A man cannot grow young again — but a man can keep the spirit of his youth.

Daizhou’s frontier pass had never had anything to do with the Black Wu before. This pass had always guarded against the steppe people, and so compared to the frontier passes north of Youzhou, this one had never seen any great battles. Not even the soldiers stationed here had ever imagined that the day would come when it would fall to them to block the Black Wu people’s southward advance.

On the fifth day of the Black Wu people’s fierce assault, up on the city wall — having beaten back the Black Wu attack once again — the Dachu frontier soldiers all sat down where they were. They had no idea how much time they had to rest, so they had to seize every breath of it. If they could steal even a short sleep, that was already the greatest luxury available to them.

“Five days.”

Liu Mu looked at Tan Qianshou, handed him a flask of water, and said, “By rights, the reinforcements from Xinzhou ought to arrive today. Xinzhou is a bit farther, true — but if they received the message and marched immediately, they should arrive by dark at the latest.”

Tan Qianshou shook his head. There was no way to be certain when Xinzhou’s reinforcements would come — but one thing was certain: if they didn’t arrive by tonight, the frontier pass might have no soldiers left to fight.

The over two thousand soldiers Liu Mu had brought had now fought for two days and a night of brutal, unrelenting combat. Over those two days and one night, the Black Wu assault had been even fiercer than before — with absolutely no concern for their own losses. Under Lü Chi’s severe orders, those Black Wu commanding officers had no retreat option left — break through the city, or die.

In these two days and one night, of the Daizhou forces who had come — apart from the few hundred left to hold Daizhou City itself — every single soldier who had ridden here had already been in the fight. Those still in anything like workable condition numbered fewer than three hundred.

This tiny frontier pass had become a killing ground. The casualties on the wall itself were staggering — to say nothing of the Black Wu side’s losses.

But at this moment, the Black Wu had no fear of casualties. They had already lost several thousand men — why should they fear losing more? Even if they left ten thousand Black Wu bodies at the base of these walls, as long as they took the frontier pass, it would be worth more than retreating with several thousand dead and nothing to show for it.

The Black Wu’s desperation, their complete disregard for their own losses, only confirmed Liu Mu’s suspicion: Black Wu Khan Kuokedi Dashi was probably drawing near.

If Kuokedi Dashi arrived and found that Lü Chi had still not broken through the frontier city, first — Lü Chi would lose all face. Second — if he had delayed the main army’s southward advance, even Lü Chi himself might be court-martialed.

Liu Mu looked out at the torches that stretched unbroken beyond the walls, their glow pushing back even the darkening sky.

“If the reinforcements don’t come tonight, possibly…”

Liu Mu glanced at Tan Qianshou. Both men, for all their indomitable spirit and fierce determination, had no soldiers left to fight with — and without soldiers, spirit and determination were meaningless.

Tan Qianshou rose to his feet and looked out beyond the walls. After a moment he said, “Do what we must, and leave the rest to heaven.”

Before dark, the Black Wu people pressed forward once more. For the past three days they had been felling trees in the surrounding area, and over those three days they had constructed an enormous siege tower — its height nearly level with the top of the city wall. The topmost tier of the tower could hold dozens — perhaps close to a hundred — archers. Its construction was crude, but with this siege tower, the Black Wu could put pressure directly on the soldiers atop the wall.

As a resonant, synchronized battle chant rose from beyond the walls, that enormous siege tower was slowly pushed forward.

“How many arrows left?!”

Liu Mu called out urgently.

The frontier city’s original stock of arrows had been exhausted long ago. The arrows they’d used over these past two days and one night were all ones Liu Mu had brought from Daizhou.

Someone called back, “General, only ten-odd bundles left!”

A bundle of arrows was nominally two hundred, but in practice always came up short. Dachu’s Ministry of War had workshops that claimed they could produce a million arrows in a year — and they truly had the capacity to do so. But the reality was that they engaged in fraud just like everyone else: a bundle of arrows was always short by thirty or forty, with arrow shafts lacking arrowheads.

That was Dachu these days — every department of every government office had its own ways of lining its pockets. For workshops dealing in weapons like this, iron goods were the easiest thing to skim from.

“Bring every arrow to my position!”

Liu Mu called out.

The soldiers carried the remaining bundles of arrows over to where Liu Mu stood. He turned and gave his orders, “My personal guards — all of you with me here. When the Black Wu siege tower comes in range, we’ll lay down suppressing fire on their archers up top. I haven’t been able to give you wealth. Now, at this moment of life and death, I’m asking you to face death with me. That is my failing, Liu Mu’s failing.”

Having said that, he bowed low to his own personal guard company.

Dozens of guards saluted Liu Mu in unison. The guard captain, Qu Yiming, called out loudly, “To face life and death alongside our General — that is our honor!”

Liu Mu nodded hard, then threw back his head and laughed. “If there truly is a next life, I’ll be your pack animal in it.”

He turned to face the city’s exterior, grabbed his hard bow, and gave his orders, “Quivers at your feet. Everyone aim carefully before you shoot. We have no arrows to waste!”

“Yes, sir!”

Just as his guard company responded, Tan Qianshou’s subordinate officer Gan Zhong walked up quietly to stand beside Liu Mu. After a moment of silence, he said, “Give me a quiver too.”

Liu Mu turned to look at him, recognized the officer he’d ordered beaten before, and frowned. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Gan Zhong said, “My archery is good.”

Liu Mu said, “I had you beaten. And now you want to fight at my side?”

Gan Zhong said, “I don’t remember it.”

Liu Mu paused, then laughed. “I had you beaten because you called me a contemptible villain. In all my years, I have never done a contemptible thing. If I find out during the battle that you were bluffing and you’ve wasted my arrows — I’ll have you beaten again.”

Gan Zhong said, “The General can judge for himself.”

Just then, the Black Wu siege tower had already been pushed to within less than thirty paces of the city wall. The tower was immense and heavy, and there had been no way to construct it with any real sophistication in three days — it moved on rollers, which meant it moved slowly.

But the Black Wu had no intention of waiting until the next morning. They meant to take the frontier pass tonight.

“Ready!”

Liu Mu shouted, “Everyone aim before you shoot. Waste one arrow and there may be one more enemy climbing up!”

“Yes, sir!”

Dozens of personal guards gripped their hard bows, waiting only for their general’s order.

But Liu Mu was in no hurry. Thirty paces was already within arrow range — yet he still gave no order. The soldiers kept waiting. The longer it went, the tauter the tension — and in truth the Black Wu on the opposite side were no calmer either. The Dachu forces holding their arrows only made them more uneasy.

“Black Wu arrows!”

Someone shouted, then immediately threw himself flat.

The Dachu forces had not yet loosed — the Black Wu archers on the siege tower fired first. Close to a hundred arrows arrived in an instant. Dachu soldiers were hit immediately, and arrowheads striking the stone wall sent sparks scattering.

Twenty paces.

“Arrows!”

Liu Mu bellowed.

His guards immediately stood upright and opened fire on the tower. Both sides’ arrows now concentrated on this one stretch of space — so thick in the air that they could collide with each other mid-flight.

Gan Zhong drew, shot, drew, shot — silently repeating the motion. But his accuracy was almost unbelievable — every arrow felled a Black Wu soldier.

Bodies kept falling from the siege tower, but Black Wu archers kept being sent up to replace them.

“What are they doing?!”

Liu Mu’s eyes went wide.

The Black Wu siege tower had been pushed to within less than ten paces of the city wall — and showed no sign of stopping. Were they planning to—

“Watch out! They’re going to use the siege tower to board the wall!”

Liu Mu shouted across to Tan Qianshou, who was holding the defense on the other side. Tan Qianshou had no arrows left over there — just rolling logs and stones to throw at anyone approaching the base of the wall. At Liu Mu’s shout, Tan Qianshou called out immediately, “Twenty men over here! Bring long spears!”

Both sides kept loosing and kept taking casualties, but nothing could stop the siege tower from closing in. The Dachu forces’ arrows were nearly spent, and the Black Wu grew bolder and bolder — the Black Wu soldiers standing on top of the tower let out howling cries. What they were shouting was impossible to understand, but it was clearly jeering and taunting.

Boom — the top of the siege tower slammed against the city wall.

The Black Wu on top of the tower threw down their bows, drew their curved blades, and came howling over onto the wall.

Tan Qianshou led dozens of soldiers up, forming a defensive line with long spears — stabbing down every one who jumped across.

But the Black Wu kept swarming up the siege tower, more and more of them jumping over — and this wasn’t the only breach. Elsewhere along the wall, scaling ladders kept being heaved up.

Everywhere along the wall, Black Wu were climbing over — and the Dachu defenders were no longer numerous enough for a full defense.

In the darkness within the frontier city, from the ascending ramp on the left side, a burst of torchlight came rushing upward. The leader scrambled up onto the wall, took one look at the situation, and his expression changed. He called out something, then drew his blade and charged forward.

“Eight Trigrams Saber Gate of Daizhou City — Yan Chengcheng has come to help defend the wall!”

Gate Master Yan Chengcheng led more than a hundred disciples charging up.

Behind them came another group. Hearing the shout, the leader of that group called out too, “Gubei Horse Gang — Han Yousing!”

“Darong Escort Bureau — Liu Han!”

“Fuwei Escort Bureau — Li Tangdang!”

With one shout after another, more and more men came surging through the city gate onto the wall. They were not soldiers. They were the wandering men of the martial world, men the court had looked down on — men whom the court’s forces had sometimes rounded up and punished when they couldn’t catch actual rebels. But in this moment, these hot-blooded men of the rivers and lakes had all come.

They were not rebels. They were heroes.

On the right side within the city, another group swiftly scaled the wall. They made no announcements, called out no names — but they moved faster, and fought with more ferocity. As soon as they reached the top of the wall, they moved swiftly to plug the gaps in the defense, and every man also had two bundles of arrows across his shoulders.

Zhuang Wudi gave Li Chi a pull and said, “Everyone else is announcing themselves. You should too — this is your chance to let people know who you are.”

Li Chi was silent for a moment, pulling arrows from a bundle. Then he called out in a great, carrying voice.

“Yanshan — Green Eyebrow Army!”

The moment that shout rang out, the city wall went silent.

The Green Eyebrow Army?

Weren’t they rebels?

Weren’t they the largest rebel force in Jizhou?

Even Liu Mu and Tan Qianshou froze at the sound of it.

Li Chi loosed an arrow and called out loudly, “In this moment, there are only brothers of the Central Plains, living and dying together!”

“Well said!”

Liu Mu bellowed, “I love that line.”

“Kill!”

“Kill!”

“Kill!”