This compound where the Feng family had once secretly stored their wealth was located deep in the northern foothills of Maoshan, surrounded by high mountains and deep valleys. The valley ahead was relatively open and could accommodate a slightly larger force of troops, with passages leading to Damao Peak and Leiping Peak in the middle foothills of Maoshan.

The valleys near Damao Peak and Leiping Peak were also the main gathering places for the forty to fifty thousand women and children. Han Qian stationed the main force in the northern foothills, not fearing being besieged in the northern valley by a small number of elite troops with nowhere to advance or retreat. Once enemy forces sent elite troops around to attack the women and children in the middle and southern foothills, he could also promptly send reinforcements through the mountain’s narrow paths.

Before the Chuzhou Army and Anning Palace had further reactions, Han Qian planned to use this compound as his temporary command post to reorganize the troops. This way, they could also utilize the middle and southern foothills of Maoshan behind them as strategic depth, reducing some of the pressure.

Seeing that night had deepened, Han Qian directly designated an independent courtyard on the west side to imprison Wang Jun and her two maid servants. He also had Shi Ji select ten trustworthy strong women to watch over the courtyard inside and out, but he still had no way to stop and rest.

Although Maoshan’s terrain was usable, it was after all not a grand, magnificent mountain like Xuefeng Mountain or Wuling Mountain with treacherous passes where one man could hold off ten thousand.

In Maoshan, where the highest peak was only a hundred zhang tall, using three thousand remnant troops to protect the safety of nearly fifty thousand women and children—the difficulty of this could well be imagined, especially when both Anning Palace and Chuzhou, enemies twenty to thirty times more powerful, were close at hand.

Currently, Jiangcheng City controlled by Anning Palace and the Shouzhou Army was only thirty li from the northern foothills of Maoshan. Danyang City, which they had captured today and burned with a great fire, was over fifty li northeast of the northern foothills of Maoshan. Jingshan Nunnery where the Chuzhou Army vanguard was located was about forty-plus li from the northern foothills of Maoshan. Dantu City where the Chuzhou Army main force was stationed was over seventy li from the northern foothills of Maoshan, while Jinling City was about eighty li from the northern foothills of Maoshan.

At such close distances, Han Qian leading three thousand remnant troops and nearly fifty thousand women and children could be said to be right at the mouths of two vicious dragons. If either side pounced fiercely, even if they couldn’t immediately kill Han Qian and his people, they would leave them covered in wounds.

Currently, besides the three thousand remnant troops, Han Qian had selected three thousand strong women and three thousand youths aged twelve to fifteen from among the women and children to form women’s battalions and youth battalions.

The military households of Taowu Ji were all born as refugees, mostly from the Jianghuai region, displaced by war and chaos. The tough folk customs and hellish years of suffering had made the military household women fierce, brave, and resolute, unafraid of life and death.

The military households of Taowu Ji had long been managed in a semi-militarized manner. Selecting physically strong, fierce and tough women for armament, their combat power was not necessarily much weaker than ordinary provincial battalion soldiers.

With only three thousand remnant troops, they couldn’t defend Maoshan by staying put. Whether requisitioning grain or expanding their momentum, they would need to leave Maoshan in batches to raid prefectures and counties. Han Qian would inevitably need the women’s battalions and youth battalions to supplement the insufficient guard forces inside Maoshan.

Regardless of Kong Xirong and Wei Chang’s aggrieved expressions, Han Qian designated them to command the women’s battalions and youth battalions, designated Guo Nu’er to handle scout reconnaissance matters, and had Zhao Wuji, Yuan Guowei, and Dou Rong, who served as deputy battalion commander in the Shaozhou Army, each command eight hundred remnant troops, while Shi Ji and Xiao Dahu commanded the personal guard battalion with a strength of five hundred men.

Although officers from Marquis Xinchang’s Mansion and some junior officers were eliminated, Han Qian had initially brought fifty men from Xuzhou, plus selecting a batch of veteran soldiers with rich combat experience from the military households to serve as junior officers. Yuan Guowei also had over twenty elite scouts from Jinyun Tower who had withdrawn from Jinling. The organization of the three thousand remnant troops, women’s battalions, and youth battalions was barely maintained.

That night, Han Qian distributed the armor and war machines hidden in the compound’s secret vault, and still had to seize every minute and second to fell bamboo and wood, manufacture bamboo spears and wooden pikes, construct wooden walls and bamboo palisades as well as caltrops and chevaux de frise, and dig trenches at valley mouths and other places with flat terrain that were easy to attack…

Without the staff team led by Feng Liao and others, and with Zhao Wuji, Yuan Guowei, Kong Xirong and the rest needing to use all available time to quickly familiarize themselves with their subordinates and seize time for training, Han Qian could only personally handle the many arrangements involving defense, logistics, and other matters.

After seizing military authority from Li Pu’s hands, Han Qian hadn’t really closed his eyes. When tired, he would only rest briefly in his clothes against a wall or couch.

Li Pu and Chen Mingsheng occupied a courtyard compound on the east side. After nightfall, they simply went in to rest, but tonight Han Qian was also destined not to dare slack off in the slightest. Only after daybreak did he close his eyes to rest his spirit for a while, leaning in his clothes against the bed.

But he felt he had barely closed his eyes when, hearing footsteps moving outside the room, he was startled awake again. Looking through the window, he saw the sun had already climbed to the treetops. He hadn’t expected what he thought was “a while” to have let him sleep for nearly a full hour.

Seeing Shi Ji cautiously peering in, looking like he had matters to report but feared disturbing him, Han Qian vigorously rubbed his face and asked, “What is it?”

“A group of troops, about three hundred cavalry, claiming to be mansion guards from the Prince of Zhedong’s Mansion in Hongzhou, arrived near the western foothills of Little Mao Peak a stick of incense ago, requesting to see you, my lord. Marquis Xinchang and Chen Mingsheng rushed to Little Mao Peak first!” Shi Ji said.

Li Yu’s men?

Han Qian was slightly stunned, his brain somewhat sluggish. For a moment, he couldn’t figure out how three hundred cavalry mansion guards from the Prince of Zhedong’s Mansion had suddenly appeared across a thousand li at the northern foothills of Maoshan at this time. But Li Pu, as Li Yu’s blood brother and subordinate general, had rushed with Chen Mingsheng to Little Mao Peak, so these people’s identity should be genuine.

“These people are certain they want to see me, and didn’t propose to see Li Pu?” Han Qian asked.

“Yes, they were intercepted by our sentry post stationed at Little Mao Peak and immediately named you specifically, requesting to see you, my lord.” Shi Ji said very definitely.

At this moment, Yuan Guowei walked in. Hearing Shi Ji mention that three hundred mansion guards from the Prince of Zhedong’s Mansion had arrived at Little Mao Peak, he was also extremely puzzled and asked, “Isn’t the Prince of Zhedong’s Mansion being watched by Yang Zhiyuan? How could mansion guards come to Maoshan? Should we transfer a squad of troops over…”

Yuan Guowei worried that if the prince’s mansion’s three hundred guards joined with Li Pu and his men, Li Pu might think about retaking military authority, and was considering transferring a squad of troops over just in case.

Han Qian gazed at the peaks to the south, understanding somewhat in his heart. He shook his head and said to Yuan Guowei, “Li Yu may also be in Maoshan.”

“…How can you be certain?” Yuan Guowei asked in shock.

As a veteran soldier who had followed Emperor Tianyou in campaigns north and south in his early years, Yuan Guowei had naturally long witnessed the bearing of Great Chu’s foremost general. He just couldn’t imagine that Li Yu was now in Maoshan.

Yuan Guowei, as a practical old clerk, was competent at handling Jinyun Tower’s daily work. Even approaching sixty, he had no problem supervising a battalion charging into battle. But he and Jiang Huo hadn’t managed to grow into high-ranking generals of Great Chu in their early years. In terms of overall strategy, they truly were not equal to high-ranking generals and commanders of the caliber of Zheng Hui and Li Zhigao, or even Gao Chengyuan, Guo Liang, Tian Cheng and others, let alone to be mentioned in the same breath as Han Qian.

So at this moment, he still completely couldn’t figure out how Han Qian was certain Li Yu had already left his Hongzhou residence, that his men were very likely in Maoshan at this time, rather than the prince’s mansion guards being ordered to come directly to serve Marquis Xinchang Li Pu.

“Shi Ji just said they came directly asking for me by name, indicating they’ve been lurking near Maoshan for more than a day or two. Li Yu probably also saw through Wang Wenqian’s siege strategy!” Han Qian explained briefly.

Yuan Guowei thought about it—these people had been lurking nearby all along, not coming to serve Li Pu. Moreover, they knew Han Qian had seized military authority from Li Pu and that there had been no armed conflict. Besides Prince of Zhedong Li Yu having such magnanimity, who else could do this?

Yuan Guowei asked again, “Where does Lord Han think Prince Li might be hiding in which Daoist nunnery? I’ll lead men over to invite him to meet.”

“Since Li Yu isn’t showing himself, he has his reasons for not showing himself. What are we forcing him to reveal himself for?” Han Qian said. “Let’s go meet the mansion guards Li Yu sent…”

Although Li Yu had handed over military authority very early, as an enfeoffed prince who had returned to his Hongzhou residence to live in seclusion, the prince’s mansion maintained a battalion of elite mansion guards year-round as Li Yu’s private retinue, only responsible for guarding the prince’s mansion and the Li clan, not subject to local prefectural government restrictions.

This battalion of elite mansion guards was also the youth army Li Yu had carefully cultivated during these years of retirement and seclusion. Their combat power was so strong that it absolutely couldn’t be measured by ordinary elite cavalry.

Han Qian didn’t presume this elite cavalry would follow his commands, but as long as they remained near Maoshan to coordinate in battle, they could share a considerable portion of the pressure for them.

…

…

“Xiu’er, Qi’er, when did you arrive in Jinling?”

Seeing his nephew Li Xiu and his youngest son Li Qi, who had been sent to Hongzhou for fosterage many years ago, standing before the mountain holding horses’ reins, Marquis Xinchang Li Pu’s eyes filled with tears of excitement. These past days he had been bullied terribly by that dog thief Han Qian. Thinking of the grievances of recent days, he couldn’t help saying in a trembling voice:

“If only you could have come four or five days earlier.”

Chen Mingsheng was also extremely excited, thinking that if Li Xiu and Li Qi had led the prince’s mansion’s three hundred elite guards here five days earlier, when Han Qian dared to seize military authority, they could have immediately hacked him into mincemeat. But even now didn’t seem too late. He secretly tugged at Li Pu’s sleeve.

There were only three hundred remnant troops on the western foothills of Little Mao Peak, and Han Qian only had about a hundred personal guards with him. They could completely bring the three hundred mansion guards to barge through, charge directly to the compound, control that fellow Han Qian, and retake military authority.

However, Chen Mingsheng didn’t notice Li Xiu’s embarrassed expression when facing Li Pu’s questioning.

“We actually arrived long ago, but Uncle and Brother Xiu arrived in Jinling first, while I was told to lead men to hide in Jilong Mountain. Only last night was I notified to lead the mansion guards to Maoshan to meet you, Father.” Li Qi looked aggrieved. Disregarding Li Xiu’s earlier warnings, he directly revealed that Uncle Li Yu was nearby, just hiding in the deep mountains without showing himself.

Marquis Xinchang Li Pu was shocked beyond measure, staring at Li Xiu in disbelief and asking, “Your father also came? Where is he?”

Li Xiu looked embarrassed and said, “Father won’t let me say where he is. He only ordered me and Li Qi to come and do our utmost to help Han Qian defend Maoshan!”

At this moment, Marquis Xinchang Li Pu felt completely as if someone had punched him in the chest. He sat down dejectedly on a fallen tree stump nearby.

If Wang Jun hadn’t exposed the Chuzhou Army’s siege strategy, he might not have been able to figure out why his elder brother Li Yu would make such arrangements. But at this moment, if he still couldn’t understand, he would be too stupid.

His elder brother was that kind of fool who longed for the realm to stop warfare early and let the people rest and recover. Back then, he had surrendered military authority so easily, yet had no intention whatsoever of helping the Divine Mausoleum Bureau.

At the time, he had quarreled fiercely with his elder brother over this matter and they had gone their separate ways. Apart from leaving his youngest son in Hongzhou for fosterage, they had little contact—they hadn’t even exchanged a single letter in ten years.

His elder brother must have also seen through the Chuzhou Army’s siege strategy. Unable to bear seeing the million people of Jinling suffer too miserably under siege, he had ordered Li Xiu to lead the mansion guards to help Han Qian, rather than coming to serve him.

In the end, his elder brother had never truly had him in his heart.

At this moment, Marquis Xinchang Li Pu felt both dejected and resentful in his heart. However, seeing Qi’er’s aggrieved expression and Li Xiu’s rather uncomfortable appearance, a spark of hope ignited in his heart…

Yes, his elder brother was magnanimous and of noble character, but that didn’t mean the younger generation growing up in the Li family had no desire or ambition for worldly power and establishing meritorious achievements. His elder brother’s illness was gradually worsening—could he possibly forever suppress Li Xiu’s and other Li family warriors’ ambitions to pursue fame and fortune?