Chapter 334: Heavenly Soldiers Come But From Hexi (Seven Thousand Characters, Two Chapters in One)

In Chang'an — by now it should properly be called Jingzhao Prefecture or Yongjing, but the people living there still called themselves Chang'an folk.

Even though the Vermilion Bird Avenue had long since gone to weeds, with foxes and hares roaming it, they still insisted on calling this place Chang'an.

On everyone's lips, the most talked-about were none other than Emperor Taizong the Civil Emperor, or Emperor Gaozong the Heavenly Sovereign Great Emperor.

Even that Great Sage, Great Brilliance, Filial Emperor — the people of Chang'an still remembered him fondly, only they could not help adding a sigh whenever they spoke of him.

"The Sage was sagely indeed — only why did he not die sooner?"

This year was 937, exactly thirty years since the Great Tang had fallen. A group of Chang'an elders had prepared a little sacrificial meat and melons and fruit, and outside the Danfeng Gate of the old Daming Palace they burned incense and made offerings to the emperors of all the dynasties — especially those late-Tang emperors the people of Chang'an were reluctant to speak of.

In truth, it was not that the people of Chang'an looked down on the late-Tang emperors; rather, they felt they had let them down — especially Emperor Zhaozong, who had placed such high hopes in the Shence Army, formed from the citizens of Chang'an.

In the end, never mind that they could not beat Li Keyong of Hedong or Li Maozhen of Fengxiang — fully armored, they managed to be disarmed by a bunch of old peasant militia troops. It was absurd beyond belief.

One could say that in the ruin of the late Tang, the corruption and combat-worthlessness of the lavishly funded Shence Army was one of the most fatal causes of all.

"Wuwuwuwu!" Once the sacrificial meat, melons and fruit, incense and candles were laid out, before the prayers had even begun to be chanted, the weeping broke out all around. The first to weep was the chief officiant himself — Li Shouling, headman of Xiuzhen Ward.

This old man had been born in the fourth year of Guangqi of Emperor Xizong of Tang (887). Though only fifty, in this age he already counted as "advanced in years."

One must understand that in the thirty years since the Great Tang fell, Chang'an had endured more than fifty bouts of war and chaos — and with the turmoil of the Zhaozong period added on, the number was even more staggering.

To have survived all that — not killed by mutinous soldiers, not starved to death, not dying of illness or a fall on the road of flight — and to have lived to fifty: that truly and genuinely counted as a long life.

"In years past, the Son of Heaven Zhaozong ordered the Shence Army to encamp at Xingping and chastise that traitor Li Maozhen. But before the rebel troops even arrived, the Shence Army had already fallen into chaos.

Later the rebel host reached the West Wei Bridge and Lingao Post Station. The Emperor executed the Chief Minister Grand Tutor Du and his brother, along with the three lords of the Bureau of Military Affairs — Ximen Junsui, Li Zhoutong, and Duan Xu — and only then did the rebel host withdraw.

Now the court has appointed Jingzhao Governor Grand Guardian An, but he has not yet arrived, and the rebels are already at the West Wei Bridge. In the city there are no chief ministers or military affairs commissioners left. Who can save us?"

Li Shouling knelt on the ground, grief welling from his heart. At these words, the dozens of elders and the several hundred Chang'an folk who had come to make offerings all broke into loud weeping.

At this time, Chang'an was actually still not small in scale. Counting residents inside and outside the walls, plus Xingping and the other counties, there were still more than two hundred thousand inhabitants — over seventy thousand in the city proper alone.

Though most of the wards and markets had been destroyed, the area from Kaiyuan Gate in the west to the imperial city could still be lived in. Merchants from Anxi, Hexi, the Central Plains to the east, and Ba-Shu to the southwest mostly gathered there.

It certainly could not compare with the Chang'an of old, but in China — even in the whole world — it still had to be counted as prosperous.

One must remember that Damascus, praised to the heavens, had only a hundred thousand or so people at this time — quite possibly fewer.

The weeping grew louder and louder, and the crowd larger and larger. Li Shouling had even wept himself to the ground. This seasoned "escape artist" knew too that this time, most likely, there would be no getting away.

Whenever an enemy came from the west, once the West Wei Bridge was taken, there had never been a Chang'an that could not be captured. And the Jinchang Army defending Chang'an would not even allow them to flee the city, forcing the residents to give one man in three for conscription, saying they would fight the enemy to the death.

Li Shouling knew why. The rebel army outside the city had wanted to sack Chang'an in the first place; with the residents forced to help defend the walls, once the rebels took the city, the reprisals would be all the more savage.

The Jinchang Army wanted to create exactly that situation, so that the residents would have no choice but to help defend the city.

"Emperor Taizong the Civil Emperor! Open your eyes and look! Are the descendants of the Li family to be cut off today? What must we do? How can we get a few years of peaceful life?

Your descendants, from the time they can remember, have fled disaster every single year. If the former emperors know anything in heaven, send down some heavenly soldiers to save us, your descendants!"

With Li Shouling's wailing, the several hundred people outside the long-ruined Danfeng Gate of the Daming Palace wept until they were nearly breathless.

The Danfeng Gate had been the main passage by which the Tang emperors entered and left the palace city; of all the gates of the Daming Palace, it was of the highest standard, with a tall gate tower above, and it was the important site for outer-court grand ceremonies such as enthronements, declarations of amnesty, and changes of reign title.

These people, thinking of the splendor of the Great Tang in its heyday, felt as though knives were twisting inside them.

For they were not, in fact, ordinary commoners, but the surviving descendants of the Li Tang royal house.

Though back then Zhu Wen had nearly slaughtered all the Li Tang princes in the Sixteen Princes' Residence, and at the White Horse Incident had gone so far as to cut the weeds and pull up the roots.

But those had all been the direct bloodline of the Li Tang imperial clan. The Li Tang had risen from Longyou; in the Northern and Southern Dynasties period they had already been a great noble house. By the time the Great Tang was established, who knew how many bloodlines had spread — how could a few massacres possibly kill them all?

These Li family members now gathered in Chang'an were mostly descendants of cadet-branch princes whom the Li Tang had enfeoffed in various places; some were descendants of ancestors who had committed crimes and been exiled; and still more were those whose bloodline had grown too distant and who had sunk into commoner status.

After the fall of the Tang, these people lost the halo around them. With war and chaos everywhere, they could hardly survive, and in the end, relying on traveling merchants or clan relief, they slowly gathered in Chang'an.

Though many bore the surnames Wang, Hu, or Tang, when they traced their ancestry, they were indeed of the Li Tang line.

"Send down heavenly soldiers, Emperor Taizong the Civil Emperor! Save us!"

"Ancestors! Open your eyes!"

Beneath the Danfeng Gate, weeping shook the heavens, and the kowtowing worshippers heaved like waves. It was only a pity that too few of these remnants of the Li Tang could take up sword and spear and fight as their ancestors had.

Like that vanished dynasty itself, the martial spirit in them had long since faded away to nothing.

But just at that moment, a fierce wind came sweeping in, whipping up dust that filled heaven and earth. A few dark clouds pressed down, blotting out the red sun, and faint thunder rumbled from the horizon.

Li Shouling let out a wretched cry and tried to shield the spirit tablets and the sacrificial meat and fruit.

But how could a man outrun a gale? In an instant, the dust-laden wind overturned the spirit tablets, the sacrificial meat and fruit laid out on the altar table, sending everything crashing to the ground. A few fine drops of rain rode the wind and spattered onto the people's faces.

"Is our fortune truly spent? Hahaha! It was spent long ago! The ancestors no longer protect their descendants!" Li Shouling, hair disheveled in the wind, rain, and dust, looked like a madman.

The crowd too stared at the completely overturned offering tablets, dumbstruck, hearts like dead ashes.

They had come today to make offerings because they felt their days were numbered, and because it happened to be the thirtieth-anniversary memorial — they had come seeking one last bit of comfort for their hearts. They had not expected that even this, Heaven would not allow them to finish.

"Old Shou! Old Shou! Great joy! Great joy!" Just then, a yellow horse came galloping from the distance.

Li Shouling raised his eyes. It was a young man called Guo Zhao. His uncle was Guo Zaihui, Deputy Director of the Court of Diplomatic Reception in the Mingzong period of the Later Tang, and the fifth-generation descendant of Guo Ziyi, Prince of Fenyang.

The daughter of Lord Guo had married Li Chun, Emperor Xianzong of Tang, and given birth to Li Heng, Emperor Muzong of Tang — she was Empress Yi'an.

Empress Yi'an had lived through the reigns of Emperors Muzong, Jingzong, Wenzong, Wuzong, and Xuanzong of Tang, serving as Empress Dowager through all five courts. So this group of cadet-branch Li descendants regarded the branch of the Guo family that had remained in Chang'an as their own kin.

"Great joy? What joy is there? The spirit tablets have been overturned by the gale — our fortune is spent. What joy is there?" Li Shouling's face was bleak; after a few sobs, he looked at Guo Zhao and wept aloud.

"Of course there is joy! Joy beyond heaven!" Guo Zhao seemed not to see Li Shouling's wretched state or the wreckage on the ground. He seized Li Shouling by the shoulders and shook him.

"Old Shou, the rebel army at the West Wei Bridge has withdrawn! I heard from the squad leader guarding Anyuan Gate that last night, more than ten bold riders bearing the Three Stars Banner broke through to outside Anyuan Gate.

They cast a letter onto the gate, calling themselves survivors of the Great Tang — Military Governor Zhang of the Guiyi Army, leading ten thousand cavalry into the capital to rescue the throne, telling us to hold the city fast, and that they would surely defeat the rebel troops.

And sure enough, just now word came from the scouts outside the city: the rebel host, tens of thousands strong, has struck camp from the West Wei Bridge and gone west!"

The Three Stars Banner? Survivors of the Great Tang? Entering the capital to rescue the throne? These three pieces of news struck Li Shouling into a daze.

As for entering the capital to rescue the throne — given that Chang'an was now called Jingzhao Prefecture, that could barely be made to make sense. But the Three Stars Banner and the survivors of the Great Tang — those two pieces of news were deeply baffling.

"Military Governor Zhang of the Guiyi Army? Was it not said that the Zhang family had long since fallen amid the barbarian dust? Hexi has been lost for a hundred and fifty years — how did the Guiyi Army get to Guanzhong?" Li Shouling muttered to himself, utterly unable to make sense of it.

Suddenly, Guo Zhao pointed into the distance and cried out: "Eh? Which former emperor's spirit tablet is that? How is it sitting upright atop the ridge?"

Everyone followed Guo Zhao's pointing finger and looked up. Daming Palace had been built on Dragon Head Plateau, and after its abandonment, many earthen mounds and hillocks remained. On the hillock nearest to them, a spirit tablet indeed sat upright at the very top, as if someone had deliberately placed it there.

Li Shouling remembered his own weeping and wailing just now. He lifted his legs and ran over as if wind were under his feet. When he drew near, before his dim old eyes could make it out clearly, Guo Zhao shouted again.

"Isn't this the spirit tablet of Emperor Taizong the Civil Emperor? Who placed it upon this hillock?"

Hearing this, Li Shouling felt his whole body go numb, and he stiffened. He turned his neck with difficulty to look at the dozen or so elders behind him, all around his own age. The shock in their eyes was as great as if they had seen a god or Buddha descend to the mortal world.

Thud! Almost at the same moment as Li Shouling, the elders collapsed crookedly to their knees, tears and snot streaming down their faces.

"We unfilial descendants kowtow in thanks to Emperor Taizong the Civil Emperor for saving our lives! The heavenly troops have arrived! We have nothing more to fear!"

Guo Zhao, who had only just figured out what was going on, was also dumbstruck. Then he slowly knelt along with the rest.

After the kowtowing, earth-shaking cheers rang out. Everyone was celebrating their narrow escape from death. Soon the story spread through the whole city: Emperor Taizong the Civil Emperor had manifested his divine power, summoning heavenly troops with wind, rain, clouds, and dragons to save Chang'an.

Before long, word spread through the city again: the ones who had frightened off the bandit army were descendants of the late Grand Guardian Zhang. So elders led the people to find the ruins of the former residence of Zhang Yichao, the imperially appointed Military Governor of the Guiyi Army and Duke of Nanyang, and burned incense and kowtowed outside.

Outside Mapaoquan Village, the sound of voices and hoofbeats came as if from the edge of the sky. Countless banners, large and small, appeared in disorder across the vast plain.

At the same time, the rebel cavalry inside Mapaoquan Village began sending out small groups of elite riders, desperately breaking out of the village, trying to reach the approaching army.

After a long lull of half a day, in the few li of open ground between the bandit army's main formation and Mapaoquan Village, fierce cavalry chases began unfolding once more.

Bai Congxin led several hundred riders galloping back and forth around the rebel army's great formation. Although these rebels looked like a chaotic mess, they were in fact extremely well ordered.

This army of more than ten thousand moved like a slowly crawling tortoise. Its inner battle formation was intact, like the plates on a tortoise shell. Around the entire formation stood elite crossbowmen holding arm-drawn crossbows, guarding the array.

Whenever Bai Congxin and his men tried to draw near, the crossbowmen quickly formed up to deter them. At the same time, small groups of riders—who looked to be the elite personal guards of various officers—would emerge from the great formation to assist the crossbowmen.

Over this stretch of a dozen or so li, Bai Congxin tried more than ten times. A few times he even found a gap and broke through to a weak point in the great formation, but each time he was quickly forced back out by the combination of crossbowmen and a small number of elite cavalry.

Du Lun Chixin, riding beside Bai Congxin, spat fiercely. "Fuck his old mother! There are small hillocks and village strongholds on all four sides to defend, and no shortage of water. The bandits' bows and crossbows are strong too. They're like a vicious tortoise—taking a bite out of them is no easy thing!"

"The distance is simply too short—only a dozen or so li. With part of their force armored and moving slowly as escort, they can guarantee safety using only a small number of cavalry. Unless we're willing to accept heavy casualties, there's absolutely no way to break in." Zhebu Jiashi added from the side.

Bai Congxin, however, was quite calm. He pointed with his riding crop at the army formation, where signal flags waved ceaselessly and messengers galloped back and forth.

"There are more than ten thousand troops here—the elite of the Zhangyi Army of the Jingyuan Military Governor and the Jingnan Army of the Binning Military Governor. How could they possibly be taken by the likes of us so easily?

Order the men of every company to keep harassing them without cease. Give the enemy no chance to catch their breath. The Sikong should be here shortly."

He Chuan's face was grim. Before he even reached Mapaoquan Village, he knew something was wrong. Either Sun Xiaoguo's reconnaissance had been mistaken, or Sun Xiaoguo had set him up.

The cavalry harassing the army all along the road came and went like the wind—swift, fierce, and numerous. How could there possibly be only a mere two thousand riders?

There had to be around four thousand riders. And if that were so, then the Hexi army was very likely more than eight thousand men as well.

Still, He Chuan believed Sun Xiaoguo had gotten one thing right: if they destroyed this Hexi Guiyi Army that had repeatedly spoiled their plans, it would intimidate the Zhenguo Army of Huazhou and the Xiongwu Army of Qinzhou, making them afraid to come.

It would also frighten the Jinchang Army inside Chang'an out of its wits, so they would not dare resist to the death.

This was the reason He Chuan had used to persuade his subordinates to abandon the Chang'an that lay within arm's reach, strike camp, and come to fight the Hexi men to the death.

"Set up camp right here! Order Zhao, the garrison commander of the Jingnan Army, to take five hundred elite crossbowmen as support, to suppress the Hexi army's cavalry and cover Commander Sun in Mapaoquan. Divide the troops into five watches, resting in rotation. Pay no heed to the enemy riders' howling—rest and reorganize at ease!"

As order after order was issued, He Chuan's force of more than twelve thousand bandit troops, along with several thousand able-bodied men they had swept up, set up camp on a hillside three li from Mapaoquan.

Several small streams ran below this hillside, sparing the army any worry of water shortage for the time being. It was close to the cavalry in Mapaoquan, so they could support each other, and could even help relieve the pressure on the Mapaoquan cavalry—one move, many gains.

As soon as He Chuan set up camp, Sun Xiaoguo's cavalry in Mapaoquan immediately became active again. With the support of crossbowmen, the two sides quickly established contact across this short stretch of three li.

Bai Congxin swiftly shifted from harassing the enemy formation to attempting to cut the link between the bandit cavalry and their main formation. The two sides fought even more fiercely around this single village of Mapaoquan.

One hour after He Chuan had set up his formation, from north of Mapaoquan Village, the sound of marching footsteps—thud, thud, thud—began to rise.

The Hexi army cavalry, still locked in combat outside Mapaoquan Village, began slowly disengaging from the fight when they heard this sound.

It was now the beginning of the shen hour, and the sun was starting to sink westward. The first thing to appear before the rebel army's eyes was banner after banner emerging from behind the hill to the north.

There were the five directional command flags—red, yellow, white, black—and the identification banners of each officer. Close behind came the Great Tang's Three Celestial Bodies banners, the great standard and yamen gate banners of the Guiyi Army's Military Governor, and the commander's identification banner bearing the character Zhang.

As the identification banners came into view, countless soldiers in dense black ranks appeared, marching in step. On both flanks they wore lamellar armor of red and black lacquered plates; in the center was a strange armor He Chuan had never seen before, seemingly cloth-faced.

Cavalry and infantry alike advanced and retreated as one, moving as if directed by a single arm. Apart from the occasional cry of livestock and the orderly tramp of feet, the only sound was the drumming that coordinated the formations.

They surged over from the north, blotting out sky and earth. A suffocating sense of pressure made even He Chuan's disorderly troops feel short of breath.

The soldiers felt the pressure, but He Chuan's brow actually relaxed a little. Though the enemy looked elite, their numbers were not as great as Sun Xiaoguo had claimed.

There were not six thousand infantry. Judging by the formation, there were only around four thousand—far fewer than six thousand. The cavalry was numerous, but he saw no riders in heavy armor.

Defense Commissioner Wu rode over at that moment. "Commander, these Hexi troops, together with the skirmishing cavalry that has been harrying us since earlier, should total only a bit over eight thousand. And among them there must be several thousand Tangut cavalry—hardly elite.

Their main force should be only around five thousand. They do have a great many mules and horses. Our army has the advantage in defense—we must not attack rashly!"

"Those fellows do have many armored men, but they have no experience at all. They've all put on armor now, while the sun is fierce and the heat is steaming. After an hour they should be utterly exhausted.

I need only stand firm as a boulder. If they come, we shoot them down with bows and crossbows. Once their strength is spent, one drumbeat and we can break them!"

He Chuan nodded in agreement. The more he looked, the more he felt his odds of victory were high. The commander of this Hexi army was actually a greenhorn—having his men don armor this early. They'd die of heat before they could even fight.

It seemed he had been too cautious, treating this Hexi Guiyi Army as if they were someone to be reckoned with.

Heh heh! Once they were destroyed, he would gain at least several thousand fine horses. Then, with the wealth of Chang'an, he could recruit the elite cavalry of the Hexi army. With both horse and foot complete, he would fear neither An Shenqi nor even Shi of Hedong himself, should he come in person!

The more He Chuan thought, the more pleased he became. But from the distance came a few strange camel calls. For some reason, they made He Chuan uneasy.

Zhang Zhao was also observing He Chuan. He rode to high ground and studied him carefully for a while. He Chuan's camp was laid out with skill, and his command was quite proper. Though he had the numbers, he did not attack proactively—clearly he had seen that the Guiyi Army side had donned armor too early.

He was a man who could keep his composure—he even had something of the bearing of a famous general. On his own side, perhaps only Yan Jin could compare.

But a cold sneer flickered across Zhang Zhao's face. Unfortunately for him, he had run into Zhang Zhao!

"Who will go issue a challenge? Let us see just how composed this Troop Commander He really is!"

Zhang Zhao rode back to the command position and shouted to the crowd of fierce officers behind him.

"Sikong! Leave this challenge to me, your humble officer!" Murong Xinzhang was eager to step forward, but Qiong Re Duojin on Zhang Zhao's left could not hold back.

Zhang Zhao waved his hand, and this brave Tibetan general rode out of the formation.

Originally, the job of cursing the enemy on Zhang Zhao's side had always gone to Ma Yaozi. He was sharp-tongued and had an endless stream of profanity—no one could match him. Unfortunately, after Ma Yaozi became a battalion commander, he no longer cared for such work.

Only Qiong Re Duojin was still keen on it. He had recently arrived after helping Liu Zaisheng stabilize the situation in Yuanzhou. Apart from Ma Yaozi, he was the only one with a real knack for cursing.

At this moment the two armies were separated by a little over a li. Qiong Re Duojin, spear in hand and a quiver slung at his side, rode out toward the middle of the field. The soldiers of the Guiyi Army roared to cheer him on.

He Chuan glanced at Qiong Re Duojin coming from the opposite side and sneered.

"Tell the officers not to go out and fight. I want to see what tricks they can pull — they've put on armor but aren't pressing forward, so what kind of champion-duel game are they playing out here?"

"The heavenly troops of Hexi have arrived! Which of you farm-slaves dares to come out and face me in single combat?" Qiong Re Duojin lazily spurred his horse to a spot a little over four hundred paces away and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Hmph!" He Chuan snorted coldly, utterly unmoved. That's it? That's what they call a challenge? They could shout themselves hoarse and he would never send a man out.

Seeing that no one moved, Qiong Re Duojin advanced another thirty paces, lifted a gaudy woman's undergarment into the air on the tip of his long spear, then flung it hard in front of the rebel army's formation.

"Since no one dares come out to fight, it seems you must all be missing a certain object between your legs. No doubt you prefer this garment's bright colors and are willing to lie down like women.

Why not come out, put it on, and dance a tune for your old man? Perhaps then I might spare your lives. Who is He Chuan? Come out and try this on — see if it fits?"

Many fierce-looking men in the rebel army flushed red, and the soldiers roared in an uproar, their eyes seeming capable of killing. Anger rose on He Chuan's face as well. He swallowed hard and shouted furiously.

"Hold the formation! No one is permitted to go out and fight!"

Interesting. Qiong Re Duojin rubbed his chin. He can endure that? He steeled himself and spurred his horse forward another fifty or sixty paces.

He was now only a little over three hundred paces from the enemy formation. At this distance, if they had a sharpshooter with a strong bow, the man would only need to ride out a few dozen paces to shoot him.

Having reached a point some three hundred paces from the enemy formation, Qiong Re Duojin said nothing. He dismounted directly, planted his long spear in the ground, then removed his quiver, then his saber, then his short side-blade.

Finally, he even began taking off his helmet and armor, stripping his armor right there in front of more than ten thousand enemy soldiers.

Before the watching crowd, Qiong Re Duojin quickly stripped down to nothing but his underclothes, with not even a weapon left in his hands.

The cursing from the rebel army erupted like a mountain avalanche and a roaring sea. Even He Chuan, calm as he was, was so enraged that his eyes seemed to spit fire.

To dare dismount at three hundred paces — never mind dismounting, to dare strip off his armor — he was treating his ten thousand stout warriors as clay chickens and tile dogs.

"Commander, let me go out and fight!"

"Commander, I swear to kill this wretch!"

Several brave officers threw themselves before He Chuan and begged to go out. He Chuan clenched his teeth and was about to refuse when, all of a sudden, the cursing grew even louder.

He Chuan glared over and was instantly shaking with fury. Qiong Re Duojin had spread his legs, taken out an unidentifiable object, and was letting loose a stream of water toward the rebel army.

"Kill that wretch at once!" He Chuan jabbed his finger at Qiong Re Duojin and roared.

A tall officer who had long been unable to restrain himself immediately swung onto his horse and burst out of the formation at full gallop!

Hoofbeats thundered. Qiong Re Duojin leapt backward, heedless of the urine soaking his trousers. The enemy was coming fast — three hundred paces would be covered in an instant, and he had little time.

The rebel cavalry officer came on with murderous momentum, drawing an arrow from his quiver. He intended to kill Qiong Re Duojin with a single shot once he closed within sixty paces.

Twang! The sound of a bowstring vibrating rang out. The rebel cavalry officer was startled, but then reflected that the distance was still great, and his heart settled considerably.

But the next instant, a tremendous force struck him in the chest. The cavalry officer felt a pain in his chest, as though someone had punched him through the air, and then his vision went black and he toppled from his horse.

Qiong Re Duojin smiled smugly. It turned out what he held was no ordinary bow, but a divine-arm crossbow!

"What a cunning wretch!" Seeing that Qiong Re Duojin had hidden a powerful crossbow, two more cavalry officers burst from the rebel formation. A crossbow is slow to span — surely he could not kill two men at three hundred paces.

But they too had miscalculated. The divine-arm crossbow spanned far faster than an ordinary crossbow. When one cavalry officer was a little over a hundred paces away, Qiong Re Duojin loosed a bolt, and the enemy officer took the arrow in the forehead and fell.

When his comrade fell, the other cavalry officer was instead overjoyed. He clamped his legs and urged his warhorse on faster, hoping to shoot Qiong Re Duojin while he was spanning his crossbow.

But after only a few breaths, Qiong Re Duojin raised that strange crossbow again. The cavalry officer cried out in alarm and wheeled his horse to dodge in a circle — but too late. Qiong Re Duojin bellowed and killed him with a single bolt.

Having lost three cavalry officers in succession, the rebel army could no longer save face. More than ten riders burst from the formation without waiting for He Chuan's order!

On the Guiyi Army's side, cheers thundered. Murong Xinzhang, Li Cunhui, Wen Chongle, Wang Tongxin, and more than ten other brave officers also spurred their horses out.

Wang Tongxin took only his divine-arm crossbow and cared for nothing else. Amid the whistling of arrows tearing through the air, he raced back with all his might.

Boom-boom — the war drums sounded. As more than twenty brave officers on both sides paired off in combat, the infantry on both sides began clamoring. The Guiyi Army's heavy-armored infantry even began advancing.

"Sound the gongs! Call them back! Crossbowmen and archers, prepare — let the enemy come and attack!"

The anger on He Chuan's face receded as he shouted. They had more bows and crossbows than the Guiyi Army, so holding with a great formation of bows and crossbows was the correct course.

Zhang Zhao, for his part, chuckled. Behind him, eighty whirlwind catapults had already been fully assembled on camelback.

He had feared He Chuan would launch an all-out assault before his whirlwind catapults could be assembled — the rebel army had many bows and crossbows, after all — so he had sent Qiong Re Duojin to issue the challenge and buy time, while also giving the enemy the false impression that he himself was eager to attack.

Now that his whirlwind catapults were assembled, and the enemy's great bow-and-crossbow formation was cumbersome to move, he only needed to smash those most dangerous crossbowmen into collapse first, and victory in this battle would be far more likely.

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