Stratagem (2)
"Aaaagh! Aaaagh!"
Gongsun Zan's soldiers were cackling as they tortured the handful of Wuhuan still left alive. It was a hideous amusement of the battlefield — working open tendons and joints, drawing the agony out as long as humanly possible. At first they had been clumsy at it, and the prisoners died too quickly. But with each man they finished, they grew more practiced, and the suffering lasted longer.
The remaining Wuhuan huddled in on themselves and shook, terrified of the Han soldiers' cruelty. Among them were men who, realizing the torture would only grow worse the longer their turn was in coming, lost control of their bowels where they sat.
Sun Jian felt no pity for them. They had done the same things to the garrison at Juyong Pass. The sight of those shivering captives only stoked the Han troops' rage — their fear itself looked brazen, an insult. This was not merely Gongsun Zan and the men under his own command. Among the soldiers who had come here, the men from Youzhou especially would have done God only knew what if the Wuhuan had not been handed over for them to do with as they pleased. Better, Sun Jian judged, to let them bleed that venom off here.
Besides, he had a different problem on his mind.
"The Wuhuan left at Juyong Pass were nothing much."
Depending on how one heard it, the words might have sounded like proud swagger — they had been no match for him — or like modest self-effacement, playing down his own achievement. His intent was neither.
"Most of the Wuhuan army has already gone into Youzhou."
What the Han troops were doing to these prisoners here might, even now, be happening in reverse inside Youzhou. Or something close to what the Wuhuan had inflicted on the Juyong Pass garrison.
Sun Jian swept his gaze over the three generals who had come with him. Han Dang. Gongsun Zan. Hozheng.
To deal with the Wuhuan, cavalry would have to be sent — which meant Gongsun Zan had to go. And Hozheng? If he sent Hozheng along and a fight broke out between Gongsun Zan and the Xiongnu army, they would be lucky to walk away from it. Then what about sending Gongsun Zan and Han Dang together? That did not sit well with him either.
He had not dared say it in front of the others, but Sun Jian had considered the possibility that Tanshihuai's withdrawal to Tanhan Mountain was a ruse. He had told Han Dang and the rest that Tanshihuai might send a detached force to strike them before Juyong Pass — but what he had truly feared was that after annihilating the Han main army, Tanshihuai himself would come straight for the pass.
He had not charged out merely to show off his martial skill to Han Dang. He had done it because if he had not, Tanshihuai's incoming host would have killed them all anyway.
It was not only because of the prophecy of that Xiongnu child, Luanti Bao. Had he not already reached the same conclusion when he toured the frontier with Lü Bu and Cai Yong?
This war should never have been fought. If it was fought, they would lose.
But the war had come anyway, and Sun Jian had accepted it in a slightly different spirit from Lü Bu. Where Lü Bu thought of saving as many lives as possible and falling back, Sun Jian had hoped the Han army would be smashed so thoroughly that the court would need a warrior named Sun Jian more desperately than ever.
Of course, it would grieve him if Zhang Min — the man who had selected him — and Zhang Hong, Zhang Min's son, who had called Sun Jian elder brother, were to die.
"Gongsun Bogui should go into Youzhou first and deal with the Wuhuan. Han Yigong and the Left Wise King will remain here at Juyong Pass with me. That should make things easier for Gongsun Bogui to move, shouldn't it?"
Gongsun Zan grinned and nodded. To his ear, Sun Jian's words had sounded like permission to handle the Wuhuan however he pleased, without anyone looking over his shoulder. He led his troops east at once.
Sun Jian was satisfied that Gongsun Zan was behaving as intended.
"I worry Elder Brother Bogui may take things too far."
Han Dang seemed afraid Gongsun Zan would go mad with vengeance against the Wuhuan and ruin everything. He cast a glance that asked, without quite saying it, whether he might follow and keep Gongsun Zan in check. Sun Jian shook his head.
He had not held Han Dang's and Hozheng's armies at Juyong Pass for no reason.
"Look there."
Sun Jian pointed northwest. Already, far in the distance, dust was rising.
Even a man like Sun Jian, hunting merit in the midst of war, knew there were things that had to be held. You could not rise by winning glory if you were dead.
"Xianbei. I don't know what has become of the main forces under the Zhonglangjiang Protecting the Xiongnu and the Colonel Protecting the Wuhuan — but we have to hold this place now. We need to buy Gongsun Bogui time until he finishes with the Wuhuan. If they break through, we all die."
After shedding countless stragglers in the desert, after thirst and cold and exhaustion had wrung them dry, the army of Tian Yan, Zhonglangjiang Defeating the Xianbei, came at last upon unfamiliar mountains and rivers.
"In ages past, the General of Agile Cavalry Huo Qubing crossed the desert and reached Mobei, just as we have!"
Tian Yan delivered the speech as best he could to men who had survived and yet were already spent, their will broken. If they believed their own march matched that of the old hero — if they believed they could become what those old heroes had been — their spirits might recover. There was a story about Huo Qubing himself, after all.
When Huo Qubing campaigned west of what was now Liangzhou, Emperor Wu had personally seen him off and bestowed wine upon him. Huo Qubing had looked from the single cup in his hand to the soldiers at his back, and then poured the wine straight into the river nearby. From the emperor down to the lowest ranker, everyone had been stunned. And Huo Qubing had cried out:
Emperor Wu and the soldiers alike were said to have loved that manly dash. To commemorate the favorite general who was also the empress's nephew, the emperor named the newly conquered land Jiuquan — Wine Spring. That was today's Jiuquan Commandery in Liangzhou.
Tian Yan had thought his own display of manhood would move his men the way Huo Qubing's had, centuries ago. It did not. At their perfunctory murmurs he clicked his tongue.
They haven't tasted a real victory yet. That's all.
Even so, the army Emperor Ling had granted him was the capital's elite. Even if Ha Yu and Zhang Min had been beaten, a Xianbei host worn down from fighting those two could still be smashed. He was sure of it.
They've never seen me the way I was under Grand Commandant Duan, winning battle after battle. That's why they're like this.
Show them a single victory. Let them take enough plunder from the Xianbei, and their thinking would change. So Tian Yan told himself, driving his men on.
"North! Keep advancing north! Until we reach the Han Sea! We will win merit that surpasses Huo Qubing himself!"
Ambition glittered in his eyes. The staggering wrecks of the men behind him did not enter those eyes at all. Someone's whisper had already robbed him of even the judgment he had possessed when he followed Duan Jiong to suppress the Qiang.
"How long do you intend to remain in Grand Commandant Duan's shadow?"
Zhang Xiu had come to Tian Yan just before the expedition departed, and that was how he opened — without preamble. Tian Yan narrowed his eyes, wondering what cheap attempt at sowing discord this was supposed to be.
"Shadow? What exactly are you saying?"
"It doesn't sit right with me, you marching off on an expedition just so Grand Commandant Duan can find his way back into court."
Tian Yan's mouth twitched with irritation as he stepped in close.
"I won't deny I'm Grand Commandant Duan's man. But that's hardly Zhonglangjiang Zhang's concern."
"No. It is my concern."
Tian Yan's brows twisted in puzzlement, and Zhang Xiu poured the rest out.
"If this expedition succeeds, it cannot end as a victory for Grand Commandant Duan and the eunuchs alone. Speak plainly — if it succeeds, wouldn't Zhonglangjiang Tian's merit stand comparison with Huo Qubing himself?"
In that instant a fire named Huo Qubing kindled in Tian Yan's chest.
"...I, Huo Qubing?"
"Huo Qubing's merit did not end with Huo Qubing. Who was his younger brother?"
"Huo Guang..."
Huo Guang — the great imperial in-law, a predecessor of sorts to the purged consort-kin Dou Wu. Huo Qubing had died young, and his younger brother had inherited everything he left behind. Huo Guang's power had been enough to replace an emperor; while he lived, no Son of Heaven had dared even think of purging him.
Zhang Xiu grinned and dropped his voice.
"Not Duan Jiong. Not Wang Fu. Zhonglangjiang Tian must be the first meritorious official of this expedition."
At any other time Tian Yan would have leapt at the casual speaking of those two names. Instead, they suddenly felt beneath him.
Huo Guang. Yes... if this Tian Yan enjoyed power like Huo Guang's?
He would be able to treat both Duan Jiong and Wang Fu as nobodies.
But Tian Yan was not entirely a fool.
"How would that even be possible?"
"I'll work things in Luoyang."
"You, Zhonglangjiang Zhang?"
"I built a few connections when I was in Bingzhou. Through them, this time, we'll move His Majesty's heart directly — without going through Wang Fu."
Not all eunuchs, after all, were on the same side. There were plenty who envied the favor Wang Fu enjoyed and the heights to which he had risen. A eunuch was a man who performed the palace's menial labor in halls where ordinary men were forbidden to set foot. Which meant that if one eunuch climbed to a lofty perch and lived high off it for years, there were others who spent their entire lives at backbreaking work and died there — men who swept floors until they dropped, men who polished sacrificial vessels until they dropped, men who hauled firewood until they dropped. And even short of those extremes, there was no shortage of eunuchs who wanted Wang Fu's power stripped away.
But Tian Yan remembered the sting of a knife in the back, and a cold sweat broke over him.
"Isn't that far too dangerous?"
Move the emperor's heart? A man could die for that. Stand before that emperor and talk of becoming another Huo Guang? He would be lucky not to die as wretchedly as Dou Wu.
"And why would you go that far for me?"
Zhang Xiu suddenly seized the frightened Tian Yan by the shoulder.
"Because Duan Jiong or Wang Fu might pretend they don't know me. So I'm placing my bet on you, Zhonglangjiang Tian. I have to get back to Bingzhou and repay that humiliation. As for you — once you've won your merit, just sit back in Luoyang and enjoy your power."
"...Suppose I do win merit. It would have to be no ordinary merit."
This time Zhang Xiu smiled gently and patted both of Tian Yan's shoulders.
"Don't worry about that. You don't even need a great victory. Just go far. Advance as far as the Han Sea in Mobei, look upon it, and come back. If you smash a few weak tribes along the way, so much the better. Just play at being Huo Qubing. I'll inflate the rest appropriately in Luoyang."
"The Han Sea? Do you think that's as easy as it sounds?"
"In Xianbei territory, Tanshihuai's stronghold at Tanhan Mountain sits off toward the southeast. Zhang Min and Ha Yu will pin Tanshihuai down. Meanwhile, Zhonglangjiang Tian need only go to the Han Sea and return."
Even if Zhang Min and Ha Yu were crushed — if Tian Yan alone succeeded in a Huo Qubing-like expedition to the Han Sea? If they offered the present emperor a little praise, telling him he was just like Emperor Wu?
Zhang Xiu's words gradually pushed the fear from Tian Yan's heart. It seemed as though it might actually work.
The soldiers peered about in every direction with uneasy eyes. They had been told that once they crossed the desert, open grassland would appear and the march would grow easy.
There was grassland, yes. But a harsh mountain range ran west to east across it, from the Zhuotu Mountains to the Junji Mountains, cutting the steppe in two. Beyond that, another chain stretched from the Yanran Mountains to the Jiluo Mountains and blocked the way ahead. And between them, the Punu River — how bitterly cold it had been.
"Every one of these mountains and rivers is ground Huo Qubing himself passed through! Be at ease! Unfamiliar, yes — but land our Han army has already conquered!"
Tian Yan's inflated hope shattered not long after.
A strange great host, its sound like the mocking laughter of wolves. The cavalry army under Tanshihuai's personal command had appeared, come to smash that arrogant title — Zhonglangjiang Defeating the Xianbei — to pieces.