Wangting Grain Route.
These four words were worth more than an equal weight of gold on the grasslands.
Within the Great Qian, the people who knew this route were as rare as phoenix feathers or unicorn horns, and even fewer could survive to spill the secret cleanly.
The Helian people themselves were perfectly aware that a living guide was more useful than ten corpses.
The two Helian cavalrymen running at the very front had already pulled in their reins.
One man dismounted and lunged at the back of Amur's collar with fingers splayed; the other rode his horse to block horizontally, cutting off the youth's retreat as he crawled forward.
They didn't want to kill; they wanted to snatch a live captive.
Xu Zhan, with half his face hidden in the shadow of a massive boulder, knitted his brows into a dead knot.
This sudden change of events below completely disrupted the ambush formation at Black Water Ditch.
The guards of the lead cart were startled and pulled back hard on the draft horses, the reins causing the horses' mouths to foam white.
The carts behind couldn't brake in time, rolling straight over the crushed stones and turning sideways.
The third cart's draft horse was bumped heavily in the rear by the cart behind it, neighing in pain as it rubbed against the dirt cliff, forcibly wedging half the cart into the mud crevice of the ditch wall.
Fifteen large wooden carts squeezed together end-to-end, jammed into a tangled mess in the curve.
Pursuers, guards, and draft horses were all in a chaotic jumble, torches waving wildly.
The Helian people were being harmed by the Helian people.
Old Wu slid low to the ground from the grass clumps on the side, his lips right next to Xu Zhan's ear.
"Lord Xu, the guards in front are about to back up. If this curve opens up, it's like we've let them slip through the net, and we'll be eating dust for three miles trying to block them again!"
"What about that kid?" Old Wu said. "In less than ten breaths, he'll be dragged into the cart formation by the Helian dogs. If we throw the bombs, this living map will be blown to bits along with them!"
If the intelligence about those four words was true, this entire caravan of rock salt and pelts meant nothing!
"Change the rules!" Xu Zhan ordered curtly. "Rescue the person first, then bomb the carts. Niu Dali!"
From a crushed stone pit five steps behind, Niu Dali gave a muffled "Hmm."
"Take two brothers and sneak down there, drag that half-grown brat and the little kid out for me! Twenty breaths. If you can't drag them out, let go, I'll bomb it anyway!"
"This little kid, always making work for me!" Niu Dali cursed, bending his barrel-like waist and sliding down the crushed stone slope.
Two veteran soldiers followed close behind, hugging the ground, their footsteps completely silent, not making the slightest sound.
Another scream echoed from the curve.
The other slave who had been fleeing alongside them just now fell to his knees, kowtowing desperately, his fingers pointing madly at the dirt slopes on both sides of Black Water Ditch.
"People! There are people ambushing on the slope! Don't hack me!"
So it was a spineless coward, trying to trade the ambushers above for his own dog life.
The surrounding Helian cavalrymen showed fierce glints in their eyes, looking in the direction he pointed, and two bows were already drawn.
"Dali, take out that blabbermouth!"
Niu Dali, who had just sneaked to within five steps of Amur, heard the command from above and pushed off hard against a rock with his back heel.
His whole body sprang up from the pile of crushed stones.
With a short knife held in reverse in his right hand, he viciously plunged it down toward the back of the kowtowing runaway slave's neck!
Pfft!
The dull thud of the blade piercing bone and flesh was covered by the neighing of horses.
The runaway slave didn't even let out a squeak; his head smashed forward, planting into the rock crevice.
Niu Dali didn't pause for a moment. He reached out his thick left arm and directly clamped the scrawny child in Amur's arms under his armpit.
With his right hand, he gripped Amur's arm like a vise and dragged him backward.
"Go!"
Seeing that his chance to live had come, Amur didn't struggle at all. He grabbed Niu Dali's wrist backhand and crawled madly up the crushed stone slope on all fours.
The two Helian cavalrymen below snapped back to their senses.
One drew his sword and chased, while the other drew his bow and aimed at Niu Dali's back.
Before the string was fully drawn, Old Wu at the top of the slope delivered a gift first.
Whoosh—!
A coarse feathered arrow pierced through the cavalryman's bow arm. With a crisp snap, the bowstring snapped, and the bow shattered on the ground.
The second arrow arrived, and the cavalryman who had chased with his sword raised had barely taken three steps when he was shot in the lower back, wailing as he fell from his horse.
With one foot caught in the stirrup, he was dragged several yards away by the startled warhorse.
Niu Dali dragged the two living people, the crushed stones sliding noisily under his feet.
The child was clamped upside down by him, his little face pale from the bouncing, but he stubbornly didn't make a sound.
It was complete chaos below.
A blind draft horse went mad and crashed in from the side, its hooves scraping past Niu Dali's spine.
The leather armor tore a large gash, and the coarse cloth clothing underneath seeped a large patch of blood red.
Niu Dali hissed in pain, stumbling, but the arm clamping the person didn't loosen its grip for dear life.
Enduring the intense pain, he shoved the child into a nearby jumble of rocks and covered him with his own back.
Dali saw stars from the pain, his hands covered in cold sweat, but he still shielded the child tightly beneath him.
"They're retreating up!" Old Wu growled low from the cliff top.
Xu Zhan blew on the fire starter in his palm, and a cluster of orange flame leaped onto the fuse of the fire thunder pot.
Swinging his left arm in a full circle, Xu Zhan hurled the pitch-black iron lump in an arc, smashing it right underneath the heavy wooden axle of the lead cart.
One.
Before the second breath could even be drawn.
Boom—!
A massive explosion rang out, the ground shaking violently!
A huge crater was blown open in the ground of Black Water Ditch!
The sound wave echoed in the narrow curve, spraying upward in an umbrella shape along with basin-sized crushed stones, wood splinters, and mud.
The thick wooden axle of the lead cart was blown to pieces, and the wooden cart crashed over onto its side.
The tightly bound, brass-locked large chests smashed hard onto the dried riverbed, the lids bursting open, and white rock salt flew everywhere in the sky.
Sharp iron fragments and crushed stones swept indiscriminately into the pile of men and horses.
The three heavy draft horses in the front row wailed as their legs snapped in unison, crashing to the ground.
The second cart couldn't brake at all and crashed head-on into the wreckage of the lead cart.
The thick shafts stabbed fiercely into the dirt, the cart flipped in mid-air, and the salt bags and cowhide rolls on the roof were thrown several yards away, smashing the guards who were scurrying with their heads in their hands into a bloody pulp.
Flames shot into the sky, thick smoke billowing. Guards, horses, and drivers were tangled together, the torches falling into the salt piles and sizzling.
"Loose arrows!"
Old Wu gave a sharp shout. The veteran soldiers of the Sabotage Camp on both sides of the cliff let go of their bowstrings in unison. There was no need to aim; in the darkness, whoever dared to hold a torch was a living target!
The decurion who was about to blow his ox-horn bugle to gather his men had barely opened his mouth when an eagle-feathered arrow pierced his throat.
Within three breaths, Black Water Ditch was plunged into pitch darkness.
Without waiting for the smoke to clear, Xu Zhan dug his heels into his horse's belly and charged into the bottom of the ditch.
In his left hand, he held his three-sided iron mace.
Before the first Helian leader to crawl out from under the broken carts could stand straight, Xu Zhan crashed into him, horse and all, bringing the mace down on his head.
The iron helmet caved in, the man's brains were shattered, and his knees went soft as he died kneeling in the crushed stones.
On the left, a flagbearer carrying a wolf-tooth patterned banner was trying to break out.
Xu Zhan urged his horse forward, catching up in three strides, and swept his mace horizontally; the flagbearer's spine snapped along with the flagpole.
Ahead, a guard leader was extremely slippery, taking advantage of the chaos to vault onto a good horse, howling gibberish as he attempted to reform their ranks.
Xu Zhan casually hung the iron mace on the side of his horse.
With one arm, he drew a short bow, tilted his head, bit the bowstring, and thrust his left arm forward violently.
Full moon, release!
The feathered arrow whistled past the leader's neck, tearing away a large chunk of flesh and blood.
The man was instantly scared out of his wits, flattening himself against the horse's back, not daring to make another sound.
The second arrow followed closely behind, nailing into the warhorse's rump.
The warhorse neighed wildly, carrying the leader as it plunged headlong into the night.
About forty elite guards of the Right Luli King had suffered heavy casualties in the time it takes an incense stick to burn.
The survivors didn't even bother to pick up their dropped blades, fleeing desperately out of the ravine.
A bamboo whistle blew loud and clear, three long blasts and one short.
Time to close the net and sweep the goods!
Fifty veterans rushed into the clearing.
They nimbly pried open the battered copper-locked chests, specifically picking the highest quality rock salt to fill three sacks for show, while slashing the rest to ruin with their short swords.
The escort flag, embroidered on fine fabric, was torn down and stuffed into a saddlebag.
Old Wu was an expert. With a sharp eye, he lassoed five plump and sturdy warhorses from the scattered herd, tying them together in a long line.
The remaining silk and pelts were piled together and doused in strong liquor. With a strike of the flint, the flames lit up half the sky in a fiery red.
The Great Qian porcelain that couldn't be taken away was mercilessly stomped into dust.
The final step of clearing the battlefield followed the old rule: setting the scene.
Old Wu directed a few men to drag over two corpses of the Helian pursuers, arranging them with the dead guards to fake a brutal scene of both sides killing each other over the goods.
Then they used thick, leafy branches to sweep away their own horses' hoofprints, casually slashing a horse's rump to drive it toward the southeast.
Done! Old Wu flicked the blood off his blade. Tomorrow morning, when the Helian dogs follow the blood trail, they'll think the Right Luli King's men turned on each other over an uneven split of the loot!
Xu Zhan dismounted, striding up the gravel slope with his iron mace in hand.
Amur had been tossed beside a large boulder by Niu Dali.
He was bare-chested, his back covered in gruesome, flesh-tearing whip marks, dripping with blood.
The skinny child clutched his wrist, huddled in the crevice of the rock, shivering.
Xu Zhan looked down at the youth from above.
Amur didn't kneel and beg for mercy, nor did he offer any polite words of gratitude. He merely swallowed a mouthful of bloody saliva.
Water.
Li Sheng, standing nearby, tossed a waterskin straight at him.
Amur caught it. He first poured a couple of mouthfuls for the child before tilting his head back to gulp it down desperately.
The cold water washed down his dirt-caked chin, carving trails through the grime and blood.
Having drank his fill, Amur finally looked at Xu Zhan.
Give me a knife.
Xu Zhan kept a cold face. Instead of giving him a knife, his wrist sank.
The heavy three-edged iron mace pressed directly onto Amur's bleeding shoulder. The force was just right, pinning him firmly against the rock.
Tell me about the supply route first.
Miss a single word, and I'll crush your bones right now.
Half a month ago, the Royal Court camp drew two thousand armored cavalrymen, all stationed at the North Slope horse farm to guard against your border army.
The lifeline from Black Water Ravine to the Right Division's rear storehouse is now only patrolled by scattered riders just going through the motions. At most, there are less than two hundred men, and they've been split into six groups.
The youth's Great Qian language sounded unpracticed.
The Right Division's rations and smuggled goods are all held on this line.
Enter the ravine from here, cross the dry riverbed, climb over a low ridge, and walk for another half a day, and you'll reach the rear storehouse.
That wretched place only has a broken mud wall built around it. They didn't even put up a watchtower!
Xu Zhan moved the iron mace off his shoulder and took a half-step back.
If this intelligence wasn't watered down, the lifeline of the Right Division was practically throwing its doors open to the Northern Garrison Army.
Retreat! Fall back overnight to rest! Xu Zhan turned and ordered.
Seeing the main force about to leave, Amur grew anxious.
He lunged forward and grabbed Xu Zhan's stirrup.
This was only one layer of the price, not enough to buy him a safe life.
The Right Luli King is using three thousand top-tier warhorses to trade for your Great Qian's refined iron armor! Amur panted heavily. The people coming to Black Water Ravine to meet and deliver the goods are not ordinary merchants at all!
They are the nobles of your Great Qian!
(Thank you all for your company! We've finally reached one million words! This is the first million-word novel of my life, and writing up to this point fills me with so many emotions... I could only spare time in the evenings to write, and I've been writing on and off for 108 days now.
Thank you so much for the support of the big shots in the early stages! Thank you so much to the friends who have accompanied me to this point!
I originally planned to give out merchandise as a million-word gift, but I didn't expect to be so busy... However, I will seriously contact people recently, and I believe we will have it soon! You can pay attention to the author's notes then!
Good night)
