Chapter 598: Blood Battle at Xiangzhou (II)

Cheng Qianli’s face turned pale. The enemy only had five siege vehicles near the city walls, which he hadn’t taken seriously. But he never expected the soldiers inside those vehicles to be so fierce, forcing his men to retreat repeatedly. Only then did he realize he had underestimated them.
“Charge! Eliminate them all…”
Cheng Qianli waved his sword and shouted loudly. Thousands of soldiers surged forward, encircling the 500 fierce Yan troops at their positions on the city walls to prevent them from uniting. The Tang troops on the walls knew that if An Lushan breached the city, none of them would survive. So they fought back desperately. Though the 500 elite Yan troops were fierce, their numbers were limited. Faced with the Tang troops’ tight encirclement, they couldn’t break through for a while.
Fighting continued above and below the city walls. Ladders were overturned, attackers were shot and fell, with cries of pain and roars echoing incessantly. Below, the Yan troops fired arrows like rain, killing many Tang soldiers. The battle between the two sides reached its climax.
Yet the greatest threat remained the five siege vehicles, which served as convenient pathways to the city walls. More and more Yan troops climbed up through them. Cheng Qianli was so anxious his eyes turned red. He saw the Tang troops firing rockets at the vehicles, but to no effect—there was a lack of flammable materials.
He turned around and shouted, “Use fire oil! Fire oil!”
Hundreds of soldiers rushed forward with pottery jars filled with fire oil and threw them at the vehicles. The jars shattered, and black fire oil spilled over the vehicles. Soon, rockets were launched, and the vehicles burst into flames. In moments, raging fires consumed all five vehicles. Without support, the 500 fierce troops who had first stormed the city dwindled in number until they were all wiped out by the Tang troops.
At this point, the Tang troops deployed another 3,000 soldiers, bringing their defensive force in the eastern sector to over 10,000. The Tang troops gradually gained the upper hand and took control of the situation.
“Dang! Dang! Dang!”
As the bells signaling the withdrawal rang, the attacking Yan troops retreated like a tide, leaving behind corpses, broken ladders, and burning siege vehicles. The Yan troops’ first probing attack was over.
This battle lasted nearly two and a half hours. The Yan troops lost nine siege vehicles, 23 ladders, and over 6,000 casualties, while the Tang troops suffered over 1,000 losses. The city walls became busy as laborers cleared dead bodies, carried the wounded down using stretchers, and removed arrows from the walls. Some soldiers rode in carts down to the city to kill the severely injured Yan troops who hadn’t escaped and to recover arrows…

The bloody and intense fighting finally ceased. Cheng Qianli felt utterly exhausted, his sweat soaking through his inner and outer armor, making it extremely heavy—like a huge stone hanging on him. He sat helplessly on a large rock, gazing outside the city. The vast camps stretching beyond the city walls suddenly seemed unreal; he felt as if he were in a nightmare, thinking that once he woke up, everything would return to calm. So much killing and death had numbed his heart, and he even felt a faint desire to die in battle.

“General Cheng, look!” one of his guards shouted, pointing at the sky.

Cheng Qianli turned and saw two homing pigeons circling in the sky, flying southward. He shook his head with a smile—that one-armed woman was truly fast.

……

In fact, Cheng Qianli was wrong. This was the fourth message sent by Qi Yuhua. Like those war correspondents in later times, she sent updates every hour. The homing pigeons flew at great speed to distant places, and this last message was her summary of the battle.

The messages from Xiangzhou were delivered to Heyin, a transit station from where the information was sent elsewhere. The distance between the two places was about 300 li, and it took the pigeons no more than an hour to reach there. Li Guangbi had just arrived in Heyin that morning. Having learned the night before that An Lushan’s army had reached Xiangzhou, he rushed there immediately. Unlike Li Qingan, who seemed somewhat indifferent to the situation in Xiangzhou, Li Guangbi paid close attention to the battle there. He knew that if Xiangzhou could be held, An Lushan’s rebellion would not go far and would be contained to Hebei. If Xiangzhou fell, it meant An Lushan would occupy the entire region of Hebei.

Originally, Li Guangbi also believed Xiangzhou could be defended—with nearly 50,000 soldiers, sturdy city walls, and ample food supplies, he thought he could hold it for over half a year. But the successive battle reports worried him greatly. A single probing attack had already put the defenders in great danger, with the enemy even reaching the city walls. If An Lushan launched a full-scale attack, could Xiangzhou still be held?

Although Cheng Qianli was a veteran general with many years of military experience, he had spent most of his time in Anxi and had no experience in defending cities!

“How is the freezing of the Yellow River?” Li Guangbi asked quickly when one of his guards entered.

“Reporting to the general, the Yellow River has not yet fully frozen. There is still about seven li of open water in the middle.”

Li Guangbi had no choice; even if the Yellow River was completely frozen, he still couldn’t cross it—waiting until it was fully frozen was necessary. Li Qingan didn’t object to him sending aid to Xiangzhou. From a broader perspective, he also believed that holding Xiangzhou was key to quelling An Lushan’s rebellion, so aid to Xiangzhou was inevitable. The question was what strategy to use. With 300,000 troops surrounding the city, leading his army there rashly would undoubtedly fall into An Lushan’s trap of besieging and attacking reinforcements. An Lushan’s forces were at their strongest and impossible to resist.

After pondering for a while, Li Guangbi decided to wait until the Yellow River froze, then order Li Sheng’s troops to enter Hebei via Cangzhou and advance on Youzhou, using the strategy of “besieging Wei to rescue Zhao” to force An Lushan to withdraw his troops.

With this in mind, he immediately sat back down and sent a letter to Xiangzhou, pointing out several weaknesses in Cheng Qianli’s defense and offering methods to deal with enemy siege engines. At the same time, he wrote another letter to Li Qingan to report on the situation of the battle for Xiangzhou. After finishing the letter, he handed it to his personal guards and said, “Deliver these two letters immediately—hurry!”

……

By this time, Li Qingan had returned to Luoyang. He resided in the Eastern Capital’s separate palace outside Luoyang City, a place where Wu Zetian had lived while practicing Buddhism in her later years. Located in a scenic spot outside Luoyang, it was actually a valley surrounded by mountains, with pine and cypress trees growing all around. Even in winter, it remained lush, with babbling mountain springs, strange rocks, and peaks. A small river flowed through the valley like a jade belt, making it an ideal place for seclusion and spiritual cultivation.

Now, the mountain springs were frozen, the river was ice-covered, creating a crystal-clear world. Light snow was falling, coating the dark mountains and green waters with a layer of frost.

Li Qingan’s elite troops had sealed off the valley and its surroundings, with scouts patrolling the surrounding mountains as well—security was extremely tight.

At the foot of the mountain, by the river, stood a separate estate covering about 20 acres, with over a hundred rooms. Without walls, the estate featured ornate eaves, carved beams, and painted columns—its architecture was breathtaking. Built amidst a forest, with the river winding around it, it was a structure fully integrated into nature.

Besides Li Qingan, there was also Yang Yuhuan, brought from Chang’an, along with more than a dozen maids and eunuchs from the Luoyang palace to serve them. Living in seclusion with such beauty, their days were rather leisurely.

Yet, despite having a woman as beautiful as Yang Yuhuan by his side, Li Qingan didn’t spend much time with her during the day. He had come here not to enjoy beauty but to calmly consider the overall situation of the world.

Li Qing’an’s study was located on the second floor, right by the river. It was spacious and bright, with large floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a clear view of the beautiful scenery outside. It had once been Wu Zetian’s study. Although it had been renovated, many details in the room still carried a feminine, delicate style—such as the window panes, carved beams, door decorations, and beds—featuring exquisite depictions of flowers, birds, fish, insects, and beautiful women, all reflecting Wu Zetian’s gentle side as a woman.

Yet at this moment, it was hard to sense such a style. The room was covered with various maps—of Anxi, Guanzhong, Henan, Hebei, Hedong, Bashu, Jingxiang, Jianghuai, and so on. In the center of the room stood a sand table that was four zhang long and three zhang wide.

It was a composite sand table covering Hebei Circuit, Hedong Circuit, and Henan Circuit, with mountains, rivers, cities, passes, and roads all clearly depicted. Li Qing’an stood in front of the sand table, gazing at Xiangzhou City, lost in thought.

He had already received the latest intelligence that An Lushan’s army was surrounding Xiangzhou. Li Qing’an had always believed that An Lushan’s strategy was to feign an attack on Jingxing while actually aiming to capture Xiangzhou, thereby taking control of the entire Hebei region first. So far, An Lushan’s actions had matched his predictions. But for some reason, Li Qing’an suddenly felt a sense of alertness—a strategic sensitivity developed over years of warfare, a result of accumulated combat experience beyond what ordinary people could possess.

He felt that An Lushan’s strategy was not as simple as just capturing Xiangzhou. After all, as an ambitious man who aspired to rule the whole country, his sights would never be limited to just one city or region. If An Lushan’s goal was merely to seize Hebei Circuit, Li Qing’an would never believe it.

An Lushan was now besieging Anyang City. Would he really use a force of 300,000 troops to attack just one city? Li Qing’an gradually realized that there was something hidden beneath An Lushan’s apparent actions. While besieging Xiangzhou, he must have other plans. So what were those plans? Henan Circuit or Hedong Circuit?

Li Qing’an’s gaze fell on the Taihang Mountains. There were eight passes in the Taihang Mountains, four of which were south of Xiangzhou: Fukou Pass, Bai Pass, Taihang Pass, and Zhiguan Pass. Among them, Taihang Pass and Zhiguan Pass were located in Huaizhou, while Bai Pass was in Weizhou. All three of these passes were far from Taiyuan, situated south of Hedong, and the rugged terrain made travel difficult. The key question was An Lushan’s strategic intent. If it was to intimidate Qin and Jin regions, then using these three passes would be more convenient. But if his aim was to target Hedong, then An Lushan’s army would surely take Fukou Pass to threaten Taiyuan.

Li Qing’an was almost certain that An Lushan would head west. The only thing he wasn’t sure about was whether An Lushan would launch a surprise attack on Qin and Jin or advance steadily into Hedong. After pondering for a while, he returned to his seat, picked up a pen, and wrote a letter to Guo Ziyi, then ordered his personal guard, “Send this letter to Guo Ziyi immediately.” As soon as the guard left, Yang Yuhuan entered carrying a bowl of ginseng tea. Seeing the room filled with maps, she smiled and said, “Oh! Are you selling maps?” Li Qing’an stretched and laughed, “Sort of! But there are no customers. Do you want one?” “Why would I buy maps? They’re not musical scores, and besides, I don’t have any money.” Li Qing’an winked suggestively and said, “No money? That’s fine. You can pay with your body.” “Tch!” Yang Yuhuan glared at him. “Why do you always think about such things? I’m leaving now.” Seeing her plump and beautiful figure with enchanting eyes, Li Qing’an’s desire surged. He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around her from behind, and whispered in her ear, “Beauty Yang, come to the next room. I have something to show you.” “I won’t look. You must have ulterior motives.” Though she said this, Yang Yuhuan’s eyes already sparkled, and her voice became coquettish. Li Qing’an half-held, half-guided her toward the next bedroom. “Qilang, it’s still daytime. Let’s do this at night!” “We’ll talk about night matters at night.” Li Qing’an closed the door. With his heart and hands moving in unison, he undressed her. Yang Yuhuan felt weak all over and could barely stand, so she wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered sweetly in his ear, “You really are my nemesis…” For a while, the room was filled with passion and soft breaths. … Meanwhile, Guo Ziyi’s army was still facing Shi Siming’s forces in Zhending County, Hengzhou. Both sides were sending reinforcements—Guo Ziyi added 30,000 troops from Hedong, bringing his total to 80,000, while Shi Siming’s forces were reinforced by 20,000 troops led by An Qingxu. Eighty thousand against one hundred thousand—both sides were evenly matched. Interestingly, neither side moved, as if by some unspoken agreement. Both were focusing on the battle in Xiangzhou to the south. For Shi Siming, if An Lushan’s army was tied up in Xiangzhou, he would boldly enter Hedong to seize territory. If An Lushan successfully took Xiangzhou, he would surely march into Hedong, so Shi Siming would stay in Hebei to seek opportunities there. In any case, Shi Siming had his own plans. He didn’t take An Qingxu, who was there to monitor him, very seriously—just an order could send him away.

The same was true for Guo Ziyi; he was also keeping an eye on Xiangzhou. As long as An Lushan’s army was tied down there, he could launch a massive attack to defeat Shi Siming’s forces and march straight on An Lushan’s stronghold in Youzhou. For this opportunity, Guo Ziyi deployed another 50,000 reserve troops on the other side of Jingxing, ready to strike at Shi Siming’s forces once the conditions were right.

Standing on the walls of Zhending County, Guo Ziyi watched the situation east of the main road. He had just received news that Shi Siming had sent a 5,000-strong army eastward—what could have happened? These days, Guo Ziyi had been keeping an eye on Ji Sheng, that brave and intelligent young scout. Where was he now? But Guo Ziyi had a hunch that Ji Sheng hadn’t returned victorious; he was still in Hebei, perhaps even infiltrated Youzhou. Could the departure of Shi Siming’s 5,000 troops be related to him?

At that moment, hurried footsteps came from behind. A personal soldier stepped forward and said, “General, Li Qingan has urgent news for you.”