after breaking out of the ring, xin yan followed theroute chen had indicated, galloped to the muslim campand presented the letter to muzhuolun. the old man hadbeen frantic with worry, and jumped up joyfully as heread his daughter's note.

"call the troops together!" he ordered.

"how many manchu troops were there surrounding you?"huo qingtong asked xin yan.

"four or five thousand altogether."huo qingtong bit her lip and paced from one side ofthe tent to the other, deep in thought. horns soundedoutside as the soldiers began to gather, and muzhuolunwas just about to go out to join them when huoqingtong suddenly turned to him.

"father, we can't go," she said.

muzhuolun looked at her in astonishment, uncertain ifhe had heard correctly. "what....what did you say?""i said we can't go."he was about to fly into a rage, but then rememberedhow clear-thinking and intelligent his daughterusually was. "why?" he asked.

"zhao wei is a very capable general. he would notdispatch four or five thousand troops just to captureour two envoys. it must be a trap.""even if it is a trap, how can we stand by and let themanchus kill your sister and our red flower societyfriends?"huo qingtong hung her head and said nothing. "i amafraid that if we go, we will not only fail to rescuethem, but will sacrifice several thousand more livesas well." she said finally.

muzhuolun slapped his thigh in exasperation. "but sheis your own flesh and blood!" he cried. "and we owemaster chen and the others a great debt. even if wedied trying to save them, what would it matter?

you....you...." he was both angry and hurt by hisdaughter's ungratefulness.

"father, listen to me. it may be possible to save themand win a great victory as well."muzhuolun's expression changed immediately. "well, whydidn't you say so earlier, child?" he said. "how canwe do it? i will do whatever you say.""father, are you truly willing to do whatever i say?""i was talking nonsense a moment ago. don't pay anyattention. how should we proceed? tell me quickly!""well, give me the command arrow. i will command thisbattle." muzhuolun hesitated for a second then handedit to her. huo qingtong knelt to receive it, thenprostrated herself on the ground, praying to allah.

"father," she said when she stood up. "you and brothermust follow my orders.""if you can save them and beat the manchus, i will doanything," he replied.

"all right, then it is settled." she walked out of thetent with her father and over to the troops, alreadywaiting in ranks with their commanders.

"brothers!" muzhuolun called out to them. "today, wewill fight the manchus to the death. the battle willbe commanded by mistress huo qingtong."the soldiers raised their sabres and roared: "may thetrue god protect her and lead us to victory!""right," said huo qingtong flourishing her commandarrow. "everyone return to their tents to rest." thecommanders led their troops away. muzhuolun was toostunned to speak.

they went back inside the tent and xin yan prostratedhimself before huo qingtong and kowtowed frantically.

"mistress, if you don't send troops to save them, mymaster will surely die," he pleaded.

"get up. i didn't say i wouldn't save them.""there are only nine of them, of whom your sister doesnot know kung fu," he cried. "but the enemy isnumbered in thousands. if we delay even for a moment,they will be, they will be...""have the manchu armoured troops charged them yet?"huo qingtong interrupted him.

"not when i had left, but i'm afraid they will havedone so by now." huo qingtong frowned silently. xinyan cried even more mournfully and muzhuolun pacedabout the tent, uncertain of what to do.

"father, have you ever seen a wolf trap? a piece ofmutton is fastened to a metal hook, the wolf bites onit and pulls and the trap snaps shut. zhao wei sees usas the wolf and my sister as the mutton. no matter howbrave the red flower society fighters are, they couldnot stop four or five thousand determined soldiers.

that means that zhao wei has purposely decided not toorder an attack." muzhuolun nodded. "the manchus letthis young man out on purpose to get us to send arescue force. otherwise how could he have made italone through so many troops?""well, let us attack zhao wei's forces from the sideand catch them unawares," he replied.

"they have more than forty thousand troops while weonly have fifteen thousand," she pointed out. "in apitched battle we would certainly lose.""so from what you say, your sister and the others arebound to die," muzhuolun exclaimed. "i cannot bear tolose your sister, and i refuse to leave our friends indanger. i will take five hundred men with me. if wecan rescue them, it will be because of allah's help.

if we cannot, then we will die with them."huo qingtong said nothing.

xin yan began frantically kowtowing before her oncemore, his forehead striking the ground heavily. "ifour master has done anything to offend you mistress,please forgive him," he cried.

huo qingtong realised he suspected her motives. "don'ttalk such nonsense," she said angrily.

xin yan looked startled for a second, then jumped up.

"if you are determined to be so cruel, i will go anddie with my master," he said. he ran out of the tent,leapt on the white horse and galloped away.

"we must go and help them!" muzhuolun pleaded.

"father, the chinese have a saying that it is betterto rely on a good plan than on bravery. we areout-numbered, so we must make use of surprise if weare to gain victory. we must beat zhao wei's trap witha trap of our own.""really?" said muzhuolun, only half believing her.

"father!" she exclaimed, her voice shaking. "don't saythat you suspect me too?"muzhuolun saw the tears brimming in her eyes and hisheart softened. "all right," he said. "we will do asyou say. now send out the troops immediately."huo qingtong thought for a moment, then said to anattendant: "strike up the drums." the drums rolled andthe commanders of each of the military units enteredthe tent. by now, the snow was falling thickly outsidethe tent and was already several inches thick on theground.

huo qingtong flourished the command arrow andannounced: "the first unit of the green flag brigadewill go to the western side of the great gobiquagmire, and the second, third, fourth, fifth andsixth units of the green flag will gather together thelocal herdsmen and farmers around the other sides."she gave the commanders their orders and the unitsdeparted one by one. muzhuolun was unhappy that someof their best troops had been sent off to doconstruction work rather than being sent to therescue.

"the first, second and third units of the white flagbrigade will go to yarkand city and to the blackriver, and will make various preparations as i willindicate," huo qingtong continued. "the first unit ofthe black flag and the kazakh unit will go up into thehills along the black river. the mongol unit willstation itself on yingqipan mountain." she gave eachcommander his individual orders, after which theybowed and left.

"father, you will command the forces to the east.

brother, you will command the forces to the west, imyself will command the second unit of the black flagbrigade and coordinate things from the centre. thegeneral campaign plan is like this..." she was justabout to explain in detail when muzhuolun stopped her.

"who is going to rescue your sister and the others?"he demanded.

"the third unit of the black flag will ride in fromthe east to save them. the fourth unit of the blackflag will do the same from the west. when you meetmanchu troops you must do as i indicate in theseorders." she quickly wrote out two notes and handedthem to the commanders. "your units must have the bestmounts available," she added. the two black flag unitcommanders bowed and retired.

"you have sent thirteen thousand of our best soldiersoff to do unimportant work and two thousand young boysand old men to effect a rescue. what is the meaning ofthis?" muzhuolun demanded.

"my plan is to...." huo qingtong began, but muzhuolunangrily cut her off.

"i don't believe you any more! you love master chen,but he loves your sister, so you intend to let both ofthem die. you.... you're heartless!"huo qingtong almost fainted from shock. muzhuolunstared at her for a second, then stormed out of thetent shouting: "i will go and die with your sister!"he leapt onto his horse and galloped away into thedesert, brandishing his sabre.

her brother saw how distressed she was and tried tocomfort her. "father is very confused," he said. "hedidn't know what he was saying. don't worry."xin yan rode back to where chen and the others werewaiting, crying all the way. the beseiging manchuforces did little to stop him as he passed, loosingoff a dozen or so arrows as a matter of form only. hejumped off the white horse, led it onto the pit thensat down and began sobbing loudly.

"don't cry, what's the matter?" zhou qi asked.

xu sighed. "is there any need to ask? huo qingtongrefuses to send troops to rescue us.""i kowtowed before her...i pleaded..." xin yan sobbed.

the others were silent.

princess fragrance asked chen why he was crying. notwishing to hurt her, he said: "he couldn't breakthrough to get help." the princess took out herhandkerchief and gave it to him.

the morning of the third day dawned with the snowstill falling heavily and the manchu forces showing nosigns of attacking. xu was greatly puzzled. he turnedto xin yan and said: "what questions did mistress huoqingtong ask you?""she asked how may manchu troops were surrounding usand whether the armoured units had attacked yet."xu was excited. "we're saved! we're saved!" heexclaimed happily. the others stared at himuncomprehendingly.

"i was stupid to have doubted mistress huo qingtong,"he said. "truly small-minded. she is much, much wiserthan i.""what?" asked zhou qi.

"if the manchu armoured cavalry attacked us, would westand a chance?""hmm," zhou qi replied. "yes, it's strange.""and even if they didn't have armoured cavalry, if somany thousands of soldiers charged at once, could theeight of us hold them off? we would be trampled tomincemeat." the others agreed the manchus had beenremarkably restrained.

chen suddenly understood. "yes, that's it!" he cried.

"they have held back on purpose in the hope of luringthe muslim forces in to try and rescue us. butmistress huo qingtong has guessed it and refused to betricked.""whether she's tricked or not, we're still finished,"commented zhang jin.

"no, we're not," chen replied. "she is certain tothink of a way out."their spirits were suddenly revived, and leaving twoof the heroes to keep guard, the others settled downto rest at the bottom of the pit.