In the early morning of the eleventh, the defending general of Yongfeng Fort was killed by valiant Tangyi troops who burst through the breaches into the fort. The military and civilians within immediately chose to surrender. The Tangyi forces had departed Fucha Mountains on the seventh to infiltrate northward—the first large-scale battle between Chaozhou and Huozhou thus temporarily concluded.
In this battle, even including those with light injuries, Tangyi casualties totaled less than a hundred men. But the Shouzhou forces left over fifteen hundred corpses abandoned on the battlefield.
Additionally, nearly four hundred remnant soldiers from Yongfeng Fort surrendered. The Tangyi forces simultaneously took charge of nearly twenty thousand civilians who had fled into Yongfeng Fort in panic before the battle to escape the warfare—Han Qian and his forces had never anticipated capturing so many military and civilians. Nearly twenty thousand people equaled the population of a prosperous prefectural capital.
After dawn on the eleventh, the weather turned overcast. Cold winds howled, and by afternoon, goose-feather snowflakes began falling continuously without cease for days, blocking mountains and rivers.
Wen Ruilin, accompanying over four thousand cavalry and infantry reinforcements from Chaozhou, didn’t arrive until noon on the seventeenth, struggling through deep snow with difficulty to rendezvous with Xu Mingzhen.
Besides the remnant troops surviving from the first wave, plus the over four thousand troops rushing from Chaozhou and three thousand cavalry and infantry urgently transferred from western Huozhou for reinforcement, Xu Mingzhen now had over ten thousand troops available near Gaocheng.
However, the heavy snow impeded post road transport.
Never mind large siege equipment like whirlwind catapults—even transporting the cold-weather clothing soldiers needed, various tools for camp construction, soldier rations, and horse fodder was quite difficult. Particularly for the eight to nine thousand military and warhorses, the bean and hay fodder consumption was eight to nine times that of over ten thousand soldiers, making requisition and transport even more inconvenient.
Gaocheng’s status was far inferior even to Yongfeng Fort. The city had only five to six hundred households, and the supplies that could be requisitioned from the city fell far short of Yongfeng Fort. The consumption of over ten thousand men and horses all needed to be requisitioned from other prefectures and counties.
The Shouzhou forces could temporarily only use Gaocheng as their core, stationing troops in several forts east of Gaocheng and west of Yongfeng Fort, not daring to easily advance to attack and recapture Yongfeng Fort.
Of course, also unexpectedly, after the Tangyi forces captured Yongfeng Fort, contrary to their expectations, they didn’t urgently destroy the Yongfeng Canal entrance’s dam locks, making the Shouzhou officials realize the situation wasn’t as they had initially predicted.
The camp where Chaozhou reinforcements were stationed was located northeast of Gaocheng, originally a post station called Shiliulipu, exactly sixteen li from Yongfeng Fort—hence the name.
The post station wasn’t large, with only twenty-some rooms in its courtyard and a dozen soldiers garrisoned. But adjacent to it was a village fort called Xujiaji Fort, the clan residence of the wealthy Xu family from eastern Huo. Buildings connected in rows, with tall fort walls built around the perimeter, constructed in a strategically advantageous valley—even easier to defend and harder to attack than Yongfeng Fort.
When Tangyi forces attacked, besides the dozen soldiers at the post station, the Xu clan had also organized over two hundred local militia to defend the fort, preventing it from falling into Tangyi hands.
The camp was slightly modified based on Shiliulipu Post Station and Xujiaji Fort.
From Chaozhou, it was less than two hundred li, but marching with difficulty through heavy snow weather, the over four thousand cavalry and infantry entering the camp were already exhausted with men and horses overturned.
In such cold weather, being on guard duty in camp versus marching day and night through snow were like heaven and earth.
With insufficient cold-weather clothing, along the route not only were countless men frostbitten, but dozens of soldiers even froze to death while camping in the open. Truthfully, even if this side had abundant supplies, these troops would need several days’ rest to recover any combat capability.
After brief reorganization here, Wen Ruilin went with Xu Jin, commanding general of the Chaozhou reinforcements, to Jiming Ridge to pay respects to the Shouzhou forces’ commander-in-chief—Duke of Huo, Military Governor of Shouzhou Xu Mingzhen—who was currently inspecting enemy positions there.
Xu Jin was the son of a Huaiyang Mountain bandit. Captured by Shouzhou forces in his youth, he was pressed into service as a soldier. Fierce and skilled in battle, he repeatedly achieved military merit. Later adopted as a son by Xu Mingzhen, he thus became one of the main commanders of the Shouzhou forces.
Jiming Ridge was located between Yongfeng Fort and Gaocheng. Its main peak was only over twenty zhang high, but extended over ten li north to south. It now served as the location of the Shouzhou forces’ forward camp for advancing on Yongfeng Fort from the west.
Wen Ruilin led his horse up the slippery path. Together with Xu Jin, surrounded by many guards, they climbed the snowy mountain with deep and shallow steps. Along the route, they could still see quite a few corpses of Shouzhou soldiers on both sides of the mountain path buried under snow, not yet collected for burial—hard to imagine how miserably Xu Mingzhen had been beaten by Tangyi forces several days ago when completely unprepared.
Entering the forward camp near the main peak, they saw Xu Mingzhen from afar standing atop a dark brown boulder, gazing toward Yongfeng Fort ten li away, with fine snow particles still drifting down from the firmament.
Xu Mingzhen had just passed fifty years of age, yet his temples were already frost-white, his face gaunt and cold as the mountain rock beneath his feet.
“Foster Father, Duke of Huo…” Wen Ruilin followed Xu Jin forward to pay respects, but Xu Mingzhen didn’t turn around for a long time. Wen Ruilin didn’t know what words would be appropriate.
The Shouzhou forces had suffered great losses before Yongfeng Fort several days ago, only able to sit and watch as Yongfeng Fort fell into enemy hands. It seemed everything stemmed from Xu Mingzhen’s failure to clearly assess the enemy and hasty response to battle, but the more critical reason was that his son Xu Sizhao had been too hesitant in Chaozhou.
Xu Sizhao and the generals defending Chao, worried about falling into the enemy’s trap of luring the snake from its hole, remained inactive in Chaozhou with thirty thousand elite troops even as Tangyi forces infiltrated to Yongfeng Fort.
Otherwise, if Chaozhou had just dispatched three to four thousand elite cavalry to pursue and engage, even without seeing through the Tangyi forces’ deceptive strategy, they could have greatly slowed the Tangyi forces’ march speed, thereby gaining sufficient time for reinforcements to enter Yongfeng Fort in time.
Different commanding generals, different styles.
If Xu Mingzhen had continued using Wen Bo to defend Chaozhou, the earlier situation wouldn’t have been so unfavorable and passive for Shouzhou.
Unfortunately, using Wen Bo to defend Chuzhou rather than Chaozhou—Wen Ruilin could see that Xu Mingzhen harbored selfish motives.
Chaozhou’s importance to all of Huaixi was far greater than Chuzhou.
Besides the terrain making Chuzhou more susceptible to attacks from Jinling and Huaidong forces, within Chuzhou territory only a few empty cities remained. Households had all been driven by Han Qian south of the Chu River, vast fields lay barren and unfarmed, and temporarily it was impossible to relocate households there.
Chaozhou was different.
Even if both shores of Chao Lake had become war zones without many households, north of Chaozhou, the vast territories extending west along the South Fei River and north along the North Ye River were all hinterland controlled by Shouzhou forces, with over two hundred thousand people dwelling and multiplying in these places.
In the current situation, Wen Ruilin naturally wouldn’t poke at Xu Mingzhen’s sore spot. His Majesty must also have seen through Xu Mingzhen’s little scheme, so he wouldn’t think now about pointing out Xu Sizhao’s responsibility for delaying the opportune moment. The key was still how to fight subsequent battles.
After another long while, Xu Mingzhen slowly turned around, looking at Wen Ruilin and asking: “Scholar Wen, what do you think this scoundrel Han Qian personally leading forces to capture Yongfeng Fort ultimately intends to do?”
Besides news from internal sources when Wen Ruilin departed with Xu Jin leading Chaozhou reinforcements already confirming that neither Han Qian nor the daughter of Wang Wenqian had appeared at the grand wedding held in Liyang, Han Qian had now raised his banners at Yongfeng Fort as Campaign Headquarters Commander-General of Tangyi, Marquis of Qianyang, and Vice Minister of War.
As one of the few officials dispatched by Bianjing to serve in Huaixi, Wen Ruilin held low rank but quite special status. Xu Mingzhen, as Duke of Huo and Military Governor of Shouzhou, addressed Wen Ruilin as “Scholar” upon seeing him.
Wen Ruilin cupped his hands, speaking of the latest information he’d learned along the route and opinions exchanged several times with Wen Bo by fast horse:
“Han Qian occupies Yongfeng Fort, then dispatched large numbers of scouts to enter Huaiyang Mountains via the South Fei River valley. On the night of the twelfth, Kong Xirong’s main forces also emerged from Wujian Mountains, braving heavy snow to enter Yongfeng Fort and rendezvous with Han Qian. In the short term, the Tangyi forces, lacking in troop strength, should be abandoning Wujian Mountains which they’d managed for nearly a year, not even considering the possibility of retreating to Wujian Mountains should battle here go unfavorably. This shows they have deep designs on Huaiyang Mountains…”
“…” Xu Mingzhen exhaled a long breath. They initially couldn’t determine Han Qian’s intentions, but four or five days had passed, and watching helplessly as Tangyi forces continuously entered Huaiyang Mountains along the South Fei River valley, if he still couldn’t guess, he would be too stupid.
Moreover, these past days they’d been in Gaocheng, merely a stone’s throw from Yongfeng Fort, watching as Tangyi forces over these days had sent the nearly twenty thousand surrendered military and civilians from Yongfeng Fort in batches to Shenjiaji thirty li southwest.
That was the valley pass where the South Fei River emerged from Wujin Ridge, the outer main mountain of Huaiyang Mountains’ northwestern slopes.
Although the terrain there couldn’t be called particularly treacherous, several thousand able-bodied men had already been conscripted and, under supervision of over a thousand Tangyi elite troops, were braving snow to construct palisade walls and other defensive works in the valley.
“When Yang Yuanpu and Yang Yuanyan plotted rebellion, Han Qian held Maoshan at Lishui to strengthen the Chishan Army, once claiming to use mountains as cities. Is he this time repeating the Maoshan affair in Huaiyang Mountains?” A middle-aged scholar standing beside Xu Mingzhen looked toward Wen Ruilin and asked.
Wen Ruilin recognized this person as Xu Yin, Chief Clerk of the Shouzhou Military Governor’s office, also the family head of the Xu clan of Xujiaji Fort where Chaozhou reinforcements were stationed. The Xu clan was a local powerful family of Huaixi.
Xu Yin had once served as Director in the Bureau of Military Affairs, gaining important position after crossing the river northward with Anning Palace.
After Niu Gengru, Wen Muqiao and others followed Empress Dowager Xu relocating to Bianjing, Xu Yin could be said to be one of the most important advisors remaining at Xu Mingzhen’s side.
Clearly, he also hadn’t initially guessed the fundamental intent behind the Tangyi forces launching this surprise attack.
Speaking of using mountains as cities, Wen Ruilin had initially worried that Han Qian would focus on managing Wujian Mountains, then using Wujian Mountains as a base to continuously raid and assault the hinterlands of Chao and Hao prefectures, exhausting and striking at the Shouzhou forces’ strength.
Therefore, he had also strongly advocated that Shouzhou forces build garrison forts on a large scale west and north of Wujian Mountains.
However, during Kong Xirong’s troops’ stationing in Wujian Mountains, although they continuously emerged from Wujian Mountains, Han Qian had continuously relocated the over ten thousand mountain dwellers in Wujian Mountains to settle in Liyang, Tingshan, Wushou and other places.
Thinking about it now, although Wujian Mountains seemingly extended nearly two hundred li north to south, between the southern and northern sections was the fault zone of Mopan Valley, currently cut off by their superior forces.
Taking just the southern section, Wujian Mountains’ peaks extended a hundred li from southwest to northeast, but the east-west depth was only thirty li, with main peaks merely over forty zhang high. Among the peaks were too many passages for entering and exiting Wujian Mountains.
They were only waiting for the outer garrison fort defensive system to complete before dispatching small forces in batches into the mountains for elimination operations.
This was different from Maoshan at that time.
In the early Jinling Incident period, Anning Palace confronted Chuzhou forces, momentarily unable to look south, giving Han Qian opportunity to catch his breath in the even smaller Maoshan mountain mass.
However, after the Chishan Army achieved some scale, Han Qian still quickly led the Chishan Army to transfer south, advancing to take root in Anji, Guangde and other counties between Jieling Mountains and Fuyu Mountains.
This was mainly because Maoshan was also too small.
Huaiyang Mountains were completely different.
Not counting Tongbai Mountains at the borders of Guang and Deng prefectures, from Jiuli Pass belonging to Lishan County eastward, Huaiyang Mountains extended over five hundred li, with mountain terrain far more treacherous than Wujian Mountains could compare.
And just entering the mountains via the South Fei River valley, penetrating over a hundred li to reach Baima Peak—the main peak of Huaiyang Mountains’ eastern section rising over five to six hundred zhang—was the boundary between Huaixi’s Huozhou and Jingxiang’s Suizhou.
Even more critically, within the southern section of Wujian Mountains, mountain dwellers and fugitive households dwelling or fleeing warfare to migrate there numbered only over ten thousand. But in the foothills of Huaiyang Mountains’ northwestern slopes, over the past hundred years, who knew how many households had fled warfare to enter and bear children and take root.
These mountain farmer households, occupying the valleys and hills in the mountains, had built hundreds of village forts large and small, with agriculture already reaching a certain scale.
The Shouzhou forces had weak control over mountain village forts, but during past summer-autumn grain collection, every year they could more or less collect over ten thousand shi of grain and twenty to thirty thousand bolts of cloth.
Easily defended and difficult to attack terrain, tens of thousands of mountain farmer fugitive households, plus relatively mature production of grain and other material supplies—all these would provide necessary conditions for Tangyi forces to take root in Huaiyang Mountains’ northwestern slopes and implement a strategy of using mountains as cities.
However, all this was too painful for the Shouzhou forces.
The heartland territories of western Chao, eastern Huo, and southern Shou would be completely exposed to this Tangyi force’s spearhead.
If they established a defensive belt around Huaiyang Mountains’ northwestern slopes, never mind how many additional troops to deploy—just the agricultural losses within this defensive belt would amount to how much?