Chapter 593: The First Signs of Ferocity

The devastating defeat at Zhending finally reached An Lushan’s ears two days later, but what he heard was not the truth—instead, it was said that Li Qinkou’s army had been ambushed by Guo Ziyi’s forces and nearly wiped out.
The news of the frontline’s failure enraged An Lushan. He ordered Shi Siming and the others to press forward and crush Guo Ziyi’s troops, threatening to execute any officers above the rank of colonel if there were further losses!
As An Lushan gradually calmed down, he began to consider the serious consequences of this defeat. Although the death of Li Qinkou and the near-total destruction of 20,000 soldiers pained him, he was more concerned about troop morale. Having just risen in rebellion, many soldiers were still hesitant. Only a series of victories could boost their morale and inspire them to follow him to the end. Now, facing such a crushing defeat before even engaging in a major battle was undoubtedly a severe blow to their morale.
After much deliberation, An Lushan decided that to win back their loyalty, he must shed his false pretenses. With his resolve firm, he immediately sent orders to Shi Siming and Cai Xide to carry out massacres.
With the order to massacre given, Shi Siming, who was already at a disadvantage due to the defeat of his frontline troops, immediately turned his cruel gaze toward a county he disliked—Anxi County in Dingzhou. The name “Anxi” sounded similar to “Anxi,” which annoyed Shi Siming. More importantly, Anxi County was the administrative center of Dingzhou, with a large population of over a hundred thousand people. There were hundreds of wealthy families in the city, ample supplies of food and grain, and most residents had not fled. This made it an ideal place to reward his troops and boost their morale.
Anxi County had been a key city where Yi Zhou’s governor, Jiang Xiaotong, tried to persuade the people to evacuate, but his efforts were largely ineffective. After An Lushan’s troops occupied Yi County, no massacres took place. On the contrary, many who had fled returned, complaining about the cold and lack of food. The news of many refugees dying along the way cast a shadow over the city. Jiang Xiaotong’s attempts to persuade the people were met with ridicule, and he was driven away by the locals with rotten eggs and stones.
It turned out that the people of Anxi County had made the right choice. Shi Siming’s army passed through Anxi County without causing any harm. The governor and county magistrate surrendered, and tens of thousands of people came out to welcome them, offering food and drinks with joy, as if welcoming their own troops.
Shi Siming drank the tea offered by a hundred-year-old man. He patted his chest and assured everyone in the city that the Yan army was an army of heaven, sent to establish a new Tang Dynasty. They would not harm the common people or kill the people of the Yan king.

His solemn promises still lingered in many people’s sweet dreams, but no one could have imagined that in less than a day, Shi Siming’s army, which had marched eighty li westward, would turn around and return. At the first watch, the soldiers guarding the city were awakened by the sound of the gates being opened. The guards had been replaced by Shi Siming’s troops. They rushed to the city walls and were stunned by what they saw—a sea of torches creating a bright red glow, with pairs of ferocious, greedy eyes shining beneath them. “The deputy commander orders the gates to be opened immediately!” Though terrified, the commander dared not disobey Shi Siming’s orders. With a loud crash, the gates swung open. Riding on his tall horse, Shi Siming waved his sword and ordered loudly, “Leave the city at the fifth watch; those who disobey will be executed!” The soldiers roared like wolves and rushed into the city in a frenzy… Inside Anxi City, chaos reigned, as if it had been devoured by demons. Countless families were awakened from their sleep, ready to flee. As one family got dressed, the door was kicked open with a bang, and several soldiers rushed in. “What do you want…?” The man was killed with a slash before he could finish speaking. His wife and daughters screamed in terror as the soldiers lunged at them, threw them to the ground, and tore off their clothes… Almost every household faced destruction, especially the wealthy ones. Often, over a hundred soldiers would storm in, killing all the men. The women, regardless of age, were gathered in one room and raped collectively, ultimately meeting a tragic death. Only those particularly beautiful were taken to the army camp to suffer an even worse fate. Then the soldiers looted the houses and set them on fire… Murder, arson, rape, and plunder—flames burned everywhere, cries filled the air, and families fled with children in tow. But the city gates were closed, leaving them with no escape. Soon, they were discovered by the predatory beasts, whose cruel laughter drowned out their pleas for mercy. The entire Anxi County became a slaughterhouse… When the drums sounded at the fifth watch and Shi Siming’s army began to retreat, Anxi County fell into deathly silence. Everywhere there were fires and ruins, with no sign of people. At the city gates hung three heads—the heads of the governor and the county magistrate. The middle one, with white hair, belonged to the hundred-year-old man who had served tea to Shi Siming… A similar massacre occurred in Xindu County, the capital of Yizhou. Cai Xide’s army of 100,000 nearly razed this prosperous city, leaving fewer than a hundred survivors from a population of 80,000…

Although the two massacres greatly boosted the morale of An Lushan’s army, completely offsetting the negative effects of the crushing defeat in Zhending County, their drawbacks were also evident. News of the massacres in Anxi County and Xindu County spread like wildfire across Hebei Province within days, causing widespread fear among the people. Crowds of people began to flee their homes in increasing numbers; even officials abandoned their posts and ran away. Massive exodus crowds could be seen on almost all official roads, heading south, west, and anywhere there might be hope for survival. This wave of mass migration also affected the counties already occupied by An Lushan. In Yi County, many people who had just returned set out for exile again, mostly heading to the northern mountains. Shi Siming’s massacres did not stop. Soon, 30,000 refugees fleeing from Anle County to Hengzhou were caught up by Shi Siming’s army. Once again, the crowds were slaughtered; blood flowed like rivers across hundreds of miles of land, and fewer than a thousand of the 30,000 refugees survived. Shi Siming’s army, like a pack of wild wolves, had their killing instincts fully unleashed. With blades sharpened, they charged toward Hengzhou. … At this time, Guo Ziyi personally led 50,000 troops across Jingxing and entered Hengzhou, stationing himself in Zhending County. Early in the morning, accompanied by local officials such as Yan Gaoqing and Yuan Fuqian, Guo Ziyi went to Dingdong Town, where the fierce battle had taken place, to inspect the site. Four days had passed since the battle. After confirming that Guo Ziyi’s army had entered Hengzhou, Ji Sheng led his 21 men out of Zhending County and disappeared without a trace. By then, the battlefield had been roughly cleared. Tang army soldiers recovered thousands of helmets and nearly 10,000 weapons from the burned camps and handed them over to the locals to form militia groups. To prevent the spread of disease, all corpses were burned and buried deeply. Yet even when Guo Ziyi inspected the battlefield again, the horrors of that night could still be faintly seen. Piles of unburned tents were covered in snow, revealing dark corners; tattered cloth was entangled with destroyed armor, and various weapons, half-burned, lay scattered on the ground. There were also piles of arrowheads without shafts—these could still be remade. But what was truly shocking were the patches of blood, frozen solid into blocks of red ice, from which occasionally a severed arm would protrude.

Guo Ziyi looked grave as he carefully inspected each battlefield. No one knew what he was thinking. When he walked between two burned-down watchtowers, crossed over the camp fences reduced to their bases, cleared away the snow debris, and picked up a wooden plank with spikes at both ends from the trench—this was the makeshift bridge used by the twenty scouts to cross the trench—he turned back, walked along the plank to the front of the camp fences, and observed the watchtowers on both sides. Then he let out a long sigh. “Truly worthy of being the first battalion of Anxi, trained by Li Qing’an. I feel inferior in comparison.”

General Li Guoliang beside him was not convinced. “I think luck also played a role. If it hadn’t snowed so heavily that night, they wouldn’t have been able to enter An Lushan’s camp.”

Guo Ziyi shook his head. “This isn’t luck. They only had 2,000 soldiers, 1,000 of whom were new recruits I left behind. After killing the enemy general in another camp, they still dared to turn around and attack An Lushan’s 20,000-strong camp. Such courage is truly admirable.”

Guo Ziyi took another few steps and pointed to a shallow pit in the ground. “Guoliang, come and take a look. Do you know why there’s a shallow pit here?”

Li Guoliang stepped forward and examined it for a while but remained puzzled. Guo Ziyi knelt down, pulled out his dagger, and scraped away the thin layer of snow covering it. Beneath was hard frozen ice, clearly showing the trace of a person lying face down.

“Do you understand now?” Guo Ziyi asked with a smile.

Li Guoliang hesitated for a moment before saying, “They lay face down here.”

“That’s right. But why are the traces of lying face down here much deeper than elsewhere? Judging from the ice patterns, they stayed there for at least fifteen minutes. They had already crossed the trench—why did they stay lying there for so long instead of entering? Do you know why?”

Li Guoliang was also an experienced general. After a brief thought, he suddenly understood. “What the old general means is that they were very cautious. Even if they weren’t detected by the watchtowers, they still wanted to observe the enemy situation carefully before entering.”

“Yes! That’s exactly it. This is a detail—don’t overlook such a small thing. This is why they are called the best battalion in Anxi. With heavy snowfall, the visibility from the watchtowers was only twenty steps, creating a vulnerability in the main camp’s defenses. They could spot it, but the enemy could think of it as well. Especially Li Qinchou—if not for his lustfulness, he would have been a great general. By the time he left the camp, the snow was already falling heavily. He must have made arrangements in advance. So, to address this defensive weakness, he would surely send someone to watch here. And that defender must have fallen asleep. That’s why the Anxi scouts stayed there for so long—they were waiting for that defender to show up. Facing such an opportunity, they waited for a full fifteen minutes. How many people in the world can show such determination? This is why they are called the best battalion in Anxi.”
Guo Ziyi sighed again. “I don’t have scouts like that under my command!”
At that moment, Yan Gaoqing came up from behind and gave a thumbs-up in praise. “General, you were able to deduce what happened that night from just these minor clues—almost exactly right. That’s beyond ordinary people’s capabilities.”
Guo Ziyi shook his head and turned to ask again, “Where have Ji Sheng and his men gone? Does Lord Yan know?”
Yan Gaoqing smiled bitterly. “I asked him. He just said he was going north. I guess he might have gone to Youzhou.”
Guo Ziyi nodded and sighed. “Hmm! You can’t get the tiger’s cubs without entering its lair. This man is truly a hero!”
At that moment, the sound of hurried horse hooves came from afar. Two scouts were speeding toward them, approaching Guo Ziyi. The two scouts dismounted and knelt before him on one knee. “Reporting to the general, Shi Siming’s army has entered Hengzhou. It’s only eighty li away from here.”
Guo Ziyi sneered. “They arrived quickly!”
He immediately turned to Yan Gaoqing and said, “Please hurry up and arrange for the people of Zhending County to evacuate. At the exact hour of Shen in the afternoon, the city gates will be closed, and no one will be allowed to leave.”
“I understand. I’ll go arrange it right away.”
Yan Gaoqing turned and rushed off. Li Guoliang said to Guo Ziyi with concern, “General, the imperial court wants Cheng Qianli to abandon Xiangzhou and retreat to Hedong. That’s what I think too. Our forces are too scattered and easy to be divided and defeated. Why won’t you withdraw from Xiangzhou?”

Guo Ziyi gazed southward with a complex expression. Abandoning Xiangzhou and retreating to Hedong, he knew it was Li Qingan’s suggestion. The suggestion itself was not wrong and quite sensible, but he couldn’t bear to leave millions of people in Hebei to become victims of An Lushan’s barbarian troops. Keeping Cheng Qianli’s forces in Xiangzhou could at least save the lives of those millions of civilians. To rescue these innocent people as much as possible, he had to take this risk.

He sighed softly and said, “As long as Cheng Qianli holds out for another ten days, until the Yellow River freezes, the troops from Henan can march north. I believe Li Qingan won’t sit idly by.”

……

Perhaps because Guo Ziyi’s army had also entered Hengzhou, Shi Siming slowed down his troops’ progress after entering Hengzhou as well. Especially upon learning that Guo Ziyi was personally in charge, Shi Siming became even more cautious. It took his army a full day to cover fifty li. By dusk, his troops reached thirty li east of Zhending County and set up camp there.

It was not yet completely dark, and the land of Hebei was covered in a gray haze. The sky was overcast, with dark clouds looming, as if signaling another heavy snowfall. Shi Siming learned that Guo Ziyi had cleared the area around Zhending County—there wasn’t a single household within thirty li, the houses had been destroyed, the wells poisoned, and even the dry grass and wood stored by farmers had been brought inside the city. The area around Zhending County had become a desolate wasteland.

At that moment, Shi Siming arrived at the battlefield beside Dingdong Town, escorted by a thousand cavalrymen. He wasn’t there to offer condolences or pay tribute to the dead. He just wanted to see and experience to what extent An Lushan would become enraged.

Shi Siming narrowed his eyes, observing the devastated scene left by the fires. His face showed no expression, as if he were watching something completely unrelated to him. He felt no sorrow over the destruction of those twenty thousand people. On the contrary, he felt a sense of relief and even secret joy—Li Qinxiong died well! Now, An Lushan could no longer keep an eye on him.

“Deputy commander, what should we do next?” asked one of Shi Siming’s personal generals.

“Do nothing. Just confront Guo Ziyi and wait for news from the south,” Shi Siming replied indifferently.