Wang Jiu had his trouser legs cinched up tight. He wore a pair of light, comfortable shoes and leaned on a wooden staff, the brim of his conical hat tilted high at the front. He narrowed his eyes and gazed toward the distant city walls. The turban of the Pusheng chieftain was decorated with vivid bird feathers and gleaming gold and silver that caught the sunlight and threw off a blinding glare.
Wang Jiu spat on the ground. “Put your backs into it! Let the Old One see we can get things done too — a sickle is no less useful than a cavalry saber.”
The men and women bent over harvesting rice gave a murmur of assent. A woman’s voice called out from behind him: “Sir, step aside — you’re blocking my way.”
Wang Jiu shuffled to one side and jumped up onto the ridge between the paddies. The farm woman’s sickle swept past a moment later, and she swung it while grumbling: “What kind of farming is this? What a waste of such good land!”
The Pusheng chieftain’s fields were truly heartbreaking to anyone who loved the land. Such a broad, level plain, so close to a river — how had they managed to farm it so miserably? The land of Wuzhou and old Wuzhou was not particularly fertile to begin with, yielding only about two-thirds as much as the rich soil of the Central Plains, and even after improvement it had never matched the empire’s most productive agricultural regions. Yet compared to the Pusheng chieftain’s fields, Wuzhou’s land looked positively abundant.
Wang Jiu said: “They simply don’t know how to farm! See that city up ahead? Once we take it, all this land is ours. Then we can tend the crops properly to our hearts’ content.”
“There’s wasteland too,” added another person who had followed along carrying straw for bundling.
Wang Jiu said: “Then we’ll clear it.”
A whistle shrieked — the Pusheng chieftain up on the city walls had finally had enough of watching and sent cavalry charging out through the gates.
Wang Jiu shouted: “Quick! Pack it up! Fall back!”
From several different directions, squads of soldiers came rushing out and cut across the path of the Pusheng cavalry. The two sides clashed in fierce fighting. Wang Jiu and the others withdrew to the rear to drink water, and once the sounds of battle died down, they went back to work. Everyone labored in an orderly fashion; those with quick hands drove mule carts to haul the harvested grain to the rear for drying and threshing.
Today was yet another bountiful day.
Passing by a bloodied cavalryman, Wang Jiu wore an expression that was half envious, half seemingly concerned as he called out: “Your blade got hacked to pieces again, didn’t it? Don’t forget to swap it out, yeah!”
Jin Yu did not take offense at his tone and grinned back: “Can’t forget that! A fresh batch of blades just arrived — plenty to go around!”
Zhù Ying had recently come into possession of an iron mine, and the blacksmiths Zhao Su had recruited earlier were gradually all settling in. The supply of weapons had improved considerably compared to what the Pusheng chieftain could muster — they could afford to use them freely now. As for the Pusheng chieftain, his ironworking was substandard, his weapons wore out quickly, and he had no way to replenish them. This meant his cavalry was losing its staying power with every passing day. Unlike Wuzhou’s side, which after suffering heavier casualties in the early stages had fielded cavalry that grew more battle-hardened with each engagement.
Watching his own forces retreat in the distance, the Pusheng chieftain had no choice but to order the city gates opened so his men could get back in: “On the walls — draw bows, nock arrows, cover them!” His troops could not sustain more losses.
The pursuing soldiers chased for a stretch, deflected a few arrows shot down from the city walls, and then wheeled their horses around and withdrew.
The Pusheng chieftain turned away, his footsteps heavy on the ground, and stamped all the way back to his great hall.
His mood was visibly foul. From his most trusted steward on down, not a soul dared speak out of turn.
Inside the great hall, there was someone whose mood was even worse than his — his wife.
This beautiful woman from the Yigan family had lived half her life in smooth sailing and the other half in misery; the misfortune was that the sweetness had come first, which made the present bitterness all the harder to bear. She gazed at her still-beautiful reflection in the mirror and drew a slow, deep breath. “Where is the chieftain?” she asked her maidservant.
“On the city walls.”
“Let us go see him.”
The maidservant who had grown up alongside her seemed to want to say something, then stopped herself.
“What is it?”
“The chieftain has been in a terrible temper these past few days. You…”
“All the more reason I should stand by his side. As long as we win this battle, there is nothing we cannot get through. Come.”
Mistress and maidservant crossed the inner courtyard, and heard someone say: “It’s all the fault of that woman from the Yigan family! The Yigan family lost people — what does that have to do with our family? And yet my brother sent our family’s lives to avenge them! Our family should have made a match with the west. Ever since my brother married her, nothing has gone right!”
Another voice said: “Keep it down.”
“What is there to be afraid of? And now he’s provoked that ferocious person from the east! Everyone says the people of the east are ferocious — before that woman from the Yigan family came along, the ferocious one never came looking for trouble with us!”
The maidservant flushed with anger and stepped forward to argue, then took two steps and closed her mouth again — the one complaining was the Pusheng chieftain’s younger sister, no easy person to cross. She and her sister-in-law had never gotten along on any ordinary day. Previously, her older brother would rein in his sister and make her show his wife some courtesy, then turn around and soothe his wife and ask her to be patient.
But lately the Pusheng chieftain had been overwhelmed with his own troubles — where would he find the mood to manage this? When they quarreled in front of him, he would scold both of them; whoever made the biggest scene got an extra black mark in his book. His wife and his sister merely got scolded, but their personal maidservants — the ones most willing to stand up for their respective mistresses — had been executed by the Pusheng chieftain.
“Let’s go.” At the moment the maidservant was still hesitating, her mistress gave the word.
The two pairs of mistress and maidservant passed each other with eyes looking straight ahead. The one who had been speaking ill of others behind their back showed not the slightest embarrassment; on the contrary, she lifted her chin and said loudly: “Off we go~”
Both pairs were going to greet the Pusheng chieftain on his return. The chieftain was in a thoroughly bad mood, and neither woman dared provoke him; both addressed him pleasantly. The Pusheng chieftain gave a stiff nod and said: “Stay indoors. It is chaotic outside.”
The cavalry commander who had ridden out came to make his report. The Pusheng chieftain waved a hand: “All of you, fall back.”
The sister-in-law and younger sister exchanged a glance, then separated in opposite directions — but both deliberately slowed their steps and hid behind pillars to try to catch what was being said. The cavalry commander’s voice was not quiet, and both women heard clearly: “Their slaves all have soldiers protecting them; we can’t drive them off, and they’re not afraid of us. Their troops are also tougher than before.”
The Pusheng chieftain’s brow furrowed. The steward at his side snapped: “You only speak of others — how about speaking of yourself?”
The cavalry commander’s temper seemed equally hot: “Speak of what? Speak of how our blades have gone dull? Speak of how our horseshoes still haven’t been replaced? Speak of how many of my brothers have died? They didn’t have to die — last time, you people were afraid of eastern troops pursuing us and closed the city gates without caring that our men hadn’t gotten back in yet!”
The Pusheng chieftain said: “Stop arguing. Continue.”
The cavalry commander’s resentment deepened: “I also saw that big rooster! He’s serving the eastern people as their dog now!”
The steward and the Pusheng chieftain exchanged a glance. The woman who had been eavesdropping inwardly felt a chill. The one referred to as the “big rooster” was none other than her dowry-servant Zhù Xinle. Calling him a rooster was no compliment — it was because he was tall and powerfully built, frequently deployed by the chieftain and his wife, and had acquired a small measure of pride because of it, which had earned him the mockery of others.
The Pusheng chieftain’s expression darkened further. The steward said in a low voice: “Perhaps we should seek aid from the west?”
The cavalry commander said stiffly: “That would certainly be welcome.”
The Pusheng chieftain said: “Let me think on it.”
He rose and left. The women who had been eavesdropping hurriedly lifted their skirts, went up on their toes, and scurried back to the inner quarters.
The Pusheng chieftain returned to his rooms. His wife followed him in. He glanced up at her, gave a nod, and said: “I am working on a way out of this.”
“Why not seek help from the Western Tribes? They have long wanted to send you a daughter as a wife. It is because of me that things went wrong for your family — my younger sister-in-law could have married into their clan, but had to stay home instead.”
The Pusheng chieftain said: “There is no need to bring that up. The Western Tribes are my neighbors. If I die, things will go badly for them too.”
The woman relaxed slightly, and said through gritted teeth: “That ferocious person from the east…”
“The Old One is coming here?” Jin Yu was startled. “How can she come to a place this close to the front lines? Did Qingye, Qingxue, Jiang Zhen, and Wu Shuang not stop her? Did Master Hu not say anything either?”
Wang Jiu said: “Never mind all that talk. Hurry up and lend a hand — get everything ready!”
The “ferocious person,” Zhù Ying, shifted her main camp westward once more, now drawing close to the Pusheng chieftain’s home territory — and the location of the new city Zhù Ying had set her sights on earlier. This place was farther from Jiyuan Prefecture, and in terms of the broader geography it was not centrally situated but rather further west, close to the Western Tribes.
In the view of Jin Yu and the others, it would have been best for Zhù Ying to wait until they had taken the Pusheng chieftain’s city before relocating. That would have been safer. They were all very afraid of Zhù Ying running into danger again.
But there was no time to dwell on it. Zhù Ying always moved fast. Jin Yu could only throw herself into leveling the ground, marking off an open field, and the other work of preparing for Zhù Ying’s arrival. Before long, Zhù Qingjun, Lu Danqing, and the others who had been besieging Pusheng’s city also arrived. Everyone divided up, with one portion maintaining watch on Pusheng’s city while the rest busied themselves with preparations.
Within a few days, Lin Feng arrived: “The Old One will be here the day after tomorrow.”
Zhù Qingjun and the others hadn’t seen him in nearly a year, and even with time so tight, they squeezed out a few moments to exchange information.
After the pleasantries, Zhù Qingjun asked: “The trip to the capital — how did it go?”
Lin Feng smiled: “When I lived in the capital before, I never noticed it. But going back this time, I found that everything I had seen before, I had not understood its meaning at all. Most of the principles were things the Old One taught — she sees clearly and explains plainly, but they just passed in one ear and out the other for me. Going back this time, every word and sentence welled up from deep inside, and each one matched what I was seeing perfectly.”
Zhù Qingjun said: “Everyone has that feeling often. The principles were all taught to us, but we didn’t understand them. And now that we do…” She broke off. “Come! Let’s see what else still needs to be done.”
The two of them walked and talked. Lin Feng’s pace and tone were slightly different from before — the bounciness had nearly disappeared from his voice, and he rarely raised his pitch anymore. Zhù Qingjun too was a little different from the last time they had met; her manner of speaking was understated, but her voice had grown somewhat louder.
One spoke of the front lines: “Of the troops I brought from home two years ago, between the dead, the wounded, and those rotated out, only half are still at my side.”
The other spoke of the capital: “I didn’t let them know we had already gone to war. The men of the Grand Secretariat are fond of political maneuvering. If they knew we might be in contact with the Western Tribes, they’d start thinking about how to profit at our expense as the proverbial fisherman. And even if they wanted to help, they’re too far away — they couldn’t. Better to wait until the overall situation is decided, then tell them. The Emperor is still posturing — it’s tedious. I think the Western Tribes are about to teach him a lesson. Their envoys and merchants all speak with noticeably more ease these days.”
He also mentioned that the court was currently embroiled in arguments over the selection of a Crown Prince, and then added for Zhù Qingjun’s benefit: “The well salt is enough for all of Wuzhou. The surplus sea salt is considerable. The Asu family’s people each got a share; the rest is being traded with the lands outside the mountains. Provisions are still sufficient. Shao Shuxin’s post has been settled satisfactorily. Chief Minister Zheng is going to be handing out great rewards again.”
Zhù Qingjun pointed out over a broad expanse of open land: “What a magnificent place! Mountains on all four sides, and only a handful of passes altogether — if the Western Tribes want to come through, there is only one road. Once the command headquarters is moved here, it will be the foundation of ten thousand years. You’ve come back at exactly the right time.”
“You’ve moved so fast.”
Zhù Qingjun said: “Because we are women.” And she smiled a sly smile.
Lin Feng asked: “There’s a story behind that?”
“It reminded me of that one settlement — they wanted to buy us from the Old One. The Old One pretended to agree, and we slipped away in the night. Danqing was furious at the time. Two months ago, she led two thousand troops and charged straight at them. The man had no time to do anything before Danqing raided his stronghold. Unfortunately the man himself escaped, and now he’s hiding inside Pusheng’s compound. Danqing has been in a fierce temper for days.”
Lin Feng shook his head: “That man is truly a fool. The war has come to this point, and he still doesn’t understand the situation.”
“It’s a pity that word spread later and they had time to prepare. So now we just have to grind through it the hard way.”
The two of them finished inspecting the camp and waited for Zhù Ying to lead her troops in. Zhù Qingjun watched a great cart being dragged along loaded with massive timbers, and her heart lifted. Experience told her these were for building siege engines. Large-scale engines — if you had the craftsmen — were best constructed right below the city walls. The Pusheng chieftain’s walls were far sturdier than the ordinary mountain strongholds, more like a proper city; without some preparation, they were very hard to breach. That was exactly why Zhù Qingjun and the others had stalled at this point.
With siege engines, the attacking side’s casualties could be greatly reduced.
The main army settled in, and the craftsmen also got busy. They first assessed the height and thickness of the city walls and began drawing up plans, then set to work. Within a few days they had already built several tower-wagons, which were slowly pushed forward toward the city walls, from where they could look down and survey the entire city. The Pusheng chieftain’s city had never faced such a threat since it was built, and the people inside were thrown into a state of panic and alarm.
The Western Tribes’ relief troops had not yet arrived, and the crops outside the city had already been harvested by Wang Jiu and his people. Just before leaving, out of a feeling of “this is our land to farm next season — better feed it well first,” they had the men set fire to the rice stubble, and only then, satisfied with a job well done, went to the tent to hear orders.
Inside the city, the Pusheng chieftain grew increasingly agitated. Already someone had proposed: “Perhaps we should surrender.” Those who fought would be killed; surely they wouldn’t be killed for surrendering. His younger sister was the first to agree! Though the chieftains and their families who had fled to him from other settlements argued strenuously against it: “Those ferocious people kill everyone they see — they will not let anyone off.”
The Pusheng chieftain looked at his wife. The woman’s spine was still ramrod straight. Her face was still powdered and rouged. In private over these past days, she had played the pitiful card, whispered in his ear at night, and laid out the practical stakes — yet in front of others, she remained the proud and beautiful girl she had always been.
“Everyone says I brought this disaster. Then offer me up. If my death can lift the siege, it will not be in vain that the chieftain and I were close these years. But if I die and the ferocious people of the east still refuse to leave, then you must all help the chieftain fight them to the last!”
The Pusheng chieftain barked: “Silence! I will not sell out my own wife.”
The assembled people shot furtive glances at the woman seated beside the main chair, then shuffled out muttering.
That night, a few furtive shadows lowered themselves down the city wall on ropes and were captured by scouts. They kept repeating: “We have a message to deliver.”
The scouts brought them to the main camp. Su Zhe was on night duty. She interrogated the several men through the night and got a piece of intelligence — there were people inside the city who were dissatisfied with the Pusheng chieftain for protecting his wife, and who wanted to offer up this woman to appease Zhù Ying’s anger and buy a peaceful settlement.
Su Zhe burst out laughing: “Ha?”
The messengers took this as assent and said: “We have no real quarrel with each other. It is all the fault of the woman the Yigan family sent!”
Su Zhe laughed and shook her head: “Wait here.” She took the written record of the interrogation and went to find Zhù Ying.
Zhù Ying had not yet gone to sleep. She was holding a piece of dire news: Xi Jin was dead.
When she saw Su Zhe come in, Zhù Ying set down the letter without a change in expression. “What is it?”
Su Zhe said: “There are a few men — whether they are genuinely naive or this is a trap, I cannot say. They want to offer up the Yigan woman to seek a peace settlement.”
“What do you make of it?”
“We have already reached their very walls. So many of our people have died. To punish the guilty and bring relief to the suffering — if the ‘guilty party’ is still alive and well and we call it a day and march home? That isn’t right. So many meritorious soldiers are waiting to be rewarded. Your command headquarters ought not to be out in the open under the sky; it should be a strong city. We cannot let them off now.”
“Is there more?”
“What if we turn them into informants from within? How does that sound?”
“If you do that, you’re giving them a chance to atone for their crimes through service. Once the city is taken, how will you deal with them?”
“They were guests taken in by a friend, and yet they turned around and sold out their host. That in itself is their crime, and crime must be punished.” Su Zhe spoke.
When she finished she saw Zhù Ying still not respond, and felt a flicker of uncertainty. She added: “We are almost at victory. At this point, every surviving soldier is precious. The city walls are hard to breach and people are dying every day. I would rather not die on the road here, and dying right at the doorstep would be the cruelest thing. To win, to spare lives, I’m willing to play tricks.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes. Are there parts that are not appropriate? What is your thinking? What would be a better approach?”
Zhù Ying said: “Tomorrow, drag these people out in front of the city and tell the people inside: it was not for the sake of his wife that the Pusheng chieftain provoked me, so I am even less likely to abandon destroying him for the sake of one woman. Tell him to get his affairs in order and fight me in a proper battle.”
Su Zhe’s eyes lit up: “Brilliant! They’ll tear each other apart with suspicion!”
Zhù Ying said: “Playing tricks?”
Su Zhe gave an embarrassed laugh.
The next day, the battering ram was finished.
Su Zhe ordered people to march the “defectors” from the previous night — bound up like silkworm cocoons — toward the city gates. Soldiers with carrying voices were chosen to challenge the city loudly, demanding the Pusheng chieftain take back his traitors. After the challenge was issued, the several tightly-trussed men were flung to the ground and the soldiers withdrew.
Zhù Ying then ordered the Jima people to climb the tower-wagons and call out loudly: “You are risking your lives for the chieftain — what do you get in return? We have rice to eat and cloth to wear; we wear no shackles and are not beaten. Open the city gates, and you will not be killed! You will also have livestock, a house of your own.”
The mood inside the city grew unsettled.
That same day, during the assault on the city, some soldiers had already managed to scale the walls — only to be pushed back down.
The Pusheng chieftain’s heart was in anguish. Then he came to a sudden decision. He ordered his steward to summon all the chieftains for a council, but simultaneously ordered his most trusted men to spirit his wife and sister away to the Western Tribes under cover of darkness. Both women wept until they were rivers of tears; the younger sister cried and struck her sister-in-law at the same time, and the scene was utter pandemonium.
The Pusheng chieftain raised his hand and slapped his sister: “What is the hour? Still making a scene? You are family! The Western Tribes’ people will receive you. Once you are there, when they want to seize land, gold, iron, or slaves in the future, you will become the justification for their sending troops. At that time, whatever you do, do not lose your temper. Do not wait for them to ask for benefits — you must proactively promise them benefits first, and beg them to avenge me.”
The younger sister sobbed and hiccupped. His wife raised her tear-filled eyes to look at her husband: “And you?”
“You go ahead; I will move more freely without you. We will meet up in the Western Tribes!” He said it through clenched teeth, filled with a bone-deep hatred of the people who had come to him seeking shelter and then tried to sell him out.
The two women hesitated no longer. Under cover of night, a small escort led them out of the city.
They dared not complain. They gritted their teeth and pressed on. Just as the sky was turning faintly gray with dawn, the soldiers scouting ahead suddenly halted.
Up ahead, a great force of men and horses blocked the road like a dark wall!
As the sun rose, the women squinted toward the approaching figures — and discovered these were not relief troops from the Western Tribes. The person in the lead they both recognized — Zhù Xinle!
Zhù Xinle drew his blade. Behind him, the soldiers all drew their weapons from their sheaths as well.
“Kill!”
Without a word, they surged forward and cut down the leading escort first.
Seeing that there was no escaping their fate, the women’s own courage returned. They cursed Zhù Xinle loudly, cursing him to die without a good death, to spend his remaining days in misery, to be tormented by demons, to endure every torture. Their piercing shrieks made some of the soldiers pause.
Zhù Xinle smiled. He swung his blade down. A head of crimson beauty — lush and green-black of hair — rolled along the ground for several yards, and the world fell quiet.
He grabbed the head and held it level with his own gaze: “My life before this wasn’t much better than what you cursed me with — beatings without end, debts I could never pay, beheading, gouging out the heart, splitting open the belly, slicing off flesh, burning, flogging… which of those has not been visited upon our bodies?
You let us go hungry, go cold, have no bed, have no blankets. Now that we eat well and dress warmly, you’ve come back out, and you want to drag us back to what we were before — that I will never, ever allow.
Without you, we live very well!
Even if things can’t improve much, because of how terribly you treated us, seeing you brought low — that brings me joy.”
With that, he grinned crookedly and swept his gaze over his men: “Clean this up. Move out!”
Zhù Xinle carried the head and walked on as the sky grew brighter and brighter. He circled back for another sweep and found no other escapees, left half his men behind, tied the head to the side of his horse’s neck, and rode back to the main camp to report.
The camp was well used to seeing severed heads by now and let him pass through to the main tent. Zhù Ying had seen the woman before, when she was still alive. Zhù Ying stared at the head for a moment, then asked: “Who is the other one?”
“The chieftain’s younger sister. Not a good person either.”
“Fine. Set it aside for now. He has already arranged for his wife and family to escape — the Pusheng chieftain must be planning to act. Pass the order: all units, sharpen your vigilance! Tighten the siege!”
“Yes!”
Inside the city, the Pusheng chieftain still did not know that his wife and sister had been killed. Over the past several days, people had been sneaking out of the city under cover of darkness. Some had gone to join Zhù Ying; others had taken the opportunity to flee for good.
The Pusheng chieftain was preparing a banquet, inviting the various chieftains together for a small gathering to dispel ill feeling and unite everyone to face the crisis. He ordered the housekeeper to bring out his prized strong liquor, and then added: “My own wine flask you will fetch personally — it is to be filled with plain water.”
Halfway through the banquet, Zhù Ying attacked the city again. From the tower-wagons, countless arrows rained down; the defending soldiers scattered for cover, gradually losing their fighting spirit.
Lin Feng was commanding the assault when the rear lines suddenly broke into confusion. He turned and looked — his heart sank. Western Tribal cavalry!
The Western Tribes’ forces had arrived.
At the worst possible moment.