Futile Devices Scans

Morning sunlight crested Yuquan Mountain in the west and spread across the broad, level river plain.

Lotus Lake was frozen beneath a thin layer of snow. Under the dawn light, great swaths of gold shimmered across its surface. The rising sun should have been beautiful and clear, yet that same clarity cruelly illuminated the corpses strewn beneath the walls.

After the desperate battle the previous night, nearly all two thousand Xuan cavalry had died below the city. Before falling, they had kept their oath and taken almost a thousand Xiao soldiers with them. The Xuan wore red armor, while the Xiao wore black. The bodies of men and horses from both armies lay tangled together like masses of knotted red and black thread. The sight was brutal.

The inner city stood near the western gate of the outer city, and both the prefectural yamen and the post station were close by. Zhang San and Li Si quickly followed Wang Xu onto the western wall.

Prefect Zhang had already arrived. He still wore the same purple robe from the night before. Dust and crumbled mortar stained it. Wrinkles ran everywhere through the fabric, leaving him dirty and bedraggled. His face looked much the same. His dull eyes were bloodshot, and the lines at their corners had deepened like ravines. He appeared even more gray and exhausted than before.

The three younger men barely noticed his condition. After quickly saluting, they immediately looked outside.

Roughly two thousand Xiao soldiers stood three hundred meters from the wall, safely beyond ordinary bow range. Their crude light armor and weapons made it clear these were not the heavy cavalry who had come from the north the previous night. They were the battered remnants of the western camp General Sun had attacked.

After helping annihilate the Xuan cavalry during the night, the northern heavy cavalry had hurried back to their original positions to guard against trouble there. Before leaving, however, they had captured several dozen Xuan cavalrymen alive—some wounded, some maimed—and left them to the western camp.

The western camp had not been large to begin with. Half its men had died in General Sun’s attack, and its commander had then been reprimanded and punished by his superiors from the north. Humiliated and furious, he reorganized what remained of his force at first light and brought the wounded Xuan prisoners beneath the walls to insult and provoke the defenders.

Wang Xu led Zhang San and Li Si into one of the mamian bastions. The three hid behind the crenellated parapet. Zhang San and Li Si squeezed together at one narrow opening and looked out.

The Xiao troops had bound the prisoners’ hands and feet and were dragging them behind horses in circles along the lakeshore. Even from hundreds of meters away, their screams carried faintly through the sharp morning wind.

The defenders atop the wall glared in fury. Prefect Zhang’s face turned grayer still. He frowned without speaking.

The prisoners rolled across the ground, cursing without pause. One must have shouted something particularly vicious, because the Xiao commander became enraged. He had the man dragged before the troops.

First they cut out his tongue.

Then they pinned him down, beat and kicked him, and finally drew a saber as though intending to hack off his limbs one by one.

Li Si suddenly leaned out from behind the parapet.

Zhang San grabbed him. “What are you doing?!”

“Give me a bow,” Li Si said urgently.

Before Zhang San could answer, he repeated, “Give me a bow!”

Zhang San rarely saw him this agitated. He caught Li Si’s wrist and turned. “Brother Xu, lend him a bow.”

The distance was too great for an ordinary bow.

Wang Xu asked, “How many shi can you draw?”

“Two shi.”

Wang Xu’s eyes lit up. “Good lad! Bring me my Golden Crow Bow!”

Shi and dou were units used to measure the draw strength of bows and crossbows, with ten dou making one shi. An ordinary Xuan military bow was usually only eight dou. A soldier capable of drawing one shi and two dou and hitting seven shots out of ten already ranked among the elite. Men capable of drawing two shi were exceedingly rare.

Wang Xu possessed tremendous strength, so he had commissioned a specially made bow with exceptionally long tips and named it the Golden Crow. Its draw strength was two shi and two dou—far beyond the ability of an ordinary soldier.

Elio’s Notes: The Golden Crow is a mythic crow associated with the sun in Chinese tradition, often depicted with three legs.

Wang Xu handed the bow to Li Si and found him a quiver of heavy arrows.

Li Si removed his thick outer coat, which would only interfere with his movement. He took out his ox-bone thumb ring, slipped it on, and raised the bow.

The Golden Crow was broad and powerful, two dou heavier than the two-shi bow Li Si normally trained with. He frowned slightly and began drawing. Li Si looked slim and was nowhere near as massive as Wang Xu, but his body carried no excess flesh. His shoulders were broad, his muscles compact and solid. As the string slowly came back, the muscles of his shoulders and back tightened beneath his thin shirt, rising in beautiful ridges like the spine of a dragon.

The bow bent into a full moon.

The arrow pointed toward the vast earth.

Then it flew.

——

The Xiao commander held a curved saber. He had already hacked one arm from the prisoner who had cursed him. Standing in a pool of blood, he planted one foot on the prisoner’s chest and continued humiliating him.

With his tongue gone, the prisoner could no longer curse. So he spat a mouthful of bloody saliva straight into the commander’s face.

The commander’s expression darkened. He removed his helmet, wiped his face, smashed the helmet down onto the prisoner, and raised his saber again—

A faint sound cut through the wind.

The Xuan prisoner lying in the blood suddenly smiled.

The surrounding Xiao soldiers had not even reacted when their commander froze. His saber dropped. Both hands flew to his throat.

A completely ordinary-looking feathered arrow had appeared from nowhere and pierced straight through his neck.

His strength vanished. He fell backward. His personal guards turned pale and rushed forward, desperately raising shields around him.

Too late.

The arrow had passed through his throat. His eyes bulged. Blood poured from his mouth. Yet he did not die immediately. Only strange, miserable gurgle… gurgle… sounds escaped him as he choked in agony.

A second arrow tore through the air.

It punched through the pole of the Xiao banner.

The cold wind caught the damaged shaft immediately.

The pole snapped.

The great banner folded and twisted overhead, flapping wildly with eerie creak! creak! sounds like some ghostly soul-summoning standard.

The personal guards shouted.

The Xiao soldiers scrambled into defensive formation.

Their entire force fell into chaos.

——

On the wall, Li Si lowered the Golden Crow Bow. The effort had been so great that the muscles across his back burned with pain. When the soldiers around him saw that he had shot down the enemy commander and broken their banner, they burst into cheers. Prefect Zhang visibly relaxed and looked at Li Si with approval.

“Good lad!” Wang Xu shouted.

Everyone around him was exhilarated.

Li Si was not.

He immediately looked back toward the prisoners. They had vanished behind the confused Xiao troops. He could no longer tell what had happened to them.

He had broken the enemy’s momentum. He had won one brief moment of glory.

But what did that matter? Could he save them?

Suddenly, warmth touched his forehead.

Zhang San firmly rubbed the deep crease between Li Si’s brows. Then he draped Li Si’s discarded coat over his shoulders, pulled the collar snug, and fastened it.

“Don’t think too much,” he murmured. “You’ve already done very well.”

——

At that moment, hoofbeats thundered along the wall-top road from the east.

Chief Commander Wang had arrived with several hundred cavalry.

Wang Xu, Zhang San, Li Si, and Prefect Zhang all went forward to meet him.

Chief Commander Wang dismounted, exchanged greetings with Prefect Zhang, then rested one hand on the sword at his waist and swept his gaze over the group.

His booming voice rang out. “Who fired those arrows?”

Li Si was somewhat afraid of him. For some reason, he always imagined the stern old general’s next move would be to raise his sword and roar, Whoever fired those arrows shall be executed immediately!

Li Si instinctively took one step behind Zhang San.

Zhang San promptly shoved him straight back out.

“Reporting to the Chief Commander! Envoy Li fired them!”

Li Si stared at Zhang San in betrayed disbelief.

Chief Commander Wang praised, “Good lad!”

Zhang San immediately pulled Li Si back behind him and whispered, “He’s praising you. Why’re you glaring at me?… Ow! Why’re you kicking me again?”

Chief Commander Wang turned and gave Prefect Zhang a clasped-fist salute. “Prefect! The Xiao army is in chaos. The opportunity must not be missed! Please allow this subordinate to lead eight hundred cavalry out of the city, strike while their ranks are disordered, and rescue our captured men!”

Prefect Zhang turned pale with alarm. He immediately pulled Wang aside and lowered his voice. “Absolutely not! The western gate has no barbican. If the Xiao reinforcements from the north arrive and trap you beneath the walls too, would that not doom Kuiyuan?”

Chief Commander Wang caught his arm and squeezed firmly. “Yongxi, after what happened last night, our army is already unsettled and frightened. Now the enemy humiliates us like this. Who can endure it? If we swallow this insult, who will still believe Kuiyuan can be saved? I fear even our own defenders will stop believing! I have to leave the city today, and I will come back. You know I have led surprise attacks from the eastern gate several times without failure. Do you not trust even me?”

“T-This…” Prefect Zhang’s face was full of anxiety, his eyes bloodshot.

Chief Commander Wang barked, “The opportunity must not be missed! Are you still going to hesitate until everything is ruined, Yongxi?!”

Prefect Zhang trembled.

He closed his eyes.

And silently yielded.

Chief Commander Wang supported his weakened superior and passed him toward Wang Xu. “Wang Xu! Look after the Prefect! I already ordered three hundred Divine Arm Bowmen transferred from the northern wall. They’ll arrive soon. Hold the wall. In one incense stick, cover the cavalry’s return!”

Wang Xu loudly acknowledged the order and immediately began arranging the defenses.

Seeing Chief Commander Wang prepare to mount, Zhang San strode forward. “Chief Commander! This subordinate requests permission to join the battle!”

Wang Xu called over in the middle of his work, “A’Xiao! Your shoulder’s injured!”

“I’ll handle the horse for him!” Li Si quickly volunteered.

Chief Commander Wang’s stern gaze swept toward him.

Li Si immediately hid behind Zhang San again.

Chief Commander Wang removed the sword from his waist and tossed it to Zhang San.

“Two fine young men! Come fight beside this old man!”

——

Once again, Zhang San and Li Si shared one horse and rode out with Chief Commander Wang and eight hundred cavalry.

Since the siege began, Chief Commander Wang had repeatedly led night attacks from the eastern gate. The Eastern Barbican protected that entrance. Cavalry could burst unexpectedly from the city, catch the enemy camp off guard, charge through in a storm of killing, then retreat beneath the cover of the barbican and the archers on the wall. It was one of his signature tactics.

The western gate, however, bordered the lake and was the only one without a barbican. The gate was also extremely narrow, allowing only a single rider through at a time. If the cavalry retreated too slowly and the enemy pursued close behind, they could easily become trapped beneath the walls. So this battle had to be swift. Every soldier needed to be back inside before the northern Xiao reinforcements arrived.

The eight hundred cavalry left in succession. Zhang San and Li Si remained near the rear. By the time they passed through the gate, the riders ahead had already collided with the Xiao troops.

The Xiao soldiers repeated their earlier tactic and sounded whistles for help. Harsh warning horns once again rang across the plain.

A two-story gate tower stood directly above the western entrance. Wang Xu was commanding from there. Hearing the horns, he knew there was no hiding the battle from the northern Xiao camp. So he simply seized a drumstick and began beating the war drum himself.

Flags waved along the wall.

Shouts shook the sky.

The Xiao force numbered roughly two thousand, but most were infantry. Only about two hundred were cavalry, and even those riders were lightly armored. Their camp had been attacked the previous night. Their commander had been killed by an arrow that morning. Their morale was already shattered.

The instant they saw Kuiyuan’s gate open and Xuan cavalry charging out, the entire force fled west in panic. Their formation collapsed.

Chief Commander Wang issued a whistle command. The Xuan cavalry split in two, swept around both sides of the fleeing enemy, and cut them down in pursuit.

One Xiao officer, apparently a deputy commander, rode through the chaos shouting and cursing, trying to restore order. Instead, his own fleeing troops battered his formation apart. Amid the confusion, Chief Commander Wang charged him head-on and cut him from his horse with one blow.

The old commander wore heavy armor with a blazing red cloak over his shoulders. In his hands was a massive horse-cleaving saber. Every swing carried tremendous power. It was difficult to believe he was nearly sixty.

After killing the enemy deputy commander, he roared into the stream of fleeing troops, “Save our men first!”

The Xuan riders immediately scattered after the Xiao light cavalry. Most of the prisoners had been tied behind their horses.

——

Zhang San and Li Si reached the fighting.

Holding Chief Commander Wang’s sword, Zhang San jumped down and plunged directly into the melee.

Li Si carried the Golden Crow Bow. Its long limbs made it awkward to use from horseback, so he dismounted too and raised it amid the scattered fighting.

One arrow dropped a fleeing Xiao rider instantly, and the pursuing Xuan cavalry surrounded the riderless horse and freed the prisoner tied behind it.

Li Si drew again and again, deliberately targeting Xiao cavalrymen dragging prisoners behind them. Twenty or thirty riders fell in succession.

At last, someone spotted the master archer amid the fighting. Several Xiao soldiers shouted and turned toward him together.

They fired.

Li Si was completely focused on rescuing prisoners and did not realize he had become the target.

His hand reached for the last arrow in his quiver—

Zhang San suddenly came flying in and tackled him to the ground.

The two rolled through the snow as several arrows struck the ground around them with sharp whoosh! whoosh! whoosh! sounds.

Zhang San had barely made it in time. His left shoulder was still weak, so when he dove, he had no choice but to throw even Chief Commander Wang’s sword aside. With his right arm, he wrapped Li Si tightly against himself and protected the boy’s head inside his chest as they rolled.

The Xiao soldiers who had fired were overtaken by Xuan cavalry and disappeared into the distance.

——

The two rolled until both were covered in frozen snow.

Only after a long moment did Zhang San lift his head. Half his face was dusted white. His sharply cut features looked cold and fierce.

“You Little Fool!” he snapped. “Don’t you know how to dodge?!”

During the tumble, Li Si’s face had been pressed violently into Zhang San’s chest.

After only a few days, this was already the second time he had been smashed into that exact place.

His ears went buzz!

His vision went black.

His soul practically flew away.

Now he remained buried motionless against Zhang San’s chest.

He said nothing.

Zhang San thought he had been hurt in the fall. Alarmed, he rolled aside and cupped Li Si’s face.

Li Si’s entire face was pink. His breathing was fast. His eyes stared blankly into space.

No matter how Zhang San shook him or patted his cheeks, he did not respond.

“How did you get knocked stupid too?” Zhang San asked anxiously.

He hurriedly hauled Li Si to his feet.

By then, the Xuan cavalry had chased the routed enemy far into the distance.

There was no catching up.

Zhang San gave a sharp whistle.

Their horse, wandering near the lakeshore, came running over.

He half-lifted, half-shoved the dazed Li Si into the saddle. Then he slung the Golden Crow Bow over his own back and recovered Chief Commander Wang’s sword.

He hesitated.

Should he wait here for the others to return?

Or take the apparently addled Li Si back into the city first?

Then he looked behind him.

Someone lay facedown not far away, dressed in a Xuan uniform.

Zhang San took the reins and led the horse over.

——

It was the prisoner whose tongue had been cut out and whose arm had been severed by the Xiao commander.

Earlier, the battlefield had been too chaotic to find him. Now that the fighting had shifted west, he lay exposed on the ground.

The Xiao commander’s corpse had already been carried away.

This Xuan soldier remained alone in a pool of blood.

Zhang San hurried over, knelt, and checked his breathing.

There was still a faint trace.

He immediately tore a strip from his coat with his teeth and bound the severed arm as tightly as possible. Then he tried to lift the soldier onto the horse.

The man’s body was limp.

With Zhang San’s left shoulder injured, one arm was not enough.

“Sisi! Help!”

Li Si remained sitting there in a daze.

Zhang San was both furious and worried. He carefully lowered the wounded man again, rolled up his sleeve, and gave Li Si a hard smack on the backside.

“Wake up!”

Li Si jumped.

The blankness vanished from his eyes instantly.

He clutched his backside and stared at Zhang San.

Then he noticed the wounded soldier and scrambled down from the horse.

Together, they lifted the man into the saddle. Li Si mounted behind him and supported him with both arms. Afraid the jolting would worsen his wounds, he guided the horse only at a slow walk.

Zhang San followed on foot, carrying their weapons.

——

After they had gone a little farther, Zhang San noticed Li Si repeatedly looking toward the distance.

“What are you looking at?”

“…The spear.”

Among the tangled corpses beneath the city wall stood a bloodstained silver spear, planted crookedly in the ground. Its spearhead was broken. Only a dark-red remnant of the tassel fluttered in the wind.

Zhang San wanted to recover General Sun’s body. He stopped. “Take this man back first and get him treated. I’ll go look.”

Li Si obediently withdrew his gaze and continued toward the city.

But before he even reached the gate, Zhang San came running back. His expression was grave. He caught the reins.

“What happened?” Li Si asked.

“I couldn’t find the body.”

Li Si looked startled. “General Sun is still alive?”

The spearhead was broken. The shaft was covered in blood. General Sun had clearly fought until his strength gave out and had shown no intention of surrendering.

Zhang San did not believe he was alive.

After years of war, he also understood very well why an enemy might carry away a corpse.

But seeing the innocent flicker of hope in Li Si’s eyes, he could not bear to crush it.

He only shook his head. “Don’t think about it. Let’s get back inside.”

——

The drums on the walls continued beating, but the rhythm changed—fast and urgent, a signal to return.

Northern Xiao cavalry reinforcements were once again racing along the lakeshore.

Chief Commander Wang issued the whistle command.

The Xuan cavalry immediately wheeled around and began withdrawing.

The riders remained orderly as they entered the gate one after another. About half had returned when the reinforcements closed to within several hundred meters.

The Xuan rear guard formed a defensive line.

Chief Commander Wang remained at the very front, sitting his horse with his saber held across the saddle.

The Xiao cavalry surged toward them like a black tide.

Then a signal rang from the wall.

Three hundred Divine Arm Bowmen suddenly appeared between the crenellations and fired together.

A white wave of bolts crashed into the Xiao cavalry.

The heavily armored riders in the front ranks were pierced one after another. Men and horses toppled everywhere.

The Divine Arm Bow was one of Great Xuan’s finest military weapons. Despite its name, it was actually a powerful heavy crossbow capable of reaching three hundred meters. At a distance of only one hundred meters, its bolts could punch through heavy armor.

The weapon was difficult to manufacture and required specially trained operators. Kuiyuan possessed only about five hundred in total, which was why Chief Commander Wang normally stationed most of them at the heavily attacked northern and eastern walls. These three hundred had all been transferred from the north.

The Xiao reinforcements had slaughtered General Sun’s men easily beneath the western wall the previous night and assumed the defenses there were weak.

They had not expected Divine Arm Bows to be waiting for them.

They suffered heavy losses.

The Xiao cavalry immediately turned and retreated.

Chief Commander Wang seized the opportunity and brought every remaining rider safely inside.

The drawbridge rose.

The gate slammed shut.

Just as he had promised before leaving, the entire force returned safely within one incense stick.