Che Mingzhe stared at Ning Chen and said, without a trace of fear, "We men of Xiliang have never feared death... Kill me if you mean to kill me, and spare me the talk. If you want me to call for a surrender, dream on."

Ning Chen sneered. "A beaten general, and he still talks about courage?"

"This prince doesn't understand how you people think. All these men dead for one Untainted Ice Lotus. Is it worth it?"

Che Mingzhe lifted his chin. "The Untainted Ice Lotus is the holy relic of Xiliang. Is it yours just because you want it?"

Ning Chen said coolly, "You have that exactly right. If I want it you have to give it... and if you don't, I'll go and take it from your Xiliang royal house myself."

With that Ning Chen swung down from his horse.

"Yuan Long, drive them up under the wall."

Yuan Long understood at once. Ning Chen meant to use the prisoners as cannon fodder.

The three thousand and more prisoners were driven up under the wall.

Ning Chen came along right behind them.

On the wall the Xiliang soldiers were tense enough to sweat in their palms.

They did not dare loose.

Because the moment the arrows came down, the first men to die would be Xiliang's own soldiers.

Ning Chen raised a hand, looked at the Xiliang soldiers on the wall, put his breath behind it and shouted, "Look carefully, you up there. I have Che Mingzhe. If you want him alive, find somebody who can decide and send him to talk to me."

The Xiliang soldiers on the wall looked carefully. It was indeed Che Mingzhe.

They stood there at a loss. Wasn't General Che dead?

Among the soldiers who had fled back, some had seen it with their own eyes. Che Mingzhe had been blown to death.

After a short wait a big, powerfully built man in middle age with hard features, wearing armor, appeared on the wall, and his eyes fixed on Che Mingzhe.

"General Che, is it really you?"

Che Mingzhe sighed. There…