Chapter 483: Blood and Fire: The Three Kingdoms Kill (Loyalty and Treachery)

In the twelfth month, the land of Hebei was bitterly cold.

The howling north wind drove dry, icy snowflakes mercilessly against people's cheeks, easily opening yet another wound on faces already cracked and chapped.

Though the snowflakes were not large, the damage they did was by no means small.

This season was not, in itself, a season for fighting, but the Jin army trapped on the banks of the Hutuo River had no other choice.

Because the temperature had plunged over the past few days, the Hutuo River had begun to freeze. Although it could not let tens of thousands of men cross at once, it could still allow several thousand elite troops to cross in batches.

As long as a few thousand elite troops could cross and secure a foothold, the follow-up forces could cross at their leisure.

Moreover, in heavy snow the Khitan warhorses could not move fast, which was precisely when the Jin army could best bring its infantry strengths into play.

Wang Qing, Prefect of Xizhou, who had earlier proposed crossing the river to open the way for the main army, was now crossing with five thousand picked troops together with Song Yanjun, Military Governor of the Weisheng Army of Dengzhou, one in front and one behind.

At this moment the sky was just beginning to lighten, and both banks of the Hutuo River lay utterly silent, with only the biting wind and a scattering of snowflakes blowing into their faces.

Though the hands gripping their blades were nearly frozen stiff and their noses would not stop running, not one of the two thousand vanguard soldiers following Wang Qing shrank back, and not one of them spoke.

These two thousand men were the boldest in the entire Jin army camp, and the ones who hated the Khitan most.

Either their kin had died at Khitan hands, or out of plain national feeling they could not bear to see the barbarians strut and swagger, and had sworn to drive the Khitan out of the Central Plains.

Like ants, the Jin soldiers crouched on the ice and slowly slipped toward the opposite bank. The first five hundred vanguard troops crossed the Hutuo River shore without any trouble.

Wang Qing was overjoyed. It seemed the Khitan were not on guard. As long as his two thousand men formed ranks on the west bank to provide cover, the main force on the east bank could cross quickly.

Very soon, almost all of his two thousand men had crossed, and of the three thousand men behind him under Song Yanjun, more than a thousand had also crossed.

Wang Qing was just about to walk over and order his soldiers to form ranks when he heard a rustling, murmuring sound.

Listening carefully, Wang Qing realized the sound did not resemble the footsteps of the soldiers around him.

Suddenly, the scouts he had posted ahead screamed in terror.

Wang Qing hurriedly climbed the terrace at the riverbank and looked where the soldiers were pointing. In the distance he saw a dense mass of surging white dots — all Khitan soldiers.

They carried no banners and were covered in white cloth, like ghosts that had suddenly appeared, and had already crept to within less than five hundred paces of Wang Qing and his men.

Having been besieged too long, the soldiers were somewhat undernourished, and so had failed to clearly make out the white-robed Khitan soldiers.

Moreover, both the Khitan soldiers and their warhorses wore padded shoes and were wrapped in cotton cloth, so even when moving carefully, they made little sound.

Zhao Yanshou looked at the Jin army across from him as if he were looking at the stepping-stone to his own ascent to the throne.

He had no other choice. After the last battle at Baituanwei Village, his power base, the Lulong Army, had suffered devastating casualties. If he could not become emperor of the Central Plains, he would not even have the chance to remain an ordinary Khitan subject.

"Kill! Once I become Son of Heaven of the Central Plains, every one of you will be a founding hero!"

Amid Zhao Yanshou's wild roars, the soldiers around him all summoned every ounce of their strength.

These men had already placed heavy bets that Zhao Yanshou could become a puppet emperor like Shi Jingtang. Now their entire fortunes had been sunk into it, and they had long since had no way back. Thus they were even more fanatical than the Khitan themselves.

Zhao Yanshou's attack came with extreme speed, and Wang Qing did not even have time to form his lines. Fortunately, his soldiers were still fairly elite. Though they had not formed a formation, a dense volley of arrows was still loosed in the very first instant.

The Lulong Army elites under Zhao Yanshou also began drawing their bows and shooting. Men on both sides kept toppling to the ground, and the scarlet blood was extraordinarily conspicuous against the snow-white ground.

However, drawing a bow and shooting in this kind of weather was often no easy matter, and so the fighting quickly developed into close-quarters melee.

Zhao Yanshou's Lulong Army numbered more than four thousand men. They had long been guarding against the Jin army secretly crossing the Hutuo River, and they also held the advantage in numbers.

But Wang Qing's two thousand men were even fiercer.

In truth, if it had come to fighting in formation, Wang Qing's two thousand men had been hastily assembled, and their coordination would not have been very smooth. But since the fight turned into a chaotic melee from the very start, it actually suited them better.

The sounds of battle carried far in the cold morning wind. Although the Jin and Liao armies were said to be facing off at the Hutuo River, their main camps were still some distance from the river.

Hearing the sounds of fighting, the horns in the Jin camp began to blow, and the soldiers and officers began to assemble. Huangfu Yu cursed Du Chongwei furiously even as he put on his armor.

For something as important as Wang Qing and Song Yanjun's forced river crossing, Du Chongwei had actually prepared only five thousand men, and had not told anyone else to make ready.

On the Khitan side, however, things moved far more swiftly. Yelu Deguang keenly sensed that this Jin army sortie would be a crucial turning point.

He immediately dispatched the fierce general Yelu Shuogu with ten thousand picked troops to go first, while he himself followed with thirty thousand soldiers.

Events proved that Zhao Yanshou had greatly overestimated himself. His four thousand men simply could not chew through Wang Qing's two thousand, to say nothing of the three thousand more under Song Yanjun who were still crossing the river.

Even when Zhao Yanshou took up a foot lance and personally joined the battle, and the Lulong Army soldiers charged the Jin army three times at the risk of their lives, they still could not drive back the Jin army, which was fewer in number than they were — let alone drive the Jin army into the river.

Precious blades rolled their edges, spear shafts snapped, lance tips broke. With the veteran general Wang Qing as their spearhead, the Jin soldiers, though few in number, held tightly together, like a single long spear thrust viciously into the Lulong Army's belly.

The only slight problem was that Song Yanjun's support seemed to be arriving somewhat slowly. Only a small number of the three thousand Weisheng Army soldiers had crossed the riverbank to join the fight, while most were still assembling.

But Wang Qing and his two thousand vanguard soldiers, locked in bloody combat, did not notice at all. Relying on sheer bloody courage, they beat back wave after wave of Lulong Army soldiers.

If one set aside his character, Zhao Yanshou could be counted a hero of his age: handsome in bearing, fond of books and history, able to draw a stiff bow, wield a lance, and thoroughly versed in military strategy.

He and Huangfu Yu were also from the same hometown — both were men of Zhending. That place seemed to delight in producing brave generals.

Now, seeing that Wang Qing's two thousand men were incomparably fierce and that two charges had failed to drive them back, Zhao Yanshou stopped being reckless. He withdrew to a hillock to observe, and quickly discovered this army's weakness.

It was that from the very start of the engagement, Wang Qing's troops had never assembled into formation.

Now, after fighting a bloody battle for a long time, because the soldiers and officers had been hastily assembled, Wang Qing could not command them as easily as moving his own arm, and so they had still not formed a large formation.

"Yanzhao, bring five hundred of our army horses, put horse armor on them, pick men skilled in horsemanship, and lead the herd to trample the Jin soldiers."

Zhao Yanshou loudly ordered his cousin Zhao Yanzhao. Although there was snow on the ground, which was unfavorable for a cavalry charge, if no one sat on their backs and the horses were simply sent charging, they could still manage a charge.

Zhao Yanzhao accepted the order and left, and before long brought five hundred tall, armored warhorses. He then arranged fifty of the best riders at the front to direct the herd's charge.

By this time, Wang Qing's troops had already completely routed the more than two thousand men of Zhao Yanshou's right wing.

Some soldiers, seeing good blades and good armor on the dead Lulong Army soldiers, could not resist stopping to pick them up. Others, their eyes red from killing, were still finishing off the wounded.

Far from maintaining formation, many of them did not even have their long spears in hand.

At that moment, the five hundred heavily armored warhorses suddenly came charging in, and the Jin soldiers on the battlefield were instantly scattered.

Wang Qing shouted at the top of his lungs, but could only gather a little over a thousand men. They hurriedly withdrew to a small hillock on the right to form a defensive formation.

Just then, the ten thousand troops under Yelu Shuogu, who had come to reinforce Zhao Yanshou, arrived. Zhao Yanshou was overjoyed and immediately joined Yelu Shuogu in fiercely attacking Wang Qing.

Wang Qing's troops had been fighting smoothly the whole time. Struck by a sudden counterattack, they were caught somewhat unprepared and were thrown into some confusion.

Fortunately, Wang Qing remained fearless in the face of danger. Leading several dozen yabing guards, he rushed about rescuing one crisis after another, and finally steadied their footing.

Fortunately, Song Yanjun's troops, which had been dawdling as they formed up, finally arrived. The great majority of these three thousand men were the yabing guards of Song Yanjun's Wusheng Army of Dengzhou.

Three years ago, An Congjin rebelled at Xiangzhou in Shannan East Circuit. Though he was suppressed, Xiangzhou had been coveted by Jingnan ever since.

So the Later Jin had prepared several thousand yabing guards at Dengzhou, and now they happened to come in handy.

The Weisheng Army yabing guards came on in formation, tramping steadily through the crunching white snow. Zhao Yanshou and Yelu Shugu, who were pressing Wang Qing hard, dared not be careless, and could only split their forces into two columns to meet them.

And so the two sides began a bloody battle along the banks of the not-so-wide Hutuo River.

The fighting had reached the point where neither side could swallow the other. What would be tested next was the commanders' next move.

But the Jin soldiers and the great majority of their officers had no idea at all that Du Chongwei had arranged this sortie.

Only after being startled awake by the battle cries of Wang Qing's and Song Yanjun's troops did they learn that comrades had already crossed the river.

In the panic, they had not even eaten breakfast, and with Du Chongwei deliberately dragging his feet, the muster was much slower.

On the Khitan side, by contrast, Yelu Deguang had mobilized almost the moment Yelu Shugu led out ten thousand reinforcements.

In just two ke, thirty thousand troops were assembled from more than a dozen great camps.

The Khitan people and the Khitan state were still in their ascendant phase. Officers and men alike could endure hardship. Thirty thousand men chewed dried meat strips, grabbed a handful of snow when thirsty, and rushed urgently toward the Hutuo River.

Wang Qing and Song Yanjun fought bitterly on the west bank for a full shichen, yet never saw Du Chongwei send troops to relieve them.

Song Yanjun also tried several times to cover Wang Qing's thousand-odd men as they withdrew from the surrounded hillock, but there were simply too many Khitan soldiers, and Song Yanjun's force could not break through at all.

After another half shichen, the Khitan troops suddenly burst into a great roar of exultation. Song Yanjun looked out from high ground and saw, to the west, hoofbeats like thunder and banners blotting out the sky. The Khitan Emperor's yellow silk canopy suddenly appeared in the distance.

Khitan morale soared, but the Wusheng Army soldiers stared at one another in alarm. Countless men turned to look back; behind them there was still no movement at all.

Yelu Shugu and Zhao Yanshou also seized the moment of soaring morale. Using a small force to keep watch on Wang Qing's troops, they attacked Song Yanjun with more than eight thousand men.

The Wusheng Army troops could not hold, and were beaten back again and again. Worse, the Khitans were also wheeling around both flanks, clearly intending to cut off Song Yanjun's line of retreat.

The whole Wusheng Army erupted in panic. Ma Yuan, the Wusheng Army infantry Commander-in-Chief, ran to Song Yanjun's side and shouted.

"The relief force still has not come, yet the Son of Heaven of the northern caitiffs is already here. We are men of Shannan. Why should we die here for the sake of Hebei men?"

Song Yanjun glanced at Wang Qing, surrounded on the hillock, then looked at the Khitan Emperor's yellow silk canopy drawing ever nearer, and gritted his teeth.

"Withdraw! If the Chief Deployment Officer will not send relief, no one can blame us."

By this time, Du Chongwei had already led the Jin army to the banks of the Hutuo River. He deliberately gave no orders, letting these tens of thousands of soldiers crowd into a jumbled mass by the river.

The troops clamored noisily. An Shenqi and Huangfu Yu wanted to go see Du Chongwei but could not even get through.

Before long, Song Yanjun's force of over two thousand men retreated to the riverbank, with Khitan troops in hot pursuit behind them.

Huangfu Yu was frantic. He had two tall yabing guards lift him up, and shouted from the riverbank.

"Do not let Song Yanjun's troops cross the river! Have them form ranks on the spot! My Yicheng Army men are willing to cross first!"

Unfortunately, Du Chongwei was already scheming in his heart. He deliberately pretended not to hear Huangfu Yu's words and gave no answer.

And Song Yanjun, fleeing to the riverbank, did hesitate for a moment.

If Du Chongwei had ordered him to hold his ground and the main army had begun crossing, he could have stayed on the west bank too.

But Du Chongwei gave no sign at all, so Song Yanjun naturally stopped caring. More than two thousand Wusheng Army soldiers fled back to the east bank in full view of everyone.

Huangfu Yu could do nothing. He could only glare at the bedraggled Song Yanjun fleeing back and roar.

"The great affairs of the state are all ruined by the likes of you!"

On the west bank, the surrounded Wang Qing watched the Khitan Emperor's yellow silk canopy draw nearer and nearer, and saw Song Yanjun's force retreat without a trace. He knew he was deep in encirclement, with no chance of survival.

At that moment, a young Khitan officer in fine robes rode up from below the hillock.

"His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Liao is benevolent and magnanimous. General, you are trapped in a desperate place. Why not surrender at once?"

Wang Qing did not even look at the young Khitan officer. Instead, he swept his gaze over the officers and men around him, and only then spoke.

"The high commander holds the army, yet sits and watches us in dire straits without sending aid. He must harbor treasonous intent. We can only repay the state with our deaths!"

"We are willing to die for righteousness with you, General!"

The officers and men had fought bitterly for two shichen. They were exhausted and parched, and numbered only a thousand-odd. Yet they showed not the slightest fear. Moved by Wang Qing's loyalty, they were willing to die with him.

Hearing this, Wang Qing raised his head to the sky and sighed. It was not that he, Wang Qing, had failed in his task today. On the contrary, had the main army crossed the river in time, even if they could not smash the Khitans, they could have fought their way to the walls of Hengzhou.

But at this moment, no amount of unwillingness would help. Wang Qing suddenly drew his bow and loosed an arrow that struck the arm of the young officer who had come to urge surrender. The young Khitan screamed, wheeled his horse, and fled back.

Wang Qing put away his bow and took up his spear, laughing bitterly. "So we die here alone!"

Yelu Deguang looked at the young officer with blood soaking through his sleeve, a flicker of disgust in his eyes. Then he looked at Zhao Yanshou and Yelu Shugu and said, "This Jin general does not know what is good for him. Kill him!"

Afterward, Yelu Deguang personally led troops to the riverbank where the Jin army was massed. He ordered his men to hurl stones and smash the thin ice on the river, and used long-range crossbows to shoot at the Jin troops on the opposite bank.

Du Chongwei immediately panicked like a mouse at the sight of a cat, and hurriedly ordered the Jin army to pull back.

At the end of the wei hour, the sounds of battle gradually died down. Hardly anyone was left around Wang Qing.

But these thousand-odd elite Jin soldiers had made the Khitan troops who came to surround them pay a terrible price. Below the hillock, the ground was covered with the corpses of Khitan officers and men — no fewer than a thousand, by the look of it.

Zhao Yanshou held a foot soldier's lance. His battle robe was soaked with blood as well. Several times he had nearly been pierced in a vital spot after his armor was broken.

At his feet, a yabing guard of the Lulong Army still twitched faintly. Zhao Yanshou stared at the tottering Wang Qing, his eyes nearly blazing with fury.

"Old wretch, today is the day you die!"

"This old man gives his body to repay the state, and dies a worthy death! Little caitiff bastard, you and your father willingly serve as slaves to the Hu caitiffs. Shamelessly you offer up your wives, daughters, and sisters for the Hu to defile. Sooner or later you will be split open and have your heart torn out!"

Zhao Yanshou was instantly stung to the core. A man who has become a traitor fears nothing more than being called a traitor.

In shame and rage, Zhao Yanshou thrust his long lance forward and pierced Wang Qing through the chest.

Blood sprayed out. The fifty-one-year-old veteran general fell heavily.

Around him, more than fourteen hundred loyal officers and brave soldiers all died.

A short while later, a rider galloped up. It turned out that Yelu Deguang hated Wang Qing so deeply that he ordered Zhao Yanshou to gather the bodies of Wang Qing and the Jin troops who had crossed the river, and heap them into a victory mound by the Hutuo River, to terrify the Jin army from top to bottom so that they would no longer dare resist.

That night, by the Hutuo River, the Khitans smashed the ice to prevent the Jin army from crossing again, while piling up the victory mound under cover of darkness.

The next day, Jin scouts saw that the victory mound was complete and brought word back to the main camp. The morale of the entire Jin army collapsed.

Song Yanjun and the Wusheng Army soldiers were widely blamed. Also blamed was Zhang Yanze, Military Governor of the Yiwu Army at Dingzhou, because leading troops westward had been his suggestion.

These men, censured by the other generals, grew more resentful by the day.

By this time, the Jin army's provisions were only enough for three more days. Du Chongwei dropped all pretense, hurried to find Li Shouzhen, and came straight to the point.

"The army's food is nearly gone, the Liao army's siege is tight, and there is no way out on either side. I wish to follow the late emperor's example at Jinyang. Would you be willing to follow me?"

Li Shouzhen had long been waiting for Du Chongwei to say exactly this, and was overjoyed to hear it.

"If you become Son of Heaven, what will you give me?"

Seeing that Li Shouzhen indeed agreed, Du Chongwei nodded with satisfaction.

"I shall reward you with the great province of Hezhong, enfeoff you as Prince of Qin, and let you take three months' worth of the wealth and goods of Jingzhao Prefecture."

Li Shouzhen could hardly have been more satisfied. He had obtained the Hezhong Military Governor post he had dreamed of day and night, plus the princely title of Qin.

Jingzhao Prefecture was overflowing with wealth and goods. If he were allowed to hold it for three months, even a hundred thousand strings of cash could be squeezed out of it.

"Your only concern is opposition from generals like An Shenqi and Huangfu Yu. You can send trusted men to the Khitan camp to seek an audience with the Khitan ruler.

Once you have his promise, summon armored soldiers and hide them outside the command tent, then call the generals to a council and order them to sign pledges of loyalty. Whoever dares refuse, execute on the spot!"

Du Chongwei's face lit up with delight at these words, but then he frowned again.

"The two of us have only two hundred trusted armored soldiers. The generals all have their own escorts, and any sudden troop movement would surely arouse suspicion.

If the plot were exposed and men like An Shenqi and Huangfu Yu started killing, we could not hold them off."

Li Shouzhen waved his hand calmly. "That is easy. Song Yanjun fled back to camp, and everyone says he abandoned Wang Qing. He is even more afraid that you will hold him accountable. If you offer him a way in, Song Yanjun will certainly agree.

Also, this western expedition was Zhang Yanze's idea, and he has been blamed for it by everyone above and below. He has long been resentful, so he can be won over too.

Once these two generals come over, you will have several hundred armored soldiers. You can then openly order the yabing guards of the Weisheng and Yiwu armies to stand watch over the command tent, and no one will suspect a thing."

No sooner said than done. These two shameless wretches sold out their country with remarkable speed, and immediately split up to contact Song Yanjun and Zhang Yanze.

Song Yanjun had been cursed at until he was drenched in abuse, and he feared being purged later. After some thought, he agreed.

Zhang Yanze believed the Khitan had already taken Dingzhou and seized his family, and he was a shameless wretch to begin with, so he agreed with particular alacrity.

With all the conspirators assembled, that very night Du Chongwei sent his trusted Secretary across the Hutuo River by swimming to reach the Liao army's main camp.

Yelu Deguang had already gone to bed. When he heard that Du Chongwei was offering surrender, he rushed out in nothing but his underclothes to receive Du Chongwei's envoy.

After probing from every angle and confirming that Du Chongwei was not feigning surrender, tears nearly came to the eyes of our Great Khitan Emperor, Brother Guang.

He was under enormous pressure! In the previous two campaigns he had lost troops and generals. Had his foundations not been so deep from years of conquest, he might well have collapsed entirely.

Even now, with the Jin army trapped, Yelu Deguang was still uneasy at heart, because he did not know how much grain the Jin army still had.

And the fighting strength Wang Qing's troops had shown the day before had left Yelu Deguang shaken to the core.

Now both sides were camped in the open, and it was purely a matter of who could hold out. If he was the one who could not, and had to slink back north in disgrace yet again, then his seat as Khitan Emperor would likely no longer be secure.

Therefore, the ecstatic Yelu Deguang said directly to Du Chongwei's envoy: "Zhao Yanshou's prestige has always been shallow; he is not fit to be Son of Heaven over the Central Plains. If you truly submit to me, I shall set you up as emperor."

The envoy returned, and when Du Chongwei received Yelu Deguang's promise, he was so overjoyed he nearly leapt into the air.

He immediately ordered his trusted Palace Gate Attendant Gao Xun to carry the surrender memorial back into the Khitan camp. This was both a gesture of commitment and a final confirmation of the truth.

Gao Xun received the utmost courtesy from Yelu Deguang and returned to report to Du Chongwei with satisfaction. Du Chongwei was thus certain that Yelu Deguang truly intended to make him Son of Heaven, and hastily sent a third envoy to agree with Yelu Deguang on a time for surrender.

The next day, Du Chongwei ordered Song Yanjun to send one hundred fifty armored soldiers of the Weisheng Army, and Zhang Yanze to send one hundred fifty armored soldiers of the Yiwu Army, to guard the commander-in-chief's tent. Then he summoned all the generals to a council.

The moment the generals entered the tent, they sensed something was wrong, for as soon as they arrived, the armored soldiers of the Weisheng and Yiwu armies cut off all passage between inside and outside.

At this point, Du Chongwei put on a mournful expression and said to the assembled generals:

"The elite of the nation are all here. Now Luancheng has been taken and the grain route is cut. The army has only one day's provisions left, and no relief force can reach us from the court. Every direction is death.

For the sake of all your lives, I wish to follow the late emperor's example and make peace with the Khitan ruler. What do you all think?"

The assembled men were so stunned they could not speak. They had considered that others might sue for peace, but they never imagined that a man of Du Chongwei's standing would actually propose surrender himself.

For a moment, the generals, caught off guard, did not know what to say.

Only Huangfu Yu was different. He had long sensed that Du Chongwei might kneel and surrender, and being hot-tempered by nature, he immediately sprang up and demanded in a harsh voice:

"The court made you a favored kinsman and entrusted you with a heavy responsibility. Now the army has not even been defeated in battle, and you wish to shamelessly bow to the barbarians?"

Du Chongwei was shamed into lowering his head somewhat. His eyes darting, he replied: "The times are what they are. I have no choice but to bend and compromise."

Huangfu Yu looked around. He saw armored soldiers hidden behind the screens, and where the sunlight fell, the glint of blades flickered from time to time.

The surrounding generals were all cowed by Du Chongwei's armored soldiers, and with the army now in a desperate corner, none dared speak.

Huangfu Yu grew ever more furious and aggrieved. Without a care for anything, he shoved open the tent flap and left. The armored soldiers outside, awed by his fearsome reputation, did not dare stop him.

Li Shouzhen shot a glance, and Zhang Yanze led a dozen or so armored soldiers after him, to keep Huangfu Yu from making a scene and leaking the secret.

Du Chongwei, meanwhile, stood in the commander's place without moving, and directed Song Yanjun to take the surrender memorial and require all the generals to sign and seal it.

By now there was no one left like Huangfu Yu. All the generals were cowed by Du Chongwei's tyranny, and even An Shenqi covered his face with his hand as he signed and sealed.

The fate of the sixty thousand Jin soldiers and the Later Jin court was sealed.

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