Xu Zhan and Xu Chengguang rode side by side.
More than a hundred cavalrymen followed silently behind them, the clatter of hooves scattering into the wild night wind.
Five li ahead lay the sprawling camp of the Left Luli King’s central army. Its tents stretched endlessly into the distance, while the flames cast half the night sky red.
“General!”
Suddenly, movement came from the bushes ahead.
Cao Kuo rode back with more than a dozen scouts. He yanked hard on the reins, dragging two He lian mounted scouts behind his horse by their bound arms.
They had been hauled across the ground the entire way, leaving long trails in the dirt.
When he reached them, Cao Kuo dismounted and kicked one of the scouts in the back. The man let out a muffled groan and fell face-first before Xu Zhan’s horse.
“Scouts from the forward post caught these two. Tough bones, but they haven’t given us a single truthful word after all our questioning.” Cao Kuo spat onto the ground.
Xu Chengguang frowned. He stepped forward, drew his saber halfway, and pressed its edge against the scout’s throat.
“How many troops are stationed in the central camp? Who’s the commander? What orders did Ashina Gudu give? Speak!”
With the blade at his throat, the scout merely gritted his teeth and glared venomously at Xu Chengguang.
“Southern dogs! With our army at your gates, your deaths are certain. Don’t even dream of getting a single word out of me!”
A murderous glint flashed through Xu Chengguang’s eyes. He was about to strike when a sudden sound came from beside him.
Xu Zhan said nothing.
He simply looked down at the defiant scout from atop his horse.
Then, without hesitation, he swung the iron mace in his left hand and brought it crashing down.
Crack.
The scout’s right kneecap collapsed beneath the blow, shattered bone piercing through flesh.
His scream tore through the night sky. He writhed frantically on the ground, nearly passing out from the pain.
The other scout had still been forcing himself to maintain a brave front, but after witnessing such ruthless decisiveness, his defenses crumbled in an instant.
He struggled desperately to his knees and began slamming his forehead against the ground.
“I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! Please spare me, honored soldier!”
Xu Zhan rested the bloodstained iron mace against his saddle and looked down at him coldly.
“Speak.”
The spy trembled all over, his voice quavering.
“The king… the king never intended to launch a direct assault on Zhenbei Pass.”
“He ordered every unit to gather the warhorses that had died of disease, as well as the bodies of the Hu soldiers who had fallen in battle. And… and…”
The spy swallowed hard.
“The king ordered the bodies to be tied to trebuchets and hurled over the walls, straight into your inner city!”
Xu Chengguang’s expression changed drastically.
“You’re throwing corpses? What kind of vile tactic is that?”
The spy gulped and hurried on in terror.
“They aren’t ordinary corpses! Every one of them has been forcibly coated in a black liquid.”
“It’s called… called Corpse Salve! A Han strategist from Daqian offered the cursed substance to the king. They say it’s brewed from dozens of deadly poisons.”
At this point, the spy glanced at Xu Chengguang’s face and lowered his voice.
“Anyone whose flesh it touches will begin to rot.”
“Word from the camp is that Zhenbei Pass has been completely sealed off. People are dying from rotting flesh all over the inner city. Even the well water can’t be drunk.”
“The king said that once everyone inside is dead, we’ll go in and collect the bodies.”
“Animals!” Xu Chengguang roared in fury. He raised his saber and was about to cleave the spy in two.
The spy immediately covered his head and cowered on the ground.
“Wait.” Xu Zhan shouted, stopping him with the iron mace braced against the saber’s edge.
Xu Zhan paid no attention to Xu Chengguang’s rage.
He lifted his head and glanced at the night sky. The Big Dipper was already slanting westward.
Less than half an hour remained until midnight.
“General Xu,” Xu Zhan continued.
“Qinghuan calculated every move Chen Changfeng would make long ago.”
“She knew the enemy camp would inevitably let its guard down at midnight, and she knew we would have to break the deadlock at precisely this hour. Chen Changfeng wants to use the Clear Wind Abbey’s poison scheme to turn an entire city into a tomb. Then we’ll strike from outside and smash his deathtrap to pieces.”
He turned toward the central camp ahead, where flames illuminated the night.
“Tonight, we’ll use this fifty-thousand-man camp as the first offering in settling the Clear Wind Abbey’s old debts.”
Xu Chengguang heard the finality in Xu Zhan’s voice. He forcibly suppressed his fury and sheathed his saber.
He looked around at the few hundred men they had with them.
“General Xu, time is short. How do we fight this battle?”
Xu Zhan leaped down from his horse.
He walked to a patch of flat ground sheltered from the wind, drew the short knife at his waist, and quickly sketched several lines in the snow.
“This is the layout of the Left Luli King’s central camp.” The tip of his knife touched the very center. “The main gate is the most heavily guarded, with large numbers of archers and crossbowmen. A direct assault would be suicide.”
“But the spy just said that Ashina Gudu moved the newly built Huihui cannons and fire-oil weapons to the right flank in order to speed up the siege.”
The knife drew a heavy line toward the right.
“The right flank sits on higher ground, directly facing the wind. They think placing their heavy weapons where they can keep an eye on them is the safest option. They don’t realize they’ve turned that position into a giant powder keg.”
Xu Zhan rose to his feet, his voice low and cold.
“All troops, hear my order! Dismount!”
At once, the surviving cavalrymen and soldiers of the Pingqiang Army swung down from their horses.
“Discard your armor,” Xu Zhan continued. “Leave all black-iron lamellar armor, iron shields, and spears where they are.”
“Each man keeps only a short blade. Strap three fire-thunder jars to your waist and one Fire God bomb to your back. Wrap the horses’ hooves in scraps of cloth and tether them in the woods.”
One of the Pingqiang Army’s officers stared in disbelief and couldn’t help stepping forward.
“General Xu! No armor? If we run into enemy sentries’ stray arrows, we won’t even have anything to block them with. We’ll be nothing but sitting ducks!”
Xu Chengguang turned and barked, “Shut up! Do as General Xu says! We’re here to burn the camp, not form ranks and trade blows. How are we supposed to sneak in wearing all that heavy armor?”
Xu Zhan nodded, then looked at Xu Chengguang.
“General Xu, take the Pingqiang Army’s men and spread out along the eastern perimeter.”
“You have powerful bows. Your task is to eliminate the Hu sentries and patrols guarding the outer perimeter.”
Xu Zhan paused before adding, “Remember, no matter what you see, if the enemy is about to make a sound, kill them immediately. Leave no survivors, and don’t let them sound the alarm.”
Xu Chengguang cupped his fist and answered in a deep voice, “General Xu, leave it to me. If I let even one Hu soldier escape, this Xu will present his head to you.”
Xu Zhan turned and swept his gaze over Cao Kuo and the two hundred death soldiers who had followed him through the bloody battle at Western Route Prefecture.
“Cao Kuo.”
“Here!”
Xu Zhan gave his orders in a low voice.
“Take the men and follow me. Spread out and crawl in low to the ground.”
“There is only one target: the equipment camp on the right flank.”
“Don’t get bogged down in a fight, and don’t chase glory. Light the fire, then withdraw immediately.”
Once the orders had been given, everyone quickly stripped off their heavy armor and checked their fire-thunder jars and Fire God bombs.
The icy night wind cut through their thin clothing, but no one felt the cold. Mad battle-lust burned in every pair of eyes.
Under cover of darkness, the troops split into two groups and advanced on foot toward the sprawling camp two li away.
The howling gale completely swallowed the sound of their footsteps.
Xu Zhan moved at the very front, keeping his body pressed low.
Using the rolling hills and scattered rocks along the way for cover, they drew ever closer to the wooden palisade on the right flank of the central camp.
A hundred paces ahead, two points of fire swayed in the bitter wind.
They were two Hu soldiers tasked with guarding the perimeter of the equipment camp.
The two men huddled into their sleeves and stamped their feet for warmth, cursing the accursed weather at each other in the Hu tongue. They had not the slightest idea that death was closing in.
Xu Chengguang gave a hand signal from the darkness in the distance.
Three elite crossbowmen of the Pingqiang Army swiftly dropped to one knee, raised their loaded repeating crossbows, and took aim at the shadows beside the two fires.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three black-lacquered bolts tore through the air and pierced the two Hu soldiers cleanly through the throats.
The Hu soldiers did not even have time to cry out before they toppled backward into the snow, stiff as boards.
Xu Zhan did not pause for so much as a moment. He swept his hand forward.
Cao Kuo immediately led the others out like nimble cats, swiftly dragging the two bodies behind a haystack and concealing them.
“Keep moving,” Xu Zhan whispered.
Following a gap in the palisade, the group slipped silently into the camp.
The equipment camp on the right flank finally came into view.
Nine enormous Huihui trebuchets towered in the night, their wooden frames giving off the scent of tung oil.
Around the stone-throwers were stacked hundreds upon hundreds of wooden barrels filled with gunpowder, along with leather bladders of fierce fire oil piled up like hills.
These were the Left Luli King’s final trump card—the weapons he planned to use at dawn to smash Zhenbei Pass to pieces.
Most of the Hu soldiers guarding the site had gathered around several large bonfires in the distance. They passed around wineskins and laughed loudly as they discussed the plunder that would follow the fall of the pass.
They could never have imagined that the Great Qian army would infiltrate the very heart of their camp at a time like this.
Xu Zhan stopped thirty paces from the Huihui trebuchets.
He glanced back at Cao Kuo and the others.
The death squad members promptly removed the leather bladders of fire oil from their backs, drew their short knives, and slit small openings in the bladders.
With all their strength, they hurled them toward the wooden barrels and trebuchets.
Black fire oil sprayed through the air, drenching the timber and gunpowder barrels with uncanny precision. Its acrid smell began to spread through the night.
Xu Zhan pulled a fire starter from his waist. He flipped open its cover with his thumb and gave it a hard shake.
A tiny spark flared in the darkness.
Without the slightest hesitation, he hurled the fire starter, together with a thunderfire jar whose fuse he had already pulled, toward the pile of gunpowder barrels.
A heartbeat after everyone turned and dove toward cover,
a deafening explosion that seemed to shatter heaven and earth erupted across the night sky above the northern slope.
A towering blaze of orange-red fire rose like a savage sword, bursting from the ground and stabbing straight into the heavens.
