Chapter 111: Wu Fei, All Alone; Zhao Cheng, Reopening The Battlefield
In the Xianliang Shrine, as the eunuch announced in a shrill voice, Wu Fei came out to receive the imperial decree. Emperor Shu, as usual in the decree, offered some words of comfort and stated that he would summon him in five days.
Afterward, he gave Wu Fei a full thousand taels of gold and two hundred bolts of silk. Rows of chests were lined up at the entrance of the reception hall.
As a regional governor in the capital, Wu Fei was extremely frugal; the traveling expenses he brought were only about a hundred taels of silver. Not to mention bribing local officials after arriving in the capital, it wasn’t even enough to hire attendants. He only hired a young pickpocket, and even mooched food from the Xianliang Shrine. When going out to play, he always headed to the cheapest teahouses in the marketplace.
Why didn’t Wu Fei bring a large amount of money? This was because, being in a foreign place, he didn’t want to flaunt his wealth and invite disaster.
As an outsider, carrying too much money would only attract extortion and obstruction; on the contrary, if he traveled alone without a penny, it was “I’m poor, so I’m in the right,” and capital officials couldn’t reach into the pockets of someone in plain clothes.
…In the palace, the Son of Heaven also shook his head speechlessly,…
If not for Gong Qian personally confirming it, Emperor Shu, upon first seeing Wu Fei wandering the streets yesterday, had thought he was a body double sent by Wu Hanluan.
Of course, after confirming that Wu Fei perfectly matched the marquis seal he carried, the “body double theory” collapsed. Da Yao’s “seals” and “official positions” recognize people.
And yesterday, under the unspoken understanding between them, Wu Fei, under the accumulated prestige of Emperor Shu’s twenty years on the throne, was able to pretend not to recognize him and explain the reason for his “catching the wind and shadow.” This was the demeanor of a vassal lord with real military power on the border.
…In the Xianliang Shrine…
After thanking for the grace, Wu Fei watched as these chests of goods were carried into his residence. When asked where to place them, Wu Fei pointed to an empty room in the Xianliang Shrine and had these strongmen stack them up.
The seals on top, Wu Fei had no intention of tearing open for now. Because as long as these seals remained intact, no one could ask him for money. —For example, right now, that eunuch who had just proclaimed the decree; Wu Fei didn’t want to engage in human relations with him.
Of course, Wu Fei clearly hadn’t understood Emperor Shu’s intention this time. Previously, Emperor Shu had forgotten his promise to marry an imperial family noble lady, but now, prompted by those around him, he remembered. Thus, these rewards were to ensure that when Wu Fei next met his in-laws, he wouldn’t lose face in terms of manners.
But Emperor Shu himself hadn’t anticipated that Wu Fei hadn’t thought of this matter at all.
As for Wu Fei, after confirming upon arrival that he had the skill of “whoever he glares at gets pregnant,” he was obviously very carefree.
Wu Fei: Apply military campaign thinking. That is, if you can quickly achieve the goal, don’t worry about making the process of using troops have an “epic feel.”
Just like in previous life’s fantasy movies, where several races fight the “Battle of the Five Armies,” awkwardly assembling face-to-face, haggling, then cooperating after a series of procedures—none of that would happen under Wu Fei’s hand. Why be a sitting duck at a specific time and place when you can strike from above, ride their faces, wait at ease for the exhausted enemy, and go straight to the heart to behead generals and seize flags?
Wu Fei: So, if you can hit directly with one shot, why bother with matchmaking?
Here, the eunuch seemed to see through Wu Fei’s confusion and mentioned another matter.
Eunuch: “General Wu, these days, have your servants handle any matters; you’ve just arrived here and aren’t familiar with anything, so it’s best to go out less.”
Wu Fei subconsciously thought, could it be those topics he kept hearing the coachmen chat about that offended the old emperor?
But after some self-reflection, he felt he had underestimated the old emperor’s magnanimity—what if the old emperor was a gentleman?
After putting himself in Emperor Shu’s shoes, Wu Fei speculated that “the water in the capital is very deep.”
Wu Fei nodded at this, his mind racing, like the “noble family” and “poor family” factions in the Wu Family Army Northern Army engaging in open and covert struggles.
Yao Capital’s interests were even more complex, with more factional strife. Numerous princes, as well as the newly appointed Grand Marshal and the seasoned Grand Minister of Works on the official scene, all had major contradictions.
Over the past ten-plus days, since Wu Fei had acted too frugally, all sides were even unsure if he was a body double, so they had no interest in making a move. Afraid that rash contact would be too conspicuous, Wu Fei was able to frolic with the small fry in shallow waters.
But now, with Emperor Shu rewarding him (Wu Fei), the various factions in the city began to scheme.
In fact, even so, as Wu Fei had foreseen, as the next Military Master of the Wu Family, belonging to a general with military power on the border, although during his time in the capital he didn’t match in “bearing,” once his identity was confirmed as real, he was worth some factions in the imperial court investing heavily to plot against. —Honey traps, framing and slandering, even witchcraft and sorcery, all were possible.
After the eunuch left, Wu Fei called out to Wu Juwang.
Wu Fei: “Starting today, I’ll teach you to read.”
Wu Juwang: “Ah?” —He didn’t like reading, but he knew it was good. Now he even more knew that the one who pulled him out of the thieves’ den was a general.
Wu Fei looked at the little thief respectfully offering tea, smiled and said, “Don’t bother with these formalities.” Then he took out a piece of red cloth and tied it around his neck.
Wu Fei: “Put this on, and you’re my disciple. Remember, this red cloth is dyed red with blood from the battlefield. Never forget that what you learn are dragon-slaying techniques.”
…Shifting perspective from the prosperous Divine Capital to the sand-swept north…
In the 34th year of the Shu Tian Calendar, August, Zhao Cheng was leading troops to arrive at Shamen Pass. Before sweeping Shamen Pass, he simultaneously surprise-attacked and uprooted the five tribes in Yao State’s north most loyal to Da Yao, seizing all their people and livestock, while distributing the pastures to other tribes, turning wolves into dogs.
On the grassland, the tent tops currently all hung with dark black cloth strips. For these nomadic poor bastards, hanging flags was too luxurious; large pieces of cloth simply couldn’t last.
However, Zhao Cheng knew clearly that although wolves could submit to fear and temporarily become dogs, once the leash was loosened, they would relapse. He had to quickly take Shamen Pass, establish a base, continuously draw people and resources from the grassland to build permanent deterrence.
Zhao Cheng urged his black qilin mount forward, with corps raising large flags behind him, advancing toward Da Yao’s northern pass stronghold.
…On the city pass, the horn signaling enemy invasion sounded…
The garrison general of Shamen Pass was Wang Zijing. Due to the poverty of the Western Regions, his soldiers under command hadn’t reached ten thousand yet. The armored soldiers guarding the pass numbered only a thousand.
But under him was a special monster troop, namely a beast unit composed of groundhogs. Their feature was underground surprise attacks, and their size could reach twice that of war horses.
On Shamen Pass, General Wang, as usual, firmly held the impregnable sand city. He believed in the impregnability of the city walls, believed in his officers and soldiers. Of course, he trusted even more in the tactical role of his monster troops.
Over the past century, Shamen Pass hadn’t lacked large-scale surprise attacks from northern barbarian tribes after their rise, but when those barbarians camped before Shamen Pass, they would fall into chaos from the giant rats’ bites at night.
Twenty years ago, that barbarian tribe lord on the northern grassland was repeatedly surprise-attacked by groundhogs right before the pass. Every night, tents fell into sand pits, cattle and sheep were dragged underground, resulting in panic and forced siege. Finally, this grassland hero was hit by cannon fire from the city wall on the third day of attack and was killed.
And General Wang, through this battle, became Da Yao’s strongest northern gate guardian general, deeply trusted by Emperor Shu.
The problem was: this was a record from twenty years ago. Wang Zijing now faced a headache shared by many military families of Da Yao—his own disciples had no successors. In his Wang family, there were no shortage of generals who could lead a thousand cavalry in charges, but none capable of being commander.
Wang Zijing was now old too. For a feudal commander, being old meant: battlefield reaction ability was no longer as sharp as before. Even tigers doze off, let alone him as a senile old tiger.
Note: Wu Fei allocated a lot of benefits to build a non-commissioned officer assessment system to ensure the army continuously had young and vigorous new blood. To ensure that when he overlooked something, those energetic non-commissioned officers could report issues upward. This is where modernized armies surpass feudal armies.
Topic turning here, Wang Zijing was an old tiger, but Zhao Cheng was like the rising sun at dawn.
…Moonlight shone outside the pass, like sprinkling frost flowers…
In this war, Zhao Cheng had clearly anticipated the nighttime underground surprise attacks by the rats.
On how to deal with these groundhog giants, Zhao Cheng had clearly done his homework, finding wild specimens in Sha Prefecture, experimenting on them. On the first night of camping, Zhao Cheng ordered jars deployed in the main camp. He led some short, stocky foreign race soldiers with big beards to patrol the camp. Spotting underground tunnels, they inserted bamboo tubes.
Stoves were brought over, stuffed full of damp dry firewood, and with bellows pumping in smoke, the underground stirred. These giant groundhogs popped out one by one, their tiger-sized heads followed by even larger, fatter bodies. But as soon as their heads emerged, iron wire immediately locked their heads. Then, the throttled groundhogs were dragged out directly by the power of five horses.
This scene was like capturing rats in the countryside: leave a slipknot in the tube, loop it over the rat’s head, tighten and pull it out.
Only these groundhogs were enormous in size; after emerging, their huge claws flailed wildly, but soon they were bound by large nets.
On Shamen Pass, Wang Zijing felt heartbroken knowing his monster troops’ outbound assault had been countered. He had a total of eighty-seven giant groundhogs, and now over half were lost in the surprise attack.
At this moment, General Wang merely felt heartbroken. Facing three times his own troop strength below the city, he was still confident in holding the pass. However, he encountered a general who didn’t play by the rules.
…”Swell, swell. Swell!”…
In the Hao Army camp, the first half of the night was spent catching rats, but the second half was still brightly lit. On the cattle-slaughtering platform, groundhogs were carried up one by one, all anesthetized with sufficient datura drug.
Then, under Zhao Cheng’s guidance, all giant groundhog tails were hoisted up, exposing their rear ends, and after inserting bamboo tubes, handfuls of granular things were poured in. After about one dou, sandbags were stuffed in—these sandbags also contained granules, but “soybeans.”
While mingling in the city suburbs, Zhao Cheng had learned a rat-killing method: shove a soybean into a rat’s rear, sew it shut with thread, and the rats would go mad from inability to defecate.
And now, all the rats had been filled up and released to the underground entrances.
Just before loosening the ropes binding the groundhogs, Zhao Cheng had people smear pepper powder on their rear ends, effect similar to chili oil. Chili oil in the mouth stimulates saliva, but applied here, it was to let the soybeans absorb more moisture in the rats’ rears and swell.
One by one, the giant groundhogs thus escaped back to Shamen Pass through the caves.
After releasing the first batch of groundhogs, Zhao Cheng looked toward Shamen Pass; soon chaos appeared on the city walls, with clash of arms, shouts, and the lazy roars of the earth shaking the pass.
Zhao Cheng waved his hand, binding “jade talisman”-controlled explosives onto the remaining groundhogs.
Ten minutes later, the dwarves through listeners heard the giant rats trying to flee back to Shamen Pass via underground passages; Zhao Cheng flung the command flag, detonating the explosives on the giant rats, causing massive collapse.
Under the dual factors of chaos inside the city and wall collapse, Zhao Cheng’s prepared siege troops advanced. Within a quarter-hour, they rushed to the battlements. Over a thousand armored soldiers surged like tides toward the pass, but the pass had no defense left; the arrow rain that should have been volleyed was now sporadic.
The garrison on the pass, seeing ranks of black armor like a dark mass of fish schooling toward the walls, fell into despair. A few clear-headed soldiers tried to topple the ladders against the walls, but were shot dead by crossbow bolts as they peeked from the battlements.
At chen hour, when the first ray of sunlight shone, Shamen Pass raised the Hao character flag; Zhao Cheng successfully breached in Da Yao’s north.
As for the old general? His dragon horse was brutally torn by a frenzied groundhog’s claws, unable to escape; this old general who fought battles all his life couldn’t bear capture and committed suicide.
After taking Shamen Pass, Zhao Cheng didn’t pause.
Mid-August of year 34, Zhao Cheng swept the entire Sha Prefecture. Over this century in Sha Prefecture, extremely reliant on pass defenses, commercial ports prosperous but defenses neglected; after Shamen Pass was suddenly breached, they were all swiftly taken by surprise troops.
Dragon horse riders and crow people mixed troops descended from the sky, seizing government offices everywhere.
…Perspective to Da Yao side…
On Wu Fei’s side, he was teaching Wu Juwang to read and recognize characters. And in his residence, twenty half-grown boys were added—these were Wu Juwang’s former good brothers.
A few days ago, Wu Fei keenly noticed Wu Juwang missing his companions, so he brought these boys over. The youngest seven, the oldest Wu Juwang at fourteen. Those who could survive on the streets as pickpockets weren’t stupid; the stupid ones had been dealt with.
The money on Wu Fei wasn’t enough to befriend high officials and nobles, but more than enough to raise these adopted sons.
As for gathering little pickpockets in the Xianliang Shrine as servants, it quite amused the shrine’s bureaucrats; but Wu Fei didn’t care at all.
One could only say Xuan Chong’s sense of shame from his previous life had never been influenced by this world.
Taking disciples regardless of lowly origins wouldn’t disgrace one’s status. Because the “stand up” concept can only be taught by the strong.
On a sand map, two groups of boys were using pebbles to arrange troops for a simple command flag game; Wu Fei directed from the side.
Just then, Da Yao’s official gazette arrived; Wu Fei glanced and abruptly stood up; his adopted sons nearby sensed his expression was off and stopped the game.
Wu Fei waved his hand: “It’s nothing, continue practicing. Wu Juwang, you maintain discipline.”
Wu Fei went to the study, unrolled the Da Yao map. This map was simple, but as Wu Fei’s hand pressed on it, information began loading on the map. As for why not let the adopted sons in, because this illusion would plunge people into mental collapse.
As light scattered from Wu Fei’s hand, the current situation in Da Yao’s north appeared; Wu Fei frowned at the north: “Da Yao has now opened another frontline battlefield!”
