Chapter 85

Chapter 85

Chapter 19 (Part 3)

Once everyone is here, Duan Ling asks the soldiers to line up the gold bars on the table and put it out in the courtyard. Nearly all the newcomers are stunned by the sight.

“Welcome, everyone. As my uncle is bedridden, I will be temporarily overseeing the command of the army. This is money that you’re owed; I’ve checked over the books and realised that we still owe everyone’s salary, so please go ahead and take it for yourself.”

For a moment, no one dares step up to take it, and Duan Ling puts one hand out, gesturing at the gold, insisting. “Please don’t decline out of courtesy. Once you take your salary, there are other things I have to say.”

Each of the officers comes up to take the gold bars.

Duan Ling continues, “A short while ago, when the Tangut wedding party came to pick up their bride, I was informed that Helian Da has long coveted Great Liang’s territory, and that given this opportunity they may try to invade Tongguan at any time. I’ve already sent a letter to Xichuan with a request for reinforcements, and they should be arriving soon. In the upcoming days I ask you all to work with me to keep Tongguan safe.”

They all agree to do so. After all, Bian Lingbai may be gravely ill but he hasn’t died, and seeing that their two highest ranking officers are choosing to obey this young man, what objections could they ever have? Thus they take their orders and leave the hall. Xie Hou leaves with Fei Hongde to set up their defences, leaving Vice General Wang, Wu Du, and Duan Ling in the hall to strategise.

“This mountain top. Right here.” Duan Ling circles a location on the map. “You can set up ambushes in the canyon, and this may sound strange, but leave this spot open … there can never be too much deception in war.”

“That cliff is extremely steep,” Vice General Wang says, 'so why not set up an ambush there? Why do you choose to put traps two miles away from the exit instead?”

“Precisely because ambushes are easy to set up in the canyon. When the enemy is passing through, they will be sure to be careful, but once they leave that area they’ll let their guard down because they’ll think they’re safe. Surrounding them here instead will net you the best outcome.”

Wu Du gives Duan Ling a glance, and his gaze is exceedingly complicated. Duan Ling raises his head to meet Wu Du’s eyes, and Wu Du nods back at him. He doesn’t ask any other questions.

“It seems you’ve inherited the talents of your forebears, after all.” Vice General Wang says, “if we’d known that before, then we wouldn’t have spent any time worrying.”

“This isn’t enough. Our goal isn’t to annihilate the whole lot of them in the canyon. Attack them until their formation is broken, then fully retreat, and wait for them to regroup back into formation before hitting them for the second and last time. Never attempt guerrilla warfare against bandits — they’re far too familiar with the terrain. We’ll just end up getting caught by surprise over and over again.”

“And if they don’t regroup again?” Wu Du asks.

“Then set a fire and burn the mountain.” Duan Ling glances out at the courtyard. “Force them out of there. It’s foggy there so the wood will be wet. The woodlands will be filled with smoke. They won’t be able to keep hiding.”

Wu Du nods, and so Vice General Wang leaves to prepare for the fight, while Duan Ling takes Wu Du’s hand and they go back to their rooms. Fei Hongde has ordered a servant to bring them a set of leather armour.

“You call this a solution?” Wu Du says to Duan Ling, “Leaving you alone in the estate all by yourself — what are you going to do if Helan Jie comes back?”

“There’s Wuluohou Mu. He’s chasing down Helan Jie, isn’t he?”

“What if?”

“This is a risk we must take, and this is a risk worth taking. Take Benxiao with you. Put on the armour.”

Wu Du stands in the room unmoving, so Duan Ling unties his outer robe for him and starts putting the armour on top of his underclothes.

“I don’t wear armour.” Wu Du stands there in that white single layer, blocking Duan Ling’s hand with an arm. He says impatiently, “What on earth are you thinking?”

“Just put it on! Otherwise I won’t feel at ease. Didn’t we agree you’d do as I say? This will only take two days, at most.”

As he speaks, he expediently ties the knots under Wu Du’s ribs. Head down, Wu Du watches Duan Ling’s movements. Duan Ling gets on one knee and wraps the lamellar skirt around him, then the poleyn. He brings the vambraces and puts them on for Wu Du.

“If anything goes funny with that Wang An, kill him, and take his tally and command from him. Watch out for the black-headed goose the Tangut uses to pass messages with. If it’s possible, don’t let them send out any messages at all.”

Wu Du stands there quietly staring at Duan Ling with a deep frown on his face.

“How do you know how to do these things?” Wu Du murmurs, “ Wang Shan, you …”

Duan Ling looks suddenly taken aback. Wu Du grabs Duan Ling’s hand and looks it over. Then he stares at his face, studying his expression.

“I read some books on strategy at the chancellor’s estate,” Duan Ling replies.

Watching the now full-armoured Wu Du, Duan Ling decides to stop hiding the truth from him, but there’s no way he can say it right now. They have an important battle ahead of them after all, and if Wu Du finds out his true identity he’ll definitely feel uneasy. Constantly thinking about it while he’s with the troops will only distract him from fighting — it’ll only bring him danger.

I’ll tell you when you come back, Duan Ling thinks.

“It’s one thing for you to know how to deploy an army for battle, but this isn’t the first time you dressed someone in armour. What goes on first, what comes after, you didn’t get the order of any of that wrong at all. Where’d you learn to do all that?”

Duan Ling answers him without pausing to think, “Am I not impersonating Zhao Rong? All of these things had to be noted ahead of time, otherwise I’d have been exposed already.”

When he’s saying all this, Duan Ling doesn’t even dare to look up at Wu Du. But Wu Du has reached out to put his fingers under Duan Ling’s chin, forcing him to look up into his eyes. Under that gaze, Duan Ling feels exceedingly nervous, and his lips quiver slightly.

“When you come back … there are things that I want to tell you too,” Duan Ling says, making up his mind.

But when Wu Du hears this he stiffens awkwardly, suddenly getting embarrassed.

“Oh … al—alright.” He lets go of Duan Ling, and stopping to think for a brief moment, he says, “Then I’m leaving.”

Duan Ling walks up to Wu Du from behind and wraps his arms around him. They stand there for a little while. Wu Du says to Duan Ling, “No matter what happens, stay safe. Try to stay with that Xie Hao as much as possible, and don’t run off on your own.”

Wu Du takes long strides out of the house, and Duan Ling runs after him, watching him hop onto Benxiao’s back. Benxiao doesn’t leave though; it turns its head, staring at Duan Ling as though it’s waiting for him to get on.

“Gup!” Wu Du hurries Benxiao. Benxiao whinnies, but doesn’t get moving.

“You dumb horse,” Wu Du says impatiently.

“Go, Benxiao, go on!” Duan Ling waves at Benxiao to let it know it should take Wu Du from here, but after taking several steps it turns its head again to look at Duan Ling. “Keep Wu Du safe!”

Only now does Benxiao turn to go, its hoofbeats getting quieter as it leaves the rear courtyard. Duan Ling takes a running leap onto the top of the wall in time to see Wu Du looking back at him.

“Careful you don’t fall off!” Wu Du yells from a distance.

Duan Ling finds this funny, but he does get down from the wall.

As he’s coming back to Tongguan’s gate tower, he walks into Xie Hao having a conversation with Fei Hongde. When they see Duan Ling, they both fall quiet.

“Uncle’s illness has taken a turn for the better,” Duan Ling lies with his eyes wide open, “he may just get better in time.”

In a few more hours Bian Lingbai’s whole body will putrefy, and then he’ll die. Duan Ling isn’t in the mood to worry about him though. He must make sure Tongguan’s situation is stable before he can worry about anything else.

This chapter is scrapped from readlightnovel.org

“This plan is rather risky,” Xie Hao says, “but it’s not necessarily unworkable. However, if Helian Da doesn’t show up, then we’ll have done it all for nothing.”

“It would be best if he doesn’t show up.” Duan Ling stares up at the oppressive dark clouds. “Is everything ready?”

“Everything’s been set up,” Fei Hongde says. “Let’s hope they don’t come.”

Xie Hao gives Duan Ling a glance, that may or may not have been intentional, just before he goes to inspect their defences, leaving Duan Ling and Fei Hongde on the city wall. The city’s banner flies high, its tail whipping in the air; the wind has picked up and the clouds are rushing in.

“Xie Hao came from Yingchuan, from the same Xie clan as the Jingzhou Black Armours’ Xie You. He’s a loyal man.” Fei Hongde says casually, “You don’t have to be overly guarded against him.”

Duan Ling nods, and takes the stairs down the wall with Fei Hongde. Fei Hongde adds, “Xie Hao can lead, but he can’t take command. Both Wu Du and Xie You are capable of the commander’s post. I’ve already given Xie Hao instructions. He’ll support you with all his strength.”

Duan Ling’s heart does a little somersault. Fei Hongde found out, after all; if he was Bian Lingbai he’d probably be considering killing Fei Hongde to keep the secret safe by now, but Duan Ling is mostly worried about Fei Hongde, wondering if Fei Hongde will end up getting himself killed by helping him.

“I had doubts before, but now that I’ve seen how you deploy troops I see a lot of the late emperor in the way you work. If everything goes as planned, the imminent danger facing Tongguan will be dissolved, so there’s no need to worry overmuch. After all, nothing in the world is for certain, but so long as the probability of success is at around six out of ten or more, you can take your chances.”

“When this is done, will you be staying in Tongguan, Master Fei?”

“I should be leaving today — I have a previous engagement with Yelü Zongzhen and must make a trip to Liao, to aid him in stabilising the situation over there.”

Duan Ling can’t help but feel sorry that he’s leaving, but he can see Fei Hongde’s concern for the big picture too; at the present moment there are too many unstable elements within Liao, Yuan, Chen, and Xiliang. From what Helian Bo told him, Yelü Zongzhen is still caught in a power struggle with the Han Weiyong clan. Even if he wants to establish friendly relations with Southern Chen, that’s not something he can decide on his own.

Fei Hongde, on the other hand, isn’t at all concerned with which side he’s on. Ultimately his objective is for the world to trend towards peace so that there won’t be any more large-scale killing and conflict. He’s a strategist wandering from one country to another, keeping the fate of the world in mind. The loftiness of such ideals rises above many others.

“We will see each other again someday.” Fei Hongde says to Duan Ling, “Until we meet again.”

Fei Hongde bows at Duan Ling. Never expecting to see Fei Hongde leave now just like this, he hastily returns the gesture. One old man and one young man part at the gates of Tongguan, while the servants await beneath the mountain pass to take Fei Hongde away. And just like that, he’s gone.

With Fei Hongde’s departure, Duan Ling starts feeling nervous right away. Before he knows it, it’s dusk, and from the horizon comes the sound of muffled thunder. Duan Ling doesn’t bother going back to his rooms, and takes a short nap sitting in a corner room of the gatehouse.

He has no idea how much time passes, but it’s the scout’s shouted report that wakes him with a start.

“A forty-thousand strong Xiliang army is approaching Tongguan!”

Duan Ling gets up with a shudder and runs out of the corner room. They did come after all! All of Tongguan seem to grow tense around this news.

Xie Hao says, “They’re here! What incredible foresight!”

But Duan Ling isn’t even in the mood to feel proud of himself anymore. “Let’s put our plan into motion!”

Torchlights are scattered through the wilderness, all belonging to the Xiliang army; one can see the warhorses approach as forty-thousand people disperse into the wasteland outside the city. A great uproar can be heard from the Tongguan side, lighting their torches at the top of the wall.

“Who’s there —!” Xie Hao calls out in a loud, clear voice.

Beneath the stuffy, oppressive air, Duan Ling steps out of the gate tower, but Xie Hao blocks his way.

Immediately, an arrow flies at them from level ground through almost a hundred steps to bury itself into a wooden pillar with a thud. The defending army nock their arrows to shoot below the walls, and the Xiliang army falls back like a tide until they’re out of range.

Xie Hao unfolds a sheet of paper attached to the arrow to find a promissory note Bian Lingbai left behind — a hundred thousand silvers, the cost of buying Tangut horses — and he looks up with great alarm.

One man from below says loudly in Tangut, “Upon hearing that General Bian of your nation has come to harm, I have come to see him at his sickbed at the behest of our Grand Tutor Helian. If General Bian dies from his illness, we must take care of the money he owes. There are three promissory notes altogether, and you can have one to inspect for now.”

Duan Ling manages to understand what he’s saying, and quite a lot of the city guards can basically understand Tangut. They fall into heated discussion. Another voice rings out from below with the translation in Han.

Another scout hurries up to the wall and says to Duan Ling, “Lord Wu Du and General Wang have successfully stopped the enemy in Qinling, and the bandits have escaped into the mountains!”

“Good work!” Duan Ling says, “Let’s move out!”

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