Chapter 618: No Showing Off!

Wu-Kuai is the collective name for Wu County and Kuaiji, located in the core region of what later became Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai. The climate is mild, civilization arose early, and it was the ancient territory of the states of Wu and Yue. Though Yang Province looks vast on a map, in Han times it held five commanderies and one kingdom with a population of 3.2 million, yet a full third of that was concentrated in Wu and Kuaiji. The warfare at the end of the Xin dynasty drove massive southward migration from Xu and Yu provinces; as the first choice for migrants heading south, Wu-Kuai grew even more populous and became Liu Xiu's chief source of funds and grain.

Wu-Kuai was also the region whose class structure most closely resembled the Central Plains. The old Jiangdong situation of "no household worth a thousand gold" was gone, and four families gradually rose to prominence, becoming the "Four Clans of Wu," holding vast landed estates.

The most deeply rooted was the Gu clan of Kuaiji. They were native-born descendants of King Goujian of Yue, local powerholders with a lineage stretching back a thousand years.

The other three were outsiders. The Lu clan of Wu County shared an ancestor with Diwu Lun, both descending from the Tian Qi line. This family produced the renowned Lu Jia — author of the *New Discourses*. Their ancestor had come to Wu County as Magistrate during the Former Han and settled there.

The Zhu clan, also of Wu County, had an equally long history; they were descendants of Zhu Maichen — the man whose wife divorced him.

Closely allied with the Zhu was the Zhuang clan of Wu County, descendants of the famous Martial Emperor-era minister Zhuang (Yan) Zhu. Liu Xiu's old dormitory friend Zhuang (Yan) Ziling belonged to this clan. Regrettably, Zhuang Ziling's temperament differed from ordinary men. When he heard Liu Xiu had taken control of the southeast, instead of coming to greet him and seek office, he hid his identity and went into seclusion. Liu Xiu sent men several times to invite him but they never found him; word was only that he had withdrawn deep into the mountains and vanished without a trace.

Though failing to recruit his old classmate was a slight regret, if they couldn't be friends, then they'd be in-laws!

As early as the year Liu Xiu took control of Jiangdong, he had married daughters from all four Wu clans, filling his rear palace while binding the four great families tightly to himself.

With this layer of ties, the four clans and Liu Xiu shared glory and ruin alike. Now that the Great Han faced a disadvantage, the four clans would not go so far as to betray him and jump ship, but they inevitably had other considerations. When Liu Xiu happened to issue the prophetic charts, they seized the opportunity to push for moving the capital to Jiangdong — making Xiu'er taste the bitter fruit of recklessly playing with prophecies and apocrypha.

What made Liu Xiu even more wary, however, was that the court officials, especially the civil ministers, also strongly approved of this proposal.

Hou Ba, the Grand Minister of Works — one of the Three Excellencies — who had long secured Liu Xiu's rear, argued with conviction: "Jinling is indeed an excellent place. With the great river before it, holding the heights and commanding the depths, its strategic position is uniquely superior. Westward it can draw on the strongholds of Jing and Chu; eastward it can gather the grain of Wu-Kuai. As a capital, it is truly better than Jiangdu."

Even Qiang Hua, the shaman Libationer whom Liu Xiu trusted, was full of praise for Jinling: "Your Majesty, when I traveled to the Yu caves in Kuaiji, I passed through Jinling and saw the Bell Mountain coiling like a dragon and the Stone Fortress crouching like a tiger, with a faint purple Son-of-Heaven aura — a supremely excellent dwelling for an emperor!"

After Liu Xiu questioned the civil officials one by one, he found they broadly supported the four clans' proposal.

"This is bad. I have truly brought this on myself."

Liu Xiu deeply regretted issuing the prophetic chart as an emergency measure. Summoning his chief strategist Deng Yu, he spoke his heart: "The ministers argue about terrain or strategic position, but the reason they have their eyes on Jinling Town comes down to eight characters. Does Zhonghua know them?"

Deng Yu understood and said quietly: "The eight characters Your Majesty speaks of — could they be 'The great river, a natural moat, is enough for a strong defense'?"

Liu Xiu nodded. The unanimous calls to move the capital — all that talk of geomancy and prophetic charts was empty. The sole reason was that the ministers had been frightened by Diwu Lun's offensives! This time they had stopped the Wei army at the Huai and Si rivers, but what about next time? If Diwu Lun came again with two hundred thousand men and the Huai line could not be held, could the rivers and marshes of Huainan alone stop the northern wolf-and-tiger troops? And then, would Jiangdu City north of the river also have to endure a bloody siege like Pengcheng?

"Everyone fears Wei. They feel Huainan is not safe either and are desperate to flee south of the river to Jiangdong."

Liu Xiu pointed helplessly southward. The lower Yangtze was often ten to twenty li wide — such a natural chasm truly gave people an illusory sense of security…

"With morale like this, does no one believe that I can launch a northern campaign to recover Huaibei?"

Liu Xiu sighed deeply, while Deng Yu took the initiative to report another matter: "By Your Majesty's order, I have investigated thoroughly. I have heard only that the four Wu-Kuai clans originally proposed moving the capital to Wu County, but after receiving someone's guidance, they settled on Jinling Town instead."

Liu Xiu was a clever man and reacted at once: "Who guided them? That is a truly brilliant move!"

Brilliant was an understatement — it was an inspired stroke. One must understand that within Liu Xiu's faction, the ministers were divided between locals and outsiders. The outsiders were mainly from Nanyang and Yingchuan, mostly Liu Xiu's original followers, relatives, and former Greenwood men. The locals were the Jiangdong bloc, which further split into Danyang and Wu-Kuai contingents. The four great Wu-Kuai families produced civil officials and scholars; Danyang, with its fierce folkways, formed Liu Xiu's main armed force, the Danyang troops, who were his main strength in campaigns across Huainan and southern Jing.

Had the four clans proposed making Wu County the capital, not to mention the attitude of Liu Xiu's outsider ministers, even the Danyang officers would not necessarily have supported it.

Changing it to Jinling Town made all the difference — the place was within Danyang's borders! Once the capital moved, it would undoubtedly increase the Danyang military officers' influence. No wonder they backed it so strongly.

Liu Xiu began guessing at the "mastermind" who had guided the four clans: "You just said the capital-moving proposal was first put forward by the Zhuang clan of Wu County, and that changing it from Wu County to Jinling to win broader support — could this have been suggested by our old friend Zhuang Ziling?"

Although Zhuang Ziling was devoted to Lao-Zhuang teachings, acted as if he cared nothing for worldly affairs, and even hid to avoid seeing Liu Xiu, Liu Xiu's impression of him was deep. He felt Zhuang Ziling possessed great strategic wisdom and only regretted that he could not make use of him.

Deng Yu shook his head; he did not know. Who had given the four Wu-Kuai clans this clever stratagem was hard to ascertain for the moment. The problem now was that the capital-moving debate had already stirred public opinion. Whether to proceed or not — Liu Xiu had to respond immediately!

So Liu Xiu looked at Deng Yu: "What does Zhonghua think?"

Deng Yu lowered his head: "If judged solely by terrain and strategic position, Jinling Town is indeed an excellent choice. Jinling commands Wu-Kuai, links the Yangtze and Huai, facilitates grain transport and storage — it is truly a foundation for restoration…"

Seeing even Deng Yu speak this way, Liu Xiu felt deep disappointment. Fortunately, Deng Yu's tone shifted: "However, I believe that only when the Huainan buffer has strategic solidity can Jinling then serve as a capital!"

"At last I hear words that plan for the state!"

Liu Xiu strongly approved of Deng Yu's view and said with feeling: "Now the Great Han relies on the Yangtze and Huai as its defenses, and defending the river is never as good as defending the Huai. The Huai basin is the state's lips; Jiangdong is its teeth. When the lips perish, the teeth grow cold."

"Now Han and Wei divide the realm north and south; both Huai regions are battlefields. Huainan is where people from all five directions gather, where goods from the four seas assemble. The fertility of its broad fields and the wealth of its mountains and marshes — Huaibei cannot compare."

"In strategic terms, the root of eastern Huainan is Guangling, with Shanyang and Xuyi as its gates; the key stronghold of western Huainan is Hefei, with Zhongli and Shouchun as its shields. If Diwu Lun comes again, I will stake the whole state on contesting it, relying on the long Huai and its hills and marshes, which are unfavorable for cavalry. With southern infantry, moving back and forth in pursuit, advancing when there is advantage, choosing defensible terrain to hold — the odds of victory or defeat would be roughly even."

Fighting Diwu Lun to a draw in Huainan — Liu Xiu was confident of that.

"But if we abandon Guangling and make Jinling the capital, it will inevitably make the world think I have lost all will to advance north, that I intend to settle for a corner in southeastern Yang Province and divide the realm along the river with Diwu Lun! Once morale is shaken, when the Wei army comes again, if the Han troops lack the desperate resolve to fight with their backs to the river, even with the entire state's forces of eighty thousand men against Diwu Lun's several hundred thousand, the disparity in numbers will be extreme. I foresee no chance of victory; we would inevitably be routed back to Jiangdong."

Liu Xiu thought again of the enemy who had kept his ancestor Liu Bang from peaceful sleep: "Two hundred years ago, the Western Chu Hegemon-King Xiang Yu, defeated at Gaixia, fled at last to the great river at Wujiang Precinct. The Wujiang Precinct Chief rowed out to meet him, saying, 'Though Jiangdong is small, its territory spans a thousand li, its people number in the hundreds of thousands — it is still enough to be a king.'"

"But Xiang Yu only laughed and said: 'Heaven destroys me — why should I cross!'"

"Was Xiang Yu merely ashamed to face the elders of Jiangdong?"

Liu Xiu shook his own head: "It was more than that. Xiang Yu seemed rash, but in truth he was meticulous. He must have seen it too…"

Standing on a tower overlooking the river, the wind ruffling Liu Xiu's handsome beard, Deng Yu's gaze followed his finger toward the land behind them:

"This corner of Jiangdong — the three regions of Wu-Kuai, Danyang, and Yuzhang — has a population of barely two million. Even with the most extreme militarization, its armored troops would not exceed fifty thousand. Once we cross over, forget restoration — even self-preservation would be impossible!"

"Jiangdong's strategic position is tied to Huainan and Jianghan. When the enemy is in Huainan, the Yangtze's natural barrier is shared by us and the enemy; when the enemy is upstream, the Yangtze's natural barrier is controlled by the enemy against us. If I am forced into Jiangdong by Diwu Lun, once Wei first takes Yi and Jing provinces and orders Cen Peng to assemble great warships at Jiangling and elsewhere, sailing downstream with the current, they would reach the foot of Bell Mountain in less than half a month. Meanwhile, the two Gengs would divide their forces north of the Huai to cross the river, and the garrisons along the river would inevitably be overrun."

"By then, even if Jinling had the aura of a king, it would be snuffed out in darkness under the combined assault from west and north!"

These were Liu Xiu's innermost thoughts. Even if Liu Xiu truly was the Son of Heaven's chosen, once he retreated to Jiangdong, there would be no showing off at all!

It was laughable that the civil and military officials of the Great Han, apart from those diehards bent on fighting their way back north with Liu Xiu, the rest still thought they had ample room to maneuver and fall back. They never realized that the great river behind them was not only a natural moat against the enemy — for the cause of restoring Han, it was also a bottomless abyss!

"Your Majesty is brilliantly wise and farsighted!"

Deng Yu was utterly convinced. So Liu Xiu had seen it clearly all along. Yet at the same time, he felt an immense sorrow. How had such a wise and sagacious Son of Heaven ended up with a territory so frustratingly limiting?

This was the dilemma Liu Xiu faced. If he refused to move the capital, first, it would wound the hearts of the local ministers; second, it would weaken the effect of issuing the prophetic chart. But if he agreed, not only would it wound the hearts of the war hawks and make the oath of vengeance he swore at the funerals of Lai Junshu and Liu Zhi sound like a fart, it would also utterly forfeit any chance of contending with Diwu Lun. How could he, Liu Xiu, be like Gongsun Shu, content to be a petty king waiting to die?

Liu Xiu was deeply torn. He did not want to choose; he wanted it all. The cards in his hand were just that many — he could not easily discard any more.

"I have a plan."

Deng Yu offered at the right moment: "The Wei sovereign Diwu Lun, in order to make 'five' an auspicious number, not only calls himself complete in the Five Virtues, uses five-colored banners, but even wants five capitals! At present, Wei already has a western capital at Chang'an, a central capital at Luoyang, and a northern capital at Yecheng."

"Though Diwu Lun is not worth imitating, the Great Han inherits the fiery red virtue of the Zhou dynasty. Why not emulate how the Duke of Zhou built Luoyi in the Western Zhou — keep Jiangdu as the imperial capital unchanged, and make Jinling a secondary capital?"

Liu Xiu fell silent, staring at Deng Yu for a long time as if he no longer recognized this close minister and friend. At last he sighed: "It is a good plan. Let me think on it further."

Deng Yu acknowledged the order and withdrew, his expression as composed as ever. Yet once outside the palace, after climbing into his carriage, he slammed his fist heavily against the carriage wall! Pain showed on his face.

He was full of regret, full of self-reproach!

Deng Yu remembered the banks of the Han River — Ma Wu's valiant, fearless charge — and his own disgrace, having buried over ten thousand troops, sunk beneath the Han waters.

Deng Yu also thought of Lai Junshu and Liu Zhi, their loyalty and courage in defending Pengcheng to the death.

A string of tears rolled down his cheeks: "You all wished to press forward fearlessly for His Majesty, but Deng Yu is incapable. Even now, I can see no chance of victory for the Great Han in recovering the Central Plains. I can only plan for retreat!"

The "mastermind" who sent someone to advise the Four Clans of Wu and have them propose moving the capital to Jinling, winning the support of a majority of civil and military officials at court — wasn't that none other than Deng Yu himself?

Deng Yu drew from his robes the memorial he had not dared to submit, on which he had laid out a new strategy for Liu Xiu. In a low voice, he read it aloud once more: "Your servant humbly judges that the Central Plains cannot be swiftly recovered, and Diwu cannot be eliminated overnight. For Your Majesty's consideration, the only course is to move the capital to Jinling, establish a tripod foothold in Jiangdong, and watch for cracks in the realm."

Of course, after withdrawing to hold Jiangdong, Deng Yu had a whole series of follow-up moves — such as dispatching several thousand armored troops, emulating how Emperor Wu of Han destroyed Nanyue, to seize Jiaozhou. At present, the Governor of Jiaozhou remained neutral among Han, Wei, and Chengjia, but there were faint signs he was leaning toward submitting to Diwu Lun. Doing so would both eliminate a hidden threat to their rear and increase the Great Han's strategic depth.

Yet in the end, he still lacked the courage to tell Liu Xiu these words.

"The time is not yet ripe."

Deng Yu told himself this, carefully putting the memorial away. Matters having reached this stage, he figured Liu Xiu would have no choice but to approve the proposal to make Jinling a secondary capital.

"Whether Jinling is the primary capital or a secondary capital does not matter."

Deng Yu understood perfectly: the point was not whether to do it, but to signal a stance — to withdraw and hold Jiangdong, and no longer pour the southeast's limited manpower, coin, and grain into the bottomless pit of 'recovering the Central Plains.'

"Your Majesty is of course a man who bears the mandate, but perhaps his Heaven-decreed destiny lies not in suddenly restoring the Great Han, but in prolonging the Liu clan's altars of state. Your Majesty has done his utmost, but given the south's scale, there is no shame in this."

With a single corner of the southeast, a mere few million people, to oppose Diwu Lun's warriors from all nine provinces and his teeming millions? How could a swift victory be possible? The Jing-Xiang campaign could still be blamed on Deng Yu's own incompetent command, but in the Xu-Huai campaign, the ever-victorious Liu Xiu took personal charge of the dispositions and yet achieved only a minor victory — Huaibei was still lost, a key minister died in battle, and apart from dressing up a funeral as a celebration, there was nothing else to be done. To southern morale, this was a devastating blow.

"If we pin our hopes on a swift decisive battle to the death with the State of Wei, then the Great Han will surely perish overnight. As things stand now, the only way forward is to retreat."

Deng Yu grew ever more resolute in his thinking. He knew Liu Xiu's will well — Liu Xiu would never accept settling for a truncated realm. Then let him, this incompetent minister, play the villain for once!

In his view, after Fang Wang's "alliance against Wei" had failed, the method for dealing with the State of Wei came down to a single word: drag!

This was something Deng Yu had thought through clearly the moment he visited White Emperor City as an envoy and saw the mountains and rivers of Ba-Shu with his own eyes: ally with Shu against Wei, rely on the natural defenses of mountains and rivers to offset Wei's civilian and military strength.

Since Diwu Lun cannot be defeated in a direct confrontation, then they could only gamble!

"Gamble that Diwu Lun, unable to endure a long war of attrition, will seek to take the upper reaches of Jiangdong and advance south to attack Jiang-Han — only to be caught in a pincer by Han and Shu and taste his first defeat."

But that alone would still not be enough to make the State of Wei crumble; it would only ensure the Wei army's temporary withdrawal, allowing this "Three Kingdoms" situation to persist for a long time.

"And gamble on who lives longer — Your Majesty, or Diwu Lun!"