The Glory After Rebirth [ɇÇ”Ÿä¹‹Å°Šè£] Chapter 490- 492

Chapter 490: The South-western Army

In the south-west of the Great Wen.

A group of mysterious horsemen from the north quietly entered the encampment of the South-western Army.

This army built three years ago, after including the garrison stationed in the two south-western prefectures, had recruited a lot of new soldiers on a yearly basis and grown into a force over 100,000 strong. Everybody believed that this army had been built to deter the various tribes of complicated ethnic background dwelling near the south-western border as well as their headmen, every one of whom was itching to annex a town or two of the Great Wen. Only the commander of the South-western Army and his lieutenants were aware of the real reason why this army had been organized.

The arrival of the group of mysterious horsemen at the encampment of the South-western Army brought a change to the atmosphere in the encampment. It was like a kind of inexorable herald, or an unsheathed long knife that would make its wielder invincible.

…

BOOM!

Thunder rumbled in the sky and soon it was pouring with rain.

There was a sudden landslide on a mountain outside Yuechao City which was located in the south-west of the Wan Kingdom. A valley beside the mountain was almost filled because of it. Even people inside the city heard the almighty crash.

The Wan soldiers on night duty looked in the direction of that mountain outside the city, startled and confused. What with the inky night and the heavy rain, they were unable to see clearly what had just happened, but for some reason, every one of them had a foreboding feeling.

Before long, the ramparts suddenly quaked. It happened without warning and all the soldiers lost their footing and hastened to grab the parapet. The ramparts still quivering, they all broke out in a cold sweat. A few moments ago, when they had been gazing in the direction of the valley from which the almighty crash had issued, a section of the ramparts for some inexplicable reason had suddenly collapsed!

The ramparts had always been as substantial as though they were made of solid metal, but on this night a section of them had actually collapsed for no good reason. Nobody would believe that the rain was responsible for it. An indescribable panic suddenly spread among the soldiers on night duty. Some of them rushed off with the intention to report it to the local authorities. Some stared at the collapsed ramparts, unable to believe what they were seeing.

“The ramparts collapsed! The ramparts collapsed!”

The city began to descend into confusion. People shouting “The ramparts collapsed!” could be seen everywhere.

Before the officials of Yuechao City could give any instructions, a clatter of horses’ hoofs emanated from outside the city, where the impenetrable blackness was accompanied by torrential rain. The sounds were urgent and in chorus as though countless drums were beating in the dark. The dull clattering sounded as if it were reaching into the deep recesses of people’s minds, striking horror and shock into their hearts.

“Wh–What are those?” The soldiers looked in terror at the numerous black spots approaching in the dark, unable to tell what they were. However, the soldiers were all consumed with fright as though the Grim Reaper were coming. They found their legs trembling, but soon they found that it was not because of fear but because the ramparts were quaking from the drumbeat-like clattering of horses’ hoofs.

“Horses. No, no, people! They’re…INTRUDERS! WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!”

Finally someone made out what was approaching in the dark. It was an army of countless cavalrymen, who were galloping towards the city under cover of night. The sea of riders was even more terrifying than the pitch-black night. Nobody knew where they were from. It was as though they had descended from the sky or emerged from underground. The only thing the soldiers were positive about was that this army radiating an aura of death was here to claim their lives…

“Defend the city! Defend the city!”

“Inform His Lordship we’re under attack! We’re–”

Whizz!

Whizz! Whizz! Whizz!

Amid the blackness of night, some shooting arrows came penetrating the sheets of rain and one of them abruptly went into the speaker’s throat, sending him sinking to the ground, blood splattering.

Next, a volley of arrows whizzed over and took the lives of all the soldiers on the ramparts before they knew it.

“Enter the city.”

A cold voice was heard in the dark, traveling through the sheets of rain and reaching everybody’s ears.

The large army of men in black, who had appeared out of nowhere like ghosts, flooded through the breach in the ramparts and into Yuechao City to deafening clatter of horses’ hoofs and neigh, slaughtering all resisters and spattering blood along the way with their wicked-looking sabers.

Thunder was still rumbling on in the sky and the rain was still pouring down. The ground of Yuechao City was dyed red by blood mixed with rainwater.

This city was the largest along the south-western border of the Wan Kingdom, but the garrison here were utterly powerless to defend against the black army, who stormed the city as easily as cutting tofu with a knife.

“Take over the city and regroup. We’ll resume going north in two hours. Those assigned to stay here to stand guard are to welcome the team led by the Right Prime Minister into this city first light in the morning.”

“Yes, General!”

The soldiers made a reply as one, their voices resounding through the whole place in the rain under the pitch-dark night sky.

The official in charge of the defense of Yuechao City was captured. Legs trembling, he actually wet his pants from horror, a foul odor pervading the room. When asked about the situation in the next city, he had no intention to resist whatsoever and disclosed everything he knew.

“Give him a quick death.”

A saber flashed through the air with a gleam and another dead body toppled to the ground.

Two hours later, Yuwen Tong looked up into the sky from which rain had been falling all night, then shifted his gaze into the still darkness of night in the direction of the next city. “Let’s go,” he said.

The sea of men in black, after hearing the two words, followed in Yuwen Tong’s wake like a mighty wave, merging into the dark, heading for the city nearest to Yuechao City.

…

In the capital of the Great Wen.

“It’s time to turn in, Your Highness.”

It was after midnight, but Ling Zhang still showed no inclination to go to sleep. The eunuch waiting upon him couldn’t help but remind him of the time.

Ling Zhang couldn’t sleep. The memorials to the throne delivered to him during the day had all been dealt with, but there still hadn’t been any new messages from the south-west. He was unaware of how things were going on the battlefield, and his worries were keeping him from getting to sleep.

Judging from the time of Yuwen Tong’s departure, it should have been two days since the army led by him had stormed into the south-west of the Wan Kingdom. Yuwen Tong’s army owned the fastest carrier hawks, and the message should have been delivered to the capital city some time ago. However, it was something after midnight, but there was still no news, so he naturally was unable to sleep.

He had a feeling that Yuwen Tong was not in danger. Ever since he had reached the sixth layer of his method of cultivating internal energy, he had been having some kind of premonitory awareness of the future development of the things he was concerned about. Right now he was feeling calm, and he had confidence in his hunch, so the reason why the carrier hawk hadn’t arrived yet was either that Yuwen Tong was delayed by something or that some kind of accident had happened to the hawk halfway through its journey.

Finally, after he waited for almost another hour, a secret bodyguard rushed inside.

“Message delivery–! A secret letter from the south-west, Your Highness!”

A look of delight flashed across Ling Zhang’s face at the report and with that he took the little bamboo correspondence-tube from the secret bodyguard’s hands, removed the stopper and extracted the secret letter inside. After he finished reading it, his face finally creased into a smile.

The army led by Yuwen Tong had taken three cities already, occupying the south-western corner of southern Wan Kingdom, which approximately covered the same area that a southern prefecture did. It had taken the carrier hawk some time to finish the journey, which meant that soon – in three days at the latest – Xue Chi would be informed of it, and people in the capital city would heard the news as well. And then, naturally, it would be no longer necessary to keep it secret that Yuwen Tong had been faking his injury. He would be able to overtly put Old Master Ji in charge of the imperial court, entrust his children to his father and Ji Yin and then set off to Shengzhou.

…

Three days later, news spread throughout the belligerents that two prefectures in south-western Wan Kingdom had fallen into Yuwen Tong’s hands.

Outside Shengzhou Pass, Xue Chi, who had fought the North-western Army for six solid days but still hadn’t made any progress, found his self-restraint no longer enough to help him maintain his dignity as General-in-chief at the news, his face so tense it was twisting. Through gritted teeth, he muttered smolderingly, “Yuwen Tong!”

The so-called waist injury was a blatant lie! Yuwen Tong had left the capital of his country some time ago. He had just launched an attack on Shengzhou Pass when Yuwen Tong had detoured around the vast mountainous south-western areas inhabited by various tribes and had his army storm into the Wan Kingdom!

All of them had fallen prey to Yuwen Tong’s trick!

However, though he had now come to know about the truth, there was nothing he could do about it. Distant water cannot quench a nearby fire. Besides, the only way to stop Yuwen Tong was to get through Shengzhou Pass and march all the way south. In that case, Yuwen Tong would lead his army back to save the capital of the Great Wen.

Xue Chi smacked his fist down on to the table, clenching his teeth, beside himself with rage, but eventually he had no choice but to summon all the officers, inform them of the latest news and tell them that they must take Shengzhou Pass within two days.

All the officers didn’t dare believe their ears after hearing that Yuwen Tong had taken two south-western prefectures. When their superior had affirmed that it was true, they all instantly lapsed into silence.

“Despicable. Yuwen Tong is so fucking despicable!” Someone cursed loudly.

“Father, should we go back to their rescue?!” asked Xue Yi anxiously.

Xue Chi glanced at him. “The Chen family had led an army south to intercept Yuwen Tong’s men. What we should do is figure out a way to take Shengzhou Pass as soon as possible.”

“It’s been six days, General Xue. Can I trust you to take Shengzhou Pass within two days?” said Shan Congyi, looking derisively at Xue Chi. At the beginning their victory had seemed in the bag, but now things were taking a drastic turn for the worse. They had been attacking Shengzhou Pass for six days but still hadn’t broken its defense, and they were still unable to gain entry into the Great Wen or go south to lay siege to its capital. They might not even be able to stop Yuwen Tong from taking their home front, not to mention kill him!

“I will take Shengzhou Pass or die trying,” enunciated Xue Chi.

If he failed, the consequence he would have to face after returning to the capital would be death anyway.

Everybody in the tent fell silent. After a moment, they all balled their hands into fists tightly.

“If Mu Hengtian’s army takes Youzhou Pass right away, we’ll have a higher chance of winning, but…” flared Xue Yi.

It had been two days since the Luohai Kingdom’s army had reached Youzhou Pass, but they still hadn’t gone on the offensive. God knew what they were thinking!

“Contact Nian Feng the Luohai General-in-chief and tell him to attack immediately. There’s no way I’m letting them sit back and do nothing after they pocketed all the money and land we offered them,” said Xue Chi irritably.

Soon, a dispatch written by Xue Chi himself, which bore the General-in-chief’s seal and Prince Yi’s seal, was handed over to an officer, who immediately departed, heading for Youzhou Pass with all haste.

…

In Shengzhou Pass.

“There has been frequent redeployment and regroupment in the Wan army. It would seem they have received the message. Tomorrow’s fight is going to be a tough one. Should we activate the large-scale Formation that His Highness had us deploy?”

Jiang Xi, after descending the ramparts, directly went to the main tent where he met Jiang Ke.

“The Formation could only trap the enemy for three or four days,” hesitated Jiang Ke, looking at the map on the table. “His Majesty has taken two prefectures, and there are only two southern prefectures under the Wan Kingdom’s control. If His Majesty takes them as well, the whole south will be in our hands, and that river will be the only thing between us and the Wan capital, but now the Chen family has led an army south to intercept His Majesty under orders from Shan Congli. There’s no telling how long it would take His Majesty to–”

Jiang Xi was somewhat anxious. “Stop dithering. Let’s trap Xue Chi’s men first. It’d be worth it even if the Formation would last only two or three days. They need to be brought down a peg!”

The hesitant expression in Jiang Ke’s eyes was replaced by one of determination and with that he replied through gritted teeth, “Okay. Give the order. We activate the Formation tonight!”

Chapter 491: Panic

In the encampment of the Luohai army not far away from Youzhou Pass.

The officer sent by Xue Chi requested an audience with Nian Feng the Luohai General-in-chief, but after being ushered into the encampment, he found that the whole place was suspiciously quiet, and there was no sign of any pre-war preparatory activities whatsoever, which both astonished and startled him. On top of that, he was stationed in a tent and waited for quite some time, but Nian Feng still hadn’t summoned him. He became vigilant and attempted to leave the tent but was stopped by the guards on duty outside the door.

“What’s this supposed to mean? I’m here to seek an audience with your General-in-chief under orders from Prince Yi and General Xue. Are you sure you want to stop me? Our countries are allies, in case you forgot!”

“No offense, but we cannot let you leave this tent unless the general summons you. This is an encampment of a Luohai army, where unauthorized individuals are not allowed to walk around freely. Please forgive us.”

The officer had no alternative but to exercise all his self-restraint and keep waiting. After another long while, there was still no sign of an audience with Nian Feng. The officer got anxious. “Exactly when can I have an audience with your general? The situation in Shengzhou is dire and we can’t afford to waste any time. Why the hell are you keeping me trapped in this place?!”

The guards outside the door seemed to know nothing about what the officer asked them. When the officer rebuked them, they always said “Please be patient” and refused to let him leave.

The Wan officer was consumed with anger. The more he thought about it, the more suspicious he found the circumstances to be. He was trying to figure out a way to flee the tent when finally a soldier showed up in the doorway and offered to lead him to the General-in-chief’s tent.

Smoldering, the officer followed the soldier to the doorway of the General-in-chief’s tent, where he, surprisingly, was told that he was not allowed to enter.

“What do you mean?”

“Our general caught a cold a couple of days ago. The physician said that he must not be exposed to cold wind and should avoid meeting visitors until he makes a full recovery, lest he suffer an exacerbation of his symptoms which might have a negative influence on his ability to direct operations.”

What? A cold? What kind of cold could be so severe as to make it necessary for the patient to avoid meeting people?

“You may state your business right here.”

“I’m not allowed to breathe a word of this information to anybody other than the general.”

“Everybody here is very much in the general’s confidence. You don’t have to have any misgivings.”

“You…”

Resigned, the Wan officer had no choice but to fish out the secret letter.

The guard took the letter and delivered it into the main tent. After a while, a sonorous voice said inside the tent, “I’ve come to know the request from the Wan Kingdom. Please go back and tell Prince Yi and General Xue that my army will launch an offensive on Youzhou Pass in support of the Wan Kingdom’s plan of attack.”

The Wan officer didn’t find those words reassuring. He still hadn’t clapped eyes on Nian Feng hitherto, and the Luohai encampment was eerily quiet. Unable to have peace of mind, he said through gritted teeth, “May I have an audience with you, General Nian? If I leave like this, Prince Yi and General Xue might deem it irresponsible of me to go back without even seeing your face.”

“My illness makes it inconvenient for me to meet any visitors. You need to go back immediately. Every moment you spend lingering here could be an opportunity lost.” The sonorous voice instantly became commanding.

The Wan officer hesitated for quite a while, his eyes raking the guards on the two sides the gaze of whom was becoming unfriendly. Eventually, he had no choice but to reply with a bow, “Yes, General.”

A couple of soldiers walked the Wan officer out of the Luohai encampment. Meanwhile, in the General-in-chief’s tent, Nian Feng’s lieutenant gave a gasp of relief, resignedly tossing a backward glance at the empty from which the General-in-chief was absent. Before departure, they had received secret instructions from Mu Hengtian, which told them that this dispatch of troops was meant to be a mere act aimed at palming off the Wan monarch, that they didn’t really have to go to war with the Great Wen – in a word, after the army made camp outside Youzhou, they were allowed to make small-scale attacks on Youzhou Pass to hoodwink the Wan Kingdom but must not launch a real offensive. On receiving the secret instructions, Nian Feng the General-in-chief had stopped taking this operation seriously. After the army was encamped in the destination, he had actually returned to the capital covertly, for rumor had it that the monarch’s condition had worsened again. The General-in-chief, suspecting that the monarch had agreed to forge an alliance with the Wan Kingdom to have him leave the capital, that there might be upheavals in the capital, had actually deserted his post and returned to the capital.

It had never crossed the lieutenant’s mind that the Wan Kingdom would send someone over so soon, and it had come as an even greater surprise to him that an army led by Yuwen Tong had actually stormed into the Wan Kingdom and taken two south-western prefectures!

What should he do? The General-in-chief was absent, and the monarch had especially ordered them not to send any troops to the Wan Kingdom, but Yuwen Tong’s army was now closing in on the Wan capital. If he really managed to take the Wan Kingdom, wouldn’t the Luohai Kingdom be in grave danger? When the lips are lost, the teeth will be exposed to the cold.

“General, since His Majesty gave us the permission to make small-scale attacks on them, we might as well send some men out there. Though we’re not allowed to do anything big, we may harass them from time to time. As long as our main force stays here, the Youzhou garrison won’t dare go anywhere else, and our task of holding up Shao Feng and his men will be considered fulfilled. As regards the Wan Kingdom, their cavalry are not ornamental. Let them sort that mess out by themselves. I mean, they are continuing with their offensive against the Shengzhou garrison. If even they themselves are not worried about it, why should we bother?” suggested one of the general’s trusted men.

Nian Feng’s lieutenant pondered over it for quite some time. Believing that his trusted man had a point, he agreed, “All right. The day after tomorrow, we’ll gather a team of two thousand men and go to Youzhou Pass to challenge them to a fight.”

“Yes, General!”

…

Outside Shengzhou Pass, the Wan officer returned to the Wan encampment in a great hurry with the intention to report the weird situation in the Luohai encampment to Xue Chi only to find that the atmosphere in the encampment had become rather odd. Everybody in sight was trotting hastily, face etched with panic.

“Stop. What’s going on? Did something happen here?” he asked after stopping a team of soldiers.

The man leading the team recognized the officer and replied with an anxious face, “This morning, General Xue led the main force out to attack Shengzhou. At first we could hear thunderous pounding of war drums and battle cry, but afterward all sounds suddenly disappeared for no reason. Our sentries climbed up the watchtowers and discovered that fog had closed in on the battlefield without warning. The whole battlefield was shrouded in mist. Even Shengzhou Pass was nowhere to be seen. We couldn’t see anything on the battlefield, and neither could we hear any sounds from there. Some men were sent into the thick fog to check out the lay of the land, but none of them came back. It’s almost dusk, and the army should have stopped attacking and come back by now, but there’s still no sign of activity whatsoever on the battlefield. Nobody knows what happened in the fog. The assistant commander is worried that some other weird things might happen, so he’s making arrangements for the rest of us to tighten the security of the encampment, and he’s also sending more men into the dense fog to do recon.”

The situation was so weird. They had been serving in the army for many years, but none of them had ever seen anything like this before. All those who had entered that thick fog seemed to have disappeared out of thin air and were still unaccounted for, as though the fog were some kind of monster that had devoured them all. This day the Wan Kingdom had launched an all-out attack. Xue Chi had decided to take Shengzhou Pass or die trying. Even Shan Congyi, who had never been to the battlefield since the start of this war, had gone with the army. However, nobody could have foreseen that things would turn out this way. The rest of the men in the Wan encampment were all panic-stricken. Rumors about supernatural forces being at work began to circulate. Though the assistant commander ruled such subjects off-limits, his men were still in fear.

The fog was so dense people standing in it couldn’t even see their own hands in front of their eyes. A twenty-li (li is a Chinese unit of length, equal to 500 meters) radius around Shengzhou Pass was cloaked in it. The Wan army sent out one search party after another, but none of them returned. It was getting dark. Lighted torches, after being carried into the fog, could be faintly seen for only a few moments before their dim light was swallowed by darkness. At night, the thick mist was like a giant black monster, more terrifying than it looked during daytime.

The assistant commander of the Wan Kingdom, after losing contact with several search parties, finally came to realize that such action was a meaningless waste of manpower. He stopped sending men to the soundless and lightless battlefield and summoned the officers assigned to stay in the encampment, intending to confer with them to figure out a solution.

At this time, the officer who had returned from the Luohai encampment finally had an opportunity to relate to the others what he had seen in the Luohai encampment. “I’m afraid something unexpected has happened in the Luohai army. There’s no telling whether Nian Feng is really too sick to meet any visitors or some accident has happened to him, or maybe he’s simply not in the encampment. There’s a high chance the Luohai army wouldn’t be able to act in support of our plan the way we want them to.”

Bang!

Someone smacked his fist on to the table.

“Mu Hengtian is such a dishonest bastard!”

“What kind of con game is Mu Hengtian running exactly? Why the hell did he encamp his army outside Youzhou Pass when he had no intention to attack?!”

…

While the Wan army were in panic and at the end of their rope, Ling Zhang and some of his men had just reached the border between Shengzhou and Youzhou. Distantly, he sensed something and then glanced in the direction of Shengzhou, speculating that the large-scale Formation had been activated. If that was the case, at least during the next three days the Wan army would be trapped in there, unable to do anything, so there was no hurry.

As things stood, the most decisive part was whether or not Yuwen Tong would be able to fight off the other Wan army led south by the Chen family and force them into retreating to the areas north of the Wan River which ran through the middle of the Wan Kingdom.

Seeing that Ling Zhang halted at the border, one of his men mistakenly believed that Ling Zhang was hesitating about paying a visit to Youzhou, so he asked, “Should we go to Youzhou, Young Master?”

Ling Zhang shook his head. “Nothing can go seriously wrong in Youzhou. We’re going to Shengzhou.”

After saying this, he spurred Snowflake the horse and galloped forward with the intention to enter Shengzhou under the cover of night. The line of lighted torches carried by the team of men, like a dragon, was proceeding towards Shengzhou along the national road.

The reason why Ling Zhang was not worried about the situation in Youzhou was because he had received a message saying that Nian Feng the Luohai General-in-chief was not in the encampment outside Youzhou Pass, that he had actually gone back to the Luohai capital, for Mu Hengtian’s health problems had worsened suddenly and was confined to bed. Naturally, Nian Feng wouldn’t sit back and watch the throne fall into someone else’s hands. After returning to the capital, he had immediately helped the prince he was in support of launch a brutal offensive against the faction headed by Mu Rongfeng the crown prince, slaughtering them. Right now in the Luohai capital, blood was flowing over the ground like water. The rivalry for the throne had reached the most crucial juncture. Neither Nian Feng nor Mu Rongfeng nor Dugu Shan nor Mu Hengtian could spare a thought for the war between the other two countries.

Ling Zhang traveled with all haste and reached Shengzhou the next noon.

The garrison had taken over Shengzhou, guarding it heavily. Ling Zhang, after entering the city, directly went to the Abode of Governor to see Ling Zhaowen but was told that his uncle had gone to the gate tower.

Ling Zhang was astonished for a moment, then hurried to the gate tower with his men and, after climbing up to the tower, found that his uncle was looking into the distance, lost in thought.

“Uncle Zhaowen.”

Ling Zhang’s voice brought Ling Zhaowen back to his senses. At the sight of Ling Zhang, his eyes instantly widened with amazement. “What are you doing here?!”

“I’m going to Shengzhou Pass. All necessary arrangements have been made in the capital city, so you don’t have to concern yourself with it. Actually I want to ask you the same question – what are you doing here?” said Ling Zhang.

“Who said anything about the capital city? You are the consort. What business could you possibly have in Shengzhou Pass? Have you any idea how dangerous that place is?” said Ling Zhaowen.

Ling Zhang hastened to calm Ling Zhaowen down, promising his uncle that he would keep himself safe. “His Majesty and I agreed to meet in the Wan capital.”

Chapter 492: Unstoppable Momentum and the North-South Standoff

The southern city of Lenan, the Wan Kingdom.

A day before, Lenan was occupied by the army of the Great Wen, who then encamped outside the city. Led by Yuwen Tong, they had taken two south-western prefectures as well as the south-eastern prefecture of Yuezhou and were now outside Lenan facing off against a Wan army from the north.

To the north of Lenan was Chaodu City to the north of which was the Wan River.

If the Wan army failed to hold Chaodu City which was their last barrier south of the Wan River, they would have to retreat to the areas north of the Wan River, and when that happened, the whole south of the Wan Kingdom would, for all intents and purposes, be under the control of the Great Wen.

Nobody in the Wan Kingdom could have foreseen that the army of the Great Wen would take those cities so quickly. They had defeated the garrisons stationed in the two south-western prefectures and the south-eastern prefecture of Yuezhou so easily as cutting bean curd with a knife. It was as if the garrisons were totally powerless to resist. Though another Wan army had marched south and were now standing in a standoff with the army of the Great Wen, Wan people still had no grounds for optimism. Chaodu City constituted their last barrier against the enemy. However, there was no natural barrier between Chaodu City and Lenan. In fact, the area between the two cities was basically a vast expanse of flat land, with no strategically advantageous terrain whatsoever that the Wan army could make use of…

“Given that Yuwen Tong has encamped his men right outside Lenan, he must think he could take us apart without breaking a sweat. What an arrogant bastard!”

In the main tent of the Wan army, all officers were sitting in a circle, including Chen Jing the commander-in-chief. Someone cursed Yuwen Tong loudly out of rage. Actually all Wan officers had been filled with anger ever since Yuwen Tong had led his men into south-western Wan Kingdom.

Chen Jing the commander-in-chief had a grave face. He was angry as well, but he better than any of his subordinates knew that anger was no solution to any of the problems they were faced with at the moment. Half a month ago, all Wan courtiers, brimming with confidence, had been so positive that the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom would be able to take the Great Wen with a coalition offensive as if the day when they would carve up the fertile land and rich cities of the Great Wen was in sight, their faces glowing with excitement despite the fact that the war hadn’t even started yet. Only when Yuwen Tong’s army had stormed the south-west and Xue Chi had been held back outside Shengzhou Pass had the courtiers come to realize things were not going as they had expected, and all of them had begun to curse and swear. Eventually and resignedly, they had assigned Chen Jing to lead an army south to save the day, but if truth be told, Chen Jing was not sure if he could get the job done.

He had never had any dealings with Yuwen Tong before. Many years ago he had had some dealings with Yuwen Tong’s father and grandfather, but ever since his daughter had been made the queen consort, he, as the monarch’s father-in-law, had never left the capital city or directed any military operations again. For him, the royal court, where there was nobody wielding a saber or a spear, but which was fraught with intrigue and undercurrents, had become his new battlefield. This was his first time being on the actual battleground in many years. Chen Jing was fully aware that he was getting old, that he was now inferior to Yuwen Tong in terms of both physical strength and fighting spirit. On top of that, troops of the Great Wen, who had killed thousands along the way, were now radiating an almost palpable aura of death. The Wan army, though not having set eyes on the enemy yet, were already in fear. In these circumstances, it was almost impractical to hold back Yuwen Tong’s army with the defense of Chaodu City which didn’t have any advantages whatsoever in terms of terrain.

Therefore, Chen Jing, having come to know that Yuwen Tong had taken Lenan, planned to retreat to the north bank of the Wan River and take advantage of the natural barrier to keep Yuwen Tong’s army at bay. Even if he was unable to drive off Yuwen Tong, he could hold the north and wait for Xue Chi to take Shengzhou Pass forcing Yuwen Tong to sue for peace or retreat to the Great Wen to save the capital. Unlike Xue Chi who deemed it an honor to die on the battlefield, Chen Jing tended to see things from the perspective of politicians. The days when heroic deeds and a glorious death appealed to him more than anything were long gone. Now he preferred to play it safe, not craving to render any meritorious service, hoping only to make no obvious mistakes.

However, Chen Jing also knew that it was inadvisable to disclose any of these to others, which was why he had only intimated them to the couple of henchmen of his and had never breathed a word to any outsiders. After all, Chaodu City still stood, and a large number of Wan subjects were still in there. If he abandoned Chaodu City without putting up a fight, it wouldn’t be long before he met his end.

…

In Lenan.

Yuwen Tong gave a sneer as he put the intelligence report about the inactivity of the Wan army down on to the table. The sole reason why the Wan army remained inactive was because its commander-in-chief wanted it to. Others might be confused as to what that geriatric Chen Jing was thinking about, but Yuwen Tong could guess it without much difficulty. The Wan army was laying low, but he wouldn’t. His troops in Shengzhou Pass were still under attack from Xue Chi’s men, so he must take Chaodu City and cross the Wan River as soon as possible.

As a result, what Yuwen Tong was occupied with was making preparations for his army to cross the Wan River quickly.

The Wan River rose in the uncharted snow-capped mountains in western Wan Kingdom. Except for a couple of nomadic tribes dwelling at the feet of the snowy mountains where there were some meadows, hardly anybody inhabited that area. Beyond the snowy mountains lay some western micro-states the subjects of which intermingled. Owing to the lofty snowy long mountain range in between, those western mini-states had scarcely had any conflicts with the Wan Kingdom, and there were some caravans traveling between the two sides on a regular basis. The middle reaches of the Wan River ran through the middle of the Wan Kingdom, and the lower reaches of it wound its way south-east, went underground somewhere and through some mountains before entering the Great Wen where it branched off into several tributaries, and where it was, naturally, no longer called the Wan River.

The middle reaches of the Wan River were quite wide, and were torrential in some sections where the terrain was steep. The section of it outside Chaodu City was relatively slow, and there was ferry service, but there was no way the Wan army was going to let them cross the river uneventfully. How to withstand the Wan army’s attack and cross the river without suffering too many casualties to be able to defeat the Wan army after crossing it was what Yuwen Tong needed to figure out.

He had spent three years formulating this plan, so of course he had long since considered the thorny problem of how to cross the Wan river. Naturally, some preparations had been made, and it was still with the help of Jiahe Chamber of Commerce that he had sorted it out.

Right inside Chaodu City was a branch of Jiahe Chamber of Commerce, which was the largest branch in the Wan Kingdom outside of the one in the capital. His men had hidden in the city the tools they needed to cross the river: boats – components of boats, to be precise. It was impossible to hide any ready-made boats in there. Large numbers of boat-makers and tools required to make boats had been hidden somewhere outside the city. All he needed to do was enter the city, find the components, transfer them to the secret location and have the boats built as soon as possible. Building large ships was beyond their capabilities, and they didn’t have that much time anyway. The boats were going to be built according to a design drawing found among those long-lost manuscripts presented to him by the Millennium Pavilion. They were a kind of canoes, to be more accurate, which could cross to the opposite bank quickly with wind filling their sails. There was also a kind of Canoe Formation, which required teamwork between skilled boatmen and soldiers with great arm strength and kung fu skills, who were supposed to keep a chain net stay in its position to shield the fleets of canoes from salvos of arrows fired by the Wan army on the other bank.

All those men had infiltrated into southern Wan Kingdom and gone into hiding before the start of the war. After Yuwen Tong took the south, they had come out of hiding and returned to Yuwen Tong’s army.

“Take Chaodu City as soon as possible so that we’ll have enough time to build the canoes we need,” Yuwen Tong said to the officers in front of him.

Aside from Yuwen Jin, He Xiao, Xiao Jiangyue and a couple of newly promoted officers were also in the army led by Yuwen Tong. Having been through a lot of fights along the way, every one of them was emanating an air of ferocity as menacing as a sharp blade. They were now sitting in a circle, and any common person would find the atmosphere in the tent unbearable if they walked in.

“He Xiao and Jin are to go to this place to find what we need. The others are to go with me to deal with Chen Jing’s army,” said Yuwen Tong. Next, he briefed them in on his battle plans in a detailed way in an effort to make sure that they could take Chaodu City with the highest possible efficiency.

Having been assigned their respective tasks, Yuwen Jin and He Xiao left first to make arrangements. Yuwen Tong conferred with Xiao Jiangyue for another few moments about what they needed to arrange next, and then the army was put into combat readiness.

…

Early the next morning, when it was not fully light yet, with mist patches still lingering, the ground began to quake to the beat of war drums.

The Wan army had been ready for the fight for quite some time as well, but just as Chen Jing had predicted, the morale of his army paled into insignificance compared to that of Yuwen Tong’s army who were unstoppable. Eventually, his men were retreating, stopping at intervals to fight, appearing to be on the losing side.

…

Like a child who had been given hope but soon lost it, people of Chaodu City watched the Wan army engage the enemy several times before being forced into falling back while fighting. At last, the Wan army crossed the Wan River to the northern bank. Before leaving, they burnt all ships and boats except for the ones they needed to cross the river, killed all craftsmen good at building boats and set a fire to the ferry crossing, making sure that the army of the Great Wen could find no boat to cross the river in, no artisan who could build boats for them, and no ferry crossing they could use.

Residents of Chaodu City were cursing and swearing loudly. It had never crossed their minds that the Wan army would kill their own countrymen when the enemy hadn’t killed a single civilian yet. Blood was flowing on the ground in almost all the streets in the city which was now filled with wail and abuse.

Yuwen Tong’s men didn’t hurt the civilians when occupying the city. They only killed the resisters and those who must be disposed of, making an example of them, quickly getting things under control. After the situation stabilized, Yuwen Tong made arrangements for his army to guard against potential attack from Chen Jing’s men on the other side of the river, and at the same time, following the plan, had some soldiers quickly find all the materials they needed, which had been hidden somewhere beforehand, and then had the boat-makers start making canoes as fast as they could.

The Wan army were on the other bank of the river, and Yuwen Tong had taken some measures to keep the operations secret, so Chen Jing was totally unaware of what the army of the Great Wen were doing. Seeing that they had formed up into battle formation along the bank but were showing no inclination to take further action, he came to believe that they were unable to figure out a way to cross the river.

Chen Jing felt a sense of relief, thinking that it would be some time before the enemy could cross the Wan River, eagerly anticipating the day Xue Chi would take Shengzhou Pass. However, a fact he didn’t know was that Xue Chi, trapped in a large-scale Formation, hadn’t taken in any water for two days, his lips parched and cracked, his face pasty, looking as withered as dry firewood, and was now cursing loudly at Yuwen Tong and the troops guarding Shengzhou Pass.

“You despicable characters. Stop using these underhand methods and fight us like men, will you? Are all of you gutless wimps?!”

On hearing Xue Chi’s loud curses, Ling Zhang came to know that Xue Chi was really getting anxious.

It had taken a lot of manpower and time to deploy this large-scale Formation, and it was only fair that the Formation should trap them for another day or two. However, there was a downside to it: if his own men entered it, they would be trapped in it as well. Were it not for this, the Shengzhou garrison would have some time ago gone into the Formation and finished off the Wan soldiers weakened within an inch of their lives by thirst and hunger like cutting vegetables.

However, though going in there to wipe out the Wan army was not an option for the moment, they would be exterminated after they got out of the Formation.

Standing on the ramparts of Shengzhou Pass, gazing into the thick fog the whole battleground was cloaked in, Ling Zhang listened to the various wails and expletives for a while and came to have a new understanding of what this Formation could do to its victims. This kind of good stuff must be put to good use. Maybe it would prove useful in the remainder of the war. Of course, for a Formation to work, he needed to find the time to deploy it first. Therefore, in the final analysis, its efficacy depended on whether it was deployed at the right time, in the right place and by the right people. It constituted a pretty good defensive measure, but couldn’t be used as an offensive weapon.