`mastermind' xu went later to see the muslim envoy.

"i will take you to see the emperor," he said, andthey left, accompanied by meng carrying the leatherbox containing the vases. unknown to the envoy, one ofthe vases had been removed.

when they arrived at the commander-in-chief's yamen,meng handed the leather box to the envoy and pointedto the main gate.

"go in on your own," he said.

that afternoon, an attendant handed a visiting card togreat helmsman chen. it was signed 'your servant dengtunan', the trusted lieutenant of commander li keshou.

"your plan has probably worked, brother xu," chensaid. "brother wei, please go and receive him."'leopard' wei went to the reception room and saw arobust military official seated in a chair. "what isit you wish to see our master about, master deng?" heasked.

"i have come with instructions from commander-in-chiefli to see the great helmsman of your society todiscuss a certain matter with him," deng replied.

"our master is not free at present. it is the same ifyou talk to me.""it concerns a muslim vase," he said.

wei frowned enquiringly.

"the muslims dispatched an envoy with a pair of vasesto plead for peace. but when the emperor opened thebox, only one of the vases was inside. he was veryangry and questioned the envoy, who said that he hadalready had an audience with the commander-in-chief ofzhejiang province. the emperor called in commander li,who was naturally mystified. luckily, the emperor knewcommander li would not do such a thing, that theremust be some good explanation.""that is good," said wei, nodding.

"but the emperor said that commander li would be heldresponsible for the affair and gave him three days tofind and return the other vase. this presents a greatdifficulty.""he's afraid that if he doesn't find the vase, he willbe removed from office, is that it? it's probablyeasier not being an official. if one's whole familycould to be executed and all one's possessions seized,it must be rather distressing."deng ignored his sarcasm. "let us not deceive eachother. i have come to ask your society to return thevase.""we have not heard of any such vase," replied wei.

"but as commander li has encountered this difficulty,there is no reason why we shouldn't help him find it.

we may possibly come across some clue to itswhereabouts in a year or two.""commander li said he had great respect for masterchen. he sent me today to ask your assistance, butwould not feel at ease if he was unable to do anythingin return. please do not hesitate to inform us ofmaster chen's wishes.""you are very frank, general deng. that is excellent,"wei replied. "our master chen has two wishes. firstly,the red flower society has offended commander li, andhe would like to ask him to let bygones be bygones.""that goes without saying. i can guarantee that thecommander will never make difficulties for yoursociety over this matter. and the second thing?""our fourth brother wen tailai is imprisoned in thecommander's yamen."deng grunted.

"he is an imperial criminal," wei continued. "nomatter how courageous commander li is, he would neverdare to release him. we understand that. but masterchen misses him greatly and would like to see himalone tonight."deng thought for a second. "this is an extremelyserious matter. i will have to ask the commander andreturn with the reply."deng returned two hours later.

"the commander says that master wen's crimes areserious in the extreme, and that normally no-one wouldbe allowed to visit him," he said.

"normally!" wei exclaimed.

"but as master chen has agreed to return the vase, thecommander will risk his neck and allow master chen tosee him. however, there are two small conditions hemust agree to. first, the commander has recklesslyagreed to this purely in order to cement hisfriendship with master chen. if anyone else found outabout it, it would be disastrous.""commander li wants master chen to agree not to reveala word about the affair to anyone, is that it?""exactly.""i can agree to that on our master's behalf," weisaid.

"the second point is that only master chen will beallowed to make the visit."wei smiled. "commander li is naturally afraid that wewill take advantage of the opportunity to try torescue master wen. all right, we agree. master chenwill go by himself. but we have not agreed not toattempt a rescue.""you are a good man, brother wei, and i value yourword. please ask master chen to come to the yamen thisevening.""if zhang zhaozhong is around when master chen andmaster wen meet, it will naturally be impossible topreserve the secrecy of the agreement, which could beextremely inconvenient for commander li.""that is true," deng replied. "the commander willthink of some excuse for getting him away."when deng had left, the heroes gathered in the greathall to await their orders for wen's rescue.

"brother xu, i will leave the arrangements to you,"chen said.

xu was silent for a moment. "now that we know zhangzhaozhong will be elsewhere and that the greathelmsman can get inside, it will of course be mucheasier to rescue brother wen," he said. "but li isalso certain to prepare for that eventuality. we mustfirst work out what he plans to do and then dosomething unexpected.""he will gather a large contingent of troops andsurround the entrance to the dungeon and may evenenlist the support of some imperial bodyguards," yangpointed out. "they will allow only the great helmsmanin, and only the great helmsman out.""we had better be waiting outside the yamen just incase the turtles try anything against the greathelmsman," said one of the twin knights.

"we will of course be waiting outside," answered xu.

"but i don't think li will dare to harm the greathelmsman with the vase in our hands.""i've got it," chen said suddenly. "when i go to seefourth brother, i will wear a wide cape and a largehat with a face cover..."xu knew what he meant. "but that way, we would gainone man only to lose another. it's not a good idea.""finish what you were saying, great helmsman," saidpriest wu chen.

"once i am in the dungeon, i will exchange clotheswith fourth brother and then let him leave. the guardswill think it is me. you can be waiting outside toreceive him.""but what about you?""the emperor and i have a special relationship. oncethey discover the switch, they will let me go."the heroes were unhappy that their leader was placinghimself in such danger, but they were forced to agreeit was probably the best plan.

all the arrangements were completed. chen threw on alarge cape with the collar turned up, pulled a hatwell down over his face, and set off for thecommander-in-chief's yamen accompanied by 'leopard'

wei. by the time they arrived, it was already close todusk and the first stars had began to appear at theedge of the sky. a man came out to meet them.

"is that master chen?" he whispered. wei nodded.

"please come with me. this other gentleman, pleasestay here."wei stood and watched as chen followed the man intothe yamen. a flight of ravens flew overhead throughthe evening mist on their way home, cawing as theywent, and wei's heart beat wildly as he wondered whatwould happened to the great helmsman. after a while,the rest of the heroes arrived and spread out aroundthe yamen.

as he entered the gate, chen saw the yamen was filledwith thousands of soldiers on guard. the man led himthrough three courtyards and into a room.

"please take a seat," he said, and left. a momentlater, commander li entered and saluted chen. "it isan honour to meet you," he said.

chen opened his cape and revealed his face. "we metthe day before yesterday on the lake," he answeredwith a smile.

"you may now see the prisoner," said li. "pleasefollow me."as they reached the door, an attendant rushedbreathlessly towards them.

"commander, the emperor has arrived," he reported.

"master deng has gone out to meet him."li started in surprise and turned to chen. "you hadbetter wait here for a while," he said.

li ran through to the front courtyard and saw qianlong with a large contingent of imperial guardsmen. hehurriedly knelt down before him and kowtowed.

"arrange a well-guarded room," said qian long. "i wantto personally interrogate wen tailai."li invited the emperor into his own study, and theimperial bodyguards established themselves on allsides of the study and even on the roof.

"i have important matters of a confidential nature todiscuss with this prisoner. no-one else must hear,"qian long told bodyguard bai zhen.

"yes, your highness," bai replied and retired.

a moment later, four bodyguards entered carrying astretcher on which wen, handcuffed and chained, layasleep. the bodyguards retired and there was silencefor a time.

"how are your injuries?" qian long asked. wen's eyesopened and he sat up. his wounds had not yet healed,but his mind was clear. he had seen qian long oncebefore when he had entered the imperial palace withmaster yu, but was surprised at suddenly meeting himagain in hangzhou.

"i'm not dead yet," he said coldly.

"i asked my men to invite you to come to see mebecause there is something i wish to discuss withyou."wen grunted.

"when you visited me with that leader of yours, masteryu, i discussed an important matter with him.

unfortunately, i hear he became ill and died very soonafterwards. it was a great pity.""if master yu had not died, i expect he would beimprisoned here with me," replied wen.

qian long laughed. "you underworld fighters, you'revery frank. you say whatever you are thinking. now,master wen, i have only one question for you. answerme honestly, and i will immediately release you.""release me? ha! do you think i am a three-year-oldchild? i know that you cannot eat or sleep easyknowing that i'm still alive. you have stayed yourhand until today only because you wish to questionme.""you're much too suspicious," said qian long with asmile. he walked forward two paces.

"did master yu tell you what it was he talked to meabout?" he asked.

"what did you talk about?"qian long stared at him, and wen returned the gazeunflinchingly. after a while, qian long turned hishead away.

"about my origins," he said quietly.

"he didn't say. you are the emperor, the son of thelate emperor and empress. everyone knows about yourorigins. what more is there to say?"qian long breathed a sigh of relief. "that night youvisited me, you must have known what the reason was?""master yu said that he had helped you once over someimportant matter. the red flower society was short offunds and he went to ask you for three million taelsof silver. but you refused the request, and have evenhad me seized. if i ever get out of this, i willreveal how ungrateful you are."qian long laughed out loud. he glanced at wen: hisanger did not appear to be a pretence. "if that is thecase, i had better have you killed," he said,half-believing him. "otherwise, if i let you go, itcould damage my reputation.""why didn't you kill me earlier? if you had, youwouldn't have had to harbour such evil schemes againstyour mother.""what about my mother?" qian long asked, turning pale.

"you understand.""so you know everything?""no, not everything. master yu said the empressdowager knew he had helped you and had asked you torepay him, but that you were still unwilling to partwith the silver. you have mountains of money. threemillion taels should be nothing to you. but you insiston being petty."qian long laughed nervously. he pulled out ahandkerchief and wiped away the beads of sweat on hisbrow. he paced the room to steady himself, thensmiled. "you show no fear at all before the emperor.

you are indeed a man of steel," he said.

"what have i to be afraid of? i doubt if you woulddare to kill me," said wen.

"wouldn't dare?""you want to kill me because you're afraid your secretwill be revealed but as soon as you kill me, yoursecret will be impossible to keep.""can dead men talk?""as soon as i die, someone will open a certain letterand reveal the evidence to the world. then you will bein a real predicament.""what letter?" qian long asked.

"before we went to the palace to see you, master yuwrote down every detail of the affair and sealed thedocument in an envelope together with two importantpieces of evidence and left it with a friend.""was he afraid that something untoward might happen?""of course. how could he trust you? master yu told hisfriend that if we were both to die suddenly, he shouldopen the letter and do what it said, but if one of uswas still alive, not to open it under anycircumstances. master yu has already passed away, so idon't think you'll dare to kill me."qian long wrung his hands, anxiety written all overhis face.

"wouldn't it be worth spending three million taels ofsilver to buy that letter and the two pieces ofevidence?" wen asked.

"the silver? i had always planned to hand it over andthen release you. write a letter to your friendtelling him to bring the letter to me and i willimmediately pay up the money.""ha, ha. once i tell you his name, you can send yourbodyguards to kill or capture him. actually, i'm verycomfortable here. i would be happy to stay the rest ofmy life. you and i have the same fate. if i die first,you won't live much longer."qian long bit his lip. "if you won't write the letter,it is of no importance," he said after a pause. "iwill give you two days. if you persist in beingstubborn, i will have no alternative but to kill you.

no-one else will know about it and your friend willthink you're still alive. and even if i don't killyou, i can still have your eyes gouged out, yourtongue removed, your arms cut off...think about itover the next two days."he pushed open the door and walked out. his bodyguardsre-assembled around him, and commander li saw him outof the yamen.

wen was carried back to the dungeon by the commander'spersonal guards with zhang zhaozhong providing anescort. once in the cell, one of the guards handedzhang a letter.

"commander li asked me to give you this," he said.

zhang opened and read the letter, then left.

wen lay on the bed thinking about his wife andfriends. he hoped none of them would be harmed if theyshould attempt a rescue.

just then, the iron door to his cell opened with aclang and a man walked in. wen thought it was zhangreturning and did not open his eyes.

the man walked over to the bed. "fourth brother," hesaid quietly.

wen was stunned. he looked up and saw it was chen.

"great helmsman!" he exclaimed, sitting up.

chen smiled and nodded. he pulled two steel files fromhis pocket, and began filing at wen's manacles. aftera few strong strokes, a series of light scratchesappeared on the surface, but the file was ruined. themanacles were made of a specially-cast steel broughtfrom the west, and an ordinary file was uselessagainst it.

"great helmsman, only the finest of swords could breakthrough these chains and manacles," said wen.

chen remembered the battle with zhang zhaozhong at theyellow river crossing and how sharp zhang's 'frozenemerald' sword had been.

"does zhang guard you night and day?" he askedquickly.

"he's never more than a step from me. he only left ashort while ago.""good. we'll wait for him to return and steal hissword." chen threw the files under the bed.

"it's possible i won't be able to get out of here,"wen said. "the emperor wants to silence me becausehe's afraid i will reveal his secret. i had bettertell you what it is, great helmsman, so that no matterif i live or die, there will be no delay."chen nodded.

"the night i went to the imperial palace with masteryu, qian long was very surprised to see us. master yusaid: 'a lady from the chen family in haining asked meto come,' and handed him a letter. the emperor's facewent pale as he read it, and he told me to waitoutside. the two of them then talked for about twohours before master yu finally came out. on the wayback, he told me the emperor was not a manchu at all,but a chinese and also your elder brother."chen started in shock. "that's impossible," he saidfirmly. "my brother is in haining.""master yu said that on the day the emperor yongzheng's wife gave birth to a girl, your mother bycoincidence also gave birth to a boy. yong zhengordered the chen family's child to be brought for himto look at, and when it was returned, it had become agirl. the boy is now the emperor qian long..."before he could finish, they heard the sound offootsteps in the corridor and a guard came in.

"what is it?" asked chen.

"master zhang is returning. commander li is unable todetain him further and asks you to leave quickly.""thank you," chen replied. his left hand shot out andtouched a yuedao point on the guard's body. the guardtoppled to the floor without a sound, and chen pushedhim under the bed.

"with zhang on his way, i don't have time to give youall the details," wen continued. "master yu knew theemperor was chinese and went to urge him to overthrowthe manchus and restore china to the chinese whileremaining as emperor himself. qian long appeared movedby the appeal, and asked master yu to bring evidencebefore making a decision. but as soon as master yureturned home, he fell ill and never recovered. hislast wish was that you should be the great helmsman,and he said to me that this was a good opportunity forus to restore the honour of the chinese people. theemperor is your elder brother. if he is unwilling tooverthrow the manchus, then everyone will support youto take his place."his words left chen too stunned to speak. he thoughtback to when he had first seen qian long by the lakeand afterwards crying before the tomb of his parents.

could it really be that the emperor was born of hisown mother and father?

"i understand your mother wrote down the full detailsof how the emperor yong zheng swapped the girl foryour brother in a letter which master yu gave alongwith several other pieces of evidence to your teacher,master yuan, to look after.""ah, so when the twin knights went to see my teacherthis summer, they were carrying these things to him onmaster yu's orders?""that's right. it was so secret that not even youcould be told. all that master yuan knows is that theyare extremely important, but he does not know whatthey are. just before master yu passed away, he saidthat after you became great helmsman, you should openthe letter and make your plans accordingly. but istupidly allowed myself to be captured and risked thewhole enterprise. great helmsman, if you can't get meout today, you must go to the muslim regions asquickly as possible to see your teacher. you must notendanger the great cause of restoration just for mysake."wen was clearly relieved to have completed what he hadto say.

he was about to add something when footsteps soundedin the corridor again. he signalled quickly with hishand, and chen hid under the bed. wen then drapedhimself over the side of bed with his head resting onthe floor.

zhang entered the cell, and under the faint light ofthe room's single candle, saw wen lying half on thefloor as if dead. shocked, he leapt forward andtouched wen's back, but there was no reaction. hestarted to lift wen's body back onto the bed, but ashe did so, wen leapt up and attacked him. zhang fellback in surprise, felt a sudden numbness in his lowerabdomen, and knew he had been hit by someone waitingin ambush under the bed. he roared angrily,sidestepped two paces and suppressed his breathing tocontrol the numbness. chen, who was startled to seezhang still standing, leapt out from beneath the bedand struck his face with his fists seven or eighttimes.

if he responded, zhang knew his control would be lostand the paralysis in his abdomen would spread. heretreated as chen's foot flew up and struck anotheryuedao point. this time, he could not sustain hiscontrol. his whole body went limp and he fell to theground.

chen searched him and was extremely disappointed tofind he did not have the frozen emerald sword withhim. he pulled a piece of paper out of zhang's pocketand saw under the candlelight that it was a note fromcommander li asking zhang to show his sword to animportant official who was waiting to see it:this musthave been the excuse li had used to draw zhang away.

he guessed that zhang had been anxious to get back tothe dungeon to resume his guard duties and had leftearly without the sword.

chen continued his search of zhang's body, andsuddenly leapt up jubilantly.

"what is it?" wen asked. chen held his hand up anddisplayed a set of keys. he tried one on the manaclesand they opened immediately.

finally freed, wen exercised his arms and legs as chentook off his cape and hat.

"put these on and get out quickly," he said.

"what about you?""i'll wait here for a while. you get out."wen understood his meaning. "great helmsman, i am verygrateful for your good intentions, but we cannot do itthat way.""fourth brother, you don't understand. i am in nodanger if i stay here." he told wen about how theemperor and he had sworn an oath to each other.

"it is still impossible,," wen said.

chen frowned. "i am the great helmsman. all members ofthe red flower society must follow my orders, is thatnot correct?""of course.""fine. then this my order. put these on quickly andget out. the brothers are outside waiting for you.""this time i am forced to disobey your order," wensaid. "i would prefer to accept whatever penalty youdecide upon."they were deadlocked. chen pursed his lips and thenhad an idea.

"well, we'll have to risk going out together then. puton his clothes," he said pointing at zhang.

"excellent! why didn't you say so earlier?" wenexclaimed.

the two stripped zhang of his clothes and exchangedthem for wen's, then locked the chains and manaclesonto him. zhang shook with rage, his eyes blood-redwith hate, but he was unable to utter a sound.

the two walked quietly through the door and along thecorridor. as they ascended a flight of stone steps, abright light assailed their eyes and they saw thewhole courtyard was filled with torches. several dozensoldiers stood with shining spear tips pointed at thedungeon entrance. behind them were several hundredarchers with bows drawn. commander li stood with hisright hand held high. once it dropped, the spears andarrows would be loosed, and chen and wen would bedead.

chen stepped back a pace. "how are your wounds?" hewhispered to wen. "can you charge through?""no, my leg is not up to it," wen replied with arueful smile. "you go by yourself, great helmsman,don't worry about me.""all right, pretend you're zhang and we'll see how wedo," chen replied.

wen pulled his cap down to his eyebrows and strodeout. commander li's heart sank at the sight of zhangand chen together and he assumed that zhang hadarrested him. he turned to his daughter yuanzhi.

"give zhang's sword back to him and distract him sothat chen can get away," he said.

yuanzhi walked over with the 'frozen emerald' sword inher hand and held it out to wen, positioning herselfbetween the two men.

"uncle zhang, here is your sword," she said, givingchen a slight nudge with her elbow. wen grunted andmoved to accept the sword, and suddenly under thetorch light she recognized him.

"wen tailai! so you're trying to escape," she criedand thrust the sword at his chest.

wen feinted to one side and caught the blade with hisfingers while his right hand struck out at the solaryuedao points on her forehead. frightened, yuanzhitried to retreat a step, but found that with hisfingers still holding the sword, she was unable tomove an inch. she let go of the sword and tried toslip away, but wen struck her left shoulder and abone-splitting pain surged through her. she cried outand squatted down. looking back, chen saw wen wassurrounded but he continued to fight fiercely.

"stop or the archers will shoot," commander li roared.

the old wounds on wen's thigh burst open with thesudden effort and blood poured out. he knew he did nothave the strength to break out of the circle ofsoldiers.

"great helmsman, catch the sword and get out!" heshouted. he tried to throw the frozen emerald sword,but with a sudden pain in his shoulder, his hand wentlimp and the sword fell to the ground only a few feetfrom him. he had been hit by an arrow.

chen turned to commander li. "stop shooting!" heshouted. li waved his hand and the archers stopped.

"get a doctor quickly to deal with master wen'swounds. i'm going," chen said, and raced out of theyamen. following li's orders, the guards pretended togive chase, without really obstructing him.

once out of the yamen, 'leopard' wei and luo bing cameup to meet him. chen smiled bitterly and shook hishead. the eastern sky was already pale as with heavyhearts the heroes returned home.