Jinting Han people

Chapter 731 Jingbei's Reversal

Just one month later, the situation on the battlefield had quietly reversed.

Initially, the Qi people's strategy was primarily to avoid battle. They planned to employ their old tactics from the chaotic warfare of the Central Plains, not focusing on the gains or losses of a single city or territory, but rather leveraging the mobility of their cavalry to roam the Jianghan region and disrupt the Han army's plans in Jingzhou. This was a tactic the Han army had never faced before, but it was one the Qi people knew by heart. Even the Xianbei had no way to deal with them, so the Qi people were naturally confident of victory.

What the Qi people didn't expect was that while the Han army had never fought against an adversary like them, the Qi people had also never encountered an opponent like the Han army. This wasn't just a difference in commanders; Li Ju's deployment was undoubtedly extremely skillful, undeterred by the Qi people's harassment, but Wang Zhang's performance was also commendable. However, the more important reason for their predicament lay in other aspects: within the territory of the Southern Han, many of the Qi people's previous experiences were no longer effective.

When the Qi army swept across the Central Plains, they besieged fortified villages with large numbers of troops. With just a little intimidation, these villages, in order to protect themselves, had no choice but to obediently hand over their provisions and pay for their lives. When they encountered displaced people in the local areas, after plundering them, they could also take advantage of the situation to coerce these half-dead commoners into joining the army. Even more remarkably, many impoverished scholars and displaced people in the local areas, dissatisfied with the Jin army's rule, joined the Qi army in droves. This allowed the Qi army to, despite suffering repeated defeats during its campaigns, not only not weaken but actually grow stronger.

Upon entering Handong, the Qi army found that their previous experience was completely ineffective. The Han army had established numerous military outposts in Jingzhou, creating a widespread deterrent and preventing local scholars from hastily switching sides. Faced with the Qi army's relentless attacks, the outposts showed no intention of surrendering, instead fighting to the death. This resulted in significant casualties for the Qi army and made it difficult for them to obtain supplies. After the burning, killing, and looting, the local refugees harbored deep hatred for the Qi people, and few disgruntled refugees were willing to join their ranks. All of this rendered the Qi army's mobile warfare ineffective, turning it into a pure war of attrition.

A war of attrition without supplies is doomed to failure. It was precisely because of these unfavorable factors that the Qi army had to abandon what they were best at and instead engage in a hard-fought battle with the Han army.

But by this point, even though the Qi people were determined to fight a tough battle, the Han army was unwilling to engage them in a decisive battle.

The Qi army turned around, attempting a direct confrontation with the Han army, a head-on cavalry charge. However, Li Ju had already instructed his scouts that upon seeing the Qi army provoking battle, they should immediately fire whistling arrows into the air. The pursuing Han army, upon receiving the order, immediately split into two groups: one group formed ranks on the spot, ready to engage, while the other group went to flank the Qi army. Seeing the imposing formation ahead and the dust billowing from the flanks, Wang Zhang knew that a direct confrontation would be futile and could only continue his retreat.

At this point, Wang Zhang felt a sense of fear, and his arrogance from a few days ago had completely vanished. After a moment's thought on the way, he roughly understood the Han army's intentions and said to those around him with a wry smile, "The Southerners see us as turtles in a jar. They won't fight, they won't retreat, they just want us to outlive them."

Faced with this situation, Wang Zhang was utterly helpless. The Han army's encirclement was now complete, essentially blocking all of the Qi army's escape routes from Jingzhou, and his men had reached their limit to continue their escape. After much deliberation, he decided to lead the remaining cavalry to forcibly infiltrate the Dahong Mountains once more.

Dahong Mountain is located north of Lülin Mountain, and is in fact its main ridge. Its terrain is even more treacherous and complex than Lülin Mountain, with towering peaks and a large lake in the middle. The lake's water cascades down the mountains like a torrent, hence its name. Wang Zhang chose this location because he no longer hoped to escape the Han army; he simply intended to use the mountain's terrain to build a camp and establish a stronghold. If the Han army attacked, he would fight; if the Han army chose to advance slowly and besiege him for a long time, Wang Zhang would willingly accept the siege.

The reason for this choice was that Wang Zhang realized the solution to the stalemate was no longer in his hands. In a sense, Wang Zhang had already exceeded expectations in fulfilling the task assigned to him by Wang Mi; he had indeed attracted more than 50,000 Han troops to besiege him. However, whether he could break through the encirclement now depended entirely on the remaining Qi troops.

Wang Zhang first sent someone to contact Liu Ling's troops on the western route, hoping that he could make some progress in the Jianghan region as soon as possible. This was the true intention behind the two cavalry armies' southward advance. As long as Liu Ling could cause enough damage in the Jianghan region, he would naturally attract the attention of the Han army, and Wang Zhang's predicament would be effectively alleviated.

However, after leaving Dahong Mountain and heading to Xiangyang County, the envoy found himself in dire straits. Following Li Ju's orders, all major routes connecting Xiangyang County to Nan County, leading to the Daba Mountains, had been sealed off, prohibiting anyone from passing. Without a local guide, the envoy dared not venture into the mountains alone. After wandering for several days without finding an opportunity, he finally left Jingzhou to report the battle situation to Daxing.

Coincidentally, not long after he arrived in Daxing, he received news that Liu Ling's troops had withdrawn to Wancheng.

Liu Ling's retreat was for a simple reason: he wasn't unwilling to take action, but rather he was alarmed by the Han army's formidable strength in the Jianghan region. Before Li Ju moved his garrison to Jingling, he had already ended his first wave of rampage in the Jianghan region and led his troops back to the Daba Mountains to actively gather intelligence on the Han army's next offensive. After all, theoretically, Liu Ling's position was more dangerous than Wang Zhang's; he was highly likely to be besieged by the Han army first, so caution was inevitable. Moreover, he had an agreement with Wang Zhang; Wang Zhang's feigned crossing of the river at Jingling was intended to alleviate the pressure on Liu Ling.

But what happened next completely exceeded Liu Ling's expectations. When the agreed deadline arrived, Liu Ling sent people out of the mountains to scout the situation. As long as the Han army's strength was reduced, he planned to go out of the mountains again. He first went to investigate the direction of Linju. The scouts reported back that roadblocks had been set up in the mountain roads, and outside the mountains, Han banners fluttered like clouds, camps stretched as far as the eye could see, and armored soldiers were countless.

Liu Ling was startled upon hearing this, thinking: Could it be that Wang Zhang has not followed the plan? Or perhaps the Southerners consider him a major threat and are determined to eliminate him first? He then sent men to scout other directions, and the same scene unfolded in Bian County, Tuhuang, and Yuxiang. According to the scouts' reports, the Han army besieging Liu Ling there might number as many as 100,000.

Upon learning this result, Liu Ling was extremely alarmed. He discussed with his subordinates, "How could there be so many southerners? Could it be that troops from Bashu and Nanzhong have also been mobilized?"

He had no time to consider the truth or falsehood of the matter, but he already sensed an immense crisis. After all, Liu Ling was different from Wang Zhang. Wang Zhang was Wang Mi's younger brother, and if anything happened, Wang Mi could vouch for him, allowing Wang Zhang to retreat safely. Although Liu Ling held a high position in the Qi-Han court and was among the earliest refugees to follow Liu Bogen in his uprising, he was not a direct subordinate of either Liu Bogen or Wang Mi. If his army suffered a major defeat, he would likely lose his foothold in the court and might even be used to establish his authority through execution.

This wasn't mere speculation. In fact, during the Battle of Xuchang two years prior, due to setbacks in the siege and heavy losses, Liu Baigen publicly executed Leng Dao, the former governor of Jinan. Leng Dao and Liu Ling were veterans who had served in the Qi army during the same period, achieving remarkable military exploits, yet Leng Dao met such an end, leaving a deep impression on Liu Ling and chilling his heart. The current situation forced him to be cautious, lest he suffer the same fate. After weighing the pros and cons, Liu Ling decided against proceeding south as originally planned. Instead, he returned to Wancheng via the original route and reported to the Emperor of Daxing that he was under siege by a force ten times his size from the south, making it extremely difficult to establish a foothold in the Jianghan region. To protect his soldiers from excessive losses, he had no choice but to retreat to Wancheng first and then reconsider his actions.

In reality, the Han army's deployment in the Daba Mountains was just a ruse. Li Ju first ordered a scorched-earth policy and the blocking of mountain roads, but Liu Xian, upon learning this, still felt it was insufficient. He then sent a batch of banners and armor to the area and had the local people help build fortifications, creating a false impression of strength. This was what frightened Liu Ling on the western route.

With Liu Ling's retreat, the Han army was on guard again, making it virtually impossible for them to cross the Daba Mountains and threaten Xiangyang once more. Wang Zhang's troops, trapped in the Dahong Mountains, were thus completely isolated. For the Han army, had it not been for the battles on the Jiangzuo front, this elite Qi army would have been a ripe fruit, requiring only continued siege and waiting for its inevitable demise.

However, in order to free up troops as soon as possible and increase the soldiers' experience in killing the enemy, the Han army still had to fight a battle to eliminate the Qi army as soon as possible.

To ensure victory, Li Ju personally inspected the Qi army's camp at the Dahong Mountain front. He then reported to Liu Xian, "The Qi army is short of provisions and is already killing horses for food. In this way, the Qi army will have nowhere to go and can only wait for the situation to change. Give me another half month to prepare for the general offensive. With only 10,000 soldiers, their morale is low, and we can capture them in one fell swoop!"

Upon receiving Li Ju's battle report, Liu Xian naturally had no doubts. He immediately informed the Ministry of Personnel and said to everyone with a smile, "With Shi Hui taking the lead, it was indeed a piece of cake! The Qi people's risky move has failed, and now it's time for our army to take the initiative."

The atmosphere at the scene was relaxed. Even those with little military knowledge could see that once the Qi army that had invaded Jingzhou was completely annihilated, the Southern Han would have a large number of troops available in Jingzhou to engage in new battles. This meant that although the Han army had lost the initiative, it had still regained control through sheer strength.

However, a victory on one battlefield does not equate to a complete victory in the war. The saying "extreme joy turns to sorrow" and "the highest prosperity leads to decline" is all too common. To turn a favorable situation into a decisive victory, the key is to take each step steadily and surely. True masters never fight for survival in a single move; they often plan three or even four steps ahead. Liu Xian, now the emperor, no longer needs to wage war, but he still needs to assess how to steer the situation in his best interest.

"What's the situation in Jiangzuo? Any new information?" Liu Xian asked Yan Yu, the Minister of War.

"Your Majesty, this is still news from before the Duke of Xiangnan entered Hefei," Yan Yu shook his head and quickly replied.

At the same time as the battle of Jingzhou began, Du Tao was also appointed to a critical mission. He and Tao Kan sailed south to Jiangzuo to oversee the war effort. Traveling non-stop for ten days, they arrived at Ruxukou. However, by this time, the Qi army had already pressed in with overwhelming force and began to emulate He Pan's actions in the previous battle of Shouchun, hastily constructing dikes around Hefei in an attempt to flood the city. The terrain around Hefei was relatively low-lying, making it more suitable for building dikes and launching a water attack than Shouchun. As a result, the dikes were completed within half a month. By the time Du Tao arrived, the Fei River had risen, and the area around Hefei was already a vast expanse of water.

Apart from Hefei, the situation in the rest of Huainan was similar; the entire area had been blockaded and occupied by the Qi people. Fortunately, the three important towns of Shouchun, Juchao, and Ruxuwu had not yet been lost. Du Tao, assessing the situation, attempted to re-establish contact with Hefei while simultaneously contacting Zhou Qi in Yangzhou to mobilize troops, intending to create the illusion of an attack from upstream to temporarily halt the Qi offensive.

In his previous contact with the imperial court, Du Tao claimed that the Qi people's blockade of Hefei was not strict and that the Chaohu naval forces were still intact. This allowed him to make contact with Hefei. Du Tao planned to enter the city of Hefei to investigate the details and determine the specific defense strategy.

This news came from half a month ago, and no new battle reports have been submitted from Jiangzuo in the past few days. But this is understandable. As the fighting on the front lines escalates, communication between the court and the front lines will inevitably be disrupted, which in turn affects the court's assessment of the situation and its next strategic plans.

Liu Xian pondered the battle situation in Jiangzuo and felt that the Qi army had other plans. The reason was simple: the Qi army's initial offensive seemed swift and fierce, but now it appeared to be all bark and no bite, failing to launch a real assault on the Han army. This likely indicated that they had other preparations. However, the information from the front lines was unclear, and Liu Xian couldn't make a specific judgment about what kind of preparations they were making. And as the saying goes, a wise man avoids dangerous situations; since he couldn't make a judgment, Liu Xian considered directly sending troops to rescue those downstream to be a poor choice.

He shared his thoughts with everyone, saying, "It is already September. Even if we lead our troops eastward and defeat the Qi people, it will probably be November. Given the current situation in Huainan, we still need to appease them. It is not advisable to send troops northward again, as it would be very costly and yield very little. It would be an unwise move."

"Why not march directly north? Right now, the Qi army has deployed a large force to Huainan, leaving the Central Plains vulnerable. If our army marches north from Xiangyang to the Central Plains, first capturing Wancheng, then advancing on Xuchang, we will be threatening the heart of the Qi army. If we launch a 'besieging Wei to rescue Zhao' strategy, how can the Qi army not retreat?"

This strategy quickly gained unanimous approval from the three chief ministers. Ever since Sun Bin executed this imaginative tactic, in any war, if there were opportunities to exploit weaknesses and launch a surprise attack, the strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao" had always been the undisputed best course of action. Now, once Wang Zhang's forces were annihilated, the Qi's strategy of containing them would soon become ineffective, creating a defensive vacuum in the Henan region. This made the conditions ripe for a surprise attack on the Central Plains, and therefore, there should be no hesitation.

Therefore, Liu Xian urgently requisitioned supplies and provisions for the northern expedition from the three provinces of Jing, Xiang, and Jiang. At the same time, he ordered Du Tao's troops to hold their ground in Huainan and delay the Qi army's northward advance as much as possible. Based on the current situation, if the Qi people were overconfident and failed to return to defend the Central Plains in time, the Han army could advance unimpeded, reaching the heart of both Qi and Han. At that point, if the frontline commanders handled the situation properly, it wouldn't be impossible to annihilate both Qi and Han in one fell swoop. (End of Chapter)