5,39 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: Pushkin Children's Books
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020
An extraordinary true adventure story – how the Bandit's Daughter Mu Guiying became a great general in Ancient ChinaANCIENT CHINA, ONE THOUSAND YEARS AGO.It began with a duel. When General Yang wanted to get rid of a troublesome bandit, he sent his fiercest warrior: his son, Captain Zongbao. But on his way through the forest to find the outlaw, Zongbao unexpectedly encountered the bandit's teenage daughter, Mu Guiying, who challenged him to unarmed combat.And she was better.The fight launched Mu Guiying's astonishing journet from fearless outcast to the great defender of her country, as she masterminded the Chinese defence against the invading horsemen from the north.Simon Mason has written numerous books for younger readers, including The Quigleys, Moon Pie, and the YA crime thriller series featuring Garvie Smith: Running Girl, Kid Got Shot and Hey, Sherlock! He has always been fascinated by history, particularly by stories from around the world.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Ähnliche
3
CONTENTS
6
1
FOREST AMBUSH
The soldiers were hurrying through the deserted forest at dawn when a girl stepped out of the misty trees and stood on the path in front of them. She was wearing a simple village tunic and her feet were bare. She carried nothing in her hands, but stood there lightly, facing them with a calm expression on her face.
The captain raised a gloved fist and the soldiers came to a clattering stop behind him. The birds in the wood were suddenly quiet and there was a second’s shocked silence as they all stared wide-eyed at the girl, as if she were a creature from another world. In a moment the soldiers began to mutter among themselves before the captain raised his hand a second time and they were silent again. 8
The captain was a young man, perhaps no more than twenty years old, clean-shaven, with a wide, lean face and a black ponytail hanging below his helmet. Like the others, he was wearing the uniform of General Yang, with a yellow sash to mark his loyalty to the Emperor of China. His name was Zongbao, which had a good military ring to it when his soldiers addressed him.
Fixing his black eyes on the girl, he opened his mouth, but before he could speak she spoke to him instead.
‘What are you doing, hurrying so fast through my forest?’
Her voice was quiet but carried clearly in the silence; the captain was reminded of the rippling sound of running water.
Behind him came a harsh laugh from one of the soldiers.
‘It’s just a girl!’ he heard someone call out.
He turned swiftly and with one look silenced them. They fell into formation again and stood there obediently, awaiting orders.
He tried to recover his composure. ‘Listen to me, mountain girl,’ he said. ‘All this is Imperial land, governed for the Emperor by my father Yang the Peerless of the Daixian fortress. He is guardian of our northern border in the war against the horsemen, and I am here with my men to find the bandit Mu Yu who 9has stirred up the people and gathered around him so many traitors and malcontents. We are going to find him and discipline him.’
The girl gave him a quiet smile. ‘And how will you do that,’ she said, ‘if even a girl can stop you in your tracks?’
Now he scowled. She was openly making fun of him. ‘I have only halted so I can question you,’ he said. ‘Then we will be on our way. Our mission is urgent. You have heard of this bandit Mu Yu?’ he asked her with a severe look. ‘This traitor who roams the mountains of Mu Ke, this criminal whose deeds are so vile, this thug, this lowlife, this scum?’
‘Yes,’ she replied calmly. ‘He is my father.’
For a moment he did not know what to say next. At last he spoke. ‘If you are telling the truth then you know where we can find him.’
‘Of course. Do you think I don’t know my own home?’
‘Then you will take us there,’ he said angrily.
‘Well,’ she said. ‘I might.’
‘This is not a request!’ he shouted. ‘It is a command!’
She nodded thoughtfully, as if considering this. ‘All right,’ she said at last. ‘I will lead you to my father. But only,’ she added, ‘if you can beat me in unarmed combat.’
There were gasps of disbelief from the soldiers. 10
‘And if I beat you,’ the girl added, ‘I will take you to him as my prisoner.’
At that all the soldiers began to shout:
‘Give her a spanking!’
‘Throw her back in the forest where she came from!’
The captain also heard some laughs. ‘He won’t dare accept,’ he heard someone say with a chuckle. He spun round angrily and once again they fell silent. But when he turned back to face the girl, he found her standing just in front of him. He hadn’t heard her move. She must have crossed fifteen paces without making a sound. He saw now how slender she was, how delicate her features. She looked maybe sixteen, seventeen years old, but the top of her head barely came up to his chin. She smiled at him, not as a child smiles but as an adult does, knowingly, and made a sudden movement, a movement so quick her hands were no more than a blur in the air, and his helmet fell onto the path and tumbled away.
She was still smiling, standing motionless again as if she hadn’t moved at all. The soldiers behind him were completely quiet now, shocked by her insult.
Captain Yang breathed deeply. ‘I accept your terms,’ he said to her. ‘Prepare to fight!’
2
UNARMED COMBAT
He felt ridiculous removing his heavy padded jacket, watched by his men. As the son of a famous general, he had been trained in kung fu from an early age. He was powerful and fast and had defeated many champions in competitions. He called over his second-in-command.
‘She is only a child,’ he said to him in a low voice. ‘I will not hurt her. When I have taught her a lesson, treat her fairly.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘If she is who she says she is, we will make sure she leads us to the bandit.’
‘Yes, sir.’
He hesitated. ‘But no one need know about this… contest,’ he added in a whisper. 12
13His second-in-command said nothing, and Zongbao turned to face the girl, who still stood on the path, faintly smiling as before.
‘If you want to be a proper fighter,’ he said, ‘you must prepare yourself.’
‘I’m always prepared,’ she replied.
His men had formed a circle around them and now silence fell again.
The captain crouched in the Horse Stance, legs wide, fists held at his waist. As if mocking him, the girl didn’t move at all. Suddenly straightening up, he stepped forward smartly, caught hold of the front of her tunic and lifted her up onto her tiptoes.
‘Now learn this,’ he said, towering above her. ‘The first lesson is to avoid being taken by surprise.’ He shook her, though not roughly. ‘Enough of this game-playing. You’ve had your fun. Now you will take us to your father.’
It was odd that even as she dangled from his grip, listening to him, she hadn’t stopped smiling. Her right hand suddenly swung up and trapped his fist against her chest. Wrenching back his thumb, in one smooth movement she slammed the back of her fist into his forearm and reversed it swiftly against the side of his head.
Dropping beyond his reach, she stood lightly in front of him again.
For a second he was bewildered. His forearm was numb, his ear buzzing. 14
A murmur went round the circle of men.
Without any further warnings, he launched into a series of whirlwind kicks, rising, spinning to the left and kicking to the right with the flat of his foot – once, twice, three times – around her head. Changing direction, flattening himself into the Crouch Stance, he spun sideways and rose again, the edge of his right hand slicing towards her neck.
She merely swayed backwards, slapped his hand down with a left chop and brought the same hand up in a fist to punch him twice, with astonishing speed, in the face.
He put his hand up. His nose was bleeding. It dawned on him then that this was no ordinary girl. She stood on the path in front of him, unruffled. An old memory came to him, the rumour of a girl warrior living in the wild. A friend had told him about her one evening. He had paid no attention. He had laughed at it, in fact. Now it came back to him: a girl with unbelievable fighting skills, living in the mountains, almost an animal. And her name came back to him too…
‘Mu Guiying,’ he said out loud.
She shrugged. His troops began to whisper urgently amongst themselves now.
Now Captain Zongbao began to take the fight seriously. He had been well-trained by his father. Taking up the Empty Stance, he let his mind go still. 15
He concentrated.
The noises from the soldiers and the birds disappeared; he heard nothing in the silence but the pulse of his qi, his vital force, like the sound of water dripping onto stone in an empty mountain cave.
Guiying had adopted the same stance. She was taking it seriously now too. He felt that, whichever way the fight went, it would be over quickly.
He attacked, head down, leaping forward. Before she could react, he stooped and took hold of her behind the knees and flung her backwards. She bounced up almost at once, but he advanced on her, kicking and whirling, as she staggered backwards.
He could hear his men cheering him on.
