"Clang!... Clang!..."
Outside the Kaiyuan Garrison Command, the dull beat of the night watch drifted from far away. It was already the second watch. North of the city, a broken crescent moon hung in the sky like a blade laid slantwise atop the clouds. Moonlight spilled down, turning the entire important stronghold beyond the pass iron-gray and pale. The soldiers patrolling the streets at night were armed from head to toe, treading through the piled snow, every step crunching underfoot. And the focus of their patrols was clearly the Guiyi Hall and the Horse Market in the southeast of Kaiyuan City.
As the name suggested, Guiyi Hall was where "distant barbarians were brought to submission," a compound specially used by the Garrison Command to house Tatar tribal chieftains and Jurchen chieftains. On ordinary days, most of those staying here were merchants from large tribes who sold horses. When the tribute season came, naturally, the ones staying here were the chieftains and their attendants who had come to offer tribute. Right now, dozens of Jurchen tribes here for tribute, two or three hundred people in all, were crammed together in a filthy, noisy mass, shouting and drinking, with not a moment's peace even at night.
"Come! Big Brother Ali, Second Brother. Let's drink—another bowl!"
"Tuoluo of Sukesuhu, why aren't you filling the cups when you toast? Don't tell me you're already done after only two jin? You Jianzhou folk from poor mountain hollows really can't compare to the straightforward men of our Haixi grasslands! Come, Big Brother Ali, Brother, let's drink—three full bowls in a row!"
Ali, Zuwaro, and several Jurchen chieftains sat in a circle around a brazier burning in the middle. Empty wine jars were piled all around the fire, and everyone had drunk until their faces were flushed