Chapter 113: The Captive

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Fan Nuo gazed smugly at the raging flames before the city gate and wiped his sharp saber. He could hardly wait to quench its thirst with the blood of the Liang people once the city fell.

At that moment, however, the city gate slowly opened a narrow crack from within.

Fan Nuo and the Qiang horsemen beside him were momentarily stunned. Could it be that, realizing they had no hope of holding the city, the Liang defenders intended to surrender and come out on their own?

With that thought in mind, the Qiang horsemen all retreated a few steps, proudly watching the gate as it gradually swung open.

But what greeted them, to their astonishment, was a line of villagers holding crossbows.

Fan Nuo’s eyes widened and his pupils contracted. Before he could order the Qiang horsemen to scatter, a volley of bolts came hurtling toward them.

The horsemen at the front were struck by several arrows in an instant and toppled from their saddles. Those behind them reacted quickly, wheeling away in every direction.

Fan Nuo instinctively swung his saber and knocked aside one arrow, only to feel a sudden pain in his abdomen. He knew he had been hit. Gritting his teeth against the agony, he was preparing to spur his horse to flee when a sharp burst of pain struck his shoulder, sending him tumbling helplessly to the ground.

The Qiang horsemen had ridden some distance before suddenly realizing that their commander had not followed. They immediately turned their mounts, loosing arrows toward the city wall as they charged back toward the gate in an attempt to rescue him.

The county soldiers on the wall returned fire without the slightest hesitation, and in the end they prevented the Qiang horsemen from reaching the gate again.

“Put out the fire!”

Qi Jun lowered his crossbow and led the villagers forward, seizing the opportunity to beat at the burning gate and smother the flames.

When Fan Nuo saw his men returning to rescue him, he struggled to his feet and tried to mount his horse again. A villager who came rushing over knocked him down with a single punch. Two others then seized his arms and legs and dragged him into the city like a slaughtered pig, where they tied him up.

As he was hauled through the gate, Fan Nuo struggled and roared in despair, only to feel the villagers’ furious fists pounding into his face once more.

“Sir, we’ve just captured a prisoner. He looks like an officer!”

When one of the villagers spotted Qi Jun, he immediately shouted in excitement.

The fire on the gate had nearly been extinguished. Hearing the cry, Qi Jun’s heart leapt, and he hurriedly turned around. At a glance, he recognized the prisoner as the man who had been leading the Qiang horsemen at the very front.

“My lord! The remaining Qiang horsemen have fled!”

A county soldier ran down from the wall and shouted excitedly to Qi Jun and the others.

“Go to the western wall and reinforce Magistrate Feng. Take this prisoner back with you as well.”

Qi Jun felt a weight lift from his heart. He had practically run a full circuit around Anqiang. Only after learning that the Qiang horsemen had retreated and that the crisis was temporarily over did he notice that his legs had grown sore, numb, and weak.

On the open ground before the western wall, Deng Fang and the others remained surrounded on all sides, still fighting the Qiang soldiers. Both of his bronze hammers were drenched in Qiang blood, and several more wounds had been added to his body.

The leather armor across his chest was soaked red with his own blood and that of the Qiang soldiers. Fresh blood still gushed from the piles of Qiang corpses heaped around them.

After driving back yet another assault, the four men once again stood back to back, their weapons raised toward the Qiang soldiers who now watched them fearfully and dared not advance.

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A tear rolled from Deng Fang’s eye. He thought of his father. Perhaps this was how his father had fought bravely to his death all those years ago.

At that moment, he seemed to feel his forebears’ approval. The warrior spirit of his father, flowing through his blood, quietly awakened and stirred a powerful force within his wounded body.

“Father, your son has not brought shame upon our family. I’m coming to join you and Mother now…”

His eyes glistening with tears, Deng Fang murmured to himself as he tightened his grip on the bronze hammer and cast a contemptuous smile at the surrounding Qiang soldiers.

All four men were covered in wounds. Blood dripped from their injuries onto the earth beneath their feet, seeping into the crimson soil. Yet their eyes held a calm and exhilarated acceptance of death.

“Looks like… we won’t get the chance to drink with Brother Jun after all…”

Deng Fang smiled and glanced at the brothers beside him.

“Master… dying alongside you all is worth it!”

“We agreed, didn’t we? Once we get down there, we mustn’t lose sight of one another. We’ll have a proper taste of the wine in the underworld and drink our fill!”

“We’ve killed so many of those Qiang dogs. We’ve already earned our share! Let’s take down a few more before we go. Then we can face our ancestors with clear consciences!”

The Qiang commander looked at Deng Fang and the others, a trace of sorrow passing through his eyes. Seeing that they had no intention of surrendering, he could only sigh helplessly and wave to the Qiang archers behind him.

At his command, the archers bent their bows and nocked their arrows, aiming at Deng Fang and the others, who were surrounded by infantry.

Just then, the Qiang horsemen who had been supposed to attack the northern wall came hurrying over.

The Qiang commander was momentarily stunned. When the horsemen reached him, he saw that hundreds of riders had failed to enter the city and that only a few dozen remained. Their commander, Fan Nuo, was nowhere to be seen. His expression changed drastically.

“What happened? Where is your commander?”

The Qiang commander seized one of the horsemen by his sheepskin coat and demanded furiously.

“They… they know sorcery! They can make stones fall from the sky! General Fan Nuo was wounded and captured by them…”

The Qiang soldier spoke in a trembling voice.

“Utter nonsense! What sorcery? It’s clearly nothing more than an excuse for your failure in battle!”

The Qiang commander kicked the soldier to the ground, then drew his saber and chopped off his head. The remaining horsemen turned deathly pale and hurriedly fell to their knees, trembling in terror.

Fan Nuo was the eldest grandson of a Qiang tribal elder and the favorite of the tribal chieftain. The reason Fan Nuo had been given command of the Qiang horsemen in the attack on Anqiang was to allow him to claim military glory, further secure his position within the tribe, and lay the foundation for succeeding to the leadership in the future.

Who could have imagined that he would not only fail to take the city wall, but would instead be captured by the enemy?

The Qiang commander could not understand it. The defenders’ main forces had clearly been drawn toward the western wall. By all reason, there should have been little defense in the north. Yet this seemingly easy morsel had somehow bitten them badly, and he could not make sense of it no matter how hard he tried.

If anything happened to Fan Nuo, he would be unable to escape punishment even if he succeeded in capturing Anqiang.

As he watched Deng Fang and the others surrounded by Qiang soldiers, an idea suddenly occurred to him. He urged his horse toward the foot of the wall.

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From atop the wall, Feng Qinian had been watching Deng Fang and the others fight desperately among the Qiang soldiers, his heart in his throat. He feared that Deng Fang might fall beneath a Qiang blade and never rise again.

At that moment, he wished more than anything that Deng Fang could return safely. Even if he were captured, Feng Qinian would spend his entire fortune to ransom him.

Now, seeing the Qiang soldiers halt their attack while their commander approached alone, Feng Qinian was puzzled, but he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The Qiang had come to negotiate.

“No one is to fire!”

With that realization, Feng Qinian hurriedly issued the order to the county soldiers beside him.

Below the wall, the Qiang commander raised both hands toward the defenders, signaling that he carried no weapon and had no intention of fighting. Looking at Feng Qinian atop the wall, he judged from his official robes that he was the commander here.

“I have something I would like to discuss, if you are willing.”

Seeing the defenders lower their bows, the Qiang commander immediately came to the point.

“I will trade these four Liang warriors for one Qiang warrior. What say you?”

Xiao Ming, Zhao Gui, and all the county soldiers froze at his words.

They stared blankly at the Qiang commander below, then turned toward Feng Qinian, only to find him wearing an equally bewildered expression.

“Is this Qiang barbarian an idiot? We haven’t captured any of their men,” Xiao Ming asked Feng Qinian with a puzzled frown.

“My lord, I strongly suspect a trap. We should proceed with caution…”

Zhao Gui shook his head and leaned close to Feng Qinian’s ear to whisper.

“Wait! County Commandant Qi is back! It looks as though he’s captured someone!”

A county soldier spotted Qi Jun and the others approaching. With sharp eyes, he noticed a bound prisoner among them and cried out in astonishment.

Feng Qinian and the others hurriedly turned to look. Sure enough, they saw Qi Jun walking toward them, dragging along a Qiang prisoner bound hand and foot.

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