Chapter Thirty-Four: The Untrustworthy Barbarian

Sorry for the sparse updates these past two days, I’ve been busy with my child’s school matters. Starting today, I’ll make up for it.

...

Upon discovering the presence of the Night Raiders, the Tartar soldiers pursuing the Ming troops did not panic. They quickly split off a squad to intercept, while the rest continued their chase toward the stronghold at Dushi Fort.

The men of the Night Raiders were not to be outdone. They drew their crossbows and aimed at the Tartars. After the sharp whistling of arrows, more than a dozen Tartars fell to the ground.

The Tartars had come to sow chaos under cover of darkness, burning and killing. To keep agile, few wore armor, so the arrows easily pierced those struck. The luckier ones who avoided fatal wounds writhed on the ground, gritting their teeth in pain.

Though the marauding Tartars were themselves Ming soldiers, they knew well the prowess of the Night Raiders in their ranks. Yet not one flinched; instead, they scattered to encircle the Night Raiders, sprinting and leaping to evade the bolts.

Those Tartars on horseback carried bows. Now, they drew and fired at the Night Raiders. Several Night Raiders were caught off guard and shot from their mounts; two died instantly, while others survived thanks to their cotton armor.

Arrows flew back and forth, and cries of pain echoed as men fell, struck in the chaos. Amidst the confusion, a Tartar officer’s shouted orders rang out, and soon dozens of Tartars armed with muskets rushed out from the camp.

With muskets now in play, the Night Raiders dared not advance, gathering dozens of Ming soldiers and Tartars into a tense standoff. The Ming troops, who had escaped the Tartars’ blades, now paused to catch their breath, stopped fleeing, and, armed with whatever weapons they could find, joined the Night Raiders in battling the encircling Tartars. They knew that fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Night Raiders might offer a chance to survive. If they fled alone, the handful of Night Raiders could not hold back the masses of Tartars—once the Night Raiders fell, their own fate was sealed.

The great fire raged in the camp, but as it was deep night and the burning tents were low, the fire’s illumination was limited. Thus, neither side could make full use of their archery.

Though there were dozens of musketmen among the Tartars, since the Ming dynasty’s Yongle reign had taken in the Tartars, strict limits were placed on their use of firearms. These Tartar musketeers rarely handled muskets and lacked training; their aim was poor.

One Tartar, fumbling in panic, loaded too much powder. As soon as he lit the fuse, the barrel exploded with a bang, injuring him and a nearby mounted Tartar, who screamed, clutching his face struck by lead, and tumbled from his horse.

Those Tartars armed with muskets, seeing this, were shaken, their hands trembling as they loaded powder. Their speed slowed greatly, and when they did manage to load, they blindly pointed their muskets at the Ming soldiers and fired, not daring to look at the barrel.

Dozens of muskets were neither few nor many; though their loading was slow, their thunder was impressive. Unfortunately, those struck among the Ming soldiers were rare.

After three or four volleys, the leading Tartar officer frowned and shouted for the Tartars to discard their muskets, for with one more round, he’d see nothing at all. There was no wind, so the gunpowder smoke lingered on the Tartars’ side, leaving the Ming unaffected.

With the muskets cast aside, the Night Raiders and the Ming soldiers who had escaped saw their chance and, emboldened by the darkness, fought the Tartars in close combat.

...

There were not many Tartar horsemen—fewer even than the Night Raiders opposing them. Their aim was to prevent the Ming from breaking through to Dushi Fort, not to annihilate them. For the moment, they could not disperse the Night Raiders, nor could the Night Raiders breach their line.

...

Lu Qing had long since hoisted Eunuch Guo onto his back and rushed into the Night Raiders’ ranks. By the light of the burning camp, he saw fear etched on their faces, many wounded, and some horses bore corpses instead of living riders—one of them even a hundred-man commander.

Recalling what Zhou Yunyi had said earlier, Lu Qing understood: the Night Raiders must have slipped across the border by little-known paths for a raiding mission, only to return and find the Tartars in revolt. Uncertain and caught off guard, they were naturally shaken. Yet their skill and courage, honed by training, set them apart from the soldiers of the Left Guard, who had simply fled; instead, they chose to stand and resist.

Eunuch Guo was still unconscious, his pale face ghastly. If Lu Qing did not believe he still had use, he would not have bothered to carry him here.

During the standoff, several dozen fleeing Ming soldiers gathered. As their numbers swelled, with the formidable Night Raiders holding the line, the Tartars gave up trying to scatter them, but neither did they retreat, holding the only road into the fort firmly.

Inside Dushi Fort, chaos mounted. What had begun as a few fires now engulfed the entire stronghold. The cries of battle from the Ming atop the walls weakened, and the cannons, which had fired earlier, had long since fallen silent.

Stalled between advance and retreat, the soldiers of the Left Guard were anxious, and so too were the Night Raiders. They hailed from various towns and forts of the Right Guard, not subordinate to each other. Missions were led by squad leaders, and in larger actions, by temporary officers. Today, they had been commanded to cross the border by a hundred-man officer of the Left Guard, but he had tragically been felled by a Wala arrow during the mission, leaving no officer to direct them.

Unled, these dozens of men were headless dragons. Their military honor forbade retreat, especially with Dushi Fort still in Ming hands; to withdraw would mean certain execution under Ming law, even if they made it back.

Watching the crisis unfold at Dushi Fort, Lu Qing knew that if the Wala broke through, ten thousand Wala cavalry would pour through the walls, and survival would be impossible.

He had observed the terrain on the way: from the Left Guard to Kaiping Guard, the land inside the walls was flat, perfect for cavalry charges—no mountains to block the way, not even a grassland like Yanghe Pass, nor any sizable woods for cover. Escaping Wala cavalry here would be all but impossible.

Lu Qing saw only two options for survival: first, reach the military station, find a horse, and flee before Dushi Fort fell, like Yang Jun had done earlier; second, dash into Dushi Fort and hope, against all odds, that the fortress would withstand the chaos.

The first option best suited his interests; so long as the fort and the soldiers escaping from the camp could hold the Wala and Tartars for an hour or two, he’d be long gone. But the problem was Eunuch Guo had collapsed at the worst possible moment. If he abandoned Guo, Lu Qing could save himself, but meeting Wang Zhen would be a pipe dream.

The second option offered little hope, even if the fort held. Who could guarantee Commander Zhao Mei of Kaiping Guard wouldn’t detain him and Eunuch Guo, as Yang Jun had done?

Both choices were Lu Qing’s only paths, yet neither promised a favorable outcome.

What should he do?

...

Lu Qing was caught between a rock and a hard place. He wanted to escape in the confusion, but with an unconscious Eunuch Guo, he could not. If he stayed, the fall of Dushi Fort seemed imminent.

And there was another troubling question: would Zhou Yunyi let him go?

As he hesitated, a voice thundered behind him: “Brothers, follow me and kill the Tartars!”

“Kill the Tartars!” countless voices echoed, shaking the Night Raiders and the gathered Ming soldiers, and startling the Tartars opposite.

All eyes turned, and saw that the shout came from the direction of the military station. Soon, over a hundred men, led by an officer, charged toward them.

Shi Dayong?

Seeing the leading Ming officer, Lu Qing was stunned. Wasn’t this Shi Dayong, the banner commander ordered to escort him and Eunuch Guo?

Looking at the Ming soldiers behind Shi Dayong, Lu Qing was momentarily bewildered. They were a motley group: soldiers who had escorted him to Dushi Fort, station runners, auxiliary troops who cooked, fed horses, and chopped grass, ragged laborers, blacksmiths in their work attire, and even some civilians.

These courageous men mostly lacked proper weapons—some wielded kitchen knives, others wooden sticks torn from shops, half-finished blades, fire pokers, grass-cutting choppers...

“Are you not all soldiers of the Ming? Are you not sons of Han? The Tartars are right before you—why stand here dazed instead of charging to kill them!” Shi Dayong, brimming with bravado, his face rough and fierce, brandished his saber and cursed as he swept past the shocked Night Raiders and Ming soldiers, charging fearlessly at the Tartars.

“Damn you filthy Tartars, die! I told you long ago, you treacherous barbarians can’t be trusted—kill!” With a roar, Shi Dayong’s saber struck the face of a stupefied Tartar, instantly splitting it in two, exposing bone and bloody flesh, even cleaving the eyeball in half.