The Southern Bureau Forbidden Army had already retreated along the entire line north of the Shuiyang River. Dangtu, Yijiang, and Xiangyuan counties to the northeast and east of Fanchang had also been taken by the Yanjiang Pacification Army and Right Guangde Army without a fight. They stationed three to five thousand troops respectively in each location, connecting with Lishui, Maoshan, Liyang, Jintan and other places further east into one continuous territory, sheltering Fanchang, Nanling and other cities on the inner side.
Fanchang wasn’t any great famous city—the city walls were small. Even evacuating all the over one thousand remaining county residents, Fanchang city with its circuit of merely over two thousand paces around the walls couldn’t possibly accommodate nearly a hundred thousand troops stationed inside.
Apart from defending the outer ring of cities, the main forces of the Yanjiang Pacification Army and Jiangxi Pacification Army primarily established camps between Chanlong Mountain and Yinyu Mountain outside the city, utilizing the easily defended, difficult to attack terrain.
After Fanchang city was vacated, over five thousand elite troops serving as the Palace Guard Army—with Chen De and Yang Fan, heir apparent of the Prince of Yuzhang, respectively serving as principal and deputy Military Virtue Commissioners and principal and deputy commanders—garrisoned the city to personally protect the safety of Prince Tan Yang Yuanpu.
Time was too short. The county office and nearby residences were only simply tidied up before serving as Yang Yuanpu’s temporary palace upon entering Fanchang.
After paying respects to Prince Tan Yang Yuanpu, most officials still had to return immediately to their respective garrison camps and fortifications to attend to their duties. Those who could truly remain in Fanchang city to discuss grand strategy were only a few people like Han Qian, Li Pu, Gu Zhilong, Zhang Ping, Wu Zun, Chen Fan, and Han Daochang.
Yang Yuanpu and his party were fatigued from travel. After hastily finishing the evening banquet, they first retired to rest. Formal deliberations were scheduled for the afternoon of the following day.
Of course, it wasn’t ruled out that before convening the formal grand council, Yang Yuanpu would still seek out Li Pu, Zhang Ping, Yuan Guowei and others to further grasp the detailed situation in Jiangnan East Circuit.
Han Qian was also temporarily residing in a courtyard compound east of the temporary palace. His guard troops under Kong Xirong’s command were stationed in camps outside the city. He brought only Xi Ren, Feng Liao, Feng Yi, Guo Que and over ten personal bodyguards to reside in the city.
Light snow began falling at night. Feng Liao, Feng Yi, Guo Que and the various bodyguards stayed in the outer residence. Han Qian walked into the inner residence and stood at the courtyard gate watching the snowflakes falling before him. Seeing Wang Jun walking over from the corridor—she seemed to have just been standing in the courtyard looking up at the snow—he said, “If the war can end before the new year, we can still reduce some deaths. Otherwise with the freezing cold plus next year’s spring famine, no matter how well relief is provided inside and outside the city, inevitably a batch of people will starve or freeze to death.”
Wang Jun said, “If it could truly be like that, it would be wonderful, but convincing Yang Jian to surrender won’t be easy, will it?”
The Tower Ship Army had large warships. Though the five-story tower ships rising seven to eight zhang above the river surface seemed somewhat unwieldy, backed by Jinling city, it was very difficult for the Five-Tooth Army fleet to contend with them in the Yangtze main channel north of Jinling city, making it difficult to cut off Jinling city’s connections with Chuzhou, Chaozhou and even Shouzhou to the north.
Under these circumstances, Anning Palace still had over seventy thousand infantry and cavalry troops withdrawn to defend Jinling city, with morale and fighting spirit that wouldn’t be too poor. If Yueyang really steeled itself to launch a forceful assault, at what great cost might it be possible to capture Jinling city before the new year?
Yet the war had already reached this stage, with the Great Chu situation completely归属 to Yueyang. At this time to still blindly attack recklessly, completely disregarding soldiers’ lives—what difference was there from a brute?
The optimal choice would be best to convince Yang Jian to surrender. Even if Yang Jian couldn’t be convinced, they still needed to fully employ political tactics, disrupt the situation inside Jinling city as much as possible, disturb the defenders’ morale, divide and win over enemy forces, divide and win over civil and military officials inside the city.
After all, after capturing Jinling city, Great Chu would still have a pile of messy affairs to clean up.
When Han Qian had time, he was quite willing to discuss these matters with Wang Jun, able to gain some inspiration from Wang Jun’s fragmentary words. But today he had no such mood, and went into the inner room where a fire was burning to talk with the two women.
“It was you who taught Prince Tan power schemes and cunning tactics. Today when used on you, it doesn’t feel good, does it?” Xi Ren removed her brocade cloak that blocked wind and snow, saying, “In my view, Miss Wang should just return to Xuzhou with us. Let Prince Tan think whatever he wants!”
“Nonsense!” Han Qian glared at Xi Ren, stopping her from talking nonsense.
His bringing Wang Jun along to Fanchang this time was to formally hand her over as a prisoner to Yang Yuanpu’s people to take charge of. But Xi Ren was truly quite angered today, so she didn’t want to hand Wang Jun over as a bargaining chip for future negotiations with Chuzhou.
It’s just that Han Qian couldn’t forget his father’s death no matter what. Wang Wenqian was the instigator. When Wang Jixiong died of illness in Xuzhou, he hadn’t agreed to allocate a burial plot in Xuzhou. Unless he imprisoned Wang Jun for her entire life—otherwise what would he bring Wang Jun back to Xuzhou for?
Wang Jun lowered her head, looking at her shoe surface slightly dampened from treading on snow. When she heard Xi Ren’s willful words, a trace of unusual brightness flashed in her eyes, then dimmed again, as profound and clear as a deep spring in the night.
“Go rest. When Zhang Ping returns to His Highness’s side, he’ll find an opportunity to mention your matter. Perhaps tomorrow they’ll send you over,” Han Qian waved his hand, saying, “Even though your father serves Prince Xin, your grandfather was a famous minister of Great Chu. His Highness shouldn’t make things difficult for you.”
“Mm.” Wang Jun responded softly and withdrew.
Xi Ren saw the fire burning in the room and propped the window open a palm’s width to allow air circulation.
Fanchang city’s conditions were crude. The charcoal brazier didn’t have a flue connected outside to expel smoke. With doors and windows tightly shut, carbon monoxide poisoning was easy—this was already known by a small circle of people in this era.
Xi Ren went out to find a clay pot, filled it with water, and placed it on the fire to heat. After bustling about for a while, when she stood beside Han Qian, she saw him hunched before the brazier scratching his head while writing a resignation letter. She asked, “Are you really going to resign as both Guangde Army Commissioner and Left Guangde Army Supreme Commander this time?”
“I’ve long since prepared everyone for this. I can’t possibly pull back my foot at the last moment before the goal, can I?” Han Qian said.
“That’s true. After the Du family’s old and young entered the city and met Qiniang, they spoke with his sister for a while. Just when you all were welcoming Prince Tan outside the city, Princess Qingyang said to her with a smile, guessing that you were discussing the matter of replacing the Guangde Army Commissioner,” Xi Ren said. “What did Princess Qingyang mean by saying this to Du Qiniang? Was it that Prince Tan feared you wouldn’t understand his meaning, or did Princess Qingyang take it upon herself to deliberately leak information to you?”
“Why guess so much?” Han Qian smiled, pulling Xi Ren close, saying, “Come help me think—how should this resignation letter be written to show my words are sincere and heartfelt? The main idea is that I’m someone who excels at using cunning schemes and dangerous stratagems. This can only win temporary victories. Without grand battle formations, without an august imperial army, commanding troops long-term makes soldiers’ hearts restless. Should they encounter strong cities or formidable enemies, great harm will surely result. I deeply feel this and have grown fearful. Thus for consecutive months I haven’t dared battle strong enemies again. Exhausting my mental energy, unable to eat in peace or sleep soundly—I request His Highness appoint another worthy person. During the siege of Jinling, I can remain behind His Highness providing strategic counsel, contributing my slight strength, which would suffice to comfort my heart—everyone should love hearing these words!”
……
……
Zhang Ping served as Guangde Army Supervisor, but upon returning to Prince Tan Yang Yuanpu’s side, he still had to bear the responsibilities of Prince’s Mansion Administrator.
Over a hundred palace attendants accompanying from Changxin Palace and Chengyun Hall were first settled, arrangements made for attending His Highness and Princess Qingyang as well as guard duty inside the temporary palace. After seeing off Li Pu who came to the rear residence to gather with His Highness as father and son-in-law after the evening banquet, Zhang Ping and Jiang Huo braved light snow to inspect various military camps, city gate towers and other defensive key points throughout the city.
Palace guard and security affairs, transferred from the Palace Command Office to the Military Virtue Commissioner’s jurisdiction, were handled by Chen De and Yang Fan. But as close attendants beside Prince Tan Yang Yuanpu, Zhang Ping and Jiang Huo still needed to grasp many details of guard duty in order to identify gaps and prevent exploitation by treacherous people.
After this round of busy work, night had deepened and the snow had stopped. The wet ground, blown by cold wind, froze solid again.
Passing through the quiet covered walkway, seeing lamplight still bright in His Highness’s room, judging from the shadows cast on the window, it seemed His Highness was still reviewing memorials under lamplight with Princess Qingyang standing in attendance beside him. Zhang Ping indicated for attendants to stand slightly farther away and asked Jiang Huo in a lowered voice, “Does His Highness truly want to keep Lord Han at his side to serve this time?”
Keeping Han Qian at his side to serve and replacing him with another person to preside over the Guangde Army Commissioner’s Office were essentially the same meaning, but the former phrasing sounded better.
The former seemed to show His Highness trusted and relied on Han Qian more—this was also what His Highness wanted to display to civil and military officials and all under heaven when entering the city today. The latter, well, was somewhat more心诛.
No matter how foolish Zhang Ping was, he wouldn’t directly ask the latter meaning outright.
Jiang Huo said, “In capturing Chizhou, casualties were considerable. Presumably Jinling is also a hard bone difficult to gnaw. And even if Jinling city is smoothly captured, afterward remnants will huddle in Shouzhou, and Chuzhou will also be a major trouble. Apart from Lord Han, there are few who can help His Highness see clearly this intricate and complex situation, right?”
Counting from when he entered service at the Linjiang Prince’s mansion, Jiang Huo and Zhang Ping had worked together for over three years. But no matter how close their previous interactions, as Prince Tan was about to ascend the throne and be enthroned—when they too would reach their respective peaks—even with the most magnanimous bearing, anything more said could only go so far.
Of course, Jiang Huo’s words had already made the meaning clear.
Han Qian had established great merit, but arbitrarily seized military authority, afterward merely notifying through Feng Yi, even having the intention of forcing Yueyang to recognize it. No matter who it was, they couldn’t possibly be completely without reservations.
Using a scheme to convince Gu Zhilong to surrender—though afterward they unified their narrative saying it was planned beforehand with Han Wenhuan, Han Daochang and others, there were no walls in the world that didn’t leak wind. Using such schemes was also too sinister and ruthless—others couldn’t possibly have no opinion whatsoever.
Of course, His Highness hadn’t become self-inflated because the war situation progressed smoothly, mistakenly thinking everything was within his control. Even after ascending the throne, internal troubles and external threats would pile up. He still needed a “Teacher Han” who could truly plan strategies for him.
Since ancient times, there had been the saying “the ruler sets the guidelines for ministers,” emphasizing “between ruler and minister there is the way of propriety, righteousness, and loyal service.” The names and positions of ruler and minister were long established. Jiang Huo felt that the about-to-ascend Prince Tan was perhaps slightly too eager, but keeping Han Qian at his side for strategic planning while appointing others to preside over the Guangde Army Commissioner’s Office wasn’t excessive.
And regardless of whether Han Qian’s previous talk of retiring had the intent of advancing by retreating, as long as this matter could smoothly pass, Jiang Huo believed the hidden turbulence would quickly calm…
“Indeed.” Zhang Ping nodded, but looking at the swaying tree shadows in the courtyard, as if countless demons and ghosts were hiding in the darkness, his heart sighed secretly. He and Jiang Huo circled around the covered walkway, walking to the window about to give greetings before withdrawing to the adjacent duty courtyard to keep night watch.
“Zhang Ping, Jiang Huo—are you outside?” Yang Yuanpu asked through the window.
“It is indeed we two ministers,” Zhang Ping and Jiang Huo said.
“Come in,” Yang Yuanpu said.