Han Qian, along with Guo Liang, Li Chong, and others, rushed back to Canglang City at dawn.
At this time, the Artisan Battalion was urgently constructing two temporary camps with wooden palisade walls between Canglang City and both the Han River and the Dan River.
Nearly two hundred severely wounded soldiers from the fierce battle at Iron Alligator Ridge had already been transferred to Canglang City for treatment. Combined with the subsequent gathering and transit of provisions, the previously built earthen fort at Canglang—only a hundred paces square—was already crowded housing over a thousand men from the Artisan Battalion, Xuzhou Battalion, and Left Bureau scouts.
Currently, they could only fell trees for palisades, using wooden palisade walls to enclose two additional camps near the water.
Han Qian did not linger in Canglang City. Taking along Tian Cheng and others, he continued with Guo Liang and Li Chong along the remnant path at the western foot of Black Dragon Mountain toward Iron Alligator Ridge.
Fortunately, the Liang army did not launch another assault on Iron Alligator Ridge today.
Though Li Zhigao’s forces had lost nearly a thousand men over two days at Iron Alligator Ridge, they held advantageous terrain and had a dilapidated stockade that was better than nothing. The Liang army’s casualties were double theirs.
Although the Liang army was fierce and valiant, seeing that Li Zhigao’s forces displayed such formidable fighting spirit at Iron Alligator Ridge, no matter how many elite troops they had, they dared not continue squandering them needlessly.
When Han Qian reached Iron Alligator Ridge with the sun high overhead, he saw over two thousand Liang troops trampling through the remaining snow, gathering more than ten miles to the north at a bend in the Dan River. From their movements, it appeared they wanted to build a camp right along the riverbank.
Li Zhigao’s forces of over three thousand men were already battle-weary and lacked the strength to prevent the Liang army from advancing to the Dan River to build their camp. However, the Dan River there was wide and open. Even if the Liang camp pressed close to the riverbank, they had no way to cut off the several-mile-wide Dan River waterway. Han Qian was not worried that the Liang army currently had the capability to sever the water route connection between Canglang City and Jingzikou.
By comparison, Iron Alligator Ridge’s mountain terrain jutted into the Dan River. Particularly along the northern foot of Iron Alligator Ridge, there was a section of the Dan River channel only two to three hundred paces wide—far more strategically critical than the river bend.
If Iron Alligator Ridge fell into Liang army hands, they would only need to build ten to twenty stone-throwing ballistae on the cliffs of Iron Alligator Ridge, or control the steep ridges on the opposite bank and stretch an iron chain between both shores, to seal off the Dan River and trap Jingzikou in a desperate situation under attack from both sides.
Since the Dragon Sparrow Army did not wish to retreat south of the Han River, Iron Alligator Ridge had become a position they absolutely had to defend.
To a certain extent, Iron Alligator Ridge’s strategic importance was even greater than Jingzikou itself.
After all, even if Jingzikou fell, with Iron Alligator Ridge posing a direct threat, the Liang army would have no way to build a supply distribution dock directly on the riverbank ten miles to the north to receive provisions transported from Wuguan Pass. The Dan River waterway could not be considered completely controlled by the Liang army.
Li Zhigao’s face was weary, his chin and cheeks covered with unshaven stubble, giving him a somewhat rugged appearance.
Seeing Han Qian and the others arrive, he still roused his spirits to greet them. He was quite surprised to see Li Chong.
Han Qian told him of Chief Clerk Shen Yang’s proposal. Li Zhigao nodded, having no objections.
In fact, neither Han Qian nor Li Zhigao currently had the qualifications for independence. Being able to bring in clerks and administrative staff from outside to reduce the proportion of Marquis Xinchang’s direct lineage among the Dragon Sparrow Army’s officers and clerks was beneficial to both Han Qian and Li Zhigao.
Guo Liang was unaware of the complicated relationship between Han Qian, Li Zhigao, and Li Chong. Dismounting, he immediately wanted to inspect the battlefield.
He had already issued a death order—the fifteen hundred troops under his command would march day and night without rest and could reach here by tomorrow night. He was willing to submit to Li Zhigao’s command, but he needed to lead his own troops. He needed to determine the camping site and the positions for jointly resisting the Liang army’s fierce assaults with Li Zhigao.
Li Zhigao said nothing more and accompanied Han Qian and the others to view the battlefield already soaked through with blood.
The Liang army had left behind over a thousand corpses, all piled into a mountain ravine on the eastern side of the ruined stockade. Hundreds of laborers were working non-stop to repair the stockade while beginning to dig a defensive trench on the eastern side facing the enemy, hoping to slow the Liang army’s direct attacks.
Besides the previous five hundred mountain village laborers, Han Qian—despite the extremely tight manpower situation in Canglang City—had transferred two hundred men from the Artisan Battalion to prioritize meeting the personnel needs here at Iron Alligator Ridge. Supplies transported from Xuzhou also prioritized this location.
“The Liang army deploying forces on the left flank like this—do they intend to occupy the Nanyang Basin long-term?” Seeing the chaotic, bloody battlefield not yet cleaned up, Li Chong also realized that the Liang army’s military operations in the Deng-Xiang region this time were somewhat different from usual.
Previously, they—including most people in the Deng-Xiang Defense Command—had believed the Liang army’s intent in stirring up warfare on the northern front was to occupy more territory along the northern foot of Tongbai Mountain to control the upper reaches of the Huai River.
At this moment, seeing Guo Liang leading his subordinates running to the northwestern hilltop to survey the surrounding terrain, Li Zhigao lowered his voice and said to Li Chong and the male-disguised Yao Xishui:
“Second Brother and Xishui, can you now understand the painstaking efforts of Han Daren and myself?”
Li Zhigao said this still hoping to ease their previously strained relationship, though Han Qian indeed felt secretly fortunate.
Fortunately, he had convinced Li Zhigao to forcibly abolish Chai Jian, Zhang Ping, Li Chong, and others’ control over the Third Prince in time, ensuring Li Zhigao’s forces received maximum reinforcement during this period. This also enabled him to gather nearly a thousand mountain village laborers in Canglang City on schedule.
Otherwise, with these two critical positions at Iron Alligator Ridge and Canglang City, when the Liang army launched such fierce surprise attacks at the outset, they would likely have been unable to hold either position.
Li Chong remained silent, but looking back, he felt somewhat frightened. Had Han Qian and Li Zhigao not launched their military intervention, he should now be defending Jingzikou, where he would be trapped between the Liang army’s pincer attack. Whether he could successfully break through would truly be uncertain.
Yao Xishui’s delicate eyebrows lifted slightly as she said, “What Elder Brother has done has broken Sister’s heart. She repeatedly petitioned Madam and the Marquis for permission to come to Xuzhou, convinced that Elder Brother would not be so heartless and ungrateful—but I wonder whether Sister should be allowed to come?”
When Yao Xishui mentioned Su Hongyu, Li Zhigao’s eyelids twitched slightly. Han Qian laughed inwardly.
Previously, Han Qian had not interacted much with Su Hongyu, but he could see that Su Hongyu had deep feelings for Li Zhigao.
However, even if Su Hongyu’s past relationship with Li Zhigao was not necessarily a means by which the Black Gauze Lady and Marquis Xinchang Li Pu controlled hearts, Yao Xishui’s current suggestion that Su Hongyu might come to Xuzhou City must have some purpose.
Han Qian had previously worried that Li Zhigao might be indecisive, but seeing Li Zhigao able to hold Iron Alligator Ridge under the Liang army elite’s frenzied attacks, he secretly felt that Li Zhigao’s will might be even more resolute than he had guessed.
No wonder that in another historical trajectory, when those figures all turned to dust in the calamity three or four years later, Li Zhigao could remain active for so much longer!
Seeing Guo Liang return after surveying the nearby terrain, Han Qian gazed toward the Liang army movements in the direction of the river bend and Neixiang City, speaking decisively to Li Zhigao and Guo Liang:
“Regardless of how we clean up the aftermath, even if we must pay heavily to hire them, the Dragon Sparrow Army must recruit troops from the mountain villages to replenish our losses.”
The special history of the Deng-Xiang region over nearly a century meant that within a radius of over a hundred miles, they could recruit at least three to five thousand highly skilled elite soldiers from the mountain villages.
Of course, forcibly commanding these elite mountain village laborers to serve would only provoke strong resistance. They could only recruit by offering payment.
Although the Chu state’s central army implemented a hereditary soldier system and local provincial battalions used a conscription system, the recruitment system was nothing new—it just imposed more stringent requirements on military resource supply.
Of course, no matter how large the deficit might be after the war, holding Iron Alligator Ridge now was the key—the top priority.
Since Han Qian proposed that recruitment would mainly replenish the First Regiment’s losses, Li Zhigao would have no reason to object.
After walking around, Guo Liang clearly recognized that the combat strength of his Fifth Regiment was insufficient to withstand such intense warfare. But Iron Alligator Ridge had to be defended, so naturally he hoped for as many troops as possible.
As for provisions and recruitment funds, these had never been something frontline military commanders needed to consider.
Seeing neither Li Zhigao nor Guo Liang had objections, Han Qian told Li Zhigao to first recruit brave fighters from among the mountain village laborers he had previously transferred to Iron Alligator Ridge. He even handed over the two hundred convicts of the four surnames compiled into the Artisan Battalion to Li Zhigao to use as expendable forces, saying: “To raise recruitment funds, we’ll jointly write a letter and send someone by fast horse to Xuzhou City again. Perhaps we can get the Third Prince and Chief Clerk Shen to guarantee we can borrow salt stored in the Xuzhou Salt and Iron Bureau—with the salt purchase payment settled by Linjiang Money Shop directly in Jinling with the Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner.”
In the towering mountains between the Han and Dan Rivers, salt was the hard currency.
The various mountain villages could basically be self-sufficient in grain. Some villages also mined iron and copper ore to cast iron implements and traded among themselves. Though tea and medicine were scarce, they were not entirely absent. Only salt had to be purchased from outside. With both Chu and Shu severely cracking down on illegal salt, the cost was unimaginably high.
When Han Qian negotiated with the mountain villages about recruitment and continuing to hire laborers, no other goods worked as well as salt.
Han Qian immediately leaned against the broken wall and wrote the letter. After signing it with Li Zhigao and Guo Liang, he also asked Li Chong to add his name to the letter.
Han Qian’s action showed respect for Li Chong’s position as Recording Aide, but the corner of Li Chong’s mouth twitched.
Li Chong was no fool. Moreover, he had grown accustomed to thinking thrice before acting whenever Han Qian made a move.
Han Qian was purchasing salt from the Xuzhou Salt and Iron Bureau in the name of the Left Bureau, then using this salt under the pretext of recruitment funds. When accounting for war expenses afterward, would they account at the salt purchase price or the salt selling price?
If the latter, the Left Bureau would have intercepted a substantial surplus without doing anything.
“Aide Li, what are you thinking? Could it be you have a better strategy to hold Iron Alligator Ridge and make the Liang army retreat without fighting?” Han Qian cleared his throat and looked at Li Chong, who had been pondering for quite a while.
Seeing Li Zhigao and Guo Liang staring at him like tigers eyeing prey, Li Chong snapped back to awareness. He knew that regardless of other minor details, winning the current battle was most critical. Though extremely reluctant in his heart, he still picked up the brush and signed his name on the letter, watching as Han Qian dispatched someone by fast horse to Xuzhou City.