Chapter 156: The Collapse of Liang

The next evening, in the glow of the setting sun, Heifu and his men, escorting the real provisions, reached the Qin army's eastern camp on the far bank of the Flood Canal. Before entering the camp, everyone in the grain convoy, Qin and Wei alike, was astonished by the change in Daliang.

When they had left this place in the second month, following the detached force east on its territorial campaign, Daliang had still been a mighty city, solid as metal and stone, seemingly impregnable.

But now, looking out across the expanse, the great city was entirely submerged in murky, swirling water. The Flood Canal, once the proud lifeline of Daliang, now resembled a yellow hemp rope, wound tight around the city's throat.

The dark hands pulling that rope-knot were those hundred thousand Qin garrison soldiers and convict laborers. They had breached the Xingkou levee, releasing river water into the Flood Canal. They had also built a stone dam and dug long channels, skillfully blocking or diverting the raging floodwaters, all toward Daliang.

They were the greatest contributors to this war. Wielding hoes and iron spades as their weapons, slowly and relentlessly, they tightened the noose around Daliang's throat bit by bit, choking the very breath from Wei...

Chen Ping watched this scene with a complicated expression, unsure whether he should rejoice or grieve. Only when Heifu asked if he had ever been to Daliang before did he snap back to attention.

"I have never been to Daliang."

Chen Ping looked at the dark specks atop Daliang's walls and smiled. "My family was poor. Sending me to study in a neighboring county already exhausted our money and grain. How could I have had the chance to see the grand sights of Liang City?"

Though he had never visited, Chen Ping had heard a little about the splendid palaces and gardens, the bustling markets and streets, and the lavish, all-night banquets within Daliang.

Only now, it seemed, his impression of Daliang would forever remain just "hearsay."

After this battle, Daliang, flooded for nearly three months, would likely become a wasteland. Not only would the fertile fields, houses, and streets be completely ruined, but no one knew how many people would remain. In the fourth and fifth months, the damp, low-lying heat was most prone to breed virulent disease. Inside the city at this very moment, an epidemic was probably already rampant.

Those dark specks standing on the city walls were corpse-throwers. Bodies were constantly being cast down from the high walls, swept into the surging floodwaters, and swiftly vanishing.

As a man of Wei, never having witnessed the prosperity of Liang City was undeniably a regret. Seeing the city now in such imminent peril, Chen Ping felt a pang of empathy, the sorrow of seeing his own kind imperiled.

Heifu, who was not a man of Wei, stood to the side, also sighing deeply.

"Back in the military camp, I heard Commander Yang say that when King Hui of Wei ruled, his Chancellor Bai Gui was a brilliant and wealthy merchant. He helped the Wei king choose Daliang as the capital, managed river floods, built dikes, and excavated the Flood Canal. Why did he never imagine that one day, all of this would be exploited by others and turned into the weapon that destroys Daliang?"

Chen Ping picked up the thread. "Though Bai Gui was said to rival Tao Zhu in wealth, his statecraft could not compare to Lord Tao Zhu's. Bai Gui's vision could see matters within ten years, but not a hundred years hence. He could see the benefits of Daliang extending in all directions, a hub of converging routes, but he could not see the disadvantage of this place lacking famous mountains and great rivers once Wei's national power declined. He failed to foresee the crisis of it becoming a battleground fought over from all sides."

Heifu nodded. Having no defensible terrain was Daliang's greatest vulnerability. The Qin army had attacked Wei seven times, five times entering the Liang hunting park. Liang City had practically become Wei's testicles, which the Qin king would send men to squeeze every few years, leaving the Wei king able only to beg for mercy.

Later dynasties that made the Liang region or Kaifeng their capital all had to face this predicament. It was fine if they could expand in all directions, but once they fell into a defensive posture, the capital became a liability. Not to mention, this was a natural low-lying area, where nearby waterworks could at any moment turn into floods that backflowed into the city.

As they spoke, the military camp ahead had finished verifying their tallies and tokens. The gate, built of bound timber, swung open to admit Heifu and his party.

The main Qin army encampment was divided into east, west, south, and north sections, each garrisoned by ten thousand Qin soldiers, plus twenty thousand convict laborers and garrison conscripts. The eastern camp's defenses were especially tight, for it was also where grain and fodder were stockpiled. As soon as Heifu entered the main camp, he saw, separated by a few encampment sections, dozens of earthen grain silos, each two zhang high. These had all been hastily built by the convict laborers, each silo capable of holding roughly a thousand dan of grain. From the looks of it, General Wang Ben indeed intended to requisition tens of thousands of dan of grain from the newly occupied Wei territories...

Furthermore, Heifu had heard that near the great river docks northeast of Xingyang, a new permanent granary was also under construction, called Ao Granary. It could store grain shipped from Henei, Hedong, Henan, and Guanzhong, and was also a large granary capable of holding a hundred thousand dan of grain.

Heifu observed that the Qin men in the main camp all had ruddy, glowing complexions and did not lack grain. The urging of counties and townships to deliver grain was mainly to prepare for future contingencies. One had to admit, the Qin army's logistics work was truly done superbly.

The two thousand dan of grain they had brought was, under the supervision of a grain clerk, carried into the silos by the garrison conscripts and convict laborers. Before entering the silo, it had to be measured once more. The grain clerk conducted spot checks at intervals, nodding slightly at the fine quality of the aged grain.

"The grain delivered from Huyou Township is good, unlike the grain sent yesterday from Xiaohuang Township, where over half was inferior, and much of it was padded with sand and dirt to make up the volume. The Colonel has already ordered severe punishment!"

Heifu clicked his tongue inwardly. It was all thanks to Chen Ping's grain-loan strategy. The grain transported from the Zhang family granary was naturally far better than what would have been cobbled together from various households. He also did not need to resort to underhanded methods and take risks just to meet the quota.

After the grain clerk verified everything without issue, Heifu clasped his hands in salute and inquired about the matter of contributing grain in exchange for a noble rank.

"Ah, so it's that matter."

Because Heifu had handled his assignment well, saving the grain clerk considerable trouble, the clerk was willing to answer him amiably.

"As it happens, His Majesty's edict arrived just yesterday."

The grain clerk said, "According to precedent, in the counties and townships of Wei that have surrendered, any prominent elder or household head willing to donate a thousand dan of grain shall be granted one rank of nobility."

Having said this, he laughed. "In any case, in the counties of Wei, nearly everyone is a common soldier. Granting one rank at most is nothing. Moreover, contributing grain to rise in rank is limited to once per person, and the rank obtained may not exceed Bugeng. Just handing out a few Gongshi or Shangzao titles in exchange for a thousand dan of grain is a truly brilliant stratagem."

This stratagem had been proposed by Qin Chancellor Fan Ju during the Changping campaign and had since become a tried-and-true method. Every famine year or war, it helped the Qin authorities considerably reduce their grain burden.

Hearing that the grain-for-rank decree had indeed been issued, Heifu breathed a sigh of relief. The matter of Zhang Er's wife and son had caused a falling out with Zhang Bo. Fortunately, Zhang Fu of West Zhang still knew right from wrong and had said many words of thanks to Heifu. Now, being able to keep his word and help the Zhang clan bring back a noble rank meant he had not deceived them.

Heifu immediately informed the grain clerk that the Zhang clan of Huyou Township was donating a thousand dan of grain and wished to obtain a Shangzao rank. The grain clerk nodded and noted it down, saying the matter had to be reported to the Deputy General in the eastern main camp who oversaw all army funds and grain.

At this point, Heifu's mission for this trip was complete. As for the merits they had earned at Waihuang, his superior Yang Xiong would report those for him. In the Qin army, bypassing the chain of command was virtually non-existent, so no matter your assignment, you had to maintain a good relationship with your direct superior...

Yang Xiong had already spoken with Heifu. Although advancing from Bugeng to Dafu was a hurdle, Heifu had not only met the headcount quota and achieved a "collective merit," but had also annihilated the "remnant Wei army bandits," killed Zhou Shi, and captured the wanted fugitive Zhang Er's son. Therefore, his advancement into the "Dafu" stratum was basically rock-solid.

"Ranks of Dafu and above are no longer under the jurisdiction of the commanderies and counties but must be ratified by Xianyang. But by the sixth month at the latest, you will certainly be promoted. As for the coin and silk rewards on the wanted posters, I will send men to accompany you to deliver the head and Zhang Ao to the main camp together. Once the circumstances are explained, you may receive them the very next day!"

That night, Heifu and his men lodged outside the Qin camp. Early the next morning, they were summoned by the eastern main camp's military judge and a Colonel, who questioned him on the details of capturing Zhang Ao and the scheme to lure and kill Zhou Shi.

The questioning went smoothly. The military judge told him to wait until the afternoon, when men would be sent to take them to collect the reward money. Zhou Shi's head would be transmitted to the various counties of Wei to intimidate any resisters. As for Zhang Ao, he was taken into the camp weeping and wailing. His fate, Heifu could not know.

When the questioning ended, Heifu lifted the tent flap and emerged. With official business now concluded, he felt completely at ease. Thinking that he would soon be promoted in rank, he found himself, for a moment, somewhat reluctant to part with the fine rank title of "Bugeng"...

Just as Heifu returned outside the camp to regroup with his men and prepare to depart in the afternoon, they heard a faint, indistinct cry of alarm coming from the banks of the Flood Canal.

"Liang City is about to collapse!"

"Liang City is about to collapse!"

A great shout rose from the bank, drawing everyone's attention.

Then, these voices were drowned out by an even louder sound of collapse.

"Rumble—boom!"

Heifu heard what seemed to be a massive boulder plunging into water far away, producing an enormous sound.

Heifu and the others quickly turned to look back. They saw, surrounded by the murky water, the corner where Daliang's northern and eastern walls met collapse with a thunderous crash, like a melting, calving iceberg!

After being battered and soaked by the river water for over two months, the thick city rampart, which had appeared indestructible, could finally hold no longer. The rammed-earth foundation had been rendered extremely fragile by the floodwaters, unable to bear the weight of the high wall three times its own height. And so, from bottom to top, the entire wall face peeled away and collapsed...

The collapse of Daliang's northeast corner triggered a chain reaction. The floodwaters, which had long been unable to find a breach, now surged violently through the gap, churning up towering, murky waves and submerging the houses and crowds within.

Although many dark specks on Daliang's walls tried to throw down earth, stones, and timber to plug the breach, this was no longer something human effort could salvage. Immediately after, like falling dominoes, large sections of Daliang's eastern and western walls also collapsed in succession! The Wei men atop them did not even have time to cry out in alarm before vanishing along with the wall segments...

Daliang, once solid as metal and stone, now had a massive breach gaping open!

It was as if a warrior's rhinoceros-hide armor had been torn open with a savage gash, exposing the unprotected flesh beneath.

Heifu's men—Ji Ying, Dongmen Bao, and the others—all watched this scene dumbstruck. It was a spectacular, wondrous sight they might never see again in their lives, enough to boast about to their grandchildren for a lifetime.

Within the four Qin camps all around, over a hundred thousand people were also watching this scene, the masterpiece of their relentless labor over the past two months.

As one corner of Daliang crumbled, different sounds arose from inside and outside the city.

"Vast Heaven shows no mercy, sending down this great calamity!"

From within the city came the despairing wails of Wei's princes and nobles, commoners and plebeians. The high walls had been breached; their last refuge was utterly gone.

"Long live the Great King! Long live Qin!"

Outside the city, thousands upon thousands of soldiers roared "Long live!" in a mountainous chorus! They raised their hands high, cheering the victory, cheering the end of this war!

Only Heifu watched this scene in silence. He knew this was the first time he had witnessed the moment a state was destroyed and its city razed — but it would not be the last.

And Chen Ping, a man of Wei who was seeing Daliang for the first time only to watch it plunge into ruin — tears seemed to glisten faintly in his eyes, but in the end he forcibly held them back, letting them turn into a long sigh.

"The walls of Liang have crumbled. The state of Wei... is no more!"

(End of chapter)