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本帖最後由 kumar 於 2012-4-25 12:13 編輯
原文：
The Death of Commander Liang Hong Yu (Red Jade)
By Hitomi Satomi
(1)
From the crest of the hill, Red Jade scanned the town below.
It was a typical provincial town: collections of mud houses cluttered together with dusty paths intertwining in between. She could make out the more impressive local magistrate with its blue roof-tiles and the pair of lonely stone lions that stood guard at its doors. The whole place was being awashed with dust blown in from the northern part of the great plain. It was the month of July according to the lunar calendar and the heat was becoming insufferable. She could see the site of a well where she and her followers would be able to quench their thirst and water their tired horses. After-all, they had been riding almost non-stop for two days after burning down the camp of the Jin garrison on an upper part of the great river. It was an impressive raid by all accounts. Twenty-five riders, and all of the young women, had totally obliterated a force at least twenty times their number in a surprise night attack. If this was achieved by a male commander of the Song regular army, it would be written into the war annuals as a GREAT victory and the emperor would shower praises and gold on the troops.
She had no need of the gold or the glory.
Six years ago, at the Battle of Huang Tian-dang, she had gained her immortal fame by assisting her husband, the Field-Marshal Han Shi-zhong in defeating the biggest invading force even that dared ventured into the southern side of the Yangtze River. Dressed in full armor but allowing her raven black long hair to blow in the wind, she had stood at the head of a war-galleon amid flights of arrows and drummed up the spirit of her husband puny force and gave the Jin forces a stunning defeat. Overnight, the story of the most famous drummer girl in Chinese history became a legend.
Even the emperor was impressed and bestowed her an official title, rare for female warriors who were more often than not viewed with distrust from the court crowded by Confucius-traditioned scholars.
Her husband was so proud of her then. It was the crowning moment of her life.
But that was six years ago.
She was now twenty-five, still breath-takingly beautiful. But her husband, drunk with success and fame, had been able to meet even younger and at least equally beautiful girls.
There were two main reasons for her being out of favor. When her husband suffered a defeat later due to being too proud and careless, she was not sparing in her report to the emperor. The emperor did not punish Han but from then on, there was an invisible grudge between husband and wife. The second thing, which preceded all this, was that her husband never forget her identify. Before becoming Han』s mistress, then wife, she had spent some of her best years in the government-run whorehouse. Her own father was a general and was executed for committing a mistake in battle. As a punishment, all women of the clan were sold as slaves or prostitutes. Among the mud she had risen to a rank of respect, through courage in battle. The people saw her as a heroine. Han, deep in his heart, always remembered she was once a whore.
(2)
「Lan」 Red Jade called her second-in-command to bring the horse abreast.
Lan, two years her junior, was also originally from the same whorehouse, and so were all of the young female riders behind her. Together they had fought so many battles, saw so many of their sisters from the same trade died courageously yet un-mourned.
「Yes, Commander.」
「What do you think of the town down there?」 Red Jade asked.
Lan took a deep look. Her brown knitted.
「It is too quiet.」 Lan commented. 「It can be a trap.」
Red Jade nodded. She had the same feeling.
「Are we going in anyway?」 Lan asked. The deferential of rank was put aside when the two were conversing in this manner. Red Jade did not mind. She had regarded Lan as her real sister, and so were all the others behind them.
「We have no choice. The horses are tired. The Jin dogs are close behind us and we cannot outrun them with tired horses. Besides, if there is really an ambush and if they have fresh horses, we cannot escape even if we skirt the town.」
Lan knew her commander was right but she was still uneasy at the thought of walking right into a prepared ambush.
Red Jade turned and smiled.
「Are you afraid?」 She asked.
「Only a fool will say she is not afraid to die. But I am willing to follow you wherever you lead me, even to Hell itself.」
Red Jade patted Lan』s hands on the reins. 「You are a good sister. I will never forget you.」
Lan gulped silently. There was a sadness in the eyes of her commander. She knew what it meant. It was fatigue and it was not the ride that was wearing her down.
「Field Marshal Han should not mistreat you like this…」
Red Jade raised a hand to stop her. She still loved her husband, despite his betrayal.
『The Field Marshal is human and he has been indoctrinated with traditional thinking since he was a kid. What else could he choose to do? 「 Having said this, she turned towards the rest of the troop. 「Sisters. This may be the end of our journey. Down there is water and rest but there may also be waiting wolves ready to pounce on twenty-five little lambs. Those who are not willing to die can now leave the troop and ride off into wilderness and try to survive. I will not blame you.」
Nobody moved.
「Thank you. You are all my sisters. Now, let us ride and die like warriors.」
For the first time since these women followed Red Jade into battle, they saw tears rolling down her beautiful face.
(3)
They rode four abreast behind Red Jade and Lan, first at a trot and then sped up into a canter. The earth shook as hooves kicked up clouds of dust as the cavalcade approached the town from the south.
Still not a sound.
Red Jade smiled. Now, she was sure it was an ambush.
「Unfurl the flag! 「 she shouted.
The big flag with the character of 「Liang」 in the center soon fluttered in the wind.
「Long live the Emperor! Long live Song!」 Red Jade leveled her lance. She could feel the trap being sprung now.
And it came!
Dozens of arrows whistled from both sides of the low walls onto the twenty-five riders. Red Jade heard two sharp screams, the snorting of horses and the sound of bodies crushing onto the mud road.
Obviously, some arrows had found their targets. And Red Jade also felt a sharp pain from her right upper arm and her left thigh near her hips. She knew what happened, but she did not take a single look.
「Ride on!」 She ordered. Stopping to aid the wounded would only jeopardize the whole troop. They would know how to handle themselves.
Lan, sword in hand, barked out an order and the whole troop wheeled into another dirt path on the right. As she turned, she saw from the corner of an eye the two wounded woman warriors facing each other in kneeling position, armor off, breasts bared, and sank their swords into the heart of the other. Both collapsed into the arms of the other and there, in kneeling position they remained.
「Was it done?」 Red Jade asked her second-in-command.
Lan nodded, unable to hold back her tears.
「Good!」 Red Jade nodded.
But there was no time to grieve over their fallen sisters. In front of them a line of heavily armed nomad warriors blocked their path.
「Battle!」 The women fanned out into double ranks.
The two opposing lines threw their horses forward in a lightning speed and then they clashed.
Red Jade thrust and slash with her lance and in less than a second, two enemy riders rolled down their saddles with hands clutching their throats. Lan cut a man wielding a heavy battle axe into halves at his waist. She immediately sought out another and buried the blade into his navel. The nomad groaned and slumped forward. Lan felt the weight at the end of her sword and there was pure joy in her heart. But the blade was lodged deep and she had difficulty to pull it out. Meanwhile, another nomad was charging with a leveled lance at her side. In terror, Lan tried harder to disengage her sword to parry but the sword did not budge. Her eyes went wide as the tip of the spear was now only inches from her breast. She knew she was going to die and though death itself did not scare her, she regretted not having been able to do more, to slay one more enemy before her fall. Then, the nomad shrieked and sank back Lan then saw that Red Jade had sank her lance into the back of the nomad』s neck.
Lan nodded her gratitude and pulled at the hilt again. This time, the blade came free.
She spurred her horse into the melee and downed another two. Then, it was over. With the loss of three female warriors, more than a dozen enemies lay spluttered in the dust.
「A great fight!」 Lan reined up alongside Red Jade.
「Yes, but this is only the beginning.」 Red Jade eyed to the front.
Lan understood what she meant immediately.
Another group of riders were already charging down the other side of the alley.
Again, the lines clashed. There were more moans and death-cries. Again, the enemy was wiped out.
「We lost four.」 Lan reported. It was then Lan noticed the silence from Red Jade.
Red Jade』s saddle was dyed with blood. There was a pain marked on her face. There were two arrows Lan could see, one in the right upper arm and the other in the left thigh.
「Are you hurt, commander?」 Lan hastened forward.
Red Jade smiled, a sad one. 「Yes, mortally.」 She removed her hand from her stomach.
To Lan』s horror, she saw that a heavy lance had penetrated the armor and open up the belly of her commander. Blood was gushing out. The cut was ugly and deep. She knew what it meant. Before long, her guts would start to flow out.
「Red Jade…」 Lan could not believe it. It was Red Jade, her sister and idol who had never lost a single fight.
「Do not cry, silly girl. This will be the place where we will give up our lives for our country. Help me. Tie a scarf around my waist so that I can fight on.」
「But the armor…」 Lan swallowed back her tears. She knew what Red Jade wanted her to do but the armor would get into the way.
「Strip it off then.」 It was a surprise that Red Jade was still able to maintain her calm.
They slowly took her off the horse with extreme care. Lan and two other female warriors helped Red Jade to get out of the leather armor. Situation was getting worse. About three feet of her intestine had slipped out of the wound while they were taking off the armor. Her white silk undershirt was dyed crimson red from waist down. They torn her undershirt off and into bandages. One girl wrapped her arm, while the other was treating her leg. Carefully, Lan pushed Red Jade』s intestine back to her belly. Then they tied the bandage around her waist and tightened it so that it would slow down the outflow of the entrails.
Red Jade』s mid torso was wrapped in bandages on her belly up to the lower end of her chest. Her right upper arm and left thigh were also wrapped in bandages. Blood oozing from her wound quickly soaked the white straps. But at least for now the entrails will stay where they were and she would be able to fight. She got on the horse with all her remaining strength. Sweat was all over her naked ample breasts, glittering in the sunlight.
More sound of hooves.
「Let us go to the open market. There, we will die.」 Red Jade looked into the eyes of her surviving band. There was no fear.
They reformed their lines and sped off to the open ground. There, the twelve women formed a ring, facing the inevitable onslaught of the invaders.
They came.
「The Immortals!」 Lan exclaimed.
The Immortals were the heavy cavalry of the Jinwushu, the most feared of all the Jin commanders, and exactly the one Red Jade and her husband beat six years ago. Now was his time of vengeance. They were called immortals because their chain armor were tough like the shell of tortoises and almost impossible to penetrate with weapons.
「Go for their faces and throats!」 Red Jade ordered.
That was a way but it would mean the target was much smaller and the attackers would be exposing their own bodies, making them vulnerable.
「Surrender or die!」 The enemy surrounded them. There was at least an odd of seven to one.
「Song female warriors never surrender!」 Lan shouted back.
The enemy, without making any more sound, closed in.
It was a bitter fight. But the result was decided even before the battle began.
Red Jade slay three enemy officers. Her left breast received one spear thrust and a dagger was buried into her belly wound, opening it wider. She groaned and threw her lance at the one holding the dagger, throwing him off his horse with a direct hit. Then, all her strength used, she rolled off her saddle and lay face down on the ground.
(Epilog)
Long after Red Jade』s body rested, Jin soldiers then dared to approach her, then stabbed her corpse repeatedly with spears and swards. To make sure she would not rise again, as a safety measure, they hacked off her arms and legs and let these scatter around her naked body.
The Jin commander picked up her head by grabbing her hair. Red Jade』s face was covered with blood and mud, but still amazingly beautiful. Her starry eyes were widely open, staring far without focus. Blood was dripping from her nostrils and corner of her mouth. The tip of her tongue emerged in between her white teeth and her sexy full lips parted although the lips became pinky-white due to loss of blood.
He raised her head. Then he kissed her lips, sucking her tongue, drinking her blood, as if the most delicious in the world. In deed it was, he would not object.
They danced around her mutilated body. It was a great victory, though they had paid a heavy price for it.
Then, they stopped.
It was so strange. It was snowing!
It was the month of July and it was snowing! As if the sky grieved the sad end of a brave daughter, the town was blanketed with a thin white sheet.
「We will never take this land for our own.」 The commander murmured. |
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