“What kind of leverage does that bastard Li have on you?”
Watching Li Chong depart with his household troops, Feng Yi spat viciously at Li Chong’s retreating back, then furtively lowered his voice to ask Han Qian.
“Ah, so you also have leverage that fell into the hands of that son of a bitch Li Chong?” Han Qian asked with feigned surprise.
He hadn’t slept well the previous night, considering what methods the Marquis of Xinchang Li Pu and his people might employ besides silencing witnesses to remedy the flaws in Feng Yi and Kong Xirong’s situation.
“Alas, speaking of it, Old Kong and I were muddled. Some days ago when we went out carousing, we unexpectedly slept with the wrong person—someone we shouldn’t have slept with. We thought this matter was done without anyone knowing, but we didn’t expect that dog bastard Li Chong would use this to threaten us yesterday, demanding we henceforth obey the Third Prince,” Feng Yi said dejectedly. “Judging by your appearance, you must also have leverage held by them, but how dare you give that dog bastard Li Chong such attitude?”
Seeing Feng Yi’s constipated expression, Han Qian wondered if perhaps he had slept with his father’s concubine and feared Li Chong would expose the matter.
“This whole affair was a trap that dog bastard Li Chong set for me from start to finish. Though I’m unwilling to have them publicize this matter, if they truly provoke me to fury, spreading the news of how they trapped me—would that benefit them?” Han Qian said viciously.
“That’s right! Our affair with Chun Niang must have been a trap that dog bastard Li Chong set for us. Otherwise, how could three people wake up muddled together in one bed? Even if all three of us drunkenly entered the wrong room, aside from us three, no one else saw anything. How could that dog bastard Li Chong possibly know such details?” Kong Xirong had even less caution around Han Qian and spilled everything at once.
Chun Niang had originally been a rather famous songstress in Jinling. Kong Xirong’s father Kong Zhou was quite fond of her and helped her redeem herself from the entertainment registry. However, Kong Zhou, being a great general in the military, was a man who feared his wife and dared not openly bring Chun Niang into the household as a concubine. Instead, he arranged lodgings outside to settle his beauty.
Although Chun Niang couldn’t be considered Kong Zhou’s concubine, Han Qian had heard of her relationship with Kong Zhou. If this matter got out, it would definitely be a scandal that could make the Kong family a laughingstock for years.
Han Qian hadn’t previously imagined that Chun Niang had connections to the Wanhong Pavilion, nor had he thought the Wanhong Pavilion’s methods were truly extraordinarily sinister—they had long ago tampered with Feng Yi and Kong Xirong’s situation, just waiting for the crucial moment to use such scandals to force the two to submit.
“This matter is easily handled. Deny it adamantly. Can Li Chong bite off your birds? Whoever dares spread obscene slander insulting your family honor, Xirong, draw your sword and kill them. Even if this matter reaches His Majesty’s presence, you won’t be in the wrong,” Han Qian said, sharing their hatred for a common enemy as he advised Feng Yi and Kong Xirong.
“That’s right!” Though Feng Yi appeared delicate and refined, he possessed a ruthless streak that Kong Xirong lacked. Hearing Han Qian’s words, he realized that if they truly tore off all pretense, there really was no need to fear that fellow Li Chong so much.
“Young Master, the meal is ready…” At this moment Zhao Ting’er approached and said.
Seeing Zhao Ting’er enter, Feng Yi and Kong Xirong’s eyes bulged wide as they directly asked Han Qian: “When did such a stunning beauty appear among your household servants?”
Han Qian had found Zhao Ting’er uncommonly delicate when he first saw her, but at that time Zhao Ting’er was still too thin and weak, wearing hemp cloth skirts with many patches, and thus wasn’t so eye-catching.
Though Zhao Ting’er had only lived in the residence for a short time, she was more well-nourished than before. Changed into plain, simple skirts, her small face in the cold winter season was as fair and delicately moving as a freshly emerged lotus blossom.
Zhao Ting’er attended Han Qian daily, and Han Qian taught her the knowledge from his dream realm, so he didn’t notice anything special. But Feng Yi and Kong Xirong were seeing Zhao Ting’er for the first time, and their eyeballs nearly fell out.
“The daughter of a tenant farmer from my family’s estate at Baohua Mountain. Her nature is rather willful and she doesn’t obey orders well,” Han Qian said with a slight smile, seeing Feng Yi and Kong Xirong’s entranced appearance.
“Doesn’t obey orders? Then how about selling this little servant of yours to me?” Feng Yi blurted out, but then reconsidered, thinking that Han Qian had the same weakness as himself—such exceptional beauty who appeared so innocent must have been obtained by Han Qian through every possible means, so he could never simply hand her over. Shaking his head, he said, “Forget it, you definitely wouldn’t bear to part with this little servant. I’m to blame for not having your damn good luck.”
Han Qian laughed heartily without responding, inviting Feng Yi and Kong Xirong to drink in the main hall.
Whatever the Marquis of Xinchang Li Pu was secretly plotting, he definitely wouldn’t let Feng Yi and the others know. But with Han Qian and his father Han Daoxun cooped up in the residence all day, and Fan Xicheng and the others unable to access any information, if he wanted to know the court’s movements today, he still had to inquire through Feng Yi and Kong Xirong.
Feng Yi was somewhat distracted, but perhaps because his greatest weakness was already known to Han Qian, there was no need to conceal anything else. Without Han Qian pressing for answers, he voluntarily told Han Qian the latest rumors from court today.
Over the following days, every evening after leaving the Marquis of Linjiang’s residence, Feng Yi would bring Kong Xirong along to continue passing news to Han Qian, who was still feigning illness at home.
Regarding the abuse of the four cities’ starving refugees infected with plague, it wasn’t that no court ministers knew about it. In fact, quite a few knew in great detail. It was just that due to various restraints and entanglements, this matter had been suppressed all along and hadn’t surfaced.
When Han Daoxun lifted this lid now, whether it was people who felt even a bit of compassion for the starving refugees, or generals and ministers worried the epidemic might spread into the city, or the Crown Prince’s faction trying by every possible means to strengthen Shouzhou’s power—none wanted to suppress this matter any longer.
The very day after Han Qian anxiously remained in the residence, someone had already submitted a memorial forcefully arguing about the disaster of the plague and defending his father Han Daoxun.
Although those who submitted memorials defending Han Daoxun might not necessarily bear good intentions—perhaps they more so wanted the matter of expelling the starving refugees to be implemented—the matter of His Majesty Emperor Tianyou originally directing the Censorate to deliberate on Han Daoxun’s offense of inappropriate speech was suppressed. In the end, Han Daoxun was only penalized according to the offense of creating a disturbance in court, fined one month’s stipend, and the matter was settled.
Of course, quite a few people also submitted memorials criticizing Han Daoxun for knowing the starving refugees were infected with plague yet disregarding their welfare and advocating expulsion, lacking in compassion.
One stone stirred up a thousand waves. The long-standing abuse regarding starving refugees had reached a point where it had to be resolved. But even without limiting the continued growth of the Crown Prince faction’s power, moving over a hundred thousand plague-infected starving refugees across the river north for six or seven hundred li in this bitter cold season, with neither Shouzhou nor the prefectures and counties along the way having sufficient grain reserves to provide relief to the disaster victims—who knew how many people would starve or freeze to death on the journey.
For a time, quite a few ministers, even those without any involvement with the Second Prince the Prince of Xin or the Third Prince the Marquis of Linjiang, stepped forward to oppose this matter.
However, aside from Shouzhou and the more distant Xiangzhou having large tracts of uncultivated farmland, other prefectures and counties couldn’t possibly accommodate so many starving refugees all at once.
The water gu plague was relatively mild, but in this age there was no method of treatment. No one dared let over a hundred thousand plague-infected starving refugees disperse to various prefectures and counties, allowing the water gu plague to potentially spread uncontrollably across the land of Chu.
Moreover, settling over a hundred thousand plague-infected starving refugees would consume money and grain that was by no means a small amount.
With many opinions and much debate, ultimately there was no solution.
In the end, it was the Vice Minister of War, the Marquis of Xinchang Li Pu, who submitted a memorial remonstrating that the Marquis of Linjiang, holding the honored position of an imperial prince, should follow the precedent of the Crown Prince and the Prince of Xin in selecting a location in the capital region to recruit the plague-infected starving refugees and their families as garrison military households, establishing a new army to serve as the Marquis of Linjiang’s troops and defend the Chu court.
The Crown Prince Yang Yuanwo and the Prince of Xin Yang Yuanyan had both commanded troops upon coming of age, respectively taking on offensive and defensive responsibilities.
Although the Marquis of Linjiang Yang Yuanpu had not yet come of age, Li Pu’s proposal could concentrate the settlement of plague-infected starving refugees, avoid the uncontrolled spread of the epidemic, and also demonstrate His Majesty Emperor Tianyou’s and the Marquis of Linjiang’s benevolent love for the people.
On the other hand, after selecting out the plague-infected starving refugees, the physically healthy refugees could be observed for a period of time, then dispersed in an orderly manner to other prefectures and counties for settlement, without needing to concentrate them all for expulsion to Shouzhou. This could resolve the court’s greatest current controversy, so supporters were naturally very many.
Regardless of how cautious the Marquis of Xinchang Li Pu’s wording was during court deliberations, suggesting that the new army commanded by the Marquis of Linjiang Yang Yuanpu would only recruit plague-infected starving refugees and their families as garrison military households, Anning Palace and the Crown Prince faction’s generals and ministers still tried by every possible means to obstruct it.
During court deliberations, the Marquis of Xinchang Li Pu turned to suggesting that the Guard Office personally commanded by the Eastern Palace Crown Prince recruit these plague-infected starving refugees and their families.
Besides a thousand personal cavalry and infantry guards, the Eastern Palace was also enfeoffed as Dragon Martial General, commanding the Left and Right Dragon Martial Armies of twenty-five thousand elite troops. The garrison camps under its jurisdiction were mainly stationed in Moling and Liyang counties and possessed large amounts of garrison fields. Absorbing thirty or forty thousand plague-infected starving refugees and their families would pose no problem regarding money and grain.
However, the garrison camps under the jurisdiction of the Left and Right Dragon Martial Armies were the Eastern Palace’s most fundamental military foundation aside from the Shouzhou army. Even with enormous audacity, the Crown Prince Yang Yuanwo wouldn’t dare let plague-infected starving refugees be integrated into them.
Court deliberations remained undecided for half the day, finally provoking His Majesty Emperor Tianyou to angrily rebuke them in court. Ultimately he issued an edict granting the Marquis of Linjiang Yang Yuanpu the title of Dragon Sparrow General to command the Dragon Sparrow Army.
The Dragon Sparrow Army belonged neither to the Southern Encampment’s Sixteen Guard Armies nor to the Northern Encampment’s Six Imperial Guard Armies. Rather, it was His Majesty Emperor Tianyou’s personal troops from when he served as Huainan Military Commissioner.
In the fourth year of Tianyou, when His Majesty Emperor Tianyou led troops to battle the Prince of Yue Dong Chang at Runzhou, the Dragon Sparrow Army’s Commander defected before battle and was executed by Li Yu.
The Dragon Sparrow Army’s vitality was greatly damaged in this battle. But because the commanding general defected before battle, His Majesty Emperor Tianyou had never allocated new troops and generals to reinforce it. When establishing the Imperial Guard, he also excluded the Dragon Sparrow Army from the six Imperial Guard divisions.
Currently, although the Dragon Sparrow Army hadn’t been completely disbanded, it only had four or five hundred old soldiers barely maintaining its organization, stationed beside the Left Divine Martial Army’s main camp and accepting the Left Divine Martial Army’s supervision. The garrison camp where their family members farmed had long ago been merged into other army garrisons.
The Dragon Sparrow Army was virtually abandoned, but its organization and banner still remained. Granting it now to the Marquis of Linjiang Yang Yuanpu to recruit plague-infected starving refugees—aside from Anning Palace and the Crown Prince faction, others truly couldn’t think of reasons to oppose it.
After His Majesty Emperor Tianyou established the state of Chu, he concentrated all the elite troops and their families recruited or obtained through accepting surrenders during his lifetime military campaigns near the national capital Jinling, establishing separate military registers for settlement. Soldiers served in the military for life, and their families were also concentrated to farm garrison fields to resolve their livelihoods. This was also the most commonly implemented hereditary military system of separation of soldiers and civilians in this age.
It could also be said that the Southern and Northern Encampment armies were the largest-scale family troops controlled by His Majesty Emperor Tianyou of the state of Chu.
Among these, soldiers incorporated into military units were the combat troops; where family members farmed was the garrison camps.
The Dragon Sparrow Army’s organization and banner still remained, and it still had two or three hundred old soldiers, but it was virtually abandoned. Over these years, the garrison camp where family members farmed had been merged, both land and people, into other guard armies, so naturally it couldn’t be returned now.
Therefore, the Marquis of Xinchang Li Pu submitted a memorial suggesting designating the north shore of Chishan Lake in Jiangcheng County as the Dragon Sparrow Army’s garrison camp, utilizing the wasteland to recruit plague-infected starving refugees for garrison field cultivation. His Majesty Emperor Tianyou also approved this together, and under the Marquis of Linjiang and Dragon Sparrow General, appointed Chen De to concurrently serve as Vice Commander, Shen Yang as Chief of Staff, Guo Rong as Military Supervisor, Li Chong as Recording Clerk Military Advisor, and recruited Chai Jian, the Marquis of Xinchang’s eldest son Li Zhigao, and others as Chief Military Inspectors.
At the same time, His Majesty Emperor Tianyou also issued a special edict bestowing a marriage, betrothing the Marquis of Xinchang Li Pu’s young daughter Li Yao to the soon-to-come-of-age Marquis of Linjiang Yang Yuanpu as wife…