In Mufu Mountain southeast of Yueyang, an old, weathered hermitage stood concealed among the mountain forests.
Wang Jixiong was buried in a valley not far from the hermitage. Wang Jun lodged within the hermitage to observe mourning and filial piety. Every day she either read books or took her maids to disassemble the two hand-cranked spinning machines brought up the mountain, studying textile dyeing methods. She lived freely and happily, feeling as if she were in a paradise beyond the mortal world.
Wang Jun, together with her maid Xiaocui, was washing newly dyed Qianyang cloth by the stream. Forest birds sang, occasionally mixed with the croaking of forest frogs, making her realize that the Beginning of Summer was approaching.
A nimble figure moved through the mountain forest and approached Wang Jun, bowing and reporting: “Prince Xin won a great victory at Baohua Mountain, using Marquis Xinchang Li Pu’s forces as bait to devastate the Southern Yamen Imperial Guards. Master Ziheng fears that Prince Tan might invite Han Qian out of retirement and possibly detain Miss, so he has ordered us to escort Miss away from Yueyang.”
“Never mind whether Yang Yuanpu will invite Han Qian over—Han Qian didn’t come to Yueyang before, and he won’t rush to Yueyang now. Besides, I’m just a weak woman. Why would they detain me?” Wang Jun picked up the wooden basin filled with dyed cloth and ignored the scout who had come to report. She led her maid toward the hermitage deeper in the valley.
The path to the hermitage passed by Wang Jixiong’s tomb.
Walking to her grandfather’s grave, Wang Jun saw that the reporting scout had already disappeared into the depths of the mountain forest. Of course, she could disregard Master Ziheng’s opinion, but if her father was worried that Yueyang would detain her and wrote a letter ordering the people here to take her away, would she still be able to remain among these mountains and waters?
And with Prince Xin having achieved victory at Baohua Mountain using Marquis Xinchang Li Pu’s forces as bait, the alliance with Prince Tan existed in name only. What would Han Qian’s reaction be upon learning this?
Would he come to Yueyang?
Although Wang Jun knew that the vast majority of people in Yueyang didn’t want Han Qian to come, if Han Qian truly wanted to come, no one could stop him. But would he come?
Or would he have other choices?
“Xiaocui, go notify Uncle Hua and tell him we’re packing our belongings to leave Yueyang.” As if to prove something, Wang Jun made up her mind and instructed her maid to notify the family servants guarding the valley entrance to protect them.
“Miss won’t observe mourning for the Grand Master anymore? You said you’d stay in Yueyang to observe mourning, but now you’re casually leaving—won’t that make you an unfilial person, Miss?” the maid muttered in surprise.
“I want to prove that Grandfather misjudged someone. Grandfather’s spirit in heaven will forgive Jun’er’s lack of filial piety.” Wang Jun smiled cunningly and urged the maid to quickly notify the family servants. She feared that if they delayed, Master Ziheng would receive her father’s secret letter and insist on sending people to protect her, which would make her activities less free.
……
……
Feng Liao had spent half a month in Yueyang, and his days had been quite comfortable. In just over ten days, he had been summoned four times by Prince Tan Yang Yuanpu to participate in deliberations, enjoying treatment almost equal to that of a minister. But when Lin Haizheng came running over to tell him about today’s deliberations in Chengyun Hall, Feng Liao broke out in a cold sweat.
He immediately felt he could no longer sit securely in Yueyang like an immovable mountain. He urgently packed his belongings, sent someone to notify Shen Yang’s residence, and that very afternoon hastily boarded a boat with his attendants to leave Yueyang and rush to Xuzhou.
What made Feng Liao so restless was not just the matter of Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan’s incredibly heroic devastating of the Southern Yamen Imperial Guards.
Although during the morning deliberations in Chengyun Hall, matters such as Li Zhigao’s transfer to serve as Governor of Ezhou hadn’t been finalized, today in Chengyun Hall, Prince Tan Yang Yuanpu had not said he would seek Xuzhou’s opinion on such an important matter, and even now Yang Yuanpu hadn’t sent anyone to summon him to the prince’s residence. This meant that the Zheng family and Marquis Xinchang’s household’s intent to squeeze Han Qian out of the core had already achieved preliminary results in such a short time.
Having detected such a critical change, how could Feng Liao possibly sit still?
Unfortunately, by late March and early April, the Yuan River had already risen, the current was swift, and with mountains blocking both sides, traveling upstream was even slower. Feng Liao didn’t reach Chenyang until the fifth day of the fourth month.
After arriving in Chenyang City, Feng Liao disembarked with his attendants, changed to horses, and headed west along the post road on the southern bank of Chen River toward Longya City.
When Feng Liao passed Jiming Stronghold, Madam Xi and Xi Chang and others were all at Jiming Stronghold.
Feng Liao first went to see Xi Ren and Xi Chang, and only then learned that Chenyang County Magistrate Yan Yinliang had arrived at Jiming Stronghold with over ten attendants, demanding that all Xi clan members withdraw from Jiming Stronghold and return the stronghold and nearby land to its original owners.
Speaking of Jiming Stronghold’s ownership, the Xi clan of Chenzhou had a bellyful of bitter tears.
Jiming Stronghold was located in the middle reaches of Chen River, surrounded by relatively open hilly areas suitable for cultivation.
Jiming Stronghold had been built by the Xi clan of Chenzhou and was the first stronghold the Xi clan of Chenzhou had built along Chen River within Chenzhou territory after splitting from the Xi clan of Xuzhou. However, the Xi clan, with Longya City (formerly Xi Stronghold) as their core, had once brought under their control all the land stretching south to the banks of the Yuan River, north to Chen River, spanning both Chenzhou and Xuzhou.
At that time, the Xi clan of Chenzhou had abandoned Jiming Stronghold and migrated east to take root in Xupu.
After the Xi clan was destroyed by Feng Changyu, the Xi clan of Chenzhou used the excuse that Jiming Stronghold belonged to Chenzhou to opportunistically reclaim Jiming Stronghold, and even appropriated large tracts of land including Laolong Gorge.
At that time, Xi Ying already had several sons showing their talents, and Feng Changyu, Yang Zaili, Xiang Jianlong, and others had no intention of competing with the Xi clan of Chenzhou for this land.
After more than ten years of development, the Xi family believed deep down they had completely absorbed this land and planned to annex even the old Xi Stronghold to the south. They never expected the Han father and son to enter Xuzhou.
And after the Battle of Laoya Col, the forces of the great clans of Chenzhou directly lost nearly three thousand elite tribal soldiers, and Jiming Stronghold fell under the control of the Wuling Army at that time.
Xi Ying later chose to submit to the court, accepting Zheng Hui’s command and leading the tribal battalion to participate in attacks on cities like Yuanling and Wuling. Xi Ying and his sons Xi Shesheng and Xi Shepeng were all granted prominent and important positions such as Chenzhou Military Commissioner, Xupu County Magistrate, and Chenzhou Tribal Battalion Military Commander. However, Jiming Stronghold never returned to the Xi clan’s hands.
On one hand, during the campaign to削藩, whether as adversaries in the early stages or as staunch participants supporting Jinling’s campaign in the middle and later stages, the casualties among Chenzhou’s local able-bodied men were too severe. Nearly one-third of the adult males died on the battlefield, and they were the most brave and battle-hardened group.
Even though Xi Ying and his sons, as well as representatives of other major local clan forces, saw their official positions in Chenzhou somewhat elevated and strengthened after the campaign, the major local clan forces had actually suffered enormous losses and couldn’t recover without ten to twenty years of rest and recuperation.
Even after the war, when Prince Tan Yang Yuanpu agreed that Chenzhou’s provincial battalion would use tribal soldiers, actually wanting to maintain the regular establishment of two thousand tribal soldiers would directly affect each family and stronghold’s farming, not to mention conscripting able-bodied men to build stronghold cities and roads and cultivate more fields.
This also led Xi Ying and other forces in Chenzhou to not actively raise the issue of Jiming Stronghold’s ownership for some time.
On the other hand, due to severe losses among their directly subordinate tribal soldiers, Xi Ying was forced to concentrate his limited forces within the Xupu Basin to ensure the Xi clan’s control over Xupu County.
Xupu County possessed the largest valley plain on the western slopes of Xuefeng Mountain, later known as the Xupu Basin. Currently, it had nearly one million mu of grain fields developed and a population of fifty to sixty thousand, with strength comparable to an entire prefecture like Sizhou.
The Xi clan of Chenzhou’s elite tribal soldiers had suffered severe losses in previous warfare and could currently only prioritize consolidating their foundation in Xupu. At this time, even if they demanded Jiming Stronghold back, it would only benefit other major clan forces in Chenzhou.
By the time this matter was delayed until Han Qian officially took office as Governor of Xuzhou, when Xuzhou had effectively become territory hereditary controlled by the Han family, Xi Ying realized that if they didn’t demand Jiming Stronghold back now, if time continued to drag on and Han Qian kept migrating people from south of Longya Mountain to fill in the area, it would become even harder to demand Jiming Stronghold back.
At this point, Xi Ying would rather benefit other major clan forces in Chenzhou than have to demand Jiming Stronghold back, to prevent Han Qian from extending Longya City’s reach into Chenzhou.
Of course, at this time Xi Ying couldn’t possibly use force to demand Jiming Stronghold. He mainly emphasized that Laolong Gorge was the officially designated border between the two prefectures and demanded restoration of Chenzhou’s administrative authority over Jiming Stronghold and surrounding areas. If that didn’t work, he would take the lawsuit to the Hunan Mobile Ministry of Personnel.
In response, Han Qian directly had Xi Chang lead over a hundred Xi clan households to move into Jiming Stronghold, emphasizing that the land near Jiming Stronghold was the Xi clan’s former territory.
This was what had happened in the nearly one month since Feng Liao had accompanied Cao Gan to Yueyang.
Today when he reached Jiming Stronghold, Chenyang County Magistrate Yan Yinliang—who also belonged to one of Chenzhou’s major clan force representatives—had just arrived at Jiming Stronghold with county officials, demanding that the Xi clan members immediately leave Jiming Stronghold.
Xuzhou had separate information transmission channels and had already learned about Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan’s devastating of the Southern Yamen Imperial Guards seven or eight days ago. However, it was only after Feng Liao returned that Xi Ren and Xi Chang learned of Yueyang’s reaction to this matter and the subtle changes in Yueyang’s attitude toward Xuzhou.
Xi Ren and Xi Chang deeply shared Feng Liao’s concerns. They immediately drove Chenyang County Magistrate Yan Yinliang out of Jiming Stronghold and rushed together with Feng Liao toward Longya Mountain to see Han Qian.
“I’ve been away in Yueyang for about a month now. What changes have there been here in Xuzhou?” On the journey, Feng Liao rode alongside Xi Chang and inquired about what had happened in Xuzhou over the past month.
Over this month, there were some things Feng Liao knew about—namely that Han Qian had already shipped the first batch of weapons and armor, along with four double-decked oared warships, to Songzi, waiting for Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong to send people to receive them.
Of course, what was exchanged for this batch of weapons and armor were bulk goods produced in Shu that were lacking in Xuzhou and the various prefectures of Qianzhong—a mutual exchange of what each needed.
However, the weapons and armor delivered to Sizhou had been completed even earlier.
As for more detailed cooperation arrangements with Sizhou, it wasn’t convenient to write directly in letters to Feng Liao who was far away in Yueyang. Only now did Feng Liao learn from Xi Chang’s account the more specific and detailed implementation of the cooperation between both sides.
In the early stage of the campaign, the three-thousand-man Xuzhou provincial battalion was reorganized as the Wuling Army to participate in early warfare. Just to control all of Xuzhou territory, they had successively eliminated Tanzhou forces that had infiltrated Xuzhou and the forces of major clans like the Feng family, then used military force against Chenzhou, capturing cities like Jiming Stronghold, Chenyang, and Yuanling.
The Wuling Army’s forces had expanded to over ten thousand men at one point through continuous military victories, and through casting and capturing equipment, the Wuling Army soldiers’ equipment had always been excellent and complete.
After the campaign, the Wuling Army was reorganized back into a local provincial battalion with an establishment of only three thousand men. The large surplus of weapons and armor were stored away—when the Dragon Sparrow Army captured Yueyang and Tanzhou, they had massive amounts of captured equipment and didn’t need to requisition ordinary weapons like swords, spears, and halberds from Xuzhou.
The stored weapons and armor were relatively inferior quality that Xuzhou planned to phase out in batches or planned to melt down as scrap iron for recasting. However, this equipment was quite excellent for Sizhou’s forces, which were mainly equipped with rattan armor and rattan shields. Han Qian simply sold all three thousand sets of weapons and armor to Sizhou at a discounted price.
Sizhou also moved quite quickly. The first batch of eight hundred stronghold slaves working to repay debt had already been assembled and sent to Longya City.
Han Qian naturally wouldn’t let these stronghold slaves remain within Xuzhou territory to work, but instead sent them all directly to Xuefeng Mountain to participate in Xuefeng Mountain’s Phase Two renovation project.
Apart from participating in labor at designated work sections each day, these eight hundred stronghold slaves were still supervised by people sent by the Yang family of Sizhou. Independent stronghold slave camps were established at various work sections, and clothing, food, tools, and other supplies were all directly allocated by Xuzhou’s Works Bureau to the supervising personnel.
For the second batch of stronghold slaves working to repay debt in the original plan, Han Qian proposed building a road between Jiming Stronghold and the Yang family of Sizhou’s Hujian Stronghold in the southeastern foothills of Wuling Mountain, with Xuzhou’s Works Bureau additionally dispatching six hundred recruited craftsmen to participate in road construction.
Hujian Stronghold, also known as Hujian Pass, was located between two dangerous peaks in the southeastern foothills of Wuling Mountain.
If the small road along the southern foothills of Wuling Mountain could pass through Hujian Pass, the route would be somewhat longer but much easier to travel.
At the same time, it could ensure that bulk goods departing from the eastern bank of Qian River, transported via the southern foothills of Wuling Mountain to Jiming Stronghold, and then from Jiming Stronghold into Longya City, would always remain under the Yang family’s surveillance.
Even if Han Qian didn’t propose it, the Yang family would hope that Hujian Stronghold could become a necessary passage for goods and merchants traveling between Xuzhou and Sizhou.
Hujian Pass was extremely dangerous. The canyon before and after could only accommodate three or four carriages abreast. With just three hundred elite troops stationed there, even an army of thousands couldn’t attack through.
Even building a passage from Hujian Pass to Jiming Stronghold would only make the road more level so that carriages and horses could barely pass through, and wouldn’t diminish Hujian Pass’s strategic military importance.
Therefore, even though Jiming Stronghold—which formerly belonged to the Xi clan of Chenzhou—was actually still under Xuzhou’s control, Sizhou wouldn’t worry that Xuzhou had ulterior motives.
Apart from trade with Sizhou and various normally progressing work projects, over the past month they had been wrangling with Chenzhou and Chenyang County over the Jiming Stronghold issue.
Currently, they had already moved over a hundred Xi clan households into Jiming Stronghold to settle. In the short term, they didn’t fear that the major clan forces led by the Xi clan in Chenzhou would dare resort to military force—with Jiming Stronghold serving as a crucial junction connecting Chen River, Sizhou, the small road along Wuling Mountain’s southern foothills, Hujian Pass, and Longya City, especially since it was already under their actual control, they wouldn’t yield it to anyone under any circumstances.
“You certainly haven’t been idle. I’ve been somewhat ineffectual in Yueyang,” Feng Liao said with some shame.
He thought to himself that had he known this would happen, after accompanying Cao Gan to Yueyang and meeting with Prince Tan Yang Yuanpu, he should have returned directly to Xuzhou to do practical work, rather than becoming complacent and thinking he could be more useful in Yueyang just because Prince Tan Yang Yuanpu had summoned him several times to discuss matters.