The Shu army’s advance south through Yuzhou to occupy the Wuchuan River valley and push their military forces to the northern border of Shiqian County on Sizhou’s western flank had multifaceted impacts.
Sizhou didn’t dare abandon Shiqian County, which controlled the river valley along both banks of the middle reaches of the Qian River.
On one hand, regardless of whether the Shu army’s deployment was secretly coordinated with Xuzhou, since the Shu army had already entered the Wuchuan River valley, they certainly wouldn’t miss the present opportunity to seize Shiqian County and open the passage connecting south to the various counties of Qianzhong.
For Sizhou, the logic was equally clear.
Shiqian County, which controlled the river valley along both banks of the middle reaches of the Qian River, was the core territory connecting Sizhou south to Qianzhong and north to Shu. Once lost, Sizhou would be completely reduced to a remote corner sealed deep in the southern foothills of the Wuling Mountains with no passages in any direction.
For Sizhou, they would rather abandon Jinhe to the east than lose Shiqian to the west.
Shiqian’s geographical position was too important.
After An Jixiang, Fu Gengwen and the others understood the Southwest’s mountain and river terrain and the complex relationships among the various tributary state powers, they absolutely didn’t dare bear responsibility for sitting by and watching Shiqian County fall into danger without doing their utmost to save it.
Especially since they currently represented the court and the Hunan Provincial Department, and were personally in Sizhou.
Although Great Chu’s control over the various tributary states in Qianzhong was much weaker than its control over the four provinces of Chen, Xu, Ye and Si, and they could be said to gain no benefits from them annually, these tributary states in Qianzhong were after all tributary state territories that had submitted to Great Chu.
Once Shiqian fell into Shu army hands and the Shu army directly opened a passage to Qianzhong, given Great Chu’s such weak control over Qianzhong, these tributary states could turn toward the Shu Kingdom at any moment.
The waxing and waning involved here would have an extremely enormous impact on the control and influence of Chu and Shu in the Southwest direction.
If An Jixiang and Fu Gengwen dared to take no action, once they returned to Jinling, they would be torn apart as targets by the remonstrating ministers of the Censorate no matter what.
After learning that Shu had occupied the Wuchuan River valley and still had intentions to continue pushing south, An Jixiang and Fu Gengwen rushed to Hujian Pass. After rendezvousing with Yang Xingfeng and Xi Shepeng, they fundamentally couldn’t carefully investigate whether this matter had any connection with Han Qian. They immediately advocated that Xi Shepeng lead the Chenzhou tribal troops and eight hundred tribal slave soldiers to rapidly advance west to strengthen Shiqian’s vulnerable defenses.
Even if they couldn’t repel the Shu army vanguard forces whose military might was flourishing and recapture the Wuchuan River valley in the short term, they must first hold Shiqian.
The Xi clan itself wanted to use the Chu court’s pressure to suppress Xuzhou’s ambitions. Xi Shepeng had no choice at this time and could only first consider the greater situation.
Over the past three months, the insurgent forces had spread like wildfire, but Yang Xingfeng’s reaction had been extremely fast. He immediately contacted Yezhou, assembled troops for suppression, and fought several battles. Seeing it was difficult to suddenly capture the strategically important mountain strongholds, he quickly adjusted strategy, extensively constructing forts and stationing elite tribal troops at the vital passes and strategic points leading deeper into Panlong Ridge, blockading the insurgents while awaiting reinforcements.
The insurgent forces had great momentum, gathering over twenty thousand people in just two or three months, but most were elderly, weak, women and children without the strength to truss a chicken. Although there were also five or six thousand able-bodied adult males, lacking weapons, armor and necessary training, they also found it difficult to contend with the two provinces’ tribal troops in open areas.
Currently relying on strategically important terrain to hold over a dozen mountain strongholds within Panlong Ridge, supplies had become scarce within two to three months. Several attempts to tear through the blockade by the two provinces’ tribal troops had returned empty-handed, even suffering considerable casualties.
In less than three short months, the insurgents’ initially rainbow-like morale showed signs of decline.
When news that the Shu army had deployed troops to occupy the Wuchuan River valley reached within Panlong Ridge, the vast majority of insurgent soldiers had no concept of state and nation. They only thought that with the Shu army stabbing Sizhou’s Yang clan in the rear, their rear unstable, they would certainly be thrown into great confusion. This let them see hope of victory, and morale was greatly boosted for a time.
Even though An Jixiang and Fu Gengwen sent people rushing to Tanzhou to see the newly appointed Pacification Commissioner Huang Hua, and they vigorously advocated deploying Left Divine Martial Army elite from Shaozhou into Sizhou for reinforcement, the various Sizhou commanders didn’t necessarily dare place their hopes entirely on Left Divine Martial Army reinforcements.
For the Left Divine Martial Army to enter Sizhou, they would have to cross the Xuefeng Mountain post road, then pass through Xuzhou—even if Xuzhou didn’t play tricks, the Left Divine Martial Army’s primary duty was also to guard against the two rebel armies that had withdrawn south to Yongzhou. How many troops could they deploy?
After Pacification Commissioner Huang Hua weighed the pros and cons, it wasn’t impossible he might compromise with Xuzhou and sacrifice Sizhou’s interests.
If Huang Hua ultimately truly deployed Xuzhou troops to reinforce Sizhou, how should Sizhou deal with it?
Previously, Emperor Yanyou and the court officials had all been guarding against Xuzhou, ordering Xuzhou to keep its troops stationary and having Chenzhou send troops into Sizhou to assist in suppression, because what was occurring in Sizhou at that time was merely, in the eyes of the court officials, a not-yet-critical and relatively easy-to-suppress slave uprising that couldn’t pierce the heavens.
Now with the Shu army acting without authorization, the situation was completely different.
If merely because of suspicion that Han Qian harbored ambitions to annex Sizhou they fundamentally altered the entire Southwest’s military defense deployment, possibly even making the entire Southwest region’s military defense situation a complete mess, it would be better to directly merge Sizhou into Xuzhou.
The relative importance and gains and losses here were quite easy to weigh.
The best outcome would be if, before the Pacification Commissioner made a decision, Sizhou had already suppressed the insurgents, had sufficient troops to defend Shiqian, this gateway location, and keep the Shu army outside their borders. Naturally then they wouldn’t need to worry about subsequently inviting a wolf into the house.
Therefore, while having Yang Hu lead the eight hundred tribal slave soldiers and Xi Shepeng’s forces rapidly advance west to reinforce Shiqian, Yang Xingfeng, Yang Shouyi and other Sizhou commanders also immediately adjusted their deployment at the foot of Panlong Ridge, concentrating forces to storm Nanhuang, Shihezi and other strongholds.
The fighting between Sizhou troops and the insurgents at Panlong Ridge suddenly became sharply intensified.
Shihezi Stronghold was located on the western foothills of Panlong Ridge, less than thirty li from the provincial capital Renshan. On clear days when looking into the distance, one could see the provincial capital built along the banks of the Baiyan River.
Shihezi was built on strategically important terrain. Inside the stronghold it was naturally extremely narrow. Even after demolishing half the houses, they could only set up three simple whirlwind catapults.
A shallow stream flowed through the mountain valley. Entering October, the weather wasn’t very cold but could also be considered the start of winter. Rain decreased in the mountains, exposing the streambed where rocks piled up with only very shallow stream water flowing.
In the past, with deeper stream water blocking the way, plus three whirlwind catapults taking turns hurling stone projectiles to seal off the mountain pass, they could suppress the provincial troops outside the pass, not daring to easily approach.
Standing on the stone-built stronghold wall today, Tan Yuliang watched over two hundred Sizhou tribal armored soldiers clustering around six or seven shield carts charge along the open stream valley toward the mountain pass. His wrinkled brow furrowed even deeper.
In the past when Sizhou troops blockaded the outer perimeter and supplies were scarce in the mountains, unable to tear through the blockade, the Heaven Balance Army’s morale up and down was inevitably low, but Tan Yuliang actually hadn’t worried much.
That Sizhou troops preserved their strength and didn’t dare suffer too great casualties and losses in assault meant the situation was all within Xuzhou’s grasp.
Now with the Shu army deploying troops to occupy Wuchuan, even if Tan Yuliang couldn’t guess how Han Qian had persuaded the Shu army, he could guess this was all arranged by Han Qian. But the closer it came to the final critical moment, the more dangerous the situation would become, with possibilities for unexpected changes at any time.
Because for Sizhou’s Yang clan, forced by circumstances, the time had also come to stake everything on one throw.
Sizhou tribal troops were themselves skilled at mountain warfare, and over the past year or more attacking the Wuliao people’s mountain strongholds, they had also accumulated experience in eliminating strategically important strongholds.
They didn’t have proper cast-iron shield carts. They mainly joined thick wooden door panels together and mounted them on cart wheels to create shield carts. Though they looked thick and clumsy, they were very sturdy and durable.
When hundred-pound stone projectiles were hurled over, giant shields assembled from door panels naturally couldn’t withstand them.
However, currently large stone projectiles fired slowly. During the attacking side’s charging process approaching the fort, three whirlwind catapults could at most fire three large round stone projectiles.
These round stone projectiles weighing over a hundred pounds were mainly used in the past to attack fixed large war machines. Soldiers approaching below the walls only needed to pay attention to dodging and spreading out their charging formation, and casualties would be quite limited.
Tan Yuliang could see that the Sizhou tribal troops’ use of these giant shields assembled from thick wooden door panels mounted on cart wheels was to guard against their side hurling scattered stone projectiles, to reduce their casualties when passing through the mountain pass.
If they let the Sizhou tribal troops easily pass through the narrow mountain pass, they could establish a foothold in the stream valley before the stronghold, then organize an attack on Shihezi Stronghold.
After several probing attacks, Tan Yuliang recognized that the Sizhou tribal troops’ will to attack this time was very resolute. He dared even less to let the Sizhou tribal troops so comfortably press forward in great numbers to before the stronghold. He immediately ordered the stronghold gate opened, having Vice Commander Lang Sandao and his son Tan Lang and others take turns leading troops charging out to drive the Sizhou troops who had entered before the stronghold out of the mountain pass. Regardless of casualties, they had to suppress the Sizhou troops outside the narrow pass.
After several bloody battles, they delayed the attacking troops at the seven or eight zhang wide mountain pass, forcing their formation to become dense, then utilizing the whirlwind catapults behind them to inflict greater casualties.
Of course, with the insurgents insufficiently trained and their weapons and armor also poor, relying on bloody courage to hold the front and fight hand-to-hand with well-equipped fierce tribal troops, casualties were extremely heavy. After several rounds of fighting, fresh blood dyed the shallow stream flowing through the pass red, and corpses lay scattered across the narrow valley before the pass.
For the attacking Sizhou troops, casualties among frontline soldiers weren’t great, but in the rear formations, over a hundred men cumulatively killed or wounded by scattered stone projectiles meant they somewhat couldn’t hold on and had to withdraw to the camp outside the valley to reorganize.
The Sizhou tribal troops on the outer perimeter were assembling, and the insurgents were also maneuvering troops through dangerous narrow paths inside Panlong Ridge.
When Zhao Zhixian and Pei Pu arrived before dusk at Shihezi Stronghold and saw the scene of corpses strewn everywhere and blood flowing like rivers before the mountain pass, they were secretly alarmed.
Seeing the enemy army showed no signs of attacking at night, Tan Yuliang instructed his son Tan Qiu and Diao the Blind to watch the enemy army’s movements before the mountain on the stronghold wall. He was just about to go into the stronghold to talk with Zhao Zhixian and Pei Pu when he saw his cousin Tan Xiuqun leading forty or fifty men coming around from behind the mountain peak to the north.
Tan Yuliang waited a while. When Tan Xiuqun and his men reached the stronghold wall, he saw Tan Xiuqun had wounds wrapped on his shoulder and waist, blood still seeping through at this moment. His attendants had to support him before he could barely approach. Bending down, he asked: “What happened at Songfeng Stronghold?”
“Hearing the fighting was urgent on Shihezi Stronghold’s side, I brought over fifty men to reinforce here, but didn’t expect over a hundred tribal troops were lying in ambush in Shipan Ravine waiting for me to take the bait—fortunately Wenlin saw the situation wasn’t right and led people charging out to rescue us. We barely managed to repel that group. We suffered over forty dead and wounded this time. How is the situation on your side?” Tan Xiuqun didn’t care about these wounds on his body, but worried about the Sizhou troops’ suddenly ferocious offensive, asking with furrowed brow.
The stronghold wall tilted slightly inward, and the stone-built wall surface was also rugged and uneven, making it easy to climb. Tan Yuliang directly pulled Tan Xiuqun up onto the stronghold wall, letting him see with his own eyes the casualties at the mountain pass.
“Fuck, did Yang Xingfeng take the wrong medicine?” Tan Xiuqun cursed.
The stronghold wall had insurgent soldiers on both left and right, making it inconvenient to talk. Tan Yuliang went into the stronghold to talk with Tan Xiuqun, Zhao Zhixian, and Pei Pu.
“Xuzhou won’t abandon us here, will they?”
In the hall, besides Zhao Zhixian’s young son Zhao Fangcheng examining the arrow wound on Tan Lang’s shoulder and back, there was no one else. Tan Xiuqun couldn’t wait to voice the worry in his heart.
Although Tan Yuliang had been elected Heaven Balance General after the uprising, when actually leading the insurgents in combat against Sizhou troops, their divergences and contradictions with insurgent commanders like Dong Tai, Dong Ping, and Zhang Guangdeng in military administration and tactical arrangements for commanding troops in battle had become increasingly prominent.
After a series of internal adjustments and compromises, Tan Yuliang and Tan Xiuqun led the Tan family sons and disciples along with Diao the Blind and others commanding fifteen to sixteen hundred troops, responsible for defending Shihezi, Songfeng Ridge and other strongholds located on Panlong Ridge’s western foothills.
Shihezi was nominally still the Heaven Balance Army’s main stronghold, but in reality the insurgent forces directly led by Dong Tai, Dong Ping and others numbered two to three times theirs.
Since the insurgents lacked suitable medical officers, Zhao Zhixian and Pei Pu still brought disciples to remain at Nanhuang, Quanshi and other strongholds on Panlong Ridge’s eastern foothills treating the wounded.
The fighting on the western foothills had only suddenly intensified today, while the several strongholds on Panlong Ridge’s eastern foothills had already fought several days of vicious battles with even more tragic casualties.
Although the insurgents had over five thousand, nearly six thousand soldiers, with three to four hundred casualties daily, no wonder Tan Xiuqun couldn’t remain calm.
As long as they were human, no one would truly be content to become a chess piece in someone else’s hands.
Seeing no movement from Xuzhou at this time, if Tan Xiuqun had not a bit of resentment and worry, that would be abnormal.
Pei Pu first reported the news of Huang Hua’s appointment as Hunan Pacification Commissioner and Xi Shepeng and Yang Hu leading the Chenzhou tribal battalion and eight hundred slave soldiers to turn toward Shiqian to resist the Shu army: “His lordship also anticipated Yang Xingfeng might worry that Pacification Commissioner Huang Hua would make decisions unfavorable to Sizhou, thus making a desperate gamble before the final moment. His lordship wants you to hold on for another half month.”
“What if the situation still can’t improve by then?” Tan Xiuqun had less awe of Han Qian in his heart and directly questioned.
“Xiuqun.” Tan Yuliang called Tan Xiuqun’s name in a stern voice, telling him to watch his tone.
Although Pei Pu had studied medicine under Zhao Zhixian in his early years, at this time he represented Xuzhou in conveying messages and wasn’t their junior—and with the situation having reached this step, they could only rely on Xuzhou. Even if they had doubts in their hearts, they couldn’t show them.
Pei Pu said: “I also asked the messenger this question. The messenger in turn asked me, when has his lordship ever disappointed Master Tan and Teacher Zhao?”
Tan Yuliang and Zhao Zhixian exchanged glances, both revealing bitter smiles. He hadn’t disappointed them, but he had once made them despair.