Response 2

The time for the decisive battle had finally come.

The Han army raised to avenge Guan Yu and occupy Luoyang was a great force of over 100,000 troops.

Combining all the forces mobilized from both Guanzhong and Jingzhou, it reached as many as 135,000, boasting the largest scale since Liu Bei raised an army.

With such a large number of people, just marching them to the battlefield without losses was a major task, even more so than fighting against the Wei army.

The troops departing from Guanzhong numbered over 100,000, and supplying them could not be overlooked either.

The civil officials in Guanzhong were truly in a wartime state. Well, it actually was wartime. The processing of documents delivered to them and tasks like going on business trips to various supply routes outside Chang’an Castle to inspect everything one by one were reminiscent of soldiers engaging in battle.

Still, was it thanks to the years of preparation since securing Guanzhong? It seemed there were no major hitches except for the Hongnong area newly acquired by Pang Tong.

‘Thanks to Pang Tong obtaining half of Hongnong, we can use the new route of the Luo River, so it’s a share we must be grateful for and endure.’

Xiao He, who not only supplied materials but also secured and sent additional troops in an even more difficult environment than now, was truly a monster.

Perhaps in the Chu-Han war, the real superhuman was not Xiang Yu but Xiao He. That’s probably why Liu Bang appointed Xiao He as the number one meritorious vassal without hesitation.

Anyway, while Ma Liang and Pang Tong were responsible for supplies, I was in charge of the march.

It wasn’t a role given to me from the start, but it was because the plan I proposed was adopted during the military council’s discussion about marching.

How to get to Luoyang.

The easiest way is for the entire army to receive supplies while traveling along the Luo River by water transport. But if 100,000 people go through one route, not only will the column be stretched out long, but the marching speed will inevitably be slow.

Therefore, I proposed dividing the army and advancing on several fronts. There was opposition. They couldn’t ignore the risk of being defeated in detail.

‘Napoleon used it, and I who imitated him mainly used defeat in detail too.’

There are actual examples like the Battle of Sarhū, where the Later Jin achieved victory through defeat in detail against the joint Ming-Joseon army of 100,000, which was not even half their size.

However, while Napoleon made defeat in detail his main strategy, he also moved his own army in divisions. To this end, Napoleon even reorganized the division system himself.

Corps of 10,000 to 30,000 men under a commander included not only branches like cavalry and infantry, but also support units like reconnaissance, transport, and engineering units, which enabled each corps to march and operate independently.

Thanks to this, Napoleon escaped the inefficiency caused by concentration of troops and gained the card of wide-ranging and multi-faceted advances. This dispersed movement offered the advantages of faster speed and easier supply.

‘Supply. This is the real problem.’

In this period, supply inevitably had to be combined with local procurement. Supplies received from the supply corps were only to fill in what was lacking from local procurement alone.

Liu Bei had avoided requisitioning from local people as much as possible, but in this war, Liu Bei was in no position to be picky.

However, how much supply can 1000 soldiers get from a village of 100 people?

Napoleon solved this problem by dividing the army. By dividing 1000 soldiers into 10 units and having them pass through different villages, he maximized local procurement.

While the advantages were clear, the disadvantages were also fatal, but Napoleon was truly a god of war. He established a rapid communication system, quickly concentrating the corps that had been moving separately, thus blocking the possibility of defeat in detail.

The explanation was long, but to summarize briefly, there’s no need to unconditionally reject dispersing the army if you can utilize it well.

‘Of course, it’s not possible just by imitating Napoleon’s division system. Several prerequisites are needed.’

To have excellent reconnaissance ability to grasp the enemy’s position.

To understand well the terrain of the area that will become the battlefield, enabling concentration at any time.

For the commanders leading each corps to have the ability to cope with given situations.

And for the overall commander overseeing all the corps to have sufficient capability.

There are other detailed conditions, but these four were the most basic.

‘The Battle of Sarhū was crushed because none of these were met. Conversely, Napoleon had everything, so he achieved victory. And currently, Han is satisfying the above conditions to some extent, if not perfectly.’

Understanding of the terrain had long been completed with what I had grasped when I went to pay condolences to Ye, plus additional information gathering.

There was a problem that troop movement would become difficult and concentration impossible while passing through Quyanggu, but taking that into account, we organized separate advance and rear guards to open up the advance route towards Quyanggu.

If the advance guard is blocked by the enemy, the rear guard will rescue them, and conversely, if the advance guard succeeds in breaking through, the rear guard can pass through smoothly.

‘As for the ability of each corps commander, it goes without saying.’

Zhang Fei, Wu Yi, Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, Wang Ping, Zhang Yi, Shang Cong, Guan Ping, and me.

‘Though many generals have gone to Jingzhou and Bingzhou, this is an all-star lineup if there ever was one.’

Lastly, Liu Bei to play the role of overall commander overseeing all the corps.

‘Though his judgment has become somewhat clouded due to Guan Yu’s death, with Pang Tong by his side, there shouldn’t be any problems. I’ll also be with Liu Bei in the central army, so I can handle it if any issues arise.’

Thus, the army was to advance from three directions.

Over Quyanggu, along the Luo River, and through Jingzhou.

Wang Ping and Zhang Yi were first deployed on the route starting from Dongguan and crossing over Quyanggu.

This was the result of selecting those suitable for crossing Quyanggu. Wang Ping’s troops mostly composed of Ba people and Zhang Yi’s Wudang Flying Army would move through the rugged mountains as if it were their own backyard.

Behind the advance guard of Wang Ping and Zhang Yi, the seasoned generals Father and Wu Yi form the rear guard to support them.

With this composition, passing through Quyanggu, which is not even 100 li (about 42 km), shouldn’t be difficult. Even if there are ambushes inside Quyanggu, the advance guard will handle them well, and if the enemy is deployed in formation at the exit, we can break through by joining with the rear guard.

The most stable route along the Luo River was the central army’s march route. The central army consists of me and Liu Bei, and because it can advance by both water and land together with the navy, it had the most troops.

Zhao Yun and Wei Yan are going to Jingzhou, but they are merely a supporting attack. It’s to pressure southern areas like Runan and Henan Prefecture, and to give pressure that we can go towards Jingzhou.

‘Of course, joining up would be best if possible, but Wei wouldn’t have made no preparations.’

Come to think of it, in the original history, Zhao Yun also took charge of leading a separate army to lure the enemy in Zhuge Liang’s Northern Expedition. This time too, it could be seen as a roughly similar role.

‘Even though we grandly talk about dividing the army and whatnot, there are really only two advance routes. But even dividing this much speeds things up.’

Just as they spied on us and prepared defenses against the attack on Bingzhou, we too spied on Wei and knew that Sima Yi was leaving and Cao Pi was coming.

A march one beat faster will exploit that gap of Wei’s overall commander changing.

‘The place where all armies will join is…’

I shifted my gaze westward along the Luo River from Luozhi County in Hongnong Commandery, the central army’s starting point.

‘Henan County.’

The chin of Luoyang, only 60 li (about 25 km) away from Luoyang.

If we move quickly, that place reachable in a day will be our rally point and the main battlefield.

§

To state the result briefly, it was all for nothing.

Though we prepared grandly, the reality was miserable.

“Scorched earth tactics, huh.”

The strategy of dispersing the army to maximize local procurement by passing through various counties became a useless operation.

Because the counties were empty.

Not only Minzhi County on the way up along the Luo River, but also Yiyang County just a stone’s throw from Henan – the people, food, everything was gone.

“Now even the Wei rebels have been driven to the extreme.”

“They judged that they couldn’t stop us from entering Henan from the start, so they cleared out the area. I suspect the situation beyond Quyanggu is similar.”

There’s Xin’an County after crossing Quyanggu. They would have implemented scorched earth tactics there too.

At Pang Tong’s words, I asked with some concern:

“Are they planning to hold out in Luoyang?”

We wouldn’t be blocked by Hangu Pass anyway when going up along the Luo River. If there were no obstructions, our forces that would have reached Xin’an County by now would join up and enter Henan County, that’s all.

Thinking they couldn’t block with Hangu Pass alone, it would make sense to choose the option of staking everything on defending Luoyang Castle.

“I think that possibility is low. Giving up even Henan County means it becomes much harder to defend Xincheng, Yunzhi, Luhun and other counties to the south. Especially since those places have already shown intent to submit to the General-in-Chief once.”

Though he firmly denied it, Pang Tong left room for possibility as if other thoughts occurred to him afterwards.

“However, we are ultimately on an expedition, while for them this is inside their main sphere of influence. It might be possible that they will take a defensive posture relying on fortresses and passes, even if they lose some influence, until our strength is exhausted.”

Though it was speculation, Pang Tong and I strongly felt that this was probably the correct answer.

It wasn’t for nothing that they completely emptied all the counties we passed through. It was undoubtedly a strategy to make us rely only on supplies from our country by preventing local procurement, thus depleting our resources as quickly as possible.

Even if we try to go somewhere other than Luoyang, Wei will surely place proper generals and troops at every pass to block our way.

“It feels like we’ve entered a jar.”

Jiang Wei, who had been listening to my conversation with Pang Tong, spoke heavily.

One year.

During that time we were preparing, Wei too had been thoroughly preparing.

Just as I was inwardly resigning myself to a siege of Luoyang Castle, Ma Su spoke as if puzzled:

“Can’t we just climb the mountains? As the General-in-Chief did before, if we move by crossing over mountains, what use is it for them to guard the passes?”

If it were that easy, they wouldn’t have built passes in the first place. Guan Yu’s escape from encirclement by crossing mountains was the result of various conditions aligning perfectly.

And is it even feasible to climb mountains with troops twice as many as Guan Yu was leading at that time? It would be burdensome even if Ma Su joined hands with Deng Ai.

As I was about to rebuke him with a bit of irritation, Pang Tong spoke first with admiration:

“Climb the mountains. Indeed, there’s a reason Kong Ming keeps an eye on you. Not bad.”

“Grand Commander, what do you mean? Are you really suggesting we cross over the mountains?”

“Hahaha, that would be unreasonable. But climbing mountains is not wrong. Don’t you know? It’s the same as what you did.”

It’s unreasonable to cross over mountains but not wrong to climb them? Something I did?

I wasn’t the only one feeling frustrated at these bizarre words. Liu Bei, who had been silently observing the military council, opened his heavy mouth.

“Everyone is ready to listen attentively, so stop with the frustrating talk and tell us the strategy in your head.”

Liu Bei’s order cannot be disobeyed. Pang Tong wiped the smile off his face and began explaining seriously.

“If they give up even Henan County and refuse battle, we should create a reason they must fight. Gao Yu Yue Zhan. Gong Qi Suo Bi Jiu Ye. If I want to fight, I should attack a place the enemy cannot but rescue.”

Ah, so that’s why he said it was something I did.

But isn’t Luoyang Castle itself a place they absolutely must defend? There was still no explanation for the talk of climbing mountains.

However, looking around, it seemed I was the only one who hadn’t caught on to the answer yet. Everyone else seemed to have understood, letting out exclamations of “Ah!” or nodding their heads.

I quickly composed my expression in a situation where I seemed to be the only one who didn’t know, but Liu Bei had already seen through my situation.

He looked at me, smiled slightly and said:

“The Grand Commander is saying we should climb Mount Weilü.”

“It is as Your Majesty says.”

Mount Weilü? What on earth is that, for them to be so confident the enemy will come to battle, disregarding even the defense of Luoyang? I still didn’t understand. Only after hearing the additional explanation that followed did I finally grasp Pang Tong’s aim.

“On Mount Weilü is the Circular Mound Altar.”

The Circular Mound Altar, also called the Round Altar, is probably a familiar name even to modern South Koreans.

Because the Round Altar is a ceremonial place only for the emperor.