After Han Donghu left, two horse carts with quite dilapidated side panels weathered by wind and rain emerged from the peach grove.
After the tea stall was loaded onto the carts, Han Qian and Feng Liao also climbed in. The two carts left the official road one after the other, inconspicuously turning onto a side road to the south, driving toward Maoshan.
The large thatched shelter stood empty and deserted, as if nothing had happened at all.
“If Xue Ruogu could first reveal a corner of the assassination case’s inside story here, and then Guangde Prefecture erupts with some disturbance neither too large nor too small driven by public indignation, wouldn’t that be more helpful for overturning the case?” Feng Liao said.
Directly funding the former Guangde Army soldiers’ uprising involved too great a risk, with too many variables in the aftermath.
Just like when Tan Yuliang staged an uprising in Sizhou, in the end it nearly escaped Xuzhou’s control—and Sizhou was directly under the surveillance of Xuzhou’s forces.
Feng Liao wouldn’t raise doubts in front of Han Donghu earlier, but now sitting in the cart, he still wanted to discuss whether there was another more moderate possible choice.
Han Qian also hesitated somewhat about handling this entire matter, but the possibility Feng Liao raised was not within his considerations. He asked in return: “If you were the one sitting in Chongwen Hall, would you choose to yield on this matter?”
Feng Liao said: “If the Imperial Guards’ campaign on the Yangtze’s northern bank proceeds smoothly, that person perhaps won’t yield.”
“Not only will he not yield, he might even directly order even bloodier suppression,” Han Qian shook his head and sighed. “Furthermore, with Li Zhigao and Gao Chengyuan coordinating, advancing by water and land, they’ve already pressed beneath Chaozhou city walls. Taking Chaozhou city won’t cause any disturbance—you shouldn’t have any other expectations either.”
Feng Liao sighed softly. He was just thinking about whether there were other possible choices, but he also knew the possibility of the Imperial Guards suffering setbacks on the Yangtze’s northern bank was minimal.
The Chu army’s campaign against the An’ning Palace rebel forces had its first stage as recovering Chaozhou and Chuzhou.
These two prefectures were right next to the Yangtze’s northern bank, facing Jinling and Chizhou across the river. If these two places weren’t recovered, merchant vessels traveling east and west through the Yangtze waterway would have to proceed with extreme caution, not to mention that rebel forces would still from time to time infiltrate into Jinling city using small boats.
However, with Chu forces deploying in great numbers from Shuzhou, attacking from west to east, the Imperial Guards stationed on the southern bank also constantly watched the northern bank’s movements. From the beginning, no one in court believed there was any difficulty in recovering Chaozhou and Chuzhou.
Even if the rebel forces truly wanted to stubbornly defend Chaozhou city or Chuzhou city, the Chu army had the capability to besiege them tightly and wait for them to collapse without battle after running out of provisions.
There was no problem with the Chu army’s first-stage military deployment.
Even though large Liang forces were currently garrisoned at Yingzhou to the north, Yingzhou was over two hundred fifty li from Chaozhou, and they would still need to cross the vast Huai River.
Meanwhile, Great Chu’s heavily garrisoned Chizhou and Jinling were both within two hundred twenty li of Chaozhou city, with waterways connecting them. At this time, the Chu army also wasn’t afraid of Liang forces daring to rashly cross the Huai River to interfere in the campaign to recover Shouzhou.
What was truly complicated was how to deploy forces against Shouzhou and Huozhou, which faced Liang forces across the Huai River, after recovering Chaozhou and Chuzhou.
Shouzhou, Huozhou, and the nearly thoroughly devastated Haozhou spread along the Huai River’s southern bank. With the An’ning Palace rebel forces contracting back, the Bureau of Military Affairs had to consider the situation where the rebels colluded with Liang, and Liang forces might cross the Huai River southward at any time.
According to the intelligence Feng Liao had gathered after arriving in Jinling, Emperor Yanyou and the Bureau of Military Affairs temporarily had no urgent plan to recover Shouzhou and Huozhou. The first stage just aimed to first recover Chuzhou and Chaozhou, which was relatively pragmatic. Thus they couldn’t expect the Imperial Guard forces to make any major mistakes on the Yangtze’s northern bank.
Therefore, they would find it very difficult to use public indignation to force Yang Yuanpu to compromise or yield on the characterization of the assassination case.
Honestly speaking, aside from having an almost obsessive suspicion toward Xuzhou, Yang Yuanpu was still doing quite well in other aspects. After leaving Wei Qun, Cao Gan, and others cooling their heels at Shenjia Village for a few days, he still quite quickly initiated the peace negotiations process afterward.
This showed that with the assistance of Shen Yang, Yang En, Yang Zhiyuan, and others, Yang Yuanpu could still clearly recognize that the Liang army was Great Chu’s most serious threat at present. The alliance treaty between Chu and Shu was also something Great Chu urgently needed to establish first.
The alliance treaty between Chu and Shu would greatly involve Xuzhou’s interests in the Wuchuan River valley. During this period Feng Liao remained in Jinling, this matter was what he mainly focused on.
Fortunately, everything was still proceeding smoothly, not deviating from their previous expectations.
Shu had actively provoked military conflict, delaying the alliance treaty between the two nations by a full year. After all, they were the party at fault, and Shu’s strength in all aspects was relatively at a disadvantage, but this didn’t mean Shu necessarily had to lie on the ground enduring Great Chu’s trampling without being able to raise any conditions.
The vast majority of clauses had long been agreed upon. What mainly needed adjustment was that the Salt and Iron Bureau not only implemented a new requisition system for Shu goods entering Chu territory, but also designated several specific cities where Shu merchant vessels could dock to conduct trade with specified merchant houses.
Besides this, the Salt and Iron Bureau also required Shu to export annually a batch of mules, horses, tea, medicine, and other goods that Great Chu urgently needed.
This carried somewhat the flavor of forced tribute, but it was also related to the new policies after Emperor Yanyou ascended the throne, when under the strong advocacy of Shen Yang, Yang En, and others, he comprehensively strengthened the salt, iron, tea, and wine monopoly system as well as transit and market tax collection to supplement the fiscal deficit.
On the Shu side, Wei Qun was nominally the chief envoy, but Wei Qun had been imprisoned in Jinling for four or five months, cut off from outside news. In reality, it was still Cao Gan who dominated the peace negotiation process.
Cao Gan proposed several conditions針锋相对, mainly concentrated on commercial exchanges through the Qianjiang corridor.
In the eyes of the ministers of Great Chu’s court, aside from the Shu envoys needing to make some bargaining gestures to account to their nation’s court and public, most likely there was also partly because the Shu army in Yuzhou had been beaten so badly by the Tiandu forces supported by Xuzhou in the Wuchuan River valley—beaten with real fire.
Shu’s posture made it clear that even if they had no choice but to form an alliance, even if they still needed to purchase armor and weapons from Xuzhou, they absolutely would not allow Xuzhou, which currently controlled Wuchuan County’s Salt and Iron Bureau Supervisor and mastered southwestern Hunan’s armor casting, to have more opportunities to take advantage.
The Shu army helping to suppress Xuzhou—Great Chu’s ruler and ministers would be too happy to refuse in the slightest.
As for Cao Gan’s demand to raise the sale price of Shu salt entering Chu, though it seemed Jingzhou, Dengxiang, and other places would also be affected, the sea salt Great Chu produced at the Huaidong salt fields could be extremely conveniently transported everywhere through the Yangtze and tributary rivers along its route, with sufficient quantity as well.
Only in southwestern Hunan and Qianzhong and other places would importing well salt from Shu be somewhat more convenient.
However, after Shu salt greatly raised its sale price for entering Chu, raising the delivery price for well salt at Wuchuan County to the level of three strings of cash per dan, the cost difference in transportation was pretty much smoothed away.
This meant that even if Xuzhou controlled Wuchuan County’s Salt and Iron Bureau Supervisor, there would be no substantial profit to gain.
“Currently the two nations have already concluded the alliance treaty. Wei Qun left Jinling by boat the day before yesterday to return to the Shu capital, but Cao Gan temporarily remains in Jinling to prepare matters for establishing the Shu National Pavilion,” Feng Liao introduced the situation of the peace negotiations for the alliance treaty between Chu and Shu, then asked, “Cao Gan might want to meet with me recently. Does Your Lordship also want to meet with him?”
Yuzhou’s interests at present were mostly bound together with Xuzhou’s, especially the commercial agreements for the Qianjiang corridor, which would enable Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong to obtain large amounts of resources from them. Feng Liao suggested Han Qian meet with Cao Gan at this time without needing to worry about being betrayed by Cao Gan.
With the Chu-Shu alliance, the two nations establishing national pavilions in each other’s capitals and mutually dispatching resident envoys so the two nations could communicate promptly, eliminate disputes, and strengthen ties more closely—this matter was also what Han Qian had proposed when serving as envoy to Shu.
Cao Gan temporarily remaining to handle the Shu National Pavilion’s affairs clearly indicated that Shu should subsequently entrust these aspects of affairs to Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong. At that time, Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong should dispatch direct trusted subordinates to be permanently stationed at the Jinling Shu National Pavilion, responsible for daily liaison between the two nations.
In the alliance treaty between the two nations, both the Shu National Pavilion established in Jinling and the Chu National Pavilion established in the Shu capital would have some privileges and immunity rights.
Feng Liao thought that if Xuzhou truly wanted to establish a stable intelligence network in Jinling, they should still conduct some cooperation with Marquis Changxiang.
Especially given the Jinyun Bureau’s extremely great authority, through the special existence of the Shu National Pavilion, Xuzhou could not only promptly obtain some sensitive information but could also use it for necessary concealment and cover.
And through the Shu National Pavilion, establishing contact with Princess Qingyang of the Changxin Palace could avoid the Jinyun Bureau’s eyes and ears.
“When Cao Gan sends someone to make contact, we’ll talk then.” Han Qian didn’t say whether he would meet or not, just that they’d see how things went at that time. Matters were more complex than he had previously anticipated. He had only just arrived in Jinling two days ago, many threads hadn’t been sorted out, and he wasn’t certain that meeting Cao Gan at this time would be advantageous.
Dusk closed in from all sides. The sky quickly darkened, but fortunately the starry heavens were vast and clear. The moonlight seemed like rippling water light, enveloping heaven and earth, not affecting nighttime travel.
Insect chirping filled the air, and some frog sounds came from distant canal ponds. Not thinking about the war on the Yangtze’s northern bank, not thinking about the crises buried deep within Great Chu, it truly was an atmosphere of pastoral tranquility and peace.
After nightfall, the two carts quickly arrived before Little Mao Peak at Maoshan’s northwestern foothills.
Over ten mounted riders galloped out from deeply hidden woods to join Han Qian, then continued driving deeper into Maoshan. Not until they reached the estate that the Feng family had once used to secretly store wealth and that Han Qian had used as a command post in Maoshan to summon and command the Chishan Army in battle did the group’s carts and horses stop.
During the Jinling campaign, Han Qian based himself at Maoshan to recruit bond-servants from the capital region into military service. Afterward, large numbers of Chishan Army officers, soldiers, and their families were either settled in Guangde Prefecture or, as Imperial Guard military households, dispersed and settled in various garrison military offices throughout the land.
This caused the towns and villages near Maoshan to suffer massive population loss, not even reaching two or three-tenths of pre-war levels. Maoshan itself became even more devoid of human traces. Daoist temples, estates, and villages had pretty much all fallen into ruin.
After Han Qian arrived in Jinling, Maoshan, devoid of human traces, became their best base of operations.
Otherwise, Han Qian had over a hundred attendants accompanying him on this trip. In the capital region’s auxiliary counties, which were densely populated with terrain mainly consisting of plains and shallow hills, where could he hide without revealing the slightest trace?
At this time it was already the depth of night. Besides sentries at the entrances and exits, hidden sentries were also distributed among the outer mountain ridges. Han Qian told the others to rest first while he stepped through wild grass and walked toward the rear courtyard.
Xi Ren still kept watch before the lamp. Seeing Han Qian push the door and walk in, she asked: “Why did you go out so long before returning?”