Chapter 101
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Xie Duo and two Generals entered the Xiyuan Hall, while Han Jiao stood at the courtyard entrance, staring fixedly at the study’s door.
After standing for half an hour, Xie Duo finally took the lead to walk out of that door. Expressionless, he occasionally whispered something to the two Generals behind him.
Han Jiao couldn’t help but want to rush up and inquire about the situation, but he was stopped by the guards.
Xie Duo, out of the corner of his eye, noticed the little child prodigy outside the door. He immediately stepped out of the courtyard, grabbed the little child prodigy’s arm, and walked into the alley.
“Father Emperor agreed,” without waiting for Han Jiao to inquire, Xie Duo directly explained the situation, “and he also granted me thirty thousand troops.”
Han Jiao had expected to feel joyful, but upon learning of this outcome, he felt nervous, like facing stage fright, and regret.
He gazed at Xie Duo’s profile for a while before asking, “Is thirty thousand soldiers enough? I’ve heard the Tatar cavalry is quite formidable.”
He knew very well that Xie Duo was the ultimate big boss who could defeat tens of thousands of Tatar cavalry with just a few thousand soldiers. Yet, he asked such a timid question at this moment.
Xie Duo laughed. “More than enough. Father Emperor insisted I take two artillery battalions, but the equipment is too heavy to transport. By the time we finish the battle, the artillery battalion’s supplies might not even arrive.”
“How many troops, Your Highness, can you actually use?”
“Twenty-four thousand.”
“Only four thousand more than the Tatars?”
“We’ll seize the advantage of the terrain first. Ten thousand soldiers will be enough to handle it.”
Han Jiao furrowed his brow. “You should ask His Majesty to replace the artillery battalion that can’t keep up with the march with cavalry!”
“No need, it’s enough.”
“We haven’t even fought yet. You can’t afford to underestimate the enemy!”
Xie Duo turned to look at him. “You said this morning that you fully trust me, but now you’re doubting me?”
“No, it’s not that.” Han Jiao tried to suppress his nervousness. “When are you leaving the city? I’ll accompany you to choose armor and weapons.”
“Someone else is handling those details. I need to set out with the army right now.”
“Is it that urgent?”
“What time is it?” Xie Duo stopped and turned to look at him. “Go back and wait. I’ll be back in four days.”
“I want to accompany Your Highness on the expedition.” Han Jiao felt an impulse he couldn’t explain.
“No need, go back and stay well.”
“I want to go. Take me with you. In case of an emergency, I can offer advice.”
“It’s just an ambush. What advice can you offer?”
“But it was me who convinced the Emperor!”
“We have to move swiftly at night. You can’t handle it, and you don’t even know how to ride a horse.”
“I can learn! I can be your strategist!”
“There’s no need to self-appoint as a strategist.”
“Fine, I won’t be your strategist, but I promise not to cause trouble. I’ll stay in the rear.”
“Don’t make a fuss, Han Xiaobai.”
“I’m not making a fuss. After all, it was me who convinced His Majesty. You can’t burn bridges, Your Highness!”
“What good is it to go to war?”
“This is an extraordinary achievement! How can you leave me behind?”
•••
Under Han Jiao’s relentless banter, the big boss gradually lost the ability to argue back and, in the end, actually took this bookish scholar out of the city.
If it was said that the reason the two consecutive passes in front of Hanzhou fell to the enemy was due to a lack of preparation for the Tatar raid, then Hanzhou’s defending general, Xue Qi, couldn’t use that excuse because an urgent message to prepare for war when the first checkpoint was attacked had already been sent. Therefore, in theory, Hanzhou had sufficient time for battle preparation.
Hanzhou was the last gateway to the capital, basically the doorstep of the imperial city. Since the founding Emperor conquered the land, for hundreds of years, Hanzhou had never seen a battle.
So, the position of Hanzhou’s commander was a cushy and safe job, highly sought after by the offspring of the privileged. Those military officers who had risen through the ranks solely on their merits had no chance of serving in Hanzhou.
Xue Qi, as a typical Hanzhou commander, couldn’t react in time despite the urgent report from the front.
Hanzhou had fewer than thirty thousand troops, and Xue Qi couldn’t afford a direct confrontation with the reputedly unstoppable Tatar cavalry. He just wanted to abandon the city immediately and retreat to the capital.
However, he wasn’t foolish. As the final defense of the capital, if he abandoned the city directly and returned to the capital, his fate would be execution, and his entire family would suffer. Leaving behind a legacy of infamy was a far worse choice than dying at the hands of the Tatars.
After much hesitation, Xue Qi decided to put up a show of resistance for a while before retreating, so he could provide an explanation when he returned to the capital.
The strategy looked good on paper, but he didn’t know that this foolish decision would place the thirty thousand soldiers of Hanzhou in a dire situation with inadequate preparation, low morale, and no time for a proper retreat.
When the Tatar army approached the city, the Hanzhou garrison could be considered ready, even if it was all for show. After all, they had to put on a convincing act. Otherwise, they would face execution upon returning to the capital. Xue Qi even personally went up to the city gate to direct the battle.
It was precisely because Xue Qi had gone up to the city gate that he witnessed the Tatar cavalry dragging a Tiger Crest Cannon, blasting his city gate.
That was a prize from the Tatars breaking through the previous pass.
The cannon shook the entire city gate.
This sight frightened Xue Qi to the point that he abruptly ended his performance and, escorted by his bodyguards, immediately fled down the city gate and ran away.
Due to extreme fear, he didn’t even think of explaining himself to the Emperor back in the capital. Instead, he ordered the Deputy General to remain behind to fight to the death, all in an effort to buy himself some time to escape.
An impromptu city defense without leadership or strategic planning began abruptly. The outcome was destined to be brutal.
The main force of Tatar cavalry below the city, standing beyond the range of arrows, resembled unguided projectiles. They charged left and right on their warhorses, shouting in a language incomprehensible to the Great Chu people. The cannon fire from the city walls couldn’t even come close to accurately hitting them.
Alongside the thundering cannon fire at the city gate, the archers on the city towers looked ashen-faced.
Before the city gate was breached, the Deputy General, realizing that a retreat was no longer an option, made a desperate decision. He ordered ten thousand cavalry to immediately return to the capital for reinforcements, leaving behind ten thousand infantry and eight thousand archers to hold off the Tatar onslaught.
The soldiers left behind undoubtedly faced a grim fate. Throughout history, armies that lost their commanding officer often crumbled instantly.
In such a situation, soldiers left behind as sacrificial pawns should have scattered, but the ten thousand eight hundred Hanzhou soldiers did not.
Because their Deputy General didn’t flee either.
The Deputy General stood on the city wall and told every remaining soldier, “Taking down one of those Tatars can bring a glimmer of hope for the capital. Defending our homeland and laying down our lives in battle is our duty as Great Chu warriors!”
“Defend our homeland!”
“Defend our homeland!”
“Defend our homeland!”
The artillery blasts finally shattered the city gate. The Tatar cavalry entered the last gateway leading to the capital. However, they didn’t encounter scattered soldiers like at the previous two gateways but rather faced the deafening roar of the Great Chu infantry.
Since the Tatar elite forces launched their surprise attack, they met the fiercest resistance yet.
The battle raged on until the sunset stained the city walls blood-red, with a heap of corpses at the base of the walls.
The Deputy General had lost his right arm, suffered multiple wounds, and his legs could no longer support him. He knelt slowly, his left hand still gripping the Great Chu battle flag, blocking the enemy’s path, even as countless iron hooves trampled over the bodies.
The Tatar cavalry had been unstoppable, and before them lay the Great Chu imperial city, a rich prize of the Central Plains easily within reach.
The Tatars, consumed by bloodlust, found the Great Chu soldiers no match. They didn’t bother planning an attack route or sending scouts ahead. They just thundered toward the imperial city.
However, they were destined never to reach their destination.
Normally, these invaders, like bandits, would plunder villages along their route. But this time, they couldn’t wait as there were more valuable spoils ahead. Starving and desperate, the twenty thousand Tatar soldiers didn’t stop for rest.
Along the march, the common folk had already vanished without a trace. It was inconceivable that such a powerful nation had, in an attempt to vent their anger, relocated their elite border guards to the Sichuan-Guizhou region.
The magnificent landscapes along the way remained silent, as if offered as a gift to the Tatars.
This made the Tatars on horseback impatient. Without pause, they recklessly entered the narrow “One-Line Heaven” between two adjacent mountains.
Meanwhile, Xie Duo led his ambush unit, all lying in ditches along the steep slopes on both sides of the “One-Line Heaven.” Countless soldiers watched like wild beasts, silently observing the Tatars cavalry riding unsuspectingly into the “trap.”
It was only when the middle section of the Tatar cavalry passed through the pass that the command banner in the north suddenly rose.
In an instant, a deluge of arrows, tipped with burning grass, rained down upon the Tatar cavalry.
The Tatar General clearly hadn’t anticipated this ambush. Was this really an ambush by the Great Chu army?
These seemingly helpless defenders of fortified cities, with the imperial city’s garrison dwindling, dare to divide their forces and provoke the Tatar cavalry?
It couldn’t be!
Shouts of alarm were deafening as the leading Tatar troops, who had passed through the One-Line Heaven, hurriedly turned back to provide support. They found that the twenty thousand cavalry had been intercepted into three separate sections by the ambush unit, rendering their initial formation useless.
In their dire situation, the Tatar General decided to first regroup and join the forces in the rear to face the enemy.
This decision was the most composed and confident under the current circumstances. The Tatar cavalry, which had been unstoppable thus far, was sure to be determined to turn back and counterattack.
So, Xie Duo anticipated that this was how the Tatar General would think. He had already predicted the Tatar General’s return route and prepared caltrops and trenches, with archers and cavalry positioned to flank from both sides.
On the sixteenth day of the first month in the twenty-third year of Tiansheng, Great Chu initiated the first annihilation ambush against the Tatar raid, setting the stage for further clashes.
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