Tang Dynasty Bandits

Chapter 64 Bloody Jiangling

Liu Xun is a man who listens to advice.

When he found his tent, Marshal Yan sent "Phoenix Sword" Chen Liqing to deliver an inkstone. At this time, Chen Liqing was no longer dressed as a maid. She was wearing golden armor and a phoenix crown, and her expression was quite defiant.

When he realized that he really didn't understand the meaning of giving this thing, he finally decided to go to the Zhongwu Army camp and ask Wang Jian for advice.

In any case, Wang Jian is now in the limelight and is likely to be promoted as the number one young man in the Tang Dynasty military. He also has more than ten years of life experience than Liu Xun.

Wang Jian always responded enthusiastically to such inquiries. He patted Liu Xun's shoulder familiarly and said, "I heard that Brother Liu is a child prodigy from Pinglu. I guess you've read a lot of military books."

"I've read some." Liu Xun certainly didn't want to show off his extensive knowledge in front of Wang Jian.

"Of course I have to read military books." Wang Jian sighed. "It's a pity that I don't know many characters. I can only listen to scholars explain many military books to me, so naturally I can't read too much."

Before Wang Jian joined the army, he worked for Manager Fan of the Huaiyang Gang, and was in charge of accounting. He had basic literacy skills, but he had difficulty understanding sophisticated articles.

Liu Xun certainly knew that many famous generals in history did not read much military books and relied mainly on their talents to fight wars.

Wang Jian still didn't directly answer Liu Xun's question: "Brother Liu, how many steps do you think it takes to put an elephant into a box?"

Liu Xun was stunned. "How can an elephant fit into a box? Do I have to kill the elephant and cut it into pieces?"

"Look, brother, I didn't say how big the box is. Why can't the box be bigger than an elephant?" Wang Jian clapped his hands and said, "So, in three steps, open the box door, drive the elephant in, and close the box."

"Is that it?" Liu Xun asked.

"That's it." Wang Jian nodded firmly.

The problem Wang Jian mentioned was indeed something Liu Xun could not find in any military books.

Only then did Wang Jian slowly take the inkstone brought by Liu Xun, put two dots on the wooden camp couch, and draw an ink line.

"That's how you use an ink fountain: between two points, the straight line is the shortest."

Liu Xun certainly knew how to use the inkwell.

But only now did he understand part of the reason why Marshal Yan had given him the inkstone: "Marshal Yan meant that it is better to seek the straight path than the crooked one."

"Actually, I've considered this. But if the strategy doesn't have multiple twists and turns, how can we deceive the enemy?"

Wang Jian shrugged. "That's why I told you the elephant story. You see, it takes three steps to put the elephant into the box. So, if you're planning a strategy, it's best not to take more than three steps. The more layers you use, the greater the variables. When you need to react quickly, you won't be able to react."

Even with the most perfect calculations, infinite deduction is impossible. This is a very simple truth, so simple that Wang Jian could understand it without reading any military books.

When General Yan gave Liu Xun an inkstone, it undoubtedly concealed his plan for the next military deployment.

But Wang Jian didn't need to tell Liu Xun. He felt that he had fulfilled his obligation by teaching a colleague he had just met carefully according to Marshal Yan's requirements.

Instead of talking endlessly like a teacher, it would be better to have a few drinks with your brothers and have a good time communicating with them before the war officially starts.

"Thank you for your guidance, Brother Wang!" Liu Xun suddenly looked enlightened and bowed respectfully.

Liu Xun certainly knew how powerful Wang Jian was.

But only Liu Xun himself knows how much he has learned.

……

The white snow was like cotton wool, floating in the air, and Jiangling City was shrouded in a white atmosphere.

Several major temples within the city, including Changsha Temple, Tianju Temple, and Jihuan Temple, were already packed with people. Amidst the melody of bells and the faint sound of Buddhist chants, many citizens prayed and made wishes before the golden Buddha statues, promising to donate money to rebuild the statue if they could escape the siege of the enemy army.

However, the moat outside the city had been completely filled up. After suffering heavy casualties, the defenders could only focus their defense on the sturdy inner city. Luocheng, which occupied most of the city, was about to be captured.

As one of the most important cities in the Tang Dynasty, the fact that Jiangling City ended up in such a situation was actually the result of a series of accidents.

Earlier, under Shang Rang's advice, Wang Xianzhi launched a feint attack on the wealthy Tangzhou and Dengzhou, causing great unrest among the wealthy people and gentry in Nanyang. Unfortunately, Huang Chao's troops also showed signs of advancing towards Tang and Deng.

The aristocratic families in the Nanyang area were dissatisfied and requested the state to station a large number of troops in Tang Deng to protect the people. However, these people's opinions did not need to be submitted to the emperor's desk before they could play a role.

As a result, troops from Xiangyang, Jingmen, and even Jiangling, along the Han River, were transferred to Nanyang, leaving the crucial city of Jiangling severely depleted. By this time, the Cao army had already captured Suizhou and Anzhou. Seeing a valuable opportunity, Shang Rang immediately advised Wang Xianzhi to change his plan of advancing south to capture Jiangxia and then drink from the Yangtze River. Instead, he urged Wang Xianzhi to advance rapidly southwestward, attempting to cross the Han River.

The Tang army hastily assembled a force to block the Jiaqian Ferry and requisitioned almost all the ferry boats available to the people.

But the rebel army directly lit firewood on the north bank of the river. With the help of the fierce north wind in winter, thick smoke billowed, making it impossible for the Tang army on the other side to open their eyes.

Seizing this opportunity, Shang Rang, his brother Shang Junchang, and Cao army generals Qin Yan and Cao Shixiong led their elite cavalry across the freezing Han River. It was freezing cold, and amidst a vast expanse of white, only the heads of horses and humans floated on the water, forming a thick wall.

From time to time, a sharp wave would hit, and the soldiers would be swept into the whirlpool and disappeared in an instant. However, the soldiers crossing the river were all as brave as iron, and no one had a trace of fear on their faces.

In winter, the Han River dries up, and rapids are rare, making it easy to cross. After their horses were ashore, Shang Rang and his generals, without even putting on armor or shaking off the icy water, charged at the coughing Tang army, shrouded in thick smoke.

The Jiangling government troops were not skilled in spearmanship, relying solely on bows, crossbows, swords, and shields. The swift cavalry charged the ferry, crushing the defenders. Casualties were numerous, and the ferry boats fell into the hands of the Cao army. After seizing the ferry boats, Shang ordered the trembling captive boatmen to row to the other side and lead the main force across the river.

After crossing the Han River, the road to Jiangling is smooth.

This prosperous city hadn't been ravaged by large-scale warfare for over three hundred years. Xiao Xin, one of the heroes of the late Sui Dynasty, surrendered alone to the encroaching Tang army and was executed, saving the entire city. The last time Jiangling was sacked by a large army was during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, when the Western Wei attacked and killed Emperor Xiao Yi of Liang.

The city soldiers, unused to combat, faced the swift and fierce attacks of the rebels. After resisting for several days, they retreated to the inner city to protect themselves, abandoning most of the civilians to the enemy. Those who could find some connections rushed into the inner city, taking their belongings with them. Many others crowded around the inner city gates like a black mass of ants, only to be shot down in large numbers by the enraged soldiers with their crossbows, forcing them to flee in tears.

Ironically, just as the Cao army was about to resume its assault on the inner city, Jingnan Jiedushi Yang Zhiwen leisurely emerged from his office, bulging with belly and dressed in a gauze hat and black fur coat, claiming he was going to the city wall to encourage the soldiers. His staff urged Yang to don armor to protect him from stray arrows, so Yang Zhiwen leisurely composed a poem and drank three cups of wine, claiming he was using poetry to boost morale. Only then, with the help of his officers, did he don his armor and, panting, climb to the inner city gate tower.

The military discipline of the Cao army was not extremely bad. At least compared with the An Lushan rebels or the guards of the three towns of Heshuo, it could almost be called a royal army.

But there was no reason for the army not to use violence. During this rapid march through the heavy snow, breaking through three passes and crossing the Han River, two to three thousand men and horses froze to death. Add to that the casualties from the siege. Even with Wang Xianzhi's prestige, it would have been a pipe dream to control the rebels and prevent them from harming anyone.

The reason why the rebel army has better military discipline in poor areas is that those places are sparsely populated and looting is not easy. It is better to talk to the people who have influence in the county and township, collect some supplies and then cross the border peacefully.

However, in a wealthy place like Jiangling, the people were often not so obedient in offering their wealth. The rich often lost control and led their servants to attack the Cao army that had entered the city because of the treasures in their cellars. This inevitably led to bloodshed.

Amidst the deafening cries, blood and tears spilled onto the ground, and the snow, already trampled black, mixed vaguely with the blood and tears of the soldiers and civilians.

After being stained with blood, people turned into beasts. Some people used spears to carry babies for fun, some people cut open the abdomens of pregnant women, and some people forced fathers and daughters, mothers and children to have sex, and then cut off their heads and pushed the headless bodies into the gutters on both sides of the street.

In such madness, some soldiers with a sense of justice who tried to stop them might be killed on the spot.

Standing tall on the wall, she surveyed the devastating scene within the city, sighing, "Of course, some of those executed were those who exploited the common people, but the majority were innocent."

Shang Rang, who was standing side by side with her, also felt a little sad. After all, the Cao army had never captured a city as big as Jiangling before, nor had they ever committed such large-scale atrocities.

It wasn't that Wang Xianzhi didn't want to enforce military discipline, but the rebel army was originally a patchwork of heroes, even including a group of newly joined Dabie Mountain inhabitants and Jianghan River pirates. After experiencing unprecedented harsh marches and battles, their desire for looting and killing was difficult to control.

"While my strategy brought unprecedented victory, it also brought about the most brutal scene I've ever witnessed." Shang Rang sighed, "The unbearable emotions are almost completely eroding my sense of accomplishment."

Although it is true that one should have such awareness when launching an uprising in troubled times, it is still heartbreaking to actually see such a scene.

The slogan of mending the sky for the people cannot be used to make a living.

Shang Rang also knew that in the face of such a situation, all he could do was to capture a few dozen particularly cruel ones after the war and make an example of them, beheading them in public to slightly enforce military discipline and appease the people.

Later historical records show that "there were 300,000 households living under the city of Jiangling, but by this time, 30 to 40 percent of them died."

This is naturally a rather exaggerated number, because 300,000 households are the total population inside and outside the city, and the population outside the city is sparse. The rebel army has to leave troops to attack the inner city, and it is impossible to launch a large-scale cleansing outside the city in a short period of time.

However, the number of Jiangling civilians killed exceeded 10,000, which was quite significant compared to the city's population of 150,000. As for the women who were violated and insulted, there was no need to mention it.

The scale of this massacre certainly didn't match the devastation inflicted by the Xianbei people of the Yuwen clan in Jiangling over three hundred years earlier. However, it was the largest disaster to occur in Jiangling, a region that had remained untouched by war for three hundred years.

Shang Rang's military strategy mimicked the Handong conquest strategy of Yang Zhong, the father of Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian. However, Yang Zhong had also participated in the Western Wei's conquest of Jiangling. Although his troops did not actually enter the city, but only provided support from the periphery, sparing Yang Zhong's own hands from the blood of the Jiangling civilians, this remained the greatest stain on Yang Zhong's life.

"Thousands of years from now, how will future generations judge me, Shang Rang?" Standing atop the city walls, his battle robe fluttering in the cold wind, this handsome young man muttered to himself, "A hero, or a devil?"

Of course he knew that if he could reach the historical status of Emperor Wu of Wei, Cao Cao, or Emperor Taizong, Li Shimin, all the massacres and looting would not be worth mentioning.

But in the glorious history, how many people can reach that position?

(End of this chapter)