Han Qian had gathered four to five thousand people at Dragon Fang City, but with shallow foundations, how strong the combat will of the newly recruited barbarian troops incorporated into the Field Army truly was had yet to be tested through actual combat.
Especially if their next step was to storm Cock Crow Settlement, Chenyang City, and other places defended by Chenzhou barbarian troops, the morale of the newly incorporated barbarian officers and soldiers would face even more severe testing.
Besides the newly recruited barbarian troops, the two thousand officers and soldiers previously organized weren’t without problems either. It was just that they had mainly used strategy to capture Eagle Fish Settlement without experiencing difficult warfare, so many problems hadn’t been exposed yet.
Under these circumstances, Han Qian hoped even more that the Han court would first reduce Tanzhou’s regional power, first dispatching troops from Ezhou to attack Tanzhou, giving his side time to prepare more fully.
However, matters might not necessarily go as Han Qian wished.
Throughout September, under the efforts of Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, Lin Haizheng, and others, the three battalions of armored soldiers all underwent tense yet orderly training. The iron smelting site and weapons workshops also worked at full capacity forging various war machinery.
On this day in mid-October, while Han Qian was discussing matters with Zhang Ping and had summoned Xi Xunqiao to inquire about various provinces’ mountain barbarian households’ situations, his father Han Daoxun dispatched a messenger from Qianyang City saying that Yuan Guowei, Zheng Xingxuan, and others had escorted Zheng Hui to Xuzhou, asking them to return to Qianyang City to meet.
“His Majesty sent Zheng Hui to Xuzhou?”
If it weren’t for Han Laoshan’s nephew Han Dong rushing over carrying his father’s personal letter, Han Qian would have found it hard to imagine Zheng Hui was already in Qianyang City.
Han Qian raised his head to glance at Zhang Ping, wanting to see what he thought about this matter.
“It should be that the court has now resolved to reduce Tanzhou’s regional power, right?” Zhang Ping said.
Han Qian smiled, knowing Zhang Ping should have other speculations but found it inconvenient to speak them aloud at this time.
Zheng Hui had initially been Military Advisor to Huangzhou and after the Jingxiang warfare was transferred to the Prince’s Residence to serve as Advisory Counselor. He was the most core figure in the Zheng clan in Jinling at this time besides White Stone Elder Zheng Chang.
That Zheng Hui at this time, under the escort of Yuan Guowei, Zheng Xingxuan, and others, had passed through Tanzhou’s blockade and crossed mountains to enter Qianyang City absolutely wasn’t as simple as conveying the court’s battle plans against Tanzhou.
If that were the case, having Yuan Guowei cross mountains to deliver the decree would suffice—it wouldn’t require troubling such a heavyweight figure as Zheng Hui to make such an arduous trip.
If they were unfortunately spotted by Tanzhou scouts or spies, the losses to the Zheng clan and the Prince’s Residence would be extremely heavy.
Han Qian immediately summoned Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, Lin Hai, and others, instructing them to strictly guard the city stronghold. That night he left the mountains with Zhang Ping, rushing at midnight to Linjiang County town where the city walls had already been built to one zhang high. After resting hastily for two hours, at dawn they again took boats rushing toward Qianyang City.
Going downstream, the speed was extremely fast.
Han Qian’s party entered Qianyang City before noon and met again with Zheng Hui, Yuan Guowei, and others.
“It’s been nearly a year since we parted. Commandant Han has been well!”
Although Zheng Hui had long since changed into clean robes, one could still see he had suffered much hardship on this trip—several cuts made by sharp mountain stones or tree branches on his cheeks.
Zheng Hui had shaved his beard clean, leaving only two short mustaches on his upper lip. But his cheeks were much more gaunt than when they parted last year.
“Did you come from Ezhou?” Han Qian asked.
After leaving Xuzhou last time, Yuan Guowei had remained in Ezhou assisting Shen Yang in gathering intelligence on Tanzhou. This time Yuan Guowei accompanied Zheng Hui over, so Han Qian naturally asked this question.
“We came via Hongzhou. Old Master Yuan returned from Ezhou to the Third Prince’s side at the end of August…” Zheng Hui said.
“Coming through Hengzhou and Shaozhou territory—that was no small hardship,” Han Qian said with feeling. “What’s the situation within Hengzhou and Shaozhou territory?”
Hongzhou (Nanchang) was located southwest of Poyang Lake. Going southwest from Hongzhou, there was a diagonal valley passing through Yuanzhou territory that could cross the Luoxiao Mountains into northern Hengzhou, then crossing the Xiang River from western Hengzhou led to Shaozhou.
From Wugang County on Shaozhou’s western flank, crossing the main ridge of the Xuefeng Mountains led to Wukou Settlement where Wu River flowed into the Yuan River. From Wukou Settlement, traveling another thirty-odd li upstream led to Qianyang City.
This entire route covered fifteen to sixteen hundred li, requiring crossing two great mountains—the Luoxiao and Xuefeng ranges—extremely arduous and dangerous.
Although courier roads connected through the Luoxiao and Xuefeng mountain ranges, the mountain courier roads were all quite rugged.
Especially the courier road connecting Xuzhou’s Qianyang County and Shaozhou’s Wugang County through the south-central foothills of the Xuefeng Mountains was even more treacherous and remote.
Although this courier road had existed since the Western Han dynasty and was one of the most important passages connecting the Xiang and Yuan rivers toward the old Qianzhong Commandery, with continuous merchant travel whenever there was no warfare.
However, most places along this ancient courier road only allowed single horses to pass hugging the mountain walls.
Therefore, Han Qian didn’t expect Xuzhou troops could use this courier road to attack Shaozhou, nor feared Shaozhou troops could threaten Xuzhou through this road.
This courier road was truly too treacherous and too long—controlling any single strategic pass could block thousands upon thousands of troops.
Currently, Xuzhou stationed two hundred elite troops at Wukou Settlement where the Yuan and Wu rivers met.
Wukou Settlement stood between two cliffs, closely flanked by hundred-zhang stone walls and precipices on both sides. Only the northeast corner had an open river beach wharf about two hundred paces wide where passing vessels could dock and merchants could embark and disembark. But attempting to capture Wukou Settlement would be extremely difficult.
Of course, if Shaozhou troops spared no cost, or if Tanzhou had large warships that could directly attack Wukou Settlement from the river, capturing it wasn’t absolutely impossible.
In comparison, the road going west from Hongzhou through Yuanzhou, crossing the Luoxiao Mountains into Hengzhou was much easier to traverse. A discontinuous series of rift valleys distributed through the north-central foothills of the Luoxiao Mountains.
That was also a main passage through which Chu forces could threaten and attack Tanzhou.
And precisely because of this, Tanzhou necessarily guarded the northwest foothills passages of the Luoxiao Mountains extremely strictly. For Zheng Hui and his party to come via that route was both arduous and dangerous.
Calculating the time, if Zheng Hui’s party departed Jinling in early September and completed this journey by water and land, arriving at Qianyang City within a month without much rest along the way—no wonder even a military commander like Zheng Xingxuan looked utterly haggard.
Of course, at this time Han Qian was more concerned with changes in the situation over the past month in Shaozhou and Hengzhou south of Tanzhou.
Although Shaozhou and Hengzhou weren’t directly incorporated under Tanzhou Military Commissioner’s governance, Shaozhou and Hengzhou were truly Tanzhou’s backyard.
On one hand, Shaozhou, Hengzhou, and Tanzhou all lay within the Xiang River basin, with no imposing mountains and great peaks like the Wuling range separating them. Some scattered low hill belts couldn’t prevent the three provinces from forming an integrated geographical whole.
More importantly, the Provincial Governors appointed to both Shaozhou and Hengzhou were all former generals of the Ma clan.
Years ago, before internal turmoil erupted in the Ma clan and Ma Yin had no choice but to submit to Emperor Tianyou Yang Mi, requesting Great Chu dispatch troops to quell the rebellion—not only Yuezhou, Tanzhou, and Langzhou along Dongting Lake’s shores, but also Shao, Heng, Chen, Xu, Jing, and Gui provinces along the Yuan and Xiang rivers in the south had all been Ma clan territory. Their power had once extended into the old Qianzhong and Guilin commanderies.
The Provincial Governor of Xuzhou in earlier years had also been served by Ma Yuanheng, who now served as Langzhou Provincial Governor.
It was just that Ma Yuanheng had imposed heavy taxes and levies in Xuzhou that year, extremely unpopular with the people. Finally, during the Ma clan’s internal turmoil, he was jointly expelled from Xuzhou by the Four Surnames and had no choice but to submit to Ma Yin in Tanzhou. Only then could Jinling dispatch Provincial Governors to Chen and Shao provinces.
Although as a condition for requesting Emperor Tianyou Yang Mi to dispatch troops, Shao and Heng provinces separated from Tanzhou after the Ma clan’s internal rebellion was quelled, nominally under Jinling’s jurisdiction—over these years the Provincial Governors and major positions like Chief Clerk and Commandant in these two provinces had all been controlled by Ma clan former generals or local major surnames.
Therefore, Emperor Tianyou didn’t expect to drive any wedge into Shaozhou and Hengzhou in a short time.
Han Qian had previously mainly sent scouts to infiltrate Shaozhou and Hengzhou territories, gathering intelligence on local reactions to gauge Tanzhou’s internal level of vigilance.
Of course, with Zheng Hui and Yuan Guowei personally passing through Shaozhou and Hengzhou, their feelings would naturally be deeper.
“The Ministry of Territory’s latent agents in Tanzhou confirmed at the end of August that Tanzhou had secretly dispatched envoys to Shu and Liang seeking assistance. Shaozhou Provincial Governor Zhao Sheng and Hengzhou Provincial Governor Luo Jia also sent their legitimate sons to Tanzhou for study before the end of August! Subsequently, news of Chenzhou Provincial Governor Wang Liang dying from epidemic disease also reached Jinling. Because of this, His Majesty ordered us to rush to Xuzhou to rendezvous with the Defense Commissioner and Commandant Han.” Zheng Hui directly stated intelligence Han Qian couldn’t have detected.
Han Qian had thought Zheng Hui departed Jinling for Xuzhou after Jinling already knew they had captured Eagle Fish Settlement. He hadn’t expected that with routes blocked and information transmission inconvenient, it was Tanzhou’s movements at the end of August plus news of Chenzhou Provincial Governor Wang Liang’s sudden death that ultimately made Emperor Tianyou decide to dispatch Zheng Hui to Xuzhou.
The over one hundred elite scouts of the Left Bureau were either incorporated into the Field Army as officers or assigned to the Engineering and Transport Battalion or various bureaus as junior clerks. Human resources were limited—with only this manpower at his disposal, Han Qian currently had no way to conduct deeper intelligence gathering on Tanzhou. Even transmitting information to Jinling and Ezhou, he could only dispatch messengers every two months.
Hearing Zheng Hui say this, Han Qian speculated Tanzhou should have made rapid decisions after Zhao Zhixian and Tan Yuliang returned. His heart jumped slightly as he said with feeling to his father Han Daoxun and Zhang Ping:
“Tanzhou is more decisive than imagined!”
Han Qian had thought releasing Zhao Zhixian and Tan Yuliang back to Tanzhou should have some deceptive effect. But currently it appeared that after Zhao Zhixian and Tan Yuliang were released, Tanzhou had already been making preparations for the worst.
That both Shaozhou’s Zhao Sheng and Hengzhou’s Luo Jia sent sons to Tanzhou as hostages almost meant peaceful reduction of regional power with just one decree from Emperor Tianyou was impossible.
Although Han Qian hadn’t held much expectation for this, thinking of warfare about to break out and the Xiang-Hu region about to become a sea of blood, he felt inexplicably unable to bear it.
Of course, that Zheng Hui said such critical intelligence came from Ministry of Territory agents also revealed an extremely key piece of information—that the conspiracy to reduce regional power, Emperor Tianyou had already made known to Niu Gengru, Zhao Mingting, and others of the Anning Palace faction.
However, Han Qian believed in Emperor Tianyou’s current level of control. Anning Palace and the Crown Prince’s faction probably still didn’t dare make any moves.
“Xuzhou is much better than what we knew in Jinling. His Majesty’s secret edict is with Defense Commissioner. Please have Commandant Han and Administrator Zhang read it first, then we can discuss other matters,” Zheng Hui said.
Han Daoxun at this time drew from his sleeve the decree he had kept close to his body and handed it to Han Qian and Zhang Ping to read.
Zheng Hui had left Jinling in early September and still didn’t know the Han father and son had thoroughly controlled Xuzhou’s situation. Not until entering Qianyang City the other day did he learn Xuzhou’s situation was much better than he’d initially anticipated. But watching Han Daoxun hand over the secret edict, his heart still rose to his throat.
At this moment, Zheng Hui glanced at Feng Liao standing behind Han Qian. That Han Daoxun and Han Qian let the son of a rebellious minister participate in confidential matters in Xuzhou without any concern—he truly worried the Han father and son might defy the decree.
And if the Han father and son truly defied the decree, he and the court probably had no countermeasures.
Han Qian calmly read through this secret edict newly brought into Xuzhou by Zheng Hui together with Supervisory Commissioner Zhang Ping.
In this secret edict, Emperor Tianyou ordered that based on the original Xuzhou Defense Commissioner’s Office, a Wuling Military Defense Commissioner’s Office would be formally established. The region south of the original Langzhou’s Wuling County, the eastern and southern foothills of the Wuling Mountains, including the main counties under Chenzhou and Xuzhou’s jurisdiction—their military defense and other matters—would all be incorporated under Wuling Military Defense Commissioner’s Office jurisdiction.
Besides his father Han Daoxun continuing to serve as Defense Commissioner concurrently with Xuzhou Provincial Governor, Zheng Hui would serve as Wuling Deputy Defense Commissioner and replace Wang Liang, who had “suddenly died from epidemic disease” in late August, as Chenzhou Provincial Governor. Emperor Tianyou ordered that Xuzhou troops must escort Zheng Hui to take office in Chenzhou in the shortest time possible.
After reading the secret edict, Zhang Ping didn’t look at anyone but calmly returned the secret edict to Han Daoxun for safekeeping close to his body.