Wang Dashan and the other bodyguards came to realize that something was bothering Ling Zhang, but Ling Zhang showed no inclination to talk to any of them about it, and they were unable to guess what it was about, so they just stood guard around Ling Zhang lest anybody disturb him.

Ling Zhang was not having trouble untangling any knots in his mind. He was just astonished by his actions and was introspecting about whether he had gone too far.

Soon night fell and torches were lit in the encampment.

The battlefield was a total mess, but the soldiers responsible for the clearing up were all very efficient. The placement of the injured was dealt with first, and then there was the mass burial of the war dead and the matter of inventorying the spoils.

At the edge of the battleground, some cooks, who had specially brought some fresh ingredients from inside the fortress after the battle ended, had directly built some cooking stoves there and were now cooking a meal.

At the aroma of food, expressions appeared on the dull and lifeless faces of the soldiers who were injured and exhausted.

Ling Zhang leaped on to a height which overlooked almost the whole battlefield. During this battle, the enemy’s will to resist had been quite weak, and it could be said that the North-western Army had won a runaway victory, but the casualty number was still rather high. Those slightly wounded ones would be able to resume the journey after some rest, but those severely injured ones would have to be transferred back into Shengzhou Pass to receive medical treatment. The army needed some fresh troops. On top of that, there would be another several tough battles before they reached Jifang City, and they couldn’t keep Yuwen Tong waiting outside Jifang City for too long, which meant they would have to finish those fights quickly. As a result, the army didn’t have much time for rest and regroupment after this battle. They had to depart the day after tomorrow.

Late that night, Jiang Ke arranged for the troops to be settled in and then summoned all officers to have a meeting. After that, Ling Zhang wrote Yuwen Tong a letter and had a carrier hawk deliver it.

…

On the north bank of the Wan River, Yuwen Tong was still lingering in Zhaoyang City. This time around his army needed a longer time to rest and regroup to be fully prepared for the next battle.

After receiving a message about the battle outside Shengzhou Pass which told him that Shan Congyi was dead, that the North-western Army had inflicted a crushing defeat on Xue Chi’s army, and that Xue Chi was retreating westwards with a couple of thousand soldiers, Yuwen Tong first summoned all the officers to make battle plans for the next fight. It was not until after the meeting that he got some leisure to sit behind his desk to peruse the letter Ling Zhang had written him in reply.

Ling Zhang didn’t mention anything about his confusion in the letter, but Yuwen Tong, reading between the lines, perceptively sensed that something had been bothering Ling Zhang when he had been writing the letter. His eyebrows contracted slightly.

Ling Zhang had written the letter by himself. The strokes and the amount of strength Ling Zhang had used to write the letter were no different than usual, which meant that his Qi had been steady, and he should be unharmed. If it was not about injury, what was it that had been bothering him?

Yuwen Tong carefully folded the letter, put it away and started writing a letter. He wanted to ask Ling Zhang and get to the bottom of it, but his writing brush had just touched the paper when he paused. Eventually he refrained from asking.

It was only too obvious that Ling Zhang had no intention to tell him about it because he didn’t want to worry him. Currently, what he needed to do was have his army fight their way into Jifang City as soon as possible so that he could rendezvous with Ling Zhang and find out the truth.

…

The next afternoon.

Jiang Xi and the army he had taken to pursue the enemy still hadn’t returned, but he had a messenger deliver a message back, which said that Xue Chi had died of his grievous wounds while running for his life, that Xue Yi and his surviving soldiers had fled to the nearest city and put up defensive positions waiting for them. Jiang Xi and his men were doing recon as the vanguard, waiting for the main force to arrive.

After reading the letter, Ling Zhang inquired of Jiang Ke, “How soon can we depart?”

Jiang Ke replied, “Early tomorrow morning. The placement of the injured has been properly handled, and the regroupment of the army is basically done. Those assigned to stay will take care of the rest. Some of our men in the fortress will come here to help.”

Ling Zhang inclined his head.

The nearest Wan city was Langqiao City, which boasted the most substantial city walls in eastern Wan Kingdom. As an eastern border city, it was to the Wan Kingdom as Shengzhou was to the Great Wen. Its defense was strong, and taking it would take some doing. When it came to fighting a battle, Ling Zhang felt that he was a layman, that there was not much he could do to play a constructive role, so he decided to have the army rendezvous with Jiang Xi’s men first. He wanted to depart before dark to see what that city was like.

Jiang Ke was somewhat hesitant. He had been under great mental stress when Ling Zhang had been galloping at the head during the battle. If it weren’t for Ling Zhang’s excellent kung fu skills and his twenty-four bodyguards, Jiang Ke would never have allowed Ling Zhang to go with the army. It was too risky.

“I’ll keep myself safe.” Ling Zhang could tell that Jiang Ke was hesitating, so he said on his own initiative, “I just want to go there to take a look. I won’t do anything dangerous, so take it easy. There’s no need to be nervous about it.”

Jiang Ke gave a resigned smile. How could he not be nervous? Considering Ling Zhang’s identity, he could foresee that the world would be turned upside down if anything happened to Ling Zhang. “Once we cross the border, we’ll be on the Wan Kingdom’s turf. It’s best if you depart with the army. I know you’ll be under the protection of your bodyguards, but it’s getting dark, and I can’t let you take such risks, because there’s no necessity for you to do that.”

Ling Zhang lapsed into silence, looking Jiang Ke in the eye. Jiang Ke didn’t avoid his eyes and the two of them looked at each other for a while.

Then Ling Zhang sighed, “Okay, then, let’s do it your way.”

It was not that he couldn’t play hardball. He didn’t because he knew that he himself and the army were both Jiang Ke’s responsibilities. Now that Jiang Ke disagreed, he decided to wait for a little while longer, for he tended to avoid bringing trouble to others whenever he could.

Jiang Ke was secretly relieved. “Thank you for understanding, Your Highness.”

Had Ling Zhang assisted on having his own way, he wouldn’t be able to stop Ling Zhang. Fortunately for him, Ling Zhang had always been a reasonable person.

…

The next day, the troops mustered early in the morning, broke camp and marched west. The army traveled at a fast speed. At dusk, they reached a place about twenty li (a Chinese unit of length, equal to 500 meters) away from Langqiao City, where they rendezvoused with Jiang Xi.

“After Xue Yi led his men into Langqiao City, the garrison in there posted more guards on the ramparts. I took some men and reconnoitered the city from the outside. The defense of Langqiao City is like this…”

As soon as they rendezvoused with each other, Jiang Xi started filling them in on the information he had got through reconnaissance down to the smallest detail. He talked unceasingly for quite a while and also drew a sketchy diagram of the array of defenses in Langqiao City.

Jiang Ke immediately summoned the officers to confer with them about the plan of attack.

Ling Zhang, after studying the diagram of Langqiao City’s defense, specially went to a high spot overlooking the city. The ramparts of Langqiao City were just as high as those of Shengzhou Pass. It wouldn’t be easy to climb up the ramparts. In addition, there were well-defended turrets on top of them. However, Langqiao City didn’t have as many geographical advantages as Shengzhou Pass did. There was not much the garrison in there could do to make use of the terrain. At least they couldn’t deploy a large-scale Formation outside the city like Ling Zhang had done outside Shengzhou Pass not long ago. Another important part was that the garrison in Langqiao City were not as prepared as soldiers in Shengzhou Pass had been.

The Wan army were bent on going south, having the fond hope that they would be able to take Shengzhou Pass and then push on all the way to the capital of the Great Wen. It had never crossed their minds that the army of the Great Wen would go north and storm into their country. This was proved by the fact that the garrison in Langqiao City had posted more guards in a great hurry. Of course, the less prepared Langqiao City was, the more advantageous a position Ling Zhang’s army was in.

The reason why Jiang Xi had hastily summoned the officers to make a plan of attack shortly after meeting Ling Zhang was that he could also tell that the garrison in Langqiao City was ill-prepared. He wanted to take advantage of the opportunity by attacking Langqiao City as soon as possible and catching the enemy flat-footed, lest they call for backup bringing the North-western Army more trouble.

Jiang Ke and the other officers finalized a plan of attack that very night according to the intelligence Jiang Xi and his men had gathered.

Ling Zhang had little acquaintance with Langqiao City, but there was more than one store affiliated to Jiahe Chamber of Commerce in Langqiao City. Located at the eastern border of the Wan Kingdom, Langqiao City was of too great strategical importance to be ignored by Jiahe Chamber of Commerce, which was why the commercial organization had made no less preparations in this city than they had in the Wan capital.

Therefore, when Jiang Ke and the officers were making battle plans, Ling Zhang, who had just returned from the height where he had observed the whole Langqiao City, walked into the tent and gave them a big pleasant surprise.

“I got some plants in Langqiao City. They’ll figure out a way to assist us from within when we attack the city gates, but they might not be able to last long, so we have to grab the opportunity and break the gates open when they are attacking the soldiers guarding the gates.”

Jiang Ke, Jiang Xi and the officers were both delighted and astonished at the news. They were delighted because the plants in Langqiao City would make it much easier for them to break into the city, and they were astonished because they had never bargained on them having plants in Langqiao City.

Jiang Ke was the first to recover himself. He suppressed his amazement and immediately asked, “How many plants are we talking about, Your Highness? And when are they taking action?”

“There are two teams of them, about fifty men. They all have some kung fu skills. Each one of them will fight like ten common soldiers. They’re all well-prepared and biding their time in the city. They’ll make their move the moment we start battering the city gates,” replied Ling Zhang. There were two teams of plants inside the city, and it wouldn’t be a problem for them to create chaos by assaulting the soldiers guarding the city gates, but they might not be able to last long, so the troops would have to seize the opportunity and batter down the city gates quickly.

“All right. Since we have some plants to help us from within, things would be even easier.” Jiang Ke immediately made some adjustments to some of the details of the plan of attack to cooperate with the men Ling Zhang had planted in the city.

Jiang Ke and Jiang Xi trusted Ling Zhang very much. The other officers didn’t know Ling Zhang as well as the two of them did, but they had also seen with their own eyes how valiantly Ling Zhang had fought on the battlefield, so they were all aware that Ling Zhang was a real fighter. Though they were fairly doubtful about the reliability of Ling Zhang’s plants, since Jiang Ke and Jiang Xi seemed to have complete trust in Ling Zhang, the officers raised no objections.

Apart from Jiang Ke’s and Jiang Xi’s trust in Ling Zhang, their awareness that Ling Zhang had a gigantic intelligence network and a lot of men at his service was also part of the reason why they had agreed immediately. At first they had been amazed, but soon they had caught on to what it was about, so they naturally started making arrangements without further ado.

…

Inside Langqiao City.

“The troops have encamped somewhere twenty li away from the city. Barring accidents, they’ll attack tomorrow. Tonight we go back and get everything ready. Tomorrow morning we’ll hide near the city gates and bide our time. When the time comes, we’ll assault the soldiers guarding the gates to help the army take the city. If it’s within our power to open the gates, we’ll open them; if not, we’ll do what we can to make it easier for the army to batter the gates down.”

The supervisor of a couple of stores affiliated to Jiahe Chamber of Commerce were sitting in a circle in a room having a secret meeting, all their faces quite serious.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got all necessary arrangements made already. Boss sent me a secret letter some time ago. Everything is in readiness.”

“Good. We’ve been here preparing for this for years. Tomorrow we must display our strength, one way or another, and it’s best if we open the city gates!”

The others exchanged glances, their eyes gleaming with determination. Opening the city gates would constitute a great contribution. Tomorrow their opportunity to render meritorious service would come!