Chapter 438: The Great Horses of Liang Province

In Diwu Lun's plan, the future assault on Longyou would be a three-pronged encirclement.

From the east, the main force in Guanzhong; from the right, a flanking force from the four commanderies of Hexi; and from due north, Beidi Commandery and Xin Qinzhong, held by Wei forces — now that Geng Boyao had established the Bingzhou cavalry, the King of Wei finally had a mounted force that could meet the Longyou sons of good families head-on.

The riders who would soon escort Diba Jiao to Liang Province were precisely these horsemen.

When Diba Jiao reached Fuping County in Xin Qinzhong in mid-third month, the area had already recovered its vitality from last year's bitter fighting against the Xiongnu and Hu-Han, and the wheat seedlings in the Qin and Han canals were a gratifying lush green.

"The Xiongnu's horses are weak in spring; they generally don't raid south."

Zang Nu, the Commandant of the Guard defending Xin Qinzhong, welcomed Diba Jiao and, from atop the city wall, pointed out to him the Hu horses across the river. Although they had annihilated over ten thousand Hu-Han troops, the Xiongnu themselves had fled. The Wei army's forces deployed in Xin Qinzhong were limited, so they had not rushed to cross the river and retake lost territory. The Hu had been hurt badly and dared not come over lightly; the two sides had been facing off across the river for half a year.

Upon hearing the purpose of Diba Jiao's mission, Zang Nu shook his head. "Wuwei is not easy to reach. Though it neighbors Xin Qinzhong, the journey is still over a thousand li, with desert obstacles in between. Hu-Han and Xiongnu roving cavalry, and Longyou scouts, appear frequently. This route is intermittently cut off. The last time Wuwei sent an envoy, he was waylaid and killed by bandits. There has been no communication for over a month."

Diba Jiao would certainly not turn back at the first sign of danger. This concerned the King of Wei's strategy for the coming months; even if it were a mountain of blades and a sea of fire, he had to cross it!

Zang Nu prepared a full two platoons of Bingzhou youths for Diba Jiao to escort him westward. To avoid the eyes and ears of the Xiongnu, they crossed the water on sheepskin rafts upstream from Qingtong Gorge. This company of men and horses, like a long gray dragon, advanced along the banks of the Yellow River where peaks clustered together.

The journey was tedious and perilous, passing through a no-man's-land that Wei, Long, and the Hu all left ungoverned. Around Shapotou were bare red-earth hills, their shapes menacing, harboring many horse bandits and brigands who hid among the ridges, waiting to ambush the rare passerby. Fortunately, Diba Jiao's escorts were quite loyal and brave; all rode horses and drew bows, making the bandits think twice.

Diba Jiao noticed that the Bingzhou cavalrymen's horses were quite fine, with glossy coats and plump flesh. He heard from them that most had been captured in last year's battles.

A youth from Meiji put it this way: "Shang Commandery and Beidi may raise horses, but compared to the horses of Hetao, theirs are just donkeys fit only for pulling carts!"

Unlike most men of Guanzhong, who could not ride, many natives of Beidi, Shang, and Xihe had dealt with livestock since childhood. Geng Yan had made use of them to train an elite cavalry force. However, though the Bingzhou youths were masters of galloping, they were not skilled at shooting arrows or wielding blades on horseback. It was said that their initial tactic was to coordinate with infantry — advancing at a gallop and outflanking on both wings — and if that still could not rout the enemy, they would dismount and shoot on foot, which cost them their mobility.

But with the gradual equipping of wooden saddles and stirrups, and after half a year of training, more and more men were becoming capable of shock-cavalry tactics.

On the westward journey, the Bingzhou youths showed exceptional care for their horses. For every ten li ridden, they would dismount and lead the horses on foot for twenty li. This made Diba Jiao worry about losing too much time, and he ordered them to stop. And so the horses, already not fat in the springtime, were ridden day and night, growing visibly gaunt. Seeing the pained expressions of the Bingzhou riders, Diba Jiao had no choice but to make them a promise.

"Hexi horses are even better than Bingzhou horses. Once we reach Wuwei, I will certainly see that every one of you is provided with a new mount."

"Truly?" The riders were immediately overjoyed.

Diba Jiao then told them: "Hexi is vast in land and sparse in people, but its water and grass suit livestock well; thus Liang Province's livestock are the richest under heaven."

But the riders who had never been to Hexi still did not believe him, because after they left the Yellow River behind, what lay ahead was an endless expanse of Gobi desert. The desert later called "Tengger" stretched across here, cutting off Liang and Bing; it did not look like a prosperous place at all.

Not until they had traveled for ten-odd days, when a snowy white-silver edge appeared on the western horizon, did the scenery begin to change.

A long mountain range, gleaming with snow and piercing the sky — that was the Qilian Mountains, which the Xiongnu called "Heaven" and worshipped. Meltwater from the Qilian glaciers gathered into rivers among the mountains, broad valleys, and basins, nourishing the oases large and small along the Hexi Corridor; Wuwei was one of them.

It was early summer, and the grassland, like a green carpet, stretched all the way to the foot of the Qilian Mountains, dotted with herds of cattle and sheep.

Only then did the riders believe it was true.

But their wish to ride fine Hexi horses was destined not to be easily fulfilled — nor was Diba Jiao's mission.

Wuwei Commandery was far from peaceful; everywhere there were disorderly soldiers, some even bold enough to attack the envoy party. After defeating them and interrogating them, they discovered they had fought their own people — these ragged, destitute soldiers were actually the remnants of Dou You's forces!

From their mouths, Diba Jiao learned of the upheaval that had occurred days earlier in Wuwei's capital, Guzang City.

"Longyou has sent troops. General Liu Long, General Who Supports Han, personally crossed the Wushao Ridge and drove Governor Dou away!"

Longyou's determination to move against Hexi was not a new thing. As early as half a year ago, Fang Wang, as if anticipating Diwu Lun's moves, had offered Wei Ao a strategy whose first step was to take the four commanderies of Hexi and secure the rear.

In particular, Wuwei's Governor Dou You, being Dou Rong's younger brother, absolutely had to be replaced!

Wuwei's capital, Guzang City, sat beside the Gu River. The Dou clan had held office there for generations and had deep roots, so it could not be taken lightly. Moreover, last winter the Jincheng Qiang had not yet been pacified, and crossing the Wushao Ridge in snowy weather was suicide. So it had been delayed until spring before Liu Long was dispatched with several thousand troops to raid Wuwei.

Wuwei's troops were few and outmatched; Dou You fled alone. Liu Long successively attacked and pacified the various counties, but as he watched the Qiang and Hu cavalrymen looting within the city, he frowned and ordered the sons of good families' cavalry to stop them.

Using the dependent-state Qiang and Hu cavalry of Liang Province — this was also part of Fang Wang's strategy, and a move born of necessity. Two years earlier, at the Battle of Zhouyuan, nearly ten thousand Long troops had been lost in Right Fufeng. To the King of Wei, such a force was negligible, but to Longyou, it was a heavy blow — after all, the four Longyou commanderies combined had a population of only around seven hundred thousand, not to mention their precious able-bodied young men.

Thus they could only recruit from the dependent-state Qiang and Hu to fill the ranks, prettily calling it an emulation of the Former Han. But in Liu Long's view...

"This is drinking poison to quench thirst."

Be that as it may, the Huangzhong Lesser Yuezhi from Jincheng were indeed useful. Their tribes migrated between Wuwei and Jincheng; using them as inside agents, they had successfully expelled the Dou clan. Liu Long personally led men to storm Dou You's mansion, and indeed found a great deal of correspondence between him and the King of Wei, and intercepted and killed the messenger Dou You had sent to Xin Qinzhong.

This investigation proved revealing: Liu Long discovered that Dou You had, as early as last year, sent his eldest son to Chang'an to serve as an attendant to the King of Wei!

"Fine! So he has indeed betrayed the house of Han."

Liu Long was his old self; when his emotions ran high, his face tended to flush. He recalled how, back when he, Liu Xiu, Diba Jiao, and others were fellow students at the Imperial Academy, they had even gone together to the Master of Fates of the Five Majesties to make trouble, in order to rescue the filial and righteous Diwu Lun.

Later, Liu Long and Diba Jiao were implicated in the case of the Duke of Chonggong and exiled by the Xin dynasty's Wang Mang to Xihai Commandery. They had supported each other along the way. He still remembered that coldest winter, when Diba Jiao lost his little finger to frostbite, and Liu Long...

He reached up and touched it. Liu Long's entire left ear had been lost to frostbite; the ruddiness on his face could no longer spread to the tip of his left ear.

The world is ever-changing. When Xihai fell to the Qiang, Diba Jiao fled north to Hexi, later made his way back to Guanzhong, and joined Diwu Lun's cause. Liu Long, on the other hand, fled to Longyou, was protected by the Wei clan, and later, as a matter of course, joined Liu Xin in supporting Liu Ying to establish the "Western Han."

Although the Yuanshu Emperor was merely a puppet, as long as Wei Ao remained a Han subject for even one more day, Liu Long would continue to follow his orders — for he bore the surname Liu, and the line of the Marquis of Anzhong was, after all, the last loyal imperial clan of the Former Han. Others could defect to the King of Wei, but he could not.

"General!"

A subordinate entered to report, interrupting Liu Long's thoughts: "Scouts have detected a Wei force, over a hundred strong, entering Wuwei territory from Xin Qinzhong!"

"Has it begun?" Liu Long knew that the King of Wei had already swept across Hebei. According to the strategist Fang Wang's predictions, the next target the Wei army would swallow up might well be Longyou!

Liu Long put his helmet back on, letting it cover his missing ear. "If the King of Wei is determined to destroy Han, then I, Liu Long, can only meet old friends on the battlefield!"

Since Liu Long had struck first and seized Wuwei, his old friend Diba Jiao had arrived to find nothing.

Diba Jiao's face showed distress, and he thought to himself: "The King of Wei sent me west precisely because he valued my familiarity with Dou You. Without Dou You in Wuwei, how am I to begin my mission in Hexi?"

Take his hundred-odd men, rally Dou You's remnants, and fight Liu Long? Diba Jiao lacked that ability. He knew Liu Long's valor; it was Liu Long who had saved him many times among the Qiang, and Diba Jiao had never been known for martial prowess or military command.

Diba Jiao, still unwilling to give up, pressed the remnant soldiers with questions: "Where has Governor Dou gone?"

"Perhaps to Jiuquan. Lord Dou is on good terms with Governor Liang Tong of Jiuquan."

Jiuquan Commandery — another thousand li west of Wuwei! And all of Wuwei was already under Liu Long's control. He had heard that Zhangye Commandery, sandwiched between Wuwei and Jiuquan, had also been placed under the control of Wei Ao's trusted men.

The Bingzhou riders who had come west with Diba Jiao all began to think of retreat. They would forgo the fine Hexi horses. As things stood, the mission had already failed; they should hurry back to Xin Qinzhong before Liu Long sent troops to pursue and kill them!

"No."

Diba Jiao refused. He was a scholar, never known for martial prowess or military command, yet the King of Wei had deliberately sent him to Hexi — precisely because he knew Diba Jiao was loyal and upright, a man who would certainly fulfill whatever he had promised!

"The Master said: 'One who conducts himself with a sense of shame, and when sent to the four quarters does not disgrace his lord's command — such a man may be called a shi.'"

"The King will proclaim himself Emperor on the first day of the fifth month. Am I to offer a failed mission as my gift to the new Emperor?"

Diba Jiao declared: "I am the imperially appointed Inspector of Liang Province. The grassland beneath your feet, the fertile land east of the Qilian — all of it is my jurisdiction. As an officer charged with defending this territory, how can I abandon the land and return?"

"Though Longyou has taken Wuwei and Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang may yet side with Wei!"

Even if they cannot strike Longyou from both sides, merely tying down its forces in Hexi — he, Diba Jiao, could still contribute his own modest strength to his clansman's grand enterprise.

Diba Jiao swept his gaze over the company and spoke with feeling: "Back then, Zhang Qian and his servant, just the two of them, also walked this road. They passed through the Xiongnu, crossed enemy territory, opened a route through the Western Regions, and reached the Yuezhi and Daxia. A journey of ten thousand li. Compared to that, the mere thousand li from Wuwei to Jiuquan is nothing."

He bowed with clasped hands to the Bing Province riders: "Gentlemen, you were ordered only to escort me to Wuwei. You have fulfilled your military duty and may return. I ask only that you report the upheaval in Hexi to the great King."

"But if one or two among you are willing to follow me and emulate Zhang Qian's deed, then ride on west with me! I shall personally commend your merits to the King of Wei!"

The Bing Province riders looked at one another. After a long moment, the Meiji youth who had fussed over his horse the whole journey, leading it one li for every li he rode, finally muttered: "My horse has already gone a thousand li. It's far too gaunt and thin."

"If it goes another thousand li, it will surely die!"

He led his horse forward, stepped out from the ranks, and grinned, showing a fine set of teeth: "So when we reach Jiuquan, Inspector, you must compensate me with two — no, three fine Hexi horses!"

……

PS: Two chapters tonight.