Chapter 906: Gao Jiong

On the night of the fourth day, the largest granary in the southeast corner of the Qifu tribe camp caught fire.

When the fire leaped from the roof of the granary, it carried the smell of scorched millet. Thick smoke rolled in the night wind and spread toward the middle of the camp, reflecting the shadows of people running out of their tents in panic.

When Qifugu rushed out of the royal tent, he was only wearing half a suit of armor. The bandage on his left shoulder wound had not yet been properly secured, and the bandage dragged behind him, fluttering wildly in the wind.

"What is going on!"

Amu Ri ran over from the direction of the fire. Half of his face was blackened by thick smoke, and his throat was as hoarse as a broken drum.

"Great Khan, the granary is on fire. The whole granary is burning. It can't be put out. The fire is burning too fast, and the millet inside is all finished!"

Qifugu's footsteps nailed into the mud. His body leaned forward two points, then he braced himself and stood straight. The firelight turned his face half red and half black.

"What about the backup granary?"

Amu Ri wiped the soot off his face with his sleeve, leaving a black and white striped pattern.

"There is only three days' worth of rations in the small backup granary. With the big granary burning like this... Great Khan, the food for the five thousand people in the camp can last at most three more days."

Qifugu's lips pulled toward both sides. It was not a smile; it was a twitch like a muscle spasm.

He turned and walked two steps toward the granary. The fire burned into a wall twenty steps in front of him. The heat wave hit his face, making his skin feel hot. The wooden beams of the granary crackled in the fire, and from time to time, charred rafters collapsed from the top, hitting the ground and splashing sparks.

"Investigate. Who set the fire? Find out for me."

Amu Ri stood behind him, his voice carrying an indescribable hesitation.

"Great Khan, when the fire started, the two men watching the granary were gagged and tied up from behind and thrown into the ditch behind the granary. By the time our people found them, the fire had already burned most of it. Those two men said the people who attacked them were masked and wearing dark clothes, so they couldn't see their faces clearly."

Qifugu stood in front of the fire with clenched fists. The flames danced in his bloodshot eyes, revealing something called collapse.

The granary was burned.

The backup grain was only enough for three days.

Twenty thousand royal court elites were surrounding them outside.

Three days later, his five thousand men would have to fight Nuhe Ti's iron cavalry on empty stomachs.

Qifugu turned and walked toward Gao Jiong's tent. Halfway there, it turned into a run. When he reached the front of the tent, it turned into a rush. He pulled the flap open with such force that it almost pulled off the pole.

Gao Jiong was sitting on the bedding in the tent, with a sheepskin map spread out in front of him. He was holding a charcoal pencil and drawing something on it. When he saw Qifugu rush in, he put the charcoal pencil down.

"The granary burned?"

Qifugu stood at the tent flap, panting heavily.

"You knew?"

Gao Jiong stood up from the bedding and patted the grass clippings off his trousers.

"I guessed it when the smell of smoke drifted over just now."

Qifugu took a step forward and gripped Gao Jiong's collar with his left hand.

"Gao Jiong, I only have three days of grain left now. Three days later, my people will have to gnaw on horse meat, gnaw on leather, or even gnaw on people. Tell me, where is that flaw you mentioned? Where are the Great Zhou reinforcements?"

Gao Jiong did not struggle or retreat when his collar was gripped. His voice was as flat as the dry ditch outside the tent.

"Great Khan, let go, and I will tell you."

Qifugu's fingers gripped for three breaths before letting go. When he let go, his knuckles cracked twice.

Gao Jiong straightened his wrinkled collar, turned, and walked to the sheepskin map spread out beside the bedding, and squatted down.

"Great Khan, come and look."

Qifugu walked over and squatted beside him, his gaze falling on the map.

Gao Jiong's finger drew a circle on the map at the location representing Nuhe Ti's continuous camp.

"The continuous camp of twenty thousand men surrounds you on three sides from north to east to west. Only the gap in the south is not sealed. Does the Great Khan know why it is not sealed?"

Qifugu shook his head.

Gao Jiong's finger pressed on the gap in the south.

"Surround three sides, leave one open—it's an old rule in the art of war. Leave a path of survival for you so you think you can still run. Once you run out from this path, he has cavalry buried outside, and one blade will harvest you. Chasing and killing fleeing soldiers is ten times less effort than attacking a fortified camp."

Qifugu's fingers clenched on his knees.

"Then I won't run."

"Not running is correct."

Gao Jiong's finger withdrew from the gap in the south and moved to the north rear of Nuhe Ti's continuous camp.

"Nuhe Ti's supply camp is here, about ten miles away from the forward continuous camp. The grain, supplies, and military equipment for twenty thousand men are all piled up in this supply camp behind, and the force guarding the supplies is about two thousand men."

Qifugu stared at that location.

Gao Jiong's voice dropped half a degree.

"But these are not the key points I want to talk about today."

He took out a thin piece of paper folded in three from his bosom and spread it on the map. On the paper was a layout more detailed than the map, marking different tent areas and patrol routes with different colored ink.

"This is the night deployment map around Nuhe Ti's central army tent."

Qifugu's breathing grew heavy.

Gao Jiong drew a line on the diagram with his finger.

"Nuhe Ti's central army tent is located in the north-central position of the continuous camp, with six hundred personal guards in three circles around it. However."

His finger stopped at a position circled in red ink on the diagram.

"There is a two-quarter-hour gap during the shift change every day. During these two quarter-hours, there are only thirty people on duty in the northwest corner of the big tent, and the rest are in the process of handing over and rotating."

A rough gasp rolled out of Qifugu's throat.

"You mean you want me to launch a night raid on Nuhe Ti's central army tent?"

Gao Jiong picked up the deployment map from the map and handed it to Qifugu.

"Not a night raid, but a desperate assault. The Great Khan should concentrate everyone who can fight and charge out from the north of the camp, heading north all the way, regardless of the two sides, and thrust straight into Nuhe Ti's center. As long as you cut off Nuhe Ti's head, these twenty thousand men will be a pile of loose sand."

Qifugu's hand gripping the deployment map was trembling.

"Five thousand men charging a continuous camp of twenty thousand—even if we thrust straight into the center, how many will die on the way?"

Gao Jiong pulled the map from his hand, folded it, and tucked it into his bosom.

"Does the Great Khan have any other choice?"

The tent was silent for five breaths.

Gao Jiong stood up and walked to the tent flap, lifting a corner to look at the panicked shadows running around the camp because the granary had been burned.

"I will give the Great Khan one more piece of news."

Qifugu stood up from the ground, his knee joints stiff from squatting for too long.

"What news?"

Gao Jiong turned back, his voice grinding out word by word through his teeth.

"Before Nuhe Ti set out, he issued a secret order to his vanguard: all members of the Qifu tribe, regardless of gender, age, or youth, are to be killed without exception. Surrender is not accepted."

Qifugu's complexion changed completely after this sentence fell, from gray-white to a blue-black color that had no sign of a living person.

"Surrender is not accepted?"

Gao Jiong put the flap down and turned around to face Qifugu.

"A massacre order. If the Great Khan surrenders, you die; if you don't surrender, you die. The only difference is whether you die fast or slow."

Qifugu's fingers gripped the hilt of the curved saber at his side until it creaked. He bit his teeth so hard that the muscles on his cheeks were jumping.

"How do you know he issued a massacre order?"

Gao Jiong dug out another piece of dried meat from his bosom and put it in his mouth.

"The Great Zhou's eyes and ears are inside the royal court. I can smell the farts in Nuhe Ti's tent the next day."

Qifugu stared at his face for seven or eight breaths, then turned and lifted the flap to go out. His steps were three points steadier than when he came in, but that steadiness was not calmness; it was the state of a person driven to a dead end who no longer had the strength to panic.

Gao Jiong watched him walk away, chewed and swallowed the dried meat in his mouth, turned his head, and said a sentence to Songqi, who was squatting in the corner of the tent.

"How far has the secret tunnel been dug?"

Songqi stood up from the shadows, lowering his voice.

"It will reach outside the camp in half a day. The exit is under the low shrubbery in the south. Once out of the exit, walk two miles south to reach that dry river ditch. You can retreat all the way to Xiazhou along the river ditch."

Gao Jiong nodded.

"Dig it through tonight, use it tomorrow night."

Songqi swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"Boss, if Qifugu really leads men to charge out tomorrow night..."

Gao Jiong walked back to the bedding and sat down, rolled up the map, and stuffed it into the secret compartment in his boot.

"He charges his charge, we walk our walk. They are two different things."

Songqi's lips moved twice, but he didn't say anything else. He bent over, drilled out from the side of the tent flap, and disappeared into the night.

For the entire fifth day, the atmosphere in the camp was like an iron pot that had burned dry of water—hot to the touch but without steam. Everyone was enduring in a silent fear.

There was only two days' worth of grain left.

The water source was also cut off on the afternoon of the fifth day.

When Amu Ri ran back from the water intake on the east side of the camp covered in blood, there was a new wound on his left arm, and a piece of his leather armor sleeve had been sliced off and was hanging there.

When he rushed into the royal tent, Qifugu was sitting on the ground sharpening that curved saber. The whetstone on the carpet had been ground into a deep groove by him.

"Great Khan, the water source on the east side has been cut off! Nuhe Ti's men blocked the creek with stones and mud upstream. The water can't flow over!"

The sound of sharpening the blade stopped.

Qifugu lifted the curved saber from the whetstone and tested the edge with his thumb, cutting out a line of blood beads. He watched the line of blood beads stream down from the ball of his thumb and drip onto the whetstone.

"The water is gone too?"

Amu Ri nodded, panting.

Qifugu stood up from the ground, and the curved saber returned to its sheath.

"How much longer can we last?"

Amu Ri's voice shattered into dust.

"The water stored in the camp is only what is in the leather bags and wooden barrels in each tent. Added together, it is enough for five thousand people to drink... three days at most."

Qifugu walked to the tent flap and lifted it. It was getting dark outside. Everywhere in the camp were people squatting beside tents in a daze, women crying in low voices, and children running around ignorantly. Everyone's face was written with the same thing.

He put the flap down.

"Pass the order: all chieftains are to come to the royal tent to discuss matters tonight. Not one is allowed to be missing."

Amu Ri responded and turned to go out.

Two hours later, the royal tent was packed with people.

Qifugu sat on that gilded saddle, his curved saber across his knees. The blood seeping from the bandage on his left shoulder had already stained half of his clothes a dark brown. His two eyes were as red as two pieces of burned-out charcoal under the light of the fire basin in the tent.

More than a dozen chieftains knelt on both sides of the tent, each person's face carrying a layer of deathly gray.

Ba Yaer knelt in the last position, curled into a ball. He had not forgotten that the last time he suggested surrender, Qifugu had chopped Hu Ri Le to death in front of him. Today, as soon as he entered the tent, he stuffed himself into the most inconspicuous corner.

When Qifugu spoke, his voice was as hoarse as if it had been ground by sandpaper.

"There is enough grain for two days, enough water for three days. Nuhe Ti's twenty thousand men are surrounding us outside. Surrender, and we won't live; run away, and we won't live; waste away here, and we won't live."

The tent was so quiet that even the sound of charcoal blocks bursting in the fire basin was clear.

Qifugu's fingers tapped on the hilt of the curved saber.

"I have decided: tomorrow night, the entire army will leave the camp, break out to the north, and thrust straight into Nuhe Ti's central army tent."

No one in the tent made a sound.

Qifugu lifted the curved saber from his knees and pointed the blade in the direction of everyone in the tent, drawing a circle.

"Listen clearly: this is not breaking out to save our lives; this is an assault to kill the enemy. I want Nuhe Ti's head."

Amu Ri was the first to respond.

"If the Great Khan says fight, we fight! The brothers will follow the Great Khan and do it!"

The young chieftains on the left side echoed him. Their voices were uneven but all carried a hoarseness of having staked their lives.

The old chieftains on the right side did not make a sound. Ba Yaer buried his head between his two knees, curling into a ball.

Qifugu did not pursue their silence.

"Amu Ri, you take one thousand men as the vanguard. After rushing out from the fence gap in the north of the camp, don't worry about the two sides, just charge north to the end, until you see the golden eagle banner."

Amu Ri slapped his thigh.

"The brothers will sharpen their knives tonight and wait."

"The rest of the people will be divided into left and right wings, following behind the vanguard to tear open gaps on both sides to protect the passage for me to charge forward. I will personally lead five hundred men along that straight line to thrust straight in front of Nuhe Ti's tent."

Qifugu returned the curved saber to its sheath and stood up from the gilded saddle.

"Act two hours after nightfall tomorrow. No one is allowed to sleep during these two hours. Everyone sharpen your knives and feed your horses."

When the people in the tent filed out, their footsteps were as dull as if they were walking toward a grave that had already been dug.

After the last person went out, the tent flap hung down from the outside. Only Qifugu was left in the tent, standing beside the fire basin, his palms spread out over the flames, his fingertips reddened by the heat. Those bloodshot eyes stared at the jumping flames, reflecting a face that could no longer distinguish between a living person and a dead one.

What he didn't know was that behind the row of inconspicuous small tents on the southernmost edge of the camp, Songqi was squatting with three people beside a dirt pit covered by a straw mat. Under the dirt pit was a newly dug secret tunnel, and the exit of the secret tunnel led to the dry river ditch under the low shrubbery on the south side outside the camp.

When Songqi climbed out of the pit, his head and face were covered in mud. He ran toward Gao Jiong's tent.

"Boss, it's through."

Gao Jiong was sitting on the stone in the tent, holding a piece of dried meat without putting it in his mouth. Hearing this, he stuffed the dried meat into his bosom and stood up from the stone.

"Good. Tomorrow night, when Qifugu charges north, we will walk south."

Songqi squatted at the tent flap, the mud and sweat on his face mixed together, making his features indistinguishable. His voice was lowered to a level that could almost not be heard.

"Boss, there is one more thing I have to ask you."

"Speak."

"Qifugu's treasury is in the semi-underground stone cellar behind the royal tent. The things piled inside... I glanced inside from the cellar entrance the night before last. The gold and silver are piled up like a small mountain, and there are jade artifacts, furs, and pearls looted from various tribes."

Gao Jiong turned up the bean-sized oil lamp in the tent a little. The flame of the lamp leaped up, revealing the arc slowly pulling up at the corners of his mouth.

"Do you remember the location of the stone cellar?"

Songqi nodded.

"I remember. Twelve steps west from behind the royal tent, there is a square stone slab on the ground covering the entrance."

Gao Jiong dug out five empty hemp bags stacked together from under the pile of clutter in the tent and threw them at Songqi's feet.

"Tomorrow night, after all of Qifugu's people charge north, there won't be a single guard on the royal tent side. You take ten people and detour from the secret tunnel to behind the royal tent. Pack all the things in the stone cellar into bags, as much as you can pack. After packing, retreat south along the secret tunnel and meet me at the dry river ditch."

Songqi picked up the five hemp bags and held them in his arms. His lips moved twice.

"Boss, are five bags enough?"

Gao Jiong dug out ten more from beside the stone.

"Fifteen. If it's not enough, take off the clothes on your body and pack them in too."

Songqi held all fifteen hemp bags in his arms. The pile of hemp bags stacked together was wider than his upper body.

"Boss, what if we run into Qifugu's people..."

Gao Jiong walked to the tent flap and lifted a corner to look outside. Everyone in the camp was sharpening knives and feeding horses, preparing for tomorrow's desperate battle. No one was looking south.

"Tomorrow night, Qifugu will take everyone who can fight and charge north. The only ones left in the camp will be the old, weak, sick, and disabled who can't walk. Those people can't even take care of their own lives. Who has time to care about the stone cellar behind the royal tent?"

Songqi threw the hemp bags onto his back, bent over, drilled out of the tent flap, and disappeared into the night.

Gao Jiong returned to the tent and sat down, turning the oil lamp dim. In the darkness, only the arc at the corners of his mouth could be seen flashing in the last trace of light from the lamp wick.

"The things the Pillar of State wants, I will move them back for you." ===== CHAPTER 907 =====