The Yongzhou army had already clashed with Shi Monu’s forces. On the vast plains, the barbarian cavalry displayed their greatest strength, causing Qin Jixun and Wei Dechang to suffer setbacks twice. They had no choice but to withdraw once more from the poplar forest and retreat to defend the city. The rebel army led by Yang Tianzhe, which had been stationed outside Yongzhou’s city gates, was thus able to enter the city along with them.

“My memorial should have already been delivered to Yun Jing, but I wonder if His Majesty will truly do as you predicted, Young Master, and send an appropriate person to serve as military supervisor for Yongzhou.”

The bonfire burned vigorously. Magistrate Shen Tongchuan held a bowl of hot soup. During wartime, he had never changed out of his official robes, which were not as neatly arranged as usual. “His Majesty has never fully trusted military generals. Grand Commandant Miao had such high achievements, yet his military authority was stripped away as soon as ordered. He originally held great prestige among the troops stationed in Jianchi Prefecture. His Majesty will definitely not allow him to come and lead the reinforcements. I suspect this assignment will most likely be given to Tan Guangwen, the governor of Jianchi Prefecture.”

“This Tan Guangwen doesn’t get along with Grand Commandant Miao. Under his governance, the Huning Army no longer has its former might. If it’s him, and if there’s another military supervisor like Song Song, that would be difficult.”

If there were any possibility of peace negotiations, the current emperor would never easily go to war with Danqiu. Shen Tongchuan and Qin Jixun in Yongzhou had pushed His Majesty and the conservative faction he favored into a dead end where war was unavoidable, yet they still had to be constrained by the military supervisor who would come after Song Song. Therefore, this choice of person was extremely important.

“Does Magistrate Shen not trust your teacher?” Xu Hexue reached out to open the clay pot hanging over the fire, glancing at the clear porridge bubbling inside.

Hearing him mention Meng Yunxian, Shen Tongchuan raised his head to look at the night sky dotted with sparse stars. “I haven’t seen my teacher in many years. When he was demoted to Wenxian County previously, he was unwilling to correspond with me. I know he feared I would be implicated because of him. He finally returned to court with such difficulty, yet I am here, unable to go to Yun Jing to see him. I wonder… whether my teacher is disappointed in me…”

These years, serving as magistrate in Yongzhou, managing nothing, accomplishing nothing, indulging only in venting the frustration in his heart—he was no longer the person who once held lofty aspirations before his teacher.

“Song Song considers himself a favored minister of the emperor. Your helpless circumstances here—Minister Meng may not be unaware of them.” Xu Hexue’s gaze fell on the wisps of steam rising from the clay pot. His hands rested on his knees, firelight dancing in his eyes. “Human life is like morning dew, like lightning and flint. If there’s a chance to meet again, Magistrate Shen must not fail to seize it.”

Wrapped in a cloak, Ni Su walked over and happened to hear this sentence. Her steps paused briefly. Xu Hexue looked up at her, and only then did she resume walking closer.

The glass lamp sat beside him. Firelight illuminated his snow-white garment, casting a lustrous glow. Shen Tongchuan watched him reach out to open the clay pot hanging over the fire and ladle out a bowl of porridge. Almost at the same moment Ni Su sat down, he placed the porridge before her.

“Magistrate Shen, would you like some?”

Ni Su accepted it. Seeing Shen Tongchuan watching, she asked.

“I have mutton soup.”

Shen Tongchuan smiled and raised the soup bowl in his hand.

Ni Su couldn’t quite get used to mutton and didn’t often drink Yongzhou’s most authentic mutton soup. With the city sealed for half a month, there was almost no mutton or beef left in the city. The bowl of soup in Shen Tongchuan’s hands actually didn’t contain much mutton either.

A bailiff hurried over and whispered something near Shen Tongchuan, who immediately drained the mutton soup, then stood up and smoothed the creases in his official robe. “We must defend that plank road leading to Jianchi Prefecture. Now that the triple-bow bed crossbow has been built by the craftsmen, I’ll go find Yang Tianzhe. Following what you suggested earlier, Young Master Ni, we might as well take advantage of the night to prepare for the barbarians on the plank road.”

After speaking, Shen Tongchuan led his men toward the city tower. Ni Su watched his departing figure, then suddenly turned her head. “I still don’t know what this triple-bow bed crossbow that Uncle Fan and the others made together actually looks like.”

Fan Jiang had skillful hands and was excellent at carpentry. He could also make crossbows. Recently, he had been working together with all the craftsmen in the city to make crossbows.

“The triple-bow bed crossbow has bolts like spears. If fired at close range, they can embed themselves in city walls. From a greater distance, the crossbow can shoot up to a thousand paces. But it’s too large—it combines three great bows and requires thirty men to draw it open, hence the name ‘bed crossbow.'”

South of Yongzhou City stood Mount Tianju, with险峻 steep and precipitous terrain rising straight into the clouds—a natural strategic pass. On Mount Tianju was a plank road that Jiang Xianming had supervised the construction of when he served as magistrate here, intended to prevent Yongzhou from being isolated again if other routes were blocked by barbarians during wartime, cutting off grain transport and communications.

Mount Tianju’s bird path was extraordinarily perilous. From its commanding height, it was easy to defend and difficult to attack—an escape route the Yongzhou army absolutely could not abandon. Fortunately, when Jiang Xianming supervised the bird path’s construction, he had set up several key watchtowers along it. Xu Hexue asked Shen Tongchuan to draw out Mount Tianju along with the bird path on its cliff face, and came up with the idea of installing triple-bow bed crossbows at the watchtowers. Their威力 might far exceeded that of archers drawing their own bows.

“Should they also place triple-bow bed crossbows on the city tower here?” Ni Su looked up. The city wall towered high, with soldiers patrolling the night walking back and forth atop it.

“Yes. Whether attacking or defending a city, it’s indispensable. For attacking, crossbow bolts are shot into the city wall so soldiers can use them to climb up. For defending, multiple people can be shot at from a thousand paces away.”

Xu Hexue recalled the diagram Fan Jiang had brought back to show him. “I remember that sixteen years ago, the triple-bow bed crossbow hadn’t actually reached this level of range. At that time, it was at most seven hundred paces.”

“Do the barbarians also have bed crossbows?”

Ni Su asked, holding her porridge bowl.

“They do—I’ve even seen them! They were bed crossbows made for them by Qi craftsmen they captured.” Suddenly a voice spoke. Ni Su turned her head at once and saw Fan Jiang walking over with a crutch.

“Uncle Fan.”

Ni Su immediately put down her porridge bowl and picked up a clean ceramic bowl to ladle hot porridge for him.

“I wouldn’t dare trouble Miss Ni…”

Fan Jiang hurriedly tried to come forward to serve the porridge himself, but seeing that Ni Su had already filled the bowl, he could only accept it, thanking her repeatedly. He sat down beside Xu Hexue. “Back when half of Yongzhou City was burned, I also saw bed crossbows damaged after the great battle. To be honest with you both, though I’m a carpenter, I’m actually very interested in making these things in my heart. But I didn’t dare make them privately—I could only study them at home by myself. I never expected that now I’d actually be able to make bed crossbows together with others.”

“Qingqiong says his father’s hands are very skillful, that he can make anything.” Ni Su looked toward the distant felt tent where Qingqiong was sleeping peacefully. Recently, his spirit had been poor—he was always drowsy and weak.

Even Ni Su’s acupuncture brought no improvement.

“Him…”

Fan Jiang’s rough palms cupped the scalding porridge bowl as he looked at the lamp-lit felt tent. “Usually he complains that his mother and I gave birth to him. It’s only in front of you all that he’s willing to praise me as his father.”

“But I truly have wronged him—bringing him into this world yet unable to care for him properly.”

Ghost fetuses were ultimately different from ordinary people. The bone-deep cold Qingqiong suffered during autumn and winter actually came from the cold energy of the Netherworld. His flesh and soul were both damaged, destined to live in pain, destined not even to reach half a normal person’s lifespan.

“Qingqiong is just used to bickering with you like that.” Ni Su thought for a moment, then continued, “He often speaks of you in front of us. I think he’s happy to be yours and his mother’s child.”

“I know he’s just sharp-tongued. Just like his mother—they have the same temperament.”

Fan Jiang smiled and ate half a bowl of porridge. After dawdling for quite a while, he tentatively spoke: “Young Master…”

Seeing him hesitate to speak, Xu Hexue said, “Whatever you want to say, speak freely.”

“Don’t laugh at me for saying this, you two.”

Fan Jiang was a bit embarrassed. “I actually want to try improving our bed crossbows.”

He wasn’t a proper weaponsmith—he’d only been pulled in temporarily to make up the numbers when the city lacked craftsmen. He didn’t dare say much there.

“Uncle Fan, this is a good thing.”

Ni Su said.

Having spoken these words already required Fan Jiang’s courage. “Miss Ni, do you really believe I can make it? I’m just a carpenter. Actually, actually I might not be able to make it…”

“How will you know if you don’t try? What’s wrong with being a carpenter? Didn’t you also make bed crossbows together with others? Who says those who repair humble dwellings cannot support great mansions?”

Ni Su looked at him.

Fan Jiang hadn’t read many books and couldn’t quite understand her last sentence. Just as he was about to ask, he heard Xu Hexue beside him speak: “According to your thinking, after improvement, how many paces could the bed crossbow shoot?”

“Right now it’s a thousand paces. I…” Fan Jiang cautiously extended one hand. “I was thinking that if it succeeds, we could add at least five hundred more paces.”

Fifteen hundred paces.

If such a range could be achieved, the Yongzhou army would gain several more advantages in defending the city. Xu Hexue nodded lightly, looking at him. “Good. I’ll mention this matter to General Qin and request that you be admitted to the weapons camp to improve the bed crossbows together with the others.”

“Xu…”

Fan Jiang’s lips trembled. The word “Xu” had just escaped his mouth when he immediately caught himself and changed his address: “Young Master, do you really believe in me?”

Xu Hexue turned his face to glance at the young woman sitting beside him. “Those who repair humble dwellings can also support great mansions.”

The bonfire crackled a few times. Fan Jiang looked completely bewildered: “…What does that mean?”

“It means we all believe you can build bed crossbows with a fifteen-hundred-pace range.” Ni Su smiled, her eyes curving into crescents.

Suddenly the dull sound of a horn rang out. The smile froze on Ni Su’s lips. She stood up almost simultaneously with Xu Hexue. They saw figures running back and forth atop the city tower, firelight flickering. Someone shouted loudly: “Shi Monu is attacking the city again!”

Those eyes showed subtle fluctuations. He immediately thought of Yang Tianzhe, who had left the city to install bed crossbows on Mount Tianju to the south. He picked up the glass lamp and strode quickly toward the city tower.

“Uncle Fan, get back to the felt tent quickly!”

Ni Su turned back to tell Fan Jiang, then raised her voice to remind Nanny Zhong and the others who were outside airing fine cloth to hurry back inside, before following closely in Xu Hexue’s footsteps.

“Ni Su, don’t follow.”

Supporting himself on the city wall with one hand as he ascended, Xu Hexue looked back at her and spoke.

“Then I’ll stay at the bottom.”

Ni Su withdrew her foot and stood at the bottom of the stairs. She was also afraid of going up and causing trouble for the soldiers, hindering their response and forcing them to protect her as well—that really wouldn’t do.

But would he be subject to the prohibition’s constraints over just the distance between the city tower and its base?

“I’ll be fine.”

Xu Hexue perceived the concern in her eyes and hurriedly reassured her before heading up to the city tower. Burning torches clustered together. On this cold night, the wind and sand were heavier. The barbarians’ hunting falcons circled hidden in the night, occasionally crying out.

“Sworn brother, Yang Tianzhe and his men have already gone out! What if they’re discovered by Shi Monu?” Wei Dechang gazed out from the city wall, his face showing anxious concern.

Xu Hexue walked to their side and looked down. The Danqiu royal court’s banners swayed in the wind. The barbarians’ black armor made them seem like dense, thick ink rapidly flowing toward the city gate.

The sound of hoofbeats trampling the broad plain continuously震动 everyone’s eardrums.

“It’s Shi Monu’s mounted archers!”

Duan Rong vaguely made out the barbarian vanguard charging at the forefront.

“Yang Tianzhe and his men are carrying bed crossbows—their movement is inconvenient. If discovered by the barbarians, I fear the rebel army faces the danger of complete annihilation.” Qin Jixun pressed one hand on his precious sword and decisively ordered: “Dechang, pass down the order—sally forth to meet them in battle!”

Only thus could they buy time for Yang Tianzhe.

“Yes!”

Wei Dechang received the order and immediately went down to relay it.

From his commanding height, Xu Hexue looked toward that mass of barbarian cavalry moving closer. “The mounted archers aren’t Shi Monu’s elite troops. He wants to use the vanguard battalion to exhaust our already scarce cavalry, but we cannot easily fall into the trap.”

Qin Jixun nodded. “Correct. If we consume our cavalry in this battle, afterward we’ll only be able to use infantry walls to block their elite forces.”

“The newly made double-bow bed crossbows are much lighter than the triple-bow bed crossbows, and they have windlasses. Take them out of the city for battle, arrange the wagons as fortifications—they can both resist cavalry and kill men with crossbow bolts.” In his hand, Xu Hexue held a tree branch burned black at one end. As Qin Jixun gave orders to Wei Dechang, he drew a simple military formation on the city wall. “Thus, we can also protect the south side, preventing the barbarian soldiers from advancing there for now.”

“Excellent!”

Watching Xu Hexue make several strokes on the formation diagram, Qin Jixun immediately understood, his spirits greatly lifted. He turned at once to descend the city tower and assemble the troops.

Xu Hexue stood alone in place, looking down at the Danqiu barbarian soldiers drawing ever nearer. Before long, the city gate below was opened, emitting a slow and heavy sound.

Accompanied by Yongzhou army war cries, war drums were beaten.

The barbarians had originally come for a night raid to attack the city, but clearly hadn’t expected that the Yongzhou army, which had kept its gates closed for half a month, would suddenly open the city gates and meet them head-on in battle. They were slightly surprised but quickly adjusted. The vanguard battalion at the front calmly rushed toward the Yongzhou army.

Inside the city, Ni Su’s back pressed against the city wall. Hearing the dense drumbeats and the earth-shaking sounds of slaughter outside, she raised her head. Firelight clustered like flowers.

Shi Monu had also brought bed crossbows, but they were triple-bow types. Not being used to attack the city, they had obviously become burdens. He immediately ordered his men to abandon them to the side, raised his golden sword, and roared: “Kill!”

Qin Jixun didn’t send the cavalry into battle first. Instead, he had the infantry charge forward first, dividing into two teams—one team occupying the south side, one team occupying the center. They pushed several bed crossbows forward with soldiers surrounded and protected in the middle, using the bed crossbows to face the Danqiu barbarians.

Though the Danqiu mounted archers weren’t Shi Monu’s most elite cavalry, each one still fought with fierce courage. As they approached, they drew their bows. Arrows from both sides flew back and forth, dense as a woven net. Wei Dechang ordered from behind the wagon formation: “Raise shields!”

The soldiers protected in the very center of the two wagon formations immediately moved forward, instead protecting the archers behind the shields to block the barbarians’ arrows.

The archers didn’t stop either. Even though their vision was blocked by the shields, they continued to draw their bows and shoot wildly, actually preventing the barbarian mounted archers from advancing further for a time.

But the barbarians didn’t retreat in fear because of this. They formed up their formation, with mounted archers in front consuming the Yongzhou army’s bed crossbows in mutual attrition, while cavalry on both flanks took advantage of the opportunity to press forward.

“Switch!”

Seeing this situation, Wei Dechang immediately shouted.

The barbarians surging toward the wagon formations with fierce momentum saw the shield-bearing soldiers on both sides of the wagon formations immediately retreat several steps. Then armor-piercing spears simultaneously thrust out from the gaps between the shields. As they approached the bed crossbows, the long spears stabbed into their horses’ legs. Immediately the sturdy warhorses stretched their necks and screamed, causing the barbarians on their backs to fall from their mounts and be pierced by random spears.

Shi Monu sat on horseback at the rear. Seeing this scene, his brow couldn’t help but furrow. This wagon formation changed in various ways, actually like two hedgehogs—extremely troublesome to handle.

Though crossbows could fire continuously, they still needed time to change arrows. Shi Monu remained calm and unhurried, continuing to have the mounted archers shoot arrows as cover, then ordering cavalry to surge toward the middle of the Yongzhou army’s two formations, thus cutting off coordination between them, then separately surrounding and consuming them.

Wei Dechang saw this intention. He immediately ordered the wagon formations to close toward the center and had a team of cavalry wielding hooked halberd spears advance to engage the barbarian cavalry.

The more the wagon formations closed toward the center, the more they compressed the barbarian cavalry’s formation. Both sides continued their mutual slaughter. The barbarians’ powerful offensive left the Yongzhou cavalry unable to cope. Reluctantly, Wei Dechang had to order a retreat.

The two wagon formations coordinated with each other, protecting the Yongzhou cavalry in the middle as they withdrew. The drums beat urgently, the horns of both sides interweaving together.

Xu Hexue stood atop the city wall. Because only the glass lamp in his hand was lit by Ni Su for him, he couldn’t see the battle situation below very clearly, but he could still hear Wei Dechang’s methodical commands and make judgments in his mind.

This battle continued almost until the eastern sky showed a pale fish-belly white. Xu Hexue’s knees ached with some numbness. The candle flame in the glass lamp had gone out. His eyes borrowed this sky-light to finally see the situation below clearly.

Shi Monu ordered the cavalry to launch another attack, forcing the Yongzhou army’s wagon formations and cavalry closer and closer to the city gate. Qin Jixun strode forward and shouted: “Duan Rong!”

Duan Rong immediately swept his hand downward. The soldiers pulling the triple-bow bed crossbows atop the city wall simultaneously released their grip. Iron-feathered sharp arrows flew forth, shooting toward the approaching barbarian cavalry.

In an instant, men and horses tumbled, dust and sand flying.

Shi Monu and Wei Dechang had been grinding away at each other for most of the night. Though the Yongzhou army, relying on their wagon formations and mainly defending, hadn’t inflicted excessive casualties on the barbarians, they had also prevented them from approaching the city walls for a long time. Instead, the warhorses grew weary and the warriors were about to exhaust their strength.

Atop the city wall, Xu Hexue watched Shi Monu below, whose expression had darkened. He saw him suddenly seize a bow and arrow from a mounted archer amid the protective circle of barbarian cavalry. Xu Hexue followed the direction he was aiming and saw Wei Dechang still directing the formations. He immediately took a bow and arrow from Duan Rong’s hands, nocked it, drew the bow—a pair of cold eyes spreading a fierce undertone.

At this critical moment—

The arrow pierced the cold wind, precisely deflecting the feathered arrow Shi Monu had shot.

Both arrows fell together into the dust and sand.

Shi Monu jerked his head up.

He saw atop Yongzhou’s city wall that person with a long scarf covering his face, snow-white robes billowing in the wind, holding a longbow.