Page One Grain levy at Zhao Hamlet. Took half a jin of cured meat and two hundred copper coins. The household…
Page One
Grain levy at Zhao Hamlet. Took half a jin of cured meat and two hundred copper coins.
The householder had hidden grain in the cellar. Dug it up.
Pressed Li Village for military tax. Took two live chickens and several iron tools.
Intercepted a band of refugees in the wilds. Took three able-bodied men into camp.
Confiscated a pair of hidden silver bracelets and two sacks of grain.
Page Two
A small child knelt and begged to keep the grain. Looked like Bao...
I remembered how my own boy, when he was ill, feared the light and would hide his face in his sleeve.
But if I let this grain go now, who will leave Bao a way to live another day...
...
Page Three
In troubled times, ants and insects live only by clinging to a strong army.
A sickly child lives only by his father's merit.
...
Everyone struggles to live. My son... he too struggles to live.
Page Four
Turn in grain... one mark of merit entered...
Offer up wealth... gain one more day's leave to go home...
Page Five
I killed more than ten men in the outskirts, and for that merit was granted one day's leave.
I raced home without stopping, only to find the whole village desolate.
The lock was rusted. The stove was cold...
My son Bao... where was he?
I searched everywhere and found nothing. In the end, I had no choice but to turn back.
By good fortune, a fellow soldier quietly told me that by Lord Du's grace, Bao had been sent elsewhere to recover.
He gave me a milk tooth as proof. It was tiny, with blood still at the root.
...
Bao... was only just at the age of losing his milk teeth...
...
All the torment and bitterness of these years seemed to gather in that single white tooth.
Then... suddenly, it was as if my palm were filled with snow, and there in the snow I saw Bao...
If my boy is there, then I must press on...
...
Might! Might! Might!
Page Six
Kill... kill... kill...
Might... might... might...