The grand camp arranged lodging for Han Qian near the Third Prince’s main tent – a low wooden hut built from felled timber, covered with waterproof cloth and thatch on top. The conditions were quite crude, but there was no helping it.
It was already the fourth month. Inside the tent without windows, when the curtain was lowered, it became somewhat stuffy and hot.
Entering the sweltering summer, continuous overcast rain and miasma epidemics that easily erupted in the hot humidity had always been major taboos in military operations.
Everyone hoped for torrential rain north of Nanyang to slow the Liang Army’s southward assembly, but at the same time worried that if the area outside Yueyang City became all muddy, warfare could only be delayed further. They also had to carefully guard against the possibility of large-scale miasma outbreaks in the camp.
However, when Han Qian entered the grand camp, he saw that weeds and trees had all been cleared away. Besides drainage ditches, seepage wells for collecting filth had been dug at the four corners of the camp. Lime was used on a large scale to drive away and kill mosquitoes. Behind the camp facing the slope, they even went to great lengths to dig wide moats to prevent large amounts of muddy water from rushing down during rainstorms, when the trenches could divert it to the riverbank several li away. This showed Shen Yang’s rigorous camp management. Even if he was somewhat conservative in military operations, he was a capable commander who could set minds at ease.
When Han Qian walked into the tent, he saw Xi Ren had removed her leather armor and changed into a ru skirt, her face fair and charmingly beautiful. But there were two additional beautiful courtesans in the tent who were quite an eyesore.
Needless to say, these were arranged by the Third Prince to serve him.
Though the tent was crude, wooden planks covered the floor, and the tables and couch tables were exquisite. Xi Ren was already leisurely sitting before the table brewing and drinking tea by herself. Seeing Han Qian arrive, she showed no awareness of serving him and called out: “The tea the Third Prince had people deliver is quite clear and refreshing – come try it.”
Han Qian sat down and drank tea with Xi Ren for a while, then Shen Yang came to visit.
At this point Xi Ren put away her languid posture and knelt to serve tea at the side.
“Zhigao wants to lead troops to join forces with you. When Jiang Huo went to Yuanling, it was to ask you and Zheng Hui about this matter. You came here specially, so Jiang Huo must have also told you our opinions?” Shen Yang got straight to the point upon entering. “You hope His Highness can succeed to the throne, so you probably don’t want any more complications, right?”
“Has your mind been set at this time, sir?” Han Qian asked Shen Yang with a smile.
“Avoiding complications is Great Chu’s fortune and the state’s fortune,” Shen Yang said.
Shen Yang had always been unwilling to involve himself in succession struggles, mainly because the Third Prince was too young at the time and had been raised in seclusion within the palace since childhood. At that time, he believed that replacing the Crown Prince with the Third Prince would only bring greater turmoil to Great Chu.
The Crown Prince was unworthy, but there was the Crown Prince’s son to look forward to.
At that time he had leaned more toward the court’s efforts needing to focus on reducing and limiting the Xu clan’s power.
But subsequent developments completely exceeded his expectations, and he was not a stubborn person who didn’t know how to assess the times and adapt.
After the Jing-Xiang warfare, the Prince’s Manor truly gained a foundation. If they could successfully reduce Tanzhou’s domains on this campaign, the succession struggle would be settled. For the Third Prince to replace the Crown Prince would be more beneficial to Great Chu, so naturally he would spare no effort in support.
Precisely because of this, Shen Yang did not advocate using risky methods.
The Dragon Sparrow Army had painstakingly assembled twenty thousand elite combat troops over these years. This would be the foundation for making the Crown Prince and Prince Xin submit.
Han Qian pursed his lips. Shen Yang had talent for practical statesmanship, but was not skilled at strategic planning. This was perhaps related to his temperament, which also determined that he was unlikely to notice abnormalities within Jinling City.
If Emperor Tianyou suddenly kicked the bucket in Jinling before they had taken down Tanzhou, that would be when great disaster truly struck.
But this was something he couldn’t say to anyone.
“To prevent our army from competing for them, the rebel forces have driven all villagers outside Yueyang City into the city. If Marquis Liyang’s mission to Shu can successfully negotiate peace, this is advantageous to us. Yueyang City thinks that by bordering the lake and river, they can communicate with Tan and Lang provinces and won’t worry about grain routes being cut off. But Marquis Zhenyuan doesn’t know Dongting Lake’s water conditions now and hasn’t realized that they won’t be able to figure out Dongting Lake’s water conditions for the next three to five months. By then hundreds of thousands of people will be trapped in Yueyang City, and when grain runs out in winter, we might be able to take it without losing a single soldier. But would you truly be willing to see Yueyang filled with starving corpses and mountains of remains, sir?” Han Qian stared at Shen Yang and asked.
Han Qian’s words could be said to pierce the heart with every sentence. Shen Yang prided himself on loving the people like children and fell silent, unable to respond.
In fact, what Han Qian described was the most orthodox and secure warfare method. And if they truly trapped Yueyang City until it filled with corpses, Tanzhou, Langzhou, Shaozhou, and Hengzhou would no longer have any resistance capability.
On the battlefield, human lives were like grass and weeds. But Shen Yang found it hard to face such a devastating outcome.
“Wuling City is sturdy but small, unable to accommodate many troops. Ma Rong learned a hard lesson defending Yuanling City. If we can transfer ten thousand elite forces to Yunpan Ridge, the rebel forces will be compelled by circumstances to engage us in field battle. After defeating them we can take Wuling City, and our forces everywhere can directly enter the rebel territory’s heartland. At that time, even if the Ma family still wants to resist to the end, how many of Tanzhou’s powerful clans will still accompany them to their deaths?” Han Qian said. “Though this strategy is risky, once it succeeds, the rebel forces at that moment may only have the option of surrendering the city and begging for their lives. Tanzhou could fall without battle. You won’t need to see corpses strewn across rebel territory, and won’t need to worry about the Liang and Shu states’ movements!”
Shen Yang remained silent for a long while, then said: “Marquis Zhenyuan may not agree to use risky methods.”
Yang Jian was the commander of the Tower Ship Army. If he firmly opposed it, ten thousand elite forces could hardly swim across Dongting Lake to enter the Yuan River.
“Then please accompany me to meet Marquis Zhenyuan together, sir,” Han Qian stood up and said.
“Very well. The night is already deep today. Tomorrow I will go with you to meet Yang Jian,” Shen Yang nodded in agreement.
The Tower Ship Army naval forces’ camp was located in a lake inlet that curved southward between the Western Mountain Grand Camp and Yunxi Post Station. At the narrow lake mouth, wooden stakes had been driven in to serve as fort walls, leaving a gate seven to eight zhang wide for naval warships to enter and exit.
Over a hundred warships large and small were moored on the water camp’s lake surface. On the shore by the lake were also over a thousand tents for naval officers and soldiers to rotate ashore for rest and reorganization.
When Han Qian and Shen Yang arrived at the water camp station to visit Yang Jian, they also took the opportunity to observe the naval officers’ and soldiers’ drills.
Yang Jian at this time led the Tower Ship Army on campaign with five Five-Tooth Tower Ships.
The Five-Tooth Tower Ships were the largest warships of this era. Even with square bows and flat bottoms, their draft was nearly one zhang deep. Their most distinctive feature was having five levels of tower cabins, and above the fifth deck was an observation tower for scouting enemy situations and commanding.
The Five-Tooth Tower Ships were oared vessels without sail masts. They had two levels with sixty large oars to drive the ship close to the enemy for combat. They had battlement crenellations, and their hulls stretching thirteen to fourteen zhang long and rising four to five zhang above the water surface were like behemoths when stopped on the lake.
Yang Jian led Han Qian and Shen Yang aboard a Five-Tooth Tower Ship to gaze out at the lake and river, asking without showing emotion: “Lord Shen and Commandant Han came here – it’s not just to observe this Five-Tooth Tower Ship, is it?”
“Dividing troops to Chenzhou, using the Yuan River’s rapids, holding the high ground to strike Wuling – what does Marquis Yang think of this matter?” Shen Yang asked.
Yang Jian looked at Han Qian in surprise twice, not expecting that Shen Yang, who had always not advocated using risky methods, would be persuaded to change his mind after just one day of Han Qian arriving at the Yuedong Grand Camp?
“Dongting Lake has surging waves, with enemy ships converging from all sides – it’s too risky.” Regardless of whether Shen Yang had been swayed by Han Qian, Yang Jian as an imperial clan general did not need to condescend to be perfunctory. He directly stated his opposition.
He commanded the naval forces. Without his agreement, even if the Dragon Sparrow Army wanted to swim into the Yuan River, he would have nothing to say about it.
“The Tower Ship Army naval forces are not slightly weaker than the Tanzhou naval forces. Without getting entangled in lake battles, going directly through the main navigation channel into the Yuan River – if the Tanzhou naval forces dare to come entangle us, it will be they who suffer more defeats than victories. What does Marquis Yang fear?” Han Qian asked.
“Naval warships are mainly oared vessels – they have difficulty with sudden long-distance sailing…” Yang Jian had his realistic difficulties to consider. Taking the Five-Tooth Tower Ship under their feet as an example, with sixty large oars, in a short time the oarsmen could bring the ship speed up faster than even fast sailing ships. But this could not be sustained for long.
The maximum ship speed could probably only be maintained for half a shichen before the oarsmen would be exhausted. After that they could only proceed slowly at a much lower speed.
From Yueyang’s lake mouth southward, entering the Yuan River from the Yuan mouth and going upstream to Yunpan Ridge – five hundred li by water – the average ship speed would actually be far slower than fast sailing ships.
At that time, even if the Tanzhou naval forces kept dispatching warships to harass and raid, the entire fleet forcing through the blockade line would suffer losses difficult to control.
“Xuzhou has built twelve war sailing ships. As long as there’s need, they can force through the Tanzhou naval forces’ blockade at any time and rush to join the Yuedong Grand Camp. At that time, please have Marquis Yang concentrate the war sailing ships to transport troops into the Yuan River,” Han Qian said.
Han Qian naturally had considered the problem that the Tower Ship Army’s main warships were not suited for fast long-distance sailing. His solution was for the Tower Ship Army to concentrate the war sailing ships suited for long voyages, while Xuzhou’s water forces would have twelve war sailing ships rush over to join them, jointly transporting ten thousand elite forces into the Yuan River.
War sailing ships used sails and masts to harness wind power for long-distance travel. For short-distance sprints, they relied on oarsmen operating large oars to drive the vessels forward at faster speeds to engage enemy ships in combat.
Therefore, Han Qian had always disdained Five-Tooth Tower Ships like these that looked spectacular but were too restricted in use during naval warfare yet were extremely costly.
Yang Jian pondered but remained silent.
Han Qian stared at Yang Jian, seeing his short mustache above his lips. He was clearly shrewd and capable, and indeed was truly Great Chu’s most outstanding naval commander.
When Yang Mi became emperor in Jinling, the Yang clan became the imperial clan. Among the imperial clan’s sons were officials like Yang En and Yang Zhitang. But among those currently most trusted by Yang Mi, Yang Jian who commanded the Tower Ship Army could definitely be counted as one.
Yang Jian was only forty-five this year, in the prime of life. He ordinarily followed Emperor Tianyou Yang Mi’s lead and did not associate much with the Crown Prince, the Palace of Peace and Tranquility, or Prince Xin. In many people’s eyes, no matter who became the new emperor in the future, Yang Jian would have a position as a pillar minister.
Seeing Yang Jian silently remaining quiet, Han Qian asked: “There’s something I don’t know if I should ask?”
“Commandant Han, please speak frankly,” Yang Jian said.
“If His Highness pacifies the rebel forces, how likely does Marquis Yang think it is that His Majesty will use His Highness to replace the Crown Prince?” Han Qian directly asked this most sensitive question. Of course, he didn’t expect Yang Jian to answer directly. He answered his own question: “Marquis Yang is someone His Majesty views as a pillar of the imperial clan. If when suppressing Tanzhou’s rebellion, Marquis Yang is not actively establishing achievements, perhaps His Majesty will think Marquis Yang has other calculations in mind!”
“These are words that pierce the heart!” Yang Jian’s eyes suddenly widened, staring at Han Qian with anger. Someone of his stature – how could he be willing to be threatened by someone like Han Qian?
“Perhaps these words do pierce the heart, but I once said similar words to Feng Wenlan, and Feng Wenlan’s reaction at that time was no different from Marquis Yang’s!” Han Qian laughed it off with a chuckle, completely unfazed by the anger Yang Jian displayed.
Han Qian spoke conservatively and implicitly before the Third Prince, but whether coaxing, deceiving, threatening or enticing, he had to get Yang Jian to agree to deploy troops!