Chapter 242: An Unclear And Unresolved Ending
During Zhao Shanhe’s retreat in this round, the Chong Army processed the Hao Army like an assembly line.
The first step was Xuan Chong’s main force annihilating the heavy troops that could not escape; the second step was Wen Siting and others’ group striking the troops that were still intact but utterly exhausted, causing them to discard helmets and armor. The third step was having about a thousand cavalry take turns chasing and hacking at these over ten thousand routed soldiers, scattering them so they could no longer regroup.
On this “routed soldiers” processing assembly line, Wen Siting’s task was to disarm heavy equipment. And Wu Ling’s task behind Wen Si was to disarm light equipment. Then let the cavalry reserved behind disarm the enemy troops’ organization.
Late in September, Zhao Shanhe’s remnants were left with only twenty-three riders, blocked in a small village. Just as Zhao Shanhe thought his life was over, suddenly one person said: “My lord, I can go negotiate with the Chong Army side.”
Zhao Shanhe paused, and asked eagerly like grasping at a lifesaving straw: “How do you plan to negotiate?”
This person looked around, hesitating to speak; Zhao Shanhe paused and immediately ordered the surrounding people to withdraw. This person said to Zhao Shanhe: “My lord, how do you think the Chong Lord compares to the Great General (Zhao Cheng)?”
Zhao Shanhe gritted his teeth, helplessly: “The Chong Lord has great talent, my lord has heroic talent! I am inferior to both, unable to comment.”
This person quietly explained a bit.
Zhao Shanhe glared at him: “Are you asking me to betray my lord?”
This person: “No, it’s not asking General Zhao to betray his lord!”
Zhao Shanhe suddenly realized: “You mean, I should advise my lord to ascend?”
This person nodded slightly.
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Shanhe slowly asked: “Then what does this have to do with the Chong Lord letting me go!”
This person hesitated to speak.
Zhao Shanhe: “Mister, speak freely.”
This person slowly said: “The Chong Lord has actually always seen Duke Zhao as his opponent, and a person with great achievements but no great talent by Duke Zhao’s side is beneficial to the Chong Lord.”
Hearing this, Zhao Shanhe’s expression was extremely colorful, but thinking of his current appearance as a defeated army, he was truly speechless.
This person expressed understanding and comforted: “My lord’s talent is actually in the upper echelon; it’s just that the talents of military strategists under heaven total one dou, with Duke Zhao and the Chong Lord taking nine, and the rest sharing one.”
Zhao Shanhe paused and said: “Mister, no need to comfort me, just do as mister said.” (Although he knew that by principles of integrity, he should commit seppuku, he ultimately chose to cling to life.)
However, Zhao Shanhe did not know that the person advising him to stand on his own was from Zhen Hao in the north; ten days later, Zhao Shanhe was caught by Zhen Hao using this letter as a handle and dealt with. From then on, Zhen Hao was unchecked.
This fool Zhao Shanhe is pitiful, just like a stupid student in an exam hall who gets caught cheating after one try; while Zhen Hao cheated multiple times and still roams free.
…Outside the battlefield…
On the other side, Xuan Chong had already begun gathering captives south of Heluo; and was screening officers and soldiers among these over ten thousand surrendered troops. These defeated soldiers were in tattered clothes, their armor all removed, and those with silk underwear had been picked out, now in the second round of screening.
The screening method was simple: cook a big pot of rice for everyone, mixed with sand and stones, then have officers check the pebbles spit out in front of everyone.
Anyone whose spit-out pebbles were mixed with broken rice grains were those who usually ate only the finest; ordinary soldiers, after chipping a tooth while eating, would only carefully use their tongue to pick out larger pebbles. And suck the pebbles clean before spitting them out. As for small sand, they would swallow it directly.
Due to meals twice a day at fixed positions; after eating, anyone with extra rice grains was marked, then dug out two days later.
Note: Xuan Chong, as a citizen of an “old developing country” in his previous life, was only used to refined rice, and would spit out a whole mouthful of rice if he bit sand. While in places with real famines, stones and such were eaten straight into the stomach.
While Xuan Chong was reviewing the screened officer records, he also received a report from the person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce. This reporter was an elder who had been working since Wu Fei garrisoned Yongji Pass.
Relative to Zhao Cheng liking to use “agents” before battle, Xuan Chong preferred to use “agents” after winning the battle.
Old personal soldier: “My lord, news from Hui Cai (codename).”
Xuan Chong paused: “Mm, what happened, did he get caught?”
Old personal soldier: “Yes, he was with Zhao Shanhe. But?”
Xuan Chong paused: “What is it.”
Old personal soldier said: “He went and paid respects to Zhen Hao’s dock over there again.”
Xuan Chong paused: “Did he gain trust?”
Old personal soldier: “Not necessarily, Zhen Hao’s side is also desperate, so they want someone who can contact us.”
Xuan Chong: “How is the relationship between Zhen Hao and Zhao Shanhe?”
Old personal soldier: “Not good, Zhao Shanhe blames this great defeat on Zhen Hao’s lack of cooperation, now the two are probably at each other’s throats.”
Xuan Chong paused: “I need Hui Cai to continue playing a role in the enemy camp, how do you think we should operate?”
Old personal soldier said: “Then have Hui Cai help Zhen Hao eliminate Zhao Shanhe.” Then added: Zhao Shanhe is from Zhao City’s imperial clan (distant relative), eliminating him removes Zhao Cheng’s left and right arms.
Xuan Chong thought slightly, seeming to sigh, this plot’s viciousness, slowly said: “I know, give Zhen Hao a breather, release this battle’s captives to him. But require him to cede the three cities north of Jia River to me.”
Old personal soldier: “This territory, Zhen Hao may not have authority over.”
Xuan Chong silently thought: “Exactly let him sell territory he has no authority over. That will create a reputation crisis for him. Further guide the local powerful clans to go extreme.”
Now the most insightful wave of scholars has been wiped out in this battle, next up are the local powerful clans with insufficient brains, half-empty bottles rattling.
…Scholars and whores on stage care most about reputation, performing abstract acts for reputation.…
September 27, to ensure Zhao Changhe was dead, Zhen Hao sent a trusted aide to confirm with the Chong Army side. And agreed to a secret pact ceding Sha Prefecture in exchange for peace.
Zhen Hao’s current territory does not include Sha Prefecture, which is north of him; the so-called ceding is just “not sending troops to rescue”, a stopgap. But even so, he left a pretext.
After confirming Zhao Changhe’s head, Zhen Hao ran back to the three northern prefectures, afraid his signing the pact would be exposed. Thus he began high-profile anti-Chong under the name of the three prefectures’ noble families and clans.
Of course, Zhen Hao’s this wave of anti-Chong, like his ceding Sha Prefecture, stayed only at the mouth. All his combat-capable troops were smashed by Wu Zaixing’s second wave at the Jia River in August.
Why was Zhen Hao so foolish? Because he was trapped inside and out.
On one hand he wanted to seek peace; seeking peace was just to ease external pressure and catch a breath.
After external pressure eased, he had to face internal pressure. Whether it was his earlier use of tiger tally to mobilize troops, leading to Wei Heng and Zhao Shanhe’s great defeat; or leading noble family militia to defeat twice at Jia River. All could arouse doubts about him from all sides.
And now with Xuan Chong holding the “handle of him actively seeking peace”, if he doesn’t show an irreconcilable attitude, those brainless local powerful clans would really believe he surrendered to Zhen State. They would think Zhen Hao as an inside man is selling all eastern prefectures to Zhen State.
Of course, for Zhen Hao’s clown performance, Xuan Chong did not take the chance to claim him as his “Emei Peak”. Speaking of which, for such a clown, Xuan Chong still hoped he could stay by Zhao Cheng’s side to balance Zhao Cheng’s ability.
Xuan Chong liked using “agents” after winning, because after his own victory, the defeated had very little room to maneuver, and he could fully control the opponent’s direction.
Xuan Chong had already predicted that in the next phase Zhen Hao would firmly show extreme anti-Chong, which was exactly what Xuan Chong needed.
Xuan Chong waved his hand grandly, taking Sha Prefecture in the name of Zhen Hao’s betrayal, time to take down this “silver edge”.
…Xuan Chong’s perspective is no longer here…
In October, Wu Rui led troops into Ji Prefecture simultaneously. Ji Prefecture’s local forces reacted like a conditioned reflex, immediately assembling corps to advance. As for Zhao Cheng holding the rear, he helplessly stockpiled corps on the back side to prevent this teammate from collapsing a thousand li, causing the Ji Prefecture situation to crumble.
Wu Rui was instructed by Xuan Chong to be extremely cautious, so in five days of standoff, though he adjusted military positions, he never found a position to attack. Until the fifth day, scouts reported that the northern area defended by Ji troops was bombarded by cannon fire, causing rout.
Wu Rui confirmed the intelligence, seized the opportunity to mobilize troops. Ultimately causing Ji Prefecture’s local forces to “cooperate”, starting a decisive battle!
Because the place Wu Rui surprise attacked was called “Shangjiao Town”, the ancestral graves of Yan Family and many other noble families.
After this action, Wu Rui loudly declared “will not rob graves or dig tombs”, but saying he won’t means he won’t, shouting so loudly instead made Ji Prefecture’s families feel “no silver three hundred taels here”, urgently forcing Yan Family to lead troops in decisive battle.
Of course, this was also due to the eastern vassal lords’ demonization propaganda against Wu Family Army.
After a series of mobilizations, on October 8, Wu Rui mobilized twenty thousand, encircling Baili Jue’s less than eight thousand troops at “Qintai”.
This was a high platform, the platform like a qin, with horizontal ridges on the surface like qin strings, hexagonal stone block crystals from volcanic cooling, later unknown if geological or planetary engineering interference, turned into horizontally placed.
This Qintai was traditionally a gathering place for Ji Prefecture’s literati, but this scenic spot was not a good place for garrisoning; the water in several carved stone pits was accumulated summer rainwater, fine for literati climbing mountains to quench thirst, but for these eight thousand troops going up, one sip each would dry it all.
Finally in the encirclement, Baili Jue rode a floating sky boat, waving flags. Wanting to negotiate a price, willing to reach an agreement ceding some cities to end it.
Wu Rui ignored: because the ceded land were cities Ji Prefecture occupied from other prefectures in recent years; and these cities, Ji Prefecture lacking control after losing Tong Zheng Emperor, the military leaders inside had already gone independent.
…Encircle a point to strike reinforcements…
Wu Rui then launched the offensive. In the campaign, Wu Rui mobilized twenty Yanlin rocket launchers to bombard, though the bombardment didn’t destroy defenses, Qintai’s natural ridges and depressions like trenches blocked cannon damage to infantry, but the subsequent Guiche spit a thick phlegm at Qintai. White poison mist, along the ridge Qintai like stroking a qin, completed wonderful diffusion, all soldiers tainted a bit, even those water troughs polluted.
After polluting the water source, Wu Rui had the main force surround and wait for enemy reinforcements to decisive battle.
On October 10, Zhao Cheng brought troops to thirty li outside the battlefield; he glanced at the terrain, gritted his teeth and cursed: “(Yan Family) really picked a good spot.”
Qintai backed by mountains and water, left side mountain ranges and hills unsuitable for pottery figurines to advance; right side a big lake, also unsuitable for heavy troops to enter.
Zhao Cheng could no longer blame Ji Prefecture people for picking such a decisive battle site, those guys after defeat directly took five stones powder, madly charging ahead, shot dead by bullets.
Zhao Cheng looking at the floating boats he brought, knew the opposite side (Wu Rui) was scheming against his last large weapon—the dragon boats. Dragon boats were unsealed war gear from Emperor Shu’s era, able to travel on dry land, but for combat firing needed to be in lakes or rivers.
These “warships” looked intimidating, but in years of campaigning, attrition was huge; all four dragon bones broken from hits, original crew missing two or three tenths. Now they could still float, but if Guiche charged slightly from the sky, they would quickly crash.
However, this battle had to be fought, Zhao Cheng had no resources to repair dragon boats. If left in warehouse, they would be sabotaged by Zhen State’s agents. Instead, pulling them out now for last battle, due to “flowing water not rotting, door hinges not worm-eaten” principle, could still function on the field.
Note: Wu Xiao Que who once collected rabbit skins in Hao State, now high-price collects glaze jade and yellow pear wood, both materials on dragon boats.
In Hao Army camp, Zhao Cheng put on reading glasses looking at letters from Ji Prefecture families! Each letter seemed advisory, but Zhao Cheng knew if he retreated without battle, behind these letters was the threat “he could not stand here”.
…Family intrigue ruins frontline…
In the final stage of Wu Rui and Zhao Cheng’s decisive battle, Xuan Chong was still exerting with black hands. This level of using “agents” was step by step taught by Zhao Cheng.
For Xuan Chong, everything at Zhao Cheng’s Yuhuazhou was fully known. —Even already bribed Zhao Cheng’s madam family route. Yes, the condition to convince Zhao Cheng’s chief madam to leak outside was naturally this Zhao household chief wife hoping Wu Lu could marry Zhao family daughter as principal wife.
Hearing this condition, Xuan Chong really wanted to teasingly announce to Zhao Cheng: Brother Zhao, your family intrigue has reached me.
Zhao Cheng’s four madams from different interests, naturally in future for contending status, all would find external aid for their sons. After all, Ji Prefecture’s Yan Family now also sent Zhao Cheng a woman.
Xuan Chong through undercover network agreed to Madam Zhao’s request!
And why Madam Zhao willing to sell this batch of dragon boat intelligence? All because this dragon boat’s war machine engineers controlled by Ji Prefecture people.
Zhao Cheng’s chief madam did not want the dowry from that Ji Prefecture woman to affect her status.
As for Wu Lu’s side? Xuan Chong explained: “Zhao Cheng is the top hero under heaven, fair fight, even I am not his match; for such a top hero under heaven, using some means is worth it. As for the future, if I’m gone, leaving such a great enemy for you, I’m not at ease. I need to leave you a card, so he can’t tear face against you, and as long as you outlast his prime years, you win.”
Wu Lu was confused but accepted. These years Xuan Chong had been brainwashing him, also recognizing Zhao Cheng as top military system, both sides matched.
Xuan Chong added: “If she doesn’t love you later, you can depose her!”
Wu Lu looking at his old dad, hard to nod at this time. —Xuan Chong leisurely said: “This woman ah, if capable will make trouble. Once making trouble, you internally consume, if you want to shoulder future matters, don’t find women with strong natal families.”
…A great man constrained by others…
Great Lake battle, Wu Rui after getting intelligence, looking at opposite Zhao Cheng, murmured: “This really is not a crime of war.”
Behind Wu Rui, special cannons mounted on wooden ox and flowing horse were aimed at those floating dragon boats unfurling sails.
These cannons had very long barrels, cannon type. The projectiles fired were not round balls, but long-body shells, entirely golden yellow made of brass, able to launch heavier shells from smaller calibers, and runes engraved denser and easier.
Each shell cost ninety silver leaves, equal to three township soldiers’ compensation. Gold coin ammo.
With cannon fire, pale white runes flashed on brass shell exterior.
Driven by runes, brass shell began high-speed spin, stable trajectory. Dragon boat immediately hit, explosion erupted within.
Dragon boat’s simply repaired wooden planks all blasted away by internal shockwave, dozens of large holes exposed.
And on the other side, Zhao Cheng watching his sky boat hit by one cannon and crash into lake water, mouth agape. He originally knew these dragon boats badly damaged, but at least could block arrow rain projectiles, but opposite brought out those specific cannons obviously targeted!
Zhao Cheng’s gaze darkly scanned surroundings, clearly knowing his subordinate forces now collectively refusing new forces joining, demands to share the pie.
Next, the jade lions he brought also hit by one cannon, water splash reaching both shores.
Zhao Cheng silently announced withdrawal. Then dispatched Dragon Horse Regiment to release smoke over water, covering corps charge. But in this process, dragon boats due to difficult turning, eight sunk six.
On the position, Wu Rui with telescope, looking at floating dragon boats on lake surface, uncertain: “It’s over just like this?”
He was the first under heaven to defeat Zhao Cheng on frontal battlefield, but this victory felt empty. Ten years sharpening sword, not as satisfying as southern expedition times.
However in world’s eyes, Zhao Cheng was defeated. The myth on him ended by Wu Rui.
After Zhao Cheng’s this withdrawal, could only withdraw his elite four thousand; while peripheral other ten thousand civilian husbands could not be organized to withdraw! Withdrawal all signaling needed time, Zhao Cheng left very hastily.
Wu Rui signaled flags, having three B-grade corps waiting behind to capture Zhao Cheng’s abandoned civilian husbands. While his main force stayed put, if Zhao Cheng faked retreat then rifle, his main team could leave him behind.
Wu Rui now no longer wanted to “capture” Zhao Cheng, because as a general, he felt Zhao Cheng a bit too pitiful.
Clearly eight shichen later, after chasing escapees over mountains and wilds, Zhao Cheng really did not return, only bringing four thousand back.
Of course compared to Zhao Shanhe’s retreat with only a dozen riders, Zhao Cheng’s defeat was quite brilliant.
While Zhao Shanhe’s retreat was the norm for most defeated generals.
