If you want to read 20 Chapters ahead and more, be sure to check out my Patreon!!!
Go to https://www.patreon.com/Tang12
____________________________
Lie Fan gave a final nod and strode from the command post, his armored figure soon swallowed by the organized chaos of the camp, heading not toward the sounds of celebration, but toward the quiet tent where a young prince was learning the weight of his inheritance.
Far to the southeast, in the captured but still restive capital of Yi Province, the atmosphere was one of coiled anticipation, not weary aftermath. In the grand hall of the former Shu palace in Chengdu, a different council of war was underway.
Fa Zheng, left as Interim Governor by the departing Zhuge Liang and Lu Xun, sat at the head of a table that was a blend of old loyalties and new realities. To his right was the shrewd, diminutive Zhang Song, whose maps and memorized geography had been the key to Yi Province's fall. To his left was Meng Da, ambitious and adaptable.
Arrayed around them were the military muscle, the veteran, fierce Yan Yan. The stern, principled Zhang Ren. The formidable King of the Nanman, Meng Huo, still adjusting to the discipline of imperial warfare but fiercely loyal to the dynasty that had defeated him with respect.
The steady Li Yan, the eager Wu Lan, and the newest addition, Zhang Ni, a local commander of notable skill and integrity whom Zhuge Liang had personally recruited and assigned to Fa Zheng's command before departing.
"The reports are final," Fa Zheng said, his voice crisp and efficient. He tapped a scroll on the table. "One hundred and fifty thousand men. Provisioned, equipped, and drilled. The siege engines His Majesty's engineers sent from the capital, the new counterweight trebuchets, the multi arrow hwachas, have been assembled and the crews are proficient. They are not the toys of warlords. They are instruments of an empire."
Yan Yan, his old face a network of scars and resolve, grunted in approval. "Aye. I've seen the tests. The range, the power… it makes the walls of Jianmen Pass look less like a fortress and more like a stubborn fence. His Majesty's mind for war extends beyond the battlefield. It forges the tools before the first blow is struck."
Zhang Ren nodded, his expression grave. "The pass is formidable, but it was built to stop the armies of old. It has not faced an army like this, with tools like these. The confidence of the men is high. They believe they are the hammer to His Majesty's anvil at Hongnong."
Zhang Song, his eyes bright with cunning, leaned forward. "The supplies are already moving. Grain, arrows, spare parts, all pre positioned along the route. We anticipated this move the moment Hongnong became a stalemate. His Majesty expects us to open a southern front, to squeeze Cao Cao in a vice. Why wait for the formal order? It is already implied in every report, every map. He is waiting. Cao Cao is waiting. The world is waiting."
Fa Zheng looked around the table, meeting the eyes of each general. There was no dissent, only a shared, focused aggression. They were no longer defenders of a regional kingdom; they were the southern spearhead of the Hengyuan Dynasty, eager to prove their worth and cement their place in the new order.
"Then it is decided," Fa Zheng said, a rare, sharp smile touching his lips. "We do not wait for a scroll to tell us what we already know must be done. Yan Yan, Zhang Ren, you will have joint command of the field army. Your task is the pass. Smash it open. Meng Da and I will coordinate strategy in the battlefield, following the army. Zhang Song will remain here to ensure the province remains the stable rear it needs to be."
He stood, and the others followed suit. "Meng Huo, your Nanman warriors will be crucial in the mountain approaches. Li Yan, Wu Lan, you are with the main assault force. Zhang Ni, you will command the vanguard reconnaissance and skirmishers."
He placed his hands on the table. "We move at dawn. Let us remind Jianmen Pass, and the man cowering in Hongnong beyond it, that the reach of the Hengyuan Emperor is long, and his armies are everywhere."
The next morning, as the mist clung to the verdant mountains of Shu, the scene at the mustering grounds outside Chengdu was one of awe inspiring scale. One hundred and fifty thousand men stood in silent, ordered blocks, a sea of polished steel and determined faces.
The new siege engines, monstrous constructs of wood and iron, were positioned at the rear, like slumbering giants. Banners of the Hengyuan Dynasty, alongside the regional standards of Yi Province, snapped in the cool dawn breeze.
At the forefront, Yan Yan and Zhang Ren sat astride their warhorses, old rivals now bound in common purpose. Behind them, the diverse host awaited the order. Fa Zheng and Meng Da watched from a raised platform, their minds already racing ahead to the logistical and tactical puzzles of the campaign.
There was no long, rousing speech. The objective was clear, the army was ready, and the urgency of their northern sovereign's situation was felt by all. Yan Yan simply raised his sword, the metal catching the first ray of the sun.
"FOR THE EMPEROR! FOR UNIFICATION! ADVANCE!"
The order echoed down the ranks. With a sound like a mountain beginning to walk, the rumble of carts, the tread of thousands of boots, the clatter of armor the southern army of the Hengyuan Dynasty began its march north.
Their target was to recapture Jianmen Pass. Their goal, to turn the siege of Hongnong into a crushing, two front war from which the last vestiges of the Wei could not possibly recover.
The march from Chengdu to the foothills of the Qinling Mountains, where Jianmen Pass cut its defiant notch through the rock, was a display of imperial logistics in motion.
One hundred and fifty thousand men did not simply walk, they flowed like a controlled flood along the widened roads and pre positioned supply lines. The local villagers, now subjects of the Hengyuan Dynasty, watched from the fields with a mixture of awe and apprehension.
This was not the ragged, foraging army of a local warlord, it was a machine, well fed, disciplined, and trailing a tail of engineers, smiths, and physicians that stretched for miles.
They made the distance in a matter of days, a blistering pace for a force of such size, a testament to Fa Zheng's meticulous planning and Zhang Song's unparalleled knowledge of every shortcut and viable road.
When they finally emerged from the forested valleys onto the plains before the pass, the sight that greeted the Wei defenders was one of calculated, overwhelming might.
The walls of Jianmen Pass, formidable and towering, hewn from the living mountain itself, seemed to shudder as the horizon darkened with the approaching army.
The Wei garrison, though forewarned by a urgent missive from Crown Prince Cao Ang in Hongnong, felt the blood drain from their faces. The letter had spoken of a possibility, a strategic diversion. The reality was an avalanche.
They had prepared, of course. Stocks of arrows and stones had been doubled. The gate mechanisms had been reinforced. Patrols in the surrounding mountains had been increased.
But preparation against a rumor and standing firm against the living, breathing reality of the Hengyuan southern army were two different things.
A cold, silent dread settled over the pass as watchmen counted the endless columns, the forest of spears, and finally, the monstrous shapes of the new siege engines being hauled into position, constructs of such scale and sinister design they seemed like beasts from an ancient myth.
In the Hengyuan camp, the atmosphere was one of focused, predatory calm. There was no celebration, no bluster. Tents rose in orderly grids with practiced efficiency. Deep trenches were dug, sharpened stakes planted. The camp became a fortress in its own right in a matter of hours.
At the heart of it, in a command tent that was a smaller, southern echo of the one at Hongnong, the final plans were being honed. Zhang Ren and Yan Yan, the two old warriors, stood over a detailed sand table representation of the pass and its surrounding peaks.
Fa Zheng and Meng Da flanked them, their expressions sharp. Meng Huo, a mountain of muscle and vibrant feathers, loomed nearby, his presence a reminder of the untamed force at their disposal. Li Yan, Wu Lan, and the keen eyed Zhang Ni completed the circle.
"The defenses are as we anticipated, but stronger," Zhang Ren stated, pointing with a baton. "They've thickened the gates, built additional firing platforms here, and here. The reconstruction after Zhuge Liang took the pass initially was thorough. They've learned."
Yan Yan grunted, tracing a route along the steep mountain flanks with a calloused finger. "Stone is stone. It breaks. Their strength is in the narrow front. They believe the mountains protect their flanks."
Meng Huo's teeth flashed in a fierce grin. "Mountains are my home. They protect my warriors, not theirs."
Fa Zheng nodded, absorbing it all. "The strategy from Chengdu stands, but we refine it with your eyes." He looked at each field commander. "You have walked the land, seen the enemy dispositions in the last scout reports. Speak. Where is the pressure point? Where does the wall have a hidden crack?"
Li Yan, ever pragmatic, leaned in. "The new western firing platform. It has a clear line on our main approach. But its foundation is on an older section of wall. A concentrated barrage from three of the heavy trebuchets, not two, might collapse its footing before our infantry even advances. It's a risk, we'd be dedicating significant artillery to one spot, but if it falls, it creates a blind spot and a breach."
Wu Lan, younger and eager, added, "The river that runs below the eastern wall is low this season. It's not a moat, it's a ditch. We could send a forced under cover of darkness to fill sections of it with rubble and timber. Not to cross, but to create staging grounds for the 'climbing tigers' closer to the base. It would cut the ladder rush time in half."
Zhang Ni, the local expert, pointed to a seemingly sheer section of the northern ridge. "There is a goat path here. It is not on any Wei map. It is treacherous, single file only. But it emerges behind their secondary artillery emplacement on the north tower. A small force of elite climbers, not an army, could cause catastrophic disruption at a key moment."
Fa Zheng and Meng Da exchanged a look. This was the synthesis they needed. The grand strategy from the palace was being tempered and improved by the grit and local knowledge of the men who would execute it.
______________________________
Name: Lie Fan
Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty
Age: 35 (202 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 2325
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 9)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 966 (+20)
VIT: 623 (+20)
AGI: 623 (+10)
INT: 667
CHR: 98
WIS: 549
WILL: 432
ATR Points: 0