Dragonwall Troy Denning

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.Our time together has been blessed, and you have provided me with a beautiful daughter and a strong son.I will miss them both.You have been a good wife, and I depart in comfort, knowing you would never dishonor my memory by taking a lover.Your worthy husband, Min Ho.Satisfied that the letter said everything he meant it to, Batu folded it and gave it to his subordinate."For the messenger," he said.Pe bowed and accepted the paper.He did not ask where to send it, for the letter was an old ritual.In their marriage vows, Lady Wu had made Batu promise to write her before each battle.So far, it was a promise Batu had kept faithfully, as he had all the other vows he had ever taken.Pe withdrew a similar paper from his own pocket.The young officer did not usually write his parents before battle.On Batu's suggestion, he had made today an exception.As his adjutant took the letters down to a runner, the general studied the scene in front of him.From the hillside, he could oversee the entire battle.The field was larger than Batu had guessed from the scrying basin.It was in a valley located between two small hills.Batu stood on one of them, and the other was six hundred yards to the north.At that moment, the general would have given the lives of a hundred pengs to know what was hiding behind the northern hill.On the east, the field was entirely bordered by the river.One thousand yards from the water, the western edge faded into weeds and wild grasses.Judging by the sorghum field's size, it belonged to some wealthy landlord who employed an entire village to cultivate it.Pe returned.Glancing down at Batu's army, he asked, "Do you wish to make any adjustments?"Batu smiled and studied his adjutant's concerned face."Pe, if you don't speak openly today, you never will."The adjutant returned Batu's smile with a tense grin."Please forgive me, my general," he said."I was wondering how you intend to cover the flank."Pe pointed at the western edge of the field.Then, as if Batu could have possibly missed the source of his concern, he said, "It remains unguarded."Batu grinned.Even when ordered to speak frankly, the boy could not help but couch his criticism in the most inoffensive language possible."General?" Pe asked anxiously."Any adjustments?"Raising a hand to quiet his adjutant, Batu surveyed his army's deployment.He had pulled the surviving archers off the front line and stationed them nearby, where they could tend to their wounds until the battle grew desperate.Below the archers, five hundred cavalrymen stood with their horses, nervously rubbing their mounts' necks or feeding them young blades of trampled sorghum.Batu had often wished for more cavalry, and could certainly have used them today, but Shou Lung's ancient grain fields produced barely enough food to feed the country's human population.A large cavalry was a luxury the army had not enjoyed for nearly a century.Thirty yards in front of the cavalry was the feng-li lang, the ritual supervisor assigned to Batu from the Rites Section of the Ministry of War.The feng-li lang was supposedly a shaman who could communicate with the spirit world, but Batu had yet to see the man procure the aid of any spirits.The feng-li lang and his assistant were digging a six-foot-deep hole in the field's sandy, yellow soil.Though Batu did not understand the purpose of the hole, he knew that the pair was preparing a ceremony to ask for the favor of the spirits dwelling in the battlefield.Batu had his doubts about the value of nature magic, but the pengs clearly did not share his skepticism.In order to lift the morale of his troops, the general participated in the feng-li lang's pre-battle rites whenever possible.In the center of the sorghum field were thirty-five hundred infantrymen.They were standing in a double rank along the same line the archers had occupied during the initial skirmish.The common soldiers carried standard imperial-issue crossbows.Straight, double-bladed swords, called chiens, hung at their belts.For armor, the pengs relied on lun'kia corselets and plain leather chous.The officers were all attired comparably to Pe, with brightly decorated suits of plated k'ai and plumed helmets.As Pe had observed, the left end of the infantry flank was open to attack.Normally, Batu would take advantage of some terrain feature to protect this vulnerable area, or at least he would cover it with a contingent of archers or cavalry.But Kwan's orders were clear, and the general was too good an officer to disobey.Even a bad plan was better than a broken plan, which was what they would have if Batu did not do as instructed.Batu ran his eyes down the length of the line, studying the route he expected the enemy cavalry to follow.As the enemy charged, the pengs on the left flank would fall, leaving other men exposed.Batu would supply some covering fire with his archers, and his cavalry would mount a counterattack that might slow the charge for a few moments [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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