Golden Turtles (Part 5)
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He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning recent or upcoming releases from the Assassin's Creed series. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all. |
Golden Turtles (Part 5) (金龟袋 (其五)) is the twenty-first chapter of the manhua Assassin's Creed: Dynasty written by Xu Xianzhe.
Plot summary
Commandery after commandery had fallen to An Lushan's inexorable march west, among them Shan (陝郡), Hongnong (弘農郡), Jinan (濟南郡), Puyang (濮陽郡), and Yunzhong (雲中). Alongside Luoyang, all had been captured in the twelfth month of Tianbao year 14 (755) alone. Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing steadfastly defend Tong Pass, desperately awaiting an opportunity to counter-attack, waiting for a sign of hope.
That hope arrives in the form of a gift box from Changshan Commandery, inside which laid only a plain, wax ball, but the sight of it instantly shocks the commanders. Xianzhi recognizes it as a method of secret correspondence that should be known only to those men who had served under him when he was jiedushi of Anxi. On his order, it was broken to unveil a small scroll within.
An old friend
The letter is addressed to General Gao Xianzhi and all those who should be present at its opening, but it is not for the eyes of those otherwise. Its author introduces himself as a former soldier of the Anxi Protectorate 7th Army 15th Squad, Li E. As the letter is read out loud by Xianzhi, the scene flashes back to Yan Jiming penning it under Li E's instructions. Li E mentions the disaster four years prior at the Battle of Talas, where all his comrades perished and he was the only survivor. Praising the camaraderie and valour of their forces, he consolingly remarks that it was their one and only bitter defeat, one that he should be too traumatized to recall but would nonetheless do so as an old friend.
Though fortune favoured his life, he reports that he was unable to return to his unit immediately, reassuring Xianzhi that it was not for reasons of defection or capture. He tells it truthfully when he recounts that he had resolved to make a last stand on that field of battle, fighting to the end and dying with his brutally slain yet fearless peers. But just as fate seemed to embrace him, he was rescued by the good samaritans of the Western Regions, and because the road back was blocked by Abbasid forces, they withdrew into the desert. Now in the present day, Li E is informing Xianzhi that he is situated at Changshan to assist the family of Grand Protector Yan Gaoqing for one critical objective: to plot a counter-rebellion.
To turn the tide at Tumen Pass
The scene flashes to the point when Li E proposes his plan to Gaoqing, opening with the idiom "capturing the bandit before capturing the king". By his analysis, they "need only to assassinate the two occupying generals, Gao Miao and Li Qincou, and Tumen Pass would then be as a thunder of dragons without a chief". He believes that Gaoqing can seize Tumen Pass before the elite enemy marksmen arrive to reinforce it. Once in that strategic position, they can transmit the call-to-arms all throughout Hebei with the announcement that the grand imperial army is already advancing throughout Hebei from Tumen Pass. With this hope rekindled, the people would certainly muster the courage to offer themselves to the counter-rebellion, and the government would be able to march into Hebei unimpeded.
With An Lushan trapped in Luoyang between hostile forces in Tong Pass and Tumen Pass, they would be able to close in on him on two flanks and capture him like a "soft-shell turtle in an urn". Li E closes by repeating again that they only had to assassinate Gao Miao and Li Qincou, and the tide would be turned and Lushan's forces annihilated. Despite his confidence, Gaoqing is pessimistic, musing that it sounded easy on paper yet would prove challenging given the extensive defences of the enemy garrison at Tumen Pass. Li E's determination remains unshaken as he responds, "It would not really be an easy affair; it would also not really be impossible."
Trust
Returning to the present, Xianzhi reads that Gaoqing worries that it would be difficult to inspire his trust in the message given that they live in times where one struggles to distinguish friend from foe. For this reason, Li E formally requests by his old position as his subordinate that the general dispatch troops to Taiyuan and await a rendezvous.
At this, Xianzhi finally pauses to inquire Changqing about this Li E. As chance would have it, his lieutenant had memorized the names of the soldiers who had served with them at the Anxi Protectorate although his mnemonic required that he list them off in a certain order to recall them. Counting down with his fingers to Li E's purported unit, then down the ranks and the squad members, he finally arrived at Li E on the eleventh name to his own surprise. Changqing explained that there truly was a soldier named Li E who had fought for them and that he was part of a squad of elite crossbowmen, a squad which was destroyed at the Battle of Talas.