Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 511 Recapture of Jiangnan
"Three prefectures in Jiangxi, five prefectures in Jiangdong, seven prefectures in Hunan, and eight prefectures in Qianzhong—twenty-three prefectures have been lost. Yet Gao Pian still refuses to surrender. It seems that getting him to surrender to Your Highness will be difficult."

On the 25th day of the eleventh lunar month, while Wang Shi and Gao Pian clashed in Jiangxi, Jing Xiang, the Imperial Diarist, was frowning as he looked at the head of the table in the Sizheng Hall of Jiangling City.

Liu Jilong, sitting in the main seat, neither agreed nor disagreed with his words, but simply examined the victory report sent by Li Yangchun in his hand.

After a long pause, Liu Jilong put down the report of victory and then said:
"This victory report was sent out several days ago. By now, Qie Biao should have already captured Shezhou."

"I remember Wang Zhongren. Although he is cautious in his military tactics, he is not very talented and is no match for Qie Biao."

"With the 30,000 elite troops under Qi Biao's command, plus the 40,000 new soldiers from Huainan who are about to cross the river, we will be able to defeat Wang Zhongren in no time."

"An imperial edict was issued to Qie Biao, appointing Yang Xingmin, Li Shenfu, and Qian Liu as the prefects of Changzhou, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, respectively, and as supervising and consulting officials."

As soon as Liu Jilong finished speaking, Jing Xiang respectfully agreed, then raised an objection: "Your Highness, Jiangnan is a crucial source of tax revenue for the court in the future. Leaving these three behind might be..."

"It's just to appease them temporarily," Liu Jilong interrupted, then explained:

"They have not yet fully submitted, and they have already made contributions. They should not be dealt with with honorary titles, but rather with official positions to appease the people. Once the country is at peace, then we can make proper arrangements."

There were many famous generals during the late Tang and Five Dynasties period. If these people were utilized properly, they would be of great use in stabilizing the region in the future.

These so-called stable areas naturally do not refer to the heartland of the imperial court, but rather to places like Annam, Liaodong, and the southwest.

Regions such as central Guizhou, western Lingnan, eastern Lingnan, Annam, and Hunan, which in later generations would naturally be considered Han territory, were primarily inhabited by ancient barbarians during this era.

These places need to be guarded, and the guards must not only be armed, but also have the means to govern the area; otherwise, problems will inevitably arise when the three departments work together.

Yang Xingmin, Qian Liu, and their group all had talent in this area, and Liu Jilong naturally wouldn't waste it.

Even if it's Zhu Wen's group, Liu Jilong will still use them if the opportunity arises, because he has Longyou as his base and is not afraid of Zhu Wen and his group causing separatism.

The officials and lower-ranking military officers were all from Longyou. With the implementation of the Three Offices system, any signs of military separatism and chaos were nipped in the bud.

The Three Offices system, which was perfected during the Song and Ming dynasties, can be said to have fundamentally prevented military generals from seizing power.

Unless it was the end of a dynasty and the system was in chaos, military generals could only obey the imperial power in the context of the separation of powers in the local area.

"Your Highness!"

As he was lost in thought, Zhao Ying's voice came from outside the hall. When Liu Jilong turned his head, he soon saw him enter the Sizheng Hall with two memorials in his hands.

"Your Highness, Governor Cao and Governor Chen have reported their victory. Five prefectures, including Qiandongxi and Chen, have been recovered. Now, only Juzhou and the Qianling barbarian tribes in central Guizhou are not in our hands."

"Governor Chen reports a victory: Yongzhou, Daozhou, and Chenzhou have been recovered. Kuang Shiqian and Gao Jie suffered nearly ten thousand casualties and have now retreated to Shaozhou and Lianzhou."

The two reports of victory meant that Liu Jilong was one step closer to unifying the country. Upon hearing them, Jing Xiang immediately bowed to Liu Jilong.

“Your Highness, although Gao Pian still has more than eighty prefectures under his control, most of them are low-lying prefectures with a large number of barbarian tribes. The only usable lands are Jiangxi and Liangzhe.”

"Your Majesty, I am willing to serve as your envoy to Chizhou and persuade Zhang Ji of Chizhou to surrender to you. I can even persuade Li Bo, the military governor of Fujian, to surrender to you, thereby completely cutting off Gao Pian's escape route!"

Gao Pian captured Fujian without bloodshed because Li Bo, the Fujian military commissioner, surrendered without resistance.

For this reason, Gao Pian did not place many troops in Fujian, and Fujian was mainly governed by Li Bo.

Li Bo's army numbered only a few thousand, and Jing Xiang was confident he could persuade him to surrender.

"If that's the case, then you should go."

Seeing Jingxiang's confidence, Liu Jilong nodded and allowed him to go and persuade Zhang Ji and Li Bo to surrender.

If these two can be persuaded to surrender, Wang Zhongren in eastern Zhejiang will be completely isolated, just as Gao Pian lost Jiangdong, Zhejiang, and Fujian.

Having lost his protective shield, Gao Pian had two options: either continue to be a trapped beast or retreat to Lingnan to fight the court to the death.

No matter what Gao Pian chooses, he cannot stop the advance of 300,000 Han troops heading south.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong instructed Zhao Ying: "Although the 120,000 new soldiers in Jianghuai have adapted to the climate of Jianghuai, there are still some differences between Jianghuai and Jiangnan. Order the army to cut down trees and widen the road along the way, and mobilize the people of Jiangnan to build dikes and canals and widen the official road."

"Yes!" Zhao Ying bowed in response, and then handed over another memorial.

"Your Highness, this is a memorial from within the pass. Li Sigong is leading more than 200,000 Dangxiang people in a rebellion, attempting to retreat north to the southern desert. The three governors are currently trying to suppress him."

Li Sigong's rebellion was not unexpected by Liu Jilong. From the moment Li Sigong stopped responding to the court for several months, Liu Jilong had already assumed that he was causing trouble.

He had originally intended to assimilate these 200,000-plus Tanguts, but now it seemed unnecessary.

"The imperial edict ordered Anpohu and the other two to be executed, and that Li Sigong must not be allowed to retreat safely to the southern desert."

"Yes!"

Seeing that Liu Jilong had given such an order, Zhao Ying nodded in agreement. Liu Jilong, seeing that the two had nothing to say, then waved for them to leave and returned to his seat to handle official business.

Zhao Ying went to implement the imperial edict issued by Liu Jilong, while Jing Xiang led a group of Han soldiers to prepare to sail directly down to Chizhou.

The journey from Jiangling to Chizhou by boat takes ten days. Jing Xiang must persuade Zhang Ji to surrender before the fighting in Jiangxi ends, so as to maximize Liu Jilong's interests.

While he was heading to Chizhou by boat, Chen Jingchong, the main force of the southern expeditionary army, had already led his troops from Chenzhou and Daozhou to continue attacking Shaozhou, Lianzhou, Hezhou, Guizhou and other prefectures in the south.

"Screw rustle..."

"boom!!"

Despite it being the dead of winter, the Nanling Mountains remain lush and verdant, shrouded in mist.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and laborers were advancing south. With each step forward, dozens or even hundreds of trees fell, either becoming firewood for the army or being transported to the rear for sale.

Chen Jingchong and his generals stood on the official road, while in the distance, the Han army was cutting down trees and leading laborers to widen the road.

The army of 40,000 Han soldiers and 50,000 laborers was densely packed, but even so, they still appeared very small in the face of the vast and boundless Nanling Mountains.

"The mountains to the south are indeed lush with trees and vegetation, and wild animals roam freely, but I have never encountered the so-called miasma. Could it be just a rumor?"

"Don't talk nonsense. His Highness said long ago that the miasma retreats into the deep mountains in winter, which is why the troops were sent out in winter. If you wait until spring or even summer, the miasma will surely spread everywhere."

“That’s right. Otherwise, His Highness wouldn’t have made us keep cutting down trees to advance.”

"If we hadn't had to cut down trees to widen the road, our army would have caught up with these rebel thieves long ago."

"Locking down trees is fine, but I don't know why they use salt water to wash clothes. They're so uncomfortable to wear..."

Many of the generals behind Chen Jingchong were discussing the matter, and Chen Jingchong, upon hearing this, looked at them and said:
"His Highness's edicts are all based on certain reasons."

"Think about it carefully. Our army has not yet entered Lingnan, and this place is already so warm. What will it be like after we enter Lingnan?"

"Furthermore, if the area is so warm in the dead of winter, what will it be like in the summer?"

"His Highness's edicts are all for the purpose of ensuring that our soldiers can return home safely; there has never been a single action that was not done in vain."

The Han soldiers were required to never drink raw water, and even flowing stream water had to be boiled before drinking. As a result, very few of them died from parasitic diseases in the wild.

However, after arriving in the south, the local trees were damp and difficult to dry, so Liu Jilong repeatedly ordered the three armies to drink hot water and not to drink raw water from the wild, and to soak their clothes in salt water so that no skin was exposed.

In this era, apart from the areas surrounding the city, the Lingnan region was practically a tropical rainforest.

Winter warfare allows troops to avoid creatures such as poisonous insects, mosquitoes, and leeches, among which leeches are the most venomous.

These leeches are tiny, even smaller than mosquitoes, but they can leap several inches high when someone passes by, attaching themselves to a person's feet and trousers. They can even squeeze into the gaps in the fabric, clinging tightly to the skin, and releasing toxins while sucking blood.

In the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, it can grow dozens of times larger without anyone noticing, densely attaching itself to the human body and poisoning them to death in their sleep.

For this reason, the people of Lingnan called it "mountain ghost," and Liu Yuxi even wrote a poem describing the warning: "Wear an axe to climb the high mountain, wrap salt to guard against the mountain ghost."

Many of the Han army's generals were northerners and naturally did not know how dangerous leeches were in the rainforest, but Chen Jingchong had learned about them from the imperial edict written by Liu Jilong, so he was very cautious.

The purpose of cutting down trees, burning wild grass, and widening official roads was to keep out these poisonous insects and rodents.

Thinking of this, Chen Jingchong looked out at the winding official road and the Nanling Mountains, and felt that the trees were too lush, which seemed to have its downsides.

As he was thinking this, a fast horse galloped up from the front, and only when it reached his side did the rider quickly rein in his horse and bow.

“Governor, this place is less than 25 li from Lechang County, Shaozhou. There is a stone pass built by rebels on the official road leading out of the mountains.”

"It's alright." Chen Jingchong nodded upon hearing this, then asked those around him, "Where have the cannons been delivered?"

Upon hearing this, the general standing behind him immediately stepped forward and bowed: "It is still forty-six li away from here, and it will take at least two days to transport it."

The cannons were heavy, so they couldn't be transported quickly. In addition, the official road to the south was damp and muddy, which slowed things down even more.

Two days was within Chen Jingchong's expectations, so he didn't urge him. He simply gave instructions to his men:
"You shall continue to supervise the construction. Two days from now, the army will advance to the mouth of the valley, at which time the artillery will have just arrived, which will be just in time."

"Yes!" The left and right captains quickly responded. Chen Jingchong walked to the soldier not far away, took the reins from him, mounted his horse, and retreated.

While he retreated to his rear tent to rest, nearly ten thousand Han soldiers in the vanguard protected tens of thousands of laborers who continuously cut down trees on both sides of the official road and burned wild grass with grease to widen and repair the road.

The official road, which was originally only two zhang wide, has now been widened to more than four zhang, making it look exceptionally spacious.

The movements of the Han army naturally did not escape the notice of Kuang Shiqian of Shaozhou.

Compared to the Nanling Mountains, Qujiang County, the seat of Shaozhou, was undoubtedly warmer.

Kuang Shiqian put down the intelligence gathered by Tang Bing from the front line, looking worried: "The rebels are less than 150 li away from here, and they will be able to reach Qujiang in three to five days."

"Our Qujiang army numbers only ten thousand or so; how can we possibly withstand tens of thousands of rebel troops?"

Kuang Shiqian spoke with great concern, when at that moment, hurried footsteps sounded again outside the yamen.

Kuang Shiqian looked closely and saw Gao Jie, who had abandoned his warship, walking into the government office. He hurried over and said:

"Chen Jingchong divided his troops into four routes. Guizhou, Lianzhou, and Hezhou were in dire need of help one after another. It seems that he is preparing to move south to the west and east of the Lingnan Mountains at the same time."

"Given the current situation, the only way to stop the rebels is to withdraw the troops under General Lu from Qianzhong to garrison the west side of the mountains, while our troops are concentrated in the east side of the mountains!"

Li Ye and his officials were all in Guangzhou. If they lost Guangzhou again, it seemed they would have no choice but to retreat to Leizhou, which was further south.

Doing so would mean they had severed ties with Gao Pian, so after Gao Jie finished speaking, he immediately bowed to Kuang Shiqian and said, "Let's ask King Gao for help!"

"We have already dispatched three batches of fast horses to request reinforcements, but they will not arrive in Fuzhou for at least four days, and it will take eight days for the news to come back."

Kuang Shiqian sighed. He knew that things were hopeless, but he didn't know why King Gao hadn't surrendered yet.

Hunan and Jiangdong have both been lost, and it's only a matter of time before Jiangxi is lost as well.

Having lost these three places, how could they still have the right to challenge Liu Jilong for control of the region?

Thinking of this, his face turned extremely ugly, while Gao Jie, upon hearing that a fast horse had already been dispatched, gritted his teeth and said:
"In that case, I will personally lead my troops to Lechang to block the rebel army's advance and buy our army eight days!"

Before Kuang Shiqian could stop him, Gao Jie turned and walked out.

Watching his departing figure, Kuang Shiqian was filled with worry, because he didn't know if his own King Gao would retreat into Lingnan.

If he stubbornly refuses to withdraw his troops, the entire Lingnan region will likely fall into crisis, at which point the tide will come to an end, and even Emperor Taizong himself would be powerless to reverse the situation.

After a long sigh, Kuang Shiqian could only wait patiently.

As expected, Chen Jingchong arrived at Lechang with his troops two days later while he was waiting.

Gao Jie led more than 10,000 troops to defend Lechang, attempting to keep Chen Jingchong to the west of Lechang.

Although Kuang Shiqian had fortified Lechang, the fortified city remained vulnerable to the Han army's artillery.

Gao Jie had no choice but to forcibly conscript the city's inhabitants and use human lives to continuously repair the city walls.

Meanwhile, Gao Pian, who was constantly clashing with Wang Shi outside Zhongling City, was nearing the limit of the pressure on both sides after several days of fierce fighting.

"In the past six days, our army has lost 7,650 soldiers, with 576 seriously wounded or disabled, leaving fewer than 30,000 capable of fighting..."

In the camp outside Zhongling City, Gao Pian listened with a grim expression as Gao Qin reported to him that the casualties over the past six days had exceeded 20%.

How is the morale of the troops?

Gao Pian asked the question knowingly, while Gao Qin's expression was not good. He lowered his voice and said, "The soldiers feel that there is no hope of defeating the enemy, and their morale is low..."

Faced with Gao Qin's words, Gao Pian remained silent for a long time, his heart filled with inner turmoil.

Just then, the sound of galloping hooves rang out outside the tent, followed by the announcement of ceremonies.

"Your Highness, an urgent report from Lingnan!"

"Enter!"

Upon learning of the urgent report from Lingnan, Gao Pian's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly summoned a fast horse to his tent.

He rode quickly into the tent, presented the urgent report to Gao Qin with both hands, and Gao Qin then passed it on to Gao Pian.

Gao Pian simply opened the urgent report, and after a moment his expression shifted between light and dark, he finally sighed.

"An imperial edict was issued to Wang Lang, ordering him to abandon eastern Zhejiang and relocate the people of eastern Zhejiang to Fujian, where they would hold their ground."

"An imperial edict was issued to Lu Ruyue, ordering him to abandon eastern Zhejiang, relocate the people to western Lingnan, and fortify the key roads in western Lingnan."

"Order the three armies to break camp and head south from Jizhou to Qianzhou in two hours. Order Zhang Ji to abandon the ships and take the land route into Fujian."

With no other option, Gao Pian had to abandon Jiangxi and eastern Zhejiang, but he would not leave the people of Jiangxi and eastern Zhejiang to Liu Jilong.

The only option now is to implement a scorched-earth policy and forcibly relocate the people to the south to prevent them from becoming laborers for Liu Jilong's army if they stay behind.

If there are no laborers available for conscription in Jiangxi and eastern Zhejiang, Liu Jilong will have to conscript laborers from Jiangdong and Jiangbei, which will consume more grain and fodder along the way.

Given the current situation, Gao Pian could only think of delaying until summer, at which time he could rely on the dense forests of the Nanling and Wuyi Mountains to create miasma and wear down the Han army.

Even if doing so would result in significant casualties on his side, he had no other choice.

Retreating to Fujian and Lingnan might allow them to hold out for a few more days.

During the six days of fighting with Wang Shi, he realized that Wang Shi was only thinking about stalling him and didn't care about the casualties of his soldiers.

The Han army he inflicted heavy losses on in this battle was definitely the largest number of casualties he had inflicted on the Han army since he clashed with Liu Jilong, but he felt no joy, only a deep sense of powerlessness.

He killed 10,000 Han soldiers here, and the Han soldiers killed tens of thousands of his own men on other battlefields.

His last resort was to retreat to Lingnan and fight Liu Jilong to the death.

Thinking of this, Gao Pian slumped back in his chair, feeling helpless. Gao Qin, seeing him like this, looked somewhat distressed and wanted to offer words of comfort, but in the end, he silently bowed in return and then walked out of the tent.

Two hours later, the less than 30,000 elite troops of the Southern Tang retreated under the cover of night. Gao Qin personally led 2,000 elite cavalry to act as the rearguard for the main army.

It wasn't until the early morning of the following day, after confirming that the main army had withdrawn a sufficient distance, that Gao Qin led his exhausted cavalry in a retreat.

As soon as they retreated, Wang Shi realized something was wrong and quickly sent out cavalry to probe the Southern Tang army's camp.

After learning of Gao Pian's retreat, Wang Shi led Chen Ying and others to the Southern Tang camp, where they found the camp had been cleaned up.

Apart from a few dilapidated tents and earthen stoves scattered around, nothing else was left in the entire camp.

Looking at the clean camp, Wang Shi couldn't help but stroke his beard and sigh, "Gao Pian is indeed cautious. The only thing that could force him to retreat overnight is Governor Chen leading his troops to attack Lingnan."

Wang Shi easily guessed Gao Pian's intention, then looked at Chen Ying and quickly gave the order:

"Send a fast horse to inform Governor Li, ordering him to send troops to cut off the retreat route of the Zhejiang rebels to Fujian."

"Send fast horses to persuade Zhong Chuan in Zhongling City, Zhang Ji in Chizhou, and Li Bo in Fujian to surrender, and order Commander Chen to capture Shaozhou before Gao Pian returns to reinforce it."

"Yes!" Chen Ying replied without hesitation. Wang Shi took one last look at the camp left by Gao Pian before turning his horse around and returning to his own camp.

Half an hour later, Zhong Chuan, upon learning of Gao Pian's withdrawal, also decisively opened the city gates and surrendered. Thus, the entire territory of Hongzhou was recovered by the Han army.

After returning to his camp, Wang Shi wrote a memorial and sent it to Jiangling City. At the same time, he began to send troops to recover the entire Jiangxi province. While Wang Shi was arranging for the surrender of the enemy, Jing Xiang arrived in Chizhou shortly after Gao Pian announced the withdrawal of his troops.

When he arrived in Chizhou, Zhang Ji, who had retreated to Qiupu in Chizhou, also received Gao Pian's order to burn the warships and retreat into Fujian.

"Withdraw into Fujian?"

“Our skills lie in water. If we retreat to Fujian, it will take several months to build warships. This King Gao has suffered defeat after defeat, losing Hunan and Jiangdong in less than three months. In another three months, he may even lose Zhejiang and Jiangxi. If we follow him, wouldn’t we be courting death?”

"It would be better to take this opportunity to surrender Liu Jilong directly than to flee south with Gao Pian."

Inside the Qiupu government office, Zhang Ji sat in the main seat. The generals on either side of him all opposed going south with Gao Pian, and a few even called him by his name, suggesting that he join Liu Jilong.

Zhang Ji had already made up his mind about this, so after everyone expressed their opinions, he spoke directly.

"Surrendering to Liu Jilong would be a good choice, but Liu Jilong seems to have a lot of prejudice against the generals who fight against him. He basically dismissed the military governors and generals of the northern vassal states with honorary titles."

"We are quite skilled on the water. If we were to be transferred to Luoyang and live a life of minor official duties, would you be willing to accept it?"

Zhang Ji posed a question, but he had somewhat overestimated the abilities of these men; they didn't even understand the difference between honorary officials and official titles. Zhang Ji could only explain:
“Officials who hold no official rank only receive a salary and have almost nothing to do. Apart from their household servants, they have no one to command.”

"Officials wield power; the difference lies between you generals and your clerks."

After his simple and blunt explanation, many generals who originally wanted to surrender began to waver.

Power is a poison; once you've tasted it, you can't quit, especially during the late Tang Dynasty when martial spirit was prevalent.

A mere colonel could even yell at the county magistrate, simply because he had hundreds of armored men under his command who could cause a ruckus in the county at any time.

If even the colonels are like this, one can only imagine how their officers and soldiers behave.

As they wavered, a military officer rushed into the hall and bowed to Zhang Ji, saying, "General, an imperial envoy is outside the city requesting an audience."

"Let him in." Upon hearing that it was an envoy from the imperial court, Zhang Ji immediately guessed that it was from the northern court.

In his presence, the officer bowed and agreed, then left the yamen.

After he left, Zhang Ji looked at the crowd and raised his voice, saying, "I'll see if I can become an official. If all the brothers can become officials, then there won't be so many worries."

"That's right, that's right..."

Everyone agreed that it was true, but they weren't sure themselves. After all, they had been beaten so badly by Geng Ming that they didn't seem to be that important to Liu Jilong.

Thinking about this, they couldn't help but feel uneasy.

Half an hour later, as the colonel led Jing Xiang into the yamen, Zhang Ji remained seated, while the generals on either side of the hall scrutinized Jing Xiang from head to toe.

Seeing how young he was, everyone couldn't help but feel contempt, and this contempt became even more obvious after Jing Xiang introduced himself.

"The Imperial Diarist, Jing Xiang, greets Marshal Zhang Jie here."

Jing Xiang introduced himself neither humbly nor arrogantly, but Zhang Ji became somewhat restless and said, "He's just a sixth-rank court attendant, yet he dares to come and recruit me. It seems the court thinks I'm dispensable."

Zhang Ji said this with a self-deprecating tone, but anyone could hear the dissatisfaction in his voice.

In response, Jing Xiang smiled and bowed, saying, "It is naturally the best that the General has self-awareness."

Seeing that Jing Xiang didn't move, Zhang Ji's expression immediately changed, but before he could speak, Jing Xiang began to speak eloquently:
"Our commander-in-chief Geng has begun to assemble the naval forces and will arrive in Chizhou soon. In the Jiangxi direction, Gao Pian has already retreated to Lingnan, and Prefect Wang will also send 30,000 troops to Chizhou."

"In the Jiangdong direction, our Commander Li has already dispatched 40,000 elite troops from Huainan, ready to march south and capture Chizhou at any time."

"Faced with 80,000 troops, Zhang Jieshuai's navy of less than 10,000 men was indeed dispensable to our army."

Jing Xiang's words turned the faces of the naval officers in the hall pale, while Zhang Ji said with a gloomy face, "If that's the case, why did the court still send you to persuade them to surrender?"

Upon hearing this, Jing Xiang laughed heartily: "The General just said that the court sent me, a lowly official, because they thought the General was dispensable. How come you don't understand now?"

“My lord did not expect me to persuade the general to surrender, so I am just here to test him.”

"If we can persuade them to surrender, we can save the cost of 80,000 troops marching to attack Chizhou. If we cannot persuade them to surrender, we will have to spend tens of thousands of bushels of grain to conquer Chizhou."

"For Your Highness, successfully persuading them to surrender would be the icing on the cake, but even if it fails, it won't be a big deal."

"Hmph!" Hearing Jing Xiang say that, Zhang Ji admitted in his heart that it made a lot of sense, but on the surface he said:
"If you want me to surrender, at least let me and my brothers be given official positions."

"An official?" Jing Xiang chuckled, a smile that made people extremely unhappy, wishing they could draw their swords and kill him on the spot.

"What are you laughing at?"

Someone couldn't help but question Jing Xiang, but Jing Xiang replied, "I already said that the General is dispensable to His Highness."

"If even the General is like this, what about you all?"

"His Highness has decreed that Chizhou can only have one official position, the Jiangnan Shipyard, and twelve honorary officials of the rank of Fengyilang. I ask the Commander to consider this carefully."

"What?!" Upon hearing Jing Xiang's words, everyone was in an uproar.

There were at least twenty generals present, but judging from Jing Xiang's words, there were probably only thirteen official positions left for them. Wouldn't the others all be dismissed?
All eyes turned to Zhang Ji, but Zhang Ji seemed not to notice and asked directly, "What kind of official position is the Jiangnan Ship Supervisor?"

Seeing Zhang Ji's confusion, Jing Xiang explained it to him:
"Your Highness will set up three ship supervision offices in Huainan, Jiangnan, and Lingnan, with the same rank as the Upper Pasture Supervision Office, all of which are officials of the fifth rank or lower."

"The Ship Supervisor was responsible for the construction of warships and official ships in various local shipyards. He had dozens of officials, hundreds of clerks, and thousands of shipwrights under his command, making him a powerful official."

After Jingxiang explained, Zhang Jicai understood what kind of official position the ship supervisor was.

In the past, shipbuilding was mainly the responsibility of the Ministry of Works and the Water Conservancy Department, with the assistance of the Governor-General's Office in Yangzhou and other places. The official in charge of shipbuilding was the Shipbuilding Supervisor, who was a ninth-rank official.

Now, after the adjustment, they are in charge of building warships in the local areas, and their status has naturally risen accordingly.

A fifth-rank official may not seem particularly impressive, but under the Tang Dynasty's system, the third rank was already the highest possible rank. A fifth-rank official, especially one in a local area, already held a relatively high position.

Clearly, this position was reserved for Zhang Ji. After all, as a pirate, besides leading troops into battle, what he needed most was to understand the performance and condition of each warship. No one was more suitable than him to be the Jiangnan Ship Supervisor.

Thinking of this, Zhang Ji softened his tone and said to Jing Xiang, "Please go to the Yin Hotel to rest for now, and I will give you an answer tomorrow."

"That's excellent. The army should arrive in five more days. Please hurry, General."

Jing Xiang still wore that unpleasant smile, then respectfully returned the greeting and walked towards the Yin Hotel under the guidance of the soldiers.

After he left, the generals began to make a commotion.

"General, are you really going to surrender?"

"There are only twelve honorary officials, how are we supposed to divide them?!"

"General, you can't abandon us!"

"General..."

Everyone had their own opinion, but none of them mentioned the official position of the Jiangnan Shipyard, simply because they all realized that this position was tailor-made for Zhang Ji.

Faced with their arguments, Zhang Ji, who had previously taken a hard line, now tried to appease them, saying:

"If I were to become the Jiangnan Ship Supervisor, would there still be no place for you?"

"Even if I can't become an official, surely I can arrange for one of the many clerks in the ship supervision bureau at will?"

Seeing Zhang Ji's words, everyone understood his attitude and couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "How much salary do clerks actually receive..."

"You bunch of peasant scoundrels!" Zhang Ji couldn't help but curse.

"You've followed me, building ships for the court every day, why do you still need to worry about your meager salaries?"

"Wang Erlang, tell me, how much grain is needed to build a 500-liao warship?"

Faced with Zhang Ji's question, a general who looked more like an old farmer than a military officer stepped forward from the crowd and nervously said under everyone's gaze, "This... at least one hundred and twenty strings of cash, right?"

"Did you hear that?" Zhang Ji looked at everyone smugly and said readily, "One hundred and twenty strings of cash, and that's just for one ship!"

"If we build seventy or eighty ships every year, and each ship makes a profit of thirty or forty strings of cash, wouldn't that salary be higher than it is now?"

Zhang Ji's words were true. Although they occupied Chizhou, Chizhou had only a population of over 100,000. After the taxes were used to support the army, the people's income was only a few hundred strings of cash each year.

If they could focus their efforts on the shipyard, they would naturally reap great rewards.

As for whether this action was compliant with regulations, they never even considered it. After all, only Zhang Ji and a few others in the entire army were literate. If others were literate, they wouldn't have gone to the waters to become thieves.

In any case, in their memory, officials in the past were all corrupt, and they had never seen the court punish them. They believed that the future would be the same.

In their excitement, Zhang Ji said, "The imperial army of 80,000 has come to besiege us, and the Yangtze River is blocked by Geng Ming and Li Yangchun. We have no choice but to surrender."

"As for wealth and status, now that I am wealthy and statusable, how could I possibly be unable to protect your wealth and status?"

"The commander is right!" Everyone greeted him with smiles. Seeing that the matter had been glossed over, Zhang Ji immediately addressed the crowd:
"When that man surnamed Jing arrives tomorrow, I will help you all surrender him and take away his official position first."

After calming everyone down, Zhang Ji treated Jing Xiang to a meal that night and told him about Gao Pian's arrangements.

Jing Xiang already knew on his way here that Wang Shi was planning to recruit Li Bo and Zhang Ji. Now that he has managed to recruit Zhang Ji, it is already a great achievement.

As for Li Bo from Fujian, he didn't need to compete for the credit, so he naturally started drinking with Zhang Ji.

The following day, Jingxiang accepted the surrender of Zhang Ji and others at the yamen, and then sent a fast horse to inform Wang Shi and Jiangling of the matter.

Wang Shi sent troops to take over Chizhou, and at the same time ordered Chen Ying to lead troops to attack Fujian, and sent his second son Wang Hao to Fuzhou to persuade Li Bo to surrender.

Wang Hao was in his thirties. Wang Shi had brought him along on his trip south, in order to pave the way for the future.

He vaguely sensed that Liu Jilong's attitude towards aristocratic families was changing, so he had already made plans to separate from the Wang family of Taiyuan.

Wang Shi's seven sons are now mostly serving in the imperial court, but their official positions are not high. The highest-ranking one is Wang She, who is currently serving as the Commandant of Fengzhou.

Since he wanted to break away from the Wang family of Taiyuan, he naturally had to plan for his own family. At least before he retired from office, all seven of his sons had to be able to establish themselves.

Therefore, under his arrangement, Wang Hao quickly entered Fujian Province and was taken to Fuzhou.

Meanwhile, after receiving Gao Pian's imperial edict, Wang Zhongren in eastern Zhejiang quickly ordered his army to forcibly relocate the people south into Fujian, while he continued to lead his troops to guard the Zhejiang defense line.

After Li Yangchun recovered Shezhou and learned that Zhang Ji of Chizhou had surrendered, he led his troops to Huzhou and requested that Geng Ming lead his navy to Zhejiang for assistance.

In a short time, more than two million people in eastern Zhejiang were forcibly driven to Fujian, while Gao Pian led his army to retreat from Fuzhou to Qianzhou.

On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, after he retreated to Qianzhou, he left Sun Ru with 10,000 troops to garrison Qianzhou, while he himself led less than 20,000 troops to rush to the aid of Shaozhou.

On the 12th, after he arrived in Shaozhou, Lechang, the northern gateway to Shaozhou, had already been lost, and Gao Jie and Kuang Shiqian could only hold on to Qujiang City, the seat of Shaozhou.

Qujiang City, which was originally on the verge of collapse, was finally stabilized after Gao Pian led his army to arrive.

"Your Majesty, I, your humble servant, am utterly incompetent!"

At the east gate of Qujiang, Gao Jie and Kuang Shiqian could only bow in shame as Gao Pian, who had arrived weary from his journey and seemed to have lost weight, bowed deeply.

Gao Pian was naturally angry with the two men, but he also knew that they had a difficult life.

Although Chen Jingchong and Cao Mao were of mediocre talent, they had 90,000 troops under their command.

Gao Pian already knew the strength of the Han army in Hongzhou. Even when facing a strong attack from 90,000 Han troops, he would inevitably have to retreat step by step, which was not something to be blamed for.

"Has Lu Ruyue withdrawn to Lingxi?"

He did not blame the two, but instead inquired about them at the city gate.

In response to his question, Kuang Shiqian quickly explained, "Commander Lu has retreated to Liuzhou and is now heading to Lipu and Pingluo to defend against the troops dispatched by Chen Jingchong."

Gao Pian breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. His biggest worry was that Lu Ruyue would be unable to retreat to Lingxi, and now that she could, that was naturally the best outcome.

The terrain in Lingxi is no worse than that in central Guizhou. As long as Lu Ruyue holds his ground well, he can hold out for several months.

How many troops does Chen Jingchong have here?

Gao Pian asked again, and Kuang Shiqian continued to explain: "There are still more than 30,000 soldiers and horses, and in addition, there are 20 iron cannons in their formation, which are powerful weapons for destroying cities."

"I know." Gao Pian had already experienced the power of the Han army's artillery in Jiangxi, but he was still confident of defeating Chen Jingchong.

Thinking of this, he instructed the two men: "Arrange a place for them to rest first. It won't be too late to send troops to deal with Chen Jingchong after the army has rested for two days."

"Yes!" The two nodded in agreement, and then led Gao Pian into Qujiang City.

Shaozhou, the second largest prefecture in Lingnan, had a population of over 100,000. With Kuang Shiqian and his group leading people from Hunan southward, the population of Shaozhou surged to over 300,000.

Therefore, when Gao Pian entered Qujiang, the first thing he saw was a large number of refugees queuing up to receive rice porridge.

The people gazed at him from afar, their eyes filled with confusion and hatred.

Gao Pian remained unmoved by their gazes, knowing full well that leaving these people with Liu Jilong would be aiding the enemy.

Only by establishing a scorched-earth policy for dozens or even hundreds of miles, forcing Liu Jilong to recruit laborers from the north to travel south, can the goal of depleting Liu Jilong's grain supplies be achieved.

Under these gazes, Gao Pian went to the Qujiang County Government Office to rest. However, just as he washed away his fatigue and before his hair could dry naturally, Gao Qin appeared outside the bathroom.

“Father…”

"What's the matter."

Sensing the panic and fear in Gao Qin's tone, Gao Pian quickly got up, put on his robe, and sat down on the chair next to him, enjoying the service of his maid.

At his signal, the maid opened the bathroom door, and Gao Qin, who had not yet washed, entered the room, presenting an urgent report with both hands while suppressing his anger as he said:

"Shortly after our army left, Sun Ru learned that Zhang Ji had surrendered to Liu Jilong. He then disregarded the objections of the brothers in the city and chose to open the city gates and surrender to Liu Jilong. The brothers stationed in various counties spontaneously went south to Shaozhou and are currently on their way."

Sun Ru's betrayal caught Gao Pian completely off guard. Even the usually composed Gao Pian couldn't help but get up and snatch the military report.

Upon reading the contents of the military report, Gao Pian felt deceived and couldn't help but exclaim, "How dare this scoundrel!"

Just as he was about to lash out, hurried footsteps sounded outside the hall. Kuang Shiqian, pale-faced, ran into the inner hall with a military report, which made Gao Pian uneasy.

"King Gao, that traitor Li Bo has actually surrendered to the rebel army!"

Kuang Shiqian's words were like a heavy hammer, slamming down on Gao Pian's head.

In an instant, he felt his mind go blank and the world spin.

He instinctively reached out to steady himself on the chair, his face deathly pale, and said, "Li Bo has surrendered too?"

“Yes…” Kuang Shiqian began with difficulty, while Gao Qin anxiously asked, “Then what about Young Master Wang?”

With Li Bo of Fujian surrendering, Wang Zhongren, who was preparing to travel south through Fujian, was left isolated.

Thinking of this, Gao Qin looked at his father, only to see him sitting in a chair with a pale face, as if he had lost his will to live.

At this moment, Gao Pian felt only a deep sense of defeat. The situation was collapsing like a landslide, and the situation could not get any worse.

He originally controlled four provinces, but now he only has Lingnan Province left. Moreover, Annam is still suffering from the invasion of the Southern Barbarians, so he cannot spare any troops to come to their aid.

Thinking of this, he could only make amends by saying, "Imperial decree: before Fujian is completely blocked, send fast horses and boats north to tell Wang Langjun to continue leading the army south through Fujian to Lingnan."

"If Li Bo sends troops to block us, we should not hold back. After annihilating him, we should continue south."

"Yes!" Gao Pian and Kuang Shiqian didn't dare to delay and quickly agreed before heading outside.

Looking at the two figures from behind, Gao Pian felt powerless and couldn't help but look up at Pingqi inside the house.

His initial morale was about to be crushed by Liu Jilong's hundreds of thousands of troops...

(End of this chapter)