Chapter Seventeen: Setting Black Dragon Gorge Ablaze!
“Fire! It’s fire!”
A shrill cry tore through the deathly silent autumn night of Black Dragon Gorge.
“Fire! Run!”
The southeast wind fanned the flames into a raging inferno. Within the space of a few breaths, the entire gorge glowed red beneath half the sky.
At the bottom of Black Dragon Gorge, the eighty thousand Wei soldiers who had relaxed only moments earlier after Pang Juan’s bold declaration erupted into chaos.
Wails, sobs, curses…
“What’s happening?”
The flap of the command tent was violently thrown open, and Pang Juan rushed out. The sight before him struck him like a thunderbolt. His entire body turned cold, and he stood frozen where he was.
“Fire… It’s fire…”
Staring at the flames filling the heavens, he murmured in a daze.
“Great General, what are we going to do?”
A trusted officer, covering his mouth and nose, hurried over to Pang Juan. His voice was filled with despair.
“Damn it! What in the world is going on? Where did this fire come from?”
The officer’s shout jolted Pang Juan from his stupor. Seizing him by the collar, Pang Juan roared.
His first instinct was to assume that one of their own soldiers had been careless.
“It’s the Qin army! The Qin army laid an ambush here in advance!”
The officer hastily explained, terrified.
“The Qin army? Impossible!”
Pang Juan bellowed. How could the Qin have discovered the secret route he had painstakingly planned, let alone laid an ambush here beforehand?
“It is the absolute truth, Great General. Look!”
The officer handed him an arrow belonging to the Qin army, recognizable by its distinctive design.
Pang Juan snatched it away and hurled it to the ground, his rage nearly bursting through the crown of his head.
“Damn them! Damn them all!”
“I studied under the Master of Ghost Valley, traversed the Central Plains, trampled Zhao in the north, conquered Han in the south, and defeated every state beneath heaven.”
“Why? Why have I suffered defeat at the hands of these Qin vermin three times in a row?”
The blazing inferno devoured the eighty thousand soldiers—and with them, his dignity and reason.
“Master… why? Is it possible that I, Pang Juan, am destined to perish here today?”
“I refuse to accept this!”
He threw back his head and released a piercing howl like a trapped beast. One defeat after another had driven the Great General who once shook the Central Plains to the brink of collapse.
“General, organize a retreat at once! So long as we break through the flames, we still have a chance!”
The officer hurriedly urged him.
“Yes… Break through!”
The officer’s words snapped Pang Juan to his senses. He immediately drew his sword, severed the reins beside him, mounted his horse, and shouted:
“Do not panic! Break through toward the northwest! Charge out!”
Pang Juan was practically screaming the order. If the flames grew any stronger, they would be trapped with no hope of escape.
At almost the same moment, atop Black Dragon Gorge—
The searing heat had baked the cliffs until they were scorching, and even the rocks crackled from the heat.
Fortunately, Zhao Zheng had ordered the soldiers to dig a firebreak beforehand. Otherwise, the fierce waves of flame would have rolled back upon them, and even the mountaintop would not have escaped disaster.
“Left Chief Minister, they’re attempting a breakout.”
The firelight illuminated the gorge below as bright as day, allowing Bai Ying to see everything unfolding.
At that moment, Zhao Zheng was clutching a roasted leg of lamb, the fat sizzling and dripping, its aroma filling the air. He was chewing with his mouth shining with grease.
“One bite won’t be enough. Issue the order: inflict as many casualties on the Wei army as possible and weaken them.”
Zhao Zheng frowned slightly. Even under attack by fire, the eighty thousand Wei elite were not an enemy to be taken lightly.
“How strange…”
A nearby archer suddenly spoke in confusion.
“What is it?”
Zhao Zheng’s gaze swept over.
“Reporting to the Left Chief Minister, we spotted the enemy commander and tried to shoot him with our bows, but no matter what we did, we could not hit him.”
The archer turned and addressed Zhao Zheng.
“It would be more accurate to say that the arrows are mysteriously avoiding him.”
What?
What was going on?
Zhao Zheng froze for a moment, then sprang to his feet and hurried to the cliff edge, looking down into Black Dragon Gorge.
The Wei army truly deserved its reputation as an elite force renowned throughout the realm. They had quickly regained their formation and were now breaking through toward the northwest, with Pang Juan directing the army from its flank.
“Let me try.”
Unwilling to believe in such an absurdity, Zhao Zheng took a bow and arrow and aimed at Pang Juan.
During his ten years of secluded training in the mountains, even eating meat required him to hunt with a bow. His archery was not quite peerless, but it was unquestionably first-rate.
The bow curved like a full moon; the arrow flew like a shooting star!
Whoosh!
The sharp arrow tore through the air toward Pang Juan.
Yet the instant it left the bowstring, Zhao Zheng felt as though an invisible hammer had slammed into his chest.
A piercing pain, as if his heart and bones were being carved apart, spread throughout his body. His vision went black, and he crumpled backward.
“Left Chief Minister!”
Bai Ying was startled. If anything happened to Zhao Zheng, the consequences would be unimaginable.
“Left Chief Minister!”
…
At the same time, Ying Qian began to act as well.
A scout arrived with news that flames were soaring in the southeast.
“That boy Zhao Zheng… truly is formidable.”
Ying Qian’s eyes gleamed, and he could not help voicing his admiration. Then, without further delay, he issued the order with murderous intent:
“Attack the city. Retake Wu Pass!”
Wu Pass stood astride the border between Qin and Wei. It was easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Its defenses, however, had been designed primarily to counter the eastern states. Attacking it from east to west would be like gnawing on an iron wall.
But attacking it from west to east…
The Qin army made no grand display. Instead, a vanguard of assault troops quietly approached the base of Wu Pass’s walls under cover of darkness.
“Just look at that fire in the southeast. General Pang Juan must have won another victory. And what about us? We’re stuck guarding this godforsaken wasteland.”
“Who says otherwise? What’s the point of guarding this place? Those Qin barbarians have been beaten into submission by us. Even if they had a hundred times the courage, they wouldn’t dare come looking for trouble at Wu Pass.”
“Enough, enough. We’ll just keep watch. Complaining won’t change anything.”
The Wei soldiers atop the pass grumbled among themselves.
By then, the Qin vanguard had already reached the foot of Wu Pass. Another group of men who had infiltrated the city in advance lowered ropes down the wall.
The ropes of this era were not particularly sturdy. Even with five of them, only ten Qin soldiers managed to climb up.
The ten men had just secured their footing and were preparing to haul up the rest of the vanguard when they were discovered by three Wei soldiers.
“Enemy—”
One of the Wei soldiers’ pupils widened as he cried out in alarm.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Before he could finish, several powerful crossbow bolts shot the three men full of holes.
The soldiers gave two birdlike calls, and a heavy siege ladder was immediately raised against the wall.
Taking advantage of the darkness, the vanguard climbed onto the battlements.
“Kill!”
Once enough men had gathered, the Qin assault troops launched their attack.
“Enemy attack! The Qin barbarians are coming!”
The Wei soldiers hurriedly shouted. But it was night, and apart from the men on watch, the rest were all sound asleep.
“There’s movement above. You two stay here. We’ll go up and take a look.”
After learning of the disturbance, the Wei guards at the gate left two men behind and raced toward the battlements.
The soldiers who had already climbed the wall, guided by the infiltrators, reached the gate. Two arrows killed the guards, and the city gates were thrown open.
“The gates are open! Follow me and kill!”
Ying Qian, who had been watching the situation closely, saw the gates open and immediately gave the order. Forty thousand Qin soldiers surged toward Wu Pass.
“Kill!”
For a time, their battle cries shook the heavens.
“Hold them back! Stand your ground!”
A Wei captain had only just raised his sword when—
Swish!
A blade flashed, and his head went flying. A Qin soldier, his eyes blazing crimson, stepped over his corpse.
Flames roared atop the city tower.
Ying Qian kicked a burning brazier aside and swept his cold, hard gaze over the battlefield below, where scattered pockets of Wei resistance still remained.
Under the furious assault of the Qin veterans, whose morale was at its peak, the Wei troops on the walls were soon swept away.
Every last one was beheaded. Not a single prisoner was taken.
The Qin soldiers, drunk on slaughter, charged toward the barracks where the Wei troops were stationed.
The Wei soldiers, hastily scrambling from their beds with their armor in disarray, were thrown into panic and cut down beneath the blades.
Chaos—utter chaos.
Yet Wei had, after all, produced a formidable army under Wu Qi’s harsh training. Before long, they managed to organize a force and launched a counterattack against the Qin army.
Blades clashed, and flesh flew.
“Something’s wrong. Why are there so many Wei soldiers?”
Ying Qian frowned as he watched the Wei troops regroup. The garrison at Wu Pass should have been depleted by now…
As the battle descended into a bitter stalemate, the scales of victory seemed to begin to waver.