Chapter 444: Disaster Has Struck

Jinling, even as winter had already set in, remained as prosperous as ever. It was a city with a thick commercial atmosphere, and as the weather grew colder, the scarcity of daily resources such as winter firewood, seasonal foods, fruits, and vegetables continued to fuel the city's commercial boom.

But since the start of winter, several times already, mounted couriers had come from the east, trampling the cold dew, riding straight for the palace city.

In Jinling, the boundaries between markets and wards had long since blurred, so that among the many neighborhoods, taverns and eateries were tucked in between.

"Has there been another turn in the Hunan troubles?" Wherever one went, there was no shortage of gossiping onlookers. At a tavern by the roadside, a diner watched the military riders gallop past and asked in puzzlement.

The tavern was not large, and its decor was simple but tidy. At this moment there were only four diners, seated together at one table, all in their prime years, dressed in fine clothes, drinking warm wine and eating steaming hot dog meat—quite a comfortable way to pass the winter.

At these words, another man dressed as a wealthy merchant stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth. It was a bit scalding, so he chewed it hastily with a few muffled grunts, then shook his head and remarked with feeling: "The Chu people are full of hot blood. With that sort of extortionate squeezing and gathering, how could they not rise in revolt?"

"Wasn't it said that what was shipped back to Jinling was all the spoils from the Ma Chu treasury? Could the rumors that the army plundered Hunan really be true?" another person said.

"Heh heh!" The wealthy merchant immediately sneered: "That's just to deceive the ignorant common folk! Think about it—the Ma brothers fought each other in civil strife for years, attacking one another. How rich could the Hunan treasury really be? Enough to fill dozens of ships, front and back, and send them home fully loaded?"

With that explanation, the others suddenly understood. The one who had first asked the question spoke again: "Brother Zhao, you fished out quite a few good things at the docks a few days back, didn't you!"

"Heh heh!" The wealthy merchant surnamed Zhao immediately revealed a sly merchant's smile and laughed it off: "The good stuff was all collected into the imperial palace—how could any of it fall to us?"

Of the many things brought back from the plunder of Hunan, aside from the finest unique treasures, most had been bought up piecemeal by the merchants of Jinling. The court, the officers and soldiers, and the merchants all profited from it.

"The court expands its territory and wins battles, and we follow along and still get a share of the profit. But if... ah, hard to say..."

For the gentry and common folk of Jinling, the situation in Hunan was still just a topic of conversation. Most people remained lost in the winter splendor of Jinling.

But within the palace city, the Tang sovereign Li Jing and several of his ministers were seething with anger, their earlier complacency and arrogance gone.

"What is Bian Gao doing? Thirty thousand crack troops by land and water, plus the surrendered Chu soldiers, a full fifty thousand in total. A mere Langzhou army—can their troops exceed ten thousand? Can their horses exceed a thousand? How could he let them march to the city walls? Where does he get the face to ask the court to send troops to rescue him?" This was the first time Li Jing had lost his composure like this, without any of his usual cultured demeanor.

In recent days, Li Jing's mood had been genuinely cheerful. Expanding the realm and surpassing his predecessor in merit was one thing, but the large shipment of gold, jade, and luxury trinkets transported from Ma Chu alone was enough to intoxicate him. Placed within the Tang palace, they added yet more splendor to the inner chambers.

To celebrate the pacification of the Chu lands, there was almost a small banquet every three days and a great banquet every five. For this, the Southern Tang's lyricists had produced many celebrated verses and fine rhapsodies, and Li Jing himself had added several poems to express his pride and sing of his ambitions.

Yet how long had it been? Urgent reports from Hunan had come one after another—Hunan was in peril. The contrast was too stark. Li Jing felt his old face burning hot. This slap in the face had come too suddenly and too hard, leaving him somewhat dazed. He even began to suspect that all the earlier victory reports and triumphant news from Hunan had been false...

Just three days ago, Li Jing had suddenly received an urgent military dispatch from Bian Gao, saying that the Langzhou army had rebelled, gathered several thousand troops, and marched south to attack Yiyang. Bian Gao had assembled ten thousand Tang troops from Changsha and the surrounding area and marched north to meet the enemy and provide support.

A day later, another report came from Hunan: the Langzhou troops were cunning, and the rebel generals Sun Lang and Cao Jin had circled around by water to strike the army's rear. The Tang army had suffered a great defeat, losing more than three thousand men, and retreated in defeat to Changsha.

Half a day later, word came that Yutan had fallen. Another half day, and Xiangxiang had fallen.

By today, the Langzhou army had already marched to Changsha, facing it across the river, and their strength had swelled to over ten thousand. Meanwhile, revolts among the Chu people were springing up everywhere. Many surrendered Chu troops in various prefectures, under the banner of "defending their homeland," had also "risen in righteousness"—some declaring independence, some defecting to Langzhou. Ironically, many of those fickle Chu troops had previously taken advantage of Tang army policy to commit robbery and plunder, yet when it came to fighting, they showed no mercy at all.

Such a dramatic reversal in the situation was truly hard for Li Jing to accept. In the hall, several senior ministers were all present. Facing the Emperor's wrath, Feng Yansi felt somewhat uneasy.

"Your Majesty!" Han Xizai glanced at Feng Yansi, took a deep breath, and said to Li Jing: "Your ministers have long warned that the soldiers and people of Hunan, suffering under the chaos of war, urgently need stability. If the court merely implemented policies of pacification and nurture, it could naturally win their hearts. But the Hunan generals and officials acted arbitrarily..."

"Enough! What's done is done, further talk is useless!" It was rare for Li Jing's anger to burn so high. With a cold face and cold eyes, he swept his gaze back and forth over Han Xizai, Feng Yansi, and the others. This was perhaps the first time the factional strife between the two parties had made Li Jing feel so disgusted.

"Your Majesty speaks truly. Hunan is already in chaos; resolving the rebellion should now be the top priority!" Remonstrance Counselor Wei Cen stepped forward to speak, his words humble, never having been so cautious before.

It was clear that the Great Tang Emperor was truly angry. Although Li Jing had always been kind and treated his subjects with warmth, after nearly ten years on the throne, his authority had grown deep.

Suppressing the hard-to-eliminate hatred in his heart, Li Jing calmed down, and a look of dejection appeared on his face. He thought again of the matter of the Min Kingdom. Back then, not long after he had ascended the throne, the Wang clan of the vassal state Min had fallen into political chaos, and he had sent troops to pacify Min. How spirited he had been then! But as for the outcome...

And now Hunan... ah... Seated behind the imperial throne, Li Jing asked listlessly: "How should we resolve this? Bian Gao is incompetent—should we replace him and send another capable general to hold the region?"

"Your Majesty, changing commanders in the midst of battle is a great taboo in the art of war!" Han Xizai hurriedly said.

"Then you tell me—how should we respond?" Li Jing shot him a glance, anger in his eyes.

Han Xizai was being vented upon. He was momentarily stunned, then steadied his mind and said: "The first thing to do is to order the generals, officials, and administrators in Chu to stop their extortion and harassment of the Chu people. Severely punish violators, and bring to justice those whose actions have been excessively cruel, so as to dispel the resentment of the Chu people. Secondly, have our armies in Hunan concentrate their strength to defend the great prefectural cities such as Tan and Heng, and await reinforcements."

"Thirdly, send envoys to contact the fickle Chu troops, offering ranks and titles to divide the rebel forces, and absolutely must not allow the Langzhou army to expand its strength further. Fourthly, send envoys to the Southern Han to negotiate peace, abandoning the Lingnan lands and letting them do as they please, so as to eliminate the threat south of Chu. Fifthly, have Bian Gao defend Changsha to the death without fail, and dispatch additional troops into Chu to pacify the Chu rebellion as swiftly as possible with overwhelming force!"

Han Xizai laid out several measures in one breath. Hearing this, Li Jing perked up, straightened slightly, raised his hand—trembling with excitement—and said: "Good! Good! Do exactly as Minister Han has proposed, and handle it at once."

Seeing Han Xizai's "triumph," Feng Yansi was displeased, and Li Jing's reaction made him feel an even greater sense of crisis. At this moment, he too hurriedly stepped forward and offered his counsel to Li Jing: "Your Majesty, the only forces that can now quickly enter Chu are those from Ezhou and Hongzhou. I suggest that Lord Song (Song Qiqiu) and Military Governor Liu Renshan of the Wuchang Army be dispatched to lead troops to aid Chu by two routes, north and south! On the southern route, Lord Song can follow the path Bian Gao took into Chu; on the northern route, Liu Renshan can advance by both land and water, borrowing passage through Lizhou—"

No sooner had Feng Yansi finished speaking than Han Xizai directly shook his head with a slight sigh.

Feng Yansi simply could not stand Han Xizai's aloof arrogance and self-conceited pride in his own learning. He immediately asked: "What, Vice Minister Han has objections to this Chancellor's proposal?"

Han Xizai, however, clasped his hands toward Li Jing and said: "Your Majesty, in Chancellor Feng's proposal, the southern route can indeed have Lord Song lead troops to aid Chu. But on the northern route, having Liu Renshan borrow passage through Lizhou, where the Han army is stationed, is a grave mistake!"

On the Hunan side, Defense Commissioner Cao Yin of Lizhou had indeed sent troops to cooperate with Wang Kui and Zhou Xingfeng in battle, but they did not fly the Han army's banner—they disguised themselves as Langzhou troops. The longer the rupture could be delayed, even by a little, the better.

"What does Minister Han mean by this?" Li Jing asked, utterly bewildered.

Seeing the Tang sovereign's reaction, Han Xizai sighed inwardly and said: "In your minister's view, while Your Majesty sends troops to aid Chu and pacify the Hunan rebellion, you should also issue decrees to the prefectures of Huainan to maintain strict vigilance against the Northern Han!"

"With Han soldiers behind them in Lizhou, how would the Langzhou troops dare to commit their entire force? Without the tacit approval of the Han army, how would Wang Kui, Zhou Xingfeng, and the others dare to act so boldly? Furthermore, Military Governor He Jingzhu of the Qinghuai Army has repeatedly reported recently that there are unusual movements north of the Huai. The Han army has imposed martial law north of the Huai, guarding the ferry crossings and patrolling the border. I fear only that the Han army will take advantage of the Hunan rebellion to make a move against our dynasty!"

Han Xizai was exceptionally grave as he laid out his concerns once more.

Seeing this, before Feng Yansi could come out to object, Li Jing himself could not help but frown: "Is Minister Han's statement not alarmist? The main Han army is locked in struggle with the Khitan in Hebei—how could they have spare strength to look south? Two days ago, the Han envoy came south and specifically explained to me that the martial law north of the Huai was only because a great northern war was imminent..."

"I beg Your Majesty to consider this: if the Han army truly had no designs, why would they specially send an envoy to explain? Is that not trying to cover up something?" Han Xizai said: "Even if the Han army truly has no such intention, with the Hunan rebellion underway, Huainan must strengthen its vigilance to guard against the unexpected!"

What Han Xizai did not know was that the Han envoy's coming was not at all concerned with alarming the snake—it was only to buy time, even if just a day or two.

Hearing Han Xizai's words, Li Jing, whose nerves had already grown sensitive, thought it over seriously, could not help but shudder, and hurriedly said: "Issue decrees to the military governors, garrison commanders, and prefects of Shou, Hao, Si, Chu, and all other prefectures bordering the Han—they must strengthen their defenses!"

Han Xizai's concerns were not unfounded. That very evening, a messenger came from the north, riding a light horse into the city, his face panic-stricken, crying out "Disaster!"

In the inner hall of the Tang palace, Li Jing was dining with Empress Zhong as if chewing wax, sighing endlessly, with none of his usual poetic elegance...

The Han army had launched a massive invasion to the south, launching a surprise attack at the shallow ford of the Huai River and routing the "shallow-water guards" He Jingzhu had deployed. Military Governor He Jingzhu personally led troops to intercept them and fought a great battle at the place where the Han army was crossing. Unable to prevail, he retreated in defeat to Shouchun, having lost three thousand troops in total. Under the command of Commander-in-Chief Wang Jun, the Han army advanced by both land and water—tens of thousands of troops had already surrounded Shouchun.

The moment he heard the news, Li Jing's face turned white, almost devoid of color, and the rice bowl in his hand toppled over.

His mind was a blur. Though he could not immediately piece together the cause and effect, one thing was perfectly clear: the Great Tang was truly in disaster.