Chapter 176: Stealing the Beams and Swapping the Pillars

Since the strategy of using the Southern Commandery troops to bait the enemy had failed, the Qin army no longer bothered to hide its movements. The ten thousand Qin soldiers following behind immediately pressed forward—half advanced on Xiangcheng, while the other half expanded the encampment on the south bank of the Ying River.

On the north bank of the Ying, the Qin main force also revealed its true face. Countless banners and clouds of dust converged toward the riverbank, and from the direction of the Honggou Canal, dozens of wooden boats came sailing over as work began to accelerate the construction of a pontoon bridge.

This time, the Southern Commandery troops no longer needed to put on an act. Fully armed, they guarded the ground between the riverbank and Xiangcheng, keeping a wary eye on the Chu army in case it sallied out of the city.

Heifu gazed northward. On the north bank of the Ying, chariots, cavalry, banners, and pennants stretched as far as the eye could see, with spear-tips and halberd blades dense as a forest. The marching column was several li long, shrouded in swirling dust—a magnificent display of martial might. Altogether, there were probably over thirty thousand men, commanded by five or six Colonels. In their midst, conspicuous among them all, flew the command banner of Li Xin.

The pontoon bridge was narrow, using boats as piers with planks laid across them. It took the thirty thousand Qin soldiers an entire day just to cross the river, and they did not finish until nightfall. A single Commandant was left to hold the north bank, while all the rest concentrated at the camp on the south bank.

However, from what Heifu could observe, he noticed that these Qin troops were mostly infantry; chariots and cavalry made up only a very small portion.

Li You had originally intended to welcome Li Xin at the pontoon bridge, but a messenger informed him that General Li had given orders: all Commandants were to assemble at the main tent only after nightfall. Li You had no choice but to wait until the great army had settled in before taking a few short-soldiers with him and heading to the main tent.

Heifu was among them. One advantage of being a short-soldier was that he could follow the Commandant around on his rounds, unlike before, when as long as there was no combat assignment, he had to stay老老实实 inside his own tent.

Of course, the prerequisite was that the Commandant appreciated you and liked having you along.

They made their way through an encampment that had expanded several times over since the day before yesterday. Pointed felt tents stretched far into the distance. It was the hour for cooking, and smoke rose like slender fingers from hundreds of campfires. Travel-worn Qin soldiers sat outside their tents sharpening their weapons; banner poles were driven deep into the muddy ground, and the familiar black banners fluttered in the wind, merging with the night.

They soon reached the main tent. This command tent was as large as a house, with a great banner three zhang high planted outside it—dragon flag and feathered canopy, from which the entire army took its orders.

The commander-in-chief's tent was a vital position, guarded on all sides by heavily vigilant soldiers. As the commander, his personal short-soldier guard numbered as many as four thousand! Short-soldiers like Heifu and the others were not qualified to enter. They were stopped far away at the outer gate and could only watch as Li You walked into the tent.

Outside the outer gate, there were tents specifically for short-soldiers and personal guards to rest. When Heifu led a few of his men inside, he found it already packed with people.

These men were likely all short-soldiers and personal guards who had escorted their respective Commandants here. Heifu led Ji Ying, Gong Ao, and the others to some empty seats and sat down. Someone promptly brought them hot broth.

A Hundred-Leader with a full beard sitting nearby greeted Heifu: "May I ask, sir, where are you gentlemen from?"

Heifu cupped his hands toward him: "I am Heifu, from Southern Commandery, a short-soldier under Commandant Li."

"I am Zhou Hua, from Sanchuan, a short-soldier under Commandant Su."

The man stated his own place of origin, then pointed to several other groups nearby and introduced them. As it turned out, they were all short-soldier Hundred-Leaders, serving under Commandants from the Hedong, Nanyang, Shangdang, and Henei corps.

The Qin army's field units were organized by place of origin. For this campaign against Chu, the three commanderies of Hedong, Sanchuan, and Nanyang each contributed two companies, over ten thousand men in total. Places like Southern Commandery, Shangdang, and Henei contributed only one company each, five or six thousand men.

All of them were short-soldier Hundred-Leaders—equal in status, identical in duty, belonging to the same circle—so conversation flowed easily. But no matter what they talked about, most of their discussion revolved around how the coming battles would be fought.

Zhou Hua from Sanchuan asked, "Hundred-Leader Heifu, wasn't it agreed earlier that the Southern Commandery troops would bait the enemy? Why didn't it work?"

Everyone looked over. Heifu explained, "The enemy commander was crafty. Commandant Li tried several times to lure them out but never succeeded. When we were building the pontoon bridge, the Chu army did send chariots and cavalry out of the city, but who would have guessed it was only to probe us? They turned back just before reaching us, so we failed to intercept them."

"What a pity." Everyone sighed with regret. Any clear-eyed observer could see that if they had managed to draw the Chu troops out and destroy a portion of them, the battles ahead would have been much easier.

"In my view, what comes next is surely a decisive battle to the death with the Chu army right here at Xiangcheng!"

"Indeed. I heard from my Commandant's arrangements that they'll have the craftsmen build siege equipment. I imagine in a few more days, we'll be swarming the walls like ants."

Since they would not personally have to fill the moats and trenches, everyone's expressions were relatively relaxed. Still, they could not help but each offer their own advice and stratagems, even though their suggestions would never reach the ears of the senior officers.

As Heifu listened, he suddenly could not hold back a smile and nearly laughed out loud, because the scene gave him a sense of déjà vu from his previous life.

The leaders were inside holding a big meeting, while the group of drivers who had brought them were outside drinking tea and shooting the breeze…

But as he listened on, he sensed something off. He felt as if something was missing from this tent.

That was it—everyone here was from the commanderies east of the mountains, but that familiar Guanzhong accent was absent.

Heifu then asked, "Hundred-Leader Zhou, why haven't I seen any comrades from Neishi, Shangjun, Beidi, or Longxi?"

These places all fell under the broad definition of "Guanzhong." Their soldiers were the most elite. Qin law had been enforced there for over a hundred years; every generation was a battle-hardened army. Shangjun, Beidi, and Longxi, in particular, had fierce chariot and cavalry forces with very high mobility. Those were the true main strength, yet they had vanished, replaced by "miscellaneous troops" like Heifu and the others from the commanderies east of the mountains.

Zhou Hua was taken aback. "The Commandants from those places all went with General Meng Tian to Shangcai…"

"Went to Shangcai?"

Heifu nodded, deep in thought. Could the army that had passed through Yangcheng in an endless stream a few days ago have been these very men?

"The Commandants from the various commanderies east of the mountains are leading infantry, confronting the Chu army at Xiangcheng here. Our strength is no more than fifty thousand, and the Chu troops inside the city are at least thirty thousand. This city cannot be taken in a short time. Yet at this very moment, thirty thousand elite chariot and cavalry troops have vanished without a trace. Could it be that this so-called all-out assault on Xiangcheng is also a feint?"

…

While Heifu and the short-soldier Hundred-Leaders outside were making boundless guesses about the coming battle situation, inside Li Xin's main tent, Li You had been stunned speechless by the scene before his eyes.

The one sitting in the commander-in-chief's seat was not Li Xin, but Meng Tian!

"General Meng."

Li You reined in his shock and cupped his hands, asking, "Why is General Meng here? Where is General Li…"

"No need to rush. First, take a seat."

Meng Tian bade Li You sit. Although the Meng clan and Li Si could not be said to be on particularly harmonious terms, both Meng Tian and Li You had come up through the ranks of court gentlemen. This campaign against Chu was of immense importance. The reason the King of Qin had not used veteran generals but instead made them Li Xin's deputies was precisely his hope that the court gentlemen who had once been the King of Qin's trusted confidants could cooperate sincerely in this battle, fight a brilliant campaign, and extinguish Chu in one stroke!

Therefore, Meng Tian also had to set aside any estrangement and share the same boat with them through fair and foul.

After Li You sat down, Meng Tian swept his gaze across the tent. With this, the eight Commandants placed under his command were all present. They all looked uniformly at Meng Tian, hoping he could offer an explanation.

Meng Tian smiled and displayed the tiger tally that Li Xin had left him to command the army, then said: "General Li ordered me to raise the great banner as a pretense and confront the Chu main force here. He himself is personally leading thirty thousand Guanzhong elite troops, with chariots and cavalry, to Shangcai. Of course, on General Li Xin's side, they are also flying the banner of a deputy general…"

After saying this, his face hardened: "This is confidential. Anyone who dares leak it will be executed!"

The Commandants all acknowledged the order in unison. Back during the Battle of Changping, they had also secretly switched commanders, replacing Wang He with Lord Wu'an, keeping the Zhao troops in the dark.

With Meng Tian's words, they all understood. No wonder "Li Xin" had kept to himself so much these days, only sending trusted aides to relay orders to the outside. So he and Meng Tian had pulled a "stealing the beams and swapping the pillars."

After a moment's thought, Li You guessed the motive behind all the trouble Li Xin and Meng Tian had gone to and immediately asked, "General Meng, does this mean we are not truly attacking Xiangcheng?"

Meng Tian nodded: "Precisely to make the Jing people believe that our main force is entirely here, intent on taking the city. The King of Chu, fearing that the loss of Xiangcheng would allow our army to follow the Ying River straight down and threaten Juyang and Shouchun, is bound to redeploy a large army to rush to its aid. But what he does not know is that on both flanks, at Shangcai and Suiyang, two sharp blades have already thrust into Chu territory. Especially at Shangcai—that is where General Li personally leads the elite chariot and cavalry troops!"

Thus, the true main axis of the Qin army's attack was not the Xiangcheng–Ying River line.

As everyone was buzzing with discussion, another messenger entered from outside and handed a sealed letter tablet to Meng Tian.

Meng Tian immediately broke the seal, unfolded the letter, and read it by lamplight. A smile spread across his face.

He turned around and announced the latest military intelligence to the assembled Commandants in the tent.

"What I just said was mistaken."

"General Li is no longer at Shangcai!" Meng Tian declared. "Our army has just captured Pingyu!"

PS: I'm back, I'm back. I'll try to finish the third chapter before midnight. Also, let me tell everyone, The Qin Official has reached ten thousand average subscriptions. Thank you all for your support.

(End of chapter)