Taiheiki

Chapter 127 Announcement
"Look at this!" Guo Kui took out a small bottle from his waist and placed it on the bed.

"What is this?" Wu Ze picked up the small bottle and asked in confusion.

"Poison!" Guo Kui laughed and said, "It's commonly used by mountain barbarians. You dip your arrow in it before use. If it scratches the skin, even a wild boar or a black bear will lie down!"

"Oh! There's such a good stuff!" Wu Ze was overjoyed when he heard this. He knew of course that the Shanyao people's poison arrows were powerful. He put away the small bottle and patted his chest: "Mr. Guo, don't worry. With this treasure, this matter is a sure thing!"

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"If this fails, this might be the last time I see this scenery!"

Wei Cong stepped onto the gangplank. He was wearing iron armor, his scarlet cloak fluttering in the river breeze, a ring-handled steel knife hung around his waist, and a large flag reading "Suppressing Rebellion Captain Wei" was hung on the main mast of the Yuhuang.

Soldiers filed onto the boats. Compared to when they arrived at Luling County, Wei Cong's army had swelled considerably—he hadn't even left any troops to defend the strategically located county seat, seemingly relying entirely on the loyalty of the new magistrate, Liu Wu. Wei Cong knew full well that he didn't trust the ugly, fat old man. He acted this way because his available forces were pitifully small compared to his grand plans, and he had to seize every available manpower. Ultimately, as long as he could achieve victory after victory on the front lines, Liu Wu would remain loyal.

"The soldiers are all on board!" whispered the Fifth Deng.

"Well, let's set sail!" Wei Cong nodded. Beneath the stone cliffs of the dock, the swift and turbulent Heshui River pierced the broad Ganjiang River like a sharp spear, the pale blue rapids and the turbid light green river water collided and merged with each other. The morning mist spread across the river, as light as a spider web. The Yuhuang rode the rapids, moving faster and faster, heading straight for the channel in the center of the river. The sails were filled with the river breeze, and Wei Cong's helmet gleamed. The ship sailed swiftly and steadily. I hope my plan can be the same, Wei Cong thought to himself.

"Breakfast is ready!"

"Hmm!" Wei Cong turned and walked towards the stern, where he had a bedroom and a small dining room. He usually dined with the captain and senior officers and discussed military matters. When he entered the dining room, everyone stood up. Wei Cong gestured for them to sit down: "Let's get started!"

The servants placed the food on the table one by one. Wei Cong picked up a piece of Hu pancake, took a bite, and asked Diwu Deng beside him, "How many deserters were there before we boarded the ship?"

"It's okay, there shouldn't be many!" Diwu Deng replied as he poured water into his cup. "Of course, our people don't need to be mentioned. The new recruits from Luling County probably don't know where we're going yet. They probably won't realize it until tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and run away!"

"What about the people recruited from Xingan County?" Wei Cong asked.

"Over a hundred people have escaped in the past few days!" Diwu Deng sighed helplessly, "I've tried everything, but some still escape!"

"I see! Things should be better once we get to Gan County!" Wei Cong waved his hand. "So we have to leave as quickly as possible. The farther the better, so far away that they don't know the way home, and there will be no deserters."

The men at the table burst into laughter. Wei Cong's seemingly joking remark was, in fact, a common sense in ancient warfare: the farther from home, the lower the probability of desertion. Therefore, the main army (the army fighting in their homeland) would avoid engaging in field battles with the guest army (the army fighting in a foreign land). The main army's soldiers were familiar with the roads and spoke a similar accent. If they saw trouble, they would flee home. Meanwhile, the guest army's soldiers were far from home and unfamiliar with the roads surrounding the battlefield. Even if they fled, they risked getting lost along the way due to unfamiliar roads and different accents, leading to capture and death by the surrounding villagers. Therefore, the guest army would fight with all its might, hoping to survive. Consequently, in field battles, even equally powerful main armies were often defeated by the guest army.

"Huang Ping! How's Wu Ze doing?" Wei Cong asked.

"I have already brought more than 20 people into the city, and the others are still outside the city!" Huang Ping replied.

"What about the defense situation in Gan County?"

"Gan County is the largest county south of Yuzhang!" Huang Ping replied. "The city walls are well-preserved. While there aren't many soldiers guarding it, there are plenty of able-bodied men in the city. It's easy to recruit two to three thousand soldiers on short notice. If we take Xingan and Luling counties, that county magistrate, if he's not a fool, will surely have taken precautions!"

"It's no big deal to be prepared!" Diwu Deng laughed. "The parts for the trebuchets and the craftsmen are readily available on board. We just need to chop some wood and assemble them. We can take them down in ten days at most!"

"Ten days is precious to us!" Wei Cong sighed and asked, "What day is it today?"

"The 23rd!" Huang Ping said.

"Today is the 23rd. We still have two days on the road. It will take us two days to reach Ganxian on the 25th. We will have to rest for one day. The siege will start on the 26th. If it takes ten days, we will take the city by November 5th." Wei Cong put down the Hu pancake and calculated.

"What's wrong, my dear?" Diwu Deng asked. "Is the timing so critical? The climate in the south is warm, and it may not snow even in December!"

"It's not because of the weather!" Wei Cong shook his head: "This time I plan to take Jiaozhou!"

"Jiaozhou?" The restaurant fell silent. Everyone except Wei Cong looked surprised, and the crunch of Wei Cong's pickled radish was particularly jarring. After a moment, Huang Ping asked in a trembling voice, "Captain, did you just say Jiaozhou?"

"That's right, it's Jiaozhou. To be more precise, it's the Jiaozhou Provincial Administration!" Wei Cong picked up another Hu pancake, tore off a piece and put it in his mouth: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we succeed, we brothers will be able to lay a foundation for a dynasty that will last for hundreds of generations!"

"But, but we only have less than 7,000 people, including the laborers!" Huang Ping said anxiously.

"Emperor Gao and King Huai made a pact that the first to enter Guanzhong would reign. When they left Pengcheng to march west, they had fewer than ten thousand soldiers under their command, yet they ultimately conquered Guanzhong and destroyed Qin, didn't they?" Wei Cong laughed. "Now that I've taken Ganxian, Nanye, and Yudu, I'll have 20,000 of their troops, right? Then, we could abandon our boats and take the Dayuling Road, enter Nanxiong and Shixing, descend the Zhen River, enter the Beijiang River, and sail downstream to capture Panyu. Then, why not Jiaozhi?"

"Captain!" Huang Ping said with a wry smile, "I'm afraid it's not as simple as you say. Not to mention the treacherous Dayuling Road, which crosses the Five Ridges. Jiaozhou may be remote, but Panyu was the former capital of the Nanyue Kingdom and has a large population. Jiaozhi County is even more fertile, with hundreds of thousands of households (in the second year of the Yuanshi reign of the Western Han Dynasty, Jiaozhi County had 92,440 households and 746,237 people). Furthermore, it's a long way from Panyu, with numerous barbarians and the malaria! It's simply not something we, a mere 10,000 or 20,000 men, can capture!"

"What obstacles in the Five Ridges are more dangerous than the 120 Qin passes in Guanzhong? How brave are the soldiers of Panyu and Jiaozhi compared to the Qin soldiers? As for the journey, once we pass the Five Ridges, we can go downstream. We are marching in winter, so how can there be any miasma?"

Wei Cong smiled and said, "Once we've crossed the Five Ridges, the soldiers will have no desire to look back. They'll just have to fight tooth and nail and advance forward. With this force, we can defeat the enemy who are defending themselves. Right now, the imperial court is tied down by the rebellion of the Moth Bandits and has no time to look south. If we can capture Jiaozhou, we can divide the land and pass it down for generations. Han Xin and Peng Yue were both outstanding heroes in the early Han Dynasty, but they reigned for only a few years before dying and their kingdoms were destroyed. Meanwhile, Zhao Tuo held the Five Ridges and passed his rule on for a century. His descendants continue to this day and are still prominent families in Jiaozhi. Is he wise or foolish? You can learn from his example."

After hearing Wei Cong's words, the faces of the people in the restaurant, which had been as pale as death, gradually brightened. The history of the late Qin and early Han dynasties that Wei Cong recounted was familiar to everyone: In the tenth month of the third year of the reign of Qin Ershi, Emperor Gao led his troops out of Pengcheng on a western expedition. In the tenth month of the first year of the reign of Prince Ying, Emperor Gao led his army to Bashang, ahead of all the other princes. Prince Ying, riding a plain carriage and a white horse, with a silk ribbon tied around his neck and the imperial seal in his hand, surrendered at the side of the Chen Road. In just one year, his achievements were unprecedented.

By comparison, the Five Ridges are certainly less dangerous than Wuguan Pass, and the Jiaozhou army's combat effectiveness is certainly inferior to the Qin troops in Guanzhong. Although there is miasma in Lingnan, it's only late October now, and attacking Jiaozhou will be in winter and early spring next year, when the miasma's impact will be minimized. Most importantly, the benefits of attacking Jiaozhou far outweigh those of attacking other places. Also in the early Han Dynasty, Han Xin, Peng Yue, and Ying Bu made great contributions and were crowned kings by Liu Bang, but they were soon executed, and their descendants were extinct. Meanwhile, the Qin general Zhao Tuo held the Five Ridges and proclaimed himself King of Nanyue, living to over ninety and preserving the kingdom for a century. Although Nanyue was later destroyed by Emperor Wu of Han, the Zhao family of Lingnan had already flourished and remains a prominent family in Jiaozhou to this day.

The reason is that Jiaozhi was the farthest prefecture in the south of the Han Dynasty. It was far away from the ruling core of the Central Plains dynasty at that time and had no direct waterway connection (except sea route). It was separated by the Five Ridges by land. In addition, the Red River Delta and the Pearl River Delta where it was located had fertile land, a warm climate, three harvests a year, a very superior agricultural foundation, and a dense population. It was a geographical unit that was very easy to be independent.

After Wei Cong captured it, even if he could not establish his own country, he could force Luoyang to appoint him as the local governor or prefect for a long time. He only needed to nominally recognize the central government's ruling status and symbolically pay some tribute to become the actual ruler of the local area, and maintain this ruling status for a long time, and even pass it on to future generations.

As for subordinates like Diwu Deng, Liu Jiu, and Huang Ping who followed Wei Cong south, according to Wei Cong's character and the political conventions of the time, they could all receive corresponding titles according to their merits, and obtain actual territories according to their titles and pass them down to their descendants. Take the famous "Edict of Emperor Gaozu in the Fifth Year of the Resumption of the War" as an example:
Han army officers and soldiers who were pardoned were all granted the rank of Daifu, regardless of whether they were innocent but held no titles or held titles below the rank of Dafu. Those who held titles above Dafu were given a higher rank, and those above the rank of Dafu were granted fiefs. Those below the rank of Dafu were exempted from taxes and labor service for themselves and their households, and were exempted from forced labor. County officials were also required to prioritize the granting of land to demobilized soldiers with titles.

According to later statistics, approximately 60 soldiers and generals received land and houses through the granting of military titles in the early Han Dynasty. Military nobility benefited 300 million people, representing approximately one-fifth of the population at the time. These beneficiaries of military merit were granted 1 million mu (approximately 5 acres) of arable land and 3 million mu (approximately 1500 acres) of residential land, equivalent to 40% of the nation's arable land. During the 150 years from Emperor Gaozu to Emperor Wu, these beneficiaries held a crucial position in the Han state apparatus. Statistics show that their share of officials, ministers, and chancellors reached 96% during Emperor Gaozu's reign. This percentage dropped to 81% during the reigns of Emperor Hui and Empress Lü, 50% during Emperor Wen, 35% during Emperor Jing, and around 20% during Emperor Wu.

Wei Cong kept talking about Emperor Gao. Obviously, if his strategy succeeded this time, the biggest beneficiaries, apart from himself and his relatives, would be the military and political group from Diwu Deng and Liu Jiu to soldiers and sailors. Moreover, the beneficiaries would not be limited to one generation, but would be passed down from generation to generation, until a hundred years later (that is, the grace of a gentleman would be cut off after five generations, and the ancients also knew that power and wealth could not be passed down forever, and a hundred years at most would be enough). This was already the most generous dividend condition Wei Cong offered to his subordinates under realistic conditions.

"My dear, there's no need to say anything!" Diwu Deng stood up and said, "My life has long been yours. Let alone taking Jiaozhou, even if we take Luoyang or Chang'an, I will follow you until death!"

"That's right!" Liu Jiu responded, "Ever since we established the master-servant relationship in Nanyang, we've been together through life and death!"

"Although Ping is a latecomer, his determination to follow the Lord is no less than yours!

"I wish to follow the captain to conquer Jiaozhou!"

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Wei Cong raised his right hand to stop everyone in the restaurant from expressing their loyalty: "Everyone, this is a military secret and must not be spread outside!"

"Yes!" Everyone responded in unison, with a wild-beast-like cold light flashing in their eyes.

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Ganxian County, streets next to the city wall.

In the evening, Liu Fen sat tiredly on his horse. He felt terrible pain in his back. The straps of the Liangdang armor were tightly clamped on his shoulders, making his collarbone uncomfortable. He swore that he would ask someone to give him a good massage when he returned.

The guard near the tavern entrance on the alley was the first casualty. His left hand drooped, holding a shield, his right hand extended to cover his yawning mouth. The dusky setting sun cast a long shadow across the street, bisecting it. A crossbow bolt struck him squarely in the chest, and his body fell limply, rolling slightly, blocking the entrance to the tavern.

At the end of the line stood two archers, their companions obscuring their view. They could not see what was happening ahead, only hearing cries of surprise. Instinctively, they reached for their bows and arrows. They didn't see behind them until they quietly approached Song Feihu and several of his men. Song Feihu's men simultaneously released their arrows. One was struck in the throat by an arrow, collapsing instantly. Another, struck in the stomach, screamed. Their stealth was halted. With a loud cry from Song Feihu, the assassins launched a fierce general attack.

(End of this chapter)