271 The Gift of the Saber (1/2)
Chapter 271: The Gift of the Saber
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
A few years ago, a middle-aged macheteman had made a declaration to a young killer. The former gave himself 10 years to travel around Western Region and gather a team capable of defeating the Golden Roc Fort. He claimed that not everyone was afraid of the Supreme King and felt that there would be others willing to join his cause. The two of them would meet again this very day on the battlefield.
The middle-aged macheteman was none other than Tuo Nengya, and the killer called himself Yang Huan. Within three years, Tuo Nengya had built up a sizable team. He drilled them well, and the team was capable of maintaining a giant formation. Even so, he knew that he had too few men to be competing with the Supreme King, and thus he sent out trusted men to foreign lands with the purpose of gathering more funds and manpower, all the while keeping the presence of his team secret. It was thus that he got to hear about Yang Huan's remarkable achievement of uniting the people from the different peaks of the Great Snowmountain.
Tuo Nengya had observed the Great Snowmountain for over a month before he decided to get in touch with Yang Huan, the Dragon King. He wanted to be sure that Yang Huan really had things under control and that he would be supporting the correct person. After he was convinced that the peaks of the Great Snowmountain were truly united, he led his men to meet up with Yang Huan.
He had never forgotten about the killer.
He gave the order to his trusted men, who were scattered all over Western Region, to gather at Shu-lik. This took a lot of time, as his messengers were not familiar with the route to the Great Snowmountain, and were stopped by the Shu-lik army beyond their blockade. When the machetemen finally arrived at the Great Snowmountain, they realised that the main body of its swordsmen had already set off for the battlefield.
More and more machetemen came answering Tuo Nengya's call to arms, till at last there were more than 1,500 of them. Tuo Nengya had originally wanted to lead them to the Great Snowmountain, but changed his course midway there when he heard that the Dragon King and his swordsmen were already headed to the eastern border of Shu-lik. It took them a few days' journey to meet up with the Dragon King's forces as they had to take evasive measures to avoid being intercepted by the Shu-lik army.
The sudden appearance of such large, armed group created much panic in Shu-lik, and everyone in the country began preparing for a possible invasion. They stood down only when the machetemen were far from Shu-lik's borders.
As for Fang Wenshi, he was fleeing westwards after the appearance of the Golden Roc Fort's reinforcements at the battlefield, but changed his mind after having rode one and a half kilometers. He thought about how he had waited for almost 30 years to have a chance of establishing a name for himself as a military counselor, and he knew that he might not have another shot at it if he gave up on the Dragon King now. He did not want to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Jiang Ziya, who only found a suitable person to serve at a ripe old age. He was also afraid of having no income—to him, it was a feeling worse that dying.
To avoid that, he knew that he had to ensure that the Dragon King would survive the battle, even if it would cost him all the swordsmen of the Great Snowmountain. With this in mind, he rode back in a hurry to the Great Snowmountain's base camp. Once there, he summoned the 400 over remaining swordsmen who were guarding the camp to address them. He only managed to say, ”The Dragon King is in danger.” Without waiting for him to finish, the swordsmen swarmed out of their camp and rushed to the scene of the battle.
Just as the swordsmen were leaving their camp, Tuo Nengya and his machetemen arrived. The two parties nearly got into blows as they did not know each other, and it was Boss Tuo who managed to prevent any bloodshed before they even got to the battlefield. He explained to the swordsmen who he was and why he had brought his men here.
Fang Wenshi was delighted beyond words. He could not help lifting his head towards the sky, secretly feeling grateful and lucky that he did not desert the Dragon King. He did not mention to anyone that the Dragon King and the main body of the Great Snowmountain were losing badly and in grave danger of perishing on the battlefield. All he said was that they were engaged in combat with the enemy, and that the forces of the Golden Roc Fort were slowly retreating, therefore he had come back to gather more men, so that they would have a chance to contribute.
If he had more time to prepare and tidy himself up, they might have believed him. However, he was unkempt and ragged looking, not to mention sweating profusely. The swordsmen knew that the Dragon King was in dire need of their assistance, and once they heard that the machetemen were not their enemy, they hurried onwards to the battlefield without even bothering to greet their allies.
Tuo Nengya understood that he had to reach the Dragon King quickly as well. He ordered the 500 or so mounted machetemen to follow his lead and the rest who were on foot to proceed on a forced march to the scene of the battle.
The mounted machetemen soon overtook the swordsmen and arrived first at the battlefield. They could see both sides engaged in close combat and the forces of the Great Snowmountain were losing badly.
They quickly dismounted, as they were not accustomed to mounted warfare. Next, they formed a huge formation made up of seven mini formations and entered the fray, shouting 'Kill' in unison.
These 500 machetemen saved the lives of the Dragon King and the main body of the Great Snowmountain that day. If the machetemen had not come to their assistance, the Dragon King and his men would have been wiped out.
Even though there were not many swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain left, the appearance of the machetemen proved that they still had reinforcements available. As more ground troops could be spotted coming to their assistance, the Golden Roc Fort decided to retreat and regroup.
It took Gu Shenwei a while before he could identify who his reinforcements were. He quickly got on a horse and rode up and down the battlefield, shouting orders to his swordsmen not to chase after the retreating enemy.
The commander of the Golden Roc Fort was much better than Gu Shenwei thought, and he was worried that his men would be falling into another ambush by chasing after their opponents. Intelligence provided after the battle proved that his deduction was correct—Dugu Xian had at least a 1,000 archers regrouped and ready to rain death on their pursuers.
The battle was basically over when the machetemen and swordsmen who were on foot arrived. They saw the survivors from the main body walking towards them, carrying the bodies of the fallen comrades.
Neither side declared itself as the victor, as both sides suffered heavy losses.
The Great Snowmountain suffered about 700 casualties—about one third of their troops. Gu Shenwei knew that even though he had won the battle, he had lost the war with the Golden Roc Fort so far. Even though his men had inflicted greater losses on the enemy, they would be able to replenish their ranks quickly.
Once the Dragon King and his swordsmen arrived at their camp, the first thing they did was not to commemorate their fallen comrades, but to thank the machetemen who had come to assist them in battle.
The Dragon King gave the long-saber he was still holding on to as a gift to Tuo Nengya, presenting it to the macheteman with both hands, as a sign of respect. All the swordsmen began taking out their most precious items, aside from their swords, and stacked them into a pile. They allowed the machetemen to pick and keep those items they wanted, and even gave up the best tent for their newfound allies to rest in.
In the past, Gu Shenwei had dismissed Tuo Nengya's idea of forming a team of machetemen to fight the Golden Roc Fort as unrealistic. Little did he know that Tuo Nengya would have brought his men to save him and the entire Great Snowmountain from annihilation today. The little bit of admiration he always had for the macheteman became true respect—Tuo Nengya had stuck to his word and accomplished something seemingly impossible.