The Battle of Ye'nan
It was the autumn of Jian'an Year 6.
With the harvest gathered and winter on the horizon, Cao Cao finished preparations to lead thirty thousand troops on campaign once more.
“My lord, are you truly certain about this?”
The urgent report arrived just as Cao Cao accepted Liu Bei’s provocation and prepared to march on Ye'nan.
“Yuan Shao has raised another army in the meantime. They have organized forces to descend on Xuzhou through Qingzhou, thirty thousand strong. The commanders are Yuan Shao’s son Yuan Xi and his nephew Gao Gan.”
The reason Xun You, Cheng Yu, and the others tried to dissuade Cao Cao from taking the field himself was precisely because of Yuan Shao’s faction in Qingzhou.
“My lord, no matter how one looks at it, Liu Bei is nothing but bait. The troops in Ye'nan cannot amount to much. If Yuan Shao comes down through Qingzhou to Xuzhou while we are occupied, would that not be the greater threat?”
“Zhongde, the rebellion there has already been crushed, has it not? I hear Wu Jin, Yue Jin, and Si Huan are still holding position.”
“That is correct.”
“That fellow Anmin retreated from Ye'nan and is now in Yingchuan. We should give him troops and send him back. Ah, dispatch Zhang Liao and Li Dian with him as well.”
Yuan Shao’s forces were truly, enormously large.
He had lost roughly one hundred and fifty thousand at the Battle of Guandu, yet he was still able to conscript another thirty thousand and choose to advance through Qingzhou toward Xuzhou rather than Jizhou?
The northern part of Xuzhou already held warlords loyal to Cao Cao’s army—Zhang Ba, Yue Jin, Si Huan, Wu Jin, Zhang Liao, Li Dian, and now Cao Anmin as well. Their names carried tremendous weight, yet…
“Especially since we have just formed a marriage alliance with the sons of Duke Fu, we ought to give them some help. I will tell the Inspector of Xuzhou that I will come to their aid later, so he should carry out a ‘special conscription’ to replenish the additional troops.”
Even so, if the inspector was Chen Deng, a man of outstanding military talent and excellent administrative skill, entrusting the task to him made sense.
Of course, even then, a joint offensive by Yuan Shao and Liu Bei was no small matter.
If they generously estimated Liu Bei’s forces at fifteen thousand and added Yuan Shao’s thirty thousand, the enemy could field forty-five to fifty thousand men.
Cao Cao’s main army was still reorganizing. Even if they poured all thirty thousand newly conscripted troops into Ye'nan and filled the rest with emergency levies from Xuzhou and Yanzhou, they would only muster ten thousand more?
It was a little short, but Cao Cao chose to fight Liu Bei rather than Yuan Shao.
“Xuzhou and Yanzhou will hold the line well in this war. On the contrary, striking at Brother Xuande is a hundred times better for stabilizing Yuzhou. Zire!”
“Yes, Uncle.”
“What do you believe the reason is?”
If he suddenly asked such a question here… I would simply speak my mind.
“Even though Imperial Uncle Liu dared to turn his back on the court and flee, he still holds the title of Inspector of Yuzhou. Therefore, we must completely sweep away his influence throughout Yuzhou before true stability can be achieved. Is that not the reason?”
“Hehehe, that is part of it. However, the real reason is that as long as he remains alive, whether in Xuzhou or Yuzhou, he gathers armies like a ghost to sow chaos. If we do not clip his wings now, he will remain a constant threat. We must seize him decisively.”
Once we capture only Liu Bei, history will no longer be the Romance of the Three Kingdoms but the tale of the Han’s end and Wei’s beginning. Understood.
Come to think of it, he was right.
Until now I had thought in terms of the Three Kingdoms era and acted as Cao Cao’s spear and cavalry.
But what if we captured Liu Bei here and prevented the Battle of Red Cliffs from ever happening? What if the Peach Garden Oath of Liu, Guan, and Zhang truly ended in Yuzhou?
Of course it would be extraordinarily difficult, and having watched the three brothers thus far, the likelihood seemed slim.
Yet various “what if” scenarios kept rising in my mind.
Even if we did not kill him but merely captured him… history would change dramatically.
And so Cao Cao’s army arrived in Ye'nan of Yuzhou.
Inside Ye'nan Castle, the defeated commander and former Grand Administrator Li Tong knelt with his body bound by his own hands.
Not only himself—his entire family and household had been tied up and prostrated on the ground.
“Chancellor, please kill us! You granted me the chance to govern Ye'nan myself, yet this incompetent general suffered defeat and lost the Colonel who came down from the capital!”
Cao Cao looked at the entire Li Tong clan, all bound and begging for death, and scratched his head with one finger.
He first approached Li Tong’s young sons and personally cut their ropes with a small knife.
Thud. Thud.
“Can you hold this and untie your mother and sisters yourself?”
“Y-yes!”
The boy, about ten years old, took the knife, cut his mother’s and sisters’ bonds, and offered it back to Cao Cao, who then used it to free Li Tong as well.
“Rise.”
“Chancellor…”
“Hahahaha! Why would I kill your family? If the opponent were Liu Xuande, perhaps. That man I know well.”
Cao Cao laughed heartily as he helped Li Tong to his feet, then called for Xiahou Dun.
“Xiahou Dun, from now on you will oversee frontline supplies together with Li Tong. I do not know how long it will take, but the fighting will be fierce.”
“Understood, Chancellor!”
With Xiahou Dun placed in charge of the rear, they began examining the enemy’s disposition in earnest.
“My lord, how shall we maneuver?”
“I will take the vanguard and organize the left and right wings.”
Cao Cao studied the map of Liu Bei’s deployment and took up the brush himself.
“The right wing will be led by Miaocai, accompanied by Zisu and Zire.”
“Yes, Brother!”
If I fight alongside Xiahou Yuan again, we will wage a true cavalry battle until the horses’ hooves sweat… but the opponent is Guan Yu?
“The left wing will be led by Zixiao, accompanied by Zilian and Dian Wei.”
The right wing faced Zhang Fei.
Dian Wei versus Zhang Fei… this promised to be an incredible matchup I truly wanted to witness.
Liu Bei’s main vanguard was positioned unusually against the mountain.
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were kept in the rear while Liu Bei fought with the mountain at his back? What sort of tactic was this? Not a “back-to-the-water” formation but a “back-to-the-mountain” one?
“Gongda, explain it to the generals, will you?”
“Yes, my lord.”
Xun You received the baton from Cao Cao and began explaining the map.
He first described Liu Bei’s bizarre deployment—placing himself with two mountains ahead and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei behind.
“The mountain where Liu Bei stands is Mangdang Mountain. It is known as Mang Mountain and Tang Mountain, the very place where Emperor Gaozu of Han once raised his army.”
Mangdang Mountain. Yes, I definitely knew the name.
“It may appear strange, but you must not view it as simply using the mountain as a shield. Though both are called mountains, they rise only about fifty gil, and the ground between the peaks of Mang and Tang is flat.”
Ah, so that was it!
I had wondered why Liu Bei placed Guan Yu and Zhang Fei behind him while backing against the mountain, but the truth was that the two generals would support him from the flat ground between the peaks.
Liu Bei would lure Cao Cao’s vanguard from the front, while Guan Yu and Zhang Fei used the level ground between Tang and Mang mountains to charge in and draw the enemy into a trap.
Both men were nearly peerless in cavalry command; they could freely engage our left and right wings at any moment and rush to Liu Bei’s aid the instant he was endangered.
Moreover, Zhang Fei was among them.
From what I knew of Zhang Fei, he was a master of guerrilla warfare who always seized key points before his opponent. He could cross the Mangdang ridge—which was little more than a hundred-and-twenty-meter hill—or establish a position atop it to harass us.
“The path is narrow, so a large army cannot advance all at once. It appears Liu Bei deliberately chose this ground as a lure. Furthermore, crossing Mang Mountain leads to Yubi, while the opposite direction reaches Gongdu. With Guan Yu and Zhang Fei supporting him, he likely intends to draw us into a chaotic melee around Mangdang Mountain.”
“Brother Xuande seems to have prepared rather well. Still, that is all there is to it.”
Cao Cao pointed at the left wing’s placement of Cao Ren, Cao Hong, and Dian Wei, sweeping his finger downward.
“Left wing, advance straight down. Before the enemy can occupy the rear Mang and Tang mountains, smash them with raw power.”
“Yes, Brother!”
“As for the right wing…”
Cao Cao stroked his beard, then looked at me and Cao Ang.
“If Miaocai first uses mobile warfare to strike this fellow Yubi and then drives straight down to pin Guan Yu in place, Zisu and Zire can watch the situation, climb Mang Mountain from the reverse slope, and strike Brother Xuande’s main camp alongside me. The problem is that Guan Yu in the rear remains unpredictable.”
“Depending on the situation, I will block him myself.”
What choice was there? I had to step forward.
Of course Cao Cao was personally commanding the army, a trustworthy strategist like Xun You was present, and Xu Chu guarded the Chancellor who led the vanguard. Reliable uncles and fierce generals—Dian Wei, Cao Ren, Xiahou Yuan—were also here.
Yet it still felt as though I had to take the lead.
“Zire, do you speak those words in earnest? Your opponent is Guan Yunchang himself.”
“Precisely why I believe I must go.”
“…Oh!”
Cao Cao nodded at my answer, clicking his tongue in open admiration.
Thus Cao Cao’s army left Ye'nan Castle and deployed in earnest.
Liu Bei’s forces were already waiting. In that short time they had gathered a surprisingly large number of troops.
“They call it raising an army, but I thought it would be fewer than five thousand when seen up close. They’ve scraped together quite a bit.”
It was a force of roughly twelve to fifteen thousand. Liu Bei personally waited for Cao Cao with Mangdang Mountain at his back.
Seen in person, the so-called mountain on the plain was little more than a hill—so small one could honestly call it “Mangdang Hill.”
After all, at only a hundred and fifty meters above sea level, could it truly be called a mountain? If they simply cleared that forest of ancient trees, they could build an entire new city on the spot.
In such a place, Cao Cao’s thirty thousand faced Liu Bei’s twelve thousand.
Before battle commenced, the two supreme commanders met in the center.
Xu Chu stood behind Cao Cao; Zhao Yun stood behind Liu Bei.
“Brother Xuande, how long has it been? It does not feel that long since you left, yet it seems like meeting an old friend after ten years.”
“Brother Mengde, you appear to have lived quite comfortably in the meantime.”
“Hahaha. Not so much these days.”
Even with war looming, the atmosphere between them was strangely warm.
“Brother Xuande, how can you wound this elder brother’s heart so? Have you forgotten the bond we formed suppressing the Yellow Turbans? The bond when you beat the inspector at your post, fled to my house, and I smoothed things over for you? The bond when I took you in while Lu Bu chased you and saved your family? This brother is truly disappointed.”
Cao Cao struck first. Liu Bei nodded and replied.
“How could I forget those favors? Brother Mengde’s grace will remain in this heart for the rest of my life.”
“Then why do you act this way?”
“Brother Mengde, after the oath I swore with my brothers in the peach garden, I crossed many lines of death with you during the Yellow Turbans. Suppressing the traitor Dong Zhuo together feels like only yesterday.”
“Hehehe.”
“Your military talent, Brother Mengde, rivals Han Xin of the Chu-Han contention, and your governance equals the famed minister Xiao He. Suppressing the Yellow Turbans, the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition, the campaign against Li Jue and Guo Si, supporting the Emperor, repelling the White Wave bandits—you have achieved countless merits beyond words. That is why I truly respect you.”
When Cao Cao laughed again, Liu Bei delivered his final words.
“If only all of it had remained within the framework of the Han Dynasty.”
“!?”
Cao Cao’s eyes flew wide open; the smile vanished from his lips.
“While supporting His Majesty and escorting him from Chang'an to Luoyang, you purged countless loyal subjects as Yuan Shu’s lackeys. You razed the people’s homes and forcibly relocated them to create displaced persons for military grain. You crushed fifty families inside the capital with iron hammers in preparation for war against General Yuan. Ultimately you massacred the entire family of the Emperor’s beloved consort and killed the pregnant empress. Which Brother Mengde did those things?”
“Now, Xuande…”
“You claimed she died from birth complications in the mountains? And immediately afterward your own daughter became the Emperor’s new wife? Even the old Dong Zhuo never touched the Son of Heaven’s wife, nor did he act as imperial father-in-law when he placed his blood in the palace. Only Wang Mang would do such a thing!”
At the names Wang Mang and Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao’s face twisted further.
“Brother Mengde, I inherited the blood of the Han imperial line. I was born in the Han and will die in the Han. But you, Brother Mengde, were born in the Han yet dream of ‘what comes after the Han,’ do you not?”
“Xuande!”
“If that is not so, tell me clearly here and now, Liu Xuande. For the crime of slandering the heroes of the world, I will cut my own throat on this spot and apologize with my severed head.”
Liu Bei had stepped forward with nothing but the single-minded resolve to save the Han alongside the sworn brothers with whom he had taken the oath of brotherhood.
Already hidden in his bosom was the Emperor’s edict, carried like a talisman and the Mandate of Heaven itself. No matter how inferior he might be to Cao Cao, he had sworn to fight for the Han imperial family as long as he still had the strength to lift a finger.
“Ha… hahaha! Hahahahaha!”
Cao Cao, whose expression had rapidly darkened, began laughing once more.
“The world has misunderstood me. A tremendous misunderstanding!”
“Then shall this person cut his own throat here and now?”
“Is there any need for that? Xuande, our two armies already stand face to face. Let us decide after battle whose words are true and whose are treason. Even if I mercilessly crush the army you have gathered, I will spare only you and debate with you through the night.”
“This person, should he capture Brother Mengde, will treat you with utmost respect, escort you to the capital, have you meet His Majesty, and sincerely defend your conduct.”
“Good!”
Having exchanged their respective arguments, Cao Cao and Liu Bei returned to their main camps.
Then, as if by unspoken agreement, both drew their swords and shouted.
“Attack!!”
The battle of Ye'nan had begun.