Chapter 557: Dare to Look North?

After the withdrawal order was issued, the Shu army outside Donghe Village retreated like the tide, maintaining a rare degree of efficient execution—but in the end, they still failed to achieve the calm and orderly retreat Li Tinggui had wanted.

"A losing momentum is hard to stop, and routed soldiers are hard to gather. As for He Chongjian, the Campaign Commissioner should be on guard against him!" Once the chaos became apparent, the officers under Li Tinggui's command issued him a warning.

Li Tinggui understood and took the advice to heart. He ordered a junior officer of the imperial army to lead two thousand men, setting up a defensive line across the road to serve as rearguard. Li Tinggui believed he had done his best in terms of reaction and decision-making, but events did not develop according to his will.

On the northern side, Li Tinggui had deployed nearly ten thousand troops. Even if the Han army's reinforcements arrived, He Chongjian should have adjusted in time and held for a while. But for reasons unclear, he had been defeated so swiftly.

He Chongjian's routed troops fled madly along the road, directly "merging" with the main army, thoroughly disrupting Li Tinggui's arrangements. The pursuing Han army followed behind, deliberately driving the routed soldiers forward, and achieved their goal—chaos is contagious.

Seeing the opportunity, Yao Yuanfu's side also concentrated their remaining strength and, coordinating with the arriving Han reinforcements, launched a counterattack against the Shu army at Donghe Village. Finding hope in the face of despair, though exhausted to the bone, the Han soldiers were unstoppably brave. In comparison, the Shu army suffered heavy losses, their morale collapsed, and it rapidly devolved into a rout.

Li Tinggui had the desire to turn the tide and fight the Han army to the death, but dissuaded by his subordinates, he ultimately chose to be forcibly "escorted" onto a horse by his personal guards.

Though they retreated south in haste, it could be considered a decisive sacrifice of the limb to save the body. But the Han army would not let go, pursuing to the very end. Starting from Donghe Village, they chased and killed for over twenty li, slaughtering the Shu army until they abandoned their armor and scattered in disarray.

Of course, under such a great defeat, being able to preserve his life in the end was, for Li Tinggui, the best of a bad lot.

The sounds of slaughter among the mountain ridges gradually weakened. Most of the Shu soldiers who were caught up chose to lay down their arms and surrender. Though there were no shortage of those who put up stubborn resistance, they were ultimately in the minority—and the Han army showed no mercy, cutting them all down, eliminating them completely.

Slowly, among the mountain paths of the Qinling Mountains, only the sounds of the Han army cleaning the battlefield and the neighing of horses and livestock remained.

At the entrance of Donghe Village, Xiang Xun rode up on horseback. Dismounting, his first concern was Yao Yuanfu's condition: "Where is Lord Yao?"

"He is in the village!"

Inside the dilapidated village, a relatively clean area had already been cleared out to temporarily house the wounded. Medical treatment was proceeding in an orderly manner, and amidst the thick smell of medicinal herbs, the groans of the seriously wounded soldiers filled the air.

"The wounded soldiers, regardless of the severity of their injuries, must be treated with full effort—at the very least, stabilize their conditions! Send a message to Baoji, have the city prepare physicians and medicinal herbs, to await the wounded!" Walking through and inspecting the situation, Xiang Xun gave his orders.

"Yes!"

Against an earthen wall, some clean straw and wild grass were piled up. Yao Yuanfu lay there quietly, with several personal guards standing solemnly watch beside him. His helmet was set aside, his campaign robe soaked through with fresh blood, his armor covered in scars, his graying hair and beard stained with blood.

Xiang Xun walked up and looked at Yao Yuanfu. The old general's face was filled with exhaustion. Suddenly, a loud snore rang out, like thunder rumbling, gradually fading into silence, then rising and falling again...

Without disturbing Yao Yuanfu, Xiang Xun quietly stepped away to handle the subsequent matters.

"Lord Yao is truly a hero!" The army scribe accompanying the campaign said with a tone full of admiration to Xiang Xun: "Facing an encirclement by several times his number of enemies, he led from the front, sword in hand, fighting without a trace of fear. Had it not been for this, delaying the Shu army, this great victory would have been hard to achieve!"

"As I expected, Lord Yao had precisely this intention—that is why he charged ahead recklessly, not avoiding arrows and stones, fighting to the death, sacrificing himself for righteousness, to repay the state. This breadth of spirit, I am ashamed to say I cannot match!" Xiang Xun could not help but sigh: "Fortunately, Lord Yao is unharmed. Otherwise, it would be difficult to account for this to Commander Zhao and the court!"

"Governor!" The deputy general Li Yan found Xiang Xun, his face full of smiles, with one man under guard—it was He Chongjian.

He reported to Xiang Xun: "He Chongjian killed the Shu army supervisor, led his remaining troops, and surrendered!"

Upon hearing the report, Xiang Xun sized up He Chongjian. The man's face was full of dejection, his gaze shifting about, seemingly not daring to meet Xiang Xun's eyes.

"Governor He, I've heard of you for a long time!" Xiang Xun had no intention of mocking He Chongjian, but his tone unconsciously carried a hint of teasing.

He Chongjian sighed, clasped his hands and said: "A defeated general, at your disposal. I have no other hopes, only to beg that my life be spared!"

Scanning He Chongjian twice, and considering that his voluntary surrender had reduced their own casualties, Xiang Xun had no intention of making things difficult for him. He said: "I do not plan to deal with you. However, the Son of Heaven of the Great Han may have an interest in meeting you. Once matters here are concluded, I will send someone to escort you to the Eastern Capital!"

"Thank you, Governor!" He Chongjian appeared to have the self-awareness of a surrendered general, obediently following the arrangements.

"Take him away for now, and have his wounds treated!" Noticing the blood seeping from He Chongjian's arm, Xiang Xun gave the order.

"What are the casualties in your unit?" Xiang Xun asked Li Yan.

Li Yan said: "Holding the position with our backs to the mountain forest, we suffered over a thousand casualties in total!"

"I've seen the position you held—dense woods, thick dry grass. You chose the wrong place! If the Shu army had used fire, several thousand soldiers would surely have been burned to ashes!" Xiang Xun raised a finger and said.

The smile on Li Yan's face froze slightly, a trace of lingering fear appearing: "Governor, I..."

"However, when the crisis came, you formed ranks and fought hard against the Shu army—a great merit!" Xiang Xun still maintained his lenient demeanor, putting Li Yan's mind at ease.

At dusk, the last Han army unit to pursue returned—it was Wang Renshan. Driven by a strong desire for achievement, he had been extremely aggressive, chasing all the way to the end, running the farthest, with over half of his thousand men dead or wounded.

"I pursued over thirty li out, but the Shu army had reinforcements waiting, and in the end their commander Li Tinggui still got away!" Wang Renshan, received by Xiang Xun, expressed his regret in his words.

Xiang Xun was more open-minded about it, laughing: "This battle is already a great victory. It's fine that Li Tinggui escaped—if the Shu army had more generals like him, wouldn't they be placing the merits right before us, waiting for us to take them!"

The Han army officers present could not help but burst out laughing upon hearing this. Yao Yuanfu said to Xiang Xun: "That Li Tinggui as a general counts as passable, and it cannot be denied that this battle was won perilously. If Li Tinggui knew you, Xingmin, held him in such contempt, he would likely be so ashamed and furious he could hardly bear it!"

From the surrendered Shu generals, one could basically infer Li Tinggui's considerations. In fact, if Li Tinggui had obediently withdrawn his troops without causing trouble, the Han army's pursuit, though it might have won, would not have yielded such great results.

However, victory and defeat in war are always the product of multiple factors. That the Han army could achieve this victory was aided by the Shu army's "cooperation" as a contributing factor.

The Eastern Capital, inside Chongzheng Hall.

Liu Chengyou, who was inspecting the summer harvest situation in the capital region, received the good news brought by Guo Rong—the Fengxiang campaign he had been concerned about had finally come to a good conclusion.

The specific details of the battle report filled a thick volume. Guo Rong picked out the key points and reported to Liu Chengyou: "In the battle at Donghe Village, the Shu army lost over half their troops. We killed more than five thousand enemies and captured nearly ten thousand. Li Tinggui led his remaining forces, under the cover of the old general Sun Hanshao, and retreated back to Fengzhou.

Our soldiers who went into battle suffered two thousand three hundred and twenty-seven dead, and three thousand one hundred and sixty wounded in varying degrees. Captured weapons and grain number in the tens of thousands!"

"Zhao, Yao, and Xiang—the three of them are truly pillars of the state! Achieving such a great victory is beyond even my expectations!" Liu Chengyou said: "After suffering another defeat like this, would the Shu army still dare to look north?"

"As for the Ministry of War, reward the meritorious soldiers according to their deeds, and provide compensation for the dead and wounded per the regulations of the imperial army—no differential treatment!" Liu Chengyou instructed Wei Renpu, the Minister of War who had come with him.