at nine o'clock, chen and 'buddha' zhao started outfor the commander-in-chief's yamen. using lightnesskung fu, they soon found themselves near the wall ofthe yamen. they spotted two figures patrolling on arooftop close by and crouched down to watch for awhile. zhao waited for them both to turn their backs,then sent a pellet shooting off towards a tree a fewdozen yards away. hearing a noise in the branches, theguards quickly went over to investigate, giving chenand zhao an opportunity to slip silently over the wallinto the yamen.

they hid in the shadows and looked out over theyamen's main courtyard. to their surprise, they foundit brightly lit with torches and several hundredtroops standing guard. another strange thing was thatso many soldiers could be so quiet. when they moved,they walked lightly on tip-toe, and the only soundsthat could be heard were the call of a cicada and anoccasional crackle from the burning torches.

chen could see there was no way of getting in. hegestured towards zhao and the two retreated, avoidingthe rooftop guards. they stopped behind a wall todiscuss what to do.

"we don't want to alert them," chen whispered. "we'llhave to go back and think of some other plan."just then, a side gate of the yamen creaked open andan officer emerged followed by four soldiers. the fivemarched down the street a few hundred yards and thenturned back, obviously on patrol.

"get them," chen whispered. zhao slipped out of theshadows and threw three darts, and three of thesoldiers immediately dropped to the ground. chenfollowed with two of his chess pieces, hitting theofficer and the remaining soldier. they quicklydragged the five into the shadows, stripped theuniforms from two of the men and put them onthemselves.

they waited once more for the rooftop guards to turnaway, then jumped over the yamen wall and strodenonchalently into the torch-lit courtyard. they passedthrough into an inner courtyard which was beingpatrolled exclusively by senior military officials,commanders and generals. waiting for the right moment,they leapt up under the eaves of one of the buildings,then hung onto the rafters not daring to breathe. onceit was clear they had not been discovered. chen hookedhis legs over a beam and hung down over a window. hemoistened the window paper and looked inside, as zhaokept guard beside him.

chen found himself looking in at a large hall. five orsix men wearing the gowns of high officials stood inthe centre facing another man who was seated with hisback to chen. another official walked in and kowtowednine times towards the seated man.

chen was surprised. "that is the ceremonial form usedwhen entering the presence of the emperor," hethought. "could it be qian long himself is inhangzhou?""zhejiang province civil administrator yin to see yourhighness the emperor," the officer said.

so it was the emperor, chen thought. no wondersecurity was so tight.

"i have sent troops to quell the muslim regions," theemperor said. "i hear you object to this idea."chen frowned: he found the emperor's voice strangelyfamiliar.

"i deserve to die, i would not dare," yin said,continuing to kowtow.

"i asked zhejiang province to supply six thousand tonsof grain to meet the needs of the army. why did youdisobey my orders?""i truly would not dare, your highness," yin said.

"but the harvest in zhejiang this year has been verypoor. the common people are in great hardship, and itis temporarily impossible to supply such an amount.""so the common people are in great hardship, are they?

the army is in urgent need of food supplies. shall itell them to starve out there?""i wouldn't dare to say," yin quavered, continuing tokowtow.

"no, i want you to tell me," replied the emperor.

"your highness's ability to spread enlightenment andcivilisation is far-reaching. the muslim barbariansare in fact not worth such a long trek by yourhighness's armies. as the ancients said: 'soldiers areinstruments of violence which a man of virtue shoulduse only as a last resort.' your highness could cancelthe campaign, and the whole world would be thankfulfor your benevolence.""the people are discontented because i have decided towage this campaign, is that correct?" qian longreplied coldly.

yin kowtowed even more energetically. his forehead wasby now covered in blood.

qian long laughed shortly. "you have a hard skull," hesaid. "if you hadn't, you wouldn't dare to contradictme."he turned round and chen started violently: theemperor was the master dongfang he had met earlierthat day.

"get out!" he heard qian long shout. "and leave yourcap here!" yin kowtowed a few more times and thenretired.

"there must certainly be some irregularities in yin'saffairs," qian long said to the remaining officials.

"i want the commander-in-chief to conduct a thoroughinvestigation and inform me of the results. he mustnot be protected for personal reasons. his crimes mustbe exposed." the officials assented in chorus.

"now leave me. and arrange for six thousand tons ofgrain to be collected and dispatched immediately." theofficials kowtowed and retired.

"tell kang to come," the emperor added, and anattendant left and returned a moment later with chen'slook-alike. he stood close to qian long with an air offamiliarity very different from the cringing manner ofthe officials.

"call for li keshou," qian long ordered, and amilitary officer quickly appeared, kowtowing his wayinto the emperor's presence.

"li keshou, commander-in-chief of zhejiang province,pays his respect to your highness," he said.

"how is that red flower society bandit chief, wentailai?" asked qian long.

"he was arrested after a savage battle and he is veryseriously wounded," li replied. "i have assigneddoctors to treat him. we will have to wait until hismind is clear before we can question him.""you must be careful," qian long said.

"your servant would not dare to be the slightest bitneglectful," replied li.

"go now," said the emperor, and li retired.

"let's follow him," chen whispered, but as theydropped quietly to the ground, someone inside the hallshouted: "intruders!"chen and zhao ran into the outer courtyard and mingledwith the troops. bamboo clappers sounded loudly andthe old man chen had seen earlier that day with theemperor began directing a search.

chen and zhao walked slowly towards the gate.

"who are you?" the old man shouted at them, andgrabbed for zhao. zhao deflected his hand, and theymade a run for it with the old man chasing. as theyreached the gate, the old man lunged at zhao. chenripped off the uniform he was wearing and flung itover the old man's head, then they raced out of theyamen gate. the old man cast the uniform off to oneside and chased after them. but the slight delay hadmade all the difference.

two or three thousand troops swarmed out behind theold man like bees from a hive.

"all of you get back!" he shouted. "protecting theemperor is more important! you five, come with me." heran off down the street with the five guards,following the two black shapes flying over therooftops ahead.

the old man gradually closed the distance betweenhimself and the intruders. suddenly, the two figuresleapt down and stood stock-still in the middle of thestreet. the old man lunged at chen.

"i am your master's good friend." chen laughed, notbothering to retreat or defend himself. "you are anaudacious old fellow!"the old man looked at his face under the moonlight andstarted in surprise.

"so it's you," he said, retracting his hand, "comealong with me.""do you dare to follow me?" chen asked with a smile.

the old man hesitated, and as the five guards ran upfrom behind, chen and zhao raced off westwards towardsthe west lake.

"after them!" shouted the old man. the guards reachedthe lake in time to see chen and zhao jump into a boatand push off from the shore. the boatman punted thecraft out several yards from the bank.

"my friends," the old man shouted. "please tell me whoyou are before you go.""i am zhao banshan from wenzhou," zhao roared. "you, itake it, are a member of the songyang martial artsschool?""ah, so you are the one they call the thousand armbuddha?""that's just a nickname. i don't really deserve it.

and your name, sir?""my surname is bai, my name zhen."zhao and chen gasped in surprise. bai zhen was afamous kung fu master, but he had not been seen orheard of for years. obviously, he had become thepersonal bodyguard of the emperor.

"so it's you, master bai. no wonder your kung fu is sosuperb," said zhao.

"i hear you are a leading member of the red flowersociety, master zhao. who is your companion?"suddenly, he realized the answer without having to betold. "oh, of course, it must be master chen, thegreat helmsman of the society, is that right?"chen opened his fan. "the moon is clear and the windis fresh," he said. "why not come and drink a cup ofwine with us, master bai?""you have intruded into the commander-in-chief'syamen, and disturbed the official household. you mustaccompany me to see my master. he is well-disposedtowards you, and would not do you any harm.""go back and ask your master to come and have a chatwith me," chen replied. "we can have a drink togetherif he wishes. i will wait for him here."bai had seen the concern with which the emperor hadtreated chen earlier, and he dared not offend chen.

but after such an intrusion into the quarters of theemperor, he was also loath to return without them.

there were, however, no other boats nearby, and withno way of chasing after them across the lake, he wasforced to return to report to qian long.

"it would be quite nice to go to the lake and enjoythe moonlight," qian long said after a pause. "go andtell him i will come immediately.""these are dangerous bandits," replied bai. "in myhumble opinion, you should not risk such danger.""go," said qian long.

bai did not dare to press the matter further, and rodeswiftly back to the lake. 'crocodile' jiang wassitting at the stern of a boat with his arms round hisknees, waiting for him.

"tell your master that my master will be here soon,"bai shouted.

"heaven knows what the emperor sees in this fellow,"he thought as he hurried back to resume his guard ofthe emperor's person.

qian long was in high spirits, and talked and laughedas commander li keshou waited on him. he had changedinto an ordinary gown, while his bodyguards had alsoput on civilian clothes. once at the lakeside, he gavehis orders.

"he probably already knows who i am, but i wanteveryone still to pretend to be common people."imperial guard units had been hidden all around thelake with troops hand-picked by commander li behindthem. beyond the flickering lantern light, they sawfive boats gliding towards them across the water.

'leopard' wei stood on the bow of the middle boat.

"i have been sent by master lu to invite masterdongfang onto the lake to enjoy the moon," heannounced, and jumped onto the bank and bowed beforeqian long.

qian long nodded slightly. "excellent," he said, andstepped onto the boat. commander li, bai and thirty orforty bodyguards boarded the boats with him. more thana dozen of the bodyguards were expert swimmers, andbai ordered them to keep their wits about them.

they started out across the lake, which was afairyland of lights. pleasure boats were everywhere,bedecked with lanterns that filled the darkness likestars in the night sky and the sound of music floatedacross towards them. a small sampan darted into viewthen turned and led the boats to a flotilla of othercraft. despite the huge number of troops they hadstationed around the shore, bai and the otherbodyguards were uneasy at the sight of such a powerfulforce, and all covertly felt for the weapons they hadhidden around their persons.

"so you decided to come, master dongfang," chen calledfrom a nearby boat. "please come aboard!"the two boats drew alongside each and qian long,commander li, bai, and several other bodyguards jumpedacross. bai and the others relaxed as they saw thatchen and his attendant, xin yan, were the only otherpeople on the boat. the cabin was spacious, withexquisite murals on the walls. the table in the centrewas set with wine cups, bowls and chopsticks and wascovered with dishes of fruit, wine and all manner ofdelicacies.

chen and his guest shook hands and smiled broadly,then sat down facing each other. commander li, bai andthe others stood behind qian long.

chen smiled briefly at bai and noticed ahandsome-faced youth standing behind commander li whomhe recognised as lu feiqing's pupil. surprised, hewondered what the youth was doing accompanying courtofficials.

xin yan poured some wine, and chen, afraid that qianlong would be suspicious, drained his own cup first,then began eating. qian long picked at a few of thedishes that chen had already tried, then put down hischopsticks. he heard a flute on a neighbouring boatplaying the tune 'welcome the honoured guest.'

"you are truly a man of culture," he said to chen. "itis amazing that you managed to arrange things so wellat such short notice."chen dismissed the praise. "one cannot drink winewithout music," he said. "i understand beautiful jadehas the best voice in all zhejiang province. shall iask her to sing for us?"qian long clapped his hands in approval. "who is thisbeautiful jade?" he asked, turning to commander li.

"she is one of hangzhou's most famous courtezans," hereplied. "i have heard that she is very haughty bynature and if it does not please her, she won't evenshow herself let alone sing, no matter how much she isoffered.""have you ever seen her?" qian long asked.

"i...no i haven't," li replied, extremely embarrassed.

'leopard' wei escorted beautiful jade out. qian longlooked admiringly at the perfect whiteness of her skinand her petite figure, but decided her face was notparticularly attractive. her eyes, however, were fullof life, and her glance around the cabin contained anintimate greeting for every person there.

chen stretched out his hand towards qian long. "thisis master dongfang," he said. beautiful jade greetedhim, then sat down next to chen and cuddled up to him.

"i hear you sing very well," chen said. "i wonder ifyou would allow us the pleasure of enjoying yourtalent?""if you want to hear me sing, master lu, i will singfor three days and three nights continuously. but i amafraid you would tire of me." an attendant handed hera pipa, and with a light strum, she began to sing:

"outside the window all is quietyou kneel before the bed eager for some kissingi scold you, call you heartless, and turn away,but despite my words i am still half willing."chen applauded enthusiastically. qian long, hearingher smooth, clear voice, felt a warm feeling rising inhis chest. beautiful jade smiled, then strummed thepipa and turned to qian long:

"i want to beat you,don't think i'm joking," she sang.

"i clench my teeththis time i really willbut you won't fear meif i hit you softly,and i cannot bearto hit you hard.

oh, my loveri won't hit you after all."the emperor was completely carried away by the song.

"if you want to hit me, then hit me," he said.

qian long, born and raised in the depths of theimperial palace had seen many girl singers, but all ofthem had been dignified and monotonous, nothing likethis southern chinese courtesan. he was entranced byher eyes and her seductiveness, and the song, theperfumed lake, the moon's reflection, all conspired tomake the scene dreamlike, so that gradually he forgotthat he was with renowned bandits.

beautiful jade poured some wine for chen and qian longand the two drank three cups in succession whilebeautiful jade drank one to keep them company. qianlong took a jade ring off his finger and gave it toher.

"sing another song," he said. beautiful jade lookeddown and giggled, revealing two little dimples. qianlong's heart melted.

"all right," she said. she batted her eyelids at himthen struck up a tune on the pipa. this time, therhythm was fast and light with a complex melody, andqian long shouted out his approval.

she sang of a poor man with ambitions who graduallyclimbs his way up, first obtaining clothes, then ahouse, a wife and concubines, and then power. finally,he begins to covet the throne of the emperor himself.

chen laughed heartily, but as the song progressed,qian long's expression became increasingly dour.

"could this girl know who i really am and be singingthis song to make fun of me?" he wondered.

beautiful jade finished the song and slowly put downher pipa.

"the song makes fun of poor men," she said with asmile. "both of you, master dongfang and master chen,are wealthy gentlemen with large mansions, lovelywives and beautiful concubines. you would not think ofsuch things."qian long laughed, and his eyes travelled over her,taking in her softness, her fun-loving spirit. hewondered how he should go about telling commander lito have her brought to the yamen, and how to make surethe affair remained secret.

"the emperor xuanzong had a great interest inbeautiful women," he suddenly heard chen say. "that initself is not important, but he should not have puthis weakness for women above the interests of thenation.""the xuanzong emperor was at first a wise ruler, buthe became muddle-headed in his later years. he was farinferior to his ancestor, emperor taizhong," qian longreplied.

"taizong was certainly a very capable ruler," saidchen.

the two men qian long most venerated in all the worldwere emperor wu of the han dynasty and emperor taizongof the tang dynasty. both had greatly expanded theempire, and their reputations had carried far beyondtheir borders. ever since he had ascended the throne,qian long had worked single-mindedly to emulate themand had sent armies out on long expeditions to themuslim border regions with the intention of carryingon their work.

"emperor taizong was wise and courageous," he said.

"the barbarians cringed in fear at the sound of hisname. he was proficient in both letters and war. suchtalent would be hard to equal.""i have read the emperor taizong's works," said chen.

"he makes some points which i feel are very true.""such as?""he said: 'the ruler can be compared to a boat, andthe common people to water. the water can support theboat or sink it."qian long was silent.

"sitting as we are in this boat, the metaphor couldnot be more apt," chen continued. "if we row smoothly,we will have a very stable ride. but if we row aboutfrenziedly, or if the water should rush by in a ragingtorrent, the boat will certainly capsize."his words contained not only the implication that thepeople could overthrow the emperor whenever theywished, but also the threat of throwing qian long intothe water there and then. never in his life had qianlong had such threatening words addressed to him. hisanger surged up and unable to control himself, hethrew his wine cup at the floor.

the cup flew downwards, but just as it was about tohit the deck, xin yan shot out and caught it. hepresented it to qian long on bended knee. "masterdongfang, you dropped your cup," he said.

the speed of his move startled qian long. commander litook the cup from xin yan and watched for some signfrom the emperor's eyes. but qian long composedhimself and laughed.

"brother lu, this little helper of yours is veryagile," he said, and turned to one of the guardsman.

"play with the little fellow," he said.

the guardsman, who was surnamed fan, bent down andstruck out at xin yan with his pair of large swords.

xin yan somersaulted over backwards and landed on thebow of the boat.

"let's play hide and seek," he said to fan with asmile. "if you catch me, we'll say i've lost and theni'll chase you."fan was furious at having missed his target andbounded after him, but the boy soared off through theair like a great bird and landed on a small sampannearby. the two chased each other across more than adozen boats before fan finally cornered xin yan at theend of a string of three boats. he thrust the sword inhis left hand at xin yan's chest, and xin yancountered by striking out with his fist at fan'sstomach. fan then leapt up in the air, aiming to fallon xin yan from above. but as he jumped, the boatman,'crocodile' jiang, twirled his oar and spun the boataround. fan shouted in fear as the boat disappearedfrom under him, and he fell heavily into the lake. xinyan clapped in delight.

two of qian long's bodyguards dived into the water tosave fan, who was splashing and clutching at the airin desperation. meanwhile, jiang placed his oar infront of fan, who grabbed it and held on tight. jiangthen swung the oar up, tossing fan over towards qianlong's boat, and shouted "catch!" a bodyguard ran tothe bow and caught him. another bodyguard, surnamedlong, stepped forward.

"i understand this little brother is also veryproficient with missiles," he said darkly as xin yanmoved back to chen's side. "let us spar for a while.""you and i are already firm friends," chen said toqian long. "we should not allow our servants todisturb the pleasant atmosphere with their bickering.

as this gentleman is an expert in the use of darts,let us ask him to display his talent on somethingother than my serving boy. what do you think?""fine, except we don't have a target," qian longreplied. xin yan leapt over onto the boat on which'iron pagoda' yang was sitting and whispered into hisear.

yang nodded, waved to zhang jin in the next sampan,and pointed to another boat nearby. "grab the end ofthat boat," he said, and took hold of the other endhimself. "up!" he shouted and the two lifted thelittle boat out of the water while their own boatssank lower. the others gasped at this awesome displayof strength.

"master, will this do as a target?" xin yan shouted.

"please come and draw a bulls-eye on it."chen raised his wine cup and drained it, then flung itat the boat. it sliced into the keel withoutshattering. the onlookers clapped and cheered. bai andthe other bodyguards frowned at the sight of suchphenomenal power: a man whose inner strength kung fuallowed him to drive a porcelain cup into a boat keelas if it was a steel dart was a formidable opponent.

"use the cup as the target," chen suggested,smiling.bodyguard long silently pulled five spikedballs from his bag and threw them one after the other.

they struck the target with a quick "rat-a-tat" andslivers of porcelain flew in all directions.

xin yan slipped out from behind the boat. "not bad!"he shouted.

long was suddenly swept with a wave of malice, and hethrew another five of the spiked balls at xin yan.

a shout of surprise went up from the others, andgreatly frightened, xin yan lunged to one side, butone of the spiked balls struck his left shoulder.

there was no pain, but the shoulder immediately wentnumb. the heroes edged their little boats forward, alleager to match themselves against long.

the other imperial bodyguards were ashamed that longshould use such a low trick against a boy in front ofthe emperor. but protecting his highness was ofoverriding importance, and they immediately pulled outtheir weapons. commander li gave a sharp whistle,signalling the troops on the shore to mobilise.

"brothers!" chen called. "master dongfang is myhonoured guest. we cannot show any impolitenesstowards him. move back, all of you."the heroes rowed back several yards. yang and zhangjin had already put the target boat back to the water,and luo bing was inspecting xin yan's wound.

'mastermind' xu also jumped over to see how he was.

"don't worry, it's not painful," xin yan said. "butit's very itchy."he moved his hand up to scratch the wound and xuquickly stopped him. he could see the spiked ball hadbeen dipped in a very powerful poison.

"let go of me," xin yan yelled. "it's too itchy tobear!" he struggled powerfully to break free.

"be patient for a moment," xu told xin yan, trying notto look as worried as he felt. he turned to luo bing.

"ask third brother to come over."another boat moved swiftly up alongside with the redflower society's hangzhou chief master ma standing onthe brow. he leapt over next to xu and whispered:

"master xu, the whole lake is surrounded by manchutroops including imperial guard units.""how many altogether?""seven or eight thousand not counting the reserveforces waiting further away.""go and call together all the brothers in hangzhou andsurrounding areas. tell them to gather near the lakeand await orders. also tell them to have a red flowerhidden on their persons." ma nodded.

"how many can you get together immediately?" xu asked.

"including the workers from my factories, about twothousand," he replied.

"two thousand of our brothers should be enough to dealwith fifteen thousand of them," said xu. "and what'smore, many of the troops in the chinese units aresociety members. go and make the arrangements." manodded and left.

'buddha' zhao's boat glided over. he looked at xinyan's wound and frowned deeply. he carefully pulledout the poisonous spiked ball, then took a largemedicine pill from his bag and placed it into the openwound. he looked up at xu.

"there's nothing i can do," he said, desolation in hisvoice. "the poison is extremely potent. no-one cansave him except the man responsible.""how long can he hold on?" xu asked, greatlyfrightened.

"at the most, six hours.""third brother, let's go and get that fellow over hereand force him to deliver the antidote."zhao leapt in three great bounds over to the boat inwhich chen and qian long were sitting, with each boundtouching down on the deck of a different boat.

"master lu," he said. "i would like to ask thisgentleman to acquaint me with some of his tricks."chen, who was furious at the wonding of xin yan,turned to qian long.

"this friend of mine is also quite good withprojectiles," he said. "it would be interesting to seethem matched against each other."the emperor was eager to see any spectacle, the moredangerous the better. "go on," he said to long. "butdon't lose." long bowed.

"that's the thousand-arm buddha," bai whispered. "becareful."long knew the name well, and shuddered at the thoughtof facing him. but he had never yet met his equal inthe field of projectiles. "this is just between youand me," he said to zhao.

"do you think we would trick you?" zhao demandedangrily.

"right. that's what i wanted to hear you say," longreplied, and leapt onto the prow of a boat nearby.

zhao sent off a flurry of darts and sleeve arrowsafter him, and long's heart froze at the sight of suchspeed. he threw himself down onto the deck and thedarts struck the boat with a quick succession ofpopping noises.

long jumped up again, and spotting zhao's figure inthe moonlight, flung a dart at him. zhao dodged to theright to avoid it, and suddenly found three of thepoisoned spiked balls winging towards him. he leantover backwards and the spiked balls whizzed passed thetip of his nose. three more spiked balls followed inquick successsion. zhao knocked two of them into thewater with darts of his own, then caught the third andplaced it inside his gown.

long leapt towards another boat and zhao threw out aboomerang-shaped blade. long ducked and watched insurprise as the blade swirled over him and returned tozhao's hand. fascinated by the sight of the strangeweapon, long failed to notice two other darts flyingtowards him which simultaneously struck both hisshoulders. his body went limp and he fell to hisknees.

the imperial guards were astounded at the sight of himfalling. chu yuan, one of long's comrades, raced overto defend him, but another swordsman intercepted him.

chu saw in the moonlight that the man was dressed intaoist robes.

"who are you?" he barked.

priest wu chen smiled. "do you mean to say you are aswordsman and you don't know me?" he asked.

chu attacked with a 'buddha ambushing the tiger'

stroke followed by a 'nine successions' stroke.

"that's very good," wu chen said, still smiling. "nowcontinue with a 'gold wheel' stroke".

as he spoke, chu did indeed attack with a 'gold wheel'

stroke. "how did he know?" he wondered, startled. thepriest also guessed his next two moves correctly, justas if he was a teacher instructing a pupil. churetreated two paces and stared at him, embarrassed.

meanwhile, zhao had grabbed long and was pressuringhim to hand over the antidote. long, however closedhis eyes and said nothing. "just as long as i don'tgive in, the emperor will surely reward me when we getback," he thought.

priest wu chen continued his game of forcing bodyguardchu to counter with the moves he called out. qianlong, although a mediocre fighter himself, had athorough knowledge of kung fu and was amused by thespectacle. but he felt the chill of anxiety too.

"chu is one of the top imperial bodyguards," hethought. "what use are they if these bandits can playwith them in such a fashion?" he watched for a fewmore moves and then decided he had had enough.

"tell him to come back," he said to bai.

"brother chu," bai shouted. "the master asks you tocome here."chu breathed a sigh of relief. the emperor's order waslike a reprieve from the death sentence, and heprepared to jump away. priest wu chen, however, hadother ideas.

"just a moment," he said. he struck forward with hissword and chu felt a cool breeze course across hisface and body as the sword flashed about him. thecourtesan beautiful jade suddenly laughed out loud,and chu looked down and saw that his clothes had beencut to shreds by the priest's sword. not only that: hefelt his head and found his hair and queue had beenshaved completely off. as he shook with fear andshame, his trousers suddenly fell down.

"these friends of yours are extraordinarily skilled inthe martial arts, master lu," qian long said to chen.

"why don't you all offer your services to the court?

it is a pity to waste such talent."chen smiled. "we would prefer to do just as weplease," he said. "but thank you. we are very gratefulof the offer.""since that is the case, i will take my leave. it isgetting late." qian long looked meaningfully over atbodyguard long in the other boat.

"brother zhao," chen called. "let master dongfang'sservant come back.""absolutely not!" luo bing answered. "xin yan haspoisoned by him and he refuses to hand over theantidote."qian long whispered some instructions to commander li,then turned to long. "give him the antidote," heordered.

"i deserve to die," long replied. "i didn't bring theantidote with me. i left it in beijing.""brother zhao, give me two of those spiked balls,"said xu. zhao pulled them out of his bag and handedthem over. xu ripped long's gown off his chest anddrove the balls into him. long cried out in panic.

"master lu," xu shouted. "please send over some wine.

we want to drink a toast with our friend here to sealour friendship, and then we will let him go.""all right," said chen. beautiful jade filled threecups with wine, and chen threw them one by one over tothe other boat. zhao calmly stetched out his hand andcaught them without a drop being spilled.

xu took one of the cups. "master long, let us drink atoast," he said. long knew that the alcohol wouldgreatly speed up the effects of the poison and clampedhis mouth shut.

"go on, have a drink. there's no need to stand onceremony," said xu with a smile. he grabbed long'snose between his third and little fingers then pressedstrongly on his cheeks with the thumb and forefinger,forcing long to open his mouth, and poured all threecups of wine into him.

long decided his life was more important than hisreputation. "let me go," he said. "i...i...i'll getthe antidote," zhao laughed and loosened his grip.

long pulled three packets of medicine from his bag.

"the red one should be taken orally, the black onesucks out the poision and the white one closes thewound," he said and fainted away.

zhao hurriedly poured the red medicine into one of thewine cups, mixed it with some lake water and gave itto xin yan to drink, then spread the black medicineonto the wound. a moment later, black blood welled outof the gash. luo bing wiped it up as it appeared, andgradually the blood turned red. xin yan cried out inpain as zhao administered the white medicine.

"please forgive my friends," chen said to qian long.

"they are very unrefined."qian long laughed. "it has certainly been aninteresting day. i will take my leave now.""master dongfang wishes to go home," chen called.

"head back to the shore!"the flotilla glided slowly off, and soon reached thelakeside. commander li jumped ashore and helped qianlong across onto land as the bodyguards formed aprotective semi-circle. li pulled out a pipe and blewthree sharp notes on it, and several hundred imperialtroops appeared.

"you insolent wretches!" li shouted at the red flowersociety fighters. "you are in the sight of the emperorand still you don't kowtow?"xu gestured with his hand, and master ma and his sonfired flares up into the air above the lake. a momentlater, a huge roar went up from all sides, and menrushed out from the trees, from behind buildings andfrom under bridges, each one with a red flower on hislapel and a sword in his hand.

"brothers!" xu shouted. "the great helmsman hasarrived!" the society men roared their approval andsurged forward.

the imperial bodyguards and troops drew their swords,fixed arrows to bows, and the two sides confrontedeach other, each determined not to yield. commander limounted a horse and waited for qian long's order toseize the red flower society fighters.

chen walked calmly over to an officer of the imperialbodyguard and pointed at the horsewhip he was holding.

hypnotised by chen's gaze, the officer meeklydismounted and handed the whip over. chen then leaptonto his horse and pulled a red flower from his pocketwhich he fixed to his gown. the flower was made fromthe finest silk stitched with gold thread and thegreen leaves around it were studded with jewels whichglittered and sparkled in the torchlight. it was thebadge of the great helmsman and the red flower socetyheroes bowed before him in respect.

suddenly, a large number of the soldiers broke fromthe manchu ranks and swarmed forward despite shoutsfrom their officers. they raced over to chen, bowed,then ran back to their ranks as another batch ran outto pay their respects. the red flower society's powerwas so great in the south that many soldiers in themanchu armies, especially those in units under chinesecommand, were members.

qian long was flabbergasted at the sight of so many ofhis own troops breaking ranks to bow before chen. theimperial guard units he had brought with him frombeijing were clearly the only ones he could trust, andconsidering the danger of his position, he decided afight had to be avoided at all costs.

he turned to commander li.

"so these are your trusted soldiers," he said coldly.

"tell them to retire.""yes sir," replied li, stunned with fear. he orderedthe troops back to camp.

"brothers!" 'mastermind' xu shouted when he saw themanchu troops were retreating. "thank you all for yourtrouble. please go now."an answering roar went up from the mass of the societyfollowers: "great helmsman, goodbye!" the thunderouscry echoed out over the lake.

qian long raised his hands towards chen. "thank youfor a very pleasant outing on the lake," he said. "wewill meet again."