Chapter 93: Who Ambushes Whom

Cao Yao led his men, following Liu Chengzong all the way east until they reached Slate Mountain. He couldn't hold back any longer.

"Lion, if we go any further east, we'll really be at Yanshui Pass. You're not actually thinking of using these soldier uniforms and armor to trick our way through Yanshui Pass, are you?"

Cao Yao let out a long yawn as he spoke, looked up at the night sky, and shook his head. "You'd better think this through. The garrison commander might not fall for it."

The brothers have been following you all day, exhausted. The men are weary and the horses spent — we've got no strength left for another fight."

Under the moonlight, Liu Chengzong's face wore a sly grin that Cao Yao found utterly baffling. "That's what you think?"

"What else? We really are tired. Look, even my mule is dozing off, never mind the wounded."

Cao Yao sighed, then fixed his eyes on Liu Chengzong and asked seriously, "No, I mean, aren't you tired? Look at you, all fired up."

Liu Chengzong paused, then said earnestly, "I am tired. But you've had your say — I've already sent Wei Qian'er with men to Yanshui Pass."

"I..."

Cao Yao raised a hand and slapped his own face. He was frantic. "Are you insane?! If the government troops behind us give chase, and the garrison troops ahead sally out from the pass, in pitch darkness, they'll bottle us up right here. From Yanchuan to Yanshui Pass, there's only this one damned road!"

"Don't panic. Why hit yourself? It's the middle of the night. Do you really think they'll pursue? Or do you really think they'll come out from the pass?"

Liu Chengzong still wore that brimming-with-energy look. "Then take the men up the mountain. No torches. Up Slate Mountain."

Two men, two horses, standing in the middle of the road talking — the column advancing by moonlight behind them couldn't move at all.

Before long, Gao Xian and Feng Rang both sent men over first, then came in person to see what the holdup was.

The few of them gathered around, and Cao Yao was still worked up. "What exactly is your plan? If we get caught in a pincer, we lose for sure. Even an ambush might not win us the fight."

"I didn't really want to say. You insisted on asking."

Liu Chengzong sighed, glanced at the column behind them, and said to the group, "I was afraid that if I said it and it didn't pan out, I'd end up losing face and becoming a laughingstock.

Brother Cao, do you think that Mobile Corps Commander back in Yanchuan will pursue us?"

Not only did Cao Yao nod, but Gao Xian and Feng Rang also nodded slowly.

Everyone thought the Mobile Corps Commander would pursue — but that was predicated on him already knowing they were indeed advancing toward Yanshui Pass.

"If the Mobile Corps Commander pursues, he'll guard against us making a feint to the east while striking west. He's bound to send relay riders to the other roads.

If we head anywhere else, we'll be discovered. So the only road we can take is this one."

Cao Yao said nothing. Feng Rang couldn't hold back and spread his hands. "But then, walking this road is pointless. The government troops can still catch up, and we might still get trapped in these mountains."

Liu Chengzong raised a hand and waved it. "I can't be certain whether the Mobile Corps Commander will pursue. What if he doesn't?

What if he decides to rest a night at Jingjiagou before pursuing? That's entirely possible. Remember how starved we were at Yuhe Fort — would we have dared a night raid then?

If he doesn't pursue, aren't we missing a golden opportunity?"

Cao Yao paced a few steps on the spot, frowning. "What golden opportunity?"

"The golden opportunity to thrash the Yanshui Pass garrison commander! Hold on, hear me out."

Liu Chengzong raised a hand. "Here's what we do. First, have the men head up Slate Mountain. Rest on the spot once up there — no one will spot them at night. I'll lay out my whole idea for you."

The order was quickly passed down. The three squads of soldiers, the post-station troops, and the courier cavalry filed slowly up the small path toward Slate Mountain.

Liu Chengzong, the squad leaders, and one mounted squad remained at the foot of the mountain beside the official road.

Now that the road was quiet, Liu Chengzong cleared his throat and said to them with a grin, "I sent Wei Qian'er and a few post-station troops to Yanshui Pass to request reinforcements.

The post-station troops disguised themselves as farmers — they're all locals. They'll go first and report that a village to the west is under attack. Then Wei Qian'er, posing as a relay rider under Chief Wang, will go request reinforcements. If reinforcements are refused, he'll deliver a warning.

Warn him that if Chief Wang is defeated, I will attack Yanshui Pass."

As he spoke, Liu Chengzong spread his two hands apart, then slowly brought them together. "Commander Lu pursues me, Yanshui Pass blocks me. Traveling at night, both will send out relay riders and scouts.

Once I shoot those relay riders dead right here — what happens?"

Cao Yao's eyes reflected the moonlight. "You want them to attack each other?"

Liu Chengzong nodded eagerly, then deflated and sighed. "But I don't know if Commander Lu will attack, nor whether the Yanshui Pass garrison commander will sally out."

Cao Yao nodded. "Right. This scheme of yours needs both sides to be bold and meticulous heroes. If Commander Lu doesn't dare pursue, then it's all for nothing."

"No, no, no. It doesn't matter if Commander Lu doesn't dare pursue."

Liu Chengzong quickly shook his head. "If he doesn't pursue, as long as the Yanshui Pass garrison dares to come out, we'll see them pass by here.

When they return, men weary and horses spent, we'll be well-rested and well-fed — the perfect moment to thrash them and break Yanshui Pass.

If both come, then let them fight it out. Depending on the battle, we either join in or head south — either way, we'll have an opening.

My only fear is that the Yanshui Pass garrison commander is a coward."

Liu Chengzong laid his entire plan bare, then said to Cao Yao, "Let's be clear upfront: if he doesn't come out, don't laugh at me for making you all wait here all night for nothing.

If he does come out, let's set a contingency plan first. If we get scattered, we regroup at Yanchang County."

These men were all wide-eyed by now.

Watching Liu Chengzong, who was earnestly reiterating every detail, a sudden, immense, inexplicable sorrow welled up in Cao Yao's heart.

He didn't know how to describe this feeling.

He only knew that if, back during the great rout at Sarhu, the squad leader hadn't been him, but instead this man before him — this Liu Chengzong, who could conceive of devouring the upper hand and the lower hand alike, of making the enemy block the enemy —

perhaps many more could have survived that desperate flight.

He had never noticed before that this little lion carried such immense power within him — power that could make men follow him, teetering on the edge of life and death several times a day, yet never feeling weary.

With everything said, the few men now understood Liu Chengzong's thinking and all nodded in agreement.

They divided up the tasks, set an ambush along the official road, left men at the mountain's foot for the ambush, and had the rest take turns going up the mountain to sleep.

And so they waited, all the way until midnight.

Liu Chengzong woke several times, but neither the reinforcements from the northwest nor the southeast ever came. Wei Qian'er, however, did return.

But he brought no particularly good news. The garrison commander at Yanshui Pass maintained strict military discipline — no one was allowed into the pass fortress at night, so they never even got to see the commander.

They had only managed to pass the message inside. Whether it had any effect, no one knew.

In the latter half of the night, the temperature plummeted.

Camped in the open atop the mountain, the squad leaders of the Mule Battalion had too much on their minds to sleep. Each one wrapped in his clothes, staring wide-eyed at the stars.

Suddenly, from the foot of the mountain came the agonized shriek of a fine horse.

The fish has taken the bait!

Several men who had been lying on the ground utterly silent and still suddenly scrambled to their feet as if on cue and fled madly down the mountain.

Still standing halfway up the slope, Liu Chengzong saw countless torches to the northwest converging into a fiery dragon, rushing in this direction.

Yet, when no one expected it, on the due north side just across an official road, the mountaintop suddenly erupted with flame and a thunderous roar.

That was the flash of a cannonball leaving the muzzle.

A sheet of firelight flickered over the mountain ridge as cannons boomed like thunder.

Afterward, the foot of the mountain also returned fire, bombarding the heights.

The Yanshui Pass artillery, lying soundlessly in ambush on the northern ridge, and the rushing reinforcements under Mobile Corps General Lu Cheng.

Under the pitch-black curtain of night, they opened fire with cannons, blasting at each other.