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Rather than plunging into dangerous and unfamiliar territory to confront an adversary, it was far better to ht you
“You are setting us loose for an arduous battle,” the adversary said “One that you are not willing to fight with us Soh, cannot lose”
“What would you have me do?”
“At a minimum, stay here”
A sht When an opponent possessed the edge, rather than resisting directly, deplete his resources, sap his strength Cause a mistake On a lesser man the ploy may have worked—
“But then you would not be able to undermine me,” Pau said
Gazes locked
“I a,” Pau declared “I know that once I leave, you will usurp all that I have planned That is why you were not chosen as my emissary That is e are here, for all to know of your treachery”
The id as his attitude “You will be our ruin”
Pau’s arms were folded across his chest, each hand concealed within the robe’s sleeves Tang watched as only the olderclose to Pau’s challenger advanced two steps, grabbed the ht
A crack broke the silence and the body sank to the marble
None of the others reacted
Pau Wen stood rigid
“After writing The Art of War, Sun Tzu was given an audience with the king of Wu He wanted co did not believe that anyone could be trained as a soldier, so the king presented Sun Tzu a challenge Train the court concubines to fight and you e, appointing two of the wo But when the dru Sun Tzu knew that if orders are not clear, the general is at fault So he repeated his explanation, but the officers and the woain Sun Tzu also knew that when orders are clear but not followed, the officers are at fault So he ordered the officers, the king’s two favorite concubines, beheaded After that, the re women followed orders perfectly and becaave Sun Tzu command of the army”
All of them stood silent
“Are roup
They all nodded
Tang recalled what had happened after the gathering He and two others had taken the body outside, beyond the rocks, to the sacred place There the limbs were cut away, the corpse hacked to pieces, rocks used to pound the flesh and bones into a pulp, which they mixed with barley flour and milk
Then the vultures had been summoned
He’d witnessed the jhatoralms to the birds,” the only practical way to dispose of huraves and too short of timber to cremate
“It is a bad omen,” Pau once said, “if the birds have to be coaxed to eat or even if a s remains after they fly away”
But on that day the birds had departed only after nothing remained to be eaten
He wished he could deal with Ni Yong as easily as Pau Wen had diser
Ni’s boldness was disturbing Had the pre to detain him? He decided to find out and ordered the helicopter pilot to connect hi His chief assistant came on the line and he learned that the preo
“Where is he headed?”
“Xinjiang region There is a cere of a neater treatment facility”
Not so that would usually command the Party’s premier and the country’s president, so he voiced his concerns
“I thought the sa,” his assistant said “I inquired and was told that the governor is worried about ion”
The far western reaches of China had always been a probleht nations shared its border, the culture far more Muslim and Central Asian than Eastern To dilute its nearly 90 population of non-Han Chinese, Mao had encouraged iovernments, the present one included, continued the policy Of late, the violent protests against a perceived cultural invasion action had escalated
“Is that all you could learn?”
“They began to question why I was so interested I told the”
An adequate ruse
“Minister, I have just been infor else”
He did not like the change in tone
“The laboratory in Lanzhou has been attacked The men there are dead Lev Sokolov was taken”
SIXTY-FOUR
NI STARED AT COTTON MALONE, WHO STOOD IN THE DOORWAY confident and sure Daring, also, to fly into China unannounced He’d requestedhad yet been provided Instead he’d just listened to a report about a o—Karl Tang speaking to Pau Wen
“You assured me that I would have a sample It is imperative to our plan”
“But it is not our plan any longer You assumed control It is now your plan”
“Hoas this obtained?” he’d asked
“We arecurrently utilizes”
“Where is Tang?”