Chapter 390: Internal Strife in the Ma Chu

In the evening, under the dim warm winter sun, dragging long shadows, a lone mounted courier trampled through frost and snow, galloping north along the official road. It was deep winter, and the roads were sparsely populated, which allowed him to ride at full speed. The rider was a sturdy man with a signal flag on his back, a soldier of the military postal service. His face was weathered, his expression exhausted. He reined in his horse only when he reached the military intelligence station southwest of the Eastern Capital, and nearly tumbled off as he dismounted.

Station guards immediately came forward to support him and lead the horse away, after which the station manager came out to question him.

His identity was quickly verified. He cut the sealed knot with a knife, took out a bamboo tube, and handed it over. In a weary southern accent, the rider said, "By His Majesty's personal order, war report from Hunan. Please deliver it to the Bureau of Military Affairs at once!"

The station manager wasted no words. He ordered someone to help the rider rest while swiftly arranging for this "urgent military intelligence" to be transmitted into the Eastern Capital.

By the time it passed through several hands and reached Liu Chengyou's imperial desk, the sky had completely darkened.

Liu Chengyou was himself weary. He had just returned from the military camps, having spent the entire day inspecting the imperial army—from the Palace Army to the Imperial Guard, from cavalry to infantry, from the imperial city to the outer walls.

Regardless of season, basically every month, Liu Chengyou would set aside time to visit the camps, inspecting training and discipline, surveying troop morale, and most importantly, strengthening loyalty to the sovereign and patriotic indoctrination...

The military report presented was substantial in content, comprehensively covering the situation in Hunan, essentially reporting the past half-month's developments regarding the Ma brothers of Hunan. Since Hunan was far from the Central Plains, with Jingnan lying in between, news from the south could hardly be transmitted north in a timely and effective manner. This particular Hunan intelligence had only arrived because Liu Chengyou had issued a special decree to pay attention to it; otherwise, the transmission would have been even more delayed.

The minister granted an audience in the hall was Wei Renpu, Deputy Commissioner of Military Affairs, a high official long relied upon by Liu Chengyou as a trusted pillar. After Wang Jun was transferred to serve as Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guard and continued to lead troops, Liu Chengyou had promoted Wei Renpu to Deputy Commissioner of Military Affairs, sharing control of the Bureau with Guo Wei.

"Someone—summon Fan Zhi, Wang Pu, Wang Qiwu, and... have Tao Gu come as well!" After a brief glance through the report, Liu Chengyou instructed Zhang Dejun, then began reading it carefully.

Over in Hunan, ever since Chu King Ma Xiguang ascended the throne, the situation had been in chaos for two years, and in the winter of this year, it reached its climax.

Because of the ancestral rule of "when the elder brother dies, the younger succeeds" established by the late Chu King Ma Yin, as early as the founding year of the Great Han, Ma Xi'e, Military Governor of Langzhou, had already shown his defiance toward Ma Xiguang, who had inherited the throne. Ma Xi'e's ambition had never been concealed from the start. In the early days of Ma Xiguang's reign, subordinates had suggested that the Chu King strike first and eliminate Ma Xi'e, but Ma Xiguang flatly refused, unwilling to kill his elder brother, merely allowing him to remain in Langzhou without further action.

Thus, over the following year or two, the power struggle between the Ma brothers within Hunan intensified. By last year (the second year of Qianyou), it had fully escalated into armed conflict—brothers fighting each other. Ma Xi'e raised troops in Langzhou and marched south to attack Tanzhou, the capital of the Ma Chu.

Then Ma Xi'e was soundly defeated, and Ma Xiguang once again displayed his "benevolence" to the Chu army and people. To avoid harming his elder brother, he ordered the frontline soldiers to halt their pursuit of Ma Xi'e, allowing him to return to Langzhou. He hoped Ma Xi'e would learn his lesson, recognize the situation, and dare not rebel again.

Little did he know—seeing Ma Xiguang so weak, Ma Xi'e completely lost all restraint. Even if he lost and was captured, given Ma Xiguang's timid foolishness, his fate wouldn't be too miserable. Lose and you survive, even keep your wealth and position; win and you become master of Hunan. With such a bargain on offer, how could Ma Xi'e refuse?

And indeed, as it turned out, after retreating to Langzhou, Ma Xi'e did not rest at all. He gathered his defeated troops, regrouped, recruited men, and licked his wounds.

After spending nearly half a year, his strength was initially restored. Meanwhile, in Changsha, Ma Xiguang's governance remained unchanged, with no accomplishments whatsoever. He ignored the advice of his subordinates to be wary of Ma Xi'e, spending his days holed up in the royal residence.

In light of this, how could Ma Xi'e hold back any longer? This time, he planned more carefully and did not rashly raise troops to march south. After all, with only the strength of Langzhou alone, the gap in absolute power compared to Chu King Ma Xiguang was still very large.

Ma Xi'e first sent envoys to petition the imperial court, hoping Liu Chengyou would dispatch troops south to help him capture Changsha and depose Ma Xiguang, promising a host of benefits in return. Unfortunately, Liu Chengyou was not tempted. However, he neither agreed nor refused.

Ma Xi'e was shallow in scheming and lacking in patience. Though he received no reply from the court, that did not stop him from continuing his maneuvers. He sent people to contact the barbarians of Chenzhou, Xuzhou, and Meishan, enticing them to attack Changsha. The barbarians had long known that Changsha held the accumulated wealth of Hunan, and unable to resist the temptation, they gathered their forces and marched east.

Upon hearing this, Ma Xiguang sent troops to resist, but suffered defeat after defeat, losing several thousand soldiers. The barbarian forces were formidable, breaking through Tanzhou's counties and towns one after another. At their greatest threat, they captured Ditian (present-day Xiangxiang) west of Changsha, less than two hundred li from the city.

At that time, the situation was such that even without the Langzhou troops sallying forth, Tanzhou was already in disarray. By that point, Ma Xiguang finally felt the threat and realized his "beloved" elder brother was beyond redemption. But facing this situation, aside from stationing troops to guard Yutan, the gateway to Changsha, he had no other recourse—he could only lament, "What is to be done?"

The Chu King's subordinates were not lacking in talent, nor were they lacking in courage. It was his general Liu Yanchang who, with a bold speech, persuaded Ma Xiguang to take the initiative and lead troops north to attack Langzhou and capture Ma Xi'e.

Ma Xiguang, who had been at a loss, gladly accepted the good general's counsel. He immediately appointed Liu Yanchang as Chief Commander of Naval Warfare and Commander-in-Chief of the Langzhou Field Headquarters, leading over ten thousand naval and land troops north to Langzhou. He also dispatched Cavalry Commander Zhang Hui to lead troops by the overland route to attack Langzhou from another direction.

The result, of course, did not go as Ma Xiguang had hoped. Liu Yanchang had boldness in abundance, but his ability could hardly sustain the Ma Chu's foundation. Careless at Langzhou, he fell for Ma Xi'e's deception to lure the enemy, and his retreat was cut off. On the Mei River, he set fire with the wind, intending to burn Ma Xi'e's combined Langzhou-barbarian forces—but who would have thought the wind direction reversed in an instant, and the fire turned back on his own troops.

Liu Yanchang was defeated, his forces nearly annihilated, with only scattered remnants fleeing south. As for the other route, Zhang Hui's army, upon hearing of the defeat, withdrew to Yiyang, a small county northwest of Changsha. Ma Xi'e sent three thousand troops in a rapid assault. Before the enemy even arrived, Zhang Hui had already fled, leaving the Yiyang defenders without a leader—over nine thousand were killed.

With successive defeats and lost generals, no matter how great one's estate, it could not withstand such squandering by Ma Xiguang. Seeing his position growing increasingly isolated, Ma Xiguang urgently dispatched envoys north to the Eastern Capital, seeking aid from his father in the Great Han, hoping Liu Chengyou would act on his behalf.

At that time, within the Great Han, the campaign to suppress Buddhism was in full swing, and Liu Chengyou had no spare energy to intervene. He merely issued an edict ordering the Ma brothers to cease hostilities and each hold their own territory. As for what effect that would have, the Son of Heaven of the Great Han knew full well—indeed, he harbored ulterior motives.

Still, to describe the affairs of the south as "pulling one hair moves the whole body" would not be an exaggeration. The internal strife of the Ma Chu involved Jingnan, the Southern Han, and the Southern Tang. Therefore, Liu Chengyou ordered his people to strengthen their attention on the chaos in Hunan.

As for Ma Xi'e, he was enraged upon receiving the edict from the Son of Heaven of the Great Han. At that time, he already held the upper hand in the war against Ma Xiguang, and felt that Liu Chengyou was favoring Ma Xiguang, that incompetent master. Thus, in a fury, he submitted to the Southern Tang as a vassal, requesting that they send troops to help him attack Tanzhou.

After the successive major defeats at the Battle of the Mei River and the Battle of Yiyang, the offensive-defensive dynamic between the Ma brothers had reversed. Ma Xi'e turned from defense to offense, leading his troops southward, once again marching on Changsha.

The military intelligence Liu Chengyou received was the progress of the Langzhou army in the eleventh month. By now, Ma Xi'e had led his forces south, breaking through passes and strongholds, accepting surrenders and defections, and had already reached the Xiang River, with his spearhead pointed directly at Changsha city.