Jinting Han people

From the time Liu Xian fought his first battle at the Eastern Palace until today, he has spent fourteen years of his thirty-two-year life in the military.

During this period, Liu Xian had participated in all sorts of battles. These included open field battles like the Battle of Xiaoleiting, defensive battles like the Battle of Niyang, siege battles like the Battle of Haozhi, night raids like the Battle of Gumuyuan, and pursuit battles like the Battle of Chenmayuan. Of course, the battles that impressed him the most were large-scale battles like the Battle of Huangqiao, where the generals of both armies arranged their troops and then engaged in a fierce battle.

However, it must be said that war is a subject that can never be fully studied. For Liu Xian, this was the first time he had ever commanded his soldiers in battle within the Luoyang Palace, the world's largest palace complex.

Unlike typical large-scale battles on the plains, fighting within a palace made situational assessment and information transmission extremely difficult. With its numerous walls and towering pavilions, there was no single location within the palace grounds offering a panoramic view of Luoyang. This made it difficult for the commander-in-chief to quickly assess the enemy's situation and, similarly, to promptly relay his orders to his subordinates.

Therefore, in such circumstances, the outcome of the war may no longer depend on which commander has superior command ability, but rather on which mid-level officer is better able to adapt to changing circumstances, and on which rank-and-file soldier has a stronger will to fight.

When Liu Xian realized this, after Sima Yi mobilized the Imperial Guards, he immediately suggested that Sima Yi summon the mid-to-high-ranking officers of the Imperial Guards, those of the eighth rank and above, to give them a basic introduction and explanation.

To his surprise, Liu Xian discovered that many of the officers present were familiar faces. Among them were General Wang Dun (Left Guard), General Chen Zhi (Right Guard), General Sima Yang (Left Army), General Sima Rui (Right Army), General Sima Chang (Guerrilla General), Minister Sima Mo (Redundant Attendant), Colonel Liu Qiao (Cavalry Commandant), Colonel Yang Xuanzhi (Infantry Commandant), Commander Linghu Sheng (Constant Attendant), General Shangguan Si (Palace General), General Liu You (Palace General), General Meng Yan (Palace Attendant), and Commander Song Hong (Three Departments Commander).

Also attending were some officials from the inner court who also oversaw the affairs of the imperial guards. These included Sima Yue, Director of the Secretariat; Wang Cheng, Director of the Imperial Library; Pei Xian, Attendant-in-Ordinary; Yang Zhun, Attendant Gentleman of the Palace; Feng Sun, Minister of the Palace Attendants; He Sui, Minister of the Five Armies; Yu Kai, Gentleman of the Palace; Hu Wufu, Gentleman of the Palace Attendants; and Liu Kui, Gentleman Attendant at the Palace Gate.

Aside from some of Sima Yi's direct subordinates brought from Changshan, the scene was truly a gathering of princes and nobles, a veritable assembly of the wealthy and powerful. Looking at these people, Liu Xian couldn't help but feel uneasy. He couldn't be sure how much of the resolve these refined nobles would have to kill on the battlefield. Some, like Sima Yang, the Prince of Xiyang, even had a grudge against him; he wondered if they would hold him back on the battlefield.

Fortunately, Liu Xian was already familiar with the officers brought from the Changshan army, such as Linghu Sheng and Shangguan Si. They led over two thousand men in the palace guard and were a reliable force for Liu Xian. While the officers of the other units might be unreliable, the elite status of the palace guards was unquestionable. Liu Xian thought he could provide a general plan and have Sima Yi coordinate the various units.

So he discussed with Sima Yi, saying, "Your Highness, in the current situation, it is clearly impossible to use any complicated tactics. I'm afraid the only option is to fight desperately."

"As I said before, if the King of Qi wants to enter the palace, he can only do so by attacking through the Qianqiu and Shenhu gates. I will lead the Changshan Army to wait at the imperial road. You should send some trustworthy soldiers, one part north of the Qianqiu gate and one part south of the Shenhu gate, to hold their ground and ensure that the Qi army cannot enter recklessly!"

"At the same time, you should also make preparations in advance. First, contact the Eastern Palace in His Majesty's name and recruit all the guards of the Eastern Palace. If things go wrong, you should lead His Majesty to the Eastern Palace, and we will hold our ground there."

Sima Yi generally agreed with Liu Xian's opinion, but he had some questions. He asked, "When can we begin the plan for Zu Shizhi to seize Jinyong City?"

Liu Xian said, "The situation is still unstable. Let the King of Qi fight for a while, and we can take action when the enemy is exhausted."

"Alright, let's do it that way then." Sima Yi quickly gave the order: Liu Qiao would be stationed at Lingyuntai, north of Qianqiu Gate, and Langya Prince Sima Rui would be stationed at Wanshi Temple, south of Shenhu Gate. The rest of the troops would remain at Yunlong Gate and be redeployed according to the situation at the front.

As Liu Xian led his troops to the imperial road to await their formation, the armored soldiers could see that the Qianqiu Gate, not far away, was surrounded by piles of dry firewood, with flames roaring upwards and radiating astonishing heat to the surroundings. Even in the midst of a cold wind and snowstorm, one could feel their face burning simply by looking directly at the fire.

The palace gate was constructed from elm wood dug from the deep mountains of southern Hunan. Transported from the mountains, it required hundreds of laborers along the way. While not as tall as some of the city gates of Luoyang, its height and thickness were still remarkable. However, even the most precious wood becomes brittle under the scorching heat of flames. Had these two gates not been guarded by the King of Qi, there simply not been time to close them, and Sima Yi would not have been willing to use such a drastic method to block the Qi army's attack.

Nearly two hours had passed since Sima Yue set fire to the gate. Although the sky was overcast, visibility was now normal. On the other side of the gate and the flames, hundreds or even thousands of soldiers could be seen gathering, both sides waiting for the fire to die down.

Some impatient people even started shooting arrows at each other through the flames, but the effect was not good.

Meanwhile, the Qi army on the opposite side, eager to enter the palace, saw a considerable amount of snow accumulated on the ground and began shoveling it to extinguish the fire. Inside the palace, the armored soldiers continuously threw dry firewood into the flames, hoping to buy more time. However, it was visibly that as the snow fell heavier and the prepared oil and firewood dwindled, the fire in front of the gate was growing smaller and smaller.

When the flames shrank to a point close enough for a person to stand near, Dong Ai began an emergency mobilization. He addressed his soldiers: "Those who can charge into battle and kill the enemy will be rewarded with one gold coin; those who can slay the enemy general will be rewarded with one hundred gold coins; those who can kill or capture the King of Changsha will be rewarded with one thousand gold coins and enfeoffed as a marquis of a township; those who can rescue the Emperor will be rewarded with ten thousand gold coins and enfeoffed as a duke of a county!"

Seeing that the soldiers' morale had improved, he then called out Wen Chan, the Commandant of the Imperial Chariots, and said, "Shaoqing, do you dare to lead the charge?"

Wen Chan hailed from the Wen clan of Taiyuan and was a former subordinate of Sima You, the Prince of Qi. In Dong Ai's eyes, he was naturally highly trustworthy. Indeed, after being called upon, he showed no fear, cupping his hands and saying, "To dedicate oneself to the country, how dare I disobey!"

Having said that, he immediately led three hundred soldiers to gather in one place, holding long spears, and waited in front of the gate.

At this critical moment, the Thousand Autumns Gate was already creaking in the flames. Two armored soldiers, seeing this, poked at the hinges holding the gate in place with their long spears. However, the hinges were already loose, and under this negligible external force, the gate collapsed internally with a roar, falling directly into the still-burning fire. Smoke and sparks flew everywhere, and a clamor arose from the crowd, but this finally brought the flames, which had been burning for nearly three hours, to the brink of extinguishing. Both sides had been waiting for this moment, and now a path suddenly appeared between them. Almost simultaneously, they shouted and charged towards each other, their feet treading on the still-warm ashes.

As the battleground, the palace road was not wide. At only ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) wide, it could only accommodate twenty or thirty warriors freely. However, this very narrow space meant that no one had room to maneuver or move around; every soldier faced only the challenge and death.

On Liu Xian's side, Shangguan Si was sent to lead the vanguard. He ordered his men to hold their long spears level, form a battle formation, crouch down, and arrange their spears horizontally in a row of iron spikes. Then, he had the archers stand behind them and shoot arrows at the enemy.

At such close range, after just two volleys, the Qi army had closed in on them. Encouraged by the generous rewards, the Qi soldiers disregarded the forest of spears and even used their bare hands to grab the spear tips, forcing their way forward despite the arrows. Several were felled by the piercing armor, but quickly, Qi soldiers behind them took their place, continuing the advance. Once they reached distances where they could wield their ring-pommel swords, the two sides were forced into the most brutal close-quarters combat.

Since both sides were clad in fine armor, few attacks were fatal. The fighting was fierce, with blows striking iron helmets, collars, shoulders, arms, chest plates, and lower garments. Amidst the clanging and clattering sounds, occasionally someone would manage to cut their hand or slash their leg, blood seeping from their clothing, but not enough to kill. People could only endure the pain and continue fighting.

In this situation, the one who wins doesn't necessarily have superior martial arts skills. It simply means they have better endurance and stamina, allowing them to hold out until their opponent is exhausted, then pin them to the ground, cut off their head, and end their suffering.

This fierce fighting resulted in the most bloodshed on the scene; almost every fall stained the snow red. The two sides battled for nearly two hours, with only about two hundred men killed, yet the sight chilled everyone to the bone:
The narrow battlefield meant that the corpses had formed a small roadblock. If people wanted to continue fighting, they could only extend their long spears from behind the mountain of corpses to communicate with the enemy on the other side, but the result was just slapping each other in the air, with neither side able to hurt the other.

So Shangguan Si shouted at the Qi army opposite him, "Stop pretending! If you have the guts, stop and drag the corpses down, then we'll fight!" After shouting several times, the people on the side stopped and dragged the corpses in front back. The Qi soldiers on the other side also moved the corpses on the other side, and only then was a path cleared for the battle to begin.

Seeing this, Wen Chan, who was in charge of the Qi army, said to Dong Ai, who was supervising the battle, "Lord Dong, if we continue to fight like this, even if we fight for a year, I'm afraid we still might not be able to save the emperor!"

Dong Ai was also very anxious. He asked, "What you say makes sense, but what method can we use to break this deadlock?"

"Why not send two squads of armored cavalry over here, trample them to death, and force them to retreat!"

With the elite forces of the Grand Marshal's mansion, there was naturally no shortage of armored cavalry. Especially after seeing Meng Guan's Shanggu Iron Cavalry, Dong Ai had put a lot of effort into imitating them, and now there were about three thousand of them. Because Dong Ai also held the position of General of the Dragon Cavalry, they were called the Dragon Cavalry Camp.

At this critical juncture, however, Dong Ai hesitated. Originally, Dong Ai's intention in building the Longxiang Camp was to make a name for himself in the great battle against the Western Expeditionary Army. However, anyone could imagine that fighting in such a place would inevitably result in a large number of casualties, which seemed like a waste of resources.

But he also understood that this battle was a fight to the death. Although he was reluctant, he still decisively gave the order, summoned his subordinate Gao Jing, stepped on a stone to the side, pointed at Chi Dao and said: "I'll give you two hundred armored cavalry. You replace Wen Chan for me. No matter how many people are in front of you, you must crush them!"

Upon receiving the order, Gao Jing did not hesitate and immediately divided his armored cavalry into three teams, charging fiercely into the imperial road.

The Dragon Cavalry, once on the battlefield, was indeed a formidable force. The vanguard, wielding long spears, charged forward on horseback. Upon encountering anyone blocking their path, they used the momentum of their horses to thrust their spears fiercely. Even those clad in thick armor were pierced through. The palace guards, attempting to retaliate, struggled to penetrate the armor. The Dragon Cavalry, though wounded several times, retreated with little pain, regrouping with the rear guard before launching repeated attacks. The casualties on both sides were almost incomparable.

Judging from the situation on the battlefield, Gao Jing's three teams were like hammers, while Shangguan Si's troops were like nails. They could only let the enemy hammer them again and again, gradually suffering heavy casualties and unable to fight back.

In just half an hour, the palace guards retreated more than a hundred paces, gradually becoming exhausted and showing signs of weakness, almost giving up the western palace. Dong Ai was overjoyed, waiting only to force the enemy back a dozen more paces before preparing to send in his infantry to charge in and take control of the Furong Palace and Xuanguang Palace on the north and south sides.

Just as the armored cavalry were showing off their might on the highway, a long horn sounded, and hundreds of archers suddenly rose up like tall grass on the palace walls on both sides of the highway. Holding longbows, they took advantage of the armored cavalry's slight fatigue and fired a barrage of fire arrows at the highway.

The flaming arrows, still sticky with pine resin, landed on the armored cavalry. Few could penetrate the armor, but these arrows caused panic among the horses. They disregarded their masters' control, struggling and twisting their bodies. The ground was covered with wet mud made of blood and snowmelt, and many men lost their footing and fell to the ground.

This was an arrangement Liu Xian had made long ago. His original intention was that if the Qi army outnumbered them and suffered heavy casualties, he could temporarily maintain a distance and have Linghu Sheng lead the Shengnu Battalion to fire from both sides and gain merit. He hadn't expected the enemy to be able to bring out armored cavalry for a charge. But so far, this arrangement has been effective in repelling the enemy.

Shangguan had been under attack for nearly half an hour, suffering considerable casualties, and was seething with anger. Seeing the enemy in disarray, he immediately led his troops in a counterattack. The palace guards swarmed forward, those in front trampling over those who had fallen, pulling the still-terrified armored cavalry off their horses or pushing them backward, while those behind pinned down the fallen enemy soldiers and slit their throats amidst the chaotic footsteps.

This brought the battle lines back to normal, greatly angering Dong Ai, who was also heartbroken that his cavalry had suffered more than half their casualties. After two more probing attacks, the Qi army's offensive stalled, clearly indicating that they had no intention of continuing the attack anytime soon.

By now, dusk had fallen, and the first day of daylight was drawing to a close. Taking advantage of the enemy's rest, Liu Xian quickly ordered Shangguan Si and his men to change shifts and have dinner, letting Song Hong take over. He knew that the end of daylight did not mean the day was over; the night battle would be the true test of willpower for both sides. (End of Chapter)