For now, he could only first send word to the other bodyguards to search for Xie Zheng; he himself would follow Fan Changyu to protect her.

Xie Wu blew a few sharp whistles. Fan Changyu suddenly turned to look at him: “Why are you whistling?”

Xie Wu was so frightened that sweat broke out over him. At that moment an eagle flew across the sky; he pointed at it with a stiff smile and said, “An old soldier in the camp said hawks are trained with whistles like this, so I wanted to see if it really works.”

Fan Changyu asked, “Does it work on an untrained hawk?”

Xie Wu pointed at the eagle in the sky and said stiffly, “Tried it—doesn’t seem to work.”

Fan Changyu was greatly disappointed. She had been thinking if it worked she could learn it and catch a falcon for Changning later.

· ─ ·✶· ─ · 

The central army had already set out. Following the banners, Fan Changyu found the Left Guard Army’s Third Camp. When she and Xie Wu stood at the back of the troop, each squad leader was counting the number of foot soldiers they had.

The fully armored xiaowei stood at the front, looking imposing.

When the squad leader at the very end counted up to Fan Changyu and Xie Wu, he shouted, “Which squad are you from, standing in my squad?”

Xie Wu, not the least intimidated, answered loudly, “We were scattered in the infantry and re-assigned here.”

He did this to draw the xiaowei Li Lian from the front of the formation.

Sure enough, Li Lian, seeing the commotion at the back of the troop, strode over and bellowed, “The army is about to set out, what is all this noise?”

The squad leader said, “General, there are two extra people in the ranks. They say they were re-assigned from elsewhere.”

Li Lian had once been in the bodyguard unit; after gaining experience he was put in charge of his own post and was now with the Left Guard. He of course recognized Xie Wu.

Those in the bodyguard units who had been granted the Xie surname were formerly death-bound men, nameless and unknown; they were among Xie Zheng’s most loyal.

Xie Wu shot a glance at Li Lian. Li Lian, not wondering much why he and another unfamiliar foot soldier had appeared in his ranks, assumed they were on some secret assignment and only scolded the squad leader: “Not long ago the mountain garrison lost so many men and horses; it was only with great difficulty that I was allotted reinforcements. You still complain there are too many people in my ranks?”

The squad leader, being scolded, shut up at once.

The soldiers who had been peeking and sizing up Fan Changyu and Xie Wu hastily straightened up, no longer daring to stare.

Fortunately, the soldiers Fan Changyu had previously dealt with were from the cooks’ camp and the infirmary; soldiers from the other camps had only heard her name but never seen her.

Now she stood in the ranks wearing battered armor with her head lowered; the troops merely thought the newcomer looked like a skinny monkey and paid her no more attention.

Li Lian, hands behind his back, returned to the front of the formation. Xie Wu, seeing this, grew anxious and wanted to hint to Li Lian to find a way to kick him and Fan Changyu out of the ranks—after all he could not truly let Fan Changyu go to the battlefield—when suddenly there was turmoil ahead in the army formation. A scout galloped back reporting: “Shi Yue has torn a hole through the vanguard and is trying to escape south. The military adviser has ordered the Left Guard Army to immediately support the vanguard.”

The Left Guard Army’s Commander gave a deep shout: “Left Guard Army, the first three battalions—march at full speed!”

The formation that had been standing in perfect order immediately broke into movement—five men abreast, running swiftly toward the battlefield.

· ─ ·✶· ─ · 

Xie Zheng’s personal guard unit often used whistles as secret signals to transmit simple messages.

The sharp and urgent kind meant that Xie Zheng might be in danger.

Hearing Xie Wu’s whistle, the personal guards immediately rushed to look for Xie Zheng. Finding that he was not in the infirmary tent where he had been staying, they followed traces nearby and soon discovered the tent shared by Fan Changyu and her sister.

Changning had been sitting by Xie Zheng’s side, holding the embroidery needle tightly. Hearing the sound of hurried footsteps approaching the tent, she quickly pricked Xie Zheng with the needle.

The unconscious man opened his eyes almost instantly. When the guards lifted the tent flap and saw him awake, they were overjoyed and, not even minding that Changning was present, called out, “Marquis!”

Xie Zheng’s expression turned frighteningly dark. He rose to go outside, but the strength had not yet returned to his body because of the knockout drug; his limbs were weak, and he barely managed to steady himself by gripping the bedpost.

A guard hurried to support him. “My lord, what happened to you?”

Xie Zheng’s gaze fell on the dagger placed beside the bed. He picked it up and sliced across his palm. Blood dripped down the dagger’s tip, and Changning let out a short cry, her little face turning pale.

The pain quickly helped the drug’s effect subside. His expression, however, grew even darker. He asked the guard, “Where is Li Lian’s Left Guard unit now?”

The guard answered, “Shi Yue has taken on a new fierce general of unknown origin—born with immense strength, unstoppable by anyone. Shi Yue used this man to open a path and forcefully tore through our vanguard formation. The strategist has ordered the Left Guard Army to fill the gap torn open in the vanguard.”

Xie Zheng could no longer sit still. He strode out of the tent and commanded coldly, “Bring my armor! Assemble five hundred elite cavalry!”

The vanguard he had dispatched was among the fiercest under his command—if even they could not stop Shi Yue, this battle would not bode well.

Soon, a guard brought forth his heavy xuanlin armor and helped him don it. Changning followed dazedly out of the tent; when she saw the icy expression on his face, the word “brother-in-law” rose to her lips but she swallowed it back.

She had never seen him wear such a terrifying expression, it was as if he meant to devour someone alive. He was nothing like the brother-in-law she remembered.

And those people were calling her brother-in-law “Marquis.” What was a Marquis?

A guard led forward Xie Zheng’s warhorse. He fastened the black cloak at his shoulders and said coldly to the guard beside him, “Send word to Gongsun Yin, tighten the encirclement at the rear. No need to divert troops to the vanguard.”

As he mounted the horse, his eyes fell on Changning, who stood at the tent entrance like a frightened little cabbage. He said to Xie Qi, “Watch over her.”

Xie Qi clasped his fist in acknowledgment. Xie Zheng spurred his horse and lashed the whip; in an instant he was gone, his dozen personal guards galloping after him.

Tears welled in Changning’s eyes, she wanted to cry but dared not. Why had brother-in-law become so fierce after waking up?

Xie Qi had no experience with children. He tried clumsily to comfort her. When Changning was sure he would not scold her, she burst into loud sobs: “I want my sister—!”

Xie Qi, not seeing Fan Changyu anywhere, also found it strange. He asked her, “Then where did your sister go?”

Changning choked out between sobs, “Sister said she went to fight the bad men.”

A jolt ran through Xie Qi’s heart. He continued to ask, “And the Marquis—your brother-in-law, how did he come to be here?”

Changning sniffled. “Sister carried him back.”

Xie Qi froze, and suddenly understood why his lord had worn such a man-eating expression after waking.

He looked at Changning and decided it was best to take the child away from this place of turmoil. “Don’t cry. Want to go see some pheasants?”

Changning kept sobbing; fear made her repeat her wish to see her sister over and over. Xie Qi named every wild animal he could think of—wild boars, wild oxen, anything that came to mind on the mountain. When he mentioned seeing a falcon, her sobs stopped; she blinked her tearful eyes and asked, “Fal-falcon?”

Seeing a chance, Xie Qi quickly said, “A white-headed goshawk—when it spreads its wings, it’s this big. Want to see it?”

Changning looked at the span he showed with his arms and nodded. “Want to.”

For the sake of receiving messages as fast as possible, the gyrfalcon had been cared for in turns by the personal guards these past few days. Whether day or night, whenever the bird returned with a message, the on-duty guard would immediately deliver it to Xie Zheng.

It happened that these two days Xie Qi was on duty. He figured taking the child along to see both the hawk and the post would be convenient enough.

· ─ ·✶· ─ · 

Fan Changyu had no idea where the battlefield between the two armies lay. Running along, she saw the landscape change from green mountains and trees to trampled bare earth where not even grass grew. From far away came the deafening roar of combat—like a tide, each wave louder than the last.

The wind blowing over the ridges carried the heavy stench of blood.

This was truly Fan Changyu’s first time participating in a large-scale battle. She didn’t feel afraid, yet her heartbeat quickened uncontrollably, and goosebumps rose beneath her bracers.

She and Xiao Wu stood toward the rear of the formation; they couldn’t see what the front looked like, only heard some general shouting hoarsely, “Cavalry charge!”

Then another wave of battle cries followed, so loud it hurt the ears. The ground quaked from the ravine ahead, as if the whole earth trembled with it.

Fan Changyu felt that Xiao Wu seemed even more nervous than she was. He said to her, “Miss Fan, once we’re in the battle, stay behind me—don’t take risks!”

Fan Changyu answered “Alright,” but her voice was swallowed instantly by the explosion of roars from the infantry line ahead as they surged forward, all drawing blades and rushing on.

At that point no one could hear commands anymore; you simply did whatever the person in front of you did.

Her heart pounded like a drum. Perhaps from the tension, her blood seemed to surge backward through her veins; even the exhaustion from the long march vanished as she followed the flood of soldiers pouring into the battlefield.

Corpses covered the ground, they were almost trampling on the dead as they charged forward. When they met the frenzied rebels at close range, the shouts that tore from their throats were purely to stiffen their courage.

A foot soldier running ahead of Fan Changyu was pierced clean through by a rebel’s long spear. The squad leader of that soldier—the same one who had earlier questioned Fan Changyu and Xie Wu’s identities—roared with a contorted face, swung his ring-hilted saber, and cleaved the rebel’s face in two. Blood sprayed everywhere.

The three remaining soldiers all went red-eyed and followed their squad leader into the fray. When one of them was struck down, the others rushed together to pull him up.

Fan Changyu suddenly understood Gongsun Yin’s words that day when she had intercepted the grain supply even more deeply.

It wasn’t only the generals who bore responsibility for their soldiers’ lives; even small officers—squad leaders and decurions—were doing everything they could to protect their men.

Facing living, breathing people, she still couldn’t bring herself to hack and stab as though chopping vegetables. She aimed away from vital spots, only striking enough to take her opponents out of the fight.

When the squad leader was almost decapitated, Fan Changyu blocked the fatal blow for him. He glanced back at her, said nothing, and, blood covering his face, plunged again into the melee against the rebels.

Among the rebels, a mounted general charged into the knot of struggling infantry. Using the momentum of horse and man, his long spear swept and thrust, skewering several Yanzhou soldiers in an instant.

Those who were not killed were stabbed down by him; the soldiers from Chongzhou behind him immediately swarmed in to finish them off. In an instant the Yanzhou foot soldiers were clearly at a disadvantage.

Xie Wu, after all a man of the army, grew furious at the sight. Seeing Fan Changyu’s skill was solid and that none of the nearby soldiers could harm her, when that rebel commander charged over, he grabbed the saddle and used the momentum to vault up, slashing down with his long saber.

The rebel on horseback hurriedly used his long spear to block the blow, but Xie Wu had already landed on the horse’s back. The long-handled blade in the rebel commander’s hand proved awkward at that moment; he ordered Xie Wu be dismounted by having his throat cut with a dagger.

“Boy, give your life!” another rebel commander saw this and charged, twin spiked hammers whirling in his hands. Riding along, his hammers had felled countless soldiers under horse-hoof—clearly a man of prodigious strength.

Xie Wu’s skill lay in agility; he did not dare to meet him head-on, quickly abandoning his horse to evade. Li Lian, seeing his soldiers slaughtered so brutally by that rebel commander, tried to intercept him.

Unexpectedly, when his lance met the opponent’s, both man and horse were forced back several steps. Pain lanced through his hand so fiercely he could barely hold his weapon. Li Lian’s face changed instantly.

The rebel commander laughed heartily. “Not fun at all, why are your hands soft as noodles?”

A general somewhere in the distance, seeing Li Lian engaging that rebel commander, shouted, “General Li, be careful—the villain has barbaric might; even the Commander ordered him to be unhorsed.”

Hearing this, Li Lian was struck with alarm. When the rebel commander charged his hammer again, Li Lian barely managed a few exchanges, feeling the man’s strength was immense. That pair of spiked hammers were not only heavy but unusually dexterous in his hands; once struck, one would be dead or grievously wounded.

When the opponent launched another fierce attack, Li Lian tried to block with a horizontal spear, but could not match that monstrous strength; a hammer still struck him, and he spat a mouthful of blood. Luckily, most of the force had been deflected, or he would have died on the spot.