I hit the ground with a metallic clang as my armored boots made contact with the cobblestones.

  Lu's command was well warranted, the streets here too narrow to maneuver effectively on horseback. The remaining wolves rushed to form a square formation, my tired mind dragging up that all formations facing out with a hole in them were called “circle formation” in this era. Hidden behind their shields, and their skill allowing them to adjust their shields to intercept, several throwing knives and needle-like darts pinged off the shields like hail on a car roof. Trooper Meng scrambled to the empty space beside me.

  I counted five shadows. The last of Feng's wolves to dismount was forced to run the gauntlet to make it into the security of the shield wall. His dao flashed as he launched himself at a bald monk, who deftly left aside. I could make out the beads of sweat running down his brow.

  I stepped forward, only for Lu to hold out a grim hand and more ranged projectiles clanging against our defensive wall. He slowly shook his head.

  The isolated Wolf was skilled, he feinted and struck out at the monk without managing to land a blow, the monk's robes flowing as he moved like a leaf on the wind. Dao overextending in a lunge the monk stepped into the guard of the Wolf, who raised his shield to block. The monk rolled over the shield planting a firm palm strike on the back of the Wolf. Blood spewed from the dying man's mouth.

  I offered a martial salute. “Zhang RuLin, the Black Wind Sword” I could worry about leaking my secret identity later, but at the very least our attackers might still follow JiangHu convention. They did and all five paused and returned the salute.

  “The Jin brothers from Hedong," said the older of two similar looking brothers each wielding a pair of straight Dao.

  “Flying Knife Li” Introduced a shorter, stockier man pulling another dagger out of nowhere.

  “Jade Faced Scholar Jiang QingWen” Announced a pale young man cooling himself with a folding fan. I noted tiny holes he must have been shooting those needle darts out of, poisoned I imagine.

  “Iron Palm Zhou Mo, of the Shaolin Temple” Said the Monk in a resonant booming voice. “I didn't expect the renown Black Wind Sword to be a military man”

  "Renowned?" I asked, trying to buy time while assessing our tactical position. The narrow street worked against mounted combat but could favor a disciplined shield wall. "I'm flattered, but we're out of time. The grain…"

  "The grain can wait," the Jin elder interrupted, his paired dao catching the moonlight. "We're here for you, Zhang RuLin. Vice-Director Song sends his regards."

  So Song had finally made his move, but he'd miscalculated. He knew Zhang RuLin but not the Black Wind Sword.

  Lu Chengfeng's voice cut through the tension like a blade. "Scholar Zhang, with respect, let us handle this. We've already lost three brothers. This is what we train for."

  I glanced at the remaining Wolves. Their shields overlapped in perfect synchronization despite the casualties. Behind them, I could see several had crossbows ready, waiting for the command.

  "Commander Lu," I nodded, stepping back. "The formation is yours. Trooper Meng and I will secure the grain stores." I paused, meeting his eyes. "End this quickly."

  Lu's scarred face showed grim satisfaction. "Wolves! Fish scale formation, three ranks! Crossbows to the rear!" He moved to join the formation himself.

  The transformation was instantaneous. The circular defensive formation flowed into overlapping rows, shields interlocking like scales. Two ranks of blockers to prevent something like the Iron Palm Zhou's maneuver from happening again. They were spaced so each rank had some room to maneuver.

  Three crossbowmen formed the third rank, their weapons trained on the five martial artists. They wielded ChuKoNu, rapid fire, low draw weight, perfect for unarmored targets. Common for putting down peasant rebellions.

  "First volley!" Lu barked.

  Three crossbow bolts whistled through the air. The Jin brothers deflected them with spinning dao, but it forced them to move, breaking their positioning. Jade Faced Scholar snapped his fan closed, using it to bat away a bolt aimed at his chest.

  "Second volley, staggered!"

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  This time the bolts came in sequence, not unison. Iron Palm Zhou had to abandon an attack stance to sweep away two bolts with his sleeve. Flying Knife Li threw a blade that struck the lead Wolf's exposed leg before he could move his shield to block. The man dropped to one knee with a grunt, but immediately the second rank flowed forward, shield replacing shield without breaking formation.

  "Advance!" Lu commanded.

  The wall of shields pressed forward with mechanical precision. Flying Knife Li's blades sparked off overlapping metal. Iron Palm Zhou's devastating palm strike hit where three shields overlapped, the force dissipating across multiple defenders who merely grunted and kept advancing.

  The martial artists were being herded backward toward the warehouse wall, too tall to leap over. Jade Faced Scholar's poison needles couldn't penetrate the shield gaps, and the constant harassment of staggered crossbow fire kept them occupied.

  "They're trying to box us in!" the younger Jin brother snarled.

  But there was nowhere to go. The Wolves' formation was designed for this, narrow streets, overwhelming discipline against superior individual skill. As they reached the wall, the formation began to fan out, the wings extending to encircle. A second rank remained to catch anyone leaping over the first, and the crossbowmen drew Dao to join this second rank.

  I watched for another moment as the circle began to close. The five martial artists were forced closer together, the Jin brothers nearly colliding as they tried to deflect both crossbow bolts and probing dao strikes from multiple angles. Flying Knife Li couldn't find space to throw properly without hitting his allies.

  Multiple dao thrust inward simultaneously. The martial artists' superior skills meant nothing when attacks came from three directions at once. Iron Palm Zhou blocked two blades but took a cut across his ribs. The younger Jin brother parried desperately but his brother's wild swing nearly took his head off.

  They were stumbling over each other now, the half circle barely eight feet across and shrinking.

  I turned to Lu Chengfeng before departing. "If they surrender and bind each other, capture them and leave them tied here. Otherwise," I looked at the five increasingly desperate fighters, "finish this quickly. We don't have time for prolonged combat."

  Lu shook his head grimly. "No, they've seen us with crossbows, we cannot allow them to escape alive."

  As Trooper Meng and I jogged toward the warehouse district, I could hear Lu's voice behind us, cold and professional: "Wolves! Press the circle!"

  The sound of clashing steel intensified, then began to fade as we moved deeper into the maze of storage buildings. Whether from surrender or steel, the fight would be over soon.

  Meng and I charged into the warehouse doors marked “Youzhou Garrison”. To my relief I saw bundles of grain supplies still filling the warehouse.

  I almost laughed as the tension left my body. I wanted to sit down and rest my aching body, but I wasn't sure if I could get back up under the weight of my armor.

  Trooper Meng was ecstatic, “We did it!” He exclaimed “We've saved the grain”

  I took a moment to do a quick estimate of how much grain was actually in the warehouse, with Trooper Meng's help. It was made easier as the grain was stacked stacks of the same size, and each bundle was standardized to the same volume, which was how grain was typically measured. My estimate suggested this was pretty close, maybe a few percent short of what we'd expected, not really of alarm since the original amount was padded with excess.

  This took us several minutes to complete. Heard the familiar march of footsteps approach from outside. It was easy to tell this was the wolves returning from their successful battle, since they walked in step with one another while your average collection of martial artists did not.

  Lu ChengFeng entered and the same relief that showed on my face also shone on his. I noticed his men had retrieved all the crossbow bolts they'd expended, some broken, some bloodied. Three of the wolves were missing, presumably the injured man and someone to tend to him. "It looks like things went well," I remarked with a smile.

  "That was easier than cleaning up the Iron Vultures," Lu smiled back. "That was nasty business. Is the grain supply secured?"

  "It is, and it's all accounted for." I took a sword and slashed open a single grain sack, revealing the white rice within.

  "Then it's time to pack up and make way back to Chang'an!" Lu clapped me on the back.

  Something unsettled me though. If the grain was here, what was Song's embezzlement scheme then? We only saw 5 martial artists here, even with 30 how was he actually planning to move the grain?

  My foot was out the warehouse door when I paused. Lu and Meng stopped as well and turned to me confused.

  "Something doesn't add up," I said, cold sweat breaking down my back. I whirled and drew my sword again, slashing at rice bundles left and right. Lu jogged a few paces and was reaching out a hand before he too froze.

  Unhusked rice poured out from one of the rice bundles I'd just slashed. It was paddy rice, worth less than half that of the white rice behind it.

  I was exhausted no longer, my sword rose and fell, and bundle after bundle was opened. It was still just a small sample of the entire warehouse but the deception here became shockingly clear.

  Half the white rice had been replaced with paddy rice. Odds are the white rice was never loaded in the first place and just in this warehouse alone that added up to an astronomical amount of silver.

  Suddenly it all made sense, how Song was able to thwart our officials in the south, why no action to persecute Song after the trial. How Song was able to hire so many Jianghu masters despite being low on funds. He'd already made his move and we were several stones behind.

  “Lord Feng's life is at risk!” I realised, Song probably thought I'd been acting as Vice Minister Feng's right hand. That explained why he didn't make a move against me for days and drew me here. This was his plan to clip Lord Feng's wings. That means he intended to act after I left, when there were fewer present who could aid him.

  We rushed to the horses and rushed back towards the capital. The wolves carried their dead and We rode past the 5 bodies left for warehouse workers to discover in the morning.

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