Undercover - In China - Book 7

Part 64 - Cho Cho retreats

We joined a stream of soldiers fighting their way out of the camp through an uproar of drumming and showers of arrows. Miguel pointed out that the archers were returning Cho Cho's arrows. 

 The retreat became more organized as groups of Cho Cho's cavalry joined us but we didn't catch up with Cho Cho until he stopped in a forest clearing. The noise of battle had faded but the glow of the fires had turned the low scudding clouds crimson. Somewhere in the chaos, two of our horses had got loose. Denny, Chen Ling, Miguel and Dr Zhang were missing.

It was raining hard when Cho Cho ordered a halt. Many of his men were wounded and everyone was cold, tired and hungry so he sent men to seize food from a nearby village. Wang Bang left Licia and me with several guards and went foraging. I slid off the horse groaning with pain. My hips felt like they had been dislocated. 

 We sat under the dubious shelter of the trees rubbing our bruises and shared the food we had pilfered from Cho Cho's birthday party. We discussed escaping but our guards never took their eyes off us. 

 The foraging parties returned after a few hours with fire and food looted from the local villagers. Wang Bang appeared with a stolen farm cart loaded with sacks of rice and pulled by a tiny horse. We were soon warming ourselves at one of the cooking fires. With full stomachs and aching muscles, we resumed the journey squashed together under the canopy of the farm cart with the rice bags and several wounded men. Our horses had been commandeered by dismounted cavalry. 

I wasn't sorry to be rid of the horse, my sore butt told me it had to be the most uncomfortable mode of transport ever invented. We trailed far behind and, by the time we caught up with Cho Cho again, the rain had stopped. The soldiers had taken off their armour, to bandage wounds and dry their clothes, and they were warming themselves around fires and cooking bits of dead horses. The surviving horses were wandering around grazing. 

 Cho Cho was sitting on a log drinking wine and laughing. Licia translated. 'He may have lost this battle, but he plans to regroup at Jiangling and counterattack. He is laughing at Kongming and Zhou Yu, for their inadequate military understanding. He would have set an ambush right here. This is an ideal spot.'

He had not finished his wine before we heard shouted commands. The road ahead was blocked by cavalry and their commander levelled his double snake-headed spear and roared at Cho Cho in a terrible and unmistakable voice, 'I AM ZHANG FEI OF YAN. WHERE ARE YOU GOING, TRAITOR?'

A solitary commander mounted his horse bareback and bravely rode forward to fight Zhang Fei. Others joined him while Cho Cho desperately tried to put on his armour. Most of the horsemen were jammed together in close fighting when he jumped onto his horse and broke through a gap opened up by his body-guards. He galloped away; his long hair streamed in the wind. Our guards tossed Licia and me on to the back of our cart which was suddenly surrounded by rearing horses and desperate men running in every direction. Wang Bang tried to lead the terrified little horse through the melee as several arrows thudded into the side of the cart. Zhang Fei crashed through a group of foot soldiers more concerned with getting out of his way than defending themselves. They scattered in all directions, dropping their spears so that they could run faster. Wang Bang ran faster than anyone else.

'Zhang Fei,' I yelled. 'Over here. Xia-Dian of Jan-ada.' Zhang Fei jerked his horse around and roared. Licia translated. 'XIA-DIAN. WHERE UNDER HEAVEN IS JAN-ADA?' He chased away a group of archers collecting spent arrows and rode back. One of his men shouted a warning and Zhang Fei looked up as Cho Cho's rearguard thundered toward us. He bellowed at us and pointed his spear. 

 Licia said, 'He told us to wait over there. He'll be back.' Licia and I dodged several soldiers, but I tripped over the shaft of an abandoned cart and twisted my ankle. I rolled under the cart to avoided being run-down by the cavalry and I waited for the pain to subside. For a time, I was trapped in the middle of a mass of sweating horses, cursing men and clashing metal and then, suddenly, it was silent. Everyone had disappeared and it was so quiet I could hear birds chirping in the trees. Apart from a few wounded soldiers and a litter of abandoned equipment the place seemed deserted. It didn't seem quite real.