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Spring nights always seemed so interminably long. Even the moon, as if coveting a warm bed, vanished early into the night, leaving behind darkness and desolate cold.
In the southern outskirts of Yong'an County town, a group of men lay quietly in ambush on both sides of the road.
"Commandant, it's already the second mark of the Yin hour." A soldier hunched over, approached, and whispered to Zhang Lie.
Zhang Lie rubbed his hands together, then covered his face with his slightly warmed hands, vigorously massaging his face, somewhat numbed by the night dew. He said, "Pass the order: have everyone perk up, move their limbs, don't mess things up later!"
The soldier quietly hunched over and went to relay the order.
Zhang Lie tightly pursed his lips, widened his eyes, holding in his breath, straining to see everything around him. But he found everything still misty, unclear. Even the messenger who had just walked away was already a blur…
Zhang Lie waved his hand before his eyes a few times, could only see a fuzzy shadow. Only when he brought his hand very close to his face could he clearly see his fingers.
"Damn it all!"
Zhang Lie cursed under his breath.
If not for this Commander Fei planning a night raid on Yong'an, he'd probably still think everyone was the same at night, unable to see clearly…
Turns out he damn well had a condition!
Luckily, Commander Fei said eating pig's internal organs could improve it.
But damn, the taste of that pig… The meat was rank and foul, and the internal organs were even worse…
But if it could cure it, he'd eat it no matter what!
Zhang Lie decided: from now on, no more beef or mutton. He'd switch to pig innards! Otherwise, next time in battle, he'd have to wait for dawn again. How agonizing that would be!
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Fei Qian hadn't actually explained fully. Night blindness could be improved by eating animal livers—cattle, sheep, or pigs, even fish liver seemed effective. But…
Intentionally telling Zhang Lie only pig innards were effective also had some of Fei Qian's personal considerations.
Cattle: most cattle on the grasslands didn't have nose rings, so the Hu people didn't know how to use cattle for plowing. Therefore, if cattle were traded, generally it was more valuable to equip them with nose rings and tame them into plow oxen. Of course, cattle from Hu regions were wilder; even with nose rings, their wildness had to be slowly tamed. Otherwise, going berserk not only prevented plowing but often tore the nose bloody.
Sheep were fine. Now in Bingzhou, he found Hu-raised flocks mixed goats and sheep. Sheep were okay, but goats—these things were very destructive to pastures, due to their nature. In his later life, Fei Qian vaguely remembered a forum post saying Japanese people, to avoid damaging their own pastures, specifically had a certain goat breed raised by local Inner Mongolian governments, which ended up destroying large grasslands. The money earned from raising goats wasn't enough to subsidize reseeding…
Therefore, sheep needed moderation. Instead, pigs—just fence an area, they were super omnivorous, ate anything, basically not picky. So they were more suitable for large-scale farming.
Of course, if pig innards were known to treat night blindness, their value would rise, more people would be willing to eat them, naturally more people would raise them.
Plus, adding castration technique to the tech tree…
Hmm.
Big chunks of Dongpo pork…
For this night raid on Yong'an, Fei Qian wasn't very nervous. Many of the commandery troops he brought had night blindness. As for these White Wave soldiers, probably nine out of ten were blind at night.
As long as the operation was proper, there shouldn't be major issues.
Huang Cheng had already taken men ahead. Fei Qian himself led a group to ambush west of Yong'an City, waiting.
The Yin hour was the coldest time of night, also when people were sleepiest—the best time for night raids. Moreover, in another hour, though the sun wouldn't rise that early, the sky would brighten, also suitable for his troops to clean up the battlefield, clear out Yong'an's White Wave army…
Speaking of which, always having this kid Huang Cheng scale walls—maybe form a small special forces unit?
Of course, these special forces wouldn't be soldiers who could sweep through thousands alone. But scaling walls, climbing widow's walls… ahem, climbing city walls seemed good too…
But he hadn't thought of it earlier. Otherwise, could've had Huang Dou forge a few iron claws earlier, wouldn't have to…
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Huang Cheng had already led a group to Yong'an's city wall, sticking close to avoid the gate tower, hiding in a corner. Yong'an's city wall was like most county town walls: crenellations and battlements all present, over two zhang high. Above the gate was a small gate tower.
Perhaps due to the White Wave's Yellow Turban bandit nature, or perhaps not expecting anyone to bypass the southern army, this group of White Wave in Yong'an City wasn't very alert. On the wall were just scattered individuals, hugging spears, dozing in the sheltered corner of the gate tower.
The torches that should have provided illumination had long gone out unnoticed, no one relighting them. The wall was dark, only the night wind whistling past…
Huang Cheng tilted his head, listened quietly, hearing no unusual sounds. He waved a hand backward. A soldier behind handed over a wall-climbing hook made from a forked branch and a wooden handle, strangely shaped like a bent wooden hand.
Huang Cheng took it, hefted it twice, thinking: Lord Fei called this thing a "Flying Tiger Claw." Interesting. If I climb the wall with this claw, then I'm the flying tiger, right?
Hehe…
But it's a bit too large. Sigh, if only smaller. This big, still requires some strength to throw up.
Thinking aside, Huang Cheng didn't hesitate. He stepped back a few paces, swung the large Flying Tiger Claw, aimed, and released. A large dark shadow arced through the air. The large claw landed on Yong'an's city wall with a dull thump…
Huang Cheng ducked his head, grimaced. Damn it!
Used too much force, threw a bit high, sound was loud!
The White Wave soldiers dozing by the gate tower on the wall were startled awake, jumping up. "What… what was that sound?!"