Chapter 414: Three Route Armies

"The wilds lie tangled and confused — where can a traveler find shelter? When the waters come, eat the fish; when the waters go, eat the grain."

In late October, standing atop the walls of Julu City and gazing north, Diwu Lun saw before him a vast marshland — low-lying, sodden ground where withered reed beds stretched beneath the gray winter sky, the roads vanishing among wild grasses and pools of standing water. Only by climbing to the highest watchtower could one glimpse the great clear lake at the marsh's heart, its surface glittering with ripples, where the occasional rough fishing boat cast its nets while the fishermen sang their songs.

This was the largest lake in the You and Ji regions: Dalu Marsh. Legend held that when Yu the Great tamed the floodwaters, he channeled the Yellow River through this lake, then divided it into nine rivers that flowed to the sea. Whether the legend was true or not, no one knew, but the low terrain and year-round waterlogging were real enough. If the outlying marshes were included, it stretched over a hundred li from north to south and nearly fifty li from east to west.

"With this lake serving as a natural barrier to the north of Julu City, no wonder the place is easy to defend and hard to attack — it took Zhang Han ages to capture it at the end of the Qin."

But times had changed. Compared to the Qin era, when the waters had lapped right against the city walls, Dalu Marsh had since receded considerably to the north. The city itself had been easily taken by Ma Yuan a few months earlier, and after eliminating Handan, the Wei army had smoothly pushed its line of control up to this point.

"Taking Dalu Marsh as the north-south dividing line, Wei Commandery, the Principality of Zhao, Guangping, Qinghe, and half of Julu Commandery to the south are in my hands."

"Zhending, Hejian, Xindu, Changshan, Zhongshan, and the northern half of Julu Commandery are in theirs."

Of the ten commanderies and principalities in Ji Province, Diwu Lun controlled four and a half; Liu Ziyu and Liu Yang held five and a half.

It was also at Julu that Geng Chun sent a letter recommending a man who then came to seek an audience with Diwu Lun — none other than the Xin Dynasty's Grand Governor of Hecheng, Pi Tong.

Diwu Lun received Pi Tong at the Julu commandery office: "When I was in Wei Commandery, I long ago heard from Boshan and others that Pi Wei Commandery is a worthy grandee of Hebei. For ten years you governed Hecheng, bringing great order to the commandery — I only regret that I never met you in person."

"I am a man who has lost his home and his commandery — ten thousand fortunes that the King of Wei will take me in."

Pi Tong, who just two years earlier had held the same rank as Diwu Lun, now looked somewhat dejected, for he had fled from Xiaquyang. The story was that in the summer, when Liu Ziyu had led the Tongma westward on campaign and passed through Xiaquyang, Pi Tong had surrendered to preserve the city but had consistently refused to open the gates and let the Tongma enter.

After Liu Ziyu reconciled with the King of Zhending, he considered that Pi Tong and Geng Chun were close friends, so he turned back and sent the Tongma army to press on Xiaquyang, stripping Pi Tong of his authority. Pi Tong had no choice but to abandon the city with two hundred elite horsemen. Yet he did not return to his old home of Xindu; instead, he fled south to seek refuge with his old friend Geng Chun, and then, through an "acquaintance introduction," came before the King of Wei.

Though the force Pi Tong brought with him was not large, Diwu Lun still accorded him high courtesy. He very much needed Pi Tong to provide intelligence on the situation in northern Ji Province.

Only then did Diwu Lun learn that Liu Ziyu had actually installed a Crown Prince at Zhending: it was Liu De, the eldest son of the King of Zhending, Liu Yang. This had placated the Zhending king's faction, and by a miracle, the two forces — Tongma and Zhending — had been kneaded together into one.

When Diwu Lun asked Pi Tong for his assessment of the "Tongma Emperor," Pi Tong's stance was unequivocal: "This Liu Ziyu is nothing but a counterfeit pretender of lowly birth, a rabble-rouser who has gathered over a hundred thousand bandits and claims they number a million. In truth, he merely deceives the common people with lies and blinds the eyes and ears of Ji Province! He drives together a disorderly mob, and so he has shaken the lands of Yan and Zhao. On the surface he seems fierce and menacing, but in reality he is outwardly strong and inwardly hollow."

Pi Tong came from a great clan of Xindu Commandery and naturally held no good impression of the Tongma. Having served as a two-thousand-bushel official of the Xin Dynasty for over a decade, he also had no particular fixation on restoring the Han. Once it was confirmed that Liu Ziyu was an impostor, even the bond between sovereign and subject could be cast aside.

"The commanderies of northern Ji Province have now seen all rites and propriety cast to the winds. Former great chieftains have become feudal lords and commandery governors; lesser chieftains are county magistrates and commandants — all of them monkeys wearing caps. The great clans are full of suspicion, and the common people, plundered and harassed by the Tongma, cry out in bitter complaint!"

The strategy he proposed to Diwu Lun was similar to Geng Chun's: "Nominally, Liu Ziyu holds five commanderies, but in truth, within each commandery there are powerful local families rallying forces in the counties and townships to resist him, longing for the King of Wei as they long for sweet rain! Now, if Your Majesty raises troops from the lands west of the passes, lifts the banner of a righteous army, and displays the might of one who answers the people's call — if you can win the aid of the bold spirits of Hebei, then in attack, what city will not fall? In battle, what army will not submit?"

There was indeed truth in this. Diwu Lun had privately performed his own contradiction analysis: the situation in Hebei was complex. On the surface, it seemed a conflict between Diwu Wei and the Northern Han, but in reality it was entangled with the contradictions among the various Liu warlords, the contradictions between the powerful families and the Tongma, the contradictions between Diwu Lun and the local magnates...

With Diwu Lun's order at Handan to grant amnesty to those surnamed Liu, the so-called "enemy of the state" had been largely dissolved. Those standing in opposition to him were no longer the various Liu factions of Hebei, nor the local magnates who cared little who sat the throne — only the Tongma, who followed Liu Ziyu with single-minded devotion, remained.

The principal contradiction in Hebei was this: the urgent desire of every social stratum to restore peace and stability, versus Liu Ziyu's delusional scheme to use the Tongma to carve out his own territory and perpetuate division!

Unite with all who can be united — powerful families, the Liu clan, whoever. The war must be ended before the spring planting!

After this exchange, Diwu Lun judged Pi Tong to be a man of genuine talent and wished to appoint him Governor of Julu. Unexpectedly, Pi Tong requested to be sent first to Xindu Commandery.

"If my assessment is not mistaken, with Your Majesty and the Tongma now facing each other across Dalu Marsh, the Wei army must be divided into four forces."

Geng Chun was always cautious and would hardly have leaked information to Pi Tong — could Pi Tong have deduced this himself? Diwu Lun sat up straight and bade Pi Tong continue.

Pi Tong said: "One force is led by Your Majesty in person, deployed at Julu and stretching south to Yecheng, supervising the transport of grain and fodder."

Diwu Lun was indeed personally playing the role of chief logistics officer this time... no, more accurately, the role of Xiao He. The Hebei campaign was a major war, one that could well erupt into a decisive battle involving a total of over a hundred thousand men. But before the decisive battle came a long period of probing and standoff. Grain and laborers flowed north in an unbroken stream from Henei and Wei Commandery; if the supply line were cut, the front-line army would be in grave danger. Diwu Lun could only rest easy by overseeing it himself.

Pi Tong pointed westward: "One force takes the western route — it should be striking east from Taiyuan toward Jingxing."

Correct. General of the Front Jing Dan, commanding twenty thousand troops, had stabilized the situation in Bing Province and prevented the Xiongnu from crossing Yanmen and pushing south. He was now advancing along the Taihang mountain paths toward Jingxing Pass, pressing hard on the King of Zhending Liu Yang's Changshan Commandery.

"One force takes the central route — it should be advancing north from Handan toward Xiangguo, confronting the main Tongma army in the area around Boren County."

That was indeed the case. Diwu Lun had mobilized the people of Wei Commandery, drawing roughly one able-bodied man from every five households, and deployed thirty thousand troops in the hilly confrontation zone, under the command of Geng Chun. Facing them was the Tongma's southward army, which they claimed numbered a hundred thousand.

"One force takes the eastern route — it has seized Qinghe and intends to push north toward Xindu, outflanking Liu Ziyu's wing!"

The eastern route was led by Ma Yuan with over ten thousand soldiers. They had been operating in Qinghe for several months and were now beginning to push north toward Hejian and Xindu.

Pi Tong was indeed a capable two-thousand-bushel official who had preserved his commandery for years amid chaos. He was thoroughly familiar with Hebei, and with a single analysis, he had guessed Diwu Lun's strategy with near-perfect accuracy.

Pi Tong had little choice. The positions in the King of Wei's court were largely settled. As a recent arrival, if he did not strive to prove himself, he feared he would end up worse off than before.

This analysis was not wasted effort — it raised Pi Tong's estimation in Diwu Lun's mind by a full grade. By Huan Tan's five-rank standard, he leapt from the third rank, "a man fit for a commandery or province," to the fourth, "a man fit for the highest offices of state."

The three route armies, plus Diwu Lun's logistics, baggage, and civilian laborers, now totaled close to a hundred thousand — the absolute limit of the forces Diwu Lun could muster by drawing on the entire resources of the Sili region.

Diwu Lun said: "Wei Commandery wishes to go to Xindu. Could it be that you believe the key to this campaign lies there?"

"Precisely." Pi Tong spoke of his homeland's strategic advantages with even greater fluency.

"Xindu occupies the center of Hebei. Its river plains are rich and expansive; it commands the regions of Yan and Qi and is known as a great metropolis. To the east it nears the sea, so supplies can be fully stocked; to the south it borders the rivers and the Ji, making rapid military maneuvers easy to achieve... Allow me to put it in a metaphor."

"The western army is like a dagger pressed against the enemy's right ribs. But the Taihang passes are narrow, and the bone of Changshan is hard — it will be difficult to repeat the great victory of the Marquis of Huaiyin. It can only make the enemy bleed a little and distract him."

"The central army was never meant for offense. North of Xiangguo, the land is thick with hills — hard to attack but easy to defend. Relying on the mountains and holding the strategic terrain, it is a land favored by topography. The central army, like a shield, meets the enemy head-on; it need only pin down his main force and prevent it from moving south."

"Only the eastern army can act as a long sword striking at the enemy's left ribs. Whether we can deal the enemy a heavy blow and sever the Tongma's communication with their old stronghold at Bohai — everything depends on this!"

Pi Tong volunteered: "I am a man of Xindu and have some personal ties with Li Zhong, the Chancellor left by the false Han to hold Xindu. Allow me to go and persuade him — there may be unexpected results."

Privately, Pi Tong's own family was still being held in Xindu!

Diwu Lun granted his request. In addition to the post of "Governor of Julu," he also bestowed upon him a banner and staff of authority.

Military affairs were urgent. After Pi Tong bowed in thanks and departed, Diwu Lun watched his receding figure and thought to himself: "Not bad at all. Out of four routes, Pi Tong guessed three correctly."

But whether Diwu Lun's grand objective — "annihilate the Tongma within Ji Province" — could be achieved depended, beyond the western, central, and eastern routes...

"What will decide how long this war lasts is the surprise force on the northern route!"

Liu Ziyu did not linger long at Zhending. True to his word, he returned the place to Liu Yang. After driving out Pi Tong, he made Xiaquyang his temporary imperial residence, issuing decrees and directing the "million-strong Tongma" and the Zhending troops to coordinate and block the Wei army's winter offensive.

However, this false emperor was a first-rate swindler and a man of great nerve, but when it came to warfare — that was not something a few books on military strategy could make up for...

The drawbacks of forcibly kneading the Zhending and Tongma factions together began to show. Throughout the entire month of October, all Liu Ziyu did was listen to the generals sent by Liu Yang and the Tongma chieftains curse each other out, quarreling endlessly over how to fight the war.

In the end, they decided to fight separately. The three Tongma kings likewise divided their great army into three routes: the western army, under the King of Hejian, Shang Huaikuang, took thirty thousand men to reinforce Jingxing Pass and help the King of Zhending, Liu Yang, hold the strategic stronghold.

The central army, under the King of Bohai, Dongshan Huangtu, took seventy to eighty percent of the motley main force and surged south in a single mass, attempting to break through the Wei army's defenses west of Dalu Marsh and strike as far as Xiangguo or even the Zhao heartland.

The eastern army, under the King of Julu, Sun Deng, took thirty thousand men to relieve Xindu. The Northern Han Chancellor Li Zhong had been sending urgent pleas for reinforcements; Ma Yuan's offensive was swift and fierce, and the local powerful families, who detested the Tongma, were also being won over by Ma Wenyuan. Li Zhong could barely hold on any longer.

Although Liu Ziyu had not realized that Xindu was the opponent's decisive blow, he did have a deployment on the eastern front.

"We have already sent an envoy to enfeoff Cheng Tou Zilu of Pingyuan Commandery in Qing Province as a king — the King of Jibei!"

With a string of successful gambles and bluffs, Liu Ziyu had grown confident and was rather pleased with this arrangement: "Cheng Tou Zilu is a remnant of Chi Zhaoping's forces. He bears a grudge against Diwu Lun and Ma Yuan and commands tens of thousands of men. If he can cross the great river and join forces with the King of Julu and Chancellor Li to strike Ma Yuan's division together — victory and defeat should be decided first on the eastern route!"

Liu Ziyu said, "Diwu Lun's rise has relied heavily on his father-in-law Ma Wenyuan campaigning on all fronts. The one the Hebei chieftains fear most is also this man. If we can defeat him in the first battle, it will be tantamount to breaking Diwu Lun's backbone!"

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PS: Starting tomorrow, two updates a day resume.