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This storehouse was one of the sixteen granaries inside the city, but the amount of grains being stored here was equal to the other fifteen storehouses added together. The fire spread too fast, and generated more than a dozen flames at the same time. Were it not for the high wall separating the storehouse from the other residences, plus the overcast, thick and wet clouds of the month between spring and summer, it was quite possible that the disastrous situation did not stop as it did right now.

The deputy general in charge of guarding the storehouse was kneeling on the ground, trembling continuously, looking extremely pitiful.

Yang Gongqing angrily said, “This is impossible; I have already reinforced the guards, how could you not able to grasp even the enemy’s shadow, yet they were able to commit arson till it looks like this? At the very least, there ought to be some effort in putting out the fire.”

The deputy general spoke in trembling voice, “The fire well has been plugged with sand and stoned by the enemy.”

Stunned, Yang Gongqing said, “How did the spy transport the sand and the stones here?”

Kou Zhong spoke with confidence, “As soon as we send people to search, I am sure we will find a tunnel or something like that. This must be the evil scheme that the enemy has plotted actively. We’d better send people to inspect the other storehouses in the city.”

Promptly an officer accepted the order and left.

Wang Xuanshu pulled the other three aside and spoke in low voice, “This is called ‘a mistake of mistake’. I have just had the real provisions transported to the camp outside the city. The burned grains in here are all fake stuffs. Because my personal bodyguards were responsible for the transport, nobody knew that the new shipment was fake goods.”

Greatly delighted, Kou Zhong said, “Er Gongzi’s efficient work is indeed amazing; was the stuff carried by the fifty mule-train the real grains?”

Wang Xuanshu was pleasantly surprised; he nodded and said, “It was indeed. So what do we do now?”

Yang Gongqing’s spirit greatly aroused, he said, “This is called mistakenly hit the secondary vehicle; also known as Heaven helps me. Right now we must do everything we can to search for the spy. All outsiders not registered locally must be locked up for questioning, while heavily reward citizen who report suspicious characters. On the other hand, we must strengthen the storehouses guards, while trying to find a way to open a secret granary to store our grains.”

Realizing that he had inadvertently set up great merit, which would definitely gain his father’s praises, Wang Xuanshu gladly left to make the arrangement.

Kou Zhong spoke in low voice, “Looks like we should go back to the Commander’s mansion to drink wine to celebrate; we are going to welcome Li Mi’s army soon!”

※ ※ ※

It was not even dawn yet, someone came to wake Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling up and had them go to the Commander’s Mansion, where they saw by Yang Gongqing at the main hall. Wang Xuanshu was yawning. But Linglong Jiao, with windblown-dust face, was sitting by Yang Gongqing’s side, talking and pointing to the strategy terrain chart lying on the table.

As the two stepped into the main hall, Yang Gongqing looked up and saw them; laughing aloud, he said, “Wagang troops are coming!”

Hearing that, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, crowded over in great delight.

Linglong Jiao spoke excitedly, “I have made contact with our informers all over the place, even seeing it with my own eyes, Li Mi’s vanguard unit is pressing on toward Yanshi. If they did not stop over anywhere, we should be able to see Wagang troops’ banner from the top of the city wall. I already dispatched more than a dozen martial art masters with fine qinggong to closely watch their movement. They will send the information via carrier pigeon.”

Kou Zhong asked, “Which troops are moving? How many?”

Linglong Jiao replied, “It’s the new army recruits from outside the city, under Shan Xiongsin, Chen Zhilue and Fan Wenchao, three men’s command. The main force inside the city has not made any movement.”

Yang Gongqing anxiously said, “Li Mi is going to use decoy.”

Xu Ziling asked, “Did Miss Jiao sneak inside the city to see what’s going on?”

Linglong Jiao proudly said, “No city defense can stump me, Linglong Jiao, but the private residences housing the troops are tightly guarded, I was afraid to beat the grass and scare the snake, so I could only look from a distance. The city was quite and peaceful, evidently Li Mi considers victory is within his grasp, he is completely confident.”

Wang Xuanshu asked, “Are those new recruits really as bad as what Xuan Yong said?”

Linglong Jiao replied, “The vanguard regiment under Shan Xiongxin numbered approximately three thousand; they set out in the evening. Because the forest obstructed my line of sight, I could only estimate the number based on the dust raised by the troops; they are all infantry, and they don’t march in squad formation, so I know they are not properly trained regular troops.”

Astonished, Kou Zhong said, “Miss Jiao unexpectedly can tell a lot of things from the dust kicked by the troops; you must be an expert in observation and detective work on the military intelligence.”

Obtaining his praise, Linglong Jiao delightedly cast him a sideway glance and said, “If you want to learn, I can be your Shifu. If the dust is rising high, it is the cavalry; infantry would create a low, wide and rolling dust. Shan Xiongxin’s new army recruits raised low, scattering, untidy dust, precisely because of insufficient training and their formation was not in good order. For well-trained elite army, the dust may rise in columns, clear and not random. When the troops stop the dust stop, this is the marching of the troops under powerful general. The dust scattered left and right, front and back, this is not marching in formation.”

Listening to her, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling submitted with all their hearts; now they knew that observing the enemy was also a scientific knowledge.

This moment a bodyguard came in to report that they had just received information from the front line via the carrier pigeon.

Yang Gongqing received it, took a quick look, and handed it over to Linglong Jiao, saying, “Li Mi’s out-of-town forces are striking up two separate camps on their way toward us, but the main force inside the city still has not made any move. It appears that he is trying to lure us out to attack. Our army provisions were really burned by him, we would have wanted to have decisive battle as early as possible, before our grains run out, rather than painstakingly defending a city under siege.”

Wang Xuanshu nodded and added, “At that time his main force may launch surprise attack on us, killing us while we are caught unprepared.”

Noticing both Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling had deep frown on their faces, Yang Gongqing asked in surprise, “Li Mi appears to have fallen into our trap, why do you look troubled instead?”

Xu Ziling said, “I have a feeling that something is not right. Li Mi has Ke Feng as his spy, he ought to know that our side has Miss Jiao, a first-class expert in scouting the enemy’s movement, glaring like a tiger watching its prey, monitoring his troops’ situation. If that is the case, how would he use the decoy?”

Kou Zhong added, “In Miss Jiao’s opinion, did the tight security at the guarded entrance to the private residences housing the troops defy reason?”

Linglong Jiao’s tender body shook slightly; revealing a thinking-deeply expression, she nodded and said, “That is so. The patrolling troops were not ordinary soldiers, but martial art masters within Li Mi’s troops, hence the reason I shrank back.”

‘Bang!’

Kou Zhong slapped the table and said with a sigh, “What a cunning Li Mi! If I guess correctly, he must be using a tunnel or some kind of covering to transfer his main force in batches to a secret camp outside the city. And then when we mistakenly assume that his main force has not left the city, and presumptuously meet Shan Xiongxin’s new army recruits’ attack, he would use the same ruse he defeated Zhang Xutuo in the past, by pretending to be defeated and luring us out of Yanshi, and then from somewhere his troops appear to ambush ours. If that happens, it would be strange indeed if we are not going to be wiped out.”

His countenance changed, Yang Gongqing said, “Does that mean we already lost the decisive opportunity?”

“Not necessarily,” Kou Zhong replied, “Moving out forty thousand men via a secret tunnel only under cover of darkness is something that cannot be accomplished in just a night or a half. Just by looking at when Shan Xiongxin’s troops will arrive, we’ll know how much time is needed, because no matter what, Shan Xiongxin’s new troops will have to wait until Li Mi’s main force is ready before they dare to setup formation outside the city to wait respectfully.”

Wang Xuanshu anxiously said, “If we cannot grasp where Li Mi’s main force is going to move to, we would only be able to send our men into the city to wait painstakingly, our previous plan cannot be carried out anymore.”

Before Kou Zhong could answer, a guard came to report that Xuan Yong was seeking audience.

Xuan Yong only greeted Yang Gongqing and the others briefly before solemnly reported, “Li Mi’s worthy to be called the most outstanding schemer of the present age; unexpectedly he already dug three underground tunnels in advance, and transferred his main forces in batches north to Mount Mang. Were it not for Xiaoren grew suspicious, I would never be able to guess his trick.”

Yang Gongqing asked nervously, “Do you know the exact location of their camp?”

Xuan Yong dejectedly said, “Shen Luoyan is using her reconnaissance bird circling in the sky, so I did not dare to rush indiscriminately into action, plus she is setting up strategically located outposts along the mountain roads so that there is no way to trail them. According to my estimate, based on the current rate, Li Mi would need at least one night to transfer all of his main forces north to Mount Mang.”

Everybody was back around the table to look at the map. They saw that at the upper left corner of Jinyong city, Mount Mang was slanting down straight toward Yanshi’s northeast corner, in unbroken mountain range of about a hundred li, covering a vast area. If they could not grasp the whereabouts of those forty thousand men, when the battle started, the ambushing troops might come out suddenly from anywhere north of the city, which would be confusing and strike fear in their hearts.

Xuan Yong said, “Right now our side does not dare to act blindly without thinking, plus the opponent has martial art masters as numerous as the cloud; as soon as they appear, we wouldn’t be able to escape even if we tried.”

Kou Zhong’s left palm chopped horizontally across, he spoke ferociously, “First of all we must kill that flat-haired beast! Ay, but this will only alert that Shen poniang.”

“Leave this to me,” Linglong Jiao said, “I can enter Mount Mang from the other side, without following the mountain road. As long as they make fire to cook, or perhaps cutting down the forest to open up a path, there are always traces to be found.”

[1] Chapter title: an idiom, referring to s stratagem used by Liu Bang in 206BC against Xiang Yu of Chu. Figuratively means to feign one thing while doing another.

Chapter 7 - Part 2

Jaya, you are welcome. Xiaohu, here it is. <-- I think this is the shortest comment I’ve ever written.

Xu Ziling said, “We’d better think carefully first, this time Li Mi marches his troops in secret, he must have given it a lot of considerations; it will not be that easy for us to see through it.”

Yang Gongqing agreed; he said, “The tunnels could have been excavated in advance, other things would have been arranged properly beforehand, Mount Mang stretches out for several hundred li, to find carefully hidden troops in such a short time is easier said than done. While the war is imminent [orig. pressing in on one’s eyelashes], we’d better decide if we want to turn our back to the city, or to defend Yanshi to the death.”

Kou Zhong shook his head emphatically; he said, “We will proceed according to plan. Only if we cannot locate his main force will we change plan to hold fast to the city. At least we still have one day and one night to exhaust all possibilities.”

Yang Gongqing pondered silently for half a day; finally he asked Xuan Yong, “How’s the situation on Wagang Army’s side?”

Xuan Yong replied, “Remaining in Jinyong are Wang Bodang’s force. Li Mi’s another great general Bing Yuanzhen is guarding Luokou. The two cities’ military force is less than ten thousand men. Commanding the new army recruits pretending to attack Yanshi is Shan Xiongxin. This man has a very deep rift with Wang Bodang over a courtesan, but he himself is a talented field commander.”

“How’s Bing Yuanzhen?” Kou Zhong asked.

Xuan Yong replied disdainfully, “This man’s skill in military strategy and tactics is not bad, he is adept at defending a city, but he lacks guts, definitely not a talent in charging and breaking through enemy’s lines.”

And then, with a cold humph he said, “Shan Xiongxin, Bing Yuanzhen, and the others are Wagang Army’s old generals; they don’t have too good of a relationship with Pei Renji, Xu Shiji, Shen Luoyan, Wang Bodang, and their group, new upstarts that Wang Shichong dotes on and trusts. Therefore, if we can break through Li Mi’s troops, I guarantee Wagang Army will be split up and in pieces, each commander will defend their own unit, and when the time comes, if we use reconciliatory technique, each unit of Li Mi’s army will fall without a fight. Question is how can we break Li Mi’s ambushing troop hidden on Mount Mang.”

Yang Gongqing sighed helplessly and said, “In that case I will quietly wait in here for your good news.”

※ ※ ※

Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, Linglong Jiao, and Xuan Yong, four people stood on one of Mount Mang’s peaks, looking around as far as their eyes could see. The mountain stretched out endlessly in all direction, the cliff was as red as cinnabar, strange-looking peaks everywhere. Under the rain and the fog, the dense forest looked like a hazy emptiness. The landscape seemed to be changing indeterminately, creating a strange, yet serene, scenery.

The deep valley at the back of the mountain looked even denser with ancient trees and thick vegetation, standing upright on the sloping hills, like an imperial canopy covering the heaven.

The mountain’s topography was strategic and easy to defend; pine and cypress, mountain elm, resplendent and beautiful, grew along the bluish-green stream at the valley floor, and took roots on the steep, dangerous cliffs.

Mount Mang was definitely wonderful and beautiful; no wonder Laojun Temple was built on the Cui Yun Peak of this mountain. But to find a group of forty-thousand soldier on this boundless big mountain, like Yang Gongqing said, they could only rely on their luck.

“Which direction is the Laojun Guan?” Kou Zhong asked.

Linglong Jiao pointed to the direction of Jinyong city and said, “It’s on the northeasterly direction from Jinyong city toward Mount Mang, about only half a day or horse ride from Yanshi city, not including the part of the road leading up the mountain.”

Kou Zhong nodded and said, “In any case, in order to meet Shan Xiongxin’s force, Li Mi can’t possibly pick a place too far from Yanshi to set up his ambush. Forty thousand is not a small number. As long as we check everywhere on Mount Mang region north of Yanshi, we are bound to find a bit of sign. There’s not much time; while right now it is hard to tell drizzle and fog apart, the low visibility is going to provide cover for us. Let’s go!”

※ ※ ※

The drizzling rain was getting heavier, entering the deep mountain was like entering a blurry realm out of the mortal world, even recognizing the mountain path was difficult, forget about looking for the enemy’s track.

Given the circumstances, even Linglong Jiao was at her wits’ end.

After dark, the search process would be even more difficult.

“How about we meet Da Xiaojie first?” Xuan Yong made a suggestion, “With more manpower, the chance of success will increase.”

Kou Zhong shook his head, “If the enemy found us out, they might ambush our ambushing troops, then our plan will fizzle out.”

Xu Ziling spoke heavily, “How about going to Laojun Guan to try our luck? In order to be able to march quickly across the mountain, Li Mi must have had the horses and army provisions shipped in advance somewhere on the mountain. And there is no better place than the Laojun Guan, since the demon Taoists over there are in collusion with Li Mi.”

Frowning, Kou Zhong said, “That is a reasonable speculation, but Laojun Guan is located on Cui Yun Peak, going up the mountain is not too convenient!”

Severely shaken, Xuan Yong said, “Kou Ye, I guess you don’t know, under the Cui Yun Peak, there is Cui Yun Valley, and in this valley, they built more than a dozen exquisite buildings dedicated to house visiting worshippers who wants to stay over a short period of time, or perhaps pursue short-term meditation. Furthermore, there is also a wide expanse of forest in that valley. Pitching camp in that forest will definitely be hidden from view.”

Kou Zhong was pleasantly surprised, “From Cui Yun Valley to Yanshi across Mount Mang, how long will it take?” he asked.

Xuan Yong said, “There is a mountain path from there, at most one sichen they could be out of the mountain. And then several dozen li of open grassland. If they are all cavalry, and they ride fast, perhaps they could reach Yanshi in less than two sichen.”

Kou Zhong slapped his forehead and said with a laugh, “Now we are talking. Li Mi and Shen poniang! You owe me; this time we will wipe the slate clean!”

※ ※ ※

Laojun Guan was located on the summit of the majestically towering Cui Yun Peak, amidst the dense forest, surrounded by bluish-green hills and a precipitous cliff on one side, with deep ravine extending several zhang down from the top of the mountain to the valley below. If one could climb to the summit, one would be able to see the Yellow River to the north, and Luo River to the south. This moment, in the dark, misty emptiness, where it was hard to distinguish the rain from the fog, the place looked like an eminent and unapproachable legendary abode of the immortals; who would have thought that the head of this monastery was a top figure of the heretical sect?

Cui Yun Valley was located at the foot of the Cui Yun Peak; the valley was wide open and flat, with a cluster of more than a dozen buildings with whitewashed wall and dark colored roof situated at the fringe of the forest on the north side of the valley, crisscrossed by small paths, adorned by thickets of wild flower and luxuriant fragrant grass. In the distance, under the rich bluish-green color of the mountain, lined by layer upon layer of mountain range, there were distinct yellow, alternating with green, rice fields. The scenery looked like a painting; certainly it looked like a sacred ground of the garden of peach blossom spring, making it more difficult to think about the demon Taoists and the waiting for dawn, with head resting on a spear soldiers [idiom: fully prepared and biding their time before the battle].”

The mouth of the valley at the southern end was a large area of cypress and elm forest. In this kind of weather, if there were indeed army camp hidden within the forest, even looking down from an elevation, it would still be difficult to see.

Right outside the valley’s entrance, the mountain path was sloping down, through the gorge, and continued winding down. But because of the mountain terrain, they could not see the plains south of the valley.

Kou Zhong’s heart was moved; he said, “If Li Mi’s troops are hiding in the forest, how come we can’t even hear one neighing horse?”

This moment, Linglong Jiao, who was out on reconnaissance duty, returned with happy expression, “Just as expected,” she spoke excitedly, “Inside the valley, in the middle of the forest, there are tents everywhere, full of Wagang army; but I did not see warhorse, mules or other beasts. Looks like there is another storehouse hidden elsewhere, so that they would not have to climb in hardship.”

Everybody was greatly delighted.

Kou Zhong said, “Xiao Ling and I will stay here to continue keeping a close watch on them, you two go back separately to notify Da Xiaojie and Da Jiangjun [great general]; everything may proceed according to plan.”

After a short deliberation, they agreed on how to contact each other, where to meet, and other particulars. And then Xuan Yong and Linglong Jiao left happily.

By dusk, the rain stopped, the sky was clear. The situation in the valley was plainly visible. From their vantage point atop a dangerous cliff, they could faintly see the tents hidden within the forest. Also from time to time they saw soldiers going back and forth from the camp to the buildings.

Kou Zhong was crouching among the grass and the trees. It was quite a long time before he spoke, “Xiao Ling! I have a nagging feeling that something is not right.”

Xu Ziling, lying on his back by Kou Zhong’s side, said, “Is it because you cannot see Shen Luoyan’s flat-haired bird, or perhaps because you see a camp without any horse?”

Kou Zhong did not answer, but asked him a question instead, “We have been harmed by Shen poniang many times, and every time we nearly fell into her evil scheme. If our intelligence and wisdom is so useless, where do you think her formidability lies?”

Xu Ziling pondered quietly for a moment, and then he replied in agreement, “You did not exaggerate. Speaking about plotting and tricks, employing stratagem while chatting and laughing, we seem to always fall into disadvantageous position; from Zhai Rang got killed to Wang Shichong badly injured, not a single time we won against her.”

Thinking hard, Kou Zhong said, “Do you remember when we first met her, we made a bet that we would surrender if we were captured three times? She laid out the ‘Old Man of the Plains’ Mo Cheng trap, as if she could predict without being a clairvoyant she let us board the pirate ship on our own, and yet capsized his own boat on the torrent among the rocks on purpose, taking advantage of our kindness in trying to rescue him, the senior, to get us under her control [see Book 3 Chapter 4]. Each time she demonstrated her ability to fathom the opponent’s psyche, which varies from person to person. That being the case, how could she not guess that we might come to Laojun Guan to take a look? Don’t you think it’s stupid for us to hide in here?”

Xu Ziling suddenly crawled up and joined him looking down into the valley below. Severely shaken, he said, “You are right. The army camp down below must be one of Shen Luoyan’s schemes. Out of ten tents, I bet you that nine are empty. As long as they have several thousand soldiers in here as the decoy, they could make us mistakenly believe that Wagang’s wonder troops are hiding in here, while the real wonder troops are elsewhere. This is bad! How are we going to find them after dark?”

“We can only do our best,” Kou Zhong said, “No matter what, the real ambushing troops can’t be too far away from Yanshi. Therefore, they must be somewhere on the mountain, in some similar environment, so that they don’t have to worry the sound of neighing horses might spread far and wide. Come! Let’s get down and investigate clearly whether we accuse Shen poniang wrongly before deciding what to do.”