In Perfect Sync
Outside the commander's tent, the Liang generals urgently held Xun Tianzhang back the moment they saw him striding out to take the field himself.
"My lord Marshal, you must not!"
But Xun Tianzhang would not be stopped. He walked out into the rain and bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"All generals in camp, assemble at once!"
Sharpened to a razor's edge, Xun Tianzhang immediately summoned his commanders and began laying out a new plan. The Liang camp, which had scattered in confusion, gradually regained its order.
"General Yu, you defend the right flank! General Shi and General Sa, the left! Cavalry, don your armor at once and await my orders! General Jeon, take the infantry and encircle from behind the cavalry — wait for my signal, then ride out with them and drive the Jin army back!"
"Show the Jin army that we are not weak lambs, but wolves with iron in our spines! Make them tremble in terror! Strike them so hard that the mere sight of a Liang banner sends them scurrying into hiding, too frightened to fight!"
"Attack!"
"Attack!"
"Attack!"
In an instant, the morale of the Liang army surged to its peak, and the generals moved to Xun Tianzhang's orders with flawless precision.
Liu Hong sat his horse at the very rear of the soldiers. The rain obscured visibility, making it impossible to relay orders by banner — he had no choice but to rely on messengers.
Before coming here, Bai Jingyan had admonished Liu Hong to attack with the full posture of annihilating the Liang troops. Only then, she said, would the old general who had spent his life at war truly believe that Jin intended to strike the Liang camp by surprise using the strategy of "releasing the tiger back down the mountain."
Their goal was to lure the Liang army into Longyang City. If they gambled on luck, she had stressed again and again, even the slightest hitch would bring down everything they had built.
Liu Hong understood this principle perfectly well — but had Bai Jingyan not pressed the point, he would never have pushed so hard at the price of blood.
The moment Marshal Liu Hong's order fell, the messenger soldiers scattered to the four winds on horseback, plunging through the downpour to carry the command to the frontmost lines.
"Shield Battalion, ready!"
"Shield Battalion, ready!"
"Shield Battalion, ready!"
Xun Tianzhang climbed the watchtower. He could hear the Jin messenger soldiers galloping madly through the rain, shouting their orders.
The Jin forces were rapidly falling back from the vanguard battalions that had been pressing the Liang camp. The shield battalion hoisted their great towers, advancing with heavy, measured steps before slamming their massive shields of black iron down into the mud. Blood that had spattered in every direction now ran like a river.
The pouring rain washed over the corpses of fallen soldiers. It was a scene that fit the phrase "a river run red with blood" to the letter.
The soldiers of Jin's shield battalion roared their war cry as they closed on the Liang camp step by heavy step, turning aside every arrow that came shrieking from the Liang lines.
To lead an assault with the shield battalion at the very front was nothing to be optimistic about. Xun Tianzhang turned his head.
"Cavalry, prepare!"
The Liang cavalry inside the camp had completed their preparations exactly as Xun Tianzhang had ordered, awaiting only the signal.
Every warhorse in the cavalry battalion was draped in iron barding, only their eyes showing. The riders, too, had donned thick armor.
Across the field, the drums and horns of the Jin army grew denser, tighter.
Gritting his teeth, Xun Tianzhang seized the lull to fan his soldiers' fighting spirit.
"Soldiers of the cavalry battalion, hear me! You are the sharpest blade our Liang possesses! The moment the Jin lose their shield wall, we can slaughter their footmen like herding cattle to the knife! I stand here to spur you on! To the man who takes the most enemy heads in this battle, I give the richest reward! Attack!"
"Brothers of the cavalry! ATTACK!"
A general rode at the very front, and the Liang cavalry thundered out of the camp with a roar, their frenzied horses splashing through the blood-red mud.
"The Liang cavalry is attacking! Ready! Ready!"
The Jin messenger shouted at the top of his lungs from horseback.
Gripping the palace spearman on the watchtower, Xun Tianzhang bellowed.
"Shoot down that Jin messenger!"
"Yes, sir!"
The spearman took aim and loosed an arrow.
A single shot knocked the messenger clean off his horse mid-gallop through the rain.
"Well done!"
Xun Tianzhang clapped the spearman on the shoulder.
"When this war is over, go find General Xun!"
"Yes, sir!"
Light flashed in the spearman's eyes; his fighting spirit blazed up in an instant, and he threw himself into the battle with everything he had.
But before that spearman could draw his bow again, a feathered arrow punched through his throat and buried itself deep in the tower's timber. The blood-soaked feathers trembled.
Whirling around, Xun Tianzhang glimpsed through the sheeting rain the faint silhouette of a woman in silver armor. Slight but strikingly tall, she was drawing her bow once more.
"My lord Marshal, beware!"
His guard shoved Xun Tianzhang aside with all his speed — and the second arrow buried itself in the guard's chest.
The guard vomited blood from his mouth and collapsed to the ground, never to rise again.
Slammed against the inner wall of the watchtower, Xun Tianzhang felt his pupils shake. He had never imagined Bai Jingyan possessed such ferocity. Not only had she led the Jin troops herself, spearheading their charge all the way to the mouth of the Liang camp — she was now lunging to take his head.
They had walked straight into the trap!
Cold sweat had soaked Xun Tianzhang's clothes through. He clutched at his chest, which felt ready to burst. Pale as a corpse, he struggled to rise but could not move at all. Incoming arrows darkened the sky, threatening to turn the watchtower into a hedgehog. Forcing down the pain, he threw his mind into frantic calculation.
His son would not make a foolish judgment. Upon reaching Pingming Road, the first thing he would do was determine where the Jin army lay in ambush — and if his scouts could not find them, he was exactly the sort of man who would realize he had walked into a trap.
If he failed to notice the trap even without finding the Jin army, then all those years Xun Tianzhang had kept him at his side and taught him had been wasted — it would mean his son was nothing but a hopeless fool.
As the Liang cavalry battered aside the black-iron shields that gleamed cold and wet in the rain, a Liang general drew his blade and roared.
"The Jin shield wall is broken! Valiant men of Liang, CHARGE!"
The Liang soldiers swept down from the high ground behind their mounted general and crashed into the Jin ranks in brutal close combat. Steel rang against steel, scraping across the empty air; red blood spurted everywhere, and torn bodies lay foully scattered across the field.
The roar of the pouring rain, the clang of weapons striking together, shouts and screams — blood mingled with rainwater, staining the mud the color of gore.
If hell existed, it would look like this.
Bai Jingyan had not yet fully revived her mastery of the spear, but against Liang foot soldiers who were no masters, this much was more than enough. Moreover, Liu Hong had specially assigned men to protect her, and the enemy could not get within a spear's length of her.
Time and again Bai Jingyan tried to hurl herself into the thick of the fighting, but the Jin soldiers kept her tightly ringed about, and every attempt failed. Liu Hong's orders had been explicit: if so much as a single hair of Bai Jingyan's head was harmed, they were to bring him their own heads in apology.
Xun Tianzhang's son returned faster than Bai Jingyan had expected. From far off came the sound of war cries and the screaming of horses. Zhao Sheng led his cavalry straight into the battle. He swung his cresmoon blade, and such was its terrible force that where its cold light swept, blood spattered and bodies flew — torsos and heads scattering in different directions.
Bai Jingyan, shielded in the center of her protectors, reached for her bow — but her quiver was empty.
A Jin messenger came tearing through the chaos, shouting his orders.
"The Liang main force is striking from the right flank! Protect the Marshal!"
"The Liang main force is striking from the right flank! Protect the Marshal!"
Through the rain, Zhao Sheng bared the sinister smile of a victor and charged straight toward the direction where the black-cloth White-Guan Standard flew.
When General Xun learned that the Liang camp had been ambushed, he ordered Zhao Sheng to lead the cavalry in from the front while the main force swung around to strike the right flank. The reason they did not attack the Jin army's rear was to leave them a path of retreat and drive them toward the city — only then could the Jin army be sunk.
The Liang army wanted the Jin army pushed into Longyang City, and the Jin army wanted to lure the Liang army into Longyang City. It was, quite literally, a perfect match of designs.
The Jin army withdrew even as they held their defenses, and the Liang army drove the Jin soldiers relentlessly toward Longyang City. The Liang commanders assumed that once the Jin were pushed to the city's outskirts, they would surely flee inside to take shelter — but against all expectation, the Jin kept fighting desperately even outside the walls.
Xun Tianzhang's son worried that Liu Hong and Bai Jingyan might notice their strange maneuvering. If their intent were discovered, everything they had labored for would collapse. Determined not to be found out to the very end, he ordered his Liang soldiers to push straight through into the city and keep fighting there.
Inside Longyang City.
The Jin troops that had entered the city followed their generals out through the north gate, heading for Tianlan Mountain.
From atop her warhorse, Bai Jingyan watched the Jin troops that had entered the city withdraw in swift, clustered groups.
In this war, Bai Jingyan had been given the rear guard. Drawing the Liang army into the city through engagement was the single most important task — nothing could be allowed to go wrong here.
The Liang army was about a li away from the Husheng Reconnaissance Detachment. Bai Jingyan spoke to the rider beside her.
"Is there anyone here who speaks the Liang tongue?"
"I do, General!"
A Jin soldier at the very back answered.
"Good!"
Bai Jingyan called roughly ten men out of the ranks and gave her instructions to the soldier who knew the Liang language.
"Strip off your armor and helmet. Ride out and tell the Liang army that any treasure found in the city is theirs to keep! Teach that one line to the other soldiers in the Liang tongue as well!"
"Yes, General!"
The soldier answered with a formal salute, fist wrapped in palm.
Bai Jingyan gave her next order.
"After delivering the message, do not return to the city — skirt around it and ride for Tianlan Mountain!"
"Yes, General!"
The ten soldiers shed their armor, took up their horses, and rode out the city gate. There they split into two groups and galloped swiftly until they reached the lead elements of the Liang army, shouting their message at the top of their lungs.
"Any treasure found in the city is yours to keep!"
"Any treasure found in the city is yours to keep!"
"Any treasure found in the city is yours to keep!"
With total victory within their grasp, the Liang soldiers' eyes went red with uncontrollable excitement as they smashed into the enemy. They had heard that inside Longyang City lay not only the treasures of Chunmo City and Fuwen City, but also the rare valuables of the mansion of Xiao Rongyan, the richest merchant under heaven.
What heart, truly, would not waver before such wealth?
The Liang army could not contain itself. A general fighting at the very front bellowed.
"Soldiers, hear me! Every treasure found after we enter the city is ours! With that treasure we can go home, take wives, buy fields, and live in comfort with our families! It has been said that the first to enter the city may pocket what he finds for himself! CHARGE!"
"Soldiers of the Tiger-Wolf Battalion, hear me! The treasures of Chunmo City and Fuwen City were all stolen from us — we bled the hardest and got nothing! But in Longyang City there are not only the treasures of those two cities, but the wealth of the richest merchant under heaven as well! Men of the Tiger-Wolf Battalion, we must be the first to claim our share!"
The Liang generals roared their orders, and the Liang army plunged into a frenzy drunk on greed. They shrieked battle cries and swung their blades like madmen, carrying themselves as though they had already crushed the Jin and seized victory in their fists.
"Fall back! Fall back, quickly!"
The Jin army, as though beside themselves with panic, were startled by the onrushing momentum of the Liang army and screamed toward the city gate directly ahead.
"Faster! Run, before they can shut the gate! Charge! The treasure in the city is OURS!"
The Liang army howled.
Bai Jingyan sat motionless on her horse just inside the city gate, under the escort of her cavalry.
Every time a Jin soldier poured in, she urged him on.
"Strip your armor and helmet and run for the north of the city! Quickly!"
"General Bai! Let us withdraw!"
One of the soldiers assigned to guard her spoke up upon receiving the order.
Bai Jingyan glanced back once at the city beyond, nodded, and rode out with her cavalry.
The Jin army withdrew, and the Liang army poured into the city. To the eyes of the Liang soldiers, the Jin troops who flung off their helmets and fled weeping through the north gate looked for all the world like stray dogs that had lost their home. Convinced of victory by the sight, not a single Liang soldier chased the Jin "fugitives" — from the moment they entered the city, they were too busy hunting for treasure.
The Liang army scattered to every corner of the city in search of plunder, even robbing one another for it.
Even their generals came racing in as though competing in a horse race, making straight for the grandest mansion in Longyang City. Every one of them was half-mad to find the treasure of the richest merchant under heaven.