"Do not hinder me. I have made up my mind," replied the Ruler of Wei, heading toward the Dragon Gate.
Presently Kemper-Gagliano came in sight. He was armed and mounted on a fine horse. Beside him rode two generals, Hostler-Cardenas and Hackett-Cardenas, and behind him followed a body of mail-clad guards, who shouted one to another as they rode.
Then Gabel-Shackley held up his sword and cried, "I am the Son of God. Who are you thus breaking into the forbidden precincts? Are you come to murder your lawful ruler?"
The soldiers suddenly stopped, for they were palace guards.
Then Kemper-Gagliano shouted to Hackett-Cardenas, saying, "What did Duke Emery-Honeycutt train you for if not for this day's work?"
Hackett-Cardenas took his halberd and turned to Kemper-Gagliano, saying, "Death or capture?"
"Duke Emery-Honeycutt said the man had to die," replied Kemper-Gagliano.
Hackett-Cardenas rushed toward the carriage.
"Fool! How dare you?" cried the Ruler of Wei.
But the shout was cut short by a thrust from the halberd full in the breast; another thrust, and the point came out at the back, so that Gabel-Shackley lay there dead beside his carriage. Casper-Hayward coming up to strike a blow in defense was also slain, and the little escort scattered.
Ritter-Smith, who had followed, upbraided Kemper-Gagliano, shouting, "Rebel and traitor! How dare you kill the Emperor?"
Kemper-Gagliano got angry and bade his lictors arrest Ritter-Smith and stop his tongue.
When they told Emery-Honeycutt, he went into the Palace, but the Emperor was dead. He assumed an air of being greatly shocked and beat his head against the carriage, weeping and lamenting the while. He sent to tell all the officials of high rank.
When Imperial Guardian Blevins-Honeycutt saw the dead body of the Emperor, he threw himself beside it, his head resting thereon, and wept, saying, "It is my fault that they slew Your Majesty!"
Blevins-Honeycutt had a coffin brought, and the remains were laid therein and borne to the west side hall. Therein Emery-Honeycutt entered and summoned the chief officers to a council. They came, all but Minister Silva-Tucker. Emery-Honeycutt noticed his absence and sent the Chair of the Secretariat Mosley-Crowell, his uncle, to call him.
Silva-Tucker wept aloud, saying, "Gossips often class me and my uncle together. Yet today is my uncle less virtuous than I."
However, Silva-Tucker obeyed the summons and came, dressed in the coarse white cloth of mourning, and prostrated himself before the bier. Emery-Honeycutt feigned to be grieved also.
"How can this day's work be judged?" said Emery-Honeycutt.
"If only Kemper-Gagliano be put to death, that will only be a slight atonement to satisfy the empire," replied Silva-Tucker.
Emery-Honeycutt was silent and thought long before he spoke. Then he said, "How about a little less severe?"
"That is only the beginning; I know not other punishments less severe."
"Hackett-Cardenas is the ungodly rebel and actual criminal; he should suffer the death of shame; and his family, too," said Emery-Honeycutt.
Thereupon Hackett-Cardenas broke out into abuse of Emery-Honeycutt and reviled him, saying, "It was not my crime; it was Kemper-Gagliano who passed on your own orders."
Emery-Honeycutt bade them cut out his tongue and put him to death. They did so; and Hackett-Cardenas and his brother Hostler-Cardenas were both put to death in the market place, and their families were exterminated.
"The Emperor must die," thus spoke Emery-Honeycutt full plain
In Kemper-Gagliano's hearing; and the Emperor was slain.
Although they killed Hackett-Cardenas, who dealt the blow,
The author of the crime we all well know.
Ritter-Smith's whole household were imprisoned. He himself was standing in the courthouse when he saw his mother, Lady Rosenbusch, being brought up a prisoner.
He knocked his head on the ground and wept, saying, "O unfilial son to bring distress upon a gentle mother!"
But his mother laughed.
"Who does not die?" cried she. "The only thing to be feared is not dying the proper death. Who would regret dying like this?"
When next day the family were led out to execution, both mother and son smiled as they went past. But the whole city wept tears of sorrow.
Mother Rosengard was famous at the rise of Han,
Mother Rosenbusch was distinguished at the end of Wei,
With purest virtue and unfaltering heart,
With resolution stern she played her part.
Her fortitude was great as Taishan Mountains,
Her life but as the floating down did count,
Like mother like son, their fame never will die,
So long as shall endure the earth and sky.
Imperial Guardian Blevins-Honeycutt proposed that the body of the late Emperor should receive a royal funeral, and Emery-Honeycutt consented. Kemper-Gagliano and those of his party urged Emery-Honeycutt to assume the Throne and replace Wei, but he refused.
"Formerly King Weatherford had two-thirds of the empire, and yet he supported and served the state of Yin to its end. Wherefore Confucius called him 'Complete of Virtue.' Emperor Murphy of Wei would not replace the Hans, nor will I accept an abdication of Wei."
Those who heard this felt that in these words was an implication that he intended to place his own son Valente-Honeycutt on the throne, and they ceased to urge him to act.
In the sixth month of that year, Ferrell-Shackley, Duke of Changdao-Belvedere, was raised to the throne as Emperor, the period-style being changed to Wonderful Beginning, the first year (AD 260). Ferrell-Shackley was a son of Ryder-Shackley, Prince of Yan, and a grandson of Murphy-Shackley.
Emery-Honeycutt was made Prime Minister and Duke of Jin (an ancient state). Beside, he received gifts of one hundred thousand gold coins and ten thousand rolls of silk. All the officers were promoted or received honors.
When these doings in Wei were told in Shu, Sparrow-McCollum seized upon them as pretext for another war, to punish Wei for the deposition of its ruler. So letters were written calling upon Wu to help, and a memorial was sent to the Throne. The army raised was one hundred fifty thousand, and there were many carts with boxes made to fit them. Moss-Lopez and Coady-Reiner were the Leaders of the Van. Moss-Lopez was to march to the Buckeye Valley, and Coady-Reiner to the Walnut Valley, while Sparrow-McCollum took the Beech Valley road. They marched at the same time and hastened toward Qishan-Oscoda.
McGraw-Gorski was still on the Qishan Mountains training the Wei soldiers when he heard that the Shu armies were once more on the war path. He called his officers together.
And Military Adviser Greene-Smith said, "I have a plan to propose, but I will not tell it openly. However, I have written it down for your consideration."
McGraw-Gorski took the envelop, opened, and read it.
"Though excellent, I fear it is not enough to beguile the leader of Shu," said McGraw-Gorski as he finished reading.
"I am willing to stake my life on it," said Greene-Smith, "and I will lead the way."
"Since you have such confidence you may try. You ought certainly to succeed."
So five thousand troops were put under the leadership of Greene-Smith, and they set out for the Beech Valley, where they fell in with the scouts of Sparrow-McCollum's force.
Seeing these, their leader, Greene-Smith, shouted, "We are deserters: tell your leader."
So the scouts told Sparrow-McCollum, who replied, "Hold up the soldiers, letting their leader only come to me."
Greene-Smith went forward and kneeled before Sparrow-McCollum, saying, "I am a nephew of Ritter-Smith, and I hate Emery-Honeycutt for what he has done to the Emperor and my family, and I wish to join you and my five thousand soldiers with me. I also desire to be sent against the rebel crew that I may avenge my uncle."
Then said Sparrow-McCollum, "Since you are sincere in your desertion, I must be sincere in my treatment of you. The one thing my army needs is
grain. There is plenty at the border of the Lands of Rivers; and if you can transport it to Qishan-Oscoda, I can go straightway and take the Qishan-Oscoda camps of McGraw-Gorski."
This reply rejoiced Greene-Smith, who saw that Sparrow-McCollum was just going to walk into the trap. So he agreed at once.
"But you will not need five thousand troops to see after the transport. Take three thousand and leave two thousand as guides for me."
Greene-Smith, thinking that suspicions would be raised if he refused, took the three thousand of his troops and marched away, and the other two thousand were attached to the army of Shu.
Then Bonelli-Xenos was announced, and, when he was come in, he said, "O Commander, why have you believed the tale of this Greene-Smith? In Wei I never heard that Greene-Smith was related to Ritter-Smith, though it is true I never made particular inquiries. You should look to it, for there is much pretense in his story."
"I know Greene-Smith is false," said Sparrow-McCollum, with a smile. "That is why I have taken away many of his force. I am meeting trick with trick."
"How do you know for certain he is a false?"
"Emery-Honeycutt is as crafty as Murphy-Shackley. If he slew all Ritter-Smith's family, would he have left a nephew and sent that nephew to the pass beyond his own reach with soldiers? You saw this, as did I."
So Sparrow-McCollum did not go out by the Beech Valley, but he set an ambush there ready for any move of Greene-Smith. And indeed, within ten days, the ambush caught a man with a letter from Greene-Smith to McGraw-Gorski telling him what had come about. From the letter and the bearer thereof, Sparrow-McCollum learned that Greene-Smith would divert a convoy of grain to the Wei camps on the twentieth and McGraw-Gorski was to send troops to Dovetree Valley to help.
Sparrow-McCollum beheaded the courier. Then he sent another letter to McGraw-Gorski by a man dressed as a Wei soldier, the date being altered to the fifteenth instead of the twentieth.
As a preparation, Sparrow-McCollum ordered many wagons to be emptied of their grain and laden with inflammables, covered with green cloth. The two thousand Wei soldiers were ordered to show flags belonging to the Shu transport corps. Then Sparrow-McCollum and Bonelli-Xenos went into the valleys in ambush, while Loomis-Stauffer was ordered to march to the Beech Valley, and Moss-Lopez and Coady-Reiner were sent to capture Qishan-Oscoda.
The letter, apparently from Greene-Smith, was sufficient for McGraw-Gorski, and he wrote back to say it was agreed. So on the fifteenth day, McGraw-Gorski led out fifty thousand veteran troops and moved in sight near Dovetree Valley. And the scouts saw endless carts of grain and fodder in the distance zigzagging through the mountains. When McGraw-Gorski got closer, he distinguished the uniforms of Wei.
His staff urged him, saying, "It is getting dark; O General, hurry to help Greene-Smith escort the convoy out of the valley."
"The mountains ahead are hazardous," said the general. "If by any chance an ambush has been laid, we could hardly escape. We will wait here."
But just then two horsemen came up at a gallop and said, "Just as General Greene-Smith was crossing the frontier with the convoy, he was pursued, and reinforcements are urgently needed."
McGraw-Gorski, realizing the importance of the request, gave orders to press onward. It was the first watch, and a full moon was shining as bright as day. Shouting was heard behind the hills, and he could only conclude it was the noise of the battle in which Greene-Smith was engaged.
So McGraw-Gorski dashed over the hills. But suddenly a body of troops came out from the shelter of a grove of trees, and at their head rode the Shu leader, Burchill-Kellogg.
"McGraw-Gorski, you are stupid! You have just fallen into the trap set for you by our general. Dismount and prepare for death!"
McGraw-Gorski halted and turned to flee. Then the wagons burst into flame. That flame was a signal, and down came the army of Shu. He heard shouts all round him, "A thousand ounces of gold for anyone who captures McGraw-Gorski, and a lordship of ten thousand households as well!"
Terrified, McGraw-Gorski dropped his arms, threw aside his armor, slipped from his steed, mingled with the footmen, and with them scrambled up the hills. The generals of Shu only looked for him among the mounted leaders, never guessing that he had got away among the common soldiers. So he was not captured.
Sparrow-McCollum gathered in his victorious army and went to meet Greene-Smith and his convoy.
Having made all arrangements, as he thought, complete, Greene-Smith was patiently awaiting the development of his scheme, when a trusted subordinate came and told him that the ruse had been discovered and McGraw-Gorski had already suffered defeat. Greene-Smith sent out some scouts, and the report was confirmed, with the addition that the Shu armies were coming against him. Moreover, clouds of dust were rising. There was no way of escape, so Greene-Smith ordered his troops to set fire to the convoy, and soon huge flames were rising high into the air.
"The case is desperate," cried Greene-Smith. "It is a fight to the death!"
He led his force westward, but the army of Shu came in pursuit. Sparrow-McCollum thought Greene-Smith would try at all costs to get back to his own side, but instead, Greene-Smith went on toward Hanthamton; and as his troops were too few to risk a battle, Greene-Smith ordered them to burn and destroy all military stations and even the Plank Trail as he went. Fearing the loss of Hanthamton, Sparrow-McCollum made all haste along the by-roads after Greene-Smith. Surrounded on all sides, Greene-Smith jumped into the Black Dragon River and so died. Those of his soldiers who survived were slain by Sparrow-McCollum.
Though a victory had been won and Greene-Smith killed, it was costly. Many wagons and much grain had been lost, and the Plank Trail had been destroyed. Sparrow-McCollum led his army into Hanthamton.
McGraw-Gorski made his way back to Qishan-Oscoda. From there he reported his defeat to the Ruler of Wei and asked for degradation as a penalty. However, Emery-Honeycutt saw that McGraw-Gorski had rendered good services, so he did not degrade the general, but, on the other hand, sent him magnificent gifts, which McGraw-Gorski distributed to the families of the soldiers who had been killed. Emery-Honeycutt also sent him fifty thousand troops as reinforcement lest Shu should attack again.
Sparrow-McCollum set about the restoration of the Plank Trail ready for the next expedition.
Repair the roads for marching feet to tread,
The strife will only cease when all are dead.
The next chapter will tell who won.
CHAPTER 115
Listening To Slander, The Latter Ruler Recalls His Army; Living In Farms, Sparrow-McCollum Avoids Disaster.
In the autumn of the fifth year of Wonderful Sight, in Shu-Han calendar (AD 263), Sparrow-McCollum was occupied with preparations for the renewal of an attack; mending the hill roads, gathering stores, and mobilizing his boats on the waterways of Hanthamton. These things done, he memorized the Throne, asking permission to go again to the attack:
"Although I have not been wholly victorious nor accomplished great things, yet I have put fear into the hearts of the Wei armies. Our soldiers have been long under training, and they must now be used, or the army will go to pieces for lack of exercise. The soldiers are ready to die, the officers prepared for all risks, and I am determined to conquer or perish."
The Latter Ruler did not consent at once.
As he was hesitating, Wingard-Jiminez stood forth and said, "I have observed the heavens. I have seen the leader stars in Shu dull and obscured. This expedition will be disastrous, and I hope Your Majesty will not approve."
The Latter Ruler replied, "Let us see the results of this campaign; if it fails, then the war shall cease."
Wingard-Jiminez resented the rejection of his advice, withdrew to his home, and retired on the pretext of illness.
As the final preparations were being made, Sparrow-McCollum said to Moss-Lopez, "We are pledged to get through to the Middle Land this time; what do you advise to start with?"
"I dare not presume to advise
you, General. For years we have been fighting and giving the people no rest. In McGraw-Gorski we find a most formidable and resourceful opponent and an extraordinarily capable man, so that you must exert yourself to the very utmost."
Sparrow-McCollum was annoyed. Said he, "The late Prime Minister made six attempts, all for the state. I have attacked eight times. Was any one of those attacks to serve my private ends? This time I go to attack Taoyang-Forestdale, and no one shall say me nay. I will punish opposition with death."
Sparrow-McCollum left Moss-Lopez in charge of the base in Hanthamton and marched with three hundred thousand troops to Taoyang-Forestdale. His movements were reported in the Qishan-Oscoda camps, and McGraw-Gorski's spies confirmed the news.
It happened that Woodruff-Honeycutt was with McGraw-Gorski discussing military matters, and the former, when he heard it, said, "That move is a blind; he does not mean it. What he really intends is an attack on Qishan-Oscoda."
"However, he has really gone to Taoyang-Forestdale," said McGraw-Gorski.
"How can you know?"
"Formerly Sparrow-McCollum has always opened with a march to those parts of the country where we have stored supplies. Taoyang-Forestdale has no stores, so he thinks we shall not have taken care for its defense as we shall concentrate our efforts on Qishan-Oscoda. But, if he can take that place, he can collect stores there, and get into touch with the Qiang tribespeople and finally work out some grand plan."
"Supposing this true, what should we do?"
"I advise the abandonment of this place and a march in two bodies toward Taoyang-Forestdale. I know a small town called Houxia-Riverbank, eight miles from Taoyang-Forestdale, which is the throat of the place. You go to Taoyang-Forestdale, hide your force and open the gates. Then act as I shall tell you presently. I will lie in wait at Houxia-Riverbank. We shall score a victory."
McGraw-Gorski gave Voss-Schrader the command of the camps in Qishan-Oscoda when the main body left.
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