Han official!

Chapter 183 Chaos
On the day he left the capital, Huo Qubing presented a willow branch as a gift at Ba Bridge.

A baby tooth of a Xiongnu child was tied to a willow branch. The young general whispered, "This was pulled from the mouth of the youngest son of the Hunxie King."

Guo Jie looked towards the straight road in the distance, billowing with smoke and dust, and saw the Imperial Censor's carriage followed by thirty sealed supply wagons.

The ruts were more than three inches deep, indicating that the supplies were not ordinary.

In late spring, in Yunzhong County, the smoke from the Great Wall's beacon towers mingled with willow catkins drifting towards the Yellow River.

Guo Jie pushed open the wooden window of the fortress and watched as laborers mixed the parts of the new crossbow into the grain carts for transport.

These bronze components, bearing the mark of the Imperial Household Department, are being quietly assembled into a three-shot crossbow.

"General, we've found out." Chen Wu, the commander of the personal guards, rushed in covered in sand. "The twelve blacksmiths who went missing last month all ended up at the Shuiheng Commandant's mine."

On the sheepskin map he handed over, a certain place in the Helan Mountains was circled in cinnabar, with the words "blood iron mine" written next to it.

Guo Jie's fingers traced the words "blood iron," and he suddenly recalled the maniacal laughter of the Prince of Hunxie when he was captured: "The sharper the iron of the Han people, the hotter their blood flows."

The old general turned around and took off his staff, the luminous pearl inlaid at the head of the staff gleaming faintly in the dark.

This was given to him by Huo Qubing when he left Chang'an, who said it could distinguish all poisons.

At midnight, Guo Jie led thirty elite warriors to sneak into the Helan Pass.

Moonlight shone on the stone tablet at the entrance of the mine, and the blurred seal script could be faintly discerned: "Supervised by Qin General Meng Tian".

The knocking sound coming from inside the cave was not the sound of iron and stone striking each other, but rather the crisp sound of some kind of bone tool colliding.

"Turn off the torch," Guo Jie ordered in a low voice.

Under the dim light of the luminous pearl, the mineral vein glowed with an eerie dark red, and the liquid seeping from the rock wall seemed to writhe like living things under the pearl's illumination.

Chen Wu used his dagger to pick up a drop of liquid, which suddenly burst into green flames, melting a nick in the fine iron dagger.

"General, look!" the assassin exclaimed in a low voice.

Deep inside the mine, hundreds of craftsmen were smelting red ore, but the molds into which the molten iron was poured were in the shape of the golden statues used by the Xiongnu for sacrificial rites.

Even more horrifying was the leather whip in the overseer's hand.

Those were clearly the standard weapons of the Weiyang Palace Guards.

At dawn, Guo Jie crouched behind a pile of rubble outside the mine.

In his palm lay half a bloodstained bronze talisman, a token found on the overseer's corpse. The cloud pattern engraved on the talisman was identical to the design on Zhang Tang's scepter.

The morning breeze carried the sound of camel bells as a Sogdian caravan circled the mountain pass, the golden bell on the lead camel bearing the insignia of the Water Balance Commandant.

"Stop the caravan!" The old general's bone whistle startled a flock of crows.

The assassins, disguised as bandits, rushed out, only to freeze in shock when they uncovered the cargo.

Thirty camphor wood chests were filled with Mohist classics. The topmost chest contained the "Record of City Defense," which included architectural drawings of Weiyang Palace, with still-wet ink outlining the location of the secret passage.

Huo Qubing's secret letter arrived five days later.

The young general's handwriting was wild and unrestrained: "The first day of the third month, at the Wei Bridge warehouse."

Guo Jie stared at the dark patterns on the edge of the letter—these were warning symbols soaked in Xiongnu witchcraft medicine, which would become visible when poisoned.

At this moment, black lines resembling a spider web are appearing along the edge of the talisman.

On the banks of the Wei River in Chang'an, the aroma of wine in the warehouse cellars could not mask the stench of blood.

Huo Qubing kicked aside the overturned lacquered table and pulled out a trembling Hu merchant from a hidden compartment: "Tell Zhang Tang that the amount of Mobei stone grease he smuggled is enough to burn down half of Weiyang Palace."

The young general's sword tip pierced the other's clothes, revealing a wolf head tattoo on his chest—identical to the totem of the Hunxie King's personal guards.

When the autumn rains came suddenly, Guo Jie planted his staff on the main peak of Helan Mountain.

The old general gazed at the Great Wall, which snaked like a giant serpent, clutching the latest military report in his hand: Huo Qubing, under the pretext of patrolling the border, led eight hundred elite cavalry straight to the Shuiheng Commandery.

Meanwhile, the night sky over Yunzhong County was dyed red by beacon fires, with twenty-seven beacon towers simultaneously sounding the alarm.

Fifty thousand Xiongnu cavalrymen marched south under cover of night, led by a "merchant caravan" bearing Han army banners.

The war drums under the watchtower suddenly changed tune; this was a communication drumbeat created by Guo Jie.

The old general stroked the newly engraved list of fallen soldiers on the city bricks and suddenly chuckled: "What a clever feint."

He untied the imperial jade-hilted sword and tossed it to Chen Wu, saying, "Go and light the smoke signal at the No. 3 beacon tower. It's time to let His Majesty see the true loyalty and treachery."

The trail of rising smoke trails meandered like a dragon through the clouds, and Huo Qubing, a hundred miles away, suddenly reined in his horse.

The young general, gazing at the strange phenomenon in the sky, suddenly turned his horse around: "The entire army, change course and head to Xiliu Camp!"

His whip cracked the night wind, "Someone wants to repeat the trick of the Rebellion of the Seven States!"

Amidst the deafening roar of ice floes crashing against the banks of the Yellow River, the death knell of Chang'an tolled without warning.

The bronze sparrow on the corner tower of Weiyang Palace turned north, and the armor of the Imperial Guards gleamed with blood in the rain.

When Zhang Tang pushed open the Xuan Shi Hall door with the poisoned wine in hand, he saw Emperor Wu of Han playing with the golden wolf headdress of the Xiongnu queen, while the secret report on the dragon table was imprinted with the blood fingerprints unique to Yunzhong County.

When the beacon towers of Yunzhong County lit up simultaneously at midnight, Guo Jie was standing on the Great Wall ramparts, testing a new type of crossbow.

This weapon, which combines the mechanical arts of the Mohists with the archery philosophy of the Xiongnu, can shoot iron-feathered arrows three zhang long into the clouds.

When the seventeenth beacon tower lit up with purple smoke, the old general suddenly swung his sword and cut the crossbow's traction rope.

This was the secret code he and Huo Qubing agreed upon, signifying that something was amiss in Chang'an.

"Chen Wu! Take three hundred light cavalry to Wuyuan County!" Guo Jie split the tiger tally in two. "If you see the Marquis of Champion's red flag, give him this half of the tally."

As the commander of the personal guards departed to carry out his orders, the old general looked towards the southern sky, where the Purple Palace Enclosure, which should have been occupied, was now occupied by a blood-red guest star.

At the gate of Xiliu Camp outside Chang'an City, Huo Qubing charged through the deer fortress on horseback.

The young general's scale armor was covered in frost, and five heads of Hun archers hung on each side of his saddle: "Summon Zhou Ping! Tell him that the stone grease he smuggled from the northern desert is enough to burn down half of the Northern Army camp!"

Inside the central command tent, Zhou Ping, grandson of Grand Commandant Zhou Yafu, was playing with a Xiongnu golden knife.

Upon hearing Huo Qubing's challenge, he suddenly overturned the sand table: "Light the signal fire! Let Hunxie King make his move!"

Suddenly, the sound of bowstrings vibrating came from outside the tent, and thirty whistling arrows shot into the night sky, exploding into green phosphorescent flames in the direction of Weiyang Palace.

At the same time, Guo Jie caught a spy disguised as a laborer at the Great Wall's battlements.

The sheepskin map in the man's arms was marked with the secret passage of Weiyang Palace in cinnabar, and the corner of the map was stamped with the tortoise-shaped bronze seal of the Water Balance Commandant.

The old general dipped the map into mare's milk, and the hidden ink marks revealed even more astonishing information.

There is a secret passage beneath Changle Palace that leads directly to the Wei River.

"Bring me my battle flag!" Guo Jie suddenly ripped off his cloak. "Raise the red banner and blow the horn."

When the red flag embroidered with the character "Han" was unfurled against the wind, the Xiongnu camp twenty miles away suddenly stirred.

Standing on his chariot, Wuwei, the second son of Yizhixie Chanyu, was horrified to discover that the banner flying above the Han army's city walls was the same one that Huo Qubing had planted at Langjuxu Mountain years ago.

As the sound of ice cracking on the Yellow River reached them, Huo Qubing was leading his troops into the Water Balance Commandant's residence.

The young general's sword tip pierced the secret door of the chamber, and the smell of three hundred barrels of petroleum jelly wafted out.

Even more horrifying was the layout diagram of the copper pipes of Weiyang Palace hanging on the wall, with each secret passage exit marked with a red circle.

This was the location of the residences of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers.

"Champion Marquis, what a skillful tactic." Zhang Tang's voice came from deep within the cellar, "Unfortunately, it's too late."

The Imperial Censor's figure flickered in and out of the firelight, holding a lit tinderbox in his hand. "Tell me, is this rock grease enough to make Chang'an as bright as day?"

Huo Qubing suddenly threw his sword and extinguished the torch on the wall, then rolled sideways into the cover as darkness fell.

As the blast wave overturned the entire mansion, the young general grabbed a beam and leaped onto the roof, where he saw seven plumes of smoke rising from the direction of Weiyang Palace.

This was a distress signal from the emperor's personal guards.

Outside Yunzhong County, Guo Jie's new type of crossbow was proving its power. Iron-feathered arrows pierced through the Xiongnu's cowhide shield formation, pinning Prince Wuwei's chariot to the cliff face of Helan Mountain.

The old general suddenly sounded the retreat, allowing the remaining Xiongnu cavalry to flee in disarray.

When the deputy general urgently asked for the reason, Guo Jie pointed to the southern horizon.

There was black smoke drifting from the direction of Chang'an, faintly forming the shape of a dragon.

Inside the Xuan Shi Hall of Weiyang Palace, Emperor Wu of Han swung his sword and cut through the curtain. The corpses of twelve Qimen warriors lay strewn across the jade steps, their ring-pommel swords all engraved with the hidden character "Zhang".

When Huo Qubing broke through the window, the emperor was using a Xiongnu golden knife to pry open a hidden compartment and take out the Imperial Seal: "Qubing, retrieve the tiger tally of the Northern Army for me."

The young general's pupils suddenly contracted.

He recalled the secret letter he had intercepted three days earlier. Those seemingly scattered figures on grain and fodder allocation were actually a code compiled using page numbers from the "Zhoubi Suanjing" (a classic Chinese mathematical text).

Four out of the five military academies of the Northern Army were infiltrated.

At dawn, Guo Jie received Huo Qubing's letter written in blood at the Great Wall.

The plain silk was blank, except for half of a tiger tally with a tooth mark printed on it.

The old general suddenly overturned the sand table and shouted at the dumbfounded officers, "Gather all the cavalry, and each of them should bring three horses for riding!"

As the first rays of sunlight touched the city walls, the Yunzhong County garrison poured out, carrying not sacks of grain, but earthenware jars filled with kerosene beside their saddles.

At the Yongning Gate of Chang'an City, Zhou Ping's rebel army was setting up battering rams. Suddenly, a soldier cried out, "Heavenly fire!"

Everyone looked up and saw countless burning kites floating in from the northeast, each trailing a sizzling fuse.

Huo Qubing stood on the watchtower of the West Market, waving his command flag down: "This is a congratulatory gift sent by General Guo from Yunzhong County!" The kite fell into the rebel army's ranks, and the burst of poisonous smoke instantly wiped out half of the vanguard camp.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the young general opened the Anmen Gate, and the eight hundred remnants of the Northern Army were unleashed like sharp blades.

In the midst of the chaos, Huo Qubing suddenly caught a glimpse of a bluish-green luster flashing somewhere on the palace wall.

That was Guo Jie's Dingjiang Sword issuing a warning!
As the copper nails of Yongning Gate were smashed to pieces by the battering ram, Huo Qubing was swiftly walking along the eaves of Weiyang Palace.

The young general's fish-scale armor scraped off the glazed tiles, and amidst the shouts of the rebel archers, he leaped into the Xuan Shi Hall like a hawk.

Emperor Wu of Han's crown tassels were scattered on the ground, but the Imperial Seal of the State was placed upright in the center of the dragon table.

The newly inlaid gold wire on the jade carving resembles the pattern of the golden figure used by the Xiongnu in their heavenly sacrifices under the candlelight.

"Your Majesty, please change your clothes." Huo Qubing pulled down the dragon-draped tent and wrapped Liu Che up like a palace servant.

Suddenly, Chen Wu's roar came from outside the hall: "The Marquis of Zhi has arrived!" Guo Jie's Dingjiang sword broke through the window and entered. The sword blade, nailed to the dragon pillar, hummed and trembled, and the red flag tied to the hilt fluttered in the wind.

The street fighting in Chang'an lasted for seven days and seven nights.

Guo Jie's Cloud Cavalry formed a fish-scale formation on Zhuque Avenue. As the oil canisters on both sides of the saddles smashed towards the rebels, the old general suddenly blew the eagle bone whistle.

The crossbowmen lurking on the rooftops fired a volley of rockets, instantly turning the entire long street into a fiery dragon and forcing Zhou Ping's rebel army into the canal.

"Close the net!" Huo Qubing stood atop the drum tower, waving his banner. Eight hundred remnants of the Northern Army pried open the sluice gate of the underground canal, and the Wei River, mixed with kerosene, flooded into the city.

As the young general gazed at the rebels struggling in the slick of oil, he suddenly recalled the snowy night in Hexi during the second year of the Yuanshou era, when he had watched the Xiongnu cavalry fall into the ice cave in the same way.

When the explosion rang out in the cellar of Weiyang Palace, Zhang Tang was laughing wildly while holding a wooden bucket of lint water.

The Imperial Censor's official hat was already askew, revealing a dark blue wolf head tattoo on his forehead: "Does the Marquis of Champion know where this secret passage leads?"

His tinderbox was suddenly extinguished by a crossbow bolt, and Guo Jie's voice rang out in the darkness: "It leads to the armory of the Imperial Guard, where there are three hundred crossbows aimed at the Xuan Room Hall."

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Huo Qubing threw his jade-hilted sword, the blade piercing Zhang Tang's right shoulder and pinning him to the stone wall.

The young general stepped on the Imperial Censor's ivory tablet and discovered that the back was inscribed with "the Bingyin day of the third month of the fourth year of Yuan Shou" in cinnabar.

It was the day that Yizhixie Chanyu massacred the Dai Commandery.

"So you are the 'Golden Knife General' of the Xiongnu."

Guo Jie raised the luminous pearl, illuminating the wolf head brand on Zhang Tang's chest, and said, "Twenty years ago, during the siege of Mayi, it was you who leaked military secrets."

As dawn broke, Wei Qing's Zhanlu sword was held against Zhou Ping's neck.

The Grand Marshal's white beard was stained with blood, and at his feet lay the corpses of twelve Qimen warriors: "The loyal soul of your grandfather Zhou Yafu is weeping in the netherworld."

The dying traitor suddenly burst into wild laughter, tearing open his clothes to reveal his body covered in poisonous sores.

This is caused by prolonged contact with litmus solution.

The bloodstains in front of Weiyang Palace had not yet been washed away when Huo Qubing led his army to Helan Mountain.

When the young general planted his red flag on the ruins of the Chanyu's court, the surviving Xiongnu nobles offered him nine white tributes.

Guo Jie stared at the golden bell on one of the white camels, the character "Zhang" engraved on the inner wall of the bell being exactly the same as the inscription on Zhou Ping's sword.

At the victory banquet, Emperor Wu of Han personally poured wine for Guo Jie: "Does Marquis of Zhi know where this wine jar came from?"

The old general's pupils contracted sharply when he smelled the familiar scent of pine resin.

This was cast from the golden statue used for sacrificial rites, which was captured during the Battle of Mobei.

Liu Che stroked the Xiongnu inscription on the urn: "I have ordered the Imperial Household Department to make three thousand replicas, which will be given to the governors of the border prefectures next spring."

Huo Qubing suddenly cut his palm and dripped the blood into the wine jar: "Your subject requests to guard Hexi!"

The young general's wound glowed with an eerie blue light in the wine, a sign of poisoning.

Guo Jie suddenly remembered that the mutton at the victory banquet was the "tribute from Helan Mountain" presented by Zhang Tang's remaining followers.

When the autumn rains returned to Chang'an, Guo Jie stood at the old site of Xiliu Camp.

The old general used the Dingjiang Sword to dig open the mound and retrieve the iron armor that Zhou Yafu had buried years ago.

The patina on the armor plates spells out a topographical map of the Yinshan Mountains, and the location of Langjuxu Mountain is marked with the Big Dipper constellation, a feature only found in Weiyang Palace.

The Yellow River roared like thunder as an official boat, laden with phytoremedial water, quietly sailed toward Luoyang.

Huo Qubing's finger traced across the map of Hexi, and suddenly bluish-black lines appeared on the parchment beneath his fingertip.

The young general gripped the map tightly, the metallic taste rising in his throat staining the mark of Langjuxu Mountain red.

When the guards lifted the tent flap, they saw that the Marquis of Champion's earlobes were covered with spiderweb-like purple spots.

This is a sign of the onset of voodoo in northern deserts.

"Bring me my banner," Huo Qubing said, propping himself up with his sword sheath. "And that unopened jar of imperial wine."

When Guo Jie burst into the military tent, he saw the young general dipping the bronze tiger tally into wine, and the surface of the tally revealed a hidden passage as fine as spider silk.

"This is..." Guo Jie's voice trailed off. Under the illumination of the luminous pearl, the crystals settled at the bottom of the wine jar were clearly extracts of petrolatum, and the diagram of the secret passage perfectly matched the underground secret passage of Chang Le Palace.

Huo Qubing suddenly burst into laughter, black blood dripping from the corner of his lips onto his armor: "Uncle, do you know why His Majesty bestowed upon me the sword that slew the serpent by our ancestor?"

He ripped open his shirt, revealing a striking blue tattoo on his chest.

It was the missing dragon pattern on the Imperial Seal that was missing. "On the night of the great victory in Hexi in the second year of Yuan Shou, His Majesty used my blood to repair the gold mark on the Imperial Seal."

The death knell of Weiyang Palace tolled at that moment.

Guo Jie suddenly turned around and saw black smoke rising from the direction of Chang'an, forming a dragon shape, which was very similar to the beacon fires of Yunzhong County.

A guard rushed into the tent, crying, "General Wei Qing has passed away!"

The first snow of the fifth year of Emperor Wu of Han's Yuanshou reign came exceptionally early.

"Does the Marquis of Zhi know the origin of this object?" Liu Che threw the golden wolf headdress of the Xiongnu queen to the ground. A piece of tortoise shell fell out of a hidden compartment inside the crown, engraved with the prophecy "The one who will replace the Han will be Gao Tu."

Guo Jie's pupils contracted sharply; the handwriting was identical to the secret report from the siege of Mayi twenty years ago.

Three months later, the Yellow River froze over.

Guo Jie sat alone at the site of the former Xiliu Camp, with Zhou Yafu's iron armor and Huo Qubing's broken sword laid out before him.

When news came that the official ship carrying molten iron had exploded in Luoyang, the old general suddenly swung his sword and cleaved through his armor.

The bamboo slips that fell out of the interlayer record a shocking truth.

The Rebellion of the Seven States was a scheme called "Tu Gao" conspired by the Xiongnu and the feudal lords.

At the spring banquet in Jianzhang Palace, Emperor Wu of Han personally poured a full glass of wine for Guo Jie.

The old general raised his glass: "I am willing to use my remaining body to protect the mountains and rivers."

Liu Che's crown swayed violently, and the twelve jade tassels obscured the emperor's reddened eyes.

The following day at the court assembly, the Grand Astrologer reported that a guest star had invaded the Purple Palace.

Emperor Wu of Han stroked the newly cast "Champion" gold seal and suddenly issued an edict to rename the four commanderies in Hexi as "Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang".

When the spring breeze swept across the foothills of the Qilian Mountains in the sixth year of the Yuanshou era, Huo Qubing's red banner still fluttered at the Yanzhi Pass.

Guo Jie stroked the newly forged ring-pommel sword, its blade reflecting the starry sky of the Hexi Corridor.

The old general's white hair was tinged with frost by the moonlight, and he could hear again the secret edict from Emperor Wu of Han three days ago: "Does Marquis Zhi know what Qubing left at Juyan Marsh?"

The arrows on the sand table point to the old site of the Xiongnu royal court, where a new, unnamed stone tablet has been erected with only eight characters inscribed on it.

"Han and Hu are both people, and the beacon towers will forever bring peace."

"Uncle!" The familiar, clear voice startled the owls outside the tent.

When Huo Qubing lifted the curtain and entered, ice crystals fell from his fish-scale armor, revealing that the young general's face was exactly the same as it had been in the fourth year of the Yuan Shou era.

Guo Jie noticed that the dragon pattern on the jade-hilted sword at his waist was glowing with a strange blood-red light, a mark left by the Chanyu's golden knife during the decisive battle in the northern desert twenty years ago.

On the day Emperor Wu of Han received the Xiongnu delegation at Ganquan Palace, Huo Qubing suddenly appeared in the Qilin Hall.

The young general placed the banner on the forehead of the grandson of Hunxie King: "Go back and tell the new Chanyu that the grasslands of Hexi can be used for grazing horses, but the boundary markers of the Han dynasty are not for horses to graze on."

His sword flashed across the envoy's robe, and the severed wolf head ornament rolled to the feet of Zhang Tang's grandson, revealing the engraving of the "Yuan Shou" reign title on the inside.

Children in Chang'an City sang a new nursery rhyme: "The Marquis of Champion, drinks dew, Qilian snow, a thousand years old."

The storyteller in the teahouse added a strange tale to the story.

On the night of the new moon, the garrison at Yumen Pass could hear the banners bearing the character "Huo" fluttering in the wind, and the next day, three more white-feathered arrows would appear on the quiver.

In the first year of Yuanfeng, Wei Qing's Xuanjia heavy cavalry encountered a blizzard in the northern desert.

While lost, they suddenly saw a silver-armored general emerge from behind a snow-covered hill, with a bronze crossbow of the Yuan Shou era hanging beside his saddle.

When the old general pointed his Zhanlu sword at the Big Dipper, the man had already disappeared into the wind and snow, leaving only Huo Qubing's unique hoofprints on the ice.

On the Shangsi Festival of the year the Taichu Calendar was promulgated, Guo Jie met a wandering knight wearing a bronze mask on the banks of the Wei River.

The man raised his hand and shot down a wild goose flying south. His archery technique was exactly the same as Huo Qubing's rapid-fire arrows during the Battle of Hexi.

The old general chased after them for three miles and saw a newly written "Ode to Hexi" carved on a willow tree. The ink was still wet, and the writing style was exactly the same as the prayer that Huo Qubing offered to Heaven at Langjuxu Mountain twenty years ago.

A Taoist priest said he saw immortals playing chess in Zhongnan Mountain. The man in silver armor won all three games, and the chessboard was actually cast from the metal of a Hunnic golden knife.

Emperor Wu sent envoys to search for the poem, but they only found half of it: "I envy not the dogs of Huainan, but rather the eagles of the frontier. Where the smoke of war dissipates, the green mountains will live on forever."

(End of this chapter)