That night, General Lü Chi of Black Wu raged hard enough to want to personally pick up a blade and kill someone. With tens of thousands of troops deployed in tight interlocking camps, a cavalry force of barely two hundred men had snuck in and attacked their supply depot!

It was winter. The dry grass burned easily. Nearly all the supplies needed for tens of thousands of men were consumed in the fire, with the north wind howling to fan it along — there had been no hope of saving them.

Looking at the subordinates kneeling before him, Lü Chi wanted to give vent to his fury but found he couldn’t even manage it. This was what it looked like when you had lost all faith in those beneath you — he couldn’t even be bothered to yell at them anymore.

“All those on watch last night — generals and soldiers alike — will be in the first assault wave when we attack the city shortly. No armor. No shields.”

He said it lightly, then turned and walked away.

Yet in that quietly spoken command lay the fate of many lives.

These derelict soldiers — he wouldn’t kill them himself. He would let the Chu people do that for him. But at least he had given them the dignity of dying in battle.

Back in his command tent, Lü Chi sat down and let out a long, heavy breath. Come dawn, this would be the sixth day of his assault on the city. When he had set out, he had told his subordinates casually that he would take the Chu border pass in three days, break through Daizhou City in seven, and reach the walls of Jizhou City in fifteen.

If that schedule had held, by the time spring arrived, the Black Wu Empire’s great army would have been encamped on the banks of the South Level River, pointed straight at the Jiangnan region.

“General.”

Lü Chi’s advisor Kang Kelai offered a gentle word of counsel: “Though Dachu has descended into civil strife, the Chu people are seasoned fighters, and this border pass is tall and solid — easy to defend, difficult to assault. Your men have not been without effort…”

He hadn’t even finished the sentence before Lü Chi turned on him with a fierce glare.

Lü Chi said: “In four or five days at most, His Majesty’s main army will arrive. If by that time I still haven’t broken through the Daizhou border pass, do you think His Majesty will listen to my explanations? You know how many eyes were watching this vanguard generalship hungrily. Every one of them thought the vanguard general would make out best, plundering all the way south with the Central Plains’ wealth pouring into his pockets. His Majesty trusted me with this most important task. If I can’t crack the border pass, those envious ones will say I was too busy looting to fight…”

Kang Kelai said: “General, now that Chu reinforcements are streaming in steadily, and we have no effective siege equipment, pressing the attack will cost us dearly. Our casualties are already approaching ten thousand. We truly must find another way.”

“Another way?”

Lü Chi gave a short, harsh laugh: “We’ve lost nearly all our food stores. If we can’t break through in two days, we’ll have to withdraw, and I’ll slink back before His Majesty to be torn apart by five horses. There’s no ‘another way.'”

He paused, then continued: “Even if we have to pile up a ramp of bodies, we must break through the border pass today!”

Half an hour later, the Black Wu army surged forward again like a tide rolling against the base of the border pass. Only now every Black Wu soldier’s eyes had lost that confidence and swagger they’d had at the outset. That first charge felt nothing like this — then, they had been certain that a single push would plant the Black Wu Empire’s battle banner on Dachu’s border wall.

Up high, Tan Qianshou raised his spyglass and looked out over the city’s exterior, then pointed in a direction: “Lü Chi has come up himself. I can see his command banner.”

Liu Mu looked where he was pointing and nodded. “If my guess is right, the Black Wu Khan Emperor is nearly here. Last night their supplies were burned — if they can’t break our pass within two days, they’ll have no choice but to retreat without food. Knowing Kuokedi Dashi’s ruthlessness, Lü Chi will be put to death. So right now he’s throwing everything in.”

He turned and looked back, then gave a rueful smile: “While on our side, things only look stable.”

The wall was still desperately short of arrows. The arrows Yanshan Camp had brought were more than half spent in yesterday’s battle, and what remained amounted to only a few thousand shafts — nowhere near enough to hold through another brutal fight like that. And this border pass wall had no heavy defensive weapons at all, not even a single crossbow cart.

As he turned to look, he noticed the young man crouching on the ground drawing something. Curious, he went over — the young man had sketched what looked like a map.

“What is that?”

Liu Mu asked with interest.

Li Chi looked up at him and answered: “I’m drawing a terrain map of the Daizhou border pass here. This is the Xinzhou pass — the two are less than two hundred li apart. Right now the Black Wu forces are still unfamiliar with our terrain. The moment they realize there’s another pass only two hundred li away that would be easier to break through, they’ll immediately shift their attack to Xinzhou. With Black Wu’s troop strength, attacking both simultaneously wouldn’t even be a problem.”

Liu Mu nodded: “True, the Xinzhou pass isn’t as tall and imposing as ours, but the mountain gorge over there is narrow — troops can’t deploy in large numbers. Three thousand determined fighters could hold it indefinitely. Our side, on the other hand — nothing but open ground out front, so the Black Wu can mount their full assault. The situations aren’t comparable.”

Li Chi shook his head: “What I mean is, Xinzhou’s reinforcements haven’t come. That might mean…”

Liu Mu’s expression changed immediately.

He looked at Tan Qianshou, and Tan Qianshou’s expression changed too when he heard Li Chi’s words.

What if the Black Wu really were attacking both passes simultaneously?

Xinzhou’s reinforcements had never arrived. If the Xinzhou mountain gorge pass was also being pressed hard, then whether it was this side that fell first or the Xinzhou side, the other would quickly find itself caught between two fires.

“Let’s hope…”

Tan Qianshou’s words were still unfinished when two soldiers helped a man in squad leader’s uniform up to the top of the wall. The squad leader looked utterly spent of all strength, the dried blood and grime mixed together on his body making him look as though he had just crawled out of a grave.

“General… please, General, send troops to relieve Xinzhou pass — Xinzhou pass can barely hold on any longer, General.”

The squad leader sobbed, his voice so hoarse it sounded as though his throat had been cut open.

“Xinzhou pass…”

Liu Mu’s face had gone somewhat pale. “It’s not that I’m unwilling to divide our forces — look around you…”

The squad leader swept his gaze around the wall. Soldiers in official army uniforms were already few in number — most of the defenders were ordinary people. Whatever hope had flickered in his eyes when he arrived now faded rapidly, replaced by despair.

“Daizhou and the border pass combined had four thousand border troops. Over three thousand have already fallen in battle.”

Liu Mu said, his tone heavy with grief. “The wall is being held entirely by these volunteer civilians who came of their own accord. There are no hands to spare.”

Li Chi suddenly stood up: “I’ll think of something.”

Liu Mu looked at him. After a moment’s silence: “What could you possibly think of?”

Li Chi didn’t answer him. He ran quickly over to Zhuang Wudi and spoke a few quiet words in his ear. Zhuang Wudi was immediately taken aback, and shook his head: “You know as well as I do — if Big Brother were willing to send troops, he wouldn’t have let just the two of us come here with two hundred men…”

Li Chi said: “Just pass on my exact words to Brother Yu. It has to be tried. If it works, Xinzhou can be saved, and Daizhou will have a better chance of holding as well.”

Zhuang Wudi let out a breath: “Then I’ll head back now. If it doesn’t work, I’ll come straight back to join you.”

Li Chi said: “Be careful on the road.”

Zhuang Wudi acknowledged this, then turned back to address his men: “While I’m not here, he is your chief. Treat him as you treat me — he and I are one and the same.”

“Yes!”

Zhuang Wudi’s men answered as one.

Zhuang Wudi looked at Li Chi and said: “Don’t you dare die.”

Without waiting for Li Chi to reply, he turned and ran down the wall.

Li Chi returned to stand before Liu Mu and Tan Qianshou and asked: “Do you have any military uniforms and banners in reserve?”

Tan Qianshou nodded: “We do. What for?”

Li Chi said: “Take down every tattered banner on the wall and replace them with fresh ones. Have everyone on the wall put on border army uniforms. By whatever means necessary, get hold of war drums — as many as you can. Set them up right here on the wall. When I tell you to beat them, beat them hard. The beats must be in unison.”

Liu Mu frowned: “Putting them in uniforms to make the enemy think fresh reinforcements have arrived — that much I can understand. But why do you want so many drums?”

Li Chi said: “Just do it. If it works, it’ll buy us several days.”

Then he turned to Tan Qianshou: “Assign people to hold today’s daytime assault. Once we get into the night hours, everyone on patrol duty carries two torches as they walk the wall. Send people to make large banners — they don’t need to be elaborate, just looking like command banners will do. Put any surname on them you like.”

He turned to look at the martial world brothers around him: “Send people into the city to search out cattle and sheep. Don’t worry too much about propriety — find as many as you can find, and drive them below the walls. Get the cattle and sheep making noise.”

He turned to the Yanshan Camp brothers: “Everyone get down, chop tree branches and tie them to your horses, then ride back and forth inside the city. Kick up as much dust as you can. And try to make the horses whinny.”

When he had arranged everything, he leaned against the wall and stood in thought. His manner was such that even Fourth-Grade Liu Mu didn’t dare to interrupt — this young man giving orders to everyone looked more like the decision-maker than he did.

Following Li Chi’s instructions, everyone swung into action. Before long, Tan Qianshou’s people brought out the stockpiled military uniforms and dressed the martial artists in them, replaced all the battle banners on the wall with fresh ones. Liu Mu ordered people to search out war drums, including borrowing the big drums from a traveling opera troupe performing in the city.

Yanshan Camp’s brothers drove their horses back and forth across the open ground inside the city, raising clouds of dust and a thunder of hooves and horse cries.

Outside the walls, Lü Chi stood on high ground looking at the border pass through his spyglass, and his expression grew darker and darker.

“It looks as though a large Chu army contingent has arrived — and with officers of high rank.”

Lü Chi said: “Chu officials are obsessed with putting on a grand show. Look at the wall — war drums beating in unison from every side, command banners rising one after another. Whoever has come is certainly no small official. Blue Bureau intelligence says that Dachu’s most capable fighter, Prince Wu, is currently in Jizhou. Most likely it’s him. Prince Wu has tens of thousands of elite household troops. This battle — it seems there’s no way to continue it… A sneak attack will no longer work. We’ll have to wait for His Majesty’s main army to arrive before making any further plans.”

Barely had he finished speaking when a chorus of cattle and sheep lowing rose from inside the city, and he sighed: “The border troops here couldn’t even find enough to eat, yet look — now that the Chu high official has arrived, herds of cattle and sheep are being driven in. He’s apparently worried he won’t eat well at the frontier… A Dachu like this, even if it isn’t destroyed by our Black Wu Empire today, will surely face its fall someday.”

His subordinates had long since lost any appetite for continued fighting — these relentless, unbroken assaults had ground away every last trace of the sharpness they’d had when they first arrived.

“Order a temporary withdrawal. Send someone to request instructions from His Majesty.”

Lü Chi turned and descended from the high ground. “Wait for His Majesty’s orders before deciding further.”

Up on the wall, Li Chi borrowed Liu Mu’s spyglass and watched. When he saw the Black Wu army beginning to slowly pull back, he let out a long breath.

“How did you know this would make them retreat?”

Liu Mu asked, astonished.

Li Chi said: “I just gave Lü Chi a way to step back gracefully. He thinks Prince Wu’s army has arrived and that his sneak attack plan has been foiled, so naturally he withdraws for now.”

Liu Mu said: “If you wanted to trick him into thinking Prince Wu was here, why didn’t you make a banner with Prince Wu’s name on it? Why just put random surnames up there?”

Li Chi smiled: “If I’d put Prince Wu’s actual banner up there, Lü Chi wouldn’t have believed it.”

Liu Mu was quiet for a moment, thinking it through carefully — and the more he thought, the more sense it made.

He couldn’t stop himself from asking: “Young friend — how old are you?”

Li Chi looked at him and answered with complete seriousness: “Fourteen.”

Liu Mu: “？？？？”

Li Chi thought a moment, and added: “Fourteen and a half.”

Liu Mu: “？？？！！！”

—