Chapter 646: Young Valiant General

The Shu army pursued with great urgency, looking as if they would never give up. Yet their horses were no match for the Han cavalry, and they always lagged behind. Their killing pursuit proved ineffective—instead, they were "kited" for several li by the Han army, with more than twenty riders shot dead, which only stoked their fury higher.

These commanders from Nanzheng had never fought the Han army before. Their virtue was that they still had courage and dared to do battle; their flaw was that they knew not the depths of the waters, pursuing recklessly, forgetting Li Tinggui's admonitions entirely.

Only when they drew close to the Han camp and saw, under the cover of the hills, Han cavalry coming from two sides to envelop them, did they sober up quickly. Gazing at the Han riders who outnumbered them twofold, no matter how ignorant, the Shu commander had no confidence to fight against such odds. Recalling Li Tinggui's instructions, he shouted loudly: "The Han army is cunning—there truly is an ambush! Retreat!"

Then he nimbly led his men, reining their horses around, and returned along the same road. Having pursued too deep, they savored the thrill of the chase, then experienced the bitterness of flight once more. The more urgent the pursuit, the more desperate the escape.

"Split up and flank them! Don't let a single Shu rider escape!" Ma Renyu rode at the front, leading by example, shouting at the top of his lungs, his face full of fervent excitement.

The Han riders around him were all elite troops, highly skilled at divided flanking maneuvers. The moment the order came down, they shifted formation and struck. Ma Renyu charged at the head, brimming with battle lust and murderous intent.

After the troops were mustered in Guanzhong and the Southwest Grand Camp was established, Ma Renyu had been transferred out of the Fengchen Camp by Liu Chengyou to reinforce Xiang Xun. As a valiant young general from the Fengchen Camp, handsome and youthful, with his fierce bravery and the favor of the Son of Heaven, Xiang Xun naturally placed special emphasis on nurturing him.

However, in this great war between Shu and Han, Ma Renyu participated as a cavalry commander. But since the fighting began, the two sides had been locked in stalemate among the mountain ridges, and it was mostly siege warfare of cities and forts. Though he led his cavalry in the order of battle, there was truly little room to employ them. At most, during the assaults on fortresses like Liangquan, Guzhen, and Shunzheng, he brought men to provide cover and watch the proceedings.

As a hot-blooded, high-spirited young battle commander, this feeling of being at the front yet unable to fight, only able to sit and watch success or failure, was truly unbearable. Ma Renyu was bursting with pent-up frustration. Rarely did he get such a chance to fight for his life against the enemy—even if the target was relatively small, it still excited him beyond measure.

The battle lust accumulated over a long time erupted at once, manifesting as a pack of famished, wolf-like Han riders—iron hooves thundering, pursuing relentlessly, fighting to the death. Crossbows fired in rapid succession, javelins hurled, their practiced charging techniques nearly broke the Shu cavalry.

They harried and slaughtered all the way to before Xicheng Pass, where Li Tinggui, seeing the situation turn bad, ordered troops out of the city to form a line and provide support, coordinating with the remaining Shu cavalry to resist and counterattack. Ma Renyu was bold as well—seeing the city gates wide open and a gap between the supporting Shu formation and the drawbridge, he rode straight around it, making as if to charge into the city.

This directly shook the Shu formation. And Li Tinggui, however lacking in confidence, would not allow the Han army to be so arrogant as to break the pass with a mere thousand riders. He deployed his supervisory troops, raising shields and planting spears below the walls while arrows rained down from above, forcibly blocking the Han cavalry.

The usable space below the walls was not large. After losing several dozen riders, Ma Renyu decisively ordered a shift in battle, driving hard into the weak point of the Shu formation, smashing through it. After killing and wounding several hundred men, he broke free of the battle circle and rode off triumphantly.

What he left the Shu army was a scene of chaos—shattered and broken, wounded men strewn across the ground. Toward the retreating Han army, their fear outweighed their anger. Though they had repelled the arrogant Han riders and captured a dozen-odd horses, their already-low morale took another blow.

And Li Tinggui could only suppress that cheap sense of humiliation, gritting his teeth, holding his breath, gathering the routed troops, tending the wounded, steadying the army's spirits, and readjusting the city's defenses.

The thick city gates of Xixian slowly closed. Having suffered this loss, Li Tinggui had absolutely no intention of opening the gates again.

In contrast to the low, defeatist mood beginning to spread among the Shu army at Xixian, on the Han cavalry side, under Ma Renyu's leadership, they gradually re-formed and returned to camp, tallying their losses and gains while gathering up stray and abandoned horses.

"The Shu army is still this fragile!" On the way back to camp, a subordinate battalion commander laughed loudly, the flesh on his face jiggling: "If we'd been prepared, we'd have charged into the city just now—that merit of taking the city would've been ours, no need for the main army to methodically besiege it."

"A mere minor victory, and you're already this arrogant—no wonder the Commander-in-Chief has been cracking down hard on complacent troops lately!" Though Ma Renyu was reprimanding him, the young, handsome face likewise brimmed with a smile: "Don't you understand the principle that the arrogant army is doomed to defeat?"

"It's not that we're arrogant and underestimating the enemy—it's just that the Shu army's fighting strength is what it is. Besides, since the campaign against Shu began, our men have been playing second fiddle the whole time, sitting on our tall horses watching other units kill the enemy and earn merit. The men have had a knot in their hearts—this battle finally untied it!" the battalion commander said with feeling.

As he spoke, watching Ma Renyu's expression, he muttered: "Besides, just now when we charged the city, it was you, General, who led the way up..."

Hearing this, Ma Renyu grinned as well, but quickly composed himself, saying with some seriousness: "But I noticed the Shu army's morale has somewhat recovered—their resistance is far fiercer than at Chengzhou or Xingzhou!"

"In such a short time, they cost me sixty-three riders!" Ma Renyu's face showed a pained expression as he turned to look at the battalion commander: "When we return to camp, record all the fallen brothers properly. When there's a chance, we should recover their bodies..."

"Yes!" On such matters, there was little more to say.

Scanning his surroundings, Ma Renyu sighed: "The terrain here truly does not favor our Great Han iron cavalry. We'll have to wait until we enter the plains of Shu before we have room to gallop and fight!"

"The General speaks truly! In my view, at the current pace, next year our army can celebrate the New Year in Chengdu!" the battalion commander said.

But Ma Renyu shook his head. Though fierce and confident, he was not so arrogant as all that. Not to mention the perilous peaks and treacherous passes of Shu, even this winter alone would not be easy to get through. Moreover, though the court continued its campaign against Shu, the level of support to the front did not suggest they intended to swallow the Shu state in one gulp.

In his early years as Pan Mei's junior, Ma Renyu had been basically devoted to honing his martial skills and perfecting horsemanship and archery, asking and listening to Pan Mei on all matters. But after entering the Fengchen Camp, besides building his physique and practicing combat techniques, he also received education in letters, military strategy, and battle history. After such cultivation, by the time he reached the Southwest Grand Camp, he had achieved complete personal independence.

Unconsciously, through constant observation, the young General Ma had developed his own independent thoughts and views on the shape and development of the war.

The sky gradually darkened. After a day of marching, encamping, and slaughter, both men and horses were exhausted. The winter wind blew coldly, howling as it passed. Along the road, one could see from time to time the corpses of Shu soldiers who had fallen during the earlier pursuit and battle, standing like road markers guiding the troops back to camp. When they encountered the few Han corpses, they brought them back to camp for cremation.

Upon their return, the Han army's main camp on the eastern bank of the Ju River had been fully constructed—the efficiency of elite troops was often astonishing. The camp walls were laid out sensibly, the defenses were tight, and the sounds of men and beasts could be heard.

In the commander's tent, Xiang Xun was studying the enemy situation with the Han generals, dictating the defensive arrangements of Xicheng observed that evening while a scribe with the army wrote and marked them down. Ignoring his fatigue, he barely choked down a few bites of dinner.

The returning cavalry drew some cheers. After the report was delivered and he entered the tent, Xiang Xun looked up and asked: "How were General Ma's kills and captures?"

"Your subordinate pursued all the way to beneath Xicheng's walls, killing nearly three hundred Shu riders and capturing one hundred sixty-eight war horses. The Shu army in the city came out to support them. Your subordinate spotted an opening and led the men to charge, hoping to take the city in one stroke, but was blocked by the Shu army's desperate resistance. With no choice, I turned to strike the supporting Shu troops, broke their formation, killed and wounded several hundred, and returned..." Ma Renyu reported.

"Good!"

"A rich haul indeed!"

"Young General Ma is truly fierce and brave!"

The Han generals in the tent, mostly beaming, offered Ma Renyu praise and congratulations. Though Ma Renyu was young—not yet twenty-two—with the generous and open-hearted spirit of a Hebei hero, he had earned no small reputation in the army, and many officers had good relations with him.

"Plenty of guts, I'll say! With a mere thousand riders, you dared to charge their pass city!" Xiang Xun also smiled, then asked: "How was the Shu army's resistance?"

Ma Renyu replied: "Their morale has somewhat recovered. If they hold the city and defend to the death, it won't be easy to break them!"

Hearing this answer, Xiang Xun's face showed even more satisfaction—an objective assessment, no underestimation of the enemy.

"I personally scouted the Shu army's city defenses. Xixian has indeed been built solid by Li Tinggui—wide moats, strong walls, ample preparations, and arrangements with almost no visible flaws. Taking it in one battle like Liangquan or Shunzheng is practically impossible!" Xiang Xun rose, swept his gaze around, and said coolly: "But no matter how strong a city is, it still depends on men to defend it. I don't believe those routed troops and new recruits in the city—that rabble—can stop our main army!"

"We await the Commander-in-Chief's orders!" Someone immediately spoke up loudly in agreement.

"Li Tinggui wants to live or die with Xixian, does he? I'll grant him that wish!" Xiang Xun clenched his fist and said coldly: "Transmit the order: within ten days, conscript ten thousand laborers from the four prefectures of Feng, Cheng, Jie, and Xing to come to the front and assist in the campaign!

Tomorrow we break camp and move forward to set up camp before the pass. All generals, ready your troops, build siege equipment, and prepare to break the city!"

"Yes!"