Volume 1, Chapter 16: Great Upheaval Cometh (1/2)

Volume 1, Chapter 16: Great Upheaval Cometh

In the second month of the twenty-second year of Xiande, the tenth year of the sixty-year cycle, the Prince of Yong, Li Zhi, again defeats Northern Han The King of Northern Han is forced to issue an edict recalling the General Who Do¹ Long Tingfei possessed re desperately,² he blocked Li Zhi at Yanh he did not suffer many casualties, Li Zhi was forced to retreat In the third otiated peace

—raphy of the Prince of De, Zhao Jue</blockquote>

Withup at the cold moon Xiaoshunzi stood behind me, while Chen Zhen stood beside the door Xiaoshunzi asked, “’s letter? The ”

“Write a letter on my behalf,” I apathetically replied “Simply say that the Prince of Qi won’t be able to win With the Prince of De present, even if the Prince of Yong hih the defenses established by the Prince of De in the Jingxiang region I am a subject of Southern Chu, so there is no reason forwill soon attack Chen Zhen, send operatives to keep a close eye on Liang Wan They will soon make their move”

At this point, we heard a knock on the door After seeing er of about fourteen or fifteen entered Kneeling on one knee, he reported, “Young un to attack Xiangyang”

I s region was to fall into the hands of Great Yong, then contact between Sichuan and Jiangnan would be cut off After that, Great Yong could either nibble away or s Southern Chu whole But I believed in the ability of the Prince of De The defenses of the Jingxiang region were strict and well organized

Over the subsequent few days, the court discussed the Great Yong invasion heatedly Those officials were all afraid, and at the sanantly de The vastwas offended So, seeking forgiveness and requesting that Great Yong withdraw its ar Weijun was quite deter to inquire as to the reason for its invasion Although this idea received the approval of the entire court, all of the civil anddays, uarantee of safety Iofficials of Southern Chu had lost faith, as I to do?

I had Xiaoshunzi bring out theI studied it careful Xiangyang was co that were on located on opposite sides of the Han River There was a pontoon bridge across the river connecting the two cities Both cities had deep h wall If the enemy were to attack, they would assuredly suffer casualties and be unable to capture the cities If the enee to quickly reinforce the attacked city In addition, with the support of the navy, Xiangyang was difficult to attack and easy to defend

When the Prince of De first arrived at Xiangyang, he dispatched a ain ive a clear and direct response Instead, I replied with a design for a pontoon bridge The originally wooden bridge had been badly daed by time and would be difficult to repair I advised that ts of stakes be driven into the river Each stake was a piece of lu and was driven into the riverbed Each stake was attached with iron chains and was covered ooden planks, fore that could be repaired at any time I also provided a mockup for fishnets with bells to the Prince of De These fishnets were placed around the pontoon bridge and cast into the water, protecting it fro a sneak attack fron schematics and a fishnet How they were to be utilized was the Prince of De’s own decision and had nothing to do withover the defensive infor, then it would not easily fall Did the Prince of Qi not know that Xiangyang was easy to defend and difficult to attack?

On the fourteenth day of the fourth ave the order to attack the city The assault was ferocious as the Yong troops did not worry about casualties, throwing themselves fearlessly at the city walls The Prince of De ordered the navy to use the Han River to launch volleys of arrows and bolts at the Prince of Qi’s foot soldiers, forcing the Yong troops to withdraw The Prince of Qi tried twice again to attack, ordering up catapults to force back the navy, and advancing his ar day and night Seeing the danger, the Prince of De led three thousand cavalryate and launched a surprise attack on the flank of the Yong ararrison to sally forth froht by surprise The entire army was thrown into confusion Li Xian commanded five thousand cavalrymen to stop the Prince of De Zhao Jue lured these horseate where they were met with rocks and tree trunks, and forced to retreat Furious, Li Xian couard the flanks while he personally led eighty thousand troops in a continuous and alternating attack on the northern gate The northern gate fell into grave danger The Prince of De did not rest and personally supervised its defense, waiting for the rightarnal for the Fancheng garrison to launch a surprise attack upon the rear of the Yong arrievous casualties and was forced to retreat Zhao Jue chased the Yong ar heavy losses After three days of battle, the one hundred and fifty thousand strong Yong army had suffered sixty thousand dead and wounded, while the seventy thousand strong Southern Chu army had lost twenty thousandarmy withdrew, Zhao Jue immediately dispatched an envoy to report the victory to the court and to request reinforce the report Zhao Jue’s dispatch, the king was both joyous and worried He opened his h Royal Uncle has won, the strength of the Yong ar Weijun respectfully replied, “Reporting to Your Majesty, although the alliance was betrayed by Great Yong, but our ar army We should take this opportunity to dispatch an envoy to Great Yong and negotiate a peace”

All the other officials agreed in succession with Shang Weijun At this time, an attendant reported on the arrival of an envoy who had returned fro Zhao Jia hurriedly ordered for the envoy to be brought into the audience chambers This envoy was named Fu Yulun, the tanhua of the royal examinations fro in the Ministry of Rites⁴ Fu Yulun hurried kneeled and reported, “By royal decree, this subject went to Yong on a diplo, I was stopped by the Prince of Qi, Li Xian He claiainst Southern Chu was to cleanse our court of disloyal subjects I have here a letter from the Prince of Qi to Your Majesty”

Zhao Jia hurriedly had a eunuch accept the letter and bring it to over The contents of the letter were as follows:

<blockquote class="Quote">

I keenly remember the promise that was made on my last trip to Southern Chu Once Your Majesty restores the empire, that person will raise his ar will not be able to intervene If Your Majesty takes away his command, our two countries will return to peace If Your Majesty believes Zhao Jue’s slanderous lies, then this Prince will have no alternative but to conan to hunt with Your Majesty

</blockquote>

After Zhao Jia read the entire letter, his entire body grew cold If he believed the words in the letter, then he feared that it was an atte to sow discord But he couldn’t say that he didn’t believe the letter either Ever since Zhao Jue had returned froainst Shu, he had constantly requestedthe defenses at Xiangyang and refused to return to the court Did he have the intent to revolt? Zhao Jia also realized that Zhao Jue had a far superior reputation and jealousy grew in his heart Indifferently, he replied, “Royal Uncle has won and should return to the court to receive his just rewards By our edict, we recall the Prince of De to return to court”

When Zhao Jue in the distant Jingxiang region received this edict, he refused to return He wrote to the king that he could not return because of pressing inally Zhao Jia was only so Zhao Jue’s refusal to return, this suspicion grew In succession, Zhao Jia issued several edicts In the beginning, Zhao Jue used the excuse that a general on the field could refuse an order But ultily incisive, even the court officials began to believe that Zhao Jue had ill intentions Without any alternatives, Zhao Jue turned over the defenses of the Jingxiang region to Rong Yuan and returned to Jianye with a few of his guards When they were still dozens of e were stopped by an ordinary looking man who delivered a letter to Zhao Jue Zhao Jue opened the letter and read its contents:

<blockquote class="Quote"></blockquote>

After reading the letter, Zhao Jue heaved a sigh before burning the letter To the er, he said, “Thank your master on my behalf Tell him that I, Zhao Jue, aer silently backed away and left

When he arrived in Jianye, Zhao Jue arrived before the gates of the royal palace to seek an audience but was arrested and placed in the dungeons by Zhao Jia’s decree Although Zhao Jue penned a essay explaining the reasons for refusing to return, it was to no avail For Zhao Jia, if he was not worried about Li Xian refusing to withdraw, he would have long punished his uncle When Zhao Jue was i that Zhao Jue be put to death Fortunately, Zhao Jia was not so ree He released Zhao Jue and placed him under house arrest

Those petitions were my idea After I received word from Chen Zhen that Zhao Jue refused to rebel, I cah Zhao Jue was a loyal subject, he was also far too foolish If he had i’s edict, Zhao Jia would know that he had wrongly blamed hiyang Since he didn’t return imuilty conscience Even if Zhao Jia ise, there was no one that wouldn’t become suspicious Never ent than an idiot After Zhao Jue was ieons, I was placed in a difficult position According to my plans, in reality, it was better for Zhao Jue to continue to be imprisoned From this, an opportunity to abandon my post and leave would quicklyof Zhao Jue’s painful support of Southern Chu, I found that I could not explain the pain that I was feeling and I could not steel myself Even if Southern Chu were to be destroyed, I must allow those who love this country to show their loyalty Thus, I wrote a letter to Rong Yuan, having him conspire with officials to request that Zhao Jue be put to death Myafter Zhao Jue arrived at Jianye, Rong Yuan’s people arrived These individuals provoked those officials who feared Great Yong to petition the King Zhao Jia was not soall these individuals wish to kill Zhao Jue, Zhao Jia immediately became suspicious Zhao Jue’s life was preserved Noe only had to wait before he would be dispatched back to Xiangyang His return would rely upon Great Yong’s help

Sure enough, not long afterwards, the Prince of Qi once again attacked the Jingxiang region The Prince of Qi was too i, he would likely have waited patiently to see ould happen Rong Yuan was capable and was able to stabilize Jingxiang’s defenses When the eight hundred was immediately realized the truth and hurriedly dispatched Zhao Jue back to Xiangyang Not caring about anything else, Zhao Jue led his personal guards and rushed back Not long after leaving Jianye, he saw a delicate and scholarly youngin the pavilion positioned ten li from the city⁵ A pot of wine and two cups were placed on the stone table within the pavilion Behind the young ed man Outside on each of four corners of the pavilion stood two fifteen- or sixteen-year-old teenagefaintly, Zhao Jue dis deeply before the young rateful and indebted to Suiyun for this rescue Today for my lord to see me off, Zhao Jue is ashamed”