When he saw Xu Mo suffering from injustice, Fang Heng was furious.
When he discovered that the injustice to Xu Mo came from the Fang family, he was distressed and indignant.
When Xu Mo allied with powerful families to fight for another chance at the exam, Fang Heng was overjoyed and stamped his feet.
“Has the captain gone crazy?” Jiang Er whispered to Jiang Yi.
“You just don’t understand,” Jiang Yi said knowingly. “Letters from home are worth more than gold, the words convey deep feelings.”
“I suppose so,” Jiang Er nodded. “The captain did receive two very thick letters this time.”
As he spoke, Fang Heng had finished reading the first letter and opened the second with tears in his eyes.
Hmm?
Identical?
Word for word?
Fang Heng thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. He read from beginning to end again. Indeed there was no difference. Looking at the addressee on the envelope, he realized it was addressed to Zheng Ruqian.
“A letter meant for Second Brother was delivered to me, meaning he hasn’t gone back either,” the clever man was already speculating. “So the fraud in the imperial exam is being propped up only by Big Brother and the younger siblings?”
He hated that he couldn’t go back, and could only watch the Fang family bully his older brother and younger siblings.
The anger made Fang Heng grip his sword tightly, and the resentment gave him the urge to slash and hack.
“Captain,” Jiang Er cleverly stood up. “Why don’t we go practice some of the squad formations?”
Since Fang Heng had taken over the Fifth Squad, not only had he put the fresh recruits through special training, he had also taught the veterans the Fang family’s exclusive formations that could best restrain the Northern Nomads’ cavalry.
They all liked the formations because ten people working together could exert the power of twenty men—it was truly amazing.
But unexpectedly Fang Heng gritted his teeth and said harshly, “Go to the grasslands.”
The men of the Fifth Squad were stirred up.
They still remembered that after the New Year festival, Fang Heng had learned from Wang Xiaosong and others’ experiences and had actually dispatched Jiang Qi and Jiang Ba to pretend to be merchantmen.
At first the Northern Nomads only observed, until they confirmed these were just two kids transporting goods, then ten-something of them burst out to raid and plunder.
In a flash the others hiding in the carriages rushed out and wiped them out completely, also confiscating their horses.
Because there were never any survivors, the Northern Nomads only knew that the previous brothers had disappeared somehow, not knowing how they disappeared. More and more men perished as they went to investigate.
Until mid-April, a Northern Nomad escaped by risking his life and spread the news about the ambush.
After that, the trade routes nearby became much safer.
The Northern Nomads really couldn’t recognize who was inside the carriages—were they loaded with goods or Dayu soldiers armed with deadly blades?
They also didn’t understand how the Dayu men could stay cramped inside carriages eating, drinking, peeing and pooping all day.
And they couldn’t send large troops to contend in bloody combat, they could only give up their raids and spare the merchants in this area.
The Fifth Squad was instantly left unsatisfied.
Adding to this, the weather had turned hot, and the Northern Nomads retreated from the northern border back to the grasslands to herd cattle and sheep, leaving the squad members even more bored.
There is a saying, you train soldiers for a thousand days to use them for one.
During peacetime, aside from training, soldiers may get permission to return home to visit relatives if they were lucky. The others split firewood, fed horses, farmed land and watered vegetables. Some went to help their fellow villagers rebuild homes, laying bricks and tiles, building stoves and starting fires.
If they were just people waiting around to die, it wouldn’t matter what they did.
But they had just defeated the Northern Nomads, their fighting spirit was high, they didn’t want to while away their time.
At this moment, Fang Heng’s suggestion hit the mark perfectly for everyone.
“We can’t let the Northern Nomads just come raid and plunder whatever they want, then go back and herd cattle and sheep whenever they feel like it?” Jiang Yi resonated. “In the past we didn’t provoke them because the national treasury was empty, because we needed to farm the land to ensure sufficient food for next year. But now Second Young Master has been sending us meat, we have support, we can take initiative to attack, we want to steal the Northern Nomads’ cattle and sheep!”
This was just meant to rouse morale.
In fact, aside from the empty treasury, the Dayu Dynasty had suffered passively for so many years mainly because its defense lines were too dispersed and its forces spread thin stationed at various corners.
Whereas the Northern Nomads converged into one force, whipping over here and kicking over there, you advance, I retreat, you chase, I escape.
They would raid, burn, plunder and still return victoriously.
By contrast, the Dayu Dynasty suffered countless casualties yet could not cede territory, they could only painfully persevere.
For example, at the end of April the Northern Nomads suffered losses from the Fifth Squad, then turned around and killed over a hundred from the Sixth Squad, even taking the Sixth Squad Captain’s life.
Finally when the Northern Nomads withdrew, the Dayu were able to relax and nurse their wounds, strengthen training, and prepare for next year’s defense.
But why should it be this way? Why must they always endure the Northern Nomads’ harassment and be battered passively?
Dayu horses were inferior to the Northern Nomads’, and Dayu soldiers were not as good at mounted archery as the Northern Nomads. But Dayu had the Art of War, clever strategists, and countless nimble brave fellows.
Fang Heng took stock of the men in the Fifth Squad—nimble vanguard, average rearguard, and those who stayed behind to continue practicing.
Not knowing the details, it would be shocking to learn that:
The other squads had at most two to three hundred men, some as few as around a hundred.
The Fifth Squad somehow accumulated to five or six hundred without realizing it. Even excluding those not combat ready, there were still around three hundred who could ride and fight.
This was a considerable force, but could not be wasted recklessly either.
Fang Heng repeatedly marked lines across the map before finally settling on a grassland relatively near the northern border. “The Northern Nomads are cunning and fierce. Over the years, Dayu has also tried counter offensives, and those they keep on the outskirts are some ferocious clansmen.”
But for that same reason, if these men perished, the Northern Nomads would be in agony as if skinning their own flesh.
“But Captain, they’ve got five- to six hundred men, we definitely can’t beat them. Our maximum is three hundred men, only a bit over one hundred elites.” Jiang Wu reminded them, “We can’t just charge in.”
So attack directly was not an option. Lure them in instead.
Fang Heng’s eyes alternated between gazing at Jiang Wu and Jiang Ba, eventually settling on Jiang Ba.
“Captain, you’ve already made me pretend to be a merchant, now what else could you want me to pretend to be?” Jiang Ba felt uneasy, forlorn and helpless.
Fang Heng stared fixedly at him, blurting out two words from his mouth, “A woman.”
Delicate, weak, and helpless—a young Dayu woman who accidentally wandered into the grasslands.
The watchmen were not fools either, they became vigilant and came up wielding sabers.
But this young woman wept pitifully in a way that compelled sympathy. They didn’t even dare dodge her knife. And the way she cried made them want to toy and chase her for fun.
Yet when they turned around, they only saw sabers raised high above them. The helpless young woman had vanished without a trace.
