Main Text, Chapter Eighty-Nine: A Test of Strength, Part Twenty-Three

In the darkness, the city gate of Cloud City creaked open.

Above the moat of Cloud City, there was no drawbridge at all, only a narrow earthen embankment. In wartime, if an attacking force grew careless and tried to charge across it, converging volleys of arrows from every side would turn the place into a living death trap.

Yuan Junwei rode at the head alone, his spear held reverse in one hand, and dashed straight beyond the embankment. Behind him, a column of armored cavalry filed out in order, the thunder of hooves surging like the fervor in Yuan Junwei's own breast.

Liu Yingji and his elder brother had at last ceased shielding that Xu Le. Now they meant to find him and put him away forever.

In the space of only a few days, Yuan Junwei had passed through a change like descent from heaven to hell.

Once he had been the rising star of the Heng'an Eagle-Soaring Commandery, favored by his brother, prized by Liu Wuzhou, flattered by his comrades, followed by his subordinates, and with martial skill and battle merit enough to his name. Wherever he went, all eyes turned after him. He had thought his path in life smooth and unbroken, that he would surely rise with the commandery to its very summit.

But the moment Xu Le appeared, everything took a sharp turn for the worse. Dozens of Eagle-Soaring soldiers had failed to subdue one Xu Le. He himself had been beaten like a dog, and in the end, unable to swallow his defeat, he had even prepared to use an arrow formation to kill men.

The Heng'an Commandery had done many a domineering thing before; so long as it could win, nothing else mattered. After all, this was a frontier land of sword-wind and frost, a place surrounded by enemies, where Heng'an had stood on force alone! Yet after one battle it had been knocked back to its original shape, and in so disgraceful a fashion at that. How could such people expect the respect of the strong and hardened troops of Heng'an?

Wherever he went, he could feel those strange looks at his back, hear the low murmur of gossip. And all his old failings had been dug up again. That his charges through enemy lines and slayings of commanders had only been won by the desperate sacrifice of his brothers-in-arms. That he had been young and rash, unable to rein in the roughnecks under his command such as Chang Shuxin. That without his elder brother Yuan Junzhang, he might not even have risen to the rank of a squad leader in Heng'an Commandery...

On and on it went, endless as the list might be.

For these past few days, Yuan Junwei had hidden at home, never once stepping beyond his own gate. In secret, he had not known how many little straw effigies of Xu Le he had stabbed to pieces.

Only tonight, when the glow of flames suddenly reddened half the night sky outside the city, and his elder brother hurriedly summoned him, ordering him to lead troops out and find Xu Le, cut off his head, and answer for the two of them before Liu Wuzhou, did Yuan Junwei's blood nearly burst through the top of his skull.

Even if it cost him his life today, he had to kill Xu Le and recover the shame he had suffered before!

The armored cavalry that rode out of the city were all armed to the teeth, from Yuan Junwei downward. Their horses were excellent, their armor superb. Besides the long weapons in their hands, each man also carried short blades on his person, every one of them bristling with weapons like a mobile arsenal.

Under Yuan Junwei's lead, this force crossed the moat and swept out beyond the rammed-earth wall.

Outside the wall, several other detachments of Eagle-Soaring soldiers had also come to join them. These soldiers wore half-armor and carried only short weapons, but each had two riding bows and several quivers of feathered arrows. They were mounted archers, the sort only borderlands could breed; after years of bloody struggle against the northern tribes, the sons of Han could now shoot from horseback, swift as the wind.

Once the cavalry had joined, Yuan Junwei wasted no words. With a sweep of his spear, he led the charge at speed. The Eagle-Soaring soldiers snapped their reins and followed closely behind.

So many horsemen galloping at once, the hoofbeats shook like thunder.

For this Xu Le, Liu Wuzhou and Yuan Junzhang had staked everything, sending out at least three or four hundred riders under cover of night. And all for the death of one man alone.

Under Yuan Junwei's lead, those three or four hundred riders no longer spared their mounts, driving their horses hard with heels and fury. Hundreds of warhorses neighed like thunder, surging forward. In the firelight, gleaming armor flashed and leaped, and beneath Cloud City it was like a sea of shimmering waves.

Outside Cloud City, the commotion had stirred others as well. Many who had come for the great market at Cloud City, whether tribal or Han, woke in the night, threw on their clothes, and silently watched the fire blazing across the heavens and the armored sea swelling beneath the city walls.

Some had already made up their minds to leave at dawn, abandoning their goods if need be. This Cloud City market had become far too perilous; for money's sake, one could not throw away one's life.

Yet there were others who watched in silence, secretly delighted. The balance in Mayi Commandery, the quiet standoff between Wang Rengong and Liu Wuzhou, seemed finally on the verge of collapse. A winner would have to emerge. With the pattern of power shifting, there would be future chances to rise; if the world did not fall into disorder, where would opportunity ever come from?

Still others turned the matter over and over in their minds, calculating and scheming. Behind them all stood one faction or another. With Mayi about to descend into turmoil, who would laugh last in the end? What would this mean for the masters behind them? How could they ensure that, however the struggle ended, their own lords would reap the greatest possible gain?

Liu Wenjing was one of these. Standing atop the carriage, he looked at all that was unfolding before him and could not help but clap his hands and dance with glee.

The turmoil in Heng'an Commandery had followed one after another in such rapid succession. Though on the surface it appeared to be the result of the unrest among the Yue tribes, how could there not have been Turkic interference behind it? And with Turkic meddling shifting the situation, how could Wang Rengong fail to seize the chance and settle accounts with Liu Wuzhou, that thorn in his side and bone in his throat?

If Wang Rengong and Liu Wuzhou continued this stalemate, this silent and unresolved confrontation, Li Yuan would truly have no way to act. Even if he were to raise troops by force and march on Chang'an, he would always have to fear his rear being set ablaze, with his old base at Jinyang unable to hold.

But now, at last, the two were about to tear off the mask and decide the matter by force. For Li Yuan's side, the opportunity had arrived!

The curtain of this struggle for supremacy was finally about to rise, and the contest for the realm would begin in Mayi!

At the thought of it, Liu Wenjing could not restrain himself. On top of the carriage he let out a low laugh, and the laughter grew and grew until at last he threw back his head and laughed aloud.

Several guards of the Six Armies Command stood beneath the carriage with hands on their swords. One after another they looked up at Liu Wenjing, then lowered their heads again.

The thoughts of such great men were truly impossible to fathom. Everyone else was tense to the breaking point, yet this Lord Liu was delighted enough to dance with joy...

Liu Wenjing's laughter finally faded. Stroking the short beard beneath his chin, he fell into thought once more.

By day, Xu Le had caused a great uproar in the camp of the Yue tribes. In the end he had been welcomed back by Yuchi Gong, and many a bold youth of Mayi had thrilled to it. Then tonight the Yue camp had again gone up in flames, prompting Heng'an Eagle-Soaring Commandery to send out an even larger force. One need not think too hard to know that this must have something to do with that divinely mighty Lord Le.

Who would have thought that the opening act of this struggle for the realm would be brought forth by such a youth?

If such a man were to die, how truly a pity it would be... He would be well worth recruiting into one's own ranks.

Only, he kept feeling that this youth resembled someone. Why, then, could he not remember who it was?

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A great host of Heng'an armored cavalry surged across the line of the low hill fortifications.

On the ramparts of the fort, generals and soldiers alike crowded the walls, watching all that was happening before them.

To the north, fire blazed across the heavens. One could make out a few figures galloping desperately for their lives, with a large pursuing force behind them. To the south, yet another host of armored riders was charging to meet them. Those few fleeing figures were caught in the middle.

The commotion by day had all been witnessed by those in the fort, and many had even followed Yuchi Gong out to fight the Yue tribes. With the Yue camp in chaos again tonight, there was no need to say that the figures in flight surely included that Lord Le.

To have stirred up such a storm, that Lord Le was truly a genius at causing trouble. I fear even Liu Yingji can no longer tolerate him.

Wasn't the leader of the cavalry, before the armored riders appeared, the very Yuan Fourth who had forged a deep grudge against him?

How many people sighed inwardly.

What a pity for that Lord Le!