Although the Xuzhou convicts had not received strict military training, having committed crimes and been sent to prison, they had undergone harsh disciplinary control. Especially after the bloody suppression of the prison riot incident in Xuzhou, these five hundred Xuzhou convicts could be said to be quite obedient.
After Han Qian left Xuzhou and returned to Jinling, Han Daoxun, who was already skilled at managing prison affairs, also adopted a series of measures to improve the convicts’ treatment, strictly prohibiting prison officers from exploiting and extorting the convicts. When employing them to build river embankments, roads, and city walls, besides strictly prohibiting prisoner abuse, he also eliminated the tradition of providing inferior grain for provisions.
Combined with resolving several cases of wrongful imprisonment that had significant impact, Han Daoxun first established prestige among the convicts.
Even though most convicts were quite unwilling to be organized into convict soldier units and enter the bloody battlefield, along the journey here, Zhao Kuo and Yang Qin had no convicts causing trouble or attempting to flee.
In the afternoon, when organizing the convicts, whether it was the Artisan Household Battalion or the Xuzhou Battalion, and whether it was distributing weapons for training or transporting supplies or climbing onto the city walls to clear the battlefield, everything was orderly and presentable—not even slightly inferior to the slave soldiers who had been training for a month and a half.
If anyone else stood in Han Qian’s position, they should be quite satisfied at this moment.
Not yet twenty years old, his father was a border province governor. Although his own official rank wasn’t high, he had gained the almost wholehearted trust of the Third Prince. His position within the Marquis of Linjiang’s household and the Dragon Sparrow Army was comparable to Shen Yang’s. Zhang Ping, Chai Jian, Li Chong, and even Guo Rong had all been stepped on by him to the point they temporarily couldn’t turn things around.
Besides the Left Bureau, the salt affairs permitted by Emperor Tianyou, the construction of Canglang City, and even the logistics supply for the Left Vanguard Section of the northwestern campaign headquarters had all been placed almost entirely under his control.
Besides the over one thousand workers in the workshops, the forces he directly controlled also numbered nearly one thousand.
Even Emperor Tianyou before reaching the age of twenty might not have had such glory.
However, Han Qian was absolutely unsatisfied. He looked with a heart full of worry at the surging, churning river water.
The war was urgent and pressing. Especially after today’s intense battle, perhaps quite a few people had temporarily forgotten that in two more days it would be the New Year festival—the year Tianyou 14.
Theoretically, Emperor Tianyou still had over three more years to live, not passing away until sometime during Tianyou 17. But the problem was that Han Qian didn’t know whether, after so many changes, Emperor Tianyou’s life would still follow the predetermined trajectory of history.
A butterfly flapping its wings could stir up violent storms on the other side of the ocean.
The “butterfly effect” induced by any tiny factor was difficult to estimate.
He was currently attempting to change his own life, to change the Third Prince’s life and the lives of a large group of people. By what basis could he assume that Emperor Tianyou’s life trajectory wouldn’t change?
The impermanence of worldly affairs—no matter what, if he truly assumed that the situation could still be salvaged up until Tianyou 17, that would be far too dogmatic.
Perhaps he had only two years at most?
Once the Dragon Sparrow Army gradually gained power and the Third Prince’s prestige was high enough to stir up heated debate in court about deposing the heir apparent, even without waiting for Emperor Tianyou to pass away, the An Ning Palace side probably wouldn’t be able to sit still any longer, would they?
Besides these distant concerns, the fierce battle this morning also left Han Qian deeply perplexed.
The four hundred Liang troops who attacked Canglang City, whether in terms of fighting will or individual martial prowess, were absolutely elite combat forces among the Liang army. Yet without even slightly decent siege equipment, such combat power when deployed would generally be used as scouts or as mobile forces for raiding deep into enemy territory.
Without even capturing Iron Crocodile Ridge, the Liang army directly used lightly equipped elite cavalry to forcefully attack a fortified camp deep within the Chu army’s defense line. Even after capturing it, they would still have to face the Chu army attacking from both flanks at any time. That Han Yuanqi, who led the Liang army’s over thirty thousand troops into the Nanyang Basin as the right-wing main commander, would make such a tactical arrangement left Han Qian quite perplexed.
Could it be that the Liang army’s elite troops had become so numerous they could be casually expended like this?
Han Qian remained perplexed, standing by the riverbank until dark. Only after the supplies from six boats had been transferred to shore did he return to Canglang City.
Considering that the western front battle might be more intense and brutal than anticipated, Han Qian decided to have Feng Xuan and the others transport most of the supplies brought from Xuzhou to Jingzi Pass.
The supplies transported from Xuzhou this time were double what they had been previously.
To dispel the Four Surnames’ wariness, Han Qian had specifically written back to Jinling, having Gao Shao take the money the money shop had collected in the eleventh month, deduct what was consumed in Jinling, and have the surplus of over four million coins transported in advance to Xuzhou as a deposit to deliver to the Four Surnames.
Besides the five hundred convicts, this was also an important reason why this northbound fleet was much larger than usual.
The six boats that had unloaded supplies—Han Qian didn’t let them rest either, but had them rush nonstop to Xiangzhou to transport the supplies that the Defense Commissioner’s office should allocate to the Left Vanguard Section next month to Canglang City as quickly as possible.
With frequent military movements now, the boats within Xiangzhou city were also limited. If Han Qian didn’t dispatch his own vessels, he didn’t know how many days it would be delayed before next month’s provisions could be transported here.
As night deepened, a sound of horse hooves rang out outside Canglang City.
Han Qian hadn’t gone to sleep either. He was gathering Tian Cheng, Zhao Kuo, Zhao Wuji, Xi Ren, Yang Qin, as well as Xi Chang, Guo Nu’er, Xi Fa’er and the other eight newly appointed squad leaders of the Xuzhou Battalion in the main tent to discuss some problems that had already been exposed in just half a day since the Xuzhou Battalion’s new organization.
The sound of horse hooves suggested only a few riders. Han Qian didn’t pay particular attention. After a short while, he saw Fan Dahei enter to report on the battle at Iron Crocodile Ridge.
The fighting at Iron Crocodile Ridge had continued from before noon until dark. Only when the Fourth Battalion’s over fifteen hundred soldiers arrived by boat at the northern foot of Iron Crocodile Ridge did the Liang forces withdraw.
The two battalions of elite troops that Li Zhigao had transferred from Jingzi Pass left the pass by boat at extremely high speed and had arrived at Iron Crocodile Ridge before the battle started.
Li Zhigao had quite a few elite troops at his disposal and also occupied advantageous terrain. However, the Liang army’s attack today had been quite resolute. During the day, after several waves of attacks, they had lost nearly one thousand men, while Li Zhigao’s forces also had six hundred deaths and injuries.
Because of this, Li Zhigao had no choice but to temporarily borrow one battalion of five hundred soldiers from the Fourth Battalion to remain at Iron Crocodile Ridge to strengthen the defense. He would wait for the other two elite battalions from the First Battalion to come from Jingzi Pass before having Gao Chengyuan’s troops go to Jingzi Pass in batches to rendezvous with Gao Chengyuan.
Given how the Liang army had forcefully attacked Canglang City and Iron Crocodile Ridge today, Li Zhigao hoped to urge the Fifth Battalion soldiers led by Guo Liang to accelerate westward, preferably entering Canglang City to observe how the situation developed, to guard against any changes.
“The Liang army’s attack on the left wing is somewhat unexpectedly strong, isn’t it?” Tian Cheng clicked his tongue and said to Han Qian with a sigh.
Han Qian nodded and said, “Judging from the intensity of the battles that erupted today, the Liang army’s desire to control the Dan River waterway is so strong it exceeds our previous expectations—the Liang army troops entering the Nanyang Basin this year may have ambitions to expand their territory!”
In the past, when Liang forces entered the Nanyang Basin, they mainly conducted raids before withdrawing, since all the cities north of the Han River were already abandoned and desolate with sparse population. Even deploying heavy troops to control this region would make supply quite difficult.
However, one couldn’t therefore assume that the Liang army had no ambition to incorporate the Nanyang Basin into their territory.
Although the Liang Kingdom had also experienced continuous internal and external troubles these past few years, Zhu Yu, the Liang Emperor’s second son who had been enfeoffed as Prince Yong and promoted to Dragon General, had recruited displaced people in places like Luoyang over these years, established new provinces and counties, promoted water conservation, and developed garrison farming, achieving great results that had caused the Liang army’s national power to rise somewhat in the past two years.
If the Liang Kingdom had long-term intentions to occupy the Nanyang Basin, the significance of the Dan River waterway to the Liang army would become even more prominent.
Han Qian instructed Tian Cheng to send out several secret agents to infiltrate the enemy-controlled hinterland in disguise to reconnoiter the Liang army’s movements. He would take a boat to Xiangzhou city at night to see the Third Prince and Shen Yang.
Besides the Dragon Sparrow Army’s nearly six thousand main forces, Han Qian hoped the Third Prince and Shen Yang could negotiate with Du Chongtao for more troops to supplement the Left Vanguard Section.
As for the Second Battalion soldiers led by Zhou Shu, Han Qian still hoped they would continue to remain east of Xiangzhou city.
Honestly speaking, Han Qian was somewhat afraid at this time to let the Second Battalion, which was absolutely controlled by the Marquis of Xinchang’s household and the Evening Red Tower, get too close to him. Using “military coercion” on others was a pleasant thing, but if others used “military coercion” on him, that would be most unpleasant.
On this trip, Han Qian still didn’t bring Zhao Wuji with him, but secretly instructed him to keep an eye on Zhao Kuo.
Han Qian never fully trusted Zhao Kuo. Especially after the incident of Fan Dahei marrying Zhang Qian’s daughter occurred, his vigilance toward the old generation of household soldiers around his father had grown even stronger.
However, Zhao Kuo was his father’s trusted aide and commanded the prison guards in Xuzhou while escorting five hundred convicts to Xiangzhou. For now, Han Qian couldn’t avoid using him as commander of the Xuzhou Battalion.
However, even though besides using Xi Chang and Guo Nu’er to divide Zhao Kuo’s power, and besides having the Xuzhou Battalion accept Tian Cheng’s command while in Canglang City, all ten squad leaders of the Xuzhou Battalion were also filled with elite scouts from the Left Bureau, and the decurions and squad leaders below were also mostly selected from Xi clan members—still, Han Qian additionally instructed Zhao Wuji to help him keep a closer watch on Zhao Kuo before he could leave with peace of mind.