Chapter 120: Dead End

(Second update)

"That fellow can't sit still again."

Heifu sighed, lifted the curtain and went in to look — sure enough, it was Dongmen Bao raging like thunder.

It turned out that after arriving at Daliang, Dongmen Bao had counted the days and realized his wife's due date had already passed and his child had been born. So he gave up the idea of rushing back to Nan Commandery at once, and instead set his mind on winning battle merit in the campaign against Wei, so he could secure a good start in life for the "son" he had never met.

Noble rank and the corresponding land and house benefits could be passed down to a son, so most Qin family members sending their young men off to war would have tears streaming down both cheeks while exhorting them: "If you win no merit, do not return."

Fight, take heads, earn merit, rise in rank — for the great majority of Qin commoners, this was the only path of social advancement.

But the way the war was unfolding right now had dashed Dongmen Bao's plans. After half a month digging ditches beneath the walls of Daliang, he had turned completely into a caged, raging beast…

Looking at the others, Ji Ying was picking lice out of his clothes, Bu Cheng was still calculating tomorrow's weather, Li Xian was mending clothes with his head down, and the rest were lying on straw mats, enjoying a rare rest.

Over these days, they had all grown used to Dongmen Bao's roaring, and no one paid him any attention anymore.

So Dongmen Bao could only come over and pester Heifu, complaining to him: "Heifu, tell me — what exactly is that young General Wang up to? It's been half a month, he hasn't attacked the city, hasn't fought a battle, what does he want?"

"You want to know?" Heifu raised his eyes. Dongmen Bao nodded hurriedly: "I do!"

Heifu had previously only been guessing based on historical records, so he hadn't told everyone the truth outright, but after observing these past few days, he already saw General Wang Ben's plan as clearly as a fire in a cave.

"Do you still remember Yan County, which we passed through?" Heifu had Dongmen Bao sit down.

"I remember." Dongmen Bao certainly did — that Gong Ao who lived in the neighboring hut was from Yan County.

"The northeast city wall of Yan County is newly built, a different color from the other wall faces. Did you notice?"

Dongmen Bao shook his head like a rattle-drum: "Didn't notice."

Heifu of course knew this reckless fellow wouldn't pay attention to such details, so he went on: "That section of earthen wall was soaked and burst by floodwaters over fifty years ago. At the time, Lord Wu'an was attacking Chu. While besieging Yan City, he couldn't take it for a long time, so he used the nearby watercourses, built dikes to store water, and dug a long canal straight to beneath Yan City, then opened the canal to flood the city — and Yan City fell…"

At this, the others all stopped what they were doing and gathered around. Li Xian was the first to ask: "Does the Platoon Chief mean that General Wang is now besieging Daliang without attacking, and having us dig ditches, because he intends to follow Lord Wu'an's method?"

"Exactly. Daliang has ample granaries; if they defend to the death, they can hold out for half a year to a year. And there are over a hundred thousand soldiers and civilians inside the city. If we storm it by force, our army will certainly suffer heavy losses. So the most secure method of taking the city is a water assault!"

City walls in this era were mostly rammed earth, extremely thick, so the various catapults seen in films and shows were actually of little real use. Water and fire, on the other hand, often had wondrous effects in siege warfare. Sunzi's Art of War has an entire chapter devoted to fire assault, and water assault was also widely employed by military thinkers of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The most famous example is probably the story of Zhi Bo flooding Jinyang City — Zhao Wuxu barely survived it.

Heifu continued: "I wonder if you've noticed — the terrain of Daliang City is naturally low-lying, and not far to the north is the surging Great River. I asked several Wei people who were captured and put to hard labor, and they said the Great River's terrain is actually several chi higher than the ground! It's only been kept from flooding these past ten-plus years by the earthen dikes at Xingyang holding it back."

"Just imagine — if General Wang were to have garrison soldiers and convict laborers dig open the river defenses at Xingkou, then use a long canal to bring the water here and block the Honggou Canal…"

Bu Cheng, being a day-diviner who dealt in geomancy and superstition, was more sensitive to terrain. He immediately sucked in a breath of cold air: "In that case, Daliang would be inundated by floodwaters pouring backward!"

"Precisely. That way, this city could be breached by the great flood without Qin losing a single soldier to casualties!"

Heifu was full of emotion too. This Wang Ben truly was the son of the old general Wang Jian — you could tell from his siege methods that Wang Ben had learned his father's signature skills.

When the Wang family fought a war, as long as there was no need to take risks, their approach could be summed up in one word: steady!

And Wang Jian was steady as an old dog. The key was, while being steady, he would also throw in a bit of surprise, a bit of "all's fair in war," a bit of scheming and trickery. Zhao's last famous general, Li Mu, was done in by exactly that…

Victorious on the battlefield, yet defeated by court intrigue.

Once Heifu said this, Dongmen Bao blinked and said: "So you're saying we came to Daliang not to fight, but specifically to be conscripted to dig ditches as corvée laborers?"

"You've finally got it right."

Dongmen Bao immediately stamped his feet in fury.

Ji Ying also spoke up: "Heifu, if that's the case, once the river water floods in, won't Daliang fall very quickly?"

Heifu, however, shook his head: "Not so. This method, though steady enough, is also slow. I've taken a good look around outside Daliang these past few days — it truly deserves its reputation as a great stronghold of the Central Plains. No matter which side, the walls are rammed very thick. Without two or three months, they can't be soaked through and breached. Even if the great flood pours into the city and submerges the ground, the Wei people inside won't surrender right away. So this war is still far from over…"

"By the day the city falls, the Wei people, surrounded by the great flood, will have long been cooking with their cauldrons suspended, and disease may even break out. Their morale and fighting spirit will have long been worn away. Once the walls are breached, the King of Wei will probably surrender outright, and there won't be any fighting to do inside the city then."

"Therefore, staying here will absolutely earn you no merit or rank!"

At these words, everyone's faces fell. They had already been away from home for over three months, traveling a thousand li to get here. The money they'd brought was gradually spent, their clothes and shoes were worn and torn, and they'd done many days of bitter labor alongside convicts. It truly hadn't been easy. If in the end there was no merit to be earned, this trip would be a terrible loss.

Heifu of course understood this clearly. Wasn't he himself single-mindedly seeking merit and promotion? If the war ended and he was still just a Zanniao-rank Platoon Chief, when he returned to Anlu County, who knew how Left Commandant Yun Man, who had a grudge against him, would scheme to harm him.

To the Wei people inside the city, Daliang was already a death-trap, a doomed land. To Heifu, who pursued merit and achievement, was this place not also a dead end?

He looked at the expressions of the people in the hut. Apart from a few with mediocre martial skills, who breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that staying at Daliang would mean a safe end to the campaign, the rest were all somewhat unwilling to accept this…

And this unwillingness was exactly what Heifu wanted!

So Heifu spoke again: "But right now, there is an opportunity! A chance for us to leave Daliang and seek a chance to earn merit!"

At these words, everyone's eyes suddenly lit up!

…

Half a shichen passed. After discussing and settling matters with everyone, Heifu took off the worn coarse-wool jacket he wore for labor, changed into a new robe he had pressed at the very bottom of his luggage, tied on his red headband that marked him as a Platoon Chief, and walked out of the camp tent.

Amid the crowd in their gray and black tones, Heifu stood out conspicuously.

"Platoon… Platoon Chief, the… the willow branch you wanted."

At that moment, Little Tao came running over, panting, and handed Heifu a willow twig soaking in a bowl — this was what Heifu had sent him to find.

Heifu didn't stand on ceremony. He took the willow twig, bit it open with his teeth, but then looked at the not-very-clear water in the bowl and asked suspiciously: "This water in the bowl — it's not from the moat, is it?"

That moat, all day long, had tens of thousands of people pissing into it — it had practically become a stinking latrine.

"It's not." Little Tao's face went red with nervousness, and he waved his hands stammeringly: "Absolutely not! This… this is well water."

The old wells had all had dead livestock thrown into them by the Wei people to strengthen their defenses and clear the countryside. The well water Little Tao spoke of was from the new wells that Heifu and the other garrison soldiers had been ordered to dig over the past half month.

Little Tao was an honest fellow and wouldn't deceive Heifu, so Heifu doubted no further. Using the water, he rinsed his mouth with the bitten-open willow twig.

Conditions on campaign were limited, but Heifu still cleaned his mouth every day. In this era, a bad tooth couldn't be fixed, and Heifu had no desire to end up in his thirties with a mouthful of rotten teeth like the commoners and convict laborers.

What's more, speaking to a superior with a mouth full of bad breath was impolite, wasn't it? Heifu was also helpless — the Fangcheng County Commandant in charge of their group was a scion of a noble house, and he actually had a touch of fastidiousness, something rarely seen in this age…

Once he was done, he breathed into his hand and sniffed, then headed deeper into the camp, all the way to the largest tent in the small encampment where their thousand men were stationed. He asked the soldiers guarding the door and was told that the Commandant was indeed inside.

Heifu had gotten wind of some news: while General Wang Ben was busy with his massive waterworks project at Daliang, he had finally decided to dispatch a flanking force to seize the various counties in eastern Wei. This Commandant inside was one of the commanding officers…

This was a chance to leave this dead end — Heifu did not want to miss it!

So Heifu stood up straight outside the command tent and declared in a loud voice: "Heifu, Zanniao rank, of Anlu County, requests an audience with the Five-Hundred-Man Commander!"

PS: Two updates tonight first, four more after daybreak, all freshly written and posted — please bear with me.

(End of chapter)