Xun Xiu stood beside Zhao Hanzhang. Seeing Shi Lei, his fists clenched tightly as he stared at him: “Commander, let me go out to battle this time?”
“The city gates are tightly closed. As long as they don’t attack the city, let them curse as they please.” Zhao Hanzhang withdrew her gaze: “Send someone to summon Mi Ce.”
Xun Xiu was startled, then acknowledged the order.
Zhao Hanzhang stood before the map, pacing back and forth. Xun Xiu and the others all withdrew, leaving only Ming Yu nearby.
Watching her circle for a while, Ming Yu asked: “What does the Commander wish to do?”
Zhao Hanzhang stopped in her tracks, turned her head, and looked at him with piercing eyes: “I want to stage a ‘surrounding Wei to rescue Zhao’ combined with ‘seizing opportunity from chaos.'”
Ming Yu’s eyes flashed: “You want to attack Pingyang?”
Zhao Hanzhang said: “Liu Cong’s main army is deployed elsewhere. Pingyang is vulnerable. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“But Shangdang is in Shi Lei’s hands. Even if we take Pingyang, we can’t hold it.”
“So we’ll take Shangdang too!”
Ming Yu was shocked: “Where would we get the troops?”
Zhao Hanzhang clenched her fists: “Just this one opportunity. Send orders to Jing Province for Wang Yifeng and Wang Meizi to lead troops to relieve Yu Province. I plan to transfer Mi Ce and Yuan Li to assist Beigong Chun in attacking Shangdang.”
Ming Yu also began circling. Finally, he stopped and said: “Has the Commander thought this through? If we succeed, Jin can eliminate this decade of troubles. But if we fail, all of us will face utter ruin, and even Jin may perish.”
Zhao Hanzhang said: “Great danger brings great benefits. Danger can be turned to opportunity—how do we know this isn’t our chance?”
Ming Yu’s heart surged with emotion, believing her words made sense.
So he agreed.
Zhao Hanzhang and Ming Yu told no one of this matter. They only summoned Mi Ce and Yuan Li, rearranged the defenses, and had them lead fifty thousand troops away.
The order to mobilize Jing Province troops also went south by six-hundred-li express.
They didn’t know that as Zhao Hanzhang reorganized her defenses, Shi Lei had also quietly led away a group of people, charging straight toward Zhen City County.
During wartime, information transmission was delayed. When Shi Lei began attacking Zhen City County, Mi Ce and Yuan Li divided their forces to attack Chao Ge County and Gong County. Of the six counties of Ji Commandery, four had been occupied when Shi Lei sent troops south.
Ji Commandery belonged to Si Province. Because it was too close to Yan Province and Shangdang, with a special geographic position, when Zhao Hanzhang recovered Si Province, she didn’t want to provoke Shi Lei and Gou Xi, so she hadn’t touched this area.
All six counties of Ji Commandery still obeyed the Emperor’s directives and didn’t belong to any particular faction.
North of Ji Commandery, Wei Commandery was split in two—half occupied by Shi Lei, half occupied by Liu Yuan’s Western Xiongnu division.
Because Shi Lei had occupied these four counties for a short time, and Yuan Li had contacted the aristocratic families inside according to the name list Zhao Hanzhang provided, they quickly took two counties.
Mi Ce’s movements were also swift, quickly taking Chao Ge County and Ji County. Moreover, they didn’t stop there, intending to take the other two counties as well, recruit soldiers, then join with Huang An to attack Shangdang and Wei Commandery.
At this time, Beigong Chun in Luoyang City and Fu Tinghan outside Pingyang City received Zhao Hanzhang’s letter.
That’s right—Fu Tinghan had run to Pingyang. When hostilities erupted, he and Ji Yuan immediately wrote to Zhao Hanzhang.
The letter was sent out, but they soon received word that the person couldn’t be found. The messenger reported that Zhao Hanzhang had returned to Chen County. Although they had also sent a letter to Chen County, Fu Tinghan was always worried the letter would miss her.
Once war broke out, everyone implicitly looked to him for leadership—not only Beigong Chun, Xie Shi, and Chen Wu, but even Ji Yuan asked his opinion.
This put tremendous pressure on Fu Tinghan. He also feared that when Zhao Hanzhang returned, Luoyang would be lost. So after serious consideration, he decided to take the initiative.
This is what he said: “Hanzhang has said that attack is the best defense.”
He racked his brains trying to say more to persuade everyone to agree with his view. But who would have thought that as soon as his words fell, Beigong Chun slapped the table: “Minister Fu is absolutely right. At a time like this, we should take the initiative. Not only can we probe their strength and weakness, we can let them know that we in Si Province are not to be trifled with either.”
When had the Xiliang Army ever feared anyone?
Xie Shi also nodded: “The Xiongnu Han state’s ambitions are too great, daring to simultaneously attack Si Province, Yu Province, and Yan Province. Yan Province has the Emperor and General Gou Dao. I suspect their main forces must be there. Then Pingyang’s side would be vulnerable. We can fight this battle.”
Ji Yuan also waved his fan: “Liu Yuan deployed troops not only to destroy Jin and stand alone in the world, but also because of the drought, to divert domestic attention. Perfect timing—we’ll assist the Commander and stage a ‘surrounding Wei to rescue Zhao.'”
So everyone happily decided to take the initiative, very quickly.
Fu Tinghan even personally wrote to Fu Zhi, inviting him to jointly send troops to Pingyang for a pincer attack from left and right. To promote friendly cooperation between both sides, he personally ran to the area outside Pingyang City.
When Zhao Hanzhang’s letter of appointment and her letter arrived together at Pingyang, Fu Tinghan was already standing on a hillside watching Zhao Erlang fight a battle.
Si Province’s troops weren’t numerous. Every soldier was important. So Fu Tinghan had improved the catapults, making their range longer. If it weren’t for certain concerns—that they were launching stones rather than explosive packages—this battle would probably have gone even more smoothly.
They weren’t just attacking Pingyang City head-on. They had also divided forces to attack other cities in three places.
Pingyang’s walls were high and gates solid. If one place couldn’t be taken, he would surround and attack. At worst, he’d learn from Liu Yuan isolating Jinyang and isolate Pingyang City as well.
Liu Kun could defend Jinyang alone. Liu Yuan might not be able to.
Because Zhao Erlang and Beigong Chun were in Si Province, Liu Yuan had specifically left a large army to defend Pingyang. So even though Zhao’s Army attacked continuously for three days, there was no progress at all. But several county towns east of Pingyang City had been successively captured by Zhao’s Army. Liu Yuan also feared Zhao’s Army’s offensive was too fierce and would ultimately isolate Pingyang City, so he sent reinforcements.
As soon as Zhao Hanzhang’s letter arrived, Fu Tinghan immediately consulted with Beigong Chun, extracting some people from the Zhao’s Army and Xiliang Army defending Luoyang to provide support.
Zhao Hanzhang had originally intended to stay honestly in Meng County comparing patience with Shi Lei. But defending the city was truly boring. With Meng County’s abundant resources and backing of Yu Province, with thorough preparation, it wouldn’t be easy for Shi Lei’s main army to attack.
Moreover, since that day, one of Shi Lei’s eighteen riders came to challenge and curse twice daily. In just three days, Zhao Hanzhang had recognized five of the eighteen riders.
She refused to leave the city. Xun Xiu and the others selectively engaged, fighting battles with them—some wins, some losses, but casualties weren’t large on either side.
Clearly, they were also stalling, waiting for the other side to lose patience and act rashly before delivering a decisive strike.
Under normal circumstances, defending Meng County for three to five months posed no problem. Zhao Hanzhang was very confident in herself. She felt that with her abilities, defending for a year, she could wear Shi Lei down to death through attrition.
But how boring. Apart from the daily renewed cursing having some appeal, staying here meant only listening to reports of battle situations from various places.
The situation in Yan Province was also good. She heard Gou Xi had won three consecutive battles, recovering two cities.
So seeing that Shi Lei never appeared, Zhao Hanzhang simply handed Meng County over to Xun Xiu to defend, while she also led a division of Zhao’s Army and quietly departed, heading straight for Shangdang.