Once Han Qian made his decision, not only did the northern bank’s defensive formation contract more tightly inward, utilizing existing ditches to create more terrain obstacles around the defensive perimeter as circumstances allowed, but the flotilla anchored in the Chu River also quickly responded, transporting ashore chevaux-de-frise, caltrops, iron tribuli, and other less mobile defensive equipment to deploy along the outer defensive line.

Some scattered components were also brought ashore and extremely quickly assembled at the foot of the earthen ridge into seven or eight whirlwind trebuchets over four zhang tall, standing erect in the center of the defensive formation.

Though whirlwind trebuchets had limited range and hurled scattered stone projectiles quite slowly, their mere presence provided psychological reassurance to their own troops.

The inner lines also gradually broke through the ice layers of some ditches to prevent enemy cavalry from penetrating directly through without obstacles.

Approaching noon, a second flotilla composed of nearly a hundred small and medium-sized black-awning boats sailed in from the direction of the Chu River estuary to the southeast, replacing the first flotilla.

Besides iron tools for excavating trenches and constructing protective walls, as well as more light war chariots, large quantities of iron tribuli and spiked boards cast from refined iron with fierce, sharp spikes ranging from three to five inches to over a foot in length were continuously transported ashore.

At this time, news arrived that eight thousand infantry coming from the direction of Chaozhou had also reached the southwestern side of the Wujian Mountain range.

Besides leaving a portion of forces to garrison Yuping Mountain on the southwestern side of the Wujian range to monitor the remnants of the Great Chu naval forces, the rest of this enemy army was rushing toward them at full speed.

Though the journey from Chaozhou had official roads, it still spanned over two hundred li.

Yet this enemy infantry’s advance speed was hardly any slower than the cavalry coming from Zhongli City to the north through Yongyang.

Even without clear reconnaissance confirming Wen Bo was personally commanding them, Han Qian guessed this force should be the elite troops that Wen Bo had led in defending Chaozhou for over half a year, whose morale had not yet collapsed.

After over ten days of rest and reorganization, these elite infantry had rapidly recovered their combat effectiveness.

Just as they had long recognized the importance of Chuzhou and the Wujian Mountains for contesting control of the Huaixi heartland, how could Xu Mingzhen, Niu Gengru, Wen Muqiao—who had once been peers with Li Yu and others—as well as rising talents like Wen Bo and Zhao Mingting not see this point?

Moreover, the Liang Emperor Zhu Yu was currently at Suyu, just three hundred li away.

As for why Xu Mingzhen delayed over ten days after capturing Zhongli City and Li Zhigao leading the Huaixi Imperial Guards to withdraw from Chaozhou before massively increasing troops into the Chuzhou heartland—it wasn’t entirely because he guessed Han Qian’s people were at Tangyi.

Rather, before large quantities of grain and supplies could be transported from Liang’s heartland, the Shouzhou Army, despite appearing to have numerous troops and generals, lacked the capability to assault fortified cities.

With no alternative, Xu Mingzhen could only have Zhao Mingting first lead an elite cavalry contingent to monitor the movements around Chuzhou.

However, now that the Shouzhou Army had caught its breath somewhat, the military potential it unleashed could not help but force others to temporarily avoid its edge.

Seeing the eight thousand infantry from Chaozhou advancing at such an alarming speed, Han Qian weighed his options repeatedly and considered first establishing a firm foothold on both banks of the Chu River, abandoning the fantasy of seizing Chuzhou.

Li Xiu and Li Chi were still leading over a thousand cavalry in the southern peaks and ridges of the Wujian range. Han Qian didn’t expect them—facing supply difficulties and fleeing south in disarray—to obey his orders and coordinate with the naval remnants to break out of Wujian Mountain.

However, since the Tangyi Command Post had been officially established, he was the supreme commander of the war zone spanning approximately three hundred li in depth from east of Chao Lake to west of the Han Ditch. While the enemy had not yet completely sealed off the passage between Chuzhou, Wujian Mountain, and the Chu River, he dispatched scouts to slip through and transmit orders for Li Xiu and Li Chi to lead their forces to occupy the precipitous terrain on the southwestern slopes of the Wujian range and prepare active defense.

Simultaneously, he sent people rushing to Chuzhou to order the Chuzhou Regional Inspector Wei Zhen to abandon Chuzhou and lead the military and civilian population to evacuate northwest into the Wujian Mountains to join the naval remnants.

Never mind Li Xiu and Li Chi—Han Qian had little confidence whether even Wei Zhen would follow orders. However, the naval remnants that had currently withdrawn to the southeastern slopes of Wujian had effectively come under the leadership of Kong Xirong and Guo Xiao after Gao Chengyuan died from severe wounds while crossing the river to return to Jinling to plead guilty.

Han Qian hoped to preserve this force with low morale and incomplete equipment, sending people to repeatedly instruct Kong Xirong not to rashly take risks.

In the freezing weather, excavating frozen earth and driving wooden stake walls was extremely difficult, so Han Qian ordered most of the light war chariots’ wheel hubs and axles dismantled, directly connecting the carriage bodies to form three makeshift protective walls each about two hundred paces long. They even used winches to drag small black-awning boats directly ashore, placing them on both sides of the official road to serve as obstacles limiting enemy attacks.

Before the twelve thousand-plus Shouzhou Army cavalry and infantry could complete their encirclement from the west and north, the Tangyi Command Post forces constructed a simple camp with approximately three hundred paces of depth on the northern bank of the Chu River at the northeastern foot of Daci Mountain.

Wen Ruilin, wrapped in a heavy cloak against the bitter cold wind, climbed the steep earthen ridge and could survey the simple camp the Tangyi Command Post forces had constructed on the Chu River’s northern bank in just two short days. Most of the Chu Army had already withdrawn into the camp, with only a small number of reconnaissance cavalry and over a thousand laborers arduously excavating trenches in the frozen earth remaining on the outer perimeter. Some forces had even dispersed to garrison on the southern bank.

Apart from the protective walls—primarily composed of light war chariot carriages filled with frozen earth and only one person’s height—the camp had no so-called formal gates. Except for the Chu River to the south, both the eastern and western sides as well as the northern side they directly faced all had three or four gaps over ten zhang wide.

They could organize elite forces to charge through these gaps, but simultaneously the Chu Army could also use these gaps to rapidly counterattack any Shouzhou forces approaching the camp.

“Han Qian has now ordered Chuzhou’s military and civilians to evacuate into the Wujian Mountains, not wishing to use Chuzhou’s populace to constrain us from the flanks and rear. This shows he has great confidence this simple camp can withstand our offensive!” Zhao Mingting said with furrowed brow to Wen Bo, who wore black armor and had a refined, elegant bearing without a trace of a military commander’s rough demeanor.

When Emperor Tianyou rose in Huainan, Wen Muqiao had presided over assisting Empress Xu in holding the rear, so his reputation for commanding troops in battle was far less prominent than Li Yu, Xu Mingzhen, and others. As for Wen Bo, who had served as a guard commander under his father since youth—particularly since he was only just over twenty when Emperor Tianyou established his capital at Jinling—his reputation was even less conspicuous.

Most people in Great Chu’s court and countryside believed Wen Bo’s appointment as Supreme Commander of the Imperial Guard was inherited from Wen Muqiao’s meritorious service.

Wen Bo’s true rise to fame should have been the Battle of Chizhou.

Though under Li Zhigao’s offensive Wen Bo was forced to abandon Chizhou and flee with remnant forces, under those extremely adverse conditions his ability to heavily damage the Yueyang forces and compel them not to dare launch a swift attack on Jinling afterward, buying sufficient time for the Anning Palace to organize the northern evacuation of military and civilians, already initially demonstrated his potential as a renowned commander.

Defending Chaozhou had pushed Wen Bo’s reputation for defending cities to a new peak.

Li Zhigao had proceeded steadily and methodically, employing virtually every siege method from ancient times to the present. Wen Bo had countered each move, utilizing the resources stockpiled within Chaozhou to keep the Huaixi Imperial Guards outside the city walls, unable to cross even half a step beyond their bounds.

Though Chaozhou had the backing of Shouzhou—which had secretly submitted to Great Liang—making the situation much better than Xichuan City had been, one could not deny his defense of Chaozhou was a classic campaign.

Had Wen Bo’s defense of Chaozhou not been so solid, with no hope of conquest visible in the short term, Great Chu’s ministers would not have been so eager to support the naval raid on Hongze Marsh, falling into the trap.

After Li Zhigao withdrew the Huaixi Imperial Guards, Wen Bo led the Chaozhou forces—which had rested barely over ten days—advancing two hundred li eastward along the official road in less than two and a half days to rendezvous with Zhao Mingting, their military appearance still orderly and disciplined. This also demonstrated his exceptional ability in managing troops.

Even though Xu Mingzhen hadn’t explicitly stated that Wen Bo would take precedence after reaching Chuzhou, the perceptive Zhao Mingting would defer to his judgment in organizing the offensive against the Chu Army.

Wen Bo furrowed his brow, pondering at length before turning his head to ask Wen Ruilin, “Scholar Wen, what weaknesses do you see in the Chu Army’s camp that we might exploit?”

Thinking back to just over a month ago when they had all still been Chu officials and Chu generals, yet today they referred to the enemy as “Chu Army,” Wen Bo felt myriad emotions. Of course, even more emotionally striking was how unpredictably their adversarial relationship with Wen Ruilin had transformed.

Wen Ruilin glanced at Wen Bo, uncertain whether Wen Bo was asking his opinion out of respect for his status as the Liang Emperor’s personal envoy, or because he found Han Qian extremely difficult to deal with and was having thoughts of withdrawal but found it inconvenient to state directly.

“Han Qian excels at employing ingenious stratagems. His camp construction relies on the Chu River waterway, allowing troops freedom to advance and retreat without worrying about supply shortages. We must guard against all possibilities,” Wen Ruilin said thoughtfully. “General Wen and General Zhao might send troops to test the enemy’s fighting spirit. If the enemy camp cannot be quickly taken, we should first occupy Chuzhou and calmly plan subsequent strategies…”

“Indeed. Whether the Marquis of Qianyang is truly so formidable—we must test his mettle before drawing conclusions,” Wen Bo slightly lowered his eyes, hands clasped behind his back, following Wen Ruilin’s meaning to ask Zhao Mingting, “Mingting, what do you think?”

Zhao Mingting had been monitoring this force on the northern bank of Chuzhou with his cavalry for a full day and night. Every opportunity for attack he’d found had been a trap, costing him over three hundred casualties. However, he could understand the meaning in Wen Bo’s words: as surrendered troops and generals, if they directly withdrew to defend Chuzhou without even attempting a probing attack, how could they gain the trust of Great Liang’s court and ministers in Bianjing?

Regardless, even knowing they would suffer losses, even knowing they would break their teeth on it, they still had to take a bite of Han Qian’s bones.