Han Ji

The thirteenth year of Xingping, 205 AD. Bingzhou.

Bingzhou was located west of Hebei, sandwiched between Jizhou and Liangzhou. The Taihang Mountains separated Bingzhou and Jizhou from north to south, with ravines and treacherous roads. When Yuan Shao was alive, Bingzhou was under the control of the Yuan family.

After Yuan Shao's death, Bingzhou became a no-man's-land. Yuan's remnants occupied several cities in the south, including Shangdang and Taiyuan, while Zhang Yan of the Black Mountain Army occupied various mountain strongholds in the Taihang Mountains. Some county towns were controlled by local powerful clans, and no one listened to anyone else.

Zhang Yan was the leader of the Black Mountain Army. The Black Mountain Army originally consisted of remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, who later established themselves in the Taihang Mountains. They numbered a large number, claiming to be 100,000. In reality, only about 20,000 to 30,000 were actually capable of fighting. Including the elderly, women, and children, the entire Black Mountain Army population was over 100,000.

They cleared land and cultivated the land in the Taihang Mountains, built fortified villages to defend themselves, and established a self-contained system of order. For so many years, the imperial court could not break in, Yuan Shao could not break in, and Cao Cao wanted to attack but could not.

The terrain of the Taihang Mountains is too treacherous. There is only a narrow path leading into the mountains, with cliffs on both sides. The defending troops would throw stones down from above, and as many soldiers as there were below, they would die.

The remnants of Yuan Shao's forces occupied the cities of Taiyuan and Shangdang. The commander of Taiyuan was Gao Gan, a former subordinate of Yuan Shao, while the commander of Shangdang was Qian Meng, a lieutenant general sent by Yuan Shang from Yecheng. Gao Gan commanded several thousand men, while Qian Meng had less than two thousand.

The two men each guarded their respective cities, maintaining a delicate balance with the Black Mountain Army. They usually did not invade each other, but occasionally traded with each other. The Black Mountain Army had medicinal herbs and furs from the mountains, while the remnants of the Yuan family had salt and iron.

This situation in Bingzhou lasted for almost two years. After Yuan Shao's death, no one had the mind to manage Bingzhou. It took Liu Bei two years to defeat Yuan Shao's main force in Jizhou and Youzhou. Now that Jizhou and Youzhou are pacified, the problem of Bingzhou has come to the fore.

Jia Xu told Liu Bei that Bingzhou could not be left unattended. The Taihang Mountains blocked the western border of Jizhou, and although the Black Mountain Army and the remnants of the Yuan clan had not attacked yet, it did not mean they would not in the future.

With Bingzhou unsettled, there will always be a gap in communication between western Jizhou and Liangzhou, and your grain supply route in Hedong will always be watched by the people in the mountains. If we don't fight now, it will surely become a disaster later.

In addition, Bingzhou has a large population. The Black Mountain Army is said to number 100,000, but in reality, there are over 100,000 living in the mountains. If all of these 100,000 people were registered, it would represent a significant source of tax revenue and manpower.

Liu Bei dispatched Ma Chao to return from Wancheng, preparing for a western expedition against Bingzhou. Ma Chao's Liangzhou cavalry were skilled in mountain warfare, and Liangzhou also had mountains. The Qiang people had been fighting in the mountains for many years, and Ma Chao had gained experience in fighting the Qiang.

At the same time, Liu Bei ordered Zhang Xiu to be transferred north from Xinye to lead his infantry in coordination. He himself led the main force from Yecheng, passing through Huguan and entering Shangdang.

In March of the thirteenth year of Xingping, the deployment for the Battle of Bingzhou was completed.

The military council was held in the main hall of the governor's mansion in Ye City. A detailed map of Bingzhou hung on the wall, with a thick line drawn across the Taihang Mountains running from north to south through Bingzhou.

The thick line marks Jizhou to the east and Taiyuan and Shangdang to the west. A dozen or so black dots are marked in the mountains; those are the strongholds of the Black Mountain Army.

Liu Bei divided his forces into three routes. Ma Chao led 10,000 Liangzhou cavalry as the western route, setting off from Liangzhou southeast, passing through the Lishi ferry crossing into the Taiyuan Basin, and heading straight for Taiyuan.

Zhang Xiu led 20,000 infantry as the southern route, marching north from Wancheng and attacking Shangdang via Tianjing Pass. Liu Bei personally led 30,000 central troops from Yecheng westward to Huguan Pass, entering Shangdang, where they joined forces with Zhang Xiu before heading north to Taiyuan. The three armies eventually converged at the walls of Taiyuan.

Zhang He remained in Ye City to oversee the transport of grain and fodder, Guan Yu guarded Youzhou, Zhang Fei was stationed in Liyang to defend against Cao Cao, and Zhao Yun was stationed in Bohai to do the same. Jia Xu accompanied the central army to advise on military affairs, while Jian Yong remained in Ye City to manage logistics.

Ma Chao was the first to set off. His Liangzhou cavalry departed from Liangzhou, the dust kicked up by their horses obscuring half the sky. Qiang cavalry were mixed in with the column, wearing leather armor and riding bareback horses without saddles. It took them almost ten days to travel from Liangzhou to the Lishi ferry.

Upon reaching Lishi, the ferry was guarded by local strongmen and their cronies. Seeing Ma Chao's cavalry approaching, the people at the ferry turned and fled. Ma Chao's men pushed the rafts into the water and crossed the river in batches. Beyond the river lay the Taiyuan Basin, with Taiyuan City in its center, its walls gleaming grayish-white in the sunlight.

Zhang Xiu headed north from Wancheng. To get from Wancheng to Bingzhou, one had to cross the Taihang Mountains and pass through Tianjing Pass. Tianjing Pass was a dangerous pass in the Taihang Mountains, with a narrow path flanked by cliffs on both sides. The pass was located at the narrowest point of the path, with the city wall built between the two mountain walls.

The remaining Yuan clan forces guarding the pass numbered only a few hundred. Zhang Xiu, upon reaching the pass, did not launch a direct assault. Instead, he ordered his men to circle around to the cliff behind the pass and lower ropes down. They then sneaked into the pass at night and opened the gates. The Yuan clan's remaining troops awoke with swords at their throats; the pass surrendered.

Liu Bei's central army set out from Ye City. After passing Handan and heading west, the shadow of the Taihang Mountains grew larger and larger on the horizon. Huguan Pass, located on the eastern foothills of the Taihang Mountains, is one of the main passages for crossing the Taihang Mountains.

The general guarding the pass was Qian Meng, a former subordinate of Ju Shou. Qian Meng had fought alongside Ju Shou at Guandu, where he was wounded in the leg and walked with a slight limp. After Ju Shou was captured, he led his remaining troops to Huguan, where Yuan Shang, passing through Bingzhou, entrusted him with guarding the pass.

Liu Bei's army arrived at Huguan Pass and set up camp. Jia Xu stood outside the camp looking at the guards on the pass and said, "Qian Meng is not afraid of death, but he knows what pain is."

There was no attack on the city that night. The next morning, Liu Bei sent men to shout from below the pass, calling out the names of Qian Meng's former subordinates. After shouting for a while, a letter was thrown down from the pass. It was written by Qian Meng, his handwriting crooked and illegible, saying he had guarded the pass for the Yuan family for three years, but didn't know for whom he was guarding it.

Huguan is the first gateway to Bingzhou in the east, nestled in the middle of one of the deepest valleys in the Taihang Mountains. The city wall, built between two mountain walls, is made of bluestone and is more than two zhang high.

The city gate was made of iron-clad wood, and the mountain path in front of it was so narrow that only two horses could ride abreast. The garrison huddled behind the crenellations of the city wall, their figures moving about, but their numbers were countless.

Ma Chao stood on a large rock three hundred paces outside the pass and looked towards the pass. There weren't many soldiers guarding the pass, and not many crossbows either.

He slung his gun over his saddle, turned around, and said, "Zhang Xiu's infantry have already entered Shangdang via Tianjing Pass. We can't afford to be slow here. We'll take Huguan today."

After entering Shangdang from Tianjing Pass, Zhang Xiu left some troops to control the pass while he led the main force northward. His deputy general had already reached the ridge west of Huguan Pass, and from there, he could see the distribution of the garrison inside the pass.

Qian Meng pinned all his men to the front, leaving only a few observation posts on the west side. Zhang Xiu waited on the mountain for half an hour, and just as Ma Chao began his charge, more than a dozen flags suddenly appeared simultaneously on the western ridge.

Zhang Xiu's infantry pressed down from the mountain ridge, charging along the steep slopes towards the interior of the pass. The defenders inside the pass were already bogged down by the frontal attack, and suddenly their western flank was also attacked, throwing their formation into chaos.

Upon hearing the shouts of battle from the west outside the pass, Ma Chao realized Zhang Xiu had made his move. He ordered his Liangzhou cavalry to charge. Not to charge the city walls—cavalry couldn't do that—but to have men carry siege ladders and charge.

The Liangzhou soldiers dismounted and switched to infantry combat, unloading the siege ladders from their horses and carrying them on their shoulders, charging towards the base of the city walls on both sides of the gate with knives in their mouths. The defenders on the gate fired arrows down, but the arrows were few and scattered.