Although Princess Qingyang was in Jinling when Marquis Changxiang requested the marriage alliance, as the wedding envoy, one couldn’t simply escort Princess Qingyang from Jinling to Tanzhou and consider the matter settled.

If things were done that way, wouldn’t the Kingdom of Shu become the laughingstock of the realm?

The dignified daughter of a sovereign, who wouldn’t lack for marriage prospects, not only serving as a secondary consort to the Chu Lord’s son, but delivered to his doorstep early on?

Therefore, the wedding procession naturally had to go to the Shu capital to escort her back.

That Guo Rong was appointed to serve as envoy to Shu for the wedding was quite normal.

At the outset of preparations for the campaign to reduce feudal domains, Guo Rong had been kept in Jinling. Nominally, he was also an important official of what was originally the Prince’s Manor and was now the Prince of Tan’s Manor, and he was well-versed in court affairs.

Sending Guo Rong as envoy to Shu was making use of idle resources, since someone who understood court etiquette was indeed needed to take charge. However, even though they were welcoming the Prince of Tan’s secondary consort, Guo Rong was deeply connected to Anning Palace, so the wedding arrangements couldn’t possibly be led by him—thus another person needed to be chosen as chief envoy.

Han Qian had assumed that even if Marquis Changxiang proposed the marriage alliance recently, Emperor Tianyou would select someone from the imperial clan with sufficient standing, like Yang En, to serve as wedding envoy. He never expected that Yang En wouldn’t even be deployed this time, and that this assignment would fall to him instead.

“My lord, as one of His Highness’s trusted ministers, you’ve been appointed by His Highness to lead the mission to Shu to preside over the wedding. After His Highness marries, the abolition of the heir apparent and establishment of a new one will likely proceed, won’t it?” Xi Xunchao had been preparing to see Han Qian off from Linjiang to Longya City, but upon learning the messenger’s purpose, he said rather excitedly.

Han Qian’s heart was quite bitter.

In the eyes of outsiders, when the wedding envoy traveled to Shu, beyond the wedding itself, it would inevitably involve negotiations on further deepening the content of the Chu-Shu peace talks.

Emperor Tianyou hadn’t selected someone from the imperial clan or court officials, but instead chose a trusted minister from the Third Prince’s circle to serve as envoy to Chu—this clearly meant that the Third Prince’s side would lead the subsequent peace negotiation process.

This would also ensure that most of the benefits from the Chu-Shu peace talks, centered around the marriage alliance, would fall to the Third Prince.

In the world’s eyes, this was undoubtedly laying further groundwork for abolishing the heir apparent and establishing a new one.

However, Han Qian’s heart was bitter—Emperor Tianyou had only a few months left to live. Regardless of whether Emperor Tianyou issued an edict or not, the Third Prince couldn’t possibly ascend the throne as heir apparent in the proper sequence. What need was there for laying groundwork?

After bidding farewell to Xi Xunchao and the others, Han Qian and Zhao Ting’er, surrounded by their retinue, traveled by carriage along the official road on the east bank of the Sha River. Zhao Ting’er couldn’t help but ask, “Are you really going to the Kingdom of Shu?”

“Emperor Tianyou has issued the decree. Without extremely special circumstances, how can I disobey the imperial command?” Although Han Qian was also unwilling to accept this assignment, some matters weren’t his to decide.

“Then create some special circumstances,” Zhao Ting’er was no longer a serving maid. If Han Qian had official business, that would be one thing, but as Han Qian’s only “wife,” it would be inconvenient for her to follow him to the Shu capital. Deep down, she naturally didn’t want to be separated from Han Qian.

Disobeying an imperial command without reason was naturally unacceptable, but if some situation suddenly arose, even an imperial decree couldn’t be unreasonable about human circumstances.

Han Qian pondered for a moment, then said, “This time, someone close to His Highness definitely needs to serve as envoy. This will make it more convenient to negotiate certain conditions with the King of Shu, and we might even need to extensively bribe Shu’s civil and military officials!”

Zhao Ting’er asked, “Are you considering what happens after great turmoil breaks out in Jinling?”

“Yes!” Han Qian nodded and said, “If His Highness can gain the support of King Wang Jian of Shu, once great turmoil erupts in Jinling, with the Shu army’s support, His Highness could even directly order Zhang Xiang and Du Chongtao, who are guarding Jing-Xiang, to obey commands. At the very least, he could make Du Chongtao and Zhang Xiang hold the Deng-Xiang defense line, allowing the Longque Army’s elite forces to advance eastward without worrying about threats from behind!”

Zhao Ting’er nodded somewhat melancholically. From this perspective, choosing the right person to serve as envoy to Shu was quite important, and the choices were quite limited.

Since Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong and Guo Rong should arrive in Yueyang within the next few days, Han Qian first needed to rush to Tanzhou to meet with the Third Prince, then go to Yueyang to rendezvous with Wang Yong and Guo Rong. He didn’t have time to return to Qianyang to see his father again.

Xuzhou lacked horses, especially swift horses for battlefield charges.

Without enough swift horses for so many household troops to ride, Han Qian immediately had Kong Xirong lead the hundred troops who would accompany him to Shu to board ships directly from Linjiang County, circle back to Wufeng Mountain to exchange for two of the newest sailing warships, then proceed upstream. He himself would first go to Longya City to stay for a day and sort out affairs there, after which both parties would meet in Chenyang City before hurrying to Tanzhou to see the Third Prince.

He and Zhao Ting’er had been newlyweds for only three days, and he didn’t want to part ways directly in Linjiang County.

Although Longya City currently counted as Han Qian’s private property, the prefecture administration still maintained a Patrol Inspectorate there, stationed with three hundred elite soldiers. Besides suppressing bandits and capturing thieves, there were also tax collectors belonging to the State Market and Shipping Bureau specifically responsible for collecting transit taxes from merchants and travelers passing through the post road.

Longya City was extremely crucial. The appointed Patrol Inspector was also Dong Cheng, one of Han Qian’s direct subordinates who had followed him for several years.

Internal affairs of Longya City were handled by Chen Jitang, while control over the surrounding regions and surveillance of Chenzhou were Dong Cheng’s responsibility.

Han Qian, bringing Zhao Ting’er along, immediately summoned Dong Cheng.

North of Longya City was Jiming Stronghold, which controlled the Chen River—the most important tributary of the middle reaches of the Yuan River. Following the Chen River westward led to Mayang County in Chenzhou. Further southwest lay Sizhou, completely controlled by local indigenous magnates. From northern Sizhou, crossing over a hundred li of mountain ridges along the southern foothills of the Wuling Mountains, one could enter the Wu River basin. Following the Wu River downstream led to Yuzhou, a major southeastern town of Shu.

This route was extremely rugged, even more difficult than the currently unimproved Xuefeng Mountain post road, but it was the most important smuggling route for Sichuan salt entering the eight prefectures of Hunan, known among salt smugglers as the Wuling Trail.

Hundreds and thousands of salt smugglers walked this trail, secretly carrying sacks of sun-dried salt into the southwestern prefectures of Huxi such as Chen and Xu to sell. The strongholds of various sizes along the route had close relationships with salt smugglers to varying degrees. Additionally, since Sizhou was a nominal province not governed by the court, salt smugglers using this route had never been completely eliminated since the previous dynasty.

Initially, about one-third of the convict soldiers had been salt smugglers caught and imprisoned in the prefecture jail, so Han Qian was more familiar with this trail’s situation than other Great Chu officials. Some of Jinyun Tower’s scouts and spies who infiltrated Shu also found this route more discreet.

Of course, Han Qian’s initial interest in this trail stemmed partly from wanting to obtain well salt produced in southern Sichuan, and partly from wanting to export Xuzhou’s tea, medicine, cloth, and iron into the Kingdom of Shu. He never expected he would have the opportunity to serve as envoy to Shu.

Although he had previously sent seven or eight scouts to Shu to gather intelligence, Han Qian realized that for this trip, if he wanted to bribe Shu officials, having only seven or eight people lurking in the shadows to coordinate his actions would be severely insufficient. He summoned Dong Cheng to clarify the situation, then ordered Guo Que’er to lead a group disguised as cloth merchants and salt smugglers to infiltrate Shu first…

After arranging these people, Han Qian summoned Chen Jitang and others.

Besides serving as the crucial overland junction from Xuzhou to Chenzhou and Sizhou, Longya City was also Xuzhou’s iron smelting and weapons and equipment manufacturing center.

Comparatively, while various counties in Xuzhou had successively developed five coal fields near waterways, Longya City’s coal mainly satisfied internal needs and was no longer wastefully transported out of the mountains.

The iron smelting operation currently reached an annual output of eight to nine hundred thousand jin of crude iron and one hundred thousand jin of refined iron. However, as other parts of Xuzhou were building five additional iron smelting facilities beyond the current two small-scale operations, Han Qian would subsequently reduce Longya City’s crude iron production, increase refined iron capacity, and have more master craftsmen and workers focus on casting precision components.

Of course, so-called precision components were only relative to the current era.

During the Han and Wei periods, guide chariots and odometer chariots used very complex gear transmissions, but even now, gear components for hydraulic machinery like water-powered trip hammers, water mills, and vertical-sail windmills, as well as pulleys for lifting heavy objects, were still mainly made from hardwood.

One important reason was that refined steel was difficult to obtain and too costly, and precision castings were even more difficult to obtain.

During Han and Wei times, the manual technique for drawing gold and copper wire had matured, but drawn iron wire had never appeared.

On one hand, iron wire had poor ductility and a higher melting point, so the drawing process wasn’t mature enough. On the other hand, high-quality refined iron and refined steel were too expensive.

These were problems that Longya City needed to gradually overcome and solve.

For matters concerning the shipyard and weaving workshop, Han Qian mainly entrusted Ji Xiyao with responsibility, while for Longya City’s iron smelting operations and weapons workshops, Chen Jitang was mainly in charge.

Han Qian needed to reach Tanzhou to meet with the Third Prince before departing for Shu, so his time in Longya City was very short, and his time to communicate with Chen Jitang and the chief craftsmen was quite limited.

Regarding the special refined steel needed for casting the limbs of scorpion crossbows and scorpion ballistae, Chen Jitang and his team still hadn’t figured it out. Han Qian wasn’t anxious—in any case, he wanted them to never stint on costs when it came to internal training and exploration of craftsmen.

Every bit of progress here would not only develop manufacturing and engineering machinery and tools, but could also continuously widen the gap with adversaries in weapons and equipment production.

Han Qian stayed in Longya City for only one day before departing for Chenyang to rendezvous with Kong Xirong and Yang Qin.

Now that Zhao Ting’er had married Han Qian as a concubine, before Han Qian formally took a wife, she was the “young madam” and needed to lead Zhao Qi, Du Yijun, Du Yiming, Du Jiuniang, and others to remain in Longya City managing household affairs and consolidating their foundation.

Even if she accompanied Han Qian to Tanzhou, she couldn’t follow him on the mission to Chu, and staying in Tanzhou City would be even more idle.

Being newlyweds for only a few days before separation, Zhao Ting’er was naturally full of reluctance, but could only seize the limited time together for passionate intimacy.

Of the three hundred household troops, Han Qian ultimately took only one hundred twenty elite veterans to accompany him. Eventually meeting with two newly built sailing warships in Chenyang, there would also be naval soldiers and sailors totaling one hundred twenty, with Yang Qin personally leading them.

The remaining forces would either stay in Qianyang to serve at his father’s disposal, follow Zhao Ting’er to remain in Longya City, or be dispatched to Huaxi Stronghold to participate in improvements to the Xuefeng Mountain post road.

By the time Han Qian completed this circuit and returned to Tanzhou City to meet with Third Prince Yang Yuanpu, it was already October.

At such a time, not knowing when great upheaval might suddenly erupt in Jinling, Yang Yuanpu naturally didn’t want Han Qian to leave his side either, but the reason couldn’t be spoken aloud.

When Han Qian hurried back to Tanzhou City and entered the Prince’s Manor to see the Third Prince, Marquis Xinchang, Shen Yang, Zhang Ping, Wen Ruilin, Wang Lin, and others were naturally all present.

They all thought that after Shen He’s death by poisoning, they had secretly reported this to His Majesty through Yuan Guowei and Jiang Huo. The situation in Jinling should be completely under His Majesty’s control. The Third Prince’s marriage to Princess Qingyang and deepening the Chu-Shu peace talks would be an extremely important step for His Majesty to abolish the heir apparent and establish a new one. Having Han Qian serve as wedding envoy, leading his direct troops to the Shu capital to escort Princess Qingyang back to Tanzhou, would ensure this matter proceeded without a hitch.

Yang Yuanpu quickly lost his composure. He signaled for the evening banquet to end and everyone to disperse, keeping only Han Qian behind to talk:

“From here to Jinling, an express message takes only three to five days. Perhaps we could find an excuse to have Minister Shen substitute for Minister Han as envoy to Shu.”

Han Qian pondered for a moment, then said:

“If great upheaval occurs in Jinling, Your Highness will certainly need King Wang Jian of Shu’s support to have greater chances of victory. Minister Shen doesn’t know the full picture, and being overly upright by nature, he would likely be unwilling to privately bribe Shu officials to scheme for Your Highness’s position. It seems I must make this journey.”

Emperor Tianyou’s preference was for Tan Prince’s Manor’s direct ministers to serve as chief wedding envoy. Their side really had no excuse to decline. Therefore, only Marquis Xinchang Li Pu and Shen Yang could substitute for Han Qian as envoy, but neither of these two was suitable.

Shen Yang was stubbornly upright. Even if he supported the Third Prince’s ascension, he wouldn’t be willing to use underhanded tactics. Apart from Shen Yang and Han Qian, they surely couldn’t require the Third Prince’s father-in-law Li Pu to help with welcoming a concubine, could they?

“If Minister Han is in Shu and great upheaval has already occurred in Jinling, how should I respond?” Yang Yuanpu asked.

Traveling upstream from Yueyang through Jingzhou, Yiling, and Yuzhou westward, then north from Luzhou through Zizhou and Jianzhou to enter the Shu capital—though all connected by waterways, the winding route covered two thousand seven to eight hundred li. Moreover, after winter began with calm winds, shallow waters, dangerous shoals, and winding currents, even excluding time spent in the Shu capital, a round trip would take two months.

If drastic changes occurred in Jinling while Han Qian was in Shu, no matter how capable Han Qian was, he would be beyond reach.

Yang Yuanpu simply wouldn’t have time to send someone into Shu to consult Han Qian.

“Your Highness, in Tanzhou you have Minister Shen and Marquis Li as advisors—nothing serious will happen. But remember, regardless of the circumstances, even if His Majesty issues a decree summoning you, you must not lightly enter Jinling!” Han Qian said.

“If Father Emperor passes away and Chuzhou forces cross the river heading south, should I still not move?” Yang Yuanpu hadn’t expected Han Qian to leave him with a strategy of remaining immovable as a mountain, and asked hesitantly.

“At most, assemble forces in Ezhou, but advance not even half an inch further east,” Han Qian said solemnly.

Shen Yang, Marquis Xinchang Li Pu, and the generals all had different demands, not to mention those harboring ulterior motives. This would make the situation of the Longque Army’s eastern advance extremely complex. Han Qian thought that if the Third Prince merely assembled the Longque Army in Ezhou, he should have enough time to return and rendezvous with the Third Prince in Ezhou.

“Besides Gao Shao and Lin Haizheng, although Du Qiniang is the daughter of a criminal official, she excels at identifying medicinal poisons. I will also leave her at Your Highness’s side to attend to your meals. Among Tanzhou’s surrendered generals, Zhang Han is more trustworthy than Gao Xiang, Miao Yong, and Wen Ruilin. Should the situation become critical, Your Highness should summon Zheng Hui and Li Zhigao back to consult them. If their opinions align, you can act on them. As for the rebel forces retreating to Yongzhou, send someone to negotiate their surrender!”

Han Qian analyzed one by one for the Third Prince the situations Tanzhou might face, and which people could be trusted under what circumstances. Thinking of his own father, he specifically gave one more instruction:

“Furthermore, my father is of the same type as Minister Shen. Your Highness may consult him on matters of state and the people’s welfare, but do not ask him about schemes for the throne!”