Chapter 2

A moment later, a hundred Jurchen cavalry scouts galloped up, and the centurion, Yan Shulie, looked at the three dead soldiers and became furious.

A squad leader vaguely recognized the back of the leading Song soldier, who seemed to be the one who had injured him the day before, and the flames of hatred ignited in his heart.

"Commander, let me behead them."

"Leave none alive, kill them all!"

"Follow me!"

The Jurchen cavalry squad leader ordered his men to carry throwing spears. He spurred his horse and led his nine cavalrymen to gallop after the fleeing Song soldiers.

Chen Qing led everyone into the forest, and driven by hatred, the Jurchen squad leader ignored his injuries and led his men into the forest, pursuing them relentlessly.

A throwing spear whizzed past Chen Qing's head and embedded itself in a tree ahead.

"Ah!" The youngest, Li Huan, screamed.

He was pierced through the back by a throwing spear and pinned to the ground. The Jurchen cavalry charged forward, and with a swing of a battle axe, Li Huan's head was severed, becoming a trophy for the Jurchen cavalry.

"Follow me quickly!"

Chen Qing gritted his teeth and ran, zigzagging through the forest while shedding his iron scale armor.

Li Huan's leather armor couldn't withstand a single blow, and neither could his iron scale armor, which only drained his strength.

The three soldiers also followed Chen Qing in removing their armor, increasing their speed.

Throwing spears whizzed by.

"Ah!"

The tall and thin Hu Sanlang was hit in the thigh by a throwing spear. With a crack, his bone shattered, and he screamed as he fell heavily to the ground.

Chen Qing stopped, "Hu San, follow quickly!"

"My leg is broken, you run, I'll hold them off!"

Ten Jurchen cavalrymen arrived.

The other two Song soldiers, Liu Wu and Zhao Xiaoyi, ran back and pulled Chen Qing to run.

"If we don't leave now, we'll all die here!"

Chen Qing ran while looking back, watching Hu San stab a warhorse with a throwing spear but was simultaneously impaled by several spears and killed on the spot.

Chen Qing's eyes turned red, and a sense of shared blood and ethnicity made his tears flow uncontrollably.

...

The rain made the road slippery, and the forest became denser, slowing down the horses. The distance between the two sides remained around twenty to thirty steps.

Soon, Chen Qing and his two men reached the foot of a mountain and began climbing along a small stream.

Chen Qing looked back and saw that the Jurchen soldiers had dismounted, like a pack of wolves unwilling to let go of their prey, closely following behind.

Chen Qing gritted his teeth and cursed, noticing a large, round boulder in the stream, weighing about two to three hundred pounds.

"Let's crush these bastards, Liu Wu, Xiaoyi, help me!"

The three of them pushed the boulder out of the stream.

"One, two, three, push!"

The boulder rolled down the muddy path.

The leading Jurchen squad leader looked up and saw the boulder coming, its momentum terrifying. He rolled into the stream to avoid it.

The Jurchen soldiers behind couldn't dodge in time, and three were hit by the boulder, two of whom were killed instantly, and one was severely injured.

The Jurchen squad leader, enraged, drew his sword and shouted, and the remaining six Jurchen soldiers followed, drawing their swords and roaring, continuing to climb up.

Chen Qing inwardly cursed; these Jurchens were not only not scared away but were even more spirited, making the situation worse.

After searching, there were no more large boulders in the stream.

"Let's go!"

The two soldiers followed Chen Qing as they continued to climb the mountain.

After climbing about half a mile, the stream disappeared, and a ravine about two zhang wide appeared ahead, with a log laid across it as a makeshift bridge.

Finally, an opportunity came. The three of them crossed the log and, together, pulled it away, causing the thick log to fall into the deep ravine.

Just as they turned to run, Chen Qing noticed a rotten log nearby.

An idea came to him.

...

Liu Wu and Zhao Xiaoyi thought Chen Qing was crazy; if the rotten log didn't break, wouldn't they fall into the tiger's mouth again?

But Chen Qing believed it would break. Without rain, the wood fibers might hold, but after a day and night of rain, the rotten log was soaked through and couldn't possibly support two to three hundred pounds.

As a captain, the two soldiers could only obey.

Soon, seven Jurchen soldiers caught up. The leading squad leader stepped on the rotten log and managed to cross the ravine, the log only bending.

Chen Qing, lying above, felt a sinking feeling in his heart. Had he been wrong?

Then, three more Jurchen soldiers rushed onto the rotten log, making the same mistake. So many had crossed, so the log must be safe.

Halfway across, the log finally broke, and the three Jurchen soldiers screamed as they fell into the twenty-zhang deep ravine, dying on the rocks below.

The remaining three Jurchen soldiers stopped, unable to cross.

The Jurchen squad leader, shocked, watched the scene behind him, but suddenly, a figure descended from above, tackling him to the ground. Chen Qing pinned him down and punched him in the wound on his waist.

The Jurchen squad leader screamed in agony, and Chen Qing hit him repeatedly, causing him to faint from the pain.

The three Jurchen soldiers on the other side were furious but helpless. They were lightly equipped and had no throwing spears, watching helplessly as their leader was bound and taken away by the three Song soldiers.

...

After crossing the mountain, they reached the northern foot and rested by a small stream.

The Jurchen squad leader lay on the ground, his mouth gagged with a rag, his eyes covered, and his hands and feet bound.

Liu Wu and Zhao Xiaoyi didn't understand why the captain didn't kill the Jurchen cavalryman, considering him a burden.

They didn't understand that Chen Qing, a former narcotics police officer, had just arrived in this era and still retained his previous mindset.

A prisoner was far more valuable than a corpse.

Chen Qing sat by the stream, eating dry bread and fiddling with a bronze plaque.

One side of the plaque read "Huanqing Army," and the other side read "Captain."

The fallen Song general was indeed a captain, belonging to the Huanqing Army.

Chen Qing smiled bitterly. He didn't know the name of the corporal he had possessed, where he was from, or who his family was.

He also didn't know the name or appearance of the captain he was impersonating.

Everything was a mess, including the current situation.

It was the fourth year of the Jianyan era, and the Battle of Huangtian Ford had just ended. The south should be relatively safe, but in the coming years, the entire Guanzhong and Hanzhong regions would be in constant turmoil and conflict.

Chen Qing wasn't afraid of turmoil. As a special narcotics police officer, he had lived in extreme danger for years, solving major cases and capturing countless vicious drug dealers, being promoted to squad leader in just three years.

The more complex the situation, the more turbulent the times, the more he felt at ease. He seemed to be born for chaos, finding hope and a way out in it.

Chen Qing shook his head, as if to clear his mind of distractions. He didn't want to think too much about the future; he needed to survive the brutal war first.

At that moment, a group of cavalry appeared around the bend, about twenty men.

The sudden appearance of the cavalry startled Chen Qing, and he stood up abruptly.

"It's Song soldiers!"

Liu Wu and Zhao Xiaoyi recognized them and waved their hands to greet them.

...

This was a Song army reconnaissance unit led by a commander named Li Jiang. They had been ordered to scout the enemy.

Unexpectedly, they encountered Chen Qing and his two men, who had captured a Jurchen cavalry squad leader.

Li Jiang was delighted. With this Jurchen squad leader, they wouldn't need to risk their lives on the battlefield.

He immediately led everyone back to their base.

The Song army's hiding place was about fifty li from the Fuping battlefield, in the foothills of Qiaoshan, a region of hills and valleys.

They galloped along a small river, and Li Jiang pointed to a long hill in the distance. "Beyond that hill, we'll reach the hidden valley."

"Wait!"

Chen Qing shouted, and everyone pulled their horses to a stop.

"Captain Chen, what's wrong?" Li Jiang asked, puzzled.

Chen Qing pointed to a forest ahead, his gaze sharp.

"Birds are flying out of the forest above, something is wrong in the forest!"

Li Jiang was startled and immediately ordered, "Corporal Yang, take a few men to check it out."

"General Li, that will alert them and let them escape. Let me intercept them from the west!"

Li Jiang nodded and sent ten men to follow Chen Qing to intercept from the west, while he led the other ten soldiers forward, ready for battle.

About thirty steps from the forest, three cavalrymen suddenly emerged from the west side of the forest. They were indeed Jurchen cavalry, and they were intercepted by Chen Qing and his men.

Chen Qing, filled with hatred, roared and thrust his spear, hitting the leading cavalryman's horse in the head.

The horse screamed and fell, throwing the rider several zhang away.

"Bind him!"

Chen Qing shouted and charged at another cavalryman.

This was also a Jurchen cavalry squad leader, bald with two small braids on the sides, a fierce appearance. The Jurchen squad leader grinned and thrust his spear, but Chen Qing deflected it and, as the horses drew close, kicked the Jurchen squad leader in the waist.

The Jurchen squad leader was agile, rolling under the horse and drawing a throwing spear, aiming for Chen Qing's abdomen from below the horse, with incredible speed.

Most Song soldiers would have been unable to dodge this surprise attack, but Chen Qing, with his rigorous training, had far superior reflexes. He leaned back, and the spear missed.

Chen Qing didn't give the Jurchen cavalryman any more chances, using his strength to thrust his spear into the horse's belly.

"Thud!"

The horse's belly was pierced, the sharp spear tip emerging from the other side, and the blood-soaked tip also pierced the Jurchen squad leader's head, causing him to fall off the horse.

The third Jurchen cavalryman was also knocked off his horse and captured by the other Song soldiers.