HCT – Chapter 244 The Moat of Daliang

Zhu Xiang never considered himself a good-tempered person. He had no idea why everyone else said he had a good temper. If he truly had a good temper, would he have stubbornly gone to Changping? Would he have caused trouble in Guangling City whenever things didn’t go his way?

He used to hate going to the battlefield and killing people, yet now he had become a famed general, long since discarding his old moral bottom line. And now the King of Wei actually sent one of Wei Wuji’s retainers to disgust him, trying to continue exploiting the already-forced-to-death Wei Wuji. Zhu Xiang could not stomach that.

So he volunteered to go to Daliang and cheer for Lord Lian.

Qin King Zheng was puzzled. “Just cheer? Uncle, you’re not going to lead the army yourself?”

Zhu Xiang replied irritably, “Zheng’er, what nonsense are you saying? Have you sat too long in the chair Xia Tong used to sit in—has your brain degenerated into Xia Tong’s? My true abilities as a ‘famed general’—even if others don’t know them, you should know them!”

Although the King of Qin had already earned among his ministers a reputation for being inscrutable, deep-scheming, and unpredictable in temperament, his emotions always fluctuated intensely when he faced his uncle.

“What do you mean my brain has degenerated into Father’s? I’m much better than him!” Little Zheng glared at his uncle. “If you keep talking like that, I won’t let you go to Daliang!”

Zhu Xiang immediately apologized. “Fine, Uncle was wrong. How could Xia Tong compare to Zheng’er?”

Only then did Little Zheng return to being King Zheng of Qin. He ordered the Chancellor, Lord Changping, to personally escort the provisions to Daliang and persuade them to surrender along the way.

I am kind-hearted and cannot bear to see too many casualties. If Daliang surrendered, he guaranteed that he would restrain the Qin army from behaving recklessly in the city. Lord Xinping, Lian Po, was famous for his strict military discipline.

Zhu Xiang forced himself to tolerate the horror of siege warfare and its terrible casualties, determined to witness Wei’s downfall with his own eyes. With King Zheng spouting a bunch of hypocritical words, the world immediately misunderstood—believing that Lord Changping could not bear the tragic fate awaiting Daliang and had deliberately gone to save them.

When King Zheng said I am kind-hearted, the world heard a tiger-leopard-hearted Qin King.  When he said Lord Xinping maintained strict discipline, the world thought of how Xinping had slaughtered cities in Yan.

Lord Changping clearly knew what kind of scheming, wolf-and-fox pair King Zheng and Lord Xinping were. Worried that once Daliang fell it would become a massacre, he had supposedly gone to persuade surrender.

When Zhu Xiang arrived at Daliang, by coincidence, the city had indeed come very close to suffering widespread devastation.

Daliang was built relying on the Dan River and four other rivers, forming a natural network of moats surrounding the city. The walls of Daliang were tall and sturdy; outside them lay a dense web of waterways. Siege engines were hard to maneuver, formations hard to deploy—easy to defend, extremely hard to attack.

Historically, when Wang Jian’s son Wang Ben attacked Daliang, he did not storm it. Instead, he used Daliang’s natural moat system against it and diverted water from the Yellow River and the Hong Canal to flood the city.

Such a simple method—after riding once around Daliang’s perimeter, Lian Po discovered it too.

When he saw the flaw in Daliang’s design, Lian Po was puzzled. Back when he was actively commanding, it was during the most domineering period of King Zhaoxiang’s reign. He fought mostly defensive wars and excelled at building fortifications.

Constructing defensive lines wasn’t so different from choosing a city site—only differing in scale.  So he simply could not understand why Daliang was built in a low-lying plain at the junction of five rivers. Wasn’t that practically inviting someone to attack with water? Did the person who oversaw the construction have something wrong with their head?

Using natural waterways as moats was fine—but the city had to first sit on high terrain, and second, be equipped with drainage channels for when riverbanks burst.

Daliang had none of that.

Lian Po suspected that the reason Daliang had never been breached in the past was simply because no one had bothered to attack it seriously.

He had once heard Bai Qi talk about flooding Chu’s city. To do that, Bai Qi had his men dig a water channel specifically to divert water into the city, spending enormous manpower and resources.

Daliang, however, came with water channels ready-made. One only needed to guide the water a little.

Lian Po almost laughed.

He had originally assumed that attacking another state’s capital would be extremely difficult. When he besieged the Yan capital in the past, he saw how solid their walls were, and instead of assaulting, he surrounded the city and called for the Yan King to negotiate.

Who could have guessed that the great merit of taking Daliang was something he could practically pick up by bending down?

So Lian Po ordered soldiers to encircle Daliang’s gates and guard strictly against reinforcements, while he had laborers prepare to flood the city—without attempting any assault at all.

When Zhu Xiang arrived, Lian Po was waiting for rain.

A capable commander could roughly predict the weather. The sky was dark and overcast, so Lian Po estimated rain would come soon. Although he could flood the city now, rain would make it even easier.

Seeing Zhu Xiang, Lian Po roared, “What are you doing here?”

Flooding Daliang would certainly create countless floating corpses. A soft-hearted weakling like Zhu Xiang could never stomach that!

Zhu Xiang said, “The King of Wei sent Wei Wuji’s retainer to disgust me. I want to witness Daliang’s fall on Wuji’s behalf!”

Lian Po slapped Zhu Xiang on the back so hard he nearly knocked him over.

He cursed furiously, “Wei Wuji wouldn’t want to see Daliang fall at all! Get lost!”

Zhu Xiang straightened his back and tried to rub the spot on it that Lian Po had smacked sore, but he couldn’t reach it. His voice sounded pitiful. “Lord Lian, don’t worry. I’ve guarded a city before—this bit of bloodshed won’t scare me.”

Lian Po crossed his arms and sneered. “I’m going to drown the entire city of Daliang. Can you bear to watch that?”

Zhu Xiang: “…”

He said, “…I can!”

Lian Po spat to the side and looked at him with contempt. “I think you can’t. Go persuade them to surrender first. Tell them I’m going to flood Daliang. If the King of Wei refuses to surrender, the whole city will be buried with him. If he won’t surrender, you get out of my sight.”

Zhu Xiang said, “I…”

Lian Po glared. “I’m the general. I make the decisions in the army!”

Zhu Xiang deflated. “Yes.”

He was already thirty-nine years old—forty by the traditional counting of this era—but before Lord Lian, he was still that timid young brat. Just like how the young King Zheng of Qin, in front of him, would always remain that irritable little Ying Xiaozheng.

Following Lian Po’s orders, Zhu Xiang sent an envoy in his name to persuade surrender, announcing to the King of Wei that the Qin army was fully prepared. As soon as the rain fell, they would flood Daliang. If the King of Wei refused to surrender, all the city’s inhabitants would drown.

If the King of Wei had not been faithless and unrighteous, Qin would not have attacked Wei.

If the King of Wei refused to surrender, Daliang would not be flooded.

If countless innocent Wei citizens were drowned, all the blame would rest on the King of Wei.

On the other hand, the Lord of Changping was right outside the city. This was the last chance for Daliang—if the King of Wei surrendered, everyone would live.

These words did not come from Zhu Xiang.

The one who accompanied him to Wei this time was Meng Yi—Zhu Xiang’s die-hard fan.

He had hidden himself out of shyness for a long time, but now he could finally stand beside Zhu Xiang and work for him.

Though he served as an inner attendant to the King of Qin, he was not only the favored minister in King Zheng’s dream but also the son of Meng Wu and younger brother of Meng Tian. He wanted to follow Zhu Xiang and temper himself; King Zheng immediately agreed.

Meng Yi was sharp-tongued and thick-skinned. Not only did he dump all responsibility for the war onto the King of Wei, but he also spread the news throughout Daliang the moment they entered the city.

The Lord of Changping had begged the King of Qin for a long time to win this single thread of survival for the people of Daliang.

And that thread existed only before the rain began.

Once the rain started, the Lord of Changping would drive back to Xianyang. If the people of Daliang did not wish to be saved, then no one could be blamed—they could die in the city with their muddle-headed king.

What? The muddle-headed one was the previous king?

“I’m Qin. I can’t tell the difference.”

Meng Yi gave the King of Wei no time to think. After arrogantly stating his purpose and dumping all the blame on him, he immediately left the city, giving the Wei ministers no opportunity to argue.

The moment Meng Yi left, Daliang fell into chaos.

Wei had once possessed hundreds of thousands of elite armored soldiers—far stronger than the pitiful, weak, insignificant Qin of the early Warring States era. Wei had been the number-one power then.

But all the “legacy” of Wei’s strength had long been destroyed by Lord Wu’an, Bai Qi.

The elite troops of both Wei and Han were annihilated by Bai Qi.

Elite troops cannot be replaced simply by waiting for a new generation of able-bodied youths.

Bai Qi’s wars of annihilation not only cut off their lineage of capable generals but also wiped out huge stores of fine armor and weapons.

Wei and Han had once been renowned for producing excellent arms. But as their territories shrank and their population plummeted, they could no longer manufacture enough new weapons and armor. Even if they gathered enough young men, without veteran officers to train them and without proper equipment, they were nothing but a rabble.

Back when Wei Wuji was alive, he could at least raise morale with his prestige and courage, and he could still persuade the nobles of Wei to donate money for the war.

But the current King of Wei had none of those abilities.

Even though Wei still had many cities left, and Lian Po had struck straight at Daliang instead of besieging them all, the King of Wei did not expect any regional lords to send reinforcements. He could only pin his hopes on Chu, Zhao, and Yan.

He firmly believed that Zhao, at least, would come to help. Wei and Zhao were truly lips and teeth—if one fell, the other would freeze.

But Qin had announced they would use a flood attack—and worse, they announced it before doing so. The King of Wei’s plan to hold out and wait for reinforcements became a joke.

Panic spread through the city; many wanted to escape.

Several Wei ministers also urged the King of Wei to surrender quickly before dragging everyone to their deaths.

There were, however, also upright, iron-boned officials who insisted the King of Wei not imitate the shameful Kings of Han and Qi, who had disgraced their nations and their people.

A ruler supported by his people should die with the state when the nation falls.

After saying this, that steadfast official immediately slit his own throat on the court floor, becoming the first to die for the country.

The King of Wei, Wei Zeng, was so terrified that he nearly fell ill on the spot.

Because someone had died for the nation, the king hesitated again—despite having already wavered toward surrender.

Then another minister advised him: though Daliang was besieged, Wei still had many cities left. Why not escape to another city and continue resisting Qin?

The King of Wei slapped his thigh. Of course! Why had no one mentioned this earlier? If he’d known sooner, he would have run for it long ago—he wouldn’t have been trapped by Lian Po here!

The court ministers were speechless.

Obviously, wherever the King of Wei fled, Lian Po would simply surround that city instead.

Daliang was the strongest fortress; that was the only reason he had stayed here to await rescues. In any smaller city, he would have been captured immediately.

With Wei’s remaining military strength, only Daliang could hold out. Every other city would crumble at a single blow.

In truth, the minister’s suggestion was merely to get the king to open the city gates—so his own family could escape alive. Whether the king escaped or not—or was captured by Qin—was none of his concern.

Thus, after shedding a few perfunctory tears for the official who had died, the King of Wei immediately ordered the gates opened. The guards drove the citizens out to draw the Qin army’s attention while the king and the royal clan hid among them to escape.

The gates of Daliang swung open, and countless citizens were trampled to death. Many more were pushed into the water and drowned in the chaos.