In April, when summer came in Chang'an, the pale sky broke through a streak of gold, pushing the edge of darkness and spreading across the city. In the early morning, birds flew over the palaces and buildings of the imperial city.
Outside the Wenzhao Palace, the civil and military officials waiting to attend the court gathered in their respective circles and talked. At the end of the corridor around the palace eaves, the emperor walked with his hands behind his back, striding forward with the gait of a dragon and a tiger. Beside him stood his cousin Yang Su, talking as they walked.
"Are all the towns ready?"
"Your Majesty, the troops in the border towns are ready. The Crown Prince is stationed in Luoyang and has made good arrangements. The central army led by the Second Prince is also stepping up training and can support the towns at any time."
Yang Jian pursed his lips as he walked past the guard, unsheathed the sword from the other's waist and took a look. After hearing his cousin's words, he sheathed the sword with a clang and continued walking forward.
"This is their job, they don't deserve praise. As for that arrogant Turkic Khan, I'm going to give them a beating this time!"
He looked ahead and saw several civil and military officials gathered outside the eaves. He slapped the stone pillar with his palm, his tone filled with anger.
"When I was still a general in Zhou, I often heard the saying, 'The people of Zhou look eastward, fearing that Qi will be too friendly with them; the people of Qi look westward, fearing that Zhou will be too friendly.' It's really shameful!"
Bang!
Another palm clapping sounded, Yang Jian turned around and looked at his cousin, "When Zhou and Qi were still around, both countries were afraid that the Turks would side with each other, so they both tried to make friends with each other and pay tribute to each other. They used the wealth of one country to feed these wolves. Haha, how can you feed wolves well? If you feed them well, they can only be dogs!"
Yang Su lowered his head and bowed slightly, not daring to look at his angry brother. Even though he had made great achievements in practicing Taoism and could be considered a local master, he was still a subject and could not surpass that.
"Your Majesty, what you are saying is that now that Zhou and Qi are gone, the Turks still compare our Great Sui to the two countries and bully us. It is time to show them what a giant the Great Sui will be after unifying the nine provinces."
"Let's go! The civil and military officials are waiting for me and you, the Duke of Yue!"
The emperor suppressed his temper, turned around with his hands behind his back and walked towards the Wenzhao Palace, and the voice was also heard.
"Duke Yue, follow me. When we fight, don't fall behind!"
At the back, Yang Su stood up solemnly. Although the two men had gray hair at the temples, they seemed to have returned to the days when they had attacked Northern Qi together. He bowed to the figure who was striding forward, rolled up his sleeves, followed closely, and called the waiting civil and military officials to enter the hall to attend court together.
Yang Su, who was standing at one side, looked up. The sky had already brightened and the light shone on his face. He narrowed his eyes. The world had a wise ruler and both civil and military officials were virtuous. He felt that a prosperous era was not far away.
"Go to court!"
Amid the eunuchs' sharp screams, Yang Su was full of hope and was the last one to step into the hall. A bird perched on a corner of the palace eaves was combing its wings and was startled by the sharp and piercing voices and flew away.
The high-spreading wings crossed the sky and passed over the imperial city. Outside were rows of houses and crisscrossing streets and alleys. The crowd was noisy. The woman tidied the house and opened the window to hang up the washed clothes. The husband picked up the load and said goodbye to his wife and children with a smile, then walked into the long street. The craftsmen in the dyeing workshop shouted and pulled up the cloth that had been dyed overnight to unfold it in the sunlight, revealing its colorful colors. The shy girl sat in front of the window, holding her handkerchief, shyly eavesdropping on the conversation between the matchmaker and her parents outside the house, and the outline of the future man in her heart gradually emerged.
The birds flying across the sky passed over the talking patrolling soldiers, flew over the towering city walls and headed north. Beyond the rolling mountains, the sky gradually became gloomy, as if it was going to rain.
On the dry ground, insects crawled among the weeds and climbed up to the tips of leaves. At a certain moment, the dormant dust particles shook slightly and climbed up above the insects on the grass tips. A shadow fell, and a horse hoof left a hoof print on the ground, and then quickly moved to the ground ahead.
Ta-da-da…
The war horses were galloping, and on the ups and downs of the horses' backs, a knight wearing the armor of the Sui army bent his bow sideways, and with a whoosh, the arrow flew out of the string. There was a scream from the back, and the pursuing Turkic cavalry fell off their horses with a splash of blood, and were dragged on the ground by the stirrups. At the same time, several knights on both sides passed by, drew their bows and arrows, and shot at the Sui scout in front.
Arrows flew and stabbed into the ground along the trail behind the fleeing Sui scouts' horses. Between the hills on both sides, there were now imperceptible pebbles and mud sliding down.
In a hidden place on the hill, there were more than ten eyes watching the pursuing Turkic cavalry below. Someone blew a tinder, lit the arrow wrapped in kerosene, and the flame burned. The figure drawing the bow raised his arm downward, suddenly released his thumb, and the bowstring made a trembling sound with a "bang".
boom-
The flaming arrows nailed the fleeing scouts to the ground, instantly creating a wall of fire that stopped the eight pursuing Turkic cavalrymen.
"The Sui people have an ambush!" The Turkic voice rang out among the eight people. One of them pulled the reins and turned around, but a big rock appeared behind them, blocking their retreat.
"kill!"
In an instant, there were loud shouts from the hills on both sides, and more than ten arrows were shot down. Eight riders were shot and fell off their horses, holding their shoulders and arms and wailing. The remaining three Turkic cavalrymen waved their swords and spears desperately, but they had no time to leave.
Behind the rocks on both sides of the hills, Sui soldiers were rushing down madly with long spears with blades in their hands. The spear tips stabbed, and the war horses screamed and raised their front hooves, throwing the Turkic cavalrymen off their backs. As they rolled, before they could get up, the ambushed Sui soldiers rushed over and hit them on the head with their swords, chopping off their heads.
The brief battle paused, and the Sui soldier who had chopped off his head held up the bloody head and shouted at the man who had been chased on horseback:
"Captain Qu, is there another group of Turks?"
The rest of the soldiers who were cleaning up the battlefield and burying the corpses and bloodstains looked up and saw the knight who had fled before spurring his horse back slowly, dismounting with a smile, taking off the iron helmet on his head, and punching the soldier on the shoulder.
"You wish. The Turks are not fools. After suffering two losses, they will definitely ambush us. We should withdraw while we are ahead. We should go back quickly. We still have to escort food and fodder to the soldiers on the front line."
The knight was tall, and his scout armor was stretched tight. He was Qu Yuanfeng who had arrived at the front line to fight. At first he thought he would get a chance to fight a big battle, but his superior, the general named Da Xi Changru, transferred him to the rear camp to escort food and fodder, either because of his relationship in Chang'an or because he thought too much of him.
From March to April, the war in the north had already begun. The Turkic Khan Shabolue, led the Second Khan, Apo Khan, Datou Khan and Buli Khan, with a total of 400,000 troops to attack the south of the Great Wall. The Sui army, which had already been well deployed, divided into eight routes to launch a counterattack.
For a while, wars broke out everywhere, but Qu Yuanfeng heard that gains had been made everywhere, except on his side, so he had to lure out the reconnaissance Turkic cavalry to kill them while they were escorting food and grass. On the one hand, he wanted to cut off the enemy's "eyes" that were exploring the rear, and on the other hand, he wanted to sharpen his own battle formation.
“I don’t know how long it will take before I have the chance to see a bigger battle.”
After escorting the grain and fodder to the front-line military camp and counting the number of grain and fodder, Qu Yuanfeng handed over the task and found the armory camp. He drew the long sword given to him by his master from his waist, sat on the grass, and polished it with a stone.
He looked at the face reflected in the sword and let out a sigh of relief.
"I don't know what Master is doing. He should still be guarding Master's wife in Qixia Mountain. Write a letter to Master someday to let him know that he is safe. He must be worried about you after such a long time."
After lazily basking in the sun for a while, the soldiers under his command had assembled and came to inform Qu Yuanfeng that it was time to return to the baggage camp in the rear. The latter touched a command flag stuck on his back and sighed heavily again, thinking that his skills were useless.
"Let's go!"
Qu Yuanfeng returned to the rear camp gate, jumped on his horse, waved to the two hundred soldiers behind him, and when he cracked his whip and rushed out of the camp, he suddenly heard something, stopped his horse, and listened sideways.
Boom—
Boom boom boom!
The sound of war drums came from the front camp. The soldiers who were doing their own things in the camp rushed to the parade ground and shouted.
"The Turks are coming!"
"It's the Turkic Khan Shaboluo who is leading the army himself!"
The camp was in chaos yet in order, with lines of soldiers gathering and arranging themselves in battle formations on the parade ground. Qu Yuanfeng, who was about to leave, kicked his horse and joined in with his two hundred men. Looking at the high reviewing platform, a general named Da Xi Changru, dressed in military uniform and dragging his cloak, strode up, drew the sword from his waist, raised it high into the sky, and roared!
"The enemy is coming, men, prepare for battle!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
The densely packed soldiers shouted loudly, and their spears pounded the ground like a forest, shaking the sky.
Qu Yuanfeng waved his scabbard and hit the saddle in the surging mood. The battle he had been waiting for finally came. Even though there were only more than 3,000 people, he was not afraid.
… Master, let’s see how Yuan Feng can make you proud and defend the Great Sui against powerful enemies!
The smoke of war rolled across the land, and the surging shouts faded away to the south with the light of day. The scholar who was thinking of him was on his way to Chang'an.