Chapter Eighty-Five: A Short Separation Makes the Reunion Sweeter

After saying this, Wang Pu once more demanded, “I ask you again: do you submit or not?”

The big-bearded man and the scar-faced man lowered their proud heads and said in a low voice, “We submit.”

Though their simple minds could not fathom why Wang Pu had laid down these seven iron rules, they knew what sort of man he was. Since he had already set them in place, they could only obey, and must obey.

Wang Pu turned his gaze to the rest of the retainers and asked in a stern voice, “And you?”

The others also bowed their heads and answered, “We submit.”

Wang Pu nodded and barked, “Then later, make good the wheat seedlings you trampled for the villagers!”

“Yes.”

The big-bearded man and the others answered softly.

“Were you born deaf?” Wang Pu said coldly. “I can’t hear you!”

“Yes!”

The big-bearded man and the others straightened their chests and roared at the top of their lungs.

Only then did Wang Pu nod in satisfaction. Turning back to Zhen Youcai, Tang Sheng, Zhang the Monk, and the dozens of company commanders, he said, “You all saw it. The big-bearded man, the scar-faced man, and some of the brothers have all followed me through life and death. But even if they break military law, I will show them no mercy! I hope you will also obey the regulations and keep your men in line. Do not let them violate the rules either!”

“Yes!”

Tang Sheng, Zhang the Monk, and the rest answered with a boom, and no one dared look down on the seven rules anymore.

The big-bearded man and the scar-faced man were Wang Pu’s trusted lieutenants. Both had even saved Wang Pu’s life more than once; they were, one might say, the closest of his confidants. Yet if even they were publicly whipped for breaking military law, who would dare test those rules with his own body? That would be like the old star god eating arsenic: seeking death because he had lived too long.

“General, I want to enlist...”

A strange voice suddenly came from behind him. Wang Pu turned and saw the young farmhand who had earlier been hung beneath a tree by the scar-faced man. The fellow had just effortlessly dodged the scar-faced man’s slap and, with a single kick, sent him sprawling face-first into the dirt, clearly showing himself to be skilled in the craft.

“You want to join the army?” Wang Pu asked. “What is your name?”

The farmhand said, “My humble name is Lu Liu.”

“Lu Liu? Mm, good skill.” Wang Pu nodded, then turned to Little Seven and said, “Little Seven, let him follow you from now on.”

Little Seven agreed and stepped forward to say to Lu Liu, “Lu Liu, why don’t you thank the general?”

Lu Liu clasped his fists. “Many thanks, General...”

In the blink of an eye, another half month passed, and time quietly approached the end of the fourteenth year of the Chongzhen reign. In past years, snow would already have fallen by now, yet this year it had still not come. That was no good sign for the people of the Great Ming in the five northern provinces, for the north had already suffered three straight years of drought, and everyone was eagerly awaiting a heavy snowfall to moisten the cracked earth.

Within the Wang family compound, things were bustling with activity.

Though this year’s harvest had been poor, and though they were still in the mourning period for the old master, the New Year still had to be celebrated. By now every household in the compound was making preparations. Today, the third young mistress, Chen Yuanyuan, was especially happy, because Little Seven had just brought word that Wang Pu would be returning that afternoon.

Come to think of it, Wang Pu had not been home for more than a month.

For all those days, Wang Pu had remained at Thunder God Mountain. At the thought of it, Chen Yuanyuan felt a sour ache in her heart. Thunder God Mountain camp was not far from Datong; with a fast horse it was only a two-hour round trip, yet Wang Pu simply had not come home even once, leaving such a lovely, delicate beauty alone in the house for more than a month.

In the warm chamber, Chen Yuanyuan and her maid Nianniang were both busily occupied.

“Nianniang, the floor still isn’t clean enough. Ask Lady Zhang to mop it again.”

“Nianniang, add some bamboo charcoal to the brazier and make the kang a little warmer.”

“Nianniang, don’t forget to tell the kitchen to prepare white fungus and lotus seeds. My husband likes the white-fungus and lotus-seed soup I make best.”

“Nianniang, come help me see whether this fox-fur robe, sent by the mistress, goes well with this style?”

Watching Chen Yuanyuan fluster herself as though she were a nervous new bride not yet wed, Nianniang could not help covering her mouth and giggling. In a sweet voice she said, “Madam, whatever has come over you?”

“You wicked girl,” Chen Yuanyuan chided. “Come quickly and help me. My husband is about to return.”

At that very moment, outside the warm chamber, Zhuzi’s voice suddenly rang out: “Third Madam, Third Master is back!”

“Oh, my husband is back?”

At the news that Wang Pu had come home, the nervousness and anticipation in Chen Yuanyuan’s heart instantly turned into indescribable joy. Even her bright, talkative eyes seemed to grow more luminous. She said happily to Nianniang, “Nianniang, come with me to the front courtyard to meet my husband.”

Before Chen Yuanyuan and Nianniang had even reached the front courtyard, they met Wang Pu in the corridor.

Wang Pu cared nothing for being seen by all and sundry, nor for shock or impropriety. He rushed up and swept Chen Yuanyuan into his arms at the waist. This startled the little maids and old matrons cleaning nearby into turning their heads away, wanting to look yet not daring to look. Chen Yuanyuan instinctively wrapped her jade-like arms around the man’s neck and whispered, “Master, so many servants are watching.”

Wang Pu grinned wickedly. “We’ll be affectionate as we please, and they can watch as they please. We’re not troubling one another, are we?”

Chen Yuanyuan lightly struck him, but two faint patches of red rose in her face. So it goes that a brief parting feels longer than a new marriage; she and Wang Pu had been apart for more than a month, and now, suddenly held in his powerful arms and hearing his teasing words by her ear, she had already begun to feel desire stir within her.

“Come on then!”

With a cheer, Wang Pu carried Chen Yuanyuan straight toward the warm chamber amid the stifled laughter of maids and servants. Nianniang, who had been about to follow, was teased by one of the bolder women: “Nianniang, where are you rushing off to in such a hurry? Third Master and Third Madam don’t need your service just now.”

Nianniang had already reached the age when her heart was awakening to love, and she quickly understood the meaning. At once her little face turned scarlet, and she turned on her heel and ran straight to the kitchen.

At the residence of the garrison eunuch, in the reception hall.

In two more days it would be New Year’s Day, and the date for Wang Pu and Zhang Zian’s agreed campaign against Guhua was also approaching. By Wang Pu’s order, Zhen Youcai had come specially to discuss the details of the expedition with Zhang Zian.

Though the mutiny among the frontier troops had been pacified by Wang Pu, and Zhang Zian had pinned all the blame on Zhao Santai, and the Jinyiwei sent by the Eastern Depot had not pursued the matter further, Wang Chengen still sent a sharply worded letter. In it he not only scolded Zhang Zian harshly, but also ordered him to find a way to make up the Datong frontier army’s back pay himself.

This nearly drove Zhang Zian frantic. A scolding was nothing, but the six hundred thousand taels of arrears owed to the Datong frontier troops was no small matter. Zhang Zian could perfectly imagine that if he could not cover that debt, the Son of Heaven would surely send someone else to replace him, and after he returned to the capital, he would never have good days ahead.

So now Zhang Zian was more eager than anyone to wage war against the Mongols. He hoped to seize large quantities of wealth from the Tumed people to make up the six hundred thousand taels in back pay. More than that, he wanted to change the image he held in Wang Chengen’s eyes. He wanted the Son of Heaven to know that Zhang Zian was no fool, and that appointing him as garrison eunuch in Datong had been the wisest choice possible.

Before Zhen Youcai had even taken his seat, Zhang Zian could not wait to ask, “Mister Zhen, the two firearms the prince consort ordered have already been delivered in advance, and you even supplied three hundred more muskets and two thousand Dragon King cannons than the original amount. With these weapons, the prince consort may truly be said to have troops well armed and provisions well stocked. Shouldn’t we be setting out now?”

Zhen Youcai smiled. “I came today precisely to discuss the campaign with Your Excellency.”

Zhang Zian said anxiously, “Then speak plainly, sir. What do you need us to do?”

Zhen Youcai glanced around, hesitating as if words were difficult.

Zhang Zian hurriedly waved everyone else out. Only then did Zhen Youcai lower his voice and say, “The morning after tomorrow, which is New Year’s Day, my general will lead the army out. Five days later, on the sixth day of the first month, Your Excellency must lead the troops forward to the Yan’ehai region to seize cattle and sheep. Your Excellency must not mistake the date of the rendezvous: it is the sixth day of the first month!”

“Rest assured, Mister Zhen, and please reassure the prince consort as well,” Zhang Zian said in a low voice. “Even if I were to forget the date of my own birth, I would never confuse the place and day of the rendezvous.”

Zhen Youcai rose and clasped his fists. “Then I shall take my leave.”

“Walk slowly, sir.” Zhang Zian rose with him and added, “There is one more thing I would ask Mister Zhen to convey to the prince consort: this battle... I cannot afford to lose.”

“Your Excellency worries too much,” Zhen Youcai said with a smile. “Even the iron cavalry of the Jurchen Eight Banners have already been dealt with by my general. What is a mere Tumed tribe worth?”

In the Wang family compound, in Wang Pu’s warm chamber.

The charcoal in the brazier burned fiercely, and the kang was warm as spring. The brocade robe, bundled into a heap, rolled about for a full quarter of an hour before finally subsiding. Chen Yuanyuan reached out from the bedding with a jade arm like white lotus root and gently wiped the sweat from Wang Pu’s forehead. Looking at him with tender affection, she said softly, “Master, you have grown thin.”

“Wife,” Wang Pu said, gently stroking the woman’s increasingly full, upturned bottom, “you’ve been blaming me in your heart for not coming home for more than a month, haven’t you?”

Chen Yuanyuan shook her head softly. “Your humble wife has not. I only missed you a little.”

“My dear,” Wang Pu said tenderly, “if your husband is not in camp, those proud and unruly soldiers will run wild and cause all sorts of trouble. I had no choice. Still, it is better now. They have learned to obey military discipline. Once this battle is over, your husband can stay home and keep you company properly.”

A trace of worry instantly filled Chen Yuanyuan’s lovely eyes. She asked anxiously, “Are we going to war again?”

“Nothing major,” Wang Pu said with a smile. “Just a band of petty thieves. I’ll be back in at most half a month.”

Chen Yuanyuan rested her head lightly against Wang Pu’s chest and asked in a low voice, “Master, when will you leave?”

Wang Pu said, “The army sets out the morning after tomorrow, so I must hurry back to camp tomorrow night.”

“So soon?” Chen Yuanyuan could not help a note of grievance from entering her voice. “You’ve barely stayed two days, and you’re leaving again?”

“My dear.” Wang Pu stroked Chen Yuanyuan’s head in apology and said softly, “I’ve made you suffer.”

Yuanyuan, stirred by passion, tightened her jade arms around Wang Pu’s broad waist and called to him in a breathy voice, “Master...”

Wang Pu was in the prime of his vigor, and after more than a month of abstinence, how could he withstand Chen Yuanyuan’s alluring invitation? His manly force already surging anew, he rolled over and pressed her beneath him, gasping, “Good. Since the daylight is still young, your master will thoroughly plow this fine field of yours again, heh heh...”

“Master...”

Chen Yuanyuan called to him breathlessly, gently parting her legs and winding them around Wang Pu’s waist. Wang Pu drew a sharp breath, then with force drove down hard. The two of them trembled together in utter abandon, the brocade robe enfolding them again rising into rolling waves. Once more the warm chamber echoed with sounds so shameful they made the listener’s flesh tingle.

Pleasures of this sort are always brief. The following afternoon, Wang Pu had no choice but to leave the warm chamber, bid his beautiful wife farewell, and return once more to the cold, austere camp at Thunder God Mountain.

Late that night, Wang Pu’s tent blazed with light.

Military adviser Zhen Youcai, the four company commanders, the big-bearded man, the scar-faced man, Tang Sheng, Zhang the Monk, and the personal guard captain Little Seven had already gathered in Wang Pu’s tent. The secrecy of the sudden raid on Guhua could be said to have been handled perfectly; until the eve of departure, only Wang Pu, Zhang Zian, and Zhen Youcai knew of the plan.

“Everyone is here.” Wang Pu nodded and said to Zhen Youcai, “Youcai, begin.”

“Yes.”

Zhen Youcai answered and spread out on the table a military terrain map of Datong Commandery and the Mongol steppe beyond the frontier.

Wang Pu called to the others, “Come closer. All of you gather round.”

Aside from Zhang the Monk, whose background as a bandit gave him no special reaction, the big-bearded man, the scar-faced man, Little Seven, and Tang Sheng all showed a strange excitement. From Wang Pu they could feel the iron and blood of war. A battle was coming. After spending a full month and more in this godforsaken place, they were finally going to war.