Biting and Being Bitten 6

    Biting and Being Bitten 6

    Although we successfully struck Cao Biao’s rear and forced him to retreat, it didn’t completely neutralize Cao Biao’s army and remove them from the battlefield.

    Cao Biao boldly abandoned the troops he had to give up, and withdrew with the forces he could preserve. And instead of returning to Wancheng, he turned east and left the northern route.

    It was a direction he deliberately chose, knowing our goal was to rescue Guan Yu in the north.

    Following Cao Biao would mean deviating from the shortest route to Guan Yu, and naturally that much time would be delayed.

    ‘Come follow me if you dare.’

    And if we stuck to his tail trying to catch Cao Biao, there was a high chance of encountering Xu Huang’s army, which was returning to Wancheng at every moment.

    If that happened, we might be completely blocked from the path to Guan Yu by the two great generals Cao Biao and Xu Huang.

    ‘It can’t be helped. It’s a choice between two options. If I have to choose between Cao Biao and Guan Yu, it’s Guan Yu without hesitation.’

    I put aside a moment’s hesitation and firmly established the purpose of Guan Yu.

    Seeing that the handling of the wounded and bodies was roughly finished, I called the lieutenants like Wei Yan, Ma Dai, and Jiang Wei and said:

    “Now that the army’s cleanup is done, we’ll depart immediately.”

    “Aren’t we pursuing Cao Biao?”

    To Wei Yan’s question, thinking of expanding our military achievements, I firmly shook my head.

    “Now that it seems certain Guan Yu marched to Luoyang instead of Wancheng, we don’t have the leisure to chase Cao Biao. We will continue advancing north as is and prioritize rescuing the Grand General.”

    Our current location is near Liuyang County, about midway between Xinye Castle and Wancheng. The distance we still had to go to reach Luoyang was far too great.

    Wei Yan accepted my words and withdrew, but this time Jiang Wei stepped forward and asked:

    “General of the Guards, do you intend to go straight to Luoyang like this?”

    “Yes.”

    “That won’t do. Currently our army’s infantry and cavalry are separated. First we must join up with General Who Conquers the East leading the following troops and combine our forces.”

    “That would be too slow. And their original mission was to check Xu Huang.”

    It’s not that I split the cavalry and infantry without any thought, risking defeat in detail.

    The purpose was strong to interfere with Xu Huang in case he somehow displayed impossible mobility like Sima Yi, to prevent us from being surrounded between Cao Biao’s army and Xu Huang’s army.

    Anyway, since we successfully repelled Cao Biao, it’s true that the need to hold back Xu Huang has decreased.

    Even if we leave Nanyang and enter Henan, Xu Huang will have to stay to block Fancheng and Wuguan.

    However, if Wu Fan holds Xu Huang back well, it would also be possible to bring reinforcements from the Guanzhong direction through Wuguan.

    “The problem I’m talking about isn’t that, General. Although we rested in Wancheng, we fought this battle without the lingering fatigue in our bodies being fully resolved. If we go to Luoyang recklessly like this, we’ll be too exhausted to do anything. And currently our army has minimized baggage to increase speed. We’re short on provisions.”

    Jiang Wei’s point was valid. We can’t march through mountains with cavalry, and if we follow the existing roads towards Luoyang, we’ll inevitably be blocked by passes.

    No matter how fast our marching speed, if the march itself is blocked, no one knows how long it will take.

    Jiang Wei also frankly expressed such thoughts:

    “We don’t know which pass will block us on the way to Luoyang, and we can’t guarantee the time, but our army only has three days’ worth of food. And we’ve already consumed one meal of that. We need to resupply.”

    Ma Dai, who had been silently listening to Jiang Wei’s words, also agreed with his opinion, albeit reluctantly:

    “It’s as Bai Yue says. It’s difficult to break through passes with only cavalry. We need to advance north together with infantry to break through passes.”

    “Even Bai Zhan…”

    With the two lieutenants from the General of the Guards’ Office who had joined the cavalry with me unanimously opposing, it was difficult for me to reject as firmly as before.

    Their words had a point. And it was clear that they too were aware of the importance of rescuing Guan Yu.

    However, because I knew better than anyone the repercussions Guan Yu’s death would bring, the anxiety I felt was different from theirs.

    The outcome of the Battle of Yiling in the original history, brought about by Liu Bei’s grief of severing the intestines, made me anxious.

    Should we pursue joining up with Guan Yu as quickly as possible even while embracing danger?

    Or should we take the safer path trusting in Guan Yu, even if it takes a bit more time?

    As I was wavering at this crossroads of choice, Wei Yan spoke up again.

    Just as I thought if Wei Yan opposed once more, it would be right to follow the lieutenants’ opinions, what Wei Yan said was the opposite of expectations:

    “Rather, now is the perfect time to break through the passes.”

    “Now is the perfect time?”

    “Yes. Think about it. If the Grand General is blocked at a pass, it’s rather better for our army. We can rescue the Grand General by striking Sima Yi’s rear while he’s fighting the Grand General. Even if the Grand General has broken through the pass with his fierce might, Sima Yi would also have fought to cross the pass. A pass breached twice would be easier the third time.”

    As Wei Yan, who could be called the main general, took my side, the balance of weight tilted sharply. However, Wei Yan’s following words reversed that:

    “But food is certainly a problem. The road to Luoyang is considerable. Even if we successfully break through the passes, it would take about ten days marching while maintaining our strength.”

    In the end, provisions were the problem.

    If we join the following troops and resupply provisions like this, our speed will decrease as much as the weight increases.

    If we were like the Mongol army where one cavalryman led several horses each, we wouldn’t have such worries.

    The Mongol army, where one soldier led five or six horses, could carry that much more supplies for the cavalry.

    Unfortunately, we weren’t that abundant in war horses.

    There are reserve war horses, but these are really just reserves. They are horses in case something happens to the horses, not pack horses. There’s a limit to how much can be loaded.

    However, since Wei Yan had given an answer to the worries about the passes, I had no intention of turning back.

    “No. We’ll force our way through like this.”

    “General…!”

    “We’ll replace provisions with local procurement.”

    In the end, war supplies tend to rely on local procurement.

    Regardless of East or West, the costs of war have been passed on to the people, the citizens.

    Sun Tzu argued in the Operations chapter of his Art of War to procure supplies in enemy territory, and Napoleon also relied on requisitions to make up for insufficient supplies.

    It was abnormal that we had been trying to solve everything with our own supplies somehow until now, as they would become our people.

    “General, they are our country’s people!”

    “It’s not plunder. What we’re going to do is requisition. For each county we requisition supplies from, we’ll write certificates promising compensation for it. A certificate stamped with my seal as General of the Guards should be sufficient. We’ll have the following logistics unit compensate them as much as written on the certificates. Then it becomes a transaction, not plunder.”

    Of course, that’s assuming we successfully occupy the northern counties of Nanyang, so for a while it will be no different from plunder. The local people’s sentiment towards Han will also worsen.

    But there’s no choice now. We had to run even if it meant doing this.

    “If we succeed in rescuing the Grand General, all that will remain for the Cao bandits is the fact they were attacked at Luoyang by our country. And with this much achievement, conquering Nanyang later will be an easy task. We will advance while securing food locally like this.”

    It’s not an easy choice for me either.

    No matter how much we say we’ll compensate them, even if we say we’ll repay them with interest, in the end it’s the same as taking their property with an unclear future as collateral.

    Nevertheless, I made the decision believing it’s necessary now, but Jiang Wei still didn’t yield his opinion.

    “General, it’s too reckless.”

    “Reckless?”

    “Yes, just rushing to Luoyang pressed for time is too reckless no matter how I think about it. We must be cautious about entering Sili Prefecture. Right now, General of the Guards, you are too excited about the Grand General being in danger.”

    “Not at all. I’m calm.”

    I am thinking rationally enough.

    “Our situation may look good right now, but looking at the big picture it’s precarious. We repelled Cao Biao but didn’t kill him. Further away, Xu Huang is also alive with his eyes wide open. To enter Sili Prefecture like this and requisition from the people? If Cao Biao rallies his routed troops and joins with Xu Huang to lock down Henan, our army will be isolated in the middle of enemy territory. If we make the people turn their backs on us in such a situation, there’s no way out!”

    “It doesn’t matter.”

    “Pardon?”

    “I said it doesn’t matter.”

    After joining up with Guan Yu, if the situation is good, we just need to occupy Luoyang. The problem is if the situation is bad. At that time, we escape from the death trap of Sili Prefecture somehow.

    And that escape route is neither going south to return to Fancheng, nor advancing west to break through Hangu Pass and Hongnong.

    “We’ll cross Ji Pass and go through Hedong Commandery.”

    Hedong Commandery.

    That was Guan Yu’s hometown.

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