Yun Chengxuan rode at Jiang Jin’s side, Buddhist Heart in hand. Seeing the Quzhao soldiers frantically trying to shut the gates, he dug his heels into his horse’s flanks and sped up.
Pfft.
Under the dim, yellow firelight, the blood looked like some eerie black stain.
One of the soldiers closing the gates was split in two from neck to shoulder.
The soldier beside him was completely stunned. He wanted to shout, to run, to fight—but at that moment, he found that he could not move.
Thud.
His head fell to the ground.
It turned out he hadn’t been unable to move. He was dead.
Thud, thud, thud!
In less than two breaths, all the Quzhao soldiers preparing to close the gate had been slaughtered.
Jiang Jin flicked the blood from her blade and returned the Dragonfeather Crossbow to its case. “First squad, secure the north gate! Second and third squads, take the walls and surround the south gate! The rest of you, follow me and kill!”
“Yes!”
Three groups of soldiers immediately raced up the ramp toward the city walls.
Jiang Jin yanked the reins and led her men galloping into the city. The urgent thunder of hooves rang across the night sky…
At the saltworks in Fuchuan County, east of Xianglu County, the sound of battle was also raging.
Xia Chanyi led the Dragonshadow Guards into the saltworks and quickly took control of the entire facility.
They had been stationed on Xunfeng Island long ago, waiting for the right moment to land from the sea and launch a surprise attack at night.
There were not many guards at the saltworks—only six or seven hundred. In addition to the guards, around a thousand Han Chinese salt workers were being held there as well.
Just as everyone had anticipated, the Quzhao soldiers who “escaped” from the saltworks galloped toward Fuchuan County.
Fuchuan County was not a small place. It had more than two thousand soldiers stationed there. When the report arrived, the county commandant and magistrate hurriedly got out of bed.
“What happened? Do we know who attacked our saltworks?”
The gate guard quickly replied, “We asked them. They said it was the Jinyang Army.”
The county commandant’s heart jolted. “The Jinyang Army? From which direction did they come?”
The magistrate gritted his teeth. “They must have come by sea.”
“Impossible.” The county commandant rejected the idea. “Zea Commandery is practically being overrun. How could they possibly lend ships to the Jinyang Army?”
The magistrate frowned but said nothing.
“What about the saltworks’ guards?” The county commandant looked at the gate guard.
The soldier answered quickly, “We were afraid it was a trap, so we didn’t dare open the gates. They’re still outside the south gate.”
The magistrate glanced at him and nodded. “You did well. Come on, let’s go take a look at the south gate.”
At the same time, the county commandant ordered, “Have the soldiers assemble and prepare for battle at any time.”
“Yes.”
His deputy hurried off to relay the order.
By the time they reached the south gate, the saltworks guards were nearly crying with desperation.
If the saltworks were lost on his watch, even a hundred lives would not be enough to pay for his crime.
This was Quzhao’s only saltworks. The entire country depended on Fuchuan’s salt production.
When he saw the county commandant and the others on the wall, he finally relaxed a little. “Sir, it’s the Jinyang Army! The Jinyang Army has taken the saltworks!”
The county commandant could also see that the man leading the group below the wall was Ye Jiang, the saltworks’ administrator. He frowned. “How many of them are there?”
At the question, Ye Jiang’s expression turned uneasy. “The night is too dark to see clearly. There appear to be several hundred, and every one of them is equipped with repeating crossbows.”
In truth, there were fewer than two hundred. Despite the chaos, he had a rough idea of their numbers; he simply didn’t dare tell the truth.
Their side had six or seven hundred men and the advantage of defending their own territory, yet they had been beaten without the slightest ability to fight back. Only a dozen or so, including himself, had managed to escape.
When he heard that every enemy soldier was equipped with a repeating crossbow, the county commandant’s expression grew even more troubled.
The Jinyang Army’s greatest strength—and its greatest nuisance—was its repeating crossbows.
Then, remembering something, he felt that it was impossible. “Several hundred men? What could their objective be? No matter how elite they are, and even if every one of them carries a repeating crossbow, they couldn’t possibly take the saltworks and then hold it with only a few hundred soldiers, could they?”
Ye Jiang shook his head. “I don’t know.”
If he could figure out questions like that, he wouldn’t be a lowly salt worker.
As they spoke, the deputy brought a squad of men up onto the wall. “Sir, everyone has been notified. We can depart in half a quarter of an hour.”
The county commandant nodded and ordered, “Open the gates and let them in.”
The drawbridge was lowered, and the main gates slowly swung open. Ye Jiang quickly led his men into the city.
In the shadows, Shuangjiang watched as the gates were about to close. She pressed her lips together and did not move. The flicker in her eyes revealed that she was not nearly as calm as she appeared.
Yun Yu gave a subtle nod beside her. Shuangjiang was young, but she had improved at an astonishing pace—not only in martial ability, but also in the gradual maturity of her temperament.
“Don’t rush. The saltworks are of vital importance to Quzhao. They can’t possibly ignore them. They’re bound to send troops to rescue them,” he said in a low voice.
If the city gates had been opened as soon as the salt workers called for help, they could have charged in and caught the enemy off guard.
At that moment, most of the soldiers inside would have been resting, and even many of the night guards would not yet have reacted. They would have had the initiative.
Unfortunately, the defenses of Fuchuan were extremely cautious. They had not opened the gates immediately, but had first gone to report the situation.
The soldiers inside the city were now prepared for battle. The initiative had been lost. Even if they followed the troops into the city now, they would have to pay a tremendous price.
Their lord had given them only two thousand soldiers to attack Fuchuan.
Two thousand soldiers—even with three hundred of them equipped with Dragonfeather Crossbows—would make taking the city extremely difficult.
Fortunately, before they had arrived at Xunfeng Island, Jiang Jin, Zhou Sui, and the other veteran generals had thoroughly analyzed every possible contingency and devised strategies to deal with them during the military council.
Of course, battles changed from moment to moment. In the end, everything depended on the commanding officer’s ability to adapt.
As the art of war said: Victory cannot be secured by the enemy, but defeat can be made inevitable by oneself.
They were waiting—waiting for the enemy to make a mistake, so they could seize the opportunity.
And Fuchuan was extremely likely to make that mistake, because the saltworks were simply too important to Quzhao.
Shuangjiang nodded, quietly slowing her breathing as she waited for the right moment.
No one knew how much time passed. Just as Shuangjiang began to think the other side had given up, the drawbridge was lowered again, and the gates slowly opened.
Ye Jiang rode out first, followed by the county commandant and the soldiers from the city.
A look of delight crossed Shuangjiang’s face. She glanced at Yun Yu, and when he nodded, she whispered, “Move.”
Her subordinates immediately followed her as they slipped toward the left flank.
Yun Yu made a hand signal, and his deputy quickly relayed the order. The soldiers moved swiftly and silently, with the darkness serving as their finest cloak.
Because the gate was not very wide, only a few people could pass through at a time, stretching the column out considerably.
The cavalry rode at the front, several hundred horsemen in all. Behind them came the infantry, running with torches in hand.
Yun Yu narrowed his eyes as he watched the city gate in the distance, dimly illuminated by firelight, and silently counted.
Shuangjiang led her men to within roughly a hundred yards of the gate—the effective range of ordinary bows. The crossbow unit stopped there.
Shuangjiang continued forward with the assault team.
As she drew closer to the gate, the soldiers from Fuchuan who had been sent to provide relief were nearly all outside the city.
Standing atop the city wall, the magistrate watched the winding column of soldiers, concern showing on his face. He had a vague feeling that something was wrong.
The assistant magistrate was equally uneasy. “The Jinyang Army suddenly attacked the saltworks. Are they planning to attack Fuchuan?”
The magistrate’s expression grew grave. “That is what worries me as well. The saltworks may only be a diversion. Their real target could be the county seat.”
Fuchuan had a little over two thousand defenders. Around one thousand had been sent out that night, leaving very few soldiers inside the city.
But they had no choice but to send reinforcements—the saltworks were far too important.
Although the saltworks could not be moved, they could destroy the facilities and kill all the salt workers. If that happened, restarting salt production would become a major problem.
“Has the messenger bound for Heichun County set out?” the county magistrate asked.
An incident of this magnitude had to be reported to General Tang, and reinforcements had to be requested.
The county deputy nodded. “He already left through the north gate.”
The county magistrate was about to speak when, suddenly, his eyes widened. He pointed down from the city wall. “Is that someone down there?”
