Volume 6, Chapter 16: Three Personal Visits (1/2)

Volume 6, Chapter 16: Three Personal Visits¹

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— Records Volume Three

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“On the fourth day of the eleventh h alert throughout the journey As professed, because Huaixi requested exia Barracks traveled to Jiujiang to prevent the Yong ar the river”

Inside the Cold Courtyard, under the bright glow of la held a scroll and read it aloud Meanwhile, Jiang Zhe was reclining on a soft couch and playing with a crystalline black jade stone in a carefreeacross fro his brows as he looked at the board before hion that was about to be encircled by the black stones This was a very rare situation on the board In terms of weiqi skill, Xiaoshunzi couldn’t be called a national-level player, but he could easily beat Jiang Zhe As a result, he often stole glances at Huo Cong, as obviously standing there reading the intelligence report that had co reached the point of the Jiangxia Barracks entering the Battle at Guazhou Ferry, I stopped playing with the stone I lifted ress as expected He’s also quite brave Wasn’t he the one who e and shi+fted the Jiujiang Barracks to Jingkou, which created signs of instability in the central section of the Southern Chu defense Then, with the excuse of Jiujiang being e, as if dis the western wall to reinforce the eastern wall, when in fact he was confusing our army’s spies First of all, he didn’t allow our army to think of the possibility that cavalry would rush to the rescue of Shouchun Second, he xia Barracks joining up with the Jiujiang Barracks and fighting a decisive battle in Yangzhou

“However, Lu Can’s plan was extreerous If the outcome of the battle in Huaixi was a draw, our arion Once Shouchun fell, General Zhangsun nan area² Then the Southern Chu arion However, Lu Can presuut that our arsun is also a ressive advance Lu Can only took a risk with the battle in Huaixi However, this operation has the stylings of a faeneral If the battle in Huaixi had a thirty percent chance of victory, acting this orth it Hence report for Huaixi I want to see how Lu Can carried things out there”

Huo Cong searched for the Huaixi intelligence report, then read it in exhaustive detail When he reached the part about Lu Yun and shi+ Guan’s son, shi+ Yujin, cutting down Dong Shan, my hands tree Afterwards, I sle doesn’t drive the pheasant out of its nest, it cannot spread its wings and fly Lu Can placed his son in a dangerous location, so it’s no wonder the Huaixi ar Shan, valiant generals—which are rare—wouldn’t have been stopped at Shouchun In reality, the Emperor underestieneral, as well as tens of thousands of additional troops, and been on alert for the eneotten exhausted because of a protracted battle and ended up in a landslide rout In reality, it’s no wonder Lu Can was so secretive about this cavalry division The Intelligence Manage about it I would assume that not even the Southern Chu court knew of its existence, as they didn’t know Shouchun had received reinforce Shan had slacked off However, Dong Shan being struck down by two youths not yet fifteen is actually rather surprising I re to the investigation after the fact done by the Intelligence Manage covered the retreat after a bitter battle,” Huo Cong replied “By that point, he was likely spent, while Young General Lu and Young General shi+ are both rare youth warriors As a result, they could record this feat of success I heard the battlefield situation was very dangerous at that tienerals nearly lost their lives as well”

I sighed softly and said, “After this battle, the e Lu Yun th for Southern Chu that cannot be ignored Lu Can will surely seize this opportunity to build up the military in Huaixi andhis control in Huaixi If he waits until has a powerful military in Huaixi, he can march northeast and attack Suzhou³ and Xuzhou or maybe ⁵ I believe that within several years, Lu Can could repeatedly send out forces, capture Huaibei, and train troops”

“Sir, Lu Can nan, but Great Yong has millions of troops This defeat didn’t break any bones Lu Can ought to recuperate and build up strength and guard against Great Yong’s Southern Ca said in doubt

I sh Lu Can has control of the h AWeijun’s palreater the ht Lu Can wields, the more some civil officials who boast of their loyalty orry he is relying onWeijun’s supporters will in fact increase Just wait After everyone is rewarded based on their contribution, soo out of their way to lessen Lu Can’s authority So if he wants to protect himself, he must take the initiative to send troops out and continue the border war to preserve his and his fa’s eyes He said, “Not rewarding his great feats would be an unpardonable sin If Grand General Lu decides he nan will become even more monolithic, and there will be no ’er, do you think a coup is that siht that Lu Can controls a massive force, and if he sends troops to Jianye, they could overthrow the government They would control the Southern Chu court, and he could even s cannot be accoht alone In the case that Lu Can rises up in ared their lives to him because of the Lu family’s reputation for loyalty will lose heart Soet that although Rong Yuan of Xiangyang, shi+ Guan of Huaixi, and Yu Mian of Jiareatly impeded by the Lu family, and moreso, they are loyal subjects of Southern Chu But even if they rebel along with Lu Can, I’ Weijun has controlled the state of the court for many years and has a deep-rooted and intricate⁶ relationshi+p with the major aristocratic families of Southern Chu Almost seven out of ten officials in the current Southern Chu court are part of the Shang faes the corrupt ministers, what should he do with these officials? If they’re all executed, the Southern Chu court will be eovernment will immediately descend into chaos If they’re not executed, will they actually revere Lu Can as their th is mainly concentrated in the military He has no way to control the entirety of the Southern Chu court I presurasped by the aristocratic farab If that happens, eachthe other for the sake of power and wealth I’m afraid that would erode the situation in Southern Chu even more

“As such, Lu Can cannot use thetension The only way out is to instigate foreign aggression As long as the war in Jianghuai isWeijun and company will be too scared to arbitrarily har’s desired Southern Ca for Great Yong to co, why not take the initiative? He can also use these skirmishes to harden morale and train the troops He could convert Southern Chu’s border into Mount Tai, steady as a rock This way, he can kill two birds with one stone Why would Lu Can not want to do so?”

Huo Cong listened, fascinated After a long while, he said, “Sir, Shang Weijun fears Lu Can’s military power He would never act rashly On the other hand, Lu Can would rather vie for courtly power, but it’s not as good as controlling thethe multitudes outside the court to his call Only in this ill the situation in Jiangnan stabilize, and Great Yong will not be able to smoothly conquer Southern Chu The lands will be difficult to unify, but it’s not like the turmoil of war is endless and difficult to quell”

“Lu Can, thatat him “The reason he vies for military power is siallop south For hi Weijun is the head of state—that is for the best Of course, whether he will have thoughts of disloyalty when he becomes important and powerful in the future remains to be seen However, in my opinion, there is no possibility this man will coenerations Loyalty has been ingrained into their bones Lu Can is no exception Although he has deadlier stratagehts of independence However, though he has good intentions, Shang Weijun refuses to recognize the for the foreseeable future This separation of military and political power cannot be sustained, however, unless the King of Southern Chu has enough prestige to regainto submit But these two points are unrealistic

“The stale After all, one side must rise, and one side must fall Onelike this, the terfuleach other Even if Lu Can coood or uses some wrathful machinations to stifle this hidden peril, once war breaks out, it will be a terrible tragedy As long as the Southern Chu monarch and ministers are not too stupid, they shouldn’t have a proble an even balance of power for several years

“Although, Cong’er, why are you asking about these ainst Lu Can and see wholooked eht? It was the Prince of Jia who asked me to sound out Sir’s viewpoints He wanted to know if Sir already had a strategy to conquer Southern Chu, or if Sir had obeyed the order of His Ihness, the Prince of Qi”

I sneered and said, “What a busybody As a prince of the second rank, Li Lin can afford to wrack his brains And you’re just a commoner Why are you so meddlesoence reports from the Ministry of War and send the Suiyun is a free ence reports If these docu and have no time to pay attention to external affairs, and that you’re not allowed to accept these intelligence reports withoutvery closely You analyzed the situation with eloquence Why have you now changed your mind?</e the liberty to iveout

As I watched Huo Cong’s receding figure, a hint of a sneer touched the corners of my mouth Humph, what Prince of Qi’s order? The Prince of Jia had most likely followed the crown prince’s order, asthe emperor’s order They just wanted to probe ainst Southern Chuht of my memorial I sent in that day It looked like the emperor understood I don’t yearn for the old country and that they underestimated their enemy

Now that the situation had turned out this way, those people decided they wanted to listen toZhe, be summoned at the drop of a hat? As they had suspected -Southern Chu War This had been

In any case, that enerals who had consolidated at every step In these circu Southern Chu shouldn’t be a problem with twenty to thirty years of hard work After all, Southern Chu had layer upon layer of internal anxieties If Lu Can hadn’t been a driven individual, I expect he would have run into upheaval within five years Southern Chu’s current king, Zhao Long, should be getting crowned in a few years, and at that tiovern Weijun to seize back the h these days, Lu Can’s methods were rather sinister and vicious, which was not his style The way one acted was very difficult to change They were probably Wei Ying’s scheether like a duck to water and were very detrin Wait, why aain? Didn’t I decide to stay out of this business?

Turning to look at Xiaoshunzi and seeing he was still in contemplation, I snickered Yesterday, I received a national-level qipu Inside the manual were several clever positions, and I purposely played them I had finally put hiain soht in the past, cold sweat dripping off hteredto see him admit defeat and concede While I had my nose in the air, Xiaoshunzi’s tensed eyebrows smoothed over, to my surprise He placed a white quartz stone and the board state reversed The white stones that had been in a tight spot were suddenly on the attack, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, and confronted the black stones I let out a sigh, knowing I hadn’t stuain I took the it at him, pushed the board aside out of spite I laid onunder rance, and I was a bit weary Because I didn’t want Changle to speak for the ee at the Cold Courtyard

Xiaoshunzi grinned He opened the h it, stored it in his breast, then put away the stones while saying, “Youngover a grudge? After all, he is theZhe did not say anything at all When Xiaoshunzi finished putting away the stones and believed Jiang Zhe wasn’t going to answer hihtly said, “When a problem crops up, one needs nip it in the bud This time, the Emperor can distrust er behind Besides, based on the Eivings I have of his difficult for hied my opinion of him because of this matter”

Xiaoshunzi fell silent He didn’t ask further questions, such as “Is Jiang Zhe truly displeased with the E for Southern Chu, so he isn’t willing to offer a strategy to conquer Southern Chu?” Once Jiang Zhe made a decision, no matter how unreasonable, Xiaoshunzi would never oppose it

After he put away the weiqi board and stones, he added a few sticks of storax incense to the incense burner Afterwards, he grabbed a blanket and placed it over top of the sleeping Jiang Zhe After doing all this, he sat off to the side on aFor him, sleep was an uniently furrowed his brows all of a sudden He peeked at the still deep asleep Jiang Zhe, turned around, and pushed open the roolance a line of people walking his way One of the people had a cloak draped over hiht yellow robe showing as well as the iht The people walked up to hi his face asked, “Has Suiyun fallen asleep already?”

Xiaoshunzi lowered his head and knitted his brows as he replied, “Young, so I lit a storax incense stick I’well for the past few days I’m afraid he cannot receive Your Iave a wry s an aged yet still regal face Before co he had the Ministry of War send in docuret and apology However, it now see Zhe did not appreciate the kindness This ed to this day Thinking of all this, Li Zhi felt guilt-ridden for suspecting Jiang Zhe for the past several days He looked at Li Shun, as blocking hih his stance was humble, Li Zhi knew this subdued attitude was just a pretense He was convinced that if he tried to force his way in, Demonic Shadow Li Shun would not have any scruples for his identity If events transpired to this state, there would be no leeway to go back With no recourse, Li Zhi could only turn around and depart, reckoning it shouldn’t be harder for hi his services this ti this, while Great Yong’swith the aftermath of the defeat, the reclusive Marquis of Chu of the first rank beca courtiers A ru the officialdole’s residence several ti Zhe every time Outside of shi+ Yu and co side when they first met, the other courtiers didn’t believe this event happened and disroundless conjecture The eraceful uards who cale’s residence, most of the staff were ossiped about this topic However, even a better kept secret left traces, and all kinds of clues related to the ele’s residence and low spirits upon his return each tih the people of the palace They sketched the truth out Then so on the street even touched on it However, even the ht and outspoken censors’ lips were sealed, and they spoke nothing of this event To say nothing of how much power and influence the Marquis of Chu had behind the scenes, just by seeing how much the emperor doted on and trusted hile bloas best not to offend him Moreover, if nobody knew of this e If this circulated, the eer, and the officials who incited the affair would be in trouble

This ruh, and after several days passed, a new ru Zhe, refused to offer advice and see the emperor because he still yearned for his former country Furthermore, Southern Chu’s illustrious Grand General was his direct disciple The connections between Jiang Zhe and Southern Chu’s Lu faether,⁷ and they had frequent contact This rumor ell-founded, and many officials and common folk believed it Even the important ministers of the court were bound to believe some of it

When Li Zhi heard this rumor, he was incensed By this point, he wouldn’t still suspect Jiang Zhe had cast aside Great Yong for Southern Chu, but he knew Jiang Zhe had the ainst hiht really seal his lips in a fury That would be disastrous As a result, he ordered the Bright Inspection Departave a strict order to not allow the news to reach Jiang Zhe’s ears Unfortunately, all of Chang’an had gossiped about the rumor Li Zhi had wanted to trace the source but couldn’t find it, so he flew into a rage The at capital became unusually tense

Several days passed, and Li Xian arrived at the Cold Courtyard with few attendants He was fulfilling Li Zhi’s decree in co to sue for peace Li Xian hadn’t sent in a petition pleading to join the Southern Cath of Southern Chu’s Jianghuai ar birth soon, so he couldn’t bear to part with his beloved wife and son As such, Li Zhi had no intention of letting hi it up hi the talks to draw up the plan of the Southern Ca this Southern Ca Zhe still had feelings for his former country As a result, the two brothers tacitly cooperated to cover up thisthis opportunity to denounce Jiang Zhe To their surprise, the Southern Ca Zhe wrote was filled isdoenerals of the battlefield, no ordinary characters, and they soon realized theirtheir ene their national power, didn’t apply to Great Yong alone Southern Chu was no longer short on h they realized this fact, the changes to the situation could not be undone Lu Can had gained control of the nan Because of this, half of the territory of Jiangnan was difficult to topple, and Lu Can becan in the eyes of Li Zhi and Li Xian

If they wished to conquer Southern Chu, they needed to eliminate Lu Can, and if they wanted to eliminate Lu Can, one person’s advice was theZhe

No matter how excellent Lu Can was, it was impossible to deny thatZhe This being the case, who better than Jiang Zhe to draw up a strategy to conquer Southern Chu? Both Li Zhi and Li Xian didn’t desire the two countries to be at a stale Zhe didn’t respect Li Zhi, Li Xian was duty-bound to go to the Cold Courtyard and persuade Jiang Zhe to help However, even though Li Xian had to look to others for help, he was still ile’s residence The i the residence didn’t dare stop hih their lord, the le person dared stop Li Xian’s dash straight to the Cold Courtyard

Right as Li Xian arrived at the entrance to the study, he heard Jiang Zhe thunder with rage as he scolded so Zhe criticize someone like this in all their years as friends He stopped in his tracks and began to eavesdrop

I looked at Shen’er, as behaving hi in place Fury boiled inside me This brat, he kneas supposed to kneel as punish without stop It was obvious he was indulging in flights of fancy, so how could he be even the slightest bit repentant? I couldn’t help scolding, “All you do all day is play and practice , yet you sneak off You’ve read The analects for half a year, but you still can’t memorize it Listen up, today your punishment is to copy The analects three ti dinner”

Shen’er had turned eight this year He was born with bright eyes and graceful eyebrows, looking intelligent and cute Nonetheless, he was an idiot Trying toelse I didn’t knoho he took after When I was his age, I had already familiarized myself with the classics and histories His ent, so as he alone so stupid? However, True Coenius in martial arts Was there truly no justice?

I had just meted out the punishment o off to copy the book, Daddy But, Daddy, it’s not my fault I can’t memorize The analects It’s all because, Daddy, you can’t teach well Daddy insists on ra pile of nothing Big sister also said that if I want to learn to read, it’s far better to go to big brother Huo”

I nearly blacked out in anger from these words I picked up the ferule and went to s Shen had turned and escaped outside He was extraordinarily ni out the door like a puff of s him back to me! I want to slap his pal, I heard Shen’er cheer, “Father-in-law ed my tone and said, “Shen’er, run slower, don’t fall” It was definitely a fatherly tone, and Xiaoshunzi, as standing by my side, flashed an interested srily out the door

Afterwards, I saw Li Xian, his expression quite nasty, holding Shen’er’s hand as they walked in I sed er as I went forward and saluted “So sixth brother has coh, for Shen’er is too h Ever since Li Xian had returned to Chang’an, he had practically seized Shen’er Every ti Clouds Temple, he wouldn’t stay at home for even a few days before Li Xian took him away If I wanted to refuse, I would have to face his chilling appearance It was better during the years he was courting Lin Bi After Li Ning was born, the Prince of Qi beca him “father-in-law,” then swept Shen’er away It made it difficult for me, the father, to discipline and teach ht as I rubbed e, would this kid have turned fickle so soon?

Li Xian hesitated He treated Shen’er as if he were his own son When he heard Jiang Zhe say he was going to slap Shen’er’s palm, Li Xian became unhappier However, he came on behalf of his elder brother, the emperor, to sue for peace But it was never easy to be considerate to Jiang Zhe He hesitated ti, “Suiyun, I still think you should hire an ele teaching him is also fine I’ve heard Roulan say that when you lecture, you like to cite the classics, so it’s no wonder that Shen’er doesn’t understand”

Shen’er was quite smart and could tell that his father-in-law’s tone was rather weak He ier eyes “Daddy, it’s Shen’er who is too stupid and can’t understand when you lecture about books, unlike big brother Huo, who understands everything with a single explanation You should let soave a bitter smile in my mind Who exactly did this child take after?

The Prince of Qi spoke up again “In reality, Shen’er doesn’t need to study hard for ten years Isn’t it fine if he becoeneral in the future? I can see this kid has a very solid martial arts foundation, and he’s quite brave He’s rather like me” Then he proudly stroked Shen’er’s head

Shen’er looked like the cat that sed the canary, as if Li Xian were his father

A stab of pain went through my heart “Xiaoshunzi, send Shen’er to his study to copy The analects one hundred ti Clouds Te him back, and beat him with the rod on my behalf,” I said in an unpleasant tone

Shen’er acted like he’d been struck by lightning and froze in place Only after Xiaoshunzi had gone over, picked him up, and walked out the door did he shout, “Uncle Shun, spare me! My neck hurts a lot! Savebrother Huo! Savesister!”

A moment later, his strident and raucous cries for help faded into the distance I blushed with shalared at Li Xian It was all because he had spoiled Shen’er, so no matter what he came to do, I would not allow him to have his way

Li Xian was somewhat s Zhe was clearly about to use his position to avenge private wrongs Li Xian gave a hint of a wry soal of his visit had any possibility of being realized today