90: Letters from the Hut

The first letter from Lao Wen came up in the seventh week of the eleventh moon of the tenth year.

It came up by the small specific accumulating arrangement of a small accumulating peddler who had — by the small specific accumulating reading at his small specific accumulating saying at the *staff-officer's tent's* small banked fire of the dusk of the seventh day — been at Lao Wen's hut at the past spring and had — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past peddler's accumulating return-route — laid in the small specific accumulating arrangement of carrying small accumulating letters from the upper hills to the lower country at certain small specific accumulating moments of his accumulating rounds.

The letter was perhaps two hundred characters in Lao Wen's small specific accumulating careful even strokes.

It said:

*Lad. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past spring's accumulating peddler's saying of the small accumulating *narrow place* at the seventh moon of the past year — the lad has been at the rebellion. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past spring's saying of Bing Yuanzhen's small accumulating column and the small accumulating *moving east* — the lad has been at the southern command. By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving at this writing — the lad has, by the small accumulating reading at the small accumulating *zhang* the peddler said the small accumulating fifty calls the lad, become — at twenty-one — a small accumulating staff-officer of fifty. By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the lad has, by the small accumulating reading at the past year, taken his accumulating first three names of the *fifty's accumulating dark catalog*. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past year — the master is glad the lad has, at the small accumulating *one-mark-knowing*, written the small accumulating three letters to the small accumulating three accumulating households.*

*The hut at the grove holds. The master is well. The country has, at the past spring and the past summer and the past autumn, brought no small specific accumulating Sui patrols up the path. The master walks the small clear ground at every noon at the small specific accumulating *moment*-teaching of his own old hands at the small specific accumulating self-practice. The master's old hip is well. The master's accumulating *huang lian* salve is at the small accumulating self-application of the past year, and the small specific accumulating *cracking* of the master's own old foot is — by the small specific reading at the past year — at the same small accumulating *closing* shape the lame brother's foot has been at.*

*Lad. By the small specific reading at this writing — there is one small specific accumulating saying I would lay at the lad. The peddler reports, at the past spring's accumulating road, that the small accumulating *Sui main court* has — at the past two months — sent a new accumulating commander south to the lower country of southern Henan and southern Hebei. The new commander is a man called Yang Yichen. By the small accumulating reading I am giving — Yang Yichen is, by the small specific accumulating saying I have at my own accumulating reading of the *Sui-court ledger* of the past forty years, the small specific accumulating most-experienced Sui-veteran-officer at the accumulating court. He has been at small specific accumulating campaigns at the small accumulating Tujue frontier for fifteen years. He has — by the small accumulating saying — perhaps eight thousand Sui troops at his accumulating new southern command. He will, by the small specific reading at this writing, be at the small accumulating *real* counter-rebellion at the small accumulating southern lower-country in perhaps the small accumulating spring of the next year.*

*Yang Yichen is — by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — Wang Shichong's small specific accumulating *new master*. The small specific accumulating Wang Shichong who has been the lad's accumulating opponent at the past year will, by the small specific accumulating reading at the next year, be at the small accumulating *under* of Yang Yichen's small accumulating eight-thousand-troop command. The small specific accumulating engagements of the next year will be — by the small specific reading I am giving — at the small accumulating eight-thousand-Sui-troop scale, not the two-hundred-and-fifty scale.*

*Lad. The small accumulating *fifty* will, by the small specific reading I am giving at this writing, be at the small accumulating *side-flank* of an accumulating real Wagang main-force engagement at the spring of the next year. The lad will, by the small specific reading I am giving, be at the small accumulating *first real engagement* of the lad's life — and the engagement will, by the small accumulating reading at the past forty years' Sui-court reading, be at the small accumulating Yang Yichen-shape of an accumulating Sui-veteran-officer at his accumulating eight-thousand-troop campaign-shape. The small accumulating *Wagang* will, by the small specific reading I am giving — perhaps lose at the small accumulating spring's first engagement.*

*The small specific accumulating *fifty*, however, will not — by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — lose. The small accumulating *fifty* will, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past year's accumulating *moment*-teaching and the small accumulating *one-mark-knowing*, hold at the small accumulating side-flank against the small specific accumulating Yang Yichen-shape's accumulating outer wing. The lad will, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, take perhaps the small accumulating cost-of-ten of the *fifty*. The lad will, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, hold.*

*That is — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past forty years' Sui-court reading — what I am asking the lad to lay in his accumulating preparation for the next six months.*

*The hut holds. The master holds. The seven of you, by the small specific accumulating reading at this writing — six of you and the lad — hold. — Lao Wen.*

Heizi read the letter slowly.

He read it twice.

He folded it. He laid it at the *staff-officer's tent's* small wooden bench.

He looked at the brothers.

He said in the small low voice: *brothers. Yang Yichen is the next opponent.*

The brothers gathered at the small banked fire.

An Ashi at the small accumulating *political-eye* position said in the small low voice: *big brother. Yang Yichen at fifteen years at the Tujue frontier — by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — is the small accumulating *real* veteran-officer the rebellion has not, by the small accumulating reading at the past four years, faced. The Wagang's accumulating engagements at the past four years have been against the small specific accumulating Sui sub-officers at the small accumulating shape of Wang Shichong's level — at the small accumulating real but limited campaigns of perhaps a thousand troops. The Yang Yichen-shape will, by the small specific accumulating reading at his accumulating Tujue years, lay in a small specific accumulating *whole-front* shape of perhaps eight thousand troops at one accumulating campaign.*

He paused.

"By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the small accumulating *Wagang* will, at the small accumulating spring's first engagement, perhaps lose."

Heizi nodded.

He filed it.

He said in the small low voice: *brothers. The master has — by the small specific reading at the letter — given us six months to prepare. We will, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, prepare. The small accumulating *fifty* will, by the small accumulating reading at the next six months, lay in the small specific accumulating *side-flank against eight-thousand* training. We will not, by the small accumulating reading I am giving, prevent the Wagang's accumulating loss at the small accumulating first engagement. We will, by the small accumulating reading at the next six months, hold the *fifty* through it.*

The brothers nodded.

Wang Er — the wound at the right shoulder by now healed — said in the small low voice: *yes, big brother. The small accumulating cost-of-ten the master has named is — by the small accumulating honest measure — what we will pay.*

Heizi nodded.

He filed it.

That winter, the small accumulating *fifty* — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past two years' accumulating training and the past year's accumulating engagements — laid in the small specific accumulating *side-flank-against-eight-thousand* training. They drilled at the small specific accumulating *not-engaging-the-front-of-the-front* shape, at the small specific accumulating *taking-the-out-rider-and-the-supply-flanks* shape, at the small accumulating *withdrawal-through-the-bottlenecking* shape Lao Wen had drawn at the cloth map at the past five years.

By the small specific accumulating reading at the dusk of the first day of the second moon of the eleventh year, the small accumulating *fifty* — at the small specific accumulating training of the past four months — was at the small accumulating *seven-of-eight* against the small accumulating Sui-veteran-shape and at the small accumulating *holding-shape* against the small accumulating *eight-thousand-troop wing-attack*.

Heizi wrote, at the dusk of the first day of the second moon of the eleventh year, the small specific accumulating reply to Lao Wen.

The reply was perhaps a hundred and fifty characters.

It said:

*Master. By the small specific reading at the dusk of the first day of the second moon — the lad and the brothers have, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past four months' winter training, laid in the *side-flank-against-eight-thousand* shape. By the small specific reading I am giving — the *fifty* is at the small accumulating *seven-of-eight* against the Sui-veteran-shape and at the small accumulating *holding-shape* against the wing-attack. The lad has, by the small specific reading I am giving, prepared the small accumulating cost-of-ten in his head as the small specific accumulating *coming* of the spring. The lad will, by the small specific accumulating reading at the spring, hold the small accumulating side-flank. The hut, by the small accumulating reading at the past peddler's saying, holds. The lad sends his small specific accumulating respect. — Heizi-zhang.*

He folded the letter.

He laid it at the runner-tent for the small accumulating *outgoing*.

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* who had — at the small specific reading of the past five months' letters and accumulating training — laid in the small accumulating *coming* of the spring's accumulating Yang Yichen-shape engagement.

He filed it.

In the small lighter catalog of moments, beside the small specific dusk of Lao Wen's first letter coming up, he set: *the small specific dusk of the first day of the second moon of the eleventh year, when the lad's accumulating reply to the master was laid at the runner-tent.*

The lighter catalog stood at perhaps sixty-five items.

The dark catalog of the lad's combined personal-and-fifty stood at fourteen named names plus the small specific accumulating *unnamed accumulating others*.

He sat his watch through.

The spring's accumulating engagement was, by the small specific reading at this dusk, perhaps three months ahead.

The work, by the small unhurried way of an accumulating rebellion, went on.