Chapter 802: From Surrendered General to Fine General

"How does the Commander-in-Chief know?" Seeing Zhao Kuangyin make a confident judgment with such casual ease, Dang Jin couldn't help asking curiously.

Dang Jin was a rough man, illiterate, crude in conduct, disinclined to use his head, and made his name in the army through sheer valor. When leading troops into battle, he never knew fear in the fray, nor did he know what death was. Following at Zhao Kuangyin's side, he was even more loath to analyze enemy intelligence or ponder the battle situation—he simply obeyed orders.

Hearing the question, Zhao Kuangyin said calmly, "In terms of the training of soldiers and the command of officers, the gap between the two armies is beyond measure. In the previous reports, the battle was at its fiercest—at such close range, fighting for nearly two hours—if Zhang Yanqing's position were unfavorable and he were losing, he would surely have requested reinforcements. Since he has not asked for aid, and now the sounds of battle have died down, the outcome is decided—and it must be that Zhang Yanqing has fought and won! I think it won't be long before word of victory arrives!"

"Hearing the Commander-in-Chief analyze the battle is like drinking fine wine—I'm utterly intoxicated. A true commander!" Dang Jin said with a simple, foolish grin, flattering him.

Before long, a fast skiff came eastward with the current, weaving through the warship formation guarding the front, until it reached Zhao Kuangyin's flagship. The man aboard called out loudly, "Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief: General Zhang has broken the Shu army! The Shu forces are routed, and we are now mopping up the remnants and expanding the gains!"

"Excellent! General Zhang is truly a fine general!" Zhao Kuangyin praised with delight, and immediately ordered: "Send word to Wei Lin, order him to lead a thousand naval troops westward to assist in clearing out the remnants, take in surrenders, and clear the waterway as quickly as possible for the main force to pass!"

"Yes!"

"Furthermore, pass the order to the entire army: prepare to weigh anchor and advance west!"

It was just past noon, and there was still time. Having secured an opening victory, Zhao Kuangyin intended to press the advance and pressure the Shu army. Orders were passed down layer by layer, and the entire vast fleet seemed to awaken, making ready to depart, while the naval vanguard guarding the front, under the command of the Han general Wei Lin, set out westward as a detachment.

Wei Lin—this surrendered general from Jingnan—though his abilities were somewhat ordinary, had been living quite comfortably since submitting to the court. When fighting Zhou Xingfeng, he had accumulated no small amount of battle merit and offered his pledge of loyalty. Now on the western campaign, he served as deputy naval commander. If he could survive to the end, three or four generations of wealth and honor would be no problem at all.

After another hour or more of mopping up and clearing, the waterway through Wu Gorge was opened. Under the escort of a portion of the naval fleet, Zhao Kuangyin arrived at the battlefield. Gazing at the traces left in the river, the beautiful gorge scenery had been thoroughly ruined by war and slaughter—it still held some beauty, but the grim atmosphere made one frown.

The captured vessels and prisoners had been moved to moor along both banks under special guard, leaving a clear central channel. Wei Lin personally boarded Zhao Kuangyin's flagship to report.

"Have the results been tallied?" Zhao Kuangyin asked.

Zhao Kuangyin's command ability had already been displayed to the fullest in the earlier preparations and deployments, winning over the officers of the western expedition. And Wei Lin dared not underestimate this young commander. Upon being asked, he immediately reported: "Chief General Zhang, outnumbered, won a great victory. Enemies slain beyond count, certainly in the thousands. We captured over seventy vessels of various kinds and took in some two thousand Shu soldiers as prisoners. Of the Shu troops who fled, fewer than a thousand men remain, and fewer than thirty ships!"

"And General Zhang?"

"He has already led his troops in pursuit of the remnants, intending to annihilate them completely!" Wei Lin replied.

Hearing this, Zhao Kuangyin's thick brows furrowed slightly. After a brief moment of thought, he immediately ordered: "Leave a portion behind to guard the prisoners under concentrated watch, awaiting the central fleet's arrival before proceeding west in order. The remaining naval forces will advance west with my banner to support General Zhang!"

"Yes!"

"Commander-in-Chief, the entire Shu army came in full force and was still broken by Chief General Zhang. Now they are but a defeated rabble—surely no match for Chief General Zhang. Why is support needed?" Wei Lin asked in confusion.

Shaking his head, Zhao Kuangyin said calmly, "I fear only that General Zhang's objective lies not merely with those remnant troops!"

Some forty-odd li east of Wushan County, a narrow stream joined the Yangtze. On the stream's right bank, the Shu army had established a stockade, connecting water and land, named Songmu. The twenty-odd fleeing vessels from the west retreated directly into it, and Zhang Yanqing, leading his troops in pursuit, arrived at this place. Without a moment's hesitation, he drove his ships straight into the water stockade.

What the defeated troops brought back was not merely the result and mood of failure—more seriously, they brought the victorious enemy hot on their heels, murderous and unstoppable. Clearly, Zhang Yanqing's objective was this Shu stockade.

The remnants of the Shu river force, facing the increasingly aggressive Han pursuers, had no heart to resist. They collapsed rapidly and fled straight for the land stockade. Zhang Yanqing likewise ordered his men to abandon ship and go ashore, gathering his troops to strike directly.

Having fought for a long while and then pursued, the soldiers were all exhausted, but their morale was high, and with Zhang Yanqing personally directing, their spirits were roused. Riding that momentum, and with the defeated troops in disarray, Zhang Yanqing led his naval force in a direct assault on the Songmu land stockade—without any siege equipment whatsoever.

The Shu commander defending Songmu stockade, surnamed Lu, upon discerning Zhang Yanqing's intent, found it utterly audacious. Though the water stockade had been breached and chaos reigned, he reacted quickly enough, actively organizing his men to suppress the disorder while holding the stockade with bows, arrows, timber, stone, and long spears, seeking to inflict casualties on this arrogant Han force.

However, for the same reason as before—being long unaccustomed to battle—in the confusion, officers and men were stunned and morale wavered. Organizing sufficient combat strength in a short time while managing two fronts at once was no easy task. The Shu commander had the will, but not the means.

Zhang Yanqing had fewer concerns. Seizing the opportunity, before the stockade's defensive gaps could be patched, he concentrated his forces to strike at a single point. But it must be said, this method of assault came at great cost—heavy casualties. Within the span of a quarter-hour, over a hundred Han soldiers had fallen before Songmu stockade.

The sky was dimming slightly, and the autumn wind in the gorge howled, as if cheering on both sides locked in fierce combat, or perhaps mocking the strife of mortals and lamenting the passing of life.

The battle before Songmu land stockade was not large in scale. Constrained by the terrain, neither side could fully deploy. The Shu army held the advantage of defense, while the Han troops boasted high morale—but the intensity of the fighting was extreme, with casualties occurring with nearly every breath.

Before the stockade, several dozen Han soldiers still pressed forward in wave after wave, bearing great shields, wielding steel blades, and stepping over wooden planks toward the enemy fortifications. Not far behind, Zhang Yanqing's expression was cold and hard, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the battle ahead.

Constrained by the terrain and the lack of siege equipment, for now there was no choice but to fight to the death and break the enemy swiftly. Zhang Yanqing had not attacked rashly—he had learned the true state of Songmu stockade from captured Shu officers: fewer than two thousand men. He judged it fightable, and so made his decision without hesitation.

But when he saw the young men he had trained throwing their flesh and blood against the heights, falling one after another, their cries of agony still stirred ripples in his heart.

Yet in such circumstances, there was no room for any soft-heartedness!

"General, the Shu army's resistance is very stubborn. We've already lost no fewer than a hundred and twenty men before the stockade. We've lost the element of surprise, the soldiers have been fighting continuously and are exhausted, and morale keeps slipping. Once the Shu troops inside the stockade fully stabilize, if we linger here any longer, our army risks heavy losses!" Seeing the battle at a stalemate, a battalion commander at his side said gravely, seeming to suggest a withdrawal.

Hearing this, Zhang Yanqing did not take his eyes off the enemy, and said sternly, "Then break them before they stabilize! All the Shu army has to rely on is those few stockade walls. Dangerous as they are, once breached, they will collapse in one stroke!"

Taking a deep breath, his gaze flickering constantly as information from before the stockade streamed into his eyes and into his brain. Biting his lip until it bled, Zhang Yanqing said, "Strong bows and hard crossbows, forward! Loose every arrow you have, suppress the Shu troops on the walls!"

Looking at the hundred-odd soldiers beside him who served both as his guard and as reserves, he said, "You've rested long enough. Don't stay by my side—charge forward!"

"Go up personally and tell the men: the only path to survival lies ahead! Trample the enemy stockade, destroy the Shu army!" Zhang Yanqing ordered fiercely, spittle flying.

As he finished speaking, a dozen-odd arrows flew toward Zhang Yanqing. Several were blocked by shields, several struck the ground, and two Han soldiers were wounded. The battalion commander drew the saber at his waist, his face filled with righteous fervor, and said to Zhang Yanqing, "General, I'll lead the men up in support—to the death! This place is too close to the stockade walls. Please, General, withdraw a little for safety!"

"The soldiers are fighting in blood, charging forward without hesitation—how could I, as their commander, fear a few arrows and stones?" Zhang Yanqing's eyes blazed as he roared, "Don't worry about me! Just press the attack on the stockade. Break the Shu army, and I'll buy you a drink!"

"Yes!"

As the battalion commander led his men forward to join the bloody fray, Zhang Yanqing pointed at the sky with an arrow and called out loudly, "Pass the word: I am supervising the battle from here. Any soldier attacking the stockade who dares to retreat, I will personally cut down!"

The words had barely left his mouth when a stray arrow, carrying tremendous force, struck Zhang Yanqing square in the shoulder. Though his shoulder armor offered some protection, it was still pierced, the arrowhead sinking into his flesh. With a muffled grunt, Zhang Yanqing's frame swayed, and his personal guards rushed to shield him in alarm.

Zhang Yanqing took a deep breath, his gaze still fixed on the enemy stockade as before, his skin twitching slightly. He merely had a soldier cut off the arrow shaft, and stood there like a block of stone, firmly rooted in place, supervising the battle.

Spurred on by Zhang Yanqing, the Han troops charged with utter disregard for death, and at last broke a gap in the enemy stockade. Once the gap opened, it was like a tiger among sheep—unstoppable. And the Shu soldiers defending the stockade, already cowed by these fearless enemies, collapsed the moment the wall was breached. Some fled, but more surrendered.

By the time Zhao Kuangyin arrived with his men, the battlefield was already in its final stages. The narrow confines of Songmu were still in chaos, but the Han banners flew high.

Learning that Zhang Yanqing had not only pursued and destroyed the enemy's defeated river force, but had also taken Songmu stockade against superior numbers, Zhao Kuangyin could not help but remark with emotion: "Zhang Yanqing is truly a fine general! Formidable in naval combat, and no less capable in land assaults on stockades. A talent like this, and the Tang sovereign could not employ him—one can see how benighted he was!"

"Though Songmu stockade was successfully taken, Chief General Zhang attacked without seeking approval first—there is still the taint of acting on his own authority. This move carried great risk, and casualties must have been considerable..." A middle-aged general with a short beard at Zhao Kuangyin's side, named Cui Yanjin, one of the infantry commanders of the eastern route army, offered a fairly balanced assessment.

Zhao Kuangyin replied, "On the battlefield, the situation changes in an instant. One must act according to circumstances—how could everything be referred upward for approval? I had already granted him the authority to strike. Since General Zhang chose to seize the moment and attack the stockade, he must have spotted an opportunity. As long as the result is good, it is a great merit!"

"The Commander-in-Chief's magnanimity—I deeply admire it!" Hearing this, Cui Yanjin nodded involuntarily, a look of respect on his face, and clasped his hands in salute.