The thick fog obscured their vision, but accompanying the dense mist that shrouded the forest was also choking smoke that made it impossible to keep one’s eyes open.
This morning also happened to bring strong winds. No matter where the Pei soldiers fled within the dense forest, they could not escape the smoke and fog. Seeing clearly was already difficult enough—how could they still pay attention to what was underfoot? Many were tripped by dead branches and broken wood scattered throughout the forest. Even more perilous was that the dense fog concealed net after net of arrows with tips coated in black oil. The Pei soldiers had no way to dodge them and died wave after wave beneath the arrows.
From time to time, sharp bamboo spears and massive horizontal logs, also soaked in black oil, would swing out in rows. The panicked Pei soldiers fleeing in chaos would step into emptiness and fall completely into traps covered with dead branches and fallen leaves. These pits, dug nearly two meters deep, had their bottoms densely packed with upright bamboo spears. Once someone fell in, they would only be pierced full of holes.
Even if some Pei soldiers were fortunate enough not to be hit by the arrow rain or collide with any of the forest traps, as they fled in disarray, unable to see through the choking smoke, they would still have their heads severed by a single stroke from the actively attacking Liang army.
For a time, throughout the fog-shrouded mountain forest, only the rise and fall of agonized screams could be heard.
Rising together with the screams were the heaven-shaking battle roars of the Liang army coming from all directions.
After the double terror of the traps and poisonous miasma, many Pei soldiers’ hearts had been completely consumed by fear. Their eyes were blinded by the dense smoke, unable to see. Even when they forced their eyes open through the pain, all they could see was white misty vapor everywhere, completely unable to make out how many comrades were actually around them.
Hearing again those killing roars that seemed to envelope and press down from the peaks of the entire mountain forest, many Pei soldiers’ psychological defenses completely collapsed, and they directly abandoned their helmets and armor to flee.
The Liang army soldiers harvesting the lives of Pei army troops in the dense fog with their blades were simply like ghosts and demons.
When Pei soldiers fleeing in panic collided with them and saw that they all wore demon king masks on their faces, they couldn’t help but cry out in even more terrified and desperate shouts.
For the Pei army trapped in the dense fog, those cries were simply the last straw that broke the camel’s back, frightening even more common soldiers into having no heart to continue fighting, only caring about fleeing for their lives.
Pei Song sat mounted on his horse in a clearing in the forest, listening to the unceasing screams coming from all around, his face dark as water.
His carefully cultivated hunting dogs endured the pain of the smoke stinging their eyes to protect him tightly in the very center.
Before long, Pei Fifteen, who had been sent out to scout the situation, emerged from the dense fog carrying the severed head of a Liang army soldier, his face stained with some soot, and reported to him: “Master, it’s nothing more than these petty villains burning pine and cypress branches throughout the forest to play tricks.”
As he spoke, he threw that Liang army common soldier’s head down at Pei Song’s horse’s feet.
Pei Song naturally knew this must be a Liang army trick, but taking advantage of today’s heavy fog as a heavenly opportunity, they had actually sent him such a great gift!
Now that military morale was in chaos, remaining in this fog-shrouded forest would be extremely disadvantageous for them. They must break out as quickly as possible.
Pei Song’s expression turned cold and stern as he ordered: “Summon the infantry battalion to advance forward with shields.”
Soon the Pei soldiers of the infantry battalion advanced forward feeling their way with shields. They all used torn strips of clothing soaked in water to cover their mouths and noses, yet arrows still flew out from the dense fog. Though iron shields could block arrows, when rows of sharp bamboo spears and horizontal logs swung out, the Pei soldiers walking in front could only be knocked flying. If they stepped into emptiness and fell into a trap, only death awaited them.
Pei soldiers were continuously turned into sieves by the sharp bamboo spears or had blood flowing from their seven orifices after being struck by the massive logs.
When one batch died, another batch of common soldiers would fill in from behind.
The fear piling up in the hearts of the Pei soldiers at the rear had accumulated infinitely. When summoned forward to scout the path yet again, some Pei soldiers could not suppress the fear in their hearts and turned to run, only to be killed by a sword thrown by one of Pei Song’s hunting dogs.
Pei Song sat on horseback and said coldly: “Any others who act as deserters—this will be their fate!”
The remaining Pei soldiers couldn’t help but fall silent as cicadas in cold weather.
Pei Fifteen spoke at an opportune moment: “This forest is densely packed with traps. Only by having the great army roll over them can we break through this maze. Fleeing alone is nothing but seeking one’s own death! We have thirty-five thousand troops on this campaign. Even if the Liang army has all their forces lying in ambush here, they number no more than ten thousand-some. What is there to fear?”
With the excessively large base number of thirty-five thousand, the Pei army common soldiers who had originally thought of fleeing also couldn’t help but develop a lucky mentality.
Since fleeing alone meant certain death, following the great army might not necessarily mean being called to scout the path—perhaps they could survive?
The remaining Pei army, like a colony of ants rolling through a sea of fire, relied on continuously sacrificing the outermost common soldiers. While dealing with the forest’s impossible-to-guard-against traps and fighting with the Liang army lying in ambush in the forest, when the sun rose high and the dense fog in the forest gradually dispersed, they finally walked out of that “man-eating” dense forest.
On the open ground of the flat plain ahead stood prominently the city tower of Wayao Fort.
An armored old general led the few hundred remaining soldiers from within the city, arranged in a single line outside the city gate, as if they had been waiting for some time.
Having just escaped death, the soldiers under Pei Song’s command all had dejected morale, and Pei Song himself still had soot from the smoke staining his face.
The fog in the forest had been too thick—he wasn’t clear on exactly how many people had ambushed him, but seeing that only a few hundred common soldiers and one old general remained guarding the city gate, his expression truly turned ugly.
—Which meant that neither the Liang army’s commander-in-chief nor their military strategist were present, and they had possibly used only an extremely small number of troops to severely blunt the sharp edge of the tens of thousands of mighty soldiers he commanded?
Conservatively estimated, over ten thousand Pei soldiers had been severely wounded or killed in the dense forest ambush. More importantly, the unstoppable momentum he had previously created for the Pei army had been broken here!
And fear had been planted in the hearts of the lower-ranking soldiers!
Pei Song’s jaw clenched tight, his eyes like an eagle’s staring directly at the old man below the city tower. When his gaze swept over Li Yao watching the battle from atop the city tower, he seemed to guess his identity from the walking stick he leaned on. The pent-up anger in his heart dispersed slightly, the corners of his mouth pulling into a smile as he called out: “I wondered who had set this maze in the forest—so Duke Ling has personally come. It seems that Great Liang truly has no one left, that even Duke Ling, such an old minister who should have long since entered the coffin, has been thrown to the front lines to stubbornly resist in a desperate struggle. Song truly grieves for Duke Ling.”
His smile was warm, as if he truly respected Li Yao greatly: “A dynasty that ten thousand people are pushing over—what necessity is there for revival? Before Duke Ling retired from office, Song carefully studied his many political treatises and greatly admired them. The methods of reform that Duke Ling proposed in former times are precisely what Song is implementing now. Why does Duke Ling not abandon that rotting Liang with maggots breeding in its bones and turn to join Pei Song instead?”
He bowed to Li Yao from horseback, his smile gentle and enticing: “Song will certainly honor Duke Ling as Imperial Tutor and treat him with the courtesy due a second father.”
Atop the city tower, Li Yao heavily struck his cane and said coldly: “Qin clan brat, traitorous son who brings disaster to the nation, cease your flowery words and clever speech. This old official is here today to eliminate you, this scourge, on behalf of the Late Emperor and the Princess!”
The “Late Emperor” he spoke of was naturally King Changlian, whom Wen Yu had posthumously honored before going to Southern Chen.
When Li Yao called him “Qin clan brat,” Pei Song’s eyes had already turned cold, though his mouth still wore a smile: “Since Duke Ling knows of my father Qin Yi, he must also be aware of those foolish and absurd acts of Former Liang’s Emperor Mingcheng. Were there few loyal ministers and good generals who died unjustly at the hands of that Great Liang Wen clan? Song is merely following the will of the people and heaven’s mandate, overthrowing that corrupt Liang court, rescuing the tens of thousands of common people being preyed upon, and returning pure reputations to wrongly accused loyal subjects. How does this bring disaster to the nation?”
“Or is Duke Ling saying that to support the current Wen clan line, he would rather shatter his reputation in his twilight years and speak to invert black and white?”
Hearing all this, Li Yao not only didn’t get angry but threw his head back and laughed: “Qin clan brat, these words—you can deceive yourself if you wish, but don’t speak them before the two armies to invite ridicule! Who was it in former times who acted as Ao Qing’s lapdog, helped frame loyal subjects, and harmed the common people? Who was it who obstructed from within when the Late Emperor repeatedly promoted new policies to reform the court and purge treacherous officials? Was it not all you, Qin clan brat?”
“Dare I ask what heavenly mandate you follow? What popular will do you respond to?” Li Yao’s barrage of questions struck with resounding force, his mockery extremely heavy: “A heavenly mandate that the natural order cannot tolerate? A popular will that ten thousand people curse?”
Below the city tower, Yuchi Ba couldn’t help but laugh upon hearing this scolding: “That old fellow—after all these years, that tongue of his still shows no mercy!”
In the distance, Pei Song’s expression could be said to be quite somber. Without a word, he made an attacking gesture to the soldiers behind him.
The vanguard army immediately swarmed toward Wayao Fort ahead like locusts.
Charging halfway, the ground covered with gravel and sand suddenly collapsed, creating a trench over half a zhang wide. Countless Pei army common soldiers tumbled down. At the bottom of the trench, just like in the mountains, sharp spears coated with black oil stood densely packed.
In an instant, those sharp spears were strung full with Pei soldiers like skewered insects. The cavalry following close behind saw this and hastily wheeled their horses around. The warhorses reared up their front hooves and whinnied ceaselessly. For a time, that half of the battlefield could be called complete chaos with men and horses overturned.
The Pei army’s first charge was thus broken. The Great Liang side hadn’t even deployed a single soldier yet, and once again caused the military morale that Pei Song’s side had managed to gather with great difficulty to collapse into scattered sand.
Yuchi Ba sat mounted below the city, calling out to Pei Song: “Young man, arrogant troops are bound to be defeated!”
The muscles from Pei Song’s cheekbones to his jawbone were all stretched taut. He once again coldly issued orders: “Lay wooden bridges. Left wing army, continue the charge.”
Soon Pei soldiers from the rear military formation carried wooden planks forward, laying the planks over the trench, then charging across on the boards.
Yuchi Ba remained unmoved. Only after the advance troops reached firing range did he order: “Release arrows!”
Most of the soldiers who had remained to guard the city had already been sent to the mountains to ambush. Only these few hundred remained. When arranged in a single line before the city tower, they barely filled two rows.
After the soldiers in the front row released their arrows, they immediately switched positions with the soldiers in the back row and nocked new arrows.
After repeating this only two or three rounds, the Pei army cavalry using infantry as shields in front had already pressed close.
Yuchi Ba, despite his advanced years, still had the strength to wield his horse lance single-handedly. He directly spurred his horse forward, and with one sweep of his lance brought down two cavalrymen.
The Liang army soldiers below also abandoned their bows, raised their long spears, and with unified roars charged forward.
Under the scorching sun, the shouts of killing and the clashing sounds of weapons were sent up into the sky together.
The wind rolling past the banners on Wayao Fort’s city tower carried a thick smell of blood.
Not one of the remaining Liang army soldiers lacked courage, but a battle to defend the city with a few hundred against tens of thousands was facing death to seek life from the very beginning.
Liang army warriors continuously spilled blood and died miserably under the blades of Pei soldiers.
Yuchi Ba and Pei Song charged at each other on horseback while engaging in combat, exchanging blows. In no time at all, they had already passed dozens of moves.
Yellow sand kicked up by their weapons flew everywhere. When their horses collided and their weapons crossed in a contest of strength, Pei Song pressed down with his long spear, forcing Yuchi Ba to retreat half a step. His eyes containing murderous intent, he sneered: “Old General, when you’re nothing but old bones, you should remove your armor and go home to farm the fields. Don’t you agree?”
The blood of a Liang army common soldier who died miserably beside him splattered onto Yuchi Ba’s face. He rotated his horse lance, turning defense into offense, forcing Pei Song to temporarily retreat, and retorted: “Bandit brat, when this old man removed his armor to return to the fields, you were still in your mother’s womb!”
Atop the city tower, Li Yao’s sleeves billowed with wind. Watching his old friend caught in bitter combat, he set down the wooden cane he had leaned on for many years and shuffled to the war drum taller than a person, his withered hand lifting the drumstick.
Boom—
Boom boom—
Deep, slow, and powerful drum beats sounded from atop the city tower, as if from an extremely distant place ten thousand horses galloped across borders, charging all the way. Gradually becoming solitary shadows, yet never once ceasing.
Below the city tower, Yuchi Ba and Pei Song, locked in combat, only paused for a moment upon hearing the drum beats before fighting together again. When they charged together on horseback, the weapons twisted together even struck sparks.
Pei Song had already guessed his identity from Yuchi Ba’s earlier words and his relationship with Li Yao. While blocking Yuchi Ba’s offensive, he said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes: “So it’s Senior Yuchi. Rumor has it that Wen Shi’an back then acted with bad faith, discarding his hunting bow once the birds were gone. After using you to conquer this Great Liang realm, he wanted to eliminate you before ascending the throne. You’ve lived in seclusion for decades—I imagine the rumors cannot be false. Now why must you again sell your life for that Great Liang Wen clan?”
Atop the city tower, the drum beats continued without stopping, one after another heavily pounding on people’s hearts, as if falling like thunderclaps.
After driving Pei Song back with one strike of his lance, Yuchi Ba stood holding his lance horizontally. Though his form had wasted and his bones grown thin, his hair and beard white as snow, his eyes remained stern and fierce as a lion or tiger, still making people dare not meet his gaze directly: “When this old man campaigned for this realm in former years, it was to return peace to the common people. Today when I protect this realm, it is also only to protect the common people and give them stability. As long as the one possessing this realm is an enlightened ruler, what does it matter if this old man departs when his work is done? You, worthless brat, though you are a descendant of loyal subjects, first served Ao Qing as master and committed many evil acts—you were a traitorous slave! Later you raised troops in rebellion, executed a benevolent ruler, massacred clans and destroyed cities, bringing chaos to the rivers and mountains. How are you qualified to discuss this realm?”
Pei Song’s expression grew colder as he mocked: “I originally thought Old General should be a heroic figure. Now it seems you’re nothing but a fame-seeking hypocrite thoroughly pickled in Confucian sourness. They say ‘to grow old without dying is to be a scourge.’ Old things like you and Duke Ling should be buried in the yellow earth, shouldn’t you!”
As his words fell, the long spear in his hand was almost whirled into a flower. The spear tip thrust left and right like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, swift as lightning. Yuchi Ba hastily raised his lance to block.
As the sun grew more intense, the shadows of the two men on the ground made it almost impossible to see how the weapons in their hands were being thrust. Only sweat dripped drop by drop along the long handles of their weapons onto the ground.
The drum beats atop the city tower also gradually slowed.
Li Yao was still forcefully swinging his arms to wield the drumstick, but his body was too aged. His physical strength ultimately could not sustain it.
Sweat ran down his forehead, across that face full of deep ravines, and fell upon the city tower’s blue stone bricks.
The west wind filled his sleeves, banners flapping.
He had begun beating this drum in the former dynasty’s Tianyuan period, when the emperor enjoyed eating infant brain matter and at state banquets ordered people to split skulls with axes and scald them with boiling oil before inviting all the ministers to feast together. The drum beats had accompanied his old friend Yuchi Ba’s descent as a general star to unify the internal chaos and end warfare across the realm, then accompanied the founding emperor Wen Shi’an in building Great Liang with his own hands, bringing peace to all within the four seas. Then came Emperor Mingcheng’s foolishness in his twilight years and his indiscriminate slaughter of loyal subjects. After Emperor Shaojing succeeded to the throne, imperial relatives interfered in governance, and both within the court and beyond, cries of lament filled the air.
Later, King Changlian made repeated visits to the deep mountains, discussing governance of the current age with him by candlelight through the night, earnestly requesting he emerge from seclusion to assist. Then the Pei clan bandit raised his weapons in rebellion, massacring the Wen clan, seizing Luodu, attacking Fengyang. Finally, there was that young woman who carried King Changlian’s bloodline, who traveled far to Southern Chen, bearing with slender shoulders half the collapsed rivers and mountains of Great Liang…
Boom!
The last drum beat fell. The drumstick broke into two pieces in Li Yao’s hands. Below the city tower also came the victorious cheers of the Pei army.
Wind stirred Li Yao’s robe hem and white hair and beard. His tiger’s mouth had split from beating the drum with force and long since bled all over his hand. He slowly turned to face the continuous mountains south of the city tower and only said: “Princess, this old minister has not failed in his trust.”
—
Dou Jianliang had originally had no heart for prolonged battle, only thinking of preserving his current military strength as much as possible. After being pursued by the Tongzhou righteous army, he unfortunately encountered Xiao Li. After crossing hands with Xiao Li twice, he realized this ragtag army leader was as hard as hard could be. He immediately abandoned that portion of Chen troops who had been seized by the Tongzhou righteous army and fled in panic on horseback.
Xiao Li, mindful that the primary purpose of coming this time was to help the Liang army at Wayao Fort delay more time, with Pei Song’s great army ahead and not knowing how the battle between the two sides was going, immediately didn’t pursue further. He led the righteous army soldiers to continue rushing toward Wayao Fort.
Passing through that mountain range where the Liang army had ambushed the Pei army, seeing corpses of Pei soldiers everywhere and destroyed traps, as well as the pine and cypress branch smoke pits revealed after the dense fog dispersed, Xiao Li secretly praised the Liang army’s plan for making full use of weather and terrain advantages—truly brilliant.
They continued rushing down the mountain all the way. Initially they could still hear the sounds of the two armies fighting and drum beats, but as they drew closer to Wayao Fort, those sounds of combat and drum beats both grew weaker.
Finally, even all sounds returned to complete deathly silence.
Everyone stopped in their tracks as if by prior agreement, understanding what that meant.
Zheng Hu’s face still bore bloodstains as he looked toward Xiao Li together with the other brothers.
Though they were clear that Wayao Fort had already fallen, having chosen to follow Xiao Li to come here, they had never planned on returning alive.
As long as Xiao Li gave one order, even if he still wanted them to continue helping defend Wayao Fort, they wouldn’t say half a word in objection.
Xiao Li gripped the reins tightly on horseback for a moment, then dismounted and bowed three times in the direction of Wayao Fort.
He didn’t know if the one who died at Wayao Fort was Fan Yuan, nor did he know how many people the Liang army had lost in this battle.
If the battle at Wayao Fort wasn’t yet finished, then he would lead these brothers under his command and risk their lives to fight alongside the Liang army at Wayao Fort.
But Wayao Fort had already fallen, this battle had ended. If he led the brothers to charge over now, it would only be dying in vain.
The brothers had entrusted their lives to him—he could not let them make meaningless sacrifices.
If the one who died at Wayao Fort truly was Fan Yuan, he would avenge Fan Yuan, but not now.
The difficult problem currently before them was: they had survived—how could they head north to rendezvous with the main Tongcheng righteous army force led by Yuan Fang under the pincer attack of Pei Song’s and Dou Jianliang’s tens of thousands of troops?
This was also why Xiao Li had only brought two thousand troops on this campaign.
Even the Liang camp might not have the courage to place all front-line troops at Wayao Fort to fight Pei’s army to the death—naturally he also didn’t dare risk all the Tongcheng army.
Moreover, the more people in the marching force, the easier it was to be exposed.
Their current nearly two thousand righteous troops—if they were truly pursued by Pei Song and Dou Jianliang, they could split into several groups and burrow into the deep mountain forests. Even searching the forest would take the opponents quite some time.
Xiao Li remounted his horse and said: “Withdraw troops. Go to Youzhou.”
—
Chen Royal Court.
Autumn came early in the south. The red maples planted in Zhaohua Palace had already been thoroughly dyed by frost.
Wen Yu sat by the window reviewing official documents. Bronze Sparrow stood to one side reporting on the aftermath of several Internal Affairs Bureau eunuchs being silenced the night of the Mid-Autumn palace banquet: “You handed the Conservative Prince faction a sharp blade. Using that Internal Affairs Bureau eunuch’s accusations, they’ve already traced from the Internal Affairs Bureau accounts to the Ministry of Finance. If the Jiang family doesn’t want to suffer broken bones this time, they can only spit out all the money they swallowed before filling the national treasury’s deficit before the Ministry of Finance accounts are fully investigated.”
Wen Yu said calmly: “Merely making up the treasury deficit is not enough.”
Bronze Sparrow was just about to ask what she meant when a gust of wind suddenly swept in from outside the window, carrying a red leaf that floated down to Wen Yu’s desk.
As if sensing something, Wen Yu stopped her brush and looked at that red leaf, briefly lost in thought.
Hurried footsteps sounded outside the hall. Before long, Zhao Bai was seen striding quickly forward, holding an eight-hundred-li urgent dispatch from the Liang territories, his expression grim as he said: “Princess, trouble has occurred.”
Wen Yu glanced at Zhao Bai once, took that document, and after reading it at a glance, her form swayed. One hand promptly braced against the desk to steady herself.
She remained stunned for a long while before hoarsely uttering two words: “Teacher…”