Fish Meat – Chapter 99
by Little PandaThe Tenth Year of Shenchu
Iron horses and golden spears (1)
The Chongjin leader had bribed the Yamen General Lin Jian early on, collaborating with him from inside and out. They directly attacked Yu’s main camp overnight, catching Yu completely off guard.
The already weakened Yu army, even with newly injected fresh blood, was entirely unable to withstand the impact of Chongjin’s iron cavalry. The Chongjin army had no war drums; there were only the day-long battle cries of the warriors. War horses surged from all directions, with the force of rolling thunder, sweeping across the entire camp.
Fire basins and wine bowls were knocked over everywhere. Soon the tents caught fire, and flames shot into the sky.
In the firelight, Zhen Wenjun saw someone’s head being cut off at the shoulder by a Chongjin soldier on horseback. The body fell onto a carriage. She quickly crawled under the carriage, with the corpse perfectly concealing her.
She had killed before and was somewhat prepared for the cruelty of war, but the sudden onset of this massacre threw her into disarray, focused only on escaping with her life.
Hiding under the cart, screams of agony filled the air. The unprepared Yu army was like a piece of fat meat, at the mercy of Chongjin’s butcher’s knife. Panicked new recruits and remnant soldiers fled in all directions without any formation, completely lacking any semblance of battle order. Zhangsun Yi shouted loudly amidst the chaotic crowd, urging everyone to calm down and take up arms, but no matter how loudly he yelled, his voice was immediately swallowed by the ghostly wails.
No one heard his voice, nor did anyone have the mind to counterattack. Zhangsun Yi, a military official, wielded a long sword and personally cut down the legs of several Chongjin war horses. Just as he was about to shout again, a swift horse charged up. The rider, using the momentum of the galloping horse, slashed from his back to his shoulder with one stroke, nearly cleaving him in two. Zhangsun Yi’s body swayed and fell to the ground, his eyes wide open, unable to utter another word. The horse, however, did not pause at all, charging into the crowd. The sword danced wildly, as the rider, covered in blood, felt his heart racing with excitement and laughed uncontrollably.
In this great defeat of the Yu army, of the remaining 60,000 troops, 40,000 were killed on the spot. Another 10,000 women and children were captured to serve as military prostitutes for the Chongjin army, while the remaining 10,000 scattered and fled. General Wei Yun and Military Official Zhangsun Yi were both killed, and Yamen General Lin Jian defected.
The Chongjin General Hu’erji broke through the Qianhai Pass, and after killing tens of thousands, the morale of his troops soared. They cut off the heads of Yu soldiers and hung them on their horses’ heads, using the number of heads to demonstrate their military achievements. All the supplies and provisions recently sent from the rear by Da Yu fell into Chongjin’s hands. They seized the opportunity and captured four cities in succession, pushing the Yu battle line hundreds of li southward.
While Chongjin was breaking through the Qianhai Pass head-on, the other three major Hu tribes divided into three routes, constantly harassing various Da Yu cities on other fronts. Originally, the Yu army still had some strength to fight on multiple fronts, but now with the fall of Qianhai Pass, all Yu forces must converge into a main force to directly confront Chongjin.
Mengliang thus became the site of the next decisive battle.
Li Ju had just arrived at the front lines and hadn’t even had a chance to meet the frontline soldiers when the Chongjin army presented him with such a grand “gift,” one he found difficult to digest.
On the night Wei Yun was killed, Li Ju was actually in the main camp. However, he had been suffering from an unbearable headache and suspected food poisoning, causing him to have diarrhea for several days. He couldn’t leave the toilet, let alone command the battle. On the night of the surprise attack, the Huben soldiers covered the rear to allow Li Ju to escape first. Li Ju’s already painful stomach churned even more during the bumpy ride, and without time to grab a chamber pot, he defecated directly in the carriage. This incident was Li Ju’s greatest shame and humiliation. He specifically ordered his accompanying guards to never tell anyone about it. The guard lowered his head and casually said “yes.” Seeing the emperor in such a state, he seemed to already envision his own future of being beheaded.
Li Ju retreated to Mengliang with the main force of the Yu army. Liu Guan, the governor of Mengliang, had originally planned to flee with his entire family. He never expected that Qianhai Pass would fall in less than three days, immediately shifting the focus of the war to Mengliang, with even the emperor arriving. Liu Guan’s plan to abandon the city during the chaos was thwarted. He sent his wives and concubines to pack their valuables and escape in the night, while he remained in the city with his old subordinates to join forces with the emperor and the Yu army’s main force.
The Yu army’s main force claimed to have 150,000 troops, but Li Ju knew only 50,000 remained, and among those, probably not even half were men capable of fighting. If Mengliang were to fall, the next target for Chongjin would be Guanyang. Guanyang was only a thousand li from Runing, and if Guanyang fell, it would be tantamount to opening the gates to the capital. At Chongjin’s rate of advance, their army would reach Runing in no more than five days.
Li Ju’s initial ambition and enthusiasm had completely vanished. He had thought he could strategize from afar and achieve victory over thousands of li, but he never expected to lose the most important northern pass before even having the chance to command a single battle, followed by the loss of four more cities.
Just as Li Ju was troubled and weary, two battle reports and a secret memorial arrived in quick succession.
One battle report stated that the three major Hu tribes in the northwest of Da Yu had already captured three counties in Suichuan, advancing like tigers towards Dongchun, intending to take advantage of the emperor’s personal campaign to exploit the vulnerability. These three Hu tribes combined were not as powerful as the Chongjin tribe alone, but they were skilled in witchcraft and very difficult to deal with. Now that Da Yu’s main force was entirely concentrated in Mengliang, the country could not squeeze out any more troops. The forces defending Suichuan against them were the last private armies of the noble clans guarding their homes. The total number of private soldiers in all of Suichuan was less than 5,000, and they could only resist temporarily due to their familiarity with the terrain, unable to hold out for long. Yan Ang, the newly appointed governor of Suichuan, and Zhangsun Chun, the governor of Dongchun, jointly requested troops from Li Ju, hoping to divert half of the 150,000 main force to support the northwest.
Half? They actually wanted 75,000 troops? Li Ju couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. Forget 75,000 troops, he couldn’t even spare 5,000. If he had to choose, he could let Suichuan and Dongchun prefectures fall, as those areas had already become Li Yanyi’s sphere of influence. But Mengliang was different. Mengliang, Guanyang, and Runing were all under his and Xie Fuchen’s control, and beyond Qianhai Pass, there were no more high mountains or treacherous terrain. This was the most dangerous gap, and Li Ju would not give up even a fraction of his troops!
Li Ju personally wrote a reply in cinnabar: “Qianhai Pass has fallen, Mengliang is in imminent danger, no troops can be spared.” After writing, he immediately sent someone to deliver it.
The other battle report stated that an uprising had occurred within Da Yu’s borders, with countless disaster victims rising up and forming a rebellious force. These victims, calling themselves “Yellow Earth Righteous Men,” used the slogan “rob the rich to help the poor” as an excuse to loot and kill in several major cities of Da Yu. Even Runing had seen the emergence of “Yellow Earth Righteous Men,” who were rampantly setting fires and looting in the east and west markets. The Imperial Guards were trying every means to suppress the “Yellow Earth Righteous Men,” but more and more people were joining them. Many disaster victims had long harbored resentment towards the central government, and now that they had an outlet, they became unrestrained.
Li Ju was overwhelmed. He only replied with the word “kill” and had no heart to deal with it further.
What troubled him most was the secret memorial from Xie Fuchen. It said that as soon as Li Ju left, Wei Lun returned and joined forces with Zhangsun Yao to impeach Yan Zhen. The impeachment memorial was submitted directly to Empress Dowager Geng, without passing through the hands of Xie Fuchen, the regent Marshal. After reading it, Empress Dowager Geng passed it to Li Yanyi for her decision. Li Yanyi charged Yan Zhen with 65 crimes, even saying that his position as Grand Chancellor, obtained through trickery and fraud, was invalid. According to his official rank, he didn’t even qualify for the imperial prison and was thrown directly into jail. Yan Zhen couldn’t even cry injustice for two days before his entire family was executed. This order was also issued by Li Yanyi using the late emperor’s jade seal given to her by Empress Dowager Geng, authorizing her to manage state affairs. Over 300 members of Yan Zhen’s family, including concubines, died unclear deaths. Even Xie Fuchen’s regent seal given by Li Ju was useless. Li Yanyi’s jade seal from the late emperor outranked his regent seal several times over, and Xie Fuchen was even driven out of Taiji Hall during the morning court session.
Li Yanyi was seizing power frantically while Li Ju was away from Runing, joining forces with Empress Dowager Geng to swiftly eliminate opposing factions. Xie Fuchen was now pretending to be ill at home, hoping to avoid this crisis and wishing for Li Ju to return to the court soon to manage state affairs.
Li Ju was so angry that his internal organs felt like they were bursting, and he coughed violently, almost coughing up blood.
Whether it’s the Hu tribes or the disaster victims, they are all like Li Yanyi, greedy wolves eyeing my kingdom with predatory intent!
Li Ju could not linger in Mengliang for long. He needed to face the enemy head-on, achieve a swift victory, and drive Chongjin back to the northern wastelands!
He summoned the Governor of Mengliang, Liu Guan; the newly appointed General of Anbei, Wang Wei; the newly appointed General of Pingchuan, He Yannian; along with various colonels, commanders, and military supervisors overnight to discuss strategies for defending the city.
“Actually, Li Ju is right; the main force cannot be divided. Even if Suichuan and Dongchun are taken, the three major Hu tribes would find it difficult to cross the treacherous Suidong Mountain Range from the north. And if they do cross it? If they manage to traverse the Suidong Mountains, there’s still the entire Pingcang prefecture to defend against them. Pingcang is a militarily important prefecture with many noble clans; it won’t be easy to overrun Pingcang. But Mengliang is different; Mengliang must be defended at all costs. Mengliang still has high walls and deep moats for defense, but Guanyang to the south is situated on flat ground and very easy to breach, so the decisive battle can only be fought at Mengliang.”
In the darkness of night, Zhen Wenjun sat by the fire, chewing on a hard, dry steamed bun while drawing a map of Da Yu’s terrain on the ground with a tree branch.
She could draw the terrain of Da Yu since she was three years old, and by five, she could mark the locations of major mountains, rivers, and passes. Her mother had once drawn a map of Da Yu on old tree bark and played war games with her using a few pebbles – this was her first experience of “paper warfare.”
After the terrifying experience at Qianhai Pass, Zhen Wenjun retreated to Mengliang along with the remnant troops. Along this journey, not only did she fail to find an opportunity to assassinate Li Ju, but she also nearly lost her own life. For several consecutive nights, she couldn’t sleep well; whenever she closed her eyes, all she saw were galloping horses, long swords, and severed heads and intestines strewn across the ground, making it difficult for her to eat or sleep. After ten days, she finally regained some appetite and sat on the sandy ground, eating some steamed buns as hard as rocks while casually analyzing the situation.
She had pieced together information about military affairs from snippets of conversation she overheard while delivering wine to the military supervisor earlier. In her mother’s stories, there were always small soldiers who liked to deliver wine to the supervisors, using the opportunity to gather intelligence and formulate plans in their minds, preparing for the day they would make a stunning debut.
As the military supervisors, who held the most military intelligence, all information had to be consolidated with them before being disseminated. The military supervisors were all rough men, and they quite liked Zhen Wenjun’s pretty face. Whenever Zhen Wenjun brought in wine, no one drove her away, so she would continue pouring, lingering as long as she could. The longer she stayed, the more military intelligence she could steal.
With her current status as a lowest-ranking female soldier, she couldn’t get anywhere near Li Ju. In all these days, she had only heard him speak twice from afar. Once he finished speaking, she had no idea where Li Ju was stationed. How could she even think about assassination?
Moreover, Zhen Wenjun’s intentions were not as simple as just assassinating Li Ju. Now that Da Yu was struggling to recruit men, since she had the opportunity to enter the army and wanted to bring down Xie Fuchen in one fell swoop, she should take this chance to learn and gain experience.
As she was analyzing the current situation to herself, she didn’t notice someone quietly approaching from behind. That person deliberately concealed their footsteps and suddenly patted Zhen Wenjun on the shoulder with a “pat,” startling her so much that she dropped her steamed bun.
“What are you doing?” Zhong family’s Ah Xi plopped down beside her, picked up the fallen steamed bun, dusted it off, and started eating it. “What are you drawing? A map?”
“Hmm…” Among the female troops who came to the front lines with Zhen Wenjun, few were still alive, and Ah Xi was one of them. Ah Xi was a woodcutter’s daughter who had been chopping and carrying wood since childhood, giving her some strength in her hands and feet, but unfortunately, she wasn’t very bright. During the crisis at Qianhai Pass, she survived by lying on the ground pretending to be a corpse, but her left leg was trampled by a horse. Zhen Wenjun had helped treat her wound, but due to limited conditions at the front, Ah Xi’s leg injury was healing very slowly. However, she wasn’t worried at all, dragging her broken leg around every day, even boasting about going into battle to kill enemies. She constantly pestered the preoccupied Zhen Wenjun, talking loudly about this and that. Zhen Wenjun found her annoying and didn’t want to deal with her, usually just perfunctorily responding each time.
“Wenjun! You’re so amazing! Is this Mengliang? This is Runing! Wow! You draw so well!”
Zhen Wenjun couldn’t stand her loud voice and was about to erase the map and leave.
“But the mountain terrain of Mengliang is a bit off. The Three Peaks of Cansan in Mengliang actually only have two peaks, not three,” Ah Xi suddenly said just as Zhen Wenjun was about to leave.
Zhen Wenjun immediately stopped in her tracks and turned back to look at her in surprise. Ah Xi was still smiling at her with an innocent, even slightly foolish expression.
“You say the Three Peaks of Cansan only have two peaks? How is that possible… If there were only two peaks, why would it be called the Three Peaks?” Zhen Wenjun asked her.
Sitting on the ground, Ah Xi chewed on her steamed bun while patting her leg, casually saying, “More than ten years ago, there were three peaks, but one of them was full of lodestones, which was very unfavorable for troop movements, so it was removed. It’s said that the lodestones were all filled into the remote Guixin Valley, so now only two peaks remain.”
“How do you know about this?” Zhen Wenjun looked at Ah Xi, who appeared rough and sturdy, quite similar to Xiaohua when she first met her, just not as tall and strong.
“Me? My father and I have been chopping wood in the mountains for years, also looking for some mountain treasures on the side. Firewood is worth only a few coins, but mountain treasures are different. To earn more silver, my father and I have walked through almost all the mountains and rivers within Da Yu’s borders, so that’s how I know.”
“You… have walked through all the mountains and rivers?” Zhen Wenjun asked incredulously, “So you have all of Da Yu’s mountain and river topography memorized in your mind now?”
“Yeah.” Ah Xi finished eating the steamed bun and clutched her flattened stomach in pain, saying, “I want to eat more…”
Zhen Wenjun immediately steadied her, wishing she could hold her in the palm of her hand: “Do you want more steamed buns? I’ll go get some for you! Just stay right here, don’t move!”
“Really?” Ah Xi’s eyes lit up at the mention of food.
“Really! Wait for me! Stay right here!” After repeatedly instructing her, Zhen Wenjun immediately ran to the tent where the rations were stored. Jiang Erlang, who was guarding the tent, could barely stand straight and was yawning continuously. Hearing someone approach, he immediately straightened up and stood at attention. Seeing it was Zhen Wenjun, he let out a heavy sigh and complained:
“Miss Zhen! Next time you come, could you make some noise? I thought it was someone else! You scared me to death!”
Zhen Wenjun approached and glanced around, secretly slipping him a package of Furong Powder about the size of a fingernail.
Of all the things Lingbi had mentioned bringing for her, she hadn’t brought any of them, and even silver coins might not be useful, but she had brought two large packages of Furong Powder with her. Furong Powder was the real hard currency, valuable wherever one went. This was her secret weapon for getting through various channels.
Jiang Erlang quickly slid the Furong Powder into his sleeve and raised his eyebrows, lowering his voice: “Two more steamed buns?”
Zhen Wenjun went straight into the tent, stuffed ten steamed buns into her clothes, and started to leave. Jiang Erlang quickly grabbed her:
“Miss Zhen! This won’t do, this won’t do! Food is already scarce now…”
Zhen Wenjun slipped him another package of Furong Powder. Jiang Erlang was torn, but finally had no choice but to let her go.
“Here.” She returned and tossed all ten steamed buns to Ah Xi, whose eyes widened:
“Wow, Wenjun, you’re really capable, actually managing to bring back so many steamed buns. Thank you so much.” By the second half of her sentence, Ah Xi had already stuffed all the steamed buns into her mouth, speaking indistinctly.
Zhen Wenjun told her to eat slowly and asked her to describe the terrain around Mengliang in detail, no longer judging by appearances.
After Ah Xi finished speaking, Zhen Wenjun immediately formulated a strategy in her mind. Now that Chongjin’s army had surrounded the city and could attack at any moment, Mengliang’s terrain was strategically advantageous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Moreover, it was said to have 150,000 troops defending the city. Even if Hu’er Ji was valiant, he wouldn’t recklessly charge into the city. This was the perfect opportunity.
Her mother had once told her about the Battle of Pingguan, which was almost identical to this situation – a large army besieging a city that was easy to defend but difficult to attack. At that time, there were even fewer soldiers in the city, less than 5,000. The prefect defending the city kept guarding the city gates, refusing to engage in direct combat no matter how much the enemy outside taunted them, and held out for over twenty days. When the enemy’s supplies were exhausted and they were suffering from hunger and cold, he sent out 500 light cavalry at night to cut off the enemy’s supply lines. Then, they opened the city gates and launched an attack. The enemy’s 60,000 elite troops were defeated without a fight, all killed without a single survivor. This battle was the most famous example of the few defeating the many during the Martial Emperor’s reign. As a child, Zhen Wenjun particularly liked this prefect because her mother described how handsome and intelligent he was.
Now, Mengliang faced an identical situation, and the Chongjin troops had advanced too fiercely. The vanguard had charged straight in, reaching Mengliang in just three days after taking Qianhai Pass without any rest. No matter how fierce these meat-eating barbarians were, they were still human and must be exhausted by now. Supplies couldn’t move that fast; if they could dispatch a thousand light cavalry to intercept the supply train and cut off the Chongjin army’s food, they would soon be too hungry to lift their swords or mount their horses.
Ah Xi told her something very important: although the road from Qianhai Pass to Mengliang was easy to travel, there was only one route suitable for supply wagons, and it was a mountain road, perfect for ambushes. Cutting off supplies there would be almost guaranteed to succeed.
If they followed this strategy, the Chongjin army would surely be defeated within a month.
Zhen Wenjun thought that as Da Yu soldiers, the high-ranking officials stationed in Mengliang must know the story of the Battle of Pingguan and wouldn’t rashly attack. However, the development of events completely exceeded her expectations.
Hu’er Ji knew Li Ju was in the city, so he called some defected generals to loudly insult Li Ju’s incompetence, cursing everything from his origins to his harem. They said he kept three thousand concubines but didn’t favor them, suggesting he might be impotent, and that Li Ju should change his name to Li Can’t-Get-It-Up. They even claimed he had fled the city in fear of Hu’er Ji, with his pants full of excrement and urine, truly a cowardly rat. If he surrendered now, he might keep his life and become Hu’er Ji’s male concubine, and Hu’er Ji would surely favor him well.
These vulgar insults accidentally hit Li Ju’s sore spot, enraging him. He ordered Liu Guan to open the city gates, saying he would personally lead the troops to crush the barbarian bandits!
Liu Guan was terrified and quickly tried to dissuade him from acting rashly, saying they should just let those noisy barbarians waste their breath cursing if they wanted to, as it wouldn’t hurt anyone. Li Ju, red-eyed with anger, took out all his rage on Liu Guan, dragging him out and having him beaten with twenty military sticks. Liu Guan, already resentful, was beaten for offering well-intentioned advice. Furious, he used the excuse of severe illness to stay at home and refused to come out again.
Generals Wang Wei and He Yannian were both cramped in Mengliang, which was already a taboo. Both were used to making decisions, and now that they met, one advocated attacking while the other wanted to defend, leading to an irreconcilable dispute. Wang Wei believed that not only was Mengliang in danger, but the entire Da Yu nation was also in turmoil, with all the main forces trapped in Mengliang. If they continued to be at a stalemate, he feared the whole of Da Yu would fall before Mengliang did. He proposed using fire oil bombs as the main strategy for a quick victory to support the rest of Da Yu.
He Yannian disagreed with his view. Now that the Chongjin army had surrounded the city, the difference in troop numbers was too great. Even with fire oil bombs, they might not have much effect. He feared that once the city gates opened, the main Chongjin forces would rush in, and Mengliang would fall in an instant.
The two continued to argue, but in the end, because Wang Wei outranked He Yannian and had Li Ju’s support, they began preparing fire oil bombs, intending to launch a strong attack.
When Zhen Wenjun heard this order, she became extremely anxious, insisting on seeing Wang Wei to tell him that the city gates absolutely must not be opened!
However, she was just an unknown soldier, and a female private at that. Not only would Wang Wei not listen to her, but she was also turned away by two long swords of the soldiers, unable to even see his face.
“The general is discussing important military matters and cannot be disturbed! Otherwise, you’ll be dealt with according to military law!”
Zhen Wenjun could only worry helplessly, watching as fire oil bombs were launched one by one over the city walls, crashing into the dense Chongjin army. Almost everyone in the Chongjin army had horses. The first batch of fire oil bombs had some killing power, but from the second batch onward, the agile horse herds nimbly avoided them. At this time, the city gates opened wide, and Yu soldiers with shields charged out, followed closely by spearmen with their spears raised to strike. Countless archers on the city walls released a rain of arrows towards the enemy formation.
The Chongjin army used their horses as shields, with horse heads crashing into the thick shields. The mounted soldiers stepped on their horses’ backs and leapt over the thick shields, jumping into the infantry. Both sides engaged in close-quarters combat, with each Da Yu soldier being a head shorter than the Chongjin men. Three punches to the face would knock them unconscious.
Soon, both sides were entangled in a chaotic melee. If they launched fire oil bombs, they would burn their own soldiers; if they didn’t, they feared losing the city. They were caught in a dilemma.
Wang Wei rode his horse and personally joined the battle, charging out of the city gates and slaying several men. Hu’er Ji targeted Wang Wei, rushing in to fight him. Although Wang Wei was a battle-hardened fierce general, he couldn’t last ten rounds against Hu’er Ji’s valor before being knocked off his horse. He was trampled by Hu’er Ji’s horse, coughing blood and dying.
Hu’er Ji raised his arm and shouted, and the Chongjin army poured into Mengliang city. Zhen Wenjun’s vision darkened, and once again, it was time for a desperate escape.
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