Northward 3

Upon arriving at Jiangling Castle, I immediately sought out Fan Zhun.

The infantry coming up the Yangtze hadn’t arrived yet, but to depart as soon as they arrive, we needed to analyze the situation and establish plans during this spare time.

Just as I sought out Fan Zhun without even resting, Fan Zhun also came out to the government office to greet me when he heard I had arrived.

“Chengming, welcome. I’ve prepared people and battle maps, so please follow me.”

“Who is present?”

“General Who Conquers the East Wu Fan, Military Advisor Yin Guan, Quartermaster Fang Lin are here.”

“All the high officials in Jiangling have gathered.”

“In addition, Governor of Yidu Xue Di and Danyang County Magistrate Liu Min are also present.”

The Governor of Yidu was in charge of a commandery located at the gateway from Nanzhong to Yizhou, including counties like Zigui and Yiling.

Xue Di is famous as a Wei figure, but there was also a Xue Qi (薛齊) in Han with the same name.

Like Bu Zhan or Guo Yi, he was someone who had served Liu Bei for two generations, with his father starting to follow Liu Bei.

You might wonder who he is, but his descendants would be familiar to modern Koreans.

Xue Rengui, often portrayed as Yeon Gaesomun’s rival, was a direct descendant of these people.

Befitting a family that produced descendants who left great names in history, albeit later, Xue Di possessed decent abilities even if not outstanding. He also had great loyalty as befitting a subordinate of Liu Bei for two generations.

Liu Min was also a case where his relatives were more famous than himself, that relative being his maternal cousin Zhang Wan.

He made a name for himself along with Zhang Wan, but when Zhang Wan fell out of Liu Bei’s favor and his career path seemed blocked, Liu Min also started his official career as Zhang Wan was reemployed by Liu Bei.

Still, it wasn’t just because of Zhang Wan’s influence that he received official positions, Liu Min’s own abilities were quite excellent. In the original history, he participated and played an active role in the Battle of Xingshi, also known as the Battle of Luokou.

Anyway, with Xue Di and Liu Min, they were capable talents who could be beneficial if anything, with no concern of becoming internal troubles.

“Very good. Did Chengming call them?”

“Yes. At first I only called the Governor of Yidu, but when I heard you were returning immediately, I also summoned the Danyang County Magistrate. I thought it would be fine to leave Danyang vacant for a while since the Grand General left General Who Pacifies the East in Fancheng.”

General Who Pacifies the East must be Liao Hua.

Liao Hua can be trusted. Liao Hua, who was one of the top three generals along with Jiang Wei and Zhang Yi at the point when Shu Han was falling, should guard Fancheng well.

“Then how many troops do we have?”

“That is… ah, we’ve arrived. Let’s talk inside.”

When we arrived at the conference room, those who had come earlier and were waiting all stood up at once to greet me.

“Let’s skip the cumbersome greetings. Report on the war situation right away.”

“Then, I will speak.”

The quartermaster Yin Guan opened his mouth.

He first reconfirmed in detail the current status of our forces.

“Currently, our forces are divided in several places. General Yi who entered the Wuling army, General Wei who is besieging Lingling County, the Central Army Commander who is consolidating the occupied territories in the east, and the Grand General in Jingbei. Since the General of the Guards has joined us here in Jiangling Castle, I will count the Nanling Army coming by water as being here.”

“Do that. And Lingling County is close by, so if Zhou Fang withdraws according to the agreement with Sun Deng, General Wei will join immediately, so include that side too.”

“Understood.”

Yin Guan’s explanation continued.

The forces going to Jingbei, including those gathered in Jiangling Castle, shall we call them the Jingbei Expeditionary Force for now? Anyway, the Jingbei Expeditionary Force’s troops could be largely classified into four groups:

First, the 20,000 Nanling Army led by me, General of the Guards Zhang Ran.

Second, the 10,000 soldiers led by General Wei, Wei Yan.

Third, the 5,000 troops brought by General Who Conquers the East, Wu Yi.

And lastly, 5,000 soldiers combined from those held by Governor of Yidu Xue Di, Danyang County Magistrate Liu Min, and Jiangling Governor and Inspector of Jingzhou Fan Zhun.

The total available forces were about 40,000.

It’s fine that they didn’t bring their entire army from Yidu Commandery and Danyang County, leaving some for maintaining order, but we needed to station some troops in Lingling and Jiangling to maintain order.

Lingling County especially needed extra attention since it had just gone through a battle, and Jiangling Castle required a significant number of troops to be stationed as befitting the center of Jingzhou.

After stationing troops in these essential places, the actual available forces should be considered about 35,000.

‘But this is enough.’

Our purpose is not an all-out war with Wei, but to break the encirclement and rescue Guan Yu.

35,000 is more than enough troops for that.

“Has the Grand General’s location been determined?”

“About that…”

Yin Guan, who had been presenting smoothly, showed a troubled expression and trailed off. Fan Zhun spoke in his stead:

“It’s been quite a while since Cao Biao blocked between Fancheng and Wancheng, cutting off news. Even the routes of those who used to engage in smuggling across the border have been completely blocked.”

“Cao Biao… What about Xu Huang?”

“We exchanged information with Governor Zhang of Shangyong as well, and it’s said that Xu Huang has divided his army to block both Shangyong and Wuguan.”

“Shangyong and Wuguan. They’re trying to completely isolate the Grand General.”

Wuguan, which connects directly to Guanzhong, and Shangyong, which is the gateway to Hanzhong.

If these two places are blocked, Guan Yu had no way to send messengers requesting help.

The only messengers were those sent before Cao Biao completed the encirclement towards Fancheng. And for those messengers to go to Chang’an or Chengdu, they had to take a long detour.

Even if they barely managed to deliver the message, by the time those reinforcements arrived in Jingbei, Sima Yi’s scheme would already be finished.

If I hadn’t hurriedly returned, Sima Yi’s encirclement would have succeeded.

Fan Zhun in Jiangling Castle, Xue Di in Yidu Commandery, Zhang Yi in Shangyong… None of them would have taken the reckless move of leaving their assigned posts to support Guan Yu when the war with Wu hadn’t even ended.

And there’s no way Liao Hua in Fancheng would go out either. Liao Hua was someone who had sometimes opposed Jiang Wei, who prioritized active offensives, in the original history. It was impossible for him to abandon a core stronghold like Fancheng.

But there was something even Sima Yi hadn’t properly measured:

My existence.

Just as Sima Yi was wary of me, I too had been wary of Sima Yi.

It was fortunate that I quickly wrapped up the war with Wu and returned thanks to Sun Deng’s existence.

If Sun Deng hadn’t been there and we had easily taken Xiagu Castle, I would have advanced all the way to Qichun County.

Then it would have been late to notice Guan Yu’s situation in Jingbei. Naturally, the distance to retreat would have been longer and it would have taken longer to return, and by then there was a high chance I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.

‘Life is like the old man who lost his horse. Who would have thought that struggling with Xiagu Castle because of Sun Deng would now become a godsend.’

Because Sun Deng was there, even Lingling County, which was expected to become a long-term battle, was easily resolved.

They say Zhou Fang is great, great, but he’s a person in the end. Unless he’s an inhuman figure like Xiang Yu or Liu Xiu, it’s difficult to overcome this situation.

But it’s also true that he has the capacity to drag out a long-term war sufficiently. It’s nearly impossible to make Zhou Fang withdraw this quickly.

After briefly savoring this insight about life, I quickly gathered my thoughts and focused on Fan Zhun’s continuing explanation.

“Cao Biao, who entered Nanyang through Pingdi County, is currently forming an encirclement centered on Xinye County.”

“He intends to properly block even the Yu River just in case.”

“That’s likely. The numbers are not small, as if he’s scraped up all the troops from Xuchang and even the forces from Runan. It seems they’re placing some soldiers at every path leading to Wancheng while intercepting messengers sent by the Grand General.”

“Is the main force still in Xinye County?”

“Yes. If the Grand General chose to return to Fancheng, it would be easiest to block both land and water simultaneously from Xinye County. However, no battle has been confirmed to have broken out in Xinye County so far.”

If Guan Yu and Cao Biao in Xinye County haven’t clashed even until now, it’s safe to assume Guan Yu has given up on returning to Fancheng.

Then there are 3 remaining paths:

Stay in Wancheng, choose the path to Shangyong, or… continue advancing north.

Why did I exclude Wuguan? Wuguan has narrow passages. In other words, a small force can easily block a large number. It’s not for nothing that Xu Huang is blocking both Wuguan and Shangyong.

If he headed towards Wuguan and got blocked by the terrain limitations, Xu Huang and Cao Biao would rush in immediately to attempt encirclement and annihilation.

“Was there no battle in the Shangyong direction either?”

“No. In my opinion, I think he might be preparing for a defensive battle in Wancheng…”

Hold out in Wancheng until reinforcements arrive.

Rationally, that seems like the best move. Wancheng is also quite a solid fortress, and Guan Yu has expertise in castles too.

But is that really the case? This is Guan Yu’s northern expedition that he ambitiously planned, even prepared for a two-front war. Guan Yu’s temperament isn’t meek enough to just wait for reinforcements in Wancheng in such an unsightly manner at this point.

‘If Guan Yu advanced north, it will really be difficult to catch up. I can only hope he’s holding out in Wancheng.’

In the end, we could only do our best with what we could do.

“When the navy arrives, we’ll head north immediately. Everyone prepare for the upcoming march.”

Our goal is to defeat Cao Biao in Xinye and tear open the encirclement.

In addition, if possible, cooperate with Guan Yu to wipe that shameless look off Sima Yi’s face as a bonus.

By the time the personnel in Jiangling Castle had secured military supplies and completed preparations for the march, Jiang Wei and Ma Su arrived. As previously stated, we immediately left Jiangling Castle as soon as we joined up with them.

‘This is the second time.’

The journey to save Guan Yu.

Unlike the first time when everything was prepared, this journey began pressed for time.