Chapter 883

The light went out, but Qiushangtou didn't move.

His horse stepped on the frozen earth twice in place, digging out two shallow pits with its front hooves.

Haritu leaned forward one step on his right side, urging his horse forward.

"General, why aren't we moving?"

Qiushangtou's eyeballs rolled once under the face-covering cloth, staring at the direction of the checkpoint that had gone completely black after the light went out.

"Was the light blown out by the wind, or was it extinguished by someone?"

Haritu leaned forward and probed.

"The wind isn't strong, General. Even the horse's mane isn't really fluttering right now."

Qiushangtou's curved saber rotated half a turn in his hand.

He swept a glance at the cavalry team behind him. One thousand horses were arranged in three curved columns in the darkness, the shadows of men and horses mixed together, making it impossible to distinguish the head from the tail.

"Never mind, charge according to the original plan. Move fast, and retreat completely within half an hour."

His legs clamped the horse's belly, and the black spotted horse darted out.

The cavalry team behind followed, the sound of hooves changing from dull to dense falling sounds. Most of the felt wrapped around the horses' hooves was thrown off in the first few steps of the accelerating charge, revealing the crisp sound of iron hooves smashing directly onto the frozen earth.

Qiushangtou's three hundred men charged straight at the trade fair along the ruts in the middle of the alkaline road.

Haritu's four hundred men split off from the right flank, bending an arc toward the direction of the north entrance of the trade fair.

Tiemuer's three hundred men pulled away from the left flank, detouring toward the shed area where materials were placed behind the trade fair.

The three cavalry lines scattered into three black water currents in the night.

When Qiushangtou charged past the east checkpoint, there was no one on the sentry platform.

The tents had no light, and the door curtains were hanging down.

He turned his horse's head and swept a glance, not stopping, clamping his horse's belly to continue charging forward.

"General, the checkpoint is empty!" a cavalryman behind him shouted.

Something jumped in Qiushangtou's chest cavity.

He ignored that shout, his curved saber horizontal in front of him, his vision fixed dead on the outline of the trade fair ahead.

One hundred paces.

Fifty paces.

Those boundary stakes and hemp ropes on the periphery of the trade fair were vaguely revealed in the darkness.

The square shadows of the wooden signs stood thirty paces away, four in a row.

The moment Qiushangtou's horse charged past the first boundary stake, a chill that couldn't be named surged across his spine.

Quiet.

Too quiet.

There were no lights in the sheds of the trade fair, no one left behind on the open ground, and even those few flags that were never lowered day or night had been removed from the flagpoles.

The entire trade fair looked like it had been vacated in advance.

Qiushangtou reined in his horse, and the front hooves of the black spotted horse slipped on the alkaline soil before stopping.

"Stop!"

His voice exploded from under the face-covering cloth, the sound bouncing back and forth twice in the empty open ground of the trade fair.

The cavalry behind reined in their horses one after another. The ones in front stopped, but the ones behind were still charging forward, and the team squeezed into a mess.

Haritu's four hundred men had already charged to the position of the north entrance of the trade fair, and his voice came from afar.

"General, the north side is also empty, there's no one!"

Qiushangtou's curved saber was raised in front of him, the blade held flat in the darkness.

The string in his brain was stretched to the limit.

Then he heard a sound.

That sound didn't come from any direction, but was transmitted up from under his feet.

Dull, continuous, like the sound of hundreds of drums being beaten on cotton bags at the same time.

The ground was shaking.

The front hooves of Qiushangtou's horse stepped on the alkaline soil twice, and the horse's neck twisted to the left, spraying two rapid white breaths from its nostrils.

"General!" the voice of a cavalryman behind him sharpened to a distortion.

Qiushangtou pulled the reins hard, and the horse's body rotated more than half a circle to the left.

He saw it.

On both sides of that alkaline road south of the trade fair, something was moving in the darkness.

Not wind, not wild beasts—that was one cavalry square formation after another.

Thousands of warhorses stepped out from behind the secret trenches on both wings of the trade fair in a unified rhythm. The sound of hooves hitting the frozen earth merged into a dull thud like rolling thunder, and the sound of iron armor colliding in the darkness merged into one.

Qiushangtou's pupils contracted to the limit instantly.

Pocket formation.

He tore off the cloth on his face, his voice tearing apart.

"It's an ambush! The whole army turn back, charge toward the north—"

He didn't finish his sentence.

The direction of the north entrance of the trade fair lit up.

Torches.

Hundreds of torches were lit simultaneously on the low hill to the north, the firelight illuminating the outline of the low hill. A dense, impenetrable cavalry line was arranged on the low hill, and the shadows of men and horses were spread over half the hillside under the firelight.

Haritu's four hundred men had just charged to the north entrance when they collided with that line. The horses in front slid out with men and horses together under the momentum of the emergency stop, and the cavalry flipped off the horses and fell onto the alkaline soil, the dull sound of iron armor hitting stones mixed with wailing.

Tiemuer's side was even more miserable.

When his three hundred men detoured to the shed area behind the trade fair, a row of crossbow racks suddenly flipped out from under the tent, and crossbow arrows poured over like a rainstorm at point-blank range.

In the first round of volley, the fifty cavalry on Tiemuer's left flank all fell off their horses within three breaths.

The sound of arrowheads piercing leather armor and human bodies and sticking into the frozen earth behind them merged into a dense piece.

"Commander Gu, close the net."

This sentence came from the top of a low hill on the east side of the trade fair.

The person speaking stood on a rock on the hill, wrapped in a dark-colored cloak. The corners of the cloak were rolled up by the wind, but his figure remained motionless.

Chen Yan.

His right hand rested on the edge of an iron plaque at his waist, and his left hand stretched forward horizontally, palm facing down, making a pressing motion.

In the secret trench at the bottom of the low hill, Gu Yuci bit the knot of the whistle rope, and the whistle sound burst from between his teeth, sharp enough to cut through eardrums.

Three thousand Xiazhou iron cavalry closed in simultaneously from both wings of the trade fair and from the north and south sides.

Gu Yuci had a long spear pressed in the crook of his arm, the spear tip brushing against the gravel on the alkaline road surface, making a harsh metallic friction sound in the darkness.

The moment his horse rushed out of the secret trench, the spear tip picked an angle upward.

The Rouran cavalry charging in front raised their curved sabers to meet him, the curved sabers falling from diagonally above.

Gu Yuci's long spear pierced through the gap where the curved saber fell, the spear tip entering the body from below the left rib of that cavalryman, penetrating the leather armor and the soft flesh between the ribs, and coming out from behind the right shoulder.

While the person was still hanging on the spear body, Gu Yuci's horse had already rushed past the left side of the second cavalryman.

He swung the spear body, and the corpse hanging on it was thrown onto the alkaline road surface, smashing into a ball of mud and ash.

"Block the north entrance! Not one is allowed to run!"

Gu Yuci's voice split through the dense sound of iron armor colliding.

Qiushangtou turned his horse to charge west for twenty paces before being intercepted.

The speed at which the Xiazhou iron cavalry surged out of the secret trench on the west side was more than three times faster than he had expected. The cavalry square formation pushed forward like a wall, horse head against horse head, spear tip against spear tip, without a single gap.

Qiushangtou's curved saber chopped down the first Great Zhou cavalryman who rushed up in front of him. The blade cut into the joint between the shoulder armor and the neck armor, and when it split to the depth of the collarbone, it was stuck by the bone. He pulled it hard before pulling it out.

The second Great Zhou cavalryman's long spear had already arrived in front of him.

The spear tip brushed past the side of his waist armor, scraping off two pieces of iron, and the lining cloth under the leather armor was torn open.

Qiushangtou avoided the spear tip by turning his body on the horse's back, and the curved saber backhanded a chop at the shaft of that spear. The spear shaft was chopped with a notch, but it didn't break.

He returned the saber to parry the horizontal blade stabbed from the side by the third cavalryman, and the web between his thumb and index finger on his wrist was cracked by the shock.

"General! The east side is also blocked!"

A Rouran cavalryman covered in blood crawled to the side of his horse, his voice already broken into fragments.

Qiushangtou swept a circle back.

All four sides were Great Zhou iron cavalry.

The firelight from the low hill to the north shone down, illuminating the battlefield on the open ground of the trade fair into a chaotic, blood-colored picture.

His one thousand men were cut into seven or eight pieces in the pocket formation, each piece surrounded by two or three times the number of Great Zhou cavalry. The sound of curved sabers hitting long spears and horizontal blades became increasingly sparse, replaced by the dull sound of falling off horses and the dull sound of hooves stepping over human bodies.

Haritu's four hundred men were blocked into a dead end at the north entrance, and the last batch of resisting cavalry flipped off their horses under the three-sided flanking of the Great Zhou iron cavalry, the dull sound of curved sabers falling on the alkaline soil sounding one after another.

Tiemuer's scapula was pierced in the second round of crossbow volley, and when he fell off his horse, the back of his head hit a frozen alkaline stone.

Qiushangtou's horse had the tendons of its front leg severed by a long spear in the melee, and the horse's body tilted. He jumped off the horse's back, his feet landing on the alkaline soil and stepping out two pits.

The curved saber was horizontal in front of him, and three layers of different blood hung on the blade.

The Great Zhou iron cavalry surrounding from all sides stopped at a distance of five paces from him, spear tips facing him in rows, iron armor merging into a dark gray wall in the firelight.

Gu Yuci's horse walked out from the gap in the cavalry wall, the blood on the spear shaft of the long spear having already dried, dripping onto the alkaline soil drop by drop.

He reined in his horse at a distance of three paces in front of Qiushangtou, looking down at this Rouran general covered in blood.

"Surrender or die?"

Qiushangtou stared at him, the tip of the curved saber pressing against the alkaline ground surface before lifting up again.

"Who are you?"

Gu Yuci didn't answer him.

The sound of hooves came from the direction of the low hill to the east.

Chen Yan rode a deep chestnut horse and walked slowly down from the top of the hill, the hem of his cloak sweeping the saddlebags on both sides of the horse's belly.

Hongye followed half a body length behind his horse, hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

Chen Yan's horse stopped at a distance of eight paces in front of Qiushangtou.

His gaze swept across Qiushangtou and landed on the scabbard of the curved saber at his waist.

A circle of dense patterns was pressed on the iron surface of the scabbard, a pattern Qiushangtou hadn't had time to smear with mud, and it was revealed as soon as the firelight shone on it.

That was the standard pattern that only Rouran Royal Court generals had.

Chen Yan's hand pulled out from under the cloak, his fingers tapping once on the front bridge of the saddle.

"Gu Yuci."

Gu Yuci stood the long spear by the side of the horse.

"Zhuguo."

Chen Yan's fingers swept across the direction of the Rouran cavalry who were still not dead on the battlefield.

"Count the number of people. Tie up the living and pile up the dead."

Gu Yuci clamped his horse's belly and turned his horse to go toward the cavalry formation.

Chen Yan's gaze returned to Qiushangtou's face.

"Qiushangtou, general of the Rouran Royal Court, one of the four eagles under Yun Geti."

Qiushangtou's lips were drawn into a line in the cold wind.

"You know me?"

Chen Yan wound the reins around the back of his hand.

"This Duke knows you. I know how many troops you've led and how many battles you've fought. I know you beheaded a Turkic thousand-man commander in the Battle of Jinshan, and I also know that you are a hard-headed person who never fully listens to what Yun Geti says."

Qiushangtou's curved saber was still raised, the blood on the blade beginning to freeze.

"Since you know I don't listen, you should know I won't surrender."

Chen Yan changed the position of his legs on the horse's back.

"This Duke didn't ask you to surrender."

Qiushangtou's saber tip paused in the air for a breath.

Chen Yan's fingers lifted from the front bridge of the saddle and pointed toward the direction of the Rouran cavalry corpses lying in disarray on the open ground of the trade fair.

"You brought a thousand people here. So far, the corpses my people have counted are more than four hundred. Another three hundred or so were surrounded in the dead end to the north and have already laid down their weapons. There are still two hundred or so scattered everywhere, lying on the ground wounded."

His hand withdrew.

"Your thousand people are gone."

Qiushangtou's curved saber rotated in his hand.

"General, your thousand people are wearing the clothes of horse bandits, but the patterns on your scabbard and the marks of the Royal Court leaked on your cavalry's saddles. My Mingjing Si is not eating for free."

Qiushangtou's hand clenched tighter on the hilt.

"What do you want to say?"

Chen Yan straightened his waist on the horse's back.

"This Duke gives you two choices."

He held up his index finger.

"First, you take your life back and tell Yun Geti that this Duke's trade fair must not be touched."

He held up his middle finger again.

"Second, you don't go back. Your head will be piled up outside the trade fair ten miles away with the other four hundred-plus corpses, piled into a Jingguan, letting the entire grassland see what the end is for those who reach out."

Qiushangtou's curved saber hung in his hand for five breaths.

The sound of Great Zhou cavalry shouting to round up prisoners came from the open ground of the trade fair, the clanging of iron chains mixed with the groans of the wounded.

Qiushangtou's saber fell.

The tip of the curved saber pierced into the alkaline ground surface, the blade swaying twice in the wind before stopping steadily.

Chen Yan looked at him.

When Qiushangtou's voice leaked out from between his teeth, it was so hoarse that only the sound of air remained.

"I choose the second one."

Chen Yan's gaze paused on his face for two breaths.

"This Duke knew you would choose this one."

He turned his horse's head, walked three steps toward Gu Yuci's direction, and turned back to drop a sentence.

"But this Duke doesn't have enough use for just your head."

His fingers drew a circle toward the corpses of the Rouran cavalry on the battlefield.

"All of them."

"Six hundred and ninety-three heads, not one less, piled on the side of the official road ten miles outside the trade fair."

Hongye's sword was pulled out three inches from the scabbard.

Qiushangtou's eyeballs rolled for the last time under the firelight.

His lips opened, as if wanting to say something.

Hongye's sword had already arrived.

The battle on the open ground of the trade fair had long since ended.

When Gu Yuci returned to Chen Yan on horseback, the blood on the long spear had already been dried by the wind.

"Zhuguo, the count is finished. Four hundred and thirty-seven enemies killed, two hundred and eighty-six captured, one hundred and fifty-nine wounded but not dead, and no more than twenty cavalry ran away."

Chen Yan sat behind the desk in the supervisor's shed of the trade fair, holding a bowl of hot water in his hand and taking a sip.

"It's good that they ran away."

Gu Yuci stood in front of the desk.

"Does Zhuguo want to let them go back to deliver the news?"

Chen Yan placed the water bowl on the desk surface.

"The letter doesn't need to be delivered. The Jingguan standing on the official road is the letter."

He fished a charcoal brush out of the secret drawer in the corner of the desk and drew a few lines on an old piece of paper.

"Gu Yuci, dispose of the living prisoners in two batches."

Gu Yuci looked at him.

"Chop all those wearing iron armor, and pile their heads into the Jingguan."

His charcoal brush drew a second line on the paper surface.

"Pick out the ordinary cavalry wearing leather armor and cloth clothes. Carry those who are seriously wounded and cannot be cured to the side of the Jingguan to wait for death, and untie those who are lightly wounded or not wounded, give them one day's rations and water, and let them walk themselves."

The corners of Gu Yuci's mouth moved.

"Let the living go to report the news?"

Chen Yan put down the charcoal brush.

"Let the living go back to speak."

He picked up the water bowl and took another sip.

"After they return to the grassland, they will spread the events of tonight to every tent."

Gu Yuci stood the long spear next to the shed pillar.

"Zhuguo, these one thousand people are the elite of the Royal Court, brought out privately by Qiushangtou. How will Yun Geti react when he finds out?"

Chen Yan placed the water bowl steadily and rotated his fingers on the rim of the bowl.

"He will call Qiushangtou's family over to scold them, and then pretend that nothing happened."

Gu Yuci's eyebrows twisted.

"Not avenge Qiushangtou?"

Chen Yan's fingers left the rim of the bowl.

"Avenge? With what? Half of the troops under his command are watching the Turkic direction, and half are dealing with the vassal tribes inside who are about to rebel. Where would he have the spare troops to fight Great Zhou head-on at the border?"

Gu Yuci stood next to the shed pillar for two breaths.

"Then the matter of the Jingguan spreading to the grassland will make Yun Geti lose face."

Chen Yan stood up from behind the desk, walked to the curtain, and lifted a corner to look out.

On the open ground of the trade fair, the Great Zhou cavalry were dragging the corpses of the Rouran cavalry toward the official road ten miles away under the illumination of torches.

The corpses were tied to the horses' tails, dragging dark bloodstains one after another on the alkaline road surface.

Chen Yan let the curtain down.

"It's good that he loses face."

He turned around to look at Gu Yuci.

"If he loses face, he will do a stupid thing."

Gu Yuci waited for him to continue.

Chen Yan walked back behind the desk and sat down, tapping the desk surface twice.

"Blockade the border."