All Xia Defeated Xu-Huai

Xu City, which stretched across the eastern bank of the Ying River, was like a nail that pinned the great Huai Yi army firmly in place.

Until that nail was pulled out, no one dared cross the Ying River to attack Luoyi.

People always said the setting sun was blood-red, but Luo Zhongshu felt it could not compare to Xu City now. In private, the soldiers inside called it Blood City.

Since the assault on Xu City began, Luo Zhongshu had lost count of how many Huai Yi attacks he had repelled. He alone had slain no fewer than a hundred of their elite warriors.

The reserves the Huai Yi had accumulated over the years truly ran deep. Even after such heavy losses, they still refused to retreat. They were determined to seize this once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity to overturn the Zhou State completely.

Luo Zhongshu himself did not know how much longer he could hold out. Only the Luo State's elite troops could withstand the Huai Yi elite.

The casualties over these past days had therefore been heavy. These were young men of working age, the very cream of the Luo State. If this continued, the Luo State would need at least several decades of rest and recuperation to recover.

As for the nobles, had their children not already been sent to Luoyi, and had desertion not carried the brutal consequences of stripped titles, abolished states, and the extermination of their entire clans-

They would probably have fled one after another long ago.

The Luo State's elite troops only grew fiercer with every battle. The deaths of their comrades and clansmen made them treat the Huai Yi with even greater ferocity. The Luo State's Dare-to-Fight Warriors in particular, the strongest soldiers on the entire battlefield, had become so formidable that even the Huai Yi feared them.

After another Huai Yi attack had been repelled, the Enforcement Officer spoke tearfully beside him. "General, another thirteen Dare-to-Fight Warriors have fallen. Your... Eldest Concubine-Born Son was among them."

He had heard such reports many times over this period. Countless times, he had prayed silently to the Sage King, begging for his ancestors' protection.

Grief filled Luo Zhongshu's heart at the news of his eldest concubine-born son's death. He waved a hand weakly. "Provide compensation according to the established rules."

When a Dare-to-Fight Warrior of the Luo State fell in battle, the ruling house provided an additional payment beyond the compensation drawn from the state treasury.

Their children would also be admitted directly to the Public Academy, with food and lodging entirely free. This had essentially relieved all the Dare-to-Fight Warriors of worries about those they left behind.

But the grief of losing close kin could never be forgotten. Three of his sons had already fallen, as had two of his elder brother's concubine-born sons.

There had never been many adults in the ruling house's direct line, and they simply could not bear such losses. Their forefather had once laid down a strict rule: at least five members of the direct line had to remain alive in the world at any given time.

Luo Cheng's decision to send his eldest legitimate son and his own younger brother here had already been an act of selfishness.

News had arrived from the Ying State that Luo Ren, the Luo State's next heir, had been gravely wounded. He had suffered a high fever for several days and remained bedridden, his life hanging by a thread.

In truth, had Ji Zhao not spent Fortune Points to use Ancestors' Blessing, Luo Ren would most likely have died already.

Luo Zhongshu, too, had only held on this long thanks to his powerful physique, but his mind was already exhausted.

Even the highest-ranking members of the ruling clan had been reduced to such a state. One could imagine how devastating the fighting had been.

"General, a letter from Luoyi!"

Luo Zhongshu abruptly sat upright, thinking another shipment of supplies and reinforcements had arrived from Luoyi.

They had managed to endure these past days not only because their soldiers fought bravely. Luoyi's support had been crucial as well.

But when he unrolled the bamboo slips and read them, Luo Zhongshu instantly burst into laughter, almost leaping to his feet.

"Brother Zhong, you and the sons of the Luo State have worked hard in Xu City these past days.

Yan'er went as an envoy to the Chu State and successfully concluded an alliance with them. Chu has withdrawn its troops from the Shen and Sui States. I have already issued orders to the Shen, Sui, and Tang States, commanding them to bring the two states' armies to the Ying and Xu States to support you and Ren.

Chu will also send an army around behind the Huai Yi to coordinate with you. Hold out a little longer. The Huai Yi are not far from defeat and destruction."

After hastily reading the letter, Luo Zhongshu could not contain his excitement. At last, he would no longer have to listen every day as the Enforcement Officer reported how many more men of Luo had fallen. It had been sheer torment.

"Immediately announce the contents of this letter to every soldier! Hold on a little longer. Large numbers of reinforcements will soon arrive, and then we can avenge ourselves on those Huai Yi!"

As word of the letter spread, cheers shook the heavens throughout Xu City.

Hope was more precious than gold.

The reinforcements from Shen, Sui, and Tang arrived even sooner than Luo Zhongshu had expected. Luo Cheng had given them an absolute command: if they dared miss the deadline, even as marquises of the Ji clan, they would be bound, taken to Luoyi, and flogged.

Apart from the lords on the Ying State front, almost all the lords had gathered in the Xu State. There were three marquises alone: Marquis Shen, the Marquis of Sui, and the Marquis of Tang. All belonged to junior branches of the Ji clan and had been enfeoffed by Luo Su. There were also numerous counts, viscounts, barons, and subordinate rulers.

Under his titles of Chief Steward of the Han-Yang Ji States and Senior General for the Conquest of the Yi, Luo Zhongshu commanded all their armies. Even the marquises had to obey his orders.

The Huai Yi had already sensed that something was wrong. The defenders inside Xu City were growing stronger and stronger, no longer on anything like the same level as before.

Then they received word that the Chu State had actually made peace with Zhou and had even sent troops to attack them.

Soon afterward, grain transported from the Royal Domain reached Luo Zhongshu. After holding an oath-taking ceremony in Xu City, he led all the armies out beyond its walls for the first time.

This was not a battle between evenly matched forces. The Huai Yi were not powerful enough to surpass the combined strength of more than half the Hanyang lords. Their earlier advance had split resistance like bamboo only because the Hanyang lords had failed to cooperate and had been defeated one by one.

Now, especially with the fresh armies of Shen, Sui, and Tang-previously tasked with guarding against Chu-joining the fight, their strength completely surpassed that of the invading Huai Yi.

With the Chu State appearing behind them at the same time, the Huai Yi were meat on the chopping block, caught between two attacking forces.

When one had the strength to crush an opponent, one had to advance steadily and fight with that overwhelming strength. Luo Zhongshu understood this well. His attacking formations were packed tight, without a gap. Though he had always enjoyed charging into battle himself, this time he stayed with the central army to command and let other warriors lead the charge.

"Every army must maintain its distance from the others! No army may recklessly break away from the formation. Do not advance rashly. Follow orders and march to the drums!"

Boom, boom, boom!

Three rolls of the drums. Each time the war drums sounded, a wave of arrows followed. Shield bearers in the front rank protected the archers behind them, while chariots roamed farther back. At a single command from Luo Zhongshu, they would accelerate and smash the Huai Yi apart.

The distance of a few dozen paces vanished in an instant. Before the archers could loose more than a few volleys, they began shooting in high arcs toward the enemy rear. The vanguards had already collided.

The vanguard consisted entirely of elite troops drawn from Shen, Sui, and Tang. At the first clash, they knocked the Huai Yi back. The Huai Yi soldiers soon steadied themselves, but casualties continued to rise sharply. Bronze weapons were relatively prone to having their edges curl.

Luo Zhongshu watched the situation at the front, sending in successive reserve units to replace those fighting. His army now surpassed the Huai Yi in both numbers and quality. Simply rotating his troops through battle would be enough to grind the enemy to death.

Most of the allied soldiers who fell were killed by arrows. Fewer died in close combat, because warriors capable of killing a man with a single sword stroke were rare.

Luo Zhongshu gauged his soldiers' stamina. Whenever their exhaustion threatened to affect their fighting strength, he withdrew them and sent another unit forward.

This ensured that the allied soldiers always remained vigorous. The Huai Yi lacked enough reserves to do the same and faced the predicament of growing steadily weaker while their enemies grew steadily stronger.

The allied charioteers had yet to enter the battle. The Huai Yi chariots, meanwhile, cut an imposing figure on the battlefield. Had the Luo State not long been deliberately developing tactics to counter chariots, their losses would probably have been at least twenty percent higher.

Men kept coming to ask Luo Zhongshu when they would enter the fight. He kept telling them to wait a little longer. Only once he saw the Huai Yi beginning to falter would he use the chariots to deliver a killing blow.

This was how the stronger side fought. At last, he saw his chance!

The Huai Yi charioteers were visibly exhausted. The archers riding their chariots had become noticeably less deadly, and the soldiers wielding long halberds swung more slowly. Most importantly, the number of supporting infantry assigned to each chariot had clearly dwindled.

"All charioteers, attack from the northwest! Tear their formation wide open!"

The soldiers, who had long been straining to fight, charged at the Huai Yi with wild cries. Brimming with energy, whether drawing bows or swinging long halberds, they displayed a fighting strength the Huai Yi, worn down by prolonged combat, could not begin to match.

The battle was like beating a dog that had fallen into the water. The allied chariots split the Huai Yi force in two. Wrecked chariots hampered their movements, and the isolated charioteers were surrounded by shield-bearing soldiers, then killed by archers.

Already pushed to their limits, the Huai Yi broke completely within moments of the first man losing his nerve. They scrambled to flee. No matter how elite an army was, once it routed, it looked no different from any other.

Seeing the Huai Yi collapse entirely, Luo Zhongshu ordered the whole army to maintain formation and pursue. They had to leave as many Huai Yi as possible on this plain.

Once an army routed, it became cattle and sheep awaiting slaughter. As the allied forces pursued and killed them, no one could count how many Huai Yi died on that land. Luo Zhongshu could only see that the entire earth had been stained red with blood. Even a nearby lake ran red as streams of blood flowed into it.

All the casualties the Huai Yi had suffered during their many days of siege could not compare to this single day's losses. Countless corpses lay strewn across the ground, terror frozen on almost every face.

With Chu behind them, there was no road to heaven even if they tried to flee. A battle meant to rout the enemy had become a battle of annihilation.

After the Huai Yi withdrew, the badly wounded allied soldiers were treated where they lay. Some troops remained to garrison the Ying and Xu States. Though the Huai Yi were essentially incapable of returning, caution still demanded precautions.

Under Luo Zhongshu's command, the remaining armies crossed the Chen State and reached the battlefield between the Song State and Xu State.

Song, Zheng, and Chen were all great states among All Xia. Song and Zheng in particular were no less powerful than the Luo State, and the Marquis of Zheng possessed courage that ten thousand men could not withstand. Yet all of them had suffered badly at Xu's hands.

The first reason was that Xu truly possessed formidable strength. With the support of many Fang States, it had gained the power to wrestle with all three states.

More importantly, the ruler of Xu, who had usurped the title of king, was simply too fierce. Even the Count of Zheng, proud of his own martial prowess, was no match for him. His long halberd swept through all opposition, and his archery was nothing short of divine. Because of him, not a single opposing commander now dared lead a charge.

Instead, the enemy commanders led their elite troops freely through the battle formations, repeatedly tearing open the allied lines and inflicting enormous losses. Once, they had nearly shattered the entire vanguard. After that, the allies had stopped using slave soldiers altogether, afraid the enemy would sweep them up and drive them straight into their own camps.

That was the situation Luo Zhongshu encountered when he arrived.

His arrival, however, more than doubled the allied army's strength. They could now crush Xu's army through sheer might.

The King of Xu was clearly in a different position from the Huai Yi. With nowhere left to retreat, the Huai Yi had been forced into a decisive battle against Luo Zhongshu's superior forces, hoping they could win.

But the King of Xu had a way out. He only needed to retreat into Xu. If the Zhou army dared pursue him, he could exploit Xu's terrain to hammer these troops from the Central Plains. If the Zhou People insisted on fighting to the bitter end, Xu could withdraw to its southern cities and unite with the Huai Yi tribes. With the great river forming a natural barrier between them, the lords of the Central Plains, unfamiliar with fighting on water, could only draw back at the sight.

By then, the King of Xu had already received news of the Huai Yi defeat, along with its cause.

"The King of Chu is truly shortsighted. Does he think the Zhou People will really accept him?

They are so arrogant, believing themselves favored by Heaven.

They greedily seek to bring every tract of land under their rule, to make every tribe prostrate itself before the Rites of Zhou.

Great Shang will never submit!"

The King of Xu vented his emotions inside his command tent. Though his words were fierce, he understood the current situation perfectly well. Without hesitation, he summoned the nobles and ordered them to prepare to withdraw.

A wise man did not swallow a loss staring him in the face. The King of Xu understood that principle deeply.

But Luo Zhongshu and the others would never let him retreat so easily. They immediately ordered their soldiers to pursue and attack. The King of Xu had no choice but to leave a third of his army behind as a rearguard while he tried to take most of his elite troops away by ferry.

Unexpectedly, battle cries suddenly rose behind him. When he looked, the banner flying at the front belonged to the Wu State!

The King of Xu was frightened out of his wits. How had Wu suddenly appeared here? When had Zhou summoned Wu to defend the royal house?

As a descendant of Yin Shang, how could he understand the greatness of the Rites of Zhou?

More than two hundred years of distinguishing Xia from Yi had carved a gulf between All Xia and the Yi peoples, as sharply divided as the clear and muddy waters of the Jing-Wei Rivers.

Thus, Luo Cheng needed only to send a young son to present his arguments before the King of Chu to make Chu set aside its century-long feud with the Zhou royal house.

Likewise, he needed only to write a letter promising Wu a return to the ranks of the Ji states to make Wu raise an army against Xu.

This was the path of the Way of the King walked by the Son of Heaven of Zhou!

Rites guided their governance, music harmonized their voices, administration unified their conduct, and punishment guarded against their wrongdoing.

When rites, music, punishment, and administration reached everywhere without conflicting, the Way of the King was complete.-Book of Rites