Chapter 382: Cold Words and Harsh Remarks

At dawn, Han Shizhong entered Tieling Pass, and Li Yanxian led his men to welcome him.

In front of everyone, Li Yanxian's expression was composed, and Han Shizhong chatted cheerfully; neither side lost their composure... or rather, after going through the motions, the Commandery Prince Han simply had his unparalleled personal banner planted atop the pass and directly took the highest, most central, and best room in the dilapidated pass to sleep.

Li Yanxian and the others had nothing to say, not to mention that Han Shizhong's cavalry had made the most kills the previous night... actually, it wasn't that many either. In the pitch dark, Han Shizhong's troops were unfamiliar with the terrain, and being cavalry made pursuit difficult. Plus, many Jin troops had fallen behind on their own. Not many had actually reached the pass and entered the danger zone... it was only about seven or eight hundred kills, a third of the actual attacking enemy force, and they hadn't even captured Wanyan Zhehe.

But whether it was this seven or eight hundred, or the one to two thousand at the Stork Tower battle, Han Shizhong's forces had basically obtained all the kills against the main Jin army's Meng'an and Mouke units since the fighting began.

One man's contribution exceeded the total kills of the other nine Military Governors' subordinates combined, and he had basically done it by personally fighting on the front lines.

Roughly speaking, if they fought twenty more such battles, the Jin army wouldn't need to fight anymore; they could just be considered defeated in the decisive battle, surrender, and have their state destroyed.

Add to that the fact that he was the sole Commandery Prince, the Marshal of Hedong officially appointed by imperial decree, he naturally had the right to look down on anyone, especially Li Yanxian, who had just lost troops and generals.

Compared to Commandery Prince Han, another rescue hero who arrived with difficulty at noon, Ma Kuo, styled Ma Zichong, was much more deferential in his attitude. He was even to the point of being almost overly cautious... there was no way around it. This wasn't just about the clear gap in status between Ma Kuo himself and Li Yanxian, nor was it a problem with Prince Xin. More importantly, after this battle, Tieling Pass was secured, and the Taihang volunteer army was officially back in the fold. He had to fight for enough treatment for the Taihang volunteers and dared not offend anyone at this moment.

However, Ma Kuo was even more exhausted than Han Shizhong. He barely managed to watch Li Yanxian arrange camps for his troops at the pass before he couldn't hold on any longer, found a room, and fell asleep.

But Ma Kuo didn't sleep for long. Around late afternoon, he turned over and dared not sleep anymore. He then came out, found some cold water to wash his face, and was just about to go out when someone was already waiting at his door. They said that Marshal Han had woken up and was surveying the situation at the pass with Military Governor Li. He had specifically instructed that they were to invite Chief Ma to ascend the pass as soon as he was up.

Ma Kuo naturally had nothing to say.

However, although they called it ascending the pass, Tieling Pass was not really a formidable fortress. It was just a narrow defile. It only gradually became known during the Five Dynasties when the Hedong region was particularly important... but it wasn't a great or good reputation.

But then again, after this battle, it would probably gain some fame.

Not to mention anything else, at this moment, three of the Great Song's Ten Military Governors were gathered inside the pass. Looking northeast from the pass towards Quwo, less than twenty li away on the banks of the Hui River, there was also a legitimate Jin state commander with two famous Wanhu commanders, enough to leave behind some famous historical sites.

Enough digression. Let's just say that Ma Kuo received the news and had just entered the small courtyard inside the pass. Before he could ascend the pass, he first saw two large banners standing on the pass tower. The 'Unrivaled Under Heaven' banner stood unceremoniously in the center, squeezing the 'Pillar of the State' banner to one side, making it look almost cramped. He inwardly cried out that it was bad.

When he finally ascended this third-rate small pass tower and turned around, he was startled again... it turned out that on the platform of this small pass, several dozen people were densely packed together.

If these people were just guards, it would be one thing, but judging by their attire, they were either Commanders or Deputy Commanders, or at the very least, personal adjutants or staff officers. In normal times, each would be a figure of some importance, but now they just stood there, packed shoulder to shoulder, not daring to make a sound.

As his heart grew more uneasy, Ma Zichong couldn't help but secretly think, if Bolisu could set up a heavy artillery cart and fire a shot, not even a gunpowder cannon, this Northern Expedition would probably have to be called off.

"Chief Ma has arrived." One person turned around to look, his eyes flashing like lightning, and was the first to abandon his seat and rise to greet him.

Ma Kuo saw from afar that this person was seated in the center, with a majestic bearing. Moreover, although he was only wearing a light and soft cotton garment, he had an incongruously luxurious jade belt. He knew this was Han Shizhong, whom he had met briefly in Hebei years ago. He immediately cupped his hands in greeting, not daring to be the least bit negligent:

"Commandery Prince! Marshal! Ten years have passed, and the Commandery Prince is still so free and easy!"

Han Shizhong saw that Ma Kuo was so perceptive and even mentioned their past acquaintance. He naturally laughed heartily and took the initiative to step forward and take his hand.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Ma Kuo saw Li Yanxian standing calmly with his hands behind his back, and he dared not neglect him either: "Military Governor Li, we were in a hurry at noon and didn't get to talk about our hometown connections..."

It turned out that the two were actually from neighboring prefectures, one from Longxi and the other from Didao.

Hearing him bring up this connection, Li Yanxian found it hard to maintain his aloof posture and quickly stepped forward to shake hands and exchange greetings.

After another round of pleasantries, the three men sat down on three chairs that had been prepared side by side on the pass. Sure enough, Han Shizhong sat in the center, Li Yanxian on the left, and Ma Kuo on the right, without the slightest mistake.

After they were seated, they made some small talk about the camp being built below the pass. Li Yanxian roughly thanked the two for their support the previous night, and then the atmosphere cooled down.

As for Ma Kuo, he had long sensed the tension in the air and knew that no one else had any room to interject. He quickly tried to lighten the mood with jokes and flattery directed at the two.

However, when he told the joke about Han Shizhong fighting twenty more such battles and wiping out the Jin, Han Shizhong's reaction was a bit excessive.

"Chief Ma's words make it sound like I, Han Shizhong, am not a human being." As soon as Han Shizhong said this, he threw his head back and laughed. His laughter was so loud that it echoed through the ravines and gullies on both sides of the mountain, and it was continuous, showing how strong the Commandery Prince Han's lungs were.

At this laughter, Li Yanxian and Ma Kuo had no choice but to force a couple of dry laughs in response, but they quickly stopped because they both realized that what was coming was inevitable.

And sure enough, after laughing for a long time, Han Shizhong stopped. But instead of addressing Ma Kuo, who had told the joke, he turned his head to face Li Yanxian:

"Military Governor Li... tell me, am I a human being?"

Li Yanxian's expression did not change: "I've only heard that in recent years, Commandery Prince Han has been dabbling in literature in Chang'an and writing good poetry. I haven't heard that Commandery Prince Han has become an immortal on Mount Zhongnan."

"Indeed." Han Shizhong looked at the still chaotic scene below the pass and smiled with emotion. "I am also a mortal body of flesh and blood... As a reckless youth in Yan'an Prefecture, I was oblivious to everything. When I grew a bit older, I muddled along the frontier, thinking everything was possible. But in reality, it wasn't until I met my wise lord in the Jianyan era that I rose to prominence and managed to earn myself a jade belt... And now, having read a few books and gained some other accomplishments and insights, I spend my days thinking about fulfilling the emperor's grand cause and winning fame for myself in life and after death. But I never expected that my hair would already be turning white." Having said this, without waiting for anyone around him to speak, Han Liangchen directly pointed to Wang Shixiong, who was standing behind him at an angle. "Do you know, this fellow has been going easy on me in our martial arts practice for a year now? You see, I am truly a mortal body of flesh and blood, not an immortal."

Not to mention Li Yanxian and Ma Kuo, even the dozens of Commanders, volunteer army leaders, and accompanying staff officers and personal adjutants standing behind the three of them were all astonished as they looked at Wang Shixiong... this was a man who could hold his own against Commandery Prince Han!

But the imposing Wang Shixiong stood there with his hand on his sword, feeling only a sense of guilt.

In such a setting, everyone knew that Commandery Prince Han was about to lose his temper and establish a hierarchy with Military Governor Li. But was this matter between the two of them something that people like them could interrupt? Let alone become the center of everyone's attention?

And indeed, that was the case. After the people on the pass came to their senses, no one dared to speak.

Li Yanxian was stunned for a moment, but still remained calm: "I still remember in the early years of Jianyan, when the Imperial Army was first established, Commandery Prince Han came to Nanjing. Observing the generals accompanying the emperor, he boasted that he should be the foremost under heaven. How is it that you have lost your edge now?"

"It's not about losing my edge, but about speaking according to His Majesty's principle of 'seeking truth from facts'." Han Shizhong adjusted the jade belt at his waist and replied casually. "Since I am a human being, not an immortal, then I will be subject to birth, aging, sickness, and death. On the battlefield, without armor, I can be killed by arrows, stabbed by iron spears, or crushed by hammers and axes... Military Governor Li, am I right or wrong?"

Such talk was very taboo in the military, and saying it now made the atmosphere very bad.

Li Yanxian's face was as dark as water, and he simply shut his mouth.

But Han Shizhong was absolutely not going to let him off so easily: "Besides, what's wrong with what I'm saying today compared to my boast of being the foremost under heaven? Am I, Han Shizhong, no longer unrivaled under heaven today? Among the three hundred thousand heroes of the Imperial Army, who dares to claim they have surpassed me? Let's not even mention those useless bastards from the Western Army like Qu Da, Wu Da, and Old Zhang, whom I've always overshadowed. Even Yue Fei, who is young and also a Marshal, and whose martial arts are admittedly not bad, does he dare to say that when he goes into battle, he is impervious to swords and spears, and cannot be stabbed to death or chopped to death by the Jin?"

Li Yanxian remained silent.

"Even you, Military Governor Li, the 'Pillar of the State,' what a great reputation! Defending Shanzhou for eight years, splitting the east and west, preventing the Jin from joining forces—this merit is absolutely sky-high... But even so, does that mean you, Military Governor Li, are not a human being?" Han Shizhong continued to taunt him.

As soon as these words were spoken, the many Shaan-Luo officers under Li Yanxian's command on the pass all changed color, and Ma Kuo became completely tense.

After a long pause, Li Yanxian, who had been pushed to the breaking point, finally spoke, but still remained calm in public: "Commandery Prince Han is joking. Even if I were completely muddled, I would know that the merit of Shanzhou is actually an awkward and mediocre thing. How could it compare to Commandery Prince Han, who has been serving at His Majesty's side since before the Jianyan era? The greatest merit is saving the sovereign..."

"If you say that, then you are still not convinced." Han Shizhong sneered and interrupted him. "You still think you are a heaven-sent talent. If you hadn't been tied down by Shanzhou, you would surely have achieved great things like Guan Yunchang, shaking all of Huaxia. Back then, it was because of this very arrogance that you were put on the wanted list by Duke Li..."

"Was Li Gang right, or was I right?" Li Yanxian finally changed his expression.

"Gentlemen..." Seeing that things were going badly, Ma Kuo quickly interjected.

But unexpectedly, the two of them completely ignored him. Upon hearing this, Han Shizhong just laughed heartily and shook his head: "Today, I'm not here to talk about old matters... Military Governor Li, I only ask you one thing. You are naturally one of the foremost heroes under heaven, a wronged Guan Yunchang. But are your thirty to forty thousand Shaan-Luo Imperial Army soldiers also all foremost heroes under heaven, just like you? If that were the case, after being ambushed last night, why couldn't they even move and had to wait for me and Chief Ma to rescue them? Hadn't they only captured two cities and marched a hundred and forty-five li? How did they collapse so easily?"

Hearing this, Li Yanxian pressed down hard on the armrest of his chair with his left hand, but his face calmed down instead: "Is the Marshal trying to hold me accountable for yesterday's battle and enforce military law right here?"

"Enforce military law, my ass!" Han Shizhong sneered incessantly. "You're not like Qu Da, who wrote a rebellious poem and beat up Minister Hu. Could I really take a whip and beat you to a pulp? Even yesterday's military matter is not something I, as Marshal, can question... Didn't the golden-bellied messenger just arrive today, saying that Li Qiong is also on his way? It's just that the river channel near Shanzhou is a bit narrow, so he's coming a bit slowly, right?"

Li Yanxian's lips moved. After a moment, he lowered his voice and replied:

"For last night's matter, I will naturally beg His Majesty for punishment."

"Why would you need to beg for punishment?" Han Shizhong continued sneering, but he turned around in his chair again and pointed at the generals behind him. "Up and down this pass, there are over a dozen secret document boxes, and also over a dozen documents from the Imperial City Office and the Military Command Office... I'm afraid that regarding those messy accounts from yesterday and last night, the three of us might not be as clear as His Majesty on the other side of the Yellow River."

Li Yanxian finally lost his composure: "So, is Commandery Prince Han here today just to specifically mock me, Li?"

"And what if I do mock you?" Han Shizhong finally put on a stern expression. "Military Governor Li, we are all old soldiers... Last night's incident, no matter how strange, cannot be blamed on anyone else. It is solely your responsibility for being greedy for merit and advancing recklessly! If it weren't for your desire to claim credit, leading the entire army on a forced march until the soldiers were exhausted, how could Wanyan Zhehe's few thousand scattered cavalry have overrun a camp of nearly twenty thousand men? Besides, even if it were just about competing for merit, you could use Tieling Pass as an excuse. But let me ask you, this time you came out, why did you only report to His Majesty and not explain anything to me?"

Li Yanxian's face was as dark as water, but he simply could not refute it.

In reality, he didn't wait until the later Jin Jun night raid; just yesterday evening upon arriving below the pass, he had already realized his own underestimation of the enemy and fatal mistake... because at that time he discovered that his so-called main army, which had made a long-distance forced march and had even captured four cities—Xiaxian, Wenxi, Caozhang, and Dongzhen—along the way, had long since been exhausted to the point of losing basic organizational and combat capability.

At that time, it could only maintain a marching inertia and an outward momentum; internally, it was already vulnerable to a single blow.

Therefore, yesterday he did not choose to launch an immediate assault on the Tieling Pass choke point, because he feared that a direct attack would fail and instead expose this fact.

In stark contrast was his subordinate vanguard, Lu Monk's unit; a mere few hundred men, upon arriving below the pass in the early morning, had unhesitatingly chosen to seize the pass.

So, let alone being unable to guard against or defend against the later Jin Jun surprise attack, even seizing this Tieling Pass was a stroke of luck.

"And what about Guannei... that battle during the day and the camp explosion at night, what do you have to say, Military Commissioner Li?!" Han Shizhong was still pressing Military Commissioner Li. "Seizing Tieling Pass is your merit, but with so many dead, is it ultimately a victory or a defeat?"

Hearing this, Ma Kuo, who had been tense and cautious, also began to change his attitude—although Li Yanxian had always been the one liaising with the Taihang Mountains, which counted as some shared goodwill, the problem was that the two sides were of equal rank. With Ma Kuo not yet arrived, and the army having suffered heavy casualties under Li Yanxian's command, some of it would ultimately have to be attributed to this pillar of the state.

"What exactly does Commandery Prince Han want to say?" Li Yanxian finally grew impatient.

"Simple." Han Shizhong was too lazy to say more. "Just want to tell Military Commissioner Li... this battle is a national war. Hedong is the main attack, His Majesty is the commander-in-chief. I am not. I, Han Shizhong, and the Left Army of the Imperial Camp are actually the vanguard! What are you contending for the vanguard for? Is the vanguard something for you to contend over?"

Li Yanxian struggled hard not to bite his fingernails.

Because he knew that arguing and losing composure here was meaningless... One thing was that his political standing and military seniority were inferior to Han Shizhong's; another was that he had lost last night and owed a favor; most critically, as Han Shizhong had reminded him, the true decision-maker was His Majesty Zhao, and nothing here could possibly be hidden from that His Majesty Zhao, who had already won over the commanders at the level of Controller-General back in Heyin.

Han Shizhong's posturing was half-truth, half-falsehood, fundamentally meant for His Majesty Zhao to hear.

It was even hard to say whether there was some deliberate performance in it, intentionally falling out with him to reduce suspicion.

A silence that made the generals behind him uneasy, and what broke this silence was not Ma Kuo, who had suddenly realized something, but a rumbling of horse hooves and a banner with five colors holding up the sun.

Bolisu had arrived, and he had brought a large number of Jurchen cavalry, which plunged the Guannei troops, who had just barely established some camp discipline below, into chaos once again.

Without needing anyone to remind him, Shao Long, the Controller-General of the Imperial Camp Central Army, hurried down from the pass to restrain the camp in front of the pass.

Han Shizhong sat motionless on his chair, only looking with a half-smile at the dust cloud beneath that banner. Only when the dust gradually settled did he turn his head for the third time to give an order, yet his smile was as warm as a spring breeze: "Wang Shixiong, go down and ask Bolisu for me..."

"H-how should I ask?" Wang Shixiong was momentarily nervous.

"Ask him if he has seen my grand banner clearly. If he has, then tell him to fuck off back to Liaodong, and I will spare his life." The Commandery Prince of Yan'an, Han Liangchen, pinched the jade belt at his waist and smiled as he spoke.

PS: Thanks to the two big shots, Wuyan de Da Xigua and Tell Xiao Guo, for their patronage... Tell Xiao Guo is someone I chatted with from Zhihu...

I'm dead tired, and I'm adjusting my schedule while I'm at it. No update tonight, consider this a leave of absence.