Chapter 823: Into the Trap!

Xie Zhuyang sat atop the gate tower drinking tea.

And what he was drinking was none other than the tea Prince Pingxi of Yan adored above all others, the tea he would inevitably name whenever anyone brought up the Way of Tea:

Daze Xiangshe.

Xie Zhuyang was head of the Xie Clan and one of Great Chu’s Four Pillars of State.

His clan might not have ranked among Great Chu’s Four Great Noble Houses, but in terms of accumulated foundation and inherited wealth, it stood above rather than below those great houses.

There was only one reason.

Low profile.

A clan head who dared call the Emperor of Chu “Old Fourth Xiong,” a man who had nearly raised troops against the Xiong clan two years earlier, was not some fool with a broken brain.

He simply possessed the confidence to do it.

In truth, the Xie Clan was not so different from Jin’s Helian Clan.

The Helian line carried Savage blood as well. According to legend, when the Marquis of Jin first opened the Jin lands and drove out the Savages, one of the earliest great Savage generals to submit beneath his banner had become an ancestor of the Helian Clan.

The Xie ancestors had not originally been Shanyue, but as one of the earliest great noble houses enfeoffed along Chu’s southern frontier, the Xie Clan had begun intermarrying and assimilating with local Shanyue people very early.

Back then, Fifth Prince Xiong Tingshan had nearly become a pariah merely for marrying a Shanyue woman.

The Xie Clan had been doing the same thing for centuries.

The Shanyue tribes of Wutong Commandery had always resisted fiercely, which was precisely what gave Xiong Tingshan the foundation from which he rose.

The lands held by the Xie Clan, by contrast, had remained far more peaceful.

The local Chu people regarded the Xie Clan as their own.

The Shanyue regarded them as their own as well.

Only after the present Emperor of Chu ascended the throne did he begin removing restrictions on the hundred Shanyue tribes, hoping to draw their strength into the service of the Chu court.

The Xie Clan had quietly been doing that for a very, very long time already.

Years ago, after Qu Tiannan threw away the main strength of the Azure Luan Army beneath Yupan City, the Qu Clan had still been able to organize another Azure Luan Army almost immediately and hand it to Young Master Qu Peiluo to throw away again.

That alone revealed just how terrifying the accumulated strength of a great clan inherited across centuries could become.

Of course, there was another way to understand the depth of the Xie Clan.

If Prince Pingxi were standing here and saw Pillar of State Xie drinking cup after cup of Daze Xiangshe while becoming more and more energetic... he would probably conclude:

What the hell, has this bastard drunk so much of it that he’s developed resistance?

The father drank tea.

The son lay on his stomach having medicine applied.

“Dad, it’s good that you came.”

“Why?”

“Back at Zhennan Pass, I wouldn’t have felt safe with you there. Great Chu has already lost three Pillars of State to Prince Pingxi. I was genuinely afraid you’d end up folded there too and complete the set for a full bamboo-tile table.”

Xie Zhuyang nodded.

“True. Father was afraid too. Some things are just that damned uncanny. I kept thinking that if Prince Pingxi really is the one favored by Heaven’s Mandate, then if Father deliberately sticks his head out in front of him, wouldn’t that be delivering myself straight onto his table?”

“It’s better here,” Xie Yu’an said.

“Father only brought twenty thousand clan troops. The rest are still guarding home.”

“That’s enough. This time we’re watching the Qian people perform. Great Chu only needs to beat the side drum.”

“If Qian people can be relied upon, then sows can climb trees.”

“A pig running wild all over the mountain is certainly annoying. But once it stays obediently inside the pigpen, it can still be quite well behaved.”

At that moment, a personal guard entered to report:

“Clan Head, Young Master! Beacon report from the front. The Yan army has reached Shisui Fort!”

Xie Zhuyang nodded and stood.

Just before walking out, he hesitated and looked at his son.

“Want to come along?”

“Here I thought beating me was your excuse to leave me behind somewhere safe.”

“You think your father’s schemes are far too intricate. Why would I leave the family’s thousand-li colt behind instead of bringing him with me? Besides, if the Qian people truly prove unreliable and the Yan roll straight down like lifting a pearl curtain, then Liang’s whole sky may get overturned. If you stay beside Father, it’ll be easier for me to grab you and run back to Chu.”

“Ah.”

Xie Yu’an sighed.

Then climbed down from the bed.

Before leaving, he pocketed two oranges from the tea table.

...

“Were you the one who called him over?”

Standing atop the city wall, Xie Zhuyang asked his son.

“Yes.”

Xie Yu’an braced both hands against the battlement.

Anyone who did not know the truth might think he was anxiously scanning the north for enemy movement.

His personal guards knew better.

The Young Master’s backside still could not touch a chair.

“How did you know he would definitely come?”

For the past few years, whenever Xie Zhuyang encountered something he did not understand, he had grown accustomed to asking his son.

Most of the time he also listened to the boy’s advice.

On the two occasions he had not intended to listen... his son had forced him to change his mind by putting a knife against his own balls.

“Desperate to win merit. Four words. This Garrison Commander of South Gate Pass climbed from some nobody to his current position because he wanted to climb higher. Today, the same hunger to climb is what will ruin him. It made him, and it will break him.”

Xie Zhuyang nodded.

Then said:

“After Father reached the Wei River, I went through the army’s intelligence reports on Prince Pingxi’s last long-range advance into Fan City. When Nian Yao was still there, his command headquarters developed a habit of reviewing every battle fought by the enemy. Not bad. Father inherited something useful. When Prince Pingxi led troops into Chu, the vanguard was crucial.”

After all, the commander of that vanguard had been the Savage King.

“The vanguard opened the road, screened the battlefield, and enabled rapid marching. Zhennan Pass also retained a force of auxiliary troops that could serve as emergency reinforcement and reception if necessary. Now look at this Garrison Commander of South Gate Pass. According to the military reports, he did none of what he should have done. He simply led one isolated force straight toward the Liang capital with a single thought in his head.”

After Prince Jingnan departed, Prince Pingxi had unquestionably become the principal subject studied by military commanders in other states.

And the Battle of Fan City had happened only recently.

There was still plenty to chew over.

For Xie Zhuyang, after reviewing how Prince Pingxi moved troops and then looking at Ran Min, who was about to arrive... both might be Yan generals.

But the gap between them was so enormous it was almost uncomfortable.

Xie Yu’an said:

“You’re reviewing the matter afterward. That means you already see Ran Min as a turtle trapped in the jar. I do too. But if we stand where Garrison Commander Ran was standing and look at the situation through his eyes, then in truth, what he did was not especially wrong. When Prince Pingxi campaigned, he was moving through Chu territory. Forts and county cities were dense, and every person around him was Chu. Ran Min, however, marched through Liang soldiers and civilians. To a Yan man, Liang is their vassal state. Marching through Liang territory simply does not feel like campaigning through foreign land. Second, what Ran Min received was the forged rescue letter we prepared in the Liang ruler’s name. Yan people do not even respect Qian and Chu. How much less would they respect Liang? And during a political upheaval, the very beginning is when hearts are most unstable and outside intervention is easiest. Ran Min only needed to arrive at Liang’s capital in time with one force. If the ruler had already suppressed the rebellion, Ran Min could still ride into the Liang capital and imitate Prince Pingxi’s old deed in Jin, planting Yan’s Black Dragon Banner directly into Liang’s heartland. If the ruler were still locked in a stalemate with the rebels, then Ran Min could become a heavenly army descending from the sky, settle Liang’s fate in one stroke, and claim tremendous merit. If the ruler had just lost and the rebels had just taken power, then before their footing stabilized, Ran Min could arrive wearing Yan’s tiger skin and flip Liang’s overturned sky back upright again. That would truly be remaking the realm. So he cannot really be called rash or contemptuous of the enemy. From where he stood, it was the best choice available.”

“And yet you still guessed him correctly?” Xie Zhuyang looked at his son.

When Ran Min received the rescue letter, the coup against Liang’s ruler had not even begun.

His son had planned everything before moving.

Unhurried.

Comfortable.

“I only fucking dared guess him. If the man opposite me were Prince Pingxi of Yan, I wouldn’t dare guess. Guessing him is useless.”

SMACK!

Xie Zhuyang slapped the back of his son’s head.

“Your mother is off limits. Your aunties are fair game.”

Xie Yu’an drew in a deep breath.

“Dad, can we not do this? There are so many people watching.”

Xie Zhuyang swept his gaze around.

Every personal guard lowered his head.

“Continue. If it were Prince Pingxi, what would he do?” Xie Zhuyang urged.

“Prince Pingxi would not hurry. He would mobilize several forces, send a vanguard to open the road, summon the other small states to coordinate, then bring his own princely banner forward step by step and slowly press down. He would not even need to fight. Liang would submit on its own. At the same time, he could use the whole affair to announce to Wei, Zhao, and Qi exactly who their true overlord is. The difference is simple. Different names. Different prestige. And the other difference is that the achievement Ran Min thinks worth risking everything to seize... would not even be worth noticing in Prince Pingxi’s eyes. If you want to fish, you need bait. I prepared bait for Ran Min. But I have no way to prepare bait capable of hooking Prince Pingxi.”

“Ah.”

Xie Zhuyang sighed too.

“Only after reaching the Wei River did Father discover that quite a few Chu commoners have already begun secretly fleeing into Jin.”

“We have to win. We have to muddy this water. If things continue step by step like this, neither Qian nor Chu has any hope.”

“Report! The Yan army has passed Yong’an Fort!”

“About time. Dad, you can close the door now.”

“Father knows. You’re staying here to command?”

“Yes. I still need to coordinate with the Qian troops. Ran Min took the hook, but I still need to use him as bait. Heh-heh.”

...

Ran Min led his troops on a long, rapid march.

Not once were they obstructed.

Even Lion Head Pass, the final barrier north of Liang’s capital, opened its gates voluntarily when its commander saw Yan troops approaching beneath the Black Dragon Banner.

Past Lion Head Pass, continuing south led directly to Liang’s capital.

Eastward lay Wenming Mountain.

Westward lay the largest lake in Liang:

Wenxin Lake.

The lake itself was broad.

Which meant the reed marshes and wetlands around it were equally vast.

Wenming Mountain and Wenxin Lake were Liang’s most famous mountain and water.

At this moment, Ran Min had no interest whatsoever in admiring the scenery of early summer.

He wanted to reach Liang’s capital as quickly as possible.

He wanted to suppress the chaos there.

He had even imagined exactly how he would enter Liang’s imperial palace, imitating Prince Pingxi’s old entrance into Jin and Yingdu, and push both his own prestige and Great Yan’s to their absolute peak.

Yet just as Liang’s capital had almost come into view... a red glow appeared across the horizon.

The romantic instincts of Chu people found perfect expression in their armor.

Compared with them, Yan soldiers were truly dull.

The Xie Clan army began advancing in perfectly ordered steps.

Shield-bearers.

Spearmen.

Crossbowmen.

Axemen.

Even the cavalry on both flanks, together numbering only around a thousand, moved in a rigid, disciplined structure.

Perhaps the most suffocating thing for Chu these past years was this:

Their truly elite infantry formations had almost never had the chance to fight a proper frontal battle against Yan.

Of course... the main reason was that Yan had never intended to give them that chance.

But now... the only road toward Liang’s capital had been blocked.

Ran Min opened his mouth.

Scout riders kept returning, piecing together the shape of the enemy ahead.

It was a Chu army.

They had already raised their banners.

Chu troops appearing inside Liang was major news.

Ran Min’s mind cooled rapidly.

He did not order an immediate charge.

Facing such an almost flawlessly ordered formation, no commander with a normal brain would choose the crudest possible method simply to see whose skull was harder.

He ordered his deputy general to take one force back.

Ran Min himself kept the rest of the army in position and began preparations that looked as though he intended to charge.

Xie Zhuyang, meanwhile, maintained his own rhythm.

The Xie army advanced steadily, step by step, applying pressure.

The force carried by Great Yan’s Black Dragon Banner was genuinely difficult to imagine.

But the advantage of clan troops was this: when their own clan head stood directly beside them... they could resist most of that fear.

The relatively static confrontation lasted a long time.

Until...

Ran Min’s deputy general finally returned.

Lion Head Pass, which had previously opened its gates and allowed them through... had closed its gates again when the Yan riders returned to demand passage.

It had even shot several Yan cavalrymen dead.

The sensation of being trapped inside a jar arrived all at once.

Ran Min immediately gave the order.

His troops charged.

What followed was the most classical collision imaginable between cavalry and a disciplined infantry square.

The Yan cavalry attempted to squeeze and deform the Chu formation through repeated pressure.

The Chu troops bared their own fangs and began deliberately constricting space, trying to cling to the Yan cavalry and deny them room to maneuver.

The soldiers on both sides were tense.

They were, after all, the men actually killing at the front.

The commanders on both sides, however... were strangely calm.

Ran Min had already understood that the Chu army only meant to drive him away and block his advance.

Xie Zhuyang, likewise, could tell the Yan did not possess the determination to fight to mutual destruction.

In the end... after two Yan charges failed to shake the Chu formation but forced the Chu troops to create more distance... the Yan army turned east.

The wetlands around Wenxin Lake to the west would mire Yan horses and turn their greatest advantage into a burden.

So eastward.

As for the east...

Xie Zhuyang did not order a rapid pursuit.

He let his men restore formation and clean the battlefield.

Then continued moving with the same deliberate rhythm.

He neither returned toward Liang’s capital nor spread forces outward to scout more broadly.

Instead, he advanced some distance east and, near dusk, ordered camp established.

The two armies had not opened much distance.

The Yan had rushed here over a long march and then fought the Chu formation.

Men and horses were both exhausted.

There was no chance they could immediately move far away.

After nightfall... the scouts of both sides, hidden beneath darkness, fought with extraordinary enthusiasm.

For a time... the sound of killing drowned out countless summer cicadas.

...

Inside the command tent...

Xie Zhuyang received the latest report from his scout cavalry.

A considerable number of Yan scouts had ridden north.

“All right. Understood.”

Xie Zhuyang waved one hand.

He braced himself against the command table.

Propped his head in one palm.

And slowly fell asleep.

...

The atmosphere beneath Wenming Mountain in the Yan camp was completely different.

Ran Min had fallen into a position where neither advance nor retreat looked good.

Wenming County City was defended by Liang troops.

But above it flew a great banner bearing the character “Pu.”

This was one of the elite Liang forces that had once fought Chu troops in the Qishan Mountains.

Now... under a surrendered commander... it stood here blocking the Yan route east.

The campfire before Ran Min snapped continuously.

Its flickering light made his face brighten and darken in turns.

It suited the turmoil inside him.

His force had not suffered many casualties.

But supplies were almost exhausted.

According to the original plan, once they entered Liang’s capital and suppressed the rebellion, they would lack nothing.

Instead... they had fallen into this miserable position.

Bypassing Wenming County City and continuing south toward the Liang capital remained possible.

But if Chu troops had already appeared north of the capital, then the situation inside the capital could hardly still be favorable.

Doing so would only trap his force in an even more passive position.

He would lose what little room remained to maneuver.

Lion Head Pass being closed meant the original road back north had been cut as well.

Continue east into the Qishan Mountains?

That could eventually circle back toward South Gate Pass.

But if he was going to take that road... he might as well circle through the Wenxin Lake region instead.

The greatest problem remained the Chu army.

It stood there like a fishbone lodged in his throat.

Whether he advanced or withdrew... it constrained him.

Ran Min lifted a water skin and drank.

He had already sent men north, hoping small groups of cavalry could exploit their mobility, slip through the blockade, and send word home.

Somewhere in the unseen flow of things... he possessed a faint premonition that doing this was wrong.

He was a rough soldier.

He understood nothing of music.

But he had watched village opera before.

And right now... it felt as though he were acting exactly according to the script the other side wanted him to follow.

Yet he could not simply sit here and watch his force genuinely fall into danger of annihilation.

These past years...

Yan people... the court... had become accustomed to victory.

They had almost grown numb from winning.

And precisely because of that... one unexpected defeat would trigger an even more violent backlash.

Even First Prince’s defeat at Wangjiang had been painfully difficult to recover from afterward.

What the hell was Ran Min compared with him?

“Break cleverness with force. Break cleverness with force.”

Ran Min muttered to himself.

“As long as the main army arrives, this isolated advance can become deliberate bait instead. We can lure the enemy into our game. Great Yan will still hold the advantage!”

He had just drunk water.

Yet suddenly... his mouth felt dry again.

Yes.

Yes.

Back then, Prince Pingxi had also driven deep with an isolated force and been surrounded.

Then reinforcements arrived.

He won a tremendous victory.

And claimed the foremost merit!

...

Eastern Jin.

Fengxin City.

Prince Pingxi Residence.

“Ah! Chu dog! I am Prince Pingxi! Hand over your life!”

“Ah! Kill!”

Crown Prince Ji Chuanye and Tian Tian were playing the sort of war game children ought to play.

After rock-paper-scissors, Tian Tian lost.

So he had to play the Chu army.

The Crown Prince won and therefore played Yan.

More specifically... he had cast himself directly in the role of Prince Pingxi.

Across Yan and Jin, children fought every day over who got to play Prince Pingxi.

The Crown Prince held a wooden saber and charged toward Tian Tian.

Tian Tian began backing away.

Not because he feared the Crown Prince’s status and did not dare fight back.

But because he knew he was playing a Chu man.

Chu men... could only run!

The Crown Prince, perhaps too excited and too immersed in “hunting down the Chu dog,” caught his foot on something.

He crashed to the ground.

The wooden saber flew away.

Tian Tian hurried over and helped him up.

The Crown Prince began crying.

“Little Brother, don’t cry. Don’t cry. Elder Brother will take you to Big Snake and ask for some scales.”

The Crown Prince shook his head.

“I actually lost. How could my Yan army possibly lose...”

[End of Chapter 823]