More than ten thousand Manchu cavalry chased westwards

after the Third Unit of the Muslim's Black Flag

Brigade. The Muslims were riding the best horses, but

the commander of the Manchu troops was under orders

from General Zhao Wei to catch the Muslim force, and

he urged his men on mercilessly. The two armies

charged across the desert, the roar of horses's hooves

sounding like thunder. After a few dozen miles, a herd

of several thousand cattle and sheep suddenly appeared

in the path of the Manchu army and the soldiers chased

after them shouting for joy, and killed as many as

they could for food. Their pace slowed. The Muslims,

meanwhile, galloped on, never once being forced to

clash with the pursuing Manchu troops. Close to

evening, they saw a pall of thick smoke rising from

the east.

"Mistress Huo Qingtong has won!" The Muslim commander

shouted. "Turn back east!" The warriors' spirits

soared and they reined their horses round. Seeing them

turning, the Manchu troops were perplexed and charged

forward to attack, but the Muslims swung round them at

a distance, the Manchus following.

The Muslim units galloped through the night, the

Manchus always in sight. The Manchu commander wanted

to gain great merit for himself, and many of his

cavalry horses died of exhaustion. Towards midnight,

they came across General Zhao Wei riding in front of

about three thousand wounded. Zhao Wei's hope rose

slightly as he saw the Manchu column approach.

"After their success, the enemy will be in a state of

unpreparedness," he thought. "So if we attack now, we

will be able to turn defeat into victory." He ordered

the troops to advance towards the Black River, and

after ten miles or so, scouts reported that the Muslim

army was camped ahead. Zhao Wei led his commanders

onto a rise to view the scene and a chill shook each

of them to the bottom of their hearts.

The entire plain was covered in camp fires, stretching

seemingly endlessly before them. They heard from far

off the shouts of men and the neighing of horses, and

they wondered how many warriors the Muslims had

mustered. Zhao Wei was silent.

"With such a huge army against us, no wonder...no

wonder we have encountered some set-backs," one of the

senior military officials, Commander Herda, said.

Zhao Wei turned to the others. "All units are to mount

up and retreat south," he ordered. "No-one is to make

a sound."

The order was received badly by the troops who had

hoped to stop at least long enough for a meal.

"According to the guides, the road south passes the

foot of Yingqipan Mountain and is very dangerous after

heavy snows," Herda pointed out.

"The enemy's forces are so powerful, we have no choice

but to head southeast and try to meet up with General

Fu De," Zhao Wei replied.

The remnants of the great army headed south, and found

the road becoming more and more treacherous as they

went. To the left was the Black River, to the right,

the Yingqipan Mountain. The night sky was cloudy and

ink-black, and the only light was a faint glow

reflecting off the snow further up the mountain slope.

Zhao Wei issued a further order: "Whoever makes a

sound will be immediately executed." Most of the

soldiers came from Northeast China and knew that any

noise could shake loose the heavy snow above them and

cause an avalanche that would kill them all. They all

dismounted and led their horses along with extreme

care, many walking on tip-toe. Three or four miles

further on, the road became very steep, but as luck

would have it, the sky was by now growing light. The

Manchu troops had been fighting and running for a

whole day and a night, and there was a deathly

expression on the face of each one.

Suddenly, there was a shout from a scout and several

hundred Muslim warriors appeared on the road ahead

standing behind a number of primitive cannons. Scared

out of their wits, the Manchu troops were thrown into

confusion and many turned and fled just as the cannons

went off with a roar, spraying iron shards and nails

into them, instantly killing more than two hundred.

As the boom of the cannon faded, Zhao Wei heard a

faint rustling noise, and felt a coldness on his neck

as a small amount of snow fell inside his collar. He

looked up the mountain side and saw the snow fields

above them slowly beginning to move.

"General!" Herda shouted. "We must escape!"

Zhao Wei reined his horse round and started galloping

back the way they had come. His bodyguards slashed and

hacked at the soldiers in their path, frantically

pushing them off the road into the river below as the

rumble of the approaching snow avalanche grew louder

and louder. Suddenly, tons of snow intermingled with

rocks and mud surged down onto the road with a

deafening roar that shook the heavens.

Zhao Wei, with Herda on one side and Zhang Zhaozhong

on the other, escaped the catastrophe. They galloped

on for more than a mile before daring to stop. When

they did look back, they saw the several thousand

troops had been buried by snow drifts more than a

hundred feet thick. The road ahead was also covered in

deep snow. Surrounded by such danger and having lost

an entire army of forty thousand men in one day, Zhao

Wei burst into tears.

"General, let us go up the mountain slope," said

Zhang. He picked up Zhao Wei and raced off up the

slope with Herda following along behind.

Huo Qingtong, watching from a distant crest, shouted:

"Someone's trying to escape! Catch them quickly!"

Several dozen Muslims ran off to intercept them. When

they saw the three were wearing the uniforms of

officials, they rubbed their hands in delight,

determined to catch them alive. Zhang silently

increased his pace. Despite the weight of Zhao Wei, he

seemed to fly across the treacherously slippery slope.

Herda could not keep up with him and was cut off by

the Muslims and captured after a spirited fight. Apart

from Zhao Wei and Zhang, only a few dozen of the

Manchu troops survived the avalanche.

Huo Qingtong led the Muslim warriors back to their

camp, along with the prisoners. By now, the Muslims

had taken the main Manchu camp, thereby acquiring huge

supplies of food and weapons. The Four Tigers were

among those taken prisoner after being found bound and

gagged inside a tent. Chen asked them why they had

been put there, and the eldest of the four giants

replied: "Because we helped you. General Zhao said he

would have us killed after the battle." Chen pleaded

before Huo Qingtong to allow the four to go free, and

she agreed.
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