Chapter 150: Catching Fish to Satisfy Hunger

After the banquet was cleared away, the attendants served tea, and everyone discussed matters while drinking.

"How many days has it been since you burned the Hu barbarians' provisions?" Eunuch Ji asked.

Huang Wenlong counted on his fingers and said, "About six or seven days."

"Then why have you not sent troops to attack them yet?" Eunuch Ji asked again.

Huang Wenlong replied, "Our scouts have not detected any signs of mutiny or rebellion within the Hu camp. I suspect their reinforcements may have brought a portion of their food supplies with them when they arrived."

"Mmm, that is indeed possible. How many troops do the Hu barbarians currently have in total?" Eunuch Ji inquired further.

"Including the thirty thousand reinforcement troops who arrived, the Hu forces should currently number over seventy thousand," Huang Wenlong answered.

"How many troops do we currently have?" Eunuch Ji continued.

"Our forces are currently guarding three county towns. Combined, and including the twenty thousand imperial guards brought by General Gao, we have a total of sixty thousand troops."

"It seems we currently hold no advantage in troop numbers!" Eunuch Ji said with a frown.

"Indeed. Furthermore, the majority of our forces are infantry, which inherently puts us at a disadvantage against the Hu cavalry," Huang Wenlong stated honestly.

"Is your current strategy simply to continue waiting like this?" Eunuch Ji asked once more.

"Yes. At present, we do not have a much better strategy. The only thing we can do is wait until the Hu barbarians exhaust their food supplies, panic spreads among their ranks, and they lose their combat effectiveness, at which point our army can seize the opportunity to attack. At the same time, we are also awaiting a batch of armaments—weapons specifically designed for infantry to counter cavalry, which are currently being forged," Huang Wenlong explained.

"Didn't General Gao bring twenty thousand saber-wielding imperial guards? We could use the imperial guards she leads to counter the Hu cavalry," Eunuch Ji suddenly recalled Gao Wangjun's imperial troops.

"Ah, General Gao's imperial guards can indeed counter the Hu cavalry, but there are only twenty thousand of them, whereas virtually all of the Hu forces are cavalry," Huang Wenlong elaborated.

Eunuch Ji nodded and said nothing further. Lacking absolute certainty, he did not dare to easily provoke a war with the Hu barbarians. Spending his days by the Emperor's side, he was well-informed about many domestic and foreign affairs of the Great Song, and he had long heard tales of the formidable archery and cavalry skills of the Hu people.

Meanwhile, back in the Hu barbarian camp, Li Daocheng was obsessively dwelling on the strategy proposed by the Imperial Preceptor to flood Dingbian.

His premier general, Chibu Gou, was currently commanding five hundred soldiers to dismantle houses and walls in a nearby village, hauling bricks, tiles, earth, and stones to construct a river-blocking dam.

Because the soldiers were underfed and the hauling workload was immense, the river-blocking dam had only been built a little bit so far. Li Daocheng was growing anxious; at this rate, they might not even finish it in another half a month! If this dragged on for too long and the people in Dingbian City discovered the plot, all their efforts would come to nothing.

Just now, a soldier from the mess hall came to report that even if they cooked watery gruel, the grain currently in the camp was only enough to sustain them for one more day. That meant after tomorrow, the seventy thousand troops in the camp wouldn't even have thin gruel to eat.

The next batch of grain was expected to take about ten days to arrive. How were they supposed to survive these ten days?

Li Daocheng was so worried his hair was nearly turning white, but helpless anxiety was useless. Dingbian City showed no signs of sending out troops yet, and he had no idea what scheme they were plotting over there. However, he had received reports from scouts that two days prior, another twenty thousand reinforcements had arrived in Dingbian City—hardly good news for him.

Attacking a walled city was already a difficult challenge, and with reinforcements now arriving in Dingbian, the city would be even harder to breach. Under these circumstances, even if Chibu Gou managed to complete the river-blocking dam, his own army would lack the combat strength to fight without food. How could they possibly capture the city?

A day later, the army completely ran out of grain. Left with no choice and following the prior advice of strategist Mao Yansun, Li Daocheng ordered the slaughter of warhorses to stave off hunger. Although the soldiers felt deep remorse for their mounts, they had no alternative.

At that moment, Imperial Preceptor Li Wantong was carried on a litter into Li Daocheng's main tent. "First Prince, I have suddenly recalled something."

"What is it?" Li Daocheng asked.

"There should be fish in the river where I escaped from Dingbian City. You can send some soldiers to catch fish in the river to stave off hunger," Li Wantong suggested.

"Oh! Imperial Preceptor, why didn't you mention this sooner!" Li Daocheng felt a glimmer of hope rekindled within him.

"I only just remembered it myself," Li Wantong replied.

Li Daocheng immediately dispatched men to lead soldiers to the Dingbian River to catch fish as provisions for the army.

And sure enough, after some effort, the soldiers actually managed to catch a few fish. Although for an army of tens of thousands, this handful of fish was a mere drop in the bucket, something was better than nothing—at least it would save a few more warhorses from being slaughtered!

Soon, scouts on the Dingbian City side learned the news that the Hu barbarians were catching fish in the river and immediately reported it to Huang Wenlong, who in turn briefed the other leaders.

This news was sufficient proof that the Hu camp was now entirely devoid of food provisions. They only needed to be starved for another day or two before they would lose all strength to fight.

After deliberation, the leaders reached a consensus: in two days, they would assemble their forces and launch an attack on the Hu barbarian camp!

Thanks to the preparations over the past few days, the armory had forged several hundred each of Mo-swords and new types of crossbows. Although this quantity still seemed far too small to equip an army of tens of thousands, it was the maximum production capacity of the county's arsenal at present. They had been working round the clock to forge them.

Two days passed quickly. By this time, both Gao Wangjun and Luo Simao had fully recovered from their injuries. Gao Wangjun healed rapidly thanks to Xiao Ding's treatment; Luo Simao's injuries had merely been superficial cuts and were not severe, so after applying medicinal powders, the wounds quickly scabbed over and healed.

That day, Gao Wangjun, acting as the supreme commander of the three armies, wore a suit of gleaming silver armor and looked imposing and majestic. Luo Simao, who had also been bestowed the title of General of Mighty Courage by the Emperor, likewise wore silver armor and stood beside Gao Wangjun, looking equally formidable and extraordinary. Eunuch Ji, serving as the imperial inspector, held the rank of a civil official; he wore no armor, remaining in his court robes, and even in the dead of winter, he stood holding a folding fan, swishing it back and forth with affected pretense.

Leaving the two civil officials, Eunuch Ji and Magistrate Yang, behind to guard the city, Gao Wangjun led the other military generals and a force of over fifty thousand troops out of the city gates to challenge the Hu barbarian army right outside their camp.

They had not summoned the troops from Xinquan and Pubian counties for this sortie, keeping the total troop count just shy of sixty thousand.

Hearing that Dingbian City had marched out to offer battle, Li Daocheng cursed inwardly in despair. He knew his men, reluctant to part with their mounts, had refrained from large-scale slaughter of warhorses and had only killed a bare minimum just to keep the soldiers from starving to death.

Yet, with no other options left, he had no choice but to brace himself and fight.

He mobilized the troops, gathered his generals, and led the army out of the camp, leaving only Imperial Preceptor Li Wantong behind to guard the stronghold.

In front of the battle lines, the two armies deployed their formations and stood in confrontation.

"Which warrior is willing to take the vanguard?" Li Daocheng asked.

His subordinate generals lowered their heads one by one, keeping silent.

Under normal circumstances, these Hu warriors relished such battlefield duels, but not today. They had been starved to the point where they could barely lift their weapons—how could they possibly fight?

"Bolder, didn't you eat a large fish this morning? You go take the vanguard!" Seeing no response, Li Daocheng had no choice but to call someone out by name.

Bolder mounted his steed, gripping a three-pronged steel trident, and rode forward. "This subordinate obeys!" With that, he spurred his horse into the space between the two armies.

Gao Wangjun, seated in the saddle, saw that the enemy had sent out a warrior and likewise called out, "Which general is willing to take this first bout?"

Before her voice had even faded, someone from beside her shouted loudly, "This humble general is willing to go!"