Yuwen Tong received a letter of capitulation on the night of the very day when his army had retired to its encampment.
It was secretly delivered out of the Wan capital by an official who had bribed the commander of the garrison unit guarding the city gates, and who professed his willingness to surrender, offering to open the city gates on condition that Yuwen Tong spared the lives of his whole family and allowed them to migrate to the Great Wen to start life anew.
“He’s a big fish,” observed Yuwen Tong, handing the letter to Ling Zhang after reading it.
Ling Zhang read the letter and came to know that the one who had delivered it was a ranking-two courtier of the Wan Kingdom, that the commander of the garrison unit guarding the west city gates used to be his student. Given that the letter had been safely delivered to Yuwen Tong, the courtier should be telling the truth.
“Should we accept it?” asked Xiao Jiangyue.
The officers were sitting in a circle.
“We don’t really need his help to take the city,” remarked Yuwen Jin.
“But we’ll pay a price. Although the Wan capital is in panic, if they really strain every nerve to hold the city, it’ll take us a lot of time and energy to breach their defense, and more of our men will die,” said He Xiao after pondering for a moment.
All officers present expressed their respective opinions, some agreeing with Yuwen Jin, others with He Xiao.
Xiao Jiangyue, Jiang Ke and Jiang Xi reserved their judgement about the matter, hesitant for their own reasons.
“By requesting permission for his whole family to migrate to our country, this guy’s actually offering to put his family’s lives in our hands, so I think he won’t dare play any tricks,” said Jiang Ke finally.
Xiao Jiangyue also said, “He’s got a point. I think it’s worth a shot.”
Ling Zhang, after a few moments’ silence, began, “The standoff between Nian Feng’s army and the Yuexi garrison in the Luohai Kingdom won’t last long. There’s every likelihood that it’ll end in half a month. We should take the Wan capital and the couple of cities in the north and subjugate this country as quick as possible, so that we’ll be able to take advantage of the golden opportunity by attacking the Luohai Kingdom before they could put an end to their internecine struggles, minimizing the casualties. We’ve lost quite some men in this war against the Wan Kingdom. Though we’ve got some fresh troops, they’re in small numbers compared with the ones we lost.”
After hearing Ling Zhang’s words, the officers holding different opinions lapsed into silence, because what Ling Zhang said was a fact.
“Money and supplies are not a problem for us, but we hardly have any reserves to replace the soldiers we lost, and there are not many men in the Wan cities we’ve just taken who can be drafted into our army,” Ling Zhang continued.
With Jiahe Chamber of Commerce at his back, he was not worried about the possibility of the army having to stay in the Wan Kingdom for a longer period of time. Besides, there were large amounts of food supplies and money in the Wan capital. In addition, they had taken many cities, and although the soldiers had orders not to disturb the civilians, they had taken some money, food and fodder from the municipal governments.
However, people were different from resources. Incorporating Wan soldiers into their own forces would be a risky move, and they were only fit to be placed in the vanguard.
In a word, the army was dwindling, and they must take the Luohai Kingdom in one fell swoop while it was still mired in infighting. They couldn’t afford to waste any time.
“Brother Zhang has a point as well. So we’ll accept the surrender of that … courtier or something? Will they really open the city gates for us?” said Yuwen Jin.
Everybody looked at Yuwen Tong, waiting for him to make a decision.
Yuwen Tong said in a level voice, “Let’s do some background check on him first. If he really can open the city gates for us, striking a deal with him won’t be a bad idea; if he can’t, there will be no deal.”
Just like Ling Zhang had said, the official wouldn’t be able to play any tricks under their noses.
As Yuwen Tong had given the order, the others naturally obeyed. Xiao Jiangyue, who was the most poised of them, was made a liaison to that official.
After seeing this, Ling Zhang inquired of Yuwen Tong, “Do you think we should take advantage of this opportunity and try to get in touch with our plants in the city whom we haven’t been able to make contact with?”
“There’s no hurry,” said Yuwen Tong. “Whether this guy is trustworthy is still unknown.”
Ling Zhang gave it some thought and, believing that Yuwen Tong was right, made no more remarks on that score.
…
That ranking-two courtier, presumably quite anxious, sent another letter to Yuwen Tong immediately after receiving the reply to his first letter.
It was delivered to the encampment along with a letter from the commander of the garrison unit guarding the west city gates. In the letter, the commander said that citizens were congregating at the north city gates demanding the guards open the gates to allow them to escape to the north, that the street leading to the north city gates was packed.
The monarch was turning a blind eye to the confusion and chaos in the city. He had done nothing apart from ordering the guards to keep the city gates shut. The courtiers, on the surface, were nursing their illness at home, but in fact they were all secretly packing their valuables. They also had their respective henchmen keep them posted on the situation at the north city gates and had even sent some men there to add fuel to the flames of the citizens’ rage, covertly trying to pressure the guards into opening the north city gates so that they could make their escape.
“I can’t believe Shan Congli is standing by watching the city descending into chaos. What is he thinking? Has he given up?”
After Xiao Jiangyue brought the letter from the commander of the garrison unit back to the encampment, all the others were astonished to learn the situation in the Wan capital.
Ling Zhang found the circumstances suspicious. If Shan Congli had given up hope, why hadn’t he opened the north city gates to allow the citizens to flee north? At least he should take some measures to placate the citizens and have them unite to help hold the city.
Confused, Ling Zhang looked at Yuwen Tong and asked, “Why do you think Shan Congli is doing this?”
Yuwen Tong said, “No matter what Shan Congli is thinking, we should take advantage of the chaos in there by launching another assault. Have our men get ready to attack at a moment’s notice.”
Xiao Jiangyue, without further ado, went to contact that Wan official and tell him to open the city gates as soon as possible.
The official made a reply very soon, saying that he would open the city gates that very night.
Yuwen Tong commanded his troops to mount a sneak attack on the west city gates at night.
…
Ling Zhang put on his armor and double-checked his sword quite some time in advance.
Under the cover of night, he could easily go into hiding if things went south, so he believed that this time Yuwen Tong wouldn’t try to stop him.
At the sight of Ling Zhang in full armor looking at him with anticipation etched all over his face, Yuwen Tong came to know what he was planning to do. After a long moment’s silence, he said, “Have your bodyguards on your heels.”
Ling Zhang’s eyes lit up. This time around, instead of trying to dissuade him, Yuwen Tong was actually of his own accord telling him to join the fight!
“I promise I’ll stay within their sights! Wh–Why are you not trying to talk me out of it?”
After making him a promise, Ling Zhang couldn’t help but ask Yuwen Tong about it.
Yuwen Tong said, “All this time I’ve been constraining you, and you haven’t been very happy about it, so I figured maybe once in a while I should let you do what you want.”
Of course, deep down there he was unwilling to let Ling Zhang join the fight. In his eyes, Ling Zhang would be in danger if he went to the battlefield, be it during the day or at night, but he also knew that being restrained from doing what he wanted was a torture for Ling Zhang.
In a war, any soldier capable of killing enemies would find it unbearable to have to stay in the rear. He had dissuaded Ling Zhang once on that day, but he couldn’t do it over and over again.
“Stay safe. If anything happens to you, it’ll break my heart. Remember that you mean everything to me,” said Yuwen Tong, looking earnestly at him.
Ling Zhang paused briefly at these words, his countenance suggesting an internal struggle. “W–Well, then maybe I should stay.”
Yuwen Tong, without saying anything, seized Ling Zhang above the elbow, took him out of the tent, down a path between tents and into an open space where the troops were falling in, then slackened his grip and said, “Go.”
Ling Zhang pressed his lips together, took a deep breath and then had Wang Dashan and the others join the vanguard led by He Xiao and Yuwen Jin. “Never hesitate if the decision is made” – he recalled what Yuwen Tong had once said to him.
He Xiao and Yuwen Jin were both taken aback as they saw Ling Zhang and his bodyguards join the ranks, but at the sight of Yuwen Tong looking at them with a grave expression in his eyes, they immediately threw out their chests again. “Don’t worry, Sire. I promise His Highness will come to no harm!”
Yuwen Tong, however, said in a deep voice, “Your job is to open the city gates, check out the lay of the land in the city and clear the way for our main force. The only one responsible for Ling Zhang’s safety in this battle is Ling Zhang himself. All the rest of you have to do is fulfill your respective tasks. If you fail to perform your duty on his account, both you and Ling Zhang will be punished according to military law.”
He Xiao and Yuwen Jin both jumped at Yuwen Tong’s words and with that they clenched their teeth and replied aloud together, “I’ll bear your words in mind and see to it that my mission is accomplished!”
Ling Zhang amid the soldiers also gave a start. By cautioning He Xiao and Yuwen Jin not to give him any special treatment, Yuwen Tong was being a responsible commander-in-chief and demonstrating his faith in him.
But at that moment Ling Zhang still felt two surges of emotions, one of them being the excitement of being able to kill enemies without misgivings, the other one a vague inexplicable mood. Even he himself did not know why, but his hand clenched hard around the hilt of his sword, his eyes glittering.
…
Two hours later, a new message came saying that the city gates would be opened in an hour.
The vanguard led by He Xiao and Yuwen Jin immediately set off.
Ling Zhang, followed by his bodyguards, departed with the vanguard. Yuwen Tong glanced at the receding back of Ling Zhang leaving with the vanguard and then gave the order for the main force to follow.
It was shortly before the time the city gates were supposed to be opened when they reached a spot not far away from the gates. The vanguard hid themselves in the shadows, waiting for someone to give the signal from the gate tower.
After a while, someone on the gate tower waved a lighted torch left and right and left again.
He Xiao perked up and hissed, “It’s time.”
After another few moments, they saw the city gates twitch.
“Mount and charge!”
The vanguard jumped up onto their horses the hoofs of which were swathed in thick cotton cloth and galloped towards the west city gates under the cover of night.
Before long, they were close enough to be spotted by soldiers on the gate tower and all of them tensed.
Ling Zhang cocked an ear at the sounds from the city gates, mobilizing his internal energy and heightening his five senses as much as he could. He could hear a lot of men breathing nervously behind the gates, then the sound of the latch being removed and the creak of the gates being pushed open …
“They’re opening the gates,” said Ling Zhang.
He Xiao and Yuwen Jin, who did not possess internal energy as powerful as Ling Zhang’s and thus couldn’t hear the sound of the city gates creaking, both jumped at these words and fixed the city gates with an unblinking stare.
Ling Zhang’s eyes raked the ramparts once again. Judging from the sounds of breathing he was hearing, the soldiers on the ramparts were performing routine guard duty, and there was nobody lying in ambush.
“There’s nobody lying in ambush on the ramparts.
And neither is there anybody waiting to ambush us behind the city gates. It’s very quiet there.”
Ling Zhang told them all that he was hearing.
He Xiao and Yuwen Jin were greatly emboldened. Believing that Ling Zhang would never talk through his hat in this kind of circumstances, the two of them dismissed all their misgivings and streaked towards the city gates, their men on their heels.
At this moment, the gates finally opened a fraction and with that a creak was heard, which lasted as the gates slowly opened wider.
Soon someone emerged from the open city gates and waved at them.
One of the gates was fully open when the vanguard reached them.
“Push the gates fully open and blow the bugle!”
As He Xiao gave the order, half of the vanguard dismounted from their horses, quickly pushed the other gate open and then took control of the gates. At the same time, the bugle blared.
