Chapter 245: The Battle of Tongzhou

From Xue Huairang's supplementary orders, it was clear that he had basically decided to pull his foot back off Li Shouzhen's sinking ship! After all, compared to Li Shouzhen's side, which had raised its banners openly and fought with real swords and spears, his own position had considerably more room to maneuver. For now, he would wait and see how the situation and the course of events developed.

However, Xue Huairang was clearly not a clever man—or rather, his little schemes were far too obvious. His behavior over these past few days had long since fallen into the eyes of Li Shouzhen, who watched from across the river. And compared to Xue Huairang, Li Shouzhen was considerably more intelligent.

Xue Huairang wanted to play both sides, but Li Shouzhen's side would not have it. After his yabing officer rushed to Pujin to deliver the orders, word soon came back from the ferry crossing—the Pu army had successfully crossed westward.

Tongzhou and Hezhong Prefecture were divided by the Yellow River, with Puban being the most important route of communication between the two regions, as well as a place every strategist would fight to control... And since the seat of Hezhong Prefecture was governed right by the river, how could Li Shouzhen not have paid close attention to the West Ferry Head across the water? Over all this time, he had long since infiltrated and bought it out in secret.

Thus, the moment Xue Huairang's attitude was settled, Li Shouzhen immediately made his move. With Zhou Guangxun, the Deputy Military Governor of Hezhong, as the main commander, he sent five thousand troops across the river, and they succeeded almost without effort. After incorporating the thousand-plus Tongzhou troops at the ferry, they swiftly advanced westward, pressing directly toward Fengyi City.

Li Shouzhen probably hadn't even expected that, before he could fight a great battle against the imperial army, he would be forced to turn his drawn blade against an ally.

Upon learning of the upheaval at Pujin, Xue Huairang stamped his feet in the city, cursing Li Shouzhen's treachery while hurriedly ordering the fewer than two thousand defenders in Fengyi City to be on alert.

Regarding the rebel envoy Sun Yuan, there was one thing Xue Huairang hadn't lied about—Tongzhou's military strength was indeed weak. First, it was limited by natural conditions; second, after Xue Huairang took command of the province, military preparedness had fallen into disrepair. The wealth he had extorted was either stored in the treasury or spent on pleasure. Recruiting soldiers and buying horses, expanding military equipment—those things that consumed money and grain, Xue Huairang truly hadn't done much of.

The scourge of the military provinces had persisted for nearly two hundred years now. By this point, although the power of regional military governors was great, not all of them were single-mindedly focused on expanding their strength. Most of them simply wanted to guard their own little patch of land and play emperor of their own domain.

Aside from ambitious men like Li Shouzhen, conflict would only erupt when the court attempted to reduce the provinces and reach its hand into their bowls—and when it grew fierce, it meant swords and spears meeting.

Fengyi was no more than sixty li in a straight line from the banks of the Yellow River. Facing the rebels' menacing arrival at the city walls, Xue Huairang grew nervous—and among them was a portion of his own former troops. Presumably under Li Shouzhen's orders, the Pu army did not directly attack the city, but instead chose courtesy before force.

The envoy who entered the city for a "courtesy visit" was still the previous envoy Sun Yuan, but this time he walked in with his back straight. His arrogant, swaggering manner made Xue Huairang almost want to twist his head off.

Facing the rebels' coercion, Xue Huairang had little confidence in holding Fengyi. While he was hesitating, a change occurred—an army came from the west, and judging by its banners, it was the Shunyi Army from Yaozhou. Leading it were Song Yanwo, Military Governor of the Shunyi Army, and Patrol Inspector Qin Xi. Though their numbers were not great, they immediately gave Xue Huairang a bit of confidence.

With the arrival of the Shunyi Army, a fragile balance quickly formed beneath the walls of Fengyi. The imperial army and the Pu army, naturally, stood in sword-pointed opposition. Zhou Guangxun had more troops, but he was wary of the Tongzhou army in the city and held off for the moment. Song Yanwo had few men—just over two thousand—so he naturally would not take the initiative to attack. Instead, after making his presence known, he voluntarily withdrew to Shayuan Town, ten li southwest of Fengyi, where he set up camp and prepared defenses. For a time, Xue Huairang's attitude became the key factor swaying the battle situation.

In truth, Song Yanwo's approach was somewhat risky. But had he not done so, Xue Huairang might well have capitulated. With Liu Chengyou's instructions, Song Yanwo had been keeping a constant watch on the situation in Tongzhou and Hezhong. Of course, had it not been for Xue Huairang's hesitant behavior after Hezhong raised its rebellion, Song Yanwo would have chosen a safer course instead.

The three sides faced off beneath Fengyi City for a full two days. Unable to bear the urging from Li Shouzhen in the rear, and believing he had figured out the Shunyi Army's "true strength," Zhou Guangxun left a detachment to watch Fengyi City while personally leading his troops to attack Song Yanwo.

Launching a fierce assault with twice the numbers, the imperial army, though at a disadvantage, handled the response with ease throughout. A day of attacks yielded no results; the second day they continued. When the fighting reached its peak, a cavalry force of just over two hundred men struck the rebels from behind, charging straight at the rebel commander Zhou Guangxun.

The force that came was the Jingnan Army of Binzhou, personally commanded by Military Governor Yao Yuanfu. The old general, past sixty, could still mount a horse, draw his bow, and charge into formation with his blade.

For just those two hundred-plus riders to scatter several thousand rebels was still somewhat difficult, but Yao Yuanfu's purpose was merely to relieve the pressure on Song Yanwo from behind—and if he could also throw the rebel formation into chaos, so much the better. The real killing blow was the two thousand Jingnan infantry that came sweeping in after Yao Yuanfu.

Struck blow after blow, how could the rebels hold? They immediately routed. Zhou Guangxun had no thought of fighting to the death either—he led the retreat, joined up with the troops beneath Fengyi City, and fled in panic back toward Pujin.

In a single battle, the rebels lost over two thousand men, and their morale was shattered.

The imperial army did not pursue deeply. Yao Yuanfu met with Song Yanwo, exchanged mutual compliments, then combined their forces and pressed straight toward Fengyi City. As for the battle between the imperial army and the rebels, Xue Huairang had been sitting quite comfortably in the city. Upon learning the rebels had been defeated, he immediately donned his ill-fitting armor and personally led his troops out of the city, wanting to join the fight against the bandits.

"Duke Yao, the character of this Xue Huairang truly invites deep reflection!" As their forces turned to march together, Song Yanwo let out a sigh, and a trace of mockery involuntarily showed on his handsome face.

Song Yanwo had always been humble and courteous. After combining forces, he naturally deferred to the old general Yao Yuanfu as the leader, keeping a low posture and showing great respect. And Yao Yuanfu, for his part, felt goodwill toward Song Yanwo's modesty.

"Just a petty man!" Yao Yuanfu's contempt was utterly unrestrained. As he urged his horse forward, he clasped his hands to Song Yanwo: "Imperial Son-in-law, let us go see this Xue Huairang!"

"Duke Yao, after you!"

With Liu Chengyou's authorization given beforehand, Yao and Song showed no courtesy whatsoever toward Xue Huairang—they directly stripped him of his military command, took over Fengyi City, and rested their troops. Throughout the entire process, even though Xue Huairang was unwilling, he had no recourse and no other choice, unless he wanted to simply court death...

By the time the Tongzhou campaign had reached its conclusion, another little chick to the south, in Huazhou, had long since been settled. And the entire process had gone far more smoothly and easily.

Hou Zhang was not like Xue Huairang, and Huazhou was not like Tongzhou—to the west was the Yongxing Army, to the east the Tong'an Army, and further east still was the Baoyi Army of his "old brother" Zhao Hui.

When Hezhong rebelled, Bai Wenke, the Garrison Commander of the Capital and Military Governor of the Yongxing Army, directly led his troops eastward to suppress the rebellion, while Yang Ye, with perfect coordination, led his forces west to meet them.

If Xue Huairang still had a chance to choose, then Hou Zhang's side basically had little room for choice at all.

Surrendering troops and offering grain—from start to finish, not a drop of blood was spilled.