After staring for a long while, still without any clue, Zhao Yilou looked at her skeptically. “The battle has barely just begun, and you can already tell who will win or lose?”
“See that?” Song Chuyi pulled up a blade of grass from beside her and pointed it at the chaos in the distance.
Zhao Yilou didn’t believe for a moment that she understood military affairs, but driven by curiosity, he leaned in and followed the direction of the grass she was pointing at. He noticed that the side wearing brown armor was faintly forming a pointed triangular shape.
“This is called the Wild Goose Formation. In this formation, the two flanks are close together. If used to project archery fire, it can achieve remarkably good results. However, the wrapping angle is too small to outflank the enemy – it can only be used for archery. Moreover, its movement speed on flat ground isn’t fast. Unless under special circumstances, it’s not very suitable for fighting on open terrain. Given this kind of terrain and such a disparity in troop strength…” Song Chuyi looked at the left flank of the formation, which showed some signs of being breached, hissed softly, and pressed her hand to her forehead. “I must meet this ‘remarkable person’ someday. To be such a bungler… is truly some kind of heaven-defying.”
Warfare is about formations, not brawling – where two sides just pile into each other at a single command. Since ancient times, when human strength was relatively weak, cooperation was necessary for hunting wild beasts, leading to the most basic defensive formations and ambush patterns. Later military campaigns evolved from these foundations.
Thus, choosing the right formation is a key factor in victory.
The main battlefield’s terrain was relatively flat, and the autumn dust was heavy. Once troops started moving, everywhere was shrouded in haze and smoke. Not only was visibility poor, but soldiers could easily get sand and dust in their eyes. Under such conditions, this Wild Goose Formation was riddled with weaknesses.
And yet, the side in brown armor held a significant numerical advantage, yet chose to use such a formation. Song Chuyi finally reached a conclusion. “If this commanding general isn’t a hopeless bungler, then he’s a traitor.”
“Then will the Zhao army lose?” Zhao Yilou asked.
Song Chuyi glanced at him and said, “Probably a Pyrrhic victory. They have so many more men than the other side – if they still manage to lose…”
Song Chuyi took another look at the disastrous battlefield below, let out a groan, and muttered, “Inauspicious – first thing in the morning, I open my eyes and see such a despairing battle. Is this heaven’s way of telling me that my whole life is going to be just as screwed up?”
Zhao Yilou looked at her speechlessly. A noble lady? Was there really a noble lady who cursed like that? If he hadn’t been following the marriage escort convoy and accidentally caught a glimpse of her once before, he would have to suspect right now that she was lying about being from an aristocratic family.
“Come on, let’s go back.” Song Chuyi grabbed Zhao Yilou and hurried down the mountain.
“What’s the rush? I haven’t seen enough yet.” Zhao Yilou was afraid of war, but after hearing Song Chuyi’s analysis just now, he felt that watching more of this would come in handy for escaping in the future.
Song Chuyi didn’t even look back and said irritably, “Keep watching and you’ll go blind – be careful, too much of this will turn you into an idiot.”
The two of them made their way back down the mountain with the day’s haul, and dusk was already settling in.
Zhao Yilou was washing the mushrooms they had picked on the mountain earlier by the pond. Watching Song Chuyi wander back and forth, holding a bundle of small stones in her arms and staring up at the sky, he felt puzzled, wondering what she was up to.
What Song Chuyi had said on the mountain that day had left a deep impression on Zhao Yilou – though of course he hadn’t really understood what she meant. Still, he had a vague sense that she was a very learned person. In this world, anyone with real learning was sought after by all the states. So even though Song Chuyi still swore, his opinion of her had risen considerably.
When he saw her finally find a suitable spot and crouch down to arrange the pebbles on the ground in some kind of pattern, he had no idea what she was doing, but he didn’t go over to disturb her.
Song Chuyi was setting up a divination, casting lots to read her own fate. She was still haunted by the battle she had witnessed earlier. In all her years, she had never seen such a suicidal way of waging war. Connecting it to how her previous life had ended, she couldn’t help but wonder – was this fate?
Song Chuyi’s father was skilled in astrology, and her master studied the cycles of heaven and earth, Yin and Yang, and the Eight Trigrams. Influenced by them, she had developed her own method of divination that matched the Eight Trigrams with celestial phenomena. But as for accuracy…
Though Song Chuyi hadn’t seen the entire battle unfold, it had started near dusk, and visibility would only get worse as time went on. Even if the Zhao army had changed their formation later, it was still a deplorable fight.
After about half an hour, Zhao Yilou had already finished cooking the mushroom soup and even added a few pieces of diced chicken. Seeing that Song Chuyi still showed no sign of eating, he ladled out half for her and squatted beside her with the earthenware pot, sipping his soup while watching her fiddle with the little stones.
Song Chuyi had only eaten a small piece of flatbread that morning and was already hungry. The smell of the mushroom soup made her stomach growl like thunder.
“Yours is over there.” Zhao Yilou, seeing Song Chuyi staring at the earthenware pot in his hands with a look that seemed to glow green, immediately took two steps back.
Song Chuyi dropped the little stones and dashed straight for the soup. Seeing the dark mushrooms floating in the dark earthenware pot, she grinned, wrapped her sleeves around it, and lifted it off the fire, eagerly blowing away the steam.
Zhao Yilou was at an age where he was still growing, and after roaming the mountain all day, he was ravenously hungry as well. The two of them buried their heads in their respective pots, fighting their way through the meal, while Song Chuyi had long since forgotten all about that “heaven’s omen.”
After finishing the last mushroom, Song Chuyi let out a satisfied burp and sprawled out on the dried grass, staring up at the twinkling stars in the sky. “I’m thinking the weather might change in the next few days.”
“How do you know?” Zhao Yilou stopped licking his pot.
“I did a little calculation on my fingers.” After Song Chuyi’s father died, there was no one to teach her astrology. She only had a rough understanding of the art, supplemented by some books her father had left behind – just a smattering of basic knowledge. Her father hadn’t been a great master either; he only had a couple of elementary texts and some personal notes. The true art of astrology was treated as a closely guarded secret by every school, and no one was willing to show it to outsiders.
“Relying on this pile of dried grass, there’s no way we’ll make it through the winter.” Song Chuyi looked at the clothes she and Zhao Yilou were wearing and felt they had no choice but to leave this place. “Get some sleep. We’ll talk about it tomorrow morning.”
Perhaps because she had just been revived, Song Chuyi found herself tiring easily. Once she had eaten her fill, drowsiness set in.
Zhao Yilou nodded and burrowed into the dried grass as well.
Song Chuyi’s astrological predictions had never been particularly accurate, but this time, unfortunately, she hit the mark – it started raining in the middle of the night. If they had been lying in a warm room, the sound of rain might have made it easier to fall asleep, but Song Chuyi and Zhao Yilou were jolted awake by the rain. They were barely conscious for a couple of breaths before all drowsiness vanished.
Without exchanging a single word, they immediately and instinctively began gathering up the dried grass on the ground. With winter approaching, that dried grass was their lifeline – if they lost it and the temperature suddenly dropped, they would surely freeze to death.
The space beneath the rock face that could shield them from the rain was not large, and the rainy night was bitterly cold. Every breath they exhaled turned into white puffs of mist. Their clothes were thin, but fortunately, they had stored up quite a bit of firewood. Zhao Yilou fetched some and lit a fire.
Huddled by the flames, Song Chuyi felt her body warm up again, but she still dared not fall asleep. She feared that if she caught another chill, she might not be lucky enough to recover quickly this time – she couldn’t always count on heaven’s favor.
Zhao Yilou rested his head on his knees, planning to doze off for a while.
“General! There’s firelight ahead!” Suddenly, a rough voice, breathless and urgent, cut through the sound of the night rain, reaching the ears of both Zhao Yilou and Song Chuyi.
Zhao Yilou immediately moved to extinguish the fire, but Song Chuyi reached out and stopped him. “They’ve already seen it – what’s the point of putting it out now?”
If it had been a clear night, they could have fled elsewhere, but right now, there was clearly nowhere to go.
