Chapter 152

The morning mist of the Tengchong Guard in Yunnan swirled with the sound of mule-train copper bells as Shen Xitang’s leather boots crushed the charred pages of the *Diannan Salt Tax Records*. Xiao Heng’s Xiuchun Saber cleaved through a rattan bridge in the Gaoligong Mountains, and a half-shattered Burmese rosewood chest burst open in the mountain wind. What spilled out was not raw jade, but twenty Ministry of Works standard-issue muskets wrapped in oilcloth; the inscriptions on the barrels read clearly: "Supervised by the Ministry of War, 38th Year of Wanli." "The work of the Mu family..." Her fingertips brushed the grooves of the firing mechanism. "This rifling technique is a skill passed down exclusively to the guards of the Qian State Duke’s mansion." Suddenly, the call of an elephant echoed through the mountain pass. Thirty elephant handlers in Dai attire drove five war elephants through the thinning mist. The rattan trunks lashed to the elephant saddles ruptured, spilling out heavy loads of official silver from the Ministry of Revenue. Beside the two characters for "Taicang" on the bottom of the ingots stuck a wolf-head wax seal belonging to the Longchuan chieftain, Duo Anmin.