Chapter 487: Zhao the Great's Bold Strategy

Stepping onto the earthen rampart and gazing south over the wall, Guo Rong finally let out a long breath, looking as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Governor, this city has few inhabitants, and the city has already been pacified and is firmly in our hands. The only problem is the prisoners—too many of them, over fifteen thousand. The pressure of guarding them is too great. For now, we have confiscated their weapons and armor and are holding them separately at the east and north gates!" An Shouzhong found Guo Rong and reported.

The problem of too many prisoners was, for the victorious Han army, probably a happy sort of trouble. At this, Guo Rong pondered briefly, then directly ordered: "Separate the Tang army prisoners—soldiers from laborers, officers from common troops—and hold them apart. Give them little food, let them go hungry for a while!"

"Yes! This subordinate will see to it at once!" An Shouzhong acknowledged.

"Wait!" Guo Rong suddenly called An Shouzhong back.

An Shouzhong halted and asked: "Does the Governor have further instructions?"

"I'll go with you!" Guo Rong thought for a moment, then said: "These prisoners—we need to find a way to turn them to our use! Since the southern campaign began, for supply transport, service before the army, and garrisoning cities, we have already conscripted at least one hundred fifty thousand laborers. Now spring has come and farming season approaches; the conscripted men long to return home. For the prefectures of the Central Plains and northern Huainan, manpower is exhausted and the burden too heavy. If we can make use of the Tang prisoners and the people of Huainan, it will greatly benefit our army's strategy.

His Majesty sent Wang Qiwu to govern Haozhou, to administer the prefecture's affairs, to manage the people, and to win their hearts—that is a long-term plan! As for the prisoners from this battle, we should pick out the able-bodied and those willing to serve, organize them into auxiliary troops, and put them to use before the army!"

"The Governor's words are reasonable!" An Shouzhong agreed, but then hesitated: "However, this move may carry the suspicion of expanding the army without authorization..."

Hearing this, Guo Rong couldn't help but turn his head and glance at An Shouzhong twice, his gaze clearly carrying surprise. He paused, then said: "Xinchen, you have a promising future!"

"Distant water cannot quench present thirst—at this moment, resolving the problem of these prisoners is the urgent matter. Otherwise, with so many prisoners gathered together, causing trouble is the lesser concern; what I fear is that they will slow down our army's movements!" Walking along, Guo Rong continued: "I will write a memorial and send it to Shouchun. With the Son of Heaven's wisdom, He will agree. I wonder how the fighting at Shouzhou is going..."

Before Guo Rong went to deal with the prisoner problem, Zhao Yanjin found him first, looking full of excess energy. Guo Rong asked: "How goes the situation?"

"According to the prisoners, when Huangfu Hui went north, he only left three thousand men to garrison Qingliu Pass! Moreover, yesterday Huangfu Hui issued an order to transfer two thousand men north from Qingliu Pass. However, upon hearing of his defeat, the order was rescinded!" Zhao Yanjin reported: "Governor, should we take the opportunity to seize Qingliu Pass?"

Guo Rong considered for a moment, then slammed his fist into his palm and said to Zhao Yanjin: "I'll give you five hundred men. Put on Tang army armor, pretend to be routed soldiers, cross the Qingliu River, and go to trick the pass! Remember, act according to circumstances—if they are prepared, do not force it!"

"Orders received!" Without a moment's hesitation, Zhao Yanjin acknowledged: "This subordinate will go at once!"

While Guo Rong achieved the great victory at Lai'an, relieving the Han army's predicament and seeking to take all of eastern Huainan and water the horses at the Yangtze, Zhao Kuangyin, the Deputy Military Commissioner of Eastern Huainan, led five thousand troops eastward to relieve Shanyang.

Five thousand troops sounded like a lot, but in truth, only fewer than three thousand—the Suzhou militia—were truly usable. The rest were conscripted from the able-bodied men of northern Huainan. Though they had been issued weapons and given rough training, they were essentially still farmers holding spears and swords. Of course, the Central Plains had never lacked brave men—these people, as long as they survived one battle, could become qualified soldiers.

There was no helping it—even Guo Rong had only led four thousand cavalry and infantry against Huangfu Hui. At Xuyi, sufficient force had to be left to pin down the enemy. After prolonged entanglement, that Guo Tingwei was not an easy opponent to deal with. If they relaxed, the ten thousand Tang troops at Xuyi, under Guo Tingwei's command, would definitely cause the Han army great trouble.

Almost following the same route as last winter's surprise attack on Shanyang, aside from the winter scenery turning to spring scenery, there was little change along the way—Zhao Kuangyin even felt a sense of familiarity. Though Shanyang's situation had already become critical under the Tang army's siege, Zhao Kuangyin, ordered to relieve it, was not impatient.

Since the campaign against Huainan began, the Han army's main tactic had been besieging cities to draw out reinforcements. Whether the Tang army would employ the same trick was uncertain, and Zhao Kuangyin had to guard against it.

Therefore, while sending scouts to investigate the situation at Shanyang, he advanced slowly, repeatedly pondering how to fight. It was not until he entered Hongze and comprehensively assessed the situation in Chuzhou that Zhao Kuangyin made up his mind on how to fight this battle.

He divided his army into two groups: one of three thousand men, composed mainly of Suzhou militia, led by Dang Jin, concealed in the rear. The remaining two thousand or so were those auxiliary troops—though some officers had been assigned to lead them, their combat effectiveness and discipline were both questionable.

Zhao Kuangyin himself led these two thousand men, flying their banners openly, making no attempt to conceal their movements, and swaggering boldly toward Shanyang.

At Shanyang, the Tang army had forty thousand men completely surrounding the city—though two thousand of those were naval forces assisting. But since Shanyang was built along the river, it was precisely these naval troops that posed the greatest threat. Tang warships stood as tall as two zhang, with platforms and ladders erected on them, allowing Tang soldiers to climb directly onto the city walls.

Learning that the Han relief force was coming overland from the west, though not large, it was still evident how depleted Han forces in eastern Huainan were. The Tang commander Yao Feng clearly did not want this force to interfere at the moment the city was about to fall, so he sent a deputy general with five thousand troops across a pontoon bridge westward to crush the Han relief force.

The Tang army's move was naturally exactly what Zhao Kuangyin wanted—it was even a pleasant surprise. He had only intended to show weakness with his depleted force, luring part of the Tang army west to share some of the pressure on Chen Sirang's defense of the city.

He never expected Yao Feng to be so generous as to send five thousand troops directly. Zhao Kuangyin was overjoyed. Then, following the old routine: feign defeat to lure the enemy, spring the ambush from all sides, and crush them utterly. Only this time, because of the urgency of the battle, Zhao Kuangyin's feigned defeat was actually a real defeat—he nearly got driven into Hongze to feed the fish.

But precisely because the defeat was real, the luring tactic was all the more effective. When Dang Jin led the main force charging out, the five thousand Tang troops collapsed immediately. The leading deputy general lost his head to Dang Jin, adding another tally to his record of military merit.

After routing this Tang force, Zhao Kuangyin did not, as was his usual practice, pursue the fleeing enemy and slaughter them to the last. Instead, he merely drove them southward. Afterward, Zhao Kuangyin only briefly reorganized his troops, then divided the army into two groups again. One group was composed entirely of wounded auxiliary troops, flying banners high and raising Zhao Kuangyin's command flag, continuing northeast toward Shanyang.

Meanwhile, Zhao Kuangyin himself, together with Dang Jin, led the remaining twenty-seven hundred Suzhou militia, turning southeast. At Baoying, south of Shanyang, they crossed the canal and annihilated the five hundred Tang defenders Yao Feng had left there. After that, their objective was quite clear.

On Yao Feng's side, he had just received a battle report of a heavy blow dealt to the Han relief force when the report of defeat followed close behind—and a complete defeat at that, directly allowing the Han relief force to approach the canal. Though the Han force was small in number, for the nearly desperate defenders of Shanyang, it was no different from an injection of a cardiac stimulant.

The Tang army clearly felt it—the city defenses that had been on the verge of collapse were stabilized again by the Han army. When he noticed the banner bearing the character "Zhao" on the west bank of the canal, Yao Feng finally realized that the Han general coming to the rescue was Zhao Kuangyin, who had achieved the great victory at Wokou earlier.

At this, Yao Feng immediately raised his guard. Though with his superior numbers he had no fear of the Han army, after consideration he still decided to temporarily halt the assault on Shanyang. After days of fierce attacks, the Han defenders inside Shanyang had naturally suffered heavy losses, but the Tang army had likewise been dragged into exhaustion and needed rest.

If the goal were merely relief, then judging from the Tang army's reaction, it had already achieved a good effect—though treating the symptoms rather than the root cause, it at least gave the Han defenders in the city a chance to catch their breath. However, the fact that Zhao Kuangyin led the main force stealthily southward and crossed the river at Baoying showed that he was plotting something much greater.

At midnight, outside Shanyang, the four Tang army camps—land and water—were utterly silent. Aside from the sound of wind and the rising and falling of snoring, the only noise came from the central army soldiers patrolling between the camps.

On the watchtower of the southern camp, sentries strove to stay alert, looking down from their height and observing the surroundings. But under the night sky, everything around was pitch black, and they could only make out the outlines of trees. The spring night was bitterly cold; hands and feet were numb with chill. When drowsiness crept in, the sentries could only hope that time would pass more quickly, waiting for their relief.

About two li from the southern camp, Zhao Kuangyin personally led more than two thousand men, having crept here silently. The Han army's black armor, set against the black night, blended completely into it. Above their heads hung the dim moonlight. Gazing into the distance, he observed the situation of the Tang camp.

These men had all slept a full afternoon during the day, then traveled stealthily north nearly forty li through the night. Dang Jin stood beside Zhao Kuangyin, also peering into the distance, both nervous and excited: "Looking at the Tang camp's layout, it's fairly orderly—they're not entirely without vigilance!"

Zhao Kuangyin nodded, but his expression was unusually rigid, while his pupils burned with extraordinary brightness. He said to Dang Jin: "Tonight, we must risk our lives in a desperate battle. Succeed, and it is great merit; fail, and we die. Do you fear?"

"Brother Zhao, your words underestimate us brothers! A mere Tang camp is no dragon's pool or tiger's den—what harm is there in wading in?" Dang Jin immediately took offense.

Seeing this, Zhao Kuangyin smiled slightly. Staring hard at the enemy camp, his expression turned solemn again: "Pass down the order—a night raid is a risky venture. All troops of every camp shall follow their own commanders, stay close behind my command flag when charging, and be careful not to get separated. Though the Tang army claims forty thousand, only half are infantry, and after the casualties and exhaustion of siege warfare, they are still nothing to fear. As long as we disrupt and defeat the land camps, the naval forces are no concern!"

Waiting another quarter of an hour or so, before the Han soldiers' bodies went completely cold, Zhao Kuangyin gave the order and led the way, taking his men swiftly toward the Tang camp. This time he did not ride a horse—that would make too conspicuous a target.

More than two thousand men, each with a wooden bit in his mouth, moved in complete silence. Only when they closed in on the Tang camp and were spotted by Tang soldiers did they suddenly erupt with thunderous war cries. Under Zhao Kuangyin's leadership, with unified objectives and coordinated steps, they broke through camp after camp. Slaughter and chaos descended upon the Tang army...

With Zhao Kuangyin's army's bold night raid—charging the camps, startling dreams, trampling tents, and kicking over shelters—the Tang camps beneath Shanyang's walls quickly fell into chaos.