Chapter 38: Chen Liqing

Zhu Wen possessed an exceptionally keen eye for the battlefield. After just a few charges, he could already see that the attacking government troops were actually very few in number, amounting to only a few thousand frontline soldiers.

However, the rebel forces were scattered in a loose siege, and the ones under attack were only a small fraction. Having also fallen for a fire-attack strategy, they had collapsed like a mountain sliding into the sea.

As long as the cavalrymen could hold out until Huang Chao led the infantry over for reinforcement, the enemy would be unable to expand their gains and would be forced to retreat.

Since Liu Yanzhang, the deputy leader of the Shanyizhimen, had already managed to reorganize the troops, the situation was not too critical.

Just as he was pondering, a roar like a crack of thunder rang out: "You dust-like, lowly ants, go die for me!"

A single horseman suddenly charged out from the enemy ranks, wearing a cloud-flashing golden phoenix-wing crown, clad in a scarlet interlocking-chain golden armor, and riding a charcoal-black flying-lightning horse. She was a tall, strikingly handsome female general with thick eyebrows; yet her expression was like that of a madwoman, with murderous intent lurking at the corners of her eyes and brows.

Bai Qi, a junior officer under Zhu Wen's command, was lagging behind the cavalry formation. Hearing the oncoming rider's fierce roar, he was instantly frightened out of his wits, horse and man both trembling. Before they had exchanged three blows, the female general reached out, grabbed him by the neck, and hoisted him mid-air. He struggled desperately with his feet, his white battle robe fluttering like a shroud. Before long, his face turned livid, his tongue protruded like a hanged ghost's, and he expired on the spot.

Earlier, Zhu Wen's subordinate Huo Cun had charged into the mule-cavalry formation and captured a horseman to present as a trophy. Now, this female general had likewise captured Bai Qi in the midst of battle and strangled him on the spot, an explicit and blatant act of retaliation and intimidation against the rebel forces.

The female general strangled Bai Qi, tossed his corpse to the ground with utter disdain, and crushed his Adam's apple to powder amidst the flesh of his neck. Not stopping there, she spurred her horse to trample over Bai Qi's corpse. With a series of popping sounds like roasted beans coming from his chest and abdomen, his internal organs burst forth in a riot of colorful gore.

Enlivened by the killing, the female general felt a dry heat wash over her and her face flush red. She unfastened her battle robe, took off her helmet, and hung it on the victory-hook at her waist. With her hair disheveled, her features remained those of a flower-like beauty, yet her fierce and malevolent appearance resembled a rakshasa ghostess newly escaped from the depths of the Avici Hell.

Seeing this madwoman's wretched and frantic state, Zhu Wen frowned and turned to his second elder brother, Zhu Cun: "Second Brother, do you recognize this crazy woman?"

Zhu Cun raised a large hand to scratch his head, conveniently plucked a louse from his hair, and crushed it flat: "Let me think... Doesn't the Flame Commander have the Five Sky-Burning Swords under his command? This is probably the 'Phoenix Sword', Chen Liqing."

Just as the Snow Commander Qi Kelang had the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper, the Flame Commander also had the Five Sky-Burning Swords—both groups consisting of young generals serving as bodyguards to the commander-in-chief, held in extremely high regard.

Zhu Wen wore a look of sudden realization: "Isn't she that legitimate daughter of the Zhejiang branch of the Yingchuan Chen clan whose entire family was slaughtered by the righteous army seventeen years ago during Qiu Fu's uprising, and who was played with until she was hardly human?"

"I remember this woman's late father was called Chen Jian, courtesy name Qingzhen? He was a sesame-seed-sized petty official who only got his post through the back door."

Zhu Cun corrected him unhurriedly: "Chen Jian, courtesy name Xizhen, patriarch of the Zhejiang branch of the Yingchuan Chen clan, former magistrate of Cixi. He wormed his way into officialdom, acting with cruelty that harmed the people and incited the Qiu Fu rebellion. During the chaos, he abandoned his wife and daughter and fled, only to be executed in accordance with the law by Grand General Wang Shi when he came to suppress the rebellion, thus appeasing the public anger."

Zhu Wen slapped his forehead: "Right, right, right. I always fail to remember these trivial matters."

Hearing the two brothers singing in harmony, Chen Liqing's already frenzied face instantly turned as terrifying and ferocious as a grey wolf's, her eyes flashing with a bloodthirsty murderous intent.

"Hehehehehe..." Her cold laugh seemed forced up from the depths of her lungs: "Where did these death-defying wretches come from? The stories you're telling are not funny at all."

"True stories, of course they're not very funny," Zhu Wen said indifferently. "You're an old woman pushing thirty—are you trying to have a go at me?"

Chen Liqing's murderous intent was as sharp as a knife: "Little brat, I recognize you. Don't think that because you luckily killed Kou Qianzhi in a foot battle, your horsemanship makes you a match for me! Kou Qianzhi was a cavalry general who was never skilled in foot combat anyway. Killing him was an unfair victory."

"If you dare to fight me properly, I will teach you just how cruel death can truly be."

Zhu Wen nodded and rubbed his hands together: "That's perfect. I'm not skilled in mounted combat either. Madwoman, I'll just use you to practice my skills."

Chen Liqing gnashed her teeth, brandished the green-sinker spear in her hands, and spurred her horse like the wind, hurtling straight toward Zhu Wen!

Zhu Wen saw it clearly: the shaft of that green-sinker spear was made of extremely hard green-sinker bamboo, glowing with an emerald light, while the spearhead was a glaring red. Even more unusual was the butt-end of the spear shaft, where the counterweight ought to have been—it was fitted with yet another spearhead.

A double-edged spear.

While the spear was known as the "King of a Hundred Weapons," the double-edged spear, sharpened at both head and tail, was known as the "Bandit of a Hundred Weapons."

This weapon, used by lords like Gongsun Zan at the end of the Han dynasty and the Martial Emperor Tianwang Ran Min during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, could thrust both forward and backward. The difficulty of wielding it was extremely high, and fighting with it was vicious and tricky. Every warrior capable of wielding this item possessed quite extraordinary martial arts skills.

Faced with an unarmored crowd of enemies, a master could even grip the middle of the double-edged spear and spin it like a windmill, chopping and killing wildly to shred the enemies' limbs and flesh into a flying storm of gore.

Zhu Wen did not dare to be negligent. Wielding his precious Great Xia Dragon Sparrow saber, he spurred his horse and danced the blade to meet her.

Chen Liqing flicked her double-edged green-sinker spear, snapping it through the air with a series of explosive cracks. The crimson spear tip rushed like a comet striking the moon, thrusting straight at Zhu Wen's chest.

The reddish spear blade was like a sword, half a foot long and exceptionally sharp. Facing Zhu Wen, who wore only leather armor in the scorching heat, it could easily pierce his defense.

In truth, the piercing capability of the saber Zhu Wen used was far inferior to that of a spear or sword. Its advantage lay in its sweeping arcs, capable of attacking multiple opponents simultaneously, and its single-edged structure made it less likely to accidentally injure comrades, making it quite advantageous in melee skirmishes.

He executed a backhanded slash to parry, deflecting the spear tip.

Yet Chen Liqing unleashed continuous killing moves, her spear tip clinging to him like a disease clinging to the bones. Accompanied by the madwoman's furious roars, she tried her utmost to stick to Zhu Wen, making it difficult for him to find an opportunity to counterattack.

In comparison, the long spear was undoubtedly the king of mounted combat! The relatively wide distances in mounted warfare allowed the length advantage of the long spear to be maximized to the extreme.

And Chen Liqing, wielding the double-edged spear, had a fighting style that was all the more vicious and unpredictable. For instance, when Zhu Wen wheeled his horse around to ambush her rear, she could directly thrust with the other end of the green-sinker spear, forcing Zhu Wen to parry.

Zhu Wen had to admit that Chen Liqing was right.

A duel of generals was never a matter of everyone having a number floating above their heads and simply comparing sizes.

Aside from one's proficiency in martial arts and personal strength, a whole series of elements—the environment, weapons, mindset, fighting spirit, initiative, and more—could influence the outcome of a single combat. Examples of the weak defeating the strong had never been rare in history.

As for mounted duels, for Zhu Wen, this meant using his own weakness to attack Chen Liqing's strength. Both her horsemanship and her mounted combat skills surpassed his own.

Moreover, Zhu Wen knew that this woman also held the nickname "Female Feiyang." Even if his junior sister Duan Hongyan were to compete with her in archery, she might not necessarily secure a definitive upper hand.

If she didn't have real skills, why would the world-renowned Flame Commander heavily employ such an idiot?

As someone who knew nothing about mounted archery, Zhu Wen could only get as close to Chen Liqing as possible, preferring to be constantly battered by her spear technique rather than giving her any opportunity to launch a stealthy arrow attack.

Blocking spear techniques with a saber was, after all, much easier than blocking arrows.

"Zhezhezhe!" Chen Liqing was originally a beautiful woman, but at this moment she emitted a shrill, eerie laughter like that of a night owl: "With this meager level of horsemanship, you still dare to show off before me. I'll send you right now to reunite with that little white-clad grunt under your command!"

Zhu Wen caught his breath.

Fighting fiercely under the blazing sunlight had already caused sweat to stream down his face.

Yet his tone remained calm and unhurried.

"Old woman, you really have no upbringing."

Chen Liqing's eyebrows suddenly shot up in anger.

"Die! Little brat, go die for me!"

She clenched her teeth hard, swung her spear forward, and launched a fierce, lunging thrust toward Zhu Wen.

Zhu Wen spurred his horse to swerve past, dodging the charge, and then, at a fraction-of-a-second moment, slipped his feet out of the stirrups and leaped up with a gathering of his breath.

The next moment, Chen Liqing suddenly realized that on Zhu Wen's side, there was only a galloping, riderless horse left.

A wave of pressure instantly forced her flat against the horse's back. To avoid falling off, Chen Liqing had to clamp her legs tightly around the horse's belly.

A vicious slap landed squarely on Chen Liqing's left cheek, making her entire face burn as if scorched by fire.

"Your father is dead."

A voice devoid of any worldly emotion sounded beside her ear: "I am not cursing you, because this is a fact."

Another heavy punch smashed into Chen Liqing's right cheek, knocking her entire head violently to the side.

"Your mother is dead too. See, this is a fact as well."

Coming up next was an uppercut, directly striking Chen Liqing's exquisite chin, slamming her teeth together with a sharp clatter and grinding them with a shrill screech.

"Your elder brother, your younger brother, your grandfather—your entire family is dead. All of these are facts. But that is no reason for you to be pushing thirty and still have such terrible manners."

Zhu Wen pinned Chen Liqing down with his weight, staring fixedly into her face with a chilling gaze, speaking quite calmly.

Zhu Wen had to admit that Chen Liqing possessed considerable skill and talent in mounted combat.

A wandering knight like himself did not have the conditions that aristocratic scions enjoyed to ride and shoot horses from childhood.

Therefore, he had no intention of fighting a standard, proper mounted duel with Chen Liqing.

His senior brother Meng Kai had taught him not long ago that when encountering a formidable long-lance knight, one should find a way to seize their weapon using "lance-snatching techniques." Once disarmed, even someone with peerless martial arts like Lü Bu would be forced to crawl into an outhouse to escape.

However, Chen Liqing's spear technique was truly too proficient, leaving him no opportunity to snatch her weapon.

In that case, the only option was to jump onto the opponent's horse and alter the nature of the combat.

Chen Liqing's eyes looked as though they were about to spew fire. If murderous intent could be turned into something substantial, Zhu Wen would have had to use his precious saber to guard his chest and face right then and there.

Yet her swollen face, blood-stained lips, and completely distorted facial features made it difficult for even someone intimately familiar with her to recognize Chen Liqing now.

Zhu Wen had already punched Chen Liqing in the face more than a dozen times.

Thus, he realized that this woman's skin must be quite thick.

That was why he had struck with all his might, yet hadn't even broken a single bone in her face.

One must know that the strength of his left hand was actually greater than that of his right.

"You so-called noble aristocratic scions like to toss around words like 'lowly people' and 'ants' at every turn. Don't you fancy yourselves as cultured and well-mannered? Such vocabulary shows zero upbringing."

Zhu Wen delivered another direct punch to Chen Liqing's brow ridge, swelling her left eye socket high as well: "Let me teach you: even if that's what you think in your heart, you must keep it bottled up inside and absolutely, under no circumstances, say it out loud."

He turned his head to glance at the Huaixi mule-cavalry soldiers, then returned his gaze to Chen Liqing's unrecognizable face: "Because among your subordinates and your comrades, many are grass-roots commoners with no family background like me. If you run your mouth indiscriminately day in and day out, even if I don't kill you, someone else might sever your head off before you know it."

As he spoke, Zhu Wen snatched the short sword from the jade-studded belt at Chen Liqing's waist, cut the ties of her armor, and removed the shoulder guards on both sides.

Due to the hot weather, Chen Liqing was only wearing a bib-style armor divided into front and back pieces, connected solely by leather straps. After taking off the shoulder guards, Zhu Wen severed the straps, easily lifted off the front piece, and discarded it under the horse's hooves.

He tore apart her collar, ripped open her undergarment, and—amidst her terror-stricken gaze—grabbed hold of the plump flesh.

Yet it was a vicious squeeze, leaving several striking bloody claw marks upon it!

Excruciating pain pierced her heart, causing Chen Liqing to let out a wail as tears gushed forth from her swollen eye sockets.

"Ha, you can still cry. So your entire family is dead, yet you are still alive, because you're afraid to die."

Zhu Wen smiled quite prettily, then tore away the other side of Chen Liqing's undergarment as well: "Look, I am a well-mannered person, so I don't plan to ruin the other side, nor will I utter what this thing is called."

"But this is truly worth letting these commoner soldiers who are risking their lives for the imperial court take a good look at."

"This isn't such a big deal, because seventeen years ago, many of Qiu Fu's subordinates already saw it and touched it. But you were only twelve back then, so it certainly wasn't as big as it is now."

As Zhu Wen spoke, many blazing gazes gathered like clustered spears and sharpened arrows.

Every scrutinizing gaze appeared thoroughly malicious.

Yet the young man pressing down on her had eyes of extraordinary clarity, showing not the slightest bit of sexual interest in Chen Liqing's body; everything he did was merely to humiliate her.

Chen Liqing burst into a flood of tears out of sheer shame and anger.

The unforgettable nightmare of seventeen years ago enveloped her once again at this moment.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zhu Wen caught sight of several female cavalrymen galloping swiftly in this direction.

"Let go of General Chen!"

The leading female cavalrywoman shrieked sharply.

Judging by appearances, they were Chen Liqing's personal guards.

Zhu Wen sighed inwardly, and had no choice but to use the short sword to slit Chen Liqing's throat. However, a sleeve-arrow struck him squarely, causing the short sword to slip from his hand and fall to the ground.

Seeing that the enemy was about to close in, Zhu Wen could only shove Chen Liqing down from the horse. Thus, with her chest exposed, she tumbled down tearfully into the dust.

He looked back at Chen Liqing and said, "Old crone, I'll spare your life today, but you must remember to watch your tongue in the future."

Zhu Wen's voice and expression suddenly turned as cold as ice: "No matter what, you aristocratic clans can never slaughter all of us commoners. After all, you still depend on us commoners for sustenance."

"Yet if commoners are pushed to the absolute limit..." Zhu Wen traced his slender fingers through empty space: "We can slaughter you noble brocades and caps until not a single one remains."

These few words failed to prompt any direct reaction from Chen Liqing, whose mind had completely broken down, but they caused several female cavalrymen of aristocratic background to shudder involuntarily in their saddles.

As for the Huaixi mule-cavalry troopers, almost all of whom had humble origins, they listened and nodded in secret, wearing expressions of deep empathy.

The female cavalrymen hurriedly reined in their horses and wrapped their general in a battle robe. Seizing the opportunity, Zhu Wen drove the red-maned steed—which originally belonged to Chen Liqing—out of the formation.

"Waa!" That female general under the Flame Commander, one of the "Five Sky-Burning Swords" who had originally possessed such heroic bearing, lay on the ground howling miserably: "Kill that brat, waah! I don't want to live anymore..."

Having suffered internal injuries from Zhu Wen's blows, she suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood amidst her wails.

Enduring the pain, Chen Liqing secretly swore an oath that in the future, she would use every cruel method imaginable to deal with this little brat who had humiliated her to this extent.

Zhu Wen sneered unceasingly. If she truly didn't want to live, she should have drawn her sword and committed suicide seventeen years ago after being violated by the mob of Qiu Fu's rebel soldiers.

Still, after becoming a renowned female general, being publicly humiliated like this was undeniably awkward.

Regardless, what Zhu Wen had done today felt thoroughly satisfying. Although Chen Liqing had cursed him, he wasn't angry at all; yet teaching this ill-mannered woman a lesson still brought Zhu Wen a great deal of gratification.

Everything Chen Liqing had suffered back then originated from her father Chen Xizhen's exploitation of the people, which had incited the civilian rebellion, so she had entirely brought it upon herself.

Yet she showed not the slightest bit of remorse, spouting "lowly people" and "ants" at every turn for all these years.

Such a woman truly deserved a lesson.

Failing to kill her today was no great matter either.

Quite a few of the mule-cavalry soldiers were clearly interested in Chen Liqing's body, staring fixedly when Zhu Wen stripped off her armor, which severely delayed their regrouping.

Meanwhile, Huang Chao had already brought the infantry over to reinforce them.

Therefore, these government troops had no choice but to retreat with minor spoils, filled with bitter reluctance.

From start to finish, the "Burial Inspector," the true commander of the enemy forces, had never shown his face. Yet there was no doubt that this master of the Corpse-Imperial Sect must have been hiding in some corner of the enemy array, controlling those green-haired immortals to fight in coordination with the Huaixi mule-cavalry.

The appearance of Chen Liqing also firmly linked this military operation to the "Flame Commander" among the Four Commanders of the Great Tang.

Whether it was the "Flame Commander" or the "Burial Inspector," both were enemies that the rebel army would inevitably have to defeat in the future. Today's fleeting glimpse did not make Zhu Wen feel any great regret; after all, they would meet again.

After the battle, counting the casualties, the portion of Wang Shizong's army surrounding the south gate of Songzhou had been hastily ambushed and subjected to fire-attacks, resulting in over two thousand deaths and twice as many wounded.

Such losses were not fatal, but they had caused Wang Shizong's rebel forces to lose the will to continue fighting.

The latest intelligence reports showed that the troops brought by the "Burial Inspector" numbered seven thousand. Compared to the tens of thousands of rebels, this force was insufficient to launch a decisive battle. Consequently, after the initial surprise attack, the reinforcements could only fortify their camp and maintain internal and external coordination with Lei Yingfu's trapped forces inside the city.

However, considering that the main force of the Flame Commander might arrive from the north at any moment, it was indeed inadvisable to continue fighting this battle.

Besides, having previously defeated the allied forces of Song Wei and Qi Kelang, the rebel army had already seized a massive amount of supplies as trophies. During the siege, they had also used roaming cavalry to raid the Tongji Canal transport routes, capturing many grain boats.

Therefore, Wang Shizong and Huang Chao finally decided to break camp and lift the siege.

This tragic and fierce battle of Songzhou truly came to an end amidst the sultry wind of late summer.