Outside Beilin Pass, one low, heavy horn call went up to the clouds.

The Tuoluo army had run out of patience and blown the horn for the attack.

They were short of clothes and short of food. The longer this was drawn out, the worse it went for them.

The Tuoluo commander in chief this time was named Yili Ahan, a famous general of the Tuoluo Kingdom.

Before he came he had staked his life on a pledge to the King of the Left Court, swearing he would take Beilin Pass.

What he had not counted on was that his own scheme had been seen through, and that Liang Jingwu would not take the bait at all.

He had held himself back for three days, and now he could not hold back any longer.

He believed in his own Tuoluo soldiers. On open ground, the soldiers of the Great Xuan were no match for them.

On the hill, Liang Jingwu leaned on his war blade and got slowly to his feet.

“That’s the end of their patience?”

As he said it he frowned a little. He had meant to buy Ning Chen a few more days, and the Tuoluo had lasted only three.

Ning Chen had left ahead of them, and counting the days it had been four or five… this fight could be fought now.

“Pass my order. Prepare for battle.”

“Crossbow battalion, shield battalion, stand ready!”

The runners went back and forth fast, carrying Liang Jingwu’s orders down the line.

In the distance, out from behind the hills and the gullies, a dark mass of soldiers came pressing forward.

Liang Jingwu watched it quietly, his face calm.

He waited until the Tuoluo army had come inside range, and then gave the order: “Loose!”

The soldiers of the crossbow battalion came forward at once, bent their bows and set their arrows.

Whip! Whip! Whip!!!

A rain of arrows filled the sky like locusts, blotting out the sky, and came down on the Tuoluo soldiers.

The Tuoluo shieldmen brought their shields up at once.

Even so, a rain of arrows like that was not something shieldmen alone could stop.

In that moment shrill screaming went up to the clouds.

The Great Xuan archers finished their volley, and the shield troops moved up at once to take their place.

Sure enough, the Tuoluo’s own rain of arrows came flying over, blotting out the sky with a sharp shriek of air.

The clash and clatter of metal went on without a break. Sharp arrows struck the shields, and sparks flew in every direction.

Having taken one volley, the Great Xuan crossbowmen answered again.

In that round neither side got the better of it.

The Tuoluo were fine archers, but their equipment was not good enough.

The Tuoluo Kingdom was poor in materials, and the shields they used were woven out of a kind of cane, and were called rattan shields.

The Great Xuan rattan shields were wrapped in a layer of iron on the outside… which left them light and made them strong.

Back and forth they went.

After several rounds of arrows, the losses on both sides were heavy.

War in this age came down to trading a life for a life.

With that many arrows in the air, any one of them might carry off a man.

The Tuoluo shot their arrows dry.

Yili Ahan gave the order for the cavalry to charge.

The ground shook. Horse and man beyond counting came on at a run like a flood.

Liang Jingwu gave the order: “Crossbow carts. Bring them up!”

The soldiers of the crossbow battalion and the shield battalion fell back fast, and behind them stood rank on rank of crossbow carts.

“Shoot!”

At Liang Jingwu’s word, the terrible shriek of air went up.

The bolts the crossbow carts sent out were like so many long spears.

In a moment the Tuoluo horsemen at the front went down, horse and rider, and the screaming went on without a break.

The huge bolts went through the body of a warhorse without effort, let alone a man.

Warhorse after warhorse was shot down, and the riders on them, before they could get up, were trampled to red pulp by the hooves behind. Blood dyed the ground.

The Tuoluo cavalry charged like madmen.

In arms and equipment they were far behind the Great Xuan.

So it was only at close quarters that they had any hope of winning.

Tuoluo men ran big as a rule, thick and powerful, a great deal stronger than the soldiers of the Great Xuan.

It commonly took two Great Xuan soldiers fighting for their lives to kill one Tuoluo soldier.

The crossbow carts kept throwing their spear-sized bolts, reaping the lives of the enemy.

Very soon the bolts they had brought with them were nearly shot out.

Liang Jingwu pulled the heavy blade out of the ground beside him, swung up onto his horse and roared: “Sound the war drums!!!”

“Men of the Great Xuan, come meet them with me. Kill every one of them.”

The horsemen charged in front, the foot soldiers came close behind.

The two armies came together like floodwater going over everything.

The noise of the killing shook heaven. Blood rained and the wind stank.

Severed limbs flew. Blood dyed the ground red. One living man after another went down.

War is a cruel thing. To come out of it alive, beyond luck, it comes down to which man is harder.

Liang Jingwu, one man on one horse, took a man with every stroke and drove in like a madman.

A big man close to two meters tall carried a wolf-tooth club, and with one careless swing he smashed the heads of several Great Xuan soldiers into burst melons.

This was the famous Tuoluo general, Yili Ahan.

Something told Yili Ahan to look, and he turned his head.

Liang Jingwu had his eyes fixed on the man. He swung the heavy blade, cut down the few Tuoluo soldiers rushing him, and then drove his horse at him.

Yili Ahan pulled his mouth wide in a savage grin, swung the wolf-tooth club and came at Liang Jingwu.

The heavy blade in Liang Jingwu’s hand swept a streak of cold light at the man’s neck.

Yili Ahan swung the wolf-tooth club, and it met Liang Jingwu’s heavy blade.

Clang!!!

The ring of metal on metal was deafening, and sparks flew everywhere.

The awful force of the collision was more than the warhorses under the two of them could take, and both staggered back.

On Ning Chen’s side, the forced march was still going on.

Now that it was settled that the Tuoluo army had gone to Beilin Pass, they no longer had to be as careful as before.

Ning Chen led his men along the tracks the Tuoluo soldiers had left behind them, running straight for the North Royal Court.

Not until dark did Ning Chen give the order to rest.

A few hours later they were on the forced march again.

The truth was the men were worn to nothing, though they still did not understand what this trip was for.

But they were picked troops, chosen by Old General Chen… and their own commander in chief, Ning Chen, was sharing every hardship with them, so not one man complained.

When they stopped to rest again, Ning Chen watched one soldier bite off a piece of rock-hard dried meat, grab a handful of snow and stuff it in his mouth, then dig the snow away and pull up grass roots to eat.

Ning Chen could not help laughing.

These soldiers were all copying him now.

“Are you married?”

The soldier digging up roots got to his feet in a hurry and said loudly, “Reporting to the General, no!”

Ning Chen smiled. “Do you want a wife?”

“I do!”

“Then why don’t you have one?”

“This subordinate is saving. When I’ve saved enough silver I’ll take a wife and have children.”

Ning Chen clapped him on the shoulder and said, “When we get back this time, I promise you’ll have a wife and children.”

The soldier grinned wide, a plain honest grin, his whole face lit up.

Ning Chen looked around at the rest and said, “Do you men know what it is we’re going to do?”

The soldiers shook their heads.

Ning Chen said it one word at a time: “This trip, we are going to make a surprise attack on the North Royal Court.”

In that moment every man of them was stunned blank, disbelief all over their faces.

Ning Chen went on: “The North Royal Court’s army has gone to Beilin Pass. The strength left at the North Royal Court now is six or seven thousand at the outside.”

“This is a chance heaven has handed us. We are going to cut clean through the North Royal Court and take the King of the Left Court alive.”

“If we bring it off — rank and office, high place and fat pay… never mind a wife and children, you’ll be able to buy a great house in the capital.”

Ning Chen’s words worked on the men little by little, and their eyes began to burn.

“Since the Great Xuan was founded, nobody has ever fought his way to the North Royal Court… If we can cut clean through it and take the King of the Left Court alive, our names will be left in the histories. The histories of the Great Xuan will carry a line about us written in the heaviest ink.”

“We will all of us be heroes of the Great Xuan, respected and looked up to… your families and your children, your relatives and your friends, will all be proud of you.”

“Now I’ll ask one thing only. Are you willing to take this risk with me?”

Every man of them, faces alight and eyes burning, roared together: “We are willing! We’ll follow the General to the death!”

(End of Chapter 161)