The rainy season characteristics in Xingzhou during June and July this year were not obvious. Rainfall was significantly less than previous years—it was a drought year.

This was unfavorable for Xingzhou’s agriculture.

Of course, throughout all of Xingzhou, except for Wuzhi located east of the Jialu River, the eastern and southeastern portions of Xingyang and most of Xinzheng were submerged in floodwaters. The people in the territory west of Xingyang and within Mi County had either fled into the peaks and ridges of Mount Song’s eastern foothills to avoid the war chaos, or had all relocated to Hulao Pass or Changge south of Xinzheng. Agriculture had been almost entirely abandoned, so the question of drought or no drought was irrelevant.

Such weather conditions were advantageous when, in early June, Zhao Wuji led elite forces from Feng Zhang, He Liufeng, Shen Peng, Cao Ba, and others’ units, along with over ten thousand able-bodied auxiliary troops, advancing to the outskirts of Mi County. They constructed camps from the west, south, and east sides, formally initiating the campaign to attack Mi County.

At this time, besides the two naval brigades, Han Qian additionally transferred Su Lie’s forces into Hulao Pass under Chen Kun’s command to better contain the garrison inside Xingyang City.

Initially, Liang Shixiong still deployed forces south from Xingyang City to reinforce Mi County. However, the soldiers’ morale was weak. In several engagements north and east of Mi County, they were beaten into throwing away helmets and armor with heavy casualties, unable in any way to prevent the Xuzhou Army’s attack on Mi County.

After entering July, Liang Shixiong abandoned reinforcing Mi County, helplessly watching as the Xuzhou Army constructed camps from three sides to surround Mi County.

Mi County had a long city-building history. Setting aside the mythological ancient period when Fuxi, the Yellow Emperor, and Zhurong all originated in Mi County territory at Mount Song’s eastern foothills, during the Spring and Autumn Period, both the State of Mi and State of Zheng established capitals here. From the Qin and Han dynasties onward, it had always been a major city of the Central Plains with formidable fortifications, called one of the “Two Garrisons” together with Xingyang.

At this time, besides Zhu Wei leading over six thousand soldiers defending Mi County, the city also had nearly thirty thousand registered civilian households, from which over ten thousand able-bodied men could be conscripted to assist in defending the city walls.

However, after entering June, Liang Army naval warships frequently appeared in the Yu River north of Xingyang City, showing no fear facing several times their number of Mengzhou naval vessels. They often drove the Mengzhou navy into panicked retreat. When the Xingyang garrison witnessed this scene from the city walls, their fighting spirit all wavered.

In the end, Liang Shixiong only ordered his generals to defend the fortifications to the death and not leave the city to fight. Even though Mi County’s fortifications were formidable, how much morale could the garrison inside possibly have? Never mind the able-bodied men conscripted onto the city walls.

After a post road was constructed south of Chenqiao Stronghold, supplies and troops from Xuzhou territory could flow unobstructed through Chenqiao Stronghold into the vanguard camp south of Mi County.

Zhao Wuji unhurriedly constructed catapult positions surrounded by deep moats and palisade walls, positioning over sixty whirlwind catapults south of Mi County and at the eastern and western corners. Day and night without rest, they hurled tens of thousands of stone projectiles and mud pellets toward Mi County’s walls.

The garrison also erected numerous whirlwind catapults on the inner side of the city walls.

To prevent excessive casualties among soldiers operating the whirlwind catapults, Zhao Wuji also dug numerous deep pits in the catapult positions so soldiers could dodge projectiles. Wooden frames and cloth canopies were erected above to reduce the impact force of incoming projectiles.

Although the garrison could copy this method, their soldiers and able-bodied defenders on the city walls still suffered dozens of deaths and injuries daily from stone and mud pellets hurled by whirlwind catapults.

After a month of bombardment, the thick rammed-earth walls of Mi County’s southern wall were unrecognizable. Besides the whirlwind catapults on the inner side of the walls, the numerous defensive war machines placed atop the walls had all been completely destroyed.

The city lacked sufficient craftsmen and materials to manufacture new war machines to place on the walls.

Only then did Zhao Wuji organize elite soldiers and generals to formally approach close to Mi County’s walls. Braving the scorching sun and sweating profusely, they pushed wheeled trench bridges forward and erected them over the moat, simultaneously forming six passages for attacking Mi County by approaching the walls.

Spring-powered wheeled bed crossbows and scorpion crossbows were dragged by military horses to closer distances from the southern wall. Iron arrows slightly thinner than short spears shot viciously toward the walls, shooting down even the damaged battlements. Never mind what happened when soldiers on the damaged walls were directly struck by these iron arrows.

Ignited fire oil jars smashed onto the walls. Whenever garrison troops were splashed by fire oil, the flames spread across a wide area.

The garrison’s morale was already extremely low. With no useful defensive equipment on the broken walls and watching Liang soldiers attacking the walls in thick armor, unafraid of arrow volleys—arrows clanging against armor plates without penetrating them—what little morale remained in the garrison was like a candle in the wind, liable to be completely extinguished at any moment.

Besides various large war crossbows below the walls, Zhao Wuji additionally pushed tower carts and nest carts taller than the city walls forward to the front. Filled with crossbowmen, hundreds of arm-drawn crossbows fired together like a locust swarm, mercilessly covering the walls.

Witnessing this scene, garrison commander Zhu Wei’s spirit wavered and his heart filled with desolation, deeply feeling Mi County’s situation was lost.

After organizing two counterattacks that failed to drive the Liang forces who had scaled the walls back down, he also lost heart for battle. But at this moment he still didn’t dare directly lead his forces to fight their way out through the north gate to escape.

Zhu Wei didn’t leave, but he no longer dispatched督战 teams to intercept scattered soldiers fleeing toward the north gate. Not until more and more Liang forces killed their way onto the broken southern wall, even dragging dozens of spring-powered bed crossbows onto the damaged walls, did he finally, surrounded by his guard escort, fight his way through the north gate, cutting a bloody path northward to flee toward Xingyang City…

“This battle cannot be fought. Even if the General-in-Chief beheads me, I must speak.”

After barely shaking off pursuing troops, Zhu Wei led less than two thousand remnant soldiers in panicked flight into Xingyang City. With blood still unstained on his body, he removed his helmet and placed it on the long desk. Kneeling before white-haired Liang Shixiong, who had been enfeoffed by Zhu Rang as General-in-Chief and Pillar of State, he spoke excitedly.

“Two years ago, Luoyang, Yanshi, Mengjin, Gong County, and Hulao Pass were all in our grasp. Although Zhu Yu attacked fiercely, as long as the Mongols reinforced us in time, there was no possibility of losing our defense. But the Mongols wanted to take Heluo for themselves and refused reinforcements no matter what. We were forced to abandon those cities. That’s fine, but it should never have fallen to us to defend Xingyang.”

“Enough!” Liang Shixiong suppressed his voice and hoarsely rebuked Zhu Wei, saying: “No one is pursuing the crime of your losing Mi County, so spare us your complaints.”

In such turbulent times, the ten thousand-plus elite troops he relied on for survival had suffered losses over these months, finally leaving less than two thousand remnants fleeing into Xingyang City. How could Zhu Wei not be full of complaints and resentment?

Moreover, once Mengzhou’s naval camp was completely suppressed on the north bank by Liang Army naval forces, Xingyang would become an isolated city. Could the twenty thousand garrison troops in the city truly hold out until mid-to-late November when the Yu River and eastern flood zone froze over again?

Even though Zhu Wei knew Liang Shixiong had probably long since figured out these principles, when Liang Shixiong rebuked him from continuing to speak, a breath remained stuck in his chest, unable to be released.

“Rest first and settle the soldiers. Then conscript two thousand able-bodied men from the city to replenish the troops. At that time you’ll be responsible for defending the eastern wall…” Liang Shixiong softened his tone and said to Zhu Wei.

Xingyang’s fortifications were solid, far exceeding Mi County. Besides the twenty thousand garrison troops, there were nearly sixty thousand registered civilian households from which able-bodied men could be selected to make up for insufficient troops.

In the early period, Xiao Yiqing in Mengzhou had urged all parties to concentrate and transport a large batch of grain and other supplies. He also arranged for several hundred craftsmen to enter Mengzhou to assist in manufacturing war machines.

Liang Shixiong still had confidence he could hold out until the cold winter arrived in November.

As long as the Yu River and eastern flood zone froze solid, no matter how sharp Liang Army’s offensive edge, they couldn’t possibly withstand tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of reinforcements attacking from the Yu River’s north bank and east of the Jialu River.

He didn’t believe the Liang Army wouldn’t withdraw at that point.

Su Lie and Feng Zhang led forces pressing toward the outskirts of Xingyang City from the west and south sides. Zhao Ci led a cavalry unit patrolling the perimeter to prevent the garrison from leaving the city for counterattacks. Through the northeastern foothills slopes of Mount Song southwest of Xingyang City, the passage between Mi County and Hulao Pass was thus completely opened.

In mid-August, Han Qian again arrived at Hulao Pass to supervise the battle. Zhao Wuji and Li Xiu, surrounded by escort cavalry, also rushed from the small paths of Mount Song’s northeastern foothills to Hulao Pass to participate in military council.

Mi County’s garrison had no morale. After besieging the city for over a month without a single counterattack, the Xuzhou Army captured Mi County with total casualties of less than one thousand. Besides the thirty thousand-plus civilian households in the county, they also captured two thousand enemy soldiers.

Han Qian had said he planned to launch attacks on Xingyang City from two fronts this year. By this point, that objective could be considered achieved. Whether to proceed with attacking Xingyang and whether to ensure capturing Xingyang before mid-November required convening the generals for discussion.

Zhao Wuji had left one side open in the siege. With Mi County garrison’s weak fighting spirit, they could still flee to Xingyang City. But the situation facing Xingyang’s garrison was different.

Han Qian of course hoped Wusu Dashi and Xiao Yiqing would order Mengzhou’s naval camp to evacuate Xingyang’s garrison northward to Mengzhou. They could then dispatch naval warships from the newly built naval base west of Hulao Pass to attack the enemy’s flanks fiercely while they crossed the river, then take over an Xingyang City empty of troops.

However, the Mongol Army obviously would not oblige him and so casually abandon Xingyang City.

And Liang Shixiong, as a veteran general who had campaigned throughout the He-Huai region for decades, could not possibly overlook the risk of being attacked while crossing the river, ultimately leading to their northern escape being hopeless and perishing in the river.

All circumstances determined that Liang Shixiong could only defend Xingyang City to the death.

This would instead arouse the garrison’s cornered beast fighting spirit. Han Qian felt they could not blindly optimistically assume Xingyang City would be easy to crack.

As a major, formidable city numbered among the He-Huai region’s finest, Xingyang’s brick-faced walls rose over three zhang high. The moat connected to the Yu River. On the west and south sides, it exceeded ten zhang in depth and breadth. The north side faced the Yu River, while outside the eastern wall the terrain was slightly lower and had already become a flood zone.

Even though the army had numerous excellent war machines, wanting to capture such a fortified city in a short time remained extremely difficult and might even require paying an extremely heavy price.

“We must prepare for the possibility that by November when the Yu River freezes, we still won’t have captured Xingyang,” Han Qian said, sitting behind the long desk. “In besieging Xingyang, the early period should center on Daihai Temple southwest of the city, constructing connected camps in a half-encirclement of Xingyang from the west and south. Particularly south of Xingyang, we must build several sturdy camps on the eastern flank to prevent enemy reinforcements from attacking our flank from this direction after the Yu River freezes.”

“If enemy forces come to reinforce, we could annihilate them outside Xingyang…” Chen Kun clenched his fist and said resoundingly.

Since the Hebei upheaval, the Mongol Army and Wei-Bo rebel forces had held all advantages. These old Great Liang generals had struggled bitterly until now to finally see the dawn of victory. At this moment they wanted to besiege a point to strike reinforcements and annihilate the main enemy reinforcements outside Xingyang City.

“…” Han Qian smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying to Chen Kun: “To besiege a point and strike reinforcements at Xingyang, without two hundred thousand troops it won’t be sufficient for complete victory. But if I think about mobilizing two hundred thousand troops at this time and concentrating them in Mount Song’s northeastern foothills, Feng Liao and Zhou Daoyuan—every single one of them would curse in frustration.”

Han Qian had not failed to consider the possibility of besieging a point to strike reinforcements. But after the Yu River froze, enemy forces would come from nearby Mengzhou, Wuzhi, and Bianling. They had no advantage of using rested troops against exhausted ones.

In reality, what Han Qian needed to consider was whether to use Xingyang as bait to attract large numbers of Mongol Army and Eastern Liang Army elite forces to decisive battle outside Xingyang City.

Considering the military potential the Mongol Army and Eastern Liang Army could mobilize on the eastern front, Great Liang would need to assemble two hundred thousand troops in advance to have some chance of victory.

Currently warfare continued in all directions. But except for Li Zhigao leading the Western Expedition Army into Longxi as a long-distance campaign, the other directions were all close-distance campaigns with troop scales strictly controlled—for now they could barely say they hadn’t exceeded the limit of what could be sustained.

If on the current foundation they continued to additionally mobilize over one hundred thousand more troops to mass in Mount Song’s northeastern foothills, this already exceeded Great Liang’s current national strength capacity.

Simultaneously, mobilizing troops required time and process. It was impossible to drag things out until after the Yu River froze in November before having prefectures and counties conduct mobilization work.

But if they conducted comprehensive military mobilization now, the Mongol Army and Eastern Liang Army could also conduct even larger-scale mobilization. Ultimately the forces both sides pushed beneath Xingyang City would far exceed imagination, and the final battle situation would be filled with even greater variables.

At least at this time, the military potential of the Mongol Army and Eastern Liang Army still exceeded theirs.

Therefore, capturing Xingyang before the Yu River froze would be best. If they couldn’t capture Xingyang in time, they would need to assess the enemy reinforcement scale and decide subsequent operational strategy. If after winter arrived the enemy forces reinforcing Xingyang exceeded their imagination, they might even need to temporarily abandon the fortifications outside Xingyang and withdraw to Hulao Pass and Mi County to the south, continuing to prepare for interior line defense.

The old Great Liang ministers like Gu Qian and Han Yuanqi who had rushed to Hulao Pass with Han Qian to supervise the battle all saw the situation gradually turning in a good direction. But before making more sufficient preparations, they all did not hope to hastily launch such a large-scale decisive battle this winter.

They even felt that launching an offensive against Xingyang this year was somewhat hasty.

Don’t look at how capturing Chenqiao Stronghold and Mi County had limited casualties and didn’t employ many troops. But merely attacking Mi County for one month and previously sparing no cost to construct the post road from Changge to Chenqiao Stronghold consumed an astronomical amount of supplies.

Oil alone for fire attacks on Mi County’s walls consumed over twenty thousand barrels.

This time deploying seventy to eighty thousand troops to attack Xingyang, with monthly grain rations exceeding one hundred thousand shi, the war machines produced by armories were already severely insufficient. They still needed to first transfer a batch of war machines from other garrisons to strengthen the forces attacking Xingyang.

Next, the navy entering the Yu River for combat would need to become even more resolute. This also meant Yique Naval Base needed to conscript more shipwrights and components from Huaiyang, Xuzhou and other places to accelerate repair and construction of old and new warships.

Currently, craftsmen directly managed by the Military Intelligence Staff Office’s Logistics Equipment Department and specifically engaged in manufacturing armor and war machines already exceeded ten thousand. But even so, the armor, military equipment, and warships produced could no longer keep pace with troop expansion and wartime consumption demands.

This was still utilizing large amounts of hydraulic machinery for casting armor and war machines. Otherwise, current production scale might not even satisfy one-third of demand.

“Your Majesty and the great ministers rose from humble beginnings. At that time the situation was perilous with no room for retreat. Glimpsing a thread of victory opportunity, one should advance bravely forward without fearing danger. However, now that the Heluo situation has initially stabilized, planning for the state should employ orthodox troops,” Gu Qian spoke quite directly, saying with emotion. “Thinking back to when the Late Emperor campaigned north and south with sharp military edge, besides Your Majesty defending western Huai as solid as metal and stone, no one else was a match for the Late Emperor. Yet ultimately he could not prevent the Hebei upheaval. At this time, although Your Majesty has concluded peace agreements with the Chu court’s ruler and ministers and the Shu sovereign, this doesn’t mean there are no variables behind this—with such precedent as warning, I believe we cannot fail to guard against this.”

“In attacking Xingyang, we should take the Yu River freezing period as the deadline. If we cannot capture Xingyang before then, we should have backup measures to prevent enemy cavalry from crossing the Ying River on a large scale in winter to attack Xu, Chen, Ru, and Cai prefectures,” Han Yuanqi said.

“…” Chen Kun fell silent for a moment, then said resolutely: “In attacking Xingyang, Chen Kun wishes to lead vanguard elite forces armored and armed to fight atop the walls.”

With so many people opposing a major decisive battle this winter, Chen Kun was not one to stubbornly persist in his opinion. He no longer wanted to be the commanding general for this siege, only hoping to directly command the wall-scaling elite forces, striving to capture Xingyang City before the Yu River froze.

Only thus could Liang Shixiong not be allowed to escape.

Han Qian pondered for a moment, then nodded and agreed to Chen Kun’s request.

After discussion, Han Qian adjusted new appointments.

He incorporated Li Xiu, Su Lie, Feng Zhang, He Liufeng, Shen Peng, Zhao Ci and others’ twenty-five thousand-plus elite cavalry brigades and infantry brigades, along with soldiers captured from Mi County and able-bodied men conscripted from Mi County, together with nearly twenty thousand civilian laborers conscripted from Xu, Chen and other places, all into the Xingyang Vanguard Camp as the main force attacking Xingyang City.

He appointed Zhao Wuji as Vanguard Camp commander-in-chief to directly oversee siege warfare operations against Xingyang, with Chen Kun and Li Xiu as vice commanders. Li Xiu led cavalry responsible for flank defense, while Chen Kun was responsible for direct siege combat.

Additionally, in the Hulao Pass and Chenqiao Stronghold directions—that is, the western and southern fronts—two rear army units each were organized, responsible for transporting grain, military equipment and other supplies, as well as flank warning and peripheral warfare.

To ensure civilian laborers and supplies from Heluo counties could continuously and promptly be transported to the vanguard, Han Qian appointed Han Donghu as concurrent Commander-in-Chief of Hulao Pass Garrison. He also reorganized the various units fighting in Mount Wangwu on the north bank as a new infantry brigade, appointing Chen Yuanchen as Brigade Commander-in-Chief, so they could better contain and strike Mengzhou garrison forces under the Hulao Pass Garrison Commander-in-Chief’s command.

Xingyang City’s north side faced the Yu River. The low-lying land outside the eastern gate was flooded by Yu River waters. Outside Xingyang’s western and southern walls, deep moats provided protection. At the gate positions, sturdy and structurally complex barbican gates difficult to capture had been built.

Of course, this also made passages extremely limited for garrison forces wanting to sally forth for counterattacks.

Besides constructing sturdy camps outside the west gate and south gate to restrict the garrison inside Xingyang and prevent them from leaving for counterattacks, the Vanguard Camp’s early camp construction focus was on the eastern flank.

Large quantities of pine timber were felled from Mount Song. Cartloads of stone and mud were transported from the south to pour reinforced concrete for the camps’ wall pillars. Between two rows of palisade walls, yellow earth was rammed. Deep moats were excavated on the outer side.

If this winter the scale of enemy forces reinforcing Xingyang didn’t reach unbearable levels, Han Qian considered still hoping Zhao Wuji would lead the vanguard forces to hold firm beneath Xingyang City without withdrawing south to Gong County or Hulao Pass.

That way, this winter the enemy forces would have no possibility of organizing large amounts of manpower and supplies to construct an embankment road between Xingyang City and Wuzhi to the east.

At that point, enemy forces would either have to bite the bullet and attack the vanguard forces’ camps, or could only slink away and abandon Xingyang, withdrawing before next year’s spring season to Yuzhou on the north bank and Wuzhi, Bianling and other places east of the Jialu River.

Of course, if the Mongol Army and Eastern Liang Army assembled over one hundred thousand troops in winter to reinforce Xingyang with the capability to conversely surround the vanguard army beneath Xingyang City and sever the vanguard army’s contact with both flanks, Han Qian considered withdrawing the vanguard forces from beneath Xingyang City in advance before the Yu River froze, waiting until next year to consider new operational plans rather than rushing to succeed in one stroke.

Therefore, after entering September, even as Zhao Wuji and Chen Kun deployed over one hundred whirlwind catapults before Xingyang City to bombard the walls and even organized small-scale vanguard elite forces to attack the walls by close approach, Han Qian still required them to continuously construct camps to ensure that before late November they could complete an interconnected camp system southwest of Xingyang City that would not fear enemy assault.

To weaken the mobilization capability of the Eastern Liang Army and Mongols, Han Qian simultaneously ordered Lin Haizheng and Yang Qin to dispatch cavalry, infantry, and naval forces from Xiacai and Linhao directions along the Guo River, Si River, and Hongze Lake to attack territories controlled by the Shouzhou Army and Xu-Si Army. They transported cartloads of copper-plated iron coins to the Xu-Si and eastern Yu regions, secretly exchanging them for gold, silver, and precious metals to bring out. He ordered forces entering Mount Wangwu to further infiltrate and penetrate the mountain regions of the southern Taihang Mountains. He ordered Li Zhigao to consolidate local forces in Cheng and Wu prefectures and quickly lead troops into Qinzhou on the western foothills of Mount Long. He ordered Kong Xirong to intensify raids on the Weinan region.

Han Qian simultaneously transferred military officers to newly organize two reserve brigades in northern Xuzhou’s Changge and Chenzhou, requiring the fifteen reserve brigades to quickly implement winter training plans after the autumn grain harvest…

Although Han Qian also urgently hoped to capture Xingyang City before the Yu River froze, as Great Liang’s supreme commander, he needed to make multiple preparations to respond to different unexpected situations occurring.