The Battle of Hetao

Tuoba Yiyi cautiously followed the messenger with his hand on his sword hilt. He was ready to draw his sword immediately if anything suspicious appeared.

However, contrary to Tuoba Yiyi’s worries, the messenger headed straight for Zhang Ran’s tent. Tuoba Yiyi narrowed his eyes, wondering if there was something different in that tent.

“Please enter.”

“Ahem, thank you for your effort.”

At the messenger’s words, Tuoba Yiyi squared his shoulders even more, as if afraid of appearing frightened.

Unlike his various imaginings, Zhang Ran was alone inside the tent.

It was unnatural that she was still fully armed even though it was long past nightfall, but that was rather more like Zhang Ran.

“You’ve come.”

“Yes, General. I heard you called for me.”

When they first met, they used semi-formal speech with each other, but now they were accustomed to informal and formal speech respectively. This was also proof of how much Tuoba Yiyi had tried to narrow the distance between them.

“Yes. I called for you.”

Tuoba Yiyi observed Zhang Ran’s expression. He thought she might have called him to deal with the resistance incited by the continuous retreats, but her face was expressionless for such a matter.

Though his expectation was off, Tuoba Yiyi was glad. He hoped that Zhang Ran, whom he considered a heavenly maiden, was not a coward frightened by the enemy’s large army.

It wasn’t only Tuoba Yiyi who was observing the other’s expression and true intentions. Seeing the relief that appeared on his face, Zhang Ran spoke:

“Do you trust me?”

‘Is this a loyalty test? Such a direct confirmation of loyalty wouldn’t be very effective.’

Though inwardly puzzled, Tuoba Yiyi calmly answered.

“Of course. Who would I trust if not the Commander-in-Chief?”

“Is that so? Then how about compared to Tubin?”

At that moment, a chill ran down Tuoba Yiyi’s spine. He instinctively sensed danger.

“…Commander-in-Chief? How…”

This is not a simple reconfirmation of loyalty. Such a thought flashed through Tuoba Yiyi’s mind.

‘Zhang Ran and Tubin. Life and death. It’s a choice between two.’

Tuoba Yiyi was certain that if he chose Tubin, Zhang Ran would kill him.

Her control was already shaky. If it spread that she asked Tuoba Yiyi to choose between Tubin and herself, even a three-year-old child would know that Tubin would turn against Han, if not outright rebel.

The aftermath of killing him? Zhang Ran had the perfect excuse.

She could simply say she killed him because he tried to rape her.

Though he had resolved the question of why Zhang Ran had called him secretly, Tuoba Yiyi was not at all pleased.

“I want to hear your true thoughts.”

“…Let me ask in return. Have you asked this question to others besides me, Commander-in-Chief?”

“Of course not. You’ll be the first and last.”

“Then… Yes, I will follow the Commander-in-Chief more.”

It wasn’t a lie.

Though Tubin was a benefactor who had accepted Tuoba Yiyi, Tuoba Yiyi didn’t have any particular thoughts of owing him a life debt or needing to repay him.

On the steppes, unless you share blood ties, relationships are just about using each other.

Names like Xianbei, Xiongnu, or Qiang are just labels Han people use to easily distinguish barbarians, far from being groups that share a sense of community.

Tubin was no different in this aspect. He didn’t embrace the Tuoba clan with sincere virtue, but merely took them in as useful mercenaries.

Moreover, Tuoba Yiyi had great ambition. In actual history, even though Tuoba Yiyi became Tubin’s son-in-law, when Tubin died, he killed Tubin’s two sons and absorbed the Murong clan as his own.

He was an ambitious man who could cut ties with Tubin whenever necessary.

“You, do something with me.”

“Defeating Cao Zhi?”

“Something like that.”

“I’ll gladly follow.”

As expected. Feeling elated that his eyes hadn’t been wrong, Tuoba Yiyi immediately prostrated himself.

“In the next battle, induce Tubin to attack.”

“Are you planning to use Tubin as a sacrificial pawn?”

“To catch a cautious fish, a fake bait won’t do.”

“But, will it really be alright? Tubin’s power is great.”

Giving up all the Xianbei forces including Tubin would be too great a loss. And in Tuoba Yiyi’s thinking, there wasn’t really a need to throw out bait.

It was rather the Wei army that wanted a full-scale battle. Wasn’t it enough for their side to just not retreat?

But Zhang Ran just quietly wore a faint smile. Seeing Zhang Ran seemingly unwilling to resolve his doubts this time, Tuoba Yiyi quickly switched gears.

“What should I do?”

“Gathering the cavalry under Tubin who will become defeated troops. As for Tubin’s life or death, I’ll leave that to you.”

If you want, you can take Tubin’s Murong clan in this opportunity. It was Zhang Ran’s reward to Tuoba Yiyi for choosing to cooperate with her.

“I won’t disappoint you.”

“When you finish gathering while pretending to flee, turn the army and strike the enemy’s rear.”

Tuoba Yiyi roughly grasped Zhang Ran’s plan.

Using the Xianbei as bait to draw them into a full-scale battle, then while the Han army led by Zhang Ran holds out, attack the rear of the Wei army with the highly mobile cavalry.

It was a very typical encirclement tactic. It was also a tactic Zhang Ran had used several times before.

But would it work against the Wei army with greater numbers? Even though Tuoba Yiyi was assigned to gather troops, the Wei army wasn’t some band of thieves, and their troop losses would be quite substantial.

Many questions arose, but Tuoba Yiyi didn’t raise any particular objections.

According to Zhang Ran’s plan, Tuoba Yiyi would temporarily leave the battlefield. Even in his thinking, it didn’t seem likely that the Wei army would chase after those fleeing with the main Han army in front of them.

So if Zhang Ran’s operation failed, Tuoba Yiyi could simply flee for real.

“Then should I rejoin the battle at a point I judge appropriate?”

“If you watch the battlefield, you’ll naturally know.”

“You mean you’ll give a signal. What kind is it?”

Zhang Ran’s smile deepened, and her red lips drew a clear arc.

“A flower.”

§

Unlike the Han camp where dissatisfaction among the ethnic minorities was accumulating, the Wei camp was full of excitement.

Though the overall morale was opposite, there was a commonality between the two camps. It was that the atmosphere between the ethnic minorities and the Han army was contrasting.

The Wei army, having been outmaneuvered by Zhang Ran many times, was wary that she might be retreating with some kind of scheme, but the ethnic minorities who had only heard stories about Zhang Ran and Han were overflowing with confidence.

Only the Southern Xiongnu, whose Left Wise King Liu Biao had been killed by Zhang Ran, were still cautious.

“It was just rumors.”

“Indeed. With a woman as the leader, the level is obvious.”

Soldiers of the Xianbei, Di, Wuhuan, and others mocked Zhang Ran and the Han army whenever they gathered.

What was there to fear about an opponent who fled three times without even fighting? Even their fear of the Wei army they had been afraid of was becoming blurry.

The Wei leadership also grasped the current flowing among the ethnic minorities.

Jian Yong, who was newly appointed to the position of Protector of the Northern Barbarians, confirmed it faster than anyone. In Jian Yong’s view, who was in charge of overseeing all northern ethnic minorities as the name suggests, this atmosphere was not good.

“The northern barbarians, except for the Southern Xiongnu, are too excited.”

Cao Zhang, the military commander, asked after hearing Jian Yong’s words:

“Is it to the level where control is difficult?”

“Not to that extent.”

Jian Yong spoke with pride.

Since the time when Yuan Shao ruled Hebei, Jian Yong had been commanding northern ethnic minorities including the Wuhuan. It was absurd to lose control over just this much.

“It’s as the Protector Jian says. No matter how excited they get, aren’t they all in the palm of our Wei?”

Yan Yu, who was second to none in commanding ethnic minorities, also added his opinion to Jian Yong’s words.

“We need to be cautious.”

It was Yang Xi, the Governor of Bingzhou, who spoke.

While most cases of army collapse are due to broken morale, there are also many cases where armies become too inflated with morale, rush in intoxicated with a sense of victory, and end up being crushed.

There’s no need to look far; Zhang Xiu, one of the few who achieved a great victory against Cao Cao, was defeated in such a way. Of course, he later paid it back by listening to Jia Xu’s advice.

“Please don’t forget that when Sun Bin of Qi defeated Pang Juan of Wei, he also employed a deception strategy of false retreat.”

“Governor Yang’s words are not wrong, but I see a blind spot.”

Though Yang Xi advocated caution, Cao Zhang shook his head and said:

“Sun Bin’s soldiers were a unified force of the Qi army, but the current situation is not like that. The act of retreating to break our calmness will come back to bite them.”

In Cao Zhang’s view, it was the very nature of nomadic peoples. Unlike Han people who value systematic military strategies, they were races preoccupied with instinctive displays of strength.

Cao Zhang also assumed that Zhang Ran would have done persuasion work in advance. But even so, that might be possible with the leadership, but it can’t handle the dissatisfaction of the common soldiers below.

The part Cao Zhang was focusing on in this battle was not such games played with these ethnic minorities.

“The defeats so far have largely been due to letting Zhang Ran move freely. With her sharp eye for grasping the weaknesses of armies and her extremely bold actions, we’ve been defeated by having our weaknesses exploited while leaving her unchecked.”

During the Battle for Hanzhong, didn’t she brilliantly exploit the momentary gap created by Yang Su? In Jingzhou, she somehow knew that the majority were new recruits and challenged Cao Huang at his weakest moment to achieve victory.

“It was the same when Guo Huai was defeated. At that time, she even created the weakness herself.”

Cao Zhang prided himself on having analyzed Zhang Ran more deeply than anyone else.

And Cao Zhang’s conclusion was that the key was to blockade Zhang Ran.

“If we strike Zhang Ran and her main force with a large army, what can Zhang Ran do? Here the land is flat and there are no forests, so ambushes are impossible. If we utilize the principle of large armies, victory is certain.”

The righteous way.

Large armies don’t need tricks. Rashly employing tricks and exposing weaknesses would give Zhang Ran an opportunity.

In Cao Zhang’s thinking, the best way to defeat Zhang Ran was the orthodox method of tightening with a large army.

Those ethnic minorities. Those who are just for rear stability and filling numbers are fine as long as they don’t interfere.

Let the ethnic minorities fight among themselves.

In the end, the outcome will be decided between Zhang Ran and Cao Zhang.

“Tomorrow, we launch another offensive.”

And when Cao Zhang attempted an attack the next day.

The Han army showed signs of retreating as usual, but this time it was different.

A group of cavalry rushed out from the Han camp.

It was the Xianbei led by Tubin.