Continuing to read through the poems of Xu Wei, the swashbuckler, poet and painter of the late Ming Dynasty, I came across this poem:
- Brandishing short sword and pistol, we surround them at dusk
- A cold wind blows the spray of fresh blood onto the crowd of onlookers*
- The Calvary rides through the cool evening
- Droplets of red ice forming on their armor.
*It was common for people both of high and low station to go and watch battles, as source of free entertainment and information: whether you need to gather your possession and run to the hills