Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 464 Seeking Another Path

Chen Qingzhi held off Erzhu Rong, Ren Yuan held off Yuan Tianmu, and generals such as Erzhu Zhao, Erzhu Dulu, Murong Shaozong, Hou Jing, and Gao Huan were also dealt with by generals such as A Yao, Hu Longya, Ma Fonian, Yuchi Bei, Ji Buli, and Song Jingxiu.

In terms of both quantity and quality, the White-Robed Army was in no way inferior.

The two sides fought fiercely from dawn till dusk, with generals facing generals and soldiers facing soldiers, but the battle remained undecided. They had no choice but to call a retreat and agree to fight again the next day.

It's not entirely accurate to say the battle was undecided, because the Wei army was attacking the city, while the White-Robed Army was defending it. As long as the Wei army failed to achieve its objective, victory belonged to the White-Robed Army.

At least that's how Erzhu Rong saw it. Upon returning to camp, he flew into a rage, eating the hearts and livers of nine young women from the Northern Wei imperial family before his anger subsided. With blood dripping from his lips, he left the main tent and coldly asked his generals:
"How should we play tomorrow?"

The generals fell silent, unable to even manage a proper flattery. Gao Huan, however, remained calm and said, "Reporting to the Divine Lord, the White Robe Army has many experts, and now they are protected by the gods. If we try to rely solely on the Divine Lord's intervention as before, we fear we will find it difficult to achieve victory."

"Do you need to tell me?" Erzhu Rong gripped the girl's skull he had just removed, his eyes narrowed, and his scarlet fingernails pierced through the white bone as easily as stabbing into tofu.

"What I mean is that we still need to make use of our numerical advantage!" Gao Huan quickly said, "No matter how divine the White Robe Army is, they are still human beings, and human beings can die."

“Nonsense…” Erzhu Rong cursed, but this time he did not get angry.

"I have carefully observed their troop strength and found that it has decreased from seven thousand at the start to just over six thousand now. This means they have suffered nearly a thousand casualties," Gao Huan quickly added.
"Therefore, I believe that we should make full use of our numerical advantage and employ a strategy of attrition to wear down their forces little by little. If we can eliminate another two thousand of their men, the White Robe Army will suffer nearly half casualties."

"It's still nonsense..." The men of the Erzhu family began to grow impatient.

Gao Huan, however, remained unperturbed and continued calmly, "Throughout history, I have never heard of any army that could withstand such heavy casualties without collapsing."

“Your method sounds plausible.” Yuan Tianmu disagreed, saying, “But have you considered that the White Robe Army has been at war for half a year, fought more than forty battles with our army, captured more than thirty cities, and annihilated 300,000 troops, yet has suffered less than a thousand casualties?”

“We currently have less than 150,000 troops, and we are still on the side of attacking the city. How much would it take to kill another thousand of them? Let alone two thousand.” Yuan Tianmu’s words sounded absurd at first glance, but none of the generals refuted them.

The reason they were talking about their opponent was Chen Qingzhi's White Robe Army.

"Your Highness is right. It was my oversight." Gao Huan would never challenge his lord's sworn brother, so he immediately followed suit and obediently admitted his mistake.

The key point is that Erzhu Rong also thinks Yuan Tianmu's words make sense. After seeing the battle today, he would have to pay at least ten times the price to bring the White Robe Army to a standstill.

But the question is, can he afford to pay that price?
The answer is no. Erzhu Rong knew that his reputation in the Northern Dynasty was even worse than Dong Zhuo's, and he needed a large enough army to keep things under control.

If we preserve the army, even if we can't capture Luoyang, we can retreat to Shanxi and rely on Hebei and Shandong for support to make long-term plans.

But once the army is decimated, Hebei and Shandong will definitely rebel immediately, and it will be difficult for me to control Shanxi.

This is not a difficult calculation, and Erzhu Rong knows very well that he cannot afford to suffer too much loss. Therefore, he does not want to fight the White-Robed Army to the death unless absolutely necessary.

"Then what do you think, brother?" Erzhu Rong asked Yuan Tianmu.

Yuan Tianmu, worthy of being a demigod, had mostly recovered from the beehives Ren Yuan had riddled with bullets on his face, though he still spoke with a slight lisp: “My idea is to besiege Beizhong City without attacking it, and then cross the river to attack Luoyang!”

“The purpose of Beizhong City is to protect Luoyang. As long as Luoyang is captured, the White Robe Army will naturally be defeated without a fight.” He continued in a deep voice, “And Luoyang is guarded by Yuan Hao’s men, so it will definitely be much easier to take than Beizhong City.”

The generals found it absurd once again. When did the Great Wei capital, with its high walls and thick ramparts, become easier to attack than a small city like Beizhong?
But they still couldn't refute it and even thought it made a lot of sense.

A fence guarded by lions is harder to breach than a fortified city defended by sheep...

At this moment, Erzhu Shilong straightened up and said, "Elder brother, I have an idea."

He abandoned the pass and fled, leading to the fall of Luoyang. Surprisingly, he wasn't beheaded by Erzhu Rong, but only had his legs broken... This shows that in that era, it wasn't just Xiao Yan who was protecting his own.

In chaotic times, loyalty is paramount; brothers fight side-by-side, fathers and sons go to war together. To fail to distinguish between internal and external affairs is truly foolish. Of course, those like Xiao Yan and Erzhu Rong certainly went too far…

Although Erzhu Rong spared Erzhu Shilong's life, he still felt a surge of anger whenever he saw him. He snorted irritably, "What kind of terrible ideas could you possibly have?"

Despite saying that, he didn't stop him from continuing, clearly wanting to give his cousin a chance to redeem himself.

“I am very familiar with the people of Xiazhou who are guarding the riverbank for Yuan Hao,” Erzhu Shilong said hurriedly. “We can contact them to defect on the spot, so that my elder brother can cross the Yellow River and attack Yuan Hao without lifting a finger.”

"Reliable?" Erzhurong asked, squinting.

“It’s definitely reliable.” Erzhu Shilong nodded vigorously: “I’ve been brothers with their clan chief for over ten years, he will definitely listen to me.”

"Then go ahead and make the contact," Erzhu Rong said, waving his hand. "If you cause any more trouble, I'll break your other leg!"

Erzhu Shilong's face turned pale, and he hurriedly assured them, "Definitely not, definitely not..."

~~
After leaving the main tent, Erzhu Shilong quickly used his supernatural powers to rush to the Xiazhou army camp located in Hezhongzhu.

The so-called "river sandbar" was a sandbar in the Yellow River. It was a little over two miles long and only a dozen feet wide, and it happened to be located near Luoyang. So the Northern Wei court used this river sandbar to build a pontoon bridge across the Yellow River for travel.

They also established a military camp at Hezhongzhu and stationed troops there to control the pontoon bridge. With its swift current, Hezhongzhu was easy to defend and difficult to attack; only a small number of troops were needed to prevent the enemy from crossing the river using the pontoon bridge.

After capturing Luoyang, Yuan Hao entrusted the task of garrisoning Hezhongzhu to the surrendered Xiazhou army. This was because his concubine was the daughter of Helian Tiecheng, the leader of the Xiazhou army…

But Helian Tiecheng did not seem to be as loyal as Yuan Hao had thought. He warmly received Erzhu Shilong, who had arrived in secret, and expressed his longing for the Divine Lord and the Emperor.

After Erzhu Shilong promised that he would be granted the title of Duke of Xia and that Xia Prefecture would be hereditary after the matter was accomplished, he knelt down and declared that he was resolutely loyal to the court and would obey the orders of the Grand General.

So both sides agreed that after dark, the Xia state army would rebuild the pontoon bridge leading to the north bank. In the latter half of the night, the army could cross the Yellow River and march straight for Luoyang!

(End of this chapter)