Chapter Eighty-Six: The Young Master Wants You Dead

Wei Wou-chi was being praised so lavishly that he felt as though he were floating among the clouds.

The Qin soldiers in the gorge were likewise in a daze, though the scene there was... rather hard to bear.

The Qin men, who had been certain of victory, had earlier mocked the Wei for their cowardice when they saw smoke rising on the other side, sneering that they dared not fight.

Now they finally understood how terrible it was. The smoke had choked them so badly that they felt they needed ten more lungs.

Soon, the gorge was filled with the sound of Qin soldiers coughing, worse than consumption by several measures.

Tears streamed uncontrollably from their eyes, and their throats felt stuffed with ash and dust. The Qin troops could not even cry out.

Many threw down their weapons and desperately sought out puddles of water; tearing off the hems of their clothing, they soaked them and pressed them to their faces.

Those with no water nearby were forced to improvise, stripping off their trousers and urinating into them.

After finally getting damp cloths, the Qin soldiers immediately covered their mouths and noses, which eased the suffering a little.

Even so, they could not hold out for long. The cloths dried, and they would still be smoked by the fumes.

The only way now was to charge out of the gorge, because outside there was no dense smoke.

Everyone wanted to live. It did not matter whether enemies waited outside; first escape, then worry about the rest. Inside the gorge, life was worse than death.

"Run!"

Once one man shouted this, the entire Qin force surged into motion, each one scrambling to flee from the gorge.

Yet the perilous cliffs of Cloud-Screen Gorge remained. In the thick smoke, they posed immense trouble to the Qin troops.

Very soon, someone fell from the cliff wall, leaving behind a scream, and whether he lived or died afterward was anyone's guess.

Behind him, more and more Qin soldiers kept pouring out, and many more slipped from the gorge walls.

Watching the Qin troops lose all reason and rush recklessly toward death at the bottom of the gorge, Zhai Quan's eyes nearly burst with rage.

"Come back!" Zhai Quan bellowed with all his strength.

No one heard him. In the chaos, the Qin soldiers could scarcely notice Zhai Quan's shouting at all.

Outside the gorge, once the Wei soldiers heard the cries coming from within, smiles spread across their faces.

"Hahaha..."

Zheng Dali's coarse voice boomed like a rising wave, frightening the men nearby into stepping back several paces.

"Enough!" Wei Wou-chi snapped as he turned back. This fellow was being far too inconsiderate of everyone else.

Zheng Dali hurriedly shut his mouth. He did not want to be scolded in front of so many people.

After glancing at him twice, Wei Wou-chi smiled and said, "Didn't you want to shout? I'll give you a task. Go in there and shout a few words."

Zheng Dali immediately pricked up his ears, waiting for orders.

"Call out this: Whoever captures Zhai Quan alive shall be spared death." Wei Wou-chi clapped his hands and said.

"Yes, sir. I will go at once." Zheng Dali accepted the task gladly. If Zhai Quan could be captured alive, he would certainly welcome it.

"Ah..." After unexpectedly inhaling a mouthful of smoke, Wei Wou-chi coughed as well.

This showed that the gorge was already packed full of smoke and beginning to spill outward.

"Pass the order: the army shall withdraw in good time and avoid the smoke." Wei Wou-chi gave the command at once.

"Yes." A messenger answered and ran off toward the left and right formations.

Wei Wou-chi also turned his horse and moved to the rear. He had no desire to breathe in another mouthful.

After the Wei forces retreated a dozen paces, only Zheng Dali remained at the front.

Drawing himself up, Zheng Dali roared into the gorge, "Our young master has ordered it! Whoever captures Zhai Quan alive shall be spared death!"

After shouting once, Zheng Dali cried again, "Our young master has ordered it! Whoever captures..."

Zheng Dali's great voice carried well; in any case, most of the Qin soldiers heard it.

Then thoughts began racing through their minds. To survive, should they seize their own commander? Or should they break out and fight the Wei to the death?

The Qin military code was deeply ingrained, and many soldiers would choose the latter.

But among the thousand-odd Qin troops, there were always a few whose resolve was not firm enough, and wicked notions began to stir.

To live! What price was that? Priceless.

Trade Zhai Quan's life for one's own survival: was it worth doing?

When seven or eight men gathered around Zhai Quan, the question had its answer.

"You..." Zhai Quan glared at them. "Cough, cough, cough..."

In his fury, he drew in several more mouthfuls of smoke, choking him until tears sprang from his eyes.

"General... we have our reasons," one soldier said.

"Reasons? The iron-boned sons of Great Qin would never butcher their comrades!" Zhai Quan roared in uncontrollable fury.

Those words stirred a shred of conscience in the soldiers, and some lowered their heads in shame.

Seeing that some of his own men were about to be won over, a petty officer of squad-leader rank changed color. If the effort succeeded, the balance would shift, and then capturing Zhai Quan would become far more difficult.

"Zhai Quan, and you dare speak of comradeship?" the squad leader shouted. At the edge of life and death, he no longer cared about Zhai Quan's rank.

He went on, "Ordinarily, if anyone merely offended your temper, you'd beat him half to death. And you still dare speak of comrades?"

Zhai Quan was stunned. Was that really true? He could not remember it at all.

After hearing this, several of the Qin soldiers who had lowered their heads raised their swords again.

Zhai Quan truly did not know, because many matters had been done by lower officers in his name.

In truth, he had been taking the blame for others.

Watching the Qin soldiers close in step by step, Zhai Quan yanked out his sword and pointed it at them.

Then suddenly he drew the blade back and set it against his own neck, shouting, "Since death is certain today, even if I die here, I will not let the Wei humiliate me."

Just as Zhai Quan was about to slit his throat, a figure suddenly sprang up behind him, snatched the sword from his hand, and threw him to the ground.

The remaining Qin soldiers immediately pounced as well, pinning Zhai Quan tightly beneath them.

"Break his teeth! Don't let him bite his tongue to death!" one Qin soldier shouted.

At once, someone rushed forward and kicked Zhai Quan full in the face. Blood gushed from his mouth, and his teeth were shattered to pieces.

"Haul him up and bind him tight," the squad leader ordered.

Amid a chorus of coughing, Zhai Quan was forcibly dragged out by the very soldiers under his command.

By now, outside the gorge, some Qin soldiers had already broken out, but only a dozen or so at a time rushed toward the Wei formation.

Leaving aside the fact that they had already been reduced to half-dead wrecks from escaping the gorge, those dozen or so men, even if each had been brimming with strength, would only have been moths flying into the flame.

The fate of the Qin troops could be imagined: one by one they were slaughtered beyond any chance of survival, a wholly one-sided massacre.

Thus, after the first batch emerged and was shot down, another batch came out.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.

All dead. Then another batch came, only to be met with more swooshing.

And so on.

Until at last, when all the officers and clerks assumed the Qin men had been wiped out, a shout came from within the gorge.

"Do not shoot! We have captured Zhai Quan!"

At that cry, Wang Xiu raised his hand and said in a deep voice, "Stop!"

At this, Luan Hong and the others, who had been commanding the forces on either side, also came over to Wang Xiu's side.

From inside the gorge, eight or nine people slowly emerged, dragging a general with them. There was no doubt it was Zhai Quan.

"Men, seize them all," Wang Xiu ordered.

More than thirty Wei soldiers immediately answered and surged forward, swiftly taking control of the Qin men.

"Take them all back," Wang Xiu said gravely.

One after another, the Qin soldiers passed before Wang Xiu and were escorted toward the rear of the Wei army.

When it was Zhai Quan's turn, Wang Xiu could still hear him cursing.

"Hold him." The Wei soldier carrying Zhai Quan stopped at once.

Wang Xiu and the other two dismounted, walked up to Zhai Quan, and looked down on him.

Zhai Quan opened his eyes, gave a weary smile, and with a mouth full of blood and ruin said, "Where is that bastard Wei Wou-chi? Didn't he say he wanted to see..."

With a sharp crack, Luan Hong slapped him hard across the face, knocking him flat to the ground.

Wang Xiu cast a sidelong glance at Zhai Quan, then said, "What do you think you are, to deserve waiting here for the young master?"

"Bind them all and take them back to Ironwood City to await the young master's judgment," Wang Xiu ordered.

Indeed, a short while earlier, weary of the one-sided slaughter, Wei Wou-chi had already departed with Zheng Dali and a contingent of cavalry, returning first to Ironwood City.