Jinting Han people

Chapter 507 The situation turns sharply
The Battle of Bacheng changed the balance of power between the two armies.

Although on the surface, the losses in the Battle of Bacheng were not actually severe. The loss of over three thousand men was not insignificant for Liu Xian's army, but it was still within their acceptable range. In particular, Liu Xian took the opportunity to subdue Wei Bo and others, further consolidating his military power in Yongzhou, so it could even be considered a gain.

In reality, however, the negative impact of this battle was extremely serious, because it shattered the fog of mystery that Liu Xian had carefully created during this period.

From the time Liu Xian raised his army in Hedong until now, he spent a month maneuvering north of the Wei River, then led his troops to Chang'an for a standoff, where he remained for nearly another month. During these two months, both sides continuously planned and deployed throughout Guanzhong, with various armies moving back and forth, mobilizing countless manpower and resources. However, they only actually fought three battles. Why was this? Was it because Sima Yong didn't want to fight? Of course not. The reason was simple: Liu Xian deliberately created a diversionary tactic, making it difficult for Sima Yong to discern his true intentions and estimate Liu Xian's actual troop strength, thus causing him to remain hesitant.

Therefore, during this period, even with an absolute advantage in troop strength and terrain, the King of Hejian was still not confident enough. He only used a small number of troops to probe from a distance and did not dare to launch a large-scale war, so as not to create unnecessary vulnerabilities.

But once this fog was lifted, everything changed. Through the prisoners captured in the Battle of Bacheng, Sima Yong gained a general understanding of Liu Xian's army. He was shocked to discover that Liu Xian's army was absolutely weaker in both quantity and quality. Moreover, Liu Xian's intention was not to occupy Guanzhong, but to try to advance into Bashu. Only then did he realize that he didn't have much time to hesitate; perhaps a direct attack on Poying's camp was the best option.

Thus, not long after the Battle of Bacheng, the Western Expeditionary Army finally launched a fierce attack on Liu Xian's Weinan camp.

They first concentrated the arrows in the army, and then, as they approached, ordered the soldiers to hurle them all at once. The arrows fell like rain, and the sound of them hitting the ground was like the sound of a waterfall. It never stopped, and the soldiers of the Hedong Army guarding the camp could not even lift their heads.

Then, taking advantage of this opportunity, the Western Army concealed themselves under the pointed wooden donkeys and, bathed in a hail of arrows, slowly approached the Weinan camp. Once they were close, they used specially made long axes to hack wildly at the wooden gates and fences, eventually cutting a breach and charging in to fight a bloody battle with the Hedong people.

It was a truly brutal battle, with the hand-to-hand combat in the preceding days being particularly fierce. The various units of both armies took turns engaging, their elite soldiers pouring out to repeatedly fight for control of the palisades and fortifications. One moment the Western army would charge in, the next the Eastern army would counterattack; both sides fought for territory almost inch by inch, the blood spilled nearly soaking the ground.

On one occasion, Chen An of the Western Army charged into battle. Clad in iron armor, he wielded a seven-foot-long broadsword, truly unstoppable. Almost every strike claimed a life. The men of Hedong surrounded him, their blades raining down upon him, striking his iron armor with a constant clanging sound. Yet, like an iron man, he stood firm, never falling, killing more than ten men in succession. In the end, he was covered in blood, like a demon.

The surrounding soldiers from Hedong were terrified and dared not engage in battle, and were forced back more than twenty paces by Chen An. Finally, Zhang Guang charged forward with his spear, breaking Chen An's nicked blade, and taking advantage of his exhaustion, stabbed him in the abdomen, finally forcing him to retreat. For several days afterward, Chen An did not engage in battle again, but that one incident was enough to make him famous in the Hedong army. Because of his short stature, the people of Hedong called him "Little Xu Chu."

Even so, the Westerners ultimately failed to capture Liu Xian's Weinan camp.

The reason for this lies in the unique structure of Liu Xian's Weinan camp. The Weinan camp was not a continuous long camp, but rather three independent camps established based on the three Wei River bridges in the east, middle and south. Each camp had fewer than two thousand soldiers stationed there, and the camps were several miles apart.

However, this does not mean that these three camps are unconnected. In fact, they are backed by the Wei Bridge, while the main camp of the Hedong army is located north of the Wei River. Once the camp south of the Wei River is attacked, Liu Xian can adjust the defenses according to the actual situation. No matter which camp the Westerners focus their attacks on, Liu Xian can mobilize troops north of the Wei River to strengthen the defenses in a targeted manner against the Westerners' attacks.

In this way, Liu Xian personally led his soldiers to supervise the battle of the central camp, while Liu Shen and Zhang Guang were ordered to supervise the eastern and western camps respectively. Although the western forces' attacks were extremely fierce, they could not effectively deploy their troops in front of the fortifications, even though each unit took turns attacking, trying to grind the defenders of the Hedong camp like a millstone. However, Liu Xian was still able to use the Wei Bridge to timely change his troops, inflicting heavy casualties on the western army while allowing his own wounded to retreat and recuperate.

In the final stages of the battle, Liu Xian used his ships to circle and demonstrate his power on the Wei River, diverting the attention of the Western Army. In reality, while the Westerners were fiercely attacking the Eastern Camp, he ordered the Iron Cavalry to break out from the Western Camp, catching the exhausted Westerners off guard. Many soldiers were scattered, creating an unstoppable wave of retreat, which finally ended this phase of the war.

However, the people from Hedong, though they held their camp, were also extremely exhausted. When the Westerners began to retreat, Liu Shen wanted to organize a counterattack, but the soldiers were too weak to carry it out. Most of them were like people who had been holding their breath underwater for a long time, and now they were finally able to catch their breath. They lay on the ground and rested, not caring about the blood and corpses around them.

Afterwards, Liu Xian took stock of the casualties and found that within just four or five days, the army had suffered over two thousand dead, over two thousand seriously wounded, and countless others lightly wounded. Many of them were young men experiencing war for the first time; they were once in the prime of their lives, full of dreams for the future. But their first encounter with the battlefield proved its cruelty with their own lives.

But this is an essential lesson. Only those who have truly seen blood and killed can dispel unrealistic fantasies and truly treat war and death with reason and equanimity. Only then can they learn the art of war. Of course, this is extremely difficult, and it is highly likely that one will never be able to return to a normal life, but this is the path that must be taken in this chaotic world.

Fortunately, after this fierce attack, the Westerners also suffered heavy casualties. They launched the attack proactively, and even though their soldiers were more elite, they still had to cross the palisade and face the siege of the defending forces, so their casualties were likely high. Liu Xian and his advisors estimated afterward that the Western army had suffered close to ten thousand casualties.

This should be enough to make the Western Army pause for a while, but Liu Xian and the others knew very well that this was not the end. The Western Expeditionary Army was far more capable of withstanding casualties than their own side, and its troop strength was also far superior. It probably wouldn't be long before they launched another fierce attack.

In a normal war, Liu Xian would probably already be considering retreating. After all, given the current situation, even if the Western Army didn't use any strategy and just used lives to kill each other, they could overwhelm themselves. Besides, the Western Army had many capable generals. Fortunately, his goal on this trip wasn't to defeat the enemy, but to buy time. From this perspective, he was getting closer and closer to success.

At this point, almost two months had passed since Liu Xian raised his army. As planned, the first batch of immigrants had successfully crossed Chencang and officially entered Wudu County. Judging from the letters sent by Lu Yun, Ruan Fang, and others, Liu Xian's planned three-month migration period was indeed more than enough.

Therefore, if Liu Xian could hold out for another month or so, he could withdraw from Chang'an and head south to Bashu. It should be noted that Chencang was now in Liu Xian's hands. Chencang was a renowned fortified city; Liu Xian only needed to send a small force to defend it to ensure the safety of the Chencang route. At that time, no matter how many troops the Western Army had, they could only look on helplessly at the city, and he could then leave Guanzhong safely. A month is an insignificant period in the long course of life, but in the life-or-death struggle of war, it is a long time indeed. What Liu Xian needed to prepare now was how to survive this month.

Liu Xian made two preparations. First, he quickly repaired the camp, as the solid camp was his greatest asset at present. Second, he mobilized his staff to urgently recruit soldiers in Fufeng, Shiping and other counties to make up for the manpower lost in the previous battles as much as possible.

Frankly, Liu Xian hadn't wanted to conduct this kind of temporary recruitment. After all, good soldiers need time to develop. If they went to the battlefield without training, the new recruits would panic and scatter, not only failing to kill the enemy but also easily damaging morale and leading to defeat. Liu Xian had considered this beforehand, which was why he hadn't recruited extensively in Fengyi. In fact, among the new soldiers who died in this battle, the proportion from Fengyi's army was far higher than that from Hedong's army, precisely because of the lack of sufficient discipline training.

However, the people of Kansai have one advantage: most of them are excellent archers. Although it's impossible to have them form disciplined ranks and fight in the short term, recruiting them as archers and archers can supplement their immediate combat strength.

The recruitment went very smoothly, taking only four or five days. Li Sheng, Lü Quyang, and others recruited more than three thousand people in the Shiping area. This was mainly due to the fact that Liu Xian's teacher, Xiao Ruan Gong, had once served as the governor of Shiping and had been very kind to the local people. In addition, Lü Quyang had good connections among the local Di people, and Liu Xian had enough grain and provisions to distribute, so he quickly recruited these tenant farmers from Guanzhong.

During this process, there was an unexpected surprise. It was said that when Liu Xian was recruiting soldiers in Shiping, a group of men came to join him. Unlike the ordinary recruits from peasant families, they were all tall and strong, with spirited bearing, clearly not from ordinary families. Upon further inquiry, it turned out they had served in the army. This group claimed to have been officials in the Western Expeditionary Army and had come specifically to join Liu Xian.

The two leaders were Wei Jun, who was more mature, slender, and calm. He was about forty years old and clearly a learned man. The younger one was Wei Gai, Wei Jun's nephew. He was in his twenties, taller than Wei Jun, and presumably more arrogant because of his martial prowess.

The two men had previously participated in the Battle of Luoyang. When Meng He delivered the news, he was discovered by Wei Jun on his return journey. Zhang Fang wanted to kill Meng He, but Wei Jun abandoned his post to save him. Now, Wei Jun explained his purpose, and Li Sheng took him to Liu Xian to verify with Meng He. After confirming that everything was correct, Liu Xian was overjoyed.

Wei Jun and others had participated in the Luoyang campaign. The fact that he was valued by Zhang Fang showed that he had considerable ability. He was also able to see through Meng He's disguise, which showed that he was meticulous. Most importantly, Wei Jun also had a benevolent heart. Working with such a person, one did not need to be wary of him without reason, which was enough to put one's mind at ease.

Liu Xian immediately appointed Wei Jun as his bodyguard to show his closeness, and that very night he invited him to dine with him. During the meal, Wei Jun's table was laden with fine wine and dried meat, while Liu Xian's table was served only sunflower and bean soup. Upon seeing this, Wei Jun was deeply moved and exclaimed to Liu Xian, "If all officials in the world were like you, my lord, how could the country be in such a state!"

Liu Xian laughed and said, "This is nothing but a minor matter. If we can pacify this chaotic world, what shame is there in being a prey every day?"

Wei Jun shook his head and said, "The key to everything is to be cautious in one's own conduct. If one can not be lax in small matters, one will naturally succeed in great matters. My lord, it is because you can restrain yourself and follow the rules in your daily life that you were able to abandon Hedong and go to Bashu, making such a brilliant move!"

"Oh?" Liu Xian asked, seeing that Wei Jun had pointed out his strategy, "How did you figure that out?"

“I have served in the Western Expeditionary Army for three years and have made quite a few friends. After Pei Feng was captured, he told the Prince of Hejian everything about the strengths and weaknesses of your army. Your desire to enter Shu is no longer a secret.”

Although he had somewhat anticipated this, Liu Xian was still quite agitated upon hearing the news from Wei Jun. This wasn't due to worry about the current battle, but rather the possibility that the Prince of Hejian might have specifically deployed defenses in Hanzhong, blocking the path into Shu—that would be disastrous. However, upon glancing up, Liu Xian saw a smile in Wei Jun's eyes, knowing that the other must have a countermeasure, and his anxieties dissipated considerably. He asked, "Then what brings you here, Gongzhi?"

Wei Jun said, "I have brought you some news."

"Please say."

"Zhang Yin, the governor of Liangzhou, and Yan Zuan, the prefect of Hanzhong, are about to arrive. They have 20,000 troops under their command and are coming to assist the King of Hejian. They should arrive in Chang'an tomorrow. With this fresh force as our reinforcement, I estimate that the General of the Western Expedition will be fighting you again the day after tomorrow."

"Is that so?" Liu Xian was both surprised and delighted upon hearing this. He was surprised that the Liangzhou army had arrived, making Chang'an's military strength even greater. He was delighted because this meant Hanzhong was essentially empty. No matter how many Western troops there were, with the fortifications in place, their forces couldn't be deployed, and the pressure on the garrison wouldn't increase too much. And with 20,000 fewer men, the road into Hanzhong would be much easier. Overall, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Wei Jun shared this opinion. He bowed to Liu Xian and volunteered, saying, "My lord, the Western Expeditionary Army has been in control of Hanzhong for many years. I have many old friends in the prefecture. If you agree, I can enter Hanzhong first and persuade Yangping Pass to surrender on your behalf. Once Yangping Pass submits, the rest of Hanzhong will be able to surrender without any effort."

According to Liu Xian's plan, after entering Shu, he intended to seize Hanzhong by leveraging Yang Maosou's power and He Pan's influence. Unexpectedly, upon meeting Wei Jun today, he found an even better option. Overjoyed, Liu Xian immediately offered a toast, saying, "Heaven has bestowed upon me the virtue of Gongzhi! If I can obtain Hanzhong, I will surely appoint Gongzhi as its governor!"

Early the next morning, Wei Jun left Xianyang Plain alone and headed straight for Baoxie Road towards Hanzhong. The clansmen and troops he brought with him were left in Liu Xian's camp, serving as both hostages and a means of entrustment.

(End of this chapter)