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墨書 Inktalez
My knowledge of history is quite limited; after graduating, I basically returned the textbooks to the teacher. I can't even remember whether the County Magistrate of Sanchuan, Li You, is male or female.
Fortunately, Third Granduncle Master did not continue to quiz me. Instead, he took out a notebook from his bag, which seemed to contain his notes. He opened it and began to explain (for the sake of clarity, I have slightly organized his original words as follows):
In the "Records of the Grand Historian," it is recorded that in 49 B.C., Dong Zhou Jun conspired against Qin with various lords. The Qin sent Xiang Guo Lu Buwei to execute him, taking over his territory and sending Meng Ao to attack Han. Han offered Cheng Gao and Gong in tribute, while Qin Jie reached Daliang and established Sanchuan County. At that time, at the age of thirteen, Zhuang Xiang Wang died, and Zheng was established as Qin Wang. By then, Qin had already unified Ba and Shu, and conquered Han Zhong; it had also taken over Yu and Wan, establishing Nan Jun. To the north, it annexed Shangjun and eastward included He Dong, Taiyuan, and Shangdang County; it extended east to Xingyang, destroying two Zhou states and establishing Sanchuan County. In short, Sanchuan County was an administrative region during the Qin Dynasty, named for the Yellow River, Luo River, and Yi River that flowed through it, with its administrative center in Luoyang. After Qin unified the six states, the country was divided into Thirty-Six Commanderies. Sanchuan County inherited hundreds of years of historical significance from the capitals of Xia, Shang, and Zhou and served as a gateway to Xianyang City, making it particularly important—arguably the foremost among all counties.
Qin Huang Ying Zheng was inherently suspicious and felt uneasy about who to assign to guard such an important place. However, he could not delay indefinitely. Just as he was hesitating and unable to eat in peace, General Meng Tian recommended someone—Li Si's eldest son, Li You. With Meng Tian's recommendation and his father Li Si being trusted by Ying Zheng for overseeing the design of the imperial tombs, Ying Zheng appointed Li You as the County Magistrate of Sanchuan and sent him to Luoyang.
Li You was a military man who had spent his life on campaigns; his personality was bold and straightforward—quite different from his scheming father. During this time of upheaval in the Qin Dynasty with rebellions breaking out across the country, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang led the Tai Ping Army to conquer Lian Cheng and achieve victory after victory. They stationed troops at San Chuan and were pressing towards Xianyang with great arrogance! Ying Zheng could no longer sit idly in Xianyang City; he issued several urgent orders demanding that Li You must drive back the rebel forces and secure San Chuan. As long as San Chuan stood firm, Xianyang would remain safe; if San Chuan fell, Xianyang would be lost.
At that time, Wu Guang's Tai Ping Army had already besieged Xingyang City for several nights, cutting off all supplies of food and water from within the city. They hoped to take Xingyang without losing a single soldier. Meanwhile, inside Xingyang City lay devastation; cries of despair echoed everywhere. Li You had witnessed firsthand how war had ravaged the lives of countless citizens over these days—families torn apart—and he had grown weary of this endless conflict. Yet as the County Magistrate of San Chuan and commander of the troops, he knew he had no choice but to share in the city's fate: if the city fell, so would its people.
That night, sentinels reported capturing an "ear" from the rebel army—someone tasked with gathering intelligence on enemy movements—who confessed everything without resistance before any fighting even began. It turned out that at this moment, the Tai Ping Army was also running low on ammunition and food supplies; reinforcements were still en route but wouldn't arrive for at least half a month. The Tai Ping Army consisted of farmers who knew little about military strategy and lacked patience; many had joined simply because they were starving at home. Now that they found themselves still hungry here—damn it!—discipline began to crumble as they contemplated abandoning their posts! Seeing their days of steadfast defense about to be undone made Wu Guang restless; he sent someone under cover of night to scout enemy conditions—whether weak or strong dictated whether they should attack or hold their ground.
Li You was not like those farmers in Wu Guang's Tai Ping Army; he came from a prestigious family and had been influenced by Meng Tian since childhood to love military texts. He was already well-versed in "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu and "The Art of War" by Sun Bin. Upon hearing this situation, he immediately recalled what was mentioned in the last chapter of "The Art of War," concerning espionage—the Reverse Spy Scheme—which involved using an enemy's own spies to convey false information that contradicted reality.
That night, Li You imprisoned the "ear" in the city jail. As they passed through Main Trunk Road along the way, they saw scenes of destruction: broken walls and corpses littered everywhere. The two soldiers responsible for escorting him looked pale and emaciated; their armor was tattered beyond repair as they lacked any motivation to fix it—they were merely going through the motions.
The two complained along their way; one said: "I've gone three meals without food! Are we even going to keep fighting this war?"
The other replied: "Three meals? I've gone two days without a proper bite! Damn it! All the good stuff has been taken by that bastard!"
“Are you General Li?”
“Yes! I heard that this little brat has been cutting up people for their flesh, not even sparing his own mother! Just a couple of days ago, someone saw him writing a surrender letter!” The man shook his head. “I can’t take it anymore… Xingyang City is doomed!”
“That person… didn’t they say last time that they would send us reinforcements?”
“Reinforcements? Hmph, don’t be delusional! If there were reinforcements, would you and I still be starving? Who is that person anyway? If they didn’t need reinforcements to calm General Li, would General Li have lasted this long? If I were the general, I would have surrendered a long time ago!”
“Ah… that’s true. It’s just the two of us now. I wonder how the Tai Ping Army will treat us when they enter the city…”
At that moment, the “Ears” quickly interjected, “Don’t worry, brothers. Our King has always treated prisoners of war well. Why don’t you two brave heroes join me tonight and report the situation here to our King? He will reward you handsomely! Then we can leave one person inside the city as an informant. With our inside and outside cooperation, we’ll definitely be able to take down Xingyang City in one fell swoop!”
The two soldiers pretended to hesitate for a moment before suddenly making up their minds. While discussing who would stay behind as the informant, they got into a heated argument, each unwilling to miss out on this great opportunity to gain favor with the new master.
The “Ears” was a slippery character himself, and naturally assumed that these two, who were now flushed with excitement, were just like him. Thus, he had no suspicions and instead went on to lavishly introduce them in front of Wu Guang as soldiers on night watch who had long admired the King. They offered up military intelligence from within the city and planned to leave one person inside as an informant, waiting for the King’s command to seize Xingyang! He completely omitted mentioning his own capture and confession.
The “Ears” was already one of Wu Guang’s men, so he was naturally trusted by him. Moreover, this person’s emaciated appearance was proof enough of his loyalty in reporting military intelligence to “Ears.”
That night, the determined Tai Ping Army launched an attack on Xingyang City. As expected, when they reached the city gates, before they could knock, the gates quietly opened. A figure with shifty eyes and a waxy complexion poked his head out from inside and quickly bowed to Wu Guang on his tall horse. “I’m here; I’ve been waiting for the King for quite some time!”
Wu Guang was overjoyed and immediately conferred him the title of “Long.” The man expressed his gratitude profusely and then opened the city gates wide to let everyone in.
As the Tai Ping Army advanced along the main road into the city, it was just as “Ears” had said: broken walls and corpses littered everywhere; not a soul in sight. The troops relaxed completely, laughing as they marched in disarray. Some even jumped off their horses to scavenge fat and flesh from the bodies as if they had already won the battle.
At that moment, arrows suddenly rained down from the surrounding walls and the windows on the second floor, accompanied by a deafening shout. Everyone was taken aback, realizing they had fallen into a trap! In a flurry of panic, they drew their swords and mounted their horses, but it was too late to react.
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