Chapter 332: Clouds Span the Qin Ridges — Where Lies Home?

In the last ten days of the eleventh month, at Wancheng in Nanyang.

While Diwu Lun was busy with his largely meaningless "Wei-Shu Vertical Alliance," the Wei clan of Longyou were also working on their own life-or-death "Long-Han Horizontal Alliance."

Fang Wang's diplomatic mission this time had taken an enormous detour: first south from Longyou into Wudu Commandery, then into Hanzhong Commandery to declare his identity to the Greenwood-Han forces; the King of Hanzhong secretly sent men to escort him east, and he arrived at Wancheng to pay his respects to Liu Xuan.

Seeing the newly built palace at Wancheng, which was quite lavish, Fang Wang inwardly held the Greenwood-Han in contempt. Liu Xuan occupied only the two provinces of Jing and Yu, yet he was already living in the style of the Son of Heaven. When the ruler indulges, his subordinates will outdo him — he had heard that many of Greenwood's feudal kings had also begun indulging in every imaginable luxury.

"He truly does not look like a proper sovereign — worse even than Liu Ying, that idiot puppet."

But outwardly, Fang Wang remained utterly deferential, bowing low before Liu Xuan: "Fang Wang, a vassal of the Wei clan, pays homage to the Gengshi Son of Heaven."

Liu Xuan did not speak for the moment; he was not much of a talker anyway. He merely nodded without answering, feigning inscrutability, and nodded toward the ministers seated below. The foremost among them then questioned Fang Wang:

"Master Fang comes from the so-called 'Western Han.' Why do you not call yourself a subject of the usurper Yuan Tong?"

Fang Wang looked over. Most of the Greenwood ministers were of common bandit origin, and because court ritual was lacking, their clothing was a chaotic mess — crimson robes and purple robes all jumbled together, hats tilted askew, giving off a distinct air of "Chu men wearing caps on monkeys." Fitting, for the descendants of a southern petty lord: coarse and vulgar. Compared to the Western Han court ritual adjusted by old Liu Xin, it was far inferior.

But there was one exception. The man who had spoken wore a tall hat and broad sash, his robes neat and his posture upright. Though dressed as a civil official, he was tall and powerfully built — standing, he would be a full nine chi, and even seated he was nearly as tall as Fang Wang.

This distinctive appearance let Fang Wang guess his identity at once: "Could it be the great hero who restored the Han, the King of Xiping, Li Ciyuan?"

"Li Tong it is."

Fang Wang smiled and bowed with clasped hands. "I have long heard that the Li clan is a great house of Wancheng, a family of poetry and letters. Surely you know the Zuo Commentary says: 'For a retainer to seek to aggrandize the ducal house — no crime is greater!'"

"Since I am a retainer to Lord Wei, in all matters I must consider Lord Wei's interests first. The Yuan Tong Emperor is nothing to me."

"Is that so?" Li Tong laughed. "But I have heard that it was precisely Master Fang of Pingling who sent Liu Ying to Longyou, which led to this later business of proclaiming him emperor."

Fang Wang sighed. "The King of Xiping does not know — this was Diwu Lun's scheme!"

He began to spout utter nonsense: "When Diwu Lun raised his troops at Hongmen and entered Chang'an, he already harbored wild ambitions. He slaughtered more than ten veteran ministers who had restored the Han, men like Gongsun Lu. He knew that with Liu Ying's status as Crown Prince of the Former Han, he would be difficult to dispose of, so he sent men to devise a plot, claiming someone wished to harm the Former Han Crown Prince. They set a fire under false pretenses and had Liu Ying smuggled out of the city. Just as they were about to harm him, I happened upon the scene and rescued him..."

The Greenwood men were half-believing, half-doubtful. Li Tong said coldly: "And then Diwu Lun forced you, sir, to enthrone Liu Ying as emperor?"

"Not forced — tricked!" What Fang Wang said next was, in fact, true in every line. "Diwu Lun knew that restoring the Han was the great trend of the realm, something that ran counter to his own ambition to set himself up as ruler. And so he sought to make multiple Han states stand side by side. He not only sealed off all news, spreading word that the Xin armies had crushed Greenwood, occupied Wancheng, and that the Gengshi Emperor had died, but also sent his advisor Feng Yan into Long, using the pretext that Long and Wei should join forces to resist Xin together. He talked the Longyou magnates into hastily enthroning Liu Ying. By the time we learned the truth, it was already too late..."

If only the Wei clan had listened to him back then and first made him a king — gaining the real benefits without having to chase an empty name. Longyou would have had far more room to maneuver. Now they were caught over a fire, unable to advance or retreat.

"It was not only Liu Ying. The enthronement of the so-called Northern Han Sixing Emperor, and even Liu Sheng's proclamation as emperor in Runan — in all of these, Diwu Lun's agents were stirring the pot!"

Fang Wang was filled with righteous indignation: "We only recently discovered Diwu Lun's venomous scheme. Our regret comes too late!"

Half a year had nearly passed; anyone with any sense would have figured it out by now. Li Tong agreed inwardly, but he laughed aloud: "From what Master Fang says, your coming to Wancheng means the Wei clan has suddenly seen the light and wishes to return to the true Son of Heaven?"

"And why should that not be possible?" Fang Wang's words were startling. He even spoke the Yuan Tong Emperor's personal name to his face: "Enthroning Liu Ying was old Liu Xin's obstinate doing. The Wei clan is loyal to the House of Han, not to a dim-witted former dynasty Crown Prince. Now that we know the true Son of Heaven is in Nanyang, the Wei clan is quite willing to depose Liu Ying, demote him to a king, and submit to the Gengshi Emperor..."

These words startled the Greenwood kings into looking at one another, while Liu Xuan's face lit up with delight. He still preferred to settle things by proclamation.

It was Li Tong who did not fall for it. He pressed: "When will he be deposed?"

Fang Wang said: "To depose him abruptly, I fear the Longyou magnates would panic and internal chaos would erupt. It would be better to wait until our two houses together have destroyed the state enemy Diwu Lun, and then order Liu Ying to come personally to Wancheng to pay his respects to Your Majesty."

So it was still just empty words — not to be trusted. Li Tong flicked his sleeve. "I suspect, sir, that you have come because you fear Diwu Lun will strike and destroy Longyou first, and you have no choice but to come to Nanyang to beg for aid?"

"Diwu Lun wants to destroy more than just Longyou." Fang Wang shook his head. He had heard that Li Tong had also suffered at Diwu Lun's hands, and seeing that Liu Xuan was a cowardly sort, he proceeded to exaggerate Diwu Lun's strength.

"I was often at Chencang, observing Diwu Lun's decisive battle with Liu Bosheng. I know the true state of that army well."

"Liu Bosheng was His Majesty's Pillar-of-Heaven Grand General, a man whose valor a myriad could not match. He raised the standard at Chongling, formed the drum array at Tanghe, besieged Wancheng — his battle achievements were illustrious, and he was enfeoffed among the feudal lords."

"Yet within a mere ten days of entering the Pass, he was easily crushed and destroyed by Diwu Lun on the banks of the Wei River. When word of this came back, did Your Majesty and the great kings not feel shock and dread? If even Liu Bosheng was defeated, who can withstand Diwu Lun's full-force strike?"

Fang Wang's portrayal of Diwu Lun's military strength was quite divorced from reality as he launched into strategic deception mode.

"The horse, foot, and naval forces under Diwu Lun's command number over two hundred thousand."

The Greenwood kings looked at each other. After all these years of raising troops, their own motley assortment of armies and conscripted laborers combined only came to about that number. "Surely this is a bluff?"

"No bluff. In Henei in Wei territory, Diwu Lun already had tens of thousands of veteran troops. At Hongmen he took command of the main army and gained another eighty thousand 'rush-to-arms' soldiers..."

This was the Xin Dynasty's official figure, doubled — the same sort of thing as the million-man army at Kunyang. Fang Wang simply took it and used it.

"Entering Chang'an, he gained the surrender of several regiments of the Northern Army. Pacifying Hexi and Hedong, he absorbed the old troops of Tian Kuang and Wang Xun — at least another fifty or sixty thousand. Newly recruited soldiers, thirty or forty thousand. Reckoning it this way, and then driving the common people of Chang'an into battle, why stop at two hundred thousand? Three hundred thousand is more like it!"

This was exaggeration. Diwu Lun himself did not know he was that strong. And Fang Wang was even more unstinting in his praise of Diwu Lun's subordinate commanders: "Men of resource and stratagem — Ren Guang, Feng Yan, and the like. Commanders skilled and battle-hardened — not just one or two hundred. The ones who helped Diwu Lun defeat Liu Bosheng: Wan Junyou and Geng Bozhao. The ones who routed Wang Chang: Jing Dan and Diba Biao. Add to that surrendered generals like Dou Rong — all men adept at war. And then there is Ma Yuan of Henei, and Geng Chun of Wei."

"In short, Diwu Lun's troops are now strong and his horses vigorous, his morale at its peak. The commanderies under his control number ten, all of them rich and fertile lands."

"The ancients said: the land within the Pass accounts for only one-third of the realm, its population only three-tenths, yet its wealth accounts for six-tenths of all under Heaven. If Diwu Lun seals Yao Pass and strikes to destroy Longyou, he will hold one of the three parts of the realm — the power of a mighty Qin will be complete!"

Fang Wang said: "Think of the Warring States era. Of all the strong states under Heaven, it was either Qin or Chu, Chu or Qin. The two states contended; their positions could not both stand. Greenwood in the south is like Chu; Diwu Lun within the Pass is like Qin. If Diwu Lun had no worries from Longyou, he need only now send a general out through Tongyuan, send armored troops down to occupy Hongnong, and Luoyang would be in peril. Ma Yuan would emerge from Henei, descend upon Puyang, take Chenggao, and the provinces of Yu and Yan would no longer be Your Majesty's to hold."

"At that point, with Ma Yuan, Dou Rong, and the rest attacking Yingchuan and Kunyang, and Diwu Lun personally leading the main army down through Shangyu, raising a hundred thousand armored troops to emerge from Wu Pass — Wancheng would be hard-pressed to hold. How could Your Majesty's altars not be in danger? This is why I, a vassal from afar, am troubled on Your Majesty's behalf!"

"Diwu Lun wishes to make the various Han states fight one another so that he may reap the fisherman's gain. But the situation now is that Han and Wei cannot both stand. Rather than be destroyed piecemeal by him, it is better to join forces and destroy him! When brothers quarrel at home, they unite against outside insult. That is why the Wei clan sent me, a vassal, to come and speak of the stakes. All Lord Wei seeks is a feudal lord's position under the name of the House of Han."

Liu Xuan's expression changed involuntarily at these words. Greenwood had no particularly formidable strategists; their analysis of problems was not as "thorough" as Fang Wang's. Only today did he realize that, without his even noticing, Diwu Lun had grown so powerful.

For a moment he did not know what to do. He only lowered his head and scraped at his mat, then looked at Li Tong. But Li Tong's face was as dark as water. Li Tong had suffered greatly at Diwu Lun's hands and understood that this man could not be underestimated. But he also understood that Greenwood currently had no energy at all to fight Diwu Lun: the greatest hidden threat was still the Red Eyebrows! Ma Wu and the others had only been gone a few days; no word had yet come back.

If they could persuade the Red Eyebrows, drive those hundreds of thousands of roving bandits into the Pass "to live the good life," and make them fight it out with Diwu Lun — that would be the best solution. Only...

Only the situation would not wait. After Fang Wang was sent to rest temporarily at the guest lodge, two pieces of news arrived that shocked all of Wancheng and made Liu Xuan and Li Tong resolve to temporarily ally with Longyou and deal with Diwu Lun.

One was from Hongnong: Dou Rong and the others, bringing laborers from Guanzhong and Hedong, had spent two months building a fortified pass up on Tongyuan. When there was no pass they still could not break through; now that there was a stronghold, the Greenwood army in Henan was even less able to advance west.

The other came from Shangyu: "The Wei army has come south from Lantian and is attacking Yao Pass!"

By the end of the eleventh month, the northern weather had turned bitterly cold, freezing the troops from the south until they shivered uncontrollably.

On the long, narrow Shangyu corridor, the largest city was called Shangluo. This was the land of the ancient Ruo state. The city was still held by Greenwood now. After holding that disappointing funeral for Liu Bosheng, the Gengshi Emperor Liu Xuan had also realized that Diwu Wei had become a force to be reckoned with. Though he had no energy to attack Chang'an again for the moment, he still sent two great kings forward.

The King of Yicheng, Wang Feng, was a grand chieftain of Greenwood. The King of Wan, Liu Ci, was the standout among the Chongling imperial clan who had abandoned Liu Bosheng and switched allegiance to Liu Xuan. They brought thirty thousand Greenwood troops into the Shangyu valley — ample proof of how much importance Liu Xuan placed on this corridor.

After all, though the Gengshi court was a motley mix, it did have men of vision like Li Ciyuan, who had forcefully argued: "The land of Shangyu grips the junction of Qin and Chu, commands the defenses of mountains and rivers. If the road to Nanyang is taken, the east will be stirred; if one enters Lantian, the region beyond the Pass is imperiled. Wu Pass is a mighty bulwark — a single step can tip the balance."

But for the two kings, this assignment was far less pleasant. They could not go to the vast, fertile lands of the Central Plains, but instead had to come to this gloomy, cold, narrow, godforsaken place to resist the enemy.

The two kings were not the only ones discontented. After delivering the grievous news of Liu Bosheng back to Nanyang, Yin Shi had been sent to Shangluo, and he was even somewhat bitter and resentful.

"My two great kings, this general knows full well that the land of Shangyu bears upon the safety of Nanyang."

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"But to engage the enemy at Yao Pass is truly not a sound strategy."

"Why?"

"If we don't hold the pass, are we supposed to let them in and fight in the valley instead?"

Yin Shi had studied at the Imperial Academy, and in his youth he had traveled this valley several times, so he had his own insight to offer.

"Beyond Shangluo lies the old state of Ruo. During the Spring and Autumn period, Qin and Chu fought over it, yet no matter how powerful Chu became, the Ruo lands were always taken by Qin. Why? To reach Shangluo from Nanyang, you must travel the treacherous Wuguan Pass road, winding for a thousand li, and the local grain is never enough to feed a large army — you can only haul fodder and grain from afar."

By contrast, places like Lantian in Guanzhong are extremely close to Yao Pass. In a war of attrition, a southern power would always come out the loser.

And this is winter, when snow could fall at any moment. Yao Pass may be strategically vital and have enough grain to hold out for a while, but the fatal problem is that arrow supplies can't keep up! The Gengshi regime is still a thrown-together operation — they haven't even set up reliable military workshops yet. They're still using the Xin Dynasty's local armories for arrows and such. How can they possibly compare to the Wei army!

Winter clothing is another huge problem. Most of the Greenwood men come from the south and are utterly unprepared for the bitter cold of the north. Their army clothing is whatever they could plunder from middling households and commoners. The soldiers mostly wrap layer upon layer of cloth around their bodies and huddle together, shivering to keep warm. Many have feet so frozen they can barely walk. Once the snow starts falling, it will be a disaster.

From what Yin Shi had heard from the powerful clan retainers who fled back from Guanzhong, after Diwu Lun defeated Liu Bosheng in late September, he did not rush to expand his territory. Instead, he first rounded up over thirty powerful families north of the Wei River in one sweep. Only after settling internal affairs did he methodically dispatch troops southward, from Baling to Duling, rooting out one fortified manor after another that could threaten his rear, slowly advancing to Yao Pass.

This way, the supply lines behind Cen Peng and Zheng Tong are quite secure. Transporting grain across the plain is nothing like hauling supplies along those narrow trails.

So Yin Shi's opinion was this: dragging things out at Yao Pass will only wear our own side down. Better to let them in and fight a decisive battle — that way we can bring our superior numbers to bear!

"From Yao Pass to Shangluo, it's all twisting goat-track mountain paths. If we set the battlefield at Shangluo, using our many against their few, waiting at ease for the exhausted enemy, our army will surely win!"

But although Yin Shi knew the local terrain well, he was only a half-baked amateur when it came to warfare. When Kong Ren, a surrendered general from the Xin Dynasty, asked him a single question in return, Yin Shi had no answer.

"General Yin, what if the Wei army's objective is only to seize Yao Pass and they do not enter the Shangwu Valley at all? Would we not have abandoned territory to Diwu Lun for nothing? If the Gengshi Son of Heaven were to hold an inquiry, would General Yin be willing to bear the responsibility?"

Yin Shi was struck speechless and could only withdraw. After he left, Wang Feng shook his head in disappointment and said, "The head of the Yin clan lacks vision. The Prince of Wan and I were ordered here precisely to hold every inch of this land."

Otherwise, the two princes' ranking within the Gengshi regime would plummet. They also hoped that a good performance here would allow them, like the others, to govern a commandery of their own in the future.

Liu Ci nodded. "Besides, there are some things Yin Shi does not know…"

He unfurled an edict, still warm from its journey from Wancheng. On it was the decision reached by Liu Xuan and the various princes after deliberation.

"Hold Yao Pass to the death, tie down the Wei army, and force them to send reinforcements! This will allow the six commandery cavalry from Longyou to strike at Diwu Lun's position, plunging Guan-Long into chaos and mutual attrition. Then, when spring warms, we will advance into Guanzhong and reap the rewards from behind!"

…

PS: Chapter 2 at 18:00.

(Chapter 3 at 23:00.)