MFMH C93

Chapter 93 — The Trap

Late autumn winds bit the steppe, yet within the barbarian king’s tent it felt as warm as spring.

As soon as Sangbu Ganda stepped inside, a wave of heat hit him and he felt considerably warmer, but his heart seemed to have been left out in the cold, scraped raw by the wind.

The tent before him had been stitched from multiple layers of hide; its interior was gilded and painted, every implement and furnishing richly and exquisitely arranged. Thick pelts covered the ground inside, inviting one to lie down. Golden candlesticks held tallow lamps whose bright flames gave off an elegant fragrance…

A man with a harsh, sinister mien leaned sideways upon a throne piled with tiger skins and wolf heads, idly twirling a smooth, slender leather whip in his hand. When he saw Sangbu Ganda enter, his eyes — sharp as blades — fixed upon him.

Sangbu Ganda’s heart lurched. He hurried forward and saluted. “Sangbu greets the Great Khan!”

The man flicked the whip; it cracked and landed with a sharp slap at Sangbu Ganda’s feet, making him start.

“Why has the campaign bogged down so long with no progress?” the man asked coldly, his narrow eyes heavy with gloom.

Sangbu Ganda bowed his head. “Forgive me, Great Khan. The Qi set garrisons early on along the border and hold them with deadly vigilance. Though our forces used feints and deceptions, the Qi are craftier still, employing trick after trick — and they have developed a new weapon…” He summarized the situation and added, “Thus your servant dares not rashly advance.”

The man’s expression cleared a little. He sheathed the whip, fingers playing idly with its tassel. “Take Gu Yang Pass as soon as possible.”

Sangbu Ganda paused, then comprehension dawned. “Yes!” Winter would soon arrive, the border blanketed in snow; movement would be impossible then. If a single breach could be forced to let their cavalry southward, all obstacles would vanish. Gu Yang Pass connects to Tiandu Prefecture — an expanse of fertile plains, endless fields, prosperous people. Once they rode through Gu Yang Pass, what would there be to fear? With open plains beneath their hoofs, no trick or weapon could stop the iron tread of their fearless horses!

Rapture lit Sangbu Ganda’s gaze. But how to break through while the Qi kept heavy forces posted?

The man’s gray, slit pupils shone with the lust of certainty as he tightened his grip on the whip. “Sangbu Ganda…”

“Your servant!” Sangbu Ganda answered promptly.

…

Border nights always carried a desolate loneliness; aside from an occasional insect’s chirp there was only the abrupt cry of night crows. As the weather grew colder, even the insects fell silent. The sky was blank and moonless, the heavens packed with heavy clouds, as if a snowstorm pressed down upon the world.

Five days had passed with no more enemy skirmishes. The Qi officers assumed the barbarians had been cowed by earlier defeats and were unwilling to provoke further; the scouts had failed to learn their true intent. The men began to relax and prepared for a proper sleep — until, in the dead of night, a frantic, impetuous drumbeat tore the quiet apart and echoed through the entire frontier camp, shattering the soldiers’ dreams.

Curse and mutterings flew as the troops hurriedly dressed and made for the parade ground, their resentment rekindled.

Tai Qigang’s face was grave. Scouts who had been constantly watching the barbarians reported breathlessly that a force of roughly thirty thousand horsemen had been sighted, a dark tide of riders heading for Muyang City.

This time they meant business.

Tai Qigang ordered the Right Army to intercept: forty thousand men readied themselves at once. The vanguard of ten thousand, each with three spare mounts, rode out first; the remaining thirty thousand infantry took supplies and baggage and followed.

Shen Yanbei watched the mighty host depart and felt unease. The barbarians had toyed with them before; why now were they so openly earnest?

At dawn another scout returned, reporting that a body of barbarian cavalry had been seen north of the steppe near Xilian Town, about twenty thousand strong. Xilian’s garrison numbered under ten thousand and could not hold. Tai Qigang immediately dispatched the center force of thirty thousand to assist. No sooner had the center left the camp than another scout galloped in to say that another ten-thousand-strong barbarian contingent hovered near Pingcheng.

Were the barbarians opening a three-front assault? Tai Qigang frowned. The main camp at Changyong Pass had some 120,000 troops, of which just over thirty thousand were new recruits. After assigning garrisons to protect the pass and to watch the western approaches to Gu Yang Pass, fewer than ninety thousand men could be committed.

Meeting the enemy on open ground is not the same as defending a fortress, especially when the foe is cavalry skilled in mounted archery. To guarantee not to be defeated, the Qi forces must outnumber the enemy. With the right and center committed — sixty thousand horse and foot in the field — Tai Qigang had no choice but to set Gu Changfeng as the principal commander, with an experienced general as deputy, and send twenty thousand new recruits to intercept; the remainder of the new troops would stay with the Left Army to guard the camp.

Gu Changfeng accepted the order and moved out.

As the camp emptied and its noise dwindled, an eerie hush settled. Shen Yanbei, staring up at the leaden sky, felt a prickling unease and went to the command tent to listen as the commanders analyzed the situation.

Around the map-table Tai Qigang and the strategists wore grim faces. The barbarians’ recent conduct baffled them: after so many feints, why did they now push so boldly?

When the unusual occurs, mischief is often afoot — but where lay the deception?

The barbarian horsemen had appeared far outside Muyang and Xilian without cumbersome baggage, riding light. Yet how could so many smooth their supply lines? A force of forty thousand with spare mounts consumed much; they must have supplies somewhere. If they could not seize Muyang and Xilian quickly, fatigue and lack of forage would cripple them. Then why did they act so assured?

Shen did not speak in the debate; instead he studied the map and tried a change of perspective. If he were the barbarians, where would he strike to gain the greatest advantage? Barbarians were mounted nomads requiring pasture and water, and their preference was for plains rather than rivers or mountains.

Shen’s gaze fixed on the nearest grassland on the map — the vast plain of Henei in Tiandu Prefecture. Looking more closely, he saw that Gu Yang Pass touched Tiandu. If the barbarians could breach Gu Yang Pass and enter the Henei plain, they would be in Qi’s interior. Riding across the plain toward Liangzhou would put them within striking distance of Yongjing itself.

Then the camp’s current forces — under thirty thousand — could not possibly hold Gu Yang Pass against a full barbarian host.

Though it sounded absurd, Shen voiced his concern.

“Impossible — the barbarians would never commit their whole horde!” several generals objected. Just as they kept men in reserve to guard the rear, the barbarians would not exhaust themselves.

The strategist frowned and the officers murmured. Even factoring in rear defenses, to take Gu Yang Pass the barbarians would need at least thirty thousand men at arms. Their population was sparse; their mounted numbers likely fell short of a hundred thousand. Having already committed sixty thousand, they surely could not spare the troops needed. Thus the conjecture appeared unlikely.

“Strengthen patrols to prevent surprise attacks, and keep scouts watching around Gu Yang Pass for suspicious forces,” Tai Qigang ordered, rubbing at the ache at his temple.

The commanders dispersed after receiving orders. The strategist beckoned Shen to stay. “Shen, why do you harbor that thought?”

Shen shifted awkwardly. “Previously they used trickery; now they move openly. It’s almost as if they want us to believe they’re attacking the cities, so I suspect a ruse.”

Tai Qigang and the strategist exchanged looks, and Tai Qigang’s face stiffened. “Reasonable.”

“Perhaps I am overthinking,” Shen allowed with a wry smile.

Outside the command tent a cold wind swept by and a few tentative snowflakes trembled down from the sky.

Snow? Shen opened his palm. A flake landed and immediately melted into a damp spot.

Snow fell, draping the frontier in austere, mournful white.

A mounted troop rode hard toward Pingcheng and arrived at dusk the next day. The garrison there opened the gates to welcome them, but Gu did not enter the city; instead he camped his twenty thousand man host outside. After a short rest, he led five thousand men out to search for the barbarian cavalry.

On the horizon they saw a black wave of riders racing across the steppe, dust roaring and blotting out the sky.

The recruits gripped their spears, braced for battle. But Gu furrowed his brow.

“That’s wrong. There are so many horses and riders, yet the noise they make isn’t as loud as our five thousand,” he observed. His inner training sharpened his hearing; the sound did not match the claimed numbers.

Chen, the veteran general, paused, surprised. Indeed, the enemy looked numerous and imposing at a distance, but their hoofbeat lacked the expected thunder.

“What’s going on?”

“I’ll take a mounted detachment to scout. The rest hold and await my orders,” Gu said, seizing his crossbow and leading a thousand horse forward.

“You must not, Your Highness!” General Chen cried. “If you fall into an ambush, what then?”

“It will be handled,” Gu replied and spurred ahead.

Chen hurriedly ordered the recruits to watch closely so they might come to Gu’s aid if needed.

But as Gu charged forward with a thousand riders, the lead barbarian horsemen, seeing he did not press an immediate attack, turned tail in panic and fled.

Gu’s certainty hardened. He rode through and drove a lance into one rider, sending him from his saddle —

Chen stared, unbelieving. That fallen ‘rider’ was not a man at all but a straw effigy dressed in barbarian horseman’s garb.

What in heaven’s name?

Chen had no time to ponder. He ordered the troops to cut off the fleeing cavalry.

Gu’s face turned ashen. The ‘cavalry’ comprised outward-facing real riders, but the saddles were occupied by dummies wrapped in the trappings of barbarian horsemen; the whole ‘host’ numbered far fewer than ten thousand. The barbarians had tied long branches to their horses’ tails; as the old mounts ran, the dragging branches whipped up dust and made it seem as though great columns thundered across the plain.

It was a sham — a phantom host of discarded old horses masquerading as a mighty army.

They had been deceived.

Terror surged through Gu. He wheeled his horse and shouted, “Retreat! Fall back to camp at once!”

They had walked into the enemy’s trap; the barbarians meant to draw them away and strike elsewhere.