"I remember this Cao Youwen. Though he was from Gongchang Prefecture, the people of Shu praised him as a true general of Shu. A real hero."
Zhu Yuanzhang stared at the campaign map on the screen and grew more satisfied the longer he looked.
If this were not the Kun'ning Palace, he would already have summoned someone to carefully copy the map and send it to Xu Da for study.
Still, a few more looks should be enough to remember it. After all, during the wars against the Northern Yuan, he and his old brothers had repeatedly discussed the Yuan invasion of Song as a reference. The deployments of both sides were already etched firmly into his mind.
Empress Ma's expression, however, turned sorrowful.
"Sichuan was butchered by the Yuan. Chengdu was almost wiped clean. The common people had nowhere to escape. The Yuan official Yuan Jue recorded that one million four hundred thousand people died in Chengdu. A calamity beyond measure."
The Ming emperor fell silent for a moment.
He wanted to say that the number was probably exaggerated, but even if it were off, hundreds of thousands must certainly have died. Under such circumstances, arguing over the exact figure meant nothing.
So instead he returned to the general.
"No wonder the people of Shu still praise Cao Youwen to this day. Our Great Ming ought to honor his loyalty as well."
"What a pity. If a man like that had been born in our time, he could have gone north to Beiping and joined the northern expeditions. With our Ming commanders backing him, we would have shown those Yuan dogs just how formidable Han men truly are."
Empress Ma knew her husband was speaking sincerely.
Since the founding of Ming, warfare on the northern frontier had never stopped.
Three years, one campaign, both routes victorious.
Five years, two campaigns, defeat in Lingbei.
This year, a third expedition, crossing the Yellow River and trampling the Helan Mountains before returning in triumph.
Given this, the emperor clearly intended a fourth expedition next year, determined to sweep the steppe clean. In such times, it was only natural that he cherished warriors capable of striking the Yuan.
"If you want to honor loyalty," Empress Ma said gently, "the best way would be to build a shrine at Jiguang Pass where he fell. When people of Shu leave the province, they would see the shrine and remember both his devotion and the disaster brought by the Yuan."
The emperor nodded.
"Good. Have the prefect of Hanzhong handle it."
Then he remembered two others and immediately frowned.
"Zhao Yan'na was all talk and no substance. Unfit for command. He should have been dismissed."
"And Shi Songzhi should have been executed. When Emperor Lizong ignored his advice, he threatened resignation in court as leverage. What kind of official behaves like that?"
"The Southern Song lost disastrously in the Duanping campaign, yet he walked away with a good reputation. A truly vile minister."
Empress Ma fixed him with a steady gaze. Zhu Yuanzhang grew increasingly baffled under her stare until she suddenly burst into laughter.
"Seeing you like this, Chongba, reminds me of when you used to shout 'The sun and moon shall reopen the heavens of Great Song.'"
Zhu Yuanzhang did not even object to the nickname this time. Instead he sighed heavily.
The voice on the screen had said Emperor Lizong was worried about the legitimacy of his rule. Zhu Yuanzhang mulled over the term. He could vaguely grasp its meaning, and it immediately reminded him of his own past worries.
"The sun and moon reopen Great Song" was nothing new. It had originally been one of the slogans used by loyalists of the fallen dynasty.
Later Liu Futong and Han Shantong adopted it for their rebel forces, which made perfect sense. Zhu Yuanzhang himself had shouted it back then.
But after Han Lin'er's death, the issue became complicated. Ever since, he had instinctively avoided the topic. Whenever it surfaced, it made his head ache.
The restless irritation was soothed by a pair of hands resting gently on his forehead.
With his eyes closed, he heard the empress's voice, tinged with apology.
"I should not have brought that up… Besides, everything you have achieved today was not granted by Zhao Song's mandate."
Zhu Yuanzhang gathered himself, helped her sit back properly, then said with a relaxed laugh:
"With what I've accomplished, even if I end up meeting Zhao Kuangyin in the underworld, he would have nothing to reproach me for."
"That is true," Empress Ma replied with a slightly mischievous smile. "If the dead know anything, the Song founder and his brother are probably still arguing down there."
"But as for what the Song founder thinks about all this… you might even get the chance to ask him yourself someday."
Zhu Yuanzhang blinked, completely puzzled.
---
[Lightscreen]
[During the Dinghai Incident of 1226, when news arrived that the Mongols were coming, the Sichuan regional commander abandoned five prefectures and fled in panic.
That same year, Cao Youwen, who had just passed the jinshi examination, was appointed instructor of the Tianshui army. Facing the crisis, he refused to retreat. Alone, he entered the city and organized its defense.
In 1230, the Mongol general Tolui forced passage through the region for the first time, leaving Hanzhong devastated.
Watching the Sichuan commander once again discard the five passes as if they were worthless, Cao Youwen, twelfth-generation descendant of the founding Song general Cao Bin, felt his heart split with grief. He spent his entire fortune recruiting five thousand volunteer soldiers and stubbornly defended Tianshui once more.
By the time the Mongols launched their major southern invasion in 1235, Cao Youwen's Lizhou imperial troops had already become one of the four main forces in Sichuan.
Faced with the Mongol assault, the Southern Song scholar-officials performed with their usual consistency.
The regional commander Zhao Yan'na proposed abandoning Mianzhou and retreating to Da'an. After being dissuaded by the prefect Gao Jia, he fled anyway, leading to the fall of Mianzhou. Gao Jia died for the state.
From there on, it was largely Cao Youwen's stage.
He first led his army in a rapid field maneuver, crushing the Mongol force pursuing Zhao Yan'na and winning the Battle of Qingye Plain.
Then he split his forces, ordering subordinate generals to defend Jiguang Pass and Yangping Pass, while he himself took position on Xiling Ridge to direct operations.
At Yangping Pass he used elite cavalry archery to blunt Mongol momentum. Accurately predicting that the Mongols would shift their attack toward Jiguang Pass, he marched to reinforce it, coordinating a pincer attack with the troops already stationed there. The Mongols were badly defeated, pursued in retreat, and Xianren Pass was recaptured, forcing the invaders out beyond the Shu frontier.
After this setback, Köden withdrew to regroup and returned the following autumn. Three columns advanced simultaneously toward Mianzhou, Xingqing Prefecture, and Yinping Pass, with the main effort aimed at Cao Youwen's position in Mianzhou.
Although Mongol numbers were overwhelming, Cao Youwen's plan was clear.
The terrain of Sichuan and Shaanxi was complex. The Mongols could not fully exploit their numerical advantage. If Mianzhou were held firmly, coordinating with Song forces at the Shu entrance while gradually wearing the enemy down, victory would eventually come.
Unfortunately, the Shu commander Zhao Yan'na disagreed.
In a single day, he sent seven urgent envoys carrying red command tokens, repeatedly ordering Cao Youwen to abandon Mianzhou and rush to defend the Shu entrance instead.
From a modern perspective, Cao Youwen's plan was the optimal solution given the disparity in forces.
Mianzhou was the site of ancient Wudu from the Three Kingdoms period. With two passes guarding a single plain, it was easy to defend and hard to attack. Jiguang Pass at the Shu entrance, however, lay on the Jinniu Road between Guangyuan and Hanzhong. The terrain there was open. Defending it meant absorbing blows. Given time, it would inevitably fall.
Even so, Cao Youwen still found a solution.
He ordered his brothers Cao Youwan and Cao Youliang to march openly with troops to Jiguang Pass.
Meanwhile, he himself led ten thousand men across the Jialing River by night. When the Mongols were locked in fierce battle at the pass, he burst out through the rain, striking their flank. Together with his brothers, he overran dozens of Mongol camps in succession.
The morale on both sides in this battle was astonishing.
Although caught in a pincer attack and leaving corpses strewn for twenty li, the Mongols relied on their superior numbers and continued fighting to the death.
The struggle lasted a full day and night.
In the end, Mongol reinforcements under Wang Shixian arrived first.
Cao Youwen sighed in despair.
"This must be Heaven's will. I have only death left to me."
After cursing the heavens, he led his troops into a final bloody battle.
He and his brothers Cao Youwan and Cao Youliang all fell, dying for the state.]