Nightfall

The flames of war spread all over the Tang Empire since the war started.

The Northern Frontier had suffered the most. The cavalries of the Golden Palace heading south from the Wilderness kept fighting with the Northern Army there, and all the pastures and fortified buildings were soaked in blood.

The most miserable one was the Eastern Border. The Northeast Border Military of Tang was ambushed by the Yan Army and the Eastern Wilderness Cavalries in Chengjing City. The overwhelming Tang Army had made the enemy pay a heavy price for it, but they did not have any soldiers that could serve after the war. Since then the border line of the Empire had been broken, and the invading hooves started stepping on the rich land ever since.

The most dangerous one was the Southern Frontier, since Qinghe County had betrayed the Empire and General Xu Shi died in the war. The Southern Army came from thousand kilometers away to the rescue, but it was already too late. All the Academy disciples were badly injured since each of them had to face nearly 100 enemies in the war. The main force of the West-Hill Palace would break in the Verdant Canyon at anytime and enter the central area.

It was fortunate that the core and most wealthy Wei and Sishui river basin was temporarily safe. The royal court of the Empire was famous for high efficiency, so it had started preparing for the worst days ago. Food stored in all counties was sent to Chang’an City, and residents of the city were evacuated. The residents living in the suburbs had drawn back into the city.

While the evacuation was carried out in order, the evacuated people were not that miserable. But they were refugees in a war after all and they would definitely suffer.

More than a hundred thousand refugees flowed into Chang’an. Some of them went to their friends’ or relative’s, others had been arranged to board in local residents’ houses.

Haichuan of Tianbao County was close to Chang’an City. The young man, his mother and sister were all from Haichuan, but they had no relatives or friends in the city, so they were arranged to stay with a family in the Sanyuanli block. The house sat near the Vermilion Bird Avenue and most of the residents had spare rooms; the arrangement was supposed to be appropriate.

The young man had been living in the house for days. They were provided two hot meals every day, and though they lived in the woodshed, the host of the family had given them some bedding. Nevertheless, they were living under other people’s roof and there was much inconvenience. It was understandable that they missed the hot bed, pickles and juicy meat at home.

That was an arrangement made by the imperial court, and the government had promised that all expenses would be replenished later. The local family had no complaints at this moment, but still, they felt inconvenienced with three refugees in their house all of a sudden, especially the young city man.

The countryside boy had long been displeased with the attitude of the city boy, and he thought to himself that if it hadn’t been for the food saved by the countryside man to feed him, he would have already starved.

The woman understood her son quite well, but she still tried to comfort him. Food, shelter, and protection from those barbarians was all she needed, and she expected nothing else.

The country boy had been persuaded, but after the unexpected snow last night, the city turned unbearably cold. He went to the front yard for some hot water, but the young man gave him one pot and refused to give him more.

He was going to get on the guy’s back but the guy now broke into the woodshed by himself.

“Zhang III! What are you doing?”

The country boy looked at the guy with the two knives and he turned a little nervous. He moved backwards for a bit and reached out for the stool beside the brazier in case the city boy had bad intentions. And he thought to himself that should the guy have any bad intentions to insult him, he would fight him with his life on the line.

The stool was brought by him from his hometown, Haichuan. The heavy and tough stool was made from solid hardwood and was painted with varnish. When he was a little kid he was always mocked by others for having “a lot of fathers”, and he had fought three of those kids with the stool and broken their heads, which proved that the stool could be quite useful.

The family name of the city child who broke into the woodshed with two knives was indeed Zhang, but of course, his name was not “Zhang III”, which literally meant Zhang the Third. His real name was Zhang Nianzu, and he was not the third kid of the Zhang’s.

“Li IV, I’ve got things for you.” Zhang III looked at the country boy and said.

The name of the country boy was Li Guangdi, not Li IV which literally means Li the Fourth. They were calling each other by those two names to continue mocking and arguing with each other.

Li Guangdi looked warily at the knives held in Zhang Nianzu’s hand, but moments later, he found that it was not how he expected it to be because Zhang Nianzu’s hands were shaking and his face was pale.

Li Guangdi once looked down upon the city boy and thought he was cowardly and useless, but several fights later, he knew Zhang Nianzu was nothing like that. He wouldn’t turn pale so easily even if he had killed or tried to scare somebody.

It was obvious that he was truly scared.

Zhang Nianzu looked at Li Guangdi and said, “I saw a monster.”

He looked pale and his kitchen knife and chopper were shaking in his hands, making a rattling sound.

Zhang Nianzu swallowed hard and looked at Li Guangdi, then continued, “My family members are all scared, and nobody would dare to go there and fight the monster, but I want to try.”

Li Guangdi was a little confused and asked, “What monster?”

Zhang Nianzu said, “A guy in black clothes, with only two fingers on his left hand, but each step of his would cover half of a street, and he brought in storms and snow. He looks like a monster in every way.”

Li Guangdi knew what he meant immediately upon hearing those words, and his facial expression turned ugly.

The guy from the Chang’an Local Government, Village Heads and members from Fish-dragon Gang had been sending warnings to all families on the streets since days ago. He had been staying in the woodshed with his mother and sister these days, but he knew what had happened outside.

The morning snow fell and there was no kitchen smoke. Chang’an City seemed empty today, but actually, all the residents were nervously waiting for the outcome of the war inside the houses.

Li Guangdi woke up early. He stood in the storm and snow in the backyard and saw the scene that he had only heard about in stories and legends before. He saw the sky tearing apart, and thunder falling from heaven; he saw the winter rain fall down, and the burning clouds, too.

He was scared, so he stopped looking. He turned to complain about the hot water issue to his mother, and tried to overcome his inner fear with his resentment against the boy in the front yard.

He was still young but he was after all one of the Tangs and he found such fear a disgrace.

Li Guangdi didn’t expect Zhang Nianzu to be so bold to peep at the fight on the street. And when he thought about his fear previously, he felt his face burning hot.

“What are you telling me that for?”

To cover his shame inside, he stared at Zhang Nianzu and asked angrily.

Zhang Nianzu hated his Haichuan accent, but considering what he was going to do, he tried not to laugh at it and kept swallowing hard out of fear and nervousness.

“The monster in black clothes was terrifying, and it seemed like the man from the Academy failed to bring him down.”

He said, “I was going there but those old men in the front yard were too cowardly to follow me, and they didn’t let me go, either. So I guess you’re at least a bold man and I am asking if you want to go there with me.”

Li Guangdi asked, “Go there for what?”

“To help.” Said Zhang Nianzu.

Li Guangdi asked, “How?”

Zhang Nianzu raised two knives in his hands and said, “The chopper or the kitchen knife, you can pick first.”