While Miss Bai was running wild in the Eastern Capital without a care in the world, Zhang Sanlang was spending a peaceful mid-autumn at an estate outside Puyang, holding discussions with some of his new acquaintances along the way.
There were only three or four hundred of these men, all from Hebei and most from Qinghe Commandery. Two hundred had belonged to Zhang Jincheng's core armored troops before Niu Da picked them out, while the remaining hundred or so belonged to a minor leader called Wang Daba La, who had been responsible for a small mixed cavalry force under Zhang Jincheng.
When Niu Da had first answered Zhang Xing's summons, he had crossed the river with only a dozen or so riders to serve as a messenger. Yet after subduing Wang Daba La's troops at the very beginning of the battle, he had immediately gained command of this cavalry force. Afterward, he had received first pick of the prisoners, and finally been put in charge of escorting surplus captured weapons and equipment across the river to support Dan Dalang, Fifth Wang Lang, and Xu Dalang.
With all these arrangements, by the time he had made his rounds and returned to Puyang, a black hen had become a phoenix.
With three or four hundred tough, capable men under his command, another three or four hundred mules and horses, ample weapons and equipment, and ten or twenty cultivators among his troops, Niu Da already had enough to stand somewhat apart before the four great leaders, Dan, Wang, Cheng, and Xu. Even his father, the county commandant, had turned over all the family estates outside the city to his son's management, despite never once coming out of the city himself. His position had become quite clear too.
Of course, viewed through the lens