Nine Nights Owl Song

July 20th, the eighteenth year of Yong'an.

The northern border, Yanzhou.

The moment I stepped into Yanzhou, the air seemed to change.

The wind in Los Angeles is hot, carrying the stuffy humidity of summer; the wind in the North is cool, carrying a bleak chill even in July.

The crops along the roadside were sparse, and some fields were completely abandoned and overgrown with weeds.

Village after village is empty; the houses are still there, but the people are gone.

Xiao Yan reined in his horse and looked at a stone tablet by the roadside. The words "Yanzhou Boundary" were engraved on it, but the characters were blurred by the wind and sand.

Su Jiuge rode her horse beside him.

"Who should I contact first?" she asked.

Xiao Yan took out a list from his bosom, which Qianjilou had spent more than half a year searching for—a roster of generals in the Northern Border who were loyal to the court.

Those people were scattered throughout the three prefectures of Yan and Yun. Some hid in the mountains with their remaining troops, some disguised themselves as civilians and infiltrated the cities, and some simply laid down their arms and returned to their fields, waiting for the imperial court to send people.

"Search them one by one."

Xiao Yan's finger moved across the list.

"The closest one is at Qing Shi Ridge, thirty miles east of Yanzhou City. Zhou Tieshan, the former deputy commander of the northern border garrison, refused to surrender when Zhao Tianhu betrayed him. He led eight hundred men to retreat to Qing Shi Ridge to hold out for reinforcements. The imperial reinforcements did not come. He held Qing Shi Ridge for three years. In the end, only three hundred of his eight hundred men remained."

"Three hundred men, guarding the position for three years."

Su Jiuge repeated it.

Su Jiuge remained silent for a moment.

"People like this are worth looking for."

Qingshi Ridge is not a high mountain, but it is steep and there is only one road leading up to it. It is a place where one man can hold off ten thousand.

Su Jiuge and her group were spotted by sentries as soon as they reached the foot of the mountain.

Several ragged soldiers rushed out of the woods, their spears sharpened from wooden sticks, the tips gleaming in the sunlight.

It wasn't iron, but hardened wood; it was the best weapon they could find.

"Who goes there?" the leading soldier asked in a hoarse voice.

Xiao Yan stepped forward and showed his token.

"The sixth prince of the imperial court, Xiao Yan, has been ordered to go north to quell the rebellion. Take me to see Zhou Tieshan."

The soldier looked at the token in his hand, and the light in his eyes was like a long-extinguished ember being rekindled—the imperial court had sent people; they had finally arrived.

He turned around and led them up the mountain.

The camp at Qingshiling was built with wood and stone, so simple it was heartbreaking.

There were no tents; the soldiers lived in caves.

Without a stove, they built a platform with stones and used a broken pot to cook wild vegetables.

There were no beds, so they laid out a layer of dry straw as a bed.

More than three hundred soldiers, all emaciated and ragged, but their eyes were bright.

Zhou Tieshan walked out of the cave.

He was in his forties, burly, with a full beard, wearing tattered armor, and a chipped longsword hanging from his waist.

He had a long scar on his left arm, stretching from his shoulder to his wrist, as if it had been cut by some sharp weapon—a scar left three years ago when he was defending the city.

The wound had long since healed, but the scar was shocking.

He saw the token in Xiao Yan's hand, and then looked at Su Jiuge behind Xiao Yan.

"You are General Su Jiuge of Anxi, the one who beheaded Helian Tieshu in the western border."

Zhou Tieshan knelt down on one knee.

"This humble general, Zhou Tieshan, greets Your Highness the Sixth Prince and General Anxi. I have waited three years for this day."

Xiao Yan squatted down to look him in the eye.

"General Zhou, the imperial court owes you three years' worth of explanations. I will repay them on behalf of the court."

Zhou Tieshan's eyes reddened.

The first one is Zhou Tieshan, with three hundred men.

The second one is Liu Wu, with two hundred people.

The third one is Chen Daniu, with 500 men.

For about ten days in late July, Xiao Yan and Su Jiuge led their troops through the mountains and rivers of the three prefectures of Yan and Yun.

They searched for them one by one and recruited them one by one.

Those loyal former officials scattered across various regions were like pearls left in the sand, which they picked up one by one.

Liu Wu was a man of few words.

When Zhao Tianhu betrayed him, he led two hundred men into the mountains and fought as a guerrilla for three years.

Instead of engaging the rebels head-on, they focused on attacking supply lines, raiding outposts, and intercepting scouts.

His two hundred men were all experts in mountain warfare, familiar with every mountain and gully in Yanzhou.

The only complete sentence he uttered to Emperor Xiao Yan on the day he surrendered was:

"I will fight guerrilla warfare, not positional warfare."

Xiao Yan said:

"You don't need to fight positional warfare. You can continue your guerrilla tactics. I'll provide you with food, weapons, and reinforcements." Liu Wu knelt down and kowtowed three times.

Chen Daniu was a rough man with a voice as loud as thunder. His five hundred men were scattered soldiers who had gathered from all over the northern border.

After Zhao Tianhu's defection, he was unwilling to surrender and had nowhere to go. Hearing that the imperial court had sent people, he came and gathered under Chen Daniu's command, waiting for the court to incorporate him.

The first thing he said upon seeing Xiao Yan was:

"Your Highness, does the imperial court still care whether we live or die?"

Xiao Yan looked at him.

"I'm here because I care whether you live or die."

Chen Daniu knelt down and cried like a child.

By late July, Xiao Yan had assembled 1,300 men.

There weren't many men, but they were all elite soldiers. They held out for three years in dire straits without betraying their cause. They survived on wild vegetables, used sticks as spears, and hid in the deep mountains, yet they never laid down their weapons.

These people are not loyal to the court, but to the spirit in their hearts. That spirit has sustained them for three years, and they can sustain them for another three.

Xiao Yan stood in front of the sand table, the terrain and rivers of the three prefectures of Yan and Yun clearly visible to him.

"Recruiting loyal subjects is only the first step; the next step is to recruit 40,000 scattered soldiers. But these 40,000 men are dispersed in various places; they are unusable when grouped together, and insufficient when deployed separately. What should we do?"

Su Jiuge looked at the sand table.

"Take them down one by one. After incorporating them, let Zhou Tieshan's men guard Qingshi Ridge, Liu Wu's men continue guerrilla warfare to harass the rebels' supply lines, and Chen Daniu's men be responsible for contacting other scattered soldiers. We don't need to incorporate 40,000 men at once. We just need to let the rebels know that the imperial court has arrived, and let those generals who are still observing know that the imperial court has not abandoned the northern border. With the people's hearts on our side, the troops will naturally come."

Xiao Yan looked at her.

"When did you learn all this?"

Su Jiuge did not answer.

She wasn't learning; she was experiencing.

Having experienced the battle in the Western Frontier, the events in the imperial court, and the journey from carrying the burden alone to having others stand shoulder to shoulder with me, many things naturally became clear.

It's not difficult to fight and kill people; the difficult part is getting soldiers to be willing to risk their lives for you.

It's not difficult to get soldiers to risk their lives; the difficulty lies in giving them hope.

Su Jiuge gave Zhou Tieshan, Liu Wu, and Chen Daniu hope.

She did nothing, she just stood there, and the court did not forget the northern border.

This is enough.

On July 28, Xiao Yan convened his first military conference at Qingshiling.

Zhou Tieshan, Liu Wu, Chen Daniu, and several other generals who were later recruited sat around the sand table.

Xiao Yan did not sit in the main seat; he sat to the side, leaving the main seat to Su Jiuge.

It wasn't because he was modest; it was because on the battlefield, soldiers only recognized the sword, not the prince.

Su Jiuge looked at the generals present.

"In the three prefectures of Yan and Yun, the rebel army is said to number 100,000, but in reality, no more than 50,000 are capable of fighting. Wang Chongyuan has 30,000 men under his command, who are the main force of the rebel army and are stationed in Yan Prefecture City. The remaining 20,000 are scattered in various places, responsible for defending the cities and transporting grain."

Zhou Tieshan said:

"I have been guarding Qing Shi Ling for three years and know the rebels' deployment like the back of my hand. Wang Chongyuan has concentrated his main force in Yanzhou City and set up seven outposts outside the city, with layers of defense. A strong attack on Yanzhou City would require at least 50,000 troops. Our army currently only has 1,300 men."

Liu Wu said:

"I have been fighting as a guerrilla for three years, and I know the rebels' supply lines like the back of my hand. They have two main supply lines, one from the north and the other from the east. There are three transit stations on each supply line, with few but important garrisons. If we burn the supply lines, the rebels will fall into chaos without a fight."

Su Jiuge's fingers moved across the sand table.

"Don't launch a full-scale attack; first, clip his wings. Wang Chongyuan's Yanzhou City is a tough nut to crack; if we can't break through it, we'll tackle the weaker parts first. Take down the outer outposts, supply lines, and transit stations one by one. Eliminate his eyes and ears, and cut off his supplies. Yanzhou City will then become an isolated city and fall without a fight."

Xiao Yan said:

"To attack the outer perimeter, we can't attack from the front; we have to attack from the rear. The rebel forces are limited, and the garrison at the outer strongholds is small. We can launch a surprise attack from behind."

He paused.

"I can't wait long in the court; the Crown Prince and the Second Prince are watching closely. I must act quickly."

Su Jiuge looked at him.

"how long?"

"One month."

That's enough.

After the meeting, Xiao Yan stood alone on the edge of the cliff, looking at the lights in the direction of Yanzhou City. The lights looked like a giant beast lying on the ground.

He carried on his shoulders the northern border, the imperial court, the crown prince, the second prince, his father, and the soldiers who placed their hopes on him.

Su Jiuge walked over from behind and stood beside him, the two of them side by side looking at the lights in the distance. The wind blew from the north.

"Xiao Yan".

"Um."

You are not alone.

Xiao Yan looked at her profile.

Under the moonlight, her face appeared very pale and thin.

She said, "You are not alone." When did she learn to comfort people?

Xiao Yan did not answer, but reached out and took her hand.

Su Jiuge did not pull it back.

Two people stood on a cliff, the wind blowing from the north, their hands clasped together.