Yang Yuanpu had his principles. He delayed for three days without summoning court officials to further discuss Han Qian’s memorial, but the court had its own operating system.

Chen Zhiyong came to visit, but this time when Feng Liao and Guo Rong crossed the river, besides presenting Han Qian’s memorial on his behalf, they would also follow normal procedures to negotiate with the Bureau of Military Affairs, the Finance Commission, and other bureaus—they wouldn’t be in a hurry to return to Tangyi to meet with Han Qian and Zhou Dan.

So the inner anxiety of Han Daoming and Han Daochang received no relief these past few days. They also couldn’t fathom Han Qian’s true views toward the Han family. And after the old master had gotten angry, he refused to see anyone, much less personally cross the river to see Han Qian.

Han Daoming and Han Daochang could only focus first on monitoring how Feng Liao and Guo Rong’s negotiations with the bureaus progressed.

Regardless of whether defense of the line from Mount Daci and the Chu River to Tangyi would ultimately all be entrusted to Han Qian, as long as the Empress Dowager’s secret edict was considered valid, the Xuzhou River Forces as loyalist troops would need necessary coordination from the Bureau of Military Affairs, Finance Commission, and Ministry of War regarding soldiers’ rations and military merit, damage and repair of armor and warships, construction of military camps, and requisition of mules, horses, and able-bodied civilian laborers.

Of course, after the main navy’s destruction at Hongze Lake, the court had also considered the unfavorable situation in forcefully attacking Chaozhou. Further levies had been made on nearby prefectures and counties in the capital region including Xuanxi, Chi, Su, Run, Chang, and Hu. Large quantities of mules, horses, grain, local militia and brave volunteers, as well as hundreds of merchant and fishing vessels intended for reorganizing the navy, were currently being assembled.

Among these were sixty ships of supplies, over three thousand civilian laborers, and more than a thousand infantry and cavalry troops levied from Guangde Prefecture and personally escorted by Guangde Prefecture Administrator Chen Jingzhou.

This portion of troops and supplies had originally been planned to pass through Tangyi before being transported onward to the Chaozhou main camp.

Previously this had been unremarkable—the court also preferred someone with rich experience like Chen Jingzhou to personally lead reinforcements to the front lines.

However, after the Xuzhou River Forces advanced east, especially under Han Qian’s command, arriving at Tangyi to join forces with Zhou Dan who had rushed over with Jiangzhou troops to reinforce, many matters became sensitive.

Regarding negotiations, the Bureau of Military Affairs also delayed as much as possible, ultimately wanting to see what His Majesty and the Empress Dowager intended.

The civilian laborers that could currently be levied from Guangde Prefecture were actually mostly former Left Guangde Army members. Whether this batch of troops and supplies could be transported to Tangyi—Feng Liao and Guo Rong spent several consecutive days paying respects at Changchun Palace, actually negotiating with Lü Qingxia, Yao Xishui and the others.

While Emperor Yanyou delayed making a decision, the Empress Dowager’s edict issued from Changchun Palace could equally legally determine where these troops and supplies would go.

The matter didn’t drag on too long before there was progress.

On the sixteenth day of the twelfth month, news reached Jinling that twenty thousand Liang infantry had garrisoned at Zhongli. By this time, forty thousand Shouzhou Army troops had arrived at Chaozhou from both Huozhou and Shouzhou, bringing Chaozhou’s garrison up to sixty thousand. Combined with forty thousand cavalry and infantry at Zhongli who could march south in force at any moment, the situation west of the Han Canal grew tense once again.

Scout cavalry who had penetrated deep into northwestern Hongze Lake also confirmed at this time that from the directions of Songzhou, Chenzhou, and Yingzhou, civilian laborers and mules requisitioned by the Liang state were transporting large quantities of grain and supplies southward in columns stretching over ten li long.

The Liang heartland had also hurriedly posted official proclamations in these days, publicly enfeoffing Xu Mingzhen as Duke of Huoguo, enfeoffing Imperial Grand Prince Yang Fen as Duke of Chuguo, enfeoffing Zhu Gengru, Wen Muqiao and others as marquises, and announcing that Lady Xu was leading over a hundred Yang clan members to relocate to Biangjing.

Many people understood clearly in their hearts that over the past year, the Shouzhou Army being beaten by the northern bank Forbidden Army wasn’t because they lacked combat strength.

How could the Shouzhou Army led by Xu Mingzhen, which had confronted Liang forces in the middle and upper reaches of the Huai River for over ten years, possibly be weak?

How could the Forbidden Army and Imperial Guard troops that Emperor Tianyou used to protect the imperial capital possibly be weak?

The rebels’ weakness, besides initially being stunned by Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan’s attack, stemmed partly from military morale chaos caused by the Jinling upheaval, and another important reason was being in a state of supply shortage since the Jinling upheaval.

After the Anning Army rebels fled north across the river, the supply shortage problem became even more prominent and acute.

Even so, the various camp forces attacking Jinling and Li Zhigao’s Huaixi Forbidden Army besieging Chaozhou had gained no great advantage.

When Shouzhou supplies were extremely scarce, the northern bank Forbidden Army could attack with hands untied, but even though the main Liang forces had turned to attack Chuzhou, the Huaixi situation could now be said to have completely reversed.

On one hand, the court’s main navy was destroyed at Hongze Lake, and the Right Divine Martial Army, which included the only mobile infantry and cavalry units, was also nearly completely annihilated—Great Chu’s Forbidden Army strength on the northern bank had been severely weakened.

Simply in terms of troop numbers, including navy soldiers, before the battle nearly one hundred twenty thousand troops had been gathered on the northern bank. But excluding the small number of defeated troops assembled at Tangyi, Li Zhigao had led only about sixty thousand troops withdrawing from beneath Chaozhou to the southeastern foothills of Mount Qian.

After the Shouzhou Army received adequate supply replenishment, their combat strength would quickly improve. With twenty thousand Liang reinforcements arriving, their total forces in Huaixi had also increased to one hundred forty thousand.

No one could imagine how severe the defensive situation in the capital region would become once the line from Tangyi, Mount Daci, and the Chu River all fell to enemy forces, and the remnant Tower Ship Navy’s warships could directly enter and exit the Yangtze from these areas.

Although the southern bank capital region still garrisoned sixty thousand troops from the Left and Right Imperial Guard and two Forbidden Army units, these forces had been hastily organized after Yang Yuanpu’s ascension by selecting able-bodied men from various regional armies. In terms of veteran soldier ratios, armor and equipment, they still didn’t match the Left Vermillion Bird Army and Left Martial Guard Army led by Li Zhigao, or the annihilated Right Divine Martial Army.

No matter what suspicions and misgivings existed, one couldn’t smash the pot first.

And no matter how great or deep the prejudices of the great clans and powerful families against Han Qian, they had to admit that Han Qian was the person most likely to turn the tide.

Although Du Chongtao and Zhou Bingwu were both famous Great Chu generals, they had no trusted direct troops under their command and dared not say they could cross the river to the northern bank to replace Han Qian.

After Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, Zheng Yu, Han Daoming, Du Chongtao, Zhou Bingwu and other participant ministers repeatedly petitioned, Yang Yuanpu finally issued an edict at dusk on the eighteenth in Chongwen Hall establishing the Tangyi Field Command. He appointed Marquis of Qianyang Han Qian as Field Command Supreme Commander and Commander-in-Chief, added the title of Vice Minister of War, making him fully responsible for defense line construction along the hundred-li stretch from Tangyi, Mount Daci, and the Chu River, as well as responsible for operations in the theater stretching about three hundred li in depth from Mount Fucha on the eastern Chao Lake shore to Mount Na on Yangzhou’s western flank.

He also approved Han Qian’s call to assemble former Left Guangde Army members and displaced brave volunteers to newly organize infantry battalions to assist Tangyi and other cities, ordering Chen Jingzhou to lead the first batch of troops and supplies urgently to Tangyi for Han Qian’s use. The Tangyi Field Command’s pay, armor, equipment losses, and camp construction would temporarily be allocated according to an authorized strength of twenty thousand regular troops by the Finance Commission, and additionally, following precedent, one hundred thousand strings of cash would first be allocated for deployment…

The imperial edict was immediately delivered across the river to Tangyi by Bureau of Military Affairs Vice Commissioner Zhou Bingwu and Inner Court Service Junior Supervisor Jiang Huo.

How the Huaixi situation would develop remained unknown, but Marquis of Qianyang Han Qian’s return to the central command had now become settled fact.

On the twenty-first, Han Daoming again petitioned for permission to comfort the troops. Together with Han Daochang, Han Jun, Han Duan, Chen Zhiyong and other Han family members, after meeting with Feng Liao who remained on the southern bank supervising grain and supply transport, they boarded ships together to cross the river to Tangyi to see Han Qian.

Tangyi lay less than forty li north of Jinling. On clear days, standing atop Jinling’s northern city wall, one could faintly see the walls of Tangyi on the Yangtze’s northern bank.

At this time, only ten days remained until the New Year festival, and the weather had reached the coldest season of the year. The Yangtze’s water level had dropped to its lowest.

The Yangtze section north of Jinling was only eleven or twelve li wide.

However, from the Yangtze’s northern bank to Tangyi lay nearly thirty li of shallow lowlands. These areas still showed traces of water erosion, with silt deposits everywhere. Streams and rivers meandered through these shallow lowlands, and there were also quite a few lakes and marshes.

Each summer and autumn when the river swelled, these areas would almost all be submerged, with river water sometimes extending directly to beneath Tangyi’s walls.

In years when upstream flooding was particularly severe, the land north of Tangyi would be submerged in a vast expanse of water.

This unique characteristic meant that even though streams flowed into the Yangtze around Tangyi’s perimeter, their riverbeds were extremely shallow from silt accumulation.

Even the Chu River, the main tributary in Chuzhou territory stretching over five hundred li, had a downstream section thirty to fifty li long that seemed three to four hundred zhang wide, yet in winter the water depth was only three to four chi.

The main warships of the Xuzhou River Forces had drafts of a full seven to eight chi—they couldn’t even enter the Chu River, much less pass through other streams to reach directly beneath Tangyi.

As Han Daoming and his party crossed the river with Feng Liao by boat, they saw four newly arrived multi-oared war sailing ships anchored directly in the surging waves at mid-river, completely unafraid of the river currents’ impact. Over a hundred small rowing boats converged from the north, apparently to transfer the supplies and soldiers from these four multi-oared warships for transport to Tangyi.

Seeing this scene, Han Daoming thought to himself—no wonder Han Qian insisted in his memorial on extending the northern bank defense line to Mount Daci, over forty li to the west.

Han Daoming might not count as a famous minister or general in Great Chu, but he knew the mountains and waters near Chizhou and the capital region intimately.

Mount Daci’s northern side rested against the Chu River, its southern side facing the great river. Especially where the southern mountain range jutted into the Yangtze, several natural bay inlets on the southern side had extremely deep water, suitable for use as naval bases capable of accommodating large warships.

Han Qian obviously wanted to establish a major naval encampment at Mount Daci on the northern bank to ensure that what was currently Jianghuai’s only naval combat force remained under his control at all times, rather than establishing the naval base somewhere on the southern bank of the Yangtze.

At this moment, a covered boat sailed from the direction of the Chu River mouth into the Yangtze. The covered boat wasn’t large, tossing endlessly in the Yangtze waves.

Vessels on the Yangtze, regardless of size, all traveled in groups of three to five flying the Xuzhou River Forces’ battle flags. Only this covered boat crossed the river alone. The boat vaguely carried several dozen soldiers but flew no flags at all, yet the Xuzhou patrol boats on the river didn’t intercept it.

“What people are on that boat?” Han Daoming asked Feng Liao curiously.

Feng Liao had remained on the southern bank these past few days. Aside from necessary intelligence being reported over, he couldn’t possibly know every detail of the northern bank situation clearly.

They were sailing toward each other, and soon saw that boat approach. Feng Liao stood at the bow about to call out and ask when he heard a mournful cry from that boat’s cabin: “The general has breathed his last!”