Zhang Fang had decided to stop attacking Luoyang, but the war couldn't be halted immediately.
They had built so many siege weapons; it would be a shame not to use them.
They had also gathered many defeated soldiers; it would be a waste of food not to put them to use.
The latter was especially critical.
On the way back, they might not have enough food, and they would likely have to resort to eating meat.
But the meat in Guanzhong wasn't something you could just eat casually.
They had already eaten twice in Hongnong; how much meat could they find for a third time? It was a tough situation.
Better to thin out the ranks a bit first.
On the 25th of September, Shao Xun was awakened in the middle of the night.
He quickly donned his armor and led 1,200 soldiers from the Silver Spear Army and the Central Army, who had just been relieved from guarding the Taiji Palace, to the Pingchang Gate.
The horse path was filled with shouts and screams, and in the dim light, it was hard to make out who was who.
"In the chaos of the night, anyone running around without distinction of friend or foe is to be shot on sight," Shao Xun ordered directly.
The crossbowmen loaded their bolts, and the archers nocked their arrows.
With a loud horn blast, a dense volley of arrows was unleashed, covering most of the horse path like a storm.
Where the arrows fell, no one remained standing.
The horn sounded again and again, and the archers and crossbowmen took their positions on the horse path, firing at the city walls, eliciting more screams.
The drumbeats began to sound.
The training team, protecting Shao Xun, charged forward.
Several of the braziers on the city walls had been extinguished, making the light dim and adding a sinister, ferocious atmosphere to the battle.
Chen Yougen led the charge, like an enraged Vajra, slashing horizontally with his sword, cutting directly into an enemy's face.
Others quickly followed, engaging in bloody close-quarters combat under the dim yellow light.
Shao Xun rushed to the parapet, slicing off the head of an enemy who had just appeared, then kicked another who was halfway up the wall, sending him tumbling down.
He dodged a whistling blade from behind, which struck the hardened earthen wall with a sharp clang.
Shao Xun swung his heavy sword down, but it was blocked by the enemy's iron armor.
The force of the blow knocked the enemy's sword from his hand, his helmet fell to the ground, and he staggered back.
"You son of a bitch!" Shao Xun, now fully in the heat of battle, grabbed the enemy by his topknot and shoved his face into a brazier.
The enemy, dazed from the heavy sword strike, screamed in agony as the burning coals seared his flesh.
Shao Xun held him there for a moment before pushing him to the ground and kicking the brazier toward two more enemies who had just climbed onto the wall.
The hot coals flew through the air, scalding the soldiers and making them howl in pain.
Under the moonlight, Shao Xun's heavy sword flashed left and right, cutting down five or six enemies in its path.
The training team followed his lead, throwing braziers into the enemy ranks.
Archers moved up, carefully aiming and shooting at valuable targets.
The battle was bloody and brutal, testing the will of every man.
The training team soldiers fell one by one on the city walls, using their courage to slowly grind down the attacking enemies.
It was a meat grinder, consuming countless lives that night.
When the Silver Spear Army arrived, the situation stabilized.
They formed orderly ranks, their spears thrusting like dragons, cleaning up the few remaining enemies.
The last enemy officer was cornered, and a dozen spears pierced him, pinning him to the wall.
The new recruits of the Silver Spear Army, too tense, used too much force and lifted him off the ground.
Blood gushed down, pooling at his feet.
With a thud, the spears were withdrawn, and the body collapsed.
The enemy officer's eyes were wide open, staring at the sky in unwillingness.
The moon in Chang'an must be just as bright...
Shao Xun walked along the city wall, his heavy sword dripping with blood.
The enemy had stopped climbing; they knew reinforcements had arrived, and their night raid had failed.
They fled in disarray, leaving their siege weapons behind, disappearing into the night.
Footsteps echoed on the horse path again.
The Central Army soldiers had captured dozens of deserters and were pushing them forward.
Shao Xun snorted coldly and asked, "Where's Miao Yuan?"
"General Miao was injured and taken back to the city," one of the deserters replied after a moment.
Shao Xun was silent for a while, then grabbed the deserter.
The man didn't understand what was happening until a flash of sword light descended, and his head flew off.
"Deserting the city is a capital offense. Execute them all," Shao Xun ordered.
The deserters erupted in protest, but the Central Army soldiers didn't care.
Swords and spears fell, and soon the deserters were all dead.
The air was thick with the smell of blood, and even the Silver Spear Army soldiers, who had just been in battle, found it hard to stomach.
"Jin San, Lu Heigou!" Shao Xun called.
"Here," the two men stepped forward.
"Take some men and pursue the enemy. Stop at the cattle market," Shao Xun ordered.
"Yes, sir."
"Do you know how to pursue?"
"Light many torches, beat many drums, form ranks, and chase for three hundred paces," the two replied as if reciting from memory.
Lighting many torches created the illusion of a large force.
Beating many drums had the same effect and could be used to confuse the enemy from different directions.
These were tricks of night fighting, especially effective when the enemy was retreating.
Forming ranks and chasing for three hundred paces before stopping to regroup was to prevent running into enemy reinforcements or being counterattacked by their rear guard.
Shao Xun smiled.
His student soldiers had really put in the effort, memorizing their lessons well.
Now was the time to put them into practice.
The Silver Spear Army returned before dawn, with almost no casualties but also little to show for it.
The enemy had fled quickly, and in the darkness, it was hard to track their direction.
In the end, they only killed a few dozen stragglers—those who had gotten lost due to poor vision.
Over the next few days, the enemy's attacks gradually subsided.
Occasionally, they launched a small assault, but with few troops.
On the 26th, they attacked the east city, briefly overwhelming Wang Bing before Shao Xun reinforced him with 3,000 auxiliary troops, using sheer numbers to crush the breakthrough.
Over those days, the defenders suffered over 400 casualties.
When the east city held, they attacked the south city on the 27th.
Miao Yuan's new recruits wanted to flee but didn't dare.
Shao Xun personally led the Silver Spear Army reserves, joining the fight at a critical moment and repelling the enemy.
On the 28th, the west city saw a minor skirmish.
He Lun remained calm, and with more troops, he prevented Zhang Fang from succeeding.
By this point, both sides understood that the battle for Luoyang was over.
If they hadn't succeeded at the start, the opportunity was lost forever.
The Western Army's attacks now seemed more like a cover for retreat or some other operation.
They no longer sent elite troops; the attackers were either weak soldiers or gathered deserters, resulting in no real gains—just feeding the enemy's new recruits experience.
On the last day of September, several thousand Western Army cavalry gathered outside the city.
The infantry broke camp and left in an orderly fashion.
Later, the cavalry mounted up and disappeared into the horizon.
The city walls of Luoyang erupted in cheers.
Since the Grand Commandant's northern expedition began over two months ago, there had been many ups and downs, twists and turns.
Those who could still stand here now felt as if they had survived a great calamity.
And it was all thanks to that man.
The golden-armored warrior stood on the city wall, bathed in the setting sun's radiant glow.
He was the anchor that had kept Luoyang standing.
His prestige was now beyond question.
After descending from the city wall, Shao Xun returned to the Golden Wall City.
His first task was to report to the Princess Consort's residence.
Those who saw him praised him.
Not only was Shao Xun a formidable warrior, but he was also loyal.
Even with the Grand Commandant absent, he reported everything to the Princess Consort.
The Princess Consort had also won the hearts of the soldiers.
She, along with her maids and the women of other families who had taken refuge in the city, sewed and mended the soldiers' robes, boosting morale.
On two occasions, she even personally cooked meals and had her servants carry them to the city walls to feed the troops—though not everyone could partake, as there was only so much food.
It was said that Shao Xun and the training team officers shared it.
Her actions were rare for the time and had a particularly good effect, truly lifting the soldiers' spirits.
"Why did Zhang Fang leave only now?" the Princess Consort asked softly through the window.
"I just heard that he might have looted the tombs of past dukes and even imperial mausoleums," Shao Xun replied.
"That's just how he is. A thief never leaves empty-handed. If he didn't bring something back, his soldiers would complain and refuse to fight next time."
"How utterly depraved," the Princess Consort sighed.
Shao Xun remained silent.
His gaze wandered over the blurred window paper, noticing that the Princess Consort seemed to have changed her outfit again.
Every day, she wore something different, always in a new style.
It was a game between adults, hazy and endlessly amusing.
But Shao Xun knew the Princess Consort was rational.
The Grand Commandant was still alive; she wouldn't cross any lines.
While the education of noblewomen was diverse at the time, and the constraints of propriety had loosened, making the atmosphere relatively open, women like Sima Rui's mother, who were surrounded by scandalous rumors, were still rare.
"I've found what you were looking for. It's written on this piece of silk. Take it," the Princess Consort said, opening the window to reveal her charming face.
Shao Xun took the silk and skimmed through it.
"Is the Xiongnu really worth all this effort?" the Princess Consort asked, puzzled.
"With Zhang Fang gone, shouldn't Luoyang be at peace now?"
"Peace for now," Shao Xun said.
"Sima Ying's decline is evident. If he falls, the next target will be Sima Yong. Without eliminating him, how can the Grand Commandant securely rule Luoyang and issue commands?"
Sima Ying and Sima Yong were allies.
After defeating Sima Ying, they would inevitably march into Guanzhong to subdue Sima Yong's forces.
Without completely destroying them, Sima Yue would be celebrating prematurely.
There was still fighting to be done, but Luoyang might indeed enjoy a rare period of calm.
The Princess Consort rolled her eyes at Shao Xun.
"You understand the Grand Commandant better than I do."
Shao Xun chuckled awkwardly, mumbling, "The Grand Commandant has great ambitions. Of course, he will sweep away the warlords one by one."
As he spoke, he looked at the elegant handwriting on the silk.
The Princess Consort truly had a literary talent.
After sifting through so many archives and historical records, she had distilled the information into a concise summary.
Shao Xun quickly grasped the main points.
In short, during the time of Cao Cao, the Southern Xiongnu had grown powerful deep within the Central Plains.
To weaken them, Cao Cao divided them into five tribes, each led by a commander, with Wei officials appointed as overseers.
By the end of the Wei dynasty, the commanders were renamed commandants.
The Left Commandant governed over 10,000 households in the former Zishi County (south of present-day Linfen, Shanxi).
The Right Commandant had 6,000 households in Qi County (southeast of present-day Qi County, Shanxi).
The Southern Commandant had 3,000 households in Puzi County (present-day Xi County, Shanxi).
The Northern Commandant had 4,000 households in Xinxing County (present-day Xinzhou, Shanxi).
The Central Commandant had 6,000 households in Daling County (northeast of present-day Wenshui, Shanxi).
Cao Cao's strategy was to use the Xiongnu as soldiers, pitting them against various factions.
He was also vigilant, splitting the Xiongnu into five tribes and continuously conscripting their population—"summoning their leaders to the court; once the leaders were gone, conscripting the able-bodied as volunteers; and when the army marched, taking their families to Ye, totaling tens of thousands of people..."
Cao Cao's method was to give the Xiongnu elite positions, make their strong men "volunteers," and have ordinary herders join the army.
Moreover, once the Xiongnu became soldiers, their families were relocated, totaling tens of thousands of people.
These Xiongnu in Ye were largely assimilated into Han culture.
If you asked them now, most wouldn't know if their ancestors were Xiongnu or Han.
They were considered "Wei people" then and "Jin people" now, with their language, clothing, and customs completely changed, losing their ethnic identity.
Cao Cao's actions reduced the Southern Xiongnu population to about 100,000 by the end of the Wei dynasty.
During the early Jin dynasty, more Xiongnu from beyond the Great Wall submitted, totaling nineteen groups.
The largest were three groups: one with "over 20,000 households," another with "100,000 men and women," and a third with 29,300 people.
The rest were around 10,000 or even just a few thousand.
Thus, the current five tribes of the Southern Xiongnu, after losses from Jin dynasty conscription—not just from battle deaths but also from entire families being relocated and assimilated into Han culture—likely numbered around 400,000 to 500,000 people, with over 100,000 adult men.
This was a significant force.
In a total mobilization, theoretically, all adult men would be conscripted, resulting in over 100,000 Xiongnu soldiers.
Of course, to avoid completely draining their resources, they usually wouldn't go to such extremes.
Conscripting 50,000 would be the maximum, and even that would strain their livelihood.
Typically, they would field 20,000 to 30,000 men, supplemented by 100,000 Han conscripts, forming the so-called "Xiongnu army."
If the Luoyang Central Army were still intact, with its various cavalry units and armored cavalry fully staffed, they could fight and likely defeat the Xiongnu.
But now... well, no need to say more!
Shao Xun stored the silk and took his leave.
Peace in Luoyang? It didn't exist.
It was just a ceasefire.
The next enemy might very well be the Xiongnu.
Would the Grand Commandant send him to the front? Very likely.
It was essential to prepare in advance.
Before that, however, he had another important matter to attend to: a messenger from Ye had arrived, reporting that the Crown Prince Sima Ying might soon send troops to escort the emperor back south, ordering the Luoyang garrison to prepare to receive him.
(End of Chapter)