Chapter Six: The First Clouds of War

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A city towered above the wasteland. Bathed in the light of the setting sun, it exuded a bleak, frigid air, like some monstrous beast left behind from the dawn of antiquity.

The city was badly ruined, and not a single brick or stone had been used in its construction. It had been built entirely of rammed earth, yet after enduring the erosion of countless years, it still stood firm.

This unbrick-lined city was naturally not Songzhou City. Rather, it was the ancient capital of Song, a kingdom left behind from the Warring States era of the Eastern Zhou. It lay east of present-day Songzhou. The city had been built by Dai Yan, the last ruler of Song and a formidable king in his own right. It was therefore also known as Yanwang City.

After ascending the throne, Dai Yan soon elevated Song from a duchy to a kingdom on his own authority. He trained his armies, sharpened his weapons, and went to war against the powerful states surrounding him. “To the east, he defeated Qi and seized five cities; to the south, he defeated Chu and took three hundred miles of territory; to the west, he defeated Wei and became the sworn enemy of both Qi and Wei; he destroyed Teng and attacked Xue, taking the lands north of the Huai.” His might shook the realm, and Song was hailed as “the vigorous Song of five thousand chariots.”

Yet Song made too many enemies. In his old age, Dai Yan became muddle-headed, and Qi, Chu, and Wei joined forces to invade Song. In the end, they divided its territory among themselves. Thus Song, the last surviving bloodline of Yin and Shang, vanished into the dust of history, leaving behind only this new capital built by Dai Yan for later generations to mourn and contemplate.

Though Yanwang City had been constructed entirely of rammed earth, without a trace of stone, its technology was in no way backward for its time. As far back as the age of the ancient Yan and Yellow Emperors, the people of Cathay had built stone cities. Later, their ancestors discovered that compacted earth could produce walls far thicker than those of stone while greatly reducing the cost.

The stone walls of the Western kingdoms were often less than one chang thick, making them difficult to defend against catapults or even large crossbows. Rammed-earth walls, however, could reach a thickness of two chang, allowing them to disperse the impact of stone shot far more effectively. Even enormous thunderclap stone-throwers found it difficult to inflict meaningful damage upon such massive walls. In this respect, Cathay’s methods of city defense were actually far more sophisticated than those of the Western kingdoms.

Rammed-earth walls could even withstand great floods without being swept away. Yet after remaining soaked for too long, they would collapse when the water receded too quickly. It was for this reason that, beginning in the Tang dynasty, brick facing came to be widely added to rammed-earth walls. The walls of present-day Songzhou, for instance, had been constructed in precisely this manner. Under the command of Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan, they had once repelled repeated fierce assaults by the An-Shi rebels.

At this moment, the rebel army under Huang Chao was filing into Yanwang City. They felled trees to construct fortifications and repaired the gaps in the ruined walls. With the surviving city walls to rely upon, they could reduce the effort required to establish camp while gaining an astonishing degree of defensive strength.

After learning that Song Wei’s forces had arrived directly ahead of him, Huang Chao ordered his troops to march at double speed and circle around behind Song Wei’s army, creating the appearance that he intended to trap Song Wei between himself and Wang Xianzhi.

Song Wei was greatly alarmed. He ordered his infantry into battle formation and advanced toward the walls of Songzhou City, intending to fight with the city at his back. Unexpectedly, Huang Chao merely feinted before wheeling his army eastward. Before Song Wei’s light cavalry could pursue him, he had seized the strategic stronghold of Yanwang City.

As a result, Qi Kelrang, who would soon be approaching from the east, would find the flank of his line of march threatened by Huang Chao’s army.

When the news reached Song Wei’s camp, the old general—clad in silver helmet and silver armor, his beard and hair streaked with white—did not grow angry. Instead, he stroked his beard and laughed.

“People say that Huang Chao, the failed examination scholar, is crafty. It seems he truly has one more trick up his sleeve than Wang Xianzhi. He has actually given this commander the slip.”

At his side stood a middle-aged man of about fifty, square-faced and broad-mouthed, with eyes bright as torches and a long saber strapped around his waist. He wore red armor and a scarlet headcloth, seeming like a blazing mass of fire.

This was Song Wei’s younger brother, Song Jue, nicknamed the Heavenly Saber. His martial prowess surpassed even Song Wei’s, and he was said to possess the strength of ten thousand men. Song Wei’s victories over Nanzhao and the rebel armies had owed much to the aid of this younger brother.

“Though Huang Chao is crafty, what is there to fear?” Song Jue declared resolutely. “Before absolute strength, every petty stratagem is like frost beneath the sun and moon—mercilessly destroyed. Your younger brother may be unworthy, but I am willing to bring Huang Chao’s head before you.”

“Not yet.” Song Wei waved a hand. “Marshal Snow will soon arrive. We cannot claim all the glory for ourselves; we should at least show him some courtesy. Soldiers! Pass on my order. Establish camp where we are, set up the cooking fires, and prepare food. Once Marshal Qi arrives, we shall break the enemy together!”

A messenger entered, gave a crisp acknowledgment, and hurried out of the camp.

Within Yanwang City, Zhu Wen said to Huang Chao, “Master, the old bandit Song has seen our two armies forming a pincer position. As expected, he does not dare attack lightly.”

Huang Chao threw back his head and laughed. “Song Wei once distinguished himself in the campaign against Nanzhao, only to be framed by Yan Qingfu, the Left Divine Martial General, who seized his army from him. Since then, he has grown cautious—but perhaps excessively so.”

“Our army is weaker than Brother Wang’s forces. In the past, when we killed Xue Chong of the Tianping Army, we succeeded only because we used a stratagem to destroy him. Even after seizing Yanwang City, while our position is still unsteady and we are cutting firewood and hauling earth to repair the ruined walls, Song Wei could achieve a great victory if he sent his elite cavalry charging forward with infantry following close behind.

“But now that our camp has been established, Song Wei can only wait for Qi Kelrang before attempting a decisive battle. Everything has unfolded precisely as I predicted.”

At Huang Chao’s side, his nephew Young Master Lin hurried to praise him. “Uncle is truly brilliant. With wisdom held firmly in his grasp and every calculation flawless, how could Song Wei possibly be your match?”

Zhu Wen said, “Though Song Wei is known as a famous general, his strategic planning is indeed far inferior to yours, Master. The only person we need fear now is Marshal Snow, Qi Kelrang.”

Huang Chao stroked his beard and nodded. “Juehai has recently sent word to me by carrier pigeon. He says that although Qi Kelrang’s forces number several tens of thousands, no more than five thousand are true combat troops. The rest are support soldiers and laborers. That claim by Liu Hanhong, the ‘Invincible Iron Tongue,’ that Tai’ning Command has lately been short of funds and has reduced its troop numbers is not entirely false.”

Liu Hanhong was the name of the litigation rogue from Yan Province who had repeatedly provoked Zhu Wen in Wang Xianzhi’s tent. “Invincible Iron Tongue” was his nickname.

“Yet even five thousand elite soldiers must not be underestimated. In former days, Kang Chengxun led an army to crush the uprising of Pang Xun, the leader of the Bright Cult, rescuing the Great Tang from the brink of collapse. What he relied upon most were the three thousand Shatuo iron cavalry under Marshal Feng. After the war, Kang Chengxun submitted a memorial praising their achievements, saying, ‘Three thousand horsemen from Dai Bei could stand against a hundred thousand troops.’

“Qi Kelrang, the ‘Snow-Clearing Qilian,’ once shattered a two-hundred-thousand-strong Tibetan army at Shanzhou. His reputation was certainly not undeserved. Against such a man, we must act with the utmost caution.”

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Had these words been spoken before the martial heroes under Wang Xianzhi’s command, they would naturally have seemed to exalt another’s prestige while diminishing their own.

But now the two armies had already established separate camps and drawn up their formations. Huang Chao was speaking inside his own headquarters, and his words were born entirely of rational consideration. The Four Marshals of the Great Tang had been renowned for many years and their might had shaken the realm. They were certainly not men who possessed nothing but empty reputations.

Once the council ended, evening had already fallen. Zhu Wen returned to the private tent assigned to him as a battalion commander and promptly fell asleep.

The more tense the circumstances, the more soundly he slept.

It was much like the eve of the Gaoping Tombs Incident, when Sima Shi, son of the usurping hero Sima Yi, heard his father’s plans for the coup and still slept peacefully as usual.

To live was, in truth, exhausting. If he were defeated and killed tomorrow, the loss of his head would leave no more than a scar the size of a bowl. In the end, it would be nothing but one eternal, profound sleep.

In his dream, Zhu Wen returned to his childhood.

Several mischievous boys were playing in the water on a gleaming white riverbank, piling and shaping the fine sand.

The children compared their creations with one another.

“Look what I made!”

A fair-haired boy shouted proudly.

Everyone saw that the sand had been shaped into an exquisite castle, with even the crenellations faintly visible atop its walls.

“I made a beacon fortress! In the old days, soldiers guarding the frontier held off Tibetan and Uighur invasions from fortresses just like this!”

“Wow, that’s amazing!”

“It’s practically divine!”

The children showered him with praise. Then someone suddenly asked, “Hey, what’s that oddball Zhu the Third doing over there?”

“Come on, let’s see!”

They soon found an extraordinarily intricate and beautiful palace of sand. Little Zhu Wen, with his delicately carved features, was using a small wooden shovel to divert water from the river into it.

“What is this?” the fair-haired boy who had built the beacon fortress asked darkly.

“This? It’s the Huaqing Palace of Emperor Ming of Tang. Someone was selling a picture of it at the temple fair.”

Zhu Wen pointed to another cluster of buildings nearby. “This is the Pear Garden inside Huaqing Palace, where Emperor Ming listened to plays.”

Finally, he pointed to the channel he had dug. “I’m about to lead water into the Huaqing Pool.”

The children stood there in a daze. Then, with astonishing unanimity, they walked over and kicked Little Zhu Wen’s magnificent construction to pieces, one child after another. They left him sitting on the ground, wailing miserably.

Later, his second brother Zhu Cun beat them until their faces were swollen and bruised, then forced them to come and apologize to him.

It solved nothing at all. If anything, it made Zhu Wen even more of an outsider.

Yet when Zhu Wen awoke, he suddenly realized how much he missed his second brother.

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The two brothers had not seen each other for quite some time.

…

In the fifth month of early summer, vapor rose in drifting veils above Mengzhu Marsh northeast of Songzhou, where dense reed beds stretched across the waters.

Mengzhu Marsh had been formed by the great floods of antiquity. It was the foremost of the Nine Great Marshes of ancient times and had been honored as a sacred lake by the Yu, Xia, and Shang dynasties. Though its waters had shrunk greatly by the Tang dynasty, it remained one of the Central Plain’s few vast marshes. Wetlands extended for miles around it, and its natural resources were abundant.

The Northern Bian River now ran through the marsh, flowing southeast from the northwest before joining the Si River. A natural tributary of the Si, the Northern Bian was also known as the Bian Canal. Ever since Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Guang, had excavated the Tongji Canal, the word “Northern” had been added to the Bian River’s name to distinguish it from the Tongji Canal, which was also called the Bian Canal. One river ran north and the other south, enclosing Songzhou between them and linking the region to a thousand miles of navigable waters. The land was consequently exceptionally fertile.

A man in a flowing purple robe stood beneath a plain bamboo-paper umbrella, silently watching the soldiers bind reeds into rafts and ferry men, horses, and supplies across the vast surface of the lake. These warriors had undergone extraordinarily rigorous training. They worked with smooth efficiency, producing rafts that were both light and broad enough to carry heavy loads.

Marshal Snow, Qi Kelrang, had learned the Mohist and Gongshu schools’ arts of attack and defense from his master since childhood. Later, while serving in Xiliang, he had traveled west beyond Yang Pass and journeyed through the lands of the Far West, seeking from the Arabs and the Romans the secrets of military machinery and siege devices. He had fused the finest techniques of East and West into one, reaching the utmost heights in the arts of both besieging and defending fortresses. He could truly be described as one who “hides beneath the Nine Earths when defending, and strikes from above the Nine Heavens when attacking.”

Naturally, boatbuilding and raft construction also fell within the specialties of Qi Kelrang’s forces, who excelled at civil engineering and the use of machinery.

“Marshal, the vanguard has already crossed Mengzhu Marsh and formed a line with powerful crossbows. The enemy cavalry has no way to act.”

A young officer bowed deeply before Qi Kelrang. He had a tall, lean build, swordlike brows, bright starry eyes, and handsome features. His entire body radiated the murderous aura peculiar to soldiers. Every word he spoke was hard as iron, striking like a chisel against a metal plate.

He was one of Qi Kelrang’s fiercest commanders, Yan Lingkong, one of the Six Stars of the Southern Dipper. It had to be admitted that Yan Lingkong was a rare beauty among men. His sculpted features seemed carved by blade and axe, while his lightning-sharp gaze revealed an indescribable hard-bitten charm. He was unquestionably a young woman’s dream of a killer.

Yet compared with his superior, who was twenty years his senior, Yan Lingkong’s youthful handsomeness paled beside the mature masculine presence forged in Qi Kelrang by the trials of time. If Yan Lingkong resembled a golden eagle, fierce and imposing, Qi Kelrang was like a white phoenix covered in snow. Even in silence, he possessed the lofty bearing of a jade mountain.

“Lingkong, you have done well.” Qi Kelrang’s voice was as calm as still water, without the slightest ripple.

“Our army feinted to the east, then seized Mengzhu Marsh by force. Everything unfolded precisely as the Marshal predicted. Though Huang Chao is crafty, he can deceive men like Song Wei—but he has ultimately been outwitted by the Marshal.”

Yan Lingkong was lavish in his praise of his commander.

Qi Kelrang knew that, after Huang Chao seized Yanwang City and prepared to intercept the troops of Marshal Snow advancing east from Yan Province, he had headed south to Xuzhou. There, he had extorted a large quantity of provisions and equipment from the military governor of the Pacification Army in Xuzhou. Only after his soldiers had eaten their fill and sung with swollen bellies had he leisurely broken camp and proceeded west, creating the appearance that he intended to reach Songzhou by land.

Qi Kelrang, however, had merely made a feint. Once he received word that Huang Chao’s cavalry had moved south to intercept him, he immediately turned his army north. He continued westward along the Northern Bian River until he reached the northern side of Songzhou, then suddenly crossed Mengzhu Marsh.

In early summer, Mengzhu Marsh was broad and its reed rafts light. Though Huang Chao received the news in time, he had no way to determine where Qi Kelrang would come ashore. Nor did he possess a naval force with which to intercept Qi Kelrang’s troops. Thus Qi Kelrang was able to land at leisure and establish a position on the far side of the lake.

“It was nothing more than a conventional military maneuver,” Qi Kelrang said blandly. “How could Huang Chao fail to see through my arrangement? But he did not have enough troops to seal the entire southern shore of Mengzhu Marsh. My stratagem therefore became an open stratagem, one he had no means of breaking.

“As for my passage through Xuzhou, that was because the Xuzhou command has always been arrogant and fierce, repeatedly rebelling against and resisting the imperial court. Its military governor, Zhi Xiang, harbors ambitions of carving out an independent domain and has several times detained and refused to remit taxes. By borrowing a road through Xuzhou and displaying my army’s might along the Si River, I achieve three things. First, I demonstrate the military power of Tai’ning Command. Second, I make that unruly fief tremble, so that it dares not harbor rebellious intentions. Third, Xuzhou has enjoyed abundant harvests in recent years, making it an ideal place to replenish our supplies.”

Yan Lingkong was struck dumb. He had never imagined that his commander had taken so many considerations into account. The thoroughness of his planning and the certainty of his calculations were truly beyond anything his subordinates could match.

“Xuzhou… That was also a place where Master once fought.” Qi Kelrang suddenly seemed lost in thought, and sighed.

At that moment, a carrier pigeon fluttered down from the sky and came racing across the lake.

Qi Kelrang raised a hand and removed the yellow paper strip tied to the bird’s leg.

“The forward beachhead has been attacked by a sudden charge of rebel cavalry. Our soldiers have suffered heavy casualties. Marshal Snow, send reinforcements at once!”

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