Chapter 590: - Carrying the Sedan Chair

Count Pingye had not expected his elder brother-in-law to react so quickly, or so directly.

It was like the madam at a brothel leading you inside and showing you to a seat. Your backside had barely warmed the cushion before you were already coming back out.

The thing itself had happened.

The procedure itself had been followed.

Yet somehow it still left a hollow feeling in the heart. Sometimes, when things went too smoothly, they ended up feeling strangely unsatisfying.

At present, Count Pingye’s three armies had already driven into Panhe Commandery. Their vanguard soon made contact with the forward Chu troops outside Mount Liugong, and both sides immediately entered the usual pre-battle phase of scouts and cavalrymen killing one another, essentially a warm-up.

Ever since entering Chu by ship, Zheng Fan had constantly suffered from having no cavalry. When he had always possessed cavalry, he had never thought much about it. Only after truly finding himself without horses did he understand how constricting and maddening the limitation could be.

Now the Jingnan Army’s iron cavalry was in his hands. This should have been the perfect time to have some fun and show that elder brother-in-law what genuine Great Yan iron cavalry looked like.

Instead, his elder brother-in-law had very straightforwardly knelt.

Naturally.

Plainly.

Without the slightest flourish.

Count Pingye had wound up a fist with all his strength and punched straight into cotton.

“But this is fine too. At least the war is finally going to end.”

Count Pingye had both feet propped on the command table while Fourth Lady stood behind him, massaging his head.

“Yes. It is finally ending.”

“Before the war started, I thought life was too dull and boring. Now that I’ve fought it, I realize there were far too many things in the old days I never properly savored or enjoyed.”

Count Pingye missed his residence.

He missed his godson.

He missed his adorably naïve Princess.

And of course, he also missed hearing Liu Ruqing call him “Uncle.”

This kind of life was not bad either. Go out and fight a war from time to time, then return home after “removing the armor,” and only then did one truly understand the comfort of home.

It was the same principle as a brief separation making newlyweds sweeter.

“Yes. This world still has many wonderful places. We have spent the past several years doing nothing but fighting. We never had time to walk around and see them.”

“Mm. Soon. If we wrap things up properly, afterward we should have Fengxin, Snow Sea Pass, and Zhennan Pass in our hands. With those three places as anchors, more than half of eastern Jin will effectively fall under our rule. After that, development can finally move onto a proper track. We may even normalize relations with my elder brother-in-law and do some trade, some business.”

“Master, the peace talks over here have not even been finalized, and you are already thinking that far ahead?”

“We are both practical men. He’ll agree.”

Count Pingye stretched.

“Afterward, we can develop along the Marquis of Zhenbei Residence’s model. Military affairs in one hand, civilian livelihoods in the other. We ourselves can finally relax a little. Maybe we can even find time to travel around, see mountains and rivers, enjoy ourselves.”

After fighting his way this far, was that not what he had been seeking all along?

Why had so many warlords throughout history wanted to establish autonomous frontier commands?

Put plainly, because they wanted the feeling of holding life, death, and their own will in their own hands.

Regional separatism was born from human nature.

At the same time, it was almost an inevitable result of a group developing far enough.

Put even more plainly, if not for Li Liangting and Tian Wujing, Great Yan would inevitably have ended up with two great autonomous frontier commands, both perfectly capable of obeying central mobilization orders while ignoring central administrative commands.

On this point, Qian had actually done the best.

Its civil officials had kept their eyes wide as bronze bells year after year, decade after decade.

The moment some regional military chief began showing signs of turning his command into a private power base, the court immediately moved to divide and dismantle it, cutting away the threat before it could mature.

That was why, after the Tattoo-Faced Chancellor died depressed in prison, Chancellor Han’s reputation had risen so quickly.

Did the ministers of the Qian court truly not know the Tattoo-Faced Chancellor had been wronged?

Of course they knew.

But what they cared about more was maintaining the authority of the central court.

“Right. The Chu imperial envoy should be arriving soon, yes?”

“Yes. Everything has been arranged according to Master’s orders. I merely feel that doing all this seems to be giving the Chu people a little too much face.”

“This isn’t about giving them face. How much is face worth? The important thing is settling matters quickly. The Blind Man sent a letter from Snow Sea Pass. The flooding in Jin is growing worse. Yan has suffered a locust plague, and large areas are also in drought. If this war drags on, who knows which side collapses first. The army needs to return quickly to suppress trouble and stabilize the situation. It is not suitable for us to remain abroad much longer. Besides, rather than saying this is a negotiation between Yan and Chu, it is more accurate to say it is a negotiation between Zheng Fan and my elder brother-in-law. These are not the interests of Yan and Chu. They are the interests of me and that elder brother-in-law of mine. To centralize his own power, he did not hesitate to borrow another man’s blade and destroy Ying Capital. I want the war over quickly so I can take back Zhennan Pass, establish my own headquarters, and set up an independent command. I do not want the fighting dragged out either. The sooner this mess is gathered up, the sooner eastern Jin can return to normal development. Sometimes delaying a few months effectively means losing at least two years. My elder brother-in-law should understand that too. So if he wants one last bit of face, I’ll carry the sedan chair for him. In return, he’ll urge Nian Yao at Zhennan Pass to move his hands and feet a little faster.”

“Master sees far indeed. This subordinate admires you.”

“Tch. What ‘seeing far’? It is only a tacit understanding between two men who both dislike sacrificing themselves for the greater good.”

...

Ding Liang, Left Situ and imperial envoy dispatched from Mount Liugong, arrived.

Quite a few civil officials accompanied him, along with a large escort of Imperial Clan Guards.

They traveled beneath Fire Phoenix banners. Surprisingly, they showed none of the frightened panic one might expect from a little court that had fled after losing its capital. Instead, the procession still carried the ritual bearing of a great state.

Before Ding Liang’s party had even entered the Yan camp, they happened to see a group of Yan soldiers returning with local Chu women they had seized.

Immediately, disregarding the fierceness of Yan soldiers and the sharpness of their armor, Ding Liang stood before the gates of the Yan camp and blocked several hundred Yan soldiers by himself.

He loudly rebuked them and demanded they release those innocent Chu women at once.

With righteous force, he warned the Yan soldiers that this was Great Chu’s land, these were Great Chu’s people, he was a Situ of Great Chu, Great Chu’s emperor still lived, and Great Chu’s subjects would not be bullied!

The Yan cavalrymen found it somewhat amusing.

Even so, in accordance with the orders they had already received, they released the Chu women.

The women dropped to their knees around Ding Liang, weeping and shouting, then kowtowed together in gratitude.

“Liang stood before them and rebuked the Yan barbarians, enlightening them with righteousness and moving them with shared human feeling. Though weapons stood before him, he did not retreat. The Yan barbarians were deeply ashamed and released the people, privately expressing admiration. When Count Pingye of Yan heard of this, he said to those around him: ‘Liang is truly a great man.’”

Only then did Ding Liang’s party enter the camp.

Inside the Yan encampment, armored soldiers stood rank upon rank, plainly arranged to place deliberate pressure upon the Chu imperial delegation.

Ding Liang’s expression did not change. He carried his envoy’s staff in his left hand and the imperial decree in his right as he walked toward the command tent.

“Liang entered the camp of the Yan barbarians. Their power was immense, yet Liang remained unmoved as Mount Tai. The Yan barbarians understood that men of blood and courage still remained in Chu, and none dared look down upon them.”

Then a Yan Brigadier General came forward to insult Chu.

Ding Liang rebuked him into silence.

Immediately afterward, another Yan Garrison Commander laughed that Chu soldiers were useless and did not dare fight in the open field.

Ding Liang rebuked him too.

Then they encountered a group of civilian laborers crying and singing Chu folk songs.

They had been seized to work for the Yan army camp.

On a long-distance forced march, how could an army possibly bring enough laborers along?

Fortunately, unless one was in some utterly uninhabited wilderness, this particular “species” of laborer could always be captured locally without much difficulty.

One official in Ding Liang’s delegation stepped forward and rebuked the laborers for serving the Yan barbarians.

Ding Liang immediately turned and furiously rebuked that official instead.

Then, weeping bitterly, he cried:

“It is precisely because men like us eat the sovereign’s grain yet failed to share the sovereign’s burdens that the common people have been driven from their homes and seized by bandits!”

Hearing this, that official was deeply ashamed.

And so it continued.

They encountered several more situations along the way.

Ding Liang spoke several more times.

By the time Ding Liang finally entered the command tent and saw Count Pingye sitting inside alone, with no one else present, this Left Situ from the Regent of Chu’s own princely establishment actually felt a little embarrassed.

Before he came, the Regent had told him that this brother-in-law of his would understand how to cooperate.

But Ding Liang had never imagined Count Pingye would understand the routine this thoroughly.

After today’s journey through the Yan camp, once he returned, the history books would certainly record one stroke for him.

No.

Many, many strokes.

The episode would spread as a story.

People would praise his integrity and courage.

More importantly, it would become political capital for his future at court: a halo, a position of unquestionable moral correctness, the sort of enormous political opportunity most officials could only dream of encountering once in a lifetime.

And Count Pingye had simply strung a whole row of candied hawthorns together for him and let him swallow them all in one breath.

So sweet it had almost become cloying.

For that reason, now that he had finally reached this point, with only the two of them inside the tent, Ding Liang stopped putting on airs.

Instead, he bowed first.

“Greetings, Imperial Son-in-Law.”

Count Pingye nodded and pointed at the mat before him.

“Sit.”

“Thank you, Imperial Son-in-Law.”

Ding Liang knelt and sat.

Chu people paid great attention to elegance when sitting on their knees. One first lowered the body, then straightened the waist and back while lifting the long side-locks at both temples with both hands, balancing physical grace with ritual beauty.

Count Pingye removed his waterskin and tossed it over.

“Have some water.”

After all the righteous speeches outside, Ding Liang’s mouth had to be dry.

He did not act coy.

He pulled out the stopper and drank two large mouthfuls.

He really was thirsty.

“Many thanks, Imperial Son-in-Law.”

“No need to be polite. We’re family.”

Everything that had happened outside had been arranged on Count Pingye’s orders.

The reason he could prepare such a thoughtful sequence was simple: stories of this kind had appeared countless times in the history Zheng Fan knew.

He had merely borrowed the routine.

But a thing like moral integrity was most often emphasized when it was the only thing left.

It became the final loincloth.

If one did not talk about that, there was simply nothing else left to talk about.

At most, it was empty reputation.

And besides, Yan people at home would not care about these “stories.”

Chu people, on the other hand, would shed tears upon hearing them.

So Count Pingye did not mind carrying this sedan chair.

But he was not carrying it for free.

Next, it would depend on the attitude of that elder brother-in-law of his.

“Let’s speak plainly. This Count does not want to keep fighting. I want to withdraw the army and return home. But after fighting a war like this, I still need something I can present to the country and the court.”

The blunt way he opened the negotiation caught Ding Liang somewhat off guard.

He had come with an entire diplomatic delegation precisely so they could trade verbal blows with the Yan.

But now it appeared Count Pingye had no interest in wasting time on that.

That actually made things easier.

When the attitudes of the two men at the top were already clear, those beneath them found everything much simpler.

Of course, Ding Liang did not dare treat Count Pingye like a fool and privately revise the Regent’s terms in hopes of reducing Chu’s losses.

Because Ding Liang knew very clearly that the Count Pingye sitting before him was even less of a fool than he was.

An invader who could so expertly help an enemy envoy walk through the proper ritual, build his reputation, and manufacture stories proved that the man understood far more than fighting wars.

Even if thrown into court politics, he would still rise.

Absolutely not a mere common Martial Artist.

At critical moments, men who loved adding an unnecessary snake’s legs were often not genuinely clever.

They merely thought themselves clever.

So

Ding Liang stated the Regent’s bottom line directly:

“Zhennan Pass can be transferred to... you, Imperial Son-in-Law. Shanggu Commandery will also be transferred to Yan. Chu troops will withdraw south of the Wei River. In return, the Yan army must guarantee the safe passage of General-in-Chief Nian’s troops across the Wei River.”

It was true that Zhennan Pass had lost its supply route.

But the pass had presumably stockpiled grain and fodder beforehand.

Those supplies would not last long.

Still, if Nian Yao truly displayed the same ruthlessness Qu Tiannan once had while defending Yupan City, even going so far as to seize two-legged sheep to eat, he could hold there for a long time.

At the same time, the Regent would certainly mobilize Chu troops from every direction and pay any price necessary to rescue Nian Yao from Zhennan Pass.

Because by now it was clear that Nian Yao’s force was the Regent’s main reliance for sweeping clean his own domestic situation.

There was no possibility the Regent would accept the destruction of that army.

And besides, Nian Yao himself was an exceptionally capable commander.

At present, the true elites of the Jingnan Army, the hundred thousand-plus cavalry best able to fight, were divided into two parts.

The larger portion was here under Zheng Fan.

The other portion was with Luo Ling near Huanggu County, where it still had to circle around Dugu Mu.

Other strong forces, including Li Fusheng’s, had also crossed the Wei River and entered different regions of Chu to expand the campaign.

So although quite a few Yan troops remained in Shanggu Commandery watching Zhennan Pass, if Nian Yao led several hundred thousand homesick Chu troops out of the pass and ran for home, whether those Yan troops could successfully block them was genuinely uncertain.

The best result would be forcing Nian Yao to cut off a tail to survive, sacrificing one force as a rear guard while the main body broke free.

The worst result would be Nian Yao launching a counterattack against the Yan army in Shanggu Commandery and handing Yan one battlefield defeat.

No matter which happened, once Nian Yao’s army was freed afterward, Yan and Chu would begin almost endless fighting throughout the vast lands of northern Chu.

The Yan army had no intention of occupying and governing that land.

It had simply penetrated with cavalry.

The Chu, however, held the advantage of the home field.

They might not match Yan in open battle, but they could absolutely exchange time and space for initiative.

In short, if the war continued, unless Count Pingye possessed enough confidence to replace Prince of Jingnan and forcibly bring all the scattered Yan forces under one command, then reproduce several great victories like the one by the Wang River where the Savage King’s main force had been smashed, repeatedly breaking Chu field armies and thoroughly sweeping away every Chu force in northern Chu capable of threatening Yan, this campaign was destined to turn into a muddled war.

And besides, the Chu were not stupid.

With so many examples before them, why would they foolishly gather their main forces and fight Yan through several decisive field battles?

For that reason, the peaceful transfer of Zhennan Pass was a compromise built upon the present military situation.

It was not a case of one side simply paying while the other took.

This was completely different from Qu Tiannan’s surrender beneath Yupan City.

Yan wanted to withdraw.

Chu wanted the campaign ended quickly.

Their needs aligned.

But this was still a negotiation.

And as the nominal and actual victor, Count Pingye was not going to be satisfied so easily.

A bastard who refused free advantage deserved to be a turtle.

“This Count thinks the terms are still a little too simple.”

“Imperial Son-in-Law, rest assured. We will send an envoy to Yanjing to submit a formal peace petition to His Majesty the Emperor of Yan. We will also pay annual tribute and acknowledge the relationship of a junior generation to a senior. Our Regent has agreed to all of this.”

Meaning:

All the official ceremonial writing would be handled properly.

It was only a question of face.

Zheng Fan shook his head.

“Still not enough. Chu violated righteousness first and sent assassins to murder His Majesty of Great Yan. Men and gods alike were enraged. How could that matter be dismissed so lightly?”

“Imperial Son-in-Law, surely you know perfectly well what actually happened with that assassination?”

“Are you suggesting this Count is being unreasonable?”

“I would not dare. I would not dare.”

“This Count is being unreasonable. What of it?”

“This...”

“From ancient times until now, diplomacy between states has always come down to one thing: whoever has the larger fist possesses the stronger argument.”

“This subject does not know whether the Imperial Son-in-Law has heard that the flooding in Jin is worsening and drought in Yan has already become a disaster.”

“This Count knows.”

“Great Yan should withdraw its army.”

“Heh. No hurry. No hurry. We will withdraw. But first we need to take enough benefits. Great Yan tightened its belt to fight this campaign against Chu. Surely we ought to see some return on the money? Stop talking to this Count about disasters at home. If necessary, this Count will simply lead the army and live here in Chu. Yan may be short of grain anyway. Better to let you Chu people play host.”

Ding Liang knew Count Pingye was joking.

But he understood even more clearly that unless another benefit was offered to Yan, or more precisely, to this Count Pingye, the other side would not be satisfied.

“Imperial Son-in-Law, this subject has a letter from our sovereign for you. But our sovereign specifically instructed that the letter is for his younger sister’s husband, not for Great Yan’s Count Pingye.”

“Now you’re treating me like an outsider.”

Count Pingye did not hesitate at all.

He simply reached out and took the letter.

The writing inside was extremely direct.

No ornate classical phrasing.

Nothing but plain language.

At the beginning was a list of noble houses.

Their fiefs were almost all located in northern Chu.

In truth, because southern Chu had only been pacified later, comparatively few nobles possessed fiefs there.

Then came the opening message:

Brother-in-law, if you’re short of silver or grain, go take it from these families.

With you watching the house from the north in the future, your elder brother can finally feel at ease.

“Heh. He calls this giving? Does he think this Count doesn’t know how to go take things himself?”

“Imperial Son-in-Law, please look at the second page.”

Count Pingye took out the second sheet.

This page was extremely detailed.

It contained the secret locations, recorded by the Phoenix Nest Guards, where those noble houses hid grain, silver, gold, and private treasuries inside their own fiefs.

Uh.

Truthfully, even if Count Pingye led troops straight into those fiefs, there was no chance he could locate all of these caches quickly.

Great noble houses were exceptionally skilled at hiding grain and treasure.

Those hidden reserves were the foundation that allowed them to rise again after disaster.

For example, ordinary members of the Helian Clan had not even known the family possessed one of its hidden treasuries.

“Haaah...”

Count Pingye let out a long breath.

Then nodded.

“Go back and tell my elder brother-in-law that the Princess misses him very much.”

“Yes, Imperial Son-in-Law.”

“Our sovereign also said he hopes the Imperial Son-in-Law will cherish the Princess well. He is also waiting to become an uncle.”

Zheng Fan gave a slight nod.

“This Count understands.”

[End of Chapter 590]