The Prince of Langya deeply believed in the Heaven’s mandate Guo Pu had divined. So as soon as he sent Guo Pu off, he summoned his ministers. When mentioning the young emperor of the Central Plains, his face was full of tears.
Except for a few trusted confidants, no one knew the Prince’s thoughts. They assumed he was worried the young emperor would suffer under Zhao Hanzhang’s control. Considering the new emperor was only ten years old, he was indeed worthy of tears, so everyone cried along.
After crying, someone suggested the Prince go to the Central Plains. He was imperial clan and advanced in years—at this time, he should be by the new emperor’s side watching Zhao Hanzhang. If Zhao Hanzhang treated the young emperor badly, he could stand up for him.
The Prince of Langya: …Thank you, but I don’t want to go die.
So he shed tears without speaking.
Then someone suggested bringing the young emperor over. The reasoning was quite proper: “The north is full of calamities. Why not move the capital to Jianye? Since the new emperor is young and needs time to grow, Jiangdong is stable and suitable for the new emperor.”
The Prince of Langya raised his tear-filled eyes.
This had potential! So the official who made this suggestion persisted, extolling the benefits and necessity of moving the capital to Jianye.
The Prince listened carefully, nodding from time to time.
Wang Dun and Wang Dao sat to one side. Wang Dao remained silent throughout with lowered eyes, while Wang Dun looked serious, though careful observation revealed a hint of mockery at his lips that even he hadn’t noticed.
Within two days, news of Guo Pu’s escape arrived, but the Prince of Langya remained undeterred.
Fortune favored the bold. He had already offended Zhao Hanzhang anyway—now he was just offending her more. If he didn’t act now while she was occupied with external enemies, once she defeated the Xiongnu and turned to deal with him, would he still have a chance at survival?
So Jiangdong and Jiangnan began experiencing auspicious omens and strange portents.
First, due to drought, a stone monkey emerged from the Huai River with an inscription: “The Ziwei Star has shifted, the realm suffers great drought, Heaven’s mandate is with me!”
Then a farmer in Linhuai discovered something resembling a monkey while plowing—a taisui fungus that seemed to flash with golden light. The farmer didn’t dare keep it and immediately submitted it to the county office, which presented it to the Prince of Langya.
Finally, someone captured a white monkey in Yunmeng Marsh. Not only was it snow-white like a holy creature, it could supposedly speak human words. According to it, it had descended from heaven to assist the sage ruler.
The merchant who unexpectedly obtained the white monkey felt the creature too sacred to keep and also presented it to the Prince of Langya.
Upon hearing this, Wang Siniang was furious. “What white monkey nonsense! What merchant nonsense! Yunmeng Marsh is my territory—the Prince of Langya’s auspicious omen appeared in my Jingzhou? Even if it’s an auspicious omen, it’s auspicious for me, for Hanzhang. What does it have to do with him?”
Wang Xuan, who had withdrawn from the battlefield to support Wang Siniang, couldn’t help but say upon hearing her constant profanity, “Be more refined.”
But he only said that one sentence before continuing, “With so many strange portents suddenly appearing, the Prince of Langya has probably harbored improper thoughts. We must be careful.”
Wang Xuan said, “Write to warn the Governor. If the Prince truly wants to seize power, Jingzhou will bear the brunt. This is Jiangdong’s gateway. I’m afraid there will be a fierce battle here.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Yifeng’s expression grew solemn. He decided to begin war preparations that very day. Zhao Hanzhang was currently occupied by the Xiongnu, so Jingzhou had to defend itself first.
While Jiangdong was engaging in feudal superstition, Zhao Hanzhang had already ordered all armies to recover all lost territory in Yanzhou and Sizhou. More than half of Jizhou and Bingzhou had also been reclaimed.
The Zhao family army and Shi’s army cooperated, forcing the Xiongnu to retreat. Part of their forces had already withdrawn to Youzhou. Wang Jun, who had been diligently undermining Liu Kun, discovered the Xiongnu being driven into Youzhou by Zhao Hanzhang and his expression changed drastically. He hurried back to try to block the Xiongnu.
Misfortunes never come singly. At this time, Zu Ti led troops into Qingzhou, taking the imperial edict and official seal given by Zhao Hanzhang to directly take over Qingzhou.
Wang Jun had been appointed Governor of Qingzhou together with Youzhou.
Because Qingzhou bordered Yanzhou, it had also been affected when the Xiongnu attacked in force, losing over a dozen cities.
During this time, the Xiongnu were aggressive, and with Emperor Jin and many court ministers captured, Wang Jun completely ignored Zhao Hanzhang’s order to aid the king and deliberately avoided Xiongnu forces to seize territory from Liu Kun in Jizhou.
What was his scheme? Who didn’t know?
He simply wanted Zhao Hanzhang and the Xiongnu to exhaust each other while he quietly expanded his territory. When the dust settled, he would reap the benefits.
But how could he have anticipated that Zhao Hanzhang could attack Pingyang City, kill Liu Yuan (Zhao Hanzhang: I didn’t), and recruit Shi Lei? The Xiongnu experienced internal strife and changed emperors twice in succession, leading to battlefield defeats and successive retreats.
Logically, they should retreat to Bingzhou and from there beyond the passes. Instead, they retreated to Youzhou.
Once the Xiongnu entered Youzhou, Beigong Chun planted himself at that chokepoint and inadvertently cut off communication between Youzhou and Qingzhou. Zu Ti took this opportunity to enter Qingzhou.
He reclaimed those dozen-plus cities occupied by the Xiongnu. In this battle, he extensively used penetration tactics, making it impossible for Xiongnu forces to coordinate head and tail, with even information transmission disrupted. Under such crisis, their fighting spirit was infinitely compressed. Moreover, the Xiongnu weren’t good at defending cities. This battle was fought smoothly with almost no resistance before territory was recovered.
What remained were Youzhou’s troops.
Wang Jun wasn’t very good to his subordinates. This force left in Qingzhou received almost no support from Youzhou.
Wang Jun would only remotely order them to hold Qingzhou, hold Qingzhou, or have them collect taxes to send to Youzhou. So when they saw the imperial edict and seal in Zu Ti’s hands, they barely hesitated before kneeling to acknowledge Zu Ti as the new Governor of Qingzhou.
Following Zhao Hanzhang’s orders, Zu Ti incorporated these men into the army and reorganized them, identifying many old soldiers and wounded veterans.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Hanzhang immediately issued an order for Zu Ti to discharge these old and wounded soldiers.
Zhao Hanzhang even personally wrote a letter to these veterans. Since they were illiterate, she had the army’s advisor read it to them.
“…You have served in the military for at least twenty, at most over thirty years. When you left home, you were lively youths; now your hair is white with frost. I know you long for home and family. I too wish to send you home, but Zhao’s coffers are currently empty. I truly cannot afford your travel expenses and settlement funds, so I must temporarily impose on you all.”
The advisor turned a page and continued loudly: “For now, I can only discharge you and grant each person nearby fields and land. All veterans shall be exempt from three years of corvée labor. Wounded and old soldiers have priority for employment in workshops. When I, Zhao, have money in the future, as long as you still wish to return home, I will certainly raise travel funds to send you back to reunite with your families!”
The advisor rolled up the letter and declared loudly: “You’ve all heard the Governor’s words, right? Starting today, all those who have served twenty years or are over forty years old and wish to be discharged, or who are missing limbs, can register. Every squad and unit must conduct proper statistics. Every soldier meeting the conditions must be asked. Did you hear me?”