Han Qian arrived quietly with his men and departed just as quietly.
Ordinary mountain villages were always tranquil. The courtyard that Zhao Zhixian and Tan Yuliang’s two families had acquired was outside the valley entrance. Apart from a few yellow dogs barking and breaking the silent night, most people in the village had long since retired after dark, and no one noticed the commotion at the valley entrance.
Tan Yuliang looked at the wine jar on the table and the thick stack of paper in his hands. If not for these, he would have doubted whether what had just happened was merely a dream.
Zhao Zhixian and Tan Xiuqun also stood there somewhat dumbfounded, watching through the courtyard gate as over ten agile figures escorting Han Qian and the others had long since disappeared into the depths of the night. Even after a long time, they still found it hard to believe everything that had just occurred.
If it were simply pledging allegiance to Xu Province and serving in provincial or county offices, they would have nothing to hesitate about or worry over.
Even though Xu Province was deeply feared by the powerful clan forces surrounding it, and even though Han Qian himself was suspected by the Chu Emperor and the court, Zhao Zhixian and Tan Yuliang had witnessed Xu Province’s rise firsthand. They had also deeply appreciated the formidable capabilities of Han Qian and the many direct subordinates around him. They believed that following Han Qian and serving Xu Province, the outcome wouldn’t be too bad.
However, the task Han Qian had now assigned them was absolutely not easy—if mishandled, heads would roll.
“Who were all those people who came to the courtyard just now?”
The wives of Zhao Zhixian and Tan Yuliang entered the east wing room at this moment, their faces somewhat pale, still showing signs of alarm as they asked.
Earlier in the east wing room, only Zhao Zhixian, Tan Yuliang, Tan Xiuqun, and several adult sons and nephews had been drinking and talking. The other women and children, after serving them, weren’t qualified to sit at the table and had eaten in separate rooms before retiring early.
On ordinary days, even lighting an extra lamp pained them. Whenever they hunted wild game with some meat, they first ensured the able-bodied laborers ate their fill, only giving the women and children a taste if there was extra.
When a large group of armed strangers appeared in the courtyard with passages and corridors blocked off, the women were terrified but only dared to close their room doors tightly and hide inside observing the situation, comforting the children not to make crying sounds. Only after the strange visitors had truly departed did the wives of Zhao Zhixian and Tan Yuliang dare to venture to the east wing room to see what had happened.
Zhao Zhixian was over fifty years old with three sons and two daughters. His eldest son’s body had been weak from the start and couldn’t endure the hardships of the labor camp, dying from overwork and coughing up blood in the third month. His second son Zhao Fanghai had been invited to treat patients at Qingtian Stronghold in the mountains behind them this afternoon and couldn’t return at night walking mountain paths in the dark. His third son had his left leg broken in the labor camp and had difficulty moving.
Zhao Zhixian’s two daughters were respectively married to Tan Yuliang’s two sons Tan Lang and Tan Qiu.
Besides his two sons Tan Lang and Tan Qiu, Tan Yuliang also had a daughter. Zhao Zhixian’s eldest son’s early wife had died in childbirth, so Tan Yuliang married his daughter to Zhao Zhixian’s eldest son as a second wife, never expecting she would become a widow so soon.
Before the defeat in Tan Province, Tan Xiuqun had one wife and one concubine. But after Tan Province’s defeat, his wife couldn’t face the harsh fate ahead and found an opportunity to drown herself in a pond on the way to the entertainment camp. Only his concubine Zhou Shi, his seventeen-year-old eldest son Tan Wenlin, and two young daughters remained by his side.
Tan Xiuqun was seven or eight years younger than Tan Yuliang, not yet forty at this time, in his prime years.
Besides being ordered by the Ma clan years ago to lurk in Qianyang through hardship to plot against Xu Province, their two families’ fates were also bound together through marriage connections between their children.
“It’s nothing. Just an old friend we haven’t seen in many years came to the door. We had some drinks and then they left.” Tan Yuliang said, signaling his wife Zhao Shi and Zhao Zhixian’s wife Xing Shi to return to their rooms and rest, not to worry about this. But at this moment, they suddenly realized that the problems they faced weren’t just how to undertake this task, but also how to arrange for the dozen or so women and children who would remain in Tall Chair Valley after they led the able-bodied young men to infiltrate Si Province for their scheme.
Especially after they publicly revealed their identities to lead the uprising, what if the Yang clan of Si Province sent people to capture their families?
While they were still hesitating, two more figures climbed up the small path to the door. It was Pei Pu, who had just left with Han Qian, now returned. Beside him was the person called Old Zhou the half-blind man, who under the guise of a discharged veteran had been working as a laborer at Green Ox Back Wharf and in less than half a month had become quite familiar with Tan Yuliang and his sons and nephews.
Tan Yuliang stared at Old Zhou hesitantly, wondering why he hadn’t come with Han Qian and the others earlier but waited until after Han Qian left to show himself.
Old Zhou seemed able to guess what Zhao Zhixian and Tan Yuliang were thinking. He cupped his hands and said, “There are two of Si Province’s spies in the valley. I had to take men to watch them to prevent trouble. I’m late in coming to pay respects to Lord Zhao and Master Tan—please forgive me!”
As the first larger-scale settlement outside Tiger Gorge Pass, and with boats and merchants from downstream on the Chen River all docking and passing nearby, Tall Chair Valley could be called the westernmost bridgehead of Chenzhong County. Xu Province had established a post station and village patrol office here.
The Yang clan of Si Province both wanted to cooperate with Xu Province for profit and worried that Xu Province had ambitions to annex Si Province. Arranging two informants at Tall Chair Valley outside Tiger Gorge Pass to watch the movements around them was perfectly normal.
“Master Zhou is too polite,” Tan Yuliang cupped his hands and invited Old Zhou to sit, unable to resist asking another question. “What is Master Zhou’s honorable surname and given name?”
“Nothing honorable about it. My family name is Diao, and I don’t have any given name. I lost an eye in battle, so everyone in the military got used to calling me Diao the Half-blind. Earlier I worried Master Tan had sharp ears and eyes, so when I ran to the wharf posing as a laborer, I used my deceased wife’s family surname to show people,” Diao the Half-blind sat down boldly and asked, “His Lordship already told you what task you need to do, right?”
“We’re waiting for you, Master Diao, to explain the details,” Tan Yuliang said.
“Master Tan, don’t be so polite with me, Diao the Half-blind. I’m bringing a few brothers, and now we have no more connections with Xu Province. From now on, we’ll follow Master Tan and Lord Zhao’s orders. I’m rough-natured and don’t understand propriety much. If I do anything wrong, Master Tan, just scold me directly without sparing my feelings,” Diao the Half-blind said.
“Pei Pu, you’re also coming with us and not returning to Chenzhong?” Zhao Zhixian looked at Pei Pu and asked.
“If we launch the uprising, casualties are inevitable. His Lordship worries that Master Zhao and Fangcheng won’t be able to manage everything,” Pei Pu said. “Besides, I paid money to ransom Master Zhao and Master Tan from the labor camp—Tanyang County has records. If I really stay in Chenzhong, when Master Zhao and Master Tan rise up in Si Province, His Lordship would have to ‘detain’ or ‘expel’ me from the provincial medical hall first anyway. In my heart, I feel staying in Chenzhong would be mediocre and uneventful. I’d rather request to share the same fate with Master Zhao and Master Tan.”
To be honest, Tan Yuliang had also worried they were purely chess pieces thrown out by Han Qian to provide an excuse to send troops into Si Province later. Now having someone like Pei Pu—who seemed not to be a direct subordinate of Xu Province yet was directly assigned—participating in the uprising provided some assurance for their future prospects.
After Diao the Half-blind and Pei Pu settled down, Tan Yuliang and the others cleared the bowls and dishes from the table, lit an extra oil lamp for illumination, and had Tan Lang, Tan Qiu, Zhao Fangcheng, Tan Wenlin, and other disciples gather around to open the uprising outline Han Qian had left them:
“Laws defining noble and base are not good laws. We should equalize the noble and base, making those who till the land own their fields!”
To launch an uprising and make it vigorous and thriving like a raging fire in the shortest possible time, how to maximize mobilization and gather people while effectively organizing them was the greatest challenge they faced.
The specific action plan required Tan Yuliang, Diao the Half-blind, and the others to adapt according to actual circumstances. But Han Qian had prepared the program for mobilizing and organizing the uprising in advance for Tan Yuliang and the others—abolishing the old system of slaves and base people in Si Province, dividing land equally, in order to maximize mobilization of the settlement slaves and poor people who had been oppressed by powerful clan forces for thousands of years to participate in the uprising and overthrow the rule of Si Province by the powerful clan forces led by Yang Xingfeng and the Yang clan.
Slogans were one aspect. The outline also recorded in detail how to effectively organize and implement under this slogan.
Additionally, the outline included extensive detailed intelligence about Si Province regarding terrain, population distribution, conflicts between native and guest registrations, provincial troops and city defenses, barbarian settlement defenses, and more.
Even for the specific entry point for launching the uprising, the provincial office had drafted a plan.
Besides continuously reclaiming new farmland and constructing water conservancy and roads on a large scale, Xu Province also developed iron smelting, weaving and dyeing, oil pressing, shipbuilding, river beach cultivation, and other industries on a large scale. The demand for able-bodied labor was growing increasingly high.
The Yang clan of Si Province, greedy for Xu Province’s generous wages, had since last year been transferring settlement slaves from their territory into Xu Province to participate in post road maintenance and other construction work. Over three batches totaling over five thousand able-bodied settlement slaves had entered areas like Tiger Gorge Pass post road, Xuefeng Mountain post road, Eagle Fish Stronghold post road, and Qudong post road to work.
Xu Province had abolished corvée labor since Han Daoxun’s era. All construction work employed hired labor funded by the provincial office. Although wages were low, they guaranteed that those employed could earn the equivalent of one and a half shi of grain per month to support their families.
For the settlement slaves sent from Si Province to work, besides providing inferior rations, each person had nearly one shi of grain income exploited by the Yang clan monthly. Accumulated over time, the Yang clan of Si Province had earned away over forty thousand shi of grain from Xu Province over the past year.
After the Qian River passage opened, the Yang clan on one hand focused on managing Si Province’s interior, wanting to repair post roads and collect sufficient taxes from goods passing through from Qian, Hunan, Sichuan, and Shu to fill their coffers. At the same time, they were wary that Xu Province’s abolition of the old slave system would have negative effects, and worried that Han Qian occupying Xu Province harbored unpredictable ambitions. This caused the number of settlement slaves led primarily by the Yang clan currently working in various places in Xu Province to sharply decrease to around eight hundred people.
No matter what, once an influence was generated, it was difficult to eliminate in a short time.
After the New Year, incidents of settlement slaves in Si Province working passively, fleeing, or even directly resisting emerged endlessly. The contradiction between the powerful clan forces and the settlement slaves they had exploited for thousands of years became increasingly sharp.
After the Qian River waterway opened, Sichuan well salt, as the most important commodity flowing to southwestern Hunan and the Qian Central regions, led the Yang clan to greatly strengthen their crackdown on illegal salt trafficking in Si Province territory to protect their own interests.
The illegal salt traffickers in Si Province territory were initially partly directly participated in or led by powerful clan forces like the Yang clan, and partly composed of poor people from Si Province in places like Xiage Mountain and Panlong Ridge, as well as escaped slaves who had broken free from settlement control.
The illegal salt traffickers from powerful clan forces naturally had to be incorporated into the regular Salt and Iron Supervisory Office, so that the salt profits from Sichuan salt circulation could become the most important tax revenue source for the provincial office. But the Yang clan and other powerful clan forces would no longer show mercy in cracking down on other illegal salt traffickers.
These two factors caused the large prisons in Jinhe, Shiqian, and Renshan (the provincial seat)—the three counties under Si Province—to be overcrowded.
Jinhe County, adjacent to Chenzhong and located west of Tiger Gorge Pass, had a population of only about twenty thousand, yet the county prison currently held over four hundred prisoners including escaped slaves, salt traffickers, tax-resisting poor people, and other convicts.
“We’re going to raid Jinhe County prison?” Zhao Zhixian never expected that after Han Daoxun and his son Han Qian had established their authority on their first night in Xu Province by suppressing a prison riot, the plan now drafted wanted them to raid Jinhe County prison as the first battle launching the Si Province uprising!
“Dong Tai, Dong Ping, Zhang Guangdeng, and others—I imagine Master Tan is also familiar with them. These illegal salt traffickers are imprisoned in Jinhe County prison. Their brothers Dong Qing and Zhang Guangli are secretly working to gather desperadoes to rescue them,” Diao the Half-blind said. “We’ve already had informants make contact with Dong Qing and Zhang Guangli. Tomorrow or the next day, they’ll be led here to request Master Tan to come out of retirement to help…”
When Tan Yuliang had used the Qian River inn as cover to lurk in Qianyang years ago, he had associated with people from the rivers and lakes traveling both banks of the Yuan River. He naturally also had considerable friendship with the illegal salt traffickers from Si Province who traversed the southern foothills of the Wuling Mountains between Qian and Hunan.
Their participation in the prison raid would on one hand give them confidence in gaining the trust of the illegal salt traffickers among the prisoners and those participating in the raid, which would also give them confidence in gaining the initiative in subsequent uprising activities. This would facilitate organizing them in the shortest time to form the first spearhead force for the uprising.
However, Tan Yuliang was now somewhat puzzled whether Han Qian had been waiting for this day since Pei Pu ransomed them from Tanyang County, or if he had truly thought of using them to “beat the grass to startle the snake” because the situation in Guangde Prefecture was severe.
After they formally raised their banner in Si Province territory, if they didn’t have time to collect their families remaining in Tall Chair Valley, Xu Province would step forward to “detain” and protect them.
…
…
The next evening as dusk approached, Diao the Half-blind brought two people, taking advantage of the gathering darkness and dim light when the mountain paths were deserted to come to the door.
These two were Dong Qing and Zhang Guangli that Diao the Half-blind had mentioned earlier. They were running around everywhere trying to gather people to rescue the salt traffickers Dong Tai, Dong Ping, Zhang Guangdeng, and others imprisoned in Jinhe County prison.
Both Dong Qing and Zhang Guangli were lean, in their early thirties, with dark skin, wearing short jackets. When entering the valley entrance and meeting people, Diao the Half-blind said they wanted to carry trunks and rice bags at Green Ox Back Wharf and had come to the valley to discuss terms with Tan Yuliang.
This area had originally been under the Xi clan’s jurisdiction, geographically belonging to Chenyang County, with the surrounding barbarian settlements totaling only twelve or thirteen hundred households. Later, over three hundred Xi clan households migrated in.
After Han Qian formally established Chenzhong County on the foundation of Cock Crow Stronghold—starting from Qingli Mound twelve li east of Cock Crow Stronghold, following the Chen River westward upstream to Tall Chair Valley, this one hundred and ten li river valley plus the hills on both flanks—he arranged over eight hundred households from the wave of people who had migrated west from Guangde to settle here. Adding the displaced people successively pacified and settled, the population of this area exceeded three thousand households, barely meeting the standard for a lower-tier county.
Tall Chair Valley’s population had also swollen to double in recent times. Tan Yuliang and Zhao Zhixian’s two families could be considered old-timers in Tall Chair Valley, and they happened to start working there when Green Ox Back Wharf was just completed. The three younger generation Tan family members were powerfully built and had never lost a fight, so they enjoyed considerable prestige among the laborers making a living at the wharf.
Therefore, when new faces came running to find Tan Yuliang wanting to settle at Green Ox Back, the original residents of Tall Chair Valley were no longer surprised.
Dong Qing and Zhang Guangli claimed to be mountain Yue barbarians from Panlong Ridge at the border between Jinhe County and Renshan County of Si Province, yet they had Central Plains surnames. Their ancestors might have migrated into the Five Streams area from Guanzhong, Hedong, and other places.
The two major Qin and Han migrations greatly increased the population of Qian Central, western Hunan, Lingnan, and other regions. But after the Wei and Jin dynasties when the Central Plains fell into great chaos, the southwestern regions became isolated again. Over hundreds of years, many southern-migrated Han people’s living customs gradually became barbarianized in all aspects, regarding themselves as barbarians and Liao people, integrating into the native registration.
Dong Qing and Zhang Guangli fancied themselves wandering knights-errant, but they were neither retainers housed by official aristocratic families nor had sufficient family estates to dominate the countryside. In reality, they were just river and lake vagabonds trafficking illegal salt.
Tan Yuliang had operated the Qian River inn and lurked in Qianyang for many years. Whether for his identity at the time or the needs of secretly investigating and infiltrating Xu Province, he had deep contact with salt traffickers like Dong Qing and Zhang Guangli and enjoyed quite high prestige in this group.
Even initially attempting to hold Eagle Fish Stronghold and opposing the father and son Han Daoxun and Han Qian in battle only to be defeated and expelled didn’t diminish the aura around them.
After all, losing to a figure like Han Qian couldn’t be considered losing face.
After Tan Yuliang and Zhao Zhixian’s families were relegated to slaves following Tan Province’s defeat and then ransomed by someone, settling at Green Ox Back Wharf to work as laborers for their livelihood, Zhang Guangli, Dong Qing, and others had long heard about it.
However, for secrecy’s sake, Zhang Guangli and Dong Qing had only initially thought to seek help within Si Province territory. But alas, so-called river and lake loyalty was merely a means of making a living for the vast majority of river and lake people.
Moreover, under the Yang clan’s high-pressure crackdown, large and small salt trafficking forces traversing the southern foothills of the Wuling Mountains had been scattered in just three to five months.
Those who barely escaped the crackdown now all wanted to keep their heads down for a while, unwilling to jump out and stir up trouble.
Could river and lake loyalty contend with the Yang clan that had ruled Si Province for five generations over one hundred and ten years?
After running around for two months, bribing and pleading didn’t work. They had only gathered twenty brothers willing to risk their lives for the prison raid—the manpower was completely insufficient. Only then, at the suggestion of Xu Province’s secret agents, did they run to Tall Chair Valley to request Tan Yuliang and the Tan family disciples to come out of retirement.
This was also mainly because Si Province Inspector Yang Xingfeng had recently ordered the salt criminals imprisoned in Jinhe and Shiqian counties to be escorted to the provincial capital (Renshan County) for trial, when hundreds of heads might very well roll. The time left for Dong Qing and Zhang Guangli to rescue the prisoners had become extremely limited.
Both sides hit it off immediately. Zhang Guangli and Dong Ping produced a hundred ingots of gold accumulated over the years as payment. Tan Yuliang stated directly that he regarded Dong Tai and Zhang Guangdeng as river and lake brothers, and his action this time was also driven by loyalty. This moved the desperate Zhang Guangli and Dong Ping to tears.
That very night, Tan Yuliang dug up the simple swords, short halberds, arm-drawn crossbows, scale armor, and other weapons they had only buried in the vegetable garden behind the courtyard the previous night.
In Zhang Guangli and Dong Ping’s eyes, Tan Yuliang himself was the type who wasn’t willing to remain subservient. Seeing everything before them, they only thought that Tan Yuliang and the others, while lying low here, had actually long been plotting to achieve something.
They finally agreed that Zhao Zhixian, Zhao Fangcheng, Pei Pu, Zhao Fanghai—these four people—would enter En Province’s Jinhe County territory through Tiger Gorge Pass openly and legitimately the next day.
While Tan Yuliang, Tan Xiuqun, Tan Qiu, Tan Lang, Tan Wenlin, Diao the Half-blind, together with Dong Qing, Zhang Guangli, and Xu Province’s lurking secret agents, needed to bring these weapons and armor into Si Province. Unable to pass through checkpoint inspections, they could only cross over the towering peaks and steep ridges north of Tiger Gorge Pass to enter Jinhe County territory of Si Province.
Si Province straddled the two major river systems of the Yuan River and Qian River. Xiage Mountain in Si Province’s heartland, also called Fanjing Mountain, was a major branch range of the southern foothills of the Wuling Mountains and served as the watershed between these two major river systems.
Of Si Province’s three counties, Shiqian County was located west of Xiage Mountain, standing on the Qian River, mainly developing the river valley of the middle Qian River.
East of Xiage Mountain was Renshan County where the Si Province seat was located. Further east of Renshan County was Panlong Ridge, extending nearly two hundred li north to south and seventy to eighty li east to west, with its main peak rising seven to eight hundred zhang high. The mainly cultivable fields of Renshan County were located in the valley between Xiage Mountain and Panlong Ridge.
Only east of Panlong Ridge was Jinhe County.
Jinhe County was mainly located on the southeastern great slope of the Wuling Mountains. Overall, like Chenzhong County, it belonged to the shallow hill terrain of the middle Chen River region, with many low hills within its borders.
Jinhe County’s city was built on the north bank of the middle Chen River—not large, only about a thousand paces in circumference.
Si Province was impoverished and destitute, which could be fully reflected in Jinhe City’s dilapidation.
The rammed earth city walls hadn’t been maintained for who knows how many years. The surface had cracked densely with fissures that hands could be inserted into, and weeds and low shrubs grew on them.
An earthen road wound along the north bank of the Chen River. After not raining for three or four consecutive days, when occasional carts and horses passed, they stirred up dust filling the sky.
Fortunately, Si Province’s climate was temperate and humid, with vegetation growing densely on both sides of the road, so it wasn’t exactly desolate.
Besides stationing heavy troops at Tiger Gorge Pass thirty li away, the Yang clan also didn’t relax defense of Jinhe City. Although they didn’t prohibit merchants from entering and leaving the city, everyone was subject to strict inspection.
Zhao Zhixian and the others managed to enter the city and even found lodging inside. Tan Yuliang and the others, crossing over mountain ridges, were delayed for two days on the way before reaching below Jinhe City.
In the end, it was Diao the Half-blind who came up with the idea of wrapping weapons and armor in oiled cloth, having people inside the city drop a rope from the inner side of the north city through the sewage culvert, and dragging the packages into the city.
Zhang Guangli, Dong Ping, and the others had been anxiously gathering people these past days, their minds full of raiding the prison to rescue people. But regarding how to actually raid the prison, the internal and external structure of the county prison, the number of imprisoned convicts in the county prison, the number of jailers, the distribution and deployment of over three hundred Jinhe County garrison troops, and how to break out of the city and escape before Tiger Gorge Pass commander Yang Shouyi arrived with reinforcements after the raid, and where to flee to—for all of these, they had no clue.
Fortunately, the uprising outline contained extremely detailed investigative intelligence about Jinhe County.
Not only were there distribution maps of the county prison offices, city defenses and fortifications, ditches and alleyways, but there were also detailed atlases of the large and small mountain roads and paths, streams and valleys, and distributions of barbarian settlements and villages within Panlong Ridge west of Jinhe County.
In the plan Han Qian drafted for Tan Yuliang and the others, he also required them to lead the vast majority of unarmed prisoners out of the city and flee into the treacherous terrain of Panlong Ridge before Si Province main general Yang Shouyi could arrive with reinforcements to suppress them. Using these people and Panlong Ridge’s advantageous terrain, they would first repel the first wave of Si Province troops hastily entering the mountains to clear them out, then mobilize the settlement slaves and poor people inside Panlong Ridge to make the uprising’s momentum grow vigorously and magnificently!