Chapter 398: Pinglin

By late in the seventh month, the six hundred li of the Shangyu region had fallen entirely into Cen Peng's hands.

Traveling southeast from Shang County meant following the narrow road carved along the Dan River valley, which linked up with the Xiong'er range to the east. For hundreds of li, it was all towering mountains and long gorges, rugged and hard going. The baggage train from Guanzhong pushed single-wheeled carts heaped with parched grain, arrows, and rain gear, streaming ceaselessly into the main camp.

The Pinglin General Cen Peng gazed east from the Wei army's ramparts and could faintly make out the emerald peaks of the Funiu Mountains; to the southwest lay the tail ranges of the Qinling and Daba Mountains.

The farther south one went, the closer the two great mountain systems drew together, and at the pass where the ridges converged most tightly, a formidable stronghold loomed…

Wu Pass was built on a stretch of relatively level high ground within the gorge, backed against the towering Shaoxi Mountain to the north and overlooking the Dan River to the south. The pass walls were raised from rammed earth set on brick and stone foundations; the ramparts stretched two li, winding along the mountainside, sealing off the road through the pass so completely that not a crack remained!

"Wu Pass grips the junction of Qin and Chu, commanding the natural defenses of mountain and river. In the Spring and Autumn period, this land did not belong to Qin; until Qin gained Wu Pass, it could not dominate Chu. The strategic situation today is no different."

Wu Pass had become the last nail blocking Cen Peng's advance. Only by taking this place could the Wei army fully seize the momentum with which mighty Qin once swept across the realm.

Yet Wu Pass was a colossal fortification — one man holding the rampart could bog down a thousand. It was not a place that could be taken in a mere three or five days.

Cen Peng, it must be said, had arrived at a fortunate moment. The commander defending Wu Pass, Wang Feng — one of the founders of the Greenwood — still wanted to fight to the death with his ten thousand–plus troops, but then word came from the rear that the Red Eyebrows had entered Wancheng and the Gengshi Emperor had fled south. Morale collapsed at once.

This forced Wang Feng to propose a meeting with Cen Peng on the open ground between the Wei army's ramparts and Wu Pass.

Cen Peng's subordinates, officers like Deng Ye, urged him: "Pinglin General, it may be a trick."

"If they try any tricks, it's they who will suffer for it." Cen Peng agreed readily. They had no time to grind it out slowly; winning the mind was paramount, storming the walls secondary.

The autumn day was clear and crisp. Cen Peng donned his armor, took a small escort of horsemen, and left the main camp. They came to a millet field between the two armies, where a great poplar tree stood, struck by fierce fire, its branches all hacked away — much like the old Shangyu road, surviving in the aftermath of war.

Wang Feng also came with only two attendants, riding light on a chestnut-colored horse. When they drew close, Cen Peng saw the man's eyes were shot through with blood. No doubt this "King of Shangyu" of the Greenwood had not slept for days — whether because of the Wei army at the gates or because of his own feckless emperor, who could say.

"General Wang."

Cen Peng did not address him by his royal title, for the State of Wei currently only recognized the King of Shu as a fellow king; it did not recognize the Gengshi regime, and by extension ignored all twenty-odd kings under Liu Xuan.

"General Cen." Wang Feng reined in his horse a few paces away and saluted Cen Peng with clasped hands, his manner deferential.

This was not the first time the two had met. Back when Cen Peng and Yan You were defending Wancheng, Wang Feng had commanded the assault as the overall commander and had scaled the walls several times, only to be driven back down each time by Cen Peng. This went on for months, and Wang Feng's losses grew so heavy that he had to ask Liu Bosheng to take over the attack, while he himself was transferred to Kunyang, where he coasted on Liu Xiu's great victory.

Yet in the end, that campaign was still Cen Peng's defeat. They were isolated and unsupported, they had lost all popular support, the pig teammates at Kunyang had thrown away three hundred thousand men, and finally even the capital was gone, the emperor had fled, and they had no choice but to surrender.

Afterward, Wang Feng, as the victor, demanded that Cen Peng be executed. Only Liu Bosheng's intervention stopped it.

But in just over a year, the situation had completely reversed. Now it was Wang Feng's turn to feel what that was like.

The same pig teammates losing battle after battle, the same capital falling, the emperor fleeing, a lone army fighting on with no support from any side…

Wang Feng forced a smile and said: "All my subordinate chieftains said the Wei generals could not be trusted. I alone said that Cen Junran is a man of honor and faith — he held the isolated city of Wancheng for half a year without breaking faith. How could he practice deceit?"

Cen Peng was noncommittal. He merely said: "Was it not General Wang who first shot a letter over the walls to propose these talks?"

That was true enough, but Wang Feng still wanted to bargain for better terms. He went on: "I merely wish to spare both sides' soldiers further losses. Otherwise, with a stronghold as solid as Wu Pass and over ten thousand fighting men still in my army, holding out for half a year — just as you did back then, Junran — would be no great feat!"

"Big words."

Cen Peng shook his head and pointed to the towering siege engines behind him in the Wei camp. "In just a few more days, the great stone-throwing carts will be completed. These machines were built by the master craftsmen of the Privy Treasury and are called Thunderclap Carts. Push them before the walls of Wu Pass, and they will hurl a hundred stones a day. When the thunder strikes, men and walls alike are shattered. Would General Wang care to test them?"

"And the ten thousand–plus Wei tiger guards you see before you are merely a paltry vanguard. Guanzhong is densely populated; we could levy thirty or fifty thousand reinforcements at will."

Cen Peng smiled. "If General Wang feels unwilling to accept this, then let us each return to camp, marshal our troops, beat the drums, and attack — just as we did in the two battles at Shangluo and Shang County — and let the outcome decide. I have no desire to force submission upon you!"

Wang Feng was instantly struck dumb. The two armies had already fought twice before; there was no need to say who had won and who had lost. Had he not been beaten so badly, he would not be in such dire straits now.

"What is more." Cen Peng went straight for Wang Feng's weak spot. "Does General Wang think I do not know? These past few days, men have been slipping out of the pass to surrender in an unbroken stream. They all say the Red Eyebrows have entered Wancheng, that your sovereign has abandoned his capital and fled. Even if I sat here idly for half a year, would the Red Eyebrow Army give you half a year? By then, with no grain inside and no relief troops outside, pressed from both east and west, it is hard to say that some officer, to save his own life, might not cut off your head and offer it in surrender! When that day comes, regret will be too late!"

Wang Feng's spirit drained away. He could only grit his teeth and say: "Wang Feng is willing to lay down his arms and submit to the State of Wei. I only wonder how the King of Wei would treat me."

Cen Peng used himself as an example: "Cen Peng is also a surrendered general. Have you seen how the King of Wei has treated me?"

"You are different, Junran. You and the King of Wei are old friends."

Wang Feng began to negotiate terms: "Can I be made a marquis?"

"The State of Wei has its own regulations. It is not for me to say." Cen Peng could have made lavish promises the way Feng Yan did, but his nature valued trustworthiness. Apart from using deception in warfare, he was unwilling to deceive even in negotiations.

"Since the first month of this year, the King of Wei has tightened the rules. Apart from the founding eighteen marquises, no one may be enfeoffed without military merit or the offering of territory."

"Had the general surrendered a month earlier, presenting the six hundred li of Shangyu, a marquisate would have been certain."

Cen Peng added: "But now it is only a single Wu Pass, barely six li in circumference — that is not so certain."

Wang Feng felt deeply humiliated and said indignantly: "In Han I was a king. Am I to say that in Wei I am not even worthy of being a marquis?"

Cen Peng spoke bluntly: "Whether in number or in actual rewards, a Greenwood king is truly not as precious as a Wei marquis."

"Besides, of the twenty-odd Greenwood kings, their rise was sudden, but their fall was just as swift. Some died under the Red Eyebrows' blades, some fled into the wilderness as bandits. In the end, how many have preserved their wealth and rank? The general should count himself fortunate!"

"If the general can submit, he will certainly be enfeoffed as a count. As for what comes after, that depends on how many soldiers the general can hand over to the King of Wei, and how many Greenwood remnants he can rally!"

The two men sat on horseback there and talked for a long time, and also discussed the question of the Greenwood troops who would surrender. Wang Feng probed at the idea of continuing to command these soldiers himself, but Cen Peng insisted that he relinquish his military authority and first go pay homage to the King of Wei. After that, whether he would earn trust like Colonel Deng Ye and be given back command of his old troops, or whether they would be broken up and reorganized, would be entirely for the King of Wei to decide.

Their mouths went dry from talking, but Cen Peng would not yield an inch. This made Wang Feng extremely agitated, yet he could not win a fight, could not afford to drag things out, and did not even have the option of choosing another patron.

The grain in Wu Pass was nearly exhausted, while Cen Peng's army received supplies from Guanzhong every day. If he stalled any longer, he might not even be able to sell himself at this price.

In the end, Wang Feng could only dismount dejectedly. His back bent, he held his own sword in both hands, raised it high, and presented it to Cen Peng, who sat high above him on horseback.

Cen Peng, still mounted, looked down coolly at Wang Feng — just as, over a year ago in Wancheng, the Greenwood chieftains had looked down upon Cen Peng when he came out to surrender.

"Wu Pass will open its gates tomorrow."

"The Greenwood Army is willing to surrender to General Cen!"

…

"A formidable pass indeed — one that, when reached from Nanyang, sets the east stirring, and when entered from Lantian, puts the lands west of the pass in peril."

The next day, the Greenwood Army surrendered and was broken up and brought under control. Cen Peng ascended the pass, leaned on the mottled parapet, and gazed out toward his homeland, Nanyang — destined to be his next battlefield.

It was rather ironic: Diwu Lun had appointed him "Pinglin General," yet before Cen Peng could even reach Nanyang, the Greenwood had already fallen apart.

Though he had taken the great stronghold of Wu Pass, Cen Peng did not stop there. He summoned Colonel Deng Ye and the others and pointed to the map. "The next step is to seize the Danyang region."

This Danyang was not the Danyang in Jiangdong, but "north of the Dan River" — the area around Xi County and Danshui, south of Wu Pass.

During the Warring States period, after Zhang Yi deceived King Huai of Chu, Chu in its fury attacked Qin, and the battle was fought right here at Danyang. This place lies at the junction of Shangyu, Hanzhong, and Nanyang, and is now also where the three great powers — Wei, Shu, and the Red Eyebrows — converge. Whoever occupies it first seizes the initiative.

Since Deng Ye was a native of Xi County, Cen Peng sent him with three thousand men to take Xi County and to scout out the recent situation in Nanyang.

"How much territory have the Red Eyebrows already taken? Is it true, as the rumors say, that they have set up a man called 'Liu Gonghe' as emperor and also restored the Han? This is critical — we must find out. Also, how many counties do the Greenwood remnants still hold, and what are the great clans of Nanyang planning now?"

As a man of Nanyang, Cen Peng knew that if you wanted to fight in your homeland, you could not ignore the great clans. They might not be able to accomplish much, but they were more than capable of spoiling things — spoiling things for the Red Eyebrows.

Cen Peng also ordered another Colonel, Yu Kuang, to head south and take Danshui County, which was already very close to Hanzhong Commandery. He was to send scouts to slip near Yun Pass (in modern-day Shiyan, Hubei) and see whether Shu troops were advancing east.

A few days later, Deng Ye sent a man back to report: "Yin Shi, a prominent figure of the great Yin clan of Xinye, has led the Yin clan troops and several powerful families, fleeing the calamity of the Red Eyebrows. They have fled west to Boshan County and wish to submit to the King of Wei!"

"Yin Shi… he's not restoring the Han anymore?"

Cen Peng recalled that when he served in Liu Bosheng's army, he and Yin Shi had been colleagues of a sort. This man could represent the powerful families of Nanyang. Cen Peng would gladly accept their submission, find ways to support them, and then send a batch of the reorganized Greenwood men over to "reinforce" them, letting them put down roots in western Nanyang and use the powerful families' armed strength and connections to wear down the Red Eyebrows.

Word also came back from the south: "Liu Jia, King of Hanzhong, and his General Jia Fu have surrendered to Shu. The King of Shu has taken all of Hanzhong, and the Shu banner now flies above Yun Pass."

That Jia Fu had held out at Yangping Pass for half a year — he had done all he could. Cen Peng knew the despair of defending a lone city. He had no interest in the Shangyong region of eastern Hanzhong for now, but this incident meant that Wei and Shu's partition of the Greenwood's western territory was now complete. With the Qinling and Daba Mountains as the border, their future dealings and clashes would only grow more frequent!

If the King of Shu chose to march north rather than east in his expansion, then the "inevitable war between Wei and Shu" that Feng Yan had foretold could not be avoided.

Cen Peng's victory report was sent to Hedong, and the King of Wei's response came swiftly.

"Cen Peng, General Who Pacifies the Greenwood, has stormed Yao Pass, seized Shangyu, secured Wu Pass, and expanded our territory by six hundred li."

"Enfeoff him as Marquis of Jiyang! With a stipend of sixteen hundred households."

Jiyang County was Cen Peng's hometown. Diwu Lun wanted him to return home in glory one day.

Considering that the Greenwood power had utterly collapsed and there was no more Greenwood for Cen Peng to pacify, Diwu Lun accordingly changed his general title, bringing Cen Peng one step closer to a formal substantive general's rank!

"Appointed as: General Who Pacifies the South!"

…

PS: Chapter 2 at 23:00.