In the season of late autumn, the skies were high and the air crisp. Throughout Jinling City, trees large and small remained verdant and lush. Occasionally a breeze would pass through, scattering several yellow leaves that reminded passersby winter was approaching.
At this time, though Jinling City’s outer walls had not yet undergone large-scale repairs and remained quite damaged in many places, more than two years had passed since the Jinling Incident. The traces of warfare within the city had diminished considerably through continuous restoration, and prosperity was being restored at the fastest possible pace to its former flourishing state.
Though the situation had been critical at the beginning of the year, it ultimately hadn’t directly affected the southern bank of the Yangtze River. On the contrary, under external threats, there was far less bickering in the court. Even such a significant matter as the Empress Dowager returning to assist in governance had proceeded quite calmly without stirring up any waves.
It seemed that as long as things continued this way, Great Chu would truly have an eternal foundation, lasting for all ages.
As evening approached, Shen Yang, whose temples had completely turned frost-white, walked out of the government offices together with Palace Attendant Qin Wen and Left Reminder Zhang Qian. Seeing that several lit lanterns had already been hung in the courtyard, they appeared dim and faint in the twilight.
A carriage had been prepared here to escort Shen Yang back to his residence.
Traveling by carriage in and out of the Imperial City was a privilege that only chief ministers like Shen Yang and princes and high officials of counselor rank could enjoy, granted by Emperor Yanyou. Qin Wen and Zhang Qian could only walk out of the Imperial City on foot before boarding the carriages their servants had prepared outside the Imperial City gates to return to their respective residences.
However, just as they were about to take their leave of Shen Yang, they saw him slightly furrow his brow and stop on the steps. Not knowing what Shen Yang had suddenly thought of, they patiently stood there waiting.
“You two should accompany me back,” Shen Yang said to Qin Wen and Zhang Qian after collecting his thoughts.
Xue Ruogu, Qin Wen, and Li Tang had been expelled from Xuzhou by Han Qian but had received continuous support from Shen Yang. Xue Ruogu was demoted to serve as county magistrate in Liyang, Li Tang held a position in the Ministry of Personnel, and Qin Wen, skilled in clerical and administrative affairs, remained by Shen Yang’s side, serving as Palace Attendant in the Chancellery.
The previous dynasty had established the position of Palace Attendant, responsible for managing memorial documents from various departments and correcting errors. Over time, they gradually gained the power of review and rejection. Together with Zhang Qian’s position as Left Reminder, these roles carried the flavor of remonstrance officials and censors. Though they didn’t reach the level of Vice Minister of State Affairs, they were nevertheless core civil officials of the Chancellery.
Zhang Qian had initially been the village head of Taowu Settlement. Later, when plague-stricken refugees were organized into the Longque Army and Taowu Settlement was requisitioned as a garrison military base, Zhang Qian remained under Shen Yang’s command as a clerk. Subsequently performing his duties diligently, he gained the deep trust of both Shen Yang and Emperor Yanyou. In just a few years, he had leaped from a minor village clerk to become a prestigious senior official of the Chancellery—truly someone who had achieved meteoric success in Great Chu’s official circles.
Seeing Shen Yang’s invitation, though Qin Wen and Zhang Qian didn’t know what matter this concerned, they were patient enough to board the carriage together and ride out of the Imperial City toward Shen Yang’s chancellor’s residence.
Just before reaching the residence, Shen Yang instructed his household staff: “Go to Prince Shou’s residence and inquire whether His Highness is at home at this time, and if so, whether he would be gracious enough to grant me an audience.”
Hearing that Shen Yang wanted to see Prince Shou Yang Zhitang at this time and apparently intended to bring them along, Zhang Qian asked: “Is Your Excellency seeking Prince Shou to discuss the matter of expanding the naval forces?”
Yang Zhitang had submitted a memorial advocating that the remaining naval forces be placed under the Right Longwu Army stationed in Runzhou, temporarily organized as a naval division. Apart from Shen Yang, various officials who didn’t wish to see Prince Shou extend his influence into Jiangdong vigorously opposed this proposal, causing the matter to be delayed.
During this period, Han Qian’s relationship with the court had been fairly pleasant and harmonious. At the same time, the families and dependents of over two thousand remaining naval soldiers were all kept in the various garrison military bases. Forcibly detaining them would be like forcing a melon to be sweet when it wasn’t ripe. After April, aside from nearly three hundred soldiers from the former Left Guangde Army and former Longque Army units, Han Qian had sent approximately two thousand other naval soldiers back to the southern bank.
However, Han Qian’s goodwill and Shen Yang’s efforts to rebuild Great Chu’s naval forces had not been realized.
The military households of the garrison military bases were theoretically only required to perform four months of military service per year.
In other words, under normal circumstances, one-third of the military household troops under the garrison military bases’ jurisdiction were placed on active duty, while two-thirds remained at home in the garrison bases engaging in farming and recuperation.
These military quotas were divided into three rotation periods, averaging four months of garrison duty per person per year. After casualties occurred, positions would pass from elder brother to younger brother or from father to son, maintaining the overall scale of military quotas relatively stable.
Only when major warfare occurred and more thorough military mobilization was needed could all military quotas be conscripted into service, and service periods could be extended indefinitely. However, after wars ended, compensation had to be calculated for these extended service periods.
Otherwise, with military households lacking a primary laborer, the families and dependents would find farming even more arduous and would become increasingly impoverished. Keeping soldiers detained in the military for long periods would also suppress morale.
Not only before and after the naval main force’s raid on Hongze Lake, but in fact since the reorganization of the Left and Right Five-Teeth Armies, the military quotas of their garrison bases had basically been in a state of over-conscription and extended service.
The great defeat at Hongze Lake had resulted in the loss of so many soldiers, including over ten thousand boatmen and sailors, directly causing a sharp decline in naval military quotas, making the number of soldiers who could be conscripted extremely limited.
Since Shen Yang and others firmly opposed the Right Longwu Army organizing new naval forces under its banner, Yang Zhitang, who had been appointed Privy Council Commissioner in May, opposed transferring more military households from other garrison bases into the navy.
From the early Left and Right Longque Armies, to the later Yueyang forces, to the current Imperial Guard and Palace Guard units, all were part of the same lineage and had undertaken extremely frequent and arduous combat missions over the years.
Last year, not only had the navy suffered devastating losses and the Right Shenwu Army been nearly annihilated, but the two Huaixi Imperial Guard units had also suffered significant casualties beneath Chaozhou City. Zheng Hui’s forces stationed in Deng and Xiang also bore tremendous defensive responsibilities, while Chai Jian’s forces stationed south of Shazhou at Five Finger Ridge were overwhelmed dealing with Miao Yong’s defection.
Apart from the Palace Guards, all Imperial Guard units universally faced problems of excessive mobilization, extended service periods, and the need to replenish new soldiers.
Setting aside other considerations and conflicts of interest, Yang Zhitang’s position gained support from many military commanders on this point alone.
Moreover, with central finances so strained, priority still had to be given to ensuring Shuzhou and Tangyi’s containment of the Shou Prefecture army and securing Jinling’s northern gateway. There were few remaining resources available for other purposes.
Even though Shen Yang also agreed with Yang Zhitang’s assessment that Liang naval forces might raid the coast, the importance of allocating military households and re-expanding the navy was still being overlooked by most military officials in the court.
Most military officials in the court still believed that ocean waves would be the greatest protection for the Jianghuai coast.
Everyone was convinced that Liang forces were poor at naval warfare and warships. Even if they held the advantage on the main battlefield and divided forces to raid the coast, the scale would definitely not be large, and the existing coastal defense forces would be sufficient to resist.
Not only that, but Yang Zhitang also insisted on strictly implementing rotation systems for existing naval military households, firmly sending home over-conscripted and extended-service remnant soldiers to their military bases for rest.
This meant that while the Left Five-Teeth Army naval organization wasn’t abolished, the soldiers who could be rotated into active service numbered fewer than a thousand.
As for building new warships and battleships, recruiting boatmen and sailors—without large allocations of funds and provisions, such matters couldn’t even be discussed.
This effectively put the Left Five-Teeth Army in the same condition as the Longque Army before the conscription of refugees—in a near-paralyzed state.
Most of the time, the remnants of the Left Five-Teeth Army merely served as escort troops for princes and high officials traveling by boat, completely lacking the capability to assume responsibility for defending the lower Yangtze waterways, let alone protecting the Jianghuai coastal region from enemy attacks.
Zhang Qian asked this because the Huaidong salt fields had been subjected to continuous raids by Liang naval forces over the past month, with casualties becoming severe.
Yesterday, the Salt and Iron Commission had formally submitted a memorial requesting the court dispatch naval forces to reinforce the Huaidong salt fields.
Although outside the Privy Council system, the Salt and Iron Commission maintained several thousand salt field guards at the Huaidong salt fields. Since the salt fields were crisscrossed with streams and rivers and the transportation of grass and salt mainly relied on river transport, they also maintained naval forces of a certain scale. However, the salt guards had previously mainly managed salt workers, arrested salt smugglers, and suppressed river bandits and lake pirates—how much real combat capability could they have?
However, the Right Tower Ship Army newly organized by Liang forces in Haizhou was initially still exploring maritime warfare modes. Their expeditions were small-scale, and they weren’t very familiar with tides and the mudflats and silted areas along the Huaidong salt field coast. Particularly during the sixth and seventh months when ocean storms were frequent, Liang forces didn’t dare make major moves, only daring to conduct short-range, small-scale raids and probes to accumulate experience and lessons.
Near the Huai River mouth, closest to enemy forces, the Salt and Iron Transport Commission’s salt field guards were relatively better prepared in defense and achieved considerable results in several battles.
Besides over a hundred heads, they also captured over ten shallow-hold sea vessels. Emperor Yanyou even issued an edict of commendation. Zhang Chao, who had taken charge of the Salt and Iron Transport Commission after the new emperor’s ascension, was somewhat pleased with himself.
Zhang Chao’s appointment as Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner was a compromise when Huang Hua became Hunan Pacification Commissioner. At that time, Yang Yuanpu also needed a trusted minister to control the central government’s largest source of revenue aside from the Ministry of Finance.
Zhang Chao was quite satisfied with this position, transferring many directly affiliated officials into the commission and wanting to operate the Salt and Iron Transport Commission as his own territory. Therefore, he had previously opposed the Right Longwu Army interfering in Huaidong salt field defense, choosing to stand together with Shen Yang in opposing placing the navy under the Right Longwu Army’s banner.
He had even once boasted to Prince Shou Yang Zhitang about the salt guards’ early battle achievements, demonstrating that the salt guards’ combat capability was not weak, seeking to further gain court support for strengthening the salt guards.
Although the Langzhou-affiliated salt protection officers who served as main commanders of the salt field guards hadn’t become overconfident enough to take the initiative in attacking, when both sides avoided low-level errors, what they competed on was still hard power.
After three or four months of early exploration and accumulating some experience, Liang naval forces, taking advantage of the end of the stormy season in mid-to-late August, conducted raids on salt fields south of the Huai River mouth not only on a larger scale but also organizing combat more flawlessly.
At this point, the salt field guards’ deficiencies in training, armaments, and warships were fully exposed.
Three days ago, the largest grass storage facility near the Huai River mouth was attacked. Over a thousand stacks of firewood accumulated for salt boiling were burned and destroyed. Over two hundred salt guards were annihilated, and dozens of nearby salt worker settlements were also destroyed. Several thousand salt workers were forcibly taken out to sea and withdrawn to Haizhou.
Combined with previous results, in less than twenty days, nearly a quarter of the Huaidong salt fields had fallen into lamentation.
At this point, Zhang Chao realized the problem was serious.
After the annual storm season passed, the ocean became increasingly calm, rainfall decreased, and vast areas of wild grass turned yellow—this should have been the good season for harvesting grass, extracting brine, and boiling salt. If the defensive situation near the Huai River mouth didn’t improve, even if Liang naval forces didn’t expand their raiding scale, the salt production for the coming year would be greatly affected.
However, the problem wasn’t only this. This meant that Prince Shou Yang Zhitang’s assessment in his early April memorial requesting that the Right Longwu Army organize new naval forces to defend against Liang naval raids on the Jianghuai coast was correct, and it also meant that Liang forces might very likely expand their raids on Jianghuai coastal areas and even Jiangdong coastal prefectures and counties south of the Yangtze mouth in the future.
Although princes and high officials in the court had become more aware of the importance of coastal defense, the focal point of the problem still lay in whether to directly rebuild the Left Five-Teeth Army navy or organize a new naval division under the Right Longwu Army to take on more responsibility for defense along the river and coast east of Runzhou.
Unable to reach consensus on this issue, in the end it was still endless wrangling.
That Shen Yang wanted to personally visit Yang Zhitang at this time, Zhang Qian guessed it was very likely about rebuilding the naval forces, which he could understand.
Although Shen Yang and Yang Zhitang could occasionally meet in the Secretariat, when they met, other counselor ministers were also assembled in full attendance. With so many conflicting interests involved, many matters between them couldn’t be explained clearly or thoroughly.
Even if compromise was needed, if interests needed to be exchanged, even if Shen Yang needed to make concessions to a certain degree, at this time he could only discuss privately with Prince Shou Yang Zhitang. However, he didn’t know what kind of storm would be transmitted when this fell into the eyes of interested parties.
What Zhang Qian didn’t understand was that Shen Yang seemed to have the intention of bringing him and Qin Wen along, or perhaps before going to Prince Shou’s residence, there was another matter he wanted to discuss with them?
Shen Yang nodded, indicating that his desire to visit Prince Shou’s residence at this time was indeed about rebuilding the naval forces, but he didn’t say much more, inviting Zhang Qian and Qin Wen to accompany him into the residence first.
After drinking tea for a while, before the servant who had gone to contact Prince Shou’s residence returned, Zhang Qian and Qin Wen saw Xue Ruogu being announced and entering.
Xue Ruogu was still serving as magistrate of Lishui County at this time. Although Lishui County wasn’t far from the capital—a fast horse could make the round trip in a day—Zhang Qian and Qin Wen truly hadn’t known beforehand that Xue Ruogu was in the capital at this time.
Xue Ruogu’s qualifications were more senior than Zhang Qian’s and Qin Wen’s. Before being expelled from Xuzhou by Han Qian, he had served as prefectural chief clerk. Only because he had offended quite a few people from aristocratic families while serving as Investigating Censor in Yueyang and in the court had he been demoted to Lishui.
Zhang Qian and Qin Wen stood to salute Xue Ruogu, who returned the courtesy before asking Shen Yang: “Since returning to the capital these past two days, Ruogu has heard considerable rumors about Marquis Qianyang’s marriage to Minister Wang Wenqian’s daughter. Your Excellency must have already made clear to Prince Shou the matter of the Chishan Association?”
“Not yet. If Prince Shou is at his residence today, I plan to see him shortly,” Shen Yang said.
“How can Your Excellency hesitate and delay for so long?” Xue Ruogu’s tone couldn’t help but carry some complaint.
Qin Wen and Zhang Qian were somewhat shocked. Though they had long known that when Xue Ruogu became straightforward, he wouldn’t give anyone face, they hadn’t expected Xue Ruogu to speak to Shen Yang in such a tone.
Of course, they couldn’t immediately guess what secrets were hidden behind the Chishan Association matter that required Shen Yang to clarify early with Prince Shou Yang Zhitang.
Since Han Qian had been defending Tangyi, his communications with Huaidong had become increasingly close. In the eyes of the court’s military officials, there was nothing particularly unusual about this. After all, Tangyi and Huaidong’s Yangzhou had to jointly face enemy forces stationed in Chuzhou. The court’s military officials also saw that cooperation between Huaidong and Tangyi was cautious and guarded.
In August, Han Qian had sent people to Yangzhou to recruit nearly twenty thousand refugees to populate Tangyi through the method of selling farmland and residences. That Huaidong hadn’t imposed restrictions on this matter was somewhat unusual.
Although Huaidong had become increasingly straitened since spring and summer, urgently needing large amounts of funds and provisions to supplement military resources, and Han Qian’s sale of farmland and residences in Yangzhou had yielded two to three hundred thousand strings of cash and provisions that were all lent to Huaidong to resolve Huaidong’s urgent needs, this could be seen as the reason why Huaidong had no choice but to compromise with Han Qian and Tangyi. However, the problem was that Huaidong still hadn’t openly and formally requested aid from the court!
At this time, some rumors about a marriage contract between Han Qian and Minister Wang Wenqian’s daughter had also spread in the capital, saying that when Ruan Yan had brought up the marriage contract again in Fanchang, Han Qian had left Fanchang without notice and returned to Xuzhou to observe mourning, using the excuse that marriage shouldn’t be discussed during mourning, but this couldn’t be considered a refusal of the marriage.
Perceptive people at this time also realized these rumors were being deliberately spread by interested parties behind the scenes. Combined with the increasingly close cooperation between Tangyi and Huaidong during this period, it was natural to think that these rumors were very likely paving the way for Han Qian to formally marry Minister Wang Wenqian’s daughter.
And after Han Qian formally married Minister Wang Wenqian’s daughter, it also meant that the relationship between Tangyi and Huaidong would enter a new stage.
As holders of important positions, Qin Wen and Zhang Qian could naturally see these subtle points.
Although frontier generals forming factions for private interests had always been a great taboo, under current circumstances, Qin Wen and Zhang Qian didn’t find this particularly unacceptable.
If one had to say, wasn’t it far more serious that former dynasty Divine Mausoleum Bureau associate Lü Qingxia was inseparable from the Empress Dowager and secretly controlled the power to assist in governance?
Of course, Xue Ruogu’s disrespectful words shocked them and also made them realize that the problems hidden beneath the surface might be more severe than they had previously imagined.
Shen Yang didn’t rebuke Xue Ruogu for his disrespect, sighing slightly and saying: “Regarding Liang naval forces raiding the coast, I was still negligent, not truly taking it seriously, thinking that even if Prince Shou was misled, it wouldn’t cause great harm. That’s why some matters have been delayed until now without being made clear to Prince Shou…”
Zhang Qian couldn’t contain himself at this point and directly asked: “What matters might Prince Shou be kept in the dark about?”
“…” Xue Ruogu glanced at Shen Yang. Seeing he had no intention of stopping him, he said, “When I was assigned to Lishui last year, I also thought simply. At that time, I thought that even if matters weren’t that simple, if there were truly any hidden circumstances in the Shang Wensheng assassination case, they should be revealed and the truth should be restored to the world. After arriving in Lishui, I also found some evidence confirming that Wei Zhen and the Ministry of Justice concealed many things when investigating the assassination case, deliberately retaliating against Han Qian for his suppression of capital region aristocratic clans during the Jinling rebellion. However, when I sent people to Guangde Prefecture to search for further evidence, I inadvertently discovered that as early as June or July of last year, a considerable portion of the former Left Guangde Army had been gathering at fishing settlements along the shores of Lake Tai. I think Han Qian should have already been in Jinling at that time…”
“How is that possible?” Zhang Qian asked in alarm. “Even if Chen Jingzhou had secretly colluded with Han Qian early on, with so many officials in the prefecture and counties at that time, how could they not have noticed this?”
Chen Jingzhou had gone to Guangde Prefecture to stabilize the situation. He hadn’t had, nor did he have the authority to, dismiss the large number of aristocratic clan sons occupying official positions in Guangde Prefecture.
Chen Jingzhou might have concealed some matters for Han Qian, but if signs of large-scale gathering of former Left Guangde Army appeared, the eyes of Guangde Prefecture officials from aristocratic clan backgrounds weren’t blind—wouldn’t informant letters have flown into the capital like snowflakes?
“The former Left Guangde Army members who gathered in the early stage were all people whose farmland and residences had been seized, so the dispersal and gathering of these people was overlooked by local officials,” Xue Ruogu said.
“…”
Zhang Qian drew in a sharp breath.
The Shang Wensheng assassination case had stirred up public sentiment among capital region clans, causing widespread litigation in Guangde Prefecture for a period. Encouraged by many officials from aristocratic family backgrounds, large numbers of former Left Guangde Army had the farmland and residences they’d been granted after the war seized from them.
Since there had already been an intention to expel them, when these people left their localities, local officials naturally paid no attention, creating a major loophole where large-scale personnel gathering was overlooked by local authorities.
But if as early as June or July of last year, Han Qian had secretly come to Jinling to gather former Left Guangde Army members, what was his intention?