Chapter 35: Pulling the Firewood from Under the Cauldron
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Zhang Jiawen hurried over to Zhao Dahu and asked, “Have you taken Qier Mountain?”
“Reporting to the Assistant General, Battalion Commander Lin led us in capturing Chao Ketu alive. We also seized the Third Prince of Mengla, Hesuer. We killed more than five hundred men in battle and took fewer than a hundred prisoners. The Heavenly Wolf Battalion has won a great victory!”
Zhang Jiawen let out a long breath, his gaze unconsciously turning toward Qier Mountain.
Sun Zheng, Wu Tian, and the other commanders stared at Zhao Dahu in stunned disbelief.
Lin Shize had taken only five hundred men and killed more than five hundred Mengla soldiers, captured prisoners, and even seized Chao Ketu and a prince alive. How was that possible?
Zhang Jiawen immediately ordered Wu Tian, “Lin Shize has taken Qier Mountain. You must hold back the enemy. Even if only one man remains standing, you cannot let them return to reinforce the others.”
“Otherwise, I will hold you personally responsible!”
Wu Tian’s face turned green. This time, he truly had no choice but to fight to the death.
Zhang Jiawen handed Zhao Dahu a waterskin and asked gently, “How did you manage to capture a prince?”
Zhao Dahu opened the waterskin and took a drink before replying, “The one we captured was the Third Prince, Hesuer. He had come to the military camp specifically to comfort the soldiers, but when the fighting broke out at Bat Mountain, he happened to flee to Qier Mountain. That was where the Battalion Commander captured him.”
“Throughout the journey, the Battalion Commander always placed himself at the very front, heedless of his own safety.”
“At the beginning, he led some men into the city disguised in the uniforms of the Mengla sentries…”
With dramatic rises and falls in his voice, Zhao Dahu described a breathtaking scene of battle.
When he spoke of Lin Shize infiltrating the city with his men, Zhang Jiawen even felt a cold sweat break out for him.
To venture deep into enemy territory with only two soldiers required extraordinary courage.
When Zhang Jiawen heard that the enemy had used iron-armored suicide troops to shield their heavy infantry, he knew things had taken a turn for the worse. The heavy infantry were Chao Ketu’s trump card.
Yet when he learned that, despite inflicting terrible losses on their opponents, the heavy infantry had ultimately been wiped out by armor-piercing bolts, he once again reassessed the weapon.
He had never imagined that the armor-piercing bolts could possess such tremendous power.
Even the heavy infantry, those terrifying weapons of war, had been unable to withstand their edge.
Zhang Jiawen threw back his head and laughed. “Excellent! Your Battalion Commander truly possesses both courage and wisdom. For the battle at Qier Mountain, the Heavenly Wolf Battalion deserves the foremost credit.”
What Zhang Jiawen admired most in Lin Shize was that proud spirit of his. Proud men usually had the ability to justify their pride.
The commander of an army was the soul of the entire force.
Whatever qualities a commander possessed, the soldiers under him would come to possess as well.
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That was precisely what people meant when they said that an incompetent commander could exhaust an entire army.
Wu Tian had followed Zhang Jiawen for many years. Zhang Jiawen had originally thought that the man would have improved in the art of commanding troops and waging war, but today’s performance showed that he had made no progress at all.
The main army had surrounded the city walls and was stubbornly holding back the enemy.
At a time like this, they could have taken advantage of the enemy’s eagerness to send reinforcements and withdrawn to a safe distance beyond the walls.
That way, they would not have had to attack uphill, while the enemy would have lost the advantage of their fortified position. It would have accomplished two things at once.
Sun Zheng said, “Assistant General, Wu Tian’s approach may not be clever, but it is the safest option.”
“The Mengla are naturally skilled at charging into battle. Once we opened the distance, a successful enemy assault could have ruined everything.”
“Lin Shize is especially adept at surprise attacks, so it is hardly surprising that he managed to take Qier Mountain.”
“But most commanders stationed at the frontier would choose this seemingly foolish yet most dependable tactic. There is nothing to criticize.”
Zhang Jiawen smiled wryly. “That may be true, but with tactics like these, holding the frontier is the best we can hope for, let alone launching a counterattack.”
“Among all my subordinates, only you and that little fox are capable of standing on your own. I had originally intended to give you command of an entire army, but with him leaping about outside, you can only lead troops from the main camp.”
Sun Zheng did not mind in the least. He smiled and said, “Lin Shize excels at taking unconventional risks. There is no one more suited to operate outside the camp.”
“Surprise attacks are recorded in the history books precisely because their chances of success are so slim.”
“Once they fail, everything is lost. I do not possess his courage. He dared to take only five hundred men up Qier Mountain—and actually won.”
Zhang Jiawen said, “How could I not understand that? But given the situation at the frontier, a surprise attack is the only path left to us.”
As the two men spoke, Zhao Dahu came over and said, “Assistant General, Centurion Sun, the Battalion Commander has sent men to bring Chao Ketu and Hesuer here.”
Zhang Jiawen sprang to his feet. “Take me to them.”
Chao Ketu was carried in on a stretcher, bound tightly. Wang Li and Liu Wu led a squad of soldiers, every one of them wounded and looking utterly bedraggled.
Liu Wu in particular had more than a dozen wounds of various sizes. The wound on his leg was especially deep; had it been any worse, the entire limb might have been crippled.
Seeing that Liu Wu had suffered such severe injuries, Zhang Jiawen immediately asked, “How many casualties did the Heavenly Wolf Battalion suffer?”
Liu Wu answered in a low voice, “Twenty percent of our men were killed or wounded.”
“Only twenty percent?” Sun Zheng cried out in astonishment.
They had launched a surprise attack against more than six hundred Mengla soldiers and taken Qier Mountain while suffering only a hundred casualties. This was a complete and overwhelming victory.
“So this is the Third Prince of Mengla?” Zhang Jiawen asked, looking at the armored Mengla man nearby.
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He had not expected the Third Prince to be so young.
Hesuer gave a cold snort. “That is correct. I am Hesuer, the Third Prince of Mengla.”
Zhang Jiawen did not take offense at his rudeness. He smiled, clasped his hands, and said, “I am Zhang Jiawen, Assistant General. It is an honor to meet you, Your Highness.”
He then walked over to Chao Ketu and looked down at him. “We meet again.”
Chao Ketu spoke resentfully. “Zhang Jiawen, you could not defeat me, so you sent some sinister, treacherous wretch to scheme against me, did you?”
“Hahaha! If I had possessed that kind of ability, I would never have let you escape back then. It was all that young man’s plan.”
Zhang Jiawen’s heart was filled with satisfaction. At last, he had vented the resentment he had carried from all those years ago.
Sun Zheng said, “Assistant General, this is a victory the frontier has not seen in many years. Surely those spineless appeasers at court will have nothing left to say now.”
“Indeed,” Zhang Jiawen replied. “This battle has finally allowed our frontier army to hold its head high.”
“Mobilize the troops at once. We are going to Qier Mountain.”
With that, Zhang Jiawen ordered his men to escort Chao Ketu and Hesuer away and strode off.
He paid no attention to Wang Li or the old-camp soldiers behind him.
Wang Li clenched his fists without saying a word. Liu Wu patted him on the shoulder and said, “You will always be my brother in life and death.”
Wang Li nodded and said to Liu Wu, “Let’s go. We should be heading back.”
Wang Li was not surprised by Zhang Jiawen’s attitude. The old-camp soldiers had never been treated as human beings. He was already grateful that they had not been sent into battle as cannon fodder.
Fortunately, the Battalion Commander was not like that. He truly regarded the brothers as his own.
His primary purpose in coming here had been to deliver Chao Ketu and the Third Prince to the Assistant General. Now that the mission was complete, he had to return to Qier Mountain as quickly as possible. The brothers were still waiting for him to distribute their silver.
At that very moment, Lin Shize was directing the soldiers as they carried away the silver.
The gold and silver in the warehouse had nearly piled up into a mountain. He had to move some of it before the army arrived.
Every man now exerted all his strength, unleashing more power than they had ever shown before…
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