Chapter 175: The Performance

"That Dun Yin is full of nonsense."

Gazing at the distant Xiangcheng, Zhai Chong said to Heifu, "This tiny city, even if packed to the brim, could hold thirty or forty thousand at most. Where would a hundred-thousand-strong army come from?"

Xiangcheng was originally the independent state of Xiang during the Spring and Autumn period, casually wiped out by Lu during a feudal lord assembly. Later it was taken by Chu, and the King of Chu enfeoffed the land to a ducal clan member, who then took Xiang as their lineage name — this was the origin of the Chu Xiang clan. The Xiang clan was not particularly prominent in the Spring and Autumn period, but after Chu's eastward relocation, they grew increasingly illustrious. Now Xiang Yan had become Chu's true "Pillar of State." With Xiang Yan present, Chu was secure; without Xiang Yan, Chu was imperiled.

As the terminus of the Honggou Canal, Xiangcheng was a bustling trade hub in peacetime and a strategic battleground for armies coming south or north in wartime. Under the Xiang clan's centuries of management, its city walls were larger than ordinary county towns, its ramparts higher, and with the Ying River as protection, it was easy to defend and hard to attack. The city walls were already packed with soldiers, ready at any moment to meet the enemy.

"Even if it's only thirty thousand, that's not a small number."

Heifu looked back at their own force, banners bright and ranks distinct — a mere three thousand.

After breaching Dun County, they had rested and reorganized for two days, left a small garrison behind, and continued south. Today was the seventh day of the tenth month. The three thousand troops reached a point seven or eight li from Xiangcheng and began to halt and set up camp. This was the plain through which the Ying River flowed, flat and open. From the walls of Xiangcheng, their every move could be seen with perfect clarity.

"What is the Commandant thinking?"

After receiving the order to assist with setting up camp, colleague Zhai Chong again whispered to Heifu, "He already knows Xiangcheng holds a large Chu army, yet he dares to bring a mere three thousand of us close to the city to camp. Is he not going to wait for the main force from Huaiyang?"

This was what puzzled Zhai Chong the most. There were clearly no Chu passes or barriers on the way from Huaiyang, yet looking across the northern bank of the Ying River, General Li Xin's main force was nowhere to be seen.

Heifu smiled. Although Li You, for the sake of secrecy, had not explained the battle plan issued from Huaiyang to his subordinates, Heifu had already guessed the gist of it.

"The art of war says: to make the enemy come of their own accord, offer them profit."

Ever since borrowing the few scrolls of Master Wu's Sunzi that Li You carried, Heifu could now occasionally drop phrases like "the art of war says" or "Master Sun says." For the sake of future promotion, Heifu was doing his utmost to package himself as a cultured military officer.

He pointed at Xiangcheng, its walls crowded with soldiers observing their movements, then pointed at themselves. "We are the small bait used to lure the enemy!"

"Hiss..." Zhai Chong sucked in a breath of cold air at these words and understood. No wonder the Commandant had brought so few troops and brazenly camped not far outside the city. So these Southern Commandery troops were nothing but bait.

But the bait was there — where was the hook?

"We only have three thousand men, and we've marched for two days. If Xiangcheng sends out over ten thousand troops to attack us, then wouldn't it be..."

Zhai Chong looked left and right but could not see where their own ambushing forces were, especially on the northern bank of the Ying River, which was completely deserted. He could not help but grow deeply worried.

Heifu reassured him, "Have you forgotten? The day before yesterday, after we marched out of the city, a company commander took a thousand soldiers, along with two thousand civilian laborers and convicts from Yingchuan Commandery, and vanished. Right, that Mohist Cheng Shang was among them too. Guess what they went to do?"

"Escorting grain and fodder?"

"How much grain and fodder would it take to need that many escorts?"

Heifu laughed. "I glanced back — they headed toward the Ying River. If I'm not mistaken, a detached force from Huaiyang, relying on those civilian laborers to receive them, has already crossed secretly near Dun County and is now following far behind us."

Otherwise, how would their mere three thousand dare to be so utterly reckless?

What followed proved Heifu's conjecture correct. Qin cavalry riders constantly galloped from the rear to maintain contact with Li You, and Li You, relying on the friendly troops behind him, grew increasingly audacious. He chose a damp, hilly spot that military doctrine deemed unsuitable for a camp, had the soldiers move stones and fell trees to build ramparts, and planted the military banners crooked and askew — a picture of an incompetent commander with dispirited troops.

Yet distant Xiangcheng kept its gates tightly shut, seemingly without the slightest interest in this Qin force that had rashly arrived beneath its walls.

The first attempt to lure the enemy having failed, Li You had no choice but to stop his performance. At nightfall, he let the men rest, but secretly gave orders that half the force was to remain awake on watch duty tonight. Inside the camp walls lay soldiers clutching their weapons and waiting for dawn — the moment any disturbance arose outside, they were to rise immediately and meet the enemy.

At this, even Heifu, certain as he was that reinforcements were behind them, broke out in a cold sweat.

"The Commandant is going all out. If Xiangcheng really sends men out for a night raid on our camp, they might indeed fall into the trap and be attacked by the ambushing force a dozen li behind us, but before that happens, the Southern Commandery troops would suffer heavy losses too..."

Fortunately, as close-guard personal attendants, Heifu and the others only needed to stand guard around Li You's command tent. Heifu made up his mind: if the Chu army truly came for a night raid, he would protect Li You and retreat first. It would be better than winning the battle only to have their Commandant Li die amid the chaos of soldiers — that would leave them with no tears left to cry.

But the entire night passed, and the soldiers, shivering in the frost, waited for nothing. When Heifu jolted awake from his doze, the sky was already bright.

Li You, draped in a greatcloak, stepped out of the command tent and gazed at Xiangcheng, its gates still tightly shut, his face clouded with worry.

Two attempts to lure the enemy had both yielded nothing. It seemed the Chu commander inside Xiangcheng truly had steady nerves.

"Could it be that Xiang Yan himself is personally in command?"

Li You and Li Xin had both come up through the ranks as palace courtiers, so he knew Li Xin well. This General Li disliked sieges and preferred to resolve matters with the swift chariot and cavalry assaults he excelled at. Thus he was more inclined to devise strategies that lured the enemy out of the city for a field battle.

But had the Chu army, seeing that Qin had just finished its campaign to destroy Wei this year and was short on both manpower and provisions, decided to concentrate its forces and stubbornly defend its strategic passes and strong cities?

The next day, the thousand soldiers and two thousand civilian laborers who had fallen behind over the previous days caught up. They not only brought new grain, fodder, and supply wagons but also hauled many cartloads of timber, ropes, and the like.

Heifu knew this was Li You's third attempt to lure the enemy. They were going to build a pontoon bridge across the Ying River right before the eyes of the Chu army in Xiangcheng.

As early as the Spring and Autumn period, there were methods of "making boats into a bridge" to construct pontoon bridges, even capable of spanning great rivers. The Ying River, just over a hundred meters wide here, naturally posed no problem.

By noon, dozens of wooden boats came sailing down in succession from the upper reaches of the Ying River, all temporarily commandeered or seized from towns and settlements along the banks.

At Li You's single order, the Southern Commandery troops this time simply put down their weapons and pitched in en masse, wading into the already somewhat icy river water to help construct the pontoon bridge. The scene looked utterly chaotic and disordered...

This sight made Heifu's heart pound with fear. Even knowing this was a lure, if the Chu army sent chariots and cavalry out of the city, they would arrive in an instant. Their several thousand men bustling by the riverbank could easily fall into chaos — and the Southern Commandery troops had never been an elite force, after all.

He gripped his sword and stared fixedly toward Xiangcheng. On those city walls, there seemed to be someone gazing back in this direction as well.

"The city gate seems to have opened..."

Heifu watched for a moment, then suddenly spoke. The close-guard personal attendants sitting on the ground around him on standby immediately jolted alert and stood up, shields in hand.

Sure enough, from Xiangcheng, a number of black dots emerged from the city gate, then, trailing billowing dust, came racing toward them at top speed!

It was war chariots.

A hundred four-horse war chariots thundered across the road. The southern bank of the Ying River was flat and open — a battlefield perfectly suited for chariot warfare — and the chariots' target was the Qin army busily constructing the pontoon bridge by the river, looking utterly chaotic...

In the Warring States era, war chariots were meant for breaking enemy formations!

They were the heavy tanks of this age. Though far less mobile and flexible than cavalry, their impact force and destructive power were superior.

When the enemy's front and rear, their marching formation, is not yet set — charge them. When their banners and flags are in disarray, their men and horses shifting repeatedly — charge them. When their soldiers are some advancing, some retreating, some veering left, some veering right — charge them. When their formation is not firm, their soldiers looking back and forth at each other — charge them. When they advance with doubt, retreat with fear and timidity — charge them. When the entire army is suddenly startled and all press forward in confusion — charge them. When fighting on open ground and they cannot break free — charge them. When they have marched far and make camp at dusk, the whole army fearful — charge them!

These eight are the conditions for chariot victory!

Heifu silently recited the military texts' description of war chariots, his palms already slick with sticky sweat. Though he had fought in several siege battles, he had never encountered the enemy on an open battlefield, much less had any experience facing a chariot charge head-on.

"The eight conditions for chariot victory — the enemy has them all fulfilled. Commandant Li is truly a death-defying actor. Let's hope this doesn't end with the act becoming real."

"Dispatch riders, gallop at once to the rear and report! Close guards, with me!"

Li You's face, however, showed not a trace of fear. Seeing that the Chu army, lured for so long, had finally come out of the city, he too drove his chariot before the Qin troops and loudly ordered the soldiers who had been pretending to build the pontoon bridge — actually lying in wait among the civilian laborers — to return to the riverbank and prepare to meet the enemy!

Even though the chariots' impact force was immense and they were now just two li away, Li You knew that as long as he could hold them off for a brief moment, the Qin chariots and cavalry five li behind him could arrive in time, followed by a Qin detached force numbering in the tens of thousands. Then it would be time for these Chu elite troops to be annihilated.

After wiping out part of the Chu army, taking Xiangcheng would be much easier.

Heifu and the others followed closely behind Li You, holding short blades and shields at the rear, while ahead of them, a thousand Qin soldiers had already formed ranks, gripping dagger-axes and spears, ready to meet the enemy! Facing those enormous things racing toward them, everyone was somewhat uneasy.

But at that moment, Heifu suddenly noticed another problem.

He hurriedly squeezed his way to the front of Li You's chariot and loudly reported:

"Commandant, behind the enemy war chariots, there are no foot soldiers following!"

Li You, still immersed in the excitement of having successfully lured the enemy, could not help but change countenance at these words.

"This is bad—we've fallen for a trick!"

Just as expected, after those war chariots charged to a distance of one li, they suddenly slowed, then the front unit became the rear unit, turned their chariots around, and slowly withdrew toward Xiang City...

After they had all entered the city, the thousand-plus cavalry lying in ambush behind the Southern Commandery troops arrived belatedly; by then it was already too late to conceal their movements.

Atop the walls of Xiang City, Zhou Wen, who had been observing the Qin army for a long time, also breathed a sigh of relief.

He had excellent eyesight, a rough understanding of military strategy, and had once been a retainer of Lord Chunshen; now he served as the Chu army's "Sun Watcher," specially tasked with observing distant enemy movements and reckoning the time.

Watching those Qin army chariots and riders emerge, Zhou Wen revealed a smile and said to the Chu soldier beside him, "Go quickly and report to General Xiang—the Qin army was indeed trying to lure us out!"

(End of Chapter)