the column crossed black scabbard mountain, and thatnight another thirty or forty soldiers deserted. zhangdiscussed the situation with rui and the otherbodyguards.

"these fellows are not going to give up even thoughthis is the main road to lanzhou, the provincialcapital," he said. "there's going to be a lot moretrouble ahead, so we had better make our way round bythe backroads, and cross the river at crimson bend."cao neng had been looking forward to getting tolanzhou so that he could transfer his burden to othershoulders, and was very unhappy with zhang's plan. buthe did not dare to disagree.

"we have lost many soldiers on the road," zhang said.

"when you get back, master cao, you can report thatthey were killed during an attack on bandits, and diedcourageously for their country. i will write out anote to that effect in a moment."cao neng's spirits rose again. according to themilitary regulations, if a soldier was killed inaction, it was possible to obtain a pension, and themoney naturally fell into the pocket of the officer incommand.

they heard the roar of the yellow river long before itcame into view, and travelled more than half a dayfurther before arriving at the crimson bend crossing.

at this bend on the yellow river, the rocks along thebanks are blood-red, hence its name. dusk was alreadyapproaching, but through the evening mists, they couldsee the fury with which the yellow river surgedeastwards, its muddy waters bubbling and boilingagainst the banks.

"we will cross the river tonight," zhang said. "thewater is dangerous but if we delay, there may betrouble."with the river running so fast, the crossing couldonly be made by sheepskin rafts. soldiers were sentout to search for rafts, but they could not found any.

darkness fell. zhang was just becoming anxious when hespotted two sheepskin rafts shooting down the rivertowards them. the soldiers shouted, and the two raftsedged towards the bank.

"hey, boatman!" cao shouted. "ferry us across andwe'll pay you well."the big man on the raft stood up and waved his hand.

"you're a mute," said cao.

"damn your ancestors," replied the man in cantonese.

"if you're coming then come, if you're not, thendon't. you bunch of bastards. it's a waste of timedealing with you." cao and the others understood not aword of it. cao ignored him and invited zhang and thebodyguards escorting wen to get onto the rafts first.

zhang weighed up the boatman. his wide-brimmed hat hidhalf his face and it was impossible to distinguish hisfeatures clearly. but the muscles on his arms werebunched and bulging, revealing great strength, whilethe oar in his hands was of a very dark colour andappeared to be made of something other than wood. hefelt something was wrong, and not being able to swim,he could not afford to fall victim to some trick.

"master cao," he said. "you go first with some of thesoldiers."cao ordered some of the soldiers onto the two rafts.

the current was rapid, but the two boatmen were highlyskilled and safely delivered the government troops tothe opposite bank, and then returned to take onanother batch.

cao boarded a raft with another group of soldiers, butjust as they left the bank, a long whistle soundedbehind them which was answered by a host of otherwhistles.

zhang hastily ordered the troops to surround thecarriage and guard it closely. a crescent moon hunglow in the sky. under its light, he saw about a dozenhorses coming towards them. he galloped forward.

"what's going on?" he shouted.

the riders formed a single rank as they approached,then one in the middle spurred his horse on and rodeahead of the others. in his hand he held a whitefolding fan with which he fanned himself. "is that the'fire hand judge' zhang zhaozhong?" he asked.

"it is," zhang replied. "and who are you, sir?"the other laughed. "we thank you for escorting ourbrother wen this far, but we would not want to troubleyou further.""are you red flower society people?""everyone praises the 'fire hand judge' for hissuperlative mastery of the martial arts, but heobviously has divine foresight as well," the manreplied, smiling. "you are correct. we are red flowersociety people." he gave a long whistle.

zhang started slightly as he heard the two boatmen onthe rafts give answering whistles.

cao, seated on one of the rafts, saw the enemyapproaching on the shore, and his face turned thecolour of mud. the boatman stopped the raft inmidstream with a stroke of his oar.

"thirteenth brother!" cao heard a crisp voice callfrom the other raft. "ready when you are.""right!" the boatman replied. cao raised his spear andthrust it at him, but the boatman deflected it deftlywith his oar and then knocked cao and all the othersoldiers on board into the river. both boatmen thenrowed back close to the shore.

zhang was thankful for his caution. "you have beenkilling government troops the whole way," he shouted.

"you have committed many unpardonable acts. what isyour position in the red flower society, sir?""there is no need for you to ask my name," greathelmsman chen said. "xin yan, give me my weapons."xin yan opened his bag and placed two weapons inchen's hands. normally, the other heroes should havefought first, but chen was unable to resist theopportunity to demonstrate his skills.

zhang jumped off his horse and strode forward. butjust as he was preparing himself for the fight,imperial bodyguard zhu ran up behind him and said:

"master zhang, let me deal with him."zhang decided to let him test out the enemy first. "becareful, brother zhu," he said.

zhu lunged forward, sword raised. he chopped out atchen's thigh. chen jumped lightly off his horse andlifted the shield in his left hand to parry the blow.

in the moonlight, zhu saw that nine glistening, sharphooks protruded from the face of the shield, and knewthat if his sword collided with them, it would becaught in their grasp. he started in fright andhastily withdrew his sword. chen then flourished theweapon in his right hand: five cords, each one tippedwith a steel ball especially designed for hitting theyuedao points on the human body. terrified by theferocious nature of this weapon, zhu leapt backwards,but the cords circled round behind him, and he felt asudden numbness on his back. then the cords entwinedhis legs and with a tug, chen pulled zhu off his feet,swung him round and round, and sent him flyingstraight towards a rocky outcrop nearby.

if he had hit it, he would have been smashed topieces. but zhang, seeing that zhu was completelyout-classed, raced over, grabbed his queue and pulledhim down just in front of the rock face.

"rest for a while, brother zhu," he said. frozen withfear, zhu was unable to answer.

zhang raised his precious 'frozen emerald' sword andleapt in front of chen.

zhang thrust his sword at chen's right shoulder. chenflipped the chords towards the blade, while the shieldin his left hand struck out at zhang.

as they battled, the two boatmen, 'crocodile' jiangand luo bing, jumped ashore and ran towards thecarriages, guarded by the soldiers. jiang chargedstraight into the ranks, immediately killing two ofthe closest soldiers. the others frantically gave way.

luo bing charged over to one of the carriages, andlifted up the carriage curtain.

"fourth brother, are you in there?" she called. but itwas 'scholar' yu, still seriously wounded. suddenlyhearing luo bing's voice through his stupor, he couldonly think that it was a dream, or that he had diedand was meeting her in the other world.

"you've come!" he cried happily.

luo bing knew that the voice was not her husband's andran to the next carriage. but before she could pullaside the curtain, a saw-toothed sword chopped at herfrom the right. she parried with her sword, andlooking up at her attacker in the watery moonlight,recognised him as one of the eight bodyguards who hadattacked wen and herself in suzhou. with a surge ofhatred, she redoubled her attack. rui was aware of herability with throwing knives and speeded up hisstrokes to avoid giving her an opportunity to usethem. then two other bodyguards joined the battlewhile the soldiers closed in from all sides.

four more of the heroes led by 'leopard' wei gallopedtowards her through a hail of arrows. one arrowplanted itself in the neck of wei's horse, and thepain made it gallop even more furiously. the animal'shooves hit the chest of one of the soldiers, wei flewoff the horse with his hooks raised, and amid a chorusof screams, gouged them into the breasts of two othersoldiers. wei then aimed the hooks at bodyguard ruiwho was forced to abandon his attack on luo bing.

'hunchback' zhang jin and the others also raced up andthe soldiers scattered.

free once more, luo bing threw herself into thecarriage and hugged wen's neck, then burst into tears.

after a while, zhang jin stuck his head in through thecarriage curtain. "fourth brother," he grinned. "we'vecome to take you back."he climbed onto the driver's seat and the carriagemoved off northwards away from the river, and stoppedby the side of a mound, from which they could get agood view of the battle.

suddenly, zhang broke away from his duel with chen andran for wen's carriage.

luo bing saw him coming and brandished her sword athim. but zhang's sword was extraordinarily tough, andas they clashed with a 'clang', it snapped her bladein two. with the rest of his strength, zhang leapt upinto the carriage and pulled luo bing in with him.

greatly frightened, the other heroes raced up to saveher, and zhang lifted her up and threw her at them.

the twin knights raced over and caught her.

meanwhile, zhang turned and grabbed wen, and pulledhim to the carriage door. "wen tailai is here," heshouted. "if anyone dares to come any closer, i'llkill him!"the cold gleam of zhang's 'frozen emerald' sword waspoised at wen's neck.

"fourth brother," luo bing wailed, and tried to throwherself at the carriage, but lu feiqing held her backand took a step forward himself.

"zhang!" he called out. "can you see who i am?" zhangand he had not seen each other for a long time and itwas difficult to see clearly in the moonlight, so ludrew his white dragon sword, took hold of the tip ofthe blade, and bent the handle back so that it formeda circle. then he let the tip go and the blade bouncedback upright and swayed slightly.

zhang grunted. "ah, so it's brother lu," he said. "whyhave you come looking for me?""you are wounded," lu replied. "all the heroes of thered flower society are here as well as 'iron gall'

zhou zhongying. it is going to be hard for you toescape today with your life. but in memory of ourbenevolent teacher, i will give you a way out."zhang grunted again, but said nothing.

suddenly they heard shouts and cries drifting overfrom the east, as if a thousand armies were racingtowards them. the heroes were filled withapprehension, but zhang was even more worried.

"this red flower society is truly resourceful," hethought. "even here in the northwest, they can stillcall up huge reinforcements.""release master wen," lu feiqing continued, "and iwill ask the heroes, out of respect for me, to releaseyou. but there is one thing you must swear to."zhang eyed the strong enemies surrounding him. "what?"he said.

"you must swear that you will immediately retire frompublic life and no longer be a running dog of themanchus."zhang had pursued glory and wealth with fervour and hehad risen in rank as fast as though swept upwards upby a whirlwind. wanting him to give up his positionwas just the same as wanting his life. he released wenfrom his grip, pulled at the mule's reins, and thecarriage charged forward.

the heroes held back afraid of risking wen's life, butluo bing could not stand it. "release him and we'lllet you go without having to swear to anything," shecalled desperately.

zhang took no notice and drove the carriage on towardsthe ranks of manchu troops, who had by now regrouped.

bodyguard rui saw zhang approaching and ordered thesoldiers to fix arrows in their bows in readiness. theroar of the approaching column was getting louder andboth red flower society and the soldiers were afraidthat they were reinforcements for the other side.

"brother wei, take three others and scatter theeagle's claws," chen shouted.

wei and the others raised their weapons and chargedinto the manchu ranks, slaughtering as they went.

a youngster darted out from behind lu feiqing saying:

"i'm going too!" chen frowned: it was li yuanzhi, oncemore dressed in boy's clothes.

when lu met up with her again after the battle,yuanzhi had insisted that he take her with him to helprescue wen. lu finally agreed, but made her promisethat she would do as she was told. yuanzhi then wrotea letter to her mother in which she said she haddecided to go on ahead alone to see her father inhangzhou.

chen quickly issued his instructions, and 'buddha'

zhao raced after the carriage and sent two sleevearrows flying into the eyes of the mule pulling italong. the mule gave a long scream and reared up onits hind legs. the twin knights charged to either sideof the carriage and flung their flying claws at zhang,who fended them off with his sword. simultaneously,priest wu chen and xu attacked zhang's back.

"now!" chen shouted to xin yan. the two soared throughthe air and landed on top of the carriage.

zhang heard chen and xin yan land above and behind himand threw a handful of golden needles at them.

chen saw the movement, and pushed xin yan off thecarriage and placed the shield in front of his ownbody. there was a patter of metallic noises as theneedles hit it, but despite the extraordinary speed ofhis reflexes, he heard xin yan cry out. knowing theboy had been hit, chen hastily leapt down to help him.

zhang threw another handful of the needles at priestwu chen and xu. the priest flew out of the back of thecarriage like an arrow, moving faster and further thanthe needles. xu, however, only had time to lift acotton coverlet in the carriage to block the needles.

but his left shoulder was left exposed and with asudden feeling of numbness, he fell out of thecarriage.

zhang jin raced over to help him. "brother xu, are youall right?" he shouted, bending over. suddenly he felta great pain in his back as he was hit by an arrow,and stumbled.

"brothers! everyone regroup!" chen shouted. arrowswere flying towards them like thick clouds of locusts.

zhang jin put his left hand on priest wu chen'sshoulder and hit out at the arrows with his wolf'stooth club.

"tenth brother, don't move!" the priest said. "controlyourself." he stopped the flow of blood from zhangjin's wound with a touch to the artery and carefullypulled the arrow out. then he ripped a corner off hisrobes and bound up the wound.

then they saw a pitch-black mass of manchu soldierssurging towards them from the east.

zhang was ecstatic at the sight of reinforcementsarriving, but his breathing was becoming difficult andhe knew that his injuries were serious. chen and theothers attacked the carriage once more, and he liftedup wen's body, and swung it round and round as adetachment of cavalry charged towards the red flowersociety fighters with sabres raised. chen could seethat wen would certainly be killed if they attemptedto recapture him by force, so he gave a loud whistleand raced behind a nearby mound with the othersfollowing.

chen conducted a head-count, and found that xu, zhouqi, yuanzhi, lord zhou and meng were missing.

"has anyone seen brother xu and lord zhou?" chenasked.

zhang jin, who was lying on the ground, raised hishead and said: "seventh brother was injured. isn't hehere? i'll go and find him."he stood up, but the arrow wound on his back was tooserious, and he swayed unsteadily.

"don't you move, tenth brother," said 'melancholyghost' shi. "i'll go.""i'll go too," added 'crocodile' jiang, but chen heldhim back. "you and fourth sister make your way to theriver bank and prepare the rafts," he said. jiang andluo bing, her hopes dashed again, left.

shi leapt onto a horse and galloped off around themound with sword in hand. by this time, the manchutroops were everywhere. shi rode up onto higher groundand looked around, but could see no sign of xu and theothers, so he rode into the enemy's ranks to searchfor them.

not long after, lord zhou and meng appeared.

"have you seen your daughter?" chen asked. zhou shookhis head, full of anxiety.

"my young pupil has disappeared too," lu feiqing said.

"i'll go and look for them."as he rode out, the ranks of the manchu troopssuddenly parted and several horses charged towardshim. in the lead was priest wu chen dragging wei alongwith his hand. lu started in surprise when he saw wei,his whole body covered in blood and dirt, andimmediately moved forward to obstruct any pursuers.

but the manchu troops did not dare to obsttruct theseferocious-looking men and let them retreat behind themound.

chen quickly went to see wei, who was delirious,shouting: "kill the bastards!""ninth brother has worn himself out with all thiskilling," priest wu chen said. "his mind is a littleconfused. nothing serious.""have you seen brother xu and brother shi?" chenasked.

"i'll go and look for them" the priest said.

"there's also mistress zhou and the master lu'spupil," chen said.

priest wu chen mounted up, sword at the ready, andcharged back into the manchu ranks. a manchu officerspurred his horse forward and charged at him withspear raised, but the priest dodged the spear thrustand drove his sword into the officer's heart. theofficer slumped off his horse and the soldiers underhis command howled and scattered in all directions.

priest wu chen continued his onslaught and soldiersfell wherever his sword went. as he galloped along astretch of the road, he saw a crowd of soldiers with'melancholy ghost' shi in the middle fighting fiercelywith three officers.

"get away, i'll cover you!" priest wu chen shouted.

the two raced back to the mound, but there was stillno indication of what had happened to xu and theothers. a manchu company commander led his soldiers inan attack on the mound occupied by the red flowersociety, but the heroes immediately killed more than adozen of them, and the rest retreated.

chen led his horse up onto the mound. "brother meng,"he said, handing him the reins. "hold it steady andmade sure it doesn't get hit by a stray arrow." heleapt up onto the horse's back and stood on thesaddle. looking around, he saw the huge manchu columnsurging towards them from the east. a bugle soundedand the column turned into a fiery dragon as eachsoldier raised a torch. amidst the glow, he saw alarge banner flowing in the wind on which he couldjust made out the words "border pacification generalzhao" written in large characters. each soldier in thecolumn was riding a tall, sturdy horse, and there wasa clanking noise as they marched, indicating they wereprobably wearing armour.

chen jumped down from the horse. "armoured troops onthe way," he shouted. "everyone head for the river."lord zhou was very worried about his daughter, butfinding her among such a huge body of troops wasimpossible. the heroes helped up wei, zhang jin andthe other wounded, and galloped towards the banks ofthe yellow river with the manchu cavalry in hotpursuit. luo bing and jiang punted the sheepskin raftsup to the shore and took the wounded on board first.

"everyone get on the rafts quickly!" chen yelled.

"priest wu chen, third brother, lord zhou, we fourwill hold..."before he could finish, a wave of crossbow arrows flewtowards them.

"charge!" roared priest wu chen, and the four threwthemselves at the first ranks of cavalry. lord zhou'shuge sword rose and fell, cutting manchu soldiers downfrom their horses, while 'buddha' zhao slung coppercoins at the eye-slits in their armour. although itwas impossible to see clearly in the dark, he stillmanaged to blind five or six men. by this time,everyone except chen and the other three had boardedthe rafts.

chen spotted a mounted officer directing the troops,and sprang over to him. he pulled the fficer from hishorse and ran for the river bank with him under hisarm. the manchu troops rushed forward to try to savetheir commanding officer, but they didn't dare to fireany arrows. chen leapt onto one of the rafts and jiangand luo bing began to move them out towards the centreof the river.

the yellow river was in full flood and with thecurrent powerful and turbulant, the two largesheepskin rafts flew off downstream. the hubbub of thegreat armed column slowly faded as the river roaredaround them.

the heroes set about tending to the wounded. 'leopard'

wei's mind gradually cleared and his body was found tobe free from wounds. 'buddha' zhao was an expert atmedical treatment as well as with darts and he boundup 'iron pagoda' yang's and zhang jin's wounds. zhangjin was more seriously injured, but was in no danger.

xin yan had been hit by several golden needles, andwas in such pain that he cried out continually. theneedles had penetrated right through the flesh intothe bones, and zhao took a magnet from his medicinebag and drew them out one by one. luo bing rowed onsilently. not only had they failed to rescue wen, but'mastermind' xu, zhou qi, lu feiqing and his pupil hadbeen lost as well, and no-one knew where 'scholar' yuhad got to.

chen roused the captured manchu officer. "what thehell was your column doing travelling through thenight like that?" he asked.

the officer said nothing. yang slapped him on theface. "are you going to talk?" he shouted.

"i'll talk...i'll talk," the officer said quickly,holding his cheek. "what do you want me to say?""what was your column doing travelling at night?""general zhao wei received an imperial commandordering us to attack the muslim areas and take themover before a certain date. he was afraid we wouldn'tmake it in the time limit, and also that the muslimswould hear of our approach and make preparations. sowe've been marching day and night.""the muslims are very well-behaved," said chen. "whyare you going to attack them?""that...that, i don't know." the officer said.

"if you are heading for the muslim areas, why did youcome to interfere in our business?""general zhao heard of some bandits making trouble inthis area and ordered me to lead a detail to deal withthem, but the main army didn't stop..."before he could finish, yang gave him another slap.

"damn your mother!" he shouted. "it's you who are thebandits!""yes, yes! i made a mistake!" the officer cried.

chen was silent for a while, then questioned theofficer closely regarding the army's troop strength,route and rations. some of it the officer didn't know,but he did not dare to hide what he did know.

"head...for...the...shore" chen shouted at the top ofhis voice. luo bing and jiang steered the raftstowards the bank and everyone stepped ashore.

chen called the twin knights over.

"travel back as fast as you can and find out whathappened to the others," he said. "if they have falleninto the hands of the manchus, they will certainly betaken back to beijing along the great road. we canintercept them further east and work out some way ofrescuing them."the twin knights nodded and started out.

"twelfth brother," chen continued, turning to'melancholy ghost' shi. "i want you to do somethingfor me.""whatever you say, great helmsman."chen wrote out a letter under the light of the moon.

"please take this letter to master muzhuolun in themuslim regions," he said. "we have only met him andhis people once, but they showed the greatestfriendship towards us, so we cannot stand idly by.

fourth sister, please lend your white horse to twelfthbrother for the trip." luo bing had kept the animalaboard the raft throughout the battle.

shi mounted up and disappeared in a cloud of dust.

with the horse's phenomenal speed, he estimated hecould overtake the army in a day and be in time towarn muzhuolun.

chen then directed jiang to tie the officer's handsbehind his back. they placed him on one of the raftsand pushed it out into the stream and left it for fateto decide whether he should live or die.