Parting Ways (Part Two)

"Father, can Acheng really pull it off?" Once the others had left, Liu Huzi was the first to lose patience.

"Hardly." It was his eldest brother, Liu Sheng, who answered him. "Father made it perfectly clear just now. If it were only a few dozen people, or a hundred, then with Acheng's abilities, never mind Father-even I would trust him. But more than two thousand mouths? Who could shoulder that? Not even Jiangshen descended to earth! Don't go thinking you can meddle in this."

"Then once he can't hold on anymore, will he really come to Jiangcheng to find us?" Liu Huzi ignored his eldest brother and continued questioning his father.

"That is the crux of it." Liu Rengong sat cross-legged on the icy ground and answered slowly. "My fear is that even if things fail, and he doesn't get trapped in a blind alley of his own making, he still won't come looking for us... You don't understand. Just the way that boy was willing to try shouldering this today showed that he truly isn't a creature destined to remain in a little pond... Someone like him will find another way out even if he can't hold on. Why would he come back?"

"Then..." Liu Huzi was visibly unable to contain himself.

"I know what you want to say. When I was young, I happened to live through the southward migration of the gentry, and I saw this sort of youthful heroic spirit myself. Back then, I nearly abandoned the family estate to follow someone like that." Liu Rengong turned and fixed his youngest son with a stare.

"What happened afterward?" Liu Ahu's curiosity only grew. "I mean, to the man you nearly followed when you were young?"

"He went on to accomplish quite a bit. Unfortunately, about ten years ago, he drowned near Zhucheng in Jingzhou," Liu Zhi answered calmly. "Those who followed him back then all drowned too."

Liu Huzi was instantly struck speechless.

Meanwhile, Liu Acheng emerged wearing his new boots, and Liu Jili, dressed in the same fashion, immediately came up to him and asked bluntly, "You really made up your mind?"

"Yes," Liu Cheng answered crisply. "Let's go back and talk."

"Go on." Liu Jili forcibly suppressed the turmoil inside him and returned with him to the haystack. The moment he sat on the forked branch beside it that served as a stool, he spoke.

"Brother Jili, I told you before that I hadn't given you an answer these past few days because I was doing the calculations," Liu Acheng explained earnestly.

"I know. You've used that to shut me up plenty of times. Have you worked it out, then? Just how many supplies will it take to get the remaining two thousand people through this winter?" Liu Jili began with a sneer, but by the end he was already sounding somewhat exasperated. "That's two thousand people. The slightest shortfall would put it beyond anything the two of us could manage. Are we to flee in a panic then, after wasting an entire winter for nothing?"

"Acheng, I still say we'd be better off catching up with Liu Rengong right now and earning some money from the Grass Sandals business first. And didn't you say yourself that we could start with logistics for the military garrisons, see whether there was a chance to get involved, then try to enter Gao Jian's service and find a logistics post?"

"If you ask me, that's an excellent path. If you want a northern expedition, your abilities might well open the way to becoming a staff officer. You could climb through Jingkou's system of thirteen garrisons, become a staff officer in a military headquarters, then win the appreciation of someone influential. That would give you a way into a northern expedition... Even if it didn't work out, you could still earn some money. Why bother with these people?"

"There won't be two thousand people..."

"What?"

"I said there won't be two thousand people." Liu Acheng leaned forward and held up three fingers. "When the party first set out from Pengcheng, there were a little over three thousand people, roughly a thousand households. But after the plundering in the Huai River region unsettled everyone, there were already fewer than that by the time they reached Jingkou. Another two or three hundred have left over the past few days;

"Once Lord Ren takes the Liu Clan's relatives to Jiangcheng, I estimate we won't merely lose those two or three hundred households, seven or eight hundred people. We'll lose over a thousand, because some people will instinctively attach themselves to him. Even if there's nowhere to settle in Jiangcheng, even if the garrison and local authorities block them, they'll still follow;

"And that isn't all. Once Lord Ren leaves, there will certainly be Ruffian Youths and ruined households among those remaining who stir up trouble, groups from the same villages that still maintain their internal unity leaving together, and able-bodied men going elsewhere to seek a way out..."

"So, if we can disperse and suppress those Ruffian Youths, let the village groups that still have their own clans behind them leave, and gather back the able-bodied men who go looking for opportunities but find none, we'll only need to manage around a thousand people."

"Around a thousand?" Liu Jili was slightly taken aback.

"That's right. Work it out carefully, and there should only be around a thousand." Liu Acheng left just one finger raised, waving it before the other man's eyes. "I've made a rough survey."

"But even a thousand won't make it through, will they?" Liu Jili thought for a moment. His tone had clearly relaxed considerably, though it still carried a sense of helplessness. "I know two thousand and one thousand aren't the same thing, but we still can't shoulder over a thousand people."

"If only a thousand remain, and we can prevent the Ruffian Youths from destroying the firewood in these camps, then we actually won't have to worry about winter fuel." Liu Cheng continued, raising one finger. "That's one essential supply we won't need to worry about."

Liu Jili froze again, then understood. His tone was no longer as heated as before. "You mean, once the numbers drop to a thousand, the firewood everyone has been gathering will actually be enough?"

"Exactly. Three thousand people gathered that firewood over an entire autumn." Liu Cheng nodded. "And firewood is the easiest thing to obtain nearby, so there's plenty... It's also bulky, so those leaving won't have any reason to make a special effort to carry it away."

Liu Jili still shook his head. "But firewood isn't the only thing we lack for winter."

"I know. There are two other essentials: food and winter clothing... Let me make this clear first. Winter clothing is beyond me. How much remains of the hundred bolts of cloth handed out earlier is in Heaven's hands. Claiming I could find another hundred bolts would be a lie brazen enough to deceive Heaven. So if it snows, I'll admit defeat and leave... There's no shame in that." Liu Cheng first conceded one pitfall. "Brother Jili, you've been in Jingkou for two or three years... Tell me, how many times did it snow in the past two years? How often did things freeze over?"

"It snowed once. Things never froze over," Liu Jili answered slowly, seemingly trying to explain something clearly. "But people still freeze to death when it snows and when the snow melts. Snow doesn't just mean cold. You can't find food when you go out, and the haystacks and shelters get wet too... It isn't like rain. Rain really does evaporate quickly, but snow... You've never seen snow in the south. It's like, like..."

"Like the last bundle of straw that crushes a mangy mule to death." Liu Acheng pointed at the straw stack beside them, supplying the words himself.

"Exactly." Liu Jili breathed easier again, because that apt comparison had keenly revealed to him that the other man truly understood what southern snow meant to refugees.

"So snowfall is a natural disaster. We'll do everything we can, but if a natural disaster strikes, that doesn't mean we're incapable, nor is it our responsibility. We'll simply leave. How does that sound?" Liu Cheng continued coaxing him patiently.

"We leave if it snows?" Liu Jili nodded. In his heart, he already believed him, because that comparison had been far too fitting.

"Yes!"

"What we need to do is make up the... shortfall in food for a thousand people to survive winter?" Liu Jili seemed to realize something further. "After all, they've been stockpiling food all this time too."

"Yes."

"How do you plan to gather... food?" Liu Jili pressed.

"By every means available," Liu Acheng answered earnestly. "Winter is almost here. There's no point talking about long-term plans... We'll keep having these people find their own food. The women and children must go looking too. Gathering grass seeds in the hills is fine, and there's no shame in begging, as long as they bring back something edible. We must get moving ourselves as well. Without Grass Sandals, we can still sell split firewood. Sort it by length, size, and type of wood. We'll use the poor pieces ourselves and sell the good ones together to exchange for grain. Beyond that, we must exhaust every outside connection: seek loans from the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, ask the authorities for relief, try to get something out of the Xie Family. Any money or grain we can obtain will help."

"And any grain that passes into our hands must be distributed through a rationing system. As the saying goes, measure the rice for the pot by the days it must last. Keeping people alive comes first... Again, Brother Jili, we only need to do our utmost. In a situation like this, no one will reproach us, however far we manage to get."

"Even so..." Liu Jili rubbed the side of his nose, still looking somewhat troubled. "There's another problem."

"Tell me."

"According to what you've said, the Liu Clan's relatives will all leave, the village groups of other surnames that can still hold together will leave, the Ruffian Youths must leave, and the able-bodied men will leave too. What does that leave us with? Even if some men remain, most will still be women and children... Is it worth exhausting ourselves, with the possibility of giving up halfway, just to win the hearts of a thousand women and children?" Liu Jili pressed him with another question. "What use can they be to your ambitions?"

"These people are indeed of no use to your ambitions or mine." Liu Cheng nodded almost immediately. "Never mind something as distant as a northern expedition. Even if we only wanted to establish a fortified manor and seek a little temporary peace, they would be burdens."

"Then..."

"But if every refugee leader, Wubao Lord, member of the Way of the Celestial Masters, and garrison officer in Jingkou-even those Northern Chu fellows at the informal markets-learned that two down-and-out sons of the Liu Clan of Pengcheng, gentry youths who came from Hebei with nothing to their names, whose very clothes were gifts from others, nevertheless helped a thousand helpless women and children survive the winter without seeking repayment... If they learn of that, then it becomes useful." Liu Cheng sighed and spoke each word distinctly. "Brother Jili, can you reckon that account clearly? If you can, are you willing to do this business with me?"

Now, Liu Acheng's words were not merely a rhetorical device. They were also the result of careful thought over these past few days... The earlier cloth distribution had brought home to him just how difficult it was to lead several thousand people, especially in an age like this, when he, an outsider and refugee, naturally lacked prestige and resources. Then came the trip to Beigu Mountain. Even after his indignation flared, he had been forced to admit that establishing a fortified manor without official rank, family standing, or reputation was nothing more than a castle in the air... His temperament being what it was, however, his anger soon faded, replaced by the question of how to face reality, and then by this detailed investigation and analysis, along with a new approach.

Of course, his words themselves had to be tailored to the listener. This speech was indeed aimed at Camel Jili. Don't you want to build a reputation and become a high official, despite having nothing? What do you think of this plan? If he had been trying to recruit Liu Huzi this time, he would certainly have asked whether he wanted to sweep away the Ruffian Youths nearby together, and preserve his father's reputation in the process.

Sure enough, halfway through the speech, Liu Jili had caught on. By its end, even his breathing had grown heavy.

A moment later, Liu Jili's breathing steadied, and he asked another question. "Are your calculations accurate?"

The instant he asked, he could not help pressing a hand to his forehead-what was there to ask? Liu Rengong would be leaving shortly. Couldn't he simply see for himself?

P.S. Many thanks to Brave Hero, Don't Hit Me, My Lord for becoming a top supporter. I'm endlessly grateful.