Chapter 117: Weary Soldiers

From August 20th onward, the elderly, weak, women, children, and the families of the courier soldiers at Zhantianmao began relocating in batches toward Xingzi River.

One after another, troops gathered at the East Gate of Yan’an Prefecture: Chutatian’s, Chuantatian’s, Guotianxing’s, Monk Wang’s, and even Cao Cao’s.

People influence each other.

The leaders near Yan’an, united around the Liu family, all had instructors from Liu’s border troops and were equipped with Yan’an guards’ weapons. Their units were almost cast from the same mold.

The difference lay only in some being finely honed, others roughly shaped.

Each unit numbered three to five hundred men, standing in formation along the official road beside the millet fields. To an unknowing observer, the greatest mystery would be: where did Yan’an guards muster so many banner armies?

Liu Chengzong stood on a hilltop, observing, able to estimate the combat effectiveness of each unit with ease.

Among all the units, aside from his own five squadrons, Zhang Tianlin’s four hundred cavalry was the strongest.

Next came Liu Chengzu’s mixed infantry and cavalry of five hundred men, followed by Li Wanqing’s five hundred.

Liu Guoneng’s five hundred also requested border troop instructors from Zhantianmao later, but their training was still brief and equipment lacking. However, like Liu Chengzu’s troops, their ranks were filled with fathers, sons, and brothers.

Wang Ziyong’s unit was harder to assess in terms of combat power.

His force consisted of just over two hundred men from Yan Chuan who had followed him, often scattered across various places.

But when he raised his arm to call, thousands of able-bodied men from surrounding villages would come running. If one must speak of combat power, they were weak, but their rallying power was formidable.

Liu Chengzong observed this and raised his arm, pointing toward Liu Chengzu: "Brother, have you ever thought about it? From my five squadrons all the way to Monk Wang’s troops, all are anomalies in northern Shaanxi."

"Anomalies?"

Liu Chengzu scoffed disdainfully. "The real anomaly is that one at the back."

He meant Luo Rucai.

That unit was unlike any other, divided roughly into three parts within a single formation. The front hundred or so men wore gold and silver, silk and brocade; at the rear were over three hundred starving wretches, their bellies swollen, resembling ghosts of hunger.

In the middle were the old, weak women and children leading donkeys and mules, a group completely out of place in a military formation.

The entire unit was a vivid embodiment of the vast wealth disparity in the Ming Dynasty.

Liu Chengzu turned to Liu Chengzong: "Just a bunch of beggars like that, why would you want to recruit them?"

Most leaders in the troops shared Liu Chengzu’s view of Luo Rucai: a weak, brash leader of refugees, whose tactics they also despised.

"They are a bunch of beggars, yes. But you haven’t been east— not every refugee leader is like us, well-fed, warmly clothed, well-armed. We eat better than the official army. It’s precisely because of people like them holding the official troops elsewhere that we stand out as anomalies."

Liu Chengzong shook his head and asked his elder brother: "Brother, do you really think Luo Rucai’s plan is bad? He’s very clever. He brought this plan to us, and among all the options and strategies, it’s the only one that can win."

Liu Chengzu frowned. "Sending starving refugees to certain death—is that a good plan? Doing such things will alienate your own people."

"Confucius said: ‘To teach the people not to fight is to abandon them.’ We learned this by age seven, yet he is twenty-seven and still doesn’t get it. Think about it. Forget how many die, forget how others see it. Just consider this plan—can it win?"

Liu Chengzong seriously pondered the question.

The army would divide into three lines: the starving refugees in front, commanders like Li Wanqing overseeing the middle, and Liu’s elite troops in the rear.

The front line would break into five hundred or thousand-man units, each only having one chance to engage. Sometimes, they might not even reach combat before being shattered by a salvo of artillery.

Once the refugees broke, they would crash into Li Wanqing’s troops, but the official army could not pursue, for pursuit meant abandoning the artillery positions—and once the formation moved, defeat was certain.

The artillery carried at most twelve rounds of ammunition; to exhaust the enemy’s powder with twelve battalions’ sacrifices, if the charges came fast enough without allowing the enemy to reload, five or six rounds could disable the red-hot cannons.

Liu Chengzu’s face darkened: "There’s a chance we’ll lose."

"Of course, there is a chance. The starving refugees are untrained and weak. If the shells don’t hit them, they will break and flee. But brother, have you considered this: if the enemy drives the defectors to attack us in turn, how can we win?"

Liu Chengzu was speechless.

Against the official army, they had no reliable intelligence on manpower, equipment, morale, training, supplies, or heavy firepower. They had to estimate under the most cautious conditions.

Under such circumstances, this tactic could fail—mainly because the refugees were disorganized and might collapse their own lines.

But if reversed, knowing their own force’s conditions, if the official army used this tactic, driving defectors to attack, they had no chance.

"Since you think this plan works, why not use it?"

Liu Chengzong slowly looked up at the deep blue sky.

On the ochre earth, the troops advanced eastward under their respective leaders, preparing by familiarizing themselves with the terrain for the upcoming battles.

Everyone, limited by their cognition and experience, had different views on the same matter. They and Luo Rucai stood at opposite ends of the spectrum.

"I’m using it. Who said I’m not?"

Liu Chengzong laughed in surprise. "Who is Luo Rucai? To him, Li Bei’s official army is as heavy as Mount Tai, while Cao Cao is but a feather. He couldn’t find enough stones, so he dragged along twenty to thirty thousand starving refugees, risking everything."

Liu Chengzong turned to his brother, clenching his fists before him: "His tired troops seek to make the decayed grass and fireflies compete with the bright moon. The idea is sound, but the man is uneducated and a bit of a bastard—he doesn’t ask if those decayed grasses are willing to burn... Zhong Douxing is interested in this plan; he came to see me yesterday."

"You mean Gao Chuangwang’s side?"

"Yes. The final battlefield will still be near the prefectural city. This is where we are most familiar. If we can’t win here, we won’t win anywhere else."

Liu Chengzong stretched out his arm from the Yan River at his feet, pointing east: "From Yanchang to Fushi County, Gao Chuangwang is fighting while retreating. We’ll prepare to support him. If Chuangwang can fight and retreat, it means Li Bei’s troops are still intact and carry heavy artillery. Then we fight him in the mountains off the main road."

"If Chuangwang’s elite escape, while most are slaughtered and scattered, it means Li Bei’s army lacks heavy artillery. Then what’s there to fear?"

Liu Chengzu shook his head. "What if he goes straight into the city and occupies the north and south fortifications?"

"I’d be glad if he took the fortifications. All Yan’an guards have been withdrawn, and food and weapons moved out. He’d last at most seven or eight days on his supplies. Let him occupy it, starve until he can’t move—what’s there to fear?"

"And if he also plunders the wealthy households?"

Liu Chengzong laughed. What wealthy households were left near Yan’an? Mostly officials’ families with little money or grain. Robbing them would cause more harm than gain.

Li Bei’s soldiers’ best option was to plunder these bandits. If they even robbed officials’ families, they’d be no better than rebels.

"If he robs the wealthy, he’s just like us. Don’t worry, brother. Li Bei won’t enter Yan’an Prefecture. Even if Gao Chuangwang’s side can’t wear down Li Bei’s forces, I have an excellent candidate."

Ultimately, they were simply too weak.

Not weak in numbers, but in their officer corps—no one from top to bottom had experience commanding five hundred regular troops.

They could only find ways to impose negative conditions on Li Bei’s troops.

Delay time, reduce supplies, starve them.

Several units took turns to delay, exhausting the enemy.

"Who?"

"Shangtianhou Liu Jiusi, moving from Fuzhou toward the prefectural city. He should reach Ganquan today. He can discipline his men far better than the refugees."

On August 22nd, Liu’s troops camped on a hill near Gangu Post between two counties.

Couriers passed messages back and forth. In the morning, Gao Yingxiang saw Li Bei’s couriers at Baijiachuan camp.

In the afternoon, Li Bei’s official troops set seven cannons on the north bank, bombarding the enemy camp to cover the army’s river crossing.

Chuang’s four hundred Mongol cavalry and three hundred infantry circled east from the mountains, intending to ambush the rear supply train during Li Bei’s pursuit.

At night, news arrived that they had been discovered by the couriers. Li Bei was prepared for the ambush, forcing Chuang’s troops to retreat via mountain paths but chased by cavalry. The three hundred infantry scattered in the mountains, unable to regroup, their fate unknown.

By midnight, the last courier report indicated Chuang’s troops had withdrawn to Nanping Mountain. They engaged the official troops briefly on the southern marshlands near Yanchang County, setting up pack artillery to repel two assaults by a hundred-man official detachments.

Night fell, and the official army occupied Yanchang County.

Messages flowed continuously from day to night. The fighting was not fierce, casualties were light, but Gao Yingxiang sent detailed intelligence on Li Bei’s forces.

There were three fully staffed battalion commanders, over a hundred recruited laborers from Yanchang County, more than a hundred vehicles, and seven heavy cannons.

Gao Yingxiang’s plan was simple: station troops to delay the enemy, ensuring the pillaged grain could be carried by manpower to the rear at Panlongchuan.

He cared little about winning or losing against Li Bei, only that Li Bei should not get the grain—this would be victory.

Li Bei’s troops, however, remained vigilant about their rear, always dividing the headquarters: one engaged in battle, one held in reserve to guard supplies, one watching the rear—and dispatching couriers there.

This puzzled Liu Chengzong and others. There was no supply or enemy in the rear. Why watch it so closely?

The obvious answer: Yan Chuan had been retaken by the court.

No matter how hard they guessed, they never suspected Li Bei’s rear troops were guarding against them.

General Li believed Liu was eastward and could jump to attack their flank any time.

Early on August 23rd, Wei Qian’er’s couriers spread out forty li southeast along the valley from Gangu Post. They could already see the battlefield twelve li away on Jiulian Mountain.

Chuang’s couriers reported the official army bombarded the mountains all night, firing intermittently, keeping everyone awake.

By morning, the official troops formed ranks and marched east, found no resistance at the mountain camp after several li, then formed up and marched west. Chuang’s troops gathered, and the official army ceased firing.

Liu Chengzu said, "Li Bei guessed we planned to wear them out and was testing if Gao Chuangwang’s reinforcements were east or west. He’s been discovered."

Indeed, by afternoon, Li Bei left the city but stopped sending couriers to the rear, focusing their defense westward, spreading out five li radius, almost facing Wei Qian’er’s couriers across the mountain.

Then the official army, with two units in formation and one in reserve, began assaulting Nanping Mountain.

Using their heavy artillery advantage, they broke through two mutually supporting small camps. Chuang’s troops retreated into the mountains again.

The situation was not as complicated as Liu Chengzu thought.

On the night Li Bei occupied Yanchang County, he summoned the townsfolk. A city guard mentioned a cavalry unit bearing the Liu red banner had marched west earlier.

Their east and west maneuvers were mere probes, but they hadn’t expected Chuang’s troops to move so easily, so they concentrated on attacking the mountain camps.

That afternoon, Shangtianhou Liu Jiusi arrived from Fuzhou with over a thousand infantry, proudly telling Liu Chengzong: "There are two thousand more behind us, arriving tonight."

Reunited in times of crisis, their bond deepened.

But with the enemy looming, there was no time for pleasantries. Liu Chengzong smiled: "Let your men rest a day. Tomorrow we gather and hold the hill for one day."

The hill was the narrow ridge where the Yan River flowed south between Fushi and Yanchang counties.

Cao Yao said Li Bei’s troops would seize the ridge to set up heavy artillery and control the valley.

When Liu Chengzong’s five squadrons reached the river bend, Gao Yingxiang’s troops were retreating along two routes: cavalry down the valley, infantry winding through the mountains toward the rear south of Panlongchuan.

Meeting Gao Yingxiang again, despite repeated setbacks, Chuangwang did not look defeated. He laughed: "Damn, we lost a bunch of camps, but at least got all the grain out. Li Bei is getting anxious; I reckon his supplies are low."

He looked around the valley from the ridge: "So this is where the final battle will be?"

"No, the final battle will be on the northern plain. Shangtianhou’s men just arrived and need a day to rest. We can’t let Li Bei rest today either."

"Then don’t let him."

As Liu Chengzong and Gao Yingxiang spoke, Cao Yao arrived with the artillery team, pushing three medium-sized French guns up the ridge.

Cao Yao complained: "Yan’an guards only have these three long-range guns. Once set up, they should reach the riverbed. The road artillery is lacking. Which unit are you sending to fight?"

Their disadvantage against the official army lay in heavy artillery. The enemy could transport cannons weighing over a thousand jin, firing two to three li.

To maintain mobility, they had abandoned heavy guns at Yanshuiguan; their heaviest artillery weighed only three to five hundred jin.

"Chuantatian, Shetatian, and Cao Cao."

Liu Chengzong pointed down to the main road where three units advanced. Behind them, Gao Xian, Feng Rang, Yang Yao, and Wang Wenxiu’s four squadrons followed slowly, setting formation at the foot of the hill.

Gao Yingxiang worried: "Will they break?"

"They will. That’s why my men are behind, with three guns on the hill to counterattack any pursuing enemy, preventing them from expanding their gains. Chuangwang’s cavalry will form on the other side of the mountain. If my men can’t hold, your cavalry will support."

This was Luo Rucai’s wear-down tactic, but with enough troops to avoid sending men straight to death.

As the units formed below, Liu Chengzong saw horsemen carrying banners on a distant hilltop. He shook his head, smiling at Gao Yingxiang: "Looks like their supplies are really low. They won’t rest."

The official army’s infantry and cavalry formed long lines, marching along the main road at the valley’s end.