This rebellion continued in Luxian for two days. Though Liu Yi and his group fled, they didn’t run very far, because Beigong Chun led troops directly into Youzhou, taking three cities in succession and approaching Luxian.
After Liu Cong issued a proclamation saying he had quelled the rebellion, temporarily stabilizing popular sentiment, he returned to hear that Empress Dowager Shan had disappeared. He was immediately furious and sent people to conduct a massive search throughout the palace and city, but they couldn’t find her.
Liu Cong was so angry his chest heaved. Empress Dowager Shan was crucial, not only because of some unspeakable thoughts he had, but also because of her identity. Having her in hand, he could not only threaten Liu Yi but also threaten the Di tribe.
She had always been timid and obedient—how dare she escape?
A scout ran in panicked to report: “Your Majesty, the Western Liang Army and Zhao Family Army have entered Yan Kingdom, taking three of our cities in succession. The Western Liang Army has approached Luxian.”
Liu Cong clenched his fists. A minister beside him couldn’t care about giving offense and quickly asked: “Your Majesty, how many men do we still have?”
When counting the defecting tribes and population earlier, Liu Cong hadn’t brought them along and hadn’t made the numbers public.
Liu Cong kept a dark face and remained silent for quite a while before speaking.
Liu Yi was a legitimate son to begin with, and many people supported him. Adding the forces in the hands of Liu Huanle and others, quite a few people had left with him.
Even from the one hundred twenty thousand strong army Liu Cong had always controlled, forty thousand had fled. Some went with Liu Yi, while others fled on their own taking advantage of the chaos.
This half year of warfare had left them very exhausted, with no hope in sight whatsoever.
Before this, it wasn’t that they hadn’t fought longer wars, but none had been like this—retreating step by step, each time taking them farther from their homes, each day showing no hope.
War-weariness permeated the Xiongnu internally. Everyone just wanted the fighting to stop—stop!
War no longer brought them glory and wealth, but defeat and casualties, separation from families.
Imperial Censor Chen Yuanda keenly perceived this change. He couldn’t help saying: “Your Majesty, morale is scattered, while the Zhao Family Army is at the height of their momentum. Why don’t we temporarily retreat and withdraw to Shanggu Jun.”
Shanggu Jun—half south of the Great Wall, half north of the Great Wall. Was he telling him to stay in the south or the north?
If in the north, wouldn’t that mean going beyond the Great Wall, remaining outside the frontier?
What difference was there from national destruction?
Liu Cong’s breathing became rapid. At this moment he couldn’t bear to hear suggestions of retreat. Wouldn’t this be saying it was better to surrender to Zhao Hanzhang?
Liu Cong said coldly: “Disrupting military morale! Even if Wang Jun is captured, he still has two sons outside. Youzhou currently has multiple forces present—this is the perfect time to fish in muddy waters. How easy could it be for Zhao Hanzhang to focus entirely on dealing with me? At this time you disrupt morale—what are your intentions?”
He said to those around him: “It seems Chen Yuanda misses his homeland, so he’s secretly helping Zhao Hanzhang.”
Having said this, he had people drag Chen Yuanda away for execution.
This move shocked and intimidated hearts. No one else dared mention the army retreating.
Liu Cong said to those around him: “Youzhou is full of disaster victims, corpses lie for hundreds of miles. She wants to fight both us and Wang Jun—her provisions supply is insufficient. As long as we hold Yan Kingdom, before long, when their provisions run short, they’ll have no choice but to withdraw.”
But actually, Zhao Hanzhang’s attack on Wang Jun went unexpectedly smoothly. Shi Lei didn’t kill Wang Jun, but dragged him around everywhere. At each city they reached, he would publicly lecture about his moral failings at the city gate, then raise Zhao Hanzhang’s banner, and the city—just opened and surrendered.
Not only officials, but even the common people in the cities lined the roads to welcome them. Shi Lei took the opportunity to raise his own banner high, right next to the character for “Zhao.”
The “Shi” and “Zhao” banners stood side by side. Except for a few officials, no one noticed Shi Lei’s little scheme.
Shi Lei rapidly took cities. On the other side, Zhao Hanzhang and Tuoba Yilu together attacked and seized territory, quickly recovering Jizhou and Youzhou. On the road they encountered Wang Jun’s eldest son Wang Zhou coming to rescue him. Forget about Liu Kun—Zhao Hanzhang didn’t even charge into battle. Tuoba Yilu led the Xianbei army and defeated the fifty thousand men they brought. After confiscating horses, provisions, and weapons, he wanted to slaughter the camp but was stopped by Zhao Hanzhang.
Zhao Hanzhang put all the surrendered soldiers into a prisoner camp.
Tuoba Yilu frowned. “Third Sister, we’re already short on provisions. Taking so many prisoners—won’t they compete with our soldiers for food?”
Zhao Hanzhang smiled: “These prisoners can serve as labor. We just captured their provisions. Right now we only need to give a little bit to keep them from starving to death, and we gain laborers. Why not?”
Tuoba Yilu said: “Managing these people is too difficult. If not managed well, they’ll cause chaos in the army. To manage them well requires many talented people.”
Tuoba Yilu’s army didn’t have that many such talented people.
But Zhao Hanzhang did! She smiled: “Leave this matter to me. I definitely won’t trouble Elder Brother with worries.”
Having said this, she had Fu Tinghan lead people to take over the prisoner camp.
The Zhao Family Army had strict systems. A squad was ten people, ten squads made one team, ten teams made one battalion…
Within a squad there were both a primary and deputy squad leader. Veterans led new recruits. Everyone in the army, from generals down to soldiers, had to learn reading and arithmetic. Of course, different ranks learned different things.
Things like military strategy could only be studied by captains and above—commandants, generals, and so forth. But ordinary soldiers knew basic characters and arithmetic.
Moreover, the Zhao Family Army’s management regulations were fixed and strict. The soldiers had long developed muscle memory. They were accustomed to being managed, so naturally they knew how to manage others.
So the talented people Tuoba Yilu mentioned could be directly transferred from the Zhao Family Army.
Though she only had one battalion of Zhao Family Army soldiers with her, with the rest being newly recruited soldiers, this was still enough.
From within a squad they could pull out an experienced veteran soldier, or a deputy squad leader, to manage nine prisoners. Then from a team they could pull out a deputy team leader or an experienced squad leader to serve as team leader for a team of prisoners. By this logic, they only needed to pull out one hundred eleven people to manage ten thousand prisoners.
Then transfer a few more people from logistics to coordinate, and the prisoner camp could be put to use. These could be drawn from Fan Ying’s subordinates.
Seeing that she just gave an order, then took the roster Fu Tinghan handed over and marked it up, and in just moments Fu Tinghan took the name list to call up people, then in less than half a day Fu Tinghan had the prisoner camp straightened out.
The captured commandants, captains and others came to pay respects to Zhao Hanzhang, all willing to serve under her. With them coming forward to assist Fu Tinghan, the captured Youzhou army truly became useful to Zhao Hanzhang, willingly going hungry to serve as laborers for Zhao Hanzhang.
Tuoba Yilu narrowed his eyes, his mood couldn’t help fluctuating.
He quietly said to his trusted confidants: “Are they so obedient because Zhao Hanzhang is Han, or because she is Zhao Hanzhang?”
His men thought for a moment then said: “I’m afraid it’s the latter. Liu Kun couldn’t subdue so many prisoners at once.”
“Also, she has enough people to manage them.”
Even if she had prestige, if she didn’t have enough talented people to manage those prisoners, as long as one dissatisfied person stirred things up everywhere, it would be very difficult for her to subdue them.
Tuoba Yilu said: “This is what’s frightening. Where does she get so many capable talents who also happen to be utterly loyal to her?”