The Child Emperor

Chapter 156: Reinforcements

The sun was just rising when a distant army appeared, kicking up a cloud of dust that blocked out the sky. The thunderous sound of hooves was clearly audible on the mountain.

“Are they Xiongnu?” a Chu soldier asked, not daring to hope for the best.

“They are Chu soldiers, coming from the west!” Han Ruzi raised his bow again and shot an arrow straight down. The arrow flew over the battlefield halfway up the mountain and towards the foot, losing its momentum and causing little harm. “Reinforcements are here. Let’s charge down and join forces!”

The few remaining Chu soldiers, hearing the general’s certainty, felt their confidence surge. They threw down their knives and shields, picked up their bows, and began shooting down the mountain.

Only Fang Daye remained unmoved, turning to look at the general.

“They are reinforcements,” Han Ruzi said confidently.

Fang Daye finally drew his bow, and his arrow even fell among the Xiongnu cavalry at the foot of the mountain.

Han Ruzi led twenty to thirty men down the mountain, stopping every few steps to shoot arrows.

The Xiongnu also noticed the rapidly approaching army. Under the shroud of dust, it seemed like tens of thousands of horses were galloping towards them.

The Xiongnu shieldmen halfway up the mountain felt the excitement from the Chu soldiers above. They turned and saw the approaching dust cloud, panicking and fleeing downhill. They had just been sacrificed once; this time, no one could stop them from escaping.

The Xiongnu cavalry at the foot of the mountain were the most confused. They couldn’t see the distant dust cloud but sensed the panic among the outer cavalry. The returning infantry from halfway up the mountain further unnerved them. The arrows from above, though not deadly, revealed the Chu army’s unstoppable excitement.

Only one reason could explain the Chu soldiers’ resurgence from despair: reinforcements had indeed arrived.

Chaos didn’t erupt instantly. Some Xiongnu cavalry tried to stop the fleeing infantry, even shooting a few arrows. This only led to more frenzied chaos. Hundreds of infantry rushed into their own ranks, dragging cavalry off their horses and fleeing on horseback.

When Han Ruzi reached halfway down, the Xiongnu below were already in disarray. From generals to soldiers, from the outer to the inner ranks, everyone was scrambling to escape.

Yesterday, when the Chu army rushed to this mountain, the Xiongnu suspected an ambush and observed for a while before attacking. The sudden appearance of the distant dust cloud confirmed their fears of an ambush, though it came a bit late.

Han Ruzi stopped the Chu soldiers, ordering half to continue shooting arrows and the other half to search for the wounded.

Du Chuanyun was pulled out from beneath two bodies, an arrow in his shoulder but alive. “Careful, careful, I’m bleeding here. What happened to the Xiongnu? Are those our reinforcements? Haha, we survived a disaster, we survived a disaster!”

The wounded were gathered together. Han Ruzi ordered all shooting to stop and to find the dead as well.

Du Chuanyun, still with an arrow in his right shoulder, held his sword in his left hand. “Let’s kill some more!”

Han Ruzi stopped him, “Don’t chase a cornered enemy. Though the Xiongnu are retreating, they still outnumber us.”

“We have reinforcements. What’s there to fear?” Du Chuanyun was still eager to fight, seemingly oblivious to his shoulder injury.

Fang Daye grabbed Du Chuanyun, “A general’s orders must not be disobeyed.” He pressed Du Chuanyun’s shoulder, broke the arrow shaft with his other hand, and snapped off the exposed part.

Du Chuanyun screamed, nearly collapsing in pain, and said no more about pursuing the Xiongnu.

The Xiongnu had horses, even their infantry, though not nearby. They ran quickly. The dust cloud had just reached the foot of the mountain when the Xiongnu were already miles away.

The surviving Chu soldiers’ excitement quickly waned. They saw that the dust cloud concealed at most three hundred soldiers.

Even this was an overestimation.

“Huh, not many reinforcements,” Du Chuanyun voiced everyone’s doubts.

There were actually only about a hundred reinforcements, each horse dragging bags and helmets to create more dust.

Chai Yue led the team up the mountain, dismounted, and knelt before the Weary Marquis. “General, I am guilty of failing to protect you…”

Han Ruzi helped him up. “Who found you?”

“Me, of course” Cui Teng appeared on horseback, not dismounting, constantly looking east. “They sent Jin Chunbao back to the city. I remembered Chai Yue’s team heading northeast, possibly not far, so I went to find him. I was right though he didn’t believe me at first. Let’s go quickly. The Xiongnu might realize they were fooled.”

Cui Teng was right. The Xiongnu were scared off. Once they realized the Chu soldiers were fewer than they thought, they might return in anger.

The Chu soldiers could stay and defend, waiting for the Shattered Iron City army, but that would take until tomorrow morning or later. Given a chance to escape, no one wanted to stay, not even Du Chuanyun, who now wanted to mount up quickly.

Chai Yue’s team had thirty-some pack horses, just enough for the injured soldiers to ride. Severely wounded soldiers shared horses, and carrying dozens of Chu bodies was too troublesome, so they left them to be retrieved later.

The Xiongnu were still fleeing, presenting a rare escape opportunity for the Chu soldiers.

Around 150 people headed east, led by Han Ruzi, with Chai Yue’s troops covering the rear.

No one spoke on the way.

By noon, the horses needed to rest. Some were foaming at the mouth. Chai Yue gathered the ten strongest horses and assigned eight soldiers to protect the general. “Even in defeat, the general must not fall into Xiongnu hands.”

“No, I must…” Han Ruzi didn’t finish as Du Chuanyun and others lifted him onto a horse.

Chai Yue told Du Chuanyun, “Injured people shouldn’t be assigned to follow the general.”

Du Chuanyun didn’t mind. “Haha, I haven’t fought enough. It’s fine if I stay, but one person must go with the Weary Marquis.”

“Who?” Chai Yue looked at the noble offspring in the group. Half of his chosen eight were from noble families; he couldn’t see who else might qualify.

Han Ruzi stopped resisting and pointed. “General Fang must come with me.”

Chai Yue was puzzled, thinking the Weary Marquis wanted to take the battle flag with him. “It’s best to leave the flag to confuse the Xiongnu.”

“Leave the flag, bring the general.”

To Chai Yue’s surprise, the surviving soldiers seemed to agree, stepping aside respectfully, with no objections even from the noble sons.

Chai Yue allocated an extra horse, making ten horses for eleven people, with one extra for the Northern Protection General.

After a brief rest, Han Ruzi and his group set off, almost nonstop, constantly calculating when the Xiongnu might catch Chai Yue.

Shortly after nightfall, Han Ruzi’s group met the reinforcements from Shattered Iron City, over two thousand soldiers, nearly all their horses with them.

Han Ruzi’s group switched horses and were escorted back to the city by a hundred soldiers. The remaining reinforcements went to support Chai Yue.

They reached the city by late night. Han Ruzi was exhausted and hungry but couldn’t eat or sleep. Zhang Youcai’s persistent urging made him eat a little. He ordered Fang Daye to be well taken care of.

Fang Daye was so old he needed help dismounting and fell asleep immediately after touching the bed.

“Bring Jin Chunbao,” Han Ruzi didn’t want to wait.

Zhang Youcai couldn’t persuade his master to rest and sent Ni Qiu to fetch Jin Chunbao. Ni Qiu soon returned. “Jin Chunbao has been taken away.”

“Taken? By whom? Where?” Han Ruzi asked.

Ni Qiu scratched his head and ran out again. He didn’t understand the rules well, but he was quick-witted. He returned quickly. “He was taken by the Grand General’s envoy to Divine Hero Pass.”

Thirty thousand Chu soldiers were stationed in the valley outside Divine Hero Pass, waiting to annihilate the Xiongnu. Their commanders stayed inside the pass, sending envoys to Shattered Iron City daily. When Jin Chunbao was sent back, the envoy took him.

Han Ruzi stomped his foot. He had forgotten to order Jin Chunbao kept in the city. He hurriedly had Zhang Youcai prepare paper and pen, wrote a letter, and sent someone to Divine Hero Pass.

In the letter, he reminded the Chu generals: Jin Chunbao’s escape was likely arranged by the Xiongnu. His talk of Xiongnu division couldn’t be trusted; it was likely a trap. The Xiongnu left behind might be more than ten thousand.

As the messenger left, Han Ruzi still felt uneasy. Jin Chunbao’s words were well-founded, while his rebuttals were speculative. His strongest reason was one he couldn’t explain.

If the Xiongnu only wanted to lure him out, they would use more personalized excuses like Chai Yue did with Jin Chuiduo and himself. But Jin Chunbao focused on the Xiongnu division, aiming to lure not just Han Ruzi and the army at Shattered Iron City but higher-ranking generals and even more Chu soldiers.

Jin Chunbao, unknowingly, was being used by the Xiongnu. Believing he spoke the truth, he was more persuasive than if he thought himself lying.

“The settled Xiongnu are becoming more like the Chu, not only learning our tactics but also our strategies,” Han Ruzi muttered, increasingly worried and regretting not killing Jin Chunbao earlier. He had to use Jin Chunbao to get reinforcements, leaving no choice.

The Xiongnu not chasing Jin Chunbao further proved he was deliberately released.

Han Ruzi wrote another letter and had Ni Qiu bring fate seer Lin Kunshan.

“Please go to Divine Hero Pass,” Han Ruzi explained his suspicions.

Lin Kunshan nodded repeatedly, “I’ll leave at once.”

Only then did Han Ruzi relax a bit. Lin Kunshan was more persuasive to the Chu generals.

Shortly after dawn, a Chu army team returned with news that reinforcements had rescued Chai Yue and the others. The Xiongnu immediately retreated and didn’t return, with no battle ensuing.

Han Ruzi sighed in relief but still felt uneasy. As the main army returned, he realized what was on his mind.

He had a score to settle with the Chai family.

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