Chapter 791: Those Magnificent Undercurrents (Middle)

As the sun set, Hengshui City, in the northernmost part of Jizhou, was about to close its gates. The gate towers were beginning to hang large red lanterns when, just then, a scout on horseback, covered in blood, galloped swiftly towards them. After the soldiers on the city wall, who were on lookout duty, recognized his face, they yelled out for the city gate, which was already largely lowered, to be raised again. The scout, with two arrows lodged in his back, burst through the opening and screamed with all his might: "Urgent enemy situation! The Northern Barbarian army is attacking!"

Not long after, signal fires were lit within Hengshui City to warn the neighboring Yinyao City. The smoke signals billowed, indicating an army of fifty thousand Northern Barbarian cavalry. Soon, beacon towers south of both Hengshui and Yinyao cities successively lit their own signal fires. In less than half an hour, the entire northern Jizhou region was aware of the alarming news: fifty thousand enemy cavalry from the Northern Barbarians were invading from the south!

The new commander of Hengshui City was a portly, middle-aged man named Gao Ying. He came from an illustrious Jinnan noble family, established since the Old Northern Han dynasty. A considerable portion of Grand General Yang Shenxing's Jinnan infantry recruits came from the Gao clan of Jinnan. Gao Ying didn't even have time to put on his armor. Surrounded by his personal guards and attendants, he rushed to the Hengshui city wall, his face pale. It wasn't that Gao Ying didn't want to flee, but according to the military intelligence relayed by the scouts, the Northern Barbarian vanguard cavalry was already close at hand. Furthermore, large detachments of cavalry raiders had bypassed the city to the south, already blocking off their escape routes.

Gao Ying's teeth chattered; he was filled with utter regret! He had thought that after Wei Jingtang's death, General Yuan Tingshan of Jizhou, who had seven to eight thousand private cavalry from the Li family's Yanbao as his core force, had won several consecutive victories here. Furthermore, from the Liaodong border, Grand Marshall Gu Jiantang was also sending frequent reports of victories. Gao Ying had estimated that since the Northern Barbarians were already struggling against Beiliang, they would certainly not dispatch troops to Jizhou for an opportunistic attack. That's why he had successively spent three hundred thousand taels of silver bribing General Yuan and officials in the capital. Relying on his past connections with old General Yang Shenxing, he had managed to snatch this lucrative post as commander of Hengshui from a young nobleman from the capital. Nominally, there were five thousand infantry soldiers defending the city. But in Jizhou, generals who didn't embezzle military funds were rarer than three-legged toads. However, with Yuan Tingshan keeping a close eye, their practices had improved considerably. Most only dared to embezzle ten to twenty percent of the funds, at most thirty percent. But Gao Ying wasn't the legitimate eldest son of his clan's main branch; he had spent three hundred thousand taels of his second branch's private money to secure this official position. Consequently, Hengshui City's actual troop strength was less than three thousand! And they were all seasoned, cunning soldiers transferred from Jinnan. But could Gao Ying be blamed for this? Although archers from the northern Jizhou border were more skilled with bows and horses, they were also more expensive. One northern Jizhou archer could be worth two Jinnan infantrymen, who were once boasted as "unrivaled in the world" just a few years ago. Jizhou's original elite forces had all been taken away by Yang Shenxing, only to suffer a crushing defeat in Guangling Pass. Now, even the second-tier elite Jinnan infantry were firmly controlled by Yuan Tingshan. To recover his investment within three years, what else could Gao Ying do besides putting on a superficial show in Hengshui City?

Gao Ying turned his head to look at Yinyao City. Its commander, Wei Kuanxiao, was much like himself, having only just acquired his official position. As youths, they had been dissolute companions, reveling together, and were once part of the "Four Young Masters of Jizhou." Wei was even worse than him; at least Gao Ying still didn't dare tamper with the city's armory and supplies. Wei Kuanxiao's Yinyao City was reportedly almost empty, with everything sold off cheaply to several powerful military forces in northern Jizhou. Just two days ago, Wei had invited him to Yinyao City for a night of pleasure. That scoundrel Wei Kuanxiao, blinded by greed and obsessed with money, had actually splurged a fortune to invite two popular courtesans from the provincial capital to entertain them. While the two of them "battled" and "rode" on the courtesans on a large bed, Wei Kuanxiao had even proposed this scheme to him, saying how quickly the money came in. A round trip with fifty carts loaded with bows, crossbows, armor, and spears could yield nearly one hundred thousand taels of silver. And it was guaranteed to be unobstructed. Gao Ying was puzzled at the time, as General Yuan Tingshan of Jizhou, though not overly involved in border affairs, had always been quite strict. Wei Kuanxiao then laughed, calling him a "pig's brain," and with a thick finger, wrote two surnames on the courtesan's fair back: Li and Han.

Gao Ying instantly understood: the Li family of Yanbao, who were closely connected to Yuan Tingshan! And the loyal and heroic Han family, who had once been eradicated but were now making a comeback! One had Grand Marshall Gu Jiantang, who oversaw the military and political affairs of the entire Liangliao region, as their strongest backing. The other was Han Fang, Deputy General of Jizhou, whom the Emperor had greatly honored posthumously and promoted exceptionally! Gao Ying and Wei Kuanxiao were utterly clueless about military command. However, having grown up within influential families, their understanding of officialdom couldn't be too bad. No matter how many military achievements Yuan Tingshan amassed, becoming General of Jizhou on the border was almost his peak. Otherwise, with his father-in-law already commanding all of Liangliao, if his son-in-law managed Jizhou and then wanted to control Hezhou as well, wouldn't that be outrageous?! Therefore, the sole surviving scion of the Han family in Jizhou was needed as a check and balance. No matter how many imperial honors and military powers the Emperor bestowed, their foundation was still shallow. Deputy General Han Fang would be a border general the court could trust and rely on for the next five years.

The sound came before the sight.

Gao Ying felt as if the entire city wall was trembling.

Under the last rays of twilight, at the edge of Gao Ying's vision, a black line suddenly appeared on the horizon.

Gao Ying's heart turned to ashes; the Jibei defense line was completely finished.

This chubby man, whose original intention was merely to embezzle funds in Hengshui City, seemed not to have even had time to make any money from border smuggling.

Gao Ying looked around blankly. Aside from the personal attendants he brought from the Gao clan, the soldiers on the city wall all had young, inexperienced faces. They had heard that in northern Jizhou, one could earn a decent military salary simply by wearing armor and carrying a spear within the city, so they had all come to Hengshui City. They didn't even know that the previous commander, Wei Jingtang, a student of the old Grand Tutor Zhang Julu, had once been forced to sally out from the city to fight the Northern Barbarian cavalry here, and that eight hundred Hengshui cavalry and four thousand crack infantry had all perished in that single battle. Nor did they know that even earlier, ten thousand Youzhou cavalry, having stealthily crossed a thousand li, had launched a surprise attack here and utterly defeated the Northern Barbarians. This Hengshui City was, in fact, far from peaceful.

Many Hengshui City soldiers still held onto a sliver of hope, naively believing that the vast Northern Barbarian cavalry was merely here to flaunt their might, or that General Yuan Tingshan of Jizhou would soon lead his army to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop, or that Grand Marshall Gu Jiantang was rushing here with troops from Liaodong.

Wang Sui had, in one go, assembled fifty thousand elite cavalry from the Northern Barbarian's easternmost border army. This included ten thousand cavalry each from the Autumn Naibozhai Dajuruzhe Shiwei and the Winter Naibozhai Wang Jingchong, and three young, robust chiliarchs who stubbornly ignored the "gentle advice" of two Northern Barbarian Grand Generals. These fifty thousand troops, compared to the Northern Barbarian's total eastern front force, which was gradually reinforced to nearly three hundred thousand from the Northern Steppe, might not seem like a significant drain. However, while troop numbers are important in determining the outcome of a large-scale war, they are not absolute. Wang Sui, the newly appointed commander of the Northern Barbarian's eastern front, taking away these fifty thousand elite troops was almost equivalent to siphoning off half of the eastern front's spirit and vitality.

The two Grand Generals on the eastern border, who had similar qualifications to Liu Gui and Yang Yuanzan, firstly, had authority lower than Wang Sui, and secondly, they simply couldn't control those three chiliarchs of steppe origin. Not to mention scions of powerful clans like Dajuruzhe Shiwei and Wang Jingchong. They could only watch helplessly as these fifty thousand men departed for Jizhou. This would naturally be an unimaginable occurrence in the Liyang Dynasty.

Dajuruzhe Shiwei, riding a magnificent steppe horse as black as ink, looked up at the outline of Hengshui City, and said with a grim smile: "We'll be able to eat dinner once we enter the city!"

There was still some distance before the charge would begin. Wang Jingchong did not ride to his own ten-thousand-strong personal army. Instead, he remained on Wang Sui's side, with Autumn Naibozhai on the other side. He frowned and said: "The intelligence reports say that the commanders of both cities, Gao Ying and Wei Kuanxiao, are incompetent fools. But if the enemy fights to the death to defend, night battles are already disadvantageous for us. Furthermore, all fifty thousand of our troops are cavalry. Although dismounted combat isn't an issue, we haven't brought any siege equipment at all. Can we truly take these two crucial towns in northern Jizhou so easily?"

Wang Sui scoffed: "When leading an army into battle, besides paying attention to the rapidly changing situation on the battlefield, you must also consider the circumstances outside of it. This will be even more crucial when you have the chance to reach the Central Plains later. Wang Jingchong, why do you think Yuan Tingshan would allow two fools to garrison Hengshui and Yinyao? Does he truly not have any surplus troops? Even if we take ten thousand steps back, the Li family's Yanbao, who are in the same boat as him, have eight thousand private cavalry. Their cavalry combat is not weak, so what problem could they possibly have defending a city? Isn't it obvious that he's clearing the path for us? Otherwise, if he kept winning battles, how many days do you think he'd remain General of Jizhou? The Guangling Pass campaign was so disastrous; if an imperial edict were sent to the General of Jizhou's mansion, ordering him to serve as a subordinate to Marshal Lu Shengxiang for the Southern Campaign, would Yuan Tingshan dare to say no? Even if he dared, that brat's father-in-law would be the first to deal with him!"

Dajuruzhe Shiwei impatiently said: "I don't believe these two grandsons, Gao Ying and Wei Kuanxiao, possess Wei Jingtang's courage, let alone his capability. If we take these two cities, whether we head south to Jizhou, west to Hezhou, or eventually retreat eastward, there will be great opportunities! Commander, just order the assault on the cities! Wang Jingchong, don't try to snatch the glory of taking Hengshui City from me!"

Wang Sui sneered: "Siege the cities? Siege my *ahem*! If you want to die in battle, then die in Youzhou."

Dajuruzhe Shiwei was stunned. "Then what do we do?"

Wang Sui looked at the frontier city, shrouded in twilight, and said: "Tell them, surrender and live, resist and be massacred. Give them only half an hour to consider. And add this: we only want the grain and weapons in the city. As for the people, as long as they are willing to shed their armor and leave Hengshui City empty-handed, we will let them pass."

Dajuruzhe Shiwei mumbled, "How boring."

Wang Sui turned to Wang Jingchong and said: "Go tell those three roughnecks that Hengshui City belongs to you and Dajuruzhe Shiwei, and Yinyao City belongs to the three of them."

Wang Jingchong nodded and was about to ride off, when he heard Wang Sui calmly say: "Once the soldiers from both cities have left and retreated south, how you five acquire military merits will be entirely up to you. And remember, leave a few survivors to convey the message to Yuan Tingshan, so that Jizhou knows we are heading south all the way. After that, according to the pre-arranged plan, leave three thousand troops in each of Hengshui and Yinyao cities for defense, and the rest of you will follow me to Hezhou."

After Wang Jingchong departed, Wang Sui asked with a smile: "Autumn Naibozhai, I heard you were thinking of having dinner in the city?"

Dajuruzhe Shiwei, his eyes gleaming with fervor, chuckled: "The two to three thousand people in Hengshui City will barely be enough for a meal for me and my men. We won't be full, but at least it will hold off the hunger for a while."

Wang Sui remained expressionless, silently looking up at Hengshui City, which had, since its construction, repelled countless steppe cavalry charges.

In the late summer of the first year of Xiangfu, Hengshui and Yinyao cities in Jizhou fell into Northern Barbarian hands. It was rumored that the Northern Barbarian main army from the eastern front intended to bypass the Liangliao defense line and launch a large-scale southward invasion using Jizhou as a breakthrough point.

The Liyang court and populace were shaken.

Han Lin, the newly appointed Commissioner of Huainan Circuit, was quickly honored by the court with the posthumous title of Grand Scholar of the Imperial Academy shortly after taking office.

Cai Nan, Military Governor of Huainan Circuit, was appointed Grand General Pacifying the West, a second-rank official.

Yuan Tingshan, General of Jizhou, was imperially conferred the title of Grand General Pacifying the West, a third-rank official.

Han Fang, Deputy General of Jizhou, was granted military authority to temporarily expand his forces by ten thousand troops.

Along with this imperial edict, an oral secret decree, personally delivered by Song Tanglu, the chief eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, also arrived in Jizhou.

The war in Jizhou must be confined to northern Jizhou!

The sound of horns echoed across the vast lands around Qingcang City.

Liuzhou finally welcomed its first magnificent battle, which involved almost all the forces from both sides on the western front.

Thirty thousand infantry from the Longguan nobility, serving as the main attacking force, slowly spread out their formation and battle lines, launching an assault on Qingcang City.

The four garrison cavalry units, including the Wazhu Junziguan, closely guarded the south of the infantry, confronting the Dragon Elephant Army from a distance.

Grand General Liu Gui, commander of the western front, personally supervised the siege from horseback. Behind him were thirty thousand inactive Liu family troops and ten thousand personal cavalry guards brought by the Northern Court King Tuoba Pusa.

A Longguan noble general from the "Jia" surname clan didn't even care whether the siege was proceeding smoothly. From time to time, he turned his head to look at the vast expanse of Beiliang black-armored troops arrayed three li away.

Could the four garrison cavalry units of Gusei Prefecture truly withstand the charge of the Dragon Elephant Army? If the Dragon Elephant Army not only breached their own cavalry formation but also shattered the assaulting infantry, the battle would be over in just two rounds! Were they to hand Beiliang the greatest victory since the Liang-Barbarian War on a silver platter? Did General Liu not understand that this battle in Liuzhou was not at all about the gain or loss of a small Qingcang City? Was it worth risking the entire western front just to take Qingcang City?

He finally couldn't hold back and rode his horse to Liu Gui's side. Just as he was about to speak, Liu Gui said coldly: "My mind is made up. There's no need to say more!"

This chiliarch of considerable Northern Barbarian background was also angered, but he still tried his best to suppress his fury, and advised the esteemed old general as calmly as possible: "Grand General, such a directly separated cavalry and infantry formation carries immense risk. Taking the small Qingcang City isn't difficult. Even if we secretly conceal twenty thousand... no, even ten thousand heavily armored infantry within our thirty thousand infantry to await the Dragon Elephant Army's charge, that would work. To make such an all-or-nothing gamble, and to underestimate the charging prowess of the Beiliang Iron Cavalry, Grand General, this is not appropriate!"

Liu Gui said nothing.

The general finally said angrily: "Grand General, you are gambling with the lives of thirty thousand Longguan men, all for the sake of your own official position!"

There were strong undercurrents in the Nanchao Western Capital court, and western front generals, who were naturally from Nanchao, had all heard rumors. To say Liu Gui was unworthy of his name was being polite; impolitely, people were directly demanding the Emperor replace the commander, and even the candidates were clear. Besides Tuoba Pusa, who was already on the border of Liuzhou, even Zhong Tan, who had shone brightly on the eastern front at Hulukou, was brought up. If nominating Tuoba Pusa, the 'God of War', was understandable, then using Zhong Tan as an argument was simply an insult to Liu Gui's reputation. How long had Zhong Tan been in the army and leading troops? And how long had Grand General Liu Gui's military career been? Furthermore, the former Southern Court King Huang Songpu had re-emerged from retirement, replacing the ineffectual Liu Gui as commander of the western front, a move that undoubtedly had the strongest support in Nanchao. Thus, among the eastern front army, which had been stationed in Liuzhou for a long time, various colorful rumors were circulating.

Just then, the general's expression changed dramatically. A single rider slowly approached. The man on horseback, clad in light armor, said in a deep voice: "Get back to your formation."

The general swallowed hard, and without a word, turned his horse around and returned to the main infantry formation.

Liu Gui glanced at the newcomer and asked with a smile: "Northern Court King, do you think the Dragon Elephant Army will dare to swallow the bait? Thirty thousand defenseless infantry, and four garrison cavalry units with poor combat effectiveness—the bait is certainly large enough."

The newcomer was indeed Tuoba Pusa. He glanced at Qingcang City. "Grand General's intentions, Wang Lingbao might not see through them, but Li Mofan, also a Deputy General of the Dragon Elephant Army, will most likely discern them. It's just that Yang Guangdou and Chen Xiliang are in that city. If Li Mofan is smart enough, he will also act accordingly; otherwise, he shouldn't expect to be promoted in the Beiliang border army in the future. Even if Li Mofan is cold-hearted enough, as long as a part of the Dragon Elephant Army launches a charge and gets bogged down, he surely can't just stand by and watch them die. I believe he doesn't have such a heart of stone."

Liu Gui chuckled: "On the surface, I, an old man whose command is precarious, need to grasp at straws. The Beiliang forces are engaged in fierce battles on two fronts, Hutou City and Xiaguang City. Liuzhou also needs a great victory to boost morale. So, the timing is ripe for both sides."

Liu Gui's smile faded. "Speaking of which, if it weren't for the Northern Court King's other twenty thousand personal troops, who are rapidly on their way, I, Liu Gui, wouldn't be fighting this battle even if I lost my command. In Liuzhou, if we can't completely annihilate the entire Dragon Elephant Army in one go, then small skirmishes are meaningless. The Liang-Barbarian War was originally intended to be decided in Liuzhou; we've merely gone full circle and returned to it now."

Tuoba Pusa hesitated for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "After this battle, General, you will most likely still be recalled to Nanchao."

Liu Gui smiled. "No matter. Consider it making room for Fatty Dong on the central line."

Tuoba Pusa chuckled softly: "General Liu, rest assured. In the future, you and I will enter the Central Plains together."

Liu Gui nodded.

The old man sighed with emotion: "I just feel sorry for these Nanchao lads who fought so bravely. They came from the vast desert and yellow sands, only to die in the vast desert and yellow sands in the end, never even getting to see the prosperity of the Central Plains, not even a glimpse."