Changmei the Daoren was frightened. Very, very frightened. Even though he could hold forth eloquently as if he understood all things under heaven; even though his mind was filled with calculations and he could read people’s words and expressions with uncanny skill—he was simply frightened.
Surrounded by an army on all sides, enveloped in an atmosphere of deadly intent, this kind of feeling made a person afraid to utter even a single word of falsehood.
Li Diudiu watched his master sitting restlessly and thought to himself: when they had encountered the young northern border general Luo Jing on the road that time, his master had not been like this at all—he had been perfectly composed and even scheming to cheat the man out of some money.
Li Diudiu, however, surrounded by tens of thousands of soldiers, felt his blood coursing and his spirits rising. He even found there was something intoxicating about it, a feeling he was slowly growing addicted to.
“Master, stop bouncing your leg.”
Li Diudiu looked at Changmei and said in a low voice: “It makes it look like we’ve never seen the world before.”
Changmei snorted: “This is me bouncing my leg from ease and relaxation. What would you know about it? You’ve never been to a pleasure house, so naturally you wouldn’t know—when a man walks into such a place and sees all those lovely girls, his leg bounces. It’s ease. It’s contentment.”
Li Diudiu said admiringly: “Master is truly extraordinary—viewing ten thousand soldiers the way one views ten thousand beauties.”
Changmei sighed: “You don’t understand. You’re still young. Wait until you reach your master’s age and are still all alone. Never mind ten thousand soldiers as ten thousand beauties—you’d find even the cart horse looks bright-eyed and fair-faced.”
“Ahem…”
Xiahou Zuo, who was sitting beside them, coughed a few times and looked at Changmei: “Daoren, please, say no more.”
Changmei had completely forgotten that Xiahou Zuo was still sitting there beside him. He laughed awkwardly and said: “The truth is… I am somewhat unsettled. The might of armed soldiers is enough to unsettle anyone’s heart. The Left Martial Guard in particular.”
He pushed open the carriage window and looked outside: “Although I know nothing of commanding troops or waging war, even these old dim eyes of mine can see the difference. The Jizhou garrison troops and Prince Wu’s Left Martial Guard are worlds apart.”
They were all men. They all wore the same armor. They all carried the same forest of blades and spears. Yet somehow, when the Left Martial Guard marched on one side, the Jizhou garrison troops by comparison seemed like a pack of children.
Changmei was not wrong. He knew nothing of military formations and tactics, yet could still tell the difference clearly. Without the Left Martial Guard for comparison, the dense, orderly ranks of the Jizhou garrison troops would have looked impressively formidable—like an unbroken range of mountains stretching on and on. Yet with the Left Martial Guard marching alongside them, the Jizhou troops seemed to shrink, becoming at most a series of gentle earthen mounds. The Left Martial Guard beside them was a range of ten-thousand-foot peaks.
Xiahou Zuo said: “Among Dachu’s garrison forces, four stand above all others: the Left and Right Martial Guards, and the Left and Right Imperial Guards. People say that ten thousand of Dachu’s garrison troops cannot be opposed in battle—but what they don’t know is that these four Guard forces are the finest among the garrison troops, the elite among the elite. The Left Martial Guard alone numbers over forty thousand. Even if a rebel army held a ten-to-one advantage with four hundred thousand men, they would still not dare face the Left Martial Guard head-on.”
Changmei nodded. In Dachu’s northern territories, only the Youzhou Army could compare with this kind of force.
“Yu Chaozong is going to be in trouble this time.”
Changmei sighed and said: “I have heard that he is quite a remarkable figure.”
Xiahou Zuo lowered his voice: “However formidable Prince Wu’s forces may be, even he would not dare attack the Yan Mountains’ Green-Browed Army at this moment.”
He glanced outside the window and lowered his voice further.
“I only just learned of some intelligence. Prince Wu leading his army north to intimidate the Yan Mountains’ Green-Browed forces is not his only purpose in coming. The steppe outside the Yan Mountains suffered a natural disaster at the very start of winter—somehow a fire broke out and burned their winter grazing lands clean. Without grass the cattle and sheep perish, without livestock the people starve. So the Gejin chief of the steppe’s Geqin tribe has gone to Prince Wu seeking aid, offering to exchange warhorses for grain.”
Xiahou Zuo sighed: “Compared to the Green-Browed Army, what Prince Wu cares about most is the warhorses. The Left Martial Guard consists entirely of infantry. If they were also equipped with a cavalry force, they would truly be invincible under heaven.”
They sat in the carriage traveling with the army. Aside from answering calls of nature, they could not freely disembark—military discipline in this army was iron-hard, and moving about without permission could easily lead to serious trouble.
They endured the journey until at last they reached the area near the Yan Mountains. The main force made camp roughly ten or more li from the foot of the mountains. The auxiliary troops busied themselves setting up the encampment, while the combat troops arrayed their formations to the north, facing the Yan Mountains.
After being cooped up for so long, both Li Diudiu and Xiahou Zuo had been thoroughly stifled. Xiahou Zuo had the several dozen bodyguards sent by Prince Yu at his side, along with several dozen brothers arrayed in azure—more than enough to show how much Prince Yu valued him.
“Let’s go.”
Xiahou Zuo walked through the door and tossed Li Diudiu a crossbow: “Let’s take a turn around outside.”
Li Diudiu asked: “Where?”
“Into the mountains to hunt.”
Xiahou Zuo said: “I’ve already made arrangements with the military officers. We’re quartered in the Jizhou Army camp, free to come and go as we please—just don’t go near the Left Martial Guard camp.”
This was Li Diudiu’s first time being in a military camp, and his first experience with hunting. How could a boy his age resist the appeal of riding horses and hunting in the mountains?
He turned to look at Changmei. Changmei was after all getting on in years, and had been exhausted and jolted about on the long journey over. The old man shook his head: “You go with Young Master Xiahou. I need to rest. Don’t go stirring up trouble—listen to Young Master Xiahou in all things.”
Li Diudiu said: “Master, come with us! Riding into the mountains to hunt—doesn’t that sound fun?”
Changmei sighed: “Riding and hunting would indeed be fun, but the spirit is willing while the saddle-worn flesh is weak. You young people go and enjoy yourselves—I had better get some sleep.”
Li Diudiu said: “My own delicate skin and tender flesh doesn’t stop me—what is there for you to fear with that thick hide of yours, Master?”
Changmei sighed: “You actually dare be cheeky with this old man, your own master!”
Li Diudiu and Xiahou Zuo took a hundred-odd bodyguards and departed the military camp. They borrowed bows, arrows, and hunting nets from the Jizhou Army side. Word had it that the Yan Mountains were home to many wild beasts, the most ferocious of which was not the mountain tiger but the wild boar herds.
The local villagers all said that the mountains harbored a wild boar king who had practically attained spiritual enlightenment—weighing close to a thousand jin, larger even than a tiger, unstoppable in its charges.
Xiahou Zuo had lofty ambitions. Having heard all this, he wanted to enter the mountains specifically to hunt this so-called wild boar king.
The group rode on horseback to the foot of the mountains. There was a narrow trail used by hunters going up the mountain. At first they could ride, but as the forest grew dense and branches hung low, they had to lead their horses forward on foot.
“This location…”
Li Diudiu turned to look back at the plain below, watching the garrison troops of Dachu setting up their encampment, and said: “If the Yan Mountains’ Green-Browed bandits have men here keeping watch, every move of the garrison camp would be within their line of sight.”
Xiahou Zuo glanced back and nodded: “That’s true. But Prince Wu has already made preparations—the Left Martial Guard doesn’t fear being observed.”
Li Diudiu said: “But what about the Jizhou Army?”
Following his gaze, Xiahou Zuo looked toward the Jizhou Army’s position. Both were garrison forces, yet the Jizhou Army was clearly setting up their camp at a noticeably slower pace than the Left Martial Guard side. Throughout the entire march here, the Left Martial Guard had maintained their perfect formation—every soldier standing alert, ready to fight at any moment.
Looking at the Jizhou Army, though they too appeared to be maintaining formation and standing guard, the soldiers were all sitting on the ground, listless and drooping, utterly devoid of energy or spirit.
If at this very moment the Yan Mountains’ Green-Browed Army actually dared to strike at the garrison forces, they would certainly break through from the Jizhou Army’s side. Even if they couldn’t roll up the formation and take on the Left Martial Guard as well, those twenty thousand Jizhou troops would be in grave danger.
Li Diudiu stood on the hillside looking down, pointed toward the plain below and said: “A moment ago you mentioned the Green-Browed Army has over a thousand light cavalry. If they were to seize this moment while the government forces have not yet established firm footing—launching their light cavalry from the Jizhou Army’s direction, not seeking to kill anyone, only seeking to start fires and burn the supply stores—in one strike they could burn the Jizhou Army camp clean.”
“The Left Martial Guard side would not move lightly either, uncertain whether that cavalry force was a feint to lure them out or a genuine hit-and-run raid. So they would hold their own camp fast. At that point, if the Green-Browed Army wanted to press the advantage further, their infantry could assault the Jizhou camp, driving the Jizhou Army’s routed soldiers crashing into the Left Martial Guard camp. Strike hard and withdraw—the Jizhou Army would suffer severe losses, their provisions and supplies entirely destroyed.”
After listening to Li Diudiu finish, Xiahou Zuo nodded: “All well and good in theory and in practice—but Yu Chaozong would not be so foolish as to strike first. If he gains some advantage today by doing so, tomorrow the Left Martial Guard will commit to grinding him down until one of them is finished.”
Li Diudiu made a sound of agreement.
The two of them had come to hunt, and were merely voicing thoughts inspired by the sight of the camp below. They said nothing more about it and continued up the mountain.
After their group had passed, high up in one of the towering trees at the very spot where they had been talking, Yu Chaozong sat in the fork of a branch and smiled: “Those two young men—I wonder who they are. Both have some real ability.”
Sitting in the fork of another branch, the third-in-command Zhou Daoshou nodded: “Must be the sons of some powerful family. They don’t look like useless, dissolute scions either. With so many bodyguards, their backgrounds must be distinguished.”
Yu Chaozong said: “What you saw is true—Dachu does not lack for talented people. You encounter two young men at random and they have such insight. The only problem is…”
He sighed. The two young men he had just observed—one appearing to be seventeen or eighteen years old, the other thirteen or fourteen—looked like a pair of brothers. Their understanding of military strategy and formations was enough to make one look at these young men from powerful families in an entirely new light.
“Let’s move as well.”
Yu Chaozong shifted his gaze to the Left Martial Guard side, was silent for a moment, then continued: “We’ve seen what we came to see.”
Zhou Daoshou sighed: “If I had brought my light cavalry, I’d truly want to go down and hit them—burn their grain and supply wagons in one fire. Burn them today, and they’d pull back today.”
The two of them had brought only several dozen followers, intending only to scout out the government army’s dispositions. As Xiahou Zuo had said, Yu Chaozong would not truly launch an active attack—he had no confidence that he could hold out against the Left Martial Guard in a prolonged engagement and still come out the winner.
More than half of what he had said to comfort his men was genuinely just comfort. Yu Chaozong knew the real capabilities of the old core of the Green-Browed Army.
They had lived in the Yan Mountains for years. Their skill at climbing and leaping far surpassed ordinary men, and their ability to conceal themselves was beyond comparison. Xiahou Zuo and Li Diudiu had passed directly beneath the tree—and had not detected them at all.
After Li Diudiu and Xiahou Zuo’s group had moved far enough away, Yu Chaozong led his men down from the trees. As he descended, he was still thinking: that boy of thirteen or fourteen truly had sharp eyes and keen judgment. This was the best vantage point for observing the government army’s camp—how could a boy of that age arrive at such a judgment?
They withdrew in a different direction. Just then, Zhou Daoshou suddenly pulled Yu Chaozong’s arm and pointed forward.
Ahead in the forest, dark shapes seemed to flicker in and out of view—and there appeared to be quite a number of them. They crouched behind the cover of trees, cautiously advancing to investigate.
“Brother, something’s wrong.”
Zhou Daoshou looked at Yu Chaozong: “By the clothing they’re not government soldiers—the government forces have no need to wear night-stalking garb. These people…”
Yu Chaozong’s brow furrowed. He raised his hand in a signal, and the several dozen men around him immediately began to fall back.
“Brother.”
Zhou Daoshou drew his long blade, retreating while he spoke: “If they’re heading toward us, then within the Yan Mountain Camp…”
Yu Chaozong waved his hand: “Impossible that they’re our own people. Don’t let your imagination run wild.”
He turned: “Head up toward the summit—descend the mountain from the other side.”
The moment he turned, the men at the front had already stopped. From the summit above, a number of black-clad figures were working their way down.
He turned in other directions—figures were closing in from every side.
—