A step into the past - 寻秦记 - by Huang Yi

[Jean]

Could you also write the Chinese character for the name which appear for the first time?

Anyway, thanks for your great job.

erm.... any particular reason why?

We're already 3 books into the story, a lot of characters have appeared, and there are some who only appear for 1-2 chapters, so I don't think it's really feasible and I can't really keep track of who appears for the first time.

[Jean]

to continue.....

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Xiang Shaolong said quietly, “We might as well find a sturdy and highland around here with a mountain backing us and start setting up tents and ditches, store up on wild meat and spring water and stay here for half a month or so. On the other hand we’ll send out light cavalry to make their way towards Fengqiu, and beg the defending general Guan Po to send reinforcements. So even if the King of Wei has other nefarious plans, there’s nothing he can do.”

After much hard thinking, everyone decided this is the best plan they can come up with for a desperate situation.

Immediately after that Xiang Shaolong went to look for Lady Pingyuan to discuss the plan and through the bamboo curtains, he told her of the plan and the reason. Lady Pingyuan said quietly, “You’re more experienced than me in this area, you shall decide on everything.”

Xiang Shaolong has never heard her speak so gently and so obediently towards him before and he felt lust arising, so he asked, “Would Lady like me to visit you tonight?”

Lady Pingyuan sighed, “Shall we talk about this after we’ve reached Daliang? My son is already very unhappy that I was alone with you on a few occasions, and now that he is slowly recovering, I don’t want him to get upset over us.”

Xiang Shaolong thought of Prince Shaoyuan and his mood disappeared. He left her carriage and went to inform Lady Ya of the plan and told her to convey the message to Zhao Qian.

After scouting for half a day, they finally find a flat piece of highland with a mountain backing at a stream next to the plains and started setting up camp.

The whole army began busying themselves and at the same time they sent out 20 light cavalry carrying Lady Pingyuan’s handwritten letter with her seal and went to Fengqiu via 10 different routes to ask for assistance.

The process of setting up camp this time is vastly different when compared to the past, with ditches being the main form of defense.

Along the circumference of the highland they dug ditches one foot deep and five feet wide. The soil that was dug out was piled in front of the ditches and stones were added, making it into a short mud wall about half a foot high, with holes in it for the usage of bows and arrows and it was quite sturdy. They then pushed the carts along the inner circle of the wall to fortify the wall against the force of the enemy’s attacks.

Outside of the short wall, the slope was filled with sharpened bamboo stakes and holes to trip the horses. There was danger everywhere to deal with the strong attacks of the enemy.

The long grass and woods surrounding the area were removed to prevent enemies from taking cover amongst them.

The camp itself was set up according to how it’s usually done, in the shape of a crescent moon, with the main tents in the middle and the 6 armies split into both sides, forming a half circle with the front protruding out. The camp and the short wall was more than 3 feet apart so unless the wall has been taken over, the camp will be out of reach of the enemy’s projectiles.

After busying themselves for 3 days, they’ve finally made the camp into one strong in defenses with the ditch on the outside, a rampart on the inside and pikes and holes outside the walls.

In order to prevent the enemy from using fire to attack, Xiang Shaolong dug ditches to connect the stream behind them into the camp. By the time everything was done, 5 days has passed.

That day when Xiang Shaolong was instructing his men to set aside rocks collected from the slope, the scouts returned to report that they found a group of horse thieves close to 10,000 in strength rushing through the flat plains.

Everyone understood in their hearts that this must be the enemy that has been waiting for them a long time in the plains without avail, therefore they could not take it any longer and has come to attack them directly.

And this also proved that their guess was correct. No one will believe that there are no Wei soldiers mixed into the group of enemy.

Although they know that to be the truth, they’re still not sure why the King of Wei would want to be so ruthless, and the only explanation is that Prince Xinling is indeed a threat to his throne and he’s thinking of using this to spoil the relations between Prince Xinling and the Zhaos. As for any other reasons, it something that they will not know. But the King of Wei is well known for being a useless king, so no one will find it strange that he’ll actually do something so ridiculous.

The night passed peacefully and the next day, Xiang Shaolong instructed that besides the soldiers on duty, everyone else were to rest so that they can conserve their energy to deal with the enemy’s attack.

Luckily they have kept a large amount of weapons, rations and arrows from Hui Hu and it’s enough for them to stay besieged for half a month without having to worry about food and arrows.

Another advantage they have is that the enemy will not expect them to build a barricade so reasonably speaking they would not have brought equipment that can deal with barricades, so it will make their job defending much easier.

At dusk, the horse thieves could be seen appearing on the plains and they even set up camp. Obviously there’s going to be a standoff between the 2 armies.

Xiang Shaolong scrutinized his enemy and exclaimed hoarsely, “Look! Isn’t that Hu Hui?”

The others strained their eyes and saw a group of horse thieves riding nearer towards them, and the one leading them is indeed Hu Hui.

************************************************** *

[overjoy71]

Thanks Jean..
Another battle coming up?? :-)

[Gubrak]

erm.... any particular reason why?

We're already 3 books into the story, a lot of characters have appeared, and there are some who only appear for 1-2 chapters, so I don't think it's really feasible and I can't really keep track of who appears for the first time.

Just curious, cause lot of them have same spelling but different character & meaning. It's ok, no need to track back.

With or without the Chinese characters inserted, I still always thanks for yr great job

[Gubrak]

Please don't make demands. Let the translator do her thing.

although almost always less then 10 characters per chapter?
Of course, let the translator do her things ....

[Gubrak]

gubrak if you could read chinese characters it would be nice if you could translate a bit of something something for us ^_^ [ode to gallantry would be my choice since its half done but going nowhere] anyways thanks jean another magnificent update

Sorry, my Chinese reading/understanding is very very limited

[Bai Qi44]

although almost always less then 10 characters per chapter?
Of course, let the translator do her things ....

Not the point. The point is beggars can't be choosers. Someone is doing you a favor and not getting paid for it so you don't ask that someone to do even more favors.

[aliderhamy]

Can the fun police give it a break.
So he had a sugestion on how jean could possibly improve the translation.
and jean responded on how it might not work, becouse of the length and nature of the translation.
I dont see anything wrong with readers giving positive inpute to translaters.

thanks jean

[Bai Qi44]

Can the fun police give it a break.
So he had a sugestion on how jean could possibly improve the translation.
and jean responded on how it might not work, becouse of the length and nature of the translation.
I dont see anything wrong with readers giving positive inpute to translaters.

thanks jean

That was more of a request and not a suggestion. People should really respect the work of translators. They should not make demands from translators cause translators don't get paid. If you or him have been around these forums long enough, you two would know. If it was really a suggestion, he should have suggested that Jean take a long vacation and stop translating for a couple of months. Anyway, I'm done doing my "fun policing".

[Ren Wo Xing]

Request =! Demand

[KChill]

I think that if Jean felt that were necessary, she would be doing it. I agree that requests should be kept to the request thread. However, Gubrak is obviously a new poster, so we should be able to convey that to him without being contentious.

BTTT, the story is getting really good now, also I used to have a boss named Hu Hui (no kidding, LOL)!

BaiQ, you've had me trying to kill "the bug" within my laptop screen for the past 2 minutes. Thanks a LOT!

[overjoy71]

KCHill.. you sure that your boss is not the same guy as this Hu Hui???

[disrupt]

KCHill.. you sure that your boss is not the same guy as this Hu Hui???

LOL.

Hu Hui: "KChill, today, you must hide in the forests and mug at least 3 people, you're behind in your targets and must make amends. And no saying 'thank you' afterwards, either!"

[sehseh]

Bai Qi44, I thought I have a bug running around on my monitor. Had my finger squashing in vain

[eliza bennet]

Thanks Jean

I hope that their defenses will hold. And that Lady is too clever. I hope that she'll not outdo XSL. He should be careful with her.

[tweety365]

if XSL gets outsmarted by a woman, i think it would be poetic justice and teach him more humility. play with fire and you'll get burned.

can't wait for the siege!

[Han Solo]

Bai Qi44, I thought I have a bug running around on my monitor. Had my finger squashing in vain

Lol. I did the same as well as well.

Han Solo

[Bai Qi44]

BaiQ, you've had me trying to kill "the bug" within my laptop screen for the past 2 minutes. Thanks a LOT!

Bai Qi44, I thought I have a bug running around on my monitor. Had my finger squashing in vain

Lol. I did the same as well as well.

Han Solo

Yeah, it's funny isn't it? I saw that avatar on another forum and the first few times I saw it, I kept trying to kill it. :P I thought using it here as my avatar would be a riot.

[Jean]

to continue....

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Cheng Xu exclaimed furiously, “From what is seen, Hu Hui does belong to the King of Wei and those horse thieves are Wei soldiers in disguise. Their job is to disrupt other state’s financial and political stability. The Weis are really vicious!”

Zha Yuanyu shook his head and sighed, “I really do not understand why his Majesty would want to marry our prettiest princess to the Weis.”

Cheng Xu warned him, “You’d better be careful with your words, if this goes to his Majesty’s ears, you and your tribe will all be in big trouble.”

Zha Yuanyu smiled bitterly, “Let’s talk about it after we survive tonight!”

Xiang Shaolong knows that he has seen that the number of horse thieves are almost 10 times more than their troops and was feeling afraid. From that he can deduce that the others will feel the same as well and morale will definitely be affected. He furrowed his brow and came up with a plan. He told Cheng Xu, “Prepare a round of fire arrows for me, I might be using them tonight.”

After he spoke, he returned to his tent, ignoring their querying looks. He collected his tools and walked towards the back of the camp.

At the area between the camp and the back of the mountain, the mules and horses were separated into 2 huge wooden enclosures, leisurely drinking the clear water redirected from the stream and nibbling on the green grass.

Luckily this is only the beginning of winter, or those animals would be in big trouble if there’s a huge snowstorm.

He lifted his head and studied closely the layout and shape of the cliffs and the nearby mountains and with the metal hooks, easily climbed up. He used a hammer to install the climbing rings that Guo Zhong made for him at the appropriate spots, moving towards the next mountain and attached a rough rope before climbing back to camp. As long as he can climb over the neighboring mountain, he can easily use this ‘secret route’ the drop down to the plains dozen of feet below and proceed with his secret mission.

By the time he returned to the commander’s tent, Cheng Xu came running towards him anxiously and said, “Come and take a look quickly!”

When he returned to the frontline, he saw that the horse thieves at the bottom were all at work, cutting down trees and putting a pile of sharpened stakes about a foot long on the ground in a row.

Wu Zhuo furrowed his brows and asked, “What are they trying to do?”

Xiang Shaolong has an idea on what it could be and exclaimed, “Those are the tools for attacking our mud city. They just have to line those trunks in a row on the slope, then they need not fear the attack from our arrows and rocks.”

Zha Yuanyu exclaimed, “This is a very effective move, they just need to have 3 rows of these together front and back, they need not fear even rolling rocks. Also, this would block our view of them and we won’t be able to see what they’re planning.”

Wu Zhuo laughed icily, “If they want to defeat this thing, they would first have to pay a horrible price.” He continued with a sigh, “If only their strength was halved.”

What he meant was that, even if they sacrificed a lot of men, the remaining strength would still be enough to overrun and enter their barricades.

Xiang Shaolong laughed, “Don’t worry! The enemy made a biggest mistake, and that is to belittle their opponent. Look at their camp, there’s no defenses at all. The rations and horses are just abandoned behind there. If we can give them a good fire, their expressions will be very interesting to watch!”

Wu Zhuo and the rest furrowed their brows, looking at the packed thieves on the small hill below and secretly thought that it’s not them who belittle their opponent, but even a rat will find it difficult to slip out and set a fire to their camp.


Xiang Shaolong just smiled and did not explain any further. He returned to his tent for a rest.

After sleeping for 4 hours, it was dusk by the time he woke up. Lady Ya was waiting there quietly to have dinner with him.

Xiang Shaolong sat up feeling refreshed and after freshening up, he ate 3 big bowls of rice.

Lady Ya looked at him curiously, “It seems that you’re very confident, or else you won’t be so excited and in high spirits? But I cannot think of why you would still be so confident of defeating the enemy this time.”

Xiang Shaolong hugged her and laughed, “Is Ya’er afraid?”

Lady Ya happily kissed him before saying with a smile, “I really am a little afraid without you around, but after seeing you, I’m suddenly fearless. That’s right! Go over to Zhao Qian’s place! She said there’s something she would like to beg of you.”

Xiang Shaolong thought to himself that Zhao Qian is a bigger headache to him compared to the horse thieves.

After this pretty Third Princess dismissed her maids, she came to his side and said shyly, “Xiang Shaolong, can Zhao Qian borrow something from you?”

Xiang Shaolong was asked curiously, “What do you want to borrow?”

Zhao Qian suddenly opened her fair and tender palm and said quietly, “I want your personal dagger which you carry at all times.”

Xiang Shaolong was perplexed, “Do you have so little confident in me? I will definitely send you to Daliang.”

Zhao Qian’s pretty eyes reddened and she stared at him with sadness and hatred before saying, “Zhao Qian does not want you to bring her to Daliang. Everywhere else is fine, but not to Daliang.”

No words other than these can so clearly express the love she felt for Xiang Shaolong.

Hot blood rushed up Xiang Shaolong’s veins and he blurted, “Fine! I promise you, even if I bring you to Daliang, I’ll have a way to bring you back to Zhao whole and unblemished.”

Zhao Qian was shocked, “Really!”

Xiang Shaolong can feel her pretty face light up, filled with hope and he gritted his teeth and replied, “This is a promise!”

After saying this sentence, he felt himself lightening up.

In truth, every since he found out the complicated situation in the Wei royal family, and knowing that the King of Zhao is going to steal the ‘Lu Gong’s Secret Manual’, he felt that he cannot be the accomplice that helps to sacrifice Zhao Qian’s lifelong happiness. Now that he has expressed his stand, that feeling is so great.

Zhao Qian was ecstatic, “Shaolong! Qian’er is really very grateful to you!”

Xiang Shaolong saw that her confidence in him is so much greater than his confidence in himself and felt happy about it. He took out his dagger and shoved it into her tiny hand, taking the chance to hold her soft hands and said, “Unless it’s the last choice available, you must not kill yourself with this dagger.”

Zhao Qian blushed to her neck and held this love token tightly against her chest. She lowered her head and said with love, “Qian’er will listen to Shaolong’s instructions.”

Xiang Shaolong was captivated and was thinking of taking the opportunity to go a little further when the sounds of drums were heard coming from the foot of the mountain.

Looking at the situation at the foot of the mountain, the expression on Cheng Xu and the rest were ashen. Only Wu Zhuo maintained a calm composure.

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[overjoy71]

Another one down!! haha.. When will a lady stand up to XSL? haha..
But XSL is suddenly walking on dangerous ground though.

Thanks Jean.. Brilliant as always