Futile Devices Scans

The two composed themselves and made their way to the southern city gate under cover of night.

The south gate was one of the main battlefields in the fighting between Great Xuan and the Xiao army. Everywhere lay traces of slaughter and siege: fallen stones, broken sabers, snapped arrows, shattered armor. Wrecked stone-throwing machines, collapsed battering rams, burned giant crossbows, and other ruined siege weapons were scattered across the ground.

A half-broken military banner fluttered alone among the wreckage, soaked so thoroughly in blood that it was impossible to tell which side it had belonged to.

The moat below the wall had likewise been filled in by the Xiao army with stones, ladders, and every kind of debris. Whenever the Xiao soldiers came close to retrieve their dead, the defenders above would rain arrows down on them. Naked Xiao corpses therefore lay strewn along the moat and over the rubble filling it. Some had rotted down to exposed white bone. Others were still swollen and gray, trembling beneath clustered vultures tearing at their flesh.

The stench of decay struck like a physical blow. Even holding one’s breath did little good; the foulness seemed to seep into the lungs anyway. Li Si, seated in front and guiding the horse, frowned. After enduring it for a while, he finally dry-heaved several times.

Zhang San’s right arm rested around Li Si’s waist. His hand slid forward and patted Li Si soothingly on the chest.

After spending several days squeezed against him in one way or another, Li Si no longer flushed hot at every bit of physical contact.

He still coughed awkwardly, though.

——

Outside the southern gate stood a square outer barbican known locally as the South Pass Barbican.

It enclosed the drawbridge in front of the gate. Whenever the bridge was lowered and the defenders needed to move in or out of the city, the barbican shielded the bridge and the troops from enemy attack, allowing them to withdraw safely behind the main walls.

Zhang San and Li Si stopped outside the South Pass Barbican and barely found a place to stand among burned siege ladders and piles of Xiao corpses. They dismounted and looked up—only to find a row of bows and crossbows aimed straight at them.

The south gate had endured days of heavy fighting, including occasional Xiao night attacks, so its defenses were even tighter than elsewhere. The archers had spotted the pair long before they reached the wall.

Seeing from a distance that they were not dressed like Xiao troops, one defender shouted, “Who goes there below the city?!”

This time Zhang San knew perfectly well that announcing himself as a Shengjie Army Unit Commander was useless, so he nudged Li Si again.

Li Si obediently produced that seemingly all-powerful Imperial City Directorate token and waved it vigorously toward the wall.

A small bamboo basket tied to a rope was lowered to retrieve it. Sure enough, not long afterward, a much larger rattan basket capable of carrying a person came down.

Zhang San looked toward the Xiao camp south of the city. Worried that enemy night scouts might be hiding in the darkness and fire at them while the basket hung helplessly in midair, he said, “I’ll go first.”

Li Si did not understand the careful reasoning behind it. He simply nodded obediently.

As Zhang San stepped into the basket, Li Si suddenly asked, “What about the horse?”

Zhang San discarded the long spear that would be too inconvenient to bring up the wall and gripped the edge of the basket. “Let it go. If we leave it beneath the wall and the Xiao attack tomorrow, we’d just be giving it to them for free.”

Zhang San was hauled upward.

Li Si removed the warhorse’s armor and bridle, then reluctantly stroked its head. The horse snorted impatiently but still turned and nudged Li Si’s palm.

Li Si took out the last roasted flatbread from his clothes and fed it to the horse. “Go.”

The horse chewed it in several bites and gave a loud neigh!, pawing the ground instead of leaving.

Li Si lifted the reins and pretended he was about to whip its rump.

The horse dodged nimbly aside and let out another offended neigh! It ran several paces, then turned to look back.

Li Si pretended to raise the reins again.

The horse gave one last furious whinny and finally bolted into the darkness without another backward glance.

Before long, the rattan basket came down again and carried Li Si up as well.

——

Kuiyuan’s walls stood three zhang high and roughly one zhang thick. A broad, level roadway ran along the top, allowing messengers to carry orders and cavalry to rush from other sections of the city to reinforce the defenses. Crenellated parapets and arrow towers gave the defenders cover while they fought. In addition to the barbicans at the city gates, a projecting mamian bastion had been built into the wall every sixty paces.

Elio’s Notes: A mamian (马面), literally “horse face,” is a projecting defensive structure built into a traditional Chinese city wall. Its projection allowed defenders to fire along the face of the wall and eliminate blind spots.

Zhang San had reached the wall first. While waiting for Li Si, he carefully studied the defenses. Everywhere were signs of Xiao bombardment from stone-throwing machines. The crenellated parapets bore hacking marks and thick bloodstains where enemy troops had climbed the wall. Yet the defenders had repaired the damage promptly. Everything remained orderly and tightly arranged, and even the night patrols looked alert and spirited rather than defeated.

Only then did Zhang San finally relax.

Chief Commander Wang had arranged the defenses well. The siege had not yet reached the point of true desperation.

When Li Si came up, the defenders confiscated his weapons as well.

The young officer leading them carefully examined the Imperial City Directorate token. “What business brings you two Envoys here?”

Zhang San had only just witnessed Prefect Zhang’s cold refusal at the western gate and felt both angry and distrustful toward him. Secretly stopping Li Si from mentioning the Prefect, he answered first. “We carry a secret imperial decree from His Majesty and have come to deliver a message. We request an audience with your defending commander, Chief Commander Wang.”

Kuiyuan’s defense was jointly led by one civil and one military official. The civil leader was Zhang Xiao, Pacification Commissioner of Hedong Circuit and Prefect of Kuiyuan. The military leader was Wang Qi, Deputy Commander-General of Hedong Circuit. Great Xuan traditionally valued civil officials over military ones, and by rank as well, Zhang Xiao stood above Wang Qi. Yet Zhang San asked only to see Chief Commander Wang.

The young officer hesitated when he noticed that Zhang San had not mentioned Prefect Zhang. But the arrival of Envoys from the capital was far too important to keep from the city’s senior officials. He called over two messengers and sent them racing in different directions along the wall-top road.

Watching the two leave, Zhang San knew perfectly well that the officer was also summoning Prefect Zhang. Still, Chief Commander Wang would come too. With Wang present, Zhang San felt far more at ease.

The top of the wall was not suitable for a formal meeting, so after sending the messages, the young officer led them through the barbican and down the passage toward the city.

Zhang San followed while openly studying the defensive arrangements and committing them to memory. Li Si followed Zhang San. He had no idea what Zhang San was studying, but seeing him look around so seriously, Li Si copied him and studied everything too.

——

The night was pitch-black, with only sparse torchlight below the walls. The young officer led them some distance into the southern military camp and toward a brick-and-stone courtyard.

Before they even entered, someone suddenly came charging out of the dark lane outside.

Li Si was startled. With no weapon in hand, he immediately stepped forward and used his own body to shield Zhang San’s injured left shoulder.

The newcomer was tall, almost as tall as Zhang San and Li Si, with broad shoulders and thick, powerful arms. With one enormous pounce and a bear hug, he swept both of them into his arms at once and slammed one huge hand against Zhang San’s back.

The impact went straight through Zhang San and nearly knocked the breath from Li Si, trapped between them.

Zhang San shuddered from the blow, which tugged painfully at his wound.

The man kept enthusiastically slapping him while shouting, “A’Xiao! You actually came back!”

Zhang San hissed, “Hss!”

Even Li Si could not hold back a muffled “Mm!”

His back was pressed firmly against Zhang San’s warm chest, and the memory of being knocked senseless by that same chest immediately returned, leaving him dizzy.

The man squeezed them both one last time before finally releasing them. “I thought that looked like you from a distance! I thought I must’ve been seeing things! Why did you come back?”

Zhang San frowned and hissed again. “Brother Xu, my shoulder’s injured…”

The man jumped. “Sorry, sorry! Come on, get inside and rest first!”

He grabbed Zhang San and half-supported, half-dragged him into the courtyard while barking at the young officer, “Light the lamps! Set out seats! A’Xiao, I happened to be patrolling the southern city tonight, so I arrived first. Father’s in the east and will come later.”

Although the man belonged to Kuiyuan’s defending army, he spoke the standard speech of the capital perfectly. Curious, Li Si looked at him several more times.

Once the lamps were lit, he could see that the man was in his early thirties, powerfully built, with heroic features and thick black facial hair. At a glance, he looked every inch a fierce general.

Inside the room stood only a square table and four square stools. The man pressed Zhang San onto one and immediately reached to pull his coat open. “Where are you hurt? Left shoulder?”

Zhang San made no effort to avoid him and let him expose half his chest.

A broad expanse of firm muscle came into view.

Li Si turned his eyes away.

After a moment, he quietly turned them back.

The warrior carefully examined the wound behind Zhang San’s shoulder, then lifted his arm several times, observing the movement of muscle, tendon, and bone. At last he relaxed. “Good. No bones or tendons damaged! Once it heals, you’ll be fine. There are several excellent physicians in the city. I’ll have them all come look at you after dawn.”

He released Zhang San and stood.

Only then did he notice Li Si staring.

More precisely, Li Si had been staring the entire time at the hand pulling Zhang San’s clothes open.

Puzzled, the man asked, “And who’s this little brother?”

Zhang San introduced them. “Brother Xu, this is Li Si, a young comrade I met along the road. Sisi, this is Chief Commander Wang’s eldest son. He serves as a subordinate general. Call him Brother Wang.”

Li Si obediently said, “Brother Wang.”

Wang Xu was straightforward by nature. He walked behind Li Si and gave him another heavy slap on the back, then squeezed his shoulders and arms hard as though measuring his fighting ability. Immediately afterward, he laughed and praised, “A fine young hero! Handsome too!”

Then he sat on the stool beside Li Si.

Li Si trembled from the slap and shuddered again beneath the rough squeezing.

Wang Xu’s hands were even more forceful than Zhang San’s tiger paws.

The two older brothers—one a bear, the other a tiger—sat to either side of him like two great cleavers.

Between them, Li Si looked even thinner and more helpless.

He silently lowered his lashes.

Seeing his discomfort, Zhang San stood, shifted Li Si aside, and took the seat beside Wang Xu himself. “Brother Xu, how are things in the city? How are you and the Chief Commander?”

Wang Xu sighed. “Defending a city is defending a city. If we can hold it, everything else is manageable. Father’s exhausted, but his spirits are still good. Forget us! How did you get back here? And how did you become an Imperial City Directorate Envoy?”

“I’m not the Envoy. This little brother is,” Zhang San said. “I left Grand Preceptor Tong’s army on my own and came back to Kuiyuan to defend the city with you.”

Wang Xu’s eyes flew wide. For a moment, he could barely speak. “You—you—you deserted the army without authorization?!”

“Who deserted without authorization?” a booming voice rang out from outside.

Wang Xu immediately stood.

Zhang San hurriedly pulled his clothes closed and sprang to his feet as well.

Li Si had no idea what was happening, but seeing both men become suddenly serious and tense, he stood too.

——

A large, broad-shouldered man dressed as a senior general entered the courtyard. Though there was no battle underway at that moment, he remained fully armed and armored, wearing a helmet and plated armor, a cloak over his shoulders and a longsword at his waist. Several personal guards followed him, but he waved them back outside and strode into the room alone.

As he walked, he removed his helmet, revealing graying hair at his temples.

Wang Xu and Zhang San both bowed their heads. “Greetings, Chief Commander!”

Li Si copied them.

Chief Commander Wang was nearly sixty. His face was weathered by hardship and his temples had gone gray, yet his body remained broad and upright. His presence was imposing, with not a trace of frailty.

He walked directly to the table and sat.

“Sit.”

Li Si was just lowering himself onto a stool when Chief Commander Wang suddenly roared, “Deserters stand!”

Startled, Li Si immediately lifted his backside again, only for the still-standing Zhang San to shove him straight back down. “Why are you standing? He means me.”

“So you do know I mean you!” Chief Commander Wang thundered. “Great Xuan military law says deserters are to be executed! You are a Unit Commander and a native of Kuiyuan. To protect your homeland, you actually disobeyed Grand Preceptor Tong’s order to retreat south, abandoned the army on your own, and risked your life coming back from the south?! Zhang San! Do you know your crime?!”

Li Si listened.

This doesn’t really sound like scolding…

But Chief Commander Wang grew angrier and angrier. He drew the sword from his waist and rose as though to strike. “I’ll execute you myself right now!”

Wang Xu and Zhang San froze.

Li Si genuinely believed the old commander meant to cut Zhang San down. His hand immediately went toward the hidden sleeve dagger, and his backside nervously lifted off the stool again.

But the sword stopped in midair.

Chief Commander Wang glared at all three of them, subtly lifted his chin toward the courtyard outside, and gave his graying beard a meaningful twitch.

Zhang San understood instantly.

He threw himself flat onto the ground and wailed, “Chief Commander! This subordinate knows his guilt! I ask only for death!”

Wang Xu dropped to his knees like a collapsing bear and started crying too. “Father! A’Xiao has served in the army for eight years! He’s fought north and south and killed countless enemies! He is absolutely not some cowardly deserter afraid of death! He had his reasons! Father, please judge wisely!”

Li Si stood to one side.

“…”

He looked at the two older brothers wailing dramatically and guessed that perhaps he should kneel too.

His backside slid halfway off the stool.

But he could not produce a single tear and had no idea what he was supposed to shout.

Behind his back, Zhang San secretly waved one hand at him.

If you don’t know how to act, stop joining in.

Li Si obediently sat back down.

Chief Commander Wang declared with grief and fury, “Military law is iron law! How can personal favor override it?! I shall—”

“Brother Zhengchen! Spare him beneath the sword!”

A frightened cry rang out from outside.

Chief Commander Wang immediately lowered his sword.

A middle-aged man in civil-official robes hurried into the courtyard and came forward to help Zhang San up. “Rise, brave young man. Xu’er, you get up too.”

Wang Xu immediately scrambled to his feet, fetched another stool, and placed it at the highest seat to the left.

The civil official did not sit right away. Instead, he caught the arm holding Chief Commander Wang’s sword and persuaded him, “Brother Zhengchen, put away the sword. Sit, sit. Why such fury? I heard everything from outside. Young Officer Zhang traveled a thousand li north to return to Kuiyuan. His heart is full of loyalty. How could he be treated as an ordinary deserter?”

Chief Commander Wang obediently sheathed the sword. “Prefect, there is no need to rush. I’ll follow your judgment. Please sit first.”

Only then did the two senior officials take their seats and begin speaking seriously.

——

The newcomer wore purple official robes. He was none other than Zhang Xiao, the Prefect of Kuiyuan who had refused to open the western gate earlier.

He had served as Prefect here for several years. By nature, he was cautious and meticulous. Though he had sometimes acted according to Grand Preceptor Tong’s wishes, he was neither greedy nor tyrannical, and his governance was fair enough that the people generally supported him.

After Grand Preceptor Tong fled south, the imperial court appointed Zhang Xiao Pacification Commissioner of Hedong Circuit, replacing Tong in the role. Although a Pacification Commissioner should properly be addressed by that office, everyone was still accustomed to respectfully calling him Prefect Zhang.

He was in his forties, with refined scholar-like features, thin cheeks, and long whiskers—the very image of a literary official.

Yet unlike Chief Commander Wang and Wang Xu, who were still vigorous despite the siege, Prefect Zhang looked utterly exhausted. Dark shadows ringed his eyes. Days of strain had worn his face thin.

Zhang San still resented him. After sneaking one glance at him, Zhang San deliberately looked away, afraid the anger might show in his eyes.

Then he glanced toward Li Si.

Li Si had already risen and stood silently to one side. His face revealed nothing. But his dark eyes stared fixedly at Prefect Zhang with the wary hostility of a small animal hiding in the woods.

Without making a sound, Zhang San shifted half a step sideways and blocked Li Si from view. He secretly caught Li Si’s wrist, warning him to control himself.

The two senior officials sat in the places of honor while the younger men stood to answer questions. The moment Prefect Zhang was seated, he asked about the Imperial City Directorate Envoy.

Zhang San nudged Li Si forward again.

Li Si briefly introduced himself, then took out the wax pellet and presented it. With his eyes lowered respectfully, he said, “Prefect, the Commander of the Imperial City Directorate entrusted this to me before he died. He said it contains a secret imperial decree that only you can decipher.”

Prefect Zhang knelt to receive it. Then he returned to the table, melted the wax over the candle flame, and removed a tightly rolled strip of silk covered in complex coded symbols.

It was indeed a secret order.

“Someone!”

A personal servant hurried in. Prefect Zhang whispered several instructions into his ear and told him to retrieve the matching cipher book from the prefectural residence.

Then he turned to Li Si. “Young Envoy, you have traveled far and suffered greatly. Rest tonight at the post station. Once I’ve read the secret decree, I will give you an answer tomorrow.”

After speaking to Li Si, Prefect Zhang looked toward Zhang San. “Young Officer Zhang is exceptionally loyal and courageous. I admire you greatly. As for the matter of desertion, there is no need to mention it again. I am now Pacification Commissioner of Hedong Circuit. I can simply issue a transfer order stating that you were reassigned here before the Shengjie Army withdrew south.”

Zhang San kept his head bowed. He did not mention the fact that he and Prefect Zhang had already exchanged words beneath the western gate. He saluted. “Many thanks, Prefect. This subordinate is deeply grateful.”

Prefect Zhang said, “You have traveled a thousand li north. Both men and horses are exhausted. Go rest together. Someone, escort them to the post station.”

Wang Xu immediately said, “Prefect, this subordinate can take them.”

“Very well. Thank you, Xu’er.”

Prefect Zhang nodded, then looked to Chief Commander Wang. “Brother Zhengchen, I must trouble you to stay a little longer.”

Zhang San and Li Si bowed to both senior officials, then followed Wang Xu out.