Chapter Twelve: Perseverance (II)

Seeming to sense Li Kuo’s doubts, Zheng Jun raised his head and said, “General, though I am not very capable, before joining the imperial army, I served in the Shuofang army. And An Sishun, the governor of Shuofang, is a cousin of An Lushan.”
Li Kuo nodded, signaling Zheng Jun to continue.
“An Sishun and An Lushan are on very good terms. I was fortunate enough to save An Sishun’s life once, and out of gratitude, he introduced me to An Lushan, hoping I could secure a position in the Fanyang army.”
Zheng Jun paused before continuing, “But I’m an honest man. When I met An Lushan, I saw him as a slick and deceitful person, not someone worth associating with, so I firmly declined An Sishun’s kindness. After that, I went to the Yangzhou army to retire, never expecting to meet you, General, and thus have the chance to fight again in my lifetime!”
Zheng Jun clenched his fist and said slowly, “Perhaps it was fate that allowed me to uncover secrets within An Lushan’s army, and by some mysterious means, I met you. Based on my understanding of An Lushan’s military structure, their mercenary forces aren’t much stronger than ours!”
His words might have seemed to gloss over the Tang army’s weaknesses, but Li Kuo didn’t want to point that out. In warfare, morale was paramount—with strong morale, any tough battle could be fought. Conversely, if morale was crushed by the enemy, the enemy’s attacks could easily defeat one’s own forces.
“Go on,” said Li Kuo.
He nodded slightly, a faint smile appearing on his lips.
“I believe General Li can follow the original plan. If he encounters the rebels, he shouldn’t avoid them—fight them fiercely!”
Zheng Jun raised his fist and explained slowly, “This way, we won’t have to take detours, and it will also temper the fighting spirit of the Jianghuai army. After all, His Majesty summoned you to Guanzhong to protect the court. If we’re all inexperienced recruits who’ve never seen blood, we surely won’t be of much help to His Majesty!”

What he said made perfect sense. Li Kuo, who had led troops for years, naturally knew the biggest difference between new recruits and veterans. In fact, the training content and the tactics mastered by new recruits and veterans were almost the same; the only difference was that veterans had far greater adaptability on the battlefield. No matter how brilliantly you displayed your shooting skills in the training ground, no matter how accurately you hit straw targets, none of that could replace the intense emotion that arises when you cut off an enemy’s head on the battlefield. The sword swings in a beautiful arc, the head flies off, and bright red blood sprays, splashing across your face—only then do you truly become a soldier, a veteran worthy of your comrades’ trust in life and death!

This transformation is achieved through blood, through life—something that cannot be obtained no matter how hard you train off the battlefield.

The only place to test soldiers is the battlefield.

“According to you, what are our chances of victory?”

Li Kuo was clearly intrigued by Zheng Jun and took the wine gourd from his waist to throw it at him.

“Certain victory!”

Zheng Jun caught it and downed it in one gulp, then boldly patted his chest to guarantee it.

Even Li Kuo was surprised at this. Even though they had a numerical advantage and their opponents were mercenaries, no one dared claim a 100% chance of victory.

“The ‘certain victory’ I speak of means we must win! If we lose this battle, the rebels will become even more arrogant, thinking that the Tang Dynasty has no soldiers left. Then, those rebels will march southward and turn all of Huabei into pastureland for barbarians. So, we have no way to retreat—we must win!”

“What a claim of certain victory!”

Hearing this, Li Kuo’s blood boiled with excitement as he praised, “To have a loyal and brave general like you under my command is truly a blessing for the Tang Dynasty and its army!”

“Hehe, General, I don’t understand all that you say. But I always follow one rule: one gourd of wine makes a friend. Since General gave me a gourd of wine today, I consider you my friend!”

Zheng Jun downed the rest of the strong liquor, his face beaming with joy。……

The Ling River outside Tangzhou City had frozen over, crystal clear like frozen jade. The wheat fields on both banks of the river were covered in snow. The wheat had been harvested long ago in September, and now only a few straw stalks stuck out from the snow, swaying back and forth in the cold wind, seemingly ready to break at any moment.

There was a village of about a hundred households near the Ling River. Everyone in the village had been gathered near the millstone at the east end of the village, which had always been the gathering place.

“General Hubeier, the people are here. What should we do with them?”

A Xixia fake soldier bowed respectfully to a bearded Turkic general.
The bearded Turkic general glanced at the Han people present and snorted disdainfully.
“I, as a general, have reduced the military grain quota from one dan per household to one and a half dan per person out of pity for you being oppressed by the Tang dynasty. Yet you still refuse to be grateful and instead try to save grain for the Tang dynasty—so don’t blame me.”
It was astonishing that this Turkic general named Hubi’er spoke in Tang dialect.
“Kill all the men; give the women to our brothers to enjoy, and after that, turn them into dried meat for military use!”
His voice was sinister as he swept his cold gaze over the crowd in front of the millstone.
Among them were elderly women with snow-white hair in their eighties; infants who cried nonstop just after birth; pregnant women with large bellies at six months along; and countless young boys filled with hatred…
Just because of his words, they were all to be killed. Haha, what a thrilling feeling! Haha!
“What are you waiting for? Kill them all!”
The Xixia general seemed to follow only Hubi’er’s orders. Upon hearing his command, he immediately agreed. Soon, several Turkic soldiers armed with curved swords rushed forward, grabbed a Tang person, and beheaded them.
They were mercenaries recruited by An Lushan, belonging to various tribes such as the Tongluo, Xixia, Khitan, and Shiwei. They were not under any unified command but followed only An Lushan’s direct orders.
And this Turkic man named Hubi’er was one of those special envoys.
An order from a special envoy meant an order from An Lushan, and such orders had to be obeyed.
Countless gleaming curved swords were swung, heads flew off, and warm blood gushed out, splashing across the white snow and forming a picture of withered peonies.