Jinting Han people

Because Guo Song discovered it in time, Li Li's third offensive, although it had already bypassed the main force, had not yet engaged the Hanzhong army. By the time Zhang Guang was notified, he would have about 15 minutes to adjust.

Two quarters of an hour is but a fleeting moment on the battlefield. Yet, sometimes the ability to seize that moment is the difference between a great general and a mediocre one. Zhang Guang's choice was to lead his last elite troops to immediately join forces with the troops below the mountain, and first, with everything in his power, break through the Chengdu army's rear guard head-on.

This was undoubtedly an extremely risky decision, as it was almost equivalent to leaving their backs exposed. The most dangerous force was Wei Jun's troops, who were fighting Zhang Long's forces on the hillside. They had no spare strength to defend the west, and if they were attacked from both sides, it would be difficult for them to survive.

But Zhang Guang was well aware of the choice he was making. Deploying troops to stop the Chengdu army's third offensive was simply too late. It would only create panic and instability on the other lines, potentially leading to a chain reaction of defeats. Charging directly at the enemy front, while indeed dangerous, offered the possibility of breaking through one side of the enemy lines first. This would free up some troops to turn around and engage the enemy again, offering a chance to turn the tide of battle.

But this was also a desperate choice, a choice to fight for survival. For Zhang Guang, making this choice meant he was prepared to die, giving up any possibility of surrender or escape; it was either to die in battle or to win.

His entourage understood Zhang Guang's meaning and were moved by it. For a commander to lead his troops into battle was always inspiring, especially in such a critical moment.

Seeing his entourage catch up, Zhang Guang said on the way, "Life and death are nothing more than a single blow. These people face death as if ascending to heaven. Aren't we the same? To follow a lord like the Marshal, to comfort the people and restore the old country, is worth dying for!"

He then raised his sword high and had his followers repeat after him: "Our army has won a great victory! The enemy has been utterly defeated! Counterattack!"

After repeating it twice, the followers were also filled with a surge of heroic spirit, enough to disregard life and death, leaving only a rising desire to fight in their hearts. They trudged down the mountain through the snow, walking faster and faster, until they reached Huan Yi's troops who were engaged in battle.

By this time, the ground at the foot of the mountain was littered with corpses, and the stench of blood was so strong it was nauseating. The Hanzhong soldiers who had been defending were quite exhausted. They didn't know when the counterattack would begin or when the battle would end. When they heard a rapid, drum-like sound of footsteps behind them, they turned around and were surprised to find that their commander had already led his troops down the mountain.

Before the surrounding soldiers could ask any questions, the soldiers who had come down immediately shouted, "Our army has won a great victory! The enemy has been utterly defeated! Counterattack! Counterattack!"

Huan Yi's troops, unaware of the details, upon hearing these words, assumed it was finally time to launch a preemptive strike. They also felt the enemy's offensive had subsided, presenting a perfect opportunity for a counterattack. With their commander personally leading the charge, victory seemed imminent. Thus, they were greatly encouraged and echoed, "Counterattack! Counterattack!" They began a fierce assault on the Chengdu army below the mountain.

The Chengdu army was somewhat bewildered. They only saw several hundred men suddenly come down from the mountain, and the enemy in front of them immediately gained momentum, launching a counterattack within a few breaths. At this point, they were indeed more exhausted and could no longer advance. Their main purpose was to act as a safety net, preventing the Hanzhong army from leaving after Fei Hei launched his attack. Now, facing the fierce onslaught of the Hanzhong army, they were suddenly overwhelmed.

Zhang Guang's troops charged forward with unwavering courage. He raised his banner high and fearlessly pushed his way to the front of the horde, surrounded by enemies in armor and wielding rattan shields, the clanging of metal echoing everywhere. Yet he did not retreat, wielding a long sword and hacking at anyone in his path. His trusted soldiers, including Shangguan Xiu and Du Lin, renowned for their bravery and skill in battle, faced an attack no less formidable than their opponents. After several fierce battles, they were wounded dozens of times, staggering and collapsing to the ground, awaiting their deaths.

Zhang Guang, caught up in the frenzy of the battle, saw a burly man charging towards him, pinning his third son, Zhang Jiong, to the ground. He immediately rushed forward to fight him without hesitation. The man, clad in unusually thick armor, merely groaned after taking a blow from Zhang Guang, then abandoned Zhang Jiong and began to grapple with Zhang Guang. The two were so close they couldn't exchange blows, gripping each other's hands and wrestling. Both possessed immense strength, occasionally kicking each other in the groin, but to no avail.

After a brief stalemate, Zhang Jiong, lying on the ground, finally regained some consciousness and delivered another solid slash to the burly man from behind. This caused the man to stagger, and Zhang Guang immediately seized the opportunity, ramming his head into the man's ear and nose, making him dizzy. He then pulled out a short knife from his waist, first stabbing the man in the thigh, then pinning him to the ground and slitting his throat.

Zhang Guang was unaware that the man he had just killed was Luo Xian, a renowned general under Li Li. He was only slightly dizzy and his vision was blurry. Someone helped him up, and he grabbed the man's arm, asking who he was. The man replied that he was Liu Yi. Zhang Guang urged, "You're an officer, what are you doing guarding me? Go into battle and fight!" He then grabbed the arm of another man on his right, who answered that he was Yang Chu, the son of Yang Jian. Zhang Guang immediately shouted, "Go to the front lines and fight! Don't let your father down!" Spurred on, Yang Chu immediately changed his sword and rejoined the battle.

At this moment, Zhang Guang finally regained some consciousness. He turned around and called out the names of his close followers one by one, ordering them to fight and continue advancing. Thus, only his wounded son, Zhang Jiong, remained by his side. However, being in the middle of the battlefield, he had no idea about the overall situation. It was impossible for the other troops to find him and wait for his orders to organize.

Zhang Guangxiang wondered: What's the situation behind us? Where is the enemy's third wave of attack? But this question only flashed through his mind for a moment before disappearing again, because it was meaningless. Back then, Cao Cao faced an enemy attack from behind during the Battle of Wuchao, and the reason he was ultimately able to win was because he was willing to take a desperate gamble, first breaking through the defending forces and then the reinforcements.

Zhang Guang secretly resolved that if he failed, he would commit suicide once he was exhausted, and would never give the enemy a chance to capture him.

He continued fighting forward. This time seemed to pass both incredibly slowly and incredibly quickly; Zhang Guang himself almost lost track of time. But he clearly felt the sounds of battle growing fainter and fainter until finally, there were no more enemies in sight. Looking back, he realized he had led his men several miles, seemingly quite far from the original battlefield.

At this moment, a messenger finally found Zhang Guang. He was from Guo Song's unit and said to Zhang Guang, "General, the enemy has stopped attacking."

Zhang Guang suddenly realized what the enemy general was up to and blurted out, "What other tricks does the enemy general have up his sleeve? Quickly, get all the troops to regroup!" But then he realized that the troops weren't even all gathered yet, so how could they be regrouped? He then asked, "Where is Commandant Guo's unit now? Can they catch up?"

The messenger replied, "General, your might is divine! After breaking through the enemy lines, our troops followed bravely and scattered the enemy forces blocking our path. The remaining enemy troops seem too exhausted from climbing the mountains to catch up with us." Guo Song's army was on the far west side, and he had caught up with them. The troops of Huan Yi, Guo Mo, and Yang Jiantou were also present, but there was no news of Wei Jun's forces. Only then did Zhang Guang feel a sense of relief. He knew that he had at least led his army out of the risk of being surrounded and annihilated. Then, the despairing awareness of death transformed into an impulsive fantasy of turning defeat into victory. He said, "Go and inform the troops along the way to regroup. Since the enemy has been routed, we can launch another counterattack as needed!" More soldiers returned and gathered around Zhang Guang. They were exhausted and ate while slumped on the snow, excitedly inquiring about their comrades' achievements.

Meanwhile, Li Li, the Grand Commandant of Chengdu, had already descended the mountain and joined Li Guo and others to discuss their next move.

Li Li frowned as he looked at the corpses that had spread across the foot of the mountain. He sighed, "This is troublesome! I thought it was an ambush from all sides, but it turned out to be a fight to the death."

The three offensives launched by his subordinates did not achieve the results Li Li had hoped for. His original plan was to take advantage of the enemy's unfamiliarity with the mountainous terrain and his own forces to annihilate the entire Hanzhong army in a single battle. This would severely weaken Liu Xian, allowing him not only to capture Yinping but also to lay a solid foundation for the future conquest of Hanzhong.

However, the current results are completely contrary to Li Li's expectations. First, the tide of the first offensive receded faster than usual, and the second offensive failed to disrupt the central command. Then, Zhang Guang's final strike before the arrival of the third offensive instantly tore apart the defenses at the foot of the mountain, causing the three offensives to fail and negating the purpose of wiping out the enemy in one fell swoop.

By this time, the two armies were largely separated. Most of the Chengdu soldiers, clutching their bows and swords, sat stiffly on the snow, enduring hunger and exhaustion. When they were unbearably thirsty, they would scoop up snow from the ground and chew on it. A pervasive sense of dejection filled the army, for this was the first time they had suffered such a defeat.

The Chengdu army was also regrouping and taking stock of the generals who had died in battle. Upon learning of the deaths of Luo Xian, Han Hou, Li Xi, and others, everyone was shocked. Among the generals, Wen Shuo was covered in wounds, especially a spear wound to the back of his neck, his skin mangled and bloodied. Although he was still trying to maintain consciousness, he was clearly too weak to fight any longer. It was said that he had fought against a general named Guo Mo, and the two fought to a standstill, ending with both suffering a wound.

Seeing his beloved general in such a state, Li Guo was naturally very concerned. He ordered someone to bring a leather bag of goat's milk so that he could rest properly before returning to Li Li. Just then, he heard the sigh. Looking at the corpses lying on the ground, he felt a pang of pity and said, "Liu Xian's army is indeed elite, living up to its reputation. Despite such a disadvantage, they have managed to fight their way out."

But he immediately added encouragingly, "Our army has also achieved considerable results. Judging from the current situation, the enemy has deployed its elite troops, and so far, they have suffered at least two thousand casualties."

Li Li looked up at Li Guo and rebuked him, "Aren't our troops elite? In this battle, our army has also lost nearly three thousand men, and these are all veterans!"

At this point, Li Li's heart was truly bleeding. Four years ago, over 100,000 refugees from Qin and Yong followed the Li family south. With the addition of others recruited later, they formed a refugee army of approximately 60,000. After countless battles, this exceptionally resilient veteran force numbered only 30,000. Li Xiong had placed great importance on this battle, which was why he had specifically allocated 20,000 veterans to him. Now, before even achieving victory, they had already lost nearly a tenth of them—how could he accept this?
What he found most unacceptable was that the commander-in-chief of this battle was only Zhang Guang. He considered himself exceptionally strategist, with no one in the Hanzhong army besides Liu Xian able to compare to him. Yet, despite having superior forces, he couldn't defeat Zhang Guang, which undoubtedly displeased him. Meanwhile, Li Li had another problem to consider: what to do next? The battle seemed far from over; should they continue to engage the enemy in a protracted struggle?

While pondering this, he decided to send more troops to scout the enemy's situation and assess their morale before making his next move. When the scouts returned and reported that Zhang Guang was reorganizing his army for a counterattack, he was momentarily stunned, then burst into laughter. He stroked his beard and turned to Li Guodao, saying, "This Zhang Guang! He's three parts less intelligent than me, but far more courageous!"

Li Li admitted that he was not as courageous as his opponent, implying that he was not prepared to continue the battle. After all, he had already lost the opportunity to annihilate the enemy, and continuing the fight would not expand his gains; it would only be a meaningless war of attrition, which was something he did not want to see.

Sure enough, he summoned a man, who was the Taoist priest who had offered prayers to Heaven before the battle. He said to the Taoist priest, "Brother Li, can you ride a horse to the enemy camp?"

The Taoist priest asked, "How about we go to the enemy's camp?"

Li Li said, "Inform Zhang Guang that we should stop here for today. I am willing to exchange the heads of prisoners and withdraw our troops. What do you think of his opinion?"

The Taoist priest nodded and sighed, "Very well, Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life. There has been too much killing today, so let's stop here. Please wait a moment, Grand Commandant, I'll be right back."

Having said that, he rode a short-legged horse from Sichuan, carrying a nine-section staff, and galloped towards Zhang Guang's army.

Zhang Guang and his men were not concerned with the difficulty of dealing with the enemy, but upon hearing that the Chengdu army was preparing to exchange prisoners, they decided to withdraw their troops, which caused quite a bit of controversy within the army. Some argued that since they had been able to break through the enemy's defenses head-on, they might still be able to win in another battle, while others believed that the losses had already been too great and it was better to stop now. But in the end, everyone remembered one thing: Zhang Guang still had two sons who were buried among the enemy troops, their fate unknown. So they immediately fell silent and handed over the final decision to their commander.

Zhang Guang's initial intention was to continue the battle, as he anticipated that Zhang Wen and Zhang Yuan were likely doomed and could not be saved. However, looking back at the wounded and even bleeding faces of his generals, and seeing the corpses scattered along the way, he hesitated greatly. After a moment's deliberation, he finally said, "The order given to me by the Marshal is to test the waters, not to fight to the bitter end." Thus, he agreed to a ceasefire.

Both sides agreed that the Chengdu army would advance along the south bank of the Baishui River, while the Hanzhong army would advance along the north bank, with neither side interfering with the other, and then withdraw. With this agreement finalized, both sides breathed a sigh of relief. Initially, their commanders had been somewhat worried that they might lose control of their subordinates and another conflict might erupt upon a reunion. However, as it turned out, their worries were unfounded. It was already dusk, and both sides, exhausted from their advance, had little strength left even to glance at each other, let alone engage in combat.

Both sides withdrew their troops cautiously, thus ending the Battle of Yinping. (End of Chapter)