The Xu Province Campaign
I rose quietly the morning after a night that burned like wildfire.
Huayan, still half-naked, washed me, helped me dress, then knelt and bowed deeply.
“Young master, I wish you victorious fortune in battle.”
“Thank you.”
Stepping out into the crisp morning air, I headed straight for the government office. Cao Cao’s great army had already completed every preparation and stood ready to march at a moment’s notice.
Cao Cao himself appeared early, clad in full armor, and at noon the expedition set forth.
“Uncle, who is serving as the military strategist?”
“Cheng Yu will go.”
Xun Yu had said he would remain in the rear with Xiahou Dun, and Chen Gong was still in Puyang. I had wondered whether Xi Zhicai would sit this battle out, but Cao Cao quietly explained.
“If you’re looking for Xi Zhicai, he will accompany the friend you brought and make a short trip to Puyang.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“Preparations here are finished. It is time to move. Stay close by my side and follow well.”
I rode abreast of Cao Cao’s horse, taking position at the very tip of the vanguard.
“It is two days’ march to Xiaopei. Along the way, we will strike every Xuzhou fortress and encampment we see.”
The way he spoke made it clear—he intended to sweep away everything in sight.
And indeed, after roughly half a day’s travel, a small fortress came into view. Its wooden walls and the smoke rising from within suggested a village lay inside.
“My lord, there is a stockade ahead.”
“What is the enemy’s scale?”
“Roughly a thousand soldiers, with civilian homes inside.”
“Then we must strike it. Send Miaocai.”
“Yes, my lord!”
The first vanguard was Xiahou Yuan’s troops.
Thump— thump— thump— thump—
“Ah, the war drums have begun.”
As the drums rolled, an enormous roar rose and Xiahou Yuan’s army charged the small stockade before us. The Xuzhou defenders, spotting Cao Cao’s forces, frantically loosed arrows and thrust long spears over the walls from behind cover.
But it was a minor fortress. The wooden walls were low; a single rope would let men scale them easily. The defense was weak.
Once Xiahou Yuan’s troops surrounded it, the enemy resisted at first, but soon they were being pushed back one-sidedly.
The sight of soldiers swinging spears and blades, mercilessly stabbing and carving through foes, was not something I could easily grow accustomed to.
“Ugh…”
“Do you pity the enemy?”
Cao Cao, by contrast, was calmly fanning himself while watching the slaughter.
“That Miaocai fellow fights well. As expected, the vanguard must always be left to him.”
He cheered Xiahou Yuan’s valiant charge even more enthusiastically. When the soldiers on the wall could endure no longer and began to flee, Cao Cao burst into loud laughter and shouted.
“Look at them tucking their tails and running, Miaocai! Put arrows in their backsides!”
Before long, a messenger came galloping up in haste.
“My lord, the enemy begs to surrender.”
“Normally we do not accept surrender during battle, however…”
Cao Cao paused his fanning, noticed me, and gave a small chuckle.
“Wenye, go and handle it.”
He was telling me to deal with it?
“Yes, Uncle.”
I guided my horse into the stockade. The wooden fortress was drenched in blood, corpses piled high. The horrific scene nearly made me retch, but I pinched my nose and forced myself inside.
“Uncle Miaocai!”
“Oh, Wenye has arrived?”
Xiahou Yuan’s armor was also covered in blood, yet he greeted me with a hearty laugh, seemingly invigorated by the carnage.
As a relative of the Cao clan, Xiahou Yuan was the type of general who always stood at the forefront and fought in person.
“So, what does the Inspector of Yan Province command?”
“He told me to come and resolve the matter.”
“Then do as you see fit.”
Xiahou Yuan readily handed me his command baton. The prisoners surrounded by soldiers and the terrified villagers stared at me with fearful eyes.
“S-spare us! We were only guarding the stockade!”
“Please, just spare our lives! Do not kill us!”
Before me knelt prisoners begging pitifully, children crying, women and elders prostrating themselves.
I scratched my head with the baton for a moment, then spoke.
“I make you an offer. One choice is to disarm immediately, gather your belongings, and march to Yan Province.”
“?!”
“From this moment on, every person living in Xuzhou will relocate to Yan Province and reclaim its wasteland. Choose—will you accept hard labor, or die here?”
At those words the prisoners exchanged glances. Several of them, faces heavy, began removing their helmets and armor.
“We choose hard labor!”
“Y-you mean Yan Province? We will go! Wasteland or whatever, we will clear it!”
“If you spare our lives, we will go anywhere!”
“Permission granted! Prepare to depart at once with whatever you can carry.”
At my command, the prisoners and villagers from the first battlefield chose to leave their homeland and become laborers in Yan Province.
“For now, the first village is settled. We will continue in this manner going forward.”
“Will they really go quietly to Yan Province and submit to hard labor?”
“They said they would obey rather than die, so they will go quietly.”
Xiahou Yuan nodded and gave orders to the soldiers.
“These are precious human resources heading for Yan Province. Escort them carefully and burn every empty house.”
“Yes, General!”
Thus the first village was dealt with.
Afterward we attacked every nearby village in turn. Those who surrendered were captured for forced relocation; those who resisted were eliminated.
The fortunate thing was that rumors seemed to spread as we advanced. Soon entire villages began surrendering without a fight.
“My lord, the lower reaches of the Huai River have now been pacified.”
We had conquered every district—Chuilu, Shuling, Xiagou—without exception. Cao Ren and Xiahou Yuan had seized more than ten fortresses in total.
I had expected much from Cao Cao’s army, but they displayed even greater strength than anticipated. They were truly an elite force.
“My lord, at this rate all of Xuzhou will fall.”
“Indeed. Everyone is performing splendidly.”
Cao Cao’s face was also satisfied after string upon string of victories. Although I had joined the campaign as a relative rather than holding an official post, I was treated as a military strategist and allowed to attend the war councils.
“My lord, scouts report that Tao Qian has personally taken the field and advanced as far as the walls of Xiaopei.”
“What is the enemy’s scale?”
“They say around thirty thousand.”
“Hah, so that old raccoon Tao Qian emptied our family’s treasury to raise those troops?”
Cao Cao had brought twenty thousand men, yet Tao Qian had managed to field thirty thousand.
“Thirty thousand is no small number. Still, we will only know the outcome once we fight.”
“Brother Mengde, allow me to take the vanguard. I will claim Tao Qian’s head myself.”
“Please send me. I will surely capture the enemy leader Tao Qian and bring him back.”
When Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren shouted with high spirits, Cao Cao nodded with a pleased expression.
“Good. With the two of you here, I feel truly reassured.”
Cao Cao prepared to fight in person. It seemed I, too, would be joining the battle this time.
“Wenye.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
“Pack your baggage at once and return to Chenliu.”
“Right this moment?”
“We have captured over fifty thousand prisoners. Someone must escort them to Yan Province, no? Since it was your suggestion, you must take responsibility.”
“Ah, I will prepare immediately.”
I was thus removed from the coming clash with Tao Qian.
“After you have housed the prisoners, procure military rations from both Puyang and Chenliu.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
Receiving Cao Cao’s orders, I left the prisoners I had gathered so far and departed.
“Hurry, hurry! Move faster!”
Fifty thousand civilians marched under my command, leaving their homeland of Xuzhou for Yan Province.
‘Aigoo, we really have to walk all the way to distant Yan Province?’
‘Don’t say that! We barely escaped with our lives!’
‘They say we’re supposed to clear wasteland, but there aren’t even enough rice seeds. What are we supposed to do?’
‘There’ll be something when we get there. They wouldn’t let us starve to death, would they?’
The prisoners and farmers grumbled, yet they accepted their fate, relieved simply to have kept their lives.
“We have already filled a hundred carts’ worth of gold, silver, and treasure with manpower. We will need to gather even more going forward.”
Though they were currently a nuisance, in the future this labor force would become an enormous asset in developing Yan Province.
After three days of hard marching we arrived at Chenliu in Yan Province. I divided the people and housed them—some in the abandoned civilian homes around Chenliu, others in the mountain stronghold that had once been a bandit lair.
“This is the place. From now on you will live using the farming tools and lumber provided by Chenliu. Clear this entire region and create a bountiful harvest by next year.”
At a glance it was barren land that had seen almost no development, yet they had no choice but to obey.
One by one they unpacked their belongings. Instead of spears and swords, the people took up hoes and plows and began to move.
The Xuzhou Massacre would vanish from history. In its place would remain the record of the “Great Relocation of Xuzhou Refugees to Yan Province.”
After assigning a hundred soldiers to watch over them, I returned to Chenliu Castle. Xiahou Dun, who had remained there, greeted me warmly.
“Wenye, welcome back.”
“Yes, Uncle Wanyang.”
I reported the war situation to Xiahou Dun and informed him that a great number of Xuzhou refugees were now outside the walls. They would require constant surveillance and the maintenance of public order.
Xiahou Dun was not only a fine warrior but also excelled at administrative duties. He promised to handle it at once.
“As it happens, the Yan Province region is overflowing with chickens, pigs, and silkworms.”
“Pardon? How…?”
“I hear the merchant leader Wei Hong bought up a huge quantity from somewhere. Well, it is fortunate. The people outside must eat to survive, so we should have them raise livestock.”
Just in time, the moment we brought the Xuzhou refugees, we learned that livestock, silkworms for producing cloth, rice seeds, and other essentials had already been prepared.
If this was the result of the conversation Cao Cao had with Wei Hong at the time, it meant he had already made up his mind privately.
“As expected of Uncle.”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“You took the casual remark I made in passing and actively implemented it. You prevented meaningless slaughter, prepared a foundation for the Xuzhou refugees so that Yan Province could become a land of abundance—didn’t you?”
“Aman has always had an unusually quick mind.”
This would work well. Xiahou Dun received the documents concerning the Xuzhou refugees, then ordered the assembly of transport rations. He also brought up another matter.
“Ah, and if you return to the front, pass this on to Aman.”
“What is it?”
“A great figure has fallen in Puyang. I hear that Bian Yang, an elder of the Yan Province gentry, has died.”
I flinched at those words.
“What? Elder Bian?”
“You knew the gentleman?”
“No, I have never met him personally, but I heard he was a respected elder followed by the Yan Province gentry.”
“Indeed. Xi Zhicai was the last to see him, yet he suddenly passed. It was simply old age, I suppose.”
“…”
“Aman’s father—that is, Lord Grand Tutor Cao Song—went with Cao De to offer condolences in your uncle’s stead.”
Elder Cao Song, who had been quietly staying in the rear garden these past few days, had gone in Cao Cao’s place upon hearing of the death of the Yan Province gentry leader.
Was it truly just old age? Or could it be that he died after Xi Zhicai and Xu Shu visited…?
Chen Gong had clearly used the name “Bian Yang” to request better treatment for the Yan Province gentry. Yet right after Cao Cao acknowledged it and departed on campaign, Bian Yang suddenly died?
A chill ran down my spine.