On the twenty-third of October, Feng Liao, the instigator of it all, traveled over mountains and through rivers to return once again to Chenzhong.

At this time, only half a month had passed since news of the Shu army’s occupation of the Wuchuan River valley reached Chenzhong.

This time Feng Liao departed from Wuchuan, and under the protection of guards walked the dangerous roads along the southern foothills of the Wuling Mountains back to Chenzhong. Though he crossed three to four hundred li fewer mountain ridges than on the outward journey, he was still tormented quite severely.

Feng Liao’s mission to Yuzhou was confidential. Only a handful of people in Chenzhong knew of this matter, and his return this time was also quiet as he entered the city.

Feng Liao first returned to his residence to wash up, but just as he had changed into fresh clothes, Feng Yi and Gao Shao arrived following the attendant he had sent to report his return.

“What’s going on? Why is security in the city so tight?” Though Feng Liao said he hadn’t suffered too much on the return journey, both his feet were covered in blisters. After applying medicine, he sat in a rather undignified sprawling position on the soft couch and asked Feng Yi and Gao Shao about conditions in the city. Upon entering the city, he had also noticed the atmosphere was somewhat different.

“Huang Hua and Xi Ying came over, that’s what,” Feng Yi said, pursing his lips.

“Ah!” Feng Liao sat up straight in shock.

Although he hadn’t been in Chenzhong these past days, news that Emperor Yanyou had reactivated the Hunan Provincial Department and appointed Huang Hua and others as Pacification Commissioners had already reached Shu territory.

He still understood the general situation here, but hadn’t expected at all that Pacification Commissioner Huang Hua and Chenzhou Regional Inspector Xi Ying would now be in Chenzhong City.

“How many troops did Huang Hua bring?” Feng Liao immediately followed up with another question.

“They only brought over a hundred escort troops. Their courage is really quite something—they’re truly not afraid we might send people to kill them halfway and destroy the evidence!” Feng Yi saw freshly brewed new tea on the table, picked it up and drank, talking about the current situation inside Chenzhong City: “Huang Hua met with Xi Ying in Chenyang the day before yesterday, then came to Chenzhong City yesterday. After An Jixiang and Fu Gengwen received the news, they just rushed over from Sizhou—Sizhou Regional Inspector Yang Xingfeng had to remain at Panlong Ridge to supervise the battle, but also sent the Provincial Administrator and Sizhou’s great general Yang Shouyi to come to Chenzhong with An Jixiang and Fu Gengwen to pay their respects to Huang Hua.”

“Where is his lordship?” Feng Liao asked.

“Yang Hu slandered us as secretly colluding with enemy states, so naturally Han Qian is still angry. Knowing Huang Hua was coming, yesterday morning he took Madam Ting and Madam Xi to live at Longya City, having us remain in Chenzhong to deal with Huang Hua—your return couldn’t be better timed. This Huang Hua is truly difficult to deal with.” Feng Yi spoke as if a great burden had been lifted.

Guo Rong, Kong Xirong and others had all accompanied Han Qian to Longya City. Xi Xunqiao, Xi Chang and others were handling their own affairs. Currently Provincial Administrator Gao Shao and Feng Yi were steeling themselves to receive Huang Hua and the others’ arrival.

Don’t look at how Feng Yi spoke boldly here about using knives and spears, but facing Huang Hua who, as Hunan Pacification Commissioner, dared to come to Chenzhong City with only this few troops, the pressure he bore in his heart was truly considerable.

In reality, Gao Shao wasn’t much better off than Feng Yi.

Now that Feng Liao had returned, they both breathed a sigh of relief.

Feng Liao thought to himself that Han Qian was truly cunning, but seeing his own condition, said with a headache: “Looking like this, I also can’t go see people.”

As Provincial Chief Clerk, with Han Qian throwing down his burden and hiding at Longya City refusing to see Huang Hua, he should properly be the one to come forward. But his appearance clearly showed he had just returned from a long journey. If he went to deal with Huang Hua, wouldn’t that expose their hand?

“No problem. We figured you should be able to return in these few days, so we told Huang Hua you broke your leg climbing a mountain and are recovering from injuries at your residence,” Gao Shao said. “If you truly must see Huang Hua, you don’t need to get out of bed, so you won’t reveal any flaws.”

Feng Liao thought this made sense. He grabbed Feng Yi and Gao Shao to further understand the more specific situation here.

Feng Yi then told Feng Liao one by one about the changes in various aspects over these two months and the position Han Qian had insisted on: “Huang Hua coming here, his courage is indeed not weak, but this also shows he couldn’t persuade Chai Jian to agree to deploy troops from Shaozhou…”

“However strong Huang Hua is, without troops in hand, even a clever wife can’t cook without rice,” Feng Liao said to Feng Yi. “My movement is inconvenient. You’ll have to make another hard trip to Longya City to report to his lordship about some of the Yuzhou situation…”

“What’s the Yuzhou situation?” Feng Yi also asked with concern.

Feng Liao then told Feng Yi how after reaching Yuzhou, he happened to encounter Cao Gan urgently returning from Jinling, the transformation in Princess Qingyang’s attitude, and Shu Kingdom’s internal intention to transfer the Marquis of Changxiang to defend Liang and other matters. He also said: “The secret spread that salt springs have emerged in Wuchuan and Emperor Yanyou intends to support the Marquis of Changxiang in competing for position. The ministers aligned with the Marquis of Qingjiang strongly obstructed concluding the alliance treaty and wanted to recall Wei Qun. The Marquis of Changxiang also took advantage of the situation to entrust affairs in southern Ba to the Qingjiang Army Vice Commander Huang Yanzhang, who doesn’t much obey orders. Huang Yanzhang might forcibly occupy Shiqian. We also need to be careful and guard against this…”

Shu Kingdom had no Imperial Guard establishment. The directly controlled Imperial Army totaled one hundred sixty thousand troops, of which seventy thousand garrisoned the northern line at Liangzhou, Jianzhou and other places to prevent Liang army invasion from the south; sixty thousand garrisoned the heartland including the Shu capital, protecting the Shu court.

The Left and Right Qingjiang Armies, with their navy and infantry mixed formations totaling over thirty thousand elite troops, were primarily responsible for defending counties along the Yangtze River and resisting the threat from Chu armies from Jingzhou and Langzhou.

The Marquis of Qingjiang had deep foundations. One extremely key point was his enormous influence in the Shu army. Among the Left and Right Qingjiang Armies, there were also quite a number of commanders close to the Marquis of Qingjiang.

The Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong was based in Yuzhou. Besides local provincial troops, the elite combat forces he used to manage southern Ba were mainly three elite divisions of the Left Qingjiang Army transferred from Yiling in Xiazhou, which bordered Jingzhou.

As Shu Kingdom’s commander stationed in the southeast, the Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong commanded and directed these three elite divisions of the Left Qingjiang Army, but he couldn’t replace the Left Qingjiang Army’s commanders at will.

Left Qingjiang Army Vice Commander Huang Yanzhang—his Huang clan had a daughter taken as a concubine by the Marquis of Qingjiang, and Huang Yanzhang was moreover a commander the Marquis of Qingjiang had promoted when supervising battles in southern Sichuan in his early years. He could be said to be the Marquis of Qingjiang’s direct subordinate.

Though the Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong was managing southern Ba, he could only steel himself to use Huang Yanzhang to command troops in battle. He couldn’t arrange for Cao Gan and other of his own direct subordinates to replace Huang Yanzhang.

That Huang Yanzhang could lead his forces to invade and occupy the Wuchuan River valley this time—the Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong going with the flow was one aspect, but more importantly, under the Marquis of Qingjiang’s instructions, Huang Yanzhang had actively requested to fight.

Feng Liao needed to have Feng Yi go to Longya City to explain all these details clearly to Han Qian before Han Qian could possibly make accurate judgments.

“Princess Qingyang has truly thought things through. This is quite rare,” Feng Yi was more curious about the transformation in Princess Qingyang’s attitude and said with emotion.

“Before taking Jinling, His Majesty only controlled the corner of Hunan. At that time, Shu Kingdom was strong while Yueyang’s strength was weak. Princess Qingyang relied on having Shu Kingdom to depend on, or perhaps judged that His Majesty had no choice but to rely on Shu Kingdom’s support to stand equal with Jinling and Chuzhou. She had no need to look at Xuzhou’s face. But now Chu is strong while Shu is weak, and the Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong is even weaker. Fallen into isolation in the Chu palace, her attitude transforms—what’s strange about that?” Feng Liao wasn’t too surprised by the transformation in Princess Qingyang’s attitude. He just urged Feng Yi to quickly go to Longya City. He still needed to wait for Han Qian’s clear instructions before he could properly make contact with Huang Hua, Xi Ying and the others…

…

…

The several large courtyards of the guest house had already cleared out idle personnel and now served as Huang Hua’s temporary office in Chenzhong.

The guards inside were all escort troops Huang Hua had brought with him. Xuzhou’s side only sent Feng Yi leading minor guest house clerks to attend to their daily needs.

Xi Ying, Yang Shouyi, An Jixiang, Fu Gengwen, Han Chengmeng and others naturally also temporarily lodged at the guest house.

However, with Xuzhou maintaining perfect etiquette and Han Qian taking his “grievance” and claiming illness to avoid seeing them, they were at a loss for what to do.

“Chai Jian doesn’t agree to deploy troops from Shaozhou?”

Learning that Huang Hua had personally rushed to Chenzhong, An Jixiang had anticipated there wouldn’t be any good news, but hearing confirmation of this news from Huang Hua’s advisor Zhou Qinian’s mouth, he was still quite shocked.

Weren’t the people of the Marquis of Xinchang’s household the ones who most couldn’t bear to see Han Qian succeed?

“Can troops be deployed from Yuezhou, Langzhou, or Tanzhou?” Fu Gengwen anxiously asked.

Huang Hua’s jujube-red face showed no joy or anger. Zhou Qinian stroked his white beard and shook his head slightly, indicating that deploying troops from the provincial battalions of Yuezhou, Langzhou, and Tanzhou was also unrealistic.

Seeing An Jixiang, Fu Gengwen and others’ faces full of puzzled incomprehension, Zhou Qinian, who during the Jinling battle period had represented Huang Hua in liaising with the Marquis of Xinchang Li Pu and Gu Zhilong, ultimately facilitating the submission of Huang Hua, Wu Zun and other aristocratic clan forces from Hunan and Hangzhou to Emperor Yanyou, sighed slightly in his heart.

Once upon a time, aristocratic clans throughout the realm all viewed Han Qian, who had stirred up a hornet’s nest, as an enemy.

Not to mention that the people of the Marquis of Xinchang’s household had been entangled in grievances with Han Qian for years, long since irreconcilable.

However, circumstances don’t remain forever unchanged.

The various provinces of Hunan, as Emperor Yanyou’s place of origin, currently had nearly half their Imperial Guard soldiers coming from military offices in Yuezhou, Ezhou, Tanzhou and other places, yet the Hunan provinces were also far from Jinling.

Even without considering that the south still faced threats from the two rebel armies that had withdrawn to Yongzhou, even without considering the unstable factor of Xuzhou, the court reactivating the Hunan Provincial Department and appointing commissioners to handle military and civilian affairs in the various provinces to strengthen control over Hunan was also due to practical necessity.

The Zhang clan represented by Zhang Chao and Zhang Han, though deeply rooted in Hunan with the six ministerial offices employing disciples and former subordinates of the Zhang brothers, from the trajectory of Emperor Yanyou’s rise, the achievements established by Zhang Chao and Zhang Han were far from comparable to the Zheng family.

Not using Zhang Chao or Zhang Han at this time, but instead having Huang Hua, Wu Zun, Chen Fan and others control the Hunan Provincial Department, was to avoid seeing the Zhang clan continue to expand their power in Hunan. Zhang Chao and Zhang Han had nothing to say about this.

Regarding the appointment of the three Hunan commissioners, the Zhang brothers had nothing to say, but that didn’t mean they had no opinions, nor did it mean they had no other channels to express their inner dissatisfaction.

Most directly, nearly a month after Huang Hua arrived in Tanzhou to assume his post, all aspects were in the process of handover, progressing slowly. Forget about deploying troops—even if Huang Hua wanted to allocate a batch of money and grain to reinforce Sizhou, he couldn’t implement it because the handover wasn’t complete.

Chai Jian’s side refused even more bluntly.

The Yongzhou rebel army had nearly thirty thousand elite troops. The Left Divine Guard Army plus the Shao and Heng provincial troops under Chai Jian’s control totaled only just over twenty thousand. Chai Jian worried that if Shaozhou troops advanced west, the rebels might take advantage of the void to advance, and he couldn’t bear that responsibility.

If Huang Hua insisted on deploying troops from Shaozhou, Chai Jian demanded Huang Hua produce an imperial edict from Emperor Yanyou or a transfer order from the Privy Council.

Put plainly, Chai Jian was also extremely displeased with the suddenly appearing new superior.

This was the reality and the court so cruel it was laughable.

Yesterday everyone had worked together with one heart, wishing they could together tear apart the bones of the Marquis of Qianyang, but when it truly involved their own interests, they forgot yesterday’s common enmity completely and pulled each other’s legs instead.

An Jixiang and Fu Gengwen were still somewhat too young after all and couldn’t grasp the subtleties here for the moment. Zhou Qinian had weathered half a lifetime and had already reminded him during their westward journey to Tanzhou with Huang Hua. He hadn’t even initially recommended that Huang Hua take on this hot potato.

“How is the battle situation at Panlong Ridge progressing?” Zhou Qinian asked Fu Gengwen.

Fu Gengwen glanced at Sizhou Administrator Yang Shouyi and answered honestly: “The Sizhou troops fight bravely, but still need some more time before they can suppress the rebel bandits.”

Zhou Qinian looked toward Huang Hua and said: “Should we first summon Xuzhou Chief Clerk Feng Liao to question him?”

“Why would I see him? We’re going to Longya City,” Huang Hua said.

“This…” Zhou Qinian hesitated somewhat, thinking that as Pacification Commissioner, Huang Hua had rushed to Chenzhong but couldn’t see Han Qian, and still had to pursue him to Longya City—wasn’t that humbling himself too much?

“Since I’ve already come to Xuzhou, and His Majesty also respectfully addresses the Marquis of Qianyang as Teacher, what’s wrong with me going to see him?” However, Huang Hua paid no attention to Zhou Qinian’s dissuasive intent and said with determination.