Chapter 529: Chapter 529

"My Emperor, are you going to..."

Liu Zongmin and Gu Junen were both taken aback when they heard Li Zicheng's deployment. What was the Emperor thinking? Tiger Fang Mountain wasn't that urgent, was it? There was no need to abandon Jiangling to save Tiger Fang, was there?

And the Emperor was going to personally lead the main army to strike at Gong'an. Gong'an was the Zhu bandit's rear line. If it came under threat, the Zhu bandit could not possibly throw his full strength at Tiger Fang Mountain.

Li Zicheng narrowed his one eye and said in a low voice, "The Zhu bandit came to Huguang precisely to rob a thief, so he is certain to keep his eye on Jiangling City! If Li Guo abandons Jiangling, he will march in at the first opportunity. And once he leaves Gong'an, he is bound to take part of his troops with him. The troops the Zhu bandit leaves in Gong'an will be reduced. If we strike at that moment, we cannot fail!"

One had to admit, Li Zicheng, as a founding monarch, did have real ability. Having seen through Zhu Cilang's hand, he immediately prescribed the right remedy and drew up a corresponding plan.

"My Emperor," Liu Zongmin said after pondering for a moment, "the brothers below are all a bit worn out. We'll need to rest for two or three days no matter what before advancing west."

Gu Junen said, "We still have a good deal of plunder here at Gong'an. Do we haul it away? Also, there are still many boats on the river. How should we deal with them?"

Li Zicheng still had authority at this point. Once he made a decision, the two senior civil and military officers below immediately began offering plans in line with his intent.

"Rest for two days, then the whole army advances west!" Li Zicheng said. "As for the plundered goods, distribute whatever can be distributed... whatever cannot be distributed, burn it together with the boats on the river! This is called smashing the cauldrons and sinking the boats — that is exactly what the Hegemon of Western Chu did back then!

Isn't the territory We now hold the western part of the state of Chu? It ought to be the same territory the Hegemon of Chu held back then, no?"

Actually, no! Gu Junen thought to himself: although the state of Western Chu had the word "west" in its name, its territory was in fact in the east. This area around Jiangling was the territory of Gong Ao, King of Linjiang. So, My Emperor, you cannot become the Hegemon of Western Chu — at most you can be the Hegemon of Western Shu!

"Thousand Years! Thousand Years! A victory report!"

Yan Yingyuan came flying into the great hall of the Jade Lake traveling palace, shouting about a great victory at the top of his lungs as he ran.

Zhu Cilang was at that moment reading a memorial sent by Ma Shiying — also a victory report! Ma Shiying had once again shown his prowess in eastern Sichuan. Relying on the outstanding performance of his subordinate Regional Commander Zeng Ying, he had twice defeated Zhang Wenxiu's great army, on the water route at Hezhou and on the land route at Fotu Pass. Zeng Ying had personally led five hundred armored cavalry around behind Zhang Wenxiu and slain the Xi army's Commissioner-in-Chief Zhang Guangcai. Zhang Wenxiu had suffered heavy losses and had already withdrawn his troops back to Chengdu days ago.

Now Ma Shiying could finally concentrate all his strength on dealing with Li Zicheng's possible westward advance. The situation in eastern Sichuan should now be free of worry.

Zhu Cilang had originally worried that Li Zicheng's entry into Sichuan would produce a three-way standoff. Now it seemed that worry had been unnecessary.

Zhang Xianzhong was growing weaker and weaker. It looked as though he would soon fall!

And if Li Zicheng had entered Sichuan by the "Yunyang — Hanzhong" route, Zhu Cilang truly would have had no answer. But instead he had lingered in Jingzhou Prefecture and had even put effort into Tiger Fang Mountain, Yiling Prefecture, and Guizhou. It seemed he wanted to enter Sichuan along the Yangtze line and join forces with Zhang Xianzhong to squeeze Chongqing and Kuizhou from both sides. Now it appeared that scheme had completely fallen through...

Setting down the memorial in his hand, Zhu Cilang was in a good mood. He raised his head and looked at Yan Yingyuan with a smile. "Liheng, what good news do you bring now?"

"Thousand Years," Yan Yingyuan said, performing a salute, then presented with both hands the victory memorial written by He Tengjiao. "A great victory! A great victory at Jiangling... five thousand of the enemy slain, eight hundred heads taken, and Jiangling City itself has been captured in its entirety!"

"What?" Zhu Cilang was startled. "Such a thing actually happened?"

He took the memorial, unfolded it, and read it carefully, character by character. It turned out that the Shun army defending Jiangling had been bluffed by the movement of Wu Guoyong's New Army Right Division toward Tiger Fang Mountain, and had hurriedly abandoned Jiangling City, retreating toward Jingmen Post and Dangyang — apparently intending to go around by way of Dangyang to Yiling Prefecture, and then descend eastward to Tiger Fang Mountain.

He Tengjiao and Chang Yanling, who were encamped at Lower Baili Isle and the Jiangling bridgehead, immediately seized the opportunity and sent out ten thousand picked troops in pursuit. They caught up with the Shun army near Jingmen Post and then attacked fiercely for a spell, taking eight hundred heads... though whether any of that was inflated merit was impossible to say.

But Jiangling City had genuinely been captured, which counted as a major achievement!

"Go and invite Commissioner-in-Chief Qin." Zhu Cilang let out a breath, set down the memorial, and ordered his attendants to summon Qin Liangyu.

Zhu Cilang had self-awareness. He knew he was a military strategist only on paper, incapable of commanding a hundred thousand troops in battle against the enemy. Moreover, this Huguang campaign was not a set-piece battle with both sides drawn up in formation; it was a war of maneuver. Zhu Cilang simply could not command it, and he had no one under him truly capable of fighting a war of maneuver well — Wu Xiang might be able to fight a war of maneuver, but he was not in Huguang.

As for Wu Sanfu, Wu Guoyong, and Li Yan, they were at best division-commander material. A large-scale war of maneuver at the hundred-thousand-man level was simply beyond them.

Only Qin Liangyu, who had fought the roving bandits for over a decade, knew how to fight this kind of mobile war.

"Thousand Years, if this old woman has not misheard..." Qin Liangyu was advanced in years and her eyes were not good, so He Tengjiao's memorial had been read aloud to her by Yan Yingyuan. After hearing it, the old lady seemed to want to say something, but hesitated.

"Whatever the Old Madam wishes to say, say it freely!" Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "We have already memorialized His Majesty to enfeoff the Old Madam as a Duke... what could the Old Madam possibly not be free to say?"

Zhu Cilang's court had no notion of exalting civil officials and slighting military men — his foundation had been the warriors of the Northern Depot from the start, so how could he exalt the civil? Thus, once enfeoffed as Duke of Kenan, she would be a meritorious minister of the very first rank, free to speak ill even of the Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode.

Qin Liangyu nodded and said, "Governor He has inflated his battle merit. His militia troops could not possibly have killed five thousand of Li Zicheng's men. The eight hundred heads are most likely padded as well. Not to the point of killing civilians, but perhaps he killed quite a few of the army's porters."

Zhu Cilang nodded, noncommittal.

Although He Tengjiao had inflated his report, Zhu Cilang would still acknowledge his merit... after all, He Tengjiao had taken the correct side these past two years!

So a marquisate would have to be conferred on him regardless!

Besides, his talent for internal feuding was still useful. The next Governor of Guangdong would be none other than him... These days the native-settler strife in Guangdong was lively indeed. An official who did not know how to fight internal battles would go there and be utterly disoriented by the two factions of Guangdong people fighting over him.

Qin Liangyu continued, "However, the fact that the roving bandits at Jiangling failed to ambush Governor He shows that their numbers were not large, nor were they elite troops... By the way, is there any news from Hanyang?"

"Nothing much," Yan Yingyuan said. "Young Duke Wu has already begun bombarding Tortoise Mountain..."

"What about Tiger Fang Mountain?"

"Nothing much there either," Yan Yingyuan said again. "Division Commander Wu is building field fortifications and preparing for a direct assault."

Qin Liangyu knitted her brows. "In that case... the force over at Shishou is very likely the main strength of the roving bandits!"

Zhu Cilang's side of course had no idea where Li Zicheng's main force was. Finding the enemy's main force in a war of maneuver was never easy; it usually required slow probing, and then drawing inferences from the results of the probes.

Qin Liangyu's proposal to strike at Jiangling was in fact meant to probe for, or lure out, Li Zicheng's main force.

"Old Madam..." At that moment Zhu Cilang saw Qin Liangyu's expression suddenly turn extremely grave, and he quickly asked, "Is something wrong?"

Qin Liangyu nodded and said, "Li Zicheng abandoned Jiangling... that is what is somewhat wrong!"

"How so?"

"If he meant to save Tiger Fang Mountain and Jiangling, he would not have abandoned the city," Qin Liangyu said. "But he did abandon it, which shows we failed to draw him into motion."

"Then Li Zicheng will..."

Qin Liangyu said, "There are two possibilities. One is that he withdraws toward Xiangyang, preparing to enter Sichuan by the northern route. The other is... he is coming to Gong'an!"

"What? Coming to Gong'an? He knows We are at Gong'an?" Zhu Cilang grew tense. Although he had two or three thousand cavalry with him and could flee at any time, Li Zicheng's old camp was no joke either!