Chapter 6: Did you kill them all by yourself?

Lin Chuan stood up, his hand resting on the long blade at his waist.

"What do you mean by that, Officer?"

"What do I mean?" The man with the bulbous, ruddy nose sneered, swinging down from his horse. "The Imperial Court has decreed that any report of enemy activity must be handled by the garrison troops first. You killed these bandits without reporting it—what is that if not an attempt to steal military merit for yourselves?"

Wang Tie-zhu stepped forward. "Bullshit! By the time you lot arrived, they would have slaughtered the whole village!"

"You brat, you dare insult an officer?" The garrison soldiers behind the man drew their swords. "Do you want me to cut out your tongue?"

"You..." As Wang Tie-zhu prepared to retort, Lin Chuan grabbed him to hold him back.

"Please understand, Officer!" Lin Chuan cupped his hands in a salute. "We did not kill mere bandits, but Tatars. Surely, this is a matter for the Border Army?"

"The Border Army?" The man with the bulbous nose snorted. "Spare me your nonsense. I only recognize the rules of the garrison..."

"That’s a bold claim!" A sharp shout cut through the air from the village entrance.

Everyone turned to look. Dozens of cavalrymen clad in the standard leather armor of the Border Army came galloping toward them. At the lead was a massive warhorse, its rider wearing a helmet fashioned like an iron wolf’s head. The officer on its back was draped in chainmail, the bronze plaque at his waist glinting coldly in the setting sun. He pulled hard on the reins and sneered, "Why don't you explain these 'garrison rules' to me?"

The man with the bulbous nose felt his Adam's apple bob violently. The color drained from his face, and he forced a smile that looked worse than a grimace. "General, there has been a misunderstanding. We were just here to..."

Before he could finish, the sound of a whip cracking like thunder exploded in the air. A lash whistled through the wind and struck the man squarely across the face. With a shriek, he was sent tumbling to the ground like a broken kite, half his face a bloody mess.

"You blind dog!" A scarred Centurion roared, pointing his whip at the man. "You stand before a General—kneel!"

A sudden, sweeping sound filled the air as everyone fell to their knees. The garrison soldiers and the villagers alike pressed their foreheads hard against the dirt, not daring to draw a full breath. The man with the bulbous nose trembled like a leaf in the wind, ignoring his bloodied face as he kowtowed frantically in the mud. "General, have mercy! This lowly one was blind!"

Lin Chuan felt a jolt in his heart. He had thought that by killing the Tatars, he might have enough leverage to deal with the garrison soldiers. He had not realized that in the face of true power, he and the villagers were nothing more than meat on a chopping block.

The General’s thunderous display was intended to intimidate the garrison, but was it not also a warning to commoners like them? A burning, bloody resolve surged in his chest. He looked down at the blood-stained blade in his hand, which reflected the General’s imposing silhouette. This was a world where the strong reigned supreme. If he wanted to protect Yun-niang and change his fate, he had to be like the General—wielding power and command over life and death.

The General’s gaze fell upon the corpses on the ground, his pupils contracting. "Who killed these Tatars?"

Lin Chuan straightened his back and cupped his hands. "Reporting to you, my Lord: twelve villagers of Willow Village killed six Tatars!"

"You killed them? Get up and speak..." The General flipped up his visor, revealing a weathered face. "What were your casualties?"

"Reporting to you, my Lord," Lin Chuan stood up. "We suffered no losses."

"What?!" The General’s voice rose sharply. A stir of commotion rippled through the cavalry. "What is your name?" the General asked. "Are you registered in the military?"

"I am Lin Chuan. I am to report for recruitment at Ironwood Fortress tomorrow."

"Recruitment at Ironwood Fortress?" The General paused. "Who recruited you?"

"Reporting to you, my Lord, it was Corporal Hu!" Lin Chuan replied, bowing. "Corporal Hu knew I was literate, so he let me..."

"Hu 'Big-Head's' recruit?" The General let out a short, cynical laugh, eyeing Lin Chuan anew, his gaze lingering on the blood-stained clothes and the long blade in his hand. "You killed six from the Black Wolf Tribe, and you remained unscathed?"

"Reporting to you, my Lord, it is true," Lin Chuan replied, neither servile nor defiant. He did not know what the Black Wolf Tribe was, but judging by the General’s tone, they seemed to be an elite Tatar unit.

"Boy, reporting false battle results is a capital offense!" The General gestured to the corpses. "Six Black Wolf scouts—by a bunch of mud-caked peasants like you?"

Lin Chuan looked the General straight in the eye. "My Lord may inspect the wounds on the corpses."

He pointed to the first body. "This one was stabbed in the horse's belly with a bamboo pole; he was dispatched after falling."

He pointed to the second. "This one had his eyes blinded by yellow dust, fell from his horse, and was dispatched."

Finally, he pointed to the corpse with the tattoo behind its ear. "As for this one... I jumped from a rooftop and cut him down with one stroke."

A glimmer of surprise flashed in the General’s eyes. "Give me the details!"

"Reporting to you, my Lord..." Lin Chuan’s voice remained steady as he recounted the battle. "We lured the Tatar cavalry into the village, then harassed them in groups of three within the alleys." He picked up a dry branch and drew neat marks in the soil. "These are the village lanes." As he spoke, he drew, pressing the branch firmly at a corner. "We specifically chose to strike at these corners."

"Why?" the General asked.

"A Tatar’s bow is deadly on open ground," Lin Chuan explained. "But once they enter these winding alleys, their bows become useless."

"So... you lured them in, created chaos, and took the opportunity to kill them?"

"Exactly so."

"A fine tactic!" the General praised. "Have you studied military strategy?"

Lin Chuan blinked, then shook his head. He had indeed never studied the military classics of this era. As a special operations elite from another world, those ancient tactics had long since become instinct, deep in his bones.

"You haven't read the classics, yet you devised such a way to defeat the strong with the weak? Interesting..." The General looked around at the dozen or so peasants, who looked both timid and exhilarated, and suddenly laughed. "Come, which of you killed these six Tatars? Step forward and let me have a look!"

The villagers looked at one another, their gazes converging on Lin Chuan. Zhang Xiao-nian raised his hand and pointed timidly at Lin Chuan.

"What? Surely not..." The General’s expression shifted as he looked at Lin Chuan. "You killed them all by yourself?"

Lin Chuan smiled and bowed. "It was only with everyone’s help that I was able to slay the Tatars!"

As the words left his lips, the entire cavalry unit fell into an eerie silence.

"Six Black Wolf scouts..." The General’s gaze turned fierce. "All killed by you alone? Pang Da-biao!"

"Here!" The scarred Centurion swung down from his horse. He walked to the corpses, crouched down, and began to inspect them carefully. When he reached the third body, he pushed aside the hair to reveal the skin behind the ear. A crescent moon tattoo came into view, and Pang Da-biao’s eyebrows shot up. He patted the Tatar’s leather armor, as if searching for something.

"Officer, are you looking for this?" Lin Chuan pulled the bronze token from his tunic.

Pang Da-biao stood up, took the token, and examined it. A look of shock flashed across his eyes. "This is... the token of a Black Wolf Tribe Centurion!"