Chapter 424: Light Cavalry in the Desolate Lands Spur the Clouds of War

Flower Horse Pool was not the only saltwater lake beyond the frontier. Within a hundred li around it lay over a dozen salt pools large and small, scattered like stars adorning this barren land. But not every lakeshore was lush with vegetation; many salt pools, being shallower, had already dried up, leaving only cracked earth mixed with yellow soil and brine salt. In their deeper reaches, vast stretches were a blinding white...

On this winter noon, a battle decided by speed was unfolding across this salt flat.

Ahead, legs clamped tight to their mounts, fleeing for their lives, were the Xiongnu. Behind, in relentless pursuit, were the Qin and Rong horse and foot.

Though the Xiongnu were all horsemen and ran swiftly, horses too differ in quality. The strong ones, led by their Grand Danghu, had long since vanished without a trace, but those Xiongnu riding inferior horses were unlucky — they were still caught by the Qin cavalry sweeping in from the flanks.

All formation had been lost; every man's eyes held only the enemy before him. Across a radius of over ten li, small-scale combat raged everywhere.

From the clashes of previous days, Yiqu White Wolf, Fu Zhi, and the others had come to understand: treacherous narrow paths, shooting while galloping — these were the strengths of the Xiongnu, skills the riders of the Central States could not match. Their own advantage lay in equipment and in numbers.

So when the Qin cavalry caught up to the Xiongnu, they paid no heed to the sporadic arrows shot their way. Aside from a few unlucky souls struck directly in the face or other vital points who died on the spot, those bone arrowheads hitting shoulders and chests protected by thick leather armor brought only a brief, sharp sting — like heavy raindrops striking the body. At most they broke the skin, utterly unable to wound flesh and bone.

The Xiongnu had learned their lesson. They immediately shifted targets, turning in the saddle to shoot at the horses!

The Qin horses wore no barding, and against the oncoming arrowheads they still bled. But only a few riders crashed to the ground as their mounts were wounded, forced to halt the chase. The rest still pressed hard to close in. The Xiongnu had to slow their horses to shoot, and so even if they were lucky enough to bring down one Qin rider, the other nine kept shrinking the distance...

When they drew within three to five paces of the Xiongnu, the Qin and Rong cavalry drew the long-handled sword used by Qin chariot and cavalry troops — the pi — and tried to spear the Xiongnu from their horses.

The Xiongnu tried to draw their own weapons to fight back, but their arms were only the shorter dao and chan. An inch longer, an inch stronger — to say nothing of the difference of several chi between the two sides' reach.

Fu Zhi's weapon, however, differed from the common sort. He used a heavier shu, its head a round hammer shape, blunted.

Though poor at mounted archery, he possessed one killer move: sheer strength. Playing the army's common "stone-throwing" game, he was like an Olympian strongman — after spinning a few turns, he could hurl the stone dozens of paces in one breath, clearing pavilion towers!

Now, wielding an iron shu weighing several dozen jin in his hand, it was like playing with a light wooden stick. Back in Beidi Commandery, when he had demonstrated this weapon for Commandant Heifu, the man had praised it endlessly and even had craftsmen improve it for him, adding barbed iron spikes to the shu and giving it a simple, brutal name: "Wolf-Fang Mace."

At this moment, Fu Zhi swung the wolf-fang mace, smashing it at the hideous Xiongnu to his flank. First, he sent the bow the man raised in terror flying with one blow, then followed through with an upward swing, striking the Xiongnu under the chin. The man toppled from his horse, leaving a patch of blood and a mouthful of rotten teeth on the pristine white salt flat...

In just a short while, over a dozen Xiongnu had been speared off their horses by the sons of good families, tumbling across the salt flat and trampled under the hooves of the Qin cavalry behind.

Having finished off this batch of enemies, Fu Zhi saw that ahead, over a hundred men were locked in fierce combat.

Looking closely, he saw it was the sons of good families led by his good friend Qiang Hua. Qiang Hua's ancestors were Qiang people; he had trained in mounted archery since childhood, and the hundred sons of good families he led also excelled with bow and crossbow. Their fighting style differed from the hundred men on Fu Zhi's side, who specialized in close-quarters mounted combat. They circled and skirmished with the Xiongnu, letting bow and arrow decide the outcome.

Qiang Hua's tiger-like eyes were wide with fury as he roared through the heated battle, letting the wind howl past him and his disheveled hair stream in the air. He simply galloped ceaselessly to the edges, then halted his horse, drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and loosed at the Xiongnu — nearly every shot a hit. His subordinates followed suit, though most of them used hand crossbows.

Fu Zhi and his men immediately joined the fray, charging straight through the Hu riders and swiftly helping Qiang Hua finish off the remaining Xiongnu.

Fu Zhi drew near and teased, "Qiang Zihua, weren't you fighting to be the vanguard and race to the grain convoy's rescue?"

Qiang Hua turned and glared at him. "Fu Guokui, weren't you supposed to be guarding the Commandant's side?"

Fu Zhi replied, "The Commandant is far to the rear, directing the main force. He ordered me to join the pursuit of the Hu riders. Where is Centurion Yiqu?"

"Long since chased ahead to the front."

Qiang Hua pointed into the distance. Fu Zhi could see, at the edge of the salt flat on the wild plain, two trails of dust, one ahead of the other — the Dayuan Rong cavalry chasing the Xiongnu who had broken out of the encirclement. Further behind were the two thousand foot soldiers led by Gong Ao and others.

They also saw, ahead, more horses that had lost their masters running wild across the salt flat, and Xiongnu who had lost their mounts rolling wretchedly on the ground, like fish stranded on this salt flat.

The people of Xuyan, who had watched helplessly from within the city walls as their kin were wantonly plundered and slaughtered by the Xiongnu, stifling their rage for days, were now furiously exacting revenge. They killed every Xiongnu they saw. Only a handful, captured by the panting foot soldiers who had encircled them, were taken as prisoners and bound...

Half a shichen later, when Commandant Heifu's war chariot arrived at this spot, Yiqu White Wolf also sent a scout rider back to report: "Centurion Yiqu and the others failed to catch the Xiongnu commander. They could only force him to flee further west, not daring to return to camp..."

Heifu did not blame them. "The Xiongnu had long rested and prepared, while you marched ten li south and then raced over ten li north. Though you changed horses once, you are still exhausted. It is only natural that you could not catch them."

This encirclement had been a case of turning the enemy's plan against them — a strategy decided on the fly, a location chosen on the fly. So he had not expected total annihilation. Asking about the results, the foot and horse together had killed over seven hundred Xiongnu, captured a hundred prisoners, and seized several hundred horses. This was already a fine outcome.

What was more, the Xiongnu dared not return to their camp over ten li away. The large numbers of people and herds of cattle and sheep they had plundered from the vicinity of Flower Horse Pool naturally became spoils of war for the Qin army.

"This battle is the first in the desolate lands beyond the frontier. It sent the Xiongnu fleeing in disarray, with nearly a thousand casualties. It is enough to make our Qin army's might resound."

He then had the interpreters question the captured Xiongnu prisoners and learned that the Xiongnu had two commanders. One was the Right Grand Danghu, the other the Right Gudu Marquis. It was the Right Grand Danghu who had fled with the Xiongnu main force, and the Gudu Marquis who had led two thousand riders south.

Wushi Yan, standing nearby, said, "Commandant, the pursuit of the Xiongnu just now took nearly a shichen. I had thought those two thousand Xiongnu would return to reinforce them, but there was never any sign of them. Could it be that they truly have gone to raid our army's grain convoy?"

The ox carts and horse teams carrying the rear army's provisions were mainly supplied by his family, so Wushi Yan could not help but be anxious.

Heifu nodded and issued the subsequent combat orders.

"One thousand men will go to link up with Yiqu, Gong Ao, and the other commanders, and bring the people, cattle, and sheep from the Xiongnu camp back to Flower Horse Pool City. The remaining four thousand will follow me south to reinforce County Lieutenant Gongsun!"

Both Fu Zhi and Qiang Hua requested to serve as the vanguard, the heel force, to open the way ahead. Heifu granted it.

"The grain convoy may be dozens of li to the south. A shichen has already passed. I imagine that at this very moment, they too are locked in fierce battle with the Xiongnu, are they not?" Before setting out, Fu Zhi said in a low voice.

"I wonder if Gan Chong and the others can hold out."

Qiang Hua was also deeply worried. Two thousand riders attacking a grain convoy escorted by two thousand foot soldiers — no matter how you thought about it, disaster seemed more likely than success.

Through Heifu's words and personal example, they had come to realize the importance of rear-echelon supplies to an army. If the grain convoy was intercepted and destroyed, all the grain burned, then in this campaign, the Qin army's losses would still be the greater...

They could only console themselves thus: "County Lieutenant Gongsun is also a veteran commander long tested on the battlefield, no stranger to fighting Zhao cavalry and the Hu and Rong beyond the frontier. Generally speaking, sending scout riders out twenty li is enough, but he insists on sending them thirty li. The Xiongnu would still be far beyond the horizon, and he would already know their movements. He should be able to prepare his defense!"

"Who told you two that the grain convoy is escorted by only two thousand foot soldiers?"

At that moment, a voice came from behind them. It was Wang Wei, the first man to serve as Heifu's personal guard after he became Commandant of Beidi.

Wang Wei also counted as a son of a good family, but he was older and had followed Heifu longer than Fu and Qiang, giving him access to more confidential matters. Fu Zhi had seen that very morning that the Commandant had summoned Yiqu White Wolf, Wushi Yan, and Wang Wei alone to give them secret orders. Wang Wei had bumped into him as he left, his face utterly solemn.

"Not just two thousand — could there be other troops?" Fu Zhi and Qiang Hua glimpsed a thread of hope.

"Beidi Commandery cannot spare more soldiers, but Shang Commandery is different. You must know that His Majesty is at Gaonu overseeing the campaign and has ordered Shang Commandery to send troops to aid Beidi."

Seeing that the two still looked baffled, Wang Wei laughed twice. Not stating the reason outright, he simply said, "Besides, what those ox carts are carrying this time is enough to give the attacking Xiongnu a real eye-opening lesson!"

(End of Chapter)