Chapter 233

"Never press a desperate enemy."

Hearing the gongs sounding retreat behind him and gazing half a li away at the Ba people withdrawing into the mountain forests, Heifu, unwilling as he was, could only let the hastily armed youths of Yidao who had followed him out of the city to strike the enemy halt their steps.

It was not that they did not want to pursue, but that they simply could not catch up. Who could have imagined that these Ba people, barefoot, could sprint as if flying, faster than the shoe-wearing Qin soldiers? With few chariots or horses in the city, they could not organize riders to harass and intercept ahead, and could only watch helplessly as most of them escaped.

Moreover, the Ba people had lived in the mountain forests since childhood and knew the terrain intimately, moving through ravines and thickets as if on level ground. If greed tempted them to pursue, they would likely fall into an ambush instead, which would be far worse.

Looking back along the pursuit path, at the hundred-odd Ba corpses of those killed because they retreated too slowly, plus the two hundred-odd corpses beneath the walls of Yidao, it could barely count as a complete victory. Over these two days of defending the city, the casualties among soldiers and civilians had also been only a hundred-odd.

Heifu ordered the Yidao centurion and county clerks to organize the youths to clear the battlefield, while he himself rode toward the city. The reinforcements sent by the Commandery Governor had only just arrived beneath the walls. In their haste to come to the rescue, they had no time to conceal their movements; the sails unfurled on the Great River were visible to both friend and foe. The Ba people had failed in three assaults on the city, and being a coalition of several tribes, their morale instantly dissipated and they withdrew with incredible speed...

When Heifu approached, the armored officer of the reinforcement troops also personally rode out and saluted him with clasped hands: "Heifu... no, I should call you Left Military Clerk now. I never thought we would meet here!"

"Commandant Cheng!"

Heifu was delighted at the sight. Was this not Cheng Wuyou, who had once been his superior for a time during the campaign against Chu? He had learned after returning that during the great defeat at Xiangcheng, Cheng Wuyou had been fortunate to survive, leading his remnant troops to withdraw with Meng Tian. Because he later earned minor merit resisting the Chu army's advance, his rank was not stripped, and he was even reassigned to Zigui as County Commandant.

After they met, Cheng Wuyou gazed at the scarred and battered walls of Yidao, and at the nearby hamlet villages that had been burned and still emitted faint wisps of smoke. He said bitterly, "I never imagined that in the mere half year since I left Yidao, these barbarians would dare to be so insolent!"

If he remembered correctly, Cheng Wuyou was a native of Yidao. Seeing his homeland destroyed like this, his anger was only natural.

At that moment, another officer also came forward to meet Heifu. This was the Yiling County Commandant, named Ling Kui.

Heifu roughly counted the troops they had brought and saw they numbered nearly a thousand.

"It is only the forces of Yiling and Zigui counties."

Cheng Wuyou told Heifu that four days earlier, when the Commandery Governor had sent Heifu ahead to Yidao, he had also dispatched men to mobilize troops from neighboring counties.

"The original plan was to use the troops of four counties to quell the Yidao rebellion in one stroke. Who could have foreseen that Chanling would also send an urgent plea for help, saying that a Chu army of nearly ten thousand was besieging Chanling! So the conscripted soldiers from Jiangling, Zhijiang, and other counties were redirected to Chanling."

"Nearly ten thousand?!" Heifu was greatly alarmed. That number likely meant the entire military strength of Chu's Jiangnan and Changsha regions had been mobilized. At the same time, he understood why the Chu people had incited the Ba people of Yidao to rebel. It seemed this was not the main direction of attack. Chanling — that was the place the Chu people truly wanted to seize.

Chanling was the later-day Gong'an County in Hubei. It bordered the Great River to the north, connected to the Xiang River in the south, met the Han River in the east, and led to Chuan-Shu in the west. The three most vital waterways of the Jing-Chu region pinched Gong'an County in the middle, allowing direct passage to seven provinces. Thus, in later ages, while Wuhan was the "Thoroughfare of Nine Provinces," Gong'an was the "Critical Passage of Seven Provinces."

It was much the same now. Chanling was regarded as the gateway to Jiangling. If Chanling fell, the Chu people would face Jiangling across the river. Their fleet could follow the You River into the Great River and sail all the way to the waters where Heifu and the others had bathed during the Shangsi Festival, placing the commandery seat under constant threat.

"If that happens, Nan Commandery's soldiers probably cannot be sent to Huaibei, and daily war preparations and production will also be greatly affected," Heifu thought. By then, they might even have to abandon Yidao.

But that was not what they needed to worry about now. Although the siege of Yidao had been lifted and the Ba tribes had fallen into discord and scattered, as long as Fan Qin, who had initiated the uprising, lived a single day, and as long as the Ba chieftains remained instigated by the Chu people, this rebellion was still not over.

After beheading the corpses and returning to the city, Heifu, as the Left Military Clerk holding the Commandery Governor's tiger tally, was without question the commanding officer. Cheng Wuyou and Ling Kui both had to submit to his authority. This made Cheng Wuyou feel somewhat strange in his heart. The junior centurion who had been under his command just a year ago — how was he now ranked above him?

When Heifu asked about the next strategy to pacify the barbarians, Cheng Wuyou did not answer first. Instead, Yiling County Commandant Ling Kui said impatiently, "The Ba people killed the County Magistrate and County Commandant, and burned many hamlets. This cannot be forgiven! Since the barbarians of Yidao are fickle in their submission and rebellion, why not seize this chance to sweep their lairs and drive them out completely? End the trouble forever!"

When he served as an official in Yiling County, this was exactly how he had dealt with the local minority Ba uprisings. Moreover, doing so made it easier to earn merit.

As a result, these words immediately drew strong opposition from the native Cheng Wuyou: "Commandant Ling, though Yidao and Yiling are separated only by a single river, their circumstances are vastly different. Yiling, after centuries of Chu governance, consists mostly of registered households, with orderly villages and hamlets. The few barbarians in the mountains who resist can simply be exterminated."

"Yidao is different. The registered households number only a few hundred, yet the Ba tribal population is as many as ten to twenty thousand. Setting aside whether our meager forces could wipe them out in one stroke, even if we temporarily drove the Ba people away, they regard the Yi River as a divine river and Wuluo Zhongli Mountain as a divine mountain. They would inevitably seek to retake this land. In that case, Yidao would never know peace! It might even provoke discontent among the Ba people in Zigui, Wu County, and Ba Commandery! This is pushing them toward the Chu side!"

"So according to Commandant Cheng, we should pacify, not exterminate? The deaths of the County Magistrate, County Commandant, and hundreds of others are just to be forgotten?" Ling Kui, having been refuted on the spot, felt his pride wounded.

Seeing they were about to come to blows, Heifu quickly stopped their argument: "The Ba people's atrocities certainly cannot go unpunished, but entering the mountain forests to pursue and exterminate with our current manpower would likely be no easy task."

He was well aware of the respective strengths and weaknesses of the Qin and Ba people. The Qin army's advantage lay in defending cities and fighting in formation on the plains. Once they entered the mountain forests and wilds, they would be at a disadvantage. One careless move and they would repeat the tragedy of the Yidao County Magistrate and Commandant, who were ambushed and annihilated.

At that moment, a junior clerk outside entered and reported that Ba Zhong sought an audience.

Ba Zhong entered, paid his respects to the three men, and offered his counsel:

"I venture to speak before the three superior officials. This Ba rebellion was originally the result of Chu envoys sowing discord. The only one wholeheartedly opposing Qin is Fan Qin alone. The other chieftains were mostly coerced by him. Now that the Ba people's assault on the city has been thwarted, many tribal chieftains already regret their actions, which is why they withdrew early. If we now press them with a large army and exterminate them indiscriminately, it will instead cause them to rally once more under Fan Qin's banner and resist the authorities. In that case, the hundreds of li along the Yi River will never know peace..."

Earlier on the city wall, Ba Zhong had watched as those Ba people who retreated too slowly were caught and killed by Heifu and the city youths. His feelings had been rather complicated.

He was a Ba "Xiazi" deeply influenced by Qin culture, and in this rebellion, he occupied a very strange position.

On one hand, he could understand the reasons for the Yidao Ba people's revolt against Qin. The vengeance for a blood kinsman was greater than heaven. The Qin authorities had executed Fan You. Although it was a lawful sentence, it had indeed been rash.

But on the other hand, as the son of the Widow Qing, Ba Zhong's perspective was higher than that of ordinary Ba people. He knew that the old way of life was gone forever. Only by accepting the rule of the Qin authorities and abiding by Qin law could they survive. His family had direct contact with Xianyang and knew that although Qin had suffered a temporary setback, the final victor would surely be Qin, not Chu. To oppose it at this moment would only make them road-blocking pebbles crushed by the giant wheel.

Looking at those Ba people who, stirred by the Chu, had come to attack Yidao and ended up dead in the ravines and wilds, Ba Zhong felt both helpless and sympathetic. He desperately wanted to do something to make this rebellion subside quickly.

For business, the Ba clan needed a peaceful environment. For sentiment, Ba Zhong also did not wish to see more Ba people die pointlessly.

After hearing Ba Zhong's suggestion, Heifu looked at Cheng Wuyou and Ling Kui: "What do the two Commandants think?"

"This is a prudent method."

Cheng Wuyou nodded and said, "I served as an official in Yidao for many years and know that the various local Ba tribes each have their own feuds. There has been armed brawling and slaughter between almost every tribe. Rather than making enemies of all the tribes, it is better to send envoys to persuade them and isolate the Fan Qin tribe!"

Ling Kui, however, said, "The Yidao County Magistrate and Commandant have already died unnatural deaths. Who else would dare to go as an envoy?"

Ba Zhong once again petitioned Heifu: "Zhong is willing to go to Wuluo Zhongli Mountain, to meet with the various tribal chieftains, and persuade them to return to Qin allegiance!"

Heifu pondered for a moment, then finally made up his mind.

"In that case, I must trouble Lord Ba to make another trip. Be sure to explain the situation clearly to the various tribes, and tell them not to persist in their delusion."

Before Ba Zhong departed, Heifu also relayed to him the words that Commandery Governor Ye Teng had instructed him with when they left Yiling.

"Tell the Ba tribal chieftains that the Commandery Governor still remembers the oath of those years. This Ba rebellion was purely the result of Jing people's instigation. The Commandery Governor understands they had no choice. Therefore, only the chief culprit shall be punished; followers will not be prosecuted. If they can kill the Chu envoys and assist the authorities in attacking and destroying the Fan Qin tribe, then Fan Qin's people and territory may be divided among them as they wish!"

Heifu remembered a saying from his previous life: unite the majority, strike at the tiny minority — it was the surefire path to victory in struggle. Now it was time to apply it flexibly!

PS: Second chapter at 11 o'clock.

(End of chapter)