Lead-heavy clouds hung like cotton quilts, the light of day as sullen as dusk.
By noon, Yang Ge led an army of vassal soldiers from Danma Province through more than twenty miles of mountain roads into Tanba Country. Further ahead lay Tanigawa, and beyond that Sasayama—an obligatory pass for entering the capital of Heian-kyō and also the last barrier to the northwest of Heian-kyō. Once Sasayama was breached, the army could march straight through, heading directly for Heian-kyō!
Clothed in black, Yang Ge rode at the head of the army astride Erhei. Erhei, nearly eight feet tall at the withers, carried the eight-foot-tall Yang Ge. As they moved ahead of the generally shorter vassals, the pair resembled a dark eagle leading a troop of chicks...
"Report..."
