Guaizai lay on the cold, damp riverbank, his teeth chattering from the cold as well. "We can't go back. The enemy will probably attack. We have to wait here for the rabbit and catch them off guard."
The squad leader was startled. "Young master, you mean the enemy might launch a night raid?"
Guaizai's nose was running uncontrollably. He wiped it until it stung, and whenever more ran out, he sniffed it back. "Mm-hm."
Guaizai stared fixedly at the pitch-black river surface and said with absolute certainty, "No. Guaizai just feels it. In a few days the river will freeze. I think that old man Ji Chengliang definitely won't let it go. If he doesn't come tonight, he'll definitely come tomorrow night. He can't beat us head-on, so he can only raid at night—strike unexpectedly and attack where we are unprepared."
When the squad leader heard this, his face fell.
With no evidence and no proof, just a feeling, he had them suffering along with him. It was utterly absurd.
He looked toward Zhang Quan, hoping he would talk Guaizai around. The soldiers were not made of iron. If they kept lying there, they would freeze badly.
Zhang Quan said nothing and only shook his head at him. He had followed Guaizai for several years already and knew that though his words were not pleasant to hear, he was definitely clever.
Seeing the squad leader return without success, Guaizai still did not order them back. The soldiers hated Guaizai thoroughly by then, but because of his status, they had no choice but to obey. Then, two hours later, faint sounds actually came from the river—very quiet, but in the silence of the night the sound seemed amplified, clear and distinct.
Everyone immediately held their breath and looked ahead. On the pitch-black river surface, one wet human head after another emerged in succession. Their faces could not be seen clearly, only blurry shadows. No matter how you looked at it, it was terrifying.
The enemy… had really come.
The Northern Qi army wanted to raid Yongping County at night, but just as they came up out of the water, they saw a small black shadow leap up on the riverbank, and then an iron club came smashing toward their heads.
The Northern Qi soldiers did not even know what had happened, but before long countless Northwest Army soldiers suddenly appeared along the riverbank, like a game of whack-a-mole—whoever dared poke his head out of the river got a club to the head.
The moat was wide and long. When the Northern Qi army saw that things were wrong, they wanted to turn back immediately, but their strength could no longer support them in swimming back. Their limbs had already gone nearly stiff from the cold, and now they were running on nothing but one breath. The bank was full of enemy troops, so the Northern Qi army could only retreat away from the shore, not knowing what to do. Guaizai then had the artillery troops throw two hand grenades into the water. Bang—water splashed everywhere—and then countless soldiers floated up. "Coming up or not? Surrendering or not? Otherwise we'll blow you to death."
The Northern Qi army was forced to surrender again. That time they took nearly four thousand captives.
Two days ago, Fang Zichen had sent someone to tell Guaizai to bring sixty thousand soldiers to lie in ambush at Tiger Hill Ridge. For two whole days, they had not seen even a ghost of a shadow. Even so, not a single person dared say a word, because there had been precedents before. Who would have thought that after waiting two days, the Da Liao army would really appear.
Lord Fang and Young Master Guaizai truly predicted things like gods!
They were convinced—truly and completely convinced from the bottom of their hearts.
"Uncle Zhang, tie them up." Guaizai then instructed the two other small squads of soldiers: "Strip the armor off those dead Da Liao soldiers, and pick up all their things too. Gather them and bring them back."
"Yes."
Clearing the battlefield could recover quite a lot of weapons. Looking at the pile of spears and broadswords stacked together, Guaizai was very happy. These things could be recycled and processed, then distributed to new soldiers for use.
That way, quite a lot of silver could be saved as well.
The wounded were carried back. As for those who had already died, they could only be buried on the spot. Although the weather in the northwest was bitterly cold now, the wind and sand were not heavy and the environment was not considered dry. If corpses were left uncleaned, they would easily rot and deteriorate, which could lead to an outbreak of plague.
Earlier, when the allied army fought against the Northwest Army, the Northwest Army retreated again and again, and the bodies of the fallen soldiers were left untouched on the battlefield, left for birds, beasts, and insects to feed on.
As far as the eye could see, bones lay everywhere across the fields.
Do you not see, by the head of Qinghai, since ancient times white bones have lain uncollected.
[This is a line from a famous Tang Dynasty poem by Du Fu (杜甫) — Song of the Army Carts (兵车行).]
Now that the allied army had been driven to the border, Fang Zichen issued an order for the county magistrates under his jurisdiction to send people to clean up the battlefield.
---
After dealing with Ershigu, Fang Zichen waited in place for most of the day before Guaizai finally arrived with the army.
"Father, Father." He called out in his milky, babyish voice.
Fang Zichen saw him jump off his horse and come pouncing toward him, and caught him with both hands. After two days apart, Fang Zichen had missed him too. Now, seeing his face badly chapped from the cold and the frostbite on the backs of his little hands cracked severely, red like chili peppers, he ached for him terribly. He kissed Guaizai on his little cheek before saying, "Thank you for your hard work, my son. Aiyo, you've even gotten thinner."
Guaizai kissed him back too and said sweetly, "Beating bad guys isn't hard work. Father predicted things like a god—they really did run to Tiger Hill Ridge. Father is wise and mighty, with intelligence that surpasses all."
Fang Zichen was quite satisfied with that round of flattery. Holding him with one arm, he pinched his cold little nose with the other hand: "This is what they mean by knowing the enemy and knowing yourself, and winning a hundred battles. Did you learn it?"
Guaizai thought for a moment, then said: "Earwax drum…"
[Guaizai misheard the general's name 爾氏鼓 (Ěrshìgǔ) as 耳屎鼓 (Ěrshǐgǔ) — "earwax drum" (they sound nearly identical in Chinese).]
What earwax drum?
If Ershigu heard that, he would probably come back from the dead.
Fang Zichen patted him and said helplessly, "It's Ershigu, not 'earwax drum'!"
Guaizai scratched his head, his eyes shining brightly. "Oh, it's Ershigu, the old bad guy. This old bad guy is cautious and paranoid by nature. He's stopped cooperating with the other two big bad guys, and now they're fighting among themselves. He's afraid the other two will turn on him and kill him, so he chose to take the Xi'an official road, because Da Liang and Northern Qi are camped farthest from here. Right, Father?"
Fang Zichen kissed him and said with satisfaction, "That's right. I'll give you a little red flower when we get back."
Guaizai touched the spot on his forehead where he'd been kissed and said with a chuckle, "Guaizai has a big head and lots of brains. Guaizai is the smartest. Dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes. Father is an outstanding man among men, so of course he could produce a young talent like Guaizai."
Fang Zichen smiled. "Son, you're absolutely right about that."
Guaizai laughed, his voice crisp and clear, seeming very happy.
Zhang Quan, standing nearby, felt like he couldn't bear to listen anymore. They were truly shameless, one after the other—saying such things without a trace of embarrassment.
When Lu Zhengren heard that Fang Zichen had wiped out the entire Da Liao army, he immediately sent someone to summon him.
"You're a fool," Lu Zhengren cursed the moment he saw Fang Zichen, then asked what exactly he was trying to do.
Da Liao had already withdrawn its troops—what was the point of going this far?
Fang Zichen looked at him. "What do I want to do? Press the advantage and pursue the victory."
Lu Zhengren slapped the bed board. "But Da Liao has already withdrawn!"
"Such a monstrous humiliation, such deep hatred—is withdrawing enough?" Fang Zichen retorted. "What about all the common people they killed in Jizhou? Just let it go? If we let them walk away, then all those innocent people who died by their blades and the women and gers they violated—did they deserve it?"
Lu Zhengren said angrily, "Then what more do you want?"
"I want to raze Da Liao to the ground," Fang Zichen said. "I want to annihilate every enemy who dares to invade."
Lu Zhengren jerked his head up. "…What did you say?"
Fang Zichen repeated himself. "I want to raze Da Liao to the ground."
No comments:
Post a Comment