Chapter 185: Division

Zhang Xianzhong enumerated the various benefits of joining forces, earnestly urging Cao Cao and the others to come to Huangmao Pass to jointly resist the government army's encirclement. After much deliberation, Cao Cao, on behalf of Old Huihui and the others, indicated that once they returned to Fang County, they would lead their forces toward Zhushan to coordinate with the Xi'an camp. If they found the government army too strong, then all the various forces would unite into one and resist the government army together.

After leaving Huangmao Pass where the Xi'an camp was stationed, Old Huihui spurred his horse to catch up with Cao Cao who was riding ahead, and asked: "Old Luo, why agree to join forces with Yellow Tiger? The government army has come to suppress him; we can just turn around and leave, run deep into the mountains—how would the government army ever find us?"

Ge Liyan also asked: "Cao Cao, I know you have plenty of cunning schemes, but this time it's clearly not something we can profit from. They call it joining forces, but isn't it really just us sending men to help him fend off the government army? This deal isn't worth it!"

Luo Rucai rode on without even turning his head: "Am I, Cao Cao, the sort to take a loss? Agree to him first, then we'll see! We'll watch how the wind blows and decide then!"

Old Huihui hastily said: "Old Luo, so you mean we don't necessarily have to help Yellow Tiger?"

Luo Rucai slowed his horse, let out a sigh, and turned sideways to say to Old Huihui: "Old Ma, even someone as strong as the Dashing King Gao was broken by the government army. Do you think if we don't help him, how long can Yellow Tiger hold out this time?"

Old Huihui said: "Yellow Tiger stated the government army has at most twenty thousand men. He said he has gathered nearly twenty thousand under his command. I think Huangmao Pass has treacherous terrain—the government army won't find it easy to break through. I reckon if he can hold out for a month, the government army will grow weary with time, and then they'll probably withdraw!"

Luo Rucai snorted: "If he were truly strong, would he need us to help? We'll go back and prepare first. If the government army is small in number, once they've fought each other to a near draw, we'll go up and pick up the spoils; if the government army is too strong, we run!"

Liu Guoneng firmly declined Cao Cao's warm invitation to rest a night in Fang County, and after parting with Old Huihui and the others, he took his personal guards and galloped back at full speed, managing to return to his own camp at Baokang before nightfall.

As soon as he entered the camp gate, Wang Erwa hurried up to greet him. After Liu Guoneng dismounted, Wang Erwa approached him and said in a low voice: "Big Brother, Li Laosi is back! He says the Governor found time to meet with him and told him to come back and relay the message: if you truly wish to surrender, you must go to Xiangyang in person! Big Brother, what are we to do?"

Liu Guoneng said urgently: "Where is Li Laosi now? Bring him here quickly—I have questions for him!"

In the second hall of the Xiangyang Prefectural office, Fang Kongzhao, the Huguang Governor of about fifty years of age, sat upright in an armchair, with his aide Chen Tong standing at his side. Zhou Bin, the Prefect of Xiangyang, sat in attendance at the lower position. The other deputy officials were not present.

Two men knelt below the hall—they were Liu Guoneng and Li Laosi, who had rushed overnight from Baokang.

After carefully questioning Li Laosi about the scene and conversation when he met the Governor, Liu Guoneng, disregarding the objections of Wang Erwa and the others, decided to risk it all and go in person to Xiangyang to meet Fang Kongzhao, the Huguang Governor.

After instructing Wang Erwa and the others that if he did not return within two days, they should immediately take Liu's mother and the troops and flee to the southwest, seeking an opportunity to enter Sichuan, Liu Guoneng took Li Laosi and hurried through the night toward Xiangyang, nearly two hundred li away.

When the two arrived at Xiangyang, the sky was not yet light and the city gates had not yet opened, so they found a place outside the city wall to sit and wait for dawn.

As the sky brightened, shortly before the Chen hour, the heavy city gates slowly opened. A squad of soldiers lined up outside the gate and began inspecting pedestrians entering the city. After Li Laosi secretly slipped a few pieces of silver into the hands of the gate Platoon Officer, the two entered the city without trouble.

Since it was not yet time for the yamen to open for business, Li Laosi went to the home of the clerk in the Governor's office whom he had only managed to connect with previously at great expense, informed him that their leader had arrived in the city, and asked him to report the matter on their behalf.

The two waited anxiously at the clerk's home until around the Si hour, when a squad of soldiers led by a Platoon Officer found them. After a body search, the two were taken to the Xiangyang Prefectural office.

Fang Kongzhao, seated in the main position, looked over Liu Guoneng kneeling below the hall and asked in a deep voice: "Who kneels below the hall? And for what purpose have you come?"

Liu Guoneng kowtowed and replied: "In answer to Your Honor's question, this guilty commoner, Liu Guoneng, has opposed the court with unrighteous deeds. Now I have awakened and repented, wishing to surrender to the court. Therefore I have come to Xiangyang in person to show my sincerity!"

Fang Kongzhao said: "You previously sent men to report your intention to surrender. I considered the matter repeatedly and thus ordered you to come in person to demonstrate your sincerity. Had you harbored treacherous designs, you would surely not dare come in person! Now that you have come yourself, it is clear you truly possess a heart of repentance! Do you know that Grand Secretary Lu, the Minister, has already informed me that tens of thousands of government troops have arrived at Yunyang Prefecture, and will soon launch a swift offensive against you? Had you not acted quickly, you would have been annihilated before long!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Guoneng was both shocked and delighted. Had he hesitated any longer, the court's great army would have arrived in full force, and even if he had turned coat at the last moment, Lu Xiangsheng would have cut off his head to guard against a false surrender—he wouldn't even have had time to cry out his innocence.

Just a few days after Liu Guoneng requested to surrender, at Lu Xiangsheng's command, the government army split into three routes and swept toward the Zhuxi, Zhushan, and Fang County areas.

According to Lu Xiangsheng's deployment, the right route of the government army, under Huang Degong and Li Chongjin, attacked the roving bandits in the Zhuxi area, and after defeating them, drove them toward Zhushan.

The left route, under Qin Yiming and Zu Kuan, advanced on Fang County, then drove the bandits toward Baokang, joining with the government army led by Fang Kongzhao, the Huguang Governor, in a pincer attack to annihilate them.

He himself led the Tianxiong Army and twenty thousand men of the Capital Camps in a frontal assault on Zhushan, seeking to wipe out Zhang Xianzhong's forces completely at Zhushan.

Zhang Xianzhong deployed his main forces inside Zhushan county town, relying on the city walls to inflict heavy casualties on the government army.

When he heard that the government army numbered less than ten thousand, Zhang Xianzhong felt slightly relieved.

It seemed the government army had also suffered considerable losses at the Battle of Shouzhou—otherwise, why would they have sent so few men?

Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi had fled as soon as the Battle of Shouzhou began, so they knew little of the battle's details, only saying that several routes of government troops had converged in encirclement.

It seemed that although Gao Yingxiang had suffered a great defeat at Shouzhou, to the point of being captured by the government army, he had still inflicted heavy casualties on them.

Since the government army was small in number, he would send word to Cao Cao and the others to come and join forces, seeking to deal a heavy blow to the government army at Zhushan, and then advance into Sichuan.

Zhang Xianzhong had no intention of leaving the city to fight the government army in open field. He had nearly twenty thousand men under his command, with three thousand stationed at Huangmao Pass. Among the ten thousand in the city, though several thousand were elite veterans of the old camp, they could not withstand a frontal charge from the government army.

If Cao Cao and the others brought troops from the east, the government army would certainly split forces to intercept them, leaving only seven or eight thousand facing the front. If they split half their strength to fight Cao Cao and the others, then he would seize the opportunity to lead the old camp troops out of the city and engage the government army in chaotic battle. As long as he broke the government army's formation, the remaining troops in the city could follow up with a charge. If it truly came to that, a great victory might be within sight.

What he did not know was that Lu Xiangsheng had deliberately placed only a small force at the front for fear of frightening him into fleeing.

At the north gate front where the government army was approaching, there were only three thousand each from the Shenji Camp and the Wu Camp, plus two thousand from the Tianxiong Army. Meanwhile, Mao Yuanyi and Feng Xun each led five thousand troops, crossing through Luoying Mountain east of Zhushan, and had already circled around to the south gate of Zhushan, completely cutting off the road from Zhang Xianzhong's forces to Sichuan.

The Dushui Bridge, five li outside the west gate of Zhushan county town, was not particularly wide, but it was the only road connecting the county town to Huangmao Pass.

Zhang Xianzhong deployed five thousand men on the west side of the bridge near Huangmao Pass, commanded by Sun Kewang, specifically to defend this small bridge and ensure the passage remained open for the troops in the city to retreat to Huangmao Pass.

Just as Sun Kewang received word from the city that the government army had arrived at the north gate, a squad of scouts he had sent north came galloping back in panic to report: nearly ten thousand government troops were approaching from the north, less than five li away!

Sun Kewang had no time to ponder where the government army had come from. He immediately sent men into the city to report, then ordered his troops to form ranks facing north, preparing to engage the government army.

Though he knew his five thousand men might not match the government army, Sun Kewang had no choice but to steel himself and meet the battle.

The Dushui Bridge could not be allowed to fall into government hands—otherwise his adoptive father in the city would have no way to retreat to Huangmao Pass.

Now he could only hope his adoptive father would quickly send reinforcements. If he led his troops back into the city, the road to the west would be completely severed.

Not long after the roving bandits west of the Dushui Bridge had formed their ranks amid the confusion, Yang Maogong arrived with four thousand Tianxiong Army troops plus two thousand each from the Shenji Camp and the Wu Camp.

Lu Xiangsheng's tactic was clear: separate Huangmao Pass from Zhushan county town, eliminate the bandits at Huangmao Pass, completely seal off the north, south, and west sides of Zhushan, leaving only the road to the east open.

Seeing the bandits' crooked, disorderly formation a few hundred paces away, Yang Maogong smiled contemptuously. After a brief consultation with the two Mobile Corps Commanders of the Shenji Camp and the Wu Camp, two thousand gunners of the Shenji Camp advanced in five ranks. A thousand archers of the Tianxiong Army took position on the left, with three thousand spearmen following close behind; a thousand sword-and-shield men and a thousand spearmen of the Wu Camp advanced on the right, ready at any moment to provide cover for the gunners in the center.

At Sun Kewang's command, over five hundred bandit archers timidly advanced, stopping after several dozen paces to form a small square formation, drawing their bows and aiming arrows at the approaching government troops.

The fire lances and gunpowder used by the Shenji Camp gunners had been improved—both range and power greatly increased, with the range extended from the original forty-plus paces to nearly sixty paces.

When the government gunners were still over seventy paces away, someone among the bandit archers nervously loosed an arrow, and the remaining five hundred-plus archers instinctively followed, releasing their long arrows as well.

The first volley of arrows caused no harm to the government army—the vast majority of arrows struck the ground in front of them, while the Shenji Camp gunners continued marching forward in neat formation.

As the distance between the two sides rapidly closed, the bandit archers kept lofting arrows into the gunners' square formation. The gunners, wearing wide-brimmed iron helmets, lowered their heads to block the falling arrows' harm. Only a few long arrows struck their targets, but none penetrated the cotton armor lined with iron plates that the gunners wore beneath.

The sword-and-shield men of the Wu Camp on the right hurried to the front of the gunners, raising their large shields to block the bandits' arrows. After a sharp trumpet blast, the gunners halted. The front-rank shield bearers crouched low, and the first rank of gunners raised their fire lances, aiming at the bandit archers ahead.

The bandit archers, having loosed five or six volleys, saw the dark muzzles pointing at them and their terror suddenly surged. The front ranks of bandits shouted and turned to run back, and the square formation instantly dissolved into chaos.

After a short trumpet blast, a thunderous roar like popping beans erupted—four hundred pellets shot from the muzzles, whistling toward the bandit archers scrambling chaotically in retreat.

Countless blossoms of blood sprayed from the bandit ranks over fifty paces away, and over a hundred bandits were struck down by the pellets. Aside from those hit in the head who died instantly, the rest who took pellets did not die immediately—the immense pain made them roll on the ground, unable to hold back their screams.

The first rank of Shenji Camp gunners quickly withdrew their fire lances and peeled off to both sides after firing, while the second rank stepped forward and immediately discharged their fire lances, whose slow matches had long been lit.

After two volleys of fire lances, nearly two hundred of the bandits' five hundred-plus archers had fallen. The rest fled screaming back to their own camp.

The Tianxiong Army archers on the left had already advanced to within sixty paces of the bandit formation and formed their square. At the whistle officer's command, a thousand three-edged long arrows flew like a small dark cloud over the bandits' heads, then turned and plunged down.

The soldiers on the right flank of the bandit formation, after three volleys of long arrows, left behind a field of corpses and wounded as they fled in panic. With a long trumpet blast, the government spearmen swept around the archers and charged forward in great strides.