Taiheiki

Chapter 143 Interception
Fighting local barbarians and bandits with one's own troops was fine, but engaging in a field battle with such a well-armed elite would be a disaster, not to mention losing. Even if they won, they would likely lose a lot of money. If they could, as Shi Xie suggested, split their forces and attack Panyu from a detour, weakening the Wei army, that would naturally be the best solution. However, not everyone agreed with Shi Xie's plan.

"Brother Wei Yan's detour strategy is certainly sound, but the Wei bandits are veterans. How could they be unprepared for a split-up attack on Panyu? Furthermore, the Wei bandits have already secured the waterway, so the split-up troops will have no choice but to abandon their boats and take the waterway. While Panyu may not have city walls, it does have water barriers. If we fail to capture it in a hurry, won't we be attacked from both sides?"

"That's a good question, brother!" Shi Xie said with a smile. He pulled a letter from his sleeve and unfolded it. "My third brother is in Panyu City. He has already contacted the righteous men in the city. As soon as the foreign troops arrive, the city will cooperate with them. There is no need to worry about not being able to capture the city!"

Shi Xie's trump card drew praises from the crowd, and the man who had just expressed doubts returned to his seat in shame. Seeing that his plan had almost everyone's support, Shi Xie couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He was about to say something when someone suddenly shouted at the door of the tent, "General, there's urgent military intelligence!"

"Report to me immediately!" Zhang Xu said.

"Here!" An officer came in from outside and said to Zhang Xu, who was in charge, "Our soldiers who were collecting timber by the river were trapped by the bandits, ambushed, and defeated!"

"What?" Zhang Xu stood up suddenly, a hint of anger flushing on his fair face: "How many people were lost?"

"Roughly speaking, more than 110 people were killed, and the number of injured and missing—" the officer gritted his teeth and shouted, "Three times as many dead!"

boom!
There was a noise from inside the tent. It turned out that Zhang Xu had kicked over the table in front of him, and all kinds of debris fell to the ground.

--------------

Shi Xie climbed a rocky hill and looked down at the bodies below. Soldiers were carrying the wounded and the dead. People bent down to confirm whether the bodies on the ground were dead or alive. Those still breathing were carried onto stretchers, while the dead were wrapped in straw mats and thrown into shallow pits nearby. No bodies of the ambushers were found on the battlefield, so they must have been taken away by the victors.

He surveyed the terrain, and the scene seemed to resonate before his eyes: the enraged men were in pursuit, their ranks stretched out in a long, disorganized formation, with no scouts, no vanguard, no rearguard. Then, a hail of arrows flew from the bushes atop the hillock, disrupting the archers' march. The men tried to scale the hillock and take out the archers, but the arrows from behind completely overwhelmed them.

The men jostled and shoved each other, seeking shelter from the arrows, but to no avail. The ambushers had carefully arranged their crossbowmen's positions, allowing them to protect each other and fill in blind spots. Finally, the attackers launched a final blow, using spears and ring-handled swords to massacre the completely disorganized enemy. Only a few escaped.

Shi Xie let out a long sigh, feeling he had somewhat underestimated the enemy before him. The entire battle, from the initial attack, the decoy, the escape route, the choice of ambush position, and the deployment of the crossbowmen, was under the enemy's control. Clearly, the enemy had carefully observed their camp and selected a weak point to strike.

This victory will not only hit the morale of their own side, but more importantly, it will make those soldiers who leave the camp to cut wood and transport supplies more frightened. In order to avoid ambushes, they will take the initiative to narrow their range of activities. Although this will reduce the probability of being ambushed, it will also put the camp into a dilemma of lack of supplies, forcing their own side to leave the camp and fight a decisive battle on unprotected plains.

"It seems we must expedite the division of our forces to attack Panyu!" Shi Xie thought to himself, "It is far too dangerous to engage such a cunning enemy directly!"

————————————————————————

The general's tent of the Wei army.

Wei Cong stood in front of the desk, overlooking the sand table. From time to time, he placed a few wooden blocks representing the army on a certain position on the sand table, but then he shook his head and rejected his plan. After doing this several times, Wei Cong finally let out a long breath, shook his head tiredly, returned to his seat, and closed his eyes to rest.

"Colonel Captain!"

"It's Liu Jiu, what's the matter?" Wei Cong did not open his eyes.

"The enemy is moving!" Liu Jiu whispered, "According to the spies we sent, before dawn today, an army of approximately 3,000 men left the enemy camp and headed northeast!"

"Three thousand people? Northeast direction?" Wei Cong opened his eyes and stood up. He came to the sand table. Liu Jiu looked at Wei Cong nervously, fearing to disturb him.

"Where are these 3,000 men going?" Wei Cong suddenly asked. He raised his hand to stop Liu Jiu from speaking. He paced back and forth in the tent, muttering to himself, "Every action a general takes on the battlefield is to force the enemy to do something they are originally unwilling to do. So what can these 3,000 men do? I am currently in a well-fortified camp. The skirmishers on either side are no match for his men. The craftsmen in the rear camp are building catapults. Once these things are built, they will smash their balls. What are these 3,000 men for? To force me to leave here and abandon this camp?"

Wei Cong suddenly stopped and stamped his feet, saying, "Yes, Panyu... those 3,000 men are heading towards Panyu! As long as he takes Panyu, he can undermine my morale and make all the people in Nanhai County who are still waiting and watching stand up against me. In this way, I must leave here and abandon the camp! Yes, it must be this, there is no other possibility! Good man, if I hadn't thought of it, he might really have won!"

Wei Cong stopped in his tracks, a smug smile on his face. "Liu Jiu, you stay at the camp. Diwudeng and I will lead the troops out of the camp and give the other guys a little surprise!"

"Captain, let me go! You stay in the central army!" Liu Jiu persuaded.

"No, the key to victory or defeat in this battle lies here! You stay in the camp and don't let anyone know that I left the camp!"

After lunch, Wei Cong and Diwu Deng left the camp with 300 cavalrymen and 2,000 infantrymen on mules and pack horses. He did not dress in his usual attire, but changed into ordinary soldier's clothes and blended in with Diwu Deng's guards. In order to avoid being discovered by the enemy's scouts, the army did not take the official road, but first went into a mixed forest, walked a few miles south, and then turned east again to take the official road, all the way to Panyu. During the march, Wei Cong sent as many scouts as possible to the front and both sides to look for traces of the enemy. ————————————————————————————

"My dear, be careful!"

With the help of the guards beside him, Shi Xie did not fall off his horse. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep on horseback. Judging from the time, he should be less than a day's journey away from Panyu, right? Shi Xie breathed in the fresh morning air and looked in the direction of the sunrise. The eastern sky was pink at the horizon, gradually fading to light gray above. Taibai Star was still hanging in the sky. This star representing bloodshed and war shone like a diamond at dawn, as if foreshadowing the future wars. The dark fields below slowly showed various colors such as green, gold, red, and brown. In the distance among the colorful trees, shrubs, and reeds, the river was flowing quietly, shining with crystal light.

"Send a few people to explore the surroundings and confirm our current location!" Shi Xie whispered. He paused for a moment and said, "Let the soldiers stop and rest for a while!"

"As ordered!" The guards hurriedly passed on Shi Xie's order. Shi Xie struggled to dismount and sat cross-legged on the newly laid mat. With etiquette ingrained in his bones, he knew his posture wasn't very elegant, but his legs were as stiff as two pieces of wood, and he couldn't care less.

"My dear, please!" A servant beside him offered a bag of wine, and Shi Xie took a sip. The rich taste of the sugarcane wine made his brows relax slightly. The last time he drank with his third brother was over a year ago. This time they met again, he wanted to have a few drinks. He had never thought that he would accomplish such a great thing while staying in Panyu. If he succeeded, he would at least be awarded the title of Xiaolian. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but take another sip.

"It has been confirmed. Another seven or eight miles to the west is Qujiaao, and from there another twenty miles south is Fanshan!" A moment later, the guard came back and reported.

"That's great!" Shi Xie excitedly dropped his bag and stood up to mount his horse, but he failed because his legs were stiff. The servant beside him quickly reached out and supported him so that he didn't fall. "Pass the order, the entire army will set out immediately and must reach Panyu before dark!"

Having given the order, Shi Xie was about to mount his horse again when he suddenly felt something was amiss. A moment's notice revealed a slight tremor in the ground beneath his feet. What was going on? An earthquake? Before he could even begin to process, he heard the faint, low whine of a horn tent from the rear of the column. The others heard it, too. Shi Xie frowned, scrambled back onto his horse, and looked behind him.

A moment later, the horn blasts grew louder. The soldiers grew restless and agitated. Some horses neighed, others snorted, the soldiers whispered to each other, and even the officers grew uneasy.

"Is this the sound of the horn from the rear team? Have we encountered the enemy?" Shi Xie whispered to himself.

"The rear guard is in trouble," the deputy general said anxiously, "the situation is not good, my lord, please let me go and take a look!"

"We encountered an accident when we were only one day away from Panyu. Was this all a trap from the beginning? Were all my actions expected by Wei Cong? Could it be that my third brother has also fallen into the hands of the enemy?" Shi Xie frowned in pain.

"Sir, the enemy is coming from behind, let me go and hold them off!" the deputy general said anxiously.

"It's too late!" Shi Xie shook his head. "If this was a surprise attack, by the time you reached the rear, it would have been too late!" The soldiers around him began to turn around frantically, waving their spears like a flock of headless flies. Shi Xie couldn't help but groan, "What the hell are these guys trying to do? You, you, and you, tell these idiots to go back to their positions and stay put. Bring me my armor and help me put it on." He glanced suspiciously at the nearby woods. It was quiet and deserted, as if nothing was there.

"Arm the spearmen in formation, facing rearward, with the archers on either side!"

"As you command," the lieutenant hurriedly obeyed. Shi Xie dismounted and, with the help of his servants, began donning his armor. The soldiers around him began chaotically changing formations at the officer's command, some heading east, others west, like a flock of headless flies. Then, about two hundred paces away, Shi Xie spotted a group of cavalrymen at the edge of the woods. Their iron armor, clad in black cloaks, gleamed coldly in the sunlight. He realized he had to do something. Otherwise, if the cavalrymen charged forward, his own infantry, which hadn't yet formed its battle array, would likely collapse.

"Those who are still prepared, go and meet them!" Shi Xie, half-clad in armor, drew his sword and mounted his horse: "Stop the enemy's cavalry!"

Like melted beeswax, the black-armored cavalry flowed toward Shi Xie's ranks, weaving through the sparse trees and rocks, picking their way through the undergrowth. Before Shi Xie's infantry could even form ranks, they charged forward, brandishing spears and cleavers, recklessly charging the enemy, braving the oncoming arrows, then the trampling of lances and horses' hooves, until they were reduced to nothing.

"Enemy, more enemy!" A scout rushed out of the woods and shouted, "There are more enemies in the woods. We are surrounded. They are wearing armor, all of them!"

"Bastard!" Shi Xie cursed and whipped his mount hard, raising his sword above his head: "Follow me, form a wedge formation, and meet the attack!" After that, he squeezed his horse's belly hard and rushed towards the armored cavalry. Many people followed, but soon the formation was in chaos.

With the sound of horns, more and more people poured out of the woods, including spearmen wearing pointed helmets and iron armor, archers in sleeveless armor, and finally a large flag with white letters on a red background fluttering in the wind. On it were five large characters "Wei, the Captain of the Rebellion". Wei Cong stood under the flag, looking at the enemy in front of him with satisfaction as they tried to form a square formation to resist the cavalry's charge, but it was too late. The organization was chaotic and the movements were too slow.

"Very good, Arden, it looks like we will win again this time!" Wei Cong said with a smile.

"You're such an ignorant fellow!" Diwu Deng sneered, "You're still trying to pull off a surprise attack. You deserve it!"

"Haha!" Wei Cong sneered, "Let the crossbowmen advance. Once the cavalry breaks through the enemy formation, they can fire their arrows first. Then let the spearmen charge. Don't give the enemy a chance to regroup. The longer the night, the more trouble they'll have!"

"Yes!" The fifth Deng responded and issued an order to the flag bearer beside him. As the command flag waved gently, the archers moved to both sides and occupied the high ground on both sides of the battlefield. On the one hand, they could use bows and crossbows to attack the enemy, and on the other hand, they could make way for the spearmen behind them to advance.

(End of this chapter)