Han Ji

The army entered the territory of Bingzhou. The land began to change. In Jizhou, the fields were vast expanses of wheat fields, but after entering Bingzhou, the farmland was fragmented, with small patches scattered in the gullies.

The soil was yellow and full of stones. The official road had been in disrepair for many years, with some sections of the road surface collapsed and snowmelt accumulating in the ruts.

The villages along the way were desolate. Some villages were completely empty, with doors lying at the base of walls and withered grass growing in the hearths. In some villages, only a few households remained, but upon seeing the army approaching, they hid behind their doors and remained silent.

Zhang Fei rode his horse to a stop in front of a farmhouse where half of the courtyard wall had collapsed. Inside the yard, an old man was squatting on a stone mill, gnawing on dry rations. The rations were as hard as stones, and the old man had to grind them with his gums for a long time before he could bite off a small piece.

"Old man, how do I get to Huguan Pass?"

The old man glanced at Zhang Fei, then lowered his eyes again to continue eating his dry rations. "Head west. Forty li to go."

"Was the journey easy?"

"Easy to walk my ass. The mountain path is as narrow as the back of a knife."

Zhang Fei took a dry biscuit from his saddlebag and tossed it to the old man. The old man caught it, smelled it, and stuffed it into his pocket.

The army continued westward. The road narrowed further, the mountain walls on either side pressing in, the sky becoming a mere slit. Low pines grew on the mountain walls, their branches dripping water. Horseshoes pounded on the stones, sparks flying from the horseshoes.

The scouts ran back, reporting as they went. "There are high-ranking officials' sentries fifteen li ahead!" "Deer antlers have been set up ten li outside the pass!"

Zhang Fei ordered his troops to halt, and he led a dozen or so personal guards forward. When they reached a mountain hollow, he spotted Huguan Pass.

Huguan Pass is nestled between two mountains. The mountain walls rise straight up, the stones are bluish-gray, and they are bare with few trees growing on them. The city wall is built at the narrowest point between the mountain walls, more than two zhang high, and made of blue bricks.

The city walls were crowded with people, and two rows of archers stood behind the crenellations. Stones were piled up in the city gate archway, almost blocking it completely. The moat was covered with a thin layer of ice, with sharpened wooden stakes stuck into the ice.

Zhang Fei lay on the rock for a while, then returned to Liu Bei and said, "That bastard has blocked the city gate. If we attack head-on, our ramming vehicles won't be able to cross the moat."

Zhao Yun also probed forward once. He was looking at the mountains on both sides of the city wall. The mountain walls were too steep for a person to climb, and even if one could climb up, there was still a drop of several meters from the top of the mountain to the city wall; jumping down would break one's legs.

Liu Bei convened a pre-battle military meeting in the central command tent.

Jia Xu spread out Qian Zhao's map on the table. The map marked the defensive deployment of Huguan Pass and the location of the herb-gathering path behind the pass.

"A frontal assault would result in heavy casualties, and we might not be able to take it in one go. What the high-ranking officials want is for us to fight a head-on battle. They can afford to wear us down, but we can't."

"How do we get around it?" Zhang Fei leaned closer.

Qian Zhao squatted down and drew a line on the map with his finger. The line started from a ravine three miles east of Huguan, went north along the mountain ridge, crossed two ridges, then turned west, and finally circled around to a slope behind Huguan. The whole route was a mountain path, too difficult for a large army to traverse, so weapons and armor had to be carried by people.

"Have you traveled this road before?" Zhang Fei asked.

"We've been there. Three people walked together. I've already taken out the hidden sentries along the way. The high-ranking officials don't know this road."

Liu Bei stared at the map for a long time. He stood up and went outside the tent. It was getting dark outside, and a few lights were shining on the mountain peaks in the direction of Huguan. Those were high-ranking officials setting off signal fires.

"Split into two groups." His voice wasn't loud. "Zhang Fei will lead 20,000 infantry to launch a feigned attack on the east gate from the front. Deploy all the siege equipment there and make a big show of force. Draw Gao Gan's troops to the east wall."

Zhang Fei clasped his hands in a fist salute.

"Zhao Yun will lead 5,000 cavalry, lightly armored, to bypass the pass via a side path. Qian Zhao will lead the special operations battalion ahead. Once you've bypassed the pass, don't attack immediately; wait for the main battle to begin. When the main battle is at its most intense, you will launch a surprise attack from behind the pass. The first thing you must do is seize their supplies and provisions."

Zhao Yun nodded.

"Zhang He led the Jizhou garrison to set up an ambush outside Huguan Pass, blocking all exits to the north and west. If Gao Gan abandons the city and flees, he must not be allowed to enter the mountains."

Zhang He replied, "This subordinate obeys the order."

"We'll start cooking at dawn tomorrow and begin our operation at daybreak."

The camp was brightly lit that night. Soldiers sat around the campfires, some sharpening their swords, others repairing their bows. In Zhang Fei's infantry camp, the siege soldiers inspected every rung of the siege ladders, and the iron hilts of the battering rams were polished to a gleaming shine.

Zhao Yun's side was different. His cavalrymen removed their armor, folded it neatly, and placed it on their horses' backs, then changed into light fur coats. Bites were put on the horses' muzzles, and cloth was wrapped around their hooves. Zhao Yun's personal guards inspected the horseshoes of each horse. Any horseshoes even slightly worn were replaced with new ones. A horse stumbling on the mountain road would be the end of it.

Qian Zhao selected men from the special operations battalion. He chose twenty, all veterans, the oldest over forty, with scars on his face and silent. These men had traversed the mountains countless times; they could climb them with their eyes closed. He divided the twenty men into four groups, each group walking a section without stopping during handovers.

It was the fifth watch of the night. The fire in the stove was blazing. Smoke mingled with the morning mist, billowing through the valley, making it impossible to tell whether it was smoke or fog.

The soldiers squatted on the ground, drinking porridge and eating flatbread, the sounds of their chewing muffled. Zhang Fei stood at the camp gate, holding a bowl of porridge, watching the firelight on the walls of Huguan Pass as he ate. The firelight was clearest just before dawn, the cold blue light of the sky cutting out a dark outline of the city tower.

"Knock it open today."

He tossed the empty bowl to his personal guard and turned to walk into the camp.

Daylight broke. The morning light crept up from behind the mountain ridge, first gray, then blue, and finally pale yellow. The blue bricks on the Huguan city wall reflected a wet sheen when the sunlight hit them.

It was precisely the hour of Mao (5-7 AM). Zhang Fei stood at the forefront of the army formation, took a deep breath, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Beat the drums!"

The drums thundered. A dozen large drums struck simultaneously, causing rubble to fall from the mountainside several miles away. The infantry phalanx began to advance, spearheads lined up densely at the front, followed by siege soldiers carrying ladders, and then engineers pushing battering rams, their wooden wheels clattering over the rubble.

On the city wall of Huguan, Gao Gan's garrison no longer bothered to hide. The archers behind the crenellations stood up, the crossbows were cocked, and the bowstrings were taut.

A black flag was raised on the city gate tower. The flag was embroidered with the character "高" (Gao), and its color was faded and the edges were worn.

Zhang Fei looked up and saw the flag, then cursed, "You high-ranking official brat!" He drew his ring-pommel sword, tapped the back of the blade against his knee, and made a dull thud.

"Attack the city!"

Inside Huguan City.

Gao Gan stood atop the arrow tower of the barbican, watching Liu Bei's army slowly advance from outside the city. He was in his thirties, with a thin face, narrow eyes, and thin lips. He wore two-piece armor, the plates worn and the iron base worn through at the edges. A sword hung at his waist, a gift from Yuan Shao years ago.

The watchtower was drafty, and the wind made the hem of his robe flutter. His deputy, Guo Fu, stood behind him. Guo Fu was an old subordinate he had brought from Yuan Shao's army; he was forty years old, had lost a finger, and could only grip the hilt of his sword with four fingers.