Chapter 464: I Became a Body Double

"At last, I see Lord Niu again!"

Niu Han stared with his bronze-bell eyes at the surrendered officers who had opened the north gate of Didi.

Most of these men were his old friends and in-laws, and failing to read Niu Han's expression, they all declared their allegiance: "We were all deceived by Wei Ao, bound by regional divisions and petty personal loyalties, ready to follow the Wei clan in a desperate last stand — until some days ago, when Lord Niu's words of counsel convinced us, and the scales fell from our eyes…"

Put plainly, it meant: "Seeing you surrender, we surrendered too — General Niu, you are our guide!"

But I was faking surrender! And that letter wasn't even written by me. Niu Han desperately wanted to explain, but he couldn't, so he could only smile with an awkward yet gratified air, as if all of this was exactly what he had wished for.

The people of Longyou prized loyalty and righteousness above all. In the old days, when Li Ling surrendered to the Xiongnu, the gentry were ashamed to share a commandery with the Li clan of Longxi and one after another changed their native place to Tianshui. Who knew how many years from now, he, Niu Ruqing, would still be stabbed in the back for this!

"Ruqing saved Longyou!"

But the newly arrived surrendered officers neither knew nor cared; they cared only about themselves, and so they said gratefully to Niu Han: "General, you are truly worthy of being called a hero of the Western Provinces. You willingly set aside personal ties to serve the greater cause, bearing a little tarnished name, yet you saved Longyou and kept the sons of the six commanderies from being wiped out following Wei Ao — you preserved their blood and bone! Given time, the people of Long will surely understand your bitter sacrifice. No, many already do — we, for instance!"

You understand nothing! Niu Han wanted to weep but had no tears. Judged by deeds, not by heart, even if he now claimed he had faked his surrender, no one would believe him.

Though Didi had fallen, Wei Ao had charged out and fled under cover of night. Wu Han held the walled city, mopped up the remaining enemy, and dispatched light, mobile troops — all his elite cavalry and swiftest runners — to pursue through the night. They chased for half the night, and as the sky began to lighten, the various scouting riders returned one after another, all empty-handed.

"Though we seized Didi, we failed to capture Wei Ao — the job is not yet fully done," Wu Han said.

He had broken through the western gate of Longxi. Had Wei Ao died, the remaining Long troops, who belonged to various clans to begin with, would surely have crumbled. Wu Han could have advanced smoothly to the Qishan Road, sealed off the retreat of the remaining Long forces and the northern relief troops from Shu, and brought the Longyou campaign to a close.

But if Wei Ao still lived, the final outcome would not change, though the process would be somewhat more troublesome.

Niu Han, however, thinking of his friendship with Wei Ao, still hoped in his heart that the man could escape with his life. Wei Jimeng might have been a poor lord and a poor general, but as a friend alone, he could be called the Ji Bu of Longyou.

By the time the sky was fully bright, Wu Han had suppressed all resistance within the city of Didi, when a personal guard came from outside to report: "A Di soldier has returned, claiming to have captured Wei Ao!"

"A Di soldier?" Wu Han was slightly surprised and asked: "A live Wei Ao, or a dead Wei Ao?"

He asked this because Diwu Lun had put out the word: "I have old ties with Wei Jimeng. If possible, take him alive."

"No one bound was brought back — I saw someone carrying a severed head."

Hearing this, Niu Han, who had kept his expression well-managed until now, was momentarily stunned, unwilling to believe it was true.

Wu Han was indifferent — a live Wei Ao meant a greater reward, but a dead Wei Ao was fine too. Wu Han sent men to have the head and the seal and ribbon brought in, but the personal guard came back to report that the Di Platoon Commander refused to hand them over and insisted on delivering them in person.

"Let him deliver them!" Wu Han was in a good mood. Seeing the suspicious looks of those around him, he laughed: "What is there to fear? Are you worried he's a Jing Ke, using the presentation of a head to attempt an assassination?"

Wu Han was himself a bold and chivalrous man, quite confident, and feared no petty tricks.

A moment later, a burly young Di man strode through gate after gate. He had trekked a long time through the mountains and wilderness, and his already tattered clothes were further shredded by brambles.

In the Didi hall that Wu Han had commandeered, the various officers could not help but lean forward to see who had achieved such a great deed; Niu Han, too, turned his head to look.

A Yun, for his part, had left his sword outside. In his left hand he tightly gripped the gold seal and purple ribbon — he had with great difficulty persuaded the Di soldiers in his platoon that this thing could be exchanged for ten times its weight in gold before they were willing to part with it.

And in his right hand, he carried a blood-dripping human head.

Niu Han's gaze fell upon this head. He saw it had been severed at the neck, fresh blood still dripping steadily down. Because the hair was disheveled and covered the face, the features could not be clearly seen. He never imagined that Wei Jimeng, who had always cared so much for his dignity, would meet such an end. Niu Han could not hide the pity in his eyes.

Neither servile nor overbearing, under the gaze of the crowd, A Yun placed the severed head before him, then raised the gold seal and purple ribbon with both hands and said in stiff Han speech: "This lowly one pursued deep into the mountains, found this seal, and thought it must belong to a great man. After catching up, I defeated his escort. That Long general then cut his own throat. After this lowly one brought the seal, ribbon, and head back to camp, the camp said this is Wei Ao's seal!"

"The seal is correct." Wu Han personally came down from the dais to inspect it, then picked up the head and placed it on the table in front of Niu Han, laughing: "As for the head, I can identify it. Ruqing, come and confirm."

Niu Han struggled to compose himself. He lifted the head's disheveled, blood-matted hair, studied it carefully for a long moment, blinked three times, and then let out a breath of relief: "General, this is not Wei Ao. I fear it is a trusted follower who wore his robes and took his mount, seal, and ribbon to pose as him!"

Wu Han was somewhat skeptical and summoned the other surrendered officers to look one by one; they all said it was not Wei Ao, but a diehard loyalist by his side.

After all that trouble, it was a body double?

A Yun was also stunned. All his tremendous effort to chase this man down had been for nothing. When he caught him, with no one else around, A Yun had spoken from the heart to this "Wei Ao," saying: "General Wei, dead is more useful than alive. I will borrow your head so that your vengeance may be fulfilled, and the humiliation of Long and Shu being trampled will be wiped away!"

During their training in the Qionglai Mountains, they had heard Jing Han recount the heroic deeds of the Warring States assassins. A Yun admired Jing Ke most of all, and the story of Jing Ke borrowing Fan Yuqi's head, culminating in the dagger revealed as the map unrolled to stab the King of Qin, was still fresh in his memory. The moment he personally cut down "Wei Ao," took his head, and stood facing the wind, he truly felt something of the chill of the wind sighing over the Yi River!

A Yun had originally imagined that, having achieved such a great deed, as long as his superiors did not cover it up, Diwu Lun would surely summon him for a personal audience. After all this trouble, it was a body double?

The crowd was greatly disappointed; some even cursed A Yun for falsely reporting a kill and wanted to pin the blame on him. But Wu Han quickly regained his composure, no longer concerned with the fake head, and looked at A Yun: "Little Platoon Commander, what is your name?"

"A Yun," he gave his name; he had no surname.

Ordinary Di people had no surnames, using only patronymic linkage. Only the great Di chieftains used Han surnames. This was also why A Yun could fabricate his identity: Han people were registered commoners with given names and surnames, theoretically traceable in the household registers — though in practice, it was a complete mess.

As for the Di people, it was even harder. They had no writing, no officials, and even practiced shifting cultivation deep in the mountains, with some families going generations without contact with the outside world. Check their household registration? With what?

Wu Han nodded and set the matter straight: "Although the one you killed was not Wei Ao himself, seizing his seal and ribbon is equivalent to capturing the enemy's battle flag on the field. A Yun, you have achieved a great deed!"

Before A Yun could breathe a sigh of relief, Wu Han's next words caught him completely off guard.

Wu Han greatly appreciated this brave and sharp young Di man. Clapping him on the shoulder, he said: "It would be a pity for you to remain just a Platoon Commander. Here is what we'll do: from now on, you will transfer from General Wan's command to my Independent Division, and I will make you a Battalion Commander!"

…

A promotion was a good thing — it let him climb another step — but it also meant that from now on, A Yun would have to take orders under Wu Han.

"But the Gongsun Emperor only ordered me to assassinate Wan Xiu — he didn't tell me to kill Wu Han!"

A Yun cried out in his heart. What's more, killing him would not be easy. Unlike Wan Xiu, who was middle-aged, plagued by old wounds, and growing increasingly sickly, Wu Han, though not tall, was robust and vigorous. Before he became a general, he often killed men with his own hands; A Yun might not even be his match.

Moreover, A Yun often heard in the army that Wu Han was now Emperor Wu's sharp blade — if he wasn't at the front, he was on his way to the front!

This way, not only had he left Wan Xiu's side, but campaigning far from home year-round — wouldn't that mean he was getting farther and farther from Diwu Lun as well?

But a common soldier's fate was not his to decide. Wu Han was not consulting him, merely informing him; he didn't even need to send word to Wan Xiu's side. The matter was cheerfully settled just like that.

"Since Wei Ao has escaped, he must have fled to Angu County, thirty li to the south. There is no time to lose. We should press the attack relentlessly while the Long army is like a startled bird and take it in one stroke!"

Wu Han didn't even need to emphasize it — First Cockcrow, always at the very front when there was glory to be seized, had already broken camp. He might even have a chance to catch the real Wei Ao.

But by noon, as Wu Han was reorganizing his troops to leave Didi, dire news suddenly arrived from the front.

"General of the Valiant Cavalry, the Colonel, while pursuing the Long troops, was struck by an enemy ambush crossbow and died on the spot!"

A rare imperial kinsman who, by virtue of long service, had been granted the right to use the Wu surname, had thus perished in Longxi.

"The three-thousand-man vanguard also suffered defeat and has retreated."

The campaign had gone too smoothly; the Wei army, from top to bottom, had grown quite contemptuous of the enemy. Even Wu Han had not expected this. First Cockcrow's men were mostly Di soldiers, only good at winning when the wind was at their backs — that was one thing. But Wu Han's vanguard were also elite veterans; how could they have been defeated?

Only when the defeated troops withdrew to Didi and begged Wu Han's forgiveness did they explain what they had encountered.

"Those who ambushed us were not the Long troops of Angu County, but Shu troops from the south! They had many crack crossbowmen, and our soldiers, in light armor for pursuit, suffered a heavy loss!"

As Wu Han listened to the defeated soldiers describe the formations of that Shu force — advancing and retreating with discipline — the more he heard, the more extraordinary it sounded. He pressed: "Who is the enemy general?"

"The battle was too hurried; we could not find out. But before this lowly officer withdrew, I saw with my own eyes that the banner flown by that Shu force clearly read…"

"Jia!"

……

Though he had not ended up with his head and body in separate places, the ever-dignified Wei Ao had never in his life been so wretched and dejected: he gave his seal, cord, and mount to a trusted aide, ordering them to take a different route and draw the Wei army's pursuit, while Wei Ao himself, dressed in plain clothes and disguised as a charioteer, fled amid the routed soldiers.

Several times, in moments of dire peril, he was nearly captured by the Wei troops, yet each time he managed to escape with his life. Watching Longyou utterly disintegrate in this single battle, Wei Ao, amid his shame, consoled himself:

"Even the Han Founder, brilliant and mighty as he was, still suffered the siege of Xingyang. It was only thanks to Ji Xin, who resembled him, dressing as the King of Han, riding the yellow-canopied chariot with the left banner-tassel, and deliberately drawing the Chu army's attention, that Liu Bang was able to flee through the western gate."

"I, Wei Ao, at least did not have to send women out of the city in armor to take arrows and cover my escape."

Thinking this, Wei Ao felt a little better, but the Wei pursuers still gave no respite. Just as they took a roundabout route to within a mere five li of Angu County, with escape almost in sight, Wu Han's vanguard came charging in! By the look of it, they meant to strike straight at Angu County, giving Wei Ao no chance to catch his breath!

The Long troops had almost lost all nerve. It was only thanks to an army, lying in ambush here at some unknown time, that burst out from a narrow mountain pass nearby — using the high ground and powerful crossbows to rout the Wei troops, who lacked heavy armor from their long march and had no orderly formation in pursuit — that Wei Ao's life was saved.

Wei Ao saw their banners and uniforms; they should be Shu troops. He could not help but be overjoyed. It seemed the second wave of reinforcements mentioned in Fang Wang's letter had advanced north from Mount Qi and arrived just in time.

Only then did Wei Ao spur his horse forward, declare his identity, and be led before that Shu general — only to find the man's face quite youthful.

"May I ask how the General is called?"

The young commander sized up the down-and-out Wei Ao, his gaze traveling from the hemp cloth draped over his gleaming armor to the hair bun where a thorny twig replaced a jade hairpin — and thus saw exactly how Wei Ao had fled. Disdain in his heart, he merely nodded slightly at Wei Ao from atop his horse. When he spoke, it was not with a Shu accent, but in the Nanyang dialect. This man, too, was a "surrendered general" of the Green Han!

"Assistant General of Shu, Jia Fu!"

……

PS: Annual conference, only one chapter today. The person sharing my room is Feng Qiyue. Hope these next few days don't get 404'd.