stonecrandall Chapter 1063 The Chu army is at the city gates!
Chapter 1063 The Chu army is at the city gates!
Gao Yao turned around and patted Xiao He on the shoulder. The gesture was light, yet it conveyed a heavy sense of entrustment to Xiao He.
"Have you ever seen me fight an unprepared battle?" Gao Yao's voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable power. "Within Xianyang City are you, four thousand soldiers, thirty-six miles of high walls, and enough provisions to feed the entire city for half a year. What you must do is not to defend to the death, but to act—to act out a play that is teetering on the brink of collapse yet never falls. Given the right opportunity, I will make these thousand cavalrymen unleash the power of ten thousand."
Xiao He opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed all his doubts. He knew this man too well—from a soldier to a powerful king, every step Gao Yao had taken seemed fraught with danger, yet he always managed to find a way out of seemingly hopeless situations.
"Your Majesty... understands." Xiao He bowed deeply. "But Your Majesty must promise me that no matter what happens outside the city, your safety will always be the top priority. We can temporarily lose Xianyang, but we cannot lose you."
Gao Yao smiled but didn't answer, only gazing at the darkening sky outside the window. In the distance, torches were being lit on the city walls, their scattered lights blending together in the twilight to outline the majestic silhouette of the imperial capital.
"Xiao He, do you know what the most impregnable part of Xianyang City is?" Gao Yao suddenly asked.
Xiao He pondered for a moment: "Is it the city wall? The moat? Or...?"
“It’s the people’s hearts.” Gao Yao interrupted him. “When the First Emperor built this city, he gathered 120,000 wealthy households from all over the country here. Although it declined in the middle, it has now recovered 70% of its former glory. Now that the Chu army is invading, the people in the city are in a state of panic. Officials of all ranks, concubines in the harem, and even ordinary people in the city are all watching us. Your next task is more difficult than defending the city—you must stabilize the hearts of the people in this city.”
Xiao He's expression hardened: "I will take care of it immediately. But what about Empress Lü..."
"Don't worry, Lü Zhi is very clear about important matters, there's no need to fret." Gao Yao's eyes softened for a moment, then returned to their coldness. "Go and appease the court officials, tell them that I will live and die with Xianyang. As for those who already have disloyal thoughts..." He paused, "You know what to do."
Xiao He solemnly accepted the order. As the prime minister, he was all too aware of the undercurrents swirling within Xianyang—the news of the approaching Chu army couldn't be completely blocked, and certain powerful families were likely already secretly contacting those outside the city. Gao Yao was essentially giving him the power to act first and report later.
“Yi Xiaochuan, oh Yi Xiaochuan,” he murmured to himself as the night deepened, “you think you’ve seen through the emptiness of Xianyang, but you don’t know that emptiness itself is the most deadly trap.”
Thirty li outside the city was the Chu army camp.
Yi Xiaochuan also stood on high ground, gazing towards Xianyang. The capital city was brightly lit under the night sky, the dense flames indicating that the defending army seemed to be actively deploying defenses. However, according to scouts, the rotation frequency of the defenders on the city walls was unusually slow, and many banners remained motionless throughout the night—a common feint used when forces were insufficient.
"General, all the camps are ready. Shall we proceed with the attack on the city tomorrow as planned?" the adjutant asked.
Yi Xiaochuan did not answer immediately. His gaze lingered on the walls of Xianyang, the overly deliberate "preparedness" only reinforcing his belief that the city's defenses were weak. If Gaoyao truly had sufficient troops, they should feign weakness and lure the enemy deeper into their territory.
"Pass down the order," he finally spoke, "Tomorrow at dawn, launch a feint attack from all sides to probe their strength. If the defending troops are stretched thin, then launch a full-scale attack on their south gate after noon."
"promise!"
The lieutenant accepted the order and withdrew. Yi Xiaochuan remained standing, the night wind ruffling his cloak. If they won this battle, the heart of Xianyang would fall into the hands of the Chu army, and the world's格局 (geju, a term referring to the overall situation or landscape) would be completely altered. But for some reason, a lingering unease remained in his heart—was Gao Yao dead or alive? If he was alive, would he really abandon Xianyang so easily?
Under the same night sky, in a valley twenty miles west of Xianyang, a thousand elite Qin cavalrymen were silently preparing their equipment. They had no torches; everyone was fully armored and gagged, and their horses' hooves were wrapped in thick cloth. Gao Yao stood at the front of the column, making a final check on the specially made leather pouches beside the saddles.
These leather pouches did not contain ordinary weapons, but rather secret weapons that he personally supervised craftsmen to produce over three months—things that could change the course of a battle at crucial moments.
"Your Majesty, everything is ready," the cavalry commander reported in a low voice.
Gao Yao mounted his horse and looked towards Xianyang. The capital city he had cultivated for so many years was now in the most dangerous situation, a gamble he had personally placed upon himself. This was a game of life and death, the stakes being Xianyang and the entire world.
"Pass on the order," his voice was clear and firm in the night, "to disperse and hide according to plan, and to act upon orders when the flames of war rise in the city."
"promise!"
The thousand cavalrymen vanished into the mountains and forests like melting ink. Gao Yao took one last look at the lights on the walls of Xianyang, then turned his horse and galloped off in the opposite direction from the Chu army camp.
The darkness before dawn is the thickest. Yi Xiaochuan's five thousand vanguard troops appeared like ghosts on the plains outside Xianyang City. They lit no torches, made no noise, and even their horses' hooves were wrapped in thick cloth. Only their armor gleamed coldly in the dim light of the day.
Yi Xiaochuan reined in his horse and stood atop the hill, gazing at the sleeping capital city through the dissipating morning mist. The majestic outline of Xianyang's city walls was revealed in the haze; the thirty-six-mile-long wall stretched like a giant dragon across the land, its twelve gates tightly shut, and the banners atop the walls fluttering weakly in the morning breeze.
"General, the scouts report that the garrison on the city wall is sparse and rotates slowly, just as we previously observed," the lieutenant reported in a low voice.
Yi Xiaochuan nodded slightly, but there was no ease in his eyes. An abnormally smooth path often conceals the deepest traps. He knew all too well Gao Yao, who had risen from the kitchen to the throne of Qin—a man of cunning military tactics, often turning the tide in dire straits. The obvious emptiness of Xianyang City only fueled his suspicions.
"Issue the order to surround the city from all sides, but do not attack rashly. Each camp should set up camp two miles from the city, with deep moats and high walls, to create a siege." Yi Xiaochuan's voice was as calm as ice. "We will make further plans after the General's army arrives."
"General!" a young captain couldn't help but speak up, "Now that our army is at the city gates, why not press on with one decisive blow? The city's defenders number only four thousand, while our army has five thousand elite troops, plus reinforcements to follow. Now is the perfect time to attack the city!"
Yi Xiaochuan coldly glanced at the man: "If you want your men to become innocent victims beneath the city walls, I won't stop you. None of Gao Yao's men are fools. To dare defend a thirty-six-mile-long city wall with only four thousand men, they must either be insane or have some hidden plan that you and I don't know about. Issue the order: anyone who disobeys and attacks without authorization will be executed!"