The banquet around the bonfire lasted until very late. It was after midnight, and the whole army was asleep, except for soldiers on guard duty or on patrol. The encampment was very quiet.
Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong, who had had some hectic days lately, went to sleep shortly after returning to their tent.
It was not until the next morning that the encampment came to life again.
As the troops had stayed up too late the night before, the officers reasonably exempted the soldiers from morning drill so that the troops could have enough sleep and be refreshed and recharged when they woke up.
…
Three days later, when the army were fully prepared, they broke camp and resumed their northward advance, pushing on towards the Wan capital.
Shan Congli panicked and, having no room in his head to worry about possible invasions from those northern tribes, finally gave the order for the garrisons stationed in the north to move south. After arriving at the capital just before Yuwen Tong’s army did, they started deploying defenses hurry scurry, intending to keep at bay the army of the Great Wen.
However, before the battle started, an envoy arrived at the new encampment, bringing with him a diplomatic note from Shan Congli who wanted to sue for peace.
“Shan Congli is suing for peace? And he offers to cede the areas south of the Wan River to us and pay tribute to us on an annual basis?”
Ling Zhang was confused after reading the terms of peace on the diplomatic note from Shan Congli. What made Shan Congli think they would accept his terms? Not only areas south of the Wan River but also almost half of the areas north of the river had now fallen into their hands. Did Shan Congli seriously believe they would be so foolish as to give him back the land they had occupied in exchange for the so-called yearly tribute? It would be an action more stupid than letting the tiger escape to the mountain again.
“Shan Congli is indeed soft in the head,” Ling Zhang directly concluded.
Yuwen Tong also sneered, “He thinks because he’s still a monarch, his words mean something, which is a reverie blinding him to the reality and keeping him from getting off his high horse.”
Even if Shan Congli offered to unconditionally cede all the land they had occupied and pay annual tribute to the Great Wen, he would still turn Shan Congli down, not to mention the terms Shan Congli had offered showed such a lack of sincerity. Why would he blow everything when he was so close to the final victory?
How was he supposed to unify the three countries without subjugating the Wan Kingdom?
Naturally, Shan Congli’s attempt to sue for peace was not at all fruitful and met with taunt.
The envoy of the Wan Kingdom had been tremulous since he had entered the encampment. After being told to leave, he immediately ran out of the tent, slipping and staggering, not daring to cast a backward glance.
…
“That arrogant bastard Yuwen Tong!”
The Wan envoy, after returning to the capital, gave Shan Congli a blow-by-blow account of the derision he had been subjected to in the encampment of the Great Wen. Livid with rage, Shan Congli cursed Yuwen Tong loudly in the audience hall, but there was nothing he could do to Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Tong’s army was laying siege to the Wan capital, and the city was hanging by a thread. None of the letters he had written to the Luohai monarch to request reinforcements had been replied. It was said that Nian Feng was still besieging the Luohai capital, standing in a standoff with the Yuexi garrison in support of Mu Rongfeng, both sides unwilling to budge an inch. Currently Mu Rongfeng was so busy trying to extricate himself from the predicament that it was impossible for him to offer the Wan Kingdom any help.
Xue Chi, the General-in-chief, was dead, and Chen Jing had also died in Jifang City. His two most experienced generals gone, Shan Congli, inevitably, was panic-stricken, but he was still not inclined to surrender himself to Yuwen Tong.
“Your Majesty, the defense of this city is very strong, and so is our Iron North Cavalry. As long as we hold this city long enough for the Luohai Kingdom to handle its civil strife and send reinforcements here, our crisis will be resolved,” said a courtier.
Many other courtiers had the same idea. They didn’t seem to have a clear enough understanding of the current situation and had great confidence in the Iron North Cavalry.
Even part of Shan Congli himself was willing to take his chances, which was why the terms he had offered to Yuwen Tong in exchange for peace had been that impractical.
What they should have seen by now was that it would take nothing short of a miracle for the Luohai Kingdom to spare a thought for them. In addition, how long could the so-called Iron North Cavalry last during a fight against enemies outnumbering them so heavily?
…
As usual, the first round of attacks was mainly aimed at taking the defenders’ measure. Unlike the capital of the Great Wen, the Wan capital had higher ramparts, and the buildings in it were of a bolder style, but there was no moat around it, and neither were there any natural barriers in the vicinity of it. It just stood there in the open field, looking unperturbed. Yuwen Tong didn’t even have to give much thought to strategies, for the city could only be taken by sheer force.
Ling Zhang looked at the towering ramparts of the Wan capital. It had been several centuries since the Wan Kingdom had been founded. The defenses of the city had been strengthened by generations of Wan people before they became what they were on this day. However, high as the ramparts were, they could no longer shield the people inside from attacks.
Centuries ago, this land had been the territory of a unified country, the Xia. Afterward, uprisings had been mounted, the emperor of the Xia overthrown, the empire divided up into three smaller states. Now it was time for reunification.
…
The first offensive lasted a whole day. Shortly after the start of the attack, a Wan cavalry unit charged out of the city gates to fight back. Jiang Xi and He Xiao, leading their own cavalry battalion, engaged the enemies. The two of them were also adept in riding and famous for their skill at fighting on horseback, so their attacks were just as effective as those of the commander of the enemies.
In order to deal with the cavalry of the Wan Kingdom, Yuwen Tong had knocked into shape a special team of cavalrymen by giving them specialized training in the past few years. Not only had those cavalrymen received special training, but every one of them had excellent horsemanship, and they were equipped with state-of-the-art armor and weapons. Made of special material, their mail was not only sturdy but also lighter than common armor, making it easier for their wearers to attack and defend.
Though it was called a cavalry battalion, it actually compared with a cavalry regiment, considering the total number of its members, each of whom could fight ten common cavalrymen.
This was the first fight, and the Wan Kingdom attempted to use its cavalrymen to face Yuwen Tong’s army down and demoralize adversaries, but the moment they engaged the cavalry led by Jiang Xi and He Xiao, they were astounded.
The Wan cavalry were the strongest force of the Wan Kingdom, and they always despised the cavalry of the other two countries, so when galloping out of the city gates, they had taken the opposing cavalry lightly, believing that they would be able to break the enemy’s ranks in only a few moments, but unexpectedly, the opponents turned out to be much tougher than they had expected.
They not only were held back but also, what with their underestimation of the enemy, took a sharp blow the moment they engaged the opposing side.
A warning bell in the mind of the Wan commander rang madly. He hastily adjusted the formation of his troops and managed to save face when under attack from Jiang Xi and He Xiao.
However, though he managed to save face, it did not change the fact that they had suffered an embarrassing setback during the first engagement, that they, instead of bringing the enemy down a peg, had boosted the enemy’s morale and at the same time badly bruised their own.
All those people in the Wan capital, including Shan Congli, were confident that their cavalrymen were unstoppable, that they would be able to keep Yuwen Tong’s men at bay and hold the city, but the fact was that they had been held back immediately after engaging the enemies and taken a sharp blow, so naturally their morale plunged.
The commander of the Wan cavalry was secretly alarmed and apprehensive. The combat capabilities of the opposing cavalry were greater than he gave them credit for. He was afraid that this battle might not end the way he wanted it, and the worse part was – would they be able to hold the capital city after the morale of the army plummeted?
Jiang Xi and He Xiao did not become complacent about themselves. They had important responsibility on their shoulders. The Wan cavalry had merely suffered a small setback and had not been defeated yet. The two of them and the cavalrymen under their command must stop the enemy where they were.
A number of soldiers directed by a couple of old generals were assisting the cavalry, covering them and making sure they could fight the Wan cavalrymen without having to worry about sneak attacks.
Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong were both watching the fighting. As they saw that the cavalrymen led by Jiang Xi and He Xiao solidly blocked the path of the Wan cavalry, Ling Zhang felt a sense of relief.
The Wan cavalry was famous in all the three countries, but this time around they had finally met their match.
With the resources of Jiahe Chamber of Commerce, he had recruited some of the best armor-makers in the three countries, and his efforts had now paid off. Transferring those artisans to the Great Wen covertly had cost Jiahe Chamber of Commerce quite a fortune. Apart from armor-makers, he had also recruited some saddlers. He had even secretly poached a stableman from the Wan Kingdom, who knew the Wan cavalry’s secret methods of raising warhorses. These had cost him a lot of silver and gold. Though his father had been an experienced and resourceful merchant in his last life, he had still, for a long time, had a hard job making progress.
Now his efforts had finally proved fruitful.
Of course, these things were secondary. Crook troops and competent commanders were the most important. The imperial court had been under great pressure during the process of selecting soldiers and training them, especially when helping the people restore their lives had been a pressing matter and the budget had been tight.
It could be said that every member of the cavalry was worth a thousand taels of gold, and the loss of any of them was painful to watch, but casualties were unavoidable on the battlefield. They had trained for years and this was the time to prove their value. Victory was all that mattered.
The cavalries of the two sides were in a stalemate for quite some time. The Wan cavalry never got the upper hand and, because they were outside the city, were frequently harassed by the infantry of the Great Wen and lost a lot of men. Eventually, they had no choice but to retreat back into the city.
This was the first day, and the Wan cavalry resignedly fell back without gaining any actual advantages over the opposing side, which came as a blow to the Wan Kingdom.
But troops of the Great Wen, however, were happy with the outcome.
Yuwen Tong did not have the troops pursue the enemies, knowing that it was impracticable to take the city in one day. Today they were here mainly to put out feelers, so he had the buglers sound retreat when he believed the attack had lasted long enough.
…
After the Wan cavalry returned to the city, they found the atmosphere quite subdued. Their fellow soldiers and the residents who had come to know about the result of the fighting were all silent when looking at them, and their silence was heavy with reproach.
Though none of them said anything, their discontentment was thinly disguised.
They were wondering in disgruntlement why the cavalry had not killed more enemies out there, why they had not won the victory during their first counter-offensive, and why they had not let them see the hope they were so desperate to see.
Under such great emotional stress, every Wan cavalryman had an ugly look on his face, their commander’s teeth clenched.
“We want to wipe the enemies out as much as they do, but now the cavalry of the Great Wen have not only great fighting skill and sturdy horses but also unbreakable armor and cunning tactics. We would have suffered heavy casualties were it not for our quick reactions. These people should have shown some understanding of the situation we’re faced with instead of pointing fingers!” someone huffed. The reproachful gaze from people in the vicinity of them made them feel terribly wronged.
“Since they think they can do better than us, maybe they should be the ones going out there to fight!” flared someone else.
“Shut up, all of you,” an officer admonished.
“General, His Majesty wants you to go to the palace immediately and state the reason for your failure to win the first battle!” Soon someone came and told the commander that he was requested to go to the palace to explain himself.
The verbal instruction from the monarch was laden with dissatisfaction and reproach, which made the Wan cavalrymen feel both aggrieved and indignant. They had risked life and limb fighting for the monarch for years, but the monarch was blaming them merely because they had failed to win the victory once. This was so disappointing!
