War was a kill-or-be-killed slaughter field. After the Dashi people lay dead all over the ground, they also began using bows and arrows. Although not very dense, they were quite accurate. Muffled groans continuously came from within the convoy’s defensive circle, occasionally mixed with low, miserable cries. Cheng Chumo held up a large shield, protecting Yun Ye completely and thoroughly. His brand-new shield didn’t have even a single arrow in it, unlike Old Zhuang’s shield which had long become a hedgehog. Equipping the crossbow carts with protection was truly brilliant. Gongshu Jia only needed to look through windows woven from steel wire to clearly see the enemy’s movements. Behind him were two burly auxiliary soldiers who specially loaded the bowstring for him. He was only responsible for firing. Now he no longer bothered with nearby enemies, only relying on the crossbow cart’s ultra-long range to snipe the reinforcements behind. Yun Ye personally witnessed a warhorse pierced from front chest to anus by a siege bolt. After falling to the ground, it kicked its hooves with difficulty twice, then moved no more.
Yun Ye became increasingly idle. Within two zhang around him, there wasn’t a single arrow. Cheng Chumo was also very bored. He handed the shield to the Yun family guards, returned to his warhorse himself, waiting at any moment to attack. After the Dashi people’s next round of attacks was crushed, the convoy’s mere fifty cavalry, with the auxiliary soldiers’ help, pushed aside the sleds and began counterattacking.
Cheng Chumo and Old Zhuang shouted as they charged into the enemy formation. Their horses were like dragons emerging from the sea, constantly churning through the crowd. Those Dashi people fought fewer and fewer, yet still refused to leave, still engaged in fierce battle with the Tang army.
This was a strange war. They didn’t seem to have come to fight at all, but to die. The auxiliary soldiers began crossing over the sleds, advancing toward the battlefield. Old Niu’s personal guard commander shouted work songs Yun Ye couldn’t understand, urging the auxiliary soldiers to shoot down the remaining Dashi people in waves.
The auxiliary soldiers finally reached the battlefield. With a shout, they threw away the bows and arrows in their hands and began using horizontal swords and long spears to deal with cavalry who couldn’t run. No matter how elite the cavalry, if they couldn’t run, they were worse than infantry. Four or five people dealing with one—the battle quickly ended. From beginning to end, those cavalrymen never begged for mercy once, only making beast-like howling sounds.
Sun Simiao crossed over from behind the sleds, came before Yun Ye and asked: “What people are these? Barbarians?”
“Looking at their dress and appearance, they’re Dashi people, but I believe they’re not. Muhammad himself is in Medina. Those who don’t believe in Islam have probably all been killed. You should know that Muhammad preached with the Quran in one hand and a sword in the other—those who believe in me live, those who don’t believe in me die. These people who don’t worship at sunrise and still carry wine—how could they possibly be Muslims? Don’t you agree?” Yun Ye turned his head to ask that fellow Cheng Chumo had captured.
Facts once again proved that translators were all afraid of death. This fellow was no exception. He threw himself to the ground, hugging Yun Ye’s feet, continuously kissing Yun Ye’s shoes until he kicked him away.
“Speak. Who are you, and why did you deceive us?”
“Almighty and brave General, we are merely servants sent to invite you to attend a banquet. Those damned slaves were just a little game before the banquet. All our guests like to play a little game before the banquet. Humble Abdullah thought Your Excellency the General would also enjoy it, so he arranged such a little game.” Cheng Chumo and the others were furious, thinking this bastard called Abdullah was talking nonsense.
But Yun Ye believed him. Persian nobles had such customs. They used slaves’ lives to please guests. To avoid affecting the guests’ mood, they would cut out the slaves’ tongues, just to prevent the slaves’ wails before death from affecting the guests’ drinking mood. They believed that nobles were nobles precisely because they had noble compassion, so each time they would pin a crime on the slaves. For instance, this time, they arranged the crime of deception. Deceiving a noble meant beheading, so nobles could kill them with peace of mind without having to expend their noble compassion.
Prying open a slave’s mouth—indeed, no tongue. Three hundred slaves—this was the price for inviting Yun Ye to drink.
Yun Ye was simply about to explode with rage now. No wonder their tactics were so rigid. No wonder there wasn’t a single arrow near him. If he had charged into the battle formation, those slaves probably wouldn’t even have dared to resist, would they? Damn it, in your hands were slaves you could abuse at will, but under my command were all comrades. Now six were dead, just because someone wanted amusement? Which bastard did this?
Looking at Abdullah at his feet, this name was a Dashi person’s name, which meant these slaves were all Dashi people, those heretics who didn’t worship Allah. With an ashen face, Yun Ye made a beheading gesture to Old Zhuang. Old Zhuang didn’t hesitate even slightly—his horizontal sword merely dragged across Abdullah’s neck, and that head rolled down.
Strolling through the battlefield with only the cold wind blowing past, Yun Ye’s heart was more desolate than this cold wind. The slaves lying on the ground had no armor, only simple clothing. The skin exposed outside was covered entirely in large patches of frostbite…
Wind swept up the white snow on the ground. There came a tinkling sound of camel bells—the sound elegant and lively. A white baby camel walked out from the snow powder filling the sky, like an elf. It stopped beside Abdullah’s corpse and knelt down, its mouth continuously chewing cud, as if speaking. On its back was a silver box, crafted very exquisitely. Cheng Chumo twisted open the small lock and discovered inside was an invitation—a roll of pure white sheepskin.
Xu Jingzong opened the sheepskin scroll and read softly: “Marquis Yun has come from a thousand li away. My heart is greatly pleased. I specially sent two or three of my subordinates to sport before the steps, merely to win a smile from the Military Marquis. Now there are fine wines of Persia and beauties from various nations, dancing with white snow and singing songs to welcome the north wind—incomparably beautiful. I greatly hope to get drunk together with Marquis Yun. Would this be acceptable?”
After Xu Jingzong finished reading the words on the sheepskin scroll, he stared blankly at Yun Ye. With all his experience, he had never encountered someone who invited guests like this. This was a goddamn pervert! Dancing with white snow, singing songs to welcome the north wind? This was naked coercion. If he didn’t go, tomorrow there would definitely be many frozen-stiff beauties sent over. Who was this? Who understood him so well, who knew his weaknesses so clearly?
Setting aside the point about him forging documents, he had fulfilled all noble etiquette, albeit their etiquette. From the fact that he could easily use three hundred people as sport, one could deduce his subordinates far exceeded three thousand people. Even Xie Li didn’t have such grand airs. Not going wasn’t an option. If this fellow sent another five or six subordinates to sport, his small force wouldn’t be enough to fill the gaps between his teeth. Even adding the five hundred elite cavalry behind would be very problematic.
Nothing more to say—change clothes. They were nobles, and he was a noble too. Couldn’t let them look down on him. Old Sun couldn’t go, Cheng Chumo couldn’t go. He could only go with Xu Jingzong and Old Zhuang. Have Sun Simiao keep watch over Cheng Chumo—absolutely don’t let him have another idiotic episode. The situation was bad now. He could only deal with each move as it came. One wrong step and everyone would be finished. After explaining this principle to Cheng Chumo many times, he finally drove the little camel up and had it walk back.
Following the camel forward, Yun Ye wore a full-body black fur cloak, a fur soft cap on his head, and warm deerskin boots on his feet. The cloak was adorned with a black pearl the size of a longan—who knew where Auntie had gotten it from. In any case, this outfit of Yun Ye’s raised the image of the Yun family’s financial power several times over. In Chang’an, Yun Ye would die before wearing this outfit—too ostentatious. Last time he just tried it on, and it made Xinyue laugh so hard she fell on the bed unable to get up, saying she only saw fur and pearls and didn’t remember what the person looked like.
Xu Jingzong was quite proper—ordinary scholar’s clothing with a small lambskin cloak outside, not wearing a cape like Yun Ye, making him look clean and refreshing.
Old Zhuang had two long swords inserted behind his back, a horizontal sword hanging at his waist, and bow and arrows on his horse’s back. Two bags of arrows hung on both sides—he wished he could be armed to the teeth.
Riding less than two li, there was a carriage waiting. Yun Ye and Xu Jingzong abandoned their horses and boarded the carriage. Outside, the cold wind was piercing; inside the carriage, it was warm as spring. Two charming women prostrated on the ground, chattering away about who knows what. Before Yun Ye could speak, they removed Yun Ye’s boots and tucked his icy feet into their bosoms. Their plump breasts were deformed by the pressure of his feet, smooth and soft, making Yun Ye’s face instantly turn into Guan Yu’s.
By comparison, Xu Jingzong was much more natural. Like an old hand, he placed his feet on the maiden’s warm chest with a satisfied look like he’d taken drugs. At a glance, he was a fierce general on the romantic battlefield. He even kept moving his feet around on the maiden’s chest, provoking the maiden to giggle continuously.
The maiden’s hair was brown—not a Great Tang woman. With the base notion of bringing glory to the nation, Yun Ye also carefully moved his feet up and down, left and right…
“Marquis Yun, let your heart be open. When you can be pleased, be pleased to your heart’s content. Don’t worry. I see this host who invited guests may not necessarily harbor ill intentions. Perhaps he has a request for Marquis Yun. Then Marquis Yun can open his lion’s mouth wide and make a good windfall. However, it’s agreed—those who see it get a share!”
During the battle, this bastard lay on the sled and wouldn’t come down, even having his old servant lie on top of him to block arrows. Now he came back to life and even acted carefree. This was the nature of a fence-sitter. In the future, dealing with him, being extra cautious was right.
“Old Xu, where do these words come from? They had no good intentions in Shuofang. They lured us to the desolate grasslands—if not traitors, then thieves. We must be on guard.” For Xu Jingzong’s words, Yun Ye could only believe half, or even less.
“Hehe, Marquis Yun worries too much. You and I know nothing about Great Tang’s military deployment, and regarding court dynamics, we’re currently blind as well, so we cannot betray the nation, nor can we sell out Great Tang’s officers and soldiers. Without these two points, what is there to fear? What you and I have now is only a bellyful of talent, which they cannot rob. Meeting such a hospitable host and not enjoying ourselves fully would be the real sin.”
“Come, the women have warmed my feet enough. Now warm my hands for this master…”