Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 174 Golden Melon
When Zhao Huai'an's fleet appeared outside the Xiangcheng River, the sentries of the camp on the shore spotted it. Soon after, a group of people rushed out and began to guide the fleet to the shore.

Whether they knew him or not, upon seeing the "Hu Baoyi" banner, they all knew that Zhao Huai'an, who had made a name for himself in the Western Sichuan War, had arrived with his army.

Although the Zhongwu Army did not participate much in the final battle during last year's Nanzhao War, it was Gao Pian who interfered, not because the Zhongwu Army lacked heroes.

All the Zhongwu Army soldiers who returned from Xichuan, whether they had met him before or not, praised Zhao Huai'an, the Tiger of Xichuan.

They say that another great hero has emerged from Huaixi!

Most of the remaining Zhongwu soldiers scoffed at these remarks from their comrades, feeling that these people were just trying to make excuses for themselves.

You're making it sound so real, three hundred cavalry charging tens of thousands? Are you even talking about human beings?!

But no matter how much they ridiculed him, everyone in the Zhongwu Army knew who Zhao Huai'an was.

At this moment, many soldiers and guards of the Zhongwu Army were pointing and whispering on the shore. After seeing the huge fleet arrive, they glanced at Li Shitai hanging on the flagpole and grinned, ready to watch the show.

Old Li's best friend Zhao Da arrived, only to find his brother hanging on the flagpole. This was going to be quite a show.

And Zhao Da is known for his loyalty, right? Now that your good brother has been hung on a flagpole, you can't just stand by and do nothing.

The thought of witnessing such a grand spectacle filled everyone with joy.

……

At this moment, under the flagpole of the Zhongwu Army camp, a group of warriors wearing sable tails and armor covered with animal skins stood and laughed at Li Shitai, who was swaying his head.

At this moment, a military officer wearing a brocade hat and a sable cloak started yelling at several familiar subordinate officers.

This person had clearly been drinking and then was dragged over to watch the show, which is why he was shouting so loudly, unaware of how loud he was.

He pointed one finger at Li Shitai's crotch above him, then cleared his throat with a "crackling" sound and laughed exaggeratedly:
"Brothers, I never expected our General Li Ya to have such a magnanimous heart! But now both humans and birds are suffering! Haha!"

Then the man spat on the ground and said viciously to Li Shitai:
"You little brat, you're so arrogant! Today I'll show you what happens when you offend the Qin family!"

Li Shitai, who was on top, had just been hung up and was now stripped naked. He was trembling all over, his muscles bulging from the tension. The cold air rushed to his brain, almost making him bite off his tongue.

Hearing the man below spewing filth, Li Shitai still managed to shout loudly to warm himself, then cursed at the woman in the brocade hat below:

"Qin Zongyan, you're barking like a dog. Your father is enjoying himself up there, but you, you dog, have ruined his mood. All you do all day is whine and whimper like a woman. And take your eyes off your father's bird. It's a disgrace to my bird to have you looking at it like that."

Qin Zongyan was so angry that he was about to explode. If the people around him hadn't held him back, he would have started a fight.

At this moment, General Pang Cong arrived with Han Jian, Wang Jian, and Wang Jian's younger brother Jin Hui.

……

As soon as Pang arrived, he pushed his scabbard over, blocking Qin Zongyan and the group of Caizhou people behind him from entering.

Pang Cong shielded the flagpole behind him and shoved Qin Zongyan across from him. Han Jian and the others behind him did the same, each pushing their chests aside and knocking aside the Caizhou soldiers.

Unable to overpower Pang Cong, Qin Zongyan took two steps back and cursed:
"The people of Xuzhou are amazing, so loyal, right? Ah! Then go and release Li Shitai, if you have the guts and the loyalty, then go and release him!"

Pang and the others remained silent because they truly dared not speak.

Li Shitai not only drank wine himself, but also went outside to get a large cart of wine and flaunted it in the camp, distributing it to the officers and soldiers below. And just when things seemed to be going wrong, the military governor Cui Anqian was inspecting the camp with his general Zhang Guan.

A group of drunken warriors from Xuzhou happened to bump into Cui Anqian's carriage. Too drunk to recognize their military governor, one of them even pointed at Cui Anqian on the carriage and cursed:
"You old bastard, still standing so high up like a big shot, get down here!"

As he spoke, the man tried to pull Cui Anqian out of the car, and then these people were captured. Their heads had been chopped off, and their bodies were stiff as a board.

Li Shitai was also brought in for questioning because he was the culprit who served the alcohol. Although he was still sober at the time, he was covered in the smell of alcohol and was sent by Cui Anqian to sober up.

And so, Li Shitai was stripped naked and hung from the flagpole, where he was to freeze to death.

Pang Cong was indeed on good terms with Li Shitai. But even if Li Shitai was truly innocent when he was hung up, Pang Cong wouldn't dare to put him down.

Because their military governor, Cui Anqian, is truly formidable.

Cui Anqian was not only a member of the prestigious Cui family of Qinghe, but also a young man who passed the imperial examinations at a young age. He served as a salt and iron inspector, a county magistrate, a member of the Hongwen Academy, an imperial censor, a member of the Ministry of Rites, a member of the Ministry of Personnel, a drafter of imperial edicts, an observer in Jiangxi, and a head of the Ministry of Revenue.

Finally, he became the military governor of Zhongwu Army and concurrently held the position of prefect of Xuzhou. What's even more terrifying is that he also served as the censor-in-chief and later became the minister of war.

Who is this person? The elites who serve as role models for the empire are modeled after figures like Cui Anqian.

With family background, connections, fame, and ability, such a person became their military governor, and Pang Cong and his ilk dared not act recklessly.

But they also knew that if things continued like this, Li Shitai would definitely freeze to death up there.

Alas, Old Li didn't die amidst the thousands of troops in Xichuan, but instead froze to death on a flagpole after a night of drinking. That was truly shameful.

……

After Qin Zongyan stepped aside, his momentum weakened slightly, but he didn't lose in words and continued to hurl insults:

"Li Shitai, if I were you, I would have bitten my tongue and committed suicide long ago after losing my sight like this. Otherwise, I would be so ashamed that I would die, let alone live to suffer such humiliation. Not to mention that you are hung on the flagpole like this. When the Huainan army comes and sees you like this, my Zhongwu Army will be disgraced along with you!"

"Shame on you!"

At this point, some people below started to jeer again:
"Hey, Old Li isn't that kind of person. We old Zhongwu soldiers all know that his family has served as military commanders in Xuzhou for three generations, each a hero, valuing the honor of our Zhongwu Army more than their own lives. You're really looking down on him."

These words were like knives, causing Li Shitai a hundred times more pain than Qin Zongyan's words.

Hanging in the air, he gasped for breath, his eyes growing increasingly red.

Pang, who was below, noticed something was wrong and hurriedly shouted:

"Old Li, don't be foolish. The military governor hasn't ordered your death, why are you being so ruthless?"

As he spoke, Pang Cong was trying to think of a way to get Li Shitai off the plane, let him catch his breath, and then put on a coat for him.

Then, at that moment, they saw nearly a hundred large ships sailing in a grand procession on the Ying River to the southwest.

They squinted as they looked, and the warship ahead became clearer, the flags hanging on its upper deck growing larger. Wang Jian, with the best eyesight, immediately recognized the flags and shouted:
"It's Zhao Da! Zhao Da is here! Haha, Old Li is saved this time!"

Upon hearing this, Pang Cong and the others understood, and they clapped their hands and burst into laughter.

Li Shitai, who was being suspended, also tried to turn around, spinning in the air, watching the hundreds of boats racing on the watercourse getting closer and closer. At this moment, tears streamed down Li Shitai's face.

Only Qin Zongyan had doubts:

Zhao Da? Could it be Zhao Huai'an, the "Hu Baoyi" that these people from Xuzhou often talk about? Isn't he the governor of Guang Prefecture now? Why is he here this time?

Thinking about it, Qin Zongyan turned his head to look at the Ying River, where he saw that the fleet of ships bearing the "Prefect of Guang Prefecture" flag had begun to dock.

……

Nearly a hundred cargo ships were moored at Xiangcheng Port.

Xiangcheng is a special place, not because it is the hometown of a certain Yuan Shikai silver dollar holder, but because it is the connecting point of the Ying River and the Pipa Valley.

Pipagou is a section of the ancient Cai River. It was dredged by Du You, the transport commissioner of Jianghuai during the reign of Emperor Dezong, to connect the river section from Xiangcheng to Kaifeng.

Since the dredging of this river, the grain transport in the Jianghuai region can now travel not only through the Yongqiao section, but also through the Huaiying section to the west, which greatly enhances the resilience of the grain transport system.

And now Zhao Huai'an and his Huainan expeditionary force are heading to Kaifeng via this section of the Grand Canal.

As Xiangcheng is the connecting city between the Cai River and the Ying River, a large number of cargo ships need to be transferred here, so the river sections here have been repaired and can be directly moored by large cargo ships.

At this moment, after Zhao Huai'an and his fleet reached the riverbed, they lowered the planks, which formed a gentle slope.

Then a group of warriors carrying flags and parasols were seen disembarking from the first large ship.

Then came the second and the third, and so on, with countless warriors and their attendants carrying flags, weapons, and armor as they came ashore.

The officers and soldiers of the Zhongwu Army, who had been watching the spectacle from outside the camp, suddenly felt a chill run down their spines when they saw the densely packed Huainan warriors on the riverbank. They couldn't help but grip their swords and stop laughing.

Meanwhile, on the riverbank, officials and soldiers from Guangzhou and Shouchun continued to come ashore, forming military formations amidst the shouts of their respective officers.

Meanwhile, the Baoyi Army in Gwangju was constantly sounding whistles, raising countless banners, and some knights were also on the shore receiving their warhorses. They first let the warhorses get used to the land, and then they slowly started to run and began to guard a section of the coast.

At this moment, the people inside the Zhongwu Army camp could no longer sit still. After the camp gates were opened wide, a group of knights carrying flags rushed towards the river embankment.

Their leader was a fair-skinned cavalry general, who was intercepted by a group of militia knights halfway there.

The man, riding his horse, shouted at the militia knights:

“I am Sun Ru of the Zhongwu Army, and I have come to see your family’s Prefect of Shouzhou.”

He burst into laughter, one of his voices particularly sarcastic. The man, gripping his riding whip, chuckled to his companions, "Brothers, the Prefect of Shouzhou? Have you heard of him? Hahaha!"

The other righteous knights burst into laughter:

"I've never even heard of the Prefect of Shouzhou who asked for a ride."

Then everyone burst into laughter again, which only angered Sun Ru and his loyal cavalry. One knight, wearing bright armor and holding a lance, cursed directly:

"You bunch of bastards, what are you laughing at? You want to die?"

These loyal and valiant soldiers were so arrogant and fierce that they were easily provoked when they heard the knights coming to intercept them laughing so wildly.

The knight had barely finished cursing when the man spurred his horse forward. This man knew his limits; he merely held his lance in a feint, only touching it, rather than striking it directly.

But as soon as this man came out, a knight from the Righteous Army rushed forward, dodged the lance to the side, grabbed the shaft, and then used his waist and abdomen to wrest the lance away, throwing the knight off his horse.

The cavalry general gripped his lance, shouting and swaggering, then circled around the loyal and valiant knights, the lance he had seized flying through his hands in a dazzling display.

The knights of the Righteous Army cheered:

"One of the Five Tiger Generals is Huo Yanchao!"

"One of the Five Tiger Generals is Huo Yanchao!"

……

Huo Yanchao, who had seized the spear, laughed heartily, then stopped in front of the loyal and valiant knights and said:

“We only have one prefect, and that is the prefect of Guang Prefecture. Why are you looking for a prefect of Shou Prefecture? We don’t have one here.”

Sun Ru, the military commander of Caizhou who led these loyal and valiant knights, was secretly surprised after hearing this.

He assumed that the commander of this Huainan Expeditionary Army was the Prefect of Shouzhou, since among the eight prefectures of Huainan, Shouzhou was the only one they took seriously.

As for Guang Prefecture? Although it was also part of their old Huaixi Garrison, how many soldiers did they have? Shou Prefecture, on the other hand, had 6,000 cavalry and infantry, making it comparable to a vassal state.

But no one expected that the person in charge now would be Zhao Huai'an, the governor of Guang Prefecture, who had been in office for less than a year.

Thinking back to how Li Shitai and his friends used to talk about how capable his brother Zhao Huai'an was when they drank together, I thought they were just bragging. But today it seems that this man does indeed have some skills.

Watching the soldiers carrying the Shouzhou army flag being ordered to line up next to the Guangzhou army without making a sound, Sun Ru understood what was going on.

Seeing that the mounted general, who had been knocked off his horse, still wanted to fight, he directly rebuked him:
"Diao Junwu, that's done."

But Diao Junwu wouldn't listen to Sun Ru's words. His eyes were bloodshot as he went to find Huo Yanchao. Then he heard a chilling voice:

"I said, alright, Diao Junwu!"

Diao Junwu suddenly realized what was happening, turned his head and saw Sun Ru's blue eyes. He immediately shuddered, then huffed and puffed as he walked back.

At this moment, Sun Rucai smiled and said to Huo Yanchao:

"General, please take me to see the Prefect of Guang Prefecture. I am here on the orders of the Military Governor to point out the location for your army to set up camp."

Huo Yanchao looked thoughtfully at Sun Ru and Diao Junwu, who was standing behind him with his head down and silent. Then he smiled, but still did not agree. He said:

"Unfortunately, our magistrate is not here right now. Why don't you wait here?"

At this moment, Sun Ru's face was already quite ugly, but looking at these Guang Prefecture Baoyi Cavalry who were in no way inferior to them, he still forced a smile:
"No need, I know where your esteemed lord is."

As he spoke, Sun Ru led his cavalry on horseback toward the flagpole outside the camp, where Li Shitai was hanging.

It seems this governor of Gwangju is truly a man of honor!

As soon as Sun Ru and his men left, Huo Yanchao led his cavalry back to Wudangdu, where they were arrayed in battle formation. Meanwhile, the other two cavalry units began moving towards Zhao Huai'an's direction.

……

Upon seeing his close sworn brother Li Shitai hanging from the flagpole, Zhao Huai'an immediately ordered a signal to be given, commanding the two prefects of Guang and Shou to disembark immediately and form ranks on the riverbank.

Then he led his men ashore and disembarked, and under the protection of Guo Congyun and his Flying Dragon Riders, headed straight for Li Shitai.

From the riverbank to the flag, it only takes a moment.

When Zhao Huai'an rode over, he saw two groups of people standing around the banner, swords drawn. One of them was his other good brother, Pang Cong, and he knew who the enemy was.

With a single whoosh, Zhao Huai'an led over a hundred elite cavalrymen to surround Qin Zongyan and his dozen or so Caizhou garrison troops.

He sat astride his horse, whip in his right hand, half his body resting on his right leg, looking down at a weak-willed, pale-faced, good-for-nothing warrior, and snorted:
"Are you just looking for trouble? Did you kill my brother?"

Surrounded by so many knights, Qin Zongyan panicked, but he felt confident because the Zhongwu Army camp was behind him, so he held on.

"So what if it is...?"

Then a whip lashed across his hair, knocking the turban off.

Seeing that Zhao Huai'an was about to draw again, Qin Zongyan quickly shouted:

"No, I just came to watch the show. Li Shitai was hung on the flagpole by the military governor because he was a heavy drinker in the camp."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Huai'an instinctively cursed:

"Serves you right, Old Li! Why didn't you freeze to death?"

Looking up, he glanced at Li Shitai, who was blue from the cold, and the large bird that had shrunk to half its original size from the cold, while the latter looked at him rather awkwardly.

Zhao Huai'an's heart softened immediately, and he instructed Li Jian and Xu Yao beside him:

"Go, take Old Li off. He's a grown man, and he keeps doing shameful things."

Li Jian and Xu Yao were from Xuzhou, as was Li Shitai, while the Qin family, who opposed Li Shitai, were from Caizhou. This explains the reason behind it.

Just as the two were about to lower the rope, they saw Qin Zongyan, who had been cowering just moments before, suddenly block their way. He then turned and said forcefully:
"This Prefect of Guang Prefecture, Li Shitai was arrested on the orders of our Military Governor. Without his order, I'd like to see who among you dares to release him! Don't think that just because you are from a foreign territory, you can interfere in the affairs of our Zhongwu Army. Even if you could, you'd better watch your heads! Our Zhongwu Army is not for a mere prefect from a foreign territory to dictate!"

Zhao Huai'an sneered and was about to speak when he saw a large number of Zhongwu soldiers marching out of the camp and heading towards him.

It turns out that courage had come running over.

Guo Congyun and the others also saw it, and they mounted their horses to intercept it.

But Zhao Huai'an stopped him, shaking his head and saying to Guo Congyun:
"Let them come over, and then fire them!"

The dragon riders and their men behind them all began to nock their longbows, waiting for the loyal and valiant army to approach.

At that moment, Qin Zongyan saw that the person leading the troops was his elder brother, Qin Zongquan, the military commissioner of Caizhou, with his younger brother Qin Zongheng beside him. Behind them were a group of Caizhou generals, such as Zhang Zhi, Shen Cong, Qin Xian, Qin Yanhui, Yin Tielin, Fu Daozhao, Zhao Deyin, and others.

Meanwhile, another general from Caizhou, Sun Ru, came over from the other side with Liu Jianfeng, Diao Junwu, Xu Dexun, and Yao Yanzhang.

Seeing that his own men were growing in number, Qin Zongyan became increasingly confident. He looked up at Zhao Huai'an and sneered:
“This governor of Guang Prefecture, you just tried to release Li Shitai without permission, which is a violation of the laws of my Zhongwu Army. Let’s see how you explain this to the military governor.”

Zhao Huai'an didn't laugh, he just nodded, then called out to his adopted son Zhao Wenzhong beside him:

"Paper and pen."

Zhao Wenzhong was glaring angrily at Qin Zongyan, his hand on his sword, ready to kill this audacious man at any moment, who dared to speak to his godfather in such a tone.

Hearing his godfather suddenly call his name, he was startled for a moment, then quickly rummaged through his satchel and pulled out a specially made charcoal pencil and a stack of paper, which he then handed to his godfather.

Zhao Huai'an took it, expressionless, and scribbled on the paper with great skill before bending down to hand it to Qin Zongyan below, smiling as he said:
"This is the transfer order. I am the Commander-in-Chief of Huainan, and I need to borrow Li Shitai from your army for communication and liaison purposes!"

Qin Zongyan was visibly stunned upon hearing this, unsure if the position of "Commander-in-Chief" truly held such authority. He instinctively glanced at the transfer order in his hand, where a sentence was written in a flamboyant style:
"You bastard, listen to my command!"

At this moment, Qin Zongyan's face turned red with anger. He glared at Zhao Huai'an, about to unleash a torrent of curses.

Then, because Zhao Huai'an was bending over, his sword slid out of its sharkskin scabbard and fell to Qin Zongyan's feet.

At that moment, the atmosphere froze.

Qin Zongyan also woke up suddenly. Seeing that his elder brother was still a bit far away, and then looking at the angry and murderous Guangzhou soldiers around him, his back immediately became wet with sweat.

No, a wise man doesn't fight a losing battle.

So he forced a smile, and Zhao Huai'an on horseback also smiled, then said softly:
"Don't be afraid, come on, help me pick up the knife."

Qin Zongyan's mind was in a daze. He subconsciously bent down to pick up the knife, but the next moment he heard a loud shout:
"You bastard, how dare you attempt to assassinate someone in this state!"

As he spoke, Zhao Huai'an took a golden mace from the side of the horse and slammed it down on Qin Zongyan, who was bending over!
(End of this chapter)