Chapter 647: I Really Am Pulling and Dragging

Unlike Geng Guang's fury, when Wu Han saw the Juyan Jiaqu fort piled with the corpses of the old and wounded, his emotions barely stirred.

With the realm in chaos all these years, Wu Han had seen too many dead bodies — quite a few of them by his own hand. As the notorious "Butcher" of the Wei armies, Wu Han's troops were infamous for their poor discipline and had done plenty of evil while campaigning across the Central Plains. Though they dared not defy orders by massacring a city, in the prosperous lands of Hebei, raiding a village and casually taking women was routine; if anyone resisted, the Yuyang soldiers would kill in anger and dump the bodies in the wilderness as a matter of course.

A general like that could hardly turn into a kindly soul just by changing location — only the target of the blade had shifted, the butcher's knife now aimed at foreign tribes rather than his own people.

Yet even the most black-hearted Wei troops would never have roped up two or three thousand elderly and weak and slaughtered them. The Xiongnu, however, had always held the old and feeble in contempt and felt no psychological barrier at all to killing the elderly of another tribe.

Having seen so many dead, Wu Han only had to crouch by the gully, poke at the bodies with his scabbard, and examine the color of the wounds to state with certainty: "They died two days ago."

Which meant that two days earlier, the Xiongnu had passed through here, realized the Wei army was in hot pursuit, and collectively butchered the old and weak who could not keep up before hurrying north.

So where had the main force of the Xiongnu Right Division run off to now?

Wu Han rose to his feet and gazed northeast. Their current position, Jiaqu Fort, was a Company Commander's defensive post under the Juyan Commandant's office, equal in rank to a township; Juyan City itself still lay over ten li away.

The vanguard and scouts were searching for the enemy in all directions and had entered Juyan City. But the Xiongnu had not lingered there, nor did they have any intention of using the city to fight the Wei army — they had abandoned it without the slightest hesitation. When Wu Han rode into Juyan City, it was eerily silent and empty; all he saw were the heads of the local Commandant and Company Commander swaying in the wind. They had been killed by the Xiongnu months ago, their severed heads hung from the city gate for the barbarian kites and crows to peck at, long since dried and withered.

The Juyan Commandant had been an old friend of Dou You, who was deeply grieved, but Wu Han's expression remained utterly unchanged. He merely ordered the men to give them a proper burial.

Wu Han convened an urgent war council inside Juyan City: "According to reports from the vanguard Meng Ze's division, the Xiongnu Right Worthy Prince's force, carrying nearly ten thousand captives and countless supplies and goods, is now north of Juyan City, at Tianbei Fort."

Hearing this, the lieutenant generals and colonels were quite pleased: "Tianbei Fort is only half a day's march from here. As long as the vanguard bites the tail of the Xiongnu Right Division, the main force can join battle tomorrow and make sure these barbarians never return!"

But Dou You, the Governor of Wuwei who was assisting Wu Han's campaign, hesitated. He cautiously raised a point: "General of the Rear, this could also be a trick of the barbarian foe. Ever since the Siege of Baideng, the Xiongnu have loved nothing more than feigning weakness to lure the enemy, letting the Han army penetrate deep before turning around and striking en masse."

The Xiongnu advanced when it profited them and retreated when it did not; fighting a pitched battle was a last resort. Their daily bread was pulling and dragging — in Diwu Lun's military manual, he had termed this Xiongnu tactic "pulling and dragging."

Those who had suffered from this trick were not few: from Gongsun He and Li Guang, who met defeat after venturing beyond the frontier following the Mayi Plot, to Li Ling, who set out from Juyan, was surrounded by the Xiongnu, and surrendered in despair. And the one who suffered the biggest loss of all was Li Guangli — Emperor Wu of Han's brother-in-law was trapped by the Xiongnu's luring tactics more than once.

To take a more recent example, hadn't that "Swallow-the-Barbarians General" in whom Wang Mang placed such high hopes also charged alone into Xiongnu territory, only to be surrounded and annihilated with his entire army?

So Dou You urged everyone to be cautious: if the main cavalry force of the Bing Province troops was lost here, Hexi would truly be finished.

Wu Han, however, responded by telling the assembly a story.

"Back when I was evading the Xin Dynasty's pursuit in You Province, the Wuhuan frequently raided the frontier. Yuyang and Right Beiping suffered the worst of it."

"The Governor of Yuyang Commandery was weak. Every time the Wuhuan came, he made it his sole duty to drive them beyond the border and dared not pursue deeply, always saying, 'The Wuhuan are cunning; if we venture beyond the frontier and are counterattacked, I fear the officers and men will not return.' So what was called 'protecting the territory and pacifying the people' was in reality escorting the Wuhuan out of the border from a safe distance. Over time, the Wuhuan saw through his stupidity and weakness and grew ever more brazen, sometimes even penetrating several hundred li to flaunt their might beneath the commandery city walls."

"At the time, Geng Yan and I were both serving as Commandants in Yaoyang County, Yuyang Commandery. We could no longer stomach the sight, so we donned our armor and rose up, galloping out with the county's stalwarts. We pursued and killed the Wuhuan for over a hundred li, took nearly a hundred heads, and recaptured a great deal of plundered wealth and many captives. From that day on, even when the Wuhuan raided the frontier, they never dared approach Yaoyang County again."

Having finished, Wu Han said: "The Xiongnu and the Wuhuan are both barbarians with the hearts of wolves and tigers. If we do not hurt them badly, even if we let these barbarians leave, Hexi may enjoy a few months of peaceful sleep, but come next autumn, the Xiongnu will surely raid the frontier again! When that time comes, Juyan will hang isolated beyond the borders, with no aid within or without, and the horrors of Jiaqu today will repeat themselves! Governor Dou, your clan's entire holdings are in Hexi — do you want to settle this once and for all, so the Right Worthy Prince never dares covet our borders again, or do you want to suffer their raids month after month, year after year, never sleeping in peace?"

Wu Han's words were indeed sound and struck at the interests of the Hexi gentry clans. After a brief silence, Dou You replied: "The Hexi troops are willing to follow the General to smash the barbarians!"

"Good!" Wu Han laughed heartily. In truth, he did not care in the slightest whether Hexi lived or died! This battle had to be fought for one reason alone: if he let the Xiongnu swagger off right under his nose with over ten thousand captives, how could he, General Wu, ever hold his head high on the frontier again?

Just then, a scout arrived from outside to report: "General of the Rear, Lieutenant Meng Ze of the vanguard has already rushed his troops to Tianbei Fort and is engaging the Xiongnu rearguard!"

…

The lower reaches of the Ruo River branched into many channels, spreading like capillaries, and Juyan itself closely resembled the lobes of a lung, divided into eastern and western halves that the locals called East Lake and West Lake.

The main city of Juyan bordered East Lake, using it as a natural barrier, while West Lake was shaped like the moon on its fifth day — a crescent. Tianbei Fort was like a star cradled in the arms of this crescent moon, its defensive walls standing between East and West Lakes, a mandatory passage for all travel north and south.

Yet this frontier fort, which had once defended against foreign foes, was now occupied by the Xiongnu. The narrow battlements were crowded with Xiongnu archers in pointed felt caps, and below the walls, a fierce battle had just concluded, the sand stained red with blood. This was the rearguard force the Right Worthy Prince had left at the very back. When the attack came, they had been trying to set up defenses at this fort to block the Wei army, but the enemy's onslaught was so ferocious that the Xiongnu outside the walls fled on instinct, leaving only a few hundred unlucky souls trapped inside the fort.

After Lieutenant Meng Ze hurriedly arrived with three battalions, he picked his way past the enemy and friendly corpses strewn across the ground and finally found his blood-spattered subordinate. Geng Guang was directing soldiers as they chopped poplar wood to make ladders.

Meng Ze walked over and berated him bluntly: "Battalion Commander Geng, General Wu and I have not yet given the order — why did you disregard military discipline and attack rashly?"

The one who had initiated this battle was precisely Geng Guang. Meng Ze's orders to him had only been to scout the enemy's situation; he never imagined the kid would just charge straight in!

When Meng Ze heard the news, he was so alarmed he immediately mounted his horse, because the Xiongnu rearguard numbered at least one or two thousand riders, while Geng Guang's battalion had only five hundred. If anything happened to Geng Guang, how would he explain it to the Grand General of Chariots and Cavalry?

Fortunately, the outcome did not seem bad. Geng Guang, neither servile nor overbearing, laid out his reasoning: "The barbarian foe is laden with vast numbers of captives and heavy baggage and is unwilling to abandon them, so their march is slow. Even after killing the old and weak, they can still only cover a few li a day, which is how our vanguard caught up. This Tianbei Fort lies between the two lakes and is the shortest route north. If we are blocked here, the Right Worthy Prince can withdraw at his leisure."

"Though the barbarians are many, after witnessing our army's ferocity, they are already like startled birds. I, your humble officer, came galloping from the south, kicking up a great deal of dust and making the barbarians mistakenly think a huge force was coming. They could only fight while retreating and abandon Tianbei Fort."

This scare tactic had actually worked. Meng Ze let out a breath of relief, set aside his scolding, and formally began treating Geng Guang as an adult, consulting him on the next operation: "There are still several hundred Xiongnu, but they are poor at defending cities. Let us quickly take this place."

Geng Guang, however, had his own idea: "Lieutenant, your humble officer believes that leaving one battalion to keep an eye on Tianbei Fort will suffice."

"The ancients said one Han soldier can match five barbarians. Dismounted, ten Xiongnu cannot defeat a single Wei soldier. One battalion is enough to hold them in stalemate. Leave them for the Hexi troops coming up behind. The main vanguard force should continue pursuing the Xiongnu to buy time for General Wu to bring on a decisive battle!"

"Out of the question!" Meng Ze objected reflexively. "The Right Worthy Prince's division has tens of thousands of riders. Even if they are distracted guarding captives, how can our mere brigade engage them?"

Better to play it safe — take this fort, chop off the heads of the barbarians inside, and let the clerks pretty it up into a glorious, morale-boosting victory. As for those ten thousand Hexi people, well, they had done their best…

Unexpectedly, Geng Guang countered with a question: "Your humble officer has heard that General Meng is from Xin Qin Zhong, and that your home lies north of the Great River?"

Meng Ze glanced at him, unsure of the point: "That is correct."

Geng Guang brought up an old incident: "In my youth, I heard the story. In the former dynasty, when the barbarian foe raided the frontier, everything north of the Great River was ravaged by the Xiongnu. The Xin Dynasty officials hid inside their walled forts and dared not open the gates. Several thousand refugees from Xin Qin Zhong were driven to the ferry crossing, wandering in helpless despair."

"At that moment, the Sacred Son of Heaven was garrisoned in Xin Qin Zhong. Though his rank was a mere Major, when his colleagues halted, he led a few hundred men, struck the water with his oars, and crossed the river, attacking the Xiongnu before the canal and saving the refugees' lives. I imagine General Meng enlisted around that time?"

"My elder brother often teaches me that from the very founding of our dynasty, His Majesty has taken saving the people from misery as his own duty — comforting the people and punishing the guilty, never empty words! Today, ten thousand people of Hexi are trapped in the barbarian dust. As a Wei general, I dare not refuse to save them!"

His ambition, after all, was to become a Huo Qubing! If his elder brother were here and saw this situation, he would charge forward without hesitation too, wouldn't he?

Meng Ze was silenced by this question. He had many reasons to refuse and could have used his authority as the superior officer to shout Geng Guang into obedience, but this memory set his thoughts churning.

That battle had been Diwu Lun's rise to fame. Meng Ze, as a commoner and wandering swordsman, had taken up his blade and joined Diwu Lun's ranks, following him to retake Xin Qin Zhong. Once upon a time, he too had been as fearless as Geng Guang.

Ten years — had it been ten years already? What had worn down his fighting spirit? What made him hesitate and hold back? Was it contentment with the "Count" title the Emperor had bestowed? The endless annual salary and the open and secret perks? Or was it that, past thirty, with a house full of wife and children, he had sunk into a life of comfort and grown ever more timid?

Closing his eyes, he could still seem to hear it — ten years ago, when Diwu Lun embarked on that campaign, the wooden boats cutting through the waves one after another, the long oars rising and falling, slapping the river's surface with a sharp, splashing sound.

After a moment, Meng Ze opened his eyes, clapped Geng Guang on the shoulder, and laughed: "Of course I remember that day. Meng Ze will never forget it."

"That day, when His Majesty led us to strike the barbarians, he said only one thing to the men."

"Cross the river!"

…

"What a man, that Geng Guang! He has a few traces of his elder brother's style!"

When Wu Han received the battle report sent back by the vanguard, he was so delighted he slapped his helmet. As long as the vanguard chased ahead and tied down the Xiongnu, the main force would have enough time to arrive.

No, it was not that simple. Wu Han had spent long years on the frontier. The Xiongnu Geng Guang saw was a monolithic evil barbarian tribe, but Wu Han knew that the Xiongnu were infinitely divisible.

"The Xiongnu's internal feuds are fiercer than those among the Great Wei's generals. The Right Worthy Prince commands many factions, and they will never hesitate to abandon their allies. By barbarian custom, the Right Worthy Prince will most likely leave some minor prince he dislikes to fight a doomed rearguard action while the rest of the divisions continue driving the captives back to the steppe."

That alone would not hurt the Right Division badly enough. Wu Han decided to take another risk and made arrangements with Dou You: "Governor Dou, take the Hexi troops and pass Tianbei Fort from the front, then pursue the Xiongnu rearguard directly. Let the barbarians think their scheme has worked."

Hearing this, Dou You nodded deeply: Indeed. The factional strife within the Wei army was no less than among the Xiongnu. He did not trust Wu Han and feared the general still bore a grudge over the time he and the Hexi clans had joined Diba Jiao in submitting a memorial to drive him out. Worried that Wu Han meant to deliberately send the Hexi "miscellaneous troops" to their deaths, he asked cautiously: "Then the General…"

Dou You's vision was too narrow. Wu Han might not be the most magnanimous, but he could at least distinguish the urgent from the trivial.

"I will lead ten thousand cavalry around the western shore of Juyan Lake."

Wu Han's hand traced a great arc in the air. "And appear right in front of the Right Worthy Prince's forces! If we're catching fish, we catch the big one! This is His Majesty's favorite tactic — 'the flanking maneuver'!"