Chapter 69: Headhunting

In the forest outside Yehe City…

This area was all forest. Basically, once you left Yehe City, you entered the woods. The entire eastern part of Yehe City was built on a terrace carved out by mountain floods near the water. Only the eastern side was suitable for encampment. Therefore, the main Jiannu force attacking the eastern city had set up camp along the riverbank stretching southward along the valley.

For Yang Xin, sneaking past was far too easy.

He just had to descend from the west, swim upstream from the river, and then slip into the mountain forest. It was even easier on a dark, rainy night.

Wild Boar Skin hadn’t paid much attention to this issue either, because escaping seemed pointless. To the east lay the rugged mountains under their control. To the west was the large army led by Daišan and others besieging the western part of Yehe City. To the north were the wild, untamed lands where the Wild Jurchens roamed. To the south, the entire stretch from here to Tieling was under his control. Unless someone had the ability to traverse the dense forests without using any roads, there was simply no way out. Unfortunately, he didn’t know that the one who had left the city was something beyond human. Yang Xin’s physical fitness was nearly at the human limit. He dared to make such a promise to Jin Taiji precisely because he knew he could run to Tieling in just over six hours, like a hundred-kilometer marathon runner, with no difficulty at all. In fact, he could easily run a hundred miles in thirteen hours, or even a hundred and sixty miles in twenty-four hours.

The only problem was the wear and tear on his shoes.

So, he hung six pairs of shoes from his waist.

Human endurance far surpassed that of horses. The world record for a woman’s 24-hour ultramarathon was 162.9 miles, equivalent to 262 kilometers.

If it were a horse…

Any horse would have collapsed from exhaustion.

But Yang Xin wasn’t content with simply delivering a message. He also wanted to bring a gift for Xiong Tingbi to boost the morale of the Ming Army. This was very important. Given the current state of the Ming Army, a little stimulation was absolutely necessary. So, he decided to…

hunt heads.

He moved stealthily through the Jiannu military camp.

The darkness and autumn rain were his best cover. Most of the campfires had been doused by the rain. Only a few sheltered ones flickered weakly in the darkness, providing faint glimmers of light. However, there were still patrols moving about, carrying torches made of pine resin as they inspected the entire camp in the rain. At this time, the Jiannu were absolutely strict in military discipline. Pillaging and killing were one thing, but internal military discipline was extremely tight. Especially since this was commanded personally by Wild Boar Skin, no one dared to slack off. In the cold autumn rain, the barbarian soldiers clad in padded cloth armor moved about continuously with their weapons, yet none of them spotted the enemy who, relying on night vision and superhuman hearing, hid in the darkness ahead of them.

Yang Xin crept forward quietly in the dark. His target was a large tent up ahead. Since he didn’t recognize any of Wild Boar Skin’s top generals anyway, he would just target the largest tent.

He reached it swiftly, like a ghost.

However, there were guards stationed outside this tent—two soldiers who were likely baoyi, standing silently in the rain, guarding their master. Not far from them, a patrol squad passed by. A campfire blazed under a rain shelter, illuminating the area around the tent brightly.

Yang Xin picked up a stone and tossed it into the darkness from his concealed spot…

Both baoyi turned their heads.

In that instant, Yang Xin shot out like lightning. By the time they heard the sound and turned back, Yang Xin was already in the shadows behind the tent. One of the baoyi drew his sword and cautiously moved toward Yang Xin’s previous hiding spot. Meanwhile, Yang Xin, who had circled around, appeared behind the baoyi who had remained at his post. The latter stood loyally and bravely in front of the tent entrance, holding his sword and watching his companion. Yang Xin suddenly rose. As if sensing something, the baoyi turned his head. Yang Xin’s fist, carrying the sound of wind, struck his temple. The force, enough to kill a horse, caused the baoyi’s skull to cave in. His companion turned around. Yang Xin lifted the corpse and turned, so the other baoyi only saw a familiar back. Detecting nothing unusual, he gripped his sword and walked back over.

Yang Xin carefully held the corpse, ensuring only its back was visible.

The other man approached without any suspicion.

He said something and reached out to pat the dead man’s shoulder. Suddenly, a cold glint sliced through the curtain of rain. The next moment, his head fell. But Yang Xin quickly grabbed his lifeless body. He propped both corpses slowly against the tent behind him, while he stood behind the headless body. Soldiers on patrol in the distance glanced over, but in the dim light, they only saw two figures leaning together. Detecting nothing amiss, they soon moved away.

Yang Xin slipped into the tent as quickly as possible.

Inside was an old general, around sixty years old, sound asleep.

Yang Xin walked straight over.

He pressed his blade against the old man’s neck, gripping the hilt with both hands…

Then he coughed lightly.

The old general was extremely alert. His eyes snapped open, and his hand shot out to grab his sword. But at the same moment, Yang Xin exerted force with both hands. The old man stared wide-eyed at the face blocking his view, and a head silently rolled to the side. Yang Xin casually grabbed a piece of cloth, wrapped the head in it, slipped back out of the tent, and melted into the darkness at top speed. Just as he entered the mountain forest, chaos erupted in the Jiannu camp.

Yang Xin stood in the rain, looked back with satisfaction, then turned and vanished into the dense woods.

By daybreak, he had emerged from the forest.

He still traveled across the grasslands outside the mountains, retracing his original route. However, he soon encountered the Mongolian cavalry that had been blocked outside the mountains earlier, near an abandoned ancient city in the vicinity. After Nangnuke went to Yehe City, the Mongolians had split up. Some returned to deliver messages, some roamed this area, and a few went to report to the nearest tribes like the Zhalute. Zhong Nen and Ang An of the Zhalute Tribe were grandsons of Chahua, and they also had close ties with the Yehe Tribe.

The original situation in this region was that the Ming Army’s salient at Kaiyuan and the Yehe Tribe formed a barrier extending all the way to the Songhua River, separating the Mongolian tribes to the west from the Jurchen tribes to the east.

These three parties maintained a balance of power along this boundary. Although frequent frictions or wars of various sizes occurred among them, none had attempted to alter the balance. The Ming Army had no interest in territory beyond the border walls. The nomadic Mongolian herders similarly lacked interest in the mountain forests. The fishing and hunting Jurchens had no interest in the grasslands either; they were settlers, not nomads.

But Wild Boar Skin’s expansion was rapidly destroying this balance.

The various Mongolian tribes were also very wary.

As Chahua said, it was better to have a familiar enemy. They were familiar with the Ming Army. They knew what the Ming Army wanted and where the Ming Army’s limits lay. But they were not familiar with Wild Boar Skin. They didn’t know the extent of his ambitions or what he would do if he became the ruler of Liaodong. Even the Yehe Tribe was unwilling to accept his rule, let alone the various Mongolian tribes. Zhong Nen and Ang An had previously ambushed and killed envoys sent by Wild Boar Skin to the Khorchin Tribe on multiple occasions. Although Zhong Nen was Daišan’s father-in-law, he was resolute in cutting off Wild Boar Skin’s reach into the grasslands.

Now they had to make a choice.

To maintain the old balance, they had to ensure the barrier from the Yehe Tribe to Kaiyuan and Tieling continued to exist. Otherwise, they would have to face the unfamiliar Wild Boar Skin directly.

The unknown was the most frightening.

After getting a general understanding of the situation from a Mongolian cavalryman who understood Chinese, Yang Xin immediately continued forward to return to Chahua.

He decided not to ride a horse at all.

In fact, running was faster for him than riding. A single horse couldn’t cover two hundred li in a day, but he could do it easily, even in just over half a day. So, by the next day, he had run to Chahua’s location. The old man was already assembling his army. This cunning old fox had probably long anticipated this outcome. He sent his son to, in a way, deliver the message to the Yehe Tribe. If Wild Boar Skin besieged the Yehe Tribe, he would lead a coalition force over, using the pretext that Wild Boar Skin had surrounded his son and he had to rescue him.

This could also trick the herders under his command.

Then he could tell Xiong Tingbi that he had sent troops to help, so Xiong Tingbi would have to give him the promised silver. If he didn’t, Chahua would threaten to join Wild Boar Skin’s side.

And Wild Boar Skin would also have to make concessions to him.

In other words, at the very least, he could extort both sides and still have Jin Taiji feel grateful to him.

He was an old fox.

But here, Yang Xin received some bad news. Zaisai had already been defeated by Wild Boar Skin. After capturing Tieling, Wild Boar Skin immediately launched a surprise attack on Zaisai. Yang Xin had underestimated his intelligence. Wild Boar Skin wasn’t foolish enough to just watch Zaisai lurking nearby without doing anything. Caught completely off guard, Zaisai was defeated and captured. Only after that did Wild Boar Skin head north to attack the Yehe Tribe. However, the losses in Zaisai’s coalition force weren’t heavy. Wild Boar Skin’s surprise attack only captured him and his two sons. The actual casualties among the Mongolian cavalry were only a few hundred. Then, this coalition force composed of over a dozen Noyans quickly fled the Tieling area. When Aobadaiqing arrived, he gathered these men under Chahua’s name. Currently, this coalition force still roamed the periphery of the battlefield. Chahua’s coalition was heading to join up with them.

They needed to discuss how to rescue Zaisai.

These were matters beyond Yang Xin’s concern. He headed straight for the next stop.

Next stop: Liaoyang.

He ran to Liaoyang in two days. Directly presenting Xiong Tingbi’s token, he entered the city and proceeded unimpeded all the way to Xiong Tingbi’s military commissioner’s office.

“You actually came back alive?” Chen Yujie stared at Yang Xin in shock.

Yang Xin said nothing. He slapped Jin Taiji’s letter into Chen Yujie’s arms and marched straight into Xiong Tingbi’s reception hall. A drinking party was in progress there. A group of civil and military officials were gathered around a table laden with fine wine and delicacies, toasting and feasting. Yang Xin walked over without any courtesy. Under their stunned gazes, he reached out and directly grabbed a whole roast suckling pig from the table…

“Where did this madman come from!” a civil official roared angrily.

Yang Xin, ignoring everyone, took a bite that consumed half the pig’s head. Then he placed the bundle containing the human head onto a plate.

“Military Commissioner Xiong, does anyone recognize this old fellow?” he said.

Cao Wenzhao, who had followed him in, immediately brought him a chair. Yang Xin sat down without any ceremony. Old Cao then gave Xiong Tingbi a meaningful look, indicating that this guy was not in a normal state.

Xiong Tingbi opened the bundle.

It was late autumn, especially in the northeast. Even during the day, temperatures were below twenty degrees Celsius. In such cold, decomposition wasn’t severe. The head was still barely recognizable. A military officer beside Xiong Tingbi picked it up and examined it closely. Then he let out a shocked cry and looked at Yang Xin with disbelief…

“Who is it?” Xiong Tingbi asked.

“E Yi Dou. Chief among the old slave’s Five Great Ministers. Considered his most trusted right-hand man,” the officer turned and said with a grave expression.

All eyes turned to Yang Xin. Only then did they notice that Yang Xin had actually fallen asleep, with half a roast suckling pig still hanging from his mouth.