Chapter 448: The Sentiment of Mountains and Seas

For Geng Yan, the northern-route commander in the campaign against Wei Ao, the greatest problem was not the enemy — it was supply.

The New Qin region was already the richest territory within a thousand li in any direction; once you left this small pocket, east, west, south, or north, all was barren, bitter land.

Take what looked on the map like the most "convenient" route between Anding Commandery in Longyou and New Qin — the line along the Qingshui River. A level road, a flowing river — wasn't that a perfect path for cavalry to raid south?

Any commander who glanced at a map, slapped his head, and made a decision would surely regret it to death. Geng Yan had sent men to scout it beforehand: the Qingshui River, with its glinting ripples, was in fact a bitter, briny stream, its salt content extremely high.

"A man can steel himself and drink it, though the more he drinks the thirstier he gets — but livestock are delicate. You have to scatter a little wheat bran on the surface before you can fool them into putting their mouths to it."

Meng Ze, the Commandant of New Qin, grumbled to Geng Yan: "In my opinion, don't even call it the Qingshui River — rename it the Bitter Water River and be done with it!"

Fortunately, in the seven hundred li of gobi and wilderness between New Qin and Anding, there was still one place that could serve as a supply point for a large army.

Sanshui County, Lu Fang's old home, was a rare good spot amid barren mountains and remote wastes. Here there was drinkable water, and over a thousand households dwelt there. The Bingzhou cavalry under Geng Yan normally kept tolerable discipline, but after days of eating nothing but parched grain, they simply could not bear it any longer. Without the slightest hesitation, they branded the locals "Lu the rebel's fellow villagers," stripped every last grain of millet from their homes, and drove the people into hiding deep in the mountains.

Yet even after plundering this grain, it was only enough to feed several thousand cavalry for half a month. The officers and men grew restive, hoping for a swift battle and a swift decision.

Geng Yan, however, was in no hurry. He sent Meng Ze south again to reconnoiter the enemy's movements.

Two days and two nights' travel south from Sanshui County, the landscape began to change. The gobi and bare hills vanished, replaced by the dense forests of the eastern slopes of Mount Long, and beyond them meadow steppe, dry steppe, and mixed-grass meadows — fine pasture for large livestock. Most of the horses of the Longyou "sons of good families" came from here.

The area around Gaoping, the commandery seat of Anding, would in later ages become the famously barren "Xihaigu," said to be the bitterest, poorest land under heaven — yet at this time it was a prosperous region. The great Zhaona Lake, its surface glittering with light, was a renowned sacred lake of the northwest, and Gaoping city, because of its massive, solid walls, was called "the foremost city of Longyou" — hence it was also known as Gaoping the First City.

Wei Ao had placed his senior general Niu Han in command at Gaoping. Here the greater part of Longyou's cavalry was concentrated, together with over ten thousand infantry. Meng Ze could even see the "sons of good families" cavalry patrolling and escorting grain convoys, streaming steadily east toward the Longdong highlands, where Wu Han's "Independent Division" was driving westward — the offensive, he heard, was extremely fierce.

And the famous Xiao Pass lay under the protection of Gaoping city, several dozen li behind it, at a narrow defile where Mount Long broke open.

After Meng Ze returned and made his report, Geng Yan understood the situation in his heart and knew how this battle must be fought. "Though His Majesty has divided the army into several columns this time, the only ones with a chance to win real merit are Wu Han and myself."

Geng Yan was certain that, given the formidable defenses of Long Pass, even if the Emperor threw the entire army at it, it would be hard to take. The general assigned to assist Diwu Lun was Wan Xiu. Wan Junyou might be a trusted inner-circle minister, but in Geng Yan's eyes he was a "middling steed" — and put two middling steeds together, what sort of trick could they pull off?

Yet he had to admit that, strategically, Diwu Lun was indeed the choice of a top-flight steed.

"His Majesty truly understands warfare. Mount Long, a mountain a thousand paces high, may hold the advantage of terrain, but it has its weaknesses too."

Young Geng tapped the map. "The most vulnerable spot is this famous North Xiao Pass!"

To strike at Mount Long from Chencang, you had to overcome a height difference of a thousand paces. But if you took the roundabout route through Beidi and New Qin — both on the same plateau — much of that height advantage was neutralized.

It was precisely because Diwu Lun had grasped this point that he had assigned Geng Yan and Wu Han to strike Xiao Pass together. But exactly how to strike, Diwu Lun had not spelled out in detail — that was for Geng Yan and General Wu of the Independent Division to work out, using their talents as commanders.

"But Gaoping is a large city with ample stores, and Xiao Pass is, after all, a perilous stronghold," Geng Yan said. "Even if Wu Han and I join forces, should the Long army fall back and hold the pass, we would likely have to besiege it for months on end, losing half our men before it fell."

So Geng Yan resolved to end the fight in open country!

"Wu Han has now marched from Beidi. Niu Han is unwilling to abandon Longdong and has already sent troops to engage him along the upper reaches of the Jing River. Once the Anding Long army is fully committed, our force will split in two. One brigade, led by me personally, will cut the Long army's supply line and, together with Wu Han, strike Niu Han from east and west. Meanwhile, Commandant Meng will seize the chance to disguise his men as defeated Long troops and trick his way into Gaoping city!"

Once this plan was settled, Geng Yan immediately dispatched a courier by a roundabout route to Longdong to notify Wu Han to cooperate obediently.

By rights, since Wu Han's "Independent Division" was directly under the Emperor's command, Geng Yan, even as General of Chariots and Cavalry, was not his superior. This campaign would have to be conducted through consultation.

But Geng Yan was a young man of twenty-two. He revered Ma Yuan and served Jing Dan as an elder brother — yet expect him to be polite to Wu Han, an obscure "new favorite" whose name no one knew? What a joke!

So the tone of his letter was condescending, practically lecturing Wu Han on how to fight a battle: he was to feign a defeat, draw the Long army fully out, and then the Bingzhou cavalry would strike their rear.

The Longdong region is typical loess plateau. Seen from high above, it looks like a broad expanse of fertile fields — rugged, imposing. But once you are down among the ravines, that level tableland shatters into a broken maze. The messenger had to thread his way through gully after gully, sometimes climbing up onto the flat high plains, crossing heaven knows how many hundreds of tablelands and dozens of ravines before finally making his way from Beidi Commandery to the place where Wu Han's main camp stood: Qianshui Plain!

When the messenger arrived, he was stupefied — for what met his eyes was the mopping-up stage after a great battle. The corpses of Long soldiers and Wei soldiers lay tangled together; the shallow waters ran red; and on the plain were piled several hundred human heads — a "hill of skulls" that Wu Han had raised after beheading the Long troops!

"What? Feign defeat?"

Wu Han took young Geng's letter and read it with a deep frown, feeling that he had been grossly insulted. He laughed coldly. "Please go back and inform General Geng that he need not trouble himself to assist me. Wu Han has already led the Independent Division to a great victory over the Long troops! In a few days, I shall join General Geng before Xiao Pass!"

…

"What? Wu Han has already routed the Long army's vanguard?"

Several days later, Geng Yan, who had been feeding his horses and sharpening his weapons in preparation to annihilate the main Long force outside Xiao Pass, learned the full story.

It turned out that although Wu Han's Independent Division was a case of "general and troops not knowing each other," as a man of Nanyang who had made a name for himself in distant Yuyang, he was not the least bit shy with strangers. With his rough, forthright character, he had quickly bonded with the rank and file.

When he led his troops from Longdong to the vicinity of Qianshui Plain, he made a show of being an isolated force deep in enemy territory, luring the Longyou vanguard into battle. Meanwhile, Wu Han sent men over several ridges and tablelands to strike the Long army's rear in secret. The two forces converged, killing several hundred Long soldiers on the spot; the rest could only retreat, using the terrain.

After this battle, Niu Han no longer dared to hold Longdong. He abandoned several towns in succession and pulled his main force back to the line of the Mount Long defiles.

When Geng Yan learned of this, instead of rejoicing, he grew worried — and began cursing Wu Han.

"This Wu Ziyi, greedy for petty victories and trifling merit, has ruined a matter of state and army!"

Wu Han was like a reckless oaf swinging a club wildly through the grass — he had instead startled the snake back into its hole, killing Geng Yan's plan to "destroy the enemy's main force outside Xiao Pass" in the womb.

Niu Han, a seasoned general of Longyou, had considerable experience. While his infantry probed Wu Han in the east, his cavalry concentrated at Gaoping the First City to block any Bingzhou cavalry attempting to penetrate deep behind his lines. The Bingzhou horsemen had come from afar; their mounts were gaunt and weak, and they naturally could not force an engagement with enemy cavalry that had eaten and drunk their fill of water and grass at the foot of Liupan Mountain, with infantry in support.

Geng Yan, enduring a toothache, worked through the map with Meng Ze: "Xiao Pass commands the largest defile on Mount Long — the Fanxu Pass."

"And Gaoping, Zhaona, and Jingyang — these three cities protect Xiao Pass from the outside, forming a mutual horn-hold that seals off the road to Fanxu Pass."

After Niu Han pulled his main force back, he still had over ten thousand troops, not much fewer than the two Wei columns. Using the terrain of these three cities and one pass, he could hold them off for a very long time.

Geng Yan felt deep regret. "Originally, victory or defeat could have been decided in a few days, the main Long force annihilated, and the three cities and one pass taken in short order."

"Now, instead, we must bog down our weary troops before strong cities and a mighty pass, and simply hope the enemy makes a mistake!"

Geng Yan, his clever schemes come to nothing, could not help cursing: "This Wu Ziyi is nothing but a third-rate general — does he even understand warfare?"

…

Geng Yan impeached Wu Han of the Independent Division for wrecking the larger plan, startling the Long troops into retreat for the sake of a minor victory.

And Wu Han impeached General of Chariots and Cavalry Geng Yan for letting the chance of battle slip away — with three thousand cavalry in hand, he had sat and watched the defeated Long troops withdraw at their leisure.

The two memorials arrived at Diwu Lun's camp at Chencang almost simultaneously, leaving him unsure whether to laugh or cry.

Although outwardly he treated everyone equally, Diwu Lun privately rated each of his generals. Using the "five strengths and ten flaws" of commanders from the Six Secret Teachings to score them one by one, they could roughly be divided into several grades.

Men like Ma Yuan, Geng Yan, and Cen Peng were, in Diwu Lun's view, fully qualified as S-rank divine generals. They were certainly not flawless men, but by virtue of their experience they had achieved mastery of both offense and defense. Even the youngest, young Geng, had grown swiftly after a few setbacks — his ability this campaign to see things with strategic and holistic vision, rather than simply charging headlong, was proof of that.

Jing Dan, Wan Xiu, Geng Chun, Wu Han, and the like all had shortcomings to varying degrees, and ones that were very hard to remedy through effort alone. Diwu Lun rated them "A."

As for Zhang Zong, Zheng Tong, and the rest, though they had the courage to lead a single army, they could not hold a front on their own — they had to be placed in "B."

Men like the Seventh Biao, who originally were only fit to be Platoon Commanders but, sheltered by Diwu Lun's grace, ranked among the Nine Ministers — their actual ability was at best "C."

But there was one man who could not be rated: Dou, the Duke of Zhou. After all, everyone said he stood equal in renown with Diwu Lun…

This battle in Longdong proved that Diwu Lun's ratings were indeed fair. Geng Yan's plan to "destroy the enemy outside Xiao Pass" was completely correct — Diwu Lun, not having seen the ground himself, had not even thought of it, and he pounded the table in admiration.

As for that fellow Wu Han — last time in Hebei he had been very mindful of the big picture and extremely obedient. So he had been tailoring his attitude to the man, after all. In this campaign, Wu Ziyi had won a classic tactical victory, beautifully fought — but at the expense of strategy.

S + A = B — that was the outcome of this battle.

But the battle at Shallow Water Plain had been a victory that greatly boosted morale, after all. Could Diwu Lun really turn around and punish Wu Han for it? Wouldn't that chill the hearts of the men below? So comfort and gold ingots were sent to both of them.

This time the fault was Diwu Lun's — a poor pairing of commanders. From now on, he would never put the two of them together again.

Then should he mend the fold after the sheep are lost and make adjustments, having Wu Han serve under Little Geng's command instead?

After thinking it over, Diwu Lun felt the drawbacks of doing so far outweighed delaying a chance at battle.

He thought to himself: "Knowing Little Geng's temperament, the moment he gets military authority, he'll probably take the Bing Province cavalry and ride straight into Wu Han's camp to seize his army."

"And knowing Wu Han's nature, it might very well turn into another case of a subordinate killing his superior..."

Forget it, forget it. They'd just make do as they were. Diwu Lun only gave the two of them clear assignments: Wu Han would attack Jingyang and Chaona, while Little Geng would strike Gaoping First Citadel.

But the enemy had already chosen to fall back and hold the narrow passes. The hope of having the northern route quickly break through Xiao Pass and drive deep into the Longyou heartland to end the war — that thought should be put aside.

Before the campaign began, Diwu Lun would never have imagined that this battle's greatest hope would actually fall on Wan Xiu — a man he had originally rated "A-minus," whom he had planned to forcibly promote and share merit with only because he valued his seniority and loyalty, in order to maintain the balance of power in the army.

People are creatures full of variables. Put different people together, and unexpected chemical reactions occur. And the same person will differ at different stages — you cannot judge them by fixed impressions or simple assessments of ability.

"Junyou." Diwu Lun sincerely prayed for Wan Xiu, who had already set out on the western expedition.

"I was wrong. In this battle, you should be the one sharing the merit with me!"

PS: Chapter two will be in the middle of the night.

Given my condition today, I probably can't squeeze out a third update. Sorry.