Chapter 244: The

On the day of Renshen in the seventh month of autumn in the first year of Qianyou, because Li Shouzhen of Hezhong had rebelled, the Emperor personally led the imperial army and swore an oath before dispatching troops. Before departing, he had more than ten of Li Shouzhen's close relatives in the Eastern Capital all executed to consecrate the banners.

Li Shouzhen had spent no short amount of time preparing his rebellion, yet he paid no attention whatsoever to his relatives. Of course, some of the cleverer ones saw the situation turning bad, but being in the Eastern Capital and under surveillance, they had no chance to flee—they were used by Liu Chengyou to consecrate the banners.

Upon hearing that the Son of Heaven was personally campaigning, Noble Consort Gao requested to accompany and attend to him, and the elder Lady Fu followed suit with her own petition. Under such circumstances, even if Liu Chengyou had initially been somewhat inclined, he tucked those thoughts away. Moreover, empresses and consorts accompanying a campaign was nothing unusual, but at present, he still had to consider military morale.

Nearly thirty thousand troops traveled upstream along the Bian River, advancing by both water and land. In the earlier phase, the Eastern Capital side had already collected a great number of boats, mules, and horses from among the people to transport troops, grain, and equipment. Yan Jinqing of the Directorate for Armaments was transferred out by Liu Chengyou to serve as Fiscal Commissioner for the water route, while Bai Chongyun, the garrison commander of Sishui, was put in charge of transport for the land route.

For the imperial camp, his maternal uncle Li Hongjian, Chief Commander of the Xingjie Army, was made Chief Inspector of the field headquarters' cavalry and infantry, Hu Yanke, Commissioner of the Northern Court of the Bureau of Palace Attendants, was made Army Supervisor of the field headquarters, and Liu Ci, Chief Commander of the Left Wing of the Guangrui Army, was made Commander-in-Chief of the Palace Command, with Han Tong, Chief Commander of the Right Wing of the Husheng Army, serving as Formation Marshal.

The great army advanced by water and land, stretching for several li—truly a magnificent sight. On the dragon boat, he stepped to the gunwale and stopped, gripping the rail as he stood, looking around. Black banners stood in dense array, the boats cleaved through the waves, and on the shore, the winding columns of troops could be seen in the distance.

The last time he had experienced such a scene was when he followed Liu Zhiyuan on the campaign against Du Chongwei. But that time, the protagonist had been Liu Zhiyuan. This time, the one holding heaven and earth in his hands was Liu Chengyou.

At this moment, Liu Chengyou's mood could be described as brimming with confidence, and regarding the prospects of this pacification campaign, he also had absolute determination to win. He had concerns, of course, but those were the necessary caution of a prudent mind.

While the court's pacification actions unfolded decisively and efficiently, in the Guanyou region, because of the rebellion at Hefu, the situation immediately surged like wind and clouds. Li Shouzhen's rebellion did not surprise people too much—or rather, even if someone else had rebelled, it would not have caused much astonishment either. The various military governors in Guanyou and its surroundings all harbored, to a greater or lesser degree, a spectator's mentality, watching how the situation would develop and change.

Tongzhou, Fengyi County.

As a neighbor of Hezhong Prefecture, Tongzhou became vigilant the moment Li Shouzhen raised the banner of rebellion, and Fengyi City, as the prefectural seat, was placed under comprehensive martial law. On the city walls, soldiers patrolled, and the black banners symbolizing the Great Han had not yet been taken down, but the "Xue" character banners mixed among them seemed somewhat askew in the autumn wind.

Tongzhou, geographically speaking, was very important to Guanzhong—it was the eastern shield of the Weibei Plain. Essentially, if an enemy from the east could cross the river and take Fengyi, they could then press forward rapidly, sweep across Weibei, and even drive straight at Jingzhao without any problem.

For this reason, all along, Li Shouzhen had gone to great lengths to court Xue Huairang, this ally who "shared a common hatred for the enemy," even though he deeply despised the man in his heart. One should know that when Li Shouzhen had been commander of the imperial army back in the day, Xue Huairang had been nothing but a minor figure, completely beneath Li Shouzhen's notice. Yet now, he could actually sit on equal footing with him.

In the prefectural headquarters, Military Governor Xue Huairang was hiding in the rear hall, sighing heavily, wearing a look of irresolute hesitation.

Last year in Xingzhou, he had been taught a lesson by Liu Chengyou and nearly lost his head. Liu Zhiyuan, to compensate him, had transferred him to be Military Governor of Tongzhou. After taking office, his habits did not change—he still governed tyrannically, devoting himself to amassing wealth. After all, when he had been in Xingzhou, his family property had all been confiscated, so once in Tongzhou, he naturally had to work hard to recoup it.

During his time in Tongzhou, Xue Huairang's days had been fairly comfortable, but after Liu Chengyou ascended the throne, he could no longer be happy. When a Military Governor harbored suspicion and fear toward the court, he was already in danger.

However, before Li Shouzhen rebelled, the two sides had been getting along swimmingly. But now that Hezhong was actually making good on its threats, Xue Huairang's heart could not help but begin to waver.

Although Li Shouzhen boasted fiercely, as if marching into the Central Plains and destroying the Han would be easy, Xue Huairang, putting his hand on his conscience, had little confidence in whether he could succeed. Last year he had seen Liu Chengyou in Xingzhou—that was no ordinary young ruler, but a fierce character who had nearly chopped his head off. How could such a man be intimidated by Li Shouzhen?

With life and death, honor and disgrace hanging in the balance, Xue Huairang seemed to finally realize just how terrifying Liu Chengyou truly was. The prestige of the Battle of Luancheng was doing its work.

On the other hand, Xue Huairang was already at the age of knowing heaven's mandate—he had spent decades in the military, fighting his way up from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and only when his beard and hair had turned gray did he finally get the chance to rise and become a military governor. For most military officers of this era, becoming the governor of a single garrison was already the pinnacle of their lives.

And for Xue Huairang, less than a year of comfortable governance had worn away most of his will. His first wife had died, he had taken new beautiful wives and concubines, was a groom every night, had children and grandchildren aplenty, and enjoyed all the splendor and wealth. In fact, if it had not been for that business in Xingzhou, his brain would have had to be kicked by a donkey for him to have gotten so close to Li Shouzhen and taken on the enormous risk of rebellion.

"Governor, the envoy from Hezhong has come again, saying he must see you." The steward rushed over breathlessly and stood at the door, reporting to Xue Huairang, who was fidgeting uneasily.

"Is there no end to this?" Xue Huairang burst out, cursing, the fat on his plump face trembling.

After raising the rebellion, Li Shouzhen had sent his confidant Sun Yuan westward to invite Xue Huairang to raise troops. But after arriving in Fengyi, he had been set aside by Xue Huairang, and his several requests for an audience had all been refused. It was the fourth day now, and this was already his seventh request for a meeting.

"Where is he?" Xue Huairang's tone was quite harsh.

"In the main hall," the steward answered carefully.

"Let him wait!"

According to Xue Huairang's true inclination, he did not want to bother with that fellow at all, but after much deliberation, he still decided to see him.

"I pay my respects to Governor Xue!" In the hall, the Hezhong envoy Sun Yuan was also full of anxiety, but when he saw Xue Huairang striding in with the wind at his heels, he immediately beamed with joy, hurried forward to greet him, and adopted a very low posture.

"I have caught a chill and am in poor spirits—I have neglected you, envoy!" Looking at the envoy, Xue Huairang wore an anxious and uncertain expression and said in an impatient tone: "What business do you have coming to see me?"

Hearing this, Sun Yuan was taken aback. Even though he already had little confidence in the goal of this mission, seeing Xue Huairang's act of playing dumb still left him dumbfounded. He clasped his hands and said urgently: "This official has come on the orders of the Prince of Qin, requesting that you, Governor, raise troops and join the alliance as agreed."

Hearing this, Xue Huairang waved his hands repeatedly: "Alas, my eyes are dim and my strength is failing—I have the will but not the power."

This Sun Yuan was clearly unsuited to be an envoy. Seeing this, he questioned bluntly: "What does the Governor mean by this? Do you intend to break the agreement and betray the alliance?"

Xue Huairang was not the sort of man to tolerate such insolence—anger immediately rose in his heart. But thinking that he did not seem to hold the "moral high ground," he replied: "How could that be? I do not claim that every word I speak is as weighty as nine cauldrons, but neither am I a man who betrays his principles."

Hearing Xue Huairang say this, the envoy's expression immediately softened—truly, everything was written on his face. But Xue Huairang's next words turned his sunny expression to overcast.

"However, Tongzhou is not like Hezhong—my troops are few and my generals weak, hardly fit for any great purpose. The Prince of Qin has many troops and generals, with abundant strength. Surely with the power of Hezhong alone, the Prince of Qin is enough to accomplish his great enterprise..."

If Li Shouzhen had heard these words from Xue Huairang, he would probably have been so frustrated he spat blood. Back when they were "in the heat of their love affair," it had been completely different.

The envoy Sun Yuan was also stifled by a breath he could not release. After a pause, he said: "The Governor should not belittle himself. With the Tongzhou army's assistance, it would be like adding wings to a tiger for the Prince of Qin."

"I only fear it would affect the Prince of Qin's great enterprise. How about this—I will lead my troops to garrison Tongzhou and block the western government forces for the Prince of Qin. What do you think?"

Even a fool would not take Xue Huairang's words at face value. Fengyi was not far from Hezhong City, and having been stalled here for these several days, Sun Yuan had probably received Li Shouzhen's latest instructions.

He thought for a moment, then clasped his hands and requested: "In that case, we shall not trouble the Tongzhou army. However, the Prince of Qin wishes to lead his troops westward, borrowing passage through Fengyi to manage the Guanyou region. Please, Governor, order the garrison at Pujin to let them through. Surely there is no problem with that?"

"Of course, this is a trivial matter!" Hearing this, Xue Huairang only considered it briefly before waving his hand grandly and directly agreeing: "I will issue the order shortly!"

"Speed is paramount in war—please, Governor, issue the written order as soon as possible so that passage may be granted." Sun Yuan requested, looking none too convinced.

Seeing this, Xue Huairang's old brows knitted tightly with displeasure. Nevertheless, he had his subordinate write out the military order on the spot—he himself was illiterate—and after stamping it with the great seal, he handed it to Sun Yuan.

"Thank you, Governor. This official will take his leave now!"

"No need to see you off!"

After the envoy departed, Xue Huairang hurriedly summoned his yabing officer and instructed: "Go personally to West Pujin and tell the garrison commander: not a single soldier of the Pu army is to be allowed across the river!"