Chapter 672: You Have Zhang Liang's Stratagem

In late April, when Cen Peng reached Changban Slope at Dangyang, only an empty encampment remained. The Wei army's shock cavalry had come far too swiftly; the Han army had no time to pack up and retreat in good order, forced instead to flee in haste. Yao Qi had even been compelled to burn part of the provisions and fodder.

At the charred remains of the granary, Cen Peng reached down and grabbed a handful of ash, still mixed with quite a few scorched grains. Unfazed, he blew away the floating dust, rubbed it between his calloused palms, and popped it into his mouth, chewing as he walked. He even joked with Yin Shi beside him: "Turning on allied troops — isn't that a Wei army tradition? To think Feng Yi actually picked it up."

Yin Shi's official career in the State of Wei had gone smoothly. After Diwu Lun suppressed the Red Eyebrows, Yin Shi served as Acting Governor of Nanyang, and was later transferred to be Governor of Nan Commandery, with his seat of administration at Xiangyang, where he performed his duties with utmost diligence. This year, when Diwu Lun resolved to move against Jingzhou, he promoted Yin Shi again to "Inspector of Jingzhou," with a rank and salary of "Full Two Thousand Bushels."

For a man who had surrendered from the Gengshi regime — and had once been the greatest financial backer of the brothers Liu Bosheng and Liu Wenshu — Yin Shi's meteoric rise in rank seemed somewhat too rapid. At court and among the people, there was much whispered gossip: "Yin Cibo as Inspector — could it be that he mostly relies on the influence of his younger sister, Consort Yin?"

Unlike the Grand Minister of Agriculture Ren Guang, who tirelessly sought to cultivate a "Nanyang faction," Cen Peng had no interest in the affairs of the imperial harem, nor any wish to inquire further. All he knew was that years ago, the siblings Yin Shi and Yin Lihua had fallen out over the "prisoner exchange" incident between Liu Bosheng and Diwu Lun, and had scarcely associated with each other since. When Yin Shi entered the capital to report on his duties and attend court, he did not even visit Consort Yin.

This was perhaps a deliberate act by the clever siblings. But the Emperor's heavy reliance on Yin Shi was more because the man had served as Cen Peng's deputy for many years, making cooperation quite convenient. The southern campaign concerned the unification of all under Heaven; Diwu Lun would not let personal feelings interfere.

Yin Shi's title of Inspector of Jingzhou was nominal, without real substance. His territory began at Xiangyang, and wherever Cen Peng fought, his jurisdiction expanded accordingly. At the moment, there was one matter urgently requiring resolution: "Grand General, ever since Feng Gongsun captured Tian Rong, the counties of Nan Commandery that were loyal to Tian Rong have all petitioned to surrender. Moreover, remnants of Tian Rong's old troops have broken through the encirclement and come over to us in waves, totaling over ten thousand. I do not know how they should be settled."

After Feng Yi detected Tian Rong's inclination to defect to Wei, he dealt with it with thunderous speed, striking to seize Jiangling and quelling a great chaos before it erupted — truly a brilliant move. It also made Cen Peng understand why his old opponent's prior deployments had seemed so rigid. But with the allied forces erupting into internal strife on the eve of battle, even though Tian Rong failed to defect, Nan Commandery was already in chaos, and the effect was much the same.

As for these surrendered soldiers, the usual method of handling them was to accept their surrender and reorganize them.

Cen Peng shook his head. "But with the main army about to march south, there is no time to screen them one by one. If we send them to the rear, to places like Xiangyang, to be detained, we would have to divert troops to guard them. If we order them to accompany the army as trench-fillers, leaving aside how many of them are spies planted by Feng Yi, even if they are sincerely submitting now, their families are mostly in Jiangling and Yiling, all under Feng Yi's control. Feng Gongsun is very adept at psychological warfare; he will certainly treat their elders, wives, and children well. That would throw the surrendered soldiers into great emotional turmoil, and if they plot mutiny and rise up, they will instead disrupt our own formations."

In chaotic times, the last thing one could trust was the human heart. Yin Shi therefore offered a plan: "Grand General, since the majority of these surrendered troops are from Jiangling and Yiling, and now that Tian Rong has been captured, they are all unwilling to fight further and are desperately homesick. Why not issue them rations and disband them on the spot, sending them back to their villages? Feng Yi will also suspect that Wei soldiers are mixed in among them and will absolutely not allow them to return smoothly. The enemy's available troops are already few; if these men return in groups and bands, roaming the rivers, lakes, mountains, and forests as bandits, they will surely give Feng Gongsun a massive headache!"

"Even if Feng Yi tries to force Tian Rong to come forward and reorganize these men, he lacks sufficient provisions to attract their allegiance. These fickle soldiers have little fighting strength anyway, and might even turn their coats again at the critical moment."

This was using bandits as soldiers — truly a ruthless scheme. Cen Peng nodded, then looked at Yin Shi. "Inspector of Jingzhou, are you not afraid that after the war, these ten thousand men will remain as bandit gangs, difficult to suppress, and become a scourge to your jurisdiction?"

Yin Shi laughed. "Liu Xiu has carved out a separatist regime in the southeast and encroached upon northern Jingzhou — that is a cancer on the limbs and trunk of our dynasty. A pack of petty bandits is merely a skin rash. If I can sweep clean northern Jingzhou in one stroke, what does it matter if I spend a few more years suppressing bandits for His Majesty?"

Cen Peng thereupon approved Yin Shi's plan. Changban, as the sole strategic point on land in Nan Commandery, was garrisoned with eight thousand troops, and Yin Shi was tasked with forwarding provisions and supplies from Dangyang County. Cen Peng himself led the main army further south, following the smooth, open roads of the Jianghan Plain. Within a few days, they had approached the Yangtze River, and his forces arrived at Ying County.

Over two hundred years ago, after the Qin state took control of the Jianghan region, it divided the former Chu capital of Ying into two. The northern part, the Chu royal palace at Jinan City, became Ying County. The southern part, the residential and market district, was called Jiangling County. The Commandery Governor and his deputy resided in Jiangling, while the Commandery Commandant was stationed in Ying County, which had higher walls and was easier to defend but harder to attack. This became a fixed arrangement, inherited by the Han dynasty.

As the chaos of war subsided, Jiangling's population grew further. The Jiangling city district expanded, its streets crossing the Yang River, a tributary of the Yangtze, and extending northward to merge with Ying County into a single continuous area. During Wang Mang's reign, the Jingzhou Governor simply built an additional outer wall, which was how it reached its scale of several dozen li in circumference.

"Ying County is like the outer gate of Jiangling's northern wall. The two cities are as close as lips and teeth. To take Jiangling, one cannot bypass Ying County."

Cen Peng carefully observed the enemy situation through his telescope. On the walls of Ying County, the White Emperor banner and the Great Han flame banner flew side by side. Han soldiers and civilian laborers were actively piling up fortifications, and a considerable number of troops had been deployed. The main gate was tightly shut, and no matter how the Wei army provoked them, they refused to send troops out to fight — the posture of a long-term, stubborn defense.

Cen Peng lowered his telescope and declared with emotion, "I have already guessed Feng Gongsun's stratagem!"

As Feng Yi's deputy, the Tiger-Tusk General Yao Qi had been ordered to defend Ying County with ten thousand men. Watching the Wei army's daily provocations, this fierce general grew indignant. He went to the main camp at Jiangling to see Feng Yi and request battle: "Grand General, Cen Peng claims to have a hundred thousand, but from what I have observed, after deducting the troops left to guard and transport supplies along the route, the force that has reached the shores of the Jianghan numbers no more than fifty thousand — not much different from our own. Why not take advantage of their long-distance expedition and their lack of a firm foothold to sally forth and fight a decisive battle?"

Feng Yi, however, shook his head. "If we take the initiative and attack, it will be thirty thousand against fifty thousand — the advantage lies with the enemy. How can you say it is not much different?"

Yin Shi's plan of "using bandits as soldiers" had indeed had some impact on the Han army. Feng Yi had initially tried hard to block their return home, but later, after realizing the opponent's intent, he simply concentrated his forces. Apart from the Yangtze stronghold of Yiling to the west, he abandoned all the county towns and pulled back into Jiangling and Ying County.

He then pointed at the great city of Jiangling and said, "On the contrary, by substituting defense for offense, with the hundred thousand people of Jiangling aiding me, we can offset our inferiority in troops."

What worried Yao Qi most was precisely the people of Jiangling: "The people of Jiangling have long forgotten the virtuous benevolence of the Great Han. Even though you, General, enforce strict discipline over your troops, the scholars and gentry of Jiangling still glare at us from the roadside, viewing the Han soldiers as outsiders. Tian Rong's defection to Wei was not a sudden whim. The entire Nan Commandery fears Wei like a tiger and has absolutely no will to fight. Your subordinate fears that as soon as a great battle begins, the people of Jiangling will rise up en masse and defect to the enemy."

Feng Yi replied, "I have already sent men to spread word that the Wei army delights in slaughter. Though the people of Jiangling do not entirely believe it, they suffered looting by the Shu army a few years ago and still have the fear of mistaking a well-rope for a venomous snake. Moreover, Jiangling is by no means an isolated city. The northerners' naval forces are no match for the south's. The Yangtze waterway connects to Ba-Shu in the west, reaches Yunmeng in the south, and extends to Chaisang in the east — all unimpeded. As long as the grain shipments from commanderies like Changsha do not cease for a single day, and the people of Jiangling receive their food, their hearts will be settled, and they will more or less assist me in the defense."

This brought up Feng Yi's proudest achievement. The Eastern Han had enjoyed several years of peace, and the people's livelihood and economy had recovered to some extent. But although southern rice is filling, April and May are, after all, the season when the old crop is exhausted and the new has yet to ripen. Before the autumn harvest, Changsha could actually only send out three hundred thousand bushels of grain, just enough to keep the soldiers and civilians of Jiangling half-hungry for three months.

But Feng Yi had resorted to a trick. He often had the Changsha ships arrive in the evening. By the fading light of the setting sun, the people of Jiangling could see with their own eyes cart after cart of gleaming white Xiang River rice being unloaded and sent into the granaries to pile up. And this unloading operation "continued without pause through the night," until early morning, when residents came to watch the bustle again and saw the last few carts of rice entering the storehouses, truly believing that the Han army's grain supply was inexhaustible!

Feng Yi also announced that in the city's wards, each household would receive a set amount of food daily based on its registered population. The wardens and Elders would lead the able-bodied young men to collect it, and after eating, they had to assist in defending the city. At the same time, the elderly in the city were given an extra portion of grain, and minor officials were sent to offer greetings morning and evening.

The people of Jiangling had suffered enough from the Shu army's plundering and had been exploited for so many years by the warlord Tian Rong. They had never seen such a kind-hearted general. Just as the elders of Guanzhong, upon meeting Liu Bang, who made a three-point covenant of law, wished he would stay and become King of Qin, the people of Jiangling felt that the Wei army most likely could not be better than Feng Yi. Their will to resist gradually faded, and they began to follow orders...

Yao Qi had observed all these things. While he admired Feng Yi, he could not help but relay the complaints of the officers and men from southern Jingzhou: "Everyone says that you, General, are treating the people of Jiangling too well! All the other counties of Nan Commandery have been lost, and we hold only the single city of Jiangling in northern Jingzhou. Are we to sustain it entirely on the lifeblood of southern Jingzhou?"

Feng Yi, however, merely said, "Cikuang, set your mind at ease. Before autumn arrives, the situation in Jingzhou will surely see a turning point!"

Yao Qi seemed to grasp something. "The Grand General means..."

Feng Yi stroked his beard and smiled. "His Majesty and Minister of Works Deng originally had a brilliant plan to defeat Cen Peng and settle Jingzhou. Now, with Jia Fu at their side, the odds of success are even greater."

Deng Yu had been praised by Liu Xiu as "my Zhang Liang." Although his practical command skills were nothing special, even Feng Yi deeply admired his ability to devise strategies from behind the scenes.

He did not elaborate on what this "brilliant plan" was, but only said solemnly: "Ying is a strong city. Not to mention the affairs of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, during the Chu-Han Contention, when King Gong Wei of Linjiang refused to submit to Emperor Gaozu, the Han ordered Liu Jia and Lu Wan to attack Jiangling. They were blocked by Ying County and could not take it. Emperor Gaozu then had to send the Marquis of Xindu, the General of Chariots and Cavalry Jin She, as a separate reinforcement before Jiangling was finally breached. It took nearly a year."

"What His Majesty and I ask of you, Cikuang, is not much: you need only hold Ying County for three more months!"

Yao Qi understood that this was a confidential matter of state and military strategy not to be spoken of lightly. He returned to Ying County to reassure his troops, thinking to himself: "Never mind a mere three months. With you, General, and Jiangling, and even the naval forces and grain ships on the river as our rear support, this Ying County can be held for half a year!"

But very soon, Yao Qi's confidence suffered a massive blow.

On the third day of the Wei army's siege, a lookout on the wall came to report: "General Yao, the Wei army is hewing great timbers and has set up strange siege engines in the open ground outside the city..."

Upon hearing this, Yao Qi grabbed his great halberd and went up onto the wall again. The Han army had no telescopes and had to rely on the naked eye to observe the enemy. Squinting into the distance, he saw that Cen Peng's fifty-thousand-strong army was encamped in clear order. The Wei army had made full use of Jingzhou's lush vegetation. Over ten thousand men, working in batches to fell, dry, and transport timber, had already constructed many siege engines: there were towering observation towers, level with the city walls, that could exchange fire with the Han army; there were rows of battering rams taking shape, now being covered with oxhide; and countless scaling ladders were being completed one after another — ever since the Wei army's reforms a few years ago, which established a separate "Engineer Brigade" within the army, the efficiency of constructing equipment had greatly increased.

Beyond these, there were three engines that Yao Qi had never seen before, standing two li away.

They closely resembled the "flying stones" — that is, small traction trebuchets — commonly used since the Warring States period, but their size far exceeded them.

The thick, massive timber supports were stouter than an elephant's leg. The huge throwing arms and axle tips were longer than the crossbeams of a palace hall. They still employed the lever structure of traditional trebuchets, but there were differences: for instance, the pull-ropes for human traction had vanished without a trace, replaced by several cumbersome "wooden boxes," and no one knew what was inside them.

These siege engines were not yet fully constructed. The craftsmen were patiently assembling them and installing their soul: specially made sinew torsion cables.

The soldiers on the wall were also murmuring in low voices, debating and guessing what these things were. After all, in past wars, the Wei army had from time to time pulled out several new types of weapons.

"This is nothing but the Wei army bluffing and putting on a show of force!"

Yao Qi rebuked the men, but in his heart, he too had an ominous premonition. He felt that this matter was of grave importance and must be reported to Feng Yi. He anxiously instructed his trusted aide:

"Quickly, go and request Grand General Feng!"