Chapter 675: The Struggle for Military Authority

No one had expected that Meng Shanming’s mere appearance, before he had even done anything, would bring about such an abrupt change in the war.

The men at court still did not know that Meng Shanming was the reason the situation had shifted. If they had known his influence was so great that the Song army had turned its threat directly toward them in the capital, they might well have regretted sending him to the front.

In their minds, naturally, danger could reach them only after all the men below had been used up.

Now the crisis suddenly pressed close. Yan’s central military command sent decree after decree, order after order, urging the armies to intercept Song.

At a moment like this, the powerful men of Yanjing naturally placed their own survival first. Who cared how the war below ought to be fought? If even the imperial center could not be preserved, what war would there still be to fight?

To avoid disrupting Meng Shanming’s rhythm, Shang Chaozong withstood the pressure and bought him enough time to reorganize the armies.

Meng Shanming already knew the state of the war. Shang Chaozong trusted that he knew what to do, and trusted that he understood how urgent matters were.

The two had discussed everything beforehand. Meng Shanming’s first priority upon reaching the front was to seize firm control of Yan’s armies. Otherwise there would be no way to shut out interference from above.

Put plainly, to a certain degree, they were fighting the imperial court for military authority.

Military authority was not something an imperial decree alone could make effective. If one decree could grant it to you, another decree could take it away. Authority given from above could not be relied upon. They had to seize real control with their own hands.

It was not that Shang Chaozong coveted military power. Great Yan had already fallen this far. If he wanted to preserve it, he had no choice.

Only by winning this struggle could they decide for themselves how the war would be fought.

Otherwise, why would Meng Shanming’s first move have been to create five military-law enforcement forces?

Such enormous enforcement forces, all composed of troops belonging to Meng Shanming’s former subordinates, naturally concealed deeper intentions that would reveal themselves in time.

Meanwhile, Shang Chaozong remained on the public stage, endlessly wrangling with the imperial court and absorbing its pressure.

The court demanded that the campaigning armies urgently intercept Song.

Shang Chaozong delayed, arguing that the forces had not yet been properly reorganized and would only lose if sent into battle immediately.

The court demanded that the troops left behind in Nanzhou, Gongzhou, Tuzhou, Haozhou, Fuzhou, and Changzhou also be mobilized for the war.

Shang Chaozong refused that as well, no matter what they said.

The reason was simple.

Those provinces were the regional lords’ home bases. Their soldiers’ wives, children, parents, and families were all there. With troops left behind to guard their homes, Song would not attack those places lightly, and if disaster did come, the garrisons could at least cover the families’ withdrawal.

If those troops were transferred away, who would protect the soldiers’ families?

The imperial court?

They could not count on it.

The regional armies were already not of one heart with the court. If their soldiers could not fight without worrying about their homes, how was the war supposed to be fought?

Push men who were not loyal to the court too hard, and for the sake of self-preservation they might contact an enemy state and rebel at any moment.

Nor would Shang Chaozong lightly draw out Nanzhou’s own troops.

He still had to guard Great Yan against Zhao.

If Zhao entered the war, Nanzhou could not allow Zhao’s army to drive straight in without obstruction. At the very least, Nanzhou had to block and delay Zhao for a time, buying room for the war on the other front.

More importantly, the current problem could no longer be solved simply by adding more soldiers.

If the troops already at the front could not win, transferring still more men would accomplish nothing. They would only become a burden. Grain alone would be enough to crush them.

There was no explaining such reasoning to the people at court.

The imperial court did nothing but issue one urgent demand after another that troops be sent to protect the capital where all the powerful and noble were gathered.

Shang Chaozong resisted firmly, using the danger of driving the regional armies into rebellion as his justification.

At the same time, he wanted the five regional lords to understand one thing clearly: only he could withstand the imperial court’s pressure and preserve their final road of retreat.

The one hundred thousand iron cavalry had also taken up a favorable position.

If any regional army at the front showed signs of abnormal movement, Shang Chaozong’s cavalry could immediately race against that regional lord’s home base.

The grain convoys Lan Ruoting had organized in Nanzhou were already on the road as well. He had to guarantee the provisions of those one hundred thousand cavalry.

It had become extremely difficult to gather grain anywhere else. Shang Chaozong could only find ways to supply them from his own Nanzhou.

At this stage, there truly was no other choice.

Meng Shanming had dragged his aged, crippled body to the front almost alone, without a single soldier of his own under his command, to take charge of those proud and unruly veteran generals.

Relying on Meng Shanming alone could easily leave openings for unexpected trouble.

So Shang Chaozong had to work from both sides, combining favor with intimidation. He had to stabilize the five regional lords and firmly hold this entire bloc of power in his own hands.

To save a Great Yan already on the verge of collapse, what did reputation matter anymore?

Shang Chaozong and Meng Shanming were genuinely working from within and without to prop up the tottering state together.

Shang Chaozong fought the struggle within.

Meng Shanming fought the war without.

After everything he had gone through, Shang Chaozong himself was growing rapidly.

Lan Ruoting, too, was exhausting himself in Nanzhou, managing affairs there and trying every possible means to accumulate supplies against whatever disaster might come.

Niu Youdao, meanwhile, had withdrawn behind the scenes and was watching everything in silence.

He left outside affairs to Shang Chaozong and the others. There were matters where his intervention would not necessarily improve anything. All he could do was watch the surroundings closely, wait until a moment truly required him to act, and do his utmost to ensure the personal safety of Shang Chaozong and the rest.

Just as Huang Lie had once described him, Niu Youdao hid sinisterly in the shadows like a venomous snake that might slither out and bite someone at any moment.

...

“I’m afraid the plan to assassinate Shang Chaozong and Meng Shanming has fallen through.”

Inside the imperial palace of Jin, Taishu Xiong had summoned Shao Pingbo for a private discussion. The moment they met, he gave him this less-than-welcome piece of news.

Shao Pingbo had only just finished saluting before the desk. He raised his head in puzzlement.

“What does Your Majesty mean?”

Taishu Xiong said slowly, “Meng Shanming issued an order transferring all Jin cultivators away from his side and gave them another assignment. Guess what assignment?”

With so little information, how could Shao Pingbo possibly guess?

He cupped his hands. “This minister is slow-witted. I ask Your Majesty to enlighten me.”

Taishu Xiong shook his head and sneered.

“Meng Shanming actually ordered Our Jin cultivators to find a way to assassinate Luo Zhao, Grand Commander-in-Chief of Song.”

“Isn’t that a joke?”

“Luo Zhao is protected by thousands upon thousands of troops. Ordinary people cannot even approach him. On top of that, large numbers of Song’s cultivator experts surround him. How could an assassination possibly succeed?”

Shao Pingbo frowned.

His gaze flickered once.

Then several words suddenly left his mouth.

“Niu Youdao has acted!”

“Oh?” Taishu Xiong said. “What makes you say that?”

Shao Pingbo considered how he ought to answer and found the question difficult.

It was intuition born of facing an old opponent.

The moment Meng Shanming suddenly made such a move, Shao Pingbo realized Niu Youdao had to be interfering from behind the scenes.

He was not surprised in the slightest that Niu Youdao would guard against Jin’s cultivators.

He understood perfectly well that the person Niu Youdao was truly guarding against was him.

...

After the five regional lords returned to their respective forces and clarified the disposition of the surrounding armies, one military order from Meng Shanming shocked the entire Yan court into changing color.

Meng Shanming designated the five regional armies as military-law enforcement forces.

At the same time, he redistributed the heavy court forces assembled from Yan’s various provinces and prefectures, dividing them into five groups.

Each regional army was assigned to watch one group.

If any of those five court forces dared disobey military orders, the regional army watching it was to annihilate it immediately.

This practically left the imperial court’s own faction no road to live.

The court’s troops were being forced from the front to risk their lives fighting Song, while behind them the regional armies watched like tigers, ready to strike them down.

And Meng Shanming’s next move was even more excessive.

He ordered every army pursuing Song to break off and withdraw.

All forces were to retreat, with the five regional armies supervising the withdrawal.

Any force that disobeyed was to be destroyed.

He had actually abandoned the encirclement, pursuit, and interception of Song altogether.

That was no different from simply allowing Song’s army to drive straight toward Yanjing.

How could the entire Yan court not be terrified?

Was Meng Shanming deliberately trying to get every official at court killed?

Shang Chaozong then issued another order, this one to the court forces left behind in the various provinces and prefectures.

Their time to show loyalty to the imperial court had come.

They were to assemble and go intercept Song.

The moment that order arrived, the court garrisons everywhere began cursing Shang Chaozong’s ancestors.

Shang Jianxiong was cursed along with him.

Even the great armies at the front could not stop Song, yet now you want us to go?

What kind of joke was that?

“Your Majesty, Shang Chaozong is harboring treacherous intentions!”

“His one hundred thousand iron cavalry have halted and show no intention whatsoever of joining the war. Now he has ordered every major army to cease surrounding and intercepting Song and has even ordered them to retreat.”

“He is deliberately sacrificing the capital!”

Inside the Imperial Study, Shang Yongzhong stood before Shang Jianxiong’s desk and denounced Shang Chaozong with grief and fury.

He had returned to the capital.

The moment command of the war had been handed to Shang Chaozong, Shang Yongzhong had fled back from the front at once.

These days he lived in constant fear.

It would not be easy to wash all responsibility from himself after such a disaster.

Too much had happened. There was no chance no one would bite at him.

After all, there were still people who coveted his position as Grand Marshal.

Naturally, at a moment like this, he had to trample Shang Chaozong as hard as possible.

He had to establish that Wu Gongling’s escape had been something Shang Chaozong deliberately allowed from the beginning, and that when Shang Yongzhong later went to take over, he himself had merely been harmed by Shang Chaozong’s scheme.

If he did not seize this chance to shift responsibility onto Shang Chaozong, who else could he possibly shift it onto?

Shang Jianxiong’s expression was exceedingly ugly.

He had been the one to issue the decree arresting Shang Chaozong.

Then he had been the one to issue another decree clearing Shang Chaozong’s name and restoring him to command.

Was he now supposed to issue yet another decree dismissing Shang Chaozong as Grand Commander-in-Chief for the Campaign?

If imperial decrees could be reversed again and again like this, what would the authority of the court become?

Tong Mo and Gao Jiancheng, standing below, looked no better.

The two understood the situation too clearly.

If Song captured the capital, then even if this group managed to flee, only part of them could escape.

Most court officials and their dependents would never survive the disaster.

And once those people were abandoned, the court would lose not only its prestige but also the entire foundation through which men like Tong Mo and Gao Jiancheng wielded authority.

Lose those people, and seven or eight tenths of the power they held in Great Yan would disappear with them.

Even if they tried to flee while dragging along great numbers of officials and entire households, one could imagine how slowly such a procession would move.

Without reinforcements coming to their aid, could they possibly outrun Song’s pursuit?

So for men of their rank, Yanjing absolutely could not be lost.

In the end, the armies had to stop Song.

Tong Mo said heavily, “Your Majesty, the capital cannot be allowed to fall. If even Great Yan’s center cannot be preserved, how can Great Yan itself be preserved?”

Shang Jianxiong drew a deep breath.

His face black with anger, he said, “Transmit Our decree. Shang Chaozong’s rebellious orders need not be obeyed. Command the troops remaining in every province and prefecture to intercept Song immediately, regardless of cost.”

Shang Yongzhong cried bitterly, “Your Majesty, it is too late!”

“Meng Shanming already controls the five regional armies and is using them as military-law enforcement forces to compel every other force to obey his commands. Anyone who refuses is killed!”

“To speak unpleasantly, although those court forces have more men than the regional armies, they are no match for them at all.”

“And then there are Chen Jiu of Bozhou and Wu Kang’an of Qizhou. The moment Meng Shanming’s military orders arrived, those two were the first to carry them out.”

“Has Your Majesty still not understood?”

“They are all Prince Ning’s former subordinates!”

“From the very beginning, Your Majesty should never have handed military authority to Shang Chaozong. You should never have given him the opportunity to seize real control.”

“Now that he has taken advantage of the situation and clutched military power in his hands, how could he possibly release it easily?”

[End of Chapter 675]