The band of brothers spotted a thousand mounted troops approaching from the south, marching toward the Yanbei mountains. Flags waved in the wind, and the sound of hooves echoed ominously, signaling the arrival of a significant force at the "First Mountain Pass," the gateway to the Eastern Empire.
One of the spies whistled a unique alert, grabbing Zuo Zong's attention. It was their first warning, and Yuwen Yue had expected this moment, knowing anything could happen in such a volatile landscape.
He quickly gathered the warriors around him, their expressions shifting from camaraderie to serious determination. The weight of leadership rested heavily on Yuwen Yue's shoulders, and he steeled himself for the challenges ahead, ready to protect his band of brothers.
"Master brother, troops are coming!" Zuo Zong gasped as he ran toward Yuwen Yue, who was extinguishing a tea candle and preparing to leave.
Dawn broke, and their walking cavalry stood ready, tents packed up and organized. Yuwen Yue's tent was the last to be taken down. As he helped dismantle it, Zuo Zong waited nearby for his instructions.
Yuwen Yue had already educated his brothers on the rules of engagement, setting clear expectations. He had introduced concepts like truce and military terminology, ensuring that everyone understood what to do when they encountered these situations in the future.
Zuo Zong's training focused on tactical movements, teaching their band of brothers how to decide on offense or defense in the face of war or ambush. Yuwen Yue, on the other hand, had gained his military principles during his three years at Xiaoqi Camp under the command of Prince Yuan Che, the seventh prince of Wei.
This experience had shaped Yuwen Yue into one of Wei's most esteemed generals, a crucial asset in the prince's success. With over fifty brothers by his side, Yuwen Yue knew their chances of survival against a thousand troops would be slim—like ants attempting to bite the feet of a giant.
"How many?" he asked Zuo Zong.
"We're uncertain of the exact numbers, but we estimate around a thousand troops," Zuo Zong replied, showing no signs of worry about the odds.
"Since when?" Yuwen Yue pressed, curious about the timing of this information.
"Our spies have blended in their troops two nights ago and came back this dawn and informed us they had been moving towards here and confirmed to pass where our grid coordinates lie." Zuo Zong replied.
Yuwen Yue wearing his dark blue peasant faded fighting clothes with a foxy fur obtained from their adventures hunt with his brothers on training, cold eyes, straight stature, already deployed men to study and search the terrains of the mountains and as far as the sea when they first arrived in the unfinished wall.
He developed maps and identified potential hideouts in case of an encounter. Yuwen Yue examined a rolled-up map, calculating the distances, then gazed at the Bohei Mountains before closing his eyes. Winter was approaching, with autumn nearing its end.
Zuo divided the spies and the band of brothers, instructing the rapid blades, flying daggers, and flashing spears to move to the mountains. He also assigned one spy to accompany them as a pulse and guide for their meeting point after the operation.
They took their positions in the designated hideouts, while the stick warriors, Zuo Zong, and two additional spies remained together.
Yuwen Yue and the cold warriors prepared to implement a tactical maneuver called smoke screening. However, instead of creating clouds of smoke for concealment, they planned to use it to lure their enemies. If successful, the enemies would lose their sight and be vulnerable to attack.
The advance party wouldn't suspect that anyone had camped near the shore of the unfinished walls. The area was so clean and undisturbed that it was hard to believe a cavalry had stayed there for days and nights. Since they were not heavily armed and lacked horses, they had the advantage of being able to flee quickly and follow instructions with ease.
"We cannot attack nor let them see our presence as we are outnumbered. Everyone, you all know what to do." Yuwen Yue final reminders.
Zuo Zong added: "brothers, we meet at the place we already told you about, whoever gets first to that post, waits for the second. If anything goes wrong, the spies must always be first to know and flee who will inform each and everyone."
Quickly Yuwen Yue gave the signal, and Zuo passed to its ranking brothers, and they set on foot.
Yuwen Parrot was freed from its cage and landed on Yuwen Yue's shoulders, the bird looks like he is the commanding general and Yuwen Yue also trained his bird in time of crises, the bird knows what to do.
The advance party of cavalry sees the smoke at the mountainside, not a heavy smoke of concealment but a thin vertical smoke that led them to think there is a company nearby and underestimated it.
Still, the ground commander deployed their men to set on foot and find out the vertical smoke, a thousand troops were nearly approaching to enter the First Mountain Pass.
"Maybe an amateur hunter just hunting for a fox or a deer said one of the Archer Generals."
"We can never be sure, so we follow SOPs," and the ground commander tapped his horse and went in front of his cavalry to wait. The whole mounted troops seem not alarmed, there is no trace of violence in the air, only cold wind blowing on them.
Yuwen Yue is brilliant, so as not to scare his band of brothers he made sure that before the mounted troops pass, they were already far-fetched and in position. They may be outnumbered but not haunted by the forces marching presence, and that won't put his band of brothers at defensive state nor make their pulse fret.
Zuo's spy came back and told them someone approaching their position, but then he suddenly finds himself alone and cannot see his brothers. He scratches his head and Zuo who was just watching him in the distance, came forward at is back and slapped his nape then said: "We are here" and grinned at him.
The junior spy was startled and took his only weapon of defense a small dagger and put it out on Zuo Zong neck.
Zuo said: "Easy, easy my brother."
And the spy brother not aware Zuo Zong looking dark black guy full of dried grass in his head and smells like the fresh grass, the junior spy looking so frightened at his horrific face he said: "My bad, in my defense, I was left unsupervised, I wasn't informed that you would be looking like a ghost.'
Yuwen Yue laugh a bit on his comrade's conversation, and Zuo laughed too, but with restraint, he said: "Here take some of these and conceal. You cannot die early, you are the
first to know and the first to flee in case of the unexpected happens."
Yuwen Yue laugh a bit on his brother's conversation, and Zuo laughed too, but with restraint, he said: "Here take some of these and conceal. You cannot die early, you are the first to know and the first to flee in case of the unexpected happens."
Yuwen Yue suddenly said: "This is good. You've done a great job both of you that even your own brother you did not recognize." and Yuwen Yue gave a joyful muse with his mouth pouting and full of brightness in his eyes.
"Back to business, let's get going." Yuwen Yue walked and hide in a forest tree.
Some of the cold warriors climbed the trees, some created traps, some were camouflage and everyone on their position. The defense is set, Yuwen Yue taught them they can only use offensive moves because they are cold warriors no one comes close to the target and do not exhaust their weapons as they carry only a handful of arrows.
Each one should have a certain mark and mistakes cannot be forgiven. If they switch to a defensive move, they're done. So stick to the offense and save their pulse in a burnout state.
An attack can only happen if its unavoidable instance or provoked, but the goal is to let them pass without any doubts about their presence and then save their weapons for the next target. This allows their enemy not to detect any them nearby and if the hour has passed, a report will be sent to the ground commander and will surely be deceived, and no grave threats and the perimeter is secured to pass.
Yuwen Yue's crucial moments but he is a cold master with a strong heart, it does not make him shiver, but makes his blood come alive.
After a few minutes, the advance party was in their position but looks like Yuwen Yue and his brothers were all invisible on site. One of the soldiers saw something, and Yuwen Yue deeply inhaled looking cold. The soldier was about to blow their cover when the stick warrior activated their plan B.
The stick warrior went on a drama but Yuwen Yue his eyes went sharp and cold but calm, he set his bow and arrow ready to shoot anytime following the target.
ahhh.. a long moan coming from another spot, the soldiers turned towards a youngster boy on his dirty clothes and looks in pain with his pricked feet. They came to him and asked him: "boy what are you doing here?"
ahh… ehhh… ahhh… and he pointed his finger to the other direction.
The soldiers understood and said: "oh.. a mute boy, seems he was left alone by his playmates." and the soldiers flocked towards him like an attraction and they laughed at him.
Ha… ha… ha…
The boy shook his head, turning left and right, exaggerating his mute expressions: "Ehhhh… Ahhhhh… Eeeee… Aaaa…"
The soldiers were disarmed by his antics and murmured among themselves, "He can't possibly harm our troops. He's mute, and we can't get anything from him. Let's report to the General—everything is clear."
The junior soldier hurried to report to the ground commander and soon learned it was nothing to worry about. "They're safe to walk on the First Mountain Pass. All is well," he relayed.
Despite the good news, Yuwen Yue kept his guard up. He watched as all the soldiers descended to their positions, thousands of footmen marching past the unfinished wall. They were valiant and strong, the sound of trumpets and thunderous drums echoing through the air. Each step they took resonated like a declaration of victory, filling the atmosphere with a discernable sense of determination.
Dressed in dark royal blue military uniforms, the soldiers' shields and blades gleamed silver in the sunlight. Yuwen Yue couldn't help but recall this was the first time he had seen them, and he glanced at their leader in the distance.
A princely figure rode atop a striking white horse, clad in a flowing white robe adorned with a thick gray fur lining over his damask cape. His long black curls framed a face that seemed almost divine, with cold eyes and jade-like skin. He must have come from royal blood, one could only guess.
As Yuwen Yue's band of brothers shifted their gazes between their leader and Yuwen Yue, Zuo Zong playfully winked, while the others blinked in disbelief, murmuring among themselves as they noted the uncanny resemblance. It felt as though they were looking at twin brothers, one standing among them and the other commanding the thousand armies in the distance.
Yuwen Yue, feeling a mix of confusion and irritation, finally broke the silence. "What in the world are you gazing at?"
Zuo answered first, chuckling. "It seems the one who just passed by looks like you, but he's definitely older."
The others nodded in agreement, their expressions amused.
Yuwen Yue caught on to the joke and replied with a grin, "Maybe he's my brother."
Laughter erupted among the group, and Yuwen Yue couldn't help but smile. "The stick warrior saved us all."
Zuo Zong added, "I told you he can act! In the Shaolin temple, he sets the stage for some fun, even in our dying moments." He walked over to the stick warrior and playfully patted his back.
The stick warrior, picking up on the humor, mimicked his earlier antics, and the band of brothers shared a hearty laugh together, the band of brothers lifting their spirits amidst the tension.
Yuwen Yue wore a slight grin, a rare expression for him, as he said, "Very well, everyone. Let's proceed to meet half of our brothers waiting on the other side."
Just as they were about to move, an arrow whizzed through the air and struck the tree where Yuwen Yue had just been hiding. The cold wind brushed against his face, and he quickly signaled for everyone to stay put.
Yuwen Yue braced himself for another attack, but none came. Instead, he caught a glimpse of a woman wearing a thin red mask and a pitch-black dress. She moved so quickly that Yuwen Yue couldn't react in time. Suddenly, a loud thud echoed through the forest.
"Gotcha!" the stick warrior exclaimed, laughing triumphantly.
The woman had been caught in one of their traps; one of her feet was hanging upside down, ensnared in a rope beneath a pine tree.
Yuwen Yue on his guard did not come so close but he was looking at her eyes, but the woman cannot see him as her mask covered her eyes exposing only her lips like a bloody hell looking at Yuwen Yue upside down.
Zuo Zong stepped forward, ready to remove the woman's mask, but Yuwen Yue quickly called out, "Zuo, stop!"
Just then, another woman leaped into view, her movements swift and graceful. With a flick of her sword, she cut the rope binding the masked woman. Yuwen Yue, reacting instinctively, darted forward and grabbed the indigo scarf of the woman with the sword, twisting it around his left arm. In that moment, he caught a glimpse of her eyes.
He pressed a pointed finger against her abdomen, causing her to wince in mild pain, and she dropped her long sword. The woman's face remained concealed by a thin veil, with only her eyes and hanging beads visible, dressed in a flowing white jumpsuit reminiscent of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin.
As Yuwen Yue held her scarf, he inhaled the sweet scent of plum blossoms, evoking familiar feelings of home in the Yuwen household.
Meanwhile, the woman with the red mask fell against Zuo Zong, who had been kicked slightly by the indigo-scarved woman earlier. The rest of the brothers stood anxiously, watching their master and Zuo. Suddenly, Yuwen Yue noticed a cold warrior aiming an arrow at the unsteady masked woman. Without hesitation, he snatched the sword from the ground to counter the threat.
The arrow zipped past Zuo's face just as the red-masked woman sprang into action, catching the arrow mid-flight and aiming it at Zuo. But Zuo was quick, countering her attack with precision. The two women now faced off in a fierce combat of skill.
Zuo's martial arts were undeniably sharp, and Yuwen Yue, along with the others, watched in awe as the two engaged in an impressive display of kungfu. In the heat of the battle, Yuwen Yue and the indigo-scarved woman momentarily forgot their earlier skirmish.
The red-masked woman, unafraid, danced around Zuo, her movements fluid and agile. But then she unleashed her long whip, wrapping it around Zuo's feet and pulling him down. Yuwen Yue quickly caught Zuo, using his sword to slice through the whip.
Unfortunately, the red-masked woman was quick to untangle her whip from Zuo's feet. She seized the other woman, reclaimed her indigo scarf, and vanished in an instant, moving so fast that it was as if they had never been there. Yuwen Yue was left stunned, the sweet scent still lingering in his memory.
The band of brothers stood frozen, unable to comprehend what they had just witnessed.
Suddenly, all their eyes on Yuwen Yue's hand.