Chapter 553: How to Make Li Jing a Puppet Emperor

For a Central Plains dynasty holding all of Huaibei, if it wanted to march south and strike a separatist regime like the Southern Tang, then as long as Ezhou — that is, Wuchang — was not in its hands, there were only three routes it could take.

The westernmost route was the one Fu Jian and Emperor Shizong Guo Rong had once taken: descend along the Fei River and attack Shouzhou, which in later ages was Shou County in Anhui.

The middle route was to descend along the Guo River and attack Haozhou — Haozhou being Fengyang, the old home of Zhu Hongwu.

The easternmost route was to go south from Xuzhou by way of the Si River and attack Chuzhou, the bridgehead of the Huainan region.

Chuzhou was the later Huai'an. Only by seizing this place could one pass through the Hangou section of the Grand Canal and go straight to Yangzhou, threatening the heartland of Jiangnan.

But although there were said to be three routes, in reality Zhang Zhao did not have much of a choice.

First, the route descending the Fei River to strike Shouzhou was simply not realistic at the moment.

Because after Liu Yanzhen led thirty thousand imperial troops north, Li Jing had transferred the Southern Tang's famous general Liu Renzhan from his post as Military Governor of Wuchang Army in Ezhou to Military Governor of Qinghuai Army in Shouzhou.

Originally, Liu Renzhan had been stationed at Wuchang because the Southern Tang was preparing to move against Ma Chu, which was endlessly torn by internal strife.

Young Li Jing's way of thinking was a bit peculiar: with the Central Plains in such chaos, instead of throwing the whole strength of his state into marching north to contend for the realm, he first attacked Wang Min, and next he wanted to strike Ma Chu — always busying himself with trivial little matters.

Still, he was not a complete fool; at least he knew enough to transfer Liu Renzhan to the post of Military Governor of Qinghuai Army.

Although historically, Liu Renzhan's ability to hold Shouzhou firmly had something to do with Emperor Shizong deliberately wanting to besiege the point and strike the relief forces.

But Guo Rong had not decided on besieging the point and striking the relief forces from the very beginning. It was only after he truly could not take Shouzhou that he had no choice but to adopt that strategy.

This proves that Liu Renzhan's reputation as a famous general was not an empty one.

At this moment, Zhang Zhao did not have as much time as Guo Rong had, so he could not afford to touch Shouzhou.

As for Haozhou on the middle route, that was not a good choice either.

First, the transport capacity and shipping conditions of the Guo River were far inferior to those of the Fei River to the west and the Si River to the east. If one took the Guo River, moving supplies would be a very great headache.

Second, the Huai River cut directly across to the north of Haozhou. Along this stretch, the Huai's current was swift and the channel treacherous — it was practically Haozhou's finest natural barrier.

And the terrain around Haozhou was shaped like this: mountains to the south, the river to the north, and in between, hills interspersed with flatland.

Although there was level ground, it was cut into small pieces by the dense network of waterways and hills, which was extremely unfavorable for northern cavalry to operate in, while it favored a navy skilled with boats to move back and forth at will.

Add to that the fact that Haozhou was arguably the poorest place in Huainan, with fierce local customs and difficult supply. If one really plunged headlong into Haozhou, getting back out again would be hard.

Historically, very few people chose Haozhou as the breakthrough point. The Later Zhou had plenty of time, yet only attacked Haozhou and nearby Sizhou at the very end — this was the reason.

So the only remaining choice was to go through Xuzhou, follow the Si River south to Suzhou, and force open Chuzhou (Huai'an), the gateway to Huainan.

Only, at this time the road from Xuzhou to Chuzhou was not easy either, because in later ages the route from Xuzhou to Chuzhou — especially from Suzhou to Chuzhou — was easy only because there was a Middle Canal from Suzhou to Chuzhou.

But the Middle Canal had been gradually dug on the basis of canals from the Ming and Qing periods, and at this time it simply did not exist.

Therefore, the Tongji Canal of the Sui-Tang Grand Canal at this time could not lead directly to Chuzhou. One could only go first by the Si River to Huaiyin County west of Chuzhou, and then from Huaiyin County travel a stretch of the Huai River to Chuzhou.

This required transferring between boats, and moreover Zhang Zhao's forces did not have many naval vessels, nor were they familiar with transport on the Huai River. If they were intercepted on the Huai by the Southern Tang navy, it would be dangerous.

By then, Southern Tang warships upstream could be drawn from Sizhou and come sweeping down with the current, while below, if the Zhou army could not take Chuzhou, it might very well suffer a major defeat on the Huai River.

And even if Chuzhou were taken smoothly, Chuzhou was still four hundred li from the Southern Tang's heartland on the south bank of the Yangtze, far from enough to overawe the Southern Tang ruler and his court.

Just as Zhang Zhao was racking his brains without finding a way, the Brocade Guard brought him an extremely important piece of news.

It was that after the people of Chuzhou heard Liu Yanzhen might have died in battle, they had actually held celebrations in private.

Although they had gathered under the pretext of offering sacrifices to Han Xin, Marquis of Huaiyin, the Brocade Guard had already recruited several Chuzhou merchants who traded in goods in high demand from Hexi as early as the beginning of the year, so they clearly knew the inside story.

After hearing this, Zhang Zhao immediately ordered the Brocade Guard to hand over the materials on how Liu Yanzhen, during his years as Prefect of Chuzhou, had released water to flood the fields and swallowed up the property of the people of Chuzhou, and have the Wangyi Division organize them.

Then they were to search among the captured Southern Tang prefectural and county troops and civilian laborers for people from Chuzhou and question them in detail.

After that, a fairly accurate evil scheme of how Liu Yanzhen had swallowed up three hundred thousand mu of the Chuzhou people's land was laid out before Zhang Zhao.

Moreover, the Brocade Guard had also found out about another policy of the Southern Tang in Chuzhou and the whole of Huainan: the so-called "bozheng."

This "bozheng" was a policy that made Zhang Zhao's scalp tingle just from looking at it.

"Bo" can be interpreted as exchange; its original meaning is barter, trading goods for goods. That was nothing special. The key lay in the character after it — "zheng," as in levying and collecting.

In short, the Southern Tang court strictly controlled the trade in salt, tea, and sugar throughout the Huainan region, turning these into government monopolies.

These three things, especially salt and tea, were necessities of daily life.

After the Southern Tang court took control of them, it set the prices extremely high, and then used these government salt prices — outrageously high, more than ten times the price of private salt — to forcibly barter for the common people's grain, wheat, rice, and cloth.

Often a tiny lump of salt could be exchanged for over a hundred jin of grain, and the people had no right to refuse the exchange.

Even if your household was not short of salt, sugar, or tea, as long as the officials decided you were short of them, they could come straight to your door and "exchange."

Good heavens — they could simply rob you openly, yet they went to the trouble of inventing a fancy pretext. Truly, I'm crying tears of gratitude!

Under this policy, the people of Huainan suffered unbearably, and it also gave rise to all sorts of underground forces among the common folk.

For example, the several Huainan merchants recruited by the Brocade Guard were no proper merchants at all; they were armed smugglers of private salt and private sugar.

And apart from bozheng, the Southern Tang court also implemented a military-field system in Huainan in the name of defending against the Central Plains court.

Hmm... do you think the Southern Tang court's military-field system meant setting aside a piece of land and letting the army farm it?

Think again! They forcibly seized the common people's already-cultivated fields, directly designated them as military fields, and then used government decrees to force the people of Huainan not to farm their own land until they had finished farming the military fields.

The so-called military-field system, in the early days of Li Bian's reign, had indeed been a policy intended to strengthen military farming and defensive capability in Huainan.

But in its later period, from high court officials down to local officials and powerful families, everyone reached in from above and below, forming a powerful chain of interests that firmly controlled this area.

It was called a military-field system, called military farming, but there was not a single soldier involved. It all relied on the compulsory labor of the common people: until the military fields were planted, they were not allowed to plant their own fields.

And since there were no soldiers, the produce naturally had nothing to do with the army either. Most of it was carved up completely by officials above and below and by local strongmen, while a small portion went into Li Jing's private treasury.

The reason Liu Yanzhen, during his time as Prefect of Chuzhou, dared to release water all at once and drown the food supply of over a hundred thousand common people was that this interest group was driving and protecting him from behind.

No wonder the man could become a "famous general." The entire Southern Tang court, high and low, had received such great benefits from him — how could they not help sing his praises?

Zhang Zhao suddenly felt that for a dog like Liu Yanzhen to be simply beaten to death was far too cheap. He should have been captured alive and then executed by slow slicing.

This... what evil had the people of Huainan — that is, the later people of the Huai'an, Yancheng, and Lianshui area — committed in a past life, to deserve such "blessings"?

After learning of these operations, even Zhou Bapi would count as a super philanthropist before the Southern Tang court.

However, since the people of Huainan were already suffering this bitterly, that was precisely Zhang Zhao's opportunity.

He immediately summoned Zhang Liecheng and instructed him, "Dispatch eight-hundred-li mounted couriers. Send a few of these merchants you have cultivated, along with a few people of standing among the common folk near Chuzhou, traveling day and night to Xuzhou."

The so-called eight-hundred-li relay riders certainly could not cover eight hundred li in a single day, but with fine horses chosen for their endurance, covering a little over a hundred li a day was still quite achievable.

Zhang Liecheng knew the matter was of great importance and hurried off to make arrangements, while Zhang Zhao immediately convened a council of war. Since there was a chance of taking Chuzhou smoothly, Zhang Zhao now had a grand plan.

In the White Tiger War Hall of the Wuning Army headquarters, Zhang Zhao's hand moved steadily downward from Chuzhou on the map, not stopping until it reached Yangzhou.

At this time, the Southern Tang had two capitals, east and west. The western capital was Jiangning Prefecture, where the Son of Heaven and his court resided.

The eastern capital was Yangzhou, the economic and cultural center of the Southern Tang. In the Tang dynasty, Yangzhou ranked first and Yizhou second; at this time, Nanjing's status was still far from comparable to Yangzhou's.

And from Chuzhou (Huai'an) to Yangzhou, the Hangou section of the Sui-Tang Grand Canal was still fully navigable, and along both banks of the Hangou, post roads had also been built—it was practically a highway leading straight to Yangzhou.

"My intention is this: after taking Chuzhou, immediately select elite cavalry, with fifteen thousand horsemen as the vanguard and five thousand as the rear support, one man with three horses, traveling day and night without rest, and drive straight for the Southern Wu's eastern capital of Yangzhou.

Since Yang Xingmi took control of Huainan, apart from small-scale clashes with Wuyue, Yangzhou has not seen the flames of war for fifty years.

'In the misty flowers of the third month, one goes down to Yangzhou'—a place of such splendor has probably long forgotten how wars are fought, and high and low alike are bound to be slack.

If I strike suddenly with elite cavalry, they will be utterly unprepared, and Yangzhou will certainly not hold."

The moment Zhang Zhao's words left his mouth, everyone around him was shocked—but after the shock came excitement.

Zhang Zhao swept his gaze over the cavalry commanders beside him: Bai Congxin, Ma Shacai, Murong Xinzhang, Li Cunhui, Li Ruotai, Gao Xingzhou, Gao Huaide, Yao Yuanfu, Hu Guang, Huang Yingda, Qiong Re Duojin, Zhao Yanjin, Zhao Kuangyin, She Deyuan, Wang Shenqi.

Every one of them was among the most renowned mounted warriors of this age, and with the old, middle, and young generations all present, they had experience where experience was needed and fighting spirit where fighting spirit was needed.

Moreover, the army possessed large numbers of second-, third-, and fourth-generation fine horses descended from Zhe'er and Ferghana stock, as well as golden-finger weapons such as cloth-faced iron armor, pear-blossom spears, and divine-arm crossbows. The Southern Tang army, caught in panic, could not possibly withstand them.

"Sage, once we have taken Yangzhou, what should we do?" Murong Xinzhang asked softly.

He knew Zhang Zhao's thinking: it was not to destroy the Southern Tang, because that could not be done.

What Zhang Zhao wanted now was to demand that Li Jing cede territory and declare himself a vassal as Shi Jingtang had done—offer up gold, silver, and treasure, renounce the Tang dynastic title, and become an obedient child-emperor. That was why he asked this.

Zhang Zhao saw that Li Cunhui was somewhat eager to try, so he reached out and pointed.

"Cunhui, my boy, tell us what we should do."

Ordinarily, questions like this were answered by Murong Xinzhang, so Li Cunhui was very excited. His face flushed as he spoke.

"In reply to the Sage: we should bestow favor upon the people of Yangzhou and put on the appearance of intending to garrison there for a long time.

Then the Southern Wu court, fearing that we will water our horses in the great river, will surely muster the entire strength of the state to come to the rescue. We, meanwhile, will quietly slip out of Yangzhou and lie in ambush in the Guabu area.

When the Southern Wu army crosses the river at Guabu and has not yet gained a firm footing, we will attack with full force. If we annihilate that army, Li Jing will surely send envoys to kneel before the Sage's carriage, kowtow, and beg for mercy!"

"Hahaha!" Zhang Zhao burst out laughing, his heart surging with excitement.

"My boy truly has the makings of a great general. Would you be willing to serve as vanguard?"

Li Cunhui immediately dropped to his knees and shouted with great joy: "Your son is willing to serve as vanguard and capture for you, my lord, that pig-dragon of Southern Wu!"

The moment they saw Li Cunhui about to seize the first honor, all the commanders in the hall vied to volunteer, and for a time morale soared like a rainbow.

Related