The Splendor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 72 Pioneer
On the south bank of the Yellow River, the land is silted up.

The horse's hooves got stuck in the sand, and every time it was pulled out, it kicked up snow and sand, making it slow down.

Xiao Yi glanced at the sky. The sun was in the southeast, shining directly on his face, but it didn't feel warm.

He has now learned to tell the time during the day, muttering, "Around 1:15 AM."

Guo Chongwei should be stationed at Chenqiao Post Station now, eighty li away.

After considering the situation, Xiao Yi decided to stop pursuing speed and, as a general, prioritize safety.

"Watch out for the mud pits, lest the horses stumble!"

"Here."

"Little Monkey, lead a few men ahead to scout the way."

"Here..."

After a long and difficult journey of more than ten miles, they finally entered the official road built of rammed earth and quickened their pace.

After galloping for half a day, we rested our horses on a mound at Qinglinggang. Each of us ate some flatbread and drank some wine mixed with ginger juice to warm our bodies, which had become stiff from riding in the wind.

Xiao Yi had traveled this road before, skillfully leading his team across the shallow ice of the old course of the Yellow River, after which the official road became even smoother.

At Shen Shi (3-5 PM), the sun begins to move westward.

"Hua Nong, we're almost at your father-in-law's house."

"Then Chenqiao Post Station isn't far away!"

This was the time when people were eating their second meal, and smoke could already be seen from the chimneys in the distance.

Old Pan suddenly pointed and shouted, "Commander, there are Qingfan whistles! Our men!"

Xiao Yi looked around and saw a small blue flag planted on an earthen fort beside the official road.

"Slow down and follow the rules."

"Shut up!"

The crowd stopped, and two soldiers ran out of the earthen fort. They saw Tang Jin holding up the banner and then checked Xiao Yi's command token.

"Greetings, Commander Xiao. General Guo is at Chenqiao Post Station, just six li ahead. Recently, scouts from the Southern Army have been gathering intelligence in the area, so Commander Xiao, please be careful."

"Thank you."

Sure enough, after traveling another two miles, they arrived at the area between the outpost and Chenqiao Post Station, where the official road was lined with dense woods.

The sound of horses' hooves came from the south; it was Little Monkey leading his men back.

"Report——"

"Commander, we have encountered Southern Army cavalry with yellow banners; they are likely scouts from the Taining Army!"

It's remarkable that the little monkey, who has never been to school, can remember all the banners and bugle calls.

Xiao Yi knew that the military governor of Taining Army was named Murong Yanchao, a royal relative and general whom Shi Hongzhao cared about.

The Shi family father and son always referred to Yan Kunlun as a contemptuous slave. At first, Xiao Yi thought it was a slave girl, but later he learned that Yan Kunlun was the younger brother of Emperor Gaozu Liu Zhiyuan, a half-brother, and also Liu Chengyou's uncle.

This man had no official resume in the Shi family study, yet many scandalous stories circulated about him. He was said to be greedy and irritable, and had privately sold wine and accepted bribes. He had insulted Gao Xingzhou, the military governor of Tianping Army, so much so that Gao Xingzhou stuffed excrement into his mouth to express his anger.
It is also said that Murong Yanchao recruited two thousand bandits as his followers, known as the "Wild and Unruly of the Mountains and Forests," who killed people without hesitation.

Sure enough, five dark figures darted out of the woods on the west side of the official road ahead, looking exceptionally fierce.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

From a distance of about a hundred paces, the Southern Army's cavalry unleashed a volley of arrows at the Twenty Camps before spurring their horses away.

Guo Xin was furious and said, "There are only five of them, go after them!"

"No."

Xiao Yi immediately refused.

Although he lacked experience, he had read many scripts and sensed something was wrong.

Old Pan said, "The commander is right. We can't chase them. This is a common trick used by the scouts. A few of them will feign an attack from the front, while the others will flank from behind. As soon as we pull away, they will shoot at our horses, cutting off our formation. They might try to seize the banner."

"You son of a bitch!" Tang Jin cursed, "You're dreaming!"

But since the 20th Battalion did not pursue, the Southern Army's cavalry continued to harass them, slowing their progress, which was quite annoying.

Xiao Yi took out his bow and arrows and said, "You all maintain formation. Fan Si, follow me and shoot them down."

"Here."

The two remained calm and waited for the Southern army cavalry to approach again before unleashing a volley of arrows. Then, they suddenly kicked their horses in the flanks and spurred them forward.

The black horse galloped away, and Xiao Yi gripped the short bow made of mulberry wood that he had obtained from the armory in Huazhou.

He drew the arrow, nocked it blindly, and pulled the forty-pound bowstring taut. At the same time, he ran to within fifty paces of the Southern Army's cavalry.

"Om."

The bowstring emitted a pleasant, slight vibration.

The iron-backed arrow shot out like a meteor.

Almost simultaneously, Fan Si also fired an arrow.

Ahead, a Southern army cavalryman barely managed to rein in his horse and turn to flee when an arrow struck his neck, flashing red, and he collapsed to the ground; another man's warhorse was also struck by an arrow, neighing and falling to the ground, throwing the man to the ground as well.

"—"

The other three were shocked and fled on horseback.

Immediately, someone from the 20th Battalion caught up, pierced the arm of the fallen Southern soldier with a spear, and dragged him away. They also cut off the corpse's left ear to record the merit.

Xiao Yi and Fan Si exchanged a glance and said, "Your arrows are still the most accurate."

"The command is brilliant; by capturing one person alive, we can extract information from him."

"I'm just not confident I can hit people accurately."

Fan Si lowered his head, scratched his neck, and whispered, "I was afraid that my archery skills would be surpassed by the commander, so I put in a lot of effort to improve them."

"Then I need to practice more."

Guo Xin rode forward and said, "You two are too hasty. Why didn't you call a few more archers to shoot all five rats at once?" "No need," Xiao Yi said. "Didn't Your Excellency send Tang Jin with the banner precisely so that the Southern army would see it?"

"Oh."

Guo Xin understood immediately and said, "So that's how it is. The dog emperor must be terrified to death when he sees that Father Commander's banners are coming to the gates of Kaifeng."

……

Before the hour of Shen (3-5 PM) had passed and the sun had not yet set, the banner was already erected high at Chenqiao Post Station.

Xiao Yi had passed by without entering last time, but this time he finally entered.

The entire post station was surrounded by military camps. On either side of the gate stood a three-zhang-high wooden pillar with flags hanging on it. In addition to the Northern Army's military flag, there was also a flag to avoid the enemy, indicating that war was imminent and that merchants and travelers should detour.

Passing through the military camp, the post station had three courtyards. The outer courtyard covered about ten acres and could accommodate five hundred cavalrymen in formation. To the east of the courtyard, thirty stables were neatly arranged. The middle courtyard was requisitioned as a place for the guards to stay, and Xiao Yi and others were also arranged to sleep in one of the shared rooms. The inner courtyard housed Guo Chongwei's central command tent, with the banner hanging on the flagpole erected high outside the tent. Next to it was Guo Chongwei's large banner, which read "Vanguard Commander".

Behind them were granaries and water cellars, heavily guarded.

"General Guo has not yet returned from his patrol. Commander Xiao may rest and have a meal first."

The quartermaster quickly brought out the food: flatbread, cooked mutton, and millet porridge—the meals were quite good.

As Xiao Yi ate, he looked outside. The soldiers were resting in shifts, some wiping their weapons, some feeding their horses, and some sitting together eating flatbread. The entire post station was orderly and there was not a sound.

Not long after they finished eating, the sound of orderly and rapid hoofbeats could be heard.

As they rushed out of the gate, they looked up and saw hundreds of black-clad cavalrymen galloping towards them in neat square formations from the south of the official road.

Although the cavalry charged fast, their formation was well-organized. At the front were elite soldiers carrying long spears, in the middle were scouts carrying bows and crossbows, and behind them were lightly armored guards.

They rode their horses through the gate and stopped in front of the post station.

The leader, with a resolute face and a serious demeanor, was none other than Guo Chongwei.

Guo Chongwei must have already heard the news. His gaze swept over Xiao Yi, and he asked directly, "Have the prisoners been interrogated?"

"not yet."

"Tingrang, you and Xiao Yi go and interrogate him. Report back to me from the main tent after you've finished."

"Here."

A young soldier stepped forward from behind Guo Chongwei and acknowledged the order.

After Guo Chongwei led five hundred men past in a steady stream, he clasped his hands in a fist salute to Xiao Yi and said, "Vanguard scout general, Liu Tingrang, pays his respects to Commander Xiao. Please."

"please……"

To Xiao Yi's surprise, Liu Tingrang did not resort to severe torture. He simply had the prisoner's clothes stripped off and left in the freezing cold, while he and Xiao Yi sat by the stove warming their wine.

Xiao Yi took a look and found that Liu Tingrang was only in his early twenties, quite composed, without the usual fierceness of soldiers, and with a righteous air between his brows.

Neither of them paid any attention to the prisoner and exchanged a few words.

"This humble servant, whose courtesy name is Guangyi, is from Fanyang, Zhuozhou, and comes from a military family..."

Having said that, seeing that it was almost time, Liu Tingrang turned to the prisoner, beckoned him, and said, "Come here."

"Yes Yes."

"Have some wine to warm yourself up. Now, tell me, where is Murong Yanchao's central command tent? I just returned from the south. If you lie to me, you know the consequences."

"No, no. The commander... no, it is Murong Yanchao who is stationed at Qilidian. He just set up camp today, three miles west of Chigang. Behind him are the main forces from all directions."

"Describe what you saw."

"Yes, yes, outside the most conspicuous tent on the top of Chigang Hill, there is a black banner with the character 'Marquis' on it. We just set up camp today and are still digging trenches. I haven't been inside."

Xiao Yi thought to himself, "As expected of a scout, he explained it very clearly."

Liu Tingrang nodded, took out a piece of hemp paper from his pocket, quickly wrote it down with a charcoal pencil, and then asked, "What about the east side?"

"There is a camp fifty paces to the east, with a large flag bearing the character 'Yuan' hanging there, connected by a wooden bridge. It is said that the entire camp has tens of thousands of imperial guards, but in fact there are none. It is divided into cavalry and infantry, with the cavalry tents in the west and the infantry tents in the east."

"You're lying to me? Isn't that the Jinshui River?"

“I dare not lie. There is a large banner with the character ‘Wu’ next to the Jinshui River. There are two thousand Zhengzhou soldiers, half of whom are guarding the waterwheels and the other half guarding the grain route.”

"..."

Half an hour later, Xiao Yi and Liu Tingrang walked into the central command tent together.

Guo Chongwei was standing in front of a huge map, holding a vermilion pen, his brows slightly furrowed, occasionally making a few strokes on the map.

"General, the interrogation results are in," Liu Tingrang said. "They can be compared one by one with the intelligence we gathered."

"read."

"Murong Yanchao personally led the vanguard and stationed them at the top of the earthen mound three miles west of Chigang. This place is called Qilidian, which overlooks the flat land between Chigang and Liuzibei. It is the high ground for cavalry assault."

"Ah."

"Hou Yizhong's military camp is on Chigang Peak; Yuan Yi leads the Imperial Guards to surround it; Wu Qianyu's two thousand Zhengzhou soldiers are divided to guard the waterwheels on the Jinshui River and the grain route on the south side."

"Ah."

"Liu Chongjin is in the north; Zhang Yanchao is in the west..."

Liu Tingrang kept reading, while Guo Chongwei was very economical with words. Sometimes he would write down changes to the map, sometimes he would hesitate, and sometimes he would add a couple of strokes.

Finally, Guo Chongwei stopped what he was doing, exhaled a long breath, and murmured something.

"Twenty to thirty thousand troops."

The strength of the Southern army was clearly visible before him.

Xiao Yi stared at the map, which was densely covered with markings. The markings were so detailed and intuitive that he could almost see the army gathering, the banners like a forest, and the horses and men neighing.

He could even sense a hint of chaos within it, as if he could see Liu Chengyou, with red eyes, recklessly betting his troops as a wager.

This was November 14th. Just three days after Guo Wei swore an oath to raise an army, he had already returned to Kaifeng.

The army crossed the river at Huazhou and could reach the city in a day or two, which was incredibly swift; the Southern army's troops were also being assembled.

The decisive battle is fast approaching, ready to erupt at any moment...

(End of this chapter)