“He is,” Min said with a sigh. “I’ve tried to persuade him otherwise, but he’ll hear nothing of it.”
“He’s still a young man, and hungers for the glory that his grandfather and great-grandfather had before him.”
“He’s apt to get himself killed,” Min said.
“The sight of him leading the charge will surely draw King Yi himself out to take the field.”
“That’s Dao’s argument. He says that we can’t expect Yi to take the field if he doesn’t do so as well.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes before Wu asked the question that had been gnawing at him since Min laid out his plan the night before.
“Will the larger force reach the battle in time?”
“Yes,” Min said without hesitation.
“You seem quite sure of yourself.”
“If I begin to doubt that they will arrive then they will not.”
“Oh?”
Min glanced up at Wu and the two men’s eyes met. “You know full-well how important confidence is to an army, Wu. If you show even the slightest doubt then the men will sense it and all is lost.”
Wu nodded. “Still, it is a long march, the day is hot, and the pass formidable.”
“All odds are against us, I know, but Yi’s force was already larger than ours before we split the army. He’s known about our plans for weeks, perhaps longer.”
“Was it the nobles that told him?” Wu asked.
“I don’t know who else it could have been,” Min said. “We kept the plans for the campaign under wraps until just a few weeks ago when we began to mobilize the troops. While it could have been a spy in the capital that sent off word, I have my suspicions.”
Wu nodded. He remembered well the day that Min had warned him of the noble’s dislike for him. They hungered for power so much that their allegiance was to themselves first, and to Chu second. If the army was defeated they would view that as a victory for themselves, a rebuke of all of the changes that Wu had instituted over the past two years. They didn’t seem to consider that a loss in the field against Yue could mean disaster for Chu, possibly the elimination of the State altogether. Wu had no doubt that King Yi would march straight to Ying if they lost the battle today. If Duke Dao was lost things would only be worse.
The trail came to an end at the bottom of the hill and before them stretched hundreds of tents set up by the soldiers. Cheers rose and the talk became excited as they made their way toward the center of the camp. All about them men were honing the edges of their weapons and checking over their armor; anything to keep the anxiety of waiting at bay. Each of the soldiers knew that they would be fighting in only a few hours, and they meant to be ready.
The command tent was given ample space within the throng of other tents and several guards stood sentry outside. Wu and Min were each given a nod as they approached and then went inside. A large table dominated the center of the tent, the map of the area taking up much of its surface. Duke Dao was bent over it, poring over the detailed terrain, officers all about him.
“Any word from the scouts?” Min asked as he walked up to the table.
“A few reported back just a few minutes ago,” one officer said. “Yi’s men continue their march south to meet us; there’s been no change there.”
“And the pass?” Min knew that if any advance scouts of the Yue Army smelled out the Chu soldiers on the other side of the hills then their plan would be finished.
“It appears that the main body of their army is moving right past it,” the officer said.
“A small detachment, numbering little more than a hundred men, has been left to guard it,” another officer said.
Min nodded and gave a sigh of relief. “And what of our own forces? Have they reached the pass yet?”
The officer looked down at the floor of the tent before meeting Min’s eyes. “The only reports we have from them are a few hours old. At that time they expected to reach it within a few hours and begin moving through before midday.”
Min nodded at the man’s words. “How are the emplacements on the plain going?”
Another officer stepped forward. “We’ve got the archers already moved into place in the low hills overlooking the plain. They’re a mile north of us and will fire down on the approaching army.”
Min nodded again. He hoped that the fire from the hills would draw a large portion of Yi’s men away from the plain, enough that when Chu’s chariot and infantry charge swept forth Yue’s forces would be slightly divided.
“And the infantry? They’ve not been placed yet.”
“They’ll move up within the hour,” another officer stepped forward to report.
“And then the chariots will advance,” Duke Dao said as he walked over and put a reassuring arm around Min’s neck. “Don’t worry, Min, we’re following your plan just as you wanted. Still, I have to admit, I’m a bit uneasy. Yi’s men will outnumber us by nearly three-to-one at first. Even if we do manage to hold them, it will be some time before our second wing reaches the battle from the pass.”
“That’s all we can do at first, hold them,” Min said. He turned to the officer that had spoken up about the infantry. “The men know how their formations are to break and pull back after the initial engagement?”
The man nodded. “They’ve been drilled repeatedly about their role in falling back beyond the river.”
“The chariots can still go around the river,” Duke Dao said to Min.
“I hope they try. Any attempt to move up along the river will first open them up to our archers. Then if they manage to come up and around where the river ends so as to fall back on our forces they’ll have to do so in a nearly single-file formation. There’s just not enough room between the rise in the hills and the river for much more than two chariots to move down at a time.”
“If we incapacitate just a few of their chariots when they make that move then the path will be blocked to them,” Min added.
Duke Dao nodded. “It’s a good plan, but one that I’m not wholly convinced Yi will adhere to. He’ll no doubt sense the trap.”
“Their chariots outnumber ours by too high a margin for us to allow them the advantage of mobility,” Min replied.
“Well, it shouldn’t be much longer now,” Dao said as he folded his arms into his robes and looked at each of the men in the tent.
“I wish you would reconsider leading the charge,” Min said.
Dao shook his head. “My place is with the men, not sitting in the rear watching the battle from afar.”
“The risk is too great, at least until our main force arrives from the pass,” Min pleaded.
Dao clapped him on the back. “Min, the decision is mine. I will lead a charge.”
Min nodded sullenly. He had a bad feeling about his Duke’s eagerness to partake in the battle, but at the same time a good-deal of admiration. Many of the rulers of the Seven States shied away from leading troops into battle; that couldn’t be said of Duke Dao of Chu.
“And when the battle is finished?” Wu asked, speaking for the first time.
“That is difficult to say,” Min answered. “If we still have the numbers I expect to continue the march on Shouchun.”
“There is a good chance that King Yi will escape the battle unscathed. He’ll return to the capital and rally the people to him.” Wu stared hard into Min’s eyes. “The fighting there will be fierce.”
“Old men and boys are all that remain back in the capital,” Dao said with a laugh that was quickly echoed by the other officers in the tent. “If Yi does make it back to Shouchun, I think the last thing we need to worry about is a determined resistance.”
“Not with the majority of his men marching to meet us in the field,” one of the officers said.
“Still, there is a chance-”
“The attack will be pressed,” Min said sharply, cutting Wu off. “Shouchun will be taken.”
“That’s the attitude I like,” Dao said with a laugh and another clap o
n Min’s back.
Wu nodded. They were confident, that much was for sure. Deep down, however, he felt ill-at-ease. If pressed on how he felt, he wouldn’t have been able to say, only that there was a feeling something wasn’t right. A foreboding was what it was, and he knew it well from when he led Wei Army soldiers into battle. He came to recognize the feeling, and knew that it presaged catastrophe. He’d had the feeling many times before, and it hadn’t always come before a loss, but also when a victory wasn’t quite complete. Either a large portion of the enemy’s army had gotten away, a leading general fled, or his own forces were so decimated that the victory seemed more defeat than anything. Each time before those battles he had had the same feeling in the pit of his stomach that he was having now. Watching the officer’s laugh and joke with their Duke and general, however, gave Wu the impression that it would do little good bringing it up. Even with Min, he realized, someone that he had grown comfortable sharing his feelings with over the years, the trepidation would be unwelcome. Best to swallow the feeling and hope that it went away. And hope even more that what it foretold was nothing more than heavy losses as would be expected with such a battle.
A soldier suddenly rushed into the tent, his chest heaving for breath. “The advance wing of Yi’s men have been spotted, they’ll be on us in little more than an hour.”
The joking and laughter died at the words and all eyes went to Dao and then Min. Min looked from the man to Dao to each of the officers in what seemed a single moment.
“Get into position,” he said quietly.
No words were said as each of the officer rushed from the tent and toward whichever division of the army they were to command. Duke Dao was about to follow them out when Min stayed him with a touch on the arm.
“We have an hour, Sire,” Min said. “Let us go up the hills a ways and see these forces with our own eyes.”
Dao nodded and fell in behind Min as he left the tent, Wu close on his heels. They were the only men moving away from the plain, it seemed, as they made their way south through the camp toward the hills that afforded a clear view for miles down the plain. All about them soldiers rushed to pick up their weapons and armor before hastily heading to whichever area had been appointed as their rallying point. Horses snorted and dug their hooves into the ground at all of the frantic activity about them before men pulled them along. Most would be used to pull the hundreds of chariots that were already waiting on the northern outskirts of camp, while several dozen would hold single riders appointed with circling around the battle and reporting back to the officers and general on the latest developments.
Few men seemed to notice that their Duke was moving about among them, heading in the opposite direction of where the battle would take place, and after a few minutes of dodging men and animals alike the three reached the edge of the southern hills and the trail that ascended up their rocky slopes.
They only had to walk a few hundred yards up the trail before they saw the enemy forces. The chariots came first, large clouds of dust swirling upward into the air in their wake, the rows upon rows of infantry marching several miles further behind. Even from this distance the heat seemed to shimmer and reflect off of the thousands of dagger-axes the infantry held.
“They’ll be here within the hour,” Dao said in alarm when he saw how close the chariots were.
“The chariots, yes,” Min replied, “but I doubt they’ll do much more than wait a good distance away from us until the infantry catches up. I expect they’re trying to rattle our nerves with this first appearance.”
“I can’t even see the end to that column of infantry,” Dao said, pointing at the dark brown blocks marching slowly toward them.
“They’re formed into three columns,” Wu said, bending over to point so that Dao could follow his finger. “Two blocks of men to each column, with each block comprising…oh, about three thousand men, I’d say.”
“Sounds about right,” Min said.
Dao looked from Wu to Min and back to where Wu was pointing. “Three thousand in each of those moving squares? There must be a dozen of those squares of men.”
“Eighteen,” Wu corrected. “Three squares in each line, two lines to each column. Three columns make eighteen blocks of infantry, or about fifty-four thousand men.”
“Fifty-four thousand,” Dao said quietly. “We’ve got what? Scarcely half that?”
“Just under twenty thousand,” Min answered, “each set into divisions of five thousand men.”
“They’ll march right over us!” Dao nearly shouted.
“Not if we fall back onto the river, and don’t forget about the archers in the hills. One good archer can take out a dozen infantrymen in little more than a minute.”
“And remember, we’re simply going to hold Yi’s men until the other wing of the army swings south from the pass and marches on their rear,” Wu pointed out.
“I’m beginning to have doubts as to whether we’ll be able to hold them that long,” Dao said.
“Don’t,” Min said brusquely. “The men need your confidence and will smell your doubt and fear a mile away. If you mean to lead the men in a charge you have to do so with the dead-certainty that you will be victorious.”
Dao nodded and swallowed the knot in his throat. “We’d better get down there, then. It looks like we’ll be fighting in an hour’s time.”
Duke Dao began descending the trail before they could say anything, his head held high. Min glanced at Wu, shrugged, and started down after him. Wu paused for another moment to look at the forces slowly making their way south and the forces quickly assembling to meet them, then glanced again at Duke Dao. Min was right about the men being able to sense their commander’s doubts and fears, but he wasn’t quite sure Duke Dao had managed to quell his yet.
The Battle on the Plains
THIRTEEN
The Chu Army had four divisions of infantry that numbered nearly five thousand men each. They were arrayed east of the river in a line a few hundred yards ahead of the camp. In front of them were the three chariot divisions which numbered two hundred and fifty each. In the northern hills to their west were the four divisions of archers, five hundred men in each. It was a sizable force, but Wu was not sure it would be enough.
He held the reins of a chariot in his hands, trying his best to keep the two skittish horses under control. A low-ranking officer named Chou stood on the platform next to him, a bow held at his side. His primary duty was to fire at any enemy archers riding in the opposing chariots, though Wu also tasked him with keeping his eyes on Duke Dao as much as possible. The Duke was in the next division over from them, on their right and in the middle of the three divisions, and although Wu knew that several chariots would be given over wholly to protecting the Duke, he figured one more couldn’t hurt.
Min drove a chariot in the third division on the rightmost flank, from where he would be in command of the army. While it’s true he’d riding about in the battle, his primary task was to ascertain how the enemy was faring. A dozen chariots were to stay out of the fighting entirely and only ride about, viewing the shifting lines and gauging the positions of both forces. Wu had commanded armies before in the State of Wei, and he knew from experience that Min would be bombarded by reports continuously.
Ahead of them the State of Yue’s Army was still assembling, though they had brought the majority of their forces into place. Five divisions of chariots, which Wu thought to number nearly three thousand, stood in front of the three massive columns of infantry, which numbered more than fifty thousand men. Between the columns of infantry were two divisions of archers, which looked to number around two thousand, the only numbers which matched their own. Chariots were still moving into place, and nearly the entirety of the vast columns of infantry were concealed in clouds of dust, something Wu thought was for the best; it wouldn’t do to have their own infantry get too nervous at the sight of such overwhelming odds facing them.
The odds would even out once their main force reached
them from the northern pass. The scouts had reported that the force had begun moving through the pass more than an hour ago, but it was still a march of many miles down the plain before they would reach the battle. The majority of that force was infantry. The four divisions of men would have to rush down to get to the battle in time, something that wouldn’t be easy in the stifling heat. The chariots that led them would also have to go slow. It wouldn’t do to have half of the large force appear, giving away the surprise and possibly being routed, before the infantry even arrived.
Still, Wu knew the odds were heavily stacked against them. Even when, or if, the northern division of the army reached them, they’d still be heavily outnumbered. The State of Wu’s army had just under 60,000 men. The State of Chu’s army had just over 41,000 men, and half of them were currently marching through a mountain pass. Right now Chu was fielding a force of just over 21,000 men against an army that outnumbered it nearly 3-to-1.
General Min was in charge of the battle, something that he had talked repeatedly about with Duke Dao. The Duke had agreed, but Wu knew full-well that the course of the battle could change that. The plan was to wait for the Yue Army to march upon them, coming at them first with volleys of arrows and a chariot charge. The Chu Army would hold for as long as possible, their archers firing down on the advancing troops from the hills above, before the chariots would make a combined thrust at the left flank of the Yue Army, driving into the ranks of infantry. While that happened the right flank of the Chu infantry would pull back across the river, each division pulling back in turn. The most important factor would be deciding when to have the chariots charge the left flank. Min was to give that order, and Wu hoped that Duke Dao waited for it.
A great cheer arose from the army ahead of them, the soldiers no doubt pepped-up by their commanders. Nearly all of the chariots were now in place nearly a mile from them, Wu could see; it wouldn’t be much longer. He felt rather calm, something that always struck him as a bit odd. Most men he knew, even seasoned veterans of battle, became quite fearful before the initial charge. Not Wu. He had somehow developed the capacity for calm after years of war. That wasn’t the case with the officer next to him. Wu could see the man’s hand turning white from how forcefully he gripped the top of the chariot, while the hand held at his side was visibly trembling. Wu put his hand on the man’s shoulder.
The Warring States, Books 1-3 Page 35