Early the next morning, Lei Jiuyuan, Xu Mingzhen and others in Zhongli received intelligence reports transmitted from Eyue and other areas. At dusk the previous day, eight large oared warships with sails had entered the Yangtze River from the Dongting Lake mouth west of Yueyang City. Including ship workers, sailors, and naval soldiers, it was estimated there were over three thousand men.
The sailing ships built by Xuzhou had long been renowned throughout the realm for their speed in navigating deep, broad waters. Calculating the time, this fleet could arrive at Tangyi as early as tomorrow before noon.
Since they had deduced that Han Qian was most likely in Tangyi at this time, and had also confirmed signs of refugees gathering toward Tangyi, Xu Mingzhen had dispatched swift cavalry yesterday to the vicinity of Chuzhou City with orders requiring the reconnaissance cavalry already inserted into the surrounding areas to assemble and, taking advantage of nightfall, harass and intercept refugees gathering toward Tangyi in the northern and eastern regions of the city.
The latest feedback also reached Zhongli at noon. When the four hundred-plus reconnaissance cavalry assembled on the southern front conducted raids on the northeastern area of Tangyi City, they encountered extremely strong counterattacks and were forced to withdraw, confirming that besides Jiangzhou troops—primarily infantry with ordinary combat effectiveness—Tangyi City concealed even more elite fighting forces.
Since Tangyi City allowed entry but not exit, the reconnaissance cavalry also found it difficult to accurately estimate exactly how many troops were in Tangyi, but over the past several days, the number of refugees gathering in Tangyi was certainly seventy to eighty thousand.
Having preliminarily clarified the situation in Tangyi City and the rapid advance of the Xuzhou naval camp, Lei Jiuyuan, Xu Mingzhen and the others were filled with cold dread.
After successfully ambushing the main Southern Chu naval forces at Hongze Marsh, there had been internal disputes regarding subsequent combat plans for the Xuzhou navy and Tower Ship Army.
Some believed that since the main Southern Chu naval forces had already been destroyed, their naval warships should penetrate southward as quickly as possible through the Xinjin River, Shitang River and other waterways, entering the Yangtze River channels to create a posture of raiding Jinling to coordinate with the Chaozhou garrison forces.
This way they wouldn’t alarm the Southern Chu court into not daring to attack Chaozhou City, and the greater benefit was that when the main army moved south, they could intercept more Southern Chu forces on the north bank for annihilation and recruitment.
Of course, there was a certain degree of risk in this.
Great Liang forces had to wait until the Huai River froze solid before they could move south in force, but by this time, since the Huai River and the shallow, narrow rivers north of the Yangtze would all freeze solid, the navy consisting mainly of light warships would only be able to remain in the Yangtze River channels. Before the two forces could coordinate properly, there would be roughly a ten-day to half-month window period.
Some believed the risk was not great. After all, after the Southern Chu navy’s destruction, the naval forces Southern Chu could assemble from surrounding counties in a short time were all scattered troops with no combat effectiveness. Even if the Tower Ship Army and Xuzhou naval camp lacked large warships in the Yangtze River channels, they need not fear them.
The naval combat capability of Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan of Huaidong was also weak.
And the reason Chu Emperor Yang Yuanpu had fallen into the trap was his suspicion of Xuzhou. As long as he was given a thread of hope to capture Chaozhou City, neither he nor most of the princes and ministers in the Southern Chu court would think to transfer the Xuzhou naval camp eastward.
Of course, some mentioned Han Qian’s actions during the Jinling Incident, believing that when Han Qian in Xuzhou learned news of the Southern Chu navy’s destruction, he might not necessarily wait for a rescue edict before deploying troops.
The Xuzhou navy and Tower Ship Army lacked large warships. Once exposed in the deep, broad Yangtze River channels, they would have no capability to contend with Xuzhou’s large warships.
The soft horizontal-sail sharp-bottom compartmented ships were uniquely created by Xuzhou. Xuzhou was extremely familiar with their performance and would absolutely not make the mistake of armchair strategizing like those princes and ministers of the Southern Chu court.
Therefore some advocated not taking risks, withdrawing the naval warships, and after the freeze having cavalry and infantry advance first.
However, the voices of opposition were not strong, and in the end it was Emperor Zhu Yu personally arriving in Xuzhou that vetoed the proposal for a rash naval deployment.
Given the current situation, if they had rashly dispatched the navy into the Yangtze River channels at that time, even if they could dispatch over ten thousand cavalry to the north bank of the Yangtze before tomorrow according to the original plan, unable to suddenly capture cities along the river in a short time, without shore bases as support—how would the navy face the Xuzhou naval camp in battle in the deep, broad Yangtze River channels?
Not to mention that Han Qian had already assembled a considerable scale of forces in Tangyi at this time!
By then, it would probably be their turn to pay a terrible price for their rash advance, achieving renown and power for Han Qian instead, wouldn’t it?
Considering that Han Qian himself was in Tangyi winning over Zhou Dan for his use, that he could rendezvous with the Xuzhou naval camp before noon tomorrow, and that Li Zhigao was leading the main Huaixi forbidden army forces in a gradual withdrawal to the eastern Shuzhou region southeast of Qianshan, Xu Mingzhen, Chen Kun, and Lei Jiuyuan convened the various generals and officials to discuss. Apart from the forces reinforcing Chaozhou City continuing to advance and join with Wen Bo, they would dispatch another cavalry unit to advance near Chuzhou City to watch the small garrison force inside, while otherwise temporarily refraining from rash action. They would wait until the grain and fodder transported from within Great Liang territory arrived before making further decisions.
This was what was meant by “the skilled warrior achieves no spectacular victories,” wasn’t it?
When both sides had commanders skilled in strategy and brave in battle, both were destined to maintain sufficient caution and not dare to take risks casually. The war situation would consequently become plain and unremarkable, with no extraordinary achievements to claim.
As far as the Shouzhou army was concerned, they had sufficient troop strength to maintain a strong offensive on the southern front, but damn it, they were truly too impoverished.
Before the Jinling Incident, the various Huaixi provinces had a population of only six to seven hundred thousand—considerably less than Huaidong. After the Jinling Incident, although they had coerced large numbers of people to cross the river, since the outbreak of Huaixi hostilities, the population loss had been even greater.
Currently the Shouzhou army controlled the two core regions of Shouzhou and Huozhou. Including soldiers, and counting the refugees coerced into fleeing north since the outbreak of hostilities, the total population was only five hundred thousand or so.
With such a population base, they had to support one hundred twenty thousand troops. If Shouzhou had not previously accumulated considerable military grain as Great Chu’s central support line, the grain and fodder supply would have collapsed long ago.
Never mind the military uniforms, boots, and hats needed for so many soldiers to ward off the cold; never mind the mules, horses, and supply wagons to ensure a certain mobility and transport capability; never mind the animal sinews, leather, hardwood, refined iron, and such needed to manufacture armor and weaponry; never mind medicinal supplies and the vast quantities of materials for constructing camps—just the one hundred twenty thousand soldiers and over thirty thousand mules and horses throughout the army required approximately one million five hundred thousand shi of grain and fodder per year.
Even if Shouzhou had some stockpiles before, from the Jinling Incident until now had been two years. In these two years, the regions they controlled had consistently been in a state of extreme grain and fodder shortage.
Before obtaining large-scale material support from Great Liang, even though Shouzhou appeared to still be able to mobilize over one hundred thousand troops, they had lost the capability to launch large-scale counteroffensives. Even in the troop movements of recent days, quite a few soldiers had frozen to death on the road or in camp.
Of course, once they received grain and material supplies from within Great Liang territory, after the Shouzhou army’s combat effectiveness recovered, it would absolutely not be inferior to the Southern Chu forbidden armies. Then how they proceeded would be entirely within their initiative—no need to take any risks at this time.
However, transporting grain and material supplies, adjusting the soldiers’ physical condition and morale—all this required time.
Having reached this agreement, they left Zhao Mingting in Zhongli to await Chen Kun’s orders, while Xu Mingzhen, along with Niu Gengru, Wen Muqiao and others, first accompanied Lei Jiuyuan and Wen Ruilin in hurrying to Suyu to have an audience with Great Liang Emperor Zhu Yu.
Once they established the proper relationship between sovereign and subject, everyone could act with a free hand…
…
…
Upon confirming intelligence that large Liang forces were moving toward the northeast of Hongze Marsh, Wang Wenqian ordered Zhao Zhen to tightly defend Yangzhou’s western gateway while he and Yin Peng urgently rushed to Chuzhou.
Ascending the north gate tower of Chuzhou with Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan, they could see several groups of Liang army scouts wandering about on the ice-covered surface of the Huai River to the north.
On the north bank of the Huai River, several camps had already been erected. Columns of troops were marching from the direction of Suyu City toward this side, moving into camps on the north bank.
“What does the Liang army mean by this? Do they think Huaidong is weak and easy to bully?” Yang Yuanyan stared at the Liang army movements on the north bank. His lean face was particularly resolute in the blowing cold wind as he asked through gritted teeth, enunciating each word.
“The Liang army should have already confirmed that Han Qian is in Tangyi. That the Liang army can so quickly, so cleanly, and on such a large scale adjust their combat deployment—Great Liang Emperor Zhu Yu is very likely in Suyu City,” said Wang Wenqian, drawing in cold air.
A combat direction adjustment of this scale and intensity involved not merely tens of thousands of front-line troops changing their direction of advance, but also a complete overhaul of a subsequent series of logistical support arrangements. If Zhu Yu himself remained in Kaifeng to direct operations, coordinating everything would take at least a month to adjust even at the fastest.
The only possibility was that Zhu Yu had already secretly reached the front lines and was directly commanding the entire course of the war.
And the main reason for the Liang army adjusting their combat deployment was not that Huaidong was weak and easy to bully, but rather that Han Qian’s presence in Tangyi made the Liang army feel that continuing to execute the original combat plan would yield no advantage in the short term—they might even suffer losses from rash advances and underestimating the enemy.
Fortunately, although Huaidong had previously moved troops to the west side and southwest flank, they had not neglected northern defenses.
Now adjusting their defensive deployment on interior lines, their movements would be faster than the Liang army to the north no matter what.
“Is it possible the Liang army will launch a strong attack on Chuzhou City?” According to intelligence transmitted back by reconnaissance cavalry, the scale of Liang forces assembling at Suyu was the greatest in ten years. Ruan Yan couldn’t help but ask worriedly.
“If the Liang Emperor won’t gnaw on the hard bone that is Han Qian, how could he possibly think Your Highness is easy to bully?” Wang Wenqian shook his head, feeling that Ruan Yan’s worry was unlikely to occur. He said, “Over ten years ago, after the Liang army was defeated at Chuzhou by the hands of Prince of Zhedong Li Yu, the focus of Great Liang’s attacks on Great Chu shifted to the central and western fronts. On the eastern front, with Xuzhou as the key support point, they were actually in a state of defensive contraction. But the Shouzhou army’s defection and surrender has not only fundamentally reversed the long-unfavorable situation for the Liang army in competing for the south bank of the Huai River, it has also given the Liang army the conditions to redeploy their forward battle lines directly along the north bank of the Huai River on the eastern front. The skilled warrior achieves no spectacular victories—the Liang Emperor is skilled in strategy, true, but he understands the overall situation even better. What he has in mind is perhaps to first capture Haizhou, adjust the entire situation along the central-eastern front, then see which side among Tangyi, Huaidong, and Shuzhou reveals vulnerabilities first before making the next arrangements.”
“You’re saying that even though the Liang army swarms like locusts toward Chuzhou City, their true intention is Haizhou?” National Advisor Ruan Yan asked.
“Yes. Your Highness should order the evacuation of Haizhou. We can still withdraw some people now—if we delay further it may be too late…” Wang Wenqian said with some bitterness.
Although the scale of Haizhou’s military and civilian population was not large, it was the main territory Yang Yuanyan had successfully opened up north across the Huai River since taking charge of Chuzhou.
Particularly after obtaining the new salt-making method Han Qian had provided, they had already verified it on the coastal tidal flats of Haizhou—it was indeed viable. They had been planning to implement it on a grand scale there after weathering this wave of attacks.
Now they had to resolutely abandon Haizhou and withdraw the military and civilian population there to the south bank of the Huai River at the earliest opportunity. No one found it easy to make this decision!