Over the past year, both sides had maintained high-intensity confrontation along the Fucha Mountains and Chu River line. Their vigilance and the rigor of their military intelligence reconnaissance and communication systems were incomparable to the military negligence of peacetime.
Even if news of Han Qian mobilizing and assembling troops on the west bank of the Wushou River didn’t leak out, the Shouzhou forces stationed on the southern line, however dull they might be, would inevitably become alert once the first vanguard unit of the Tangyi troops crossed the mutually acknowledged boundary line and pushed north from the eastern foothills of Fucha Mountains to the southwest side of Wujian Mountains.
However, becoming alert didn’t necessarily mean they could immediately determine the precise intentions behind this unusual movement by the Tangyi troops.
Before departure, Han Qian signed military orders conscripting over twelve thousand reserve personnel laboring at various construction sites into the camps, supplementing the insufficient troop strength along the Chu River and Fucha Mountains line during this period—and previously, thousands of able-bodied young men had been requisitioned from various garrison settlements and construction sites large and small under the pretext of needing to repair post roads for the grand wedding procession, gathering them along the post road line on the south bank of the Chu River, precisely to enable the quickest possible transformation from laborers to organized soldiers.
To further deceive the enemy forces, Puyang, Tangyi, Tingshan and other locations simultaneously implemented corresponding offensive plans; the grand wedding in Liyang City would also proceed as scheduled without interruption.
At least on the surface, this surprise assault seemed like献礼 献礼 a tribute operation for Han Qian and Wang Jun’s grand wedding.
Of course, more importantly, the surprise attack forces adopted a “multi-route advance” approach, with detachments quickly infiltrating through gaps at different positions in the enemy’s defensive line into the hinterland behind Chaozhou City, then assembling and converging at a certain point in the enemy’s rear territory to achieve the objective of “coordinated strike operations.”
Naturally, they didn’t expect to deceive the enemy forces for long, but even if they could delay the enemy from accurately determining their operational intentions by just one or two days, it would create more advantages for the surprise attack forces in the early stages.
In this era, aside from horses, there were no rapid assembly and mobilization transportation tools, and even with sufficient horses, whether fodder supplies like beans and hay were adequately stored directly determined the distance cavalry units could advance and the duration they could remain deployed.
Once enemy commanders misjudged and cavalry units assembled in the wrong direction, besides wasting time, it would accelerate the consumption of limited combat supplies and intensify the physical exhaustion of soldiers and warhorses.
For a time, besides columns of smoke signals rising into the sky, fast horses carrying scout messengers galloped through the biting cold wind between Chaozhou City and Chuzhou City, transmitting various messages both true and false.
Besides Chaozhou City and Chuzhou City immediately raising their alert levels, the Shouzhou forces’ forts built along the middle and upper reaches of the Puyang River, on the southwest flank of Chuzhou City, on the north bank of the Tuogao River, and on the north side of Fucha Mountains all nervously prepared for war and strict defense.
Fort gates closed one after another, restricting pedestrian movement, sending out more scouts to monitor surrounding activities. Large quantities of stored combat supplies—tung oil, iron caltrops, logs and rolling stones, bundles of arrows, newly manufactured crossbows and more—were all moved onto the walls. Able-bodied men within the forts were organized either to strengthen walls or dispatched outside to destroy roads.
Although the Huaixi Imperial Guards behind the Lujiang defense line showed no movement for now, the Shouzhou forces stationed on the west bank of Chao Lake dared not slacken, directly entering a state of war.
After all, no one could tell whether this was merely an unusual agitation by the Tangyi troops on Han Qian’s wedding day, or a comprehensive counteroffensive long secretly planned by the Great Chu court.
Dozens of fast horses also galloped toward Huozhou and Guangzhou, warning the garrisons there to be careful that the Left Martial Guard troops who had entered Suizhou might at any moment come charging over Tongbai Mountains…
Before Fangzi Fort on the middle reaches of the Puyang River, Wen Bo, surrounded by a cavalry escort, stopped on the riverbank, frowning as he watched several hundred Tangyi soldiers withdrawing southward.
The Tangyi soldiers maintained orderly formations. They had only conducted harassing attacks on the outskirts of Fangzi Fort without expending effort to assault it, so their soldiers had sufficient stamina and complete arrow supplies without any depletion. Leading this small force to entangle with them would gain no advantage.
“Is this a feint?” Wen Ruilin climbed down from his horse gasping for breath, walked to Wen Bo’s side, and asked doubtfully while watching the Tangyi soldiers departing in a cloud of dust.
Wen Bo nodded gravely.
As the Shouzhou forces’ commanding general in Chuzhou, upon learning of the Tangyi troops’ unusual movements, Wen Bo’s first concern was that Han Qian might send troops to capture the many forts they had repaired and newly built along the Puyang River over the past half year.
Considering that an elite Tangyi force was unusually active deep within the Wujian mountain range, even without all the forts along the Puyang River falling, Chuzhou City’s connections with the outside world would become extremely fragile.
Therefore, Wen Bo immediately led his cavalry escort out of Chuzhou City, rushing toward Fangzi Fort, the most strategically important position on the middle reaches of the Puyang River.
The Puyang River flowed past the west side of Fangzi Fort into Chuzhou to the south, while a tributary of the Shiliang River, which ran through Shiliang County and ultimately flowed into Hongze Lake, passed by the east side of Fangzi Fort.
Although Fangzi Fort had an elite infantry battalion on defense, and although at this time the Puyang River and Shiliang River were both frozen solid so the Tangyi navy’s warships couldn’t pass through, Wen Bo still felt uneasy.
But when he personally led over two hundred elite cavalry to reinforce first, the several hundred Tangyi troops harassing Fangzi Fort didn’t engage and directly withdrew.
“I’m afraid the forts along the Puyang River are not the target of this Tangyi troop movement…” Wen Ruilin said hesitantly. By now, more intelligence from the eastern line had gathered, showing no sign that the Tangyi troops intended a major offensive on the eastern line.
Wen Bo tugged his reins, and his warhorse turned around. He gazed westward.
If the forts along the Puyang River weren’t the Tangyi troops’ target, Wen Bo couldn’t believe that the Tangyi forces, whose strength hadn’t increased much, would mount a strong assault on Chuzhou City this winter. Then the target of this Tangyi troop movement really wasn’t hard to guess.
But how would the Tangyi troops attack Chaozhou?
Even though a considerable portion of forces on the western line had been transferred to reinforce defenses in Yiyang and other counties at the northeast foothills of Tongbai Mountains in response to the Left Martial Guard’s adjustments, under the direction of Xu Mingzhen’s second son Xu Sizhao, the entire Chaozhou territory had nearly thirty thousand elite troops defending Chaozhou City and the fortifications on both flanks, plus twenty thousand garrison troops in the northern hinterland who could quickly be organized into soldiers defending forts and cities.
Not to mention that assembling cavalry from Shouzhou to reinforce Chaozhou would only take two or three days.
After pondering for a long while with furrowed brows, Wen Bo said to Wen Ruilin: “This Tangyi troop movement absolutely cannot be merely to seize one or two forts between Chao and Chu, nor could they fantasize about capturing Chaozhou City. We must guard against the very likely possibility that they’ll emulate His Majesty’s strategy from last year of raiding Huaidong—infiltrating through gaps in the defensive line to enter northern Chaozhou and extensively raid our interior settlements and farms…”
“If the Tangyi troops really have such audacity, aren’t they afraid we’ll trap them like dumplings?” a military officer beside Wen Bo asked rather disdainfully.
Regardless, in the minds of ordinary officers, the Shouzhou forces with their standing force of eighty thousand soldiers plus over fifty thousand garrison troops were far superior in military strength to the Chu forces north of the Yangtze; it was only because they had been extremely short on supplies the previous two years that they had no choice but to cease hostilities and recuperate.
It was already good that they weren’t attacking Tangyi.
The Tangyi troops organizing one or two offensives against forts on the edge of their defensive line was still understandable, but if the Tangyi troops dared to make long-distance infiltrations into their interior hinterland, wasn’t that seeking death?
First, the rivers north of Chao Lake had all frozen solid, so Tangyi’s warships had no way to advance north via the South Fei River and other tributaries flowing into Chao Lake.
Second, the elite forces the Tangyi troops could mobilize at this time to infiltrate their interior hinterland were limited in scale—even with sufficient troops, they were limited by supply and wouldn’t rashly make long-distance infiltrations; they could just directly assault cities and forts head-on.
With limited forces and no warships to provide immediate support, entering the interior of western and northern Chaozhou, they would face pursuit and interception by several times as many elite troops. How audacious could the Marquis of Qianyang be? Surely he wouldn’t fight battles this way?
Last year, His Majesty could raid Huaidong mainly because, during the harsh winter with frozen rivers and streams, the Daliang cavalry’s rapid mobile combat capabilities allowed quick advances and retreats, while Chu’s Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan in Huaidong had few cavalry available for pursuit and interception.
The Tangyi troops wanted to emulate His Majesty’s strategy but lacked the mobile combat power to absolutely suppress the Shouzhou elite cavalry—what gave them the ability to emulate?
Those officers whom Wen Bo relied upon were naturally not fools, nor did they blindly believe whatever Wen Bo said. First, they presented their own insights.
But Wen Bo didn’t waste time urgently explaining anything to his subordinate officers. He immediately dismounted, drafted a military order leaning against his saddle, and handed it to a cavalry messenger to rapidly deliver, requiring all defensive forts to mobilize their elite forces westward as quickly as possible according to his orders.
Regardless of the Tangyi troops’ actual intentions, since it had been confirmed that their actions on the eastern flank were merely feints, he should concentrate elite forces from each defensive fort as much as possible and shift them toward the western flank—this was being prepared for any contingency.
After dispatching over a dozen military orders, Wen Bo, together with Wen Ruilin, led the escort of over two hundred cavalry to rendezvous with two thousand elite infantry following behind from Chuzhou City. Without resting, they directly turned southwest.
Because Tangyi had built large forts on both flanks of Tingzi Mountain and Fucha Mountains, and maintained an elite force continuously active in the deep peaks of the southern section of Wujian Mountains in the north, the Shouzhou forces had no way to establish themselves in the open territory extending east to west about thirty li and north to south about twenty li in depth between the southwest foothills of Wujian Mountains and the upper Chu River.
Chuzhou’s westernmost defensive fort was built at the foot of Yanzi Mountain on the southeastern foothills extending from Wujian Mountains.
When Wen Bo led over two thousand infantry and cavalry non-stop to Yanzi Mountain, which extended only two li north to south and was merely twenty to thirty zhang high, the sky had already darkened.
Today should be the day of the grand wedding between Marquis of Qianyang Han Qian and the daughter of Yangzhou Magistrate Wang Wenqian. Calculating the time, they should be nearly ready for the ceremony and entering the bridal chamber, right?
Logically speaking, Han Qian shouldn’t make any major moves on his own wedding day, but when had Han Qian ever been someone who could be understood by common logic?
Near the beginning of the hai hour, a messenger dispatched by Chaozhou’s commanding general Xu Sizhao from Chaozhou City arrived at Yanzi Mountain, confirming that from yesterday evening until this afternoon, a total of seven contingents of Tangyi troops—each consisting of six to eight hundred men—had infiltrated through the two flanks of Fucha Mountains, namely the seventy to eighty li of open territory between the eastern shore of Chao Lake and the eastern foothills of Wujian Mountains, passing through the eastern Chao defense line. Additionally, two more contingents of Tangyi troops had been transported directly by warships to the northwest side of Chao Lake after yesterday’s nightfall, then landed and infiltrated past the eastern side of Chaozhou City.
These several contingents of Tangyi soldiers all rode military and warhorses, advancing extremely rapidly, pushing from southeast toward northwest. Chaozhou couldn’t hastily assemble enough cavalry and infantry to intercept them.
Of course, more importantly, they couldn’t discern the Tangyi troops’ intentions, nor were they even clear whether this was a major counteroffensive long planned by the Chu forces. Xu Sizhao and his officers dared not act rashly.
And around yesterday evening was precisely when the Tangyi forces from Puyang, Tingshan and other cities were most frequently and actively attacking. The passages from Chaozhou were blocked, and scout messengers couldn’t get through, so the Chaozhou side had no way to immediately transmit the latest intelligence reports to Chuzhou.
“The Tangyi troops divided into nine routes, bypassing the southern fortifications to infiltrate north into Chaozhou. The Chaozhou side likewise has no way to promptly transmit the latest news northward,” Wen Ruilin said, somewhat troubled while patting his forehead. “If commanders in the north still mistakenly believe this Tangyi troop movement is merely to raid one or two forts on the southern line, they may very likely be careless and negligent, giving the Tangyi troops an opportunity!”
“Just one or two places being careless and negligent, giving the Tangyi troops an opportunity, still wouldn’t matter much,” Wen Bo said with furrowed brows.
Under Shouzhou military control, Chaozhou and Shouzhou governed ten counties, while Huozhou and Guangzhou to the west had eleven more counties, with countless towns and garrison settlements under their jurisdiction.
Among so many forts, there would inevitably be careless negligence that advancing Tangyi troops could exploit, but as long as the Tangyi troops didn’t remain long, the damage they could cause would be quite limited.
Last year, the Liang forces caused such great destruction to Huaidong mainly because forty to fifty thousand cavalry crossed the Huai River and remained in the Yangchu hinterland for over two months.
That was his thinking, but Wen Bo still felt that Han Qian’s military operations wouldn’t be limited to just this.
“True. Nevertheless, we should send someone to inform Xu Sizhao to be careful—the Tangyi troops could at any moment execute a feint retreat attack. He should keep his subordinate forts secure, and particularly should have Zhao Mingting keep the naval base tightly defended,” Wen Ruilin said.
The Left Fleet Army’s naval base was built north of Chaozhou City.
Although it formed mutual support with Chaozhou City, because the water in the harbor docks had frozen solid and warships couldn’t move, it could easily become a target for Tangyi troop raids.
For the Tangyi troops, even if they couldn’t ultimately occupy the naval base, if during the raid a force could charge in and set fires, they could inflict severe losses.
“The Second Young Master thought the same and immediately strengthened defenses of the naval camp north of the city, but he specifically sent me to inform General Wen that the Tangyi troops might still withdraw into Wujian Mountains, then use internal passages through Wujian Mountains to reach the flank and rear of Chuzhou City to attack it,” the messenger dispatched by Xu Sizhao said.
“The Tangyi troops won’t come jumping to Chuzhou via Wujian Mountains—the timing is wrong.”
Wen Bo wasn’t familiar with Xu Sizhao. After all, before the Jinling incident, the Xu clan’s sons mainly assisted Xu Mingzhen in defending Shouzhou, while he served in the Imperial Guard. Hearing that Xu Sizhao had sent word warning him to be alert to the possibility of Tangyi troops’ feint retreat attacking toward Chuzhou City, he instinctively frowned and said thoughtfully:
“If they did that, even if we carelessly lost one or two forts, the Puyang and other rivers have just frozen over, so Tangyi’s naval warships can’t get through. We have sufficient time before spring to assemble twenty to thirty thousand elite troops and launch a large-scale battle. If Han Qian’s intention was merely to fight one battle with us within Chuzhou territory, why would he go to such trouble? Nor would he fantasize about destroying the heavily defended Left Fleet Army naval base. They’ll likely remain between Chao-Shou or between Chaozhou and Huozhou, relying on the Huaiyang Mountains to the west, continuously seeking poorly defended targets to raid. Xu Sizhao in Chaozhou shouldn’t passively defend the city—he should immediately assemble elite forces to pursue and engage them, delaying the Tangyi troops as much as possible so they cannot move freely between Huo and Shou, and when reinforcements from all routes converge, facilitate their annihilation…”
“The Tangyi troops moved out so quickly, their provisions must be limited, nor could they have carried heavy siege equipment and numerous war chariots around. Therefore, no matter how fast they are, they couldn’t gain much between Huo and Shou. Perhaps they’re hoping more that Xu Sizhao will actively lead troops to pursue and engage?” Wen Ruilin asked hesitantly.
The difficulty of forcibly assaulting forts was too great—luring the snake from its hole was a viable strategy.
Wen Ruilin felt that if he were Marquis of Qianyang Han Qian, with the surprise attack forces carrying limited supplies, luring the snake from its hole and fighting a quick annihilation battle would be the superior strategy.
“Marshal Xu’s speed in mobilizing elite cavalry between Huo and Shou won’t be slow. Marquis of Qianyang Han Qian shouldn’t take this risk, nor does he need to take this risk,” Wen Bo said. “As for heavy siege equipment and numerous war chariots, that is indeed a problem…”
During the harsh winter, with waterways frozen over and unable to utilize boat transport, not to mention disassembling catapults’ heavy components like long poles and pillars, even transporting crossbows and scorpion catapults weighing several hundred or thousand jin was difficult.
Within Chaozhou territory, the somewhat leveled arterial and post roads all had forts built at strategic points with garrison troops stationed.
Large quantities of supplies, heavy siege equipment and components—even transported along arterial and post roads by horse-drawn carts—couldn’t move quickly, let alone bypassing arterial and post roads through rugged wilderness fields.
And war chariots, no matter how light, were all heavier than ordinary carts. Dragging them with military horses across pitted fields would exhaust the horses to death—how fast could they go?
Without various war chariots and heavy siege equipment, the Tangyi troops entering between Huo and Shou would have their combat effectiveness reduced by at least half.
At this moment, Wen Bo couldn’t help wondering if he himself was being too suspicious.
Even so, besides ordering scouts to strengthen reconnaissance of the southeastern peak regions of Wujian Mountains and commanding the elite forces requisitioned from various forts to return to their defensive positions, Wen Bo didn’t immediately lead the over two thousand troops who had directly entered Yanzi Mountain back to Chuzhou City. He decided to temporarily rest at Yanzi Fort with Wen Ruilin for one or two days to observe the situation, waiting for further definite news before deciding on other matters.
Wen Bo kept busy until the early morning hours before sleeping in his clothes, but he felt he hadn’t slept long before suddenly awakening from his dream. After sitting at the edge of his bed for a while, in the cold early morning, he felt his back soaked with sweat. Somewhat alarmed, he sent attendants to summon Wen Ruilin, his officers, and the messenger sent by Xu Sizhao.
Wen Ruilin arrived earlier than he expected, also with a grave expression.
Seeing this, Wen Bo’s heart sank even more. He asked, “Did Scholar Wen also think of it?”
“The Tangyi troops’ surprise raid into the Huo-Shou hinterland couldn’t possibly involve immediately assaulting cities and forts all the way, so the post and arterial roads wouldn’t be passable. But with waterways frozen, their supply trains and war chariots could travel on the ice surface, rapidly advancing west and north! The Tangyi troops’ multi-route coordinated strike—the convergence point must be a target along the South Fei River or North Ye River!” Wen Ruilin said with panicked dismay, as if things had taken a bad turn. “Otherwise, there would be no reason for two contingents of Tangyi troops to superfluously travel by boat to the northwest side of Chao Lake, landing near the mouths of South Fei River and North Ye River to infiltrate northwest…”
Only now did they realize where the problem lay, and at this point, a day and night had already passed since the Tangyi surprise attack forces had circled around to Chaozhou’s rear.
“Yongfeng Fort!” Wen Bo spread out a map, extending his hand to point at a spot between the South Fei River and North Fei River.
Both the South Fei River and North Fei River originated from the northeast foothills of Huaiyang Mountains, at Jiangjun Ridge where Huo, Chao, and Shou prefectures converged.
The South Fei River emerged from the eastern mountains of Jiangjun Ridge, flowing southeast, and five or six li from Chaozhou City, it flowed into Chao Lake via the northwest shore. The North Fei River emerged from the northern side of Jiangjun Ridge, flowing north for two hundred li, entering the Huai River from west of Shouzhou City.
The South and North Fei Rivers didn’t directly connect, but previously, to strengthen communications in the central region between the Yangtze and Huai, a canal with locks about twenty li long had been excavated on the eastern side of Jiangjun Ridge, linking the two rivers, with an arterial road built along the canal.
Yongfeng Fort was a market town located at the confluence of the canal and the South Fei River—a vital transportation hub on water and land routes from Chaozhou to Huozhou and from Huaiyang Mountains to Shouzhou.
Yongfeng Fort’s position was crucial and was defended by Shouzhou forces’ core elite troops, but its protective walls were too thin.
If the infiltrating Tangyi troops hadn’t carried heavy siege equipment and various war chariots, even with only several hundred defenders, Yongfeng Fort could hold out until reinforcements converged without much problem. But now, that was hard to say.
Wen Ruilin thought of another problem: if the Tangyi troops used Anfeng Fort as bait, while the Shouzhou forces from the north and west hadn’t realized that the infiltrating Tangyi troops might use the frozen river surfaces to rapidly transport siege equipment and war chariots, and hastily reinforced, would they suffer a devastating blow?
“Immediately assemble all cavalry escorts—prepare to follow me to Chaozhou!” Wen Bo decisively commanded.
From Yanzi Mountain west to the northern foothills of Fucha Mountains was all territory controlled by Tangyi troops. Scattered scouts and messengers could easily be intercepted and might not be able to promptly deliver news to Chaozhou.
The best method was for him to personally lead two hundred elite cavalry and fight his way through.
To confirm whether their speculation was correct was also simple—hundreds and thousands of vehicles crossing the ice surface would inevitably leave traces on the ice.