Chapter 24: Four-Fortress Coalition

Rumble~

The sky was covered with dark clouds, and the sound of muffled thunder rang out constantly. The originally drizzling rain became heavier and heavier.

It seemed this rain would last all night!

After lunch, Li Xiao lay on the bed and fell asleep, only to be awakened by sounds outside at the Zi hour (11 PM-1 AM).

The Zi hour, which is 11 PM, meant it was time to set off.

After dressing, Li Xiao, Dahu, and Erhu came to the outer room.

Dinner was ready. The staple food was the leftover horse meat from yesterday, served with pickled vegetables and millet porridge. Li Xiao ate with relish.

The Old Master, Grandpa, Old Man Zhao, and the others ate silently. No one spoke; only the sounds of chewing horse meat and slurping porridge could be heard.

Only the old lady and Qin Da Ni sat aside, unable to eat anything, quietly wiping away tears.

They knew clearly what these men were going to do tonight, and they were even more afraid that these men wouldn’t come back.

“Stop crying”

“Like you’re crying at a funeral”

The Old Master scolded the old lady and Qin Da Ni while eating horse meat.

Before setting out on an expedition, crying and whimpering was the biggest taboo.

Therefore, before ancient regular armies fought, soldiers were generally not allowed to meet their families, so as not to affect morale.

Perhaps the death of her eldest son had hit the old lady hard. This time, she ignored the Old Master and walked up to Li Xiao and the other two.

Hugging their heads, she said: “You must come back safely~”

Her eldest son was gone, and her second son was missing; the old lady didn’t want to lose her grandsons too.

“Grandma, we will be careful!” Li Xiao nodded and said.

His gaze turned firmly to Qin Da Ni, reassuring her!

But the Old Master was extremely dissatisfied with the old lady’s behavior and scolded: “If you want your grandsons to die, then keep talking!”

All veterans understood a principle: the more afraid of death, the easier it is to die.

The old lady being so reluctant to let go of her grandsons might make Li Xiao and the others waver in their hearts, thereby becoming more fearful of war.

When fighting the enemy, if one is always thinking about how not to get hurt…

Then one is not far from death.

“Don’t listen to your grandma’s nonsense!” The Old Master looked at Li Xiao and the other two and said.

“You just charge forward. If a blade comes, this old man will block it for you!”

The Old Master wasn’t worried about Li Xiao, but Dahu and Erhu.

Li Xiao was mature and steady, able to remain calm even in battle. Such a temperament wouldn’t be easily fettered by emotions, so the Old Master was very at ease.

Instead, he was worried about Dahu and Erhu.

Although Dahu was also quite steady, he was far behind Li Xiao.

And Erhu, needless to mention, was impulsive and irritable, the most unstable one.

“How are those three Khitans next door?” The Old Master looked at Qin Da Ni and continued to ask.

“Nothing unusual. They stayed in the house all day. When I sent them horse meat just now, all three were there!” Qin Da Ni said.

The Old Master nodded gently, feeling relieved.

Although these Khitans had a grudge against the Karluks, they couldn’t be unguarded against; one must always be prepared for the worst.

This concerned the lives of nearly six hundred people from Hexi Fortress and the other three fortresses.

Once the Karluks learned the news and set up an ambush in advance, the consequences would be unimaginable.

No amount of caution was excessive!

“After we leave, you have to be careful. If these three Khitans have any bad intentions, have someone shoot them dead immediately,” the Old Master said with fierce eyes and killing intent.

Qin Da Ni nodded gently, indicating she understood!

After eating their fill, everyone put on their bows, arrows, and weapons, donned straw rain capes, and walked out the door. It was still raining outside, and visibility was lost beyond a few dozen meters.

Successively, more and more people walked out from various courtyards.

Riding warhorses, wearing straw rain capes, holding spears, with curved sabers at their waists and bows and arrows hanging on their horses, they advanced slowly, fully armed.

Behind them were the worried gazes and reluctant expressions of many relatives.

But no one could escape this war. If they didn’t want to be enslaved by the Karluks, they could only go to the battlefield.

Slowly, everyone converged like a torrent.

In the open space north of Hexi Fortress, more than four hundred cavalrymen stood silently in a dense mass.

No one spoke; only the warhorses beneath them neighed uneasily, frightened by the muffled thunder.

Boom boom boom~

Another bolt of lightning struck, its purple light instantly illuminating the earth.

In this instant, more than four hundred cavalrymen wearing straw rain capes could be clearly seen, silent as ghosts. Every face showed solemnity, silence, or tension.

At the very front of the crowd, the Old Master and two others were sitting on their horses, gazing at everyone.

Li Xiao followed behind the Old Master.

Although he had become the Hexi Fortress Lord, he clearly couldn’t suppress the situation today. The Old Master had to step in to awe and command the troops from the other three fortresses.

“Use strips of cloth to plug the horses’ ears, and use wood to gag all the horses’ mouths!”

The first sentence the Old Master spoke was an order.

Horses are afraid of thunder, so their ears must be plugged to prevent them from being frightened and uncontrollable.

Gagging the horses’ mouths was also to prevent them from neighing and alerting the enemy.

In fact, anyone with a little experience knew these things. The Old Master was mainly telling young people like Erhu and Tie Tou.

To prevent them from forgetting due to nervousness when going into battle hurriedly.

Moreover, for general night raids, besides gagging the horses’ mouths, the hooves also had to be wrapped.

But today it was raining, and the ground was wet, so the trampling of warhorses wouldn’t make too much noise.

If wrapped with cloth, it would absorb water and increase weight, affecting the warhorses’ speed instead.

“Sanhe Fortress has been captured by the Karluks; their next target is Hexi Fortress and Hedong Fortress.”

“Then Ta Village and Gushan Fortress.”

“So that your wives and daughters won’t be ravaged by the Karluks, so that your children and families won’t become Karluk slaves.”

“Tonight, follow me to raid Sanhe Fortress and kill all the Karluks!”

The Old Master’s cold voice rang out in the rainy night, his roar full of solemn killing intent reaching everyone’s ears.

Without overly passionate or stirring words, the Old Master just told them a fact.

If they didn’t defeat the Karluks, everyone’s families would be ruined and dead.

And precisely because of this, everyone present instantly became murderous, secretly tightening their grip on their spears and curved sabers.

“Kill!”

“Kill~”

“Kill!”

Low roars rang out in the rainy night, condensing solemn power, constantly swirling and echoing in the wind and rain.

“Set off!”

The Old Master shouted in a deep voice, turned his horse around, and took the lead toward the direction of Sanhe Fortress.

Qin Kaishan, Zhao Tiezhu, Li Xiao, and others followed closely behind.

The distance between Hexi Fortress and Sanhe Fortress wasn’t too far, only about forty li.

Under normal circumstances, they could arrive in less than an hour.

But tonight, the speed was much slower.

Marching at night was inherently very dangerous, let alone on a rainy night.

Fortunately, the Han people around Hexi Fortress often went down to the river to catch fish, getting effective supplementation of fish liver oil, so the rate of night blindness was far lower than other nomadic peoples.

This was also the reason Li Xiao dared to propose a night raid.

Moreover, these people were fellow villagers who spent time together from morning till night, very familiar with each other. Following closely behind the person in front, they basically wouldn’t get separated.

Until half an hour later, when the group reached a slope, the Old Master suddenly raised his hand to signal everyone to stop.

He narrowed his eyes and listened carefully to the movements in the wind and rain. Years of combat experience made him detect anomalies ahead.

Others also became alert immediately, tightening their grip on weapons, ready to meet possible combat.

“It should be the troops from Hedong Fortress arriving!” The Old Master narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at the darkness in the distance.

Hedong Fortress was closer to Sanhe Fortress.

So the troops from Hedong Fortress didn’t go to Hexi Fortress but met on the way.

Sure enough, not long after, a fast horse galloped out of the darkness, and the Old Master winked at Third Grandpa.

The other party immediately rode forward and returned a moment later, reporting: “It’s people from Hedong Fortress!”

The Old Master nodded slightly: “Let’s go”

The crowd then moved forward slowly, finally merging with the people from Hedong Fortress.

The person in charge of Hedong Fortress was a strong man of about forty. His arms were almost as thick as an adult’s thigh, and he looked like a giant bear riding on a horse.

His face was full of transverse flesh plus a beard, and even the spear shaft he held was a bit thicker than others’.

Li Xiao was very familiar with this person; his name was Luo Ping!

He was related by marriage to the Li family, being the father-in-law of Li Xiao’s eldest sister!

Currently, he was the Fortress Lord of Hedong Fortress!

He rode up to the Old Master and shouted respectfully: “Uncle Li~”

The Old Master nodded gently. Leaving aside the relationship between the two families, just considering the relationship between the Old Master and Luo Ping’s father, he deserved this ‘Uncle’.

“Ha, Little Pingzi, haven’t seen you for more than a year, you’ve gotten fat again!”

“If you keep getting fatter, riding a horse will be a struggle later!” Grandpa Qin Kaishan said with a laugh, even patting Luo Ping’s belly with his hand.

It sounded solid!

Luo Ping also smiled helplessly: “Uncle Qin, don’t laugh at me.”

“I can’t help it either; I gain weight even drinking water, can’t lose it!”

“Sigh, then there’s no helping it” Qin Kaishan shook his head and laughed.

Turning to Zhao Tiezhu beside him, he said: “If placed in the Central Plains, Little Pingzi’s physique would surely make him a great general.”

So fat he could hardly ride a horse

After merging with the people from Hedong Fortress, the four-fortress coalition finally took shape, and the whole team became stronger.

The military strength reached nearly six hundred men.

In the rainy night with thunder and lightning, this team moved slowly toward the northeast, getting closer and closer to the location of Sanhe Fortress.

Another hour passed, and the Old Master raised his hand again to stop everyone.

“Almost there”

“Sanhe Fortress is ahead!” The Old Master said in a deep voice, his sharp gaze staring into the darkness in the distance.

Although due to the obstruction of the rainy night, nothing could be seen.

But the Old Master was very familiar with the surrounding terrain and knew the location of Sanhe Fortress even with his eyes closed.

“The Karluks should be fast asleep” Zhao Tiezhu listened carefully to the sounds in the wind and rain; there was no movement from the direction of Sanhe Fortress.

“Wait a little longer”

The Old Master shook his head gently and didn’t choose to attack immediately.

Instead, he looked at Third Grandpa beside him again. The other party immediately took out a piece of wood the thickness of a finger.

Put it to his mouth and blew~

Screech~

Screech~

Screech~

Shrill and piercing sounds rang out in this rainy night. The wind and rain couldn’t block its propagation, but it didn’t arouse the Karluks’ vigilance.

Because the sound blown from this wooden stick was very similar to an eagle’s cry.

Even if the Karluks heard it, they would only think it was a goshawk crying.

Accompanied by three eagle cries of varying lengths, not long after, three riders emerged from the darkness in the distance, galloping quickly toward the main force.

“Uncle”

After the three arrived, the person in front shouted.

This person was Li Dashan!

He had been sent to Sanhe Fortress to scout the enemy situation during the day and had been hiding until late at night.

It had been raining for a long time. Although the three wore straw rain capes, they were also shivering from the cold.

But their suffering for the day was worth it.

(End of this chapter)