HCT – Chapter 238 Li Mu’s Major Crisis

Li Mu encountered the greatest predicament of his entire military career. Even back when he fought against the Xiongnu, he had never faced something as troublesome as this.

The King of Qi had surrendered—but Qi itself had not.

In this era, the feudal lords ruled their own territories. Except for small states like Han, Wei, and Yan, beheading the kings of Chu, Zhao, or Qi would only collapse part of their strength; it would not truly destroy the country.

This was why, in Zhu Xiang’s previous life, Wang Jian had to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops every time he destroyed a state.

Li Xin had failed in conquering Chu precisely because he misunderstood this. He thought that by taking Shouchun he would win the war, and so he brought only 200,000 Qin troops straight to Shouchun.

As a result, the Qin army was surrounded by the various Chu feudal lords leading their own troops. Then they were stabbed in the back by Lord Changping’s rebellion. They were attacked from both ends, suffering heavy losses—just like encountering the nine-headed serpent of later Chu folklore.

When Wang Jian waged war against Chu, he mobilized all available Qin forces and spread them out across the Chu plains, making it impossible for the Chu army to conduct deep-penetration warfare.

When he attacked Qi, he deliberately advanced slowly along the Qi border, giving the King of Qi enough time to gather 400,000 troops from local feudal lords and governors. Then he bypassed the main Qi force, captured Linzi first, and only then turned back to destroy the Qi main army, crushing Qi’s fighting strength in one stroke.

But now, although the King of Qi surrendered, as long as the Qi feudal lords still had troops, they would not necessarily follow their king’s wish to submit. They could very well support another member of the royal clan and continue resisting Qin.

Just like when Handan fell: Prince Jia of Zhao fled to Dai Commandery and continued fighting Qin for a full six years.

The fifty thousand men under Li Mu’s command could easily take Linzi now that the King of Qi had surrendered, but he would immediately become the target of all hostility in Qi.

But since the King of Qi had surrendered, it felt wrong to simply turn around and run. Li Mu did not want to let such a hard-earned victory slip through his fingers.

Yet if he killed or captured the King of Qi, the Qi nobles might install a wiser king, making the conquest of Qi even more difficult.

The best plan now was to request reinforcements from Qin. Before the feudal lords and governors of Qi regained their senses, he needed to occupy Qi in one swift move.

But there was a fatal problem.

Qi’s western border and Qin were separated by Wei and Zhao; the southern border was separated from Qin by Chu. It was completely isolated—a true enclave.

Even if he managed to occupy it and relied on local Qi resources to hold it, how could Qin send more troops?

Qin was currently fighting five states. Sending reinforcements from the homeland was nearly impossible. Sending troops from Southern Qin was also difficult—Southern Qin did not have enough large sea-ships to transport armies of a hundred thousand.

He had already brought fifty thousand men here—almost all the large warships had been used. To ensure these elite troops could retreat if necessary, he couldn’t send all the ships back to fetch reinforcements from Southern Qin.

In the end, Li Mu still decided to take the risk.

Since the King of Qi had already surrendered, his pride as one of the era’s top generals would not allow him to watch the merit of conquering a nation slip away.

Linzi was connected to both river and bay. But just as large river boats could not easily enter the sea, sea-going ships could not travel inland via rivers.

Li Mu ordered the warships to remain at the nearest port to Linzi. He cleared all Qi defensive forces along the river route, then requisitioned large inland vessels. He had the Qi royal clan—especially the King’s children—and most of the high officials transported to the warships and sent to Southern Qin. This would request reinforcements while ensuring the Qi royal clan was removed from the battlefield.

Although the Crown Prince of Qin was not in Southern Qin, both Li Si and Han Fei were chancellors with decisive authority, and Fuqiu and Meng Tian could command troops. They should be able to make a swift decision.

Next, Li Mu had the Qin army take over Linzi’s defenses. He distributed the palace’s grain to the starving citizens, telling them that if the Qi nobles recaptured Linzi, they would all be killed. This both bought their loyalty and allowed him to conscript them as new soldiers.

He also ordered Hou Sheng to assist with the city’s defense and to capture anyone unhappy about the King of Qi’s surrender. He promised to count this as military merit for Hou Sheng—when Hou Sheng reached Qin, he might even be awarded a noble rank.

Delighted, Hou Sheng became extremely enthusiastic, exactly as Li Mu expected.

He knew that because he had encouraged the King of Qi to defect to Qin, the Qi nobles would skin him alive if Qin didn’t take him away. In the matter of destroying Qi, he was now even more invested than Li Mu.

Hou Sheng also persuaded the King of Qi to issue an edict ordering all territories of Qi to surrender to Qin, to prevent them from resisting and provoking Li Mu into killing the king.

Seeing that all his children and relatives had already been taken away by Qin, the King of Qi trembled in the palace, lost all composure. Whatever Hou Sheng said, he believed.

He issued an edict commanding all Qi to lay down arms and submit to Qin, declaring that anyone who disobeyed would be guilty of treason.

Li Mu opened his mouth but held back, letting out a long sigh.

Fortunately, the current King of Qin was Zichu, and the future king would be Zheng. Zheng’s crown prince would be raised by Zhu Xiang, so he wouldn’t be bad either.

Beyond that, after Li Mu was long dead and buried, good or bad kings wouldn’t matter to him.

He thought of the former and current King of Zhao and felt deeply relieved that the Zhao king had “sold” him and Lian Po to Qin.

Li Mu sighed again. At least now he no longer had to worry about Qi army morale. Even if their armies returned, their morale would be low.

After preparing everything, Li Mu shut the city gates and prepared to defend Linzi.

Originally he only meant to scare the King of Qi with a siege. But once the king surrendered, the only way to weaken Qi further was to hold Linzi and wait for Qin reinforcements.

The coming battle would be extremely difficult—and the casualties heavy.

Li Mu couldn’t help drinking a whole jug of wine to vent his frustration.

He felt that if he had just led a proper Qin campaign against Qi from the start, things would never have become so humiliating and exhausting.

While Li Mu was requesting aid, the feudal lords and governors of Qi finally came to their senses. They began sending envoys everywhere, nominating a leader, and gathering forces to attack Linzi and rescue the King of Qi.

Although the King of Qi said he didn’t want rescuing, anyone who believed him now would be a fool.

Qi’s armies marched grandly toward Linzi. Li Mu stood on the city wall with his hands behind his back, sighing repeatedly.

He hadn’t defended a city in a very long time, and it irritated him.

When he sent for aid from Southern Qin, he also sent cavalry westward toward Qin proper to inform the King of Qin about the bizarre situation in Qi.

The five states had hollowed out their defenses due to famine and military mobilization, so cavalry traveled quickly.

By the time Southern Qin was dispatching reinforcements, the cavalry had also reached King Zichu of Qin—who was currently at the front—and delivered Li Mu’s secret letter.

King Zichu opened the letter, stared at it, rubbed his eyes, stared again, rubbed his eyes once more.

Then he turned to Lian Po: “Lord Lian, Li Mu must be joking with me!”

King Zichu always stayed near Lian Po’s camp, where it was safest.

Lian Po cursed, “How could Li Mu joke with you in a secret report? Let me see.”

King Zichu handed him the letter.

Lian Po read it with a frown, then looked up blankly: “This is real?”

The messenger cavalryman looked both depressed and amused. “It’s real.”

Lian Po slapped his own head. “Li Mu must be furious.”

King Zichu grinned, “The King of Qi surrendered—why would he be upset?”

Lian Po rolled his eyes so hard they nearly flipped: “The King of Qi surrendered, but Qi itself didn’t. Even if their armies are poorly trained, dealing with several hundred thousand pigs is still a hassle. And their forces are nearly untouched. Li Mu has it rough.”

King Zichu snapped out of his excitement, frowned, and said, “Should we order Li Mu to retreat?”

Lian Po replied, “If it were me, I’d definitely retreat. To conquer Qi, you need reinforcements—but you can’t reinforce it. Even if you take it, it’s impossible to defend; it doesn’t border Qin. But Li Mu is young and proud—he might refuse to withdraw.”

King Zichu sighed, “Yes, it doesn’t border us. I should still order him to pull back.”

Lian Po said, “Li Mu has his own ideas. If he refuses to retreat, then he’ll need to open a supply route from the south.”

He had someone bring a map and pointed it out for King Zichu: “Right now, only the land between the Huai River and Yellow River separates Qin and Qi. According to Zhu Xiang, this region will suffer the worst locust plagues—meaning it’s sparsely populated. If I were Li Mu, I’d have Southern Qin split into two forces: one traveling by sea to reinforce Linzi, the other attacking Chu from land to open a path.”

King Zichu studied the map and understood Li Mu’s plan.

He laughed. “Li Mu wants me to take down one more country before I pass the throne to Zheng.”

Lian Po felt uncomfortable at these words.

He remembered “Xiatong,” that person they’d known in Handan.

As a great noble, Lian Po was never as polite to common-born scholars as Lin Xiangru was.

He used to look down on Zhu Xiang, and also on Zhu Xiang’s accountant, Xiatong.

But after eating several meals at Zhu Xiang’s house with Lin Xiangru, he reluctantly began acknowledging their talents.

When Zhu Xiang and Xiatong later became close friends with Lin Zhi, Lian Po even started thinking of them as nephews, considering ways to help them advance.

But Zhu Xiang and Xiatong refused to go to the front to earn merit, making him so angry he would chase them around with a stick.

Back then, Zhu Xiang always scrambled up a tree first.

Xiatong was the weakest and least agile. He always needed Zhu Xiang pulling one hand and Lin Zhi pushing his backside before he could barely get up the tree.

Then Lin Zhi began circling around the tree with him, taking the chance to climb upward as well.

If Lin Zhi were caught, Zhu Xiang and Xia Tong would obediently climb down, and the three would be kicked together.

Teaching these three brats the art of war in Zhu Xiang’s home was far more delightful than teaching his juniors at home.

After Lian Po learned that Xia Tong was actually the Qin hostage Yiren, he felt upset for a long time and cursed Yiren for deceiving him.

But when he saw Xia Tong in Qin, saw how the boy cautiously tried to please him, Lian Po’s heart softened again.

Forget it… Yiren didn’t insist on deceiving him on purpose.

Even though Yiren lived a difficult life as a hostage of Qin, he was still a noble Qin prince. The fact that he allowed himself to be ordered around just like Zhu Xiang and Lin Zhi showed ample respect—what else could he complain about?

Xia Tong had become Yiren; Yiren had become Zichu; Zichu became Crown Prince, and then King of Qin. Lian Po had thought Xia Tong would change, but perhaps he had been wrong.

Lian Po unknowingly developed some elder-like affection toward the King of Qin, unable to bear watching Zichu’s body decline day by day.

But what could he do?

He remembered how Lian Xiangru’s health had deteriorated day by day back then.

What could he do then?

“I noticed that the forces besieging the city under Xiang Yan have decreased significantly. Wang Jian might have already begun attacking Chu,” Lian Po said. “He insulted me for so long—it’s time I showed him something in return. Once I break him, these five-nation coalition forces will collapse. Then I’ll attack Wei and open the route between Qin and Qi.”

King Zichu said, “Good. Be careful, Lord Lian.”

Lian Po said proudly, “That Xiang Yan—Zhu Xiang alone was enough to defeat him.”

King Zichu burst into laughter.

Meanwhile, still farming in Guanzhong, Zhu Xiang suddenly sneezed hard.

He muttered, “Who’s speaking ill of me? Zheng’er? Xia Tong? Or both?”

He rubbed his nose, straightened up, and looked toward the east.

He wondered how things were going on the Qin border.

…

After receiving Li Mu’s report, although there was no need to tell Xianyang, King Zichu still sent a copy to Crown Prince Zheng, so the Crown Prince would know how frustrated his teacher had become.

Crown Prince Zheng scratched his head, remembering King Jian of Qi from his dreams.

King Jian panicked and surrendered just as hastily in the dream. The Zheng in that dream despised King Jian’s behavior and exiled him to the wilderness to starve to death.

The Zheng in the dream was a man of emotions like that.

If it had been his father, his father would surely have treated King Jian generously, to divide the Qi factions and soften their resistance.

And what could be more humiliating to the people of Qi than watching their despised king being treated with generosity?

If the people of Qi found their own king disgusting, their attachment to the state of Qi would surely weaken as well.

But if it were up to him, he would still starve King Jian to death. Crown Prince Zheng pinched his chin.

He was already emperor—could he not indulge in such a small whim? As long as he ruled, Qi wouldn’t dare rebel. Why keep alive someone he personally despised?

Crown Prince Zheng shook his head, muttering, “But if Father treats King Jian kindly, I can’t disobey his command. Sigh… Tian Jian got off cheap.”

After brooding over his inability to starve a king he disliked, he laughed. “Teacher must really miss Lord Bai now—must want badly to talk to him.”

He remembered how Lord Bai, during his retirement at their home, often mentioned the frustration he felt at Changping when facing Zhao Kuo.

If his uncle hadn’t appeared, Lord Bai would have slaughtered the surrendered troops.

Although Lord Bai had killed countless soldiers on the battlefield, killing enemies and killing captives were two different things.

If he used deception to make Zhao’s army surrender only to kill them afterward, reputation was one thing—the biggest problem would be that Qin would lose credibility. In future wars, no matter whom they fought, no enemy would dare surrender to Qin again.

The Zhao army at Changping was a precedent.

Luckily, his uncle had devised a solution to spare Lord Bai the dilemma.

Now Teacher Li Mu was facing a similar dilemma. He truly sympathized.

“If only I were in Southern Qin right now—what a great chance for a personal campaign,” he grumbled.

Even though he had repeatedly told himself after his previous expedition, “Enough, enough, no more risk,” whenever he had spare time, the impulse rose again.

He was Li Mu’s only disciple, and also taught by Lian Po and Lord Bai—if not for the constraints of his position as Crown Prince, he would surely become a famed general too.

What young man didn’t have the dream of becoming a great general?

Crown Prince Zheng sighed dramatically, shaking his head, then said to Chengjiao, who was lazily swinging his legs while doing math problems, “Chengjiao, you must work hard. When you’re a little older, your brother will send you to the army…”

Chengjiao was horrified, his voice going shrill: “Big Brother! Chengjiao didn’t offend you! Didn’t offend anyone!”

Crown Prince Zheng: “…”

He said sternly, “Stop listening to Uncle’s stories. Your phrasing gets stranger every day.”

Chengjiao flung his brush down, flopped onto the ground, and rolled around howling without shedding a tear: “I won’t go to the army! I won’t suffer! I’m your only younger brother—Big Brother is so capable, can’t I enjoy life instead?”

Crown Prince Zheng gritted his teeth. “No! Get up!”

Chengjiao kept rolling. “No! No! If you don’t promise, I won’t get up!”

Crown Prince Zheng roared, “Chengjiao! Do you want a beating?”

Chengjiao suddenly rolled outward, sprang up, and ran: “Grandmother! Mother! Big Brother is bullying me! Help!”

He bolted toward the residence of Grand Empress Dowager Huayang and Empress Dowager Xia.

After growing old, the two lived together. They hadn’t been close when younger, but now shared deep affection.

Especially after Han was destroyed, Empress Dowager Xia’s ears finally grew quiet, and she became closer to Huayang.

If Chengjiao ran fast enough, he could find two sources of help at once!

Crown Prince Zheng chased after him. “Stop right there!”

Chengjiao’s not-so-short legs pumped at top speed. While running, he shouted at full volume, lungs strong as ever: “Grandmother! Mother! Help!”

Huayang and Xia were tending to a small vegetable patch outside their palace to pass the time.

Hearing Chengjiao’s loud cries, both women smiled kindly.

Huayang sighed with a smile. “Chengjiao is always sickly when he’s with me—Xue Ji really raises children well.”

Xia laughed. “When I raised His Majesty, he was sickly all the time too. I’ve never been good at raising children.”

She thought of how frail Yiren had looked back then.

The late king had given the name “Yiren” because he didn’t like the child much. “Yiren” had been frail since childhood and didn’t look like a martial Qin prince.

When Yiren was chosen as hostage to Zhao, she had already given up on him because he was so frail and…young.

A twelve- or thirteen-year-old child still wearing a child’s hair, thin and weak—he would surely die soon in Zhao. It was easier to consider him gone early so it wouldn’t hurt later.

Her own wellbeing had mattered more.

But surprisingly, that child had achieved so much, and even with her little effort, she had become Empress Dowager. She should have been content long ago.

She realized too late, causing many troubles for Yiren.

Thankfully Yiren was capable, and the troubles she caused didn’t hinder him.

Huayang, once clothed in splendor, now wore plain cotton and a wooden hairpin like a commoner.

She wiped her sweat. “Quick, let’s save Chengjiao. If we’re late, his backside will bloom.”

Hearing Huayang’s “coarse words,” Xia covered her mouth and laughed. “Alright.”

They set down their tools and hurried to help.

Chengjiao dove into their arms. Crown Prince Zheng’s headpiece was askew, his face black with rage behind him.

Palace attendants followed, trying not to laugh, moving awkwardly.

Huayang and Xia couldn’t hold back their wide grins.

“Come here, Chengjiao, hide behind Grandmother.”

“Zheng’er, enough. Chengjiao is still young.”

Crown Prince Zheng roared, “He’s not young! When I was his age, I was already overseeing a whole commandery!”

Chengjiao peeked out from behind Huayang and made faces at his brother.

What does you overseeing a commandery have to do with me? Bleh.

Crown Prince Zheng rolled up his sleeves, and the two brothers circled the two elders like playing eagle-and-chicks.

Huayang and Xia stretched out their arms, shielding the bouncing little grandson.

Although Qin’s borders were still in danger, Li Mu was distressed, and Wang Jian was on alert, laughter filled the palace of Xianyang.

Except Crown Prince Zheng, who wasn’t laughing.

His face flushed with fury, fists clenched tight.

Chengjiao, just you wait! He didn’t believe Grandmother and Mother could protect him forever!

…

In Chu, Wang Jian finally met the reinforcements Xiang Yan had sent—and crushed them with ease.

Unless Xiang Yan came personally, other Chu generals were, as Zhu Xiang once described in his story, “nothing but chickens and stray dogs—heads ready to be sold.”

After defeating the reinforcements, seeing Xiang Yan still not return, Wang Jian attacked Xiang Yan’s fief, captured the Xiang clan, and seized all valuables.

After feasting his troops for three days on Xiang’s stored grain, he piled the remaining grain outside the city for starving refugees to scramble over, then cheerfully marched back to Qin with the captured clan.

He admired Xiang Yan somewhat—giving priority to Chu even at the cost of his own fief.

That alone set Xiang Yan apart from ordinary Chu nobles, and earned him a touch of respect.

But he wondered—when Xiang Yan returned to find his clan captured and property emptied, would he regret anything?

Hopefully the King of Chu would compensate him. One shouldn’t break the heart of a general devoted to Chu. Wang Jian shook his head, a playful smirk on his lips.

His plan had succeeded perfectly. He had no intention of attacking Chu further.

Qin was extremely short on grain now. It couldn’t sustain a prolonged Chu campaign. Even if they conquered Chu, the vast wasteland and starving populace would require manpower and food Qin didn’t have to rebuild.

There seemed to be no extreme disasters this year, so the five nations should recover somewhat.

Once their starving populations decreased, Qin could attack again—then the cost of governance would be much lower.

As Li Mu’s deputy for several years, and having been assigned random administrative tasks by Zhu Xiang outside a general’s scope, Wang Jian had gained some governance insight.

With Qin’s military strength, whether the five nations’ armies were a little stronger or weaker made little difference. Qin aimed not just to conquer but to unify and govern. Governance cost was key.

Though he coveted the glory of destroying Chu, he knew proper timing.

But when he learned of Li Mu’s plight, he felt unbalanced.

He had given up the glory of conquering Chu—how could Lord Wu Cheng be greedy for the glory of conquering Qi? Qi would be even harder to govern afterward!

When the full details of Li Mu’s predicament arrived, he rubbed his face for a long time to smooth out the schadenfreude in his expression.

Ahem, he wasn’t trying to laugh—it was just that Li Mu was too unlucky.

This glory of destroying Qi… no thanks.

Hahahahaha.

Laughing, Wang Jian requested to lead troops against Wei, opening the route from Qin to Qi.

King Zichu dispatched him urgently to Southern Qin to replace the current general fighting Chu, and from attacking Chu he would pivot to aiding Qi. Once Lian Po was free, Lian Po would attack Wei.

By the time Wang Jian hurried along the Huai River to take command, Li Mu had already defended the city for ten days.

He inspected the casualties, sighing.

Although only a little over two hundred men from his own troops had died, the rest of the casualties were temporary recruits from the city. But he only commanded fifty thousand Qin troops total, and had already sent five thousand to escort the captured Qi nobles back to Southern Qin.

In all his years in Qin, Li Mu had only suffered such heavy losses once—in attacking Southern Qin more than a decade ago.

He recalled Lord Bai’s joking words: “Zhao Kuo was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opponent for me, Bai Qi.”

Now he thought, “King Jian of Qi is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opponent for me, Li Mu.”

Fortunately, Fuqiu and Meng Tian had hurried over with reinforcements by sea, easing his urgent crisis.

It was truly too difficult.

Li Mu had never fought a battle this hard.