Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 8: Preparing for Battle

Takurai hid cautiously in the town for five days. With snow falling, it was already very dangerous for a Sheng Yi to remain in town, but he clung to a sliver of hope and continued to observe the situation regardless. Fortunately, the Imperial troops did not suspect that any Sheng Yi had remained after the snowfall, and since he carried plenty of provisions from previous exchanges, he managed to get by during those days. Moreover, he hadn’t spotted any members of his tribe’s sworn enemies or the people from his own tribe who’d been captured in the town. This at least proved that they hadn’t defected to the Han people of Anxi Garrison; otherwise, they would have had to hand over most of their spoils. When Ou Yang brought back the bows and arrows, Takurai watched from a corner. He thought to himself that if his own tribe had so many fine bows and arrows, they certainly wouldn’t lose to those goat-horned barbarians. This Han man had also bought a mountain of grain; if he defected to them, not only would he have a chance at revenge, but he might even get a few hearty meals after retrieving his son. As for selling himself into slavery, it didn’t matter who he was sold to—at least the Han people were certainly wealthy. “The Wild Di… iron weapons…” The information in Takurai’s words made Ou Yang hesitate for a moment. Iron isn’t rare in the interior, but here on the western frontier, it’s a completely different story. Especially among the Di people with their beast-like features, iron is practically as valuable as gold. Where exactly these people obtained so many iron weapons is truly a matter worth pondering; it’s hard to rule out the possibility that some Imperial thousand-man commander or some other faction is backing them. Moreover, if the enemy has already widely adopted iron weapons, the 30 men he’d brought on this hunting expedition would have no advantage whatsoever. “Take him with us; let’s head back to the garrison first.” Ou Yang decided to report the matter to Huang Qianzong. He should have a way of finding out what these Wild Di were all about. If they truly had no Imperial backing, it would be better for Huang Qianzong to lead a force there than for his own 30 men to venture out alone. If they could capture an entire Di tribe, he could repay most of the debt of gratitude he owed. Huang Dexia, the Thousand-Man Commander of the Anxi Garrison Outpost, was puzzled that Ou Yang had returned so soon. But after hearing Ou Yang’s report, he quickly understood the situation. “A tribe of the Sheng Di, with about a hundred able-bodied men, and quite a few iron artifacts?” he confirmed. “Yes, sir. I was concerned that this tribe might be secretly maintained by some high-ranking official, so I came to inquire—to avoid losing face should a conflict arise.” “Absolutely impossible!” Huang Qianzong flatly denied the suggestion at first, then explained to Ou Yang: “No matter who it is, colluding with the Di Yi barbarians is a serious offense; if discovered and reported, punishment is inevitable. Besides, these are merely wild Di Yi tribes—any influential official could wipe out their clan with a single gesture. What use would there be in harboring them? If implicated in ‘harboring enemies to bolster one’s own power,’ it would be impossible to clear one’s name. “As for where these Di people got their iron weapons, we’ll find out once we capture them—but it certainly wasn’t a gift from any high-ranking official. Still, this is a golden opportunity!” Huang Dexia had served as a military officer for over thirty years, and it was only through accumulated hard work that he had risen to the rank of company commander. His sole concern now was securing a bright future for his sons. Now that the opportunity had presented itself—with over a hundred able-bodied men, plus other clan members, this tribe likely numbered no fewer than three hundred—if he could capture even a third of them, the merit alone would be enough for both his sons to be promoted to the rank of citizen. Huang Qianzong was almost tempted to rally his men to “crush” this tribe. After all, that would ensure the lion’s share of the credit went to him. It would be perfectly plausible to send troops under the pretext of preventing the Shengdi from raiding the border; as long as he displayed the captured iron weapons, the officials along the way would surely believe him. For the Shengdi to possess so much iron, they must either have backing from someone or have raided a merchant caravan—whichever the case, launching a campaign to wipe them out would be entirely justified. However, Huang Dexia ultimately decided not to take things too far. After all, that barbarian had gone directly to serve Ou Yang; this young man was an educated scholar and surely had many teachers, classmates, and old friends who could back him up. Stealing the credit would look too unsavory and make him look bad. Moreover, the fact that Ou Yang had come straight back to him showed that the young man still held him in high regard, and Huang could already secure a large share of the profits from this affair. With this in mind, Huang Qianzong continued to Ou Yang, “High-ranking officials may look down on these Di Yi tribesmen, but ordinary people certainly do not. Especially merchants—they keep a band of Di Yi tribesmen to attack rival caravans. Although the imperial court forbids it, as the saying goes, ‘There’s no such thing as an honest merchant.’ As long as they don’t cause a major upheaval that draws the imperial army’s intervention, no one really pays them any mind. This time, however, it’s different. Selling dozens of iron weapons to the Sheng Di must be reported to this official so that taxes can be collected according to regulations. Since I’m not aware of it, that constitutes weapons smuggling. A merchant with no connections or connections to speak of who’s caught with this crime faces decapitation! If we storm this tribe—not to mention how many slaves we’ll capture—we’ll at the very least earn a review from our superiors praising our keen insight and effective prevention.” Ou Yang looked at Huang Dexia, whose face was beaming with excitement, and thought that if this were a comic from his past life, he would surely see dollar signs dancing in Huang’s eyes. Huang Qianzong had been completely blinded by the prospect of profit from this investment, completely overlooking the potential risks. This was not the kind of mistake a veteran military officer should make. Ou Yang reminded him with a sigh, “Sir, I still have a question I’d like you to clarify.” “Oh?” Huang Qianzong seemed to calm down a bit. “Go ahead.” “Why is this merchant supporting the Shengdi rather than the Sheng Yi?” Huang Qianzong, who had been in the throes of excitement, was stumped by this question. He had been in the Western Regions for many years and knew full well that the Di people were a more discriminated-against ethnic group than the Sheng Yi. The saying that “the Di are half-human, half-beast” was no mere figure of speech. It was one thing to keep attractive Di people as pets, but it was quite another to actually support a foreign tribe in any endeavor. In this regard, the Yi were clearly more suitable than the Di—at the very least, they looked more human. “If you have any thoughts, Qubing, feel free to speak your mind.” Ou Yang had chosen “Qubing” as his courtesy name; by addressing him this way, Huang Qianzong was already treating Ou Yang as one of his own. He sensed that Ou Yang was intentionally exaggerating the threat posed by the native Di, as if trying to incite him to rally his men to take action. “After hearing your words, sir, it suddenly occurred to me: could there be some power in the West supporting the Di tribes beyond the border?” “The West?” Huang Qianzong was somewhat vague on the meaning of this term. After all, he had never seen a map of the world and lacked a sense of global geography. Ou Yang, however, was entirely different. Ever since arriving in this world and discovering the existence of the Di people, he had been pondering the question of the West. After learning from books and newspapers that elves and dwarves also existed in the West, he took special care to gather every scrap of information about the Western world. At first, it was merely curiosity, but upon arriving in the Western Regions, he discovered that the Empire’s western border had already extended far beyond the Pamir Mountains. If the two Earths were the same size, Ou Yang’s current location would be even further west than the Four Garrisons of Anxi during the Tang Dynasty. As something of a military enthusiast, Ou Yang knew that the Tang army in his original world had suffered a defeat in the Western Regions. Consequently, he always felt that further to the west, a force from another civilization was lurking, eyeing the empire’s borders. Since he was now a soldier stationed on the front lines, letting his guard down would be irresponsible toward his own life. Huang Qianzong was unaware of what was on Ou Yang’s mind, but he was quite satisfied with the reason Ou Yang had given. If there truly were outside forces supporting the Shengdi, then his decision to rally his men for an attack could be presented as an intelligence-gathering operation. Moreover, since Ou Yang had taken the initiative to propose it, even if there were no notable forces backing the Shengdi, he wouldn’t be seen by Ou Yang’s family and friends as a petty man who stole his subordinate’s credit and spoils. Ou Yang continued his explanation: “This official has heard from merchant caravans traveling to and from the West that, beyond the Ten-Thousand-Li Great Forest of the Western Regions, lies a bountiful land with a completely different world. That region is no smaller than our own Huaxia, comprising dozens of nations and tens of millions of people. Although the Great Forest prevents Westerners from sending large armies here, it is not impossible for them to support several Shengdi tribes.” Huang Qianzong had also encountered merchant caravans heading west; moreover, maritime exchanges between the East and West had never ceased, and there were actually quite a few fair-skinned Westerners in the Western Regions. However, the vast forest spanning ten thousand li between Eastern and Western civilizations was indeed an insurmountable barrier, making the possibility of large-scale conflict between the two sides extremely slim. However, upon further reflection, if merchants could traverse the Great Forest, then small-scale military units could certainly do the same. Supporting a few Shengdi tribes with several hundred able-bodied men and expanding their strongholds within the Great Forest would, of course, be no great difficulty. Moreover, for Huang Qianzong, regardless of whether Ou Yang’s speculation was accurate, a single tribe of several hundred people was already a worthwhile target worth the effort. With this in mind, Huang Qianzong made up his mind and said to Ouyang, “We must guard against what Youbing fears. As the garrison commander of a thousand-household unit, it is my duty to alleviate the concerns of His Majesty and the Chancellor. If it turns out to be nothing, so be it; but if Westerners are indeed supporting the Shengdi, we must eradicate these barbarians for the Empire!” “Your noble resolve, sir!” Ou Yang offered a flattering remark. “Pai Jia Ou Yang, heed my orders!” Without further ado, Huang Qianzong adopted a stern expression and barked, “Go and make preparations for the campaign—ensure the troops and provisions are ready. Assemble at my quarters on the second day of the tenth month!” “As you command!” After Ou Yang acknowledged the order, Huang Qianzong put on a smile and said, “Ou Yang, make sure you’re well-prepared and bring plenty of men. We can go hunting on the side this time and try to have a good New Year. Those slaves in your village must have starved terribly this past year, right? Although the higher-ups won’t hold us accountable if a few die, they are, after all, the government’s property—and a key performance metric for us garrison troops. If they’ve all starved to death or become emaciated, we’ll still face punishment.” “This subordinate thanks Your Excellency for your guidance. Before coming here, I’d already selected thirty men—all skilled archers. Taking down a few wild Di should be no problem.” “Good. You may return with confidence. Bring your men here to join us when the time comes. I still need to muster the other troops.” Huang Qianzong thought for a moment and decided it would be best to offer Ou Yang a little incentive first. He patted Ou Yang on the shoulder and promised, “Rest assured, on this campaign, no matter how much we seize, you may take your pick of half of the public share first!” Imperial regulations stipulated that, whether on a hunting expedition or a military campaign, spoils of war were divided as follows: one-tenth was dedicated to the imperial family; two-tenths were remitted as taxes; the unit commander could keep one-tenth for himself; three-tenths were turned over as unit funds for redistribution; and only the remaining three-tenths were considered personal property. That 30 percent of the unit’s funds was primarily intended for additional rewards for those who had distinguished themselves. The reward Huang Qianzong offered was that Ou Yang could take an extra 15 percent from the spoils of war of all units participating in this campaign. Ou Yang left Takurai with Huang Qianzong. This Sheng Yi had a dozen or so companions still out in the wilderness, and Huang Qianzong promised to avenge him before instructing him to round up his men. When the time came, each armored squad would take one of them—they could serve as guides. Gaining a dozen or so men before even setting out—Huang Qianzong felt this was a stroke of unstoppable good fortune. Between the trip there and back, Ou Yang had spent quite a bit of time at Huang Qianzong’s house, so they would likely be returning to the village after dark today. However, Ou Yang’s men had no complaints; Takurai had set an example for them—out in the great forest, the life of a free man was not necessarily better than that of a slave. As they left the city once more, they saw several of Huang Qianzong’s personal slaves galloping on horseback, holding a wooden trumpet and shouting, “March in October, 20 soldiers from each unit…”