Chapter 581: Horse and Foot

The best vantage point for watching the Wei and Qi armies clash was, without a doubt, the high commanding heights atop the Yong Gate of Linzi's city walls.

The King of Qi, Zhang Bu, had three full brothers. The second was named Zhang Lan. He had once entered the Wei camp on his brother's behalf to demand why Young Geng had attacked Qi, and received a jaw-dropping answer: the abalone and sea cucumber were poisonous. Zhang Lan could do nothing but cry out that the Emperor of Martial Virtue had no martial virtue at all...

Now Zhang Lan was holding Linzi, directing operations from atop the city wall. He had received Zhang Bu's instructions: "Once the two armies engage, send five thousand troops out through Yong Gate to strike the Wei army's rear!"

Zhang Lan was very obedient to his elder brother. When the war drums sounded, he dispatched troops out of the city as agreed, planning a pincer attack from both sides — but he himself remained in Linzi, on the pretext of "coordinating from the center."

Noon had arrived. Zhang Lan was anxiously peering out at the clash of the two armies when he heard a commotion. A group of people, surrounded by a crowd of retainers, had come up from within the city onto the wall. He turned to look and saw it was a bunch of merchants dressed in brocade robes. He flew into a rage.

"The King of Qi is about to do battle with the Wei invaders. I have declared martial law in Linzi — commoners are forbidden to go out without cause. What are these merchants doing climbing the city wall?"

The Governor of Linzi hurriedly informed Zhang Lan: "General, the one who has come is the Lord of Dongguo!"

At the sound of that surname, Zhang Lan's attitude changed at once. He could only suppress his pent-up anxiety, compose his expression, and receive these merchants. The man at their head was tall and stout — a full eight and a half chi in height, with an equally broad frame. In the sweltering heat, his head was drenched in sweat, and he wore only a thin brocade robe — in purple, no less!

In the orthodox courts of the Central Plain, purple was considered a defective color, not a proper hue, and ranked lower in prestige than vermilion or black. But in Qing Province it was different. Ever since Duke Huan of Qi had taken a liking to purple, those below had followed the example of those above, and the entire state of Qi had made the wearing of purple garments fashionable — a trend that had lasted for centuries without fading. By the Han dynasty, merchants were only permitted to wear plain, undyed clothes. Now, the only ones who could swagger about in public openly draped in reds and purples were the Dongguo clan.

Among the descendants of Duke Huan of Qi, four had settled in Dongguo, Nanguo, Xiguo, and Beiguo, each taking their place-name as a surname. The Dongguo clan had exploited Qing Province's natural advantages, boiling salt as their trade, and their wealth rivaled that of princes and kings. By the time of Emperor Wu of Han, a group of profit-minded men were promoted, and the great Linzi merchant Dongguo Xianyang was transformed overnight from a commoner trader into the official overseeing all the empire's salt administration. The Dongguo clan thus flourished greatly.

Several generations had passed. Though the Dongguo clan had lost its official status in the central government, it remained the foremost powerful family in Linzi. After the fall of Wang Mang's Xin dynasty, Dongguo Chang'an had risen again. Not only had his wealth increased dramatically, but relying on over ten thousand salt-boiling retainers, he had become the de facto controller of Linzi.

It was Dongguo Chang'an who had persuaded the local gentry to let Zhang Bu enter Qi to resist the Red Eyebrow Army. It could be said that the allegiance of the Dongguo clan nearly decided the fate of Linzi. When the Wei army invaded Qi, it was thanks to the Dongguo clan providing tens of thousands of dan of grain for emergency relief. Zhang Bu, delighted, appointed him Minister of the Privy Treasury, putting Dongguo Chang'an in charge of all salt and iron in the kingdom.

So even Zhang Lan had to show Dongguo Chang'an a measure of respect. After greeting him, he smiled and said, "Lord Dongguo, arrows and bolts have no eyes. With a great battle underway, why not stay quietly in your mansion to avoid the chaos?"

Dongguo Chang'an, his frame huge and fat, was panting for breath after climbing the city wall. He cupped his hands toward Zhang Lan and said, "The King of Qi, to defend Qing Province, leads his soldiers in desperate, life-or-death battle outside. How can we merely stand by and watch from the ramparts?"

He pointed down beyond the wall. "Some days ago, General, you ordered the great merchants and noble houses in the city to contribute men and grain. At that time, I donated thirty thousand dan of grain. Now, thinking it over carefully, I feel it is still not enough."

Dongguo Chang'an counted off on his fingers the reasons he absolutely had to help Zhang Bu once more:

"First, the Wei army are outsiders, men from other lands. The King of Qi is our fellow countryman. Being all men of Qi, naturally we must help our own!"

"Second, I am a subject of the King of Qi, ranked among the Nine Ministers. To share my lord's burdens is my duty — how could I dare hold anything back?"

"Third, the several hundred thousand common people of the great city of Linzi have mostly relied on the King of Qi to be preserved from the hands of the Red Eyebrows, the Greenwood, and the bandits from Hebei. Now the Wei invaders have come suddenly. The You Province shock cavalry's discipline is poor. If Linzi were to be breached by them, when the nest is overturned, can any egg remain whole? I only hope the King of Qi wins swiftly and restores peace to Linzi."

Among these three reasons were calculations of self-interest as well as righteous, high-minded principle. They sounded quite credible, and even Zhang Lan, who had been somewhat suspicious, believed them to be true. He gladly agreed to let the several thousand men Dongguo Chang'an had organized assist in defending the city. They were composed of powerful-family armed retainers, slaves, and city folk, and would obey only the orders of Dongguo Chang'an, who commanded immense local prestige.

As the two men spoke, another burst of fierce shouting erupted outside Linzi. The gazes of Zhang Lan and Dongguo Chang'an were drawn irresistibly outward.

Outside the city, the Wei and Qi armies had already clashed. The Qi army had split in two. Half had turned around to block the Yuyang shock cavalry racing to reinforce.

The other ten thousand faced south, resisting the main assault of the Wei army's center — the "mounted infantry" formed from three thousand Ji Province cavalrymen!

Hierarchy within the army was strict and unyielding. As a typical "feudal army," the Wei army was naturally no exception.

It was not limited to the explicit chain of command — officers could freely beat and curse their soldiers, and with even the slightest pretext could execute a subordinate on the spot before the battle lines. Nor was it just the growing trend of soldiers belonging to their generals, with cliques and factions forming mountain strongholds of loyalty, a practice so prevalent that even Diwu Lun could not treat everyone equally. To the various generals, the difference in treatment between their own trusted troops and outsiders was as vast as heaven and earth.

Even among the different branches of troops, there were distinctions of high and low, noble and base.

The lowest and most despised were, naturally, the temporarily conscripted laborers. Next came the garrison-farmer soldiers, who did all the bitter toil and rarely managed to earn battle merits. Above them were the regular troops organized into military brigades. And the most exalted among the regulars were, without doubt, the cavalry.

To become an ordinary cavalryman in the Wei army, one had to cross countless thresholds. First, you had to have a horse and know how to ride. Generally, you were required to provide your own horse when enlisting. Only if that horse was lost or killed would you be issued a replacement. It almost never happened that a man arriving on two feet would be allocated a four-legged mount. Add to that the saddle, saddlecloth, and the whole set of horse tack — without a certain family fortune, you could not afford to play this game at all.

Second, you had to be under forty years of age and over seven chi in height. Standards like "robust, vigorous, swift, and agile" were more flexible — perhaps slipping the recruiting officer some silk could get him to look the other way — but at the very least, you still had to be able to ride at a gallop and shoot from the bow. Falling off your horse while crossing a trench during the examination was a profound disgrace.

With these two requirements, one could not say Wei army cavalrymen were one in ten thousand, but they were certainly one in a hundred.

Yet even within the cavalry, there was a chain of contempt. Take just one army under Geng Yan's command as an example. The more recognized were the shock cavalry from Yuyang and Shanggu. They were not necessarily richer or nobler, but they had been tempered through countless trials competing with barbarian foes on the frontier. They were the sharpest blade in the corps. As trusted core troops, the Shanggu men received higher pay and provisions than those from Yuyang.

Still beneath both of these were the Ji Province shock cavalry, usually employed as auxiliary horse. This was a newly established branch, conscripted from the sons of powerful families in the Zhao and Wei regions. The top-tier great houses, by contributing grain and offering up land, could send their sons to Chang'an or Luoyang to serve as Palace Gentlemen, where they could more or less wangle an official post. But there were also "humble-gate" middling and small landowners who lacked such connections and wealth; their sons could only take the path of military merit.

A cavalryman would typically bring along one to five mounted slaves, thus forming a brigade of three thousand men. Though their combat strength was not equal to the You Province shock cavalry, these "humble-gate" sons all thought exceptionally well of themselves, and the equipment on their persons was worth no small sum — nearly every man was armored.

The Ji Province cavalry brigade had been singled out by Geng Yan, who brought them on the lightning raid to Linzi. They were quite pleased with themselves, every man brimming with arrogance, thinking they could follow the General of Chariots and Cavalry and achieve unprecedented merit. Who would have thought that upon reaching the walls of Linzi, Geng Yan would order the Ji Province troops to hand over their horses for the concentrated use of the Shanggu shock cavalry? It is no exaggeration to say this order nearly provoked a mutiny!

To make noble cavalrymen plant their two feet on the ground and serve as common foot soldiers, whose lives were as cheap as ants? This was the most monstrous humiliation. One enraged Ji Province cavalryman bellowed:

"To give your own mount for another man to use — what difference is there between that and offering your wives and concubines for another man to ride!?"

Even worse, a battalion commander ran to Young Geng, weeping and complaining: "General of Chariots and Cavalry, a wife is like clothing — you can change it if need be. But a mount is like our very manhood — how can we bear to part with it..."

Geng Yan's response was blunt: "The military situation is urgent. We raided three hundred li, and there are not enough horses left with the strength to fight. Unwilling to give them up? Fine. Tell the men: anyone who can surpass the Shanggu shock cavalry in mounted archery may keep his horse, be formed into a separate battalion, and join the battle as a cavalry contingent."

This was the lively "martial display" that the Qi men on the city walls had witnessed during those first two or three days after Geng Yan arrived at Linzi. The Ji Province cavalrymen, who had taken up the horse halfway through life, still could not compare with the Shanggu soldiers who had ridden since childhood on the frontier. Many of the latter were even of mixed Hu and Han blood...

Due to limited conditions, events like crossing trenches, scaling hills, and braving obstacles were temporarily set aside. As for galloping archery, advancing and retreating forward, backward, left, and right, and wheeling maneuvers — the Shanggu shock cavalry won most of these. The defeated Ji Province soldiers had no choice but to obediently hand over their horses, watching helplessly as the Shanggu men whipped them onward, while they themselves could only take up saber and shield or grasp spears, to serve as "mounted infantry."

There were still those unwilling to accept it, making snide remarks: "The Shanggu troops are General Geng's own trusted men — how could we ever compare!"

Another said: "The same surname Geng, but it's Chancellor Geng of Hebei who treats his Ji Province countrymen well!"

Though they harbored grievances in their hearts, their professional competence was unaffected.

As the elite of the elite, cavalrymen were soldiers almost entirely freed from productive labor. During the entire year they had been stationed north of the Ji River, aside from the time spent drinking, chasing women, and sneaking off to shirk duty, they still had ample hours for training. They drilled not only cavalry formations, mounted archery, and shock charges, but also infantry formations. A horse's endurance was far inferior to a man's; it was common for a horse to be lost midway through a battle, leaving a man to fight on his own two legs.

Thus, facing the surging onslaught of the Qi army, the Ji Province brigade's formation stood with imposing discipline. Moreover, with nearly every man armored and the glare of their ring-pommel sabers dazzling the enemy's eyes, it was clear at a glance that these were no easy troops to fight.

Seeing that the attack was imminent, the Ji Province soldiers could only set aside the injustice in their hearts for the time being. The reason they had joined the army was to fight for a future for their "humble-gate" families. The powerful Liu-surnamed houses of Hebei had been swept away completely by Diwu Lun. The government, with its limited capacity, could not possibly manage everything. Vacant niches in the social hierarchy were plentiful — this was the opportunity for the small landowners to rise.

Even if Young Geng treated them unfairly, they could only endure it. To throw a tantrum now would, at the least, make them the black sheep that harmed the three armies, costing them their own lives beneath the walls of Linzi. At worst, it would implicate their entire clan and disappoint the grandfathers and fathers waiting anxiously at home.

So all three thousand men gripped their weapons tight. Geng Yan, too, seemed to notice the soldiers' mood. He personally rode along the front to steady the ranks, opened his noble mouth, and made a promise.

"In this battle, foot and horse will be counted equally for merit. If we win, I will personally petition His Majesty afterward to grant every one of us a fine horse from the You Province frontier!"

This undoubtedly lifted the men's morale a little. They stood more tightly packed, shoulder to shoulder, surrounded by their fellow countrymen and comrades from Ji Province. To change from cavalry to infantry was indeed shameful, but the best way to wash away humiliation was to show the General of Chariots and Cavalry — to let him see! Even without horses, the soldiers of Ji Province were the empire's finest troops!

But the Qi army, after all, had the advantage in numbers. The enemy facing them head-on was at least three times their strength!

"The enemy is near! Draw bows!"

As they advanced, the distance between the two armies shrank to a mere hundred paces. The mounted archers among the cavalry contingent were no slouches at foot archery either. They drew their horn bows from a distance, and over a thousand arrows traced arcs as they left the bowstrings, pouring down upon the heads of the charging Qi soldiers. The Qi troops' armor-wearing rate was not high, and in that moment, countless fell dead or wounded.

The Qi army returned fire. Their arrows were denser, but they did not inflict much harm on the Wei troops, whose armor-wearing rate was high.

Before either side could loose three volleys of arrows, the Wei vanguard had already reached the shallow trench. The Qi army had come in haste and had no time to build fieldworks or dig deep ditches; they could not stop the men at all. Amid roars and howls, the spears and halberds in the Wei formation thrust forward in a thicket, while the saber-and-shield men broke through to the front, crossing blades with the foe!

Zhang Bu, caught in a pincer, had been forced to cut short his rest prematurely. The Qi troops' exhaustion from marching a long distance and being harassed without sleep for two days had not yet recovered.

The prowess of the "mounted infantry" also quickly became apparent. The Ji Province cavalrymen, as handpicked elite soldiers, possessed considerable fighting spirit. Their bodies were robust, strong, and powerful. Fighting against the weary, emaciated Qi foot soldiers, nearly every man could take on two.

Thus, after the two armies had clashed for a quarter-hour, an astonishing situation emerged. The Qi army clearly had the greater numbers, but they were already spent. Instead, it was the Wei soldiers who still had inexhaustible strength, pushing the enemy backward!

Zhang Bu, seeing this, grew frantic. He swiftly dispatched a man into the city, ordering his younger brother Zhang Lan to send troops out at once to reinforce the line, hoping to reverse the collapsing situation.

Yet through the thousand-li lens, Geng Yan had spotted the opening even earlier than he did. The moment the "mounted infantry" began to show results, he decisively gave the order.

On the left and right rear wings of the Wei army's formation, as the horns sounded, ranks of cavalry began to mass. They arrayed themselves in wedge formations, their sharp tips aimed at the hard-pressed Qi army, and began to surge forward, steadily accelerating.

And with the blare of the suona, the command of General of Chariots and Cavalry Geng Yan spread through the Shanggu shock cavalry. The young general's order was concise: just four words.

"Pierce the enemy line!"

…

PS: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival.