Chapter 558: The Realm's Extravagance: Yangzhou First, Yizhou Second

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Jiangning south of the great river was rebuilt under Yang Xingmi and the warlord line that followed him, and the same was true of Yangzhou north of the great river.

This city, which in the Tang had been the realm's foremost seat of extravagance, second only to Yizhou, was likewise rebuilt, and the one who rebuilt it was none other than Yang Xingmi.

In the chaos of the late Tang, a great city like Yangzhou could not avoid being swept into the whirlpool.

Gao Pian, who dreamed of immortality before he had even become emperor, and Bi Shiduo, who fought Yang Xingmi until the blood flowed like a river, both dealt Yangzhou a mortal blow.

When Sun Ru, a general under the man-eating demon king, arrived with hundreds of thousands of conscripted commoners stretching as far as the eye could see, Yangzhou's final day had come.

Sun Ru's army slaughtered all two hundred thousand of Yangzhou's inhabitants to use as provisions, and when they left they set a great fire. After that, this great city, which had once held a population of nearly eight hundred thousand, simply vanished.

Even Yangzhou's native inhabitants disappeared completely. The people of present-day Yangzhou are all descendants of those resettled after Yang Xingmi consolidated his rule.

And the Yangzhou of today can never return to its former glory.

For the Yangzhou of the Sui and Tang prospered because it stood at the junction of the Grand Canal and the Yangtze. All the grain and cloth of the southeast bound for Guanzhong and the Heluo region had to pass through Yangzhou.

But after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms carved the realm into fragments, the produce of Jiangnan no longer needed to be sent to Guanzhong and the Central Plains.

The Hangou Canal also changed from a great artery linking the whole realm into a mere passage connecting Huainan and the Southern Tang court.

Having lost its locational advantage, even Yangzhou's urban area shrank to a single strip along the official canal.

The official canal is what later ages called the Wen River of Yangzhou; it is in fact the name of that section of the canal running through Yangzhou city.

Originally Yangzhou city lay on both banks of the official canal, but the present city occupies only the east bank.

Still, it was not without benefit, for Yangzhou's defenses are far better than before.

Because the official canal changed from a waterway running through the city into a moat, and the area to be defended is smaller than before, the Yangzhou of this period has not only revived its commerce but also taken on the look of a fortress city.

Just as the divine capital Luoyang held a position of vital importance in the Tang, so the Southern Tang's eastern capital, the Jiangdu Prefecture at Yangzhou, holds a position of the utmost importance.

This can be seen from the men chosen for the posts of Jiangdu Defender and Governor of the Eastern Capital. At present the Southern Tang's Jiangdu Defender and Governor of Jiangdu is Li Hongji.

And Li Hongji is none other than Li Jing's eldest son, now no more than eleven or twelve years old.

The reason for giving such a young son posts like Jiangdu Defender and Governor of Jiangdu, offices so suited to building up personal power,

is that the Southern Tang's mode of succession is not father-to-son but elder-brother-to-younger-brother.

This was forced upon them by the chaotic conditions of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Li Jing's father, the Southern Tang founder-emperor Li Bian, had personally witnessed how the houses of Yang Xingmi and his adoptive father Xu Wen both lost the throne because their heirs were too young to overawe their arrogant veteran ministers.

Before he died, he therefore established for the Southern Tang the rule of elder-brother-to-younger-brother succession.

He also made Li Jing and his younger brothers swear an oath before his coffin. Thus the man currently acknowledged throughout the Southern Tang as next in line for the throne is Li Jing's second younger brother, the Southern Tang Prince of Qi, Marshal of the Armies of All Circuits, and Chief Minister Li Jingsui.

But now, Li Jing, who feels himself in the full vigor of life, naturally does not believe he will die young before his son Li Hongji comes of age. He too would of course like to pass the throne to his son rather than to his younger brother.

He therefore gave the posts of Jiangdu Defender and Governor of Jiangdu, which allow the building of a personal power base, to Li Hongji, so as to contend against the rightful heir Li Jingsui, and later, when a suitable opportunity arose, overturn the elder-brother-to-younger-brother arrangement.

But Li Hongji is still a child, so naturally he cannot take up his post in Jiangdu. The current Vice Defender of Jiangdu is therefore the veteran minister Zhou Zong.

Zhou Zong himself is not particularly famous, but he has two famous daughters: the Elder and Younger Zhou Empresses of the Southern Tang's last ruler.

Li Cunhui wore black clothes and was covered in dust. Having snatched this vanguard assignment from Murong Xinzhang for the first time, he took it extremely seriously.

For this expedition, Zhang Zhao had appointed Bai Congxin, steady and experienced, as overall commander in charge of the rear army of five thousand, while Murong Xinzhang served as Forward Army Commander with ten thousand men.

Within this ten-thousand-man forward army, Li Cunhui was the vanguard officer, with Yao Yuanfu and Gao Huaide as his deputies, leading three thousand cavalry ahead.

But after only half a day's march, Li Cunhui realized this would not do.

The Southern Tang had few horses, and the Zhou army, to ensure speed, was outfitted with three horses per man. That meant nearly ten thousand tall horses at once — far too conspicuous. Moreover, the speed of one man with three horses was not as great as one man with two.

So Li Cunhui left Yao Yuanfu in the rear with two thousand cavalry, while he and Gao Huaide picked a thousand elite riders, carried little iron armor, took two horses per man, and rode day and night.

The effect was striking. From Chuzhou to Yangzhou was three hundred ninety li, and Li Cunhui and Gao Huaide covered the whole distance in just over four days, stopping only when they reached a point less than ten li from Yangzhou.

It was now the beginning of the shen hour, around three in the afternoon. Gao Huaide gnawed on a dry flatbread while drinking cooled boiled water from a leather pouch.

This was a rule of the Zhou army: except in the direst extremity, no one was permitted to drink unboiled water.

"Duke, it is getting late today. Outside Yangzhou there are many people and many eyes. Entering now might cause a disturbance.

Better that we withdraw twenty li and rest for the night, then charge straight in tomorrow when the city gates open."

Gao Huaide looked at Li Cunhui and offered this advice somewhat uneasily.

Although he and Li Cunhui were only four or five years apart in age, Li Cunhui was the Emperor's adopted son, his aunt was the Emperor's childhood-sweetheart favored consort, he was himself a famed general of Hexi, and he held the hereditary title of Duke of Shouchang.

So a turncoat general like Gao Huaide was still somewhat ill at ease before Li Cunhui.

Li Cunhui, meanwhile, had swiftly washed the dust from his body and gave Gao Huaide a warm clap on the shoulder.

"Once the advance has begun, how can there be any talk of pulling back? Cangyong, just look at the banks of the Hangou Canal — they are full of busy, prosperous places. We have already attracted attention. If we withdraw twenty li and stay another night, we may well expose our movements.

Besides, people are most alert in the early morning. At dusk, by contrast, everyone wants to go home and grows slack."

Gao Huaide nodded in agreement, not because he thought Li Cunhui's analysis was sound, but because there had never been any foolproof plan for this kind of gamble.

Going now or going tomorrow each had its advantages and each had its drawbacks.

"Then let us set out now. I will lead three hundred riders ahead, and you, Duke, will follow with seven hundred as the reserve. Once I have charged into the city and given the signal, you will bring the troops in for the kill."

Having come this far, how could Li Cunhui feel at ease letting Gao Huaide go?

This was a grave task personally assigned by his adoptive father, and nothing could be allowed to go wrong. So Li Cunhui shook his head and said to Gao Huaide,

"Three hundred riders is still too many. Have the men strip off a hundred fifty sets of padded armor. I will lead a hundred fifty riders as the vanguard, wearing two layers of armor, and take the gate by storm. When you see the signal, lead the troops straight for the Jiangdu Defender's yamen."

With that, Li Cunhui turned to a soldier beside him who still had something of a wandering swordsman's air about him and said,

"Song Yu'er, you three take the signal smoke and fire striker. When you see we have taken the gate, go to that small hill and light the signal smoke to guide the main army of the Commander here.

Zhang Huozi, you three write out from memory once more the route from Jiangdu's north gate to the Jiangdu Defender's yamen.

There must not be the slightest error. If you do this well, you need never worry about fields, houses, wives, or concubines again."

Song Yu'er was a Huainan gallant — a river bandit — recommended by Zhang Xiong, the Brigade Commander of Huai'an. He knew the area around the Hangou Canal well and was shrewd and reliable.

Zhang Huozi and the others were kinsmen of Zhang Yanqing, the Prefect of Chuzhou. They had long bought scarce goods in Jiangdu to sell in Chuzhou, and so were thoroughly familiar with the city of Jiangdu.

The plan settled, the Zhou army's elite cavalry, numbering about eleven hundred including officers, finished their dry rations and began sorting out their equipment.

The selected hundred and fifty riders began strapping on two layers of armor over their horses. The ten li from here to Yangzhou would not be easy for them.

Because at most they could ride for five li, and then, to spare the strength of the other warhorses, they would have to walk to a spot six or seven hundred paces from Yangzhou's walls before they could don their armor and mount up.

Most of the cavalry Li Cunhui brought were his old brothers from the Right Yulin Guard, though of course there were also some veterans of the Left Yulin Guard and Hanhai Garrison.

Even the few dozen Hebei cavalry Gao Huaide had brought over were the finest of the fine.

So even though they had already covered more than seventy li today and now had to go out and fight, their mood remained perfectly steady — no grumbling, no complaints of hardship or fatigue, and they were even a little eager for it.

At the north gate of Yangzhou, all was harmonious and peaceful. The waters of the official canal glittered, and long lines of horses, mules, donkeys, and oxen waited to enter or leave the city.

The Southern Tang lacked only warhorses; pack horses and draft horses were not in short supply. In fact, being wealthier than the Central Plains, they even had somewhat more of them.

Guarding Yangzhou's north gate was one command of the Dragon Elite Army.

Their Captain, after standing on the gate tower for a while with chest thrust out and belly bulging, had slipped off to who knows where for some idle pleasure.

The two remaining squad generals each took ten men and took turns going through the motions in the gate passage.

Although word had come that the recently established Northern Capital had fallen, and that the imperial troops drawn off to it had apparently suffered a major defeat, the atmosphere in Yangzhou was still not particularly tense.

This place had been at peace for forty or fifty years — so peaceful it seemed as though this were not an age of warring states at all.

Perhaps only when word came that Chuzhou had fallen would they grow tense.

But had Chuzhou not fallen yet? As long as this gateway to Huainan held, Jiangdu Prefecture was safe.

'Clop-clop-clop!' From the distance came the sound of hoofbeats. The squad general stood on tiptoe for a look, and at once his face split into a grin.

There were at least several dozen, maybe a hundred horses — tall, fine horses at that. How much tax would he have to collect before letting them through the gate?

What? You say five hundred cash? That wouldn't even be worth this humble one opening his mouth.

Tall horses like these, and coming in such a hurry — they must be anxious to get into the city now so they can sell at a good price tomorrow morning.

Without two thousand cash going into his own pocket, there was no way he'd let them through the city gate.

As for the fact that anyone with tall horses like these must surely be from a powerful family — well, of course!

If they weren't from a powerful family, then they'd have to pay a bribe of twenty thousand cash.

And so what if they were from a powerful family? A powerful family still had to show proper appreciation to the good men of the Dragon Elite Army.

Of course, the squad general did also consider: could there be some problem?

But his clever big head, after flashing through the scene before him like lightning, immediately tossed that question right to the back of his skull.

Just these hundred-odd horses, with some several dozen or a hundred men arriving — would they dare to seize the city gate of the Eastern Capital Prefecture?

Did they really think the three thousand stout lads of the Dragon Elite Army were vegetarians?

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