Chapter 641: If He Runs, I'll Chase

"What!?"

That same September, when Niu Han, the Qiang-Protecting Commandant stationed in Didao in Longxi Commandery, heard the news that the Wei army had been defeated at Luodu Valley, he was so shocked he slammed the table and shot to his feet!

But Niu Han immediately sat back down and frowned. "This matter — where did you learn of it?"

As it turned out, the person who had come to his home bearing the news was neither a Wei state official nor one of Ma Yuan's retainers, but a member of the Xin clan, a great family of Longxi like himself.

Niu Han was already a local magnate in Didao, but he was only mid-tier, having earned his reputation more through his own hard struggle, caught the chaotic times and gained Wei Ao's support, and stood on the right side at the final moment. But when it came to family pedigree, the Niu clan was not even fit to carry the Xin clan's shoes: the Xin clan of Longxi, during the Han dynasty, had over ten members of their lineage and collateral branches who held posts at the two-thousand-bushel rank, and some had even reached the high position of "General of the Left," entering the imperial court and commanding heavy troops.

It was only a pity that the Longxi Xin clan had been caught up in political struggles during Wang Mang's time and was exterminated as a clan — the main line was nearly wiped out, leaving only collateral branches.

Even as a collateral branch, it was still a family that had dominated the region for over a hundred years, situated near the frontier and maintaining dealings, some open and some covert, with the Qiang beyond the pass: several months earlier, it was precisely the Xin family that had introduced the Prince of the Shaodang Qiang, arranging for him to pay a visit to Ma Yuan, which gave the Wei army an extra network of informants and collaborators among the Western Qiang — hence the Xin clan's intelligence was extremely well-informed.

"The Qiang tribes in Fuhan and other places south of the great river have all spread the word." The Xin clan head, who had no wish to see the Wei army defeated either, said to Niu Han with some dejection: "They all say General Ma underestimated the enemy and rashly advanced deep into Luodu Valley with his forces, only to be ambushed by the King of the Xianlian, suffering heavy casualties."

It sounded plausible. Before Ma Yuan had dispatched Niu Han back to Longxi to oversee grain supplies, most of the army's commanders had favored first clearing out the weaker Qiang tribes to clip the Xianlian Qiang's wings; only Ma Yuan and Niu Han had insisted on striking the Xianlian first. But when it came to the specifics of the approach, Niu Han had proposed advancing step by step, pacifying the various Qiang tribes while slowly marching westward, whereas Ma Yuan had favored a swift, long-range raid...

And now, the raid had gone wrong, and the situation on the Jincheng front had suddenly turned dire. Niu Han felt a chill run down his spine.

The Xin clan was also deeply worried: "Ruqing, now that the Wei army has suffered defeat, the He-Huang region is likely lost. Ma Yuan may well retreat to Didao in defeat, and to the south, Gongsun Shu has also sent Wei Ao with his old Longyou troops via the Qishan road to fiercely attack this very commandery. Caught in a pincer from north and south, can Longxi possibly be preserved?"

If things were quiet elsewhere, they believed Diwu Lun would certainly send troops to the rescue, but now with Hexi engulfed in continuous warfare, the court could not spare any forces either.

The Xin clan head's eyes flickered, and he confided something to Niu Han: "Several days ago, Wei Ao sent a man through the mountain paths, bearing a letter to see me..."

"Brother Xin!" Niu Han understood his meaning — it was nothing more than seeing the situation shift and wanting to reconsider Wei Ao's "suggestion." He immediately cut him off and said: "Wei Jijiang also wrote me a letter. Wei Ao has shown me kindness and loyalty; we have been friends for many years. Yet Niu Han set aside that bond and sternly refused. Does Brother Xin know why?"

Niu Han reiterated the "lesser righteousness" and "greater righteousness" from his letter, and urged the Xin clan: "Niu Han has read little and yet still understands this principle — how much more should the Xin clan?"

"Your clan's ancestors, the two lords Xin Wuxian and Xin Qingji, both repeatedly campaigned against the Qiang brigands during the Han dynasty, serving as tiger-like ministers for the state, and the various Western Qiang tribes revered their authority and good faith. It was precisely in consideration of the Xin clan's hundred-plus years of guarding the frontier for the state that His Majesty the Wei Emperor redressed your clan's wrongs and restored your barony. You cannot, at the very end, willingly sink to the level of those who invite Qiang and Hu invaders into our lands!"

Though his words were reasonable, great aristocratic clans always take survival as their bottom line. The Xin clan remained deeply troubled, so Niu Han further urged them: "The news of the Wei army's defeat is mere rumor from side channels, and cannot yet be trusted."

As the head of Longxi's elite families, if the Xin clan were to waver, all the other clans bound to them by marriage would waver together. Niu Han, an honest man, had no choice but to tell a lie: "I will not hide it from Brother Xin — before I came south, General Ma did indeed have a plan to deliberately advance rashly and feign defeat, in order to lure the Qiang brigands deep and then strike them..."

Having finally managed to send the skeptical Xin clan head away, Niu Han could no longer maintain his feigned calm and paced anxiously in the courtyard.

"General Ma is a renowned commander — how could he capsize in a petty ravine like this? This matter must be a rumor."

"But General Ma is indeed sometimes prone to impatience and rash advances. Back in Heji, wasn't he surrounded by the Red Eyebrow Army? It really could be true."

The two thoughts warred back and forth, making Niu Han waver between hope and fear: "If General Ma can hold steady, he can still maintain a standoff with the Qiang and Hu at Jincheng."

"But if he cannot bring his army back, Wei Ao might truly be able to fight his way in. By then, with Shu army reinforcements arriving, Longxi will be lost."

"If Longxi falls, having been so resolute in my reply, I naturally cannot stay and serve the rebels. A true man cannot suffer disgrace twice — I would have no choice but to abandon my ancestral graves and retreat with the defeated troops to Tianshui..."

"And if the court investigates this matter, Grand General Ma, as the commander-in-chief and an imperial in-law, is deeply favored by His Majesty and will naturally not be blamed. Then I, who most strongly advocated striking the Xianlian first, would be the perfect scapegoat."

Every train of thought led to a dead end. Niu Han had no choice but to go out, intending to meet with the Governor of Longxi to verify the truth of the matter and discuss subsequent countermeasures.

Just as Niu Han stepped out of his gate, he discovered that the Xin clan head had gone and returned — and this time, he was not alone. Nearly all the powerful figures of Didao city had come, gathered right in front of Niu Han's gate!

"What has happened now?" Niu Han clutched his chest in alarm, nearly collapsing on the spot. Had the defeat been confirmed, or had even all of Jincheng been lost?

To his surprise, the crowd actually bowed before his gate, and the Xin clan head said with considerable admiration: "All thanks to the Qiang-Protecting Colonel's reassurances, which set our hearts at ease. We have just now received further news — a great victory at Jincheng!"

How had a great defeat just moments ago turned into a great victory? Niu Han was utterly baffled, but the crowd gave him no chance to argue, clustering around him and escorting him to the Governor of Longxi's office. There, the frontline military dispatch had just arrived as well, and the Governor, who hailed from Guanzhong, was beaming as he posted the proclamation, wanting to announce this good news to the entire city and commandery!

"In the fourth year of Wude, autumn, the ninth month, the Grand General of Agile Cavalry dispatched his vanguard to advance into Luodu Valley, feigning defeat to lure the King of the Xianlian. The King of the Xianlian pursued the imperial army to Poqiang County, entering General Ma's heavy encirclement."

"The General ordered the army to ready their arrows and sharpen their blades, formed three ranks of long spears, supported by strong crossbows, and arrayed light cavalry as the left and right wings. He roused the soldiers, declaring: 'Now we are a thousand li from home — advance and we succeed; flee and we all perish! Strive together for glory and renown!' With a great shout, all responded and surged forward. The General then galloped his horse along the flank, charging in to strike. The enemy masses collapsed in utter rout, and over eight thousand heads were taken!"

It was roughly thirty thousand against fifty thousand, and fighting on hostile ground at that. To take eight thousand heads — even if the number was inflated — was no small feat.

Most of the men Ma Yuan had taken were sons of Longyou, many of them from Didao city itself. The crowd, while anxious for their families, were also reassured by the great victory at the front. Longxi was naturally out of danger now, and at the same time, they marveled at Ma Yuan's valor, all shouting "Ten thousand victories!"

The people of Longyou are proud and unruly, with intense regional loyalties, and rarely submit to "Easterners" — to them, anything beyond the Long Slope is "the East."

But this time, everyone was utterly convinced!

And Niu Han, who had, by sheer coincidence, correctly guessed Ma Yuan's "feigned defeat to lure the enemy," was filled with admiration from the bottom of his heart.

"The ancients said that Longyou produces many generals — in the Han dynasty, Li Guang, Zhao Chongguo, Gan Yanshou, Li Ling, Xin Wuxian, Xin Qingji, and others were all extraordinary talents of Longshang. Yet seeing Ma Wenyuan today, though he is not a man of Long, he combines Li Guang's valor, Zhao Chongguo's strategy, and Gan Yanshou's strength. As for the likes of the Xin father and son, Li Ling, and Gongsun He, they cannot compare with Ma Yuan and are only fit to trail behind this 'Ma' steed's tail!"

Now that the northern part of Longxi was out of danger, the various clans of the commandery quite enthusiastically sent their able-bodied men to reinforce Qishan Fort. Wei Ao, relying on Gongsun Shu's unending stream of support, barely managed to hold on, hesitating irresolutely between advancing and retreating.

It was not until early in the tenth month that Wei Ao finally learned the aftermath of the He-Huang campaign from a returning messenger who had come from Qiang territory.

"At the battle of Poqiang, Ma Yuan feigned defeat and lured several thousand Qiang to their deaths. The King of the Xianlian was terrified and dared not fight on, so he abandoned the other tribes and retreated westward."

"We thought Ma Yuan would then withdraw his troops, but unexpectedly, he pursued relentlessly, while simultaneously sending men to pacify and recruit the Qiang along the way, declaring that as long as each tribe was willing to provide the Wei army with a small number of livestock as rations, their lives would be spared afterward with no further investigation, but if they still clung to the Xianlian, they would be shown no mercy!"

"Ma Yuan and his force of over ten thousand cavalry, carrying only fifteen days' worth of grain, pursued continuously westward, covering over a hundred li in a single day and night, reaching Luochuan Valley. The Xianlian Qiang had not expected Ma Yuan to arrive so swiftly and had no choice but to continue their rout, retreating all the way to Lingwu Valley. Only then, with over four thousand households of their own kind, did they counterattack the Wei army at dawn."

"Lingwu Valley is narrow terrain. Ma Yuan led his men dismounted in a great battle with the Qiang tribe, fighting from morning until noon until blades snapped and arrows were spent. The Qiang, now afraid, retreated once more."

"And the Shaodang Qiang also seized the opportunity to submit to Wei, guiding Ma Yuan's path. The Wei army fought as they pursued, cutting flesh and swallowing snow when hungry, chasing for fourteen days straight, over a thousand li beyond the frontier, all the way to the Xianlian Qiang's old stronghold of Great and Little Yun Valley. There they again battled the King of the Xianlian, taking over five thousand heads and captives — even the Xianlian prince was killed — and seizing a hundred thousand head of livestock! The King of the Xianlian could only take his remaining three thousand-plus households and scatter into the Xian River by the Western Sea. Great and Little Yun Valley have been occupied by the Shaodang Qiang!"

Wei Ao listened in a daze. As a great magnate of Longyou, he knew the fighting strength of the Western Qiang very well, especially the Xianlian Qiang. Even when the Former Han was at its peak in troops and horses, it had never been able to wipe them out; over a hundred years, they rose again and again — they were natural warriors forged by the high plateau.

Even at the zenith of their "Western Han," they could do nothing about the Xianlian, only able to watch helplessly as they grew powerful and strong again.

Yet Ma Yuan, an outsider, leading the sons of Longyou who had only submitted a few years prior and had newly formed a "Liangzhou Great Horse" cavalry, had actually beaten the Xianlian until they were utterly helpless, marching over a thousand li beyond the frontier and taking over ten thousand heads and captives!

After this single campaign, the Xianlian had even lost Great and Little Yun Valley, their original base. Even if the King of the Xianlian was not dead, his prestige and power would collapse and never recover. He would have to flee to the Western Sea to lick his wounds, and the Western Qiang would return to a state of scattered disunity, posing no threat to the State of Wei for the time being.

"Move! Withdraw the troops at once!"

Wei Ao's heart filled with dread; he absolutely dared not face Ma Yuan. Once he recovered his wits, he immediately gave the order. He knew very well that Longyou most revered the strong and fierce. A local man like himself, raised on the Confucian classics, could no longer compare to this outsider Ma Yuan. If you handed a Longyou son a blade right now and told him to pick a side, he would, without the slightest hesitation, stab Wei Ao!

But misfortunes never come singly. Just as Wei Ao was hastily arranging the withdrawal from Qishan Fort, he learned a heaven-shaking piece of terrible news from the rear.

"Lord Wei, the White Horse Di of Wudu have colluded with the various Di tribes, raising troops in revolt! They have raised high their five-colored flower banners, and the calamity has spread to seven counties. The Qishan road — is cut off!"