Chapter Nine: Astonishing Battle Record

Jingyang City was ablaze with lights, as bright as midday. Everywhere, one could see mottled traces of blood and the marks of axes and blades, while the air was thick with the stench of gore—a testament to the brutal battle that had recently unfolded here.

Princess Pingyang was so overcome with emotion that she could not speak. In truth, it was not only the princess; even Ma Sanbao and Xue Wanche were left staring in mute astonishment.

The scene in Jingyang City completely defied the expectations of Li Xiuning, Ma Sanbao, and Xue Wanche. There was not a single Western Qin soldier left, nor any sign of a massacre. Instead, the city was enveloped in quiet and peace.

Chen Ying suddenly noticed that Princess Pingyang and her cavalry all rode on flat saddles, rather than the raised saddles common in later times. With high-backed saddles, even a Han tourist unskilled in riding could learn to mount a horse within minutes on the Mongolian grasslands; but with flat saddles, it took three to five years of practice to truly become a cavalryman.

"Could it be that the Tang dynasty had not yet invented the raised saddle?" As Chen Ying let his thoughts wander, Li Xiuning abruptly interrupted him.

"What is going on here? Where are the Western Qin soldiers?" Li Xiuning gazed at the newly appointed governor of Jingyang, her voice sharp. "Did the Western Qin army retreat?"

Chen Ying did not answer Li Xiuning directly; instead, he raised his hand and clapped it in the air.

With the sound of his palms echoing, the ground soon began to tremble ever so slightly. Wheelbarrows—the so-called 'deer carts'—rolled forward, their wheels rumbling across the earth. Illuminated by torchlight, each cart was piled high with the grotesque heads of Western Qin soldiers. At a glance, there were twenty or thirty carts in total.

Princess Pingyang, Li Xiuning, was a woman of discernment. Although she did not count the lime-preserved heads one by one, she estimated there were well over two thousand. If piled up in the capital, such a sight would be terrifying.

"You... you..." Xue Wanche stammered, stunned. "Where are the Western Qin soldiers? What is the meaning of all these heads?"

The Tang garrison in Jingyang County numbered only fifty men—far too few to resolve the crisis. Even with five hundred, victory would have been uncertain.

"Who are you? Let the person in charge of Jingyang come forth and speak with me!" Li Xiuning fixed her gaze on Chen Ying, her eyes suddenly shining.

"A humble man, Chen Ying. Honored and entrusted by the elders of Jingyang to serve as governor, and to lead the people in resisting the Western Qin army," Chen Ying replied, neither arrogant nor submissive, bowing respectfully to Li Xiuning. "Report to Your Highness Princess Pingyang: the Western Qin army invaded Jingyang, but has been utterly annihilated by our people. We have collected two thousand four hundred and fifty-two heads, seized three hundred seventy-three horses, two thousand sets of armor, and an assortment of weapons."

"Impossible!" Xue Wanche pointed at Chen Ying. "Do you know the penalty for falsifying military reports?"

A cold gleam flashed in Chen Ying's eyes as he stared back at Xue Wanche, unafraid. "I do not know. And who might you be?"

"I am Xue Wanche, Captain of the Right Guard of the Eastern Palace!"

Chen Ying's gaze sharpened—he had not expected to encounter such a formidable figure. Xue Wanche was not only a renowned warrior but also a man of ruthless resolve. He served under Crown Prince Li Jiancheng, earning his favor. During the Xuanwu Gate Incident, he led the Eastern Palace troops in a fierce attack on the Prince of Qin's residence, only surrendering after Li Shimin displayed the prince's severed head. He escaped with a handful of cavalry into the southern mountains, and later, Emperor Taizong, admiring his valor, repeatedly summoned him back to serve as a general. In campaigns against the Turks, the Xueyantuo, and Goguryeo, he distinguished himself with great achievements.

"General Xue, I commanded the defense of Jingyang in this battle. I hold no official rank; I am but a commoner," Chen Ying replied. "With the seven surviving Tang soldiers and the city’s people, we destroyed the army of Western Qin’s King Yixing and his subordinates—a total of two thousand four hundred fifty-two men..."

Silence.

Li Xiuning was momentarily speechless. She had not expected the commander of Jingyang’s defense to be an unknown figure. Not only did Chen Ying’s demeanor strike her with forceful impact, but the words he uttered left them all bewildered.

Seven Tang soldiers, joined by a ragtag band of townspeople, had supposedly wiped out Zong Luo Hou’s force of two thousand five hundred men.

Xue Wanche’s eyes bulged wide with disbelief.

Seven men had destroyed two thousand five hundred? That was surely an outrageous boast.

Even if Sun Wu had risen from the dead, or the legendary Conqueror returned, they could not have managed such a feat.

Although Li Xiuning’s reinforcements were not elite troops, they were the highest-ranking group present. For example, Xue Wanche, as Captain of the Right Guard, commanded three to five battalions. His rank was equivalent to the local Commander of the Decisive Force, which was only a sixth-rank military officer, whereas Xue Wanche himself held the fifth-rank. Even the commander of the Zhao Prince’s personal guard was of the sixth rank. Though Li Xiuning had only five hundred men, she led Ma Sanbao, a fifth-rank General of Ningyuan, Xue Wanche, a fifth-rank Cavalry General, and even the ordinary battalion commanders held the sixth rank, with squad leaders at the seventh.

Their martial prowess might not match their status, but their pedigree was unquestionable.

Were it not for Princess Pingyang herself leading the army, even Ma Sanbao would have struggled to command them.

"That’s an outrageous boast!"

"Anyone can produce heads. Does he think we can’t kill innocents and claim merit?"

"Surely the Western Qin army retreated, and they’re just embellishing their own deeds!"

"Or perhaps reinforcements from elsewhere arrived. Could it be the Prince of Qin who killed Zong Luo Hou?"

"With just seven men—never mind two thousand five hundred, I could wipe them out ten times with two hundred!"

"Against two thousand five hundred Western Qin soldiers, even our five hundred picked troops wouldn’t be certain of victory, let alone annihilate them. What a shameless claim!"

"With only fifty men, how could they possibly withstand the Western Qin’s two thousand five hundred fierce soldiers? I thought they’d all be dead!"

Their brazen conversations echoed among Li Xiuning’s reinforcements. Even though the battle was over and they saw nothing but heads, they had not witnessed any enemy corpses. In their minds, Chen Ying and his seven men, even if highly skilled, could not be reckoned as more than ten opponents.

To claim one could defeat a hundred or ten thousand was pure bluster.

Most importantly, they could not accept having made the journey in vain. The Tang dynasty, established on martial strength, paid its soldiers little in peacetime; advancement and wealth depended on warfare. Throughout the Tang, it was the most war-torn era in China’s history.

Their words were not quiet, and the militia troops heard them clearly. Their faces flushed with burning anger.

"Boasting?"

"Falsifying merit?"

"Unable to hold the line? They should all be dead?"

Li Xiuning was undisturbed by the cacophony of voices. As one of history’s remarkable women, she relied on her own observations and judgment.

Chen Ying’s principle was simple: if others gave him an inch, he would yield a yard; but he would never accept humiliation.

Suddenly, Chen Ying stepped forward, his eyes blazing with fury, and shouted, "Ignorant fools! Who said the few cannot defeat the many? If victory depended only on numbers, why did Yang Guang launch three campaigns against Goguryeo? The Western Qin army that invaded Jingyang is dead—all of them! We annihilated the enemy ourselves. This victory belongs to the Jingyang militia. No one helped us!"

At his words, the scene fell silent, so quiet one could hear a pin drop. For ten heartbeats, the hush persisted. Then, laughter erupted among the reinforcements, loud and exaggerated.

"Haha! Are you out of your mind?"

"Even boasting has its limits!"

"Never mind how fierce the Western Qin soldiers were—just those two thousand five hundred, even if they were pigs, could you seven kill them all?"

None believed Chen Ying’s words. To any reasonable mind, this was a foregone defeat—especially with only seven Tang soldiers in Jingyang.

Chen Ying frowned, and after a brief contemplation, he turned to Li Xiuning, whose face was equally skeptical. "Your Highness, if you are here to interfere, then please leave. The war is over. Jingyang has no further need of your assistance."