Zhai Yuan smiled. "Why worry, General? By my reckoning, Eastern Liang Commandery has no more than fifteen thousand defenders. Even if Wuxing Commandery dispatched troops now, it would already be too late. By the time they realize the danger, our army will have breached Eastern Liang Commandery's walls."
Qin Yangming said, "Hu Xiaotian could clearly have chosen to retreat to Wuxing Commandery. That would have been the best way to preserve his strength. Why didn't he?"
His deputy, Yang Xian, said, "General, Hu Xiaotian has just defeated Tang Boxi's army with a smaller force. Flushed with success, he may well have grown so full of himself that he holds everyone else in contempt."
Qin Yangming said, "His defeat of the thirty thousand elite naval troops led by Tang Boxi proves he is no ordinary man. He would never make the mistake of underestimating his enemy." Despite his words, he privately thought it possible.
Zhai Yuan said, "General, perhaps he thinks he can hole up in Eastern Liang Commandery and fight a protracted war against us using the provisions he obtained in the prisoner exchange."
Qin Yangming slowly nodded. In truth, he thought the same. That was probably Hu Xiaotian's plan, but even a hundred careful precautions could leave one gap. Hu Xiaotian must have failed to recognize their true strength. Eastern Liang Commandery's walls could never withstand the seventy thousand troops assembled for this assault.
Thirty warships traveled along the Yong River amid fierce wind and snow. They had just delivered grain to Eastern Liang Commandery, exchanging it for four thousand prisoners. Together with the three thousand men originally aboard, their total strength had reached seven thousand. After sailing twenty li west against the current, the warships immediately turned back. The four thousand prisoners fully armed themselves with weapons and