Parting ways (part two)

The next day, just after breakfast, everyone in the camp learned that Liu Rengong was leaving.

Really, there was no hiding it in the first place, because Liu Rengong's departure involved far more than his own household. As mentioned before, he intended to take his clansmen with him... When his ancestors moved out of Cong Pavilion in Pengcheng and settled anew on the western bank of the Si River in Guangqi County, in Pengcheng's northwestern corner, they must have had relatives and followers much like his younger cousins and nephews today. Then they had multiplied through who knew how many generations, until their branches and leaves spread far and wide. It was simply that Liu Rengong's father had still held an office ranked at two thousand bushels, maintaining the family's standing. All those other blood relatives were still there.

That meant these two or three hundred households, including Grandpa Liu San's.

How could he possibly abandon them? By the understanding of this age, these were his true family!

In fact, from Liu Acheng's observations, if not for the need to get those two hundred households of blood relatives through the winter, Liu Rengong would not have had to go to Jiangcheng at all... If people starved, they starved. If people froze, they froze. What did that amount to?

This was the Eastern Jin and the Sixteen Kingdoms! And the Eastern Jin and the Sixteen Kingdoms were about to enter their second great surge of warfare!

It was solely to keep as many of his blood relatives as possible from starving or freezing to death that he had no choice but to abandon the other villagers of different surnames who had attached themselves to him.

However, the reason everyone in the camp knew Liu Rengong was leaving was not that his Liu blood relatives had begun packing their nonexistent luggage. It was because Liu Acheng had stepped forward and announced it himself.

Just a few months earlier, this fellow had been an outsider in a short coarse-cloth jacket and bound-cuff trousers, a boy who had even needed to barter with others in the group for straw sandals. Now, however, the vast majority of the camp recognized him as a son of the Liu Clan of Pengcheng and one of the camp's managers. He could even wear a short winter fur coat beneath a blue outer robe, hemp sandals woven by Liu Rengong himself, and a crimson headcloth, looking both very well-to-do and eminently trustworthy.

Yet it was this trusted son of the Liu Clan of Pengcheng who, after breakfast that morning, sat down by the fence at the valley entrance and played "Orchid Grass" on his flute to draw people over, then publicly announced Liu Rengong's plans, swiftly shattering everyone's illusions.

He made it very, very clear:

The authorities were ignoring them. Liu Rengong had gone to seek the Grand Commander's help but had failed to see him. Now there was no other way, and he could not bear to see everyone starve or freeze to death, so he could only go to Jiangcheng to seek refuge with an old friend. That friend's means were limited, however, so he would take only the relatives of the Liu Clan of Pengcheng and Grass Sandals and the Straw-Mat Group.

But this did not mean Liu Rengong was abandoning everyone completely. If the court remembered them next spring and provided seeds and such, Liu Rengong would certainly join them in reclaiming land. Meanwhile, Liu Acheng and Liu Jili had been appointed the camp's chief and deputy chief, to help everyone through the winter and be there to receive the authorities whenever they remembered the people here and came over.

Their abilities were limited, however, and they could not guarantee anyone's survival through the winter. Those with somewhere to turn should seek their own way out, but they must not damage the camp's firewood, rob others, abduct women or children from the camp, or fight. Violators would be punished without mercy... Those with nowhere to turn should keep to their shelters and wait until the Liu clansmen left in three days, when the groups would be reorganized.

Once he had finished, explained everything, and answered every question, he carried his flute to another spot in the camp and played "Orchid Grass" again, making his announcements in a circuit.

After two circuits, the people in the camp, who had initially still harbored some doubts, could bear it no longer. Some chose representatives to question or plead with Liu Rengong; some grew hysterical and cursed at the top of their lungs, but only cursed heaven and earth, not daring to curse any person, not even Liu Acheng; some wailed in anguish as though the end of the world had come; but others began gathering friends and companions to plot trouble.

Before the morning was out, the camp, stripped of its last psychological defense, immediately descended into chaos.

At this point, Liu Huzi, who had prepared well in advance, began beating people... Robbers, thieves, men taking the opportunity to trick women, brawlers-as long as someone raised an outcry, or even if he merely ran across some habitual idler, Liu Huzi led his clan's Tiger-Beating Team straight at them. A hail of clubs came down, and in the chill of late autumn, they were stripped to their bound-cuff trousers and driven out.

The few who had actually succeeded in their wrongdoing were stripped naked, not even allowed to keep their trousers, and tied to the wooden stakes beside the central fire pit. They were handed over to Liu Jili, who stood guard there. Liu Jili set the count, and someone lifted a whip, dipped it in water in the bitter cold, and lashed them. Afterward, their trousers were thrown back to them, and they were dragged out of the camp.

It had to be said that when it came to suppression by force, Liu Huzi, that young thug from the Huai River region, was a commanding presence-especially with an ambush prepared in advance this time.

So the disorder arose quickly and subsided just as quickly. The trouble had begun that morning, but by afternoon, the camp had been thoroughly straightened out.

Not only that, as those clubs and whips fell, the little groups of other surnames that still maintained some unity also recognized reality and stopped arguing with Liu Rengong. That very afternoon, seven or eight households, thirty or forty people surnamed Zhang, left outright. Apparently, they had previously run into an old acquaintance of the same surname who had made something of himself at a warehouse beside the Canal. They intended to join him and earn their living hauling goods.

This was naturally a good thing. Liu Rengong was too thin-skinned to face them, but Liu Acheng enthusiastically escorted them all the way out. He even took Grandpa Zhang's hand and insisted on playing "Only Mom Is Good in the World" for him as a farewell.

Once someone took the lead, the rest hardly needed mentioning. Soon people were coming and going from the camp, all searching for a way out.

Over the next two days, just as Liu Cheng's earlier inquiries had suggested, many small groups that could still hold together, along with energetic individuals, chose to leave whenever they found an opening. And this fellow treated them all alike. Whether they were going to a city, seeking refuge with old acquaintances, joining the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, or even selling themselves into servitude in a great household through a fellow villager's introduction, as long as it sounded as though they could survive the winter, Liu Acheng personally saw them off, shaking their hands and bidding each a fond farewell.

And indeed, quite a few clutched Liu Acheng's hand and burst into tears. There was no telling whether they were crying for themselves or had truly grown attached to this boy.

Thus, after three straight days, the camp had indeed grown much emptier. If the Liu clansmen could take some of those who still refused to give up with them when they left the following day, then by tomorrow afternoon, there really might be only a thousand or so people left.

However, after supper that evening, when the Liu clansmen had presumably finished packing their nonexistent luggage, an unexpected visitor came looking for Liu Acheng in the dark.

"Grandpa San, why aren't you packing? What brings you here? Were you waiting especially for me?" Liu Acheng had just returned from outside. Only after recognizing the familiar figure standing there by the distant bonfire's light did he relax, then smile again.

"What is there to pack? Everything was looted back in the Huai River region." Having waited for him to arrive, Grandpa Liu San gave a bitter smile at these words, then visibly hesitated.

Liu Acheng could not help finding it amusing. "You're usually such a decisive man, Grandpa San. Why so bashful now? You're my elder. Say whatever you like."

"Acheng... tell me the truth. After this, are you going to part ways with us?" Grandpa Liu San stepped half a pace closer and took his hand as he asked, imitating the way Liu Acheng usually spoke to people.

"What are you saying, Grandpa San? I made it clear to Lord Ren: if we make it through the winter, he still needs to return and lead those who remain in reclaiming land. I also told those who left, when I saw them off, that if things haven't worked out by next spring, they should come back too." Liu Acheng clasped the old man's hand in return, his words earnest. "And if we can't make it through this winter, I made that clear to Lord Ren as well. He's to leave a straw bed for Brother Jili and me in Jiangcheng, and we'll go to him then."

"If that's what you've agreed, then that's good. I was only afraid you were young and thin-skinned, and if you really couldn't hold out here, you'd refuse to go to Jiangcheng and let that Liu Jili lead you away instead..." Grandpa Liu San seemed relieved.

That sounded odd. Liu Jili had no prospects whatsoever now, so how could he lead Liu Acheng away? Speechless, Liu Acheng was about to reassure him.

Unexpectedly, having reached this point, Grandpa Liu San suddenly choked up again for some reason. "Acheng, I know you're a man of ambition. We in the Straw-Sandal Group have been talking, and everyone says you probably won't be traveling the same road as us after this... Old Wang put it best. In a world like this, even if we want to stay together, once we part, it's hard to gather again... Acheng, you don't know. It's my fault too. I already felt we wouldn't be able to keep you, and I should have found you a wife. If you'd started a family, you would have willingly stayed with us... But I looked at girls from several families in this camp and felt those humble households weren't good enough for you. That's how I missed the chance."

Now he was crying? And talking about finding me a wife?

Goosebumps rose all over Liu Acheng, but he could only reassure him. "Grandpa San, as they say, those of the same surname travel a thousand miles to seek each other out, and blood kin are one family. Besides, we belong to the same Pengcheng clan, and I'm all alone. In a world like this, how could I manage without relying on you? Even if we wanted to avoid each other, we couldn't."

Grandpa Liu San nodded repeatedly, but he was old, after all. Once he started crying, it took a great deal of effort to stop. All one could say was that, fortunately, he did not cry a life away like that Grand Commander.

Once he stopped crying, he took a pair of hemp sandals from the shadows at his feet and carefully set them in the straw bedding to one side. "These are from Grandpa Wang. He has children to look after, so there's no other choice. He can only follow the young master. But he asked me to tell you that he's long known the kindness you've shown him. If not for you, he and his grandchildren wouldn't have survived after the Huai River..."

What else could Liu Acheng say? He could only nod. "Please tell Grandpa Wang and the others for me too: keep living. Only if you stay alive can any of this matter. Whatever you do, don't let that last breath of resolve go."

Grandpa Liu San nodded again and again, pointed to the hemp sandals, and only then left.

Once he was gone, Liu Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone in the camp said he was easy to deal with, but dealing with people took effort too, didn't it? It really was exhausting.

"You certainly are popular. How many does this make?" Liu Jili emerged from behind the haystack, dropped onto the straw bedding, and pointed to the hemp sandals beside him with a sneer. "I spent two or three years with Liu Agan and did plenty of things, but nobody gave me so much as a pair of Grass Sandals when I left. You've already got two pairs of hemp sandals."

"How many could there be?" Liu Acheng sat back down in the straw bedding and reached for the obviously oversized hemp sandals. "Including Brother Qi, they're all people who shared a mess group with me from the start and then fought bandits together on the Huai River. Liu Dage, who came on the first day, was one too. It's just that Grandpa San still hasn't forgotten about you trying to lead me away. If you ask me, you needn't take it to heart. Even if someone over there cared about you, they probably had to be mindful of Liu A..."

He stopped abruptly halfway through. From the hemp sandals, whose weight was clearly wrong, he had pulled out a great handful of Shenlang Coins.

Clearly, the people of the Straw-Sandal and Straw-Mat Groups had pooled these. Only they had so much loose change, but unless they had gathered it together, there could never have been this much.

Liu Jili froze for a moment too. He reached into the other sandal, drew out another Shenlang Coin, and blew on it, suddenly despondent. Though these people could offer little help toward his ambitions, just what had he done over these past two or three years?

But then another thought struck him: could this Liu Acheng really build a reputation?