Chapter 11#

Gaoxin#

Jin Mingzhao brought Helan Jinying back to Pingzhou City, where the Northern Army Headquarters was located.

Helan Jinying thought he would meet his end, constantly looking for opportunities to escape, causing endless complaints at the Pingzhou headquarters. But what he hadn’t expected was that the person appearing before him was a military doctor of Dayu.

He had severely sprained his ankle and lay in the Pingzhou headquarters for half a month before he could barely stand.

During these half-months, Jin Mingzhao visited him every few days. Sometimes he asked about his recovery, other times he brought small portions of wine and food, looking as if he intended to have a chat.

Helan Jinying didn’t understand what Jin Mingzhao was up to. After much thought, there was only one possibility: this man wanted to extract North Rong secrets from him. In his heart, he felt a trace of gratitude towards Jin Mingzhao for his rescue, and he frankly revealed his identity: he was a lowly corpse hauler for the North Rong army, an unimportant person left behind during a retreat.

But to his surprise, what Jin Mingzhao wanted to talk about was actually the matter of the Gaoxin tribe.

The Gaoxin tribe were a distinct people living on the border between Jin Qiang and the North Rong Kingdom, very far from Dayu. When Dayu was established, the Gaoxin King had visited the capital, Liangjing, and left behind congratulatory gifts. That was over eighty years ago. The Gaoxin King’s party of over twenty people had extraordinary bearing, and since then, legends about the Gaoxin people spread throughout Liangjing: they wore fur cloaks of intermingled scarlet and ebony, spoke a peculiar language, and everyone rode sturdy black horses. The horses had fleshy wings and could soar into the sky; the Gaoxin King and his Queen were like celestial beings, treading on air, the Queen’s long tasseled spear red as blood and fire, a divine artifact capable of startling the sun and moon; and the Gaoxin people all had long hair the color of pure gold, skin like honey, and eyes that shone brilliantly like jade under a bright sun.

Jin Mingzhao naturally knew these legends contained much fabrication. What he was truly interested in was the congratulatory gift the Gaoxin King had presented to the Dayu Emperor: ten sets of “Yao Lin” harnesses forged from refined iron, prepared specifically for the horses in Liangjing’s Imperial Steed Bureau; and nine types of refined iron weapons with varied forms and uses, such as great swords as tall as a person, long spears with fork-shaped tips, and exquisitely crafted Gaoxin arrows.

When Jin Mingzhao was awarded the title of General of Loyalty and Brilliance, the “Yao Lin” harnesses were already sealed away in the imperial palace warehouses, and the nine weapons had scattered among the homes of various generals and ministers. The last remaining Gaoxin arrow was bestowed by the Dayu Emperor upon him.

That Gaoxin arrow had a hollow shaft, carved with countless intertwining and soaring birds. At the arrowhead were painted several wisps of cloud and mist. The tip was sharp, forming a perfect, exquisite rhombus.

Dayu had few iron ore deposits and mediocre iron-smelting technology, relying on iron tools imported from Chiyan, a vassal state in the south. The Gaoxin iron arrow filled Jin Mingzhao with curiosity. What he wanted to learn from Helan Jinying was precisely the secret of these iron arrows.

But what disappointed him was that Helan Jinying was a Gaoxin person raised in North Rong. The Gaoxin tribe had suffered a great catastrophe decades ago and was entirely wiped out. The survivors scattered in all directions, hard to find. All of Helan Jinying’s memories of the Gaoxin tribe and its territory came from his father’s stories.

Even so, Jin Mingzhao listened with great fascination.

Jin Mingzhao was vastly different from the other middle-aged men of his generation in the Yetai tribe. He seemed to retain a part of his childlike wonder, full of interest in the legends of foreign tribes. When he heard something intriguing, he would take out brush and ink to record it seriously.

“I have two children at home, both of whom love listening to stories, especially my younger son. Every time I return to Liangjing, he pestered me. Unless I tell him twenty or thirty tales of the borderlands, there’s no escape,” Jin Mingzhao explained to Helan Jinying. “If you tell me, I can go back and tell him, which is like him knowing the history of the Gaoxin tribe himself.”

Helan Jinying then imagined his younger son to be a robust, sturdy young lad.

“He is very proper and quiet, and being physically frail and sickly, he learns martial arts slowly,” Jin Mingzhao said with a smile. “Compared to battlefields, warhorses, or military strategy, he prefers to roam freely without constraints.”

When speaking of this child, Jin Mingzhao grew somewhat somber: “He is confined in Liangjing and cannot go out. I need to find many stories to satisfy his curiosity.”

Helan Jinying then racked his brains and recounted many peculiar Gaoxin legends.

In return, Jin Mingzhao would chat with him about the scenery and customs of Liangjing and Fenghu City. Jin Mingzhao was very cautious; he only spoke of the food and climate in these two places, occasionally mentioning the famous Pan Lou in Liangjing and the Minzhou Bridge spanned by Yanzi Creek.

Half a month later, the day before Jin Mingzhao was to depart and return to the northwest frontier army, he released the dozen or so captured North Rong soldiers. Helan Jinying asked him why he didn’t simply kill them to be done with it. Jin Mingzhao smiled: “I release you today in the hope that North Rong will also honor the covenant between the two nations in the future and not kill our Dayu captives.”

“With you in Dayu, how could it ever be breached by North Rong?” Helan Jinying found his words high-sounding and disbelievable.

“I will die too,” Jin Mingzhao replied. “I am not at the imperial court, but the court fears me. A fierce general is like a fierce tiger; if he cannot be caged, is hard to tame, then he becomes useless.”

He spoke so formally, Helan Jinying didn’t quite understand.

When it was time to leave, Jin Mingzhao’s guards gave Helan Jinying some water and food. Although every prisoner received these things, Helan Jinying’s portion was a bit more plentiful. Jin Mingzhao laughingly called it payment for Helan Jinying telling him stories for half a month.

“When you have the chance, you should go visit the Gaoxin tribe’s territory,” Jin Mingzhao said as he waved farewell. “It is your homeland.”

“…I am a North Rong person,” Helan Jinying couldn’t help saying. “The Gaoxin territory is just a strange place to me.”

“You are Gaoxin, and also North Rong,” Jin Mingzhao laughed heartily. “Don’t you all worship the spirits? Did the spirits of the Chiwang Plains really become so domineering as to decree that one person belongs to only one place for their entire life?”

Helan Jinying was momentarily at a loss for words.

“Why cling so rigidly to bloodline and identity? If you have a horse, you can reach any corner of the world. Don’t you want to go see Liangjing’s Yanzi Creek and Minzhou Bridge? Liangjing welcomes all guests from under heaven, as long as you do not come with the intent to trample,” Jin Mingzhao said. “Have you been to Chiyan? It’s exceptionally hot there, with no winter. Chiyan people never have the chance to see snow in their lives. And then there’s Qiongzhou, separated from Dayu by the sea, and Ruohai south of Chiyan. Ruohai is vast and boundless, but is there other land on the other side of the sea?”

Helan Jinying frowned deeply. These were things he had never thought about before.

Jin Mingzhao smiled: “Forget it, these are just idle chats between me and my child. Just treat it as a joke and let it pass. I once thought Gaoxin people should have lofty ambitions. I didn’t expect you to be content and willing, a slow horse of North Rong. Go on, we likely won’t meet again.”

“We will, definitely,” Helan Jinying suddenly said. “I am destined to become a great general. General Jin, if you don’t kill me today, you will regret it in the future.”

Jin Mingzhao laughed heartily: “Then let us meet again on the battlefield.”

His tone shifted, revealing a sliver of cold, murderous intent: “Gaoxin man, if that day comes, I will personally collect your corpse.”

The forest was extremely quiet, only the sound of wind howling past. A wind chime made of bone hung from the tent flap, clattering with a clumsy sound. Helan Feng finished speaking, and Jin Ying just stared blankly.

Jin Mingzhao rarely came home once a year. Both he and his sister indeed loved listening to his stories. Back then, Jin Ying was still young and didn’t know what great wars were happening outside or who his father had fought, but he clearly remembered that one year when Jin Mingzhao came home, for some reason, all he talked about was a foreign tribe named Gaoxin.

It was then he first learned that the black arrow treasured by his father in the family was actually a Gaoxin arrow. He also learned that the Gaoxin people worshipped the deer as their god and believed wind was the freest thing on the land. The Gaoxin people lived at the westernmost end of the Kudu Mountain Range. Their sacred mountain was called Blood Wolf Mountain, a towering ridge of intermingled red and black. He also knew the Gaoxin people were skilled at smelting iron and forging the hardest, sharpest weapons.

So everything—all of it—had come from the mouth of Helan Jinying.

Jin Ying looked into Helan Feng’s eyes. The hint of emerald green hidden within them suddenly reminded him of the jade-green silk ribbon tied around his mother’s waist.

Pain struck instantly. Jin Ying began to cry loudly, completely forgetting Bai Ni’s instructions, and forgetting where he was.

The mysterious workings of fate had suddenly made him relax his guard on this desolate land. He desperately thought of Liangjing, of his home, of his parents, sister and brother-in-law, of Bai Ni, of the Mangyun Cavalry, of all the joy and sorrow in his past ten-odd years.

He cried completely out of control, leaving Helan Feng helpless. Realizing he was also unable to stop Jin Ying from crying, Helan Feng simply sat down beside him and continued silently eating dried meat. Seizing the moment when Jin Ying was unprepared, he quickly shoved a strip into his mouth.

Jin Ying: “…Mm?”

Helan Feng: “Eat up and continue. You’ll need the strength.”

Jin Ying chewed the dried meat while still sobbing. He felt ashamed of his earlier outburst. This was Yetai, on someone else’s territory; but when he looked up through tear-blurred eyes and saw Helan Feng offering another strip of dried meat, his heart was filled with a peaceful sense of security.

At least for this moment, this place was safe.

Jin Ying wiped his eyes with the fox fur cloak and said in a blurry voice, “…The ones from the Hundar family taste better.”

Helan Feng: “…Really?”

Jin Ying suddenly remembered that at this moment, he should try to be as well-behaved as possible to gain Helan Feng’s trust and sympathy, and couldn’t help but feel secretly annoyed: he’d relaxed his guard and said the wrong thing again.

Helan Feng: “If you like them, I’ll sneak over to his place and get some for you later.”

Jin Ying: “…”

Helan Feng made a move to jump down: “I’ll go now.”

Jin Ying panicked and pushed him down: “Don’t!”

The tent was narrow. Helan Feng was pushed hard by him and fell backward onto the hay stack. Jin Ying straddled his waist and pressed down on his shoulders, seeing Helan Feng smiling. Helan Feng laughed heartily at having made Jin Ying lose his composure, then suddenly reached up and wiped the tears from his face.

Jin Ying had lost much weight recently, but his face was still very soft when rubbed. They were both silent for a moment. But the earlier commotion had caused the accumulated snow on the treetops to shake loose, trickling down through the hole in the tent roof, landing sporadically on their shoulders.

“Big brother will scare you, but he will never harm you. The Heavenly Lord wanted to kill you, but Big brother said you have a photographic memory and could be used to extract the map of Liangjing. He also said you are frail and fear the cold, and cannot endure a long journey. Only then did the Heavenly Lord agree to let you stay at Yetai, under his care.” Helan Feng cupped his face. “Jin Ying, believe me. Don’t fear me.”

Jin Ying’s face suddenly burned hot. He hurriedly pushed away those warm hands and rolled off Helan Feng.

The horses neighed twice under the tree. Jin Ying found a new topic: “…Ahem, this horse of yours… let’s call it Feixiao.”

Helan Feng rubbed his hair and sat up abruptly: “What does that mean?”

Jin Ying: “A warhorse that can soar into the sky, fitting for Yetai’s best rider.”

Helan Feng laughed heartily, and the tall trees around them trembled with the sound. He stopped laughing and said seriously: “I’d rather become Yetai’s best archer, or even North Rong’s best archer. I want to obtain the Wolf Arrow from the North Rong Heavenly Lord.”

Jin Ying hadn’t heard this name before: “Wolf Arrow?”

Author’s Note:

Today, everyone gets to eat meat from the Hundar family… (interrupted by Helan Feng, and forcibly given a bag of dried meat)

…Okay, today we’re still eating dried meat from Helan Feng’s family. Remember to take care of your teeth later, don’t lose any.