Chapter 281: Scent on the Wind

Over two hours later, the Xia Province troops who had gone in pursuit finally trickled back.

Hong Chenglue had slipped away again. The man was slicker than an eel in oil. Still, He Chunhua had brought down another thirty to forty of Xun Province’s roving cavalry.

After subtracting the losses Hong Chenglue had taken in his raid on the camp, he now had barely over two hundred men left under his command.

After a night of rushing back and forth, either riding at full speed or leading men into battle, even He Chunhua no longer bothered to hide his exhaustion. He turned to He Lingchuan and asked, “How are the grain wagons?”

“Thirty-four were burned, but we managed to salvage quite a lot of grain. They’re sorting it now,” He Lingchuan reported. He had not been running around all night for nothing. “From some rough estimates, counting last night and tonight together, we’ve lost about a hundred thousand kilograms in total.”

The rock wolf Lu Xin had mauled a good number of Xun Province soldiers in the fighting, but the price was two arrows buried in its body and a gash on its right paw. At the moment, the medicine ape Ling Guang was wrapping it up in bandages.

He Chunhua let out a long, heavy breath. “Acceptable.”

There were still close to 650,000 kilograms left. He would not be showing up at the front lines empty-handed.

He moved on to ask about the battle in camp.

Once Wu Shaoyi had received the mechanical bird bearing his warning, he had prepared the camp for battle. That alone was enough to keep Hong Chenglue from pulling off another clean ambush.

Even so, there had been only about four hundred men guarding the camp, while the enemy had ridden in with three hundred cavalry. The Xia Province soldiers had fought bitterly. The Xun Province riders had not even broken through the cheval-de-frise before they began sending in volleys of arrows and fire.

Fortunately, Wu Shaoyi had already ordered water to be thrown on the tents, supplies, and all manner of gear. That first wave of fire had done little more than scorch some canvas.

The core of a surprise raid lay in the surprise. If the enemy had not been caught unprepared, half the effect would have been gone before it began.

Hong Chenglue then ordered his men to use gunpowder bombs. But the grain wagons were spread out and well concealed. The blasts did damage, but nothing catastrophic.

After two failed assaults, he could tell at a glance that the defenders had been expecting him.

At that point, Elder Liang had personally stepped onto the field to face Hong Chenglue. If he had not, the man would have turned the camp into a slaughterhouse, and the Xia Province forces would have lost far more than they did.

The cost was that Elder Liang took a spear-thrust to the right shoulder and a deep wound under the ribs. Neither was light.

He specialized in spells, and on a battlefield, going head-to-head with a seasoned general like Hong Chenglue placed him at a natural disadvantage.

As his disciples treated his wounds, He Chunhua stayed close by. Cloud-Piercing Pavilion had contributed greatly to the defense tonight. Governor-General He made a point of expressing his thanks. It had been a useful chance to test the pavilion’s disciples as well, and He Chunhua was, on the whole, satisfied.

As for the sentry who had fallen asleep on duty and nearly cost them all, military law was clear. He lost his head that same night.

Near dawn, Zeng Feixiong returned with his detachment.

From the way his men stepped into camp—backs straight, chests out—He Lingchuan could tell at a glance they had been victorious.

Sure enough, Zeng Feixiong all but flew forward to report, his feet barely touching the ground. His first words were, “My lord, Baili Qing has been executed!”

A soldier behind him stepped up and presented a severed head with eyes wide open in death.

It was Baili Qing.

“Good, good!” He Chunhua’s spirits flared, and he finally felt the foul air in his chest disperse by more than half. “Tell me how the fight at the mine went.”

As it turned out, every Xun Province man left at the abandoned mine was either wounded or among their weaker soldiers. The true combat strength was only fifty guards. Against such a weak lineup, and with the advantage of surprise on their side, Zeng Feixiong’s men had rolled over them before the defenders could organize any meaningful resistance.

By then, though, Baili Qing had already regained consciousness. He ordered his two officers to gather what remained of their men and withdraw into the mine tunnels. With those tunnels being narrow, dim, and winding, they would be easy to hold with a rearguard. Any attackers would bleed themselves dry trying to force their way in.

Their confidence lay in the fact that the tunnel had a second exit, leading out to the back of the mountain.

But Jiao Tai had already taken a team, killed the guards there, and seized control of that exit. The moment he saw Zeng Feixiong signal from the front of the mine, he lit fuses at the rear and brought down part of the mountain, blasting the back exit into rubble.

Baili Qing and his men were trapped, ending up blocked at both ends.

Then Jiao Tai set fire to the entrance, letting thick smoke billow into the tunnel.

The Xun Province troops inside choked, eyes streaming and lungs burning. In the end, they had no choice but to stagger out of the front entrance and raise their hands in surrender.

Following He Chunhua’s prior instructions, Zeng Feixiong had all their weapons confiscated. Then he gave the order that they would be taking no prisoners!

The first to lose his head was Baili Qing.

Disposing of the bodies had been simple enough. They threw them back into the tunnel and used the last of the gunpowder to blow the mine closed.

He Chunhua studied Baili Qing’s head for a moment, then laughed softly and said, “I accept General Hong’s generous gift.”

Zeng Feixiong continued, “There was an officer under Baili Qing, named Fu Xin. Just as he was about to be beheaded, he was still cursing Hong Chenglue to the heavens. I took one look and decided to let him go, along with ten or so of his men. Out of 136 prisoners, only sixteen walked away.” He had, in essence, lopped off the trailing digits.

He Chunhua nodded. “Very good. Let him return and be a thorn in Hong Chenglue’s side.”

Had Hong Chenglue not wanted to use him to clean out the dead weight?

How could he make it so easy?

A man like Fu Xin, sent back seething with resentment, would be a source of trouble for Hong Chenglue for a long time. Letting him return would be far more useful to them than killing him outright.

Something flickered across He Lingchuan’s mind. He spoke up, “What about Dong Rui?”

That man wouldn’t have died so quietly, would he?

“He jumped on that bird monster of his the very first moment and skimmed off just above the treeline,” Zeng Feixiong admitted, embarrassed. “It was right after we sent off the first volley of arrows. With the forest in the way, we couldn’t shoot him down.”

He Lingchuan clapped his shoulder.

Well, that’s expected. Dong Rui’s talent for escaping with his skin intact is pretty much maxed out.

Zeng Feixiong handed He Lingchuan back the storage ring. “Thank you, Young Master. We saved ourselves a lot of trouble thanks to the black powder you gave us.”

After he left, He Lingchuan was just about to head back to his tent when his father called him.

“Chuan’er. The comb?”

“Hm?” It took him a second to register what his father said. “What comb?”

“The one you took from Hong Chenglue’s house in Bailu Town.” He Chunhua’s tone was mild. “Strictly speaking, the neighbor took it, and then you took it from her.”

“Oh, I still have it.” Hong Chenglue had been meticulous. Before he fled Bailu Town, he had stripped his home bare. Unfortunately for him, heaven had its own plans; the old woman across the alley had long since helped herself to a comb, and He Lingchuan had then taken it from her. A few strands of hair still clung to its teeth.

He had not thought much of it. Now he pulled the comb out and held it toward his father.

He Chunhua did not take it. “Can you tell whether the hair is from a man or a woman?”

“...We can try.” He Lingchuan thought for a moment, then whistled.

A few breaths later, the rock wolf Lu Xin limped out from a dark corner, stiff tail wagging weakly in greeting.

He Lingchuan held the comb down to him. “Smell the hair on this. Tell me if it belongs to a man or a woman.”

The rock wolf yawned widely. “Twelve kilograms of beef.”

He Lingchuan stared. “You want that much just to wiggle your nose?”

It has only been a few months. How has this simple wolf turn into this haggling bandit?

“Or you can do it yourself.”

“Fine, fine.” He Lingchuan backed down. “Put it on my tab. I’ll buy you the best beef in Dunyu when we get back.”

The old woman had sworn she had never used the comb herself. The hairs were slightly brown as well, which made it unlikely they were hers.

The rock wolf’s wet nose pressed up to the comb. He sniffed hard.

His sense of smell was far keener than any ordinary dog’s. From a breath of scent alone, he could sketch out a three-dimensional picture in his mind.

“Woman, early thirties, unwell, long-term medication.” Lu Xin wrinkled his snout. “The smell of medicine is so thick it’s drowning my sense of smell.”

Only then did He Chunhua take the comb, clearly pleased. “Good work!”

He Lingchuan asked, “What do you want it for?”

“Never hurts to be prepared.” He Chunhua shrugged. “Didn’t that neighbor say the couple got on well?”

“Mm. She said Hong Chenglue took good care of his bedridden wife, providing her with medicine every day, and giving her full-body massages so her muscles wouldn’t waste away every few days. The old woman said she’d never heard them fight.”

In a place like that, with walls as thin as paper, any raised voices would have carried through at once. A curious neighbor only needed to lean over and listen.

“Good, good.” He Chunhua nodded. “Right, how are your injuries?”

“Nothing serious. I’ll see to them now.” With a medicine ape around, He Lingchuan was not worried.

He had no idea that, as soon as he left, He Chunhua ordered that he would receive no visitors, ordering his personal guards to watch the tent.

Then he carefully blocked every leak of light in the canvas with strips of black cloth.

Whatever the Governor-General of Xia Province did inside, no one saw.

Only when more than an hour had passed and the sky in the east had begun to pale did He Chunhua step out of the tent. He faced the rising sun and drew in a long breath.

Then he summoned two men and murmured a few quiet instructions.

They bowed, took thirty-odd riders, and galloped off.

When it was fully light, He Chunhua finally gave the order to the main force.

“Strike camp! We march!”

No more rest stops. The grain convoy had to reach the front lines as quickly as possible.

After the desperate fighting of the night before and their eventual victory, the troops’ morale was high. No one complained about the sudden departure. Xinhuang was too poor, and they were not even allowed out of camp, so staying here felt no different from sleeping in the open.

He Lingchuan requested temporary leave from the army. With a dozen of his own men, he rode west for dozens of kilometers until he found the field where they had fought so bitterly.

There, he buried Mao Tao properly.

“When the Lantern Festival comes, no matter where I am, I’ll burn paper money and offerings for you,” He Lingchuan said to the fresh grave marker. “I’ll find the best craftsman and have him make you some tall, long-legged paper girls, ones exactly your type.”

That had been Mao Tao’s favorite half-joke in life. Death would not stop him from granting it.

* * *

The rest of the journey passed in relative calm.

Whenever they approached a narrow pass or a sheer gorge, He Chunhua sent scouts ahead, and the entire unit raised its guard to the highest.

However, nothing happened. They passed every dangerous stretch without incident.

He had already judged that Hong Chenglue had taken serious losses and would not dare make another move. Once they were out of the mountains, the last of his tension finally dissipated.

Beyond lay only open plains.

Looking back over the last two days of engagements, they had traded blows. Each had wins and losses. However, Hong Chenglue had started with over six hundred men; now he had barely more than two hundred.

In other words, the enemy force had lost over half its troops.

In truth, it had been last night’s mutual ambush that decided the overall outcome. Without that, the grain convoy’s passage today would not have been nearly so smooth.

On the plains, their pace soared. Two days later, the convoy finally reached the northern front.

Grand General Zhao Pan, who was at the border, had received the news early and was already waiting by the roadside.

He Lingchuan looked up and saw row upon row of soldiers in armor, a sea of spears and banners. The welcoming ceremony was nothing if not grand.