Theoretically, as long as the boat guild could obtain salt permits, they could purchase food salt from salt officials at a price of one thousand qian per dan and transport it to Junzhou for sale.
Of course, if there truly wasn’t a single person within Junzhou’s old territory, the salt transported there couldn’t be sold, which would also be futile. If they dared to cross borders to sell salt in Xiangzhou or other provinces and counties, exceeding one dan would also be a capital offense. But the problem was that Han Qian and his men had just discovered that hidden between the mountains along the Han and Dan rivers were large numbers of fugitive households.
If Han Qian now rashly tried to register these fugitive households in the provincial census and levy taxes and labor service, it would only provoke fierce resistance. But what about selling them salt at relatively low prices, or trading with them for goods, or even exchanging for them sending people down from the mountains to work?
Salt merchants in border provinces like Chen and Xu had already been monopolized by great clans and powerful families. Han Qian didn’t want to intensify conflicts and had no way to forcibly intervene in salt affairs. But in the Xiangzhou direction, with such a big loophole, how could he not exploit it?
However, salt affairs were merely the pretext Han Qian used to persuade Yang Qin and others to work hard and support this matter. His more fundamental purpose was to push for the reestablishment of Junzhou.
He let Yang Qin slowly digest and carefully consider the benefits salt affairs might bring to the Left Administration, while Han Qian himself stood on the riverbank, gazing at the distant clouds and water.
In early September, after learning that Liang state was actively preparing for warfare, Han Qian had tried every means to persuade Marquis Xinchang Li Pu and the others to fight for the Longque Army to participate in the war. But what the Longque Army could accomplish by participating in the war was also something Han Qian had pondered intensely over the past month or more.
If the Liang army didn’t plan to attack the Nanyang Basin this winter and had no plan to launch an offensive from Wuguan, would the Longque Army just make a circuit to Xiangzhou and then pat their backsides and return triumphantly to Jinling?
Perhaps most soldiers and even officers in their hearts might think exactly that.
For people like Guo Rong, Guo Liang, and Gao Chengyuan, making this trip, even without distinguished military merit, still counted as hard work if not achievement. Their seniority in the army would increase somewhat, making it easier to obtain better military positions in the future.
Officers who risked their lives with soaring ambitions to compete for military merit on bloody battlefields were, after all, a minority.
Even Shen Yang, in the depths of his heart, mostly hoped that the various states could cease their conflicts.
From the bottom of his heart, Han Qian also hoped to linger in tender embraces, unable to tear himself away. It was just that harsh reality forced him to suppress this longing and fantasy in the deepest part of his heart, not allowing even the slightest sprout to emerge.
Even if the warfare the Liang army was about to launch was mainly directed at the Shouzhou army and they wouldn’t send large forces into the Nanyang Basin, and even if their Guanzhong forces at Wuguan would only strictly guard their gates without making any extra moves, Han Qian absolutely would not let the Longque Army have no further accomplishments over the next three to five months.
That would be equivalent to the Longque Army wasting three to five months of precious time!
Thinking that Emperor Tianyou likely had less than three years of life remaining, Han Qian wished he could split time into several portions to spend.
The best outcome Han Qian could currently envision was for the Liang army to attack right now, then hold a stalemate in the Nanyang Basin for two or three years, with the Longque Army also being forced to remain garrisoned in Xiangzhou until Emperor Tianyou’s death.
Even if the Crown Prince smoothly ascended the throne then and the Anning Palace held power, as long as Han Qian remained in Xiangzhou with part of the elite Longque Army forces, he would have more options rather than worrying about losing his head and life at any moment.
Of course, given the situations of Liang and Chu states, neither had the strength to sustain a war spanning a thousand li for two or three years without withdrawing troops.
However, the Longque Army could still fight for—at minimum fight for—the opportunity to have part of their forces garrison the western frontier without withdrawing to Jinling.
This was also why Han Qian had strongly advocated in Jinling for the Longque Army to take over defense of the three counties west of Deng, and persuaded Marquis Xinchang Li Pu to maneuver in Jinling to fight for the restoration of Junzhou’s administrative status.
Imperial princes or ministers holding provincial posts from afar was not unusual since the previous dynasty.
So-called remote holding actually meant the Third Prince could remain in Jinling while still concurrently serving as provincial administrator or even Defense Commissioner or Regional Commander, then dispatching trusted subordinate officials to remain in the provinces and counties to handle military and civil affairs.
When Han Qian was in Jinling, he had proposed the idea of fighting to establish a new Junzhou. Marquis Xinchang Li Pu, Li Zhigao, and others also felt this was an excellent strategy to expand the Longque Army’s power. But whether to implement this strategy right now was a matter of debate.
After all, the Longque Army was currently extremely short of funds and grain.
The Evening Crimson Tower and Marquis Xinchang’s potential had already been squeezed dry—otherwise they wouldn’t have indulged Han Qian in borrowing heavily in the Third Prince’s name.
Of course, Han Qian also had no way to beat his chest and swear that old fellow Emperor Tianyou would definitely not live past three years, so everyone should risk their necks and go for it.
In the eyes of Marquis Xinchang Li Pu, Emperor Tianyou, though over sixty years old, was still quite vigorous in spirit. At this time when Emperor Tianyou clearly had thoughts of cultivating the Third Prince, they didn’t want to appear too eager, lest some link go wrong, leading to failure at the final stage and total loss.
This was when Han Qian needed to find another path. The first lever to pry open these various matters was salt affairs.