“Lord Daochang, tell us again—how exactly was that ice dam created? This can truly be called the work of divine craftsmen, cleverly borrowing heaven’s power!”
At this time in the western garden of the Han Mansion, guests filled the seats, all impatiently surrounding Han Daochang to inquire about details of the great Wujin Ridge victory.
Han Daochang had gone on imperial orders with Yuan Guowei to Huaiyang Mountain to comfort the troops. The journey had been rough and bumpy, leaving his chin gaunt and pointed. Upon his return to Jinling City, the Han Mansion naturally held a grand banquet to welcome him home.
In the past, although Han Daoming held the esteemed position of Vice Grand Councilor and Minister of Revenue, even when there were events at his residence in the eastern garden, not many guests and friends came to celebrate. But today with Han Daochang’s return, several dozen people whose figures were rarely seen in ordinary times had come running to the western garden residence to comfort his hardships.
News of the great Wujin Ridge victory had already reached Jinling ten days ago. But news of the great victory quickly spread through Jinling City’s streets and alleys, and the entire Han Mansion was immersed in an atmosphere of heartfelt joy.
However, the letter dispatches sent back from Tangyi were vague and unclear. In just a few hundred words, they mentioned the hardships of defending Wujin Ridge and the Shouzhou army’s devastating casualties, but as for exactly how the Shouzhou army was defeated, there were only the sparse words “water suddenly rose at night, sweeping river ice to destroy enemy camp”—how could this satisfy everyone’s curiosity to pry into secrets?
Never mind the guests in the hall—even the corridors were crowded with numerous servants pressing their ears to the doors to hear the Second Master’s experiences along the journey.
“When Lord Yuan and I rushed to Wujin Ridge, Tangyi army’s situation was indeed somewhat worrying. Lord Yuan spoke sincerely to Han Qian, even opening his mouth to persuade him to lead his troops to break through along Dragon Pool River to Chao Lake’s western shore. Yet Han Qian said breaking the enemy was at hand. We were still puzzled in our hearts, but crossing layer upon layer of mountain ridges to reach Wujin Ridge was truly too exhausting, too tiring. After sleeping one night, we couldn’t see any changes. But by the second night, spring water in the streams and rivers began to swell, until it burst through the river ice. Han Qian had already driven several rows of palisade logs into the channel before the enemy position, preparing in advance to intercept river ice. That night Han Qian even pulled Lord Yuan and me to drink wine. We had just finished two pots of wine when word came from outside that the ice dam had formed. At night it was pitch black and we couldn’t see clearly. I also didn’t sleep soundly all night. At daybreak I scrambled up—you guess what? The river valley at Wujin Ridge was brimming full with floodwater, borrowed from who knows where. When the time came, the ice dam collapsed and floodwater rushed toward the enemy camp. The result afterward—all of you already know…” With people willing to listen, Han Daochang was naturally willing to speak. It was just that facing this crowd of guests who went with the wind, his account was somewhat exaggerated.
“With that talent of your mouth, why don’t you become a storyteller?” Han Wenhuan stroked his snow-white beard and, in front of the guests, laughingly chided his second son Han Daochang for these words being too exaggerated.
“Everyone says Marquis Han knows astronomy above and geography below, worthy of being called today’s Zhuge Liang. In the past I somewhat felt this was overstated, but doesn’t the great Wujin Ridge victory precisely prove Marquis Han had long calculated with his fingers the day South Fei River’s ice would break?” Someone praised—not knowing if genuinely or falsely—but his expression looked quite serious.
After sending off the crowd of guests and ordering all irrelevant servants to withdraw from the courtyard, by now the night had deepened. Left in the hall were only Old Master Han, brothers Han Daoming and Han Daochang, core younger generation members like Han Duan, and family heads of families like the Qiao and Chen clans who had marriage relations with the Han family and could be considered direct power bases.
They either had sons or nephews who had married Han family daughters as wives, or had daughters married to Han family sons as wives.
Families like the Qiao and Chen appeared to have little power and influence, but being able to form marriage alliances with the Han clan, which among them didn’t have deep roots spreading wide in places like Xuan and She prefectures, owning tens of thousands of mu of good farmland with servants and bondservants in crowds?
That the Han family could become leading aristocratic families of Xuan and She prefectures together with the Feng family relied considerably on these marriage-allied clans supporting them from behind.
These families even had extremely deep marriage relations with the Feng clan. It was only because of severing ties with the Feng family during the Imperial Mausoleum Case that they now felt too embarrassed to lick the soles of the Feng brothers’ feet.
Of course, these past years the situation had been turbulent with unpredictable changes. Even the Han family had experienced several twists and turns. These numerous families implicated with the Han and Feng families had suffered repeated blows locally, urgently needing to restore their declining fortunes.
Of course, among them, because Qiao Weiyan and Chen Zhiyong had previously received important appointments, only the Qiao and Chen families had relatively close relations with Tangyi, each putting up one hundred thousand strings of cash and grain as stakes last year. The other families were still cautiously observing, acting very prudently. Even for Han Qian’s wedding this time, they had only symbolically sent gifts as a gesture.
When news of the great Wujin Ridge victory arrived, family heads from these families not in Jinling had also rushed over. They all wished they could move directly into the Han Mansion, coming morning and evening to pay respects before the Old Master.
The situation was already this clear. If they still didn’t place their bets, never mind that the golden opportunity would pass—if the Han family turned around and harbored resentment, how could they bear it?
This era wasn’t so particular about triple chastity and nine virtues or loyalty unto death. Divorcing wives to remarry or divorcing husbands to remarry were not rare matters.
Only at this time did Han Daochang recount completely and accurately Han Qian’s strategy and execution from assembling troops to raid Anfeng Stockade onward, letting everyone know none of this was by chance, and also letting everyone know that if they still hesitated at this time, they couldn’t blame the Han family if one day in the future they turned their backs and disowned them.
Han Daoming couldn’t help sighing lightly: “Had I known Han Qian’s side had this brilliant plan, we shouldn’t have agreed to Cishou Palace’s conditions initially.”
“Li Zhigao going to control Xiangbei—Han Qian feels this is no problem. This time he can also justifiably demand the Left Vermillion Bird Army withdraw from Shu Prefecture. Afterward, Tangyi troops’ expansion into Left and Right armies will naturally follow…” Han Daochang said.
Hearing this, Han Duan, seated in the lower position, couldn’t help but let out a long breath.
Although requesting the Left Vermillion Bird Army withdraw from Shu Prefecture to strengthen Xiangbei’s defenses meant Shu Prefecture wouldn’t be incorporated into Tangyi Campaign jurisdiction, and subsequent appointments of governors and other officials would be led by the central ministries, this would also represent that in the near future, Tangyi Campaign would become Great Chu’s sole military force in Huaixi.
After the Shouzhou army withdrew from Chao Prefecture city and Tangyi completed military expansion, Tangyi might be slightly weaker than Xiangbei and Huaidong in terms of troop scale, but at least within Great Chu’s framework, it would already be able to stand on equal footing with Xiangbei and Huaidong.
Speaking with ulterior motives, by that time, besides the Palace Guard Personal Army, Tangyi would become the elite forces closest to Jinling City, with influence on the court utterly different from the past.
Thinking about how much time had passed since Han Qian returned to the central government?
Thinking of this, even Han Duan felt some regret—regretting that initially, worried about the situation, he hadn’t chosen to remain in office at Tangyi, but had rushed back to Jinling.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to serve in the court, but if he could have remained in office at Tangyi for two or three years before returning to serve in the court, his qualifications would be completely different.
However, over a year ago, who could have imagined Tangyi’s situation would develop so quickly, completely transforming in this manner?
“Besides expanding the Left and Right armies, does Tangyi have any other moves recently?” Han Daoming asked.
“Success this time has a direct relationship with Liang army’s main forces following Zhu Yu northward invading Jin Kingdom. Afterward, even if Liang army’s main forces don’t divide troops to move south, Xu Mingzhen will defend more cautiously in the north. Tangyi wanting to expand Left and Right armies this time mainly considers that Liang army elite forces could move south at any time. In the short term, there isn’t even surplus strength to capture Anfeng Stockade to the north. As for what follows, I also asked Han Qian. Taking over Chu and Chao prefecture cities and cultivating Huaiyang Mountain are the priorities. Temporarily there won’t be major moves again.” Han Daochang said.
“Temporarily securing a firm foundation is also good. Those days of constant anxiety weren’t easy to bear either.” Han Daoming said with emotion.
Thinking of the anxious days after Han Qian led raiding forces thrusting northward, Han Daochang thought they really hadn’t been easy. He asked again: “Have the Two Palaces, Prince Shou’s Mansion, and Huaidong had any recent movements?”
“What movements do they want to have, and what movements could they have? They can’t very well complain that Han Qian won too quickly and too suddenly in Huaiyang Mountain, can they?” Han Daoming said with a laugh.
Han Daochang nodded. This was also where the great Wujin Ridge victory held the greatest significance for Tangyi and for the Han family.
Besides Huaidong dividing troops to occupy Shiliang County, they basically ensured no one could steal the fruits of their victory.
Although he couldn’t decide anything, Han Daochang initially hadn’t been very supportive of Han Qian conducting such raid operations, precisely because he knew that if Han Qian’s military campaigns weren’t smooth, so be it—but once military campaigns went too smoothly, all sorts of leg-dragging incidents would emerge endlessly.
Throughout history, matters failing at the last moment due to internal friction emerged endlessly.
He just hadn’t expected that Han Qian’s military campaign in Huaiyang Mountain—the previous moment still in extreme danger, the next moment achieving great victory—with victory and defeat transforming so suddenly, naturally also left various parties wanting to interfere and drag their feet without time to do so.
News of the great Wujin Ridge victory had been strictly sealed in the early period. After Tangyi troops controlled defensive stockades along Dragon Pool River banks, even Deng Tai, temporarily replacing Li Zhigao in overall command of the Left Vermillion Bird Army, still hadn’t reacted.
Otherwise, jurisdiction over the Chao Lake western shore region would have given too many people excuses and opportunities to wrangle.
Because Tangyi navy first took over defensive stockades along Dragon Pool River banks, completely separating the Lujiang defensive line defended by the Left Vermillion Bird Army from the Shouzhou army, they could openly and justifiably demand the Left Vermillion Bird Army withdraw from Shu Prefecture.
With Huaixi confronting the Shouzhou army, there was no longer any use for the Left Vermillion Bird Army.
Subsequently, as Tangyi was to expand into Left and Right armies, troop scale would increase by more than double, and the military funding gap would also multiply. The Han family in the coming days still had to find ways by all means to raise more cash and grain for Tangyi’s subsequent construction and military funding gap.
The greatest benefit of this victory was probably that from wealthy households and prominent families in Huaiyang Mountain, they could confiscate large amounts of ready-made fields and residences to allocate as ration fields for enlisted soldiers and residences for family members, without needing additional investment of cash and grain for land reclamation. In the short term, the gap wasn’t as large as when they first obtained Tangyi.
“Exactly how many civilian households and registered people are there in Huaiyang Mountain?” This was also the question Han Daoming most cared about. He asked with concern.
Never mind before—even after Great Chu’s founding, Shou Prefecture had long been the core region of military confrontation between Liang and Chu, with continuous warfare and enormous local upheaval. Common people often left their homes and villages.
In earlier years when organizing plague-stricken refugees in the capital region into the Vermillion Bird Army, among them were large numbers of refugees who had fled from Huaixi.
Among Xu Prefecture officials, a large batch of people like Gao Shao, Ji Xiyao, Guo Que, He Liufeng, Wei Xu, and Xiao Dahu were all from Huaixi—not to mention the one hundred thousand refugees Han Qian later organized into Tangyi troops.
Too many practical conditions constrained local authorities and the Ministry of Revenue from accurately tallying and grasping concealed civilian households and fugitive households in Huaiyang Mountain.
Han Daoming had served as Governor of Chi Prefecture in earlier years. His insight and capability might not match Yang En, Shen Yang, Wang Wenqian and others in the world, but in the current era he was still first-rate. When the new Emperor ascended the throne and he was appointed Minister of Revenue, controlling wealth and taxes, he could be counted among renowned ministers.
Han Daoming had always been clear about the importance of registered population.
Moreover, after the Tangyi Secret Talks, earth-shaking changes occurred within the Han family. After Han Daoming’s thinking transformed, he rapidly accepted and digested the model Han Qian implemented in Xu Prefecture.