Chapter 332: Chang'an's Last Chance

If one word could describe He Chuan's mood right now, it would be: numb.

He had just personally directed the army in capturing the West Wei Bridge, sending the Jinchang Army fleeing back into Chang'an after leaving behind several hundred corpses.

He had been about to replenish provisions, round up some more laborers and able-bodied men, and then push on into Chang'an in one surge to enjoy himself.

But as it turned out, not only had the provisions not been gathered, there was even a chance he was now being counter-encircled.

Three days ago he had begun receiving reports of small foraging parties going missing. At first he thought they had ranged too far and been ambushed by local village militia.

But by today, even foraging parties of eighty to a hundred men could no longer be guaranteed safe.

Then it was definitely not the village militia. Even if half of several dozen men were armored, that was still not something village militia could handle.

Once it was confirmed that the Huazhou Zhenguo Army had not moved, the identity of those attacking his troops became glaringly obvious.

It had to be the Hexi Guiyi Army coming from beyond the Three Passes. Only they could repeatedly and successfully ambush the foraging parties He Chuan sent out.

Because they possessed large numbers of warhorses and elite cavalry, and could use their superior mobility to guarantee the efficiency and success rate of their interceptions.

Guanzhong had once raised horses too. The Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties all had horse-breeding grounds in Guanzhong, but after the Great Tang fell, Guanzhong could no longer afford to raise horses.

Because for the farming households of the various Guanzhong prefectures, raising horses was actually an extremely costly affair.

In places like Liangzhou, raising horses only required finding a valley with lush water and grass. A few herders could raise dozens or even a hundred horses.

But that would not work in Guanzhong. After a thousand years of development, every place in Guanzhong with lush water and grass had already been cleared into farmland.

To raise horses, the only option was to let the horses compete with people for grain, which made the cost extremely high.

The Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties could raise horses because they had the backing of the state apparatus. The reduced harvests and grain shortages caused by horse-raising were paid for by the state.

But in the late Tang and Five Dynasties, one faction after another took the stage, and whoever had strong soldiers and sturdy horses became Emperor.

Whether it was the Son of Heaven or the various kings and Military Governors across the land, the most important thing was preventing their subordinates from rebelling.

Who had the leisure to bother with raising horses in Guanzhong — an endeavor requiring enormous investment and long-term upkeep before any return could be seen?

So even though Weizhou and Wuzhou, under the Zhangyi Army Military Governor, had a horse-raising tradition, the proportion of cavalry in He Chuan's rebel troops was not high — to say nothing of the Huazhou Zhenguo Army.

So the only force that could now field so many warhorses and cavalrymen was the Hexi Guiyi Army, with its horse-breeding lands and customs.

A Guanzhong army — He Chuan's rebel force, for example — numbering over twelve thousand men, had only four or five thousand mules and horses. Fewer than two thousand could actually be used as cavalry.

Faced with his foraging parties being attacked on all sides, He Chuan had also sent out his own cavalry to strike back. But the results were minimal.

Those Guiyi Army men from Hexi came and went like the wind, and their combat experience was even richer. They were as cunning as foxes: the moment they saw He Chuan's cavalry move out, they would withdraw in advance, never tangling with a large force.

The Defense Commissioner Wu beside him frowned. "If the Hexi Guiyi Army has already appeared near the West Wei Bridge, then even if Qianzhou has not fallen, it is probably surrounded.

Our rear route has now been cut! Foraging in all directions is impossible, and transporting grain from the Xingping County granary will probably require a large force as escort. We would be better off abandoning the attack on Chang'an and first withdrawing to Xingping County to rest and reorganize."

He Chuan closed his eyes and thought, cracking his knuckles loudly. He turned the problem over and over but could find no good solution.

But withdrawing his army now was impossible.

Ha! If he captured the West Wei Bridge and then announced he would not enter Chang'an, the officers and men below, who had long been waiting to enter Chang'an and plunder it on a grand scale, would certainly raise a fuss.

If the whole army really got riled up and lost its temper, killing him, He Chuan, was entirely possible.

And if he continued the attack on Chang'an, his rear route was already under serious threat. The grain-stockpiling town of Xingping County was still several dozen li from the West Wei Bridge, and if it fell, that would be serious trouble.

"Commander Zhang, the only plan now is to draw all cavalry from every unit. I will give you thirteen hundred horsemen.

Squad General Zhou, I will give you another five hundred elite soldiers. You are to transport the two thousand dan of grain from the northeast granary of Xingping County to the West Wei Bridge."

Zhang Xiaoguo and Squad General Zhou Hu'er both frowned at the same time. But soon Zhang Xiaoguo's brow smoothed out, while Squad General Zhou's face still showed clear reluctance.

He Chuan was not really asking him to transport those two thousand dan of grain. He was obviously making him the bait.

Seeing Squad General Zhou's reluctance, He Chuan forced out a thin smile and explained: "I have observed that this Hexi Guiyi Army's cavalry is bold to the point of recklessness, and they look down on us somewhat. If there were two thousand dan of grain under escort, they would certainly not let it pass.

To swallow an escort of five hundred elite soldiers, they would have to commit more than a thousand cavalry. I estimate their total cavalry strength near the West Wei Bridge is about that.

If Squad General Zhou can first blunt their edge with a wagon formation and pin them down, then when Commander Zhang arrives with his troops, even if we cannot annihilate them completely, we can still tear off a large chunk of their flesh and make them afraid to harass us further."

Qianzhou had in fact not fallen. Although He Chuan had left only six or seven hundred men to hold Qianzhou, the city was not large, and its walls were quite high. Six or seven hundred men were enough to defend it.

So after trying once or twice, Zhang Zhao had not continued the assault. His main target remained He Chuan's force of over ten thousand rebels.

If He Chuan's rebel army was routed, or even annihilated, the few hundred men in Qianzhou would be no more than fish on the chopping board.

So after leaving several hundred soldiers of Erzhu Jing's unit to keep watch on the rebel troops in Qianzhou, Zhang Zhao ordered Murong Xinzhang and Bai Congxin to act as the vanguard and go ahead to the area around the West Wei Bridge to raid the rebels' foraging parties. He himself also led the main army toward the West Wei Bridge.

And He Chuan's so-called bait-the-enemy plan had in fact long been within Zhang Zhao's expectations.

Because Zhang Zhao had put himself in He Chuan's place and thought it through: if he were in He Chuan's situation, the only solution he could think of would be to throw out a bait, lure the enemy cavalry into attacking with full force, and then devour that cavalry force.

Since he knew this would be the case, Zhang Zhao could not possibly fail to keep a reserve. So the cavalry surrounding the West Wei Bridge and raiding He Chuan's grain convoys on all sides was not just the thousand or so horsemen led by Murong Xinzhang, Li Cunhui, and Hu Guang.

In fact, while Murong Xinzhang and the others were striking out in all directions, Bai Congxin had been lying in wait for a long time with another fifteen hundred cavalry, plus over a thousand men of the Qingzhou Tangut Li Yanli's unit as a reserve.

Bai Congxin looked up at the high sun and wiped the sweat from his forehead. By late sixth month, the Guanzhong plain was already somewhat hot.

In truth, this month was not a good season for fighting. The weather was stifling, and soldiers in armor would exhaust their strength quickly.

Moreover, this was the critical period for the grain crop. Starting a war now would greatly affect the harvest.

But the rebels cared nothing for that. Bai Congxin sighed. Even if this year's rebel army was put down smoothly, the harvest in these several Guanzhong counties was already ruined. How many people would starve to death this year, he wondered.

Just as this cavalry Commander — a former horse-bandit who had begun to feel some pity for the farmers — was sighing, Murong Xinzhang rode over from the distance.

"Commander Bai, we have found the main force of the rebel cavalry. But they are being very cautious, moving upstream along the Wei River the whole time. They have sent out a good number of scouts and roving patrols. I estimate a surprise attack on them will not be easy."

Bai Congxin smiled faintly. "If we cannot surprise them, then we will keep watch on them. Also, send someone at once to report to the Sikong: we have confirmed that the rebels' grain stockpile is in Xinping County town."

For Bai Congxin, if he could strike the rebel cavalry force an unexpected heavy blow, that would be best.

But if the enemy was already on guard, then using this to pinpoint the rebels' grain stockpile was also a fine gain.

Zhang Xiaoguo did not know that his caution had saved his own life and the lives of his thousand-plus cavalrymen.

As one of the rebel army's notable fierce generals, Zhang Xiaoguo did have some ability, and even He Chuan depended on him in many matters.

So after sending out large numbers of scouts and roving patrols, Zhang Xiaoguo clearly sensed something was wrong.

If the opposing force had only a thousand or so cavalry, his scouts and roving patrols would not have been beaten so badly.

In cavalry engagements, one side compressing the other's scouting space is the most common and also the most effective tactic.

When two cavalry forces are about to close in, they will invariably break out into numerous and intense dogfights, each trying to make the other side go "blind."

The commander can also often deduce the enemy's numbers from these small-scale dogfights.

Sure enough, just as Sun Xiaoguo felt the fighting growing fiercer and was beginning to struggle to cope, the scouts finally brought back shocking news.

Roughly three thousand cavalry were closing in from the north and west, and Captain Zhou, who had never been willing to serve as bait, upon receiving Sun Xiaoguo's report simply abandoned the two thousand shi of grain and fled back to Xingping County.

That was the correct choice. Sun Xiaoguo likewise began leading his cavalry back toward West Wei Bridge before the Guiyi Army cavalry had completed their encirclement.

Both sides then launched even more intense small-unit skirmishes on the north bank of the Wei River, including pursuit battles involving over a hundred men.

By this time, the main army led by Zhang Zhao was already less than sixty li from West Wei Bridge. Once the question of whether they would be fighting the rebels alone had been settled, the Guiyi Army's speed of movement was astonishing.

And Zhang Zhao did not yet know that this decision of his would preserve the last remaining vitality of all Guanzhong.

Because before it was plundered by this rebel army, Guanzhong at this time actually still had a population of more than two million.

Xingping, Wannian, and the other counties near Chang'an alone had a population of over two hundred thousand. It could be said that Chang'an was not yet completely ruined.

Historically, this rebellion did not grow very large, but it still cost Chang'an and the surrounding counties sixty to seventy thousand lives. Counting Binzhou, Qianzhou, and the other prefectures, the loss was at least over one hundred thousand.

The rebellion was not large, but it led to one very serious consequence: it frightened away many farming households in Guanzhong.

And once Guanzhong's population had sharply declined, the Central Plains dynasties were no longer really able to hold this region.

At this time, the gradually growing wealthy Later Shu saw the weakness of the Central Plains dynasties in Guanzhong and stepped up its attacks on the Guanzhong region.

This in turn led to more than thirty conflicts, large and small, breaking out in Guanzhong over the following decade.

And ten years later, in the rebellion of Zhao Siwan, that man who delighted in eating human gallbladders, and in the war in which Later Shu seized Chengzhou, Fengzhou, Qinzhou, and the other prefectures, Guanzhong's population would be cut by more than half. Chang'an, which had a population of over one hundred thousand, would not have one in ten left.

From then on, the foundation upon which the Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties had risen to power, the Guanzhong Plain, the heartland of Chinese civilization, would never rise again.

Zhang Zhao did not choose to join forces with An Shenqi and the others before attacking the rebels, yet in some unseen way, he preserved a Guanzhong that still had some foundation left.

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