The Bodchen came too fast, shattering the plan to connect all of Hexi. The general urged me to leave. Poplar B…
The Bodchen came too fast, shattering the plan to connect all of Hexi.
The general urged me to leave. Poplar Bazaar was not a fortress; it could not be held.
But I would not go. This is my home.
At our impasse, I challenged him: "If you want me to leave, trade me for what you treasure most."
What precious thing could a general trapped in Anxi possibly possess? Yet he reached into his tunic and pulled out a small ledger. It was a roster for the fallen, listing their condolence payments.
I knew precisely what those names meant.
I had known so many of them.
We had built the wells together. We had built Poplar Bazaar together.
In the blink of an eye, they had become cold, black ink on a page.
I knew he had always dreamt of carrying that list back to Chang'an himself.
"You carry the burden for everyone," I cried out. "For Chang'an, for this land, for every soldier. But what about you?"
"My fate," he said, "is in your hands now too."
And then I saw it. The final entry.
It was his own name.