Chapter 180: Applause Rings Out

Geng Yan had ordered the infantry to march with banners flying and drums beating toward the Li clan's fortified manor twenty li away, but he himself took the hundred-odd chariots and riders Ma Yuan had assigned him and hid in a wood eight li from the city, watching Wuan for any sign of movement.

The cavalry of Shuodiao and Yuyang were called the "You Province shock cavalry," in no way inferior to the riders of the six commanderies — they were rightly famed as the finest troops under heaven. Most had been galloping on horseback since childhood; if you ignored their dress and caps, you would take them for barbarians.

Compared to them, the half-baked mounted troops Wei Commandery had thrown together not long ago fell far short. Post-station riders, postal clerks, knights-errant, younger sons of petty landowners — anyone who could ride a horse had been conscripted to fill the ranks. Never mind shooting from horseback; just stepping into a single stirrup and mounting took them a good while. Even with bits in their mouths, the warhorses still let out soft whinnies, and the soldiers were even more nervous than their mounts.

Geng Yan shook his head to himself. Cavalry like this could never achieve what the You Province shock cavalry did — "break solid lines, challenge powerful foes, cut off retreats."

"At most, they can pursue a beaten army, sever supply routes, and strike at raiding parties — nothing more."

So they could not serve as the main force. They could only wait for Wan Xiu's Boar-Rush Braves to feign weakness and lure the enemy out of the city, then charge in with a roar.

"Press their front and rear, hunt their flanks, strike from the wings — the enemy will surely be terrified."

But Geng Yan's bookish talk of tactics and the art of war left the soldiers utterly baffled, until one of the cavalry officers translated it into coarse speech: "It means don't hit them head-on — stab them in the softest spot from behind!"

"So that's it!" Everyone suddenly understood.

When the signal smoke shot straight into the clouds, Geng Yan immediately led his chariots and riders out of the wood. The chariots could only run along the roads, but the warhorses were far less picky about terrain. Across this flat, open basin, they cut straight through the fields, crossing ditches and leaping over raised paths. In barely a quarter-hour, they had reached the edge of the battlefield!

"Halt!"

Geng Yan raised his hand and brought the riders to a stop. Over these few li, they had scattered in complete disorder; they needed to reassemble and rest before they could fight.

They gathered on a slightly elevated raised path. Before them stretched a vast field of millet nearly ready for harvest, and the shouts and battle cries of several thousand men from both sides rang clearly in their ears.

Geng Yan did not have a particularly high opinion of Diwu Lun's own Boar-Rush Braves. True, their organization and discipline were far better than those of the newly recruited refugee soldiers, but they had never shed the habits of peasants. From officers to rank-and-file, they had no sense of honor whatsoever. Perhaps it was the exhaustion of the long march, or perhaps a few years of soldiering had turned them all into crafty old hands — the whole unit looked orderly on the outside but was slack within, with no real appetite for battle.

And with Wan Xiu being a commander who prized his soldiers' lives and was loath to spend them recklessly, the Boar-Rush Braves, in young Geng Yan's eyes, seemed all the more lethargic.

The treatises on war say: morning spirit is keen, midday spirit flags, evening spirit turns homeward. In Geng Yan's own keen-as-morning reckoning, when the Boar-Rush Braves faced the Li clan's retainers, who outnumbered them several times over, they would at best fight to a draw and barely hold off the enemy assault.

Now that he had drawn near and surveyed the battlefield, he saw that the Li retainers were indeed better armed and armored than government troops. Their private soldiers and followers stood in neat, solid ranks, and with the cry that "the government army will slaughter Wuan" ringing in their ears, the men were eager to fight.

Yet what caught Geng Yan off guard was this: the Boar-Rush Braves, who had always seemed so listless and indolent, had today erupted with a fighting spirit he had never seen in them before.

Wan Xiu's banner commanded from the center. Cautious by nature, in battle he still led with a "follow me" style — his standard pressed straight forward as he threw himself first into the fray. The troops on the left and right wings, unwilling to fall behind, each brought out the skills they had built up in training, and the fiercest among them charged ahead with great shouts.

This swift, ferocious assault slammed the Li forces — who had spent days pent up and spoiling for a big fight — straight into hard rock. They had been told the enemy outside the city was a weak, isolated force; why, then, did they fight so savagely?

Where the two sides clashed, they had at first kept formation, trading blows and probing cautiously, but gradually it dissolved into a chaotic melee, with only the yellow scarves on their heads to tell friend from foe. Everywhere the eye fell, spears thrust and blades rose; every sound was a cry or a death shout. Blood sprayed and spattered across the sunlit earth.

Millet, that close kin of foxtail grass, swayed in the breeze — a scene that should have been tranquil and still. But the slaughter trampled great swaths of it flat; halberds, spears, blades, and dagger-axes flailed, and millet ears and bristly awns flew everywhere.

Though they clearly held the advantage in numbers, their momentum was ultimately weaker than the enemy's. The Li retainers were stunned by the Boar-Rush Braves' single fierce surge; some companies even began to be forced backward.

The Boar-Rush Braves pressed forward step by step, as if every pace they advanced won them another mu of that rich, fertile millet land.

"So I underestimated Wan Junyou and Diwu Lun's own troops after all."

This sight fired Geng Yan's fighting spirit even hotter. He immediately called for his rested riders to rein in their horses — don't let them get busy eating the millet ears — and follow him in a small loop, then wheel around and charge straight for the battlefield!

"The enemy is now checked, their soldiers scattered, their thoughts turning homeward at dusk, the whole army gripped by fear. My troops will form squads of ten riders each, strike at both flanks, sweep their front and rear — their commander can be taken!"

The hundred-odd riders cut through the millet field in ragged disorder. The dense stalks were trampled flat or parted on either side. Only when they were a hundred-odd paces from the enemy's rear line did they suddenly spur to full speed and launch their attack!

Inside the city, Li Neng had also realized his side was getting the worst of the fight. He kept driving the county soldiers and able-bodied men he had coerced to pour out of the city and reinforce them. Just as the front and rear lines lost coordination and command fell into chaos, they suddenly saw a company of cavalry burst from the millet field!

Geng Yan summoned the same ferocity he had shown in You Province when riding beyond the frontier to strike the Xiongnu and Wuhuan. He wasted no time on fancy mounted archery tricks — holding his halberd crosswise, on a white horse and in white armor, he slammed like an iron spike into the seam between two already rattled enemy divisions.

Inspired by him, the other riders followed close behind, like a volley of crossbow bolts punching through flimsy leather armor, riddling the seam of the enemy line with countless holes. Look ahead — Geng Yan's white horse and the banner tight on his heels were already on the verge of piercing clean through the thin formation!

The Li retainers in the rear had just watched their front ranks fall back step by step; now, struck by this fresh assault, the soldiers collapsed entirely and began fleeing in every direction. Geng Yan's cavalry were few, but the enemy in front did not know that — they thought a great army had fallen upon them. Facing the onrushing Boar-Rush Braves, what little fight they had left vanished, and they too began to rout.

The only man who could see the whole picture was the commander. From the walls of Wuan, Li Neng watched helplessly as his two-thousand-odd retainers and private troops were routed by a smaller force. Their formations broke, their weapons were flung aside, and they fled blindly in all directions — some retreating toward the city gates, some diving into the millet fields hoping to escape disaster, some even driven to leap into the Ming River.

His diehard retainers were still running; as for the county soldiers and conscripts who had been forced into rebellion from the start, they simply surrendered on the spot.

"The game is lost."

Li Neng heaved a long sigh. He watched Geng Yan pursue the routed troops closely, hoping to ride the momentum into the city. Li Neng simply had the archers and crossbowmen on the wall loose a volley, friend or foe alike, to check the advance. Then he himself hurried down from the wall, took his hundred-odd personal followers, and hastily withdrew from the north gate, heading toward Handan...

By dusk, when Ma Yuan led his troops back to Wuan, the battle was already over. The Diwu banner had been planted atop the walls of Wuan, and Wan Xiu and Geng Yan were waiting for him outside the city gate.

"Wenyuan, you've arrived late!" Wan Xiu was elated — not only because of the great victory, but because his soldiers seemed to have been reborn today.

"I thought I might still catch the tail end of it. I did not expect you two to be so fierce."

The speed with which they had taken the city had indeed greatly surprised Ma Yuan, but he was also thoroughly pleased. He looked at Geng Yan and, pointing at the city, said, "Bozhao, now that the Ma Fu stratagem has taken Wuan, what do you have to say?"

"Not so fast."

Geng Yan replied, "Colonel Ma, Wuan was clearly taken by Colonel Junyou and myself. What does it have to do with Ma Fu?"

"What a little brat — you turn your back the moment it suits you! Have you forgotten who assigned those chariots and riders to you? If this old man wanted to claim the credit, he could simply have led the reinforcements himself — what would have stopped me!"

Ma Yuan was mandate omen inside. Did the commander who devised the plan and made the dispositions get no share of the victory just because he had not led the charge and been first up the wall?

Wan Xiu hurriedly stopped the two, who seemed born to be at odds, and smoothed things over with a phrase he had learned from Diwu Lun: "Win-win! This is a win-win!"

Two days later, on the first day of the eighth month, when Diwu Lun arrived at Wuan County from Liangqi, he received a rousing welcome from his own veteran troops.

The Boar-Rush Braves crowded the road on both sides outside the city, craning their necks as they waited for Diwu Lun's carriage. The moment they spotted the Grand Governor's retinue in the distance, they burst into cheers.

"Lord Diwu has come!"

When Diwu Lun saw the soldiers so worked up that they had completely blocked the road, he abandoned his carriage and walked among them. There were over a thousand soldiers, many of them men Wan Xiu had recruited and incorporated back in New Qinzhong — Diwu Lun could not possibly call them all by name. But quite a few of the officers were men he had personally promoted and whose faces he knew well.

This, of course, did not include Corporal Qin He. In that day's battle, though he had summoned all his strength to charge forward, he had still not been as aggressive as his comrades. His squad had won little merit, and now, swallowed up in the crowd, he was utterly inconspicuous. He could only stand on tiptoe as hard as he could, hoping to catch a glimpse of Diwu Lun, whom he had only ever seen from a distance back in New Qinzhong.

"Don't call me Lord Diwu."

Today he had deliberately changed out of his Grand Governor's robes and cap and was dressed in martial attire. He reached out to clap and slap the soldiers' shoulders, laughing. "Calling me General is more familiar."

"General!"

Diwu Lun's manner instantly dispelled the Boar-Rush Braves' worry that he "loved the new and loathed the old." They all secretly swelled with pride, casting sidelong glances at the Wei Commandery refugee soldiers who could only stand off to the side. "As expected, the General still cherishes his old troops!"

Diwu Lun had no intention of playing favorites among his various units, but seniority still had to be acknowledged. The Boar-Rush Braves were the "old hands." They had traveled a thousand li to get here, losing over a hundred men on the road, and must have accumulated no small measure of grievances — they needed soothing. Besides, taking She County and standing toe-to-toe against Wuan's tough foe had indeed won them the greatest merit; they deserved this special honor.

And the soldiers had their own purpose in coming out so eagerly to greet him. As they walked toward Wuan County, someone could no longer hold back and shouted out.

"General, Wuan has been taken, the Li clan has been driven off — when do we get our land?"

"Right, when can we get it?"

Amid the crowd's fervent gazes, there was also fear and worry. After all, Wang Mang had fooled the whole realm once before. Wasn't it common as dirt for officials to go back on their word?

Diwu Lun halted his steps, climbed straight onto the war chariot behind him so the soldiers could see him, and then addressed the crowd: "We divide it now!"

His words were relayed outward by his personal guards in succession, and a roar of cheers instantly erupted, followed by applause.

The soldiers followed the same custom as back in New Qinzhong — whenever Diwu Lun finished speaking, they would clap. And those four short words drew applause several times warmer than what Diwu Lun had received in his callow early days after delivering long speeches to the troops!

In the past, the common soldier Qin He had clapped only because everyone else did; if you didn't, the army clerks would glare fiercely at you, even pull you aside for a talk, asking what grievance you held against Lord Diwu. But today, he clapped from the bottom of his heart, clapped until his palms ached, and so did everyone around him — some were even wiping away tears.

If they really could get land, then this trek of thousands of li, the wounds and pain of bitter battle — it would all be worth it!

The applause and cheers went on so long, impossible to quiet, that Diwu Lun had to have someone beat the bronze gong on the city wall before the agitated crowd was finally subdued.

Diwu Lun continued loudly: "But exactly how much land this Li clan and its adherents hold must still be carefully surveyed. Only when we know the total and its distribution can we divide it in detail. I have brought many of my subordinate clerks specifically to handle this matter, but all of you must also lend a hand."

"All of you, bring out your old skills. Distribute the sickles and harvest the autumn millet and wheat — that is your grain ration, and also your seed for the coming spring planting!"

This, of course, was no problem. Diwu Lun set a deadline for the matter: "Before the winter wheat is sown at the end of the eighth month, every man of the Boar-Rush Braves will have his land allotted according to merit. The field deeds, the seed, the farming tools, even one plow ox per squad of ten, and furthermore the tenant farmers and retainers to work the land for you — all will be delivered into your hands! Not a single man will be shorted!"

There would even be people to help with the farm work? Didn't that make them landlords too? The clapping began again and followed Diwu Lun and his officials all the way into Wu'an city, not dying down for a long time.

Diwu Lun's smile turned solemn once he entered the city. The matter was simple to say, but not so simple to carry out — it had to be executed at once.

First, surveying the land, clarifying the field boundaries, and even figuring out how many tenant farmers worked the Li fields — all this required a large number of specialized officials. Wu'an's bureaucratic system had long been infiltrated by the Li clan; now, with some dead and some fled, not many were left.

Fortunately, Diwu Lun had already recruited a second cohort of subordinate clerks, numbering as many as sixty or seventy men. After working in the commandery office for a year or so, they had gained a rough grasp of the statutes, ordinances, and account books. This group would serve as officials in the three counties of She, Wushi, and Wu'an, replacing those who had followed the Li clan in rebellion.

Diwu Lun thought to himself: "It seems the time has come to recruit a third cohort of subordinate clerks. The scholars of Wei Commandery are exhausted; I must expand my recruitment to other commanderies. After all, with Wei being stable, there are plenty of people who want to come here seeking refuge. This time, I can't just do cursory interviews — I'll need strict examinations."

Furthermore, the Li clan had in earlier years reported their landholdings to the commandery as "over ten thousand mu," but the land they actually possessed was several times that.

After all, powerful families concealing land was commonplace. This time, Diwu Lun was determined to pull up the Li clan by the roots. Of their several hundred clan members, the greater half had fled to Zhao Commandery with Li Neng; the ones who remained, Diwu Lun had no intention of taking in either — he would smash them all. Then he would pool the land in their hands and use it as a reward for the unit that had earned the first merit. Each man should get at least twenty mu.

Only in this way could he, starting from nothing, create in Wei Commandery — where his own foundations were shallow — a new class granted land for military merit, one that farmed and fought in equal measure!

Of course, this matter could be said to be something Diwu Lun had pushed through on his own. Ma Yuan, who had also tasted the hardships of the common people, was broadly supportive, but he pointed at the refugee soldiers, who looked somewhat envious and resentful, and half-jokingly reminded him: "Boyu, it is not scarcity one worries about, but inequality. The Boar-Rush Braves have been given land, but the refugee soldiers and the rest have also rendered meritorious service — how do you intend to placate them?"

And the words spoken by Feng Qin, the Chief Clerk for Annual Reports whom Diwu Lun had entrusted with heavy responsibility and intended to put in charge of this land survey, were extremely grave.

Feng Qin was no outsider and amateur strategist like Feng Yan; he was himself from a great clan of Fanyang. Summoned from She County to Wu'an, when he suddenly heard that Diwu Lun intended to carve up the Li clan's fields and give them to the outsider Boar-Rush Braves, he was greatly alarmed: "My Lord Governor, this is madness!"

And after rushing without pause into the county office within the city, he prostrated himself before Diwu Lun and urgently remonstrated:

"Who exactly gave my Lord Governor this counsel? I beg you, have him executed!"

As he said this, Feng Qin glared at Huang Chang, who was standing to one side, thinking it was the work of that base dwarf.

"How dare you, Feng Weibo!" Huang Chang instantly sprang to life, the little man jumping up and pointing at the tall Feng Qin: "Do you intend to cut off the Lord Governor's head? Do you wish to rebel?"

Feng Qin was taken aback. Seeing the half-smile on Diwu Lun's face, he realized it really was his own idea. He hastily knocked his head on the ground, but his stance remained unequivocal: "I still hope my Lord Governor can retract this order. This head must not, under any circumstances, be lopped off!"

"Otherwise, your humble clerk fears that from this day forward, every clan of Wei Commandery will be unable to sleep at night, each man feeling himself in danger!"

Feng Qin, who had always worked honestly and spoken little, today spoke words of dire warning: "And my Lord Governor, you will cut yourself off from the people of Wei!"

PS: Chapter 2 at 13:00.

(Chapter 3 at 18:00.)