Chapter 1267: Burdened by His Great Renown

The Elder had wanted to protect him. The man was, after all, a descendant of the Taishu clan. More importantly, he had not truly done anything wrong. The rearguard had been sent to die in the first place. Simply surviving had already been no easy thing; even if he had earned no merit, he had still suffered for the army.

But Gao Pin had spoken that plainly in front of all the generals. What could the Elder still say? If he insisted on shielding the man publicly, would that not chill the hearts of the commanders?

He could see what Gao Pin was doing. Gao Pin was killing the chicken to warn the monkeys, making an example not only for the generals but for the other cultivators as well. He wanted them all to see what happened to anyone who abandoned the commander he was assigned to protect and escaped on his own. Not even a descendant of the Taishu clan would be spared.

And there was nothing anyone could do about it. Once the matter was reported upward, the Emperor would not punish Gao Pin, and Qiyun Sect would not say a single word against him. If anything, they might fear Gao Pin would feel uneasy afterward and deliberately reassure him that he had done well—that military discipline ought to be enforced exactly this severely.

The defenses at Three Slopes were rebuilt.

Huyan Wuhen, meanwhile, waited for Gao Pin to exploit his victory and pursue.

Gao Pin did nothing of the sort.

After retaking Three Slopes, he showed not the slightest intention of pressing the attack. It did not matter that Qi's morale had fallen. It did not matter that the defeat had thrown Qi's formations and unit organization into confusion and sharply reduced their combat effectiveness.

Gao Pin simply crouched inside Three Slopes like a tortoise.

He sought no glory and no advance. He would hold the position and nothing more.

If Huyan Wuhen dared overextend himself again, then they could try it once more.

In the end, Huyan Wuhen withdrew.

He ordered every Qi army that had entered Wei to pull back in full and retreat all the way into Qi's own territory, making a strategic contraction.

Along the road, Huyan Wuhen deliberately exposed many openings, hoping to tempt Jin into attacking.

Gao Pin issued a death order instead.

Every defensive line was to hold its existing position. No one was permitted to chase after merit or launch an unauthorized attack. No matter how fat the meat before them looked, they were forbidden to bite.

Anyone who disobeyed would be executed.

Even when Qi's withdrawal yielded vast stretches of Wei territory, Gao Pin still refused to move into the vacuum and occupy them.

Qi's army was already far away, yet he still ordered Jin's troops to remain nailed to the defensive lines they had originally established. No one was allowed to move.

His caution was almost perverse.

In the end, even Jin's court could no longer stand watching.

Was this not excessive caution?

What kind of war was this? Gao Pin was behaving like nothing more than a turtle hiding inside its shell.

Quite a few officials in court criticized him and urged that he quickly seize the opportunity to occupy the abandoned lands.

Gao Pin endured the pressure without moving.

He simply maintained his original strategic discipline.

With Gao Pin behaving this way, Huyan Wuhen could only withdraw in frustration.

There was truly no opening for him to exploit. Gao Pin would not give him even the smallest opportunity.

That steadiness was comparable to Jin Jue, Han's Steady Marshal.

Only after Qi's forces had completely withdrawn into Qi and the two armies were separated by a great distance did Gao Pin finally give the order.

Jin abandoned its original defensive lines and marched north in full.

Without blowing away so much as dust, without losing a single soldier, Jin occupied all the territory Qi had abandoned in Wei.

That would come later.

For the moment, however, what Jin had won was a great victory—the Great Victory at Three Slopes, a triumph that sent the entire State of Jin into jubilation.

The two sides had concentrated a million troops around the mere battlefield of Three Slopes.

With three hundred thousand defenders, Gao Pin had held off the assault of an eight-hundred-thousand-strong Qi–Wei allied army and inflicted a crushing defeat upon it.

Jin's losses were fewer than twenty thousand.

The allied army lost more than two hundred thousand.

It was a textbook victory of the few over the many, fought beautifully.

Jin had even slain an enemy general and captured his banner.

The battle standard of the world-renowned Valiant Cavalry had fallen into Jin hands, and Huyan Wuhen's eldest son, Huyan Bao, had died in the fighting.

More importantly, the myth of the Valiant Cavalry's invincibility—a legend that had intimidated the Western Three States—had been shattered.

In a single battle, the Valiant Cavalry lost more than thirty thousand riders.

Wei's final one hundred thousand troops were almost entirely annihilated.

Fewer than one thousand survived.

By now, Wei existed in name only.

When news reached Jin, the entire state rejoiced.

Emperor Taishu Xiong was delighted when the Valiant Cavalry's battle standard arrived from the front. He had it hung openly in the imperial court.

So long as Qi remained unconquered, it would continue hanging there, a public humiliation to the State of Qi.

At the same time, he issued an order for lavish rewards to all soldiers who had fought at Three Slopes.

Yet for Gao Pin himself, the battle still contained regret.

He had created such an excellent opportunity, but failed to expand upon it.

By his estimate, Jin should have been able to destroy at least another one hundred thousand Qi troops.

But Huyan Wuhen truly deserved to be called a veteran of the battlefield. Experienced and steady, he had restored order among the collapsing troops in time and prevented the defeat from turning into a total rout.

Otherwise, Gao Pin really might have ordered a full pursuit then and there.

When news of the defeat reached Qi, the entire state fell into unease.

Even Huyan Wuhen had lost?

Even Huyan Wuhen's son had died in battle?

Could Qi still stop Jin's offensive?

Emperor Hao Yuntu's heart was heavy.

Faced with Huyan Wuhen's memorial accepting blame for the defeat, all Hao Yuntu could reply was:

"Victory and defeat are common affairs in war."

At a time like this, there was no possibility of punishing Huyan Wuhen.

Nor could they find anyone better to replace him.

Hao Yuntu also regretted matters somewhat.

He should not have pressured Huyan Wuhen to withdraw earlier.

But when Jin once again assembled a large army and began pressing toward Qi, the pressure Hao Yuntu received from his own court had been enormous.

The ministers' arguments could not be called unreasonable.

Jin was already threatening to enter Qi itself, while Huyan Wuhen remained in Wei locked in a stalemate with Gao Pin, unable to break through despite attacking for so long.

If he could not win, then what was he still doing there, stubbornly wrestling Gao Pin to the death?

Naturally, he should withdraw and return to defend Qi against Jin's offensive.

The wealth, families, and lives of the entire Qi court were all inside Qi's territory.

At a moment like this, with the threat of ruined homes and destroyed families before them, very few people could withstand the combined pressure of the entire court.

Huyan Wuhen held a massive army in his hands. If the situation collapsed, he himself would not be helpless.

But what were those officials supposed to do when they had no military forces of their own to protect themselves?

Once matters reached a certain point, Huyan Wuhen, stationed far away and thinking only of the greater military situation, could abandon many of them without hesitation.

At that stage, everyone would have to depend upon his favor.

No one would be able to do anything to him.

All they could do was beg him.

If he refused to save them, they would have no recourse whatsoever.

Naturally, they had to exert pressure while they still could.

Naturally, they had to force Huyan Wuhen to withdraw as soon as possible.

Once the court joined hands to pressure him, the supply of provisions and military grain alone immediately placed enormous pressure on Huyan Wuhen.

And the interests of Qi's three great sects were all rooted inside Qi as well.

That was another tremendous pressure.

Hao Yuntu could only pressure Huyan Wuhen in turn, urging him to retreat as quickly as possible and prepare within Qi for Jin's coming offensive.

Huyan Bao at least received treatment different from that of ordinary soldiers.

He had, after all, rendered no small amount of military service for Qi over the years.

Cultivators were dispatched to carry his body all the way back to the Qi capital, where he was buried with full honors.

The Huyan household entered mourning.

Huyan Wei, who was in the capital, was devastated by his elder brother's death. He cried until he nearly collapsed and petitioned the Emperor for permission to go to the battlefield and avenge him.

The Emperor refused.

The ministers refused as well.

To some of them, Huyan Wei was little more than a useless dandy.

When he had followed his elder brothers in putting down rebellions, he had only been tagging along beneath their protection.

Did he truly think that meant he could command troops and fight?

Personally leading an army against Gao Pin?

Was that supposed to be a joke?

Ministers from throughout the court went one after another to the Huyan residence to offer condolences.

Even Emperor Hao Yuntu came in person.

For Qi, this was absolutely not a good moment.

The defeat of Huyan Wuhen and the death of his son seemed like a heavy layer of gloom hanging over the entire state.

Even business in Qi's pleasure districts suffered.

The number of patrons dropped sharply.

Many people simply no longer had the mood for it.

Even those who did still wish to enjoy themselves had to restrain their behavior somewhat.

Qi had just suffered a major defeat. Going out to drown oneself in wine, luxury, and revelry hardly looked appropriate.

The Huyan Wuhen from the famous saying, "Yan has Shanming; Qi has Wuhen!" had actually suffered defeat?

The detailed circumstances of the Battle of Three Slopes immediately became a major subject for the militaries of every state to investigate and analyze.

So many people had taken part that the details could not remain hidden.

At the Provincial Inspector's residence in Nanzhou, inside the Hall of Martial Valor, Shang Chaozong stood before a map and stared for a long time at the terrain around Three Slopes.

Meng Shanming sat in his wheelchair, carefully reading the detailed intelligence report on the battle.

Only after a long while did he lower it onto the table beside him and sigh softly.

"This was a battle Huyan Wuhen should not have lost."

Shang Chaozong drew a deep breath. "I also don't understand what he was thinking. Such a long and narrow strip of ground, and mountain terrain besides, yet Huyan Wuhen actually used cavalry for a forceful assault. Even if he believed he could succeed, it was far too risky."

Meng Shanming sighed. "He had little choice. Gao Pin had worn his patience down, and the Qi court had also forced him into desperation."

Shang Chaozong asked for guidance. "How so?"

Meng Shanming said, "Qi concentrated a massive army inside Wei, and Huyan Wuhen himself personally commanded it. With a display like that, the expectations throughout Qi were simply too high."

"Yet he achieved no result and was driven back by Jin, forced to shrink all the way inside Qi's own borders."

"If even Huyan Wuhen could do nothing, while Jin was riding the momentum of destroying Wei, the blow to Qi's military confidence and morale would be enormous."

"How can Qi hope to defeat Jin as it now stands if the soldiers and people of Qi do not possess the will to fight to the death?"

"Put another way, before finding a favorable opportunity to withdraw, how could Huyan Wuhen retreat lightly?"

"If I were in his place, I would rather wait until Jin's western forces had entered Qi and use the unavoidable need to return and reinforce them as my reason to pull back."

"That would still be better than retreating under the name of a man who could not defeat Gao Pin."

"But Qi's main army was tied down outside its own territory, while Jin was pressing toward Qi itself."

"Your Highness, imagine how the Qi court would react."

Shang Chaozong said slowly, "Those people were afraid for their fortunes and lives. They would not care about all that. They would certainly urge Huyan Wuhen to withdraw."

"We had already heard rumors that the Qi court was pressing him to retreat. Then came sudden news that Jin had massed a great army to attack Qi. They must have put enormous pressure on him."

Meng Shanming nodded. "Huyan Wuhen and Gao Pin had been deadlocked for so long without either side acting recklessly."

"Could Huyan Wuhen really have failed to understand the danger of forcing an attack through Three Slopes?"

"If he did not understand, why would he have waited until now to attack?"

"Look at the defensive lines Gao Pin established."

"Only beyond Three Slopes does the terrain open into broad, level ground."

"Once Qi broke through there, it could fully exploit its strengths. It could attack or retreat at will and choose among three directions at any time to break through Jin's defenses, throwing Jin's entire posture inside Wei into chaos."

"If that situation developed, and Qi could beat Jin badly enough that Jin might even lose the fat prize of Wei, then Jin would inevitably have to reinforce this front."

"How would it still have enough strength to split off an army and attack Qi?"

"The danger to Qi would disappear, and the Qi court would naturally stop forcing Huyan Wuhen to retreat. Instead, they would have no choice but to support him with everything they had."

"Weighing all the gains and losses, while Gao Pin kept torturing him by hiding like a turtle and refusing to move, Huyan Wuhen was finally forced into taking a desperate risk."

"That was why he returned in bitter defeat."

"Of course, the scale of the defeat also had something to do with the fact that Huyan Wuhen and the Qi army under him were not skilled at mountain warfare."

"Huyan Wuhen was burdened by his great renown. Gao Pin, meanwhile, washed away his former shame in this battle and greatly raised Jin's morale."

"In the end, the greater momentum no longer lies with Huyan Wuhen."

"The changes in Wei have shifted it completely toward Jin. Jin can now strike on two fronts, while Qi is forced to patch one breach after another."

"Once momentum is lost, the battles ahead become difficult for Huyan Wuhen."

"Still, on the grasslands, Huyan Wuhen remains in his element. Jin will not find it easy to gain an advantage there."

"What worries me is that Gao Pin may have seen, from Huyan Wuhen's reckless advance this time, the weakness created by the restraints placed upon him."

"If Gao Pin has seen that weakness clearly, then Huyan Wuhen is in trouble."

Shang Chaozong turned back toward the map. "Gao Pin won, and Huyan Wuhen has already withdrawn far away, yet Gao Pin still refuses to leave his defensive lines. Rather interesting."

Meng Shanming said, "He's using Jin Jue's method. Advance steadily and fight securely. Everything rests on remaining steady. So long as he holds firm, the enemy may expose an opening. And sure enough, he found one."

As he spoke, Meng Shanming looked down at his own legs and rested a hand upon them.

Something seemed to have returned to his memory.

[End of Chapter 1267]