East and south of Xingyang City, apart from Mi County situated on the slopes of Mount Song’s eastern foothills, including half of Xinzheng County southeast of Mi County and Xinzheng City itself, had all become flooded disaster zones with overwhelming waters.

Two years ago, when the great Yu River floods came surging down, Liang forces were also forced to abandon Xinzheng City, which had three to four feet of standing water.

Currently, Great Liang’s forces closest to Xingyang City had all withdrawn to Niujianling south of the flood zone to establish camps, approximately one hundred thirty li from Xingyang City and less than ninety li from Mi County in southern Xingyang.

The river ice was about to thaw. When that happened, the flood zone would restrict their ability to conduct military operations against Xingyang and Mi County from the southern front. Yet the freezing period in the He-Huai region south of the Yu River lasted only slightly over two months—far too short to allow them to capture fortified positions around Xingyang like Mi County, then leisurely organize thousands of troops and tens of thousands of supply materials to mass beneath Xingyang City for a siege.

Choosing to organize forces to attack Xingyang City during the freezing period meant that even if Luoyang’s two naval brigades could develop sufficient scale and enter actual combat before this autumn, they would have no way to prevent enemy reinforcements from Mengzhou and Bianling from reaching Xingyang after the Yu River and southern flood zone and Jialu River froze over.

To use the Yu River and flood zone to block enemy reinforcements, they could only capture Xingyang before the freezing period.

This required solving two problems: first, Luoyang’s navy needed to develop sufficient combat strength to address the issue of Yuzhou enemy forces crossing the Yu River from the Hulao Pass direction to reinforce Xingyang. Second, they in Xuzhou needed to solve the problem of how large forces could pass through the flood zone northward to attack Mi County and Xingyang.

Although the flood zone was currently frozen solid enough for horses to gallop freely, in another ten days or two weeks, as the weather warmed, the ice layer would thin day by day. Over the past two years, large quantities of Yu River water carrying heavy sediment had poured into the southern Xingyang region and accumulated, transforming vast areas including Xinzheng City into great lakes and marshes.

On the western side of the flood zone, particularly west of Xinzheng County, lay the rugged peaks and ridges of Mount Song’s eastern foothills—precipitous cliffs where even apes and birds could barely cross.

Even between the submerged flood zone and the rugged peaks, they could still find several passages from Niujianling to enter western Xinzheng and southern Mi County territory. However, the Eastern Liang Army had constructed multiple sturdy fortresses in southern Mi County and needed only small forces to block their deployment routes.

“Clop clop clop…”

Zhao Wuji turned to look, seeing in the distance a cavalry unit galloping from the northern hills toward Dingjun Camp headquarters.

“Perhaps General Li has returned?” He Liufeng said hesitantly.

The flood zone was heavily influenced by the Yu River’s flood season. Moreover, as the low-lying areas where water drained eastward from Xingyang into the Jialu River became increasingly silted with sediment, the flood zone would undergo unpredictable changes.

Therefore, after receiving Han Qian’s secret letter, Zhao Wuji as commander-in-chief could not leave the main camp at will. Li Xiu had volunteered to personally lead a contingent to penetrate Xingyang territory for further terrain reconnaissance.

Zhao Wuji wasn’t certain whether it was Li Xiu returning, but with only a few days remaining before the river ice melted, he had to make a decision within the next couple of days.

With a sweep of his cloak, he galloped toward Dingjun Camp headquarters with He Liufeng, surrounded by their guard escort. To shelter Xuzhou territory from enemy raids as much as possible, after arriving in Xuzhou, Zhao Wuji had not established his headquarters within Xuzhou City itself. Instead, he found a ruined stronghold at Dingjun Mountain—on the slope at the edge of the flood zone along the middle reaches of the Ying River’s west bank, over twenty li northeast of the ruined city of Changge in northern Xuzhou—and set up his main camp there, freeing up interior fortified cities as much as possible for civilians to take refuge from enemy incursions.

At the gate of Dingjun Camp headquarters, they encountered the cavalry unit that had returned from the northern hills—it was indeed Li Xiu bringing back the troops who had gone to reconnaissance the terrain in Xingyang territory.

Zhao Wuji entered the main tent with Li Xiu and He Liufeng, then sent someone to summon Cao Ba, Zhao Ci, Feng Zhang, and other generals to discuss matters.

The main tent, built from felled timber, appeared dim in the early spring twilight even with lamps and candles lit.

Li Xiu first presented their reconnaissance findings, making some adjustments to the previously drawn map of Xingyang and supplementing it with more specific details of the Xingyang garrison’s deployment, as well as defensive equipment and measures visible at Xingyang City and its surrounding fortifications.

As sediment accumulation along the west bank of the Jialu River had become quite serious in just two short years, the several northward passages they had scouted had become even narrower. When this year’s flood season arrived, these passages might even be submerged by rising floodwaters.

“There’s nothing to hesitate about. Although Chenqiao Stronghold has two thousand garrison troops, as long as we can deploy forces now to blockade the passages between Xingyang, Mi County and Chenqiao Stronghold, if I can’t capture Chenqiao Stronghold within three days, I’ll give you my head to use as a chamber pot!”

Cao Ba, disregarding the fact that he was a cavalry general, immediately volunteered for the task of attacking Chenqiao Stronghold, slapping his chest as he spoke.

“After capturing Chenqiao Stronghold, we can subsequently widen the road between Niujianling and Chenqiao Stronghold. Then whenever His Majesty decides to attack Xingyang, we can pass through the slopes of Mount Song’s northeastern foothills and strike at Mi County and beneath Xingyang City. If we can’t capture Chenqiao Stronghold and still want to organize forces to forcibly attack Xingyang before year’s end, I think we’ll mostly be drawing water with a bamboo basket—coming up empty. We might not even be able to capture Mi County, and anyway our side won’t be able to apply much force.”

Chenqiao Stronghold was a village west of Xinzheng City at the foot of Mount Song, a pottery production site in Xingzhou territory whose reputation had gradually grown since the mid-period of the previous dynasty.

The pottery merchants of Chenqiao Stronghold extracted clay from nearby mountains and fired kilns, accumulating vast family fortunes. They spared no expense in building houses and strongholds occupying the valleys and slopes of Mount Song’s western foothills, constructing them both magnificently and solidly. In later periods, to guard against bandits, they even added thick fortification walls.

Unfortunately, during the dozen years of bloodshed in the Central Plains at the end of the previous dynasty, the original masters and villagers of Chenqiao Stronghold had long since scattered to who knows where, leaving only a ruined stronghold.

After Xinzheng City was flooded, Liang Shixiong divided his forces to garrison Chenqiao Stronghold, expending considerable effort to rebuild it south of Mi County’s administrative city as a military fortress that, together with Mi County, formed the core of the enemy army’s southern Xingyang flank defense.

After the freezing period passed, Xinzheng and Xingyang territory would all be flooded marshland. The several passages from northern Xuzhou close to Mount Song’s western foothills entering Xingyang territory almost all had to pass through Chenqiao Stronghold, then advance from the slopes of Mount Song’s northeastern foothills toward the higher elevations of Mi County and beneath Xingyang City.

Undeniably, if they were to deploy forces northward, Chenqiao Stronghold was a strategic chokepoint they must take. After all, the annual freezing period was too short. If they wanted to advance northward, most of the time they couldn’t bypass Chenqiao Stronghold. As long as they captured Chenqiao Stronghold, whenever they subsequently attacked Mi County and Xingyang, they would not be affected by the eastern flood zone.

If they were to strike, it had to be early.

If they waited until the river ice thawed, they could only attack Chenqiao Stronghold from the front.

At that point, the frontal attack area would be narrow, making it difficult to deploy forces. Moreover, Xingyang and Mi County could dispatch reinforcements to Chenqiao Stronghold in less than half a day, while they would have no ability to circle around to the northern valleys of eastern Mount Song to intercept.

However, if they forcibly captured Chenqiao Stronghold before the streams and rivers thawed, they might have less than ten days remaining. They would also need to divide forces to intercept Liang Shixiong’s reinforcements from Xingyang to Chenqiao Stronghold. The difficulty of this operation was truly extraordinary.

Feng Zhang said somewhat hesitantly: “Should we send someone to Luoyang to request instructions from His Majesty?”

Even if their initial objective was merely Chenqiao Stronghold, considering they must divide forces to intercept superior enemy reinforcements while ensuring they captured Chenqiao Stronghold before the river ice began melting, they were destined to commit all the main elite forces of the entire Xuzhou Field Army to the battlefield.

Military operations on such a scale clearly exceeded Luoyang’s requirements for them before the new year.

“The river ice will thaw in just a few days. If we’re going to fight, let’s fight. Sending someone to Luoyang for instructions now would delay at least three or four days en route. By the time His Majesty issues an edict, I think the day lilies will be completely cold,” Cao Ba, dissatisfied with Feng Zhang’s hesitation, said. “We deploy forces directly. As long as Chen Kun, Shen Peng and others deploy from Hulao Pass to coordinate, that’s sufficient.”

Although Li Xiu dared to personally risk penetrating Xingyang, as deputy commander-in-chief, he did not directly state his position at this moment.

Zhao Wuji clenched his fist, exhaled lightly, and placed it on the long desk, saying:

“The enemy army cannot anticipate that His Majesty plans to recover Xingyang this year, so they cannot estimate how determined we are to attack Chenqiao Stronghold. This will directly influence their determination and strength in reinforcing Chenqiao Stronghold. This is the greatest advantage of attacking Chenqiao Stronghold at this time. Li Xiu, you and Cao Ba lead two cavalry brigades to penetrate north of Chenqiao Stronghold, delay and intercept enemy reinforcements from Xingyang. I will personally go beneath Chenqiao Stronghold with He Liufeng. Feng Zhang and Zhao Ci will each lead one infantry brigade and one cavalry brigade to guard the flanks in the Changge and Xinzheng areas…”

Zhao Wuji also deeply felt they could not waste the crucial three or four days on requesting instructions. Since Feng Zhang had doubts, he would use He Liufeng’s forces as the main attack force against Chenqiao Stronghold, but would concentrate the limited dozens of spring-powered bed crossbows, scorpion catapults, and other sophisticated war machines under He Liufeng’s command.

Although Han Qian encouraged lower-ranking military officers and generals to express differing opinions without restraint, whether to fight this battle, whether it was worth fighting, and how to fight it—the final decision rested with the commander-in-chief.

…

…

No one in this era could accurately predict weather changes. The Eastern Liang Army’s forces raiding west of the Ying River could not possibly wait until the river ice actually began melting before withdrawing.

Xuzhou Army’s interception and counter-raid operations were exceptionally resolute, with fearsome and extremely sophisticated field military equipment. Based on years of experience, the Eastern Liang Army’s raiding forces withdrew ten days to two weeks early to be more unhurried.

As the Eastern Liang Army’s raiding forces withdrew to the region east of the Ying River, the Xingyang garrison naturally assumed that this year’s two months of continuous raiding and counter-raiding warfare along both banks of the Ying River should also temporarily conclude.

Even when dozens or over a hundred Liang cavalry in groups crossed the still-unfrozen river ice like swarms of locusts, large and small, penetrating from the south and boldly, almost provocatively approaching the outskirts of Xingyang and Mi County, wandering between the valleys, fortifications, and strongholds in southern Xingyang and Mount Song’s eastern foothills, in the eyes of the Xingyang garrison, these were merely some retaliatory and provocative actions the Liang Army was taking in the final days—perhaps less than ten—before this year’s river ice thawed, after seeing the serious casualties and losses from the raids on Chen and Xu regions.

Liang Shixiong issued strict orders to the Xingyang, Mi County, and various fortress garrisons to defend their positions carefully and strictly forbid leaving the fortifications for reckless engagements.

With such a mindset, to avoid unnecessary losses, the garrison even withdrew scouts and patrols back into the fortifications.

This matched Zhao Wuji’s expectations. The most direct benefit was that Cao Ba led groups of cavalry to penetrate and completely blockade the communication routes between Chenqiao Stronghold and Mi County and Xingyang.

Even when He Liufeng led five thousand elite infantry, dragging numerous light war machines forward to the stockade walls of Chenqiao Stronghold, Mi County—less than thirty li from Chenqiao Stronghold—remained completely unaware.

The personnel Chenqiao Stronghold sent out to request aid were all intercepted.

The forests in the valleys and slopes of Mount Song’s western foothills, though depleted and sparse from human logging, still had abundant weeds and shrubs. Everywhere Cao Ba sent people to set fires, with plumes of black smoke rising up, also disrupting the rescue beacon fire signals lit within Chenqiao Stronghold.

…

…

It wasn’t until the third day of He Liufeng’s forces formally attacking Chenqiao Stronghold, when thrown fire oil jars ignited large numbers of buildings within Chenqiao Stronghold, burning the southwestern half of the sky red after nightfall and reflecting against the stars and moon, that Mi County’s garrison commander Zhu Wei realized something serious had gone wrong. He dispatched a cavalry unit to break through the encirclement and rush to Xingyang to report to Liang Shixiong.

Even if Liang Shixiong still didn’t realize Han Qian’s determination to recover Xingyang this year, merely to ensure the Xingyang garrison had sufficient operational space on Mount Song’s eastern foothills and to suppress Xuzhou forces south of Mi County, preventing them from establishing direct contact with Hulao Pass garrison forces through the valleys of Mount Song’s northeastern foothills west of Mi County and Xingyang City, he could not sit by and watch Chenqiao Stronghold fall.

Besides sending people to Wuzhi, Bianling, and Mengzhou for reinforcements, Liang Shixiong also opened the city gates and ordered his general and clan nephew Liang Xing to lead forces to Mi County to provide close support to Chenqiao Stronghold.

Li Xiu and Cao Ba led two cavalry brigades, while Shen Peng led five thousand infantry and cavalry from Hulao Pass. At this moment, with lightning speed, they inserted from both flanks into the valleys of Mount Song’s northeastern foothills between Xingyang and Mi County. After fierce fighting for a day, killing and wounding over five thousand Eastern Liang troops, they forced Liang Xing to withdraw his remnant forces back to Xingyang City to reorganize. Mi County was closer to Chenqiao Stronghold, but its limited garrison made it even harder to reinforce Chenqiao Stronghold.

When Mengzhou Vice Commander Xiao Siqing led five thousand Mongol cavalry across the Yu River southward to reinforce, Li Xiu, Cao Ba, and Shen Peng led their forces to engage with them based in Mount Song’s northeastern foothills. Only after three days when He Liufeng’s forces completely captured Chenqiao Stronghold, having successfully completed their blocking mission, did they disengage from the enemy forces and withdraw southward.

Since the focus of subsequent operations was to capture Mi County, Xingyang’s southern bulwark, from the southern front, after learning of Zhao Wuji and Li Xiu’s operational plan, Han Qian issued an edict transferring Shen Peng’s forces to the Xuzhou Field Army order of battle, temporarily under Zhao Wuji’s command, to organize even more powerful elite forces from the southern front to attack Mi County.

…

…

By the time Xiao Yiqing rushed from Taiyuan to Xingyang after learning of Chenqiao Stronghold’s fall, it was already mid-February.

At this time, the ice layer on the upper Yu River had begun melting. The annual ice flood was eroding the low, broad lands along both banks. Although the flood zone east and south of Xingyang was still covered with river ice, it was now only a thin layer. In many places, the bottom had already been broken through by surging floodwaters. Everywhere one looked was devastation.

That Xiao Yiqing rushed over so urgently naturally meant he guessed that the Liang Army’s capture of Chenqiao Stronghold regardless of casualties was definitely not merely about the gain or loss of a ruined stronghold.

When Li Xiu, Cao Ba, and Shen Peng led forces to fight between Mi County and Xingyang, although they killed and wounded six to seven thousand of their men, this was mainly because the Xingyang garrison initially lacked preparation. When Liang Xing led forces southward to reinforce, he encountered ambush forces striking from both flanks and lost nearly five thousand troops in a single battle.

Subsequent skirmishing mainly occurred between Xingyang City and Mi County. The Eastern Liang Army held the advantage of favorable terrain, and with Xiao Siqing also leading elite cavalry reinforcements, they made the Liang Army suffer considerably, with approximately over two thousand elite soldiers perishing on the battlefield and even more excellent warhorses lost.

In Xiao Yiqing’s view, if the Liang Army’s purpose was merely to capture Chenqiao Stronghold with no subsequent plans, the follow-up skirmishing was completely unnecessary.

Liang Shixiong, as a veteran general who had followed Zhu Wen in establishing the He-Huai base, now also realized the Liang Army might forcibly attack Xingyang this year. Furrowing his frost-white long eyebrows, he sat opposite Xiao Yiqing at the table.

Xiao Yiqing was also quite speechless.

The Liang-Chu peace agreement meant Han Qian could transfer more elite forces from the southern front to fill western Ying and Heluo regions. The various subordinate armies and Eastern Liang Army, after years of fierce warfare, desperately needed reorganization. This was why he had strongly recommended that this autumn and even the next year or two should not be rushed into renewed warfare, focusing instead on consolidating defense lines and recovering strength.

For this reason, Wusu Dashi had even agreed with his position and sent thousands of craftsmen back to Bianling. He had also suggested that Zhu Rang construct an embankment road through the flood zone east of Xingyang and west of Wuzhi.

That is, learning from how the Liang Army had previously built embankment roads on both sides of the Ying River through the shallow silted areas where ships couldn’t pass—although such embankments would need to withstand the impact of Yu River floodwaters from the side, making construction quite difficult, it was extremely necessary to ensure contact between Xingyang and Bianling would not be cut off by the flood zone.

He hadn’t expected that Zhu Rang and Liang Shixiong, daunted by the difficulty, had not begun constructing such an embankment. Instead, last winter they focused their main efforts on raiding the western Ying region.

Xiao Yiqing had realized last winter that the Eastern Liang Army’s raids on the western Ying region at that time could not produce substantive results. But with Zhu Rang proclaiming himself emperor in Bianling, even while submitting to Mongol vassalage and tribute, not only he but even Wusu Dashi should not excessively interfere in the Eastern Liang Army’s military and administrative affairs.

Of course, he also hadn’t expected that in less than a year, Han Qian would stabilize the Heluo situation and even begin transitioning from defense to offense.

Now the Heluo situation was truly giving him a headache.

Although Luoyang still couldn’t build large vessels over two thousand shi, they already had over two hundred medium and small warships like mengchong vessels and chima boats, with two naval brigades basically completing their organization and training.

Even if Luoyang’s navy might not yet have the strength to strike into the Yu River, Mengzhou’s naval vessels wanting to enter the Yi-Luo River now would likely face resolute interception.

From Han Qian beginning to have people directly construct defensive fortifications at the Yi-Luo River confluence and even on the riverbanks, one could see Han Qian’s determination to no longer allow them to set foot on the lands along both Yi-Luo River banks.

Additionally, over ten thousand Liang Army elite had penetrated Mount Li and Mount Wangwu to establish solid strongholds. Since Mount Li and Mount Wangwu faced Mount Mang and Hulao Pass—where Liang forces heavily garrisoned—across the river, mutual reinforcement was convenient. Zhao Mengji and Tian Weiye’s forces, not adept at mountain warfare, would be unable to capture these strongholds and expel the Liang Army from Mount Li and Mount Wangwu in the short term.

In response, Tian Weiye and Zhao Mengji had chosen to construct defensive fortifications using natural ravines in northern Mount Li and eastern Mount Wangwu. They could still contain the Liang Army elite and prevent their incursions into the Puzhou and Mengzhou heartlands. But the current problem was: Xingyang, isolated south of the Yu River and west of the Jialu River flood zone, with only Mi County providing mutual support—how could it hold out?

Xiao Yiqing’s head ached immensely.

Having Zhu Rang transfer too many garrison troops would on one hand create excessive grain consumption, and on the other hand would cause gaps in the defense lines of southern Bianling and the east bank of the Ying River due to reduced garrison forces.

The Liang Army’s naval forces had the capability to construct long-distance floating platforms, meaning the flood zone on the east bank of the Ying River was no longer a natural barrier protecting its western flank defense line.

Yet if he didn’t urge Zhu Rang to send reinforcements to Xingyang, once the Yu River waterway north of Xingyang was severed by Luoyang’s navy, could the existing twenty thousand-plus troops under Liang Shixiong with low morale hold out under Liang Army attacks until November when the Yu River and flood zone froze over again?

Meeting with Liang Shixiong this time, he could even sense Liang Shixiong’s thoughts about abandoning Xingyang.

Admittedly, whether for Liang Shixiong or the Eastern Liang Army, if they could hold Xingyang, fine. But if circumstances didn’t permit, there was no need to expend all their elite forces to perish with Xingyang. After all, the territory the Eastern Liang Army truly needed to protect all lay east of the Sha-Ying River flood zone.

For Zhu Rang, if he wanted to make Xu Mingzhen and Sima Tan bow in obedience and show submission, his directly controlled core forces could not under any circumstances fall below the Xu-Si Army and Shouzhou Army.

From this perspective, never mind asking Zhu Rang to dispatch large reinforcements to Xingyang—even asking Zhu Rang to send three to five thousand reinforcements to Xingyang, he probably wouldn’t be willing.

However, if the Eastern Liang Army was unwilling to dispatch reinforcements to Xingyang, even setting aside the coordination difficulties of dual command, where could he suggest Wusu Dashi transfer sufficient elite forces from to enter Xingyang and coordinate with Liang Shixiong in defending this place?

Xiao Yiqing’s head ached immensely. Momentarily without a plan, before leaving Xingyang and crossing the river northward to Mengzhou to see Zhao Mengji, he could only verbally encourage Liang Shixiong repeatedly, urging him not to waver in his determination to defend Xingyang.