Chapter 45: Securing Talent (Thanks to Alliance Leader Kafka for the support)

While Zhao Liu led his men in clearing the battlefield, Wang Duo struggled to his feet with the help of a few veteran retainers and auxiliary soldiers.

Catching sight of Zhao Huaian, and ignoring the pain in his body, he hurried over to Zhao Da’s side and said in a low voice:

"Master Zhao, under no circumstances should the baggage wagons be opened."

Zhao Huaian reacted instantly, hastily calling out to Achimo:

"Old Mo, these five wagons are now under your command. You must guard them well and not allow anyone to approach."

Achimo nodded and quickly summoned the men from the former Tongshan faction.

These individuals had once been slaves to the Tibetans. Although they still performed heavy labor under Zhao Huaian, they had finally regained a semblance of human dignity.

Living decently gave people spirit and vigor. Instructed by Achimo, they carried out their duties with utmost dedication, truly coming to look upon the "Baoyi" military unit as their home.

Working together, several men hitched fresh draft animals they had rested to the wagons, quickly tidying up the five mule carts.

Meanwhile, Zhao Huaian followed Wang Duo back to the overturned wagon. Old Wang glanced at the brutally slain loyal servant, sighed deeply, and pushed the corpse down into a ravine.

Zhao Huaian wanted Old Mo to prepare a straw mat, but Wang Duo shook his head:

"He is already dead; the straw mat should be left for the living."

Zhao Huaian looked at Wang Duo. Though he disagreed, he nevertheless told Old Mo to put the mat away.

Seeing that everyone had finished clearing the battlefield—while four diminutive soldiers were still eager to sever heads one by one—he snapped angrily:

"Be quick about it! Throw away anything we can't carry. If the Nanzhao troops catch up to us, it'll be too late even to cry."

Hearing Zhao Da’s words, those men reluctantly gave up the idea.

On the other side of the tree line, Fatty Dou’s house guards arrived with the remainder of the convoy. Once the two groups united, they resumed their flight northward.

...

Old Mo skillfully drove the mule cart. Beside him, Niu Li occasionally beat a small waist drum, startling the mountain bandits hiding in the tall grass and leaving them exchanging bewildered glances.

They had long since known that the Tang army had suffered a crushing defeat at Baishu Waters, so they had rallied their companions and rushed to the main thoroughfares, hoping to make a fortune.

Yet, they dared not provoke the organized force before them. Had they not known the Tang army had been defeated, they would have mistaken this contingent for a victorious army returning in triumph.

After all, who beats drums while fleeing for their lives?

These bandits, however, did not know that this was entirely deliberate on the part of the so-called righteous bandit Zhao Da.

At that moment, he and Wang Duo were sitting cross-legged on the mule cart. Although the journey was terribly bumpy, it did not dampen their enthusiastic conversation in the slightest.

Along the way, Zhao Huaian extracted much more intelligence from Wang Duo.

Wang Duo was a provisioning clerk under the Central Army’s headquarters. Stationed at the main camp before hostilities began, he did not know why the battle had collapsed so swiftly. However, before escaping the camp, he had ventured up the watchtower at his own peril, taking in the entire panorama of the battlefield.

He told Zhao Huaian that as the defense line crumbled, the Eastern Sichuan army fled directly eastward, while the Central Army’s Western Sichuan troops, elite vanguard, and Zhongwu army escorted the commander's grand banner as they retreated northward—the very route Zhao Huaian was taking.

The remaining Henghao army, Ganhua army, Fengxiang army, and Yicheng army had been thrown into battle too early and had essentially routed from the field, retaining virtually no military structure.

Yet, scattered and broken though they were, these men were also fleeing northward.

In other words, six tenths of the nearly twenty thousand troops in the Qiongzhou Field Army were retreating northward toward Chengdu.

Thus, when Wang Duo observed the main Nanzhao force across the river from the watchtower, he discovered that they had not mobilized at all, dispatching only a small detachment of cavalry to strike directly into the Central Army’s camp.

Clearly, with the Tang main force defeated but not annihilated, the Nanzhao troops valued the wealth inside the camp far more.

Recognizing this, Wang Duo immediately gathered his provisioning bureau and prepared to flee.

In the ensuing flight, everyone scattered. Only he managed to escape with one wagon of military rosters from the personnel bureau and five wagons of military pay from his own provisioning bureau.

Indeed, the five cartloads of baggage he had warned Zhao Huaian not to open were nothing less than five carts of copper coins intended as rewards for the army.

At first, Zhao Huaian was ecstatic. But listening closely to Wang Duo, he learned that these five cartloads of copper coins amounted to roughly nine hundred strings of cash.

While it was a substantial sum, it was not an astronomical fortune—barely enough for fifty men's annual pay, or equivalent to ten courtyard houses with dual courtyards in Chengdu.

Wang Duo told Zhao Huaian that the single cart of personnel rosters he had rescued from the personnel bureau was far more important. It contained detailed records of the officers and soldiers from every army; once fallen into the hands of Nanzhao forces, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Huaian understood immediately: this was a personnel archive! In later generations, if someone leaked such institutional data, they would spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

At that moment, Zhao Huaian felt a measure of admiration for Wang Duo. This man had not forgotten to take these items while fleeing for his life—and these were not even part of his official duties, seeing as he was merely an administrator of grain and finance.

Here was a man with a grand strategic vision.

Yet, looking at the five carts of copper coins trailing behind, Zhao Huaian could not help a sigh. Author Shi Naiyin had lied to them all, spinning tales of how the hundred thousand strings of birthday gifts were pushed along in a small cart by Yang Zhi all the way to Daning.

Good grief! His meager eight hundred strings required five mule carts—just how many carts would ten thousand strings take?

Thinking of this, Zhao Huaian truly grasped the inconvenience of ancient commerce. If one wanted to buy a house, would they have to haul money by the cartload?

Still, though the money was less than he had imagined, the news Wang Duo brought was at least favorable.

The Nanzhao forces were pursuing them with scattered stragglers at most, while their main force remained stationary. In other words, this flight was far less perilous than he had imagined.

Aware of this, Zhao Huaian had Niu Li beat the small drum all the way, both to deter nearby bandits and mountain outlaws and to draw in scattered friendly troops from the surroundings.

His method proved remarkably effective.

Along the route, he successively absorbed over a dozen stragglers—mostly local militia and a small number from the Henghao and Yanhai armies.

These armies had been stationed close to the militia, so their routes of retreat naturally coincided.

Thus, the troop pressed steadily northward, retreating toward Anren.

This was the rendezvous point he and Xianyu Yue had agreed upon: should the situation in Qiongzhou turn unfavorable, they would fall back to Anren to hold their ground.

...

However, when Zhao Huaian mentioned the destination to Wang Duo, the local finance clerk looked deeply concerned.

He told Zhao Huaian that there was only a single route leading from Yazhou and Qiongzhou to Chengdu—the very path they were currently using on their flight. Moreover, because both sides were flanked by towering mountains, this stretch of road resembled a trumpet-shaped valley.

The further northeast they traveled, the wider the trumpet would open until it merged into the vast Chengdu Plain.

For decades, the defense of Western Sichuan against Nanzhao had essentially been fought along this trumpet-shaped corridor, the most critical components being the Baishu Waters defense line and the Xiejiang Waters defense line.

There was no need to dwell on Baishu Waters; the Tang army had suffered a disastrous defeat and routed, so logically they had to retreat to the Xiejiang Waters defense line further to the northeast for a staged resistance.

Yet Wang Duo gravely informed Zhao Huaian that, based on his observations, the Xiejiang Waters line could not be held.

Unlike Baishu Waters, the corridor intercepted by the Xiejiang Waters was much broader, making it impossible to defend the line relying solely on Anren.

Xinjin, situated to the southwest, jointly guarded the river defenses with Anren, together forming the southwestern gateway to Chengdu.

Yet precisely four years prior, when the Nanzhao army invaded Chengdu, they had broken through at this very location. Xinjin had been sacked and devastated by the Nanzhao forces back then, and the current Military Governor, Niu Cong, had assumed office only this year, leaving him no time to repair the defenses.

In other words, the Xiejiang Waters defense line harbored a massive vulnerability at Xinjin. Once Anren was stubbornly defended, enemy troops breaking through at Xinjin could directly sever Anren’s line of retreat.

Furthermore, Wang Duo told Zhao Huaian that even if they were to make a desperate stand at Anren, it would be utterly meaningless, as the Nanzhao forces could still break through at Xinjin and attack Chengdu.

If one could not thwart the enemy's strategic objective, what was the point of defending Anren?

Zhao Huaian fell silent.

He was truly flying blind. Everything Wang Duo had just explained was something Zhao Da knew nothing about.

As for his subordinates like Old Liu, capable and sharp though they were, they were ultimately illiterate, unable to read a single character—let alone his other followers.

Thus, he desperately lacked a knowledgeable person to assist him.

And Wang Duo before him was the absolute best candidate.

However, this was not the moment to press the matter. After a moment of thought, he sincerely consulted Wang Duo:

"Master Wang, in your estimation, where should we flee?"

Wang Duo was somewhat familiar with Zhao Huaian’s demeanor, knowing he would address him formally when needing help, yet casually call him "old fellow" otherwise.

Yet Wang Duo felt no resentment; instead, he admired such childlike candor.

Hearing Zhao Huaian’s respectful inquiry, Wang Duo did not dare to put on airs. Kneeling upon the mule cart, he made a deep, sweeping bow to Zhao Huaian:

"Master Zhao, you saved my life. Such grace is as heavy as a mountain. Whatever commands you give, I shall follow."

Hearing this, how could Zhao Huaian fail to understand that Wang Duo intended to pledge his allegiance? He was so overjoyed he didn't know where to put his hands.

He wanted to help Wang Duo up, but paused and instead returned the deep bow with cupped hands:

"Master Wang, I implore you to assist me from this day forth."

With that, he and Wang Duo bowed to one another in unison. Then Zhao Da pulled Wang Duo into a warm embrace; had he not retained a shred of sanity, he would have kissed him on the cheek.

Gaining a young, knowledgeable scholar within his ranks was truly a monumental stroke of fortune.

Forgoing formalities with Wang Duo, Zhao Huaian hurriedly asked for his counsel.

Wang Duo did not mince words and directly advised Zhao Huaian to widely recruit stragglers along the way and march straight for Chengdu.

He told Zhao Huaian that although Military Governor Niu Cong had not lost his main force in this battle, he no longer possessed the capacity to withstand the Nanzhao vanguard on his own, meaning imperial reinforcements would arrive imminently.

Once reinforcements reached Chengdu, by longstanding precedent, the post of Military Governor would be assumed by the field commander.

In other words, once reinforcements arrived in Chengdu, Military Governor Niu Cong’s tenure would come to an end. At that point, if Zhao Huaian remained isolated in the field with his troops, he would be in grave danger.

His official commission for the Baoyi unit had been signed and issued by Niu Cong, and he was directly subordinate to the Military Governor. Thus, the moment Niu Cong fell, Zhao Huaian would easily become a target for purging by the new Military Governor.

Therefore, Zhao Huaian had to reach Chengdu and leverage his connections with the local gentry, the Xianyu clan, to establish contact with the incoming Military Governor.

Hearing this, Zhao Huaian understood instantly: it was the familiar game of political alignment.

Yet, returning to Chengdu wasn't for the purpose of resisting the Nanzhao army after all, but rather for scheming and vying for power.

With the enemy literally slaughtering their way to the doorstep, their side was still busy learning how to pick a faction—under such conditions, what hope remained for the Great Tang?

Nevertheless, Zhao Huaian only muttered these complaints inwardly. He was no greenhorn and profoundly understood that to accomplish anything, one had to master the art of dealing with people first.

Sighing, Zhao Huaian had no choice but to accept reality.

Just at that moment, the sound of armor plates clashing suddenly drifted from behind. Turning his head, he saw a battered unit of remnant soldiers appearing before his eyes.