Chapter 75: Zhao Jun's Desire to Withdraw

The vanguard was on the verge of chaos, yet Li Mu at the rear failed to notice it. Perhaps he simply had no time to pay attention.

“Mechanical beasts—just as expected!” he exclaimed. “Heavy cavalry, prepare yourselves!” Upon catching sight of several Black Tigers, Li Mu was startled. Fortunately, his two thousand heavily armored cavalrymen were not to be trifled with; their combined volley of two thousand heavy javelins could pierce ordinary city walls with ease.

“No! General, look! The army is defeated!” The fireline atop the city wall illuminated the dust, revealing soldiers fleeing in every direction.

“No! How can this be?” Li Mu was dumbfounded. Hadn’t their morale just surged moments ago?

“General, they’ve all collapsed! Even their weapons—” The chief of his bodyguards shouted in panic. This was not a typical rout, but a frantic collapse; most Zhao soldiers had lost all sense of direction, with some even fleeing north and south.

“Retreat! We must withdraw!” With the defeated troops surging like a tidal wave, Li Mu, the god of war, could only sigh and order a retreat.

The cavalry fled, raising a cloud of dust behind them. Pang Nuan, seasoned and shrewd, quickly guessed what had happened.

“This is bad! Form ranks for support!” he commanded. “Prepare the ballistae and catapults!”

As expected, what Pang Nuan dreaded most came to pass. The defeated army streamed back to the main camp, and the northern mechanical beasts and war chariots pressed forward.

“Marshal Pang, I am guilty!” Five thousand elite soldiers and tens of thousands of laborers, all lost—Li Mu could hardly bear the outcome.

Pang Nuan sighed, knowing it was not Li Mu’s fault. “Li Mu, rise! Who would have thought they possessed so many mechanical beasts?”

Li Mu shook his head, speechless. He had only just realized that the collapse of the army had been caused by these iron monsters—twenty armored chariots and five agile Black Tigers. How could they hope to withstand such a force?

“Li Mu, I fear this battle…” Pang Nuan shook his head again, lacking even the confidence to take the fortress of Mo Dong. Nearby, a hundred thousand Xiongnu lingered, and Sit was hesitant to launch another attack. The Mo Dong army soon returned to the city with thirty thousand captives.

With the fighting concluded, the Zhao army began reorganizing.

“Marshal Pang! The main force has suffered twenty thousand casualties! Nearly forty thousand soldiers and civilian volunteers are missing, and there are over ten thousand lightly wounded!” Li Tongxin thought in despair, “It’s over!”

“What! Such heavy losses!” Li Mu’s face turned pale. The force he led had nearly disappeared. The god of war was so infuriated he nearly fainted.

Zhao Sheng! We have underestimated the northern army once again! Pang Nuan recalled Lord Plain’s confident expression.

“Generals! The Xiongnu know we suffered a setback, but we must never let them learn of our utter defeat!”

“Yes, sir!” All the generals understood that if the timid Xiongnu fled, the Zhao army’s plight would only worsen.

With a sigh, the inspector Li Tong spoke up. “Marshal Pang, morale has been lost. If we fight again, I fear we will fare poorly.”

Nearly half the army had been lost; Li Tong only wanted to return to Handan.

Pang Nuan shook his head. “We have only been in action for two days; how can we retreat so soon?”

“Marshal Pang, are you confident you can take the Mo Dong fortress?” Li Tong furrowed his brow.

Pang Nuan shook his head at once. “I am not. But we still have our Xiongnu allies.”

“What is your plan, Marshal?” Li Mu sensed several schemes taking shape.

Pang Nuan smiled slyly. “Tomorrow, let the Xiongnu besiege the fortress while the Zhao army attacks other towns.”

Li Mu sighed; this was to send the Xiongnu to their deaths.

Li Tong pondered and felt it might work.

“Do you have a set plan, Marshal Pang?”

Pang Nuan rose and looked out at the blue sky beyond the tent, his plan becoming clearer.

“Tomorrow, our army will launch a full assault on the northern Fuyu town. Sit of Fuyu will surely dispatch troops. First, let the Mo Dong army and Xiongnu fight a bloody battle. Then, we will set traps and ambush their mechanical beasts.”

Li Tong nodded. “Good! This is feasible. If the Mo Dong mechanical beasts are destroyed, we can continue our siege.”

All the generals agreed, but Li Mu had his doubts.

“Marshal Pang, the situation is unpredictable. If the Xiongnu suffer too many losses, we cannot advance into Liaodong. Should the Xiongnu retreat, attacking the cities of Mo Dong loses all meaning.”

It was a solitary struggle; relying on the Zhao army alone, they dared not venture deep into the territory surrounded by the Eastern Hu tribes.

“Hmph! Li Mu, do you not wish to fight?” Li Tong said displeased.

“General Li Mu’s concerns are precisely mine,” Pang Nuan replied.

“Our Zhao army no longer has the strength to attack Liaodong, but we must defeat the Mo Dong army to retreat safely.”

Li Mu nodded; this was also his thought. Having lost tens of thousands, the Zhao army could not sustain an incursion into Liaodong. Now that the northern army's strength was revealed, any further advance would be suicide.

“But if the king blames us, how will you explain yourself, Marshal Pang?” Li Tong rejoiced inwardly; this old villain would either die or be dismissed.

Hmph! Pang Nuan had not intended to speak, but he could not help himself.

“Once we ambush the Mo Dong army, we will immediately mix the Xiongnu troops with ours, and then—”

Pang Nuan gave a cold smile. This time, he would use the Xiongnu to accompany tens of thousands of Zhao soldiers to their graves.

“This!” Li Tong was depressed; the old man was truly ruthless.

The unsuspecting Xiongnu would surely be routed.

“A brilliant plan, Marshal Pang! Our Zhao state cannot withstand another defeat. If the plan succeeds, we can turn on the Xiongnu to replenish our losses and weaken the northern country’s expansion.”

The plan lacked moral virtue, but Li Mu had no intention of letting Pang Nuan bear the blame alone.

“Very well! Let us proceed according to Marshal Pang and Deputy Commander Li’s wishes.” The prospect of damaging both men’s reputations delighted not only Li Tong but also the king of Zhao.

Though the Zhao army had suffered defeat, the distant Xiongnu remained unaware of the battle’s outcome.

“Greetings, Chanyu. Marshal Pang requests your army to besiege the fortress tomorrow while the Zhao army attacks the surrounding towns,” the middle-aged Zhao envoy declared proudly, as though the Zhao army had just won a great victory.

Touman lowered his head and smiled. He did not know the details, but the Zhao army had withdrawn to their main camp, so he surmised they could not overcome the fortress.

“That is easily done! My Xiongnu warriors are not skilled at sieges, but in open battle, we rely on our wolf cavalry.”

The Zhao envoy smiled, conceding that the wolf cavalry were indeed best suited to open warfare on the steppe.

“Envoy of Zhao, tell Marshal Pang: Why not bypass the Mo Dong army and strike directly at Liaodong?”

Touman had no patience for lengthy campaigns; lightning strikes were the wolf cavalry’s specialty. Even if the battle went poorly, his wolf army could quickly withdraw. The boundless desert afforded him confidence in escape—unlike the Zhao army, which would surely not get away.

“Tomorrow afternoon, Marshal Pang wishes to meet Chanyu in person,” the Zhao envoy said coldly. With the retreat route unclear, the Xiongnu were already thinking of advancing.

Touman was pleased. “Very well, tomorrow we shall meet with Marshal Pang.”

With the Zhao army withdrawn, the Xiongnu also began to break camp and retreat, though they kept a wary eye on the Zhao army, setting up their camp twenty li away.

The distance was not far for cavalry, but for infantry, it meant a hurried march of an hour.

The Xiongnu enjoyed their leisure, unaware that the end was near.

…

After repelling Li Mu, Lin Shu waited outside the western city, the generals savoring tea inside the carriages.

[Commander, the Halong army has completed its rest. It will arrive in half an hour.]

“Good!” Lin Shu set down his teacup.

“Sit, prepare thirty thousand cavalry to circle behind the retreating Xiongnu. I will advance with the war chariots to rendezvous with the Halong army.”

“As you command,” the commanders answered, rising at once—making sure to take their teacups with them.

The eastern city lay beside a river, but there was a great stone bridge leading directly across to the other side, where the towns were located.

Touman Chanyu, though not as formidable as his son, the future steppe overlord Modun, was a hero of his age. The Xiongnu faced enemies on three sides, yet had endured under pressure from all quarters—a testament to Touman’s ability.

When the Halong army moved, it dispatched large numbers of scouts to harass the Xiongnu’s own scouts, but as the forty thousand strong force drew within a few li, Touman’s sentries detected their approach.

“Hmph! They dare approach with forty thousand cavalry! Assemble the army and slaughter them first.”

His sentries had not discerned the army’s equipment and reported hastily, causing Touman to believe they were militia from the Xianbei mountains.

Soon, nearly a hundred thousand troops were assembled outside the camp, and the vast army stirred Touman’s fighting spirit.

“Go, inform Marshal Pang of Zhao and ask him to come witness our victory!”

Before the battle had even begun, Touman was already preparing to summon guests for a celebration.