Jingguan City also fell under rain.
Since last night, a fierce wind rose, accompanied by ominous thunder, crackling and rumbling. At midnight, large raindrops rattled against the windows, like rain pattering on banana leaves.
In the past, this city, festive and flamboyant as a brocade, known as the Heavenly City, appeared especially deserted today, exuding an air of desolation.
In Southern City, right along the main road facing the city gate, the flying eaves and upturned corners of street-side teahouses and taverns were packed with people all morning.
Yet there was no buzz of conversation. At each table, whether scholars or worldly society members with swords at their sides, or pairs exchanging glances with barely moving lips, glancing out the window from time to time, or bowing their heads to sip their tea or wine.
Only the sound of servant boys carrying kettles shuttling between tables and, outside, under the flying eaves, the ringing of the dual fish-shaped bell as it was carried by the wind and rain, clinking incessantly.
The air was heavy, filled with a suffocating atmosphere.
Outside a tavern near the southern city wall,
"Splash, splash, splash,"
the sound of footsteps splashing through water arose.
Then, a cry of surprise followed,
Subsequently, the originally stifling tavern came alive with the creaking of chairs and tables being moved, as silhouettes darted about, rushing towards the windows or the doors.
The sound of doors opening and windows being pushed spread along the whole street.
And upon opening the doors and windows, what came into sight was a street already lined with people, some holding umbrellas, but more often, simply drenched by the rain, allowing it to wash over them.
Among these figures were mostly old people, as well as women and children.
Beneath the veil of rain, each face was careful, eager, wretched, and timid, gazing towards the city gate. The sound of children’s cries and the sobbing of women wove into the storm, whistling pitifully.
From afar, there came a rolling thunder, as the central gate opened.
One after another, Iron Armor Cold Light figures tramped along with the sound of horse hooves splashing through water, entering the city.
Yet that brilliance of iron armor was no longer visible. Through the mist and rain, there were only battered iron armors, blood-stained horses, fragmented banners, and pairs of dim eyes.
The first batch of wounded and defeated soldiers had rushed back to Jingguan City!
There were thousands, with flags of different patterns fluttering in the wind and rain.
The Second Mountain, the Fifth Mountain, the Seventh Mountain, the Eighth Mountain...
These soldiers had lost their combat effectiveness, with arms missing and legs broken, eyes blinded, with fresh blood staining the gauze, each face bearing a color of defeat.
Others were either still resisting up front or had perished.
The waiting civilians rushed forward, completely disregarding the horses charging down the streets, weaving among them, calling out names.
Elders searched for their sons who had gone off to war;
Wives, with their children, sought their husbands;
And young girls looked for the lovers they saw countless times in their dreams at midnight.
People weaved through the continuously advancing horses, speedily searching for the ones they had longed for day and night, hoping for their return.
Some found whom they sought.
A pair of elders, around fifty years of age, spotted a figure on a horse. Even though the figure turned his head away, the elders still recognized him as their son, stopping the horse and shouting out in urgency.
The figure turned back, his face smeared with blood and mud, his eyes swollen red, his voice hoarsely rolling out two words, "Father, mother!"
The two elders, seeing the man was indeed their son, then noticed his empty sleeve. Tears streamed down their faces, and the mother collapsed to the ground.
This bone and flesh, received from the parents, born after ten months in the womb, had turned out , how could it not pain a person’s heart.
The Armored Soldier desperately tried to jump down to help his mother, but as he landed, the one leg he stood upon wavered, he slipped, and the whole person crashed to the ground, splashing mud. The pant leg that slid open revealed a stump as thick as an arm attached to a wooden peg. Below the knee of his left leg was nothing but emptiness; just a wooden stick tied to his knee.
Seeing this, the Armored Soldier displayed panic, as if having done something wrong, quickly rolling his pant leg back up. But this sight could not be hidden from his parents, who were so heartbroken they could not breathe, kneeling to the ground, moving forward to embrace their son,
"My son, you’ve suffered, you’ve really suffered!"
This scene was but one of many unfolding everywhere.
Yet they, comparatively, were the lucky ones.
Many more people passed through the crowd but could find no trace of their dearly missed loved ones.
In the heavy rain, amongst the crowd, weaving through horses, they continued to search, their faces showing bewilderment, helplessness, fear, until they couldn’t help but burst into sobs.
A young woman in a grey tunic, delicate in her beauty, stood in the rain, her face wet with either rain or tears, in the crowd, stopping horse after horse, asking the Armored Soldiers returning, repeating a single question.
"Excuse me, do you know a person? His name is Zuo Zhi, from the Jiushan Left-wing Vanguard Camp. He said he would come back."
But the woman received no answer.
She was a humble woman who did not know that the flags of different mountains varied, nor did she understand those details. She only knew that her betrothed man, wearing Black Armor, had said he would come back to marry her before he left through this city gate.
At this moment, a stream of Black Armor passed by her side, yet she could not find her lover.
Amidst the rain and wind, she stood alone in her original place, weeping sorrowfully.
While in the street-side teahouses and taverns, the spectators on the first floor, witnessing this touching scene unfolding, some sighed heavily, some clenched their fists, others looked indifferently at these battered soldiers retreating from the battlefield, discussing the state of affairs.