Chapter 85
Chapter 85
“Miss, the Eldest Young Master is here. Will he capture us and take us back to the capital?” Qiutong tried several times to step away, but when Xing Shuwei remained motionless, she could only continue bracing herself against the city gate.
Xing Shuwei looked helplessly at her. “I am afraid what we should be wondering now is whether he will survive.”
Great Ji’s curved sabers were sharp enough to slice through bone as though it were mud.
The iron-chain flying claws of Great Ji bristled with barbs that could tear away flesh, sinew, and bone together.
Great Ji’s warhorses were strong and swift, peerless whether in pursuit or retreat.
With one hand gripping the gate, Xing Shuwei curled her fingers without realizing it. Her nails scratched across the wood with a dry, grating sound.
“Miss, the Eldest Young Master will not die, will he?” Qiutong’s chest tightened inexplicably too.
She thought back on the four years they had spent in the Duke of Qi’s estate. The Eldest Young Master and Fourth Young Master had treated her mistress better than anyone else.
Apart from denying her mistress freedom and seeming somewhat stern, the Eldest Young Master had not been too terrible in other respects.
They were kindhearted people by nature. Now that death hung over Pei Xianjing, all their past grievances seemed on the verge of being wiped away.
At least in Qiutong’s heart, the Eldest Young Master should not die like this.
Outside the city, Wang Yanqing delivered Yelü Han’s corpse into Zhang Mingan’s hands.
Zhang Mingan raised his long spear and hoisted Yelü Han’s body aloft.
“Yelü Bao, I wager you do not have the courage to come collect your father’s corpse.
“You beaten cur-you always hide behind your great army like a turtle in its shell, and now your cowardice has cost your father his life.”
“As a subject, you collude with the enemy. As a son, you sell out your own father. As a general, you refuse to enter the fighting.
“Yelü Bao, I came to Qizhou to nail you to Great Ji’s pillar of shame.”
Zhang Mingan’s voice pierced through wave after wave of slaughter and drove straight into Yelü Bao’s ears.
This was intolerable!
That bastard Zhang Mingan had nerve beyond belief.
Yelü Bao gazed at his father’s corpse held high above the battlefield, teeth grinding with hatred.
Zhang Mingan rode unhurriedly toward the space between the two armies.
Though the Great Ji side plainly had more men, a faint tendency to retreat had already taken hold.
“Anyone who dares retreat will meet the same fate.” Yelü Bao drew the curved saber at his waist and chopped down.
The young soldier beside him became the blameless victim of his fury. His head fell to the ground.
The soldiers of Great Ji were stunned speechless.
They could only raise their blades and fight for their lives.
Yelü Bao squeezed his horse’s flanks and charged out at full speed.
His father was already dead, and the spies in the northwest had likely been uprooted.
If he lost this battle as well, his time as commander would truly be over.
For the past several decades, he had held his position as the northwestern commander and won every battle entirely because his father had sent him useful intelligence time and again.
His father was not only a hero in his eyes, but a hero to every iron-blooded warrior on the grasslands of Great Ji.
His father could die in battle, but if Yelü Bao could not even recover his corpse, he would truly become a disgrace to all of Great Ji.
“Zhang Mingan, you little bastard still stinking of mother’s milk-give me your life!”
Yelü Bao bent low over his horse’s back, loosened the reins, and raced out through the sea of soldiers.
Wherever his curved saber passed, blood and flesh flew.
The Great Ji soldiers were swept up by his battle cry. Their leading cavalry charged first and crashed into the Qizhou troops.
The Qizhou army had few men to begin with, and half of them were wounded.
Within half an hour, they were already showing signs of defeat.
Yelü Bao exchanged his curved saber for an iron-chain flying claw. He whipped it wildly through the air, gathering all his strength, then fixed bloodshot eyes on Zhang Mingan and hurled it.
The flying claw descended like an eagle’s talons, as though it meant to wrench Zhang Mingan’s head from his body.
Zhang Mingan raised a long arm, and the spear in his hand tangled with the flying claw until neither could break free.
Both men used every ounce of strength, each trying to drag the other from the saddle.
With a sharp crack, the long spear proved no match for the flying claw’s edge and was snapped apart.
As the flying claw was about to recoil into Yelü Bao’s hand, Zhang Mingan slapped the horse’s back, launched himself into the air, and seized the iron chain.
At the sight, Yelü Bao shouted, “Whoa!” and reined his mount to a sudden halt.
He wheeled his horse around, clearly intending to drag Zhang Mingan to death.
“General!” Wang Yanqing shouted. He immediately leapt from his saddle and lashed his horse hard with the whip.
The horse raced toward Zhang Mingan and quickly caught up with him.
The tremendous force dragging him along prevented Zhang Mingan from rising no matter how many times he gathered his strength.
He was already badly wounded. Now, as his body struck corpses and weapons scattered across the ground, many of his wounds split open again.
He was dragged on his back, leaving a fresh trail of blood across the earth.
Yelü Bao roared, “Main cavalry, retreat! Right-wing cavalry, cover our withdrawal!”
Great Ji’s retreat horn sounded. The main cavalry closed ranks in an instant and wheeled their horses left to withdraw.
Yelü Bao meant to drag Zhang Mingan to death.
Zhang Mingan was the fiercest west wind beyond Great Yue’s Qizhou City, and Yelü Bao meant to have him die beneath his own horse’s hooves.
He would reduce Zhang Mingan to a heap of pulp, then send the remains back to Great Yue.
He would make both Great Ji and Great Yue understand that on this northwestern land, he alone was worthy of standing unconquered.
Suddenly, a contingent of troops burst out from the right flank.
The blood-sweating steed beneath Chengde crashed through the mass of men and horses before him.
The saber in his hand flew out with a metallic ring, slashing directly at the iron chain dragging Zhang Mingan.
Clang… The sound of chain and blade colliding echoed in Zhang Mingan’s ears for a long while.
The saber checked the speed of his dragging body, slowing it slightly.
He twisted facedown, struck the earth with his left palm, and launched himself into the air.
The horse beside him dipped its legs, catching him on its back.
Ahead, Yelü Bao cursed. “Where did these enemy troops come from? How did they get mixed into my right-wing cavalry?”
He had no time to care.
With a slash, he cut down a cavalryman beside him, kicked the corpse from the saddle, and swung onto the dead man’s mount.
Zhang Mingan clutched the iron chain and jerked hard, but the only thing he brought to a stop was an empty horse.
Chengde wheeled around, reined in, and called to him, “Noble heir, my lord has ordered that Yelü Bao be taken alive.
“I will leave half the Panzhou troops with you. Join the Qizhou army in attacking from front and rear, and destroy the enemy’s right-wing cavalry.
“I will take the other half of the Panzhou army to assist my lord in blocking the retreat of Yelü Bao’s main forces.”
“Pei Xianjing circled around behind Yelü Bao?” Zhang Mingan asked, though certainty filled his tone.
“Yes. But… he has only a little over a hundred men.” Chengde did not know how many personal guards had been injured fighting the spies.
“Has he lost his mind?” Ignoring the blood streaming down his back, Zhang Mingan glanced at Yelü Bao’s army, still retreating at speed. “Look how many men remain in the main force!
“Can a little over a hundred men defeat that?
“Does he want to become a heap of rotting flesh beneath this sky full of yellow sand?”
Zhang Mingan jerked the reins. “I am going to reinforce him.”
But the moment he finished speaking, the retreating enemy main force suddenly wheeled around again.
The right-wing enemy cavalry left behind to cover the retreat also reversed direction, forming an encirclement around them.
“This is bad!” Chengde shouted urgently. “Lead your troops in tearing open a path, noble heir, and rejoin the Qizhou army. I will hold off the enemy’s main force.”