Of course, Xu Mingzhen was also very clear in his heart about the current situation.
The palace coup launched by Lu Qingxia in mid-July had failed to stir up any waves in Jinling City. Xu Mingzhen steeled his heart and directly ordered the execution in Guoyang of over two hundred officers, their families, and dependents appointed by Bianjing who had been detained in Su, Song, and other provinces in the early period. He presented a memorial to Weizhou, honoring Zhu Rang as emperor, and was enfeoffed as Prince of Huainan. Chief Minister Tan subsequently also executed the envoy that Emperor Liang Zhu Yu had sent to Xuzhou to persuade him, honored Zhu Rang as emperor, and was enfeoffed as Prince of Huaiyang.
This also meant that between Tangyi’s army and the Shouzhou army, besides battle, there was no longer any room for reconciliation.
On both banks of Jiaoshan Gorge, besides the fifty thousand main relief troops for Bian, the north bank vanguard camp also had a scout cavalry force of over a thousand men led by Shen Peng and Zhao Ci. They would also coordinate with the relief army for Bian in marching north to participate in battle.
The cavalry led by Shen Peng and Zhao Ci seemed somewhat insignificant—only over a thousand men—but they would grant the relief army for Bian the legitimate name of a Liang-Chu allied army for the northern expedition.
At the same time, this scout cavalry force was primarily composed of soldiers recruited from Bo, Qiao, Chen, Song, and other areas. Familiar with the terrain between the Ying and Guo rivers, they would be responsible for liaising with local forces and conducting guerrilla warfare.
Although Xu Mingzhen had replaced the officials and garrison commanders of the counties in the four provinces of Qiao, Bo, Song, and Su before late June, in such a short time, he could only barely grasp control of the defensive positions of the main cities along both banks of the Guo River in the nineteen counties of these four provinces.
Not to mention that Xu Mingzhen still lacked the ability to extend his reach into every corner of the broader countryside—even the officials, commoners, and local militia within the cities of the nineteen counties in the four provinces might not necessarily completely submit to Shouzhou army rule.
This also meant Xu Mingzhen’s rule along both banks of the Guo River was superficial.
If Han Qian merely had Tian Cheng, Wen Bo, Lin Haizheng, and others lead Tangyi’s army—that is, lead what appeared to subjects of the Liang state to be Chu army—northward, it would be difficult to prevent local forces along both banks of the Guo River and refugee forces displaced by floods from being used by Xu Mingzhen to become huge obstacles blocking the relief army for Bian’s northward advance.
Based on this, Han Qian specifically wrote a letter to Emperor Liang Zhu Yu. Besides requesting Emperor Liang Zhu Yu to formally issue a decree inviting Tangyi’s army to conduct a northern expedition, he also asked him to dispatch a scout cavalry force to assist the main relief army for Bian in combat.
The main purpose was to hope that this Liang army scout cavalry force led by Shen Peng and Zhao Ci could liaise with local forces and refugee forces, winning them over to become assistance in cutting apart and weakening the Shouzhou army on the west bank of the Guo River, rather than obstacles to their northward advance.
Xu Mingzhen was also very clear about his own disadvantages, so it was impossible to disperse his seventy-some thousand troops across the vast region north of the Huai River, allowing the main relief army for Bian the opportunity to defeat them piecemeal.
Seeing that the troops Tangyi was assembling at Jiaoshan Gorge were becoming more and more numerous, entering August, Xu Mingzhen decisively abandoned the city fortifications west of the Guo River close to the Huai River, contracting all defensive troops to the northeast, along the Guo River.
When Empress Dowager Wang Chan’er’s hand decree reached Jiaoshan Gorge, the Shouzhou army had withdrawn nearly two hundred thousand military personnel and civilians to within Su Province territory east of the Guo River, relying back-to-back with the Xu-Si army of the Sima clan. Their vanguard of ten thousand elite troops contracted into Guoyang, the seat of Qiao Province, completely abandoning cities south and west of Guoyang.
However, on the northwestern side of Guoyang City, there were still forty thousand Shouzhou army elite troops separately defending the city fortifications of Dancheng, Luyi, Dakang, Wuting, Xinji, Bozhou, and other places on the west bank of the middle reaches of the Guo River.
The three cities of Luyi, Taikang, and Bozhou, like Guoyang City, were all built along the Guo River.
Since Tangyi’s navy could not enter the middle and upper reaches of the Guo River for combat, the Shouzhou army’s defense of these three cities could mutually support each other through the Left Tower Ship Army naval warships that had preserved certain strength, and could also connect with the heartland of Su and Song provinces controlled by Shouzhou on the east bank of the Guo River to form an organic whole.
As for the three city fortifications of Dancheng, Xinji, and Wuting, west of the Guo River, they could be said to be the protruding parts of the Shouzhou army deviating from the Guo River, but they were on average thirty to fifty li from the Guo River, while the shortest distance between them was only twenty-some li.
This also meant it would be very difficult for the relief army for Bian to simply isolate any single city for siege.
Among the city fortifications west of the Guo River, the shortest distances from Wuting and Taikang to the Chen-Bian post road were both less than fifty li. Cavalry units departing from Wuting and Taikang could raid supply columns and troops traveling on the Chen-Bian post road in less than half a day.
This meant the relief army for Bian could neither separately besiege any single city, and once they wanted to bypass these several city fortifications on the west bank of the Guo River to directly march north and rendezvous with the Bianjing garrison, they would return to the predicament initially worried about where their retreat route could be cut off at any time by several times their number in enemy forces.
With the relief army for Bian attacking from south to north, the Shouzhou army might not dare to easily array their forces directly on the west bank of the Guo River for field battle against Tangyi’s elite troops whose backs were to the Huai River. But if the relief army for Bian bypassed Wuting and Taikang to march north, opening up a distance of three to four hundred li from the Huai River, at that time the enemy forces would only need a flanking cavalry force to cut off and destroy the Chen-Bian post road, severing the continuous supply of provisions from Shou and Hao provinces heading north. If Xu Mingzhen was still too timid at that time to pull out the main Shouzhou army forces to intercept the relief army for Bian’s southern retreat route from the side and rear, he would not deserve to be called Tangyi’s formidable opponent.
At that time, not only would the Shouzhou army main forces very likely mobilize in great numbers, but even the Xu-Si army would very likely cross the Si and Guo rivers to enter the west bank of the Guo River to participate in intercepting the relief army for Bian.
The Military Intelligence Staff Department proposed many operational scenario plans. After repeated research and discussion, they could only bite down on the point of Dancheng—the old seat of Dan County, formerly belonging to Chen Province, destroyed by war at the end of the previous dynasty, currently incorporated into the territory of Wanqiu County, the seat of Chen Province—to fight a hard battle, a blunt battle with the Shouzhou army.
Unable to besiege Dancheng from all directions, the currently formulated operational plan had Wen Bo lead a flanking force deployed on the eastern flank to intercept enemy forces from Guoyang or other areas on the east bank of the Guo River, while the main forces under Tian Cheng and Lin Haizheng’s leadership would gradually advance on Dancheng from south to north.
Even if they could not lure the enemy forces out from the city for field battle, they would concentrate forces to storm Dancheng’s southern city and drive the garrison from Dancheng.
Only by capturing this point of Dancheng could the relief army for Bian gain certain defensive depth on the eastern flank of the Chen-Bian post road, without having to worry that supply troops traveling along the Chen-Bian post road stretching over two hundred li would be suddenly raided and cut off by enemy cavalry at any time.
The saying goes “those skilled in warfare have no brilliant reputation,” and also “the victories of those skilled in warfare have no extraordinary victories, no reputation for wisdom, no credit for courage”—this described the present situation.
Both sides were seasoned, cautious veteran generals with comparable strength. It was impossible for any major or fatal flaws to be exposed. The combat process was destined to be plain and unremarkable, without the imagined twists and clever stratagems.
And now that Tangyi had risen to this point, it was also impossible to stake a battle that would determine the overall situation of the realm on clever stratagems or unorthodox approaches.
On the third day after Wang Chan’er’s hand decree was transmitted from Xiang City to the south bank camp at Jiaoshan Gorge, Jinling’s decree for relieving Bian and attacking the Hu belatedly arrived.
Although Han Qian only formally signed the military dispatch order on the day he received Jinling’s decree, three brigades of crack troops led by Xue Chuan, Su Lie, and He Liufeng had already crossed the Huai River and advanced north in three routes for seventy to eighty li.
Han Qian did not personally lead troops northward but instead handed command of the relief army for Bian to Tian Cheng, Wen Bo, Lin Haizheng, Xi Fa’er, and others to lead the main forces north. He symbolically crossed the Huai River to enter the north bank camp of Jiaoshan Gorge located in Xiacai County to supervise the battle.
Han Qian also temporarily established the Commissioner’s headquarters at the north bank camp. Besides Yang Qin and Tan Xiuqun serving as Supreme Commander and Vice Supreme Commander of the Jiaoshan Gorge north and south camps, jointly responsible for the defense of the Jiaoshan Gorge camps and the upper and lower reaches of the Huai River as well as the construction of Xiacai New City, Feng Liao, Guo Rong, Xi Xunqiao who succeeded Lin Haizheng as Haozhou Governor, Wen Muqiao who was appointed as Counselor to the Commissioner’s Office, as well as Guo Que, Feng Yi, and others also accompanied Han Qian to supervise the battle at the north bank camp of Jiaoshan Gorge.
Over ten li north of the north bank camp, a brand new city was under construction.
To enable Tangyi’s army to withstand future offensives launched by the Weizhou rebel army and Mengwu cavalry through the flatlands between the Ying and Guo rivers, it was extremely necessary to construct a military fortress on the north bank of the Huai River east of the Ying River—floods overflowing along both banks of the Ying River also limited the possibility of enemy forces in the future launching large-scale southern advances from the western part of Ying Province west of the Ying River and the Cai Province region. Emperor Liang Zhu Yu formally allocated to Tangyi the Xiacai region located on the north bank of the Huai River, east of the Ying River mouth and west of the Guo River mouth.
If not for this, in the future, if Tangyi only established defensive fortifications along the south bank line of the Huai River, it would be extremely difficult to prevent small groups of enemy cavalry from dispersing southward for raids during the cold winter when the Huai River froze. At that time, large areas along the Huai River on the south bank would have agricultural production safety difficult to guarantee.
No matter what price had to be paid, establishing the breakthrough section of the defense line on the north bank of the Huai River would effectively curb enemy cavalry raids.
The Yu River, through the Ying River seizing the Huai to flow into the sea, had caused regions west of the Ying River in Xu, Chen, and Ying provinces to be flooded on a large scale. Approximately two to three million mu of farmland and three to four hundred thousand houses were submerged by floods.
The forty-some large refugee camps established by Tangyi and the Liang army in Cai and Ru provinces and along the south bank of the Huai River had accommodated over three hundred thousand disaster victims over four months.
However, this was still not the entirety of the Yu River great disaster affecting the He-Huai region.
The terrain along both banks of the Ying River was high in the west and low in the east.
West of the Ying River, there were still the criss-crossing peaks and ridges of the remaining ranges of Mount Tongbai and Mount Funiu, with relatively high elevation.
East of the Ying River to along the Guo River, this diamond-shaped region running from northwest to southeast, stretching over six hundred li long, one hundred thirty to one hundred eighty li wide, with a total area of nearly one hundred thousand square li, was completely flat plains.
Besides the Liang capital metropolitan region, this region had been primarily controlled by Xu Mingzhen’s Shouzhou army since last autumn.
From spring and summer onward, affected by the Yu River seizing the Huai, the disaster situation in this region was even more severe and critical.
This also meant the number of disaster victims forced to leave their homes in this region far exceeded those west of the Ying River.
Previously, the Shouzhou army had blocked the passages from Xiacai and other places to the north bank of the Huai River. Besides a portion of disaster victim refugees being forcibly relocated to the east bank of the Guo River, there were still large numbers of people stranded in Mengcheng, Lichuan, and other places catching fish and crabs to stave off hunger.
Han Qian’s decision at this time to build a large camp on the north bank and construct Xiacai New City, and to use the north bank camp and Xiacai New City to construct a north bank Huai River defense line, as well as expending great effort to build a pontoon bridge over Jiaoshan Gorge, also had another purpose: to receive refugees from this region at the fastest speed and evacuate them to the south bank of the Huai River.
Standing on the north cliff of Jiaoshan Gorge, Han Qian wore scale armor and had a horizontal blade at his waist, looking at the turbid Huai River to the south.
Even though the water level dropped day by day, at this time the Huai River was still so mighty and vast. Floodwaters submerged the remnant embankments on the north and south banks. The Huai River surface west of Jiaoshan Gorge was a full twenty li wide.
Even after winter arrived, the floodwaters would eventually recede, but without recovering control of the regions on both sides of the breach east of Xingyang, this great flood would repeatedly reenact itself year after year, next year and the year after.
The regions submerged by the Yu River floodwaters would become increasingly salinized and sand-accumulated, making the land barren.
No matter what, next year and the year after, the south bank would need to construct a great embankment from Jiaoshan Gorge west to Mount Bagong. Besides reclaiming wasteland for garrison farming, this would also prevent Yu River floodwaters from eroding the fertility of south bank lands.
Additionally, with sufficient able-bodied men gathered in the Xiacai region, by year’s end they would also need to break open a gap on the east bank of the Ying River to dig irrigation canals, diverting water from the upper reaches of the Ying River to flow from the north bank downstream, in order to reduce the large flood retention area formed upstream due to Xiashi Gorge being too narrow, alleviating pressure on the south bank embankment and flood discharge.
No matter how much surplus materials primary industrial products plus Chishan Association commerce could bring to Tangyi, the construction of Huaixi’s internal agricultural cultivation and primary industrial production system would always remain Tangyi’s foundation.
Standing on the cliff mountain, Han Qian was talking with Feng Liao, Guo Rong, Wen Muqiao, and others. Han Donghu and Huo Li led guards stationed at the base of the cliff. At this time, Wang Zhe, clutching an intelligence report and gasping for breath, climbed up the slope and reported to Han Qian:
“Just received intelligence that Xu-Si Commander Chu Mu is leading six thousand cavalry and infantry west from Xuzhou, rapidly advancing toward the east bank of the Guo River. They are expected to arrive at Guoyang before noon tomorrow and rendezvous with Xu Jin…”
Han Qian took the intelligence report and scanned it without saying anything.
With Yang Yuanyan not crossing the lower reaches of the Huai River from Chu Province to put pressure on the Xu-Si army, the Xu-Si army would inevitably divide forces to enter the west bank of the Guo River to participate in surrounding, pursuing, and intercepting the relief force for Bianjing. This was something they had predicted beforehand.
The new intelligence report only confirmed their previous speculation. They could even foresee that this force of six thousand cavalry and infantry led by Chu Mu was merely the first Xu-Si army force about to enter the east bank of the Guo River for battle. More Xu-Si army forces should subsequently advance westward.
Faced with such an intelligence report, he also had no need to say much.
At this time, Han Qian was more concerned about when the main Mengwu cavalry forces would penetrate into the west bank region of the Guo River south of Bianjing.
Since the Mengwu southern invasion began, initially they had coordinated with Zhu Rang and Liang Shixiong’s Weizhou rebel army to throw the He-Huai region into chaos, recruited Wang Yuankui’s Dingheng army to seize Lu, Ze, and other places, then recruited Tian Weiye and Jin Crown Prince Shi Jizu’s two forces along with the Dingheng army to besiege Taiyuan.
After seizing the entire territory of the Jin state, the Mengwu people had driven Jin Crown Prince Shi Jizu, Tian Weiye, and Wang Yuankui’s three surrendered forces to attack Guanzhong. Even though Jin Crown Prince Shi Jizu had died at the hands of Emperor Liang Zhu Yu, at this time the main forces attacking Yong and Hua provinces were still Wang Yuankui and Tian Weiye’s two forces plus the surrendered Pingxia people.
Besides Guanzhong, at this time the main forces responsible for attacking Bianjing were those under the false Liang Emperor Zhu Rang, while the main forces guarding He-Luo under Emperor Liang Zhu Yu’s strong attacks were those under Liang Shixiong. At this time, Xu Mingzhen’s Shouzhou army and the Sima clan’s Xu-Si army had also been brought into the fold, running rampant across the He-Huai battlefield.
Although the shadow of Mengwu cavalry also appeared like a shadow on numerous battlefields, they had never been used as main forces. But this absolutely did not mean that once the relief army for Bian advanced north into the middle reaches region of the Guo River, the shadow of the main Mengwu cavalry forces would continue to shrink behind the newly attached armies.
Once the main Mengwu cavalry forces moved south, even if Tian Cheng could successfully lead the relief army for Bian to capture Dancheng, Wuting, and other cities and force the Shouzhou army back to the banks of the Guo River, the battlefield on the west bank of the Guo River would still be a bottomless trap and whirlpool for the relief army for Bian.
As long as the Mengwu cavalry, which held absolute advantage in mobility, entered the west bank battlefield of the Guo River and united with the Shouzhou army, they would still have the capability to forcibly cut off the connection between the north bank Xiacai region of the Huai River and the western part of Bo Province, thereby completely encircling the relief army for Bian and the Bianjing Liang army south of Bianjing and northwest of Bo Province.
“That convoy should be Li Xiu leading the Marquis of Linji’s household to cross the river…”
Guo Rong saw that at this time there was a convoy of carriages and horses crossing the Huai River north and south on the Jiaoshan Gorge pontoon bridge, and reminded Han Qian.
Yang Yuanyan had sent his heir Yang Cong and Wang Wenqian to Jinling. Besides petitioning Jinling to dispatch officials to govern the counties of Chu, Yang, and Tai provinces—substantively abolishing the Huaidong vassal state—and requesting the transfer of Zhao Zhen’s forces to participate in suppressing the Jingxiang rebels, he also petitioned to establish Ming Cheng Empress Dowager’s son Yang Ye as heir apparent.
Although the matter of establishing an Imperial Younger Brother was temporarily shelved and did not immediately gain approval when the Council of State discussed it, and although Prince of Xin Yang Yuanyan’s mention of this matter was perhaps primarily to express his position of having no intention to covet the throne besides courting the Huang family and Jiangdong aristocratic families, this matter still enraged Qing Yang, who was honored as Empress Dowager Changxin.
When sentencing Li Xiu and the Marquis of Linji’s household, Qing Yang—who had kept an extremely low profile since the new emperor’s accession and had in all matters followed the arrangements of Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, and Yang En—this time resolutely decided against all opposition to sentence the Marquis of Linji’s household to exile in Xiacai, directly placing Li Xiu and the Marquis of Linji’s household into Han Qian’s hands.
Even if Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, and others were unwilling to see Li Xiu and the Marquis of Linji’s household fall into Tangyi’s embrace, since Jinling had decreed Tangyi’s army to dispatch troops to the He-Huai region and besides promising to gradually allocate eight hundred thousand shi of grain by year’s end had no other substantive support, it was also inconvenient to dispute such matters further.
Another thing the assembled ministers understood in their hearts was that Li Changfeng would rather die than be coerced by Lu Qingxia and others to flee west. They thought that even if at this time Li Xiu and the Marquis of Linji’s household were all exiled to Xiacai under Tangyi’s jurisdiction, perhaps they would now be used by Han Qian and would strengthen Tangyi’s military power, but if in the future Tangyi truly had a falling out with the court, Li Xiu and the Marquis of Linji’s household might instead become an existence that could curb Han Qian’s ambitions from within.
Therefore, after formally making the decision to exile them to Xiacai, only ten days had passed before the convoy hastily exiling Li Xiu and the Marquis of Linji’s household to Xiacai had already appeared on the Jiaoshan Gorge pontoon bridge.
“Go call Li Xiu and Li Changfeng’s eldest son Li Chi over here,” Han Qian ordered.
Cao Ba stood beside Han Qian. After a long while, seeing that none of those around him moved, he pointed to his own nose and asked, “You’re calling me to go fetch them?”
Wen Muqiao was so angry he wanted to kick him down, glared at him, and asked, “Think about what rank military official you are now. Besides you, do you expect me or Lord Guo or Lord Feng to make the trip for you?”
When the Fourth Regiment army was newly established, Cao Ba served as commander of the First Brigade. He violated the alcohol prohibition in the army and was demoted one rank. When the advance army was organized, because he no longer wanted to lead able-bodied civilians to dig river channels and threw a tantrum requesting to go to the advance camp to participate in battle heading north, he was demoted another rank. When the relief army for Bian was organized, thinking to have one more drink before heading north to battle, he drank too much. This caused him, during consecutive days of heavy rain in Hao Province in early July when all Hao Province officers were up on the embankments preventing floods, to instead sleep soundly in camp. His official position was stripped to the bottom, he was kicked out of the battalion ranks, and at this time could only serve as an attendant walking beside Wen Muqiao.
Imitating the Northern Qi Ministry of Waterworks Counselor position, to resolve the old practice of provincial and county chief officials using private staff and guests to participate in government affairs, Han Qian specifically permitted the Commissioner’s Office and provincial and county government offices to establish three to five Counselor Officials. Besides resolving the problem of insufficient provincial and county official positions, this also formally incorporated private staff and guests into Tangyi’s officer system.
As a Counselor to the Commissioner’s Office, Wen Muqiao was equivalent to a senior advisor. Coming out of retirement again, he also need not shoulder overly burdensome administrative duties at his advanced age.
Cao Ba grumbled a few words before reluctantly asking Huo Li for a horse and rushing to the bridge head to wait for the Marquis of Linji’s household to cross the river.
“Why is he so unwilling to see Li Xiu?” Seeing Cao Ba’s reluctant appearance, Han Qian asked curiously. “Previously when I sent him on errands, I never saw him so unwilling?”
“When Cao Ba was sixteen, I recommended him to become a halberd-bearer in the Late Emperor’s personal guard Left Soaring Camp. At that time, he had a troublemaking temperament and caused trouble. The Marquis of Linji was the Left Soaring Camp commander but also couldn’t control him. Later, after being disciplined several times by Li Xiu, who was four years younger than him, he restrained himself somewhat. They should have formed a grudge then,” Wen Muqiao said.
“Oh, so there was this old matter.”
Han Qian listened with great interest as Wen Muqiao recounted some old matters from before and after Great Chu’s founding. Half an incense stick’s time later, Cao Ba, wearing a stiff expression, brought Li Xiu and Li Changfeng’s son Li Chi over.
Li Xiu was thirty-four years old. Although he was in the prime of his strength and vigor, imprisoned in the Marquis of Linji’s mansion for half a month, his temples were already frosty white. The whole person also gave off a sense of lifeless gloom. His thin cheeks were covered with stubble. Leading Li Changfeng’s eldest son Li Chi, who was over twenty-four years old, he dismounted and climbed to the cliff top to meet Han Qian.
“Prince Li in life thought of the common people of the realm. In earlier years, he followed Emperor Tianyou to pacify the Jianghuai disturbances. When Jinling rebelled, though terminally ill, he still came to Mount Mao, his heart worried for Great Chu’s fortunes. His breadth of mind ranked among the top three to five in this age. Although the Marquis of Linji did not equal Prince Li, to preserve the Li family’s integrity, he did not yield to the enemy and sought death sacrificing his life—this can be called heroic. Li Xiu, what step can you achieve?” Han Qian stared at Li Xiu and asked.
Li Xiu stared blankly at the mighty, turbid Huai River for a long while before turning his head back again and said, “The Li family still has over a hundred men willing to be driven by Your Lordship. Being wrapped in horse hide is no difficulty, but I dare boldly request Your Lordship settle the Li family’s women and children on the south bank…”
“You’re so certain that Tangyi’s participation in the He-Huai campaign this time will be so disastrously defeated that we can’t even hold Xiacai?” Han Qian calmly stared at Li Xiu and said without room for doubt, “Jiaoshan Gorge Camp Vice Supreme Commander Feng Xuan also concurrently serves as Xiacai County Magistrate. I permit you two to serve as County Counselors under his command. You lead the Li mansion household to find him. If Xiacai cannot be held, who knows how many military personnel and civilians will perish in the Huai River. Besides the remaining grace of Prince Li and the Marquis of Linji, your Li family people have nothing special in my eyes. Go share survival or death with Xiacai!”
Li Xiu knew he had no qualifications to bargain with Han Qian. Sighing blankly, he and Li Chi turned to withdraw. Before stepping down, he paused and asked, “I wonder if Your Lordship has any news of Li Qi?”
“After Li Qi withdrew to defend Huayang, Jinling decreed for him to cooperate with the Liang army to construct the Shuanglong Gorge plank road to connect to Lushi County, but whether he will actually follow the decree and act accordingly, we have not yet received his response,” Han Qian said.
Huayang was a county governed by Shang Province, but the upper reaches of the Luo River passed through the middle of its county territory. However, from Huayang County to Lushi County in southern He-Luo was blocked by the vast Mangling Mountains. The Luo River passing through the Mangling Mountains had nearly seventy li of waterway studded with reefs and rocks—shallow water, rapid current, and both walls with steep cliffs—so neither water nor land routes were passable.
To bypass Hangu Pass and the blockade of city fortifications along the nearly two-hundred-li Hangu Road (Taolin Frontier) from Tongguan to Hangu Pass, for He-Luo and Guanzhong to connect, constructing the Shuanglong Gorge plank road along the Luo River channel between Lushi and Huayang counties was another option.
As long as Li Qi could follow Jinling’s decree, Emperor Liang Zhu Yu could appoint him to hold the position of Huayang County Magistrate. With two thousand elite combat troops under his command, and recruiting several thousand able-bodied civilians from the Huayang locality, beginning construction of the Shuanglong Gorge plank road from the eastern side would reduce the construction time of the Shuanglong Gorge plank road by half.
Li Xiu was familiar with the terrain of the realm. After Han Qian spoke, he did not say he would send someone to persuade Li Qi—perhaps feeling he no longer had that qualification. He performed a salute, then led Li Chi away from the cliff top to rendezvous with the Li mansion household and find Feng Xuan to report…