Chapter 26: The Allied Forces of the Four Fortresses

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“Rumble, rumble~”

Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and muffled thunder rolled without pause. The drizzle that had begun earlier was growing heavier and heavier.

It looked as though the rain would continue all night.

After lunch, Li Xiao lay down and fell asleep. He was not awakened until midnight, when the noises outside roused him.

It was midnight—the hour of departure.

After dressing, Li Xiao went with Big Tiger and Second Tiger into the outer room.

Dinner was already prepared. The main dish was leftover horse meat from the previous day, served with pickles and millet porridge. Li Xiao ate with great relish.

The Old Master, his maternal grandfather, Old Zhao, and the others ate in silence. The only sounds were the chewing of horse meat and the loud slurping of porridge.

Only the old grandmother and Qin Danni sat to one side, unable to eat anything as they quietly wiped away their tears.

They all knew what the men were going to do that night. Even more frightening was the possibility that those men might never return.

“Stop crying.”

“You sound as though you’re mourning the dead.”

The Old Master scolded the old grandmother and Qin Danni while eating his horse meat.

With battle imminent, weeping and wailing were the greatest taboos.

That was why regular armies in ancient times generally did not allow soldiers to meet their families before battle. Such farewells could undermine morale.

Perhaps the death of her eldest son had dealt the old grandmother too great a blow this time. She ignored the Old Master and walked over to Li Xiao and the other two.

Wrapping her arms around their heads, she said, “You must all come back safely.”

Her eldest son was already gone, and her second son’s whereabouts were unknown. The old grandmother did not want to lose her grandsons as well.

“Grandmother, we’ll be careful!” Li Xiao said with a nod.

He then looked firmly at Qin Danni, silently assuring her that she need not worry.

The Old Master was extremely displeased by the old grandmother’s actions. He shouted, “If you want your grandsons to die, then keep talking!”

Every old soldier understood one principle: the more afraid a person was of death, the more likely he was to die.

The old grandmother’s reluctance to part with her grandsons might cause Li Xiao and the other two to waver, making them even more fearful of battle.

When fighting the enemy, they might keep thinking about how to avoid injury.

But if they did that, death would not be far away.

“Don’t listen to your grandmother’s nonsense,” the Old Master told the three young men.

“Just charge forward. If a blade comes at you, this old man will block it for you!”

The Old Master was not worried about Li Xiao so much as he was about Big Tiger and Second Tiger.

Li Xiao was mature and steady. Even in battle, he could remain calm. With such a temperament, he would not easily be shackled by emotion, so the Old Master trusted him completely.

Big Tiger and Second Tiger were another matter.

Big Tiger was fairly composed, but he was still far inferior to Li Xiao.

As for Second Tiger, there was no need to mention him. He was impulsive and hot-tempered, making him the least stable of the three.

“How are the three Khitans next door?” the Old Master continued, turning to Qin Danni.

“Nothing unusual. They stayed in the room all day. When I brought them horse meat just now, all three of them were there,” Qin Danni replied.

The Old Master nodded lightly, finally easing his mind.

Although the Khitans had a grudge against the Karluk people, they still could not be left unwatched. One could never be too careful.

This concerned the lives of nearly six hundred people in Hexi Fort and the other three forts.

If the Karluk people learned of their plans and laid an ambush in advance, the consequences would be unimaginable.

No precaution was excessive.

“After we leave, be especially careful. If these three Khitans show any ill intent, have them shot immediately,” the Old Master said, his eyes fierce and murderous.

Qin Danni nodded lightly to show that she understood.

After eating their fill, everyone equipped themselves with bows and weapons, donned rain capes, and walked out of the house. Rain was still falling outside, and visibility had already been reduced to only a few dozen yards.

Gradually, more and more people emerged from the various courtyards.

Mounted on warhorses, clad in rain capes, gripping spears, and wearing curved sabers at their waists, they advanced slowly, fully armed. Bows and arrows hung from their saddles.

Behind them were the worried gazes and reluctant expressions of their loved ones.

Yet no one could escape this war. If they did not want to be enslaved by the Karluk people, they could only march toward the battlefield.

Slowly, everyone gathered together like a surging river.

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On the open ground north of Hexi Fort, more than four hundred cavalrymen stood in a dense, silent mass.

No one spoke. The only sound was the uneasy whinnying of their warhorses, frightened by the muffled thunder.

“Boom!”

Another bolt of lightning tore across the sky, and purple light instantly illuminated the earth.

For that brief moment, the more than four hundred cavalrymen in their rain capes could be seen clearly. They stood as silent as demons, their faces reflecting grim determination, solemnity, and tension.

At the very front, the Old Master and two others sat on horseback, gazing over the assembled men.

Li Xiao stood behind the Old Master.

Although he had become the lord of Hexi Fort, he clearly could not command such a formation by himself tonight. Only the Old Master could suppress and steady the forces from the other three forts.

“Block the horses’ ears with strips of cloth. Use wooden bits to keep their mouths shut!” the Old Master ordered as his first command.

Horses feared thunder, so their ears had to be covered lest they panic and become uncontrollable.

The bits were meant to prevent the horses from whinnying and alerting the enemy.

Anyone with even a little experience knew this. The Old Master was mainly reminding young men such as Second Tiger and Ironhead, lest they rush into battle and forget in their nervousness.

During an ordinary night raid, the horses’ hooves would also be wrapped. But it had rained that night, leaving the ground wet and soft, so the horses would not make much noise when they moved.

If their hooves were wrapped in cloth, the material would grow heavy when soaked, slowing the horses instead.

“Sanhe Fort has already fallen to the Karluk people. Their next targets will be Hexi Fort and Hedong Fort.”

“After that, they will come for Tazhai and Gushan Fort.”

“To keep your wives and daughters from being ravished by the Karluk people, and to keep your children and families from becoming their slaves—”

“Tonight, follow me in a surprise attack on Sanhe Fort. Kill every Karluk there!”

The Old Master’s cold voice rang out through the rainy night. His murderous shout reached every ear.

He offered no fiery speech or stirring rhetoric. He merely told them the truth:

If they did not defeat the Karluk people, every family among them would be destroyed.

And because of that, every man present instantly became filled with killing intent, tightening his grip on his spear or curved saber.

“Kill!”

“Kill!”

“Kill!”

Low roars rose through the rainy night, gathering into a murderous force that continued to echo and circle through the wind and rain.

“Move out!”

The Old Master bellowed in a low voice, wheeled his horse around, and led the way toward Sanhe Fort.

Qin Kaishan, Zhao Tiezhu, Li Xiao, and the others followed closely behind.

Hexi Fort was not far from Sanhe Fort, only about forty li away.

Under normal circumstances, they could have reached it in less than an hour.

But tonight, their pace was much slower.

Marching at night was already extremely dangerous, let alone on a rainy night.

Fortunately, the Han people living around Hexi Fort often went into the rivers to catch fish. Their regular intake of fish-liver oil meant that night blindness was far less common among them than among other nomadic peoples.

That was one reason Li Xiao had dared to propose a night raid.

Moreover, these men were all villagers who had lived alongside one another from dawn to dusk. They knew each other extremely well, and as long as they followed the people ahead, they were unlikely to become separated.

Half an hour later, when the group reached a sloping stretch of land, the Old Master suddenly raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop.

Narrowing his eyes, he listened carefully to the sounds carried by the wind and rain. His many years of combat experience had alerted him that something was wrong ahead.

The others immediately became vigilant as well, tightening their grips on their weapons and preparing for a possible battle.

“It should be the men from Hedong Fort,” the Old Master said, narrowing his eyes as he stared into the darkness in the distance.

Hedong Fort was somewhat closer to Sanhe Fort.

That was why its forces had not gone to Hexi Fort but had instead joined the group on the road.

Sure enough, a short while later, a swift horse came racing out of the darkness. The Old Master gave Third Granduncle a meaningful glance.

The latter immediately rode forward. A moment later, he returned and reported, “They’re from Hedong Fort!”

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The Old Master nodded slightly. “Move.”

Only then did everyone continue forward, slowly making their way toward the men from Hedong Fort. Before long, the two forces joined together.

The leader of Hedong Fort was a burly man of about forty. His arms were nearly as thick as an adult’s thighs, and mounted on horseback, he looked like a giant bear.

His face was covered in thick flesh and a full beard. Even the shaft of the spear in his hand was several inches thicker than those of the others.

Li Xiao knew him well. His name was Luo Ping.

He was related by marriage to the Li family—the father-in-law of Li Xiao’s eldest sister.

He was now the lord of Hedong Fort.

Riding up before the Old Master, he respectfully called, “Uncle Li.”

The Old Master nodded lightly. Setting aside the marriage ties between the two families, his relationship with Luo Ping’s father alone was enough to earn him that form of address.

“Ha! Little Ping, it’s been more than a year since we last met, and you’ve gotten even fatter!”

“If you keep putting on weight, you’ll have trouble even riding a horse!” Qin Kaishan, Li Xiao’s maternal grandfather, laughed as he patted Luo Ping on the belly.

It gave a solid thump.

Luo Ping could only smile helplessly. “Uncle Qin, stop making fun of me.”

“I can’t help it. I put on weight even when I drink water, and I just can’t lose it!”

“Then there’s nothing to be done,” Qin Kaishan said with a shake of his head and a laugh.

He turned to Zhao Tiezhu beside him and said, “If he were in the Central Plains, Little Ping’s build would make him a proper great general.”

He was practically too fat to mount a horse.

With the arrival of the men from Hedong Fort, the allied forces of the four forts were finally complete, and the entire army grew even stronger.

Their numbers had reached nearly six hundred.

Through the stormy night, amid thunder and lightning, the army advanced slowly toward the northeast, drawing ever closer to Sanhe Fort.

Another hour passed before the Old Master once again raised his hand and brought everyone to a halt.

“We’re almost there.”

“Sanhe Fort is just ahead,” the Old Master said in a deep voice, his sharp gaze fixed on the darkness in the distance.

Because of the rain and night, nothing could be seen.

But the Old Master knew the surrounding terrain as well as his own hand. He could identify the location of Sanhe Fort even with his eyes closed.

“The Karluk people should be sound asleep by now.” Zhao Tiezhu listened carefully to the sounds within the wind and rain. There was not the slightest disturbance from the direction of Sanhe Fort.

“Wait a little longer.”

The Old Master shook his head gently, choosing not to launch the attack at once.

Instead, he looked toward Third Granduncle. The latter immediately took out a piece of wood about as thick as a finger and raised it to his lips.

“Creee!”

“Creee!”

“Creee!”

A shrill, piercing sound rang out through the rainy night. The wind and rain could not stop it from carrying, yet it did not arouse the Karluk people’s suspicion.

The sound produced by the wooden whistle was remarkably similar to an eagle’s cry.

Even if the Karluk people heard it, they would only assume that a great eagle was calling overhead.

After the three eagle cries, each of a different length, three riders soon emerged from the darkness in the distance and galloped rapidly toward the main force.

“Elder Uncle!”

When the three men arrived, the rider in front called out.

It was Li Dashan.

During the day, he had been sent to Sanhe Fort to scout the enemy’s movements, where he had remained hidden until deep into the night.

By then, the rain had been falling for a long time. Though all three men wore rain capes, they were still shivering from the cold.

But the hardships they had endured that day had been worthwhile.

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