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Book 52 Chapter 3 – Sinister Heart

Translator: Foxs\' Wuxia

Upon entering the darkness, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling climbed to the top of a hill nearby the forest and valley where they were hiding to observe the situation far and near.

After dawn, they hid inside a dense forest on the north bank of the Great River, using the forest tree as the cover to travel northeast, only then did they dare to stop and sit in meditation to treat their injuries.

After recuperating for more than two sichen, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were the first to recover. Although they were still feeling weak due to the considerable loss of blood, they no longer felt the muscle-weary, strength-exhausted like when they stopped earlier, when they were both mentally and physically exhausted.

Ba Fenghan’s condition was worse than theirs, his injuries were also heavier than theirs, hence they remained in this forest valley to recuperate.

Kou Zhong ran his eyes over the sky, far and near. “Really strange!” he said, “After crossing the river, we have not seen Kang Qiaoli’s condor at all, Li Shimin is not the kind of person who would be willing to give up easily.”

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, “Eventually we will have to return to Luoyang, sooner or later we cannot escape from the cracks of his fingers, why should he want to take the trouble to pursue us? Perhaps he is even itching to have us lure Dou Army to come, so that he could take care of Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande, and you, Kou Shaoshuai, three major formidable opponents in one go.”

Kou Zhong shook his head and said, “Dou Jiande will not lose. As long as he agrees to come to help, I will do my best to mobilize the Shao Shuai Army, together with his army we could launch two-pronged attack to capture Hulao, various cities. If Li Shimin came to defend Hulao, I will make him eat the first big defeat in his life.”

Knitting his brows, Xu Ziling said, “If you go to attack Hulao, who will help Wang Shichong to defend Luoyang?”

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “That is precisely the headache. However, Luoyang’s grain can last, at most, for a month and a half; if within this month and a half we cannot capture Hulao, Luoyang will be done for. Therefore, I go to defend Luoyang is inverting root and branch [idiom: confusing cause and effect], it would be better to help Dou Jiande with all my strength to attack Hulao; that is the only way to save Luoyang. Just like in the game of Go, two live mouths added together is just enough to make a living; moreover, we can then turn around to eat up Li Shimin, this big dragon.”

“Do you the confidence that you will be able to capture Hulao within a month or so?” Xu Ziling asked, “The waterway connecting various cities east side of Luoyang is entirely under Li Shimin’s control; there is no way you can isolate Hulao.”

“Actually, I do not have the slightest amount of confidence,” Kou Zhong replied dejectedly, “Ay! Let’s see Dou Jiande first before talking further! I haven’t had a chance to ask you, what load of her mind did Shi Qingxuan tell you?”

Shaking his head, Xu Ziling replied, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Kou Zhong blurted out, “What kind of an answer is that? Didn’t you say that you talked to her about the load in her mind all night? How can it be that after going back and forth, all you can repeat to me was ‘I don’t know’, these three characters?”

Xu Ziling crossly said, “My ‘I don’t know’ was referring to the future prospect she and I being together. Ay! Right now, I practically do not have any qualifications to pursue her. A moment ago I nearly lost my life, I cannot see any good days in the future even more.”

Kou Zhong put his arm around his shoulder and spoke apologetically, “It’s me who’s not good, I rolled you into this murky water. But if you hadn’t helped me, I would have done for early on, and just now, me and Old Ba would have lost our lives at the Great River.”

Xu Ziling sighed and said, “We all are brothers, why do you have to say such words? If we must die, then we will all die together. I must have been in your debt in the previous life.”

Shaken, Kou Zhong let go of his hand. After staring blankly for half a day, he scratched his head and said, “Are you really going to set yourself against Li Shimin for me?”

Xu Ziling cast his gaze toward the mountain and fields on the horizon, he spoke indifferently, “At the beginning, I very much doubt your motives for vying for the world, is it as simple as just to fight for your own self in one breath? Or as a man, you feel the need to accomplish great undertaking, to acquire fame and profit, power and authority, that kind of things? You said you did not want to be the emperor, I thought you were just speaking without thinking the matter through. But while you were so busy and did not have spare time for a separate task, you still went to Chang’an to deal with Shi Zhixuan side by side with me, which proved that I have not been wrong about you, Kou Zhong is indeed my good brother.”

Kou Zhong was overcome with a burst of emotional stirring; hanging his head low, he spoke in shame, “Honestly, I did initially aspire to create immortal cause, but I did not have any big dream, I just did not want to have people from lofty school, big clan, to ride on my head forever, furthermore, I wanted to prove to Li Xiuning that I am more superior to Chai Shao. Luckily I have you by my side as a good role model. The more you live a simple life without any strife, the more you show your noble personality and my vulgarity. In fact, I never stop learning from you, LaoGe, and Yuzhi’s refusal to understand me makes me deeply reflect my inferior conduct in the past, where I only have one thing dominating my thoughts. His Niang’s! Why’s so many people craving to become the emperor anyway? Just look at how Li Yuan goes to a lot of trouble to be the emperor, isn’t it remorseful? When I decided to give up the emperor position to Dou Jiande, you do not know how relieved I was, I just don’t know how to explain to Song Que! Ay! With his temperament, maybe he’ll pull his saber and slaughter me.”

Xu Ziling returned the gesture by putting his hand around Kou Zhong’s shoulder, he smiled and said, “Just like the bridgehead, naturally it’s straight. We still have a long way to go, and to this day Li Shimin still has the upper hand.”

Kou Zhong shook his head and said, “Li Shimin does not have any auspicious day to pass either. Li Yuan dispatched Li Yuanji to be his deputy, clearly it is to prevent him from seizing Luo [yang] and proclaiming his independence, or maybe to establish friendly relations with us and form an alliance to fight against Guanzhong, Just now when we talked across the river, I had some kind of intuition that Li Shimin did not want to kill us at all, on the contrary, he really wanted us to have Dou Army to come and relieve the siege of Luoyang.”

But then he wondered aloud, “If I were Li kid, I would not be so anxious to put me and Old Dou in order. If the House of Tang has less formidable opponents, he will lose more of his worth of being useful. There is no reason that he did not understand this logic.”

Xu Ziling said, “On the battlefield, Li Shimin is a selfless commander, he abides by the called a king if successful, called a bandit if defeated [idiom] rule. In private, however, he is a man who attaches importance to comradeship and lofty sentiments, otherwise Feixuan would not have chosen him as the future true master. He wants to eliminate the House of Tang’s enemy with the greatest threat outside the Pass, not for his own benefit, but because he has his eyes on the general situation; first, to display utter loyalty to his family and clan, and then to preserve the integrity of the Central Earth. It could be said that the quicker the Central Plains is unified, the less the Tujue people have the opportunity they could exploit. Li Shimin did not do it for himself, but for the world.”

Muttering to himself irresolutely, Kou Zhong said, “You are indeed a man with intimate knowledge of him; in my eyes, however, he is a fool who is stupid enough to be loyal and does not question filial piety, he himself fight in life and death battles, but others will reap the benefit, he could easily end up not in a good way.”

Xu Ziling disagreed, he said, “He really is not the kind of person you think he is. Do you remember the Lunar New Year’s Eve banquet at the Yeting Hall, when he and Li Jiancheng opposed each other with equal harshness? He is a man who knows how to fight for himself. The day he returned to Chang’an after capturing Luoyang will be the moment he and Li Yuan lay their cards on the table. He will do his best to persuade Li Yuan; if his Laozi [old man] still does not listen to him, perhaps he might go against Chang’an.”

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “Currently, Li Yuan’s men are powerful, his horses strong; what qualifications does Li Shimin have to become a rebel? However, when that time comes, I am sure we will already die in battle, our eyes will not see that scene, hence it has nothing to do with us.”

Stunned, Xu Ziling said, “You seem to be more pessimistic than me.”

Smiling ruefully, Kou Zhong said, “Simply because you have never tried crossing swords with him on the battlefield. I suffered big loss at Cijian. His Niang’s! This kid really has tricks that demons and deities cannot fathom. He is not much older than we are, but he is both steady and ruthless, successful but not arrogant, failed but not discouraged. The officers and soldiers under his command, everybody obeys him, as if he never makes a mistake. Compared to the Great Tang’s Army, Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande’s troops are quite some ways away, our tender and childlike Shao Shuai Army is even farther away from them. I’m really a bit afraid of him.”

Laughing involuntarily, Xu Ziling said, “It’s rare that you are this honest.”

Kou Zhong raised his head to look at the night sky, his eyes exploded in refined light, he spoke in heavy voice, “This is called know yourself, know your enemy [idiom from Sunzi’s Art of War]. In dealing with Shi Zhixuan, we repeatedly made mistakes, precisely because we could not figure out Shi Zhixuan’s martial art clearly. Therefore, in dealing with Li Shimin, I do not wish to make the same mistake again. It does not matter how our relationship with Li Shimin has been in the past, starting from last night, he and us are like the two cannot exist together, including you, Ling Shao, are people that he wants to kill. His Niang’s! This is precisely his so-called selflessness.”

Xu Ziling sighed inwardly, he wanted to speak but say nothing.

Kou Zhong patted his shoulder and said, “This conversation between us, two brothers, tonight is very constructive, we both poured out the words that had been in the bottom of our heart for a long time. His granny’s bear, we have no other choice, we have to follow the original plan to see Old Dou, to see which side Laotianye really wants to help.”

That night the three continued their journey, they hastened on at full speed, and by daybreak they entered the Xia Army’s sphere of influence. They proceeded towards Liyang, and on the way came across a Xia Army’s fort. Asking for Dou Jiande’s whereabouts, by afternoon the next day they arrived at Wuling, located on the western bank of River Zhong, a tributary of the Yellow River, where Dou Jiande was stationed.

Just by looking at the army camps outside the city of Wuling, extending forever into the distance, at the boats gathered on the Qin River, they knew that Dou Jiande had the intention of going to the west to attack the Tang Army.

Due to Ba Fenghan did not have any interest to see Dou Jiande, after some discussion, Xu Ziling stayed behind to keep Ba Fenghan company, the two remained on top of a hill outside the city, waiting for Kou Zhong’s news.

Kou Zhong entered the city alone. Dou Jiande was in a meeting with the great generals under his command. Hearing that Kou Zhong broke out of the siege from Luoyang to come here, in great delight, accompanied by Liu Heita, Xu Yuanlang and Meng Haigong, the newly surrendering generals, the Great General Zhang Qingshi, the Zhong Shu She Ren [must be an ancient title, lit. middle book/document official title] Liu Bin, the Guo Zi Ji Jiu [lit. state libation officer] Ling Jing, a group of military leaders and civilian court officials, he received Kou Zhong in the Shuai Fu’s [commander mansion] main hall.

Except for Meng Haigong and Xu Yuanlang, the others had met him at the Battle of Liyang; meeting again after a short period of separation, they still exchanged conventional greetings warmly.

Meng Haigong looked to be around forty, his facial features straightforward, his expression serious, very seldom revealing a smile, but Kou Zhong intuitively felt that he was one of those people with cold face but warm heart, not easy to make friends, but once became a friend, he could be a friend with sabers stuck onto his two flanks without even wrinkling half of his brows.

Compared to Meng Haigong, Xu Yuanlang was at least ten years younger, his figure slender but strong, with calm manners, when looking at people, his eyes gave the impression that they were inquiring and examining the other side, a figure that was both bold and colorful, wise and brave.

These two rulers have both dominated an area by their might, after surrendering to the Xia Army, they became the most important members of Dou Jiande’s inner circle.

After they were seated properly in guest and host position, one after another Dou Jiande and his men inquired about Luoyang’s situation, showing their concern for Luoyang. Kou Zhong responded one by one, honestly telling them Luoyang’s deep water and scorching fire situation. Finally he said, “Since Song JinGang’s big defeat in the hands of Li Shimin at Baibi, Tujue Khan Xieli’s plan to invade the Central Plains suffer devastating setback. All along the Tang occupies Guanzhong, the Xia occupies Hebi, the Zheng occupies the Central Plain; the three-feet-of-the-tripod momentum can no longer be maintained. The more the House of Tang’s power and influence is flourishing, the worse it is for Zheng and Xia. Currently Li Shimin is commanding his army of 200,000 troops, using the Mount-Tai-pressing-down-on-the-crown-of-the-head momentum he divided his troops into a lot of ways, to nibble away the various cities surrounding Luoyang one by one, and now he put Luoyang under heavy siege. The day Li Shimin break through Luoyang will be the day he marches his army up north to attack the Xia. In this moment of life and death, why don’t Dou Ye put down old grievances, taking advantage while the Tang Army has not succeeded in breaking the city, to send troops to help the Zheng? As long as you can recover Hulao, the Tang Army will definitely withdraw. At that time Dou Ye’s prestige will greatly flourish, who’d dare to disobey?”

Dou Jiande smiled and said, “Did Wang Shichong, that ask Shaoshuai to come and ask me for help?”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong replied, “I am giving considerations to my own Shao Shuai Army too.”

Dou Jiande’s gaze fell onto the Xia Army chief imperial strategic advisor, Ling Jing, indicating that he should speak.

Ling Jing stated, “Shaoshuai and us have a very close relationship, Shaoshuai has difficulties, Da Wang [great king] definitely will not just sit and watch. However, Wang Shichong, this person has repeatedly shown that he is difficult to rely on, he cannot be trusted. Supposing he suddenly surrender to the House of Tang, won’t we be caught in no-room-to-advance-or-to-retreat situation?”

Kou Zhong cast his gaze toward Liu Heita, asking for help, the latter’s pair of eyes emitted a helpless expression while slightly shaking his head, indicating that it was not appropriate for him to butt in.

Kou Zhong understood. He knew that it was not that Dou Jiande did not want to send troops, but that he was striving for the most favorable conditions for him, not only he wanted Wang Shichong to surrender, he even wanted him, Kou Zhong to surrender as well.

The Dou Jiande that he saw this time was very different from the Dou Jiande that he saw last time at Liyang. Although he was still that kind of replacement-guaranteed-if-not genuine person, but he was barely filled with ambitions; he seemed to have the self-confidence and boldness of wanting to put the world under his feet, so it seemed like he became another person altogether.

Kou Zhong no longer had the close-and-dear-and-approachable feeling toward him, he could not help recalling Li Shimin’s comment, ‘Jiande newly defeated Meng Haigong, his generals arrogant, his troops lazy’. Continuous success can indeed make people change.

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “I, Kou Zhong can guarantee to Da Wang that that matter will not happen. To a certain degree, Luoyang’s matter can’t be decided by Wang Shichong alone, unless he can kill me, Kou Zhong, and my five thousand Shao Shuai Army elite troops first, which is Wang Shichong, with his current strength, cannot accomplish.”

Xu Yuanlang spoke heavily, “Even if we resolve the Luoyang’ siege, what benefit will it bring Wang Shichong? He is already powerless to defend Luoyang, in the future, if Luoyang does not fall into Shaoshuai’s hands, it will be us, the Great Xia who will occupy it; what’s the difference from it being captured by the Tang?”

An uncomfortable feeling welled up in Kou Zhong’s heart; before seeing Dou Jiande, he still held on to the talking-to-his-own-family, everything-can-be-talked-through-nicely kind of mentality. But now that he saw Dou Jiande, plus Liu Heita had some kind of hard-to-mention-hidden-trouble helpless expression, he had a feeling that Dou Jiande was rather wary toward him, hence he conspired with his men to badger him with questions, so that he was preoccupied with the great plan of defeating the Tang and would be too busy to speak out, because to persuade Dou Jiande to come out and help was definitely not easy.

Kou Zhong spoke with serious expression, “First of all, I, Kou Zhong, solemnly declare that Luoyang might fall into the Tang’s hands, or it might become the object in Da Wang’s pocket, but it definitely will not fall into my, Kou Zhong’s hands. My purpose is just to beat back Li Shimin, to drive the Great Tang Army back into Guanzhong.”

After a short pause, he said, “As for why Wang Shichong shamelessly beg Da Wang for help, my guess is that everybody has a wish that he might be lucky, and Wang Shichong is not an exception. In this mountain-ran-over-river-exhausted moment, if he seeks refuge to Li Yuan, all the accomplishments that he worked hard to establish will entirely go down the drain. Besides, his situation is worse than Li Mi’s, he has no choice but to surrender, all the things in the past, like he became a sovereign by calling himself the emperor, once it’s gone, it will never come back. As long as Wang Shichong thinks about Li Mi’s situation in Chang’an and how he ended up, he knew that the road back to where he came from will not be easy to walk and will be very trying. Therefore, he wants to take advantage while he still has a capital, to do his deathbed struggle by staking his Niang’s all in the last bet. The most ideal would be if Da Wang and Li Shimin fight until both sides suffer, so that the situation in the past where Li Mi and Yuwen Huaji were both burned will be repeated. Looking from this point of view, there should be a big difference between surrendering to the Tang and to ask for help from Da Wang.”

Dou Jiande’s another imperial strategic adviser Li Bin, laughed with his jaw and head, and said, “Shaoshuai’s unfettered eloquence is truly admirable; however, Shaoshuai’s tactic of crossing the river to attack Hulao still has room for consideration. Based on our Great Xia’s military strength, attacking the Tang Army’s military strength, victory or defeat is really difficult to foresee. The better strategy will be to avoid the strong and attack the weak, taking advantage of the time the Tang Army is besieging the city, our Great Xia deploys the troops to cross the river to attack and seize Zhenzhou and Heyang, and then sending serious generals to defend it, to establish the route for provision. After steadying the legs of the disposition of troops, to cross over Taixing, enter Shangdang, Xunfen, Jin, and approach Pujin. This will give us three benefits; one, it’s like treading on no-man’s land, the victory will be absolutely safe; two, to expand territory and collect the crowd, our Great Xia’s situation will benefit and will grow stronger; three, to horrify Guanzhong and resolve the siege on the Zheng. All the current strategies, none is better than this.”

Staring blankly, Kou Zhong said, “What Dafu [senior official (in imperial China)] said is indeed the best policy, it does have tremendous controlling power toward the Tang Army. However, there are two major problems. First of all, our opponent is Li Shimin. If he knew that Da Wang did not cross the river and go to the west in powerful attack, he would certainly go all-out to attack Luoyang, while ignoring the others. As long as the Tang Army can blockade the Great River, Da Wang can only temporarily proclaim your hegemony on the northern bank of the Great River. The second problem is that Luoyang only has a month and a half worth of provision, they won’t last too long. If Da Wang decided not to cross the river, I will have no choice but to take my men to immediately withdraw from Luoyang and go back to Pengliang to see what else can we do.”

Meng Haigong’s countenance sank, he said, “Shaoshuai’s remark carries a threat, it is really unwise.”

Fire was burning in Kou Zhong’s heart and head, he thought inwardly that this time he came to ask for help, it was completely without any selfish motives, but for the sake of all the people under the heavens, yet not only the other side did not appreciate it, they even oppressed him at every opportunity, which angered him of the injustice.

Liu Heita spoke out to smooth things over, “Shaoshuai is just seeking truth from facts [idiom: being practical and realistic]; I, Liu Heita dare to guarantee it with my life that Shaoshuai’s arrival this time is with benevolent intention toward our Great Xia.”

Dou Jiande also knew that offending Kou Zhong was really not a wise move. He nodded in agreement and said, “We have fought side-by-side with Shaoshuai, we have deep knowledge of Shaoshuai’s conduct, while this is still the first time that Haigong met Shaoshuai, hence this misunderstanding.”

Although he saw how Liu and Dou, two men one after another said good things about Kou Zhong, Meng Haigong still refused to apologize; he pulled his face and did not say a word.

Dou Jiande stared at Kou Zhong for half a day, he spoke heavily, “Now the situation is different, Shaoshuai is not a lone army who fight by yourself. The ‘Heavenly Saber’ Song Que has just taken possession of Hainan, the Song Family’s fleet can go up north at any time, which makes the situation in the north more complicated. For example, when our Great Xia and Li Shimin are striving for Luoyang and are at a stalemate, Song Que’s main forces may arrive to attack, in the end, whether it will benefit our Great Xia, or it will be good for the House of Tang, or perhaps ultimately it will only convenience Song Que, so that he could just sit and collect the benefit of the fisherman; I wonder if Shaoshuai can release my misgivings?”

Kou Zhong suddenly saw the light. The crux of the matter was that everybody in the world still shake in fear of Song Que; it was difficult for Li Yuan to sleep peacefully over this, and now Dou Jiande was also afraid. Under such circumstances, his, Kou Zhong’s Shao Shuai Army could forget about working together in sincerity with the Xia Army to attack and seize Hulao.

Was Dou Jiande Li Shimin’s worthy match? Suddenly his optimistic mood vanished like smoke in thin air, the future outlook became distant and indistinct, and the possibility of death in battle at Luoyang has risen steeply, plus he also dragged along Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan, his two good brothers.

After heaving a sigh, Kou Zhong rose up to his full height and spoke with serious expression, “I, Kou Zhong, can guarantee with my reputation and integrity that as long as the victory or defeat over Luoyang has not been decided, as long as I, Kou Zhong, still have a breath in me, Song Que will never touch Luoyang. Moreover, as long as Shen Faxing and Li Zitong still exist, the Song Family’s disposition of troops in Hainan is not stable, because only next year, when the spring is warm, the flowers are blooming that the Song Family’s fleet can go up north. As long as Da Wang agrees to send troops to break up the siege on Luoyang, I, Kou Zhong will defend Luoyang to the death, waiting for Da Wang’s troops to arrive. I must now immediately rush back to Luoyang, just waiting for Da Wang to give your word.”

He did not have the patience to continue talking, to lay his cards on the table with Dou Jiande.

In the hall, the crow and peacock made no sound, all eyes were on Dou Jiande. Sitting inside the dragon throne high above the stone steps at the north side of the hall, Dou Jiande’s pair of eyes was flashing; without blinking, he fixed his gaze on Kou Zhong, and then he let out a long laughter and said, “Very well! Shaoshuai’s person is fast, your words swift, how could I, Dou Jiande wade in mud and water [idiom: do a sloppy job]? Within three days, our Great Xia’s vanguard troops will cross the Great River. If Heaven thinks that I, Dou Jiande is an emperor’s material, within half a month Shaoshuai and I will join forces outside Luoyang. At that time, I hope Shaoshuai will be able to give me a positive answer of your position in the future. Heita, send Shaoshuai off for me.”