Chapter 686: Meng Shanming, You Old Bastard!

Meng Shanming did not remain in the tent long.

After obtaining, before everyone present, an accounting for the fifty thousand soldiers, he had Luo Da'an turn his wheelchair around and left. He showed no reaction at all to the crying behind him.

It was not that he was cold-blooded or heartless.

He had spent his entire life in war and had long grown accustomed to scenes like this. Many things were kept inside his heart now, no longer allowed to show openly on his face.

He understood why Sun Gaotian was crying.

Perhaps the only place capable of making men who had killed without blinking weep like that was a battlefield.

When they reached Zhang Hu's central command tent, the wheelchair went by habit straight to the hanging map.

Meng Shanming stared at it and asked, "How are the preparations at Jiangxia County? Cough, cough..."

Zhang Hu replied, "The troops have already set out. They hide by day and travel by night..."

Halfway through the sentence, his gaze dropped to the hand Meng Shanming had used to cover his mouth while coughing.

The sight made his blood run cold.

A streak of bright red lay across Meng Shanming's palm.

He had coughed up blood.

Zhang Hu's expression changed violently.

He rushed forward. "Marshal, what's wrong?"

Meng Shanming had intended to hide it, but it had already been noticed.

Gong Lince and the others came forward, took one look, and were shocked as well.

The war had reached this stage. Nothing could happen to this old man now.

Gong Lince himself became somewhat alarmed and personally examined Meng Shanming's condition.

Meng Shanming sighed. "It is nothing."

How could it be nothing?

At his age, he had barely closed his eyes for days. To arrange this campaign, he had truly exhausted his heart and blood. His body was close to collapse.

After examining him, Gong Lince quickly produced a medicinal pill and forced him to take it.

His voice was grave. "Marshal Meng, you are exhausted beyond measure. You cannot continue like this. You must rest."

He waved someone over and had Meng Shanming taken away by force.

Meng Shanming raised a hand, signaling them to wait.

Before leaving, he repeatedly instructed Zhang Hu, "Defeat is allowed. Victory is not!"

Zhang Hu's face was full of concern, but he nodded again and again.

"I understand, Marshal. Go rest. I will arrange everything here."

Meng Shanming took one of his hands and patted it.

"To avoid shaking military morale, do not let this spread."

Zhang Hu nodded.

He understood Meng Shanming was referring to the blood he had coughed up.

Meng Shanming was then taken to another tent.

Gong Lince assigned trusted disciples to use their arts to regulate Meng Shanming's breathing and condition. They even sealed several of his acupoints, forcing him rapidly into a state of rest.

After coming back out of Meng Shanming's tent, Zhang Hu asked Gong Lince, "Sect Leader Gong, is the Marshal all right?"

"There is no serious problem. He is old and has overworked himself until he is completely exhausted. I was careless not to notice earlier."

"Do not worry. With our help regulating his condition and enough proper rest, he should be fine."

Gong Lince sighed, then looked back and asked, "Song's river-defense forces are already moving this way. You will command here. There won't be any mishap, will there?"

Zhang Hu answered, "There will definitely be a mishap."

Gong Lince whipped his head around.

One eyebrow rose as he said coldly, "Are you joking with this Palace Master?"

"I am not joking," Zhang Hu replied. "You heard what the Marshal just said. Defeat is allowed. Victory is not."

Gong Lince stared for a moment.

After thinking it over, he remembered that Meng Shanming truly had said exactly that.

The concern over Meng Shanming's condition had broken his train of thought, and he had not grasped the meaning immediately.

He hesitated. "In other words, Marshal Meng has another plan?"

Zhang Hu nodded.

Gong Lince said, "Then explain it in detail."

Zhang Hu shook his head. "I cannot. A general gives the order. Soldiers execute it. There is no need to make the plan known to everyone."

Gong Lince gave a faint snort.

"What? You do not even trust me? Do you think I would leak military secrets?"

"This is not a question of whether I trust you," Zhang Hu replied.

"The lives of hundreds of thousands of men cannot be wagered on the word 'trust.' Battlefield plans are absolute secrets. Anyone military orders cannot bind is kept in the dark."

Displeasure appeared faintly on Gong Lince's face.

Even so, he did not force the matter.

If Zhang Hu refused to speak, Gong Lince did not dare do anything to him now.

...

After fresh rain in the empty mountains, mist still clung to a hilltop from which the course of the Dongyu River could be seen in the distance.

Niu Youdao accepted the message Guan Fangyi handed him, one transmitted by Gongsun Bu.

After reading it, he smiled faintly.

"Meng Shanming truly is Meng Shanming. Song's river defenses still couldn't stop him. He broke them in a single stroke."

"With him refusing to move for so long beforehand, even I was starting to become anxious for him."

He truly had been somewhat anxious before.

He knew the army's provisions were limited. He had even begun arranging for men to investigate the cultivators on the far bank, wondering whether he could start from them, subvert a few people, and have them secretly allow Yan troops across the river.

Who would have thought Meng Shanming would handle everything himself?

There was no need for Niu Youdao to trouble himself at all.

As for the casualties in the report, Niu Youdao had seen only broad numbers. He felt little of the actual horror of the battle and mainly felt the joy of victory.

He did not understand warfare.

He had not witnessed the battlefield with his own eyes.

There was genuinely no way for him to feel the blood and misery behind those numbers.

Guan Fangyi merely sighed.

"When great armies clash, human lives are no more than grass."

"A renowned general of his age... one general's success is built on ten thousand bleaching bones."

...

"My lord, the reinforcements have arrived."

The defeated Hukou defenders were resting in a mountain forest.

Xu Laiping sat slumped on a rock with his head hanging low. The morale of the troops around him was equally dispirited.

A rider came galloping in and joyfully delivered the news.

The commotion of an approaching army could already be heard in the distance.

Xu Laiping slowly raised his head and looked toward the road ahead.

Before long, a vast procession appeared.

Several dozen horsemen galloped out from the front of the formation and reined in before the resting troops.

At their head was Liao Nanqing, commander of the Qingqu garrison.

Sitting on horseback, he called toward Xu Laiping halfway up the slope.

"Brother Xu."

Xu Laiping came down the mountain.

When he reached the horse, he shook his head in anguish.

"The Hukou defensive line was lost. Even ten thousand deaths would not absolve Xu of blame."

"In the future, I must ask Brother Liao to look after my wife and children in the capital."

Liao Nanqing jumped down from his horse and took him by the arm.

"Brother Xu, there is no need to be so dispirited."

"The Governor-General has ordered us to combine our forces and retake the Hukou defensive line before Xu Jingyue's troops can cross."

"This is precisely your chance to atone through merit. You should pull yourself together immediately."

"So long as we retake Hukou, at worst Brother Xu will be demoted a rank. Your family will still be yours to care for. Why entrust them to someone else?"

There was no time for lengthy talk.

Xu Laiping could not shirk battle either.

He could only force himself to rally.

The two forces joined and immediately began another forced march toward the Hukou defensive line.

Xu Laiping was returning for another fight.

...

Song's great army deep inside Yan continued driving straight toward Yanjing.

Its momentum remained like splitting bamboo. The scattered harassment by small forces from local provinces and prefectures was no more than an itch. It could not stop Song's advance in the slightest.

Beside the road, Luo Zhao had already dismounted.

Both hands gripped the saddle as he stood with his head lowered.

His whole body seemed to be trembling. The white cloak draped over him shook visibly, and his fingers had tightened until the knuckles were bloodless.

Several people beside him passed around the battle report from Song's river defenses.

The Hukou defensive line had been broken by Yan in a single stroke.

Every face there was ugly.

An earlier report had said that a large number of Yan troops had suddenly appeared behind the Hukou line and attacked the grain depot.

At the time Luo Zhao had already concluded that there could not truly be a large Yan force there. He had urgently sent back instructions warning the defenders against falling into a trap.

Who would have thought that before his message could even reach them, the report that Hukou had fallen would arrive first?

"When did our river defenses become paper, to tear apart at a single poke?"

Luo Zhao suddenly drove a fist into the saddle.

The startled horse shied sideways with a neigh.

"Wu Qunlie, you fool. You deserve death!"

The horse had moved away.

Luo Zhao covered his face with both hands and turned it toward Heaven.

When he lowered his hands, he shook his head hard, his expression savage.

"Meng Shanming, you old bastard!"

He could not believe it.

He truly could not believe Meng Shanming had broken the river-defense line so quickly.

It had not even bought Luo Zhao enough time to reach Yanjing.

He desperately wished the news were false.

But he knew it could not be.

Su Yuanbai shook the report in his hand, his face cold.

"According to this, the river defenses were broken in only four to six hours. How is that possible?"

Dong Yinglai added, "How did the Yan troops attacking from behind cross the river?"

"Cultivators along the river maintain overlapping patrols. With so many men crossing, it should have been impossible for them not to notice."

"Could someone have been bought and secretly let them through?"

Wen You frowned. "The people at the river defenses are confused themselves. Even now, they still have not figured out how the enemy slipped that many troops across."

Luo Zhao shook his head weakly.

"Those days when Meng Shanming sat motionless were probably spent making secret preparations for the crossing."

That was as much as he could infer.

He had no idea that Meng Shanming had watched the signs of Heaven and waited for the heavy rain, surveyed the terrain and selected Rolling Dragon Gorge, then chosen brave men willing to stake their lives to force the crossing.

Only after bringing every factor together had Meng Shanming shattered the Hukou defensive line in one stroke.

The victory looked effortless from afar.

This side had no idea how much thought and blood Meng Shanming had poured into it.

Who could have imagined that he would force a crossing of a natural barrier precisely when the river was swollen and the current most violent, at the very moment everyone believed crossing least possible?

Chang Fei said, "Grand Commander-in-Chief, matters have reached this point. The court will certainly be shaken. I fear they will urge us again to turn back and reinforce the river line."

"If we turn back, we fall straight into Meng Shanming's treacherous plan," Luo Zhao said.

"We would relieve the pressure on Yanjing for him."

"Besides, our army is already this far from the Dongyu River. It is too late to go back now."

"That bastard Jin Jue is infuriating."

"All we can do now is race Meng Shanming for time. We must first induce Han to send troops."

"Once Yan is on the verge of destruction, its three major sects will panic. Only then will they force Meng Shanming to return at any cost."

"Wu Qunlie, Wu Qunlie... you couldn't even buy me that little time!"

He struck his fist into his palm in fury.

"Once one point in the river-defense line is broken, the entire line is loosened. Yet that fool Wu Qunlie is still trying to plug the gap by feeding in reinforcements piecemeal."

"Fighting in small detachments, does he think he is a match for that old thief Meng Shanming?"

"Foolish!"

"He should concentrate overwhelming force and crush the enemy!"

Wen You sighed.

"That cannot really be blamed on him."

"Without orders from above, how would Wu Qunlie dare loosen the defensive line? A decision like that could cost him his head. He cannot bear such responsibility."

Luo Zhao said, "Send an urgent message to Wu Qunlie immediately."

"Tell him that now the defensive line has been breached, there is no longer any need to defend it as before."

"If the rest of Yan's forces want to cross the river, let them cross."

"He need only concentrate his main strength and use the strong to crush the weak, destroying each enemy force in turn."

"If he cannot wipe them out completely, that does not matter either. Destroy as much as he can."

"Meng Shanming is short of provisions and already a spent crossbow bolt."

"All Wu Qunlie needs to do is cling to Meng Shanming's rear, mixing feints with real attacks, and deny him any chance to obtain grain."

"Before long, he can exhaust Meng Shanming to death!"

Wen You committed the order to memory and quickly left to transmit this major strategic deployment to Wu Qunlie.

"Ah!"

Luo Zhao suddenly raised his face and sighed.

He spoke almost to himself.

"If Meng Shanming wants to accomplish anything inside Song, he must destroy the main strength of our river-defense army."

"Otherwise, once those troops latch onto his heels, the condition of Yan's grain supply cannot withstand the strain."

"Let us hope."

"Let us hope Wu Qunlie does not become muddleheaded again."

"Otherwise, if Meng Shanming turns around and holds the river defenses against us, I fear our army may not even be able to return."

"And the grain crisis now burdening Yan's army may end up falling upon our own heads instead."

[End of Chapter 686]