Chapter 444: In All Matters, Preparedness Leads to Success

"The Odes of Qin say: 'Who says we have no robes? We share them with our comrades; when a comrade is in peril, we must surely rescue him.' I beseech Generals Li and Wei to dispatch troops at once — go save General Feng Jie and rescue the Shangjun soldiers!"

At the same moment, on the Helan Mountain grasslands, in the great tent of the Qin armies from Beidi and Longxi, Fusu, in his capacity as princely army overseer, put forward this proposal. With the survival of a detached force and the lives of twenty thousand soldiers at stake, he could not afford to delay.

While Li Xin was still mulling it over, Heifu objected to sending the chariots and cavalry in alone.

Heifu said, "The Xiongnu are masters of the decoy tactic. Last time at Huamachi, they deliberately split their forces to raid our grain convoy, but their real aim was to lure our chariots and cavalry out of camp so they could engage us three to one. Once they destroy our chariots and cavalry, they sever the Qin army's legs. Had we not committed all our infantry and cavalry and turned their own trick against them, we would have nearly fallen for their scheme. This time, with the Shangjun troops encircled, I fear they are pulling the same old trick — exploiting our eagerness to rescue them by besieging one point to strike at our reinforcements."

He was deathly afraid that, at Fusu's urging, Li Xin would commit the cavalry and send them racing a hundred li to relieve Feng Jie.

The Xiongnu's terrain and skills differ from those of the Central States. Riding and shooting at the gallop — that is the Xiongnu's forte, one that the cavalry of the Central States cannot match. Although the Beidi and Longxi cavalry are equipped with high saddles and stirrups, making everything vastly different, the Xiongnu after all number fifty to sixty thousand, and they have come prepared. The combined chariots and cavalry of Beidi and Shangjun, however, amount to no more than five or six thousand; the remaining twenty thousand and more are infantry. Five or six thousand trying to fight one against ten? Are these cavalry, or are they Gundams?

Even coordinating with Feng Jie from within and without would not work. The Shangjun troops are completely encircled by the Xiongnu, and we have been unable to establish contact with them. Heifu was also uncertain whether Feng Jie, upon discovering that relief had arrived, could break out in a tacit, simultaneous maneuver.

"'Besiege one point to strike at reinforcements' — well said, Commandant!"

Fortunately, Li Xin was no longer the reckless youth who had once plunged his lone army deep into Chu territory. The white-haired general nodded. "The military treatises of the Central Plains often use this to lure and annihilate the enemy. The Xiongnu, who spend their lives hunting and warring, are well versed in this method as well. Therefore, we must not let the chariots and cavalry advance rashly. Instead, infantry and cavalry should move forward together. If a small Xiongnu force comes, we will strike them with the chariots and cavalry. If their entire army comes, we can exploit the terrain and have the infantry deploy the Four-Wu Chariot Formation to hold them off. In this way, the Shangjun troops can also be relieved."

"Both generals speak sound reasoning. Fusu has learned much. However…"

Prince Fusu frowned and said, "The scouts report that it is two hundred li to White Goat Mountain. Even at a forced march, the infantry would need four days. Can General Feng hold out?"

They now faced a dilemma. If they dispatched only the five thousand cavalry, it would be no different from trying to douse a cartload of burning wood with a cup of water. If infantry and cavalry advanced together, it would take several days and they would struggle to arrive in time.

Yet with every passing hour, perhaps a hundred more Qin soldiers were dying. Human lives vanished on the battlefield at a speed countless times faster than the grain convoys Fusu had seen.

Heifu offered reassurance. "A foot may be short, but an inch has its own length. Though the Xiongnu excel at mounted archery, they are poor at storming formations. Last time, several thousand riders besieging our grain convoy could not gain an inch of ground, let alone now, when they face over ten thousand elite Shangjun troops. Rest assured, my Prince — the Qin battle array is solid; the Xiongnu cannot easily break it."

It is said that in history, Li Xin's descendant Li Ling, with five thousand infantry, held off tens of thousands of Xiongnu troops for a very long time, fighting across a hundred li and only failing when his arrows and provisions were exhausted. The root cause was the overwhelming advantage of the Central Plains' formations and weaponry; the casualties inflicted by each side in a short time were wildly disproportionate. If Feng Jie, facing the Xiongnu's bone arrows and stone arrowheads, could not hold out for even six or seven days, it would not be because the Xiongnu were too strong, but because this second-generation official was too useless…

At that moment, Li Xin smiled and said, "My Prince, do not worry. I have a plan that can move ten thousand charioteers, cavalry, and infantry north simultaneously, and they can reach the vicinity of White Goat Mountain in two days! It saves time and effort, and we need not fear the exhaustion of a hundred-li dash!"

Heifu had already guessed Li Xin's intention and smiled knowingly. Fusu, however, was overjoyed and pressed him. "What is the plan?"

Just then, a burst of lively clamor and cheers came from outside. Heifu laughed and clapped his hands. "It seems they have arrived just in time!"

Fusu looked utterly bewildered. Li Xin pointed outside the tent. "My Prince, please step out and see who has come!"

Who had come? Fusu walked out of the tent with puzzlement, only to see soldiers all rushing toward the great river.

When he had arrived, the soldiers and craftsmen of Beidi and Longxi had been busy building something by the water's edge. Fusu had assumed they were erecting watchtowers and paid it no mind. Now, following Li Xin and Heifu as they parted the crowd to look, he was stunned to discover that by the water stood a newly built little dock, already berthed with vessels. Soldiers were busy hefting sacks of grain from the boats…

Looking further upriver, on the glittering, wave-dappled surface, skin rafts and wooden boats appeared in an endless stream, forming a long line, sails swelling and oars swinging, drawing near to the bank!

From one of the small wing-boats, a general with a fine beard and martial attire stepped ashore. He cupped his hands and bowed to Fusu. "Longxi Army Overseer Meng Yi greets the Eldest Prince!"

…

"Is my Prince wondering when Longxi acquired a fleet?"

Meng Yi had been transferred from General of the Household to Longxi Army Overseer precisely because he was deeply trusted by Qin Shihuang and thoroughly versed in law. Fusu had known him since he was very young; even his legal knowledge had been taught by Meng Yi at Qin Shihuang's behest. Thus, Fusu treated him as a teacher, and Meng Yi now resolved the prince's greatest puzzlement.

"In fact, using the waters of the great river to transport grain was originally Commandant Wei's proposal!"

"So that's it!" Fusu looked at Heifu; he had not breathed a word of this before.

Heifu cupped his hands. "My family is from Nanjun, where we commonly use boats for travel. Seeing the great river's waterway so broad, yet without a single plank upon it, seemed a terrible waste…"

After last year's battle at Huamachi, Heifu had realized that logistics and supply were the Qin army's greatest enemy. They were fortunate to have Huamachi as a forward base, but Longxi's problem was far more severe. Last time, Li Xin's advance had been halted beyond the grasslands precisely because supplies could not be brought forward.

The distance from Longxi to Helan was immense — seven to eight hundred li — and much of the route passed through desolate, untrodden wilderness. Long-distance cart transport was extraordinarily difficult. The soldiers and civilians of Longxi together numbered forty thousand, requiring fifty thousand shi of grain per month. If each cart carried twenty shi, that meant twenty-five hundred carts, and a round trip took over a hundred days.

This method exhausted the people and wasted time; it was better to blaze a new trail and adopt another means of transport.

Convenience for others is convenience for oneself. So Heifu had proposed a suggestion to his allied forces in Longxi: since overland transport was so difficult, why not build boats in the upstream counties like Jincheng, load tens of thousands of shi of grain, and float them downstream, saving both time and labor?

The biggest question, however, was whether this water route was even navigable.

The answer was obvious. In the "Yu Gong," written under a pseudonym by someone of the Warring States period, when describing the tribute route from Yongzhou to the Xia capital Anyi, there is the description: "Float upon the Jishi, reach Longmen and the Western River, and converge at the bend of the Wei." From the Jishi Mountains to Guanzhong, apart from the Green Mountain Gorge (Qingtong Gorge), Longmen, and a few other places where the current is swift and hidden reefs are numerous, the river is broad and the current is not fast, making it very suitable for navigation. The local Qiang people also often inflate sheepskins to make rafts.

Thus, over the past half-year, recruiting boatmen from the lower reaches of the Yellow River to serve in Longxi, having civilian laborers and craftsmen fell timber and build boats by the great river, and secretly sending men to explore the water route along the way had become the primary tasks of Longxi Army Overseer Meng Yi.

Li Xin had led the infantry and cavalry on their advance to the Helan Mountains just as the waters rose at summer's end. The ten-li Green Mountain Gorge, normally quite dangerous, could now be navigated smoothly. Word was then sent for the grain boats waiting upstream to continue forward, and by coincidence, they arrived today!

Fusu understood now. If the waterway could transport grain, it could also transport soldiers!

"General Li said the infantry could move north together with the chariots and cavalry and arrive in two days. Could it be that you intend to use water transport?"

"Exactly so."

Li Xin pointed at the two hundred boats, now rocking on the river waves after unloading their grain. "One boat can carry half a tun of soldiers. We can at least embark five thousand infantry on the boats and have them head north together with the chariots and cavalry!"

Although the water route further ahead had not yet been explored, with the river maps presented by Chen Ping and Wushi Yan, they knew that for a thousand li, the current was wide and easy to travel. Even if there was a risk of capsizing, there was truly no better option.

Heifu cupped his hands toward Meng Yi and Fusu. "This general has discussed it with General Li. General Li will lead the six thousand chariots and cavalry of Beidi and Shangjun, along with five thousand Longxi soldiers, to go ahead by boat. The remaining ten thousand-odd infantry will be placed under my command and will also set out immediately!"

"General Li will arrive first and pin down the Xiongnu Chanyu, so that he dares not assault General Feng with full force and must split his troops to defend. When my rear army arrives four days later, we will advance together and break the siege of White Goat Mountain! What do the two army overseers think?"

Command authority in the army is fixed: Heifu commands the Beidi army, and Li Xin commands the Longxi army. Should special circumstances arise requiring expedient action when there is no time to report to the Emperor, the army overseers' consent must be obtained. This is the very purpose of their existence.

"Matters having come to this, there is no better plan." Meng Yi was rigid by nature and still hesitating when Prince Fusu readily agreed. Meng Yi could only nod.

Li Xin let out a breath of relief. "In that case, it will be the Xiongnu's turn to be astonished. Our army's speed is unknowable to them; being unknowable, the points the enemy must guard against are many. The points the enemy must guard against being many, those we shall engage in battle will be few!"

The art of war says: Prepare the front and the rear is few; prepare the rear and the front is few; prepare the left and the right is few; prepare the right and the left is few; prepare everywhere and everywhere is few.

The enemy's forces are few because they must guard everywhere; our forces are many because we force the enemy to divide their forces to guard against us.

The balance of numbers in this war is about to shift once again!

There was no time to lose. Li Xin immediately set out with his forces, while Heifu had the camp struck and likewise marched forthwith.

Watching Li Xin's chariots, cavalry, and boats recede into the distance, Fusu could not help but say, "I had previously thought General Li Xin possessed courage but lacked strategy. Yet seeing him today — sharp and resolute without losing steadiness — he already bears the bearing of a great general!"

"Three times breaking an arm makes a skilled physician!"

Heifu, standing beside him, said this one line.

A single general's success is built on the bleaching bones of ten thousand! Li Xin had paid the price of seventy thousand dead to earn his white-haired, blood-weeping heart. Had he not changed at all, Qin Shihuang would have long since cast him aside.

Heifu looked at Prince Fusu and smiled with deep meaning.

"To grow, one must always pay a price!"

Fusu, however, did not catch the implication behind Heifu's words. He merely nodded in agreement and added, "The same is true of Commandant Wei. I read in the military texts that the method of employing troops is not to rely on the enemy not coming, but to rely on our own readiness to meet them. Before, I did not understand what this meant. Today, seeing that Commandant Wei proposed half a year ago that Longxi build boats in preparation, I finally grasp it!"

Heifu had self-awareness and smiled. "Heifu is a mediocre general, incapable of improvising on the fly or blending the unorthodox and orthodox. I can only do my utmost to make thorough preparations before the battle begins. This is what is meant by: 'In all matters, preparedness leads to success; lack of preparedness leads to failure.'"

So it is with war. And as for Fusu, who was now entangled with him — although Heifu's impression of him had greatly improved, whether to support or abandon him in the future, Heifu would also make thorough preparations for both eventualities!

PS: Writing this on the high-speed rail while traveling. July Dog's pitiful act is, of course, just to swindle some bones… no, I mean, to swindle monthly tickets.

(End of chapter)