“How many troops can we still muster, and how many days can Jishi Gorge hold?” he asked.
Dayan was well equipped, and its soldiers were of decent quality. They could deploy more than a hundred thousand men at a time. On their side, they would need to gather as many troops as possible—without splitting their forces too thin—before they had any chance of meeting the enemy head-on.
“At most, a hundred and fifty to a hundred and sixty thousand in the short term,” the deputy general replied cautiously. “If we can repair the fortifications, we should be able to hold for seven or eight days with the troops we have.”
“But the Dayan army has thunderclap bombs. The rubble walls at the gorge entrance may not withstand them.”
Thunderclap bombs were a siege weapon unique to the Dayan army. No matter how thick a city wall was, once those things were brought against it, breaching the wall was only a matter of time. Over the past two years, they had attacked several neighboring countries, and not a single city had managed to hold out against them.
“Seven or eight days will be enough,” Feng Yuan said. “The reinforcements from the various divisions can arrive in five days at the earliest. With the Qiang cavalry joining us, we won’t be outnumbered. As long as we hold Shen Jian at Jishi Gorge and wait for the reinforcements to arrive, we can encircle the Dayan army from three sides. Then they’ll be like half-cooked rice in a pot—neither edible nor salvageable.”
He spoke with great confidence, but no one in the tent responded. Everyone present was a seasoned veteran. They knew perfectly well that whether the reinforcements and Qiang cavalry arrived on time depended entirely on whether the various lords were willing to come.
Those lords all had their own calculations. The Dayan army had not yet reached their doorsteps, so who would be willing to send their own soldiers out to die?
The group fell silent for a while. Then a young officer spoke softly. His voice was not loud, but in the quiet tent, every person heard him clearly.
“Great General, I heard that the Dayan army has been stationed around Gangu for three months. They haven’t slaughtered or pillaged the people. In fact, you could say they’ve been more disciplined than the soldiers of our own army.”
Feng Yuan’s expression changed immediately. He knew better than anyone what the Dayan army had done. In that regard, the Western Qiang army truly could not compare with them. But asking him to impose strict military discipline would be even more difficult than waiting for the various divisions to send reinforcements.
“What are you trying to say?”
Seeing Feng Yuan’s dark expression, the young officer hurriedly lowered his head. “This subordinate meant nothing.”
But he had already said it, and everyone in the tent had heard him. The men exchanged glances, then quickly looked away.
What the young officer had said was simply a fact. After Gangu, Dingyuan, and Pingchang fell into Dayan hands, the Dayan army had not harmed a single hair on the heads of the local people.
There were even rumors that those regions would receive Dayan’s high-yield grain varieties the following year. As a result, the wavering hearts of the people in those three cities were slowly being won over.
If Dayan fulfilled its promise the next year, those three cities would truly become part of its territory.
Some even began to think that Dayan now had more money, lower taxes, more honest officials, and a more disciplined army. What was the point of following Feng Yuan into a battle they were certain to lose?
Such thoughts spread like weeds across the Western Qiang lands. No one voiced them aloud, but everyone was quietly leaving themselves a way out.
On the thirtieth day of the eighth month, the vanguard of Dayan’s central army reached Jishi Gorge.
Jishi Gorge was the narrowest section of the Huang River valley. Steep mountains rose on either side, and the river narrowed here to only a few dozen yards across.
The Western Qiang army had built a stone wall at the eastern entrance of the gorge, taking advantage of the terrain. Behind the wall were ballistae and catapults, while archers had been stationed on the hilltops on both sides. From the front, it was indeed a formidable defensive line, easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Shen Jian did not rush to attack. He rode to a small hill two li outside the gorge entrance and spent a long time studying the defenses through a spyglass. Then he summoned several generals to his side.
“A direct assault would cost us too many men.” He looked down at the map of Jishi Gorge he had just drawn. “The defenders at the gorge entrance can strike at us, while we can’t reach them. The terrain is against us.”
“Then does the general intend to wash the ground with gunpowder first?” asked Vanguard General Huo Sui.
During his years at Sancha Pass, he and the others had absorbed every offhand remark Yue Fuguang had made, along with all his shameless tactics. They had even developed a habit of drawing inferences and improving upon them.
His father, Huo Ying, the Minister of War, had been a brilliant and resourceful commander on the battlefield in his youth. He never could have imagined that one day his second son would fight with such audacity—such downright unconventional methods!
Huo Sui, along with Cai Bing and Wei Yan, had also taken part in the campaign against Beili. They had earned considerable military merit, and once the Western Qiang campaign concluded, they might very well be granted noble titles if they performed well.
Shen Mu did not answer directly. Instead, he pointed at the map.
“Jishi Gorge has more than one route in. Look here.”
His finger traced a line along the mountains south of the gorge entrance. “This valley can be used to circle around from the south. Once we cross this ridge, we can cut directly into the rear of the gorge. The defenders’ supply route and escape route are both there.”
Huo Sui leaned closer to study the map, frowning. “General, cavalry can’t pass through this valley. The path is too narrow. Even infantry will have to go through one at a time. And if we cross the ridge, we won’t be able to bring the baggage train with us.”
His eyes shifted as an idea came to him. “How about I take some men over there and lay a batch of land mines? Then we can block the passage without even having to go all the way through. That way, we can seal off their escape route without losing too many men.”
Shen Jian could not help glancing sideways at him. Huo Sui was under his command, while Wei Yan and Cai Bing were leading the other two armies. If this fellow was already like this, then the other two were probably no less troublesome.
“All right. Take a team and find some men who know what they’re doing. Get it done quickly, so the enemy doesn’t grow suspicious while we’re wasting time here.” Shen Jian looked at Huo Sui. “Huo Sui, you’re going there to lay land mines, not to launch a surprise attack. Don’t do anything unnecessary.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Huo Sui. The truth was that all those who had come out of Yue Fuguang’s army—generals and soldiers alike—had minds that were far too active, and their methods were far too… “flexible.”
In any case, Shen Jian had experienced it several times. Their methods were always unexpected. Especially in small-scale operations, even a force of a thousand men might be beaten senseless by a hundred of them without ever managing to catch so much as a glimpse of their attackers.
Huo Sui gave an honest, sheepish smile, dimples appearing at the corners of his mouth. “Don’t worry, General. Huo Sui knows where to draw the line.”
Shen Jian grumbled inwardly, You know where to draw the line? If I hadn’t warned you, who knows what kind of trouble you’d have caused.
Who would have thought that this young man, who looked rather honest and even had adorable dimples when he smiled, could suggest burying land mines, loading explosives into catapults, and then washing the area with white phosphorus? No one knew who he had learned such ruthless tactics from.
