The autumn of the eleventh year went by, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months at the cold-spring camp, at the small specific accumulating shape of a holding unit's careful patience.
The *forty* — by the small specific accumulating reading at Heizi's accumulating *one-mark-knowing* of the past three months at the camp — held. They did the small specific accumulating shape of a small accumulating *upper-hills patrol* of the camp's accumulating perimeter at every dawn and at every dusk. They did the small specific accumulating *moment*-training at the small accumulating *forty's clear ground* at every noon. They did the small specific accumulating *food-gathering* of the upper-hills accumulating shape — by the small specific accumulating reading of the lame brother's accumulating eye on the upper-hills' accumulating game — at the small accumulating *snare-line* of perhaps forty snares the boy An Ashi had laid by the small specific accumulating reading at the past two months' careful arrangement. They did the small specific accumulating *iron work* at the small specific accumulating new forge Wang Er had — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past month — laid at the camp's accumulating eastern edge, with the small specific accumulating *bog-iron* the smith's son had taught two of the *forty*'s small accumulating veterans (a man called Liu Erlang and a man called Cao Hu) to gather at the small specific accumulating bog-deposit at the lower edge of the long low ridge, two *li* east of the cold spring, that Wang Er had — by the small specific accumulating reading at his old man's accumulating teaching — recognized at the past month's accumulating walk through the country.
By the small specific accumulating reading at the dusk of the first day of the eleventh moon of the eleventh year, the cold-spring camp had — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months — become a small accumulating *real* upper-hills sub-base.
By the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months' accumulating peddler-saying — Li Mi's accumulating *Yongqiu campaign* had, at the past two months, taken Yongqiu, retaken it after a small accumulating Sui counter-attack, and held it by the small specific reading at the past month. The Wagang Rebellion was — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months — at the small accumulating *consolidating* shape of an accumulating *real* military force.
Li Mi had — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past two months' peddler-saying — returned to the new headquarters at Wagang-zhai at the past second moon's accumulating end. He had — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past two months — sent a second runner with a second letter to the cold-spring camp.
The second letter had come up at the seventh day of the tenth moon of the eleventh year.
It said:
*Heizi-zhang. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past two months — Li Mi has returned to the new headquarters from the Yongqiu campaign. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past sentry-report of the lad's small specific accumulating *not-yet* at Liyang — Li Mi understands. The small accumulating *not-yet* is, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, at the small accumulating *correct* shape. The small accumulating *welcome* at the new headquarters holds. The lad will, by the small specific reading I am giving, come at the lad's accumulating time. The Wagang's accumulating *real* shape will, by the small specific reading I am giving, be at the small accumulating *consolidating* through the next year. There is — by the small specific reading I am giving — no small accumulating *now*. The lad has, by the small specific reading I am giving, the small accumulating *patience* of the new headquarters at the small specific accumulating *until*. — Li Mi.*
Heizi had read it.
He had folded it.
He had laid it at the *staff-officer's tent's* small wooden bench beside the small accumulating *first* Li Mi letter and Lao Wen's accumulating *first* letter and the small accumulating *runners' accumulating dispatches* of the past two months.
He had not — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past month — sent a small accumulating reply.
The small accumulating *not-yet* held without saying.
By the small specific accumulating reading at the dusk of the first day of the eleventh moon, Heizi sat at the small banked fire of the *staff-officer's tent* with the brothers at the small accumulating evening's accumulating gathering.
He said in the small low voice: *brothers. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months — the cold-spring camp is, at this dusk, at the small accumulating *real* sub-base shape. The *forty* is, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, at the small accumulating *seven-of-eight* against the Sui-veteran-shape, with the small accumulating *side-flank-against-eight-thousand* and the small accumulating *withdrawing-and-holding* shapes laid in.*
He paused.
"By the small specific accumulating reading at this dusk — the lad has, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months, also at the small accumulating *common-people eye* visited four small accumulating villages of the upper-hills lower contour. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months' visits — the upper-hills lower contour villages are, at this dusk, at the small accumulating *empty* shape: the Sui has not come up; the Wagang has not come up; the bandits have, by the small specific accumulating reading, gone east at the small accumulating *coalescence into the rebellion*. The villages are — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months — at the small accumulating *small specific quiet* shape they had at my own accumulating tenth year on the road. The country, in this small accumulating quadrant of the upper-hills' lower contour, has — by the small specific reading I am giving at this dusk — been left alone."
He paused once more.
"By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the small accumulating *forty*, at this dusk, is — by the small specific reading I am giving — at the small accumulating *real* shape of an upper-hills sub-base. We are not, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, at the small accumulating Wagang's main-force engagements. We are at the small specific accumulating *holding the upper-hills lower contour*. We are — by the small specific reading I am giving — perhaps the small accumulating *one* unit of the small accumulating Wagang Rebellion that is, at this dusk, at the small accumulating *not-engaging* the small accumulating Sui."
He paused.
"By the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months — that is, by the small specific reading I am giving, the small accumulating *useful* shape we have laid."
He looked at the brothers.
Lu Jingzhi at the small accumulating *political-voice* position said in the small low voice: *yes, big brother. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months — the small accumulating *forty* at the cold-spring camp is at the small accumulating *holding-the-quadrant* shape an old militia officer's accumulating reading would, by the small specific reading I am giving, recognize as the small specific accumulating *small accumulating *real* useful shape*.*
He paused.
"By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the small accumulating *holding-the-quadrant* shape will, by the small specific reading I am giving, hold for as long as the lad — by the small specific accumulating reading at his small accumulating *staff-officer's accumulating decision* — keeps it from the small accumulating *commitment* to either Li Mi's accumulating new headquarters' main-force-engagement at the east or to the small accumulating *re-recruitment* at the southern command's accumulating broken front."
Heizi nodded.
"Yes, brother."
He filed it.
That winter — the eleventh winter of the brothers on the road, the third winter of Heizi's twenty-second year, the winter of the small specific accumulating *cold-spring camp's accumulating *real* sub-base* — held.
By the small specific accumulating reading at the dusk of the first day of the third moon of the twelfth year, a small accumulating runner came up the small accumulating *cold-spring path*.
It was — by the small specific accumulating reading at the runner's small accumulating arrival — not a Wagang runner. It was a peddler, perhaps fifty, with the small accumulating *peddler's accumulating thin* of a man who had been on the road of the past winter at the small accumulating reduced traffic. He came up at the dusk. He stopped at the small accumulating gate-sentry of the cold-spring camp. He said in the small low voice: *brothers. I have a small accumulating saying for the lad called Heizi-zhang.*
The gate-sentry brought him to the *staff-officer's tent*.
The peddler sat at the small banked fire.
He drank a small portion of warmed water.
He said in the small low voice: *Heizi-zhang. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past two months — I have, by the small specific accumulating reading at my small accumulating *peddler-route* of the past three years, been at the small accumulating *upper-hills* once a season. By the small specific reading at the past month — I came up to the master's hut at the grove of twelve pines at the past sixteenth day of the second moon. The master is well. The master sends a small accumulating saying.*
He took out, from his accumulating coat's inner pocket, a small folded piece of paper.
He laid it on the small wooden bench.
He said: *the master's saying. The master said: *to the lad. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months — there is at the upper-hills, in the small accumulating *northern fold* perhaps four days' walk further northwest of my hut, a small accumulating refugee column. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past three days' accumulating saying of a small accumulating peddler — perhaps a hundred and twenty refugees. By the small specific accumulating reading at the small accumulating saying — they have come up from the small accumulating lower country of southern Henan at the past three weeks, fleeing the Yang Yichen-shape's accumulating consolidation. They are, by the small specific accumulating reading at the small accumulating saying — at the small accumulating *running out* shape of a small accumulating refugee column at the past two weeks. By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — they will not survive the small accumulating *return* to the lower country. They will not survive the small accumulating *moving further* into the upper-hills. They are, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, at the small accumulating *waiting* shape of a column at the small accumulating *small specific accumulating edge*.*
The peddler paused.
"The master said, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past three days: *the lad has, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past year, the *forty* and the small specific accumulating *real* sub-base shape at the cold-spring camp. The *forty* has — by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the small specific accumulating *capacity* to take the column. The cold-spring camp has — by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the small accumulating *food* of the past summer's accumulating gathering and the past autumn's accumulating *bog-iron-trading* with two small accumulating peddlers' accumulating winter-grain delivery. The lad has — by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the small accumulating *responsibility* of the small accumulating *not-leaving-the-column-at-the-edge*.*"
He paused.
"The master said, finally: *the lad will decide.*"
He laid the small folded paper at the small wooden bench.
Heizi took it.
He read it.
It was the master's own writing, in the small specific accumulating careful even strokes. It said the same thing the peddler had said, in the small specific accumulating *master's accumulating direct* shape.
It ended with: *the lad will decide.*
Heizi looked at the brothers.
The brothers were quiet.
He said in the small low voice: *brothers. The master has called.*
He paused.
"By the small specific reading I am giving — the *forty* will, at the dawn of tomorrow, move four days northwest. We will, by the small specific reading I am giving, take the small accumulating refugee column at the small accumulating *small specific edge*."
He paused.
"The *forty* will, by the small specific reading I am giving, lay the small specific accumulating *cold-spring camp's accumulating winter-grain* — perhaps two months of the *forty's* accumulating supply — at the column's accumulating immediate need. We will, by the small specific reading I am giving, then take the column south to a small accumulating *refugee-receiving Wagang sub-camp* the boy An Ashi will, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past four months' political-eye work, identify at the past peddler's accumulating saying."
He paused once more.
"The cold-spring camp will, by the small specific reading I am giving, run on the small accumulating *short-portion* of the next two months. The *forty* will, by the small specific reading I am giving, bear the small accumulating reduction. We will, by the small specific reading I am giving, do the small accumulating work."
The brothers nodded.
Lu Jingzhi at the small accumulating *political-voice* position said: *yes, big brother. By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the master's accumulating *the lad will decide* is, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past five years' political philosophy, the small accumulating *correct* shape of the master's accumulating teaching. The decision is the lad's. The lad has decided.*
Heizi nodded.
He filed it.
He looked at the peddler.
He said in the small low voice: *brother. Stay tonight. Eat. We will, at the dawn, move with the *forty* northwest. By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the brother will, by the small specific accumulating reading at the next four days, be the small accumulating *guide* for the small specific accumulating *finding* of the column.*
The peddler nodded.
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 *forty* would, at the dawn of tomorrow, move four days northwest at the small accumulating master's accumulating call to take a small accumulating refugee column at the small accumulating *edge*.
He filed it.
In the small lighter catalog of moments, beside the small specific dusk of the master's first letter, he set: *the small specific dusk of the first day of the third moon of the twelfth year, when the master's accumulating *the lad will decide* came up at the peddler's accumulating saying.*
The lighter catalog stood at perhaps seventy-three items.
The dark catalog stood at twenty named names plus the *unnamed thousand*.
He sat his watch through.
In the morning, the *forty* moved.
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