"There are other exits to the mine shaft. If you want to catch a turtle in a jar, they're your best bet." He Lingchuan pointed at Jiao Tai. "He knows where the exits are."
Zeng Feixiong was overjoyed and cupped his fists. "Many thanks, Eldest Young Master!"
This form of address gave He Lingchuan a twinge, but he waved his hand. "Go on. Come thank me once you've claimed the credit."
Knowing time was pressing, Zeng Feixiong let Jiao Tai lead the way and hurried onward toward the pit mine.
While the two spoke, He Chunhua produced a sheet of white paper. In his haste, he did not bother grinding ink, simply biting through his fingertip and dipping into his own blood to dash off a dozen characters.
He Lingchuan asked in surprise, "Father?"
Without a word, He Chunhua quickly produced his State Token, dipped it in blood, and stamped the paper. He then folded the sheet and pulled something else from his storage ring—
A gray pigeon.
Everyone stared in surprise, only noticing on closer inspection that it was actually a mechanical bird.
He Chunhua opened a hidden compartment and slipped the blood-written letter inside. The mechanical bird flapped its wings twice, and its tiny eyes lit up.
Then Governor-General He tossed it into the air. With a flutter of wings, it took flight and sped eastward.
He Lingchuan let out a long breath of relief. "You had one of these on you? That's wonderful!"
Mechanical birds were masterworks of puppeteers, but few puppeteers possessed the skill to craft one capable of flying dozens of li. Such an endeavor required extraordinarily intricate mechanics. This bird was originally the creation of a virtuoso serving the rebel leader, Hong Xiangqian. When the rebel army was crushed at Woling Pass, Wu Shaoyi had fled carrying several of these mechanical birds with him.
Later, when Wu Shaoyi surrendered, he presented the mechanical birds for military use.
He Chunhua had been shrewd enough to keep one in reserve. When setting out to suppress the enemy this time, he had deliberately brought along a mechanical bird just in case of an unforeseen emergency.
And now, that emergency had arrived.
He Chunhua's expression was grave. "Let us hope it arrives in time!"
A bird flew far faster than any thousand-li steed. If it could alert Xinhuang before Hong Chenglüe launched his raid, their side might yet avert disaster.
Needless to say, He Chunhua immediately ordered the remainder of the army to wheel around and race east toward Xinhuang at full gallop.
He Lingchuan was gradually seeing through the intricacies of such affairs. His father figured that having led an army all the way out here, returning empty-handed would look bad, so he simply ordered Zeng Feixiong to storm the pit mine. The bait Hong Chenglüe had cast out was enticing, and seizing it presented little difficulty. Even in the worst-case scenario where the grain and fodder at Xinhuang were burned, He Chunhua would at least have captured an enemy commander, Baili Qing.
Along the way, He Chunhua asked for a detailed account of what had happened. Upon hearing that Maotao had fallen in battle, he could not help but sigh with regret. "He was one of the veterans who followed you from the very beginning. Does he have any surviving family?"
"No."
He Chunhua gave a quiet nod. "Better that way, then."
Anxiety burned in his chest; he wished he could sprout wings and fly back to Xinhuang, leaving him little heart to comfort his son.
Xinhuang had a garrison, reinforced by disciples from Chuanyun Pavilion. Yet Hong Chenglüe held a substantial head start, and the man was undeniably cunning. Whether they could make it back in time was something He Chunhua had no confidence in.
Greedy for glory and rushing rashly ahead—in the end, he had been careless.
***
The abandoned pit mine.
Inside the low, flat-roofed building, Baili Qing slowly drifted awake. Night had already fallen. His throat was parched, and he mumbled, "Water..."
The orderly at his bedside hurried to feed him water.
Soon, two officers rushed over, saying in delight, "Lord Baili, you're finally awake!"
"How long was I asleep?"
"Nearly the entire day. Your wound is healing quite well."
Baili Qing looked at his severed arm, a bitter smile touching his lips. With his arm gone, what good was a well-healing wound?
Still, he had heard that certain secret medicines could regrow severed limbs.
Half a roast chicken sat on the bedside table. One of the officers picked it up with a smile. "I'll go heat this up. General Hong brought it over out of respect for you."
"Where is General Hong?" Baili Qing glanced outside, noticing that few people seemed to be moving about.
"Our scouts stationed in Bailu Town were captured, so the Xiazhou troops began marching here. General Hong took men to lead them away."
Baili Qing's expression changed. "The mine has been exposed? Why haven't we evacuated?"
"Well..." The two officers exchanged glances. "Your injuries were too severe. We feared that moving rashly earlier would..."
"Fools!" Baili Qing struggled to sit up. "Order an immediate evacuation! Where did General Hong say we would rendezvous?"
"Xinqiao Township."
"Summon the military doctor to change my dressing." Baili Qing saw that his tourniquet was already soaked through.
"The doctor went with General Hong."
Baili Qing stiffened in shock. "What did you say?"
The more he thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed. He had merely lost an arm—how could he have slept through an entire day?
Medicine. He had been drugged.
"How many men fit to fight are left in camp?"
"General Hong left fifty men behind."
Baili Qing slammed the table in fury. "That vicious bastard!"
The two officers remained confused, but Baili Qing urged them frantically, "Order the evacuation at once! Find me a stretcher, hurry!"
Just as his men were about to comply, several agonizing screams rang out from outside.
The two officers rushed to the doorway and looked out. Waves of arrows shot out from the mountain forest, and flames soared into the sky!
The Xiazhou army had arrived.
***
Xinhuang, the grain transport corps camp.
Night had fallen long ago. The camp was brightly lit, whereas looking out from inside, almost the entire town of Xinhuang was plunged into pitch darkness, with hardly a single lamp burning in any household.
A sentry standing guard at the western post yawned and said to a passing comrade, "Not a breath of life out there—it's like a ghost town. We'd be better off camping in the wilderness; at least we could catch some game to treat ourselves."
Yawns were contagious, and his companion could not help yawning as well. "Didn't you hear those bumpkins? Every bird and beast in the area has already been eaten clean by them. All right, stay sharp. I'm heading out."
The sentry blurted in alarm, "Hey, don't leave me alone!" His partner had died in yesterday's ambush by the Xunzhou raiders. "I've been on watch for five shichen already. I'm exhausted!"
"I've got business to tend to. With so many men gone, who else is going to do all the work?" The companion waved and turned away. "If you want to blame someone, blame whoever made the roster for sticking you on watch alone."
The western post sat on the outermost perimeter of the entire encampment, and being alone left the soldier terribly bored. The spring night breeze blew gently, and as it stroked his face, he leaned against the wall and began to nod off.
Just then, a nondescript gray object dropped out of the night sky, landing right in front of him with a few muffled flaps.
Yet the soldier was sleeping so soundly that soft whistling snorts escaped his nose and mouth; he remained utterly oblivious to the commotion before him.
Nor did anyone else come by for quite some time.
Who knew how much time had passed before three figures walked past the western post, led by none other than Elder Liang of Chuanyun Pavilion.
He spotted the gray shape on the ground at once and halted. A disciple stepped forward and picked it up, letting out a surprised murmur. "What is this?"
He had thought it was a dead pigeon, but it felt cold to the touch—plainly an artificial creation.
A mechanical carrier pigeon?
There were claw marks along its back, likely the result of an owl ambushing it as prey.
That also explained why it had not flown all the way to Wu Shaoyi; its mechanisms had probably been damaged.
Elder Liang took it, inspected it, and fiddled with it briefly. The hidden compartment on the pigeon's belly clicked open, revealing the note inside.
Without delay, Elder Liang took the note and the mechanical bird and rushed into Wu Shaoyi's tent!
Wu Shaoyi was reading under the lamp when the tent flap whipped open with a loud rustle. Before he could demand who had barged in, Elder Liang slapped the two objects down onto his table.
A matter of utmost urgency!
At a single glance, Wu Shaoyi's face turned ashen. He slammed his hand on the desk and sprang to his feet. "Outrageous! Sound the alarm immediately!"
With He Chunhua absent, he was the highest-ranking commander in the entire camp.
Wu Shaoyi barked out several urgent orders in rapid succession. As war drums sounded in the camp, the garrison soldiers scrambled out of bed. Most had labored hard all day and fallen into a dead sleep once night fell, leaving them groggy as they rose, but the booming drums struck terror into their hearts.
Wu Shaoyi ordered his men to arm themselves and move the wooden barricades to the camp entrance, standing ready for battle. Meanwhile, Elder Liang led his disciples in laying out formations; such tactical warding arrays were remarkably effective at fending off large-scale assaults, such as arrow volleys and fire attacks.
Yet before they could finish setting up their second array, hurried hoofbeats resounded outside Xinhuang Town.
These riders carried no torches, galloping through the dark and charging straight for the camp with unmistakable hostility.
Face dark with fury, Wu Shaoyi gave the order, and the camp's archers promptly loosed a volley of arrows.
Strike first to seize the upper hand.
He had suffered a crushing defeat at Hong Chenglüe's hands just last night, losing his camp, grain, and face. Now Hong Chenglüe had dared to launch a second surprise attack while he was still in camp—this was beyond endurance!
This time, he would settle the old scores and the new together!
***
Burning with anxiety, He Chunhua led his column of more than a thousand men as they galloped back with all their might. Along the way, several warhorses stumbled and snapped their legs.
And this was on an official post road, even if it had gone unmaintained for years.
Just as they rounded a bend in the road, a whistling signal arrow shot up with a bang from the hilltop directly above, bursting into a massive red firework midair.
Someone was on the hill!
He Lingchuan's heart tightened, but He Chunhua acted as if he had seen nothing, simply urging everyone onward.
This spot was roughly one li from Xinhuang Town, lying along the sole western route into and out of town. Clearly, Hong Chenglüe had placed a scout on this high ground specifically to monitor the movements of the government forces.
Those who realized this immediately, like He Lingchuan, felt their chests tighten. For this meant Hong Chenglüe's force had already reached Xinhuang!
The enemy was still one step ahead.
As they closed in on Xinhuang Town, blazing flames lit up the distance, but upon hearing the shouts and battle cries, He Lingchuan felt a slight wave of relief.
The sounds of fighting and swearing meant the camp had not fallen completely.
It seemed the camp could still be saved.
Sure enough, when He Chunhua led his troops storming into Xinhuang Town, the fires inside the military camp were still burning, but Hong Chenglüe's forces were already gone—upon seeing the fireworks signal from the western hill, they had retreated eastward.
Wu Shaoyi and Elder Liang were leading the remaining men in hot pursuit of the fleeing enemy.
Seeing He Chunhua return, the soldiers of the grain transport corps erupted in cheers.
He Lingchuan cast a glance around, noting the sheer chaos within the camp. After last night's raid, the grain wagons had been dispersed across the area, yet several dozen were currently blazing with fires not yet extinguished.
Signs of battle were everywhere, and every dozen paces or so lay the corpse of a soldier or a horse.
He Chunhua detached a contingent to help douse the flames and salvage the grain, while leading the rest of his troops east to reinforce Wu Shaoyi.
With such a disparity in numbers between the two sides, the outcome held little suspense. He Lingchuan chose not to follow, remaining behind in camp to lend a hand.
Chapter 272