Chapter 31: General Who Conquers the West

Outside the camp, by the stream, the Huben warriors began to change their clothes and wash their armor and blood-stained garments. In the clearing, those with any semblance of status gathered for a council. Those not entitled to sit in the circle stood along the periphery to listen.

With Wang Zhi’s seat vacant, the eleven men representing the five bureaus and seven battalions sat in a circle. Wei Gu, the Gong Cao, forced himself to maintain his composure; to his left were Pei Xiu of the Fa Cao and Jia Kui of the Cang Cao; to his right were Wang Qi of the Qi Cao and Xue Ming of the Bu Cao.

As for the seven battalions, the first battalion commander, Zhao Ji, sat with his left flanked by Qi battalion commander Jia Tong, Che battalion commander Xiangli Bao, and the third battalion commander Jing Chun—these were the three Fen River units. To his right were the second battalion commander, Wang Fu, and the fourth battalion commander, Chang Mao. The fifth battalion commander’s seat remained empty. The fifth battalion was slated to be formed by Huben from two counties south of the Zhongtiao Mountains; they were still a long way off. Even the fourth battalion had only arrived from Duan’s County, and after the battle last night, they had pushed Chang Mao to be their commander. Thus, only eleven men were present at this meeting.

Once everyone had taken their seats, Pei Xiu spoke: "Since the camp was raided last night, Major Wang first sent messengers to request reinforcements, but the garrison at Jiangyi, harboring many concerns, refused to open the gates. After dawn, Major Wang went in person to borrow medical supplies and equipment, but he was intercepted by Tiefo Xiongnu cavalry and was forced to flee southward."

Jia Tong and Xiangli Bao listened to this explanation in silence. Just as Pei Xiu was about to elaborate further on Wang Zhi’s disappearance, he suddenly noticed Zhao Ji and the others across from him gazing fixedly into the distance. Pei Xiu turned his head to look and saw signal smoke rising from a hilltop west of Zijing Mountain, climbing steadily into the sky.

Jia Tong asked, "Could it be that Major Wang lit the fire as a warning?"

Zhao Ji reached out to steady himself on Jia Tong’s shoulder, stood up, and scrutinized the smoke: "Perhaps the Jishan bandits have arrived. Return to the camp and prepare for battle."

Wei Gu also stood up, watching the smoke, and asked with a frown, "Battalion Commander Zhao, is there any good news?"

"There is one thing: the Tiefo Xiongnu have seized the boats, so Xu Huang on the north bank cannot intervene for the moment."

Zhao Ji turned to Jia Tong and said, "Brother Wenzhen, lead the cavalry to escort the captives back to camp; I will provide cover here."

"Very well. We shall discuss the rest once we are inside the camp."

Jia Tong agreed, bowed to the others, turned, and mounted his horse. Taking the iron halberd handed to him by a fellow Huben, he gestured toward the mountain gully with his weapon: "Follow me!"

Zhao Ji then said to Wei Gu and Pei Xiu, "Big Brother, Seventh Brother, lead the others into the camp first; I will stay here to cover Brother Wenzhen."

"Understood." Wei Gu agreed, signaling for those nearby to withdraw.

Seeing the Huben soldiers gathering around, many still washing their armor and wearing everyday clothes, Zhao Ji surveyed them: "Those with armor, bows, crossbows, spears, or halberds, stay! The rest of you, hurry back to the camp and prepare for battle!"

"Understood!" A dozen Huben soldiers responded loudly, most of them being from Zhao Ji’s own unit.

***

At the signal fire on Zijing Mountain, the two piles of branches were soon consumed by flames, leaving only the fire visible as the smoke faded. Li Le arrived with over fifty cavalrymen, catching a glimpse of the Huben camp in the distance. Separated by seven or eight miles, he could see two or three hundred men, mixed with cavalry, retreating toward the camp without clear banners or formation.

After observing for a moment, Li Le turned his horse and declared, "The Xiongnu have invaded; the Huben camp has been devastated and scattered, with many taken captive. Report this to the Imperial Court immediately—the Zhiguan Pass is impassable!"

The accompanying court gentleman, Zhao Yan, reached out to block Li Le’s path: "We have not verified the facts; how can the General Conquering the West draw such a conclusion? In my humble opinion, there must be Huben who broke through the siege. We should inspect a few men and clarify the situation before reporting to the court."

"Does Lord Zhao think the newly formed Huben defeated the invading Xiongnu?" Li Le pointed to the two burning pyres, staring defiantly: "The mountain folk say there are over thirty Xiongnu cavalry here. If there are thirty scouts just for reconnaissance and signaling, imagine how large their main force must be!"

Li Le was himself rattled by this information. Seeing that his own riders were uneasy and unwilling to scout further, he lashed his horse lightly and led them down the mountain.

Only Zhao Yan and one rider remained. The rider helped Zhao Yan dismount: "My Lord, what Li Le said makes sense."

"Do not listen to his words. There are no fewer than seven hundred Huben; how could they be wiped out in a single battle!" Zhao Yan refused to believe Li Le’s deduction. Nearly sixty, his eyesight was fading, and he could not see the camp clearly at all. He panted, frustrated: "And there are the Yulin troops from Xihe; could they also have been attacked by the Xiongnu?"

Xihe Commandery was one of the six Yulin commanderies, and the governor, Liu Xuan, was actively recruiting new Yulin cavalry. This imperial guard force had already set out to join the Hedong Huben in protecting the Emperor.

The rider looked grim: "My Lord, the current situation already shows that the Baibo generals are colluding with the Xiongnu. How could these rebel generals sit idly by while the Huben and Yulin come to protect the Emperor?"

Zhao Yan refused to withdraw, standing on the ridge to gaze northward. Beside him, twenty paces away on the slope, two fires blazed. His thin, frail back looked as though he might collapse at any moment. Li Le led his cavalry down the mountain, joined his infantry resting on the road, and immediately turned southward.

Meanwhile, in the Jishan region west of Zijing Mountain, in a forest of cypress-covered cliffs, Wang Zhi lay prone, squinting as he watched the six or seven hundred men led by Li Le turn and wind their way south. Only when he was certain the army had withdrawn did he let out a long, weary breath. He crawled backward and rolled onto his back amidst the dry cypress needles and grass, feeling only hunger and dizziness.

His personal guard commander handed him a wheat cake. Wang Zhi took a bite and said, "I never expected that bunch—Pei the Seventh and Zhao the Younger—to be so fierce as to scare off the rebel general Li Le."

The guard commander crouched beside him and offered a waterskin: "Major, will Li Le just retreat like this?"

"If I were him, I would be in a difficult spot too." Wang Zhi took a drink and handed the waterskin back: "Without an imperial decree, he cannot mobilize troops to launch a full-scale assault on the camp. But if he retreats, what path is left for him?"

The Baibo army had already been severely battered by Li Jue and Guo Si; many veterans had scattered and dared not return. Although they had recruited and replenished some troops recently, with the Imperial Court nearby, these soldiers would not easily follow blindly. Even in the army Li Le led just now, nearly half were Hedong commandery troops. Without a clear imperial decree, Li Le could not force them to attack the Huben.

If the Emperor were to successfully secure the newly recruited Hedong Huben and Xihe Yulin, the Baibo generals would be as good as dead. If the Huben and Yulin were this dangerous, let alone Zhang Yang from Henei—if Zhang Yang’s troops joined the Emperor, the Baibo generals, with their rebel origins, would suffer an even crueler fate.

Zhang Yang’s background was quite clean; he had been a martial adjutant under the command of Ding Yuan, the Colonel of Martial Vigor. The Colonel of Martial Vigor was one of the three cavalry colonels, and he commanded the Henei cavalry camp. Fundamentally, Zhang Yang’s troops were part of the capital’s garrison. Amidst the chaos of the warring factions, Zhang Yang had remained in Henei and had not raided other commanderies—a point in which he was far better than the various factions in the east.

If not for the concern for the Emperor’s safety, the Hedong commandery troops could have dealt with the Baibo generals themselves. But what would happen afterward? If the Emperor stayed in Hedong and did not leave, and Li Jue and Guo Si led their armies into Hedong, what then?

Wang Zhi managed to satiate his hunger, his mind settling. The performance of the Huben last night had been so shocking that the Jiangyi garrison believed the Huben camp had already been overrun by the Xiongnu, and that the Xiongnu were merely trying to trick them into opening the gates. Even after dawn, when Wang Zhi brought men to call for entry, Colonel Ma Zhi refused to open the gates. Fearing that the Xiongnu night raid was only an advance party, Wang Zhi had simply taken a detour.

He had not expected to see the banners of the "General Conquering the West and Shepherd of Liang Province"—this was different from what he had anticipated. He had thought the first to arrive would be Han Xian, the "General Conquering the East and Shepherd of You Province," as his station was closest to Jiangyi. Li Le’s sudden appearance meant he had crossed Han Xian’s territory; either Han Xian was dead, or Han Xian had agreed to this operation.

Now that they had retreated, they could just as easily turn back and attack again. Should he return to camp? Returning with such high-level intelligence would be a satisfactory report. But if he just returned to Anyi like this, what would be left for him? Most of the Huben were younger sons or men of strength from their clans; was there any essential difference between him and those who had enlisted?

Gritting his teeth, Wang Zhi said to his men: "Li Le will certainly not give up easily; he is bound to return. In my view, he leads a motley crew and is no match for the Huben. I intend to return to camp—what do you all plan to do?"

The dozen guards fell into deep thought. Their mental burden was not as heavy as Wang Zhi’s. But as members of the Wang family’s private retinue, if they abandoned Wang Zhi and returned to Anyi, how would Wang Yi view them?