Walking back to the courier station, Wang Zhe asked Zhang Shimin to find someone first to inquire whether wine and food could be procured at the station at night. He wanted to find Huo Li and then drink through the night with Huo Xiao and the third person. Although Princess Yunhe, Shen Peng, and Zhao Ci also lodged at the courier station, they were under strict supervision at this time, and Wang Zhe didn’t want to take them over directly before returning from Jinling.
Since Wang Zhe had been away from Tangyi for over three months, he could only ask Huo Xiao about some peripheral matters at this time. From Shoudong to Chaozhou, then from Chaozhou to Jinling, one could first take a carriage then transfer to a boat—even if they didn’t sleep tonight, they could catch up on sleep during the journey.
Three or four dark figures huddled on the streets beside the courier station’s main gate—vagrant beggars from the city. Seeing Wang Zhe and Huo Xiao approach, these people surrounded them begging with their broken bowls in hand.
By the dim lamplight, Wang Zhe could see these people were all raggedly dressed and disheveled, either decrepit with age or disabled—all unable to support themselves. The garrison troops hadn’t heartlessly driven them out of the city. Wang Zhe and Huo Xiao were taking out over ten coins from their pockets to give them alms.
One person among them approached closer but suddenly turned away as if scalded by fire, limping hurriedly toward a side alley.
“Halt! Who are you?” Zhang Shimin, who hadn’t yet left, saw this scene and shouted while gripping his sword hilt.
That person had approached as if to beg but suddenly turned to leave—no matter how one looked at it, his behavior was suspicious. Especially since several extremely important figures had moved into the courier station today, how could Zhang Shimin easily let him leave?
However, Zhang Shimin also guarded against the other beggars concealing assassins who might harm Wang Zhe or Huo Xiao, so he didn’t rashly pursue but loudly called for the guards on duty at the courier station to take action.
The several guards on duty at the courier station heard the commotion and reacted extremely quickly, drawing their swords and giving chase. Without Zhang Shimin needing to act, they pinned the man down in the mud ground freshly covered with coal slag at the alley entrance.
“Wang Zhe, Wang Zhe, it’s me,” the man only cried out in pain at this moment.
Hearing someone call his name, Wang Zhe showed his identification badge to the guards, then cautiously approached. By the lamplight he saw a face covered in coal slag.
The voice sounded somewhat familiar. After using his sleeve to wipe away the coal slag from his face, Wang Zhe recognized that the person before him was Zhou Kun, son of Zhou Shoumin, the former Junior Director of the Court of State Ceremonial, whom he knew.
It wasn’t any sudden assassination attempt. Even though Wang Zhe’s previous position had been nominal, his status wasn’t low, so he immediately signaled the guards to let the other beggars disperse. Afterward, he and Huo Xiao and Zhang Shimin brought Zhou Kun to his lodging in the courier station.
Zhou Shoumin and his son Zhou Kun were both from Runzhou. When Wang Zhe served beside his grand-uncle Wang Jixiong years ago, he had met the Zhou father and son several times, so he recognized them. He also knew that Zhou Kun had been selected by Emperor Tianyou along with Han Qian, Feng Yi, and Kong Xirong to serve as an attendant reader for the Third Prince at that time. But unfortunately, a few days before the Third Prince left the palace to establish his own residence, Zhou Kun accidentally fell from his horse and injured his back, nearly becoming crippled.
Though Zhou Kun’s back injury later healed fairly well, he still walked with a limp.
Wang Zhe hadn’t expected to see Zhou Kun in Shoudong City, much less expected Zhou Kun would have fallen into such destitution.
At this moment Huo Li walked in asking, “What was that commotion outside just now?”
Only then did Wang Zhe introduce Zhou Kun’s identity to him and Huo Xiao together, asking Zhou Kun, “How did you end up in Shoudong? Where are Elder Zhou and your brother Zhou Shen? I remember your brother Zhou Shen has been serving as a clerk in the Shouzhou military these past two years?”
“What, Wang Zhe, if you don’t want to remember old friendships that’s one thing, but are you really going to report me?” Zhou Kun sat raggedly dressed in the hall, feeling uncomfortable being stared at by Huo Xiao, Huo Li, and Zhang Shimin, and impatiently questioned Wang Zhe.
“Look at yourself—what’s worth reporting about you? Unless you were deliberately assigned by the Shouzhou army to lurk in Shoudong,” Wang Zhe laughed. “I think you’re acquainted with His Lordship as well as Feng Yi and Kong Xirong—if you truly have nothing to feel guilty about, even if your brother still serves under Xu Mingzhen’s command, it has nothing to do with you. You might even be able to get a position in Tangyi, which would certainly be better than your current situation…”
Only then did Zhou Kun’s expression ease slightly. Seeing Wang Zhe instruct Zhang Shimin to arrange for wine and dishes and invite him to stay for a hearty meal, he didn’t refuse.
After the wine and dishes were arranged, Zhou Kun began wolfing down the wine while telling the true situation.
His father Zhou Shoumin, after the Jinling incident, even though forced to join many officials in supporting the Crown Prince’s enthronement, still quickly pleaded illness and retired. He didn’t serve in any official capacity under the Anning Palace banner. After being coerced into crossing the river, he held not even half an official position in Shouzhou. Also because he had already retired, their family wasn’t ordered to relocate to Bianjiang.
His brother Zhou Shen, seeking livelihood, afterward still used connections to secure a position in the Finance Bureau of the Shouzhou prefectural administration. But Zhou Kun’s back injury hadn’t fully healed—he still walked with a limp and moved inconveniently. Among so many sons of officials who had crossed the river, someone like him had no qualifications to secure even half an official position in Shouzhou, so he stayed in their residence to care for his father.
The money they carried had been completely looted by rioting servants during the river crossing. Although his brother managed to serve as a minor clerk, his stipend was extremely meager, barely enough to feed the family. After arriving in Shouzhou, their entire household lived in extreme poverty.
Precisely because of this, his elder brother Zhou Shen’s wife looked at the two of them—father and son—with contempt, and the household constantly had conflicts. Unable to endure it any longer, he and his father Zhou Shoumin moved to Shoudong, only sixty or seventy li from Shouchun City.
When the Shouzhou army abandoned Shoudong, they hadn’t managed to evacuate in time and were trapped in Shoudong City. But worried their sensitive identities would lead to purges, they temporarily moved into an abandoned residence, claiming to the garrison troops that they were just ordinary citizens coerced into crossing the river and that they had long since lost their identification papers.
The father and son—one old and one young, one ill and one disabled—and having lived such bitter days these four or five years after crossing the river, they long ago lost any air of wealth and status. Fortunately, they weren’t listed as priority investigation targets and managed to slip through.
The Pacification Commission provided some relief to city residents without working ability, but it was quite limited—barely enough to keep Zhou Shoumin and Zhou Kun from starving to death.
Today Zhou Kun had seen Wang Zhe entering the city from afar. After much hesitation, he finally waited at the courier station for Wang Zhe’s return, hoping to rely on their old acquaintance to borrow more money and grain from Wang Zhe. But when he actually walked up to Wang Zhe, his heart filled with shame and he feared being recognized by Wang Zhe…
“You’ve fallen on hard times now due to a difficult fate, but why didn’t you think of seeking His Lordship? Even if seeing His Lordship is difficult, Master Feng has been in Shoudong these days—your family should be acquainted with Master Feng, shouldn’t you?” Wang Zhe asked.
“What use is finding Feng Liao? These days haven’t people gone to Feng Liao’s door, only to be concentrated and detained in Linhuai instead—who knows what kind of torment they’ve suffered?” Zhou Kun sneered.
Wang Zhe had just returned and wasn’t familiar with some situations. Hearing Huo Xiao explain from the side, he learned that after recovering the twelve counties including Huailing, at Feng Liao’s insistence, all officials and family members who had either actively or passively fled across the Yangtze with the Anning Palace were uniformly treated as prisoners of war, concentrated and detained for reform.
Tangyi couldn’t be said to torture these people, but they were temporarily assigned to hard labor to compensate for the shortage of free labor after the supply camp soldiers were incorporated into regular troops. Most people in this group, even after falling into poverty, didn’t engage in farming or weaving. Suddenly being thrown into labor camps, even without deliberate torture, was unspeakably bitter for them.
Only a small number of scattered imperial clan descendants were sent to Jinling to be handled by the Court of Imperial Clan.
After hearing Zhou Kun speak of these matters, Wang Zhe pondered briefly and asked, “Would you be willing to serve in Tangyi?”
“Being invited by you for a filling meal is already a favor, but please don’t mock me. Could you really persuade the ruthless Feng Liao to make an exception for me alone?” Zhou Kun hunched over, saying displeased.
“Master Feng controls the Capital Administration Department—whether he’s willing to employ you, I naturally can’t guarantee. But I serve in the Military Intelligence Staff Department, and I have the authority to use one or two old acquaintances to work for me, as long as you don’t feel aggrieved,” Wang Zhe smiled.
Hearing Wang Zhe say this, Huo Li and Huo Xiao understood first.
Besides the two of them happening to be present, no one else knew of Zhou Kun’s existence. As long as they could confirm Zhou Kun’s words were true, they could subsequently arrange for Zhou Kun to pose as a vagrant fleeing to Fengtai or even directly crossing the Huai to stay in cities like Tongkou or Guoyang for a time, then go join his brother Zhou Shen—that would be an excellent hidden agent planted within the Shouzhou army and even inside the Liang Kingdom.
Seeing Zhou Kun’s puzzled incomprehension, Wang Zhe spoke directly, saying, “After you join your brother Zhou Shen, say your father died of illness during your flight. I’ll arrange for someone to care for your father’s daily needs—don’t worry about him…”
Zhou Kun hadn’t expected Wang Zhe’s so-called service to be like this. He stood stunned for a long while, not knowing what to say.
“The Liang Kingdom has suffered great turmoil twice. Even if it survives this calamity, it will be severely weakened, and Xu Mingzhen is even more like the setting sun, barely clinging to life. If your brother cannot abandon darkness for light, how miserable his future circumstances will be needs no elaboration from me—and when you return in the future, how could you worry Tangyi won’t have a place for you?” Wang Zhe wanted more from Zhou Kun’s side and thought of pulling Zhou Shen, who served as a clerk in the Shouzhou army, into the fold as well. Seeing Zhou Kun hesitate uncertainly, he didn’t press him at this time but instructed Zhang Shimin to carefully avoid others’ sight and first send Zhou Kun away through the side door.
Wang Zhe had to rush to Jinling early tomorrow morning to deliver messages and memorials. After Zhang Shimin returned from sending Zhou Kun away, he wrote a letter and gave it to Zhang Shimin, saying, “As long as Zhou Kun agrees to become Tangyi’s hidden agent and persuade his brother, you take him to see General Xi and explain this matter. General Xi will make arrangements…”
The new department would only be formally established after Wang Zhe returned from Jinling, but the Military Intelligence Staff Department currently also had personnel responsible for infiltration and intelligence gathering in the Central Plains and Hebei regions. He thought that if Zhou Kun was sent back too late, it would leave too many inconsistencies that couldn’t be explained.
Wang Zhe had Zhang Shimin take his letter at that time and go directly to find Xi Fa’er to arrange this matter first, but also instructed Zhang Shimin to secretly observe Zhou Kun for a day or two…
……
……
Zhang Shimin was currently still a small fry without the resources to conduct deeper investigations into Zhou Kun’s background. He followed Wang Zhe’s arrangements, first secretly observing Zhou Kun for two days before approaching him to inquire about his intentions.
Before and after the Jinling incident, too many princes and ministers, countless capital officials and gentry families had instantly fallen from the clouds into the dust—the Zhou family was merely one tiny reflection among them.
Zhou Kun in his youth had also been a dissolute son of a prominent family, which was why he was selected along with Han Qian, Feng Yi, and Kong Xirong to serve as attendant reader for the Third Prince. But before the Third Prince even left the palace to establish his residence, Zhou Kun drunkenly rode a horse one day when his mount suddenly went mad and threw him hard from the saddle. He lay unconscious for half a day before being discovered, naturally losing the opportunity to serve as reader at the Linjiang Marquis’s mansion.
Zhou Kun had lain bedridden for three years before barely managing to get out of bed and move about. He still thought that relying on his family’s power, after recovering from his injury he could emerge from life’s predicament. But unexpectedly the Jinling rebellion engulfed all the large and small official gentry families in Jinling City.
After the Anning Palace’s defeat and flight north across the river to seek refuge in Shouzhou, the Zhou family sank even further. By this time Zhou Kun’s injury had basically healed, but he still inevitably retained his disability.
Wang Zhe pointed out a path for him—one could even say it was the only path he could take out of his predicament. But at this time he was no longer the frivolous wastrel of earlier years. He knew deeply that if the matter was exposed, he could disregard his own life, but implicating his brother Zhou Shen would mean the Zhou family line would be cut off.
He dared not easily agree to Wang Zhe. Returning to his dilapidated shack, he was distracted for two days. His father Zhou Shoumin noticed something amiss, and just before Zhang Shimin came to his door again, he truthfully told his father Zhou Shoumin.
Father and son stared at each other in the shack for a long time. After Zhang Shimin came to their door, they finally resolved to accept Wang Zhe’s conditions.
Ordinary people might still be ignorantly unaware of the many events occurring in Jianghuai, but Zhou Shoumin and Zhou Kun could more or less guess that great turmoil must have erupted within Liang territory.
Even without the Liang Kingdom’s internal chaos, the seemingly strong Shouzhou army these years had been beaten by the Tangyi army without ability to fight back. They thought this perhaps meant Zhou Shen’s family continuing to drift along following the Shouzhou army would inevitably one day become displaced people.
After Zhou Kun agreed on this side, Zhang Shimin took Wang Zhe’s letter to find Xi Fa’er.
Having such a figure infiltrate the Shouzhou army, Xi Fa’er naturally made corresponding arrangements immediately—dispatching people to investigate Zhou Shoumin and Zhou Kun’s backgrounds, arranging for special training in covert operations for Zhou Kun, and preparing channels for Zhou Kun to return to the Shouzhou army, ensuring Zhou Kun’s disappearance during this period left no obvious flaws.
Of course, given Zhou Shoumin and Zhou Kun’s special identities—inferring from their origins, they were extremely likely to be old acquaintances of Han Qian—after making corresponding arrangements, Xi Fa’er naturally found an opportunity to report this matter to Han Qian.
At that time Feng Yi had just returned from Xuzhou. Han Qian was sitting in the courtyard chatting idly with Feng Yi when he heard Xi Fa’er mention this matter. After a good while he recalled Zhou Kun’s appearance: “Zhou Kun…”
“After you became wealthy and noble you easily forget things. When you first arrived in Jinling, Zhou Kun treated you to flower house wine for ten straight days to welcome and host you—do you remember?” Feng Yi helped Han Qian recall.
“Why didn’t he come directly to find me but was encountered by Wang Zhe instead?” Han Qian asked puzzled.
“Zhou Kun is quite unscrupulous, but he’s not stupid. He should have heard the story of Chen She’s ‘if we become rich and noble, let’s not forget each other’—with his brother serving as a clerk in the enemy camp, would he dare come reveal your embarrassing past even if he ate a leopard’s gall bladder?” Feng Yi said. “Think about why His Majesty in the capital can’t tolerate you—isn’t it because you’ve seen through all his secrets, making him uncomfortable all over?”
“How come you’re not afraid I’ll kill you to silence you and cover up my past disgraceful deeds?” Han Qian glanced at Feng Yi and asked.
“Because you know I’ll keep my mouth sealed,” Feng Yi said with an ingratiating expression.
Han Qian laughingly raised his foot, pretending to kick Feng Yi away.
“By the way, won’t you see Zhou Kun? After all, he’s been a comrade for many years, and you’re not someone who’s particularly stingy with showing favoritism?” Feng Yi seriously asked Han Qian.
Han Qian pondered and thought for a while, then shook his head saying, “Since Wang Zhe thought of using the Zhou Kun and Zhou Shen brothers, he should have some ideas. We’d best not casually disrupt our subordinates’ plans, or it’s too easy to dampen their initiative—and if Zhou Kun truly wants to establish himself in Tangyi, it’s better to give him the chance to earn it himself. After all, not everyone can be as thick-skinned and shameless as you.”
“This time I went to Xuzhou with Guo Que to ensure that among the three families—Wash, Yang, and Tian—at least one big fish would take the bait, to get hold of their incriminating evidence. We need to lure the snake from its hole, but we can’t completely cripple the bandits who intrude into our territory. We have to let them escape back to the powerful families’ territories so we can catch them with the evidence. You know that boy Guo Que is really unreliable. If I hadn’t helped him make decisions along the way, how could we have so perfectly trapped a gang of bandits in the mountain valley of Xupu County?” Feng Yi brazenly claimed credit.
In late February, after Guo Que and Feng Yi met with Li Zhigao, they went directly south from Yiyang to the mouth of the Han River. At that time they learned that Yao Xishui had suddenly entered Dongting Lake on an official ship from the Textile Bureau—afterward Han Qian speculated Yao Xishui might have deliberately exposed her whereabouts. After all, with the more comprehensive intelligence they controlled, it wasn’t hard to guess Yao Xishui’s intent was to stir up trouble in the southwest to attract their attention. With the Mongols possibly moving south at any time, the time left for Yao Xishui was extremely limited. To immediately succeed in drawing Tangyi’s attention so Li Zhigao’s forces could seize maximum benefits in the subsequent Liang Kingdom internal chaos, it was perfectly reasonable to speculate that Yao Xishui deliberately revealed some flaws and created diversions.
Yao Xishui controlled the Textile Bureau, whose official responsibilities on the surface were specifically to gather silk, cloth, gauze and brocade from various prefectures and counties to supply the palace, while also having authority to spy on popular sentiment throughout the realm for the Cishou Army. Therefore, even if she was seen contacting powerful families in Chen and Si Prefectures, as long as she didn’t directly lead bandits to kill into Xuzhou, no one could do anything about it.
As long as they understood Yao Xishui’s intentions, Han Qian wasn’t worried she could create much significant action in such hasty time.
They should know that when they had secretly encouraged the popular uprising in Si Prefecture years ago, from secret preparation to when the Si Prefecture uprising gathered momentum, finally forcing the court to intervene to stop the persecution of Guangde Prefecture military and civilians by aristocratic clans, the entire process lasted over half a year.
Even without knowing at the time about Zhu Rang and Liang Shixiong’s conspiracy to rebel, under circumstances where the Mongols could move south at any time, they could definitely be certain there wouldn’t be much time for Yao Xishui to calmly lay out her plans.
Guo Que and Feng Yi at that time also speculated that even if Wanhong Tower had long ago secretly cultivated Chen Prefecture’s Wash family and Si Prefecture’s Yang family, in such haste the greatest possibility was they would use bandits they controlled to secretly infiltrate Xuzhou territory to attack one or two key targets, creating shocking major incidents.
Guo Que and Feng Yi fell behind Yao Xishui by only one day. The time lag was quickly made up using fast sailing ships, and they rushed back to Xuzhou ahead of schedule.
Although since forming the Tangyi army, Han Qian had successively transferred over five thousand officers and troops from Xuzhou, and to ensure Xuzhou could continuously supply money and grain to cover Tangyi army’s resource insufficiency, Xuzhou’s seven counties plus Wuchuan County maintained only less than three thousand garrison troops.
With such troop strength divided among eight counties, each county’s defensive forces became extremely limited. But this didn’t mean that after Xuzhou conducted emergency mobilization, it would have only this much available forces.
One should know that before the Jinling incident, during the late period of the anti-feudal war, the Wuling Army’s forces once exceeded seven thousand men. After the Jinling incident, over four thousand soldiers from the Left Guangde Army directly migrated with their families to settle in Xuzhou. Not to mention that during the late period of the Si Prefecture uprising, the Tianping Capital’s forces once exceeded six thousand men.
Afterward came downsizing. Xuzhou and the Tianping Capital normally maintained standing forces totaling about five thousand men. But the downsized soldiers weren’t just kicked back home and ignored.
According to Xuzhou’s military conscription law, these people still retained reserve status and had to gather for four months of rotational training each year. Besides enjoying regular soldier treatment during training periods, they could also receive half pay when not doing anything normally.
For those veterans who passed through the reserve period (regular soldiers plus reserves totaling five years), even though they normally had to support themselves and didn’t need to gather annually for rotational training, they could still receive reduced military service subsidies by half for life.
Since the Tangyi army’s formation, even though Han Qian transferred five thousand officers and troops from Xuzhou, even though Xuzhou still maintained three thousand regular garrison forces, theoretically there remained military potential to directly mobilize five or six thousand men who needed no training and could be pulled directly onto the battlefield.
Even according to the conscription law, these reserve veterans had to find their own livelihoods after leaving active service, but in fact they mainly remained working in workshops in Chenzhong, Qianyang, Longya, Linjiang and other counties. Veterans accustomed to military discipline were core forces even when working in workshops.
Even those who returned to their villages maintained close contact with the village inspection offices. When village offices hired people to repair ditches and roads, they mainly used these people as backbone forces.
It could be said that as long as mobilization was conducted, these forces could quickly and effectively assemble by county main camp units within one day.
Although Han Qian wasn’t in Xuzhou, after Feng Yi and Guo Que arrived, as long as most of the remaining officials like Wash Xunqiao, Xi Chang, Qiao Weiyan, and Wei Xu agreed, they could conduct comprehensive emergency military mobilization of the entire prefecture in urgent situations.
To be honest, with Guo Que and Feng Yi arriving in Xuzhou ahead of schedule, they weren’t afraid Yao Xishui’s machinations could cause much damage to Xuzhou. Rather they worried that conducting comprehensive military mobilization would alert the snake, fearing they’d frighten the surrounding powerful families from daring to act rashly—that would be truly unfortunate.
To catch hold of evidence against the restless ones in order to have opportunity to further strike at powerful families, Guo Que consulted with Wash Xunqiao and Qiao Weiyan, also contacting Tan Yuliang. They judged the targets Yao Xishui incited powerful families to most likely attack were several limited places: the prefectural textile bureau, Longya Mountain casting grounds, Wuchuan salt fields, and the Engineering Academy.
No matter how painstakingly Wanhong Tower had gathered intelligence on craftsmanship techniques mastered by Xuzhou these years, the prefectural textile bureau, Longya Mountain casting grounds, Wuchuan salt fields, and the Engineering Academy still possessed secret techniques unknown to outsiders.
Unless Wanhong Tower directly sent people to attack and obtain first-hand materials, otherwise these secret techniques absolutely couldn’t be discerned just by disguising as ordinary craftsmen mixing in and using one’s eyes.
Finally they decided not to alert the snake but instead hide ambush forces in these places, then lure the snake from its hole…
In early March—just two days after Han Bao reported back to Tangyi via carrier pigeon—indeed multiple bands of mounted bandits first attacked places like Qianyang and Zhijiang to create chaos and feint, then about three hundred elite troops concentrated their assault on the armaments casting workshop located on Longya Mountain.
That place held Xuzhou’s most advanced casting craftsmanship and was also the Tangyi army’s largest armaments and war equipment casting base. Over a hundred garrison troops seemed to have been transferred away due to earlier attacks on Qianyang and Zhijiang.
However, among the over two thousand craftsmen at the Longya Mountain smelting site and armaments casting works, nearly one-third—close to eight hundred men—were reserve veterans.
Guo Que had also judged the casting grounds faced the highest possibility of being attacked, so he and Feng Yi directly stayed hidden in Longya Stronghold to oversee matters.
Even successfully luring over three hundred elite mounted bandits into the trap, Guo Que still wasn’t satisfied. He merely deployed over three hundred veterans to defend relying on Longya Stronghold and the casting grounds’ compound structures, letting the main bandit forces escape before reinforcements arrived. Only then did he truly conduct thorough military mobilization across the entire prefecture. He and Wei Xu led four thousand elite veteran troops all the way chasing this band of mounted bandits into Chen Prefecture’s Wash family stronghold in Xupu County territory.
Before Feng Yi urgently rushed back from Xuzhou, the situation in Xupu County at that time was: two hundred mounted bandits were tightly surrounded by Guo Que and Wei Xu leading four thousand elite troops in Longtan Mountain near the east bank of the Yuan River, holding dangerous strongholds defensively, while Wash Ying and his father led two thousand Chen Prefecture tribal battalion troops strictly arrayed at Fuan Ridge guarding the entrance to the Xupu County basin.
Not to mention Fuan Ridge’s steep mountains and dangerous strongholds—the tribal soldiers led by Wash Ying and his father had campaigned north and south these years with extremely strong assault capability.
Even though Guo Que, Wei Xu, and Tan Yuliang, Wash Xunqiao, Xi Chang, and Qiao Weiyan could act with authority without specifically requesting Han Qian’s instructions, to truly devour the Chen Prefecture tribal troops occupying advantageous terrain still required more preparation work.
After careful weighing, they believed it necessary to transfer part of the naval forces from Tangyi back to Xuzhou to ensure waterway contact with counties in Xuzhou’s heartland remained secure and to deter Si Prefecture and Ye Prefecture from daring to act rashly. They should first assault Longtan Mountain to deal with this band of mounted bandits who attacked Xuzhou—after all, only after defeating the mounted bandits could they consolidate evidence of the Wash family raising troops to invade Xuzhou—afterward, they could unhurriedly launch offensives against the main Wash family tribal battalion forces.
Feng Yi rushed back without stopping, first to request Han Qian’s instructions on this matter, second to directly transfer naval forces to rush back to Xuzhou to participate in battle…