Volume 5, Chapter 30: Separated by Life and Death (2/2)

Long Tingfei did not speak a word, listening as Lin Bi pulled open the tent flaps and departed, the crunching of her footsteps fading away. His hands clenched tightly into fists, he bleakly said, “For a living man to be unable to protect his country to repay the benevolence of his ruler, and unable to protect his wife, leading to her battle gown being stained with blood, with what face do I have to remain alive in this world?”

Suddenly, Long Tingfei heard a delicate and feeble voice singing. It wasn’t long before that voice became increasingly audible and he could hear the verses clearly. Long Tingfei listened carefully. It seemed like the song was coming from the Daizhou army’s encampment.

<blockquote cla.s.s=”Quote”>Like golden scales the armor glistens in the moonlight.Frontier rouge freezes into a nocturnal purple.The war drums m.u.f.fled from heavy frost and cold.I guide my Jade Dragon sword and die for My Lord.</blockquote>

This battle song was one that the Daizhou army was fondest of singing. When the Daizhou army battled the barbarians, they often did so in autumn when the horses had been properly fed. Taking up arms, the Daizhou troops would defend their homeland, relying upon Yanmen Pa.s.s to resist the barbarian cavalry. Although the season was wrong, this song being sung at this moment was enough to arouse the battle intent of the Daizhou army.

At the beginning, the song was raspy and rough, probably because the soldiers had shouted their voices hoa.r.s.e from the continuous fighting. But, as the song continued, it came increasingly resonate. At first, there were only a hundred or so individuals singing. Towards the end, more and more joined in. At the end, aside from the Daizhou army, even the Qinzhou army also joined in. Like a thousand rivers converging unto the ocean, the grandeur of the song coming together was like a boundless and majestic current. The singing buoyed the formerly despondent morale of the Northern Han army into becoming an unstoppable force.

The distress on Long Tingfei’s face was completely washed away. Slowly tightening the armor on his body, he walked out of his tent with his fiery battle gown and his ruthless, handsome appearance. The decisive battle was tomorrow. What time did he have to be immersed with love?

When he walked out of his tent, Long Tingfei only spotted scattered bonfires under the pitch-black sky as far as the eye could see. The scent of blood permeated the air. Apart from the song that resounded through the wilderness, he could also faintly hear the painful moans of the wounded. As he calculated the chance of success, Long Tingfei listened to the desolate and heroic singing. The still cold spring night was filled with loneliness, somberness, and desolation. Long Tingfei’s mind was extremely clear. He knew that Lin Bi had ordered the Daizhou army to sing that well-known army song to arouse the morale of the surrounded troops. Wholly grateful, Long Tingfei even more resolutely hoped that Lin Bi would be able to escape during the breakout the next day. He understood quite well that the danger Lin Bi faced was only slightly less than his. Most likely, both of them would die tomorrow.

At this moment, Xiao Tong walked to his side. Even though it was only a dozen or so days, Xiao Tong had completely wasted away and his expression was haggard. Aside from exhausting himself trying to discover the enemy’s troop locations, he also felt tremendous guilt. Ever since the Yong army had invaded Qinzhou, his scouts had repeatedly suffered setbacks, losing countless spies to death or injury. Having been ambushed without discovering the enemy, Xiao Tong constantly loathed his own incompetence and dereliction of duty. Because today’s perilous situation had happened, under both internal and external pressure, Xiao Tong’s appearance had degraded to such an extent.

Arriving next to Long Tingfei, Xiao Tong apprehensively stated, “General, this subordinate met the Princess just now and heard that you have already decided to break out.”

“That’s correct. I will support the Lu family brothers’ breakout in the last wave,” replied Long Tingfei indifferently. “I will explain the detailed arrangements in a while during the military conference.”

Xiao Tong replied, “General, you are our army’s commander-in-chief. How can you put yourself in danger? It is best that someone else serves as the bait. There is no harm for us to select someone who has a similar build to wear your armor to serve as the bait. With the Daizhou army serving as the main force breaking out, it is highly likely that General can get away.”

Long Tingfei impa.s.sively responded, “I am the army’s commander-in-chief. If I cannot take command, how can I motivate the soldiers to meet their deaths? As for having the Daizhou army serve as the sacrifice, you must not make such a suggestion again. Originally, there was no need for the Daizhou army to partic.i.p.ate and send troops. Now that they have fallen into such a dangerous situation to help us, if we are uncouth, with what gall do we have to face the people of Daizhou?”

Although Long Tingfei’s tone was uncaring, they were like words carved on rocks using a steel sword. Hearing this, Xiao Tong knew that Long Tingfei had made up his mind. Since there was no way of saving the situation, he knew that Long Tingfei’s words were correct. Only if Long Tingfei personally took charge would the Yong army be enticed. Sighing inwardly, Xiao Tong kneeled on the ground and said, “General, please permit this subordinate to follow you.”

Long Tingfei glanced at Xiao Tong and replied, “Why so? Although you suffered repeated setbacks this time, that is because the enemy’s head agent is truly formidable. When it comes to spying and scouting, no one in the Northern Han army is your match. If someone else replaced you, we would likely be no better than the deaf and blind. There is no need for you to feel needless guilt. The defeat this time was not your fault and rather because I did not antic.i.p.ate that the enemy would try to lure us into an ambush. My inferior thinking caused today’s perilous situation. Xiao Tong, you have to listen to my orders this time and follow the Lu family brothers to escape. Those three brothers are poor when it comes to strategy, which worries me deeply. Having served at my side for years, you have been influenced by me. Your accompaniment will ensure that they will be able to successfully escape.”

Xiao Tong remained silent. It was some time before he kowtowed, stating, “This subordinate obeys.” He had already made up his mind to atone for his mistakes by remaining alive to help the Lu family brothers with everything he had to escape. If he were to die, he would wait until everything had calmed down in the future.

Seeing that Xiao Tong had agreed to accompany the Lu family brothers, Long Tingfei cheerfully said, “Okay. Since it’s already close to third watch, go issue orders for rations to be prepared for third watch and the break out to start at fifth watch. For now, have all the generals come see me.”

Xiao Tong’s heart jumped as he replied, “General, our army no longer has any provisions. This subordinate did not report this because the general has always been pondering a plan in your tent.”

Long Tingfei smiled humorlessly. When was such an important matter not reported for such a reason? When his prestige was especially grand, he would have long since received clandestine reports from the soldiers. This was likely the result of secret discussions among the generals of the Qinzhou army. If this weren’t the case, he wouldn’t have been so resolute in his decision to break out at dawn tomorrow. Originally wanting to warn Xiao Tong, Long Tingfei caught himself, seeing Xiao Tong’s anxious and frightened look. Remembering that they would be forever parted tomorrow, Long Tingfei was unwilling to be overboard with his reprimands, only indifferently stating, “Okay, got it. Slaughter all of the wounded and extra warhorses so that the entire army can eat.”

Under Long Tingfei’s stoic gaze, Xiao Tong only felt himself breaking out into a cold sweat, withdrawing. After dinner, the entire encampment had run out of provisions. In the private talks among the generals, the only solution available was that they had to break out tomorrow. And in order to be successful, a portion of the army had to be sacrificed. Because of the apathy between the Qinzhou and Daizhou armies, all of them wanted to force Long Tingfei to sacrifice the Daizhou army to guarantee that the main strength of the Qinzhou army could escape. However, they were all worried that Long Tingfei would disagree and wanted to use the lack of provisions to coerce Long Tingfei. However, none of them could have imagined that Long Tingfei had thoroughly resolved to sacrifice himself in order to give the majority of the Qinzhou army and the Daizhou army an escape route.

As each of the injured or intact warhorses let out lengthy whinnies, with their eyes the size of bells revealing looks of disbelief, sabers chopped down on the necks of the horses, gus.h.i.+ng blood out. As one of the heavy bodies of the horses collapsed to the ground, the Northern Han soldier who wielded one of the sabers tossed his weapon aside and fell onto the corpse crying bitterly. Although he was pulled away by several other soldiers, tears flowed without end down his face. As cavalrymen, their horses were their most intimate of friends. In order to properly raise a warhorse and form a tacit understanding with the horse, these cavalrymen essentially lived with their horses, eating and sleeping together. T0 them, the order to kill their own horses was something incomprehensible. Generally speaking, they would only kill horses when they had been hopelessly and seriously injured. In addition, consuming horse flesh was something not permitted. But now, they had slaughtered a large quant.i.ty of warhorses. Some of these horses had suffered light wounds, while others were completely unharmed, only losing their riders. The Northern Han army that was about to break out only needed to retain enough warhorses. All of the extra horses had to be killed to serve as food.

Butchering the horses not only allowed the entire army to eat their fill in preparation for breaking out, but the remainder was retained to serve as rations. After all, no one knew how long the following battle would last. A bitter atmosphere pervaded the entire encampment. The mental shock of killing their beloved horses made every single Northern Han soldiers’ eyes turn red with raging flames and mourning.

Having eaten what was likely their last meal, the Northern Han army began to mobilize. Gazing at the orderly and neat encampment even after numerous setbacks, Long Tingfei spurred his horse forward and took up position before the camp. Behind him were the commanders of each of the units. The whole army had finished a.s.sembling, only waiting for the commander-in-chief’s orders before setting forth. Long Tingfei’s expression was tranquil, seemingly not about to meet his death and actually on his way to attend a banquet on the invitation of a dear friend. He listened to the familiar sound of horse hooves and the melodious ringing of bells. Long Tingfei’s bladelike eyebrows rose and he turned his head with a smile. Sure enough, as expected, with the escort of her bodyguards, Lin Bi had ridden over.

Arriving by Long Tingfei’s side, Lin Bi wanted to say something, but found that she had nothing to say, almost as if everything that could be said had been said the night before. Almost impudently, she stared fixedly at Long Tingfei’s thin, handsome face. Unconsciously, a tear rolled down her face. Immediately seeing Lin Bi’s swollen eyes, he wanted to reach out to comfort her. However, he ultimately did not do so. Instead, he saluted from his saddle and said, “Breaking out this time, we will have to rely upon Sister Bi’s valor. Tingfei is very grateful. With the country imperiled, Sister Bi is still an honored princess and must think carefully to help His Royal Majesty.”

Lin Bi turned her head away. It was some time before her tranquil voice spoke, “General, take care of yourself. Although this breakout is dangerous, with General’s divine martial valor, if you have the protection of the Heavens, it is possible that we will meet again.”

Long Tingfei smiled faintly and replied, “It is close to daybreak. Sister Bi is in the first wave. Please make all preparations.”

Lin Bi spurred her horse and galloped away, loudly shouting, “Lin Bi obeys! General, please take good care of yourself!”

When her horse turned in the direction of the Daizhou army’s formation, Lin Bi took the opportunity to turn around and look. Although she was already far away, Lin Bi could still clearly see Long Tingfei’s aqua eyes. Within those eyes that were as deep as the ocean were acc.u.mulated sorrow and blessing. She had never seen that pair of eyes reveal such complex emotions before. In the short moment that their eyes locked, all kinds of deep emotions suddenly disappeared without a trace. Lin Bi’s entire body trembled. She nearly fell from her horse but for the help of one of her female bodyguards.

Before she had even disappeared from the sight of those aqua eyes, she saw the banners of the Daizhou army. As her heart pounded, she cast aside all distracting thoughts. Taking up her silver spear, Lin Bi waved her hands and let out a sharp whistle. The clear and resonating whistle that seemed to penetrate the Ninth Heaven reverberated in the air. Their spirits greatly aroused, the Daizhou army also joined in with their loud whistles. The earthshaking whistles apparently shattered the last of the darkness before dawn.

Footnotes:

<ol><li>坚韧不拔, jianrenbuba – idiom, lit. firm and indomitable; fig. tenacious and unyielding</li><li>This is a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet, Li He, ent.i.tled Ode for the Governor of Yanmen Pa.s.s (雁门太守行).</li></ol>