“In the seventeenth year of Tianyou, on the twelfth day of the eighth month, seven days after your death, I compose this text bearing grief to express my sincerity and inform your spirit: A youth surnamed Guo, named Nu’er, was a native of Hanshan County in Chaozhou. In the eighth year of Tianyou, when Chaozhou was invaded by the Liang army and tens of thousands of households were destroyed, Guo Nu’er crossed the river with his parents and siblings along with over a hundred thousand Chaozhou people to escape disaster. His father died on the journey, and he begged for food in Jinling with his mother and siblings. In the twelfth year of Tianyou, his younger brother died of starvation by the roadside. Guo Nu’er and his mother, weak and feeble, could only dig a pit with dry branches to bury him, but his brother’s corpse was torn apart and eaten by wild dogs. To protect his younger brother’s remains, though Guo Nu’er was as weak as a child, he fought barehanded against seven or eight wild dogs, becoming covered in wounds with blood flowing freely, yet remained fearless. I encountered him by chance and had the lame household soldier Zhou Shan adopt him and his sister as foster son and daughter, and thus they became children of my household. Guo Nu’er was fourteen years old at the time, thin as a child. Initially when he became leader of the household soldier children, none of the others respected him and contested with him, but his nature was resolute and tenacious, fearless of hardship. He learned characters, blade and bow, and military matters all quickly. Within a year all the others submitted to him, and he became my right hand… Jiangdong Pacification Commissioner and Xuzhou Regional Inspector Han Qian wrote this epitaph at Langxi so that future generations will remember his deeds!”
In the end, Han Qian followed the last will that Guo Nu’er had left before the battle, burying him on the low slope west of the Honglin Stockade post road—this was also where he had been struck by an arrow and died during the night battle. Buried here together with Guo Nu’er were the nine hundred sixty-seven Chishan Army soldiers who died in battle at the western pass of Shifo Mountain.
The epitaph was from the memorial text Han Qian had composed five days earlier, also on the seventh day after Guo Nu’er’s death in battle, written in Langxi City. Then he had Lin Zongjing personally rush to Honglin Stockade to find a stonemason to carve it on the tombstone.
On this day, Zhou Yuanhe, Fu Mo, and Wei Zhen accompanied Han Wenhuan, Han Daochang, and Han Jun traveling by carriage from Xuancheng to Langxi.
The group passed through the pass between Shifo Mountain and Magu Mountain. Passing by Honglin Stockade, they saw a newly erected tombstone by the roadside as tall as a person. Han Wenhuan insisted on getting out of the carriage. When everyone walked to the tall monument, they learned this was the tomb of Guo Nu’er—Han family household soldier, Chishan Army Counselor, and Executive Administrator of Jinyun Tower.
Besides recording Guo Nu’er’s life and the circumstances of his becoming a Han family household soldier, the epitaph also described the fierce battle of interception at Honglin Stockade.
“This battle was truly fierce. It was also because so many soldiers fought bravely that we have the current situation—truly not easy!” Han Wenhuan stood before the epitaph and said to Fu Mo, Zhou Yuanhe, Wei Zhen and others. “They all say Lord Daoxun’s son has no literary talent, but this writing is plain and sincere—it can be called superior quality.”
“Commander-in-Chief Han’s literary and martial strategies are naturally first-rate, worthy of being His Highness’s tutor!” Hearing Han Wenhuan say this, Fu Mo, Zhou Yuanhe and others could only awkwardly but politely agree.
Seeing Han Wenhuan’s composed and calm appearance, Wei Zhen felt somewhat confused: Had Han Wenhuan using himself as bait to lure Gu Zhilong out of Langxi City really been agreed upon beforehand?
Although during the interception of Xuancheng reinforcements at Honglin Stockade, the capture of Langxi City, and the interception of the Chuzhou Army at Nantang Fort, over five thousand Chishan Army soldiers died in battle with even more wounded, in that battle Gu Zhilong’s directly subordinate elite headquarters troops suffered nearly total casualties.
This was also a key reason why Gu Zhilong could decide so quickly to accept the peace terms and pledge allegiance to Yueyang.
After the Chishan Army demonstrated combat power beyond imagination, Gu Zhilong feared that if he stubbornly refused to surrender, the Fu clan and other local aristocratic families, unable to withstand temptation and threats, would scheme behind his back, ultimately leaving him with nothing.
Li Xiu had already led fifteen hundred Qiuhu Army elite troops yesterday to advance and garrison the eastern slopes of Jilong Mountain.
To show sincerity, Gu Zhilong had yesterday detained Shang Zhongjie—whose father Shang Wensheng had been promoted to Vice Minister of Revenue in Jinling—the messenger Geng Jinshan sent by Chuzhou to Xuancheng to liaise, and over ten other personnel deeply involved with the Chuzhou Army and Anning Palace. He had his youngest son Gu Zhiyi escort them to Li Xiu for disposition, while keeping his youngest son Gu Zhiyi, only seventeen years old, in Li Xiu’s army as a staff officer—actually as a hostage.
Today, besides having Zhou Yuanhe and Fu Mo escort Han Wenhuan, Han Daochang, Han Jun, Wei Zhen and others to Langxi, Gu Zhilong also entrusted Ningguo County affairs to Fu Mo’s son Fu Gengwen, laying groundwork for the subsequent absorption of Xuanzhou troops into the Qiuhu Army and Li Pu’s assumption of Xuanzhou Regional Inspector position with the prefectural seat moved to Ningguo.
With Gu Zhilong pledging allegiance to Yueyang and the Xuanzhou troops being absorbed into the Qiuhu Army, at this point it could be said they had entered the practical operational stage at the fastest possible speed.
Han Qian also ordered Gao Shao and Zhao Wuji to withdraw troops in batches back to Honglin Stockade at the northwestern foot of Shifo Mountain for garrison duty.
Watching his elderly father with that carefree appearance, chatting and laughing with Zhou Yuanhe, Fu Mo and others, Han Daochang’s heart was depressed.
Of course, no matter how much he resented Han Qian for using them as bait to hook Gu Zhilong, his teeth itching with hatred, before the Chishan Army’s brilliant military achievements, what could he say openly in front of others?
Not only could he say nothing, they had to grit their teeth and confirm that Han Qian had agreed with them beforehand on the strategy of luring the tiger from the mountain and using battle to promote peace—that they themselves had righteously and selflessly gone to Xuanzhou as bait.
Although Han Daochang could thereby gain some empty fame, the feeling in his heart was like having a lump of excrement forcibly stuffed into his mouth while having to swallow it with a smile plastered on his face.
…
…
After the Mid-Autumn Festival in Liyang City, a rain fell at dusk. Wang Wenqian, wearing a long robe and standing in the corridor, still felt a hint of coldness invading his body. Suspecting it was an illusion, he looked up as wind blew past the courtyard wall—surprisingly, a few scattered leaves were blown down from the treetops.
This year’s autumn chill came earlier than usual, seeming also to portend that this year’s winter would be colder than previous years.
“My lord, is this battle truly impossible to fight?” Yin Peng walked under the corridor. He had just had someone transcribe the memorial Wang Wenqian had drafted to present to Prince Xin. Seeing Wang Wenqian’s predictions about the development of the Jianghuai region’s situation in the memorial, he found it somewhat shocking—he hadn’t expected Wang Wenqian’s predictions for the future to be so pessimistic.
At this moment, faint horse neighing came from outside the courtyard wall.
Over the past seven or eight days, Liyang and Jintan north of Liyang had received over twenty thousand more troops transferred from Jingkou. They had gathered nearly thirty thousand elite troops on the southern front.
However, this couldn’t lift Wang Wenqian’s spirits in the slightest.
With the Qiuhu Army’s westward advance, Han Qian and Xinchang Marquis had also assembled twenty-five thousand combat-ready troops from the western foot of Jieling Mountain to north of Xuancheng.
At this point, the offensive and defensive situation had reversed.
Previously in the river valley field battle, with slightly superior forces they hadn’t been able to defeat the Chishan Army. Now even if they committed all thirty thousand troops to move south, what chance did they have of capturing Nantang Fort, Langxi City, and Miaohe Stockade at the eastern foot of Jilong Mountain defended by Li Xiu’s Qiuhu Army forces from the Chishan Army?
Moreover, once they mobilized south, their north-south connection would inevitably stretch long and thin, their vulnerable flanks completely exposed. How could they be certain the Southern Court Forbidden Army would maintain sufficient composure and not strike hard at their defensively weak center line, leaving them unable to coordinate head and tail?
Although Anning Palace at this time couldn’t possibly fight a hard battle or war of attrition with them, if they saw an opportunity to relatively easily defeat and expel the Chuzhou Army from Jiangnan, how could Anning Palace easily let it pass?
During the Chishan Army’s raid on Langxi, not only had Huzhou Regional Inspector Huang Hua not dared attack the Chishan Army from the eastern front, after seeing the Chishan Army capture Langxi City and demonstrate combat power stronger than imagined, he had even handed over Anji County seat on the western side of Huzhou, surrounded on three sides by mountains at the northeastern foot of Fuyu Mountain.
However, after the Chishan Army occupied Langxi and Anji, Han Qian didn’t continue displaying too aggressive a posture. He even quickly changed from hard to soft, hiding behind the scenes, having Xinchang Marquis Li Pu’s people and his grandfather Han Wenhuan, uncle Han Daochang and others come forward to continue representing Yueyang in recruiting Gu Zhilong and the Xuanzhou local aristocratic families to achieve the goal of using battle to promote peace.
In the recruitment conditions, they even specifically proposed using the Han and Feng families’ fields and properties in Xuanzhou to exchange for the fields and properties of large households who fled from Langxi and Guangde, to ease sharp contradictions with the aristocratic clans.
This was a condition that absolutely could not have been accepted by the aristocratic families before, but after the Chishan Army demonstrated formidable military power and captured Langxi City, becoming an indispensable part of Yueyang’s strategy for Jinling, perhaps all parties mostly just needed a face-saving step down?
This actually didn’t surprise Wang Wenqian. After all, what Han Qian was truly formidable at was his ability to assess situations and his exceptional cunning. What a pity—the Chuzhou Army had consecutively missed two critical opportunities to check Han Qian.
The Chishan Army had already gained momentum. How could Han Qian possibly let them seize a third opportunity?
Under these circumstances, even if Gu Zhilong still stubbornly refused to pledge allegiance to Yueyang, for Huzhou Regional Inspector Huang Hua who singlemindedly only wanted to preserve his existing interests, he absolutely couldn’t possibly take initiative to attack the Chishan Army from the eastern front.
From today’s intelligence reports, Gu Zhilong had apparently decided to pledge allegiance to Yueyang.
Although Gu Zhilong had been somewhat beaten down, this was still a major event that would directly determine the direction of Great Chu’s future situation.
This not only meant the Xuanzhou troops would merge with the Qiuhu Army and Chishan Army into Yueyang, but also meant that Shezhou and Raozhou to the south, and even Yang Zhitang who held Hong and Yuan prefectures while observing the situation, would quickly make their choice. It also meant relations between the Chishan Army and the Huzhou-Hangzhou local forces on the eastern front would further ease, establishing a more stable foothold on the Langxi-Guangde line.
Currently, the Third Prince’s chances of victory were rising sharply. Even if Huang Hua and other actual power holders in the Huzhou-Hangzhou region didn’t immediately make a choice, they couldn’t possibly become sharply opposed to Han Qian and the Chishan Army.
After gaining Xuanzhou’s allegiance, the Chishan Army’s grain crisis was temporarily alleviated. No longer needing to raid Huzhou-Hangzhou, the threat the Huzhou-Hangzhou local forces felt from the Chishan Army naturally greatly decreased.
After absorbing the Xuanzhou troops, Yueyang could assemble forty thousand troops on the southern front. They didn’t even need to take initiative to attack—they only needed to use heavy forces to hold the Xuancheng-Langxi-Nantang Fort line, then focus more energy on persuading Shezhou, Raozhou, and forces like Yang Zhitang in Hongzhou to surrender, and the situation would completely tilt toward Yueyang.
After opening the overland passage from Hengzhou to Xuanzhou, they could then have Yang Zhitang lead troops north from Hongzhou and Li Zhigao lead troops east from Ezhou to jointly attack Jiangzhou. At this point, except for Chizhou, the territory and troops of nearly twenty prefectures in Jiangnan West Circuit would all fall into the hands of Third Prince Yang Yuanpu.
At this step, how could this war continue to be fought?
Right now, the best choice for the Chuzhou Army was to retreat to north of the Yangtze at the fastest possible speed before their strength suffered major damage, letting the Shouzhou Army and Southern Court Forbidden Army have a free hand to fight Yueyang forces to mutual destruction.
This was also the most critical suggestion Wang Wenqian had written into his memorial.
“Will His Highness accept your suggestion, my lord?” Yin Peng asked with considerable worry.
He knew that as long as the hundred-thousand-strong Chuzhou Army remained south of the Yangtze River coveting Jinling City, Anning Palace fundamentally couldn’t spare troops to attack the southern front’s Chishan Army and Qiuhu Army, much less deploy main forces a thousand li away to Jiangzhou to suppress the Yueyang Army’s eastward advance!
“Perhaps it won’t be so easy to accept…” Wang Wenqian raised his head to look at the distant sky beyond the courtyard wall and sighed deeply, thinking to himself how many people in the world could truly advance and retreat with ease when riding high, much less give up the three prefectures of Run, Su, and Chang that had been seized with such difficulty?