Heizi memorized the names by the dusk of the seventh day at the small specific *staff-officer's tent*.
He memorized them by the small specific accumulating method An Ashi had — at the past four years' accumulating reading at the small wooden table — taught him from the small specific Sogdian-merchant's accumulating *names-and-ledgers* method: the names laid out at the small specific careful three-column shape, with the small specific accumulating *one-line-on-each* of the man's age, the small specific accumulating place of his birth, and the small specific accumulating reading of any small specific accumulating personal mark Heizi had — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past five days — caught at the small specific accumulating eye on the man.
By the dusk of the seventh day, Heizi had laid the small specific accumulating shape of all fifty into his head.
The small specific list — in the small specific accumulating order of An Ashi's small specific arranging — read: *Wei Erjia of Henan, twenty-four, scar at left temple from a Sui patrol two years ago. Liu Sanlang of Hebei, thirty-one, missing the third finger of the left hand from a small specific accumulating accident at his father's smithy at his eleventh year. Cao Daniu of Henan, twenty-six, two daughters at his uncle's village he sends a portion of his small accumulating cash to at every small specific runner's accumulating outgoing. Yan Wugou of Henan, twenty-eight, was at the rebellion since Da-ye seven, has buried perhaps twelve men of his original small specific accumulating ten-man unit. Zhao Xiaolang of Hebei, nineteen, came up at the past month's small specific accumulating recruiting...* and on, fifty names, fifty small specific accumulating personal marks.
He laid them in his head. He laid them on a single small piece of paper at the small wooden table inside the *staff-officer's tent*. He kept the paper at the inner pocket of his shirt against his ribs.
By the dawn of the eighth day, he began the small specific accumulating *knowing*.
He stopped, at the morning's small specific accumulating fire-lighting at the *staff-officer's tent's* small banked fire, at each of the small specific accumulating fifty's small specific small fires of the small accumulating tents arranged in five rows of ten at the small specific accumulating eastern edge of the southern command's compound. He stopped at each. He laid one hand once on the man's shoulder — by the small specific accumulating reading of the small specific old man's gesture Lao Wen had laid on his own head every morning for six years and four months — and he said the man's small specific accumulating *one piece of personal mark*.
*Wei Erjia. The scar at the left temple. How is the small specific accumulating reading at this morning.*
*Liu Sanlang. The third finger. The small specific accumulating reading at the small specific saber-grip — by the small specific accumulating watching of the past three days — the lad will, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, lay in a small specific accommodating grip at the small specific accumulating *moment* of the next two months' training. The small specific accommodating grip is — by the small specific accumulating reading of an old militia officer's saying — at the small specific accumulating shape Liu Sanlang's hand can hold.*
*Cao Daniu. The two daughters. The small specific accumulating cash will, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, be sent at the next runner's accumulating outgoing on the third day from now. The lad has — by the small specific accumulating *staff-officer's accounting* of the past three days — laid the small specific accumulating *first portion* of Cao Daniu's small accumulating *fifty-officer's pay* at the small specific accumulating *outgoing* arrangement.*
He stopped at each.
By the small specific reading at the seventh day of the small specific accumulating *knowing*, the fifty had — by the small specific accumulating reading at certain dusks' accumulating sayings at certain small specific small fires — begun to call him by a small specific new name.
The new name was — by the small specific accumulating reading of certain small specific accumulating sayings at the small specific *fifty's small specific small fires* — *Heizi-zhang*. *Big-brother Heizi*. The small specific accumulating *zhang* was — by the small specific accumulating reading at An Ashi's small specific *political eye* — the small specific accumulating address of a small specific accumulating *fifty's accumulating *real* leader*, by the small specific accumulating saying of the rebellion's accumulating *small unit* tradition.
Heizi filed it.
By the dusk of the seventh day of the *knowing*, Bing Yuanzhen came to the *staff-officer's tent*.
He sat at the small banked fire.
He said in the small low voice: *brother. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past seven days — the lad has, in seven days, become *Heizi-zhang* at the small specific accumulating fifty.*
"Yes, brother."
"By the small specific accumulating reading at the past three years at the southern command, brother — I have not, in three years at the rebellion, seen any small specific *staff-officer* take the small specific *zhang* of the small specific accumulating *fifty's small specific accumulating accumulated voluntary* in less than three months."
He paused.
"By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the lad's small specific accumulating *knowing*-of-the-fifty is, by the small specific honest measure, a small specific accumulating *new* shape at the rebellion. The small specific accumulating other staff-officers have — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past three years — known their small specific accumulating *fifties* by the small specific accumulating *roll* and by the small specific accumulating *daily orders*. The lad has — by the small specific reading at the past seven days — known his small specific accumulating fifty by the small specific accumulating *one piece of personal mark* of each."
He paused once more.
"That is — by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the small specific accumulating *real* shape of a small specific accumulating *zhang* at the small specific accumulating fifty's accumulating reading."
He looked at Heizi.
"Brother. By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — keep doing it."
Heizi nodded.
"Yes, brother."
He kept doing it.
Through the next two months — the sixth and seventh moons of the tenth year — Heizi laid the small specific accumulating *one piece of personal mark* of each of the fifty into the small specific accumulating *knowing* of his accumulating *staff-officer's daily round*. He laid one hand once on each man's shoulder at the small specific accumulating morning fire-lighting and at the small specific accumulating dusk fire-banking, by the small specific accumulating round that took perhaps a quarter hour of the morning and a quarter hour of the dusk. He listened. He filed each new piece of accumulating personal mark. He laid the small specific accumulating *staff-officer's accounting* of the small specific accumulating *outgoing* for those of the fifty who had — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past two months — small specific accumulating cash to send to small specific accumulating households at certain small specific accumulating villages.
By the dusk of the first day of the eighth moon of the tenth year — three months at the *staff-officer's* command — the fifty had, by the small specific accumulating reading at certain small specific small fires, taken to *Heizi-zhang* at the small specific accumulating shape of a small specific accumulating *real* leader.
The fifty's small specific accumulating engagement-readiness, by the small specific accumulating reading at the noon's accumulating *moment*-training, was — by the small specific reading at this dusk — at the small specific accumulating *six-of-eight* against the small specific accumulating Sui-veteran-shape.
The fifty was — by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — ready.
By the dusk of the seventh day of the eighth moon of the tenth year, Bing Yuanzhen at the small specific accumulating evening fire of the southern command's accumulating *officer's-tent* said to Heizi at the small specific accumulating round of the day's reports: *brother. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months — the small specific accumulating *fifty* is ready. By the small specific accumulating reading at the next month — there will be an engagement.*
"Yes, brother."
"By the small specific accumulating reading at the past two months' accumulating peddler-saying — Wang Shichong has, at the past four months at his accumulating new lower-country position east of Yangzhuang, laid in a small specific accumulating *real* counter-rebellion at his accumulating new garrison. He has — by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — perhaps eight hundred Sui troops at the small specific accumulating new garrison. He has — by the small specific accumulating reading — laid in a small specific accumulating *real* discipline of the small specific accumulating *Sui-veteran-shape* the brothers have been training against."
He paused.
"By the small specific accumulating reading at the past two weeks — Wang Shichong has, by the small specific accumulating reading of a small specific Wagang scout's small specific accumulating return last week, decided at his accumulating new garrison to march south at the small specific accumulating *small accumulating expedition* of perhaps two hundred and fifty men against the small specific accumulating southern command. The expedition has — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past week — left the small specific accumulating new garrison at the eighth day of the seventh moon. By the small specific accumulating reading at the small specific accumulating walking pace — they will be at the small specific accumulating reading of the southern command's accumulating *outer arc's* small specific accumulating engagement perhaps in twenty days."
He paused.
"By the small specific accumulating reading at the past two weeks — Bing Yuanzhen has, at the southern command's accumulating *officer's-tent*, laid the small specific accumulating *defensive engagement plan*. The plan is — by the small specific reading I am giving — the small specific accumulating *taking* of Wang Shichong's accumulating expedition at the small specific accumulating *outer arc's narrow place* — perhaps twenty *li* southwest of the southern command, where the small specific accumulating *natural narrowing* of the small specific accumulating *eastern fold* will, by the small specific accumulating reading at the lame brother's small specific accumulating careful eye-station of the past two weeks, force the small specific accumulating expedition into the small specific accumulating *bottlenecking* of the small narrow place."
He looked at Heizi.
"Brother. By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the small specific accumulating *fifty* will, at the small specific accumulating engagement, be at the small specific accumulating *flank* of the small specific accumulating *outer arc's narrow place*. The small specific *fifty* will, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, take the small specific accumulating *first-and-second clusters* of Wang Shichong's expedition at the small specific accumulating bottlenecking. The lad will, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, be at the small specific accumulating *first command* engagement of his accumulating life."
Heizi nodded.
He filed it.
He said in the small low voice: *yes, brother.*
That night Heizi at his watch sat at the small banked fire of the *staff-officer's tent*.
He listened.
The shape of the silence on this watch was — by the small specific reading at this evening — the shape of a small specific *staff-officer* whose accumulating *fifty* would, in twenty days, take the small specific accumulating *first command* engagement at a small specific narrow place of an eastern fold against Wang Shichong's accumulating expedition of two hundred and fifty Sui veterans.
He filed it.
In the small lighter catalog of moments, beside the small specific dawn of the *fifty's* accumulating accepting, he set: *the small specific dusk of the seventh day of the eighth moon of the tenth year, when the fifty's accumulating *first command* engagement was named.*
The lighter catalog stood at perhaps fifty-eight items.
The dark catalog stood at six named names plus the small specific accumulating *unnamed accumulating others*.
He sat his watch through.
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