As dawn broke, both Liu Cheng and Yao Xiang knew they had miscalculated.
Liu Cheng learned that the enemy troops on the east bank had returned to the west bank overnight. He had spent the past several days laboring over the dam, only to miss his chance when he tried to cut the enemy off before battle. Yao Xiang, meanwhile, realized that someone had reenacted Han Xin's battle against Long Ju right under his nose. Fortunately, his purpose had been to fight in the field rather than besiege the city, so he had hurriedly brought his troops back. Had he delayed until this morning, he would certainly have been caught badly off guard.
Even so, discussion inevitably spread through the army, everyone talking about the water that had risen overnight.
No one could say how much the water had risen, whether it would keep rising or fall again, or whether the original shallows were still there... but clearly, all the Qiang were shaken by what might have happened.
They were not afraid of risking their lives in battle. What frightened them was this bizarre spectacle of someone manipulating the situation from afar without their understanding, cutting off a fourth or fifth of their troops from the battlefield outright.
In the end, the talk inevitably came around to how fortunate they were that the troops had crossed last night.
Yao Xiang did not stop his subordinates from discussing it freely. Forcibly suppressing something like this would only make them suspicious of every shadow. What they needed now was guidance.
"Liu Cheng's move wasn't just about making us think the winter water was shallow, luring us across to establish a camp, then trying to release the water and cut us off. I'm afraid there was another intention behind it." Xue Zan was