“Zhongde, what do you think? How should we respond?”
Hearing this, Zhang Jing took a sip of tea.
He paid little attention to Tao Qian, who was stationed at Fagan.
As for Tao Qian, Zhang Jing knew him fairly well.
In his view, Tao Qian was the sort of person who lacked ability yet constantly sought trouble.
In his previous life, Tao Qian had stationed troops at Fagan.
After being driven away by the combined forces of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, he later cooperated with Que Xuan, who had proclaimed himself Emperor, and launched attacks against Cao Cao’s Taishan Commandery.
Those actions eventually contributed to Cao Cao’s massacre of Xuzhou.
Later, Cao Cao claimed that Tao Qian had murdered his father.
In Zhang Jing’s opinion, that accusation was not without basis, since the hostility between the two sides had existed for a long time.
As for Cao Cao himself— The claim that he repeatedly slaughtered Xuzhou purely out of grief for his father’s death struck Zhang Jing as rather far-fetched.
After all, Cao Cao and Cao Song had never enjoyed a good relationship.
While Cao Song was still alive, Cao Cao had even written poems mocking him.
Moreover, Cao Cao was only the eldest son born of a concubine.
“In my opinion, Tao Qian is nothing to fear.”
Cheng Yu stroked his beard and said, “To deal with Tao Qian, a single piece of news would be enough to force him to withdraw back to Xuzhou.”
“Well said, Zhongde.” Zhang Jing nodded slightly with a smile.
“We are the Qihuo Army. If we want to attack Xuzhou, we have no need for lofty justifications.”
“Tao Qian’s total military strength is only about sixty thousand men.”
“Of those, twenty thousand are under Zang Ba. Although nominally under Tao Qian’s command, he obeys orders only when it suits him. Another twenty thousand are stationed at Fagan. The remaining twenty thousand must defend most of Xuzhou’s important strongholds, which is simply impossible.”
Zang Ba came from a powerful local family.
His father had offended the local governor and was arrested for questioning.
Zang Ba gathered his retainers, killed the officials escorting his father, and rescued him.
As a result, the entire Zang family became fugitives.
However, thanks to his family’s influence and the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Zang Ba quickly raised a force of his own and established himself as a mountain warlord.
He was later recruited by Tao Qian.
He was appointed Cavalry Commandant of Xuzhou.
Stationed in Langye State, he was nominally subordinate to Tao Qian.
In reality, however, he was one of the dominant powers in Xuzhou.
Even during Cao Cao’s massacres in Xuzhou, Zang Ba never appeared to send troops in support.
In other words, at critical moments, the forces Tao Qian could truly rely upon amounted to no more than forty thousand men.
At present, although the Qihuo Army lacked the strength to launch major offensives, only a handful of people such as Zhang Jing and Cheng Yu knew this.
After all, no one would imagine they harbored such grand ambitions.
“My lord is wise.” Cheng Yu smiled and bowed.
“However, I believe we need not merely pretend. While pressuring Tao Qian on one hand, we can dispatch forces into Xuzhou to raid and plunder on the other. That would also help ease our army’s grain shortages.”
“Ahem.” Zhang Jing coughed lightly.
“Zhongde, raiding Xuzhou would indeed yield some grain. But if we take only provisions and not the people, it would be a poor bargain in the long run.”
At this point, Zhang Jing could be said to have fully experienced the burdens brought about by plunder.
Had he not raided the entirety of Yan Province, he would not now be responsible for so many starving civilians.
Most of those people had possessed only three months’ worth of grain at home.
After coming under Zhang Jing’s control, however, he had to provide them with at least six months of rations.
Looking at it that way, he seemed more like a fool paying out of his own pocket.
Every additional civilian he supported represented a net loss.
Surely he couldn’t imitate Cao Cao and simply kill them all.
“My lord is truly benevolent.” The corners of Cheng Yu’s mouth twitched slightly.
After a moment of thought, he said, “In that case, we could target only the estates of the wealthy clans outside the cities. That way we gain grain supplies without bringing back too many commoners, and Tao Qian would still be forced to withdraw.”
“That makes sense.” Zhang Jing nodded emphatically and waved his hand.
“I’ll leave this matter to you, Zhongde. Xu He of Liangfu and Liao Hua of Kangfu will cooperate fully. However, Taishan and Rencheng must not be endangered.”
If the Qihuo Army wished to launch raids, they had three possible targets: Donghai Commandery and Pengcheng Commandery in Xuzhou, or the State of Lu in Yu Province.
Langye bordered Taishan, but Zang Ba was stationed there, making it difficult to act.
The State of Lu, bordering Rencheng, was also an excellent target.
Since they were going raiding anyway, Zhang Jing decided they might as well strip a little wealth from Yuan Shu’s territory while they were at it.
“Your subordinate obeys.” Upon hearing this, Cheng Yu’s eyes lit up.
He thought to himself that his lord truly had vision.
Since the two sides were enemies rather than friends, there was no reason not to plunder them—and they might as well take as much as possible.
That very night, Zhang Jing led more than twenty thousand troops to Yuncheng, over a hundred li away.
He estimated that the fighting would begin within the next day or two.
……………..
On the twenty-third day of the month, Yuan Shu arrived outside Yuncheng with an army of one hundred thousand men.
The various command banners stretched for miles across the horizon.
“This is Yuncheng?”
Looking at the city before him, which rivaled the seats of entire commanderies, Yuan Shu was momentarily stunned.
It was not as though he knew nothing about Yuncheng.
Yet seeing it with his own eyes still came as a shock.
Although Yuncheng enjoyed unique advantages—backed by Daye Marsh and bordering the Huzi River— within Yan Province, it was by no means considered an important stronghold, merely a small city.
The Yuncheng before him, however, bore no resemblance to any “small city” he could imagine.
“This is indeed Yuncheng.”
Beside him, Zhang Miao stroked his beard and nodded while gazing at the city ahead.
He too was deeply shaken by the sight.
“Ji Ling, pass down my orders!” Yuan Shu withdrew his gaze and said sternly, “At the Hour of Si, Xun Zheng shall serve as vanguard commander. He will lead three battalions in a full-scale assault. The city must be taken in a single stroke!”
“Your subordinate obeys!” Ji Ling clasped his fists and answered with a resounding shout.
Xun Zheng was his deputy, a man known for his courage and aggressiveness in battle.
For their lord to appoint him as vanguard clearly showed both confidence in Xun Zheng and regard for Ji Ling himself.
…………………..
Yuncheng, atop the city walls.
The great banner of the Qihuo Army fluttered fiercely in the wind.
The soldiers stood ready for battle, weapons at hand.
As they watched the army outside the city, there was not a trace of fear in their eyes.
Instead, their hearts raced with excitement, and their faces were filled with eagerness.
“Yuan Shu certainly brought quite an army!”
At that moment, Yuncheng’s defending general, Pei Yuanshao, stood in armor with both hands resting on the battlements.
Smacking his lips as he looked at the Yuan forces, he shouted:
“Brothers, are you afraid?”
“NO!”
The soldiers answered in unison.
“Good! Then light the fires!” Pei Yuanshao sniffed and waved his hand.
“Let’s hope these Yuan troops don’t keep us waiting too long!”
After speaking, he touched the yellow headscarf tucked inside his robes, instantly feeling reassured.
“Light the fires!”
“The general’s orders—light the fires!”
As Pei Yuanshao gave the command, the messengers ran along the walls shouting the order.
The soldiers, who had long since prepared for this moment, received the command and used their old yellow headscarves to cover their mouths and noses before igniting the firewood stacked inside the stoves along the city walls.
Before long, Pei Yuanshao also covered his face with a headscarf.
When he looked toward Yuan Shu’s army again, his eyes were filled with anticipation.
…………………
Yan Province, Jibei State.
At this time, Zhou Cang had also arrived at Renping Ford.
The opposite bank was less than eight hundred paces away.
From where he stood, Zhou Cang could see the growing number of military tents across the river, which likely represented the entirety of Tao Qian’s forces.
However, Zhou Cang was not worried in the slightest.
Xuzhou possessed no navy.
Trying to land at a heavily defended crossing was simply impossible.
The reason he had come here was mainly to guard against any unexpected developments.
Near the opposite bank of Renping.
Two hundred vessels of varying sizes and over a thousand soldiers, led by Cao Bao, advanced toward Renping Ford.
“Halt!”
When they were three hundred paces from the crossing, Cao Bao raised his hand and ordered the flotilla to stop.
His expression was solemn as he stared at the distant ford.
The Xuzhou soldiers behind him could not help feeling their scalps tingle with dread as they looked toward the crossing.
For on the opposite bank, from what they could see alone, there were at least three thousand defenders.
In addition, enormous trebuchets and powerful bows and crossbows lined the defenses, causing their hearts to pound and leaving them with no confidence whatsoever in capturing the ford.
“All troops, hear my command!”
At that moment, Cao Bao’s face flushed red as he bellowed with authority:
“Loose arrows!”
— The end of the Chapter–
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