Chapter 251: Emulating Guo Wei's Tactics

Under the autumn night sky, a faintly chill wind blew across the camp stretching over a dozen li, banners fluttering, torches swaying. Apart from the necessary sentries before the stockade and the patrolling soldiers, the officers and men, their passions spent, each rested in their own tents, sleeping with their weapons at hand.

After days of marching, though body and mind were weary, Liu Chengyou's spirits remained high. Unable to sleep, he rose and summoned Li Chongju and Yang Ye to accompany him on an inspection of the southern camp.

Li Chongju had previously been elevated in one leap from an imperial bodyguard to Chief Commander of the Inner Palace Guard. Rising so suddenly could hardly avoid harming the Son of Heaven's reputation, so in the months he had commanded the troops, he kept a very low profile—diligent and hardworking, growing ever more restrained day by day, appearing increasingly honest and solid. With his plain and modest manner, he won people's praise and even earned himself the reputation of an "honest man."

But no one dared to slight him for it. The last one who did—Yang Tingwei, a senior officer of the Inner Palace Guard—had nearly had his head chopped off by Li Chongju for violating military law. And that was the second son of Chancellor Yang Bin. Of course, given Li Chongju's style of playing the pig to eat the tiger, he was probably only making a show of it. Even though he hadn't killed him, he still had him given thirty strokes of the military staff and expelled from the Inner Palace Guard, nearly breaking his legs.

Although Yang Bin doted on his son, he ordinarily prided himself on enforcing the law impartially, so he didn't let out so much as a fart. In the end, he took the initiative to demote his son to a local post. Given his nature, he would likely court disaster sooner or later.

In comparison, the one who had changed the most was still Yang Ye. The Yang Ye of before had been young and hot-blooded—though not lacking in prudence and gravity, he had still been sharp-edged and conspicuous. Now, his edge remained, but it was no longer as dazzling as before—yet it was even keener. This confirmed the principle that fine material and precious rough stock can only become vessels through careful polishing.

Though he was amid the great army, the protective force around him was by no means relaxed. Liu Chengyou swept his gaze over the guards holding swords and shields at his side. He told Zhao Yanjin, who led the escort, not to be too tense, but the effect was clearly poor—things went on just as before.

"The pacification campaign stops here for now. Among all the young officers in the armies, I consider you, Yang Ye, the most outstanding!" Walking as he spoke, Liu Chengyou's tone concealed not a trace of admiration: "Driving back the bandits to the north, restraining Huazhou to the west, rescuing the defeated troops, stemming the tide of collapse, resisting the fierce and stubborn..."

"It is all thanks to Your Majesty's promotion and trust—your servant feels ashamed!" Facing Liu Chengyou's praise, Yang Ye appeared modest.

All told, in recent days within the army, when it came to commanding battles and fighting, no one truly outshone Yang Ye. The Yang Ye of now could no longer be described as a "new star." And Yang Ye hadn't gotten cocky either—he knew very well in his heart that without Liu Chengyou's almost partial favor in promoting and employing him, how could he, Yang, have had the chance to build achievements and win fame?

And Liu Chengyou was also quite satisfied with Yang Ye's reaction. When people are at the height of success, they tend to get carried away easily. Those who can remain unmoved by favor or disgrace are ultimately few—and Yang Ye clearly belonged to that minority.

"General Yang is both wise and brave. That Wang Jixun, known as the foremost brave warrior of Hezhong, was no match for General Yang even in a head-on confrontation. Since arriving at Pucheng, according to what this officer has heard, the army has already given him the title 'Yang the Invincible'!" Li Chongju, who had been silently following alongside, suddenly cut into the conversation.

"Yang the Invincible?" Liu Chengyou's brows lifted slightly—somewhat surprised, somewhat moved: "Well-deserved!"

As he spoke, Liu Chengyou suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned his head to look at Yang Ye: "You haven't married yet, have you!"

Yang Ye was taken aback, clearly unaccustomed to the Son of Heaven's leaps of thought, and answered subconsciously: "That's right."

"After this battle, I will personally choose a fine match for you—it must be a lady from a distinguished family!" Liu Chengyou's eyes sparkled, looking thoroughly intrigued.

Hearing this, Yang Ye instead felt embarrassed and responded with an awkward smile.

The Xiaodi Army's encampment was to the northwest of the imperial camp, bordering the Yellow River—a very large stretch of tents. Leading his men, Liu Chengyou walked in with clear purpose, directing a junior officer to guide him straight to his destination.

Amid the camp, there stood a solitary military tent that would truly be hard to find without a dedicated guide. Raising his hand to stop the sentry who was about to salute, Liu Chengyou stepped forward quietly, lifted the tent curtain, and entered.

Inside the tent, a faint smell of medicine lingered, accompanied by a rumbling snore. On the campaign cot lay Sun Li's burly frame.

Knowing that he had been wounded in fierce combat with the rebels, Liu Chengyou had come specially to visit and show concern for this old subordinate. But seeing his peaceful sleeping posture, he felt somewhat like he was disturbing a good dream.

Still, since he had come...

He gave a light cough—no effect. Somewhat awkward, he coughed heavily instead. Sun Li was finally startled awake. In a daze, his hand instinctively went to the hand-blade placed beside his pillow, and he cursed grumblingly: "Who? Dares to disturb my good sleep!"

"Seeing you full of such vigor, I can rest assured!"

Liu Chengyou's voice reached his ears, and Sun Li suddenly perked up. He sat up with a start, the movement pulling at his wound, making him grimace in pain—but he did recognize Liu Chengyou standing before the cot with his hands behind his back.

He hurriedly rose to salute, but Liu Chengyou stopped him: "You're wounded—lie back down."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Sun Li—a standard warrior forged by this era—had, over all this time, become completely submissive to Liu Chengyou. At least for now, that was the case.

"How could Your Majesty trouble your sacred person to come in person?" Sun Li felt somewhat flattered and overwhelmed.

"You are my beloved general. You were wounded for the state and for your sovereign. I merely walked a few extra steps—it's nothing..." Liu Chengyou said lightly. Words like these were very effective on a rough man like Sun Li.

Seeing the moved expression on this rough man's face, Liu Chengyou knew his purpose had been achieved.

He chatted with him for a while, offered words of encouragement and comfort, and then departed. Before leaving, he left Sun Li with a meaningful remark—that in the future he must lead the Xiaodi Army well—and urged him to recover from his wounds as quickly as possible.

The rebel army under Li Shouzhen's command, in more than a dozen days of clashes with the government forces, had lost over five thousand men in total. Especially among the yabing guards he relied upon—when Bai Wenke's forces advanced north in conjunction, over a thousand had died in fierce fighting. It could truly be said that they had been hurt to the bone.

After the government forces had gathered, the rebel army was mainly split into two parts. One was at the Hexi ferry crossing, where three thousand soldiers were stationed, commanded by Zhang Yansi and Zhou Guangxun. The remaining twelve thousand or so troops held Pucheng for defense. Given that the city was not particularly large, it was still enough to defend behind the walls—only morale was low.

In response to the city's defensive situation, Liu Chengyou quickly adjusted the government forces' deployment. East of the city, Bai Wenke commanded thirty thousand troops as commander of the eastern face of the field headquarters. Liu Chengyou led the central army stationed at the southern camp. The north side lacked one force, but Wang Yan's troops were deployed for control in the Linjin area. On the Hexi side, the rebels' western stockade was to be dealt with by Yao Yuanfu's forces, and per Liu Chengyou's orders, that was where the government forces would focus their main attack next.

The Hedong city walls were sturdy, but the Hexi military stockade's defenses were not nearly as strong. As long as the western stockade was taken, while further weakening rebel morale, Pucheng could also be turned completely into an isolated place.

And on the great river, the Great Han's naval force patrolled its waters—if one could call it a naval force. Though the vessels were crude, the sailors few, and their combat power weak, they were more than sufficient to control the waters around Hedong city.

Liu Chengyou understood something of the art of deception. Though he intended to seize the Hexi stockade first, the first major action was actually launched before the walls of Hedong city. After two days of rest, as follow-up grain, equipment, and weapons were transported to the front by both water and land routes, Liu Chengyou ordered Wang Yu, the military supervisor of Shanzhou, to serve as commander of the trench works. With conscripted laborers, he was to dig trenches, erect palisades, and build arrow towers, advancing layer by layer toward the city walls of Hezhong.

At the same time, he ordered the craftsmen accompanying the army to take the lead in mounting crossbow mechanisms, building trebuchets, setting up scaling ladders, and preparing trench shields and other siege equipment.

This great commotion completely drew the attention of the rebels inside the city. Seeing the government forces' stockade walls and arrow towers gradually closing in, Li Shouzhen, who had personally inspected several times, felt the threat keenly. He could not resist sending Wang Jixun out to attack, intending to destroy them—but each time, the government soldiers, who were well prepared, slaughtered his forces and drove them back.

Just as they had previously watched Bai Wenke's forces calmly establish their stockade, this time the rebels in the city could only watch helplessly as the government forces safely approached the city walls and set up sturdy siege works.

Behind the sturdy stockade walls, within attack range, row upon row of heavy siege weapons—bed crossbows, trebuchets, cannons, and the like—were arrayed in sequence, like war beasts baring their fangs, their deterrent power immense. Behind them were over a hundred carts of giant arrows, tens of thousands of catapult stones and "cannon shells"—ammunition in abundance.

Liu Chengyou's tactics were, in form, similar to "Guo Wei's pacification campaign," but the purpose and effect were definitely different. He intended, with full preparation, to breach the city with the force of thunder.

But the first attack was launched on the Hexi side.