The successive intelligence reports transmitted back had always contained limited information. Now that Han Bao, Wang Zhe, and Huo Li had returned, Han Qian naturally wanted to summon them to inquire in more detail about what they had seen and heard on this journey, so he could have a more direct impression of how the military situation in Heshuo and the Central Plains was developing.
Guo Rong, Feng Liao, Lin Haizheng, Feng Xuan, Zhao Wuji, Han Donghu, Xi Fa’er, and others also set aside their affairs at this time and gathered around to listen. Hearing Han Bao and the others describe the military appearance of the Mongol cavalry they had seen along the way, they couldn’t help but be moved.
At this time during the season when ice and snow melted and spring rains fell continuously in the Heshuo region, the fact that cavalry could advance rapidly also indicated powerful logistical support capabilities.
Before they knew it, as they chatted, dusk descended. Han Qian had someone arrange dinner and kept Han Bao, Wang Zhe, and Huo Li to eat and talk simultaneously.
Currently, with the military force scale continuously expanding, fierce and skilled warriors with intelligence like Han Bao and Huo Li were urgently needed in the army. Han Qian still needed to arrange for them to serve in the military and command troops.
Additionally, Han Qian had decided this time to formally establish a department within the Military Intelligence Staff Office specifically responsible for systematically gathering intelligence on the Central Plains and Heshuo heartlands—or rather, to separate and strengthen this portion of work that had not previously been done deeply or comprehensively enough.
Subsequent custody and transfer of Princess Yunhe, Shen Peng, Zhao Ci, and others would also temporarily be handled by this department.
This department would be led by Wang Zhe with the rank of Staff Officer, under Xi Fa’er’s leadership.
Wang Zhe had previously enjoyed considerable treatment in Tangyi, but that had all been hollow—more like being a high-level attendant. Usually when matters were assigned, he would handle them, but he had no real authority and no fixed personnel to deploy.
Even Wang Tang serving as deputy general under Kong Xirong was actually in an advisory military affairs position, with a status no higher than a Deputy Battalion Commander leading a battalion of troops.
As for Wang Yan being able to directly serve as county magistrate in Huangchuan, that was because among their group, Wang Yan had the richest experience and was the eldest, already thirty-six years old this year.
Only at this step had Wang Zhe truly entered the core circle of Tangyi’s generals and officials. Not to mention the significance of intelligence gathering on the Central Plains region, just based on the achievements of this initial victorious campaign, everyone knew that this soon-to-be-established department would not be dispensable decoration.
During the meal, Han Qian remembered that in the initial intelligence report Han Bao had transmitted back, there was mention of recruiting two deserters along the way, so he casually asked about it in conversation.
Although Zhang Shigui and Zhang Shimin had the bad mark of deserting camp, besides being naturally bold, careful, and extremely strong, over these four or five months, Han Bao had personally led them, teaching them boxing, knife skills, archery, intelligence gathering, infiltration, and flag signal army command matters. They had grown extremely quickly.
Han Bao thought that even if he could keep them by his side in the future, they would still need to start from scratch as ordinary soldiers and subsequently establish military achievements before being promoted and appointed. So he boldly spoke many good words on their behalf.
Wang Zhe also wanted to recruit these two men.
The newly established department of the Military Intelligence Staff Office would incorporate personnel who had previously been responsible for this work, but the previous infiltration and intelligence gathering work in the Central Plains and Heshuo heartlands had been far from adequate. That was why Han Bao, Shi Ruhai, and others had been temporarily reassigned and dispatched to Heshuo before the new year.
Currently in the Central Plains and Heshuo regions, only a dozen people had remained undercover on-site. After Han Bao, Shi Ruhai, Huo Li, and others completed this mission and returned to Huaixi, they still preferred having opportunities to command troops charging into battle.
Wang Zhe would subsequently need to select new personnel to infiltrate the Central Plains and Heshuo regions, responsible for intelligence gathering and liaison matters. Zhang Shigui and Zhang Shimin were two extremely suitable people for this work—he had to strive to recruit them no matter what.
“If they could follow along to Heshuo to gather intelligence, that balances their merits and faults. Their subsequent achievements should still be recorded for them. As for where they go, you should still ask their own opinions…” Han Qian said. This was also asking the Military Justice Office to be lenient with Zhang Shigui and Zhang Shimin, reducing the punishment for desertion and directly promoting them to suitable positions for employment.
The sons of former household troops, the Xi clan descendants, and artisan families’ sons had all successively matured. The army had also been actively cultivating grassroots generals and officials over these years, enabling Han Qian to directly transfer large numbers of generals and officials from Xuzhou to form the Tangyi Army after the main navy force was annihilated at Hongze Lake.
However, the Tangyi Army had expanded too rapidly. In just two short years, the troops had grown from the initial twelve thousand-plus to the current sixty thousand-plus—an expansion of about fivefold. The demand for grassroots military officers had accordingly expanded by five times.
Beyond the military, the counties under Tangyi’s jurisdiction in Huaixi had increased from the initial isolated Tangyi city to the current twenty-five. Subsequently, they would also need to consider restoring two county establishments outside Chaozhou City, which was roughly the territory where Emperor Tianyou had built his power base when serving as Huainan Military Commissioner.
To break the tradition of relying on aristocratic clans and local magnates to govern local grassroots levels, each county would need to establish six to eight townships, with nearly two hundred township patrol offices throughout the territory.
County and township offices all needed officials directly appointed by the Control Command before Han Qian could ensure his will was truly implemented. This alone required at least four to six hundred clerks with experience handling local affairs.
Therefore, whenever there was an opportunity, Han Qian would actively select talent from the grassroots.
As for the crime of desertion, in other armies it might require execution to deter other soldiers—a capital offense—but in the Tangyi Army, different degrees of punishment would be imposed according to the severity of consequences.
Of course, the most serious desertion would still be punished by beheading, but for the Zhang Shigui and Zhang Shimin brothers, who were originally captured soldiers deserting out of homesickness, and who caused no serious consequences during their desertion, even if caught, they would only serve corvée punishment of three years or less.
For light criminals serving corvée sentences, when emergency mobilization was needed, direct pardons would be issued rather than offsetting crimes with merit after establishing achievements.
When Han Qian established such military orders, both Gao Shao and Feng Liao worried that governing the army too leniently, especially after capturing over twenty thousand surrendered soldiers following the great victory at Wujin Ridge, without sufficiently intimidating harsh punishments in place, might result in large-scale desertions.
In fact, up to today, among over twenty thousand surrendered soldiers, there had been fewer than one hundred cases of desertion—a ratio so low it could be ignored.
After the meal, Han Qian let Han Bao, Huo Li, and Wang Zhe leave first.
Han Bao was fine—he could directly stay in Han Donghu’s barracks. Their mother and younger sister were both in Xuzhou, so it wasn’t possible for him to take leave to return to Xuzhou to recuperate.
Huo Li and Wang Zhe had families in Donghu. Han Qian gave them several days’ leave to return to Donghu to reunite with their families, but required all three of them to write a detailed report on this northern journey mission during their leave period and submit it to the Military Intelligence Staff Office as important archival material.
This was a rigid regulation Han Qian had established and was most opposed and resisted by the generals and officials below.
Wang Zhe and Huo Li were better off—even though Huo Li was not skilled in literary matters, he had received strict education since childhood. But Han Bao over these years hadn’t even learned to read and write a thousand characters. Walking out of the command headquarters, he clung to Wang Zhe asking him to write the report so he could copy it once.
Wang Zhe would subsequently be responsible for intelligence gathering and liaison in the Central Plains and Heshuo regions. Han Qian had also clearly assigned him specific responsibility for the custody and transfer of Princess Yunhe and others. He still had no way to simply pat his backside and rush back to Donghu to reunite with family like Huo Li, who temporarily had no assignments.
In fact, when he returned to the post station and had just summoned the Zhang Shigui and Zhang Shimin brothers over to inquire about their willingness to stay or go, Guo Rong sent someone to fetch him.
Wang Zhe had no time to eat even a bite of food before bringing Zhang Shimin, who was willing to follow him and remain serving in the Military Intelligence Staff Office, to see Guo Rong.
Zhang Shimin had studied at a private school for two years in his youth and could read some characters. He wasn’t very resistant to the literacy classes, illiteracy elimination classes, and military academy training that Han Bao and Shi Ruhai had described as coming one after another like hell. Hearing that the Military Intelligence Staff Office had even higher cultural requirements, Zhang Shigui was more willing to follow Han Bao into the military, thinking that even serving as Han Bao’s personal guard, carrying his sword and holding his reins, would be better than remaining in the Military Intelligence Staff Office to be tortured.
Guo Rong had already instructed his subordinates to draft the memorial reporting the capture of Princess Yunhe and others, but whether some of the wording was appropriate needed to be discussed with Wang Zhe, the person directly involved. This memorial would also be directly dispatched to the capital by Wang Zhe, who would represent Tangyi in specifically negotiating this matter with the capital. There were some matters that needed to be explained to him.
At Guo Rong’s office, Wang Zhe saw Huo Xiao, whom he hadn’t seen for many days. Huo Xiao was currently serving as a clerk in the Administrative Office. His writing skills were extremely vigorous and his literary talent outstanding, so Guo Rong had grabbed him to specifically handle the drafting of official and private correspondence.
The memorial had already been drafted. After reading it, Wang Zhe was still greatly shocked and couldn’t help asking Guo Rong: “Sir Guo, does the Lord truly intend to truthfully report the circumstances of this matter to the court? The so-called ‘preserving the Liang army with a breath of life to prevent the tragedy of barbarian cavalry trampling the Central Plains for a century from recurring’—I’m afraid the court above and below will absolutely not accept such reasoning!”
At this time, no matter how the court speculated, even if they handed over Princess Yunhe, Shen Peng, and the others, Wang Zhe thought Tangyi should stubbornly deny tipping off Chen Kun. He hadn’t expected that in this newly drafted memorial, not only were all the details of the entire matter clearly reported, but it even unhesitatingly stated that Han Qian’s intention in making these decisions was to hope the Liang army could catch its breath, avoiding the Mongols too easily occupying the Heshuo region. Huaixi’s subsequent strategic arrangements would also focus on absorbing and consolidating the currently recovered twelve counties, temporarily not rushing to launch an offensive against the Shouzhou Army that had withdrawn to defend Shouchun, Fengtai, and other cities along the Huai River.
Wang Zhe stood stunned for a moment before he couldn’t help offering his suggestion.
Although he had never held office before, when his grand-uncle Wang Jixiong retired, he had spent two years attending to his grand-uncle. Later, it was also on his grand-uncle Wang Jixiong’s suggestion that he developed the desire to travel the world, putting this into action when wars between the states had not yet ceased.
His understanding of the Chu court was deeper than ordinary people’s. He knew that those above and below in the court, and even ordinary military and civilians, all considered the Liang army to be Chu’s mortal enemy, while Mongol cavalry’s iron hooves were merely an elusive and uncertain threat.
Moreover, Chu was based on the Jianghuai region. The Central Plains being trampled by the Mongols was something that in the hearts of the vast majority of Chu military and civilians actually aligned with their wishes. Never mind that after the Wei-Jin period, barbarian tribes ruling the Central Plains for extended periods was history from four to five hundred years ago. Furthermore, during that historical period, the southern Jianghuai region had always remained under Han Chinese rule.
Wang Zhe felt that even in the court, most generals and ministers would wish the Mongol cavalry would beat the Liang army even more fiercely to vent the frustration of being suppressed by the Liang army over these years. He didn’t believe the reasoning in the memorial would be accepted by the current Chu court. This was equivalent to them voluntarily handing over leverage against themselves.
“The Lord said that regardless of how those above and below in the court discuss it, he cannot fail to make his true intentions clear to the world,” Guo Rong pondered slightly before continuing, “Furthermore, excuses have never been the most important thing…”
Hearing Guo Rong say this, Wang Zhe thought that Guo Rong and others must have all advised Han Qian, only their advice wasn’t adopted. However, in his heart he also thought that Jinling only had thirty thousand Imperial Guards for defense—how strong their combat strength actually was remained to be tested—while the Tangyi Control Command, besides the navy controlling the Yangtze River waterway east of Runzhou, had also expanded cavalry and infantry to over sixty thousand. At this time, even the most clumsy excuse should become insignificant, right?
“If this memorial is submitted and the court truly demands Tangyi hand over Princess Yunhe, what do we do?” Wang Zhe asked.
No matter what, Wang Zhe hoped Princess Yunhe and Shen Peng could be detained in Tangyi. Han Qian had instructed to first submit a memorial reporting all the matters but had no intention of directly escorting Princess Yunhe and Shen Peng to Jinling, presumably also unwilling to hand them over.
However, how the various lords of the court would react was not something they could necessarily predict at this time, especially since Han Qian was truthfully reporting the circumstances of the entire matter, which would inevitably stir up a thousand waves with one stone.
Perhaps the court wouldn’t directly rebuke Tangyi’s reasoning and excuses as absurd, but they might very well become unusually stubborn and obstinate on the matter of disposing of Princess Yunhe.
According to principle, such important enemy state figures being captured should properly be handed over to the court’s bureaus and offices for disposal, not something that Minister of Personnel Han Daoming alone in the court could argue for based on principle.
“In your view, what should we do?” Guo Rong asked Wang Zhe with a smile.
“Could we say she’s contracted an epidemic disease requiring local recuperation, unsuitable for the fatigue of carriage and horse travel?” Wang Zhe said after pondering.
“This delaying excuse is passable—the Lord said to let you first return to Donghu to reunite with family for a few days, but right now we haven’t even figured out the situation in Ze and Lu. I’m afraid we’ll have to trouble you to go quickly and return quickly,” Guo Rong said.
The newly established department belonged to the Military Intelligence Staff Office, and Wang Zhe also reported directly to Xi Fa’er’s leadership. But after the Administrative Office was established as an office secretariat-like institution, Guo Rong, as chief clerk, actually wielded power somewhat similar to a combination of recording secretary and chief of staff. He could intervene in and oversee large and small military and administrative affairs of the Control Command on behalf of Han Qian. Moreover, as the Tangyi Control Command increasingly expanded, military and administrative affairs became numerous, inevitably requiring Guo Rong and others to monitor many aspects on Han Qian’s behalf to avoid negligence and oversights.
He expected Wang Zhe to leave early and return early. Wang Zhe naturally nodded in agreement, saying, “I’ll set out for Jinling to deliver the memorial first thing tomorrow morning…”
Now Feng Liao was responsible for presiding over the Communications Office, equivalent to overall control of the Tangyi Control Command’s civil administrative affairs. With Feng Yi and others far away in Xuzhou, it was rare to have such a relatively important figure as Wang Zhe going to Jinling. Guo Rong naturally also wanted him to make a trip to the Han residence to communicate about the memorial matter with Han Daoming and others, and also have Wang Zhe truthfully inform Han Daoming about the situation in Heshuo and other regions.
Beyond the great principles of family and state that Han Qian wanted to clarify in the memorial, perhaps those in the court lacked sufficient understanding of the Mongols’ strength and would have difficulty achieving sufficient clarity in the short term. But Han Qian needed Tangyi and the Han family to have a clear understanding of the Mongols, not viewing them as an elusive and uncertain threat.
“The Lord truly has far-sighted vision. If Wang Zhe hadn’t witnessed it with his own eyes, it would be truly difficult to imagine that with the assistance of the northern refugee aristocratic families and Guanjiang Tower, the Mongols’ strength has already grown to this extent,” Wang Zhe said.
Guo Rong nodded and said, “Before you returned, most of us were somewhat dismissive…”
That bloody history before Wei-Jin was too distant, and during the middle and late periods of the previous dynasty when northern warlord forces controlled regional territories, whether actively or passively, barbarian troops and captive soldiers often had opportunities to intervene in military situations in the Central Plains, Heshuo, and even Guanzhong regions. But they had always either looted and then voluntarily withdrew or were driven out, never having the strength or opportunity to establish roots in the Central Plains.
This was also the key reason for the initial divergence within Tangyi about whether to tip them off. Fortunately, Han Qian’s prestige was high enough that the entire matter was rapidly advanced without delay or hesitation. After Han Bao, Wang Zhe, and the others returned, everyone in Tangyi realized they still severely lacked sufficient clear understanding of the Mongols’ strength, not expecting the Mongols to have so thoroughly absorbed Youji and other regions in just twelve or thirteen years.
Beyond the assistance of northern refugee aristocratic families led by Xiao Yiqing, Wusu Dashi should also be a rare heroic leader to rise from the great desert steppes in hundreds of years. Without Wusu Dashi’s appreciation and heavy use of them, the northern refugee aristocratic families like Xiao Yiqing would absolutely have no achievements whatsoever in barbarian lands.
The current problem was that regardless of how others in the court viewed it, and regardless of what views the Han residence might have about Tangyi’s “collaboration with the enemy” this time—after all, Tangyi had gained great advantages—Tangyi and the Han residence internally still needed to have a clear and profound understanding of the Mongol threat, not truly thinking that what Han Qian stated in the memorial was simply being too lazy to find a better excuse.
“There’s one more matter you should mention to the Minister when you reach Jinling—that we will subsequently demand administrative authority over Shiliang County. This matter should be raised in the court first, but we can anticipate that Huaidong will inevitably evade in every way. But when the timing is appropriate, we don’t rule out directly sending troops into Shiliang County to drive Huaidong forces out from the west bank of Fanliang Lake. Before that, as long as the rainy season passes, we may first begin excavating the transport canal between Puyang River and Shiliang River!” Guo Rong mentioned another matter to Wang Zhe, wanting him to communicate with Han Daoming in advance.
Shiliang County was located east of Wujian Mountain, south of Hongze Lake, west of Fanliang Lake, and north of Tangyi. It had previously belonged to Chuzhou. After the great victory at Wujin Ridge, when the Shouzhou Army and Hejin Army contracted their defensive lines, Shiliang County had been seized first by Huaidong forces.
Over the twenty-plus years since Great Liang’s founding, Shiliang County had always belonged to Chuzhou. This was only the surface excuse for Tangyi demanding administrative authority over Shiliang County. More importantly was Shiliang County’s strategic position connecting to Hongze Lake in the north and Fanliang Lake in the east.
Shiliang River originated from the eastern foot of Wujian Mountain, flowing northeast through all of Shiliang County territory before flowing into Hongze Lake from the south. Puyang River similarly originated from the eastern foot of Wujian Mountain, flowing south to join the Chu River.
During the previous dynasty, a large canal had been excavated between Shiliang River and Puyang River as an auxiliary waterway connecting the Yangtze and Huai river systems beyond Hangou and Anfeng Canal. But this major canal located within Yongyang County territory and named Changzhi River had long fallen into disrepair and become severely silted.
In the second half of this year, Tangyi’s two major hydraulic engineering projects would be re-excavating Changzhi Canal and repairing Anfeng Canal, opening water route passages between the Northern and Southern Fei Rivers and between the Chu River and Hongze Lake. Demanding administrative authority over Shiliang County at this time had particularly important significance for the eastern front, even to the point of not hesitating to directly send troops to expel Huaidong forces when the time came.
Although following Wang Jun in marriage to enter Tangyi, Wang Zhe had anticipated that Tangyi and Huaidong couldn’t maintain a sweet alliance relationship long-term, he just hadn’t expected that in barely two short years they were already planning to tear off the facade, and moreover this time Tangyi would be the side actively tearing it off.
Of course, being in this position, they had no choice. In his heart, he also clearly understood that seizing control of Shiliang County wasn’t simply about the gain or loss of one city or territory, nor about how many people belonged where (there really weren’t even a few hundred households in Shiliang County territory). Actually, historically Shiliang County had always been included within the Huaixi region, involving the key issue of equally dividing the strategic advantages of Hongze Lake and Fanliang Lake’s terrain.
Wang Zhe also knew the entire matter wasn’t simply a question of sending troops to seize back Shiliang County.
Even for Tangyi, at this time they should be unable to bear the responsibility of arbitrarily stirring up internal chaos, right?
Sending troops was perhaps the last unavoidable option, and laying this point out directly now—or perhaps this was merely a means by which Han Qian was applying pressure to all sides?
Wang Zhe thought to himself secretly, looking at Guo Rong. Thinking of his awkward identity and position as a Wang clan descendant, he asked carefully, “If we want Huaidong to yield Shiliang County without matters deteriorating to the point of sending troops to expel them, I suppose Tangyi not paying sufficient cost definitely won’t work, right?”
“The Lord says how many men of the Tangyi Army have fought desperately to the death—in three years’ time cumulatively annihilating over fifty thousand rebel enemies, recovering twenty-five counties in four Huaixi prefectures for Great Chu. Huaidong sits on over a hundred thousand troops but has made what achievements? If Huaidong still has the face to occupy Shiliang County without yielding and still wants Tangyi to pay some price in exchange, then they shouldn’t blame Tangyi for meeting them with military force,” Guo Rong said.
Wang Zhe smiled bitterly. How could such irresponsible words be spoken? Could they really make Prince Xin feel ashamed and voluntarily yield Shiliang County?
Of course, Wang Zhe had only returned to Tangyi today, suddenly receiving this heavy responsibility. This trip to Jinling would mainly involve conveying messages. Many matters didn’t need to be scrutinized particularly clearly. Seeing the night was already deep, he took Zhang Shimin and bid farewell to Guo Rong.
Huo Xiao hadn’t seen him for several months and took the initiative to escort him back to the post station.
On the road, Wang Zhe couldn’t help half-seriously, half-jokingly complaining to Huo Xiao, saying, “The Lord in the past wasn’t such an unreasonable person. For Shiliang County, is there truly no room for concession in other areas?”
“You also know that once Tangyi and Huaidong quarrel over Shiliang, Huaidong might send people to find us to gather information—probably because of this, ‘not hesitating to meet with military force’ as the ultimate position is meant for us to spread outward, right?” Huo Xiao said.
Wang Zhe smiled bitterly and shook his head. Because of their Wang clan origins, even having established great merit and received important appointments in Tangyi, they couldn’t completely escape their awkward status. He asked, “Where is Wang Jun now?”
“Wang Jun has returned to Donghu. When you pass through Donghu on your way to Jinling, you should be able to see her,” Huo Xiao said.
“Is Wang Jun pregnant yet?” Wang Zhe asked.
“How would I be proper to rashly inquire about such things? Probably not, but isn’t thinking about these matters a bit too early for us now?” Huo Xiao asked puzzledly.
“Perhaps it doesn’t matter to us, but those remaining in Yangzhou—their thoughts might be different,” Wang Zhe said.
Hearing Wang Zhe say this, Huo Xiao finally understood his purpose in asking about this matter, saying, “True. We several were initially viewed as insignificant pawns to be discarded. Who could have imagined that as Tangyi rose with the tide, we also mixed quite successfully? If Wang Jun could truly give birth to a male heir, it could change many people’s thinking. And if both sides quarrel over Shiliang County’s ownership, the situation would be even more different…”
Wang Zhe also wasn’t clear on exactly how they could争 over administrative authority for Shiliang County. The matters he currently understood were still insufficient. He could only put this out of his mind for now and think carefully about this problem after returning from Jinling.