Chapter 220: God of War

An army of over three hundred thousand — its vanguard had already reached Hangu Pass, while the tail of its rear guard still stretched back to Ba Bridge. This time, the court had emptied its very coffers; soldiers and conscripts summoned from every commandery, with their banners and baggage trains, stretched unbroken for a thousand li along the road.

On the day they marched, it could truly be said that "the splendor of chariots, armor, troops, and horses surpassed any expedition since antiquity." Wang Mang named them the "Tiger Fang Five Might Army" and placed enormous hopes upon them.

As a result, the lands within the Pass were drained of nearly every able-bodied man — two or even three households contributed a single conscript — leaving only the forty thousand men of the Northern Army's eight regiments, commanded by the newly appointed General of Pacifying Beginnings, Shi Chen, to guard the capital. This Shi Chen's daughter had already been designated by the Emperor as the new Empress, to be wed the following month to bring auspicious fortune. The Shi clan, once an external consort family of the Han, had now become an external consort family of the Xin — they were their own people now.

The commoners of the Six Suburbs had already been conscripted beyond all measure, and those soldiers stationed in Shang Commandery, Beidi, and Longyou, unable to catch up with Wang Yi's great army in time, could only muster in scattered groups. Together with refugee youths and able-bodied men seized as conscripts, they were to await the command of the "Duke of Renewal," Diwu Lun: the Emperor had already approved Diwu Lun's request to enter the Pass with eight hundred officers and men, and had also dispatched messengers to urgently order him to come at speed.

"Diwu Lun, that callow brat — he merely got lucky and beat the Red Eyebrows once. How is he worthy of the title of Duke?"

Wang Yi dismissed with contempt the Emperor's superstition that "Diwu Lun can break the false prophecies about Liu and Li." He had always been at odds with Yan You, and they had clashed often at court. Now that Yan You had been defeated in the south, the Emperor was actually pinning his hopes on Diwu Lun, who had studied a few volumes of military texts under Yan You — it truly baffled him.

The Grand Minister of Works already likened himself to Zhou Yafu of the Han, entrusted with a critical mission to march beyond the Pass and quell the Rebellion of the Seven States. Shelved for so many years, he had long awaited this opportunity. Now everything was in place; only one man was still missing.

But the Emperor was unwilling to let Wang Yi wait any longer within the Pass. The Greenwood Army had already seized the entire Forward Corps, leaving only Yan You and Cen Peng stubbornly holding out in Wancheng. The Han troops even had strength to spare, sending forces north to attack the Left Corps in Yingchuan Commandery. Reports of crisis from every region flew in like snowflakes, making the Emperor, Wang Mang, all the more anxious. He ordered Wang Yi to march out at once.

Fortunately, just as Wang Yi was escorting the great army to Xinfeng, that man was finally conscripted from his hometown and brought in.

"The Duke of Longxin, Chen Menggong, has been summoned and is here!"

"Quickly, invite him in!"

Wang Yi tossed aside his military text and strode out of the camp gate with a great laugh, only to see that the visitor was a venerable elder in his declining years, the hair at his temples longer than his beard. Having been conscripted into the army, he wore an expression of utter reluctance.

Wang Yi hurried forward a few steps to support him, preventing him from bowing. "Marquis Jiawei, it has truly been far too long!"

This man was the renowned "Confucian knight-errant" of the Guanzhong region, Chen Zun of Duling, famed alongside Yuan She of Maoling as the Twin Heroes of Guanzhong. The only difference was that Yuan She mostly moved in the underworld, while Chen Zun moved in the circles of power, having served as Governor of Henan under the Han and later performed great deeds for Wang Mang.

Wang Yi greatly enjoyed associating with heroes. He had a seat arranged so he could treat Chen Zun as an equal, showing no disrespect despite the man's current loss of office. When Chen Zun humbly protested that his presence in the army would only cause trouble, Wang Yi laughed and said, "Over a decade ago, when Zhai Yi rebelled in the east, I was ordered to suppress him. But there was also unrest within the Pass — the great bandits Zhao Peng, Huo Hong, and others rose in revolt around Huaili. At that time, Lord Chen served as Colonel and quelled them in a single stroke."

"Now that chaos has arisen once more, I need Lord Chen to face the enemy alongside me!"

Chen Zun modestly claimed he was too old and not the man he once was, but Wang Yi replied, "In life, there are always moments of crisis. When someone is in dire straits and knocks at the door seeking aid, a man who does not excuse himself by citing family at home, nor decline by claiming he is away — such a man is what the world looks up to. In ancient times, there were Ji Xin and Ju Meng; in this present age, there is only Yuan She of Maoling, and you, Lord Chen."

"Now, with the Red Eyebrows and the Greenwood Army causing havoc, His Majesty has thus employed men of chivalry and daring. Yuan She has already been appointed Grand Governor of Zhenrong in Beidi. How, then, could my army be without Lord Chen?"

That a knight-errant living in retirement like Yuan She could be directly appointed to a two-thousand-bushel post governing a frontier region showed just how desperate Wang Mang had become. Wang Yi did not expect Chen Zun to cast aside his books and take up the sword to slay men as he had in his youth, nor did he seek his counsel or stratagems. He merely wished to emulate Zhou Yafu's conscription of the great knight-errant Ju Meng. Chen Zun had once served as Governor of Henan and enjoyed great renown there. Wang Yi calculated that when his great army reached the Luoyang and Henan region, they would still need to seize some able-bodied conscripts as reinforcements, and the old man's help in that would be indispensable.

Chen Zun could not refuse and had no choice but to agree. The next day, as Wang Yi departed Xinfeng and marched east, an urgent report was delivered to the army — it concerned Dou Rong, the elder brother of his junior wife.

"The General of the Waves has been defeated again! The Greenwood bandits have seized Kunyang City in the Left Corps!"

The Greenwood Army's seizure of Yingchuan was proposed by Wang Chang, one of the Greenwood chieftains and a native of Yingchuan. He had long wished to fight his way back to his homeland.

But the one who truly articulated this strategy with clarity and won everyone's approval was Liu Xiu, serving as "Assistant General to the Bearer of the Gilded Mace."

"Yingchuan is the ancient land of Han. This commandery controls the Ru and Luo rivers to the west and draws upon the Huai and Si rivers to the east. Boats and carts converge here, making transport and supply easy. Seizing its grain and fodder will allow the various divisions of our army to forage separately, sparing us from exhausting the provisions beneath Wancheng. Yingchuan is full of heroes, knights, and men of outstanding talent; its accents and customs are close to those of Nanyang, making it easier than other commanderies for them to join our army."

"Furthermore, Yingchuan is the gateway to Nanyang, and it does not lack the natural barriers of mountain streams and passes. If the Xin army in Luoyang wishes to march south to relieve Wancheng, it must pass through Yingchuan. And from Yingchuan into Wan, there are only two routes. The western one, through Luyang Pass, is treacherous terrain where a large army would struggle to advance — far less viable than the eastern route, which passes through Kunyang City with ease."

Managing the Ying and Ru region was an idea Liu Xiu had conceived very early on. The previous year, while traveling to evade official duties, he had come to this area, befriending local heroes, studying local customs, and committing its mountains and rivers to memory. He remembered Kunyang City particularly well, knowing they had to seize it before the Xin dynasty could free its hands to suppress them.

This Kunyang was the ancient territory of Ye County, the very place where the story of "Lord Ye's love of dragons" took place — the northern gateway of the state of Chu, traditionally paired with Wan as "Wan and Ye."

"With Ye, Wan is secure; without Ye, Nanyang too is lost — they are like lips and teeth. During the Spring and Autumn period, Chu had Lord Ye stationed here, and for two hundred years there was no trouble. By the Warring States period, the land of Ye was seized by the Three Jin, and the territory of Wan was gradually nibbled away as well."

Liu Xiu's speech won the praise of all present. Though he could not match his elder brother in charging into the fray, in strategic vision, he was somewhat stronger than Liu Bosheng.

Thus, Liu Bosheng and the others besieged Wancheng, while Liu Xiu, following "Duke of Chengguo" Wang Feng, along with Wang Chang, Ma Wu, Li Yi, Deng Chen, and other Nine Ministers and generals of the Gengshi regime, led twenty thousand men — the Xiajiang troops and the Chongling troops — north to strike Yingchuan. After encountering resistance beneath Kunyang for over ten days, they took the city.

Standing atop the city wall and surveying the terrain, Kunyang, though not as strategically formidable as Luyang, was by no means poor. It perfectly choked the narrow gap of the famous "Fangcheng Mountain" barrier, with the Huang-Huai Plain to the north and the Nanyang Basin to the south — truly a vital throat of a location.

After taking this city, Wang Feng and the others were rather self-satisfied. It was Liu Xiu who soberly recognized the truth: "Dou Rong had only two thousand battered troops left to defend this place. Had he not been intent on preserving his strength and unwilling to fight us to the death, then given Kunyang's natural defenses — where one man could hold against ten — seizing it would not have been easy."

With Kunyang taken, at Liu Xiu's suggestion, Wang Feng personally garrisoned the city to ensure it would not be lost, while a force was dispatched east to seize Dingling and Yancheng, to serve as the horns of Kunyang.

Liu Xiu himself, together with Ma Wu and Wang Chang, led ten thousand troops north to pursue Dou Rong, who had absolutely no heart left to engage the Han troops. They would seize Fucheng, Xiangcheng, and other towns to control the key crossings of the Ru River, thereby threatening the commandery seat of Yangdi while also gaining early warning of any southward movement by the Xin army, allowing the Han main force behind them — at Kunyang and even Wancheng — to prepare.

As the army marched north, Liu Xiu also summoned the several colonels and officers commanding his few thousand men — men like Zhu You and Chen Jun — and, with a solemn expression, laid down the law to them in advance.

"When the Greenwood generals were in Nanyang, their temperaments were violent and overbearing, and they often transgressed against the common people. Now that all have come under the Han banner, they can no longer behave as they did before. Military discipline must be strictly enforced. Anyone who dares to wantonly offend the prominent clans, powerful families, or common folk shall be executed! When we attack cities and seize territory, whatever share of the captured treasuries falls to me, I shall distribute it entirely among the men!"

"We who enter Yingchuan are a guest army, a mere twenty thousand strong. To contend here with the Xin army, victory or defeat hinges on the hearts of the people of Yingchuan — on whether the world despises the Xin and yearns for the Great Han."

Although the Han of the Gengshi Emperor Liu Xuan deviated somewhat from what Liu Xiu had hoped for, the character "Han" was written the same either way. If this banner of "the people's hearts long for Han" could be wielded well, it would yield twice the result for half the effort — but they absolutely must not ruin it right from the start!

For some reason, Liu Xiu had a persistent premonition.

"The decisive battle — it is near!"

Preparing for the "decisive battle" was not only Wang Yi and Liu Xiu, but also Diwu Lun.

In the Wei region, at Yecheng, a great host of troops had gathered and was now being inspected under the personal review of Lord Diwu — but this was clearly not the day for the autumn review, was it?

Diwu Lun's reasoning was perfectly sound: he intended to select from the Wei region's standing army the troops who would enter the capital to "serve the throne and punish the rebels."

These eight hundred men had to be the elite of the elite, every single one capable of serving as an officer or sergeant. His aim was that, once they entered the Pass and received the conscripts Wang Mang had promised — swelling their numbers to eight thousand or even forty thousand — by relying on this core of trusted officers to manage them, they might still retain some measure of fighting strength.

Diwu Lun, in full military attire, stood atop the city wall to review them. His personal guards, veterans of the bloody struggle against the Red Eyebrows, had donned new uniforms. They carried leather-faced shields on their backs, and their side-swords were polished to a gleaming shine. The crossbowmen, too, held their mechanisms and fired in volleys. Ten sturdy men stood to Diwu Lun's left and right, holding banners that fluttered in the wind, yet the stalwart men themselves remained utterly motionless.

As the first drumroll sounded, the various units reformed their ranks, spreading out to the left and right and presenting a battle formation.

After the second drumroll, the soldiers — sword and shield bearers in the front, spear and halberd wielders behind — obeyed the commands. At the drum, they advanced; at the heavy drum, they struck; at the gong, they halted; at the heavy gong, they retreated. For a moment, swords and shields rose like mountains, pikes and halberds stood like forests — a magnificent and awe-inspiring sight.

The third and fourth drumrolls had passed; faint sweat glistened on the soldiers' foreheads, yet they swiftly regrouped once more. As the fifth heavy drumroll sounded, they began to form a marching column, passing in sequence beneath the city wall, and they turned their heads toward the ramparts, shouting at the top of their lungs.

"By imperial decree, punish the rebels!"

Wang Mang's decrees no longer held any sway over them. They ate whose rice, and heeded whose "decree" — and as for who exactly the rebels were, that, too, was for Diwu Lun to decide.

The roar of several thousand men shook the very clouds, making one's scalp tingle.

The powerful families of the Wei region, whom Diwu Lun had invited to observe the military formations, watched with cold sweat beading on their brows. The Ximen father and son, Yan Shou, were among them.

Ever since the spring plowing, Diwu Lun had intensified the training of the troops who had fought the bloody battles against the Red Eyebrows. Now, the several thousand standing soldiers under his command — even the latest conscripts — had undergone concentrated training for over half a year, and all were full-time soldiers, completely detached from agricultural production. Many had also been allotted land and were utterly devoted to Diwu Lun, no longer resembling the scattered rabble of the early days.

First drum: form ranks. Second drum: practice formations. Third drum: hasten to eat. Fourth drum: strict inspection. Fifth drum: march. They heeded the drumbeats in unison, then raised their banners. Under the day-and-night drilling of Diwu Lun and Ma Yuan, they truly had the makings of a strong army. Even if Diwu Lun were absent, relying on these soldiers, even the combined armed forces of the powerful families would absolutely be no match for Ma Yuan.

Seizing the moment when the various Wei clans were awed by the great army, Diwu Lun had the court's official envoy, Wang Long, step forward and announce a matter on his behalf.

"Recently, to ensure the imperial ancestral tombs at Yuancheng remain inviolate, His Majesty specially ordered the diviners to cast a reading, and an oracle was obtained."

"With the Ximen as shield, Shalu shall be secure."

Diwu Lun took over and said with a smile, "Shalu refers to the imperial temple at Yuancheng. And this 'Ximen' — as the name plainly suggests — naturally refers to the Elder's family. Therefore, the Son of Heaven has commanded Envoy Wang to convey an oral decree, ordering me to relocate the main branch of the Ximen clan to Yuancheng, to dwell on the western side of Wulu City, so as to guard the imperial temple!"

The foundation of a powerful clan lies in its fortified manors, retainers, and deeply intertwined local marriage ties. Uprooting the main branch and relocating them elsewhere under guard is like twisting off the head — what remains of the lesser branches will be wolves without a leader.

Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine this blade would fall on his own head. Ximen Yanshou, who had once served as a county Elder, felt nothing but bewilderment. Though the Han dynasty did have a policy of relocating the powerful, it had been abolished after the reigns of Emperors Yuan and Cheng, and was utterly unheard of under the Xin Dynasty.

Not knowing what had brought this calamity upon him, and not daring to refuse outright before several thousand soldiers, he only asked cautiously: "My lord, this... this divination — who performed it? It is truly baffling."

In any case, with the current situation, once the pass was shut and none without a tally could enter or leave, east–west communication would be severed. Diwu Lun, his courage now grown bold and with his fellow disciple Wang Long backing him, had no fear of falsely relaying a verbal decree. He therefore put on a show of surprise and said:

"Could it be that the Elder is still unaware?"

"The one who performed this divination is none other than a kinsman of your house — Ximen Junhui, who serves in the capital as a retainer to the General of the Guard!"

PS: A bit late. Bonus chapter tomorrow.