Translator: Foxs' Wuxia
Following their commander-in-chief’s order, row after row of crossbow arrows, in a short period of several breaths, were continuously shot out, as the fifteen eight-bow-and-crossbow-and-arrow machines’ bowstring frame released powerful arrows. While the soldiers reloaded the arrows, the other fifteen crossbow-arrow machines immediately relayed the shooting. The enemy riders within the firing range, none was lucky enough to avoid suffering a crushing defeat, flesh and blood splattered, the spectacle was too horrible to endure.
Li Yuanji’s vanguard cavalry’s offensive was thoroughly crushed by these crossbow-arrow machines, they retreated to the west in panic, replaced by the shield-wielders and the archers reorganizing the offensive, advancing along the cavalry’s retreat path, doing everything they could to curb the breaking-out-the-siege army’s heavy weapon with the most destructive power, to create opportunities for Qu Tutong’s main forces.
It was a deadly game of which side had the heavier injury.
Suddenly the alarm drum on Luoyang’s northeast city gate tower was sounded, the signalman even sent the flag signal that the enemy was attacking the Shangdong [Upper East] Gate on the northeast.
Kou Zhong and Yang Gongqing exchanged a glance, the latter’s eyes revealed an alarmed expression. This attack might make the remaining eight thousand warriors staying behind to take care of things inside the City of Luoyang to be pinned down and would be unable to move a single step, and thus they would not be able to take part in the battle to break out of the siege.
The breaking-out-the-siege army, with the vanguard unit consisting of shield and lance-wielders and saber and arrow-wielders, was still following the rhythm of the battle drums, crossing the filled trenches and advancing toward the enemy ranks.
Everything was like a nightmare that one could neither wake up from, nor able to change. Kou Zhong sighed inwardly. Li Shimin was indeed an out-of-the-world talented military commander, every move he made was able to hit his fatal weak point.
Li Yuanji’s army’s sudden appearance, and now Shangdong Gate was under attack, everything was forcing him to change tactics. Just like when martial art masters facing off against their adversary, or chess masters in a chess match, every move must occupy the utmost key moment, pressing down on him that he must counterattack.
Kou Zhong’s eyes moved to the Yi River on the left, thinking that fortunately they had this river; otherwise, if the enemy attacked from the left and right, perhaps they would immediately be unlucky to be done for. Coming back to his senses, he chopped the nail and sliced the iron [idiom: resolute and decisive] and said, “Abandon Luoyang, all army break the siege!”
Yang Gongqing spoke with a bitter smile, “That should be the most sensible choice.” Immediately he ordered the signalman to convey the order, to inform Wang Xuanshu on the city gate tower.
‘Dang! Dang! Dang!’
Wang Xuanshu personally beat the copper bell on the city gate tower to send the message to the defenders in the whole city using the most direct, the fastest way possible.
Kou Zhong raised the Moon in the Well high over his head, he spurred the horse to make a circle, and shouted loudly to his soldiers, “Brothers! I, Kou Zhong and you are in life and death together. I, Kou Zhong, will be the first to charge into the enemy’s battle formation, and will also be the last to leave.”
These words were spoken in impassionate, solemn and stirring way, coupled with Kou Zhong’s unequalled image, bold and powerful without any rival appearance, it carried some kind of a deep, stirring-up-the-people’s-heart inspirative power. Immediately the warriors responded in chorus, “Shao Shuai Army will prevail!” Their cry soared into the sky, not a single one did not have his fighting spirit greatly aroused, their hearts were linked to Kou Zhong’s, they were willing to serve their commander-in-chief.
Kou Zhong revealed a smile that was not in the least going well with the tragic and ruthless battlefield, because it was so brilliant like the sunshine in the sky; he spoke calmly, “There will be the day when I will return to Luoyang via the Changxia Gate, definitely not via any other gate.”
Yang Gongqing’s pair of eyes emitted an expression that only Kou Zhong understood; raising his arm, he shouted loudly in response, “No matter in life or death, we will always follow Shaoshuai.”
The whole army shouted again, they were willing to fight to the death.
The vanguard army suddenly stopped, they formed five rows of rectangular battle array at a distance of eight hundred paces from the enemy. The first two rows consisted of one thousand lance and shield wielders, the last three rows were saber and arrow wielders.
Ma Chang shouted his order again, two units of cavalry, five hundred men each, galloped toward the left and right ends of the formation, to become the wing guards.
During the time the city was under siege, the city-defenders army were not idle, day and night, they trained continuously under Ma Chang’s leadership. And now they showed the results in this life and death crisis.
The vanguard regiment’s commander was Ba Yegang, the left and right cavalry units were under Duan Da and Bing Yuanzhen, respectively.
This moment, Shan Xiongxin and Guo Shancai’s units of twenty-man cavalry charged out of the city, forming the battle array at the rear.
Li Yuanji’s army also stopped a thousand steps away from the crossbow-arrow machines and the flying-stone-cannon, quietly waiting for the order to move one step forward. Momentarily the two sides were standing-opposite-each-other situation, the big battle could happen at any moment.
Kou Zhong’s gaze swept across Qu Tutong’s troops stationed at the front, his heart was empty but alert, nothing in the entire battlefield was overlooked. Furthermore, he knew that the enemy was still oblivious that the high camp has already fallen into Ba Fenghan’s hands, who has raised the flag signal.
The Moon in the Well returned to its scabbard.
Kou Zhong and Yang Gongqing urged their horses forward, accompanied by their two-thousand-man cavalry, crossing over the filled long trench, and moving behind the vanguard army.
Kou Zhong spoke to Yang Gongqing, “Whatever you do, don’t let Li Yuanji break through our flanks, wait until I break the enemy’s formation and come back, and then we will launch all-army breaking out of the siege. I will leave everything here to Yang Gong!”
Yang Gongqing nodded his agreement, he said, “Shaoshuai, be careful!”
Kou Zhong was the soul of the entire army; if he died in battle, the breaking-out-the-siege army’s momentum would crumble like vanishing ice.
Kou Zhong revealed a hint of smile brimming with self-confidence. Taking out the Piercing the Sun Bow, he held it high and pulled it open, with his other hand he took out four arrows, using his unique-school’s technique – from the quiver hanging on the belly of the horse, and squeezed the horse to charge forward.
The vanguard unit, under Ba Yegang’s shouting his order, separated to the left and right to open up a passage for Kou Zhong to go through.
The atmosphere immediately tightened.
The bugle horn in the enemy ranks was sounded, the front row of shield-wielders put their long shield down, the shield-wielders behind raised their shield up and at an angle, forming top and bottom, two layers of shield formation to protect the archers at the back.
Kou Zhong, a single rider, came to the front of the battle formation; throwing his head back in long laughter, he said, “Who in the world able to block me, Kou Zhong?”
Finished speaking, the strong arrows went up to the bow, the arrows were shot in rapid succession.
Under the illumination of the torches on both sides, one strong arrow after another shot out of the Piercing the Sun Bow, every arrow carried spiraling true power, fast as lightning it shot toward the enemy ranks.
‘Dang, dang, dang!’
The shields shattering, flesh and blood flying, no-stronghold-one-cannot-overcome strong arrow treated the shields like a piece of thin paper, it penetrated the shield and entered the body, one by one the shield-wielders facing Kou Zhong skewed to the east and collapsed to the west, their blood dyed the plain! It was like the strong arrows from the Piercing the Sun Bow was never-ending; losing the shields, the archers at the back were like dead leaves swept by the gale even more, one by one they were hit by the arrow, they could only stare blankly at the God of Death coming to take their life away.
With this gaining-the-upper-hand-by-a-show-of-strength move, Kou Zhong roused his troops’ morale again, they shouted and cheered in unison.
Seeing the turn of events not too encouraging, the enemy sounded the battle drum, the vanguard unit advanced toward the breaking-out-the-siege army in uniform steps, while the two cavalry units separately pressed down from the left and right wings.
Li Yuanji’s army immediately responded. The originally stopping vanguard regiment started to attack the crossbow-arrow machines and the flying-stone-cannons.
At the rear, Yang Gongqing knew it was time to send signal using torches to notify the high camp side.
From the high camp the battle drums shook the sky, Ba Fenghan showed himself on top of one of the arrow towers, and shouted loudly, “Li’s Tang’s destiny is over! Shao Shuai Army is without rival in the world!”
Except for the Yang Family Army, the breaking-out-the-siege army was completely in the dark concerning the existence of the tunnel; suddenly seeing the high camp has fallen into their side’s hands. It was so impressive that they did not dare to believe, immediately the soldiers’ heart was bestirred, they responded in loud cheer.
On the other hand, the enemy, from top to bottom, everybody’s heart was disturbed. Not knowing what is true and what is false, they felt deeply the threat of the enemy in front and behind them. Immediately their battle array was thrown into chaos, panic spread across the whole army like a plague.
How could Kou Zhong be willing to miss this golden opportunity? He shouted loudly, “Brothers, come with me!”
Amidst the ear-splitting sound of hoofbeats, twenty-men elite cavalry followed him charging into the enemy’s disposition of troops, in spearhead battle formation [see Book 39 Chapter 12] tactics, to attack and kill the enemy.
The rest of the men and horses, under Ma Chang’s command, were still defending their position tightly, firmly resisting the enemy’s assault. Arrow darts filled the air, shooting at the advancing enemy, the lance-and-shield-wielders held their shields and raised their lances, to block the incoming arrows, while waiting in tight formation for the imminent flesh-combat-bloody-battle.
Yang Gongqing moved far to the rear, to receive the troops withdrawing from inside the city; furthermore, he took the responsibility of commanding the overall situation.
The crossbow-arrow machines and the flying-stone cannon were busy endlessly, corresponding to the crossbow-arrows and stone-throwers of Wang Xuanshu’s troops still strongly defending their position on the south city wall, crushing Li Yuanji’s right flank coming to attack.
Both sides moved an army and sent a general incessantly.
Due to the high camp falling into the enemy hands, Qu Tutong’s disposition of troops was in great chaos; furthermore, because he could not figure out Ba Fenghan’s military strength, he had no choice but to split a unit of five-thousand-man cavalry from his troops to form a row of battle array at the rear, facing the high camp, in order to deal with the attack from behind.
The sound of shouting and killing on the battlefield reached the sky, it was like hell on earth.
Kou Zhong took the lead, the Piercing the Sun Bow in his hand shot strings of arrows, he was particularly targeting the archers, who could pose a long-distant threat to them. None of the arrows missed its target, plus the enemy’s troops’ heart was already in chaos, he and twenty Flying Cloud Riders bored into the flocking-over infantry formation like a whirlwind.
Putting away his folding bow, Kou Zhong took the Moon in the Well out of his scabbard, releasing spiraling power, those who blocked him were swept by the wind, the entire men and horses were like a giant Moon in the Well, with Kou Zhong himself as the sharp point of the blade. All of a sudden the enemy’s vanguard regiment coming to attack was split into two, and they continued charging into the enemy’s cavalry coming from the rear.
The enemy’s cavalry of several thousand men rushed over from four sides, eight directions to intercept, but no one was able to be his match. His men, seeing their commander-in-chief was so bold and powerful, everybody dashed on bravely with no thought of personal safety, they followed closely behind him, attacking the enemy, fighting the enemy. Wherever Kou Zhong’s commander banner went, men fell face up, horses turned over, the battlefield situation was desperate to the extreme point.
Kou Zhong’s mind entered the Moon in the Well realm, considering the enemy, whose military strength was several times above his – as nothing. He simply grabbed the large banner from the flag carrier’s hand by his side; with one hand waving the banner, the other hand brandishing the Moon in the Well, the banner rolled, the saber waved, he charged into the enemy ranks where Qu Tutong’s command banner was rising high, no one was able to delay him even for a moment.
Ma Chang’s side was still holding fast to their position, luckily for him, Kou Zhong threw the assaulting enemy troops into disorder, so that the pressure on his troops was greatly reduced. When the enemy was advancing to about fifty paces away from them, Ma Chang ordered the saber and arrow-wielders to put away their bow and draw their saber, and to charge forward, taking advantage while the opposite side’s formation has not been completed. The very moment their side’s morale was greatly aroused, he ordered all army, infantry and cavalry, to counterattack.
Shan Xiongxin and Guo Shancai, two units of cavalry, a total of sixty men, split into two routes to attack from the left and right, to meet the enemy cavalry coming to attack from the two wings. They killed until the sky lost its color, the earth turned dark, the moon and the stars were without light, the earth shook and the mountain moved.
Li Yuanji’s troops attacking from the side were held back at two hundred paces distance by the crossbow-arrow machines and the flying-stone cannon, they could not even advance for a single cun.
Far behind the front line, the enemy troops were in a totally different situation. The high camp main gate was wide open, nearly a thousand captured Tang soldiers, the construction battalion troops and other non-combat personnel, under the threat of the arrow darts of Ba Fenghan and his nearly five hundred Flying Cloud Riders, who seized warhorses from the enemy – were driven out of the camp, to flee toward their own cavalry formation across the front of the camp. Using these men as human shield, Ba Fenghan led the Flying Cloud Riders to follow behind them to attack.
Commanding the cavalry unit was Li Yuanji’s trusted aide Great General Feng Liben. He could only stare blankly at the arrival of Ba Fenghan’s attack, yet he could not order his men to release the arrow toward the enemy mingled among their own men. The fortunate timing passed in the blink of an eye, suddenly the entire five-thousand-man cavalry unit was run over by the prisoners rushing randomly, while the enemy, under Ba Fenghan’s leadership, their momentum like a rainbow – cut the cavalry unit, like a hot knife through butter – into two. Furthermore, because the captives scattered in all direction and fled in disorder, the cavalry was unable to launch an effective interception counterattack, so that even though their number was ten times the opposite side, they were still unable to find any solution.
Blazing flame was rising from the high camp, thick smoke soared into the sky, engulfing the camp into the ocean of fire, which increased the breaking-out-the-siege army’s mighty power even more.
Only those who were ruthless enough would be able to survive.
Positioned at the core of the army, Qu Tutong and the various generals under his command suddenly found themselves in danger. Ba Fenghan was coming from behind, while ahead were Kou Zhong’s cavalry unit, which brought carnage everywhere they went. Both armies were unstoppably acute, and his command banner was precisely the target. With no choice to pick, the middle army, which consisted of five-thousand-man infantry and cavalry, moved to the west to evade, hoping to link up with Li Yuanji’s main forces, and then reorganized their army’s appearance.
As soon as the command banner was moving, the entire army was immediately affected.
The breaking-out-the-siege army shouted in unison and exerted themselves to attack the enemy.
Ma Chang, Shan Xiongxin, Guo Shancai, three-branch units pursued cun by cun to advance and kill, the Tang Army retreated again and again in defeat.
Yang Gongqing knew the time has come, he ordered Wang Xuanshu to withdraw all the troops staying behind to take care of things in Luoyang.
Immediately smoke and fire sprang up everywhere in the city. What happened was that they already piled up dry firewood on the main street, so that as soon as they were lighted, the raging fire rose up to the sky, cutting off all passages leading to the city wall, top and bottom, south of the city, so that the Tang Army entering the city was unable to pursue and attack.
By this time, Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan were finally able to join forces in the middle of the battlefield, where the corpses were strewn all over the plain, blood flowed like a river. The enemy was retreating to the west like a tide, the breaking-out-the-siege path had finally been cleared up without any obstacle. But Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan knew that the road ahead was still difficult. The enemy retreated, but not in disorder, not to mention Li Shimin’s main forces have not shown themselves. That would be the deadliest threat to the breaking-out-the-siege army.
The battle was still underway like wildfire, the breaking-out-the-siege army demolished the three pontoon bridges across the Yi River first, and then retreated and fought at the same time, Li Yuanji and Qu Tutong’s coalition forces regrouped and assembled 50,000 men of infantry and cavalry, and pursued relentlessly, unwilling to let them go.
Until the breaking-out-the-siege army withdrew to the mountaintop position at the exit of southern end of the tunnel, immediately the entire army counterattacked, coupled with Xu Ziling’s fresh army; finally they were able to steady their disposition of troops and forced Li Yuanji’s army to withdraw.
From the time the gate was opened and they went out to strike to break the siege until this point of the battle, both sides suffered injuries and deaths. The breaking-out-the-siege army started with eighteen thousand men, and their number was reduced to fifteen thousand. The men killed in battle amounted to three thousand men, they even lost Wang Long, Xue Deyin and Chang Jiang, three generals. However, the dead and injured on the Tang Army’s side were over six thousand. From this, the severity of the war could be seen clearly.
Wang Xuanshu successfully sent a large number of breaking-out-the-siege warhorses to the mountaintop positions, naturally including Xu Ziling’s Ten-thousand-Li Spots and Ba Fenghan’s Taklamakan. This was an important part of the escape plan, they must become an entirely cavalry army, in order to avoid the enemy’s interception in the most mobile and rapid way, to escape the enemy’s sphere of influence.
Ko Zhong, Xu Ziling, Ba Fenghan and Yang Gongqing stood on a high elevation at the mountaintop position, under the first light of the dawn of the eastern horizon, looking into the distance at Li Yuanji Army’s situation.
All four men were blood-soaked from head to foot, but it was unclear whether it was the fresh blood of the enemy, or the blood that flowed out of their own wounds.
Although they had successfully broke out of the siege and reached this place, none of the four was not heavy-hearted, even more, they still had the on-all-sides, the-songs-of-Chu feeling of crisis. Until this moment, they still did not know where Li Shimin’s main forces were.
After two sichen of fierce battle, the breaking-out-the-siege army’s troops exhausted, their strength weary, it would be difficult to deal with another fierce battle like fierce tiger charging out of the cage a moment ago.
The fire in the City of Luoyang had been extinguished, the banner flying on top of the city wall was replaced by the Great Tang Army insignia, as if they were showing off their military strength to them. Fortunately, the high camp had been turned into a scorched earth, giving them a slight sense of achievement.
Although fully aware that Li Shimin’s strategy was to frustrate their acute point first, to wear out the army’s strength and then to pursue and attack, to cut and kill, they still had no choice but to step into this trap. And now they were inside the trap, waiting for their fate of being hunted and killed.
This moment Ma Chang came to report that everything was ready and in order, they could be on their way to flee from danger at any time.
“Is there any movement in the south?” Ba Fenghan asked in heavy voice.
Shaking his head, Ma Chang replied, “Everything looks normal, Li Shimin’s main force army should not lie in ambush ahead; as long as our horses are fast enough, we could escape to the Yi-Luo river plain before the Tang Army in Shou’an and Yique complete their blockade.”
They already setup sentry points on high elevation in the south, any grass stirring in the wind in that side, nothing could be concealed from their eyes and ears.
Yang Gongqing sighed and said, “That is precisely Li Shimin’s strategy; he knew for sure that we are fleeing to the south. After breaking the siege, we will definitely travel night and day to pass through the river plain gateway between Shou’an and Yique, and then he can intercept us at any point while our men weary, the horses tired. On the other hand, Li Yuanji and Qu Tutong are blocking our retreat path, so that we are trapped between Yi and Luo, two rivers.”
Kou Zhong cast his gaze toward the Luo River on the left, he spoke resolutely, “The battle to break out of the siege is precisely a race against time between the two sides, whoever can move faster will succeed. We set off immediately; we are going down south along the Yi River’s west bank, we will be in charge of holding up the rear.”
Ma Chang accepted the order and left.
Xu Ziling spoke indifferently, “Li Shimin is in the city.”
Everyone was stunned.
Yang Gongqing asked in astonishment, “How did Ziling come to that conclusion?”
Xu Ziling replied, “Even though Li Shimin guessed that we might escape to the south, but ultimately he cannot substantiate his guess. Based on his usual stable and steady style, no best strategy is better than using constant to deal with ten thousand changes. After grasping our escape route, he would assemble the navy fleet in the city, and then after daybreak divide the navy into two, open the sluice gate and separately pursue us from the Yi and Luo, two rivers. At that time, the initiative will be entirely in his hands, plus we will have to deal with the Tang Army from Shou’an and Yique. Ahead the road is blocked, behind there’s no way to retreat, our allotted share will only be to take a beating.”
Ba Fenghan nodded his agreement, he said, “Ziling’s opinion makes sense!”
Xu Ziling went on, “When the obstacle on the two rivers are torn down, that will be the moment Li Shimin’s navy empty their base and start out on their mission.”
He had not even finished speaking, on the Luo River southwest of Luoyang appeared the flickering shadows of sail. Li Shimin’s navy fleet finally showed themselves.
Kou Zhong felt deeply that his decision to flee along the west bank of the Yi River was absolutely correct. “Good kid!” he shouted loudly, “Let us see whether our horses are fast, or your ships are faster. Let’s go!”
Kou Zhong, four men, plus the remaining more than four hundred Flying Cloud Riders bringing up the rear, all stepped on the cliff-ledge and mounted their horses, and rushed to catch up with their troops traveling southbound.
The enemy’s battle drums were sounded, the entire cavalry started to move, more than twenty thousand men cavalry, no longer with any scruples, under Li Yuanji’s personal command, covering the mountains and the plains, came to pursue, unwilling to give them any opportunity to take a breath.
Under Li Shimin’s extraordinary strategic deployment, they setup inescapable net, to do everything in their power to catch every single one of the breaking-out-the-siege army all in one go. Up until now, the breaking-out-the-siege army’s advantage and initiative have been lost completely, they were trapped in the cat and mouse deadly game.
Kou Zhong, in this cannot-deteriorate-into-a-nastier situation, aroused a powerful will to fight instead. Even if in the end the breaking-out-the-siege army might suffer total defeat of the army, he determined that Li Shimin would have to pay the heaviest price.
