Chapter 249: Cries of

Regarding the defeats at the front, the discord among the generals, and the handling of the matter, Liu Chengyou was not as indignant as he had been in the imperial tent. He merely sent his close attendants and Wang Yu back to convey his edict, ordering the various armies before Hezhong to rest well, soothe the morale of the troops, and restore their fighting spirit, in preparation for the next step in suppressing the rebellion. Moreover, he emphatically stressed the status of Bai Wenke as Commander-in-Chief of the Hezhong field headquarters.

The Son of Heaven's "benevolence and magnanimity" actually made the generals at the front feel somewhat embarrassed. Bai Wenke in particular—an old general and a founding follower of the Great Han whose friendship with Liu Chengyou was not particularly deep—had not expected that the young emperor would possess such breadth of mind. Zhao Hui, meanwhile, felt both shame and unease; after having He Hui and Fan Aineng arrested, he no longer dared to act arrogantly and kept a low profile.

As the saying goes, shame gives rise to courage. If the imperial army's initial defeat had still allowed the various armies at Hezhong to feel a bit of schadenfreude, the rebels' slight resurgence—daring to send scout riders south to reconnoiter—was a slap in the face to all the imperial troops.

On the other hand, the old ministers and veteran generals filling the front lines, men like Bai Wenke and Zhao Hui, would not truly believe that the Son of Heaven had no major reaction to the defeat and would not pursue accountability. Perhaps harboring the mentality of atoning for their crimes through merit, with the support of Zhao Hui and others, on the third day after the defeat, Bai Wenke personally led the main army northward.

Just as Liu Chengyou had predicted, that earlier victory had no small impact on the situation—the rebels in the city suddenly gained a bit of confidence. The momentum and accumulated prestige the imperial army had built up leaked away like a tire punctured with a hole.

And Li Shouzhen seemed to have had a revelation, finally understanding how to fight this war. It was simply to hunker down, rely on the sturdy city walls, and fight a defensive counter-offensive, dragging the imperial army into a stalemate while waiting for the situation to change. If the imperial troops revealed any weakness, he would strike out decisively.

For instance, when Bai Wenke and the others led their forces to press close to the south of the city and set up camp, Li Shouzhen, emboldened, actually dared to personally lead troops out of the city to attack and disrupt their camp-building.

Li Shouzhen had calculated cleverly in his heart, wanting to imitate what had happened before—strike while the imperial troops had just arrived and had not yet secured their footing, catching them off guard again. Little did he know that Bai Wenke and the other generals were already on guard; or rather, luring the rebels out of the city was itself one of their objectives.

The imperial troops outside the city were not much more numerous than the rebels, and their composition was complex with no unified command, so coordination and execution were naturally not precise. However, apart from the Huazhou army, the fighting strength of the rest was considerable. In terms of pure combat power, aside from Li Shouzhen's yabing guards, the rebels in the city were hardly worth mentioning.

Although each unit fought on its own, after a fierce battle, the imperial troops unleashed all their reserve moves, and with Wang Yan invited to come from Linjin to assist, they directly drove Li Shouzhen back in defeat to the city. The Xiaodi Army, seeking to avenge their previous humiliation, fought with particular ferocity. Sun Li, Chief Commander of the Left Wing, waded through blood to advance, leading his troops in a sweeping pursuit, trying to follow the routed soldiers and charge into the city—but failed, struck by two arrows and wounded.

Li Shouzhen paid the price of abandoning over a thousand Pu troops as a rearguard to retreat back into the city. With this sortie, the rebels' barely-risen momentum was crushed once again, with direct combat losses exceeding two thousand men. After this battle, Li Shouzhen likely would not dare to venture out lightly again.

The imperial army's objective this time was clearly not to try to swallow everything in one bite. After driving back the rebels, they calmly established their camp south of the city. Only after securing their foothold did they bring the several thousand conscripted laborers to the front to reinforce and fortify the camp. After the southern camp was established, they shifted forces to the east of the city and set up new encampments. Watching the vast expanse of military camps rise from the ground outside the city, Li Shouzhen inside could see it all from afar—but he simply did not dare to make any rash moves.

On Liu Chengyou's side, departing from Shihao Post, passing through Shanzhou, crossing at Pinglu, and following the route of the Xiaodi Army's advance, he arrived beneath the walls of Hedong after four days. Before that, the Xingjie Army and scattered commands had already delivered that portion of grain and equipment, simultaneously making the besieging imperial troops stand more firmly. And with Liu Chengyou personally leading the main army's arrival, the encirclement of Hedong city was thoroughly consolidated.

With over fifty thousand cavalry and infantry of the imperial army, counting the various prefectural garrison troops, plus the nearly thirty thousand conscripted laborers gathered successively, the force beneath Hedong's walls truly exceeded one hundred thousand—at least enough to claim an army of two hundred thousand. The momentum was immense; soldiers filled the camps, banners fluttered, stretching endlessly beyond sight.

Beneath the enemy city, Liu Chengyou issued an edict in advance that no welcome ceremony was needed. Following military protocol, he first ordered the officers of each army to lead their subordinates into the already-formed double-line connected camps. However, a camp complex on the scale of a hundred thousand men could not be easily completed in just a few days; it still required expansion and construction.

This campaign—suppressing the rebellion at Hezhong and overawing the realm—was also meant to intimidate the prefectural garrisons west of the pass. These garrison troops had also gone some years without witnessing warfare on such a scale or such a massive army.

After the various armies had moved in, Liu Chengyou, accompanied by the generals and commanders, began inspecting the camps, personally observing the soldiers and letting the troops see their Emperor. Not just the various garrison troops—even among the imperial army soldiers on campaign, most knew they protected and guarded the Son of Heaven but had never seen his true face.

The Emperor's act of "personally visiting the troops" proved remarkably effective. He received a fervent welcome from the soldiers, who surged and crowded around him. Encouraged by some officers, cries of "Long live!" and "Ten thousand victories!" rose and fell in waves.

Of course, to guard against unforeseen danger, Liu Chengyou traveled in the imperial carriage. But at each camp he stopped, he would step out of the carriage, stand on the carriage shaft, and wave to the soldiers and laborers who had come out of their tents to gather around. Every gesture from the Son of Heaven drew enthusiastic cheers from the crowd.

Liu Chengyou's actions were in fact quite risky, because who could say—what if a stray arrow came flying? But some risks had to be taken. Just for the thunderous cheers that followed the imperial carriage's passage, it was worth doing.

Of course, although the soldiers' fervor intoxicated Liu Chengyou, his mind remained clear—he should not take it too seriously. He had merely satisfied the troops' curiosity; their heartfelt support had not yet reached that level.

Nevertheless, after this show by Liu Chengyou, morale was further bolstered. The fervent atmosphere was highly infectious, and many were swept up in that tide of shouting "Long live!"

The cheers of a hundred thousand people were deafening, piercing the clouds, and when they drifted into the city, they made the defending soldiers tremble. Li Shouzhen, hearing the sound, climbed the city walls, and when he again surveyed the imperial army's camps, his face was dark and terrifying.

The sheer numbers of the imperial troops were naturally worthy of apprehension, but if their morale was also this high, then for him, things were truly turning bad.

The sound carried for several li, floating over the city walls, across the Yellow River, and reaching the two army camps on the western bank. During this period, Yao Yuanfu and Song Yanwo had led the armies of three prefectures to set up camp before the rebels' western stockade, keeping a tight watch on it—the two coordinating quite well together.

Knowing full well that the imperial carriage had already arrived, upon hearing the cheers, Yao Yuanfu and Song Yanwo also ordered their subordinates to shout "Long live!" in tacit coordination, echoing the eastern bank.

In a short time, outside the walls of Hedong, on both banks of the Pujin crossing, the sound of "Long live!" filled the air.

As the imperial carriage passed by the camps of the Eastern and Western Bands, Zhao Kuangyin gazed from afar at Liu Chengyou bathed in the autumn sunlight, feeling a surge of emotion within. His expression showed excitement as well, and he joined the crowd in shouting a few rounds of "Long live!"

In his heart, he muttered quietly to himself: This Son of Heaven is no simple man. The army's hearts are settled, and from this point on, morale will soar!