Chapter 183: Tongyang

"Commandant, this is the strongest liquor we could find in the town."

The liquor was poured into a scrubbed-clean cauldron and heated over the small stove in the room. Before long it was boiling hot, and the pungent smell of millet wine filled the entire room, masking the sour stench of blood and filth.

Beneath the stove lay a piece of wrought iron, heated until it glowed red.

"Give me the hot wine."

Li You's face was somewhat pale. He reached out and took the wine from Heifu, gulped down a large mouthful straight from the vessel, and nearly choked.

The familiar taste spread through his mouth. The last time he had tasted this was over ten years ago, during the year-end village festival in Shangcai in the twelfth month. Only on that day, regardless of gender or age, could everyone sit mingled together and drink. He even remembered a girl from Shangcai, a childhood sweetheart, sitting on the mat opposite him. After drinking a little, her cheeks flushed crimson, and in the mulberry grove outside the village shrine — the favorite trysting place for young men and women — she boldly confessed her feelings to Li You...

A pity, then, that three days later Li You took his younger brother, escorted his mother, and followed the men Li Si had sent to move to Xianyang in Qin. That bold girl, her breath smelling of wine, had probably married by now. Her son might even be ten years old.

He took another drink, swallowing the past down with it, and remarked with a bitter smile: "This is indeed the strongest liquor in Cai, but compared to the old wine of Guanzhong, it still falls short..."

Li You smacked his lips, savoring the aftertaste, then looked down at the hideous wound on his bared chest and said to Heifu: "Begin."

"This subordinate begs your pardon."

Heifu had Bu Cheng assist him. After washing his hands, he took the red-hot wrought iron and pressed it onto Li You's wound!

"Ssss!" A searing sound rang out, accompanied by the stench of scorched flesh and skin. Li You's eyes bulged wide, veins standing out all over his forehead, sweat pouring down. Fortunately, he had a wooden stick clenched between his teeth; otherwise, he would surely have let out a harrowing scream...

A quarter-hour later, after Heifu had applied medicine and bandaged Li You's wound, Li You finally felt as though he had come back to life.

"You actually brought golden wound salve with you."

Li You was utterly drained. Watching Heifu produce a small lacquered wooden bottle from his bosom as if by magic, he was somewhat surprised. He always felt that Heifu seemed to have known all along that the Qin army would be defeated. Everyone else had retreated in haste; only Heifu and his hundred men had carried all the essentials on their persons — dry rations, weapons, even the copper coins awarded along the way... He was even better prepared than Li You, the Commandant himself.

"This was given to me by a physician I knew during the campaign against Wei."

Heifu explained: "Commandant, you may rest assured. That physician is called Chen Wujiu, a disciple of the Qin Court Physician Prefect, Lord Xia. He said this salve is a priceless, wondrous formula prepared by the Court Physician Prefect. A platoon commander under me once suffered severe wounds — seven cuts on his body — and was healed by this very ointment."

"Let us hope so."

Drunk and exhausted, Li You attributed this to Heifu's innate sensitivity to danger. This was also why he had arranged for Heifu, rather than Xu Yang, to take command in his stead.

In such an extraordinary moment, perhaps only such a man could lead them out of peril.

As they spoke, Li You had already closed his eyes. In his dreams, the pain seemed to vanish. He felt as if he were back in the mulberry grove of Shangcai, but the flushed-cheeked girl sitting across from him now bore the face of a Qin princess, casting a radiant smile his way...

After arranging for Bu Cheng and another nimble soldier to stay behind and tend to Li You, Heifu stepped out of the room. They were inside a small town. Their original plan had been to withdraw swiftly to Pingyu, but Ji Ying and the others Heifu had sent to scout the road ahead reported seeing a Chu army, numbering in the tens of thousands, moving toward Pingyu, directly blocking their path.

Heifu surmised that this Chu army was likely under orders to seize Pingyu and Shangcai. Their own force of over six hundred men, burdened with a wounded and sick Li You, could not move quickly at all. Their speed was no match for the enemy's advancing vanguard. Once overtaken, the flat, open terrain east of Pingyu offered no place to hide.

So after discussing it, they decided to continue heading south. Li You also approved this plan.

This was already their best option. The region south of Xiangcheng had just been punched through by Li Xin, and the villages and towns along the way more or less still had a few men left to guard them. After traveling for a day and a night, Heifu and his men had the good fortune to reach a small township between Pingyu and Qinqiu: Tongyang.

Outside, four junior officers were seated before small low tables: Xu Yang, Zhai Chong, "Man," and, in addition, Hundred-Man Commander Tu Si, who had earlier been ordered by Li Xin to garrison Tongyang.

Apart from Tu Si, who was still alert, the other three were utterly exhausted. Zhai Chong was propping his head up with his hand, dozing off, while Man was sprawled over the table, already snoring.

Today was the first day of the eleventh month. Since leaving the battlefield, they had been traveling for two days and two nights. They were too tired.

A cough from Heifu startled the men awake. He then said to them: "The Commandant is stable. I have Bu Cheng, who has a rough knowledge of medicine, looking after him. For now, his life is not in danger."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Heifu did not delay. Once Zhai Chong and Man were fully awake, he looked toward Tu Si and said: "Hundred-Man Commander Tu has been garrisoned here for half a month and knows the terrain. Let him explain the distances and bearings of Tongyang and the surrounding towns to us."

Only then did the heavily bearded Tu Si speak, his voice thick with a Longxi accent. He said that Tongyang was a small town. Li Xin had passed through here on his way to Qinqiu and sent troops to take it. Fearing that the Chu people inside the town might turn on them, they had driven them all away, so this small walled town, barely a li square, was now completely empty, garrisoned by only a hundred Qin soldiers.

It was not until Heifu and his men came knocking at the gate that Tu Si learned of Li Xin and Meng Tian's defeat at the hands of the Chu army. He was greatly alarmed, but fortunately, he was a veteran officer who had seen many wars, both defeats and victories. He quickly calmed down and began briefing everyone on the situation at Tongyang.

"This place is a hundred li north of Xiangcheng, eighty li east of Qinqiu, a hundred and eighty li west of Shangcai, ninety li from Pingyu, and eighty li south of Xincai. Anyone traveling from Qinqiu to Pingyu or Shangcai must pass through this town."

Heifu nodded. "The Chu army to the south has already been swept clear by General Li. This place is safe for the moment. We can rest here for the night before continuing on — there's no rush..."

"Not so. Since Pingyu is out of reach, we must move swiftly to Shangcai. I say we move out immediately," Xu Yang, standing to the side, voiced his objection.

Xu Yang was around thirty years old. He held the same rank and level as Heifu, had followed Li You for a longer time, and was older. He had been the one to first give Heifu the nickname "Blanket Hundred-Man Commander." Therefore, he was quite resentful of Heifu receiving the tiger tally to command everyone in Li You's stead, and now he was the first to raise an objection.

Zhai Chong could hold back no longer. Yawning, he said: "Hundred-Man Commander Xu, the soldiers have not rested for two nights since retreating from Xiangcheng. The men are weary, the horses spent, and everyone is freezing and starving. They simply cannot march any further. If we force the march and encounter Chu soldiers, how will we respond? How is that any different from offering our own necks to the Chu blades?"

Heifu also nodded in agreement. "Hundred-Man Commander Zhai speaks reason. Moreover, the Commandant's wound shows signs of worsening and he also needs rest. Even if we did as Hundred-Man Commander Xu suggests and marched for three more days to reach Shangcai, should the Commandant fail to endure the jolting and some mishap befall him, we, as his personal guards, would be held accountable and executed!"

Xu Yang was momentarily speechless. In the end, Heifu made the decision. "We will rest in this town for one night. Let the soldiers eat their fill and sleep enough. After that, we will continue southwest, skirt around the Chu army besieging Pingyu, and then follow the Ru River back to Shangcai."

Everyone was dozing off even while standing and had long wanted to rest. None objected. Heifu then had Tu Si lead men to take turns standing watch through the night on the small town's walls, so that his own men, who had marched for two nights, could get a good sleep.

"I must also ask Hundred-Man Commander Tu to send out a few men, in pairs, riding the horses in the town, to scout the enemy situation at Pingyu, Qinqiu, Xincai, and Xiangcheng respectively. Also, send two men flying on horseback to Shangcai to deliver a message, informing the garrison that Commandant Li is coming to regroup and requesting they send men to the Ru River line to meet us."

Heifu had everyone rest together according to their unit formations, so they could respond promptly if anything happened. Though he was also weary, he did not close his eyes immediately. Instead, he sat before the low table, frowning at a map hastily drawn on silk by the light of an oil lamp.

He had been entrusted with command at a critical moment, and every step he took had to be the right one if he was to bring everyone back to Qin.

A short while later, Tu Si came with men to bring him food: millet rice kept warm over a low flame, crisp mallow greens, and a bowl of fish meat with a faintly fishy smell.

Tu Si smiled. "This small town of Tongyang has little else, but it has plenty of fish. The fish is called tong fish. Its flesh is tender and the flavor is delicious. Please, try it, Hundred-Man Commander."

Heifu did not stand on ceremony. He took the chopsticks and began eating. The food was mediocre, the fish crudely prepared, and fish scales even floated in the soup. But for a man who had chewed dry rations for two days, a mouthful of hot food was a delicacy.

Watching Heifu eat, Tu Si muttered to himself beside him: "When we followed General Li to strike Pingyu and Qinqiu, the Chu army could not withstand a single blow and scattered after a casual fight. Back then, I thought this campaign would end soon. Who could have expected such a crushing defeat? Even now, I can scarcely believe it."

"We must have fallen into a Chu trap. It seems something also went wrong at Chenying."

Heifu said this while chewing the fish meat, but such talk was useless now. What they most urgently needed to know was: in which direction had the main Qin force retreated? And what were the Chu army's lines of advance? In this region of Chen and Cai north of the Huai River, how many towns still remained in Qin hands?

After finishing his meal, Heifu was unbearably tired. He thanked Tu Si once more, and after agreeing to withdraw together at dawn the next day, he leaned against the wall and drifted into a groggy sleep...

By the time Ji Ying hurriedly shook him awake, he did not know how much time had passed. A glance out the window showed the sky dark but hinting at dawn.

"Hundred-Man Commander."

Ji Ying's expression was grim. "A force has arrived outside the town, flying red banners. It's the Chu army!"

(End of Chapter)