by Jin Yong
“If Lotus were here, she’d tell me what to do,” he mumbled with mounting anxiety as he listened to the rumble of distant war cries. Any moment now, the Princes’ men would be plunging their blades into their own countrymen.
Just then, Surefoot Lu rushed into the ger and handed him a note:
Keep the two forces apart with Coiling Snake.
Round up those who resist with Winged Tiger.
In the past weeks, Guo Jing had studied The Secret to Defeating the Jin so thoroughly that he knew it almost by heart. One glance at the message, and he could already visualize how he should deploy his soldiers to prevent bloodshed, but why had he not come up with the idea himself? What was the point of learning battle tactics when he was too slow-witted to apply them?
Guo Jing ordered a bugle to be sounded. Although his men were still half drunk from the feast, the iron discipline of the Mongolian army was drilled into their very bones. At the first blast of the horn, they were pulling on their armor and mounting their horses, and, before long, ten thousand men were lined up in orderly ranks.
Three beats of the drums, followed by a resounding fanfare. The vanguard roared, then spurred northeast, leading the charge. Several li later, a scout returned to report that the Princes’ forces were drawn up in battle lines and the first skirmishes had already broken out. The war whoops of ho-hu, ho-hu were growing louder.
Am I too late? Can I stop them? Guo Jing asked himself as he signaled to his captains. On his command, ten thousand men instantly split into dozens of companies and began to arrange themselves in the Coiling Snake formation.
Three battalions from the Right-Rear Earth Axis company charged ahead, and the same number of troops from the Right-Fore Earth Axis drew back to form the snake’s tail. Units from the Right-Rear Celestial Balance, the Right Earth Rear-Surge, the Right Celestial Rear-Surge, the North-Westerly Wind and the North-Easterly Wind took up positions to the right of this central force, mirrored by an identical deployment on the left flank.
By now, Jochi and Chagatai’s advanced guards were already crossing swords. Guo Jing’s troops drove a wedge between the two factions, separating them. Each of the Princes commanded more than twenty thousand men, but not a single soldier on either side had ever seen such a tight formation move so rapidly. Even seasoned fighters hesitated and began looking around in confusion for fresh orders.
“Are you here to help me or the Merkit bastard Jochi?” Chagatai yelled.
Ignoring the question, Guo Jing signaled to his flag-bearer, and the Coiling Snake morphed seamlessly into a Winged Tiger. Now the main strength of the formation faced to the left, led by four units from the Right-Fore Celestial Balance. Further companies moved to outflank Chagatai’s force, while two units from the Left Celestial Fore-Surge stood ready to repel an assault from Jochi’s forces.
At last, Chagatai caught a clear view of the banner of the commander who had dared come between him and Jochi. “I always knew southern barbarians weren’t to be trusted,” he hissed.
The Second Prince ordered his soldiers to attack Guo Jing’s men, but the Winged Tiger, devised by the military tactician and general Han Xin during the decisive battle at Gaixia against the warlord Xiang Yu, was adaptable, powerful and difficult to outflank. Though it was widely held, as decreed by Sun Tzu, that a commander should only consider encircling an opposing force if he outnumbered them ten to one, the flexible Winged Tiger formation defied this rule. A smaller army could employ it to get the better of a much larger opponent.
Guo Jing’s soldiers began to weave through gaps in Chagatai’s ranks in small units, making it difficult for them to determine how many men and horses they were up against. Fear and doubt started to spread through the Second Prince’s troops as they were cut off from support and forced into isolated, disorganized groups, their already weak fighting spirit waning fast. After all, they understood they had been ordered to attack their own tribesmen, friends and brothers-in-arms, and feared the Great Khan’s wrath.
“We are Mongolians. We are brothers. We shouldn’t turn our blades on each other,” Guo Jing’s deputy cried. “Throw down your weapons if you want to keep your heads.”
The majority of Chagatai’s men dismounted at once and tossed their sabers aside, but a thousand of the Second Prince’s most loyal and trusted fighters, following their commander’s lead, charged at the heart of Guo Jing’s formation.
A gong sounded three times, and eight companies of Guo Jing’s soldiers galloped over from all directions to intercept Chagatai’s small force. Ropes were stretched out across the ground to trip the horses, sending men flying from their steeds. Each of Chagatai’s defiant soldiers was subdued by three or four of Guo Jing’s men and pressed into the ground, their hands tied behind their backs.
Delighted to see Chagatai’s troops quelled, Jochi urged his horse forward and hailed Guo Jing, but his call was drowned out by a blast of the horn. Guo Jing’s rear guard was suddenly his front line, and they were closing fast on Jochi’s men. The First Prince had studied tactics, but he had never seen anything like this. He ordered his riders not to engage, as he watched Guo Jing’s force split into twelve groups, but now, instead of advancing, they were retreating. Jochi was flummoxed. He had no way of knowing that the mercurial formation was inspired by the twelve hours of the day. The groups—Zi of Great Black, Chou of Foe Crushed, Yin of Left Breakthrough, Mao of Green Serpent, Chen of Evil Smashed, Si of Forward Surge, Wu of Great Red, Wei of Advance Spur, Shen of Right Strike, You of White Cloud, Xu of Victory Claimed, and Hai of Rear Guard—alternated between launching assaults and holding their ground, charging back and forth in unpredictable patterns, always confounding expectations. Sometimes the companies on the right surged toward the left, and at other times those on the left cut across to the right. In no time at all, Jochi’s ranks were broken, morale shattered, and any who resisted were subdued in the same way as Chagatai’s loyal followers.
Outfought and outthought by Guo Jing, the Princes turned their minds to the indignities they had subjected the young man to at their first meeting, almost fifteen years before. Jochi had whipped the six-year-old Guo Jing half to death and Chagatai had set his mastiffs on him. Surely he would now seize his chance to take revenge. As their heads cleared, the Princes began to rue their drunken impulse and dread the punishment their father would mete out.
Although Guo Jing had broken up the battle and captured the two culprits, he was unsure if he had put himself in greater trouble, for he understood his place as an outsider. He was about to seek out Ogedai and Tolui for advice, when he heard a bugle’s call. The Great Khan’s white yak-hair banner, illuminated by torchlight, was approaching.
Genghis Khan had been incensed when he was at last roused from his drunken stupor to be greeted by the news that his two eldest sons were leading their armies against one another. He galloped over in his nightclothes, without stopping to arm himself, his loose hair flowing in the wind.
To his great surprise, he found the two forces sitting on the ground in neat rows, watched over by Guo Jing’s cavalrymen. The Princes sat astride their steeds, but their helmets and weapons had been taken away, and they were each surrounded by eight warriors with gleaming sabers. On the gallop over, he had expected to find a bloody scene—his finest soldiers slaughtering each other and his two eldest sons slain. He had not imagined that such a disaster could be averted without casualties.
After hearing Guo Jing’s account of the event, Genghis Khan summoned all the generals, publicly chastised Jochi and Chagatai, then he turned to his future son-in-law.
“You told me you knew nothing of leading armies, but you have done a greater deed tonight than if you had vanquished the entire Jin force. If we fail to capture a city, we can lick our wounds and return another day, but if I had lost my sons and my best soldiers, nothing we could do would bring them back.”
The Great Khan rewarded Guo Jing with a generous gift of gold, silver and cattle. The young man took nothing for himself and ga
ve the bounty to his soldiers, who rewarded his generosity with deafening cheers. Later that day, a stream of generals dropped by his ger with congratulations, and, when the last of them left, Guo Jing heeded his old mentor Jebe’s advice and called on Jochi and Chagatai to apologize for any affront that he might have caused. He need not have worried. The Princes were genuinely grateful for his prompt and decisive action. After years of bad blood and resentment, they were at last warming to the young man, though the animosity between the two brothers still bubbled away beneath the surface.
When Guo Jing was alone at last in his ger, he took out Surefoot Lu’s note and studied the calligraphy. Awkward, clumsy, likely to be the beggar’s hand. Questions began to fill his head.
I’ve never mentioned the formations by name to Elder Lu, he reminded himself. And I’ve never asked him to explain them either. Has he somehow been reading General Yue’s writings behind my back?
He decided to send for the beggar and discover the truth.
“Elder Lu, if you’re interested in warfare, I can lend you the book.”
Surefoot Lu laughed. “I have no desire to be a general, and I don’t need military tactics to lead my brethren. Your book is of no use to me.”
“Then how did you know about the Coiling Snake and Winged Tiger formations?” Guo Jing pointed at the note.
“You told me. Have you forgotten?”
Guo Jing knew it was not true, but he could not imagine what Surefoot Lu was trying to hide from him.
The next day, Genghis Khan summoned the Princes and generals to inform them of their roles in the upcoming campaign. Chagatai and Ogedai were to lead the vanguard, while Jochi was given the left flank and Guo Jing the right. Each of these armies would be made up of three divisions of ten thousand men. Genghis Khan would preside over the main army of sixty thousand with Tolui. Every soldier was allotted several horses, which they rode in turn to preserve the animals’ strength. Officers and generals were given a greater number of steeds, so this army of one hundred and fifty thousand men marched with more than a million war horses, as well camels and horse-drawn carts carrying provisions for men and fodder for beasts. They traveled with more livestock than could be counted, for the troops were to venture deep into the western wilderness and they had to bring sufficient supplies for the whole journey.
At the urging of drums and bugles, the vanguard—thirty thousand men and many more horses—took the first steps westward, followed by the rest of the army. The Mongol riders journeyed farther into Khwarazm’s territory than ever before, capturing cities and settlements with the ease with which one splits bamboo along its grain. They had mastered the art of forging and casting iron, which had reached them from the Song and Jin Empires, and were able to produce weapons and armor of unparalleled quality. Taken together with Genghis Khan’s brilliance on the battlefield, it made them an unstoppable force. Shah Muhammad might have more troops under his command, but, man for man, they were no match for the Mongolians.
CHAPTER NINE
DESCENDING FROM THE HEAVENS
1
As the mongol host moved west, winning glory on the field, taking cities and quelling foes, Guo Jing was gaining in confidence as a general. By the time the army reached the Sughd River, his initial doubts were almost forgotten. Nonetheless, when his men had finished making camp, Guo Jing retired to his ger to study military tactics, as he had every evening since he had assumed command.
Suddenly, a quiet flapping noise reached his ears. The tent’s flies parted. A man darted in, followed by a few heavy-footed sentries. The intruder waved his hand, and, though the tip of his finger merely grazed the soldiers charging after him, it was enough to send them sprawling, one after another.
The trespasser cackled and turned to Guo Jing, his face catching the candlelight.
Viper Ouyang.
Guo Jing leaped to his feet. “Where’s Lotus?” He could not decide if he was shocked or relieved to find the Venom in this far-flung foreign land, thousands of li away from the Central Plains.
Does it mean she … He dared not get his hopes up.
“That’s what I’ve come to ask you. Where is the wench? Hand her over!”
A smile spread across Guo Jing’s face. Lotus is alive! She escaped!
“Where is she?” Viper Ouyang demanded.
“Wasn’t she with you? You took her in Jiaxing. Is she … well?” Guo Jing bowed, tears of joy and relief rolling down his cheeks.
Could he really have no idea? Puzzled, Viper Ouyang sat down cross-legged on the rug, as if it was his own ger. He knew the young man was too principled to lie to him, but all the clues indicated that Lotus Huang was hiding somewhere among this army.
Guo Jing, meanwhile, had dried his eyes, unlocked the guards’ acupressure points, and called for drinks to be brought.
Viper picked up a bowl of koumiss and drained it. He had decided to tell the truth. “I found the wench hiding in the Iron Spear Temple in Jiaxing, but she ran away not long after.”
“How?” Guo Jing was thrilled. Lotus was the cleverest person he had ever known. Of course she would find a way to escape.
“We were at Roaming Cloud Manor on Lake Tai…” Viper trailed off and gritted his teeth. “Pah!… What more can I say? She got away.” The proud martial Master could not bear to explain how he had been outwitted by a teenage girl.
“Oh, thank you, thank you!” Those few words were enough for Guo Jing, for they confirmed that Lotus was safe. He could never forgive the Venom of the West for killing five of his shifus, but he was grateful that he had not harmed Lotus.
“Why thank me? I’m still hunting her. She got lucky and slipped away from me like a hare, but I made sure she couldn’t get back to Peach Blossom Island. I tracked her as far as the Mongolian border … well, since you’re here, she must be nearby—”
Guo Jing’s heart leaped. “You’ve seen her?”
“Would I be talking to you now if I had? I’ve been watching your troops, day and night, but I haven’t seen so much as a shadow resembling her. Tell me, where in hell have you hidden her?”
“… You’ve been watching us … and I had no idea…” Guo Jing stammered.
“Why would a mighty general notice a lowly soldier from the Western Regions in the Celestial Fore-Surge company?”
The idea that Viper Ouyang had been lurking among his men sent a chill through Guo Jing, though he had to admit that the martial Master, with his angular facial features and knowledge of the languages of the Western Regions, would blend in very well, especially since the army had been taking prisoners and recruiting surrendered soldiers along the way.
Had he wanted to kill me, I’d be dead already, Guo Jing said to himself. Then he asked, with an unmistakable note of hope in his voice, “Why do you think Lotus is here?”
“You couldn’t have subdued the Khan’s two sons or taken so many cities without her help. Since she won’t show herself … well, I’ll have to use you to get to her.”
“I want nothing more than to see Lotus again, but why would I let you near her?”
“You don’t have a choice. You might be a general with a large army, but I –” he sneered—“can come and go as I like. Who can keep me out of your ger?”
Viper took Guo Jing’s silence as an acknowledgment of his words and continued: “Let’s make a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
“I promise not to touch a single hair on her head, if you tell me where she is. Or, I can look for her myself, and when I find her … I can’t guarantee I will be so … pleasant.”
Guo Jing knew this was no empty threat, and, since Lotus had not been able to return to Peach Blossom Island, it would only be a matter of time before he found her.
“Very well,” he said after a pause. “We’ll make a pact. But not on your terms.”
“What do you propose?”
“Master Ouyang, your kung fu is far superior to mine, but I am much younger. One day, you will grow old and grow weak, and y
ou’ll be outmatched.”
Guo Jing had previously called Viper “Uncle Ouyang” out of respect, but, with his shifus’ blood on the Venom’s hands, he would never address him with such familiarity again.
Viper Ouyang was startled by Guo Jing’s comment, for it had never crossed his mind that he should consider the day when his physical prowess began to decline. Perhaps the boy was smarter than he seemed.
“And?”
“And, one day, I will find you, even if you hide at the heavens’ edge. And I will avenge my shifus.”
“Then I should kill you now, before I get old and weak.”
Cackling wildly, Viper Ouyang took one step to widen his stance, crouched, and sent both palms hurtling at Guo Jing with a mighty surge of inner strength that could topple mountains and upend oceans.
Guo Jing shifted his footing a fraction, avoiding the blow, and countered with a Dragon in the Field. By now, he had mastered the Transforming Muscles, Forging Bones section of the Nine Yin Manual, and the power of those techniques had been boosted by Sole Light’s interpretation of the Manual’s final chapter and his growing familiarity with the other kung fu techniques described in the martial tract. His internal force had developed a new purity and strength.
The Venom threw up his arms and blocked Guo Jing’s attack head-on. He was no stranger to Count Seven Hong’s signature repertoire, Dragon-Subduing Palm, and knew the young man’s neigong was no match for his; yet, still, a quiver went through his body at the contact. He had been careless and underestimated his opponent. It had almost cost him dearly.
This boy will catch up with me long before I am old and weak, Viper Ouyang thought warily as he swiped his left hand at Guo Jing.
The young man swerved away and thrust out his palm to parry. This time, Viper avoided a direct confrontation and twirled his wrist to dissipate the force of the boy’s counter. But, though it appeared to be a straightforward defensive move, it concealed a sting in its tail. As the Venom’s hand hooked over Guo Jing’s, it unleashed a great burst of power into Guo Jing’s face, compelling him to push back with his right arm.