Chapter 11: The Art of War by Sun Tzu

  Hejian is a strong city in the north of Song Dynasty, controlling Youyan. The Yellow River flows from here into the sea, with countless large and small tributaries. The city is located among numerous rivers, hence its name Hejian. To the north lies Youyan, where the Liao cavalry can cross the river and ride freely on the plain, following the Yellow River's flow southward, shaking the capital in a matter of days.

  In the past, when the Hebei military camp was stationed in Hejian, the forbidden army and the Xiang army, along with their families, numbered tens of thousands, to the point where food had to be transported from the Central Plains through the Grand Canal to supply them. Later, the Hebei military camp moved to Daming Prefecture, and over the years, the Song Dynasty continued to accumulate water fields in the border areas between Song and Liao, planting mulberry trees and other crops in the fields to block the Liao army's advance southward. From Hejian northwards, from Dingzhou, Xiongzhou, Baizhou to Donghai, the water fields and forests stretched for hundreds of miles, and the Hebei military camp recruited tenant farmers to plant rice, wheat and other grains, not only self-sufficient but also supplied Bianjing through the Grand Canal. The tenant farmers also planted mulberry trees, raised silkworms, and wove silk fabrics, earning the reputation of "Hebei's clothing and food supplying the whole country". Hebei East Road was called "Brocade State" by the Khitan people due to its high production of silk products, and they coveted its wealth and manpower. There were even officials who said that Hebei's "beautiful brocades are not inferior to those of Qi and Lu", suggesting an increase in taxes for Hebei, gradually bringing it up to par with the Central Plains and southeastern provinces.

  At that time, the Liao and Song dynasties had been at peace for decades. The city of Hejian was located on the east bank of the Yellow River, with canals and waterways crisscrossing the surrounding area, making it a hub for water transportation. In the second year of the Taiping Xingguo era, the imperial court set up a tax office in Hejian, which became one of the main trading cities between Liao and Song. Goods from the Central Plains were transported to Hejian through the Yellow River and the Grand Canal, with silk fabrics, porcelain, and tea being the most prominent commodities. Additionally, due to the Liao dynasty's ban on maritime trade, exotic goods such as spices, precious stones, pearls, rhinoceros horns, ivory, and coral from southern coastal countries were transported to Hejian by sea, then unloaded and transported overland to the interior of the Liao dynasty, or even further to the northern barbarian tribes. The Liao dynasty's own products, including spirits, woolen goods, cow and sheep hides, sable and fox fur, and ginseng, were also collected in Hejian and shipped to the Central Plains of the Song dynasty, or to commercial port cities along the coast, and even sold as far away as Southeast Asia.

  Although it has been peaceful for a long time, Hejian is still considered the first heavy town among all roads in Hebei. Therefore, since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, Hejian Prefecture has also been carefully operated, with continuous repairs to city walls and fortresses, and two million troops stationed there every year. In addition to war horses, fodder, grain, winter clothes, armor, bows, and arrows, there are also dozens of iron bucket cannons newly cast in the imperial court, more than 20,000 fire guns, and tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder stored in Hejian, waiting for the archers of the Hebei campaign to gradually switch to firearms training. Because Hejian has sufficient storage and a large military camp that can accommodate 100,000 people built by the previous dynasty, when Tong Guan announced that the Hebei campaign would move from Daming Prefecture to Hejian Prefecture, the army could set out in ten days without needing to make more preparations.

  In the blink of an eye, nearly 100,000 soldiers and their families poured in, and in the future, several times more family members will continue to flood in. The originally bustling Hejian Prefecture suddenly became crowded, with prices skyrocketing everywhere, even the prices of grain, vegetables, and fruits in the suburban markets were higher than those in the capital. At this time, both local civilians and the newly migrated military households from Hebei were filled with complaints. Merchants worth tens of thousands of taels were secretly making a fortune while anxiously currying favor with the newly arrived immortals. As the commander-in-chief of the Hebei expeditionary force, Tong Guan was also entangled in endless social engagements, and apart from occasionally summoning and subduing the main generals and deputy generals who commanded troops in the expeditionary force, he had no leisure to pay attention to that insignificant Confucian scholar living in the expeditionary force's headquarters.

  The imperial edict sent Zhao Xingde to the Hebei military camp, but he was not given any substantial mission. Tong Guan did not make any specific arrangements for him either. Zhao Xingde took advantage of this opportunity and, with the tacit support of several generals including Han Shizhong, successfully established a school for soldiers that gained great reputation.

  At first, in order to attract soldiers to study, the righteous school taught military dependents' children to read and write during the day, and arranged for southern and northern drama troupes to perform intermittently from noon to dusk. Zhao Xingde served as a lecturer, citing classics and explaining the good and evil, loyalty and treachery in between. To cater to the worldly atmosphere, Zhao Xingde also accommodated various miscellaneous studies after preaching and enlightening, ranging from literacy and moral cultivation, military strategy and tactics, to dietetics and health preservation, accounting and calculation, nothing was left out. Thanks to his two lifetimes of experience, he had a wealth of knowledge in his belly, which enabled him to lecture fluently for nearly two hours every day, making the constantly coming and going audience mostly understand and not feel bored.

  As time went on, the time spent singing and listening to music in the free school gradually shortened. The number of soldiers who came to study did not decrease, but rather increased, with some even expecting Mr. Zhao to teach them more unknown content. As the number of people coming out of curiosity or admiration grew, the original temple allocated by the government was no longer sufficient, so Mr. Zhao established a teaching outline, recruited several teachers, and used the expenses of the Li Xue She to rent additional venues. He also organized advanced students to teach junior students. In this chaotic Hejian Prefecture, the free school founded by Mr. Zhao became a rare sight, not only widely discussed among officials, soldiers, and civilians but also gradually spreading to neighboring states through traveling merchants, with Mr. Zhao being respectfully referred to as "Mr." by many simple-minded soldiers and civilians.

  On this day, the theatrical troupe had just finished performing "The Hegemon-King Bids Farewell to His Concubine". The audience was still sighing and lamenting that Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, was not worth it. Zhao Xun saw this and lightly cleared his throat, saying: "When Xiang Yu was young, he did not succeed in learning literature or swordsmanship. His uncle Xiang Liang blamed him for this. Xiang Yu said that literature is only good for recording names, while swordsmanship can only defeat one person at a time, and it's not worth learning. One should learn to defeat ten thousand people. Therefore, Xiang Liang stopped teaching him literature and swordsmanship, and instead taught him military strategy, which eventually made him an extraordinary general. It's just a pity that he was defeated by Liu Bang. Many people have discussed and talked about the reasons for Xiang Yu's defeat at the hands of Liu Bang.

  Then, he started by analyzing the battle situation of the Chu-Han Contention, explaining in detail why Xiang Yu, the King of Western Chu who had won every battle, ultimately suffered a crushing defeat at Gaixia. Although he was merely quoting the evaluations and comments of past and present people without any special insights of his own, to the nearly illiterate soldiers, it was as if Zhuge Liang's military genius had been reborn, and some thoughtful soldiers secretly took note in their hearts.

  Under Liu Bang, the three generals Han Xin, Ying Bu and Peng Yue could each control a side, no one in Xiang Yu's camp could match them. They couldn't lead their elite troops to rush back and forth between different places, exhausting themselves from running around. Although they won every battle, the situation was getting worse and worse. Even the strongest crossbow arrows would lose their power after flying for a while, not even penetrating a thin cloth. Xiang Yu's defeat at Gaixia was also due to his exhaustion. Zhao Xingde and the soldiers all sighed together, then he changed the subject:

  Later, when Han Xin, who had set up the ten-faced ambush that year, was captured by Liu Bang, Liu Bang asked Han Xin: 'If I were to lead an army, how many soldiers could I lead?' Han Xin said: 'Your Majesty can lead 100,000 soldiers.' Liu Bang asked again: 'And how many soldiers can you lead?' Han Xin said: 'The more the better.' Liu Bang laughed and said: 'Then why did I capture you?' Han Xin said: "Your Majesty cannot lead an army, but is good at leading generals. This is the reason why I was captured by Your Majesty."

  After finishing his speech, Zhao Xingde couldn't help but feel a bit parched. Just as he was about to retreat to the back hall, Han Shizhong rushed out of the hall, speaking in a low voice: "The merchant caravan heading to Liao State is ready to depart in three days." As one of the respected teachers among the scholars, Zhao Xingde was now treated with more respect by Han Shizhong, who no longer dared to loudly shout "Bookworm! Bookworm!" at him. Although his tone wasn't as deferential as that of a regular soldier, it had become more serious.

  "Ah!" Zhao Xingde's eyes flashed. Since arriving in Hejian several months ago, he had personally seen that the slightly wealthy families in the north wore fur coats on the outside and woolen clothes on the inside, drank wine and ate meat, all of which came from Liao State. Due to the local officials' concealment and embezzlement of taxes, the scale of the market was much larger than what the court in Bianjing knew, with transactions involving goods and silver often reaching tens of millions of guan. The frequent and large-scale trade between Hejian, a border town like this, and Liao State's Nanjing Road had an even closer economic connection than the Central Plains. After going through the official heavy taxes and strict restrictions on the market, what about the private goods trade between Liao and Song, which was even more profitable? Thinking of this, Zhao Xingde couldn't help but feel a little eager to try.

  Although he was mentally prepared, the scale of the merchant team far exceeded Zhao Xingde's expectations. From Hejian Prefecture all the way north, there were constantly horse and mule teams that had been agreed upon in advance to join forces. The rice fields and forests that could replace the hills to block the Liao people's cavalry had long been trodden out by these mule merchants into countless roads that could pass through large troops.

  "It's just that if the Liao people were to head south, they would only need to follow these trade routes, not only would their actions be swift, but they would also avoid most of the official military outposts along the way. These roads are used for smuggling goods and making a fortune in silver, once war breaks out between north and south, these roads will be the greatest threat to the military states of Hebei."

  Zhao Xingde pointed with his whip at the road that had been trampled hard by the deep and shallow hoof prints and wheel tracks. Han Shizhong, who rarely did not mock him for being overly cautious, only let out a stifled sigh and said: "Even if there's a disaster of epic proportions, you and I will just take care of what's in front of us."

  The merchant group itself had more than a hundred bodyguards brought by the merchants, and hired more than a hundred county militiamen to escort them. Han Shizhong led fifty cavalrymen to scout out the horse thieves from afar, but they encountered no danger along the way, following the guides who regularly traveled this trade route. It took two or three days for them to leave Song territory and enter Liao territory. The scenery suddenly changed; there were almost no farmlands in the border area, and the tall trees had been cut down long ago. After entering Liao territory, the merchant group turned westward and encountered several groups of Liao cavalry scouts. Fortunately, the leader of the merchant group had made arrangements beforehand, so these cavalrymen did not detain them for long and let them pass. They didn't even pay attention to Han Shizhong and his men riding tall warhorses unique to the Song army.