Han Ji

Liu Bei's central command tent was set up in a mountain valley directly east of Huguan. Looking out from the valley, the city gate of Huguan was nestled between two mountains, like a door bolt.

Zhang Fei's infantry had already charged in three waves that morning. Each wave was repelled. More and more corpses lay along the moat, some face down on the water's edge, their armor covered in a thin layer of ice. When Zhang Fei ordered his men to charge upwards, they ran over the corpses, which were frozen solid and slippery.

Zhang He's Jizhou camp set up an ambush outside Huguan. He divided his 5,000 men into three teams: one team blocked the mountain road leading north from Huguan to Taiyuan, another team blocked the fork in the road leading west to Xihe, and the remaining team blocked several hunter's trails leading deep into the Taihang Mountains.

Zhang He personally guarded the north entrance, sitting on a rock with his sword across his lap. His soldiers lay prone in the roadside bushes, shivering from the cold, but no one uttered a sound.

Zhao Yun's group had already begun their march. He and Qian Zhao, the leaders, selected five hundred elite soldiers, all chosen from the best cavalrymen, who were nimble and agile. They removed their armor and carried only short swords and bows and arrows. The horses remained at the camp, as they could not travel on the mountain paths.

Qian Zhao led the way. It was past noon when he found the entrance to the herb-gathering path. The entrance was below a half-collapsed cliff, blocked by low pines and withered vines. Pushing aside the withered vines, a narrow opening was revealed, just wide enough for one person to pass through. Beyond the opening was a dry stream, its bottom piled with pebbles and fallen leaves.

"It's right here." Qian Zhao squatted down and touched the pebbles at the bottom of the gully. "Go up this gully for three miles, cross the first ridge, and then follow the ridge northward. After you get around there, there's a mountain crevice called Eagle's Beak. Eagle's Beak is very narrow; you have to turn sideways to get through. After you pass Eagle's Beak, turn west, and you'll be behind Huguan Pass when you go down the mountain."

Zhao Yun said, "Let's go." One by one, the five hundred men squeezed into the narrow opening. The gravel at the bottom of the gully was sharp and uncomfortable; some people slipped and twisted their ankles, but gritted their teeth and continued walking without a sound. Steep slopes ran along both sides of the gully, covered with low pines and thorns, with scraps of cloth hanging from the thorn branches. These were left by herb gatherers.

After walking for about three miles, the bottom of the gully began to rise. The slope became steeper and steeper, and the gravel turned into solid rocks with moss growing on their surfaces, making them slippery to walk on.

Qian Zhao walked at the head of the group, carefully placing each step firmly on the stones before moving on to the next. Those behind him followed his gait, one after another, without a word. The only sounds in the valley were the scraping of footsteps on the stones and the panting of breath.

Upon reaching the top of the first ridge, Qian Zhao gestured for people to stop and rest for a few minutes. Standing atop the ridge and looking west, one could see a corner of the Huguan city gate, with the black flag still fluttering on the city wall. The straight-line distance from the ridge top to Huguan was less than three li, but the straight-line distance was a cliff, impassable to most people.

Zhao Yun wiped his sweat and asked how much longer. Qian Zhao replied that they should cross Eagle's Beak first.

Eagle's Beak is a natural fissure. The two mountain walls are almost squeezed together here, with only a narrow gap between them, barely wide enough for one person. It's pitch black inside; you can't see the sky when you look up, except for a sliver of light that leaks through the crack in the rock above.

Qian Zhao went first. Then Zhao Yun. Then five hundred men went one after another. The armor was removed, but those with broad shoulders had to squeeze in sideways, their backs against the cold rocks and their chests against another rock, their clothes rustling as they slid over. Someone got stuck on a rock, and someone behind gave him a push. He struggled, tearing the cloth on his shoulder.

After passing Eagle's Beak, the road turns west. The downhill path is even more difficult than the uphill one. The slope is steep, with loose rocks and pine trees. Every step you take sends the rocks sliding downhill, and you slip along with them. In some places, there is no path at all, and you have to cling to tree roots to inch your way down. The roots have been worn smooth by those in front of you, leaving no grip for those behind.

The sun began to set in the west. The light slanted down from the ridge, darkening the forest and casting long shadows.

Zhao Yun looked up at the sky and told Qian Zhao to keep going, not to stop. The message came from behind, passed down from one person to the back of the group, and they continued on.

At the front of Huguan Pass, Zhang Fei launched another offensive. He replaced the soldiers wounded in the previous sieges with reserves. Some of the reserves were newly recruited surrendered soldiers from the Black Mountain Army, participating in a formal siege for the first time, their hands gripping their sword hilts sweaty.

Zhang Fei shouted at the front lines, "Follow me! I'll charge, you charge! Anyone who retreats, I'll cut them down! Even if the enemy attacks me, I'll still cut them down!"

This time, he used three battering rams to simultaneously push them against the pile of rubble inside the city gate. When the battering rams reached the moat, oil canisters were thrown from the city walls. One oil canister hit the roof of a battering ram and exploded, splashing oil onto the wood and causing it to burst into flames.

The sappers pushing the ram took off their burning clothes and continued pushing shirtless. The fire grew larger and larger, the ram's roof collapsed, and sparks flew down from the wood.

The second battering ram pushed to the front of the city gate. The iron sheeting of the gate was dented, and brick dust fell down behind the pile of rubble. The third battering ram followed, and the two rams struck each other in turn, making a loud crash into the gate opening with each impact.

Guo Fu, who was on the city wall, ordered boiling oil to be poured down from above the city gate. The boiling oil hit the roof of the battering ram, dripped down the gaps in the wood, and flowed onto the heads of the engineers pushing the rams. One of them screamed and let go. Another batch of oil canisters were thrown down, smashing and exploding on the ground, splashing oil onto people's legs with a sizzling sound.

But the car didn't stop after the crash. The dented metal sheet had a hole, and gravel was protruding from the hole.

Gao Gan saw loose stones in the city gate from the arrow tower and told Guo Fu to send archers to attack the people pushing the battering ram from both sides of the city gate.

Guo Fu led his archers around the city wall to the protruding corners on either side of the city gate. The archers fired from the side, and an arrow pierced the side panel of the battering ram, embedding itself in the neck of a ram-pushing soldier. The soldier stumbled forward, still clutching the lever. The men behind him pulled him aside and took his place to continue pushing.

The sun sets quickly in the west. In the valleys of Huguan, darkness falls as soon as the sun dips behind the mountain ridges, and twilight creeps up from the foot of the mountain to the summit, soon turning the entire valley into a somber gray.

Zhang Fei withdrew his troops back to camp. The day's siege had killed three or four hundred men, and countless others were wounded. The wounded lay in their tents, and the medics squatted on the ground bandaging their wounds. When they ran out of cloth, they tore off the robes of the dead to use as bandages.

Zhang Fei sat on a rock at the camp gate, his hands covered in blood, it was unclear whether it was his own or someone else's. Liu Bei walked over and stood beside him, handing him a jug of water. Zhang Fei took it, tilted his head back, and gulped down two large mouthfuls, the water dripping down his chin and into his collar.

"Has Zilong arrived yet?"

"Almost there. Qian Zhao has already crossed Eagle's Beak. He'll reach the pass after dark."

"A lot of people died today. That bastard Gao Gan piled up so much oil on the city wall." Zhang Fei wiped the blood from his hands on his pants. "Tomorrow."

Liu Bei said, "Wait for Zilong's signal. Once he sets fire, you launch a full-scale attack."

It was completely dark. Torches were lit on the walls of Huguan, casting flickering shadows of the walls onto the mountainside. Soldiers under the command of Gao Gan were changing shifts on the walls; those who were relieved huddled in a corner, sleeping, their snores filling the air.

After passing through the pass, Zhao Yun and Qian Zhao made their way down to a thicket on the east side of the plateau in the dark. The thicket grew on a steep slope, and from it, they could see the high-ranking officials' grain and fodder storages and piles of hay, as well as several soldiers on night watch squatting by the grain storages warming themselves by a fire.

Zhao Yun told everyone to lie still and wait until the middle of the night.