A Cruel Romance CH 17

Commander Ho occupied Hsian for another month after Chairman Ts’ui’s death. In the meantime, the Nanking Government, livid at his behavior, sent a punitive expedition in his direction.

Chao Chen-Sheng learned of the news in Lanchow, and as he had recovered some of his strength, he answered the call from Nanking in with sounds of whetting swords, and set out to take revenge on Commander Ho’s betrayal. The Twenty-Third Army was garrisoned in the city, and soon found themselves stranded.

Commander Ho and his men had been optimistic about the situation at first, but as the war waged on for a fortnight, the Twenty-Third Army began to lose their nerves—the armies of Chao Chen-Sheng and Chairman Yen of Shansi had laid siege to Hsian and began a series of incessant onslaughts. On the fifth day of his resistance, the whole division of Jin Hwan-Ran was wiped out, and Jin himself killed in battle. Li s.h.i.+h-Yao retreated into the city at once—the Twenty Third Army had its glorious tradition: run when you can’t win, and run fast!

Although Commander Ho wasn’t exactly mentally prepared for such a scenario, he wasn’t all that demoralized. Back in the days when he had fled all the way from Tientsin to Luyang, he’d become very experienced in running away. Now that Hsian was slipping out of his grasp, he wasted no time with lamentation, and simply shut the city gates, unleashed his subordinates, and began looting.

Commander Ho felt very little attachment to Hsian. When he had first come, he saw it as no more than a springboard for his eventual return to Peking, and now that he had to leave, he felt little reluctance and only wished he could roll the city into a tight ball, and squeeze out every last drop of its sap with his fist.

They robbed all they could, and set fire to the remaining houses they couldn’t take away. After turning Hsian into h.e.l.l on earth, a satisfied Commander Ho finally led his troops on an a.s.sault at a weak spot of the siege, and breaking through, raced off to Tungkwan like hares.

Commander Ho and his tattered gallants thought they could finally spare a moment to catch their breaths. Except there, the Twenty-Third Army suffered a nearly catastrophic bombardment.

Who would have thought that the enemy would mobilize their air force?

Major General Sun was blown into smithereens. This time Commander Ho became truly frightened.

When even he was frightened, others were positively trembling with fear. Unable to find a reliable or insightful consultant, he could only hold on to the somewhat unimpaired Li s.h.i.+h-Yao. “Major General Li, we can’t stay in Tungkwan any longer. We must further retreat!”

Li, though, had retained his casual composure. “Then let’s go back to Luyang! It’s actually not bad, that unadministered area. They can’t pursue us all the way there!”

Commander Ho would have preferred to never lay eyes on Luyang again, but considering Li’s words, it seemed that it was the only option.

So be it, then! He hadn’t a blood feud with anyone; once he vanishes from the view, what can they possibly do?

A defeated Commander Ho withdrew from Tungkwan. In order to make himself scarce as soon as possible, he seized a westbound train at the station of a nameless county-town, and clearing out its pa.s.sengers, boarded it with one of his regiments. Li s.h.i.+h-Yao trailed behind with the rest of the army.

Last June, Commander Ho had come to Hsian winged with hope and ambition. A flash of a year later, he stepped onto the train miserably, and fled back to Luyang along the same tracks.

Seated next to the windows in his compartment, Commander Ho stared out at the bleary scenery flas.h.i.+ng past, feeling even blearier than the scenery.

“Bai-Shan, look…” he smiled at an empty s.p.a.ce in front of him. “I’m going back again.” 

“What if…” he scowled slightly. “I quit?”

He stood up and paced back and forth with his hands in pockets.

“The army—they’re nearly all dead except for Li s.h.i.+h-Yao. What if I really quit? Let’s go back to Peking!”

He came to a stop, and looked up at the ceiling of the train.

“No!” he lowered his head dejectedly. “I’m in big trouble this time. They’ll probably kill me on sight!”

“Bai-Shan, help me come up with a plan!”

For a moment Commander Ho fell silent, and his face darkened. “You won’t speak? I knew it! If you hadn’t died, you’d have abandoned me for another master! Would you have cared whether I live or die? You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you’re better off dead!”

Here he let out a long sigh, and softened his voice. “Come on, I was just joking. Don’t take it seriously.”

Adjutant Feng stood next to compartment door with a large tray of small dishes and a bowl of congee, and heard low voices drifting through of the door.

He knew the Commander was talking to a dead man, and was doing so with a pa.s.sion and animation that made his hair stand on end. Unfortunately, Li Bai’s death had forced him into the personal service of his strange and apparently psychic commander.

When the voice quieted, he finally said through the door: “Commander, your dinner’s here.” Nudging the door open with his feet, he entered the compartment and set the tray on a small table next to the windows.

Commander Ho did not look at him. Sitting down, he picked up the bowl and began eating his congee.

He had never paid much attention to what he ate, and ever since Lan Bai-Shan’s death, he’d become vegetarian.

He had no interest in food, or fas.h.i.+on, or recreation. Other than loneliness, danger, and wealth, Commander Ho’s life held little more.

Commander Ho finished the congee and pickled vegetables. Putting down his bowl and chopsticks, he waved a hand.

Taking note, Adjutant Feng picked up the tray and left.

Despite his somewhat unkempt image, Commander Ho did pay attention to his personal hygiene. Stepping out of his compartment, he brushed his teeth and washed his face languidly in the bathroom, and draping the white towel he’d used to wipe his face over his shoulder, he strolled back to his compartment absent-mindedly.

In front of his bed, he lowered his head and untied his brown leather belt. His over-sized army trousers slipped down to his knees the moment he released them, stopping only at the rim of his riding boots. Sitting down on the bed, he shook off his trousers and boots in one move and tossed them on the floor.

He crawled under the covers, where he tossed and turned like a pancake in a frying pan, unable to fall asleep.

He closed his eyes and forced himself to count sheep.

On the twelve thousand three hundred and twenty-eighth count, he couldn’t stand it anymore and sat up, getting out of bed on his bare feet to switch on the lights. Sitting next to the windows, he finished half a bottle of brandy he’d brought from Tungkwan.

The alcohol sent little blue sparks down his veins. Feeling drowsy at last, he rushed back to bed, lest the bit elusive sleepiness suddenly slip away.

He slept heavily. In his slumber, he felt someone shaking him, but couldn’t for the life of him open his eyes until he was forced into a sitting position.

“Commander! Something’s wrong!” Adjutant Li’s terrified face was magnified in front of him. “Somebody has destroyed the tracks in front of us! I’m afraid there’s trouble ahead!”

Commander Ho blinked, disoriented by the sudden light. His mind clicked slowly into operation. “The tracks?”

Well aware of his commander’s shortcomings, Adjutant Li did not waste his breath with further explanations and merely bent down to pick up a pair of trousers, and throwing back the covers, he grabbed one of Commander Ho’s legs and began shoving the trousers on.

After donning his trousers, Commander Ho suddenly paled with shock. “What? Where are we now?”

“We’re still hundreds of miles away from Guanghua! The train’s deep in the mountains; it could be a bandits’ trap!”

Commander Ho was expressionless, though perspiration formed rapidly on his forehead. Getting to his feet, he fished out pistol under his pillow and tucked it into his waistband, and grabbed his jacket. “Where is Li s.h.i.+h-Yao at the moment?”

“It looks like they’re more than eighty miles behind us.”

Commander Ho stared at Adjutant Li, his face colourless. Quickly he turned around, and switched off the lights with a snap.

There was no moonlight outside the windows; the compartment was plunged into darkness. Adjutant Li detected slight tremors in Commander Ho’s voice. “Tell the men to stay alert! If anyone approaches the train, hit them hard! If we can make it to dawn, Major General Li should be able to catch up.”

Adjutant Li gave his answer and hurried out in a flurry. The moment he stepped out of the compartment however, the sound of a gunshot went off outside.

Commander Ho threw himself flat on the carpet reflexively. He waited silently for nearly a minute, but the other side fell quiet again.

He crawled forward on his stomach and pulled a leather trunk out under his bed. Opening the locks, he dug out a white porcelain urn with a narrow neck and a rounded body, and hugged it close to his body.

When he dropped back to his stomach, the urn dug uncomfortably into his chest. Placing it in his pocket wasn’t a good idea either, and he ran the risk of crus.h.i.+ng it with his movements.

Sighing, Commander Ho stuffed the urn back into the trunk. “Look how much trouble you are,” he whispered to himself.

Before his voice had died off, the sounds of gunfire went off again.

This time the gunshots came in a volley. The regiment of soldier moved out of the train in a counterattack, and as adept as Commander Ho was at running away, he had nowhere to run and could only remain sprawled on the floor with his arms over his head, not daring to rise.

When the battle had waged for ten minutes, Adjutant Feng rushed into the compartment, his back bent. “Commander, we can’t hold them off any longer! All of them—they’re all charging at us right now!”

Commander Ho’s voice rose in the dark. “Put up a white flag! Worst comes to worst, we can give up our a.s.sets and keep our lives. Get down, there’re stray bullets!”

Adjutant Feng fully concurred with the decision. Voicing an affirmation, he crawled out quickly on all fours.

In front of the train, a white flag emerged in the torchlight. Since its carrier was shot down instantly, somebody in the dark shouted immediately: “Friends on the other side, please cease fire! Let’s talk this over! We are simple pa.s.sersby, and have no intention of making enemies of brave men like you! Let’s each take a step back—you may take whatever you need from our train, as long as you hold your fire and spare our lives! What do you say?”

After a moment of silence, somebody replied: “Lay down your arms! Put your hands behind your heads, all of you, and crouch down!”

Members of the Twenty-Third Army eyed each wordlessly, and knew they had encountered a large horde this time. Resistance would mean certain death; better to let the bandits rob them to their hearts’ content, so they might still make it out alive. One after one, the men threw down their weapons and lined up in squatting positions around a clearing next to the train.

Another cry went off on the other side. “Light the torches, light them up! The rest of you, get out of the train immediately, or we’ll start shooting!”

The soldiers of the Twenty-Third Army had a reputation not unlike the Yama’s[1], but at this moment they turned, collectively, into a flock of docile sheep. A captain planted several torches into the ground while Commander Ho and his adjutants exited the train in terror, stepping right into the torchlight.

Spotting Commander Ho’s a.s.sembly, the voice cried out again: “Surrender your weapons! Get down!”

Despite his extensive experience in fleeing, Commander Ho had always fled with grace and composure. To lower himself in front of a bunch of bandits would be a terribly humiliation.

All around him, his men lay squatting on the ground like petrified toads. Hesitating only for a brief second, Commander Ho too tossed away the pistol in his pocket and crouched down with his hands over his head.

Slowly, the bandits moved out of the darkness, rifles in hands. Commander Ho dared not to raise his head, and only heard the soft shuffle of footsteps approaching.

A pair of muddy shoes stopped in front of him.

Commander Ho had no wish to look up to the likes of bandits, but the man simply stopped in front of him, and did not move or speak.

Very strange, that is. Commander Ho held still for a moment, but finally curiosity got the better of him and he looked up.

Commander Ho leapt to his feet.

He pointed a finger at the other man, and raising a hand to his lips, he stared at the man with wide eyes, unable to speak. The adjutants behind him looked up as well, and the moment they got a look, some fell back to the ground in fright. Adjutant Feng parted his trembling lips, and let out a ghastly squeal: “Hsiao—Hsiao-Hu?”

Commander Ho stared at the man before him, forgetting to breathe in his shock.

In the flickering torchlight, Chao Hsiao-Hu stood before him with his head slightly raised, a cross-shaped scar faintly visible on his face. The face was collected yet feral—Chao Hsiao-Hu did not look like this, but it was indeed Chao Hsiao-Hu!

Commander Ho took a backward step. “You—you—“

Perhaps he was truly frightened, for he only managed to stutter out two “you”s. He suddenly reached for his waist, ready to pull out his pistol.

Regrettably, before his fingers could reach the gun, Hsiao-Hu had already smashed him in the head with the b.u.t.t of his.

In a sudden flare of pain, he felt his vision darken, and blacked out in an instant.

[1] Yama – the lord of h.e.l.l.