Chapter 113: Expansion Complete

In the blink of an eye, the sweltering summer had quietly passed. More than three months had gone by since Li Wenyuan reconquered the three northwestern commanderies. The newly recruited soldiers had completed their basic training and begun to be assigned to their respective combat formations. All eight legions under Li Wenyuan had been brought back up to full strength, and weapons, armor, and supplies had been distributed as well.

Meanwhile, thanks to Qiu Niang’s highly efficient efforts, nearly all the covert agents in Dunhuang Commandery, Qiemò Commandery, and Shanshan Commandery had been rooted out. Aside from those Li Wenyuan had expressly permitted to remain, Qiu Niang had uprooted every last one. Even the few insignificant stragglers left behind had lost their usefulness after being cut off from their superiors.

In other words, apart from the band of roving bandits formed from Li Gui’s remnants and entrenched on Heart-of-the-Sea Mountain in Puchang Lake, Li Wenyuan had essentially completed the pacification of his newly recovered territories. Having strengthened his internal foundations, he was now ready to find someone with whom he could exchange blows and test his skills. Li Gui still had his uses and was not yet suitable for elimination, so Li Wenyuan turned his attention to the bandits instead.

The leader of the band was Zhao Wei, one of Li Gui’s retainers. Possessed of a fairly sharp mind and respectable martial skill, he had been appointed by Li Gui as a commander in the garrison of Shanshan Commandery. When Li Gui suffered his defeat in Guazhou and Li Wenyuan’s army launched a victorious assault on the three commanderies, whose defenses were weak, Zhao Wei led his troops in fierce resistance. In the end, however, they were hopelessly outnumbered, and Shanshan Commandery fell. When the city was breached, Zhao Wei hastily withdrew with his remaining troops and fled to Heart-of-the-Sea Mountain in Puchang Lake, where he sought temporary refuge.

The mountain contained a secret warehouse established by Li Gui. It was stocked with grain, weapons, and military equipment, originally intended to support the expansion of his forces after an uprising. Now, however, it gave Zhao Wei a chance to catch his breath. He seized the warehouse and sent the few remaining elite soldiers under his command to guard the only overland route in and out of Heart-of-the-Sea Mountain.

At the same time, he dispatched men to gather the scattered remnants of his army and collect routed soldiers from the three commanderies. Many others, fearful of facing public trial, also came to join him. Gradually, his forces swelled to more than five thousand men. For a time, he possessed both strong troops and ample resources. The strength of Zhao Wei’s army even surpassed what it had been when he was defending Shanshan Commandery. This finally gave him a measure of peace of mind, and he began sending messengers in an attempt to contact Li Gui, hoping that they could cooperate from within and without to recover the lost territory.

Yet every messenger Zhao Wei sent to contact Li Gui was intercepted by Qiu Niang’s Night Owls. His letters were then forwarded to Li Wenyuan for judgment. The Night Owls had already delivered information about Zhao Wei to Li Wenyuan when Dunhuang Commandery was first recovered. Later, when Zhao Wei fled to Heart-of-the-Sea Mountain, Li Wenyuan knew every detail of it.

The reason he had not eliminated Zhao Wei while his forces were still weak was that Li Wenyuan intended to keep him as a lodestone, drawing together any remnants of Li Gui’s army that might become a future threat so they could all be destroyed in one stroke. Now that Zhao Wei had nearly fulfilled his purpose, the time had come to raise the blade.

Li Wenyuan immediately issued an order for the newly reorganized Eighth Legion, under the command of Legion Commander Chai Huaixing, to march to Puchang Lake and suppress Zhao Wei’s rebel forces.

After the reorganization, the eight legions were led by the following military commanders: Zhang Juntai, commander of the First Legion; Qin Qiong, commander of the Second; Fu Wen, commander of the Third; Wudelu, commander of the Fourth; Cheng Yaojin, commander of the Fifth; Lezheng Ming, commander of the Sixth; Wang Ping, commander of the Seventh; and Chai Huaixing, commander of the Eighth.

With the exception of Wudelu’s Fourth Legion, all the others had been reorganized according to the former structure of Zhang Juntai’s army: one combined-arms division, two traditional infantry divisions, and two cavalry divisions equipped with firearms, for a total of fifteen thousand soldiers per legion.

Li Wenyuan himself had specifically chosen to promote Cheng Yaojin to commander of the Fifth Legion. His achievements in capturing the Dangjin Mountain pass with ease and recovering Qiemò Commandery without losing a single soldier were more than sufficient to earn him advancement by one rank. Moreover, Cheng Yaojin had applied himself diligently to his studies at the military academy. This led Li Wenyuan to realize once again that tales and legends could not always be trusted.

The historical Cheng Yaojin who served under him did indeed have an ailing mother, but he was nothing like the man in the popular romances, who relied only on petty cleverness. On the contrary, he had inherited the intelligence passed down through his family and possessed an extraordinary talent for military affairs. Often, he needed only the slightest hint to grasp an entire concept. He was especially adept at new firearm tactics, frequently drawing broader lessons from a single example.

At that moment, Cheng Yaojin was conducting acclimatization exercises in Qiemò Commandery. Next, his troops would serve as the vanguard against a possible invasion by the Western Turks. For that reason, Li Wenyuan did not specifically redeploy them to deal with Zhao Wei. Instead, he selected Chai Huaixing’s newly reorganized legion, which had completed its preparations in the vicinity, to destroy Zhao Wei’s forces.

Qin Qiong’s Second Legion was stationed in the region of Yamansu, guarding against a counterattack by Li Gui’s army. Several days earlier, it had driven back a probing force of Turks. During the field engagement, Qin Qiong had led the charge personally, plunging into the enemy formation. The cavalrymen following him had fought with extraordinary ferocity, routing the Turkish unit, which had never intended to engage in a full battle in the first place. It fled in disorder, leaving corpses scattered across the ground before disappearing into the vast Gobi.

By Li Wenyuan’s command, whenever they fought the Turks, the bodies of the fallen enemy were to be piled into a victory mound as a warning to the barbarians of the grasslands. After Qin Qiong’s men completed the mound, they returned in triumph.

Seated inside his command tent, Chai Huaixing directed his troops as they began their assault on Zhao Wei’s forces. Relying on the fact that his army was considerably stronger than before, Zhao Wei had likewise decided to deploy his men and fight the imperial army, hoping to lift their increasingly flagging morale.

Besieged on the mountain by Li Wenyuan’s troops, Zhao Wei’s men were now somewhat bewildered. Their prolonged inability to contact Li Gui had thrown everyone into a state of panic, and each man was filled with anxiety about his future. Zhao Wei understood the situation, but he had no good way to resolve it. The simplest solution was to lead his army into battle against the imperial forces. Victory would dispel every doubt and uncertainty.

Zhao Wei’s troops emerged from their mountain stronghold and formed up at its foot, preparing to fight Chai Huaixing to the death. Rather than allow themselves to be slowly surrounded, their every escape route sealed, and then be starved to death inside the fortress, Zhao Wei chose to lead his men out and stake everything on a decisive battle with the imperial army.

Riding before the assembled ranks, Zhao Wei inspected his soldiers and encouraged them:

“Do not be afraid. The enemy before us may be numerous, but they are nothing more than a rabble. Only a few months ago, they were farmers working in the fields. They were seized and made into soldiers, then forced to fight us. The fear in their hearts is beyond doubt.

“By contrast, we are veterans of countless battles. What kind of scene have we not witnessed? How could we possibly allow ourselves to lose in spirit to a pack of farmers who have only just put down their hoes?”

(End of chapter)