Chapter 485: Guo Rong's Verdict

On the Northern Han field headquarters at Huainan, while the relief army for Chen and Xu was winning successive victories, in eastern Huai, Guo Rong, the Huainan Eastern Pacification Commissioner appointed by Liu Chengyou, also launched his own operation against the Southern Tang relief forces.

In truth, Guo Rong's side faced considerable pressure, especially in terms of manpower. The Han army under Guo Rong's command in eastern Huai consisted only of the six thousand troops from Xu and Yi that had marched south with him, three thousand from the Suzhou Militia, plus one thousand iron cavalry and one battalion of the Longqi Army that Liu Chengyou had allocated at Wokou—roughly fifteen thousand soldiers in total, along with over ten thousand conscripted laborers from northern Huai.

On the surface, the force seemed substantial, but the garrison and combat duties these troops had to bear were formidable. Haozhou and Chuzhou needed defending, especially Chuzhou at the canal's vital juncture, which faced Yao Feng's army encamped at Gaoyou and ever poised to move north—no small garrison force could be spared there.

Add to that the Tang army stationed at Sizhou, which required even greater vigilance. Though out of personal motives Feng Yansi had transferred his own younger brother Feng Yanlu away from Sizhou, leaving Guo Tingwei alone to hold military and civil authority there, garrisoning the key Huaiyang town of Xuyi.

This maneuver, ironically, made Sizhou even harder to take. As mentioned before, Guo Tingwei was a commander of no small talent—a strong trainer of troops who did not fear the Han army. Since the Han army's southern campaign began, through several engagements, the troops at Sizhou had suffered little loss. With subsequent reinforcements from the Tang court, fresh conscripts, and gathered stragglers, Guo Tingwei still commanded over ten thousand men for defense, including a naval force—small in scale, but enough to make Guo Rong hesitate whenever he tried to bottle the enemy up.

Nor was Guo Tingwei one to passively absorb blows. He struck out from time to time in small-scale raids—the gains were modest, but they made Guo Rong's position very uncomfortable. Later, as winter solstice passed and the weather turned colder, Guo Rong was forced to fall back on the defensive, conservatively containing Guo Tingwei's forces.

Zhao Kuangyin led one force stationed at Zhaoxin southwest of Xuyi, Deputy Prefect of Xuzhou Cheng Deqin held Linhuai to the north, while Guo Rong himself encamped at Duling Mountain across the Huai from Xuyi—a triangular formation controlling the town. As for Chuzhou, it was defended by Chen Sirang, the former Militia Commissioner of Yizhou, a veteran commander of rich experience.

But since spring began, with Huangfu Hui and Yao Feng both advancing north, Guo Rong had a headache, and Liu Chengyou's edicts only made him feel the weight of responsibility more keenly. Fortunately, the Tang side moved slowly—especially Huangfu Hui, who seemed to be deliberating over something. Chen Jue and Yao Feng's forces had both already set out, yet he, commanding the central army, still held fast at Qingliu Pass.

By the time Wu Xingde, Military Governor of Xuzhou, had led his troops from Pengcheng to Linhuai, Guo Rong finally received word that Huangfu Hui had marched. By then, Yao Feng's force of nearly forty thousand by land and water had already launched an assault on Shanyang. On Chen Sirang's side, his strength was thin—barely three thousand men—facing an enemy ten times his number. Even if the Tang army was poor at siegecraft, he was holding on with great difficulty. Pleas for reinforcement arrived one after another, Chen Sirang's wording growing ever more desperate: if relief did not come, Shanyang would fall, and he would die in battle.

To be fair, Huangfu Hui was the Southern Tang's Huainan Relief Commissioner, the supreme commander against the Han army, yet the forces under Chen Jue and Yao Feng on his flanks were both stronger than his own. By the time he marched out of Qingliu Pass, counting laborers, he led fewer than thirty thousand men.

Facing the somewhat critical situation, Guo Rong summoned Zhao Kuangyin and the other commanders to discuss the military situation. After deliberation, they unanimously decided to take the offensive—if they sat on the defensive and let Huangfu Hui reach the Huai River to coordinate with Guo Tingwei, the Han army's position would turn dire.

Guo Rong's decisiveness had always been formidable. He gave the order directly: Zhao Kuangyin would lead five thousand men east to relieve Chen Sirang and fight a protracted battle with the Tang army around Shanyang. Guo Rong himself would take one thousand iron cavalry and three thousand Longqi troops south to meet Huangfu Hui.

As for Sizhou, he left two thousand troops with some laborers to hold Duling Mountain, and requested Wu Xingde to lead the Xuzhou army south to pin down Guo Tingwei at Xuyi. Guo Rong's arrangement was extremely risky—meeting the enemy on three fronts, each outnumbered, and any misstep would carry grave consequences. Of course, this disposition also fit his temperament perfectly.

The young officers fighting alongside Guo Rong—men like Zhao Kuangyin, Dang Jin, Zhao Yanjin, and An Shouzhong—were all bold and fearless. As for any battle plan, it was simply each fighting his own fight, improvising freely.

Guo Rong led four thousand infantry and cavalry south from Duling Mountain, driving straight at Huangfu Hui's army. Through the Han army's deliberate encounter, the two sides clashed on the upper reaches of the Lai'an River in Chuzhou. Because his scouts were spread wide, Huangfu Hui had some awareness of the Han army's movements and adjusted his formation early. But in the end, Huangfu Hui underestimated Guo Rong—underestimated his resolve and his recklessness in battle. After a fifty- or sixty-li forced march, ignoring his soldiers' exhaustion, Guo Rong launched a direct attack while the Tang formation was still incomplete.

The encounter battle was fiercely fought. Guo Rong took the vanguard himself, leading from the front, hammering at the left flank of Huangfu Hui's army. After half an hour of intense combat, it ended with the Tang army's retreat. The threat posed by that thousand-strong Han cavalry on the battlefield was simply too great—this was also why Guo Rong dared to defy military convention and boldly attack an enemy several times his number.

Of course, the Han army's victory was not easy—they were so exhausted they could not achieve complete success, allowing Huangfu Hui's force to retreat south to Lai'an County north of Chuzhou. In this way, Huangfu Hui's Tang army suffered a setback, and the enemy's momentum was checked.

With the initial victory won, Guo Rong found a village nearby to let his troops rest. After consulting with Zhao Yanjin and An Shouzhong, he decisively resolved the very next day to advance on Lai'an, pressuring the Tang army and overwhelming the many with the few.

Chuzhou, Lai'an County.

Nearly four months into the war between Han and Tang, the flames of battle had finally spread to this small Chuzhou town. The relief army's defeat had thrown the populace into panic. After being received by the county magistrate, Huangfu Hui occupied the county office directly, sitting behind the hall's desk with a grim expression.

Huangfu Hui was something of an epitome of the era's military men, and he had some reputation. Back in the final years of the Later Tang's Emperor Zhuangzong, when the Weibo garrison mutinied at Beizhou, it was this man who led the incitement, dragging and shoving Zhao Zaili into becoming the "big brother" of the revolt, triggering a chain reaction as garrisons across the Central Plains and Hebei rose in rebellion one after another, costing Li Cunxu his realm a mere four years after gaining it.

The more "legendary" account had it that Huangfu Hui was fond of gambling—he gambled with his fellow soldiers, ran out of money to stake, and in a fit of frustration, simply decided to start a rebellion for fun. Of course, Huangfu Hui's fame owed more to circumstance: the Later Tang empire was already in dire straits, the garrison soldiers of every command were like a pile of dry kindling, and Huangfu Hui was merely the spark that set it alight.

Murder and arson earn a golden belt—Huangfu Hui, from a common soldier, gambled his way to a Governor's career. When the Khitan marched south and destroyed the Jin, seeing the Central Plains sunk in chaos, he seized the opportunity to lead his men in surrendering to Li Jing, and recruited a large number of scattered soldiers, bandits, and able-bodied men from northern Huai for the Southern Tang. The previously mentioned Xian Vice Minister, Sun Lang, and Cao Jin were all among them.

In the Southern Tang, Huangfu Hui received Li Jing's high regard, with generous rewards of office and rank. Though many at court questioned his identity as a "northern general," Huangfu Hui always felt he had nothing to be ashamed of—and besides, Li Jing trusted him well enough; otherwise he would never have been given command of the Huainan relief army, even if only nominally.

Huangfu Hui was no longer young—past the age of fifty—and with the years he had grown more restrained, losing much of the roguish frivolity of his youth. His armor was bright and imposing, his beard meticulously trimmed; seated there, he had all the bearing of a famed general. But having been defeated by Guo Rong, this famed general was now filled with indignation and defiance.

"Have all the battalions returned? How many men lost?" Huangfu Hui asked a deputy general.

"Reporting to the Governor, almost all have returned! As for the losses..." The deputy general's voice trailed off, but meeting Huangfu Hui's gaze, he steeled himself and said: "Counting the dead, captured, and missing together, some five thousand men!"

"Hmph! A disgrace! My thirty thousand troops, ten times the enemy's number, and I was broken by them!" Huangfu Hui's fury erupted instantly as he slammed the desk. "This Guo Rong, always using these base surprise-attack tricks! Haozhou and Chuzhou both fell to his sneak attacks, and now he comes for me!"

After venting, Huangfu Hui gave his orders: "Go down at once, gather the troops, and reorganize the army! Transfer another contingent from Qingliu Pass! Send out scouts to probe the Han army's movements!"

But the very next day, Guo Rong likewise marched south with his troops and set up camp five li north of Lai'an. When he learned of this, Huangfu Hui felt a wave of contempt washing over him and raged: "This Guo Rong goes too far! He scorns me too much—does he truly think I fear him?"

Pacing for a moment, his pent-up fury unassuaged, Huangfu Hui immediately wrote a letter by hand and ordered it delivered to the Han army.

"Governor, what is the meaning of this?" his subordinate officers could not help asking.

"A formal challenge to the Han army—a pitched battle outside the city walls, to wash away our previous shame!" Huangfu Hui said gravely.

Hearing this, his subordinates were startled and could not help urging: "Governor, you must not! We only suffered defeat yesterday, our morale has not recovered. The Han army won with fewer against more—their momentum is at its peak. Do not lightly engage them!"

"I see you've all been scared witless by the Han army!" Huangfu Hui rebuked them. "We still have over twenty thousand men—how many does the Han army have? Why boost the enemy's prestige and deflate our own resolve?"

"Governor, that Han cavalry alone will be hard to handle!"

"Never mind the Han cavalry—I've seen Khitan cavalry in my day too. With large shields, long spears, and caltrops, backed by bows and crossbows, if they dare charge our formation, they'll only be seeking death!" Huangfu Hui waved his hand. "Enough, my mind is made up. Say no more, lest you dampen my great enterprise! All of you, go prepare for battle!"

"However, you need not worry overmuch—whether that Guo Rong even dares to meet me in open battle, blade against blade, is still an open question..." Huangfu Hui added, stroking his beard.

Outside Lai'an, Guo Rong was personally leading light cavalry on reconnaissance beyond the city walls. Lai'an was only a small town—its walls neither tall nor strong—but with the Tang army's numbers, taking it would be no easy matter.

With enemies on three fronts to deal with and little time to spare, Guo Rong was deeply worried. Just as he was considering how to proceed, Huangfu Hui's messenger arrived.

With some suspicion, he tore open the letter and read it—then Guo Rong burst out laughing, a great guffaw. He said directly to the messenger: "Go back and tell Huangfu Hui—I accept his request!"