After Yao Xishui met with Marquis Xinchang Li Pu, she no longer concealed her movements. In the afternoon, she hurried to the Feng family’s secret manor at the foot of North Chui Peak to see Zhang Ping. Along the way, she happened to encounter Feng Xuan leading Shang Hu over to see Han Qian.
Shang Hu didn’t know who Yao Xishui was, but last night Yao Xishui had hidden in the shadows and seen Shang Hu and the Shang family’s Fifth Young Master Shang Xi board the pleasure boat. She knew he was a Shang family slave.
Hearing Feng Xuan say that Shang Hu had rushed to Maoshan to enlist before noon, Yao Xishui’s beautiful eyes were full of suspicion as she scrutinized this youth whose expression was somewhat fierce.
Yesterday Shang Hu had still been in the city, yet today he’d run alone to Maoshan to join Chishan Army. Not knowing what had happened to Shang Hu, how could Yao Xishui not be suspicious?
Yao Xishui thought privately—could it be that after she left Lishui City yesterday, Shang Xi and Liu Zishu had devised some scheme, making Shang Hu pretend to come pledge allegiance to Maoshan, then lure Chishan Army into their trap?
Of course, with Shang Hu coming to enlist and Feng Xuan immediately bringing him to the North Chui Peak manor to see Han Qian, Yao Xishui could understand the reason.
Before Emperor Tianyou entered Jinling to establish Great Chu’s foundation, the Shang clan along with the Xiao, Liu, and Yuan surnames were the most prominent aristocratic families within Shengzhou Military Governor’s jurisdiction.
Though Emperor Tianyou intentionally suppressed these four surnames’ power, and the Shang clan earlier had no sons holding important court positions besides family head Shang Wensheng serving as Ministry of Personnel Vice Minister, one couldn’t ignore the Shang clan’s foundation in Jinling.
When Crown Prince Yang Yuanwo succeeded to the throne and established his eldest son Yang Fen as Crown Prince, he intended to invite Shang Wensheng to serve as the third-rank Crown Prince’s Companion, demonstrating Anning Palace’s efforts to win over Jinling’s old dynasty aristocratic forces. But Shang Wensheng was quite slippery, claiming illness and recuperating at his residence.
During the Jinling incident, Shang Wensheng and his eldest son were in Jinling City and afterward couldn’t come and go freely. But apart from some Shang clan members who fled to Lishui City for refuge, most remained at Shang Family Fortress.
The Shang clan possessed over two thousand qing of land and residences in Lishui, with over five thousand servants. Shang Family Fortress, located in Donglu Mountain on Maoshan’s southern flank, was the Shang clan’s family fortress. Though smaller in scale than Lishui City, its defensive strength was no less than ordinary city fortifications.
The Shang clan had over three hundred elite household troops. Under the command of Shang Wensheng’s second son Shang Zhongjie, they remained defending Donglu Mountain. Selecting able-bodied men from slaves, they had roughly a thousand defense troops.
South of Jinling, Shang Family Fortress might not be easier to crack than Lishui City or Pingling City with their two to three thousand garrison troops.
With Shang family slaves coming to pledge allegiance, Feng Xuan immediately brought them to see Han Qian. Yao Xishui thought Han Qian had most likely set his sights on Shang Family Fortress.
Zhang Ping was discussing matters with Han Qian at the North Chui Peak manor. Seeing Yao Xishui walk in, he froze slightly for a brief moment before his expression returned to normal.
“Rushing from Yueyang to Jinling—such a perilous, arduous journey that even robust men couldn’t endure. Miss Yao truly misses me terribly?” Han Qian’s eyes blazed as he stared at Yao Xishui’s face, darkened and yellowed by medicinal water.
He showed no surprise at Yao Xishui’s appearance. Back when Zhang Ping came to Xuzhou to deliver the edict, Yao Xishui and Chun Shisanniang hadn’t hesitated to accompany him over thousands of li. How could they be absent this time?
Of course, that Yao Xishui hadn’t traveled with Zhang Ping and Lin Haizheng—Han Qian guessed that besides Yao Xishui needing to independently contact Wanhong House’s forces lurking in Jinling, Zhang Ping’s revealed political leanings ran counter to Lu Qingxia, Noble Consort Wang Chan’er and others. He probably no longer enjoyed much of their trust either.
“Foster father and the others just left, but the Noble Consort is truly concerned about Jinling’s situation development and specially ordered me to rush over afterward to take a look. Lord Han needn’t worry that Xishui has any qualifications to point fingers,” Yao Xishui responded coolly to Han Qian’s teasing, then told Zhang Ping: “I just went to Little Mao Peak to see the Marquis. The Marquis’s meaning is that since Lord Han insists on conscripting slaves into military service and he can’t dissuade you, whatever you definitely need them to cooperate with, they’ll do—we must first get through the current difficulties.”
Zhang Ping looked at Yao Xishui with puzzlement, thinking privately that as long as Li Pu didn’t withdraw his forces, it couldn’t be considered a bad thing overall.
Since Yao Xishui indicated she represented the Noble Consort, Han Qian allowed her to remain in the council hall. He had Feng Xuan bring in Shang Hu, the Shang family slave who’d come to enlist at noon, for questioning.
“Shang Hu has been a Shang family slave for four generations, usually serving at the side of Shang Wensheng’s nephew Shang Xi. Last night when news of the proclamation just spread into Lishui City, Shang Hu and another Shang family slave saw the proclamation beside Shang Xi and discussed enlisting. Perhaps Shang Xi overheard them. After leaving the city at night, Shang Xi took advantage of their unpreparedness and drew his blade to kill. The other Shang family slave was unfortunately killed. Shang Hu fled in panic into the fields and narrowly survived. At dawn he walked back to Shang Family Fortress, wanting to find Shang Wensheng’s second son Shang Zhongjie to uphold justice. But unexpectedly, his father had been seized during the night and tortured, beaten to death and hung on the fortress walls. His mother and younger siblings are currently still imprisoned by the Shang family in water dungeons, being used to warn those slaves harboring different intentions.” Feng Xuan briefly recounted on Shang Hu’s behalf his experiences last night and the reason he came alone to enlist.
“Different intentions?” Han Qian snorted coldly, slapping the table. “These slaves merely wanted to enlist and redeem themselves, hoping their children and grandchildren wouldn’t have to be slaves for generations. In these aristocratic scions’ eyes, this becomes harboring different intentions, becomes violating heavenly law, justifying torture and beating to death?”
Those present like Lin Haizheng and Zhao Wuji all came from humble origins. Their sympathy for Shang Hu’s plight might be genuine. But Yao Xishui felt disdainful in her heart, thinking that Han Qian’s previous treatment of his own slave retainers—had that not been harsh? She privately felt Han Qian only put on this hypocritical act now because he needed to entice slaves to pledge allegiance.
Of course, Yao Xishui didn’t believe everything about Shang Hu’s experiences was factual. She suspected more that this was a story Shang Xi, Liu Zishu and others had concocted. After all, Shang Hu arriving at Maoshan right on her heels was too much of a coincidence. But she wouldn’t expose this now and instead quietly observed reactions.
Thinking of this day and night’s experiences, Shang Hu felt alarm and hatred in his heart, but more were confusion and bewilderment. His face twisted slightly, the veins on his clenched fists protruding.
Han Qian saw the confusion and hatred in this youth’s eyes and asked: “Are you filled with incomprehension—you obediently served them as slaves for so long, merely had a little thought of your own, why would you suffer such vicious treatment?”
“…” Shang Hu looked up in confusion at Han Qian, who was only a few years older than him. Simultaneously feeling instinctive constraint from their difference in status, he stammered, not knowing what to say.
“Aristocratic families hope you’ll be slaves for generations, conveniently allowing their children and grandchildren—however incompetent or lazy—to parasitically suck your blood, enjoying wealth and honor without doing anything, hoping their descendants can exploit you and your descendants generation after generation. Therefore, what they absolutely cannot tolerate is thoughts like ‘Are kings, dukes, generals, and ministers born to their stations?’ arising in your hearts—this would be fatal to them. So once you generate such thoughts, they become terrified and will use every means, even the most cruel and brutal methods, to extinguish all ungentle thoughts in your hearts,” Han Qian said, pressing his hand on the table and leaning forward, his pupils fixed intently on Shang Hu. “But should you accept your fate?”
These words not only made Shang Hu’s eyes shine with intense light, but also shocked Lin Haizheng, Feng Xuan, and Zhang Ping sitting to the side.
Yao Xishui was secretly alarmed, looking at Han Qian with confusion, not knowing what he intended. Could he truly instill such thoughts into every slave who came to enlist? Wasn’t he afraid this would eventually burn himself?
Han Qian asked Shang Hu more questions about Shang Family Fortress’s situation, then had someone escort him to the main camp on Great Mao Peak that specialized in recruiting slaves into military service.
“What this Shang Hu said may not be trustworthy,” Yao Xishui said. Though she’d be quite happy to see Han Qian stumble and severely dampen his arrogance, right now they were at Maoshan, grasshoppers tied to the same rope as Han Qian, so she reminded him.
“Whether trustworthy or not, Elder Yuan and Guo Nu’er and the others will discern!” Han Qian said.
While Han Qian mourned his father at Dragon Fang Mountain, he hadn’t spent every moment reading extensively. More often, he thought deeply about the practical lessons the dream world brought him, contemplating his father’s lifelong unwavering political aspirations and the most important “civilian society ideology” within his father’s political aspirations—how it might be realized.
In fact, after Han Qian’s own circumstances became less dire, after he was no longer like a trapped beast desperately struggling to break free from its cage, he inevitably became more influenced by the dream world, his mental state repeatedly transforming.
This actually helped him understand some things in the dream world at deeper levels, implementing them in his military command and governance practices.
Contemporary military forces only set a Sentry Officer at battalion level besides the Battalion Commander to handle reconnaissance and scouting. But Han Qian additionally established positions like Military Counselor and Military Affairs Advisor at battalion level, hoping to form complete command and governance systems at battalion level.
This also addressed some practical needs—that conscripting slaves into military service would require battalion-level units to transfer to areas along Taihu’s eastern shores and south into the depths of Fuyu Mountain Range and Yishan (Yellow Mountain) Range.
So whether Shang Hu had suspicious aspects would naturally be discerned by battalion-level Commanders, Military Counselors, and Military Affairs Advisors. Not only would he not inquire further, even Lin Haizheng couldn’t pay too much attention.
However, Han Qian’s casual dismissal appeared somewhat carelessly dismissive to Yao Xishui. She thought she’d already fulfilled her notification duty and asked Han Qian nonchalantly: “You specially summoned such an insignificant person—could you intend to forcibly crack Shang Family Fortress? The Shang clan as Lishui’s foremost wealthy family and one of Jinling’s four great families in earlier times—forcibly cracking Shang Family Fortress should yield over ten thousand shi of rice and grain, possibly much more, and you could directly recruit Shang Family Fortress’s slaves.”
Han Qian let Yao Xishui observe his interrogation of Shang Hu but wouldn’t tell her his true calculations.
Currently, besides the three thousand remnant troops, only over two thousand slaves with families had rushed over to enlist in these three days. He couldn’t even extract four to five hundred able-bodied men. He still lacked the qualifications to forcibly crack Shang Family Fortress.
Even with Yao Xishui seemingly encouraging them, Han Qian remained unmoved. Instead, he discussed with Zhao Wuji, Dou Rong, Feng Xuan, Zhang Ping, Yuan Guowei, Lin Haizheng and others who arrived afterward the specific plans for dividing forces from Maoshan to requisition grain and fodder from western market towns and villages while conscripting slaves into military service.