Chapter 445

Back at the Beidi Commandery encampment, Gan Chong had heard a story like this: a man wanted to travel to Chu, yet on the road he drove his cart northward, moving farther and farther from his destination.

Right now, he felt he was exactly that man—heading south while his cart pointed north!

Six days ago, Gan Chong and the hundred-odd sons of good families under his command had discovered that the Xiongnu had encircled Feng Jie's Shang Commandery troops. To let ten riders return and report to Commandant Wei, the rest of them chose to ride in other directions and draw the Xiongnu's attention.

Whether those ten scouts made it back he did not know, but the sons of good families' feint had truly brought a huge disaster upon themselves. Several hundred Xiongnu riders pursued them relentlessly. After several clashes, his comrades were either shot dead or fell from their horses and were captured. Only Gan Chong, in one desperate burst, charged into the forest and managed to break free.

But his safety was only temporary. After a bout of frantic flight, Gan Chong realized he had traveled many li northward, growing farther and farther from the main Qin army. Gan Chong tried to lie low for a while and then slip southward quietly, but each time he could not get far before Xiongnu scouts on patrol spotted him, and then came another round of chase and escape…

The Xiongnu had already discovered there was a Qin fugitive in this area and mobilized over a hundred riders to search. Gan Chong could only dodge and hide, fleeing all the way into the reed beds by the great river. That pack of Xiongnu scouts, clinging to the pursuit, chased him there as well. They left their horses outside and entered the reed marsh to search, bearing bows, arrows, and short blades.

Gan Chong's beloved horse had been struck by an arrow; he could only grit his teeth and abandon it. His bow and arrows were also spent. Fortunately, Gan Chong was skilled at slinging stones with a leather strap, and along with a short sword at his waist, these were all the weapons he had.

Now, crouched and hiding in a muddy hollow among the reeds, Gan Chong could hear the Xiongnu chattering—at least several dozen of them—closing in from all directions, sealing off every route of escape. Gan Chong had no chance of victory whatsoever. With only a few stones in his hand, the most he could do was crack a few skulls…

Just as he resolved to wait until a Xiongnu drew near and then smash his skull hard, from another direction a Xiongnu suddenly shouted. It turned out that these seasoned hunters had finally found Gan Chong's footprints, and following them, they discovered his hiding place!

"What rotten luck!"

Gan Chong had no choice but to spring up and flee at once. He pushed through the reed marsh and ran desperately toward the sound of flowing water. The river—that was his only chance at survival!

The riverbank was thick with silt; every step sank deep, making progress agonizingly hard. Behind him, the Xiongnu were cursing and snarling, probably telling Gan Chong to surrender. Every few steps they stopped, drew their bows, and shot at Gan Chong. Arrows whistled past his ears and his topknot, embedding in the reed thickets to either side, startling a flock of gulls and herons into flight and drenching Gan Chong in cold sweat. Hungry and exhausted, his steps grew more and more unsteady.

Just before the Xiongnu could snare him with their lasso poles, Gan Chong reached the great river. Without the slightest hesitation—splash! —he leaped into the water!

At this moment, Gan Chong could not help but feel grateful to the Commandant of Beidi. He was never a strong swimmer to begin with, but over the past half year, the sons of good families' army, besides drilling in riding and formation combat, had been required by the Commandant to master a new skill: swimming.

And so, after training, the sons of good families would strip down and frolic and race in the muddy river, becoming a bright and scenic sight in Beidi Commandery. Rong and Qiang shepherdesses often came to watch. Though many mocked themselves, saying that Beidi had no great rivers or lakes, much less a navy, so what use was it to make soldiers familiar with the water? But now, at last, Gan Chong understood that the Commandant had not been shooting at random, and he felt thankful that his own swimming skills had been trained well.

The river was not swift, but it had some depth—exactly what Gan Chong needed. He drew a deep breath, dove underwater, and plunged hard toward the riverbed. Moments after his figure vanished from the river's surface, over ten arrows landed in unison. The arrows pierced the watery net, trailing bubbles as they brushed past Gan Chong. One even sliced his arm, and a thin mist of blood spread through the river.

His only hope was to evade the Xiongnu's arrows, wait until they thought he was dead, then surface and swim with all his might—all the way to the opposite bank.

But he could not hold out for long. Gan Chong gradually found it harder and harder to hold his breath; bubbles from his mouth kept rising. He needed air.

When Gan Chong surfaced again, he found he had already swum underwater a fair distance. But the Xiongnu on the bank were still waiting for his corpse to float up before they would leave. Seeing Gan Chong still alive, they could not help but howl with rage and once more drew their bows to shoot at him.

Gan Chong could only swim toward the middle of the river. But when he surfaced again, he discovered with despair that a group of Xiongnu riders, having heard the news, had also arrived on the opposite bank and were waiting for him, a living target, to come to them and take their arrows!

Now he could only drift with the current, floating downstream. The Xiongnu followed on horseback with dogged persistence, trying to shoot arrows as they chased and shouting mockery, as if Gan Chong were a plaything.

Gan Chong had eaten very poorly these past few days—birds brought down with stones, some dubious shrub berries, all of it raw. For days now his stomach had been in sharp pain, and he was often weak. Struggling and splashing in the water with difficulty, if this went on, even if the Xiongnu's arrows did not kill him, he would drown from sheer exhaustion…

"If I die in this river, I fear no one will recover my body. In the Loyal Soldiers' Cemetery in Beidi Commandery, there will be nothing but an empty tomb with my clothes!"

Just as despair set in, the arrows from both banks ceased, and the Xiongnu stopped their shouting. Gan Chong laboriously lifted his head from the water to look and saw that they had reined in their horses, staring dumbfounded upriver.

Several wooden boats, sails spread and oars sweeping, were riding the wind and cleaving the waves! At the prow of each boat stood armored and helmeted Qin soldiers, holding arm-drawn crossbows!

……

Gan Chong was hauled aboard by the Qin soldiers. He sprawled over the small side-boat's gunwale and vomited a bellyful of cold river water. Qin soldiers with Longxi accents crowded around, bandaging the wound on his arm. The Five Hundred Leader in command even took off his own dry clothes and gave them to Gan Chong to change into.

"How can you say you have no robe?" The Five Hundred Leader smiled. Back at the main camp, they had already heard how this group of sons of good families' scouts had used their lives to lure the enemy, just so the messengers could deliver military intelligence. He greatly admired Gan Chong.

"I will share my robe with you." Gan Chong was deeply moved and accepted the clothes.

Someone else handed him food, but what Gan Chong cared about most was: had those ten messengers managed to deliver the news?

The answer was obvious. The pack of Xiongnu who had been chasing and hunting him had already been scattered by the crossbow bolts fired from the boats. Sitting on the boat and looking upriver, he saw an unbroken line of wooden vessels coming down the long river, fully laden with heavily armed Qin soldiers, advancing against wind and wave.

The Five Hundred Leader on the boat told Gan Chong that they were only the forward scouts. Behind them were two hundred more boats, originally meant to transport grain from Longxi Commandery to Helan. Now, under orders from Generals Li and Wei, they were carrying soldiers and advancing in tandem with the chariots and cavalry.

On the western bank of the great river, some advancing Qin riders were already visible. The main Xiongnu force, however, was several dozen li away on the eastern bank. The Xiongnu had set scouts in all four directions for a hundred li; the moment the Qin army appeared, the Xiongnu would surely know…

Gan Chong let out a heavy sneeze. "Where is Commandant Wei?"

The Five Hundred Leader replied, "The Beidi Commandant is a hundred li to the rear, leading twenty thousand infantry. He is already halfway here!"

"Besides me, have any other scouts been rescued?"

Gan Chong desperately hoped for a miracle, but the Five Hundred Leader lowered his head. "Only three messengers made it back. The rest…"

"I will kill a hundred Hu captives to avenge my comrades!"

His subordinates all lost, their fates unknown—Gan Chong gritted his teeth and slammed his fist heavily against the deck. What he wanted most now was to return to the army at once and, in the great battle to come, slaughter the Hu and vent his vengeance!

As they spoke, the boats had already passed the confluence of the great river and the Dusi Tu River. The cavalry on the bank did the same, yet showed no sign of stopping. Gan Chong could not hide his astonishment. "The main Xiongnu force is besieging the Shang Commandery troops at White Goat Mountain, just thirty li up the Dusi Tu River. Why not moor here?"

The Five Hundred Leader, however, said, "General Li says that with our ten thousand infantry and cavalry, if we go directly to break the siege, it may be of little use. Better to…"

He grinned and said, "Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao!"

……

By the banks of the great river, north of the Dusi Tu River, Li Xin's great banner had already arrived. His vanguard, Qiang Huang, had sent back two things…

They were fresh droppings of cattle and sheep.

Li Xin addressed the Commandants and Battalion Leaders beside him: "The Xiongnu have tens of thousands of riders. Horses can graze on pasture, but men cannot live solely on the small amounts of meat and cheese they carry, nor on hunting alone."

"Therefore, when the Xiongnu go to war, herds of livestock always follow behind them."

These herds were the equivalent of the Xiongnu's baggage train—they either drank the animals' milk or slaughtered them for meat. To find the herds was to catch their rear echelon.

Qiang Huang reported back that over ten li to the north, a large amount of fresh cattle and sheep dung had been found. By his count, there were over ten thousand head!

Li Xin immediately formulated a battle plan: "The Xiongnu love to raid our supply routes. What the bandits can do, so can we! Strike their herds swiftly, then cross back to the west bank, set a strong camp relying on the hills and marshes, and throw the Xiongnu into alarm and confusion. They will be unable to focus on besieging the Shang Commandery troops. Even if they rush back to aid, they will not be able to break into our camp. An army that loses its supplies grows weak—so it is in the Central Plains, and so it is with the Xiongnu!"

(End of Chapter)