150 Gathering In

 Commander Zhang sat in his chambers reviewing what had just happened. His brother, or half brother, he corrected himself, had come, not with cap in hand but a forward determination he recognised in himself. Instinctively, he reached for his drinking cup and poured another tea. What did this man really want? Friendship? He couldn't give him that. Alliance? Yes, that was possible. Recognition they were brothers? He recoiled from that thought. After all he had gone through, he wasn't about to let the bitterness, the hatred subside. That man had caused him to suffer all through his childhood and he wanted him to pay.

' I have informed the man he can rot in Shipao until the day he dies, he  will not be allowed back on Chen land even in death, and there will be  no place for him in the ancestral hall. He was lucid that day and his  face showed horror at what he had done,' 

He remembered Second Master's words and pondered. Who was to blame? Who was really to blame? The Man at Arms for not protecting his mother? The man who had defiled her on the verge of her wedding? His mother for   concealing her pregnancy? For concealing the truth? The hand maid for her part in all of this? The beatings, the bullying which peppered his childhood clouded his judgement, he knew that. The only reason he sat here was because his adopted father never remarried nor did he sire any children. He was the only choice and however resentful the Zhang family was, they had to accept him, a bastard child born of an abandoned wife and a father, he spat that word out, who wanted for nothing.  He conceeded, there was no one person to blame, they all carried equal weight, but the man who sired him, now he was the one, Commander Zhang could and would never forgive. 

'For my other brother and myself we lost our mother within six weeks of  our younger brother's birth. He has been beaten and whipped repeatedly  as the scapegoat for our father's loss, so one could say, A'Hao has  experienced similar to yourself. Like you, I had no mother, so there are  parallels here which are both cruel and heartless.' 

Zhang pondered. Absent-mindedly he raised the cup to his mouth. Realising it was empty, he placed it back on the tray and wandered to the veranda, lost in deep contemplation.

 

"Sir, a scout has just arrived with an update on the approaching troops and prisoners."  Zŭmò looked up from his planning sheets, "Call him in." A dusty and rather unkempt man came into the room. He held a pouch bag to his chest with one hand and a tattered hat with the other. "Please excuse my appearance but it is best to look like a tramp these days, you get through places all the easier." He bowed to Zŭmò and standing back up, reached into his pouch bag. "This is for you," handing over a script as he spoke. 

"Would it be okay if I went outside and removed some of the dirt and grime?" Zŭmò waved his hand in the gesture of, 'go ahead' but added, "Tell the orderly to serve some food and tea, you must be hungry after being on the road for so long." With that, he turned to the communication. "No-one is to disturb me for a while, I will call when I want anyone, but have my seconds waiting in the lobby ready." 

"Sir."    

Please be informed the route originally agreed upon has had to be altered. We are travelling to the west of the main river, as there has been heavy fighting on the eastern side in Northern Shipao and although our troops have been deployed, it was felt safer to bring the prisoners  a different way. 

At the moment we are without Commander Chen. He has returned to Shipao and then on to Zhang province to return some Zhang men who had become caught up in our collection of prisoners. We do not know when he will return or by which route. 

We will be reaching the narrows just above the main fork opposite Shuān Hé main town and settlement where we will carried out rope crossing in approximately eight days.

Zŭmò flipped the missive in his hand to check the date stamp. There were two days remaining. He had to get to the crossing point and fast.

"Seconds! In here at the double!"