Chapter Fourteen: The Snowfield and the Hidden Pitfall

Chen Ying desperately hoped the news was false. He had intended to exploit the moment the Turkic commander, Silifushe, led his elite forces away to launch a surprise attack and seize Boguli City. However, there were still over nine thousand Turkic troops remaining within the city walls, including more than three thousand of the Turks' most elite "Royal Tent Guard."

The Royal Tent Guard was the equivalent of the Tang Dynasty’s Imperial Guard. Originally the personal wolf-pack retainers of the Ashina clan, they were known as the "Fuli." These warriors, who had earned their status during the founding of the Turkic Khaganate, enjoyed privileges far beyond those of ordinary soldiers. Unlike the Imperial Guards of Han dynasties, these Fuli remained active in combat, maintaining a wealth of battlefield experience.

Furthermore, this unit possessed the finest equipment in the entire Turkic military. While ordinary Turkic light cavalry relied on leather armor and composite bows—with iron armor being rare and dependent on a tribe’s wealth—the Fuli were entirely composed of heavy iron-clad cavalry, equipped similarly to the Tang Dynasty’s Black Armor Cavalry. Most of their armor consisted of high-defense scale mail.

This reality left Chen Ying stunned and caught completely off guard.

In the face of absolute power, any strategy is futile. Chen Ying finally understood the true meaning of those words. Standing on a watchtower with wind cutting like a blade, his mind raced. Even if he sacrificed all sixteen of his battalions, he could not break the siege of Lingzhou. He felt a profound sense of helplessness.

"What can I do?" he asked himself repeatedly, but no matter how hard he racked his brain, he could find no solution.

In truth, there was one way out: if Chen Ying retreated to Chang'an, he might fail his mission to support Lingzhou, but he would likely only face charges of dereliction of duty—at worst, dismissal and loss of rank, but not his life.

Yet, this was a result he could not accept. Once stripped of his position and title, his past grievances with Su Hu would leave him in a state where he could neither live nor die in peace.

He was no longer in the same position as before; he had fallen out with Princess Pingyang. Without Li Xiuning as his patron, his relationship with Li Jiancheng was as thin as paper. As long as he remained useful, he could speak before Li Jiancheng, but if he returned in disgrace, Li Jiancheng would surely show him no mercy.

Trapped between a rock and a hard place, Chen Ying had no retreat. His knuckles cracked as he balled his fists, his brows furrowed. Suddenly, he barked, "Summon the entire main camp for a council!"

As he turned, he noticed his hand-warmer, which he had set down, had melted a hole nearly a foot deep into the snow—a perfectly vertical, smooth, bowl-sized shaft. A flash of inspiration struck him.

"Horse-trapping pits!"

This was not the tactical pit from Li Jing’s military treatises, but rather the horse-trapping pits used extensively in the Northern Three Passes during the Northern Song Dynasty. Having lost the horse-rearing lands of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, the Song were severely lacking in cavalry. To counter enemy horsemen, infantry had developed these narrow, vertical pits. A galloping warhorse would instantly snap its leg upon stepping into one, causing both horse and rider to perish.

A single hand-warmer could melt a hole in the snow in a short time. This was a horse-trapping pit, and far easier to create than digging them into frozen earth.

Chen Ying tested this in the snow. It took about the time of a stick of incense to form a pit. It was too slow. However, if he redesigned the hand-warmer, could he produce them faster?

He found Lin Chuanfu and explained his idea. Lin immediately replied, "Rest assured, Commander, this is quite simple!"

With a plan to defeat the enemy, the gloom in Chen Ying’s heart vanished. When he returned to the command tent, his officers were waiting.

"I greet Commander Chen!"

Chen Ying wore a relaxed smile. "We eat the sovereign’s salary and the grain of the common people. If we choose to live in shame, how are we different from beasts? Lingzhou is in danger, and I have decided to fight the enemy to the death!"

The officers saluted. "We shall obey your command!"

"I give you two hours to prepare for battle!"

The officers were stunned. Usually, Chen Ying required much less time for assembly. They didn't know this time was meant for crafting the new heaters.

Within fifteen minutes, Lin Chuanfu produced the prototype. It was simply two iron cylinders, one inside the other, designed to melt snow without insulation. Chen Ying filled it with charcoal until the outer iron glowed red, then tossed it into a snowdrift. Within seconds, a horse-trapping pit formed.

Satisfied, Chen Ying asked, "How long to make two thousand?"

"If you give me one thousand laborers, I can guarantee one thousand in four hours," Lin said.

"Not enough time! I need two thousand in two hours," Chen Ying commanded. "Do it, and I will reward you; fail, and you will face military law!"

By dusk, leaden clouds hung heavy, and a bitter wind from Siberia howled like a knife. Snow flurries began to fall over the vast, white plains.

Chen Ying squinted at the majestic Boguli City in the distance. Though the coming blizzard was unfavorable for marching, it provided perfect cover against the Turkic cavalry flooding toward Lingzhou.

He had originally intended to bypass Boguli City to rendezvous with Duan Zhigan and Luo Shixin at Hongshan Fortress, but the Turks had other plans. After Silifushe left, the highest-ranking officer in Boguli City was an official named Yuguni. Upon learning of the large Tang supply train, greed overcame him. Fearing the "Fuli" guards would claim the loot, Yuguni kept the news to himself and led six thousand men to ambush Chen Ying.

Yuguni ordered his men to surround the Tang forces in a fan formation. "Charge! Slaughter them!"

Chen Ying, however, had been warned. While he kept his troops marching, he quietly had two thousand laborers deploy the heaters. The thousands of heaters melting the snow created a dense, white fog that shrouded the supply train, causing the Turkic cavalry to hesitate.

Suddenly, Turkic riders began to tumble from their mounts, their screams filling the air.

"Traps!" Yuguni cried in horror.

The other Turks, however, believed the Tang were casting spells. They couldn't see the enemy through the mist, yet their horses were falling inexplicably. When they finally pulled their reins, they realized in despair that in a single encounter, without the Tang firing a single arrow, they had lost six or seven hundred men.