Sizhou’s forces east of Panlong Ridge all withdrew into Jinhe County. Gao Shao personally led a battalion of elite troops to garrison Hujian Pass, bringing the pacification matter into a substantive operational phase.
The Hujian Pass gorge was about one li long, with the pass fortress built at the eastern valley mouth. To the north rose the steep cliffs and peaks of Caojing Ridge.
As one of the most important remaining ridges of the southern foothills of Wuling Mountain, Caojing Ridge’s mountain range continued extending southward for about five li after passing Hujian Pass. The mountain layers interlaced and staggered, forming the outlet where Chen River exited Sizhou. Further south, it intertwined with the peaks and ridges of Dragon Fang Mountain’s northwestern foothills.
Particularly this section of stone ridge located between Hujian Mountain and Chen River—though only about two hundred meters high—had an extremely treacherous mountain terrain, like a long rectangular giant seal lying across heaven and earth. Locals also called it Heavenly Seal Peak.
From inside Hujian Pass fortress, the previous dynasty had carved out a stone stairway path. Ascending the steps led to the mountain top, where Heavenly Seal Temple, built over three hundred years ago, sat upon the main peak.
In the late previous dynasty, the central royal court had suppressed Buddhism and Daoism. Sizhou was also affected. The monastery with its mottled traces of history had been abandoned for thirty to forty years—no monks remained, and the monastery grounds were overgrown with weeds, tiles and rubble accumulated into ruins.
After clearing away the weeds, Heavenly Seal Temple became an excellent spot for viewing the surrounding landscape.
After Han Qian “recovered from illness,” he rushed to Hujian Pass and invited Pacification Commissioner Huang Hua, An Jixiang and others to climb the main peak together to tour the ruined Heavenly Seal Temple.
Looking around, they could see that eight or nine li to the east, boats gathered in clouds, transporting tens of thousands of units of grain, fodder and other materials from Qianyang, Linjiang, Zhijiang and other places via Chen River. They docked at Qingniubei Wharf, then switched to mule and horse carts for overland transport to Hujian Pass.
These materials were purchased with funds from Xuzhou’s Official Currency Bureau, lent to the Provincial Secretariat at two percent annual interest, to be repaid in the future from salt profits and transit taxes collected by Wuchuan County’s Salt and Iron Bureau. As collateral, after Wuchuan County was established, the Salt and Iron Bureau Supervisor—originally directly subordinate to the provincial commissioner—would be staffed by someone dispatched from Xuzhou until principal and interest were fully repaid.
To the west of Heavenly Seal Peak, rebel army soldiers dragging their families along like a wandering dragon were gathering toward Hujian Pass.
Inside Hujian Pass, people dispatched by Pacification Commissioner Huang Hua—mainly Fu Gengwen and Han Chengmeng leading attendants—were assisting the rebel army in establishing temporary encampments.
On one hand, the rebel army needed to rest and reorganize here. On the other hand, before the rebel army captured the Wuchuan River valley, their fourteen to fifteen thousand family members would be temporarily settled here.
“Tan Yuliang, Dong Tai, Zhao Zhixian and others have arrived before the pass…” a guard approached to report.
“Will the Marquis accompany me to meet these ‘bandit chieftains’?” Huang Hua narrowed his eyes, looking at Han Qian and asking.
“This Tan Yuliang has some ability. Back when my father governed Xuzhou, he was quite a headache. We finally managed to expel him, but unexpectedly he’s now stirred up chaos in Sizhou. I’d like to see him again myself—Commander, Superintendent An, please go first.” Han Qian spoke casually, inviting Huang Hua and An Jixiang to proceed ahead. The group then followed the treacherous narrow stone path down from Heavenly Seal Peak…
—
Hujian Pass fortress was extremely small, wedged between the peaks and cliffs at the valley mouth. Running about a hundred zhang from north to south, its two walls were rammed earth covered with brick—quite solid—but the pass fortress had less than thirty zhang of depth inside.
Apart from just three courtyards serving as government offices, the pass fortress mainly contained over a hundred barrack buildings for garrisoned troops.
However, as merchant traffic gradually increased, many wealthy Sizhou households had built quite a few dwellings along both sides of the main postal road inside Hujian Pass.
There were shops, as well as inns for merchants to rest.
Streets distributed along the postal road, connected to courtyards behind, had over a hundred buildings constructed inside the pass fortress.
Currently, Gao Shao and Feng Liao were both personally supervising here, handling matters related to pacification. But Han Qian was considering subsequently establishing a Township Patrol Office at Hujian Pass, leaving over a hundred men here to handle pass defense duties.
Huang Hua directly requisitioned an inn called Yuelai Inn outside the pass fortress to receive the rebel army leaders’ formal audience.
The initial plan was for rebel army leaders Tan Yuliang, Tan Xiuqun, Dong Tai and others to gather three thousand able-bodied men, reorganized as the Tianping Command, divided into six battalions of regular troops, with rebel army leaders Tan Yuliang, Tan Xiuqun, Dong Tai, Dong Ping, Zhang Guangdeng and others appointed as Command General (Command Vice Commissioner), Vice Command General, Battalion Commander and other positions.
After a brief rest at Hujian Pass, the Tianping Command would advance westward along the Wuling Mountain trail in the northern foothills of Panlong Ridge, threatening from the flank the Shu army occupying the Wuchuan River valley, containing the possibility of their isolated forces advancing south to attack Shiqian.
Yuelai Inn faced the postal road with a two-story wooden building. After clearing away the cluttered tables and chairs on the ground floor, it became quite spacious.
As Pacification Commissioner, Huang Hua sat behind the central table. Han Qian and An Jixiang sat on the left and right. Then in order came Tan Yuliang, Tan Xiuqun, Dong Tai, Zhao Zhixian, Gao Shao, Feng Liao, Fu Gengwen, Zhou Qinian, Han Chengmeng, and official representatives from Si and Chen provinces.
Guards inside and outside the inn were provided by Xuzhou’s cavalry battalion and the attendants Huang Hua had brought.
Compared to earlier in the year, Tan Yuliang was now darker and thinner, but his robust figure stood even more upright with a composed bearing. His temples had already turned frost-white, showing that these months trapped within Panlong Ridge had not been easy to endure.
Tan Yuliang first introduced some circumstances of the rebel army.
The vast majority of soldiers and families were currently transferring toward Hujian Pass, but a small portion of the rebel army—less than two hundred people—could not let go of their hatred for family members who had suffered slaughter. They refused to accept pacification and fled to the mountains in the southern part of Panlong Ridge.
Whether Si and Ye provinces to the south pacified or suppressed these people no longer had any connection to the rebel army. But Tan Yuliang needed to explain these circumstances clearly at this time.
Before this, after obtaining Fu Gengwen and Feng Liao’s permission, Tan Yuliang had already sent his son Tan Lang and nephew Tan Wenlin leading two hundred elite troops as an advance guard proceeding westward to scout enemy positions. They would also, as much as possible, adapt to local conditions to delay the Shu army’s southward advance to attack Shiqian County.
“Command General Tan has considered matters so thoroughly. When pacifying Tanzhou back then, failing to recruit you as a general was truly a great loss for Great Chu,” Huang Hua said in a resonant voice. “But it’s not too late to mend the pen after the sheep are lost. Command General Tan and all of you may rest assured in serving the court. After I return to Tanzhou this time, I will immediately memorialize the court and His Majesty to properly bestow names and ranks upon Command General Tan and others…”
“The Pacification Commissioner is benevolent and kind-hearted. This humble officer is deeply grateful and will certainly fulfill his duties loyally, driving out and killing enemy invaders for Great Chu and His Majesty. Even if it means sacrificing my life and spilling my blood, I will not hesitate.” Tan Yuliang, leading the rebel army officers, made his pledge forcefully and resoundingly.
“Good! With Command General Tan’s words, and with Marquis Han here supervising, this commander can return to Tanzhou with peace of mind.” Huang Hua said.
Huang Hua spoke with Fu Gengwen for a while, then asked An Jixiang: “Does Superintendent An have any words to instruct the officers?”
Huang Hua had personally rushed to Xuzhou to facilitate this pacification matter. He had resolved the popular uprising while preserving Sizhou’s Yang clan, recruited the bandit army for the Provincial Secretariat to use in attacking the Shu army’s flank, and simultaneously designated Wuchuan as a directly administered county, temporarily appointing Fu Gengwen to act as county magistrate. The Provincial Secretariat would directly control border defense, border trade and other matters—he could account for all of this.
And even if in this process Xuzhou had also gained considerable advantages, and Han Qian’s involvement with the rebel bandits could not be completely cleared, and whether the Tianping Command could truly be loyal to the court was still questionable—all things could not be accomplished overnight. Many problems still needed to be gradually resolved.
Otherwise, if someone else were governing Hunan under these conditions, could they do better than Huang Hua?
Naturally, if Huang Hua could account for matters, An Jixiang could also return to the capital to report.
His mood at this moment was quite pleased. Very happily he encouraged Tan Yuliang and others, lavishly promising that upon returning before His Majesty, he would help speak some good words on their behalf.
An Jixiang was happy, but Fu Gengwen’s mood was somewhat depressed.
He hadn’t wanted to be drawn into the vortex of Guangde Prefecture and had finally managed to decline the position of Langxi County Magistrate to serve as Director in the Guards Office of Hunan Provincial Secretariat.
His prospects had seemed bright, but unexpectedly he was trapped in Sizhou unable to extricate himself. Now he had no choice but to temporarily assume the positions of magistrate and military commandant of the vacant Wuchuan County.
Besides the fact that handling pacification and military household resettlement matters in this remote place full of miasma with fierce local customs was extremely arduous with no benefits, if military operations in Wuchuan failed, not only would he share responsibility, he might even face mortal danger.
What terrible luck this was! He didn’t know when he could extricate himself from here and return to Tanzhou.
As Pacification Commissioner, Huang Hua was the chief of the Provincial Secretariat’s three commissioners. He could not possibly remain here waiting for Tan Yuliang to lead troops to recover Wuchuan. Now that various matters had taken shape, leaving some personnel to assist Fu Gengwen in supervising subsequent affairs, if there were no new developments, he would depart tomorrow, taking an official boat back to Tanzhou.
An Jixiang was also unwilling to remain here even a moment longer. He was determined to depart together with Huang Hua, leaving Xuzhou to return to Jinling to report.
Han Qian did not directly intervene in pacification matters. After the reception concluded, he lodged with Huang Hua, An Jixiang, Zhou Qinian and others inside Hujian Pass fortress, leaving Feng Liao to coordinate with Fu Gengwen, Tan Yuliang and others in handling subsequent resettlement matters.