Taking the Birthday Convoy by Cunning

Every year the governor of a northern city squeezes a fortune in gold and jewels out of the people he governs and sends it to the capital as a birthday present for his father-in-law, who is the most powerful minister at court. This is not a secret and it is not a crime; it is how a provincial governor buys his next promotion, and everyone in the province knows where the money came from. Last year's convoy was taken on the road and never found.

This year the job goes to Yang Zhi (Yáng Zhì), a soldier who has already lost one career and is being handed his last chance to get one back. He signs a paper making any loss his own, disguises eleven loads of treasure as ordinary merchant goods, and puts them on the shoulders of eleven soldiers — along with an old household steward who has spent his whole life inside the minister's mansion and does not much enjoy taking orders from Yang Zhi.

Days ahead of them, seven men already know what is on the road and which way it must come: a village headman called Chao Gai (Cháo Gài), a country schoolmaster called Wu Yong (Wú Yòng) whom everyone calls the Wits Star, and five others. It is the sixth month, the road runs over bare hills, and Yang Zhi's rule is to march through the hottest hours of the day. He can beat his men into walking. He can do nothing about their thirst.