Chapter 382 King of Qin (IV)

July is coming soon, and the end of summer is approaching. The weather in Fengxiang is gradually becoming hotter, and the weather in Hanzhong should be similar.

The Shu camp has been very busy recently, but there has been no siege. On the contrary, the Shu army’s eastern camp to the east of Fengxiang City has been abandoned by Wang Zongkan. The large-scale Shu army has shrunk to the southern camp, and the trenches have been dug deeper and wider, and the walls of the camp have been built higher and thicker. It is obvious that they do not intend to continue the war with the eight thousand Ding Bas watching covetously.

The empress accepted the audience of civil and military officials at the Prince of Qi’s Palace in the city early in the morning. Although she was not keen on power, Qi was an independent regime and would not omit the conventional court meetings. Moreover, the Battle of Fengxiang has been raging until now, and the empress is indeed needed as a pillar to reassure people’s hearts.

From the time Dingba came to help a few days ago until now, all the officials affiliated with the Prince Qi’s Mansion have been very concerned about the empress’s attitude towards the Liang Dynasty, especially what kind of unknown conspiracy she, the Prince Qi, has with the Prince Song of the Liang Dynasty.

The discord between Qi and Liang began in the era of the old Qi King Li Maozhen. At that time, the Tang court was still in existence, and Emperor Zhaozong felt that his power was falling into the hands of others, so he had no choice but to use one vassal state to suppress another. At that time, Li Maozhen and Zhu Wen fought several fierce battles over the control of Guanzhong. Unfortunately, Zhu Wen was the winner in the end because of his powerful family and wealth. He not only successfully occupied Guanzhong, but also inherited most of the Tang court’s legacy.

Although the empress did not continue Li Maozhen’s ambition of breaking through Chang’an and expanding Qi’s sphere of influence to the east of Tongguan, since Fengxiang City was almost exposed under the nose of the Liang Dynasty, Zhu Wen always wanted to get rid of this evil neighbor. As a result, the two countries fought several large-scale tough battles under Fengxiang City over the years. Therefore, Qi has always regarded the Liang Dynasty as a mortal enemy, both civil and military.

Moreover, Qi State has always been obedient to the Tang Dynasty in terms of legal principles. For both private and public reasons, and for both interests and justice, it should not have talked about forming an alliance with the Liang Dynasty, which usurped the Tang Dynasty.

But then again, if the object of cooperation is the King of Song Xiao Yan who is in charge of the Liang Dynasty royal family, it seems, as if, probably…it is not unreasonable?

People in Qi could not help but feel moved by Ding Badu, who shocked the entire battlefield with his absolutely tyrannical strength and saved thousands of Qi soldiers with just his appearance. It was also difficult for them to feel resentment towards King Song Xiao Yan, who only existed in rumors.

At the very least, this man not only forced Zhu Wen to abdicate, but also led his troops to aid Fengxiang without stopping. His brief appearance on the battlefield intimidated the Shu army, which almost showed signs of retreat. No matter how you look at it, this man is more like a true ally of Qi.

But unfortunately, after the empress entered Fengxiang, she did not reveal her attitude towards Daliang. Ding Badu, who had already settled outside the city and belonged to the original Qi army camp, also did not come to negotiate with Fengxiang. The only contact between them was that the empress ordered people to dispatch 10,000 stones of grain to Ding Badu.

As for the particularly mysterious Xiao Yan, let alone meeting with King Qi, he had never even shown his face. This made the civil and military officials of Fengxiang feel puzzled for a while. No one could figure out what their King Qi was thinking, and what Ding Badu outside the city was planning.

However, at the brief court meeting in Prince Qi’s mansion today, the empress gave an encouraging piece of news, that Tang Daoxi, the commander of the Western Route Army of Shu Kingdom, and all the soldiers under his command had been completely annihilated in Wugong County, and the Shu army might have to withdraw soon.

In this way, the panic and busyness of the Shu army in recent days can be explained. The Western Army was completely wiped out in the territory of the Liang Dynasty. At the very least, the Liang Dynasty must have a large army heading towards Fengxiang. Putting this aside, the annihilation of the Western Army must have greatly reduced the morale of the Shu army. Wang Zongkan had to retreat even if he didn’t want to. With the fate of the Liang Dynasty’s army, the chances of the Shu army occupying Fengxiang increased several times. The risks involved are probably not something the Shu Kingdom can afford.

When the Shu Emperor Wang Jian heard the news, he was probably going to curse.

The civil and military officials of Fengxiang were very excited. Some bold generals were eager to try and proposed that they should join forces with Ding Badu outside the city to give the Shu army a severe blow.

The empress did not reject this proposal, but asked all the generals to be prepared. In short, they must not let the Shu army retreat easily.

There was not much business to discuss and it was soon concluded. The empress did not go to inspect the military camp and city defenses immediately, but stayed in the small forest garden behind Prince Qi’s mansion for a while. After a while, she sent someone to call Ji Ruxue.

Seeing Ji Ruxue handing over the sword “Shengshi” which was escorted by a team of night guards to the soldiers, she waved to Ji Ruxue to bring the sword over. She didn’t dare to ask for a chance to see the sword, but just asked casually, “King Song set out from Luogu Pass three days ago, right?”

Xiao Yan kept his promise and indeed forged a new sword for Ji Ruxue. This sword was too good. The four characters “Song of the Prosperous Era” on the sword alone showed Xiao Yan’s intention and ambition. However, Ji Ruxue did not look that excited. However, in front of the empress, she did not show any emotion. She just replied softly: “It was indeed three days ago. He should have entered Luo Valley by now.”

Of course the empress remembered the time, she just used an inquiring tone on purpose. She wanted to pay attention to Xiao Yan, but was embarrassed to let Ji Ruxue notice it, otherwise she would always feel guilty.

But after the two girls finished asking and answering this question, there was nothing more to say. They had lived together for many years, and although Ji Ruxue always remembered the hierarchy and maintained proper etiquette, the empress had long ceased to regard her as the girl she once was, and had really treated her as her adopted sister, so even though there was no words, the atmosphere between the two did not change.

The empress turned her head to look at the eaves of the distant buildings. She saw that the sun had just risen to the side of the tower on the southern wall, as if hanging on the eaves. Although Fengxiang was not entirely a wilderness, the terrain was flat and open, which was completely different from the scenery in the Qinling Mountains.

The empress had never been to Luogu, but she had walked along the other two roads leading into Shu from the Qinling Mountains, namely Chencang Road and Baoxiade Road. She had even fought against the Shu army in person at Qingniling, which was known as the “barrier of Qin and Long, and the throat of Bashu”. There were cliffs thousands of feet high, and it was cloudy and rainy. Thinking about it now, it seems very difficult and dangerous to walk on.

Although the Tangluo Road is the fastest among the Chencang Roads, it is also the most dangerous. You have to cross several river valleys and climb the main ridge of the Qinling Mountains between the Eighteen Bends and the Black and Weishui Rivers. After crossing this main ridge, you have almost passed the starting point. There are still four or five large mountains and river valleys behind, and you need to keep tracing the source and climbing before you can get out of the Luo Valley.

The journey is not over until you get out of Luo Valley. There is the Tangshui River Valley, which is about the same level of steepness as Luo Valley, but sixty miles longer than Luo Valley. In between, there is the Huayang Pass controlled by the Shu army, blocking the two valleys. After walking through this 150-mile-long valley, there is a Yangzhou Tang City.

Throughout history, countless famous generals and brave men wanted to enter and exit Shu through this route to launch surprise attacks, but ended up dying in the mountains and leaving no trace.

Therefore, even Ji Ruxue, who held the Shengshi Sword in her hand, could not be excited. Perhaps what she wanted to see was not the sword, but the person who returned the sword to her.

But even so, neither Ji Ruxue nor the Empress stopped Xiao Yan from personally leading his troops into Shu. After all, this was a strategic proposition that Xiao Yan had worked so hard to achieve after traveling all the way from Bianjing. They certainly couldn’t deliberately hold him back just because they were worried about danger.

Moreover, in today’s world, people who really do great things never take their own safety too seriously. This was the case with Li Keyong and his son Li Cunxu of Hedong, and also with Li Maozhen and Zhu Wen of the past.

Xiao Yan needs this raid which seems to be full of thorns but may contain countless hopes.

When the Bian Jing mutiny ended two months ago, Ji Ruxue thought that Xiao Yan would be able to govern without any obstacles, but the timing was obviously not ripe either then or now.

Long before Xiao Yan arrived in Luoyang, he wrote her a letter. The meaning of the letter was simple and clear. He needed the merit of destroying a country. It was not even the kind of merit that could easily and effortlessly conquer the State of Qi, but a real merit accumulated with the lives of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people and countless famous generals!
However, today, after Yang Shihou and his political enemies in the court were eliminated, Xiao Yan’s prestige would be enough as long as he could take Hanzhong.

This battle is extremely crucial and will surely change the situation of the Liang Dynasty and even the world.

The empress had also read the letter. She actually didn’t understand why Ji Ruxue showed her this almost private letter, but she just read it. Of course, she just pretended to be frank. So she needed to cooperate with Xiao Yan. At least before Xiao Yan arrived in Hanzhong, the nearly 100,000 Shu troops under Fengxiang City could not retreat.

After asking Ji Ruxue some trivial matters and sitting together in the pavilion for a while, the empress finally went to inspect the military camp and city defenses.

Ji Ruxue did not follow, but knelt behind the table, placed the sword horizontally in front of her, gently drew the sword out of its sheath and looked at the inscriptions engraved on it, but she still felt flustered and could not be happy. She sighed secretly and could only remind herself that there was no other way except to calm down and wait for the result. No…

She turned around, looked in the direction the empress left, and began to ponder.

She can also help Xiao Yan accomplish something.

——

The time when Xiao Yan entered Luo Valley was actually even faster than the description in the letter.

In recent years, Xiao Yan has used Anle Pavilion, which is composed of Huanyinfang and the Bad People, to open up trade routes and has placed many eyes in Shu. Naturally, this raid would require the use of this group of people.

The elite Yebushou team led by Gongyang Zuo set out in advance. As scouts, they not only had to sweep the outposts and garrisons set up by the Shu army in the mountains, but also had to go back in advance to find out where the roads needed to be repaired. The key was to occupy several advantageous terrains outside Huayang Pass.

Xiao Yan personally led the army and followed closely behind. Since this raid was a strategic intention that had been decided in Luoyang long ago, the preparations were quite sufficient. Not many soldiers fell on the road, and most of them had plans for local resettlement. Therefore, even though some soldiers fell behind, the march was still smooth.

Tangluo Road has not been repaired for many years. The last time this road was used was by a part of Huang Chao’s army who wanted to retreat northward. It has been thirty years since then.

Although the Shu Emperor Wang Jian had repeatedly clamored to fight against Zhu Wen on behalf of the Tang royal family, he had taken almost no action for many years. Instead, he was obsessed with taking his old neighbor Qi into his pocket. The Shu Road was dangerous, and Zhu Wen also had no intention of attacking Shu. Therefore, there were almost no Shu army outposts on the 150-li Tangluo Road. Instead, many mountain markets were destroyed by the Ye Bushu, and hundreds of mountain people were captured.

Xiao Yan did not have any way to deal with these mountain people, but he did not let them go either. He left a dozen soldiers who had lagged behind to guard them. As long as a few days passed, when Xiao Yan’s army passed through the valley, the mountain people would be released.

In any case, Xiao Yan needs to be as cautious as possible in this military operation.

Even though he had crushed the internal opposition within the Liang Dynasty, once the news of Yang Shihou’s suppression spread, all factions in the Liang Dynasty would be shocked.

But after Zhu Wen left the throne, all the princes in the world had their own thoughts, especially the major princes of Wu, Chu, Fujian and Wuyue in the south, who were in a delicate attitude. They neither congratulated Xiao Yan on Zhu Youzhen, who was established, nor expressed opposition to Daliang. In short, their obedience was obviously not as good as in the previous two years. At the moment, they were just waiting to achieve a superficial peaceful balance.

As long as Xiao Yan could show the world his great achievements of capturing and killing hundreds of thousands of Shu soldiers and even Wang Jian himself, he would be able to break this balance and make these princes in the south obediently lie down and serve Daliang as dogs again.

What’s even better is that once this balance is broken, it can be quickly restored.

If Shu was defeated, the only outlier left on the north and south of the Yellow River would be the Jin Kingdom. Yuan Tiangang’s anti-Liang alliance would also retreat and return to a stalemate with Xiao Yan, no longer able to stir up new incidents.

This is of vital importance to Xiao Yan.

Therefore, whether Feng Dao and Han Yanhui wrote letters to advise him before leaving, or the staff of Tian Ce Mansion and even Jing Xiang reminded him tactfully, nothing could shake Xiao Yan’s decision.

After four days of rapid march across the Qinling Mountains, the army had already entered Huayang Pass, and the battle at Huayang Pass was not difficult.

Originally, the Shu army left half a command post and a total of 300 soldiers at Huayang Pass to guard the place. After the Battle of Fengxiang broke out, Wang Jian transferred troops from Hanzhong to the north, and this place was also affected. Only a hundred people were left to guard the pass. There had been no troops marching on the Tangluo Road for decades. Perhaps even the commander of the pass did not expect that a large army would suddenly arrive at the pass. He was unable to form an effective resistance in time, and Gongyang Zuo led the Yebushou to chop down half of the men, causing the pass to quickly change hands.

Huayang Pass is the most critical point of this march, without a doubt. Because this pass is located deep between Luo Valley and Tang Valley, it is very difficult for the grain teams transporting military supplies to enter and exit, so the remaining grain and fodder are not small. This information has long been confirmed, so in Xiao Yan’s strategy, Huayang Pass is the last stronghold for the army to replenish grain and fodder and rest the wounded.

After leaving Tangluo Road and all the way to the city of Nanzheng in Hanzhong, the army had no more supplies after a distance of more than 200 miles.

This time, Xiao Yan did not think of taking down any city except Nanzheng.

He led his horse along the corridor to the top of the city wall and looked to the south.

Yu Zhong and Li Si’an stood behind him, with a large group of soldiers surrounding him on the left and right, all looking south.

To be honest, the Guide Army was not comfortable when the army entered the mountainous area. There were continuous mountains on both sides, which gave them a strong sense of oppression. Although most of the Guide Army were infantrymen, they were only equipped with horses for marching, but most of them were from Hebei and had rarely been through valleys, let alone fighting in mountain valleys. They were used to fighting on the plains with real swords and guns.

But all the way, Xiao Yan had always been walking in the front, and the army was determined to accomplish a great feat, so now they have adapted to the situation.

Tang Daoxi was being escorted up, cursing: “You bastard, sneaking through a small path is really a mean act! You are taking such a risk, aren’t you afraid of dying in these mountains without leaving any bones?”

Xiao Yan did not respond. He looked at the mountains in the south. Naturally, he could not see anything, but he seemed to see a smooth road outside the valley vaguely.

“Hanzhong is empty, and even Huayang Pass has no extra troops stationed there… The envoy is right. I did sneak across the border, but I’ll just sneak across the border.”

Xiao Yan looked back at Tang Daoxi and said with a smile, “This situation and this time may be similar to the time when Deng Shizai attacked Peicheng through the Yinping Trail. But according to the envoy, when my troops are at the gates of Nanzheng, will Wang Jian surrender without a fight like the King of Shu did?”

Tang Daoxi was startled at first, and even shuddered uncontrollably all over for a moment, but he immediately became furious. As he was dragged away by the soldiers, his legs were still kicking at Xiao Yan: “You thief! You thief! My lord will kill you…”

“I’m afraid Wang Jian will escape.”

Xiao Yan muttered to himself, and then looked north to Mount Taibai, pointing his halberd to the south: “After crossing these mountains, it will be clear whether it is Deng Shizai against the King of Shu or Sima Zhongda against Zhuge Kongming!”

(End of this chapter)