Han Ji

Gao Gan died. The surrendered soldiers in Huguan City were immediately divided into batches and assigned to hard labor camps. They were first disarmed, then registered, and each person was given a bowl of porridge and a number.

The surrendered soldiers squatted at the foot of the city wall, drinking porridge. After finishing, they placed the bowls at their feet and waited for the clerk to register their names and hometowns.

Zhang Fei stood at the city gate, looking at Gao Gan's corpse and the rolling head. The head rested on a stone slab, eyes half-open, mouth full of dirt. Zhang Fei said to his personal guard, "Cover it with a cloth."

The guards found a piece of coarse linen and covered the man's head with it. Blood seeped out from under the cloth, forming a small puddle on the stone slab, and then seeped into the soil through the cracks in the slab.

While clearing the city wall, someone found a letter under the crenellations of the east wall. The letter hadn't been sent; it was tucked into a loose brick crevice and wrapped in oilcloth. The letter was brief, the handwriting messy, and it was written by a high-ranking official to Yuan Shang. It said, "Huguan is still holding out; please send reinforcements from the Wuhuan immediately." The character "急" (urgent) was written three times, and the ink had been smudged by something, making the characters crooked.

Jia Xu read the letter and handed it to Liu Bei. Liu Bei read it, placed it on the table, and said, "He waited for the Wuhuan until his death."

After Huguan fell, the gates of Shangdang were wide open. Early the next morning, Liu Bei sat in his makeshift military tent atop Huguan city walls, spreading a map of Bingzhou on the table. The map showed eight commanderies of Bingzhou: Shangdang, Taiyuan, Xihe, Yanmen, Dingxiang, Yunzhong, Shuofang, and Wuyuan. To the north lay the northern frontier, and to the west, Liangzhou.

"Gao Gan is dead, but there are still Yuan Shao's former generals in Bingzhou. We've taken Shangdang, and Gao Gan's subordinates in Taiyuan are still here. There are people Yuan Shao sent back then in Xihe and Yanmen. Like Gao Gan, they nominally submitted, but they're still waiting for Yuan Shao to return." Jia Xu pointed to each place on the map.

Liu Bei ordered Zhang He to remain at Huguan to garrison the city and oversee military affairs in Shangdang and Taiyuan counties. Huguan's defenses were reinforced, and captured soldiers were incorporated into Zhang He's Jizhou camp. Upon receiving the official seal, Zhang He immediately led men to measure the damaged sections of Huguan's city wall, repairing all the gaps with newly fired blue bricks. The stones piled up in the city gate were thoroughly cleared away, and new iron-clad wooden doors were installed.

Ma Chao moved his army from Liangzhou to Taiyuan, and his main force left Shidukou and entered Bingzhou. Previously, Ma Chao had been keeping an eye on the Wuhuan at the Juzhushan Pass, but now that he needed to clear out the internal forces of Bingzhou, the focus of defense shifted south. Only three thousand Qiang cavalry were left to patrol Juzhushan.

Zhang Xiu pushed northward from Xihe, leading his infantry to wipe out the remnants of Yuan Shikai's forces. Several counties in northern Xihe were still under the control of former Yuan generals, who would not lay down their swords without orders; like Gao Gan, they were observing the situation.

Qian Zhao didn't follow the main army. He led a special operations battalion to infiltrate Taiyuan first. Taiyuan was the place where high-ranking officials had been cultivating their influence for the longest time, and they needed to understand the situation in the city.

Before the news of Huguan's fall reached Taiyuan, Qian Zhao had already entered the city. The city gates of Taiyuan were open as usual, and the garrison was lax in checking the people entering and leaving. Qian Zhao disguised himself as a merchant, led a mule carrying cloth, and was accompanied by a few people. He easily entered the city.

He walked around Taiyuan for two days. Yuan's former subordinates in Taiyuan were still unaware that Gao Gan was dead. The envoy Gao Gan had sent to the Wuhuan had not yet returned to Taiyuan, and news had been stagnant for several days.

The garrison continued collecting taxes at the city gate as usual, and the shops on the street remained open, but the grain merchants' shops were closed, with signs posted on their doors saying "Grain Sold Out." Qian Zhao stood in front of the sign for a moment, then continued walking.

A line of soldiers stood outside the governor's mansion, their armor disheveled, some dozing against the wall. Qian Zhao walked past the mansion without a break in his pace, even squatting down at a street stall to eat a bowl of noodles. The noodles were thick, and the broth was as bland as dishwater. After finishing his noodles, he paid and stood up to glance at the governor's mansion one last time.

He noticed something: the clerks in the mansion were carrying bamboo slips to the back door.

"They're burning something," Qian Zhao said in a low voice to the person next to her.

That evening, Qian Zhao sneaked to the backyard of the governor's mansion. In the corner of the backyard wall were several large braziers, filled with bamboo slips and silk books. Qian Zhao recognized some of them as old military registers belonging to the Yuan family.

The clerks in the government office threw bamboo slips into the brazier one by one. The flames leaped higher than a person, and the bamboo slips crackled and popped as they burned.

Qian Zhao withdrew from the backyard and returned to his lodgings to write a secret report: "Yuan's former subordinates in Taiyuan are destroying documents, and the army's morale is in chaos. Once the news of Gao Gan's death reaches this place, the city will collapse without a fight." He had it sent out of the city overnight and delivered to Ma Chao.

Two days later, news of Ma Chao's entry into Taiyuan reached the city. The city gate guards whispered amongst themselves for a long time, some advocating for closing the gates, others saying that if the gates were closed, who would guard them? All the high-ranking officials were dead. The debate continued until Ma Chao's vanguard scouts appeared outside the city gates.

Ma Chao's Liangzhou cavalry were arrayed outside the city. The Qiang cavalry's horses were fat and strong, their hooves churning up the yellow earth on the official road at the city gate. Ma Chao rode alone to the city gate and looked up to call out to the guards on the city wall.

"Ma Chao is here. Open the city gates."

The city gate opened. It wasn't the commander who ordered it; the soldiers guarding the city pulled the bolts themselves. By the time the commander heard the commotion and ran over, the gate was already open.

The general drew his sword, and the soldier threw down the bolt and knelt on the ground. The general raised his sword but didn't strike; Ma Chao's spear tip was already pointed at his throat. The spear tip was cold, pressed against his Adam's apple, and he could feel the texture of the iron blade as his Adam's apple moved up and down.

Ma Chao put away his spear. Taiyuan City came under Liu Bei's control.

On the same day, Zhang Xiu captured Lishi in the northern part of Xihe. The general defending Lishi was a subordinate of Jiao Chu, surnamed Deng, with only a few hundred men, guarding an earthen city. Zhang Xiu besieged the city but did not attack; instead, he sent a messenger with a message: Gao Gan is dead, Huguan Pass has fallen. Those who surrender will be reinstated. Those who do not surrender will be executed after the city falls.

The commander stood on the city wall all night. At dawn, he opened the city gates. They surrendered.

The former generals of the Yuan family in Yanmen Commandery had fled. Hearing that Gao Gan had been killed and Huguan Pass breached, they fled north with only a few dozen personal guards to seek refuge with the Wuhuan before Zhang Xiu's troops arrived. The Yanmen Commandery official, carrying the official seal, found Zhang Xiu on the road and handed it over. The seal was made of copper and wrapped in cloth.

The prefects of Dingxiang and Yunzhong in northern Bingzhou also sent letters of allegiance. The garrison commanders of Shuofang and Wuyuan, who had traded with the Wuhuan for many years, also sent envoys after Gao Gan's death, displaying a very submissive attitude. However, Qian Zhao's spies in Shuofang reported that these two were still trading horses with small Wuhuan tribes, and further observation was needed. Jia Xu suggested that they not be replaced yet, but remain in their original positions until the entire prefecture was stable before making any adjustments.

From the time the troops were dispatched in February until the entire territory of Bingzhou was basically pacified, it took less than forty days. Liu Bei ordered Jian Yong to expedite the re-establishment of the household registration system in Bingzhou. Jian Yong, along with more than twenty civil officials, began from Shangdang, checking the household registration and land ownership in each county.

The resettlement sites for the Black Mountain Army were also checked one by one. The resettlement sites were located on a newly reclaimed river valley outside Xiangyuan City, and several hundred households were divided up, with each household allocated thirty mu of land, and the two-year tax exemption was fulfilled.

During the inspection, it was discovered that several resettled households had secretly moved back to the Taihang Mountains. Jian Yong inquired about the reasons and learned that although it was cold in the mountains, the water shortage was not as severe as here. He had the course of the new canal adjusted to divert a mountain stream, and a few more acres of dry land were allocated to the resettled households. The remaining resettled households did not move.

Outside Huguan City, the bodies of the fallen soldiers were collected and laid to rest. The list of the dead recorded each person's name, place of origin, and unit. Liu Bei instructed that the list be taken back to Ye City for filing. Jian Yong was responsible for the compensation for the fallen soldiers and the resettlement of their families, with funds and provisions allocated from the Ye City granary.

The hundreds of people who died in the siege of Huguan were buried on the hillside east of Huguan. The hillside faces the sun and will be the first to be exposed to sunlight in spring. A wooden plaque with their names is placed in front of each grave.

The body of the high-ranking official was hung at the west gate of Huguan.