Chapter 313: Movement

(PS: If you spot anything in the book that doesn't make sense, just chant this line with me: "Qiyue's a hack who churns out filler — what the hell does he know about warfare!")

……

On the night of the fifteenth day of the ninth month, both banks of the Zhengguo Canal on the eastern side of the Jing River were ablaze with torches. The militia assembled in haste. Diwu Lun had only begun organizing and training them after the autumn harvest, arming them with weapons and armor brought from the Chang'an armory, hoping to replace the Xin Dynasty's commandery and county troops and the King of Wei's forces, taking over city defenses everywhere so the main army could free its hands.

No one expected that after less than a month of drilling, they would face a crisis of this magnitude.

"Grain Transport Commandant" Ren Guang fixed his stare on the faint torchlight across the Jing River — that was a Greenwood raiding force. What in the world were Geng Yan and Peng Chong in Right Fufeng doing? To let these men slip through and strike deep into their rear!

This place was critically important. The rich, fertile fields between the Zhengguo Canal and the Bai Canal had yielded their millet and wheat. The portion collected as land tax was delivered here, most of it stored away, a small fraction hulled day and night by water-powered trip-hammers, then loaded onto the endless grain barges plying the Jing River and shipped to the front to supply the army's needs.

Fortunately, Diwu Lun was cautious and had kept a card in reserve, stationing two thousand troops here under the command of Left General of the Household Zang Nu, plus several thousand militia under Ren Guang who doubled as porters and guards. Had the enemy not been wary of them and dared not risk a hasty river crossing, this Greenwood raiding force would likely have driven straight in, burned the granaries, and withdrawn — they might even have seized a few grain barges!

Though their training had been brief, the militiamen were no less eager to earn merit: "Commander Zang, the enemy troops are few and utterly exhausted — they're practically military honors delivered to our doorstep! Let us cross the river, link up with the Gukou county garrison, and wipe them out!"

Zang Nu's temperament was the opposite of his comrade Zheng Tong, who had followed Diwu Lun in the new Qin heartland. Seated upright atop the granary fortress, he declared: "I am stationed here by royal decree. The King said: even if the front line collapses, even if Liu Bosheng himself reaches the foot of this granary fortress, I am not to budge an inch!"

He understood his duty perfectly: a loyal watchdog guarding the storehouse must never stick out its tongue and chase after a mouse just because it sees one scurrying past outside.

The wildly optimistic itched for action, while the deeply pessimistic whispered among themselves: "If Greenwood troops have fought their way here, the front line must be..."

"Some Gukou county soldiers who fled back from across the Jing River say that wherever the Greenwood men go, they tell everyone they capture that Liu Bosheng has routed the Wei army and the King of Wei is dead..."

"A ruse!" Ren Guang, who was also stationed here, rebuked such thinking and ordered every man spreading rumors beheaded! He knew this was exactly the effect Greenwood wanted. Diwu Lun's inner circle was no monolith; their goal in penetrating this deep was to use rumors to trick some local strongmen into foolish action, throwing Diwu Lun's rear into chaos — that alone would be a win for them.

"They're pulling back! The enemy troops are withdrawing!"

Scouts watching from afar saw that long chain of sparks reach the canal head, find no opening to exploit, no way to cross the river, and no hope of burning the granaries — and then withdraw northward.

Ren Guang immediately gave the order: "Do not relax your vigilance. Send scouts to follow them along the canal."

They had to hold the granary fortress at all costs. Grain was the ballast stone of army morale; they must not lose the greater for the lesser. But the enemy's movements had to be tracked.

Ren Guang exhaled in relief, but his heart remained suspended. Letting this enemy force run loose in the rear was deeply unsettling: "I suspect they intend to cross the Jing from Mount Ganquan. It's possible..."

"They mean to threaten Yueyang!"

……

Liu Bosheng's total strength was as follows: six to seven thousand elite core troops, which could be called the "Chongling Army" — the remnant of those who had risen with him a year ago, through defeats and victories, swelling and shrinking. Compared to the various Greenwood chieftains, it was neither large nor small.

The remaining twenty-thousand-plus were a motley assortment: four to five thousand Deng clan troops, over a thousand Yin clan troops, bandits from Xi County who had submitted along the way, surrendered Xin army troops from Wancheng, and the like.

Lai Xi turned his head to look at his exhausted soldiers and thought to himself: "Bosheng has given me a full third of his elite troops."

But this hard road had to be walked. Diwu Lun, like an old tortoise, had fortified the northern bank of the Wei so tightly that though Liu Bosheng scorned the Wei River line, he could not cross it easily either. Yet if they dragged this out, defeat was certain.

"In that case, we can only stake everything!"

Greenwood was not the Xin army; they fought with great flexibility and understood the four words "deceive to gain advantage" thoroughly. Whenever they faced this kind of situation in the past, they resorted to one method: get moving!

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As the art of war says: one who is skilled at moving the enemy deploys form, and the enemy is sure to follow; offers bait, and the enemy is sure to take it.

Back then, when they routed Dou Rong's forces at the Tang River, it was precisely Liu Bosheng and Liu Xiu who divided the army into six columns, using the cover of night to advance separately and strike together, cutting off his baggage and provisions.

And now it was the same: sending Wang Chang and Deng Chen to strike Huayin jointly and threaten Hexi was movement; ordering Lai Xi to cross the Wei from the west in a grand encirclement was also movement. The sole objective: force Diwu Lun to look over his shoulder and create an opening for the main force to cross the Wei.

The two thousand men under Lai Xi were mostly Bosheng's own Chongling core troops — none other would suffice for a suicide mission. The troops were thus, and the commander likewise. Only Lai Xi, who feared neither heaven nor earth and had roamed the Three Adjuncts freely back when he lived in Chang'an, would dare fight a battle like this, a lone force driving deep into enemy territory!

After a bloody battle at Five-Bed Mountain, though they had used the "Garrison Cavalry" banners to trick the Rapid Cavalry into a rash attack, slain Cheng Zhong in formation, and seized the initiative, their own casualties were heavy. Lai Xi gritted his teeth as he treated his wounds. To keep his "mounted infantry" mobile, they wore only leather armor, no iron cuirasses, and their arrows were nearly spent.

The granary fortress at the junction of the Zhengguo Canal and the Six Auxiliary Canals was too tightly defended — the plan to burn the Wei army's grain was a pipe dream. If they stopped, they would easily be swarmed by masses of enemy militia. They could beat them back once or twice, but over time they would surely be worn down and destroyed. They could only press on.

By the early morning of the sixteenth day of the ninth month, they could already make out Mount Ganquan on the opposite bank. This was the edge of the territory Diwu Lun controlled, where the Jing River's flow was gentler. The pursuit force Ren Guang had dispatched had not caught up; only a few scouts followed, panting for breath.

They had to cross over, into the "Left Pingyi" region east of the Jing, hoping to link up with Deng Chen and Wang Chang's armies at Yueyang — if those two could successfully enter Hexi according to plan.

If they wanted to win this campaign, that was their only chance!

But they did not have enough captured horses, and their existing mounts were utterly exhausted. If they pushed on, even if the men could hold out, the horses would die in droves. And leading horses across the river in a swimming crossing would waste enormous amounts of time.

After watching his soldiers test the depth and current, Lai Xi fell silent for a brief moment, then turned back and gave an order that sounded even more insane.

"Abandon the horses. Carry only two days' dry rations. Cross the Jing!"

……

Late at night on the sixteenth day of the ninth month, Diwu Lun's general staff headquarters at Anling city was ablaze with lamplight and filled with cries of dismay.

Diwu Lun's "Army Advisors" and "Chief Clerks" had already been thrown into confusion by Lai Xi's utterly unreasonable tactics.

"How can Liu Bosheng fight like this?"

"He doesn't have many elite troops to begin with — why split his forces?"

"How can he let two thousand isolated troops drive deep into our rear?"

"This makes no sense!"

They had simply fought the Xin army's pack of wine-sacks and rice-bags too often, always winning easily, and had truly come to believe there were no capable men left in the world.

Diwu Lun ignored them. That saying was right: strategically, when one ought to despise the enemy, one must never, in any specific sector, on any specific question, despise the enemy as well!

He merely rapped the table and asked: "Latest report — where has Lai Xi reached?"

"Ganquan Crossing. He has abandoned horses and crossed. Passed Yunyang County. Continuing east."

"Such speed!"

Diwu Lun's face remained impassive, but inwardly he was full of admiration.

Though covering over three hundred li in five days, from the twelfth to the sixteenth of the ninth month, might not seem remarkable for mounted infantry, this was behind enemy lines — they had to fight as they marched and still solve the problem of food and water.

Who was it that said "Liu Bosheng's subordinates are mostly nameless nobodies"? He deeply etched the name "Lai Xi" into his memory.

At this point, figuring out how to counter move for move was the real solution. Still fretting over "what gives him the right to make such a move" would accomplish nothing.

Diwu Lun therefore cut short his Army Advisors' and Chief Clerks' agonizing, rose to his feet, and declared: "The art of war says: if I wish to fight, though the enemy is behind high ramparts and deep moats, he cannot avoid fighting me — because I strike at what he must rescue."

"The places our army must rescue are only two."

He pointed at the map and said: "The first is the granary fortress at the junction of the Zhengguo Canal and the Jing River. The men I left there, Ren Guang and the others, are all cautious and seasoned. The enemy will surely find no opening and will therefore continue fleeing north to cross the Jing."

"The second is Yueyang!"

Diwu Lun smiled calmly: "Yueyang has the King's grandfather and three thousand troops. My methods of warfare, apart from those of Yan Erudite, were all taught by the King's grandfather. The Minister Steward Song Hong is conscripting government slaves and soldiers within the city and can raise several thousand more. With high walls and deep moats besides, what need is there for worry?"

"This raiding force exists solely to disrupt our dispositions. The autumn harvest is already in, and north of the Wei we have stripped the fields and strengthened the walls. They travel light, carry no siege engines, and cannot take walled cities — at most they'll seize a village or two. This is a mosquito-and-fly nuisance."

The reason he could be so unconcerned was that Diwu Lun had just received word from the east: days before, Jing Dan, Diqi Biao, Hedong's Zhang Zong, and others had routed Wang Chang at Tongyuan. Deng Chen had withdrawn south. Though the aftermath was still unclear, Liu Bosheng's plan to "bloom on both fronts and threaten Yueyang" had, on at least one side, gone utterly silent.

Diwu Lun acknowledged Lai Xi's daring and the Chongling elite troops' utter disregard for death, but no amount of tactical effort could reverse a strategic decline. One palm alone cannot clap.

"Your Majesty means to ignore Lai Xi?"

Diwu Lun nodded. "If we grow too wary of him, we will only fulfill Liu Bosheng's wish."

Quite apart from the fact that mobile warfare was the enemy's strength, every soldier drawn away to pursue Lai Xi would make it easier for Liu Bosheng to cross the Wei. Better to trust the garrison forces left in place.

At this, Diwu Lun fell into thought and once more picked up the memorials of self-reproach from Geng Yan and Peng Chong on the desk.

The most arrogant general under his command was not Diqi Biao — it was Geng Yan! The young man's chin was practically scraping the heavens; Diwu Lun had to strain every sinew just to hold him down.

This time, a moment's carelessness had let Lai Xi break through his defense sector. Geng Yan took it as a deep disgrace. In his memorial, he laid out Lai Xi's objective and the potential damage with perfect clarity, and he too judged this to be Liu Bosheng's stratagem to stir the enemy.

But because of the information gap, Geng Yan did not know the eastern theater was already decided — for in his eyes, Jing Dan, Diqi Biao, and even Dou Rong were all "middling steeds" or even "inferior steeds." What great matter could they accomplish!

So Geng Yan still believed Lai Xi posed an extreme threat to the rear, and he petitioned to be allowed to mend the fold after the sheep were lost — to go and seize this young wolf!

"Your servant does not desire many troops. Grant me only the remnants of the Yue Cavalry Camp and a few county levies — two or three thousand men — and I will capture Lai Xi and present him to you!"

"This stripling — what colossal gall!"

Diwu Lun set down the scroll and shook his head. Still this wildly arrogant. Geng Yan wanted to match top steed against top steed. Truly, he did not know whether to praise him or be angry.

By all reason, the King of Wei should refuse this proposal, because compared to dealing with that little gnat Lai Xi, the coiled and ready Liu Bosheng was far more in need of guarding against. But…

"Saddle a horse."

Diwu Lun suddenly gave this order. Before dawn the next day, he took his guard retinue, staff officers, and chief clerk, left his central command post at Anling, and rode west for several double-hours until he reached Geng Yan's main camp.

The place was called Xiliu Station — the very spot where Diwu Lun and Ma Yuan had let Wan Xiu slip away. Now, with war raging north and south, troops were stationed here again. Just as Emperor Jing of Han had once been treated, Diwu Lun's vanguard was halted: "In this camp, only the general's orders are heard — not the King of Wei's edicts!"

Diwu Lun had to send a man bearing his credentials to summon Geng Yan and Peng Chong before the camp gates were opened. Diwu Lun did not hesitate; he galloped straight in and drew up before the hastily arriving Geng Yan and Peng Chong.

Peng Chong dropped to his knees with a thud, but Geng Yan merely cupped his hands: "Your Majesty has come, and we did not meet you at the gate. Armor upon our bodies — we dare not kneel!"

"A general in armor is excused from ceremony." Diwu Lun took no offense. His eyes swept over the colonels under Geng Yan's command. "You have been long stationed here and labored hard. I wish to review and reward the troops."

He also drew out Geng Yan's petition for battle. "At the same time, I grant the general's request. Let you go strike Lai Xi. You may take your own three thousand men and march north."

Geng Yan was overjoyed but also astonished. To deal with a mere Lai Xi, why so many soldiers? Peng Chong, however, was greatly alarmed: "Your Majesty, then who will command the main army?"

Surely not him? After the bitter experience of being routed by Tian Kuang, Peng Chong had grown somewhat fearful of leading an army on his own.

Diwu Lun said slowly, "I shall command it in person."

These words startled everyone. Diwu Lun smiled. "The Han founder could command a hundred thousand troops. Unworthy as I am, can I not command ten thousand or so?"

The crowd hurriedly said, "Your Majesty can command a million troops!"

Diwu Lun bade Geng Yan and Peng Chong rise and follow him into the tent for a private talk, leaving the colonels and staff officers outside to exchange bewildered glances.

Geng Yan's younger brother, Geng Shu, whispered to someone, "We all know His Majesty excels at commanding generals — but what of his ability to command troops?"

Ever since entering the Pass, Diwu Lun had long been in charge of grand strategy, devising plans and policies from within the command tent while deciding victory a thousand li away. He had rarely taken personal command on the battlefield, instead delegating to Wan Xiu and Geng Yan.

The colonels under Geng Yan were momentarily unsettled, until Diwu Lun's own trusted men glared fiercely at them: "In the old days in New Qin, by the Yellow River, His Majesty routed the Xiongnu and the Red Eyebrows!"

The second half of that sentence they left unspoken — men like Yan Bashi, for instance. But Yan You had been defeated and killed by Liu Bosheng at Wancheng. Nor could they mention being ranked alongside Dou Rong; Dou Rong had now become a byword for "the ever-defeated general."

Geng Shu, stammering, dared not voice further doubts, but inwardly he thought, Though my elder brother volunteered for this mission, how does the King of Wei's action differ from Liu Bang galloping into Han Xin's camp and seizing his army? Could he distrust my brother?

A short while later, Geng Yan and Peng Chong emerged from the tent. Geng Yan's face held a trace of regret, while Peng Chong looked as though a weight had been lifted.

Geng Yan raised the new tiger tally Diwu Lun had given him and named his officers: "Geng Shu — you and the others take three thousand men and follow me north!"

He added, "Make certain the troops exit through the camp's south gate."

Geng Shu was taken aback. South of Xiliu Camp was the Wei River. If over three thousand men and horses marched out that way, wouldn't Liu Bosheng to the south see it with perfect clarity? But he could hardly press the question, and merely acknowledged the order and went to carry it out.

At that moment, Diwu Lun also emerged from the tent. He had changed into full battle dress, the golden plumes on his helmet standing tall. He really did mean to command the troops in person!

Geng Yan bowed deeply to Diwu Lun. This time, though he still wore his armor, he obediently performed the full bow before departing.

Diwu Lun clapped his hands to break the silence. "Gentlemen, don't all stand there gaping. Return to your encampments, keep your men in hand, and come to the main tent this afternoon for a council."

The information gap and the time gap — these are things of supreme importance in war!

Diwu Lun had learned from the dispatch Jing Dan sent that Liu Bosheng's plan of a two-pronged strike to shift the Wei army had, after its near-success and final failure at Tongyuan, already half collapsed. But Lai Xi, deep in enemy territory and cut off, did not know this. He was still charging blindly toward a destination fated to yield nothing.

Liu Bosheng on the opposite bank did not know it either. That Pillar-of-Heaven Grand General was a gambler, still hoping his stratagem would take effect and set Diwu Lun's army "in motion"!

"Thus, one skilled at stirring the enemy: present a form, and the enemy will surely follow; offer a bait, and the enemy will surely take it."

"Then let us fulfill Liu Bosheng's wish. Order Geng Yan to make a feint northward — let our army fluster and 'stir'!"

"Liu Bosheng — when Heaven offers and you do not take, you bring calamity upon yourself. This rare chance, you had best seize it! Be as still as a maiden, and then move like a startled hare."

"If we're going to move — let's all move together!"

…

PS: Chapter 3 at 23:00.