Outside the imperial study room, Kou Zhong conferred with Xu Ziling, he said, “Where’s Dazhi, that kid? Once a brother, we should give a good farewell dinner for him.”
Xu Ziling said, “Let him leave quietly! Fenghan and Xibai are going to pick up Badai’er to Xing Qing Palace. Just now Li Dage told me that Pei Ji, Wang Bodang and Zhuge Dewei, three men have been taken into custody, waiting to be dealt with. Yang WenGan, Chi Shengchun and the others are still missing.”
Knitting his brows, Kou Zhong said, “Wanwan wouldn’t lie to us, would she?”
Xu Ziling shook his head and said, “There is no need for her to lie to us. On Zhizhi’s aspect, what do you have to say?”
Pleased with himself, Kou Zhong said, “I never thought she could talk so good to me like this. I hadn’t had a chance to say anything about a one night of passion or giving a vehement full account, unexpectedly she took the initiative to encourage me to accept Shang Xiufang. Naturally it’s not to be taken as a precedent.”
Xu Ziling said, “In that case, I really must to congratulate you! This is the best example of when the boat reaches the bridge, it will pass underneath without trouble [proverb: everything will be all right].”
And then his expression turned grave, he said, “Before leaving the palace, Dazhi specifically reminded me that Bi Xuan, Zhao Deyan and the others clearly left immediately after Jiancheng launching the coup d’état. According to Dazhi’s guess, Bi Xuan and the others rushed to meet Xieli in such a hurry to urge Xieli to seize the opportunity of the great chaos in Chang’an and the instability of the army’s heart. Therefore, Xieli’s vanguard troops are likely to arrive at any time either today or tomorrow, these two days, in order not to give Chang’an a chance to breathe.”
Kou Zhong’s countenance changed, he said, “Then how am I going to meet my midnight appointment with Xiufang tonight?”
Xu Ziling spoke in displeasure, “If you can’t go tonight, there will be tomorrow night. After beating back Xieli, there will be countless nights waiting for you, this lecher.”
Kou Zhong said decisively, “Your lecture is well-taken. Go find Lao Ba and Xiao Hou immediately. After I explain to Li Kid, we, four major martial art masters will set off immediately. Hee … hee … ! When you are in Qingxuan’s presence, won’t you also become a lecher?”
Aghast, Xu Ziling said, “You’re not joking, are you? What makes you think the four of us can deal with Xieli? How would that be different from throwing away our lives? Besides, we don’t know the exact route that the enemy is taking to invade our territory.”
Kou Zhong smiled and said, “This is precisely the empty is real strategy. As long as we can drag it until tomorrow, our army will complete the operation of establishing our presence in various military strategic towns, Xieli will be foreordained to return without any achievement [idiom: go home with one’s tail between one’s legs].”
Kou Zhong strode into Li Shimin’s imperial study room again, he smiled apologetically to the six senior ministers who were having an audience with Li Shimin and said, “Please don’t blame Kou Zhong for being disrespectful, because this kid has urgent matters that must be discussed in secret with Huangshang immediately.”
The six senior ministers were shocked, all they could think about was the allied armies from beyond the Great Wall, how could they still be in the mood to blame him? Being tactful, they hurriedly took their leave.
Li Fan closed the door behind them.
Proud of himself, Kou Zhong said, “I finally passed the craving of power as government official, as prime minister or a great general. For the time being, it is the power to overturn an imperial court, with Huangdi Laozi [old man the emperor] giving consent, every cabinet minister immediately leaves on their own initiative.”
Li Shimin laughed hoarsely, he said, “Luckily I have you coming often when I feel vexed in dealing with this thing to relieve my boredom. Ay! Your way of thinking is correct, being the emperor is definitely exhausting.”
Kou Zhong sighed and said, “I also wanted to come often to relieve Huangshang’s boredom, only too bad there is no time to delay, we must set off immediately, hoping to scare Xieli to stop and give us one night of time to complete the three cities’ defense. I propose to use Ma Chang’s troops to defend Wugong instead. Ma Chang is my most remarkable number one great general, he will definitely live up to my trust.” And then he explained the reasons for changing the plan.
Li Shimin said, “Very well! I am coming with you.”
Kou Zhong was shocked, “You are joking, right?” he said, “If you go, who will keep watch in Chang’an?”
Li Shimin spoke glibly, “How about your Li Jing Dage? Whether in term of ability or prestige, he can take my place, in term of moral standing, there is absolutely no problem even more.”
Smiling bitterly, Kou Zhong said, “Frankly speaking, that is not the real reason why I don’t want you to take risks. The real reason is that I am afraid that your poor martial arts will be a burden on us instead. Understand? Huangshang?”
Li Shimin roared in laughter and said, “Only now that I feel that you really think of me as a good brother like Ziling. My martial art is poor, you are surely joking? In which battle I did not fight at the head of my troops? Sometimes with just a few people I killed from the front of the disposition of troops all the way to the tail. Each time, there were thousands of pairs of eyes watching.”
Kou Zhong dejectedly said, “You are the Huangdi Laozi, the final decision is of course in your hands. Being alone turns out can be so hard to take. Ha …!”
Li Shimin cheerfully said, “I finally got half a day to spare, so temporarily I don’t need to be the emperor.”
The single-masted boat turned into the Wei River and sailed in the direction of Wugong.
Onboard the high-speed boat, there were not only the Shaoshuai Kou Zhong, whose name shook the world, Xu Ziling, Ba Fenghan and Hou Xibai, but also Li Shimin, the new master of the Great Tang.
Li Shimin sat next to Xu Ziling, who was operating the sail. Checking the darts and arrows he brought, he declared, “You must not call me Huangshang. Tonight, I am fighting side by side with you guys as a brother.”
Leaning against the hull, with a leisurely demeanor, wiping the Stealing-the-Heaven Sword, Ba Fenghan looked askance at Li Shimin, and spoke indifferently, “Since for the time being you are not the emperor, I don’t need to be polite to you, may I ask, there is the good fortune of being the emperor you don’t enjoy, but you want to accompany us through this muddy water instead?”
The standing at the stern of the boat, feeding grass to the five warhorses with Kou Zhong – Hou Xibai laughed and said, “According to Kou Zhong, being an emperor is more exhausting than going to the battlefield, ha ha!”
Li Shimin spoke glibly, “First of all, we want to use the what-is-true-and-what-is-false-is-hard-to-fathom tactic to confuse the enemy. With Shimin’s participation, at least our persuasive power will be increased. When the enemy sees Shaoshuai, they will think that the Shao Shuai Army is lying in ambush somewhere in the rear; seeing Shimin, they ought to remember that Chang’an is firmly in our hands, and we are going all out to face their attack head-on.”
Xu Ziling agreed, “That’s true.”
Li Shimin smiled and said, “Secondly, no one knows the geographical situation over there better than me. Only I can accurately grasp the enemy’s marching route.”
Kou Zhong laughed and said, “It was precisely because I thought of this point that I could not refuse your participation. In Luoyang, we had already experienced Shimin’s ability in this aspect.”
Ba Fenghan spoke heavily, “If Shimin Xiong guesses wrong, not only are we going in vain this time, we may even lose an important city near Chang’an!”
Kou Zhong looked forward to the sun going down behind the mountain in the west, he said, “Shimin can’t go wrong in this regard. However, if we want our operation to succeed, however many falcons there are in the sky, we must shoot them all. It’s a pity that Shimin Xiong’s spirited vulture stays in Luoyang, otherwise this problem can be solved by raising your hand.”
Hou Xibai was speechless, he said, “And Xieli has brought hundreds of falcons, wouldn’t we be up to our ears in work?”
Ba Fenghan sneered and said, “Falcons that can be trained to scout the enemy not necessarily one in a thousand. The entire army could have two, that can already be considered not bad. Besides, dealing with such intelligent beasts, we have ample experience. First lure them with bait, once they enter my Shooting-the-Moon Bow’s range, I guarantee not one can return to its master.”
Li Shimin looked up at the sky and said, “Before the sun goes down, we should be able to cross Wugong and reach the best landing spot!”
The five riders rushed out of the trail in the dense forest area and climbed to the top of a small hill. The Wei River was flowing on the left, ahead was the vast area of sparse forests and plains ten li west of Wugong, far away on the right were layer upon layer of unbroken chain of peaks, hills and plains; the bright moon was gradually climbing to the sky, its clear splendor beam of light casting long shadows of men and horses onto the hillslope ahead.
“What time is it now?” Kou Zhong asked.
Hou Xibai replied, “About the turn of the you hour [5-7pm] to wu [fifth of the ten Heavenly Stems]. If the enemy arrives at this time and rushes to Wugong at full speed, they can control and block Wugong before our troops enter and garrison in Wugong!”
Li Shimin pointed his horse whip ahead, “If the enemy comes to attack Wugong, this is the only route to take; moreover, because the Wei River is nearby, there is no fear of water shortage, and the grassland area can provide tender grass for the warhorses! Xieli has Xiang Yushan leading the way, they will not give up the easy to take the difficult, and waste some precious time!”
After a short pause, he continued, “Since Xieli’s goal is Xianyang’s Bianqiao [lit. temporary bridge, not sure if it is a place’s name], he must capture Wugong and Jingyang at the same time, and then Xianyang will become the object in his bag. The first unit of our troops to set off from Chang’an, led by Jingde, should arrive at Jingyang at this time. We should have plenty of time to make arrangement calmly! Judging from the fact that Xieli’s vanguard troops have not yet arrived here, the wonder troops that Xieli dispatched separately to cross the mountains to attack Jingyang could only launch surprise attack on Jingyang, at the earliest, after chou hour [1-3 am].”
His analysis made the four men fully appreciate his ability to strategize and predict the enemy like a deity. It was precisely because he knew the geographical situation like the back of his hand, and he was proficient in the art of war that he could take the lead everywhere, making arrangement calmly, living up to his reputation of being an expert in defense.
Ba Fenghan jumped off his horse, ran down the hillslope, lay prostrate and stuck his ear on the ground, launching his ‘earth listening’ technique.
Hou Xibai said, “Xieli is as cunning as a fox, he deliberately pretended to assemble a large army to the north of Liu Wuzhou’s former territory, to make us think that he was going to mount a sneak attack toward Taiyuan County, cross the Yellow River and charge into Guanzhong, turns out it is only secretly crossing the Wei River at Chencang. Using Liang Shidu as a cover, he sneaked to the Wei River, from the west to the east, to invade Chang’an. If he catches us unprepared and occupy Wugong, Jingyang, and Xianyang, three cities, Chang’an’s main force will not be able to move a single step, the other cities will be in danger.”
Xu Ziling smiled and said, “Fortunately, the crisis in Chang’an was resolved overnight, otherwise there would be a great chance that Xieli would prevail.”
Ba Fenghan flew back, he spoke cheerfully, “Shimin’s guess is unmistaken, a team of light cavalry with more than a thousand men is coming at full speed from about four li away!”
Greatly delighted, Kou Zhong said, “We are half successful!”
Hou Xibai looked around at the sky, he spoke in astonishment, “How come we have not seen the falcon’s shadow?”
Kou Zhong responded in a relaxed manner, “Because Xieli, little kid, thought that in Chang’an, fire beacons are everywhere, blood flow becomes a river, corpses are piling up like a mountain. He practically did not expect us to be in this pass to wait and welcome the army to be stationed here. In his vision for the future, Wugong could withstand a sichen of his attack, it could already be considered very remarkable, hence there is no need to send a falcon to explore the route ahead, the falcon must still be hiding inside the falcon cage.”
Li Shimin did not understand, he asked, “In that case, if Xieli released a falcon, wouldn’t our ‘empty forest tactic’ be exposed immediately?”
With a card up his sleeve, Kou Zhong said, “When it comes to dealing with falcons, I am the expert. When a falcon sees the enemy below, it will fly in a circle above the enemy. The eagle master can estimate the range of the enemy’s distribution based on the size of the eagle’s circle. Therefore, if Lao Ba, Xiao Hou and Ling kid, three men galloped into the forest, far away from each other and from different directions, the falcon will fly around in big circles, so that the enemy mistakenly think that there are a large number of hidden troops on both sides of the passage inside the dense forest! Not only we do not need to cruelly shoot the falcon dead, we can also use it in turn to trick the enemy! Ha … such a perfect plan.”
Ba Fenghan leaped onto his horse’s back, laughed, and said, “If your plan doesn’t work out, I hope you have another perfect plan to escape plan, ha … Ziling, Xibai, let us, these little pawns, carry out Shaoshuai’s command!”
The three men urged their horses to turn around and rush into the jungle!
Kou Zhong listened carefully, he spoke cheerfully, “The enemy is here, I really wish it’s daytime, so that we can enjoy the surprised expression on the enemy’s face when they see us.”
Li Shimin took out the torch, he sighed and said, “I never thought that I would confront the Golden Wolf Army, which can be rated as unequalled in the universe – side by side with Shaoshuai. When I think about it, I also feel the bizarre twists and turns of the affairs of life, which exceed all expectations.”
The sound of hoofbeats gradually arose, suddenly, about half a li ahead, everything was covered with dark, dense Tujue cavalry, stirring up the dust, the moon and the stars lost their splendor.
Two torches were burning brightly, separately inserted on the ground by Kou and Li, men and horses’ side. Standing on top of the hill, the two men appeared to be immortals. Actually, these two also represented the current era’s most outstanding military talents of the new generation of the Central Earth. Looking at them makes one think of the two largest military forces in the Central Plains, the two combined into one.
Bugle horn sounded, one after another the enemy riders reined in their horses.
Kou Zhong said to Li Shimin, “It is indeed Xieli’s Golden Wolf Army, which shows that the trust among the various ethnic groups in the allied armies is not enough. Otherwise, Xieli would have allowed any one of the Khitan Army, Shiwei Army or Huihe Army to be the vanguard troops.”
Li Shimin said, “If the enemy troops attacking Jingyang are also the Golden Wolf Army, only then will Shaoshuai’s thinking can be verified.”
Kou Zhong nodded, “That’s true,” he said.
And then he shouted loudly in Tujue language, “Kou Zhong and Li Shimin are here, respectfully welcoming Great Khan Xieli.”
One general of the opposite side urged his horse to come out, and shouted wildly, “Don’t think I’ll fall for your tricks, charge!”
The thousands of Tujue warriors all shouted, bugle horn sounded again, the warhorses neighed, and more than a thousand horsemen lined up in three rows, front and rear. The first row, more than three hundred men, urged their horses to sprint first to charge toward the small hill, and then the other two rows followed closely to rush out. Immediately the hoofbeats thundered, the shout of battle cry shook the sky.
Remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos, Kou Zhong said, “The one coming out and ‘hu hu he he’ just now, wasn’t it Kang Qiaoli?”
Li Shimin did not show the slightest bit of shock either, he nodded glibly and said, “Looks like Xieli is coming in a hurry, and he must be striving for time, hence he uses a great general to command the vanguard army, and as soon as they arrive, they attack Wugong.”
The enemies in the first row rushed to a distance of 1,500 paces, and suddenly the bugle horn was sounded again. The entire enemies reined in their horses and halted more than 1,300 paces away!
Kang Qiaoli came out from the crowd for the second time and shouted loudly, “Even if you have magnificent army with thousands of men and horses, you will only be used by our Tujue iron hoofs to trample on!”
Kou Zhong laughed and said, “Kang Qiaoli is timid! Can you understand his Tujue language?”
Li Shimin spoke cheerfully, “Since the age of eight, Xiaodi has learned to speak Tujue. Shaoshuai does not need to translate.”
Kou Zhong shouted in Tujue language, saying, “Kang Qiaoli, how dare you brag in front of me, Kou Zhong. In the past, who greatly defeated your Golden Wolf Army in Rushing Wolf Plain? In your own territory you still suffer big defeat from me, Kou Zhong, let alone you toiled your army in faraway expedition, penetrating deeply into our territory. Ha! Let me be honest with you, we are now playing the empty city stratagem, here, we only have the two of us. If you have enough guts, give me all you got, see if we can meet you. If you don’t have enough guts, you are the grandson of a turtle. Ha …!”
Kang Qiaoli shouted his order, but not to command his men to charge over, to prove that they were not grandsons of a turtle lacking the guts. He just instructed his subordinates to light dozens of torches, immediately the flames were raging, suddenly it seemed that the two torches on Kou Zhong’s side were alone and weak, difficult to compete for splendor.
Several Tujue high-ranking military officers gathered by Kang Qiaoli’s side to speak, and under the light of the fire, they debated whether to attack or not.
Kou Zhong laughed proudly and said, “If we really want to lure the enemy to advance deeply, what step should we take now?”
Smiling wryly, Li Shimin said, “Naturally dispatching the troops to take the initiative to attack, to arouse the enemy’s anger, ay! Your plan to deal with the falcon, basically there is no favorable position to use your skill, because the enemy’s vanguard unit is not accompanied by a falcon.”
Kou Zhong spoke indifferently, “Shimin Xiong, please stay here to watch the fun, Xiaodi is leaving!”
Clamping the horse’s belly, the Piercing-the-Sun Bow already out in his hand, it opened up, and when the warhorse rushed down the hill, he used his unique skill to pull out four powerful arrows from the quiver, and charged straight towards the enemy’s line.
Kang Qiaoli and the various other generals were shocked, they had no time to discuss further, they returned to their own team in a hurry. All the Tujue warriors did not wait for orders, everybody bent their bow and put on an arrow, ready to meet Shaoshuai Kou Zhong, whose name shook the Central Plains and beyond the Great Wall.
In a breath, Kou Zhong urged his horse down the hill, four powerful arrows were shot out in rapid succession from beyond the enemy’s arrow range, spiraling forward.
By the time four horses were hit by the arrows and fell to the ground, another string of four arrows was shot from the Piercing-the-Sun Bow and flying away swiftly using spiraling momentum.
At the enemy’s front line, warhorses fell to the ground one after another in a great mess.
More than a dozen Tujue warriors had their vicious nature aroused, ignoring the command, they urged their horses to rush out, so that the men behind them did not dare to shoot arrows instead, for fear of accidentally hurting their own warriors.
Kang Qiaoli shouted loudly to stop them.
Kou Zhong fired the third round of arrows. Among the seventeen warriors charging towards him, four riders collapsed, so the soldiers on horseback were all thrown to the ground.
‘Qiang!’
Kou Zhong pulled out the Moon in the Well, right hand holding the saber, left hand the bow, without extra trouble he swept away the arrows shot at him. In an instant he encountered the enemy on the open country between the two armies.
Greatly delighted, Kang Qiaoli issued the order to attack. Three rows of cavalry immediately sprinted towards him at full speed.
Amidst the cry of pain and miserably groan, those who met Kou Zhong were either hit by the back of the saber, or swept off the horseback by the Piercing-the-Sun Bow. And then Kou Zhong turned around and simply left, unleashing the man and horse as one technique, swiftly pulling away from the range of arrows that the cavalry was shooting at him, rushing to the bottom of the hill.
Bugle horn sounded.
The Tujue warriors rescued their side’s fallen horse, unexpectedly they pulled back a thousand paces, before forming a strict formation and returning to the previous standing-opposite-to-each-other position.
Kou Zhong galloped back to return to Li Shimin side, he laughed and said with a grin, “How about showing off a couple of hands?”
Li Shimin laughed and said, “Shaoshuai‘s move is targeted at smart enemies, and Kang Qiaoli did not disappoint us even more.”
Kou Zhong reined in his horse, he stared into the distance, and spoke heavily, “Xieli’s good-self is here!”
Li Shimin also heard the sound of galloping warhorses in the distance, he looked up at the sky and said, “Shaoshuai‘s perfect plan can be expected to succeed.”
A dot of black shadow appeared high in the starry sky and was flying towards them.
Kou Zhong’s countenance suddenly changed, he said, “Bad! We missed one detail!”
