prove valuable.'
Both men shook their heads as if to clear them, then joined Batu. While Pe supervised the removal of Kei Bot's body, the three surviving generals fell into a discussion of logistics, debating the best type of shelters to build for the months ahead, where they could secure a steady food supply, how their soldiers would fuel cooking and, eventually, heating fires, and a hundred other details.
By the end of the week, the Shou were making considerable progress toward establishing a siege camp. A group of scouts found a bank of clay on the shore of a nearby river, so the Chief of Works built kilns to fire bricks. Without straw or something similar to add to the mix, the bricks would not hold together very long. That did not trouble Batu, for he needed them to last only a few months. Win or lose, the siege would be over by winter.
Just outside arrow range, under the guidance of the engineers, the Army of Hai Yuan was encircling the city with a trench that would eventually become a defensive fortification. The Master of Ample Supplies solved the fuel problem by developing a program to collect dried horse dung, reserving the small supply of wood within riding of distance of camp for firing the kilns.
Still, the Shou could not solve all their problems easily. Batu sent a messenger to the summer palace asking for artillery and reinforcements, but he knew it would be at least six weeks before any substantial aid arrived. Food was especially scarce, for the barbarians had been camped outside Shou Kuan for nearly a month. To procure even small amounts of provisions, the Shou foraging parties had to travel over one hundred miles. When the riders did find a village that might have some grain, the lookouts mistook the filthy pengs for barbarians and burned the communal food-stores.
Batu and his subordinates were in his tent discussing these problems when Pe entered. 'Excuse me, General,' the adjutant said, bowing low. 'The Tuigan have dispatched a messenger and ten escorts under a flag of truce.'
The two first degree generals raised their eyebrows. 'One thing is for certain,' said Wak'an. 'The enemy isn't surrendering this soon.'
'Not ever,' Batu replied. From the stories of his greatgrandfather, he knew that the Tuigan did not ask or grant mercy. That knowledge only made him more curious about what the envoy had to say. 'Bring the messenger to my pavilion.'
Pe bowed, then turned to execute the order.
While he waited for the messenger, Batu supervised the rearrangement of the pavilion. The barbarians, he knew, were careful observers, and he wanted the messenger to return to Yamun Khahan properly impressed. The General of the Northern Marches had his chair placed in the center of the room. His subordinates' chairs were placed to either side and slightly to the rear of his own. Finally, he had fifty senior officers summoned to the tent. After arranging them in a standing circle, he explained that no matter what he said or did, they were to remain solemn and perfectly quiet.
A few minutes later, Pe entered the tent. Bowing very low, the adjutant said, 'With your permission, General, I present the Grand Historian of the Tuigan Empire, Koja the Lama.'
Batu nodded, then Pe opened the tent flap. Koja was not the stocky, fierce figure Batu had expected. Instead, the lama was a small wiry man with a priest's shaven head. His bulky armor hung off his hunched shoulders like rags on a beggar. He moved forward at an overly confident pace, studying his environment with alert, intelligent eyes.
Behind Koja came ten Tuigan warriors. They all wore black k'ai armor and skullcaps trimmed in sable fur. Their swords remained in their scabbards.
Batu nodded to the messenger's escorts. 'Who are they?'
'My bodyguard,' the messenger replied in stilted Shou. 'The khahan insisted. I am his anda, you see.'
Because Batu spoke the Tuigan language, he knew that by anda, the messenger meant he was Yamun Khahan's brother in spirit. Koja was politely informing the general that killing him would anger the khahan. Batu found it interesting that the lama thought he should be concerned about the khahan's temper.
'Your bodyguards will wait outside,' Batu responded, frowning at the messenger. 'If I decide to kill you, a hundred times that many men will not save your life.'
The lama studied Batu with a dubious expression. When the Shou commander's face remained fixed, Koja turned to the bodyguards and, speaking in Tuigan, told them to wait outside. The frowning warriors reluctantly obeyed.
As soon as the escort was gone, Batu addressed his adjutant. 'Have the bodyguards killed.'
Pe barely stopped short of gasping when Batu narrowed a warning eye at him. The other officers in the room showed no emotion, though Batu felt certain they were as shocked as his adjutant.
'We came under a flag of truce!' Koja sputtered.
The only response to the lama's objection was Pe leaving the room to execute the order.
'The khahan will-'
'You need no bodyguard in my camp, historian,' Batu interrupted, resting his elbows on the arms of his chair. 'The escort was an insult.'
Batu did not truly find the bodyguard insulting. The general simply wanted to impress upon the khahan that he was not afraid to fight. Doing something so deliberately provocative would send that message.
Outside the tent, there were several screams and thuds. A Tuigan warrior stumbled into the pavilion, three crossbow bolts protruding from his back. Two Shou soldiers followed and cut him down with their chiens. The lama watched the display with an expression of revulsion and utter disbelief.
A moment later, the scuffle outside ended. Pe returned and bowed to indicate that he had executed the order. As two guards dragged the dead Tuigan from the tent, Batu said, 'Now, anda-to-the-khahan, you may deliver your message.'
Koja's face went white. Nevertheless, he looked Batu in the eye. 'On behalf of Yamun Khahan, Ruler of the World and Illustrious Emperor of All Peoples, I am here to accept your surrender.'
Many of the Shou officers could not stop from snickering. Batu saw nothing funny about the khahan's message, for he was keenly aware that the Tuigan warriors outnumbered his pengs three-to-two. Nevertheless, he purposely turned up his lips in what he hoped would appear an amused and confident smile. A few moments later, he frowned as if remembering decorum. He scowled at his troops to quiet them.
After the pavilion returned to silence, Batu said, 'Tell Yamun Khahan that we have no use for surrender. Our only interest is his death.'
Koja grimaced at the words, obviously envisioning his master's fury when he delivered the Shou response.
Batu dismissed the lama with a wave of his hand, then looked to Pe. 'Give Koja his bodyguard's heads to take to the khahan. We would not want Yamun Khahan to think that his men surrendered instead of fighting.' Batu did not truly think that Yamun Khahan would doubt his guards' loyalty. He was just trying to make their deaths as striking as possible, thereby giving the Tuigan leader something to think about besides strategy.
The adjutant bowed. 'As you wish, my commander.' He moved forward to take the lama away.
As soon as Pe escorted the messenger from the room, Batu turned to his subcommanders. 'Prepare for battle,' he said. 'Position the Armies of Wak'an and Hai Yuan in front of the gates.'
A buzz filled the tent as the officers moved to obey.
'An ingenious plan,' commented Hai Yuan, rising. 'We can't storm the city, so you're provoking the enemy into leaving it.'
'That is not my intention at all,' Batu replied, taking the time to address both of his surviving subcommanders. 'We must not forget that there are one hundred thousand Tuigan and only sixty thousand Shou. Sooner or later, the barbarians will get hungry and decide to leave. If we're going to win the battle that follows, we'll need time to ring them in with our fortifications.'
'Then why insult the messenger?' Hai Yuan asked. 'Provoking the enemy will only make him attack sooner.'
'That is where you are mistaken,' Batu replied, a wry smile on his lips. 'Do you think he really expected us to surrender? He sent the messenger to spy upon our camps and to see whether I was confident or afraid. By insulting the messenger, I told the khahan I was confident, that I wanted to fight. If he believes I want him to attack, he will wait.'
'How can you be sure?' asked Wak'an, furrowing his brow skeptically. 'Is it not possible that he will see
