Chapter 601: Watering the Horses

The relay riders Diwu Lun dispatched traveled day and night, but catching up with the Yuyang shock cavalry was never going to be easy.

Several days earlier, after receiving the Emperor's order to "strike south, sever the Huai–Si confluence, and cut off Liu Xiu's retreat," General of the Tiger Teeth, Gai Yan, had already led two thousand cavalry out of Pengcheng, advancing south at eighty li per day.

As light cavalry, the Yuyang shock cavalry's mounts wore no barding, but they were now equipped with stirrups and high saddles, and the horses were shod, giving them superior mobility. The Yuyang riders gradually accepted these "add-ons" and sat more securely in the saddle. Armor was carried on carts or packhorses. Long weapons — halberds, spears — lay across the saddles, so long as they stayed out of the woods. Ring-pommel dao and swords hung at the waist; behind them they often carried bows and light arm-drawn crossbows, and many even bore rectangular arm-shields on their backs.

They soon approached the Sui River. Because the water was slow and only chest-deep, swimming the whole force across might have been faster, but when many of the cavalry tested the water, they yelped at once.

"General, the water's too cold — we can't set foot in it."

"Shameful. We are men of You Province, raised from childhood in bitter cold. Here in the south, in Xu and Huai lands, how cold can the water possibly be?"

Yet when Gai Yan tried it himself, he found it was indeed bone-chilling. His army was already plagued by men unaccustomed to the climate, which had reduced three thousand shock cavalry to only two thousand fit for a raid. If they truly forded this freezing water, he feared many more would fall ill.

So they had no choice but to scour the area for civilian boats. It took half a day to cross — which also gave the horses a rest. After the crossing, Gai Yan was not far from his first objective: Fuli County in Pei Commandery (present-day Suzhou, Anhui).

The Sui and Tuo Rivers converge here, and plain and mountain divide here, marking this place as one of considerable importance. In ancient times, the Chu kingdom established "Fuli Fortress" here as a key stronghold north of the Huai. When the great Xu–Huai battle first erupted, Liu Xiu had sent Assistant General of the Left, Jian Tan, with over ten thousand troops to Fuli, feigning a northern raid on Diwu Lun's main supply camp at Lingbi — but that was only a feint. By the time Gai Yan's force reached Fuli, the Han army had already withdrawn; the city was empty.

The Yuyang shock cavalry carried only five days' dry rations. Though they still had some left, they had to seize grain along the way to sustain themselves. If time were not pressing, they could also let the cavalry burn, kill, and plunder for a while. In the Wei army, when it came to the worst discipline, if the Yuyang shock cavalry claimed second place, no one dared claim first. The Shanggu shock cavalry under young Geng were far behind them. Shanggu troops passed like a comb; Yuyang troops passed like a fine-toothed lice comb. Only the old Xin dynasty armies could compare.

Gai Yan ordered his cavalry to search the city. They found no grain and no women — only a white-haired old man in a tumbledown house in the poor quarter. Crippled in the legs, he had been unable to flee with the rest of the townsfolk.

"I am the town's shaman."

Fallen into the hands of the vicious Yuyang soldiers, the old man, to save his life, clutched a handful of divination grass and a tortoise shell and declared his identity, saying he could divine the fortunes of the "royal army's" campaign.

It turned out that Fuli's most famous product was the "fu grass" that covered Mount Li in spring and summer. Also called nutgrass, its stalks were quite long and its flowers umbrella-shaped. Animals would not eat it, and in the south it was commonly used for divination.

Gai Yan, tall and imposing, sat casually in the county office hall, stroking his gleaming long ring-pommel dao. "Then divine for me: how will my campaign this time fare?"

The old shaman clearly knew his trade. Holding the fu grass, he tore it this way and that, examining the grain, and after a long pretense of divination, his face lit up with delight. He cupped his hands toward Gai Yan and said:

"General, this campaign of yours will be a great victory! You may even be enfeoffed as a marquis!"

Gai Yan's face darkened. A soldier beside him immediately barked: "You foolish shaman! General Gai was already enfeoffed as a Marquis of a Thousand Households after the He–Ji campaign!"

The shaman nearly bit his tongue and hurried to salvage his blunder. "A marquisate is too small — General, you are worthy of a kingship!"

At this, even Gai Yan, who had only wanted to hear a few auspicious words, could not bear it. He rose abruptly. "Insolence! Under the Great Wei Sage Son of Heaven, there are only dukes of merit — no kings. Even Generals Ma, Wu, and Geng, with all their achievements, are not worthy of kingship. What am I? This old man is likely a Wu army spy, left behind to sow discord. Drag him out and behead him."

The pitiful old shaman had aimed his flattery at the wrong target, but his words had nonetheless touched upon Gai Yan's private concerns.

Gai Yan had defected to Diwu Lun during the Hebei campaign, over three years ago now. Although he had been enfeoffed as a Marquis and a General of Miscellaneous Title, his position in the army had always been awkward.

Wu Han, who had brought Gai Yan over to Wei, was currently contending with the Xiongnu and various Hu and Han forces in Bing Province.

And Grand General of the Agile Cavalry, Ma Yuan, whom Gai Yan had once deeply admired, had been reassigned by Diwu Lun to Liang Province to quell the Qiang rebellion.

During the Qi campaign, his nominal superior was Geng Bozhao. Though Gai Yan managed to work with him, young Geng never regarded him as one of his own; any benefits always went to the Shanggu shock cavalry first.

In the end, Gai Yan was not counted among Diwu Lun's direct followers either. Turning it over in his mind, Gai Yan could not help but entertain this thought:

"Why can't I command an army on my own?"

He dared not dream of kingship or dukedom, but if he could earn a General of Weighted Title, then Gai Yan could establish his own headquarters, command an army independently, and never have to bow his head to others again. The Yuyang shock cavalry under him would then have a stable future and no longer need to regard themselves as mercenaries.

But to advance further, he had to rely on military merit, and this mission south to sever the Huai–Si confluence was the best opportunity!

With that thought, Gai Yan cheerfully decided not to wait for the infantry at Fuli County.

"I am willing to serve as the vanguard and scout the path for the General Who Sweeps the Wilds."

After leaving a hundred or so sick and wounded at Fuli and tossing out that line to brush off his allied force, Gai Yan led his troops farther south.

Pei Commandery had been the worst-hit area of the Red Eyebrows rebellion. Back when Huan Tan and Liu Penzi were still living in a cowshed, the region was already devastated, even to the point of cannibalism. Several years later, north of the Huai was even more ruined, with vast stretches of uninhabited land — white bones lay exposed in the wilds, and for a thousand li not a single cock crowed.

If they chanced upon a village or two that still had signs of life, the Yuyang shock cavalry would charge in without hesitation, seize the last grain of those peasants barely clinging to life in the chaos, and then ride off, leaving the starving villagers shivering at the village gate, despairing over how to survive the winter.

The next day at nightfall, after a raid covering several dozen li, the Yuyang shock cavalry spent the night in a hill-ruin abandoned for many years, using the crumbling walls to block the howling cold wind.

"You mean to say this place is called Gaixia — where Xiang Yu was trapped and the Han army sang Chu songs on all sides?"

He had assumed it was just another abandoned city common in Pei Commandery, but after learning the name from the Embroidered Uniform Guard guide, Gai Yan grew intensely curious and circled the site, marveling.

The ruined city of Gaixia sat atop a terrace. Its walls were built following the terrain, of rammed earth. The western wall had been washed away by the river, and the remaining sections were badly collapsed from nearby residents carting off the earth, combined with wind and rain erosion.

But from the arrowheads deeply embedded in the walls, the white bones exposed everywhere in the dirt, and the rusted bronze dagger-axes and spears, one could still glimpse a corner of that battle two hundred years ago that decided the fate of the realm.

Standing on a crumbling wall, Gai Yan could well sense the scene of that day — though he imagined himself on the attacking side.

"Xiang Yu was defeated at Gaixia and fled south to Wujiang, and the Han army sent cavalry in pursuit. The one commanding them must have been Cavalry General Guan Ying, no?"

Though Gai Yan came from the frontier and could not even read, he had heard the great name of Guan Ying — a cavalry general of the former dynasty, a predecessor.

And in this battle, the role he was ordered to play was much the same as Guan Ying's: pursue and intercept Liu Xiu!

"The merit of Guan, Marquis of Jiang — I too can achieve it!"

After all, as Gai Yan figured it, if Liu Xiu led his troops north and was overwhelmed by the Emperor and Geng Bozhao with superior numbers, even if he had heaven-reaching abilities, he would be doomed. When Liu Xiu fled in panic to the Huai–Si confluence, Gai Yan would be right there to block him.

If the outcome was not yet decided, that was even better. Gai Yan and the Yuyang shock cavalry could then play their greatest role: sever Liu Xiu's link with Huainan and throw the entire Huai River line into chaos — letting the Emperor see his and the Yuyang shock cavalry's true mettle.

On the third day after leaving Fuli, the Yuyang shock cavalry entered the borders of Linhuai Commandery, drawing ever closer to Xu County (present-day Sihong County, Jiangsu).

Xu County was the source of the name Xuzhou, the seat of the ancient Xu kingdom. It had once been the capital of Linhuai, a commandery of a million people. But with the Red Eyebrows rebellion, the north Huai region was ruined, and the Linhuai commandery seat moved south of the Huai. Xu County's status was far diminished, yet it remained one of the few county towns north of the Huai where the population was concentrated.

Where there were people, there was grain — what the Yuyang shock cavalry craved most. Their dry rations were nearly gone, and they could not wait to storm the town and loot it thoroughly.

But just as Gai Yan was eager to act, poised to become the first Wei soldier to water his horse in the Huai River, a relay rider suddenly arrived from the rear, delivering Diwu Lun's edict.

"The battle situation at Xiapi has changed. By edict, the General Who Sweeps the Wilds and the General of the Tiger Teeth are to encamp at Fuli, draw provisions from nearby Lingbi, and under no circumstances advance south alone!"

It continued: "The General Who Sweeps the Wilds has already halted at Fuli and hopes General Gai will return swiftly!"

Gai Yan was stunned. This was child's play! They had been sent on a long raid, and now they were suddenly ordered back — the whole army to shift two hundred li to the rear? Was that boy Emperor deliberately toying with the Yuyang shock cavalry?!

Two years ago, Gai Yan would have flown into a rage and acted on his own. But after the He–Ji campaign, he ultimately swallowed his anger and accepted Diwu Lun's written order.

"Your servant respectfully receives the command!"

Yet it seemed the heavens were working against them. The weather, fairly clear on the way south, suddenly turned strange. Had it been snow, the Yuyang shock cavalry would not have feared it. In the north, they often rode through snow after snow — what did a thousand li of ice-bound land matter?

But winter north of the Huai was vastly different from You Province. It only rained, never snowed! The air was so damp the cavalrymen were freezing miserably, and their marching speed dropped to a crawl. Even Gai Yan, wrapped in a thick fur cloak, was so cold his teeth chattered. Wring the cloak, and water came out — no wonder they were cold.

"Though I am a northerner, from now on I will never again mock the southern winter as not worth mentioning." In the mind of Gai Yan, a man of You Province, everything south of You was "south" — and north of the Huai certainly counted.

After a miserable night near Xu County, the rain stopped, but a great fog rose. The fog was so dense it blanketed who knew how many dozen li around. Mindful that the edict said Liu Xiu had already moved south, Gai Yan dared not linger long behind enemy lines and still forced his troops to break camp and set out.

Not to mention the soldiers who fell ill from cold and hunger and were left behind — the biggest problem was that even the Embroidered Uniform Guard guide began to lose the way back. Gazing around blankly, beyond a hundred paces everything was a white haze. Who could tell east from west, south from north?

After circling for half the day through the desolate fields and village lanes, the fog thinned a little, but they could no longer tell where they were.

Later, they finally caught a local who had been driven by hunger to come out and dig at rat holes. From his appearance, he looked like a farmer. Gai Yan ordered his men to force the man to tell them the way — which road could get them out of Linhuai Commandery.

The farmer was badly frightened by the ring-pommel saber held at his throat. This was already the second time he had run into the Yuyang raiders. The day before, when this pack of Wei soldiers passed through, they had looted every last grain his family had. His youngest son had resisted, and they killed him on the spot!

Thinking of how his son had died, the farmer raised a trembling hand and pointed toward what looked like the wider road.

"Take this one."

By the time the Yuyang raiders left that little hamlet, the farmer's body was already hanging from the dead tree at the village entrance.

The reason he was killed was not because the Wei troops saw through his misdirection, but simply because…

"This withdrawal north is not like when we came. We can't leave anyone alive to expose our army's movements!"

The rumbling thunder of hoofbeats faded into the distance. Only the farmer's corpse remained, suspended from the dead wood, swayed by the wind, its feet swinging back and forth.

The Yuyang raiders, who seemed to have found the right road, traveled on for another half day through the winter rain and thin fog. Just as they were once again wondering where they were, they ran headlong into one detachment after another of troops just now advancing from the Si River!

…

Two days later, at Fuli Fortress, General of the Sweeping Field Zheng Tong, who was anxiously awaiting his allies' return, received dire news brought back by the remnants of the routed force:

"General Gai lost his way near Xu County and ran into the Wu army. The Yuyang raiders got bogged down in the marshland and could hardly fight. General Gai fought as he retreated, and has now pulled back west to Gaixia. The horses can no longer be ridden, and he is trapped by the Wu army!"

"General Zheng, we beg you to rescue the Yuyang raiders!"

Zheng Tong's face went green. It seemed His Majesty the Emperor had judged correctly: Liu Xiu had indeed pulled the ten thousand men from Fuli back to the Huai River line, waiting for his main force to withdraw via the Si River fleet, waiting for the Wei vanguard charging straight at the Huai-Si confluence to crash right into them!

If Gai Yan had been willing to wait for him and not rashly pushed deep on his own, this encounter battle could have been avoided. Then the Wu army would have rushed north and south for nothing, and the Wei army would still have come out far ahead.

But now Gai Yan was trapped amid the enemy, over a hundred li east of Fuli. The twenty thousand men under Zheng Tong's command were mostly infantry. Should he rescue them, or not?

Unlike Gai Yan, Zheng Tong was a diehard among diehards in Diwu Lun's faction. He had risen from a nameless grunt in the Boar-Rush Braves, promoted to a general of miscellaneous designation through one bloody battle after another. Brave, certainly — but when it came to commanding troops, Zheng Tong was not necessarily better than Gai Yan.

But when it came to being influenced, quietly and pervasively, by Diwu Lun's style of doing things, Zheng Tong far surpassed Gai Yan.

So Zheng Tong held it in for a long while, and finally spat out just three words.

"Rescue my ass!"

Rather than send one unit after another into Gaixia with no clear picture of the enemy, better to carry forward the Wei army's fine tradition:

When allies are in trouble, stand firm as a mountain!