“Report!”
A Tingwei Army scout came flying back on horseback from outside, dismounting before he had even reached the group — he leaped from his horse, clasped his fists, and said: “Centurion-Commander — rebel forces are closing in from outside the city, less than fifty li away.”
Zhang Tang was slightly taken aback.
“They came fast.”
He murmured.
“How many troops?”
“Judging by the banners, no fewer than twenty thousand — possibly as many as thirty.”
Zhang Tang nodded.
Previously, Fengzhou had sent a force of over ten thousand to intercept him from the front, and another force of at least ten thousand in pursuit from behind. If these two converged, they would number at minimum twenty to thirty thousand.
“If they took a beating inside Fengzhou, they’ll also have troops who fled Fengzhou — so the total count is definitely more than twenty thousand. Closer to thirty or forty thousand.”
He looked over his men — his twelve hundred Black Riders, who had been on the move for over a month.
They had gone more than a month without proper rest, marching every day — and nearly every day had been a hard march. However elite the Tingwei Army’s Black Riders might be, the accumulated exhaustion meant they could not hope to hold Dengzhou.
The Black Riders excelled at swift raiding strikes — not at holding cities. Setting twelve hundred cavalry to dismount and garrison a city against thirty or forty thousand rebels — they might not last a single day before being ground down.
Dengzhou was a large city. Twelve hundred men were not enough to spread across four city walls. Even if they forced themselves to distribute across all four gates, with men stationed every few meters apart — how could that possibly hold?
“We move.”
Zhang Tang made his decision immediately.
Four thousand men can besiege a city. Twelve hundred cannot hold one.
“The rebels are coming from the northwest. We exit through the south gate — let the rebels assume we’re heading toward Yuzhou. Their goal is to retake a stronghold they can call their own. Having lost Fengzhou, Dengzhou is their only option. They may not give chase. If they pursue relentlessly, we’ll go to Yuzhou in truth.”
Maneuvering the two rebel factions into swapping cities had in fact been part of Zhang Tang’s plan all along — he simply had not anticipated the enemy would move this quickly.
Officer Gu Qixi said: “Daren — there are still prisoners we haven’t finished dealing with.”
Zhang Tang replied: “The rebels will handle it for us.”
He mounted up and called out: “Bear with it a few more days, everyone. Once we’re clear of the enemy, we can find somewhere to rest.”
“Hah!”
The Tingwei Army Black Riders gave a unified cry and followed Zhang Tang toward the south gate.
About two hours later, the rebel forces’ vanguard reached the walls of Dengzhou. Knowing the Black Riders were inside, they had steeled themselves for a battle to the death — only to arrive and find not a single soldier on the walls.
“Take the city!”
At the rebel commander’s order, soldiers rushed forward, wielding felled trees to ram the gates. Though the Black Riders had not stayed to defend, they had sealed all the gates except the south — and without a proper battering ram, breaking open city gates was no easy matter.
The rebels had brought siege ladders, however, and men soon scaled the walls, looking out over the city from the top. Sure enough, the Black Riders were nowhere to be seen.
Wang Dangzhi, along with Xie Xing, Xie Zhi, and the others, led the rebel forces into the city. Once inside, Xie Xing turned to Wang Dangzhi and said: “Uncle, what do we do now?”
Wang Dangzhi let out a cold snort. “Kill.”
He turned to his men and gave the order: “The Yin family’s soldiers slaughtered our clansmen. Now that we’re in Dengzhou, how can we show them any mercy? Anyone with the slightest connection to the Yin family — cut them down!”
The rebel forces immediately dispersed across the city, and in an instant Dengzhou was swept by a storm of blood. Anyone with even the faintest tie to the Yin family was hunted down and killed. They seized ordinary residents and interrogated them — name anyone connected to the Yin family, and soldiers would be sent to slaughter the entire household.
Wang Xiaoxiao looked at her elder brother with a trace of guilt. “It’s my fault — I failed to watch Xu Ji closely enough.”
Wang Dangzhi shook his head. “We underestimated Xu Ji. Even if you had kept a close watch on him, this plan had its weaknesses — Xu Ji could have exploited them regardless. Let’s not dwell on the past. We have no time to waste on regret.”
Wang Xiaoxiao asked: “Then what do we do now? Do we dig in and hold Dengzhou?”
“We can’t hold it.”
Wang Dangzhi sighed. “Our plan was always about buying time — buying time for the King of Heaven’s Mandate, Yang Xuanji, to push into Yuzhou. What we never expected was for the Yin family to go off script.”
If the Yin family had simply held Fengzhou, none of the damage would have touched the Xie and Wang families, or any of the other clans.
But because the Yin family had deviated from the plan, every family in Fengzhou now found itself directly exposed to Prince Ning’s forces — or to the great general Tang Pidi.
This was never the plan. A plan like this would come at a devastating price.
They had meant to be the ones reaping the gains. Instead, they and the Yin family had become the quarreling snipe and clam — and someone else would walk away with the fish.
“All of this is Zhang Tang’s fault!”
Wang Dangzhi’s face was iron-dark as he spoke. “Xu Ji coming to Dengzhou, engineering the Yin family’s break with us — it was absolutely done at Zhang Tang’s direction.”
He looked at Xie Xing and Xie Zhi and said: “The two of you — send word to Jingyang at once. Tell Brother Xie to leave Jingyang with his men and withdraw in a northeastern direction to rendezvous with us. We’re leaving Yuzhou.”
Xie Xing and Xie Zhi immediately arranged to have the message dispatched.
Wang Dangzhi ground his teeth and said: “But before we leave, we absolutely cannot let Zhang Tang walk free. His withdrawal route looks like he’s heading toward Yuzhou — and Jingyang is right there blocking the road ahead. Zhang Tang could never have calculated that we even control Jingyang.”
He pointed toward the city’s outskirts: “He thinks that running toward Yuzhou means we won’t dare give chase? Even if we have to abandon everything we have in Yuzhou — Zhang Tang dies, torn to pieces!”
“Yes!”
His men responded as one — every face sharp with killing intent.
—
Six more days.
Zhang Tang’s unit had nearly reached their limit. They had been marching for well over a month without rest, and the men were at the end of their endurance — as were the horses.
When they reached Jing County, scouts brought back word that a force of over ten thousand men had come from the direction of Jingyang and completely blocked the road ahead.
Zhang Tang had genuinely not expected Jingyang to have already fallen. With the road ahead cut off, he and his Black Riders were caught between two threats.
Turn back? Tens of thousands of rebel troops were pressing hard from behind.
Press forward? The Jingyang rebels had the advantage of rested men against exhausted ones.
The Black Riders were running on empty — this was a desperate situation.
“I’ve dragged you all into this.”
Zhang Tang looked at his men. “If I had been more careful, I would have considered the possibility that Jingyang, too, might have fallen. I would not have led you in this direction.”
“Daren!”
Gu Qixi said: “Please don’t speak like that, Daren. If there comes a moment when there is no escape, then the Black Riders will stand with you here and fight to the death.”
“Fight!”
The Black Rider soldiers shouted as one.
Zhang Tang exhaled heavily and had the map spread out.
Jing County was small, with low walls and no defensive equipment — holding it was out of the question.
“We stop heading south. We go west.”
Zhang Tang pointed at the map and said: “Heading west, roughly a hundred and thirty li, is the Mingyang River. If we can get there half a day ahead of the pursuing troops, we can cross. The rebels have numbers but crossing a river is slower for them. If we succeed, we can shake them off.”
Gu Qixi said: “Wherever you say we go, Daren, we go.”
Zhang Tang felt a warmth in his chest. He looked at his men with gratitude, knowing full well that he was not a man people liked. The choices he made were the kind of choices that would never win him anyone’s affection.
And yet here, at this moment of near-total collapse, every single Black Rider still stood at his side.
“I will do everything in my power to get you through this.”
Zhang Tang mounted up. “We keep moving.”
—
Two days later, they reached the eastern bank of the Mingyang River — only to find that nothing had gone as expected.
The Mingyang River was frozen solid. Frozen deep. The ice was so thick that even a cavalry unit riding at full gallop across it would not crack through.
The plan to use the river to slow the pursuing rebels had come to nothing.
“Enemy forces!”
At that very moment, the scouts at the rear came flying back on horseback, shouting as they rode.
A soft thud.
A riding scout was struck by an arrow mid-gallop and toppled from his horse. The horse’s momentum carried the body tumbling and skidding across the ground until it came to a stop — motionless.
Behind the fallen scout, a dark wall of rebel forces had caught up — not from one direction, but from two.
Closing from the left was Wang Dangzhi’s rebel army. Closing from the right was the Jingyang rebel forces under Xie Jingren.
Together, the two armies numbered at least forty thousand men — like two great torrents converging, and within moments they were at the Black Riders’ backs.
“No way out.”
Gu Qixi looked at Zhang Tang. “Even if we cross the river, we won’t get far before the rebels run us down. Better to face them here than give the enemy our backs.”
Even if the men still had the energy to run, the horses had nothing left.
In fact, over the past several days, horses had been dropping dead at an increasing rate. By the time they reached the Mingyang River, the Black Riders had lost fully half their mounts.
“Fight to the death!”
“Fight to the death!”
“Fight to the death!”
The Black Riders drew their blades and cried out.
Zhang Tang held out his hand. “Give me a blade.”
The Black Riders turned their formation to face the enemy and formed up along the riverbank.
Before them: an uncountable horde. Behind them: the frozen Mingyang River.
Xie Jingren spurred his horse forward, his great army following at his back.
He drew close, reined in his horse, and looked at that lone, isolated band of Tingwei Army Black Riders. He exhaled a long breath — he had finally caught them.
“Which of you is Zhang Tang?”
Xie Jingren called out.
Zhang Tang spurred his own horse forward. “That would be me.”
Xie Jingren did not let anger into his voice. He even offered a salute.
“Zhang Daren — though we stand as enemies who will not both walk away from this, I hold you in extraordinary admiration. With only your own strength, you unraveled the entire Yuzhou scheme. You are a remarkable man.”
Zhang Tang smiled — and when he genuinely smiled, the coldness that usually clung to him lifted somewhat, and there was even something almost handsome in it.
He said: “Praise from an enemy — I receive it with great satisfaction.”
Xie Jingren replied: “If you are willing to surrender, I could consider sparing your life.”
Zhang Tang replied: “Is it fear that drives you to say that? You want us as hostages — so that when Prince Ning’s army catches up with you, you’ll still have a card left to play.”
“Ha ha ha ha ha!”
Xie Jingren laughed heartily and pointed at Zhang Tang. “The Ning Army you speak of should not arrive so quickly — and besides, you’ve been walking in the wrong direction. Jizhou is to the north. From what I’ve learned, Yuzhou has only five thousand garrison troops, and they’re holding tight inside the city. With your thousand-odd exhausted men — do you think you can withstand a single blow from me?”
Zhang Tang replied: “I’d like to try.”
Xie Jingren let out a cold huff and gestured toward the great army behind him. “We have fifty thousand soldiers. And you — do you truly believe you can stop a single blow?”
Zhang Tang’s answer was the same: “I’d like to try.”
Xie Jingren’s patience frayed, and he bellowed: “Run them through!”
The rebel war horns sounded. The dark mass of troops launched a full assault on the twelve hundred Black Riders.
Xie Jingren spurred his horse to the front, long saber raised, and called out: “I want to see — how you hold even one blow!”
And then, at that very moment — the Black Riders split apart down the middle.
From between their ranks, a figure rode slowly out. He wore black iron armor, an iron helmet. His features were cold and proud. In his hand was a jet-black iron spear.
One man stepped into the open — and with him came the presence of a god.
Xie Jingren saw the figure emerge from behind the Tingwei Army ranks, and the color drained from his face. Instinctively, he hauled his horse to a halt.
“Luo — Luo Jing!”
The Black Riders parted left and right, and what came into view behind them, across the frozen surface of the Mingyang River — the Ning Army, advancing step by step, treading the ice!
Luo Jing rode to Zhang Tang’s side, glanced at him with a flat, unhurried expression, and then pulled his visor down.
“Stand back and watch.”
Luo Jing spurred his horse forward.
He said: “Let me try for you.”
—