Chapter 576: Where It Began and Where It Ends

By late May, Gaotang City was already hemmed in on three sides by the Qin army's encampments; only the western side, facing the great river, lay open.

"When besieging a city, always leave an opening — Colonel Wei truly is a master of warfare!"

Leading his troops to the Qin main camp outside Gaotang, from ten li out the Dong Commandant Yu Chengwu had already launched into his fawning routine. Right in front of his guide Cao Shen, he praised every single one of Heifu's arrangements, from the siege lines to the camp layout, practically blowing Colonel Wei into a famed general of the age.

Cao Shen found it inwardly amusing but could understand. As the pacification campaign continued, the forces of the Qi region's own commanderies were already sufficient to quell this "Zhu Tian Rebellion." Consequently, the First Emperor of Qin had additionally appointed Heifu as "Deputy General," placing him in command of all commandery troops with orders to strangle the Tian rebels at Gaotang City.

Thus, beneath Gaotang's walls, a great host gathered: not only the Jiaodong and Linzi troops, but also the Jibei and Dong commandery soldiers arrived in succession. Even Julu Commandery on the opposite bank of the great river sent two thousand men to guard the riverbank.

Heifu held a very high noble rank and was a minister the First Emperor deeply trusted; now he had also become the direct superior of all the commandants. The Dong Commandant naturally had to curry favor.

Cao Shen was only responsible for guiding them. After settling the five thousand Dong commandery troops, he then led Yu Chengwu to the main tent, where Heifu would soon arrive to hold a war council with the commandants.

The moment Yu Chengwu stepped inside the tent, he spotted an acquaintance.

"Commandant Xu, I trust you've been well since we last met."

Yu Chengwu was all smiles, but the Jibei Commandant Xu Ji could not muster a smile. He shook his head helplessly and said to his old comrade, who had fought alongside him in the campaigns to destroy Yan and Qi, "I am a commander who has lost territory and awaits punishment. I could be dismissed and executed at any moment — how dare I claim to be 'well'?"

The Jibei Commandant had every reason to worry. Their Jibei had lost half a commandery; all the Zhu Tian clans north of the Ji River had joined the rebels. Although the blame for alerting the enemy lay with the governor, he himself could not escape responsibility and could only hope to redeem himself somewhat in this battle.

Xu Ji was not even the unluckiest one. In a corner of the tent sat a grim-faced old man — none other than the Linzi Commandant, Lou Kang. He too was guilty of losing territory and, worse, had suffered a defeat at the Ji River due to carelessness and underestimating the enemy. He had already been dismissed from his post and was only kept on to assist Heifu in commanding the troops.

Xu Ji still had a sliver of hope, but Lou Kang was utterly despondent, too listless even to return Yu Chengwu's greeting.

Rebuffed, Yu Chengwu had no choice but to find a place to kneel and sit. Come to think of it, all three of them had once been subordinate generals under Wang Ben, with illustrious battle records. After unification, they had been given commandant posts. The lands east of the pass were rich, and they had all settled into comfortable lives — catching thieves, drilling garrison troops, far removed from the perilous, glorious days of old.

Who could have foreseen this sudden upheaval in Qi, catching all the commandants off guard and leading to the collapse of Linzi and Jibei?

He could not help secretly congratulating himself: "Thankfully I was assigned to office in Dong Commandery — there are no rebels there."

The turmoil sparked by the uprising in Di County seemed, for now, to be confined to the Qi region. Outside Qi, only Julu's Lu Goujian had answered the call; elsewhere, there was still no echo of support. Perhaps this was because the rebellion, in less than three months' time, was already on the verge of being quelled — the court had not even needed to mobilize the central army.

"Perhaps there is also His Majesty's consideration behind not sending General Wang Ben from Pengcheng with the Guanzhong army to suppress the rebellion..."

Yu Chengwu secretly speculated. The Emperor precisely wanted the local commandery troops to exterminate the Qi rebels, thereby telling the realm: "Suppressing a rebellion is easy — why use an ox-cleaver to kill a chicken?"

But the prerequisite for all this was that the chicken-killing knife must be a sharp blade!

As he was pondering, the tent flap was lifted again, and a dark-faced general in martial attire strode in — it was precisely the chicken-killing knife for this campaign, Deputy General Heifu!

"Greetings, General Wei!"

Yu Chengwu and the others hurriedly rose and cupped their fists. Heifu nodded to them and went straight to the main seat and sat down.

The Dong Commandant observed how young Heifu was — it was said he was not yet thirty this year. Before reaching the age of thirty, he had already become a high-ranking frontier official and held the noble rank of Grand Superior. After this pacification of the Qi rebellion, he would probably reach Team-Carriage Chief or even Grand Chief, just one step away from being enfeoffed as a marquis...

Before Yu Chengwu could even lament how formidable the younger generation was, Heifu cut straight to the point, asking about the Dong commandery troops' numbers and arranging their deployment...

"Five thousand Dong commandery troops to besiege the south gate, five thousand Jibei troops to besiege the south gate, eight thousand combined Linzi and Jiaodong troops to besiege the east gate, plus the two thousand Julu troops on the opposite bank of the great river — our total forces are twenty thousand..."

After the three commandants received their orders and withdrew, Heifu stared at the Gaotang map in contemplation.

"The art of war says: if ten times the enemy, surround them; if five times, attack them; if twice, divide them. Inside the city, not counting civilians, the rebel army alone numbers more than twenty thousand — outnumbering the Qin forces. The reason they avoid battle is that the Tian brothers know their knight-errants and sea bandits are a disorderly rabble; in a proper pitched battle they would surely lose, so they can only pin their hopes on holding the city..."

Compared to forcing a crossing of the great river, which would have given Heifu the chance to strike mid-crossing and annihilate them completely, compared to fleeing in disarray through the wilderness and scattering their followers, concentrating them here to fight from a desperate position was already the best possible choice for the Tian brothers.

Now, with twenty thousand Qin troops attacking Gaotang, Heifu did face a certain degree of difficulty.

Heifu closed the map and walked outside the tent. His main camp was pitched on a small hill with a broad view. The Qin army's ramparts extended outward in orderly layers — Heifu had a mild obsessive streak and could not stand an untidy camp.

Several li away stood a great city with walls four to five zhang high...

The walls were built of rammed earth. Though not particularly tall, they were very thick, having been widened bit by bit by the Tian clan over centuries.

Unlike other states, Qi's local administrative system was not commanderies and counties, but the "Five Capitals System."

Among them, Linzi, Jimo, Ju, Gaotang, and Pinglu were designated the Five Capitals.

The reason Gaotang held such high status — besides controlling Qi's shoulder and back, serving as the throat of the northern river lands and Qi's western gateway, a place contested by all strategists — was another crucial factor: this was the place where the Tian clan rose to prominence!

From what Heifu understood, after the Tian ancestor, Prince Wan of Chen, entered Qi, the family were merely minor officers living under others' patronage, without even a fief to their name. Several generations passed with little improvement, and the family character was known for being "cultured, honest, and sincere" — until an exception emerged: Tian Wuyu, a man worthy of the title "Best Actor"...

Tian Wuyu first attached himself to the powerful minister Qing Feng, then switched sides, ensuring his family was on the winning side. A decade later, using the reasoning "if you don't strike them, they will destroy you," he allied with the Bao clan, descendants of Bao Shuya, to drive out the ruling ducal Luan and Gao clans and properly install Duke Jing of Qi.

All this was not out of loyalty to the sovereign but for his own sake. Duke Jing of Qi, grateful for Tian Wuyu's two feats of "rescuing the state," granted him a town adjacent to Ju. Tian Wuyu, heeding Yan Ying's advice, vehemently declined — while secretly bribing Duke Jing's mother to suggest that for a Tian clan so loyal and humble, a small town was hardly enough; why not give them Gaotang...

The historical records use four words to describe the Tian clan's acquisition of Gaotang.

"The Tian clan grew great!"

Gaotang, a vital thoroughfare and crossing point with flat, fertile land, allowed the Tian clan to accumulate strength there for several more generations, ultimately completing the task of supplanting Qi...

It is no exaggeration to say their history began at Gaotang. This was the Tian clan's dragon-rising land, and the people of Gaotang, having received the most favor from the Tians, still yearned for Tian Qi. After the Tian brothers launched their uprising in Di County and installed Tian Jia as king, men like Tian Ji and Tian Jie of Gaotang immediately responded, tying down the Jibei army.

And now, Gaotang had become the restorationists' final bastion. Not only were its walls thick and moats deep, but the city also held granaries with three years' worth of stored grain — enough to feed the rebels for a long time. The city's populace supported the anti-Qin, pro-Qi restoration even more fervently than Linzi's, and coupled with their fear of "Qin army massacres," they would likely do everything in their power to aid the defense. Thus, taking Gaotang would be a tough fight.

"At the very least, it'll be about as difficult as the Water Margin stronghold attacking Gaotang Prefecture," Heifu grumbled inwardly.

Just then, Heifu's nephew Wei Yang, serving as a guard at his side, had sharp eyes and pointed at the city wall: "Uncle... General, they're raising flags on the wall!"

Sure enough, two banners were raised atop the wall. A moment later, scouts returned to report that the main banner on the wall bore nine coiling dragons...

"It's the Dragon Nine Banner, the emblem of the Qi royal house."

Heifu smiled. He had heard about this from Zhang Cang: it was the very banner specially bestowed by King Xiang of Zhou during the ceremony when Duke Huan of Qi became Hegemon. Later, when the Tian clan supplanted Qi without changing the state's name, they inherited this banner. The Tian brothers' uprising aimed to restore the Qi state, so this flag was indispensable — probably hastily made after entering Gaotang to boost morale.

Additionally, a "Linggu" banner bearing crossed dragons flew from a slightly lower point on the gate tower, the symbol of the "chief minister." It seemed the rebels' true commanders, the three Tian brothers, were likely also atop the wall at this moment, gazing out at the Qin camp and discussing their strategy...

Heifu knew exactly what sight met their eyes:

Four Qin army divisions positioned separately, their ramparts solid, soldiers with powerful bows and crossbows guarding the critical points. Tens of thousands of laborers, streaming in endlessly from Xue and Dong commanderies, were piling up earthen mounds for the assault.

Everywhere echoed the pounding of wooden mallets; a brand-new siege tower was under construction. Two others had already been erected. Between these two towers stood several siege engines, their rams fashioned from tree trunks, secured with iron chains, their tips sharpened and fire-hardened, covered by wooden canopies shielded with raw horsehide and doused with water to prevent fire.

Moreover, over ten "flying stone" catapults — devices dating back to the Spring and Autumn period — were already prepared over a hundred paces from the city walls. Artisans scurried back and forth, adjusting their aim.

This great battle was set to erupt at any moment!

Heifu could not help but sigh with emotion.

"The Tian clan's history began at Gaotang. This family has produced talents generation after generation — Tian Wuyu, Tian Qi, Sima Rangju, Sunzi, Tian Heng, King Wei of Qi, King Xuan of Qi, Tian Ji, Lord Mengchang, Tian Dan — they've truly led the age for centuries..."

Heifu ordered the main camp's banner to be waved. Wooo-wooo — the horns sounded, signaling the start of the first probing attack!

Several thousand Qin soldiers advanced in orderly steps, striking their shields with their swords. They were not truly about to storm the city; war relies on morale, and a daily show of force was necessary — more than enough to intimidate the knight-errants and commoners on the wall.

And the craftsmen had finished adjusting the trebuchets; countless men shouted as they hauled the ropes, launching the first flying stone — it hurtled toward Gaotang City, toward the great "Dragon Nine" banner atop the walls!

"But now, the history of the Tian clan shall also end here!"

……

PS: The names of the various Commandants are of course just made up.

(End of chapter)