Chapter 462: If You Come Bearing Rites and Surrender

As the one tying the ropes, Diwu Lun was brimming with confidence, but for the party being bound, the experience was truly unpleasant.

Longxi Commandery lay at the southernmost edge of Liang Province, bristling with mountain passes and crossed by the Wei River, yet it lacked the natural moat-like barrier of Mount Long. The Long army, routed and retreating here, had two main defensive points: the easternmost three cities of Shanggui, Ji County, and Xi County — this region was the "Western March" where the Qin people first rose, the cities forming a mutual horn-hold — and the Wei army would have to cross the Wei River to attack. Wei Ao had assigned his trusted general Yang Guang and Shu reinforcements to garrison them.

The westernmost point was the Longxi capital, Didao County, where Wei Ao himself held command with over ten thousand troops.

"Longxi is like a length of bamboo, wedged between mountains, with passages only at both ends. If we hold east and west and rely on barriers like Mount Niaoshu, the Wei army cannot enter from elsewhere."

This was Wei Ao's reasoning for his deployment, and Diwu Lun clearly understood it too: on one hand he had Wan Xiu lead the main force to attack Shanggui and the other cities, while simultaneously ordering Wu Han to circle around to the western end.

Wei Ao had friends among the Qiang as well. Wu Han's breaking of Jincheng, his circling of Gaolan, and his borrowing of passage through Qiang territory could not be hidden from him. By early in the tenth month, Wei Ao had already made preparations to resist Wu Han and sent men to the Qiang tribes, hoping to bribe them into attacking Wu Han on his behalf.

"North of Didao there is a valley road, but the terrain is narrow. The Wei army, with its tens of thousands of men and horses, will likely stretch into a column ten li long. If the Qiang can help me raid it, Wu Han will find every step a struggle!"

But Wei Ao's wishful thinking came to nothing. After visiting the five tribes along the route, the Longyou envoy returned in dejection.

"Did they accept the gifts?" Wei Ao had put up real capital — the last silks and ritual vessels in the Longxi treasury had all been sent to buy off the various Qiang — but the other party took the money and did no work.

"The Han, Kai, Zhong, and other tribes saw with their own eyes the Wei army smash Jincheng, and having also gained some benefits, they all made excuses about feuding with neighboring tribes and being unable to spare men. None were willing to send troops to aid us."

"What about the King of the Xianlian Qiang?" Wei Ao still refused to give up. The Xianlian Qiang were the most powerful tribe of the Western Qiang, possessing over ten thousand Qiang soldiers — a force not to be underestimated.

But when a wall is falling, everyone pushes. The Xianlian King had always been on good terms with the Wei clan, but now he too had no desire to get involved: "The Xianlian King says that matters south of the great river are not his concern, nor can he reach them."

The war between Long and Wei was, after all, a matter for the men of the Central States. The nearby Qiang were happy to watch the excitement — whoever lost, they would plunder, they wouldn't lose out either way. The distant Qiang like the Xianlian were even less willing, for the sake of one empty verbal promise from Wei Ao, to risk the taboo of trespassing on other tribes' territory and travel a great distance to lend aid.

Unable to obtain support from the Qiang tribes, the sons of good families under Wei Ao's command nonetheless clamored incessantly for battle: "Grand General, the Wei troops have come from afar and are not yet firmly established. Their vanguard has pressed to within fifty li of Didao, but the follow-up forces are still a hundred li away. Better to concentrate our cavalry and fight them to the death! This is an excellent moment for our army to advance swiftly and smash the enemy — as the saying goes, a sudden thunderclap leaves no time to cover one's ears. The momentum makes it inevitable."

But Wei Ao had suffered at Wu Han's hands at the southern hill of Jieting and was somewhat daunted by this general. He only shook his head and said: "Wu Han excels at field battles. Now he has penetrated deep with light troops, his provisions hard to sustain, surrounded by barren hills and Qiang tribes with nowhere to plunder. He is just waiting to clash with our army in the river valley, seeking a quick and decisive battle. If we take the initiative and strike, we will instead fall right into his trap."

"Didao is a strong city of Qin and Han, ringed by the Tao River. Better to rely on high walls and deep moats and hold it. If Wu Han arrives, fearing that I might strike his rear, he will not dare bypass Didao and push south — he can only assault it directly. The military texts say: 'Siege engines like assault wagons require three months to construct.' How can light troops penetrating deep manage that in haste? My forces are no fewer than his. If the Wei army swarms the walls like moths, they will inevitably suffer grievous losses, and thus their sharp edge can be blunted. Once Wu Han's morale flags and his grain is nearly spent, then offense and defense will trade places, host and guest will differ — what worry then that the Wei army will not be destroyed?"

Wei Ao's conservative character dictated that he would inevitably adopt a strategy of steady defense for this battle.

The problem, however, was that although Didao was the commandery seat, it could not accommodate over ten thousand troops — they had to be divided somewhat.

Someone else proposed: "General, thirty li north of Didao city there are the Qin Great Wall and the old Qin pass. Several thousand men could be dispatched to hold it."

Wei Ao still disagreed: "The Wei general Wu Han is fierce and valiant. Dividing troops forward would still require shipping grain from Didao to support them, and they would instead come under his fierce assault, leaving me unable to look after both head and tail. It is inadvisable."

He detached four thousand troops to garrison Anzhong County, thirty li south of Didao, where they could be supplied nearby while also guarding against the possibility that the brute Wu Han might defy convention, bypass Didao, and continue south to force the Long army out of the city for a decisive battle.

If he could bypass one city, could he bypass two? Wei Ao had no intention of fighting Wu Han head-on. He would simply drag it out — drag it out until the winter snows descended, and Wu Han would have no choice but to withdraw. Then he could be King of Longyou for one more year.

With everything in place, Wei Ao ordered the countryside stripped of all useful resources. In truth, there was not much to strip — Longxi was already sparsely populated, and with early winter setting in, the weather had turned somewhat cold. Ordinarily, one saw hardly anyone on the roads.

Wu Han's vanguard, for its part, was also quite cautious — these mountains were ideal for laying ambushes. They reached the old Qin pass thirty li north of Didao city. After Wu Han arrived, he used the existing pass fortifications to establish his main camp.

The place had long lain abandoned. General Wu roamed among these broken walls and ruins — the ramparts, barrier walls, and beacon towers were all rammed from loess or gravel, marking the westernmost end of the Qin Great Wall.

He merely slapped an earthen mound and declared: "This wall may stop the Qiang and Hu, but it cannot stop me!"

Immediately after, Wu Han looked toward Niu Han, who was caught between genuine surrender and feigned surrender: "Niu Protector of the Qiang, tell me — how should this Didao be taken?"

"A direct assault will likely be difficult." Even if Niu Han was unwilling at heart, he had to play along outwardly: "During the Former Han, the Western Qiang rioted several times and besieged Didao, at times with tens of thousands of men, yet this city remained as secure as a boulder."

"What about bypassing it?"

Wu Han indeed wanted to fight a field battle: "Didao is the gateway to Longxi, but the river valley nearby is flat. A large army can pass through at ease and push south deep into the hinterland."

Once inside, they could sustain the army by plunder and solve the pressing problem of military provisions.

Niu Han was still not optimistic: "The scouts report that Wei Ao has divided his forces to hold Anzhong County to the south. The two counties form a mutual horn-hold — even you, General, would find them hard to take."

"Then we won't attack the cities — we'll just plunder the villages and hamlets." Wu Han laughed. "Ruqing, where is your family estate?"

These words made Niu Han's blood pressure spike. He was a man of Didao, though his clan and family dependents had probably all been taken into the city by Wei Ao. The estate too had been stripped bare, standing empty. In the tenth month, there was not much crop left in the fields either. The Wei army's grain-seizing squads did not gain much, but the insult was immense — the Long soldiers inside the city watched, burning with righteous fury.

Niu Han was still cursing inwardly when, unexpectedly, Wu Han sighed and said: "It seems we must use the strategy His Majesty proposed before we departed — attacking the heart."

With that, he looked toward Niu Han: "Then I must trouble Ruqing, a man of Didao, to go beneath the walls of Didao and urge Wei Ao to surrender!"

Urge him to surrender face to face? Wouldn't that be asking for his family to be killed? Niu Han absolutely refused.

But Wu Han gave him no chance to refuse: "Ruqing need not open his mouth — merely stand before the city wall. The words you are to speak…"

Wu Han had someone fetch the letter that had come together with the imperial edict and said with a smile: "The words Ruqing is to speak — His Majesty has already had a scholar write them out!"

…

"Niu Han, former general of Han and now Wei's Protector-Colonel of the Qiang, has written a letter to Wei Jimeng and the officers and people of Didao. We shall now read it aloud! Listen well!"

Wu Han found several men with booming voices, who shouted outside the heavily fortified city of Didao:

"Han and General Wei formed an alliance. Since passing through the tiger's jaws and treading the land of the dead, three years have now gone by."

"I have long known that Jimeng is filial and loving. In ordinary times he often said of himself that, though a Han general, the reason he kept troops under arms was in truth to preserve the homeland of Longyou and keep intact the Wei clan tombs, and that he cherished the sons of the six commanderies, nothing more."

"Yet now, Wei has a sage sovereign who has swept across the northern provinces. Jimeng, failing to recognize the greater trend, stubbornly resists from his corner. As a result, Longyou has suffered the calamity of war, its mountains and rivers shattered."

"Anding and Tianshui are already lost. Jimeng could not defend his territory and fled south, abandoning his officers and men. With only a corner of Longxi remaining, how can he contend against a Wei that holds a hundred commanderies? Jimeng once suffered humiliation at Gongsun Shu's hands and refused his princely title — yet now he grovels at the side of the Shu men, begging only to hold power for a little while. Is that not shameful? When Han traveled south, he saw city walls reduced to mounds of rubble, the open wilderness devoid of human smoke, the Di and Qiang seizing the chance to encroach inward. That which Jimeng wished to preserve will be shattered and lost; that which he wished to keep whole will be ruined and wounded; that which he wished to treat generously will instead be treated shabbily. If he persists in this stubborn resistance, Jimeng will become the sinner of Longyou!"

But Wei Ao knew Niu Han — he could tell at a hearing that someone else had ghostwritten this. He was, after all, a great Confucian scholar of Longyou. He had someone relay his own words: "General Niu, entrusted with a commission by the state, could not lay down his life for it. I, as Grand General, have yet to execute you — and now you come before the elders of our homeland, brazen-faced, to lecture me?"

He then sighed and said: "Ao knows these are not Ruqing's true words. And the reason Ao has held firm to this day is simply that, having for generations received the grace of Han, it is right that I should aid the sovereign and support the state, secure the Han and revive the Liu. How could I instead aid the rebel Wu and join in plotting treason and chaos? Diwu Lun invades me, Gongsun Shu aids me — to ally with Shu is a righteous refusal to acknowledge Wei as sovereign! I shall keep my integrity, until death and beyond."

And Wei Ao's trump card was yet to come. He actually wiped away tears and said: "Every man has his own aspirations. Though Ruqing is unkind, I cannot be unrighteous. Your family dependents and aged mother have been properly settled in the Mount Qi region. Once this battle is somewhat concluded, I shall send them back to you, to preserve the decades of friendship between us."

All the fine words had been spoken by him, leaving Niu Han damned either way. In the Wei army's ranks, Protector of the Qiang Niu, who had not uttered a single word, was so ashamed he wished he could burrow into the ground.

"What a Wei Jimeng." Wu Han was quite happy to see Niu Han's embarrassment and cursed with a laugh: "It's a pity he didn't go to the Imperial Academy to debate the classics as an Erudite."

But Diwu Lun had never expected Wei Ao to surrender. This man's sunk costs in carving out his own domain were already far too high. Even if the two had past ties of friendship, this great Confucian of Longyou could no longer swallow his pride and submit to Wei.

So this letter was, in truth, meant for everyone besides Wei Ao to hear. Wu Han also had men proclaim the terms, announcing that anyone in Longxi who surrendered would be treated as having come over in good faith, and their estates and fields would not be violated.

After the proclamation was finished, Wei Ao naturally wore a dark expression. He shot a look at his trusted aides, and immediately someone stepped forward to loudly denounce Niu Han for betraying trust and abandoning righteousness, then raised his arm and shouted: "The officers and men who defend this city for General Wei all know they face certain death and harbor no second thoughts. They are willing to follow the General and face calamity together!"

Yet what Wei Ao feared most then happened. Unlike the overwhelming popular support he had enjoyed when he first seized power, this time, the response from atop the walls of Didao was sparse — only scattered voices of assent.

"This is bad."

Wei Ao was horrified. He knew his side's morale had plunged to its lowest ebb, and his persona as a "loyal servant of Great Han" was not one the Longyou soldiers were buying. They cared far more about their own lives. Diwu Lun's heart-attack strategy had worked.

So he had deliberately made Niu Han accompany Wu Han precisely for this day's work! The exchange of words across the distance between the two men did not matter — what mattered was letting the sons of Longyou see that old Niu, who had submitted to Wei, still held high office and a fat salary!

Although Wu Han had pressed close to the city, he was not so foolish as to launch a direct assault without siege equipment. He merely encircled one corner and instead dispatched the greater part of his forces, two men to a horse, to plunder the surrounding villages and estates to replenish army provisions, while also hurrying to construct siege implements.

Despite the Wei army's outrageous arrogance, Wei Ao, terrified that this was a ruse by Wu Han to lure him out, still refused to send troops to strike. The defeat at Jieting had been too crushing — he had become cautious to a fault.

As dusk fell, beacon fires suddenly blazed one after another on the high mountains southeast of Didao! Along with them came the mingled roar of drums and horns!

For a time, the whole city was gripped by panic and lay sleepless through the night.

"Wu Han sent decoy troops to do this deliberately." Wei Ao could only tell the people this, because east of Didao lay towering, precipitous mountains. Though small paths existed, they were cut off by Mount Weiniaoshu and Gaocheng Ridge, impassable to ordinary men; only the Di people dwelling deep in the mountains could cross them as if on level ground.

But the people inside the city also muttered among themselves: "Perhaps it's reinforcements."

Yet such hope was far too slim. However, the next day, an army truly did arrive from the southeast — the very men who had lit the beacon fires the day before.

They numbered two to three thousand, and to the defenders' delighted surprise, they were actually flying the banners of the Chengjia state! They drove back the roving cavalry Wu Han had posted south of the city and drew near Didao.

"They really are friendly troops!"

At once, morale in Didao soared, and everyone wished to go out and link up with them. But Wei Ao was full of suspicion and told the crowd to stay calm: "It is true that Gongsun Shu has a force of Di soldiers in Wudu, but why would they not come by the main road from the south, and instead take the mountain paths over Gaocheng Ridge?"

When this army drew close, it turned out to be led by a Longxi general whom Wei Ao knew, named Xing Xun, also of one of the Sixteen Clans of Longyou. He came forward to testify that the siege of Shanggui had been lifted, and that the Di troops from Shu had now come to the rescue on Yang Guang's orders. Having no time to take the long way around, they had therefore come by the mountain paths.

The city walls erupted in cheers, as if they had glimpsed the dawn — only Wei Ao sank into silence.

And this "Shu army" below the walls was very impatient. Xing Xun glanced at the dust cloud of Wu Han's troops charging over from north of the city and shouted: "Lord Wei, the Wei soldiers are upon us! Please come out swiftly and join us in striking the enemy! Or else let us enter the city to rest!"

At this urgent juncture, among the many Di soldiers of the "Shu army," one man was extremely anxious — none other than the Shu assassin A Yun, who had risen to the rank of squad leader. He gripped his spear shaft tightly, wishing he could step forward at once and shout to Wei Ao atop the wall:

"Don't fall for it!"

"This is Diwu Lun's trick!"

…

PS: Referencing Jiang Wei's Battle of Taoxi; the map will be placed in the bonus chapter later.

Got back a bit late; the second chapter will be up in the middle of the night.