A Step into the Past

Book 5 Chap 11 – Army arrives at Stockade

The carriage stopped.

Zhao Ya was just blaming herself and feeling ashamed and regretful when Wu Zhuo went up the horse carriage and released the ropes that bind her.

After she has flexed her limbs, Wu Zhuo ordered her off the carriage.

Zhao Ya recognized this to be a dense forest not far away from the Wu family stockade and just as she was feeling alarmed, a few people appeared from behind the trees and the leader is none other than the person she betrayed, Xiang Shaolong.

Zhao Ya’s legs weakened and she collapsed onto the ground, hot tears streaming from her eyes, unable to talk at all.

Xiang Shaolong pushed the person next to him and that person fell next to Zhao Ya as he said icily, “I’ll let you adulterous pair become a pair of lovebirds with the same fate.”

Qi Yu stammered, “Don’t kill me. Sir, you promised me.”

His cowardice made even Zhao Ya feel despise and loath.

This good looking man seems like an upright and arrogant man usually but it turns out that he is so timid and useless. Especially when he is next to Xiang Shaolong, compared to the latter’s heroic air who is not concerned about his own life or death, one can immediately see the difference is as vast as heaven and earth.

At this time even Zhao Ya feels as if she has been blinded by ghosts to have actually fallen for a person like him.

Zhao Ya forced herself to get up and cried piteously, “Shaolong! I’ve let you down and I’m not good enough for you, kill me!”

Xiang Shaolong looked heavenward and laughed long and hard, saying coldly and unfeelingly, “I do not want a s.lut like you to sully my precious sword. Remember? I once said that anyone who tries to kill me will have to pay a terrible price. Now I will prove it to you, tell your Imperial Brother and Zhao Mu to come!”

Zhao Ya was stunned, “Weren’t you trying to escape?”

Xiang Shaolong smiled mysteriously, “Of course! I will leave immediately. Now that I have Zhu Ji, I can account to the King of Qin.”

Sounds of hoof beats could be heard from afar.

Xiang Shaolong revealed a look of surprise and exclaimed, “Oh no! We’ve been found out.”

Wu Zhuo exclaimed frightfully as well, “We have no time to leave, return to the stockade first.”

Zhao Ya looked with tears in her eyes as this man who has once let her tasted real love leave. The pain and regret she felt is like a poisoned snake biting her heart.

Qi Yu who was next to her exclaimed happily, “Look! The Zhao soldiers are here, we are saved!”

Darkness appeared before Zhao Ya’s eyes as she fainted away.

Mission accomplished, Xiang Shaolong and the rest returned triumphantly to the cheers of the Wu family warriors, passed the drawbridge and rushed straight into the stockade.

Master Wu welcomed them personally at the square while Xiao Pan hid behind Wu Tingfang who was dressed in warrior clothes and Zhao Qian, looking as his ‘mother’ Zhu Ji who has changed back into herself entered the stockade and alighted from the carriage.

At this point in time, in Zhu Ji’s eyes, she can only see Xiao Pan. The expression on her face is a touching, ecstatic joy that cannot be hidden as she ran towards Xiao Pan.

Xiao Pan ran out crying as well and threw himself into her arms as mother and son hugged each other and sobbed uncontrollably.

After being separated for 10 years, her flesh and blood whom she has been pining for everyday is not back in her arms. How can she not cry.

And because of this ‘mother’ he thought of his real mother so he sobbed even harder than Zhu Ji and even more honest, the anger that has been simmering inside him flooding out in waves.

Master Wu came to the mother and son and said with much feeling, “Lady, this should be a time of joy.”

The horns were sounded, it means that the Zhao soldiers have already arrived at the stockade.

Zhu Ji lifted her pretty face, her pretty eyes now red and swollen from the crying as she looked at Master Wu and said, “It’s all thanks to Master Wu’s chivalry that us mother and son will have this day. I won’t say any words of gratitude, but as long as us mother and son still have some say in Qin, we will protect the Wu family and ensure you’ll have riches and your descendants will be safe.” She has already learnt that Master Wu is planning to perish with the stockade heroically so that they can escape, so she spoke sincerely from the bottom of her heart, which she seldom does.

With tears shimmering in his eyes, Master Wu laughed loudly, “With Lady’s words, I will be able to smile in the underworld.”

Xiao Yuetan was worried that any delay might bring more problems so he hurried her, “Lady! We have to leave immediately.”

Wu Yingyuan and Jing Jun’s elite troops, together with Xiao Yuetan and 30 of his skilled fighters escorted the mother and son, as well as Zhao Qian who was saying her goodbyes sadly to Xiang Shaolong, towards the back of the house. Naturally they are going out of the city via the underground tunnel to meet up with Tu Xian’s group.

Xiang Shaolong, Wu Zhuo, Teng Yi and the rest stayed behind because without them, how can they fend off the Zhao army who is more than 10 times bigger than them.

The Zhao army did not invade the stockade immediately but set up defenses outside. The other soldiers in and around Handan kept coming as backup, bringing with them various tools used for invading a fortress. It was only the third day did they complete the whole setup to surround them.

This is exactly what Xiang Shaolong and the rest hoped for, which is to lure and keep the Zhao army here so that Zhu Ji and the rest can escape safely to Xianyang.

The most wonderful part of this whole plan is that the Zhaos think that Ying Zheng is still in their hands so they’re not too bothered that others have escaped. They’ll be satisfied as long as they can bring the stockade down and kill everyone in the Wu family.

Xiang Shaolong appeared periodically at the walls of the stockade and even made special arrangements for Master Wu and Wu Tingfang to appear there as well so that the Zhaos will not suspect that they have other plans.

On the third night, the warriors who were in charge of keeping an eye on the 4 underground tunnels that leads only to the woods outside the stockade found Zhao soldiers making their way in and hurriedly threw in the burning firewood. With the help of huge fans, they literally burnt a few hundred of the arriving Zhao soldiers alive before sealing the underground passages with rocks.

Naturally the King of Zhao was fuming over this and sent someone over to curse at them beneath the stockade walls early in the morning.

Xiang Shaolong found this very amusing, this is the first time he saw such meaningless ‘cursing’.

Teng Yi did not said a word but took out his specially made strongbow and made the Zhaos dumbfounded by shooting the extremely loud cursing expert off his horse. The distance was more than 800 steps away and the range several feet further than an ordinary bow.

The cheers from the Wu family warriors were deafening.

Whereas the Zhao soldiers were speechless.

Suddenly a person rode over but this time he has learnt his lesson, pulling his horse to a stop when he was a thousand steps away and shouted loudly, “Xiang Shaolong, his Majesty wants to speak with you.”

Xiang Shaolong was secretly laughing to himself and thinking that he is not so stupid as to shout and strain his throat just to converse.

Wu Zhuo who was next to him summoned a man over and said with a smile, “It’s good to humiliate him in public!”

Xiang Shaolong understood his meaning and said, “Tell him to go ahead and fart!” He can’t help but laugh after he said this.

Wu Zhuo and Teng Yi couldn’t restrain their smiles and to Teng Yi, this is a rare expression.

That person was stunned for a moment before shouting down, “Go ahead and fart!”

His voice reverberated along the walls.

Those on the Wu family side all chortled and the atmosphere was filled with happiness while the Zhaos were fuming on their side.

The conversation could not proceed and amidst the booming sounds of the war drums, the Zhao army prepared to attack the stockade.

The huge Zhao army surrounding the city, without including the reinforcements, totaled about 30,000 odd men consisting mainly of foot soldiers. This is all the strength the Zhaos could gather within such short notice and the thoroughly surrounded the stockade.

In the chapter ‘Masculine & Feminine Cities’ in Sun Tzu’s Art of War, cities are mainly grouped into 2 types: cities on higher ground or backed against mountains with a good source of water are called ‘Masculine Cities’ and is extremely difficult to besiege. Cities on lower ground, or are between 2 mountains, or if backed against a valley, and where plants do not flourish are called ‘Feminine Cities’ and as long as one has enough strength, they can be easily overtaken.

The Wu family stockade is the typical ‘Masculine City’. When the city was initially built the King of Zhao was hoping that it would become another important post, which they can defend the city from, but how could he have expected that now it’s a place of betrayal against himself now.

Therefore the Zhaos did not want to attack the stockade rashly so that they will not suffer heavy losses. Initially they thought there would be problems regarding rations and the people in the stockade but now that they saw that the morale in there is so high, they know they’ve made a big mistake.

The generals had initially wanted to have a drawn out siege of the stockade but they did not expect that Xiang Shaolong’s sentence would infuriate the King of Zhao so much that he could not control his temper and ordered a head on attack.

The Wu family is enormously wealthy and the way the stockade was built was according to the strictest standard at that time and is extremely solid. The stockade walls are thick and high, enough to fend off the enemy’s direct attacks, climbs and knocks. The moat is deep and wide and at the top of the walls there are the elite Wu family warriors. Hence, even though the Zhao army is more than 10 times bigger, they are still not confident of breaking into the stockade. Their only advantage is that they have unlimited reinforcements that is enough to let them have a long battle of stamina.

Although Xiang Shaolong and the rest have the convenience of the underground tunnel, they have already transported all their store of rations inside, while the farmers outside the stockade have to escape to Qin, so they’ve now become a lone army. However their aim is just to defend for a short period of time, so they are feeling lighthearted, and to them this is just a game with the Zhaos of defending the city.

Xiang Shaolong looked at the grandly approaching Zhao army with their shields up and asked with furrowed brow, “Why don’t they cut off the water source to the moat, instead they’re going through the trouble of crossing the moat?”

Wu Zhuo said with a laugh, “This is a live river, we need not irrigate water in. There is a spring supplying water beneath the moat and they can’t stop the water supply even if they want to.”

Xiang Shaolong was enlightened, his knowledge grew with each experience.

Teng Yi said calmly, “The way to break this is to divert the flow of the water, but that will take at least 10 odd days to complete. I’m guessing that they are swiftly trying to build mobile bridges at the back end to put across the moats to make it more convenient for attacking the stockade.

Xiang Shaolong asked quizzically, “Then those people below are just putting up a show?”

Teng Yi explained, “A besieging army fears boredom the most, so there is a need to make them move. They can take it as a form of stretching or exercise, as that’s the only way to maintain morale.”

Xiang Shaolong nodded his head to indicate his understanding. In a war, a person’s psychology cannot be neglected, it’s the same in the past and for the future.

The Zhao army below gave a shout as they charged forward until they reached the bank of the moat and squatted down, hiding behind their shields. Thousands of archers charged behind them and after hiding behind those shields, raised their bows to shoot and for a moment arrows rained down on the walls.

Teng Yi gave an order and the Wu family warriors all hid behind the ditches and did not return the strike.

Teng Yi shouted in a voice even louder than that cursing officer, “Prepare sand! Fire extinguishing teams get ready.”

Before he could finish his words, another 2000 odd soldiers from the enemy side dashed out and shot at the city walls with burning arrows.

The attack on the stockade finally started.

Both sides used burning rocks to attack each other, the outer walls and top of the stockade bore the damage made by the impact and the fire but it’s just superficial damage, the basic structure is not affected at all. The Wu family warriors are on higher grounds and has sufficient rocks so their defense was tight with minimal casualties whereas the Zhaos had more than a thousand dead or injured within a day, a heavy cost to pay.

Until now, the King of Zhao and Zhao Mu still cannot understand why their opponent is so well prepared. They have been secretly keeping an eye on the movements in the Wu family and only saw people and rations being moved out of the stockade but nothing has been transported in.

They could not imagine the existence of the underground tunnel, so they can’t be considered stupid. Firstly, it’s almost impossible to build such a long underground tunnel. Also, if there is a underground tunnel, Xiang Shaolong and the rest will have no reason to stay here. How could they have guessed that this is the most crucial factor in Xiang Shaolong’s plan.

News came that night that the Qin army is near the border and the King of Zhao was so frightened that he hurriedly forced his generals to attack the stockade relentlessly day and night.

On the 10th day, after suffering heavy losses, the Zhaos finally successfully built 3 mobile bridges for crossing the moat and moved their ladders in to climb and attack the stockade walls as well as use huge logs to batter the stockade gates.

The Wu family warriors used rocks and fire weapons to return the attack and also used a weapon resembling a long hook to deal with those enemies climbing up, as well as pouring cauldrons of boiling water and oil down. After killing and injuring almost 2000 of their enemies, the Zhaos retreated, only defending the 3 wooden bridges.

About 50 odd men died and a hundred odd injured on the Wu family’s side.

Those injured were immediately transported out of the city.

Only now did Xiang Shaolong truly feel that in a war, one person’s strength is so miniscule and to him, it certainly does not feel good.

By the 20th day, the Zhaos finally managed to divert the flow of the water after which they spent another 3 days to fill up and flatten the moat with soil and rocks. The Wu family stockade has lost its advantage.

The Zhaos launched their attack, pushing the armored battle vehicles used for attacking cities over the flattened moat.

These battle vehicles came in various types with the most formidable being the Climbing City Vehicle, Smashing Vehicle and Flying Platform.

The Climbing City Vehicle is about as high as the city wall so that the enemy can swiftly reach the top of the walls in the vehicle; the Smashing Vehicle has a sturdy log on it and used to smash continuously on the city gates and walls; the Flying Platform is for the use of the archers to attack the defending soldiers at the top of the walls.

The only way to deal with this is to use huge rocks to attack them.

In less than 2 days, all the huge rocks have been used up. Xiang Shaolong gave orders to retreat.

By the time the Zhao army entered the city, the whole Wu family stockade has been set ablaze. Because the buildings have all been smeared with oil, they can’t extinguish the fire even if they wanted to.

The Zhaos looked on as the fire burned for 10 days and what remained were charred and totally destroyed buildings burnt down to the last tile. They couldn’t describe their feelings but in any case, they definitely did not feel good.

More than 8000 Zhaos perished with another 10,000 odd injured. The whole country was in shock.

The Wu family have always enjoyed good reputation among the common Zhao people and now that the King of Zhao had forced them to rebel, there were naturally lots of complaints.

By the time the King of Zhao found out the underground tunnel leading out of the city from amongst the rubbles and realized that he has fallen for Xiang Shaolong’s trick, it’s already more than a month later.

Although the King of Zhao was fuming, there was nothing he could do.

At this time he did feel a small sense of regret. Such a capable man like Xiang Shaolong, not only did he not make good use of him, but have now given him away to the Qins. How torturous indeed!