Chapter 42: Long Howl (II)

Ten miles away from the world’s greatest granary, Luokou Granary, lay a county named Mi County, which served as its gateway and shield.

At dusk, Li Kuo and his party arrived outside Mi County. Since troops needed to be left to guard Tangzhou, Li Kuo brought only 2,500 infantry and 5,000 cavalry. Though the number of soldiers wasn’t large, each soldier having two horses ensured maximum mobility for the army.

Their mission wasn’t to capture cities but to burn down Luokou Granary, so there was no need to fight to the death.

“Qilang, look! The city gates of Mi County are wide open!”
Zhou Wucui pointed at the north gate of Mi County with his whip, utterly puzzled. As the gateway to Luokou Granary, Mi County should have at least some capable troops for defense—couldn’t it at least put up a decent defense?

Could it be that An Lushan assumed the Tang army wouldn’t attack from behind, allowing him to send all his forces to attack Tongguan without concern?

Damn it!

“The situation here is so strange—it must be a trick. Governor, why not send scouts into the city first to investigate?”
Li Sheng frowned at the bizarre scene.

“Heh, what trick could there be? In my opinion, those barbarians think we won’t attack, so they’re careless. Let’s storm in and teach them a lesson. Go!”
Without waiting for Li Kuo’s opinion, Pu Da Chui spurred his horse and entered the city first.

“Da Chui!”
Li Kuo couldn’t stop him and could only shake his head with a wry smile: “Enter the city!”……

The atmosphere inside Mi County was just as eerie and deserted as outside. The 3,000 cavalry had to slow down on the narrow streets, but this allowed them to observe the county more closely.

The county wasn’t large—probably about the size of an ordinary county. Its streets were crisscrossing but orderly. Yet Li Kuo felt an indescribable sense of discomfort about it.

No vitality!
There was no vitality at all in this county! There were no merchants selling goods or food on the streets, no hurried porters, and even the shops facing the road had their doors locked, refusing to serve customers……

“Qilang, why does this city seem so gloomy? Could it be a ghost city……”
The more Zhou Wucui thought about it, the more scared he became. He regretted following Li Kuo into the city on impulse. Now, regretting it was useless.

“Stop imagining nonsense. There are no ghosts in this world!”
Li Kuo frowned and interrupted his friend’s wild thoughts. “Let’s go ahead and take a look!”

The county was divided into 16 districts by 9 streets running horizontally and vertically. Li Kuo divided his 2,500 men into 16 groups to inspect each district.

Their group was assigned two hundred men.
The narrow alley ahead was so tight that only two people could pass at once. Li Kuo waved his hand, urging everyone to stay alert for any possible situation.
“Help! Help!”
Just as everyone was tense and sweating profusely, a shrill cry suddenly came from the depths of the alley!
“Go check!”
Li Kuo immediately spurred his horse and rushed forward. …
“Help! Help! Don’t come near! Don’t come near!”
In a corner of the alley, there was a disheveled woman. She was about seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing only a thin cloth to cover her chest and loose pants below, trembling as she stared at the barbarians before her.
She held a kitchen knife in her hand, determined to kill herself to preserve her chastity if those barbarians dared to get any closer.
“Don’t get upset, girl. This is General Tian Chengsi’s General of a Thousand Oxen, this is General of the Mighty Tiger, and this is General of the Sharp Leopard. Hehe, if you yield to them, you’ll live in comfort for the rest of your life.”
The speaker was a Tang man named He Dan, originally a clerk in Mi County. He had once traded furs in Fanyang and spoke a little Turkic, so after Mi County fell, Tian Chengsi kept him around for emergencies.
“Pah!”
The girl was fiercely defiant, spitting thick phlegm right in He Dan’s face. “You wretched dog! I’d rather die than yield to these beasts. Do you think all Tang people are as cowardly and greedy for wealth as you? But you’re wrong!”
He Dan wasn’t annoyed at being insulted like this. He wiped the phlegm from his face and smiled. “Girl, why go to such lengths? The Tang dynasty is declining. Marshal An Lushan has seized the throne by divine right. Luoyang has fallen, and Chang’an is on the verge of collapse. It’s only a matter of time before Marshal An unifies the land. Why make things harder for yourself?”
“Pah! You shameless wretch! You’re worse than an animal!”
The girl glared fiercely at He Dan and shouted.
“What’s she saying?”
A Khitan soldier with braided hair, seeing them talking for a long time, asked He Dan in Turkic.
He Dan inwardly groaned but had no choice but to answer honestly with a smile.
“Bastard!”
The Khitan soldier flew into a rage and vented his anger on He Dan, knocking him to the ground with a punch.
“Hold her down! Let’s see if this stinking bitch still values her chastity!”
With that, four or five bare-chested barbarian soldiers rushed toward the girl in the corner, grinning greedily.

“Don’t come over, don’t come over!”
Seeing the barbarian dogs charging at her without hesitation, the young woman could bear the pressure no longer and swung the kitchen knife in her hand fiercely at her own neck.
“Ding!”
After a clear sound of metal hitting metal, the expected pain never came.
“Puh puh!” “Puh puh!”
Immediately afterward, there was a series of dull sounds as the blade cut through flesh, just like a knife cutting into fish on a cutting board.
It took a long time before the young woman dared to open her eyes again. To her relief, what appeared before her was not a group of barbarian dogs engaged in destruction and atrocities, but a row of neatly dressed Tang soldiers.
“Sir, sir, save me!”
The young woman immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly.
Li Kuo gave her a slight nod, signaling her to stay calm.
“Move their corpses to the alley corner!”
Li Kuo pointed at the dead bodies of the barbarian soldiers and gave a low command.
After that, he turned his gaze back to the official who was tied up by his men.
“Pity me, kind sir, please spare my life! Sir, I was forced by them! As you can see, my heart has always been with this young lady. Kind sir, please spare my life!”
He Dan had witnessed several barbarian soldiers die right before his eyes and was so terrified that he wet himself, kowtowing repeatedly for mercy.
In his life, he hated two kinds of people the most: those who abused women and children, and those who betrayed their country. Either of these made someone worthy of death in his eyes. How could someone who had both survive?
“Behead him!”
Li Kuo glanced at He Dan disdainfully and said coldly.