The defense of Chaoge

The southern outskirts of Chaoge.

Drums and horns rang out as the Jizhou army formed ranks and advanced to the beat of the drums.

Surrounded by his generals, Su Hu walked solemnly to the front of the formation.

Expressionless, he raised the Precious Sword. In the center ranks, Zheng Lun waved a banner bearing neither "Jizhou" nor "Su," but "Shang."

The "Shang" of Yin Shang.

The soldiers were tense, unconsciously tightening their grips on their weapons. Scouts had already reported that the rebels were formidable, and Chaoge's South Gate was on the verge of falling.

King Zhou had done many things that bred resentment, especially his controversial statements about the Mandate of Heaven.

But those who opposed his statements about the Mandate of Heaven were mostly nobles.

What about the ordinary commoners?

They were the sacrifices.

Endless variations, boundless imagination-such were the nobles who revered Heaven and honored its mandate.

There were even more intolerable practices. When nobles repaired buildings, it would hardly be proper unless they killed a few people, burying them in the foundations to pray for the structures' stability.

The practice had even spread to Japan, and the term Human Pillar took its name from it.

Ever since Wu Yi's Shooting Heaven with Blood, the royal family had largely stopped following such practices, considering them wrong. Yet the feudal lords and nobles who clung to those vile customs branded this disrespect for Heaven.

The silence at that moment was almost suffocating.

Su Hu did not immediately order his troops to reinforce the city. He rode to the front, pointed his sword toward Chaoge, and declared sternly, "Officers and soldiers! Forty-five years ago, the late king Wu Yi performed Shooting Heaven with Blood and marched against the Western Yi."

Su Quanzhong repeated his father's words in his booming voice, carrying them clearly to every ear.

The officers and soldiers were startled, unsure why Su Hu had suddenly brought up the "tyrannical" Wu Yi.

"People say the late king died when lightning struck him from a clear sky. They do not know that his movements were leaked, and his army was surrounded by the Western Yi."

Su Hu remained expressionless. Forty-five years ago, he had still been a child; all this was what his father had told him.

"A hundred horsemen broke through to seek reinforcements, but not a single lord answered. By the time word reached our Jizhou, the late king had already fallen in battle..."

"Last night, I dreamed of the late king. He knew that the line of the Marquises of Jizhou was loyal and courageous, and that the fault did not lie with us. Today, King Zhou refuses to honor the Mandate of Heaven. He has discarded the title Son of Heaven and calls himself the Human King, carrying on the late king's unfinished work, abandoning human sacrifice and simplifying the rites. Yet traitors have risen in rebellion!"

"Forty-five years ago, our Jizhou failed to break the siege around the late king."

His voice catching, Su Hu pointed his sword toward Chaoge and shouted fiercely, "Today, the Jizhou army has come! Officers and soldiers, follow me into Chaoge to defend the king!"

Most feudal lords and nobles revered the Mandate of Heaven.

Su Hu was somewhat different. His father had been born a commoner and only earned the title Marquis of Jizhou through military merit. Thus, Su Hu had received little aristocratic schooling as a child and developed a fiery temper that flared at the slightest spark.

But precisely because of that, he understood better what commoners represented to the nobles who honored the Mandate of Heaven.

Su Hu's words set the Jizhou troops' blood boiling. Most of the soldiers came from common families-how could they not know these things?

For all those years, they had never resisted, nor had they possessed the strength to resist. As time passed, they grew accustomed to it.

When a king voiced words that showed no reverence for Heaven, many people might have failed to grasp their meaning out of sheer habitual thinking. They wondered how he could behave that way. This was all Heaven's mandate, all decreed by Heaven; such conduct was the height of disrespect.

But eventually, they would discover that this was what was right.

Only Su Quanzhong, who was responsible for relaying the speech, was utterly baffled.

Hadn't his father stayed awake all night, worried that Wen Zhong's army, pursuing them from behind, would steal the credit for defending the king?

How could he have dreamed without sleeping?

But he dared not say anything. If he did, he would get another scolding.

Chaoge's South Gate.

Chong Heihu personally led the army attacking the South Gate. He had thought that by reaching the walls under cover of night, he would win without a fight. But when he arrived beneath the gate, not only was he spotted by the Defending General of the South Gate on night patrol, he also met with fierce resistance.

Although Huang Feihu had left, the practice of nightly patrols remained.

The current Defending General of the South Gate, Zhou Ji, wielded a great axe with skill, swinging it with the force of a roaring tiger. In sheer imposing presence, he gave no ground.

But in terms of numbers, there was simply no contest.

After fighting for a while, Chong Heihu sent the Iron-Beaked Divine Eagle into the air to peck out Zhou Ji's eyes.

Deprived of their commander's direction, the defenders held on a little longer, but soon their army collapsed like a falling mountain.

The rebel army broke through the South Gate.

Before they could enter, a small band of riders appeared in front of the army.

There were not many-only a dozen or so.

The officer at their head was Chong Houhu's son, Chong Yingbiao.

This was a wastrel's final act of stubbornness.

He had been born a noble and had once revered the Mandate of Heaven.

But what had Heaven ever given him?

Nothing at all.

Instead, it was King Zhou, who showed no reverence for Heaven, who had shouldered the blame for his attempt to seize Daji by force.

Later, his father Chong Houhu had told him many things, and he had gradually come to understand what King Zhou had actually done.

What kind of king could single-handedly keep the feudal lords from turning their weapons against one another?

And today, with his father stripped of military command, he chose to repay that kindness.

Though he was an ignorant, uneducated wastrel, he still understood the simplest bonds of gratitude and loyalty.

Holding his saber crosswise astride his horse, Chong Yingbiao shouted, "I am Chong Yingbiao! Men serving the Marquis of the North, lay down your weapons and join me in destroying the traitors!"

Then, with reddened eyes, he led his dozen household warriors toward the gate.

Fortunately, the gateway was narrow, allowing few men through at once. Even though the rebels immediately surrounded them, they could just barely hold out for a while.

But there were only a dozen of them in the end. Watching his household warriors fall one after another, Chong Yingbiao felt that he would probably die here today.

Had he known, he would never have let hot blood rush to his head and charged out with his men. How much better it would have been to follow his father's example and find somewhere to hide. After all, according to his father, this was all King Zhou's scheme, and they could not lose.

Now Chong Yingbiao felt nothing but regret. Why did I have to play the hero?

Other people might not know what sort of good-for-nothing I am, but don't I know myself?

He glanced behind him. It seemed he could no longer retreat.

But then-

He spotted another force emerging from the city.

The person at its head wore red armor and, judging by her appearance, was a female general? He did not recognize her.

Beside her was the veteran general Lu Xiong. Him, he recognized.

I'm saved! I'm saved!

Chong Yingbiao shouted at the top of his lungs, "General Lu! I am the son of the Marquis of the North! Hurry and save me!"

No one paid him any attention.

"Fight south of the city, die north of the walls! Dead in the wilds, unburied, food for crows!"

Chanting, a group of soldiers followed the female general past Chong Yingbiao, charged out through the South Gate, and blocked the rebels' advance.

Chong Heihu frowned. Reinforcements from within the city had arrived unexpectedly quickly, and their momentum was strong.

An army depended on momentum. His men had already been fighting for some time and suffered casualties; their morale had long since ebbed, while the enemy's fighting spirit was at its peak.

At this point, he ought to withdraw through the gate and continue the battle in the open.

Another shout came from behind, as a burly man wielding a halberd with crescent blades roared:

"Officers and soldiers, follow me into Chaoge to defend the king!"

Wasn't that Su Quanzhong of Jizhou?

Defend the king? Didn't your father write a Rebel Poem and plan to rebel?

Chong Heihu was dumbfounded. A large force of Jizhou troops appeared behind them, cutting off their retreat.

They had been wrapped up like dumplings. The two forces combined now outnumbered his own, and even his knowledge of Daoist arts could not turn the battle around.

Chong Heihu slapped the Fire-Eyed Golden-Eyed Beast beneath him and fled. His troops could no longer accomplish anything anyway, and he was not entirely on Zi Qi's side. His aim was merely to plunge Chaoge into greater chaos and weaken the King of Shang's reputation. Success or failure hardly mattered.

Just then, flames suddenly shot up within Chaoge City.

Both Su Hu and Huang Feiying felt their hearts tighten.

That was where the Royal Palace stood.

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