After receiving Emperor Tianyou’s new decree, Supervising Army Commissioner Zhang Ping personally rushed from Chenyang to Datanzhai to pacify and win over chieftains like Xishe Ying.
At this time, the Wuling Army had assembled nearly seven thousand troops at Chenyang, Qianyang, Longyacheng, and other locations. Tanzhou was suppressed in the lower Yuanshui and dared not continue extending its battle line to rashly attack Chenyang City upstream, much less attack the Wuling Army’s headquarters in Xuzhou.
Xishe Ying also deeply understood that if he did not accept pacification, even if Tanzhou could severely damage Chu forces from other directions, the forces they had assembled at Datanzhai and Xupu City would find it difficult to resist the Wuling Army’s siege from the two directions of Chenyang and Wukouzhai.
Emperor Tianyou’s new decree offered extremely generous terms for pacifying them. The explicit restrictions on Xuzhou’s new policies also eliminated their concerns.
On the fifteenth day of the first month, Xishe Ying released Xishe Xunqiao, who had been detained for nearly two months, and formally accepted pacification. Besides his second son Xishe Shesheng serving as Xupu County Magistrate and remaining to defend Xupu County, he personally led fifteen hundred tribal soldiers into Chenyang City to accept reorganization, forming an independent tribal battalion under the Wuling Army to participate in attacking Yuanling.
Xishe Ying was removed from his position as Chenyang County Magistrate but concurrently held posts as Tribal Battalion Commander, Chenzhou Military Commissioner, and Military Commissioner. Subsequently, able-bodied men recruited locally from Chenzhou would all be incorporated into the tribal battalion.
At the end of the first month of the sixteenth year of Tianyou, naval warships carried the tribal battalion under Xishe Ying’s command as the vanguard, advancing first to the river beach outside Yuanling City, formally launching an offensive against Yuanling City, the prefectural seat of Chenzhou.
Although Tanzhou’s naval combat strength was not weak, to prevent the even more elite Jinling tower-ship navy from directly penetrating deep into Dongting Lake to attack Tanzhou’s heartland, their main warships remained in Dongting Lake. No powerful naval warships accompanied Ma Rong into Chenzhou.
At this time, the Wuling Army’s naval forces had rapidly expanded to twelve large and medium warships with eighteen hundred officers and soldiers. The Yuan River channel at the Yuanling section was narrow with rapid currents. No matter how strong Tanzhou’s naval forces were, they dared not sail upstream to engage the Wuling Army’s naval warships.
Ma Rong led five thousand officers and soldiers to tightly defend Yuanling City. The Wuling Army methodically landed on the river beach south of Yuanling City, first clearing forces surrounding Yuanling City and establishing encampments.
Han Qian also arrived at Meizi Mountain, forty li south of Yuanling City, in early second month to make final preparations for attacking Yuanling City.
Meizi Mountain was located on the west bank of the Yuan River. Its mountain terrain was steep and protruded into the Yuan River, forcing the river waters to circle around the mountain shore in a large bay. This also made this section of river flow swift with dangerous shoals. After passing Meizi Mountain all the way to Yuanling City, the Yuanshui channel became relatively wide and straight.
So regardless, Meizi Mountain was a relatively important relay point for operations against Yuanling. Establishing the logistics base at Meizi Mountain not only facilitated material transfer but also considered that if operations against Yuanling failed, enemy pursuit could be contained north of Meizi Mountain, preventing them from rashly crossing the turbulent rapids to continue southward.
To be honest, many people in Xuzhou harbored complaints about the preferential treatment of pacified tribal generals and chieftains like Xishe Ying. Even the loyal and honest Ji Xiyao, upon seeing Han Qian arrive, couldn’t help privately grumbling: “Is the court still worried about young master’s and old master’s power in Xuzhou, so they show such preferential treatment to these bandit chieftains like Xishe Ying to prevent us from extending our reach into Chenzhou?”
“What nonsense are you spouting?” Han Qian glared at Ji Xiyao and scolded, “The court must end the feudal reduction campaign against Tanzhou before Liang forces free up their hands from the northern front. The window of opportunity may not last long. His Majesty hopes the Wuling Army can exert stronger military pressure on Tanzhou—sometimes compromises must be made! After Xishe Ying submitted, not only can we smoothly station at tribal fortresses like Meizi Mountain, it also makes Ma Rong no longer dare trust the clan forces inside Yuanling City. He was even forced to disarm the clan tribal soldiers inside Yuanling City and imprison them! For Xishe Ying to prove his loyalty and reliability, he must first lead the tribal battalion to fight to the death attacking the city. This allows the Wuling Army to greatly reduce siege casualties. What more could you be dissatisfied with!”
As Chenzhou’s prefectural seat, Yuanling had solid fortifications. Ma Rong was also a veteran general. His defensive deployment centered on Yuanling City was extremely rigorous with no exploitable weaknesses.
From Yuanling to Wuling, the Yuanshui was swift and long. There was no possibility of bypassing Yuanling to launch a surprise attack on Wuling three hundred li downstream. They could only honestly attack Yuanling—this would be a bloody battle, a hard fight.
Even if Emperor Tianyou did intend to restrict Xuzhou, at this time Han Qian more hoped the tribal soldiers could replace Wuling Army officers and soldiers, first scaling the city walls to fight a war of attrition with Tanzhou troops!
Han Qian scolded Ji Xiyao thoroughly, drove him and the others out to work, keeping only Feng Liao behind. He said: “In the third and fourth months of last year, there were already rumors in Tanzhou that my father and I conspired with Jinling to reduce Tanzhou’s feudal powers, but they weren’t believed by Ma Yin until the Yingyuzhai trap. Do you think such rumors arose from nothing?”
“Ji Xiyao and the others harbor resentment—His Majesty has indeed been somewhat harsh toward you father and son. Feng Liao absolutely hasn’t said anything improper,” Feng Liao hurried to clear himself.
“When you want to cause mischief, do you need to say things directly?” Han Qian looked calmly at Feng Liao. “I won’t pursue this matter with you, but you still haven’t answered my earlier question.”
After pondering for a moment, Feng Liao said: “Is my lord saying that someone already perceived Emperor Tianyou’s feudal reduction scheme and used this method to warn Tanzhou?”
“Think again—who would have already perceived His Majesty’s feudal reduction scheme and intentionally warned Tanzhou?” Han Qian asked.
Feng Liao furrowed his brow, sinking deep into thought. As if answering Han Qian’s question yet also talking to himself, he said: “Those who perceived Emperor Tianyou’s feudal reduction scheme and had motive to warn Tanzhou to prepare—first to come to mind would naturally be the Shu and Liang kingdoms. But those who perceived this strategy at that time should also have seen that Emperor Tianyou used exclusively the Commandery Prince’sMansion forces for feudal reduction. Besides you my lord and old master garrisoning Xuzhou, Shen Yang and Zhou Dan also went to Ezhou to prepare for war. If they intended to sabotage the feudal reduction strategy, when warning Tanzhou, they couldn’t possibly not also warn the Crown Prince and Prince Xin’s side. After all, the Crown Prince and Prince Xin would absolutely not want the Commandery Prince’sMansion to continue growing stronger through this feudal reduction… I understand now. My lord is saying that although such rumors existed early in Tanzhou, Jinling remained completely calm until last year’s end with no related rumors emerging. This reveals something suspicious! Could it be the Crown Prince’s side already detected this but found it inconvenient to openly sabotage it, so they had people spread rumors in Tanzhou?”
“The Crown Prince and Prince Xin’s side may harbor suspicions, but the rumors wouldn’t have been spread by them. Spreading rumors clearly shows being beyond reach and having no choice. The result was that Tanzhou didn’t take this matter seriously. If the Crown Prince and Prince Xin truly wanted to sabotage this, they would have many more means. In reality, after the seventh and eighth months, after the Bureau of Operations learned of this matter, they fully cooperated with Tanzhou’s feudal reduction. The intelligence they collected and transmitted had no obvious errors or omissions,” Han Qian shook his head.
“My lord is saying it truly was the Shu and Liang kingdoms, but why didn’t they spread rumors in Jinling and exploit the succession conflict between the Crown Prince and Prince Xin versus Yang Yuanpu to further sabotage this matter?” Feng Liao asked in confusion.
“What makes you think they didn’t tamper with the Crown Prince and Prince Xin’s side?” Han Qian stared at Feng Liao.
“You’re saying the Crown Prince and Prince Xin actually knew long ago about Emperor Tianyou using feudal reduction to support Yang Yuanpu, but chose forbearance and silence, even intentionally blocking the spread of this news in Jinling?” Feng Liao asked in alarm.
“All this is speculation. My point is for you to behave yourself for these two years and stop creating these damaging problems behind my back!” Han Qian glanced at Feng Liao, warning him.
“Two years? My lord is saying there will definitely be great chaos within two years?” Feng Liao blurted out, but then realized asking directly was truly foolish. He quickly changed his words: “Two boats of supplies just arrived. I’ll go count them now and won’t disturb my lord further.”
“Go ahead!” Han Qian waved his hand, indicating Feng Liao should leave first. He then smiled at Xi Ren behind him: “His Majesty uses Zheng Hui to divide power between my father and me, but the Zheng clan’s power is even greater than my Han father and son’s. Pacifying tribal soldiers is perfectly justified. Feng Liao didn’t understand clearly—he’s still lacking somewhat.”
“Who could be as crafty as a ghost like you?” Xi Ren asked with both disdain and curiosity. “Will you truly just let things take their course completely?”
“People plan, Heaven decides—it’s all about ‘momentum,'” Han Qian said. “His Majesty is very strong, but even he cannot go against the momentum. Otherwise, he wouldn’t lose sleep over the Xu clan. His Majesty uses Zheng Hui and pacifies tribal battalions, but everything about to happen across these mountains and waters won’t all be within his control.”
“I don’t understand,” Xi Ren said.
“Then just wait and see,” Han Qian said mysteriously.
Seeing Han Qian being mysterious, Xi Ren asked again: “Will there truly be major upheaval in Jinling within two years?”
“Just wait and see,” Han Qian said.
Xi Ren wished she could kick Han Qian twice. In her thoughts: Watch my ass.
When Han Qian established the Left Bureau, dividing it into Investigation Office, Military Office, and Workshops, besides craftsmen and scouts, over two years he cultivated nearly a hundred secret agents and investigators. But according to needs, these secret agents and investigators were primarily embedded in Jinling, the external relative Xu Mingzhen’s headquarters in Shouzhou, Prince Xin’s base in Chuzhou, and the Great Liang national capital Bianjing.
Emperor Tianyou’s determination to reduce Tanzhou’s feudal powers left Han Qian very limited time. Not wanting to leave any vulnerabilities, he not only had no way to mobilize this secret force to infiltrate Tanzhou, but when fleeing and leaving Jinling, he even “abandoned” the vast majority of investigators and secret agents.
After Zheng Hui, Yuan Guowei, and Zheng Xingxuan arrived in Xuzhou, Han Qian resumed command of these agents. However, Tanzhou had already become vigilant by then—external personnel simply could not infiltrate Tanzhou. Given the current era’s crude and inconvenient information transmission methods, even when investigators and secret agents uncovered intelligence, by the time it reached Han Qian’s desk, it was already old news delayed by over a month.
Even so, Han Qian still detected some suspicious traces from this old news.
As early as approximately March last year, rumors circulated in Tanzhou that he and his father were cooperating with Emperor Tianyou on feudal reduction. Of course, Tanzhou had people alert to such rumors, but they simply weren’t taken seriously by Ma Yin. Yet no such rumors spread in Jinling. If Han Qian still couldn’t detect the suspicious nature of this, he would be too obtuse.
Han Qian couldn’t help recalling that night when he was summoned by Emperor Tianyou at Chongwen Hall. The several large candles burning in Chongwen Hall emitted a sweet, cloying fragrance that left an extremely deep impression on him.
Although Han Qian had ordered people to investigate this matter, his “escape to Xuzhou” was too realistic. Affected by this matter, the investigators and spies remaining in Jinling fell into chaos. Even though Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei took over related affairs, people were in panic and this matter was suspended. To this day, no definitive information had been transmitted over.
However, given how cooperatively the Crown Prince and Prince Xin’s side participated in Tanzhou’s feudal reduction, others might think it was Emperor Tianyou’s awe-inspiring authority. But in Han Qian’s view, this was merely the silence before an even greater storm arrived.
Han Qian originally planned to quietly await the storm’s arrival. Any excessive demands or hints from Emperor Tianyou, he would satisfy as much as possible, not quibbling with a dying man at this critical juncture. But Feng Liao was somewhat unable to restrain himself. He had to give him a small hint to prevent any unnecessary actions that Emperor Tianyou’s eyes secretly deployed in Xuzhou might notice, arousing unnecessary suspicion.
Of course, Han Qian simultaneously hoped that before the greatest storm erupted in Jinling, he could successfully complete Tanzhou’s feudal reduction. Only then would the Third Prince truly have a chance to thwart the Crown Prince and Prince Xin’s conspiracy…
Indeed, Han Qian believed without a doubt that both the Crown Prince (Anning Palace) and Prince Xin in Chuzhou were plotting something!