Huancheng Deep

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Part 1: Sand Sea

Chapter 1

1. [Zhongfu]

In the winter of the eleventh year of the Zhenguan era of the Tang Dynasty, west of Shazhou, a key border town in Longyou Road.

As dusk fell, snowflakes began to drift from the gloomy sky, and a cold wind howled intermittently. Most of the travelers wore grim expressions. They were merchants from Yanqi, intending to trade goods in Tang China, but they had encountered renewed hostility between Tang and the Western Turks, making the roads treacherous. While trying to avoid a direct route, they were caught in an avalanche in the Qilian Mountains. Fortunately, they managed to escape in time, and most of the people and their horses survived. With the road ahead fraught with danger, the merchants had no choice but to turn back.

Besides the Yanqi merchants with their high noses and deep-set eyes, this group also included a few other travelers from various ethnic groups who were also stranded at the border.

The tall, robust young man, his thin clothes dirty and tattered, wearily rubbed his frozen hands, shivering slightly. Seeing the snow falling heavier and heavier, a sense of worry crept into his heart. He hunched his shoulders, noticing a woman in the distance looking over. He gazed at her clear, beautiful face, her moon-white upper garment and bright green embroidered skirt, and cautiously asked, "A Tang woman?" She nodded tentatively. He smiled softly; it was no wonder, he probably hadn't seen a Tang woman from the Central Plains for over a decade.

Seeing his compatriots on the distant border, and a beautiful woman at that, a strange emotion welled up in the young man's heart. His lips moved, as if he wanted to say something, but after hesitating for a long time, he ultimately remained silent. The woman stopped looking at him and turned her head to the side. Just then, a shrill whistle suddenly came from the sky, and the Yanqi people shouted, "The Turkic bandits are coming!" Immediately, they saw the faint shadows of horses and men in the distance, and everyone scattered and fled.

Though called bandits, they were actually a mix of civilians, soldiers, and bandits. Although powerful, the Turks were still a nomadic people. In spring and summer, they moved with the lush pastures, but in autumn and winter, when grazing was scarce, they would often gather in groups and raid southwards, plundering farmland, seizing grain, property, and abducting men and women. They were warlike, with nomadic herding and hunting being their forte. At a single command, eligible men could immediately join the battle.

From the Guifang, Xianyun (Quanrong), and Shanrong of the Shang and Zhou dynasties to the Xiongnu of the Qin and Han dynasties and the Five Barbarians of the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern dynasties, the Central Plains were constantly harassed by nomadic peoples from the north. These horse-riding peoples came and went without a trace, gathering and dispersing quickly, making them extremely difficult to eradicate completely. During the Han dynasty, the Western Regions were extensively expanded, but often, as soon as the central government left, the small states that had submitted would turn to the Xiongnu. It was not until the implementation of a military garrison system and large-scale immigration, with the military preceding the civilian population, and a steady and methodical approach (basically establishing bases), that stability was finally achieved. At this time, the Tang dynasty was still young, having just recovered from the internal wars of unification. It had pacified the Eastern Turks but was still seriously threatened by the Western Turks. Not only did the Western Turkic army frequently invade, but small groups of itinerant bandits were also ubiquitous. The Western Turkic Khan tacitly approved, and even strongly endorsed, this low-risk, high-return endeavor. Firstly, it kept the Tang army constantly on the move; secondly, it plundered merchants along the route, cutting off trade between the Tang and the Western Regions and damaging the Tang economy; and thirdly, it served as a way to teach disobedient smaller states a lesson and establish Tang's power. No wonder everyone scattered and fled for their lives at the mere mention of the Turkic bandits' arrival. Those with horses mounted, abandoning their goods and treasures.

Seeing the Tang woman standing motionless, bewildered, nearly knocked over by the fleeing crowd, the young man figured she probably didn't understand Yanqi language and was unaware of the bandits' danger. He shouted to her in Chinese, "Turkic bandits, run!" and charged towards her. Before he reached her, the bandits' arrows were already flying, felling many men. He thought to himself, "So fast!" He sidestepped, caught an arrow, and threw it back, killing one bandit instantly. Seeing another bandit about to close in on her, in desperation, he let out a long howl, a sound as clear as a wolf's, so real that the horse reared up in fright, nearly throwing the bandit off its back.

This was the moment he'd been waiting for. Before the bandit could react, he'd yanked her towards him. She was still reeling from the shock, but he didn't even turn around, saying, "Don't run away." He slid down to the bandit's mount and struck it in the belly. The horse, in pain, threw the bandit off balance, and he seized the opportunity to twist the bandit's leg, pulling him down and kicking him hard in the throat, killing him instantly. He quickly picked up the bandit's bow and arrows, instructing the woman, "Stay behind me," while unleashing a barrage of arrows, preventing the bandit from advancing. (Hehe, this is the assassin's skill in my favorite computer role-playing game, *Qin Shang*—Meteor Rain, extremely powerful, but depletes energy quickly).

The bandit leader seemed quite interested and waved his hand, ordering his men to halt. After a brief standoff, the bandit leader shouted, "Hey, who are you? Are you a spy for the Tang army?" The young man flinched slightly and replied in Turkic, "You've already looted enough, wouldn't it be enough if you just left? Anyone who comes near, I'll shoot them dead with an arrow." The bandit leader laughed and said, "The girl behind you is very nice, quite rare, I want to take her. Let her come over and I'll let you go."

The young man said, "That won't do. I've taken a liking to this girl." Hearing the woman behind him, "What did you say?" The young man blushed, concealing his true feelings, and replied, "Nothing, they're just complimenting your beauty." The woman said, "I have a short sword, do you want it?" The young man stared at the enemy ahead and said, "How many arrows do you think I have?" The woman said, "Two." He hesitated for a moment, then said, "Put the sword on my waist." The woman did as he was told. He whispered, "Lie down and don't move. Don't get up." The woman hesitated, but still lay down.

The young man said to the bandit leader, "Look, she's terrified." The bandit leader grinned maliciously, "Then you have no choice." With a wave of his hand, two bandits rode over. Without hesitation, the young man fired an arrow, killing the closest one. He then drew his last arrow and aimed intently at the other. The bandit leader laughed wildly, "Hey kid, you're out of arrows." The young man remained calm and walked steadily towards the other bandit, who was getting closer and closer.

Whoosh! An arrow flew out, grazing the scalp of the nearest bandit, and striking the throat of the bandit leader behind him. The bandit leader's smile was still frozen on his face, but his body went limp and he collapsed. The young man was hit in the left chest near the shoulder by an arrow, but he didn't stop. Instead, he ran even faster, rushed forward, leaped up, drew his sword, and cut the bandit off his horse. He then jumped off his own horse and quickly charged into the ranks of the Turkic bandits.

An inch longer weapon, a foot longer advantage. The young man's short sword was only 1.2 feet long, originally only suitable for close-quarters defense, not for mounted combat. But when he charged into the enemy ranks and engaged in close combat, his opponents couldn't draw their bows to shoot him, and long weapons also had many limitations. Furthermore, the warhorses were difficult to maneuver, so after a short while, both sides dismounted and fought hand-to-hand. The Turks were skilled in archery and horsemanship, and their long weapons proved much more cumbersome in close combat. Relying on his agile weapon and exquisite swordsmanship, the young man fought ten men single-handedly, killing six in a short time. The remaining four bandits surrounded the young man but dared not advance. Suddenly, the young man swung his sword into the air, and the bandits, terrified, quickly retreated a few steps.

But he didn't pursue. He stood there, motionless, as large snowflakes fell from the sky, silently flowing with the blood from his sword tip. Because of a cut on his forehead, his left eye was almost blinded by blood, so he wiped it, making his face look even more ferocious and terrifying. The bandits were all stunned. One of them suddenly whistled, and the group quickly fled back the way they had come. Watching them disappear into the distance, he turned around. The Tang woman behind him was already running towards him.

He let out a long sigh, his legs giving way and he collapsed to the ground. Thinking back on what had just happened, he was still terrified. If the bandit leader hadn't been trying to toy with him, and instead had ordered his entire force to attack him, or unleashed a hail of arrows, or taken advantage of his inability to care for the woman while he was engaged in the fierce battle, simply sending one of his men to capture her and coerce him, he would have been helpless. When only four bandits remained, they were intimidated by his imposing presence; if they had truly fought to a standstill, given his injuries and stamina, he wouldn't have had much of a chance of winning.

As he pondered this, the woman approached him. He was covered in blood and wounds, a broken arrow still lodged near his left shoulder, his tattered clothes soaked through with blood. The young man managed to lift his head and smiled slightly. "Help me remove the arrow." He hadn't had time to pay much attention when he was shot, only temporarily sealing his Jianzhen, Yufu, and Yuzhong acupoints and severing the arrow's fletching. The arrow was deeply embedded, and after the fierce battle, his injury was now extremely dangerous, but he simply didn't have the strength to do it himself. The woman quickly found a dagger and a wine flask among the fallen Turkic bandits' corpses, pouring wine onto the cleaned dagger. The young man was secretly amazed that this frail woman remained unfazed by the carnage, thinking that any other woman would likely have fainted from fright.

Just as the woman was about to act, she hesitated for a moment, then brought the wine flask to his lips, saying, "Have a drink." The young man understood, took the flask, and took a large gulp. It was strong liquor; the first sip felt like a scalding knife. He knew she was trying to ease his pain, hoping he would feel better after getting drunk. He thought to himself, "How do you know I have a huge capacity for alcohol?" He drank a few more mouthfuls. The woman took a small jade bottle from her bosom, tore her skirt into strips, and set them aside. She deftly used a dagger to cut open his wound and pulled out the broken arrow. The young man clenched his fists in pain but didn't utter a sound. The woman pressed the cloth strips firmly against his wound until the bleeding stopped, then applied the ointment from the jade bottle, carefully bandaged it, and then picked up a snowball from the ground, kneaded it in a handkerchief, wiped the wound on his forehead, and applied the medicine to his torn and mangled flesh.

The young man whispered, "Thank you." The woman smiled faintly and continued to wipe the blood from his face. His previously filthy and bloody face gradually became clear, and a small, dark blue tattoo beneath the mud and blood on his left cheekbone became visible: treason and concealment of stolen goods, punishable by life imprisonment.

The woman paused for a moment, then suddenly stood up.

The young man smiled bitterly, "You saw it?" She remained silent, so the young man stood up as well, untying and rolling up his tightly bound cuffs, revealing his arms—both wrists were cuffed with broken iron chains, wrapped with strips of cloth, and his wrists were covered in raw, bleeding cuts, clearly from when he had broken the chains himself not long ago. He looked at the woman's surpr

……