The Great Wall
Aidan Marcu
ong ago, the Dragon Emperor summoned his armies to build a Great Wall and defend the Chinese from
the Mongolians. Thirty years passed and only a small section of the Wall was built. The Mongolians
never ceased attacking the Chinese from the northern border.
said
s Chow, Group 1: Fiction, Chinese International School
My name was Si Yi Chuan - I was an archer. One day, the Dragon Emperor called me upon and
, “
You have been a great soldier, so I shall promote you to Marshal. Find a way that we can surprise
the Mongolians and land a heavy blow.” My heart leapt at these words. I had been promoted!
L
I went back to my quarters, lay down on my bed and thought about the Dragon Emperor’s directions. The
Mongolian army was known to be brave and powerful, we could only win by outsmarting them. I decided to
mislead the Mongolian general by supplying him false intelligence. Pretending to be an ordinary Mongolian
soldier would make me unsuspected.
The next evening, I disguised myself as a Mongolian scout and headed to my enemy’s camp. I then went
into the Mongolian General’s tent and exclaimed, “My lord, I discovered from the Chinese army that the Dragon
Emperor was murdered by a traitor!” The Mongolian General was overwhelmed. “What good news! We can
rejoice!” A sumptuous feast was held by the Mongolians to celebrate the Dragon Emperor’s death.
On the night of the feast, all the Mongolians ate and drank so much that they fell into a deep sleep. Past
midnight, the campfire at the Mongolian site went out. Only stars glittered in the sky. My team then penetrated
into the Mongolian campsite. We rushed into the banquet room and found the Mongolian General. Then, we tied
him up with chains and brought him back to the Wall.
I interrogated the General about his war plans. “Reveal your plans now or we shall throw you into the den
with tigers inside it.” The Mongolian general yielded. The plan was that they were going to prepare ladders to
place on the Wall and climb up to attack us.
The Mongolian soldiers were very shocked when they realized their General had gone missing. They
decided to force their way into our base. Many tall ladders were pushed close to each other and against the Wall
by the Mongolian troops. Their soldiers started to climb up, holding spears and swords, shouting, “Let’s rescue
our General!”
I then gave orders to my fellow archers. “Light up your arrowheads! Shoot down the soldiers and burn the
ladders!” Fire began to spread from one ladder to another. The Mongolian soldiers couldn’t stand the heat and
they all fell down from the burning ladders. Seeing this, the remaining Mongolian soldiers retreated hastily.
The Dragon Emperor wanted to promote me as his General after my successful victory. I declined as I didn’t
want to fight anymore. I left the army and settled in a small village where I could see the Great Wall being
completed from far away.
***