Chapter 177: Risk

Meng Tian was still wrong. By the time he received word, Li Xin was no longer in Pingyu. Leading thirty thousand elite troops from Guanzhong, he had slowly departed Pingyu and was marching east.

On the walls of Pingyu, the Commandant left behind by Li Xin to hold the city watched the great army march into the distance, his heart heavy with worry.

In this Commandant's view, Li Xin had been able to breach Pingyu in a single day by striking where he was least expected.

The Chu people's attention was fixed on the Honggou Canal and Ying River line, fixed on the besieged Xiangcheng. They assumed the Qin army at Shangcai was merely a diversionary force led by Meng Tian — little did they know that beneath Meng Tian's lieutenant's banner was the Qin commander-in-chief, Li Xin.

Li Xin had concentrated the five Commandants from Neishi, Shangjun, Beidi, and Longxi all under his own command. With the siege engines crafted by the Qin Mohists and numerous artisans, Pingyu, defended by only two thousand troops, had declared its fall in just two days.

"This place looks north to Song and Zheng, south to the Huai and Mian rivers, leans on the might of Jing-Chu, and runs the roads of Chen and Xu. Its fields are flat and open — it is a strategic choke point."

"But once Pingyu is breached, there is no defensible terrain north of the Huai. This land between the Ying and Ru rivers is now a battlefield where we can gallop unhindered!"

After gazing into the distance from the walls of Pingyu, Li Xin cast down these words, then left this Commandant to garrison the city. He himself once more rallied his troops and set out, his blade aimed straight at the Chu heartland!

Before this, the Commandant ordered to hold Pingyu had also shown a worried expression and quietly tried to dissuade Li Xin, saying:

"General, your taking of Pingyu was truly bold and sharp, and it was also because this city is not far from Shangcai — you arrived in an instant, catching the enemy off guard. But to advance further is to enter the inner heartland of Chu. General, you lead thirty thousand troops but have no grain supply or rear support — is this not a lone army driving deep? Would it not be better to head north, link up with General Meng, and jointly besiege Xiangcheng? Once Xiangcheng falls, it will not be too late to slowly push south..."

Li Xin, however, did not agree. He said: "Back then, when Lord Wu'an attacked Chu, he too led tens of thousands deep into the five-thousand-li Chu territory, which was said to hold a million polearms. He attacked cities along the way, broke bridges, burned boats, and cut off his own retreat so that his soldiers would fight with single-minded focus. I shall emulate him today."

"As for grain and fodder? The land north of the Huai has always been rich. The Chu only had time to empty their border granaries — the inner villages and townships must hold considerable stores. As long as the army carries ten days' rations per man and forages from the countryside along the way, that will suffice for the troops' food!"

In the past, he had mostly fought Yan and Zhao in the north, sallying from Taiyuan and Yunzhong, galloping across the North China Plain, chasing enemies across vast wilderness, often earning merit with chariots and cavalry. Now come to Chu, his thinking on warfare still lingered in the north.

In Li Xin's view, the land between the Ying and Ru rivers was flat as far as the eye could see. The Qin army's advantage lay in field battles, in the chariots and cavalry that could be fully unleashed on the plains. With three hundred war chariots from Xianyang and three thousand elite cavalry from Shangjun, Beidi, and Longxi all in his hands, they were invincible on this land.

With such an advantage, he ought to rampage across Chu territory, seek out the Chu forces moving to reinforce Xiangcheng, and annihilate them — not waste away beneath city walls, letting his horses grow fat and his soldiers' armor breed lice.

Unlike the seasoned and steady Wang Jian, Li Xin was a man who dared to take risks, and he believed he had the ability to turn risk into miracle!

Let Xiang Yan face off against Meng Tian — who flew Li Xin's banner — at Xiangcheng. While he was trapped defending a dead end, Li Xin, flying Meng Tian's banner, was about to punch straight through Chu's lands north of the Huai!

In the twenty-third year of King Zheng of Qin, the tenth day of the first month (October), Li Xin led his army out of Pingyu.

In the early morning of the thirteenth day of October, after several days' march, Li Xin's vanguard had reached Qin Hill, two hundred li east of Pingyu...

As if High Heaven itself was secretly aiding the Qin army, that day, a great fog blanketed all of Qin Hill.

Qin Hill was only a small town, its walls no more than a zhang high. Back then, King Zhao of Chu had enfeoffed the son of Sunshu Ao here. To this day, descendants of Sunshu Ao still lived here as minor estate lords.

Though this place had low walls and a small population, it was the necessary route north from Xincai to Xiangcheng. A Chu army of over ten thousand, setting out from Xincai, was just passing through and encamped outside the town, demanding that Lord Sun Feng of Qin supply them with camp and food.

Because Li Xin had taken Pingyu and advanced east so swiftly, this force that had marched north from Xincai days ago did not know that to their west, hidden by the thick winter morning fog, a Qin chariot-and-cavalry force was already slowly closing in...

"Woooooo!"

Lord Sun Feng of Qin, a descendant of Sunshu Ao who knew not how many generations removed, belonged to a family that had flourished here for over three hundred years. That morning, the estate-lord life he had thought would endure as long as Chu itself was shattered awake by the deafening horns, gongs, and drums outside!

Sun Feng threw off his covers, abandoned his lovely wife, and scrambled up from his couch. He ran out the door and up onto the walls, only to find the Xincai Chu army outside already in chaos, the drumbeats mustering troops echoing across the whole town.

"What's happened?" Sun Feng grabbed an officer who was running while hanging his sword on his belt hook and asked.

"It's the Qin army!" The officer's face was pale as death, a stark contrast to his Chu-style armor dyed crimson red.

Sun Feng stared blankly. "Qin army from where? Aren't the Qin at Xiangcheng?"

Xiangcheng was over a hundred li from Qin Hill, so he had always thought himself safe.

"A chariot-and-cavalry force is already two li away! They must have closed in under cover of night and thick fog."

The officer could not spare more words. He rushed off to call his subordinates to prepare for the enemy. All he knew was that the Qin chariot-and-cavalry vanguard was already at their doorstep, having used the morning fog to get right up to them. The entire force was in battle formation and could launch an attack at any moment.

Sun Feng stood on the rampart in a daze. He looked down — the Chu army camp was in utter turmoil. Soldiers stumbled about in the pre-dawn chill. Some were frantically putting out campfires. A few chariot warriors, bare-backed with no time to dress, were hitching warhorses to their chariots.

He gazed into the distance again. Within his field of vision, there was still nothing but pale, blank fog. He could see nothing clearly. Where was the Qin army?

"Dong dong dong dong!"

The drums sounded again, this time more urgent — and they were the enemy's attack drums coming from outside! Inside the Chu camp, the sensitive horses, as if sensing the killing intent beyond the fog, let out whinnies. Trace horses and shaft horses bolted in different directions, abandoning their war chariots and rampaging through the camp. The chariot soldiers had no time to form up at all; only foot soldiers, clutching dagger-axes and spears, rushed out the camp gates to meet the enemy...

But before they could even line up, galloping war chariots tore through the thick fog, suddenly appearing within a hundred paces!

A hundred paces — to a charging war chariot, that distance closed in an instant. The charioteers lashed their horses without pause; the long barbed spears in the hands of the chariot-rights bristled with cold menace.

At this range, war chariots were unstoppable, and in a flash they shattered the Chu foot soldiers' thin defensive line...

Sun Feng watched helplessly as several thousand Chu soldiers who had rushed out of camp were utterly routed under the impact of those three hundred war chariots — like clay pots struck by an iron hammer, shattered to pieces — then shot dead by the swiftly closing Qin cavalry's bows.

Close behind them, Qin infantry emerged from the thick fog, blanketing the hills and plains. They advanced behind a rampart of shields and long spears, marching forward in uniform step, grinding the Chu encampment beneath Qin Hill's walls completely flat...

When the sun rose and the fog dispersed, the battle was already nearing its end. The Chu army had been routed in disarray, and everywhere, Qin soldiers were hunting them down.

Watching this scene, chill and terror crept beneath Sun Feng's skin, making his hands convulse. He could barely keep his footing on the wall.

All he remembered, before his legs went weak and he collapsed, was seeing a great Tiger-and-Bear banner bearing the character "Meng" slowly advancing toward Qin Hill.

Three days later, on the sixteenth of October, on the eastern bank of the Ying River a hundred and fifty li east of Qin Hill, Juyang City — which served as Chu's second defensive line — received the routed soldiers' report.

"The Qin general Meng Tian has attacked Qin Hill and utterly smashed our army!"

Along with the routed troops and the military intelligence came the Qin army's vanguard rear detachment, watering their horses by the Ying River...

(End of chapter)