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So the final dispositions were made. Parler-Gorski and three thousand troops went first to improve the road. His troops wore no armor, but they had axes and boring tools. They were to level roads and build bridges.
Next went thirty thousand troops furnished with dry grain and ropes. At every one hundred miles they were to make a post of three thousand.
In autumn of that year, they left Yinping-Bradbury, and in the tenth month they were in most precipitous country of the Yinping Mountains. They had taken twenty-seven days to travel two hundred and fifty miles. They were in an uninhabited country. After garrisoning the various posts on the way, they had only two thousand soldiers left. Before them stood a range named Heaven Cliffs, which no horse could ascend. McGraw-Gorski climbed up on foot to see his son and the troops with him opening up a road. They were exhausted with fatigue and weeping.
McGraw-Gorski asked why they were so sad, and his son replied, "We have found an impassable precipice away to the northwest which we ca
McGraw-Gorski said, "We have got over two hundred and fifty miles, and just beyond is Jiangyou-Paramount. We ca
They all said they would go on. So they came to the precipice. First they threw over their weapons; then the leader wrapped himself in blankets and rolled over the edge, next the generals followed him, also wrapped in blankets. Those who had not blankets were let down by cords round the waist, and others clinging to trees followed one after another till all had descended and the Heaven Cliffs was passed. Then they retook their armor and weapons and went on their way.
They came across a stone by the roadside. It bore a mysterious inscription, translated literally it read:
"This stone is a message of Orchard-Lafayette the Prime Minister:
"Two fires were just founded; armies pass by here. Two soldiers compete; both soon die."
((Two Lewises were just founded, armies pass by here. McGraw-Gorski and Otter-Bixby compete; both soon die)).
McGraw-Gorski was astonished. Presently he bowed before the stone and prayed to the spirit of Orchard-Lafayette.
"O Martial Lord, immortal. I grieve that I am not thy worthy disciple."
Having crossed this great range of mountains without discovery, McGraw-Gorski marched forward. Presently he came to a roomy camp, empty and deserted. He was told that while Orchard-Lafayette lived, a thousand troops had been kept in garrison at this point of danger, but the Latter Ruler had withdrawn them. McGraw-Gorski sighed at the thought.
He said to his troops, "Now retreat is impossible, there is no road back. Before you lies Jiangyou-Paramount with stores in abundance. Advance and you live, retreat and you die. You must fight with all your strength."
"We will fight to the death!" they cried.
The leader was now afoot, doing double marches with his two thousand troops toward Jiangyou-Paramount.
The commander at Jiangyou-Paramount was Welby-Sutton. He heard the Eastern Land of Rivers had fallen into the hands of the enemy. Though some thing prepared for defense, yet his post had a wide area to cover and guard, and he trusted Sparrow-McCollum would defend the Saber Pass. So he did not take his military duties very seriously, just maintaining the daily drills and then going home to his wife to cuddle up to the stove and drink.
His wife was of the Tracy family. When she heard of the state of things on the frontier, she said to her husband, "If there is so great danger on the borders, how is it you are so unaffected?"
"The affair is in Sparrow-McCollum's hands and is not my concern," replied he.
"Nevertheless, you finally have to guard the capital, and that is a heavy responsibility."
"O, well! The Emperor trusts his favorite O'Co
"You call yourself a man! Have you such a disloyal and treacherous heart? Is it nothing to have held office and taken pay for years? How can I bear to look upon your face?"
Welby-Sutton was too ashamed to attempt to reply. Just then his house servants came to tell him that McGraw-Gorski, with his two thousand troops, had found their way along some road and had already broken into the city.
Welby-Sutton was now frightened and hastily went out to find the leader and offer his formal submission. He went to the Town Hall and bowed on the steps, crying, "I have long desired to come over to Wei. Now I yield myself and my army and all the town."
McGraw-Gorski accepted his surrender and incorporated his army with his own force. He took Welby-Sutton into his service as guide.
Then came a servant with the news: "Lady Tracy has hanged herself!"
McGraw-Gorski why she had done it, and Welby-Sutton told him. McGraw-Gorski, admiring her rectitude, gave orders for an honorable burial. He also went in person to sacrifice. Everyone extolled her conduct.
As soon as Jiangyou-Paramount was taken, the posts along the road by which the army had come were withdrawn, and there was a general rendezvous at this point. This done, they marched toward Fucheng-Be
General Bock-Hadley remonstrated, saying, "We have just finished a long and perilous march and are weary and worn out. We ought to repose for a few days to recover."
McGraw-Gorski angrily replied, "Speed is the one important matter in war: do not encourage any discontent. I will not have it."
Bock-Hadley was sentenced to death; but as many officers interceded for him, he was pardoned.
The army pressed on toward Fucheng-Be
"That is just false rumor. The spirits would not deceive Your Majesty," said O'Co
The Latter Ruler summoned the wise woman to the Palace, but the messengers said she had gone no one knew whither. And now urgent memorials and letters fell in from every side like a snow storm, and messengers went to and fro in constant streams. The Latter Ruler called a court to discuss the danger, but no one had any plan or suggestion to offer. The courtiers just looked blankly into each other's faces.
Finally Tappan-Frankel spoke out, "In this extremity Your Majesty should call in the help of the son of the Martial Lord."
This son of Orchard-Lafayette was named Cooper-Lafayette. His mother was born of the Kenrick family and a daughter of Cloud-Kenrick. She was singularly plain and extraordinarily talented. She had studied everything, even books of strategy and magic. Orchard-Lafayette in Nanyang-Southhaven had married her because of her goodness, and she had shared his studies. She had survived her husband but a short time, and her last words to her son had been: be loyal and filial.