Chapter 594: I Am on the City Tower, Gazing at the Mountain Scenery

As one of the Three Excellencies, the Grand Marshal, when Lai Xi was personally chosen by Liu Xiu, the controversy was by no means small.

Back when Liu Xiu first succeeded to the throne, though he clearly had a candidate in mind from the start, he still hypocritically issued an edict ordering the ministers to recommend someone fit to be Grand Marshal. The ministers recommended only two: one was Feng Yi, the other was Lai Xi.

The groups recommending the two men were sharply divided: those leaning toward Feng Yi were mostly men from Yingchuan and Runan, who were also Liu Xiu's direct, trusted confidants who had followed him into exile east of the passes and settled in Jiangdong. Those recommending Lai Xi, on the other hand, were mainly Nanyang nobles and kinsmen by marriage, and the former subordinates of Liu Bosheng.

After weighing the matter, Liu Xiu ultimately inclined toward Lai Xi: "General Feng, the Grand General Who Conquers the West, is indeed the man for it. Yet General Lai also has the merit of devising grand strategies, and for Us he raided Donghai and seized Pengcheng — his achievements are great."

In Liu Xiu's mind, the destruction of the Red Eyebrows at Pengcheng, in which Lai Xi had taken part, was the true battle that founded the state. He therefore made Lai Xi Grand Marshal, and appointed Feng Yi Grand General Who Conquers the West.

Feng Yi later became Liu Xiu's regional commander for stabilizing Jingzhou, while Lai Xi became the cornerstone of Xu Province.

Several days before Diwu Lun's great army arrived, Marshal Lai had already completed every preparation for defense. He ordered the craftsmen of Pengcheng to reinforce the city gates, sealing several of them completely shut. At the same time, he had all buildings and forests within several li of Pengcheng burned to the ground, clearing the field of view. Especially the shops, warehouses, and wineshops along the Si River docks that pressed right up against the city wall — during wartime, they would all become aids for the Wei army to scale the walls, and had to be thoroughly swept away. The demolished stone, bricks, and tiles were then transported up to the city wall and stockpiled.

An even greater undertaking involved the arrows, armor, and weapons from the Donghai Commandery arsenal. The Governor of Donghai, Liu Zhi, personally escorted the last shipment and reported to Lai Xi: "Grand Marshal, everything transportable from the Donghai Commandery arsenal has been delivered in batches to Pengcheng and Xiapi. What could not be transported has all been burned."

"You have labored, Governor Liu. With this, both Pengcheng and Xiapi are amply supplied with armor and weapons."

At this, Liu Zhi was still brooding over that fire: "Had we just a few more days, we could have rushed out a bit more. The stockpiles of the Former Han, accumulated over so many years, now destroyed in a single day — truly a pity."

Liu Zhi, like Diwu Lun's Inspector of Qing Province, Li Zhong, was a remnant official of the Northern Han. He had been fortunate to survive the final great battle. After Liu Ziyu's death, the others were disheartened, but Liu Zhi still clung to the cause of restoring the Han and so fled south to Liu Xiu, who later appointed him Governor of Donghai.

Lai Xi laughed and said: "This general would be willing to give Governor Liu the time, but Diwu Lun will not wait a single moment. The Wei army has already advanced from Lingbi to Xiao County and will be outside the city walls any day now. The north is also urgent; I imagine that at this very moment, Geng Boyou has already occupied Donghai Commandery, has he not? Donghai lies at the upper reaches of the Yi River; relative to Pengcheng and Xiapi, it is undeniably a position of overwhelming strategic advantage, like pouring water from a rooftop."

Young Geng's advance was even faster than Lai Xi had anticipated. The next day, news arrived that the entire northern part of Donghai Commandery had fallen, and Diwu Lun's spearhead was pressing closer by the day. This "pincer offensive" was slowly closing in on Pengcheng, and Lai Xi had no choice but to seal the city.

But before sealing the city, he had one final position to arrange. He therefore convened a defense council in the Chu King's Palace in Pengcheng, attended by everyone from Governor Liu Zhi down to the Colonels.

"Gentlemen, you are all trusted confidants of His Majesty. Some have followed since the Emperor's sojourn at Liang Garden, others joined his banner in Jiangdong. All are renowned for your loyalty, which is why you were left in Pengcheng. You should therefore know that Pengcheng's forces are not many: only eleven thousand soldiers, and even with the temporarily conscripted able-bodied men and laborers, it is far from enough."

"While outside the city, there is an enemy ten times our number! They are closing in from both west and north, and will soon besiege Pengcheng."

Lai Xi was a man trusted by all under Heaven for his word; he would not deceive his subordinates. He laid out the disadvantages openly and honestly: "The edict His Majesty gave us is to hold this isolated city until the first month of next year!"

"It is merely seventy or eighty days. His Majesty also said that Pengcheng is surrounded by water on three sides; below its battlements and crenellations, the Si River serves as a moat. Only to the south can carts and horses pass. Therefore, to hold Pengcheng, the key lies in the Ximatai south of the city."

The Ximatai, or Horse-Watching Terrace, was the commanding height of Xu Province. Two hundred years ago, after Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, destroyed Qin and distributed fiefs, he established his capital at Pengcheng. He then built a lofty terrace on the southern hill, about one li south of the city, to watch horse parades — hence the name Ximatai.

The Ximatai and Pengcheng were mutually dependent, like exterior and interior. If the Wei army easily took the Ximatai, they could observe the true situation in Pengcheng from a commanding height. Therefore, the secret plan Liu Xiu gave Lai Xi was that a general must be dispatched to hold the Ximatai; this would tie down a portion of the Wei army's forces and relieve pressure on Pengcheng.

And if reinforcements came from the south, the Ximatai could also detect them at the earliest moment and inform the city via beacon fires.

Lai Xi himself would personally command in Pengcheng. His gaze moved among the generals and colonels: "Now we need a great general to take a thousand men and hold the Ximatai. Who is willing to defend it?"

The colonels looked at one another. There was no lack of brave men among them, and their loyalty had mostly been tested. But everyone clearly understood that the Horse Garrison Terrace, isolated outside the city, would inevitably be seen by the Wei army as a thorn in their eye and a spike in their flesh, drawing concentrated attacks from a great host. With a mere thousand men, how long could they hold out? This mission was certain to be a near-death sentence. Dying themselves was one thing, but they would also drag down the officers and soldiers under their command.

For a moment, no one answered the call. Unexpectedly, Liu Zhi, who was in the front row, stepped forward impressively: "This humble general is willing to go!"

"His Majesty indeed did not misjudge the man."

Lai Xi nodded, swept his gaze over the generals and colonels, and said with a cold laugh: "In ordinary times, there are always those who say that Liu Boxian is a man who came from Hebei, that he once followed the false emperor Liu Ziyu, and cannot be trusted. Yet His Majesty enfeoffed him as a full Marquis, promoted him to the rank of two thousand dan, and appointed him to guard the great commandery of Donghai. Many were discontented with this. Now that Governor Liu is in the same bag as you gentlemen, the blunt and the sharp are judged in an instant!"

Factional strife within Liu Xiu's camp was equally severe. Someone like Liu Zhi, who had fled from Hebei to seek refuge, had become an isolated minister and was usually pushed aside. Now that great calamity was imminent, it was he who dared to be the first to step forward. For a moment, the colonels' faces flushed crimson, and they vied to volunteer for the defense of the Ximatai.

But Liu Zhi gave a reason that none of them possessed: "I am of the imperial clan."

Liu Zhi said: "Whether the Liu of Hebei, the Liu of Chongling, or the Liu of Wu and Chu, all are descendants of the Grand Emperor and Emperor Gao."

"During the Former Han, the descendants of successive Kings of Chu and Kings of Pengcheng in Xu Province numbered in the tens of thousands. They once possessed manors and estates, but most were ruined and scattered when the Red Eyebrow bandits swept through. Those who became refugees and sought refuge with His Majesty number in the thousands..."

Liu Zhi spoke with great emotion; this was his own experience as well. The once-prominent Marquis of Changcheng family was now shattered and scattered. Apart from Liu Zhi, who had fled south with a few younger clansmen, all the rest had been forcibly relocated by Diwu Lun to the desolate Bing Province.

"Afterward, the various Lius were resettled back in Pengcheng by His Majesty, using Xu men to guard Xu soil. Now, the Liu-surnamed males serving in the army number not a thousand, then at least several hundred."

Liu Zhi made clear the reason he had traveled a thousand li to seek refuge with Liu Xiu: "If Diwu Lun seizes Xu Province, other surnames might still manage to survive. The Liu surname alone will be like eggs under an overturned nest — none will remain intact. As could be seen from Hebei, Diwu Lun will never show leniency to the Liu surname. If the Great Han falls again, the Liu clan will be the first to be exterminated!"

"I hope the Grand Marshal will assemble the Liu-surnamed sons and brothers in the army, together with the aides and sworn men from Donghai, to form a single battalion and hold the Ximatai. This shall be the Clan Battalion, and it is most fitting that I command it!"

These words rang with resolute force. After hearing them, Lai Xi could not help but praise:

"Boxian, what a great husband you are."

Lai Xi placed the tiger tally in Liu Zhi's hands and began to reassess this man:

"I only regret not having come to know you a few years earlier."

Liu Zhi, however, laughed heartily: "It is not too late even now. Once we have beaten back the Wei invaders, the Grand Marshal may come to the Ximatai and share unstrained wine with this humble general as we gaze upon the mountain scenery of Pengcheng!"

In the days that followed, Liu Zhi deployed the "Clan Battalion" and his trusted men to the Ximatai south of the city. Also transported up were large quantities of arrows, armor, and weapons from the Donghai Commandery arsenal, ensuring that virtually every man was armored.

But the soldiers all knew this battle was fraught with peril, and their morale was not particularly high. Yet in Liu Zhi's view, they were fruits borne upon the great tree of the Liu surname, and they ought to fight to the very last moment for the rise and fall of one family, one surname.

"Even a false Liu Ziyu could die for the revival of the Great Han — how much more so we, the true Lius?"

Thus did Liu Zhi encourage the men. He stood upon the Ximatai. Even without counting the gate towers and stone fortifications built by Xiang Yu, this place already rose a full ten zhang high, ascending layer upon layer like steps. The mountainside was about a thousand paces wide, while the summit was a broad expanse of a hundred paces, with even a few mountain springs flowing. Ascending required climbing wooden ladders and stone steps; now that the ladders were withdrawn and the stone steps blocked, it could be called the most precipitous place in Pengcheng.

The Wei army's scouting vanguard was already closing in, and Pengcheng was sealed. But Lai Xi gazed out at the Ximatai from Pengcheng's southern gate. The distance between the two was little more than a li, close enough for sounds to carry.

Looking at the steep and rugged Ximatai, then turning his head to look back at the fully prepared Han army officers and men, Lai Xi could not help but say with confidence:

"Station a thousand men atop it, stockpile logs, arrows, and stones, and all the implements of defense and war, so that it is mutually dependent with the city, like horns supporting each other — even if Diwu Lun used a hundred thousand men, he could not take it!"

Lai Xi's confidence was well-founded. Pengcheng could be said to have suffered a tumultuous fate, having endured several great battles in this chaotic age. The most spectacular among them was the siege by the Red Eyebrow Army. The Red Eyebrow Excellency Feng An had deployed a host of a hundred thousand, besieging Pengcheng so tightly not a drop of water could leak through, yet he could not breach a single corner of the wall. Under the combined efforts of Lai Xi and Liu Xiu, they fought a brilliant counterattack, establishing in one stroke the current three-way division of the realm.

The Red Eyebrow Army's hundred thousand men, though they seemed vast and mighty, were, to put it nicely, a roving bandit armed force; to put it bluntly, a great army of refugees. Their march had no discipline whatsoever — some columns stretched out, others bunched together, front and rear in chaos, like a tangled mess of hemp. Once they encamped, the camps were of varying sizes, not even arranged in proper inner and outer order. A single night raid by the Han army could often break through several camps in succession.

And the Red Eyebrows had even less discipline when it came to assaulting cities. They could only rely on crude cloud ladders, swarming up them like ants. Under the defenders' scalding boiling water and volleys of arrows, they suffered grievous losses but could hardly threaten a strong city. Thus, when faced with a heavily defended major city, the Red Eyebrows would basically bypass it if they couldn't crack it.

This was Lai Xi's sole conception of a "hundred-thousand-man army." As for the other generals, even the most senior who had fought at the Battle of Kunyang still retained the impression of Wang Mang's three hundred thousand new troops.

Even Liu Zhi, who had fought a decisive battle against the Wei army, only remembered that a few years ago, the Wei Emperor had organized a campaign with tens of thousands of men...

It was not until the day the Wei army arrived outside Pengcheng that Lai Xi and Liu Zhi suddenly understood one thing...

A hundred thousand and a hundred thousand are not the same!

What Lai Xi first saw from the gate tower was the Wei army's vanguard. They entered the Pengcheng basin in several columns, mostly cavalry. Each unit advanced in a wild-goose-wing formation to sweep for enemies. After scouring the perimeter of Pengcheng, they converged from the shape of the character for "person" into the character for "one." The rear units secured the roads and bridges, awaiting the arrival of the main army, while the forward units continued to press toward Pengcheng. Whistles and the clatter of hooves rose in waves; some riders even ventured right up to the moat formed by the Si River encircling Pengcheng to test the Han army's defensive range.

What arrived next was the vast, mighty main army. They filed in in an orderly stream along the routes planned by the vanguard scouts. Upon arrival, the forward elements immediately formed battle arrays in the zones marked out by the engineers, to guard against a sudden sortie by the Pengcheng garrison. As more and more soldiers arrived, Lai Xi also discovered the greatest difference between them and the Red Eyebrows.

It was not just their orderly sequence and methodical precision, but also...

"They are too quiet."

The Red Eyebrow Army also had elite troops that moved at extreme speed. However, when their march was too swift and their spirit too sharp, there were bound to be places where they were not uniform and orderly. Moreover, they loved to shout and roar, their voices as chaotic as their footsteps. But the Wei army was different. After many units arrived, facing the unfamiliar environment and the enormous city walls, they merely gazed in silence, not daring to make a racket or cause a disturbance. They did not break formation, nor did they shout battle cries.

This was a manifestation of strict military law, and it stirred Lai Xi's considerable curiosity: "How on earth did Diwu Lun manage to train city folk and farmers to this degree?"

He realized even more clearly that the enemy he now had to face was the core army Diwu Lun had personally trained and led into battle — utterly different from the "expert defenders" he had encountered years ago when he followed Liu Bosheng into Guanzhong.

The Wei army did not rush to assault the city. First they laid out their camp bit by bit, demarcating areas for grain storage and troop assembly. The camp's fortifications backed onto the mountain forest. Large numbers of civilian laborers and engineer troops were detached and began systematically felling trees and building siege engines…

The Wei army had yet to launch its attack, but these pre-battle preparations alone — the mere sight of multicolored banners fluttering and casting shifting shadows — already placed immense pressure on the seasoned Lai Junshu.

Meanwhile, Diwu Lun took his guard detachment and personally rode a full circuit around Pengcheng. His attention was especially drawn to the small hill south of the city, which Liu Zhi was defending.

"What is the name of that hill, and that stronghold?" Diwu Lun raised his whip and pointed toward it, asking those beside him. Such a tiny location would never be marked on a large-scale map.

Someone told him: "Your Majesty, the hill is called South Mountain, and the stronghold is named Horse-Training Terrace."

Diwu Lun nodded. Gazing at the blazing Han banners atop the stronghold, he pronounced the fate of that place in three words:

"A death trap!"