Over the past ten-plus days, nearly a hundred men from the garrisons at Jiufeng City, Five Finger Ridge, and Lion Ridge had successively deserted with their weapons and armor. Though many were caught by patrolling officers, Li Zhigao believed the Right Vermillion Bird Army and Five Fang Army stationed in Yueyang and Tanzhou probably also had some soldiers deserting from their camps.
However, Li Zhigao had never had the heart to severely punish these men.
This time, Li Zhigao likewise couldn’t bear to severely punish these men who had deserted because they worried about their families’ safety. He instructed the young officer who came to report: “Tell Adjutant Cao to detain these men for now. Don’t make things difficult for them. We’ll deal with them after some time has passed.”
Yao Xishui knew Li Zhigao’s heart was sometimes soft, but she wouldn’t meddle in such matters. After all, the abilities Li Zhigao displayed far exceeded hers and surpassed Li Chong, Chai Jian, Zhou Yuan and others by far. It was also because Li Zhigao had decisively chosen to cooperate with Han Qian in Xiangzhou back then, stopping the fatal mistake they were making at the time, that they hadn’t lost everything.
Having learned today that his origins held such shocking secrets, after the young officer left, Li Zhigao was mentally and physically exhausted, unusually fatigued. He stood up, intending to have Hong Yu first arrange for Xishui to rest in the side courtyard, with any other matters discussed tomorrow. But as he stood, a thought flashed through his mind, and he asked Deng Tai: “Has anyone from Xuzhou recently passed through Xuefeng Mountain and Shaozhou territory heading toward Hengzhou?”
“None have been discovered so far. What’s wrong?” Deng Tai asked in confusion.
“Han Qian didn’t refuse to see you—he’s not in Xuzhou!” Li Zhigao slapped his thigh.
“How is that possible? If he’s not in Xuzhou, where did he go?” Yao Xishui asked in shock.
“He went to Jinling!” Li Zhigao said.
“How is that possible?” Yao Xishui’s mind still hadn’t caught up. She didn’t know how Li Zhigao’s thoughts had suddenly leaped to this conclusion.
“Nearly a hundred soldiers in my army have deserted because they worry about their families. Xuzhou also has a group of Left Bureau scouts and subordinates with parents and families left in Jinling. How could not a single one have deserted back to Jinling?” Li Zhigao asked in return.
Yao Xishui now understood why Li Zhigao had made this guess.
If people from Xuzhou were deserting back to Jinling by scattering and fleeing, they certainly couldn’t travel by boat via the Yuan and Yangtze Rivers to Jinling—for individuals, it was very difficult to obtain boats, and even mixed aboard ships it was hard to conceal one’s tracks. The journey home would become more circuitous.
Crossing Xuefeng Mountain, passing through Shaozhou to Hengzhou, then through Yuanzhou and Hongzhou, taking the land route back to Jinling by this detour was the shortcut.
Under Han Qian’s training, the Left Bureau scouts and subordinates were extremely familiar with mountains, rivers, and geography, knowing how to scatter and return to Jinling.
That Shaozhou hadn’t detected anyone passing through in scattered groups was itself an anomaly.
Either Han Qian had detained everyone with desertion tendencies, or Han Qian had collectively arranged for these people to take the water route by boat to secretly return to Jinling. In that case, there would be no need to take the land route.
Combined with Han Qian’s current refusal to see the person Li Zhigao had sent, Han Qian might indeed have personally led these people to secretly head to Jinling.
“What can he accomplish by going to Jinling now?” Su Hong Yu asked in utter confusion.
Yao Xishui was also convinced by Li Zhigao’s speculation, but deep in her heart she was even more shocked and puzzled. As Su Hong Yu asked—what was Han Qian going to Jinling to do?
Yao Xishui turned her thoughts to a possibility, looked at Li Zhigao hesitantly, and asked: “Is Han Qian going to Jinling to win over the military loyalty of those Vermillion Bird Army soldiers who have families and dependents left in Jinling?”
“That’s certainly a possibility. He’s been jointly excluded from Yueyang by the Dowager Consort and the Madam, and his influence over Prince Tan has been increasingly weakened. He certainly won’t be content with this. If the Marquis doesn’t dare lead the remnant forces remaining in Runzhou to protect the over forty thousand soldiers’ families, and Han Qian appears in Runzhou at this time, even if he can ultimately only bring out eight hundred to a thousand people, all soldiers with families stranded in Runzhou will be grateful to him. Then when the Left and Right Vermillion Bird Army soldiers are dissatisfied with the Marquis and call for Han Qian to emerge, this will naturally become his greatest leverage to return to Yueyang’s core!” As a core disciple trained by the Shenling Bureau and used by Li Zhigao as a trusted subordinate, Deng Tai’s judgment naturally wouldn’t be much worse than Yao Xishui’s. The impression of Han Qian’s deep cunning and skill at taking unorthodox risks had long been deeply branded in his mind.
Li Zhigao said nothing, but in his heart he didn’t necessarily agree with Yao Xishui and Deng Tai’s assessment.
Though intuition told him Han Qian must have gone to Jinling, and though Yao Xishui and Deng Tai’s speculation seemed quite reasonable, he still felt they were underestimating Han Qian’s vision.
After all, given Xuzhou’s foundation, if Han Qian truly wanted to return to Yueyang’s core, there were other methods. There was no need to take such risks. But he also couldn’t understand why Han Qian had to personally go to Jinling, or what Han Qian could accomplish in Jinling.
“Old Master Han served the country and people with utterly sincere heart, but now Anning Palace is widely proclaiming Old Master Han’s past petition to expel famine refugees and other matters to sully his name. Even among the lower ranks of the Vermillion Bird Army, many soldiers harbor misunderstandings. Perhaps Han Qian is going to Jinling to clear his father’s name?” Though Su Hong Yu also thought Han Qian’s trip to Jinling was for the Vermillion Bird Army families stranded in Runzhou, her guess about Han Qian’s motives differed from Yao Xishui and Deng Tai’s.
That the “Memorial on Epidemic Waters” came from Han Daoxun’s hand was still known to only an extremely limited number of people, but almost everyone who knew about it wouldn’t publicize it. They even kept remarkably silent about it by tacit agreement. In reality, after the complete victory in the campaign to reduce the vassals’ power, many people worried that Han Daoxun and his son Han Qian’s political prestige was too high.
“I won’t stay overnight here either. I’ll head back to Yueyang right away,” Yao Xishui said.
“Xishui, you absolutely must not reveal Han Qian’s whereabouts. Act as if this never happened. We have no need to make an enemy of Han Qian!” Seeing that Yao Xishui didn’t want to stay overnight at Jiufeng City even this late and would leave under cover of night, Li Zhigao looked up and said in alarm.
“Though you and I are orphans of the imperial clan, the Madam still makes all decisions at this time. All this should be decided by the Madam,” Yao Xishui pointed at the letter Deng Shiru had left in Li Zhigao’s hand and said, “And besides the Madam, only the four of us have seen this letter. Even if we must become enemies with Han Qian, it will be the Madam and I. It has nothing to do with elder brother—surely elder brother doesn’t intend to detain me?”
Li Zhigao’s brow furrowed in pain. Too many things tonight had left his heart in chaos, making him completely unable to see clearly the changes and direction of the future situation.
Yao Xishui stood in the pavilion for a while. Seeing Li Zhigao remain silent for a long time without speaking, she turned and walked out of the pavilion.
How could she not know Han Qian’s power and supernatural cunning? But she was different from Li Zhigao. She had witnessed with her own eyes hundreds of people from the Prince of Lu’s residence perish in flames.
That scene from years ago was branded into the depths of her soul like a seal.