Students graduating from her schools were taught to be loyal only to her. Those teachers weren’t subtle about it at all—they directly said that the students could have their current stable environment for studying because of Zhao Hanzhang.
And these students, after learning things at school, would return home to share with their families. Over time, Youzhou would probably only know Zhao Hanzhang and not know him, Shi Lei.
As Youzhou Governor, Shi Lei still had the old way of thinking—believing that since he was Youzhou Governor, this territory was his, and the common people here were his people too. When he served under Liu Yuan, the places he governed also knew him, Shi Lei, first before knowing Liu Yuan.
Why should he exhaust himself managing Youzhou only to accumulate reputation and prestige for Zhao Hanzhang?
But now, under Zhang Bin’s persuasion, Shi Lei vaguely understood. Times were different now. He couldn’t view the relationship between provinces and commanderies and the court from a separatist perspective.
Zhao Hanzhang was not Emperor Jin, who could tolerate regional governors holding military power and acting independently. She wasn’t even Liu Yuan. Her control over local areas far exceeded Liu Yuan’s.
Zu Ti also knew Fu Tinghan’s importance. Though he didn’t know what Qingzhou and Guangzhou had that was worth him going there for several months, to show goodwill to Fu Tinghan, he very thoughtfully sent Zhao Shi to lead troops to eliminate bandits from Jizhou to Luoyang.
Of course, this was later. They received the news a bit late. When Zhao Shi set out, Fu Tinghan was already approaching Luoyang.
However, with the bandits eliminated, it would be much safer when he traveled east again in the future.
These pieces of information were all transmitted back to Zhao Hanzhang in real-time.
Zhao Hanzhang had authorized a separate building in the imperial city for Song Xin. Inside were over ten radios specifically for collecting information sent back from around the country.
Song Xin and his team would translate, consolidate, and categorize the information before sending it to Zhao Hanzhang.
Zhao Hanzhang flipped through it, then pointed at the telegrams from Youzhou and Jizhou, smiling. “Looks like Shi Lei and Zu Ti have quite a few scouts posted outside. Fu Tinghan barely left, and they received the news right away.”
She thought for a moment and asked, “Has there been no news at all from General Beigong?”
Song Xin said, “General Beigong seems unaware that Minister Fu is in Qingzhou.”
An honest man indeed.
Zhao Hanzhang smiled, then asked, “What news has there been lately from the Tuoba clan?”
Song Xin said, “Our merchant caravans can enter Dai Kingdom, but the Tuoba clan is very wary of Han merchant caravans. My lady, they may know we have something that can communicate with people thousands of miles away, so they inspect cargo very carefully. We didn’t dare bring radios in.”
This thing wasn’t easy to make. The materials used were very precise and the cost extremely high, so they treasured every single unit.
Moreover, to be an intelligence agent operating radios, the first requirement was loyalty. Once exposed, they had to choose death rather than capture. Otherwise, if the radio’s secrets were exposed, this advantage might no longer belong to Zhao Hanzhang alone.
Bingzhou was the only province with three radios—one in the Governor’s office, one with the army in Jinyang, and one with troops on the Dai Kingdom border. Once scouts and intelligence agents operating inside Dai Kingdom sent information back, they would transmit it to Jinyang and Luoyang.
Song Xin said, “We just received news—eight days ago, Tuoba Yilu ordered Tuoba Liuxiu to garrison New Pingcheng.”
Zhao Hanzhang raised an eyebrow. “Now?”
Song Xin nodded. “Yes.”
Zhao Hanzhang walked to the window to look outside. Last night Luoyang had snowed—a thin layer. But when she got up this morning, cold wind howled and frost struck the face. She imagined that at this time, Dai Kingdom must be bone-chillingly cold with snow blanketing the sky.
She curled her lips in a mocking smile. “How many men did he give Tuoba Liuxiu?”
Song Xin said, “Reportedly, he only let Tuoba Liuxiu take twenty-eight men, all his trusted aides.”
“What about the army? Supplies?”
Song Xin: “None.”
Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but laugh heartily. She slapped the window frame. “Ting He, close the window—it’s warmer inside.”
Zhao Hanzhang pondered for a moment, pacing. “After all, I’m his aunt. With my nephew in such difficulty, it wouldn’t be right not to help. Contact the merchant caravan in Jinyang. When they next enter Dai Kingdom, have them make a trip to Xinping and deliver some grain, medicine, and cloth to him. Consider it a gift from me, his aunt, for his first independent command.”
Song Xin acknowledged.
Zhao Hanzhang turned her head slightly to look at him, smiling but not quite smiling. “Didn’t you say our scouts have difficulty operating in Dai Kingdom? Then let’s start from New Pingcheng.”
Song Xin stiffened, understanding. He bowed and acknowledged.
Zhao Hanzhang turned back, feeling somewhat wistful inside. Yuan Li was still more useful, but he couldn’t return yet.
Apparently the Lingnan region’s Jiaozhou and Guangzhou had been unstable lately. Wang Dun was planning to bypass Jingzhou, establish contact with Jiaozhou, and then subdue the ten commanderies of Guangzhou, using Lingnan’s minority peoples to resist the Central Plains.
Zhao Hanzhang snorted coldly in her heart. Wang Dun was indeed cunning, knowing this wasn’t a good time to war with her, so he took the opportunity to consolidate control over Lingnan.
Did he think her Wang Siniang and Wang Xuan siblings were pushovers? And Jingzhou still lay between them.
Unfortunately Jingzhou was too large. Wang Siniang hadn’t yet fully mastered Jingzhou’s commanderies and counties. Places far from Jiangling were still beyond her control.
The southern situation was no less complex than the north. In fact, after being swept clean and unified by Zhao Hanzhang, the north wasn’t so complex anymore. The south was different.
Now you could say each region governed itself.
The Prince of Langya currently controlled Yangzhou and the Linhuai area of Xuzhou. Part of Jingzhou’s commanderies were also under Wang Dun’s control.
When the late Emperor ascended the throne, he was Prince of Yuzhang, with his fief in Yuzhang Jun. Back then, to contend with the Prince of Donghai for power, he split three commanderies from Jingzhou and seven from Yangzhou, combining them into ten commanderies to establish Jiangzhou.
Initially the Prince of Donghai controlled the court, so he appointed Wei Zhan as Jiangzhou Governor. But not long after, the late Emperor had Hua Yi replace Wei Zhan as Jiangzhou Governor.
But Wei Zhan was unwilling to give up Jiangzhou just like that.
So while the late Emperor and the Prince of Donghai fought to the death, the two of them also fought to the death in Jiangzhou.
Until this year when the late Emperor fell into difficulty, Hua Yi advocated northern expedition and hit it off with Wang Cheng. But Wei Zhan and Yuzhang Administrator Zhou Guang stood with the Prince of Langya, not supporting the northern expedition.
So while Zhao Hanzhang was fighting desperately in the north, Wang Dun borrowed the Yuzhang Administrator’s territory to kill Wang Cheng in Yuzhang.
Hua Yi, who wanted to lead troops to support the northern expedition, had his route cut off and was trapped in Jiangzhou.
Now Jiangzhou was divided into pieces. Wang Dun occupied Yuzhang and half of Poyang, while Wang Siniang sent troops to occupy the other half of Poyang and Wuchang. As long as Zhao Hanzhang didn’t speak up, she wouldn’t return them to Hua Yi.
Of course, Zhao Hanzhang wasn’t stupid—how could she let Wang Siniang return them?
Besides Wang Dun and Wang Siniang, Wei Zhan also occupied Luling and Linchuan commanderies. What should have been a good Jiangzhou—as its governor, he currently controlled less than half the original territory.