The captain drew in a sharp breath. “Did something just flash over there?”
“Flash? What do you mean, Captain?”
The captain said urgently, “You didn’t see it? It looked like sunlight glinting off an arrow.”
The guards followed his gaze toward the distant Xiling Mountains. Under the blazing sun, the leaves in the dense forest shimmered with tiny flecks of white.
“Come on, it was just the leaves. Nothing to worry about, Captain.”
As they spoke, more than a hundred cavalrymen suddenly came charging toward them in the distance.
The captain started in alarm. “They’re ours. What happened?”
One of the guards drew in a sharp breath. “They look wounded!”
As the riders drew closer, everyone could finally make them out. Most were covered in blood and grime, with only their eyes visible; it was hard to tell what they really looked like. Only a few were still relatively clean, their faces showing.
The cavalry soon reached the North Gate and shouted up at the city wall from across the moat. “Open the gate! We’ve been attacked!”
A guard was about to go open the gate when the captain hurriedly stopped him. Then he shouted down at the riders, “Which battalion are you from? Who attacked you? What happened?”
The reply came quickly. “We’re from the Fierce Tiger Battalion. We were attacked by Quzhao troops while patrolling the northern road. Open the gate and let us in—we need to report to His Majesty as soon as possible!”
The captain started. “Quzhao troops?”
“Exactly! Open the gate at once. We found more than a hundred Quzhao soldiers on the northern road. They may have been the vanguard. We’ve already wiped them out!”
When the guards on the wall made no move, the cavalry commander flew into a rage. “Open the gate! If you delay the military operation, your heads won’t be enough to pay for it!”
The guard jumped in fright and was about to go open the gate, but the captain stopped him again and shouted down, “Do you have a military token?”
The commander, clearly impatient, took a token from his belt and held it up. “Here’s mine. Enough with the questions—open the gate! Do you know what happens if you delay the operation?”
The captain frowned. Something felt wrong, though he couldn’t put his finger on what. A vague unease stirred in his heart.
Watching the furious cavalrymen, he gritted his teeth and gave a quick order. “Go report this to the general.”
The soldier who had been kicked frowned. He didn’t understand why the captain had suddenly become so cautious, but he did as he was told and hurried off.
Only then did the captain turn back to the men below. “Whose unit are you from in the Fierce Tiger Battalion? What’s your name?”
The commander’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You’re Du Da, aren’t you? I serve under Commander Xiao. I’m Yi Sheng, a hundred-man commander. I know you.”
Hearing that the man knew him, Du Da finally let his guard down. He nodded to his subordinates. “Lower the drawbridge and open the gate.”
With a series of creaks, the drawbridge mechanism began to move.
Just as the bridge was about to come down, another dozen or so riders came charging from afar, shouting at the battlements, “Stop! It’s a trick!”
Du Da’s heart clenched. “Stop!”
Clang!
The drawbridge halted halfway down.
A flash of menace crossed the eyes of the man calling himself Yi Sheng. He tightened his grip on his blade and pointed it at the wall. “What’s the meaning of this?”
Before Du Da could answer, the dozen riders reached the gate and pointed at Yi Sheng. “They’re Quzhao troops! Kill them at once!”
Yi Sheng snapped, “You’re talking nonsense! You’re the Quzhao spy, aren’t you? Why else would you delay us? Are you trying to buy time for the Quzhao army?”
He looked up at the guards on the wall. “Since they claim we’re Quzhao troops, why not let us into the city and inspect us? I, Yi Sheng, have a good reputation in the army. Plenty of people can vouch for me.”
Du Da knitted his brows. What the man said made sense, but the matter was too serious for him to make a decision on his own. He decided to wait and see.
The leader of the dozen riders was a lean, dark-skinned man. He gave a cold laugh. “Wash the blood and grime off your face first. Then we’ll talk.”
They’d been patrolling outside the city when, somehow, they’d run into a band of mountain outlaws chatting among themselves.
“We’re done for. Let’s get out of here! The Quzhao army’s coming. Anwu County won’t hold!”
“Right, let’s go! There are dozens of Anwu soldiers lying in the grass beside the northern road. Their clothes have been stripped off. I bet the Quzhao troops are pretending to be Anwu soldiers to trick those fools into opening the gate.”
“And I wouldn’t be surprised if the Quzhao army killed more than just one patrol. They could piece together a hundred-man unit and storm Anwu City. Heh!”
“Who cares? It’s got nothing to do with us. Let’s go.”
The lean, dark-skinned man and his men were shocked. They were about to approach the outlaws and question them, but the bandits ran off at full speed, vanishing into the woods by the roadside in the blink of an eye.
He had no time to chase them. He immediately turned his horse around and galloped toward the northern road.
After searching the area, they found that the outlaws had been telling the truth: the bodies of soldiers had been dumped in the dense woods beside the road, and their clothes had indeed been stripped away.
The road and its surroundings had also been disguised. Unless you were looking carefully, you’d never notice anything amiss.
They hurried back to the city, afraid the guards might be tricked into opening the gate. Luckily, they’d arrived in time. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Yi Sheng snorted. “I’ve done nothing wrong, so I’ve nothing to hide. Once we’re inside, wash us as much as you like.”
He looked up toward the wall. “There are only a hundred of us. What are you afraid of? That we’ll take over the city?”
Though his words made sense, Du Da was now extremely cautious. He decided they should wait for the general to arrive.
And at last, he realized what had seemed wrong.
Hardly any of these men had shown their faces. They were all caked in dirt, their features hidden.
Perhaps because he was already suspicious, the more he looked, the stranger they seemed. The more he looked, the less they seemed like Han Chinese.
Du Da waved a hand. Every soldier on the wall raised a bow and aimed it at the cavalry below.
“The general will be here soon. Wait. He’ll decide what to do.”
He turned and shouted toward the gate tower, “Pull the drawbridge back up!”
The soldiers in the tower heard him and immediately set the mechanism in motion.
With another series of creaks, the drawbridge that had been lowered halfway began to rise.
A savage glint flashed in Yi Sheng’s eyes. He turned to the lean, dark-skinned man and the riders behind him. “You’re asking for death!”
The lean man flinched at his murderous glare and led his men a few steps back.
But it was too late.
Dust billowed in the distance, as if ten thousand horses were charging toward them.
Du Da was horrified. “Enemy attack! Quick, sound the drum! Sound the drum!”
Almost at the same moment, Yi Sheng waved his hand. The cavalry behind him abruptly raised their bows and fired at the lean man’s riders and the guards on the wall.
War cries rang out, and the ground was stained red…
Jiang Jin watched the bloody battle at Anwu City through her telescope and smiled. Now that was more like it.
It had been worth sending someone to warn the Anwu troops.
If King Anwu were defeated too easily, how could she put her plan into action?
She lowered the telescope. “Move out.”
