Translator: Foxs' Wuxia

Kou Zhong personally sent Ba Fenghan off on his journey, they hastened along the river for nearly ten miles when Ba Fenghan came to a halt and said, I am going to cross the river here, you need to go back to deal with a lot of things, no need to see me off!

Kou Zhong focused his attention to survey the situation on both shores. Upon seeing this, Ba Fenghan laughed and said, Dont forget how I have lived my life in the past, not to mention I am naturally sensible from the beginning, I have always guarded against other people. Rest assured! No one can stop me from going to Luoyang, including Bi Xuan. There was never a moment when I was so confident in myself.

Kou Zhong smiled and said, If I really dont feel at ease, I am going to leave everything to accompany you to Luoyang. That night when you dealt with Shimin, Yuanji, and a group of the House of Tangs martial art masters, whether in terms of strategy and skill, it was all exquisite and brilliant beyond compare. Evidently your hundred-day self-cultivation in the desert was not in vain.

Ba Fenghan said, That hundred days were cultivation in secret, going to Luoyang is to put it in practice. The two are indispensable.

After a short pause, he said, How about we sit down and talk a little bit?

Kou Zhong laughed and said, That is what I seek but fail to get. These past few days we have been rushing about for all kinds of troublesome matters, there was very little time to relax or to buy time to rest, practically there was no time to ask you, LaoGe about Badaier.

Ba Fenghan was leading him toward a big rock by the shore to sit down, laughing involuntarily, he said, You, this kid, are still unwilling to give up, right now I dont want, furthermore, I am unwilling to mention anything about her. Perhaps one day I might tell you everything, but definitely not tonight. Look! The starry sky tonight is so deep and beautiful. Whenever I look at the boundless night sky, I always feel that life shouldnt have any limitation. No matter how mysterious our thought is, compared to the mystery of the starry sky, its still like comparing small wizard and big wizard.

Kou Zhong followed his example to look up at the stars, he said in agreement, Mankind has one big disadvantage, which is, we can get used to any mysterious, unusual, marvelous things. The starry sky is the best example. A lot of time we dont feel like raising our head up to give it a glance.

Ba Fenghan was silent for half a day. Suddenly he sighed and said, Are you really ready to live and die with Luoyang?

Kou Zhong was slightly startled; looking at him, he said with a frown, Do you really think that Dou Jiande has no chance at all?

Smiling wryly, Ba Fenghan said, I know nothing about Dou Jiande, the only thing I know is that he had never met a genuinely formidable opponent. Xu Yuanlang and Meng Haigong are far inferior to Li Mi, Yuwen Huaji, Xue Ju, or even Liu Wuzhou at their peak. Dou Jiande was able to subdue them, it was not a proof that he has any ability. But Li Shimin is a commander-in-chief who has never met his match. The high and low are clearly distinguished. Unless we are blind, we will know that Dou Jiande certainly has no luck.

Kou Zhong dejectedly said, How I wish I could find a strong basis to refute your analysis, too bad I have the heart but not the power. I am willing to guard Luoyang, it is to buy time for my Shao Shuai army, not to throw my life in for Wang Shichong, this kind despicable lowly man.

Ba Fenghan said, Since we have identical view on the results of the Tang-Xia confrontation, then this matter can be handled better. After Li Shimin defeat Dou Army, he will certainly do all he can to destroy your young Shao Shuai Army, and the more sinister method is to have you, Shaoshuai lose your life in Luoyang, and wont return to Pengliang forever. At that time, Shao Shuai Army will collapse without fighting, Song Que can only retreat back to Lingnan in sorrow, and let the Tang Army proclaim themselves hegemon over the world. Therefore, you must reserve a retreat route for yourself, otherwise, regret will be too late.

Kou Zhong contemplated for a moment, he said, Whether this time Dou Jiande send his troops to attack the Tang solely for his own benefit, or whether he is doing it for the sake of our friendship, I must bear the responsibility; I simply cannot just look at him passing into oblivion. As long as I can use false information to deal a devastating setback toward Li Shiji, and to delay the danger facing Chenliu, I will make an attempt to pull Li Shimins hind leg. I have several ideas, but none has more than 50% chance of success. I have been thinking about this until my head spins.

Ba Fenghan said, Please forgive Xiongdi for being blunt; although you feel responsible for Dou Jiande coming to help, it is actually an excessive tendency to clemency [idiom: soft-hearted. This definition is from the dictionary; actually, the literal translation is very sexist, it basically says benevolence of women]. In current situation, Dou Jiande has no other choice. Just look at how he stations his troops in Wuzhi; furthermore, he told you that he could cross the river within three days, evidently he has adequate preparation, he already has the intention to attack the Tang Army. If he rushed over and seized Luoyang first, do you think he will be courteous to you? Anyone who wants to be emperor is a man who, follow me you are prosperous, against me you perish. Even if he was originally not that kind of person, but after tasting the taste of holding the supreme power, it is difficult to revert to the former way. You, Kou Zhong is now the head of the Shao Shuai Army, in everything, you can no longer rely on your own likes and dislikes, you must give thought to the overall situation. One day Li Shiji is still stationing his army in Kaifeng, one day the waterway and the Great River between Hulao and Luoyang will still be under the control of the Tang army. Your Shao Shuai Army wants to pull Li Shimins hind legs, not only it is a vain attempt, it is also a wishful thinking, just like a praying mantis wanting to block a cart with both arms. I am sure you dont like to hear these words, but I simply have to tell you this. On the battlefield, only the ruthless will be able to survive.

Smiling bitterly, Kou Zhong said, Your, LaoGes every word is a gem of wisdom, the last sentence is the golden rule of the battlefield even more, how could I not listen and obey? You, LaoGe still have other suggestion?

Ba Fenghan said, Attacking a city, defending a city, determining victory on the battlefield, you are a lot more adept than me. Naturally its up to you to find a way.

Kou Zhong nodded and said, Lao Ba, your words are irresolute like stern rebuke coming right into my face [dictionary says: practice in which a novice monk is shouted at or hit with a stick with the purpose of bringing about instant awakening (in Buddhism)], so my whole person sobers up. Battlefield has battlefield rules, its called a king if successful, called a bandit is defeated. This is what Li kid personally said to me, no wonder he has been so successful, because he did not have the excessive tendency to clemency. On the battlefield, I dont care if he is the Tianwang Laozi [king of heaven, the old man], if he is not a friend, then he is the enemy. His Niangs!

Speaking about ruthlessness, Ba Fenghan said, Li Shimin and the others are no match for us, Tujue people. Dont look at how Tuli calls you Xiong [brother, older or in general] and speaks about Di [brother, younger]; once there is a conflict of interest, he definitely wont make you an exception.

Kou Zhong said, I wonder if I could be so bold as to ask you, LaoGe a question: why are you willing to turn your head around to be together with us and deal with your own clansmen?

Ba Fenghan cast his gaze to the vast canal flowing under his feet; it was quite half a day later that he spoke heavily, In the past, when I had not really understood human affairs yet, probably around nine or ten years old, I was secretly in love with a beautiful little girl in our clan, she was a little older than me; among the children of our clan, she was very popular, she was so good to everybody, she was the leader of the girls.

Kou Zhong said, You and I both are precocious; when I was eight, I wanted to take a peek of other peoples Guniang [girl, young woman, daughter] taking a bath, but each time I only provoked others to come to yell at me and beat me soundly; I never successfully peeped.

Ba Fenghan spoke in displeasure, My first love was not dirty like yours. I just looked at her, listened to her speaking, and I was perfectly contented. Because my family was slaughtered by the Wolf Army at Gaochang, I was like a little beggar within this horse thief community, I could only use firewood as a weapon to train martial art in secret. In front of her, I felt so inferior even more that I did not dare to speak to her.

Kou Zhong said, No wonder we are like birds of a feather [lit. smelled the same way], turns out we all suffer enough from humiliating childhood.

As if he did not hear him at all, Ba Fenghan was fully immersed in painful and touching memories. His pair of eyes emitted reminiscing expression, he slowly spoke in deep and low voice, One day, it was drizzling in the valley and the plain, the children of the clan were playing a game similar to your army catching thief. In the vast prairie, she led a group of little girls, chasing a boy, approximately of the same age as me, who was bigger, taller and more good looking than me. I could only hide on the side, stealing a glance at her. In my heart I was so jealous that I want to shed blood. That feeling, I still cannot forget even until today.

That feeling is definitely extremely hard to take, Kou Zhong spoke sympathetically.

Ba Fenghan went on, Suddenly she discovered me hiding within the underbrush; she dashed in front of me, stood with arms akimbo, and spoke angrily, What are you doing here? When speaking the last sentence, he used Tujue language; obviously this phrase has been carved in his bones and engraved in his heart, naturally he retold it in Tujue language, exactly like she spoke it at that time.

Knitting his brows, Kou Zhong said, She did not seem to be very nice to you.

Ba Fenghan smiled and said, My first reaction was just like yours, I was deeply hurt. But then she waved her arms to call the other girls and yelled, Well catch this kid! And then she and the entire group of girls came to chase me. So I ran, while I was so happy that I wanted to cry. Since my family bankrupt and the people dead [idiom: ruined and orphaned], I have never been happier than that moment.

It was an ordinary, but a very moving story, Kou Zhong commented, And then what happened between you and that girl?

Nothing happened, Ba Fenghan replied, Three days later, the Wolf Army came. In the chaos, everybody scattered in all directions to flee for our lives. After the fact, I returned to our camp, and found her dead body, naked. From that day on, I made up my mind to set myself against the Wolf Army.

Kou Zhong was speechless, Even a ten-year-old girl, they did not let her off? Are they human? he said.

Ba Fenghan said, Now you should understand why I kidnapped Badaier, and why I broke up with her. He then patted him on the shoulder and said, Ill see you again in Luoyang.

He sprang up and threw himself into the rolling-and-flowing-continuously river.

Inside the conference room of the general mansion Yang Gongqings temporary residence located in the southeast part of the city, Xu Ziling spread out the map, which he spent half a night of effort to survey, inspect, and drew on the table. He went one step further by explaining it to Yang Gongqing and Ma Chang, saying, Li Shimins commander banner was replaced by Li Yuanjis; Li Shimin should not be outside the city. The besieging army should be under Li Yuanjis command. The main force army is concentrated on the east side, about five li from Luoyang, located on a hilly highland between the Luo River and the Cao Canal. There are three army camps made of wood and stone, built in a hurry, next to the camps are temporary piers for the navy ships to moor, there are also four wooden bridge spanning across the water, linking both sides of the river, tightly gripping the throat of the two river courses.

The Luo River and the Cao Canal flowed out of Luoyang in parallel to the east, about half a li apart, they were the major waterways leading to the Great River. The Tang Army set up their command headquarters here, it showed their determination to cut off the passageway between Luoyang and Hulao, so that the Zheng Army could not link up with the Xia Army.

Xu Ziling continued in details, There are more than eighteen other strongholds with enough scale surrounding the City of Luoyang, most are occupying strategic hilly highlands, easy to defend, difficult to attack, equipped with moats and trenches; they indeed have the momentum to trap Luoyang to the death.

Yang Gongqing and Ma Chang had their attention focused on the distribution of the camps and trenches on the map; the former sighed and said, Li Shimin is indeed an out-of-the-world talent in troops deployment, anybody knows that his method of defending a city is unparalleled in the world, who could have thought that his method of besieging a city is also this outstanding? It does not matter from which gate we are going out to attack, due to the trenches and moats are limiting the path we march the army, we can only follow a circuitous Z-shaped route [orig. character], and must go through the opponents camps and guarded areas. The Tang Army can both easily march out to strike back, and can hold fast to the solid stronghold, waiting for friendly forces to come to help.

Ma Chang pointed to a point south of the City of Luoyang and said, South of the city is open plain area, four camps but only one is located on the highland, therefore, the trenches are particularly many. If we could fill two trenches, we could take these two wooden camps on the flat land, then without attack, this camp built on the hill will be in chaos; we will be able to open access through the blockade in the south.

Frowning, Yang Gongqing said, Filling the trenches is easy, attacking the camps is difficult. These three camps military strength put together will be up to twenty thousand men, along the outer edge, each camp has eight arrow towers, rising high to four zhang into the air, surrounded but deep trenches. The three camps correspond to each other. Even if our whole army came out, I am afraid we will still be unable to capture any one of the camps. Particularly disconcerting is the Tang Army in the other camps will get wind and come to help, they could cut off our retreat path, and then our army could easily encounter the misfortune of total defeat of an army.

Ma Chang said, If there was Li Shimin keeping watch outside the city, we should wait for Shaoshuai to come back before making any plan, fortunately, the one outside the city now is the rejoicing-in-grandiose-deeds, eager-to-redeem-his-lost-reputation while making-vain-attempt-to-surpass-Li-Shimins Li Yuanji. This is another matter altogether. I dare say that before he left, Li Shimin already gave strict order to forbid Li Yuanji from taking the initiative to besiege the city. We must provoke Li Yuanjis desire to go out to battle, to force him to besiege the city, to put his disposition of troops in chaos first, to tire out his troops. And then when his disposition of troops is in chaos and his soldiers weary, we seize the opportunity to break the siege. At that time Shaoshuai should be back already! With Shaoshuai in command, what is there for Yang Gong to be afraid of?

Yang Gongqing asked Xu Ziling, What is Zilings opinion?

Xu Ziling replied, Our greatest advantage is the city walls are solid, the walls are thick, the city defenses equipment is adequate and the formidable power is astonishing. It does not matter if the enemys military strength is several-folds above ours, due to we are concentrated and the enemy is scattered, the initiative is firmly in our hands. For this reason, I am in favor of Ma Jiangjuns strategy of throwing the enemys disposition of troops is chaos and tiring their soldiers, day and night without a break we fill the trenches and cross over the moats, continuously coming out from each gate to attack, or sending several units to go out at the same time, to make it difficult for Li Yuanji to mind both his head and his tail simultaneously. This way, not only we can boost morale and reduce the fear toward the Tang Army, we could even break the siege and go out, to go to Hulao to join forces with the Dou Army.

Yang Gongqing finally agreed. Rising to his full height, he said, Very well! Well do it according to what you said. I will immediately go into the palace to see Wang Shichong. If he dares not to agree, we will part ways and go home.

When Liu Zhicheng was brought into Chenlius Zongguan Mansions inner hall, the first impression in Kou Zhongs mind was that he was weak in character and might be without any restrain in terms of female charms.

After traveling extensively over the past many years, seeing all kinds of men all over the world, based on his ability and wisdom, he had cultivated some kind of skill in observing people.

Liu Zhichengs build and appearance was out of the ordinary, his clothes were tastefully chosen, about thirty years old, but the corners of his eyes were already full of crows feet. Before speaking, his smile appeared first, the corner of his mouth carried the springtime; precisely the style of someone who considered himself distinguished and accomplished, the appearance of spoiled-demon scholar who cannot withstand the lure of female charms. When this kind of man was pleased with himself, he would be very happy to forget his form, when frustrated, he might panic, frightened, and be at a loss. Just by listening to his footsteps, Kou Zhong knew that he had his thoughts in a whirl, like a thief lacking in confidence, losing his mind. When he saw that waiting for him in the inner hall were unexpectedly Kou Zhong, Luo Qifei, Xu Xingzhi, and Xuan Yong, four big shots of the Shao Shuai Army, his heart was thumping so hard that even Kou Zhong could hear it very clearly from a zhang away.

Kou Zhong waved his hand to order the men who escorted Liu Zhicheng in to withdraw from the inner hall, before he spoke indifferently, Zicheng, sit down!

Liu Zhicheng hung his head down, afraid to meet Kou Zhongs penetrating gaze; saluting respectfully, he said, Xiaoren can just stand right here, Shaoshuai, please bestow your instruction.

Bang!

Luo Qifeis slapped the table with his palm, he shouted, Shaoshuai bestowed you a seat means he is bestowing you a seat. Immediately sit down for me.

Liu Zhichengs entire body shook severely, his face turned to the color of the earth, trembling all over, he sat down on the other side of the four men with fear and trepidation.

Kou Zhong smiled and said, Zhicheng, your handwriting is indeed not bad, the calligraphic style is like flying dragon, dancing phoenix, you are worthy to be an erudite scholar, no wonder Qifei entrusts you with heavy responsibility.

Xuan Yong took out a roll of small notes, which he spread out on the table. Xu Xingzhi then use paper weight to keep it down on the table. The small strips of paper were densely packed with small characters the size of a flys head, the content was all about the situation after Kou Zhongs arrival in Chenliu.

Liu Zhicheng took a furtive look, immediately his countenance changed dramatically, rolling and tumbling down by the chair, he sank to his knees, his body trembling all over, he said, Xiaoren deserves to die! Xiaoren deserves to die! Shaoshuai, spare my life!

Luo Qifei stood up suddenly, pointing his halberd-fingers, he scolded, These notes were taken from the carrier pigeon you released. You are worse than a beast, when did I, Luo Qifei ever treat you meagerly?

Kou Zhong smiled and said, Qifei, please calm down, Zhicheng already admitted it, saving us great effort in torturing and serving him, so it can be considered as a merit. If in the future he is willing to be honestly making up for his error, plus since he has not really caused our Army any considerable damage, we ought to use discretion and be lenient in dealing with the offender.

Liu Zhicheng hurriedly begged, Shaoshuai please have mercy!

Kou Zhong spoke indifferently, Get back to your seat for me.

Shaking and trembling, Liu Zhicheng struggled to crawl up; like a puddle of mud, he squeezed himself back into the chair, panic-stricken tears were gushing out of his eyes, his guts trembling, his heart alarmed, he hung his head low, as if he suddenly aged more than ten years.

Xuan Yong sighed and said, If you knew it will end up like this, why did you do it in the first place? Besides, no one forced you to join our Shao Shuai Army.

Liu Zhicheng whimpered, Xiaoren knows I did wrong! Shaoshuai have mercy!

Kou Zhong waited until he calmed down a bit, and then he got straight to the point, What benefit did Xiang Yushan give you?

Everybody was stunned.

Shaken, Liu Zhicheng raised his head. After meeting Kou Zhongs gaze, like he was struck by lightning, he looked down again, and then with shaking voice he said, How did Shaoshuai ... ay! I ...

Luo Qifei roared, Shaoshuai asked what benefit Xiang Yushan gave you? You havent owned up to the facts yet?

Inwardly Kou Zhong was delighted, his remark was purely speculative, he did not have any confidence in his own guess. But now, naturally he knew that he had hit the target with a single shot [idiom]. It should be noted that Liu Zhicheng was originally Pengliang Bangs people, and previously Xiang Yushan has been moving about in Pengliang, the Xiang Family even had their base camp in Pengliang, therefore, Xiang Yushan, who operated casino and pleasure houses had contact with dissolute men like Liu Zhicheng. Moreover, Xiang Yushan was deeply aware of the weakness of Liu Zhichengs character, by employing some conspiracy technique, naturally it was easy to buy him.

Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!

Liu Zhichengs teeth chattered, he was unable to utter even half a sentence.

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, Xiang Yushan could be considered an old friend; running into me, Kou Zhong, when did he ever not suffer losses? I give you half a sichen to think clearly. One, you honestly and sincerely cooperate with me, then I will take everything upon myself on your behalf, any problem can be solved for you; or two, I will hand you over to the Ministry of Justice to be disciplined. Treason is a major crime, it is not a laughing matter at all. Guards! Take him out and watch him for me!

The warrior guarding outside the door responded and came in, they hustled Liu Zhicheng, whose legs had turned into jelly away.

Luo Qifei irately said, Why is Shaoshuai so lenient toward this kind of despicable crafty villain? I am not afraid he wont talk.

Kou Zhong smiled and said, To catch a big fish, naturally we must spend a bit of effort. Ha! Xiang Yushan indeed has some skills, he knew how to set his hand from the inside to topple our Army.

Knitting his brows, Xu Xingzhi said, How could Xiang Yushan have any connection with the Tang Army?

Kou Zhong said, No need to take trouble to think about this matter; right now there are two things that we should think first: one, how to exploit Liu Zhicheng to release fake intelligence, so that Li Shiji will be duped, two, if Dou Jiandes army is defeated, how are we going to deal with the aftermath.

Hearing that, everybody felt like their heart was sinking like a piece of lead. Even though they had successfully transported grains to Luoyang, and they had convinced Dou Jiande to help Luo[yang], but Shao Shuai Army was still in absolute disadvantageous position to struggle for their survival. The road ahead was vast and obscure, no one could maintain an optimistic state of mind.

Kou Zhong rolled up the note, handed it to Luo Qifei, and said with a laugh, Fortunately, Qifei used nets to catch the pigeons, we now can send the original pigeon to deliver the note. I want to have a good sleep, wake me up at dusk; you all will accompany me for dinner.

Chapter title: In Buddhism, former dust refers to the impurity contacted previously in the sentient world.