Chapter 552: The Southern Tang Strategy

"Huguang, I am your elder brother! You would even kill your own brother — are you still human?"

Hutai was like a fat, pudgy groundhog, shaking his body with all his might, trying to break free from the grip of the armored soldiers around him, while his mouth kept shouting without pause.

Ten seconds ago, Hutai had still been congratulating himself that he had once again saved his life and even his wealth and rank — but now, in an instant, it all shattered.

That night, after Hu Cile and his wife took poison and died, Huguang grieved only briefly before suddenly seeking out Hutai, telling him to summon all officers of the Wuning Army above the rank of Chief Military Inspector to the headquarters.

And then... and then there was no "then." Huguang took not a single guard, not a single blade, and simply talked more than twenty key officers of the Wuning Army into submission.

It was exactly as Hu Cile's old wife had judged: the Wuning Army, from top to bottom, had no heart to hold out and die with Hu Cile, because they had no need to.

Hu Cile had no choice but to hold out to the death, because he had betrayed the Shaoming Emperor — but the Wuning Army, from top to bottom, had never betrayed anyone!

Before Zhang Zhao entered the Central Plains, they had never been Zhang Zhao's subordinates at all, so there was no question of betrayal.

In fact, because the Wuning Army had not gone over to the Khitan by the Hutuo River, and had never gone to pay homage to Yelu Deguang, they were not only not traitors — they still wore a thin outer skin of loyalty and righteousness.

When Huguang met these officers, he needed to say nothing else. He said only one thing.

"The Wuning Army is originally the court's own troops. Resisting the Khitan in the north — that is loyalty! Refusing to serve the Khitan — that is righteousness! With loyalty and righteousness upon you, how can you serve a mediocre lord of Southern Wu?"

Before Huguang had returned to Zhang Zhao's side, he had been the young lord Troop Commander of the Wuning Army — in the Later Jin of that time, he counted as a rising young star, so the officers of the Wuning Army, high and low, all rather respected him.

At once, only one infantry Commander asked uneasily, "Can the Emperor really pardon all of us?"

Hu Cile's defection to Southern Tang — this Commander had taken part in it too, so he was very afraid that a high-ranking officer of his standing would not be pardoned.

Huguang nodded firmly. "There's no question of pardon or no pardon, because you were never subjects of the Sage to begin with, and never drew the Sage's salary. Coming over to allegiance now is called obeying Heaven and answering fate. Not only will there be no punishment — there will be reward."

The Commander thought it over — it truly was so! And Southern Tang's military strength was simply too worthless; there was no reason to keep drifting along with them.

And so, without a single blade being raised, Huguang — forcibly suppressing his grief — simply talked several thousand Wuning Army soldiers into surrendering.

Apart from Huguang losing his parents, this was a situation where everyone was happy.

Hutai, too, was beside himself with joy at the side. Although he had betrayed Zhang Zhao, he had now helped Huguang talk the Wuning Army into surrender and offered up the city of Xuzhou — a great merit. Even if he got no reward, at the very least his merits and faults would cancel out.

However, after obtaining the Wuning Army's agreement to surrender, the first thing Huguang did was have Hutai bound.

And he did not have the Wuning Army's men do the binding — he had Hu Cile's yabing guards, men likewise from Liangzhou, do it.

Back then, the six divisions of elite cavalry ordered from Hexi to the Central Plains had numbered seven hundred men in total. Several dozen had followed Huguang back; over a hundred had trickled back one after another over the years.

In the intervening years, sixty-seven had died in battle, and fifty or sixty more were too badly wounded to keep fighting. The remaining four hundred-odd became Hu Cile's yabing guards.

Huguang did not even glance at Hutai. Instead, he said to the other yabing guards, who were sweating cold, "Hutai was the first man to advocate defecting to Southern Tang. If he does not die, how will the Great Compassion Dharma King ever forgive you?"

At that, the yabing guards finally stopped hesitating. A Captain stepped forward and personally bound the fat, bulky Hutai, so that he could not struggle.

Huguang had no choice in this. These four hundred yabing guards counted as Hu Cile's accomplices — not enough to accomplish anything, but more than enough to ruin everything.

And he understood in his heart: there were over four hundred men, and to speak precisely, their crime was not one that absolutely demanded death.

Most likely Zhang Zhao would merely exile them. So he simply sought certainty and gave them a verbal reassurance right away.

When Hutai saw that the yabing guards were now getting serious, all support vanished from his heart. He prostrated himself on the ground, tears and snot streaming down.

"Erlang, Erlang, just let me off this once, will you? I'll give you all my family property — I only ask to hide my name and keep my life!"

"I don't want your sin-earned money. And stop struggling. Back then, when it came to beguiling my father into defecting to Southern Tang, you, Hutai, were the most zealous of all. Now it has cost my parents their lives — and you still want to live?"

Hearing this, Hutai understood there was absolutely no way out. The look in his eyes instantly turned vicious, and he stared at Huguang.

"Don't you fucking dump every chamber pot on my head! Back then, the most zealous one wasn't me, Hutai — it was your elder brother Huwei! If you've got the guts, kill him too!"

Huguang's eyes went red. He crouched down and fiercely grabbed Hutai's bound right arm.

"You're dead for certain! And Huwei is no exception. He, Hu Dalang, is a filial son — he must be longing to go down and keep our parents company. I'll be sending him down very soon too."

The fire in Hutai's eyes went out. He looked at Huguang's twisted face and gave up his final struggle.

The man would not even spare his own blood brother, so naturally he would not spare him, a cousin. Hutai hung his head for a long while before speaking in a low voice.

"My family property — divide it into three shares: one for the eldest boy, one for the second boy, and one for Young Niang. Your sister-in-law is weak-natured; keep an eye on things for her, and don't let anyone seize the whole estate."

Huguang turned his back and nodded lightly. Then, forcefully suppressing the turmoil in his heart, he said calmly.

"In a while, eat your fill, and then be on your way. I will report to the Sage that you were too ashamed to face him again and chose to take your own life.

That way, the eldest boy and the second boy won't be laughed at in the future, and Young Niang can still marry into a good family."

Hutai, hearing this, said no more. He only sobbed quietly behind him.

Taking Xuzhou without bloodshed — Zhang Zhao was greatly excited. He truly had not misjudged Huguang. This young man had both loyalty and filial piety; he was material for great things.

However, Zhang Zhao had thought Huguang could persuade Hu Cile to surrender the city, and had even prepared to have Hu Cile placed under house arrest in Luoyang. He had not expected matters to turn out so tragically.

Seeing Huguang lose both parents in an instant, Zhang Zhao could hardly show how delighted he was.

After thinking briefly — he governed the realm by loyalty, righteousness, benevolence, and filial piety. Hu Cile had betrayed him repeatedly, so he certainly could not be rewarded. But Hu Cile's old wife could still be rewarded.

Zhang Zhao immediately issued an edict: posthumously enfeoffing Hu Cile's old wife as Grand Lady of Shache Commandery, with the posthumous name Zhen, and bestowing the dharma name Zhenhui Mingci Dajue Yuanman Shan Nüzi. He also promoted the Earl of Shache — the title Huguang was due — to Marquis of Shache.

Also, at Huguang's earnest request, he pardoned the crimes of the four hundred men who had followed Hu Cile. Zhang Zhao stripped them of all privileges they had originally held in Liangzhou, such as granted fields, and of their Liangzhou household registration.

He ordered them to return the pay and silver he had issued them after they came to the Central Plains. In this way, these men were no longer his, Zhang Zhao's, soldiers and officers — and so naturally there was no question of betrayal or not.

Of course, this was merely a step to let both sides climb down with dignity. Everyone knew it was a special favor Zhang Zhao granted out of regard for Huguang.

And after the recovery of Xuzhou came the next step in strategy.

Up to now, no alarm had come from Zhao Kuangzan, Military Governor of the National Protection Army and Defender of Hezhong Prefecture — which meant Liu Zhiyuan had not come down from the Lüliang Mountains in the west, following the Yellow River and the Fen River.

No alarm had come from Cao Yanming, the Luoyang Divine Capital Construction Commissioner, either — so it seemed the Zhaoyi Army Military Governor of Luzhou, who had gone over to Liu Zhiyuan, still lacked the nerve to harass Luoyang.

Most critically, no alarm had come from Yan Jin, Duke of Jin, who held Baima Ford at Huazhou.

Considering that it was almost the fourth month — the sowing of spring wheat and millet had reached its most critical moment, and the fourth month was also a fine season for livestock breeding.

It seemed Liu Zhiyuan truly lacked the courage to cross the Yellow River southward and fight him to the death.

Then, taking this opportunity, Zhang Zhao could also give Southern Tang a harsh lesson.

For the moment, however, Zhang Zhao did not have the strength to destroy Southern Tang. The Wangyi Bureau estimated that if Southern Tang mobilized the entire realm, it could still draw out sixty or seventy thousand, even over a hundred thousand troops.

At this time, the common people of Huainan and Jiangnan had not yet been ravaged to the worst degree by the Five Demons and other corrupt officials whom Li Jing favored. Most people were still grateful for Li Bian's benevolence, and in their hearts still thought well of the court.

Moreover, fighting on home soil to defend family and country was completely different from fighting beyond the borders. The morale and combat strength of the troops could rise by twenty to thirty percent — entirely possible.

Moreover, Zhang Zhao himself was feeling rather hollow at this moment. It looked like he had nearly fifty thousand troops, but this was almost his entire national strength thrown into the field — the defenses at home were extremely empty, and if there was so much as a stir in Hedong, he would have to rush back.

What was more, although the famine in the Central Plains had eased somewhat by now, after the Later Jin court's natural and man-made disasters and the Khitan ravages, the population of the Henan region had plummeted from over six million to an estimated less than four million, and the Hebei region was likely in even worse shape.

What was needed most now was to rest and recuperate, soothe the people's hearts, then drive Liu Zhiyuan out of Hebei, and even check the Khitan advance southward.

Hmm, the Khitan were still pushing south at the moment, though they did not dare launch attacks. Instead, they were taking advantage of the chaos to keep raiding the borderlands for forage and plunder. He would have to strike another heavy blow and beat them into fear.

As for the Southern Tang, the best approach was to hurt them badly first, then extort a large sum of money and grain from them.

Once Hebei was stabilized and Liu Zhiyuan had been forced back to Taiyuan, reduced to a slightly larger version of the Northern Han, then he could turn his attention to Jiangnan.

Before that, turning the Southern Tang into a blood-replenishing pack was the best strategy for the present.

But this strategic objective would not be easy to achieve. Historically, Emperor Shizong of Zhou had been able to besiege Shouzhou and strike at relief forces because he had no worries behind him, and the situation in the Central Plains was relatively stable.

But Zhang Zhao did not have the time or energy to besiege Shouzhou for months on end, slowly grinding the Southern Tang court into such terror that all they wanted was to cling to life at any cost.

So his strategy against the Southern Tang would have to take some risks. He needed a method that was swift, fast, and capable of scaring the Southern Tang out of their wits.

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