To further remedy the flaws, or to more forcefully silence doubters should something truly happen in the future, after Feng Yi finished handling the affairs Han Qian had entrusted to him in Jinling, he specially made connections to board the Five-Tooth Army naval fleet heading to Yueyang for garrison rotation, planning to change ships in Yueyang for the return to Xuzhou.

By late April, Jinling was already quite hot. On the great embankment west of the naval encampment, two brown-clothed young men stood with hands clasped, gazing at the gradually receding fleet, their eyes filled with confusion.

After An Jixiang reported back to Yang Yuanpu, he had officially taken office these past two days as Right Commander of the Jinyun Bureau.

Though according to Yang Yuanpu’s plan, he and Left Commander Chen Ruyi were each to be responsible for their own domain, ideally forming a system of mutual supervision and checks and balances over a year or two.

Or perhaps between the two fellow disciples, ultimately only one would gain trust and be valued enough to remain in the Jinyun Bureau.

The two were actually in competition, but given the current situation, both An Jixiang and Chen Ruyi knew that if they didn’t cooperate fully at this time and hastily pulled each other’s legs, the result would be that neither would be qualified to lead the Jinyun Bureau and become the chief henchman before His Majesty.

“Why would they board naval warships to go to Yueyang first?” Chen Ruyi looked at An Jixiang with considerable confusion.

“Perhaps Han Qian warned them to show His Majesty that Xuzhou has no forces directly lurking in Jinling…” An Jixiang speculated.

Of course, if one insisted on finding trouble disadvantageous to Xuzhou, one could completely say that Feng Yi and Han Dong deliberately took the opportunity to curry favor with naval commanders.

However, with the still considerably powerful remnants of the Tower Ship Army having escaped into Hongze Lake without being completely annihilated, whether for defending Jinling or clearing out Shouzhou, the court relied heavily on the Five-Tooth Army naval forces. An Jixiang guessed His Majesty would definitely not want to see them casually involving the Five-Tooth Army navy at this time.

“So all the people they brought this time have returned to Xuzhou as expected?” Chen Ruyi asked.

“Looking at the roster, they all returned,” An Jixiang said.

He had traveled with Feng Yi and Han Dong by ship to Jinling, but after returning to Jinling, his assignment was complete, and he had no reason to continue contacting Feng Yi, Han Dong, and their party. He could only obtain the departure roster from the Court of State Ceremonial, which was responsible for receiving Feng Yi and the others as vassal envoys.

The secret agents the Jinyun Bureau had assigned these past days to watch the guesthouse from afar had discovered no anomalies either. It seemed Feng Yi and Han Dong had long received Han Qian’s instructions—after arriving in Jinling, they were only responsible for eating, drinking, and having fun, had very little contact with old acquaintances, and were extremely law-abiding.

“Let’s return to the city,” Chen Ruyi said, seeing nothing to gain. He descended the river embankment with An Jixiang to meet up with the dozen or so mounted agents waiting below, mounted their horses, and rode together toward Jinling.

They didn’t notice that in the distant grass, a pair of eyes gleaming with sharp light watched their departing figures for a moment before withdrawing his attention, then looked toward the fleet that had sailed four or five li out on the river.

After quite a while, Han Donghu finally rose and walked toward the post road. He had already changed into ragged clothing stolen from a farming household, looking like an honest country folk as he walked toward Jinling…

…

…

A few days after the Empress’s investiture ceremony, the Shang residence also fell into a flurry of activity.

Shang Wensheng, head of the Shang household, was to serve as Magistrate of Guangde Prefecture, while his eldest son Shang Mengtong was being posted to Danyang in Runzhou as county magistrate—both departing after the Empress’s investiture ceremony.

Though his second son Shang Zhongjie had ultimately been pardoned without guilt, as the “chief culprit” who had gathered stockade troops to defend Donglu Mountain and killed over a thousand Chishan Army soldiers, there was no way he could be credited with merit after the war. He remained a commoner at this time.

Shang Wensheng thus wanted to keep his second son at his side as an aide and bring him to Langxi to take up his post.

Shang Zhongjie also felt this was acceptable, but thought that leaving just a few old servants to watch over the family residence in Jinling would suffice, while other servants and attendants should be brought to Donglu Mountain to rebuild Shang Family Fort. After consulting with his mother Lady Liu, he also decided to stay at Donglu Mountain for an extended period and didn’t hurry to depart with his father.

Delaying five or six days, besides packing up all the valuables from the Shang residence and disposing of two warehouses in the city, they raised tens of thousands of strings of cash as funds for rebuilding Shang Family Fort. Only then did Shang Zhongjie and his mother Lady Liu, with over a hundred servants, escorting more than ten carriages, leave Jinling to first return to Donglu Mountain.

Shang Zhongjie arrived at Lishui and stopped for a day to pay respects to County Magistrate Wei Zhen, who was temporarily supervising Lishui County, and complete the land deeds and property titles for the Shang clan at Donglu Mountain. Hearing that Shang Family Fort was currently occupied by some refugees, he left most of his family in Lishui and first took over twenty household troops and retainers back to Shang Family Fort.

At this time, Shang Zhongjie still harbored resentment in his heart. When the Shang family was at its most prosperous, they had thousands of servants, and household troops numbering over four hundred. How had they fallen to such a state today that even their family residence was occupied by vagrant bandits?

Looking again at Lishui County’s four fields overgrown with wild grass, it was a scene of complete desolation.

Though the recovery of Jinling had been over two months ago, and even before the general assault on Jinling, counties like Lishui and Nanling that were initially under the control of Yueyang troops had long since initiated work to return villagers to their homes and restore agriculture, the results were far from ideal.

As the area that had “suffered” most severely under the Chishan Army, not counting civilians forcibly conscripted by the Wei clan and other aristocratic families, nearly eighty percent or more of Lishui County’s servants had eventually joined the Chishan Army.

Adding those who died in the chaos of war and refugees who hadn’t returned, this caused Danyang County’s actual population to drop to less than forty percent of pre-war levels.

Labor, especially young and able-bodied labor, was severely lacking.

The sons of aristocratic families didn’t engage in farming and agricultural work, and large amounts of farming equipment had been melted down during wartime to forge swords and armor.

By spring, only about twenty percent of the county’s fields had been re-cultivated, with most fields still lying fallow, overgrown with weeds.

Wei Zhen had temporarily not taken office in the Six Ministries. Like several meritorious officers who had pledged allegiance to His Majesty, such as Fu Gengwen and others, he first went to counties like Lishui, Jiangcheng, Fanchang, and Dangtu to oversee rest and recuperation matters.

With Wei Zhen presiding over Lishui County affairs, even with vast fields lying fallow, he still insisted that fields and properties return to their original owners.

Even though he had no authority to restrain servants who had joined the Chishan Army and settled in Guangde Prefecture, he still dispatched as many of the county office’s limited number of bailiffs and bow-wielding guards as possible to assist masters in pursuing servants who had fled into the depths of Mount Yi or Mount Jiuhua.

He also detained refugees remaining in Lishui County, and after verifying their identities, first detained those identified as escaped slaves in the county jail, then notified their former masters through the courier system to come collect them.

He did everything possible to restore the old order of aristocratic families controlling the countryside.

Of course, when Zheng Yu, who presided over the Ministry of Personnel, recommended Wei Zhen, Fu Gengwen, and others to temporarily lead counties in Jingzhao Prefecture, he had such considerations in mind.

This also received recognition from Yang Zhitang, Zhang Chao, and many others.

Emperor Yanyou Yang Yuanpu also didn’t strongly object. After all, merely confiscating fields in Jingzhao Prefecture counties belonging to Anning Palace, Crown Prince Yang Yuanwo, and the Xu clan’s direct line officers and officials totaled nearly two million mu. Besides using them to reward merit, they could also sell some fields to raise funds and supplies to make up for insufficient capital for rebuilding Jinling.

At this time, the Bureau of Military Affairs had also taken over military garrison bureaus originally under the Southern Court Imperial Guards and Palace Guards, which was sufficient to settle the families of newly organized Imperial Guards and Palace Guards, and even left some room for upcoming household troop expansion.

In any case, all sides were working hard to control the adverse effects of the Chishan Army and Guangde Prefecture to the minimum extent.

Shang Zhongjie first brought a group of able servants and household troops back to Donglu Mountain. Shang Family Fort at the northern foot was a scene of devastation. Only the inner fort barely remained intact, but over a dozen households of refugees had squatted there. The garden behind the mountain had actually been cultivated into fields planted with wheat and vegetables, amounting to over a hundred mu.

Shang Zhongjie first had seven or eight able servants take up weapons to block the stone path outside the north fort gate, then personally led over ten household troops to circle around and climb to the back mountain, charging into the inner fort from the south.

Of the dozen or so refugee households, the vast majority were either destitute tenant farmers from nearby without farmland, or servants who had timidly fled into the mountains to avoid the chaos of war. Seeing the situation stabilize after the war, they returned to find their homes destroyed by fire with nowhere to go, so they first came to squat in the abandoned Shang Family Fort.

Seeing Shang Zhongjie gathering household troops with swords to kill their way in, they offered no resistance and surrendered. They were still thinking that after being driven out, they would once again become homeless, their hearts filled with desolation, never imagining that an even more miserable fate awaited them.

…

…

Shang Zhongjie pulled his blood-dripping sword from the chest of a small girl whose face was covered in grime. The sky had already brightened, and his mind, controlled by rage, finally cleared somewhat.

By this time, on the stone-paved square south of Shang Family Fort’s north gate, over fifty corpses already lay scattered in pools of blood.

Everyone’s hands had been bound behind their backs. To prevent them from screaming while struggling, their mouths were stuffed full of rags or bundles of grass.

Only at this moment did Shang Zhongjie feel regret and fear. He hadn’t expected that torturing three refugees to death alive last night had not vented the resentment in his heart. In the early morning, he got up again to torture these refugees.

However, having their mouths stuffed with rags and grass bundles and being whipped with iron rods still couldn’t somewhat relieve the hatred in his heart. His mind heated up, and he drew his sword to stab these refugees to death one by one.

Though these refugees had occupied his Shang family’s fields and properties, he could gather household troops and use force to drive them out. Even if there were some deaths and injuries during the expulsion process, they would be in the right and need not worry about being held accountable.

However, these people had offered no resistance and surrendered. According to the rules, he should either drive these people directly out or haul them all to the county office for disposal. He absolutely couldn’t execute them on his own authority.

Even in the military, killing prisoners would be severely prosecuted. How much more so for him, merely a Shang family scion bearing guilt, and when those he killed were just a group of unarmed refugee women and children?

What was he to do with these fifty or sixty corpses?

Shang Zhongjie now regained his calm, looking with sinister intent at the dozen or so household troops behind him who had been terrified by his recent atrocity. Though the corpses could be buried on the back mountain.

In these chaotic times of war and famine, there were several mass graves outside Lishui—a few dozen more corpses, and after some time no one would notice anything amiss. But could he guarantee these household troops wouldn’t leak word?

Back then, it was precisely those treacherous servants who betrayed the Shang family who had been most fierce and ruthless in attacking Shang Family Fort.

“Clip-clop…” A sound of urgent galloping hoofbeats came straight up the stone path from the mountain below. After a moment, the half-closed fort gate was pushed open from outside.

Shang Wensheng, gaunt-faced with a three-inch beard on his chin, saw the bloody scene before him and nearly fainted from rage. He grabbed the riding crop in his hand and lashed it across his second son Shang Zhongjie’s head and face: “You unfilial wretch, you’ve truly gone mad!”

Last night when Shang Zhongjie had tortured three refugees to death alive, some of his subordinates felt something was wrong with him. Unable to bear watching more refugees die so miserably yet unable to dissuade the second young master, whose temperament had become extremely brutal after the war, they could only quietly lead a horse out of the fort in the night to rush to Langxi to report to household head Shang Wensheng.

Upon receiving the news, Shang Wensheng didn’t delay either. He brought five or six personal guards and rode through the dawn nearly ninety li back to Shang Family Fort. Never imagining he’d still be a step too late, all he saw was mangled corpses scattered in pools of blood…