Chapter 40: The Bows and Crossbows Distinguish Themselves
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The Hou estate had been built against the mountain, its main grounds lying to the west of the mountain road.
A stream ran through the lowland carved out by mountain floods.
As the defeated retainers returned, beacons were lit atop the peak behind the Hou estate.
Torches were also raised along the outer walls. When Zhao Ji drew near, the firelight revealed the vague outlines of more than a dozen arrow towers.
“Captain Zhao?”
Wei Xing, who had reached the place ahead of them, approached with a torch. Bathed in its glow, his face was flushed red, as though scorched by fire, and his smile was radiant.
“Who would have thought the Hou brothers would see this day!”
Zhao Ji sensed that something was amiss, though he could not put his finger on what it was.
Behind him, Han Shu advanced with a torch in hand. Suddenly, a volley of crossbow bolts tore through the air.
Only as the bolts flew past did Zhao Ji faintly hear their whispering hiss.
The torch fell from Wei Xing’s hand. His left leg buckled beneath him, and he collapsed with a muffled groan, teeth clenched against the pain.
Han Shu touched his own chest, then hurriedly flung his torch away. Zhao Ji stepped forward, seized Wei Xing by both shoulders, and dragged him backward.
“Take cover!”
Wei Xing was quick to react. He braced his right foot against the ground and summoned all his strength, allowing Zhao Ji to drag him more than a dozen paces.
When Zhao Ji stopped, another burst of crossbow bolts struck the earth with a series of sharp clinks.
The other personal guards rushed over, hoisted Wei Xing up, and moved him another dozen paces away. Most of the torches in the vicinity had been abandoned on the ground, where they continued to burn.
Behind the wagon, in the torchlight, Zhao Ji quickly examined Wei Xing’s injured leg. The bolt had pierced his greave but had failed to penetrate deeply.
Seeing that Wei Xing had merely frightened himself, Zhao Ji did not point it out. Instead, he comforted him.
“Zi’ang, you were lucky. The bone and tendons are unharmed. Rest for a month or so, and you’ll recover.”
Wei Xing grinned, utterly unconcerned.
“If the leg’s crippled, then it’s crippled. It won’t stop me from riding or fathering children.”
“You certainly know how to take things in stride.”
Zhao Ji patted the back of his hand.
“I’m going to avenge you, Zi’ang.”
He immediately took down his painted bow and said to Han Shu, “Bring a shield and follow me. Take another quiver of arrows.”
“Yes!”
Han Shu accepted the requested equipment from the other guards, took up his shield, and followed lightly on his feet.
Wei Xing watched Zhao Ji depart from the corner of his eye and muttered under his breath, “So I was Brother Zi’ang before, and now I’m just Zi’ang…”
He had the strange feeling that in a few days Zhao Ji would be calling him Ah-Xing.
Nearby, Tang Xian held his shield and bent forward, watching the direction in which Zhao Ji had gone.
Catching the faint sound of Wei Xing’s voice, he turned his head.
“Zi’ang, what did you say?”
“I was talking about the women of the Hou family. Once we break into the estate and seize the Hou fortune, do you think the captain will choose one of them? If he gives one to you and me, how many could we split between us?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never thought about such things.”
Wei Xing was from Northern Township, while Tang Xian came from Southern Jiang. Both places lay south of Mount Zijin: Tang Xian lived to the southeast, and Wei Xing to the southwest. Neither of their families could compare with the brothers of the Hou clan.
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Tang Xian watched the front and continued, “In my opinion, the captain is a man destined for great things. He won’t want the wives and daughters of the Hou brothers.”
“That’s only because he hasn’t seen them. When I was answering the call to arms, I happened to see the women of the Hou household going out to gather edible greens. You should have seen the looks of Hou Mo’s newest concubine. I heard she was a clanswoman of the imperial house, trafficked from Xu Province and exchanged for a fine horse.”
The subject excited Wei Xing so much that even his wounded leg seemed to stop hurting.
“Her face was white and tender as mutton fat! And her figure was perfectly proportioned. One glance told you she was a fine woman, sturdy and fertile enough to bear strong children.”
“Did they not dig out your eyes?”
Tang Xian teased him. Wei Xing slapped the armor over his chest.
“She was looking at me too. Think about it—she was a woman who had been sold, while Hou Mo was no good sort. With so many wives and concubines, how could he truly cherish her? Perhaps she was even hoping that I would take wicked thoughts into my head, carry her away, and free her from that prison.”
The Tiger Braves around them all laughed. Tang Xian asked again, “If you felt that way, why didn’t you rescue her?”
“Seventh Brother sent for me. I had to guard the Son of Heaven and restore the realm. How could I let a woman ruin everything? Seventh Brother would have looked down on me.”
They were all sons of respectable households. In ordinary times, they rode and hunted together, and whenever they encountered village girls traveling in groups, they often exchanged jokes at one another’s expense.
When two people took a liking to each other, it was hardly unusual for them to slip away together and amuse themselves somewhere secluded.
Those around them did not think Wei Xing was merely flattering himself. If he really had rescued the woman, they only hoped he had not been caught in the act.
While they chatted, Zhao Ji had already crept to within forty or fifty paces of the wall.
Han Shu crouched in front of him with his shield raised. Zhao Ji rose, drew his bow, aimed at a figure atop the wall, and loosed an arrow.
The figure toppled from sight. Nearby torches swayed and shifted.
A second arrow followed. It struck a retainer holding a torch, which slipped from his hand and fell outside the wall.
Then the figures twenty or thirty paces to either side shrank behind the parapet. A crossbowman poked his head out from an arrow tower.
Zhao Ji’s third arrow flew. It struck the man in the neck. Clutching his throat, he toppled over the tower’s railing.
The crossbowman in the tower immediately dropped his torch and vanished into the darkness.
Yet the surrounding fires still illuminated the tower’s outline.
Relying on his memory, Zhao Ji loosed two more arrows in quick succession. He saw no obvious movement.
“Come with me,” he said quietly.
“Yes!”
Han Shu was exhilarated. Keeping his voice low, he raised his shield to protect his flank and followed Zhao Ji, still crouching as they shifted position.
Most of the Tiger Braves watching from the perimeter sat on the ground to rest. When they saw the torches throughout the estate gradually go out, their morale soared.
Yet almost none of them spoke. Shooting by sound in the darkness was advanced training for archers and crossbowmen.
No matter how well one could shoot at a target, it was nothing compared with shooting by the sound of a man’s voice.
With no torches to guide the enemy, Zhao Ji led Han Shu closer once more.
At that moment, more than a dozen of the Hou retainers descended by ropes. Carrying spears and halberds, they advanced toward the two men.
When the distance between them narrowed to roughly ten paces, both sides suddenly stopped. In an uncanny display of mutual understanding, they retreated at the same time and widened the gap.
Han Shu’s heart raced. He followed Zhao Ji back more than a dozen steps, then turned his head and cautiously peered over the rim of his shield with one eye.
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Watching the vague silhouettes search slowly through the darkness, Zhao Ji drew out a whistling arrow. After a moment’s thought, he decided against using it.
If the enemy were ruthless enough to engage them openly, their archers and crossbowmen would fire into the area without regard for friend or foe.
He simply continued retreating until they reached the wagons.
Two wagons stood side by side, with a small campfire behind them. It served as a rallying point.
Once they returned, Han Shu collapsed onto the ground, his face covered in sweat.
“That was too close. The bandits have already lost the will to fight.”
“Not entirely. They’re afraid of walking into an ambush.”
Zhao Ji offered the explanation, reached for the quiver, then went to the wagon shaft to replenish his arrows.
By then, Wei Xing had removed his greave and was bandaging the wound.
“Captain, how many did you shoot?”
“I don’t know. Three or four, perhaps.”
Zhao Ji returned to the campfire.
“Stay alert. The sky is dark, and reinforcements from the Hou smithies and pastures will not dare approach. There is no wind tonight. If a morning breeze rises at dawn, we can use the wind to blow smoke over them and hinder their archers and crossbowmen.”
Once daylight came, the enemy’s archers and crossbowmen would have better visibility, but their own men would also have time to recover their strength.
The wealth of the Hou clan was the strongest glue for holding the army together and stabilizing its morale.
Distributing the meat would mean far more than any lofty talk of guarding the Son of Heaven.
Pursuing victory and sharing in its glory were important, but the true objective was still wealth.
While Wei Xing ate a wheat cake, he asked, “Captain, what will happen to the women of the Hou household? I mean, the wives and concubines of the Hou brothers.”
“You want one?”
“It isn’t that I must have one. It just seems a pity.”
“There’s no one else here, so I’ll speak frankly.”
Zhao Ji caught the waterskin Tang Xian handed him and looked around at the Tiger Braves gathering nearby.
“The Hou family sold weapons to the Xiongnu. It would not be wrong to call them enemies of the state. Once the estate is breached, every adult male of the Hou clan must be executed. But the Hou family also took wives from prominent lineages. If we kill the women’s children, will those women not hate us?”
“They will.”
Wei Xing immediately continued, “Then give them more children. If we kill them—or rather, if those women set fire to themselves to preserve their chastity—their fathers and brothers will hate us as well. We have rendered service to the court, while the Hou clan are criminals. If they remarry into our ranks, it will be better for everyone.”
Tang Xian gave a mocking laugh.
“Are you not afraid they may be carrying Hou blood in their bellies, only to grow up and stab you one day?”
Wei Xing glared at him, then hurriedly looked to Zhao Ji.
“Captain, many men were killed tonight, and many women have become widows. They will struggle to raise their children. In any case, they entrusted themselves to the wrong men. Their husbands were rebels, and under the law they would be questioned and punished, with the wives implicated as well. Why not reduce them to slavery and let the men in camp redeem them as concubine-slaves through their military merits?”
“I would never have guessed that Zi’ang was so skilled in finding loopholes.”
Zhao Ji nodded.
“This matter is too serious. I’ll discuss it with Seventh Brother.”
“No. Since it concerns the daughters of prominent families, Seventh Brother and the others would rather not know. Let us crude soldiers handle it. Once it is done, they will have no choice but to accept it.”
Wei Xing had a wide circle of acquaintances and considerable experience of the world. He knew perfectly well which of the Hou brothers’ wives and concubines were the most beautiful.