After the military council concluded, the Third Prince, surrounded by the Guard Battalion led by Chai Jian, first accompanied Du Chongtao and Xu Zhaoling to settle in Xiangzhou city on the southern bank of the Han River, while Han Qian temporarily remained on the northern bank to assist Li Zhigao in arranging for the vanguard troops to advance north along the Dan River.
Naturally, Yang Yuanpu did not bring all the Guard Battalion’s forces to Xiangzhou city.
Yang Yuanpu knew he would be safe in Xiangzhou city—at least he need not worry about large groups of enemy soldiers being able to directly attack them. If it truly came to that, the Deng-Xiang defense line would have already completely collapsed.
Yang Yuanpu only had Chai Jian lead over a hundred men to escort him to Xiangzhou city. The remaining Guard Battalion forces were all placed under Li Chong’s command to advance westward with Han Qian and Li Zhigao.
“The Liang army has come with fierce momentum this year. The defensive deployment on the western flank at Deng-Xiang is still too passive,” said Li Zhigao, standing on the snow-covered riverbank after seeing the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu and his party board their vessel. His words carried considerable worry.
Li Zhigao had accompanied his father and brothers in campaigns throughout Jianghuai since childhood and was well-versed in military strategy, so he naturally saw at a glance the strengths and weaknesses of Du Chongtao’s defensive deployment.
Such passive defense organized in the southern part of the Nanyang Basin on the western flank meant that all the military pressure the Liang state organized on the western front in the early stages would be imposed upon the Shouzhou army, which was now actively defending in southern Caizhou.
Although they, as part of the Third Prince’s faction, faced their greatest enemies within Great Chu in the Anning Palace, the Crown Prince, and the maternal relatives of the Xu clan—with the Shouzhou army being one of the foundations of this faction’s power—this did not mean they would necessarily benefit from the Shouzhou army suffering setbacks before the Liang army.
If the Shouzhou army felt the pressure from the Liang army was too great, they would very likely abandon their defense in southern Caizhou and contract their forces. But this also meant the Fangcheng Gap in the entire northern Nanyang Basin would be completely exposed to the Liang army’s scrutiny.
“I’m afraid even His Highness would find it difficult to offer advice on this matter. We should just focus on doing what we ought to do,” Han Qian said, then wrapped his cloak tighter and curled his body slightly to feel warmer. In his heart, he regretted that to save money, he hadn’t prepared a fur robe for himself before coming here. This winter was much colder than previous ones.
Han Qian looked up at the sky, which had turned overcast again. The snow hadn’t stopped for even two days, and it looked like another fall was coming. He wondered what the Liang state was thinking—instead of living peacefully, they insisted on launching military campaigns during this bitter cold. Thinking of the thin winter clothing urgently issued to each soldier of the Longque Army before their expedition, he secretly felt that perhaps by the end of this campaign, those who froze to death might not be fewer than those who died directly on the battlefield.
As for matters of strategic deployment in Deng-Xiang, Han Qian had no desire to think much about them at this moment.
Great generals capable of commanding independently were all proud individuals. Regarding strategic-level suggestions, perhaps Du Chongtao’s direct confidants could have a say, but if they encouraged the Third Prince to attempt to forcibly reverse the entire western front’s defensive strategy, it would return to the situation when Du Chongtao crossed the river.
The Third Prince Yang Yuanpu could potentially force Du Chongtao to yield by leveraging his status as an imperial prince, but what would they do if Du Chongtao then assigned the Longque Army the heavy responsibility of advancing into the northern Nanyang Basin while he led the Xiangzhou army to secure the southern front?
What resources did the Longque Army actually have?
No matter how arrogant and self-important Han Qian and Li Zhigao might be, at this moment they dared not let the main Longque Army forces leave the Nanyang Basin to fight to the death with the Liang army’s elite troops!
The two thousand Longque Army troops who had arrived at Xiangzhou first did not enter Fan city after disembarking. Since it was still early in the day, Li Zhigao and Han Qian had the soldiers proceed directly westward along the northern bank of the Han River. After arranging all this, the two of them, along with Li Chong, returned to Fan city to meet with the reinforcement commanders from Huangzhou and Yingzhou.
Neither Huangzhou nor Yingzhou had Imperial Guard garrisons. The thousand reinforcements were all drawn from provincial forces, led by the Military Personnel Administrators from both provinces—Zheng Hui, Military Personnel Administrator of Huangzhou, and Xia Zhen, Military Personnel Administrator of Yingzhou—both scions of powerful local families in their respective regions.
After Emperor Tianyou led the Huainan army to establish Great Chu’s foundation in Jinling, he fought several years of bitter war with Yue Prince Dong Chang. The provinces west of Jiangzhou, including Tanzhou under Ma Yin, had basically submitted after receiving proclamations.
To stabilize the situation in the provinces of E, Huang, Jing, Rong, Ying, and Sui, and to win over local powerful families, the court bestowed official positions and administrative posts upon many scions of these families. The provincial forces were also largely controlled by local powerful families. Only in areas bordering Shu and Liang state did they dispatch trusted generals to lead the Southern Court Imperial Guard units as Deng-Xiang Defense Commissioner and Rongzhou Defense Commissioner to strengthen control.
Du Chongtao had assigned the reinforcements from Huangzhou and Yingzhou to be commanded by Li Zhigao, but whether Li Zhigao could truly mobilize these two reinforcement units was truly uncertain at this moment.
The reinforcements from Huangzhou and Yingzhou were still temporarily stationed west of Zaoyang, but after the new assignments, Zheng Hui and Xia Zhen no longer accompanied Du Chongtao to Xiangzhou city, nor did they immediately lead their guards back to camp. Instead, they remained in Fan city waiting for Li Zhigao to return to discuss garrison matters.
Both Zheng Hui and Xia Zhen were dissatisfied with their units being assigned to garrison the left flank on the northern bank of the Han River, but they did not reveal this before Du Chongtao and the others.
Both men were over thirty years old, lean and agile in appearance. One should not assume their forces were weak in combat simply because they were sons of local powerful families and the troops they led were soldiers conscripted from local areas.
In fact, due to regional separatism and the civil unrest at the end of the previous dynasty, warfare in the Jianghan region and elsewhere was frequent—except for the Xiang-Deng area—and the combat capability of local forces was actually quite strong.
In comparison, Zheng Hui and Xia Zhen somewhat looked down upon the Longque Army’s combat capability.
The Longque Army had been formed by recruiting plague-stricken refugees. Although they had selected and trained the strongest men as much as possible, the Longque Army had suffered from material shortages over the past year. Most soldiers still appeared emaciated and weak, and had not experienced actual combat. How could they command respect?
Moreover, factors at higher levels—the succession struggle and its potential impact on them and their clans in the future—were matters that figures at Zheng Hui and Xia Zhen’s level had necessarily already considered.
When Han Qian rode back into Fan city with Li Zhigao and Li Chong, they had discussed the possible attitudes of Zheng and Xia on the road. They decided to request that these two provincial reinforcement units garrison the remnant cities of Xichuan and Neixiang, located northeast of the Dan River where the Qinling and Funiu mountains met, in relatively flat and open terrain.
In these two locations, besides the two to three hundred Xiangzhou army garrison troops each, there were also over a thousand civilians gathered inside and outside the ruined cities for cultivation. Conditions were relatively better.
To the east of these two places lay the heartland of the Nanyang Basin. If the Liang army advanced southward with unstoppable momentum, retreating south from these locations would be much faster than for the garrison troops stationed in the mountain interior areas like Jingzi Pass.
Han Qian believed that if given the choice, Zheng Hui and Xia Zhen would also prefer to lead their units to garrison these two locations.
With such an arrangement, the Longque Army could more completely and independently control the Dan River waterway without interference from other factional forces. Otherwise, who knew what schemes Xu Zhaoling, Jin Rui, and others might be plotting behind their backs.
Meeting again at the Fan city Garrison Commander’s Office, Zheng Hui and Xia Zhen accepted this arrangement, but their attitude toward Li Zhigao, Han Qian, and Li Chong was quite cold.
Even though during Han Daoxun’s journey to assume his post in Xuzhou, Han Qian had briefly stayed in Huangzhou with his father and had met Huangzhou Military Personnel Administrator Zheng Hui once, this reunion was quite cold. Zheng Hui had no desire for deeper private exchanges with Han Qian.
The priority was to ensure all military deployments were in place as quickly as possible. There was no time to ponder and weigh many detailed matters, or even too many of the subtle dynamics within the northwestern camp. After meeting with Zheng Hui and Xia Zhen, Han Qian accompanied Li Zhigao and Li Chong westward along the northern bank of the Han River. They rendezvoused with the vanguard Longque Army forces encamped overnight at Laolong Pass, and at dawn the next morning, led three hundred cavalry ahead, arriving at the Dan River estuary to establish camp before noon.
The place where the Dan River flowed into the Han River had originally been the seat of Junzhou’s administration.
The old Junzhou city that had previously spanned the three banks of the Han and Dan rivers had been destroyed by fire. Currently, Du Chongtao had rebuilt a fortification about one li square on the southern bank as an outpost stronghold to resist the Shu army from Hanzhong in the west. However, the town on the northern bank of the Han River, flanking both sides of the Dan River, remained in ruins.
In terms of terrain, the old Junzhou city site on the northern bank was much more open, with approximately ten-odd li of silted flatland formed by sediment deposits surrounded by mountains.
From the remaining traces, one could see evidence of ancestors building dikes along the Han and Dan rivers for land reclamation. Otherwise, in this area where the Daba Mountains and Qinling Mountains met, even in the lower depression zone, there would not exist such an expanse of flat land stretching over ten li.
Han Qian could also see that many of the river embankments built in earlier years had been destroyed. During the summer and autumn when water levels rose, both sides were severely flooded. Nearly half of the building ruins in the northern bank area bore traces of being submerged by floodwaters in recent years.
“That is Canglang Isle,” Han Qian pointed to a sandbar island at the confluence of the Han and Dan rivers in the heart of the river, speaking to Li Zhigao and Li Chong. “The ‘Commentary on the Water Classic’ says the Han River is also called Canglang River, named after this isle—when we build our new fortification here, let’s call it Canglang City…”
Regardless of the two thousand Xiangzhou army elite already stationed at the southern bank fortification, Han Qian insisted on advocating for rebuilding a fortification controlled by the Longque Army on the northern bank at the Dan River estuary.
This location not only controlled the Dan and Han rivers, but was also a critical junction for reinforcing the middle and upper Dan River from Xiangzhou city.
Li Zhigao reined in his horse, looking toward the banners atop the waterside fortification on the opposite bank, which fluttered ceaselessly in the cold wind. He furrowed his brow and said, “Xiangzhou has already built a defensive position on the southern bank. If the Longque Army wants to build another fortification on the northern bank, Du Chongtao will most likely not provide financial or grain support, will he?”
Even though Li Zhigao knew the strategic importance of this fortification, he was quite hesitant about the Longque Army building a city here when they themselves were already in such dire shortage.
Han Qian persuaded him:
“Since the Longque Army has already entered the Deng-Xiang region, achieving military merit in the winter defensive campaign against the Liang army is one aspect, but there’s another matter—even if the Marquis and others in Jinling cannot immediately push for the restoration of Junzhou’s administrative status, the fortification needs to be built early. As for the required funds and grain, we can raise them from the many mountain strongholds hidden deep in the forests on both flanks. I will request this assignment from His Highness…”
Li Chong cast a suspicious glance at Han Qian.
Previously, when they needed grain funding from the Left Administration, Han Qian had made every excuse to avoid it. Instead, he had risked completely breaking with Du Chongtao by suggesting the Longque Army advance directly to Fan city on the northern bank, forcing Du Chongtao to accept their conditions. Now seeing Han Qian voluntarily taking on this matter, Li Chong grew suspicious, wondering if Han Qian had other calculations he hadn’t clearly revealed.
Facing Li Chong’s scrutiny, Han Qian kept his hands tucked in his sleeves, calmly waiting for Li Zhigao to make a decision.
Since Marquis Xinchang Li Pu and the black-veiled woman could not come, matters concerning the Longque Army in Xiangzhou only required Han Qian to work out a plan with Li Zhigao and then obtain the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu’s approval. Even when Chen De, Guo Rong, and Shen Yang arrived, they would not have as much say as Li Zhigao.
Of course, how Chai Jian, Li Chong, Zhou Shu, and others might influence Li Zhigao’s decision behind the scenes was not something Han Qian could control.
Though it was already winter and the Han River’s water level had dropped, under the blowing cold wind, the clear blue river water still surged turbulently.
At this moment, the three war sailing ships led by Yang Qin were sailing slowly upstream from below.
“Very well, go speak with His Highness. Being able to build a fortification here under Longque Army control is indeed quite important,” Li Zhigao said.
As long as Han Qian could find another way to raise funds and grain, Li Zhigao naturally would not prevent him from building a fortification at the Dan River estuary.
Han Qian then agreed with Li Zhigao that Li Zhigao and Li Chong would continue leading their forces to garrison Jingzi Pass and other locations, while he would remain at the Dan River estuary to oversee the fortification’s construction and be responsible for communication between Xiangzhou city and Jingzi Pass.
After Li Zhigao led his forces to garrison Jingzi Pass, aside from leaving one group of scouts, the Left Administration personnel currently stationed at Jingzi Pass could also withdraw to this side.