"Do what you want to do. There is not much mercy or evil on the battlefield."
Qiu Su nodded and closed her eyes again, but her heart was still so heavy that she could hardly breathe.
The next day, Qiu Su led her thousand elite soldiers, along with some other necessities, to Black Gorge Pass, where she stationed her troops on the other side. He Zhuo was somewhat puzzled, wondering why she had stationed her troops outside the designated area. It wasn't exactly outside the designated area; the two sides were separated by this mountain, and Black Gorge Pass was generally an insurmountable section. However, seeing her resolute attitude, he led his troops across without asking any questions.
Qiu Su still sent out a hundred men up the mountain, stationed on two separate peaks, and equipped them with sufficient food and tools. He instructed them to build many double-sharpened wooden fences the size of door panels using the surrounding trees and stones on the mountaintop, and to tie stones to them to speed up the descent. He also ordered Wu Na Bu to hide these hundred men in the forest once they had all passed through the Black Gorge Pass, and to withdraw to the military camp after confirming that it was safe.
Below, about a hundred iron wires were stretched along the stone walls on both sides. The wires were extremely taut and thin, hanging not high above the ground. If one were riding on horseback at high speed, they would be difficult to see clearly. Qiu Su had originally thought of putting some barbs or something at the back, but after thinking about it, she decided against it.
Of the remaining nine hundred soldiers, only one hundred were cavalry. Qiu Su understood that this battle couldn't be a retreat after defeat; they had to teach Wu Na a lesson before forcing him to retreat. Sometimes, she truly didn't understand why wars were fought, what they wanted, or why they couldn't just sit down and talk things out. But then she realized how ridiculous her thoughts were. If everything could be discussed, then there would be no struggle for the throne, territory, or even the wives and concubines in the harem. Perhaps then, the beauties of the harem would have no reason to live. It seems that from the moment we are born, we are constantly fighting.
On the second day of their encampment, a scout reported seeing the shadow of Unana's cavalry. Qiu Su pursed her lips and instructed He Zhuo to lead several hundred men to carefully retreat to the other side. The barbed wire that had been stretched earlier was quickly secured to the cliff face.
Qiu Su led Xiao Qiu to stand opposite the Black Gorge, thinking about what the leader, Wu Na, looked like, while also looking at the route they had previously scouted on the cliff, considering the possibility of escaping if negotiations failed. Seeing the massive cavalry charge approaching in an instant, Qiu Su shrugged and left the gorge, grabbing a nearby tree and climbing the slope.
Standing below, it seemed possible to be wiped out without saying a word.
Xiao Qiu glanced at Qiu Su, who had climbed up the hillside and was half-hidden behind a tree, then shook her ears and calmly squatted at a distance without moving.
The cavalry arrived as soon as they were told, but Xiao Qiu remained squatting in place without moving. The man at the head, with a braided whip coiled around his neck, must be the one everyone was talking about, Wu Na. When he raised his hand, the hundreds of cavalrymen behind him stopped one after another.
Una glanced at the white wolf crouching at the canyon entrance, followed its gaze to Qiu Su hiding behind a tree, chuckled twice, and raised her voice in somewhat broken English, saying, "Qin Yu has a new leader under his command."
Qiu Su poked her head out, and Wu Na was slightly surprised, perhaps not expecting her to be a dark-skinned, short person with bright eyes and a gentle appearance. So she crossed her arms and said, "Negotiation?"
Qiu Su nodded. "What do you want from this invasion?"
"Food and women."
"Grain can be negotiated, but women are out of the question."
Una took an arrow and aimed it at Xiao Qiu. Qiu Su quickly said, "Those who kill animals are cowards."
As soon as Wu Na turned the arrow, before Qiu Su could even see him aim, she heard a whooshing sound, and in the blink of an eye, she saw an arrow still trembling on the tree trunk as thick as a bowl in front of her.
He Zhuo, watching from behind, clearly saw Wu Na's actions. He drew his bow fully and was about to release the arrow when he saw Qiu Su raise her hand and gesture, stopping him.
"Your archery skills are excellent," Qiu Su praised.
Wu Na glanced at He Zhuo, who was riding alone on horseback at the other end of the gorge, and raised his chin, asking, "Where are your soldiers?"
Qiu Su pointed to the top of her head, "The rest are hidden elsewhere."
Una threw his head back and laughed loudly, "That's great! Let's go back and have a good fight."
"Can we have a proper talk?"
Una raised an eyebrow, "If you were to offer fifty women..."
Never mind what I said.
Qiu Su whistled, and Xiao Qiu looked up and howled. Only after hearing the wolf pack's response did it shake its ears and gracefully leap up the hillside, following Qiu Su back along the narrow passage carved out by the rock wall.
When Qiu Su turned to look at Wu Na, her body shifted to one side. Although her chest was bound with cloth, it still protruded somewhat. In addition, she was not wearing armor for ease of movement, and she walked with a slightly hunched back, which made her waist appear even more slender and feminine in Wu Na's eyes.
Wu Na narrowed his eyes, waiting for Qiu Su to reach the other side safely. When he saw He Zhuo reach out and pull her onto his horse, he became even more certain of his thoughts.
He Zhuo was furious. He held Qiu Su to his chest, then suddenly drew his bow again and shot an arrow at the head of the horse under Wu Na. The arrow was cleaved in two by a subsequent arrow fired by Wu Na.
He Zhuo pursed his lips, pulled the reins, and hid behind the stone wall, letting out a heavy snort above Qiu Su's head.
Qiu Su held out her hand to show He Zhuo the cold sweat on her palm, then turned back with a wry smile, "I was so scared."
"Serves you right."
“Una is a man of his word.”
“That’s bloodlust.” He Zhuo wiped the sweat from his clothes with Qiu Su’s hand, put on his armor, took the reins from a soldier, and helped Qiu Su onto Si Qiong’s back. He said coldly, “He wanted to see what could possibly stump him. If he were truly a trustworthy and good person, would he have stormed into other tribes to steal livestock and women? He’s worse than a beast!”
“Also,” He Zhuo handed over his scimitar, “you will retreat to the outer side in a while. If the formation becomes disordered, ride back. Si Qiong is fast, and General Qin has set up troops two miles away.”
Qiu Su glanced at the other soldiers on guard, shook her head, and said, "I will protect myself. We will not lose."
A whistle came from the mouth of the gorge, followed by the sound of horses' hooves. He Zhuo commanded two hundred infantrymen to form a copper wall at the mouth of the gorge with their shields raised. He rode behind the copper wall, and Qiu Su followed. She looked at the stones and wooden fences thrown down from the top of the cliff, and then looked at the shields that each of Wu Na's troops held behind their backs and curled her lips.
The shield could only protect the rider from injury, but not the horse beneath. The cavalrymen who dodged the stones and spikes were soon stopped by the barbed wire ahead, and the first to fall off their horses was the leader, Una. As his horse was caught in the net and knelt down, he used the momentum to push the horse's back up and leaped up, landing steadily between the barbed wire. The cavalrymen behind him could not rein in their horses in time and also fell off one after another, but only a dozen or so horses fell.
Una swung his knife to dodge the rocks and splinters overhead, cut the barbed wire, and mounted another horse. The playfulness on his face was gone, replaced by a hint of bloodlust and determination.
The cavalry were scattered by the stones pushed down from above, but the cavalry that broke through the pass quickly adjusted their formation and rushed over here in perfect unison.
At He Zhuo's command, the infantrymen instantly fired arrows coated with anesthetic from their crossbows. On the other side, Wu Na raised their shields in unison, spurred their horses forward, and aimed their crossbows at the exposed forelegs of the horses, firing another volley of arrows before switching to spears that were thrust out from between the shields.
The cavalry drew ever closer, yet the copper wall on this side remained completely still. Qiu Su stared in disbelief at Wu Na, who was now right in front of her, and the hundreds of cavalrymen behind him. Suddenly, she realized that this was true war; blood and life were nothing but dust in this moment. Looking at the dead and still-living horses and cavalry groaning in the gorge, Qiu Su felt a wave of dizziness.
Author's Note:
51
51. How lucky are you...?
Una charged towards one corner at incredible speed. The soldiers there, seeing their spears broken, alertly dragged their shields back. Una broke through that corner, and the soldiers there were unharmed. Then, two hundred cavalrymen charged into Una's cavalry, using their hammers and hook-and-sickle spears to break into Una's forces.
Una broke through the cavalry and looked towards Qiu Su. Seeing her pale face, he laughed twice and said, "So you're such a coward. Come out here, let's have a good talk."
He Zhuo glanced at Qiu Su, who was somewhat stunned, and roared, "Shield Wall!"
The formation shifted, forming a semicircle against the mountainside, encircling He Zhuo and Qiu Su in the center, with a circle of archers behind them. The shields in front were lowered, and arrows rained down on Wu Na. Wu Na nimbly dodged under his horse and spurred it in the opposite direction. His mount was fully armored, and the volley of arrows did not harm it in the slightest.
Una, with a snake-like motion, brushed aside the arrows from his saddle, sat back on his horse, and said with a smile, "Your defense was quite good." Then he winked at Qiu Su, "If you don't want to come out, we'll meet again later."
Una roared in a strange tone, and the remaining cavalry quickly withdrew from the chaotic battlefield and rushed towards him. Qiu Su looked at the smile on his face, remembered the fifty women he had mentioned earlier, and thought of the several nomadic villages in the other direction. She ordered the infantry to make way and rode out. Holding the scimitar He Zhuo had given her in one hand, she looked at Una from afar and suppressed her trembling as she tried her best to remain calm, saying, "Let's have a good talk."