Volume Three: Heroes Silent, Heaven and Earth Aging Chapter 27: The Fisherman (VI)

Bi Qianniu ushered River and Yang into the tent. Both of them clearly lacked sleep; Yang Wanhu was doing slightly better, thanks to his robust physical foundation, while River Guangxiu could barely keep his balance. The grueling battle of the afternoon had drained every ounce of his energy, causing him to sway back and forth with every step.

The two knelt and saluted: "Greetings, Great General."

Deng She stepped forward to support them personally and laughed, "Today's bloody battle relied heavily on both of your strengths. Old River, your study of military strategy has really paid off lately; you've improved tremendously. Holding off five or six thousand Tatars with just two or three thousand men in wave after wave of attacks—splendid! Especially our army's final counterattack, the maneuvering of the formations was exceptionally brilliant. To be honest, I was afraid you might mess it up at the time!"

Upon receiving Deng She's praise, River Guangxiu's exhaustion vanished completely, and he beamed with joy. As he scrambled to his feet, he smugly yet deferentially pulled over a chair, swept the clean seat with his sleeve, and repeatedly urged, "Please be seated, General, please be seated."

Yang Wanhu had always looked down upon him, but after working together for so long, his aversion had slightly diminished. Seeing this scene, he let out a scoff and laughed. In return, River Guangxiu shot him a sideways glance. Noticing a cup of tea on the table, River hurriedly poured out the cold tea and replaced it with hot tea, serving it with utmost attentiveness, "Have some tea, General, have some tea."

Deng She smiled as he sat down, looked at Yang Wanhu, and nodded. Although he offered no further praise, the undisguised admiration and appreciation in his eyes warmed Yang Wanhu's heart. No matter how much military merit River Guangxiu accumulated, to the various generals, he was merely a sycophant. Deng She could be intimate with River Guangxiu, almost playfully so, but he could not treat Yang Wanhu in the same manner, showing him instead profound respect and deference.

Yang Wanhu bowed and saluted once more in acknowledgment of Deng She's respect. Once the silent exchange of glances between lord and subject concluded, Deng She gestured gracefully and said, "Sit."

Bi Qianniu refused to sit, standing with his hand on his sword behind Deng She. Yang Wanhu and River Guangxiu took their seats, though their postures differed completely. True to his manly nature, Yang Wanhu usually sat with his legs wide apart; but now, likely in front of Deng She and wishing to observe proper decorum, he kept his legs pressed together, sitting very respectfully. River Guangxiu, on the other hand, sat with a boorish and imposing posture, his legs spread far apart as if afraid others wouldn't know he possessed formidable assets.

Taking this in, Deng She smiled inwardly, using these details to better grasp the mindsets of the two men. Turning serious, he pointed to the messenger from Gaizhou standing nearby and said, "You must all recognize this brother."

The generals were generally familiar with Deng She's capable bodyguards. Yang Wanhu glanced at the man and, though finding him competent, disdained conversing with a mere personal guard, asking Deng She instead, "Didn't the General send him to Gaizhou?"

"I summoned the two of you precisely because of the Gaizhou incident." Deng She smiled at the Gaizhou messenger and said, "I will give an overview. If there are any omissions, you can fill them in, alright?" He reached out, poured a cup of tea, and handed it to him, "Quench your thirst first."

Overwhelmed and deeply grateful, the guard accepted the teacup and sipped it quietly. Deng She recounted the political upheaval in Gaizhou step by step, weaving in his own analysis, which made the account even more detailed and clearer than the messenger's original report.

Halfway through the explanation, the expressions of Yang Wanhu and River Guangxiu grew solemn. Mao Jujing was trapped in Gaizhou; Western Liaoning and Guangning were bogged down in a quagmire and unable to spare troops. Anyone could see that the moment Shenyang dispatched its army, Liaoyang would be in mortal danger.

When he finished, the tea-drinking messenger had nothing to add. Deng She thanked him for his hard work and waved for him to step outside to rest. He then turned to Bi Qianniu and the other two and asked, "What do the two of you think?"

Without a moment's hesitation, Yang Wanhu declared, "Liaoyang is bound to be in peril. General, our army numbers merely a few thousand, and having just survived a major battle, we have numerous wounded, making our combat strength worrisome. Holding our ground would be a stretch; launching an attack is out of the question. In this humble one's view..." He glanced outside the tent. Through the gap in the tent flap, the moonlight was like water, faintly revealing the guards on patrol a hundred paces away. He continued, "General, our army should withdraw posthaste."

Although he did not explicitly name "our army," everyone present knew he referred to the several thousand troops of Shuangcheng.

Deng She asked, "Withdraw to where?"

"By the Yalu River, General Chen Hu has a force of ten thousand men. As long as our army can effect a smooth withdrawal and rendezvous with them, returning to Shuangcheng will be safe. As for Eastern Liaoning and Liaoyang, this humble one believes that the best strategy is to sit atop the mountain and watch the tigers fight."

Deng She nodded. Yang Wanhu's opinion aligned with what he had initially considered. He then asked River Guangxiu, "What is your view?"

River Guangxiu agreed with Yang Wanhu's opinion, though he hesitated and said, "However, if our army withdraws, there are two problems. First, what becomes of Pan Mei? Second, what about Xu Ren, Li Jing, and Fang Buzhen? Will those three allow us to leave? This humble one fears that instead of retreating successfully, we might end up fighting among ourselves first, which would be a loss outweighing the gain."

His concerns were entirely justified. Guanduo had dispatched these three men not only to reinforce them but, more importantly, to keep them in check.

Deng She furrowed his brow and asked Bi Qianniu, "What do you think?"

The art of war states: plan for victory before engaging, and guard against defeat before it happens. Bi Qianniu had followed Deng She for a long time; if he hadn't learned anything else, he had mastered caution and prudence to perfection. He said, "General Yang's words are sound. Withdrawing to Shuangcheng seems like the optimal choice. However, the concerns raised by General River are also something the General must ponder deeply.

"Fang Buzhen is of little consequence; he merely manages our supply trains and grain reserves, and his subordinates number no more than a hundred. If we go to rendezvous with General Chen, the journey is a hundred miles and can be completed in two days, so we needn't worry about provisions. It is simply that Xu Ren and Li Jing have always been Guanduo's trusted aides. If our army retreats without fighting, how the two of them will react is truly unpredictable."

Ultimately, he shared River Guangxiu's fear that Xu Ren and Li Jing would not consent. After the grueling battle that afternoon, they were left with only a few thousand remnant troops. If not handled properly, they would end up fighting and crippling each other before Naha'chu even marched out.

Deng She mused to himself. The saying "Wisdom does not rest in a single mind; counsel must be sought from the many" held profound truth. Both River Guangxiu and Bi Qianniu had taken Xu Ren and Li Jing into consideration, proving that these two individuals were indeed a problem that required a proper solution.

Without realizing it, he had developed a habit: whenever discussing military strategy, he had to unfold a map. He immediately spread out the campaign map and stared intently at it for a long while.

Since Xu Ren and Li Jing were difficult to deal with, he would temporarily set them aside and approach the matter from a different angle, focusing solely on the withdrawal to Shuangcheng. Once they retreated, they would face two consequences, two distinct possibilities. First, Naha'chu marched, Liaoning fell, and the Eastern Liaoning Red Turbans were destroyed one by one by the Yuan forces, leaving Shuangcheng to face Naha'chu entirely alone. Second, Liaoyang triumphed, but because Deng She retreated without a fight, Guanduo would undoubtedly settle scores afterward, making a civil conflict equally inevitable.

Yet the latter was preferable to the former. Even if Guanduo emerged victorious, it would not be an easy triumph; and should Naha'chu be defeated, there remained other Yuan forces in Eastern Liaoning, such as Gaizhou, Western Liaoning, and Shuosi Jian. By the time Guanduo finished mopping them up and turned his attention to settling scores, goodness knows when that would be.

Deng She pondered this for a moment, shook his head, and said, "Regardless of the outcome in Liaoyang, the moment our army retreats, we forfeit the initiative and fall into a passive position."

"Does the General mean..."

Deng She intuitively judged, "This is an inferior strategy."

Then what constituted a superior strategy? Not to withdraw to Shuangcheng? If they did not retreat, and instead marched to reinforce Liaoyang, what would happen?

Yang Wanhu was straightforward and blunt: "General, that would be walking right into the tiger's den. Although, as the General says, the outcome in Liaoyang is somewhat uncertain, given the current situation, defeat is the more likely outcome. With our few thousand troops, are we going to provide Naha'chu with extra meat fillings for his dumplings? Even if Liaoyang wins, what does it matter to our Shuangcheng? Will Old Guanduo give us a single soldier, a single horse, or a single inch of territory?"

If retreating to Shuangcheng was an inferior strategy, then marching to reinforce Liaoyang was a blunder.

Deng She smiled. Naturally, he would not commit such a foolish blunder, but Yang Wanhu's words suddenly inspired a third possibility. "A single soldier, a single horse, an inch of territory?" he muttered to himself, his finger tracing back and forth across the map: "Dongmou Mountain, Taizi River, Yalu River; Shenyang, Liaoyang... Gaizhou!"

He stood up abruptly and issued a second urgent summons for the Gaizhou messenger. The messenger had been resting not far from the commander's tent and was brought in swiftly.

Deng She demanded urgently, "Did you say earlier that there are several thousand Wajin outside Gaizhou City?"

"Yes, the Wajin are stationed by a small mountain ten miles outside Gaizhou City."

"Where did these Wajin come from? Could it be from Jin and Fu prefectures?"

"Precisely."

"What is the situation in Jin and Fu prefectures?"

"Well... this humble one is not entirely clear, but I once heard Liu Daqing say that the Wajin in Jin and Fu prefectures were never numerous to begin with. With several thousand out in the field, there could only be two or three thousand left inside the cities at most. Mao Jujing held a military council once, and someone suggested abandoning Gaizhou temporarily to exploit the emptiness and launch a surprise raid on Jin and Fu prefectures, but the proposal was rejected."

River Guangxiu asked in puzzlement, "Why?"

The reason was glaringly obvious: "An upheaval has occurred in Gaizhou, placing Liaoyang in grave danger. Mao Jujing's primary duty is to rush back and reinforce Liaoyang, rather than heading in the opposite direction to attack the trifling prefectures of Jin and Fu."

"Old Mao has those worries, but our army doesn't!" Bi Qianniu realized this point and said excitedly.

Deng She shared this exact sentiment. However, suppressing his emotions, he asked, "Aside from the Wajin, did Gaizhou's Gao Jianu receive any other reinforcements?"

"None."

"How is Mao Jujing's encampment pitched? Where are the forces of Hu Zhong and Liu Daqing stationed? Among the troops attacking Gaizhou, there are the forces of Pan Chen and Sha Liu. Where are they stationed?"

"Mao Jujing's besieging camp stretches for ten miles. His core forces of over twenty thousand are stationed right in the center; Hu Zhong, Liu Daqing, and the miscellaneous units inclined to defect to us—numbering nearly twenty thousand—are stationed on the right wing and serve as the vanguard; the forces of Pan Chen and Sha Liu, numbering nearly twenty thousand, are stationed on the left wing and are responsible for guarding against the Wajin outside the city. Mao Jujing originally left over ten thousand core troops in the rear wing, but they have now revolted."

"How are the men and able-bodied youths we sent into Hu Zhong and Liu Daqing's forces faring?"

"About three thousand men, all of them elites. Although they have fought through successive assaults and were driven as the vanguard by Hu Zhong and Liu Daqing, their casualties remain light as of my departure."

Deng She pursed his lips, thought it over carefully one more time, slapped the desk, and laughed heartily: "The military situation is urgent. I know your travels have been grueling, but I must trouble you once more. Tonight, return immediately to Gaizhou, inform Hu Zhong and Liu Daqing to preserve their strength, and remain as onlookers."

The messenger was baffled and uncomprehending. To ensure that Hu Zhong and Liu Daqing would obediently follow orders with peace of mind, Deng She explained, "Just tell them that within ten days, a major change is bound to occur."

The messenger acknowledged the order and departed. Bi Qianniu, Yang Wanhu, River Guangxiu, and the others had guessed Deng She's intentions and were both shocked and delighted.

River Guangxiu asked, "General?"

"As long as war breaks out between Liaoyang and Shenyang, whichever side wins will not do so easily. At best, it will be a pyrrhic victory akin to our bloody battle with the Tatars today. This is precisely a heaven-sent opportunity, presenting me with the chance to intervene in Gaizhou."

Bi Qianniu asked, "What if Commissioner Guan wins?"

Deng She answered with stern resolve, "Then we can graciously cede Gaizhou to him." Cede it truly? Or falsely? He thought to himself: "Western Liaoning and Shuosi Jian can serve as my spear; amidst their pyrrhic victory, Guanduo will be begging me for help."

"What if Naha'chu wins?"

Deng She replied with righteous indignation, "We swear to be irreconcilable enemies with this beast." A strategy can replace a myriad of soldiers; how could the two hundred thousand Eastern Liaoning Red Turbans be easily wiped out? He thought to himself: "Sha Liu and Pan Chen can serve as my shield; with a formidable enemy pressing at our borders, our three factions will naturally share a bitter hatred of the common foe."

"Then what about Xu Ren, Li Jing, and Fang Buzhen?"

"We shall state it plainly: Liaoyang is in peril, and I am resolved to deploy our main forces from Pyongyang to launch a surprise attack on Gaizhou to rescue Mao Jujing—this is the strategy of 'besieging Wei to rescue Zhao'." He thought to himself: "In reality, it is snatching chestnuts from the fire."

"And Pan Mei?"

Deng She would not personally commit actions that would offend Pan Chen, but he knew he didn't need to say anything; the moment the strategy of 'besieging Wei to rescue Zhao' was laid out, someone else would naturally step forward to handle it.