Chapter 40: Killing Intent in the Battlefield Formation

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A bitter wind drove pellets of snow against armor and shields, filling the air with a crackling rattle. Alongside it, the battlefield resounded with anguished groans.

Viewed from above, the ground from fifty paces before the Tang army’s line to more than eight hundred paces beyond it—a stretch of over seven hundred and fifty paces—was littered with corpses, severed limbs, and the scattered organs of men and warhorses. The snowfield, once pure white, no longer showed a trace of its former color. In its place lay a vast tide of blood-stained snow.

Ashina Simo was fortunate. He had narrowly escaped the attacks of the siege crossbows and heavy crossbows, and even the arrows that had fallen like a raging storm had failed to leave a single wound upon him.

Yet Ashina Simo was also unfortunate. Of his five thousand followers, fewer than half remained. The moment the Turks began to collapse, Chen Ying led his lancers through the Tang infantry line and charged toward the fleeing forces of Ashina Simo. Even without first enduring the assault of siege crossbows, heavy crossbows, and powerful bows, they still had no hope of victory against Chen Ying’s charging cavalry. They could only hope to escape if they fled quickly enough.

After all, they were all mounted, and no horse was much faster than another.

As for how many of the surviving half would manage to escape, Ashina Simo no longer had the heart to care. He was consumed by regret. The companions he had known were dead. The friends who had shared his days and nights were dead. The servant who had been utterly loyal to him was dead. Even the slave who had always obeyed him was dead.

And he was still alive.

Ashina Simo felt that he would have been better off dead. His heart seemed to be twisted by knives. He buried his head deep in the pool of blood and drove all ten fingers into the icy snow. The bitter wind soon numbed his fingers, and even froze his knees to the ground, but Ashina Simo remained unmoving.

Revenge?

When the siege crossbow bolts came screaming through the air, Ashina Simo had indeed entertained such a thought. But as that wave of shrieking sound tore through the air as though it would rend the heavens themselves, only fear remained in his heart. As the Tang soldiers drew nearer and nearer, Ashina Simo did not even dare raise his head. He feared the Tang warriors to the very marrow of his bones.

This was no longer a battle. It was a naked slaughter.

Chen Ying led the Tang lancers in forming a dense forest of spears. Like a wall, the Tang cavalry launched a devastating assault upon the Turks, driving the fleeing enemy straight toward the Tang central army. Fear showed plainly on the faces of every Turk nearby.

At that moment, Ashina Shibobi caught sight of Chen Ying at the very front of the cavalry formation. Though Chen Ying had led the cavalry through repeated charges, he had not personally killed a single enemy. The lancers surrounded him at the heart of the formation, refusing to let him take risks. Yet through the endless fighting, Chen Ying’s horsemanship had grown ever more refined.

At his side, Chen Ying’s personal guards carried four great banners:

Chen, Commander of the Eastern Palace Right Guard;
Chen, Loyal and Martial General;
Chen, Earl of Xiuwu;
Chen, Marching Commander-in-Chief.

Guided by these four banners, the Tang cavalry drove straight toward Ashina Shibobi’s central command.

Ashina Shibobi had once been fearless in the way of a young calf that had never seen a tiger. Yet the speed of Ashina Simo’s collapse was utterly beyond his expectations. He had already begun to consider retreat, but the moment he saw Chen Ying within his field of vision, hot blood surged into his head.

“The Yabgu Ashina Sili Fishe has been defeated!”

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“The Yabgu Ashina Yiwuzhenmo has been defeated!”

“That Noyan, Ashina Yizhen, has also been defeated!”

Chen Ying was young, yet he had already become a demon in the hearts of every Turk. Thinking of Chen Ying’s nearly flawless face, the veins on Ashina Shibobi’s forehead writhed like monstrous centipedes.

Ashina Shibobi roared hysterically, “No one is to retreat! Forward! Tear him apart!”

The Turk commanders and soldiers stared at the Tang lancers led by Chen Ying. At that moment, the Tang cavalry seemed like a red-hot iron brand, while the Turk army was nothing more than butter. No matter how many Turks charged forward, they were defeated the instant they came into contact.

In the hearts of the Turks, the Tang army had become as towering as a mountain. They watched wave after wave of Turk cavalry fall before the Tang lancers and, in the blink of an eye, be trampled into bloody pulp beneath the hooves of Chen Ying’s cavalry. Instinctively, their bladders went slack with terror.

“Do you dare disobey the command of this Yabgu?” Ashina Shibobi’s eyes were bloodshot, and he looked like a beast driven mad. “Anyone who refuses my order will be killed!”

The word “killed” had scarcely left his mouth when a flash of blades swept out from the guards of Ashina Shibobi. Dozens of hesitating Turk commanders were beheaded. Their enormous heads rolled down the slope like balls, while headless bodies spurted fountains of blood that glittered magnificently beneath the sunlight.

Ashina Shibobi urged them forward several times, yet still failed to obtain the result he had imagined. His impatience turned to desperation.

“Charge! Seize Chen Ying, and you will be rewarded with ten thousand fine horses! Kill Chen Ying, and you will receive a thousand fine horses and a hundred female slaves!”

Ten thousand fine horses represented an enormous fortune, whether among the Turks or in the Tang Empire. Consider the famous saying: “With a hundred thousand strings of cash around his waist, he rides a crane down to Yangzhou.” In truth, even a hundred thousand strings of cash could not buy ten thousand fine horses; at most, it would purchase seven or eight thousand. Even a slave who possessed ten thousand fine horses could instantly become the chief of a tribe numbering several thousand or even tens of thousands.

As the saying went, men died for wealth, and birds died for food. Though the Tang army’s fighting power was terrifying, the immense reward drove the Turks beyond reason.

“Kill!”

The Turk cavalry charged at Chen Ying’s Tang lancers in a desperate assault, their faces twisted into savage masks. Nearly ten thousand Turk horsemen swept down from higher ground, using the slope’s momentum as they surged toward Chen Ying’s forces. The pounding of their horses’ hooves sounded like an avalanche, their advance rolling forward with the force of thunder.

Watching the battle from behind the lines, Wei Wenzhong felt his heart tighten. Chen Ying’s force was simply too small, and he was only mounting a feinting attack, leaving him at a severe disadvantage in terrain.

Seeing the fine beads of sweat appear on Wei Wenzhong’s brow, Gao Yunquan, Deputy Commander of the Right Guard, said, “Commandant Wei, there is no need to be nervous. You must trust the commander. Though the Turks are advancing with tremendous force, the commander will certainly defeat them!”

Ashina Shibobi had already seen that Chen Ying was the soul of this Tang army. So long as Chen Ying died, the Tang forces would surely cease to be a threat. In truth, that was almost correct. Without Chen Ying, the Tang army would still have been powerful—but it would never have been this powerful.

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Though Ashina Shibobi ordered his followers to launch a desperate attack, he had no confidence that they could drive Chen Ying back. His true killing move was not these ordinary Turk soldiers, but the Eagle-Shooting Generals.

Ashina Shibobi was, after all, the eldest legitimate son of the Illig Qaghan. Ten Eagle-Shooting Generals stood at his side. The title was an honor bestowed upon the greatest archers of the steppe, comparable to the Mongols’ Jebe or the Manchus’ Baturu.

The Turks possessed nearly a million mounted warriors skilled with the bow, yet fewer than a hundred Eagle-Shooting Generals. Clearly, each one was a master chosen from among thousands. Every Eagle-Shooting General was born with extraordinary strength and could draw a three-stone heavy bow, with roughly four hundred pounds of draw. Firing armor-piercing arrows, they could kill an enemy from a hundred and fifty paces away.

The ideal was beautiful, but reality was cruel.

Chen Ying was unlike Luo Shixin. Whenever Luo Shixin led his followers into battle, he placed himself at the forefront, charging ahead of all others. Chen Ying, however, was not a great fighter. In the Tang Empire, where exceptional warriors were everywhere, if he had gone forth to challenge an enemy in single combat, he would probably have been crushed in moments.

Chen Ying knew his own weakness. No matter how dangerous the situation, he would never plunge alone into the heart of the enemy formation. At Jingyang, he had had no choice but to risk his life personally. Now, however, two squads of guards rode at his sides. Every soldier in those squads wore iron armor, while the shields they carried were light yet sturdy.

“One hundred and fifty paces.”

“One hundred and twenty.”

“One hundred!”

“Eighty!”

Watching the Turks fall one after another before Chen Ying, Ashina Shibobi was both tense and exhilarated. His emotions lurched like a roller coaster. At last, Chen Ying had drawn within eighty paces of Ashina Shibobi.

Ashina Shibobi screamed hysterically, “Loose!”

The ten Eagle-Shooting Generals raised ten three-stone heavy bows. Each nocked three armor-piercing arrows. Three arrows in rapid succession—thirty armor-piercing shafts, shrieking through the air with piercing whines, flew toward their sole target: Chen Ying.