Chapter 430: The Curtain Rises

In the eighth month of the fourth year of Qianyou, at the height of autumn.

Across the vast plains on both banks of the Yellow River, the frantic harvest of autumn grain was already drawing to a close. In preparation for war, the court had issued special decrees urging the prefectural governments of every circuit to rush the autumn harvest, deliver the assessed annual quotas into storage, and send them up to the Eastern Capital for distribution to the great granaries throughout the realm.

By mid-autumn, most of the rice and wheat fields across the Central Plains and Hebei were left with nothing but the traces of harvesting, no longer the scene of a golden expanse. But the farmers of the Great Han wore a few more smiles on their faces.

Heaven be merciful — thanks to the past two years of favorable weather, especially this year, the harvest had been good. Particularly the common folk of the two capitals' metropolitan areas and the surrounding prefectures directly administered by the court, even after paying no small amount of the two taxes, could finally keep some surplus grain after meeting their basic needs.

In the Eastern Capital, while the officials and commoners of the entire city prepared to welcome the Mid-Autumn Festival, within the imperial city, the Son of Heaven of the Great Han still had his heart divided in two, his mind set on both south and north.

Inside Chongzheng Hall, it was still the same old batch of military ministers — Gao Xingzhou, Wei Renpu, Zheng Renhui, Wang Pu, Murong Yanzhao — plus one Shang Hongqian, for he was after all the commander of the palace guard.

Attending in the hall, besides Zhang Dejun and Wang Zhu, was one more young official added: Li Fang.

This year, Liu Chengyou had again opened the special examinations, selecting two hundred and thirty-seven men across all subjects. The top graduate, personally chosen by Liu Chengyou, was this Li Fang. After examination from many angles, this man's literary talent was outstanding and his thinking sharp — a man of ability. Liu Chengyou made him a Hanlin Academician concurrently serving as a protocol attendant, waiting upon the emperor in person and also responsible for helping organize official documents and memorials.

"There's been a change in Hunan!" Liu Chengyou's single sentence made clear the theme of this court deliberation.

This time it was Zheng Renhui who introduced the situation: "Your Majesty, honored gentlemen. According to successive reports from the Military Intelligence Bureau of the Bureau of Military Affairs and Cao Yin, Defense Commissioner of Lizhou, just seven days ago a mutiny broke out in Changsha. Chu army officers Xu Wei and others deposed the false Chu king Ma Xi'e, imprisoned him in Hengshan County, installed Ma Xichong as Acting Military Governor of the Wuan Army, and let the troops loose to plunder Changsha wholesale!"

"Liao Yan, Commander of Hengshan, together with his uncle, the military inspector Kuang Ning, joined with the Ma Chu barbarian general Peng Shihao. Because Ma Xi'e had been deposed despite being the elder, and to avert disaster for him, they jointly supported Ma Xi'e as King of Hengshan, gathered several thousand manor households, local militia, and barbarian soldiers, and marched north toward Tanzhou."

"Ma Xi'yin, Military Governor of Jingjiang under the Ma Chu, and Xu Keqiong, Prefect of Mengzhou, hearing of the Changsha mutiny, each held their troops in place, but dared not move lightly, hindered by the false Liu army arrayed in Lingnan!"

"Liu Yan, Military Governor of Wuping, who has usurped Langzhou, heard of the Chu upheaval and sent a letter to Lizhou, requesting Defense Commissioner Cao to forward it to the Eastern Capital on his behalf. He intended to lead his army south to attack Changsha and punish Ma Xichong. However, according to reports, after Liu Yan's memorial, Wang Kui, Commander of the Langzhou army, and Zhou Xingfeng had already dispatched troops toward Changsha, proclaiming Ma Xichong's crime of usurping the throne."

After Zheng Renhui finished his introduction, the hall fell silent for a brief moment as the civil and military officials digested the news.

It was Wang Pu who first rose to speak: "Your Majesty, the situation in Hunan is already quite clear. Civil war is likely to break out again among the various powers of the Ma Chu, and the situation will surely collapse completely. That Ma Xichong is also a man of drunkenness and debauchery; holding Changsha, he will find it hard to defend the place!"

As Wang Pu finished, Wei Renpu also stood up, speaking with unusual certainty: "Most critically, the false Tang will certainly not delay any longer this time. They have been sharpening their knives toward Hunan for a full six months; there is no way they would sit idle and miss the opportunity under such circumstances in Hunan. Once the false Tang moves, the false court in Lingnan will certainly follow suit, seizing Gui and Meng in the north and taking all of Lingnan."

As he spoke, Wei Renpu rose and gestured at the map of Hunan hanging at the side of the hall. The map was rather crude, showing only the major prefectures, towns, and counties of Hunan, along with several main river courses and tributaries. But with Wei Renpu's explanation, the situation was not difficult to understand.

After Wei Renpu finished, Zheng Renhui spoke again: "Through extensive intelligence gathering, it can now be confirmed that the false Tang has stationed troops in Yuanzhou and Ezhou, north and south, with at least fifty thousand troops available by land and water."

"Your servants conjecture that the southern route army under Bian Hao at Yuanzhou must be the main force. To the north, with our garrison at Lizhou and the Chu troops at Langzhou, the Ezhou force should serve only as a secondary reserve. And Yuanzhou is less than two hundred li from Liling, the southeastern gateway to Changsha, with a tributary of the Gan River to rely upon, while also avoiding many troubles to the north."

"According to investigation, the Tang army has held its troops in place for three reasons: first, our court's attention and threat; second, the famine in Huainan; third, the situation of the Ma Chu. At this point, the Tang sovereign has no reason to hesitate any further."

After Zheng Renhui finished, Wang Pu actively added: "Through your servants' calculations, once the Tang army advances in force from Yuanzhou, given Hunan's exhausted soldiers and weary people and lost morale, the brothers Ma Xi'e and Ma Xichong have no possibility of holding out. At that time, I fear the central part of Hunan will truly fall at the proclamation of a single edict, exactly as the sovereign and ministers of the Southern Tang hope."

"As for the lands of Gui and Meng, the territory is barren, the population sparse, isolated with nothing to rely upon — they will likely be unable to resist the false Liu army's attack either. At that time, the most likely situation among the prefectures of Hunan is that the false Liu will take the ten prefectures of Lingnan, the false Tang will take most of central and northern Hunan, the fertile lands. Only Langzhou in the north and our garrisoned Lizhou can temporarily resist them!"

"Do you gentlemen overestimate the Langzhou army?" After Wang Pu finished speaking, Liu Chengyou finally spoke: "As you say, if the false Tang takes most of Hunan, can that gang of rebels at Langzhou alone resist the Tang army? They are a collection of rebels — you might call them a ragtag mob. They are not like Ma Xi'e of old, who had the identity of a scion of the Ma clan, and their opponent is not a fool like Ma Xiguang either!"

Wei Renpu stepped forward at this time to explain: "Your Majesty must not underestimate the current Langzhou troops. They may appear to be a ragtag mob, but in truth they are the most elite and battle-hardened troops from under Ma Xi'e's command. Though not numerous, they are exceptionally fierce. And the generals controlling the Lang troops, chiefly the ten men led by Wang Kui and Zhou Xingfeng, share deep bonds of friendship, sworn as the 'Ten Brothers.'"

"Moreover, though they rose from humble origins, they are not lacking in stratagems, especially that Zhou Xingfeng. In the sixth month, after deposing Ma Guanghui, Military Governor of Wuping, the 'Ten Brothers' suddenly fell into conflict over who should take the position. It was Zhou Xingfeng who proposed welcoming Li Yan as Military Governor, avoiding conflict and possible internal strife, allowing Langzhou to remain united in turning outward."

"And while Langzhou has submitted to the Great Han, it has also accepted the false Tang's patent of appointment — offending neither side, playing both ends. This too is said to have been Zhou Xingfeng's suggestion. Though it smacks of fence-sitting, he cannot be entirely treated as a shallow and crude fellow of meager virtue."

"Zhou Xingfeng..." Liu Chengyou murmured the name to himself. Since the start of this year, he had heard this name several times; the man was already a figure of consequence in Hunan.

Still, Liu Chengyou had a vague memory that this very name, in the original course of history, had made something of a name for itself.

Wei Renpu continued: "And though Langzhou is on good terms with the false Tang simultaneously, if the Tang army truly takes the lands of Hunan, given their ways, it would be impossible for them to simply surrender their territory and lay down their arms. And if the Great Han and Jingnan support them from behind, they can naturally resist the false Tang. For the Tang army to merely settle the troubles of Chu would not be so easy..."

After listening to the analysis and reports of his several ministers, Liu Chengyou stood before the map for a long while, then turned around, raised a finger, and said gravely: "Gentlemen, a great upheaval in Hunan is imminent. The Great Han must make its final preparations to respond!"

Even as he spoke of matters in the south, Liu Chengyou faced north. He knew very well in his heart that no matter how Hunan changed or how it descended into chaos, the impact on the Great Han as it stood now would be limited.

In the autumn of the fourth year of Qianyou, with the Ma Chu rebellion, the great transformation of the realm's situation formally began, surging forth like a mighty tide.