In the Chongwen Hall, the participating ministers had been debating for half a day without rest over whether to make peace or war with Liang.

“You ministers have been arguing endlessly for half a day, and this dowager has grown confused listening to you all.”

Qing Yang saw that Bin’er sitting beside her had grown quite impatient. She grasped his small hand, telling him to remain calm, then sat behind the imperial desk, observing the expressions of the ministers and Huang E on the other side of the desk. By now she had thoroughly assessed the attitudes of Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, Yang En, Zheng Yu and others, and indeed as Lei Cheng had said, the Zheng family had switched sides at the critical moment. Her heart settled down, and she said with feigned impatience.

“Since Prince Shou insists on opposing peace negotiations with the Liang army, in this dowager’s humble womanly opinion, we absolutely cannot sit by and watch the Liang army run rampant again, or watch their forces sweep through Jing and Xiang. The court should immediately order the infantry of the Right Dragon Martial Army to advance west from Yangzhou and attack Chuzhou. Meanwhile, the Pacification Army in Jing and Xiang is gradually running short of provisions, unable even to hold out until August. We should order Yue, Tan, Jiang, Hong, Yuan and Heng prefectures to transport grain overland to Ezhou for assembly, then have the Right Dragon Martial Army’s naval forces rush to Ezhou to concentrate forces to transport the grain across the river. As long as provisions are sufficiently supplied, not only need we not fear the Liang army daring to attack Jing and Xiang, but the Pacification Army could even recover Deng, Jun, Guang and Huo from Suiyang and Fancheng. Then surely Prince Xin would have no excuse to withdraw the Right Wuxiang Army…”

Empress Dowager Changxin was much more versed in military and political affairs than the one from Mingcheng Palace. Everyone had long found this surprising. Hearing her tone suggesting impatience with Yang Zhitang advocating war while being unwilling to commit the Right Dragon Martial Army, Zheng Yu seized the opportunity to challenge Yang Zhitang, picking up the conversation: “If the Right Dragon Martial Army can resolutely deploy from Yangzhou now and mobilize naval forces to assemble at Ezhou to assist with grain transport, the sons of the Zheng family will live or die with Jing and Xiang, not allowing the Liang army to gain another inch of Jing and Xiang territory—Prince Shou, what say you?”

Empress Dowager Mingcheng did not understand military and political affairs, could not interject, and sitting behind the imperial desk, appeared even more exhausted and overwhelmed. After half a day of debate in Chongwen Hall, the focal point was very clear—basically confirming that peace negotiations would not succeed, and Han Qian would very likely deploy troops to Jing and Xiang in mid-to-late August.

Even if the possibility of Shu forces directly entering the war was not great, besides Li Zhigao and Chai Jian who had defected to Liang and commanded twenty thousand troops in Liangzhou that could advance down the Han River to attack the western flank of Xiang and Fan, it was now confirmed that Han Qian had mobilized approximately twenty thousand troops from Shangluo and Heluo into Dengzhou, Junzhou and Guangzhou, increasing Liang forces in these three places to forty thousand.

Particularly the forces assembled at Chishan in Xichuan before late February could advance down the Dan River at any time, cutting off communications between the upper and lower reaches of the Han River.

They were not too worried at present that Han Qian had the strength to attack Huaidong or the capital region.

Besides the fact that Liang forces had not assembled large-scale cavalry and infantry on the southeastern front, more importantly the capital region and Huaidong currently had over a hundred thousand elite defenders in total.

Backed by the vast, provision-rich Jiangdong region, once fierce warfare erupted, they could levy even more troops to defend the emperor.

However, even without considering the Zheng family’s attitude, no one in the great hall wished to see Jing and Xiang fall.

At the beginning of the year, provisions and supplies originally mobilized from various prefectures to supplement the Pacification Army in Jing and Xiang had been intercepted by the Chishan Assembly in one stroke—four hundred thousand shi. After that, the situation suddenly became tense.

First, the counties that had provisions seized made endless excuses, unwilling to bear the burden of requisitioning grain again. Second, under such dangerous circumstances, no fleet dared to transport grain via the Yangtze River waterway. This meant the Pacification Army, numbering over ninety thousand, stationed in Xiangcheng, Fan, Canglang, Suiyang, Yingzhou and other places, could only requisition follow-up provisions from the immediate vicinity of their stations.

In the prefectures of Jing and Xiang—Xiangzhou, Yingzhou and Suizhou—these past two years had essentially been fought to exhaustion, while Deng and Jun prefectures had fallen into Liang army hands. Jingzhou, Huangzhou and the newly established Fuzhou, though storing relatively ample grain and being lands of fish and rice, had already massively requisitioned grain locally to support military use last year. After this year, requisitions were doubled—by the end of May, over six hundred thousand shi of grain and various supplies had been additionally forcibly requisitioned from localities, causing widespread complaints among the people.

Of course, the common folk in Jing, Fu and Huang prefectures might still have some grain reserves that could be squeezed out. The Pacification Army could even deploy forces to cooperate with local officials in forcibly requisitioning grain. But the problem was that once popular resentment accumulated to a certain degree, when Han Qian formally deployed troops, would the local populace hesitate to turn against them? Or even before Han Qian dispatched troops south, would local uprisings erupt?

The solution to this problem was also very simple—have the Right Dragon Martial Army deploy from Yangzhou, contain Liang forces on the eastern front, then at any cost transport the grain assembled at Ezhou across to the northern bank of the Yangtze.

The entire south had enjoyed favorable weather these years, and localities could still requisition large amounts of grain, but the key was being able to transport it to the northern bank of the river.

Though Liang forces were formidable in combat, they were not divine.

Everyone understood clearly in their hearts that the overall situation was currently extremely unfavorable to the Liang army. As long as they could maintain the war situation until late October when the Yu and Ying rivers froze over, under the powerful offensive of Mengwu cavalry and the Eastern Liang Army, if the Liang army did not surrender Deng, Jun and Huaixi and sue for peace, they would inevitably face complete collapse.

Yang En, Shen Yang, Du Chongtao and others all looked toward Yang Zhitang, not knowing whether he was now willing to commit the infantry and naval forces of the Right Dragon Martial Army.

With Aoshan Island naval base destroyed, Yang Zhitang’s chest still ached faintly even now. He naturally supported deploying troops ten thousand times over to recover Huaixi, but when it came to having the Right Dragon Martial Army attack Huaixi first, and having the Right Dragon Martial Army’s remaining naval forces break through the blockade to Ezhou to transport grain, he immediately hesitated, saying: “The Right Dragon Martial Army guards the eastern flank of the capital region and cannot be moved lightly. Perhaps we could first mobilize twenty thousand Chuzhou troops to attack Chuzhou.”

“Chuzhou only has Prince Xin’s thirty thousand garrison troops, and must also defend the lower reaches of the Huai River. If we mobilize Prince Xin’s forces now and Chuzhou’s defenses are left vulnerable, should the Eastern Liang Army seize the opportunity, what then?” Zheng Yu asked.

“The Eastern Liang Army failed to take Xiacao by storm and would surely be pleased to watch Prince Xin employ troops against Chuzhou. We could send secret envoys to Bianjing to negotiate—as long as the Eastern Liang Army’s forces on the northern bank of the Huai River all withdraw to Xuzhou, there would be no worry of Chuzhou falling,” Yang Zhitang said.

“What audacity!”

Qing Yang could not overturn the sandalwood dragon-carved imperial desk, so she swept all the decorative gilt flower vases, paperweights and other items on the desk crashing to the floor. She stood up abruptly, pointed at Yang Zhitang’s nose and began cursing.

“The late emperor’s bones are not yet cold, yet you, you old scoundrel, actually want to make peace with the barbarians! Do you perhaps want to drag the late emperor’s corpse from the imperial mausoleum and send it directly to the barbarians before you’d be satisfied, you old wretch? That traitor Han Qian is treacherous and faithless, but this dowager wonders just how much trustworthiness you see in the barbarians, you old scoundrel. Or perhaps when the barbarians colluded with Lu Qingxia and had assassins kill the late emperor, you also secretly played a part in it, you old villain?”

No one expected Empress Dowager Changxin to suddenly turn hostile, pointing at Yang Zhitang’s nose and cursing. Shen Yang, Du Chongtao, Yang En, Zheng Yu, Zhang Chao, Zheng Chang and others were all caught off guard, looking at each other in dismay, watching Yang Zhitang’s face turn ashen from the scolding, not knowing how to intercede.

“Sister Huang, the late emperor’s bones are not yet cold—have you too forgotten the late emperor’s favor toward us sisters? This scoundrel Yang Zhitang wants to collude with the barbarians—he’s forcing us sisters to die in martyrdom! Otherwise how can we face the late emperor who died with eyes still open in the netherworld?” Qing Yang did not look at Yang Zhitang’s withered old face that she had scolded until it resembled pig’s liver. She turned to look at Huang E and said mournfully, her beautiful eyes brimming with tears that seemed ready to pour down like the bursting dikes of the Yu River at any moment.

Huang E was also startled, facing this scene with panic and confusion, not knowing how to handle it. But regardless, Lu Qingxia had now thrown in with the Mengwu, further confirming the fact that the late emperor was assassinated by the Mengwu. Anyone who dared mention making peace with the Mengwu or their running dogs the Eastern Liang Army deserved being pointed at and cursed out—that was getting off lightly.

“The late emperor’s bones are not yet cold. This matter of making peace with the barbarians absolutely cannot proceed. Otherwise this dowager would fail the late emperor in the netherworld and would have difficulty answering to the subjects throughout the realm. Prince Shou, you have spoken improperly,” Huang E could only steel herself and coldly reprimand Yang Zhitang.

“The Great Chu realm is in turmoil. This old minister acted with excessive haste. This minister begs the Empress Dowager’s punishment!” Yang Zhitang lowered his head and said.

“Where is this excessive haste? If you had even the slightest regard for the late emperor in your heart, you would not say such absurd things!” Qing Yang was not about to let Yang Zhitang off so easily. She coldly and sternly reprimanded: “And when High Ancestor Emperor was murdered by the Xu clan, Han Qian sent Xu clan members, Zhang Xinchun and other traitors to Jinling for trial before the year’s end. Yet you dragged your feet endlessly—for what purpose? Do you truly remember even half a measure of High Ancestor Emperor’s kindness toward you back then?”

“…” Though the great hall was quite cool, beads of sweat had already emerged on Yang Zhitang’s forehead. As Great Chu’s Chief Military Commissioner and Prince Shou, his position could be said to be slightly higher than even Shen Yang, Yang En and Du Chongtao—the foremost minister. Being cursed out by Qing Yang then reprimanded while pointed at like this, he truly wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

“Reporting to the Empress Dowager, matters have varying urgency and importance. Prince Shou was also…” Zhang Xian stepped forward to say.

“Taking revenge for High Ancestor Emperor, taking revenge for the late emperor—when did these become matters of no importance? Below Xu Mingzhen, how many traitorous ministers in the Eastern Liang Army have hands stained with High Ancestor Emperor’s blood? Have you all forgotten? Matters have varying urgency and importance—what fine words, Zhang Xian! Do you truly still place High Ancestor Emperor and the late emperor in your heart?” Qing Yang coldly asked.

Zhang Xian was drenched in sweat. He dropped to his knees with a thud, not daring to argue anything.

“This dowager has finally seen you ministers who speak endlessly of benevolence, virtue, loyalty and righteousness for what you truly are. Draft an edict to depose this dowager and Bin’er. Whether you wish to install Prince Fu, Prince Xin, or Yang Zhitang, perhaps you yourself wish to sit on this throne—do as you please…” Having said this, Qing Yang took the hand of the bewildered Yang Bin and made as if to walk out of the great hall.

“This old minister spoke improperly. I beg the Empress Dowager’s forgiveness!” Yang Zhitang could no longer bear the pressure. His knees hit the floor of the great hall as he assumed a genuine posture of begging forgiveness.

“Prince Shou spoke improperly, but it was also due to anxiety over state affairs. We beg the Empress Dowager’s forgiveness!” Shen Yang and other important ministers had been granted seats in the great hall. Seeing Empress Dowager Changxin’s cutting edge fully displayed, they could no longer remain seated. They all stood up, bowing as they spoke.

Zhou Qinian and other officials of the Department of State Affairs were not among the great ministers. Being allowed to observe the hall’s deliberations was already a special honor—they had not been granted seats. Not expecting Empress Dowager Changxin to take such a hard stance this time, they were all at a loss, not knowing how to respond.

“The late emperor died so miserably, not even a year has passed, yet you who claim to be loyal ministers and filial sons are all filled with thoughts of making peace with our great enemy—and think again of High Ancestor Emperor, who created this foundation and bestowed wealth, power and position upon you ministers. You who speak endlessly of righteousness and virtue have tossed aside the traitors who poisoned High Ancestor Emperor, ignoring them as if High Ancestor Emperor’s death was of no consequence whatsoever. Now you all say Yang Zhitang was anxious over state affairs. This dowager asks you—in the Great Chu court, is there any state matter more important than taking revenge for the late emperor and High Ancestor Emperor?” Qing Yang asked mournfully, her voice echoing through the great hall.

Yang Zhitang knelt in the great hall, steeling himself to say: “The Xu clan, Zhang Xinchun and others who murdered High Ancestor Emperor should be torn apart by chariots and their three clans exterminated. Chen De and others who aided the tyrant and used demonic words to bewitch Lady Wang into murdering the late emperor and rebelling should be torn apart by chariots and have their three clans exterminated…”

“You dragged your feet endlessly before, yet now you’re suddenly bloodthirsty, readily talking of exterminating three clans—are you putting on this show of killing for this dowager and His Majesty to see?” Qing Yang stared at Yang Zhitang and reprimanded him.

“This old minister dares not. I beg the Empress Dowager’s judgment,” Yang Zhitang said.

“In your eyes, this dowager is just a completely useless woman. Whatever this dowager says, which of you would listen? Stop saying these false words. Depose this dowager and His Majesty, and take this throne for yourselves,” Qing Yang took Bin’er’s hand, determined to leave.

“We beg the Empress Dowager’s judgment,” Shen Yang, Yang En, Du Chongtao and others said, steeling themselves.

Qing Yang said: “This dowager has no great knowledge, but knows that all matters should follow ancestral law. The assassinations of High Ancestor Emperor and the late emperor must also be thoroughly investigated by the Censorate before we can properly proclaim it throughout the realm and comfort the spirits of High Ancestor Emperor and the late emperor in heaven—if you still remember High Ancestor Emperor’s kindness, still remember the late emperor’s favor, you should have the Censorate immediately prosecute these treason cases, rather than dragging your feet with inscrutable motives.”

According to proper procedure, both treason cases should be jointly tried by imperial clan ministers, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate. But Empress Dowager Changxin’s current meaning was to have them handled entirely by the Censorate, which could not be said to be completely improper.

Shen Yang, Yang En, Du Chongtao and others knew in their hearts that prosecuting these two treason cases on a large scale at this time would inevitably stir up calls in court and country for military action against the Eastern Liang Army and Mengwu. Then calls for military action against the Liang army would be further suppressed.

After all, besides the Xu clan, Zhang Xinchun, Empress Dowager Wang Chan’er, Chen De and others, if these two treason cases were truly investigated, they would find that quite a number of principal culprits currently remained with the Eastern Liang Army and Mengwu forces. Only the Wen Muqiao father and son, Wen Bo, when they submitted to Tangyi, had been formally pardoned—at that time it was determined they had been coerced by the Xu clan.

Zheng Yu tugged at the sleeve of Zheng Chang beside him.

Zheng Chang, as Vice Censor-in-Chief, receiving his clan brother Zheng Yu’s signal, stepped forward and said loudly: “This humble minister, Vice Censor-in-Chief Zheng Chang, receives the Empress Dowager’s decree to immediately prosecute the treason cases!”

“What say you all?” Qing Yang’s eyes gleamed coldly as she stared at Shen Yang, Yang En, Du Chongtao and the others, asking.

Since this crisis erupted, because Huaixi was so crucial to Great Chu, voices for peace in the court had been weakest. Even though Qing Yang herself hoped for Chu-Liang peace negotiations, ministers had repeatedly submitted memorials urging otherwise. But the war faction was divided between quick-war and delayed-war factions.

Of course, even though Qing Yang had initially exposed Qin Wen’s identity and drawn a clear line between herself and Tangyi, she need not hide her inclination toward peace talks.

Advocating peace talks and colluding with enemy nations were completely different concepts.

Shu currently stood on Liang’s side, even going so far as to assemble forces in Yuzhou, creating military pressure on the western flank of Hunan and Jing-Xiang. Her support for peace talks could only be interpreted by court and country as her heart still leaning toward her homeland, with a personality too weak, fearing too many variables if war broke out that would be unfavorable to her and her son.

Setting aside that hidden, unclear thread of emotion in her heart, Qing Yang also clearly understood in her mind that leaving a relatively threatening Liang that made Great Chu’s princes and ministers feel deep pressure could effectively suppress the ambitions of Huang Hua and Yang Yuanyan, and make Shen Yang, Yang En and others remain more cautiously attentive in assisting Bin’er to grow into adulthood.

Taking it ten thousand steps further, as long as Bin’er could grow safely to adulthood, there was nothing wrong with Chu and Liang dividing rule at the river. If they truly strangled Liang now, while there might be a power struggle between the Huang family and Yang Yuanyan, she would be destined to lose even more sleep.

From her own position, she should support peace talks—why need she fear making her position clear?

However, whether she could gain support in court still depended on the balance of power between the peace and war factions in court.

Because Huaixi’s position was too crucial.

For the Zheng family, after Huaixi was incorporated into Liang, the geographical position of Huangzhou, the Zheng family’s base, became too prominent. Therefore, the Zheng family initially quickly abandoned their previous close relationship with Tangyi, standing on the war faction’s side, even advocating rapid and forceful recovery of Huaixi and Deng-Jun prefectures—they were the quick-war faction within the war faction.

Unfortunately, Yang Zhitang remained unwilling to commit the Right Dragon Martial Army as the first wave of main forces attacking Huaixi. He hoped more to see the Mengwu and Eastern Liang Army severely damage the Liang army, after which they could gain Huaixi without battle—he was the delayed-war faction within the war faction.

In fact, aside from Prince Xin’sMansion Mansion being a resolute quick-war faction, even the Zheng clan’s determination for war, or rather confidence, was not particularly strong.

To truly take Han Qian as an enemy—that was destined to be an enemy both hated and feared.

Yang En and Shen Yang could more or less see that after the Heluo situation completely collapsed, the Mengwu forces would grow powerful beyond anyone’s control, inevitably becoming the greatest threat Great Chu would face in the future. Their thoughts were quite conflicted and hesitant.

Under these circumstances, Han Qian repeatedly showed weakness, matters dragged on, which suited the delayed-war faction in court.

Yang Zhitang and other delayed-war faction members even wished to delay until autumn and winter to see the Mengwu cavalry and Eastern Liang Army launch another large-scale attack on Liang. They would then completely cut off Liang’s commerce from the south and tie down a considerable portion of Liang forces on the southern front, just to see how long Han Qian could hold out under wave after wave of powerful attacks without collapsing.

Who could have imagined that after the second phase of Heluo warfare ended, Han Qian would no longer give these delayed-war faction members any choice?

Now before the Chu court, only two options remained: quick decisive war or peace negotiations.

After the Zheng clan recognized that peace talks would fail and Han Qian would launch a major attack on Jing-Xiang after autumn, based on their own interests, they immediately switched to supporting peace talks.

However, if Yang Zhitang was now willing to have the Right Dragon Martial Army immediately advance west to threaten and contain Liang forces in Chuzhou and Donghu, and break through the Tangyi naval blockade at any cost to transport Ezhou’s provisions across the river, they could turn to support quick war. But delay was absolutely unacceptable.

Don’t think that just because Aoshan Island naval base was burned by Tangyi naval forces, Yang Zhitang at this moment was still unwilling to commit the Right Dragon Martial Army’s main force to battle—in his heart he hoped more for declared-but-not-fought war.

Shen Yang, Yang En and others also approved of the declared-but-not-fought strategy, hoping to dispatch reinforcement forces toward Huaixi from all directions, continuously strengthening containment and suppression of Liang forces.

This was not a bad strategy.

However, the key problem was that after the Yangtze waterway was cut off, the ninety-thousand-strong Pacification Army relying solely on local supply could hardly hold out until September. Simultaneously considering that Yang Yuanyan might have thoughts of watching tigers fight from the mountain, it was quite possible he would use the provisions problem as an excuse to withdraw Zhao Zhen’s forces from Suiyang, Fancheng and other places, not leaving Zhao Zhen to fight a bloody battle with Liang elite forces.

To avoid this situation, they necessarily needed to restore water transport between Ezhou and Fuzhou, which still required fighting the Tangyi naval forces on the Yangtze waterway at any cost.

Of course, the Yangtze waterway section between Ezhou and Fuzhou was far from the Tangyi naval forces’ main base. As long as the Right Dragon Martial Army could determinedly deploy from Yangzhou to contain Liang forces, restoring water transport a thousand li away at Ezhou-Fuzhou still held certain advantages.

This was also what Wang Wenqian had judged—if peace negotiations failed, in the next phase Han Qian would inevitably have the Tangyi naval forces fully deploy to destroy naval bases, docks and other facilities along the Yangtze and Han rivers, then formally deploy troops against Suiyang, Fancheng, Yingzhou, Jingling, Huangzhou, Shuzhou and other places by mid-to-late August.

Either peace or war—after half a day of debate in Chongwen Hall, everyone had thought it through. But Yang Zhitang, in order to allow the war-advocating Yang Yuanyan to extricate himself from the lower Huai River defense line and take on the responsibility of containing Liang forces from the eastern front, actually went so far as to advocate secret negotiations with the Eastern Liang Army.

Of course, not no one in the great hall had considered this possibility. After all, besides Zhao Zhen’s forces, the thirty thousand troops Yang Yuanyan personally commanded in Chuzhou were absolutely Great Chu’s most battle-capable elite.

However, when Yang Zhitang raised this matter and was pointed at and cursed out by Empress Dowager Changxin, aside from Yang Zhitang’s direct follower Zhang Xian, no one else dared defend him even half a sentence.

When the new emperor ascended the throne, an edict was transmitted throughout the realm clearly stating that Lu Qingxia and the Mengwu had conspired to murder the late emperor and launch the palace coup. Currently Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan and others had openly thrown in with the Mengwu. Before overturning this conclusion, with the late emperor’s bones not yet cold, whoever at this time proposed a strategy of allying with the Mengwu to attack Liang—would they not fear being drowned by the spit of court and country?

Yang Zhitang’s greatest miscalculation was probably assuming that since everyone was in Chongwen Hall for only a small-scale court deliberation, there was nothing that could not be said. He never imagined Empress Dowager Changxin would seize on this point without hesitation and strike at him mercilessly without leaving any face.