Li Chanxiu was stunned upon hearing this. Earlier, he had already guessed that the characters on those banners were related to Pei Zhen, but he had not expected it to truly be so.
“Pei” referred to the army led by Pei Zhen, “Xuan” referred to an elite force under him, the Black Iron troops, and as for “Bingzhou,” it went without saying.
“You plan to use Pei Zhen’s name to scare them off? Are you confident?” Li Chanxiu quickly asked, unable to hide the worry in his tone.
This tactic of bluffing was indeed clever, but if it failed, how could three hundred men withstand nearly ten thousand Hu soldiers outside?
“It’s fine. Although there are nearly ten thousand Hu soldiers outside, there are fewer than two thousand cavalry. If things truly don’t work out, I will find a way to bring everyone back,” Pei Er said, seeing his concern and trying to reassure him.
In truth, there was something he did not say, previously, General Chen had asked him to read more military texts and had personally given him some. Among them was one said to be written by Pei Zhen of Bingzhou… though calling it a military text was not entirely accurate; it was more a record of Pei Zhen’s experiences over the years fighting the Hu, detailing methods of dealing with them.
It might not even have been written personally by Pei Zhen, but rather dictated by him, then recorded and compiled by military clerks, printed into booklets, and distributed to other garrisons as reference for commanders.
Although, because of Li Chanxiu, Pei Er felt a bit of jealousy toward this Pei Shizi whom he had never met, it was precisely for that reason that he patiently read through the man’s book, wanting to see what made him so formidable.
But after finishing it, he found that many of the ideas in the book coincided with his own. He didn’t know whether it meant he himself was remarkable, or that this Pei Shizi was nothing special, he hadn’t seemed much more brilliant than an ordinary soldier like himself.
Of course, that was not the point. The important thing was that, based on the recorded battles with the Hu in the book, and his observation of the Hu troops attacking today, he realized that the Hu forces outside the wall were very likely led by Wulie, the Hu eldest prince who had repeatedly been defeated by Pei Zhen in Bingzhou.
If that were true, then his tactic of borrowing another’s prestige, using Pei Zhen’s name to frighten the Hu, might produce unexpectedly good results.
But at this moment, in front of Li Chanxiu, he felt somewhat embarrassed to admit it, and only said in a calm tone to reassure him, “Don’t worry. I will do my best to bring everyone back safely.”
Li Chanxiu wasn’t worried only about whether, if the plan failed, he could bring everyone back safely… no, of course he was worried about that too, but what he was more worried about was…
Suddenly, his expression froze, and he quickly shook his head, dispelling the strange thought in his mind, and said, “The Hu horses are stronger. I’m worried…”
He paused before continuing, “I’m worried our horses won’t be able to outrun theirs. In any case, you must be careful.”
At this point, the decision had already been made and could not be changed. He could only remind him again and again. Besides, this was likely the best plan for now.
***
Late at night, the north wind began to rise.
A cavalry unit of three hundred quietly circled out of the city wall, silently disappearing into the vast darkness.
On the wall, the soldiers’ armor gleamed coldly, reflecting their exhausted faces.
Below the wall, the Hu soldiers who had been attacking for nearly a full day and night were also weary, and their offensive slowed. It seemed they might soon withdraw a short distance, set up camp, and resume the attack the next day.
Yet just as they were about to withdraw, a ghostlike cavalry force suddenly appeared behind them without a sound, unnoticed by anyone.
Only when a Hu soldier at the rear turned around did he freeze in shock.
Under the cold moonlight, a dark figure on horseback appeared abruptly. The rider held a black iron curved blade, his face cold as frost. As the figure drew near, the blade flashed like a slicing wind. The Hu soldier’s eyes widened instantly before he collapsed, blood gushing from his throat.
Almost at the same time, more than a hundred cavalry followed behind the leading figure, charging forward with raised blades and battle cries. Behind them, the sound of hooves thundered, cold light revealing layers of shadowy figures, and among them countless upright banners.
The Hu soldiers who had been preparing to withdraw and set camp saw, under the cold moonlight, the character “Pei” on the banners, and were immediately terrified, shouting in panic: “Black Iron troops! The Black Iron troops are here!”
“Pei Zhen of Bingzhou, it’s Pei Zhen of Bingzhou!”
“Run! Run! Reinforcements from Bingzhou have arrived, the Black Iron troops are here!”
The Hu commander, noticing the sudden chaos in the rear, rode over and shouted, “What nonsense are you shouting? How could Bingzhou have sent reinforcements? Even if they had, they couldn’t have arrived this quickly!”
“It’s the Black Iron troops, it really is the Black Iron troops!” one Hu soldier kept shouting, before suddenly being whipped across the face.
“Anyone who disrupts morale again will be executed without mercy!” the Hu commander roared.
But when he looked into the night and saw the figure wielding a curved blade, swift as lightning, his own face turned pale with fear. “Pei Zhen? How could it be Pei Zhen? How is he here?”
At once, the Hu soldiers around him grew even more panicked.
Meanwhile, inside the wall.
Upon hearing General Chen’s order and realizing they were to leave the city to fight the Hu directly, the soldiers likewise showed fear.
After all, since the time of the former emperor, the founding emperor, Emperor Taizu of Zhou, who died during the northern campaign, and after the current emperor ascended the throne, aside from the Black Iron troops founded by the old Yan Wang, the armies of Great Zhou had never defeated the Hu cavalry. Otherwise, they would not have repeatedly lost territory, surrendering all the northern lands that Taizu had once reclaimed.
Especially after the Hu had captured several northern commanderies and carried out brutal massacres, many people of Great Zhou had developed a deep-rooted fear of them. Continuous defeats had also led many soldiers to believe the Hu were invincible.
Now, with the protection of the city wall, they could still hold them off. But without that wall, facing the Hu directly with blades in hand, many soldiers couldn’t help their legs trembling, fear rising in their hearts first.
Li Chanxiu understood this as well. In his dream, after the northwest defenses collapsed, many places had fled without even fighting upon hearing that the Hu were coming.
This was not entirely the fault of Great Zhou. Since previous dynasties, the Central Plains had repeatedly lost to the Hu; fear had taken root in people’s hearts for decades.
But Li Chanxiu knew that the Hu were not invincible. When he was young, confined with his father in the northern courtyard of the Crown Prince’s residence, he had often heard him speak of how the founding emperor of Great Zhou, his imperial grandfather, had campaigned across the land and reclaimed lost territories from the Hu.
Later in his dream, he had also seen Pei Zhen and Lu Zhi repeatedly defeat the Hu, even he himself had won many battles.
Seeing these soldiers now gripped with fear, only advancing toward the city gate under General Chen’s orders with trembling courage, he cast a glance at the soldier assisting him.
The soldier understood and quickly left.
Before long, Ding Chenghai arrived with a group of laborers, carrying shovels and wooden sticks.
Seeing this formation, General Chen’s heart sank, thinking they were about to rebel.
But before he could speak, he heard Ding Chenghai, who was leading them, say, “General, we heard the soldiers defending the city are insufficient. Though we have no particular skills and are criminal prisoners, we are still citizens of Great Zhou. We are absolutely not afraid of death, please let us also go out and kill the Hu people!”
Seeing these laborers holding wooden sticks all say they wanted to go out and kill the Hu people, the soldiers who had been fearful just now suddenly felt somewhat unable to save face.
At this moment, Li Chanxiu also said, “General, if manpower truly is insufficient, I am also willing to leave the city to kill the enemy.”
Now the soldiers could no longer bear it. Immediately, someone’s hot blood surged to his head, and he raised his blade and shouted, “Brothers, we can’t lose face, let’s all go out and kill the enemy together! The Hu people don’t have three heads and six arms, they’ve got two arms and two legs just like us. What are we afraid of?!”
After saying this, everyone responded one after another, shouting battle cries as they rushed out of the city gates.
At the same time, outside the city walls, when the Hu people saw cavalry suddenly launching a surprise attack from the rear, and not knowing their numbers, only seeing a vast dark mass approaching from afar, bearing the banners of the Bingzhou Black Iron Army, they were already thrown into confusion. Turning their heads, they then saw the defending soldiers suddenly charge out from within the city walls, and all thought they were being attacked from both sides. In their panic, their formation immediately fell into chaos.
Pei Er led the cavalry in a rapid charge, quickly smashing the Hu troops’ formation into pieces. Not knowing how many “reinforcements” there were, the Hu people, in their panic, some fell into pits, some fled in disarray, and some were cut down by the charging defenders.
Seeing that nearly ten thousand Hu soldiers below were scattered in the blink of an eye and fleeing in all directions, the defenders still standing ready atop the city walls all revealed looks of shock, unable to believe it.
Suddenly, soldiers both on and below the walls burst into loud cheers!
“We won! We really won!”
“The Hu people aren’t that terrifying after all!”
Ding Chenghai also stood among the crowd, raising his wooden stick and shouting. Just now, he had personally killed two Hu people with a sharpened wooden stick, surely that could be counted as merit. It was all thanks to Miss Shen for helping come up with the idea, allowing them to take part in this battle.
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help turning his head to look toward the city wall.
On the wall, Li Chanxiu was now standing beside the beacon tower, his gaze passing over the crowd as he looked from afar at Pei Er on horseback.
Under the moonlit night, the other’s figure was cold and stern, as if covered in a layer of silver frost.
Pei Er seemed to sense Li Chanxiu’s gaze and suddenly looked toward the city wall. His face was still stained with blood, yet his eyes shone like stars. Soon, a smile curved at his lips.
Li Chanxiu couldn’t help but smile as well.
Pei Er waved at him, and then immediately rode off with three hundred cavalry toward the Yongding Pass to support the garrison there.
***
Late at night, the wind wailed across the great desert, and around the campfire came the cries of foxes.
The Eldest Hu Prince Wulie sat around the fire with a group of trusted subordinates, slicing off a piece of lamb leg and eating meat and drinking wine in large mouthfuls.
“Your Highness, this time surrounding Yongzhou, we must take Wuding Pass. Otherwise, it will be difficult to answer to the King when we return. The Second Prince and the others will surely seize the chance to attack you in front of the King.” The one speaking was actually a scholar dressed in the clothing of a Great Zhou man.
Prince Wulie sneered upon hearing this. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. Our repeated defeats in Bingzhou before were because Pei Zhen was there. This time attacking Yongzhou, I don’t believe Great Zhou will still have someone as capable as Pei Zhen.”
Just as his words fell, a Hu soldier hurried in from outside the tent to report, “Your Highness, the troops sent to attack Yongfeng and Yongding Passes have been defeated one after another, ”
“What?!” Before the soldier could finish, Prince Wulie suddenly threw down the lamb leg and sprang to his feet, a fierce light flashing in his eyes.
The Hu soldier immediately fell silent, not daring to speak further.
The scholar-looking man quickly said, “How were they defeated? Speak!”
The Hu soldier cautiously glanced at Prince Wulie before carefully saying, “It’s said that Pei Zhen of Bingzhou personally led the Black Iron Army as reinforcements…”
“Pei Zhen? Impossible!” Prince Wulie could not believe it.
“It, it’s true. General Wu personally saw that the leading man among the Black Iron Army looked exactly like Pei Zhen.”
“…”
***
It was not until dawn was about to break that Pei Er finally led his troops back from outside the city walls.
General Chen had already prepared celebratory wine, waiting for him to return and drink.
After Pei Er entered through the city gate, his gaze passed over everyone and immediately sought out Li Chanxiu.
Li Chanxiu was standing beside General Chen. Seeing this, he couldn’t help but give a light cough, signaling that General Chen was standing nearby holding wine and waiting.
General Chen’s gaze moved between the two, how could he not see what was going on?
But since he prided himself on being the one who had brought the two together, not only did he not blame them, he was instead pleased. Smiling at Pei Er, who had just dismounted, he said, “Come, come, drink the celebratory wine first. After that, I’ll give you time, whoever you want to see, go see them; whatever you want to say, go say it.”
The meaning of these words was far too obvious. Standing to the side, Li Chanxiu’s ears reddened slightly, and he turned his head away awkwardly.
Yet Pei Er seemed not to notice. After taking the wine, he glanced at him once more before drinking it down in one gulp.
The surrounding soldiers all let out a shout of “Good!” The atmosphere became lively, everyone immersed in the joy of victory.
After finishing the wine, Pei Er set down the cup, but suddenly clasped his fists to General Chen and said, “General, I have urgent military intelligence to report.”
Hearing this, General Chen’s expression immediately grew serious. He quickly dismissed the others and had him and a few trusted aides follow him inside to speak.
This discussion lasted until noon before Pei Er came out again.
Li Chanxiu was stitching up the wounds of injured soldiers. Noticing him approach, he hurriedly sped up, finishing the task at hand.
After standing and turning around, he wiped the fine sweat from his forehead before smiling and asking, “Why did you suddenly come over? Finished talking?”
Pei Er nodded, a smile hidden in his eyes as he looked at him for a moment, then suddenly pulled him away.
Li Chanxiu was slightly startled. Only after they stopped in a secluded corner did he ask, “Is something the matter?”
Pei Er nodded and said, “I’m going to the Yongding garrison this afternoon. You’ve been busy here for so many days without rest, come back home with me to rest first later. I’ve already spoken to General Chen; the wounded will be handed over to Physician Hu.”
Li Chanxiu had no objection upon hearing this, but was somewhat curious. “What are you going to the Yongding garrison for?”
After asking, he paused, this involved military affairs, and he really shouldn’t be inquiring.
Pei Er did not hide it and directly said, “When I interrogated the captured Hu soldiers, I discovered they are subordinates of Eldest Prince Wulie. Wulie is personally leading a large army, currently stationed at the rear, determined to take Yongzhou. Although we repelled the Hu troops for now, they will definitely attack again, and on a larger scale. At present, there are no reinforcements, so I need to go discuss a joint defense plan with the Yongding garrison.”
Li Chanxiu immediately understood and nodded. Learning that the situation was like this, his heart could not help but grow heavy.
Presumably, Wulie at this moment did not know that Wuding Pass’s defenses were empty, which was why he had not advanced in full force. Instead, he attacked Yongfeng and Yongding, intending to feint to the east and strike in the west, drawing out the garrison from Wuding Pass before attacking it.
In the dream, Yongfeng and Yongding were likely breached this time, and all the defenders on the walls were killed. The epidemic probably did not spread immediately because of this.
Right now, although they had avoided the epidemic and held off yesterday’s attack, the situation ahead was still not optimistic, if anything, even more severe.
And yet the garrison at Wuding Pass had been transferred away. Li Chanxiu couldn’t help but frown.
Now, expecting the emperor to return those sixty thousand elite troops was almost impossible. The only hope… was probably to transfer troops from Bingzhou.
“By the way, do you think I…” Pei Er suddenly gave a light cough. After sneaking a glance at him, he looked somewhat embarrassed and asked softly, “…last night… how was my performance?”
Li Chanxiu was taken aback. Meeting his expectant eyes, he couldn’t help but smile and praised, “Very formidable, very brave.”
Pei Er immediately let out a breath of relief. This was his first time fighting in front of Miss Shen, previously, suppressing bandits didn’t count; Miss Shen hadn’t seen that time.
In any case, for this first time, he naturally wanted to know how the other evaluated him. After all, what Miss Shen admired was someone like Pei Zhen, who was skilled in warfare.
But he also knew that at present, he was certainly still inferior to Pei Zhen, so he added, “This time I borrowed Pei Zhen’s name. But don’t worry, in the future, I will definitely be just as formidable as him.”
Hearing this, Li Chanxiu was again momentarily dazed. Why… was he making these assurances to him?
***
After the two of them ate together by the base of the city wall, Pei Er rode on horseback to escort Li Chanxiu back to the small courtyard. Then, without resting for even a moment, he mounted his horse again and rushed to the Yongding garrison.
Upon arriving at the garrison, General Zhao had just come down from the city wall. Seeing him, he was full of gratitude. Hearing that he had come on behalf of General Chen to discuss methods of joint defense against the enemy, he quickly pulled him into the tent for a detailed discussion.
By the time he finished discussing with the various generals at Yongding, it was already evening, the setting sun sinking low.
Pei Er stood to take his leave. After exiting the central command tent, he was suddenly pulled aside by Commandant Qian.
“Brother Pei Er, it’s rare for you to come by, come, come, sit in my tent for a bit.” As he spoke, he dragged him along without regard for Pei Er’s refusal.
Pei Er frowned the whole way. After entering the tent, he slightly pulled his arm free from the other’s grip and asked, “What exactly is the matter?”
Commandant Qian glanced outside the tent, quickly shut the flap tight, then turned back with a grin and said, “Well, last time during the bandit suppression, you did me a big favor. I’ve never repaid you. Come, come, take a look, ”
As he spoke, he took out a thick stack of furs from behind the table and placed them on it, saying generously, “You’re usually quite cold and don’t like to talk much, so I don’t know what you like. It just so happens I recently traded a batch of furs, and some were seized from the Hu people last night. See if there’s anything you like, just take it, don’t stand on ceremony with me.”
As soon as Pei Er heard that these were traded furs, his expression immediately turned cold. “You usually go out trading furs?”
Commandant Qian froze, then quickly explained, “No, no, don’t misunderstand. This is something I do with friends during leave, just earning a bit of pocket money. It hasn’t delayed military duties.”
Only then did Pei Er’s expression ease. “Then why are you acting so furtive?”
Commandant Qian choked, then said helplessly, “I say, you’re just too rigid. Isn’t it because I have other matters to tell you?”
“What matter?” Pei Er asked.
Commandant Qian’s expression suddenly turned serious. He stepped out of the tent to take a look, confirmed no one was passing by, then returned and lowered his voice. “Brother Pei Er, did you perhaps commit some offense in Bingzhou before?”
Pei Er frowned upon hearing this and asked in confusion, “Why do you say that?”
Commandant Qian glanced toward the tent entrance again, lowering his voice even more and speaking cautiously, “Today a group of soldiers from Bingzhou came, about forty or fifty people. Although they were dressed ordinarily, their bearing was anything but ordinary at a glance. After they arrived, they said they wanted to see General Zhao. I told them General Zhao wasn’t there. Seeing that I was the one in charge of the garrison, they took out a portrait and asked whether there was someone in the camp who looked like the person in it. When I saw that portrait, guess what?”
Pei Er frowned. “Speak!”
Commandant Qian: “…”
“Sigh, well… the person in the portrait was you.” He lowered his voice. “They’ve come looking for you.”
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