Han Qian’s words were somewhat harsh. Princess Qingyang didn’t much like hearing them, pouting her small mouth there in dissatisfaction. After pondering for a moment, Marquis Changxiang was quite clear in his heart that even at this stage, the marriage between Qingyang and Chu Prince of Tan Yang Yuanpu was not without variables. He bowed respectfully to Han Qian and said:
“On this journey to Shu, I will have to rely heavily on Minister Han to handle all parties.”
“The Marquis is too kind. Han Qian is merely a guest following the host’s convenience,” Han Qian returned the courtesy, then said, “By the way, I have one matter that greatly confuses me. When the Marquis was in Jinling, did you hear any news about why His Majesty would choose me as envoy to escort the bride?”
From the Prince of Tan’s Manor’s standpoint, perhaps Han Qian was indeed the most suitable to serve as wedding envoy. But Emperor Tianyou didn’t know he would die at any moment. Even if he wanted to select a minister from the Third Prince’s side as envoy to Shu, using this opportunity to increase the Third Prince’s faction’s power—in Emperor Tianyou’s eyes, shouldn’t Shen Yang be more suitable for this task than him?
Those who knew the situation understood that he was Yang Yuanpu’s most trusted close minister, actually ranking only below Marquis Xinchang Li Pu and Shen Yang. But those in Shu who didn’t know the situation—wouldn’t they think the Chu Emperor had casually sent some wet-behind-the-ears fellow as wedding envoy, not taking this marriage seriously at all?
This was the confusion that had troubled Han Qian’s mind these past several days. He thought that since Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong had proposed the marriage alliance on Shu’s behalf, having entered and exited the palace, he might have heard some rumors that couldn’t be detected from this side.
Seeing Han Qian ask directly about this matter, Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong answered: “When Emperor Tianyou summoned me, he also mentioned being quite troubled by the choice of wedding envoy. This marquis casually mentioned that Prefect Han of Xu is greatly talented and is also quite admired in Shu…”
Princess Qingyang glanced at Han Qian contemptuously, hoping he understood in his heart that her elder brother had initially very much hoped his father Han Daoxun could serve as envoy to Shu. Who knew what medicine the Chu Emperor had taken wrong—he ultimately chose the son to serve as envoy!
At this moment, Han Qian’s scalp secretly tingled. He could understand why Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong hoped his father would serve as wedding envoy.
Setting aside Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong’s misunderstanding, from other perspectives his father was indeed a suitable choice as wedding envoy. Even temporarily leaving Xuzhou for half a year to serve as envoy to Shu, with the Chief Clerk and Military Commissioner temporarily taking charge of Xuzhou affairs, wouldn’t be anything unusual. But why had Emperor Tianyou not accepted Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong’s suggestion and instead chose him as envoy to Shu?
At this moment, Han Qian secretly felt an impulse arising within—he should stop and first figure this out before going to Shu!
However, though Han Qian thought this in his heart, the steps of traveling upstream westward to escort the bride under imperial decree truly couldn’t be stopped.
Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong looked at Han Qian rather puzzled. He had originally thought that Han Qian, being able to serve as wedding envoy in his father’s place, should feel greatly honored and excited. But he saw in Han Qian’s eyes an alarm and suspicion that couldn’t be hidden.
Wang Yong thought to himself: What exactly is Han Qian worried about? What matter in Chu has he failed to see through?
At this moment, the fleet was about to pass through the famous Red Cliff Waterfall of Nanjin Pass Gorge. The flowing cascade poured out from deep within the thousand-foot-high red cliff wall. The river wind swirled chaotically, blowing spray everywhere, as if torrential rain was pouring down.
This section of river was only about a hundred paces wide. Han Qian and his party, not wanting to get drenched in this cold season, could only retreat into the ship’s cabin.
Xi Ren followed into the cabin. Seeing Han Qian standing by the porthole with a confused expression, she said: “What are you worried about?”
“Unable to fathom this layer of Emperor Tianyou’s thinking—there’s no way to feel at ease!” Han Qian smiled bitterly.
“Should we write a letter and send someone to Jinling for Feng Liao, to see if Feng Liao can uncover any clues?” Xi Ren asked.
“Feng Liao can only judge the precursors of upheaval from some traces. In all the world, there’s probably no one right now who can fathom Emperor Tianyou’s thoughts, is there?”
Han Qian sighed inwardly. Human capability had its limits. Feng Liao had only brought several people to lurk in Jinling. No matter how capable he was, there would be ceilings he couldn’t break through. His current information sources, even counting all the Jinyun Tower personnel deployed, were far inferior to Wanhong Tower, which had been laying groundwork for over ten years. Could he really expect Feng Liao to possess some superhuman abilities?
Han Qian rubbed his face with his hands, then said:
“Overthinking is useless. We should still focus on how to handle the assignment before us! That Wang Yong actually had the mind to encourage Emperor Tianyou to dispatch my father as envoy to Shu—he’s also someone restless!”
“However restless he is, what use is it? The true grand strategist is right before his eyes and nose, yet he wants to discard the son to seek the father! And Princess Qingyang clearly looks like someone spoiled since childhood, possessing only a bit of cleverness.” After three to four years at Han Qian’s side, Xi Ren’s horizons had broadened, and she spoke quite disdainfully of both Marquis Changxiang and Princess Qingyang in her heart.
No matter how much Xi Ren disdained Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong and Princess Qingyang, as long as Wang Yong had restless thoughts, he was like an egg with cracks—he must be properly exploited.
……
……
Deep within Mount Li in Weinan, peaks and ridges wound endlessly. It was now October, the winter season, and a snowfall had just passed. Viewing Mount Li from afar, it resembled a vast white dragon.
On Mount Li’s middle slopes, over a thousand armored soldiers were crossing a valley with narrow, rugged paths. The thousand-plus men and horses made only subtle rustling sounds.
If someone knowledgeable in military arts like Han Qian or Zheng Hui saw this scene, they would surely be greatly shocked. What kind of strict military discipline and training would enable a thousand-plus men and horses marching on such a remote, treacherous path to not make a single extraneous sound?
Occasionally a fine horse would snort, or one or two large birds crossing overhead would cry out, breaking the valley’s tranquility. The valley was long and deep, winding up and down, with a waterfall plunging from a hundred-zhang-high cliff, water splashing against mountain rocks with a gurgling sound.
Zhu Yu wore a blue-green robe, standing on a protruding stone platform, watching with considerable satisfaction as Deputy Commander Chen Kun led soldiers in training for traversing mountain paths.
It was precisely this kind of rigorously trained elite force that had achieved his reputation of remaining undefeated for ten years.
Actually, he couldn’t say ten years undefeated. The Jing-Xiang campaign had stopped beneath Xichuan City—that should count as his loss.
Although he hadn’t personally commanded the siege of Xichuan City, afterward he had reviewed the entire process of the Xichuan offensive and defensive battle. He felt that even if he had personally commanded outside Xichuan City, his chances of successfully capturing it could only increase by twenty to thirty percent, not reaching seventy to eighty percent confidence.
At this moment, several swift horses broke the valley’s solitude. A messenger rushed to Zhu Yu and handed over three wax-sealed messages, saying: “The dormant tigers from three locations have all sent secret reports. Please, Your Highness, review them!”
The dormant tigers infiltrating various places usually didn’t send messages even once a year. What kind of day was today that three dormant tiger intelligence reports were delivered to Mount Li?
“What news?” Chen Kun, as the most trusted of Zhu Yu’s trusted subordinates, had risked his life for Zhu Yu these many years and was qualified to know all of Zhu Yu’s secrets. So when he walked over to inquire, there was nothing to hide.
“The Chu Emperor actually dispatched Han Qian as envoy to Shu to escort the bride for Yang Yuanpu. Beyond the state gifts, he’s also privately carrying goods worth over a million strings of cash into Shu…” Zhu Yu frowned slightly and handed one wax capsule to Chen Kun to read while he opened the second one.
“Han Qian serves as envoy to Chu, wanting to unite Shu to attack Liang?” After reading the first wax-sealed message, Chen Kun was greatly shocked. He secretly felt that if Han Qian truly succeeded, their pressure in Guanzhong would be great.
“Chu and Shu occupy geographical advantages to resist our Great Liang forces. Even if Han Qian has this intention, there won’t be many Shu generals and ministers with such courage. No need to worry excessively. Rather than worrying about this, you should think more about why the Chu Emperor would select Han Qian as wedding envoy—this point is very strange!” Zhu Yu then handed the second wax-sealed message to Chen Kun.
Chen Kun also felt that the Chu Emperor dispatching Han Qian as envoy to Chu at this time had something strange about it, but after pondering for a while, he couldn’t figure it out. He lowered his head to read the second wax-sealed message and couldn’t help but sigh: “This Han Qian truly possesses talents approaching those of gods and ghosts. Your Highness should have kept him at Turtle Mountain back then. Otherwise, he may become Your Highness’s greatest obstacle to crossing the river and heading south!”
“He didn’t leak information afterward or reveal my whereabouts. If I had moved to detain him but wasn’t confident of success—if I moved but failed to keep him, wouldn’t that have been a joke?” Zhu Yu said with a smile. He felt not the slightest regret about not moving to detain Han Qian at Turtle Mountain back then.
Zhu Yu then broke open the third wax capsule, but after reading just a few lines of fine characters, his expression suddenly froze.
Chen Kun didn’t know what news the third wax-sealed message contained that could make His Highness’s expression so grave. He subconsciously started to lean over to look, but saw Zhu Yu tear the third wax-sealed message into shreds first and scatter them into the water pool.
At this moment, there was even a trace of ferocious pain on Zhu Yu’s face.
Chen Kun’s heart skipped a nervous beat. He had followed Prince Yong for so many years and had never seen Prince Yong with such an expression.
Zhu Yu took a deep breath, seemingly suppressing the inner turmoil with great effort, and said to Chen Kun: “Transmit my command: all Chengtian Guard secret soldiers lurking in Guanzhong prefectures and counties are to assemble at Funniao Ridge south of Tongguan Pass three days from now. There must not be any disturbance that alerts the local areas!”
The Chengtian Guard was a secret armed force that Prince Yong had cultivated outside the Xuanjia Capital, overseen and controlled by trusted subordinates like Chen Kun. The dormant tigers were also spies dispatched by the Chengtian Guard to gather intelligence and conduct deep infiltration operations.
Over these past two years, Prince Yong Zhu Yu had led the Xuanjia Capital in operating Guanzhong, so the Chengtian Guard’s secret forces had naturally also mainly transferred to Guanzhong. Without mobilizing the Xuanjia Capital, he was ordering all Chengtian Guard secret soldiers in Guanzhong to rush to assemble south of Tongguan Pass?
Seeing Prince Yong tear the secret message to shreds and scatter it in the water pool, Chen Kun no longer pursued what had happened. He immediately led several people to leave the valley, first exiting Mount Li to carry out the summoning of Chengtian Guard secret soldiers…