Volume 1 Chapter 5 (1/2)
Book 1 Chapter 5 – Display of invincibility
As far as they can see all around them, the land was a large lush plain of green, peppered with wild forests and winding rivers and streams. Nature is so breathtakingly beautiful.
Tao Fang suddenly sighed and said, “I’m in conflict when it comes to the Weis as well. The southwest of Great Jin has a corner separated by the Yellow River, followed by treacherous mountains. It effectively sandwiched the Qin’s only entrance in the east. After the separation of the 3 states, this section was taken by the Weis, and as long as they remain strong, the Qins will be trapped in the west and cannot conquer towards the east. Hai! So do we wish for the state of Wei to be strong or weak?”
Xiang Shaolong asked, “Why does Master Tai hate the Weis so much?”
Tao Fang’s expression turned somber and he said, “Ever since Marquis Wen of Wei reformed Wei, he kept invading others, not only weakening us, but made the Qins stronger and become a danger to us. The chaotic situation now is all the result of the Wei’s actions. Secondary are the aberrant Qis who goes back on their words. When we joined forced with Chu and Han to attack Qin, they came to attack us and gave Qin the opportunity to eliminate the 2 states of Ba and Shu, thus expanding their land. All of them are short sighted people.”
Another warrior interrupted, “But the most idiotic would be King Chu. The Qins used only 600 miles of land to entice him to break off friendly ties with Qi. In the end they were left isolated and without reinforcements. The Qins defeated them badly at Danyang and they lost 80,000 men, Hanzhong, northwest of Chengdu and Pingxiao which resulted in a huge setback for their state. Later he was lured by the Qins to go to Wu Pass and was captured by them. In the end he died of an illness in a foreign land. One does not know whether to pity him or laugh at him.”
Xiang Shaolong got excited upon hearing all these. In the 21st century there’s no turmoil like this where the outcome can be determined by war. Only here can he show off his capabilities like a fish to water. By now he is thinking less and less about returning.
After the few of them discussed about their strategies at Shantou, they split up to follow up on their respective tasks.
Xiang Shaolong led 30 odd men and set traps and dug holes on the surrounding slopes to prevent the enemy from attacking them in the cover of the night. He also confirmed the emergency back up plans with Tao Fang, who nodded with consent as he listened.
During these few days, Xiang Shaolong would practice on his swordplay and archery whenever he is free. He had learnt all these in the past, but of course such skills were not as important as practicing their marksmanship at that time, so now he has to work harder in these areas.
To a full time army personnel like him, he is more adept at using weapons then anyone else. However he humbly sought advice from other warriors and improved on their swordplay, creating for himself a powerful yet unconstrained style of swordplay that is most lethal. Although he felt that it’s still not good enough, but he can’t find a good teacher in such a short time, so he’ll have to make do with it.
He only returned to the camp to rest late at night.
The beautiful and coquettish Ting Fangshi, who has been nourished by love, had just woken up and was about to change his attire for him when Xiang Shaolong stopped her and said, “I’ll sleep in this tonight! I have a feeling the thieves will come tonight.”
Ting Fangshi was so startled her face turned pale and she stammered, “What should we do then. If I end up in the hands of those horse thieves, I will surely be defiled, and face a fate worse than death.”
Xiang Shaolong hugged and assured her, “Don’t be afraid, with Xiang Shaolong around, I will guarantee your safety, I may stay behind to fight off the enemy, you’ll go with Master Tao to Handan first and I’ll meet up with you later.”
Ting Fangshi’s expression turned stricken and she sobbed, “I ask that Heaven have pity on me and protect Master Xiang. In the past I felt that it doesn’t matter which man I follow. But now I know that if I don’t have Master Xiang, I would not want to live a single day longer.
Xiang Shaolong knows that this enticing beauty has developed feelings for him and suddenly felt desire again. He licked the tears off her face, his other hand reaching into her top and working its way around her bosom. For a moment he remembered Mei Canniang, and secretly thought that it was a good idea not to let her come along, or else she might have been frightened to death now.
Ting Fangshi’s petite body shivered, her face red and burning, fire coming out of her eyes. Her little mouth gaped open, sighing and moaning, the expression of desire on her face thoroughly enticing.
Xiang Shaolong suddenly stopped, and said “I have to conserve my energy tonight to deal with any situation that might arise. Can you wait for a night?”
Ting Fangshi gasped and moaned, she has no choice but to nod her head in agreement. But once he saw her rapidly heaving bosom, he knows that she is now in a heat of desire that cannot be extinguished.
For the first time, Xiang Shaolong thought that how idyllic life will be if there’s no war.
Ting Fangshi blew out the oil lamp and fell into this man’s arms, making him out of control.
Xiang Shaolong hugged a ball of fire and snuggled into the blankets. He asked gently, “I forgot to ask you, have you ever had an affair with another man behind your husband’s back?”
Ting Fangshi curled up and nibbling his ear, said softly, “He was very strict with me, but I frequently have to accompany the men he singled out. When he’s happy, he’ll let his relatives and friends have fun with me. Luckily it’s a lot better serving other men than serving him.”
Xiang Shaolong secretly sighed to himself, women in this era has no standing at all, but just the slaves of men. From what she said, a married woman is not that much different from a prostitute. When he thought of the Emperor Qin in the movie, his mother was the favorite concubine of Lu Buwei, who offered her to his father, and no longer felt that such a situation is strange.
Under extreme exhaustion, he slept.
He suddenly woke up, and heard urgent footsteps coming nearer and nearer. Ting Fangshi was frightened awake.
Xiang Shaolong ordered her to stay in the tent and quietly took his sword and left the tent. He met a nervous looking Li Shan and knew that something’s wrong so he hurriedly followed him to the top of the eastern hill.
Tao Fang and all his warriors are all awake, crouching at the top of the hill looking at their surroundings.
Under the majestic starts, in the seemingly quiet plains, birds were startled into flight, and there were roars from ferocious tigers.
Tao Fang turned pale and exclaimed, “They’re coming!”
Xiang Shaolong is adept at observing his enemy’s movements, and guessed that their enemy is still far away and have not grouped up in force. He suggested, “Why don’t’ Master Tao escape with the women first, but leave the horses here. I will lead 50 men to engage the enemy and we will meet in Handan at a later date.”
Tao Fang knows that the horse thieves outnumber them and they’re all vicious and fearless, and felt a chill in his heart. He reached out and grabbing his shoulders, said with gratitude, “I’ll leave everything to you. You must keep your life and come to Handan to look for me. I will take good care of Ting Fangshi for you.” And he left in a hurry after speaking these words.
After a moment, Tao Fang and the women went up the horse carriage and under the protection of the other 60 odd warriors, left by the other passage that has not been laid with traps.
Xiang Shaolong and the rest immediately busied themselves, improving their defenses, increasing the depth of the trap holes, putting more ropes to trip the horses and such.
3 hours later, the horse thieves finally came. The horses on the hills neighed as the thieves surrounded the small hill. Murderous horse thieves were all around them, causing a chill down the various warriors’ heart, because they are really greatly outnumbered.
Xiang Shaolong felt himself getting numb and kept reminding himself to calm down.
Suddenly footsteps were heard, 2 teams of 100 odd horse thieves ran up the hill from the east and west.
Xiang Shaolong knows that the other party is just testing them, so he instructed everyone to stand by their positions and not make any rash moves.
The 2 teams of horse thieves started making their way up, whooping shrilly, and causing anyone who heard them feel a cold shiver.
Halfway up the hill, the horse thieves split up and charged quickly forward.
The horse thieves at the forefront fell over, either falling into the pike holes or their horses tripped over the ropes, causing the men and horses to roll down the hill and knock into the charging horse thieves behind. Under this chain reaction, more than half of the 2 teams of almost 200 men were either dead or injured.
The warriors cheered, their confidence greatly boosted.
Xiang Shaolong secretly thanked the good luck, knowing that the enemy lost because they were careless and over confident, that’s why they fell into the trap. He hurriedly ordered everyone to move to the bottom of the slope and hide in the holes without the pikes and prepare their arrows to launch a third attack to the enemy.
A few hundred torches lighted up the surrounding area, throwing the whole hill into fiery brightness.
A burly man with huge graying beard walked out from among their enemy, sitting proudly on a horse. He pointed and shouted, “Those damned Zhao devils. If I, Hu Hui, allow anyone of you to die with an intact body, then I will retire immediately.”
Xiang Shaolong was secretly berating the other party for being stupid. Once he said that, won’t he be forcing his opponents to fight with all their might?
Xiang Shaolong felt that his arm is stronger than others, and shot an arrow towards Hui Hu. The light weighted arrow lost its momentum before it even reached its target and dropped about 10 meters away from Hui Hu. However, this is enough to cause apprehension among the horse thieves. Who has such incredible arm strength?
The warriors were secretly cheering, but none dared to make any noise, afraid that the enemy will find out their location.
The horn blew and the horse thieves all came down their horses and split into two groups to attack from all sides.