Perhaps unable to resist the temptation of regaining military command, or perhaps the voices raised by the Jiangdong aristocratic clans were too intense, or perhaps the rapidly expanding Tangyi Army’s strength was truly alarming—in any case, the matter of recruiting elite troops from various divisions to form the Third Regiment of Imperial Guard Infantry, with Huang Lu as Commander-in-Chief to lead the expedition to Guanzhong, was formally submitted as a memorial to the throne by Vice Minister of War and Marquis of Linjin Li Changfeng before late October.
Even though Han Daoming strongly opposed this, he was a lone voice in the court unable to change anything.
In late October, Vice Minister of Works Zhou Yuan, Zhang Qian, Hunan Provincial Inspector Wu Fan, Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner Zhang Han, Budget Commissioner Zheng Yu, Vice Chief Military Commissioner Zhou Bingwu, Minister of War Du Chongtao, and a whole host of other high officials submitted memorials one after another supporting the proposal.
By the end of October, the Political Affairs Hall formally petitioned the throne to recruit one regiment of elite troops each from the former Left and Right Imperial Guard Armies as well as the Left Divine Might Army, Right Martial Guard Army, and Right Dragon Might Army to form the Left Martial Prowess Army under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Guard Infantry Command. Huang Lu, Li Xiu, and Zhang Feng (Zhang Xiang’s son) were appointed as Commander-in-Chief and Deputy Commanders-in-Chief respectively, to lead troops to Junzhou to prepare for the attack on Wuguan.
At the same time, the Left and Right Imperial Guard Armies were reorganized into the Left and Right Martial Wing Armies under the Imperial Guard Infantry Command’s jurisdiction, continuing to be responsible for defending the capital region, with troop shortages filled by conscription from various garrison army commands.
Apart from the troops transferred from the Left and Right Martial Guard Armies who could depart from Yiyang and Jingxiang, the three regiments of troops transferred from the Left and Right Martial Wing Armies and the Right Dragon Might Army also, before early November, boarded the Right Dragon Might Army’s naval warships and set sail from Jinling heading west along the river—their speed of movement was astonishingly fast.
Small snow began falling from the sky as Han Qian led his horse to a stop on the riverbank, frowning as he gazed at the warships sailing west.
The newly formed Left Martial Prowess Army’s attack on Guanzhong through the Wuguan route had been almost unanimously approved by the court officials. Even the Zheng clan, whose relationship with Tangyi had not yet emerged from its honeymoon period during this time, specially sent someone to East Lake to give advance notice.
After all, Zheng Hui’s military operations against the remnants of the Yongzhou rebel forces, as well as his subsequent attack into Lingnan, could not proceed without Huang Hua’s support. This time with the new Left Martial Prowess Army formation, the Huang family stood to benefit the most. Even though Zheng Hui was temporarily consolidating after capturing Yongzhou City, the Zheng clan had to express their support this time.
As for the problem of Huang Lu’s insufficient experience in commanding troops, the court officials did not have too many concerns.
Besides having Li Xiu and Zhang Feng, two rising stars, serving as Deputy Commanders-in-Chief, each leading one regiment of elite troops as the vanguard, the Left Martial Prowess Army was also serving as a flanking force this time, primarily attacking Wuguan and the Shangluo region behind it, without considering any reckless advance into the Guanzhong heartland for the time being.
In other words, the main objective of this Chu military operation was merely to tie down a portion of the Liang forces from the side, so that the Shu army and the Mongols could severely damage the main Liang forces, thereby preparing for subsequent Great Chu troops to conduct military operations northward from the Nanyang or Huai River fronts.
This amounted to secretly reaching an agreement with the Shu state that the Shu army would occupy Guanzhong while the Chu army would occupy the Central Plains region in the future.
Under these circumstances, Han Qian had no way to obstruct this further. Moreover, traveling to Junzhou via the Yangtze River and entering the Han River, the new-style sail warships traveled extremely fast—the newly formed Left Martial Prowess Army could complete its assembly at military fortresses like Xichuan and Jingzikou in about ten days.
Unless heavy snow could blanket the southern slopes of the Qinling Mountains this winter and obscure the treacherous mountain paths, the Left Martial Prowess Army could complete preparations to attack Wuguan by approximately the end of November.
Even so, Han Qian had still succeeded in delaying the Chu-Shu allied forces’ attack on Guanzhong by nearly two months, pushing it into winter which was unfavorable for the attacking side. This was all he could do for now.
After the Right Dragon Might Army’s naval fleet had passed, Han Donghu, who was using a bronze spyglass to observe activity on the opposite bank, said, “My lord, Feng Yi and the others’ ship is weighing anchor.”
Feng Yi and Guo Que had previously been ordered to rush to Yuzhou to meet Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong, and today they had secretly returned to East Lake accompanying Yuzhou Military Administrator Cao Gan.
Most unfortunately, when their boat was nearly approaching Yuxi River mouth, the Right Dragon Might Army’s naval fleet was passing through the Yangtze River. Even a Chishan Association vessel could not possibly ram into the Right Dragon Might Army’s fully organized naval fleet for no reason, so they could only patiently wait on the southern bank.
Han Qian happened to be in Dongguan Town with Wang Jun today. Upon hearing the news, he came to the riverbank to meet Cao Gan, and also took the opportunity to observe the Left Martial Prowess Army’s military appearance.
After the naval fleet passed, Feng Yi, Guo Que, and Cao Gan quickly came across by boat. They directly used the temporary wharf at the river mouth to come ashore and meet with Han Qian and Wang Jun.
Seeing Cao Gan’s lean chin covered with dense stubble mixed with a few white whiskers, Han Qian suddenly remembered that Cao Gan was nearly sixty years old. Frowning slightly, he clasped his hands in salute and said, “After another separation of several years, how have you been, Administrator Cao?”
“I am grateful for Your Lordship’s concern. Everything can be considered well enough, but in any case far from as well as Your Lordship.” Cao Gan, seeing Han Qian’s rather reluctant attitude, returned the salute.
Cao Gan had extremely limited occasions to meet Han Qian face to face, but the last time he had direct contact with Han Qian’s close confidants was when Xuzhou secretly requested that Yuzhou coordinate their military deployment, so that Xuzhou could remain hidden below the surface while also forcing Sizhou and the Hunan Pacification Commissioner’s Office to grant amnesty to the Tianping capital rebels.
That cooperation saw Xuzhou secretly support the Tianping capital forces in completely controlling the Wuchuan River valley, while they successfully purged Prince Wang Hongyi’s influence from the Left Qingjiang Army and Yuzhou. Afterward, the border trade between the two families through the Qianjiang waterway had remained relatively stable at around one million strings of cash annually for the past two years.
In these two years, Yuzhou was able to profit three to four hundred thousand strings annually from the Qianjiang border trade.
This was mainly because the annual import of over a million bolts of Qianyang cloth brought extremely lucrative profits to Yuzhou.
Not only did they sell Qianyang cloth in the Sichuan-Shu region through warehouses they secretly controlled, but they also transported it together with tea, medicinal herbs, and iron implements to the Western Tibetan regions, trading for horses, furs, and other goods in return—even annually transferring over a thousand excellent Western Tibetan warhorses plus another three to four thousand pack horses through their hands to Xuzhou.
For Western Tibetan warhorses, by handling them once more, they could earn an additional profit.
Marquis of Changxiang not only controlled the annual revenues of Yuzhou, Kuizhou, Xiazhou and other prefectures, but also through such massive border trade income and under the guise of suppressing Banan and southern Sichuan tribal rebellions, had expanded the Left Qingjiang Army’s troops to nearly thirty thousand, allowing him to stand equal to Prince Wang Hongyi’s forces within the Shu state.
However, all of this, compared to Xuzhou or rather the Tangyi Army’s expansion over these four or five years, could truly be called small potatoes compared to major achievements.
Even regarding the Qianjiang waterway border trade, although on the surface Xuzhou’s annual profits appeared slightly lower than Yuzhou’s, Yuzhou was not blind and would not simply look only at the superficial numbers in the accounts.
In recent years, the well salt purchased from Yuzhou by the Wuchuan County Salt and Iron Supervision Bureau had decreased year after year, but the food salt transported via the Ruan River waterway and Qianjiang waterway for external sale in the Qianzhong region had increased year after year—yet the food salt imported into Xuzhou from the Great Chu Salt and Iron Transport Commission was verifiably only slightly over twenty thousand dan annually.
This indicated that the territory controlled by Xuzhou was already capable of producing well salt on a large scale, obviously in the mountains near the Wuchuan River valley.
Even regarding the twenty thousand dan of food salt transported from the Huaidong salt fields, Xuzhou still took a salt profit of over twenty thousand strings from it—that is, the Salt and Iron Transport Commission sold this food salt to the Xuzhou prefectural government at two strings per dan, and the Xuzhou prefectural government then added one string per dan to resell to several designated salt merchants for civilian sale.
This was the monopoly selling privilege of semi-autonomous prefectures and counties as well as regional military commands with independent economic authority.
For Xuzhou to only add one string per dan of salt price was already extremely conscientious, while also prohibiting salt merchants from selling salt to civilians at prices exceeding four strings per dan—if prices exceeded this, the prefectural government would directly supply civilians without limit.
Besides Xuzhou, as the Tangyi Command Bureau’s controlled territory expanded, the food salt transported annually from the Huaidong salt fields had surged from the initial twenty thousand dan to this year’s one hundred thousand dan.
This portion of food salt was priced at fifteen hundred coins per dan, directly transported from the salt fields by the Chishan Association, then sold at an added price of one thousand coins to salt merchants in various counties for distribution, but simultaneously requiring that retail salt prices to civilians not exceed thirty coins per jin; if prices exceeded this, the Command Bureau would directly supply civilians without limit.
In other words, merely from the one hundred twenty thousand dan of food salt that Huaixi and Xuzhou normally received from the Huaidong salt fields annually, Han Qian directly took one hundred twenty thousand strings in salt profits. But beyond this, Cao Gan could confirm that the well salt actually produced annually in Wuchuan had long exceeded one hundred thousand dan, possibly as high as one hundred fifty thousand or more.
This was mainly because the scale of well salt transported to the Qianzhong region was too difficult to calculate accurately—one could only estimate an approximate number.
These well salts had no Salt and Iron Transport Commission participation in profit-sharing. For each dan of well salt, after deducting production and transportation costs, it was all net profit. Cao Gan estimated that Han Qian could extract net income as high as four hundred thousand strings annually from this.
In other words, through the Sizhou civilian unrest, Han Qian gained control of the Wuchuan River valley and subsequently mastered the border trade in the upper and middle reaches of the Qianjiang River, obtaining approximately seven hundred thousand strings in net annual income—nearly double what Yuzhou received or more.
Thinking of it this way was truly somewhat depressing.
And adding the vigorous support from the Han and Qiao families, it was no wonder that Han Qian could expand such a scale of elite combat power in Huaixi.
As it was getting late and unsuitable to sit down and talk in the wilderness, Han Qian had people bring horses for Cao Gan and his accompanying personnel. The group, surrounded by over a hundred guard cavalry, rushed toward Dongguan Town.
Han Qian’s initial plan was to construct a distant dike along the river. At that time, he considered that if the northern breakthrough was unsuccessful and Tangyi would be constrained to develop south of the Chu River, then constructing a distant dike and reclaiming riverbank land would certainly be necessary. But the subsequent military campaigns went extremely smoothly, and currently most of the Huaixi territory had been brought under control. There was absolutely no need to worry about farmland—rather, the concern was that the land was vast but sparsely populated. Therefore, the enormously expensive project of constructing long dikes along the river was temporarily shelved.
Landing at the Yuxi River mouth, Cao Gan saw that the riverbank was still a wilderness. But approaching Dongguan Town, he saw that the fields along both banks of the Yuxi River were well-organized, with large areas of newly built villages—not simple shacks erected for shelter, but among the earthen-walled thatched houses were interspersed quite a few brick and tile houses, presenting a scene of prosperity reminiscent of the land of fish and rice.
All this indicated that in the three or four years since the Tangyi Army had recovered the eastern shore region of Chao Lake, local livelihoods had recovered to a considerable level.
Those skilled in governance all knew the importance of allowing the people to rest and recuperate. But according to traditional experience, a region that had been severely and repeatedly devastated by war, even with capable governance, would require at least ten years or more of rest and recuperation to restore pre-war agricultural levels.
The Shu region had not experienced large-scale warfare for about twenty-five or twenty-six years, yet its population had only increased by about forty percent compared to the founding period. The vast majority of civilian households, even after paying taxes, still struggled on the poverty line, still far from comparable to the prosperous land of fish and rice from the mid-period of the previous dynasty.
Seeing this, Cao Gan could understand why, after Chai Jian’s Left Divine Might Army forces were constrained and unable to attack Wuguan, the Great Chu court officials reached unanimous consensus in such a short time to form the new Left Martial Prowess Army, led by Huang Hua’s son Huang Lu, to advance west and attack Wuguan.
Who wouldn’t be wary of having such an untamed, increasingly formidable tiger prowling beside them?
After arriving in Dongguan Town, Han Qian arranged for Cao Gan and his accompanying personnel to stay in a courtyard compound to rest briefly. He first summoned Feng Yi and Guo Que to inquire about their journey.
Dongguan Town had simple conditions, with only a township patrol inspection office established to patrol and supervise the river channels entering Xukou.
With over a hundred guard cavalry stationed there, the government compound was packed full. Everyone sat in a small hall to talk.
Besides Han Qian, Wang Jun, and attendant officers like Han Donghu, Huo Li, and Wang Zhe, Feng Liao had also temporarily rushed back from Liyang.
At this moment, he was even more eager to know what new intelligence Guo Que and Feng Yi could bring accompanying Cao Gan this time.
“When we arrived in Yuzhou, we initially did not meet Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong. We didn’t even see Cao Gan’s face. Everything was handled by Cao Gan’s son Cao Zhe. It wasn’t until late last month that Wang Yong finally summoned us for one meeting, but he didn’t say much. Two days later, when we were planning to return to East Lake, Wang Yong suddenly decided to have Cao Gan accompany us back.”
The intelligence that Guo Que and Feng Yi could directly obtain during their trip to Yuzhou was limited. Every day, Cao Zhe led different officials to wine and dine them, actually restricting their freedom of movement.
Based on what was currently known, the Shu army’s attack on Guanzhong from Liangzhou was mainly led by the Shu Prince Wang Hongyi’s faction. Shu Prince Wang Hongyi served as Chief Military Commissioner, remaining in the Shu capital to oversee the entire military deployment. The commander-in-chief was Zhao Mengji, younger cousin of Grand Councilor Zhao Weisheng, who after the Jinling Incident was appointed Governor of Liangzhou and General Who Pacifies the North. The deputy commander was Marquis of Wei, Wang Hongyi’s younger brother Wang Xiaoxian, who led twenty thousand elite Shu imperial guard troops to support the northern front. In total, they mobilized sixty thousand Shu troops plus tens of thousands of civilian laborers, attacking Guanzhong separately via the Ziwu Road, Baoxie Road, and Luogu Road.
In Guo Que’s view, the attitude of Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong, Cao Gan, and other Yuzhou officers toward the Shu army’s alliance with Chu for the northern expedition remained ambiguous—this was somewhat strange, not as actively supportive as Han Qian and others had initially predicted, but they also had not clearly expressed opposition. Regarding the grain and provisions needed for the military deployment, Yuzhou also shouldered its share of the burden without shirking.
Guo Que concluded his report.
“Accompanying Cao Gan on our rush to Tangyi, we learned en route about the new Left Martial Prowess Army attacking Guanzhong. Seeing that Cao Gan showed no particular surprise, we suspect he should already know that members of the Wen clan have entered Tangyi…”
Even while en route, Guo Que and Feng Yi maintained secret correspondence with East Lake, knowing that Han Donghu and others, with Shen Peng’s assistance, had successfully abducted members of the Wen clan and placed them under house arrest in Liyang City.
Even though the members of the Wen clan were secretly under house arrest in Liyang City, this would not be publicly acknowledged to the outside world for the time being. But to ensure that Lü Qingxia and others dared not easily conduct military operations in Guanzhong, they would also ensure that some wind of this could reach Lü Qingxia and others’ ears at just the right moment.
When Feng Yi and Guo Que learned en route that Chai Jian’s Left Divine Might Army main forces were transferring to the Fangcheng defense line in northern Nanyang, while the vacated Junzhou was to be garrisoned by the newly formed Left Martial Prowess Army under the Imperial Guard Infantry Command’s jurisdiction and responsible for attacking Wuguan, they naturally would not find this abrupt. They would only view it as Lü Qingxia and others’ subsequent adjustment strategy targeting the Tangyi Army.
However, the fact that Cao Gan knew about this but showed no great shock or surprise was worth pondering.
Han Qian and the others had previously speculated that Xiao Yiqing or Wang Jingrong secretly sent people to infiltrate Shu and Chu to contact former subordinate forces of the Divine Mausoleum Bureau. This undoubtedly received further verification from the side.
Initially, although Guo Que and Feng Yi had only briefly met with Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong once, and the information they could glean from Cao Gan accompanying them back to East Lake on this journey was quite limited, during their ten-plus days in Yuzhou contacting Yuzhou officers, they were still able to clearly grasp two rather critical pieces of information.
The first point was that although Shu Lord Wang Jian in his early years knew to conceal his strength and bide his time, even willing to submit nominally to the Liang state so that the Shu region could rest and recuperate, in recent years Shu Lord Wang Jian had gradually developed imperial ambitions.
This was extremely likely the main reason why the Shu army was determined to seize Guanzhong at this time and why Yuzhou had not strongly opposed it—not simply the result of being persuaded or bewitched by others.
Shu Lord Wang Jian very likely wanted to establish the achievement of annexing Guanzhong, and when his prestige rose to an even higher level, take advantage of the momentum to proclaim himself emperor.
Another point was that although Yuzhou had gained enormous benefits from cooperation with Xuzhou in recent years and its strength had grown considerably, due to Shu Lord Wang Jian’s silence, the Marquis of Changxiang saw no possibility of victory in the succession struggle.
Moreover, at this time Yuzhou officers had confirmed that Xuzhou obtained greater benefits from the bilateral border trade, especially the matter of Wuchuan being able to produce well salt on a large scale—by this point it was impossible to keep it secret. Adding to this that Princess Qingyang had not obtained substantial support from Tangyi in Great Chu either, the Yuzhou officers felt more or less dissatisfied and resentful in their hearts.
“When near they show no respect; when distant they complain. They’ve gained such enormous benefits for nothing, yet still have complaints. In the end, the bearing of the Yuzhou officers, or rather of Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong, is ultimately limited. They can’t expect us to single-handedly put him on the Shu state ruler’s throne, can they?” Feng Liao said with a sigh. “When Guo Que and Feng Yi went to Yuzhou, they could only hastily meet Wang Yong once. Perhaps Wang Yong harbors quite a bit of resentment in his heart, probably feeling he’s been used more by us?”
Han Qian folded one arm across his chest, his other hand supporting his chin, frowning as he asked Guo Que, “After wasting over ten days before hastily meeting Guo Que and the others once, why did Wang Yong suddenly have Cao Gan secretly rush to East Lake to see me? Was there any change in attitude?”
“What if Wang Yong has developed thoughts of usurping the throne?” Wang Jun, who had been sitting quietly beside Han Qian listening to Guo Que’s report, interjected with this question.
Hearing Wang Jun say this, after Feng Liao’s initial shock, he seemed to have a flash of lightning split open the fog. He unconsciously said, “The Liang state is in great chaos, the various Great Chu regional forces are mutually suspicious and constraining each other. At this time, the Shu army’s main forces, especially the forces of Shu Prince Wang Hongyi’s faction, are all attacking Guanzhong from Liangzhou—this is precisely an excellent opportunity for Wang Yong to secretly plot usurpation!”
Hearing Wang Jun and Feng Liao mention this possibility, Guo Que, Feng Yi, Han Donghu, Wang Zhe, and other attendant officers were momentarily so shocked they could not speak.
Han Qian sat down behind the desk made of elm wood, remaining silent for a long time. He had previously only been somewhat worried, but now the intelligence information that Guo Que and Feng Yi brought back was truly too pessimistic.
Unless driven to a dead end with no way out, when surrounded by powerful enemies, no one would act rashly.
However, when surrounding powerful enemies were all plunged into great chaos and unable to look after themselves, this was both an excellent opportunity to send troops to attack powerful enemies and take advantage of the situation, and equally an opportunity to launch internal coups without fear of being exploited by external enemies, without worrying about making wedding clothes for foreign foes.
Just like after the great victory at Wujin Ridge, when Huaidong sent troops to seize Shiliang, Han Qian didn’t say a word of nonsense for the same reason—at that time the Shouzhou Army still maintained considerable combat strength. If Tangyi and Huaidong started any dispute, it would only benefit the Shouzhou Army as the third party profiting.
However, when the Liang state fell into great chaos and the Shouzhou Army was forced to retreat for self-preservation, unable to threaten Tangyi from the northern front, Han Qian also unceremoniously took the opportunity to reclaim Shiliang County from Huaidong.
The fact that Han Qian secretly abducted the Wen clan members from Xuzhou could make Lü Qingxia and others dare not act rashly was the same principle. Without the Shouzhou Army threatening from the northern front, they simply could not guess what moves he might make.
Regarding the Shu-Chu allied forces attacking Guanzhong, the reason Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong had always maintained silence might lie here. The fact that Feng Yi and Guo Que could hear some complaints when contacting Yuzhou officers didn’t mean that Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong was insufficiently secretive. Sometimes allowing subordinates to breed dissatisfaction and resentment was also an effective means of maintaining internal cohesion or conducting mobilization for plots.
Wang Yong’s previously cold attitude toward Feng Yi and Guo Que, followed by suddenly having Cao Gan secretly accompany Guo Que and Feng Yi to East Lake, was perhaps because after learning from the Guanjiang Tower’s secret envoy the news of their abduction of the Wen clan members, he mistakenly believed they had ambitions and greed to take advantage of the chaos to plot, thus wanting to achieve mutual success?
This was truly a tangled mess!
“Jun’er, let’s return to Liyang!” Han Qian stood up, mentally and physically exhausted, and said to Wang Jun.
“You’re not meeting with Cao Gan?” Feng Liao asked in surprise.
“No. You stay behind to deal with Cao Gan. Just make up some excuse saying I have urgent business requiring me to rush back to Liyang,” Han Qian said impatiently.
“…” Feng Liao wanted to ask more, but seeing Han Qian’s somewhat irritable appearance, he thought he should first extract more accurate information from Cao Gan’s mouth before discussing anything else.
Leaving Guo Que to accompany Feng Liao in dealing with Cao Gan—after all, subsequent Chishan Association contact with Yuzhou and intelligence gathering and espionage within the Shu state all fell under Guo Que’s responsibility—Feng Yi, having nothing to burden him, followed Han Qian and the others back to East Lake first.
This past month or more, he had either been confined on the boat or eating idle meals in Yuzhou, and his heart was quite frustrated and annoyed.
The journey passed in silence. Taking the newly constructed courier road around the southern foothills of Xuru Mountain, they arrived back in Liyang City already deep into the night.