Chapter 37

They galloped for most of the night, and arrived atthe Manchu camp at dawn. The envoy ushered PrincessFragrance and Chen into a tent to rest then went offalone to see General Zhao Wei. As he bowed before thegeneral, he noticed a military official seated besidehim wearing the uniform of a Deputy Commander of theImperial Bodyguard.

　　"My report, General," he said. "I delivered theultimatum and their reply was perverse. They refuse tosurrender and have sent someone to present you withtheir answer."Zhao Wei grunted. "These people are truly ignorantunto death," he said, and turned to one of hisattendants. "Prepare for an audience," he ordered.

　　Horns blew and drums rolled and all the seniorofficers of the army gathered in the great tent. Thenthree hundred armoured troops formed two lines outsideand the Muslim envoy was summoned.

　　Princess Fragrance walked fearlessly in ahead of Chen.

　　The officers recognized them instantly as the two theyhad seen the day before crossing their lines, and allfelt surprised. Zhao Wei had planned to overawe theenvoy with a show of military might, and was takenaback for a moment when a beautiful girl appeared.

　　Princess Fragrance bowed before the general, then tookout her father's note and offered it to him with bothhands.

　　One of Zhao Wei's bodyguards moved forward to acceptthe letter. As he neared her, he was overwhelmed byher sweet fragrance and lowered his head, not daringto look at her directly. His eyes lighted on herflawless white hands, and he stood stock still,completely flustered.

　　"Bring the letter here!" Zhao Wei shouted.

　　The bodyguard started in fright, then stumbled andalmost fell. The Princess placed the letter in hishands and smiled at him. The bodyguard gazed at her,oblivious of all else. Only after Princess pointed atZhao Wei and gave him a slight push, did he go andplace the letter on the table in front of the general.

　　Zhao Wei was furious at the sight of his bodyguard sospell-bound. "Take him out and behead him!" he roared.

　　Several soldiers ran forward and dragged the bodyguardoutside the tent, and a moment later, a bloody headwas brought in on a plate and presented to thegeneral.

　　"Put it on public display!" Zhao Wei ordered, and thesoldiers began to retire. But the Princess washeart-broken at the sight of such cruelty and at thethought that the bodyguard had died because of her.

　　She took the plate from the soldiers and gazed at thehead, tears falling one after another down her cheeksonto the floor.

　　The officers in the tent were by now completelycarried away by the sight of her, and any one of themwould have willingly died for her. "If she criedbefore my head, would not death be welcome?" theythought. Suddenly, the soldier who had performed theexecution, greatly distressed at the sight of hercrying, shouted: "I did wrong to kill him. Don't cry!"He slashed his sword across his own neck and fell tothe ground, dead.

　　Princess Fragrance became even more upset. Chen wasuneasy about the situation: an envoy should not cry insuch a fashion, and he leaned forward to comfort her.

　　Zhao Wei was a man of great cruelty and brutality, buteven his heart softened at the sight of her tears.

　　"Bury these two properly," he said to his attendants.

　　He opened the letter and read it with a grunt.

　　"Right," he said. "We fight tomorrow. You may leave.""General," the officer sitting next to him suddenlyinterrupted. "I think this girl may be the one theEmperor wants."Chen's attention had been directed entirely atPrincess Fragrance, but hearing the officer speak, helooked up and saw it was Zhang Zhaozhong. At the sameinstant Zhang also recognised Chen, despite his Muslimdisguise.

　　They stared at each other, amazed at finding the otherin such a place.

　　"Well, Great Helmsman," Zhang said, and laughedcoldly. "Fancy meeting you here."Chen grabbed Princess Fragrance's hand and turned toleave, but as he did so, Zhang bounded over and struckout at him with all his might. Chen picked thePrincess up in his left hand, deflected Zhang's blowwith his right and charged out of the tent with Zhangclose on his heels. None of the other officers orsoldiers intervened to stop Chen. All were dazzled bythe Princess, and considered this Imperial Guardsmanwas interfering in matters that should not concernhim.

　　Chen ran for their horses, and as Zhang closed in, hethrew six chess pieces at him. "I'll keep him busy,"he shouted to Princess Fragrance. "You escape on thehorse!""No, I'll wait for you to beat him."Chen had no time to explain, and dumped her on thesaddle of the chestnut horse as Zhang dodged theprojectiles and attacked again. Not daring to face himhead on, Chen crouched down underneath the white horseand punched it in the belly. The horse kicked out withits back legs in fright, straight at Zhang, who justmanaged to jump clear.

　　"Go!" shouted Chen as Zhang grabbed for PrincessFragrance, and her horse leapt forward just in time.

　　Chen knew he was no match for Zhang on equal terms, sohe drew his dagger and thrust out with it. Zhangcaught his wrist and the two fell to the ground,rolling together, neither daring to let go of theother.

　　The officers crowded out of the tent to watch, and theFour Tigers, who had great respect for Chen and wereannoyed at the way he was being treated, ran over tohelp him.

　　Chen's strength was fading as he grappled with Zhang,and when he saw the four giants running over hethought: "Oh no, this is it." But instead of attackinghim, the four grabbed Zhang and pinned him to theground, shouting: "Get away!" All Zhang's skill wasnot enough to counter the immense strength of the FourTigers, and Chen leapt to his feet, mounted the whitehorse and galloped off after Princess Fragrance. Zhangstared after them helplessly as they disappeared intothe distance.

　　The two horses raced like the wind and were soonbeyond the army's furthest guard posts. Chen's fightwith Zhang had been short but extremely intense, andafter riding on for a while, he gradually felt hiscontrol slipping. Princess Fragrance saw he was indifficulty, and noticed his wrist was covered in blackand purple stripes.

　　"They won't be able to catch us now," she said. "Let'sdismount and rest for a while." Chen fell off hishorse, and lay on the ground, shuddering and gasping.

　　The Princess pulled a container of sheep's milk fromher leather satchel and rubbed some onto his wrist.

　　Chen gradually recovered, but just as they weregetting ready to start out again, they heard the soundof galloping hooves and saw several dozen soldiersriding after them. They leapt onto their horseswithout bothering to pick up their belongings andsprang forward. A moment later, Chen noticed a dustcloud rising in front, and cursing their bad luck,galloped on ahead of the Princess. As they rodecloser, he saw that there were only seven or eightriders in the group ahead, and his anxiety eased. Hereined in his horse and took out his Pearl Strings toprepare for the riders as they closed in.

　　Suddenly, one of the riders shouted: "Great Helmsman,how are you?" Chen looked through the dust and saw itwas a hunchback.

　　"Tenth Brother!" he yelled, overjoyed. "Come here,quick!" As he spoke, the first arrow from the pursuingManchu troops flew towards them.

　　"Enemy soldiers are chasing us," Chen shouted. "Holdthem off for a while!""Excellent!" Zhang Jin exclaimed. 'Leopard' Weigalloped up as well and the two charged at the Manchuhorsemen. As Chen watched in surprise, Wen, Luo Bing,Xu, Zhou Qi, and Yu Yutong galloped passed him withcries of greeting on their way to engage the Manchutroops. Xin Yan raced up behind, leapt off his horseand kowtowed before Chen.

　　"I have arrived, master," he announced, standing up.

　　Wen and the others quickly killed or dispersed theManchu troops, but in the distance they could see amuch larger force heading towards them. They rode backto Chen.

　　"Which way shall we go?" Wen asked.

　　Chen looked at the size of the pursuing enemy forceand decided it would be best to try and lead them awayfrom the main Muslim army to the west.

　　"South," he said, pointing with his hand. The otherscomplied automatically. They were all riding goodhorses, and slowly drew away from their pursuers asthey galloped across the featureless desert stretchingout about them. Chen wondered why General Zhao Weiwould send such a huge force after the two of them,and suddenly recalled Zhang Zhaozhong's remark: "Ithink this girl is the one the Emperor wants." As heconsidered the significance of this, he noticedanother column of soldiers riding round to head themoff from the south. The heroes reined in their horses,uncertain of what to do.

　　"We must make some sort of cover quickly, and waituntil dark to escape," said Xu.

　　"Yes," Chen agreed. "Travelling across the desert indaylight is impossible." They dismounted and usedtheir weapons and bare hands to dig a large hole inthe sand.

　　"You go in first, sister," Luo Bing said to PrincessFragrance. But not understanding Chinese, she simplysmiled back and made no move.

　　The Manchu troops gradually closed in upon them, andLuo Bing grabbed Princess Fragrance and jumped intothe hole with the rest close behind. Wen and the otherheroes had brought bows and arrows with them and theyquickly fired off a volley of arrows, downing a dozenor so soldiers. As one column of Manchu troopsgalloped up to the mouth of the hole, Wen shot anarrow at the commander which hit him in the chest,passed right through him and flew on for several dozenyards further before falling to the ground. The othersoldiers were so frightened by this demonstration ofpower that they turned and fled.

　　The first attack had been beaten back, but lookinground them, the heroes saw they were completelysurrounded.

　　"This hole is deep enough, but we should start makingit bigger," Xu said. Seven or eight feet below theloose sand was firm earth, and Chen and the others dugaway at the sides, piling the sand up on top as adefensive wall.

　　Zhang Jin pointed to the dead Manchu soldiers lyingjust beyond the hole. "Let's go and collect theirweapons," he suggested to Xin Yan. The two leapt outof the hole and collected seven or eight bows and alarge batch of arrows from around the corpses.

　　Only now did Chen have a chance to introduce PrincessFragrance to the heroes. When they heard that she wasHuo Qingtong's sister, they all welcomed her, but thelanguage barrier made it impossible for them to talkto her. Chen rested for a while, and gradually hisstrength returned. He ordered the other heroes to keepa close watch on the Manchu forces and told them theywould try to break out after nightfall.