After Han Qian finished plagiarizing the “Crossing the River Cloud” ci and silently read it through once to confirm he hadn’t copied any characters wrong, he turned his head to see Xi Ren’s beautiful eyes shining. He thought to himself that they say artistic youths can most easily sleep with girls—truly these words don’t deceive.
Han Qian placed the ink-dipped brush on the brush rest, rolled up the page with the copied “Crossing the River Cloud,” brought it to the candle flame to ignite, then tossed it into the copper basin.
“Why are you burning it?” Xi Ren snatched that page of paper as if it were treasure, extinguished the fire, and said coquettishly: “Your handwriting may be ugly, but this ‘Crossing the River Cloud’ has even more clear and beautiful elegance than Wang Yong’s several celebrated works.”
“…”
Han Qian hadn’t expected that Xi Ren had previously read Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong’s ci works and was a little fan of his. He thought to himself that fortunately he showed his skill tonight. Otherwise, if this shrew’s heart and soul had been seduced away by Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong in some kind of spiritual affair, wouldn’t he have suffered a great loss?
“What precious thing? These are merely trivial skills.” Han Qian said nonchalantly.
Xi Ren paid no attention. Much of the paper page was burned and the ci was incomplete. She had to hurry to complete it while she still remembered. Her handwriting was elegant—much prettier than Han Qian’s. She turned back to Han Qian and said: “Marquis Changxiang is also skilled in calligraphy and painting. You can’t compare in that, can you?”
Han Qian thought that writing beautifully and composing a few ci meant nothing, but reflected that young ladies and young wives still fell for this act. If Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong truly went to the paper-drunk and gold-obsessed, spring-colored Jinling, he would definitely gain a large following of fans.
Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong had only arrived at Hanshou with Yang En yesterday. At that time, news that Marquis Xinchang Li Pu had led forces to capture Tanzhou had just arrived. Han Qian’s mind had been full of other matters, and he hadn’t seriously considered the intentions behind Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong’s diplomatic mission.
After Yang Mi established his capital at Jinling and founded the state, he declared himself emperor. However, Shu King Wang Jian acknowledged the more powerful Liang state as overlord, but this was merely formal. In reality, Shu’s relationship with Great Chu was closer, and Shu was more vigilant toward Liang’s ambitions.
If the Third Prince, as he had now almost completely destroyed the Tanzhou rebel army, made Shu King Wang Jian worry that Great Chu would retaliate for the Shu army’s earlier threat and containment of Jingzhou forces, then sending an important figure as envoy to Chu for lobbying would be understandable. But when Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong boarded ships eastward with Yang En, Li Zhigao and others had only just entered the Yuan River, and the Tanzhou war situation was still in a stalemate.
Given the circumstances at that time, Great Chu was even more urgently seeking Shu army withdrawal from Yiling so that Zhang Xiang’s forces in Jingzhou wouldn’t be constrained. Shu King Wang Jian’s agreement to peace talks at that time was already the greatest goodwill toward Great Chu. There was completely no need to dispatch such an important figure as his second son Wang Yong as envoy to Jinling.
Was Wang Yong worried about persecution from his elder brother Wang Hongyi and proactively requested to serve as envoy to Jinling to escape that place of conflict?
And if the youth beside Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong truly was Princess Qingyang in disguise, then Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong’s embassy to Jinling also carried the purpose of a marriage alliance, to establish a more stable alliance between Chu and Shu?
Zhao Wuji had been away for over two months. Han Qian let him remain at Hanshou to accompany his sister Zhao Ting’er for a few more days. He summoned Xi Fa’er to the camp tent and asked: “On your journey back, did those three fake youths disguised as men beside Marquis Changxiang sleep in separate rooms from Marquis Changxiang at night?”
The fake youths beside Wang Yong might be Princess Qingyang in disguise, or they might be beauties Wang Yong brought along to comfort his lonely journey. Han Qian needed to clarify this point first.
“They slept in separate rooms. The other two fake youths disguised as men should be her maids.” Xi Fa’er had escorted Yang En and Wang Yong’s party all the way here and had observed many things, just hadn’t had the opportunity to report to Han Qian yet.
From the many details Xi Fa’er had discovered, it was more certain that the fake youth was Princess Qingyang. Han Qian thought inwardly that perhaps Princess Qingyang was unwilling to directly become a sacrificial piece in a marriage alliance, so she disguised herself and willfully accompanied her brother Wang Yong on his embassy to Jinling, wanting to see with her own eyes what her future husband would be like?
Of course, when Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong departed from Shu’s capital, Shu King Wang Jian probably hadn’t locked the marriage alliance target on the Third Prince, right?
Of course, Yang En was “old and cunning.” All along the way, he couldn’t have failed to notice the signs. But when he arrived at Hanshou and today met with the Third Prince at Baimao, he still hadn’t revealed this point. Clearly even at this time, he didn’t want to get involved in the vortex of abolishing the legitimate heir and establishing a new one.
Han Qian sighed softly and had Xi Fa’er go rest first. Some things were better left unsaid even when seen through.
The next day at noon, the several sunken ships at the Xiang River mouth had all been dragged to the shore beach. The Tower Ship Navy warships could now drive straight into the Xiang River. Everyone boarded ships and headed toward Tanzhou City.
Marquis Xinchang Li Pu also arrived early with Zhou Shu, Xi Ying and other generals to meet them at the foot of Yuelu Mountain:
“The city interior is still not entirely safe at this time. There are rebel soldiers hiding among civilians. For safety’s sake, Your Highness might temporarily stay in Yuelu Mountain. There’s a Daoist temple in the mountains built in the early years of the previous dynasty—shaded and cool to avoid summer heat. After the city interior is completely peaceful, it won’t be too late for Your Highness to enter the city.”
Tanzhou City had over a hundred thousand people. Although there was a certain gap with Jinling, it was also one of the rare populous great cities in the current age. Places like Qianyang, Yuanling, and Hanshou, so-called great prefecture cities, had only about ten thousand households within their walls.
Among the over hundred thousand people in Tanzhou City, some were relatives and disciples of the Ma clan and other Xiang-Hu aristocratic clans. A considerable portion were slaves and servants attached to the Ma clan and Xiangtan aristocratic families. The proportion of relatively free commoners wasn’t high.
Three days after Marquis Xinchang Li Pu led forces to occupy Tanzhou City, how many routed soldiers were hiding in the city at this time, and among local clan disciples how many had truly surrendered versus how many harbored treacherous intentions—this was still completely unclear. The city was full of motley characters, so it was indeed difficult to guarantee some incident wouldn’t occur.
Yang Yuanpu’s attitude toward his father-in-law who had achieved great merit was now somewhat warmer, but whether to temporarily stay in Yuelu Mountain outside the city—he looked toward Han Qian to solicit his opinion.
Han Qian noticed that Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong was paying attention to this small exchange between the Third Prince and himself. He secretly felt that Wang Yong might be far from simply someone who immersed himself in poetry and Buddhist matters to avoid his brother’s suspicions. He said to Marquis Xinchang Li Pu:
“Tanzhou has newly surrendered and people’s hearts are in panic—this is precisely when His Highness needs to enter the city early to pacify hearts. As for security matters, we must ask Marquis Li to be doubly careful.”
In the blink of an eye, autumn would arrive. The Tanzhou situation was settled. Shu and Chu would also reach a final peace agreement. The possibility of Liang forces launching a strong attack on Jing-Xiang from Caizhou after autumn was minimal. But who knew when trouble would erupt in Jinling? Han Qian naturally advocated that the Third Prince move directly into the former Tanzhou Military Governor’s residence now. The sooner they stabilized Tanzhou’s situation, the more advantageous for them.
Marquis Xinchang Li Pu was slightly stunned, but this time using Wen Rulin to seize Baimao City and quickly capturing Tanzhou, his achievements had suddenly become dazzlingly brilliant. Even if Han Qian contradicted his proposal slightly at this time, there was no displeasure.
At this time Han Qian turned to Wen Rulin standing behind Marquis Xinchang Li Pu and asked: “Does Scholar Wen not think His Highness should move into Tanzhou City as soon as possible?”
Having persuaded Gao Long to open the gates to let Chu forces attack and enter Baimao City, and having persuaded Miao Yong to assassinate Ma Zihua to welcome Marquis Xinchang leading forces into Tanzhou City—Wen Rulin could be said to have achieved great merit in rapidly pacifying the Tanzhou chaos. Han Qian believed that Marquis Xinchang Li Pu should be listening to and following Wen Rulin’s counsel at this time, so on the issue of the Third Prince’s temporary encampment, he should have also consulted Wen Rulin’s opinion.
Wen Rulin instinctively felt that Han Qian’s blazing gaze seemed able to see through people’s hearts. He subconsciously wanted to evade, saying awkwardly: “Whether to enter the city or not naturally has advantages either way. Everything depends on His Highness’s decision.”
“You are Wen Rulin?” Yang Yuanpu examined Wen Rulin with great interest and asked.
In Xiangzhou City, when Wen Rulin followed beside Ma Xun, he naturally had appeared before Third Prince Yang Yuanpu. It was just that at the time he hadn’t been able to leave any deep impression on Third Prince Yang Yuanpu.
“Wen Rulin pays respects to Your Highness!” Wen Rulin came forward and performed the kowtow ceremony to Third Prince Yang Yuanpu.
“Scholar Wen need not be overly courteous. Being able to quickly capture Tanzhou and spare Tanzhou’s million common people from the suffering of war’s chaos—Scholar Wen’s merit cannot be overstated. This prince has already memorialized Father Emperor to request merit for Scholar Wen.” Yang Yuanpu helped Wen Rulin up and warmly kept him by his side to speak. Under the introductions of Marquis Xinchang Li Pu, Zheng Hui and others, he met with Zhang Han, Gao Long, Miao Yong and other surrendered generals who had submitted.
For the Prince’s Mansion’s power to grow, Marquis Xinchang and the military officers and generals of the Longque Army system needed to develop. But relying on this alone was far from enough—they needed to continuously absorb new blood from outside.
Having successfully reduced Tanzhou’s feudal domain, the aristocratic clans of Tanzhou were the new blood the Prince’s Mansion needed to attract. Wen Rulin, Zhang Han, Gao Long, Miao Yong and others had already taken the lead in proving their position of making a clean break with their old masters without any sentimentality. Naturally they were also targets Yang Yuanpu wanted to recruit and win over at the first opportunity.
Only by absorbing enough new blood in Tanzhou and converting them into the Prince’s Mansion’s core forces would Yang Yuanpu truly possess the status and strength to stand on equal footing with Anning Palace, the Crown Prince’s faction, and Prince Xin.
Apart from Wen Rulin and Zhang Han, Han Qian definitely didn’t like Gao Long and Miao Yong.
After Marquis Xinchang Li Pu led forces to capture Tanzhou City, Han Qian had immediately dispatched the dozen-plus remaining agents in his hands into Tanzhou.
He was also guarding against someone taking advantage of chaos to cause trouble when the Third Prince entered the city.
Perhaps because Tanzhou’s fall came so unexpectedly to everyone, although the city interior was chaotic—in utter disorder—no one had yet plotted any conspiracy against the Third Prince. But yesterday Han Qian unexpectedly obtained one piece of intelligence: Gao Long’s wife and daughters had all been killed by riotous soldiers when Marquis Xinchang Li Pu led forces to attack the city.
Han Qian and Shen Yang had long ago suggested to the Third Prince that whether the Ma clan or other aristocratic clans in the city, as long as they didn’t resist violently, they should primarily be persuaded to surrender to quickly stabilize Tanzhou’s situation.
Even if there were subsequent purges and reckonings, they would wait for Emperor Tianyou to issue edicts ordering the relevant offices to be responsible. They couldn’t allow troops to kill indiscriminately.
Ma Zihua had been killed by his subordinate general Miao Yong. The garrison soldiers in Tanzhou City had splintered into factions and descended into chaos. In a short time, quite a few incidents of looting and rape had occurred. But Gao Long’s wife and daughters should have had guards with them—they shouldn’t have died so easily at the hands of riotous soldiers.
In fact, the vast majority of Ma clan disciples in the city, including the wives, concubines, and offspring of Ma Yin, Ma Xun and others, had all been detained by troops Marquis Xinchang Li Pu dispatched at the first opportunity.
That Gao Long’s wife and daughters died at the hands of riotous soldiers was very likely something Gao Long himself had instructed people to do. To put it bluntly, Gao Long himself wanted to clear the road for submitting to the Chu court and achieving success in Great Chu. After all, his wife and daughters carried the bloodline of the rebellious Ma clan.
For such a figure, Han Qian absolutely wouldn’t like him and would even be deeply vigilant in his heart. But he hadn’t caught solid evidence of Gao Long killing his wife and daughters, and couldn’t deny the great merit he’d achieved in rapidly capturing Tanzhou. So he couldn’t prevent the Third Prince from recruiting such a person into the Prince’s Mansion for employment.
Even if he tried to prevent it, how would Marquis Xinchang Li Pu allow him to manipulate things?
And Miao Yong was an adopted son Ma Zihua had raised since childhood—the commander of Ma Zihua’s personal guard battalion. Perhaps even in Ma Zihua’s dying dreams he wouldn’t have imagined Miao Yong would strike against him?
Of course, why Wen Rulin had been able to persuade Miao Yong to betray Ma Zihua—at this time Han Qian still hadn’t clearly investigated the reason.