Chapter 70: The Flying Cultivator
We mobilized at the third watch.
The cavalry vanguard moved first, three hundred horse on the road south from Chianji, under a clouded sky with no moon above the cloud bank. The main column came behind us in three lines, two thousand militia and the heavy infantry from the Outer Garrison, with the baggage train at the rear and Administrator Wen's quartermasters riding the flanks.
Fei Liao had separated from the column at the second hour of the watch with six hundred light infantry and the scouts that had ridden out the day before, bound for a crossing of the White River downstream of Meishan.
The plan was for Fei Liao to circle north and approach Meishan from the eastern flank while the main column held the southern road and the bridge.
I rode at Commander Xu's right shoulder. The cohort was at the southern bend of the road half a li back, in the cover of the trees along the river. They were the reserve. They would hold position in the cover of the trees until I signaled.
The road from Chianji to Meishan ran along the southern bank of the White River for two li, then turned east at a bend toward the bridge. The river was wide and shallow at the bend, but the channel narrowed and deepened at the bridge.
The Meishan Gate fort sat at the end of the bridge on the far bank, a square stone fortification with crenellated walls and a single arched portal opening onto the span. Meishan itself rose immediately behind the Gate, a walled prefecture city whose southern wall met the Gate's northern face along a low rise.
We reached the bend of the river at the half-watch before the fourth hour. Commander Xu raised her hand and the column halted.
She held the hand up for a long beat. Her head was tilted. She was reading the Qi at the far bank.