The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 55 The East Wind Blows Fiercely, the Setting Sun is Like Blood
The hill on the east side of the palace is not high, only about forty or fifty meters high.

It is estimated that in order to make the palace garden more spacious, a lot of this side of the hill was dug out, forming a steep cliff.

Fortunately, they had also dug a path up the cliff, otherwise it would have been quite a struggle just to climb the small hill.

Tu Chengyu climbed up the dug-out steps to the top of the small hill and stood in the pavilion at the top, looking around.

After looking around for a while, he realized that this place was indeed a good place to defend against enemies.

Just standing in the pavilion offers an extremely wide view.

Looking back, one can see the surrounding environment of the palace gardens; looking up, one can see many places on the back mountain; looking forward, one can see everything at a glance; those with good eyesight can see the situation several miles ahead.

If a sentry is stationed here, it will be difficult for anyone to escape surveillance unless they go around the back of the mountain and climb over from the other side.

After observing the area, Tu Chengyu had a question in his mind: This place is so well-positioned for defense, how could the Imperial Horse Administration have breached it in such a short time? Did the rebels not understand the benefits of setting up sentries here, or is there another unknown path?
Tu Chengyu looked at Su Xuanbao with a puzzled expression and asked the question.

Su Xuanbao said, "Your Highness, when I brought my men here, the rebels were busy fighting amongst themselves, and there were no sentries on the hill."

So that's how it is; even a strong fortress can't prevent internal divisions.

After walking around the small hill, guided by the sentry, Tu Chengyu spotted a group of people hidden in the woods in the distance. However, they were still too far away and the trees obscured their view, so he couldn't determine whether they were friend or foe.

Tu Chengyu said to Su Xuanbao, "You should first arrange manpower and prepare for defense."

Before Su Xuanbao could leave after receiving the order, Quan Wenwei suddenly said, "Your Highness, making only defensive preparations is too passive. Even if the enemy cannot break through here, they can leave at will. In this way, the enemy will attack even more recklessly."

Tu Chengyu asked, "What are your thoughts?"

Quan Wenwei said, "When the enemy arrives and finds the mountain road blocked, their best option is to attack from the eastern slope of the hill. To reach the top, they need to start from the bend ahead. Your Highness, please take a look."

At this point, Quan Wenwei pointed to a high slope behind the bend and said, "That high slope is right behind the bend, echoing this place. If Your Highness sends a troop to hide on the high slope, when the enemy is attacking this hilltop, the ambush troops on the high slope can rush down from behind and attack from both sides, easily defeating the enemy."

Tu Chengyu was still considering the suggestion when Su Xuanbao asked first, "The enemy is about to arrive. If we send people to ambush them on the high ground now, it may be too late."

Quan Wenwei said, "Going up the main road would be too late, but going through the mountain path would not only be timely, but also very discreet."

Su Xuanbao asked, "Is there a path leading to the higher ground?"

Quan Wenwei said, "The strategy of attacking the enemy from the high ground was a countermeasure devised by the rebels, so they would naturally carve out a path leading to the high ground."

Since there is a way to attack the enemy from both sides, we should naturally make use of it.

Su Xuanbao and Tu Chengyu discussed it for a few minutes and decided that there was no problem with the method, so they went to make the arrangements.

After he left, Tu Chengyu stared at Quan Wenwei and said, "Since you knew about this path, why didn't you say so earlier, but waited until we got here?"

Quan Wenwei said, "Your Highness, I did not mean to deceive you. It's just that Your Highness said that there are several times more people coming down from the mountain than we are, so we cannot rashly divide our troops. But just now I saw that they do not have that many troops, so we can divide our troops to defend."

Tu Chengyu didn't care that his lie had been exposed to his face. He said, "Perhaps they made a mistake when they reported it to me. However, I still have to warn you, you'd better not have any other thoughts, or I won't be able to save you."

Although Tu Chengyu gave him another warning with his sophistry, Quan Wenwei was secretly pleased because he understood from Tu Chengyu's words that there was hope for him and his daughter to survive.

At this time, Tu Chengyu's men, apart from those guarding the families of the rebels in the palace, were divided into three groups.

Wu Chun, the steward of the Imperial Horse Stable, led dozens of men to block the road at the foot of a small hill.

Another person led about a hundred men to ambush and block the enemy's retreat on the opposite high slope.

The rest of the people stayed on the hilltop for frontal defense.

Before everything was fully prepared, the troops coming down the mountain were already less than a mile away from the small hill. At this moment, looking down from the small hill, the troops on the opposite side came into full view.

Tu Chengyu hid behind the bushes and roughly counted them; there were about four or five hundred of them, which was about the same number as his own side.

However, their side was well-rested and occupied advantageous terrain for defense, while the enemy had trekked a long way up. If a battle were to ultimately break out, their side should have a greater chance of victory. After accurately counting the number of the opposing force, Tu Chengyu, on Su Xuanbao's advice, made slight adjustments to the manpower deployment.

Just as they finished adjusting, I saw that they had bypassed the main road below the high slope and appeared at the bend in front of the small hill. It had only been about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

The people coming down the mountain, upon reaching the bend, naturally saw that the road ahead was blocked.

They probably didn't understand what was going on either, so the black-armored general at the head raised his hand, signaling everyone behind him to stop and wait for orders.

He stepped forward himself to observe the blocked path and saw that the road was indeed completely blocked, with soldiers guarding the way out faintly visible.

He knew this road was blocked, so he turned back, walked around the foot of the hill, and observed the surrounding environment.

He observed from below, while Tu Chengyu and others observed them from above.

Su Xuanbao asked, "Your Highness, can you tell whether they are reinforcements or enemy troops?"

Tu Chengyu was also confused. He didn't know much about the soldiers of the Imperial Guard, so he couldn't tell whether the person was real or an imposter. So he said, "I can't see clearly yet. Let's take a look first."

Both sides were observing and speculating. After looking around, the black-armored general became impatient. He took a few steps back and hid behind the soldiers, shouting loudly, "Are the guards here the brothers from the Imperial Horse Administration? We are from the Dragon Cavalry Guard, here to protect Prince Su by His Majesty's decree. Please, brothers, do us a favor and let us go to see Prince Su."

This person actually knew that the person here was Prince Su, and even knew that Prince Su had sent someone to request the emperor to send troops to support him. Could they really be reinforcements sent by the emperor?
Although they provided the correct information, Tu Chengyu was still somewhat uneasy. Besides, the manpower had already been deployed, so it wouldn't hurt to test the waters.

Tu Chengyu said to Su Xuanbao, "Go and find out his background, just as I told you."

Upon hearing this, Su Xuanbao stood up and hid behind a tree, saying, "We are from the Imperial Horse Administration. Which branch of the Dragon Cavalry Guard are the brothers below from?"

The black-armored general below paused for a moment upon hearing this before replying, "We are under the command of the Dragon Soaring Left Guard."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu thought for a moment and said to the people around him, "Pass down the order to have the archers prepare."

The archers, who had been waiting for orders, drew their bows and arrows one by one upon hearing the command, searching for their targets among the trees.

After arranging the archers, Tu Chengyu nodded to Su Xuanbao, instructing him to continue probing.

Upon receiving the order, Su Xuanbao continued, "Since we are all brothers of the Dragon Guard, and we all come from the Imperial Camp, we are practically family. I'll be frank: Prince Su is a bit tired from his journey today and is resting right now, so it's not appropriate to disturb him. I would like to trouble this general of the Dragon Guard to have his soldiers rest here, and you bring two men with you. I will take you to the rear palace garden to wait. When Prince Su wakes up, you can ask him for instructions in person."

The black-armored general replied, "It is my honor to meet Prince Su in person. However, I have an imperial edict issued by His Majesty the Emperor. I cannot meet with the Prince privately before the edict is read aloud. I request that this brother from the Imperial Stables go and inform Prince Su, and ask him to order the road to be opened so that we can pass through to deliver the edict."

This reason is quite valid. Since he was carrying the imperial edict and represented the emperor, he naturally could not meet with the emperor privately before the edict was announced.

However, this person may not understand the relationship between the emperor and his son Tu Chengyu. Unless it is a particularly important occasion or matter, the emperor will not issue an imperial edict to Tu Chengyu.

Now, all it would take is simply sending reinforcements or a eunuch to deliver a verbal order or a note. Why go through all this trouble to issue an imperial edict?

Besides the imperial edict, there was another point in the words of the black-armored general that made Tu Chengyu suspicious.

That means that the Left Guard of the Dragon Guard did not leave the city today; the only person accompanying the emperor was a small squad of the Right Guard of the Dragon Guard.

People below the mountain might not know that when the emperor travels, not all the soldiers of the imperial guard have to be mobilized.

Whenever the emperor went out, no one knew in advance which imperial guards would be protecting him. Only before the trip, according to the emperor's decree, would a few troops be temporarily selected as the main protectors, while the other guards would only send a small team to carry their own guard's flag to bolster the emperor's presence.

Clearly, the black-armored general was unaware of this confidential information. He probably just saw the banner of the Dragon Guard among the emperor's guards and assumed that he was impersonating a member of the Dragon Guard.

Now, Tu Chengyu was certain that the people below were not sent by the emperor.

Now that we've distinguished friend from foe, it's time for battle.

Tu Chengyu looked up at the setting sun and the clouds, which were painted blood-red by the sunset, and gave the order to attack.

In an instant, Tu Chengyu heard the sound of arrows piercing the sky for the second time, followed by the panicked roars of the enemy.

(End of this chapter)