Chapter 1282: How to Become a Loyal Martyr in the Most Unexpected Way

The cavalry detachments sent out to reconnoiter the plank roads between Lüeyang and Mian County began sending men back one after another on the afternoon of the twenty-seventh day of the first month of the twentieth year of Hongxing to report — no signs of any enemy troops lying in ambush had been found!

Not only were there no ambushers, but the plank roads between Lüeyang and Mian County were completely unobstructed, undamaged in any way, and along the route there was no sign of any supplies, carts, or horses abandoned by the roving bandit army. Moreover, the Ming cavalry carrying out the search had encountered many local commoners who had come to "welcome the royal army." Upon questioning, they learned that the military-farm households in the several dozen townships between Lüeyang City and Mian County seat had withdrawn one after another during the winter of the seventeenth year of the Joint Governance, and by the beginning of the first year of the Dongping Daxing era, no military-farm households remained living in this area.

The roving bandits' local rule was based on the military-farm households, and the complete withdrawal of those households meant that the bandit court's rule in that area had already ceased to exist.

Considering that the withdrawal had begun last winter, that meant that after Li Guo's death, the bandit court had already begun arranging a general retreat from the Hanzhong region.

"Commander, it seems the roving bandits long ago made up their minds to abandon Hanzhong. We should be able to take it easily in this campaign!"

"Commander, your subordinate has already prepared fifteen thousand troops, ready to advance on Mian County at any time. I beg the Commander to give the order!"

Inside Lüeyang City, Shang Kexi and Kong Tingxun were petitioning Wu Sangui, who had only arrived the previous night, for permission to go into battle. If Wu Sangui had not arrived, the two of them would have led their troops out long ago, but now that Commander Wu himself was here, they could not act without requesting instructions. Now it all depended on whether Wu Sangui was generous enough to give them this chance to win merit.

As Wu Sangui listened to the two men's petitions, he stood with his hands clasped behind his back in the central hall of his temporary headquarters, gazing at a battlefield map that had just been hung up, his brows slightly furrowed. He did not answer directly, but instead asked, "Has Yangping Pass been reconnoitered?"

"Cavalry has already been sent out," Kong Tingxun said, "but they were unable to get close to Yangping Pass. Around Juting Town they encountered blocking forces of bandit infantry and cavalry. In addition, on the slopes on both banks of the Jialing River near Juting Town, signs were found of a large bandit army deploying for defense."

"And what of the Qishan Road?" Wu Sangui asked again. "Has it been searched?"

"We searched fifty li along the Xiniu River," Kong Tingxun said. "The situation is much the same as between Lüeyang and Mian County — the military-farm households in that area have also all withdrawn."

Shang Kexi said, "Commander, it seems the roving bandits have already abandoned Hanzhong and Longnan, and are preparing to make a last stand at Yangping Pass."

Wu Sangui glanced again at Liu Sheng and Wu Yinglin.

Liu Sheng said, "Commander, you could have Commander Wu move out through Maling Pass, and have Commander Shang and Regional Commander Kong move out from Lüeyang, coordinating with the three divisions coming south over the Qinling to take Hanzhong together. Of the five columns, if even one succeeds, Hanzhong will be ours.

Your subordinate will lead troops to probe Yangping Pass and test the bandits' strength."

Wu Yinglin, however, said, "Father Commander, Yangping Pass is certain to hold the bandits' main force. Sending troops to probe it would be a pure waste of effort. Better to let your son and Commander Liu lead troops along the Xiniu River, joining with Commander Shi to take the Qishan Road together."

Wu Yinglin was of course eager to win merit. He was not the eldest son, so he could not inherit the title, nor could he succeed to the post of Protector-General of Anxi — he could only make his own way through hard fighting. And this campaign to suppress the roving bandits was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity to build a career. He had no wish to waste his chance in front of an impregnable Yangping Pass.

Wu Sangui understood his son's thinking, nodded, and was about to agree. But Liu Sheng, standing nearby, suddenly spoke up: "Commander, if your subordinate and the young master lead troops off to the Qishan Road, the forces here at Lüeyang will be reduced. What if the bandits at Yangping Pass come out in force—"

"No need to fear!" Wu Sangui waved a hand and laughed. "I have ten battalions of troops with me, three of them the Iron Army of Yi soldiers, and two battalions of artillery. Do you think I cannot hold?"

Liu Sheng was still somewhat uneasy. "Commander, your subordinate brought thirty battalions to Lüeyang. Advancing west on the Qishan Road will not require that many. Better to leave five battalions here at Lüeyang."

Wu Sangui nodded. "That will do. Let it be so! Remember, you must be careful on the road. The mountain paths are rugged — by no means let the roving bandits ambush you!"

An ambush, of course, was out of the question!

From the very beginning, Li Dingguo had never considered setting an ambush on the rugged mountain roads of southern Shaanxi.

There were three reasons for not setting an ambush. First, the enemy would certainly advance with extreme caution — the past eight years of war had taught them too many lessons, so they would definitely be on guard against Li Dingguo laying ambushes in the mountains. Moreover, the Hexi Army, Anxi Army, and Chuanbian Army under Wu Sangui's command had undergone multiple reorganizations and re-equippings, and could now adapt well to mountain warfare. So fighting in rugged mountain terrain offered the Shun army no great advantage in terms of ground.

The second reason for not setting an ambush was that there were altogether four roads into Hanzhong, and communication between them was extremely inconvenient. Li Dingguo could not split up the forces at hand and station them in four places — that would not be an ambush, that would be dividing his troops to hold every pass!

The third reason for not setting an ambush was that the Shun court had already begun evacuating and withdrawing the local military-farm households before the southern Shaanxi campaign began. Once the military-farm households withdrew, the Shun court's grassroots administration in the mountains of southern Shaanxi vanished.

Considering the oppression the Shun court had inflicted on the laboring people of southern Shaanxi over the past twenty years, the people of southern Shaanxi were very likely to side with the Ming army.

So Li Dingguo simply adopted the most unexpected deployment of all: no ambush, no fighting in the strategic strongpoints of southern Shaanxi, but instead letting the enemy into the Hanzhong Basin and fighting the decisive battle on the plains of the Hanzhong Basin.

Yes — a decisive battle on the plains, a fight in open, regular formation!

For men like Wu Sangui, Shang Kexi, and Kong Tingxun, this kind of fighting was absolutely the most unexpected thing possible.

Because over the past eight years, Li Dingguo had never won a single open-field battle in regular formation on the plains — if he could have won one, he would have entered the city of Xi'an long ago. Would he have been bottled up by Wu Sangui on this plateau and that plateau for all those years?

And the reason the Shun army could not win such battles was simple enough — an army holed up in the southwestern mountains was simply not a force capable of fighting open-field battles in regular formation on the plains.

The Shun army's equipment and tactics made it a mountain force. Send a mountain division onto the plains to fight a tank regiment, and it could not win either!

So the generals on the Ming side would never even imagine that Li Dingguo would fight them in a decisive battle on the flat Hanzhong Basin — and even if they did imagine it, none of them would be afraid.

Just as the five Ming columns, more than eighty thousand men in all, were cautiously advancing toward the Hanzhong Basin, Li Dingguo had already concentrated sixty thousand elite military-farm troops at his main camp at Mount Dingjun!

In addition, fifteen thousand men had been placed by him along the Ziwu Road, Baoxie Road, and Tangluo Road, tasked with delaying the enemy. Another five thousand had been placed by Li Dingguo at Xunyang and Xing'an Garrison east of Hanzhong Prefecture, to guard against a Ming surprise attack through the small valley paths in the eastern Qinling.

In other words, Li Dingguo had deliberately left open only two routes — from Maling Pass to Baocheng (the section from Liuba to Baocheng being the southern stretch of the Baoxie Road) and from Lüeyang to Mian County — waiting for Wu Sangui, Shang Kexi, and the others to deliver themselves to his door.

"My Prince, Wu Sangui's troops have moved!"

"My Prince, Wu Sangui is advancing in two columns!"

Li Dingguo's two Vice Regional Commanders, Luo Hu and Chen Yongfu, strode quickly into the central command hall of the Mount Dingjun main camp, bringing with them two pieces of good news that roused Li Dingguo, who had been dozing, to full alertness.

Li Dingguo abruptly rose from a chair spread with a tiger skin and strode over to the large table covered with maps.

His sons Li Puxing and Li Sixing were also in the central command hall. Hearing Luo Hu and Chen Yongfu's words, they immediately placed two small wooden figures at the corresponding positions on the map.

"Good that they've come!" Li Dingguo looked at the map. "Do we know how many there are?"

"Not entirely clear," Luo Hu said. "An estimate would be that there are not too many. Wu Sangui cannot send all his troops toward Hanzhong — he cannot ignore the Qishan Road and Yangping Pass directions. He must also leave men in the Guanzhong region, and deploy garrisons along the route from Dasan Pass to Lüeyang."

Chen Yongfu said, "Ming troops are also coming by the Ziwu Road, Baoxie Road, and Tangluo Road. This time the Ming army is advancing in five columns, each at most twenty thousand men. We can defeat them one by one — just like the Qing army at the Battle of Sarhu!"

"Who do we strike first?" Li Dingguo asked.

"Strike the column coming from Lüeyang first!" Luo Hu said. "Send out fifty thousand men and form up for battle on the north bank of the Han River."

(End of Chapter)