Not to mention the frequent warfare that plagued Hehuai over these two years—even prefectures and counties that maintained neutrality and observation, temporarily not yet drawn into the war, also suffered severely from drought in recent years with greatly reduced summer and autumn grain harvests. Refugees and starving people filled the roads endlessly, littered the wilderness, and fled in all directions.
Emperor Zhu Yu could recruit able-bodied men from refugees and disaster victims to expand his forces, but currently the Sima clan of Xu-Si still maintained silence. As a result, prefectures and counties caught between Xu-Si and Weizhou rebels all still chose neutrality. Relying solely on the eight southern prefectures that had returned to Biangjing’s rule to support over 130,000 Hehuai Liang forces—including Caizhou Army, Shouzhou Army, and Biangjing Army—was naturally extremely difficult.
More importantly, after Emperor Zhu Yu ascended the throne and obtained the “Tiangong Craftsmanship Manual” from Zhao Kuo, for easier control and more effective, larger-scale utilization of water resources, the workshops that Liang state’s Ministry of Works and Imperial Manufactories had vigorously developed over several years were mainly concentrated in the Heluoyang region at the northern foot of Funiu Mountain.
These craft workshops, mines being exploited, and large numbers of craftsmen and artisans all fell entirely into rebel hands with the fall of these areas.
Emperor Zhu Yu couldn’t rebuild the armor and weapons production system in Biangjing in a short time. This would directly lead to severe shortages in armor and military equipment supplies for Hehuai Liang forces for quite a long period.
Although Emperor Zhu Yu led surprise troops secretly out of Guanzhong into Caizhou and severely damaged Weizhou rebel forces on the western flank, combined with Emperor Zhu Yu’s prestige accumulated over these years—enough to make Weizhou rebel hearts waver and military morale unstable—if fighting only against Weizhou rebels on the western front, some shortages in grain, fodder, armor and military equipment wouldn’t be too great a problem. High morale could compensate for these deficiencies.
The problem was that the Mongols reacted extremely quickly. Not only did they order Commanders Wang and Tian to intensify their attacks on Yongzhou and Huazhou from Hejin, but they also directly dispatched great generals leading elite infantry and cavalry to cross the Yellow River into Rongzhou to coordinate combat with Weizhou rebels.
At this time, the Hehuai Liang forces’ shortage of grain, fodder, armor, and warhorses actually greatly weakened their capability for frontal field battles against Mongol forces. Currently they could only rely on fortified cities for defense. Their strategic objective of capturing Heluoyang and opening communications between Guanzhong and Hehuai—who knew when it could be achieved.
Although Guanzhong Liang forces still had nearly fifty thousand troops defending the two prefectures of Yong and Hua, the northern terrain was completely lost. The combined forces of Wang Yuankui and Tian Weiye’s two armies exceeded eighty thousand pushing southward, with nearly ten thousand Pingxia cavalry inserted along both banks of the Tong River to plunder and raid. The Guanzhong situation truly couldn’t be delayed much longer.
Guo Duoduo’s mission to Chu for peace negotiations had the main purpose of borrowing grain and armor and military equipment.
Of course, Tangyi had already secretly loaned a batch of grain and armor and military equipment to Hehuai Liang forces. But even if they wanted to continue loaning grain and armor and military equipment to Guanzhong Liang forces, they absolutely needed Li Zhigao’s permission.
Moreover, if Emperor Liang wanted to continue transferring a batch of elite forces from Guanzhong, especially veteran soldiers and elite junior officers to participate in Hehuai campaigns to strengthen Hehuai Liang forces’ combat effectiveness, they even more needed Liang-Chu to conclude formal peace negotiations—currently Liangzhou had completely fallen into the control of Li Zhigao, Li Changfeng and others.
Shen Yang had already grasped most of this relevant information. He believed news at Cishou Palace and Huaidong couldn’t possibly lag behind the Department of State Affairs. However, how much grain, funds, armor and equipment Tangyi had already loaned or planned to loan—the specific figures remained an unknown mystery to the outside world.
These figures were an unknown mystery to outsiders, but after the birthday celebration, Han Daoming and Han Daochang needed to inform the household heads of the Qiao, Chen and other clans.
To ensure Tangyi’s fiscal balance and guarantee that Tangyi’s internal construction and development wouldn’t be interrupted by aid to Hehuai Liang forces, Han Qian planned to assign all these loan items to the Official Money Bureau.
That is, the Official Money Bureau would fund the Chishan Association to purchase grain and armor and military equipment within Huaixi territory, then loan them at low interest through the two main waterways connecting Hehuai—the Sha-Ying River and the Guo River—transporting these strategic materials to core regions controlled by Hehuai Liang forces like Xuzhou, Chenzhou, and Biangjing.
The loan scale had long been agreed upon, temporarily limited to forty percent of the agricultural output from the 120,000 people in the three counties of Fengtai, Shouchun, and Huoqiu.
This was also the condition for Emperor Zhu Yu returning the three cities of Fengtai, Shouchun, and Huoqiu while ordering Xu Mingzhen not to relocate the populations.
After the Heshuo upheaval, Tangyi recovered counties in central and southern Huozhou and Shouzhou, as well as the two prefectures of Guangzhou and Haozhou. However, subsequently they didn’t directly besiege Fengtai, Shouchun, and Huoqiu cities, nor did they dispatch troops to raid them at all. Agricultural production in these three counties, as well as the initially scaled craft workshops in Shouchun, which served as Shouzhou’s administrative seat, and in Huoqiu, which served as Huozhou’s administrative seat, were all preserved.
With 120,000 people and over 900,000 mu of cultivated land, irrigation canal and water conservancy facilities were far more complete than other parts of Huaixi. Annual agricultural summer and autumn grain production was approximately two million measures.
This meant that if Tangyi fulfilled the agreement, the Official Money Bureau would need to loan 600,000 measures of grain annually, plus armor and military equipment valued at 200,000 measures of grain to Hehuai Liang forces.
If Tangyi directly collected taxes and grain in these three counties according to old regulations, it wasn’t impossible to gather this much material to aid Hehuai Liang forces.
However, Han Qian wanted to immediately abolish in these three areas many old systems that Xu Mingzhen had previously implemented there.
These three areas and the connecting region between them had always been the core areas previously controlled by Shouzhou Army. Xu Mingzhen had carefully managed them for many years, which was why agricultural conditions were so good. However, over half of the 900,000 mu of land consisted of government garrison fields cultivated by driving soldier household family members and official slaves and servants.
Precisely by directly bypassing aristocratic clans’ exploitation in the middle, Xu Mingzhen could directly collect large amounts of grain and funds in these three core counties to support his forces while also supporting a group of craftsmen and artisans to ensure basic armor supply and vessel repairs. Their status and importance were equivalent to the currently adjacent regions of Donghu, Liyang, Wanshou, and Tangyi, currently bearing nearly half of Huaixi’s fiscal revenue.
Now these three counties needed to immediately advance new policies, equally distributing farmland to households, with official slaves and servants as well as some heavily exploited garrison household family members all granted freedom and restored to commoner status, so the three counties could thoroughly integrate into Huaixi as quickly as possible.
In that case, during the transition period, the three counties’ total productivity would be difficult to rapidly increase. The actual total tax revenue that could be collected would need to be directly reduced by half.
Even if these taxes were collected, they currently needed to be retained for the prefectures and counties, mainly used for local construction. That is to say, Han Qian didn’t expect these three counties to make direct contributions to the Regional Command’s annual revenue in the short term. More income would still come indirectly from large-scale commodities like coal, iron, salt, and cloth.
Therefore, Han Qian currently could only have the Official Money Bureau be responsible for fulfilling loans to Liang forces.
Of course, with the Official Money Bureau bearing such a large-scale grain and armor and equipment loan responsibility, converting to grain and funds wasn’t as terrifying as imagined.
To ensure grain resources didn’t flow outward, or rather to safeguard Huaixi’s food security, the Regional Command currently implemented a unified grain purchasing and selling policy from prefecture and county to township offices.
Under this policy, within Huaixi territory only prefecture, county, and township offices had the right to purchase grain from households or sell grain to households. Grain merchants from outside importing or exporting grain could only trade with prefecture, county, and township offices, not directly with households.
After recovering Huaixi’s main territories, grain had now completed four seasons of harvests. Grain pressure within the territory was completely relieved. Combined with the unified purchasing and selling policy, grain prices within Huaixi had actually dropped to 800 cash per measure.
This was considerably lower than neighboring Huaidong, Jiangdong, and the capital region.
In fact, local gentry and wealthy households in Jiangdong and other areas controlled localities and monopolized local grain trade. When purchasing grain from households, they also pressed prices extremely low, plotting to sell at high prices for profit.
Previously when Huaixi had grain shortages, the Regional Command exhausted all means to purchase cheap grain from Xuzhou and other areas. Prefecture, county, and township offices sold it to households far below Jiangdong’s grain price of up to 2,000 cash per measure, protecting urban and town livelihoods as much as possible from grain price fluctuations.
After Huaixi’s entire territory had four abundant harvests, subsequently exporting an additional 600,000 to 700,000 or even 1 to 2 million measures of grain annually wouldn’t cause grain resource shortages within Huaixi at all.
This would also enable the Official Money Bureau’s loan scale to Hehuai Liang forces to actually be controlled below 700,000 strings of cash annually when converted to grain and funds.
This was already within the range the Official Money Bureau could bear.
Besides the Official Money Bureau’s total capital increasing annually over these two years, the loans to Huaidong totaling 600,000 strings of cash in grain and funds, and loans to Prince Shou’s mansion reaching 800,000 strings—these two items alone generated approximately 300,000 strings in annual interest income.
Regardless of how the relationship between Huaidong and Prince Shou’s mansion with Tangyi had fluctuated with many twists and turns over recent years, and regardless of borrowing money being easy while repaying money being “difficult,” the quarterly interest payments Huaidong and Prince Shou’s mansion had to make could be said to be quite heavy burdens for both families. However, currently they could still fulfill them on schedule.
Merchants have no national boundaries. With these accounts settled clearly behind the scenes, household heads of the Chen, Qiao and other clans didn’t consider Tangyi’s secret collusion with Liang forces to be any issue at all. Back then they all righteously claimed to support Liang-Chu peace negotiations to expel the barbarian invaders.
Of course, they also clearly understood in their hearts that for the loaned grain and funds—whether the previously agreed annual loan of 300,000 strings in grain and funds to Shu state or this time’s annual loan of 700,000 strings in grain and funds to Liang forces—if they wanted to continuously recover interest and ensure future principal was secure, the most fundamental reliance was still Tangyi’s military strength.
The peace treaty secretly concluded between Liang forces and Tangyi, besides returning Fengtai, Shouchun, and Huoqiu as conditions for loaning grain, funds, armor and equipment, also agreed to open sales channels for Tangyi’s coal, iron, salt, cloth, as well as medicinal materials, oil, soap and other bulk commodities in Liang state’s southern prefectures and Biangjing.
Currently the production system in Liang territory’s southern prefectures and Biangjing had been severely devastated and couldn’t recover in the short term. The populace urgently lacked these materials to relieve increasingly dire livelihoods. Although initial volumes of these materials entering the territory would be quite limited, they could also provide Hehuai Liang forces with an additional monopoly tax revenue, alleviating urgent military expenditure shortages, from which a certain amount of funds could be allocated to pay loan interest.
Such conditions benefited Tangyi and also benefited the current Hehuai Liang forces. Besides obtaining extremely scarce supplies, they could also effectively weaken and limit the military potential and ambitions of Xu Mingzhen’s forces, compelling him to advance and retreat together with Hehuai Liang forces. Otherwise, Tangyi forces could cross the Huai River at any time to attack the core regions he currently controlled—Qiaozhou and Yingzhou.
Additionally, due to drought and warfare, the prefectures south of Biangjing had large numbers of hungry people and refugees fleeing their homes. Hehuai Liang forces currently only had capacity to absorb able-bodied men to supplement insufficient troop strength. To avoid triggering uncontrollable civil unrest, this time they would also open passages for these refugees and hungry people to flee south to Jianghuai seeking food.
Although hungry people heading south to Jianghuai would mainly be elderly, weak, women and children, mixed with large amounts of epidemic disease and would be viewed as burdens anywhere, Han Qian had nothing to be picky about.
During the middle of the Former Dynasty, when Huainan Western Circuit’s population multiplied, there were once over three million registered people. However, when Great Chu was founded, Huaixi’s population had dropped to 700,000 to 800,000. Over the following sixteen to seventeen years, Emperor Tianyou relocated large numbers of military and civilian households to Huaixi to secure the frontier, only slowly recovering to around one million.
Although Anning Palace’s failed northern flight forcibly brought large numbers of people across the river into Huaixi, continuous years of military confrontation and major battles afterward caused considerable population losses. Not counting Shouzhou Army soldiers, Huaixi’s total population had been below one million for the previous two years.
Over recent years, Han Qian had spared no effort recruiting and settling refugees within the territory, also incorporating over 100,000 households from the Huaiyang Mountains, relocating over 200,000 hungry people from Jiangdong, Huaidong and other areas. Finally, this enabled Huaixi’s total population to barely exceed 1.3 million, but it was still far from Huaixi’s peak prosperity.
To settle these southward-fleeing hungry people, the Regional Command would first establish a batch of settlement points in sparsely populated regions of central Huozhou, Shouzhou, and Guangzhou…
…
…
The cold wind howled. The night was pitch black without a single star visible, making one suspect the first snow after entering winter this year could drift down at any moment.
The Han Mansion remained brightly lit deep into the night. Yao Xishui sat in a carriage at the alley entrance. Lifting the carriage window curtain, she saw people still taking their leave from the Han Mansion at this hour—these people staying until now obviously hadn’t simply come to attend the birthday banquet tonight.
“The Han Mansion should have about four Shadow Guards who’ve approached,” At this time the front curtain lifted. Ye Feiying’s form slipped into the carriage compartment like an agile wildcat and spoke to Yao Xishui.
“Let’s go!” Yao Xishui lowered the window curtain and lightly tapped the carriage wall twice, signaling the coachman outside to drive away from here.
During Tangyi’s two most difficult years, the Han Mansion’s scale had shrunk by nearly half. Even though servants employed in the mansion switched to hired labor, there wasn’t much difference. However, personnel serving and guarding the compound had been reduced by more than half.
Nevertheless, at this time the Han Mansion had a small squad of Shadow Guards stationed, making the mansion’s guard capability not only not weakened but actually considerably strengthened.
Regarding Tangyi Shadow Guards’ origins, Yao Xishui only knew they began with training Xi clan youths. Initially Zhao Wuji and Guo Nu’er successively commanded them. After Guo Nu’er died in battle, the Shadow Guards seemed to cease to exist, never exposing obvious traces.
However, Yao Xishui knew the Shadow Guards didn’t cease to exist or disband. Rather, subsequent situations never became urgent enough for Han Qian to need deep deployment of Shadow Guards.
The Shadow Guards’ primary roles were intelligence gathering and protecting key figures. They were completely hidden behind the Military Intelligence Staff Department and Guard Cavalry Battalion. The outside world could no longer capture traces of their activities. But Yao Xishui believed Shadow Guards were necessarily strengthened in Tangyi.
During the Chenzhou crisis and when Han Qian assisted Marquis Changxiang’s usurpation, they had multiple scout messengers responsible for inter-regional communications mysteriously disappear. Even now, not a single corpse could be found.
Regardless, at this time in Jinling City, they shouldn’t directly conflict with the Han Mansion and Tangyi. With Han Mansion Shadow Guards coming out to expel them, Yao Xishui could only choose to withdraw first.
The Weaving Bureau’s carriage could ignore patrol guards and slowly wander through Jinling City’s deep night, rolling over the solidly frozen dirt roads, as if Yao Xishui in this ink-black night found it difficult to sleep.
Twisting and turning through several streets and alleys, the carriage stopped by the roadside. By the road was an apothecary with tightly closed doors. At this time, under the apothecary’s eaves huddled a beggar shivering from cold.
There were no lanterns along the street. Relying only on a horn lantern hanging from one corner of the carriage, they could only vaguely see the beggar wearing tattered rags, with his face hidden in shadow, completely unclear.
Yao Xishui lifted the carriage window curtain and tossed over a copper coin. In the pitch darkness, the beggar reached out and caught the copper coin in his hand. Standing up, he said “Please follow me, Princess,” then walked toward the other side of the street.
Yao Xishui asked: “Where is your Guanjiang Tower coin?”
“The Princess is truly cautious.” The beggar laughed. Turning around, he pulled a copper coin from his bosom and tossed it extremely accurately through the gap in the window curtain. At this time, borrowing the horn lantern from the carriage’s left front side, they could see clearly it was a face covered in grime, but with eyes that were remarkably spirited.
Without waiting for Yao Xishui to confirm, he turned and first walked toward the western alley entrance.
Ye Feiying didn’t make a sound. She didn’t even know who Yao Xishui was meeting tonight. She only silently guarded Yao Xishui’s side, unable to imagine how many people in this world knew the true origins of the young lady and Li Zhigao.
Yao Xishui took the coin. Without striking flint, she felt the pattern and confirmed it was correct. She lightly tapped the carriage wall twice, signaling the coachman to drive and follow.
Circling around two streets and alleys, the carriage finally followed the beggar directly into an unremarkable abandoned mansion’s rear courtyard.
The carriage stopped in the rear courtyard overgrown with withered yellow weeds. The coachman and two guards all remained. Under the beggar’s guidance, Yao Xishui and Ye Feiying passed through halls and households, walking to an abandoned garden in front. There they saw a slender, thin figure standing under a pavilion with missing tiles on the eaves, gazing entranced at a pool of withered lotuses before him.
Only one lantern hung in the garden—this way it wouldn’t attract attention from left and right. But the light was dim. Yao Xishui had to walk close before seeing the person in the pavilion’s appearance. She was also startled and cried out: “How is it you?”
The person in the pavilion turned around, looked at Yao Xishui and said: “When I was young, I came to Jiangnan twice, coinciding with spring and autumn seasons—precisely Jiangnan’s most charming times. Both times I stayed in this mansion. Sitting in the pavilion watching the green lotuses in the pool all day without tiring. I didn’t expect that after the second visit to Jiangnan, returning to Chang’an I would encounter the great disaster of Baima Station. Several thousand family members and slaves of the Xiao, Cui and other clans and Prince Lu’s mansion were massacred by the bandit Wang. Afterward, taking the remnant clan to escape disaster in the northern desert—in a blink of an eye so many years have passed. In dreams I kept thinking about returning to Jiangnan once. I didn’t expect that when I returned this time, neither people nor things remain. I still remember when leaving Chang’an the Princess was only this tall, yet in her eyes she wanted nothing more than to shatter this bandit heaven. Only back then when leaving Chang’an, the Princess still called me uncle. These years I don’t know—how did it become so distant?”
Only now did Ye Feiying confirm this person’s identity. She was also startled. Borrowing the dim light, she saw this person might only be in his forties, not yet fifty. But his white hair was casually bound behind his shoulder with a blue cloth band. In the bitter cold deep night, he wore only a rather thin cloak, standing before the abandoned pond.
“This time I came through Huaixi and was delayed three or four days on the way. You and Zhigao ultimately still can’t contend with Han Qian. Can you still not make up your minds?” the person in the pavilion said.
Having stayed in Tangyi only three or four days, the pavilion person already had this judgment. Yao Xishui could only remain silent without speaking.
The pavilion person continued: “Given the temperaments of Shen Yang, Yang En, Yang Zhitang and others, they’ll most likely advocate recalling the Left Militant Cavalry Army to Jinling, then persuade Yang Yuanpu to employ Zhou Bingwu and Du Chongtao. You truly have no opportunities in Jinling…”
“Why do you say this?” Yao Xishui said unconvinced.
“Conspiracies and schemes can never take center stage. Your master has laid plans for so many years. That he could gain some momentum was merely borrowing others’ power. Otherwise, when Anning Palace usurped the throne, you couldn’t have survived. Do I need to say more?” The pavilion person laughed mockingly. “Your only opportunity now is to plot for Shu. I’ll also arrange for people to persuade Zhao Mengji and Wang Xiaoxian to return to Shu through Yinping Road. This matter should have seventy to eighty percent certainty. After the two families obtain Shu, you won’t be unable to even contend with Zhao Mengji and Wang Xiaoxian. This is also your last opportunity. Once it drags on until Wang Yuankui and Tian Weiye seize Yongzhou, many things will no longer be what I can decide.”
“Uncle has seen Elder Brother?” Yao Xishui finally spoke awkwardly to address the pavilion person.
“Zhigao is the Prince’s legitimate son but has no blood relation with our Xiao family. He won’t listen to me. Why would I go see him?” the pavilion person said.
“Since Uncle knows Elder Brother won’t listen to persuasion, what use is it if we make up our minds?” Yao Xishui said. “Moreover, if Elder Brother truly intends to conspire with Zhao Mengji and Wang Xiaoxian to seize Shu, Tangyi will certainly drag us down. What can we do about it?”
“Xiangbei’s remnant territories—what worry is there in abandoning them?” the pavilion person said.
Hearing the pavilion person say this, Ye Feiying was secretly shocked. She thought the Madam had secretly plotted all these years, only enabling Li Zhigao and others to occupy Xiangbei’s prefectures. Yet unexpectedly, in the pavilion person’s eyes, they were remnant territories that could be abandoned like worn shoes at any time.
Speaking seriously, if they could seize Sichuan-Shu, Xiangbei could be abandoned. But the problem was—could they necessarily obtain Sichuan-Shu?
Before that, who could truly bear to simply abandon prefectures like Ying, Xiang, Deng, and Sui directly, merely thinking about separating from Tangyi Army so Tangyi couldn’t drag them down, while also conveniently concentrating forces to attack Shu?
Not to mention Ye Feiying—even Yao Xishui obviously didn’t accept the pavilion person’s suggestion. She changed the subject and asked: “Emperor Zhu Yu colludes with Han Qian. Currently Tangyi has large amounts of grain, fodder, and military equipment traveling north daily via the Ying River and Guo River, while also daily receiving hundreds and thousands of elderly, weak, women and children to alleviate hunger in Chen, Xu and other prefectures. Can Weizhou forces truly hold Heluoyang?”
“Emperor Zhu Yu’s military capability is indeed rare in this age, but Liang Shixiong in Heluoyang only needs to hold until spring warmth and flowers bloom next year,” the pavilion person said.
“What, before spring warmth and flowers bloom next year, can Wang Yuankui and Tian Weiye definitely capture Yongzhou?” Yao Xishui asked doubtfully.
“When spring warmth and flowers bloom next year arrives, you’ll know.” The pavilion person wouldn’t tell Yao Xishui everything. “And at that time, if you still cannot make decisions, I’m afraid you won’t be able to grasp even the last opportunity…”