Chapter 116

“Did you hear? Cao Cao’s troops are gathering in Luoyang and Xuchang.”

“They never stop coming, do they?”

*Thud.*

“Thanks to your efforts, the Northern Expedition ended sooner than expected. We still have plenty of supplies left.”

“Could that work against us?”

“Not at all. In fact, we should be grateful that it ended quickly, leaving us with surplus supplies.”

*Tap.*

Pang Tong’s hand stopped. The position of the last black stone he placed caught my attention. A move that seemed out of place, breaking the flow of the game. A seemingly insignificant move in a remote corner of the board.

But I could read the meaning behind that move.

“Dongguan, right?”

“Indeed. I thought this defensive battle would hinge on whether we hold Dongguan or not.”

“If you say ‘thought,’ does that mean it’s no longer the case? No wonder you invited me to play Go—you wanted to explore the battlefield on the board, didn’t you?”

“Sometimes, the abstract form of the Go board inspires more than a detailed map.”

As he spoke, Pang Tong placed another stone in a spot unrelated to the game’s progression. I, too, began placing stones from the perspectives of Cao Wei and Sun Wu, aligning with Pang Tong’s intentions.

“Hey, Mingjing. Isn’t placing two stones at once against the rules?”

“Wei and Wu are two sides, so placing two stones is appropriate.”

“But still, Go is…”

“Is the position empty?”

“Ugh… When did you become so unrefined?”

*Tap. Thud. Click.*

We silently filled the Go board with black and white stones. When our hands finally stopped, the board had transformed into a military map of the Three Kingdoms.

The black stones in Pang Tong’s hand clattered as he rubbed them together.

“Doesn’t it seem strange?”

“Indeed. It does.”

So far, Cao Wei’s forces have been gathering around Luoyang and Xuchang.

It was obvious where the troops from these two locations would go. The army from Luoyang would head to Guanzhong, and the army from Xuchang would move to Yangfan.

But what was strange was that the size of the forces gathering at these two points was roughly equal.

“A large army doesn’t need tricks. Its sheer size is a strategy in itself. However, the movements Wei and Wu have shown so far don’t leverage their strengths.”

Numbers alone are a form of immense power.

Rather than targeting both sides, concentrating forces on one side to break through and then targeting the other would be more efficient.

Especially for Cao Wei, which must overcome fortresses like Dongguan and Yangfan, having an ambiguously large force isn’t particularly advantageous.

It’s a well-known principle that the attacking side needs more than three times the troops of the defenders.

I once breached Chang’an City with just over twice the troops, but that was due to betrayal from within—an exceptional case.

Without such internal betrayal or a similar trick, their attack would likely end in meaningless waste.

In summary, Cao Wei’s troop deployment was noticeably inefficient.

But unless Cao Pi was being stubborn, there was no way Cao Wei would make such a poor move. There must be another plan.

“Could the army from Luoyang also head to Yangfan?”

“Yangfan? Maybe. But General Zhang Yi is stationed in Shangyong. Would they really take such a risk to attack Yangfan?”

To leverage their numbers, targeting Yangfan would be better than the narrow Dongguan. But as Pang Tong said, the ability to expand the battlefield isn’t their advantage alone.

We could send reinforcements from Shangyong, as I did during the Jing Province campaign.

“If they attack us from Luoyang, Xuchang, and Wan, there are three routes: attacking Dongguan from Luoyang, attacking Wuguan from Wan, or attacking Yangfan from Xuchang and Wan.”

With the current information, it’s hard to determine which is the main attack.

“Are they trying to hide which is the main attack?”

They might be trying to pay us back in kind. After all, they’ve been on the receiving end before.

“That’s possible to some extent. But how effective would that be? Our forces are already sufficiently dispersed. We’re relying on terrain and fortresses to compensate for our numerical disadvantage. How much benefit would they really gain from hiding their main attack?”

That’s true.

“Then are they trying to tie our hands and leave the rest to Sun Wu?”

“Unlikely. They’ve already experienced how unreliable that is.”

Cao Cao hoped Sun Quan would stir up trouble in Jing Province while he held us off in Yangfan, but that plan failed spectacularly.

He even pulled troops from Hefei to provoke Sun Quan and keep us pinned, only to lose Hefei due to Sun Quan’s betrayal.

Knowing this, the likelihood of Cao Wei entrusting the war’s direction to Sun Quan is extremely low.

“That was a foolish question. What do you think, Military Advisor?”

“I see both as decoys. No, ‘decoys’ is too light a term. Given their size, they’re more like feints.”

“If they’re feints, then where is the main attack?”

Not Yangfan, not Guanzhong, and certainly not Sun Wu.

Then what’s left…

“Ah.”

“You’ve figured it out, haven’t you? There’s one more route.”

“Bingzhou…”

Bingzhou, later known as Ordos, became a kind of abandoned land during the Later Han’s period of extreme chaos.

It was already a sparsely populated area, but with bandits and ethnic groups running rampant outside government control, the cost of maintaining it outweighed the benefits.

I had forgotten about Bingzhou because of this. Although I held the title of Governor of Bingzhou, the region had effectively ceased to exist during the Later Han.

In 213, Cao Cao abolished Bingzhou and merged it with Jizhou, but only parts near Jizhou were incorporated, while the rest was excluded.

The Ordos region, officially excluded from Han territory, was handed over to the Southern Xiongnu, who had submitted to Cao Wei.

Cao Cao gave up direct control of the oversized Ordos region and opted for indirect rule through the Southern Xiongnu.

“Tying down our main forces in Guanzhong and Jing Province, while infiltrating Yongyang through Hetao (the Ordos region). I believe that’s their strategy.”

Pang Tong had discerned Cao Wei’s hidden intentions just from their troop movements. He probably realized it as soon as he received the report.

He didn’t invite me to play Go to discuss and speculate on their strategy—he wanted to convey this information to me.

“Are you planning to send me, Grand Commandant?”

“That’s right.”

Cao Wei likely won’t launch an attack immediately.

Although the Southern Xiongnu, who submitted to Cao Wei, dominate the Hetao region, other ethnic groups hostile to them also reside there.

The most notable would be the Tuoba Xianbei, who would later establish Northern Wei. They weren’t as prominent as the famous Xianbei leader Gabi Neng, but they were quite powerful.

They’ll likely negotiate or subdue them before moving. They wouldn’t want to risk us forming an alliance with them and facing a two-front attack.

But time isn’t on our side.

As always, the sooner the preparation, the better.

“Have you reported this to His Majesty yet?”

“Not yet. You’re the first to hear this. It’s still in the realm of speculation without solid evidence. I mentioned it so you can keep it in mind for when evidence emerges later.”

Pang Tong said he would inform Liu Bei himself when the time came. But he was already confident in his assessment.

After meeting with Pang Tong, I began preparing for the battle in Bingzhou. I studied the ethnic groups in Hetao in detail and made changes to military training.

“Is this the Eight Array Formation? The one the Prime Minister created?”

“Yes. From now on, train the infantry around this.”

“Understood.”

The battle in Bingzhou would inevitably be cavalry-centric. Although we secured a supply of warhorses by capturing Xiliang, cavalry isn’t built overnight, and Cao Wei’s cavalry still holds an overwhelming advantage.

Especially in Bingzhou, where terrain can’t be relied upon, a cavalry disadvantage would be fatal.

‘That’s why we need to master the Eight Array Formation, a tactic against cavalry.’

The Eight Array Formation’s effectiveness against cavalry, especially nomadic cavalry, has been historically proven.

In the original history, Ma Long, the famous general of the Jin Dynasty that unified the Three Kingdoms, used Zhuge Liang’s Eight Array Formation to completely defeat the Qiang and Xianbei tribes.

The problem was time. Could we fully master the Eight Array Formation before they launched their attack?

‘Especially since the Eight Array Formation is more complex than other tactics.’

But it’s not entirely hopeless. The Lanling Army is already an elite force tempered by countless battles. It has grown into a renowned strong army, not just in Han but across the Three Kingdoms.

If we hadn’t received new recruits, they would have mastered the Eight Array Formation quickly.

It takes about a year to train new recruits into elites, so the seasoned Lanling Army should be able to master the Eight Array Formation in half that time.

But unfortunately, we don’t have that much time.

Not long after, intelligence arrived that a Cao Wei army, led by Zhao Chang, had entered the Hetao region.

Summoned by Liu Bei, I sensed the impending battle. Before dressing and entering the palace, I told Jiang Wei:

“Prepare for deployment.”

§

*Image of the Ordos region highlighted in purple.*

This is the Ordos region. It was Bingzhou during the Later Han but was excluded from administrative divisions during Cao Wei’s time.