Chapter 591: Tangled Weeds Burst Open

The Sui River connects Suiyang (Shangqiu, Henan) with Xiang County, the capital of Pei Commandery (Huaibei, Anhui). Its location is neither fully south nor fully north, so it rarely freezes in winter, making it a strategic choke point between Liang and Chu. Unfortunately, Xiang County was burned during the Red Eyebrow rampages and now lies in ruins, so Diwu Lun chose Lingbi County, also on the banks of the Sui, as his main base for the "Punitive Expedition Against Wu."

In the early eleventh month of the third year of Wude, just after Diwu Lun had settled in at Lingbi, he received messages from Qufu and Chengyang.

"The Embroidered Uniform Direct Investigator Liu Penzi has spurred the Kong and Yan clans to attack the Red Eyebrows at Qufu. Lu Commandery has risen in righteous revolt and submitted to Wei."

"Furthermore, the Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and Deputy Prefect of the Grand Messenger's Office, Fu Long, personally entered Ju City and persuaded Zhang Bu to surrender."

Having read these two pieces of good news, Diwu Lun smiled at the two ministers before him responsible for diplomacy and intelligence: "In this eastern campaign, the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Grand Messenger's Office have both rendered great service."

Embroidered Uniform Commandant Zhang Yu immediately responded: "It is Your Majesty's keen eye for talent, entrusting Liu Penzi to your servant's training. Liu Penzi's background and his experience within the Red Eyebrow Army made him the most suitable person to infiltrate Qufu. His elder brother serves as an official in Nanyang, so the brothers serve as mutual hostages; his loyalty is also extremely reliable. Thus your servant boldly employed him."

On this mission, had Liu Penzi slipped up and been killed, that would simply prove his incompetence, and Zhang Yu could have settled the score for the boy's complaint against him back in Wancheng. If he achieved merit, then Zhang Yu would reap the benefits of "employing the right man" and "setting aside past grievances." Why wouldn't he be happy to do it?

However, Liu Penzi's actions had indeed exceeded Zhang Yu's expectations. According to the letter, Liu Penzi first spread rumors that the Red Eyebrows had been defeated at the front and planned to slaughter the Kong and Yan clans, seize their women, plunder their grain, and flee up Mount Tai — which, given the Red Eyebrows' consistent behavior, was entirely plausible; Liu Penzi himself was the best proof. For a time, the prominent families of Qufu were thrown into utter panic. Liu Penzi then stirred them further, pushing them to make up their minds and rise in revolt ahead of schedule.

Once the two clans rallied the call, the people of Qufu flocked to join them. After several days of chaotic fighting, they drove the Red Eyebrow Army out of the city walls. Other counties responded in quick succession, and the Red Eyebrows' year-and-a-half-long rule over Lu Commandery collapsed within a mere ten days. All the efforts Xu Xuan had made to help the Red Eyebrows achieve "nobility, ministers, and generals" proved utterly useless; in the end, they were still rootless duckweed.

Zhang Yu felt these methods bore his own hallmark. Liu Penzi was sharp and clever, and as a disciple of Huan Tan, he would likely continue to be employed by the Emperor. Better to find a way to transfer him out of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, lest he steal Zhang Yu's own thunder...

"But after all, his surname is Liu, so his heart must be disloyal," Zhang Yu told himself. He must not harbor jealousy; Liu Penzi's surname alone placed a hard limit on his future.

For the same situation of a subordinate achieving merit, Grand Messenger Feng Yan was far less pleased. Fu Long was nominally his subordinate, true, but Fu Long had both family pedigree and examination pedigree — he had placed second in the very first civil service examination! His memorials always went directly to the imperial ear, bypassing Feng Yan to receive orders straight from Diwu Lun. Though old Feng Yan felt deeply uncomfortable at heart, he could only offer flattery, using praise of Fu Long to extol Diwu Lun's boldness in promoting new talent...

"In the past, Fu Long was known only for his moral integrity. Looking at him today, he truly possesses the diplomatic talents of a Zhang Qian or a Su Wu."

Behind these words, Feng Yan also felt the crisis of "the latecomers surpassing their seniors." The Chengjia and Jingchu states, which he had personally traveled to negotiate with, had either yielded meager results or seen their progress sabotaged by Cen Peng and Zhang Yu. He was fortunate that Fu Long had only persuaded one commandery to surrender. If Zhang Bu brought all seventy-two cities of Qi territory into submission, then he, the superior, would no longer be able to keep his subordinate in check and would have to worry even more about the day he'd be asked to yield his post to a worthier man.

Then Diwu Lun spoke: "Though the Red Eyebrow remnants have not yet been exterminated, they have lost their lair in the rear and are hunted by everyone in Lu Commandery, while Li Zhong and Ju Wuba press the attack from the front. They are like grasshoppers in late autumn — they won't be hopping around for much longer."

In Diwu Lun's estimation, the best way out for Xu Xuan and the Red Eyebrow remnants was probably still to return to Mount Tai and continue as bandits...

"And the gateway to the Haidai region now stands wide open. Geng Bozhao and Gai Yan's cavalry can march south without any hindrance!"

Diwu Lun had urged young Geng many times. Now that his strategic intent had been smoothly realized, the Lu and Haidai regions — the flanks of the main theater — were secure. Had these two areas remained untaken for long, Diwu Lun would not have dared to deploy freely for this "Xu-Huai Campaign."

Now, he no longer had any worries about his rear! Diwu Lun had already concentrated a host of one hundred thousand north of the Huai River. Adding Generals Geng and Gai, the Wei army's available strength for this war was at least three times that of the Wu army!

Diwu Lun was in excellent spirits. He issued rewards and gold to Liu Penzi and Fu Long. That day, he also invited his Right Chancellor Dou Rong, who oversaw logistics for him, to visit the ancient Chu-Han battlefield site near Lingbi.

Escorted by their personal guards, sovereign and minister rode along the banks of the Sui River. According to a local guide, a low-lying marsh nearby was the site of the Chu-Han Battle of Lingbi.

Back then, Liu Bang had led a coalition army of five hundred sixty thousand and suffered a crushing defeat at Pengcheng at the hands of Xiang Yu. The Han army fled south to Lingbi, where the Chu forces caught up and attacked them mid-crossing. Over a hundred thousand perished, and their corpses clogged the Sui River so that it ceased to flow.

Though the ghastly mountain of corpses filling the river was no longer visible, whenever horses pawed the earth along the bank, they would occasionally kick up a few human bones. Patrolling soldiers, too, often picked up ancient-style, rust-pitted dagger-axe heads and spear points.

The great river in winter was rather bleak. Upon reaching the vicinity of the ancient battlefield, Diwu Lun and Dou Rong reined in their horses. Diwu Lun raised his whip and pointed around them: "Years ago, when I was a disciple under Master Yang Ziyun's tutelage and borrowed the Grand Historian's Records to read, I came across the Annals of Emperor Gaozu of Han and found one matter quite puzzling."

"At the Battle of Pengcheng, the Han army came from the west. Why, after their defeat, did they flee south to evade the Chu army's onslaught, instead of heading elsewhere?"

Dou Rong quickly responded: "Your servant, too, has been puzzled." When the Emperor expressed bewilderment at something, one must never rush to play the clever one; you had to play dumb as well.

Unless... the Emperor insisted on pressing the question.

Sure enough, Diwu Lun smiled: "Then does the Duke of Zhou now understand the reason?"

Dou Rong acknowledged: "I do. Your Majesty ordered maps of the mountains and rivers east of the passes to be drawn. One can see that traveling from Liang to Pengcheng, if one takes a direct east-west line, is blocked by the Mangdang Mountains. The most convenient route is still to first follow the Sui River to Lingbi, then strike north straight to the outskirts of Pengcheng."

He pointed to the horn bow on a guard's back as a metaphor: "If one draws a straight line between Suiyang and Pengcheng, that is the bowstring. Your Majesty's line of advance, then, is exactly like the curved body of the bow."

At the end, Dou Rong immediately added: "Yet Mencius once said that the small paths between mountain slopes are often blocked by tangled weeds. One must take up blade and axe to walk them again before a road can be hacked open anew. Your Majesty is the very person who cleaves away the tangled weeds for your servants!"

Diwu Lun shook his head: "Not so. The one who first hacked open the tangled weeds for us should be Liu Bang, who first traveled this road two hundred years ago."

"Precisely because Lingbi is the necessary route for attacking Pengcheng and the most convenient place for transporting troops and provisions, Liu Bang, after his initial surprise attack on Pengcheng and great victory, recovered his family members and placed them at Lingbi along with the grain and fodder. This is why, later, when he fled for his life in a light carriage, he several times kicked Emperor Hui of Han and the Princess of Lu Yuan off the vehicle."

Diwu Lun cheerfully brought up the disgraceful affairs of the old Liu family, then promptly reined in his smile and said: "But this also shows Lingbi's importance. This place shields Liang and Song to the west, controls Pi and Xu to the north, and constrains the Huai and Si rivers to the east. It is truly a hub for boats and carts, a strategic point for both offense and defense."

"Since Haidai and Lu are no longer a threat to our rear, I shall soon lead a hundred thousand troops to attack Pengcheng and rendezvous with Geng Bozhao. The Right Chancellor shall guard Lingbi behind me and must not allow any mishap."

Dou Rong acknowledged the order. This was not the first time he had done such a thing. Though old Dou Rong had not charged into the fray for many years, he was quite steady when it came to guarding the rear line.

Yet steady as Dou Rong was, when he heard that Diwu Lun was only willing to leave him ten thousand men, he was greatly alarmed and immediately petitioned: "Your Majesty, since Lingbi is where our grain, fodder, boats, and carts are concentrated, we should by rights leave more troops to guard it. At least twenty thousand would be needed to ensure safety. With so few soldiers now, if Liu Xiu risks crossing the Huai to raid us..."

"Lingbi shall have only ten thousand soldiers, not a single man more. All the counties and townships north of the Huai River have already submitted to Wei upon hearing the wind. The three to four hundred li between are all dry land, and the rivers flow from northwest to southeast. The Wu army has no cavalry, and their boats would have to travel against the current. Can they fly over here?"

Diwu Lun, however, stubbornly held his own view. Even after returning to the main base at Lingbi, no matter how earnestly his other advisors, generals, and officers pleaded — saying that neglecting the defense of the supply depot was a cardinal military taboo — he insisted on this course.

"The advantage lies with me. There is no cause for concern."

Only after issuing all the orders for troop deployments did Diwu Lun bid the deeply worried Dou Rong to remain behind and spoke a single meaningful sentence to him. This finally made the Duke of Zhou's tangled weeds burst open with sudden clarity:

"Worry not, Duke of Zhou. This is a ruse to lure the enemy."

"I am not afraid of the Wu army launching a surprise raid on Lingbi. That is their only way to reverse the course of this war."

"What I fear is having too many defenders, so that Liu Xiu does not come!"