(The letter bears scorch marks along the edges.) At Jin'an Fort, we met the Khitans in battle and suffered a …
(The letter bears scorch marks along the edges.)
At Jin'an Fort, we met the Khitans in battle and suffered a crushing defeat. General Zhao surrendered. The Khitans have imprisoned all of us, Han troops and Silver-Saddle Khitan Regiment alike. They have also rounded up refugees of every sort, even deserters and beaten men from their own side. As yet, no one knows what they mean to do with us.
So long as I carry the peace charm Yueniang embroidered for me, I am certain I will survive this calamity.
There are five of us confined here together. Since we share one room and the same road between life and death, that too must count for a kind of fate. So I set down our names here.
Zhao Shi, from Luancheng's cloth workshops. At home he has his mother and a younger brother. His family once had a trade of their own, but he joined the army to defend his home.
Zhou Fugui, of Weizhou. He has no kin left. He joined the army to avenge his family.
Wo Tela, a Khitan from the Huang River. At home he has a younger brother and sister. He was captured by General Zhao and pressed into the Silver-Saddle Khitan Regiment. He says he asks for nothing, only to stay alive.
She Lang, a man of the Xi, from the Wolf River, married. Wo Tela told me that She Lang's tribe was raided by the Khitans, defeated and enslaved, then forced into service. He would not let the Khitans drive him to seize other men's land and kill other men's wives and children, so he deserted. His only wish is to return home and grow old with his wife.
Brother Zhao Shi said that if we ever escape, we should all go to Luancheng together and open a cloth workshop. She Lang said his wife is deft with the needle and could help.
Skilled though she may be, could she truly compare with Yueniang?
I wonder what Yueniang is doing at this very moment.