A young general walked toward Wang Dao and the others. Before long, the Zhao family army had swiftly taken control of the nearby roads, hilltops, and docks. The aristocrats and commoners standing roadside and halfway up the mountain watching the excitement were gathered to several locations.
If they wanted to watch the excitement, they had to stay in these designated areas and weren’t permitted to stand randomly.
Though the Zhao family army arriving across the river wasn’t friendly toward them, neither did they roughly drive them away.
Zhou Yi mixed in the crowd. Seeing the Zhao family army rushing toward them, the crowd behind him grew restless, many wanting to turn and leave, but they were quickly stopped: “Do you want to stay and watch the excitement, or leave?”
“Watch the excitement? We… can we stay… and watch the excitement?”
“Yes, but you must go over there to prevent injuries from crowding and trampling as more people gather.”
Hearing this, the commoners immediately became excited, deciding not to leave. Following the guidance, they changed locations and then stood on tiptoe to continue watching.
Zhou Yi mixed among them, suspecting the Zhao family army was using the relocation to observe whether they carried weapons and to familiarize themselves with the terrain.
Indeed, when the ships made their second landing bringing more soldiers, a young general had already led people to take control of this area, with the Prince of Langya’s deputy general Zhou Chong following at his side.
Zhou Yi couldn’t help looking at the young, handsome general, asking a soldier maintaining order nearby, “Who is that general?”
The soldier glanced over, then said proudly, “That’s our General Zhao Shi.”
Zhou Yi pondered thoughtfully. A member of the Zhao clan?
He’d heard Zhao Shi was highly valued under Zu Di.
Was Zhao Hanzhang embedding her own forces throughout various armies?
“Young and accomplished—I wonder if he’s married?”
The soldier replied, “No.”
He looked Zhou Yi up and down, finding him too disheveled, and said, “You needn’t think about it. Our general has high standards—he won’t fancy just anyone.”
Zhou Yi: …He might be quite ordinary, but his niece was beautiful and virtuous!
Zu Di took the third boat ashore. Upon his arrival, both Wang Dao and Liu Wei stepped forward. Zhou Yi only looked at them from afar before telling the soldiers around him he wanted to return to the city. After the soldier examined him, he let him pass.
From the riverside to Jiankang City was five li. Every ten paces stood a Zhao family army soldier on guard. Travelers could only use the official road and couldn’t cross the fields, or it would be considered provocation.
Zhou Yi boarded his ox cart and looked back once more at the orderly riverside before telling his attendant, “Go fetch Zhongzhi back. I’ve found a good husband for Minniang.”
Though there were a hundred ships continuously transporting soldiers and weapons, it still took until evening to complete the river crossing. Many aristocrats and commoners also stood at the riverside watching for half the day.
After everyone crossed the Yangtze River, the entire riverside was filled with soldiers.
Hearing this, the Prince of Langya immediately sat up from his sickbed and urgently summoned Liu Wei to ask, “How many people in total? Who leads the troops?”
Liu Wei said, “A total of two hundred thousand people. Zu Di leads them. I heard Zhao Hanzhang has appointed him Grand Marshal Zhengnan, with Zhao Shen, Zhao Ju, Mi Ce and others as generals. Besides these two hundred thousand troops that crossed the river, there are another two hundred thousand on the opposite bank awaiting orders, plus one hundred thousand in Yiyang Jun on standby, and another one hundred thousand in Jingzhou—adding various logistics personnel, there are estimated to be seven hundred thousand troops.”
The Prince of Langya’s back was completely soaked. He felt deep fear, “Seven hundred thousand troops have already pressed close to Jiangnan, yet we received no intelligence whatsoever. If I hadn’t pledged allegiance, wouldn’t I be…”
Liu Wei said in a low voice, “Attacked from both front and rear…”
Wang Dun probably wouldn’t have died yet before they all perished first.
The Prince of Langya took a deep breath, suppressing his fear, and asked, “Where is Marshal Zu staying now?”
“He was unwilling to enter the city, instead camping outside with the army. He said he would enter the city tomorrow to pay respects to Your Highness,” Liu Wei paused before continuing, “He wants to bring the army into the city. Inspector Wang didn’t object.”
The Prince of Langya smiled bitterly. He’d brought two hundred thousand troops—how could they refuse?
“Let him enter. You entertain him well. He probably won’t stay here long. Wang Dun has already approached Jiankang,” the Prince of Langya paused here, feeling inexplicably satisfied, “He thinks himself a step ahead, not knowing Zhao Hanzhang is even faster. With a tool like thousand-mile communication, who can compete with her? Wang Dun certainly doesn’t know about the Zhao family army crossing the river yet.”
He really wanted to see Wang Dun’s expression when he received this news!
This was typical schadenfreude—as long as the enemy wasn’t doing well, he was happy.
Liu Wei silently watched the Prince of Langya without speaking, unable to help thinking critically: no wonder he specifically summoned him to talk rather than Wang Dao, with whom he’d reconciled—it was to avoid gloating in front of someone’s cousin!
Wang Dun’s spies remaining in Jiankang City were dazed. They ran to the riverside and watched for a while, seeing the generals from Jiangbei conversing warmly with Wang Dao and Liu Wei, only then realizing the Prince of Langya had pledged allegiance to Zhao Hanzhang—he’d surrendered Jiangnan.
The spies’ hearts shook violently. They quickly retreated, found horses, and galloped toward Hefei. They had to quickly deliver this news to the General.
They didn’t notice that of the soldiers who had come ashore, two thousand had quietly decreased in number. After Zu Di landed, Zhao Shi quietly withdrew, walking to the camp being erected.
Deputy General Wu Xiao had already prepared everything and ran over, “Two thousand men are assembled, and there are two thousand horses.”
Don’t underestimate these two thousand horses—by taking them, Zhao Shi was taking a third of the army’s warhorses.
Zhao Shi said, “Each person carries only three days’ rations. Depart immediately.”
“Yes!”
Zhao Shi didn’t go see Zu Di again. Picking up his pack and tucking away the authorization letter Liu Kun had brought, he led the two thousand troops to depart silently.
Speed was paramount in war. Zu Di had crossed the river with great fanfare, and the Prince of Langya’s allegiance could no longer be concealed. He naturally wouldn’t let the army lose this advantage. So before crossing the river, he had already arranged for Zhao Shi to assemble his troops immediately upon crossing and take a unit toward Lujiang, attacking only Wang Dun’s forces along the way without needing to garrison and govern territories. He would handle everything else—the goal was to keep Wang Dun guessing about their troop movements.
Meanwhile, Zu Di would take over Jiangnan’s garrison authority from the Prince of Langya city by city. Zhao Hanzhang had repeatedly instructed that county-level officials needn’t be touched for now, but the garrison troops and generals in each city absolutely had to be replaced with their own people.
Only with military authority in hand need they not fear further rebellion.
Beyond this, Zhao Hanzhang wanted to invite the Prince of Langya’s family, Wang Dao, Liu Wei, and the family heads of Jiangnan’s various aristocratic families to the palace for New Year celebrations. It wasn’t long until New Year’s, and as this was far from the capital, they needed to depart early.
The cavalry moved quickly, and with the Prince of Langya’s personal authorization letter, every city they passed didn’t obstruct them but allowed passage directly.
Thus, two days later, Zhao Shi and his men reached Zhongli County. Wang Dun hadn’t been idle these two days either. After capturing Hefei, he’d consecutively taken three more counties and was advancing triumphantly.
Today he planned to attack Zhongli County. Taking Zhongli would bring them one step closer to Danyang Jun. Past Danyang lay Jiankang—victory was in sight.
At such a joyous moment, they ran headlong into a cavalry unit. Thinking it was an ambush from Zhongli, without a second thought they raised their swords and charged forward with their deputy general.
Then they were utterly routed. Only when fleeing did they discover the banner on their shoulders bore the character “Zhao,” not the Jiankang prince’s flag.
—