Chapter 781: Turtle Shell

“It doesn’t matter. I can take the child’s surname.”

After those words left Qu Peiluo’s mouth... silence settled across both sides of the table for a long time.

Dugu Mu stared at Qu Peiluo.

Then he said:

“I never imagined such words could come from your mouth.”

How much self-abasement did it take?

How thoroughly must a man trample his own dignity?

How shamelessly flattering must he become... to say something like that?

It was practically more servile than a slave.

In truth, Dugu Mu was many years older than Qu Peiluo’s grandfather.

But because he and the late Qu Tiannan had both been counted among Great Chu’s Four Great Pillars of State, the two had been treated as men of the same generation.

That was why Qu Peiluo called him Uncle.

“This old man is curious. Have you ever thought about what your father would feel if he heard what you just said?”

Qu Peiluo answered without hesitation:

“He would be deeply gratified.”

“Heh.”

Dugu Mu rose.

“You’ve gone mad. The honor and dignity the Qu Clan spent centuries accumulating have been trampled completely into the mud beneath your feet.”

“The Qu Clan is already gone. Who is that remaining honor and dignity supposed to impress?”

Qu Peiluo rose as well.

“Go back and defend your city. Before long, I will erase from this world the stain your father left behind.”

“Uncle Dugu, have you ever heard a saying? When something has already fallen to the very bottom, only two endings remain. Either... it disappears forever. Or... it begins to rise.”

A smile appeared at the corner of Dugu Mu’s mouth.

“I didn’t expect you and those Fan slaves inside Fan City to still harbor such unrealistic fantasies. You have no chance left. This old man admits that Yan sabers are sharp indeed, but Yan cavalry cannot ride across Mount Meng. The waterways are sealed. Mount Meng is controlled by the Grand General. Who can possibly save you?”

Qu Peiluo shook his head.

“Once, I was every bit as confident as you are now, Uncle Dugu. Do you believe in fate?”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t.”

“Then why ask this old man?”

“I don’t know either.”

Neither spoke again.

Each turned away.

Mounted.

And left.

Very soon... horns sounded from the Chu camp.

The Chu army formed into neat battle arrays and began advancing.

Among the formations stood a considerable number of siege engines.

From atop the city wall, Qu Peiluo watched the scene.

He said to Fan Zhengwen beside him:

“I thought I’d delayed Dugu Mu for two days. Turns out he wasn’t idle either. He spent the time building siege equipment.”

“So did we profit or lose?” Fan Zhengwen asked.

“We still profited. Those extra two days let us clean out the city and stabilize morale. Otherwise, with the way things looked at the beginning, the city would probably have collapsed internally by now. There would have been no defense at all.”

“Profit is good. Profit is good. In great business, merely avoiding a loss is already a huge gain. Earning even a little means you’ve made a fortune.”

“You go calm the people inside the city. I’ll command the walls.”

“Good.”

Fan Zhengwen obeyed without hesitation.

The Chu attacked Fan City for nearly an entire day.

Only when the sun was close to setting did the signal sound for withdrawal.

Fan City... had survived the day.

Night fell.

Torches rose along the walls.

Qu Peiluo sat on the stone steps, one hand resting on a saber planted beside him.

Fan Zhengwen climbed up carrying a bowl of noodles.

He handed it to Qu Peiluo along with a flask of water.

Qu Peiluo did not take the bowl.

Instead, he held out his hands.

Fan Zhengwen understood immediately.

He poured water over Qu Peiluo’s hands so he could wash them.

Only after washing did Qu Peiluo begin to eat.

Fan Zhengwen sat beside him.

“This day was damned hard to endure. Several times I thought we were finished.”

There had once been idle men who liked ranking the military strengths of the various states.

Yan was famous for cavalry.

Chu was famous for infantry.

Jin was famous for celebrated generals.

As for Jin’s “celebrated generals,” that had much to do with the Three Families dividing Jin in the first place.

This lord had his Thirteen Guardians.

That lord had his Seven Great Defenders.

Once enough official posts and military titles existed... “famous generals” naturally multiplied.

As for Qian... it managed to touch none of the three.

So the Chu army’s ability to assault fortified cities was genuinely formidable.

Far more professional than the Yan troops who had improvised their siege methods outside Zhennan Pass years ago.

Much more formidable.

Even so...

Qu Peiluo had held.

“The first day is over. The second should be a little easier,” Qu Peiluo said.

The soldiers now had experience.

They would not be as frantic and disorganized as they had been today.

“Will it keep getting easier?” Fan Zhengwen asked.

“Hold another few days and even if the city doesn’t fall, morale will.”

“Then hand out more silver and valuables?” Fan Zhengwen asked.

“You can give them money, but they need lives left to spend it.” Qu Peiluo shook his head. “We hold one day at a time.”

...

The next day... the Chu army attacked again.

Arrows flew across the walls.

Stone throwers pounded the defenses.

Chu troops swarmed up ladders like ants.

Under Qu Peiluo’s command, the defenders rushed constantly from one breach to another, patching every weak point.

The fighting continued until dusk.

Then the Chu withdrew.

That evening’s meal was steamed buns Fan Zhengwen sent up.

They were made in imitation of the Marquis Pingxi Residence style from Fengxin City.

Stuffed buns.

Qu Peiluo took one bite.

“This can actually raise morale.”

Hand a soldier a plain bun.

He bites into it.

Finds meat filling inside.

A small surprise.

And at the same time, a message: the granaries were still full.

“Today really was a little easier than yesterday,” Fan Zhengwen said.

“Go calm the people in the city.”

“Don’t worry. Leave that to me. But tomorrow can hold too, right?”

“Tomorrow... the fighting will be in the north.”

...

On the third day... as the Chu army deployed south of Fan City and began another assault...

Grand General Nian’s banner appeared outside the northern wall.

The attack there began suddenly.

But the north wall had long since been prepared.

More precisely...

Qu Peiluo had always kept the core troops he personally brought with him stationed around the north gate.

Even during the desperate fighting of the first two days... he had never committed them.

Fan Zhengwen had heard plenty of complaints from Fan Clan household generals because of it.

They believed Qu Peiluo was deliberately preserving his own men while allowing Fan troops to be consumed.

Fan Zhengwen suppressed those voices without hesitation.

The head of the Fan Clan possessed self-knowledge.

He did not understand warfare.

But he understood how not to drag down the man who did.

Nian Yao’s assault was fierce.

The Shanyue tribesmen he had brought personally simply hoisted ladders and rushed forward.

Their climbing ability was excellent.

Their movements agile and fast.

The servant troops Nian Yao had gathered along the way were also desperate to prove themselves.

No one could accuse them of lacking effort.

Yet the assault still failed to accomplish much.

Once their first burst of ferocity spent itself without producing results, morale visibly deflated.

Nian Yao had no choice but to order an early withdrawal.

In the south... the Chu army maintained its steady pressure.

After two days of experience, Fan City’s defenders had found a rhythm.

At noon, the women of Fan Residence personally climbed the walls to deliver food, drink, and care for the wounded.

Morale rose sharply.

By afternoon, Dugu Mu saw that the city would not be taken today.

The later assaults became largely perfunctory.

Before long... the Chu withdrew early.

“Third day.”

Today, Fan Zhengwen brought two dishes, one soup, and rice.

Qu Peiluo ate alone beside a little table set against the battlements.

He did not offer the refined food to the wounded or to the soldiers beside him.

He ate slowly.

Calmly.

After sipping the soup, Qu Peiluo looked at Fan Zhengwen.

“Start spreading word through the city. Say we received a letter from the Yan. Say the Yan army is coming soon.”

“We’re using that trick already?”

“Do you think today’s defense felt stable?”

“It did.”

“Things are usually very stable right before they collapse. ‘Hold the city and wait for relief.’ Hold for relief. Without any hope of relief, no one can keep holding.”

“I understand that. I just thought we could delay it a few more days.”

“I don’t like gambling.”

“Neither do I,” Fan Zhengwen agreed.

“Live each day as though it were the last.”

“Good.”

...

“This Qu Peiluo has something to him. He really does.”

Grand General Nian stood inside his command tent, hands on his hips, sighing with emotion.

“Grand General, tomorrow we will certainly scale the wall!”

“Yes, Grand General! Let my men serve as vanguard tomorrow. Every man under this general is willing to fight to the death for the Grand General!”

Faced with the eager requests of these “mountain kings” and “water bandits,” Nian Yao nodded heavily.

“Good. All of you have done your utmost in service of the court. I, Nian Yao, stake my own rank as Grand General on this promise: the court will never disappoint your loyalty or your sacrifices!”

“Thank you, Grand General!”

“Thank you, Grand General!”

“Go rest. Calm your men. We attack again tomorrow.”

“This general takes his leave!”

“This general takes his leave!”

Once the crowd of “bandits” had cleared out...

Grand General Nian sat down on a rug.

A brazier burned inside the tent.

The heat had become a little oppressive.

Without thinking, he loosened the clasp at the neck of his armor and tugged it open to let in some air.

Fan City had not collapsed at the first blow.

Nor had it imploded from within.

Instead... it was becoming more stable by the day.

That development made Nian Yao irritable.

At that moment, a personal guard entered.

“Grand General, the Dugu Clan has sent a messenger.”

“Let him in.”

“Yes.”

The messenger was very young.

After entering, he offered Nian Yao a salute.

But he did not kneel according to army custom.

He merely performed a half-salute.

“Greetings, Grand General.”

Nian Yao looked up at the young messenger.

No one else was inside the tent.

Then...

Great Chu’s Grand General immediately dropped to his knees.

“This slave pays respects to Eighth Prince. This slave wishes Eighth Prince good health.”

The messenger was none other than the eighth son of Great Chu’s late Emperor.

Years ago, during the Battle of Wangjiang, he had sat aboard a pleasure boat with the swordsmith, watched the battlefield unfold... and urinated into the wind.

Eighth Prince had been intelligent from childhood.

More importantly... he had chosen the correct side early.

When Prince Jingnan broke Ying Capital, the great fire that followed killed many of the imperial princes who had been confined there after the earlier struggle among the sons of the late Emperor.

So the Regent had very few brothers left.

One was Fifth Prince Xiong Tingshan, who still enjoyed important responsibilities.

The other... was the Eighth Brother the Regent had always favored.

Nian Yao had not come from the nobility.

Nor from some ordinary outside official family.

He came from household slavery.

Years ago... he had been a servant in Fourth Prince Residence.

Now that Fourth Prince had become Regent and would soon ascend the throne...

Nian Yao naturally remained a slave of the imperial household.

Eighth Prince, who years ago had once drunk wine aboard a boat on Mijiang and even collided vessels with Nian Yao... had also lost much of his youthful arrogance.

He hurried forward and pulled Nian Yao up.

“Grand General, this is a military camp. You are commander of an army. How can you kneel?”

As he spoke...

Eighth Prince prepared to kneel in return.

Nian Yao immediately rose.

“You mustn’t. You mustn’t, Your Highness.”

Master and servant exchanged another round of ceremonious politeness.

At last Eighth Prince Xiong Qing’an sat down.

He firmly refused to take Nian Yao’s commander’s seat and chose a lower position instead.

“What is Pillar of State Dugu thinking? How could he send Your Highness as a mere courier?”

Fan City was not a standard square fortress.

When the Fan Clan rebuilt it, they had deliberately emphasized military utility.

Its overall arrangement resembled Snow Sea Pass.

The city followed the mountain ridges.

North and south were not completely cut off from one another, but positioning a great army for attacks from other directions was inconvenient.

Travel around the city could also be dangerous.

Unlike siege warfare on open plains, an army could not simply form a perfect ring around Fan City.

“I volunteered,” Xiong Qing’an replied. “Before I left the capital, Imperial Brother specifically instructed me to stay near the Grand General whenever possible. Listen more. Watch more. Learn more.”

Naturally, Nian Yao put on another expression of overwhelming favor.

Eighth Prince shifted slightly upright.

The two exchanged another round of courtesy.

Then Xiong Qing’an asked:

“General, from what I have seen, Fan City is tall and difficult to approach. The results of these last few days of siege have not been especially satisfying. What does the General think?”

“The man defending the opposite side is Qu Peiluo.”

“That much I naturally know.”

“He was once the eldest legitimate son of the Qu Clan. He inherited the learning of generations, and before his father’s death, Qu Tiannan taught him personally. Although he has betrayed his ancestral temple and the state today, his own ability remains considerable.”

“To tell the truth, General, even I am somewhat surprised. Back in Ying Capital, Qu Peiluo was almost treated as a joke whenever people spoke of him. Who would have imagined he truly had some competence left?”

“Your Highness, you should remember that this slave still has the nickname ‘Old Turtle Nian’ hanging over his own head.”

Nian Yao deliberately avoided saying the more vulgar “Old Bastard Turtle Nian.”

“That’s true. If his opponent was Marquis Pingxi and he kept losing, perhaps it really can’t all be blamed on him.”

“It is not only Qu Peiluo. The head of the rebel Fan Clan, Fan Zhengwen, is also a genuine talent in managing a region. That cannot be denied. If Qu Peiluo were not inside Fan City, the city might have fallen on the first day. If Fan Zhengwen were absent, we likely would have bitten through it by now. One understands military deployment. The other understands management and morale. Neither can be missing. Precisely because both men are there, Fan City has truly become something close to a hard bone.”

“Ai. Seen that way, they are losses for Great Chu.”

Qu Peiluo had been the son of a Pillar of State.

Barring extraordinary circumstances, he would eventually have inherited that position.

Fan Zhengwen had once been a household slave of the Qu Clan.

This pair... had originally been Chu men.

Prominent ones.

They should have been serving Great Chu.

Instead... they now stood inside Fan City resisting Great Chu’s army.

“Your Highness, this is not the proper time for that sort of lament.”

“It was my mistake. Then tell me, Grand General. How much longer will it take to capture Fan City?”

“Perhaps tomorrow. Perhaps another seven or eight days.”

“Is the city short of grain?”

“No.”

“Then why do you judge...”

“This slave took the Fan Clan’s ancestral base. They should still have grain stored inside Fan City. Enough to last two or three months would not surprise me. But the city should be running short of arrows.”

“Oh...”

Understanding dawned on Xiong Qing’an’s face.

“Your Highness can rest assured. Fan City is already a cooked duck. It cannot fly away.”

“Half a month from now is the day Imperial Brother formally ascends the throne. I merely hope we can offer Fan City as a congratulatory gift.”

Nian Yao nodded.

“This slave has kept that matter in mind all along.”

“Can it be done?”

“Certainly.”

...

Fourth day.

Dusk.

The Chu army withdrew.

Qu Peiluo had taken an arrow.

His wound was being bandaged.

Strictly speaking... three arrows had struck him.

Two lodged in gaps between plates of armor.

Only one actually pierced flesh.

Fan Zhengwen broke apart a piece of flatbread and fed it into Qu Peiluo’s mouth.

After several bites... he gave him water.

“Is there still silver left in the treasury?” Qu Peiluo asked.

“Yes. There’s still a smaller reserve. I planned to bring it out tomorrow and distribute it. Should I have it issued now?”

“No need. Bring it onto the walls tomorrow morning. We can throw silver at people.”

“You’re joking?”

“You started joking first.”

“How?”

“You hoarded all this silver and wealth. Why the hell couldn’t you hoard more arrows?”

“We’re running out?”

“We’re already rationing them.”

“But we stored so many.”

“Still too few.”

“Ai. Can’t they just shoot more accurately?”

“Heh. If every defender were a divine archer capable of hitting willow leaves at a hundred paces, I could simply lead them out of the city and defeat the Chu army directly.”

“I overlooked it. Truly had no experience. Next time... hopefully there is a next time.”

“The fighting will become much harder from here.”

Without enough arrows, they could no longer suppress Chu troops on approach.

Instead, Chu archery would suppress the defenders.

The likelihood of hand-to-hand combat would rise sharply.

And once that happened... the difference in troop quality would reveal itself.

“My fault. My fault.”

Qu Peiluo drank another mouthful of water.

“The Regent is about to formally ascend the throne. The two of our heads would make the finest congratulatory gift.”

“So...”

“The Chu assaults will become even more frantic.”

“Then just like you’ve kept saying these past few days: hold one day at a time.” Fan Zhengwen smiled.

“What are you waiting for?”

“What are *we* waiting for?”

Qu Peiluo glanced at the freshly bandaged wound.

Then said:

“I never believed in fate before. If what we’re waiting for actually arrives... I really may have no choice but to start believing.”

“The surname belonging to the child?” Fan Zhengwen asked, unexpectedly making a joke of his own.

Qu Peiluo nodded.

“Maybe... I’ll still come out ahead.”

...

Hooves thundered.

Gou Moli’s vanguard had performed its road-clearing work extremely well.

As a result, Marquis Zheng and the central army under his personal command encountered almost no meaningful obstruction.

Aside from necessary halts... the march had been extraordinarily smooth.

“We need to move faster,” Zheng Fan said to Liang Cheng beside him. “Otherwise we won’t make it in time.”

Jin Shuke immediately asked:

“Marquis, are you worried Fan City will fall?”

“No. Compared with that, I’m more worried I won’t make it in time to deliver a gift to my brother-in-law before he ascends the throne.”

Jin Shuke suggested:

“Marquis, should we order Gou Moli’s troops in front to rest for a while and let our army rest as well? If we reach Fan City and it is still in Fan hands, then fine. But if Chu has already taken the city, our men and horses will be exhausted and the Chu may exploit that.”

“Pass the order to the whole army. No resting. No delay. Continue forward at full speed.”

Clearly...

Marquis Zheng rejected the suggestion.

“Marquis already has a strategy in mind?” Jin Shuke asked.

All along...

Jin Shuke had admired Marquis Zheng deeply.

He treated the Marquis as his own model.

Marquis Zheng laughed loudly.

Then grabbed a fistful of the Pixiu’s mane beneath him.

He shouted:

“No. This Marquis is simply too impatient to go smash Grand General Nian’s turtle shell!”

[End of Chapter 781]