Chapter 679: A Big Surprise

Li Tong had deliberately let his cousin go and submit to Wei, as a fallback in case Han fell, so the clan could be preserved. But personally, Li Tong's heart was still loyal to Han. As Former General, Marquis of Gushi, and husband of the Elder Princess, whether in power, glory, or favor, he had far more than the empty princely titles of the Gengshi regime — the price of switching courts was simply too high.

He had also recently learned that Liu Xiu had defeated the Wei army's rear force at Jianghan and successfully besieged Cen Peng at Dangyang, which greatly boosted Li Tong's confidence in the Han dynasty: even if restoring the Central Plains and returning to the old capital was difficult, holding the south and enduring for a few generations was still hopeful.

But the precondition for Han's victory was that Li Tong could stop the surging Geng Yan, so that Liu Xiu could unhurriedly destroy Cen Peng.

"It seems Geng Yan's force is precisely the relief army Diwu Lun sent to coordinate with Cen Peng."

"Jiangxia is His Majesty's flank, and the three passes of Ming'e are the gateway to Jiangxia. Geng Yan bringing the Huaibei army to strike here — he means to replay the Wu army's entry into Ying from the Spring and Autumn era!"

At the end of the Spring and Autumn period, there was a war that reshaped the realm. The army of King Helü of Wu, under the planning of Sun Wu and Wu Zixu, took an utterly unorthodox route: they did not advance upstream against the Yangtze as Chu had expected, but instead marched the Wu army along the Huai River, disembarked in the western Huai region, and then, with support from within Sui, advanced south through the rugged Ming'e, suddenly appearing in Chu's Jianghan heartland.

This threw the Chu army into great panic; they lost seven battles in a row, and in the end Wu's men stormed Ying, the capital. Wu Zixu flogged the tomb of King Ping of Chu, and the mighty Chu nearly perished…

After King Zhao of Chu restored the state, he absorbed this bitter lesson and built additional walled passes and fortifications at Ming'e, stationing heavy troops there. Mending the pen after the sheep were lost was not too late; during the Warring States period, Ming'e blocked the Qin army for over fifty years. This place also gained the attention of military strategists, and in both The Spring and Autumn of Lü Buwei and The Huainanzi it was listed among the nine great passes of the realm.

In fact, Ming'e consists of three pass fortresses: Dasui, Zhiyuan, and Ming'e, each under a separate county, guarding the defile paths between the Tongbai Mountains and the Dabie Mountains. They are currently under the unified command of General Who Pacifies Yue, Pang Meng. On average, the garrison at each pass numbers only a little over a thousand men.

This troubled Li Tong deeply. He had once lived long at the three passes with his clan and the remnants of the Greenwood Army and knew their strengths and weaknesses intimately: "Though the three passes are formidable, they are mutually supporting. If Geng Yan concentrates his forces and takes one pass first, the other two will fall without even needing to be attacked."

That was why General Who Pacifies Yue, Pang Meng, had urgently sought help, begging Li Tong to rush reinforcements.

Li Tong immediately dispatched four messengers: the one heading west to report to Liu Xiu's main force on the west bank of the Han River; the one heading south to notify Grand Minister of Works Deng Yu, stationed at Xiakou to coordinate provisions and rear support; and two heading north — one to Sui County to warn General Who Spreads Civilization, Jian Tan, to be on guard, and the other to reply to Pang Meng: "The Former General has already led his troops north. The three passes are the lock and key to the Huai and Han — they must not be lost!"

Liu Xiu's personal campaign this time had drained nearly all of Jiangdong's fresh troops, and the soldiers given to Li Tong were very few. He had even pulled in Jiangxia commandery troops and county levies, barely scraping together five thousand men. He marched north anxiously at the end of the fifth month, hoping only to reach Ming'e in time to help.

Anlu was no more than five days' march from Ming'e, but it was the height of the Jianghan plum rain season. With continuous rain, the troops marched and halted, utterly exhausted, and the clothes on Li Tong's body never dried.

Three days later, when the force reached a rural settlement called Yingshan between Anlu and Ming'e, the weather finally showed signs of clearing. But before Li Tong could catch his breath and change into dry armor, the scouts deployed ahead came back in terror to report:

"Former General, we have encountered a large Wei army force, less than five li from here!"

"What?" Li Tong was so shocked on his war chariot that he nearly fell off. "Ming'e was breached this quickly?"

Li Tong no longer had time to ponder what exactly had happened at the front. Before the Han army could shift from a long column into a defensive horizontal formation, with the sound of hooves trampling through standing water, tall, large cavalry horses came howling in, scattering the still-unresponsive Han soldiers in utter disarray!

This cavalry force numbered a full two to three thousand. The Han army could not withstand them; the temporarily conscripted Jiangxia commandery troops and county levies collapsed one after another. Only as his attendants and personal guards fought desperately to escort him to safety did Li Tong look back and, from the enemy's banners, make out their unit designation:

"Youzhou shock cavalry?!"

…

This encounter battle was completely one-sided. The shock cavalry's assault caught the Han army utterly off guard, and the five thousand men soon scattered like birds and beasts. The shock cavalry did not let up; they fixed their eyes on the Han soldiers' heads and pursued with howls, forcing Li Tong to retreat into the wooded hills to the west, not daring to show himself on the plains again.

A short while later, Assistant General Wang Liang, who commanded this battle, sat astride his Wuhuan horse and watched his men chase the fleeing enemy. As he laughed heartily, a question arose in his mind: "The Han troops are so feeble — why, five years ago, was Brother Gai defeated, captured, and imprisoned in Jiangdong?"

In those days, Gai Yan and Wang Liang had followed Wu Han, killed the Governor of Yuyang, and raised the banner of righteousness to join Diwu Lun, earning them the name "Three Heroes of Yuyang." After that, Wu Han rose all the way to a titled general, holding military power, while Gai Yan followed Ma Yuan in the Central Plains and made his name, rising to a miscellaneous-title general. Only Wang Liang remained in Yuyang as Governor; though enfeoffed as a count, his military rank was still no more than "Assistant General," which inevitably left him feeling somewhat abashed.

But his opportunity had come at last. With Gai Yan captured for years, his fate unknown, and Wu Han stationed in Bing Province defending against the Xiongnu, he would likely miss this great war. The Yuyang troops were fierce and unruly; apart from those two, only Wang Liang could handle them, so Diwu Lun had selected him to march south. Leading three thousand Yuyang shock cavalry, Wang Liang had followed the Hebei troops to Kunyang Pass, then passed through Runan Commandery and joined the headquarters of the Grand General of Chariots and Cavalry…

Geng Yan's force of thirty thousand was mostly composed of Qing and Xu infantry. Wang Liang was thus able to lead the shock cavalry as the vanguard and advance south first. He had not expected to rout the Jiangxia garrison in a single battle, clearing the obstacles ahead.

The next day, news of Wang Liang's "Great Victory at Yingshan" reached the rugged mountain paths of the three Ming'e passes, where Geng Yan's main army was streaming through in an unbroken line.

"Wang Liang has won great merit."

Seeing the victory report, Geng Yan said to a gaunt young civil official accompanying him: "But Colonel Zhang's merit is no less than Wang Liang's. Had the Colonel not sent the Embroidered Uniform Guard to persuade Pang Meng to open the pass and surrender to Wei, given Ming'e's formidable terrain, it might have taken me an extra day or two to break through."

This man was none other than Zhang Yu, who directed Wei's intelligence operations in the south. He bowed modestly and replied: "Even without Pang Meng's surrender, with the Grand General's might, the three Ming'e passes would have been nothing. Zhang Yu merely came by the sovereign's command to assist."

Had Liu Xiu and Li Tong heard these words, they would likely have been greatly shocked. The swift loss of the three Ming'e passes was actually because General Who Pacifies Yue, Pang Meng, had brazenly surrendered to Wei!

Not only would they be baffled — even Geng Yan found it strange. He now asked Zhang Yu: "When I was in Huaibei, I often heard that Pang Meng was highly valued. Liu Xiu considered him a man to whom one could entrust a six-chi orphan and a hundred-li charge, enfeoffing and appointing him general, giving him heavy responsibility. Eating the sovereign's salary and being loyal to the sovereign's cause — why did Pang Meng surrender so quickly?"

"That is not strange." Zhang Yu smiled. "By His Majesty's command, the Embroidered Uniform Guard has gathered and studied the backgrounds and preferences of every important minister and general in the enemy state, one by one. From Feng Yi and Deng Yu at the top down to Pang Meng and others at the bottom — each has his weakness."

Seeing Geng Yan's interest, Zhang Yu recounted the process: "Our inquiries revealed that in his youth, Pang Meng fled his hometown after injuring someone and becoming a wanted fugitive. That in itself is nothing — our court's Generals Ma and Wan also once wandered in exile beyond the northern frontier, which is how they met His Majesty in those turbulent times. But at the very least, one settles one's family so they are not implicated. This Pang Meng, however, abandoned his parents, wife, and children to their fate, caring only for his own escape."

"Later, Pang Meng fled to Jiangxia and joined the Greenwood Army, but he was not given important posts in the Gengshi court. He drifted under various Greenwood chieftains; whenever battle came and a chieftain died, Pang Meng always survived and simply switched to a new master. It was only when the Red Eyebrows' great army marched south that Pang Meng threw in his lot with Wang Chang, followed him to Ming'e, and later submitted to Liu Xiu, gradually distinguishing himself. The Huainan campaign was his first merit, defeating the Red Eyebrows his second, capturing Gai Yan his third, and pacifying the Shanyue his fourth. Thus he gained Liu Xiu's trust and rose to a miscellaneous-title general."

Geng Yan nodded. "Though Liu Xiu is no match for His Majesty, he is still a formidable lord, and his treatment of Pang Meng counts as appreciative patronage. A warrior dies for the one who knows his worth — what discontent could Pang Meng have, to the point of surrendering without a fight?"

"The discontents are many." Zhang Yu smiled. "Two years ago, Pang Meng had just swept the Shanyue and considered it a great achievement, yet he was ordered to garrison Ming'e. He disdained the place as barren and wanted to stay in Kuaiji instead, unwilling to take the post, and was reprimanded by Liu Xiu."

"Pang Meng has always been at odds with his colleagues. He bears a grudge against the neighboring friendly force, General Who Spreads Civilization, Jian Tan, who garrisons Sui County. To mediate between the two, Liu Xiu had no choice but to send Li Tong to command Jiangxia as their superior. But recently, Liu Xiu's edicts have only been delivered to Li Tong and Jian Tan, rarely to Pang Meng. Pang Meng thus suspected that Li Tong and Jian Tan were slandering him."

"After all, although Pang Meng came from the Greenwood, his native place is Changyi in Yan Province, so he is excluded by the Nanyang, Yingchuan, Greenwood, and Jiangdong factions. He could only be Liu Xiu's isolated servant. If the sovereign's favor waned even slightly, unease would grow in his heart."

"Just at this moment, the General's great army approached the pass, and Pang Meng was awed and terrified. The Embroidered Uniform Guard agents hidden at Ming'e seized the chance to persuade him. The disparity in strength between Wei and Wu goes without saying. They also told Pang Meng that his family and ancestral graves back in his hometown of Changyi were all being looked after by Great Wei, and promised that rising in righteousness would bring the reward of a marquisate."

"Pang Meng weighed the pros and cons, concluded he could not match the General, and that if he abandoned the pass and fled, he would surely be denounced by Liu Xiu's ministers and might even lose his life. Better to open the pass and surrender…"

Such was the full story behind the surrender of Ming'e. After hearing it, Geng Yan could only sigh: "A pity. Pang Meng is a capable commander; he could have fought me to his heart's content. Who would have thought the man so worthless? This battle is truly dull."

Zhang Yu responded: "Indeed. Liu Xiu treated Pang Meng with such favor, yet he still betrayed him — how much more so with us? I hear Pang Meng has requested to lead his old troops to besiege Sui County, to relieve the General of any worries in the rear. But this man absolutely cannot be trusted. I hope the General will strip him of military authority and send him to the rear under house arrest until the great battle is over."

"Then it shall be as the Embroidered Uniform Colonel suggests."

After dealing with Pang Meng, Geng Yan subsequently learned that after his rout, Han's Former General Li Tong had fled west toward Sui County with a remnant force of over a thousand, and would likely join forces with General Who Spreads Civilization, Jian Tan.

"A mere few thousand men — no hindrance to the overall situation, not worth our army's sideways glance. Leave them for the Nanyang forces to clean up."

Geng Yan was very clear on his mission. He turned to look back at the towering three fortresses of Ming'e; all thirty thousand Qing and Xu troops had now passed through. He then gave the order: "Leave only three thousand men to guard Ming'e. The rest are to carry ten days' dry rations and advance south at speed!"

Once past Ming'e, the Jiangxia plain lay open and unobstructed right before them! Young Geng, who had been pent up in Huaibei for so long, felt like a fish entering the vast sea, a bird soaring into the blue sky.

"Pass the order: the army will split into two routes. The eastern route, led by General Wang Liang, will take the Yuyang shock cavalry and other troops, seven thousand in all, and drive straight for the confluence of the Han River and the Great River, to block Xiakou and destroy the Wu army's docks and ferries, so that Deng Yu cannot provide support."

"The western route, twenty thousand men, I will lead personally, cutting across Jiangxia Commandery to Jingling County!"

That was where Liu Xiu had disembarked, and also the Han army's rear, where all the provisions and fodder from Xiakou were stockpiled.

This was the task Diwu Lun had given Geng Yan: a sweeping flanking maneuver, to give Xiù'er a big surprise!