Volume II: The Battle of Hulao Gate Chapter Fifty-Seven: Severing the Banner and Changing the Flag—the Outcome is Decided

This sudden force descending from the heavens was, of course, the Tang army’s surprise contingent led by Li Xuanba. Long before Li Shimin and Dou Jiande commenced their great battle, Li Mingyu and his master, Xuanba, had secretly set out from the rear pass of Hulao with several hundred men, each with two horses, racing toward the rear of Dou Jiande’s army.

The Xia army’s lines stretched for more than ten miles. To elude detection by their scouts, the master and disciple led their men on a wide detour, taking only secret byways and hidden paths. Fortunately, each man had two horses, allowing them to alternate and maintain their speed. After half an hour of hard riding, they reached a dense southern forest near the Xia rear lines just before the decisive battle began. There, Xuanba led his troops to lie in ambush, and Mingyu ordered all the bird nests in the surrounding trees to be knocked down, so no startled birds would circle and give away their position.

Next, Mingyu took over a hundred porters and fifty Tang soldiers into the eastern woods, laying a false trail to lure the enemy. The Xia army, confident and unsuspecting, fell for his ruse, wasting precious time as they were drawn into the forest.

Seeing the enemy ensnared, Li Xuanba realized the moment had come. With a wave of his lance, he shouted, “All troops, attack!” and charged at the head of three hundred Tang soldiers straight into the Xia rear.

The rear guard, mostly raw recruits, panicked at the sudden assault. Before they could react, their morale collapsed, and they scattered without a fight. The Tang force cleaved through them, cutting the rear from the main army. The Xia rear commander, Zeng Shou, tried to rally a resistance but was unhorsed by Xuanba in a single blow.

With the rear thrown into chaos, Xuanba pressed the fleeing Xia soldiers ahead as vanguard, driving straight into the central camp. As they smashed into the main force, the Xia troops were thrown into confusion. The fleeing soldiers disrupted the central cavalry’s formation; the Tang charged in their wake, cutting down the Xia as they cast aside weapons and armor, utterly routed.

Li Xuanba spotted Dou Jiande standing beneath the royal banner. Leveling his lance, he led his men in a direct charge, shouting as planned, “I am the Prince of Qin, Li Shimin! Dou Jiande, your fate is sealed!”

Xuanba’s armor, sent by Changsun, was one of two Kirin-motif suits left by their ancestor Changsun Song. Apart from the gold and silver beast-head accents, the two were identical. Xuanba and Li Shimin, brothers of the same mother, resembled each other closely, making it impossible to distinguish them in the heat of battle.

Dou Jiande, bewildered, was struck with terror, believing the Tang were invincible and that his own three thousand-strong detachment had been annihilated. Panic-stricken, he dared not remain. With no troops left around him and his own safety at risk, he thought only to retreat into his main force, regroup, and fight again.

This surprise tactic had been Mingyu’s earlier proposal: Luo Shixin and Niu Jinda would split off to block the Xia vanguard and left flank, while Li Shimin, seizing on the disorder, would lead his armored cavalry in a decapitating strike toward the enemy’s heart. If successful, all would rejoice; if not, the false attack would pin down the Xia elite, while Li Xuanba and his master would circle behind for a second surprise strike.

Yet even this ploy contained further cunning. Mingyu acted openly, drawing attention by feigning preparations so Dou Jiande would believe he had seen through the Tang’s whole strategy and disperse his forces, wasting time. Xuanba, meanwhile, struck in secret, feinting one way and attacking another, scattering the rear, stabbing into the center, impersonating Li Shimin in a sudden assault, so Dou Jiande, thinking his detachment destroyed, would lose his nerve, delivering a fatal blow to Xia morale.

Despite his youth, Li Mingyu understood the hearts of men, the pulse of the army, and the sway of morale with flawless precision. Plan within plan, surprise upon surprise, each tightly linked; the result was devastating, shattering Xia’s fighting spirit entirely.

The great royal banner was the commander’s flag, adorned with yak tails above and five-colored plumes below, rising several fathoms high, its presence a symbol of the supreme authority of the general. It could rally the heart of the army; when it advanced, it meant the commander was on the field, inspiring all. In battle, the banner moved only forward, never back. Its towering height made it a striking sight—should it advance, morale soared; should it retreat, it meant the commander had abandoned his men, a blow from which morale might never recover.

Amid the chaos, Li Shimin watched closely. Seeing Xuanba’s surprise attack succeed, the Xia main force thrown into turmoil, and Dou Jiande fleeing in terror, he rejoiced—victory was in hand!

Of the armored cavalry he led, only six or seven hundred remained. Raising his lance high, he shouted, “Armored cavalry, invincible! Dou Jiande has fled! Charge with me!” With mighty generals like Yuchi Gong, Cheng Yaojin, and Qin Qiong at his side, he dashed toward the Xia banner.

Hundreds of armored riders roared as one, “Dou Jiande has fled! Kill!” Their spirits soared, their courage multiplied. They rode hard after their leader.

As Tang morale swelled, Xia morale plummeted. Some sharp-eyed soldiers truly saw their commander fleeing on horseback. Stricken, a wave of abandonment washed over them—had they fought and died for nothing? The Tang were so ferocious, and even their king had fled. If they did not run, would they not be throwing their lives away?

Many Xia soldiers felt the same. Yet these were Dou Jiande’s elite, well-trained to follow orders, now thrown into confusion, each watching the others, paralyzed.

With morale shattered, the Xia troops stood stupefied, powerless to resist as the Tang charged the banner.

Li Shimin and his men reached the banner almost unopposed. Drawing his bow, he sent an arrow flying like a shooting star, striking the top of the flagpole. The carved-feather arrowhead knocked loose the yak-tail ornament, which quivered and fell.

Yuchi Gong understood. Leaping from his horse, he strode to the banner, drew his blade, his eyes bulging as he roared like thunder, and with a single stroke hewed through the thick pole, felling it with a crash.

A cloud of dust rose as the banner toppled. Li Shimin signaled, and Cheng Yaojin came forward, pulling from his tunic a blood-soaked, crimson war flag—the Black Dragon Banner of the armored corps.

Cheng Yaojin tore down the “Dou” banner and hoisted the Tang’s Black Dragon flag in its place.

With another roar, Yuchi Gong seized the pole, muscles bulging, and raised the great banner aloft by himself.

The blood-red flag snapped in the wind, the black dragon upon it twisting and writhing, fierce and imposing. In the storm of battle and sea of blood, it seemed almost alive, surging and howling, ready to burst forth.

This was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

The Xia troops had no heart left for battle, but needed only a trigger. Seeing the “Dou” banner replaced by the Tang’s Black Dragon, their morale collapsed entirely.

With a clatter, a Xia soldier dropped his spear, dismounted, clasped his head, and cried, “Spare me, Prince of Qin! I surrender!”

Another cast down his weapon, knelt, and pleaded, “I surrender! I beg for mercy from the Prince of Qin!”

One after another, Xia soldiers, defeated and dispirited, threw down their arms and surrendered.

The cries of surrender rang in Li Shimin’s ears, filling him with joy and relief. The battle was won.

He rode forward, calling out, “Surrender and you shall live! You are pardoned of all crimes!”

“Surrender and you shall live! You are pardoned of all crimes!” the hundreds of armored cavalrymen thundered, their voices shaking the heavens.

Fear, despair, and dejection are the most contagious of emotions. The clatter of dropped weapons echoed unceasingly as Xia soldiers knelt to surrender in droves. What began with a few hundred at the center soon spread in waves—first thousands, then tens of thousands.

With the dust settled, Dou Jiande’s cause was lost beyond recall.

He had hoped to fall back into his main force and regroup, but defeat came like a landslide. Seeing their commander abandon them, the Xia army’s morale and unity dissolved, and mass surrenders followed.

Dou Jiande ground his teeth in fury but was powerless. He personally executed over a dozen soldiers attempting to surrender, but it was like pouring a cup of water on a burning cart—utterly futile.

Watching his men surrender in swathes, his heart was heavy with sorrow. Only now did he understand what it meant for the people’s hearts and the tide of fate to turn.

With a long sigh, Dou Jiande said, “So be it! Fate, fortune, destiny! All my ambitions are as dust.” Seeing only a hundred loyal guards remaining, all hope vanished from his heart. With a wave of his hand, he said, “Heaven decrees thus, and the great tide cannot be resisted. Save yourselves as best you can!”

His guards, loyal to the last, pleaded, “How can you say such a thing, my lord? Victory and defeat are common in war! You still command vast lands and several thousand elite troops in the main camp. All is not lost!”

“Yes, yes! Why be defeated by a single setback? Li Shimin has won by luck alone. If we protect you and cross the Yellow River to Hebei, you can raise new armies and return to the fight!”

Their earnest words restored Dou Jiande’s spirit. He would not accept utter defeat. He rallied himself, crying, “You’re right! Li Shimin! This enmity will be avenged! Back to camp!”

Li Xuanba, having driven Dou Jiande to retreat, saw him attempting to escape and would not let the tiger return to the mountains. Mounting a relentless pursuit, he pressed on.

Yet the battlefield was utter chaos, with Xia soldiers everywhere. In the confusion, Li Xuanba lost his target amid the throng.

As the Xia surrendered in masses, Li Xuanba knew victory was theirs, though it irked him that Dou Jiande had escaped. Seeing the Xia utterly demoralized, he left two hundred Tang soldiers to guard the prisoners and led fifty armored cavalrymen through the chaos in search of Dou Jiande.

But with the Xia defeat now complete, even the fabled “Immortal Marshal” Dou Jiande could not turn the tide and was forced to retreat to his camp and flee north across the Yellow River.

Xuanba, with a handful of riders, pursued him eastward, determined to eradicate the threat once and for all.