Chapter 56: A Minor Victory

Chen Keyan sat astride his warhorse, watching the road ahead with icy calm. Yang Lian had volunteered to lead the raid on the enemy camp, while Chen Keyan waited for news of success before charging in with the cavalry. But how likely was Yang Lian to succeed? Chen Keyan did not know.

Still, one thing he could be sure of: ever since he had met Yang Lian, fortune had begun to turn his way. He had risen from the commander of Henglin Town to a defending general of Changzhou. The progress was not striking, but it was still enough to be thankful for. After all, for a descendant of a collateral branch, climbing upward was never easy.

Chen Keyan hoped Yang Lian would succeed, so that he too could gather military merit and climb step by step. In his mind he imagined the future: becoming a great general, leading countless troops across the battlefield, winning victory after victory, then receiving a noble title and bringing honor to his ancestors.

While he was lost in these dreams, a soldier suddenly pointed ahead and cried, "General, look!"

Chen Keyan lifted his head and saw that fires had already begun to spread through the Wu-Yue army camp, scattered at first, then blooming into a blazing inferno. Joy surged through him. Yang Lian had succeeded. He immediately swung his hand and shouted, "Brothers, attack!"

Then he did not forget to add, "Anyone with a white cloth tied to his arm is one of ours. Do not mistake them!"

"Yes!" the soldiers answered.

Once two hundred cavalrymen began their charge, the momentum was formidable. In the dead of night, it was even more sudden and terrifying, and the ground itself seemed to tremble beneath them. The distance of a little over two hundred paces was nothing to cavalry; it vanished in an instant. The palisades were either burned away or torn open, and the horsemen poured through in succession, cutting and killing their way through the Wu-Yue camp.

The sounds of the melee awakened more and more Wu-Yue soldiers. Many had only just scrambled to their feet and, before they could even understand what was happening, found themselves dead in utter confusion.

With the death of the Gu commander, the Wu-Yue army was left leaderless and could not organize an effective counterattack. Their casualties mounted relentlessly, and the army began to show signs of collapse.

Yang Lian held the head of the Gu commander aloft and roared, "Gu Quanwu is dead! Will you still not surrender?"

He did not know the man's actual name and so called him by that name instead.

The bloodied head was enough to chill the heart, but the name Gu Quanwu only deepened the confusion. Gu Quanwu had been dead for more than twenty years; there was no way he could have risen from the grave. Yet many of the Wu-Yue soldiers recognized it at once as the head of Commander Gu. In that instant, many company leaders and lieutenants stood stunned. What was happening? How could Commander Gu be dead?

Before they could think further, Yang Lian, one hand gripping the dripping head and the other wielding a long sabre, charged into the crowd and began to hack his way through. Lin Renzhao and Chen Tie moved in toward him as well. The three of them were like tigers among sheep, unstoppable in their advance, and in an instant they had killed seven or eight Wu-Yue soldiers.

"Commander Gu was killed by him! Kill him! Avenge Commander Gu!" one company leader screamed wildly.

"You're courting death!" Yang Lian shouted coldly. His fierce eyes fixed on the man, his long sabre flashed again, and he lunged forward. Lin Renzhao and Chen Tie hurried after him, guarding his left and right.

A Wu-Yue soldier tried to block Yang Lian. Yang Lian summoned all his strength and brought his blade down. With a sharp clang, the man's short knife snapped in two, and he staggered backward several steps.

The soldier stared in disbelief at the long sabre in Yang Lian's hand. How could this blade be so sharp?

Before he could recover, Yang Lian raised his sabre and struck again. On the battlefield, there was no need for any exquisite technique. So long as one had enough strength, a weapon hard enough, and armor strong enough to protect the body, one could survive longer. Yang Lian's movements were simple: raise the blade, then bring it down. After more than half a year of training, combined with his extraordinary natural strength, very few could withstand a single blow from him.

Under the man's astonished gaze, the long blade fell. By the time he reacted, one of his shoulders had already been severed away. Before he could even cry out, Yang Lian struck a second time, hitting him squarely in the head. The man's eyes went wide. A deep gash split across his face, and he collapsed heavily to the ground.

Yang Lian gave a cold laugh and rushed forward again, his long sabre cutting ceaselessly through the air as one after another fell screaming before him.

Chen Keyan's cavalry was slaughtering their way through the enemy as well. Blood sprayed everywhere, heads flew through the air, and mangled flesh was strewn across the ground. Soon, the air itself was thick with a stifling reek of blood. The shrill neighing of warhorses carried from afar.

Gao Shensi woke in pain from his sleep. He felt only hunger and thirst, as though his old life was about to be left here. Then, dimly sensing something, he called to the personal guard beside him. "Help me up."

The guard had been roused by Gao Shensi's push and hurried to support him. Gao Shensi spent a great deal of effort before he could hobble to the edge of the sand hill and look outward. In the darkness, the firelight was striking, and the sounds of shouting and killing drifted in faintly.

"Has reinforcements arrived?" Gao Shensi was puzzled. Who had received the news so quickly and come rushing here? Could it be the Changzhou garrison? But even if the Changzhou troops had marched at once, it would still take at least two days.

"Quick, send someone to scout it out. What exactly has happened?" Gao Shensi said urgently.

At that moment, Li Zhengu and Zhu Kuangye also heard the noise and woke up. Li Zhengu hurried to Gao Shensi's side and looked outside.

After staring for a while, Zhu Kuangye exclaimed in surprise, "The Wu-Yue camp has erupted in panic."

"What is going on?" Li Zhengu asked in confusion.

"Vice Envoy Li, whatever the reason, this is our best chance," Gao Shensi said.

Li Zhengu nodded. He understood what Gao Shensi meant. Whether or not the Wu-Yue people were using some ruse, this Southern Tang force was already tightly trapped. Only by breaking out could there be a thread of hope. If it was an enemy trick, then Li Zhengu would simply have to swallow the loss; but if it was not, then there was a chance to live. Fifty-fifty was still better than being trapped here waiting for death.

In that instant, Li Zhengu made his decision. "Order the army to break out at once."

Zhu Kuangye said loudly, "I will take the lead." With that, he immediately withdrew to fetch his weapon.

The force of fewer than three hundred Tang troops moved swiftly. Under Zhu Kuangye's leadership, the younger and stronger soldiers, along with those uninjured or only lightly wounded, formed the vanguard, while the rest followed behind. Li Zhengu ordered several soldiers to guard Gao Shensi and led them down from the sand hill.

Zhu Kuangye, carrying a long spear, charged out with the troops. Along the way, many Wu-Yue soldiers fled in all directions; hardly any still had the will to fight. After Zhu Kuangye had speared several men through, he became even more certain that reinforcements had arrived. He simply did not know which commander was leading them.

The battlefield was in utter chaos. With Commander Gu dead, the Wu-Yue troops had lost their pillar of support, and several company leaders who tried to resist were cut down by Yang Lian. Just as the Southern Tang army had collapsed the night before, so too did this force of Wu-Yue soldiers begin to crumble. After Chen Keyan led the cavalry in repeated charges, even the last men standing chose to flee one after another.

"General Chen, pursue them!" Yang Lian shouted.

In truth, even without Yang Lian's orders, Chen Keyan had already chosen to pursue. The two hundred cavalrymen still had plenty of strength, and the horses had only been running for about half an hour; they still had ample stamina to spare. Those Wu-Yue soldiers with horses could run a little faster, but those without them could only curse themselves for having been born with two legs too few. No matter how desperately they ran, how could they outrun warhorses?

Spears and sabres kept claiming Wu-Yue lives, causing Lin Renzhao and Chen Tie to cry out in exhilaration. Yang Lian had already killed more than a dozen men, and his entire body was drenched in a sea of blood until his features could no longer be seen clearly. The tails of his horse were already hung with grotesque human heads.

The pursuit continued for more than thirty li before Yang Lian finally ordered a withdrawal. If they went any farther, they would likely run into more Wu-Yue troops, and that would not be worth the cost.

When they returned to the sand hill, the battlefield had mostly quieted down. The bodies of the dead soldiers were gathered together. A quick tally showed that more than two hundred Wu-Yue soldiers had been killed, while another hundred or so had surrendered and were bound with ropes by the Tang troops left behind.

The Wu-Yue army had stored considerable grain here, along with three sheep. Li Zhengu and his men, half-starved from hunger, had long since slaughtered the sheep, cut them into large pieces, washed them by the river, sliced them smaller, and roasted them directly on their weapons without adding a thing. Though there was no salt or anything else to season them, everyone ate with relish.

Li Zhengu did not care that the air around him still reeked of blood, or that fragments of human flesh still lay on the ground. He took a piece of roasted lamb leg handed to him by a guard and devoured it until his mouth dripped with oil.

Now that everyone was safe, Yang Lian could finally relax. He dismounted and quickly walked to Li Zhengu's side. "This subordinate, Yang Lian, pays his respects to Vice Envoy Li, Commander Gao, and Commander Zhu."

Though he had clashed with Zhu Kuangye, Yang Lian still did what he was supposed to do.

Li Zhengu was startled. Seeing Yang Lian covered in blood, he cried out, "You are Yang Lian?"

Yang Lian nodded. "This subordinate is indeed Yang Lian."

Gao Shensi's voice trembled slightly. He had not expected it to be Yang Lian at all. "Yang Lian, how did you come to be here?"

Yang Lian took the water skin from his waist, then collected the skins from Lin Renzhao and Chen Tie as well, and handed them to Li Zhengu, Gao Shensi, and Zhu Kuangye. "It is a long story."

He explained how he had led the troops in retreat, how he had encountered Chen Keyan, and how they had decided to come to the rescue. However, he gave the credit for the rescue to Chen Keyan.

Chen Keyan, listening from the side, could not help rolling his eyes to himself. What was wrong with Yang Lian, always handing good deeds to others? But at such a moment, he could hardly object.

Li Zhengu glanced at Chen Keyan beside him. Seeing that he too was covered in blood, he repeatedly praised him.

Gao Shensi's wounds had received further care. After the herbs were applied, his condition improved greatly, and after eating a few pieces of lamb his face also regained some color. Hearing Yang Lian's account, he felt somewhat puzzled. The name Chen Keyan seemed familiar, as though he had heard it somewhere before, yet he could not recall where.

"Vice Envoy Li, although our army has counterattacked for a while, the situation is still far from favorable. It would be best to return to Changzhou first," Yang Lian advised.

Gao Shensi agreed wholeheartedly. "Vice Envoy Li, the army has just suffered defeat and morale is in turmoil. We should first return to Changzhou and gather the defeated soldiers. If Qian Wenfeng continues advancing north, we can also aid the Changzhou garrison in resisting the Wu-Yue army."

Li Zhengu nodded. "Issue the order. Eat quickly. We set out in half an hour and return to Changzhou!"