In addition to Jing Zhen, Xi Xunqiao, and Han Chengmeng serving as Yongzhou Provincial Commissioner, Inspector General, and Yongzhou Administrator respectively, there was also a first contingent of officials numbering six hundred accompanying Xi Xunqiao and Han Chengmeng westward, responsible for taking over various prefectures and counties and establishing the provincial administrative offices.

Besides the total of sixty thousand active soldiers incorporated into the Longxi Field Army, Yongzhou Field Army, and Liangzhou Command, Yongzhou Province would also establish six reserve brigades at strategic passes in the defense zones, such as Wuguan, Sanguan, Xiaoguan, and Pujin Pass, to absorb thirty thousand captured soldiers.

Additionally, forty thousand captured soldiers and forty thousand active combatants, under the command of various brigade commanders, would be stationed in the counties along the Fenshui River valley to rest and recuperate, while simultaneously preparing for subsequent campaigns to attack southern Jin and Taiyuan.

Li Zhigao and his son Li Zhi did not remain in Yongzhou, nor did they proceed to the Fenshui River valley. Instead, after the Guanzhong campaign reached a temporary conclusion, they boarded ships directly for Luoyang together with Gao Shao, who was responsible for transmitting imperial edicts and supervising the initial implementation of the provincial system, along with Kong Xirong and Feng Yi.

In early June, the weather was sweltering hot, but traveling by boat with the river breeze caressing their faces proved quite pleasant.

Dressed in a blue robe, Li Zhigao stood at the bow watching the magnificent scenery of Mount Tong and Mount Xiang flanking the Yu River.

“Lord Gao, you won’t be staying in Luoyang for more than a few days this time either, will you?” Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned to see Gao Shao approaching and asked.

Gao Shao nodded and said, “Now that Yongzhou Province has been established, Huainan Province, Henan Province, and Hedong Province will all be successively formed. Besides Wen Bo directly concurrently serving as Hedong Commissioner, His Lordship also intends for myself and Han Yuanqi to leave the capital to serve as Huainan Commissioner and Jinzhou Commissioner…”

This did not differ greatly from predictions made at the beginning of the year. The battles to recover Guanzhong had not exacted much cost—the total combat casualties from start to finish didn’t even reach ten thousand.

Recovering Guanzhong not only thoroughly resolved the strategic security problem on the western flank of Heluo, not only brought the Guanzhong Plain and the nearly two million people of the four northern Yong prefectures under Great Liang’s governance, pushing Great Liang’s total military and civilian population past the ten million mark, but after capturing seventy thousand able-bodied prisoners, the total forces Great Liang could mobilize reached an unprecedented three hundred and eighty thousand.

Currently, besides the over eighty thousand troops of field armies and reserve forces stationed in Yongzhou Province and Longxi, and besides the thirty thousand garrison troops in Huainan (including the Southern Censorate Prefecture as well as Nanyang, Xunyang, and Junzhou prefectures), Great Liang could mobilize a total force as high as two hundred seventy thousand troops to campaign against the Mongol Southern Court forces and Eastern Liang forces occupying Hedong, Heshuo, and Hehuai.

This was also the first time Great Liang had achieved parity in total troop numbers with the Southern Court Mongol and Eastern Liang forces on the frontal battlefield. Moreover, the morale of officers and soldiers and the level of arms and equipment surpassed the Mongol and Eastern Liang forces. No wonder Han Qian was eager to establish Hedong and Henan provinces to accelerate the process of recovering the old Hedong commanderies and the lost Hehuai territories.

Li Zhigao knew that the general trend was now in Great Liang’s grasp, but whether he would be idle after surrendering military authority upon reaching Luoyang, or take on a new position, remained undecided at this moment. It was also inconvenient to directly ask Gao Shao about specific military deployment plans against the Southern Court Mongols and Eastern Liang forces going forward.

However, one thing was certain: barring major unforeseen circumstances, recovering Zelu and other southern Jin regions by year’s end posed no major problem. Whether they would simultaneously move against Eastern Liang forces, Li Zhigao was unclear about.

He was currently also unclear about the limits of military mobilization Luoyang was conducting.

In June, the rivers surged with powerful currents. Departing from Yongzhou City, they stayed overnight at Tongguan County and by dusk the next day had moored north of Mianchi at Lingshang.

Lingshang had also served as the staging area for the Zhiguan Ridge campaign. It was now a crucial transportation hub connecting Luoyang to the three Fenshui prefectures via Yuanqu. A more solid permanent pontoon bridge with greater traffic capacity was under construction.

Yin Peng, representing Han Qian, arrived at Lingshang with a ceremonial escort to welcome Li Zhigao. Among those receiving them at the wharf was Su Hongyu, who had moved directly from Liangzhou to Luoyang with her family.

Disembarking and stepping onto the wharf, past events flooded into his mind in vivid succession.

Seeing his beloved wife standing on the wharf with their young son, Li Zhigao suddenly realized that four years had passed since he led his troops west to Longxi. He was nearly at the age of knowing Heaven’s mandate—time truly flew by.

Li Zhigao, Gao Shao, Kong Xirong, Feng Yi, and Yin Peng stayed overnight in Mianchi. Setting out from Mianchi by carriage the next morning, they entered Great Liang’s Luoyang City at dusk.

Han Qian hosted a banquet at Shangyang Garden to welcome Li Zhigao and his son Li Zhi, along with Gao Shao, Kong Xirong, Feng Yi, and others.

The banquet scale was modest, not a grand court-wide affair. Han Qian mainly wished to reminisce with Li Zhigao, Feng Yi, and Kong Xirong. Besides Zhao Ting’er, Su Hongyu, Feng Liao, and other old friends, he specifically invited Chun Shisanniang and Yun Puzi to attend the feast.

Seeing Chun Shisanniang seated in the hall, both Li Zhigao and Su Hongyu were startled.

When Liangzhou surrendered to Great Liang years ago, Chun Shisanniang had not fled west with Lu Qingxia and the others, but chose to return to Jinling for trial with Wang Chan’er, Chen De, and others.

Subsequently in Jinling, Chen De was sentenced to death by hanging, while Wang Chan’er, Prince Xiang Yang Lin, and others were imprisoned. Chun Shisanniang’s name did not appear in the Chu court’s official proclamations.

Li Zhigao and Su Hongyu had never figured out where Chun Shisanniang had gone, assuming she was either imprisoned or secretly executed. They never imagined she would appear in Luoyang City.

Kong Xirong, seeing the now forty-six-year-old Chun Shisanniang whose charm remained, was momentarily stunned, then glared at Feng Yi in feigned anger.

Feng Yi laughed heartily and said, “Don’t thank me either. If not for Old Daoist Yun’s intercession back then, I wouldn’t have dared presume to delete Shisanniang’s name from the list of prisoners sent to Jinling and send her to Luoyang instead. As for why Old Daoist Yun insisted on preserving Shisanniang’s life, that would require recounting Old Daoist Yun’s romantic history from his early years…”

Chun Shisanniang glanced at Kong Xirong, then lowered her head and sat to one side without making a sound.

“You fellow, you’ve been away from Luoyang for four years, yet haven’t lost your habit of exposing others’ shortcomings. No wonder His Lordship doesn’t feel confident leaving you in Yongzhou as Inspector General,” Yun Puzi said with a laugh, scolding Feng Yi.

“Yongzhou City has experienced warfare—who knows when it will recover its former dynasty’s splendid prosperity? Besides, placing myself at such a lofty position, maintaining a rigid expression all day to set an example for subordinate officials—how could that compare to returning to Luoyang to enjoy all this fragrant, soft jade refinement?” Feng Yi showed no attachment whatsoever to the high position of Provincial Inspector General, lazily settling behind a long table and helping himself to the wine pot to fill the jade cup before him.

Li Zhigao and Su Hongyu were both curious about what connection Yun Puzi’s intercession for Chun Shisanniang had with events from earlier years, but on such a formal occasion with younger generation present, they didn’t pursue the matter with Feng Yi’s openness. They thought that since Chun Shisanniang had settled in Luoyang and Han Qian didn’t prohibit her from attending such banquets, there would be opportunities later to meet with her privately to reminisce.

“Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan, and Yao Xishui are all still imprisoned. The Censorate can sentence them according to Great Liang law,” Han Qian gestured for everyone to sit and speak, addressing Li Zhigao. “The Censorate intends to sentence them to life imprisonment or exile, but they can also choose a Daoist temple in Luoyang to live out their remaining days. When you have time in a few days, you may visit the Censorate’s detention prison to see them…”

For millennia, the core of the penal system had centered on death penalty, exile, and corporal punishment. Although fixed-term imprisonment with forced labor existed, it had never been the focus of the penal system, nor was there such a thing as life imprisonment.

Only after Han Qian implemented a new prison system did Great Liang’s penalties emphasize both death penalty and imprisonment, with exile and corporal punishment as supplements. In mines and industrial sites requiring large labor forces and easy centralized supervision, several prisons were constructed, no longer simply exiling criminals who fell short of death penalty to border regions to bolster the population.

Whether Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan, or even Yao Xishui, Han Qian could not possibly pardon them directly. Out of consideration for Li Zhigao’s feelings, confining them for life in a Daoist temple already represented the maximum degree of leniency.

“Thank you for His Lordship’s clemency,” Li Zhigao said gratefully.

“You and I need not be so formal,” Han Qian said. “My father died tragically under cruel torture. Before his execution, he left me a blood-written testament, and I secretly vowed to end this man-eating chaotic age. To restore peace to the world, reunifying all under heaven is only the first step. I still need you and the other ministers to assist me with united effort…”

Li Zhigao was slightly stunned, thinking this might be the first time Han Qian explicitly expressed his ambition to reunify the realm. Sitting behind the long table, he leaned forward, pressed his knees, and performed a kneeling obeisance, saying, “Zhigao dares not fail to devote his utmost effort!”

“Besides Wen Bo directly assuming the position of Hedong Commissioner, Gao Shao and Han Yuanqi will both leave the capital in the next few days to serve as Henan and Huainan Commissioners in Donghu and Xuzhou—Jing Hao campaigned south and north with Emperor Shizong in his early years, leaving hidden ailments in his body. Before even reaching sixty, his vigor has somewhat waned, spending half the year requiring quiet bed rest. He has persistently requested to resign from the General Staff Office. Only then did I consider recalling you and Tian Cheng to the capital to manage the General Staff Office affairs,” Han Qian said.

Su Hongyu had rushed to Luoyang with her family to reunite with Li Zhigao, her heart somewhat suspended in uncertainty.

After all, these years they had stood together with Lu Qingxia and Zhou Yuan.

Even if they relocated to Luoyang holding nominal titles with idle duties to peacefully live out their remaining years, that would be acceptable. The fear was that people in court still harbored grudges over past matters, or viewed them as hidden threats to Great Liang’s foundation, and at some unpredictable moment, mortal danger would descend from the heavens.

Su Hongyu had never imagined Han Qian would still be willing to employ Zhigao and Tian Cheng, such important ministers, to jointly manage the General Staff Office. Only now did her uneasy heart truly settle back from her throat to its proper place.

Chun Shisanniang knew Han Qian and the others still needed to discuss state affairs. After drinking several cups of wine, she tactfully took her leave, informing Su Hongyu before departing that she had opened a Yunchun Brewery in the city and had been in the brewing business for these four or five years.

Su Hongyu also requested to depart first, walking hand in hand with Chun Shisanniang to Yunchun Brewery to reminisce about old times.

Once Chun Shisanniang and Su Hongyu left, only Great Liang’s military ministers remained. Han Qian then discussed Great Liang’s subsequent strategic arrangements.

Although from a traditional perspective, to reunify the realm one should proceed south first then north, Great Liang was not timid about assaulting fortified positions in precipitous terrain and topography—this was precisely where the Liang army’s advantages lay.

Therefore, for subsequent strategic choices, he considered prioritizing recovery of southern Jin and other Hedong regions.

The Yu River flowed through the Hetao Plain south of the Yinshan Mountains into Jiuyuan territory, made a great bend flowing south along the western foot of the Lüliang Mountains, winding thirteen to fourteen hundred li before joining the Wei River at the northeastern foot of Mount Hua, the Western Peak, then turning eastward again.

The thousand-li region east of Lüliang Mountain, north of Mount Xiang and Mount Wangwu, and west of the Taihang Mountain range had historically been called the old Hedong commanderies. The previous dynasty established the Hedong Surveillance Circuit, governing Taiyuan Prefecture and eighteen prefectures including Jin, Lu, and Ze.

Within Hedong’s borders, mountains overlapped, hills undulated, ravines crisscrossed—overall it was two mountains flanking one river valley. The eastern and western sides featured elevated, majestic mountainous and hilly terrain, while the center consisted of a series of pearl-necklace basin depressions with plains distributed within them. Throughout dynasties it had been terrain easy to defend and difficult to attack.

As for the larger situation, Great Liang had currently only taken the Jinzhou and Hejin basin areas in the lower Fenshui River valley. Subsequently, Han Qian planned to first attack southern Jin. Even occupying most of Zezhou and Luzhou’s Shangdang Basin, afterward two routes—one advancing north from Luzhou, one advancing north from the Fenshui River valley—would converge to attack Taiyuan. Taking Taiyuan would allow advancing north to recover Xinzhou and march on Yunzhou.

In other words, advancing northward to directly engage the Mongol forces in a death struggle.

As long as they could expel the Mongols from Hedong, or rather exhaust the elite forces of the Mongol ethnic core, and seize the Taihang Mountain heights from the western flank, then descending from on high to recover Heshuo eastward and Hehuai southward would become relatively much easier. There wouldn’t be so many protracted battles to fight, and it would spare the people of Hehuai and Heshuo regions from suffering the hardships of prolonged warfare.

Li Zhigao nodded. Han Qian’s subsequent strategic choice actually followed the same logic as the previous decision to first break through Zhiguan Ridge into the Fenshui River valley before recovering Guanzhong.

The great victory at Zhiguan Ridge—or rather, even if the Zhiguan Ridge campaign hadn’t yielded such bountiful results, as long as the Liang army’s blade could remain firmly planted in the northern foot of Mount Wangwu, restricting Mongol reinforcements from Hedong to Guanzhong, recovering Guanzhong was destined to pose no difficulty.

Therefore, after the great victory at Zhiguan Ridge, combined with Zhao Mengji leading the Mengzhou forces to submit, perhaps outsiders found their recovery of Guanzhong in less than half a year nothing short of miraculous. Li Zhigao found it completely unsurprising.

The general trend had formed. If they, these commanding generals, still required three to five years to recover Guanzhong, that would constitute incompetence.

The logic was the same. As long as they could drive the Mongols from Hedong, or even capture the strategic town of Yunzhou at the northwestern foot of Yanshan Mountains, forcing Mongol remnant forces to huddle near Yanshan, this would fundamentally weaken and strike at Eastern Liang forces’ confidence and will to stubbornly resist.

Although the traditional strategic choice of first recovering Hehuai would be more stable, that approach was destined to require many protracted battles with enemy forces in the lower Yu River and northern Heshuo region, possibly lasting multiple years.

During this period, Mongol forces in Taiyuan and southern Jin might well have recovered their strength.

If Li Zhigao were making the decision, he would also choose north first, then south.

Especially considering that in recent years, nearly one hundred thousand of Great Liang’s surrendered soldiers came from Taiyuan, southern Jin, and other regions.

Not to mention Tian Weiye’s elite Luzhou troops—the Chengde Army led by Wang Yuankui, in supplementing troops during the Mongol southern invasion, had mainly drawn from Taiyuan, southern Jin, Xinzhou, and other areas.

After the Guanzhong campaign settled, of the forty thousand Chengde Army prisoners they captured, the proportion truly originating from Dingzhou old soldiers was not high.

Only by taking Taiyuan, southern Jin, and Xinzhou could they truly convert these prisoners into elite combatants.

Of course, even with strategic priority on the north, this didn’t mean peaceful coexistence with Eastern Liang forces for the immediate period ahead.

It only meant military resources and troop deployments would be primarily tilted toward the northern front. The eastern front would focus on consolidating existing defensive lines—no major battles, but seizing opportunities to advance east of Yingshui, striving to push the defensive line to along the Wo River within these two years.

Abolishing the Southern Censorate Prefecture and merging it with Chaozhou, Shouchun, Xinyang, Haozhou, and Chuzhou prefectures into the newly established Huainan Province—the main current task remained maintaining the status quo with the Chu court.

Besides appointing Gao Shao and Yang Qin as Commissioner and Inspector General, Lin Haizheng would serve as Deputy Commissioner commanding the Huainan Field Army as Chief Commander, with main infantry brigades, naval brigades, and reserve brigades totaling thirty thousand troops garrisoning Huainan.

The Yingshui line defense from Xingyang to Xiacai and the western Ying prefectures along with Nanyang, Yunyang, and Junzhou prefectures would be placed into the newly established Henan Province, with Han Yuanqi and Guo Rong as Commissioner and Inspector General. Zhao Wuji would serve as Deputy Commissioner concurrently commanding Henan Field Army as Chief Commander, organizing main infantry brigades, naval brigades, cavalry brigades, and reserve brigades totaling fifty thousand troops garrisoning Henan.

This also meant that besides necessary garrison forces for Luoyang, Great Liang could deploy one hundred sixty to one hundred eighty thousand troops on the northern front by year’s end.

Besides the currently organized Pingyang Field Army and Taiyue Field Army, Han Qian also planned to place Kong Xirong in charge, using troops currently transitioning from the Guanzhong battlefield to Hejin as the core, to organize the First Central Field Army. Han Donghu would lead, using Xingyang and Mengzhou forces as the core, to organize the Second Central Field Army.

In other words, besides the Pingyang Field Army mainly garrisoning Pingyang Prefecture and watching Taiyuan enemy forces, after completing preliminary war preparations, Great Liang could mobilize up to three major field armies, totaling including sixty thousand elite combatants, sixty thousand reserve brigade and supply auxiliary troops, to attack Zelu prefectures from two main directions.

The Mongol forces absolutely could not easily abandon occupying the Shangdang Basin of Zelu prefectures in southern Jin. Of the Eight Passes of Taihang, three connected to the southern Jin basin. If Mongol forces lost southern Jin, or if the southern Jin basin fell under Great Liang’s control, Great Liang forces could not only attack Taiyuan from an additional direction, but also use Taihang Pass, Bai Pass, and Fukou Pass to link with Mengzhou and threaten Weizhou controlled by Eastern Liang forces as well as the Weibo region.

Currently, Eastern Liang forces mainly connected with southern Jin Mongol forces through Weizhou’s Bai Pass and with Heshuo Mongol forces through the Weibo region, forming a unified front. However, if Great Liang forces captured southern Jin and extended their blade through Fukou Pass into southern Heshuo’s Weibo territory, they could sever the connection between Mongol forces and Eastern Liang forces, forcing them into isolated combat situations.

If Mongol forces defended southern Jin, they might be more cautious, no longer suffering catastrophic situations like having camps outside cities ambushed during heavy fog. They might rely on the defensive advantages of Zelu city fortifications for stubborn resistance. But the question remained: were Mongol forces, poor at defending cities, qualified to fight a war of attrition with Great Liang forces in southern Jin?

Even if Mongol forces could barely hold several cities, they would lose control over the broader countryside and mountain regions.

For Great Liang in the early stages of the campaign, even if only to better assimilate prisoners originating from Zelu prefectures, they should first contest control of countryside regions outside cities, then directly establish local governance from the township level, forming a pattern of countryside encircling cities.

The difficulty in traditional siege warfare upon entering enemy territory, besides collecting and transporting grain and other supplies, more importantly lay in insufficient control over peripheral areas, making them vulnerable to flank attacks by enemy reinforcement forces.

However, if Great Liang could firmly control peripheral areas of Zelu and other regions in the early stages, they would directly resolve two major difficulties of conducting siege warfare in enemy territory.

Thinking this through, the entire strategic arrangement for attacking southern Jin during autumn and winter became clear.

Li Zhigao noticed Han Qian hadn’t directly sent Kong Xirong to Hejin to begin organizing the First Central Field Army, but leisurely traveled with them back to Luoyang for this gathering. He guessed Han Qian might possibly appoint Kong Xirong as chief commander for attacking southern Jin. Accordingly, he held nothing back, directly expressing all his insights regarding the southern Jin campaign.

“Zhigao, you and Wen Bo can be called Great Liang’s spear and shield. If I hadn’t firmly decided to keep you in Luoyang to assist me in managing military and political affairs, I would have dispatched you to Mengzhou!” Han Qian laughed heartily.

Li Zhigao didn’t believe his insights were truly so unique, or rather he didn’t believe he could think what others couldn’t—regarding the Great Liang mighty forces that Han Qian had personally created, probably no one understood their advantages and combat characteristics better than Han Qian himself. On more levels, he and Tian Cheng, who would soon be transferred to Luoyang, could only be competent executors.

This was perhaps the sorrow of being a general yet living in Han Qian’s era, was it not?

Forever without the possibility of becoming a world-renowned famous general.