Legend of the Female General

Chapter 172: Borrowing Arrows

The streets were sparsely populated.

With the Wutuo People waiting outside the city walls, the residents within could not sleep at night. Street vendors had long closed their shops, and walking down the street felt desolate and pitifully bleak.

Rice shops had shut down months ago. Occasionally, women with children could be seen digging for wild vegetables in the dirt. Unfortunately, for months, no one could leave the city, and no one could enter. Anything edible had long been consumed, leaving no trace of wild vegetables. Even the sight of a rat could bring joy, as it was considered a rare source of meat.

Although everyone was worried about when the Wutuo People outside the city would attack, hunger had already spread to every corner of the city. Once the last grain of rice was gone, even if the Wutuo People did not attack, disaster would strike within the city.

Amidst this desolate street, two figures walked slowly—a man and a woman, both exceptionally attractive. The man wore an indigo robe, appearing gentle and handsome, while the woman had striking features, exuding charm and allure.

Ying Xiang took a piece of dry rations from her bag and handed it to Chu Zhao, saying, "Fourth Young Master, all the shops here are closed. Have some dry rations to fill your stomach."

These rations were the food carried by the guards of the Liangzhou Guard during their travels. They had been stored in the bag for a long time, becoming dry and hard. With no inns to eat at, they had no choice but to make do.

Chu Zhao took it and was about to eat when his gaze fell upon a little girl standing under a tree. She was about five or six years old, her face dirty, her clothes tattered, and her feet bare. It was unclear whose child she was, but her eyes were fixed intently on the dry rations in his hand, and she remained silent.

Chu Zhao smiled, walked over, crouched down, and handed the rations to her.

The little girl was taken aback for a moment, then glanced around as if afraid Chu Zhao would change his mind. She snatched the rations, stuffed them into her arms, turned, and ran away, quickly disappearing into the cold, empty street.

Chu Zhao stood up, and Ying Xiang said, "Fourth Young Master..."

"It's fine," he shook his head. "Rundu won't hold out much longer."

Ying Xiang was worried. The two of them had left the Liangzhou Guard and were rushing back to Shuojing. They had just arrived in Rundu when the Wutuo People followed closely behind. City Commander Li Kuang ordered the city gates sealed, trapping them inside, unable to enter or leave.

"We must leave Rundu as soon as possible," Ying Xiang whispered. "The Wutuo People have been testing the city defenses for days. The final assault is likely to come in the next few days. Once the city falls... we'll be in danger too."

The Wutuo People were cunning and ruthless. Even if Chu Zhao had a way to escape unscathed, she was, after all, a woman—and an exceptionally beautiful one at that. In times of chaos, beautiful women often faced particularly tragic fates. Ying Xiang couldn't help but shudder.

Chu Zhao seemed to understand her thoughts and simply said, "We'll leave tomorrow."

Ying Xiang felt relieved and said gratefully, "Thank you, Fourth Young Master."

"Before that, we must first find City Commander Li Kuang," Chu Zhao smiled. "Without his help, we won't be able to leave the city."

Ying Xiang nodded. Even though the city gates were sealed, she never doubted their ability to escape unscathed. Every city had secret passages. The families of high-ranking officials and important individuals would be sent out during critical moments as a means of survival.

Li Kuang could not afford to disregard Xu Xiang's influence.

...

"A surprise attack? Impossible, it's too risky!""Exactly, easier said than done. It's clearly a suicide mission. Though we Rundu people aren't afraid to die, we can't just throw ourselves at the enemy as target practice!"

In the room, those who heard He Yan's words spoke up one after another.

Li Kuang looked at He Yan. This young man spoke with such confidence, but it was unclear what he had in mind. The deputy soldiers from the city gate troops, as well as He Yan's other brothers, were all present in the room.

When the discussions among the crowd had quieted down somewhat, He Yan finally spoke. "I know you all don't trust me right now. But I've already asked Lord Li. Over the past ten days, on five nights, the Wutuo people attacked the city gates under cover of darkness. Although they eventually gave up each time, it seemed like probing. For the last three days, the Wutuo people have been quiet."

"Based on my experience fighting the Wutuo people, this kind of quiet isn't a good sign. The Wutuo are likely planning a full-scale assault. They've already scouted out the situation inside Rundu quite thoroughly. Our troops in Rundu have been worn down by the Wutuo for a long time now—both morale and physical strength are not what they used to be. If the Wutuo launch a full assault, the city gates will definitely fall."

"How can you say that? Aren't you just cursing us?" an irritable-looking deputy soldier angrily retorted.

"Telling the truth is a curse? You only want to hear nice words?" Wang Ba immediately mocked. "Then I can say right now that your Rundu city gates are as solid as iron, impossible to breach, never in this lifetime. Do you believe that? Go ask anyone on the street if they believe it!"

"Relying on self-deception to defend Rundu—I've never seen anything so ridiculous!"

He had come to Rundu with He Yan, prepared to sacrifice his life for righteousness. Now, seeing his fervor unappreciated, his passion turned to anger, leaving the other man speechless.

The atmosphere grew tense.

Huang Xiong looked at Li Kuang. "Lord Li, my brother He Yan here is no ordinary man. He's highly skilled in military strategy. In Liangzhou Guard, aside from Commander Xiao, he's the most capable." He spared no effort in praising He Yan. "Since he says a sneak attack is possible, he must have his own method. Why dismiss it so hastily? Wouldn't it be better to first hear him out and discuss this calmly?"

His words were very reasonable and mature, though he occasionally stroked the ominous-looking treasured blade at his waist as he spoke, sending chills down everyone's spine.

Someone gathered the courage to speak. "Lord... Lord He, it's not that we're unwilling to carry out a sneak attack. It's just that our troops are already few in number. If we send men on a suicide mission, we'll have even fewer soldiers left to defend the city. Besides, the Wutuo are watching the city gates very closely now. We'd likely be turned into sieves by their arrows before we even leave the city. How could we possibly infiltrate their camp under cover of night?"

"Arrows?" He Yan paused, looking at the man who had just spoken. "Do the Wutuo have many arrows?"

"Many," the man replied with a bitter expression. "Actually, when the Wutuo first arrived, we fought them on the city walls. But later, our arrows became scarce, while theirs remained plentiful. Earlier, someone also intended to ambush them and assassinate their commander. But before he could even infiltrate their ranks, he was pierced by countless arrows just outside the city gates. The Wutuo cut off his head and hung it from a tree outside the city to mock us." At this, everyone in the room seethed with rage.

Such provocation was truly unbearable."You mean, we have very few arrows, but they have many?" He Yan asked.

The other nodded.

He Yan then looked at Li Kuang, "If we lure the Wutuo people toward the city gates during our surprise attack, and the archers lying in ambush on the city walls are ready, how many Wutuo people could we kill?"

"Several thousand to ten thousand," Li Kuang replied. "But we don’t have that many arrows."

"We do."

Everyone was stunned.

"Let the Wutuo people forge arrows for us," the young man smiled, his eyes astonishingly bright. For a moment, Li Kuang was reminded of another person. Back then, he hadn’t seen the face beneath the mask, but he remembered those eyes—just like the ones before him now—confident, calm, capable of creating miracles even in the most chaotic and dire circumstances, breaking through encirclements.

With him here, the army’s morale would remain steady, never giving up.

"What do you plan to do?" Li Kuang snapped back to reality and asked.

"I need to gather all the craftsmen and women in the city to make straw dummies for me."

...

Night deepened. On the plains outside the city gates, thousands upon thousands of tents stood silently. From a distance, the plains seemed to transform into endless rolling hills, an awe-inspiring sight.

Patrolling soldiers moved about nearby.

Huyate—the Wutuo leader leading the attack on Rundu—was pouring wine from a jar into a bowl. The aroma of the wine was rich. He downed a bowl, patted his stomach, and smacked his lips, saying, "Is this the wine the people of Rundu brew? How is it any different from sweet water? It’s just something women like. Everyone in Great Wei enjoys drinking this, no wonder they’re so weak and timid, shattering with a single slash!"

A trusted subordinate flattered, "Yes, yes, the wine of Great Wei can’t compare to the strong, mellow wine of Wutuo!"

Huyate laughed heartily and added, "Go pick a few women from the captives!"

The people of Rundu had now closed the city gates tightly, but when they had first stationed themselves here, many had lingered outside the city. This included nearby villages, which the Wutuo soldiers had ransacked completely. The women were kept, while everyone else was killed, not even sparing the children. This wine had also been plundered from those villages. The commoners were utterly defenseless, easily slaughtered like cutting melons and vegetables, wiping out entire villages.

The Wutuo people both envied and looked down upon the people of Great Wei. They envied Great Wei’s luxurious silk, exquisite porcelain, vast land, large population, and beautiful, grand mansions. They, on the other hand, lived in deserts and on the edges of grasslands, with nothing but the howling wind.

They looked down on the people of Great Wei for being weak, timid, and lacking even the ability to defend themselves. Clinging to so-called "benevolent governance," they waited for others to invade. A piece of unguarded fat would always attract covetous eyes. The Wutuo people had remained dormant for many years but could no longer hold back.

"We’ve been waiting here for a month now," one of his confidants said. "He Rufei still hasn’t come. As the king said, He Rufei won’t be coming anymore."

Huyate chuckled, "That’s truly excellent!"

Great Wei valued literature over martial prowess. Over the years, many military generals had emerged, but the ones who remained to this day and were most feared were only the Flying Goose General and General Feng Yun. That fool Maka, relying on being the king’s cousin, volunteered to seize Jiyang, only to run into Xiao Huaijin. It was his misfortune, but sadly, the entire army of 150,000 was annihilated in Wutuo, severely damaging Wutuo’s strength.He was not Maka; having chosen the Rundu assignment, he must have had complete confidence.

"There's a saying in Great Wei: 'Across the river, the mortal world bustles like fire; before the window, the green peaks stand cold as ice.' What we're doing now is 'watching the fire from across the river.' So what if it's the Flying Goose General? If we can't kill him head-on, he must have other weaknesses. Using power or beauties is nothing more than that."

"Sometimes I truly don't understand the people of Great Wei," Huyate's face showed genuine confusion. "Why do they always like to fight among themselves? If there were people like Xiao Huaijin and He Rufei in our Wutu, the king would surely offer them the best treatment. They would become Wutu's sharpest swords, and with them, the world would be ours for the taking. Yet the people of Great Wei cannot tolerate such fine generals. Once someone rises, they must trample them into the mud. But this is just right. If Xiao Huaijin and He Rufei were truly flawless, it would be a disaster for our Wutu."

A trusted aide also said, "Exactly, this is just right. It's also thanks to the king's years of planning, letting this fire grow bigger and bigger. Now, without us lifting a finger, the people of Great Wei themselves are helping Wutu fight their own."

Wild laughter echoed in the tent. At that moment, the Wutuo soldier who had left earlier returned with several women from Great Wei, all captives taken from nearby villages. These women were still young and quite attractive. As soon as they entered, they trembled with fear.

Huyate was cruel and violent; many women had been tortured to death by him.

He let out a sinister laugh and grabbed a woman beside him. Before he could act, a horn sounded from outside. Everyone froze.

"What's going on?"

"Someone is coming out of the city!"

The camp was thrown into chaos. Huyate lost interest in continuing and pushed the woman aside, standing up to walk out. A Wutuo soldier hurriedly came to report, "General, someone is descending from the city gate tower!"

"What?" Huyate was startled.

The people of Rundu were as timid as mice, only daring to hide in the city without making a sound. They had attempted a sneak attack once before, but before that person could even descend, the Wutuo people shot him into a porcupine. Now they dared to try again? This was somewhat unexpected for Huyate. Logically, the people of Rundu shouldn't act this way.

Could it be that they had reached a desperate situation and decided to fight to the death? Huyate strode toward the open field outside. "Let's go and see!"

Outside the pitch-black city gate tower, hundreds of ropes were indeed hanging down, as if people were descending one after another from the tower. From a distance, there seemed to be quite a few.

"Have these people gone mad?" a Wutuo soldier said. "Isn't this just coming to their deaths?"

"In our Wutu Kingdom, there's a type of badger as timid as a mouse. It's said that when it encounters a hunter, it not only doesn't run but panics and throws itself onto the hunter's arrow. I think these Rundu people are just like that—already scared out of their wits, unable to tell east from west!"

"Prey delivered to our doorstep—how could we not hunt it?" Huyate felt a surge of pride. Even before the battle began, these Rundu people were already terrified, proving the might of his Wutuo army. He immediately ordered, "Prepare the archers! This is a perfect chance to practice accuracy. Those who didn't get enough last time can now practice their archery. Such good targets won't come often in the future!"

The Wutuo archers immediately went to prepare.Arrows flew toward the figures suspended from ropes on the city wall. In moments, those figures were riddled like hedgehogs, each body pierced by countless arrows. The people of Rundu seemed to realize this too, quickly retracting the ropes and replacing them with new figures.

Huyate laughed. "I think they've truly gone mad."

"This is what the Great Wei people call... reckless courage!" His aide racked his brains for the phrase.

"What reckless courage? I call it reckless stupidity!" Huyate roared with laughter and shouted his command, "Next wave of archers, ready!"

On the city wall, ropes were continuously hoisted, each tied with several "figures." These figures were pierced through front and back with arrows, and when retrieved, they no longer resembled human forms—they looked like living targets, a sight that sent chills down the spine. But upon closer inspection, one would realize these were straw dummies dressed in black clothes, indistinguishable from real people under the cover of night.

Xiao Mai exclaimed excitedly, "So many arrows, so many arrows! Brother He, we've struck it rich!"

"Struck it rich, my foot," Wang Ba grumbled, unenthused. "These aren't silver, and you can't eat them."

Li Kuang, standing nearby, watched with great excitement, nearly moved to tears. They had no arrows and could only be suppressed by the Wutuo People, not even daring to show their heads on the city wall during the day. The sentries patrolling the wall would lose one or two to arrows every day, yet they lacked enough arrows to retaliate.

But now they had them.

This batch of black-clad straw dummies had brought back countless arrows. He Yan sent another batch down, and before the Wutuo People realized it, they could harvest many more. What a miracle this was! It was a business with no capital!

During the day, He Yan had Li Kuang gather all the craftsmen and women in the city to hastily make straw dummies. When the people heard it was to deal with the Wutuo People, even children joined in. In just one day, they produced a considerable number. He Yan then had Li Kuang borrow ordinary black clothes to dress the dummies neatly.

When this plan was first proposed, Li Kuang had been skeptical. Would the Wutuo People really be that foolish? Would they truly send arrows so obediently?

The scene before him now confirmed his doubts—the Wutuo People really were that foolish.

He looked at the young man standing on the city wall, feeling a surge of admiration. Regardless of Rundu's future, at least tonight's straw dummy arrow harvest could buy them a few more days of resistance. Li Kuang walked over to He Yan and said, "Brother He, your divine strategy leaves me in awe. I am truly not your equal."

He Yan glanced at him sideways. The wind ruffled the stray hairs by the young man's ears as he smiled indifferently. "It was just luck. These Wutuo People, arrogant in their numbers and confident in their conquest of Rundu, wouldn't think of any deeper meaning when they saw the dummies."

"The Wutuo People think we have nothing—no reinforcements, no weapons, no troops. So we'll turn nothing into something and catch them off guard."

"What if we fail?"

The young man replied, "Then we'll think of another way. In this world, there's never just one path."Li Kuang was at a loss for words. He always felt that this young man gave him a sense of familiarity. He shook his head, dismissing the absurd thought in his mind, attributing these notions to the current situation bearing an uncanny resemblance to the past, if not even more challenging.

Tonight was merely the beginning.

He Yan gazed down from the city tower. In the distant wilderness, faint flickers of light were visible—the campfires of the Wutuo People's encampment.

To show nothing as something is deception. Deception cannot last long and is easily detected, so nothing cannot remain nothing forever. To create something from nothing transforms deception into truth and emptiness into substance. Nothing cannot defeat the enemy, but creating something can.

When He Yan first read this passage in the military treatise, she found it quite perplexing. She took the book to Liu Buwang, who simply said, "'Nothing' is false, its purpose is to conceal the 'truth.' If you wish to successfully 'create something from nothing,' you must understand the enemy's psychology. This is the highest level of strategy between commanders."

He Yan had clashed with the Wutuo People three times. Every Wutuo commander was arrogant and deeply prideful. Perhaps it was related to their nation's reverence for martial prowess—they believed that possessing troops and horses meant possessing everything, forgetting that pride leads to defeat.

Watching the endless stream of arrows flying toward them, a faint smile touched her lips. "Switch to the next batch."

...

The arrows flew toward the gates of Rundu with fierce momentum.

"What's going on with the people of Rundu? Aren't they afraid at all? How many rounds have they switched already?" a Wutuo soldier asked.

Huyate also felt suspicious. These Rundu people... seemed to be coming endlessly to their deaths. It had been several hours—were they planning to sacrifice all of Rundu's forces here?

The sky was beginning to lighten. They had been firing arrows all night long.

A bird flew across the sky, landing on a branch and chirping, breaking the surrounding silence. It was then that Huyate suddenly remembered something. He asked, "After firing arrows all night, have any of you heard screams from those people?"

The soldiers looked at each other, all shaking their heads.

It was too quiet, unnervingly quiet. They had shot so many arrows, and yet the Rundu people, dying so miserably, hadn't made a sound? Why was that? Were they afraid their screams would panic the civilians inside the city or demoralize their troops? If that were the case, it would be understandable. But if it were for another reason... a flicker of unease crossed his mind.

"Stop!" Huyate shouted. "Cease firing immediately!"

The Wutuo soldiers halted their actions, awaiting Huyate's next command.

The arrows stopped at the same moment. Sitting atop the city tower, He Yan yawned and shook her head regretfully. "Ah, they've figured it out."

Li Kuang was already satisfied. That night, they had harvested at least a hundred thousand arrows—far quicker and less labor-intensive than forging them. A young soldier on the city wall pulled up the last straw dummy covered with ropes, rubbing his sore wrist as he turned to ask He Yan, "Sir, should we lower more straw dummies?"

"Lower them," He Yan replied. "Lower a clean one, let them see clearly."

Li Kuang was startled. "Brother He, won't this reveal our tactics to the Wutuo People? It'll be harder to trick them for arrows in the future."He Yan smiled. "Lord Li, I never made those straw men to borrow arrows. After this night, the Wutuo People have surely realized something is wrong. There's no hiding it."

"After bullying us for so long, now let's infuriate them!"

The first ray of sunlight broke through the clouds, casting its light upon the plains and illuminating the vermilion city tower of Rundu.

Outside the city gate, a figure hung silently in mid-air, swaying gently. At first it was indistinct, but under the sunlight it gradually became clear and distinct, visible to the distant Wutuo People.

A straw figure... dressed in black.

"Damn it!" Huyate flew into a rage.

(End of Chapter)