Undercover - In China - Book 7

Part 34 - In the Dragon's Mouth

I didn't see how we could squeeze our carriage on to the crowded ferry but Kongming gave a tough looking man some coins and he pushed passenger aside and coaxed our tired horse over the flimsy gangplanks onto the boat. We swung out into the river, propelled by men working long oars. 

 The river was crowded with boats, most of them ferrying people across to the great walled city of Xiangyang, the capital of Jingzhou Province, on the south shore of the Han river. A gang of workers hauled the carriage up a ramp to the road and we climbed back on and dozed off amid Dr Zhang's boxes and the sharp smell of rice sacks. 

 Kongming's angular face was drawn with fatigue as we drove along a road parallel to the city moat. To the east, paddy fields for the next rice crop stretched away into a grey haze. The world seemed so peaceful in contrast to the mayhem of the night. By the time we reached the Dragon Well monastery, the sun was glinting through the mist and birds were chirping in the trees. The abbot was an old friend of Kongming and, after the formal greetings, he shared a meal with us in the refectory. He had not seen Dr Zhang but suggested we talk to Magistrate Yin Jia in Xiangyang.   He warned us the city was already full of Cho Cho's soldiers.

Kongming scrounged some smelly old robes from the abbot and we set off, disguised as monks, to find Yin Jia. The road into Xiangyang was crowded with people carrying large bundles dangling from shoulder poles. As we approached the city wall, word spread that the guards were closing the gates. The crowd surged forward and we were swept through the massive wooden doors just in time.

We almost lost Miguel as we pushed through the crowded streets and after we had walked back to find him for the second time Licia snapped, 'Hey, Miguel. Stop being polite to little old ladies. They'll walk all over you if you let them.'

'Sorry,' he apologized, 'I was brought up Canadian, eh?'

 We recognized the imposing building inside a walled compound; the yamen or government offices. It was full of harassed officials who didn't seem to know Yin Jia but, finally, we arrived at a room, lined with scrolls, where we found him sitting at a large desk pouring over a pile of scrolls and winding the long hair growing from a mole on his face around his little finger. He jumped up beaming with pleasure as we exchanged greetings. We understood the meaning without translation. Kongming was begging forgiveness for the uncivilized interruption of the magistrate's important work. 

 Then began a long conversation with Licia trying to understand the archaic Mandarin dialect. Several times Kongming sketched imaginary lines on his left hand. Licia explained that written characters had changed little in two thousand years so she could often understand the written word when the spoken word was incomprehensible. Finally, she told us what they had said. 'Yin Jia is now responsible for extorting money and food to supply Cho Cho's occupying army but he has agreed to continue working as Kongming's spy. He is advising Xuande to occupy Jiangling where most of the wealth of Jingzhou Province is stored.'

'Kongming says Jiangling is near the Long River (that's the Chiang Jiang or, in English, the Yangste river), about 300 Li south from here. I think that's about 200 km.'

'Cho Cho has already occupied Xiangyang and he has spies looking for Kongming's family. He ordered the city gates closed so that no one leaves. Yin Jia is urging Kongming to get out of Xiangyang as soon as possible but Kongming told him we are safe 'in the dragon's mouth' where no one expects him to be.' 

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