HCT – Chapter 165 The Significance of the Battle of Zhiyuan

Wang Jian’s victory report was delivered via water route and first landed in Li Mu’s hands.

When Li Mu read the report, his eyelids twitched, and he slapped the table hard before bursting into hearty laughter: “Zhu Xiang’s judgment of people is remarkably accurate! After today, another fine story shall be added to the annals!”

Just as Li Mu’s troops returned from their march, he happened to meet up with Meng Wu.

Meng Wu, after finishing the report, couldn’t stop his face from twitching. “An all-out assault on the three passes of Zhiyuan? Didn’t you say Wang Jian was cautious? This is what you call cautious?!”

The Three Passes of Zhiyuan, later known during the Southern and Northern Dynasties as the Three Passes of Yiyang—Wusheng Pass, Jiuli Pass, and Pingjing Pass—formed the only land route between the Huai River Plain and the Jianghan Plain.

During the clashes between Wu and Chu, Sun Wu and Wu Zixu had once carved their names into military history here with the famous Battle of Boju.

The Jianghan Plain and the Huai River Plain were cut off by the Dabie Mountains and the Tongbai Mountains. Any large army wishing to pass could only take this narrow corridor between the two mountain ranges. The Three Passes of Zhiyuan were treacherously narrow and rugged—“carts could not spread their axles, horses could not ride abreast.” This was always a vital strategic chokepoint, and the attacking side would traditionally pay a steep price to seize it.

Yet this was merely the “land route” of necessity.

All roads led to the Central Plains. The Qin navy was formidable; they could easily strike from the south via the Yangtze River or land from the east by sea.

Even on land, Qin did not border Chu solely at the Jianghan Plain. In history, when Wang Jian campaigned against Chu, he advanced eastward north of the Huai River, transporting provisions by water, while enjoying relatively easier terrain.

As for the Three Passes of Zhiyuan, or the Yiyang Passes—they could simply be bypassed.

Now that the entire Yangtze was under Qin’s control, why would a “cautious” general like Wang Jian burden himself with attacking the Three Passes of Zhiyuan? Was it truly necessary?

Li Mu chuckled, replying: “In a single campaign, with fewer than three thousand casualties, he seized the Three Passes of Zhiyuan and dealt a tremendous blow to Chu’s morale. If that is not caution, then what is? Caution doesn’t mean shrinking back timidly—it means acting only when certain of success.”

Seeing that Meng Wu still wore a face full of disapproval, Li Mu continued: “Wang Jian must have spread rumors beforehand, letting the Chu generals ‘see through’ him. This was his first time as commander-in-chief. His past reputation was unremarkable, and he wasn’t from a distinguished military lineage—easy for others to underestimate. By the time he advanced slowly to the Three Passes of Zhiyuan, the Chu had already been informed… Tell me, Meng Wu: if you were defending the passes, and the incoming commander had little renown, with his marching intentions already discovered by your scouts—what would you do?”

Meng Wu replied without hesitation “That would depend on our troop numbers. If I were not inferior in strength, I would surely arrange my formations, lure him into the encirclement, and annihilate him completely.”

Li Mu nodded. “And that was precisely what the Chu general thought. During Chu’s internal strife, Wang Jian had already set up camp west of the Three Passes. Fearing Qin might exploit the turmoil, both sides in the Chu rebellion tacitly left heavy troops to guard Zhiyuan. The forces Wang Jian commanded were roughly equal to the Chu garrison. By common sense, Chu held the advantage—they had prepared their formations first, readied their crossbows, and waited at ease. They should have been able to wipe Wang Jian out completely.”

Li Mu burst into laughter again. “To feign weakness and lure the enemy into striking—that was Wang Jian’s stratagem.”

Meng Wu took a few deep breaths, holding his forehead as he said, “Lure the enemy into attacking, then meet them head-on in one decisive push to flatten them? That’s Wang Jian’s strategy? This plan is also…”

Li Mu sighed softly, “Both simple—and impossible to counter.”

The advantage Wang Jian had given the Chu army was real. With such a huge advantage in hand, how could the Chu army not send out troops? If they didn’t even dare to seize such a chance, and instead shrank back behind their passes, waiting for the enemy to surround them and attack, that would truly be seeking death.

Defending a pass was no different from defending a city: a stubborn defense was equivalent to defending unto death. Without reinforcements, it was a dead end. Only by taking the initiative to attack could they repel the enemy.

In siege warfare, the attackers cut off reinforcements; the defenders, too, must sally forth to annihilate the enemy’s living strength, thereby seeking a chance at victory.

By heavily garrisoning the three passes of Zhiyuan, the Chu army was also acknowledging another fact: the commanders guarding those passes would most likely not receive reinforcements. Thus, the Chu generals had no choice but to seize the initiative to fight.

Could the Chu generals not see that the Qin army was feigning weakness? Even if they did see through it, it didn’t matter. After all, the battlefield had been chosen by the Chu army, their formations were already arranged, and they were waiting at their ease while the Qin came to exhaust themselves. With such layers of advantage, what trick could the Qin army possibly pull?

And Wang Jian had not used any tricks at all.

After successfully luring the enemy to strike, he simply defeated them openly and honorably, even when the enemy held all the initiative.

“Meng Wu, among the deceased generals, do you know whose strategies were the hardest to break?” Li Mu asked.

Meng Wu initially wanted to say, “Lord Wu’an, Bai Qi,” but recalling Li Mu’s use of the word “deceased,” he changed his words, “There were many famed generals who have passed. I couldn’t say for certain.”

Li Mu felt a twinge of helplessness at Meng Wu’s evasive answer.

In his eyes, Meng Wu’s talent as a general was somewhat inferior to his own. But if he were to apply himself diligently, he could still grow into a second-tier great general of the realm.

Unfortunately, Meng Wu himself lacked the ambition.

“We are now in Chu territory,” Li Mu said. “One of the most difficult-to-counter strategists was Chu’s Wu Qi. Throughout his life, Wu Qi did not rely much on clever ploys. He only had strong troops, sharp weapons, and solid armor.”

Only that.

Meng Wu furrowed his brows, forced to ponder Li Mu’s words. Then he let out a sigh, “What a powerful ‘only that.’”

Wu Qi’s true skill lay in training soldiers. The troops he trained were first-rate in both strength and morale. Not only were they fierce, but they were also willing to die for him.

Stratagems were generally used when intelligence was unclear, or when one was forced to win with fewer against more. But if one commanded a massive army, with both sides knowing each other’s circumstances clearly, then the battle came down simply to who was stronger.

Thus, Wu Qi was difficult to defeat.

“Wang Jian’s style of command is the same. When he decides to go to battle, the outcome is already settled,” Li Mu reflected. “He was born to be a Qin general. Only a powerful Qin could allow him to bring this style of warfare to its peak.”

When Qin fought other states, they always sent massive armies charging straight ahead, flags waving in the distance, proclaiming loudly to the enemy: We are coming.

That was why Wang Jian was so hard to overcome.

Li Mu couldn’t help but put himself in the shoes of Wang Jian’s enemy, pondering what he would do if he faced Wang Jian.

The more he thought, the more his head throbbed.

If the nation behind him were as strong as Qin, then he could compete directly in troop strength and soldier morale—truly a case of “when two meet on a narrow road, the brave wins,” as General Ma Fu once said.

But if his nation were weaker than Qin, then he could only be slowly worn down. Wang Jian could afford to lose many times; one defeat for him, and everything would be lost.

At this moment, an image of Ying Zheng’s arrogant, domineering face flashed in Li Mu’s mind.

Oh… if I were to clash head-on with Wang Jian like this, the Qin would suffer enormous losses as well. Most likely, that’s when Zheng’er would use a stratagem of discord to get rid of me.

Li Mu pressed his forehead, fully feeling the pain of standing as an enemy to both Wang Jian and Ying Zheng.

Fortunately, he was now also a Qin general.

“What are you sighing for? Worried that Wang Jian might outshine you and you won’t get the title of Marquis Wu’an?” Meng Wu teased cheerfully.

Li Mu gave Meng Wu a sidelong glance. “Even if Wang Jian’s command ability matches mine, I became a commander more than ten years before him. If we run forward at the same pace, how can he ever catch up with me?”

Meng Wu’s smile faded, and he said regretfully, “What a pity for Wang Jian.”

Li Mu was speechless. Pity what? Pity he didn’t manage to suppress me? Whose friend are you, exactly?

Meng Wu cleared his throat, quickly changing the subject. “But I still don’t get it—what was the point of him attacking Zhiyuan’s Three Passes?”

Li Mu’s lips curved into a smile again. “That supposedly impregnable stronghold has now been taken. That is the point.”

“Wang Jian took Zhiyuan’s Three Passes?” Qin King Zichu rubbed his eyes, looked carefully at the battle report, then grabbed Zhu Xiang’s sleeve in disbelief. “Wang Jian took Zhiyuan’s Three Passes? How did he manage that?”

Zhu Xiang straightened the part of his robe that Qin King Zichu had tugged askew and said helplessly, “It’s clearly written in the victory report.”

Qin King Zichu read aloud, “He lured the Chu general guarding the pass into battle, then annihilated the defending forces in one stroke. The Chu general fled east, and the Three Passes fell to the Qin army. That’s it?”

Zhu Xiang raised a brow. “What do you mean, ‘that’s it’?”

Qin King Zichu put down the report, stood up, and paced with his hands behind his back. “This is real? How could it be? Even if defeated, the Chu general could’ve fallen back and held the pass. How could one loss make him flee?”

Zhu Xiang reread Wang Jian’s report carefully. “It says here he annihilated the defending forces in one strike. With the entire garrison wiped out, who was left to guard the pass? Naturally, they retreated.”

Qin King Zichu froze mid-step. “He wiped them all out in a single clash?”

Zhu Xiang sighed. “Your Majesty, Lord, Prince Xia! The report is very clear. Wang Jian lured the defenders out for a head-on clash, and he won. With the garrison destroyed, the pass was abandoned, and the Chu general fled east. What’s so hard to understand?”

Qin King Zichu took a deep breath. “What’s so easy to understand is how he managed to win against the Chu, who were at ease and well-positioned, while the forces were evenly matched.”

Zhu Xiang shrugged. “Anyway, he won. Why fuss over the how? Instead, think about this: if he can win under such unfavorable conditions, then Qin has gained another great general. That’s excellent news.”

Little Ying Zheng, acting like an echo machine though he had no idea what an echo machine was, chimed in: “Excellent news!”

Qin King Zichu slowly exhaled. “Yes… excellent news. Excellent news.”

Then he suddenly hopped around a few steps, like an excited monkey.

Clenching his fists, he said with fervor, “With Li Mu and Wang Jian, the world is already in my grasp!”

Zhu Xiang chuckled. “The world has long been in Qin’s grasp. We just need to fill the bag slowly.”

Little Ying Zheng dutifully echoed, “Yes, it’s long been in Qin’s grasp.”

Qin King Zichu tapped his echoing son on the forehead, then calmed himself and sat back down. “The Chu border had only this one formidable pass. The rest of their borders with other states are either plains or rivers. And Qin’s navy is unmatched—rivers are like highways for us. Now that Chu’s only strong pass has fallen to Wang Jian, they’ll likely not dare to fight anymore.”

The battle had little military significance, but tremendous political weight.

Wang Jian’s crushing of Chu’s elite defenders at a strategic pass didn’t mean Chu had no more natural defenses—Qin could always bypass them anyway.

What it did mean was this: even with every advantage, Chu was no match for Qin.

Bai Qi might be old, but there was still Li Mu—and now, Wang Jian had joined them.

The last vestiges of Chu’s pride and sense of security were completely shattered at Zhiyuan.

“We should send envoys to Chu to mediate their internal strife,” Cai Ze finally said once Qin King Zichu had calmed from his frenzy. “Wei, Han, Zhao, Qi, and Yan should dispatch a joint mission to force Chu’s rival factions to reconcile, then divide the land along the Huai River.”

Lin Zhi rested his chin in one hand and sighed. “If only we could digest more territory, it would be perfect to divide Chu and Qin again at the Huai.”

Qin King Zichu sighed as well. “With Li Mu and Wang Jian, Qin could easily seize all of Chu south of the Huai. Can’t we just strike directly? Zhu Xiang…”

Zhu Xiang crossed his arms in an X before his chest. “Don’t look at me. No matter how capable I am, I can’t possibly pacify so many Chu people all at once. But if the rebel forces of the Jing and Zhao clans could divide the land south of the Huai, give me three years—I could win over their common folk to Qin.”

He thought for a moment, then added, “But only the commoners, not the scholars.”

Little Ying Zheng said proudly, “The commoners are enough. They farm, weave, serve in the army—that’s what benefits Qin. As for Chu’s scholars, hmph, there’s no place for them right now.”

“Once Qin unites the world, we’ll be in dire need of local officials,” Zhu Xiang countered. “We’ll need them then. For now, just focus on education. Attract Chu students to study in southern Qin, and governance of Chu may be easier in the future.”

Little Ying Zheng frowned. “I want to go back to Wu Commandery. Father, when will you finally rule on your own? You’re still young and strong—do you really need a Crown Prince to supervise for you?”

Qin King Zichu nearly exploded.

This unfilial brat—does he think he’s untouchable just because he’s my only heir? Wait—

Qin King Zichu suddenly remembered. “Zhu Xiang, how’s Chengjiao’s early education going?”

Zhu Xiang said proudly, “Very clever! He’s already learned a hundred characters.”

Qin King Zichu responded flatly, “Oh.”

So this unfilial son really thinks I have no other heir to choose from!