Chapter 689: Lost in a Fog

News that the defenders of the Hukou line had suffered another crushing defeat reached the River Defense Governor-General’s headquarters, stunning everyone from top to bottom.

They already knew they had fallen into Yan’s trap, but no one had expected the defeat to be so devastating. Of more than four hundred thousand troops, almost all had died. These were elite soldiers of Great Song, men capable of being sent to guard the state’s gateway in a war between nations. Yet they had been defeated so miserably, and so quickly.

“Xu Laiping died in battle...” Wu Qunlie held the battle report, raised his face toward Heaven, and gave a long sigh. Then he sank weakly into the chair behind his desk. “My fault. My fault.”

He knew the withdrawal order sent to Liao Nanqing and Xu Laiping had still come too late. Otherwise the defeat could never have been this terrible.

The enemy’s numbers had been limited. Even if the Song troops had fought desperately to break out, they could not possibly have lost this many men.

Only one explanation fit such catastrophic losses.

They had resolved to hold the Hukou defensive line to the death, determined to live or die with the position itself.

Wu Qunlie could imagine the final scenes at Hukou. Behind those soldiers lay their own state and their own homes. The men of Hukou had fought to the death to stop the enemy.

“My fault...” Wu Qunlie murmured repeatedly, tears glistening in his eyes.

The enemy had plainly planned everything with extraordinary care. The moment they seized the grain, they launched their attack. By the time news reached this headquarters and a response was sent back, the Hukou defenders were still carrying out their previous order: hold the line at any cost.

The Yan army had exploited precisely that gap in time.

One treacherous stratagem linked into the next. Every step Wu Qunlie took had fallen within the enemy’s calculations, and he had practically driven his own men into their trap with his own hands.

The moment Luo Zhao learned what had happened, he understood the position would be difficult to hold.

Wu Qunlie, by contrast, had reacted too slowly.

Had he recognized the danger sooner and decisively ordered a retreat, how could more than four hundred thousand elite troops have been annihilated?

He could blame neither those above nor those below.

He was River Defense Governor-General. He possessed the authority to make battlefield decisions. As the commander of an entire theater, he was supposed to withstand pressure.

Meng Shanming had withstood the pressure of the Yan court and insisted on attacking Song.

Luo Zhao had withstood the pressure of the Song court and insisted on advancing toward Yanjing.

A soldier must resolutely carry out military orders.

A commander, however, must have judgment of his own.

Battlefield conditions changed from one instant to the next. Those above could not know every development in time. A commander could not become a yes-man who merely echoed whatever order arrived from the rear. He had the authority to decide matters on the spot.

But he also had to bear the consequences of his decisions.

That was the meaning of the old saying: a general in the field does not always obey the sovereign’s command.

And so Wu Qunlie remained steeped in remorse.

He blamed himself for being too conservative and for failing to shoulder fully the responsibility that belonged to a commander.

...

Inside the main hall of a relay station along the road, no one spoke.

Luo Zhao stood before the map in silence, his eyes fixed upon it.

Behind him, the gathered men watched him quietly.

News had arrived of another catastrophic defeat at Hukou. Four hundred thousand elite Song troops were simply gone.

Everyone’s mood was heavy.

First, Yan had broken the Hukou defensive line with a surprise assault.

Then Yan had feigned defeat and deliberately yielded Hukou back to Song.

Finally, Yan attacked Hukou again and inflicted another devastating blow.

Meng Shanming had done nothing but make repeated use of a single Hukou defensive line, yet across those battles Song had lost six hundred thousand elite troops.

That was more than the number of Yan soldiers Song had destroyed since invading Yan.

How could anyone present feel anything but heavy-hearted?

After receiving the report, Luo Zhao had said nothing.

He blamed no one and cursed no one.

He merely stood quietly before the map.

A long time passed before he slowly exhaled and spoke in an even voice.

“Wu Qunlie should still have roughly one million four hundred thousand troops under him. Meng Shanming has at least more than two million five hundred thousand.”

“It is no longer advisable to clash head-on.”

“Send orders to Wu Qunlie. Abandon direct engagements. All river-defense forces are to shift completely to harassment and entanglement. Wear down Yan’s army!”

Earlier, after Hukou was first broken, Luo Zhao had already yielded one step. He had ordered Wu Qunlie to abandon the river-defense line and use Song’s overwhelming numerical advantage to annihilate the Yan troops that had crossed first. If that failed, only then were they to harass and entangle the enemy.

Now, after losing another four hundred thousand elite troops, Luo Zhao understood that Wu Qunlie was unlikely to be Meng Shanming’s match.

On top of that, Song had already lost so many men.

So Luo Zhao yielded another step without hesitation.

He abandoned any attempt at a direct offensive and went immediately to the final strategy: exhaust Yan’s army to death.

He could not grasp battlefield developments in real time from so far away.

Given the disparity between Wu Qunlie and Meng Shanming as commanders, Luo Zhao could only choose the safest strategy.

After a moment of silence, Wen You reminded him, “Grand Commander-in-Chief, a strategy of avoiding battle like this will be seen as weakness. It will draw enormous criticism at court.”

Luo Zhao kept his eyes on the map, his expression unusually calm.

“This battle proves that Meng Shanming truly deserves his reputation as one of the great generals of his age. Around a single Hukou defensive line, he produced stratagem after stratagem.”

“One can imagine what would happen in a direct confrontation. Wu Qunlie and the others are simply no match for him.”

“Unfortunately, I cannot immediately take a flying mount back to command the river defenses myself.”

“If I leave, once the court hears of the crushing defeat at Hukou, fear will make them order this army to retreat. With me gone, no one here will be able to withstand the pressure from court.”

“So I would rather choose the safer path.”

“As long as we win in the end, as long as final victory belongs to Great Song, then paying some price is acceptable.”

...

Yanjing.

Although news that Yan’s army had broken Song’s defensive line had already spread through the capital, there was no atmosphere of celebration.

Paper could not wrap fire forever.

Song’s army was drawing closer and closer to Yanjing. The truth could no longer be concealed.

So what if Yan’s army had broken through Song’s defenses?

Yan’s own capital was about to fall.

To many people, Shang Chaozong was sacrificing the interests of Great Yan for his own interests.

Under the deliberate spreading and provocation of certain people, the attitude of Yanjing’s commoners began to change.

Almost everywhere, people cursed Shang Chaozong and Meng Shanming.

Some practically called the two men traitors to the state and wished they could grind their bones to dust and scatter the ashes.

“Victory report!”

A weak voice sounded outside the Imperial Study.

The eunuch delivering the report understood the present atmosphere. Even the words “victory report” were spoken timidly, almost under his breath.

He entered carefully, holding the report in both hands.

Tong Mo, Shang Yongzhong, and Gao Jiancheng all looked toward Shang Jianxiong behind the desk as he read it.

Several disciples of the three major sects stood inside the Imperial Study as monitors, watching coldly from the side.

Ever since Shang Jianxiong had tried to mobilize the northern armies without authorization, the three sects had treated him this way.

Shang Jianxiong showed no expression after reading the victory report.

He passed it to Tong Mo and the others.

Only after the three had read it did they learn that Yan’s army attacking Song had once again annihilated nearly four hundred thousand elite enemy troops.

By all reason, this was a tremendous victory worthy of celebration.

Yet not one person inside the Imperial Study looked pleased.

Shang Yongzhong gave a cold snort.

“They merely piled up lives to obtain it.”

“During the forced river crossing, they drove the imperial court’s troops ahead as the vanguard and sent them to die.”

“Their hearts are punishable!”

Just then, Meng Xuan, Sect Leader of Lingjian Mountain, appeared outside the doors.

He entered without invitation.

After stopping inside the Imperial Study, Meng Xuan swept a cold gaze across everyone present. His eyes finally settled on Shang Jianxiong.

“Your Majesty, the army attacking Song has fought desperately and rendered merit. Why has the decree enfeoffing the two meritorious officers as Marquises still not been issued?”

Shang Jianxiong’s voice sank.

“Fought desperately?”

“They pushed the imperial court’s soldiers forward to die. In nothing more than crossing a river, nearly two hundred thousand court troops were lost in an instant, while the regional armies hid behind them preserving their strength.”

“The men who died belonged to the imperial court. The lives spent were the lives of the imperial court’s soldiers. Yet the ones who gain merit and rewards are men of the regional lords.”

“Is there such a principle beneath Heaven?”

Meng Xuan’s face remained expressionless.

“Your Majesty is speaking in anger.”

“What imperial court troops? What regional troops?”

“In the end, all of them are soldiers of Great Yan.”

“The men at the front are fighting in blood. They must be encouraged.”

“Issue the decree.”

The other man was clearly full of resentment, and explanations would accomplish nothing.

Meng Xuan had no interest in wasting words.

He simply forced the matter.

Gong Lince had given his word publicly at the front that an answer would come within three days.

Meng Xuan was the one holding the rear.

If he could not even settle a matter this small, would he not be undermining Gong Lince?

This was the very moment when every side needed to work together.

With no other choice, Shang Jianxiong finally issued the decree granting the Marquis titles.

...

Hall of Wind and Thunder.

This was one of Qi’s most important military centers. Unauthorized persons were forbidden to enter.

Supreme General Huyan Wuhen stood with his hands behind his back before a map.

At times he stared at it in thought. At others he paced slowly before it.

The map he studied was the one showing the Dongyu River between Yan and Song.

Recently, he had spent almost all his time here, waiting at any moment for new reports from that battlefield.

Knowing how closely he was following the war, one general entered at a brisk pace as soon as fresh intelligence arrived and presented the report.

“Supreme General, Song has suffered a crushing defeat at the Hukou defensive line. The provisions being sent to the Hukou defenders were seized by a Yan ambush force, and the defenders themselves were attacked from both inside and outside. Four hundred thousand troops were wiped out!”

Huyan Wuhen accepted the report.

After reading it carefully, he sighed and shook his head.

“They fought to the death without retreating. A pity. They underestimated their enemy.”

Then he looked up and asked, “Have we learned how the Yan troops who launched the surprise attack before the river crossing got across?”

The general replied, “Not yet. But sooner or later we will.”

Huyan Wuhen waved him away.

Once the man left, Huyan Wuhen returned to the map and continued studying it.

This was the matter he had been thinking over most recently.

Once one point in Song’s defensive line was broken, the entire river line loosened. Given that, the catastrophic defeat of the Hukou defenders did not particularly surprise him.

What truly interested him was the force Yan had secretly inserted across the river beforehand.

With Song maintaining such a meticulous defensive posture, how had Yan managed to slip such a large body of troops across unseen?

People beneath Heaven said:

“Yan has Shanming; Qi has Wuhen!”

Yet even Huyan Wuhen could not understand how Meng Shanming had done it.

According to the intelligence reports, Song’s forces themselves were still completely bewildered.

Even now, they had lost without understanding how.

The two men were famous throughout the realm in the same breath.

If Huyan Wuhen could not understand Meng Shanming’s method of war, he could not even sleep soundly.

He had spent night after night turning the matter over in his mind.

For a famous general of his generation to fail to understand another commander’s method was one thing.

To remain unable to understand it even after the battle was over was another.

When Emperor Hao Yuntu had asked him about the matter, Huyan Wuhen had been unable to give a coherent explanation.

How could he possibly feel at ease?

He remembered the strange look Hao Yuntu had given him, and the way the Emperor had seemed to want to speak but held back.

Huyan Wuhen could guess what he had wanted to say.

Only concern for Huyan Wuhen’s face had stopped him.

The memory left an unpleasant taste in his mouth.

...

The tent curtain lifted.

Luo Da’an emerged with a cultivator.

A group of people had been waiting outside.

Zhang Hu could not help asking, “Da’an, how is the Marshal?”

Luo Da’an nodded.

“The Marshal is awake. He asks everyone to enter.”

As they entered, Gong Lince asked the disciple who had just come out, “How is he?”

The disciple replied, “There is no longer any serious problem. He just took a spirit pill to replenish qi and blood.”

Gong Lince nodded slightly and entered the tent.

Xu Jingyue paused beside Luo Da’an.

“You are Luo An’s eldest son?”

He had only recently heard about this from Zhang Hu.

“Yes.” Luo Da’an inclined himself slightly. “Greetings, General Xu.”

Xu Jingyue looked back and gestured.

One of his generals stepped forward carrying a fine sword.

Xu Jingyue took it and offered it to Luo Da’an.

“Your father and I were old friends. This sword is quite good. Keep it with you for self-defense.”

[End of Chapter 689]