Legend of Great Tang’s Twin Dragons

Chen Laomou slapped the table and shouted with praise, saying, “Xiao Ba’s view is extremely exquisite.”

Muttering to himself irresolutely, Kou Zhong said, “I first approached the saber technique using the art of war; if I can apply the saber method into the art of war, won’t the Shao Shuai Army be incisive and dynamic like my Moon in the Well? His granny’s bear, such a great idea, why didn’t you tell me straightforwardly earlier?”

Xu Xingzhi spoke in low voice, “Ba Ye’s instruction; I have to wait until you do whatever it takes to attack Kaifeng before I can reveal his view to Shaoshuai.”

Kou Zhong’s pair of eyes turned red; he deeply felt Ba Fenghan, this iron man’s cherish and concern toward him. Unexpectedly he changed his usual ‘stick right into his face’ [see Chapter 7] style and used Xu Xingzhi’s mouth to cautiously give him advice with such concerns; the effect was even more obvious and clear-cut. If he could move the troops like he used the saber, the moment the saber blades met each other, there would not be any ‘benevolence of women’ [also Chapter 7] that Tujue people always despised – remained.

Xu Xingzhi’s voice continued to enter his ears, “Now Xia Wang already has doubts about Shaoshuai, if Shaoshuai attempts to march to Hulao in accordance with the original agreement, Xia Wang might misunderstand that Song Que’s army has arrived, he won’t understand Shaoshuai’s hardship anymore, perhaps you might suffer some setback, it would be harmful and without benefit to both sides.”

Chen Laomou joined in, “Xu Junshi’s analysis makes sense. It is suitable for us to defend, but it is not suitable to attack. Li Shiji is not the kind of idle people, plus he receives Yang Xuyan’s help in secret, it really is not suitable for us to take the risk by going out to attack.”

Kou Zhong took a deep breath, his head was clearing up a bit, but he was still at a loss, “It is indeed inadvisable for us to rush indiscriminately into action, otherwise, if the Dou Army is defeated, our retreat path to Chenliu might be cut off by Li Shiji. I wonder if two gentlemen have a better way to deal with it?”

Xu Xingzhi spoke heavily, “Dig the tunnel, take Xiangyang.”

Kou Zhong’s tiger-body shook severely, he was fully clear-headed now, “Dig the tunnel, take Xiangyang?” he repeated Xu Xingzhi’s words.

Taking the credit, Chen Laomou said, “This move of digging the tunnel was my idea, I am an expert in this field, let me be in charge of this, Shaoshuai need not worry. Moreover, Shaoshuai gave me the book on mechanism that Lu Miaozi left behind, there is a chapter on ‘vertical shaft and horizontal roll method’, which precisely speaks about how to dig a deep and long tunnel. If we can dig three tunnels, when the City of Luoyang falls, we can quickly escape.”

Kou Zhong nodded and said, “Presently, Luoyang is like in our control, digging tunnels should not be any problem, Mou Lao’s proposal is indeed feasible. How many men will Mou Lao need?”

Chen Laomou replied, “To dig the gods do not know, the ghosts do not perceive three deep, wide, and long, leading directly to outside the City of Luoyang – tunnels, not only we need specially-manufactured tools, we also need skillful craftsmen. From among my men, I can pick a hundred young, strong and robust men, Shaoshuai then set aside a hundred able-bodied men to help me, Laomou is confident that within one month, we will be able to accomplish the magnificent feat of completing the three tunnels.”

Xu Xingzhi said, “In the current situation, even if Shaoshuai can succeed in safely get out of Luoyang in case the city is broken, if you go back to Chenliu in the east, you will walk right into the trap. The only way is to run away to the south to look for a foothold. If you can reach Xiangyang City, with its roads, water and land – open in all directions, you could enter the Huai [River] via the Han River, and sail with the current back to Liangdu. Moreover, you could also pull the Tang Army in a thousand-li pursue and attack, and thus alleviating the pressure on Chenliu. One move, two gains.”

Knitting his brows, Kou Zhong repeated, “Xiangyang?”

Xu Xingzhi said, “Although Xiangyang is not a big city connected to the capital, but it is located in the middle stretches of Han River. To the west it reaches Bashu, to the south it controls Chu, to the north it overlaps the River Luo. If we don’t seize Xiangyang, Shaoshuai going to the east will be intercepted by the Tang Army from Kaifeng; if that happens, forward, there will no way to proceed, backward, there will be pursuing troops; the situation will be very dangerous.”

“How’s the current situation in Xiangyang?” Kou Zhong asked.

Xu Xingzhi replied, “According to the information from Qifei, about a dozen days ago Xiangyang was captured by Li Shimin’s Great General Luo Yi. Zhu Can and Qian Duguan were captured on the spot, they have been brought as prisoners to Guanzhong. Casualties on both sides are disastrous, Xiangyang’s moat has been filled, the city walls are broken in a lot of places, they could forget of restoring it in less than a few months. Therefore, if at this moment we catch the enemy off guard with a surprise attack [idiom, from Sunzi’s ‘The Art of War’] from Zhongli, taking advantage while the House of Tang’s navy is concentrated in Luoyang, Hulao and Kaifeng, three locations, they are powerless to defend the waterways, we will have a very high chance of success. However, the day to attack and seize Xiangyang must be grasped accurately; too early, the Tang people would have plenty of time to strike back, too late, we won’t be able to correspond with Shaoshuai withdrawing troops from Luoyang.”

Chen Laomou interjected, “The success or failure of the attack on Xiangyang must be entirely kept in secret, therefore, we must be careful in deploying the troops. It would be best to hand this matter over to Junshi.”

Kou Zhong spoke heavily, “Supposing beyond our expectation, the victor is unexpectedly the Dou Army, then what?”

Xu Xingzhi replied, “In that case, Shaoshuai still need to immediately withdraw from Luoyang. Otherwise, there’s a chance that Dou Jiande would become hostile and heartless, by not allowing Shaoshuai to leave, he may want to catch the turtle [orig. mythological sea turtle] in the earthen jar. It’s hard to fathom a person’s heart; although Shaoshuai treats others with sincerity, you may not necessarily receive the same payback.”

Kou Zhong recalled Dou Jiande ordering Liu Heita to stay behind, far from the front line, to take care of Liyang, it was very likely that he indeed had the plan to break the Tang Army first, and then annihilate the Shao Shuai Army.

At the same time, he also saw how this gentleman, his own chief imperial strategic adviser, not only possessed outstanding ability and wisdom, but also understood clearly the ways of the world. He came accompanied by Chen Laomou to advise Kou Zhong, because the latter had known him for some time in the past, half a teacher and half a friend, so that even if he pointed his finger to Kou Zhong’s nose and swore at him, Kou Zhong’s allotted share was only to listen respectfully.

Heaving a sigh, he said, “You guys have the confidence that while we are guarding Chenliu and Liangdu, we can also send troops to attack and capture Xiangyang?

Xu Xingzhi replied, “These past ten days or so, we constantly, day and night, reinforce Chenliu and Liangdu’s city defense; we built more forts along the coastal area, plus we have the flywheel boats guarding the river course. Although Li Shiji’s military strength is twice of ours, he still does not have the capability to capture Chenliu, and break through our army’s northern battle line in a short period of time. Shaoshuai is returning to Luoyang, Li Shiji cannot simply sit idly by. As long as our tactics are proper, under Shaoshuai’s command, we coordinate with each other, we ought to be able to ruthlessly repress Li Shiji. That side diminishing, our side is flourishing, one day the threat of Dou Army toward the Tang Army has not been removed, Shaoshuai will not have fears of trouble in the rear.”

Kou Zhong secretly sighed again; he gave thought to Dou Jiande, but Ba Fenghan was giving thought to him, Kou Zhong. Xu Xingzhi and Chen Laomou were looking after the honor and disgrace, the exist or perish – of the Shao Shuai State. In between, the contradiction in his heart was growing as a thicket. Since he was the leader of the Shao Shuai Army, he had to consider the people who followed him to hold the most important position, he must not, for his own private interest – push the Shao Shuai State into a dangerous situation. The most persuasive part of Xu Xingzhi’s speech was that he pointed out that joining forces with Dou Jiande was his, Kou Zhong’s wishful thinking. Dou Jiande may not necessarily feel grateful, instead, it was highly likely that it would produce the opposite of his desired result.

This moment Luo Qifei arrived in a hurry. Just by looking at his expression, everybody knew that there was an urgent matter to report.

Outside the city, the sound of battle cry reached the sky, the battle was very intense.

After nearly two sichen of repeated fighting, the besieging army and the city-defenders army still refused to concede to each other, both sides have suffered dead and injured.

Lu Jun’e was worthy to be the House of Tang’s famous general, a veteran of a hundred battles, he did not fall into Ma Chang’s scheme, but divided his troops to attack along the trenches in the direction of the Houzai Gate, so that the two-thousand-man cavalry hiding behind the Houzai and Dingding, two gates were unable to move a single step.

The Tang Army was concentrating their entire force to shake hard the city-defenders army, who has successfully filled the first layer of trenches, and climbed over the moat to strike the two arrow tower positions on the outside edge of the second layer of trenches.

With Lu Jun’e in command, the main force of the high camp was entirely forced to retreat to the second layer of trenches’ south edge. Aided by the arrows darts, combined with the powerful bows and stone-throwing machines at two locations, they resolutely held the city-defenders army across the trench, so that the city-defenders army was unable to push forward, they were unable to fill the trench even more.

The enemy troops from the other two camps took turn to attack the city-defenders army climbing over the trenches from the gaps of the second layer of trenches and from the right side, launching wave after wave of offensive to the city-defenders army.

One of the arrow towers was destroyed by the big flying stone, the other caught fire. However, more than a dozen stone-throwing machines behind the protection of dirt and mud bags wall were still exerting enormous destructive power.

Arrow darts filled the air, coming and going.

On Xu Ziling’s side, approximately twenty wooden donkey carts, some were damaged by the stone strike, some could not withstand the fire arrows and were burned down, only the remaining five were able to keep up appearances by blocking the arrow darts. Fortunately, from the ten eight-crossbow machines, seven were still in perfect condition, and were able to block the enemy attacking from the side. They had enough power to penetrate the shield of the opponent’s blocking-arrow carts, displaying their major function in defending against the enemy and blocking the enemy.

The three large flying-stone machines, which had not yet been destroyed, focused their power to attack the enemy’s mud-and-stone bags positions, they became the super weapons that threatened the opponent’s stone-throwing machine.

When the Tang Army’s lance-and-shield wielders and the archers attacking the second layer of trenches were forced to retreat again, the Tang Army’s infantry and cavalry attacking from the side also retreated like a tide.

Seeing no time to lose, Xu Ziling shouted his order, he led his men, fifteen-hundred-man cavalry unit, to cut through and attack the enemy. He had a shield on his left hand and a spear in his right; taking the lead, he unleashed his man-and-horse-as-one technique, and spurred the Ten-thousand-Li Spots he was sitting on – to run like the wind. The enemy’s retreating troops could only shoot two rounds of arrow darts in time, before he was able to catch up. His long spear moved everywhere, the enemy troops suffered a crushing defeat, their battle array was thrown into great chaos.

The chaos spread like a wave, instantaneously affecting the entire unit of the Tang Army withdrawing via the gaps to the outside of the second layer of trenches. The cavalry following close behind Xu Ziling swarmed to kill, some of the enemy fell into the trenches, those who were lucky pulled out from the gaps and scattered in all directions. It was a total chaos.

Seeing that they already occupied the decisive opportunity, Yang Gongqing and Ma Chang commanded the second unit to take the advancing troops’ position, launching a round of new assault toward the enemy’s position, so that the pressure on Lu Jun’e’s main force was increasing sharply, which, in turn, made it difficult for them to dispatch the troops to meet Xu Ziling and his fifteen-hundred-man elite cavalry attacking from the gaps – head-on.

Seeing the turn of events not too encouraging, the enemy’s left and right, two camps separately dispatched two units of two-thousand-man cavalry to rush over to intercept Xu Ziling’s cavalry pressing in from the gaps. Under such circumstances, only highly-mobile, strong cavalry would be able to curb the opponent’s cavalry. Otherwise, if they let Xu Ziling to move unhindered across the battlefield to attack Lu Jun’e’s main force defending the trenches from either the wing or the rear, the consequences would be hard to imagine.

Lu Jun’e’s reaction was deeply in line with the art of war; he personally led his three-thousand-man cavalry to stand in formation on the left side of the trench-defenders army, to wait at their ease for the exhausted enemy. As long as Xu Ziling dared to invade their territory, they would deliver a frontal assault.

Momentarily the sound of hoof beats rumbled, the sound of battle cry shook the heavens, pushing the battlefield situation to the peak of intensity.

Xu Ziling was the first to break through the gap. His mind was turning at the speed of lightning, he guessed the enemy’s strategy. If he disregarded everything and attacked Lu Jun’e’s main force, which was many times stronger than his, once his retreat path was cut by the cavalry rushing over from the two other camps, they would become a lone army, with only possibility of death and not life, perhaps no one would be able to retreat via the gap.

Right this moment, someone, no one knew where he was coming from – flew toward Lu Jun’e’s cavalry formation. How formidable Xu Ziling’s eyesight was, in just a glance he recognized the newcomer as Ba Fenghan. Hurriedly he abandoned his thought to withdraw his troops, instead, he shouted, “Come with me!”

Leading the fifteen-hundred-man cavalry, he charged toward Lu Jun’e, who was about three thousand paces away. As long as he could keep Lu Jun’e’s side’s attention on them, Ba Fenghan would have an opportunity that he could exploit.

At this time, the city-defenders army from the two gates on the east side opened their gates to come out to attack, their mission was to fill the trenches and not to guard the trenches, their goal was to control the army under Li Yuanji’s command.

Because the enemy could not predict from which gate the city-defenders army would come out to attack, plus outside the city all sides must have enough strength to guard the trenches and defend the trenches, so although the total strength of the Tang Army was several times above city-defenders army, they could only defend their own side, and it was difficult to provide assistance to the friendly forces.

The battle finally entered the decisive moment, if Xu Ziling and his cavalry suffered total defeat of the army, Luoyang would collapse without fighting.

Luo Qifei spoke in one breath, “Dou Jiande promoted Meng Haigong and Xu Yuanlang as commanders, they advanced together via water and land, using boats to transport the grain, they went up the Yellow River against the current seven days ago, claiming that their main forces have 300,000 men, to capture Guanzhou first, and then take Xingyang and the more than a dozen county towns in the vicinity, until they pitched camp on the plain east of Hulao, while simultaneously building camps on Banzhu [Ban Islet], which they use as temporary command post.”

Hearing that, Xu Xingzhi and Chen Laomou were dumbstruck. Unexpectedly Dou Jiande was able to capture Guanzhou and Xingyang, two military strategic towns in just a few days; it was really hard to believe.

But Kou Zhong’s heart sank straight down; he sighed and said, “Indeed just like I expected, Li Shimin deliberately abandoned various cities east of Hulao. He exploited the proud heart of the enemy to make the Xia penetrating deeply into the enemy territory, while pulling their provision supply line thin, which will make their foodstuff to be in short supply. Not only they have to supply the huge army, they also have to take care of the common people in various county towns. Li Shimin will take away every single grain of rice from the various cities and towns that he abandoned.”

His countenance changed, Chen Laomou said, “Li Shimin is really ruthless; he can let go, he can restrain. Dou Jiande is indeed not his match. But where did the Xia Army’s 300,000 men come from?”

Luo Qifei said, “Dou Jiande’s main forces to help Luoyang shouldn’t be more than 150,000 men, after dividing it to guard Guanzhou and Xingyang, the number of men able to go to the front line should be around a hundred thousand.”

Xu Xingzhi asked, “Other than giving up Guanzhou and Xingyang, what else did Li Shimin do?”

Luo Qifei replied, “Li Shimin divided the main force besieging Luoyang into two, leaving a hundred thousand under Li Yuanji’s command, with Qu Tutong and Lu Jun’e as deputies, to continue besieging the Eastern Capital, while he himself leading fifty thousand troops, deploying them to Hulao. According to what I heard, Li Shimin and Dou Jiande already fought, Dou Jiande suffered a big loss, the dead and wounded were over a thousand, even the valiant generals under his command, Yin Qiu and Shi Zan were captured alive. This battle made Dou Jiande no longer dare to advance in a hurry.”

Kou Zhong really wished that he could immediately rush to Banzhu to help Dou Jiande battling Li Shimin, but he knew that he could only think in vain; without any choice, he could only sigh again.

Chen Laomou said, “Looking at this, Dou Jiande’s situation is quite bad.”

Xu Xingzhi said, “If he is willing to hold fast to Banzhu, Li Shimin still cannot do anything to him.”

Luo Qifei said, “Rescuing soldiers is like fighting the fire, the fall of Luoyang City is imminent, how can he stay behind in Banzhu?”

Smiling bitterly, Kou Zhong said, “He is even more afraid of Song Que’s main forces coming to the north, to enter and garrison himself in Luoyang one step ahead of him, hence he would never station his troops without moving forward. Even without this problem, Li Shimin could also send troops to outflank Dou Jiande from behind, to cut off his provision route, and then use his navy to seal off the Great River, forcing Dou Jiande to go out and attack.”

Xu Xingzhi drew out a mouthful of cold air, he said, “Shaoshuai’s view is very accurate.”

This moment, a subordinate came to report that Du Fuwei was asking an audience. Kou Zhong had never expected that his Ol’ Dad would see him in this situation, and moreover, he came at the right time, just happened to coincide with him at Chenliu, otherwise he would lose the opportunity to link arms. His bosom was filled with surprise and delight, he went out to meet him.

Following behind Xu Ziling was the fifteen-hundred-man cavalry, some even dared to say that they were the most elite cavalry in the Shao Shuai Army, consisted of the five hundred Flying Cloud Riders, plus one thousand Yang Family Army’s brave riders – rushing out via the gaps, with an abundance momentum to split bamboo upon contact.

Xu Ziling, taking the lead to charge into Lu Jun’e’s cavalry formation, finally tasted the feeling of disregarding everything else in order to seek victory on the battlefield. The fifteen-hundred-man cavalry behind him, not a single one did not follow him blindly. His decision would affect their future destiny concerning life and death. He could forget about his own fate, but he definitely could not avoid giving thought to them.

And on this cruel flesh-and-blood-flying battlefield, the only thing he should do was to give the enemy the most fatal blow, in his heart, he must not have the slightest mercy.

He put the long spear across his legs, he dropped the shield, Xu Ziling’s left hand picked up the Mulberry Wood Bow, his right hand picked the arrow, the distance with the enemy was shortened to a thousand steps.

Lu Jun’e and a group of high-ranking military officers under his command spurred their horses to stand in front of the cavalry formation, their faces carried disdain and cold laugh, obviously they thought that Xu Ziling was overestimating his capabilities, he was coming forward to throw away his life. On their left and right, the cavalry on horseback bent their bow and put on their arrow to take aim at Xu Ziling. They were completely oblivious of Ba Fenghan, in the dark, where the brilliant rays of the torches failed to reach – grasping the Shooting the Moon Bow, rapidly approaching from their left side; only about a hundred or so paces more, and then Lu Jun’e would enter into his range.

On Yang Gongqing’s side, no one understood Xu Ziling’s character; how could he be so greedy of meritorious deed that in spite of the danger of having his escape route being cut off he penetrated deeply into the enemy ranks? But since there was no choice, the middle army led by Ba Yegang, the left army under Shan Xiongxin’s command, and Duan Da’s right army, the whole troops charged into the front line, assisted by the big flying stone and powerful bow, strong arrow, launching the most violent long-range strike toward the enemy at the second layer of trenches position.

The remaining fifty-some toad carts, plus the five wooden donkeys, under Yang Gongqing and Ma Chang’s command, pushed closer to the front line.

Because the threat from the right side has been removed, the seven eight-bow-and-crossbow-arrow machines turned their firing head and pushed to the front line, immediately increasing the city-defenders army’s destructive power against the enemy by a big margin.

The battlefield situation was climbing to its intense peak.

At a distance of eight hundred steps from Lu Jun’e, Xu Ziling’s arrow went up to the bowstring, he pulled the Mulberry Wood Bow into a full moon, his heart and spirit entered the ‘from being into nothing, from nothing comes something’ realm, one arrow shot out.

The vortex of energy shooting out, the arrow was even faster and fiercer than the arrow darts fired from the eight-bow-and-crossbow-arrow machine.

Lu Jun’e saw Xu Ziling releasing the arrow. The moment he was still mocking at Xu Ziling shooting from too far away in his heart, the arrow dart was already about five zhang in front of his eyes, not only the remaining momentum did not wane, it even appeared to be moving faster. He was worthy to be the House of Tang’s great general, a veteran of a hundred battles. Fast as lightning, he drew the sword from his waist and swiftly slashed it to meet the arrow.”

‘Dang!’

Lu Jun’e’s entire body shook, still sitting on the horseback, he swayed violently, nearly fell off the horse. Although the strong arrow was struck by him and fell to the ground, his whole arm went numb, it was so painful that his qi and blood were surging, his body felt fluttering, without any strength.

Right this moment, from the left side, no one knew where it came from, a strong arrow, wordless and uncommunicative, was shooting toward him, so fast that it was difficult to see with naked eyes. He could only cry my life thus endeth; although he still had the sword in his hand, he was unable to block.

The men on his left and right cried out in alarm at the same time.

Lu Jun’e’s soul flew away and scattered, he wanted to dodge, but the strong arrow attacking sneakily already penetrated his neck, carrying with it a burst of rain of blood.

Ba Fenghan shouted loudly, “Shaoshuai Kou Zhong is here!”

His voice traveled far and near.

While the officers and soldiers still found it hard to believe, Lu Jun’e fell off the horseback, ‘Bang!’ he heavily landed on the grassy land next to the horse’s feet.

Immediately the Tang Army’s cavalry’s disposition of troops was thrown in great disarray.

Xu Ziling put away the Mulberry Wood Bow and raised the long spear; knocking down several arrow darts shooting at him, he unleashed the man-and-horse-as-one technique and leaped high into the air, he took the lead to charge into the enemy ranks.

Ba Fenghan also charged into the enemy formation from the side, he snatched away a horse, the Stealing the Heaven Sword was in full swing, those who tried to block him were swept by the wind.

The fifteen-hundred-man elite cavalry following closely behind Xu Ziling dauntlessly charged to kill, all of a sudden the enemy troops whose heart was already in chaos were smashed that they scattered and disintegrated.

‘Shaoshuai Kou Zhong’, these four words indeed carried incomparably mighty power; as soon as the enemy heard it, they were scared out of their wits, but the city-defenders army’s morale was greatly aroused. Yang Gongqing saw the enemy’s troop disposition in great chaos, which quickly spread to the entire battlefield, hurriedly ordered all the toad carts to advance, to throw the mud and rocks into the trenches. The soldiers and city residents, all dashed on bravely with no thought of personal safety to throw the sand and dirt bags into the trenches.

Originally, the cavalry from the other two camps were about to cut off Xu Ziling’s escape route, but under the command of the bugle horn, they hurriedly change direction to provide support, yet they were still one step too late.

Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan linked up on the battlefield, they led their troops to charge into the trench-defenders army position. The Tang Army, who had lost their commander, still thought that Kou Zhong was leading his troops to attack; they finally abandoned the trenches and their camps, and scattered in all directions.

The city-defenders army climbed over the trenches and attacked; all at once they took control of the situation. Under Yang Gongqing’s command, they met the enemy cavalry coming to help – head-on.

Xu Ziling shouted, “Take the high camp!”

With Ba Fenghan on the lead, the cavalry, who had just had the first taste of victory, chiseled away like a tornado at the enemy troops retreating in defeat toward the high camp, and continued charging into the high camp.

Victory or defeat had already been decided.