Niu Dali leaned against a large, sun-baked rock, holding a chipped black pottery bowl in his hands.
He was slurping down the steaming mutton soup.
"I've got to savor this! It's the last bit!"
After a few large gulps, he licked the bottom of the bowl clean and casually wiped his greasy mouth.
"Brother Zhan!"
Niu Dali set the pottery bowl on the ground.
"That kid Amur has spilled everything!"
"Eight hundred top-grade warhorses, and hundreds of sets of fine iron heavy armor!"
"With such a huge piece of fat meat sitting right in White Wolf Valley, why are we still lying around in this dry riverbed?"
He excitedly rubbed his two fan-like hands together, spit flying everywhere.
"The brothers have rested enough, and the blades are sharp."
"Just give the word, and we'll charge straight to White Wolf Valley!"
"We'll chop up those bastards selling military equipment and drag all eight hundred horses back to North Suppressing City!"
A few veteran soldiers nearby gnawing on dry rations joined in the commotion, reaching for the hilts of their swords at their waists.
After winning battles for days on end, everyone's morale was high, and they completely disregarded the Helian people.
Xu Zhan sat on a dead tree stump, his long saber half-buried in the sand by his feet.
Beside it lay his precious mace.
He held a rag in his remaining left hand, vigorously wiping down the blade.
Xu Zhan didn't immediately respond to Niu Dali; instead, with a flick of his wrist, he picked up the saber and sheathed it.
He stood up and strode over to Niu Dali's warhorse.
Xu Zhan tore off the feed bag hanging next to the saddle.
"Smack!"
Xu Zhan forcefully threw the shriveled feed bag at Niu Dali's feet.
The bag opened, and only a few shriveled, blackened beans rolled out.
Next, Xu Zhan untied the cowhide water skin from his waist, turned it upside down, and shook it hard twice.
Not a single drop of water came out.
"Charge to White Wolf Valley?"
Xu Zhan sneered, pointing at the empty feed bag on the ground.
"Since we left North Suppressing City, we've taken down four strongholds and been bouncing around on horseback for over half a month."
"The horse feed is gone, and the water skins are dry."
"We're still a hundred and twenty miles away from White Wolf Valley, and the entire stretch is barren sand and rocks."
Xu Zhan walked back to the dead tree stump and stepped on it.
"Feel your own bellies, and look at these beasts!"
"The horses' bellies are sunken; what are we supposed to charge with?"
"In our current state, let alone stealing eight hundred horses."
"Halfway there, the men will die of thirst, and the horses will die of exhaustion!"
"Even if we made it to White Wolf Valley, one charge from the Helian heavy cavalry, and we wouldn't even have the strength to run!"
Niu Dali's excitement was halved by the sight of the empty water skin.
He scratched his scalp, his bull-like eyes glaring, and muttered unhappily.
"But that's eight hundred horses; are we just going to watch them get taken away?"
"Didn't our Sabotage Camp come out here to steal things?"
"What's the rush? The meat isn't going anywhere."
Old Wu came over from the side, holding a broken branch of red willow.
Old Wu was a walking map; all the sand dunes and water sources on the grassland were stored in his head.
He drew a large blank space in the sand and started sketching a map.
"Heading south from White Wolf Valley, back to our Daqian territory, there are exactly three possible routes."
Old Wu used the branch to draw three crooked lines in the sand.
"The first route goes through the official pass."
"That caravan smuggling fine iron is carrying goods that would get them beheaded; even if they had ten times the courage, they wouldn't dare take the official road and risk inspection at the border market."
"This route is completely out."
Old Wu's branch moved to the west.
"The second route goes around the western gravel beach."
"That place is called Ghost's Despair; you won't find a single puddle of water within thirty miles."
"Eight hundred warhorses, how much water do they need to drink a day?"
"Taking this route, half the herd would die of thirst."
Old Wu forcefully poked the branch onto the middle line.
"The third route goes through the old salt road at the southern foot of the Yin Mountains."
"From White Wolf Valley, through Broken Camel Ridge, past Bluestone Pass, and further ahead is the abandoned beacon tower."
"This route not only avoids our Daqian official outposts, but there are also two old wells along the way that haven't dried up."
Old Wu looked up at Xu Zhan.
"With that many horses, they have to take this route."
Amur, who had been huddled in the corner, suddenly spoke up.
He held half a bowl of leftover soup and licked his cracked lips.
He still bore whip marks on his body, and though his voice wasn't loud, his words were clear.
"The old soldier is right."
"When I was a herdsman slave in the right tribe, I heard the guards escorting goods talking."
"The noble caravans from Daqian never dare to travel during the day."
"They always take the old salt road through Bluestone Pass in the middle of the night and sneak into White Wolf Valley before dawn."
"After exchanging the horses, they retreat along the same route overnight."
Xu Zhan stomped the lines in the sand flat.
"Then we'll settle on Bluestone Pass!"
Xu Zhan looked around at the fifty brothers, his words filled with a ruthless edge.
"White Wolf Valley is the territory of the Helian Right Guli King; if he's going to receive the goods, he'll definitely bring his main cavalry."
"If fifty of us go to White Wolf Valley for a head-on clash, we won't even make a splash."
"We're not going to White Wolf Valley; we're going to Bluestone Pass to intercept their return trip!"
Niu Dali still hadn't quite grasped the plan.
"Brother Zhan, since they're exchanging goods in White Wolf Valley, why don't we steal the fine iron armor before the exchange?"
Xu Zhan looked at Niu Dali as if he were an idiot.
"Do you have a brain?"
"The Daqian caravan is transporting eight hundred sets of fine iron armor; those are dead weight, heavy as hell!"
"If we steal the fine iron, are we going to carry it back on these fifty exhausted horses?"
"We wouldn't make it twenty miles before all the horses collapsed!"
Xu Zhan patted the scabbard at his waist.
"What we're going to steal are the eight hundred warhorses they bring back after the exchange!"
"Bluestone Pass is close to the outer edge of the North Suppressing region; once we steal the horses, we each ride one and drive the rest of the herd straight back to the city."
"Even if the Helian people realize something's wrong and chase after us, they'll only be eating our dust."
Niu Dali slapped his thigh in sudden realization.
"Brilliant! Brother Zhan, this double-cross is beautifully executed!"
"Wait for them to get the horses, then we strike halfway, taking both the capital and the interest!"
Old Wu broke the red willow branch in his hand and tossed it aside.
"Brother Zhan choosing Bluestone Pass is a truly spot-on decision."
Old Wu wiped the sweat from his face and continued.
"I traveled through Bluestone Pass ten years ago."
"Both sides are steep rocky slopes, with only a narrow path about ten yards wide in the middle."
"Once a herd of horses enters that gap, it's hard for them to turn around."
"All we have to do is ambush them on both sides of the rocky slopes and throw fire thunder pots down."
"Once the horses are spooked and trample each other, the guards escorting the carts will be turned into minced meat before they can even draw their swords."
Xu Zhan nodded.
"That's the strategy."
"The whole army will rest in place for an hour; divide the last bit of water and horse feed among everyone."
Xu Zhan turned to look at Old Wu.
"Old Wu, take two clever brothers, change into Helian clothes, and scout ahead to Bluestone Pass."
"Find out all the hidden sentries and the terrain along the way."
Old Wu clasped his hands in acknowledgment.
"Don't worry, Brother Zhan, leave it to me."
...
Three days later.
The southern foot of the Yin Mountains, on the outskirts of Qingshi Pass.
The sky was just beginning to lighten, and a faint cyan mist shrouded the wilderness.
Fifty cavalrymen of the Raid Camp advanced silently close to the rock face, the men gagged with wooden bits and the horses' hooves muffled.
The crushed gravel beneath the hooves ground together, making a faint crunching sound.
Xu Zhan pulled back on his reins and raised his right hand. The troops behind him halted instantly.
Ahead lay a cluttered rocky beach. Two miles further was the entrance to Qingshi Pass.
Old Wu emerged from behind a large boulder up ahead, hunching over as he quickly jogged to the front of Xu Zhan's horse.
"Brother Zhan, we have a situation ahead."
Old Wu lowered his voice, pointing to a deep trench on the right side of the rocky beach.
Xu Zhan dismounted, tossed his reins to Niu Dali, and followed Old Wu over to investigate.
The edge of the trench was overgrown with withered, yellow camelthorn.
Old Wu brushed aside a clump of camelthorn, revealing a few inconspicuous rocks underneath.
Lying conspicuously in the crevices between the rocks were several piles of horse dung.
Old Wu extended two fingers and pinched a broken stalk of grass.
"The break on this stalk is fresh, and the sap hasn't dried yet."
"Someone fed their horses here."
Xu Zhan crouched down, staring at the dung.
Old Wu reached out and peeled back the outer layer of the dung, sticking his fingers into the middle.
He closed his eyes to feel the temperature, then immediately pulled his hand out and wiped it on the sandy ground.
"It has formed a hard crust on the outside, but it's still a bit warm on the inside."
Old Wu's face darkened.
"Brother Zhan, this dung was dropped no more than four hours ago."
"And looking at the fodder residue in the droppings, it's all fine alfalfa, not wild grass."
"This is the feed used for the military horses of the Great Qian."
Xu Zhan's brows knitted tightly together.
"Great Qian military horses?"
"The smuggling caravan hasn't arrived yet. Why would there be Great Qian scouts here?"
Old Wu shook his head.
"And it's more than just one horse."
Old Wu pointed to several messy hoofprints nearby.
"The depths of these horseshoe prints vary. At least five scout riders have stopped here."
"They are setting up hidden sentries on the outskirts of Qingshi Pass."
"Brother Zhan, these smugglers are even more cautious than we thought."
"It's highly likely that their men are already lying in ambush on the rocky slopes on both sides of Qingshi Pass."
Xu Zhan stared at the horse dung, his mind calculating rapidly.
To secure these eight hundred warhorses, the smuggling caravan had sent scouts ahead to clear the area.
If the Raid Camp entered Qingshi Pass to set up an ambush according to the original plan, they would absolutely crash headlong into the enemy's security perimeter.
When that happened, the ambush would turn into a direct confrontation.
Fifty men against over a hundred or even hundreds of guards, they would have no chance of winning.
Xu Zhan stood up, brushing the dirt from his hands.
"There's a change of plans."
Xu Zhan turned and strode back to the front of the troops.
He grabbed his horse's reins and vaulted into the saddle.
"Pass down the order."
"We can't stay at Qingshi Pass."
"The entire squad is changing ambush locations!"
