The tumultuous warfare in Jiangnan made Zhao Shen’s heart surge with emotion across half of China, wishing he could immediately fly to Jiangnan to get involved.

But Zhao Hanzhang didn’t let him go.

After bringing it up twice with no agreement from Zhao Hanzhang, Zhao Shen suppressed his feelings. Things never go beyond three times—he needed to save his third opportunity for when Zhao Hanzhang deemed it appropriate.

He needed military achievements to secure his position as Vice Minister of War. Both he and Zhao Hanzhang understood this in their hearts.

Pushing down his desire for glory, Zhao Shen’s excited brain began racing rapidly. He grasped the key point and asked Zhao Hanzhang, “I’ve heard of Wang Dun. I’m told he’s expansive, decisive, and resolute. How can you be certain he’ll cease warfare when Jingzhou stops fighting, rather than decisively taking Jingzhou?”

Honestly, Yangzhou’s military strength exceeded Jingzhou’s. Wang Dun was also very capable. If it were only a conflict between the two provinces, it wouldn’t be the current situation of Wang Dun’s retreat.

Zhao Hanzhang stationed troops in Yiyang Commandery to back up Jingzhou, while Wang Dun’s backer, the Prince of Langya, was desperately pulling his legs, not only refusing support but wanting to seize his military authority. So he had to divide his forces—on one hand defending against Zhao Hanzhang attacking from the north, on the other guarding against the Prince of Langya mobilizing forces from Jiangnan and Guangzhou to attack him.

Thinking about it this way, Wang Dun was truly pitiful—besieged on all sides.

No wonder he harbored rebellious thoughts, wanting to completely replace the Prince of Langya as King of Jiangnan. To defend against external threats, one must first secure internal stability. If Jiangnan and the north must eventually have a decisive battle, Jiangnan needed to unify internally first to have any chance of victory. This time when they mobilized forces for major Yellow River repairs was indeed an opportunity.

Zhao Hanzhang said, “Being decisive doesn’t mean being foolish. Without probing my true strength, he won’t dare act rashly. However, nothing is absolute. I also fear he might act impulsively, so I’ve added twenty thousand more troops to Yuzhou in Yiyang Commandery, ready to support Jiangxia Commandery at any time.”

Jiangxia Commandery belonged to Jingzhou and was on Wang Dun’s western attack route.

Zhao Hanzhang sighed. “Actually, this battle could be fought. Wang Dun gave us an excellent pretext. Whether we fight when he strikes first or if we directly attack now, our justification is legitimate.”

Plundering tax grain—they all knew it was Wang Dun’s probe, but they could completely announce to the realm this was ordered by the Prince of Langya through Wang Dun. Then when they advanced south, it would be justifiable.

It was just that crossing the river for this battle would result in heavy casualties. Plus their army provisions weren’t yet prepared. To keep the soldiers alive, she could only order them to forcibly requisition military grain on the spot. By then, the court would likely lose the hearts of the people in Jiangnan.

Since the war with Wu, Jiangnan hadn’t fought any major wars. Normally there were at most some conflicts between provinces and commanderies competing for power and territory, with casualties never large.

Unlike the north where extermination of entire clans and city massacres were common in major campaigns, Jiangnan’s aristocratic families and common people were overall stable. If her arrival brought warfare and family destruction, no matter how good her reputation or how much she advocated fighting for the people, they would still resent and blame her.

Jiangnan was the former territory of Wu and already had friction with the Central Plains. After such events, it would be even harder to heal their hearts. Wanting them to truly submit would become more difficult, and without true submission, Jiangnan would eventually descend into chaos again.

So for long-term planning, she was willing to wait longer, willing to expend more effort scheming for this land.

Zhao Hanzhang reminded Zhao Shen that when he truly led troops south in the future, he should also remember this point.

“Counting the time, Liu Kun should have received the letter by now, right?” Wang Xuan’s progress was very smooth. Yuan Li also said that among Jiangnan’s aristocratic families, quite a few were inclined to return home. Even local Jiangnan aristocrats were interested in courting Censor Lu and the Heavenly Envoys to cross the river and participate in the recruitment examinations.

Northern aristocratic families actually still held prejudices against the recruitment examinations. Each year, not many sons of prominent families participated. Students from humble origins and lower-ranked scholar families occupied most of the positions.

This was because the recruitment examinations didn’t distinguish by status—anyone with ability could participate. For high-ranking families, taking exams together with people whose family backgrounds were far inferior to theirs and competing for positions was very shameful.

But for Jiangnan’s aristocrats, this was an excellent opportunity. Due to their adversarial relationship during the Three Kingdoms period, after Wu was unified by Jin, they rarely gained entry to the court or participated in political discourse.

Did they not want to? No—it was because their paths into the court were choked off by northern aristocratic families, and advancement channels were also occupied by them.

Why did they support the Prince of Langya?

Wasn’t it because Wang Dao and the Prince of Langya made political promises to them, and only then did they gradually accept the Prince of Langya’s rule over Jiangnan?

Now Zhao Hanzhang was offering them opportunities to participate in governance through another method.

With the Prince of Langya’s declining fortunes now evident, the aristocratic families skilled at reading the times naturally leaned toward Zhao Hanzhang.

She hoped Liu Kun would also be so astute in reading the times. Though Zhao Shen admired Liu Kun’s loyalty and righteousness, precisely because of his loyalty and righteousness, he expressed doubt. “Will Liu Kun agree?”

Zhao Hanzhang glanced at him. “Why wouldn’t he agree? This is unifying the realm for His Majesty—an achievement that will be remembered through the ages. What reason does Liu Kun have to refuse?”

Zhao Shen opened his mouth but couldn’t produce a rebuttal for a long while. Eventually he found one reason: “Liu Kun and Wang Dun are good friends.”

“He’s also good friends with Wang Cheng, and even better friends with Zu Ti,” Zhao Hanzhang waved her hand. “In the face of national interests, don’t speak of petty loyalties. I believe Liu Kun will agree. If you don’t believe me, let’s make a wager.”

Zhao Shen perked up immediately upon hearing this and asked, “Wager what?”

“If I win, you must quickly fix up your house and move there. Stop living at Seventh Grand-Uncle’s residence.”

Zhao Shen couldn’t help but laugh when he heard this. “Did Seventh Grand-Uncle come to bother you again?”

After receiving confirmation, he became even more delighted, dancing with joy. “So it seems Seventh Grand-Uncle is quite annoyed with me now.”

That was truly excellent! When dealing with enemies, as long as they were unhappy, he was happy.

Zhao Hanzhang really didn’t want to arbitrate their disputes anymore and decided to solve it at the root. “If I win, you must move out of Seventh Grand-Uncle’s residence before the New Year.”

“There’s not much time before New Year. Renovating a house requires at least two months, and you haven’t even received Liu Kun’s reply yet. There isn’t enough time,” Zhao Shen took out a turtle shell and divined, the result not very favorable for him, but he still wagered. “If I lose, I’ll move out before the Lantern Festival.”

Zhao Hanzhang also understood the Book of Changes. Seeing at a glance it was an unfavorable divination, she couldn’t help asking, “What did you divine?”

“Whether I’ll lose.”

Zhao Hanzhang: “…You’re wagering on an unfavorable divination?”

Zhao Shen looked up and grinned at her. “Wagering!”

Seventh Grand-Uncle was right—Zhao Shen’s gambling nature was indeed strong. No wonder he could anger Seventh Grand-Uncle to that extent. Both father and son were cut from the same cloth.

With the wager set, Zhao Shen brought the topic back. “Are you certain Wang Dun will first deal with the Prince of Langya before coming after you?”

“Yuan Li discovered that Wang Dun twice secretly suggested attacking northward to the Prince of Langya, who refused both times. Wang Dao also expressed opposition. I’ve met Wang Dun—he’s someone who appears expansive and open on the outside but is deeply scheming and skilled at endurance,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “But that was before.”

“When he was leading Qingzhou’s army to pledge himself to the Prince of Langya and reached midway, feeling that his wife Princess Xiangcheng and the princess’s maids were burdensome, he abandoned Princess Xiangcheng and gave all the maids the princess had brought to his accompanying soldiers.”

Zhao Shen’s mouth fell open. He didn’t know about this.

Zhao Hanzhang smiled at him. He naturally didn’t know, because it happened last year—only a year and a half ago. Since Wang Dun had erased many traces, not many people knew. But she thought Wang Dao must certainly know.