Chapter 692: The Conspiracy of Li and Shi

Gong'an County, located at the confluence of the You River and the Yangtze, fifty li from Jiangling, was a strategic point controlling the middle reaches of the Yangtze and a vital position defending Jiangling. For this reason, when Murong Yanzhao led the main army to Jiangling and Gao Baorong first surrendered, before the situation had even stabilized, Li Yun was sent with three thousand prefectural troops to garrison the area, and the original two thousand Jingnan defenders were also incorporated into Li Yun's command.

But for Li Yun, this southern campaign was an opportunity to establish merit and achievements; he had no desire to be a mere garrison commander, especially after Han Tong led the main army eastward toward Yuezhou, which filled him with envy.

Therefore, after reorganizing his troops, he sent three consecutive requests for battle to Murong Yanzhao. But Murong Yanzhao suppressed them, not daring to move troops without authorization, which made Li Yun increasingly restless. He considered himself a general "atoning for his crimes," having received the Son of Heaven's personal approval to join the campaign, and he longed to earn military merit and re-enter the upper echelons of the Great Han's military establishment.

Now it was already April 12th, and he was still being held back—how could he be content? But no matter how restless he felt inside, he dared not disregard the will of the central command. Fortunately, the major commotion from Jiangling gave him a promising signal.

Batch after batch of warships and supply vessels headed southeast, but what Li Yun, standing at the Youkou dock, strained his eyes to see was that fleet of ships docking at the shore.

As the large ship came alongside, Shi Yanchao was the first to descend from the deck, half-running, half-jumping onto the shore. His face was somewhat pale, and he cursed under his breath: "If I'd known sailing would be this miserable, I'd rather have crossed the Yangtze at Jiangling and run a few dozen li on foot. Why suffer this torment! After going through that, what's the point of talking about conserving strength for men and horses!"

"Pass my orders—have all battalions disembark quickly and assemble!" Turning his head, Shi Yanchao immediately instructed a military officer following beside him.

"Yes!"

He twisted his upper body, then hopped in place, venting his pent-up frustration. Looking around, he saw the area tightly guarded by Gong'an's garrison troops, with several hundred laborers already waiting to unload grain, fodder, and military equipment.

Meanwhile, Li Yun, who was on the shore, hurried over—before he even got close, his voice carried across: "General Shi, I've been waiting for you for quite some time!"

Looking at Li Yun, who seemed overly enthusiastic, Shi Yanchao thought to himself that he had no particular friendship with the man, but one doesn't strike a smiling face, so he suppressed his impatience and stepped forward to greet him: "Shi is unworthy—how could I trouble the General to personally await my arrival?"

"No trouble at all! I've been stationed at Gong'an all this time, with nothing to do anyway!" Li Yun said.

Hearing this, Shi Yanchao remarked: "We're in the midst of war now, yet the General is so at leisure—truly a veteran general who has weathered many storms!"

Upon hearing this, Li Yun seemed somewhat helpless as he spread his hands: "We officers are like falcons and hounds, but we're bound by the reins—and the one holding those reins is Commander-in-Chief Murong. If the Commander-in-Chief doesn't let go, how can we hunt for prey!"

Hearing Li Yun say this, Shi Yanchao seemed to empathize deeply, nodding unconsciously.

"But General Shi, your arrival must surely bring me some good news!" Looking at Shi Yanchao, Li Yun said.

Shi Yanchao raised an eyebrow slightly and asked: "What good news does the General wish to hear?"

Li Yun pointed directly at the Tieqi Army disembarking from the ships and laughed: "Since noon, fully laden vessels have been heading east in succession—a portion of the Jingnan naval forces has already departed for Yuezhou. Commander-in-Chief Murong is clearly preparing a major operation against the rebel Zhou in Hunan. And now the General has led the Tieqi Army to Gong'an—I imagine it's for the rebels at Liyang!"

Noting the somewhat expectant look in Li Yun's eyes, Shi Yanchao rubbed his coarse stubble and grinned: "The General's analysis is not wrong—it's just a pity that it differs somewhat from what the Commander-in-Chief has in mind!"

"What? Did I guess wrong?" Li Yun's old brows furrowed, and with an unexpected gravity, he said: "That makes no sense! The Gao clan has surrendered, Jingnan is pacified—if we're not going to attack Zhou Xingfeng's rebel army and quickly pacify Hunan, what are we waiting for!"

Seeing this, Shi Yanchao immediately conveyed the "spirit of the meeting" that Commander-in-Chief Murong had held in the Jiangling government office. As soon as Li Yun heard it, he nearly exploded: "What 'subduing the enemy without fighting'? The army has come south—if we're not fighting, are we here on an outing? Zhou's rebels claim fifty thousand, but they're just a rabble—why overthink it so much!"

Seeing Li Yun somewhat agitated, and though he quite agreed with the man's views, Shi Yanchao still spoke up to defend the supreme commander, and his expression turned serious. After all, on this southern campaign, Murong Yanzhao had placed great trust in him, Chief General Shi.

After Li Yun vented his frustration, seeing the situation, he could only temporarily swallow his resentment. Turning back, he looked at the soldiers, armor, and war horses disembarking one after another at the dock, and said: "So what has General Shi come to Gong'an for—to keep me company in defending the city?"

"Nothing else! The Commander-in-Chief plans his campaigns with flexible tactics and has resolved to eliminate the enemy at Liyang. That's why I've come bearing military orders—to combine forces with the General and march south to relieve the siege of Liyang!" Finally, Shi Yanchao revealed a smile.

Hearing this, Li Yun immediately felt his spirits soar, his tiger eyes widening: "Truly?"

"Shi would never dare joke about military orders!" Shi Yanchao said with complete seriousness.

Only then did Li Yun slowly realize—after all that talk, hadn't he been toyed with by this fellow? His expression stiffened somewhat, but considering the good news the man had brought and that he needed to cooperate with him, he decided not to make an issue of it for now.

"Good!" Li Yun slammed his fist into his palm and looked at Shi Yanchao: "I've been wanting to head south for a long time!"

"It's getting late—let my troops rest for a night before we make our plans!" Shi Yanchao looked at Li Yun: "I trust the camp quarters have been arranged?"

Like Shi Yanchao, many of the cavalrymen who disembarked could barely hide their exhaustion—their condition was clearly poor and they urgently needed proper rest, and the war horses also needed to be checked over.

"Rest assured, General! As soon as I received the message, everything was prepared!"

After entering Gong'an, Li Yun had stationed his troops outside the city. On the summer night, lamps flickered within the Han army camp like scattered starlight, and the gentle night breeze carried the dampness of the Yangtze, bringing a refreshing coolness. Moonlight shimmered on the river's surface—if not for the killing aura emanating from the army, the scene would have been quite serene and peaceful.

Patrols passed by outside the tent, but they didn't disturb the two generals inside who were pondering the battle situation. After entering camp, washing up, and resting for over an hour, Shi Yanchao's spirits had recovered considerably.

Contentedly gnawing on a roasted chicken leg that was browned to a crisp, Shi Yanchao gestured for Li Yun to brief him. Observing Shi Yanchao's manner—every gesture carrying an air of arrogance—Li Yun felt genuine displeasure inside. He was not a man of good temper himself, and over all these years, through all his ups and downs, no one had ever acted so presumptuously and insolently before him.

Li Yun waited until Shi Yanchao had finished gnawing the chicken leg before speaking: "According to reconnaissance, the rebel army at Liyang numbers about twenty thousand, and after this period of attack and defense, they've suffered nearly two thousand casualties. There's also a naval force supporting them on the Li River.

Of the twenty thousand troops, only the three thousand veteran Langzhou soldiers led by Yang Shifan and the three thousand Yao soldiers commanded by Yao chieftain Qin Zaixiong have real fighting capability—the rest are of questionable combat effectiveness!

After I took command of Gong'an, Yang Shifan sent a detachment of three thousand north, stationed at Cenhe Village thirty li northeast of Liyang, intending to guard against our army while stepping up the attack on Liyang."

Nodding slightly, Shi Yanchao asked: "What's the situation in Liyang city?"

"The rebel forces don't have enough troops to completely surround the city. I've already made contact with Pan Mei, and he says the rebel offensive has weakened—the city can definitely be held!" Li Yun said: "Our army's southward march has already greatly diverted Yang Shifan's forces, so I think there shouldn't be any problems for now!"

"This Pan Mei does have some skill—taking command in a crisis and holding the city against several times his number of enemies!" Shi Yanchao's attention, oddly enough, had shifted to Pan Mei.

"Is one night of rest enough for the Tieqi Army? Can we head south tomorrow?" Li Yun, his mind entirely focused on marching south to engage, stared fixedly at Shi Yanchao.

Shi Yanchao instead asked in return: "How does General Li plan to fight?"

"Liyang is only a hundred and twenty li from Gong'an. The roads aren't exactly smooth, but if we force the pace, we can reach it in a day. Tomorrow you and I combine our forces and head straight for Cenhe Village—I'll deal with that detached force, while you swing around to attack Liyang and pin down the rebel army outside the city to prevent their retreat! Once I've eliminated the enemy at Cenhe, I'll march south to link up with the city's defenders, and we'll strike from three sides—the rebels will surely be crushed!" Li Yun said gravely.

"The General has quite an appetite—you intend to swallow Yang Shifan's army in one gulp?" Shi Yanchao grinned, looking very much like the plan suited him perfectly.

Li Yun responded with an air of complete naturalness: "This great merit—doesn't General Shi's heart stir at it?"

"Let's do it!" Shi Yanchao's large, scarred hand slapped hard onto the map at Liyang city.

The three thousand armored cavalry under Shi Yanchao's command were an enormous boost to the Han army's combat capability, and they would make tactical employment far more flexible. For the Chu army, which lacked cavalry, they were a veritable killing weapon.

In fact, the Tieqi Army alone would have been enough to lift the siege of Liyang. But Generals Shi and Li were clearly rather greedy, wanting to accomplish everything in a single battle.

"What I'm worried about now is that Yang Shifan will see the situation turning against him and withdraw south of the Li River!" Li Yun said with furrowed brows.

"Then we'll speed things up. Tomorrow you give me a guide, and I'll lead the Tieqi Army directly, advancing at double pace to reach the outskirts of Liyang!" Shi Yanchao was equally decisive.

"Leave three hundred cavalry with me!" Li Yun said.

Looking at Li Yun, Shi Yanchao considered for a moment, then said: "Fine!"