HMHSE - 81

Night was just beginning to fall across the land. Outside the mountains, the dishevelled cavalry from beyond the pass had finished their preparations. Torches lit up one after another, creating a fierce blaze.

The mountain range was too vast, and the terrain was unknown. After a series of setbacks, they were increasingly unable to figure out what was happening inside. Just how many defenders were left in the mountains? How many traps and mechanisms were there? They had become hesitant to act.

The leader of the Khitan soldiers, seated on his horse, was fuming, hissing furious words in Khitan. He brandished his broad-bladed sabre, filled with angry resentment.

A massive army had come, and they had finally broken through the gates of Youzhou Pass, yet they still hadn’t taken these mountains. This went against the commander’s orders. Their previous probing attacks and the plan to take Youzhou in a single night had all become empty jokes. When the main force from beyond the pass arrived, they would have no way to explain themselves and would face severe punishment.

They had to take this mountain, no matter the cost!

“The Han dog named Shan is nothing to be afraid of!” the leader roared in Khitan. “Even if he’s personally defending the mountains, he’s not a threat. Kill him, and the gold and women are all yours!”

Suddenly, a fierce roar, the Khitan word for “slaughter,” was sharp and vicious. The enemy soldiers raised their torches high, and their savage roars of agreement echoed madly into the forest.

The leader rallied their morale, spewing more threats, vowing to dismember the Youzhou army and repay their blood debt. He brandished his sabre again and ordered the entire army to attack. If that failed, they would set the mountain on fire!

The enemy soldiers stood outside the mountains, their sabres pointed at the forest, ready to push forward. Just then, they noticed that there was no movement from the mountains.

Even the few lights that had been there were gone.

The surroundings were silent for a moment. In that instant, it seemed even the howling cold wind had stopped.

Then, the quiet forest seemed to tremble little by little. It wasn’t the mountain shaking, but the thunder of hooves. A sound of hooves was charging out.

The leader immediately shouted a warning. A rushing dark silhouette had already burst out from the forest before their eyes, swift as lightning, a shadow like the wind. They couldn’t make out the number of people or their direction, as they charged straight ahead, then suddenly turned, seemingly attempting a flanking manoeuvre.

A group of enemy soldiers immediately pursued, and a corner of their horizontal formation was pulled out of line, breaking their ranks.

In that very moment, the group that had broken through suddenly turned back, fighting with a reckless abandon, charging directly into the fray.

The Khitan leader cursed loudly, and the enemy soldiers advanced with their sabres. When the torchlight was drawn to them, a new, fierce thunder of hooves shook the mountains.

Unprecedentedly swift warhorses flew straight into the enemy formation. Before the enemy soldiers could react, they had pierced the ranks like a sharp blade.

As the horses passed, several enemy soldiers fell, creating a small opening. In this brief instant, another fast horse charged from behind, a black-clad figure, swinging a sabre.

The horses barely paused. This lightning-fast coordination was so quick that it didn’t even allow time for a reaction. The enemy soldiers thought they were just trying to break through and were about to chase them again.

However, amidst the roars and shouts, they saw that their leader’s eyes were wide open and unmoving. His felt hat fell to the ground, followed by his head.

The next moment, a Khitan voice shouted, “The leader is dead! The one named Shan has broken through! Their reinforcements are coming!”

Morale collapsed like an avalanche.

In their panic, the enemy soldiers mounted their horses and retreated to the foot of Youzhou city walls to regroup with the main vanguard.

“How was it, brothers? How did my shout in Khitan sound just now?” In the dense forest at the foot of the mountain, a chain clinked softly. A prisoner, one hand on his horse, crouched in the bushes, panting heavily as he asked in a low voice.

Next to him, Jia Chen San was lying down, also gasping for breath. “Not bad, you played the part well.”

Wei Shenwu spat out a mouthful of blood-stained saliva. In the darkness, he stared at a tall, blurry figure crouching in front of him with a sabre. He didn’t need to look to know that the sabre was still dripping with the fresh blood of the Khitan leader.

This was just a small, secluded valley. Everyone was panting with suppressed urgency, and the air around them was thick with the smell of blood. If the enemy soldiers had a commander who could keep them in order, they could have turned back and annihilated them all.

But it seemed they were not prepared. They were only focused on quickly taking the mountain and didn’t have a contingency plan. The death of their leader had thrown them into disarray.

This was the fastest and most ruthless tactic. A single misstep in coordination, even a half-second delay, could have led to a complete failure. But they succeeded.

Jia Chen San glanced at the blurry figure and whispered, “His judgement was flawless.”

Wei Shenwu just let out a strange laugh and said nothing.

Until there was no more movement outside, a soldier returned, clutching a knife wound on his arm, and crawled into the tall grass. He panted as he reported, “Chief, Youzhou city couldn’t hold on. The city gate has been breached...”

Silence fell instantly, and even their panting stopped.

From a distance, the sound of the war drums on the city walls could no longer be heard, but it seemed they could hear sharp wails carried on the wind.

Youzhou city had fallen. The enemy soldiers attacking the mountain had also left. The soldiers at the pass who could have held up the main force must also be few in number, and more enemy soldiers would continue to arrive. The city was filled with unarmed civilians, and the tragic state there was unimaginable.

Shan Zong looked up at the dark sky and gripped his sabre tightly. “It’s about time. The reinforcements should be arriving soon.”

Wei Shenwu cursed, “You’re a damned liar. You don’t even have anyone left for the raid. Where would the reinforcements come from?”

“Of course there are,” Shan Zong sneered. “Danzhou.”

A soldier immediately spoke up. “But the General Zhou from Danzhou has always...”

“He’ll come!” Shan Zong stood up abruptly. “Mount your horses. Go to the pass. Now is the real surprise attack!”

________________________________________

The acrid smoke from the lamp oil was blown by a strong wind. Dust and sand swirled, sweeping across the forcibly breached gates of Youzhou city.

A fierce blaze illuminated the city walls. Zhao Jinkam, the prefect, was protected by the remaining defenders, retreating to a corner of the wall. In front of them was a group of enemy vanguard who had just climbed the wall, dishevelled and holding sabres.

“Prefect Zhao, we’ve brought you a big gift,” the vanguard leader said with a thick Han accent, cackling coldly. He waved his hand, and two women were pulled forward and pushed by the enemy soldiers.

It was Lady He and Zhao Fumei.

Zhao Jinkam was shocked. He reached out in a panic to catch them, and a few defenders quickly rushed forward and pulled them in.

“We specially brought them from the prefect’s residence to reunite with you. You can either die together or surrender,” the leader said.

Lady He was huddled in Zhao Jinkam’s arms, sobbing softly, her hand tightly held by Zhao Fumei, trembling uncontrollably.

The Khitan soldiers had rushed into the prefect’s residence, killed more than a dozen guards, and forcibly dragged them away. She was truly terrified.

But this appearance, in the eyes of the enemy, was nothing more than the cry of the dying. The leader grew impatient and urged them on. “I’m giving you this chance so you can persuade the people in the mountains to surrender. As long as we get our hands on the gold mine, we’ll give you a decent burial. Otherwise...” The man dragged out his words with a cold, indifferent grin. “You’ll die a miserable death, and your two women will die even more miserably. The entire city of Youzhou will be buried with you.”

After saying that, he laughed menacingly. The soldiers behind him joined in, their laughter full of ill intent.

The defenders pointed their weapons at them, panting like oxen. With their numbers, they were already putting up a desperate fight. Everyone knew what the enemy meant.

Youzhou had not surrendered. Their dream of taking Youzhou in a single night was shattered, and their anger would naturally be taken out on the city. The more they resisted, the harsher the retaliation.

If it weren’t for the gold mine, a massacre might have already started the moment the city fell.

Zhao Jinkam supported his wife and patted Zhao Fumei’s arm with a trembling hand, whispering, “Don’t worry, the Messenger Shan said that reinforcements will come. Your husband will come, and General Zhou will come.”

Zhao Fumei, who had been looking down, lifted her head. She was still trembling, but she tried to stay calm. “What? How could he come...”

Officially, this was Youzhou territory, not for him to interfere. Personally, he and Shan Zong had a grudge, and now, because of her, it had deepened.

“Yes, that’s what I thought, too. But the Messenger Shan said he would come. He will come. You’re still here, so how could he not come?” Zhao Jinkam said, trying to maintain composure. In truth, he was also uncertain, but even at this moment, as the head official, he had to keep people’s spirits up.

The day he was welcoming Shen Rong, outside the tavern, Shan Zong had discussed military matters with him and considered the worst-case scenario:

If their previous attacks were all just probes, and the area beyond the pass suddenly attacked Youzhou city, they should immediately send a message to Danzhou.

This was because they also had to defend a gold mine.

At that time, he should say that his Youzhou army couldn’t hold on, and even if Zhou Jun only wanted to see his helpless defeat, he would lead his army here.

Zhao Jinkam had asked him then, “Wouldn’t that require you to sacrifice your pride and beg for help?”

Shan Zong had not cared and even laughed. “As a general, any person or any object can be a soldier. An enemy is also a soldier. Besides, in the end, Zhou Jun is a soldier and a general of a prefecture.”

Those were his exact words.

Seeing that Zhao Jinkam was not responding and was instead whispering, the Khitan leader had run out of patience. He muttered something in Khitan, waved his sabre at the group of people who were about to die, and looked at them as if they were ants.

Just as the soldiers behind him were about to step forward to swing their sabres, a dishevelled enemy soldier ran up the city walls to report: there had been a surprise attack in the mountains. The leader there had been killed, and all the attacking cavalry had rushed to the city.

The leader cursed them for being useless. He was just about to buy them time to persuade them to surrender, and they had already retreated.

Immediately after, another person came to report: the pass had also been attacked!

The leader’s face was grim with rage, but he remained somewhat composed. He shouted a few Khitan words, and a team of enemy soldiers on horseback left the city walls to reinforce the pass. The remaining soldiers drew their sabres and attacked the defenders.

As the defenders at the front fell, a volley of arrows suddenly greeted the people on the city walls.

On the street below, Hu Shi Yi led his remaining troops out from a dark corner, roaring, “Our chief must have gone to attack! Zhang Wei, let’s kill these dogs!”

The enemy soldiers on the city walls were drawn away. Zhao Jinkam tightly hugged Lady He, and with one hand, he pulled Zhao Fumei. They were protected by the defenders who were fighting and retreating towards a corner of the city wall. Suddenly, he saw a bright light in the distance, and the sound of hooves was carried on the wind, growing closer and clearer.

The fighting spread from the city gate to the city itself. On the streets, enemy soldiers rushed into homes, shops, and courtyards, throwing torches everywhere and beginning a massacre.

Amidst the screams and chaos, the remaining defenders in dark corners were still resisting, tying up their forces.

The sound of weapons clashing was fierce, and the thunder of hooves from outside the city was now clearly audible.

When the enemy soldiers below the city walls noticed, they rushed out, only to be met with a barrage of arrows, causing a large number of them to fall instantly.

In the blazing firelight, a line of soldiers charged towards the breached city gate.

Zhao Fumei, in a corner of the chaotic city wall, had nowhere to hide. Suddenly, an arrow pierced the enemy soldier swinging a sabre in front of her, splattering her with blood.

She held onto the city wall and looked down. In the midst of the formation of soldiers, a person rode out, with a fair face and narrow eyes, wearing a broad sabre. He was staring grimly at the city walls. “The Danzhou army has come to support Youzhou!”

It was Zhou Jun. As Shan Zong had predicted, he really came.

“Reinforcements have arrived!” a chorus of voices from the city immediately responded.

Hu Shi Yi led the remaining Youzhou army out of a street corner and met up with Zhang Wei. Having trained for a thousand days, their reaction was swift. Without needing to say a word, they knew to fight and push the enemy soldiers back towards the city gate, into the sabres of the reinforcements.

________________________________________

At the pass, corpses lay everywhere, and enemy soldiers were still pouring in.

The naturally narrow terrain of the pass made it an ideal location for an ambush. Dark arrows flew from the dense forests on both sides, and figures moved and fought. Even so, the remaining soldiers at the pass were few and far between.

Outside the pass, the torches still lit up the mountain range, illuminating the blood-stained land all the way down.

When another wave of enemy soldiers charged in, the sound of hooves from a distance swiftly arrived with the wind.

Suddenly, a hundred more figures appeared, riding on horseback, charging straight into the attacking enemy soldiers.

A soldier who was hidden in the dark, waiting for an ambush, saw the approaching figures in the torchlight. He suppressed his surprise and didn’t call out the name “Chief.” But he saw that the group of soldiers behind him was terrifying—they were dressed in tattered clothes over soft armour, their hair unkempt and their faces looking like ghosts. They were almost unrecognizable as human beings. They were the prisoners from the mountains.

Yet, every one of them was a ruthless killer, showing no hesitation. Some were even laughing wildly.

It was as if they were immensely enjoying themselves, a joy that even the flowing blood couldn’t diminish.

“Fall back and cover our rear! Lure a group of reinforcements over!” Shan Zong commanded quickly. He swung his sabre, piercing a cavalry soldier’s heart.

The ambushing soldiers obeyed the order to retreat to the rear, even though they didn’t know where reinforcements would be coming from.

It was the darkest moment just before dawn.

Shan Zong stood his ground at the pass, his chest rising and falling. He bent down and cut down a fast horse that charged at him, and the soldiers behind it fell in a heap. The ones who fell were quickly killed by the sabres of others.

Taking advantage of the bloody path cleared in front of him, Shan Zong shook the remaining blood off his sabre. “Listen to my command: one strike and retreat. Let them enter the pass.”

“Chief!” A soldier’s startled cry was swallowed by the wind.

“Retreat my ass! I haven’t killed enough yet!” Wei Shenwu cursed angrily.

“That’s a military order,” Shan Zong said, looking at the approaching torchlight outside the pass. He said in a low voice, “Let them in. Let me see if Sun Guozhe’s hundred thousand troops are an iron alliance or if they scatter with a gust of wind.”

Before he finished speaking, he was already the first to spur his horse and charge out of the pass.

A sea of soldiers, like a tide, surged with torchlight from a distance, approaching the pass. A crude flag with animal skin was held high, and the three words “Nili City” appeared and disappeared with the light.

Suddenly, figures rushed out of the dark mouth of the pass.

“Arrows!” The Khitan military order had just been given. Before their bows were even fully drawn, the figures had already scrambled up the mountains on both sides.

Horses struggled to go up the steep slope for long. After a short distance, they were charging down again, kicking up loose rocks and dust.

But it was enough for them to avoid the volley of arrows.

The fast horses charged in from both sides. A few swift strikes of their sabres were met with a few screams of agony.

In an instant, they wheeled their horses back.

This time, they didn’t avoid the pass but charged straight back into it.

Roars rose, and the enemy soldiers chased after them like a surging sea, heading for the pass.

Shan Zong was at the rear, turning his horse to kill two more people. He glanced back from a distance, then spurred his horse to gallop away.

In the massive army, a figure on horseback appeared from beneath the animal skin flag, with braided hair and a round-collared armour. He was facing Shan Zong, pointing his sabre at him.

That was the attire of a Khitan noble. It was Sun Guozhe.

The main force at the front entered the pass without any obstacles, chasing after the figures in the night.

After the mountain terrain, there was a large, open wilderness, and beyond that was Youzhou city.

The enemy soldiers who had been sent from the city to support the pass had just arrived here when they were lured away by the Youzhou soldiers Shan Zong had arranged to retreat and cover the rear. They were chasing them the whole way.

The soldiers deliberately retreated towards the city. As Shan Zong had said, they actually encountered reinforcements...

The rumbling of hooves thundered across the Youzhou wilderness, and dark arrows flew ceaselessly.

Someone was hit by an arrow, but there was only a grunt, and then silence. They continued to gallop forward without looking back, according to the plan.

A fierce blaze lit up in front of them, a long line, like a net, waiting for them to walk into it.

The thunder of hooves behind them suddenly stopped.

Only the wind carried dust and ashes.

Shan Zong reined in his horse and looked back. A hundred paces away, the enemy soldiers had all stopped. The horses whinnied and hesitated, as if they were being held back by an unseen hand, frozen in the thick, inky night, in a standoff.

Then, they began to move backward.

It wasn’t until an urgent horn sounded that someone realized they were retreating.

“Chief?” A soldier from the pass said in disbelief.

“It’s not strange. A treacherous person is most afraid of other people’s tricks,” Shan Zong sneered coldly, watching the distant torchlight leave. “Send people to scout and see if they are truly retreating or faking it!”

A soldier rode away quickly.

Wei Shenwu behind him laughed strangely. “You actually got it right. That bastard’s hundred thousand troops are really unreliable. They got scared away just like that!”

Having a hundred thousand troops but being attacked head-on without fear, and by Shan Zong himself leading the attack, was already suspicious.

After chasing them and seeing the sudden blaze in the distance, anyone would have thought that reinforcements had arrived, and they must be a large force, which would have given Shan Zong the confidence to use himself as bait to lure them in, disregarding the gold mine and the lives of the city’s people.

The more a person thinks, the more they doubt and the more they hesitate.

Shan Zong turned his head and looked at the line of torches from the Danzhou army in the distance. Only then did he relax his shoulders.

In this desperate gamble, only he knew the great danger he had faced.

One mistake, and everything would have been lost forever.

________________________________________

In Wangji Mountain, there was not a single sound.

In the tunnel, there was no light. Shen Rong sat with her back against the mountain wall in the darkness, chewing on hard military rations.

“Young Mistress,” a few soft footsteps sounded, and Donglai’s low voice came. “There is no movement outside. No one has entered the mountain. The Messenger Shan must have succeeded.”

“Are you sure?” she asked softly.

Donglai was silent.

He couldn’t be sure, it was just a deduction.

Shen Rong was silent for a moment, swallowing the last of the rations. One of her hands was tightly pressed against the scrolls in her arms. She suddenly spoke in a cold voice, “If they come in, break the tunnel below and hide in the mountain’s belly. Even if we break the earth vein of the mine and bury this place, we cannot let it fall into their hands.”

Donglai wanted to say that it was the earth vein she had worked so hard to stabilize multiple times. But given the current situation, he could only quietly agree.

A moment later, she asked, “Why did the drum sound from Youzhou city stop?”

Donglai whispered, “I don’t know.”

Shen Rong’s heart sank to the bottom. Perhaps Youzhou city had already fallen.

“Young Mistress!” a guard’s urgent, low cry came from outside.

Donglai quickly ran out and returned just as quickly. “Young Mistress, hurry. There are hooves outside.”

Shen Rong immediately stood up. He helped her with his arm, and they walked into the deeper parts of the tunnel in the dark.

Before they reached the end, she heard a faint call. Shen Rong stopped instantly, turned her head to the mouth of the tunnel, then let go of Donglai and walked towards it.

When she reached the thin light at the mouth of the tunnel, she indeed heard the faint sound of hooves, which seemed to be from only one horse, and a voice carried with the sound of hooves: “Shen Rong!”

Shen Rong froze for a moment. She climbed the ladder. “I’m here!”

She didn’t know if he heard her. As she left the tunnel, a cool wind blew over her. The guards had already retreated.

Shen Rong looked around. In the dim light, she couldn’t see anything clearly. Her heart was pounding, and she wondered if she had misheard.

She walked a few steps, then looked around again. There were hurried footsteps behind her, getting faster and faster. When she turned her head, the man’s tall figure was already in front of her. In an instant, she was held in a tight embrace.

Shen Rong’s nose was filled with the smell of blood. She slowly reached for his back, which was sticky and wet. She couldn’t tell if it was sweat or blood. Her heart was racing. “Did you succeed?”

The blood on Shan Zong’s sabre-holding hand had already spread over his bracer. Only the hand holding her was relatively clean. He was breathing heavily, a low laugh in his voice. “Of course.”