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"No doubt," the emperor observed, looking from the young general's face to
the other men in tent. "Now, if the mandarins and your officers will excuse us
for a few moments, I would like to speak with you privately."
Batu quickly nodded his dismissal to his subordinates, and they filed out of
the tent. A few minutes later, he and the Divine One were alone.
The Son of Heaven studied the general for several moments. Finally, he
said, "You are a gracious winner, General."
"There seemed no point in pressing the issue."
"A wise decision," the Divine One replied, his eyes suddenly growing cold.
"I do not like being manipulated, General. Don't do it again."
Batu kneeled. "I beg your forgiveness," he said. "If I am going to win this
war, I must have full command of my troops."
"I hope you are satisfied."
Remembering Kwan's hateful stare of a few minutes earlier, Batu dared to
look up. "Not entirely, Son of Heaven."
The Divine One raised an eyebrow. "What else do you wish?"
"At the moment, the only thing that should concern a soldier in my position
is his duty," Batu said.
"Yes?"
The general took a deep breath, then said, "I now have a powerful enemy,
and I am forced to leave my family alone and unprotected "
"Do not offend my hospitality by suggesting harm could come to them
inside the summer palace." The emperor's reply was controlled and even, but
his brow betrayed his irritation. "As you say" the Divine One continued, "the
only thing that should concern you is your duty."
Without waiting for a response, the emperor rose. "Now that politics are no
longer a consideration, I leave you to the business of war. Do not think of
anything else."
Batu touched his forehead to the ground. "I will obey."
"Of course you will," the emperor said. Without giving Batu permission to
rise, the Divine One stepped around the table and left the pavilion. The
General of the Northern Marches did not move.
Finally, he heard the emperor's procession leave and dared to stand. When
he went to the pavilion door, he found Pe and his subordinates waiting.
"What now?" the adjutant asked, bowing.
"We march," Batu replied, scanning the faces of his subordinates.
This time, no one questioned his orders.
7
The River Fleet
After the emperor left, Batu placed all twenty-five of the noble armies under
Tzu Hsuang's command. He also entrusted the Mirror of Shao, along with the
wagon required to carry the Ministry of Magic's bulky artifact, to his father-in-
law. A few of Kwan's lords grumbled about nepotism, but the general didn't
care. His father-in-law was the only noble with whom he had more than a
passing acquaintance, and he needed someone he trusted in command of the
contentious lords.
Tzu Hsuang took his forces and marched to the river docks in Tai Tung,
where he loaded his fifty thousand pengs aboard a fleet of barges assembled
for that purpose. Hsuang's orders were to sail up the Hungtze as far as the
river would carry him, then march west toward the enemy. If the war
proceeded according to Batu's plan, Hsuang and the nobles would engage
the barbarians just west of Shou Kuan.
Batu took the five provincial armies and went north along the Spice Road.
As the general had feared earlier that morning, the afternoon quickly turned
hot and dusty. The men, unaccustomed to grueling marches, tired quickly.
More than a few fell victim to heat exhaustion.
Nevertheless, Batu did not relax the pace, even when evening fell. Instead,
to the unspoken surprise of his stoic subordinates, he continued marching.
The general did not call a halt until midnight, when his five armies reached a
tiny backwater village that had been mysteriously deserted. It was Chang Tu,
the town that he had asked Ju-Hai to evacuate. The hamlet was also where
he had ordered his fleet of cargo junks to gather.
As soon as he arrived, Batu ordered the first units onto the junks, issuing
strict instructions for all pengs to stay in the cargo holds. Under no
circumstance was any soldier to appear on deck, where he would be visible to
river traffic or bystanders on the shore.
He could have easily loaded the entire army in a day or two. Instead, Batu
took his time, allowing only two or three boats to leave the village every hour.
The general felt the extra time was well spent. His intention was to
camouflage his troop movements as merchant traffic, hoping that any Tuigan
spies in the area would lose track of his army.
Eight days later, Batu and Pe boarded the last junk with the last unit. The
oarsmen pulled the little ship into the current, and it started down the Ching
Tung River. Any doubts that Batu had about this phase of his plan quickly
disappeared. On the exterior, even he could not differentiate his troop ships
from the thousands of cargo junks already traveling Shou Lung's river
systems. More important, he did not think the addition of five hundred ships
over the course of a week would seem remarkable to river watchers,
especially considering the boost in commercial activity to be expected when a
country mobilized for war.
It took four days for the general's junk to reach the mouth of the slow-
moving river, only half the time it had taken to load the fleet. The junk slipped
past the city of Kirin at dusk, then entered the dark, rolling waters of the
Celestial Sea and turned north toward the flotilla's rendezvous point. Batu's
stomach grew queasy once they hit the open sea and, within thirty minutes,
he wished that he had never set foot on a ship deck.
Six days later, the general finally felt well enough to leave his bunk. He told
Pe to summon his subordinates, then dressed and went up on deck. After the
rancid smells of the bilges stale water, moldy ropes, unwashed boatmen
Batu found the sea air invigorating. He leaned on the gunwale and looked out
over the Celestial Sea. To the west, a tiny crag of rock floated on the horizon.
Pe joined him and, noticing the direction of Batu's gaze, said, "That's the
Horn of Wak'an. According to the sailors, sighting it means we're within four
days of Lo'Shan and the Shengti River."
Without taking his eyes off the sea, Batu grunted an acknowledgement.
The prospect of another four days of seasickness almost drove him back to
his bunk.
However, with his subordinates on their way to meet him, retreat was not
an option. Batu stayed at the gunwale, breathing deeply of the salt air and
studying the sea. The sky was as blue as the water, with a favorable wind
blowing from the east. Between the general's ship and the Horn of Wak'an,
the five hundred sails of his motley armada bobbed upon the water like so
many prayer flags. The skiffs carrying his five generals were fighting through
the white-capped waves toward Batu's pathetic flagship.
"The barbarians will never think to look for us here," Pe said cheerfully.
With his good arm, he leaned on the gunwale next to Batu.
Frowning at the boy's jovial manner with jealous contempt, Batu
responded, "Of course not."
Sensing his commander's testiness, Pe withdrew his arm and assumed a
more formal stance. "I didn't mean to offend "
"You didn't," the general said, waving off the adjutant's apology. "I'm still ill,
and that makes me petulant."
As Batu watched the rowboats approach, he wondered how the first
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