Chapter 524: - Bloody Battle (IV)

The Blind Man and Gou Moli rode back toward the main camp together.

On the road, Gou Moli asked, “Mr. Bei, do you know what the greatest difference between you and me is?”

“Where?”

“What you seek, study, know, and understand is the commonality shared by people. I prefer looking at the specific traits of one particular group, assuming, of course, that Mr. Bei counts Savages as people.”

“You mean I’m more metaphysical?”

“I didn’t understand that word, but I can roughly guess what you mean. It’s close enough. Take candlelight. No matter how bright or hot the flame is, it still needs a pitch-black candlestick beneath it to support and hold it. You could plate the candlestick in gold and silver and it still wouldn’t shine brighter than the flame, but without the stand and all those little pieces holding things together, the flame wouldn’t work either. You look at commonality from the broadest direction. I work in the little corners, patching and mending.”

The Blind Man chuckled. “I remember Master should have told you already that he dislikes this habit of yours, this excessive humility. In every word and gesture, inside and out, you keep treating yourself like an idiot and a fool. If we don’t believe you, you keep hopping around putting on that act. If we do believe you, wouldn’t that make us the fools?”

“Yes, I understand. I’ll do my best to speak properly from now on. It’s just... some habits have been cultivated for too many years. Changing them back in a short time is difficult.”

“Take it slowly. No hurry.”

“But I am curious. What level do you think I should change myself toward? I don’t know exactly what it is, but the relationship between you, Mr. Feng, General Liang, and the Count is very strange. I may never reach that point.”

“Don’t even hope to imitate our relationship with Master.”

That sort of thing could not be copied even if one tried. It had been there from the beginning.

Even the Demon Kings themselves had no way to change it.

Whether in the previous life or this one, it had always been so.

“Then what should I try to become? No, according to the things Mr. Bei says when lecturing the soldiers and civilians of Snow Sea Pass, which direction should I improve toward?”

“Improve?”

“Yes. How far should I improve?”

“Improve until, one day, if we and Master decide to open an inn, we feel comfortable keeping you there as a waiter. That would be enough.”

“Interesting.” Gou Moli smacked his lips. “Very interesting. The Count and all of you are an extremely interesting group.”

“Our goal is to make our days more interesting.”

“I’ll think carefully about that sentence. Truthfully, I’ve also been lost for some time. After my great undertaking collapsed, I should probably have slit my throat and ended things long ago. But I never died. I kept thinking of ways to wait for chances, search for chances, chase chances. Perhaps the road I walk from now on can move closer to those two words, like Mr. Bei and the Count.”

“Slowly. No hurry.”

“There is one more thing. I’ve noticed it for a long time, but I never knew whether I should say it.”

“Say it.”

“Master and all of you are Yan people, but I have always felt that none of you are really like Yan people.”

“And how are you, Gou Moli, anything like those muddle-headed Savage fools?”

“No, Mr. Bei. I mean that when you and the Count deal with Yan people, there is clearly a certain...”

“A certain what?”

“Neglect. It is still the relationship between candlestick and flame. Just as I understand Savages, there are people who understand Yan people just as well.”

“You mean His Majesty the Emperor of Yan?”

“Yes. Exactly him. He is a formidable ruler.”

“Naturally.”

“Many people may think launching this campaign against Chu now is reckless militarism, but he himself should be able to sense very clearly the line Yan people can endure. He believes there is no problem, so he does it. He knows how much strength the State of Yan and the Yan people can truly be squeezed for. If the strength of one generation is not enough, then use two generations, even three generations’ worth, all in a single day.”

The Blind Man looked at him. “What exactly are you trying to say?”

“I only want to ask whether Mr. Bei has considered what happens after this campaign against Chu.”

At that question, the corner of the Blind Man’s mouth curled upward.

In the past, among the Demon Kings, the only one genuinely enthusiastic about rebellion had been Blind Bei himself.

Now, apparently, there was one more.

For the Savage King, the higher Master’s position rose, the higher the status of the dog beneath Master’s feet would rise as well. By extension, the standing of the snowfields he represented would rise with him.

“Take one step and see one step.”

That was the Blind Man’s answer.

In truth, many people were preparing for the future.

Gongsun Zhi was.

Gong Wang was.

On a larger scale, the Prince of Jingnan and Emperor Yan were as well.

The campaign against Chu remained the most urgent affair before them, but that did not prevent anyone from making a few plans and laying a few pieces for what came afterward.

Unfortunately, although Snow Sea Pass had already become a place and a force in eastern Jin that no one could ignore, it still lacked the qualification to place pieces on the board ahead of time.

That was not necessarily a great problem.

From ancient times to the present, there had always been one kind of person who never placed pieces in advance.

What they excelled at was pulling chestnuts from the fire.

What Snow Sea Pass was waiting for now was an opportunity, a chance to unlock the shackles around its neck.

The Blind Man knew Master understood that as well.

But he could not discuss it with Master in too much detail.

Because the largest shackle presently around Snow Sea Pass’s neck bore the surname Tian.

Seeing the Blind Man fall into thought, Gou Moli stopped speaking.

A long while later, the Blind Man let out a breath.

“Future matters can wait for the future. First handle what lies in front of us properly. Otherwise we’re only reaching for something beyond our grasp and indulging in empty talk.”

“Mr. Bei is right.”

“Master will probably agree to your request. But whether it succeeds depends on you. Simply piling up corpses is too slow and too cheap.”

“Yes, I understand. If they are going to die in great numbers, their deaths still need to produce as much value as possible.”

The Blind Man smiled.

Gou Moli smiled too.

It was the knowing smile shared by two old scheming bastards.

...

“This bow feels pretty good.”

Inside the command tent, Count Pingye stroked the bow the Chu assassin had used in the attempt on his life that day.

In this life, Zheng Fan had practiced only two weapons seriously.

One was the saber.

The other was the bow.

And his archery was genuinely decent, something A’Ming deserved considerable credit for.

The purple bow seemed to be made from some unusual material. Zheng Fan could not tell what monster beast’s sinew had been used for the string.

Unfortunately, there were no formation patterns carved into it.

Still, how should one put it?

First, it looked cool.

Second, it looked cool.

Third, it still looked cool.

When the quality itself was already excellent, something attractive naturally became even more appealing.

Only after playing with it for a long while did Zheng Fan finally push the bow aside.

When he personally charged, he normally carried a bow on his back anyway. As his status and position continued rising, he had fewer and fewer chances to draw it himself, but on a battlefield, one extra weapon always gave him one extra sliver of security.

It was a shame about the color.

He would have to find some way to dye it.

Purple was far too conspicuous.

While Zheng Fan was admiring the bow, Liang Cheng reported the day’s casualties.

Count Pingye mostly listened to the numbers.

Losses could be replenished from two directions: one was to have the princely command allocate replacements, the other was to have Snow Sea Pass send men forward from home.

The burden on the entire army’s logistics was already tremendous.

Zheng Fan would have felt embarrassed opening his mouth too wide toward Old Tian.

The man had already done enough by not requiring Snow Sea Pass to contribute grain and military equipment to support the rest of the army.

Still, how should one put it?

There was no reason not to take advantage of the state when the chance existed.

Whatever could be claimed should still be claimed.

At least in his hands, those resources could be guaranteed to produce stable results.

Meanwhile, as siege battles formally opened everywhere, the second wave of laborers sent from Yan and Jin had already crossed the Wang River.

Some of them would be selected and converted into auxiliaries.

A war between states was, in the end, a contest of national power.

And national power could be divided into manpower and material.

“A’Cheng, tomorrow we begin the real assault. If the fighting continues at today’s rhythm, how long do you think it will take?”

Liang Cheng shook his head.

“Master, forgive this subordinate, but I cannot answer that question. In a battle like this, we can only do our own part as well as possible. The rest must be left to the enemy. They may remain tenacious all the way through, or they may suddenly collapse. Taking it to the extremes, they might fight to the last man. Or tomorrow one of our trebuchets might simply smash their commander to death.”

“...” Count Pingye.

Liang Cheng realized he seemed to have said the wrong thing.

Count Pingye dabbed some medicated oil between his brows and rubbed gently.

“So battles like this really aren’t very interesting.”

In field battle, one could at least make everything revolve around one’s own initiative.

“Master, if battles like this were interesting, the State of Yan would have marched south and formally attacked Qian long ago.”

“That’s true enough. Fine. We’ll keep fighting and see. How are tomorrow’s preparations?”

“We will double today’s number of siege towers and trebuchets. Today, this subordinate only had the trenches and defensive moat filled. I deliberately ordered that low wall standing before the gate not be pushed down, and I specifically instructed the trebuchets not to strike it.”

Zheng Fan nodded. “Mm. Leave them a thread of hope. Otherwise they’ll completely block the city gate.”

“Master is wise.”

“Just speak normally. Slipping flattery into it ruins the effect.”

Count Pingye had, after all, been “through a hundred battles.”

With two great teachers over his head, he was certainly no weakling when it came to armchair warfare.

“Yes, Master. Judging from the Chu sending heavy-armored assault troops out today, and even dispatching an assassin, their state of mind is still reasonably stable. That mindset rests on their old impression that Yan armies are poor at siege warfare. Today probably placed significant pressure on them, but people always cling to some measure of luck. We leave that wall standing today. Tomorrow, when the real assault begins, the battering ram will be able to play its role to the fullest. Truthfully, if the Chu trenches and defensive moat had not been laid out so cleverly, the best result today would have come from pressing everything forward in one wave.”

That low wall existed to leave the Chu one thread of hope.

To make them refrain from sealing the gate completely from the beginning.

It left them a road out.

And it left the Yan a road in.

“Gongsun Zhi asked to personally lead his guards in the wall assault tomorrow,” Zheng Fan reminded him.

“I heard from the Blind Man that his situation is rather difficult now. Among Yan people, he is effectively regarded as a betrayer of Li Bao’s branch. So he craves military merit and contribution even more desperately. Still, if he volunteers, that saves us trouble.”

“So tomorrow is truly going to be a bloody fight?”

Zheng Fan kept rubbing the point between his brows.

“Yes, Master. If tomorrow’s assault fails to produce some decisive effect, then what follows will probably be a prolonged period of grinding attack and defense.”

“Mm.”

At that moment, a personal guard reported from outside.

“Count, Mr. Bei and Mr. Ye request an audience.”

Mr. Ye was naturally Gou Moli.

Among the people around Zheng Fan, Gou Moli was addressed as Mr. Ye.

Apart from Liang Cheng, who held an actual military office and was addressed below as General, everyone else was called Mister.

“Let them in.”

Very soon, the Blind Man and Gou Moli entered the command tent.

Once inside, the Blind Man simply moved to one side, making it clear he had only accompanied the other man.

Gou Moli knelt directly before Count Pingye.

“Count, tomorrow’s battle will unquestionably be critical. If we win, East Mountain Fort can be settled in one stroke. If we fail, it becomes a long struggle. So this subordinate begs the Count to give me one more opportunity. Tomorrow, allow my Savage warriors to be the first to scale the wall!”

Those words proved that Liang Cheng was not the only man with a clear grasp of the situation.

Gou Moli’s strategic judgment and tactical ability had never been in doubt.

Otherwise, those repeated victories over the Situ Clan outside Snow Sea Pass could never have happened.

Count Pingye set down the little bottle of medicated oil, took out his metal cigarette case, and drew two cigarettes.

He tossed one toward the Blind Man standing off to the side.

The cigarette floated through the air and landed steadily between the Blind Man’s lips.

Count Pingye gave a soft chuckle and placed the other cigarette in his own mouth.

Then the candle burning on the desk floated upward, drifted toward him, and held its flame at exactly the right distance to light the cigarette.

Liang Cheng pretended not to notice.

If Fan Li were here, he would probably have said:

What a show-off prick.

Count Pingye exhaled a ring of smoke.

Holding the cigarette between two fingers, he leaned slightly to one side and looked down at the Savage King kneeling below.

“Storming a wall kills a lot of people.”

Gou Moli raised his head and grinned.

“I beg the Count to give this subordinate one more chance to send people to their deaths. Someone has to be in the first wave. We don’t need perfect coordination, and we don’t need outstanding individual martial skill. We need only one thing: men who do not fear death.”

Count Pingye narrowed his eyes and flicked away some ash.

“Granted.”

“Many thanks, Count, for fulfilling this subordinate’s request!”

...

The command carriage was pulled out of camp once more.

This time, however, it stopped not far beyond the camp itself.

Count Pingye stood atop it in golden armor.

Behind him, A’Ming stood on the left.

The Sword Saint stood on the right.

Below the carriage, Gao Yi personally led the body of guards.

A rail ran along one side of the carriage. The “Zheng” banner hung there, and the purple longbow had been tied beside it as well.

Since ancient times, unless one side possessed overwhelming strength and simply rolled over the other, most wars were contests of morale.

Reducing the enemy’s morale as much as possible demonstrated a commander’s skill.

Maintaining and raising one’s own morale was a commander’s basic duty.

Count Pingye did not like wearing this golden armor.

Nor did he like carrying a bow with such a bright, eye-catching color.

But to stabilize the army’s heart, he had to stand here openly today and allow every soldier, auxiliary, and laborer beneath him to see him.

Sure enough, when the first formation of regular troops marched out of camp and passed before the command carriage, their spirit visibly rose.

The auxiliaries and laborers who followed reacted even more strongly.

No matter what else was true, Zheng Fan was the pillar of this army.

Its mascot.

The word might sound a little like a toy in another age, after modern evolution in a different world.

But in this era, the commanding general was the soul of the entire army.

Gongsun Zhi approached with his troops.

After dismounting, he led his personal guards before the command carriage and dropped to one knee.

Several hundred guards knelt with him.

“This general pays respects to the Count. May the Count enjoy health and fortune!”

Count Pingye stood above with one hand resting on his saber.

His right hand lifted slightly.

“General Gongsun, please rise.”

“Thank you, Count!”

Gongsun Zhi stood.

His guards rose behind him.

Only one person remained kneeling.

A boy wearing armor, standing beside Gongsun Zhi, looked barely into his early teens.

Count Pingye had noticed him earlier.

There was no helping it.

A figure that small stood out too sharply amid a pack of wolfish personal guards.

Gongsun Zhi pointed toward the boy.

“Count, this is my son, Gongsun Zan.”

“Gongsun Zan pays respects to Count Pingye. May Count Pingye enjoy health and fortune.”

After speaking, the boy kowtowed three times.

That changed the meaning entirely.

This was no longer the etiquette between superior and subordinate.

Nor was it simply the greeting owed an uncle of an older generation.

Gongsun Zan’s original name had been Li Zan.

Among the seven Chief Commanders beneath the Marquis of Zhenbei, six had been the Marquis’s adopted sons and all carried the surname Li.

Li Fusheng had been the same.

Li Fusheng’s original surname had been Guo.

That adopted-son system had spread extraordinarily deeply through Yan, especially within the military.

But someone like Li Fusheng could allow his children to return to the Guo surname.

Military adoption was often more a gesture that the army was one family than a literal change of bloodline.

Li Bao was different.

Li Bao had been an orphan.

He had no original surname to return to.

So his surname truly was Li.

Gongsun Zhi had originally become Li Bao’s adopted son and changed his name to Li Zhi.

Later, he was taken as Li Bao’s son-in-law.

So Gongsun Zhi’s own son had originally been called Li Zan.

When Gongsun Zhi finally chose to break with Li Bao’s son and take his own troops away, changing his own surname back to Gongsun had mattered less than changing his son’s surname back.

“Count, I’m a rough man. I know I can’t teach a child properly. My boy’s got a decent head on his shoulders, and I’m afraid keeping him beside me would only hold him back. So I ask the Count to bear the trouble and discipline him for me. I, Gongsun Zhi, kowtow to the Count!”

With that, Gongsun Zhi knelt again and struck his forehead against the ground three times.

In truth, this was entrusting an orphan.

Since ancient times, entrusting one’s child to another had been a grave matter.

You were asking another person to continue and protect your bloodline.

The debt of gratitude was enormous.

Three kowtows were entirely appropriate.

The Savage King had once told Count Pingye that because Zheng Fan had always looked upward, he rarely noticed the fly-by-night schemes and entanglements beneath him.

That was because above Zheng Fan there were only a tiny handful of men he truly cared about: the southern and northern Marquises, Emperor Yan, and a few others.

Any place with few people naturally felt clean and quiet.

But look downward at the roots tangled beneath one’s feet and it was like watching ants dig tunnels through soil.

Dense.

Twisting through nine bends and eighteen turns.

A world within a world.

Gongsun Zhi was not entrusting his son merely because he intended to lead the wall assault today.

With Gongsun Zhi’s martial ability, and with guards around him who would unquestionably fight to the death to protect him, dying today would actually be difficult unless his luck was truly awful or he stubbornly refused to retreat under any circumstances.

What he was really giving Zheng Fan was a hostage.

Just as lesser states voluntarily sent their heirs to the capitals of the four great states, placing them there as hostages.

He was making his attitude clear:

I’m following you now.

My son stays beside you.

Count Pingye had helped the Prince of Jingnan raise his son.

From that moment onward, everyone beneath Heaven regarded Zheng Fan as a man sitting aboard the Prince of Jingnan’s ship, a stain that could never be washed away.

Gongsun Zhi’s move worked exactly the same way.

The bond of entrusting one’s child was not something either the father or young Gongsun Zan could simply cut later.

Besides, Gongsun Zhi had already broken away from Li Bao’s branch and carried a poor reputation because of it.

If he later broke from Count Pingye’s faction as well, whether in officialdom or the army, he would find it nearly impossible to survive.

At that moment, Gong Wang approached with his own guards and happened to witness the scene.

By now, everyone understood that both men, and both of their armies, would henceforth rely upon Count Pingye’s mountain.

One mountain.

Three armies beneath it.

Count Pingye’s own formation naturally came first.

But who ranked second?

That mattered enormously.

It would directly affect the division of interests after victory in the campaign against Chu.

Gongsun Zhi’s move of entrusting his son fell into Gong Wang’s eyes, and those of the generals around him, as an extremely direct act of competing for favor.

Yes.

Gongsun Zhi had asked yesterday to personally lead the assault.

But was he guaranteed to die?

If death was guaranteed, should Gong Wang prepare a coffin and hang white mourning cloth for him in advance?

Gong Wang’s son, Gong Lin, whispered:

“Father, should your son go kowtow too?”

Gong Wang became so angry he laughed.

But he had, after all, once followed Situ Lei and carried more of a scholarly general’s bearing.

He said:

“How old are you, and how old is that boy? Even ordinary men marrying widows care whether the widow already has children, whether they’re boys or girls, and how old they are. A daughter is one thing. But if she brings a son who’s already grown, then you truly are raising another man’s son. And now you want the Count to raise a son only a year or two younger than himself?”

Count Pingye was young.

Gong Wang was old.

So Gong Lin genuinely was only slightly younger than Count Pingye.

After being scolded, Gong Lin shut his mouth.

Gong Wang frowned slightly and hesitated.

“Although Jia’er...”

“Father, you want to betroth Little Sister to Count Pingye?”

Gong Lin was very close to his younger sister.

Any elder brother would feel sorrow when his little sister married.

Even more so when the marriage was obviously political.

Gongsun Zhi had just sent over a son.

If the Gong family immediately sent over a daughter, excellent.

Count Pingye, who still had no children under his knees, would suddenly have “both son and daughter.”

“Father, Count Pingye already has a princess in his household.”

And she was a genuine princess of Great Chu.

During Count Pingye’s last trip to Yanjing, Emperor Yan had personally invested her as well.

If his own sister entered the Zheng household, how could she possibly compete with a princess?

Would she not spend her entire life lowering her head and behaving meekly?

Gong Wang and Gong Lin had once discussed the young woman’s marriage.

Father and son had agreed that the best option was a family of lower standing than their own.

That way, with her father and elder brother behind her, no one in the husband’s household could bully her.

She could live with some backbone.

But Count Pingye’s household...

And with a princess as principal wife, how was their daughter supposed to live proudly?

What Gong Lin did not know was that even the princess was the junior woman inside Count Pingye’s residence.

“Forget it. Forget it. Follow your father down first and pay respects to the Count.”

Gong Wang led his son and the generals beneath him forward.

They dismounted together and saluted.

“This general pays respects to Count Pingye. May the Count enjoy health and fortune!”

“Rise.”

“Thank you, Count!”

Gong Wang pointed at Gong Lin.

“Count, this is my son.”

“Gong Lin pays respects to Count Pingye. The Count has always been a lofty mountain and model in this general’s heart.”

He was not deliberately flattering him.

Although the two men were not far apart in age, Count Pingye’s achievements were already enough to make Gong Lin look up to him.

“Since both generals have arrived, I assume your troops are here as well?” Count Pingye asked.

Gong Wang answered solemnly, “Reporting to the Count, from this general downward, every man in my army obeys the Count’s command!”

Gongsun Zhi immediately chimed in.

“Count, same here!”

Count Pingye nodded.

Truthfully, subduing these two Chief Commanders had taken almost no effort because everyone involved needed something.

Count Pingye needed to establish his own mountain so he could seize initiative when the spoils were divided later.

The other two needed a patron.

Count Pingye suited them perfectly.

The three sides had simply hit it off.

“Good. Then today, let’s teach the Chu inside East Mountain Fort a lesson.”

With that, Count Pingye unfastened the Barbarian saber at his waist and tossed it down.

Gongsun Zan immediately caught it.

Then the boy climbed the steps on the side of the command carriage and stood beside Count Pingye.

The entrusting of the child was now complete.

Count Pingye reached out and tapped the little helmet on Gongsun Zan’s head twice.

Clink. Clink.

He smiled.

“Back then, this Count stood beside His Highness in exactly the same way.”

Gongsun Zhi’s face lit up with delight.

Gong Wang looked faintly sour.

The Sword Saint turned his face slightly aside.

The shamelessness of that sentence was simply too much.

How old had Zheng Fan been when he stood beside Tian Wujing?

“Pass this Count’s order.”

Seeing the time had come, Zheng Fan began issuing commands.

Everyone below the command carriage immediately knelt.

“For today’s siege, this Count intends to settle everything in one battle. I ask all of you to fight to the death. Whether before His Highness or before His Majesty, this Count will personally petition for your rewards!”

“This general obeys!”

“This general obeys!”

...

“Woooooo! Woooooo!”

The horns sounded.

Forces from every route began rapidly assembling and moving into position.

Today’s siege was about to begin.

Unlike yesterday’s probing operation, which had primarily focused on filling trenches, today was the main event.

Among the auxiliary ranks, Guo Dong whispered to Xu An:

“See that? We’ve got almost twice as many trebuchets and siege towers as yesterday.”

Xu An nodded.

“Looks like today we’re getting serious.”

“You think we’ll have a chance to rush up together later?”

“If things turn red-hot enough and we get the chance, we’ll pick up sabers from the ground.”

Guo Dong nodded.

But he understood that the opportunity would be difficult to find.

Every troop type had its assigned task.

Their column of auxiliaries existed to raise shields.

At last, after one opening barrage from the trebuchets, the Yan siege formations began advancing.

After yesterday’s real combat, coordination among the various units and routes had become noticeably smoother.

Guo Dong and Xu An once again screened and helped push one siege tower forward.

Once they reached a certain distance, Chu arrows began coming down.

Auxiliaries already possessed much better quality than militia, and they had trained for a period before this.

After shedding their rawness on yesterday’s battlefield, everyone looked much steadier today.

That was the change in temperament produced by blood.

There was a fundamental difference between a veteran who had seen combat and a green recruit who had not.

Guo Dong and Xu An now even had a sense for when they truly needed to stay tense and when they could relax slightly.

Once they closed the distance further, Xu An warned:

“The Chu giant crossbow is about to fire. Careful. Move closer to the siege tower.”

Thrum!

A giant bolt came screaming over.

It punched through the shields of two comrades in front of Guo Dong.

One man’s arm was mangled outright.

Fortunately, the giant bolt buried itself in the ground before Guo Dong.

Half a step more and Guo Dong’s foot might have been nailed directly to the earth.

“Aaaah!”

The comrade whose arm had been torn apart remained stunned at first.

After a moment, he finally understood what had happened and began screaming.

Guo Dong and Xu An could only go around him and continue forward.

There was no possibility of pulling men from the formation to treat and protect a wounded comrade right now.

If they did, the strongmen behind them pushing the siege tower would lose all cover and fall directly beneath the Chu arrows from the wall.

Very soon, however, two Savages rushed up from the rear.

One carried the wounded man.

The other supported him.

Together they hauled him from the battlefield.

There were many Savages doing this kind of work.

They served as battlefield casualty carriers.

They wore no armor and had no protection.

Going onto the battlefield was extremely dangerous.

But if they rescued one living wounded man, they received one bamboo tally.

If they found no wounded men, that was fine too.

Bring back weapons or arrows and tallies would be calculated by item.

Often, hauling one wounded man back cost the lives of one or two Savages.

They had no other choice.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Inside the walls, the Chu trebuchets began returning fire.

Their targets were still the siege towers.

The number of Chu trebuchets firing today was obviously greater than yesterday.

Clearly, the defenders had held something back as well.

But the Yan had doubled their own trebuchets from the day before.

After several rounds of exchanges, the momentum of the Chu trebuchets was quickly suppressed again.

Snow Sea Pass truly was not far from here.

And Count Pingye’s emphasis on heavy military equipment and planning for siege warfare had begun last year.

No.

In truth, it had begun back in Shengle City.

He had simply never had much opportunity to use any of it.

So when this great campaign against Chu arrived, not only was one entire workshop inside the military camp continuously producing siege equipment, but everything stored at home had been dragged out as well.

Some machines had sat in storage so long their parts had rusted.

Fortunately, replacing a few pieces allowed them to keep working.

It would have been completely unrealistic to fabricate this much equipment from local materials in only a few days outside the fort.

For this campaign against Chu, Yingdu had gathered enormous numbers of craftsmen and sent them to the front.

The Prince of Jingnan had not allocated a single one to Count Pingye.

Count Pingye himself had been too embarrassed to ask.

After all, the Prince of Jingnan had already handed the people of Tianji Pavilion to him long ago.

Across the battlefield, above and below the walls, boulders smashed down and arrows filled the air.

The fighting could hardly be called anything other than fierce.

Count Pingye’s command carriage remained relatively far back again today.

But he was watching the situation ahead with great concentration.

If they could take this wall in one breath today, then East Mountain Fort would effectively be theirs.

If they failed today, a long, drawn-out battle of attrition would become inevitable.

The chance of taking it today was not especially high.

Still, one had to dream.

The front formations had already successfully advanced.

As yesterday, once the Yan archers and crossbowmen inside the siege towers could erase the height disadvantage and shoot level with the Chu troops on the wall, while Yan trebuchets continued suppressing the Chu machines in momentum, the scales of battle were forcibly dragged back toward balance.

The Chu commander defending the fort was probably deeply depressed.

What kind of freakish Yan army was he facing?

Count Pingye extended a hand.

Gongsun Zan placed the Barbarian saber into it.

“...” Count Pingye.

Gongsun Zan looked at him in confusion.

A’Ming handed over a waterskin.

Count Pingye shook his head.

That bastard liked putting blood in his waterskin.

The last time they assaulted Central Mountain Camp, Count Pingye had wondered why the “water” in A’Ming’s wineskin tasted so strange.

Only after realizing the truth afterward had he nearly vomited himself inside out.

The Sword Saint passed over his own waterskin.

Count Pingye tossed the Barbarian saber back to Gongsun Zan, accepted the waterskin, and drank.

“It’s time to storm the wall.”

The Sword Saint asked:

“Can you take it today?”

Count Pingye pursed his lips.

“We’ll see.”

Whether they could settle the battle in one stroke would depend on this wave.

Once the siege towers reached the proper distance, the pins beneath them would be pulled free.

The towers would tip forward and become massive, heavy siege ladders resting against the wall.

If they failed to take the wall in this battle, once the Yan withdrew today, the Chu would certainly burn those towers.

Just rebuilding them would cost no small amount of effort.

...

At the front, the Savage King swept his gaze over the tribesmen behind him, all wearing rattan armor.

“Raise your heads! Open your mouths!”

Every Savage sitting on the ground lifted his head and opened his mouth.

The Savage King waved.

His followers moved among them carrying wineskins filled with mare’s milk wine and poured liquor into those waiting mouths.

Some wiped their lips after drinking, ferocity already shining in their eyes.

Others drank and began to tear up.

The Savage King lifted both arms.

“If you want meat, if you want women, if you don’t want to keep living like livestock, then wager your lives for it! I promise you that after today’s victory, every man who survives will live like those Yan soldiers. Good food. Good drink. Women without end. Grain you can never finish. The Stars have given us this chance. At our darkest moment, the Stars did not abandon us. They still favor their children. They have given us another ladder toward the light. It is right there ahead of us. When those siege towers fall against the walls, that is when our march toward a better tomorrow begins. Touch the armor on your bodies. Wipe the blades in your hands. Follow me. Follow this King. For the Stars, for yourselves, for your families, for the snowfields, fight to your heart’s content. Go forward without turning back. Once more, kill!”

With that, the Savage King struck his own chest.

“The Stars favor the Sacred Race!”

“Hou!”

The Savage King raised his banner and swung it high.

The snow-wolf hide glittered beneath the sun.

As the King’s Banner danced, one wolf howl after another came from Gou Moli’s mouth.

It was the final pride of a Wolf King.

...

Gongsun Zhi squatted before his personal guards.

“A lot of people say we’re ingrates. Say we don’t know gratitude. Say we’re... no damned good. What I want to say is this: we cannot pretend not to care what others say about us. A man lives this one life for his face, for the self reflected in other people’s eyes, for the self spoken from other people’s mouths. We are not saints. We are men. But look at our Prince. He exterminated his own entire clan. What greater violation of human law could there be? Yet who dares say it now? Who dares even mention it? What does that prove? It proves that as long as our military achievements are great enough and our positions high enough, no one will dare expose our scars again. So today, I, Gongsun Zhi, ask all of you to help me wash away the shame on my body!”

“We are willing to die for the General!”

“We are willing to die for the General!”

...

Calling the first assault a nine-deaths-one-life charge would be slightly exaggerated.

But most of the men going up first would never come back alive.

Before men already marked for death, there was little left worth avoiding.

Especially the first troops to scale the wall.

They had already placed life and death aside.

All their commander needed to do now was ignite their blood a little more.

Then a little more.

Then one little measure more.

Because sometimes, everything depended on that one breath of courage.

Hold that breath even a moment longer, and the Chu might be the first to break.

Another force in the first wave came from Snow Sea Pass.

Its commander was Fan Li.

Wrapped inside his enormous iron can, he sat on the ground and still towered far above the armored soldiers before him.

He could hear commanders nearby giving speeches to their men.

He could see his own soldiers staring at him with expectant eyes.

Their expectation was very simple.

Other people got speeches.

They wanted one too.

Soldiers hated losing.

They needed precisely that unwillingness to lose.

Fan Li continued sitting there.

Truthfully, asking Fan Li to make a speech and conduct a prebattle mobilization was crueler to him than asking him to storm the wall.

But beneath the burning gazes of the men before him, Fan Li finally raised his axe.

He roared:

“Ura!”

The Snow Sea armored soldiers in front immediately raised their weapons as well.

“Ura! Ura! Ura! Ura!”

[End of Chapter 524]