Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 115 The Army Approaches Chang'an
The sunrise is desolate and desolate.

The fleeing soldiers felt even colder.

The fierce general on horseback casually thrust his spear, piercing through the back and chest of a fleeing soldier who had abandoned his armor and helmet.

He drew his long spear and continued to chase the horse eastward.

One of the guards dismounted, cut off the head, put it into the saddlebag of his warhorse, and then mounted his horse again.

After galloping less than a hundred paces, they came to a small grove of trees. Outside the grove, they saw dozens of defeated soldiers fleeing for their lives. However, the General of the North reined in his horse and stopped outside the grove, abandoning the pursuit.

Puzzled, he rode forward, but before he could reach the General of the North, a magnificent city came into view.

"General, is this Chang'an?" The guard murmured to himself, lost in thought. "It's damn big!"

Not hearing the General of the North speak, I turned to look and saw that the General of the North had lost his usual eagle-like and imposing manner. His expression seemed to be filled with mixed feelings, and he was saddened.

Confused, he looked toward the commander of the imperial guards, only to see the commander wave his hand and the guards continue to pursue the fleeing soldiers. The guard didn't have time to think too much and reined in his horse to follow.

Wei Yan gazed silently at Chang'an City through the dust that had just been stirred up. Five years had passed since the late emperor's death, and his voice and smile had become increasingly blurred with the passage of time, but at this moment they suddenly became incredibly vivid.

He pursed his lips, took a deep breath, and then spurred his horse eastward in pursuit. His warhorse galloped, catching up with one routed soldier after another, raising sprays of blood.

They quickly caught up with the Wei army and arrived at the city of Chang'an. However, the city gates were tightly closed, and the defeated Wei soldiers could not enter the city. They cried out in despair at the foot of the city.

Wei Yan, Guan Xing, Yang Tiao, and Mi Wei led more than two thousand cavalrymen to continue pursuing the blindly fleeing Wei army outside the city, shooting them with bows and crossbows to kill as many Wei soldiers as possible.

Unable to enter, the Han army relentlessly pursued and killed them. Some of the routed soldiers continued to flee eastward, some were trampled to death by their own people, and some even died on the canal leading to Chang'an.

Changan.

Zhicheng Gate, atop the city tower.

Guanqiu Jian questioned Xiahou Mao:
“Since General Anxi received my envoy’s urgent plea for help last night, why did he still close the city and defend it, without sending out a single soldier, allowing the Shu bandits to seize my camp?!”

"My camp and Chang'an form a pincer movement, but if Chang'an doesn't send troops to help when we're in trouble, what's the use of this pincer movement?!"

Chang'an and the Fengshui camp were only a dozen miles apart. When he saw the Shu army setting up siege towers and other siege engines, he had already sent an envoy to Chang'an to ask for help. The envoy returned to the camp to report back.

As a result, the city of Chang'an remained completely unmoved overnight!
If Xiahou Mao had led 5,000 men with torches, he could have forced the Shu army to divide their forces and reduce the pressure on his camp, thus boosting the morale of his defenders and preventing the Shu invaders from breaching the city overnight.

Isolation and lack of support, coupled with widespread morale collapse, were key factors in last night's crushing defeat.

Just as Guanqiu Jian felt resentful, Xiahou Mao also blushed and his eyes were filled with anger:

"You have been building your camp for more than a month. How could the Shu bandits, who have traveled a long way, possibly breach your camp in one night?"
"Did you deliberately let the enemy escape?!"

"Or is it that you too have surrendered to the Shu bandits and are now here to help them swindle my city?!"

Now that the Shu invaders are at the city gates, Xiahou Mao dares not trust anyone, including Guanqiu Jian and Linghu Yu. That is why he keeps the city gates tightly closed and does not let any suspicious people in.

The Shu bandits were adept at deceiving cities, and Gaoling was taken away by them using similar methods.

Guanqiu Jian was taken aback by Xiahou Mao's words, only then realizing that Xiahou Mao was several feet away from him.

His personal guards surrounded him, seemingly ready to attack at the slightest provocation.

"Where are Linghu Yu and Xiahou Ru?!" Xiahou Mao questioned again.

Guanqiu Jian immediately shook his head:
I don't know either.

"They escaped the camp before me, so they should have entered the city earlier than I did."

"Perhaps seeing that you had the city gates tightly closed, he went east."

If he was able to escape successfully, then those two must have escaped even earlier and shouldn't have been captured by the Shu bandits.

A gust of wind blew by, and he suddenly smelled a strong odor of alcohol wafting from Xiahou Mao's direction: "General Anxi, did you drink last night?"

Xiahou Mao was furious: "What do you mean by that? Are you trying to shift the blame for the defeat onto me?!"

Guanqiu Jian had nothing to say.

He failed to hold the camp, so naturally it was his responsibility.

But was it because General Anxi had been drinking that he made a mistake?
This General Shang Qinghe is a member of the imperial family, but he cannot question her. When he returns to Luoyang, His Majesty will ask her questions.

Just then, the sound of horses' hooves approached from the inner city.

Guanqiu Jian and Xiahou Mao looked in the direction of the voice and saw Xiahou Ru and Linghu Yu, the two generals they had just been talking about.

Before long, the two generals dismounted at the foot of the city wall and climbed up.

"Where did you come from?" Xiahou Mao asked Xiahou Ru.

Xiahou Ru, however, did not answer. Instead, his face flushed red, he asked Guanqiu Jian the same question: "Why didn't Zilin send troops to rescue us last night?"

Xiahou Mao was momentarily stunned by the question.

Guanqiu Jian might have betrayed the enemy, but Xiahou Ru, as a member of the Wei imperial family, would never have done so.

It was difficult to answer, so I could only change the subject: "How exactly did you lose your camp? How could Zhuge Liang have breached it in just one night?"

Xiahou Ru then recounted how the Han army had suddenly deployed a large number of siege weapons.

Xiahou Mao was stunned and his face turned pale. He never expected that the Shu bandits could assemble so many siege weapons in just a few hours. Even if all the materials were prepared, this was still unheard of.

He could only ask again, "Where is the General of the Flying Cavalry? Didn't the General of the Flying Cavalry send anyone to help?"

The implication is that since even the General of the Cavalry isn't coming to our aid, how can you shift all the blame onto me?
Xiahou Ru and Guanqiu Jian exchanged a glance and said:
"The Shu bandits are in the west. Before our messenger sent to General of the Flying Cavalry for reinforcements could return with any news, our camp was breached!"
"But since Zilin has already received the news, he could even send out a few thousand men to contain the Shu bandits!"

Several thousand men were sent out to contain the Shu bandits?!

How can we restrain them?!
Me?!
Xiahou Mao suddenly thought of a way to refuse:

"Who would have thought that Zhuge Liang could break through the camp in one night? Our Chang'an garrison has been dealing with the plague in the city every day for the past half month and is already exhausted. How could we possibly rush to their aid overnight?"
"Furthermore, the Shu bandits did not set up defenses in the eastern perimeter, which means they must have been planning to besiege the point and attack the reinforcements. If I go to their aid overnight, wouldn't that be exactly what the Shu bandits want?"

"If the Shu bandits brought by Zhuge Liang were so ruthless and decisive in attacking your fortified camp, how could my Chang'an garrison be a match for them?"
"At that time, Chang'an will be vulnerable, wouldn't it be easy for the Shu bandits to take advantage of the situation and conquer the city in one battle?"

And you know what? It actually sounds like a flawless reason.

Recently, there has been a plague everywhere, causing widespread panic. In Guanqiu Jian's camp, seven or eight hundred people have died, most of them were laborers and servants who did odd jobs.

Those who contracted the disease were buried directly, while those who were not infected were arranged to stay outside the camp to prevent the spread of the disease. As a result, the soldiers in the camp had to do a lot of work themselves, which was indeed exhausting, and many soldiers still contracted the disease.

As for besieging the city and attacking reinforcements, given the elite and valiant performance of the Han army, the Chang'an garrison under Xiahou Mao was indeed no match for them.

These soldiers, having followed General Xiahou Mao in keeping their weapons stored away and their horses grazing on the southern mountains for so many years, have become utterly worn out.

Guanqiu Jian, Linghu Yu, Xiahou Ru, and the others all fell silent.

The Shu bandits below the city were still relentlessly killing the fleeing soldiers, showing utter disregard for the defenders of Chang'an. If the main force of the Shu bandits were to attack now, and the General of the Flying Cavalry's army could not arrive in time, it was uncertain whether Chang'an could be defended.

"Where did the Shu bandits get so many cavalry?" Xiahou Mao spat. Looking around, he estimated that the Shu bandits had more than two thousand cavalrymen below the city.

Guanqiu Jian sighed helplessly:
"The Shu bandits recruited Yang Tiao, a Qiang chieftain from Anding, and gained one or two thousand cavalrymen. They also recruited Liu Bao, a Xiongnu chieftain, and gained another one or two thousand cavalrymen."

"It's possible that Yang Qianwan and other Qiang and Di tribes in Longyou have also joined the rebellion. If the Protector of Wuhuan (Tian Yu) and the Protector of Xianbei (Qian Zhao) cannot resolve the issue of Kebineng coming to their aid immediately, then our Great Wei cavalry will be outnumbered by the Shu bandits."

Xiahou Mao was taken aback at first, then suddenly said with some disdain, "How can a bunch of rabble be a match for the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry of my Great Wei?"

Guanqiu Jian nodded slightly upon hearing this.

The Hu people are known for their lack of integrity; they come when there is profit to be made and leave when there is none.

At this time, Liu Shan was powerful, and their defection from Wei to Shu to follow Liu Shan was simply a matter of their nature. They were only interested in killing and robbing behind the Shu army.

And when Liu Shan is defeated by General Huo Qubing, these Qiang and Hu tribes can also turn against him and kill the Shu people and plunder Shu goods.

If the people of Shu dared to give them important positions, they might very well suffer a backlash.

Just then, more than twenty elite cavalrymen, each wielding a spear, slowly pursued the fifty or sixty fleeing Wei soldiers who had abandoned their armor, and arrived at the foot of the city wall where the group was.

This section of the city wall is more than a mile away from the city gate. Undoubtedly, these defeated soldiers had nowhere else to go, which is why they were pursued here.

With nowhere to run, the routed soldiers collapsed to the ground, crying and begging for mercy from the pursuing cavalry.

"Wei dog, shut your mouth and give me your head!" A cavalryman trained by Wei Yan sneered and thrust his spear lightly.

The spear easily pierced through the unarmored body, as effortlessly as killing a chicken or a dog, before dismounting to sever the head.

The same thing happens simultaneously in an instant.

The scene was incredibly bloody and terrifying.

However, for these warriors, it was nothing new and commonplace. In fact, their methods of disposing of corpses were as precise as those of a butcher who skillfully dissects an ox.

Xiahou Mao, who was on the city wall, quickly summoned dozens of archers to shoot arrows down.

However, even though these dozens of Han cavalrymen were clearly within the firing range of the defenders on the city wall, the archers on the city wall seemed to be masters of human outline drawing, and few of their arrows hit the Han cavalrymen, and their force was weak and ineffective.

Whether it was because they hadn't trained in a long time or because they had never been on a real battlefield, they were so frightened by the bloody scene below the city that their hands went limp.

The Han cavalry below the city laughed even louder, continuing their slaughter and cutting as if no one else was around.

Before long, dozens of headless corpses were laid out on the ground, blood flowing everywhere.

Throughout the entire process, Guanqiu Jian only managed to snatch a bow and arrow from the Chang'an garrison and wound two soldiers; otherwise, there were no further achievements.

An hour later.

The Han army pursued the fleeing enemy, and the more than two thousand cavalrymen returned to Guanqiu Jian's camp on the Feng River.

The auxiliary soldiers and laborers of the Xiliu Camp in Weibei arrived outside the camp via a pontoon bridge. Some dealt with the corpses produced the previous night, while others dug trenches and built fortifications, temporarily making the camp available for use by the Han Dynasty.

Although the camp was damaged, the most serious damage was only to the southern perimeter. With a little repair, although it cannot be called a fortified fortress, it is still much stronger than a temporary fortress.

However, since the camp could not accommodate the 60,000 to 70,000 men brought by the Han army, all the wounded soldiers were transferred to the Xiliu camp north of the Wei River, and another 20,000 soldiers were also transferred to the Xiliu camp for rest and recuperation.

After days of marching and fighting through the night, most of the soldiers were exhausted and their spirits were worn down.

Without a few days of rest, it will be difficult to regain combat effectiveness.

But Wei Yan didn't think so.

Upon returning to the central command tent and meeting with the Prime Minister, he urgently offered his advice:

"Prime Minister, the Wei garrison in Chang'an saw our cavalry pursuing the fleeing soldiers to the city walls but dared not open the gates. This shows that their morale is low and they are vulnerable. We should seize Chang'an in one fell swoop!"

Inside the tent, boxes upon boxes of books and records were neatly stacked, and the Prime Minister and his officials were currently examining them.

The military's most important documents, including military dispatches, secret plans, and supplies, reveal a great deal about the Wei army.

Upon hearing Wei Yan's words, the Prime Minister immediately closed a scroll of bamboo slips and pondered, saying:
"Wen Chang's suggestion to press on with one effort is indeed reasonable."

"But now our Han people are exhausted, our horses are worn out, and our armor and weapons need repair. We are no longer fit for battle."

"If we halt our troops outside Chang'an and fail to capture it, Sima Yi will surely launch an attack from behind, and one wrong move could lead to total defeat."

As he spoke, the Prime Minister raised the bamboo slips in his hand:
"Even if we can capture Chang'an before Sima Yi's army arrives, our soldiers will be even more exhausted and suffer more casualties. If Sima Yi launches a sudden and powerful attack, our army will not be able to defend it."

"These two scrolls of bamboo slips were written by Wei generals Niu Jin and Wang Chang. The siege equipment for the Baling and Xinfeng battalions has been completed and is ready to attack Gaoling at any time."

Wei Yan took the bamboo slips and began to read them, finally nodding slowly.

His idea was to quickly attack Chang'an and then rest and recuperate in the city. However, if the Wei army already had siege equipment, then the city of Chang'an was indeed not something that an exhausted army could hold.

The Prime Minister continued, “What worries our Han Dynasty now is not that we cannot capture Chang’an, but that we cannot hold it for long due to a lack of food and supplies after it is captured.”

"The Wei regime is unwilling to let our Han Dynasty take Chang'an, so it has stationed more than 100,000 soldiers in Guanzhong."

"But if our Great Han truly captures Chang'an, the puppet Wei can reduce its population and leave only Sima Yi's elite troops stationed at Tongguan."

"In this case, if we compete with the pseudo-Wei in terms of food and logistics, our Han Dynasty may not be able to hold out."

Even if they manage to hold on, His Majesty's long-term strategy of establishing military farms in Guanzhong will have to be abandoned due to a lack of food supplies.

"It would be better to let Sima Yi come over."

"His army numbered only about 30,000. If they could not defend the great city of Chang'an, they would surely set up camp outside the city."

"I observed his military tactics and knew he was arrogant."

“In the previous challenge, he held firm and did not come out, resulting in the loss of the camp, which will surely cause the morale of the soldiers to fall into chaos.”

"In addition, an epidemic broke out in the Wei army and the Guandong region suffered a severe drought. The Wei's grain transport was disrupted and it could no longer feed the 100,000 people in Guanzhong."

“If we challenge him again, he will surely raise his army and fight against our great Han.”

"If we can defeat Sima Yi once with a dignified battle formation, he will not dare to invade easily in the future, and our Han Dynasty will be able to reduce the number of troops stationed in Guanzhong."

After much deliberation, Wei Yan nodded, then added after a moment's thought:

"Prime Minister, since Sima Yi has not yet arrived, I think we should still send men across the Feng River to set up camp and build fortifications on the other side, and then march on Chang'an."

"Otherwise, when Sima Yi arrives, it will be difficult for my army to cross the river."

The Prime Minister nodded: "I do indeed intend to march on Chang'an, but the soldiers are exhausted and need to rest and recuperate. I have already sent the auxiliary soldiers and laborers from Xiliu and Jimen to come over."

(End of this chapter)