Dozens of riders scattered across the wasteland; murky pooled water rose above the horses’ hooves, and the Chongzhou army behind them quickly closed in.

In order to draw the Chongzhou army into the depths of the gorge, Xie Zheng deliberately had dozens of his personal riders feign a rout, causing the enemy to underestimate them.

Sui Yuanqing was hogtied and fastened to the back of a cavalryman’s horse, ribs broken—how many he did not know—and his entire chest cavity was being crushed into aching pain. He of course knew that the Chongzhou army pursuing from behind would surely be a one-way trip, but with himself bound and the Yanzhou army pretending to retreat to lure the enemy, this was a situation he could not possibly turn around.

Enduring the tearing pain in his chest, he gave a cold laugh: “The Marquis said that that gilded phoenix-wing spear pierced the center of my lungs, yet I can still endure the pain and ride this long; it truly makes this Sui admire.”

His thrust had slanted into the gap beneath Xie Zheng’s armpit in the armor, but Xie Zheng behaved far too composed; even the personal rider who had supported Changning thought he had only suffered a slight wound, let alone the others.

After Sui Yuanqing spoke, they could not help but all look toward Xie Zheng.

Sui Yuanqing’s intention was precisely to unsettle the army’s morale—if Xie Zheng fell, the group would be leaderless, and perhaps tonight this battle might still have a chance to turn.

Thunder roared. Xie Zheng’s rain-soaked cloak stuck to his armor and hung down to the horse’s back. He slightly turned his head, posture erect; his profile under the ashen lightning seemed as if carved from cold jade, his phoenix-like eyes half-raised. 

He leisurely opened his mouth: “It seems the tip of Sui the heir’s spear was made of wax. Next time you go to the battlefield, remember to change it to iron.”

Mockery filled his tone.

The personal riders all snorted with laughter. Sui Yuanqing’s face darkened: “Let Sui see how long the Marquis can hold on.”

Xie Zheng cast Sui Yuanqing a cold glance, and to the rider carrying him he said, “The Sui heir’s spirits are still good. Have him dismount and walk a bit.”

Sui Yuanqing’s expression changed sharply—he of course knew this was by no means as simple as ‘dismount and walk.’

Sure enough, the cavalrymen cheered; with his hands bound he was thrown into the muddy, rain-soaked ground. Mud mixed with rainwater splashed all over him, some stinging into his eyes; before he could get up, the cavalrymen had already gleefully cracked their whips and spurred their horses into a wild gallop.

Sui Yuanqing was dragged along through the rain, ropes pulling him; even with armor protecting him, his entire back was rubbed raw and burning. The broken ribs in his chest seemed to have shifted even worse. He gritted his teeth and fixed his stare on the pitch-black curtain of rain; cold sweat on his brow mixed with the rain and slid down, and his mouth was full of the taste of blood.

Xie Zheng rode at the very front. By the lightning he glanced down at his inner robe, stained dark with fresh blood; the corners of his pale lips tightened, and with a flick of his horsewhip he urged his warhorse to continue running toward the Yixian Gorge.

His condition was indeed not optimistic. Although Sui Yuanqing’s spear had not pierced his internal organs, it had struck bone, and the wound’s area was not small. Coupled with being soaked in rain so the blood could not clot, after losing too much blood he felt faintly dizzy.

But the Chongzhou army was biting tightly at their rear; now was absolutely not the time to stop.

Up ahead the entrance to the Yixian Gorge could be dimly seen, under the night it looked like the gaping teeth of a sleeping giant. When the Chongzhou army reached this spot, they also clearly sensed an ambush inside, and their marching slowed to a crawl.

Xie Zheng listened to the scout’s report. His eyelids drooped, and suddenly he toppled from his horse. Several personal riders, seeing this, quickly pulled on the reins, dismounted, and ran to support him. 

“Marquis!”

Sui Yuanqing was dragged along by the warhorse the whole way, his body wracked with pain. He had the urge to sneer, but no strength remained to utter another word.

The abnormality here was soon discovered by a scout of the Chongzhou army, who carried the news back at speed.

The general leading the pursuit on the Chongzhou side was likewise riding a tiger and hard to dismount—if he halted at the Yixian Gorge and failed to bring Sui Yuanqing back, the Prince of Changxin would surely fly into a rage when he returned.

But if he chased into the Yixian Gorge and fell into the ambush, the entire army would be annihilated, and even several heads would not be enough to spare him.

The scout’s returned report was undoubtedly the final straw to crush the camel, and with the testimony of the personal soldier of Sui Yuanqing who had gone back to report, it was certain that Xie Zheng had been wounded by Sui Yuanqing.

To retrieve Sui Yuanqing alive and capture the Marquis of Wu’an—such an unparalleled meritorious deed—hung over them; the Chongzhou commander quickly made his decision: let the cavalry open the way and order the whole army to advance at full speed.

• • · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

Only then did several of Xie Zheng’s personal guards truly notice that he had indeed been wounded, the thrust grazing his right rib and slanting inward, the wound growing deeper toward the left—truly gruesome to behold.

The rain was heavy. Two bottles of golden-wound medicine were entirely poured on; the guards tore the lining from his battle robe and hurriedly bandaged him, yet fresh blood kept welling from the wound.

A cavalryman who had been watching the movements of the Chongzhou army returned, saying, “All the cavalry of the Chongzhou army are coming this way.”

For a time dozens of cavalrymen were alarmed. Xie Zheng, who had been sitting in the rain tending his wound and resting for a moment, lifted his eyelids now, as if nothing were wrong, donned his outer armor, vaulted onto his horse and said, “This time we can completely lure the rebels into the Yixian Gorge. Enter the gorge according to the original plan!”

The few personal riders frozen in place stared at one another, unable to tell whether Xie Zheng’s fall a moment ago had been genuine or a ruse to bait the Chongzhou rebels; once they realized, they too vaulted onto their horses and followed.

They now rode at full speed and naturally had no time left to toy with Sui Yuanqing.

When Sui Yuanqing was placed back on the horse, he suddenly understood Xie Zheng’s purpose in falling earlier—he had done it on purpose!

With a wound on him, let alone the Chongzhou commanders leading the troops now, even if he himself commanded the army, they would not miss this once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity!

The horse’s jolting tossed him head-down until the whites of his eyes were stained bloody. When he lifted his eyes to look at the cliffs flashing past as they fled, they seemed veiled in a faint wash of blood.

He looked at Xie Zheng still riding at the very front and for a moment suddenly suspected whether Xie Zheng could not feel pain?

While he was thinking, the cavalry had already passed a bend and fired a whistling arrow into the sky.

In an instant the entire valley sounded with rolling boulders like thunder. Chongzhou cavalry who were only an arrow’s distance behind were smashed into utter chaos on the narrow mountain path by the huge rocks tumbling from the cliffs and retreated; the infantry who had just entered the gorge were blocked outside and could not retreat at all. Instead, the number of infantry trampled to death by panicked horses far exceeded those crushed to death by falling stones.

The thunder, as if about to split the firmament, could not drown out the screams inside the gorge. Lightning struck; Sui Yuanqing lay over the horse’s back, looking at the distant scene of death and injury among the Chongzhou army. He closed his eyes heavily, his hands clenched into fists, the palms gouged by his nails, blood seeping from between his fingers.

This grudge—he would avenge it.

After the Chongzhou cavalry in the gorge, startled, trampled many infantry to death, the commander at the rear quickly rode forward to direct and stabilize the situation, ordering the cavalry not to retreat but to charge straight ahead all at once, in order to reduce the chance of being struck by rolling boulders from the mountain.

The infantry at the rear who had not gone deep into the gorge hurriedly turned and fell back.

However, when the Chongzhou cavalry charged to the gorge’s exit, waiting for them were rows upon rows of archers who had long since strung their bows.

A detachment of Yanzhou troops charged out behind the infantry formation that had not yet fully entered the gorge, and the infantry’s rear ranks fell into disarray. The soldiers who had escaped alive from the gorge were still dazed, and when they saw the mêlée outside, their morale collapsed and they nearly fled in panic.

The Chongzhou commander leading the pursuit knew full well that if the battle ended like this he would be held responsible; he only wanted to preserve as many troops as possible and withdraw. Pressed by the Yanzhou infantry blocking the retreat, he devised a plan: have the soldiers cry out “The Marquis of Wuan is dead,” to throw the Yanzhou army into confusion.

The ruse proved effective. The Yanzhou army, which had been pressing the attack fiercely, began to show signs of flagging under the shout that “The Marquis of Wuan is dead.”

· ─ ·✶· ─ · 

On the mountain, Xie Zheng heard the scout’s report and, disregarding his wounds, propped himself up with his long halberd. The military doctor awkwardly did not dare to stop him. Gongsun Yin roughly pushed him back and said, “That Sui brat’s thrust was truly vicious—if it had veered another hair’s breadth, it would have pierced your viscera. You must cherish your life; in this state, what good will going down the mountain do you?”

This was a cave the personal guards had found on the mountainside. Though sheltered from the rain, whenever the cold wind blew in it carried moisture and still made everyone shiver.

The grass and trees in the woods were thoroughly soaked; the soldiers below had been unable to find dry wood to light a fire.

Xie Zheng had already removed his armor and wore only his inner robe, his chest exposed. A fierce spear wound slashed from his right chest across to his left, gouging a deep hole. The military doctor pressed crushed medicinal herbs to it; there had not yet been time to wrap the bandages.

His expression was stern: “Shi Yue is a veteran under the Prince of Changxin, has fought countless battles, and must not be underestimated. Under no circumstances can we allow him to steady his troops and counterattack the ten thousand of ours down the mountain.”

There were still twenty thousand Chongzhou infantry camped at the foot of the mountain; if Chongzhou realized in time, their sneaking force of ten thousand would be surrounded.

Gongsun Yin looked at the armor stacked aside that Xie Zheng had taken off and said, “I have a plan: find a personal guard whose build resembles yours, have him put on your armor and ride down to the foot of the mountain to steady the troops. In the dark, who could tell if it is truly you? Shi Yue is cautious, he was earlier baited into the gorge by your ruse and has learned a lesson. If he sees you appear at the foot of the mountain, he will not dare to cling to the fight.”

The deputy general standing by also hurriedly agreed the plan would work.

After weighing it, Xie Zheng finally nodded.

The military doctor continued to bandage his wound, and Gongsun Yin glanced at Changning, who was leaning against the cave wall wrapped in a dry cloak and asleep. The child’s features were fine; even with hair ruffled from being wiped dry after the rain, like a little chick with fluffed feathers, she was oddly endearing.

But her cheeks were flushed as if abnormally hot. Gongsun Yin reached out to check and found that Changning had not merely fallen asleep, after a night in the rain she had a fever.

He hurriedly told the military doctor, “After you finish the dressing, tend to this child as well.”

Xie Zheng turned and, seeing the thin flush on Changning’s face, said to the doctor who was winding the bandage, “Go check that child.”

The doctor had Xie Zheng hold the freshly tied bandage himself, while he took Changning’s pulse.

Gongsun Yin had originally intended to go help Xie Zheng, but saw him lower his head, bite one end of the bandage cloth between his teeth, and quickly tie the knot—apparently something he had done many times before.

He wanted to pry for a bit of news about Fan Changyu. He had assumed a woman who could dispatch pigs must be broad-shouldered and burly; when Xie Zheng returned from clearing County Qing and he privately asked his men whether they had seen that girl, their answer perplexed him: she was very pretty, yet could lift an adult man with one hand and throw him several zhang.

Gongsun Yin could not imagine what sort of girl that was.

For a time he suspected Xie Zheng’s guards shared Xie Zheng’s taste in women, which was why they found such a woman attractive.

Seeing Changning tonight and learning she was Fan Changyu’s younger sister, Gongsun Yin suddenly doubted his earlier guess—if the sister’s features were so striking, the elder sister should be no less good-looking.

“So the personal guard’s earlier claim that the pig-slaughtering girl was quite pretty should be true?”

He grew ever more curious about Fan Changyu’s appearance.

The military doctor’s medicine chest contained many wound remedies and medicines for wind-cold. After taking Changning’s pulse, fearing that such a small child might not hold out, he went to find a personal guard to try to make a fire and decoct some medicine.

Only Xie Zheng and Gongsun Yin remained in the cave. He cleared his throat and said to Xie Zheng, “You brought this child back intact. If you go see her elder sister with all these wounds, that girl will surely grieve and shed many tears!”

Xie Zheng stared at the curtain of rain and did not answer.

Gongsun Yin could not show his interest too openly, so he continued to beat around the bush and asked, “How do you intend to place this child?”

Xie Zheng glanced at Changning, who had a cloth laid across his brow by the military doctor, and said, “Her sister is in Jizhou. Once her wind-cold clears up, send her back to Jizhou.”

Gongsun Yin asked, “Aren’t you going with her?”

Xie Zheng suddenly turned his gaze toward him; his little thought seen through, Gongsun Yin hurriedly straightened, fanned himself, and looked at the rain curtain outside the cave. “Ah, this rain is really heavy. If everything goes smoothly at the dam, the fifty thousand Chongzhou troops besieging Lucheng should by now all be buried in the waters.”

Xie Zheng withdrew his eyes and no longer paid him any mind, but his brows were slightly furrowed—clearly he was also worried about the situation at Lucheng.