Chapter 830: Rebellion

A commander’s carriage could be grand enough to resemble a moving tower, so tall it seemed ready to compete with the arrow towers atop a city wall.

Or it could be luxurious and exquisite, carved with intricate patterns and decorated with refined elegance, making the flower floats beneath red canopies at a great city temple fair look like tawdry little seductresses unworthy of the same stage.

But when all was said and done... in the phrase “commander’s carriage,” the commander came first.

The carriage came second.

A slightly spacious wagon with a princely banner planted above it was simple to the extreme.

Yet that simplicity did nothing to diminish the fact that it stood at the center of a moving flood, one into which more and more armies continued merging from every direction.

Inside the carriage...

Prince Pingxi sat reviewing the memorials every command was required to submit each day.

Whenever a new army joined him, its commander had to follow this rule.

The condition of the troops.

What they lacked.

What they required.

The problems they might encounter.

Weapons.

Provisions.

Morale.

Health.

Everything, great or small, had to be reported.

The command carriage would answer that night, completing a constant exchange between above and below.

In earlier years, the most famous feature of Prince Jingnan’s command style had been this same attention to every detail.

The entire army had rested inside his hands.

Even the Marquis Pingxi who had constantly been forced into responsibilities beyond his original role had, at the end of the day, merely been a patch of deliberate blank space Prince Jingnan left upon the board.

This kind of top-down control possessed obvious weaknesses.

First, the commanders below could easily develop resentment.

They might feel reduced to puppets on strings.

Second, it could magnify the old problem that if the general was useless, the entire nest beneath him became useless as well.

For the moment, however... neither problem existed.

First, most of the troops being called up from central and western Jin had participated in the national war against Chu years ago.

The overwhelming majority of their commanders had gained promotion and noble rank through that campaign.

Very few had actually retired.

They were already accustomed to the sensation of a supreme headquarters controlling and squeezing every corner of their command.

People said an experienced woman in a red tent only needed to slap her backside once before she understood exactly how to change position for you.

But these soldiers with scarred faces, pride reaching the sky, and a fondness for chewing whole cloves of garlic... once truly tamed... could cooperate even more smoothly.

They did not merely follow.

They learned from one example and produced three more.

They proactively discovered problems.

Raised them.

Offered solutions.

Obedient.

Well fitted.

And never urging the pace too early.

Second...

Prince Pingxi had possessed an excellent teacher.

No future famous general in his formative years, nor any second-generation heir being groomed to inherit a military household, had ever received treatment comparable to Zheng Fan’s.

During the old Yan-Chu national war, the two sides had deployed well over a million troops.

And yet Prince Jingnan had allowed Zheng Fan to sit inside the central command tent for one or two months, personally using Prince Jingnan’s own seal to process the affairs of the entire army.

Even a pig raised that way would undergo a qualitative transformation.

And even Fan Li would not violate his conscience badly enough to claim Master was inferior to a pig.

On top of that... the Blind Man, who normally stayed home forever, had joined the army this time.

With Chen Daole and He Chunlai beside him, he became one of Prince Pingxi’s two arms and helped rebuild and operate the entire command center.

“Tea.”

The Crown Prince handed the cup forward.

Then returned obediently to his seat below.

The carriage rocked gently as it moved.

The Crown Prince studied a copy of a memorial that had already been reviewed and answered the day before.

He recognized the characters.

But once they were all placed together... they became rather confusing.

Still, the Crown Prince treasured the opportunity.

Whenever he failed to understand something, he asked Tian Tian.

Tian Tian did not understand much either.

But because he was older than the Crown Prince... he could make things up.

Every so often, the two children discussed something together, then both revealed expressions of sudden enlightenment.

“So that’s how it is.”

“Cigarette.”

Tian Tian put down the memorial in front of him.

He stood and opened the iron cigarette case that he personally kept close to his body.

He took out one cigarette.

He did not immediately hand it over.

Instead...

Tian Tian turned it around and tapped it lightly against the back of his soft little hand.

He had no idea why this had to be done.

But he had often seen his godfather do it.

So he included the step.

Once he finished tapping it, he brought the cigarette to Zheng Fan’s mouth.

Zheng Fan opened his lips and bit down on it.

His eyes never left the newest memorial in his hands.

It came from a Prefect.

The first shipment of grain had already been escorted successfully.

Later armies and laborers passing through his jurisdiction would also receive the provisions they needed.

But the Prefect added one honest sentence.

His territory could only do this much.

Once the various armies gathered around South Gate Pass, the amount of grain required would only grow larger.

No one knew how long the campaign would last.

The Prefect therefore stated plainly that his jurisdiction would find it difficult to bear any additional logistical burden.

Tian Tian brought over a fire striker and lit the cigarette for Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan handed the memorial to Tian Tian.

Tian Tian took it.

He stood beside the Prince and began reading.

The Crown Prince raised his head.

Children... always possessed that instinct:

If you get to see it, then I get to see it too.

So Tian Tian handed the memorial to the Crown Prince as well.

After reading it, the Crown Prince frowned.

Over the past several days, as the command carriage advanced, Assistant Generals, Guerrilla Generals, Garrison Commanders, and their troops had continued arriving from every direction.

Every day, the two children watched the army around them grow larger and larger.

They had been delighted.

The problem was... the army kept growing.

But there seemed to be less and less food available.

An army sitting inside its garrison and an army marching outside were two completely different creatures.

A person could stay home all day, boil some thin porridge, make do, and survive even if the body became a little weak.

But once that person had to go outside and work for a living, food could no longer be treated casually.

Without enough to eat, the work could not be done.

The body might even collapse.

And that still did not include the cost of clothes needed for travel, or buying new farm tools, or all the other expenses that came with going out to labor.

Right now... military pay, reward silver, and similar expenses could be delayed.

The war had not ended.

It had not even truly begun.

More importantly, Prince Pingxi’s banner itself was capable of painting an enormous “cake” for the assembled armies and the rough soldiers at the bottom.

No departure silver?

No reward silver yet?

They could endure it for Prince Pingxi’s sake.

After all, everyone could still look forward to the spoils after a great victory.

Food was different.

The moment food became insufficient, morale would immediately begin falling.

Commanders often did not feel that pressure as sharply as the soldiers below.

A shortage of food meant insufficient preparation for war.

If the campaign itself did not feel secure, then the men’s hearts would become unsettled.

All the negative emotions already present inside a military camp would grow larger.

Reduced fighting strength was actually the better outcome.

The worst possibility was unstable morale followed by the army collapsing on first contact.

“Father, why is there so little grain here?”

Tian Tian asked.

In his memory, everyone around Fengxin City lived fairly well.

And his godfather had only just fought a war during winter.

There had been no shortage of grain then.

The Crown Prince looked over curiously too.

Zheng Fan explained:

“Because eastern Jin has plenty of land and few people. It grows a lot of grain, but consumes relatively less, so the surplus is greater.”

The reality was much more complicated.

Every field in eastern Jin belonged, in one form or another, to the Prince Residence.

The land was cultivated through contracted military farming.

Even land granted as reward merely reduced the share the Residence collected.

At its core... the Prince Residence was eastern Jin’s largest and only true landlord.

There were no middlemen taking a cut.

So the Residence possessed enormous ability to mobilize resources.

Trade.

Workshops.

Other businesses controlled by the Residence.

All of them could be used to adjust supply.

On top of that came a relatively complete legal system and established rules.

The yield per mu of cultivated land in eastern Jin had always remained high.

But the principal reason remained simple: eastern Jin contained a great deal of land and relatively few people.

Otherwise the Blind Man would never have spent so much time worrying about “labor.”

Grow somewhat more.

Consume somewhat less.

Naturally, more remained to enter the granaries.

Other regions might possess more farmland and produce more grain in total... but they also consumed much more themselves.

Take Tiancheng Commandery in the State of Yan.

It was the capital region.

Both its total grain production and its yield per mu ranked among the best in Yan.

Yet every year the court still needed to transport grain there from other commanderies.

Zheng Fan continued:

“Also, there have been too many major wars in recent years. The people have been overdrawn too heavily. Whether in Yan or Jin, taxes were already collected years in advance. After your father ascended the throne, he adopted a policy of recuperation and restoration. Local tax income now barely maintains the appearance of a functioning system. The reserve grain inside regional granaries was actually exhausted long ago.”

Ji Chuanye asked:

“Godfather, if we order new collections now, is there still time?”

“There is.”

“Then we...”

“Then we won’t need to leave South Gate Pass and fight anyone. We can turn around first and suppress rebellions at home.”

Zheng Fan looked at him.

“When the late Emperor was alive, everyone tightened their belts to support the armies. Now the people have finally been allowed to breathe. Their households have finally stored a little grain. At last, they can see some hope of avoiding hunger and freezing, of avoiding becoming refugees. If we now impose another round of forced collection and conscription... the common people will not accept it.”

The enormous Great Yan Empire looked mighty from the outside.

In truth, it had long since been hollowed out.

Great Yan’s senior leadership understood this.

And there were men among Qian and Chu’s ruling circles who understood it too.

Otherwise... during the national campaign against Chu, Yan would not have withdrawn even after breaking into Ying Capital.

Even Prince Pingxi’s recent Battle of Fan City had been fought as a fast strike.

He solved the Fan City crisis.

Then withdrew immediately after victory.

The logistical burden never reached the level people had feared.

“Chuanye, remember this. Your surname is Ji. You are the Crown Prince. This realm, this Great Yan, does indeed belong to your Ji family. But that rests on one foundation: the common people must still be able to survive. From ancient times until now, countless states and dynasties seemed to perish because of regional military governors, powerful ministers, or internal rebellion. But almost all of them shared one precondition. The common people had already been driven beyond endurance. You cannot expect people to sell their sons and daughters, starve with empty stomachs, and still willingly kneel before you. Your imperial grandfather could force that. Your father still cannot. And for you... it would be even harder.”

“Thank you for Godfather’s instruction. This child will remember it.”

“Mm.”

In the days that followed... more and more troops gathered beneath the commander’s banner.

Yet the army’s speed did not slow.

If anything... it increased slightly.

During this period, Zheng Fan accepted no visits from local officials.

He did not even meet the generals who brought their armies to join him.

Great Yan had suffered one defeat.

But the foundation of the Yan army remained.

The structure of Great Yan remained.

The Crown Prince sat beside him.

The Heir of Prince Jingnan sat beside him.

And Zheng Fan himself was a genuine Prince whose title had been earned entirely through military merit.

He had no need to play the courteous lord seeking worthy men.

No need to clutch the hands of arriving commanders with ecstatic gratitude and say:

Wonderful.

You came.

In truth... the moment his princely banner left Fengxin City and crossed the Wang River westward, the greater situation had already begun settling.

The colder Zheng Fan acted beneath that banner... the calmer and more composed he remained... the more reassured everyone below him became.

The restless energy among the troops dissipated more quickly.

And wherever the army passed, the agitation inside local society cooled as well.

The effect resembled a military review.

Or an imperial progress.

Prince Pingxi might not be able to claim expertise in everything.

But when it came to serving as a political mascot... he possessed extraordinary experience.

However... once the commander’s carriage passed through the Litian City region and South Gate Pass was already close, a report from the Secret Intelligence Department landed in Zheng Fan’s hands.

The report was extremely short.

Usually... the shorter the report, the bigger the problem.

Sometimes the matter was so serious that the intelligence officers submitting it did not dare add one unnecessary word.

The report read:

Count Yishan Chen Yang intends rebellion.

Zheng Fan set the memorial down.

He raised one hand and lightly pinched the space between his brows.

Seeing this... the two children assumed their godfather had become tired.

The Crown Prince automatically brought him tea.

Tian Tian picked up another cigarette and began tapping it against the back of his hand.

Then both children, following habit, started edging closer to see what could possibly be written in the memorial that had given their godfather such a headache.

Zheng Fan flipped the memorial face-down on the table.

He waved them away.

“Go play somewhere else.”

...

“Is this amusing?”

“Are the two of you making some kind of joke with this Count?”

“You’ve gone mad. Both of you have gone mad!”

Chen Yang roared at the two generals standing before him.

He could hardly be blamed for losing his temper.

One of the two men held an imperial dragon robe.

The other held an “Imperial Seal.”

The dragon robe was real.

The Imperial Seal... naturally was not.

The former was only clothing.

If one did not care about fine needlework and simply piled on the proper expensive materials, producing an imitation was easy enough.

An Imperial Seal was different.

But sometimes... the distinction between genuine and fake did not matter much.

Both generals were surnamed Chen.

One was Chen Yang’s adopted son, Chen Xiong.

The other was his nephew, Chen Yuan.

Chen Yang himself had originally fathered three daughters and three sons.

His eldest son died young.

The second had reached adulthood but remained physically frail and unsuited to military life.

After receiving hereditary privilege two years earlier, he refused an official appointment and instead prepared for the imperial examinations.

He failed last year and remained at home studying.

The youngest son had inherited his father’s sturdy bones.

But the boy was still too young.

Not even ten.

So Chen Xiong and Chen Yuan were, for practical purposes, Chen Yang’s closest clan line inside the army.

Both commanded troops of their own.

Both currently held the rank of Guerrilla General.

“Father, this child has not gone mad!” Chen Xiong said. “This child is thinking for Father!”

Chen Yuan drew in a deep breath.

“So am I.”

Chen Xiong continued:

“This child has already spoken privately with several other generals in the army. They are willing to support us too. All we need is Father’s agreement.”

“Heh.”

Chen Yang found the whole thing both hilarious and utterly absurd.

He sat back down.

“Mad. Mad. You truly have all gone mad.”

Chen Yuan, still kneeling, raised his head.

“Uncle, Count Huwei died in battle. The court will certainly investigate responsibility for this affair. Uncle should also understand Prince Pingxi’s temper, especially given the relationship between Prince Pingxi and Count Huwei. Yes. In our view, Sushan Camp fell into paralysis at precisely that moment because the imperial commissioner issued reckless orders. Yes. It was because the imperial commissioner interfered that Count Huwei was eventually transferred here to replace our garrison. It was all the imperial commissioner’s fault. And it was also the fault of the Prefect of Litian City, who did nothing but smooth things over! But Uncle... put your hand over your heart and ask yourself. Are we truly blameless for Count Huwei’s death? If Uncle had not insisted on opposing the imperial commissioner... if we had not supported Uncle and deliberately left the commissioner unable to step down... if we had not allowed the entire situation to collapse completely... would Count Huwei have been transferred here to clean up the mess? Would he then have needed to take only his own command and rush to rescue Ran Min? Uncle... we made mistakes. We are guilty too! Prince Pingxi is coming here beneath one princely banner with army after army gathering around him. His military prestige shakes the road. When he reaches South Gate Pass, what will he do? First, restore the proper order of things. Second... sacrifice someone to the banner! That imperial commissioner certainly cannot escape. The court has already issued an edict calling him to account. But the court’s decree contains no punishment for Uncle. No punishment for Sushan Camp. Did the court forget? No! It is because someone else will naturally come next to deal with us! And that man... is almost here!”

Chen Yuan was nearly roaring by the end.

Chen Yang sat in his chair and pointed at his nephew.

“So your answer is to tell this Count to rebel? To raise the banner of rebellion at a time like this? Rebel to preserve our lives. Fine. Then what? Prince Pingxi is already summoning troops and gathering commanders. He is almost here. If this Count rebels now, what exactly can I do? Hand South Gate Pass directly to Qian and Chu? Lead all of you in betraying the state and go to Qian or Chu so I can become some useless Duke of Ease? I, Chen Yang, will never commit an act that betrays my ancestors!”

Chen Xiong said:

“Father, this dragon robe and this Imperial Seal were originally prepared on your orders years ago.”

Chen Yang stared at them carefully.

Only then did recognition appear.

But he immediately said:

“That was when Prince Jingnan was still here. This Count and all your uncles intended to jointly support His Highness onto the throne. Who could have known His Highness would choose... ah.”

Chen Yuan stood.

“Uncle, as matters stand, if we simply sit here and wait for Prince Pingxi and his army to arrive, then all we are doing is waiting for death. Uncle will only be meat beneath another man’s knife! The court betrayed righteousness first! We rough soldiers followed Prince Jingnan north and south for years. How much blood did we shed? How many brothers in arms died? Only then did we conquer the lands of the Three Jin! And now... the court wants to hide the good bow once all the birds are gone. It wants to kill the donkey once the grinding is finished. Ran Min was promoted by His Majesty. Promoted by the court. That imperial commissioner was appointed by His Majesty too. Sent by the court! If the court had not pushed us too far... if everyone inside Sushan Camp had not been driven into fury... when Count Huwei marched into Liang, how could we possibly have refused to go with him? Uncle, if you do not want to be publicly humiliated... if you do not want to be sacrificed beneath the banner... if you do not want Count Huwei’s death blamed upon you... then you...”

“This Count will never betray the state and defect to another country!”

Chen Xiong stood as well.

He raised the dragon robe in both hands.

“Father, this child never intended for Father to flee to Qian or Chu. What this child and many of the generals below mean is this: Rather than sit here waiting to be slaughtered... we should take this dragon robe and this Imperial Seal...”

Chen Xiong and Chen Yuan looked at one another.

Then... they spoke together:

“Present them to Prince Pingxi and support Prince Pingxi’s accession as Emperor!”

[End of Chapter 830]