Chapter 669: The Difference Between a Great General and a Great General

"Rolling up armor and rushing" means rolling one's armor into a bundle, then carrying it on one's back and marching at speed.

Of course, in ancient times — even into the early and middle Qing period — armored soldiers were always a crucial backbone force.

Therefore, on the battlefield there were few chances to make armored soldiers roll up their armor; most of the time, auxiliary troops were responsible for carrying the armored soldiers' bundled armor.

Jiao Jixun looked at the eight hundred brave men following him, and he knew he had to show them something real, or these men would never toil without complaint and stake their lives without fear of death for him.

Man, as the foremost of all living things, once the ferocity in his bones is stirred up, can often work miracles.

For example, Su Dingfang's eight-hundred-li forced march in heavy snow; Suvorov's crossing of the Alps; and even more remarkably, the Red Army's crossing of snowy mountains and grasslands.

The two hundred li of rocky road through the Wenchuan Road that Jiao Jixun had to travel could not compare with those examples, of course, but it was still quite difficult.

If he did not let the brave men under his command understand the meaning of this battle, if they did not throw themselves into it completely, they very likely would not finish these two hundred li.

Because these proud armored soldiers not only had to roll up their own armor and march, they could also only eat half their fill, and once they came out of the valley mouth, they would first have to fight a bloody battle.

They were brave men, true, but precisely because they were brave men, their usual treatment was good and their pride naturally high; some things had to be made clear.

Jiao Jixun did not preach grand principles, because that was the privilege of the Emperor, Sage Zhang.

In all the world, only he could paint these brave men a grand vision — not only because Sage Zhang could make good on his words, but because even a single word of praise from him could make a brave man feel as if he were above the ninth heaven, and could even take the place of a reward in money.

But Jiao Jixun could not do that, so he walked over to a huge boulder.

It was a great boulder that had been washed by the river until it looked somewhat pale. Jiao Jixun, carrying several dozen jin of cotton armor, leaped onto it in one step.

At an age approaching fifty, carrying thirty or forty jin, his leaping ability was still this good — it drew a burst of cheers from the brave men around him.

In the army nothing else is wanted: first fairness, second skill. As long as those two are present, leading a few hundred soldiers is no great problem.

"Before I set out, I already sent a letter home and sold four hundred mu of paddy fields in Xiangyang Prefecture. The money should come to no less than a thousand strings of cash.

With this thousand strings, I intend to take you lads to Chengdu Prefecture for a proper good time.

The finest delicacies of Shu — that crimson sheep's head that the brat Meng Chang loves to eat — we'll have one plate each.

The Shu lychees that Yang Taizhen once ate — one big basket for each man too.

And as for chicken, duck, beef, and mutton — pile it on!

The finest courtesans and singing girls in Chengdu Prefecture — one for each of us!

I'm done with saving. Once this battle is over, this old slave of a wretch here isn't planning to keep house anymore — I'll enjoy myself right along with you brothers."

Jiao Jixun was still being conservative: the best paddy fields in Xiangyang Prefecture could certainly not be bought for less than forty strings a mu.

And the Shu lychees that Yang Taizhen ate back then had long since dwindled to almost nothing because of climate change.

But the soldiers below loved hearing exactly this.

A huge, brawny fat man, with a half-cooked fish skewered on his sword, listened to Jiao Jixun describe the delicacies of Shu, and the drool from his mouth ran down in streams.

Those who liked women listened with eyes gleaming gold, their lower halves stirring restlessly.

"Old Jiao, you'd better keep your word. If you cheat me, I'll be coming to your door with my blade out!"

Some men were so fired up by Jiao Jixun's description that they wished the battle were already over, so they could go enjoy themselves in Chengdu Prefecture.

And with fewer men around him, the distance between Jiao Jixun and them had suddenly shrunk considerably, so much so that the brave men around him dared to call him Old Jiao — which meant roughly the same as Old Man Jiao.

"Fuck your mother! This old man keeps his word. If anyone's too stingy to part with those few coppers, come find me, and I'll cut the thing between my legs off and serve it to you with wine."

Jiao Jixun, who had always presented himself as a refined, scholarly general, had now turned utterly crude — but the cruder he was, the more he won the hearts of the men below.

The crowd burst into laughter again, and then Jiao Jixun pressed both hands downward, signaling for silence.

"Among all the states under heaven, Nanping and Southern Chu have already submitted to the nation; Southern Tang was beaten into submission long ago; Qian Yue has always been obedient.

Only Meng Shu and the Han state in Lingnan have not yet submitted. Among them, Meng Shu is by far the strongest, so today we have come to deal with him.

But have you gentlemen considered this: once Meng Shu is finished, what wars will be left under heaven worth fighting for heroes like us?

None! And if there are any, there will be too many monks and too little gruel — it may not even be our turn.

So this campaign against Shu is the last chance for good men to win glory!

If you follow the main army to attack Wuxiu Pass, who knows when it will fall. And when it does fall, there will be tens of thousands of men — divide the credit among everyone, and there won't be much left.

But here with us, as long as your legs are fast enough, we can be the first to charge into Shu's Xingyuan Prefecture, even push through Sword Gate, and be the first into the heart of Shu. How great a merit would that be! Your sons and grandsons couldn't eat through it in ten lifetimes.

Gentlemen! Do you dare gamble with me, Jiao Jixun? A gamble with your very lives!"

"We dare! We dare! We dare!"

The shout shook the fields in every direction, and the atmosphere was thoroughly roused. Then Jiao Jixun took the lead, hoisted his armor onto his back, and began striding forward.

From him on down, every officer carried his own armor, bow, arrows, and the like.

This was a true rocky road. Though there were few sheer cliffs and precipices, underfoot was basically all broken stone blocks scattered chaotically by the river. Clambering up and sliding down, getting one's insteps and shins cut by the rocks was perfectly normal.

Since each man carried only two jin of dried rice and a small lump of mutton fat, the animals along the way suffered terribly.

Small fish and shrimp in the river, wild boar and muntjac in the mountains, even birds — all became targets.

Several hundred men drank fish and shrimp soup with a heavy rank smell and gnawed on half-cooked meat of every kind, trying their best to fill their bellies.

Jiao Jixun, covered in dust, ran at the very front, praying constantly in his heart: please, no rain. If a rain came and turned the ground to mud, then marching would truly become impossible.

Yuanzhou, Wukou Pass.

It was exactly as Sun Hanshao had predicted: after breaking through Raofeng Pass, the Zhou army did not pause at all, but followed the Han River all the way upstream, chasing the defeated troops of Yuanzhou's Wuding Army straight to the foot of Wukou Pass.

Erzhu Jing was so excited his face was flushed red. Back then, he, Liu Zaisheng, and Zhao Cunyi had come east together as commanders of the three thousand Han folk soldiers that Li Shengtian, Great King of the Jin state, had given to Zhang Zhao.

After that, the three men's fortunes had diverged.

Liu Zaisheng went without saying — he was a great general who had been at the side of the Shaoming Son of Heaven from the very start. After reaching the Central Plains he won merit in battle after battle, and now he was already an indispensable military governor of a region.

Zhao Cunyi was somewhat unlucky: he had injured his leg in the first battle into Guanzhong. He could still ride a horse, but he always walked with a bit of a limp.

That he could now serve as Military Supervisor of a prefecture's troops was entirely the result of the Son of Heaven looking after him.

As for him, Erzhu Jing, he had won no small amount of battle merit, but it was still not enough, and not great enough.

Although he had reached positions equivalent to Military Governor of Shannan East Circuit — Prefect of Xiangyang Prefecture, Military Supervisor, Commander of the Guard Post Army, and Regional Commander of Feng'an Garrison —

he held only the noble rank of count, and had not been able to become a top-tier meritorious official.

He had always regarded this as a deep regret, and now, the opportunity had finally come!

As a veteran officer of many battles, Erzhu Jing keenly detected the weakness of the Shu army throughout the Shannan West Circuit.

They had paid too much attention to defending the Qishan Road from the west and the Baoxie Road from the north, while somewhat neglecting the defense of Jinzhou (Ankang, Shaanxi) to the east.

This could be felt from the quality of the Wuding Army soldiers he was fighting, and so Erzhu Jing sharply seized the opportunity.

Although his own standing was not high, and Feng'an Garrison was something of a laggard among the imperial guards, it was precisely because of this that his combination of weak general and weak troops had been holding its breath, determined to prove to the world that Feng'an Garrison was not the soft belly of the imperial guards.

However, reality soon dealt Erzhu Jing a heavy blow.

He ordered his soldiers to launch a fierce assault before the camp was even set, but the Youyi Army came back with a report that three thousand reinforcements were advancing from Yuanzhou.

Erzhu Jing glared hatefully at the Shu troops of Wukou Pass, whom he had already thrown into panic and disarray. He was now just one last push away from taking the pass. If these reinforcements had come two hours later, he would have taken Wukou Pass. Damn it!

"Leave fifteen hundred men of the Right Guard to hold the defense. Order the laborers and sworn-follower braves to set up camp at once. Commander Zhao, the Chief Supervisor, will command the naval warships to seal the river mouth.

Men of Feng'an Garrison, follow me and let us test the mettle of these Shu soldiers."

After thinking quickly for a short while, Erzhu Jing made a prudent arrangement. They still had to set up camp first. If they could not swiftly defeat these three thousand reinforcements, and their own side had no fortified camp, they would be far too passive.

Northwest of Wukou Pass there was a ridge called Paoma Ridge, the most critical ridge on the road from Yuanzhou to Wukou Pass.

The Youyi Army of the Shu Wuding Army had already crept to the foot of Paoma Ridge before the main force arrived.

But before the Shu Youyi Army captain could finish surveying the terrain, a dozen or more arrows suddenly shot out from halfway up the slope, and four or five Shu soldiers were immediately struck down.

Since the Youyi Army generally wore little armor in order to lighten their load for scouting and searching, anyone who was hit immediately let out loud screams of agony.

Of course, those who could serve in the Youyi Army were generally the army's elite. After this party of thirty-some Shu soldiers had four or five men shot down, the rest immediately ran behind rocks or trees to take cover.

A few of the slighter, smaller Shu soldiers even climbed swiftly up the trees like macaques, using the thick trunks for cover.

Then they shouted loudly, constantly reporting the positions of the distant Zhou ambushers to their comrades.

Luo Shijiang of the Feng'an Garrison Youyi Army frowned, showing a wary expression for the first time.

Feng'an Garrison was composed mostly of soldiers from the Ningxia province, and Luo Shijiang was of Tangut Luoli clan origin. The infantry under his command were basically all Hengshan Qiang.

Even among the Zhou state's personal army and imperial guards, where fierce warriors were as numerous as clouds, the Hengshan Qiang were famous as mountain infantry.

But after arriving at Xingyuan Prefecture, the mountains here were very different from Mount Heng. The trees were taller, the undergrowth denser, and combined with the heat and humidity, their mobility in the mountains had deteriorated considerably.

But the Shu soldiers opposite them had no such troubles. They were simply like fish in water.

As Luo Shijiang's soldiers were picked off one by one by the Shu troops in the trees, their ambush advantage was very quickly exhausted.

So Luo Shijiang simply ordered his men to charge straight at the Shu soldiers and close in for hand-to-hand combat.

Although they could gain no advantage in the mountain forests, their advantage in equipment was enormous.

The Zhou army had now developed two new types of padded armor. One type had iron plates added only at critical areas such as the chest.

This could reduce the weight of the padded armor to around fifteen to eighteen jin, greatly improving mobility, while still deflecting some critical blows. It was especially suited to pursuit battles in mountains and deserts.

The other type relied on the quality advantage of the newest refined steel developed by the Imperial Workshops, grinding the steel plates even thinner.

The total weight of padded armor made this way was reduced from around thirty-five to forty jin down to about twenty-two jin.

Compared to the previous type that only protected critical areas, this thin padded armor raised overall defense by a full level.

But what was lost was protection against weapons like spears and axes. Although it could withstand ordinary swords and arrows, it was somewhat powerless against heavy weapons.

And what Luo Shijiang and his men were wearing was the former type, the padded armor of only a dozen or so jin.

With the weight of armor reduced to this degree, the burden on the body was greatly lessened, while at the same time it gave an enormous advantage over the Shu Youyi Army, who were basically unarmored.

So once the fighting closed in, the situation became completely one-sided. The Shu soldiers were fine as long as they were not caught, but the moment they were caught, they were dead.

Luo Shijiang himself was stabbed in the chest three or four times, but he was unharmed. The Shu soldiers opposite him, on the other hand, as long as they were struck in a vital spot, basically went to see King Yama.

Very quickly, the Shu army's advance Youyi Army was driven off Paoma Ridge.

Wang Huan, the Military Governor of the Yuanzhou Wuding Army, had no choice but to personally lead his last three thousand Wuding Army yabing guards in a desperate uphill assault.

On Erzhu Jing's side, because he had to pull back the men besieging Wukou Pass, he was somewhat delayed, and could only rely on Luo Shijiang and the others to delay the Shu army's advance.

Luo Shijiang also fought with desperate ferocity. Several dozen men blocked the key paths, holding the Shu Wuding Army back to the point where Wang Huan, the Military Governor, had to personally take the field.

Paoma Ridge was a ridge shaped like the character 几, with peaks and gullies jostling against one another, many drops in elevation, and very little flat ground. Both sides launched fierce contests over this stretch of mountain terrain.

The Shu army's strength lay in familiarity with the terrain and their mobility bonus in the mountains, while the Zhou army's strength lay in greater ferocity and better equipment.

The contest lasted from the hour of Si in the morning until the beginning of the hour of Shen in the afternoon. Both sides fought peak after peak, until finally even the personal guards around Erzhu Jing had almost all been sent out.

At last, after dozens of engagements large and small, the Shu army left behind more than three hundred corpses and were almost entirely driven off Paoma Ridge.

But before Erzhu Jing could catch his breath, more Shu reinforcements arrived under the banner of the Wuyi Army.

Erzhu Jing frowned. The Shu reinforcements were coming too fast.

But then he was immediately overjoyed.

Because the Shu army's strength in the Shannan West Circuit was limited, totaling only a bit over twenty thousand men.

If one counted the three thousand he had defeated at Raofeng Pass, even allowing for some overlap among the soldiers, the Shu army had sent at least eight thousand men to Wukou Pass.

In the four-pronged campaign against Shu, whether it was the force on the Baoxie Road, the one going up the Yangtze against the current, or even Gao Huaide and the others on the Qishan Road, all could be regarded as main forces.

Only his own route, Erzhu Jing's, was truly a diversionary force.

And now this diversionary force had actually drawn forty percent of the Shu state's Shannan West Circuit army. That meant the other routes would find it easier to break through the natural defenses of Shu.

Since supplies were difficult to haul up Paoma Ridge, Erzhu Jing decisively left behind the most elite company of Feng'an Garrison, five hundred men, to hold the two critical points, while the main force withdrew to attack Wukou Pass.

"Gao Lü'er, I am leaving you two hundred sets of padded armor and twenty thousand arrows. You must hold Paoma Ridge for two days. Within two days I will surely break through Wukou Pass."

Gao Lü'er was the younger uncle-in-law of Sage Zhang, a cousin of Gao Yunquan, the former Military Governor of the Zhangwu Army of Yanzhou. Upon hearing this, he immediately clasped his hands in salute.

"As long as Gao Lü'er lives, the Shu army will not cross Paoma Ridge."

The Shu reinforcements that arrived were naturally the four thousand men of Li Jin, the Commander of the Cavalry and Infantry of the young lord of the Shannan West Circuit Military Governor.

After he arrived, he immediately joined forces with Wang Huan, the Military Governor of the Yuanzhou Wuding Army, and on the second day began a fierce assault on the Zhou troops on Paoma Ridge.

Meanwhile, Erzhu Jing returned to muster the main army for a fierce assault on Wukou Pass, even issuing a blade to every laborer and sending them to the front line. Both sides were racing against time.

On the tenth day of the fourth month, after two and a half days of bloody battle, Erzhu Jing finally captured Wukou Pass.

The Shu troops inside the pass were also elite soldiers of the Wuding Army. Even after the pass was breached, they still fought a street-by-street resistance. Of more than seven hundred men, as many as five hundred were cut down in battle — they could truly be said to have fought to the death without surrendering.

And on Paoma Ridge, of Gao Lü'er's five hundred men, only a little over two hundred remained. On the two key slopes near Paoma Ridge, blood had dyed the entire hillsides a purplish red.

Gao Lü'er had relied on two crude fortifications to hold more than six thousand Shu troops hard against the foot of the slopes.

Once Wukou Pass was lost, the Shu army lost any reason to continue attacking Erzhu Jing.

At this point, from Wukou Pass, the exit of the Ziwu Road, there were still two routes by which one could reach Xingyuan Prefecture (Hanzhong).

One went south through Xixiang County, which had been the seat of Yangzhou during the Tang; the other went through Yuanzhou.

Wang Huan could only split off a thousand men to cross the mountains and hold Xixiang County, while the rest of the army withdrew with Li Jin to Yuanzhou and dug in.

And while all this was happening, Li Cunhui had only just arrived below Wuxiu Pass, and Jiao Jixun was still hesitating over whether to stake his life on taking the Wenchuan Road.

It could be said that with only the eight thousand men of Feng'an Town and the Left, Center, and Right Guards of Xiangyang, Erzhu Jing had, under the extreme difficulty of advancing upstream, created extremely favorable conditions for the main army's entry into Xingyuan Prefecture.

In Shannan West Circuit, Xingyuan Prefecture, Sun Hanshao learned that the Zhou army had once again stormed Wukou Pass, and that Wang Huan and Li Jin could only fall back and hold Yuanzhou.

He finally "confirmed" that the Zhou army intended to take Xingyuan Prefecture first, and only then plot against the heart of Shu.

He therefore dispatched three successive waves of eight-hundred-li express riders to Chengdu Prefecture, begging Meng Chang to send a large army to reinforce Xingyuan Prefecture.

Alas! Although Sun Hanshao was already one of Shu's few renowned generals, his own ability could not compare with the likes of Yan Jin, Murong Xinzhang, Ma Zhaoyuan, Fu Yanqing, or Guo Wei.

Even compared with Li Cunhui, Guo Congyi, Zhang Zhao, An Shenqi, and the rest, he was probably still a notch inferior.

Although he knew there was a gap between the Shu army and the Zhou army, he still failed to clearly recognize just how great that gap really was. If the entire Shu army entered Xingyuan Prefecture, the heart of Shu would be left empty.

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