By mid-October, heavy snow was already falling over the Han River.
A man wrapped in a black hemp robe stood in the wind and snow like a sculpture on the riverbank, gazing toward Fancheng on the northern shore. His eyes were shadowed and dark, harboring inexplicably complex emotions, as if deeply moved by the sight of this city—famous throughout the realm for over a thousand years—now lying in such ruins.
A single-masted black-canopied boat came sailing forth and stopped at the river beach to take the robed man aboard.
“It’s only October and Xiangzhou is already this damn cold! If the army continues northward into November and December, I’m afraid the winter clothing for the officers and men won’t be nearly enough.” A gaunt man with a sallow complexion emerged from the cabin and squatted at the narrow bow of the black-canopied boat, speaking to the robed man.
Just then, two patrol boats came downstream along the Han River. Assuming the single-masted black-canopied boat sailing upstream was merely a merchant vessel bound for Liangzhou (Hanzhong), they passed by without paying much attention and showed no intention of intercepting or questioning it.
Liangzhou lay at the source of the Han River and had been a strategically contested territory since ancient times. It was currently the domain of the King of Shu, Wang Jian. The Military Commissioner of the Xingyuan Army who also concurrently served as Prefect of Liangzhou, Wang Zongjie, was a great general of Shu and an adopted son of King Wang Jian.
The Liang state was powerful, and the Shu region, like Great Chu, faced threats from Liang’s armies. Therefore, although Xiangzhou and Liangzhou were connected by the Han River, and Jingzhou and Rongzhou at the upper reaches of the Yangtze belonged to the two different states, the borders remained peaceful with mutual trade.
The Shu region traded with the various Western Tibetan tribes, and the warhorses Great Chu needed were mostly transported via the Han River from Liangzhou.
The sallow-faced man at the bow watched Xiangzhou’s patrol boats pass by just like that and sighed softly, saying to the robed man: “Xiangzhou Prefect Du Chongtao has strengthened defenses along the old Nanyang commandery line and deployed elite troops to search the mountain forests, guarding against spies from Xuzhou and Ruzhou. Yet he doesn’t realize that in recent days, many suspicious persons have infiltrated through Hanzhong to reconnoiter the defenses along the Xiangfan and Yingzhou lines. Following your instructions, sir, we haven’t dared make any rash moves, but this year the Liang forces in Ruzhou and Xuzhou have been greatly reinforced. If the Liang army gains complete control of Caizhou, there’s no guarantee they won’t have designs on Nanyang (Dengzhou) and Xiangzhou…”
The robed man sat at the bow, gazing at the mountain ridges covered with thin snow on both banks.
In early October, Emperor Tianyou issued an edict making the Third Imperial Prince, Marquis of Linjiang Yang Yuanpu, serve as Commander of the Dragon Sparrow Army and concurrently as Vice Commander-in-Chief of the Northwestern Campaign. The matter of the Dragon Sparrow Army joining the campaign from the Deng-Xiang direction was thus finally settled.
Even traveling by water route with escort from the naval vessels of the Tower Ship Army, the Dragon Sparrow Army could not reach Xiangzhou in just three to five days sailing upstream. The robed man who had arrived first to inspect the military situation in Xiangfan and Nanyang was Han Qian, Vice Commander of the Dragon Sparrow Army’s Personal Guards and Staff Officer of the Left Bureau. The sallow-faced man was Tian Cheng, Director of Military and Household Affairs of the Left Bureau.
Han Qian had arrived in Xiangzhou together with Li Zhigao, the Supervisor of the Dragon Sparrow Army. Li Zhigao needed to enter Xiangcheng to meet with the Commander-in-Chief of the Northwestern Campaign, Xiangzhou Prefect and Deng-Xiang Defense Commissioner Du Chongtao, to coordinate matters regarding the Dragon Sparrow Army’s imminent deployment. Han Qian had not accompanied Li Zhigao to meet Du Chongtao.
Such a meeting would bring him no recognition anyway, so Han Qian had Tian Cheng come by boat to fetch him, heading west to survey the terrain and military situation and make more preparations for the Dragon Sparrow Army’s deployment in Xiangzhou, lest some serious oversight occur.
During the previous dynasty’s warlord fragmentation and warfare, the Xiangfan and Nanyang regions between the Daba Mountains, Qinling Mountains, Funiu Mountains, Tongbai Mountains, and Dahong Mountains were among the areas most severely devastated by war.
During the early to middle periods of the previous dynasty, the Nanyang Basin between these mountains had been one of Central Plains’ most important granaries, sustaining over a million people. However, through a century of fragmented warlord warfare and bandit chaos, it had been utterly ruined.
Within the Nanyang Basin and extending south to the northern part of the Jianghan Plain, by this time one could hardly see a single decent city. Even if refugees still survived in these lands, the vast majority had gathered in mountain forests, unwilling to submit to rule by any faction.
Great Chu had controlled Jianghan, Jingnan, and even Xiangfan and Nanyang for only a few years. Currently, the northernmost point was merely the reconstructed Xiangzhou city on the southern bank of the Han River, which had only enjoyed three to five years of modest recovery.
The neighboring Fancheng on the northern bank of the Han River remained in ruins, let alone Xinye, Wancheng, Fangcheng and other strategic locations further north in the northern part of the Nanyang Basin.
However, Liang state’s forces from Ruzhou and Great Chu’s general Xu Mingzhen’s Shouzhou Army had confronted each other along the Caizhou line on their western flank for many years in a tug-of-war. They currently established defenses at mountain passes and strategic points in the northern and southern parts of Caizhou respectively, dividing Caizhou between them.
Caizhou was located on the eastern flank of Fangcheng, the entrance to the Nanyang Basin.
Although at this time the Nanyang Basin had only three to five thousand troops under Xiangzhou’s command stationed at strategic points in the north—the main forces belonging to the Xiangzhou Defense Commissioner primarily guarded cities along the Han River—the defenses could hardly be called tight. But before the struggle for Caizhou was decided, each time the Liang army took military action, they mostly only dispatched a flanking force to bypass the fortified strongholds and raid Nanyang, Xiangfan and other areas. They had no immediate intention of occupying the Nanyang Basin.
This was mainly because the Nanyang Basin had been utterly devastated. Before the struggle along the Caizhou line was decided, if the Liang army forcibly occupied the Nanyang Basin, they would need to station large forces to confront Great Chu’s control of Xiangfan on one hand, while on the other hand worrying that Xu Mingzhen might send troops at any time to cut their supply lines from Liang’s heartland, causing their occupying forces in Nanyang to become completely isolated and trapped.
But circumstances would not remain forever unchanged.
Whether Liang or Great Chu, though both had experienced internal strife in recent years with severe factional entanglements, having enjoyed three or four years of recovery without large-scale warfare, both had substantially increased their strength.
In the past, when Liang committed forces to the Huai region, they mainly concentrated troops at Xuzhou as their center of gravity. But since autumn this year, besides Xuzhou, Liang had conscripted considerable forces from various prefectures of the Shannan Western Circuit and concentrated them in southern Ruzhou—that is, the northwestern direction of the Nanyang Basin. It was difficult to guarantee that Liang’s winter campaign plans this year didn’t aim to decisively end the long struggle between the two states over Caizhou, Guangzhou, and Nanyang.
Of course, if Liang didn’t commit forces this year, the Chu army would consider advancing beyond Xiangcheng to strengthen defenses north of the Han River.
This conclusion wasn’t merely what Han Qian and Tian Cheng had reached after the Left Bureau scouts investigated Liang army movements—the Bureau of Military Affairs was equally filled with such concerns about the western flank. This time, besides deploying the Dragon Sparrow Army to reinforce Xiangzhou, they also simultaneously conscripted forces from the twelve riverine prefectures along the Yangtze including Jiang and E.
Adding the Xiangzhou garrison, the Dragon Sparrow Army, and reinforcement troops from the twelve riverine prefectures including Jiang and E, by late October they expected to concentrate fifty thousand troops to guard against a Liang army advance southward.
Han Qian and Tian Cheng didn’t travel by boat for very long. Although their destination was accessible entirely by waterway, traditional single-masted sailing vessels traveled too slowly going upstream against the rapids.
The black-canopied boat came ashore on the river beach ten-odd li west of Fancheng, where over ten scouts from the Left Bureau waited with horses for Han Qian and Tian Cheng.
Han Qian then proceeded westward along the ruined trail on the northern bank of the Han River, then turned north from the Dan River mouth, advancing into the heartland of the southeastern foothills of the Qinling Mountains. Along the route, all they saw were abandoned, ruined fortified settlements.
Inside and outside each settlement lived more or less some refugees who had built huts and perhaps cultivated fields. When they saw Han Qian’s group passing by, their eyes were full of vigilance. Even if they didn’t swarm forth, they didn’t hesitate to display what crude weapons they possessed as a warning.
Of course, leaving the ancient Dan River road and entering the deep mountain forests of the southeastern Qinling foothills, there were even more mountain strongholds controlled by refugees that had not yet been brought under Great Chu’s rule.
The consequences of a century of warfare were fully displayed here.
The Dan River Road, also known as the Wuguan Road or Lantian Pass, had during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods been a key strategic pass in the centuries of struggle between Qin and Chu. Wuguan, one of the four barriers protecting the Guanzhong region, served as the southwestern gateway of old Qin and was located in the mountain gorges along the upper reaches of the Dan River.
Yet such an important passage was beyond the full control of either Liang or Chu at present. Each only established small garrisons at forward outposts and fortifications at either end of the Dan River Road or the ancient Shangyu Road.
However, compared to enemy armies attacking through this passage, the outposts both states built were more concerned about raids from bandits in the deep mountain forests on their flanks.
Having endured over a century of warfare, with over a million people reduced to ashes, those who managed to struggle on and even reproduce in this region were mostly fierce bandits gathered in the deep mountains. Many were remnants of refugee armies who had fled into the mountains after being routed.
It was quite unrealistic for the Dragon Sparrow Army to enter Xiangzhou and march directly north to reach Fangcheng at the northern passes of the Nanyang Basin to confront the main Liang forces concentrating in the north.
After all, the northern part of the Nanyang Basin was completely desolate. Even if Liang dispatched a flanking force to attack, there was nothing worth plundering.
On the contrary, the western flank could even actively allow Liang’s main forces to attack into the Nanyang Basin. This way, they could stretch Liang’s battle lines and supply lines on one hand, while on the other hand the Chu army could intercept along the Han River, having more advantageous conditions for combat with the river at their backs.
The problem was that in the early stages of war, the Liang army also couldn’t recklessly enter the Nanyang Basin. Would the Dragon Sparrow Army simply wait idly in Xiangcheng or Fancheng?
This way they might end up with no battle to fight at all.
Han Qian had repeatedly discussed operational plans the Dragon Sparrow Army could implement after reaching Xiangzhou with Marquis of Xinchang Li Pu, Li Zhigao and others in Jinling. They ultimately determined that in the early stage they should advance upstream along the Dan River. On one hand, they could attempt to threaten Liang’s Guanzhong region from the direction of Shangzhou; on the other hand, they could recover fortified settlements along the Dan River and train troops by fighting bandits and mountain brigands along the route, rather than dragging things out to the later stages of war and having green troops directly face the cruel and fierce Liang army.
Even if they ultimately couldn’t engage Liang’s main forces, recovering and consolidating the Dan River corridor would still be creditable accomplishment.
Following this drafted plan, Han Qian had arrived first in Xiangzhou. Rather than accompanying Li Zhigao into the city to meet Du Chongtao, he naturally needed to first survey the situation from Wuguan eastward and southward to the Dan River mouth once more.
After changing horses on the northern bank of the Han River and traveling north along ruined ancient roads for a day and night, they entered Jingzi Pass west of the old Xichuan County from the previous dynasty.
This place was where Crown Prince Jing of Chu during the Spring and Autumn period had defended against Qin’s army, hence the name Jingzi Pass. It was also one of six ancient cities built along the eight-hundred-li Dan River during the Western Zhou, and was a strategic pass for Guanzhong forces of Liang exiting Wuguan westward to attack the Nanyang Basin.
The Xiangzhou garrison had restored the ruined city here and established a forward outpost, stationing one battalion of troops to guard against possible surprise attacks by Liang forces from Shangzhou.
Fan Dahei and Lin Haizheng had been dispatched by Han Qian to the Deng-Xiang region to gather intelligence in mid-September, and by now had already entered Jingzi Pass as ordered, awaiting Han Qian’s arrival.