Seeing Han Qian’s gaze turn toward them, although the vast majority of the many newly recruited scouts were veteran soldiers accustomed to bloodshed, thinking of the four lax colleagues who had been hacked to death with random blade strikes in the manor’s north courtyard a few days ago, they still felt tremendous pressure.
At this time, even the junior agents recruited into the Intelligence Section might not know the true nature of the Secret Bureau’s Left Bureau, let alone the craftsmen incorporated into the Workshops Section. But the elite scouts of the Military Section had been summoned by Han Qian on the very night the Third Prince inspected the garrison military headquarters and told of the Secret Bureau Left Bureau’s establishment and preparatory mission.
Although among these newly recruited scouts, quite a few were very clear in their hearts that the Third Prince really wasn’t a good object of loyalty, for them there was fundamentally no room for choice.
After Han Qian promulgated the Military Section’s reward and punishment regulations, he had Zhao Wuji, Lin Zongjing, Guo Nu’er, and others lead most of the Military Section scouts westward. The fifteen or sixteen people now gathered at this nunnery were still only part of this westward-traveling force.
Although this group had completely no time to receive strict instruction and training, they were fully clear about the purpose of this journey and clear about the consequences of failure in this mission. Understanding how severe the consequences would be, they dared not harbor any laxness.
“Wildcat, you say a few words.” Several scouts urged a lean and wiry man to speak a few words in response to Han Qian’s inquiry.
Wildcat was just that lean man’s nickname. His real name was Gao Shao, just over thirty years old, from Liyang County in Jingzhao Prefecture. Previously in Yuezhou Military Governor Dong Chang’s army, he had been a roaming patrol scout, skilled in mounted archery with the ability to scale walls and leap across roofs—hence his nickname Wildcat.
After Dong Chang’s defeat and death, though Gao Shao was released back to his hometown as a prisoner of war, his fields and house were all confiscated. His wife contracted the disease, and the whole family—unable even to become tenant farmers—were driven out of the estate by their former master, only to become refugees.
Although they had been together for over half a month, Zhao Wuji, Lin Zongjing, Guo Nu’er, and the others all displayed composure and maturity beyond their years. When lurking in the wilds and scouting enemy situations, they were all methodical. But they were still too young—in such a short time, they were still insufficient to make the other veteran soldiers trust them enough to entrust their lives.
They were merely intimidated by Han Qian’s high-pressure deterrence, no longer daring to casually disobey or neglect Zhao Wuji and the others.
Although these newly recruited scouts had rather mixed ancestral homes, they had long since inquired clearly among themselves about who was more capable and who had higher reputation and status in the martial world. In such critical operations, they were more inclined to listen to the opinions of people they trusted.
Han Qian then looked toward Wildcat Gao Shao. He noticed that Gao Shao glanced at Tian Cheng, and only after seeing Tian Cheng remain silent did he settle his thoughts to organize his words.
Han Qian could see that among this group of newly recruited scouts, Gao Shao held more respect for Tian Cheng’s position and reputation.
“Sir said that Zhao Mingting’s conspiracy is to prevent the Old Master from going to Xuzhou to take up his post, but Zhao Mingting’s conspiracy doesn’t dare to be public. The greatest possibility is only that he dispatched secret agents to watch the Old Master’s whereabouts, then notify river bandits and mountain brigands who are in collusion with them to strike,” Wildcat Gao Shao said after pondering for a moment. “Chizhou is the Great Uncle’s territory. Although the Great Uncle and the Old Master aren’t very harmonious, Chizhou shouldn’t be the place Zhao Mingting and his people choose to act. If we move now to capture the secret agents Zhao Mingting dispatched, after alerting the enemy, trying to figure out their deployment west of Chizhou will become difficult.”
Han Qian nodded, secretly feeling that people like Gao Shao and Tian Cheng indeed had more seasoned experience and could consider matters more deeply. He said, “Wuji, Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, Xiyao—the four of you follow me now. The ship my father is aboard will set out again at night and should appear below Jiangzhou city tomorrow. Before then, we must reach Jiangzhou!”
West of Jiangzhou lay Ezhou.
And west of Ezhou lay Yuezhou and Tanzhou, which were the territory of Tanzhou Military Governor Ma Yin.
Although Ma Yin, before the fourth year of Tianyou, had suffered great damage to his strength due to an internal rebellion and had no choice but to pledge allegiance to Emperor Tianyou with his whole clan in order to suppress the rebellion and continue to firmly sit in the position of Tanzhou Military Governor—and although Ma Yin in recent years had always shown deference to Jinling—he at least still maintained a semi-independent position and wouldn’t easily let the Bureau of Military Affairs’ Department of Operations’ influence penetrate recklessly.
Additionally, Han Qian believed Ma Yin inwardly also didn’t hope Jinling would strengthen control over the prefectures and counties south and west of Tanzhou. Perhaps deep in his heart he even more hoped Great Chu would fall into chaos, thereby allowing him to escape Jinling’s control. But Ma Yin was an extremely careful and cautious person. Perhaps it was precisely because of these shameful thoughts and ideas that he even less wanted to attract Emperor Tianyou’s attention. Thus he should even less want something like the Xuzhou Prefectural Governor being assassinated en route to his post to happen in Tanzhou’s territory.
Therefore, the locations Han Qian was most worried about were actually Jiangzhou and Ezhou.
What Han Qian could currently confirm was that Zhao Mingting had definitely dispatched men with intent to harm them, and the men Zhao Mingting dispatched weren’t many. There was reason to believe Zhao Mingting would most likely contact river bandits and lake brigands between Jiangzhou and Ezhou to strike at the ship his father was aboard.
Han Qian’s sudden change of the sailboat’s itinerary aimed to disrupt the footing of the personnel Zhao Mingting had dispatched, so that they could seize on flaws and discover their deployment between Jiangzhou and Ezhou.
Han Qian redistributed the personnel, having Guo Nu’er and Lin Zongjing lead two groups slowly from Zhide toward Jiangzhou, while he, along with Zhao Wuji, Gao Shao, Tian Cheng, and Ji Xiyao, rode fast horses through the mountainous area south of Zhide County galloping toward Jiangzhou city.
Although from western Zhide County to Jiangzhou city by water route was only just over one hundred fifty li, Han Qian and his group needed to circumvent the lookouts Zhao Mingting might have stationed between Jiangzhou and Zhide County, detouring through the southern mountainous area—walking nearly double the distance—to reach the outskirts of Old Dragon’s Mouth west of Hukou County, which belonged to Jiangzhou, by dawn.
Poyang Lake—receiving the Gan, Fu, Xin, Rao, and other rivers, stretching three hundred li north to south and one hundred fifty li east to west—connected to the Yangtze west of Hukou County. Old Dragon’s Mouth was located on the western shore of the lake mouth, facing Jiangzhou city on the eastern shore across the lake.
For his father Han Daoxun to take up his post in Xuzhou, passing through Jiangzhou they could continue westward, then after reaching Yuezhou turn south to enter the Dongting Lake water system. They could also turn directly south at Hukou County, entering Poyang Lake, landing at Hongzhou, then taking the land route over the Luoxiao mountain range to enter Jingchu territory.
Though this route was more arduous, it was also a shortcut to taking up the post in Xuzhou.
Han Qian thought that if Zhao Mingting’s side guarded against his father possibly changing the itinerary temporarily, they should station people east of Jiangzhou city to watch the lake mouth where Poyang Lake entered the river.
Old Dragon’s Mouth was a mountain ridge extending from land into the lake beach west of Hukou County. Though only a dozen zhang high, it extended about two li deep into the turbid waters where river and lake met—a strategic point controlling the lake mouth. In earlier years when the Jingchu lords competed for supremacy, Old Dragon’s Mouth had watchtowers, sentry fortifications, and other military structures. Currently this place already belonged to Great Chu’s heartland. Although Old Dragon’s Mouth had no garrison troops, the watchtowers and other buildings were all preserved, becoming famous historic sites.
Han Qian didn’t directly ascend Old Dragon’s Mouth, but instead hid in a hill on the outskirts, watching the direction of Old Dragon’s Mouth.
Han Qian had agreed with his father that in another half-hour the sailboat would enter Poyang Lake from the west side of Old Dragon’s Mouth. This way they could clearly see whether there were any secret agents dispatched by Zhao Mingting spying in this vicinity.
Keeping watch on the secret agent scouts Zhao Mingting had dispatched to Jiangzhou was Han Qian and his group’s objective.
Three hundred li in half a day and one night—all four horses were run to exhaustion. After slaughtering them directly, they pushed them into a ravine filled with dead branches and fallen leaves, unable to spare any regret.
Gao Shao and Tian Cheng were both valiant generals from the military who could endure hardship. Ji Xiyao and Zhao Wuji both came from impoverished backgrounds. But in their impression, the one who should be unable to endure should be the pampered, arrogant, and cruelly harsh-to-subordinates ministerial son Han Qian, whose daily task was merely to accompany the Third Prince in reading. At this moment he was surprisingly only slightly fatigued.
This actually secretly shocked Gao Shao and Tian Cheng.
Han Qian and his group hid in a thicket. He pulled out a monocular telescope from his bosom, extended it, and looked toward Old Dragon’s Mouth. The two vague shadowy figures atop Old Dragon’s Mouth in the distance immediately became clear.
Though Old Dragon’s Mouth was a famous scenic spot in the vicinity, it was currently just dawn. People ascending Old Dragon’s Mouth so early naturally had suspicious aspects.
After observing for a moment, Han Qian passed the monocular telescope to Zhao Wuji and the others: “You take turns watching these two people. Remember to rotate rests.”
After galloping through the night, even people of iron would be quite fatigued.
At dawn it had rained at the lake mouth. Unable to find a dry place in the wilderness, Han Qian spread half a piece of oilcloth under a tree and rested with his eyes closed leaning against the tree roots. He also instructed Zhao Wuji and the others to definitely rotate rests to conserve their energy to deal with the changes ahead.
After Zhao Wuji confirmed the two target figures, he taught Gao Shao, Tian Cheng, and Ji Xiyao how to use the monocular telescope to see distant objects.
The half-foot-long copper tube, when pulled open, was a foot long. Held up to the eye to look outward, trees four or five li away appeared before one’s eyes. One could even vaguely see the facial contours of those two people atop Old Dragon’s Mouth.
Tian Cheng and Gao Shao had never before seen such a rare treasure. Without this device, they would have had to lurk at the foot of Old Dragon’s Mouth to see those two people’s faces clearly. And in that case, not being detected by the two people commanding the high ground would be extremely difficult.
“Where did you find this treasure? How is it so wonderful?” Tian Cheng had been quite low-key since being recruited into the Left Bureau’s Military Section. At this moment, seeing Han Qian curled up under the tree actually starting to snore faintly, he couldn’t help asking Zhao Wuji.
“How could such an item be found anywhere? This was merely made by Young Master in his leisure time,” Zhao Wuji said.
“Is there only one piece of such an excellent useful tool?” Tian Cheng hadn’t seen Zhao Wuji and other close confidants of Han Qian carrying monocular telescopes, so he asked curiously.
On clear days this item could actually see faces clearly from seven or eight li away. For scouts gathering enemy intelligence, this was truly too useful. In Tian Cheng’s view, even if such a thing was worth a dozen cakes of gold, they should make several more to distribute to key personnel.
“If it were truly so easy to make, would Young Master still need to personally take action?”
The difficulty with monocular telescopes lay in grinding the lenses. The current age had no precision instruments—one could only rely on experience, grinding and calibrating bit by bit. Who knew how much crystal was wasted in the process? In half a year of using his leisure time, Han Qian had only managed to grind out two usable lenses. It wasn’t that Han Qian didn’t know this device was useful and was stingy about not equipping Zhao Wuji and the others with them.
Zhao Wuji didn’t talk much. After a brief explanation, he was unwilling to say more. He had Gao Shao and Tian Cheng take turns watching the top of Old Dragon’s Mouth, had Ji Xiyao climb the tree to watch the entrances and exits of this forest area where they were located, while he himself placed a composite wood bow across his body and also sat under the tree with his eyes closed to rest.
Tian Cheng and Gao Shao exchanged glances, then looked at Han Qian who had already started snoring. They hadn’t expected Han Qian to fall asleep so quickly in such a short time—this was something many elite scouts usually couldn’t do.
Previously when Han Qian returned to the garrison military headquarters, to avoid suspicion and to avoid his father being watched too early, he mainly handled affairs in the manor. He had retainer children contact the diseased refugees while he seldom contacted the soldier households in the garrison camps. After the lime kiln workshops achieved stable operations, he mainly left Fan Xicheng and others in charge.
For quite a long period of time, among the soldier households with some sources of information, the reputations of Han Daoxun who recruited diseased refugees and Han Qian who was unlearned and unskilled were truly not very good.
However, people like Tian Cheng and Gao Shao could also see the extraordinary in the appointments of the father and son Han Daoxun and Han Qian. It was just that their time in contact with Han Qian was truly too short. Their understanding of the “Young Master” in Zhao Wuji and the others’ eyes, of Han Qian who held power over their lives and deaths, was still too limited.