Jinting Han people

It was now mid-May of the fourth year of the Tai'an era, and the situation of the war had become extremely clear.

Although Li Xiong still occupies the most prosperous region in the Bashu area, his army is still a match for Liu Xian's in numbers, and his food reserves are temporarily sufficient, war is like that; it's not just about what's on paper, but also about many other factors beyond what's stated on paper.

Geographically, when Liu Xian led his army to capture Fuxian, it meant he controlled most of the strategically important and treacherous terrain of northern Sichuan, officially advancing into the heart of the Bashu region. The surrender of Guanghan and Jianwei prefectures also indicated that Liu Xian's forces had completed the encirclement of the Chengdu Kingdom from both the north and south. Li Xiong's strategic space had been compressed to its limit; on the Chengdu Plain, he now only had six core cities left. Each lost city meant the Chengdu Kingdom was one step closer to its demise, with virtually no room for maneuver.

Even more critically, the defeat was a blow to morale and the hearts of the soldiers. This abrupt loss was a severe blow to the Chengdu army. They could hardly explain why things had been going so well before, and why the situation had deteriorated so drastically in just a few months. The only explanation was that the Hanzhong army was too formidable and too popular with the people. However, such exaggeration of the enemy undoubtedly exacerbated the soldiers' fear. If one side mentally concedes defeat before the decisive battle, victory on the battlefield is extremely difficult to achieve.

Liu Xian made the same assessment. His goal for this year was to enter Chengdu and eliminate the Li family of Lueyang before the end of the year.

Now, the first thing blocking the way for the Hanzhong army is Luo County.

Luo County was originally the capital of Yizhou during the Later Han Dynasty, the administrative center of Bashu. Although located on a plain, it was surrounded by the Shiting River and the Luo River, forming a uniquely advantageous island-like terrain. Therefore, the governors of Yizhou during the Later Han Dynasty utilized this advantage to transform the city, digging a moat around Luo City, several tens of feet wide enough for boats to navigate. Furthermore, due to its high and imposing city walls, its scale was almost comparable to Chengdu, making it the second largest city in Bashu and a crucial protective barrier for Chengdu.

Faced with such city defenses, a direct breakthrough is extremely difficult. Currently known shortcuts to breaching the city, such as earthen ramp sieges, tunnel sieges, and trebuchet sieges, are almost entirely unusable. The only options are the most rudimentary siege tactic of swarming enemies, or bribing an inside agent. If neither of these is feasible, a prolonged siege is the only remaining option.

In fact, the greatest hardship Liu Bei endured when he entered Shu was not elsewhere, but beneath the walls of Luocheng. At that time, Liu Bei was winning battle after battle, advancing triumphantly. However, before reaching Luocheng, he led his army in several fierce attacks, but not only did he fail to breach the city, he also caused the death of Pang Tong, the "Young Phoenix," from an arrow wound. Liu Bei was forced to change his strategy from a direct assault to a prolonged siege, remaining beneath the city for a full year until its food supplies ran out before finally capturing Luocheng. Once Luocheng fell, Liu Zhang lost all will to defend it and surrendered at Jian Yong's urging.

It wasn't just Liu Zhang. After Deng Ai defeated Zhuge Zhan at Jiangyou, the Shu Han court was still debating whether to surrender or not. But after Deng Ai took advantage of the victory and entered Luocheng, the Shu Han court gave up the idea of ​​resistance. Liu Shan didn't even have the thought of a final gamble and submitted a letter to surrender to Deng Ai.

While this doesn't mean that Chengdu would necessarily surrender without a fight just because Liu Xian captured Luo County, the existence of these battle examples is enough to demonstrate the importance of Luo County.

Therefore, despite having the upper hand, Liu Xian did not let his guard down. He remained highly focused, striving to secure the victory he had.

He marched to Mianshui on the day of Ji Si in May, first stationing himself in Mianzhu. Mianzhu was already a ghost town. Where the army arrived, they saw vast expanses of paddy fields dotting the flat, fertile plains, with immature rice growing lush and green. This astonished many of the soldiers from Guanzhong who had come from the north. The so-called paddy fields in Guanzhong were actually those with ample water and convenient irrigation. They had never seen fields like this, with water flooding the crops.

Strangely, most of the houses the army encountered along the way were empty; only the buildings were visible, not the people. Only occasionally did they see a fortified village belonging to a prominent local clan, where people were still active. Liu Xian sent men inside to inquire about the situation. The people inside the fortified village were polite but wary, and the questioning took place on the fortified walls. It was then learned that within the past month, Li Xiong, in order to implement a scorched-earth policy, had seemingly ordered the relocation of the vast majority of the people in Xindu County to Chengdu.

After learning the whole story, Liu Xian felt helpless. He said to He Pan and the others, "It is the season when the rice is in full bloom and the ears of grain are sprouting. In another month or so, it will be time to harvest the rice. I wonder how many people are secretly cursing me for Li Xiong's scorched earth policy at this time."

This also shows that Li Xiong still has a strong will to resist. He was not discouraged by the series of defeats before. On the contrary, he made full preparations for the battle. What will happen next in Luocheng will definitely be a tough battle.

However, Liu Xian had no intention of fighting a hard battle. In fact, by now, the war had already achieved the initial goal of Liu Xian's third wave of offensive. The reason he was in such a hurry to continue expanding his territory was to increase his bargaining power in negotiations with the Celestial Masters Sect. Now, Liu Xian's swift victory had broken the balance and given him an absolute advantage. Even if the Celestial Masters Sect came to negotiate, they could only offer him icing on the cake, not enough to make exorbitant demands.

At this point, instead of launching a direct attack on Luocheng, it would be better to first wage a political and information war.

Just then, He Pan also came to offer a suggestion, saying, "Your Highness, although Xindu and Shujun are small, they are fertile lands of Bashu, with more than 100,000 households and more than 600,000 people under their jurisdiction. This is the foundation of a hegemon and the destiny of the state. Now that Your Highness has obtained the natural defenses, it is not advisable to wage a large-scale war. You might as well change your approach to appeasement, display your troops at the city gates, and use both kindness and force to gain fame and profit."

This coincided with Liu Xian's thoughts, and he nodded with a smile, saying, "With you here, sir, how could I possibly need to worry about such a trivial matter?"

Liu Xian immediately appointed He Pan as the Prefect of Shu Commandery and General Yangwu, and put He Pan in charge of recruiting and contacting refugees.

Then, in order to demonstrate his policy of pacifying the people, Liu Xian ordered the government to issue two orders. One was a public announcement. Liu Xian specially sent envoys to post notices in various counties and villages, stating his position: "Yizhou is the old land of Han, and Chengdu is the old capital of Han. Now Liu Xian leads his army here, just like a wanderer returning to his hometown, hoping for the love of the elders and harmony of the community. Who would have thought that what I see along the way is that the crops are unclaimed and the houses are overgrown with thorns. Is this what Liu Xian hoped for? I hope that the people of the Three Shu will gather their homes and harvest the rice, so that Liu Xian will have no campaign in this year."

Another order was directed at the military. He emphasized: "From this day forward, whenever the army goes out, without orders from superiors, they must stay in tents and not occupy houses; they must restrain themselves and not trample on seedlings; they must conduct business ethically and not steal property. Any civilian who reports this to the authorities will be whipped fifty times for the first offense and beheaded for the second offense!" This was one aspect of bestowing favors, but Liu Xian also had a plan for how to demonstrate his power.

First, there was the feint attack on Chengdu. Although Liu Xian himself would be in charge of the main attack, he didn't mind making a show of force from other directions to put more pressure on Li Xiong and weaken Luocheng's local defenses. The newly acquired Jianwei Commandery happened to have two major rivers flowing through it, which could serve as routes for the feint attack. One was the main stream of the Yangtze River, which could be used to head directly north from Wuyang to Chengdu; the other was the Pi River, which could also be used to cross the mountains and advance westward, inserting itself between Chengdu and Luocheng.

With this in mind, Liu Xian appointed Huan Yi as the governor of Guanghan and Fu Chang as the governor of Jianwei, instructing them to strengthen their control over the two newly acquired prefectures while cooperating with Liu Shen, the governor of Yizhou, to make a certain degree of feigned action.

To ensure the deception was convincing, Liu Xian had a long talk with the two men before they took up their posts, discussing the details. He instructed them that they could feign establishing a camp, feigning troop movements, and feigning to fly Liu Xian's banner to attract the enemy's attention, but they had to be careful to maintain a proper balance. Currently, their forces were relatively weak; Liu Shen only had a little over ten thousand men. If they further divided their forces, each of them would only have six thousand men. If they forced Li Xiong into a desperate gamble, causing him to seize the opportunity to attack, it would backfire.

To coordinate with this so-called feint, after the two men and their new officials took up their posts, Liu Xian did not immediately lead the entire army south. Instead, after resting for two days, he first led a force of eight thousand men, under the ordinary banners of the Hanzhong army, and swaggered to the north bank of the Shiting River, where they set up camp. The remaining troops in Mianzhu, led by Li Sheng, instead made the move to break camp and head east. At this point, Liu Xian, in the name of Li Ju, sent an envoy to challenge the Chengdu army in Luocheng.

At this time, approximately 30,000 troops were stationed at Zhongtun in Luo County, and Li Xiang, the Grand Tutor of Chengdu, was on high alert, ready for a fierce battle with the Hanzhong army. Unexpectedly, the force that arrived was not the main force of the Hanzhong army, but a small, isolated army of less than 10,000 men. This aroused his suspicion, and he ignored Liu Xian's challenge, instead sending out scouts to gather information. Soon after, he received a report that the main force of the Hanzhong army seemed to have left Mianzhu and was moving towards Guanghan County.

About five or six days after this intelligence report, more intelligence came from Chengdu, claiming that large quantities of grain and fodder were being moved from the Jiangshui and Pishui directions, suggesting that the Hanzhong army was about to launch a large-scale military operation in these two directions.

Combining these two pieces of intelligence, Li Xiang could easily conclude that Liu Xian must have thought Luocheng was too difficult to attack, so he planned to bypass Luocheng and directly attack the heart of Chengdu from the east and south.

Liu Xian's series of deceptions, while not difficult to guess in their purpose, were remarkable for their meticulous attention to detail and interconnected actions, leaving Li Xiong and his men no choice but to believe him. After all, no matter how important Luocheng was, it still paled in comparison to Chengdu. He anticipated that Li Xiong couldn't afford to take the risk; his forces were limited. Weighing the options, Li Xiong had no choice but to make the wise decision to reduce defenses in Luocheng and focus on defending Chengdu.

As Liu Xian had predicted, after dragging on for nearly half a month, and with Liu Shen's actions becoming increasingly aggressive, the Chengdu garrison in Luo County finally could no longer remain passive. Li Xiong issued an edict to Li Xiang, ordering him to transfer 20,000 troops from the city south to the Jiangyuan and Wuyang areas to guard against possible attacks from the south. The commander-in-chief of the defense of Luo City was reassigned to Situ Li Yun.

Such a large-scale troop movement naturally did not escape Liu Xian's notice. Upon learning that the enemy had divided their forces and was heading south, he was overjoyed, but on the surface, he remained inactive and continued to send messages challenging the city, which the city ignored.

Three days passed in a row, and it was now late May. The sky was covered with dark clouds, and thunder could be faintly heard from within them, clearly indicating that a heavy rain was imminent. Logically, this should have been a time for the army to rest. And the garrison inside Luocheng did just that; most of the scouts outside had retreated into the city to eat and drink, and there were unusually few sentries on the city walls.

But there are reasons for this. Although the number of troops defending the city has decreased, there are still at least ten thousand. The city is well-supplied with supplies, and Chengdu can send its navy to support Luoxian at any time. Even if the enemy attacks with its entire army, it will not be a big problem. The reason why Li Xiong had previously concentrated his troops here was mainly to fight a decisive battle that would turn the tide of the war. Now that his forces have been weakened, the defenders are no longer under that pressure.

That night, a torrential downpour ensued, the sound of flowing water everywhere, as if the world below had been submerged by the pouring rain. Occasionally, lightning flashed and thunder roared like a stampede of horses, the dense bushes rustling in the rain as if in fear. But the defenders were already used to it; in their eyes, this heavy rain was even a sign of peace, a way to keep them away from the fighting.

But the next morning, when the rain stopped and the sun reappeared through the clouds, casting a long rainbow, the garrison of Luo County was astonished to discover that overnight, a camp seemed to have sprung up at the confluence of the Luo and Shiting rivers, thirteen miles away. Li Yun sent scouts to investigate, and they found the camp openly displaying a banner that read, "The Han and the traitors cannot coexist!" Without a doubt, this was Liu Xian himself!

Li Yun was horrified when he saw this. He knew the importance of the river mouth. If Liu Xian controlled the river mouth, supplies and support from Chengdu would not be able to reach it, and then everything would be over! He immediately made a decision and led his army eastward to destroy the camp.

This was indeed a good opportunity. Liu Xian had led his troops to establish camp in the rain the previous night, and his soldiers were exhausted after a long night of work. Meanwhile, the Chengdu army, having rested as usual, was fighting normally and their combat strength was indeed superior to that of the Hanzhong army. Therefore, that morning, Li Yun personally led his troops in a charge, fighting at the forefront, and at one point broke through the outer camp, nearly forcing Liu Xian out of the river mouth.

But by noon, the tide of battle turned again. The main force of the Hanzhong army, numbering over 30,000, which had nominally marched to Guanghan County, suddenly appeared north of Luo County. It turned out they hadn't actually gone far; instead, they had been lying in wait east of the Longquan Mountains. Their timely return was something Li Yun hadn't anticipated. The Hanzhong army openly crossed the river in front of the Luo City defenders, immediately putting the Chengdu army in a difficult position. Continuing the fight risked being surrounded and ultimately leading to the fall of Luo City. Li Yun dared not take this risk and had no choice but to abandon the attack and retreat back into Luo County.

Ultimately, Liu Xian successfully completed the blockade and encirclement of Luo County, and he still held the upper hand.

However, this time, a small accident occurred. After being caught in the rain all night and having a big battle, Liu Xian felt unwell. He had a slight fever and started sneezing frequently, but it wasn't serious. It was just a normal case of typhoid fever, something everyone has had, and he should recover with a little rest.

On the third day after the siege was completed, Liu Xian's long-awaited guests finally arrived. Outside the military camp, two Taoist priests came to visit, claiming to be the chief priests of the Celestial Masters sect, from Mount Qingcheng. One was named Chen Hui, and the other Li A. (End of Chapter)