“These days are so dull I could shit a bird—Brother, when do you think the lord will lead everyone north to advance on Runzhou? Prince Xin has already retreated like a bear back to the northern Yangtze. With only those few defeated generals in Runzhou, if we don’t beat the living hell out of them now, when will we? If that won’t work, can we attack into Huzhou? Brother, what do you think is going through the lord’s mind?”

After entering mid-October, the weather turned cool. The rustling north wind already carried several degrees of bone-piercing cold. After Han Bao recovered from his injuries, being robust and strong, he wore only a thin hemp jacket stuffed with grass under his robe and didn’t feel cold. Sitting on a haystack, chewing grass roots, he talked with his older brother Han Donghu.

Two months had passed since the capture of Langxi City. All the army’s soldiers were resting and training. In the mountain hollow of Xuanjiao Ridge on the eastern side of Sitian Dun, in addition to cultivating terraced fields on slopes and excavating coal pits, they had begun constructing five weilong houses in mid-September.

Based on merit, Han Bao should have been promoted to deputy squad leader, but after recovering from his injuries and returning to camp, he was first kicked into the learning class. After enduring over a month of torment, he barely managed to learn to write his own name in crooked strokes, and could stumblingly recognize about seventy to eighty percent of the characters in several mimeographed booklets including “Initial Understanding of the Liang-Chu Situation,” “Essential Points for Constructing Weilong Houses,” “Several Notes on Wilderness Terrain Survey,” “Drill Manual and Flag Signal Compendium,” and “Overview of Village and Garrison Organization”—though he could only read them, not read them fluently, much less write them. Then he was assigned to serve as an assistant inspector in Xiling Village east of Sitian Dun, dealing all day with unruly youths and fierce, bold women.

Although Xiling Village still had over three hundred adult males, they were all those left over after the Chishan Army had made its selections—thin and gaunt, skeletal, unable to bear excessively heavy physical labor. The heavy work in the village was still mainly shouldered by robust women with fierce temperaments. But dealing with women was far more complex than leading robust men in charges.

The entire Xiling Village needed to excavate coal pits, cultivate terraced fields on slopes, build weilong houses, organize robust women and youths for autumn training, organize village camp drills, organize women and children to gather grass for sewing winter clothing, and recommend activists for the learning class—in Han Bao’s view, who would be crazy enough to actively want to enter the learning class? Every day’s affairs were extremely tedious, and Han Bao could barely endure it.

Never mind comparing it to charging into battle with sword and bow—he even felt that when he had been a servant in the Shang family, not having to rack his brains dealing with so many matters, life had been somewhat more comfortable than now.

Seeing his brother leading a squad of scout cavalry passing through Xiling Village returning to Xujia Village—besides Xujia Village, Sitian Dun had four other villages established—Han Bao couldn’t help but come over to inquire about news, wondering when the great army would advance eastward so his brother could transfer him into the ranks. He’d rather die than remain here doing this bird inspector work.

Han Bao couldn’t endure it, but Han Donghu’s heart was even more anxious.

While the world believed that after successfully repelling Chuzhou Army, capturing Langxi City, and forcing Gu Zhilong’s surrender, Chishan Army would soon have more active, more extensive military operations after resting, the reality was quite different.

After Xuanzhou Army and Qiuhu Army substantially merged in late August, Han Qian had reorganized Chishan Army anew.

The three infantry armor battalions, each at peak strength having nine thousand soldiers, after the new reorganization retained only three thousand combat troops and three thousand auxiliary camp troops per battalion. Additionally, the cavalry camp expanded to twelve hundred elite troops, and the bodyguard camp was restored to five hundred men.

That is, after late August, Chishan Army maintained fewer than eleven thousand main combat troops and nine thousand auxiliary camp troops.

Excluding soldiers who died in battle at Langxi or died from severe wounds afterward, there were still about four thousand more wounded soldiers who retired from active service after recovering.

These four thousand men should have become the most elite fighting force within Left Guangde Army, yet Han Qian abandoned them without use. The external explanation was that they had already made their due sacrifices—unless Guangde, Langxi, or Anji counties came under major enemy attack, they would not be mobilized.

Besides taking over defense of Sitian Dun after Qiuhu Army withdrew, Chishan Army’s main combat forces primarily assembled at Nantang Fort at the southwestern foot of Jieling Mountain, Shiqi Mountain, and Langxi City, with no major deployments thereafter, much less organizing large-scale operations northward or eastward into Hu-Hang territory.

In mid-September, Great Liang’s Caizhou Army advanced eastward to Xuzhou, forcing Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan to lead some troops north to retreat to Chuzhou to defend their home base. No matter how one looked at it, this should have been an excellent opportunity for Chishan Army to cross Jieling Mountain northward seeking battle opportunities.

However, after initially arranging for over four thousand recovered wounded soldiers to gradually retire from active service, in mid-September Han Qian took advantage of the further easing of military crisis to assign a batch of military officers and nine thousand auxiliary camp troops downward, expanding the intensity of cultivating terraced fields on slopes, mining coal and iron, harvesting timber, and producing lime at the southern foot of Jieling Mountain and northern foot of Fuyu Mountain. In mid to late September, they simultaneously began constructing over three hundred weilong houses resembling small fortresses, essentially racing against time to enter a period of comprehensive construction.

Cases like Han Bao’s, where a large batch of junior officers underwent preliminary study before being assigned as assistant officials and garrison commanders in villages throughout the three counties, were ubiquitous.

Constructing numerous weilong houses at the southern foot of Jieling Mountain was primarily because exchanging over two hundred thousand mu of fields and over twenty thousand houses in Langxi, Guangde, and Anji counties was currently far insufficient to settle so many old, weak, women and children.

Over three hundred weilong houses would create over thirty thousand new rooms, barely enough to allow the total of three hundred twenty thousand Chishan Army soldiers and their families to survive the first harsh winter between Fuyu Mountain and Jieling Mountain.

In mid to late September, following Yueyang’s decree, Guangde Military Commissioner Prefecture was formally established. Chishan Army as a whole was reorganized as Left Guangde Army, while Qiuhu Army after absorbing Xuanzhou’s local forces was reorganized as Right Guangde Army.

At this time, compared to Left Guangde Army’s silence and low profile, Right Guangde Army actively used Donglu Mountain, Fu Mountain, Tianyin Mountain, and Jilong Mountain as boundaries, seeking battle opportunities toward the northwest, harassing Southern Court Forbidden Army forces stationed at Lishui and Pingling, accumulating victories from small gains, even achieving considerable success and watering their horses in riverside areas like Caishi and Dangtu.

At this time, regarding Han Qian’s compromise and silence, there was considerable controversy even within Chishan Army itself. Almost every few days, several groups of commanders and officers would run before Han Qian requesting battle, but all were suppressed by Han Qian.

Commanders and officers who jumped about especially vigorously were even “mercilessly” kicked by Han Qian into various transport teams of all sizes.

Rao and She prefectures closely followed Marquis of Yuzhang Yang Zhitang in formally submitting pledges of allegiance in early September. The prefectural governors of both states personally led their provincial camps and small numbers of brave volunteers with the title of military affairs commandant, joining Right Guangde Army to participate in harassing Lishui, Pingling, Dangtu and other areas, extremely actively—as if wanting to release more thoroughly and fervently the loyalty to the Third Prince that had been suppressed too long before achieving final victory.

Han Daochang and Fu Mo respectively went out to govern Raozhou and Shezhou.

This also meant the land route from Xuzhou to Xuanzhou was completely opened.

Although there was a post road connecting Xuzhou to northern Xuanzhou’s Langxi City, this post road of over two thousand li passed through Fuyu Mountain and Yi Mountain, crossed the hilly region on Poyang Lake’s southern flank, had to traverse the Wugong Mountains—the northern branch of the Luoxiao Range—cross continuous mountain ridges on both banks of the Xiang River, and climb over Xuefeng Mountain before reaching Xuzhou’s Qianyang City. Though connected throughout by post road, it could be said to be extremely arduous.

This was a difficult route that even elite military soldiers would take at least a month to traverse, much less transporting bulk materials from Xuzhou into Xuanzhou.

Nevertheless, Han Qian organized over thirty learning class transport teams, each of fifty to sixty men, ordering them to travel the long distance to Xuzhou.

Those troublesome officers and soldiers who wouldn’t submit to discipline were all kicked into learning class transport teams. On one hand, with Xi Fa’er and others at the head, they led these men in practical reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance training and terrain survey study. On the other hand, Han Qian couldn’t wait for water routes to open—he had to transport a batch of high-value goods from Xuzhou to Langxi before November.

Although Rao and She prefectures had pledged allegiance, and these two prefectures along with Xuanzhou were temporarily merged under Guangde Commissioner Prefecture’s jurisdiction, with Han Qian as Guangde Commissioner holding supreme power and able to deploy the manpower and resources of three prefectures and nineteen counties, besides northern Xuanzhou having relatively flat cultivated land, other counties in the three prefectures were all located within Fuyu Mountain or Yi Mountain, with only small valley or river valley plains available for cultivation.

The three prefectures’ nineteen counties had a total population of less than eight hundred thousand, with cultivated land less than five million mu, mostly mountain fields and dry land.

Measured by contemporary productivity levels, the production capacity of Xuanzhou, Shezhou, and Raozhou’s nineteen counties was far from catching up with Runzhou’s six subordinate counties.

Even if the three prefectures’ nineteen counties wanted to fully supply material consumption for over fifty thousand troops in a short time, it would still be quite difficult, much less Han Qian’s extravagant desire to additionally extract large quantities of materials to support nearly three hundred thousand old, weak, women and children detained in Guangde’s three counties—far exceeding the three counties’ carrying capacity.

Without establishing learning classes, or rather without considerable time for study and accumulation, the vast majority of brave combat soldiers—even junior officers promoted to squad leader level—couldn’t understand what an enormously difficult task it was to ensure three hundred thousand old, weak, women and children could safely survive the harsh winter without large-scale abnormal deaths.

Even though the Hu-Hang regional faction headed by Huzhou Governor Huang Hua had further softened their attitude, acquiescing to Guangde Military Commissioner Prefecture sending people into Huzhou and Hangzhou to purchase grain, cloth and other materials, even having no intention of hoarding for profit or making things difficult regarding prices, the problem was that Han Qian still needed to provide corresponding materials or goods for trade.

Currently, although Yueyang agreed to separately allocate Anji, Guangde, and Langxi counties to settle Left Guangde Army soldiers and their families, the problem was that the three counties could only exchange about two hundred thousand mu of fields and over twenty thousand houses, barely enough to settle eight thousand households of valiant soldiers and those severely wounded or disabled, along with their families—totaling less than twenty percent of Left Guangde Army soldiers and families.

Excluding the twenty thousand Left Guangde Army main force and auxiliary camp soldiers whose supplies could be paid from military salaries, with shortfalls even possibly applied for from Yueyang and allocated from Hong, Yuan and other prefectures, after deducting settled soldier families and enlisted soldiers, there remained two hundred sixty to seventy thousand old, weak, women and children whose material support needed to be self-funded by Guangde Military Commissioner Prefecture.

Xuanzhou, Shezhou, and Raozhou were currently only temporarily under Han Qian’s control. According to initial agreements, requisitioned materials would only guarantee supply consumption for forty thousand Left and Right Guangde Army soldiers. Material support for the additional two hundred sixty to seventy thousand old, weak, women and children could only be solved by Han Qian collecting additional taxes within Langxi, Anji, and Guangde counties, or transferring money and grain from Xuzhou.

Two hundred sixty to seventy thousand old, weak, women and children, at a minimum standard of eight cash per person daily to guarantee material supply (including food, housing and winter clothing), would be two million two hundred thousand cash daily, sixty-six million cash monthly, nearly eight hundred million cash annually—that is, eight hundred thousand strings of cash.

Great Chu had long maintained annual revenue, excluding portions retained by prefectures and counties, of between three to four million strings of cash transported to Jinling for unified expenditure by the Revenue Commissioner’s Office.

The Feng family’s ability to accumulate four to five million strings of family wealth came from generations of a vast clan controlling Jianghuai financial resources. Even so, after confiscating their clan assets, Emperor Tianyou was severely shocked.

In the contemporary world, what a terrifying figure it was for Guangde Commissioner Prefecture to self-fund an annual gap of eight hundred thousand strings of cash!

Langxi, Guangde, and Anji counties, besides the first batch of settled soldier families and fields, additionally governed a population of one hundred ten thousand and over six hundred thousand mu of cultivated land. Incorporating all miscellaneous taxes and poll taxes into land taxes, they could collect less than seventy thousand strings of money and grain annually. But even controlling the three counties’ and villages’ inspectorates’ operational expenses to the minimum, being able to spare fifty thousand strings to submit to the Commissioner Prefecture for unified expenditure would already be the limit.

Currently the greatest advantage was that local production hadn’t been destroyed, trade routes with the Hu-Hang region had opened, and autumn grain harvesting everywhere was completed. As long as the Commissioner Prefecture could additionally allocate large quantities of goods, they could still purchase enough grain from the populace to guarantee minimum material needs.

The biggest problem was, with such a large expenditure gap, where would Han Qian make it up from?

Why didn’t Han Qian fight after capturing Langxi City?

Besides too many other matters to consider, Han Qian mainly didn’t dare fight anymore, couldn’t bear to fight anymore.

There was another key factor—the consumption of elite forces was truly too great, too severe.

In capturing Langxi City, soldiers who died in battle plus those who died from severe wounds afterward totaled six thousand men.

These six thousand men were precisely the batch with greatest potential to become elite within Left Guangde Army—losing so many elite able-bodied men in one battle, how many such losses could Left Guangde Army endure?

Taowu garrison households had once been glorious beyond measure. Combined with Yongchun Palace tenant farmers, adult able-bodied men once numbered over twenty thousand. After years of warfare consumption, now counting fully, adult males numbered fewer than six thousand remaining.

If not for Han Qian fighting desperately to preserve Taowu garrison’s over forty thousand women and children this time, especially preserving nearly ten thousand boys and youths, Taowu garrison households would soon become a historical term dissipating in the wind.

Even so, under traditional birthing and medical conditions, for Taowu garrison households to recover their vitality would require at least two to three generations—child mortality rates were too high. Even without war or famine, if half could safely live to adulthood, one should thank heaven and earth.

Refugee armies in early stages could usually be extraordinarily brave. Besides their fearless, desperate fighting spirit, they could continuously coerce lower-class able-bodied men to enlist in early stages without worrying about consumption—but this also caused coerced women and children to grow ever larger. In later stages when able-bodied elite forces were mostly consumed, refugee armies would become increasingly fragile, so that in later stages they would quickly be beaten into collapse and disintegration.

For Han Qian to break this vicious cycle, he had to endure, had to bear it, desperately suppressing his inflated mentality.

To reduce unnecessary material consumption, reduce elite soldier casualties, and cultivate fields and build houses as quickly as possible while mining coal—all subsequent military achievements he could yield to Right Guangde Army headed by Gu Zhilong, Li Xiu, Chen Mingsheng and others, letting Prince Xinchang Li Pu and others stand “gloriously” at the front…

…

…

Mid-October passed. Though the weather hadn’t reached severe cold, winter had already arrived.

Located at the southwestern foot of Jieling Mountain, Nandu Pond Lake, due to years of soil accumulation, had shallow silted water. At this time, several upstream streams feeding Nandu Pond Lake had receding water levels, causing large stretches of lakebed to be exposed, allowing women and children from over ten new garrisons nearby to directly enter the lakebed to harvest reed flowers that could be stuffed between layers of worn clothing for warmth.

Silk floss, cotton floss, and fur had better warming effects, but Chishan Army soldiers and their families had no such aspirations—reed flowers were already excellent. If reed flowers were insufficient, using thoroughly rubbed and loosened wheat straw stalks or thatch stems as substitutes was also a way to endure the winter season.

In Jiangnan regions, even during severe cold weather, one could always endure. In the Central Plains north of the Huai River, when heavy snow sealed mountains—that was truly difficult to endure.

Han Qian sat on horseback, pondering intelligence continuously collected from the northern front these past days.

After Liang Emperor Zhu Yu personally commanded the campaign and achieved the great victory at Suiyang in Songzhou, rather than pursuing Prince Bo Zhu Gui’s remnant forces to press his advantage, he left the Black Armored Army with heavier casualties to rest in Songzhou, while ordering Han Yuanqi’s Caizhou Army to advance eastward to Xuzhou, joining with Xuzhou forces led by Sima Dan to menace Chuzhou on the southern Huai River bank.

Many people didn’t understand Liang Emperor Zhu Yu’s intent. Most analysts believed that before Liang Emperor completely resolved internal troubles, he was on one hand strengthening his control over Liang’s eastern regions while forcing Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan to occupy Huaidong independently, cutting off the possibility of Chu Army launching major northern campaigns in recent years.

Were things really this simple?

As someone who, after the Jing-Xiang defeat, still had leisure to personally infiltrate Chu territory to scout military intelligence, would Zhu Yu worry that Great Chu—even if superficially unified but with complex internal factional interests—had the ability to pose a fatal threat to Liang?

Wouldn’t it be better to leave Yang Yuanyan leading Chuzhou Army on the southern Yangtze bank to first mutually devastate with Yueyang forces?

At this moment, seeing Chen Jitang walking over, Han Qian dismissed the chaotic thoughts in his mind.

“When did you arrive, my lord? Why didn’t you say so in advance?” Chen Jitang, wearing riding boots and stepping through muddy ground, walked over and asked.

“Returning to Langxi from Nantang Fort, I came by this way to take a look,” Han Qian dismounted, walking with Chen Jitang to a slightly higher beach area, gazing at the lakebed and Nandu Pond Lake’s water surface—shrunk after winter’s arrival to only about a thousand mu remaining—and asked, “You haven’t returned to Langxi City for four or five days, eating and sleeping outdoors. Has the reclamation of Nandu Pond Lake been finalized?”

Chen Jitang had taken a fall while inspecting terrain in the lake’s central area, now covered in mud, his mud-stained robe also torn with a gash. But before Han Qian he showed no restraint, saying:

“Nandu Pond Lake’s water surface at its broadest during summer and autumn can reach over thirteen thousand mu, but because Taoran Stream and Qixu River on the south side serving as drainage outlets—both extremely narrow river channels—actually greatly reduce Nandu Pond Lake’s function for water storage and flood discharge. Over these four or five days I’ve walked through everything back and forth, consulted some old people, examined county records. If we completely reclaim Nandu Pond Lake into fields, with Nanyi Lake to the south having a water surface thirty times that of Nandu Pond Lake and average depth over twice that of Nandu Pond River—we can completely widen Qixu River’s channel, directing summer-autumn rainfall and floods that should be stored in Nandu Pond Lake into Nanyi Lake without obvious impact on riverside areas!”

Langxi’s terrain was high in the south and low in the north, half mountain and half lake. Mountain fields were few and barren, the situation little better than Guangde’s. To settle more Left Guangde Army soldiers and their families, terraced fields on slopes that could be cultivated in a short time were ultimately few.

Cultivating terraced fields on slopes was not only difficult but also produced low grain yields per mu.

Needing more high-yield new fields, Han Qian could only turn his gaze to reclaiming lakes to create polders.

Even with accumulated experience from building great embankments at Chishan Lake and large-scale field cultivation and water conservancy construction in Xuzhou, contemporary understanding of hydrology, climate, geography and geology was still too limited.

Reclaiming the entire Nandu Pond River basin could yield over twelve thousand mu of fertile new fields, but how to properly channel rainfall cascading down during rainy season to avoid waterlogging disasters, and prevent mountain floods from breaching embankments to form torrential floods—too many factors needed consideration.

In mid-September, to expand the scale of cultivation and mining production in Guangde, Langxi, and Anji counties on a larger scale, Han Qian had transferred Chen Jitang along with three hundred other master craftsmen and workers from Xuzhou.

To ensure safety, Chen Jitang and company traveled overland, far more arduous than by water. After arriving in Langxi they immediately plunged into high-intensity work, becoming nearly emaciated in just over ten days.

Hearing Chen Jitang report his recent days’ survey of Nandu Pond River, Han Qian gazed around. The lakebed was covered with snow-like reed flowers—the scenery naturally extremely beautiful. Frowning slightly, he said:

“Though risks cannot be completely eliminated, widening the Qixu River channel must proceed simultaneously. We must also simultaneously dig two main canals—we cannot take chances hoping Xuanzhou won’t have major rainstorms when summer arrives next year.”

To complete cultivation of one hundred thousand mu of new fields before next year’s spring plowing, the pressure was enormous. It was impossible to bear no risks at all.

This way, after spring plowing began next year, they could settle over five thousand more households of soldiers and their families.

However, the remaining population settlement was a hard nut to crack.

Though mining and industry could also absorb large numbers of surplus labor population, towering buildings must rise from level ground. Mining coal and iron required investment; establishing handicraft workshop factories required groundwork and investment.

Workshop buildings and rooms, overflow stone dams for stable water flow, roads to mountain coal pits and mine shafts, plus large quantities of excavation tools, forging and casting tools, hydraulic machinery, looms, spinning machines—manufacturing all these plus promoting cotton cultivation and so on all required investing vast resources while also needing considerable time.

Simultaneously, one needed to develop broad markets capable of absorbing large quantities of dumped primary industrial products.

Sometimes compared to resources requiring investment, time was needed even more.

Zhu Yu’s fundamental purpose in sending troops to Xuzhou and menacing Huaidong was not wanting to give him sufficient time, right? Han Qian sighed inwardly, silently thinking.

“Clip-clop-clop”—at this moment several fast horses galloped from the south, attracting everyone’s gaze.

Guo Que dismounted, saying: “Yueyang’s messenger just rushed to Langxi, reporting that on the twelfth Li Zhigao led forces to capture Jiangzhou’s Chiwu and Xunyang cities, killing Jiangzhou Governor Zhou Ang and six thousand defending troops, capturing Zhong Yanhu and over seven thousand Jiangzhou defending soldiers. Additionally, Marquis of Yuzhang almost simultaneously led forces north via Poyang Lake’s western shore, taking Pengze City. Deputy Commissioner Li Pu, Right Guangde Army Commander Gu Zhilong, Deputy Commander Chen Mingsheng, Li Xiu and others should have contacted Yueyang’s messenger first—they’ve all rushed to Langxi City now, waiting for you to return, my lord!”

“Jiangzhou was captured so quickly? The Riverine Pacification Army and Jiangxi Pacification Army moved so fast!” Xi Ren exclaimed. “Having taken Pengze City, advancing eastward along the river less than three hundred li reaches Chizhou. By this reckoning, perhaps within November, Yueyang forces will be able to knock on Jinling’s western gate?”

“With Liang forces having already forced Prince Xin back north of the Yangtze, if Li Zhigao delayed even one day there, Anning Palace would send hundreds or thousands more reinforcements into Jiangzhou,” Chen Jitang said.

Though Chen Jitang came to serve as Chief Construction Officer in the Commissioner Prefecture, it didn’t mean he knew nothing about military affairs.

“Let’s hurry back!” Han Qian drew his cloak tighter, saying.

Han Qian’s tone was very calm, but at this moment he knew how conflicted and tormented he felt inside. On one hand, to fulfill his father’s dying wish, his heart hoped war could end early so common people would suffer less. But on the other hand, if war could drag on until after next autumn before completely ending, Guangde’s situation wouldn’t be so dire.

Han Qian bid farewell to Chen Jitang who would continue surveying terrain near Nandu Pond Lake, preparing to complete polder reclamation work before spring. With Xi Ren leading the bodyguards and Guo Que guiding them, he mounted his horse and galloped south toward Langxi City…