Chapter Fifty-Five: Night Raid

He let out a bitter, mirthless laugh. Li Zhenggu felt a desolation so deep it seemed to swallow his heart. He did not want to die, but if he did not want to die, what could he do? The earthen hill was only a little over a hundred feet high. To the north lay the mighty Yangtze, its endless roar of water drifting over and over to him, driving his spirit even lower into the abyss.

“Vice Envoy Li is the soul of this army. You must not lose heart now,” Gao Shensi said. “Tonight is our best chance to break out. Let the whole army rest first. At the third watch, we strike. There should still be a sliver of hope.”

Li Zhenggu clenched his fist. However slim that hope might be, he had to try. He gave the orders: thirty men would remain on watch, while the rest seized every moment to sleep.

Zhu Kuangye pressed his lips together. Though resentment lingered in his heart, he knew what mattered most. After some thought, he came to Li Zhenggu and said, “General Gao is badly wounded. Since we are launching a night assault, let me take the lead.”

Li Zhenggu nodded. “Very well. I will trouble General Zhu to do so.”

At last the sun sank behind the mountains, and the final glow vanished from sight. A slender moon climbed slowly into the sky, gazing coldly down on all around it. Li Zhenggu could not sleep. He lifted his head and looked at the crescent moon above, his feelings in turmoil. Like Yang Lian, he found it deeply strange: how could Qian Wenfeng have known they would withdraw today? Was there a spy among them? Yet that seemed impossible. After the military orders had been issued, he had forbidden anyone to leave. How, then, had the news been carried out?

As he thought and thought, he yawned without noticing, and sat down against a tree to rest. Tonight’s breakout must succeed. Failure was not an option.

A horse snorted softly. More than ten miles from the sand hill, over two hundred Tang soldiers lay concealed in ambush.

“This is a dune, some thirty or forty zhang high. The scattered Tang troops are hiding here. Though we do not know exactly who is inside, judging by the Wuyue men’s manner, it is very likely that Grand Marshal Li is here.” Yang Lian held a branch in his hand and drew on the ground.

He sketched the sand hill and the temporary Wuyue encampment to scale, explaining as he drew.

“We do not know the exact number of Wuyue troops, but from the size of the camp, there must be at least a thousand,” Yang Lian said.

Chen Keyan narrowed his eyes. “A thousand Wuyue soldiers, with palisades besides. It may be hard to break through.”

Lin Renzhao pondered for a moment. “With a careful plan, it is not impossible.”

Chen Tie gave a cold snort. “Even if the Wuyue have a thousand men, I can still kill them.”

“Do not be rash.” Yang Lian waved him quiet, then said, “From the scouts’ reports, this Wuyue force means to camp here. Perhaps they think the Tang troops on Sand Hill are already meat on the hook; perhaps they feel a night attack would be inconvenient. In any case, the Wuyue have not moved against us yet.”

“Their plan is probably to attack tomorrow. Otherwise, they would never have bothered to erect palisades and the like here. Though a thousand men is no small force, we still may have a chance.” Yang Lian smiled, showing his white teeth.

Seeing how confident Yang Lian sounded, as though he had everything in hand, Chen Keyan asked, “Does Brother Yang have a good plan?”

“I do have one, though it carries some risk,” Yang Lian said.

“Please, Brother Yang, speak,” Chen Tie urged.

Yang Lian smiled strangely. “As we came along this road, we saw quite a few Wuyue corpses on the way. Perhaps you did not notice, but I had men gather several sets of armor. My plan is to put on that armor and sneak into the Wuyue camp, set the palisades on fire, and throw the enemy into confusion. Then our cavalry will charge out. Though we are few, if we strike by surprise, we still have a chance of success.”

Chen Keyan placed his left hand on the ground and stared at the rough map. After some thought, he said, “That is a good plan.”

“What does Brother Lin think?” Yang Lian asked Lin Renzhao.

Lin Renzhao stroked his chin. “This is our last chance.”

Yang Lian glanced at the others. No one objected. “Then we do it this way. We do not need many infiltrators, just a dozen or so. Once inside, find any chance to set the fire. Brother Chen, when you see the Wuyue camp burning, do not hesitate—lead the troops in a full charge. If fortune is with us, we may land one decisive blow and turn the whole situation around.”

“Good!” everyone agreed.

When the army received the order, they first ate flatbread, drank some water, and lay down in their clothes. Only about twenty men were left to patrol the perimeter. Yang Lian, Chen Tie, Lin Renzhao, and the others also seized what rest they could. By the time the crescent moon had climbed to the middle of the sky and begun to sink westward, when people slept most soundly, soldiers woke Yang Lian and Lin Renzhao. They changed into Wuyue armor and tied strips of white cloth around their arms so their own men could recognize them.

“Brother Yang, be careful,” Chen Keyan reminded him.

Yang Lian smiled. “Rest assured, Brother Chen. This time, success is certain.”

The two clasped hands. Then Yang Lian led Chen Tie, Lin Renzhao, and a dozen others forward through the darkness. A distance of more than ten miles was neither near nor far, and before long they reached the outer palisade of the Wuyue camp. To avoid being discovered, Yang Lian dismounted when they were still five miles away.

Hidden in the darkness, Yang Lian and Lin Renzhao observed the Wuyue position. After a day of battle, the enemy should have been exhausted. There were not many torches in the whole camp, which meant there were few patrols as well. After a careful look, Yang Lian scooped up a handful of mud and smeared it over his face.

“Move,” he said softly, rising to his feet and heading toward the Wuyue camp.

The others rose at once. Some even helped one another, pretending to be wounded.

The Wuyue encampment was very quiet. Only when Yang Lian drew near did he discover that many of the patrolmen had actually fallen asleep. Yang Lian waved a hand, and inwardly gave a faint laugh. Heaven itself was offering them this chance; they must seize it tightly.

As the distance closed, everyone’s heart climbed into their throats.

Yang Lian narrowed his eyes and moved with feather-light steps. He saw that the Wuyue palisade had indeed been built in a very crude fashion. Perhaps they thought the Tang troops on Sand Hill were already trapped in a jar, and that the Tang army could not respond in such a short time, so they had been careless. After all, from Changzhou to here was at least two hundred miles. Even if fleeing soldiers made it back to Changzhou and reported the situation, and even if the city’s commander reacted at once, gathering troops and deploying them would still take a day or two.

How could they have guessed that Yang Lian would ignore the usual path and dare to bring only two hundred men to launch a raid?

At last they drew near the barracks. Yang Lian gave a wave, and just as they were about to approach the palisade, a man appeared a few paces ahead and barked, “Who are you?”

Yang Lian smiled and pointed to the armor on his body. “Who do you think we are?”

Seeing that Yang Lian and the others wore Wuyue armor, the man did not shout. What puzzled him was how this group had appeared here at all.

Before the man could answer, Yang Lian said, “Sigh, we were pursuing Tang men nearby, only to fall into an ambush from the Tang army instead. This entire unit was killed and wounded. Truly infuriating.”

The man looked as though he had suddenly understood. “So that is how it is. If you had followed General Gu, none of this would have happened.”

Noticing that Yang Lian seemed a little blank, the man laughed again. “You know General Gu, do you not? He is the grandson of the former commander of the Brave Guard.” His expression made it clear that anyone who did not know the name was an idiot.

The grandson of the former commander of the Brave Guard? Yang Lian paused. In his memory, a name surfaced. Since this man bore the surname Gu, he must be related to Gu Quanwu. Gu Quanwu was one of the great generals of the Liangzhe region; one might say that Qian Liu’s Wuyue kingdom had been built by his own hand. In the wars against Yang Wu, Gu Quanwu had been one of the main pillars of the state. As Yang Lian remembered it, aside from narrowly losing once to the famous Yang Wu general Li Shenfu, Gu Quanwu had remained undefeated against Yang Wu’s other renowned commanders. Tai Meng had lost Suzhou to him; Tian Jun had lost Jiaxing to him; and Qin Pei, the tiger-slayer, had been forced to surrender after running out of provisions, losing Kunshan as well. Thus, Wuyue had come to control the vast lands south of Suzhou.

Yang Lian narrowed his eyes. Like father, like son. He wondered just how much ability the commander of this Wuyue force possessed, as a descendant of Gu Quanwu.

The man saw Yang Lian fall into thought and was about to sneer when he suddenly sensed that something was wrong. Before he could speak, Lin Renzhao sprang forward from Yang Lian’s side, clamped a hand over his mouth, and with the other drew a dagger, cutting his throat and taking his life.

“Quick!” Yang Lian said under his breath.

The dozen Tang soldiers immediately seized torches from within the Wuyue camp and scattered in all directions to set fires. Along the way, they also killed many sleeping Wuyue soldiers. Yang Lian looked around and soon spotted a large command tent far taller than the others. He instantly judged it to be the tent of Gu Quanwu’s grandson and charged toward it with his long blade in hand.

By then the Wuyue soldiers were still sleeping soundly. The sudden blaze caught many of them unprepared. The raging fire made them panic, and the flickering flames hurt their eyes. Some, not yet understanding what was happening, had only just stepped out of their tents when they were cut down in a single stroke, their heads rolling away while their eyes remained wide open.

Yang Lian went straight for the main tent. Just as he reached it, a man lifted the curtain and was about to come out. Yang Lian said nothing. His blade flashed, and with one stroke he split the man open. Shoving aside the still-standing body, he strode inside.

“Who is it?” a harsh shout came from within.

On the couch, a man was hastily scrambling to sit up. Yang Lian saw him at once, the corners of his mouth curling slightly, and he raised his blade to strike.

The man sensed danger and rolled aside in time. Yang Lian’s cuts came one after another, so fast there was no chance for resistance.

In the midst of the fight, another man rushed in and cried, “General, disaster! The Tang army has struck!”

The Gu family commander froze. Before he could speak, Yang Lian’s blade was already descending. He had no time to think; he raised his arm to block.

“Ah!” The Gu commander cried out in agony as blood splattered. His arm flew away, and the pain drove him to clutch the stump and scream.

“General!” the soldier shouted, drawing his blade and lunging forward.

No sooner had the words fallen than Yang Lian struck again, severing the Gu commander’s shoulder. In the same motion, he swung once more and took off the man’s head.

“General!” The soldier’s eyes reddened. With his commander dead, as a personal guard he would be held responsible. Military law showed no mercy; death was the only road left to him. Eyes blazing, he rushed forward. Even if he died, he would drag Yang Lian down with him. Someone had to take the blow in his stead, did they not?