Chapter 582: Straight Line

Just as Duan Fuxing was hurrying toward Qianzhou with his elderly mother, wife, and concubines, and Cao Wenzhao was leading his troops straight into Longxi, the fighting in western Qinzhou was also growing fiercer by the hour.

Facing Zhang Yichuan's offensive, Zuo Liangyu had already turned the situation around. Over two days and one night, the two sides clashed several times on the southern foothills of Maiji Mountain. Whether Zhang Yichuan attacked by day or raided by night, he could not break through Zuo Liangyu's encampment.

Worse still, when the two detachments Zuo Liangyu had earlier sent to circle around and strike the rear returned as reinforcements, Zhang Yichuan's forces were hit so hard they nearly collapsed.

Actually, "nearly" is not quite right — they did collapse, beaten into a head-clutching, rat-scattering rout. It was just that as everyone ran and ran, they figured there was no other way out, and Zuo Liangyu's troops didn't have the heart to chase and annihilate them, so they spontaneously regrouped and came back to fight Zuo's army again.

In the end, in Longxi at this time, whether government troops or rebel forces, no sizable unit could survive easily — they could only fight to the death.

Yet the battle was also harder than Zuo Liangyu had imagined. He had originally sent out those two cavalry detachments to cut off Zhang Yichuan's retreat and fight a battle of annihilation, but he had not expected Zhang Yichuan to have reinforcements as well.

The northern detachment he dispatched, led by the valiant commander Luo Dai with nearly a thousand horse and foot, ran into a battalion of Troubling-the-World King Guo Yingpin. The southern detachment, led by Adjutant Zhou Shifeng, likewise with over a thousand horse and foot, ran into a battalion of Scorpion Block Tuo Yangkun. As a result, these two flanking mounted detachments actually reached the battlefield even later than Li Zicheng, who had made a much wider circuit.

Zhang Tianlin, on the other hand, rushed over eagerly from Baoji, only to find that Zuo Liangyu's stockade at the mountain's base had nearly been completely uprooted. Without firing a single arrow, he returned to Fengxiang Prefecture.

"Marshal, those veteran elite troops of the Chuang Army's five battalions are truly fierce. Feigning an assault on the mountain stronghold, they tore down one wooden palisade after another — they fought savagely."

Zhang Tianlin had run a fruitless errand, but he was quite excited when he returned: "Especially in storming cities and pulling up stockades, they have their own unique methods. Among the Chuang Army's five battalions — Li, Guo, Tuo, Zhang, and the rest — all take the Dashing General as their leader. That man truly has method. In field battles, he uses his combat cavalry to charge hard; if they can't break through, the auxiliary troops become the main force, while the combat cavalry act as flanking horsemen, striking from left and right."

"When attacking a stockade, the main troops dismount, don armor, and fight to the death. The auxiliaries advance with chisels and axes — taking a single stone or a single log, they can return to camp. The front attacks, the rear dismantles — clean and efficient."

Liu Chengzong pondered Li Zicheng's tactics and army organization, then noticed that Zhang Tianlin's attitude toward Zhang Yichuan was largely dismissive.

He could understand who Zhang Tianlin meant by "Li, Guo, Tuo, Zhang, and the rest" of the Chuang Army's five battalions. Li was Li Zicheng, Guo was Troubling-the-World King Guo Yingpin, Tuo was Scorpion Block Tuo Yangkun, Zhang was Mixing-with-Heaven King Zhang Yingjin, and the final "and the rest"… was, of course, Marshal's Headquarters Henan Commander-in-Chief Zhang Yichuan, Lord Zhang.

As early as when he first arrived in Qinzhou, Zhang Tianlin had already written a letter detailing the entire operation from beginning to end and dispatched a rider to deliver it posthaste to Fengxiang Prefecture.

It was a fact that Zhang Yichuan had fought this battle rather disgracefully, so it was not strange that he was lumped into "and the rest" status in Zhang Tianlin's account.

But Liu the Lion would not blame Zhang Yichuan. Looking at Zhang Tianlin, he smiled and said: "It doesn't matter how the Chuang camp's commanders view Commander Zhang, but you, elder brother, must not scorn him just because he lost to Zuo Liangyu. Had Commander Zhang not led his newly recruited rabble to block Zuo's army at Qinzhou, how could we have slipped so easily into Guanzhong? Commander Zhang deserves commendation and encouragement."

Only upon hearing this did Zhang Tianlin realize: the Chuang Army were outsiders, while Zhang Yichuan, who had already pledged allegiance, was one of their own. And the reason Zhang Yichuan had to fight Zuo Liangyu at Qinzhou in the first place was precisely Liu Chengzong's order.

Whether he fought disgracefully or not did not matter. What mattered was that Zhang Yichuan had successfully pinned Zuo Liangyu down at Maiji Mountain, unable to move freely, allowing the Marshal's Headquarters' forty thousand main troops to leap into the Three Adjuncts.

Zhang Tianlin lowered his head at these words, cupped his fists, and said: "The Marshal's lesson is just. Commander Zhang has indeed rendered meritorious service."

"There are only Feathered Forest riders in the hall, no outsiders — this is no lesson, just a private word between you and me, elder brother. I know you are cold on the outside but warm within; others simply don't know it."

Liu Chengzong grinned, but in truth Zhang Tianlin was not cold on the outside and warm within — he simply looked down on people, looked down on everyone weaker than himself.

Moreover, this man was the reincarnation of a luckless wretch who worked hard but earned no gratitude, and he was also eager to help others. The recipients of his help were usually weaker than him, so he would always end up looking down on the very people he had helped.

This sort of thing basically amounted to ineffective help. When you help, most people feel more or less grateful, but if you also look down on them and still expect gratitude, that's a bit too much of a test of their character.

In any case, Zhang Tianlin could not tell good words from bad, thought the Marshal was praising him, was quite pleased, and even joked a bit with Liu Chengzong.

Once the Feathered Forest rider acting as scribe in the hall had finished recording the intelligence on the Chuang Army's five battalions, Liu Chengzong's expression turned serious: "And then, elder brother, you burned Maiji Mountain? The smoke could be seen from sixty li away."

Zhang Tianlin shook his head like a rattle-drum and immediately issued a triple denial: "Not me, I didn't do it. That mountain was burned by Zuo Liangyu. When he saw our army reach the battlefield, he wanted to flee. He couldn't take his grain, fodder, and baggage, and he was afraid I'd go up the mountain after him, so he set a fire."

"But once the fire started, a south wind blew. The wind fed the flames, and they spread to the forest outside the camp. Marshal, you didn't see it — the fire below went whooshing upward, and Zuo Liangyu led his troops running above it. In my whole life, I've never seen people run that fast!"

Liu Chengzong was tickled into roaring laughter. He then asked about the casualties of the Chuang Army's five battalions, especially Zhang Yichuan's unit, before pressing for Zuo Liangyu's whereabouts.

Zhang Tianlin, however, shook his head with clear reluctance and said: "Our army had to skirt the mountain to avoid the fire and pursued a bit too slowly. By the time we reached the Wei River north of Maiji Mountain, Zuo Liangyu had already crossed, destroyed the boats, and set up camp. And reinforcements for him had arrived from the north."

Liu Chengzong nodded slowly. The Wei River west of Qinzhou was all relatively deep upper-course water — hard to cross without boats.

But what drew his attention even more were the reinforcements from the north. He asked: "The Ningxia border troops have come down?"

Zhang Tianlin shook his head decisively and said: "The commander is Ai Wannian. I've seen him before — he's from Yansui Garrison."

"Ai Wannian?"

For Liu Chengzong, this was a name he had not heard in several years, and it gave him a strong sense of time and space being out of joint.

Back in the day, when he, his elder brother, and Cao Yao's two squads were returning home from Yuhe Fort and passed through Mizhi, Ai Wannian's household retainers had given them a sum of road money.

This name, both familiar and strange, made him blurt out: "He's not dead yet?"

Zhang Tianlin immediately applauded: "Marshal, when I saw him, I thought the exact same thing. According to the Dashing General and the others, Ai Wannian was already gravely ill. Last year he was promoted to Gushan Vice Commander, but he retired on grounds of illness. Who would have thought the court would conscript him again this year to lead troops."

"With the Wei River between us, we couldn't speak, but I could see he was not in good shape. Everyone else was mounted; he could only go on foot. His illness probably hasn't fully healed."

Zhang Tianlin had thought that after he finished, Liu Chengzong would ask more about that army's situation. He did not expect Liu Chengzong to fall silent upon hearing this, merely pacing the Fengxiang Prefecture office hall with furrowed brows, glancing up at the map hanging in the hall every few steps, saying nothing.

What Liu Chengzong was pondering was how Ai Wannian's army dared to advance south from west of Liupan Mountain and push to the northern bank of the Wei River.

He estimated that Cao Yao's offensive against Ningxia was not going smoothly. Otherwise, Ai Wannian, who belonged to the northern sector, should at this moment be reinforcing Ningxia, not Guanzhong to the south.

In Liu the Lion's view, this situation was worth analyzing. After all, this eastern campaign was forced by the circumstances — against the backdrop of drought, locust plagues, and a pestilence spreading from Shanxi into Shaanxi.

When he dispatched the troops, he had no certainty of victory. The decision to launch the eastern campaign with the Gansu Commander-in-Chief's Department, and to invite Dashing King Gao Yingxiang to advance together on three routes, was precisely flipping the table when he had no confidence in his heart.

After all, he had to use the northern route's Gansu Commander-in-Chief Cao Yao, the central route's Marshal's Headquarters under Liu Chengzong, and the southern route's Dashing King Gao Yingxiang — three armies — to deal with Three-Border Supreme Commander Hong Chengchou, Five-Province Supreme Commander Chen Qiyu, and Sichuan Grand Marshal Hou Liangzhu. No one would dare call such a battle a sure win.

To put it plainly, Liu the Lion was playing Tian Ji's horse race. If the northern and southern routes could hold off Hong Chengchou and Hou Liangzhu, and he could smash Chen Qiyu's Shaanxi army, then return with his troops to reinforce them — all would be well.

If they couldn't hold them off, he would still have to smash Chen Qiyu's Shaanxi army, seize Xi'an Prefecture, and then flee back to Longxi.

At a time like this, Ai Wannian — who belonged to the northwestern Three Borders — leading his troops south to assist meant that Cao Yao's raid on Ningxia was not going smoothly. However, since the one sent was Ai Wannian, it also indicated that although Hong Chengchou still had strength to spare in the face of the Gansu Commander-in-Chief's Department's attacks, he could not achieve a quick victory.

Otherwise, there would be no need to activate a washed-up general like Ai Wannian, plagued by old illnesses.

"There is still time."

Liu Chengzong pondered a long while, then murmured to himself: "But not much."

A moment later, the Feathered Forest riders marked the latest changes on the map. The gap west of Longzhou had been plugged, but Zuo Liangyu at Qinzhou had withdrawn north to the northern bank of the Wei River, and at the same time, Ai Wannian's Yansui Shenmu Battalion had also reached the battlefield.

Clearly, the Marshal's Army's retreat route among the four passes was being sealed off by the Ming army. If Liu the Lion wanted to withdraw his entire force back to Longxi at minimal cost — now was the last chance.

But by the same token, Fengxiang Prefecture and Xi'an Prefecture were now completely exposed to the threat of Liu Chengzong's forty thousand main troops. On the other hand, Liu Chengzong could not possibly withdraw — he would get no better opportunity.

Therefore, even facing the possibility of the Ningxia and Yansui garrison border troops marching south, it could not shake Liu Chengzong's resolve to continue the attack. Quite the opposite — it hardened his intent: to seize the cities of Guanzhong as quickly as possible, and using the two centuries of accumulated wealth of the Qin Princedom, fight a decisive head-on battle against the Shaanxi Ming army on the Guanzhong Plain.

Soon, new orders were relayed by galloping dispatch riders to the brigade commanders and various adjutants. With one deployment order after another, the Marshal's Headquarters' forty thousand troops quickly made major moves.

The first to receive orders was Brigade Commander Wang Wenxiu, stationed at Longzhou. After routing Tang Jiuzhou's troops, Wang Wenxiu had begun contracting his defensive line, gradually shifting his three battalions eastward to avoid becoming disconnected from Liu Chengzong.

By the time the order arrived, Wang Wenxiu had already led Luo Rucai and Li Wanqing into Longzhou, leaving only Yang Chengzu's battalion on the mountain to coax the surrender of Tang Jiuzhou's scattered troops routed in the hills.

Liu Chengzong's order to him was to shift his forces to Fengxiang Prefecture, centering on Fengxiang County, with the three battalions stationed respectively at Longzhou, Baoji, and Fengxiang counties as their assigned zones, and to attack the Anyi Pass, Erli San Pass, Dasan Pass, and Jinya Pass from the inside.

Wang Wenxiu took one look at the order and laughed. These passes sounded like a formidable task, but in reality it was simplicity itself, because they were all passes within Ming territory, normally used as tax stations. Their garrisons were pitifully small to begin with, so the operational difficulty was very low — perfect for replenishing the losses his three battalions had suffered earlier when troops were drawn off to the Monan region.

Beyond that, he did not need to worry about army provisions. After all, the Grand Marshal had just appointed the surrendered Baoji County Magistrate Li Jiayan as Prefect of Fengxiang in Fengxiang Prefecture. At this moment, the entire western part of Fengxiang Prefecture was busy gathering grain and fodder. Whether for feeding horses, provisioning troops, or repairing military equipment, everything now had a place to go.

For Wang Wenxiu, this was a fine assignment.

With the rear secured, Liu Chengzong next issued orders to all mobile troops under his command. First, he placed Ma Xiang, the Scout Battalion Commander of the Tiger Guard Camp, in charge, ordering him to requisition scouts from the three main camps and combine them with his own scouts to form a vanguard force. They were to fan out across the Guanzhong Plain and advance east toward Xi'an Prefecture, with the mission of probing and locating the positions and troop strengths of Ming forces, gentry militias, and landlord corps they encountered.

The second order was issued to Xie Erhu and Mo Yujing of the Mongol Brigade, as well as Shi Xiang of the Lintao Brigade.

The Mongol Brigade had seven thousand mounted troops. Shi Xiang's Lintao Brigade, having suffered the heaviest attrition during the earlier Monan campaign, could only field three thousand men for this expedition — essentially a single battalion. The two brigades, totaling ten thousand troops, were to follow behind Ma Xiang and take responsibility for annihilating or pinning down enemy forces the scouts could not handle.

The third order was issued to Ding Guodong, Mi Layin, and Zhang Zhen of the three small Gansu battalions. They were to serve as a support force for the Mongol and Lintao Brigades, carrying heavy weapons to destroy stockades and assault cities.

As for Liu Chengzong's most elite troops — the three main camps and the Tiger Guard Camp — they formed the central army and advanced eastward behind the main body. Yet they had marched barely thirty li when battle reports from the front began piling into his hands like snowflakes.

The Marshal Army's large-scale maneuvers created a rare window of opportunity for the gentry and corps in the counties east of Fengxiang Prefecture. At the same time, because Chen Qiyu had been rallying the gentry in Xi'an Prefecture to form armed bands, the landlords and gentry in the western counties of Xi'an Prefecture had already completed their mobilization. For a time, corps militias were attacking Marshal Army scouts everywhere.

The nearest incident occurred west of Qishan County. When Wei Qian'er had seized Fengxiang Prefecture's seat, among the defeated corps leaders was one Qu Xuezeng, a licentiate by background. After fleeing in defeat to Qishan County, he did not lose heart. He rallied his scattered troops, reorganized them, and absorbed the local able-bodied corps, assembling over eight hundred men to turn back and assault the Marshal Headquarters' scouts.

Qu Xuezeng led his followers in charging and loosing arrows on horseback. In the clash with the scouts, he killed seven of them before being struck by a three-eyed gun and unhorsed. This corps band was subsequently routed by Mongol cavalry that rushed to provide support. But this was not the only force launching attacks on the Marshal Army at that moment.

Li Pingji, a licentiate from Feng County in northern Hanzhong, had led his corps to support the government troops when Luo Rucai attacked Dasan Pass and was killed in the ranks by a falconet cannon. Zhang Jingyao, a stipend licentiate from Zhouzhi County in Xi'an Prefecture, and Han Shi, a Confucian scholar from Wugong County, organized corps to block the scouts and fought Mo Yujing when he subsequently arrived — both likewise died in the ranks.

Afterward, Wugong County, its defenses thrown into chaos by routed troops, opened its gates and was promptly stormed by Mo Yujing as he pursued them in.

However, Shi Xiang, the brigade commander of the Lintao Brigade advancing toward the northwest of Xi'an Prefecture, ran into a bit of trouble. His line of advance was aimed at Qianzhou — Qianzhou, where Shaanxi Administration Vice Commissioner Duan Fuxing was garrisoned.

Faced with Shi Xiang's summons to surrender, Duan Fuxing, commanding the local militia defending the city, remained unmoved, for he had already found outside help.

Near Xi'an Prefecture there had long been a rebel force seeking amnesty. Its refugee commander was named Yang Guodong, and he had three thousand troops, among them a picked force of men clad in double armor. Precisely for this reason, the governor-generals and grand coordinators had never dared trust his amnesty overtures lightly, always fearing they could not control him after pacification.

But Duan Fuxing had entered Qianzhou with no intention of leaving alive. He cared nothing for such concerns and took it upon himself to grant Yang Guodong's request for amnesty, recruiting him and permitting him to station his troops at Qianzhou to use against Liu Chengzong.

Now Yang Guodong was sharpening his weapons and feeding his horses, watching the situation unfold on the Guanzhong battlefield. At this very moment, Liu Chengzong was also leading his army into Xi'an Prefecture.

His line of advance was not due east toward the Xi'an city that all eyes were fixed upon, but northeast toward Qianzhou.

It was not that Liu Chengzong had seen through Chen Qiyu's plan to use Qianzhou as an external reinforcement. It was simply... Liu Chengzong wanted to go to Yaozhou. At Yaozhou, the garrison eunuch Li Qimao had left him over four thousand warhorses.

The gold, silver, and treasures inside the Prince of Qin's mansion in Xi'an were, after all, inside the city and could not run away. But those four thousand-odd warhorses had over ten thousand legs. Liu Chengzong was certainly going to seize the ones that could run first — that was the better bargain.

And Qianzhou lay right on the straight line from Fengxiang to Yaozhou.