Currently, Li Zhigao could only be said to have gained relatively good control over the Left Vermillion Bird Army, but after more than half a year of besieging Chaozhou without being able to capture it, suffering losses in troops and commanders and finally being forced to withdraw, the blow to the Left Vermillion Bird Army’s morale was also quite severe.
The Left Militant Guard Army over these years had consistently been Du Chongtao’s direct forces.
Because Yang Yuanpu suspected Du Chongtao had been won over by the Empress Dowager, he transferred Du Chongtao into the court to serve as Minister of War, having Zhou Shu temporarily assume the position of Commander of the Left Militant Guard Army.
Although by this time it could be confirmed that Du Chongtao had no involvement whatsoever with the Empress Dowager’s side and everything was a stratagem by Lu Qingxia and her faction, even if Zhou Shu now threw himself wholeheartedly into Li Zhigao’s embrace, commanding the Left Militant Guard Army as readily as one’s own limbs was not something that could be achieved in three to five months, or even three to five years.
From his early years recruiting family soldiers and their sons, Han Qian had emphasized independently training junior officers.
Even so, before and after the Jingxiang campaign, many complications arose. Only after receiving the imperial order to forcibly take the Jingyun Tower scouts, Left Construction Master craftsmen and their sons fleeing to Xuzhou, combined with the Shadow Guard formed from the Xi clan’s sons, did Han Qian truly possess his first core cadre of forces loyal to himself.
Also relying on this core cadre, the Xuzhou forces Han Qian organized at the beginning of the vassal reduction campaign could attack Chenzhou, Wuling and other places with unbroken success.
After the vassal reduction campaign, regardless of how Han Qian’s official positions fluctuated on the surface, his direct forces in Xuzhou continuously strengthened.
By the time of the Jinling incident, when Han Qian infiltrated Jinling, he could find opportunities in the standoff between Chuzhou forces and Anning Palace, could rapidly and fiercely organize the Chishan Army, could face elite Chuzhou forces in battle without falling to disadvantage, could capture Langxi City and force Gu Zhilong to accept amnesty—the most core strength was the over one thousand junior officers and craftsmen he transferred from Xuzhou to Jinling to participate in forming the Chishan Army.
Although the Tangyi forces at present also appeared hastily assembled, aside from the guards who infiltrated Jinling with Han Qian early on, of the two thousand elite troops transferred from Xuzhou later, nearly half had received systematic training through the Martial Arts Academy.
With the elite Xuzhou officer corps, the deep foundation of Left Guangde Army veterans, and support from the mountain stronghold officer corps led by Zhou Dan and Chen Jingzhou, only then could Han Qian achieve having the Tangyi forces ready to be directly deployed for bloody field combat against elite Shouzhou forces from the day they were formed as an army, only then could he achieve victory in both battles, and even now prepare to attack Liyang City.
Li Zhigao’s military command ability in Great Chu was absolutely not inferior to anyone. The many campaigns he commanded—even Han Qian could not say he would have done better. Under Li Zhigao’s command, the Left Vermillion Bird Army had consistently displayed sufficient combat strength.
However, the problem was that before the Jingxiang campaign, Li Zhigao had always been a vassal of the Xinchang Marquis household, his status not much higher than Chai Jian, Li Chong and others, and in all matters he had to follow orders from Li Pu and Lu Qingxia.
Apart from the few dozen junior officers around him, he was constrained by Li Pu and Lu Qingxia lurking behind the scenes in all other aspects.
After the Jingxiang campaign, Li Zhigao was stationed in Junzhou, then stationed in Shaozhou, then transferred to Ezhou. Lu Qingxia still displayed an attitude of suppression, making it very difficult for Li Zhigao to have opportunities to cultivate direct forces. Even if there were such opportunities, they were limited to traditional promotion and winning over people, not to mention systematically training officer corps as Han Qian did.
Contemporary military officers either came from traditional military families—like the sons of the Prince of Zhedong’s household—or were soldiers who fought their way up step by bloody step from the bottom.
Both these methods inevitably meant traditional officer training was inefficient and costly.
During the rise of the Vermillion Bird Army, it was first split into Left and Right Vermillion Bird Armies. Afterward, Gao Chengyuan and Chai Jian both successively split off portions of combat strength from the Left Vermillion Bird Army to form the Yueyang Naval Forces and Left Divine Martial Army.
Ultimately, although this allowed Li Zhigao to gain relatively good control of the Left Vermillion Bird Army, quite a number of mature junior officers who had grown through years of bloody combat were split off. The actual talent remaining under Li Zhigao’s command was still quite limited. At the same time, considerable problems had accumulated within the Vermillion Bird Army requiring time to sort out.
Truthfully, if Li Pu, Chen Mingsheng and the others could have died directly in battle during the Jinling incident, and Li Zhigao had immediately divided up the Xinchang Marquis household’s power with Chai Jian at that time, the situation would be much better than now, and the forces he directly controlled would be much stronger than now.
However, during the Jinling incident, although Li Pu initially suffered defeat at Baohua Mountain and then had military authority seized by Han Qian, he ultimately relied on Li clan sons led by Li Xiu and Li Qi, merged capital region aristocratic families and Xuanzhou forces, and formed the Right Guangde Army to establish military merit. Not only did he avoid reputation ruin and death, to a considerable degree he salvaged his reputation and maintained his prestige.
Afterward, Li Pu devoted all resources he could control to fully support building the Right Divine Martial Army. This not only further dispersed the strength the Xinchang Marquis household could gather, it all directly limited Li Zhigao and the Left Vermillion Bird Army’s development.
During this process, although Lu Qingxia was secretly supporting Li Zhigao, at the same time it was also another form of constraint.
Even feeling the powerful rise of Tangyi forces and Xuzhou, making the situation more urgent for Li Zhigao, his principles of conduct and mentality fundamentally differed from Lu Qingxia, Yao Xishui, Li Pu and others who were more accustomed to lurking in shadows engaging in conspiracies and schemes.
At this time he would more need a relatively stable environment to consolidate his own foundation, rather than thinking only of dragging others down and racking his brains scheming against others.
Not to mention he might not necessarily be able to drag down Xuzhou—even if he could, if both sides suffered devastating losses, would Liang forces and the Zheng family be easy to deal with?
Taking ten thousand steps back, even though he was a grandson of the previous dynasty’s imperial family, Lu Qingxia might not lack the possibility of replacing him with Chai Jian.
Han Qian and the Han family switching sides, facilitating the Empress Dowager’s return to court as regent rather than assuming regency, actually also greatly reduced the constraints these people like Lu Qingxia placed on Li Zhigao. If Tangyi forces could capture Liyang in the shortest time, confining Shouzhou forces within Chaozhou City so their military strength could not extend outward, it would also make Shuzhou’s eastern flank more secure, allowing Li Zhigao to free his hands to do what he wanted to do.
Therefore, before Feng Liao crossed the river back to Jinling City, Han Qian had judged that both sides had a cooperative foundation regarding coordinating the attack on Liyang City.
Some matters, including even the matter of Li Zhigao being a grandson of the previous dynasty’s imperial family, no longer needed to be kept secret from Han Daoming and Han Daochang at this time. Feng Liao now conveyed Han Qian’s thinking to them exactly as it was, making them understand why Li Zhigao would support the Empress Dowager as regent proposal, and why he would cooperate with Tangyi forces’ attack on Liyang, so they could cooperate in Jinling without reservation and without misgivings.
Han Daoming and Han Daochang were shocked for quite a while, not knowing what to say, never imagining that Xuzhou had already mastered so many shocking secrets previously.
At this time they both understood clearly in their hearts that Han Qian’s pretentious display in Tangyi earlier, saying he would withdraw from Jinling at any time and return to Xuzhou, was mainly forcing them to take a position.
Besides resolving the hidden danger on Han Jun’s person, Han Qian’s demand that the Han clan stake all resources on the north bank actually meant the Han family should henceforth act with Xuzhou as primary.
Perhaps Han Qian worried that in the future they would be like Lu Qingxia, constraining him or dragging down Xuzhou?
Of course, even recognizing this point, Han Daoming and Han Daochang could only smile bitterly in their hearts.
Even though the early “Epidemic Water Memorial” and vassal reduction strategy came from Third Brother’s hand, even though Third Brother had secretly plotted with merit, Third Brother had already died under torture two and a half years ago. In this time, shocking tremendous changes occurred in Jinling. It was Han Qian who boldly infiltrated Jinling, seized military authority over the remnants of Taowu conscripted soldiers from Li Pu’s hands, conscripted servants and slaves for military service, and reversed the crisis.
Even though conscripting servants and slaves and striking at aristocratic families and powerful clans led people to conclude Han Qian had thoroughly offended aristocratic families and powerful clans, and his methods of action also violated the great taboo between ruler and minister, making it difficult to have another opportunity to return to the central court, who could have imagined Han Qian would not only return to the Jiang-Huai region but even navigate with ease between His Majesty and the Empress Dowager to gain space for survival.
Regarding the capability Han Qian displayed, Han Daoming could only express admiration, yet in his heart he could no longer raise thoughts of constraining Han Qian.
Even if Han Qian in the future would continue suppressing the power of aristocratic families and powerful clans, the Han family and Han Qian’s interests were naturally bound together—no need to haggle over temporary gains and losses.
“Hah…”
Han Daoming turned his head to look. Not knowing when, the old master had fallen asleep, leaning back in his chair, beginning to snore softly…
…
…
Arriving at Bijia Mountain main camp to specifically discuss Huaixi Imperial Guard forces cooperating with Tangyi’s attack on Liyang was Guo Rong, who carried Han Qian’s personal letter.
Truthfully, that Tangyi forces in such a short time would launch another offensive against Shouzhou forces and capture the large stockade at the eastern foot of Tingzi Mountain already greatly surprised Li Zhigao, Yang En, Zhou Shu, Deng Tai and others.
They thought this was already the limit for Tangyi forces as a newly formed army, and could understand Han Qian’s urgent desire to bring Daci Mountain under control and secure some defensive depth for Tangyi forces on the north bank.
When Guo Rong said Tangyi forces had already prepared to attack Liyang City and occupy Fucha Mountain, Qingcang Mountain and other places east of Chao Lake, Li Zhigao and Yang En were both moved, staring at Guo Rong, even suspecting his words were false. They asked: “Tangyi forces were newly formed barely over a month ago. The officers and soldiers have not received proper training. Does the Marquis of Qianyang truly have confidence to capture Liyang?”
“We also advised the Marquis he need not be so hasty, but the Marquis said that though Tangyi forces are weak, Shouzhou forces also have not recovered from their exhausted state. Perhaps now is the only opportunity to capture Liyang and cut off the Tower Ship Army’s water route from Chao Lake into the Yangtze River. Even if casualties exceed half, this battle must be fought. We only hope the Marquis of Xinjin can contain enemy forces on the western flank!” Guo Rong said.
Currently, Shouzhou forces held strategic advantage, with fifty thousand garrison troops in Chaozhou. Naturally they could not all huddle inside Chaozhou City.
In fact, the Huaixi Imperial Guard forces, primarily composed of Left Militant Guard Army and Left Vermillion Bird Army plus various provincial troops, maintaining around sixty thousand troops, still posed the main threat to Shouzhou garrison forces stationed in Chaozhou.
Therefore, Chaozhou garrison forces had forty thousand troops stationed in fortifications on the western shore of Chao Lake, currently actively transporting large quantities of supplies to construct these fortifications—the Huaixi Imperial Guard forces’ Lujiang main camp and Bijia Mountain main camp on the eastern line were also not just defending two points, but rather a series of stockades and fortifications constructed with Lujiang City and Bijia Mountain as cores, extending diagonally from southeast to northwest for nearly a hundred li with three to forty li of depth forming a defensive line.
That Chaozhou garrison forces placed their main strength west of Chaozhou was on one hand to maintain maximum military pressure on Huaixi Imperial Guard forces, forcing Huaixi Imperial Guard forces to be unable to rest and reorganize in the short term. On the other hand, Shouzhou forces needed to form a stable defensive line, which not only facilitated large quantities of supplies being transported into Chaozhou in a continuous stream without interference, but also could recruit refugees and restore production over a larger area.
There was another important reason—Shouzhou forces completely controlled Chao Lake from left and right, controlling the waterways from Chao Lake into the Yangtze River. After the Huai River and Fei River thawed, Tower Ship Army vessels could enter the Yangtze through these waterways.
Although Tower Ship Army temporarily lacked sturdy large vessels and could not contend with Xuzhou naval forces in the deep and wide Yangtze waterway, their naval forces entering the Yangtze waterway to conduct guerrilla raids and harassment could also greatly sever effective connections between Great Chu’s eastern and western regions.
If Han Qian could capture Liyang City and occupy Qingcang Mountain, with military strength pressing upon Chao Lake from the eastern shore, the situation would be not only favorable for Tangyi but also extremely favorable for Shuzhou.
The only concern was: could the newly formed Tangyi forces capture Liyang?
Did Han Qian truly have the determination to capture Liyang even at the cost of half of Tangyi forces’ casualties?
Even if they contained enemy forces on the western shore of Chao Lake, Liyang’s city walls were solid and thick, difficult to suddenly capture in a short time. Xu Mingzhen could still mobilize large numbers of troops to reinforce Liyang.