the ridges had withered completely.

Wei Youcai braced his hands on his knees and struggled to stand. The steward hurried over to support him.

After catching his breath, Wei Youcai asked, "How are things with the tenant farmers?"

"Master, the year before last was merely a little hot. Last year there wasn't much rain, and the fields had a poor harvest. The court didn't reduce the taxes, either. Every household has eaten through its stored grain, and most still owe us some. This year, from the looks of it, the harvest will probably fail completely. But our family doesn't have much grain in storage, either. I'm afraid people will die..."

Wei Youcai's expression darkened. "If we don't provide disaster relief soon, it'll be too late. Any news from the county?"

The steward said, "A few days ago, I went to the county office specifically to see Master Zhao. He said there hasn't been any word from above about disaster relief. And this year, they're adding several new taxes. I think the names were Armor Tax, Tribute to the Barbarians Tax, and Ox Tax."

"What? Ox Tax?" Great Benefactor Wei dug at his ears.

"Ox Tax." The deputy steward nodded. He'd confirmed it with the tutor several times at the time.

Wei Youcai was baffled. "Have we ever had an ox in our county?"

The deputy steward said, "At least, no one's heard of one in the past several decades."

In fact, it wasn't just Ye County. Fengyuan Commandery had never had oxen, either. The area bordered the great mountains of the south, and its peculiar climate made it impossible for oxen to survive. People used a kind of pack animal called a Ding Mule for farm work. It looked like a donkey, but was slightly smaller. Even in all of Ji State, only two or three places out of ten had oxen. It was nothing like the northern kingdoms, where oxen were everywhere.

"If there aren't any oxen, what are they taxing us for?"

The deputy steward glanced at Great Benefactor Wei's expression and said quietly, "Master Zhao said that even without oxen, that won't stop the court from collecting the Ox Tax."

Wei Youcai asked grimly, "What's going on?"

"Master Zhao said the court recently appointed a Great Scholar from the north, a man famous for his writing. Once he arrived, he began reforming the laws. He proposed the 'Per Capita Tax System,' which means collecting taxes by head count. For every fifty households, the authorities count everyone as owning an ox and make them pay the Ox Tax. Supposedly, fishermen and boatmen have to pay it, too."

Wei Youcai was so furious he laughed. "All kinds of monsters and demons are crawling out of the woodwork! He can write? And being able to write lets him do something this vile?"

The steward said indignantly, "Maybe being able to write is exactly what lets him be so vile!"

Wei Youcai cursed for a while, then fell silent. After a long pause, he said, "Let's go back."

"We're not going to Lower River Village?"

"No. The weather will turn before long. Go into the mountains and bring Old Six back."

The steward was startled. "You want to bring Sixth Master back?"

"In a year of great famine, there'll certainly be refugees. Without Old Six, we'll have to flee, too."

The steward's expression changed. He didn't dare ask any more questions. Leading the donkey, he returned to the residence beneath the blazing sun.

Master Zhao's news was indeed reliable. The court's order to raise taxes arrived in the county less than two days later. Ye County was remote, so the order arrived later than anywhere else. The imperial edict had reached other places half a month earlier. In no time, resentment boiled over everywhere. Many people could see they wouldn't survive, and began looking for other ways to live.

In Yongzhou, there had never been a shortage of common folk who refused to meekly starve to death.

One morning, after breakfast, Little Wei Yuan once again ran toward the open space where the household guards trained. But just as he reached its edge, a pair of large hands suddenly descended from the sky and scooped him up, carrying him aloft as if he were riding the clouds.

The man was a bald giant with a face full of fierce flesh and a long scar across his right cheek. He held Wei Yuan up and glared at him fiercely, his face menacing.

Little Wei Yuan looked left and right. He realized he was being held much higher than usual, so high that all he could see were the tops of people's heads. He was delighted.

The bald man turned Little Wei Yuan's face back toward himself and asked in puzzlement, "Aren't you afraid of me?"

Little Wei Yuan asked, confused, "Why should I be afraid of you?"

Although they were meeting for the first time, Wei Yuan could sense that in the entire manor, the bald man was the third person to feel so much affection for him, after Wei Youcai and the steward. So no matter how much the bald man bared his teeth and glowered, Little Wei Yuan only thought he was fun.

The bald man burst into laughter. "Good lad! Come on, let's go find your father!"

Holding Wei Yuan, the man walked to the corner tower. Wei Youcai had changed into a short tunic and was testing the bowstring of a hunting bow. Master Wei clearly wasn't used to physical exertion; after pulling the string only a few times, he was panting with exhaustion and had to put it down.

The bald man stopped in front of Wei Youcai and said, "Big brother, I'm back!"

Wei Youcai raised his head and looked at the man, who was a full head taller than him, then at Wei Yuan, sitting quietly in the crook of his arm. At last, a smile appeared on his tired face. "Old Six! It's good to have you back!"

Baldy Old Six said, "I've already seen plenty of refugees on the way here, all coming from the northeast. A big group is only thirty li away. There must be several thousand of them, and someone's leading them."

"What sort of shape are they in?"

The bald man said gravely, "I sneaked into their camp at night. The leaders were cooking meat soup. The smell of the meat was wrong. I'm afraid it was human flesh."

Wei Youcai said calmly, "When people get desperate with hunger, they'll eat anything. It's no surprise."

He considered this for a moment, then said, "Thirty li away means they'll reach us the day after tomorrow. If several thousand people can even make it to a remote place like ours, those counties in the northeast must be nearly deserted."

The bald man said, "Big brother, I brought three capable brothers this time, ten sets of leather armor, and three fine strongbows. The refugees aren't moving fast. As long as we avoid their main body, we shouldn't have trouble fighting our way out. Big brother, do we flee or hold our ground?"

When refugees swept through, not even grass survived. That wasn't an idle saying. The hoes in their hands could till the earth, but they could also till people. There were only a few dozen people in Wei Residence, while they were facing several thousand refugees. If the residence fell, the Wei family would be wiped out.

But unless it came to the very last resort, no one wanted to abandon home and become a refugee.

Wei Youcai's narrow eyes squinted into a slit. After a long while, he said, "We hold!"

Baldy Old Six's spirits lifted, and he grinned savagely. "All right!"

Over the remaining two days, everyone in the manor threw themselves into their work. They raised the courtyard wall by half a chi and braced its weaker sections.

For those two days, wherever Wei Youcai went, he carried Little Wei Yuan with him. Little Wei Yuan watched as the big man took leather armor and strongbows from a leather-covered chest, and as one household guard after another picked up weapons and put on leather armor. Then, on the morning of the third day, Little Wei Yuan and everyone else ate a hearty meal.

Not long after daybreak, a great cloud of dust was already visible at the end of the main road. Figures flickered within it, too many to count. At the sight, a few household guards on the wall began trembling in the knees.

Wei Youcai had already changed into a fitted outfit. Holding Wei Yuan, he climbed the corner tower at an unhurried pace. He ordered a Grand Preceptor's chair to be placed at the top, then sat down with Wei Yuan in his arms. The steward and the bald man were already standing there. When they saw Wei Youcai carry Wei Yuan up, they both froze. The bald man asked, "Big brother, isn't it a bad idea to bring a child up here? What if..."

Wei Youcai waved a hand. "It's fine! Yuan'er was sensible from an early age and understands everything now. It'll do him good to see blood sooner rather than later."

The steward said, "Master, it's not suitable for you to be here, either!"

Wei Youcai gave a laugh. "Don't worry about me. If the refugees break through the residence, I'll die wherever I hide. So today I'll sit right here and watch them break into my home and eat my flesh!"

As they spoke, the mass of refugees drew closer. They were all dressed in rags, their faces sallow, but every one of them looked vicious. Some carried hoes, others held pitchforks, and many had large dark stains on their clothes that were clearly dried blood.

There were women in the crowd, all half naked. Several young women had been tied together with ropes, with hardly a scrap of cloth on their bodies.

When the refugees saw the Wei family's great manor ahead, their eyes immediately gleamed green. Among those at the front were several people dressed like locals, pointing at the manor.

The steward's sharp eyes recognized them. He immediately jumped up and cursed, "Isn't that Hu San? You bastard! If we hadn't given you enough grain to save your life last year, would you still be alive today?"

Cursing did no good. The refugees had spotted the manor from far away and could no longer hold back. They didn't care about keeping their distance; they swarmed forward all at once.

The refugees' shouts were a cacophony. From far away, only a sea of battle cries could be heard. But Wei Yuan could make out every word. Even with dozens of people shouting at once, he could distinguish each voice and hear every word clearly.

"There's food and women inside! Brothers, kill!"

"We're starving to death while they're living it up inside!"

"Slaughter the rich households!"

The refugees swarmed toward them like a pack of beasts. Wei Yuan suddenly turned and asked, "Why are they trying to kill us?"

Wei Youcai said gently, "First, watch. You'll understand as you watch."

Before long, the refugees had reached the wall and began howling as they scrambled up it. The wall around Wei Residence was only one zhang high. Strong men could reach its top with a powerful leap. Those who weren't as strong could still climb up with others lifting and supporting them. The Wei family's servants stood on the wall. At first some were afraid, but when life and death were at stake, they all fought with desperate ferocity. Screaming, they swung their knives down at hands reaching over the wall and heads poking up. Blood sprayed everywhere, and severed fingers and hands flew through the air.

There were far too many refugees. Those behind couldn't push their way to the front, so they picked up stones from the ground and hurled them at the wall. In the blink of an eye, several household guards had their heads smashed open, and some fell from the wall. But those who fell gritted their teeth and climbed back up without even wiping the blood from their heads. Everyone knew that if the wall fell, the outcome would be even worse than being hacked to pieces.

The corner tower of Wei Residence stood three zhang tall. The three men Baldy Old Six had brought back were holding bows and shooting down, one arrow after another. They had clearly trained in archery, and their shots were both swift and deadly. The steward stood on the tower with several colored flags at his feet. He waved them from time to time to direct the household guards, keeping an eye on their targets as he called out, "That tall man in black over there is probably a leader. Shoot him!"

Under the steward's direction, the three archers shot down seven or eight burly refugees in the blink of an eye. But by now everyone was blood-mad. They still charged the manor to their deaths, climbing over their companions' corpses and severed limbs.

With the steward directing them, the dozens of household guards and strongwomen of Wei Residence supported one another. They somehow managed to hold back the refugees and keep the top of the wall. The bald man patrolled back and forth, rushing to whichever place was in danger. Several times, he hacked down refugees who had climbed over the wall.

Wei Yuan sat in Wei Youcai's arms, watching sharp arrows pierce people's bodies before plunging into the ground in a rain of blood. He watched the household guards beside him tremble all over as they screamed and hurled stones down. He also watched a refugee with an arrow in his belly roll on the ground, screaming as he desperately clutched a companion's trouser leg. His companion found him a nuisance, swung a sickle back into his head, then charged toward the manor without so much as looking at him.

The hot, metallic stench of blood mingled with the dust and surged up in waves. One household guard on the wall couldn't take it anymore. He clutched the battlement and retched wildly. But in the blink of an eye, a stone struck his head. Dazed, he was dragged over the wall by the refugees, then torn and bitten apart until he was a bloody, unrecognizable mess. Screams rang out without end.

On the corner tower, Wei Youcai sat calmly, as if the brutal slaughter before him were no more than a group of children playing wildly. Little Wei Yuan leaned against him, as if resting against an immovable mountain.

The two sides fought for the time it took to eat a meal. Every household guard was panting and wounded, and gaps gradually began to appear in the defenses. At last, a group of refugees surged onto the wall and climbed up to the corner tower. A fierce melee erupted on the tower!

A burly refugee kicked the steward aside and charged toward Wei Youcai with a savage grin. Wei Youcai didn't panic at all. He rose and drew his saber. But he was used to a life of comfort, and his movements were slow. Before he could even raise the saber, the man kicked him squarely in the chest and knocked him down. The man lifted his woodcutter's ax and was about to bring it down on Wei Youcai's head!

Just as the ax was about to fall, Little Wei Yuan's mind went blank. He grabbed a short spear from the ground and thrust it into the refugee's belly!

The man had seen that Wei Yuan was a child and hadn't paid him any attention. He never expected that this thrust would be so powerful. Furious and shocked, he kicked Little Wei Yuan away, then yanked the short spear out with all his might. Blood immediately sprayed from his wound, drenching Little Wei Yuan.

The man's strength drained away like water. His legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.

Little Wei Yuan suddenly rushed forward and grabbed the short spear, wrenching it back. The burly refugee felt a force in his hand that no child should have, and the spear was ripped out of his grasp.

Little Wei Yuan stepped forward and thrust again, driving the spear into the refugee's chest.

The refugee cried out in pain. One hand gripped the spear shaft and wrestled with Little Wei Yuan, while the other fumbled for the woodcutter's ax and tried to bring it down on Wei Yuan's head. Little Wei Yuan didn't even look at the ax above him. He gathered all his strength and slowly drove the short spear into the refugee's heart.

The refugee suddenly saw Wei Yuan's eyes. His pupils were fathomless, as if they concealed another world. The little face was perfectly calm, as if he weren't killing someone, but simply going about an ordinary task. Looking at Wei Yuan's face, the refugee felt an inexplicable chill in his heart. Just then, the last of his strength gave out, and the spear sank deep into his chest with a soft thud.

At last, the steward and the others cut down all the refugees on the corner tower, then threw their bodies off one by one. The mass of refugees fell into disarray, and their momentum faltered.

Seeing the refugees' morale waver, the steward immediately picked up a red flag and hurled it with all his strength toward the center of the crowd.

The bald man, fighting on top of the wall, saw it and grinned savagely. "It's finally time! Brothers, kill with me!"

He leaped down from the wall. When he landed, he knocked several refugees flying, then charged straight toward where the red flag had fallen. Five more household guards in leather armor appeared inside the manor. They hadn't taken part in defending the wall earlier; they had been conserving their strength. They, too, jumped down from the wall and followed the bald man toward the center of the refugees.

With a roar, a dense glow of blood-red light blazed around the bald man, like a blood-red torch! He slashed forward, cleaving three refugees in half. Then he swept his saber back in an arc, and seven or eight people around him were cut in half at the waist!

Once the blood-red light appeared around him, every move the bald man made carried immense power. Leading his elite squad, he tore through the crowd like an unstoppable force. In the blink of an eye, they had cut down more than a hundred refugees and reached the heart of the formation.

The refugees' morale finally broke. Their ranks collapsed like a landslide, and in an instant, they all scattered in every direction.

The steward finally let out a breath and slumped to the ground, muttering, "Thank goodness they were just a rabble."

As soon as his tension eased, the pain in his body hit him. He had been slashed across the back at some point.

After the brief battle, several hundred refugee corpses lay outside Wei Residence. Many others had lost hands or feet but were still alive, lying on the ground and screaming. Many of the household guards on the wall were ordinary farmers themselves and had never witnessed such a scene. Some leaned against the wall and vomited; others laughed and cried at the same time.

Wei Youcai got to his feet, scooped Little Wei Yuan into his arms, and checked him for injuries. Only after seeing that Little Wei Yuan had no wounds and that the blood on him belonged to the enemy did he let out a long breath. His face was deathly pale with fright.

Wei Youcai patted his own chest, then wiped the blood from Little Wei Yuan's face with his sleeve.

Little Wei Yuan lifted his small face and asked again, "Why are they trying to kill us?"

Holding him, Wei Youcai stood and walked to the edge of the corner tower. Pointing northeast, he said, "They used to be people just like us. But now they're too hungry, so they want our food. There isn't enough food, either, so they have to eat us to survive. If we're so hungry we can't go on living and have to search for food somewhere else, we'll become just like them."

Wei Youcai pointed southwest and said, "Over that way, beyond these mountains, there are many people who don't look like us. Let's call them people, for now. Whether they're hungry or not, they still want to eat us."

"These people want to eat us directly." Wei Youcai then swept his hand toward the north. "Far away in those directions are many great cities. The people living in the centers of those cities eat people, too. They just don't eat them directly, and they're more civilized about it. But when it comes to eating people, they eat the most."

Little Wei Yuan understood, but not completely.

Wei Youcai smiled and pointed at the sky. "If we were standing up there, perhaps what we saw would be different. But from where we're standing now..."

"...this is a world that eats people."

Little Wei Yuan furrowed his tiny brows and thought hard. "Why do people eat people? People don't even taste good."

Wei Youcai swept his hand through the air and said, "Because there's only so much land, and it can't feed everyone. Whether they eat, kill, or starve to death, a batch of people has to die. Once enough people have died, things can quiet down for a while."