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It was still half a sichen away from daybreak, but for the sake of the Shao Shuai Army’s life or death, the hard work of the leader did not take day or night into consideration.

Hearing Kou Zhong’s footsteps, Du Fuwei showed a deeply concerned smile toward Kou Zhong, who entered the main hall from the back door. “Kou Zhong my son,” he said, “Don’t blame me for coming at this ungodly hour!”

A warm feeling welled up in Kou Zhong’s heart; all of a sudden he really felt as if Du Fuwei was his father. In the past, although opening his mouth, closing his mouth, he always called Du Fuwei as Die, but all along, it was partly in jest. But Du Fuwei’s treating him favorably indeed made him very grateful. He could not do anything toward the bad impression he received when he first met Du Fuwei, which still remained and was difficult to dispel; for example, how he forcefully recruited common people into his army, how under his command, good and bad people intermingled, how his army’s disciple was not strict, et cetera. But at this moment, everything was no longer a barrier.

Kou Zhong hurriedly stepped forward and reached out to hug Du Fuwei.

Father and son’s love was like the Yangtze River, the Great River, rolling and flowing swiftly like boiling water, between the two man. Ren Meimei quietly exited the hall.

His eyes brimming with tears of excitement, Kou Zhong called out, “Die!”

Du Fuwei pressed down the emotional stirring in his heart. Patting Kou Zhong on his back, he spoke in a soft voice, “Come with Die to have a walk in the garden.”

Kou Zhong nodded hid agreement. He followed Du Fuwei out of the main hall and into the side garden, to stroll along the gravel path under the starlight and the illumination of the moon.

Du Fuwei sighed and said, “I wonder if it has been really hard for Zhong’er?”

Kou Zhong replied truthfully, “It is indeed very hard. The heaviest torment is the contradiction in my heart. I treated others with sincerity, but I am under suspicion instead.”

Du Fuwei climbed onto a small pavilion in the middle of the garden, and stood with his hands behind his back. Casting his gaze into the man-made stream flowing around the pavilion, he spoke indifferently, “Are you talking about Dou Jiande?”

Kou Zhong smiled wryly but remained silent.

Du Fuwei turned around, stared fixedly at Kou Zhong, and spoke in heavy voice, “Men’s heart is sinister and deceitful, Zhong’er does not need to take other people’s conduct to heart, I made light of traveling a thousand li to rush over to see you tonight, because there is something important to discuss with you.”

“What is it?” Kou Zhong asked.

As if he was talking about something without any consequences at all, Du Fuwei spoke calmly, “I have decided to stand on your side.”

Kou Zhong was stunned, “Die!” he exclaimed.

Du Fuwei shrugged his shoulders and said, “What’s so strange about it? Perhaps this is what’s called hoping-one’s-son-to-become-a-dragon way of thinking!”

Kou Zhong was puzzled, “But ...” he started.

Cutting him off Du Fuwei said, “Ouyang Xiyi has met your father-in-law Song Que, on the way back to Chang’an, he came to see me. Ha! Song Que is indeed Song Que, Ouyang Xiyi has not had any chance to open his mouth, he was one step ahead by saying something that made Ouyang Xiyi practically did not dare to pass on Li Yuan’s message. Do you know what he said? He first analyzed the situation in the world, pointing out that the internal dispute within the Li Clan has reached the point of as incompatible as water and fire, while the outside tribes are watching like a tiger in wait. Once the outside tribes seize the opportunity to invade, the Central Earth will be brutally ravaged under the outside tribes’ hoofs of steel. Song Que’s arguments, not a single word departs from the fact, leaving Ouyang Xiyi with nothing to say. Song Que is extremely dissatisfied with Li Yuan’s infatuation with women’s charms and how he favors Li Jiancheng! Based on Song Que’s pride, how could he be willing to acknowledge allegiance to such a person? Li Yuan looks too highly on himself!”

Kou Zhong already knew the outcome, but he asked anyway, “Listening to the tone of Die’s voice, you seem to be extremely dissatisfied with Li Yuan?”

The refined light in Du Fuwei’s pair of eyes flickering, he let out a cold humph and said, “Li Yuan’s scheme to murder Li Mi was completely lacking any sense of justice, it made people sneer. Although Li Mi could not be considered to be any faithful official or a loyalist, in the end he was someone who was willing to surrender to Li Yuan. Li Yuan should not have approved his request to go out of the Pass, so that Li Mi would put his heart to return to the Eastern Mountain to death. But now he used a scheme to put Li Mi to death, how could he make the heart of the people under the heavens to submit to him? It shows that Li Yuan does not have the capacity to tolerate people.”

Kou Zhong suddenly understood in his heart; because of Li Mi’s death, his Ol’ Dad was overcome with the if the rabbit dies, the fox grieves [idiom: to have sympathy with a like-minded person in distress] feeling, because he and Li Mi were in the same situation, perhaps they might end up with the same fate later. Indeed Li Yuan could not compare with Li Shimin; if it were the latter, he would treat Li Mi well with high post and generous salary, he would not have let Li Mi stay idle and his mind wandered, even suspected him in secret, forcing him to have the heart to betray him.

Changing the topic, Du Fuwei said, “Zhong’er has the confidence to support Song Que’s main forces coming up to the north?”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong replied, “Child is just thinking about how to do that.”

Du Fuwei sighed and said, “For the time being, I am still unable to spare time to help you, because Fu Gongyou openly tear the skin of his face with me, under Zuo Youxian’s instigation he amassed an army and proclaimed independence at Danyang. He even formed alliance with Lin Shihong and Xiao Xian in the dark, conspiring to invade my Liyang.”

Greatly astonished, Kou Zhong asked, “Isn’t Xiao Xian at war with Lin Shihong?”

Du Fuwei replied, “Under the threat of Li Clan and Song Que, plus with someone from the demonic school threading the needle, Xiao and Lin restoring their relation and are on good terms with each other is not an impossibility. Originally I was going to give mutual support to Li Zitong, who has already become a Tang minister, but Li Zitong was weakened by your strike that he no longer have the power to free himself, he is powerless to defend himself, therefore, I could only look for a way to deal with it by relying on my own power.”

Kou Zhong had deeper understanding than anyone else on the meaning of the phrase ‘powerless to defend himself’, precisely because it was the same as his situation right now where he did not have the ability to help Du Fuwei.

Du Fuwei grabbed his shoulders with both hands, and spoke in low voice, “I shouldn’t stay here long, I just came with a specific purpose in mind to honestly tell you my intention. From now on, I have nothing to do with the House of Tang. If Li Shimin kills my Zhong’er, I, Du Fuwei, will stake everything to avenge you, because Kou Zhong is my, Ol’ Du’s son.”

Before Li Yuanji and Qu Tutong’s two armies rushed over to help, the Tang Army was caught in a sea of fire in the high camp, the most strategic and with intimidating force outside and to the south of the Luoyang City.

Their initial strategic plan was designed to deal with the high camp, who could have thought that unexpectedly things developed so well that it was beyond anybody’s expectation? As a result, the ramparts, the strongly defended constructions outside the city no longer had any substantial significance. On the contrary, it was the going-out-of-the-city-to-attack-suddenly tactics that were able to display their effectiveness the most. Therefore, Yang Gongqing ordered all personnel who went out of the city in bloody battle, after obtaining substantial spoil of war – to retreat back into the city.

Although it could be called a big victory, but it was, after all, a hard battle with the few striking the many. Naturally the Tang’s side suffered heavy casualties, their dead and injured surpassed one thousand, they even lost their commander-in-chief. However, on the city-defenders army’s side, more than two hundred men died in battle, more than four hundred were injured, the victory really did not come easy.

The public square in the south of the city was full of lying-down wounded soldiers, which were attended by the medical team on the spot. Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan were even incessantly using their true qi to treat those with the most serious injury. They were busy until noon the next day, before the two had the opportunity to catch their breath and to sit on the side to rest.

Leaning against the solid city wall next to the South Gate, Ba Fenghan sighed and said, “Martial art masters facing off against their adversary, victory and defeat are only one fine thread apart. I never thought that battlefield is just like that too. If that one arrow of mine missed, you and I might not be alive to sit in here, breathing and enjoying the midday autumn sun.”

Xu Ziling swept his gaze across the wounded soldiers and dead bodies filling the public square. The medical team was gradually sending the wounded soldiers back to various parts of the city to receive critical care of their injury and to reconcile their breathing, leaving badly damaged armor, which no one cared. From the top of the city walls came the sound of the eight-bow-and-crossbow-arrow machines, which rendered great merit last night – being moved around, the soldiers moving to and fro, the horses neighing and the people shouting, rushing about endlessly.

Everybody who walked past respectfully saluted the two; within their tired expression, there was an excitement, which could not be hidden, yet he was unable to share their mood.

To him, the war was just one nightmare after another, but the only thing he could do was to drift along and struggle, in the hope that one day he would wake up, the quicker the better. Each side’s victory represents the other side’s defeat, represents those who sacrificed their lives and shed their blood, represents the sorrow and the bitter tears. Death is an irreparable loss.

Xu Ziling sighed and said, “Now my heart is weary, my strength exhausted. At the beginning I still have some kind of a feeling of fighting bravely for the ideal, but now I am completely lost! Massacre does not have even half of a tiny bit of meaning, it can only show our despicable true nature [Buddhism].”

Smiling bitterly, Ba Fenghan said, “That is precisely the difference between you and me or with Kou Zhong; no one innately has a heart of stone. However, in order to believe this concept firmly without any doubt, we must put aside everything, to set out towards the ideal goal that we fixed. This is a struggle, a competition of who’s the stronger, the more ruthless. Think about the Wolf Army, who is waiting for action after having accumulated power – north of your border. If you let them invade the Central Earth, what would it be like? Killing and burning, raping and looting are the shady business that attracted them and that they consider as their pleasure. Their hostility toward the Han people is something that you, Ziling find it hard to understand, just as Xieli cannot understand my hatred of him. Believe me, in the blink of an eye, everything before our eyes will become the chrysanthemums after the Double Ninth Festival [idiom: outdated, thing of the past]. We can only press on toward the ideal, until we defeat all the opponents, and then the ideal can become a reality.”

From the distance outside the city walls, they continue to hear the sound of ten thousand stampeding horses [idiom: with great momentum] and the battle cry of troops in vigorous pursuit. Since sunrise until now, Wang Shichong and the great generals under his command took turn to go out from the South Gate to attack, to do everything they could to make Li Yuanji unable to acquire a stronghold south of the City of Luoyang that he could hold fast to and establish a foothold.

The destruction of the high camp was a serious setback and a big blow to the besieging army, forcing the Tang Army to abandon all the arrow tower positions that they had on this side, because they no longer had the strength to resist the enemy that could come to attack from any direction.

Li Yuanji’s biggest problem was that he could not find the time to cling to the other camps’ generals and soldiers, hence he could only allocate the personnel from his own subordinates to reinforce the military strength of the remaining camps south of the city.

The other Qu Tutong-led 5,000-man Tang Army set up their disposition of troops behind the high camp, to guard against the city-defenders army to break the siege via the gaps.

Xu Ziling stretched out his sparkling and translucent and spotlessly white hands in front of his eyes, he spoke heavily, “It’s not that I don’t understand that logic, but understanding despite of understanding, this pair of hands of mine is already reeking of blood, this is an indisputable fact. I only have to think about other people’s sons and husbands being killed and wounded by me, not only I feel weary of war, I also feel disgusted with myself. On the battlefield, everyone becomes a ruthless killing tool.”

Ba Fenghan nodded and said, “War is just like that; it simply does not give you the chance to choose. You either kill or be killed. Whether you kill or be killed, you don’t have the choice, but you are not guilty either. Just think of different situation: if the defeated side was us, Luoyang was captured by Li Yuanji, then Li Yuanji would become the Battle of Luoyang’s biggest minister who has given outstanding service. At that time, with the demonic school lobbying and instigating him, Li Yuanji potentially will become commander-in-chief of the East Army. If things really developed like that, what would the situation be? Showing benevolence to the enemy means being ruthless to yourself and your followers. Even more, it would likely bring disaster to the common people of the Central Plains. Li Shimin’s view on this is very incisive, he knew that in war, there is no friend, only the enemy. To score victory is really not an easy matter, to press on is equally challenging.”

Xu Ziling dejectedly nodded, but did not say anything.

This moment Ma Chang hurriedly came before the two, he dropped down on one knee and said, “We seized the opportunity to strike back, by repeatedly going out to fight, to destroy all the enemy’s arrow towers south of the city. The enemy closed their camps and hold fast to it. Qu Tutong is still holding back his troops without moving, if we could defeat Qu Tutong’s army, the enemy siege will collapse.”

Ba Fenghan spoke heavily, “Have you sent anybody to notify Shaoshuai?”

Ma Chang replied, “The messengers [orig. troops to pass on the letter] already set out before dawn toward Chenliu; if there is no mishap, Shaoshuai will know about the situation on our side before dusk.”

Ba Fenghan turned to Xu Ziling and asked, “Does Ziling have any wise opinion?”

But Xu Ziling turned to Ma Chang and asked, “What does Ma Jiangjun think?”

Ma Chang replied with serious expression, “Xiao Jiang [little/lowly general] originally advocated to follow up a victory and go out to attack, but had a vague feeling that this is a trap. Qu Tutong might be ordered by Li Yuanji to lure us to go out and attack. After last night’s hard battle, our army’s men are tired, the horses are weary, momentarily it would be hard to deal with large-scale, all-around offensive. Due to the enemy’s military power is more than twice of ours, we are unable to figure out the enemy’s real strength inside the camp, if we are forced to go out and attack, we would surely be defeated. The most sensible way of handling this is to hope that Shaoshuai could promptly lead the army to come to help. Under coordination of outside and inside offensives, we could break through the enemy’s besieging army on the south side.”

Ba Fenghan agreed, he said, “We’ll do it as Ma Jiangjun proposes. It would be best for Ma Jiangjun to get a good night’s sleep, to nurture enough spirit to deal with the future battles.”

Ma Chang received the order and gladly left.

“I bet he is not going to go to bed,” Xu Ziling commented.

Ba Fenghan followed Ma Chang with his gaze. He said, “Ma Chang will be one of the most outstanding main force’s great general of the Shao Shuai Army. Only Kou Zhong can make such a remarkable talent to serve him. If the Li Clan did not produce one Li Shimin, who could be Kou Zhong’s match?”

Xu Ziling replied with rueful smile, “I don’t have such complete confidence in Kou Zhong as you do.”

Ba Fenghan revealed his first smile of the day; he said with a smile, “Our good brother Kou Zhong is learning and maturing in battles. When he becomes as ruthless as I am, when he understands that victory is the only purpose of war, when he can use the saber method in the art of war, and use his Eight Methods of the Well for strategic purposes, there will be no one in the world who can be his rival, including Li Shimin. The problem is that for the time being he still can’t do what I expect and ask of him.”

Kou Zhong received the news of fierce fighting south of Luoyang City at dusk. In his great delight, he immediately summoned his men in a military affairs meeting.

In the inner hall, the leaders of the Shao Shuai Army gathered around the table to talk. The participants were Xu Xingzhi, Xuan Yong, Bu Tianzhi, Chen Changlin, Luo Qifei, and Chen Laomou.

Kou Zhong first announced the news of Lu Jun’e’s death in battle and the destruction of the high camp, and then he asked everybody’s opinions.

Xuan Yong spoke up, “This is really a good opportunity that we seek but fail to get. If we immediately send troops Luoyang, because Li Shimin is afraid that we will successfully join forces with Luoyang defenders south of the city and thoroughly destroy Li Yuanji’s besieging army, he will definitely order Li Shiji to exhaust the soldiers and generals under his command to intercept and stop us. We could pretend to rush to Luoyang, while deploying another wonder troop to ambush Li Shiji’s troops. As long as we keep away from the river course, Li Shiji’s navy, which is stronger than ours, would have nowhere to employ their military power.”

One after another everybody approved of Xuan Yong’s proposal, only Xu Xingzhi had his eyebrows deeply furrowed, but he did not speak.

Kou Zhong spoke in astonishment, “Xu Junshi seems to have different view on this matter, why don’t you tell us, so that everybody can carefully collate and examine critically?”

Xu Xingzhi said, “If I were Li Shiji, I would definitely not take risks by intercepting us. He only needs to lead the navy to go down south directly to pursue Chenliu, then it would be difficult for us to look after our head and tail, we wouldn’t be able to advance or retreat.”

Ren Meimei said, “Currently Chenliu has enough fortifications, plus there are solid strongholds locking up the river, acting in concert with the flywheel boats going back and forth to patrol, as long as we have ten thousand defenders, Li Shiji could forget about attacking Chenliu before the tenth month.”

Xu Xingzhi said, “The art of war is the way of crafty change. Such as, Li Shiji stations his troops outside the city of Chenliu, while also dispatches elite cavalry to circumvent Chenliu, penetrating deeply into our territory to attack Pengcheng, which is still under reconstruction. What would happen then?”

Ren Meimei was immediately at a loss for words.

Pengcheng is located at the heart of the Shao Shuai State; if it was attacked and captured by the enemy, the entire Shao Shuai State would collapse and fall apart, it would break down without fighting.

Chen Changlin said, “This risk is still worth taking, if our army can defeat Li Yuanji’s besieging army, it will be like cutting off Li Shimin’s escape route. And then we will advance to the east, with the Dou Army launching pincer attack on Li Shimin from the front and the back, Li Shimin’s only path will be retreating to Guanzhong in panic. At that time, the threat of Li Shiji’s army would surely be resolved, we can rest easy without any worry.”

Xuan Yong shook his head and said, “Li Yuanji besieging army’s military strength is around sixty to eighty thousand men, plus there are high ramparts and deep ditches that he could hold fast to. If we are eager to attack, surely the dead and injured will be disastrous. Once the situation becomes tangled and hard to solve, one by one our cities will fall into Li Shiji’s hands, it is indeed not the choice that a sage would take. Junshi’s warning, we cannot ignore.”

Kou Zhong was once again facing the important dilemma concerning the survival of the Shao Shuai Army. If he did not take the risk, he might miss the opportunity and lament the lost chance; if he did take the risk, it was possible that he had to pay with the loss of the entire Shao Shuai Army.

Based on the around twenty-thousand-man military strength remaining in Chenliu, it was simply not enough to cope with the hardships of the two battlefields. From this, it could be seen how brilliant Li Shimin was in maneuvering his troops. He dispatched Li Shiji to enter and garrison in Kaifeng, to put pressure on Shao Shuai Army that they were unable to move a single step.

This moment, a subordinate with flustered expression came to report, “We discovered traces of the enemy, a unit of the Tang Army setup camp and built stronghold on a hilltop about ten li north of Chenliu, their number is estimated at five thousand men, they ought to be the vanguard troops transferred from Kaifeng.”

Everybody’s countenance changed.

Kou Zhong felt as if his entire being had fallen into an icehouse, the chill crept up along his spine, as if he was being suspended in midair, there was nowhere to set his foot on.

He finally tasted Li Shiji’s means; he fully occupied the decisive opportunity, not by using the navy in ostentatious display going down south, but by using the wonder troops coming in secret, his troops pressing on Chenliu at the most critical moment. Without even need to guess, he knew that their navy’s main forces would start arriving one after another. Under such circumstances, how could he dare to split his troops to go to Luoyang, to share the achievement of the city-defenders army in breaking through the heavy siege on the south side of the city?

The two biggest famous generals in the Heavenly Policy Mansion were Li Shiji and Li Jing. The latter had a close relationship with them, so that Li Shimin had no choice but to order him to stay behind to take care of things in Chang’an. But if they come together to the front line and launch pincers-shaped military offensive, his Shao Shuai Army would be defeated even faster and more tragic.

But presently Li Shiji was making his play on him, to put him in position where his troop disposition was in a great mess. While admittedly the plan to attack and seize Xiangyang in order to leave a way out would be hard to carry out, their future fate was even dimmer and bleaker; what should he do?