Night rain pattered down, growing heavier and heavier.
Hundreds and thousands of horse hooves trampled the muddy earth, advancing southward from both flanks of the post road. The clanging clatter of clustered armor plates gathered together like the sound of a suppressed tsunami in the rain.
Langxi was located at the northwestern foothills of the Fuyu Mountain range, leaning westward against Lake Nanyi, which encircled an area of over a hundred li.
When heading to Xuancheng, if one didn’t want to take the official road between the western shore of Lake Nanyi and the eastern foothills of Mount Jilong – which was forty or fifty li away – and make a detour of over eighty li, there was a post road from Langxi heading southwest, constructed between the mountains at the western foothills of the Fuyu range, including Mount Magu, Mount Yangzhu, Qipan Ridge, and Mount Shifo.
Zhao Wuji wore a rain cape over his armor. His gaunt cheeks in the night seemed like a black relief sculpture, faintly visible.
At this moment, due to violent shaking, the horn lantern tied to the saddle had gone out. A guard spread out an oiled paper package to take out a fire steel, opened the lamp cover, wanting to relight the oil candle inside.
Without tools to shield against the rain, the torches were all soaked through by rainwater and couldn’t be lit.
The cavalry column of just over three hundred people, not quite four hundred, stretched out fore and aft for about a li. With only a limited number of horn lanterns, the light was extremely dim. They were practically groping forward in darkness. From time to time one could hear sounds of people falling, and even the horses and men behind couldn’t avoid in time, being heavily trampled by horse hooves, resulting in broken heads and bleeding, fractured bones and severed limbs.
Even so, Zhao Wuji still ordered the cavalry column to travel on the muddy ground on both sides, to avoid two or three thousand horse hooves trampling the post road in the middle into an impassable mire, which would doubly affect the advancing speed of the infantry battalion behind.
Zhao Wuji was only leading a cavalry column of four hundred men in advance. If Gu Zhilong dispatched his direct troops to counterattack, they would find it very difficult to hold for long. Ultimately, to block the passage for Xuancheng reinforcements to Langxi between Mount Shifo and Mount Magu, they would still have to rely on the infantry battalion of one thousand men behind them.
Zhao Wuji reined in his horse and wiped away the rainwater flowing down his cheeks.
Feng Liao, supported by two guards, came over with unsteady steps. When he had dismounted earlier without paying attention, he had fallen into a mud pit. His robe was soaked through and clinging to his body, making walking even more difficult. He said:
“We’re attacking suddenly. Gu Zhilong will be alarmed and suspicious. Most likely they’ll be more worried that our target is to raid their rear route and won’t think of turning back – we could wait until the rain stops before traveling. The way we’re going now is too hard on the troops.”
Not to mention lacking sufficient light sources making it difficult to see the road, with people and horses constantly falling, marching in the rain also multiplied the physical exhaustion of the soldiers. Feng Liao worried that if they really had to reach the designated location before dawn, the three hundred plus elite cavalry would be nearly collapsed with exhaustion.
“During the most difficult times, the cavalry battalion’s grain supply has never been reduced – it’s precisely to unleash incomparably tenacious combat effectiveness at the knife’s edge. Minister Feng, you stay behind and wait for the infantry following. I’ll lead the cavalry column ahead to Honglin Wharf first,” Zhao Wuji said with unwavering determination.
Honglin Wharf was a town located between Mount Magu and Mount Shifo, positioned at the northeastern foothills of Mount Shifo, slightly outward.
South of Honglin Wharf was the narrowest pass on the Xuanlang post road.
Squeezed by steep cliffs and ridges on both sides, the pass was only about three hundred paces wide.
Although this pass couldn’t be called a place where one man could hold off ten thousand, it was definitely easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Although Gu Zhilong was undecided between Anning Palace, Chuzhou, and Yueyang, intent on throwing his piece into the chess game at the most advantageous moment, in his early years when he commanded troops in battle, militarily he was still quite a decisive and ruthless commander.
Zhao Wuji could not risk Gu Zhilong sending troops to occupy Honglin Wharf first. No matter how difficult night rain marching was, he had to ensure he could seize Honglin Wharf first and blockade it at the pass of the Xuanlang post road.
Only this way could the Chishan Army possibly use a small number of cavalry and infantry to block reinforcements from Xuancheng south of Mount Shifo and Magu Ridge, winning more time for the main force to assault Langxi City.
If Gu Zhilong dispatched troops from Xuancheng wanting to take the muddy road detour along the western shore of Lake Nanyi to reinforce Langxi, even if the Chishan Army didn’t send troops to delay them, it would take at least an extra day. By that time, the ten thousand troops of the Chishan Army’s Third Corps would already have advanced from Guangde to below Langxi City. Before the main force of the Chuzhou Army moved south, they would have sufficient troops to both blockade and intercept Xuancheng’s reinforcements while organizing an offensive against Langxi City.
Seeing he couldn’t persuade Zhao Wuji, Feng Liao naturally wouldn’t stay behind with just a few guards to wait for the infantry battalion following. He wasn’t skilled at riding horses, and his physical strength was nearly depleted at this point, so he had guards tie him to the horse’s back and followed the main force marching forward in the rain…
……
……
The night rain at Guangde Stronghold had stopped. Yao Xishui still held an oiled paper umbrella, standing before the railing of a dilapidated wooden tower, gazing toward the drill ground to the west.
After dusk, Han Qian had conducted a comprehensive mobilization of the cavalry battalion, guard battalion, and Third Corps units stationed at Guangde Stronghold. Squads of soldiers, facing the night rain, successively entered the western drill ground – Han Qian also stood the entire time on the general’s platform, his entire body soaked by rainwater, watching the soldiers enter with his eyes.
“What difference is there when people are born? Why should you be branded with the mark of slaves and servants from birth, so that even raising your heads to look at people is a grave crime of disrespect? You are docile, you accept your fate, you always hope the masters and gentlemen might have a thread of mercy. But for how many years have you labored without cease through cold and heat, tilling wasteland, digging ditches, catching insects, driving away birds, not daring the slightest negligence – yet you lack sufficient food, are sallow and emaciated, and during famines eat earth to fill your bellies and exchange children for food. For how many years have you worked day and night, spinning hemp and weaving silk – yet you lack sufficient clothing, walk barefoot on thorns, and when winter comes with wind and snow, you shiver and freeze to death by the roadside. Who has ever given you a thread of mercy? Are you willing for your children and grandchildren to forever prostrate themselves at others’ feet? Are you willing to be scolded or even whipped for the slightest glance upward, yet not permitted the tiniest resistance? If you accept your fate, if you’re willing to scrape by for a lifetime, willing to prostrate yourselves at others’ feet to be lowly commoners and lowly slaves, I – Xuzhou Provincial Governor, Jiangdong Pacification Commissioner Han Qian – cannot give you mercy either. If you don’t accept your fate, if you’re willing to stake your one life to fight for yourselves, for your children and grandchildren, for a future where you need not prostrate yourselves at others’ feet, to fight for a future of having houses to live in, fields to till, grain to eat, and clothes for winter – I, Xuzhou Provincial Governor, Jiangdong Pacification Commissioner Han Qian, am willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with you holding halberds, fighting before the enemy!”
Yao Xishui had to admit that Han Qian’s methods of bewitching hearts were truly formidable. Standing on the general’s platform issuing this shouted speech in a hoarse voice, she even noticed that serving maid Ye Feiying behind her couldn’t help but be moved. She said coldly, “How harsh and cruel Han Qian is in controlling his subordinates – probably only someone with such a naturally gloomy temperament could speak such words without any mental obstacle, deceiving these tens of thousands of rabble to fearlessly sell their lives for him.”
“To lure Gu Zhilong out of Langxi, he didn’t hesitate to use his uncle and grandfather as bait. Since ancient times, there probably haven’t been many treacherous villains who could do such a thing, right?”
Daoist Yun Puzi glanced at the girl with delicate features called Ye Feiying behind Yao Xishui. Seeing that she was quite unfamiliar with Zhang Ping, Li Pu, and the others, she probably wasn’t a core disciple cultivated by Lu Qingxia and Li Pu over these years. She also hadn’t debuted as a singing and dancing girl at Evening Red Tower before, yet he didn’t know why Yao Xishui, after returning to Jinling, actually kept her constantly by her side to attend her. He laughed mockingly:
“Such a person even had the face to pretend to want to observe mourning for his father in Xuzhou to practice great filial piety.”
“In Daoist Yun’s view, what are Han Qian’s chances of victory in this surprise attack on Langxi City?” Yao Xishui asked.
Yao Xishui naturally knew Daoist Yun Puzi’s true identity, but since Yun Puzi had initially been forced into retirement by Madam and Li Pu working together, she could only pretend to know nothing as she had to coexist with him at Guangde Stronghold.
“Perhaps a twenty percent chance of victory?” Daoist Yun Puzi said.
“Only twenty percent?” Yao Xishui looked over curiously and said, “The soldiers of the Third Corps may seem ragged and sallow, severely lacking in weapons and armor, appearing as nothing but rabble, but seeing how orderly they were when entering the drill ground just now, one has to say Han Qian truly has exceptional abilities in governing troops. Even if Han Qian doesn’t recall Gao Shao’s forces from Mount Jiudu to the east, merely having the troops stationed at Guangde Stronghold pour out in full force, he can only gather twenty thousand troops on the western line. At this time Gu Zhilong has fallen for the diversion tactic, leading his direct elite forces to Xuanzhou City. Langxi City only has just over four thousand defenders whose combat effectiveness can be called ordinary. I always feel Han Qian should have a fifty percent chance of victory in this battle.”
“Gu Zhilong’s indecision isn’t because he’s naturally suspicious and indecisive. Actually, this person is good at assessing situations and knows how to use troops well. That’s why in early years when Emperor Tianyou led the Huainan Army to cross the river, he decisively raised troops to submit rather than heeding the Prince of Yue Dong Chang’s recruitment. If Langxi City is seized by Han Qian, how could Gu Zhilong not know that his value would greatly decrease no matter which side he subsequently joins? That’s the first point,” Daoist Yun Puzi said. “Second, even if Wang Wenqian is no longer at Liyang watching every move of the Chishan Army’s southern line, how could Zhao Zhen not understand that Langxi City falling into Han Qian’s hands would be extremely significant? I think Chuzhou probably most hopes at this time for the Chishan Army to advance east into Hu and Hang and turn everything upside down, right?”
“Daoist Yun means that the elite forces of Lin Haizheng’s First Corps are mainly stationed at Nantang Stronghold and haven’t moved south – this isn’t simply Han Qian trying to confuse the Chuzhou Army and Gu Zhilong, but rather he needs to use Lin Haizheng’s forces to intercept the Chuzhou Army elite at Liyang from moving south?” Yao Xishui understood at this point why Daoist Yun Puzi said the Chishan Army’s chances of victory weren’t great.
The Chishan Army’s currently most elite First Corps had to be used to intercept the Chuzhou Army elite from moving south and threatening the flank of the forces attacking Langxi City. They also had to split out a large number of elite troops to the southern line to intercept Gu Zhilong leading elite forces to counterattack. Probably they could only rely on inducing these Third Corps slave and servant soldiers before them – who lacked complete weapons and armor, had weak bodies, but possessed usable morale – to assault Langxi City.
If the intercepting forces split between the western foothills of Mount Jieling and the north and south lines of Mount Magu showed any flaw at either location, it would mean Han Qian’s entire calculation would collapse prematurely.
Weighing it this way, Han Qian’s chances of victory this time truly wouldn’t be very high indeed.