Chapter Fifty-Four: The Counterattack

Yuan Lian stared at the banners on the canal and could not help clenching his fists. At last, he had broken free.

Just as joy surged through him, a commotion broke out ahead. He looked up and saw dust billowing into the air, as though a great number of men were approaching.

No force from Wu or Yue could possibly appear in this place, Yuan Lian thought. He gathered himself and urged his horse forward.

Sure enough, they were not men from Wu or Yue. The banners ahead belonged to Tang, and on one of them was the character for Chen.

"Could it be Chen Keyan?" Yuan Lian wondered.

A moment later, Chen Keyan emerged, surrounded by a troop of cavalry.

Yuan Lian was drenched in blood, having fought his way through to this point. His hair was in disarray, and if not for the standard Tang armor on his body, Chen Keyan would surely have taken them all for bandits.

Chen Keyan did not recognize Yuan Lian, but Yuan Lian recognized him. After all, Chen Keyan wore an iron helmet unlike the others, and was easy to pick out.

"Is the man who comes Chen, the prefect?" Yuan Lian called out loudly. In his memory, Chen Keyan was still the prefect of Henglin Town.

Chen Keyan, however, froze slightly, then suddenly spurred his horse forward and asked, "You are... you are?"

"It is indeed Prefect Chen," Yuan Lian said with a laugh, finally letting out a breath. He turned back and said, "Brothers, we are safe." Then he looked back again, saw the baffled expression on Chen Keyan's face, and smiled. "Prefect Chen, it has been more than half a year, hasn't it? I am Yuan Lian. Back then..."

He had not finished when Chen Keyan exclaimed, excitedly, "You are Yuan Lian?"

Yuan Lian was startled, wondering why Chen Keyan was so stirred. He could only say, "I am naturally Yuan Lian, the real one. You still remember what happened to the Princess of Huairou, don't you?"

Chen Keyan laughed heartily. "How could I not remember? My promotion this time also owes itself to Brother Yuan." Because of his merit in rescuing the Princess of Huairou, Chen Keyan was now the garrison commander of Changzhou, while still overseeing Henglin Town.

The last time Li Zhenggu led the army to Changzhou, Chen Keyan had not known that Yuan Lian was in the army, and the two had therefore missed each other. Now, seeing Yuan Lian, he was naturally all the more excited. One could say that it was precisely Yuan Lian's feat that had allowed him to rise so high. Though Yuan Lian had not meant to bestow this favor, Chen Keyan had still benefited from him and remembered it to this day.

Yuan Lian laughed as well. "Congratulations on your promotion, Brother Chen."

The two spoke for some time more, after which Chen Keyan ordered the wounded to be carried off and properly settled.

"Brother Yuan, what exactly happened in this defeat?" Chen Keyan asked in confusion.

Yuan Lian was puzzled too. Li Zhenggu had received the emperor's order and quietly withdrawn that very night. The matter had been kept tightly secret; how had Qian Wenfeng learned of it? Even more, how had he managed to dispatch troops in advance to lie in wait along the Tang army's path, delivering a deadly blow in the darkness?

This defeat had cost at least three or four thousand men. For an army of more than ten thousand, that was a severe loss. Li Zhenggu would certainly be punished; only the severity remained to be seen, and that would depend on the emperor's mood.

Yuan Lian could not help closing his eyes in thought. Li Zhenggu was close to Feng Yansi and Feng Yanlu, and counted as part of the founding statesman Song Qiqiu's faction. If Li Zhenggu were punished, it would be the Song faction that suffered. And Song Qiqiu supported Prince Qi, Li Jingsui, which meant that Prince Qi's line would be weakened as well.

Politically, the blow to Prince Qi would be relatively minor. Militarily, however, Prince Qi Li Jingsui could only rely on one man: Gao Shensi. What had become of Gao Shensi in this battle? If he had fallen, then within the Southern Tang court the Prince Qi faction would have almost no military force left to contend with Li Hongji.

Yuan Lian narrowed his eyes. If Gao Shensi died, the Prince Qi faction would be harmed, and Li Hongji would benefit. Could there be some hidden conspiracy in this? He thought of it, then shook his head, feeling it impossible. No matter how foolish Li Hongji might be, he would never commit such an act that would damage the state itself.

Seeing Yuan Lian deep in thought, Chen Keyan said nothing further.

After Yuan Lian took a deep breath, he asked, "How many men did Brother Chen bring this time?"

"Only five hundred. Two hundred of them are cavalry," Chen Keyan replied.

Yuan Lian tapped lightly on the table. "There is a saying: the timid starve to death, the bold grow fat. I have a fine business here, and I wonder whether Brother Chen has the courage to take it."

"A clay jar always cracks by the well, and a general always falls on the battlefield. Though I, Chen Keyan, have little ability, I am not afraid of death," Chen Keyan said.

Yuan Lian waved a hand. "Do not speak such ill-omened words." After a pause, he went on, "On this return north, many men from Wu and Yue have been moving toward the northeast. I suspect there is some great figure there, very likely Marshal Li himself. If Brother Chen is not afraid, then with two hundred men under my command, perhaps we can rescue the marshal."

"What are our chances?" Chen Keyan asked.

Yuan Lian shook his head. "None. I do not know how many men the Wu and Yue forces have, or how their troops are deployed."

Chen Keyan fell silent. Yuan Lian did not urge him. After all, this was no small matter. At length, Chen Keyan struck the table and said, "What is a true man afraid of? I am willing to go with Brother Yuan and save him!"

"Good!" Yuan Lian laughed as he rose and slammed a fist onto the tabletop. "We shall take only cavalry, and load up on spears and bows. If the situation turns bad, we will never let the brothers die in vain."

Chen Keyan acknowledged and hurried out.

The Changzhou troops set about preparing. Since no one knew how long this fight would last, they even took along some flatbread, and their waterskins were filled to the brim. Chen Tie and Lin Renzhao heard the news and, disregarding their exhaustion, came in haste.

"Brother Yuan, why did you not call for us?" they asked.

Yuan Lian was taken aback. "This journey is nine deaths out of ten. I only did not wish to drag the two of you into danger."

Lin Renzhao was somewhat displeased. "What sort of words are those, Brother Yuan? Though I am no great man, neither am I one who fears death. Say the word, and even if the road ahead were a mountain of blades and a sea of fire, I would not so much as furrow my brow."

Chen Tie added, "Brother Yuan, those words truly chill the heart."

Yuan Lian clasped his hands and bowed to them both. "It is I who have erred. I hereby apologize to the two brothers."

Lin Renzhao waved him off with a smile. "We are family brothers; why speak of such things? Though the three of us are not flesh and blood, our friendship is no less deep."

Chen Tie laughed loudly. "Exactly. The three of us have gone to battle together and visited pleasure houses together. One day, if it ever comes up, it will be a tale worth relishing!"

Dark lines seemed to appear across Yuan Lian's forehead. He thought that Chen Tie truly spoke without the least fear. He then had the two of them make ready, taking some food and drink before setting out.

Chen Keyan worked swiftly. Since his force was insufficient, he had men gather a number of horses and mules in Henglin Town. Aside from a few used for carrying supplies, the rest were used to carry riders.

This was also to conserve the strength of the warhorses. Victory was what everyone longed for most at present; saving more strength meant that when battle came, they could kill more enemies, or else gain a little more hope of survival.

At the end of the hour of the Goat, they set out. Chen Keyan sent more than a dozen scouts ahead to reconnoiter, while the remaining two hundred advanced slowly behind.

The sun gradually sank westward. After they had traveled more than fifty li, bodies began to appear on the ground, both Tang soldiers and troops from Wu and Yue, though the Tang dead were more numerous. It seemed the Tang army's situation was far from good.

The scouts moved carefully all along the way, continually sending back reports. The farther east they went, the more corpses littered the ground, and in many places the earth was stained with blood, enough to show that fierce fighting had taken place there.

Yuan Lian grew anxious. He did not know who had been trapped, nor what their condition was now.

Listening to the surging waters of the great river, Li Zhenggu's face was ashen. He had never imagined that a retreat in the dead of night would end in Qian Wenfeng's surprise attack. At the time, he had done all he could to suppress the chaos, but the soldiers, once their camp had blown up into panic, could no longer be controlled. After trying for some time, Li Zhenggu had no choice but to flee in haste with his personal guards.

Beside Li Zhenggu, Gao Shensi looked utterly dispirited. He had been wounded, and one of his arms had been hacked off. Though it had been bandaged, the exposed stump of white bone was still dreadful to see. Excessive blood loss had left him without the slightest energy, and he could only lean askew against a crooked tree, doing his best to recover his strength. But he knew very well that if he did not receive treatment in time, it would not only be his arm, but his life as well that would be lost here. Who could have imagined that after a lifetime of campaigning, he would suffer defeat in his old age and be brought to such a miserable state?

Zhu Kuangye's condition was a little better, but he too knew that being trapped here meant that even if he cried to heaven, there would be no answer, and if he cried to earth, there would be no response. At least a thousand Wu and Yue soldiers surrounded them outside, sealing the exit tightly. The Tang army had no grain and very little water. There was no need for the Wu and Yue forces to attack at all; if they simply waited one or two days, the Tang army would collapse on its own.

Not only Li Zhenggu and Gao Shensi, but everyone present was disappointed. Their morale was low, and the hope of survival was slim. Fortunately, the Wu and Yue army did not choose to press the attack further at this moment, but busied itself instead. They built a simple line of defense to prevent the Tang troops trapped on Sand Mountain from charging out, then erected a fence half a man high.

As the sun set, the scent of cooking food drifted from the Wu and Yue camp, mouthwatering and irresistible. They even butchered horses that had fallen in battle, boiling the meat in great cauldrons, while others skewered it on wooden poles and roasted it over the fire.

Li Zhenggu could not help swallowing. He had spent the whole day on the move and had eaten almost nothing. For a civil official like him, this was a tremendous trial. One of his personal guards took a wrinkled piece of flatbread from his chest and handed it to Li Zhenggu.

The flatbread gave off a smell of sweat. In ordinary times, Li Zhenggu would not even look at it and would throw it away at once, but now every mouthful of food was a matter of life and death. He did not want to die, so he could only eat it. Seeing Li Zhenggu eating, several soldiers who were starving to the brink all lifted their heads and stared at him with pleading eyes, swallowing hard, their throats making soft clicks.

"How many flatbreads are left? Hand them out and let everyone share them," Li Zhenggu said. He glanced at Gao Shensi, who was on the verge of collapse, and added, "General Gao, this time I have brought disaster upon you."

Gao Shensi was already over sixty. He had several times wished to retire and return home, but the emperor, mindful of his status as one of the founding veterans, had repeatedly refused. Who would have thought that this campaign would cost him his life? At the thought, Li Zhenggu felt rather ill at ease.

"Deputy Commander Li need not say such things. I am merely a martial man; to fall in battle is a soldier's honor," Gao Shensi said to comfort him, though inwardly he was thinking that he could no longer lend secret support to Prince Qi. Prince Qi, Prince Qi, you must be careful from now on. Li Hongji is still young, but his methods are exceedingly cruel and underhanded; he must be guarded against.