Chapter 162: The Flames of War Rise Again

"After the Qingyang affair, Qin and Chu are already at war! Yet the General forbids us from going beyond the pass to strike the enemy?"

In late June, within the Ming'e Fortress on Chu's western border, an angry question rang out.

Zhongli Mei was no longer dressed as the hired farmhand he had been a year ago when spying in Anlu County. He now wore a suit of Chu-style leather armor lacquered red, every inch a Chu military officer—though only of the lowest rank, "Liang Sima," with just twenty-five men under him.

Yet this minor officer, utterly insignificant in his superior's eyes, was now suppressing his fury as he questioned the fortress commander's decision.

The "Qingyang affair" Zhongli Mei spoke of was a major incident that had occurred in Chu's Jiangnan region at the start of June.

The previous year, Qin had sent Wang Ben at the head of an army to fiercely attack Chu's Shangcai and Chenying. Chu had just suffered a regicide and usurpation, and in the chaos was unable to muster troops to resist, resulting in the loss of both territories. At the time, had the Qin army wished, they could have simply followed the Ru River south, broken through Juyang, and threatened the Chu capital of Shouchun.

King Fuchu of Chu, left with no choice, followed the advice of the pro-peace faction and proposed to Qin that he would cede the lands west of Qingyang (present-day Changsha, Hunan) in exchange for peace.

The Qin army had seized Chenying precisely to sever the connection between Chu and Wei, and therefore agreed to Chu's peace offer. After Wang Ben withdrew his forces and destroyed Wei, in May, the King of Qin's envoy arrived in Shouchun, demanding that Chu, according to the prior agreement, hand over the three towns west of Qingyang: Linyuan, Gaocai, and Lingyang.

With the Qin people carrying the prestige of having just destroyed Wei, Fuchu dared not refuse and immediately ordered compliance.

It was here, however, that things went awry. The lands west of Qingyang were the domain of the Qu clan, one of Chu's "Three Households." Because of Qu Yuan's fate, the Qu clan was the branch of the Chu royal house that most detested Qin. Although King Fuchu ordered the Qu clan to relinquish the territory west of Qingyang, the Qu clan actually defied the royal command.

When the Qin sent envoys to take over the towns, the Qu clan not only refused to hand them over but also killed the Qin envoys, and even led their clan troops in a counterattack, reaching the walls of Chanling County in Qin's Nan Commandery and nearly breaking through...

In the aftermath, Qin was furious, declaring that Chu had broken the treaty. The two states, which had just returned to peace, were once again at daggers drawn.

With a single order from Teng, the Governor of Nan Commandery, every county in Qin's Nan Commandery went on alert. Nearly all able-bodied men were mobilized, and military training was intensified.

The same was true on Chu's side. At court, the pro-war faction, led by the Xiang clan, once again gained the upper hand, urgently advising the King of Chu that since the peace treaty was already void, they should counterattack Qin and reclaim their lost lands.

Not only reclaim Chenying, reclaim Shangcai, but also reclaim the lands of Nan Commandery!

Affected by this, Ming'e Fortress on Chu's western border was also under tight security, yet the fortress commander was forbidden from entering Qin territory on his own authority, because the indecisive King of Chu had still not made up his mind.

This was what baffled Zhongli Mei. He was not the only one sent to infiltrate Qin's Nan Commandery as a spy in recent years—all of it was General Xiang Yan's foresight. After ascertaining the true situation in Anlu, Zhongli Mei had returned to Ming'e Fortress to report.

But the commander of Ming'e Fortress had blamed him for blowing things out of proportion. Not only was there no reward, but Zhongli Mei was demoted, from Zugzhang down to Liang Sima. Zhongli Mei bore no grudge; he only hoped that the intelligence on border county military preparations, roads, and strengths and weaknesses that their group had risked death to gather in Qin could be put to use in a counteroffensive!

Yet faced with this thorn in his side's plea for battle, the commander of Ming'e Fortress merely gave a contemptuous sneer and had his men drive Zhongli Mei out with a flurry of clubs.

"In ancient times, King Helü of Wu trained for war for seven years, donned armor and took up arms, appointed Sunzi and Zixu as generals, marched three hundred li and encamped, entered the path of Ming Pass, fought at Boju, and in one stroke seized Yingdu."

Zhongli Mei sighed to the colleagues who came to console him: "If the General could emulate the Wu army of old—exit Ming'e, seize Sui and Tang, then descend directly upon Jiangling; have the navy advance west through Yunmeng Marsh, and the Qu clan's troops march out from Qingyang, cross the Great River and close in on Jiangling—then Yingdu could be recovered, and Nan Commandery taken!"

The men looked at each other, but all felt this was not something they should be concerning themselves with.

Seeing that no one was moved, Zhongli Mei could only slam his fist against the wall in frustration and say dejectedly: "How can one waver between war and peace, unable to decide? This way, not only do we lose the chance to strike first, I fear we will instead be caught off guard by Qin!"

"Qin and Chu are at war again?"

At the start of July, upon learning this news, the conscripts who had already been on their way home but suddenly received orders to return to Chenliu and await further instructions instantly erupted in an uproar.

When they learned that the Chu attack was on Nan Commandery, the men from the various counties of Nan Commandery let out cries of alarm.

"Something's happened in Nan Commandery?!"

"Which county did the Chu people strike?"

Fortunately, they soon received follow-up news: it was merely a border skirmish south of the Great River, with no major fighting. The Chu forces had only besieged Chanling County, and the flames of war had not reached their hometown of Anlu.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Ji Ying laughed optimistically: "Since it's only a small clash, it might die down in a few days. We can still go home."

Thus, the only remaining vexation for the men was that after so many days of delay, they might miss the autumn harvest back home.

Only Heifu felt that the matter was probably not so simple. As the others breathed easy once more and began to look forward to their return date, he silently slipped out of the crowd, returned to the tent, and inspected his weapons and armor.

A sword is an old friend and needs constant sharpening. Even a bronze sword must be rubbed with leather; if left unused for long, it easily develops verdigris.

Just then, Li Xian lifted the tent flap and walked in, catching Heifu in the act of polishing his blade.

"Sir, do you feel this matter is not so simple?"

Li Xian was the most meticulous of Heifu's subordinates and often offered small suggestions. He too had sensed that the order for them to remain in place was somewhat unusual.

"I do indeed feel something is off."

Heifu did not hide it. He had Li Xian sit down and analyzed for him: "Qin and Chu clashed in Nan Commandery, and now all eyes are focused there. Logically, we soldiers of Nan Commandery origin should be swiftly dismissed and sent back to Nan Commandery to take part in its defense. Yet the order from Chenying tells us to return to Chenliu County and await orders..."

At present, tens of thousands of Qin soldiers had been ordered to halt their demobilization and were stationed in places like Chenliu and Suiyang. Yet across the border in Chu, there was no sign of troops being mobilized to attack Chenying or the Wei territories either. The two sides were merely locked in a cold standoff.

But Heifu had already caught the scent of war once more...

A full-scale war could erupt at any moment.

He had a vague feeling that keeping conscripts from all over stationed in place was likely because someone in the upper echelons of Qin wanted to use this incident as a pretext to launch a war against Chu, and when the time came, the main thrust would be from the Wei territories toward Huaibei.

Although history was not Heifu's specialty in his past life, he did know that Qin's conquest of Chu took two attempts. The first, with an army of two hundred thousand, ended in disastrous defeat, with heavy losses of troops and officers. The second time, having learned their lesson, they mobilized the entire nation, sending a six-hundred-thousand-strong army against Chu, and ultimately succeeded in destroying it.

It was now the twenty-second year of King Zheng of Qin's reign. The first campaign against Chu was probably imminent. The "matter" Heifu had thought of earlier was precisely the outbreak of war between Qin and Chu. As for the details, he knew nothing at all.

"Could I really have stumbled right into the first Chu campaign?!" If that were truly the case, Heifu would be at a complete loss whether to laugh or cry.

Historically, Heifu himself had died during the second attack on Chu. This was the very thing he was striving to avoid, and he had been working hard to climb the ranks of nobility and office precisely so that, when the time came, he could command enough soldiers to avoid charging at the front lines and thus survive.

Who would have thought, as if by fate, that he was now about to be swept into the first campaign against Chu! Even victorious battles have casualties, and a defeat means countless dead and wounded. At this thought, a chill ran down Heifu's spine.

Of course, this was all his speculation. The final outcome still depended on the choice between war and peace made by King Zheng of Qin back in Xianyang!

After hearing Heifu's analysis, Li Xian was also startled. But as a low-ranking Qin official, if things truly developed to that point, he could only follow orders, pick up his weapons and armor once more, and walk back onto the battlefield...

The king raises an army; we prepare our dagger-axes and lances. The soldiers could only grumble quietly to themselves as they packed their gear.

Unlike Dongmen Bao, Li Xian was not so desperately eager to go home. He even felt that he could earn another rank of nobility before returning without it being too late. Nor was he like Heifu; he did not know the outcome of this war, and so he speculated with some excitement: "If we really are to attack Chu, will the old general Wang be the commander-in-chief?"

After the destruction of Yan and Zhao, Wang Jian's reputation was known to nearly everyone in Qin. Everyone said that when you followed old General Wang into battle, though not every man was guaranteed to earn merit, most would survive, because old General Wang waged war as steady as Mount Tai...

From senior officers down to the rank-and-file soldiers, everyone felt in their hearts that if one day the King of Qin wanted to destroy Chu, Wang Jian was the undisputed choice for commander-in-chief.

"Let's hope so."

Heifu replied ambiguously, but inwardly he thought: "If the King of Qin truly decides to use military force against Chu within this year, the commander-in-chief will probably not be Wang Jian."

"It will be Li Xin!"

PS: Someone's stirring up trouble in the single chapter comments, so I'll code another chapter and announce it here. I need to work out the subsequent plot today, so there will only be two chapters. I currently owe two updates, to be made up in April. Normal updates resume tomorrow, normal updates resume tomorrow, normal updates resume tomorrow. Please stop stirring up trouble.

(End of Chapter)