by Jin Yong
Lu Youjiao was afraid with his profound internal energy Ouyang Feng would be able to melt the ice; he ordered the soldiers to melt some more ice and pour the water on the ice column to make it thicker.
“I had made an agreement with him, to spare his life three times. Break the ice, let him go!” Guo Jing ordered.
The three elders were disappointed, but a hero ought to keep his words, so they did not say anything. Lu Youjiao took a hammer and walked toward the ice column to break it when suddenly Jian Zhanglao called out, “Hold on!” He turned to Guo Jing and asked, “Sir, with his ability, how long do you think Ouyang Feng will survive inside the ice?”
“He might be able to survive for a couple of hours,” Guo Jing said, “Longer that that his life might be in danger.”
“Very well,” Elder Jian said, “Let him suffer two more hours. We can spare his life, but he has to suffer for a while.”
Remembering Ouyang Feng had killed his masters, Guo Jing nodded his head in approval.
The news traveled fast, officers and soldiers from other units heard about it and they came to watch. To the three elders Guo Jing said, “From the ancient times there was a saying, ‘a hero could be killed, but not humiliated.’ Although he is an evil man, but he is still a grandmaster of his martial art school. How can we let him be the laughingstock of others?” Straightaway he ordered his soldiers to erect a tent around the ice column and arranged a sentry duty. Nobody was allowed to enter the tent to see, not even a general.
Two hours later the three elders shattered the ice column, let Ouyang Feng free. Ouyang Feng sat cross-legged on the ground, circulating his energy. After vomiting three mouthfuls of dark blood he went away angrily.
Guo Jing and the three elders were watching him the whole two hours; although looked weary he was able to walk away just like that, he had made them sighed in admiration.
All this time Guo Jing was continuously in a daze. He was afraid when Ouyang Feng was still inside the ice column, but after Ouyang Feng was gone, he still could not calm his heart down.
He sat down, thinking hard. Never in his life had he felt so lonely, his heart was empty. He tried hard to think the reason behind it all. Suddenly it dawned on him that before Lu Youjiao issued the command to pour the water, he recalled hearing someone shouted in low voice, ‘Pour the water!’ He felt that voice was so familiar, he was 80, 90% certain that voice had Huang Rong’s accent; but because Ouyang Feng was falling into the trap that he was thinking of a more urgent matter and did not pay too much attention to the voice. ‘Pour the water!’ these words were buzzing in his ears while his heart was full of doubt. He sprang up and muttered, “Rong’er is really in the army. I have 1106 Eagle Shooting Hero to examine everybody, officers and soldiers alike, not overlooking anyone. I am sure she won’t get away this time.” But then another thought came into his mind, “She doesn’t want to see me, why would I painstakingly force her to come out?” Unrolling the painting, he stared blankly at the girl in it; his heart was filled with bitter sweet feeling.
In the quiet night suddenly he heard hoof beats coming fast from afar. A short while later he heard his guard asked permission and soon a messenger entered his tent, bringing Genghis Khan’s military dispatch. Turned out the Mongolian army had advanced far into the enemy’s territory, enjoying victory everywhere they went. Just a few hundred ‘li’s to the west they would reach Khoresm’s fortified city of Samarkhand. Genghis Khan had learned that this city had become Khoresm’s new capital. It was defended by a large army of at least a hundred thousand strong with enough provision to last a long time. The defense was solid; the city wall had enjoyed a notorious reputation as unbreakable. Therefore, Genghis Khan ordered the four armies to join forces and attack simultaneously.
At daybreak the next day, Guo Jing’s army left their camp heading south along the river. In ten days they arrived outside Samarkhand’s city wall. Seeing Guo Jing’s small army, the enemy went out the city to engage them in fierce battle. With his ‘feng yang’ [scattering wind] and ‘yun chui’ [dangled cloud] Guo Jing managed to kill about five thousand enemy’s soldier in just half a day. With this defeat the Khoresm army was forced to go back inside their fortified city.
On the third day Genghis Khan’s big army, as well as Jochi’s and Chagatai’s, arrived one after another. More than a hundred thousand soldiers surrounded the city, attacking it from all directions. But Samarkhand’s defense was so tight; thousands of Mongolian soldiers and officers were wounded or dead, yet the city was still standing strong.
The next day Chagatai’s eldest son attempted to render meritorious merit; bravely he attacked the city wall, unfortunately an arrow was shot from the city wall, hit his head and he died. Genghis Khan loved this grandson, seeing him die in the battlefield his grief and anger was unspeakable. When the grandson’s personal guards brought his body over, Genghis Khan threw himself over the corpse with tears in his eyes, embracing his dead grandson. He pulled the arrow that killed him, only to see it was a wolf tooth arrow decorated with an eagle’s feather, the shaft was inlaid with gold, engraved with four characters, ‘da jin zhao wang’ [Prince Zhao Wang of the Great Jin]. The people around him who were literate read those words to him.
“Ah!” Genghis Khan angrily roared, “It’s that scoundrel Wanyan Honglie!” Leaping to his horseback he issued a decree, “All officers and soldiers, big and small, hear this: Anybody who is brave enough to break the city’s defense and capture Wanyan Honglie to avenge my grandson; the city’s women and children, jade and silk, everything is his.” A hundred riders immediately were dispatch everywhere to announce the Great Khan’s decree.
The other three armies heard this proclamation and their spirit rose; like a swarm of locust they attacked the city wall with earth-shattering battle cry. Some were trying to climb the wall barehanded; some were scaling ladders, some were throwing ropes with hook, some were using large tree trunk as a battering ram against the city gate. But the warriors on the city wall defended their city bravely. The battle continued until evening; the Mongolians had lost about four thousand men, yet the city of Samarkand was still standing like a mountain.
Since his military expedition against Khoresm started, this was Genghis Khan’s first major defeat. That night inside his tent he grieved over his beloved grandson’s death, his anger erupted like a thunder.
Guo Jing went back to his tent, browsing through his ‘Wumu’s Legacy’, trying to find a way to break the city; but Samarkhand was different from the cities in China, hence the methods described in the book were useless.
Guo Jing invited Lu Youjiao to his tent to discuss this situation. Knowing Lu Youjiao would go to Huang Rong for advice, as soon as he left the tent, Guo Jing followed behind. Who would have thought that Lu Youjiao had arranged Beggar Clan disciples to stand all the way from Guo Jing’s tent to his own? As they see Guo Jing, those disciples saluted him with loud voice.
Guo Jing understood immediately, “This must be another one of Rong’er’s schemes,” he thought, “Ay! She has always found a way to evade me. She is able to predict my every action and every movement accurately.”
More than two hours later, Lu Youjiao came back and reported, “This big city is really difficult to break, Xiao Ren has not found any good idea. Let us wait a few more days, perhaps an opportunity will present itself for us to attack.”
Guo Jing nodded without saying anything. When he left Mongolia heading south for the first time, he was just a naive and simple-hearted youngster; but over the past year he had experienced misery, difficult and sometimes dangerous days. His experience had matured him tremendously. That night inside his tent he could not help but feel emotional as he quietly pondered the meaning of two lines of poems in the painting. He thought, “Rong’er must think I am heartless, she is waiting for me to apologize. Too bad I am stupid since the day I was born, I don’t know how to make amends, I don’t know how to do as she wishes.” Thinking these things he became more anxious than ever.
That night he could not sleep well, his thought was full of Huang Rong; he kept tossing and turning in his tent. It was after the third hour that he finally was able to sleep. He dreamt of meeting Huang Rong. He asked her how he could apologize to her. Huang Rong replied by whispering something in his ears. Guo Jing was elated, he woke up immediately; but then he could not remember what Huang Rong had said. He tried painstakingly to remember, but no such luck. He wanted to go back to sleep again and asked Huang Rong in his dream, but it seemed like the sleep had already left him.
Burning with anxiety he knocked his own head several times; suddenly he got an inspiration, “I can’t remember, but why don’t I ask her again?” He loudly shouted, “Quickly invite Lu Zhanglao to come over.”
Lu Youjiao thought what kind of urgent military affair would need his attention? Wrapping his body with the sheepskin he went barefooted to Guo Jing’s tent.
“Lu Zhanglao, no matter what I want to meet with Miss Huang tomorrow evening,” Guo Jing said, “I don’t care how you’d do it. Whether you come up with an idea yourself, or you ask others, but I want you to present me with a clever idea how I can see her. I give you until noon tomorrow.”
Lu Youjiao was flabbergasted. “Huang Bangzhu is not here, how can Sir meet with her?” “You have a divine wisdom, you should be able to think of something,” Guo Jing replied, “If you can’t present a good idea by noon tomorrow, I am going to handle you according to the military law.” Being aware that he was speaking nonsense, Guo Jing was secretly amused.
Lu Youjiao was about to reason when Guo Jing turned his head to tell his guard, “Prepare a hundred soldiers to act as executioners tomorrow at noon.” His guard acknowledged with a loud voice.
Lu Youjiao looked distressed; dejectedly he walked back to his tent.
It was snowing heavily early morning the next day; the city wall was covered with ice, slick like oil. It was impossible to scale the wall. Genghis Khan withdrew his army that day. He thought the winter was coming, the coming days would get colder and colder; they wouldn’t see warmer days until the second or third month, which was still several months away. If he decided to leave this city and proceeded to the west, then he would practically leave around a hundred thousand enemies behind him, with a potential to cut his way back to Mongolia. But if he stationed some of his army to guard the city, he was afraid the enemy would get some enforcement then his troops would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Once a battle broke, his troops might be scattered in this foreign land and he would lost considerable men and horses.
Genghis Khan paced back and forth in front of his tent with his hands behind his back. He was lost in thought and stared blankly at the snow-covered peak on which the city was built. That peak was so high that it reached to the clouds above. Genghis Khan creased his brows. He saw the peak was extremely weird; it towered alone in the middle of a desert. There was no vegetation grew on it, the locals called it ‘tu mu feng’ [the bald wooden peak]. Samarkhand was built leaning on this peak, the foothill was actually served as the west city wall. He imagined whoever built this city must have spared no expense; the military strategists and the builders who designed this city must have had incredible ability and wisdom. This hill was very steep, practically a huge solid rock, nothing could grow on it; even monkeys or apes had no way of climbing it up. Samarkhand had this kind of truly impenetrable defense.
Genghis Khan thought, “Ever since the start of my military career, I have been in hundreds of battles, big and small; yet I have never faced as difficult situation as I have today. I wonder if the Heaven is going to cut me short?” He sat on the horseback, staring blankly at the falling snowflakes. The tents were covered with snow; while inside the city smokes went up the chimneys. Everything just added to his misery.
Guo Jing’s mind was filled with another kind of apprehension; he was wondering if his brute force method of forcing Huang Rong to show herself would actually make her hate him even more. What if Lu Youjiao had determined not to open his mouth? Certainly he could not behead him, could he?
It was almost noon, with composed face Guo Jing sat in his tent; while on the either sides of the tent stood the executioners, waiting. Then the bugle sounded, announcing it was noon.
Lu Youjiao walked into the tent, “Xiao Ren has thought of an idea, but I am afraid Sir would find it difficult to do,” he said.
Guo Jing was delighted, “Tell me, quick! I don’t care even if it requires my life. What’s so difficult?” he asked.
Lu Youjiao pointed to the peak of the ‘bald wooden peak’ and said, “Tonight about half an hour to midnight, Huang Bangzhu will be waiting there.”
Guo Jing was silent. “How can she climb there?” he asked, “Aren’t you just making a fool out of
me?”
“Didn’t I say from the start it’s not going to be easy?” Lu Youjiao said, “Even if I invented an ingenious plan, it would be in vain anyway.” Finished speaking he made a bow, turned around and walked out the tent.
Guo Jing thought, “Sure enough it was Huang Rong’s words; she is calling me useless. This bald peak is a lot steeper than the Iron Palm Peak, the Mongolian cliff was nothing compared to it. I wonder if there is a deity on the peak who will hang down a rope for me to climb?”
Dejectedly he dismissed the executioners then walked toward the peak, staring blankly at the top. He noticed that from top to bottom the peak did not show any difference, its surface was covered with a thick layer of ice, looked like a slippery crystal, much like the ice column enclosing Ouyang Feng the other day. It was an out-of-this-world mountain, other than birds, no man or beast would be able to reach the top.
Guo Jing looked up to the peak; suddenly ‘splat!’ his fur cap fell on the snow. In an instant a thought came flashing in his mind, “If I can’t see Rong’er, it would be better to die anyway. Although this peak is dangerous, I should risk my life climbing it. Even if I fall down and die, I would still die for her.” Once he reached a decision he felt better immediately.
That evening he ate until he was full; then he inserted a dagger on his waist and slung a coil of rope on his back. It was not dark yet when he walked out his tent. To his surprise he saw the three elders Lu, Jian, and Liang were waiting outside, they said, “Xiao Ren will see Sir off to the peak.”
“See me off to the peak?” Guo Jing was confused.
“Certainly,” Lu Youjiao said, “Doesn’t Sir have an appointment to meet Huang Bangzhu on the peak tonight?”
Guo Jing was pleasantly surprised, “So Rong’er is not deceiving me after all,” he thought. With a delighted heart he walked along the three elders to the ‘bald wooden peak’.
He saw dozens of his soldiers were waiting by the peak with dozens of cattle and sheep. Lu Youjiao said, “Butcher!”
The soldier lifted up his saber and slashed the sheep’s hind leg. While the blood was still warm, the leg was planted on the peak’s wall. The blood froze in short time, the leg was firmly planted on the stone wall, then it was further reinforced with iron nails.
Guo Jing had not understood yet what they were doing. Another soldier chopped the other sheep’s hind leg and stuck it to the wall, approximately four feet above the first one. Guo Jing was delighted, he understood now that the three elders were making sheep legs ladder. It was cruelty against the animals, but there was simply no better way of doing this.
He saw Lu Youjiao leaped vertically up and perched on the second leg; Jian Zhanglao chopped the next sheep leg and tossed it upward, Lu Youjiao stuck the leg to the wall. Several legs later, this ‘sheep ladder’ had reached dozens of ‘zhang’s high; when the legs were chopped on the ground and tossed up, they would freeze up by the time they reached their destination. Guo Jing helped the three elders hung the rope down. They hoisted the sheep up alive and butcher them just before sticking up their legs on the wall.
As the ‘sheep ladder’ had reached about a half way up, they felt the wind was a lot stronger compared to the ground. Fortunatel
y these four were martial art experts; their bodies slightly swayed, but their feet were steadily planted on the legs. Still, for fear that they might skid on the legs and lose their footing they tied a long rope on their waists, so the four of them would be able to help each other in case of an accident.
They were busy working until almost midnight when finally the ‘sheep ladder’ reached the peak. The three elders no doubt were exhausted, while Guo Jing himself was sweating profusely. Lu Youjiao was panting and smiling at the same time, “Sir, can you forgive Xiao Ren?” he asked.
Guo Jing felt bad, but also grateful, “I really don’t know how to repay three gentlemen’s kindness,” he said.
“It was Bangzhu’s idea, even if it is more difficult than it was, we still would have to obey. Who told us to have such a cunning and weird Bangzhu?” Lu Youjiao said. Three elders burst in laughter, turned around and slowly descended the peak.
Only after watching the three elders step by step scaling the hillside safely that Guo Jing turned around and saw the magnificent scenery on the hilltop. Ten thousands years of cold had created a world of crystal of many colors; some resembled reddish-green flowers and grass; some resembled strange beast or exotic birds; some resembled a forest of rocks; some resembled tree branches or bamboo grooves. Guo Jing enjoyed the scenery with amazement; his heart was full of praises.
Thinking that very soon Huang Rong would climb the ‘sheep ladder’ to see him, his blood rushed through his body, giving him a warm, fuzzy feeling, making his cheeks red. He was in daze. Suddenly he heard a girl’s soft giggle. This giggle was like an electric shock surged through Guo Jing. He turned around quickly, and saw under the moonlight a young girl smiled sweetly looking at him. Who else if not Huang Rong? Although Guo Jing knew perfectly well that she had promised to see him there, but to actually see her in person, he felt like he was dreaming.
Two people stared at each other for a moment then both of them rushed toward each other, ignoring the slippery cold ice of the peak; because of their grief and joy, they ran and slipped together. Guo Jing was afraid Huang Rong might be injured, before he even touched the ground he kicked back and propelled his body forward, grabbing her, embracing her in his arms. They had been separated for more than a year and they missed each other like crazy. This time they meet again, how could they not be happy?