Han Qian and others, leading short sturdy horses traded into Xuzhou from the Qianzhong direction, stood in the woods west of the river mouth, frowning as they gazed toward the lake marshes to the north. They could vaguely see ship masts protruding in the distance.

Over their worn padded robes, he and Kong Xirong wore simple leather armor. Bow, halberd, and sabers hung from both sides of their saddles, all rusty and worn, making them look like scouts and reconnaissance cavalry sent out by refugee forces, or poor wandering adventurers roaming around the southern perimeter of Hongze Lake.

In this freezing cold weather, obviously no ordinary people would be wandering around the lake mouth in northern Shiliang County.

Only by appearing this way could they disguise their true identities and avoid sudden attacks if inadvertently discovered by scouts and reconnaissance cavalry sent out by the Right Divine Martial Army or other refugee forces.

In the dreamscape world, in later generations the Yellow River’s southern bank burst its dikes, floods overflowed, seized the Huai River’s waterway, and massive amounts of silt accumulated, causing the Huai River’s sea outlet to become blocked. This forced water from the upper reaches of the Huai River and Yellow River to enter Hongze Lake, then flow south through Hongze Lake into the Yangtze River waterway to reach the sea.

This raised Hongze Lake’s water level, forming the large lake scale of later generations.

Although Hongze Lake in this era also covered an extremely vast area, its water level wasn’t as deep as in later generations and hadn’t yet formed a complete lake domain. It was actually composed of lakes, marshes, and lowlands of various sizes such as Fuling Lake, Pofu Pond, Nidun Lake, and Wanjia Lake, forming a shallow-bottomed lake marsh complex.

Hongze Lake’s terrain was complex, even surpassing this era’s Dongting Lake.

During the Spring and Autumn period and the Sui dynasty, to connect Fanliang Lake and the Huai River, the rulers of those times would rather expend greater effort excavating and repairing the northern section of the Han Canal waterway than borrow passage through Hongze Lake. This was mainly because the terrain within Hongze Lake’s range was complex, easily breeding and concealing river bandits, and the lake domain terrain was prone to change.

The Tower Ship Army, as Great Chu’s once most elite naval force, had always used Hongze Lake as its main base when Emperor Tianyou first rose in Huainan, controlling the Jianghuai region. Naturally, they were very familiar with changes in Hongze Lake’s water conditions over the past ten to twenty years, which was why they could withdraw into Hongze Lake with composure after defeat at Jinling.

The Left and Right Five-Tooth Armies, apart from a very few Tower Ship Army surrendered generals like Fan Xiang, had most commanders and military officers who were extremely unfamiliar with Hongze Lake’s water conditions.

Just from this point, if Han Qian had the opportunity to participate in Government Affairs Hall deliberations, he would also firmly oppose Great Chu’s main naval forces so hastily entering Hongze Lake for combat.

Even if this entire matter wasn’t a trap the Liang forces and Xu Mingzhen conspired to set, Great Chu’s main naval forces on this expedition had no guarantee of certain victory.

Seeing over a hundred sail shadows in the distance rapidly turning westward, he surmised the Tower Ship Army remnants had long since received the news and made preparations to meet battle or evade. He just didn’t know where and when the first battle would erupt.

At this moment, several people emerged from the woods to the west. It was Guo Xiao disguised as a refugee, along with two association members specialized in reconnaissance and military intelligence. They found their way here through the secret markings Han Qian and Kong Xirong had left behind.

“From Bieziding and Yandun Mountain going north and west, there are sentries and hidden posts deployed by Shouzhou forces everywhere. There’s no way to infiltrate through, so there’s no way to get a close look at the situation along Hongze Lake’s western flank,” Guo Xiao came forward to report on the situation they had explored entering Haozhou territory over the past two days, saying, “We acted on impulse without much preparation, so infiltration was difficult. But even though the Right Divine Martial Army and the Ministry of Works scouts and secret agents had more preparation time, they also shouldn’t be able to scout military intelligence north of the Huai River mouth!”

The Huai River flowed into Hongze Lake from the west through Haozhou’s Zhongli County, and flowed out from the east through Huaiyang County.

In other words, a single Huai River divided Hongze Lake into four major regions: northwest, northeast, southeast, and southwest.

The northwestern region of Hongze Lake, in the previous dynasty, had one part under the jurisdiction of Sizhou’s Suyu County and one part under Haozhou’s Xiaqiu County. But after several struggles for control, the Liang and Chu kingdoms west of Hongze Lake had more or less stabilized the Huai River as the boundary, making the northwestern region of Hongze Lake now entirely belong to Liang Kingdom’s Xuzhou.

Conversely, the northeastern part of Hongze Lake—that is, the eastern Sizhou region and Haizhou and other places east of Hongze Lake and north of the Huai River—due to Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan’s aggressive offensive in recent years, had remained under Great Chu’s control.

Currently, Guo Xiao and his group couldn’t even infiltrate Haozhou’s Zhongli County on short notice, let alone cross the Huai River to scout military intelligence in Xiaqiu County and Suyu County. Going north from Xiaqiu and Suyu, Xuzhou City was furthermore a southeastern military stronghold of the Liang Kingdom.

“Let’s go back. Results should emerge within a day or two!”

Understanding that even small groups of scouts found it so difficult to infiltrate Haozhou territory currently controlled by Shouzhou forces, Han Qian could already determine what was happening.

He also didn’t wait at Hongze Lake’s shore for the vanguard main forces of the Five-Tooth Army to formally engage with the Tower Ship Army. He led Kong Xirong, Guo Xiao, and others directly back to Baiti Ridge.

When Han Qian returned to Baiti Ridge, Lin Zongjing, Wei Chang, and others responsible for escorting three Xuzhou merchant vessels here had already been waiting at Baiti Ridge.

Since traveling upstream would be much slower, and they would be subject to inspection and surveillance along the way, the messengers on all routes rushing to Xuzhou to transmit orders all chose to travel by land, naturally passing by the Xuzhou merchant vessels without meeting.

Lin Zongjing and Wei Chang only learned after arriving at Guazhou Ferry south of Jiangdu County, when Chishan Association members brought them news, that the situation could very possibly undergo drastic changes at any time.

Currently the Han Canal was still under the control of the Right Divine Martial Army cavalry, and Xuzhou merchant vessels were also forbidden to enter the Han Canal, so they moored by the river at Guazhou Ferry. Lin Zongjing and Wei Chang first rushed to Baiti Ridge to see Han Qian.

“Since the dams along the Han Canal have all been controlled by Duke Changguo Li Pu leading the Right Divine Martial Army cavalry, forbidding Xuzhou merchant vessels from entering the Han Canal, then my lord should take this opportunity to go with Lin Zongjing and Wei Chang to Guazhou Ferry and board the merchant vessels to leave Yangzhou heading west. It would be best to go to the waters near Chizhou or Jiangzhou to await the main naval camp forces coming from Xuzhou for the rendezvous,” Feng Liao urged Han Qian. “I can stay here.”

“Lord Feng, you all should leave with my lord first,” Dou Rong said. “For the remaining matters here, we’ll act according to plan. Nothing will go wrong.”

Han Qian pondered for a moment and also felt that continuing to remain here might not enable him to play a greater role. He said to Feng Liao and Dou Rong: “The situation is unpredictably changing. It may be necessary to contact Wang Wenqian ahead of time, or you may need to first withdraw into Yangzhou territory to avoid the enemy’s vanguard. Feng Liao, you stay here with Dou Rong and Su Lie to act according to circumstances. I’ll first rush to Guazhou Ferry with Zongjing and will take away all the elite association members that Donghu and others have newly assembled near Guazhou Ferry…”

Currently, the three Xuzhou merchant vessels that had arrived at Guazhou Ferry all had four thousand dan capacity with extremely deep drafts. They would navigate slowly even entering the Han Canal, let alone entering Hongze Lake with its more complex water conditions. It would be even more impossible for them to come and go through the shallow and silted streams and rivers like Shitang River.

However, as quasi-armed merchant vessels, the three Xuzhou merchant vessels retained oar ports and oar rooms. They only needed simple modifications to be used as oared sailing warships on the Yangtze River waterway.

Four thousand dan capacity oared sailing warships, besides the boatmen and helmsmen normally required, each vessel needed at least sixty oarsmen and could accommodate two hundred combat soldiers.

Lin Zongjing and his group didn’t know beforehand that the situation would change this way. When they came from Xuzhou, the three vessels’ sailors and armed guards totaled only 150 people.

Currently, besides the hundred-plus guards accompanying Han Qian, they could also board four to five hundred elite association members who had been assembled first from the southern bank, directly fully arming these three merchant vessels to stand by on the Yangtze River waterway first…

……

……

As an extension of the Qianshan range into the region east of Chaozhou, the Wujian Mountains stretched from southwest to northeast for over two hundred li, located between Chaozhou, Chuzhou, and Haozhou.

The mountain strength of the Wujian range couldn’t be called particularly treacherous. Dominated by low peaks and ridges thirty to fifty zhang high, it was nevertheless the watershed between the two major water systems of the Yangtze River and Huai River within Huaixi territory.

Mopan Ridge in the middle section of the Wujian range was located north of Chuzhou City. Here the terrain was relatively gentle with many valleys distributed. There was a post road built in earlier years. This was a shortcut and strategic location for directly advancing south from Haozhou City to attack the western Chuzhou region and directly threaten the northern shore of the Yangtze River.

Originally there was a Right Divine Martial Army camp here with over a thousand troops stationed to guard against enemy forces suddenly attacking below Chuzhou City from the north.

However, at this time, the Mopan Ridge camp was filled with banners like clouds. In the biting cold wind, Li Chong wore armor and held his reins, stopping his horse beside Chen Mingsheng, watching the elite officers and soldiers on the training ground.

Left Five-Tooth Army Commander Gao Chengyuan had personally led the vanguard main warship fleet of Great Chu’s navy to attack into Hongze Lake. Right Five-Tooth Army Commander Fan Xiang was leading the rear main forces of Great Chu’s navy, having already entered Fanliang Lake advancing northward.

As the supporting troops monitoring signs of rebel main force activity from the Shouzhou direction, Li Chong, serving as Deputy Commander of the Right Divine Martial Army, had already coordinated with Commander Chen Mingsheng, General Gao Long, and others to assemble cavalry and infantry forces totaling over 12,000 men here.

They were about to pass through Mopan Ridge’s valleys and enter the northern foothills of the Wujian range to station themselves. Their main early-stage task was to delay the rebel main forces’ eastern advance to reinforce Zhongli County and other fortifications. In later stages, they would assist Great Chu’s main naval forces in occupying the many fortifications southwest of Hongze Lake.

At this moment, a small unit of riders galloped through the camp. Li Chong looked closely and discovered it was Xu Jing, the Director of the Ministry of Works, who had gone with his father, Li Xiu, Li Qi, and others to control the Han Canal waterway west of Yangzhou, bringing a group of subordinate attendants.

“Is the Yangzhou side still behaving?” Seeing Xu Jing rein in his horse and stop, Li Chong asked.

Forcefully ordering Huaidong to yield control of the Han Canal so that Great Chu’s main naval forces could pass through the Han Canal northward had made everyone in court and countryside break out in a sweat. The Ministry of Works also arranged a considerable portion of its reconnaissance forces to the regions east of Shaobo Lake and Fanliang Lake, monitoring every move of the fifty thousand Huaidong troops stationed in this area.

“Prince Xin’s troops are behaving fairly well. Duke Changguo is worried that once fighting breaks out at Hongze Lake, Shouzhou’s main forces could advance eastward to reinforce at any time, so he ordered me to come strengthen enemy intelligence reconnaissance of eastern Shouzhou and western Haozhou…” Xu Jing said.

Xu Jing came from Wanhong Tower. With Li Pu’s recommendation, he entered the Privy Council’s Ministry of Works to serve as a principal clerk. But his qualifications still couldn’t compare with early figures like Zhao Mingting. He didn’t have particularly strong elite soldiers and generals under his command either. His military intelligence scout teams were also just being organized.

However, Xu Jing was one of the few candidates from Duke Changguo’s household who could take charge of the Privy Council’s Ministry of Works.

“By the way, I heard news yesterday that three Xuzhou merchant vessels went toward Yangzhou again. Before you rushed over here, did you see those Xuzhou merchant vessels?” Li Chong asked.

“Mm, they were ordered blocked outside the Han Canal by Duke Changguo. They should still be moored at Guazhou Ferry right now, I suppose?” Xu Jing said.

“My father is truly too honest. The way I see it, we should directly requisition these three Xuzhou merchant vessels and their cargo into the military and see if Xuzhou has any shit to say about it.” Li Chong laughed.

“After we severely damage the rebel naval forces this time and successfully recover Haozhou, it won’t be too late for Duke Changguo to free up his hands to teach Xuzhou a lesson.” Xu Jing laughed.

Li Chong could hear in Xu Jing’s words that they still couldn’t provoke Xuzhou at present. He felt somewhat displeased, but thinking that a great victory was in sight, and that by then Duke Changguo’s household’s prestige would be unmatched, that would truly be when they could thoroughly hold their heads high. Right now there really was no need to provoke Xuzhou…