Chapter 239

(The previous chapter has been slightly revised.)

Geng Yan did not take part in the grand spectacle of Diwu Lun donning the yellow robe and ascending the high platform to execute Wang Ye as a blood sacrifice to the banners. After eating at cockcrow, he mustered his troops and set out. As the vanguard, leading five thousand men, he advanced westward with torches blazing.

By the time they marched until daybreak, they halted to rest near Xinfeng County, sixteen li west of Hongmen. His younger brother Geng Guo, who was in charge of bringing up the rear, came to report that in that short stretch of sixteen li, at least five hundred men had vanished.

Over such a brief distance, getting lost or separated was difficult — most had simply run off on their own. Although the crowd had cheered at learning they would not have to march south, many among them did not fully trust Diwu Lun. The officers sharing their food during these ten-odd days of military life had not made them willing to die for the cause. When they learned they would be fighting the court's elite Northern Army, the instinct to cling to life stirred. Their bellies were full these days anyway — if not slip away under cover of darkness, then when?

Geng Yan could not really blame the junior officers. He could hardly march his troops tied together with ropes, the way the Great Xin's imperial army did, could he?

"Ungrateful wretches!"

"And with this, they expect to force-march fifty li in half a day, smash the Northern Army, and strike Chang'an?"

Geng Yan had had enough. He looked back at the straggling, sparse ranks and did not know whether to laugh or cry. "You lot are truly the worst soldiers I have ever led!"

From the You Province shock cavalry of Shuodiao, to the conscripts and refugee soldiers of Wei, all the way to these armed men who had trained less than ten days before being hurriedly thrown into formation — Geng Yan reckoned their combat strength and discipline were roughly on par with the imperial army when it first mustered. They were that very thing to begin with!

Geng Yan felt that he had truly been dragged into a pit by this rabble. He estimated that by the time they reached Ba Bridge, he would be lucky to have half his men left. The task of a fifty-li raid, crossing the Ba River to smash the Northern Army's infantry encampment of seven thousand men, was sheer delusion.

But Geng Yan had already boasted before Diwu Lun and snatched this vanguard post for himself. If he accomplished nothing, it would be utterly humiliating.

After pondering a moment, Geng Yan's gaze turned toward the county seat south of their resting place, where a plume of smoke was rising.

"Has General Peng taken Xinfeng County?"

By the principle of promotion by one rank, Peng Chong had also been elevated from Colonel directly to Deputy General. He had set out even earlier than Geng Yan, departing the previous night, and had led over a thousand men to attack Xinfeng County. Diwu Lun had long since sent men to infiltrate the county until it was riddled with holes; moreover, inside there were still remnants of Dong Zhong's faction from the Grand Marshal's staff, ready to act at any moment.

The county officials, still unaware of the drastic changes at court, assumed Diwu Lun was following the plan to march south the next day and had taken no precautions. All of them were seized by Peng Chong. Only the County Commandant, faithful to his duty, refused to surrender, called out the county troops to fight, and sporadic combat broke out.

Just as Peng Chong and his men were assaulting the last remaining city gate, Geng Yan arrived with the vanguard. Coordinating from within and without, they attacked the city at dawn, and by the time the sun had climbed a pole's height, it was easily taken.

This greatly surprised Peng Chong. "Shouldn't General Geng be hurrying west?" He was deeply worried that Geng Yan had come to snatch the credit for Xinfeng. He regarded Geng Chun as his superior and patron and held the Geng family in triple respect, but this young Geng could not be allowed to push his luck.

"Just letting the troops get some practice."

Geng Yan had no interest in a mere small town. He had simply seen that the new recruits under his command were uneasy, had no faith in winning the war, and were therefore deserting in droves. Leading them directly into a hard fight against the Northern Army would likely see them rout before battle was even joined. He had to proceed step by step, first finding some confidence at Xinfeng.

So he had Peng Chong drag out the County Commandant and a dozen others from Xinfeng who had tried to resist, and executed them before the troops' eyes!

A dozen-odd heads were hoisted up, and the banners on the city wall were changed to "Diwu." Then Geng Yan pointed at Xinfeng and had his men inform the troops: "In a mere moment, our army has taken a county without bloodying our blades. The imperial officers and soldiers who usually bully you are nothing more than this. With tens of thousands of men, what difficulty is there in taking Chang'an?"

He also opened the Xinfeng county treasury, took out silk, and announced on the spot that it would be distributed to the one company that had fought bravely and been first up the wall during the assault — one bolt per man, handed out right then! He let them gleefully wrap the silk around their bodies.

"The more cities we take, the more victories we win, the richer the rewards. In the future, you may even be allotted fields and houses like the veterans! No more bitter days as refugees and tenant farmers!"

The three stock phrases for boosting morale in Diwu Lun's army — Geng Yan had absorbed them by osmosis, and now they rolled off his tongue without the slightest awkwardness.

Sure enough, having witnessed with their own eyes how easily Xinfeng was taken after the rebellion, the new recruits' morale soared. They rubbed their fists and wiped their palms, eager to go pick up silk at the next county seat. Geng Yan then had Peng Chong release a portion of the people inside Xinfeng, letting them flee westward, and specifically told them: "We are heading to attack Baling County next!"

Peng Chong was puzzled. "According to the Grand General's plan, aren't we supposed to force-march and raid the Northern Army at Ba Bridge?"

"With a mob like this, how do you achieve surprise? Didn't Wang Ye confess that he relied on the infantry encampment's help to take down Dong Zhong? They have long been on guard. By now, both banks of the Ba River surely already know of the revolt at Hongmen and Xinfeng!"

In Geng Yan's eyes, Diwu Lun was a player of military power politics — what did he know of battlefield tactics?

In Wei, strategic-level objectives could be set by the Grand General Diwu, but the tactical details of how to fight were mostly arranged by Ma Yuan. Though Geng Yan was loath to admit it, on this westward expedition, the role he had to play was Ma Yuan's.

Geng Yan told Peng Chong to face reality. With the rabble under their command, they should forget about executing the kind of tactics that only elite troops like the You Province shock cavalry or the Boar-Rush Braves could pull off. They would have to win using dirtier methods.

Geng Yan told Peng Chong: "We shall secretly allow captives to escape, letting them flee back. Those who flee will surely report to Baling. When Baling learns our vanguard is about to arrive, they will be terrified. The Baling Magistrate will have only two choices: either abandon the city and flee, in which case our army can easily take another city and send morale soaring."

These defeated remnants from Xinfeng County would become a free propaganda unit for psychological warfare. Fleeing to Baling or even Chang'an, they could spread the word far and wide, sowing panic among the garrison and the populace.

"Or the Baling Magistrate will appeal for help from the Northern Army infantry encampment stationed at Ba Bridge, forcing them to shift camp to the east bank of the Ba River to assist in the defense!"

Geng Yan had thought it through. His forces absolutely could not break the infantry encampment's formations. Even if the enemy had just replaced its officers, even if the court was fatuous, a standing army was still a standing army.

If he advanced too quickly, he would instead frighten the infantry encampment into abandoning Baling and defending Ba Bridge to the death. In that case, when Diwu Lun's main army arrived, they too would be unable to cross the river easily. The various Northern Army regiments around Chang'an would gradually converge, and tens of thousands of men from both sides would face off across the river — who knew how long that fight would drag on.

"I want to lure the infantry encampment to Baling County!"

But if the infantry encampment's colonel was momentarily confused and decided to hold Baling County, marching his troops to the east bank to resist the enemy, then Geng Yan could pin him down, preventing him from retreating. Then, coordinating with the main army arriving behind, they could use overwhelming numbers to strike an isolated force and swallow this "elite" unit in one bite!

Though usually rather brash and impulsive, his thinking was clear when employing troops. This deliberate delay now was for the sake of a swift victory in the entire war!

Peng Chong was deeply impressed and acted according to his plan.

By the time the sun was three poles high and Diwu Lun and Wan Xiu arrived with the main army of over thirty thousand, Diwu Lun, upon learning of this, was not angry but rather delighted. "Originally I was uneasy about letting Geng Bozhao be the vanguard, but now it seems that after following his uncle to Dingtao, this young whelp really does have a bit of a great general's bearing!"

At that moment, Feng Yan, who had been writing on a low table even while marching in a cart, also presented a completed call-to-arms before Diwu Lun's horse.

"Jingtong's literary brilliance is splendid. I expect that when Wang Mang reads this proclamation, he will break out in a cold sweat."

"This essay was formed by Heaven; it is not solely my own effort." Feng Yan answered with a smile, but inwardly he was bitter. This assigned-topic essay had not been easy to write, because Diwu Lun had demanded that he not harshly denounce Wang Mang for usurping the Han or for the Wang Tian land policy. He could only make toothless accusations — he could have cursed far more satisfyingly otherwise. Furthermore, Diwu Lun had given him an essay and insisted that Feng Yan incorporate certain sentences from it. Feng Yan had wanted to refuse, until Diwu Lun told him the author of that essay. After a stunned pause, he reluctantly agreed.

In Diwu Lun's eyes, however, no matter how well-written a call-to-arms was, it was just for spectacle, and it only circulated among the literati. Expecting a few lines in a document to change the tide of battle was the fancy of bookish scholars. In the end, victory or defeat would be decided by success in military conflict.

After reading it, Diwu Lun added a few characters at the very end, then nodded slightly with satisfaction. "Distribute it in Xinfeng County, and have men make miscellaneous copies to send to the various commanderies and counties of Guanzhong!"

On the evening of the twenty-fourth day of the fifth month, Diwu Lun's army had marched fifty li and arrived outside Baling County. What he found was a somewhat chagrined Geng Yan, escorting the county's Commandant and Assistant to surrender.

Diwu Lun laughed. "Bozhao, how did your stratagem fare?"

"The infantry encampment lost its nerve and did not dare cross the river to defend. The Baling Magistrate, his pleas for aid unanswered, indeed fled with his family, abandoning the city. I attacked at noon and took it in half a day. I present it to you, General!" Geng Yan's idea had been sound, but he had overestimated the enemy's courage. Now he stared resentfully at the far bank of the Ba River.

So I'm not the only one whose clever schemes come to naught!

"No matter. You have taken Baling, eliminating any threat to our rear. Tonight we attack and force a crossing at Ba Bridge — you shall still be the vanguard!"

Diwu Lun looked at the army behind him. After taking the two county seats of Xinfeng and Baling in succession and opening the treasuries to grant silk to the outstanding battalions, the new recruits' morale had indeed been sustained. At the very least, there was no repeat of the morning's march, when men seized every chance to desert in droves.

"Those who ran off — sooner or later... no, very soon, they will regret it!"

The infantry encampment was stationed on the opposite bank of the Ba River, over seven thousand strong, with layer upon layer of ramparts. Together with the hastily assembled county troops, they likely numbered ten thousand.

But as for the other regiments near Chang'an, even if Wang Mang urgently dispatched them, the nearest cavalry, the Elite Cavalry Camp, could not arrive until the next day at the earliest.

Before the enemy forces converged, they had to attack! They had only one night!

The call-to-arms from Diwu Lun's army was also shot across the bridge on arrows and reached the hands of the infantry encampment. The colonel, after reading it, was greatly alarmed and immediately had it sent by post-rider to the Shoucheng Chamber in Chang'an.

And so, late that night, just as the Battle of Ba Bridge was about to begin, the proclamation was laid before the desk of the Emperor Wang Mang, who had not slept for two days.

Diwu Lun had truly rebelled!

"Diwu Lun, Grand General Who Pacifies the People, and others, hereby proclaim to the Provincial Governors, Department Inspectors, Commandery Troop Commanders, Company Chiefs, Grand Governors, Affiliated Principals, County Magistrates, Commandants, Assistants, and all bureau officers and subordinate clerks."

"I reflect that the realm has long suffered under Wang Mang's harm: beginning with the armies in Dong Commandery, followed by the campaigns on the Western Sea; Ba and Shu were lost to the southern barbarians, the borderlands broken by the northern Di; expeditions ten thousand li away, troops exposed year after year — calamity tangled and unresolved, punishments and laws ever harsher, taxes and levies ever heavier. Factions of the treacherous and sycophantic strike unchecked without, the host of officials plunder with greed and cruelty within; the common folk find no solace, hunger and cold arrive together. So it is that fathers and sons are driven into exile, husbands and wives torn apart, homesteads reduced to mounds of rubble, fields overgrown and fouled; plague and pestilence rage, disasters and portents swarm forth."

"And so upon the rivers and lakes, along the shores of sea and Mount Tai, the wind surges and the waves swell, men trample and crush one another; the people of the four frontiers have their livers and brains smeared upon the ground — the number of the dead is no less than the greater half. The poison of calamity and blame pierces to the marrow of their bones; every common man and serving woman harbors resentment and rage."

"The Red Eyebrows rose at Mount Tai, the Greenwood rose in Nan Commandery — yet compared with the armies of the Xin, they are like one who retreats fifty paces mocking one who retreats a hundred. Bandit raiders plunder and pillage, defying all bonds and reason, killing men's fathers and sons, forcing men's wives and daughters, burning their houses, seizing their property. The hungry eat hair, the cold go barefoot and bare-legged; grievances knot in despair, with nowhere to entrust their lives."

"Only the Grand General Diwu Lun, with a sincerity of gracious love bestowed upon the common people, with a renown surpassing the age heard among all men of standing — thus those who crane their necks and stand on tiptoe to gaze toward him are not merely a single person. The General led the multitudes of Ji and Yan, rallied scattered and broken troops, rose up at Shouzhang, crushed the bandit raiders of Wulou, drank blood at the Long River, shattered a hundred thousand of the Red Eyebrows, safeguarded the peace of every clan north of the River, his might shaking the lands east of the mountains."

"With the north of the River settled, the General reflected further that though the realm's calamities broke out without, they first arose within, their source being Wang Mang. He therefore journeyed west and entered the capital, intending with words harsh to the ear to urge Wang Mang to change his course. But Wang Mang, befuddled and blind, could not recognize loyalty and integrity; he believed the words of the treacherous and sycophantic, deeming that the General, having piled up goodness and amassed virtue, had won the hearts of the people toward him, which would prove harmful to Wang Mang — and instead sought to endanger the General's life."

"Of old, Qin burned the Odes and Documents to establish its private doctrines; the Xin chants the Six Arts to gloss over treacherous words. The Xin's misrule is no less than Qin's; though it has established a calendar of thirty-six thousand years, it must by different roads reach the same end — both shall meet with destruction. The General reflects upon Wang Mang's deeds these fifteen years: topple the bamboos of Chu and Yue, and they would not suffice to record his evils. All under heaven see it clearly, all have heard and witnessed it together. Between Wang Mang's petty favor of a dipper of grain and the righteous way of Heaven and Earth, which is light and which is heavy? The General therefore, with luminous and virtuous integrity, grasping the authority of the people's hopes, commanding the governance of the three armies, has raised his forces and marched west to chastise, resolved to be the first to sound the call for all under heaven, to expel calamity and chaos, to punish and destroy the wayless!"

"Now an army of a hundred thousand has reached Ba Bridge; banners and pennons are in sight of Chang'an. Luminous virtue and numinous might — the dragon soars, the phoenix ascends. The Grand Marshal Dong Zhong, the State Preceptor Liu Xin, and the Guard General Wang She plot together within, rising as one to answer. In but the space of a single shift, the Xin shall scatter like ash and vanish like smoke — as though a sudden gale were sweeping a swan's feather aloft!"

"The mighty houses, the men of standing, and the common people within the Pass shall receive the General's blessing and rely upon his will. Once the deed is done, he shall establish grace and spread virtue, extending it easily and thoroughly, bringing peace to the people — nothing more. Why not raise a host to welcome him, gathering like clouds and following like shadows? On the day the deed is accomplished, all who have earned merit shall together determine the great enterprise of the state and achieve the primal merit of Heaven and Earth!"

At this very moment, the night water-clock's bell rang out — the time had just reached the zi hour of the twenty-fifth day of the fifth month!

Rage assailed his heart; Wang Mang's fury could find no calm, and a mouthful of old blood spilled forth onto the document.

This — on this auspicious day of two fives — was the grand wedding gift that Diwu Lun presented to His Majesty the Emperor, who had shown him the grace of recognition and patronage!

……

PS: (Alliance Leader bonus chapter 4/17)

Tomorrow's update at 13:00.