Chapter 675: Cloud Dream

Over a hundred years had passed since the time of Emperor Wu of Han. The "nine-hundred-li Cloud Dream Marsh" in Sima Xiangru's great fu had long since lost its former grandeur. Shifting climates and changing river courses caused silt to steadily accumulate in the marsh. By the Xin Dynasty, Cloud Dream Marsh had split completely into eastern and western halves. Western Cloud Dream lay within Nan Commandery, while the main body of Eastern Cloud Dream was in Jiangxia Commandery, and its eastern tip was called "Xiakou."

At Xiakou, primordial forces had carved a web of rivers and lakes and a crisscross of pools and swamps. A cluster of hills ran neatly east to west; among them, Turtle Hill and Snake Hill locked the great river in place, squeezing the once broad Cloud Dream Marsh into a narrow river surface that merged into the Yangtze.

The south was vast and sparsely peopled, and this area had remained uninhabited until the early Han, with only a few sandbar villages. It was not until Feng Yi was ordered to garrison southern Jingzhou that the small town of Xiakou was built here, serving as a relay station between Jianghan and Jiujiang. The city wall was no more than two or three li in circumference, and compared to the enormous fleet anchored nearby these days, it seemed almost tiny.

The towered ships loomed like mountains, their sails like clouds, and countless great-wing, lesser-wing, and m engchong assault craft were interspersed among them. This was the trump card Liu Xiu had poured years of effort into building. His reasoning was sound enough: since the south lacked fine horses and could not form a chariot-and-cavalry force to match the shock cavalry under Diwu Lun, he would play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses. In the Jianghan and Jianghuai regions, where lakes spread everywhere and water networks crisscrossed, ships could substitute for horses to rapidly transport troops. Moreover, a powerful fleet was also an excellent logistics transport tool and a temporary fortress to rely on in battle.

The sight greatly boosted the confidence of the accompanying Han officers and officials. They fawned on Liu Xiu, who stood on the main ship gazing at Snake Hill: "Since the time of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, there has never been a fleet so mighty!"

Liu Xiu smiled and did not deny it. Only after the assembly of ministers ended and each returned to his own ship did he shake his head and say to Deng Yu, who had stayed behind: "Zhonghua, do you know which was the last army to be praised in such terms?"

Deng Yu lowered his head and said: "It was the three-hundred-thousand-strong army of Grand Minister of Works Wang Yi of the Xin Dynasty, outside Kunyang."

Liu Xiu shook his head: "The Great Han fleet appears mighty and can indeed boost morale, but this is our sole advantage. To win this campaign, we must ultimately rely on land warfare."

The Eastern Han sovereign and his ministers knew well that Jianghan absolutely could not be lost. Once the Wei army seized Jiangling, destroyed Gongsun Shu in the west, and gained the advantage of the upper river, they would inevitably use their national strength to gradually close the gap in naval forces. If that happened, the Han dynasty would merely be dying a slow death.

Liu Xiu therefore advanced with determination. As soon as the spring planting was over, he first ordered Feng Yi to bring thirty thousand troops from southern Jingzhou to reinforce northern Jingzhou. He even did not hesitate to use force against allied troops, all to keep Jiangling firmly in his own grasp.

On the other hand, Feng Yi was also bait, meant to draw Cen Peng's main army away from Xiangyang and toward the Yangtze line, away from the home ground the Wei army knew well and into the land of lakes and marshes where the Han army excelled.

Unlike the campaigns in Huainan and Xiangyang, where he had held back, this time Liu Xiu committed the entire state's resources. He nearly emptied the forces of Huainan, Jiangdong, and Jiujiang, scraping together over seventy thousand naval and land troops, and came west against the current.

Whether they could seize this one- or two-month window before Diwu Lun's reinforcements arrived and annihilate Cen Peng's forces at Jianghan became the key to how many more years the Great Han's flame banner could fly...

Today they anchored at Xiakou. In the deep of night, they suddenly received an urgent report from Feng Yi and learned with shock that Ying County had fallen and their beloved general Yao Qi had died in battle. Liu Xiu again performed distant sacrifices and posthumous honors, his tears falling into Cloud Dream Marsh.

"Back then, when I was adrift in Xuzhou, panicked as a dog that has lost its home, had Yao Qi not cleared the way for me with his halberd, I would several times have nearly failed to escape the Red Eyebrows' pursuit. Who could have expected that before our great work was done, the general would depart first..."

This matter grieved Liu Xiu deeply and cast a shadow over the war. But by the latter half of the night, Liu Xiu had recovered from this mood. He called over Deng Yu, who also could not sleep, and under the canopy of stars, pointed toward the towering Snake Hill and said:

"When the court ministers debated whether the provisional palace should be established at Jiangdu or moved to Jinling Town in Jiangdong, I regretted that I could not campaign west to see this place. Now, seeing the strategic position of Xiakou, I finally understand — this is the best place to establish the provisional palace!"

"Zhonghua once said that strategic dominance in the southeast must lie on the upper river. Thus Jinling Town is merely a place of passive safety; Jiangdu is in Huainan, and with Huaibei now hard to retake, it is easily threatened by the Wei army."

"As for the commanderies along the river, Chaisang and Ezhou are merely places to moor boats, without strategic advantage, while Jiangling is slightly too far west."

Liu Xiu was as excited as if he had found a treasure: "Only Xiakou — just look at its city walls, nestled against hills and overlooking the river, open in aspect and clear in prospect, relying on ramparts and using obstacles, with high vantage points overlooking the current. Above, one can gaze across flowing streams; below, the surging waves are rugged."

"And look at its overall geographical advantage: it grips Jianghan and belts Wu and Chu. Crossing the river west, one can reinforce Ba and Shu; east, one can protect Huainan; north, one can hold Jingxiang and march on Wan and Luo!"

Deng Yu strongly agreed with Liu Xiu's assessment: "Your Majesty's insight is profound! If one wishes to establish hegemony in the south, this must be made a stronghold. After this campaign, the Cheng family is bound to decline. In time, once Gongsun Shu dies, a two-way division of the realm will take shape. The front where the Great Han and the State of Wei clash will shift to the middle Yangtze. Your servant dares to request that Xiakou's walls be reinforced, people be relocated here, and this be made the provisional palace."

At this, both suddenly fell silent. Though their plans and visions were fine, the precondition was that they must win this battle!

After another while, the sky at the horizon turned the white of a fish's belly. Mist spread across Cloud Dream Marsh as if it were a fairyland. Seeing this sight for the first time, Liu Xiu's hesitant thoughts vanished at once. He simply said: "Ziwei's vanguard of over ten thousand has already entered the Han River and is now moving upstream, yes?"

He was speaking of the Han General of Massed Crossbows, Fu Jun, courtesy name Ziwei, also a man of Yingchuan and a close friend of Yao Qi.

Deng Yu acknowledged: "General Fu has gone ahead, making straight for Lan Kou Ju, the Wei army's grain transfer point, and will open the battle."

As the morning sun rose, the mist over Cloud Dream Marsh dispersed, revealing its vast, billowing expanse. The wind blew exactly from the east. Morning drums sounded in succession. The Han army's hundred ships lowered their oars, a thousand sails hoisted, awaiting only Liu Xiu's single command.

Liu Xiu did not hesitate a moment, pointing west: "Cross the great marsh, abandon the boats and go ashore, and appear behind Cen Peng!"

"Where there is a will, there is a way. The fighting spirit in the Han army's breast can swallow the nine-hundred-li Cloud Dream — how much more so a single Cen Peng?"

"Liu Xiu has come?"

Just one day later, Cen Peng, beneath the walls of Jiangling, learned from scouts deployed along Cloud Dream Marsh and the Han River that a large number of Han ships had appeared in Cloud Dream Marsh and were landing troops in the Jingling area.

The colonel in charge of eastern reconnaissance reported: "Grand General, towered ships fill the shore, landing troops stream on without end, banners and flags blot out the sky. A rough estimate puts their numbers above our own. The Wu army has committed the entire state's strength to save Jiangling!"

Unexpectedly, Cen Peng ignored this and only asked about another piece of news: apart from the Han main force landing at Jingling, a detached force had entered the Han River two days earlier and was moving upstream.

General Cen saw at a glance this force's objective: "This is Liu Xiu's vanguard, intent on raiding our rear grain depot, Lan Kou Ju."

Although Lan Kou Ju was only a small ferry crossing, it was the water-land hub of the middle Han River. All Wei army grain had to pass through there first. Once it was cut off, the main army at the front would have no provisions — a dire situation.

Cen Peng immediately issued an order: "Have the lieutenant general at Dangyang quickly dispatch three thousand troops to reinforce Lan Kou Ju."

Only after arranging this did he issue another command: "Have the great catapults double their bombardment — twice the rate of yesterday. We must beat the enemy inside the city so they cannot raise their heads or dare to peek out. Then order the three armies to abandon heavy baggage and prepare to march north!"

"Retreat?" The lieutenant generals and colonels looked at Jiangling, which after days of siege was already on the verge of collapse, and were all unwilling. After enduring several bombardments from the great catapults, the people of Jiangling were indeed wavering. Local gentry had even secretly come out via the waterways to offer surrender, expressing willingness to act as inside collaborators.

The Jiangling Han army had appeared weak from start to finish anyway. Would it not be better for the Wei army to push harder, take the city, and hold it against the approaching enemy, rather than retreat in haste?

Cen Peng, however, had his own reasoning: "Feng Yi is cunning. He wants me to think the enemy at Jiangling is easy to deal with."

"If we grow greedy and spend a few more days attacking here, even if we enter the outer walls and get help from the locals of Jiangling, Cen Peng still has over twenty thousand troops under his command. He could easily use Jiangling's streets, lanes, and neighborhood gates to tie us down in a grinding fight. When that boy Jia Fu strikes from the left and Liu Xiu's main army appears on the right, our army will be in grave danger!"

Under Cen Peng's repeated strict orders, the lieutenant generals and colonels could only withdraw resentfully, each returning to camp to prepare for the withdrawal. But in their hearts, they all lamented: "We were only a hair's breadth from breaking Jiangling. Our great achievement was nearly complete..."

The Jingzhou troops were mostly quite confident. Even with the troops of a single province facing the entire state's army of the Eastern Han, they did not believe their side was certain to lose.

But in Cen Peng's mind, his measure of how to build "achievement" and his grasp of the overall war situation were clearly very different from those of his subordinates.

Attendants hurriedly packed up the various books and scrolls in the general's tent; those they could not take in time had to be burned. Cen Peng only watched the slowly rolled-up map, revealing a smile no one else noticed: "Liu Wenshu, you have finally come!"