Chapter 122: Gaoyang Drunkard

(Fourth update)

Just as the Chenliu Magistrate of Wei was sounding the alarm bell, the command flag of General of the Center Qiang Hui had already appeared over ten li west of Chenliu, and over a thousand soldiers of the Qin army's vanguard "heel force" were already at the city walls...

When an army of over ten thousand moves out, it does not swarm forward in a chaotic mass, but follows the marching methods in the *Wei Liaozi*, dividing into the main army, the heel force, the rising force, and the detached squads.

In this army, the rising force numbered over two hundred men, all light cavalry scouts. To Heifu, their equipment looked exactly like the "cavalry figurines" among the terracotta warriors: short armor on the upper body, tight-cuffed trousers below, tall riding boots on the feet, a small round cap on the head with a strap fastened under the chin, and a bow and arrows slung across the back — the classic Hu-style mounted archer's outfit.

The rising force operated twenty li ahead of the main army, divided into several squads spaced three to five li apart, responsible for scouting the enemy situation on the road ahead.

The heel force was the vanguard infantry, two thousand strong, all lightly equipped and wearing no armor. Once the rising force detected the enemy and passed word back, the heel force would swiftly advance, coordinate with the rising force to rout them, and clear an unobstructed path for the main army.

The largest body, the main army, was positioned behind the vanguard, a full seven thousand men strong. This was where the command flag was, and conscripts carrying baggage and provisions moved along slowly with it.

On both flanks of the main army, a thousand "detached squads" advanced in parallel. The detached squads were responsible for seizing advantageous terrain, pursuing the enemy when a battle was won, and protecting the main army's flanks when halted and awaiting orders.

Wei Liao held this view: "It is said that the army whose general deploys these four components within his unconventional formations will be victorious."

The meaning is, if a commander can skillfully direct these four parts of the army, making them coordinate with each other and respond head to tail, in march and in battle, how could there be any reason not to win?

Come to think of it, if every march and battle were arranged so cautiously, those scenes from films and dramas where a sudden gong sounds and countless ambushers surge from both sides of the road to annihilate the enemy — unless in a narrow mountain defile — would truly be very hard to pull off. The Qin army won nearly every battle, and a major reason was that its excellent marching methods eliminated low-level mistakes.

Qiang Hui's marching deployment was all observed by Heifu, who not only nodded inwardly in approval but also committed these things to memory.

In the matter of marching and fighting, he was still a battlefield novice. In this campaign to destroy Wei, he had to watch carefully and learn well.

In any era, every rank and official post comes with its corresponding professional skills. Spending all day thinking about how to get promoted without knowing how to learn — even if a pie fell from the sky and let you suddenly ascend to a high position, you would only make a fool of yourself in office and incur punishment.

But unfortunately, Heifu and his "thousand-man unit" did not manage to compete for the heel force, which had the easiest chance to earn merit, and instead became detached squads guarding the main army's flank...

Heifu was not too disappointed. In an army of over ten thousand, unless you worm your way into the commanding general's inner circle, competing for merit is not easy.

He also scolded Dongmen Bao, who was muttering that they probably wouldn't earn any merit this time either: "Stop complaining. Every squad follows orders. Xiao Tao, you have sharp eyes — keep a good watch on the bridges and roads on the flank. Dongmen Bao, take men and drive away any Wei people trying to approach! Even if they're just peasant men and women in the fields, drive them off!"

This was the task of the detached squads. Now they were deep in hostile Wei territory, enemies everywhere, and could not afford to lower their guard. If some bold Wei person really did run over to watch the excitement, they would truly be courting death.

In the fields beside the footpaths, green shoots of millet and wheat had already sprouted. Occasionally, one could still see farmers busy in the fields, but when they spotted the Qin army in the distance, they froze for a moment, then fled back to their village in a panic as if they had seen a ghost.

On the road ahead, the hamlets the main army passed all had their gates tightly shut. The Wei farmers watched the Qin soldiers trampling through their fields with terror and dread, but none dared to come out.

The Qin army was no righteous force that prided itself on "not disturbing the people in the slightest." Convenience of march took priority in everything, and the damage to the local agricultural economy was not within the commanders' scope of consideration.

The journey was uneventful, until they neared the walled city of Chenliu. Two children playing naked by a stream, laughing and roughhousing, accidentally strayed into the detached squads' security zone. The two kids, faced with a group of Qin soldiers wearing unfamiliar armor and strange topknots, were instantly frozen in fright.

Dongmen Bao already had a murderous look on his face and raised his sword as he walked toward them, but after thinking it over, he lowered the sword, put on a fierce expression, and loudly berated them until they fled.

"My boy will be about their age in a few more years."

Heifu breathed a sigh of relief and said to the men, "The army inspects severed heads very strictly. Even if we killed them, it wouldn't count as a decapitation. When it's not necessary, do not lay hands on civilians."

The men murmured their assent. Their journey had gone relatively smoothly; they had not experienced bloody combat, and were not yet driven to the madness of killing everyone on sight and committing every evil.

On the whole, the Qin army was still relatively restrained. Although they had the vile habit of killing prisoners of war for decapitation merit, the wolf-and-tiger troops of "Tyrannical Qin," when destroying the six states, rarely committed the kind of city massacres seen during the Chu-Han wars.

What the King of Qin wanted was conquest and unification, not vengeful destruction and ruin. The Qin generals also had the ability to use harsh military law to constrain every move of the Qin soldiers.

After this little interlude, the detached squads, together with the main army, arrived beneath the walls of Chenliu...

Chenliu was an important county town east of Daliang, situated on a key communication route, with a large population of over ten thousand. Its city wall was four or five li in circumference, considerably larger than Heifu's home county seat of Anlu.

The wall was rammed from yellow earth, about four zhang high. There was a city gate on each of the four sides, and flanking each gate were two corner towers six zhang high...

It was only then that the Qin soldiers, who had been rubbing their hands together in preparation for a great battle, realized in shock that the gates of Chenliu had long been thrown wide open. The banners of Wei had been hacked down and tossed beneath the walls, and the flag of the heel force was already flying from the corner towers.

"You're kidding."

Even Heifu was somewhat stunned. The heel force vanguard was only ten li ahead of their own force — could it be that those two thousand men had taken this city in just one double-hour? Had Chenliu offered no effective resistance at all?

Wasn't it said that Chenliu still had three thousand Wei troops?

With this question in mind, the conscripts were ordered to enter the city, maintain order, and search for remnant enemies.

Entering through Chenliu's west gate, Heifu only then discovered that a battle had indeed taken place just inside the gate. Over a hundred corpses lay strewn about in a mess, their deaths gruesome — some killed by crossbow bolts, others stabbed through with several bloody holes by dagger-axes and spears.

"Are they Wei soldiers?" Ji Ying, walking behind Heifu, said quietly.

"Look at their motley clothing and weapons — they don't look like Wei troops..." Gong Ao chimed in.

"They're local qingxia."

Heifu had already guessed their identity and could not help sighing. The Wei troops garrisoned at Chenliu had actually fled without a fight, while it was the local wandering swordsmen who shed their blood to defend their homeland.

Half a double-hour later, the few remaining enemies in the city were mopped up. Regrettably, because there were too many Qin soldiers and too few resisting qingxia, Heifu's squad only managed to get two heads — nowhere near the standard for him as a squad leader to earn a collective merit promotion...

The fine heads of those resisters were chopped off and piled into a heap, while the headless corpses were hung high inside the city gate, a truly horrifying sight.

The residents of Chenliu's wards were driven from their homes by Qin soldiers and made to stand trembling by their doors, looking at the corpses of their friends and kin while awaiting General Qiang Hui's city-entering ceremony.

Heifu also led his men to stand by the gate, holding dagger-axes and spears to maintain order.

He cast his gaze around. Among the faces lining both sides of the road — some fearful, some hateful — Heifu spotted a middle-aged man of about forty in Confucian robes. His Confucian cap was worn crookedly, his lapels were stained with wine, and he looked thoroughly disreputable.

This man was pointing at the Qin troops entering the city and saying something into the ear of a youth whose eyes were full of resentment...

"Despicable! That Colonel clearly had three thousand soldiers, yet he fled without a fight! Truly despicable!"

Li Shang of Gaoyang Ward was somewhat well-known among the qingxia of Chenliu. He liked to stick his neck out in any matter and was quite respected by his peers.

But today, because he had been held back by his elder brother, he had been unable to join the final resistance of those hundred-odd qingxia and retainers led by the Chenliu Magistrate.

At this moment, standing among the crowd kneeling to welcome the Qin army into the city, looking at the corpses of his former companions and the swaggering Qin soldiers, he could barely contain his fury and indignation. He nearly lost control and almost went over to stab that black-faced Qin officer in armor who was looking their way!

"If I, your elder brother, hadn't held you back, you would now be one of those headless corpses."

Li Yiji at his side dismissed it all with contempt. In his view, the way these qingxia died — baring their heads, going barefoot, and knocking their heads on the ground — was not worth it.

A true man born into this world should emulate Zhang Yi and Gongsun Yan, whose anger made the feudal lords tremble and whose repose brought peace to the realm! Even in death, one should be like Su Qin — after accomplishing great deeds that shook the feudal lords, die a spectacular death that made the whole world look on in awe! How could one lightly throw away one's precious life for a regime doomed to fall?

"Shang, put away your indignation."

Li Yiji patted Li Shang and whispered in his ear: "The Chenliu Magistrate ate his lord's grain and bore the duty of defending the land — he could only repay the King of Wei with his death. But the state of Wei has not shown us brothers so much as a grain of millet's worth of kindness. Why should we die for it? Wei's destruction is a foregone conclusion. Think instead about how you will survive under Qin rule from now on. I have heard that Qin does not favor qingxia — what do you plan to do in the future?"

Li Shang was still somewhat resentful and deeply dissatisfied with his elder brother's attitude. He turned his head and retorted: "I have also heard that Qin does not favor Confucian scholars either."

Li Yiji laughed quietly.

"Though I wear Confucian robes and look like a Confucian scholar, what I study is the art of the political strategist. Of course, in the present age, with Qin sweeping across the Central Plains and the feudal lords no longer warring, the art of political strategy has no use either..."

Li Yiji couldn't help feeling a touch of regret. That silver tongue of his — eloquent, razor-sharp, able to breathe life into dead things — to have been born outside an age of great strife, what a waste it truly was.

"Exactly," Li Shang mocked. "Whether as a Confucian scholar or a Vertical-Horizontal strategist, there's no path left. So what does my elder brother plan to do now?"

Li Yiji's expression remained as calm as ever. He said flatly, "I once heard that when Qu Yuan of Chu drowned himself, an old fisherman said to him: 'The sage does not grow rigid and cling to things, but can shift and move with the world. If all the world is foul, why not dredge the mud and stir up the waves? If all men are drunk, why not sup on the dregs and sip the thin wine?'"

"The fisherman's words — I find them profoundly true!"

In times like these, for a man to survive, the key lies in one word: change. Since the times are what they are, then…

Li Yiji tore off the crooked, askew Confucian cap from his head, then ripped open his lapels. In an instant, he became a wild, unrestrained scholar.

"When a sage king ruled the world, I was a Confucian scholar, elegant and refined in all things; when the feudal lords vied for supremacy, I was a strategist who surveyed all with disdain. Now that Qin has already taken Chenliu, I can be neither Confucian scholar nor strategist — yet I can still sup on the dregs and sip the thin wine, and imitate the drunkenness of all men…"

He laughed. "From this moment on, I am the Gaoyang Drunkard! Li Yiji shall seek to become a petty Qin official, and wallow in the mire with the vulgar world!"

PS: The fifth update will be at 9 PM.

Also, the fact is that whether it's the Li Yiji and Li Shang brothers, or people like Chen Sheng, Gong Ao, Liu Bang, and Zhang Er — they are either the same age as Heifu or already in their thirties or forties. These men's lives spanned the Warring States, Qin, Chu-Han, and Han dynasty — a period that was not long at all, so there's no need to find it strange. Their experiences in Qin are precisely what determined the choices these men would later make. They are figures who lived under the same sky as Heifu.

(End of chapter)