Chapter 97: Reflected in Red

The first faint light of dawn had already appeared on the horizon.

Zheng Fan and the others could also see the silhouettes of the beacon-fort line ahead.

Once they passed through that stretch of forts, they would be back within the borders of the State of Yan.

But after an entire day and night on the move, even with two horses per rider, both men and mounts were exhausted.

At Liang Cheng’s suggestion, they chose the safer course and stopped beside a shallow stream to rest.

The men needed time to catch their breath.

So did the horses.

Mounted scouts were sent ahead to investigate.

Beside the stream, Zheng Fan pointed at the wound in Liang Cheng’s abdomen.

“Want me to help you pull that spearhead out?”

Liang Cheng shook his head.

“Better to wait until we return. Removing it now might actually hinder me.”

“Mm.”

Zheng Fan understood.

Even now, Liang Cheng remained extremely vigilant.

Their greatest advantage the darkness had already abandoned them.

Light would soon rule the land again.

True, every Qian frontier force they had encountered so far had been useless.

But caution kept a ship sailing for ten thousand years.

They were only one final step from home.

This was precisely when they needed to be careful.

They rested beside the stream for more than an hour.

Only after every scout returned and reported nothing unusual ahead did Liang Cheng order everyone to don armor and mount again.

As far as Zheng Fan was concerned, the next step was obvious.

Build up their momentum, charge straight through the beacon-fort zone, cross back into Yan, and return to Green Willow Fortress.

But just as everyone finished preparing, Liang Cheng raised a hand and shouted in barbarian speech:

“East!”

Zheng Fan froze.

Not north?

Yan lay to the north.

Going east meant riding parallel to Qian’s entire beacon-fort line, as though they were holding a military review right beneath its nose.

The barbarian soldiers were surprised as well.

But their training won out.

They obeyed immediately.

The cavalry wheeled around while maintaining formation and began galloping east.

As they rode, Zheng Fan glanced at Liang Cheng beside him.

He asked nothing.

Liang Cheng said nothing.

Yet less than fifteen minutes after they began riding east a cavalry force appeared behind them in pursuit!

Qian cavalry!

Their exact numbers were unclear.

But even from a distant glance, there were obviously far more of them than Zheng Fan’s force.

Considering the distance, direction, and timing, there was a very good chance these cavalrymen had already been lying in ambush among the beacon forts Zheng Fan’s men had originally planned to charge through.

Perhaps once they realized Zheng Fan’s force was escaping east and their ambush had failed, they had no choice but to ride out of the forts and give chase.

Two cavalry columns began a pursuit across the open plain.

Now the importance of their earlier rest became obvious.

The men themselves were not much of a problem.

Zheng Fan’s barbarian soldiers came from penal tribes.

If you ordered them to ride and fight for three days and three nights without closing their eyes, they could manage it.

That was the natural endurance of the barbarians.

But if the horses beneath them did not receive enough rest, their legs would give out.

Because they had rested, the riders could still switch mounts during the pursuit, letting the second horse carry the rider while the first ran alongside without a burden.

It was almost like aerial refueling.

Their superb horsemanship allowed Zheng Fan’s barbarians to switch mounts quickly and easily even while moving at speed.

The pursuing Qian cavalry clearly lacked both those resources and that advantage in horsemanship.

Gradually, Zheng Fan’s force pulled away.

The chase continued for roughly two hours, nearly half the morning.

At last, Zheng Fan and his men shook off the Qian cavalry behind them.

“Rest!”

Liang Cheng once again gave the order.

For one thing, the stamina of their men and horses was like fuel for an armored column in later generations.

They could not simply drain the tank dry in one go.

For another, they were still inside Qian territory.

If they blindly galloped without regard for direction, Heaven only knew what backwater they might end up in.

When Zheng Fan dismounted, the insides of his thighs burned fiercely.

His horsemanship had improved greatly during this period.

But this was his first time enduring such a long, high-intensity ride.

His overall condition was still manageable.

The problem was the tender flesh along his inner thighs.

He had not yet developed the thick calluses of a veteran rider, so that particular patch of skin was still rather delicate.

A barbarian soldier came forward and took Zheng Fan’s horse to feed and tend it.

Zheng Fan smiled and nodded at him.

The barbarian nearly jumped in fright.

He hurriedly clasped his hands and bowed to Zheng Fan several times.

Zheng Fan took two handfuls of fried flour from his pouch and began stuffing it into his mouth.

This was not the stir-fried noodles of later generations.

It was literally flour that had been dry-fried.

As for the taste well.

Anything became ordinary after eating it meal after meal.

“Master.”

Seeing Zheng Fan walk over while eating, Liang Cheng spoke first.

“Earlier, when this subordinate sent scouts to investigate the beacon forts ahead, I actually ordered them to deliberately expose themselves within sight of the forts.

“Unless every fort in that area was another Chicken Fort like the first one we slipped into on the way here, the garrison soldiers should certainly have been alerted.”

Zheng Fan nodded as understanding dawned.

“Because there was no beacon smoke?”

“Yes, Master.

“Beacon smoke itself—and alerting the enemy—would not actually matter much.

“We already have a rough understanding of the condition of these forts.

“They are undermanned and poorly trained.

“With those forts alone, it would be almost impossible for them to assemble enough men quickly enough to block us.

“And even if Qian forces elsewhere saw the beacon smoke and started moving to reinforce them, they would be too far away to reach us in time.

“So we could have simply ridden through the beacon smoke and returned to Yan without a care.

“It was precisely because there was no smoke at all that this subordinate concluded something was wrong ahead.”

“I’ve learned something.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

Letting professionals handle professional matters really was the best way to avoid becoming a joke.

If Zheng Fan himself had been leading the force, they might already have been completely surrounded beneath those beacon forts by that Qian cavalry unit.

The Green Willow Fortress Police Station’s anti-prostitution campaign would have “collapsed midway before success”...

Then Zheng Fan smiled.

“Looks like Qian isn’t entirely populated by useless sacks of rice after all.”

“Master, we did capture a city.

“For the opposing commander to react this quickly—and even predict our return route well enough to arrange an ambush in advance—proves that he is indeed capable.”

“It’s such a huge country. It wouldn’t be realistic if every last one of them were a wine sack or rice bag.

“So what do we do next?”

Previously, Liang Cheng was usually the one asking Zheng Fan that question.

Now Zheng Fan, the leader, was consulting the professional.

Reality was not a game.

There was no inserting another coin and starting over.

“Master, after resting for half an hour, we circle south, then return through the same opening we used before.”

“Is that what you call taking them by surprise?”

“Our small numbers are a weakness.

“But in truth, they are also an advantage.

“If we abandoned the bodies of our dead barbarians and left the wounded behind, we could move even faster.”

Zheng Fan shook his head.

“We’re not at that point yet.

“We still have enough horses.

“Taking the bodies and wounded with us also helps preserve morale.”

“Master is wise.”

Liang Cheng was only making a suggestion.

Whether to accept it remained Zheng Fan’s decision.

Zheng Fan lowered his voice.

“Even if we really had to leave wounded men behind, we’d need to wait for them to volunteer first.

“They’d have to insist that they couldn’t slow everyone down, willingly stay behind to block the enemy and cover our retreat.

“Preferably with blades against their own throats, threatening to kill themselves if we refused to leave.

“Then I’d squeeze out a few tears, look back three times with every step, and only then would we go.”

“............” Liang Cheng.

“Truthfully, I hope that day never comes.”

“Neither do I.

“To be honest, I was somewhat prejudiced against them at first.

“But after fighting and charging alongside them, I suddenly realized my old view was far too one-sided.”

Just then, a barbarian scout rode over.

After dismounting, he saluted Zheng Fan and reported:

“Master, a mounted party has appeared about five li to the northeast.”

“A mounted party?

“A merchant caravan?”

The northern frontier of Qian was actually sparsely populated.

That was probably because, a century ago, the first Marquis of Zhenbei had led his iron cavalry across three Qian frontier commanderies and reduced them to a state where “nine houses out of ten stood empty.”

Afterward, Qian simply treated the northern lands as a permanent war front.

It stopped encouraging migration into the region.

There was little point settling people there only for Yan to benefit in the end.

As a result, northern Qian was populated mostly by military households, somewhat similar to the system around the residence of the Marquis of Zhenbei.

However, because of the Silk Road, merchant caravans had become increasingly common in recent years.

“Reporting to Master: it doesn’t look like a merchant caravan.

“The carriages appear to be transporting someone of high status.”

Zheng Fan looked at Liang Cheng.

“Shall we go take a look?”

Liang Cheng instead turned to the scout.

“How many men do they have?”

“Fewer than a hundred guards.”

Liang Cheng nodded and looked at Zheng Fan.

“Master, the decision is yours.”

...

“Mother, Father really is too much.

“He made the two of us pack up and head home before dawn even broke.

“I’m absolutely exhausted.”

Inside a carriage, a sixteen-year-old girl complained to the elegant noblewoman beside her, who looked only a little over thirty.

“You, honestly.

“You’re not a child anymore. You’re already old enough to marry.

“How can you still be so thoughtless?

“Your father received an urgent report saying something seems to have happened in Mianzhou City to the west.

“He’s worried war may break out, so he sent the two of us home first for our safety.”

“War?

“Are we going to fight the Yan people?”

The woman frowned slightly.

“Hopefully not.”

But who else did Qian have to fight in the north besides Yan?

Surely the barbarians had not crossed the entire State of Yan just to raid Qian?

“Mother, if we leave now, will...” Hearing that war might actually break out, the girl finally became frightened.

“Silly girl.

“Mianzhou City is far from here.

“Even if something happened there, it won’t reach us anytime soon.

“You, on the other hand, need to pick up your needlework again.

“Otherwise, once you marry into another household, people will gossip.

“Then your father and I will have to endure your in-laws laughing at us for not knowing how to raise a daughter.”

“Mother, I’m not marrying him.

“I saw that fellow from the Situ Clan last year.

“He looked half-dead.

“In the middle of winter, he was coughing blood while wearing nothing but a thin scholar’s robe.

“Isn’t there something wrong with his head?”

The woman sighed helplessly.

“That is probably just the fashion in Shangjing.”

The literati of Shangjing loved wearing flowing white robes even in winter, sniffling from the cold while fanning themselves.

“Mother, I really don’t want to marry that Situ boy.

“Wouldn’t I crush him to death underneath me?”

“You...!

“You’re an unmarried maiden! What nonsense are you spouting?

“Who taught you things like that?

“Who was it?!”

“Mother, at night I secretly watched you and Father...”

“............” The woman.

Her face instantly flushed scarlet.

“It was hard for your daughter not to notice...”

“Stop talking!”

The woman could not bear another word.

She reached out and pulled open the carriage curtain, hoping the cool breeze would dispel the heat from her face.

There was no helping it.

This was the daughter she had raised herself.

It wasn’t as though she could order someone to strangle her!

“Mother, you can’t fill your own belly and then ignore your daughter’s...”

“Mother is begging you.

“Please stop talking.”

“Mother, I really don’t want to marry that Situ boy.

“I want to be like you and find an iron-blooded man like Father.

“I genuinely can’t bring myself to like those refined scholars.”

As she spoke of her ideal husband, the girl grew slightly bashful and turned her gaze outside the carriage.

Then her eyes lit up.

“There, Mother!

“That’s the kind of husband I want!”

In the distance beyond the carriage window—

Liang Cheng happened to be galloping toward them!

“What?”

Curious, the woman also looked outside.

But at that exact moment a terrified cry suddenly erupted among the surrounding guards:

“ENEMY ATTACK!”

(End of Chapter)