Chapter 240: Bloodbath in Jiangnan, Upholding Heaven

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In the third year of Zhao Yu's ascension, he elevated Zhenjiang from a prefecture to a fu, the first city in the Two Zhe region to be upgraded from prefecture to fu.

This shows that Zhenjiang held a relatively high status in Zhao Yu's eyes.

Zhenjiang received Zhao Yu's attention primarily because of its extremely strategic geographical position.

To the north, Zhenjiang is guarded by the Yangtze River's natural barrier, making it a key military stronghold in the lower Yangtze, capable of blocking southern invaders, while also serving as a hub connecting all directions—it has been a contested battleground since ancient times.

Soon after Fang La's rebellion broke out, while Song Jiang's rebel army marched southward, Zhao Yu ordered Sun Lan and Wang Min to lead the Southern Auxiliary Army stationed in Huaiyang Army into Zhenjiang.

After receiving the order, the veteran Wang Min personally led the vanguard cavalry into Zhenjiang that same day.

Immediately afterward, Sun Lan led the bulk of the Southern Auxiliary Army across the river in batches and established comprehensive defensive fortifications in Zhenjiang.

At that time, Fang La's rebel army had not yet left Qingxi County, and Song Jiang's rebel army had just begun moving south from Haizhou.

Zhenjiang was a critical strategic barrier on the eastern front of Jiang Ningfu (later Nanjingcheng).

Since ancient times, if northern forces seized Yangzhou, they would next advance southward along the northern bank of the Yangtze.

Once Zhenjiang fell, the connection between Jiang Ningfu and Changzhou, Suzhou, and Zhejiang would be severed, allowing northern forces to sweep through southern Suzhou and encircle Jiang Ningfu strategically.

According to the Tang-era Du You, Zhenjiang's importance to Jiang Ningfu was like Mengjin's to Luoyang.

If northern forces seized Mengjin, Luoyang would have no natural defenses left.

The same applied to Zhenjiang's relationship with Jiang Ningfu.

Thus, the Six Dynasties (Eastern Wu, Eastern Jin, Song, Qi, Liang, Chen) all treated Zhenjiang as a frontline military stronghold.

The ancients stated clearly: if Zhenjiang's defenses slipped even slightly, Jiang Ningfu's danger increased correspondingly.

With the Southern Auxiliary Army stationed in Zhenjiang, they could advance offensively or defend defensively, placing the Zhao Song dynasty almost invincible.

When Jiangnan gentry and landowners saw the Southern Auxiliary Army stationed in Zhenjiang, their hearts grew calmer, believing the court would soon dispatch a large army to crush Fang La's fledgling rebellion.

Unexpectedly, after entering Zhenjiang, the Southern Auxiliary Army fell silent.

Soon, Song Jiang's rebel army took a sea route from Haizhou into Xiuzhou in Jiangnan.

After seizing Xiuzhou, the experienced Song Jiang rebel army immediately split forces, holding public trials across the region, slaughtering all local officials, gentry, and landowners, seizing vast quantities of gold, silver, coins, silks, jewels, and precious artifacts, burning all land deeds in fires, then opening granaries to distribute the gentry's grain to the common people.

Then, contrary to all Jiangnan gentry's expectations, Song Jiang's rebel army showed no intention of heading south to join Fang La's forces, nor did they aim to seize Hangzhou, the region's foremost stronghold—they marched north straight toward Suzhou.

Zhu Mian and other Suzhou officials, gentry, and landowners never imagined Song Jiang's rebel army would bypass Hangzhou and strike Suzhou instead.

—To Zhu Mian and the Suzhou gentry, if Song Jiang's rebels advanced north, they would likely encounter the main Song army and be crushed.

Even more astonishing to Zhu Mian and the Suzhou officials, gentry, and landowners was that despite their urgent pleas for aid to the Southern Auxiliary Army stationed in Zhenjiang, the Southern Auxiliary Army never moved south—they remained firmly entrenched in Zhenjiang.

This caused the Suzhou officials, gentry, and landowners to miss their chance to flee.

Even more unexpected to them was that, as Song Jiang's rebel army attacked the city, a Suzhou man named Shi Sheng led several hundred men to seize the city gates and let Song Jiang's rebels inside.

As a result, nearly all Suzhou officials, gentry, and landowners were captured by Song Jiang's rebel army.

Song Jiang's rebel army set up one hundred public trial platforms in Suzhou, executing for ten days and ten nights, leaving heads rolling and rivers of blood—Zhu Chong and his son Zhu Mian were flayed alive by the rebels.

Despite this massive slaughter in Suzhou, the local populace did not feel fear or resentment; instead, they expressed gratitude and support.

Suzhou civilians flocked to join Song Jiang's rebel army, eager to follow Song Jiang in upholding Heaven's justice.

After consulting with Yuwen Xuzhong, Song Jiang recruited twenty thousand elite troops from Suzhou, adding to the ten thousand already recruited from Xiuzhou—Song Jiang's rebel army now numbered thirteen thousand.

As in Xiuzhou, Song Jiang's rebel army did not occupy Suzhou; instead, they handed governance to officials who had survived the public trials and continued their campaign toward Huzhou…

Song Jiang's rebel army's brutal massacre in Suzhou, like a storm, swept through the entire Jiangnan gentry class, triggering immense shock and panic.

Those former elites who had lived in luxury and wielded power now trembled in fear.

The Southern Auxiliary Army's inaction and steadfast defense of Zhenjiang further deepened the officials', gentry's, and landowners' dread.

Some quick-thinking officials, gentry, and landowners finally realized their resistance to Zhao Yu's New Policies had angered him—might Zhao Yu abandon them to their fate?

Some officials and gentry hastily wrote letters to their allies in the court, urging them to pressure the court into sending a large army to suppress the rebels in Jiangnan.

Others, relying on their status and lineage, traveled to Zhenjiang and demanded that Sun Lan and Wang Min send troops to protect them.

For example, Song Fengxiang, wife of Cai You, whose father was Song Qiaonian.

Song Qiaonian was the grandson of the renowned chancellor Song Xiang; his father, Song Chongguo, was also a distinguished minister who rose to the rank of Taizhong Daifu.

During Emperor Shenzong's reign, while serving as a supervisor in the Market Exchange Bureau, Song Qiaonian abused his authority to embezzle public property and colluded with courtesans for personal gain.

These actions ultimately led to Song Qiaonian being dismissed by Emperor Shenzong and reduced to commoner status, living in poverty for over twenty years.

Only after Cai Jing gained Zhao Yu's favor did Song Qiaonian, through Cai Jing's connections, become Deputy Transport Commissioner of the Two Zhe Circuit; his two sons, Song Bian and Song Huan, also secured high-ranking posts in the court.

With such family background, Cai Jing as his patron, his own status as one of Jiangnan's top officials, his daughter married to Cai Jing's eldest son Cai You, and both his sons married to daughters of Jiangnan's great clans, Song Qiaonian believed that Sun Lan and Wang Min—whose positions, backgrounds, and lineage were far inferior to his—would surely honor him by sending troops to protect them in Huzhou, and even help them retake Suzhou and Xiuzhou.

Thus, at the urging of many gentry and landowners, Song Qiaonian wrote a letter of appeal to Sun Lan and Wang Min, which read:

This humble old man has heard that Your Excellencies command the Southern Auxiliary Army, stationed in Zhenjiang, guarding the gateway to Jiangning. All Jiangnan's commoners look to your might for safety. I have long known your loyalty and valor for the state. Now, in this dire emergency, I dare to beg your attention.

Lately, the rebel Song Jiang has grown rampant, invading from Xiuzhou, slaughtering gentry, burning land deeds—his atrocities are beyond description. Officials like Zhu Gongchong of Suzhou had hoped you would march south to jointly repel this savage foe. Yet the rebels struck suddenly, the city gates fell, and the entire gentry class nearly perished. Zhu Gong and his son suffered unjust deaths, their blood staining Gusu—this is a catastrophe unseen in Jiangnan for centuries!

Now the rebels' power grows stronger, gathering rabble, eyeing Huzhou, poised to invade our fertile lands.

The people of Jiangnan all look to the imperial army with bated breath.

I, generation after generation, have received the state's grace, my ancestors serving in court—I cannot but defend the realm.

Yet now the rebels' flames rage uncontrollably; though we harbor the will to crush them, we possess not a single soldier, and our strength is insufficient.

Your Excellencies command elite troops, stationed at this critical juncture—your decision to advance or hold determines the safety of the southeast. If you move south to exterminate the rebels, you will ease the Emperor's worries, pacify the people, bring glory to the state, and earn eternal fame.

We, the Jiangnan gentry, are ready to welcome the imperial army with food and wine; we shall spare no expense to supply your troops.

I humbly implore Your Excellencies to remember the court's great trust, recognize Jiangnan's peril, and swiftly dispatch your valiant troops to rescue Jiangnan's people from fire and water. My plea is urgent; words fail to convey all. I respectfully await your reply.

Deputy Transport Commissioner of the Two Zhe Circuit, Song Qiaonian, bows deeply.

The 28th day of the tenth month, Hongwu Eighth Year.

To Song Qiaonian's surprise, his plea vanished like a stone dropped into the sea—he received neither reinforcements nor even a single reply.

This icy silence was colder than any outright refusal, shattering the last flicker of hope in the hearts of Jiangnan's officials, gentry, and landowners.

Soon, Song Qiaonian received a letter from Cai Jing.

Cai Jing told Song Qiaonian not to harbor false hopes, to abandon the lands of the Jiangnan region immediately, and to leave Jiangnan without delay—delay would cost him his life.

Not only Song Qiaonian received Cai Jing's warning letter; all southern officials, gentry, and landowners received similar letters.

Some southern officials, gentry, and landowners chose to believe their relatives, friends, disciples, and former subordinates in the capital, hastily abandoned everything, packed only a few valuables, and swiftly took their families north to Zhenjiang, then crossed the river to escape Jiangnan.

Yet despite nearly all southern officials and gentry knowing the court had ordered them to evacuate the south, many still refused to abandon their estates and chose to recruit estate servants and soldiers to defend their property.

These officials, gentry, and landowners who chose to stay did so not only because they clung to their wealth, but also because they did not believe Zhao Yu would allow the prosperous and wealthy Jiangnan region to be reduced to ruins—after all, Jiangnan was the Zhao Song dynasty's treasury and granary—and they did not believe the court would stand idly by while its very foundation—their families—was uprooted. After all, their ancestors had served the Zhao Song dynasty, and their descendants, relatives, friends, disciples, and former subordinates were the pillars of the Zhao Song dynasty. If the court watched as they were slaughtered by Song Jiang's rebel army and Fang La's rebel army, it would surely feel the sorrow of the rabbit's death and the fox's fear, grieve for its own kind, and chill the hearts of the scholar-officials, thereby undermining the Zhao Song dynasty's rule.

Song Qiaonian was the representative of these officials, gentry, and landowners.

Facing Cai Jing's goodwill, Song Qiaonian paid it no mind; he ordered his clan to recruit many estate soldiers, and together with his own Xiang Army, assembled three thousand men, joining with other officials, gentry, and landowners' recruits to form a force of over thirty thousand men to defend Huzhou.

Seeing how "strong and well-equipped" they appeared, Song Qiaonian and the others felt even more confident they could hold their estates, and completely dismissed Song Jiang's rebel army.

Yet reality soon delivered a crushing blow to Song Qiaonian and the other officials, gentry, and landowners.

Though Song Jiang's rebel army lacked the refined equipment of the imperial regulars, it had absorbed countless oppressed refugees along the way, and its morale was soaring, its fighters fearless of death.

The thirty thousand men assembled by the officials, gentry, and landowners were nothing but hastily recruited estate servants and weak Xiang Army troops—capable of bullying others in peacetime, but on the battlefield, facing Song Jiang's rebels, they instantly revealed fatal flaws.

Song Jiang employed a feint-and-flank tactic: first, he sent small units to create a false show of force in Chengnan, beating drums and shouting to draw Song Qiaonian's main force southward; meanwhile, the rebel elite slipped under cover of night along hidden waterways, boarding boats to strike directly at the weakly defended Chengxi.

Crucially, Lu Xinger of Guian County, who had previously infiltrated the estate soldiers, led men to open the gates from within.

When Song Qiaonian realized he had been tricked, the western city gate had already been opened by Lu Xinger's men, and the cries of battle erupted like thunder.

In the chaos, the officials', gentry's, and landowners' estate soldiers trampled one another, turning into a disorganized mess, utterly unable to organize effective resistance. Song Qiaonian watched his carefully assembled army collapse like a tide, filled with despair. He tried to command his household servants to hold the line, but was knocked down by fleeing crowds, then captured by Lin Chong, a leader of Song Jiang's rebel army.

In just a few hours, Huzhou fell. Song Jiang's rebel army stormed into the city, capturing every official, gentry member, and landowner—including their families and henchmen—who had long oppressed the people, dragging them to public trial platforms. Their wealth was seized by Song Jiang's rebels, their land deeds burned, and their grain distributed to the masses.

Song Qiaonian and the others, believing themselves noble families of Jiangnan entitled to generations of wealth and glory, never imagined that in a single turn of fortune, their family's century-old foundation would crumble like a sandcastle beneath the flood of Song Jiang's rebellion. Brought before the public trial platform, facing the very people they had once regarded as ants, their pride and contempt now turned to deep fear and helplessness.

Song Qiaonian and the others were right to fear, for those they had exploited and oppressed had become their judges. In the eyes of these people, there was no longer the old reverence or obedience—only long-suppressed fury and the burning desire for vengeance.

Amid the roaring cries of "Kill! Kill! Kill...", fewer than one in a hundred officials, gentry, and landowners walked away from the public trial platform.

Heads rolled again; blood flowed like a river.

The headless corpse of Song Qiaonian—grandson of a chancellor, son of a famed minister, son-in-law of a high-ranking minister, and deputy transport commissioner of the court—lay among the blood.

After handing Huzhou over to the officials who had descended from the public trial platform, Song Jiang's rebel army pressed northward, capturing Changzhou and Danyang; wherever they passed, local officials, gentry, and landowners were all dragged to public trial platforms.

As Song Jiang's rebel army advanced northward, the land of Jiangnan seemed swept by an unprecedented storm—the old order was utterly overturned in the flames of rage. Each city's fall echoed with the cries of officials, gentry, and landowners and the cheers of the people.

In this profound struggle over land, justice, and revenge, those once lofty and arrogant officials, gentry, and landowners fell like autumn leaves, nearly all destroyed.

What chilled the officials, gentry, and landowners most was that even as Song Jiang's rebel army marched right up to them, the Nanfu Army showed no intention to fight—it simply watched silently as Song Jiang's rebels passed beneath their very noses, heading toward Jiangning Prefecture to continue their mission of upholding heaven's justice.

Soon after, the entire northern Jiangnan region was purged in blood.

Having cleansed the northern Jiangnan region of its vermin, Song Jiang's rebel army felt no attachment; they directly turned their forces southward, continuing their mission of upholding heaven's justice.

Song Jiang's rebel army acted like true knights, bearing the banner of "upholding heaven's justice" as they marched across Jiangnan, each step crushing decay and injustice, raising dust of hope and freedom.

Perhaps Song Jiang, the leader of the rebel army, could no longer tell whether he was carrying out Zhao Yu's orders, pursuing a noble ambition beyond life and death—striking at the sickness of this age to help Zhao Yu build a better ideal state—or merely mocking Huang Chao for lacking manhood...

(End of Chapter)