Chapter 53: Mountains and Seas (6)
Warhorses galloped wildly, raising clouds of dust; blades flashed, and blood flowed in streams. Many Tang soldiers and Tibetan warriors were thrown off their horses under the fierce impact, only to be trampled underfoot. How could flesh and blood withstand the weight of nearly a thousand pounds, both human and horse? In an instant, these once-living beings turned into indistinguishable masses of flesh.
Zhang Yanji felt a chill run down his spine. These Tibetans were like cornered beasts, utterly indifferent to death! More and more of his comrades fell, yet fewer than thirty Tibetans died!
The silent slaughter became the ruler of the night; the claws of death gradually spread, gripping any living thing tightly and refusing to let go.
“Ah!”
A Tang cavalryman was pulled off his horse by a Tibetan soldier who pounced from above, crashing onto the bluestone ground with blood gushing from his nose. Without swords or spears, the two fought in the most primal way, striving for survival.
The Tibetan soldier delivered a straight punch to the Tang soldier’s right cheek, shattering three of his teeth in an instant. Enduring the searing pain, the Tang soldier turned and threw a hook punch, snapping the Tibetan soldier’s jaw.
The two struggled together, rolling and fighting. They swung fists, kicked with knees, slammed heads together, and bit with teeth… Every effort was to survive, to see the sunrise of the next day…
The cruelty of war lies in its destruction of humanity. People of different races, cultures, and beliefs are equally humble and equal in the face of survival. To go on, to live, one must kill—keep killing. Not killing means death! Any sense of morality or kindness is utterly worthless in the face of life. They only want to survive—how much weight can ethics carry? Any belief or deity loses its power in the face of death. When they are utterly desperate, where are the gods?
In the end, to survive, one still relies on the blade in their hand!
Though it may look ugly, worthless, and covered in blood, on the battlefield it is the most trustworthy friend—one to entrust one’s life to!
“Ugh!”
“Ugh!”
The Tang soldier’s neck was tightly grasped by the Tibetan, leaving him unable to speak. He desperately kicked at the Tibetan’s lower body, but the brute remained motionless as if he had no testicles at all!
The Tang soldier’s face had turned a dark purple as he struggled to breathe, his mouth wide open. His Adam’s apple seemed crushed by the Tubo barbarians, and a sweet, bloody fluid surged in his throat. His whites of the eyes gradually rolled back, and his consciousness grew blurred. Under the pitch-black sky, he seemed to see his wife sitting on their home’s kang, holding a sewn shoe sole and waving at him with a smile; he seemed to hear his infant son stammering, “Daddy.”
Was it all over? Perhaps his wife and child could get a decent compensation? He hoped some would remain when the imperial compensation reached him. Hot tears streamed from the Tang soldier’s eyes as he slowly closed them.
“Die!”
A fierce shout erupted from the shadows. Xian Yu Cheng rode up on his horse, drew a silver spear, and pierced a hole the size of a cooked egg in the back of the Tubo soldier’s chest. The Tubo soldier’s heart and lungs burst, and he instantly stopped breathing. With a light kick, Xian Yu Cheng used the spear tip to fling the corpse aside, knocking down three Tubo soldiers who were approaching from behind.
Huh? Why did death come so easily? Was there even a scent of soil in the air? The Tang soldier felt a great relief around his neck and instinctively opened his eyes. In the hazy vision, standing before him was none other than General Xian Yu!
“Get your ass up, you idiot! Don’t act like a worm without backbone!”
The Tang soldier felt a warm surge in his chest and, blushing, said, “I just felt I couldn’t hold on any longer. General, I…”
He buried his head in his arms and sobbed softly.
“Remember, as long as I’m not completely dead, I won’t abandon any of my comrades. Besides, those who give up on themselves are abandoned by heaven! Even if the world abandons you, you must not abandon yourself. A man should grip his sword tightly and fight back fiercely. Retaliate to avenge past humiliations! Only by respecting oneself can one control one’s fate!”
Xian Yu Cheng drew the sword at his waist and threw it to the Tang soldier, who was sitting on the ground.
“Remember, never lose hope in this world, nor in yourself. In life, one must forge their own path!”
“Ah, ah…”
The Tang soldier was deeply moved, tears and snot streaming down as he nodded repeatedly.
“Be careful!”
Xian Yu Cheng pushed the Tang soldier aside, but in doing so, he fell off his horse. Suddenly, a dozen steel knives flashed from the shadows and struck the spot where the Tang soldier had been sitting, leaving several intersecting white marks on the bluestone mountain.
They must have seen that lance. Xianyu Yucheng forced a bitter smile—who said the Tibetans were ignorant barbarians? A single lance was enough to attract them all; it seemed his head was worth quite a bounty.
Within those dozen seconds, the Tibetan soldiers formed a circle, trapping the two of them inside. All of them held curved knives and stared fiercely at Xianyu Yucheng. It was this Tang general who had killed several of their comrades with that lance!
Kill them! Kill all these Tang invaders!
The circle grew smaller and smaller. Xianyu Yucheng and the Tang soldier stood back to back, watching closely for the Tibetan soldiers who might pounce at any moment.
These Tibetan soldiers were clearly well-trained, methodically wearing down the two men’s strength. Finally, as if they had found a crack in that “fragrant egg,” they rushed forward like bloodthirsty flies.
His left arm! The Tang general’s left arm was injured!
Several steel knives swung fiercely at Xianyu Yucheng’s left shoulder. He dodged slightly and raised his lance just in time to block the deadly blows. But the force was so great that his left arm went weak, and the lance was even pushed down slightly by the knives!
Damn it!
Though the lance was regarded as the king of military weapons, it was only effective in cavalry battles. That eight-foot-long weapon was far less useful in close combat compared to the agile steel knives. With each swing, the young man could feel his strength draining away.
One of the Tibetan soldiers seized the opportunity, rolled sideways to Xianyu Yucheng’s right side, and swung his knife at the young man’s waist. The strike was full of force—if it landed, the young man would be crippled if not killed! But Xianyu Yucheng was pinned down by several knives and couldn’t move at all; he could only instinctively twist his waist away.
“Soldier!”
A crisp sound of blades clashing was heard as the Tibetan soldier’s curved knife was deftly pushed aside by the Tang soldier.
“General, we’re comrades! Brothers who’ve shared life and death!”
Despite his blood-stained cheeks, the Tang soldier’s eyes remained as pure as jade!……
Note 1: Ji zi refers to eggs.