Chapter Eighty-Seven: The Journey Back

Across the vast, snow-swept wilderness, a force of about ten thousand men was pressing forward through the drifts.

Suddenly, a swift horse came thundering toward them like a peal of thunder. Its rider leapt down at once and sprawled onto the icy snow, shouting, “Young Chieftain, the road to Ice City is blocked. The man in command is Li Yan, one of Yuwen Sugun’s personal generals. By my estimate, there are no fewer than five thousand of them. Do we press on?”

Crash!

Gao Huizhen slammed the weapon in his hand violently to the ground. This was already the fourth road they had found blocked. Beyond this, there was no other way to go around Liaodong City and enter Goguryeo.

No longer able to suppress the rage in his heart, Gao Huizhen bared his teeth and roared, “Yuwen Sugun, I am sworn against you!”

When his shout died away, he turned sharply and bellowed, “All troops, about-face. Head for Willow City!”

The deputy general froze, then asked with some uncertainty, “Young Chieftain, that is the Great Tang army. Do we truly mean to go and fight them? In this weather?”

Gao Huizhen cast a cold glance toward Liaodong City and gave a savage laugh. “Fight? I’m going to surrender. Yuwen Sugun wants our southern lands wiped out to the last man, but I will not grant him that wish. And with the help of Great Tang, I will bring Goguryeo to ruin once and for all. Move!”

“But if we do this, Yuwen Sugun will surely use it as a pretext to slaughter the entire south,” the deputy said anxiously, hurriedly trying to persuade him.

“Then let him slaughter it!” Gao Huizhen had also gone ferocious now, driving straight ahead without heed.

The deputy’s heart sank. In truth, he understood better than anyone that even if they did not surrender to Great Tang, their southern lands could not be saved. Yuwen Sugun would never permit the south to continue existing as a state within a state. And it was not only the south—the north would be no different.

It was only that Gao Yeonsu of the north was already dead. However regretful Yuwen Sugun might be, he could only keep waiting. Perhaps the north would be allowed to last a little longer? Ten years? Or twenty?

Glancing back at the blocked road behind them, the deputy drew a deep breath and forced every trace of hope down into silence. Then he spurred his horse after Gao Huizhen. The remaining ten thousand men followed close behind, though among them were still two thousand clansmen of the Blackwater Malgal, who had remained in Goguryeo.

The Blackwater Malgal had long relied on Goguryeo to resist the incursions of the Eastern Turks. But after Hanpu led his people away from Goguryeo some days earlier and headed south in search of a place to live, the Blackwater Malgal were abandoned by Goguryeo. Although Hanpu’s brother A Gu was still there, the royal house had already given up on him completely once Hanpu left.

Otherwise, Yuwen Sugun would never have been so bold as to throw more than two thousand Malgal clansmen out to die.

Thus, in the face of Gao Huizhen’s betrayal, several of their minor leaders gathered to discuss matters and then decisively abandoned Goguryeo, following Gao Huizhen toward the southwest.

Willow City.

Li Kong had been waiting here for an entire day and night, yet as time slipped by, he only grew more restless. Had his state of mind not been sufficiently strong, he might already have lost his temper.

Outside, the snowfall that had lasted for twelve straight hours showed no sign of stopping. The drifts on the ground had already risen above one’s knees, and disaster from snow seemed almost inevitable. What worried him now was whether Zhou Han and the other two detachments could return in weather like this.

Suddenly, a soldier caked in snow rushed in and shouted, “General, Deputy General Zhou and Deputy General Han have returned. However, there is still no news from Deputy General Wang. Should we continue holding this place and wait?”

Li Kong started slightly, then sprang to his feet. “Go. Come with me to greet them first!”

With that, he was already running out.

Outside Willow City, the two forces slowly converged. Zhou Han and Han Jun had both turned completely into snowmen, yet even so, the moment they saw Li Kong they dismounted at once and bowed to him.

Li Kong helped them up, his expression full of emotion. “It’s good that you’re back. Good that you’re back.”

After confirming that neither of them had suffered any losses, Li Kong hurriedly stepped aside and said, “Come, return first and rest a while. We will wait here one hour. If Deputy General Wang still has not returned by then, we will search along the road he took, and then head south back to the capital at once.”

“Yes, sir!” Han Jun and Zhou Han responded, quickly sending their men into the buildings to rest and warm themselves. Since receiving the imperial order yesterday evening, they had rushed back overnight. Their soldiers were already so frozen they could barely speak; if they did not get warm soon, they would surely die here. Even the two of them were no better off.

They warmed themselves by the fire, ate meat, and drank hot water.

An hour passed quickly, and everyone had recovered their basic strength and spirit. But leaving immediately was still difficult. In the end, they decided to empty all the liquor from everyone’s flasks, fill them instead with boiling water, and place them against their chests to keep warm and maintain their body heat for the short term.

Then snow was piled over all the fire pits, burying them completely, and the army set out southward.

Fortunately, the road chosen by Deputy General Wang ran southeast, pointing straight toward Jicheng, so they did not need to make a detour. They might, however, encounter some Goguryeo soldiers along the way.

Still, they had more than five thousand men, all cavalry. Even if they ran into a Goguryeo force of ten thousand, if they could not win, escaping would still not be a problem. Besides, in weather this dreadful, it was unlikely Goguryeo soldiers would come out to die.

After traveling thirty li, they met up with Deputy General Wang. What surprised Li Kong somewhat was that the thousand cavalry Wang had originally taken out now seemed to have grown in number.

“What happened here?” Once the men had been drawn up, Li Kong personally called Wang to his side and asked.

“These are all Han people wandering across Liaodong. When I saw them, some were nearly frozen to death, and some were even on the brink. I could not bear to leave them to die in this place, so I temporarily gathered them together, planning to deal with them after we return to Chang’an.”

Li Kong gave an unreadable nod and glanced toward the more than two hundred men. Han people? Hmph. Were there still Han people in Liaodong at this time? Even if there were, they would not look like this.

Of course, he also suspected he might simply be overthinking. But this was enemy territory, and caution could not be spared. Still, as Wang had said, this was not the time to settle accounts. Everything would have to wait until they had passed the frontier; then life and death would no longer be in their own hands.

“Let’s go.” After a moment, Li Kong withdrew his gaze and spurred his horse westward.