Chapter 480: Blood and Fire: Three Kingdoms Kill (Corruption and Perseverance)

The Hutuo River's water volume was actually not great. Even at the Zhongdu Bridge section, a soldier who was a strong swimmer could still wade across.

As for the upper reaches, there were even more stretches where the channel was shallow and easy to cross.

Du Chongwei was busy throwing up stockades to steady his position, but Yelu Deguang had already made a snap decision, ordering his brother-in-law Xiao Han to personally lead six thousand elite cavalry of the Iron Pigeon and Fengsheng armies west along the Hutuo River, find a broad place to cross, and go directly to cut off the Jin army's rear.

At the end of the eleventh month, Xiao Han led his six thousand elite cavalry and suddenly, unexpectedly, appeared outside the walls of Luancheng.

Luancheng had only a small garrison, and they did not even know the men coming were Khitans before the city was stormed and taken.

This was in fact the reason Fu Yanqing so fiercely opposed Du Chongwei's westward advance to Hengzhou: it meant not only a change in the line of march, but also a change in the supply line.

Given the Later Jin's national strength and the Later Jin court's grip on the localities, the Jin army simply did not have the ability to arbitrarily alter the main army's route, or the supply line that went with it.

If they had followed the agreed plan, after the north could not be held, they would have withdrawn south to the Yellow River line and carried out the strategy of drawing the Khitan forces in deep.

That way, both the quantity and quality of supplies along the route would have been more secure.

But once Du Chongwei slipped away to Hengzhou, the difficulty of supplying the army immediately shot up.

Luancheng, for example — such a vital supply point had almost no defenses.

Although Du Chongwei sent Xue Huairang to transport grain, the transport route from the Eastern Capital to Luancheng had not been established, and it happened to be pouring rain. The conscripted porters were utterly miserable; they would rather be flogged than get up, and simply could not be driven on.

When, with great difficulty, thirty thousand shi of grain had finally been delivered to Luancheng, Xiao Han arrived with his Khitan troops.

Xue Huairang lost Luancheng. Apart from the porters, he had only a few hundred soldiers under him, and the surrounding prefectures and counties had no troops to spare, so he could only fall back to Yuanshi, southwest of Luancheng.

And even then, he could only hold Yuanshi itself, because Xiao Han's forces outnumbered his ten to one and could send out several hundred elite cavalry at any time to raid in all directions.

The simple supply line Xue Huairang had so painstakingly built, along with the supply points along it, were all destroyed. Yuanshi was on the verge of becoming an isolated city, so how would he dare leave the walls?

At the same time, Du Chongwei on the east bank of the Hutuo River heard that Luancheng had been taken and immediately panicked.

Because Luancheng was not only the Jin army's supply line, it was also the road the Jin army had to take to withdraw south. With Luancheng in Khitan hands, it was as if someone had seized the Jin army by the throat.

In his panic, Du Chongwei urgently ordered Hu Cile, who had been guarding the main camp, to lead the Wuning Army cavalry and part of the imperial guard cavalry south, join forces with Xue Huairang to retake Luancheng, and open the road.

Meanwhile, on the west bank of the Hutuo River, Yelu Deguang had raised a nest cart and could see every movement in the Later Jin camp with perfect clarity.

Hu Cile had barely led his three thousand cavalry out of camp when Yelu Deguang ordered Yelu Wuzhi and others, who were seeking to atone for past offenses, to lead another three thousand cavalry south in pursuit of Hu Cile.

Both sides sent out three thousand cavalry, but the meaning of it was completely different for each.

The Jin army's three thousand cavalry had been pulled out only by greatly compressing the main army's mobility.

The Khitans were almost entirely cavalry, so detaching three thousand cavalry meant nothing at all to them.

Moreover, the Khitan cavalry had the lavish configuration of two horses per man. After they followed Hu Cile's three thousand riders south, they quickly made contact with Xiao Han at Luancheng, because Xiao Han had kept large numbers of roving scouts out on alert the whole time.

By the time Hu Cile led his elite riders through Xiao Han's roving scouts and reached the outskirts of Luancheng, he ran straight into the combined six thousand cavalry of Yelu Wuzhi and Xiao Han, drawn up and waiting for him.

The so-called joint attack on Luancheng with Xue Huairang's force was never even a possibility.

Because Xue Huairang could not even leave Yuanshi, and had no idea that Hu Cile had already led his troops to the north of Luancheng.

Hu Cile spurred his horse about in all directions, rallying morale. Though already rather weary, he showed no fear. Instead, pointing at the gap between Xiao Han's and Yelu Wuzhi's forces in the distance, he said:

"The caitiff cavalry have drawn up in a hurry, and their two forces have not merged into one. If we charge straight at that point, we can surely smash the Khitans."

As he spoke, Hu Cile turned his eyes to the fierce general Hu Tai beside him.

Before this, whenever Hu Cile gave the order, his son Hu Guang and Hu Tai had been the two sharp blades of the attack.

But now Hu Cile did not dare entrust such a vital task, the sharp edge of the army, to Hu Guang — because ever since Hu Guang had nearly been beaten to death by Khitan Iron Falcon troops with cavalry lances, Hu Cile had grown somewhat fearful.

Although he and Hu Guang had plenty of friction in many respects, Hu Guang was his only outstanding son. Father and son might quarrel, but the affection was still there.

Hu Tai was a tough, short, powerfully built man, like a black scale weight.

Since following Great King Zhang eastward, he had fought dozens of battles great and small, and in every battle he was the first to charge.

After reaching the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng, though his all-out ferocity had slackened somewhat, he was still a rare and fierce general.

Yet even such a fierce general now had fear in his eyes. He looked at Hu Cile and said, somewhat insincerely:

"Third Uncle, the caitiff cavalry are strong, and we do not even know whether they have support behind them. Better we lead the troops back and wait for the Chief Commander's orders."

Hu Cile glared at Hu Tai, his riding crop nearly coming down on Hu Tai's head.

"You whelp, how dare you? Making excuses on the battlefield — I think those Xuzhou women have addled your wits. Get your troops charging now, or watch out: once I'm back, I'll sell off those singing girls of yours."

Since taking office as Military Governor of the Wuning Army in Xuzhou, Hu Cile, old tree putting out new blossoms, had taken two beautiful concubines, and the prefectures and counties under Wuning Army control had presented him with rare treasures.

Salt and iron merchants had even given him grand mansions and entertainers and musicians. The quality of Hu Cile's life had shot up all at once.

And naturally, if he, Hu Cile, after so many years of fighting, could enjoy himself a little, his subordinates would follow his example!

In barely a year, Hu Tai had already acquired three concubines, four thousand mu of good farmland, and control of several salt and iron mines.

With wealth and rank to that degree, expecting him to charge recklessly and throw his life away as before — how could that be possible?

Still, because the corruption had not gone on long, Hu Tai's blood-courage remained, and with Hu Cile's authority bearing down on him, Hu Tai had no choice but to steel himself, roar once, and go down to muster the soldiers.

But if Hu Tai could imitate Hu Cile's way of life, the soldiers below were naturally no fools either.

Moreover, Hu Cile's original seven hundred Liangzhou great horses had been matchless in valor, and apart from their lives not yet being corrupted, there was another important reason.

That was that everyone came from the same place. Their training and tactics meshed seamlessly, and their trust in one another was beyond compare.

But after arriving in Xuzhou, Hu Cile could not avoid absorbing the old hands of the former Wuning Army, and it was precisely the entry of these men that led the original Liangzhou elite riders into corruption, while their coordination and trust also plummeted.

On the surface, the cavalry had expanded from seven hundred men to two thousand, but their actual fighting strength was far inferior to before.

Unfortunately, just as Shi Chonggui could not accurately grasp the state of the Jin realm, Hu Cile, still feasting and dancing away in Xuzhou, likewise failed to accurately perceive the fact that the fighting strength of Hu Tai and the others had sharply declined.

At this moment, Xiao Han's and Yelu Wuzhi's Liao forces arrived together, the two armies forming a crane-wing formation and pincering toward Hu Cile's force.

Hu Cile responded with an arrowhead assault formation, seemingly intending to punch a hole through the widely spread Liao army.

In reality, however, Hu Cile had secretly hidden four hundred men under Hu Tai, intending, under the cover of the main force, to use elite troops to strike the Liao army's weak point — the very base of the two white crane wings.

And the Liao army, for its part, seemed to be foolishly sprinkling pepper with its crane-wing formation, but in fact it knew full well how formidable Hu Cile's Liangzhou great horses were.

The Khitans were preparing to envelop Hu Cile's force and use their mobility to pull and peel it apart again and again, like stripping an onion.

Thus, while the two armies were still several dozen paces apart, the Liao army loosed ten thousand arrows at once, using archery to disrupt the charge of Hu Cile's cavalry, with no eagerness to close and fight them hand to hand.

The crane-wing formation instantly dissolved into a swirling melee, and for a time Hu Cile was utterly thrown off.

At this moment he was like a mighty bull, while the Liao army was a pack of hyenas — no single enemy could stand before him, but danger lurked on every side, and the slightest lapse would cost him a chunk of flesh.

Still, the Tiger Tai that Hu Cile had hidden in ambush was not entirely useless, because although the Khitan style of fighting seemed utterly chaotic, it actually depended heavily on command.

Though he had lived in comfort for nearly a year, Hu Cile had not lost his battlefield instincts. He pointed toward where Xiao Han was positioned and urgently ordered Tiger Tai to lead his troops in a fierce assault.

Xiao Han had not expected the enemy to locate his command post so quickly. He was quite wary of Hu Cile's several hundred cavalry — indeed, the entire Liao state, from top to bottom, was wary of them.

These Liangzhou great horses and their riders were no less skilled in archery and horsemanship than the Khitan cavalry, and their warhorses, armor, and weapons were even superior.

The prevailing view within the Khitan realm now was that in a decisive battle of thirty thousand to fifty thousand men, the Liangzhou iron cavalry and the Khitan iron cavalry were evenly matched in fighting strength.

Above fifty thousand men, the Great Khitan iron cavalry had a very high chance of victory, but at the same time, within thirty thousand men — especially a clash of elite cavalry around ten thousand or so — the Liangzhou iron cavalry held the edge.

However, what happened next made Xiao Han's jaw drop.

Tiger Tai's three hundred light-armored cavalry looked ferocious as they charged, but three fierce assaults all failed to break through the light-armored cavalry Xiao Han had placed in his vanguard.

The fighting strength of these Liangzhou great horses had fallen far too quickly.

Puzzled yet pleased, Xiao Han directed his forces with ever greater ease. The two sides tangled for dozens of li along the Wenshui River outside the walls of Luancheng.

After a bloody hour of battle, Hu Cile's troops had suffered heavy casualties and were already showing faint signs of collapse.

Amid the shouting of men and neighing of horses, cold sweat streamed down Hu Cile's face from beneath his helmet. Tiger Tai actually could not break through the Khitan cavalry before him.

This was not merely a failure to capture or kill the enemy commander — they could not even force the enemy's command banner to shift.

And now, because of errors in tactics and fighting strength, they had sunk deeper into the Liao army's onion-peeling operation, their casualties mounting ever higher.

For a moment Hu Cile's mind raced, and his hands and feet seemed to turn cold.

He had imagined he might die in battle somewhere, but he had never thought it would come so quickly. His happy days in the Wuning Army were not yet over.

Just then, waves of cheering rose from left and right. Hu Cile jerked his head up and saw that Xiao Han's command banner was swaying from side to side like a leaf in the wind.

Not far in front of Xiao Han, a force of about a hundred elite cavalry had plunged in like a tiger among sheep, sending Xiao Han's personal guards scattering in panic.

At last, even Xiao Han beneath the command banner could not withstand the pressure, and he began to retreat with his banners and war drums.

In an instant, Hu Cile's troops erupted in thunderous cheers. The soldiers surged through the gap that had been torn open and charged northward, finally breaking out of the encirclement.

But Hu Cile's heart did not fully settle. He scanned his surroundings and still saw no sign of his son Hu Guang.

A moment later a familiar shout rang out. Hu Cile looked to the northwest and saw his son Hu Guang standing his horse on a hillside, raising a hand as if bidding him farewell.

"My lads, we return to Liangzhou! Only the Heavenly King can save the world!"

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