The wind blew colder gust by gust, and the night, which should have been silent, turned as clamorous as broad daylight.
In Nanping County’s prefectural city, torches shone bright, and stones and arrows were hauled up the city walls by laborers in turns.
Outside the city, people dug trenches through the night, hoping that the uneven ground could temporarily stop large siege machines with wooden wheels from approaching the walls. Yet people came and went, shouts rang on and on, mixed with overseers lashing whips and cursing, plus the pained cries of laborers, making a disorderly clamor.
Inside the city, it was not much better. Soldiers received orders to tear down homes and carry lumber and bricks to the city gates. Some of these were used to seal the gates and reinforce the walls, while others served as rolling stones and logs, ready to be pushed off the walls when the rebel army launched a major assault, so as to crush their momentum.
Some commoners were driven out of their homes. They wept and begged for mercy, kneeling in the ruins with nowhere to turn.
As a prefectural city, the people living here were relatively well-off. Almost every household had some savings, and some owned shops. Because of that, when rumors spread that King Tianshou was sweeping through Jingzhou, they still harbored some hope. After all, King Jing and powerful officials all resided here. This should have been the safest place in all of Jingzhou, so how had everything flipped upside down in a blink?
Those who had some familial ties to the noble families’ servants hollered a few times, then were whipped so hard they fell to the ground.
The first targets for demolition were the streets close to the city walls. Whether they belonged to ordinary folks or shops with powerful backing, no one asked. They simply tore everything down.
Even if people wanted to stuff money over to be spared, they were mercilessly turned away.
After all, that house stood right there—clear as day at a single glance. Unless it was on the edge of the demolition zone, if all others were gone but this lone one stood in the rubble, even a fool would suspect something. How would anyone explain that?
Things were not as before, when superiors might turn a blind eye.
Once someone got dragged away for punishment, at best they were thrown into forced labor, at worst they lost their life, as a warning to others.
The entire inside and outside of the city was tense like a tightened bowstring. As soon as an order was issued, everyone spun like a top.
There were not enough laborers, so they forcibly conscripted civilians.
No one cared whose family had paid to be exempted, or who had already served labor this year. In their urgency, they dragged away anyone they saw.
There was so much manual work to do both inside and outside the city, and the higher-ups kept pressing harder and harder. King Tianshou’s army had already reached Hua County, less than half a day’s journey away. Who still dared sleep at night? The petty officials, berated by their superiors, turned right around and took out their temper on the laborers.
“Around dusk, so many people from Hua County came to surrender, so why didn’t we just use that ready manpower instead of knocking on doors to conscript folks in the middle of the night? What nonsense!”
One petty official grumbled, while another older and more experienced one stroked his beard and sighed.
“Isn’t it because those above worried that rebel spies might slip into the city? They refused entry to anyone under any circumstances.”
“Exactly. Don’t even mention ordinary people—didn’t the branch of the Kong family from East City get sent away too, even though they were from Hua County?”
Those who could enter the city were all officials. But the county magistrate and county captain of Hua County had not shown up. Only a few insignificant clerks had arrived.
Abandoning the city was a serious crime; only a fool would rush headlong into danger at this moment. Whether one came from a great family or was a classmate or acquaintance of high officials in Jingzhou, anyone who arrived now was basically offering up their own head.
“…If they had anywhere else to go, those bloated bigwigs would not have clung to the prefectural city.”
“Hush, do you want to die?”
The first official who spoke did not care. He kept complaining, “Whatever. Who’s looking out for whom right now? If we get a chance, we can still flee to Yangzhou. Those prominent families need to see what faces they can maintain in Yangzhou, and as for King Jing, forget it. If he left Jingzhou, where could he go?”
“If things really… really got too bad, could they still retreat to Jiangxia?”
“Jiangxia’s city walls weren’t taller than our prefectural city’s. Besides, Old General Nie never bent over for those noble families. He had seniority dating back to the Chu Dynasty and had been stationed at Jiangxia ever since. Who could shake him? In these circumstances, he had not declared himself king purely out of respect for King Jing. What more could anyone expect from him?”
“Enough, the more we talk, the more outlandish it gets.”
Bracing against the cold wind, the petty officials rubbed their faces and eyes, fighting off drowsiness, then resigned themselves to continue their errands.
That night, nobody knew how many people looked toward Hua County, their hearts filled with unease.
The rebel army advanced like a hot knife through butter. Nobody had expected they would reach Nanping Prefectural City so quickly. Many aristocratic youths in Jingzhou still had not reacted, as if they woke to an utter collapse and discovered a lone city could not hold on.
At that moment in King Jing’s residence, someone proposed a plan.
Put nicely, it was called “openly repairing the plank road while sneaking through a hidden route,”
Put bluntly, it was abandoning the city and seizing Yangzhou for another foothold, since King Ning had just died and Ning territory was in turmoil.
When the noble families heard this, they turned furious. Their foundation lay in Jingzhou. If they abandoned it so casually, their reputations in the literary and official circles would plummet overnight. In these times, even if people did not care about honor, they still had to keep up appearances. Facing King Tianshou’s ragtag band of peasants, losing was already humiliating enough. Would they flee without a fight?
Some opposed it; naturally, some agreed, making the argument a chaotic mess.
King Jing had not been seriously injured in the assassination; he only feigned an unhealed wound for other reasons. He originally believed the assassin came from the Qi Dynasty, so he used it to test a few restless sons and those harboring ill intentions. Unexpectedly, the assassin was actually from Yizhou. Jingzhou’s defeat was total. Outside, rumors spread that he had been scared senseless by the assassin and shut himself in, which was tantamount to throwing his own dignity on the ground for others to trample.
That aside, perhaps because King Jing himself “did not live up to expectations,” every county in Jingzhou gave up the pretense, directly shut their gates, and allowed the rebel army to burn, kill, and loot.
If they had been willing to send troops, how could King Tianshou have reached Nanping so quickly?
King Jing simmered with anger and wished he could chop down those useless officials in one go. But he never wondered why everyone believed that rumor immediately.
——Aside from acting too convincingly, maybe he had always left a poor impression.
Now it was too late to say anything. Would King Jing flee without a fight and confirm the rumor, or would he stand firm in Nanping for the sake of pride and teach that rebel army a lesson?
In his heart, he of course wanted the latter; reputation was like life itself. Who wanted the history books to record him as a coward? Yet he also knew such a show of anger was meaningless. Nanping’s morale was scattered. Maybe they could hold out for seven or eight days, but they had no reinforcements!
And Yangzhou was a fine place.
While King Jing wrestled with his dilemma, a piece of news struck like a bolt from the blue.
“Your Majesty, the Qi army has crossed the river and already taken two cities.”
“What?”
Everyone was astonished. Was Qi here to pick up the spoils?
After King Tianshou’s devastation, Jingzhou was scattered like sand, the perfect time for a step-by-step conquest.
King Jing shook all over with fury. A rabid dog was wreaking havoc at home, and now a pack of wolves came in.
——Jingzhou was finished.
Everyone quickly recognized this and leaned toward snatching Yangzhou as a way out.
“Someone come, prepare…”
King Jing had not finished speaking when another urgent message arrived.
“Your Majesty, Ning territory has mobilized one hundred thousand troops and is marching toward Yiping, not far from Jiangxia.”
That spot lay on the Jingzhou-Yangzhou border, a key position where one could either advance or withdraw. It might be said Ning territory was guarding against King Tianshou, but at the same time, it also cut off the Jingzhou army’s risky route south into Yangzhou.
If they did not go through Yiping, they could detour, but abandoning the city meant the rebel army would pursue relentlessly. Who dared delay?
King Jing collapsed into his chair at once.
He did not believe Qi or the Ning troops were there to punish King Tianshou. They were surely counting on Jingzhou’s forces to wear King Tianshou down, then they would partition Jingzhou’s fat piece. And he had nowhere to go, forced to sit trapped in sorrow.
Wolf in front, tiger behind—where was there a path to survive?
For a moment, all fell silent, faces turning white, truly grasping what it meant to be besieged on all sides, each turn worse than the last.
***
“Achoo!”
Liu Dan gave a heavy sneeze and rubbed his nose, muttering, “Could the water and soil of Jiangnan have clashed with this general?”
In just two days, he had already run to the latrine seven times with diarrhea, and nothing tasted good.
It was not just him. His soldiers also suffered more or less from digestive troubles, since they were all northerners.
If not for this expedition, and the temporary transfer of the Qi Dynasty navy—which had previously been standoffish with the Jingzhou forces—plus General Liu Dan’s own troops, the entire camp might have been consumed by the problem of acclimatization.
“Why didn’t those Jinyiwei get sick? Xu Qianhu and his men looked full of energy. As soon as Gong Jun stepped off the ship, he led his people straight to Xuan Chuan Pass. He covered a hundred li in rapid march and didn’t show the slightest ailment.” Liu Dan could not understand it at all.
“That’s not necessarily so,” Liu General’s bodyguard replied seriously. “Even if Commander Gong really got sick halfway, we wouldn’t know.”
Liu Dan glared at him without speaking.
The bodyguard added awkwardly, “Maybe they practiced martial arts or had some miraculous pills?”
Liu Dan thought for a moment, then sent the bodyguard to find Xu Qianhu.
There were no miraculous pills. If there were any, it was just those common pills sold in pharmacies. It might be fine for one person to take, but supplying an army of tens of thousands would be a massive expense. Besides, it was not something they could quit taking once they started. Who knew how long they would remain in Jiangnan? Better to adapt naturally.
As long as they did not drink raw water, going to the toilet a few times was merely a matter of adjusting one’s stomach.
Xu Qianhu showed no mercy toward General Liu and hiked the price on the spot, charging ten times more for a single pill.
Liu Dan was so enraged that he nearly dragged Xu Qianhu to the training ground. Unfortunately, his stomach rebelled, and a dull ache began again.
“Too much bullying.” Liu Dan cursed, pressing his belly. “Any word from Commander Gong? How far has King Tianshou gotten? Any changes in Jingzhou or Yangzhou?”
Even with an upset stomach, he had to finish dealing with military matters first.
He, the General in Charge of Subduing Rebels, had longed to make his mark on the battlefield, but when the opportunity presented itself, he realized it was nothing like he had imagined.
Feeling aggrieved, Liu Dan squatted in the latrine for a while, emerged with numb legs, and pushed the door open—only to have the bodyguard on watch shove him back inside.
“It’s bad, General!”
Liu Dan was baffled. Enduring the unspeakable stench in the small space, he asked in a gruff voice, “Has King Tianshou taken Nanping Prefectural City, or did Commander Gong discover a battering ram that could break through the walls? If not, why can’t you say it here?”
The bodyguard wore a complicated expression. “Commander Gong returned.”
“He returned, so what? Does that mean I can’t be seen?”
“…There’s something missing, so indeed you can’t be seen.”
Liu Dan was puzzled. Impatient, he said, “Stop beating around the bush. What exactly are you trying to say?”
“N-no, I only want to ask the General to wait until we locate your money pouch and hang it back on you. Then you can go out to meet Commander Gong and the others.”
Liu Dan: “……”
Author’s note:
General Liu appeared in earlier chapters, just not by name, back on the ship.
Author: It’s the New Year—take out your money pouch!
——————
OTZ Everyone, please eat well, sleep well, don’t stay up late, and go out less to boost your immunity.
It was too cold the day before yesterday, and I coughed twice. I treated it like a crisis and hurried to bed, not daring to sit in front of the computer.
For this New Year, I won’t say much else—just wishing everyone peace and safety.
