Exterminating Dong Zhuo (3)
Back when we marched on Sili, the capital region, I had been hungry above all else to recruit the talents of Luoyang — but with Ding Yuan seizing power, I had come to believe that Xu Rong, taken prisoner as part of the enemy's vanguard, was the sole harvest of that entire campaign.
Then a single act of goodwill had brought a genuinely magnificent specimen into our army.
She had known defeat as a common soldier in the ranks, but in all her time leading an army, not once had she lost a battle — a fierce general renowned as the Undefeated General.
Among the commanders she had bested stood even Guan Yu, the mightiest warrior of the Three Kingdoms and a man later worshipped as a god across China.
She drew a clean line between public duty and private gain, and was scrupulously honest besides. Alongside the heaven-sent Grand General Cao Ren and the rest of the Five Elite Generals, she could rightly be called one of the aces holding up Cao Cao's entire army.
She had once served under Yang Feng of the White Wave Bandits, which had earned her suspicions of being a bandit herself — but here, apparently, she was nothing of the sort.
"So. You wish to join our army?"
"Yes, my lord!! Take me into your service and set me at the vanguard, and I will earn distinction in this very campaign and prove my loyalty to you with deeds!!"
She could not have been more welcome as far as I was concerned. Even before this, the battle against Ding Yuan's army had left me keenly aware of how few officers we possessed with genuine martial prowess or command talent. Had we counted even one more fine general among us, Ding Yuan would have died that day without question.
"Good. Welcome aboard. I'll be counting on you."
"...Ah — pardon? Are you truly certain you can accept me this easily?"
Welcomed so readily, Xu Huang could only wear a dazed expression.
"That said, we'll settle your formal appointment after you've taken the field in this battle and shown me what you can do."
Since we had to march on Anding in haste, I would forgo the usual formalities and vet her in combat instead — and with that, I took her into my service on the spot. If Xu Huang had any inkling of how easily she had been gathered under my wing, it did not show; her face simply lit up with joy.
Still, as glad as I was to have her, I doubted she would get the chance to distinguish herself this time. If Jia Xu's stratagem bore fruit, Anding would fall without our ever needing to fight a true siege.
Then again, her martial skill was every bit as fine as her command talent. Put her at the vanguard and she'd take an enemy general's head or two regardless. Part of me did want our army, so short on siege experience, to gain some — but there was no sense in deliberately taking the harder road...
Those who knew nothing of Xu Huang naturally took her for a parachute appointment — someone dropped into rank through connections — and showed a fair measure of resentment. From the soldiers' point of view, some axe-wielding stranger had appeared out of nowhere as their commanding officer, so it was only to be expected.
But our core generals, Ma Chao and Pang De foremost among them — the ones who trusted my eye for talent — raised no great objection.
"If my lord has chosen her, I'm sure there is a reason."
Even Fa Zheng, it seemed, had faith in my judgment. We set the newly arrived Xu Huang at the head of our vanguard, entrusted Chang'an's defenses to Yan Xing, and marched out with the army.
Several days slipped by. Hurrying our troops along, we reached Anding while the snow had yet to finish melting, arriving ahead of the force marching out of Wuwei.
Entering Anding Commandery, we found traces of pillage scattered through its towns and villages. Watching that wreckage, I ground my teeth at Dong Zhuo. ...So while we were away at Luoyang, he had been busy plundering after all.
A warlord seeking to rise again would have needed wealth above all else. There was no doubt he had squeezed Anding Commandery dry to cover everything he lacked.
For now, we waited for Uncle Ma Teng's army from Wuwei, threw up fortified camps, and spread an encirclement so the enemy could not slip away. Xu Rong — taken prisoner in the last battle and since come over to our side — commanded the operation with practiced ease, tightening the siege around the city like a drawn net.
This time, even the Red Hare — that cheat-item of a horse — could not save him. With the city surrounded and every road of retreat sealed tight, there was no earthly way that swine was getting out.
"You sure it's wise to hand him command? He's a surrendered general, y'know."
Ma Chao eyed the recently surrendered Xu Rong with visible unease — and to be fair, part of that was because his defense had played the decisive role in letting Ding Yuan slip from our grasp.
"If you think that way, then most generals are unusable. Once you've recruited a man, you have to give him your trust."
The memory of failing to take Ding Yuan made my back teeth ache, but that was water under the bridge. Besides, Xu Rong was the finest military mind in Dong Zhuo's entire army — the very man who had thrown back Sun Jian's and Cao Cao's forces at Xingyang.
Setting aside personal combat, I suspected his command — his grasp of leadership and the art of war — might be the best our army had to offer. Or, no — with Xu Huang among us now, perhaps it was a tie at the top. Either way, if I left the army's direction to Xu Rong or Xu Huang, Ma Chao and Pang De at the vanguard could run wild all the more freely.
While I was talking with Ma Chao, the guard posted at the tent's entrance stepped in.
"My lord. Strategist Jia Xu has arrived."
"Send her in."
Jia Xu entered the tent under Huche'er's escort. I stopped her before she could bow in greeting and asked for the result.
"How did it go?"
"He has agreed to come over to us, my lord — in exchange for a promise of safety, for himself and for his aunt."
"His aunt?" Ah. He means Lady Zou, Zhang Ji's widow.
A woman ranked alongside the Two Qiaos of Jiangdong as a beauty to adorn an entire age. Every reader of history knew the tale of Wan: how Cao Cao — that notorious hunter of married women — coveted the widow Lady Zou, and how, in trying to have Zhang Xiu killed, he lost his eldest son Cao Ang, his nephew Cao Anmin, and the mighty general Dian Wei in a single night. There were even those who mourned what might have been, had Cao Ang lived to succeed Cao Cao.
Of course, in this world Cao Cao is a woman, so none of that was ever going to happen.
I nodded my assent, naturally enough.
"If those are his only conditions, then of course we accept. Still — surprising, that he would bow his head to the man who slew his uncle."
"When I persuaded him that placing his aunt's life above all else was what his late uncle Zhang Ji would have wished, he agonized over it before saying he would come over to us."
Looking at it coldly, Zhang Xiu truly had no strength left to avenge himself on our army. With Jia Xu and Huche'er both in my service besides, how would he ever manage it? One wrong move, and he and his aunt Lady Zou would both be put to the sword. From where he stood, seeking a way to survive was the only path left.
"Once General Ma Teng joins us with his army and the encirclement and battle lines stand firm as bedrock, I will send the signal. At that moment, General Zhang Xiu will open the southern gate for us."
Jia Xu laid out the whole of her arrangement with Zhang Xiu, and I nodded along.
"Good. Then how does this sound — we raise our siege engines facing the northern gate and pull as much of Dong Zhuo's manpower and attention that way as we can?"
If the southern gate was going to open, cavalry and infantry would be more than enough. Fixing the enemy's gaze on the north would leave the south thinly held — an easy gate to seize. It amounted to the same play Cao Cao had used against Zhang Xiu himself: the Weiji Zhuansha stratagem, the feinted strike that turns and kills.
"A fine idea, my lord."
To drag every last shred of Dong Zhuo's attention toward us, I instructed Xu Rong, purely as misdirection, to prepare cloud ladders and battering rams before the north gate — and all the while, we waited for Uncle Ma Teng.
Even setting out later than we had upon receiving my letter, Wuwei lay closer to Anding than Chang'an did, so the wait would not be long.
Just as expected, not long after our fortified camps had risen, a body of troops came bearing down on us in a haze of dust.
"Hahaha!! My girl! Your father has arrived— hmm?"
Ma Teng started toward Ma Chao, overjoyed to see his daughter after so long — and abruptly stopped.
"...What is it, Father?"
With Ma Chao tilting her head at him in puzzlement, Ma Teng craned his neck this way and that, studying her face.
"......Hmm."
He examined her complexion for a long moment, then broke into a warm, contented smile — the very picture of a doting father.
So Han Yeong has been soothing her well, I see. He had worried, as any parent would, when word came that she had been beaten soundly by Lu Bu — but to see her vigor restored, all thanks to Han Yeong's gentle care, set his heart at ease.
And the two of them seem closer than before, too... Well now, ain't that a fine thing. Like any father, Ma Teng had long known his daughter carried a flame for Han Yeong, and he had quietly cheered the romance on. A warlord who ruled both Yong and Liang Provinces left nothing to criticize as a prospective son-in-law — and having watched him for years, Ma Teng could find no fault in his character or temperament either.
While Ma Teng's mind ran its happy little circuit, Han Yeong stepped up and offered his greeting.
"You've arrived, Uncle."
"Right. What would you have me do?"
"When the general we've turned opens the gate and our army pours in, there will surely be those who flee — even if they have to break through the encirclement to do it. Take your cavalry, Uncle, and seize anyone who runs."
I walked Ma Teng through the outlines of the stratagem and asked him to take command of the pursuit force.
"Understood. That I shall do."
Once Ma Teng had moved his army into position, I gave the word to Jia Xu, and the signal went out to Zhang Xiu within the walls.
"Begin."
"Yes, my lord."
As the standoff dragged on and the enemy's vigilance dulled, Jia Xu waved her banner, flashing the signal toward the southern gate.
Receiving it, Zhang Xiu set his soldiers to the gate.
"Open the gate."
"...Yes, General."
Many of the men under Zhang Xiu wished only to keep their lives — and so, without a moment's hesitation, they followed his proposal.
WAAAAAAAH—!!
Cavalry struck through the open gate like a gale, surging in behind it like a breaking wave. Zhang Xiu's soldiers had wound red bands around their arms, so telling friend from foe was simple enough.
"Wh-what in the—?!"
"Hold them!! Stop them!!"
Dong Zhuo's coalition scrambled to bar the host flooding through the suddenly opened gate — only to be struck down at the vanguard by Xu Huang. Their troops had been concentrated in the north to begin with, so even a swift response lay beyond them.
WHAM!!
One ponderous swing of her axe, and the chieftain leading the savage Qiang warband was hurled lifeless to the ground.
"Don't get cocky!!"
On came Zhang Heng next — a former warlord who had thrown in with Dong Zhuo alongside Cao Qinglong — but against Xu Huang, his martial skill did not begin to measure up.
SHHK—!!
Her axe, drenched in moonlight, flashed with a pale gleam — and Zhang Heng's head went tumbling to the frost-hard ground.
"Aw, damn it!!"
Seeing Zhang Heng cut down as well, Cao Qinglong frantically wheeled his horse about and bolted — only to be taken by one of the generals fighting in support of Han Yeong's army.
"Now's our chance!! Press the attack while the enemy reels in confusion!!"
"Yes, my lord!!"
At Xu Rong's command, the siege engines advanced as one, splitting the attention of Dong Zhuo's army — already reeling from the gates swinging open. The soldiers atop the walls, scrambling to hold back Xu Huang's furious charge from the southern gate, caught sight of the approaching engines and dissolved into frantic, bumping confusion.
Within the city, Zhang Xiu's men, answering our call, were raising havoc of their own — and before long, the cavalry under Ma Chao came pouring through the southern gate as well. In the end, the walls, never granted a proper defense, were scaled by Xu Rong's troops too.
This will be over before long.
They were, after all, a coalition thrown together in haste to fight a shared enemy. They had been meant to hold out through a siege — but with our army already pouring in through treachery, they would scatter in flight, cohesion be damned.
Just as predicted, Anding was subdued in short order, and flames began to climb from the government offices and the palace alike.
The hour had come at last for Dong Zhuo to pay the price of bleeding innocent people dry.