Chapter 218: Rolling Up the Banners and Marching Out

In the early morning, Gongsun Xun opened his eyes, only to find that he had actually been sleeping in Qin Luofu's arms... He hesitated for a moment, and finally decided he might as well keep lying there.

However, just at that moment, Qin Luofu, who was sitting on the couch holding her husband, also opened her eyes and then asked teasingly, "Has my lord woken? Was the pillow comfortable through the night?"

"Ah..." Gongsun Xun responded helplessly.

As the saying goes, a gentle land is the hero's tomb. Gongsun Xun truly did not want to rise, yet he could not set aside his pride, so he hesitated for a moment, as if struggling to get up.

"If my lord is still somewhat weary, why not lie a while longer?" Qin Luofu stroked his forehead with her hand and laughed softly. "Since you have already lain the whole night, Luofu does not mind this little while more."

Gongsun Xun closed his eyes, savoring it like sweet syrup.

It must be known that he had one wife and three concubines. Zhao Yun went without saying; the other three concubines could also be considered distinctly individual... Bian Yu, for instance, was always gentle and considerate; Feng Zhi was always careful and fawning; and Luofu often had a youthful air about her.

And Luofu's behavior last night and this morning, so rarely gentle like Bian Yu, was because the previous evening the two had spoken of past matters in Zhao. Luofu had received her lord's word that the family should be safe, and they also spoke of their young daughter being even more secure in Liaodong. Only then did she set her heart at ease, and they rarely achieved such perfect harmony.

Of course, from Gongsun Xun's perspective, it was because ever since he arrived in Zhuo Commandery, he had been anxious about the continuous great battles and had always toiled mind and body. But yesterday's great victory, won by unexpectedly seizing a chance for battle, could basically be said to have decided the outcome. After this battle, talk of ten days or seven or eight days was no longer merely encouraging words.

Only then did he allow himself such indulgence.

Awake, grasping the power of a commandery; weary, resting on a beauty's knee — this return to sleep amid spring lethargy was especially intoxicating.

……………………

"Husband! Husband..."

When Gongsun Xun opened his eyes again, he found his wife Zhao Yun standing prominently before the bed in Luofu's room, which startled him for a moment, as if in a dream.

"Husband!" Zhao Yun raised her voice helplessly. "It's not that I don't want to let you sleep... Lu Ziheng, Lou Zibo, and Wang Shuzhi — all three are waiting for you at the door... They say the Huang Jin army seems about to attack the city. Younger brother Wenchao is on the city wall leading the various generals in a temporary response!"

Gongsun Xun was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then turned over and wrapped his arms around Luofu's waist, actually intending to continue sleeping!

This action immediately made Qin Luofu, whose expression had already been peculiar, laugh out loud.

Zhao Yun, standing before the couch, was also speechless. Only after a long while did she clench her fist and shout, "I'm not lying to you! And you're not dreaming!"

Without turning his head, Gongsun Xun replied in a muffled voice from his beloved concubine's embrace, "I know it's not a dream. Relay my message for me: let A Yue command the front line, Zibo advise on military affairs, Ziheng guard the commandery office, Shuzhi oversee all military logistics, and Yigong lead the personal guard without moving... The remaining generals are to follow the deployment of those four. If there is any conflict, Ziheng's word prevails!"

Zhao Yun grew even more speechless, but still managed to remind him, "Husband, there is a battle outside... Are you not afraid of being ridiculed?!"

"Not afraid!" Gongsun still refused to turn his head, but his voice finally became clear. "And my lady must also tell the generals: this morning the spring light is bright, the breeze gentle and the sun warm. I intend to loosen my robes in my room, recline high by the window and read the Spring and Autumn Annals, while pondering the virtue of the Duke of Zhou. Unless the enemy suddenly receives reinforcements, do not disturb me before noon!"

Only then did Zhao Yun begin to understand, but seeing him still clinging motionless to Qin Luofu's waist, she felt a surge of frustration: "Then I shall go relay your orders for you... You continue 'reading the Spring and Autumn Annals and pondering the Duke of Zhou'!"

Luofu, held by the waist, could only suppress her laughter and bow her head slightly on the couch to see her off. Zhao Yun waved her hand helplessly and hurriedly left.

In truth, just as Gongsun Xun thought, no matter what madness had seized the Huang Jin army outside the city, if no reinforcements suddenly arrived, there was nothing to worry about... Leave it to Lu Fan and those others, while he himself reclined high in his room — was that not delightful?!

And so, his mind wandering idly while feeling Luofu's hands stroking his back, Gongsun Xun, probably truly exhausted from consecutive days of fatigue, actually fell asleep again.

Soldiers half dead and alive before the army; a beauty still held in embrace within the tent.

While Gongsun Xun continued in this gentle land here, outside on the walls of Zhuoxian City, especially the southeastern walls facing the Huang Jin camp, the scene rapidly turned into a field of carnage.

Of course, the vast majority of the dead were Huang Jin troops... That morning, before the Han army, victorious the day before, could reorganize and continue sallying out to sweep the field, a large number of Huang Jin soldiers carried the most ordinary and crude battering rams and long ladders and launched an ant-like assault on the walls. However, these Huang Jin soldiers had low morale and laughable combat strength; the rams and ladders were only hastily assembled and unusable. Thus, facing a Han army that was not numerically inferior on the local battlefield and was also high in morale, well-rested, and fully equipped, they collapsed almost at the first touch.

After Gongsun Yue and Lou Gui obtained formal command authority and ordered mounted generals like Guan, Zhang, Qian, and Wei to each lead a hundred cavalry out of the city to sweep along the base of the walls, the Huang Jin army suffered even more, their blood flowing like a river below the city — a sight too horrible to endure for a time.

However, after the cavalry withdrew and noon passed, the Huang Jin army, having barely reorganized a little, actually came to attack again. This time, they had apparently spent time and effort in the rear camp specifically to organize and make equipment, so the rams and ladders seemed much sturdier... But that was all; they still achieved nothing against the sturdy city walls.

By the time the cavalry sallied out again to sweep, the Huang Jin troops, without waiting for the gongs to sound retreat, all fled in panic.

"What exactly are those fellows thinking?" Lou Zibo looked at the dense mass of Huang Jin soldiers fleeing in panic below the city, increasingly baffled. "Shouldn't they be digging deep trenches and building high ramparts, carefully defending to the death? Why attack the city?!"

The various generals nearby, from Gongsun Yue on down, were all speechless.

"What else could it be?" Gongsun Xun, refreshed and full of vigor, strode onto the city wall with his hand on his saber, followed by Wang Xiu, who was in charge of logistics. "Either the enemy commander is too foolish, or he can no longer control the situation in the camp, or perhaps both..."

The generals hurriedly offered their greetings one after another.

"No need for excessive courtesy." Gongsun Xun looked down from his high vantage point, first glancing at the Huang Jin corpses below and in front of the city wall, then fixing his gaze on the enemy camp, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Has it already come to this stage?"

"What does my lord mean?" Liu Bei boldly asked. "What stage has it come to?"

"Nothing special," Gongsun Xun said, frowning as he faced the spring breeze thick with the smell of blood. "I originally thought that after yesterday's battle, with the Huang Jin bandit cavalry completely lost, we could freely launch large-scale harassment, and thus in seven or eight days we could muster our forces for a counterattack... But seeing today, with the enemy suffering so many more casualties, how do I feel they are already tottering on the verge of collapse?"

The generals were all lost in thought for a moment.

"Shuzhi," Gongsun Xun turned his head and asked, "How is the conscription proceeding in the city?"

"When the Huang Jin bandits first arrived, their military momentum was so vast that the great households dared not hide their private resources any longer. Later, with our army winning many victories, the sons of good families also set aside their concerns... Thus, it has been smooth sailing. The available able-bodied men in the city have now barely exceeded ten thousand." Wang Xiu still responded calmly.

"Can they go into battle?" Gongsun Xun repeated the conversation from five days ago.

"It is still as I said before," Wang Xiu replied frankly. "If the general insists on sending them into battle, other things aside, the military equipment is insufficient to supply the newly recruited troops. Even now in the city, focusing mainly on long spears without forging swords or sabers, we have only prepared just over four thousand spears. The arrows made by mobilizing the city's commoners amount to merely over five thousand tubes, and all of those are of the kind that are barely..."

"Quite sufficient for use," Gongsun Xun interrupted his beloved subordinate with a slight smile, pointing at the Huang Jin camp outside the city. "As long as we launch one charge and take the enemy camp, won't the military equipment be plentiful? Just as we gained seven or eight hundred horses after yesterday's battle... If we lack equipment, the Huang Jin bandits will naturally deliver it to us."

"My lord speaks truly," someone could not help but interject. "In the past few days of back-and-forth at the Huang Jin bandit camp, I observed that they are fully prepared... If we take the enemy camp, I fear it won't just be military equipment; even money and grain will yield great gains."

Wang Xiu immediately fell silent... This was no longer within the scope of his duties; he had merely truthfully reported on his own work.

"Might it be somewhat hasty?" Lou Zibo asked with effort. "My lord, how about we wear down the bandit army for two more days, tomorrow and the day after? And also let Shuzhi make more preparations there."

"No need," Gongsun Xun said, narrowing his eyes as he stared outside the city.

And when Lou Gui and the others followed his gaze, their expressions all changed at once... It turned out the Huang Jin army was actually preparing to attempt a third assault on the city before sunset.

Have they gone mad?!

"I haven't gone mad!" That evening, in the Huang Jin army tent, the white-haired Deputy Commander Zhang, his eyes bloodshot, stood fully armored in the middle of the tent, his eyes wide as he spoke earnestly to Cheng Yuanzhi seated at the head. "Commander Cheng, think about it. Why did the General of the Earth send you here? Was it not to stop the Zhuo Commandery Grand Administrator from reinforcing Fanyang? Now that we have lost our cavalry, if we continue as in the past few days, letting the enemy harass and kill us at will, I fear in another five or six days the army will collapse without a fight! At this time, besides using offense as defense, there is simply no other way! So in my opinion, we must go out to fight again tomorrow!"

Cheng Yuanzhi, a yellow silk band tied around his forehead, sat upright in the Grand Commandant's chair at the head of the tent, his expression dark and unreadable.

"Commander Cheng!" Deputy Commander Zhang still wanted to persuade. "Listen to this old man's words..."

"Deputy Commander Zhang, stop deceiving yourself and others!" Just at that moment, a minor commander beside them could endure it no longer and jumped up from his seat. "You speak so nobly, but isn't it really just to avenge your only son?! It's all selfish motives..."

"So what if I have selfish motives?" Deputy Commander Zhang was utterly unafraid; his graying hair protruding from his iron helmet bound with a yellow scarf seemed to stir without wind. "Which of you gentlemen has no selfish motives? Without selfish motives, why rebel?! Besides, though I have selfish motives, I have never let them hinder the greater cause. If we don't use offense as defense, should we just sit and wait for death?!"

"You still have the face to say you haven't hindered the greater cause?" Another minor commander, dressed somewhat more plainly, rose angrily. "For your selfish motives, nearly two thousand men were killed or wounded today alone..."

"A few common heads — how can they be counted as men?" Deputy Commander Zhang remained eloquent. "In a few days we can gather thirty thousand men, and in the days after, we can gather another thirty thousand! If by losing two thousand of these things each day we can delay until Fanyang City falls and the General of the Earth comes to our aid, then this great undertaking will still not have been hindered!"

"Deputy Commander Zhang argues sophistry!" Another man stood up, but addressed Cheng Yuanzhi. "Commander Cheng, think about it. Even if the lives of common heads are worthless, they are still extremely critical right now, because we are currently wasting away beneath the city walls, morale is low, and our sole reliance is merely our vast troop numbers. But if we follow Deputy Commander Zhang's idea — yesterday we lost a thousand cavalry, today two thousand infantry, and if tomorrow we lose another two thousand infantry — then in a few days when the Han army comes out in full force, how will we stop them?! It wouldn't matter if we are defeated here, but if we let that Zhuo Commandery Grand Administrator lead his troops to reinforce Fanyang within seven or eight days... then our crime would be immense!"

Deputy Commander Zhang was about to speak again when he saw Cheng Yuanzhi, who had not uttered a word all along, suddenly slap the armrest of his chair and stand up: "Well said! If we are defeated here, so be it, but we absolutely must not hinder the General of the Earth's great undertaking! Deputy Commander Zhang, you need say no more. From tomorrow onward, rest at ease in the camp. The rest of you, carefully arrange the camp defenses and guard cautiously... Hold out until the General of the Earth comes to our aid, and all will be well!"

No one in the camp could yet question Cheng Yuanzhi's authority and decisions, especially after Deng Mao had died... So even Deputy Commander Zhang merely cupped his hands expressionlessly and said no more.

And so, that very evening, Cheng Yuanzhi first took extra care to give detailed instructions for the night watch and defenses… As a man from a large household with a manor estate, the need to be especially vigilant against night raids was something that required no teaching at all; these Yellow Turban commanders did not even consider it a matter of military training, but rather an act of instinct… Only then did the utterly exhausted Commander Cheng lie down in his tent, his mind heavy with worries.

It was early in the third month — roughly April by the later solar calendar — the true spring of the third month, when the weather is neither cold nor hot, perfect for sleeping in one's clothes, and sleeping soundly at that.

Yet Cheng Yuanzhi, the commander of an entire army, simply could not fall asleep.

This man from Guangyang, naturally dull-witted but held in high regard by Zhang Jiao for his exceptional diligence, began to recall all the events that had occurred since arriving in Zhuoxian… From the relentless harassment by small squads of Han cavalry in the previous days, to Deng Mao's request to gather the cavalry, only to be wiped out in a single stroke far from the main camp, to the confused acceptance of Vice Commander Zhang's nonsense last night and today's chaotic assault on the city, and of course, the dispute just now… All these matters swirled repeatedly through this Yellow Turban Commander's mind.

Gradually, Cheng Yuanzhi came to a realization… In fact, he should have gathered the cavalry together from the very start, so as to counter the Han army's small cavalry squads, but he should not have allowed the cavalry to leave the camp and lose their support… Had he known, things would never have come to such a pass.

In the future, he must remember this point!

At this thought, Commander Cheng actually rose, ordered a soldier to relight the lamp, and then, beneath the lamp, took out a blank account book from the Anli Trading Company, specially made for copying texts. He turned around and fetched a large goose quill, had someone grind ink and add water, dipped the quill in the ink, and recorded this insight in the little booklet. He even recited it twice over, and only then did he finally manage to calm his mind and drift hazily back to sleep…

Before sleeping, this Yellow Turban Commander had already made up his mind: he would do no more superfluous things from now on, but would simply guard the main camp securely and wait for the General of the Earth to bring reinforcements… Tomorrow, perhaps he could dig a deep trench in front of the camp for protection… How had he forgotten to dig a trench?

Exhausted from many days, Commander Cheng enjoyed a night of deep, sweet sleep, which needs no further description.

However, early the next morning, before the sky had fully brightened, when he was shaken awake by a junior commander who had barged into his tent, a piece of bad news set his heart pounding with anxiety once more:

"Vice Commander Zhang has led men to attack the city?!"

"Reporting to Commander Cheng!" This junior commander, a trusted aide of Cheng Yuanzhi and also a man of the Way of Great Peace, immediately knelt to beg forgiveness. "It is not only Vice Commander Zhang's own troops, but also Vice Commander Deng's former troops, and many men from Anci County. Last night, after returning, he secretly persuaded them all, and this morning they drove their respective units together to attack the city, saying they would take advantage of the early dawn, when the Han army was unprepared, to catch them off guard… We could not stop them, so we had no choice but to rush here to find Commander Cheng!"

Cheng Yuanzhi hurried out of the camp and climbed to a high vantage point to look, but it was already too late… In the faint, flickering light of the spring morning sun, many dark figures could already be seen moving at the foot of the eastern wall of distant Zhuoxian — clearly the Yellow Turban troops from Anci County, gathered by that Vice Commander Zhang.

At this point, calling the men back was meaningless; it was better to hope that the Han army was completely unprepared in the early morning, and that Vice Commander Zhang and his men could successfully scale the city wall on this side!

Of course, Commander Cheng's hope quickly turned to nothing… For before he could even see his own forces approach the city wall, the great eastern gate of Zhuoxian County town had already swung open on its own, and fully equipped, densely packed Han soldiers came swarming out from within the gate!

The two sides rapidly encountered each other on the open ground before the gate and immediately joined battle!

"Have the Han army discovered us?" Amid the distant, not yet intense shouts of battle, Cheng Yuanzhi, watching from his high perch, was momentarily confused.

"Should we send men to support them?" the junior commander beside him could not help but remind him.

"Naturally," Commander Cheng decided on the spot. "Since the Han army has already discovered them, this is useless now. Have the men bring that Anci bunch back in… You go personally, relay my order, and take the entire front camp to provide support. Whatever you do, do not repeat the other day's mistake, letting an entire force be wiped out beyond the camp's protection!"

The junior commander hastily obeyed and left.

However, after his subordinate had gone, Commander Cheng continued to watch from afar atop the high platform, and his brow furrowed more and more tightly… It turned out that the Han soldiers pouring out of the distant city gate were growing more and more numerous, and many Han army formations were also emerging from behind the city walls on both sides.

Gradually, Vice Commander Zhang's "surprise attack" force began to falter under the three-sided assault, and signs of a rout were faintly appearing. Fortunately, at that moment, the main gate of the Yellow Turban front camp had already opened, and the support troops had also surged out in time — this brought a sigh of relief… At the critical moment, one still had to rely on these comrades from the Way of Great Peace!

But just then, a sudden change occurred!

As a white-horse banner swept out from the city gate, the Han soldiers before the gate suddenly let out a unified cheer, and then, with a surge of momentum, overwhelmed the enemy before them. And next, the Han army continued their relentless pursuit, actually driving the routed enemy troops before them all the way forward, rolling them back toward the Yellow Turban encampment!

————I am the dividing line that rolls back—————

"The Grand Ancestor once fought the Yellow Turbans. Thirty thousand Yellow Turbans besieged a city. He assigned tasks to his various generals, then returned home to lie upon a couch, reading the Spring and Autumn Annals without pause. Lady Qin, at his side, asked: 'How goes the crisis on the walls?' He replied: 'The generals shall defeat the rebels.' His expression and manner were no different from usual." — A New Account of the Tales of the World, Chapter on Magnanimity

(End of Chapter)