Jinting Han people

Chapter 195 Rebel Challenge (4k)

Three days after the banquet, the Jin army finally set out and officially moved towards Linfen.

The distance was more than 200 miles. According to the army's marching speed of four hours a day and fifteen miles per hour, it was estimated that they would reach the city of Linfen in four days.

During the march, Sun Xiu was still quite proud of himself.

After all, Xin Ran had relayed Liu Xian's assessment of the rebels to Sun Xiu earlier. Furthermore, the entire military supported the view that, despite their numbers, the rebels were merely a motley crowd, no matter what they encountered, no match for the elite Western Expedition Army. And in the sunlight, Sun Xiu gazed over, the gleaming armor of tens of thousands of soldiers captivating him, a sight he couldn't resist.

In order to further boost morale and intimidate the rebels, Sun Xiu wrote another letter of challenge after setting off.

Perhaps he wanted to emulate the courage and spirit of Emperor Wu of Wei after he swallowed up Jingzhou. In the letter, he used sharp words, boasting that his army was as powerful as "an eagle holding a hatchet and a raging fire with the wind", and that "a net was set up in the sky, and the punishment was imminent". If the rebels knew how to be afraid, "the holy dynasty would be lenient and benevolent, and would trust and obey the will of the emperor", and would only eliminate the "primary evil and the greatest villains". As for the "branch followers", as long as they could distinguish right from wrong, they might "comfort the people and restore the people's rights". If they still "continue to be arrogant and subjugate the strong, and become rampant and cunning and cause chaos", then he would have no choice but to "crush them and destroy them".

Finally, the battle date was set for six days later.

The letter of challenge was sent first, and after the rebels received the message, which was only the third day, the Jin army was still halfway along. That night, they rested at Jishan Pavilion. This was still eighty miles from the Jin army's destination, the new location Zhang Gui had chosen before leaving: Longxingyuan, thirteen miles south of Linfen City.

According to Sun Xiu's idea, after entering Longxingyuan, they would repair the barracks, and at the appointed time, they would deploy their troops to fight the rebels, and then they could take advantage of the victory to recapture Linfen City and leisurely deal with the aftermath in the city.

But the laws of war are precisely not subject to personal will. Both sides of the war will inevitably engage in game, and game will produce accidents. Few people can implement plans completely as expected.

This time is no exception.

The next morning, just as the army was lighting a fire and preparing to set out, the scouts in Linfen returned to report that the rebel vanguard was advancing towards them and was less than 20 miles away from Jishan! In about an hour, the two armies would officially meet!
When Sun Xiu heard the news, he was horrified and immediately ordered all officers of rank six and above to come and discuss the matter.

He asked directly, "Why did the rebel army not wait for death in Linfen, but actually came here to provoke us? What's the reason?"

Li Han bowed and replied, "The enemy army must be desperate and determined to come here to fight to the death. Victory is victory, defeat is defeat, which is better than being trapped in the city. This is also a rational move. They have so many families there that the city cannot accommodate them. This is their only choice."

Sun Xiu heard this and thought it made sense, so he asked again, "Then what can we do about it?"

Li Han lowered his head and said calmly, "This is the authority of the Chief Secretary. I dare not interfere."

For a moment, all the generals were silent, secretly watching the changes in Sun Xiu's expression.

Seeing this, Sun Xiu immediately started cursing in his heart. He had been in the officialdom for so long, how could he not know what these people were thinking? They just wanted to laugh at him and make him give in and give up his power. He had only talked about it before, how could he really give up his power? In this situation, Sun Xiu also knew how to deal with this group of people. Isn't it just a war? After all, he was the one who came up with the ideas, not the one who fought. If he lost, he could just run away. What was there to be afraid of?

He immediately gave the order, "Since that's the case, let's have breakfast first. Afterwards, come out and form up the army. Soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals. I believe that you are all elite soldiers and generals from my Western Expedition Army, and you will definitely win!"

Sun Xiu then produced a list of officers and began to call out his troops and deploy them according to the list. The army now consisted of 15,000 men, divided into three divisions: Left, Center, and Right, each with 5,000 men. The Left was led by Bai Yun and Zhang Guang, the Right by Beigong Chun and Li Han, and the Center, commanded by him, Li Ju, Huangfu Shang, Liu Ji, Xin Ran, and others.

After the discussion was completed, the meeting was hastily adjourned. Each unit received their morning meals and lined up outside the camp, awaiting orders.

Due to the tight schedule, the breakfast that day consisted of a simple millet porridge with some cabbage and egg soup, which was enough to get by. The army then distributed some dry rations, saying they didn't know how long the battle would last, so if it didn't end by noon, this would be considered lunch.

The ordinary soldiers received a kind of flour ration made from pounded millet and wheat, then boiled into blocks and dried. It looked so hard that it would stick in your teeth. As an officer, Liu Xian's rations were of course better. It was a piece of beef jerky salted to a purple color. Liu Xian weighed it twice. It was as hard as rammed earth. He felt that he couldn't eat it without two pots of water.

But no matter what, the pre-war preparations were completed, and each unit went out of the camp and lined up according to the pre-planned battle, waiting for the arrival of the enemy.

As the magistrate of Xiayang, Liu Xian was nominally under the command of Bai Yun, the commander of Fengyi, and naturally assigned to the left army. Bai Yun still trusted him and continued to place Cai Fang's 400 cavalry under his command, so Liu Xian still had 1,000 men under his command. However, most of the horses had been taken by Sun Xiu, leaving Liu Xian with only about 70 cavalrymen.

After the battle formation was completed, Liu Xian ordered Sun Xi, Xue Xing and Cai Fang to count the number of people under his command again to confirm that no one had left the team. Then he went to look at the terrain where he was.

Jishan was called a mountain, but in reality it consisted of a few unremarkable mounds, a generally flat plain. Liu Xian looked left and right, and the terrain was minimal. A gust of wind blew, and he could only see the fluttering flags above the vast sea of people. This also blocked anyone's view, and the soldiers on both wings could hardly see the overall situation.

Li Sheng was making the same observation and said to Liu Xian, "This is indeed a good place for horse racing, but it's not conducive to conducting!"

Liu Xian said, "That's nothing. The enemy is the same."

Opposite the Jin army's formation was also an endless river valley plain. It was a clear autumn day with wisps of clouds floating in the sky. The sky was as clear as a lake after rain, which made people feel relaxed.

Shortly after the Jin army had formed its battle array, around the hour of Si, the Hun army, advancing from east to west, slowly appeared on the horizon. Dense masses of men and horses spread out on either flank, a forest of fine horses and Hu people emerging onto the plain. Although they were vastly outnumbered, perhaps four to one, in the bright sunlight, the Jin army could make out the chaotic array of uniforms and flags of the rebels.

The Xiongnu had no uniform; instead, they simply gathered armor captured from various counties and prefectures and concentrated it in the central army. There were roughly six or seven thousand sets, barely even one-fifth of the army's total. The rest wore a variety of homemade light armor, covered in cowhide or strapped with wood. In the sunlight, it looked gray and dirty, like a blanket of dusty willow catkins.

The Xiongnu's flag was quite distinctive. Originating from the Xiongnu's rear, they had been governed by the Xiongnu King Zhuzhu for centuries, and thus inherited the Xiongnu tradition of honoring the sun. Their blue flag featured a white sun and a grey wolf, a stark contrast to the white tiger banners of the Western Expedition Army. Seeing this, the Jin soldiers felt they were a mob, their demeanor relaxed and their hearts filled with contempt.

Liu Xian was estimating the number of people among them while guessing the enemy's strategy: Now under the command of Sun Xiu, the Jin army is ready to fight a static battle. However, even so, the Jin army still has the advantage in a head-on confrontation. Without strategy, the rebels will probably not be able to win. What does the other side plan to do?

The Xiongnu didn't let him speculate for long. They had already made plans on their way here. After forming their battle array, a series of dark figures immediately emerged from the formation and rushed towards the open area between the two armies, about five hundred steps away from the Jin army's formation.

There were more than ten cavalrymen in total, all riding tall and handsome horses and holding a white sun and a grey wolf banner. It was clear that these men were the elite among the rebels. Not only were they tall themselves, but even the horses they rode were extremely majestic, almost a head taller than ordinary horses.

Seeing that the Jin army remained unmoved, the Xiongnu spurred their horses forward until they were beyond the range of an arrow. Then they turned their horses sideways and slowly moved forward, observing the Jin army's manpower and the position of its commander.

This was an extremely blatant provocation, one that even Sun Xiu could see through. He was wearing a Taoist robe, holding a feather fan, and sitting on a wooden platform. A military drum, three white tiger banners, and a prominent banner with the Chinese character "Sun" on them stood on the platform. It was unclear whether he was imitating Zhuge Liang. Seeing the enemy cavalry's arrogance, he asked the central army, "Who can help me drive them back?"

Sun Xiu repeated this several times, but most of the generals remained silent, which made him extremely angry. However, he couldn't just pick a general casually. Even the most layman could see that this was a classic duel before the battle.

Although later novelists often exaggerated and portrayed in their books that a duel before the battle could decide the outcome of two armies, this led later generations to think it was too outrageous and instead believed that there was no such thing as a duel.

In reality, duels before battle have always been a common part of warfare. Lü Bu once openly challenged Guo Si to a duel, and Taishi Ci engaged Sun Ce in a fierce duel during a reconnaissance mission. Such cases have been common throughout history.

Unlike in the novels, duels didn't directly determine victory or defeat, but they did have a certain impact on the morale of both armies. More importantly, they served two other purposes: first, they served as a customary rule among soldiers, helping mid-level officers accumulate military merit. Second, they served as a prelude to a decisive battle, allowing them to assess the enemy's strengths and weaknesses and provide the commander with some flexibility in his decisions.

Regardless, failing to respond to a challenge from the other side is a behavior that severely undermines military morale. When Sima Yi, Emperor Xuan of Jin, faced Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi's refusal to respond to the challenge was met with ridicule from within the Wei army, who said he feared Shu like a tiger.

Sun Xiu was now in an awkward position. His hasty seizure of power had left him with no one to send when the rebels challenged him. He had no choice but to increase the reward: "If you can win the challenge, you will be rewarded with 1,000 pieces of silk and promoted to the second rank!"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was finally some commotion in the army. At that moment, Zhang Fang, the military officer at the camp gate, dismounted, removed his helmet, revealing his hair tied up with a cloth belt. He carried a seven-foot broadsword on his back and a sword in his hand. He stood on the grass in front of Sun Xiu and pleaded, "I am willing to go!"

Because Zhang Fang's rank was too low, Sun Xiu didn't recognize him at all. After asking around, he learned that he was an eighth-rank military officer. He was somewhat disappointed. But he wasn't one to judge people by their background. He took a closer look at Zhang Fang. He saw that he was eight feet tall, with a dark complexion, standing like an iron tower, and he was quite imposing. But wouldn't it be embarrassing to send such an eighth-rank officer to fight? Sun Xiu glanced around, thinking with annoyance that he had no other choice.

Sun Xiu nodded in agreement and asked Xin Ran to send him a large purple horse to increase Zhang Fang's chances of winning.

Zhang Fang removed his armor, replaced his long sword with a short knife, and mounted his horse, still carrying the seven-foot broadsword. He then threw all the remaining bows and arrows on the grass, rode out lightly equipped, and rushed towards the Xiongnu cavalry, shouting:

"At the gate of the Great Jin's Western Expedition Army, Zhang Fang from Hejian is here. General He, please tell me your name immediately!"

The Xiongnu on the opposite side had been waiting for a long time. The tall knight in the lead, wearing red armor and holding a long spear, immediately turned his horse's head and rushed over to meet Zhang Fang. When the two were dozens of steps apart, they hurriedly reined in their horses and immediately stopped in a patch of green grass, replying:

"I am Qiao Hu, a general from the Gaodu tribe, serving under General Hao Suo of the Xiongnu rear."

He then laughed loudly, "It is said that the Western Expedition Army is composed of elite soldiers, the best in the world. How come when a war breaks out, they let an eighth-rank military officer to fight?" After saying that, the followers behind him also started to laugh.

Zhang Fang's expression remained unchanged as he simply stared at the man and laughed. After the man's laughter died down, he pointed at Qiao Hu with his whip in hand and said slowly, "Until now, I was truly an unknown figure. But in this battle, I will gouge out your eyes, chew up your tongue, and let the world know me, Zhang Fang!"

His tone was calm and unpredictable, but it made people feel cold all over.

After Zhang Fang finished speaking, he took off the seven-foot-long sword from his back and raised it to his chest casually. Under the sunlight, the blade was dazzling and cold, appearing extremely oppressive, and also made Zhang Fang's already dark face look hideous and terrifying!
Qiao Hu was startled by this. He reminded himself to be extremely cautious, as his opponent was no ordinary force, especially one in a rage. He lifted his horse's bridle with his left hand, ready to charge into battle. His younger brother, Qiao Jing, then reached out to rein in his horse's head and challenged him, saying, "Brother, why bother going out in person? I'm more than capable of dealing with this nobody."

When Qiao Hu heard what he said, he reined in his horse and let Qiao Jingyue ride out first.

Qiao Jing rode forward. Seeing Zhang Fang unarmored, he felt the urge to shoot. While keeping an eye on his opponent's position, he grabbed his horse bow with his right hand. His right fingers effortlessly pulled a heavy arrow from the bow pouch, and with a deft flick of his fingers, the arrow's tail was already nocked onto the bowstring. Once his horse had stabilized on the grass, he freed his left hand to grasp the bow. Seeing Zhang Fang also galloping towards him, he quickly used his right thumb to tug on the string, drew the bow with a swift motion, aimed it at the enemy's neck, and instantly released.

However, to his surprise, after the arrow flew out, he only heard a crisp ding, and Zhang Fang continued to gallop towards him as if nothing had happened. The two were only a few dozen steps apart, and as they were about to close in, Qiao Jing looked at the knife-like light coming towards him and quickly turned his horse to leave.

But it was too late. In full view of everyone, Zhang Fang raised his sword and swung it suddenly when the opposite side turned around. The sword light was like a galaxy flowing through it.

Qiao Jing felt a sudden sense of relief, then he flew up. The world spun around, and he fell heavily to the ground. He tried to get up, but a sharp pain shot through his waist, and his legs and feet were numb. He looked down and saw that his upper body had been separated from his lower body. His lower body was still attached to the horse, while his upper body was lying on the grass, his intestines spilling out.

What a horrifying sight!
But before Qiao Jing could even scream in pain, the sound of horse hooves echoed again, and Zhang Fang swung his sword again, chopping off Qiao Jing's head. He then used the tip of his sword to pick up the head, which had died with its eyes open, and gouged out its eyeballs with his fingers. He casually tossed it into his mouth and began chewing it calmly.

There was no distinction between friend and foe on the battlefield, and everyone was in uproar at this moment.

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(End of this chapter)