Chapter 424: A King Dies for the Altars of State!

Xiaquyang City lay south of the Hutu River, with a Han-dynasty canal called the "Great White Canal" encircling it as a moat, open only to the south. On the plains it counted as a place easy to defend and hard to attack, and having once served as the capital of Hecheng Commandery under Wang Mang's Xin dynasty, the city was large enough. That was why Liu Ziyu had set his sights on it, driving out Pi Tong and making it the new capital of Northern Han.

And the grain stores Pi Tong had stockpiled over years of managing Hecheng became the sole food source keeping the Tongma grand army alive through this winter.

Liu Ziyu took the lead in reducing rations and conserving grain. Unlike the extravagantly profligate Liu Xuan, this Emperor was quite frugal, eating only one meal a day. But as the twelfth month drew to a close, the granaries were nearly empty.

To make matters worse, the supply line between Xiaquyang and the eastern front along the Zhang River was raided by a cavalry force, cutting off Liu Ziyu's contact with Sun Deng and Liu Zhi's troops.

But Liu Ziyu had no time to worry about his subordinates. The cavalry that had severed Northern Han's main artery soon thrust westward, carrying the flames of war to the outskirts of Xiaquyang!

Even without climbing the city tower, Liu Ziyu could see the hamlets outside the walls set ablaze, wisps of gray smoke rising into the murky sky.

This cavalry force carried the savagery and chill of the You-Yan borderlands. Unlike the Wei army's main force, which always prided itself on strict discipline, they burned, killed, and plundered without restraint along their path. But having come from afar, they did little real damage to Xiaquyang — the terror they caused, however, was immense.

Inside the city, people were panicked, all asking: "I hear it's the You Province shock cavalry from the north. Has the King of Wei already taken all of Yan? Has the King of Guangyang been defeated? How could Yan cavalry cross a thousand li and appear at our walls?"

As the Yuyang cavalry exploited their mobility to burn the outlying villages around Xiaquyang, the smoke hanging thick as if a great army besieged the city, the people inside began to panic. Even the loyal Du Wei came to urge Liu Ziyu: "Your Majesty, Xiaquyang is in peril. It would be safer to go to Zhending City or the southern-front camp!"

Though Liu Ziyu was no expert in military matters, his courage remained great, and he was especially skilled at reading men's calculations. Seeing through the enemy's little scheme, he shook his head and rejected the proposal: "The enemy cavalry burns the eastern, northern, and western outskirts of Xiaquyang, yet leaves the south untouched — this is the 'surround three sides, leave one open' ploy. They are cavalry, with no siege equipment. Several thousand troops remain within the city, enough to hold it. Seeing that I am inside the city and beyond his reach, he seeks to terrify the city into driving me out in flight. The moment I leave the city's shelter, I will surely be captured!"

He had guessed exactly right. Wu Han had precisely this in mind, waiting for Liu Ziyu to foolishly flee the city and deliver him a peerless achievement!

Liu Ziyu, the false Emperor, managed to withstand the pressure, but some inside the city were terrified. Soon, Liu Ziyu received an accusation that Northern Han's Grand Minister of Agriculture was plotting rebellion, planning to bind the Emperor and hand him over to the King of Wei.

Though the conspiracy was exposed, after a round of slaughter, the Xiaquyang court was purged of nearly half its members. Those who remained, though loyal to the core, urgently petitioned Liu Ziyu to swiftly summon the King of Zhending or Dongshan Huangtu to Xiaquyang to rescue the sovereign.

Liu Ziyu, however, believed that if he gave such an order, all the battles of the past few months would have been fought in vain.

"If the King of Zhending does not hold the Jingxing Pass in Changshan, Jing Dan can break through within ten days or a month."

"And once the southern-front army retreats, it will surely be pursued by the Wei army and collapse along the entire line."

Retreating is far harder than advancing. Even if the Tongma used their skill at scattering into small bands to withdraw swiftly, gathering everyone back together would be harder than climbing to the heavens.

"What are you panicking for!" Liu Ziyu forced himself to be calm and rebuked his frightened ministers.

"In the old days, the Exalted Emperor was struck in the chest by Xiang Yu's arrow, yet he still talked and laughed with perfect composure, saying the brigand's arrow had only hit his toe. Compared to the trials of Chu and Han, the siege of Xingyang, what does today amount to?"

He swept his hand, full of courage: "So long as the enemy cavalry's arrows have not yet struck beside my feet, the situation is not dire."

"Order the southern front to send twenty or thirty thousand men back. Driving off the shock cavalry will suffice." Too many troops returning to rescue the sovereign would affect the front-line situation; too few would just be feeding the shock cavalry. Liu Ziyu's decision was quite correct — give him a few more years, and he might even learn to fight.

However, the Yuyang shock cavalry had already sealed off all routes from Xiaquyang to the outside world. Any messenger would be shot down. Liu Ziyu could not send out a single edict. Whether to send relief, and how many men to send back, was no longer up to the Emperor.

And so it came to pass that on the southern front, the King of Bohai, Dongshan Huangtu, hearing that Xiaquyang was in crisis, in his desperation withdrew his entire line — he had no choice; the grain was exhausted, and the Tongma could hold the front no longer.

Just as Liu Ziyu had foreseen, of the nearly one hundred thousand main-force troops under Dongshan Huangtu, after a two-hundred-li forced march back to the vicinity of Xiaquyang, only fifty thousand remained. The rest had either fled when the war turned unfavorable or been harried by Geng Chun's Wei army troops, who pursued them closely on the retreat, taking a bite of flesh whenever they could.

Still, Dongshan Huangtu's return did lift the siege of Xiaquyang, making the Yuyang shock cavalry recognize the difficulty and withdraw. Wu Han, after conveniently destroying a few scattered Tongma bands, withdrew regretfully north of the Hutu River to await the next chance to attack.

Misfortunes never come singly. The eastern theater also reached its conclusion. With Wu Han having severed the Tongma supply line, the morale of Sun Deng and Liu Zhi's forces verged on collapse. Ma Yuan, who had been maneuvering against them for a long time, decisively launched an attack. Sun Deng fled in defeat, scattering with his remnant troops, his whereabouts unknown. Liu Zhi, swallowing his pain, abandoned the clan settlement his ancestors had lived in for generations, gathered nearly ten thousand remaining soldiers, and withdrew to Xiaquyang.

Thus, the various Tongma armies under Liu Ziyu's command, when combined, numbered only a little over seventy thousand troops.

The King of Wei, Diwu Lun, was leading the campaign in person, his banners about to reach Songzi City, a hundred li south of Xiaquyang, with a force of over forty thousand.

Ma Yuan had already crossed the Zhang River and was closing in from the west with over twenty thousand men.

The You Province shock cavalry — the Yuyang and Shanggu divisions — roamed north and west of Xiaquyang, each with two to three thousand riders.

By now, the shape of the decisive battle was clear. The Wei army had closed in from west, north, east, and south, surrounding Northern Han's Liu Ziyu and his seventy thousand men within a hundred-li radius around Xiaquyang.

In numbers, the Wei troops were actually roughly equal to the Tongma, yet they had still managed to create the posture of an encircling annihilation. Liu Ziyu, unaware of the enemy's true numbers, invariably overestimated them.

The thirty thousand men of the King of Zhending and Shanghuaikuang in Changshan Commandery were also tied down by Jing Dan, cut off from Xiaquyang by the Shanggu shock cavalry, and powerless to help with Xiaquyang's plight.

"The Wei army's encirclement is rather loose. The only chance now is to concentrate our forces before their eastern and southern wings can link up for a joint battle, choose one side, and smash through in a single blow!"

Liu Zhi, Marquis of Changcheng, had lost his ancestral clan settlement, but his loyalty to the House of Han remained unwavering. He petitioned Liu Ziyu: "Ma Yuan's forces on the eastern front are fewer. I beg Your Majesty to make me the vanguard and strike east with the entire army!"

"If we defeat Ma Yuan first, then turn back to fight Diwu Lun to the death, there may yet be a chance of victory!"

Yet while the others agreed with Liu Zhi's proposal to "strike Ma Yuan first," they were unwilling to fight the King of Wei to the death.

"A man of wealth does not sit beneath the eaves. So long as we break through Ma Yuan's army, Your Majesty can make an eastern tour of inspection — there is no need to tangle with Diwu Lun."

"Eastern tour?" Liu Zhi was furious, glaring at Du Wei, who had proposed flight. "You mean abandon the capital?"

"That is the only way." Du Wei dared not look at Liu Zhi or Liu Ziyu, and actually began to weep.

The ministers of Northern Han had already reached a consensus: the loss of Xiaquyang was fated. The fatal mistake had been fighting a war of attrition against Diwu Lun, allowing the King of Wei to drag the Tongma, who excelled at short, decisive engagements, into a rhythm he was familiar with, until finally their arrows and grain were both exhausted.

Sufficient troops, sufficient food, and the trust of the people — of these three, Northern Han now only barely had enough troops. Food and popular support were both gone. The locals of Julu feared and loathed the outsider Tongma. How good things had been when Governor Pi Tong was here! Hearing that Governor Pi had gone over to Wei, the people of Xiaquyang would rather be ruled by the King of Wei. To them, what difference did it make whether the Emperor was surnamed Liu, Wu, or Liu?

If it could bring peace to Hebei, even the surname Qi would do!

Dongshan Huangtu also agreed with Liu Zhi's proposal: "Right. Strike all the way east, fight back to Xindu and Qinghe, link up with Chengtou Zilu, and then head east to Bohai! That is the best path."

Dongshan Huangtu was a man of Bohai, and half the Tongma hailed from there as well. It was likewise a Yellow River flood zone ravaged by the river's course changes. If Ji Province could not be held, they would simply go back.

"Bohai may be desolate after the floods, but at least the territory is vast. If the worst comes to worst, we can still flee onward to Qing Province."

The roving-bandit nature of the Tongma army began to stir. The chieftains, one after another, all thought this a fine idea. To them, was it not simply a matter of changing locations and starting over? Qing Province currently had no major power. The Tongma might not beat the Wei army, but to attack that King of Qi, Zhang Bu, and seize his nest like a turtledove taking a magpie's — was that not as easy as lifting a hand?

Though Liu Ziyu was inwardly unwilling, he understood that with disaster looming, if he, the Emperor, did not go along with the Tongma's wishes, they might well abandon him or forcibly abduct him. In that case, his authority would surely plummet, and he would fall apart before Diwu Lun even struck.

"I shall follow your counsel, my lords."

Liu Ziyu dismissed everyone, keeping only Liu Zhi behind. Speaking from the heart, he sighed: "All my ministers fear Wei. Only the Marquis of Changcheng is valiant and fearless. As the poem says, 'Of all men now living, none are like brothers' — truly it is so! What you said just now most accorded with my own thoughts."

Liu Ziyu rose to his feet and poured out his true feelings: "An 'inspection tour' — originally it was merely historians' euphemism for the Son of Heaven, describing the Zhou king's flight or attendance at a feudal lord's assembly as 'hunting at Heyang.' But even that was a rare event, happening only once in a century."

"In recent years, however, emperors have been making 'inspection tours' at the drop of a hat. Wang Mang made a southern tour to Hanzhong and lost his head at Wancheng."

"Liu Xuan cut off Wang Mang's head and even sent envoys to flaunt it, demanding my submission. Yet he is the same — when the Red Eyebrows came knocking, he too abandoned his capital and fled in panic. After crossing south, I hear he has been reduced to ruling a corner in the damp, low-lying lands of southern Jing, pressed by Gongsun in the west, hemmed in by Chu Li in the north, and squeezed in the east by his own former subject, the King of Wu, Liu Xiu. Truly pitiful."

Liu Ziyu held Liu Xuan in considerable contempt, feeling that this man was utterly unworthy to be the Son of Heaven of Han, unworthy of the Exalted Emperor's bloodline flowing in his veins!

You, a true Liu, are not even as capable, as courageous, as full of backbone as I, a false Liu!

If Liu Ziyu were to imitate that man and flee in panic, would he not become the very person he most despised?

Liu Ziyu said: "Marquis of Changcheng, you must know the rumors that constantly circulate outside — that I am no descendant of Emperor Xiaocheng, that I am a false Liu, a false Emperor!"

Liu Zhi had of course heard them. His clansmen, trying to persuade him to abandon Han and join Wei, had spread such talk plenty. Yet Liu Zhi believed in Liu Ziyu without a doubt. Why?

Because in this Emperor, he had seen the rare, grand bearing of a true Son of Heaven!

Just like today!

Liu Ziyu was indeed a hundred times more diligent than Liu Xuan. Any knowledge required of an Emperor, he could learn and immediately put to use. Over the years, even the most obscure allusions had become second nature to him.

"The great Ru scholar Xunzi of the Zhao lands once said, 'A rolling ball stops in a ditch; a rumor stops with a wise man.'"

"Yet the ancients also said, 'Three men make a tiger.' Regarding my origins, the talk that I am a diviner from Handan and so forth — quite a few people have actually believed it."

"To make all under Heaven know that I am the true Liu, the true Son of Heaven, there is only one way!"

Liu Ziyu looked at Liu Zhi and revealed his true plan.

"'The Book of Rites: Summary of the Rules of Propriety' states: A shi dies for the law, a daifu dies for the multitude, a feudal lord dies for the altars of soil and grain!"

"Ever since Diwu Lun invaded Ji Province, countless soldiers of the Tongma have believed in me and loved me, dying one after another. They are shi, dying for my grand vision and the Han system."

"And the various sons of the Liu clan are all daifu. Some among them cling to life in disgrace, forgetting their ancestors and surrendering to Diwu Lun. But there are also countless others who, for the survival of the Great Han, have led the people to defend their homes and nation unto death. I believe the Marquis of Changcheng is just such a worthy daifu! I enfeoff you as the 'King of Guangchuan,' restoring the kingdom of your ancestors!"

"Your Majesty." Liu Zhi choked with emotion and prostrated himself. He did not care about the fief; the reason he was willing to fight for Liu Ziyu was that he saw in him the shadow of Emperors Xiaowu and Xiaoxuan!

The atmosphere suddenly grew solemn and tragic. Liu Ziyu said, "If the shi and daifu are willing to do this, how can I, as the sovereign, flee alone?"

"My mind is made. We shall concentrate our forces and strike east to crush Ma Yuan. After that, I will not flee in panic like a stray dog. Instead, I will turn around and fight Diwu Lun to the death!"

At this emotional peak, Liu Ziyu also shed genuine tears. Having played this role for so long, he could no longer distinguish truth from falsehood.

He was Wang Lang, a counterfeit descendant of the Liu clan, but could this fervent love for the Great Han burning in his chest be faked?

"I shall fight in Hebei to the last shi, the last daifu, the last Emperor!"

"Even if defeated, even if I lose, I, Liu Ziyu, will die as the last true Son of Heaven of the Han house, a martyr for our Yan-Han altars!"

……

PS: Tomorrow's updates are still at 18:00 and 23:00.