Chapter 305: The Waves Wash Away (IV)

Along the Yupan City stretch of the Wang River, once word arrived that Deng Jiuru’s upstream force had successfully crossed, Li Bao’s formation began launching even fiercer attacks on the opposite bank under the First Prince’s orders, both to coordinate with the left wing and to keep pressure on the enemy.

Wave after wave of Zhenbei soldiers boarded boats and drove toward the far shore.

Arrows fell like rain from both sides.

Across the river, overturned boats and floating corpses could be seen everywhere.

A natural barrier was still a natural barrier.

Before a great river, Yan’s iron cavalry lost the sharpness it usually possessed.

Even the Zhenbei Army was no exception.

No wonder the State of Qian had gone to such enormous lengths to dig the Bian River artificially from the Qian River in order to protect its own capital.

Even so, the Zhenbei Army remained one of the finest elite forces beneath Heaven.

Without horses, its morale and ferocity were still enough to call every soldier a hardened veteran of the age.

More than once, Zhenbei troops had successfully forced their way onto the opposite bank.

Each time, they immediately attempted to form ranks and establish a position so the following units could land behind them.

But every previous effort had failed.

The rebel counterattacks had simply been too fierce.

The Yan troops could never hold the shoreline long enough, and every attempt ended with all their effort wasted.

It was much like attacking a city.

Wave after wave.

Seize a point, then use that point to tear open the whole.

This time, however, several Yan cavalry detachments that had secretly crossed during the previous days suddenly struck from another direction on the eastern bank under the First Prince’s orders.

The rebel formation immediately fell into disorder.

At last, a unit of more than five hundred men successfully landed from boats and stabilized its position.

The Zhenbei Army then began ferrying more men across.

On the rebel side, morale finally started slipping beyond control.

They could no longer organize suicidal troops the way they had before to drive the Yan soldiers back into the river.

First, the sudden appearance of Yan cavalry behind their lines placed enormous psychological pressure on them.

Second, the rebel army was still largely made up of miscellaneous forces gathered from every direction.

Only a minority were truly elite.

And that small elite core had already been largely consumed in the earlier fighting at the riverbank.

Once the spine disappeared, the remaining rebel troops quickly began sagging.

“Your Highness, looks like it isn’t only the left-wing army.

“We’re about to break through here too!”

After watching another group of boats land eight hundred armored soldiers on the far bank, Li Bao could no longer suppress his excitement.

He walked over to the First Prince and spoke.

A man born in the north, a killer who had spent his life roaming the desert, was fighting a damned river battle for the first time in his life.

This Wang River had nearly driven Li Bao insane.

But now, at last, the breach had been torn open.

The savage main force was not here either.

Taking the opposite bank had become only a matter of time.

And to a certain extent, taking the opposite bank meant successfully crossing the river.

Successfully crossing the river meant Yupan City would be within reach.

The reason was simple.

Yupan City was not far away.

The rebels—the little court Situ Yi had created under savage support—would naturally station their main army along the river to stop the Yan crossing.

They were not stupid enough to keep their troops on the city walls and simply wait for the Yan army to cross first, then attack or besiege the city.

Which meant

Yupan City itself was probably almost empty.

The scales of victory had already been dragged downward in their favor.

Heaven’s Mandate belonged to Yan.

How could Great Yan possibly lose?

The First Prince drew a deep breath.

He was young, after all.

At a moment like this, even he could not completely suppress his excitement.

The left-wing army’s main force should already have crossed upstream.

If they broke through here as well, then the Wang River line would be ripped apart completely.

Once Yupan City fell, the terrain all the way to the easternmost reaches of Dacheng was basically open plain.

Whether the savages chose to fight or retreat, Ji Wujiang could handle them much more comfortably.

Great Yan’s army was still at its most magnificent on horseback.

That was how it fought best.

More importantly, once Situ Yi’s false court disappeared, the savage army—an outsider force on this land—would lose every source of local support.

And then, a mounted messenger came racing in.

“REPORT!

“Chu warships have appeared upstream and severed the river!”

What?!

The First Prince and Li Bao looked at one another.

Shock filled both men’s eyes.

Chu?

Why were Chu people here?

How could Chu a state currently tearing itself apart in an imperial succession struggle possibly appear here?

“REPORT!

“The savage main force has launched a surprise attack on the left-wing army camp!”

“REPORT!

“The left-wing army camp is locked in fierce battle!”

“Motherless bastards!

“So that’s what this is!

“No wonder we haven’t seen the savages around here!

“Their main force was upstream!”

Li Bao cursed furiously.

His chest rose and fell.

The appearance of Chu’s fleet had completely shattered the rhythm and layout of the battlefield.

It introduced an enormous unknown.

Li Bao was a veteran commander.

When it came to actual experience leading troops in battle, he possessed far more than Deng Jiuru, despite being younger.

If the isolated force upstream had been Zhenbei soldiers, that would have been one thing.

Zhenbei armored troops had spent years fighting desert barbarians.

Even while sleeping, they were accustomed to keeping one hand on their saber hilts.

If the Jingnan Army obeyed orders because the Marquis of Jingnan enforced discipline with an iron hand, then the Zhenbei Army obeyed because battle in the desert had carved that instinct directly into their bones.

During the southern invasion of Qian, Li Fusheng—as commander of an entire formation—had dared throw himself personally into the Assault Battalion and rampage with the front line.

He could do that because even without him directing every movement, the units beneath him knew how to coordinate and fight.

But what in the hell was the left-wing army?

Military bosses everywhere.

This family had a Chief Commander.

That house had an Assistant General.

One family was tied to another through marriage.

Another two had been feuding for generations.

If the First Prince had not entered Yingdu and forcibly rectified the left wing, those bastards could even start fighting one another over how grain and supplies were divided!

Li Bao did not even need to imagine what kind of chaos those men would have been in just after crossing the river.

And if the savage main force hit them at precisely that moment...

The result...

More importantly, Chu’s fleet had severed the river.

The left-wing army’s main force that had crossed had no way to retreat.

And reinforcements could no longer reach them.

The left-wing army had become an isolated force.

“Your Highness?”

Li Bao looked toward the First Prince.

At a moment like this, the decision had to come from him.

It was not that Li Bao was throwing the burden upward.

Nor was he afraid to take responsibility.

But for the Yan army now facing this suddenly chaotic Wang River battlefield, there were only two choices.

First: sound the gongs and withdraw.

The left-wing army could only rely on its own fate.

On Deng Jiuru’s fate.

Since Yan entered Dacheng, there had never been a true large-scale clash with the savages.

The savages had also avoided battle throughout the early stages, clearly preserving their strength.

And back during the era when the three great clans divided Jin, both the Situ Clan and Helian Clan had occasionally gone out to beat on the savages.

Add Tian Wujing’s famous expedition, where he had taken only thirty thousand cavalry and swept the snowfields, and men like Li Bao had inevitably underestimated savage combat strength.

Deng Jiuru’s side...

As long as they defended properly, they should be able to hold, right?

They were still troops of Great Yan.

Surely the savages could not smash them apart in one stroke?

The second choice continue attacking here with everything they had.

Forget whether Chu’s fleet existed.

Forget whether it came or went.

Break through this sector.

Take Yupan City.

The entire battlefield could be reversed again at once.

In fact, once both banks of this river sector were held by Yan, then no matter when Chu’s fleet had secretly slipped upstream as long as it remained here instead of escaping those warships would eventually have to take the surname Ji.

There was also another reason

Li Bao could not say aloud.

The Emperor had clearly sent the First Prince into Dacheng with these regional military bosses because he intended to absorb and reorganize them and their troops.

If one dared speculate even farther then if necessary, consuming them away would also be acceptable...

The First Prince’s eyes narrowed.

He looked at Li Bao.

Li Bao looked back.

Their gazes locked.

Then the First Prince immediately turned toward the messenger beside him.

“Find out where Chu’s fleet is moving!”

“Yes!”

The First Prince drew his saber.

His voice dropped into a growl.

“I, Ji Wujiang, am commander of the Eastern Expedition.

“I will never stand by and watch my fellow soldiers die without aid!”

Li Bao lowered his head.

He saluted with one fist.

He understood.

“Li Bao!”

“This general is here!”

“Bring my personal guard battalion forward!

“I will board the boats myself!

“We will seize the far bank!

“This battle is not lost!

“As long as we take the bank— as long as we take Yupan City the battlefield remains under our control!”

Li Bao immediately answered, “Your Highness, that is too reckless!

“This general will personally make the assault!

“Please remain in command.

“You are commander-in-chief.

“Nothing can happen to you!”

“My mind is made up.

“No more discussion.

“You and I both understand.

“With Chu’s fleet lying across the Wang River, if we fail to seize the opposite bank now then once those ships continue downstream and sever this sector too—

Yupan City will become impossible to take.

“The left-wing army must be saved!

“No matter whether Deng Jiuru can hold or not— even if he does hold if our army cannot cross to support him, the left wing cannot survive for long!”

The First Prince raised his saber.

With one cut, he severed the cloak from his shoulders.

Then he roared:

“PERSONAL GUARD BATTALION!

“BOARD THE BOATS WITH ME!”

“WE OBEY!”

“WE OBEY!”

Surrounded by his personal guards, the First Prince reached the riverbank, boarded a boat, and took up an oar himself.

They began crossing.

Li Bao chuckled twice.

He stopped trying to block Ji Wujiang.

When one stripped away all the recent changes, it was really just that the lives of Ji Clan men had become slightly more valuable these past years.

Back in earlier generations, forget princes even a Ji emperor could die in battle.

Who could say otherwise?

Li Bao had told the First Prince aloud not to risk himself.

But as a military man, his blood was already surging.

Li Bao belonged to the Zhenbei Army.

Back when the Marquis of Zhenbei and the Emperor had been staging their political drama, men beneath them had more than once fantasized about marching into Tiancheng Commandery, taking Yanjing, dragging the Emperor from the Dragon Throne, and putting their own Marquis there instead.

Even later, before the Commandery Princess’s marriage to the Crown Prince had been settled, that fantasy had not entirely died.

Only after the Marquis of Zhenbei voluntarily began dividing the Zhenbei Army did everyone finally understand.

Their Marquis truly did not intend to rebel and seize the realm.

Only then did those thoughts settle.

Now, looking at Ji Wujiang again fine.

Good.

A Ji Clan man still had hot blood in him.

Not too disappointing.

The thought passed through Li Bao’s mind.

Then he shouted:

“ASSAULT BATTALION!

“BOARD THE BOATS WITH THIS GENERAL!”

“General!

“First Highness already went!

“If you go too, who commands this side?”

Assistant General Sui Yuanyi hurriedly tried to stop him.

He was Li Bao’s son-in-law and one of Li Bao’s most trusted officers.

“You handle it yourself!

“If we cannot take Yupan City, this battle is already finished!”

Chu’s fleet had severed the river.

After this fleet appeared, every future Yan crossing attempt would become several times harder.

The Yan army could not conjure a navy from thin air.

At the same time, the left-wing army might very well be lost.

That would directly alter the entire strategic situation in Dacheng.

No matter how mediocre the left wing was, it still consisted of regular Yan troops.

It might not match the Zhenbei Army or Jingnan Army, but if the Eastern Expedition suddenly lost tens of thousands of soldiers, how in the hell were they supposed to keep fighting afterward?

“ASSAULT BATTALION!

“BOARD!”

By now, the second wave of crossing boats had arrived.

Under Li Bao’s order, the armored soldiers of the Assault Battalion began boarding.

Each of the Zhenbei Army’s six commands possessed one Assault Battalion.

They were the elite core of each command.

Whenever the fighting became brutal, the Assault Battalion always served as the spearpoint.

At this point, Li Bao was burning the boats behind him in spirit.

If they failed to break the far-bank line if Yupan City could not be taken then everyone might as well prepare to kneel before His Majesty and ask forgiveness.

...

The First Prince’s personal guard battalion had already reached shore.

Before his arrival, the Yan troops holding the landing zone had pushed the front outward a considerable distance.

Now that the First Prince himself had landed, the Yan troops not only received another wave of reinforcements their morale surged violently.

On the opposite side, the morale of Dacheng’s rebels collapsed almost instantly.

There was a reason commanders throughout history often wore bright, distinctive armor.

A commander was the courage of an army.

The soul of an army.

To use an imperfect comparison when men fought amid chaos and blood, their emotions fluctuated violently.

In those moments of confusion and fear, catching sight of their commander could genuinely feel like a lost child suddenly seeing his parents.

That was why, throughout ancient cold-weapon warfare across different civilizations, commanders wearing distinctive armor became nearly universal custom.

When Tian Wujing led troops into the snowfields, he had needed no speech.

He simply placed himself at the very front of the charge.

The effect on his cavalry’s morale was terrifying.

Of course, General Zheng of Shengle City out of deep concern for the safety of all the Demon Kings had regretfully abandoned that particular privilege of commanders showing off.

The rebel troops on the shore saw the First Prince as well.

There was really no way not to.

Both the First Prince and his personal guards wore armor far too bright and distinctive to miss.

The enemy commander the legendary Yan prince leading the entire expedition had personally landed and entered the fight.

Yet their own Emperor was nowhere to be seen.

Everything became cruelest when comparison appeared.

“YAN ARMY!

“HEAR MY ORDER!”

The First Prince raised his long saber and roared.

“PRESS FORWARD ONE HUNDRED PACES!”

With the addition of the personal guard battalion, the Yan line began driving forward at full strength.

It was an almost unreasonable advance a brutal push by sheer force.

The Dacheng rebels along the bank still resisted.

But the resistance became weaker and weaker.

They possessed more men than the Yan force already ashore.

But in morale, they could no longer compare.

As the Yan soldiers pushed forward, fleeing rebels began appearing.

And rout was contagious.

More and more soldiers started running.

If reinforcements had arrived for the rebels at that moment, perhaps the line could still have been stabilized.

But clearly, Yupan City had no more troops left to send.

The First Prince understood this perfectly.

If the savage main force was upstream, then this sector had to be empty.

As long as they endured, fought through, killed through they would eventually tear the line open!

Originally, he might still have cared about casualties.

He might have wanted to consume the Wang River defensive line using the safest, cheapest method possible.

But now, they had no choice except a desperate gamble.

Fortunately it worked.

After another brutal round of fighting, the First Prince reached up and yanked an arrow from a gap in the armor near his shoulder.

Then he wiped blood from his face.

At that moment, Li Bao’s Assault Battalion also landed under Li Bao’s personal command.

The arrival of fresh elite troops destroyed the final bit of resolve remaining in the Dacheng army.

From commanders to ordinary soldiers, the rebels began fleeing.

Li Bao fought with one arm and one saber, enjoying himself immensely.

But he still remembered the real purpose.

He quickly made his way to the First Prince.

“Your Highness!

“You all right?”

The First Prince shook his head.

He placed one hand on Li Bao’s shoulder.

“Keep advancing.

“Take Yupan City!”

The riverbank defensive line had already broken.

Now they had to seize Yupan City in one continuous push.

They could not stop and wait for more troops to cross.

Because if they did not take the city now and establish it as a strongpoint, Chu’s fleet might soon come downstream and sever this section of river as well.

With Yupan City as support, they could coordinate with the isolated left-wing army upstream.

Chu’s fleet would no longer be able to cut the river so freely.

The First Prince even dared imagine using the left-wing army as one point and wrapping around to trap the savages instead.

He was a prince of Yan.

That kind of boldness was not something he lacked.

“REORGANIZE!

“DO NOT PURSUE THE ROUT!

“FOLLOW THIS COMMANDER DIRECTLY TO YUPAN CITY!”

...

On the narrow tributary flowing toward Yupan City, the pleasure boat continued drifting.

But now, with rebel soldiers fleeing from the riverbank appearing constantly along the roads on both sides, servants finally emerged on the boat and began rowing harder toward the city.

The Eighth Prince of Chu had only gone to urinate once.

The Swordsmith of Chu let out a long sigh.

“The Yan people truly are fierce.”

It was something one had no choice but to admit.

And it had been proven more than once already.

This time, he had merely witnessed it personally.

The Eighth Prince nodded.

“Yes.

“That is precisely why Fourth Brother decided to cooperate with the savages.

“If we simply sit and watch while Yan devours all the lands of the Three Jin, then once the Yan people truly occupy the north and look south from high ground they can strike Qian whenever they wish, and Chu whenever they wish.

“With the sharpness of Yan’s iron cavalry, and after absorbing the cavalrymen of the Three Jin, Great Chu would be reduced to defending forever.

“We would have no strength left to strike back.”

“I understand the reasoning.

“But after this, my friendship with Yu Huaping is probably completely finished.

“Ah.”

Everyone beneath Heaven knew that the Sword Saint of Jin and the Swordsmith of Chu were close friends.

The Swordsmith had forged Longyuan for the Sword Saint.

And with a single line of praise, the Sword Saint had elevated the Swordsmith into the ranks of the Four Great Swordsmen.

“It is strange, though.

“Great Xia has been dead for eight hundred years.

“What in the world is inside that Sword Saint’s head?

“He still thinks of himself as a remnant subject of Great Xia rather than a man of Jin.”

“One who holds a sword throughout his life must have something he chooses to uphold.

“I actually think that if Fourth Highness had possessed another choice, he would not have wanted to ally with the savages either.”

“What are savages?

“Nothing more than a pack of wild dogs.

“Once this battle pins the Yan people at the Wang River and buys Great Chu—and Fourth Brother—the time we need, then sooner or later, the lands of Dacheng will belong to Great Chu.”

“That Savage King is no ordinary figure.

“If it were possible, I truly would have preferred killing him while he was still on this boat.

“If the Yan people are tigers, then perhaps the savages will become wolves in the future.

“Your Highness must not underestimate them.”

“I understand.

“After this battle, I will definitely explain that Savage King carefully to Fourth Brother.”

“Then I can relax.”

The Swordsmith suddenly turned toward the men rowing the boat.

“Faster!

“Can’t you see the Yan people are already chasing us?”

“Master seems rather frightened,” the Eighth Prince said curiously.

“Could the rumors actually be true?

“You truly do not know martial arts?”

“A sword is most terrifying while still inside its sheath.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Because then you can bluff people with it.”

“Oh.

“I understand a little now.”

“Whether you understand or not is no longer important.”

“Hm?”

“Because if Qu Tiannan does not come out soon, the Yan people are going to capture us alive.”

...

Several thousand Yan soldiers, led personally by the First Prince and Li Bao, chased the fleeing rebels straight toward Yupan City.

At this point, using the rout to seize the city in one stroke seemed almost certain.

The Yan troops were already exhausted.

But their will remained firm.

The crossing and battle had come too quickly for warhorses to be ferried in sufficient numbers, so nearly all of them were fighting on foot.

Even so, they wanted only one thing take the city in one blow!

Then, just as Yupan City’s walls finally came into view the city gates opened.

From within, rows of soldiers in azure armor began marching out in perfect order.

They seemed endless.

Axemen.

Spearmen.

Crossbowmen.

Heavy infantry.

One formation after another left the gates and immediately formed battle lines outside the city.

Their banners were azure.

A phoenix had been embroidered upon them.

The color of their armor.

The emblem on their banners.

Together, they revealed their identity.

The Azure Luan Army of Great Chu elite infantry controlled by Chu’s great Qu Clan.

Then, a middle-aged commander riding a white horse slowly emerged from the city gates.

An azure bird stood on his shoulder.

“Qu Tiannan of Great Chu has been waiting here for the First Prince of Yan for quite some time.”

[End of Chapter 305]