CHAPTER 486: CHAPTER 480: INTENTIONS

Zhao Hanzhang stood on the upstairs balcony, able to see the main street of Chen County, and when standing still she could even hear the shouts and hawking voices from the street.

"I remember when I first entered Chen County last year, there were only a few scattered shops open in the vast county town, not to mention vendors, there were hardly any pedestrians on the street. But look, in less than half a year’s time, Chen County has become bustling."

Fu Tinghan: "That’s because you exempted many commercial taxes and also removed the entry tax and vehicle tax for small vendors. You’ve wiped out the bandits around Chen County completely. With the right conditions, prosperity is natural."

"So the people are quite amazing, and equally amazing is the momentum," Zhao Hanzhang said. "When there is momentum, a hundred people can repel ten thousand enemies; when the momentum is down, two hundred thousand troops can be broken by a thousand people. The more people there are, the more they fall into disadvantage. When defeated, it’s truly like a mountain collapsing."

"Prince East Sea’s twenty thousand plus troops are in such a situation," she said. "Although two years ahead of history, Prince East Sea once fled like this, not only did he die, but the over twenty thousand troops and civilians he took out of the city, along with nearly ten thousand civilians following behind, were all slaughtered by the Xiongnu."

Fu Tinghan opened his mouth wide, "Thirty thousand people..."

"Yes, thirty thousand people," Zhao Hanzhang said with a bitter smile, "Otherwise, how could one say the Han nearly faced extinction?"

"Do you plan to take all these people back to Yu State?" Fu Tinghan asked. "Although Yu State can accommodate them, the influx of so many outsiders at once might disrupt the recently stabilized situation."

Zhao Hanzhang replied, "Isn’t the Emperor planning to move the capital? Then the area around Luoyang will be vacated. Yu State is already close to Luoyang, so we can easily include Luoyang."

Even Fu Tinghan was taken aback by her ambition.

He asked, "Will Gou Xi agree to this?"

"I’ll give him the Emperor," Zhao Hanzhang’s eyes shone with brilliance. "He can take the Emperor to Chang’an, or he can return to Yan State, I won’t stop him. Holding the Emperor to command the Dukes, such temptation is hard for anyone to resist."

Fu Tinghan couldn’t help but burst into laughter, "You can do that."

Zhao Hanzhang was utterly dismissive, having the Emperor in hand was more of a constraint than a benefit to her, and she naturally wouldn’t let it fall into her lap.

There are pros and cons. While having the Emperor in hand makes many things more justifiable and allows a quicker grasp of Great Jin’s territories, because she is a woman, the constraints in this era are significant, even Prince East Sea holding the Emperor couldn’t do as he wished, let alone her.

So Zhao Hanzhang decided to let Gou Xi have this convenience.

Fu Tinghan and she traveled together, "Shall we call back Second Son?"

Zhao Hanzhang thought for a while and shook her head, "No, let him set out from Nanyang to meet us, and have Zhao Ming come to Chen County."

This time she would also take Ji Yuan along.

In terms of wasteland development, besides Fu Tinghan, Ji Yuan was the most familiar.

Although many people did not agree with Zhao Hanzhang’s decision, the Zhao Family Army was in her hands, Beigong Chun listened to her commands, and she had prestige in other armies too, so Xun Xiu and others could only comply and follow.

"What do you think, are we going to fight the Xiongnu, or Prince East Sea this time?"

Nobody believed Zhao Hanzhang intended to rescue Prince East Sea.

"He has more than twenty thousand troops, does he need us to rescue him? Do you think the Governor is using the name of rescue to actually seek revenge?"

Everyone knows, especially the Yu State people, that Zhao Changyu was forced to death by Prince East Sea.

Last year they also teamed up with Gou Xi to pit Prince East Sea and fought fiercely against his people, how broad-minded would their Governor have to be to overlook past grievances and rescue Prince East Sea?

"Why not rescue the Emperor in Luoyang, bring His Majesty to Chen County, and from then on everyone would follow the Governor’s command?"

"That suggestion has been made, but the Governor didn’t take it."

"Sigh, women are just women, too sentimental, only remembering hatred."

Fan Ying heard these discussions and immediately went to report to Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang said, "I know, there are some objections to this matter, just ignore them for now."

Currently, it’s just complaints; as long as they don’t act on them, it’s fine.

The scouts and supply lines moved first, with Zhao Hanzhang and the others advancing slowly, simultaneously planning the retreat route.

Meanwhile, Prince East Sea in Xiang City fell ill, from the anguish and fear due to the fallout with the Emperor and knowing Gou Xi and others intended to kill him on imperial orders.

Because the illness was severe, he temporarily couldn’t move, so the army halted in Xiang City.

Somehow the news reached Shi Le’s ears, and not far away, Shi Le sent word to inform Liu Yuan, while leading his army to march straight to Xiang City, surrounding Prince East Sea’s troops stationed outside.

Although the news of Prince East Sea’s illness was concealed, the leaderless group of soldiers, officials’ families, and civilians was a chaotic mess that couldn’t be commanded.

As soon as Shi Le’s forces arrived, they surrounded them like hunting, raining arrows on them. Prince East Sea’s army instantly suffered countless casualties.

Defeated and in disarray, amid the panic, Xiang City’s gates opened wide, and the officials’ families inside fled east with Prince East Sea’s army. Within half a day, Xiang City was overrun.

When the advance scouts arrived at Xiang City and saw the corpses all over and the nearly burnt city, they were stunned and immediately split into two groups, one continuing to investigate and the other returning to report to Zhao Hanzhang.

"Xiang City is overrun, tens of thousands dead or wounded, Prince East Sea’s army has fled east. Judging by the arrows, it’s likely Shi Le of the Xiongnu Khanate attacking them."

The officers were astonished to hear that the Xiongnu actually chose to attack Prince East Sea rather than go to Luoyang to target the Emperor. Xun Xiu asked in shock, "Why would they abandon the Emperor and go after Prince East Sea? And with Prince East Sea having over twenty thousand men, how many troops did Shi Le deploy to defeat them?"

Zhao Hanzhang glanced at Xun Xiu and said, "Prince East Sea took away more than half of the court. The Sima family isn’t short of men; if the Emperor perished, they could just replace him."

Everyone fell silent.

"But if Prince East Sea and the court he took are lost, then Great Jin is almost gone. If I were Shi Le, I’d choose to pursue Prince East Sea instead of the Emperor in Luoyang."

Everyone fell even more silent.

Zhao Hanzhang stood up and said, "Order the troops to march quickly, Xun Xiu, you lead the main forces behind, Beigong Chun, take a team of cavalry with me for relief."

Beigong Chun and Xun Xiu stood up and complied. After complying, Xun Xiu hesitated, "Governor, are we really going to rescue Prince East Sea?"

Zhao Hanzhang raised her eyelids to look at him and said, "We’re going to rescue the three hundred thousand soldiers and civilians that left with Prince East Sea."

She said coldly, "People bring momentum, so you must protect these three hundred thousand people, understand?"

The officers stiffened, immediately standing and bowing in acknowledgment, "Yes!"

After Zhao Hanzhang left with Fu Tinghan and Beigong Chun, everyone gathered around Ji Yuan, "Mr. Ji, does the Governor mean we’re only rescuing civilians, what about Prince East Sea...?"

Ji Yuan smiled and said, "Prince East Sea certainly has many valiant generals by his side, they hardly need us for close protection."

Only then did everyone understand, "Got it, got it."

It turned out their Governor wasn’t there to rescue people but to reclaim them.

She might as well have said so!