Chapter Fourteen: The Swift Assault

As night fell, Shen Chen was invited to visit Seventh Uncle’s home.

Seventh Uncle had three children. His eldest son, Shen Tao, was eighteen and had become the pillar of labor for the family. The eldest daughter was sixteen and had married earlier that year. The youngest, twelve, was the child Shen Chen had scolded before.

Shen Tao was sent to fetch Shen Chen’s parents. Since they had not returned and the fear was that the food might grow cold, Seventh Uncle urged Shen Chen, “Ah Chen, start eating, don’t stand on ceremony.”

“I never stand on ceremony with you, Seventh Uncle,” Shen Chen replied with a smile. “But you are the host and I’m the guest, so you should eat first.”

“Then let’s begin. Ah Ying, put this bowl back in the pot to keep it warm for the others when they return,” Seventh Uncle, Shen Min, instructed his wife to reheat one of the bowls of chicken.

When Seventh Aunt returned, the couple, their youngest child, and Shen Chen started eating together, savoring millet rice as they feasted.

Meanwhile, about six miles from Zengyang Hamlet, outside the ancestral hall of the Shen clan in Lanshan Hamlet, Shen Zhen had just passed the selection and was officially recognized as a clan soldier.

The Han people valued martial prowess. During the Guanghe era, Shen Zhen had once been conscripted by the court to serve as a border guard in Bingzhou, fighting the Xianbei, who were then at the height of their power.

Although he had only fought minor skirmishes behind the lines and had killed just a single enemy, his military experience had left a deep mark, and he frequently referred to himself as a Han frontier soldier.

This self-designation was something to be proud of, for the Han court recruited soldiers in three ways: criminals as penal soldiers, mercenaries from border minorities, and conscripts from respectable families in the interior.

Of these, the sons of good families held the highest status and were often appointed as junior officers at the border, such as squad or platoon leaders. Shen Zhen had served as a platoon leader, commanding a squad of ten, and earned a measure of social standing.

After returning home, his reputation within the Shen clan of Zengyang Hamlet was elevated by this experience.

Thus, when the clan was organizing a militia for the southern migration, whether out of obligation or personal conviction, he had to participate and even take a post; otherwise, villagers might gossip.

Shen Chen understood this and knew his mother would not be able to persuade him. His father was stubborn, and if his mother couldn’t sway him, Shen Chen surely wouldn’t succeed either.

In this society where parents’ wishes were paramount, to defy one’s father was to be unfilial.

Bearing the stigma of unfiliality in a Han dynasty governed by filial piety—a time when officialdom was often entered through recommendations for filial conduct—meant being ostracized and unable to progress.

So Shen Chen could not persuade Shen Zhen and could only leave it to his own will.

For now, Shen Zhen had not changed his mind. When Shen Chen’s mother found him and tried to dissuade him, he remained unmoved.

As night deepened, Shen Chen’s parents did not return to Zengyang Hamlet in the dark.

The clan’s militia training had recruited a hundred men. Because of his experience, Shen Zhen was appointed captain of fifty, with lodgings arranged and intensive training to forge battle readiness.

Shen Chen’s elder brother, Shen Zhong, lived in Lanshan Hamlet. He and his wife did not stay in the communal dormitory but remained at Shen Zhong’s home.

Shen Tao, quick on his feet, had reached the ancestral hall before dusk, only to find the clan had already dispersed and his third uncle Shen Zhen and wife had gone to Shen Zhong’s house.

Had Shen Tao turned back immediately, he might have returned before sunset. But he was stubborn. His parents had sent him to fetch his uncle, so he obeyed and went to find them.

So he proceeded to Lanshan Hamlet, where Shen Zhong had also slaughtered a chicken to welcome his parents. Seeing it was late, Shen Zhong invited Shen Tao to eat at his home.

Shen Tao intended to return, but his third uncle Shen Zhen, always strict, said a single word and Shen Tao obediently stayed.

After dinner, night had fallen. The area around Lanshan was filled with the howls of wolves.

Shen Zhong and Shen Tao were only a year apart and had grown up together, forming a close bond. Seeing the situation, Shen Zhong urged Shen Tao not to return in the dark and to stay overnight.

Shen Tao had no choice but to agree.

Yet none could know that after nightfall, a fully armed army quietly arrived at Huangmen Pavilion.

Leading them was Cao Ren, whom Cao Cao had personally ordered to eliminate Shen Chen before leaving.

Initially, Cao Ren planned to wait until he had routed Tao Qian’s pursuers, then strike back, leading his troops all the way to Xiangben County.

His idea was that with most Xiangben residents returned, he could massacre them all to intimidate Tao Qian, preventing him from stirring trouble behind Cao Cao’s lines.

Unexpectedly, after scaring off the pursuers with a ruse, they returned for unknown reasons and shattered his rearguard.

Had Cao Ren not been cautious and arranged for the vanguard’s support, the consequences would have been dire.

Even after finally driving off the pursuers, his losses were heavy, especially since they included two fierce generals who slew many soldiers, leaving morale very low.

Now, with half of his rearguard dead or wounded, only about two thousand remained combat-ready, with over a thousand wounded and nearly eight hundred dead.

It was impossible to lead the troops back for slaughter, but the mission assigned by Cao Cao still had to be completed. Thus, Cao Ren selected two hundred elite soldiers for the task.

He had intended to massacre all of Xiangben County openly and complete the mission, but now he had to sneak into the village, which was somewhat humiliating.

However, Cao Ren was not one to be bothered by propriety. Cao Cao had taught him that as long as the job was done, the means were irrelevant.

So, even a regular army ambushing a village was nothing to him, as completing the mission was paramount.

Under the night sky, the two hundred soldiers—all sharp-eyed, able to see in darkness—advanced by the light of the moon and twenty torches, one for each squad, enough to find their way.

“General, that is the house,” said one of Cao Ren’s men, pointing to a lit home by the creek at the foot of the mountain—not far off. It belonged to Shen Min.

Cao Ren had previously sent scouts here when Cao Cao wanted to summon Shen Chen for questioning, but Shen Chen was hiding in Mount Niqu to avoid disaster. The scouts only marked the route, intending to return later.

In ancient times, the population was sparse and homes scattered. Shen Zhen’s house happened to be near Shen Min’s, separated by less than ten yards.

But tonight, with Shen Zhen’s house unlit and nestled at the mountain’s base, the moonlight blocked by forest shadows, the soldiers could only rely on the faint glow from Shen Min’s hall to judge direction, and so mistook the house.

In fact, they could not have pointed elsewhere, for Shen Zhen’s home was shrouded in darkness, its location obscured by the mountain and woods.

By now, Shen Chen had finished eating. Shen Min and his wife, worried that Shen Tao had not returned, were reassured by Shen Chen, who suggested the delay was due to the journey, that with night falling and recent wolf and tiger disturbances in Lanshan Hamlet, Shen Tao and his parents must have stayed at Shen Zhong’s home, so there was no need to fret.

Such things happened before. In these rural hamlets, everyone knew each other. Shen Tao and Shen Zhong were brothers and childhood friends. In Huangmen Pavilion, many Deng and Shen families were acquainted. When night fell and people couldn’t return home, it was common to knock on a relative’s door to stay overnight.

Still, Shen Min and his wife worried Shen Tao might attempt to return in the dark. So after dinner, they kept the oil lamp burning. Wasteful as it was, with the family soon to relocate and abandon hundreds of acres of land, a little lamp oil was hardly a concern.

Cao Ren surveyed the direction his subordinate indicated. They stood on the north-south post road at Huangmen Pavilion, with Zengyang Hamlet’s dwellings scattered to the east and west. The west was flat, with more farmland, the east was the hilly extension of Mount Niqu, rising perhaps twenty or thirty yards, dense with forest.

Near the post road, a small stream flowed from the mountains. Across the creek stood the house at the mountain’s foot, slightly elevated, about a hundred yards from the road, with intersecting fields, a pond, and mulberry and bamboo groves between.

By moonlight, Cao Ren quickly assessed the terrain. His gaze swept to the small bridges on the east and west and he ordered, “Ten men guard each bridge on east and west. The rest follow me into the hamlet. Ten men to each house—leave no chicken or dog alive. Twenty men guard the rear mountain. The rest follow me.”

The east side of the road had more than just Shen Zhen’s and Shen Min’s homes. At the foot of the hills, within a hundred-yard stretch along the creek, villagers had cleared fields, vegetable plots, mulberry groves, and ponds. About a dozen households lived at the mountain’s base.

Altogether, Zengyang Hamlet had over thirty households and a hundred villagers, fourteen living at the eastern mountain’s foot, twenty-three on the western plain, scattered across the hamlet. For generations, they had rooted themselves diligently in this land.

No one expected their peace would be shattered by uninvited guests. Not even Shen Chen, who was no oracle, knew that Cao Cao was aware of him and sought to snuff him out in the cradle.

Cao Ren’s troops crept into the village, crossing fields and mulberry groves, closing in on the nearest eastern household—less than twenty yards away.

Suddenly, a single bark pierced the night like thunder. Then a second, a third, a fourth.

“Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof!”

“Woof woof woof woof woof!”

“Woof woof woof!”

“Enough, why is the dog barking again?”

“Maybe strangers are passing through the village.”

“Who could be out at this hour?”

“Let’s go see.”

The village’s tranquility was instantly broken. Villagers, already resting, got up to investigate.

Cao Ren had anticipated this. He grew up in the countryside among the Cao clan, leading thousands of youths across the Huai and Si Rivers, often troubling the locals, so he knew well the custom of keeping dogs for household security.

So, almost as soon as the barking began, he ceased to hide his troops’ movement, signaling his men to follow the plan. Cao Ren himself led thirty soldiers in a direct assault on Shen Min’s house.