Chapter 364 Let Them Go

“How can we go to the granary? No way, no way.” Yan Lao’er watched Magistrate Tian gesturing and refused without even thinking.

Magistrate Tian glared at him, his breath snorting heavily through his nose as if he were about to breathe fire.

Yan Lao’er had no choice but to lay the grim truth out in front of him.

“The granary has already been taken by the Northern Rong. What good would it do for people like us to go over there?”

He saw Magistrate Tian first hold up two fingers, then slowly change it to three.

Yan Lao’er’s chest tightened with pain.

With the example of what happened when the city fell to the First Master, he did not dare harbor any hopes for the Second Master and Third Master.

“Go… see… if… there is a chance… to collect… the bodies…” Magistrate Tian spoke very slowly. Part of it was because of his physical state, and part of it was because he kept choking up.

The only reason they had this brief moment to catch their breath…

Was because the city granary had… been breached!

The Northern Rong were busy hauling grain. How could they spare the effort to keep chasing them?

Yan Lao’er looked ahead.

They were very close to the city wall now. He felt that if they put in the effort to look carefully, they might still find a dog hole^[1] in the wall.

Isn’t that how it always goes in TV dramas? Even the imperial palace has them, so how could shabby old Crouching Tiger City not have one?

As long as they searched carefully, they were bound to find it!

“Master, the city isn’t safe anymore. We have to run out. We can’t use the city gates, so we can only think of something else. I told you before about dog holes. Let’s look for one. If we find one, I’ll risk it and make a run to the granary to see what’s going on. If we don’t, then we’ll just lie low and hide honestly until reinforcements arrive…”

Magistrate Tian used the last of his strength to squeeze his hand.

They set off again, heading for the city wall to search for the dog hole Yan Lao’er had talked about.

As luck would have it, they did not find a dog hole, but they did find a rat hole.

Yan Lao’er was overjoyed.

“Dig. We start here. Widen the hole. Brothers, don’t hold back. Whether we get out of the city depends on this!”

…

Yan Huaiwen led Gufeng’s city-guard troops, travel-worn and dusty, to the outskirts of Crouching Tiger City. What he saw were the Crouching Tiger border guards, who had charged again and again only to be driven back by arrows from the Northern Rong on the battlements, and the Xizhou Border Army that had come to help after seeing the Wolf-Smoke Signal.

The roles of attacker and defender had reversed.

The Northern Rong were conducting their attack in textbook fashion.

But without the advantage of the high walls, their own side was clearly struggling to cope.

The Crouching Tiger border guards were all wounded and few in number. They were ferocious and brave, yet unable to mount any real offensive.

There were plenty of reinforcements from Xizhou, but Yan Huaiwen could see at a glance that these Xizhou soldiers were putting on a show. They shouted loudly about charging and killing, but when it came to real fighting, their feet were rooted to the ground. They hovered just outside the range of the Northern Rong archers and did not dare come any closer.

Gufeng’s city-guard troops also saw what was going on.

The young officer was seething.

His tone was sharp and biting. “That spineless lot from Xizhou are worse than if they hadn’t come. They’re just taking up space and doing nothing, only here to drool over our Guanzhou grain!”

Yan Huaiwen did not waste words and walked straight toward the several commanders.

The one he knew best was Banner Commander Xue. The rest he did not know at all.

And Banner Commander Xue was the one with the least say among them.

Not just because his rank was the lowest, but also because he had lost a battle. The pathetic defeat he had suffered at the hands of the Northern Rong left him unable to lift his head in front of these people.

He looked utterly dejected and dispirited, not at all like a proper commander.

“Banner Commander Xue, may I have a word?” Yan Huaiwen was, in a sense, rescuing him, sparing him from standing there continuing to lose face and having to listen to the occasional cutting remark.

Of course Banner Commander Xue recognized him. Yan Huaiwen, Registrar Yan, Magistrate Tian’s right-hand man. They had dealt with each other over the epidemic, and even earlier than that, the people of his village had entered Guanzhou through his Guard Station.

Yan Huaiwen got straight to the point. “Banner Commander Xue, the situation is urgent, so I’ll speak plainly and ask directly.”

Banner Commander Xue had a rough idea of Registrar Yan’s character. He took official business very seriously. It had not been that long, yet his reputation had already spread to their Guard Station.

“What does Registrar Yan want to ask?”

“Have you gone to inspect all four gates? Roughly how many Northern Rong are on each of the towers?”

Banner Commander Xue was a seasoned fighter. He carried these numbers in his head and could recite them at once.

“No fewer than three hundred at the main gate and the west gate. A bit more than two hundred at the east and north gates.” Afraid Registrar Yan might not understand, he added, “This is only the number of bowmen we can see on the walls. The actual total should be at least half again as many.”

“The west gate…” Yan Huaiwen rolled the words on his tongue, a glint flashing in his eyes. “So the most men are at the west gate?”

“Right, it looks like the most are there,” Banner Commander Xue said.

“Are troops deployed to attack at all four gates?”

“They are.” At the mention of this, Banner Commander Xue grew angry. “I think we should concentrate on one gate and not spread ourselves thin, but they insisted we defend all four sides so the Northern Rong can’t slip away…”

Yan Huaiwen gave him a look that said what he thought was hard to put into words.

He said bluntly, without the slightest politeness, “How can Banner Commander Xue be so muddleheaded? Trapping the Northern Rong is the same as trapping the commoners of Crouching Tiger. With the enemy bottled up in the city, only a small portion of their men are tangling with us on the walls. What do you think the rest are doing?!”

His voice remained calm. “The granary in the city has likely been breached. The main gate, west gate, and north gate are all possibilities. The road from the main gate back beyond the pass is flat and smooth, so returning would take the least time. The north gate is close to the mountains. If the Northern Rong retreat into the hills, it will be hard for us to pursue. The west gate is between the two in every respect. All three gates are possible, but judging from the current deployment of their troops, their chances of escaping from the west gate are greater. Even if there are any at the other three gates, they will only be small groups meant to draw our attention away…”

Banner Commander Xue thought what he said made a lot of sense.

He had fought the Northern Rong for many years and was even more familiar with those bastards’ tricks. Once reinforcements arrived, the first thing on the Northern Rong’s minds would be to run. Holding Crouching Tiger City was useless to them. But which gate to block was critical.

If they chose the right gate, they could not only hurt the Northern Rong badly, but also snatch back part of the grain. If they chose wrong, the loss would be disastrous.

Especially since Crouching Tiger had lit the Wolf-Smoke Signal, and Xizhou had sent no small number of troops. In name they were reinforcements. In reality, they were here to earn a cut of the grain.

If they chose wrong, then for Crouching Tiger this year… things would be hard indeed.

That was also why he had gone along with the others and attacked all four gates. He did not dare gamble.

“Then we hold the west gate!” Banner Commander Xue looked at the men Registrar Yan had brought and thought of summoning his own brothers so they could all go to the west gate and stake everything on one throw.

Yan Huaiwen said coldly, “Hold what? Not only are we not holding it, we need to draw our men away and let them go!”

“For every moment the Northern Rong stay in the city, who knows how many commoners inside will die for nothing. Why keep them there?”

“Banner Commander Xue, look closely…” Yan Huaiwen’s bloodstained finger pointed at the border guards fighting desperately, refusing to retreat even at the cost of their lives.

“Crouching Tiger is not part of Xizhou, so it is none of their concern. They will not step over the line or take risks. But our sons of Crouching Tiger all have their kin and clansmen inside the city. They fight bravely, unafraid of death!

If the Northern Rong withdraw a bit earlier, that may be the one chance the people in the city have to live!”

“Grain and wealth are not as important as human life. We cannot put the cart before the horse^[2]. We, as officials, civil or military, are here to shelter this land. What we protect is not those external possessions, but the people under our rule, living human beings!”

“I’ll take men to attack the east gate. I ask Banner Commander Xue to bring your men and follow at once!”

(End of chapter)