Hostage Rescue

As soon as the girl left the room, Boss Wang came up to her.

“Head Li, what did that man say?”^[1]

“He told us part truth and part lies.” Li Siya coldly snorted, “some of his words cannot be verified, so we can only take them as true.”

“Let him have a taste of pain and he’ll spill everything.”

“Not on the flower boat,” Li Siya rejected, “There are too many people around here, so if there are loud screams we’ll be exposed immediately. We have to move somewhere else to interrogate him.”

“Yes, I’ll go right away.”

“Once he finishes talking you brothers deal with the rest. If you want to leave a path of retreat, don’t make him suffer too much, it’s best to keep it clean. Leave no evidence behind.”

“I understand.” Boss Wang knew that she wanted to kill and silence the witness.

“Send a message to the old spot. I will be staying in Guangzhou for a while longer.” She beckoned off to the side. “Let’s go.”

Another figure gracefully emerged from the shadows, wreathed in a black cloak. The two jumped back ashore and soon disappeared into the night.

After a long time, two more people came out from the cabin: “Boss Wang, are we…?”

“Humph, how can we not eat meat that’s been delivered to our hands.” Boss Wang spat into the river to express his contempt. “Who does that bitch think she is? She’s nothing more than an errand girl for the big boss.”

“The matter about moving the boat…”

“Moving your ass, what does that little girl know? We’ll just push the flower boat out a little, find an empty fork in the river, and take our time. Even if we use the Ten Tortures of the Great Ming not a single soul will hear us.”

“The Ten Tortures of the Great Ming? Are they real?” The little minion looked doubtful.

Boss Wang’s subordinates knew that what he was actually worried about was the mooring fee, and was also missing the paramour that worked on this boat. What Boss Wang wanted was to not let fertile waters flow into someone else’s fields.^[2]

However, it was an indisputable truth that there were indeed many people and many eyes in this place. Gao Ju was not some stingy pushover either. They needed to be more vigilant. After thinking for a while, he ordered his men:

“We’ll keep the person hidden here on Qing Yan’s flower boat. Ma San and Xiao Zhao will watch over him.”

Then he also arranged two sentries to secretly watch over the entrance and exit respectively. One of the tanka was good at throwing knives, and was able to always hit a target within 20 steps.^[3] He was arranged to be the closest to the flower boat. If people really tried to rescue the hostage, he would definitely be able to at least kill one or two people with his two-handed knife throwing skills. While making these arrangements Ma San had already rowed the boat out.

Their enemy might also come on the water, and so he placed his most expensive asset–a foot archer–on the back deck of the flower boat. The extra height provided the archer the ability to suppress any target on the water or river bank within 100 paces.

No matter how large Master Gao’s influence is, no matter how much money he had, no matter if he got a mounted constable or an escort agency, they would all be non-factors in front of an archer who can shoot a hundred paces! Boss Wang thought proudly. This archer was probably a deserter from the army, but he had good skills. He was accurate and shot quickly, and that was what mattered, not his background. Boss Wang had spent a small fortune to hire him through the vagrants in the city.

Boss Wang was not stingy with the money at all. In the end, the ransom would go to him, so why should he save money? He first gave ten taels each to the three sentries and the two hostage-watchers, and promised all of them a further fifty taels each after the ransom was paid. Even the useless kang cha (the bodyguard of brothels and casinos) on the flower boat got five taels from him. This group of chicken and dog-stealing thieves was now filled with energy and roaring to fight.^[4]

As he was assigning the work, messengers reported news from the spies on Haopan Street. This was the system set up by Boss Wang: two reports every day, one in the morning and one in the evening, recording the movements of the Gao family and the sea merchants.

“Any news?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. The Gao family is very busy, with many people coming and going. However, none of them went to the government or an escort agency. I’ve asked around, it seems that they are receiving a distinguished person from the capital.”

“And what about the Australian merchants?”

“Looking from the outside, no big disturbances. But…”

“What?”

”They have been setting off firecrackers for almost all of today!”^[5]

***

“Everything is now clear.” Ran Yao was standing in front of an upright square table, with a real piece of chalk instead of a lime cake like last time, “Our beloved Chairman Wen is hidden in the fourth flower boat at Bai’e’tan and Zidi. The boat is called the Xuanzhu.”

Several people, led by Bei Wei, were silently watching Ran Yao and the table he was drawing on. On the large study desk behind them there were a lot of walkie-talkie batteries being charged. In front of the pile was a 19-inch LCD monitor that was continuously playing the live feed from 10 or so cameras. Underneath the table was a pile of computer cases, battery packs and a tangle of cables. The air was very hot and dry because of the electronics. Xiao Zishan, who was in charge of watching the surveillance feeds, was wearing only a singlet but was still sweating in the heat.

A digitally enlarged photo had been printed and attached to the rosewood table with double-sided tape. It depicted a flower boat. This sort of flower boat had a wide and flat bow, a tall stern, a single steering oar at the rear, and two smaller oars at the bow which were used for navigating narrow waterways. The beams of the boat were carved and painted, making for a very beautiful aesthetic.

All flower boats, regardless of size, had three parts: the bow cabin, the midship cabin, and the stern. The midship cabin was the largest, accounting for about half of the boat’s length. The cabin was closed off by curtains on all sides, making it very private. Ran Yao speculated that Chief Wen was very likely to be held inside the cabin.

From their surveillance they discovered five people living in the boat: an old woman, two prostitutes, a female servant, and finally a man who was probably their main defensive force.^[6]

“According to the information gathered by the Qiwei Escort Agency, this flower boat has hung out a ‘thank you for your patronage’ sign starting from the 20th of last month, when it was chartered by someone. In the past ten or so days several people have been coming and going frequently from the boat. Although these people can speak Chinese, they are not locals. Some of the escort agency people who heard them said it sounded like a Min’nan accent.

“Except for a man named Wang, no one else spends the night on the boat. This suspect Wang leaves early in the morning and only returns by dusk.

"Three days ago, the day Chief Wen disappeared, these people also disappeared. However, the boat charter sign was not removed, and there was no reduction in the food and vegetables delivered on board. Yesterday, someone saw a lao ju (a prostitute) on the boat showing off a small shiny object. According to the escort's description, we think it was a nail clipper."^[7]

"Nail clipper?"

"Yes, a small nail clipper with a Wuyang plastic patch.^[8] In the list of stolen property, it belonged to...Xiao Zishan."

"There is another piece of evidence." He stuck another photo up onto the improvised blackboard. "Based on our tracking of people who appeared around the boat over the past two days, this person,” he pointed at the picture, “is the same as the one we photographed a few days ago in the teahouse on Haopan Street on the same day of the incident."

Qiwei Escort Agency worked very efficiently, and had informed them two days ago that Chief Wen was very likely to be held on the flower boat in Bai’e’tan. After hearing this, Ran Yao, Bei Wei and Sun Chang, disguised themselves as a sedan chair procession from Gao Ju's family and travelled to Bai’e’tan. There, they conducted field surveillance and filmed the area. Over these two days of monitoring they had gathered a lot of intelligence. Their own reconnaissance corroborated the information from the Qiwei Escort Agency.

As the matter could not be delayed, they decided to act immediately. The ransom letter had not yet arrived and the situation was still rather stable. But if the bandits moved, it would be very difficult to find them again. Their rescue operation was to be led by Ran Yao. The main team would consist of three people from the Sports Group plus Lin Shenhe, while the Qiwei Escort Agency had also dispatched several escorts as auxiliary helpers to aid in their getaway.

The plan was for Lin Shenhe to provide overwatch with a small-calibre rifle, while the sports team would split and attack from two approaches. Ran Yao's group would attack the flower boat head-on across the pier, while Bei Wei would lead another group to cut off their escape route from the water. Once they had retrieved the hostage from the boat all assault team members would then be extracted from the dock by the Qiwei escorts on carts. The reason for not retreating via the river was that the Tanka were skilled in boating and sailing, and if they were to catch up, the time travellers would not be their opponents.

The time of their operation was set at half past five. The time travellers had already found out the schedule of Baietan: in their current season, the flower boat business would not start until after six o'clock. Before this opening time there were not many pedestrians and the sky was still bright. This would provide open, unobstructed sightlines of their target. After the attack was successful, all members would be able to retreat into the city before the gates were closed at sunset. If their leader was outside the city they wouldn’t be able to react to the attack in time and pursue the team into the city. If their leader was inside the city, news of the attack on the boat outside the walls would not arrive in time before the city gates closed either. After all, communication in ancient times basically relied on messengers moving on two legs. In this regard, the time travellers had an inherent advantage.

"Wouldn't it be better to go after sunset? We have night vision goggles, while they won’t be able to see anything in the dark."

"But after dark the city gates will be closed. We are unfamiliar with the place, and if we fight them outside the walls we may not be able to gain the upper hand. The Ming people may not be as blind at night as we think; they have the homeground advantage after all."

With their action plan ready, the assault team dispersed and went to prepare separately. Everyone put on a stab-proof vest and an emergency inflatable life belt in case any of them fell into the river. The four people in the assault team were further equipped with helmets, goggles, combat boots, and stab-proof gloves; all of them were protected to the teeth. To hide from prying eyes they also covered everything with a hooded cloak.

Wang Luobin stayed behind to guard the residence with a five-shot shotgun. Xiao Zishan accompanied the Qiwei extraction team with a walkie-talkie. He was in charge of communications. All of the time travellers were equipped with a walkie-talkie and could communicate at any time.

After lunch, Lin Shenhe said a few words to Xiao Zishan. Xiao Zishan nodded and left their temporary planning room. Lin Shenhe, now left to his own devices in the room, retrieved the Emei brand small-calibre sniper rifle from their equipment bags and disassembled it on the table. This was a very excellent domestic sports rifle. This was their EM751 customised rifle with a calibre of 5.6 mm. If it was equipped with a 4x optical scope, he could be certain to hit a human body within 200 metres.

Although Lin Shenhe had played with many guns back overseas in the US, he had no experience with this particular rifle. To make sure that he could shoot accurately with it he would need to do some test shooting.

Although this gun was old it was well maintained. Lin Shenhe disassembled the gun and began wiping everything down. While doing this, Bei Wei entered the room. Bei Wei, seeing that Lin Shenhe was still wiping the gun, swallowed the words he had wanted to say and just watched silently from the side.

It was not until Lin Shenhe had finished reassembling the rifle that Bei Wei spoke:

"Xiao Lin," he stammered, as if he didn't know what to say, "This thing with you being a sniper..."

"Why, what’s up? Are you afraid that I can't do it?" Lin Shenhe didn't care. He raised the gun and looked down at the sights.

"Yeah. I know you have shot more guns than I have, and I admit you are very knowledgeable about firearms," Bei Wei hesitated, "but the truth is, you have never been a soldier. Going to the battlefield with real swords and guns is very different from the shooting range." He let out a breath, "Logically, I should be the sniper. But then we won’t have enough people in the assault team."

"Relax. Leave it to me." Lin Shenhe put down the rifle and didn't explain further, "Come with me to test this out?" He chucked Bei Wei a pair of binoculars.

Bei Wei took the binoculars with some doubt in his heart. Their ‘shooting range’ was the back alley next to the courtyard. The walls were high there, making the closed and narrow alley environment an ideal place to shoot. Xiao Zishan had pasted a paper target on the far wall and already marked a distance of 50 metres with a tape measure.

Lin Shenhe knelt on the 50-metre shooting line, adjusted the gun’s sight, loaded a round, and switched off the safety. He put the heel of his right foot under his butt to keep stable, planted his right knee on the ground, and adjusted his whole body into a shooting posture.

The 4x scope on the rifle clearly showed the centre of the target. There was no wind in the alley. From the courtyard came the sound of firecrackers–this was to cover up the sound of his shooting. He had shut out all that sound himself, feeling only the slight beat of his pulse. He could even feel the minute twitches of his muscles through how his sight picture moved–the black centre dot in the scope was shaking ever so slightly with the tremors of his muscles.

He breathed all the air out, and a second after his chest settled, he pulled the trigger.

The recoil of the bullet was less than expected, and the rifle was also equipped with a special buttstock cushion, so Lin Shenhe, who was used to firing all kinds of light weapons, could hardly feel any kickback at all.

Bei Wei raised the binoculars and looked at the target. He shook his head. The bullet hit the target between 7 and 8 o'clock. Although it hit the target, it was just outside the fourth ring.^[9]

Only hitting the fourth at a distance of 50 metres…at 200 metres who would know where the bullet would have wandered off to.

Lin Shenhe did not move or eject the cartridge immediately after shooting. This was to maintain the temperature of the barrel to improve accuracy. After reloading, he shot again, this time improving by 2 rings. Then again. He managed to hit the 8th ring.

From the fourth bullet onwards the location of his shots stabilised, and almost all of the three consecutive bullets hit the 8th ring. Lin Shenhe adjusted his sights, and the next 5 shots all landed in the 10th ring.^[10]

"That should be good enough I think." Lin Shenhe looked at the ammunition left in the box. There was not much left. He had wanted to shoot 10 more rounds, but it seemed that that would have to be it.

"Good marksmanship." Bei Wei commented simply, "But on the battlefield, what you have in your sights is not a paper target. You will be aiming right at living and breathing people. Will you be able to pull the trigger then?"

"Why not?" A strange smile appeared on Lin Shenhe’s face, "I often go hunting."

---

1. Boss Wang addresses Li Siya as ‘dangjia’, lit. ‘head of a house’. Here I use ‘head’ ↩︎

2. Idiom, meaning to keep the benefits for only one’s own people. ↩︎

3. 14 metres or so ↩︎

4. The words in italics is a special phrase that Boaster explains in his added brackets. I kept it in the original. ↩︎

5. Like as if they’re celebrating Chief Wen being kidnapped, lol. ↩︎

6. Literally, the last guy is described as a ‘fork carrier’. I don’t think Boaster intended this literally ↩︎

7. The clarification in the brackets is from the author; I have left the phrase in pinyin. ↩︎

8. Wuyang, literally ‘five sheeps’, is another name for Guangzhou ↩︎

9. I think the target being referred to here is a standard Olympic shooting target like this one. ↩︎

10. A ‘bullseye’ ↩︎