Chapter 317: When, Oh When

"Your Majesty, behead Liu Bosheng and parade his head through Weinan and Chang'an — those twenty thousand Greenwood men will collapse on their own!"

That wasn't all — an even more vicious proposal followed: "Dismember his body into five parts and send them to the various Han factions. The Hu Han get the left hand, the Northern Han the right hand, the Western Han the left leg, the King of Liang the right leg, and the head goes to Wancheng — that will surely make Liu Xuan's blood run cold. Then the Han Emperor and all the lords will tremble, never daring to look His Majesty in the eye again!"

What kind of idiotic suggestion was that? Diwu Lun shot a glare at the man who proposed it — this staff officer could go home and farm. Wasn't this deliberately provoking every Han faction? Although lying low after this battle would be difficult, there was no need to open hostilities on all fronts. Unlike Liu Bosheng, he was a pragmatist who never sought empty fame, only tangible gain.

How had Liu Bang handled the death of the Diwu clan's old ancestor Tian Heng back then? Old Liu was surely delighted in his heart, yet on the surface he wept for him, sighed with grief, and dispatched two thousand soldiers to bury Tian Heng with the rites of a king.

Diwu Lun didn't need to go that far. He merely bowed with clasped hands toward Liu Bosheng's body, still standing rigid in death, then gave the order: "Prepare a fine inner and outer coffin, send him to the vicinity of Emperor Jing of Han's Yang mausoleum, and bury him properly with the rites of a general."

Diwu Lun made the arrangements: "Liu Bosheng was the sixth-generation descendant of Emperor Jing of Han. Though he cannot return to Chongling in death, to be sent to his ancestor's side still counts as fallen leaves returning to their roots."

The victor must have the victor's magnanimity and bearing. The brutal corpse-desecration methods used against the "bandits of the people" back in Chang'an had no need to be extended everywhere. It wasn't that Diwu Lun admired Liu Bosheng, nor that he praised his "righteousness and courage," but for one simple reason.

"Had Liu Bosheng plundered Weinan on a grand scale, as long as I didn't sally forth to strike, he could indeed have lasted through the winter. Yet he at least managed to somewhat restrain military discipline — he would rather tear down his ancestors' Shanglin Park and divide up the detached palaces than let the Greenwood men under his command run riot like common bandits."

From a military standpoint, one could mock his "womanly mercy," his "aristocratic posturing," his "saving face at the cost of real suffering." But from the standpoint of character, Liu Bosheng still sought to uphold the name of a "righteous army," wanting to walk upright and stand straight. In this man-eating age of chaos, that was rare and commendable.

His character made him — without it, he would never have been first to rise in Nanyang, bankrupting his family to generously provide for his men, earning genuine trust and loyalty. His character also broke him — in the end, he could not adapt to the treacherous, shifting struggles of military politics, plunged headlong into a trap, and could not bring himself to learn from his ancestor Liu Bang and take a step back. He could only grit his teeth and push forward. The pillar of Chongling snapped at last.

"That man — no peerless hero, yet he deserved to die on his feet."

At that moment, Wan Xiu from the Middle Wei Bridge also reached the battlefield and reported that Yin Shi on the opposite bank, seeing the Chongling troops routed on the main western battlefield, had already withdrawn. Just over twenty thousand Greenwood men remained in Weinan. Aside from a small number still lingering by the riverbank, raising white flags and wrapping yellow turbans to signal surrender, most had hastily retreated south.

The great battle had reached its end. Diwu Lun smiled: "Back when Liu Bosheng and the others first raised troops, Wang Mang offered a hundred thousand gold for his head — while the so-called Gengshi Emperor Liu Xuan was worth only twenty thousand."

"Now that Liu Bosheng is dead, Chongling defeated, and the Greenwood scattered, I too shall put forth a hundred thousand gold to reward my meritorious officers and soldiers!"

A hundred thousand gold meant a hundred thousand gold cakes. The reward covered troops from both the Wei River and Tong Plateau battlefields. Though the generals would certainly take the lion's share, the common soldiers ought to get at least one cake each, right? When word spread, everyone rejoiced. But the officers and men under Wan Xiu, who had missed the great battle, grew frantic and begged to pursue the Greenwood remnants on the south bank!

"We beg to recover Chang'an for Your Majesty!"

"No rush." Diwu Lun was not the least bit anxious. Chang'an was right there — could it run away? All the valuables had long been emptied out; he himself had only withdrawn a month ago. What was the hurry to go back? It wasn't as if people were about to starve to death. Let the ever-clever people of Chang'an freeze a few more days before winter set in.

"I fear the troubles of the Ji Sun clan lie not in Zhuanyu, but within the screen of their own walls." After uttering this meaningful line, Diwu Lun gave the order: "The three armies shall temporarily rest and regroup at the Five Tombs north of the Wei. Bozhao."

Diwu Lun called out Young Geng by name. Geng Yan, for his part, was rather moved by Liu Bosheng's death. Though this battle, under Diwu Lun's planning, had been fought with overwhelming numbers, the Chongling troops were truly the toughest force they had faced since raising their banner. Had the numbers been equal in a fair and square fight, the outcome would still be uncertain.

Seeing such a rare opponent meet his end like this left Geng Yan somewhat dazed. Yet Diwu Lun's generous burial of the defeated man at last added a measure of genuine respect to his view of the "middle horse," the King of Wei.

Now summoned, Geng Yan immediately answered.

"General of Chariots and Cavalry, you went and returned, routing Liu Bosheng's left and right flanks — that should count as the highest merit in this battle. Can you still walk?"

Geng Yan lifted his head high: "I can fight three more battles!"

"Good."

Diwu Lun knew Young Geng was proud and arrogant, but he had to be used boldly when needed. After all, when Liu Bosheng came ashore, Geng Yan had at least arrived very promptly: "I give you five thousand troops. Also round up the remnants of the Yue Cavalry and return to relieve Yueyang."

"Lai Xi — he's yours."

……

"To capture Lai Xi, three thousand are enough!"

"Five thousand it is. Young man, don't go imitating Li Xin!"

Though exhausted from battle, Geng Yan still accepted with pleasure. Right Fufeng was his defense sector. Letting Lai Xi slip through, and then misusing the Yue Cavalry camp out of underestimating the enemy — these were both his own responsibility!

Geng Yan took the fresh troops Diwu Lun had allocated him and headed north — soldiers under Wan Xiu's command, since Geng Yan's own main force had been through grueling combat and was too worn out to march far. Diwu Lun, quietly and with perfect justification, had swapped the armies under these two generals.

The remaining units cleared the battlefield. The Greenwood chieftains on the opposite bank who wished to surrender now crossed the river under yellow banners to pay homage to Diwu Lun.

"Your Majesty!"

Deng Ye kowtowed three times to Diwu Lun: "Since we parted at Xi County, I have thought day and night of Your Majesty's past kindness!"

What kindness? They had merely brushed past each other. Deng Ye and Yu Kuang, the bandit leaders from Xi County, were old acquaintances Diwu Lun had met through a fight. But he had never actually met this Deng Ye face to face. Diwu Lun's intelligence reports said they were in Liu Bosheng's army, but before he could make contact, the battle was over.

Deng Ye was clever. He hadn't rushed to stab Liu Bosheng in the back. Instead, as Liu Bosheng's army collapsed, he sent men to contact various disaffected miscellaneous-unit chieftains and persuaded them to defect to the King of Wei. His own force was only a thousand-odd men, yet now he had gathered four or five thousand. Deng Ye knew full well this was his capital for switching sides, and he touted himself as an old friend of the King of Wei, so the others pushed him forward as their representative.

Toward surrendering Greenwood troops, Diwu Lun turned no one away. If they were to march south in the future, these men would serve as guides and cannon fodder. When he learned that Deng Ye had only been an "Assistant Han Colonel" among the Greenwood, Diwu Lun generously gave him the post of "Assistant General."

"I am not like Liu Bosheng, who only let you generals play supporting roles."

Diwu Lun smiled: "General, you shall be part of my main force!"

These words gave Deng Ye a great fright — but he loved being a support player!

Yet Diwu Lun's words brooked no negotiation: "I ask the General to serve as my vanguard and continue rounding up the scattered Greenwood remnants in Weinan."

"When the day comes to take Wu Pass and Shangyu, I shall still have to rely on you, General, as a man of that region!"

As for the other man who came to surrender, the attitude of Diwu Lun's followers was far more complicated.

The man stepped off the boat and gazed at the devastated battlefield, silent for a long while. He also caught sight of Liu Bosheng's body being placed into its coffin — this coffin had been kept ready in Diwu Lun's army for its own generals.

Grief tangled in his heart, but seeing Liu Bosheng receive a proper burial at least let him breathe a little easier. Cen Peng bowed low toward his former benefactor, knocking his head heavily on the ground in farewell. Only then did he rise and walk toward Diwu Lun.

The assembled officers watched Cen Peng approach from beneath the twin-dragon banner. Seeing him bow to Liu Bosheng first before coming to pay his respects, Zheng Tong and the others were quite displeased. They had more or less heard of this man's name: he had a past connection with Diwu Lun, later followed Yan Erudite in suppressing bandits, and had once dealt the Lower Yangtze forces a crushing defeat. But the Greenwood only swelled the more they were suppressed, and in the end, besieged in Wancheng, he had held out for a full half year under a hundred thousand men.

They had to admit, this was a man of military talent. But having first served Yan Erudite, then surrendered to Liu Bosheng, and now come to offer allegiance to the King of Wei — men like Zheng Tong, who believed that "a loyal minister does not serve two masters," held him in deep contempt. They were one step away from cursing Cen Peng as a "thrice-turning house-slave."

It was late autumn, and the wind north of the Wei was cold. The sidelong glances of the crowd were colder still. His one old friend, Ren Guang, was not among them either.

Those hundred-odd paces Cen Peng walked were agonizing — cautious and fearful, as though treading on thin ice, just like the twisting, tortuous path of his life these past few years. He hardly dared lift his head to look at Diwu Lun, keeping his eyes fixed on the tips of his shoes. The confidence of former days had been ground away by life. What awaited him now?

Until a murmur of surprise rose from the Wei generals. Footsteps drew near, and a pair of leather boots caked with mud and blood appeared before him.

When he raised his head, Cen Peng saw Diwu Lun's smile. The King of Wei had personally walked over to greet him, and now he unfastened the great black sable cloak from his own shoulders and draped it over the thinly clad Cen Peng.

"Junran."

Diwu Lun patted Cen Peng. Cen Junran could no longer hold back; his shoulders trembled slightly: "I have longed for this day and night. At last, it has come. When, oh when, would you return!"

……

General Cen, welcome home!

Cen Peng, who had been heavy with worry, now found his eyes brimming with tears. The bitterness of wandering, the cry against injustice, every grievance — all dissolved in those words.

Diwu Lun bestowed the highest courtesy upon Cen Peng, taking him by the hand as they walked and bidding every officer come meet him one by one. These "arrogant soldiers and fierce generals," each with their own temperament, were exceedingly hard to tame. Toward Cen Peng, some were disdainful, some distrustful, and a few even tossed out barbed remarks — outwardly flattering, but in truth mocking.

Yet Cen Peng met it all with silence. The attitudes of the officers meant nothing. As long as the King of Wei and his old friend Ren Guang understood him, that was enough!

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As they sat eating in the tent with Cen Peng, Diwu Lun asked about something that puzzled him.

"Liu Bosheng's use of troops in this campaign cannot be called anything but brilliant."

"Whether it was sending Deng Chen and Wang Chang to strike Huayin, or having Lai Xi circle around to the rear and cut in through our army's weak point — if someone else had faced them, without fine generals and crack soldiers to hold them off, once they succeeded on both fronts, the outcome of this battle would have been very different."

It can be said that the effect of Lai Xi's thrust, at the very least, was clearly demonstrated — it shocked Diwu Lun into a cold sweat. Fortunately, he had made prior arrangements in the rear, strengthening defenses and clearing the field, and Deng Chen's side also misfired and failed to link up. Otherwise, who knows what chaos might have erupted.

In deploying troops and fighting battles, what matters is who makes fewer mistakes. The victor is not flawless, nor is the defeated utterly without merit. Only by summing up the strengths and weaknesses of both can one improve.

Diwu Lun looked at Cen Peng. "Junran, did you offer counsel and stratagems to Liu Bosheng?"

"I did. Liu Bosheng was the chief architect of this plan, and he had me review it."

Cen Peng admitted it without stinting. As expected — those of the "Strategic Maneuver" school move like thunder and rise like the wind, strike later yet arrive first, disperse and regroup, turn away and reverse, ever changing, using speed and agility to overcome the enemy. The way Liu Bosheng and Cen Peng used troops was precisely of this style.

Diwu Lun laughed. "What a man you are, Cen Junran. Were you not afraid I would lose? How do you rate Liu Bosheng's plan?"

Cen Peng said, "It was a fine plan, and the only path that held a chance of victory. But against the Great King, this plan was useless."

Diwu Lun laughed. "Why?"

Cen Peng said, "The Great King's way of war belongs to the 'Strategic Power' school: defend the state with orthodox methods, employ troops with unorthodox surprise, calculate first and fight after, combining strategic maneuver, embracing yin and yang, and applying skill and technique. Using open schemes, you laid trap after trap to draw Liu Bosheng in — shaped like a heaven-spanning net, while Bosheng's momentum was like that of a sparrow or finch. How could he not be defeated?"

From initial reckoning and temple planning to strategic assault and combat, war is a single integrated design — just like a game of Go, never something a single brilliant move on one board or one stone can resolve, unless one truly plays a 'divine hand' that completely overturns the situation. But Liu Bosheng was still one move short.

Cen Peng prostrated himself before Diwu Lun, at last able to fulfill his promise and relay the words of his other patron to the King of Wei: "Just like the dying words Lord Erudite left before his end."

"Lord Yan said: My sole hope is that Boyu can use the Strategic Power I taught him, use Yan Erudite's art of war, and in this age of chaos — keep on winning!"

"The Great King's Strategic Power has completely triumphed over the Strategic Maneuver of Liu Bosheng and myself!"

"Is this the weighty hope my teacher placed on me?"

Diwu Lun rose to his feet, clasped his hands behind his back, and gazed out beyond the camp tent. He remained silent for a long while.

Longing, longing — in what month shall I return home? Cen Peng could still 'return,' but that white-haired old general had already spilled his blood in unwilling death at Wancheng, never to go home again.

Over his armor Diwu Lun wore coarse hemp; throughout the army, banners were raised. To this day he still wore mourning for Yan You. Into this great battle, Diwu Lun had poured his own emotions as well. In his heart he held back a surge of resolve: he must win!

From the moment he set the trap in Chang'an, he had planned step by step, laid out piece by piece. There had also been nights when he could not sleep, tossing and turning, moments drenched in sweat from the fright of Lai Xi's surprise raid. Jing Dan's great victory had made him wild with joy; Cheng Zhong's collapse had made him curse and swear. But all of this had to be hidden beneath a king's calm composure — he would restore his cool, redeploy, and it was not for outsiders to know.

A general need only win on one corner of the battlefield, but as a king, as a commander-in-chief, one must survey the entire situation.

After a long silence, Diwu Lun finally spoke with a smile. "A small trial of the blade, a mere single victory — that is not enough to comfort Lord Yan's spirit beneath the springs."

"Junran, you must help me win the whole realm! Only that will suffice!"

…

PS: Second chapter at 18:00.