Chapter 236: Hello Chang’an
Chapter 236: So Brazen, So Reckless?
The arrow struck the brow dead center. The shaft’s fletching still trembled; the tip had driven clean into the forehead bone. Only a thin spread of blood showed at first, but the sight was horrifying.
The man who’d been struck widened his eyes; his pupils contracted as if trying to identify his assailant. A heartbeat later he could no longer hold himself—he pitched backward with a heavy thud and lay still.
Despair and grief frozen on Yun Hui’s face, he stared numbly. As the man fell, he spun to look behind him.
A rider had come up fast. The soldier’s uniform did not match the local Hezhou troops—young, almost boyish in appearance, the rider had a bow in hand and had just loosed another deadly shot.
Behind him rode another figure: a broad-shouldered man in great-helm armor, a heavy beard on his jaw, martial presence like a storm. He swung a great-backed blade in a sweep and sent three of Xu’s horsemen tumbling.
At the sight of that unusual broad blade, Yun Hui’s mind flashed with the rumors he’d heard about the famed Zhanxiu. The answer hit him—General Chang Kuo?!
Then a line of armored cavalry appeared in Yun Hui’s view: ten, then a hundred, then a thousand—an imposing force charging toward them.
Hooves thundered so hard the ground seemed to quake. The clash and slaughter continued; blood and severed limbs flew. Yun Hui stood frozen, unable at first to tell whether this was real or some fevered hallucination in a dying man’s mind.
Until a soldier near him shouted in wild joy—
“Look! It’s the relief force!”
“Reinforcements have come!”
Suddenly Yun Hui’s dulled senses snapped back. An enemy spearman lunged at him; Yun Hui’s expression stiffened, he deftly avoided the spear, rolled aside, surged forward, threw the attacker down and drew the short knife hidden in his boot—driving it hard into the man’s chest.
Then he scooped up his brother and began to withdraw to safety.
The boy at his side whispered weakly, “I knew… Brother wouldn’t lie…”
He relaxed a little and leaned against his brother, closing his eyes.
“Ah Gui!”
“Feed him—now!”
As a rider thundered past Yun Hui, something was thrown to him. He reflexively caught it: a small porcelain bottle.
The mounted man said without slowing, “Give him one pill—have the rest used to staunch bleeding for the wounded!”
The rider didn’t break his stride. Yun Hui looked up and felt cold wind; the youth on the horse who’d given him the bottle still radiated that raw, pulsing vigor, and the deadly air that came with it.
Chang Suining’s spear had just punched through an enemy when she shouted, “General Chang Kuo leads a hundred thousand troops! Reinforcements have come to aid Hezhou—fight with us!”
Adjutant Peng, who had been so bloodied he hardly believed his eyes, stared, pupils dilating. He raised his sword hoarsely, his voice rasping with excitement, “—Fight together!”
Madam Yun’s eyes were red; she echoed, “Fight together!”
“Fight together!”
The defenders’ morale surged. From the black tide of slaughter they felt light break through the clouds.
“General! It truly is Chang Kuo!” a captain ran to where Ge Zong stood. “They’ve brought a hundred thousand!”
Ge Zong cursed. “Have you seen Li Yi with them?”
“No, sir. Seems Chang Kuo came alone!”
Ge Zong swore again—if Li Yi had been there, things might have been worse for them. Li Yi had shown himself a weak and treacherous commander in the recent fights; the true danger in the court’s commanders was this deputy, Chang Kuo.
Chang Kuo had risen in the Xuanzhe Army, had been close to the former Crown Prince, had once been punished for executing a northern khan against orders and then disappeared in the wake of wounds—yet in recent years he had reappeared with battlefield prowess, and his prestige had only grown. Though older, his experience was formidable.
Seeing that imposing general, Ge Zong’s ambition flared—if he could kill Chang Kuo today, it would be a great deed.
At that moment Chang Kuo pointed his great blade at him and bellowed with iron voice, “You over there—what’s your name?”
On the field, it is a mixed courtesy and a necessity for commanders to know their foes’ names; to know who you’re fighting is part of the etiquette.
Ge Zong responded loudly, “I am Ge Zong, deputy general under Xu Zhengye’s upper command!”
“Good—Ge Zong!” Chang Kuo answered. Then his voice rose like a bell across the field: “Whoever takes this dog Ge Zong’s head will receive the highest award—first-class military merit!”
Ge Zong’s face went white with anger. Before he could respond a bolt flew toward him.
The arrow came from the small rider who had first charged forward—young, brash, deadly-keen on winning honors. He reared another arrow now and loosed two at once.
Ge Zong parried the volley, but splinters flew and one lodged in his eye socket. Blood streamed as he cupped his wound and roared, “Cut him down!”
His men formed shields around him, and archers and crossbowmen lifted to fire back. For the moment they held.
Yun Hui set his brother safely aside, remounted, and hacked aside incoming shafts. He called out to the small rider, “Stand back!”
“Stand back?” Chang Suining tilted her chin and feigned swagger, then shouted out loud, “Our army—one hundred thousand crack troops—this mob across the road are merely a ragtag band. Today I will take that dog Ge Zong’s head myself!”
She shifted from bow to spear with a warcry and drove forward into the arrowstorm and into the lines of short-speared infantry converging to block her.
Yun Hui gaped. “…Is she really that brazen and reckless?”
He couldn’t leave her to risk it alone. He spurred forward to follow.
Under Chang Kuo’s command the cavalry hit like thunder: a tide of armored horses, lances and sabers cleaving through obstacles. The enemy’s makeshift defenses were smashed. As Chang Kuo’s mounted regiments surged in, the Xu troops’ morale snapped; they faltered and then broke to close combat where momentum favors the attacker.
Ge Zong watched the advancing reinforcements, dust and sand masking their end. A spear whistled past his face; he barely avoided it and spat through gritted teeth, “You little bastard! I’ll make sure you die for this!”
The two chargers bore down. The small rider sprang from horse flank to fore, a streak of motion, striking at Ge Zong with a spear. The officer dodged and rolled—skilled and fast. Though Chang Suining could not unseat him, seeing a senior commander thrown to the ground by a seemingly ordinary soldier rattled his men.
The small rider, as if taunting, settled onto the horse’s back, one hand on the reins, the spear tip skimming the dust as he advanced again.
Ge Zong rolled, his aides helped him to his feet; a rank of pikes surged to grip the line, aiming to unhorse Chang Suining and reclaim honor.
Chang Kuo, sword in hand, led a contingent of heavy cavalry ablaze with momentum, and when Ge Zong saw his force’s morale collapse he bared his teeth and bellowed, “Withdraw!”
Tactically, withdrawal to regroup and report to Xu Zhengye for a coordinated counter was the reasonable choice—he chose to fall back.
Chang Kuo pursued for about three li, then reins drawn, signaled his troops to halt.
“General Chang—why halt?” Yun Hui asked, riding up. “Why not press them and drive them out of Hezhou?”
With the Xu camp at thirty li away, a full rout would be decisive—why stop now?
Chang Kuo looked at him—there was a glint of respect. “You—are you truly the Prefect’s son?”
“Yes!” Yun Hui clasped his fist at the saddle and begged fervently, “Please, order them pursued!”
Chang Kuo watched the retreating enemy lines. “Not yet.”
Yun Hui’s rage and hunger for revenge bubbled and he began to speak when a calm voice called from his side, drawing him back: “Hui—follow General Chang’s plan.”
He turned: the small rider sat poised on the enemy mount. His eyes were clear and unsullied by blood. Yun Hui steadied himself and nodded with a muted assent.
Madam Yun, face wet with tears, ordered, “Regroup—retreat into the city!”
— — —
Behind Hezhou’s closed gates, soldiers still prevented townsfolk from rushing out to the walls. Most of those who insisted on going were men with farm tools lifted as weapons.
A man at their head shouted, “We’ll go out to aid the madam and the young masters! Open the gate!”
“No.” The sentry’s expression was grave; his eyes shone with unshed tears. “The madam ordered that the townspeople leave by the rear gate. If you stay, you’ll betray their sacrifice.”
Previously the garrison had exhausted defenses and stores; the wall and gates had taken damage. If they remained behind a weakened gate, the difference between eight thousand defenders and five hundred would be minimal. The Prefect’s son had gambled by leading troops out to divide the burden—one barrier at the gate, another the flesh and steel of his mother and the soldiers. Their aim was to buy time for the townsfolk to escape.
Most townsfolk balked at the idea—they wanted to stay and fight for their town.
“We won’t run! Hezhou is more than the Prefect’s family—if we desert, how can we face them in the afterlife?” one man shouted.
“Let the women and children go! We’ll go find the madam and the young masters!” another cried.
They surged; the guard held fast. Chaos trembled underfoot—then a lookout shouted from the watchtower, “Large force approaching the main gate!”
At the word large force, panic rippled through the crowd—they’d thought only the Prefect’s force could be coming; this was no longer a small sortie.
Men prepared to fight to the death—then a rider came into view, racing ahead and waving Hezhou’s banner. He called, “Victory! Open the gate!”
“Victory?!”
On the walls, soldiers and townsfolk erupted. The gates were thrown open; people surged outward to meet the riders—some crying, some laughing, some both. A dozen wounded soldiers were brought in by the newcomers. There, mounted and pallid, Yun Gui—arrow lodged in his chest—was carried by his brother.
Yun Gui was only twelve, round-cheeked and faint; his lips were pale, a smear of blood on his face. He lay limp and breathless.
Yun Hui did not feel the triumph of having survived—he dismounted at the Prefect’s gate and rushed in with his brother, shouting for physicians.
Madam Yun followed, but as soon as she crossed the threshold she collapsed to the ground with a soft thud.
“Madam!” Chang Suining and two soldiers ran and helped her up.
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