Shen Yang walked out of the hall and saw Jiang Huo, Chen Ruyi, and Zhang Qian all waiting under the hall’s eaves. He cupped his hands toward Jiang Huo and Chen Ruyi before returning to the Department of State Affairs with Zhang Qian.
As dusk began to show, quite a few people remained in the Department of State Affairs’ administrative hall.
Seeing Zheng Yu sitting in the public office chatting and laughing with Han Daoming, who merely nodded slightly when they entered, and observing that Han Daoming’s expression was completely unaffected by the earlier palace council, Shen Yang’s face darkened slightly. However, he also understood that the Zheng clan currently needed Tangyi’s help.
Since the Qin and Han dynasties, when Central Plains forces campaigned against the Lingnan region, battlefield casualties were secondary—the more devastating losses came from epidemic diseases.
For over a thousand years, about thirty to forty percent of southern expeditions had to withdraw due to uncontrollable miasma poison and plague epidemics, sometimes even being routed and severely defeated by southern barbarian tribes.
At present, Zheng Hui had successfully led his forces into Yongzhou. It could be confirmed that Xuzhou’s abundant supply of miasma-dispelling wine had played an indispensable role.
The confirmed miasma infection rate among Zheng Hui’s troops was actually lower than that of local forces in Guizhou and Yongzhou. Even when soldiers contracted miasma plague or dysentery, they could receive timely treatment.
This was something unimaginable in the past.
It could also be confirmed that the speed with which Han Daoxun and Han Qian, father and son, had controlled every corner of Xuzhou in recent years owed much to miasma-dispelling wine.
After the Imperial Medical Bureau obtained the miasma-dispelling wine, they also confirmed it contained artemisia and other medicinal ingredients. However, when they attempted to replicate it using traditional preparation methods, the medicinal wine they produced had some preventive effect against miasma plague but was still far inferior to the miasma-dispelling wine produced in Xuzhou.
Currently, the Zheng clan was fully focused on leading campaigns against the territories occupied by Qingyuan Army Military Commissioner Liu Yin in Lingnan. After the Chenzhou crisis, Han Qian not only readily handed over the Chenzhou tribal battalions that excelled in wet and hot jungle warfare, but also allowed the Zheng clan to monopolize wine sales in Xuzhou and Huaixi. All this destined the Zheng clan to remain dependent on Tangyi for the short term.
Salt and iron monopoly tax revenues went to the central Salt Commissioner’s Office, while wine and tea monopolies were usually important revenue sources for regional military commands and prefectures and counties.
Although everyone knew Han Qian wanted to conserve grain consumption within Tangyi territory, which was why he restricted local wine brewing, at this time he also needed to satisfy wine consumption within Tangyi territory and could only allow the Zheng clan or other wine merchants to enter and profit.
Even though Tangyi also collected a portion of market taxes and transit taxes, the Zheng clan still had to acknowledge Han Qian’s favor.
Take the capital region for example. Although the Zheng clan had monopoly selling rights in the capital region, there were still nineteen other families qualified to brew and sell wine in Jinling and the capital region’s counties.
Although per capita wine consumption in Huaixi and Xuzhou was somewhat lower than the capital region, it was still considerably higher than ordinary prefectures and counties. The key was that even though Tangyi’s control over private brewing couldn’t be called extremely strict, the Regional Command and prefecture and county government offices did not directly brew and sell drinking wine. The Zheng clan basically monopolized this market in Huaixi.
Although Department of State Affairs clerks estimated the Zheng clan’s wine sales profits in Xuzhou and Huaixi over the past year should be between one hundred thousand and two hundred thousand strings of cash, this already amounted to over one-third of the extra military subsidy the Zheng clan provided for the Right Vermilion Bird Army and Shao-Heng Prefecture forces’ southern expedition.
Even though handing over the Chenzhou tribal battalions could be considered a past favor repaid, Shen Yang knew that the wine monopoly and miasma-dispelling wine alone meant that before Zheng Hui led his forces to pacify Lingnan, the relationship between the Zheng clan and Tangyi would not fundamentally change.
Shen Yang couldn’t help but wonder: if at this time he proposed having Du Chongtao or Zhou Bingwu lead a group of young commanders selected from the Imperial Attendant Guards to organize forces and, after reaching Ganzhou, join with forces from the upper Gan River prefectures to advance south and open a second front on the eastern flank against Qingyuan Army Military Commissioner’s jurisdiction, how would the Zheng clan react?
Even if doing so could greatly reduce the military pressure Zheng Hui’s forces faced attacking from the western flank, wouldn’t the Zheng clan still believe this move was aimed at them?
Shen Yang sighed inwardly. Seeing the sky had already darkened, he decided to first visit Yang En, who hadn’t appeared at the administrative hall for the past two days, to see what views he had on various matters, then probe the attitudes of Prince Shou Yang Zhitang, Zhang Chao and others.
Shen Yang rose to leave the Department of State Affairs office. Zhang Qian and Qin Wen, who were on duty at the administrative hall today, also rose to leave.
Han Daoming, who was speaking with Zheng Yu under the eaves, saw them passing and asked Zhang Qian and Qin Wen: “Today is Daochang’s sixtieth birthday banquet. Prime Minister Shen handles myriad affairs daily and probably can’t get away. Do Lord Zhang and Lord Qin have time to come to the mansion for a cup of simple wine?”
Zhang Qian was slightly startled and said rather flustered: “What unfortunate timing—I have plans tonight. I’ll have my family send congratulatory gifts to the mansion later…”
Qin Wen looked back briefly but said nothing, following Shen Yang toward the office.
Zhang Qian stood awkwardly at the threshold for a moment before finally hurrying after them. He saw Xue Ruogu, who had been transferred from Lishui County Magistrate to serve at the Censorate, appear from somewhere and was walking ahead talking with Qin Wen and Shen Yang.
He heard Xue Ruogu asking Shen Yang:
“Regarding recalling the Left Militant Cavalry Army to the capital region and employing Lord Du or Minister of War Zhou to newly organize the Right Militant Cavalry Army to advance south along the Gan River to attack Qingyuan Army—what did His Majesty say?”
Hearing Xue Ruogu ask about these matters, Zhang Qian finally realized what Shen Yang had discussed privately with His Majesty in Chongwen Hall. He thought to himself that these ideas were probably all suggested by Xue Ruogu to help the Prime Minister.
“His Majesty hasn’t made a final decision, but recalling the Left Militant Cavalry Army to the capital region is imperative,” Shen Yang said. Seeing Zhang Qian following, he didn’t avoid him when answering Xue Ruogu’s question. “However, the matter of newly organizing the Right Militant Cavalry Army is quite thorny. The Zheng clan’s reaction is one thing, but whether Privy Council Commissioner Du or Minister of War Zhou are willing to step forward is another matter…”
Zhang Qian thought to himself that Great Chu’s situation had already undergone extremely profound changes. Even if the court could overcome numerous obstacles and seize food from the Imperial Guards’ mouths to raise funds and grain for the newly organized Right Militant Cavalry Army, Du Chongtao and Zhou Bingwu might not actually be willing to stick their necks out at this time.
“That’s easy. Du Chongtao and Zhou Bingwu have so many subordinates and nephews—just arrange for them to enter the Privy Council, Ministry of War, and various guard military garrisons first,” Qin Wen said.
Zhang Qian thought Qin Wen’s plan was ruthless.
Not to mention the Ministry of War and Privy Council needed to be filled with large numbers of officials, the Imperial Guards and Imperial Attendant Guards system was divided with corresponding capital commanders and capital vice commanders, while garrison military garrisons also had various garrison general commanders and school general commanders responsible for garrison farming, military household management, training and other matters.
Perhaps Du Chongtao and Zhou Bingwu wanted to retire at the height of their success and didn’t want to wade into these muddy waters at this time. But their subordinates and nephews were in the prime of life, enthusiastic about fame and profit, eager to establish merit and be enfeoffed as dukes and marquises. If they had opportunities to enter the power core and wanted to promote the newly established Right Militant Cavalry Army, the driving force would be greater than “outsiders” like them inviting Du Chongtao or Zhou Bingwu to step forward and organize the Right Militant Cavalry Army.
Just like last year when the Left Militant Cavalry Army was newly organized, even if Huang Hua was unwilling for his son Huang Lu to stick his neck out, he couldn’t prevent it from happening.
People are often pushed forward by various large and small currents.
Shen Yang didn’t directly agree with or deny Qin Wen’s strategy, continuing to walk out. After a moment of silence, Qin Wen looked back at Zhang Qian and asked with a smile: “Today the Han Mansion should be quite lively. Will Lord Zhang truly not go for a cup of simple wine?”
“Can’t join that commotion,” Zhang Qian replied with a couple of dry laughs.
Regarding Zhang Qian’s unwillingness to antagonize the Han Mansion, Xue Ruogu acted as if he saw nothing and continued speaking with Shen Yang:
“I sent people to look at Shouchun and Fengtai. When Shouzhou Army withdrew from these two cities, they couldn’t take the city populations with them. I imagine the situation at Huoqiu is similar. Whether it was Emperor Zhu Yu’s instruction or because the Qiao and Ying prefectures occupied by Xu Mingzhen couldn’t accommodate the one hundred thousand people from the three cities, one thing is certain—this Liang-Chu peace negotiation will most likely involve trading people for grain with Tangyi…”
During the surrender negotiations with Luoshan garrison forces at the end of last year, Zhang Qian had actually visited Huaixi and witnessed the speed and efficiency with which Huaixi settled disaster victims and refugees. Huaixi had vast territory with sparse population, and most of the land within its borders was flat and fertile. Obtaining Shouchun, Fengtai, and Huoqiu counties and gaining another one hundred thousand people would only bring the population to about 1.3 million. Within three to five years, as long as the speed of housing construction and farmland reclamation could keep up, accommodating double the population would be completely unproblematic.
Tangyi currently actually administered over 1.5 million people (including Xuzhou) and already possessed such terrifying military mobilization potential. If they continued to receive disaster victims and war refugees from Hehuai on a large scale, to what extent would their strength continue to expand?
“What does Prime Minister Shen think Cishou Palace will do about this matter?”
“Although today there were red-faced arguments in the hall, considering Xiangbei is eager to digest Liangzhou territory, they’ll probably find it difficult to refuse peace negotiations,” Shen Yang said. “Those who will strongly oppose it will probably only be Huaidong, right?”
Hearing Shen Yang say this, having personally witnessed the hall arguments, Zhang Qian felt even more deeply.
Their side was making every effort to promote recalling the Left Militant Cavalry Army to the capital region. It would be even more impossible for Li Zhigao in Liangzhou to refuse peace negotiations to reduce the military pressure Liangzhou’s eastern flank bore.
The Liang forces in Guanzhong actually had considerable troop numbers. The main problem was shortage of grain and fodder supplies. If Li Zhigao and the Cishou Palace faction refused peace negotiations, Liang forces would absolutely not mind assisting Zhao Mengji and Wang Xiaoxian in counterattacking Liangzhou.
The Guanzhong situation was too complex. From a realistic interest perspective, no matter how much Li Zhigao and Cishou Palace couldn’t stand to see Tangyi and the Han family prosper, on this matter they would choose to endure.
Or perhaps Han Daoming had long anticipated this point, which was why today he dared to speak so freely and wildly in the hall?
As for why Huaidong would strongly oppose it, this wasn’t hard to understand either.
Over these two years, the situation had changed dramatically. Not to mention Tangyi—the Zheng clan, Xiangbei, the Huang clan, and even Prince Shou’s mansion had all greatly strengthened, yet only Huaidong gained no benefits whatsoever and was even forced to return Shiliang County to Chuzhou’s jurisdiction.
Once peace was formally concluded, Huaidong would lose the pretext to cross the Huai River and expand into the Xu-Si region. How could Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan be willing in his heart?
However, Huaidong was most estranged from the central government. Even if Huaidong strongly opposed it, how could it influence the court’s choice?
Not only would the court ignore Huaidong’s opposition, but to organize the Right Militant Cavalry Army it would probably reduce relief grain and funds to Huaidong.
Thinking about it, over these seven or eight years, Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan’s fortunes had been turbulent enough.
Originally he had great hope of seizing Jinling from Anning Palace and succeeding to the throne. At one point he commanded strong forces exceeding one hundred thousand troops, controlling the prefectures north of Lake Tai and the eastern capital region, yet unexpectedly Han Qian forcibly led a Chishan Army composed of muddy-legged peasants and slaves and scattered them.
Huaidong had only about one million people—supporting the over one hundred thousand troops that retreated to the northern bank was too difficult.
He had no choice but to reduce his forces. However, by the end of the second year of Yanyou, when Huaidong had with great difficulty reduced forces to retain only sixty to seventy thousand elite troops, unexpectedly the navy suffered a great rout at Hongze Lake, causing the excellent Jianghuai situation to completely deteriorate, with Huaidong unavoidably dragged in.
Although Huaidong’s core region didn’t fall, tens of thousands of enemy cavalry inserted into the heartland and repeatedly raided for several months. Including Sizhou and Haizhou north of the Huai River, by late spring of the third year of Yanyou, Huaidong had lost nearly three hundred thousand people. The irrigation and water conservancy system for farming near Chuzhou was destroyed.
Huaidong once couldn’t even maintain grain and fodder for sixty to seventy thousand troops, yet had no choice but to maintain forces of this scale to respond to military pressure from enemy forces in the Xu-Si region to the north. They were forced to choose to send disaster victims to Tangyi in exchange for loans from Xuzhou Official Money Bureau to support basic military expenditures. The population once dropped to around eight hundred thousand.
As Han Qian conquered cities and achieved successive great victories in Huaixi, the military pressure Huaidong faced from the north greatly decreased. Also because of Tangyi’s rapid rise, the court relaxed its suppression of Huaidong. Over these three or four years, Huaidong compressed active forces to around forty thousand, finally catching their breath in all respects.
However, compared to Tangyi’s rise and Li Zhigao’s development momentum in Xiangbei, Huaidong truly felt rather lost.
“Since the Han Mansion is celebrating Han Daochang’s birthday and sent you invitations, there’s nothing wrong with going to drink wine,” Shen Yang said to Zhang Qian and Qin Wen at this time.
“I won’t join that commotion. Even if we need to gather intelligence, I’ll still have to trouble Lord Zhang to work hard,” Qin Wen refused cleanly and decisively.
Zhang Qian was of petty clerk origins and was much more tactful in dealing with people than Qin Wen, who came from the scholar examination system. But with Qin Wen putting it this way, agreeing or not agreeing felt awkward either way. He said with an embarrassed smile: “The Han Mansion has been quite high-profile these past few months. The household is constantly full of distinguished guests. If the Han Mansion is like this again tonight, most likely voices supporting peace negotiations will appear in court in the next two days…”
After leaving the imperial city, Zhang Qian went directly home. He had originally planned to have his family send congratulatory gifts to the Han Mansion.
Serving together in the same court, not only Zhang Qian but even Shen Yang and Xue Ruogu—when their households had happy occasions like births or birthday celebrations, Han Daoming and Han Daochang would send junior family members to deliver congratulatory gifts, maintaining cordial relations on the surface.
But unexpectedly, just as his carriage turned the corner, he saw his eldest son Zhang Ze and Han Duan walking out of his household, standing at the mansion gate. Seeing the carriage approach, they bowed: “Just now hearing horse hooves, I guessed it was Uncle Zhang returning home—Father specifically wanted to come personally to invite Uncle Zhang and Zhang Ze to the mansion for drinks…”
Although Han Duan only held the position of chief clerk in a ministry department, over these two years aside from the Han Daoming and Han Daochang brothers, Han Duan was the one making public appearances for the Han family in the capital. Other Han family descendants and marriage-related nephews from the Chen and Qiao clans all chose to serve in Tangyi or Xuzhou. Few served in the capital, which highlighted Han Duan’s importance.
Not to mention rank, with Han Duan waiting at his household before the banquet began, Zhang Qian had no reason to decline. He hurriedly returned to the mansion to change into casual clothes, then brought his son Zhang Ze and followed Han Duan to the brightly lit Han Mansion full of guests.
Upon entering the Han Mansion, Zhang Qian happened to encounter carriages arriving with Han Daoming and Zheng Yu traveling together. Entering together, he saw Liang envoy Guo Duoduo also arriving at the Han Mansion for the banquet, accompanied (monitored) by Court of State Ceremonial officials.
Han Daochang’s status in the Han Mansion was second only to Han Daoming. Over these two years he had been perfectly content serving as section chief at the Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner’s Office, with no thoughts of transfer. Though his rank didn’t reach ministerial level, in Great Chu this was a position of real power.
Great Chu’s salt affairs were divided into four stages: boiling, collection, transport, and sales. The Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner’s Office had no vice minister. Zhang Qian served as Participating Governance Executive and Vice Minister of Finance while also holding the position of Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner. There were also four section chiefs each handling one matter. The three matters of boiling, collection, and sales were controlled by Zhang Chao’s direct subordinates. Han Daochang controlled transport between salt fields and prefecture and county salt and iron supervisory offices.
Over these two years serving at the Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner’s Office, Han Daochang had withstood pressure, promoted benefits and eliminated abuses, dismissing all previous salt transport fleets and entrusting salt transport to the Chishan Association, only arranging escort supervisory salt clerks for oversight.
This single item alone saved the court forty to fifty thousand strings of cash annually. No one dared say the Han family handing salt transport over to the Chishan Association was lining their own pockets.
The Chishan Association’s large warehouse ships traveled the Yangtze River and tributaries like the Xiang, Yuan, Han, and Gan. With large capacity and fast speed, they had great advantages. Many prefectures and counties along Lake Tai, Poyang Lake, and Dongting Lake had already entrusted grain convoy escort to the Chishan Association.
Although the central government had always wanted to avoid this situation, the Jinling and Jiangdong shipbuilding industry had been completely destroyed before and after the Jinling Incident and never recovered its vitality.
Although Yueyang and Tanzhou had two government-run shipyards, lacking sufficient funding, the vessels they built were always rejected by local prefectures and counties for being too expensive and too slow.
Other regional shipbuilding industries, suppressed by Xuzhou and the recently emerged, high-quality and affordable Donghu vessels, had no competitive edge whatsoever in medium and large vessels. They were completely insignificant, only able to build some small fishing boats and awning boats to get by. Development was worse than the mid-to-late Former Dynasty period.
Besides long-distance transport, shipping association and merchant association forces running medium and short-distance water transport mostly had good relations with Xuzhou and Tangyi.
On one hand, they needed to purchase vessels from Tangyi.
On the other hand, the Chishan Association, rising among rivers, lakes, and seas with Han Qian’s support, had a semi-official status and at this time would no longer submit to harassment by local powers. The shipping association forces previously oppressed at the lowest level with no status before officials, clerks, and aristocratic clans—if they encountered disputes locally, they now mostly requested the Chishan Association to mediate.
Following beside Shen Yang, Zhang Qian had also deeply researched Tangyi and the Han Mansion. He clearly understood that Chishan Association affairs were currently divided into two parts. One part involved secretly investigating and gathering intelligence on Chu territory’s prefectures and counties. These matters, along with armed guard duties, were handled by Guo Xiao and Lin Jiang, both properly awarded sixth-rank military officer positions and assigned to serve under the Regional Command Military Intelligence Staff Department.
The other part involved relatively pure shipping and association members’ economic livelihoods. The current chief managers were former Chishan Army military officers Guo Quan and Zhou Zhu, also Han Qian’s direct subordinates.
However, over this past year, Guo Quan and Zhou Zhu had frequently appeared at the Jinling Han Mansion. Zhang Qian suspected Han Qian had secretly handed this portion of Chishan Association affairs over to Han Daochang to manage.
In recent years, the Chishan Association’s development direction had been large-scale cargo shipping along the Yangtze River. Besides Xuzhou and Huaixi coal, iron, and cotton cloth, the largest scale involved grain convoys and salt transport for Jinling and various prefectures and counties, even more massive than large-scale commodity exports from Xuzhou and Huaixi, with annual transport volume reaching six to seven million measures.
Although there was no accurate statistical total for the annual investment by prefectures, counties, and the Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner’s Office in grain convoy and salt transport—including recruitment of transport troops, boatmen and sailors, vessels, and dispatch of escort supervisors and other matters—it absolutely wouldn’t be less than two million strings of cash.
This didn’t even count having Yangtze River waterways available. The Former Dynasty’s grain convoy transport to the Heluoyang and Chang’an regions cost even more enormously.
All this meant Han Daochang had already become an extremely important figure in Jinling. Moreover, a sixtieth birthday was an extremely important moment in life. Any moderately respectable household would organize some celebration.
Zhang Chao saw that not only Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner and Vice Minister of Finance Zhang Chao and Han Daochang’s departmental colleagues attended, along with Han Daoming’s invited guests Zheng Yu and Liang envoy Guo Duoduo and others, but Prince Shou’s mansion also sent people with congratulatory gifts.
Passing through the hanging flower hall and looking further into the mansion compound, the Han Mansion had gathered at least four to five hundred marriage relatives and friends today. Zhang Qian thought to himself that fortunately, even though the Han Mansion garden had been reduced by nearly half during the two most difficult years, it was still large enough that so many guests didn’t feel crowded.
Although Zhang Qian hadn’t yet entered the ministerial ranks, he was still quite important in court.
Han Duan was busy today but still arranged for specific Han family nephews to accompany him. Even if Zhang Qian wanted to appear somewhat reluctant and show coldness, among the banquet guests, there were limited people at his level or above. In the end, he still gathered near Han Daoming, Zhang Chao, Zheng Yu, and Liang envoy Guo Duoduo to talk, and his seating was also arranged together with them.
Liang-Chu peace negotiations were naturally the focus of court and popular attention recently, and those attending the Han Mansion banquet tonight would not avoid discussing this issue.
Guo Duoduo, representing Emperor Zhu Yu, also understood clearly that winning the support of Chu state officials and clerks would enable Liang-Chu to reach formal peace negotiations more quickly. He didn’t avoid discussing certain topics—one could say he needed to spread word on such occasions.
Although Emperor Zhu Yu had won the great victory at Xinzheng and assembled forces from southern Liang state at Xinzheng City, planning to capture all of Rongzhou in the next phase, then attack Heluoyang and Hangu Pass from both sides with Guanzhong Liang forces to completely open communications between Guanzhong and Hehuai, the Mongols reacted extremely quickly. After the Battle of Xinzheng, their forces garrisoned at Huaizhou and Weizhou swiftly crossed the Yellow River into the central and northern parts of Rongzhou near the Yellow River, checking the Liang army’s advance.
Unlike the demoralized and wavering Weizhou rebel forces, the Mongol troops had extremely strong combat effectiveness and fighting will. Between Xinzheng and Rongyang, Emperor Zhu Yu led multiple probing insertions toward the Yellow River banks but was intercepted each time and returned without success.
Although they took no losses, they gained no advantages either.
Once they couldn’t achieve quick decisive victory, the Liang army’s greatest shortcoming was exposed—grain, fodder, armor, weapons, and other logistics supplies seriously couldn’t keep up.