Raising a Rebel - 5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

(The Xie Clan’s Army)

Hua Cheng had been a teenage soldier defending his homeland of Xianle in his life, leading spirits in wars against both gods and men in death. He knew the way of the warrior far more than his husband, who possess brilliance in fighting and knowledge of various subjects, but could not wage war or in this case prevent a civil war from starting. Before setting out with the army, Hua Cheng had sent out his Deadly Silver Butterflies to do reconnaissance on the Huan family’s troop positions. As he suspected, they did not expect much of a resistance, so were consolidating their army at a camp at the foot of the Qixia¹ mountain about 44 li northeast of Jiankang. This position was favorable, but they did not secure the passes to the mountain, nor station guards along the summit to hold the high ground and scout for incoming forces. Both mistakes can be easily exploited by a capable commander to slaughter them, no matter the size of the forces. However, Xie Lian had reiterated that he wanted to preserve the Huan’s family military forces and only wish to dissuade their attempted coup. If Hua Cheng could defeat them without killing many, then it would be best for continuing peace.

To meet his husband’s goal, Hua Cheng during the day dispatched Wang Tsai to have his 5,000 men gather 100 carts full of herbs Chamomile, Ziziphus, and Lavender, then he contacted the local ghosts during the night to help him fetch 100 carts full of passionflower and valerian root from other areas². The combination of these five plants produces a powerful sleeping agent that would cause anyone ingesting or inhaling it to fall into a deep sleep.

After a single day with the materials gathered, he marched the 5,000 men at a rapid pace toward the opposite side of Qixia mountain. They ascended its unguarded pass and Hua Cheng ordered his men to grind the herbs into a fine powder, while he would mix the contents, with aid of local ghosts, as these ingredients did not affect ghosts or immortals. When sufficient quantities of the powder were prepared, his troops began pouring powder down the mountainside opposite the camp. Hua Cheng used his silver butterflies to create a mild breeze that spread the powder across the camp. They did this for an entire day and night until they exhausted their powder supply on the third night.

On that night, they descended the mountain to the site of the camp. They were met with no resistance from the sentries, who slumbered at the camp’s entrance. Truth be told, the Xie Clan forces were awed by their commander’s ability to bring 100,000 men low without ever having to fight.

Hua Cheng using the guise of Xie Xuan speaks loudly in front of the enemy camp, knowing none inside would be awakened easily from their deep slumber.

“Soldiers of the Xie Clan, we have defeated the Huan army, but our goal is not to slaughter these traitors. We are under the orders of my uncle and excellency, Xie An, to remove their ability to fight,” Hua grinned mischievously, “As such, I want you all to strip the camp bare of everything of value and load all our carts and horses with weapons, grain, and any monies that you find at the camp. As these soldiers are deep asleep, you should also strip their physical body of any weapons, clothing, or monies. As all these objects will be used to support the kingdom, you may take a share of the loot as personal bonuses without facing any military punishment. There is more than enough for everyone, if I hear of a dispute, I shall cut off both disputing parties’ heads. I want you to leave their camp bare and their soldiers naked, but alive.”

The 5,000 men gawked at their general, who had just given them what in many minds was a small fortune. 100,000 men had at least a hundred thousand weapons, millions of liang in grain, and untold treasures of silk, gold, and jewels from the richly adorned Huan soldiers, incomparable to their motley bunch of exiles, refugees soldiers, and bandits. Some soldiers had thoughts of returning home to buy land plots, some had thoughts of spending the money at brothels in the nearby capital, and others had considered their general to be a martial god brought down from the heavens.

After his speech, Hua Cheng takes Wang Tsai aside to speak with him privately.

“If you wish to engage in any sexual deviancy with these sleeping soldiers, I will personally beat you with a metal rod. Based on your glances and the stirring of your groin, you share my passion for males, but lust without consent is a violation. Such transgressions will not be tolerated by me, make it known privately to those you call friends and share this passion within the army.”

Wang Tsai fearfully responds, “General, I…I want…” he looks down at Hua Cheng’s groin, then up at his stern face, “I will honor you, sir, and make sure others know not to transgress.”

Hua Cheng knows what the young man wants, but he was faithful to his immortal husband. He was and will always be the most devoted believer and lover to Xie Lian, no matter what circumstances he finds himself in. Besides, he already knew that several other men around Wang Tsai’s age were eying him with interest as they formed a small group of 50 among the 5,000. The young man would not be without a bedmate for long. Wang Tsai’s position would also make him someone important to gain favor from, especially with so much loot coming in. Word of this rich expedition will likely spread. Many soldiers of fortune, fame, and maybe a few honorable ones will be flocking to the Xie clan for enlistment. Out of those, Hua Cheng and Xie Lian will need to pick the best and most capable to be part of a force to challenge Fu Jian’s attempt to gain hegemony over Heaven and Earth.

Before dawn broke, the Xie clan’s army had stolen every weapon, morsel of grain, money, and clothing from the Huan family camp. Hua left the Huan army their horses and firewood, so they could make their way home as a broken and defeated force. The loot from this massive force would be useful for Xie Lian’s next objective in the capital when they arrive.

(Xie clan carriage)

On the road to Jiankang, Xie Lian attempted to teach Wukong some basic lessons in etiquette and common ways to address people of various ranks. At one point, Xie Lian directed Wukong to change how he addresses him in front of outsiders, he was to refer to him as Fu Qin, meaning “blood father”. This change of titles opened another conversation about the root words behind Sifu, which Wukong noticed contained “fu” as well. Xie Lian explained that Sifu is a combination between Si or “teacher” and fu for “father”. Wukong was surprised and enamored by the conjunction words that were derived from “fu” for father.

Wukong notices something odd about “fu” versus another meaning for father that learned from Hua Cheng, so asks the question.

“Sifu, why is Baba not derived from “fu”, if it also means father?”

Xie Lian considers how to teach Wukong about different linguistic traditions that get incorporated into the common tongue.

“Wukong, baba is the name for father from several peoples, who live far west from the central plains. People and languages sometimes combine and mix together in various ways, so words and bloodlines get integrated. Sometimes the opposite happens and people leave their homelands, but root words and bloodlines may still join people together. Your Baba’s mother for example was one of the Hmong people and his father was from Xianle, the ancestral kingdom to Jin. However, in the distant past, the Hmong people lived in the central plains with everyone else. Some people will use baba for informal meaning instead of the “fu”, which relates to distinct fatherly relationships.”

Wukong smiles broadly, “Baba’s mom sounds very interesting. Can you tell me about her people? Why did they leave the Central Plains?”

To be fair, the story of the Hmong people and their departure from the central plains predated even Xie Lian’s ancient kingdom of Xianle by thousands of years. However, he knew the tales passed on from his grand histories of the land. Yet, these histories were at best biased against the Hmong people and at worst propaganda by the victorious kingdoms, who partitioned the land of Hmong to offer the new people justification for castigating their neighbors to live far from their ancestral home.

Xie Lian tells the story of Chiyou, one of the original martial gods and a Taoist cultivator, who led the Jiuli people, the ancestors of the Hmong people. They neighbored the kingdom of Youxiong led by Huangdi, the famous Yellow Emperor, who was also a god and Taoist cultivator. There is a piece of land between the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, which was incredibly fertile, which both kingdoms sought. In the histories, it was said that Chiyou attacked the territories under the Huangdi’s protection and precipitated the war, but Xie Lian noted that it was also possible that the “attack” may have been a simple dispute used as a pretense for expansion. Whatever the truth was, the armies of the two kingdoms met at the battle of Zhoulu³, which saw the defeat of Chiyou and the banishment of all his Jiuli tribes from the central plains. Most had settled to the south, but over time as the empires and kingdoms of the central plains grew in power, they pushed the descendants of the Jiuli, the Hmong people, further south until they claimed most of the land to the sea. Now the Hmong people must live in remote mountains and forests, which none of the empires wish to claim as they possessed nothing they desired currently. Huangdi with his victory formed a new nation with the conquered land, he called it Huaxia⁴. He also declared himself the first Heavenly Emperor, thus creating the title for future generations up to the current Jade Emperor and Fu Jian, who wished to claim it similarly to him.

After the story, Wukong’s tears flow like a river down his face.

“Those poor people, why did Huangdi need to conquer everything? He was a god, too, and surely had more than he needed. All you and Baba have is a small plot and a grove of peaches, but it’s more than enough to feed us.”

Xie Lian sighs, remembering the centuries of blood spilled over prized lands such as these.

“Many mortals and gods are not satisfied with what they have, they need more. At the height of ambition Is the title of being above any other, Heavenly Emperor,” he shakes his head, “I am also biased in these histories Wukong for I have had negative experiences with people like Huangdi, but I am one of his descendants as well. San Lang carries both the blood of Huangdi and Chiyou, but he doesn’t focus on what once was.”

The carriage stops suddenly near a hill, causing both Hua Cheng and Lady Liu to make an audible gasp of surprise, while the energetic Wukong jumped out to investigate. Xie Lian quickly composed himself and followed to make sure the child did not create any mischief for the traveling party.

Xie Lian asks the head driver of the oxen, “Good sirs, why have we stopped in the middle of these hills?”

The driver in mortification points to an object on the road.

“S…S…Snake, it’s a giant snake, your excellency!”

It was indeed a giant white snake, probably two or three times larger than the average snake that most people have seen. To Xie Lian, the snake appeared different, not demonic or heavenly, but it reminded him a little of a child dragon, which had flowing azure hairs and golden scales that allowed flight. The snake had white hairs around its head similar to a dragon. The white snake also appeared to have bled, darker red like that of a human than the yellow hue more synonymous with others of its species.

As Xie Lian was contemplating what type of creature he was dealing with. The head chamberlain of the Xie clan walks briskly to the front of the caravan, brandishing a sword upon hearing the cause of their delay.

“No serpent will hold our clan back from reaching the Imperial capital.”

However, before he could strike, Xie Lian disarmed him effortlessly with a single arm thrust and takes the sword. Then, he admonishes the ma.

“Sir, have you not heard of the relationship between snakes and dragons? Or the debt that the mortal world owes the snake?”

The chamberlain puzzles about his master’s harsh tone in defense of a serpent blocking the road.

“Your Excellency, we must make it to the capital to calm the people and provide the child Emperor advice. This serpent is a demon, possibly even sent by Fu Jian to delay our journey. Why have you halted my strike to clear an obstacle in our path.”

Xie Lian frowns, while Wukong goes to the white snake on the road, innocently petting it, then offers.

“It’s harmless and its white hairs are warm to the touch like fur.”

Xie Lian finishes his conclusions with Wukong’s observations and beckons to Wukong, “Return to my side, Xie Yan.”

Wukong reassures the snake in a whisper, “Don’t worry, Sifu is nice and won’t let that man stab you,” then he loudly calls back, “Yes fu qin, I shall return.”

As the rest of the Xie clan looks toward him, he begins to tell another tale, but this one he was present for. During the Fengshen Bang civil war between the gods and mortals, the gods on the side of king Wen of Zhou⁵ needed to defeat impregnable Shang cities that blocked their army and ordered the dragons, who had recently joined their side, to pour rain on the earth surrounding those cities, thus flooding them and drowning the defenders. However, a dragon-crowned prince argued that such an act would kill thousands of innocent people along with the tyrants Shang Emperor and Daji forces. As such, the dragon used its heavenly claws and body to burrow into the ground to create pathways that became rivers and streams that diverted the heavy rain. This move however had the added effect of further delaying the Zhou armies from invading the capital of Shang, resulting in more suffering and death. For its meddling and defiance of military orders, the victorious gods captured the dragon-crowned prince. They cut off all its magnificent golden scales and flowing hair, along with its dragon claws and arms. Thus, the snake was reborn as a mortal creature from the dragon, and its descendants were punished to crawl around the ground all day for its defiance.⁶ The snake saved countless lives and gave up its immortality out of compassion, but humanity was made to despise the snake and was told by the ruling gods to kill it.

Of course, this ruling only created one type of snake, rather than the entire species, but the way mortals abuse innocent animals out of fear and greed did not elicit him to add that distinction. Xie Lian was in the heavenly council of war at the time. He advocated against the use of such a harsh approach, but his voice was drowned out by the more militant martial gods. He also sought mercy for the crowned prince of dragons, whom he related to as he had made similar errors out of compassion for lives. He regretted what was done and the continual punishment toward the prince and his descendants by the current immortal gods. It was among the reasons why he chose not to accept another heavenly posting.

After Xie Lian told the mortals, many of them wept, but Wukong acted by going back to the road and picking up the very large snake in his hands. Xie Lian had not recognized it, but his and Hua Cheng’s spiritual energy would likely have started having an effect on Wukong’s own body with spiritual energy generation being second nature to a child of Nuwa. He demonstrated what amounted to abnormal human strength, equivalent to that of a strong man in his prime, but Wukong was only 11 years old.

Before the others can question him or Wukong about this abnormal strength, he quickly speaks and makes orders, “My son Xie Yan will place the odd white snake in a cart, so I may inspect it closer. We will make camp here at sunset.”

There was no denying it in Xie Lian’s mind that this white snake was a direct descendant of the crowned prince that he knew so long ago. The snake possesses a scent of humanity as well, which means that this was one of Bai Suzhen⁷ and Xu Xian’s descendants, another tragic tale created by the gods. A twice-cursed child, whose ancestors suffered so much misfortune at the hands of gods that Xie Lian was unable to ameliorate.