Return of Condor Heroes (243 page)

Guo Jing stayed calm. “Go to the city and summon two thousand archers!” he commanded Xiuwen.

“Yes,” Xiuwen complied and was just about to move when suddenly a loud voice was heard, “The Shi Brothers from the Beastly Mountain Village are here to carry out the Eagle Hero’s instructions to wish Miss Guo Xiang a very happy birthday!”

That voice did not come out of one, but from five mouths. The Shi brothers did not have a high level of internal energy, but by combining their voices, they could be heard from afar.

Even though he heard them; Huang Rong still thought that being prepared wouldn’t hurt anything. She signaled Xiuwen to proceed. The Shi Brothers’ intent was not yet clear.

Xiuwen worked fast. In no time he arranged the archers to defend the field in a horseshoe formation. These archers were under Guo Jing’s coaching. As we remember, Guo Jing himself was a Jebeh (master archer – see LOCH). This was also one reason why Xiangyang could defend itself from the Mongolian troops for dozens of years. The archers were not inferior to the Mongolian archers who were well known throughout the world.

As soon as the archers were in formation, a big man appeared. He wore a tiger fur robe, and was accompanied by a hundred large tigers. It was the White Forehead Mountain Lord Shi Bowei. His tigers immediately sat around him in an orderly fashion.

Following him were Caring Eyesight Sage Shi Zhongmeng with his hundred leopards, Golden Claw Lion King Shi Shugang with his hundred male lions, Immortal of Giant Strength Shi Jiqiang with his hundred big elephants, and Eight Handed Monkey Immortal Shi Mengjie with his hundred big monkeys. These five groups of animals then sat around their masters in neat formations. As well-trained as they were, the animals could not be kept quiet. They kept making loud and frightening noises, which made the hearts of the people of Xiangyang tremble.

Each one of the Shi Brothers brought a leather pouch. They approached Guo Xiang and bowed, “We wish you a very happy birthday, good health and longevity!”

Guo Xiang stood up and reciprocated, “Thank you, Shi Uncles! Third Uncle Shi, is your injury healed? Fifth Uncle Shi, how about the sword wound on your chest?”

Shi Shugang and Shi Mengjie were touched, “Many thanks Miss for showing your concern, we are healed.”

Shi Bowei pointed to the five pouches. “These are the first presents from the Eagle Hero to Miss Guo,” he said.

“I really cannot accept it!” said Guo Xiang, giggling. “What are those? Oh, I know! Yours must be a tiger cub, and his is a leopard cub! Am I right? That would be fun!”

“No!” Shi Bowei smiled, “These are the fruits of the great effort of seven hundred Jianghu friends under the leadership of the Eagle Hero!” Then he opened his pouch.

Guo Xiang stretched her neck to see the content, she was startled, “Ears! Human ears…!”

“That’s right!” answered Shi Bowei, “These five pouches contain a total of two thousand Mongolian soldiers’ ears!”

Guo Xiang was dumbfounded, “This many ears, I … What should I do with all these ears?” she asked.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong had heard everything; they stood up and came near Shi Bowei to see the ears. There in front of them was the proof of what their spies had told them. They were surprised and delighted at the same time.

“Brother Shi,” Huang Rong addressed Shi Bowei, “It turns out the Mongolian troops at Xinye and Dengzhou were destroyed by hero … Eagle Hero’s troop. Is that right?”

Before answering the Shi Brothers quickly kneeled down and paid their respects to Guo Jing and Huang Rong, which Guo Jing and Huang Rong quickly reciprocated. Shi Bowei explained, “The Eagle Hero said that Miss Guo Xiang is in Xiangyang, and today is her sixteenth birthday. The Mongolian barbarians are going to attack, endangering the Second Miss Guo; therefore, they have to be killed. He regrets the fact that the enemy numbers are so great that we cannot destroy them all. However, he has led a number of valiant people to destroy two thousand members of their front line companies.”

“Where is the Eagle Hero at this moment?” asked Guo Jing. “I want to see him and convey the gratitude of the entire Xiangyang population.”

Guo Jing had been so busy defending Xiangyang and training his troops for dozens of years that he had not roamed Jianghu. Therefore, he was not aware that the Eagle Hero was none other than his Yang Guo.

“We apologize on his behalf,” said Shi Bowei, “because the Eagle Hero has been busy preparing some presents for Miss Guo these past few days. He did not have a chance to pay a visit to Great Hero Guo and Madame.”

Shi Bowei had just finished when a whistle was heard from a distance; then a voice was heard, “The Xishan Ghosts have received the Eagle Hero’s instructions to wish Miss Guo a happy birthday, and to deliver this present …!”

That voice was not loud, but sharp. It sounded like the voice came and went, but every word was clear.

“Guo Jing waits.” Guo Jing quickly answered. He knew that since the first present was so valuable, he did not dare to be inattentive. He used his internal energy, so his voice traveled far. He stood erect alongside his wife and waited.

“Can you guess who this Eagle Hero is?” Huang Rong whispered.

“I don’t know,” answered her husband.

“It’s Yang Guo!”

Guo Jing looked up in surprise; but in the end he was ecstatic. “Wonderful! Just wonderful!” he exclaimed. “He has rendered his country a great service; this is the merit of our great Song Dynasty.”

“Can you guess what this second present will be?” Huang Rong asked again.

Her husband only smiled. “Guo’er is so smart; you are the only one who is his match.” he answered, “Only you could guess.”

“But this time I really don’t have any idea,” said Huang Rong, shaking her head, but in her heart she said, “Yang Guo has done a great service to Xiangyang, but he keeps saying that all are for Xiang’er; his hatred toward us, husband and wife, and Fu’er, has not diminished.”

In a moment the Long Beard Ghost appeared on the field, leading the other eight ghosts. They immediately paid their respect to Guo Jing and his wife. Only then did they approach Guo Xiang and said, “Wishing you health and unbounded happiness! The Eagle Hero instructed us to deliver the second present!”

“Thank you, thank you!” said Guo Xiang. She saw the Xishan Ghosts all carried boxes, big boxes and small boxes.

Guo Jing was afraid the contents were some kind of ears or noses or other human parts, so quickly he said, “If the contents are not good to behold, I ask you not to open them.”

The Big Head Ghost laughed. “These are very good things to behold!” he said. Fan Yiweng then opened the lid and picked up what looked like a fireworks rocket. He lit that thing and it shot up, and exploded high in the air and amidst the colorful rain of light appeared a letter ‘Gong’ [respectful].

Guo Xiang was so happy that she jumped around and clapped her hands while saying: “Good…Very good!”

The Hangman Ghost [Diao Si Gui] also ignited a rocket and that made the letter ‘zhu’ [best wishes]. Then, one by one, the rest of the ghosts ignited their rockets, forming a string of characters which read, ‘gong zhu guo er gu niang duo fu duo shou’ [respectfully wishing the Second Miss Guo prosperity and longevity]; ten big characters. Each character had its own color and they stayed afloat for quite some time. The gathered heroes clapped and cheered. The fireworks were made by Hankou’s well known Huang Yipao, an unrivalled fireworks artist.

Guo Jing smiled, he was also very happy. He thought, “My daughter loves fireworks so much. Good thing Yang Guo could find a very skilled artist to make them.”

The fireworks were just about to disperse when a few li to the north another firework was shot, then another one much further to the north.

“These fireworks work like a beacon,” Huang Rong thought, “this way somebody could deliver a message a few hundred li in just a short moment. I wonder what Yang Guo prepared for the second present. I doubt it is just fireworks to make Xiang’er happy.”

Madam Guo immediately instructed the Beggar Clan to prepare some additional bamboo mats for the Shi Brothers and the Xishan Ghosts.

While the feast was still underway, thunderous noises came from way up north, one explosion after another. The noise was muffled because it was so far away.

Upon hearing that noise, the Shi Brothers and the Xishan Ghosts jumped up and down, ecstatically exclaimed, “Success…Success!” Nobody in Xiangyang knew what they were exclaiming about.

The Big Head Ghost pointed to the north and kept shouting, “Wonderful! Wonderful!”

Because it was already dark, everybody could see the light of fires showing in the north.

“The city of Nanyang is on fire!” Huang Rong suddenly exclaimed. Guo Jing realized what had happened, he slapped his thigh, “That’s right! It is Nanyang!”

“I beg your explanation,” said Huang Rong to Fan Yiweng.

“That is the second present from the Eagle Hero to Miss Guo;” came the answer. “We set the two-hundred-thousand strong Mongolian army’s logistics on fire.”

Huang Rong had guessed correctly, but still they were surprised and ecstatic. In their effort to destroy Xiangyang, the Mongolians had built the city of Nanyang as its logistics center. They had built barns and grown fields of grass for several years. Tons of rice, wheat, water and hay were gathered from all over the Mongolian territories and sent to Nanyang. There was a saying, ‘A great troop movement is always preceded by provisions and grass.’ Rice and wheat were the soldiers’ food while grass was for the horses. The Mongolians rely heavily on their cavalry; therefore, food and hay were indispensable to the army’s movements. Guo Jing had tried on several occasions to send specially trained teams to destroy it, but they never succeeded in doing so, since the city was heavily guarded. Unexpectedly Yang Guo had succeeded in putting that city to the flame!

Guo Jing gazed to the north looking at the fire, anxiety began creeping into his heart, “Will they be able to retreat without any harm? Shall we join them and render any help we can?” Guo Jing asked Fan Yiweng.

“Hero Guo did not ask about the results, but asked about the safety of the people, he has such a benevolent heart,” thought Yiweng. Then he explained, “Thank you for Hero’s concern. Everything was carefully planned by the Eagle Hero. The team consists of Shengyin Shitai, Ren Chuzi, Zhang Yimang, Bai Caoxian and the others; more than 300 people total. Even though the Mongolian troop is strong, there is no way they can harm us.”

Like he was just waking up from a deep sleep, Guo Jing said to Huang Rong, “You heard that? Guo’er has gathered so many valiant people to render this great service. If not for these highly skilled heroes, how could two thousand soldiers be decimated in such a short period of time?”

Fan Yiweng explained further, “Our spies reported that the Mongolians planned to attack Xiangyang with fire power; they have approximately ten thousand ‘jin’s [a ‘jin’ is approximately 0.5kg or 1lb] of gunpowder in store in Nanyang. We just followed their lead. We made thorough preparations. As soon as the team saw our fireworks signal, we moved together. According to our plan, first we destroy the explosives, and then set the supply of food and hay on fire. Let the Mongolian army and their horses die of hunger!”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other. They were very impressed and alarmed at the same time. They both had followed Genghis Khan’s invasion to the west [for those of you who have not read the novel, it happened toward the last chapters of LOCH See note 1], where the Mongolians destroyed city walls with cannon and explosives. It was like a volcano’s eruption. The reason the Mongolians had not used explosives at Xiangyang before was because of the scarcity of the explosives. But now that the Mongolian Khan, Mengke himself led the attack, they brought the cannons along. Good thing Yang Guo had made this pre-emptive attack; otherwise Xiangyang’s city walls would be destroyed very easily.

Both Guo Jing and Huang Rong were having the same thought, “The decimation of two thousand troops with their left ears missing could crush the enemy’s spirit, but the smashed Nanyang storage base could cause the enemy to retreat.” Therefore, the Guo couple heartily thanked the Shi Brothers and the Xishan Ghosts.

Shi Bowei and Fan Yiweng both said, “The Xiao ren [little/ lowly people] are only following the Eagle Hero’s instructions; our contribution is so minuscule, how can it be worth mentioning?”

During this time they could still hear the sporadic explosions from the north. But since Nanyang was quite a distance away, the noise was muffled. Then, a big and loud explosion was heard. The earth shook.

“There! That must be the main explosives warehouse!” said Fan Yiweng delightedly.

Guo Jing immediately summoned the two Wu Brothers. “Take two thousand men with you, and attack Nanyang,” he gave his command. “But don’t be reckless. If they are still intact, hold off, but if they are disorganized, attack with arrows!” The two brothers complied and immediately executed his command.

These two victories had followed one after another and the people on the field cheered and applauded, offering toasts to each other; everybody praised the Eagle Hero’s unmatched accomplishments. Everyone that is, except Guo Fu …

She thought her husband was to be the focus of the festivities since he had defeated countless opponents and was elected Chief of the Beggar Clan. Who knew that Yang Guo – without even showing up, had stolen his and her thunder? Of course she was happy with the decimation of two thousand Mongolian front line companies and the annihilation of Nanyang’s provision and explosive storage facilities, but she didn’t get to be the center of attention. Didn’t the Shi Brothers and Fan Yiweng say that the victories were birthday presents for her little sister, Guo Xiang?

“I understand now!” she was fuming, “I chopped off his arm so he bears a grudge against me. So he purposely made me lose face!” From feeling discontent, she became enraged.

Elder Liang shared the same bamboo mat with Yelu Qi and Guo Fu. He saw everybody’s countenance was bright, except Guo Fu’s. After pondering a while, he figured out the reason. Then he laughed and said, “Ah, this old man is so absent-minded. Because of these joyful victories I have neglected the important business right in front of my eyes!” He jumped on stage and said with a loud voice, “Valiant people! Twice tonight the Mongolian troops have been beaten. We are all very happy; but right here, right now, we have another thing that should double our happiness. Master Yelu had shown his exquisite skills and we all admire him. Master Yelu had been elected our Chief. Now I want to confirm this: is there any of you who still wants to challenge our decision? Is there any Beggar Clan disciple who is having a second thought?”