Chapter 159: Return to Court

After Liu Chengyou took Lady Gao as his consort, there was nothing more of importance at Yedu. With the beginning of winter approaching, an imperial decree was issued, and the army that had suppressed the rebellion began its return. Liu Chengyou accompanied the imperial carriage back with his new bride. The imperial carriage had departed from the Eastern Capital on the tenth day of the ninth month; with the war concluded, they returned at the start of winter, a span of about one month in total.

Liu Zhiyuan had largely entrusted the affairs of Yedu and even Hebei to Gao Xingzhou. To spare Gao Xingzhou any trouble, he also transferred Murong Yanchao, who had been stationed at Chanzhou, to command the Tianping Army (Yunzhou). It had something of a feeling of exile about it, but mindful of Murong Yanchao's feelings, Liu Zhiyuan granted him the title of Chief Minister and had him govern Yunzhou with the dignity of a Chancellor-Governor. Toward this younger brother, Liu Zhiyuan was indeed quite generous.

Once Murong Yanchao was transferred, Guo Rong took over his post very smoothly, assuming the office of Military Governor of Zhenning and governing Chanzhou, that northern gateway, on behalf of the court.

On the return march, when they passed by Baima, Liu Zhiyuan decisively removed Liu Xin from his post as Military Governor of Yicheng, promoting him instead to Chief Commander of the Imperial Guard Cavalry, concurrently Military Governor of Xuzhou and Chief Minister.

Liu Xin had been in office at Huazhou for only a few months when his greed for accumulation showed itself — he was insatiably corrupt and unbridled, and he also enforced harsh laws throughout his jurisdiction, oppressing the common people cruelly. Within Huazhou's borders, the people could barely survive, and complaints filled the roads. Liu Zhiyuan truly had no choice but to transfer him away. Even when appointing him Military Governor of Xuzhou, he did not let him take up his post there, but instead ordered him to accompany the imperial carriage back to Kaifeng to command the imperial army.

Earlier, it had been out of trust that Liu Zhiyuan had entrusted key locations like Huazhou and Chanzhou, which shielded the Eastern Capital, to Liu Xin and Murong Yanchao. But after this episode, Liu Zhiyuan realized that although these two brothers were trustworthy, they truly lacked the ability to govern and stabilize a region, and instead excelled at harming the common people. Entrusting them with important places not only failed to achieve the original intent, but could easily lead to major problems.

Liu Zhiyuan was truly helpless. Surveying all the imperial clansmen and relatives by marriage, either they lacked both talent and virtue, or they were too young and inexperienced. Counting through those who could be of use, he could not pick out even two or three. Fortunately, his younger brother Liu Chong was in Taiyuan and had not caused any trouble; otherwise, he could not think of a single person he trusted enough to guard Hedong, that land where the dragon had risen.

With Liu Xin transferred away from Huazhou, Liu Zhiyuan sought Liu Chengyou's opinion on the successor. That intention of his was becoming more and more obvious...

In response, Liu Chengyou essentially guessed at Liu Zhiyuan's thoughts and put forward one candidate: Guo Congyi, Chief Commander of the Husheng Guard.

Guo Congyi was a cautious man, rich in strategy, accomplished in both civil and military matters. Of course, these were secondary factors. The most important thing was that Guo Congyi was an "old revolutionary" with deep ties of friendship to Liu Zhiyuan.

Back in the day, he had been demoted and exiled for some offense, then returned north to his hometown due to his mother's death. When Liu Zhiyuan took up his post in Hedong, he appointed Guo Congyi as Chief Inspector of the Hedong cavalry and infantry, and thereafter Guo Congyi had followed Liu Zhiyuan continuously — suppressing bandits, putting down rebellions, and resisting the Khitan. The founding of the Great Han also owed something to his service in following the dragon. When Liu Zhiyuan marched out of Hedong through Jin and Jiang, Guo Congyi always held the vanguard role, and he was also the first Han army general to enter the Eastern Capital. On this campaign against Du Chongwei, although he had no outstanding battle merits to show, he had certainly earned his share of toil and hardship.

Guo Congyi was a man of many talents — he could write essays and compose poetry, and excelled at calligraphy. Perhaps because of his learning, he was very restrained as a general. Among the generals of the Great Han court, he was not particularly outstanding, and his presence was not as pronounced as that of Shi Hongzhao or Liu Xin, but he was indeed the indispensable type — whenever something came up, one could always think of him.

Such a capable, well-qualified, trustworthy veteran minister was the ideal choice to guard the important post of Huazhou by any measure. Liu Chengyou's recommendation clearly pleased Liu Zhiyuan greatly. Liu Chengyou could practically see the smile spread across his face as he directly instructed the accompanying Secretariat officials to draft the letter of appointment.

Du Chongwei's rebellion was, for the Han court of the Central Plains, like a hurdle. Having crossed it, perhaps the road ahead was not a broad highway, but the turbulent situation was visibly stabilizing. At least this giant with feet of clay could once again struggle forward. With Du Chongwei's fate as a precedent, the various military governors who formed an important part of the state had visibly quieted down considerably.

But good news — if it could be called good news — came from the north. The Prince of Yan, Zhao Yanshou, reported that the Liao army, having failed to take Youzhou after bitter fighting, had withdrawn. At Youzhou, Yelu Ruan had led a great army south to attack, fighting for a full three months. With winter approaching, supplies running short, morale declining, and the stout city walls proving impregnable, he had no choice but to retreat. However, before withdrawing, he plundered several thousand Han civilians and took them north.

The fighting in the north was far more brutal than at Yedu, and those who suffered the greatest losses were the Han people of Youyan. At first, when Yelu Ruan first arrived south of the passes, Khitan nobles like Xiao Han and Yelu Jieli had treated the Han people cruelly, causing the Han to harbor extreme resentment against the Liao.

One must understand that Yelu Abaoji and his son Yelu Deguang had spent decades to achieve a barely "harmonious" coexistence between the Hu and Han under their rule. This one incident caused the contradictions to erupt, and with exceptional sharpness — between the two sides, blood debts piled high.

Yelu Ruan was a man who loved Han culture and had some special "feelings" toward Han people. After succeeding to the throne as the Liao emperor, he ignored the opposition of his ministers and established Zhen, a married woman he had seized from Kaifeng, as his Empress.

However, with the siege of Youzhou proving difficult, he no longer suppressed his jackal's heart. He sent troops to plunder Han civilians on a large scale, using them to assault the city. The Liao army excelled at field battles but was weak at siege warfare, so naturally they would not attack their weakness against the enemy's strength by assaulting Youzhou head-on. In previous southern invasions, the Hu cavalry specialized in field combat and plundering, while the dirty, thankless work of siege warfare was always done by the Han people and Yan troops within Khitan territory. But now the Yan people had rebelled, and Youyan was in turmoil — for the Khitan, this was truly a tremendous loss.

According to Yelu Ruan's original intention, since Youzhou could not be taken by force, he would besiege it and starve out Zhao Yanshou. With so many people in the city, he reckoned they could not hold out long. But he had clearly miscalculated the situation within the city. That purge of the Hu had allowed the Yan army to amass a great quantity of supplies, and Zhao Yanshou had also replenished from Zhuo and Yi. Because of the slaughter of the Hu, the city's determination to resist was exceptionally strong. They held out stubbornly, enduring the siege for over three months, and even as civilians starved to death within the city, they still held on desperately.

Zhao Yanshou also spread propaganda within the city, saying that if Youzhou fell, the Khitan would surely massacre the city. Most people firmly believed this — there was no reason not to. And sure enough, they managed to wear the Liao army down until it retreated...

Before withdrawing, Yelu Ruan, greatly dissatisfied, sent cavalry to plunder through Zhuo and Yi. Some even brazenly continued southward, but were driven back by the combined efforts of Murong Yanzhao and Li Yun.

This bitter struggle at Youzhou ended with the Liao army failing to take the city and withdrawing north. But throughout the entire affair, aside from expending a great quantity of supplies, the Liao army's losses in manpower were not significant. However, their gains were also meager — it could be described as not worth the cost.

Within the Khitan state, after this year's swing between great joy and great sorrow — defeat in war, internal strife, and then expending the nation's full strength to take Youzhou only to fail — the already struggling Khitan would surely have an extremely difficult winter, no better off than the Great Han court.

As for Youyan, although the army and people had joined forces to repel the Liao army, after this upheaval, even the phrase "devastated livelihood" could hardly describe their suffering. Every prefecture was a scene of ruin, nearly reduced to rubble. Zhao Yanshou reported that within and outside Youzhou city, over forty thousand Han civilians had died, to say nothing of elsewhere. It had been the autumn harvest season, and most of the grain in the fields had been plundered or destroyed by Liao cavalry. The Yan army, having been on the defensive, had managed to harvest only a small portion.

This winter, Youyan might see even more deaths...

Liu Chengyou had in fact long ago made his own deductions and speculations about the situation in Youyan, but when such an outcome actually became reality, Liu Chengyou felt somewhat closed off.

Holding the memorials sent from the north, Liu Chengyou felt them heavy in his hands, somewhat dazed. In his heart, he had completely lost the self-satisfaction and joy he had felt when his "clever scheme" had succeeded. It could basically be said that the tragedy of Youyan was entirely of his own doing.

In the history books of the future, a line would surely be recorded: the Prince of Zhou's poisonous stratagem threw Youyan into chaos. Even if the historians employed the subtle brush of the Spring and Autumn Annals to beautify it, the piles of bones behind this stratagem could never be erased.

In fact, the Han people of Youyan, during these ten years of Khitan rule, could barely be described as living in "peace." At least within Youyan's borders, they had enjoyed ten years of tranquility.

For a single instant, Liu Chengyou even doubted himself — whether what he had done was right or wrong.

"Did I... do wrong?" Sitting across the table from Liu Zhiyuan, Liu Chengyou asked in a low voice, his face heavy.

Seeing him like this, Liu Zhiyuan directly rebuked him: "Since when did you become so weak? Back then, before me, how spiritedly did you lay out the benefits of your plan for Youyan?"

Liu Chengyou's face twitched. Using the chaos in Youyan to relieve the pressure on the northern border defenses, in exchange for the stability of the Great Han realm — it had sounded easy enough to say. But had this Great Han empire truly become stable?

"If in days to come we seek to take the passes and mountains to the north, better to bring disaster upon Youyan than to let it serve as aid to the Khitan!" Liu Zhiyuan stared coldly at Liu Chengyou. These ideas had originally been spoken to him by Liu Chengyou himself.

Upon hearing this, Liu Chengyou was silent for a long time. Finally, he looked levelly at Liu Zhiyuan, gazing at the resolute expression on his old father's aged face. He clasped his hands in salute: "Your son understands!"

Liu Zhiyuan's imposing manner gradually softened. Hunched over, he thought for a moment, then summoned someone and gave instructions: "Have the central authorities send an envoy north to Youzhou, to convey my commendation to the Prince of Yan, to encourage and console the soldiers who resisted the Khitan, and to offer sacrifices to the fallen soldiers and civilians."

"Additionally, issue an edict: for the Yan people fleeing south, have the three military governors of Chengde, Heng Hai, and Yiwu, along with the officials of Ying, Mo, Qi, and Tai prefectures, take them in and resettle them as best they can..."

"Yes!"

Liu Chengyou returned to his tent with a numb face. His new bride, Gao Huaijin, was waiting quietly, and seeing his expression, she was somewhat startled.

During the journey south, the two had gradually begun to communicate somewhat. In Lady Gao's eyes, although Liu Chengyou rarely showed much expression on his face and ordinarily betrayed nothing, seeing him so clearly in a bad mood was something she had never witnessed before.

"Your Highness." Gao Huaijin called out tentatively.

"Mm." Liu Chengyou responded casually.

He sat on the campaign cot, lost in thought. Seeing him like this, Lady Gao felt an inexplicable surge of maternal instinct. She sat down beside him, gently leaning against him, and tenderly reached out to take his hand.

At the touch, she was startled — she found Liu Chengyou's hand extraordinarily cold. But quickly, she softly pulled his hand, tucked it inside the lapel of her robe against her delicate skin, warming it...

Enveloped in warmth, Liu Chengyou snapped back to himself. He turned his head to look at Lady Gao, seeing her delicate brows slightly furrowed as she endured the chill against her chest. Liu Chengyou withdrew his hand, and a smile actually curved at the corners of his mouth. This was the first time Gao Huaijin had seen Liu Chengyou smile — it just wasn't warm enough.

"Go get some wine and drink a few cups with me." Liu Chengyou's voice remained flat.

Hearing his instruction, Lady Gao immediately smoothed the rumpled silk at her chest and went off to comply.

Liu Chengyou was not a fragile person by nature; he had long since recovered. He was merely reflecting. Through the affair of Youyan, he had gained a deeper understanding. At his identity and station, even a single suggestion, a single strategy, or even a single thought concerned the life, death, honor, and disgrace of millions of common people. From now on, everything must be handled with care — think thrice before acting.