Han Ji

Shen Pei organized the defenses on the city wall. He concentrated the use of oil over the next few days, splashing oil wherever the rams were pushed. The archers on the city wall fired for a whole day, using up more than half of their arrows.

The people in the city were conscripted to move arrowheads and carry oil canisters. Women ran through the streets to deliver water to the guards. Some of them were knocked down by falling stones from the city wall halfway through their journey, and the shards of their water canisters were mixed with the wall plaster.

After several days of fierce attacks, casualties on both sides were rising. Zhang Fei's troops once charged onto the city wall, but were driven back by the defenders with short guns. The city gate was dented inward from the impact, but it had not yet been breached.

Liu Bei stood on the earthen mound in the center of the army camp, watching the siege. Jia Xu stood beside him.

Ye City has food, water, and Shen Pei. A direct assault would result in too many casualties. Yuan Shao being trapped in the city isn't the key issue; the key issue is that he's still waiting for reinforcements.

"Tadun," Liu Bei said. The Wuhuan Chanyu, located beyond the Great Wall, commands cavalry. Yuan Shao has an alliance with Tadun and previously provided him with salt, iron, and cloth. "Has Tadun sent troops?"

Jia Xu said, "Qian Zhao has reported back, but Tadun is still hesitant. The various Wuhuan tribes are not united, and Tadun can only mobilize a limited number of troops. However, if we don't put pressure on him, he will come sooner or later. My lord, we don't need to wait for the Wuhuan to come. It's getting hot, and if the siege continues, our own food supplies will be insufficient. It's better to wait."

"Wait for what?" Liu Bei asked.

Qian Zhao's special operations battalion had been operating outside the Great Wall. Since returning from Guandu, he hadn't gone back to Luoyang, constantly traveling between Youzhou and the border regions. His mission was to keep an eye on the Wuhuan. Tadun Chanyu's camp was at the foot of Bailang Mountain, north of Liucheng.

In mid-May, Yuan Shao's messenger, pleading for reinforcements, arrived at Tadun's tent. The messenger rode from Ye City, bypassing Liu Bei's besieging forces and taking the northern mountain path. By the time he reached the foot of Bailang Mountain, he was emaciated.

The messenger knelt before Tadun and handed him Yuan Shao's letter. The letter was urgent: "Lord Liu is besieging Ye; Ji Province is in imminent danger. We implore the Chanyu to remember our old alliance and quickly send cavalry to rescue Ye. After the victory, all the salt and iron of You Province will belong to the Wuhuan."

Tadun read the letter and placed it on his lap. He was a man in his forties with a fleshy face, small eyes, and scars all over the back of his hands.

Several tribal leaders sat in the large tent, some watching Tadun's expression, others drinking with their heads down. Qian Zhao's scouts mingled among the laborers driving horses for the Wuhuan tribe and witnessed this scene through the campfire.

The leaders argued for two days. Some said they should send troops, arguing that Yuan Shao had given the Wuhuan salt, iron, and cloth, and that this old alliance shouldn't be broken. Others said they shouldn't send troops, pointing out that Liu Bei had just won the Battle of Guandu, and his morale was high; for the Wuhuan cavalry to march south would be walking into a trap.

More importantly, Liu Bei had begun sending men to the White Wolf Mountain area last year to buy horses, offering prices higher than Yuan Shao's salt and iron. Several small tribes had already sided with Liu Bei. Tadun dared not take this risk. He feared that if he led his troops south, these tribes would seize the opportunity to take over his camp.

The messenger waited five or six days without a response. New horses were being put on the hitching posts outside the Wuhuan camp every day, but none were for him. He began to realize that reinforcements might not arrive.

On the seventh day, Qian Zhao's special forces intercepted the messenger on his second mission to Wuhuan and discovered Yuan Shao's second letter requesting aid. The tone of the letter was even more urgent than the last: Ye City was about to fall, and if the Chanyu did not come soon, the Yuan family would cease to exist.

Qian Zhao put the letter in his pocket and did not send it back to Ye City. He sent several men to make more than a dozen copies of Yuan Shao's second letter requesting aid and posted them on wooden stakes outside the camps of the Wuhuan tribes.

Some tribal chiefs looked grim after reading the letter but did not issue any orders. Tadun, upon seeing the letter, did not summon his generals but simply ordered the sheepskin curtains of his tents to be lowered.

In mid-June, the weather was very hot. The wheat fields outside Ye City had turned yellow, the ears of wheat drooping heavily, but no farmers came to harvest them.

The food supply problem is becoming increasingly critical. The siege has been costly, and the army's food reserves have dwindled significantly. Jian Yong sent an urgent letter from Luoyang, saying that the summer grain harvest in Guanzhong was not yet complete, and the flood season had slowed water transport, resulting in 30% less grain reaching Jizhou than expected. If the siege continues, the attacking forces themselves will run out of food.

The weather was changing. It started to rain heavily, and it rained for two days straight. The official road turned into a muddy river, and the wheels of the grain carts sank half a foot into the mud, requiring more than a dozen laborers to push them out. The camp was covered in mud, and the soldiers' boots were wet all day long, their toes were sore, and they walked with a limp.

Guan Yu said in the main tent, "Brother, once the rainy season arrives, the grain supply will stop. If we continue the siege, we'll collapse first."

Jia Xu also suggested retreating. "My lord, this year's goal has been achieved. Yuan Shao has lost Cangting, Handan, and all the outer strongholds. He only has Ye City left, an isolated city. How long can the grain in the city last? Three months? Five months? Once it runs out, he'll collapse on his own. We don't need to stay here and fight to the death with him."

Liu Bei remained silent for a moment. He looked at Ye City on the map and tapped the city walls twice with his finger. He certainly wanted to continue the siege, hoping to eliminate Yuan Shao completely this time.

But he knew that Guan Yu and Jia Xu were right. The rainy season made transporting grain slow, and the supply routes were too long. If this dragged on any longer, his 60,000-strong army would go from being on the offensive to being on the defensive.

"Withdraw." He stood up. "Leave a portion of the troops to guard Hebei. Yide will remain in Liyang. Zijing will lead his men to stay on the hills north of Ye City and keep an eye on the situation there. Report back immediately if Yuan Shao makes any move."

Zhang Fei clasped his hands in a fist salute.

The withdrawal took three days. It wasn't a rout, but a systematic breakup. First, the supplies and wounded were moved, then the infantry, and then the cavalry. Guan Yu brought up the rear, leading his crossbowmen to stand on the last line of defense until everyone had left. During the withdrawal, the last group of soldiers removed the unused wooden stakes from the trenches, leaving several neat rows of empty pits.

On the city wall of Ye, Shen Pei watched Liu Bei's army slowly retreat south. He did not order a pursuit. The forces in the city were no longer sufficient to launch an attack. He could only squat on the city wall, watching the tents being dismantled one by one, and the flags being carried further and further away.

Yuan Shao didn't see this scene. He lay on his couch, struggling to swallow the medicinal soup that Ju Shou had prepared. The soup dripped from the corner of his mouth, which the physician wiped away with a cloth and continued to feed him. The light coming in from the window only illuminated half of his face.

Liu Bei's army marched south along the Zhang River. Zhang He led his cavalry ahead, filling in several sections of the road damaged by the flood with rubble. Upon returning to Liyang, Zhang Fei began to fortify the city's defenses, repaired the docks at the Liyang ferry crossing, and built granaries on both banks of the ferry.

Qian Zhao led his men north overnight, sneaking back to the mountains north of Ye City. He himself, along with Jia Xu, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, and the main force, crossed the Yellow River back to the south bank as it thawed. They returned to Luoyang in July.

The streets of Luoyang were deserted, and cicadas chirped loudly in the trees. The walls of the Prime Minister's residence were as they had been when he left, and the gate was open. Liu Bei went inside, sat down, and ate a bowl of cold porridge.