Eight thousand fierce Qiang cavalry surged between the cities of Qing Cang and Lin Yao, straight from the border of Gu Sai Prefecture. As Chu Lushan had predicted, the Qiang riders, swift on horseback and lightly armored, were used by Liu Gui to sever the communication lines between the two military towns.
The Qiang people had long been thorns in the eyes of the Central Plains’ rulers. The Da Feng Dynasty had been harassed for two full centuries by the lightning-fast Qiang cavalry. Every Qiang child grew up riding sheep and shooting birds and rats; as they grew older, they would ride and hunt foxes and hares. They were almost naturally born warriors on horseback. The light cavalry of various states across the Central Plains gradually emerged onto the battlefield, largely as a response to the Qiang cavalry’s relentless pressure. In many ways, the Qiang riders were also the “teachers” of the Central Plains’ cavalry. Before and after Xu Xiao took control of Bei Liang, the Qiang people gradually declined. The Xu family’s iron cavalry often used large groups of Qiang riders for military drills and exercises, which was a further blow to the Qiang people. Therefore, the Qiang became natural allies of the Bei Mang kingdom. During this southern invasion into the Central Plains, leaders of various Qiang tribes, both great and small, resolved their enmities, exchanged hostages, and made solemn oaths. Under the leadership of Bei Mang, they even allied with other northwest tribes who had been oppressed by Xu’s border forces. Thus, they managed to assemble nearly nine thousand riders and over twenty thousand warhorses, flying the banner of the Qiang cavalry, seeking vengeance against the Xu family of Bei Liang.
This Qiang cavalry, once impoverished along the long borderlines, finally achieved their centuries-old dream of full armor for both men and horses, thanks to the strong support of the southern court of Bei Mang. Different from ordinary cavalry, the Qiang riders used ring-handled sabers, which had already been phased out of warfare. These swords were bound to their armors and could only be separated by cutting off the entire arm. Besides the ring-handled sabers, the Qiang riders also carried traditional short knives called “Pa Bi,” hanging on the outer sides of their thighs. Just like farmers harvesting rice in autumn, they used these knives to cut off enemies’ ears and heads as trophies.
The eight thousand Qiang riders galloped southward. At their head, a strong man on horseback bent down and gently stroked the ancestral “Pa Bi” at his waist. The eyes of this ten-thousand-man commander were filled with cruelty and hatred.
In the past, when that Xu, a butcher of the Central Plains, invaded the northwest, all adults who refused to submit were killed on the spot. Even children who could not reach the horse’s back were not spared. Though not executed immediately, they were left with their thumbs severed by Xu’s cavalry. This meant that even if these children survived, they would never be able to firmly grasp a weapon or wield a blade against Bei Liang’s border forces. This middle-aged ten-thousand-man commander, named Jin Cheng, was fortunate enough to escape when his tribe was destroyed by the Xu family’s hooves. At that time, as a youth, he had been out hunting with a small group of young men to prepare food for the winter. When they returned, all they found were corpses on the ground and children crying with bloodied hands. At their feet lay the bodies of their parents.
He swore that with this “Pa Bi,” he would personally cut off the thumbs of every person surnamed Xu within Bei Liang territory. No one named Xu would be spared, not even infants in swaddling clothes! Especially the butcher’s son, the newly inherited heir of Liang Wang, he would not only cut off that young man’s thumbs but also sever his head, limbs, and fingers one by one!
Jin Cheng slowly straightened his back, gazing toward the vast expanse of land to the south, his face twisted into a cruel grin.
He had heard that there was a young son of the butcher named Xu Long Xiang in Liu Zhou, who was well-known among the nobles of the southern court. Last year, this young man had inflicted heavy damage on several military towns in Gu Sai Prefecture. Jin Cheng did not expect to capture this individual alone with fewer than nine thousand cavalry, but before cooperating with General Liu Gui to completely eliminate Liu Zhou, he was determined to drink deeply of the blood of Bei Liang’s common people and make that young man, whose veins carried the butcher’s filthy blood, suffer unbearable pain. The young man commanded the Long Xiang Army of no more than thirty thousand riders—how could he possibly defend the entire Liu Zhou? In Jin Cheng’s view, this was merely a familiar Central Plains drama of sibling rivalry. Clearly, the young feudal king was jealous of his younger brother’s great military achievements and had deliberately sent Xu Long Xiang and his loyal followers to their deaths.
In winter, with water dried and grass yellowed, horses were far less robust than in autumn or summer. To the common people of the Central Plains, especially those in Jiangnan, this was the least suitable season for warfare. However, for the forces of Liang and Mang, who were accustomed to the bitter cold of the borderlands, as long as they were determined to fight, even in the worst weather with heavy snowfall, they could still engage in fierce, life-and-death battles on any battlefield.
Jin Cheng, the Qiang ten-thousand-man commander, actually loved the carnage of deep winter the most. The sight of a spear piercing an enemy’s chest and dragging a crimson trail across the snow was more exhilarating than drinking fine wine.
The Qiang cavalry was renowned throughout history for their lightning-fast raids. While this brought them praise, it also revealed their weakness—they were only capable of delivering a single decisive blow on the battlefield. Though they could advance and retreat freely, it was difficult for them to expand their advantage without infantry formations or heavy cavalry to provide support. This time, the Bei Mang envoys treated their Qiang cavalry with great disrespect. Even though they were seeking assistance, they still held themselves in high esteem. Before discussing terms, they even openly called the Qiang riders mere “ornamental additions” and threatened to take their heads if they dared to ask for too much. They also warned that if the Qiang riders failed to follow General Liu Gui’s military orders, they would not be allowed to return home, and Bei Mang’s army would treat them as enemies.
Jin Cheng gritted his teeth. If it weren’t for his desire for revenge against the Xu family, who would willingly deal with these bureaucratic pigs?
Jin Cheng looked far into the distance and suddenly felt a strange unease.
The eight thousand Qiang riders were rushing southward, cutting off the two cities of Qing Cang and Lin Yao, leaving Qing Cang, the capital of Liu Zhou, isolated and without aid. In his view, this was indeed an excellent and unexpected strategy. The Qiang riders did not need to take much risk. However, during his southward march, he had continuously sent out more than twenty scouts ahead, each rider required to travel at least ten miles beyond the Qiang cavalry’s main force before returning, with the next rider taking their place. This formed a meticulous cycle. At this moment, one of the scouts should have already returned to the front of the main army. Moreover, for this campaign into Liu Zhou, Bei Mang had specially assigned him a scout—a dangerous old man with a sword at his waist and a long, steady breath. This was clearly no ordinary military scout, but a hidden martial arts expert. It was evident that Bei Mang had truly invested heavily in this campaign against Bei Liang, even deploying their cultivated martial arts forces after twenty years of nurturing.
Jin Cheng was not a vengeful fool. He understood the weight of matters, which was why he had become a ten-thousand-man commander. This time, he was here to assist General Liu Gui’s forces in taking advantage of the chaos. His greatest fear was a direct confrontation with the main force of the Long Xiang cavalry. However, the Bei Mang envoy, dressed and adorned like a nobleman from the Central Plains, had assured him that aside from a small contingent, the majority of the thirty thousand Long Xiang cavalry would be pinned down near Qing Cang City and east of it. Otherwise, Bei Liang would be effectively abandoning Liu Zhou, sacrificing the elite Long Xiang cavalry that had seen countless battles.
But Jin Cheng, who was not a fool, began to worry about facing a Bei Liang King who would stop at nothing to secure his throne and a Long Xiang commander who had become a discarded pawn and was now driven to madness.
After waiting for a while longer, the scout still did not return.
Frowning, Jin Cheng raised his arm and made a small back-and-forth motion, signaling the cavalry behind him to slow their advance.
About half a stick of incense later, a scout finally appeared in the Qiang riders’ line of sight, galloping wildly toward them. Jin Cheng and several thousand-man commanders who quickly rode forward were horrified to see several crossbow bolts protruding from the scout’s back!
Before his last breath, the severely wounded scout managed to convey precious intelligence bought with the lives of over twenty Qiang scouts.
Less than eight miles ahead, there were three thousand Long Xiang light cavalry.
Jin Cheng felt both joy and concern. Joy because the enemy was only three thousand riders, not the main force of the Long Xiang army. Concern because his own forces were here to take advantage of the chaos, not to engage in a direct battle with the supposedly invincible Long Xiang cavalry.
Now, two options lay before the Qiang riders. The first was to continue southward, using their numerical advantage to eliminate the three thousand riders and fulfill their mission of cutting Liu Zhou in half. However, this would result in heavy casualties, weakening their bargaining power with Bei Mang after securing victory in Liu Zhou. The second option was to avoid direct confrontation, not to fight the three thousand Long Xiang light cavalry head-on, but also not to retreat. Instead, they could maneuver around the enemy and, when inevitable contact occurred, engage in symbolic skirmishes. With the Qiang riders’ centuries-old reputation for unmatched mobility, they could choose to fight or retreat as needed.
After brief consideration, Jin Cheng decisively chose the latter. The Qiang riders were not the Bei Mang army, which had the strength to rival the entire Li Yang Dynasty. Compared to Bei Liang, which was already a pitiful orphan, the Qiang people were even more precariously surviving between the cracks. After Jin Cheng made his decision, two thousand-man commanders from different tribes clearly showed expressions of relief. A young Qiang commander named Ke, who had witnessed his entire family’s male elders beheaded by Xu’s swords in his childhood, was extremely angry at Jin Cheng’s perceived cowardice. From atop his horse, he loudly berated Jin Cheng, vowing to lead his sixteen hundred tribal riders into battle.
Jin Cheng’s face darkened, but he patiently explained to the hotheaded youth that although the Long Xiang light cavalry were inferior to the heavy cavalry, they were certainly not easy prey. If there were other Long Xiang forces providing distant support, then their eight thousand riders would never leave Liu Zhou alive.
But the young commander, who had seen his family’s men beheaded by Xu’s swords as a child, refused to listen. He insisted on engaging the enemy and even mocked Jin Cheng, saying that the ten-thousand-man commander had disgraced the Qiang men.
Jin Cheng sneered inwardly and calmly turned his horse aside, clearing the path. “Ke E, if you want to die, I won’t stop you.”
The young commander raised his arm, and over a thousand Qiang riders behind him roared in unison, swinging their arm-bound swords fiercely.
As Ke E’s mount passed Jin Cheng’s horse, his expression softened slightly, and he sneered, “I offer my sixteen hundred riders as vanguard suicide troops. If the ten-thousand-man commander wishes to earn the first military honor of the Liang-Mang war, you surely know what to do.”
Jin Cheng narrowed his eyes, not minding the insult, but began weighing the pros and cons.
If Ke E’s unit could weaken the three thousand Long Xiang light cavalry, then in winning this hard-fought battle, the losses for the rest of the Qiang cavalry would not be too severe.
This deal could be done!
Without changing his expression, Jin Cheng watched as the sixteen hundred riders broke away from the main force and charged forward.
Watching those riders, many of whose faces still bore youthful innocence, ride farther away, Jin Cheng suddenly felt an inappropriate emotion—had he grown too accustomed to the comforts of wine and women in recent years? Had his hatred dulled compared to what he had imagined?
Jin Cheng shook his head, trying to dispel these unwanted thoughts, his eyes gradually hardening. He turned to the several thousand-man commanders who were eager to fight and said, “We’ll follow Ke E, but keep a one-mile distance.”
Five or six thousand-man commanders nodded eagerly, their eyes burning with anticipation.
Jin Cheng suddenly smiled. “Brothers, don’t forget the Sil Tiks on the great grasslands, who are willing to pay hundreds of taels of silver for a Liang sword. Hey, what a coincidence! Ahead, there are over three thousand waiting for us to take. As for who can take more, it depends on how many Bei Liang riders you can kill. I, Jin Cheng, won’t abuse my position as the ten-thousand-man commander to break this rule, so brothers, go ahead and kill to your heart’s content!”
Six miles away from Ke E’s sixteen hundred Qiang riders.
Three thousand riders, all clad in black armor and riding black horses, advanced silently forward, steadily and powerfully.
A giant black tiger ran freely along the outer edge of the cavalry formation.
At the head was a young rider dressed in black, not wearing armor. A Liang sword rested across the front of his horse, not yet drawn.
Half a horse length behind him was a scar-faced commander, holding a spear with a fresh head impaled on its tip—the scout who had been embedded in the Qiang cavalry. His swordsmanship was unknown, but he had tried to flee quickly when things turned bad. Unfortunately, even his speed could not escape the swift throw of the young black-clad rider’s iron spear. Before passing by the corpse, the scar-faced man thought he had nothing better to do and pulled the spear from the body, then lightly sliced off the head and impaled it on the spear tip.
The scar-faced man was none other than Wang Lingbao, a fierce general of the Long Xiang army.
He should not have been here but was supposed to be near Qing Cang City with his fellow deputy general, Li Mo Fan, patiently waiting for the old fool Liu Gui and his group of useless Bei Mang soldiers to come show off their might.
However, the commander had somehow learned from a talkative person that a Qiang cavalry force of eight thousand had broken through the border line and was rushing here to their deaths.
Wang Lingbao wanted to kill these Qiang riders, but the headquarters had already sent an urgent military order to the Liu Zhou governor’s office, instructing all units of the Long Xiang army to remain in place. Governor Yang Guangdou had even personally left the city to inspect the camp, smiling as he gave many gentle reminders to Wang Lingbao and Li Mo Fan.
Wang Lingbao naturally dared not disobey military orders. Even if it were just the command of the new Liang King, let alone the instructions of General Chu Lushan, he would not dare to act on his own.
However, since their commander wanted to kill, then let the commander bear the consequences, right? How could Wang Lingbao miss such a rare opportunity?
To intercept this hidden Qiang cavalry force moving southward across the vast terrain, the secretly mobilized ten thousand Long Xiang light cavalry had to split into three groups, searching for the enemy between Qing Cang Prefecture and Lin Yao military town.
When the ten thousand-strong force began its march, Governor Yang Guangdou and a young scholar named Chen Xiliang rode quickly to block their path, seemingly trying to dissuade them. Wang Lingbao, hiding at the rear of the army, pretended to dig his ears, acting as if he heard and saw nothing.
As for the violation of military tactics by dividing the ten thousand Long Xiang cavalry into three groups, Wang Lingbao didn’t care. The accusation that the Long Xiang army was ignoring the overall situation of Liu Zhou was true, but if the three thousand Long Xiang cavalry were defeated by eight thousand Qiang riders, Wang Lingbao would cut off his own head and use it as a urinal for others.
At that time, Wang Lingbao saw the governor was very angry. If it weren’t for the fact that he couldn’t beat their commander, he might have even tried to hit someone. The scholar, who seemed to be favored by the prince, showed no obvious expression.
Wang Lingbao knew in his heart that upon returning to Qing Cang City, the news of the Long Xiang army violating military orders would quickly reach the headquarters in Huaiyang Pass. Even if their commander took the blame, Wang Lingbao, as a deputy commander, would still face consequences. But what of it?
After more than a decade, the true Liang-Mang war had finally arrived. It only took a woman nine months to give birth, but he and Li Mo Fan and other rough men had waited for thirteen years!
He would not miss the first battle. If he didn’t take the lead, he would be betraying himself!
As for why the young commander insisted on attacking this Qiang force, Wang Lingbao didn’t care.
Wang Lingbao exhaled deeply, shook the head off the spear, and looked into the distance. The distance between the two forces was less than two miles, and he could already see the enemy cavalry accelerating.
Wang Lingbao murmured softly, “Bei Liang is safe with us. General, rest in peace.”
Xu Long Xiang slowly drew his Bei Liang sword.
In the sunlight, it gleamed with a blinding white light.
At the same time, the three thousand Long Xiang cavalry began raising their spears!
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