Chapter 501: Liu Chengyou Gets Played for a Fool

At Shouchun, over a hundred thousand troops of the Han army remained encamped, preparing for battle and digesting the fruits of victory. Within Shouchun's borders alone, the Northern Han had defeated more than 150,000 Southern Tang soldiers and civilians in succession, seizing great quantities of grain, weapons, and armor.

While reorganizing the troops, they did not forget to pacify the people, implementing Han governance and enforcing Han law. Naturally, dispatching forces to take cities and towns was also underway. Along the river region, Pan Mei led troops southward and, together with Zhang Yongde, each acting on imperial orders, launched attacks on Shu and He prefectures; according to their reports, progress was smooth.

The Han army, riding the momentum of its great victory, was unstoppable, while the Tang army feared battle and was contracting its forces southward. Apart from a few fortified strongholds north of the river, the remaining territory was not difficult to take.

Liu Chengyou had first dispatched Murong Yanzhao to lead roughly ten thousand cavalry and infantry from the Longjie Horse Army and the Longqi Army southward, coordinating the campaign against the Southern Tang's riverine prefectures. Within just these two or three days, whether out of fear of the Han army's might or moved by the Han emperor's "Proclamation to the Soldiers and People of Huainan," county towns in Huainan submitted one after another, throwing open their gates to welcome the Han army.

News of the capture of Yangzhou and the Tang sovereign's decision to sue for peace reached Liu Chengyou in succession.

Zhao Kuangyin and Chen Sirang leading troops south with Yangzhou as their objective had been reported by Guo Rong in an earlier military dispatch. Liu Chengyou saw nothing improper in this and even held some expectation. But when the report of victory truly arrived, he could not help but feel a measure of surprise, secretly sighing that Zhao the Great truly lived up to his name.

Thereupon, Liu Chengyou ordered the news circulated to the entire army on the Huainan campaign, and simultaneously issued an edict appointing Zhao Kuangyin Prefect of Yangzhou, temporarily administering military and civil affairs of the prefecture, with Chen Sirang as Patrol Inspector of Yang and Tai — effectively entrusting the Yang and Tai region to the two of them for the time being.

As for the Southern Tang's request for peace, there was nothing surprising about it. If anything was unexpected, it was that the Northern Han's spies in Jinling had not yet exerted themselves before a Southern Tang minister himself proposed it.

In light of this, Liu Chengyou simply lingered an extra day at Shouchun, awaiting the arrival of the Tang envoy Sun Sheng from the north.

"Your Majesty, the captured false-Tang Huainan relief commissioner Huangfu Hui requests an audience!" At the Shouchun prefectural office, as Liu Chengyou sat alone pondering the grand strategy for the nation ahead, Zhang Dejun reported.

After the fall of Shouchun, Huangfu Hui, captured at the Battle of Lai'an, had been sent by Guo Rong under military escort to the field headquarters, presented to Liu Chengyou. After all, in name he had been the commander of the Tang forces across Huainan, but Liu Chengyou had little interest in this Huangfu Hui.

"Oh?" Now hearing that he sought an audience on his own initiative, Liu Chengyou finally felt a flicker of interest and said: "Since I have a moment of leisure, there is no harm in seeing him. I wonder what this famed general of the false Tang wishes to discuss with me?"

"Most likely to beg for mercy, or perhaps to surrender!" Zhang Dejun guessed.

Before long, Huangfu Hui was brought into the hall, with two guards watching him from behind, wary of this old general. Surveying the man, his countenance was still fairly upright, his face showed his age, his spirit seemed somewhat dejected, and his body bore many wounds.

Waving a hand to signal the guards to step back, Liu Chengyou asked: "So you are Huangfu Hui? I have heard of you for a long time. You seek an audience with me — state your business, and I may grant it as circumstances warrant!"

Huangfu Hui likewise studied Liu Chengyou, his old eyes faintly brightening. Beholding the Son of Heaven of Han, he wore a rather moved expression. Without answering the question, Huangfu Hui said: "I am exhausted, my strength spent, and can bear no more strain. Might I sit for a moment?"

"Of course, there is no objection!" Hearing this, Liu Chengyou waved his hand, signaling Zhang Dejun to give him a short stool.

Huangfu Hui paid it no mind, however, and sat directly on the floor, catching his breath a few times with a somewhat affected air. Gazing at Liu Chengyou, he said again: "Might I lie down for a while?"

Having said this, without waiting for Liu Chengyou's reply, he lay down of his own accord, stretched out across the hall, with an air of unrestrained, free-spirited ease.

Seeing this display, Zhang Dejun immediately rebuked him: "How presumptuous! A defeated general like you dares to behave with such impropriety before the Son of Heaven!"

Liu Chengyou, however, grew somewhat intrigued, feeling that this old general was putting on airs, having learned some "famed-general flair" from who knows where. He raised a hand to stay Zhang Dejun and quietly observed the performance.

But seeing the Son of Heaven of Han seated calmly, watching as if at a monkey show, Huangfu Hui could no longer lie still. He propped himself up, sat cross-legged, and said: "Your Majesty perhaps thinks I sought an audience to beg for mercy, to cling to a paltry life?"

"Is that not so?" Liu Chengyou replied casually.

"Then you would be underestimating this old man!" Huangfu Hui said with feeling: "I came here to see with my own eyes what manner of man the great Han Son of Heaven who defeated me truly is. Indeed, you are as radiant as the sun, awe-inspiring in every direction, noble beyond words!"

Liu Chengyou could not help but smile, responding flatly: "The one who defeated you was Guo Rong, my Great Han's Pacification Commissioner of Huai-dong!"

"Without the Han Son of Heaven, how could there be a Han army?" Huangfu Hui said: "The defeat at Lai'an was not for lack of effort on my part in service to my state. Rather, that Guo Rong was excessively cunning, and the Han army's officers and men were too elite to withstand. My wits were exhausted and my strength spent, and so I was captured. In my youth, I also witnessed the ferocity of the Khitan and fought against them without fear. But now, observing the might of the Great Han's soldiers, there are few troops in the world that can match them! My court had not fought the Central Plains for many years and did not know the elite prowess of the northern troops; to lose battle after battle is hardly surprising!"

"I and the Han army have no need for a prisoner's acknowledgment or praise!" Liu Chengyou remained utterly unruffled.

Seeing this, Huangfu Hui laughed heartily and, still seated, clasped his hands and said: "When I served at the Tang court, there were often those who slighted me for being a northern general and for the frivolity of my youth, doubting me, so much so that I once threw myself into a river to prove my integrity. Now that I have seen the Son of Heaven of the Central Plains, I have no regrets. All I ask for is a short dagger, to fulfill my final loyalty."

Hearing this, Liu Chengyou saw that Huangfu Hui's gaze was utterly candid. He studied him seriously for several moments, seeming somewhat puzzled, pondering his intent.

"Your Majesty need not doubt me. A defeated general asks for nothing else!" Huangfu Hui said: "Surely the great Han Son of Heaven is not so stingy as to begrudge a single dagger?"

Facing this request, Liu Chengyou raised his hand, pointed directly at one of the guards, and instructed: "Take Huangfu Hui below, find the imperial physician, and have his wounds treated first!"

Hearing Liu Chengyou's order, Huangfu Hui said nothing more, his gaze calm and his bearing composed as he followed the guard out. But before a quarter of an hour had passed, the guard came back in haste to report: "Your Majesty, that Huangfu has taken his own life!"

"Hm?" Liu Chengyou was startled, the vermilion brush in his hand pausing for a moment before he set it down directly and asked: "What happened?"

"I was taking Huangfu Hui to find the imperial physician to treat his wounds. Before the diagnosis could even begin, the wretch took advantage of my inattention and dashed his head against the wall, dying on the spot!"

"This fellow — rude before Your Majesty, spouting wild words — and when Your Majesty, instead of punishing his crimes, treated his wounds, he showed such ingratitude, bent solely on death. How utterly tactless!" Zhang Dejun said: "This man's conduct was bizarre. One wonders what meaning lay behind his actions from start to finish?"

Liu Chengyou thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said: "This General Huangfu wished to use me to magnify his reputation for loyalty. It was rather a trial for him, I suppose. Still, that this man truly does not fear death does rather exceed my expectations!"

"This old fellow, what a cunning mind!" Zhang Dejun seemed unable to contain his indignation.

Liu Chengyou said: "Enough. The man is dead — am I to quibble with a corpse? Give him a proper burial!"

"Your Majesty is benevolent and virtuous!" Zhang Dejun said respectfully.

Shaking his head, Liu Chengyou thought again, recalling Huangfu Hui's words and deeds. Though he did not take it to heart, he could not shake the feeling of having been played for a fool — except that Huangfu Hui had paid with his life.

On reflection, this Huangfu Hui was rather an interesting character after all.