Late March was Xuzhou’s most mild and comfortable season. The rainy season had not yet arrived. The Yuan River was broad and clear, the weather bright and beautiful. Wearing thin robes, with verdant mountains and greenery everywhere one looked, gentle breezes caressing faces, warmth pervading all.
If light rain fell, misty rain enveloping the river and green mountains in hazy veils, one felt even more the vastness of heaven and earth. Sitting indoors reading and writing, or entering a wine house to pick a window-side table and slowly sipping wine—these were most pleasant.
Although the prefectural seat had moved to Chenzhong, Qianyang City, inheriting several hundred years of accumulated foundation, remained Xuzhou’s most prosperous city.
The boats and travelers coming downriver from Qianzhong or going upriver from Yuelang mostly still chose to dock at Qianyang. The reopening of the Snow Peak Mountain courier road also allowed merchants and travelers from Shaoyang, Hengyang and other places to take a shorter route through Qianyang to Qianzhong and other locations.
Based on this alone, Qianyang’s position was still far from being replaceable by Chenzhong in the middle reaches of the Chen River. Moreover, Qianyang remained the hub of Xuzhou’s eastern region. If the village people from the surrounding four counties and over forty townships wanted to attend the big market and had the leg strength, they would all run to Qianyang City.
Travelers coming from south and north, along with dazzling arrays of goods, were unloaded at the dock. Hundreds of boats large and small docked before the wharf.
Such grand scenes could only be seen in a handful of large cities across the Jianghuai lands.
As for Guanyue Tower, built in the city a hundred years ago—a private wine establishment granted secret methods by the Prefectural Governor to brew and sell Yandang Spring, and also famous throughout Xuzhou for its Hundred Duck Feast—in this season of light drizzling rain, it was even more packed with customers filling the doors.
“The story goes that Emperor Yanyu raised troops beneath Jinling City, with several hundred whirlwind catapults arranged in a row. Stone monuments from within a hundred li were all transported to the city to be ground into stone projectiles. Day and night without rest they bombarded the city walls. The stone projectiles were so dense they could block out the sun. When they all crashed into the walls together, it was earth-shattering and made ghosts wail. Although Jinling City was solid as metal and stone, it still couldn’t withstand this chaotic bombardment. You could see the city walls cracking and collapsing. The soldiers defending behind the battlements, although they too were Great Chu warriors, their flesh and blood bodies hit by those stone projectiles weighing hundreds of jin or even several hundred or thousand jin crashing down hard—wherever they were struck, they were smashed into pulp. Not to mention the city walls collapsing—red and white matter everywhere. After this bombardment of stone projectiles, over ten thousand defenders died or were wounded. Emperor Yanyu’s attacking forces were too fierce. That traitorous Empress Dowager, seeing she couldn’t hold out, seized Marquis Zhenyuan Yang Jian’s wife, children and elderly, forcing Marquis Zhenyuan to take those tower ships taller than our Guanyue Tower here and cover her panicked escape across the river to seek refuge with Shouzhou Military Commissioner Xu Mingzhen. Marquis Zhenyuan Yang Jian’s heart had actually always been with Emperor Yanyu, but his wife, children and elderly were all controlled by the traitorous Empress Dowager, so he had no choice but to be coerced by the traitorous Empress Dowager and become enemies with Emperor Yanyu. However, seeing the traitorous Empress Dowager wanting to flee north across the river, Marquis Zhenyuan Yang Jian finally remembered he was a great general of the imperial clan, entrusted by the late Emperor. He suddenly repented and ultimately raised his sword to cut his own throat, ordering his subordinate general Fan Xiang to lead his forces to help Emperor Yanyu kill the rebel army. These years our Great Chu has competed with the Liang army for victory. The Liang cavalry gallops freely in all directions, unmatched under heaven. But when they reach our Great Chu’s Jianghuai lakes and marshlands and see our naval warships, they suffer terrible headaches. The Tower Ship Navy is our Great Chu’s strongest water force. Even though Marquis Zhenyuan Yang Jian cut his own throat and died, even though the great general Fan Xiang led his forces to submit to Emperor Yanyu, there were still quite a few naval forces who stubbornly refused to change, determined to follow the traitorous Empress Dowager. That naval battle dyed the river surface red. Hundreds and thousands of warships sank to the river bottom. It truly was killing that made heaven and earth dark, leaving not even chickens and dogs alive…”
In late February and early March, Yueyang forces had taken Jinling, An Ning Palace’s remaining forces had fled north across the river, Third Prince Yang Yuanpu had succeeded to the throne and ascended in Jinling, establishing the reign title Yanyu—all this news had already reached Xuzhou via merchants and travelers in mid-March.
Guanyue Tower’s second floor was currently packed to overflowing. In the middle of the hall sat a fat-headed, big-eared merchant wearing brocade robes. From his accent he seemed to be from Jiang, E and other places. Others hearing him speak so vividly just laughed that he too was passing along hearsay.
“…This you wouldn’t know! For Emperor Yanyu to attack Jinling, the supplies assembled from Jiang, E and other places filled hundreds and thousands of vessels large and small. I am indeed from Ezhou, but before the new year I accompanied the ships transporting supplies to Jinling, and stayed in Jinling until late February. I personally saw with my own eyes the situation of stone projectiles flying and smashing the city head, and also personally saw hundreds and thousands of warships ramming and fighting on the river surface. That traitorous Empress Dowager coerced over one hundred thousand people to withdraw from Jinling, but the large ships were all taken by the rebel soldiers. Those common people who were coerced, along with the rebel soldiers’ families, rode in small and broken boats. Who knows how many boats sank—the downstream river beaches were covered everywhere with drowned floating corpses, which filled the bellies of the fish and crabs in the river.” Hearing someone question him, that fat-faced merchant spoke even more passionately about the bloody scenes of the Jinling naval battle.
“…” In a corner of the hall there was a table where sat a blue-robed middle-aged man. He was called middle-aged because his face didn’t show age and he had no beard, with smooth lips and cheeks, but his temples were already graying. Listening to that fat-faced merchant passionately recounting the Jinling battle, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, revealing a disdainful expression.
Although the blue-robed guest’s robe was old with two patches, and he occupied a corner of the table with only a small dish of fragrant tofu jerky and a small dish of river celery as drinking snacks, his wine was merely half a bowl of turbid wine which he slowly sipped. He looked shabby, but his manner and bearing were extraordinary.
The hall was packed with people, everyone sharing tables. Sitting across from the blue-robed guest was a young man listening with great interest to the fat-faced merchant telling about the Jinling battle. Seeing the blue-robed guest across the table reveal such an expression, his mind stirred and he asked: “Could it be that you, sir, know some inside story that differs from what that man is saying?”
The blue-robed guest glanced at the young man across from him, picked up his ceramic bowl missing a small corner and took a small sip of wine, but didn’t wish to respond.
The blue-robed guest acting this way instead aroused the young man’s interest. He saw the blue-robed guest was quite shabby, not knowing if he had met with disaster. Half a bowl of wine had been sipped for so long without seeing it diminish—it seemed he didn’t have much money to buy wine. So he pushed forward the pot of aged wine before him, saying: “If you, sir, have some interesting matters to tell, I’ll treat you to this pot of wine today.”
The blue-robed guest picked up the wine pot and shook it. Inside there was still over half a pot of aged wine. He glanced at the fat-faced merchant over there speaking with great satisfaction, saying: “Although I didn’t go to Jinling, I have heard a little about this person Marquis Zhenyuan Yang Jian. After his death, apart from General Fan Xiang who had the closest relationship with Yueyang submitting to Emperor Yanyu, the other subordinate generals all followed An Ning Palace fighting to the death. From this you can know that Marquis Zhenyuan Yang Jian definitely didn’t die from cutting his own throat so simply. It’s just that for various reasons, his true cause of death wasn’t made public.”
“Then what exactly is the reason they must say Marquis Zhenyuan died from cutting his own throat?” the young man asked.
“I’m in Qianyang, and I can’t divine mysteries with supernatural calculation—where would I know these minute details?” The blue-robed guest drank the wine in his ceramic bowl, took the wine pot and poured a small half bowl of wine, then pushed the wine pot back to the young man, indicating his words were only worth a small half bowl of wine.
“The Jinling naval battle was fierce. Crown Prince Yang Yuanwo’s flagship also nearly capsized, but though the flagship didn’t overturn, Crown Prince Yang Yuanwo standing at the bow observing the battle fell into the water and was shot by a volley of arrows. When rescued he had already stopped breathing and died…” That fat-faced merchant, seeing everyone clustering around him, recounted the subsequent details of the Jinling naval battle even more dramatically.
“This is also false.”
After drinking wine, the blue-robed guest felt somewhat that he should fulfill some explanatory duty, and said to the young man across the table.
“Crown Prince Yang Yuanwo had already ascended the throne in Jinling. Retreating to the north bank, he would necessarily be together with that person from An Ning Palace and the princes and ministers, protected at the most core position of the fleet. If the ship formation had once been penetrated by the Yueyang navy, fought so badly that Crown Prince Yang Yuanwo fell into the water and died from arrows—wouldn’t that mean An Ning Palace’s navy had long been routed? How could there still be many remnant defeated soldiers able to flee to the north bank? How could Emperor Yanyu not pursue his victory and annihilate the An Ning Palace rebel army in one stroke? Crown Prince Yang Yuanwo’s health was always poor. In my view, most likely he was excessively frightened and had already died of illness before withdrawing from Jinling City. An Ning Palace now firmly claims the Crown Prince fell in the water and died from arrows, but this is merely to make Emperor Yanyu bear the evil name of killing his brother and usurping the throne. Think about it—before Emperor Yanyu ascended the throne, he said An Ning Palace killed her husband and usurped the throne. An Ning Palace in turn says Emperor Yanyu killed his brother and usurped the throne. Doesn’t this make it all a muddled account?”
“Sir, although you weren’t in Jinling at this time, what you say is quite reasonable. I imagine when you were in Jinling, you must also have been no ordinary person?” the young man asked respectfully.
“What ordinary or not—I’m just a lodger of heaven and earth, a gull on lakes and seas, nothing more.” The blue-robed guest laughed. He drank the remaining wine in his ceramic bowl in one gulp, cupped his hands toward the young man to thank him for the gifted wine, lifted the hem of his worn robe, picked up several thin booklets from the corner of the table, and made to rise and leave.
“Lord Guo is truly too modest.” At this time, a wine drinker at the adjacent shared table turned around and cupped his hands toward the blue-robed guest.
Only then did Guo Rong see clearly that the person sharing a table with several porters was actually the newly appointed Chenzhong County Magistrate and Xuzhou Chief Clerk Feng Liao. He hadn’t expected him to be sitting at the adjacent table. Slightly stunned, his gaze couldn’t help but search elsewhere in the hall.
“Sir is drinking wine in a private room on the third floor. Seeing Lord Guo here, he had Feng Liao come over to invite Lord Guo to go up together to drink a few cups and reminisce about old times—Feng Liao heard this merchant telling about the Jinling naval battle which was quite interesting, so I couldn’t help sitting down to listen for a while longer.” Feng Liao smiled.
Guo Rong didn’t much like this person Feng Liao. He could also guess that Feng Liao must have deliberately sat there with his back to him, nothing more than wanting to observe his reaction to the fall of Jinling. So he only said coolly: “Lord Han can tolerate me lodging in Qianyang to muddle through my days—I wouldn’t dare make him spend money on wine again.”
Regardless of what conflicts Han Qian had with Yang Yuanpu who had taken Jinling and succeeded to the throne, since Han Qian had returned to Xuzhou, he was Xuzhou’s master. Guo Rong knew in his heart he was a remnant of An Ning Palace. That Han Qian could refrain from killing him was already magnanimous—why should he run before Han Qian to find unpleasantness?
“Lord Guo won’t make Feng Liao unable to account to Sir, will you?” Feng Liao’s expression sank slightly. He wasn’t so easy to talk to. He looked calmly at Guo Rong—he wouldn’t let him leave just like that.
Seeing two strong, robust, and powerful men stand up following the change in Feng Liao’s expression, Guo Rong felt somewhat annoyed in his heart. He stared at Feng Liao and asked: “Living under another’s roof, it seems I have no choice but to drink this wine today?”
“Exactly so.” Feng Liao extended his hand pointing to the stairs, indicating Guo Rong should go first.
The young man who had unintentionally wanted to hear some interesting matters was somewhat dazed seeing this scene, not knowing what kind of personages the blue-robed guest and this gray-robed young man at the adjacent table actually were.
Guo Rong ascended from the stairs to the third floor and discovered there were no other wine guests upstairs. Several guards stood at the stairway entrance. There was no sound of voices clamoring. The private room door across from the stairway entrance was open, as if deliberately listening to the discussions downstairs. He couldn’t help thinking—learning the news that Yang Yuanpu had smoothly taken Jinling and succeeded to the throne—what would Han Qian think in his heart?
Guo Rong walked into the private room and saw Han Qian sitting very casually in a corner, also wearing a blue robe, but much newer than the worn shirt on his own body. However, in Qianyang City full of merchants and travelers, this was also ordinary.
Zhao Ting’er and Xi Ren—the two women had absolutely gorgeous appearances. Guo Rong thought to himself that Han Qian, Feng Liao, and Tian Cheng could bring guards and quietly ascend the stairs. With his back to the stairs he might not have noticed, but if Zhao Ting’er and Xi Ren had passed by the stairs they would necessarily have attracted everyone’s attention. Looking at it this way, Han Qian had actually been sitting here before he came to drink wine.
So to speak, Han Qian hadn’t unintentionally seen him and then invited him upstairs, but had all along arranged for people to watch him?
Guo Rong couldn’t help thinking—Han Qian having him ascend the stairs to meet—what exactly was his intent? Could it be he wanted to use his relationship with An Ning Palace to do something?
Kong Xirong and Xi Fa’er sat at the lower end of the table. Seeing Feng Liao accompany Guo Rong in, they sat up and yielded their seats to them.
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other. How is Lord Guo faring now?” Han Qian indicated Guo Rong should be seated.
“What good or bad—as long as Lord Han doesn’t drive me away, the days in Qianyang are still relatively quiet—Lord Han calling Guo Rong over, it’s not to say that henceforth Qianyang will have no place for Guo Rong to lodge, is it?” Guo Rong took the attitude of accepting what comes, didn’t stand on ceremony, and directly took a seat on the side near the private room door.
“I could smoothly escape from Shu lands thanks greatly to Lord Guo’s assistance. This also made it so Lord Guo could no longer return to An Ning Palace. How could Han Qian be an ungrateful person?” Han Qian smiled slightly, glancing at the booklets in Guo Rong’s hands, asking: “These booklets were compiled by me in my leisure time and placed in bookshops for sale. Does Lord Guo have any guidance?”
“I’m just idle with nothing to do. While I still have a few spare coins in hand, I bought them to pass the time, nothing more. What qualification do I have to offer guidance? Lord Han truly jests.” Guo Rong said.
Seeing Guo Rong’s cool attitude, Feng Liao sat down and said to Han Qian: “Lord Guo guessed there were other intricacies behind Yang Yuanwo drowning and dying from arrows!”
“Oh?” Han Qian thought that Guo Rong had formerly been a direct subordinate of An Ning Palace, so regarding Yang Yuanwo’s physical condition he truly understood much more clearly than outsiders. That he could guess this point wasn’t surprising. He asked with great interest: “Then Lord Guo, guess why I invited you upstairs for a discussion?”
“Returning to Xuzhou before completing the full achievement—whether Lord Han has worries of being discarded once usefulness is exhausted, or has ambitions to plot for the realm under heaven—Guo Rong is dazzled and confused, cannot see clearly, so how could I guess Lord Han’s thoughts?” Guo Rong said. “But Emperor Yanyu failed to completely annihilate the An Ning Palace rebel army on the river, and instead his own naval camp’s combat strength suffered serious damage. Attacking Jinling City also had quite many losses. Upon ascending the throne he bore the evil name of killing his brother and usurping the throne. In no way can this be said to be perfectly satisfactory. His thoughts I can guess at—perhaps he’ll feel Lord Han is callous and unrighteous. However, whether Emperor Yanyu ultimately chooses forbearance and renews the teacher-student relationship with Lord Han, or will blockade and restrict Xuzhou—this I again cannot fathom…”
Feng Liao was secretly alarmed. Guo Rong had been arranged by An Ning Palace at Yang Yuanpu’s side so An Ning Palace could monitor and grasp Yang Yuanpu’s every move at any time. But initially Guo Rong had been thoroughly deceived by Han Qian and Shen Yang. Only when the Vermillion Bird Army gained momentum did he see clearly the true situation of Taowu Collection taking in plague-stricken famine refugees.
This made Feng Liao more or less look down on Guo Rong. He hadn’t expected that Guo Rong, residing idly in Qianyang, could judge so much key content merely from the fragments of speech from passing merchants and travelers.
After Yang Yuanpu took Jinling, he immediately held a grand ceremony, impatiently succeeding to the throne and ascending, changing the reign title to Yanyu. Feng Liao and the others received this news naturally several days earlier than the merchants and travelers. What they were most worried about now was still Yang Yuanpu’s attitude toward Xuzhou after succeeding to the throne.
Would Yang Yuanpu, recognizing the seriousness of internal troubles and external threats, continue to moderate relations with Xuzhou and Han Qian? Or would he first make Xuzhou the primary target of suppression with various restrictions?
Yang Yuanpu’s different posture would also determine that Xuzhou must adopt different responses.
That Feng Liao and the others, grasping more secret and more frontline intelligence information, would make such judgments wasn’t strange. That Guo Rong could also see this far was quite remarkable.
Feng Liao thought secretly to himself that previously Guo Rong had fallen into Han Qian’s hands and was even regarded as incompetent by An Ning Palace and thus alienated. Perhaps all this was because Han Qian was too formidable, making Guo Rong appear slow and dull by contrast. But in reality Guo Rong was not the slightest bit inferior to anyone else?
Han Qian had no intention of continuing to play riddles with Guo Rong. In fact, he had long seen that although Guo Rong was an old hand from the Guangling Military Commissioner’s office, he didn’t fully agree with many of An Ning Palace’s practices. Sometimes it was more a matter of having no choice.
And before Yang Yuanpu left the palace to establish his own residence, Guo Rong had quite frequent contact with his father. Setting aside that An Ning Palace had the motive of befriending his father through Guo Rong, more or less it could be said that Guo Rong to a certain degree approved of or admired his father’s character and political positions.
This should be the key to why Guo Rong reacted slowly in various Vermillion Bird Army matters. After all, serving at Yang Yuanpu’s side, he truly hadn’t shown any particularly strong behavior attempting to restrict Yang Yuanpu on behalf of An Ning Palace.
On the mission to Shu lands, learning of Jinling’s dramatic changes, Guo Rong had assisted him in kidnapping Princess Qingyang to return to Chu. It could be said he had thoroughly “betrayed” An Ning Palace. As a result, after Guo Rong returned to Chu, apart from Xuzhou, in all the vast realm under heaven there was nowhere else for him to lodge.
Han Qian also didn’t want to play riddles with Guo Rong, saying: “Regardless of how the new Emperor views me, I have no heart to bring chaos to the realm. However, both the late Emperor and His Majesty clearly bestowed Xuzhou upon me, Han Qian. I have withdrawn to Xuzhou to manage it—no one under heaven can say I am wrong. I invited Lord Guo over to meet because I truly want to ask Lord Guo to assist me!”
“…” Guo Rong remained silent.
Han Qian continued: “Lord Guo must want to ask—since I want to ask Lord Guo to assist, why did I drag it out until today to come see Lord Guo? To speak frankly, the reason I only raise this matter now is that Lord Guo has many old friends in An Ning Palace. Regardless of how the traitorous Empress Dowager Xu Hui and others act perversely against the proper way, the vast majority of other people are merely coerced and have no room for choice. I thought that Lord Guo is a person of feeling and righteousness who, mindful of old friends, would not agree to serve in Xuzhou—but now Lord Guo should no longer have this concern, right?”
Guo Rong pondered silently, still unable to guess what Han Qian wanted to see him about.
Han Qian’s words, on the surface, held up.
Previously when Xuzhou and Yueyang were one entity, if he truly agreed to serve in Xuzhou, the days for his old friends in the palace would definitely not be good.
However, at this time, no matter how slow Empress Dowager Xu was, she should have long known that Xuzhou and Emperor Yanyu Yang Yuanpu were at odds despite surface harmony. And Empress Dowager Xu’s enemy at this time was Emperor Yanyu Yang Yuanpu. So if he served in Xuzhou, it wouldn’t provoke any intense reaction.
But did Han Qian choose this time to propose having him serve in Xuzhou truly for such simple reasons as he said?
Seeing Guo Rong had a hesitant expression, Han Qian could guess what he was thinking, saying: “When Lord Guo became acquainted with my late father, my temperament was still stubborn and unruly. I didn’t meet with Lord Guo much. But my late father’s notes contain much praise, saying Lord Guo is well-versed in practical statecraft learning and also has a heart for practical statecraft, but unfortunately was trapped in a cage of mutual deception and fraud, which was not Lord Guo’s wish. I ask Lord Guo to assist me not because I want to use Lord Guo’s relationship with An Ning Palace to play some conspiracy or trick. Regardless of how His Majesty views me, in the matter of annihilating An Ning Palace’s remnants, Xuzhou will absolutely not drag its feet, much less secretly communicate with An Ning Palace. Otherwise, how could I have peace of mind?”
“Regardless of what you say, I am a remnant of An Ning Palace. If you use me, how will people under heaven view you?” Guo Rong asked.
“I cannot completely ignore the gaze of people under heaven, but I seek peace of mind even more—” Han Qian said.
“If you truly want to use me to do something, can I have room to choose?” Guo Rong asked.
“Please speak, Lord Guo.” Han Qian said.
“If you use me, I can assist in managing educational official matters—of course, there is quite a bit of content in these booklets that I cannot comprehend despite bitter thought. And what connection these booklets have with the war machinery, ships, refined iron, and cloth manufactured in Xuzhou—this I find even harder to glimpse. Can Lord Han teach me?” Guo Rong placed the booklets in his hands on the table—already nearly worn from flipping through, densely covered with annotations—and stared at Han Qian asking.
Currently the booklets sold externally by bookshops in Qianyang and other cities mainly popularized basic knowledge of mathematics and natural philosophy, but didn’t involve specific applications.
The part where mathematics and natural philosophy combined with craft techniques was Xuzhou’s truly secret core that was not publicized.
He hadn’t expected that the condition Guo Rong raised was to gain immediate access to Xuzhou’s core secrets.
Feng Liao narrowed his eyes looking toward Guo Rong. He guessed that Guo Rong making this kind of demand was perhaps to see whether Xuzhou truly trusted him. But the problem was—was Guo Rong truly worthy of trust?
“What’s wrong with that?” Regardless of what Feng Liao and the others thought in their hearts, Han Qian smiled and said: “Then let’s happily decide on this!”
Ji Xiyao and Chen Jitang, and even Zhao Ting’er, all had to manage large areas of responsibility. Han Qian now wished for nothing more than to have people like Guo Rong who possessed first-rate learning join in organizing, researching, and promoting the new mathematics and natural philosophy!