under estimating kongming

Part 17 - Fortune Sticks

We spent the night in the stables with our horse and, early the next morning, we were surprised to be woken up by Magistrate Yin Jia. He had rushed from Xiangyang to Jiangling with an army escort of Cho Cho's men to make sure no one stole the cash, silver and gold stored in the city. And when the abbot had told him about our arrival, he came with the latest news from Kongming.

Dr Zhang had been captured by Cho Cho's soldiers and was now being held hostage at a camp in the Black Forest, 300 Li (180 km) east of Jiangling. Meanwhile, Xuande, Lord Guan and Zhang Fei were at Xiacou with Lui Qi (Lui Bei's oldest son and the rightful ruler of Jingzhou province). Kongming was on his way to negotiate with the warlord who controlled the land south of the Long River, Sun Quan.

Yin Jia was worried because his courier had disappeared. He asked us if we would deliver an urgent message to Kongming who would be with the army of the Southland on the south shore of the Long River. Licia, Miguel and I decided we would deliver the message and continue our search for Denny and Dr Zhang afterward.

In return, Yin Jia agreed to deliver a message to Dr Zhang. Licia wrote this on strips of wood using Yin Jia's brush and ink. She wrote it in English, a perfect cypher as English would not be invented for another thousand years.

Lu Tong, the abbot, burst in looking very agitated and demanding we leave immediately. Cho Cho's guards were on the way to arrest us and he didn't want to get into trouble for harbouring foreign devils.

Yin Jia said goodbye and quickly left us as we scrambled to harness our horse and re-pack our bags. We were almost ready to leave when one of the monks reported that several guards were coming to get the ladder from the stables.

We weren't quick enough. It was Wang Bang. His men grabbed us while he searched the bags on the carriage. The first thing he found was Kongming's fan and he looked around in alarm asking if Kongming was nearby. His men looked even more agitated and waved their long knives around expecting a trick.

And then he found one of Licia's glass vials. He stared at it at then took it outside so that he could examining in the sun light. He held it up, shook it and then tapped it with his knife. The glass shattered and the air was filled with the alien smell of skunk. Wang Bang emitted a shriek of terror and ran straight into the stable wall. 'Ouch,' Licia said unsympathetically.

His reaction completely unnerved the other guards who dropped their knives in terror as the skunk stench reached their nostrils.

I yelled, 'Run!' and Licia, Miguel and I darted toward the gate. The guards assumed we were fleeing in terror and followed us in panic.

We zig zagged around the monastery buildings until we had lost the guards and were out of breath. We stopped and assessed our options. Miguel pointed out that we could not stay at the monastery. Wang Bang would be back as soon as he recovered. Licia suggested we find Chen Ling, the girl who had helped us escape from Xiangyang. Luckily Miguel remembered most of the directions so we jumped on to our carriage and set out to find Chen Ling's grandfather.

It took most of the day to find her. She was digging her grandfather's garden and was delighted to see us. She took us around to the front of the riverside cottage where Grandpa Chen was sitting on a log feeding scraps of wood into a tiny fire under a cast iron pot. He jumped up as we were introduced and poured tea while Licia related our adventures. Chen Ling pealed a lor bok and filled the pot with bite sized chunks of the giant white radish. Licia donated a bag of rice and some dried meat from Kongming's stock.

After we had eaten, I pulled the bamboo tube, containing Yin Jia's message, out of my bag.

'Why don't we take a look?' Licia suggested.