By the end of the second month, another battle report arrived from Jingzhou. The Destiny Army’s force of over a hundred thousand had been hemmed in by the Ning forces north of Tingyang, within a range of several dozen li. It had seemed possible to compel their surrender — yet no one could have anticipated that at this moment, the Xie Family patriarch, Xie Huaiyuan, would once again make the wrong decision.
The officer commanding this Destiny Army force was named Yang Dingfang — one of the four great generals serving under Yang Xuanji, and a man who had led troops for many years, commanding tremendous prestige.
Under Yang Xuanji, there were four great generals known collectively as the Four Pillars of the Destiny Army.
Of the four, the one with the least seniority and prestige was An Nuan. But he was also the most ferocious in battle, and every person ought to know their own worth — An Nuan understood his perfectly, which was precisely why he fought with such relentless ferocity.
The other three among the Four Pillars had all come up as garrison commanders within the Dachu system, each having once commanded an entire division of troops independently.
An Nuan could only establish his standing through battlefield merit, and using ferocity in battle as a means to prove oneself had always been a double-edged sword.
Because he fought so ferociously, he had carved out a fearsome reputation on the battlefield.
But because he fought so ferociously, even after being caught in a two-sided Ning Army pincer, he still believed he had a chance to turn the tide. So he ordered a counter-assault.
He judged that the Ning Army didn’t have overwhelming numbers. He abandoned his offensive push against Xie Xiu’s one hundred fifty thousand Jingzhou troops, turned to face the Ning forces at his rear and flank, and drove into them — trying to break through the Ning lines and escape the encirclement.
Xiahou Zuo’s thought at the time was… does this An Nuan always fight this boldly?
In that engagement, An Nuan lost over forty thousand men, the vast majority of them killed by the Ning Army.
Roughly another forty thousand or so surrendered, while around ten thousand disappeared without a trace. An Nuan barely escaped with only a few hundred men at his side.
He fled to Yang Dingfang’s position, not daring to return to Jingzhou to face Yang Xuanji.
Upon hearing the news, Yang Dingfang immediately ordered a withdrawal. He knew all too well how dangerous it would be to remain trapped inside Jingzhou.
But who could have anticipated that the Ning Army would move so swiftly — marching day and night after the battle, covering several hundred li in just a few days to complete the encirclement blocking his retreat.
Yang Dingfang’s one hundred fifty thousand troops had become an isolated force: Xiahou Zuo’s Ning Army to the left, Xie Xiu’s Jingzhou Army to the right, and Tingyang directly ahead.
The Xie Family had entrenched themselves in Tingyang for generations. Their roots ran deep, and their ancestral estate had been expanded and reinforced over the years until it resembled a fortress.
With mountain terrain to exploit, high walls, a substantial force of Xie Family private soldiers, and the ability to hire able-bodied commoners for defense, taking Tingyang quickly was by no means easy.
The trap had been enough to frighten Yang Dingfang, and it should have been enough to bring Xie Huaiyuan back to his senses.
But that was when Xie Huaiyuan’s stubbornness took hold.
If he were to surrender to Prince Ning’s forces now, how great a loss of face would that be?
Even under Xie Huainan’s persistent urging, he had refused. If he now surrendered on his own initiative, he would feel the shame of it — and his family would gossip about him as well.
Besides, he genuinely did not believe Yang Xuanji would lose.
After a long deliberation, he made two decisions.
First, he dispatched a messenger bearing his personal letter to see Xie Xiu, demanding that Xie Xiu return his allegiance to Yang Xuanji. If Xie Xiu now joined forces with Yang Dingfang to destroy Xiahou Zuo’s Ning forces, Yang Xuanji would surely look upon the Xie Family with renewed favor.
Second, he sent a letter to Yang Dingfang, guaranteeing that the Xie Family would supply the army with sufficient provisions and resources. He even offered to invite Yang Dingfang’s forces to take shelter within Tingyang itself, and wait there for reinforcements.
With both of these arrangements made, Xie Huaiyuan had no way to turn back.
Yang Dingfang’s forces, now supplied with a generous flow of provisions and resources from the Xie Family, had no worries about their rear. They established a defensive line north of Tingyang.
Even Xie Xiu had not anticipated that the family patriarch would be this obstinate.
He berated the messenger at length, then wrote a personal letter and sent it back with the man, urging the family not to persist in their delusion.
Yet Xie Huaiyuan paid it no mind. He was utterly convinced that the future emperor would be Yang Xuanji — backed by so many great families as he was.
He was equally convinced that Xie Huainan had made the wrong choice, and that if the Xie Family followed the path chosen by Xie Huainan and Xie Xiu, ruin was certain.
This was a contradiction that could not be reconciled — they had chosen entirely opposite directions.
What made it worse was that within the Xie Family, the majority believed Xie Huaiyuan had judged correctly this time.
To put it plainly: the people of Jingzhou had witnessed the might of the Destiny Army firsthand. After Yang Xuanji crushed Xie Xiu and seized Jingzhou, it had left everyone — Xie Family members included — in awe of the Destiny Army’s seemingly invincible strength.
They had never seen the Ning Army, and they regarded the stories of the Ning Army’s unbroken record with skepticism.
Yuzhou City.
After receiving Xiahou Zuo’s battle report, Li Chi calculated the timing.
It was already the end of the second month. In about another month, the weather would warm. Yang Xuanji would not dare send too many more troops out of Jingzhou, but if he had already dispatched someone to seek reinforcements from Shu Province, they could arrive by mid-fourth month at the latest.
So if Yang Dingfang’s hundred-thousand-plus Destiny Army was not destroyed within one month, that force would become a festering thorn.
Backed by the Xie Family’s unreserved support and free from any shortage of provisions, what had been an isolated force would become a spike driven into the heart of Jingzhou — lodged there, impossible to ignore.
“How do we fight this?”
Mr. Yan glanced at Li Chi.
Li Chi thought for a moment, then said, “Wait another half month or so.”
Mr. Yan was puzzled. “The longer we wait, the worse it is for us.”
Li Chi said, “I’m waiting on a piece of news. If that news doesn’t come in half a month, then I’ll go south personally to join up with Xiahou and swallow Yang Dingfang’s hundred fifty thousand in Tingyang.”
Xie Huainan, who was seated to the side, bowed and said, “My lord — in this matter, I’d like to go back and see if I can find a way.”
Li Chi said, “Your nephew Xie Xiu is sitting there with one hundred fifty thousand troops, and your elder brother won’t budge even for that. What could you do, going back alone? Put your mind at ease. Whatever the Xie Family chooses is your elder brother’s decision — it has nothing to do with you. You needn’t trouble yourself over it.”
Xie Huainan bowed deeply in reply, but inwardly he remained anxious.
His elder brother’s stubborn refusal had undone every plan he had carefully laid.
At the same time, elsewhere in Yuzhou City — a trading firm had a warehouse situated roughly less than two li from the water gate of Yuzhou City.
The firm was called Caiyue, and it dealt in silk and satin. Goods came and went frequently through the Yuzhou docks.
Caiyue Trading Firm had no ties to the Xie Family — at least, none visible on the surface.
But Caiyue’s owner, Pan Guangmei, had known Xie Huaiyuan since their youth. In later years, the Pan family’s business had come to rely heavily on the Cao family, and their ties with the Xie Family had grown distant.
So much time had passed — both men had gone from young to middle-aged — and very few people still remembered the connection between Pan Guangmei and Xie Huaiyuan.
After the Ning Army took Yuzhou City, Pan Guangmei had adopted a cooperative attitude, which meant his business was left undisturbed.
So it occurred to no one that Xie Huaide had disembarked from a Caiyue Trading Firm vessel, bringing with him a large entourage, entering Yuzhou under the guise of business associates from out of town.
For men like them, forging false identities was effortless. They went through the normal registration process to enter Yuzhou and aroused no suspicion.
The reason Pan Guangmei had agreed to this arrangement was because Xie Huaiyuan had written to him explaining that the only purpose was to bring the third son, Xie Huainan, back to the family. Nothing else would be done.
Out of old friendship, Pan Guangmei had transported Xie Huaide and his people to Yuzhou City. Before they disembarked, he warned them repeatedly — do not cause any trouble in Yuzhou City, and do not implicate him.
Xie Huaide had agreed readily — but privately thought that Pan, his elder brother’s old friend, wasn’t much for loyalty, and was an annoying man besides.
Among those who came off the boat with him was a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties, with a slightly haughty bearing who seemed somewhat displeased with them.
This man was one of Pan Guangmei’s subordinates. Though he had been with Pan only less than two months, he had already been promoted to junior shop manager.
Pan Guangmei had assigned this man to serve as their guide, saying his abilities were exceptional.
“What should I call you?”
Xie Huaide looked the guide over.
The man answered casually, “My surname is Wang.”
He led Xie Huaide and the others into the city, and before long they arrived at a residence Pan Guangmei maintained in the city and settled in.
Pan Guangmei had been doing business for many years and kept a number of properties in Yuzhou City — no fewer than a dozen or so.
This property had two courtyards front to back — perfectly adequate. But Xie Huaide looked it over and seemed somewhat dissatisfied.
In the Xie Family, his standing was high, and the accommodations he was used to were far grander than this.
“Fine,” Xie Huaide said. “We won’t be here long anyway. It’ll do.”
The junior shop manager’s face darkened somewhat. He seemed to look down on Xie Huaide’s attitude with considerable contempt.
But this had nothing to do with him. These people were Pan Guangmei’s friends, not his. He had no desire to say anything about it.
In any case, this man still didn’t know the true purpose behind Xie Huaide’s visit. Xie Huaide could tell Pan Guangmei — he certainly wasn’t going to tell some underling.
“You can head back for now. We don’t need you.”
Xie Huaide gestured, and one of his attendants produced a wrapped package of silver and handed it to the junior shop manager.
Xie Huaide said, “Go enjoy yourself. Do whatever you like. If Old Pan asks, just say you’ve been with us the whole time. I’ll tell him the same if he asks me — I won’t put you in a difficult position.”
A windfall of silver, and no need to keep attending to these people — Manager Wang couldn’t have been happier. He offered his thanks and turned to leave.
A few steps away, he couldn’t help but heft the package to test its weight. It was heavy. He suppressed his excitement, moved to a place where no one could see, and opened it to look.
His eyes went wide immediately.
This package contained no fewer than several hundred taels. Even as a junior shop manager, his monthly wage was only five taels — and that was already generous given Pan Guangmei’s regard for him. An ordinary junior manager might earn only about three taels a month.
Several hundred taels — that was five years of wages or more.
Staring at all that gleaming silver, Manager Wang found himself thinking his attitude just now might have been a bit off. He turned around and went back.
When he stood before Xie Huaide again, Manager Wang had composed his face into a smile.
“The more I thought about it, the more it seemed wrong to just leave like that. If there’s anything you need help with, just say the word. I know Yuzhou City very well — not just the business side of things, but the official circles too. I have friends there.”
Xie Huaide hadn’t paid him much attention before, but at those last words, his eyes suddenly sharpened.
“Friends in the official circles?”
Xie Huaide smiled. “Manager Wang truly has hidden depths.”
There was more than a little mockery buried in those words. As if a junior manager at a trading firm could have any real connections in official circles — at best, knowing a few constables would be impressive.
Manager Wang, feeling slighted, couldn’t quite keep up appearances.
“Master Xie, you may not know this — I originally served in the Jiedushi yamen. I was a company officer in the Jiedushi’s guard detail. I only left official service due to certain circumstances. Had I not, you might wonder why Pan Guangmei gives me such regard?”
“Oh?”
Xie Huaide’s eyes lit up further. He had been mocking before — now he was genuinely interested.
“What a surprise. So Manager Wang once held such a position.”
Xie Huaide waved for him to sit down. “Come, come — first tell me about how things work in Yuzhou City. You there — brew some tea for Manager Wang. Use the good leaves I brought.”
He looked at Manager Wang. “Why did you leave the Jiedushi’s service? That’s a prized position.”
A flash of resentment crossed Manager Wang’s eyes. “Aih… it’s a long story.”
But that flash of resentment — Xie Huaide had seen it clearly. Could the shrewd minds of the Xie Family miss something like that?
—