What he failed to realize was that the reason why Ling Zhang seemed so credulous was because the liar was him.
“You’re right. The situation in Jiangzhou is indeed the most likely to be tampered with by the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom,” said Yuwen Tong.
Ling Zhang gave it some careful thought before he inquired, “What do you think they are planning to do?”
Yuwen Tong replied, “Presently Jiangzhou is under the control of Wang Xiangxin, the commander of the Jiangzhou garrison. If they want to fan the flames of disorder in Jiangzhou, they will inevitably have to cooperate with Wang Xiangxin.”
Ling Zhang, who was barely acquainted with the commander of the Jiangzhou garrison, only knew that Wang Xiangxin had been in charge of the Jiangzhou garrison for almost a decade. For some unknown reason, the former emperor had seemed to be quite pleased with Wang Xiangxin’s service, which was why the latter had never been transferred elsewhere. Afterward, when the Fang family had been plotting a coup, Wang Xiangxin had chosen to side with the Fang family after bargaining with Fang Quan over the terms of their deal, intending to assist the Eighth Prince to succeed to the throne. When Fang Quan had been arrested, Wang Xiangxin had even hired some killers to rescue him. The rescue operation had directly led to the “deaths” of the last two princes of the former imperial household. As a result, Ling Zhang was aware that Wang Xiangxin was an ambitious man, that his personal ambition remained unchanged despite the several setbacks he’d suffered. Had that rescue operation not failed like a farce in the end, the situation in Jiangzhou would have gone out of control some time before.
Afterward, Yuwen Tong had acceded to the throne and the Jiangzhou garrison had been laying low ever since. From this fact alone, Ling Zhang could vaguely tell that apart from ambition, Wang Xiangxin also possessed patience, that he was not a man lacking resource and astuteness. This kind of person struck Ling Zhang as the most formidable. From the vantage point of the present, the reason why Wang Xiangxin had been laying low was probably not only because he was a patient man but also because he had long since made contact with the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom and had these two countries at his back, conspiring with them. In addition, it was more convenient for the Luohai Kingdom to contact Jiangzhou than it was for the Wan Kingdom, considering there was only Taizhou between Jiangzhou and the Luohai Kingdom.
“I wonder whether it was the Wan Kingdom or the Luohai Kingdom that initiated the deal. Given that they’ve been having secret talks in the courier hostel, they shouldn’t have done any premeditation about the matter of Jiangzhou previously. If it was the Wan Kingdom who initiated it, the Jiangzhou garrison would get only limited support from the Wan Kingdom; if it was the Luohai Kingdom, they might have made some preparations some time ago,” said Ling Zhang, analyzing the situation, his frown deepening with his every word.
Yuwen Tong said, “That might not be the case. Although Taizhou is the only city between the Luohai Kingdom and Jiangzhou, there are quite some lofty mountains and high ranges between Taizhou and the Luohai Kingdom. Also, the borders are heavily guarded. It is impossible for the Luohai Kingdom to skip Taizhou and directly make contact with Jiangzhou.
Come with me.”
Yuwen Tong ushered Ling Zhang into the side hall. On a wall of the hall hung a giant map. Previously Ling Zhang had seen this map once, but he was still somewhat awed by it. It was gigantic and minute. This map was no doubt a national treasure and must not be shown to any outsiders.
Yuwen Tong walked up to the map where Jiangzhou was marked. Pointing at Jiangzhou, he said to Ling Zhang, “Take a look at the terrain of Jiangzhou and the couple of neighboring prefectures.”
Believing there must be a reason why Yuwen Tong was asking him to take a look, Ling Zhang stepped up and began studying the map.
Shown on the map, Jiangzhou approximated an oval, bordering Taizhou to the south, Yanzhou to the north, Cangzhou to the east, Haizhou to the west. The part of it bordered by Taizhou was not big, mainly Jiangguan County and Youguan County. However, the national road in this area didn’t go through Taizhou. It stretched northwards along the boundary between Taizhou and Cangzhou. The main reason for this was that the part of Jiangzhou bordered by Taizhou was a maintain named Mt East, the main body of which formed the boundary of Jiangzhou. It started from the part bordered by Taizhou, stretching east all the way to Jinhai County which was in the south-east corner of Jiangzhou and was connected to Haizhou by a national road. It could be said that Mt East was a natural barrier to both the north and the east, that Jiangzhou was a prefecture half surrounded by Mt East.
Though Mt East was the boundary between Jiangzhou and Taizhou, there was no national road through it. To reach Jiangzhou from Taizhou, people had to detour around Mt East and get onto the national road which would lead them into Jiangguan County.
The part of the south end of Mt East where a national road had been built was the only part of Jiangzhou bordered by Haizhou – the national road in Jinhai County.
Jinhai County not only bordered Haizhou to the west but also bordered Yanzhou to the north. There were two national roads in it: a east-west one leading to Haizhou, and a north-south one leading to Yanzhou.
As for the western part of Jiangzhou which adjoined Cangzhou, it consisted of three counties: Jiangguan County in the north, Xishan County in the south, and Zuoguan County between the former two. The parts of Jiangguan County and Zuoguan County bordered by Cangzhou were separated from their neighbor by Mt Cang which was located in Cangzhou. This was why the north-south national road was along the boundary between Taizhou and Cangzhou. This was the only section the terrain of which sloped gently and was relatively suitable for building a national road.
And then there was Xishan County. It could be said that Xishan County was almost “trapped” in Jiangzhou. The reason was that inside Xishan County stood Mt Xilian, which started from western Xishan County and stretched all the way west, dividing Xishan County from the main part of Jiangzhou. To enter Xishan County, people had to detour to Jincang County first, and the transportation there was very difficult. Jincang County adjoined Jinhai County and, as the name implied, bordered on Cangzhou.
Jiangzhou was a prefecture with only one north-south national road running through it. Flanked by towering mountains, it was easy to hold, but people in there could also easily get trapped.
After reading the map, Ling Zhang came to understand what Yuwen Tong meant. It was impractical for anybody from the Luohai Kingdom to get to Jiangzhou through Taizhou. They had to go through another prefecture to reach Jiangzhou, no matter through which part of the boundary they entered it. And they had to undergo several layers of security check.
When Ling Zhang had finished reading the map, Yuwen Tong started filling him in on the current situation in Jiangzhou.
“There are four major checkpoints in Jiangzhou. One of them was in the north on the national road; another one was in Jincang County, and the other two in Jinhai County. All four checkpoints are heavily guarded by Wang Xiangxin’s men. Except for the one in the north on the national road, all of them are also well defended by other forces, the two in Jinhai County by the Haizhou garrison and the Yanzhou garrison, the one in Jincang County by soldiers under the command of the General Zhongwu’s deputy. As things stand, Jiangzhou is now a turtle in a jar. Wang Xiangxin doesn’t stand a chance of breaking out of Jiangzhou, no matter which checkpoint he chooses to attack.
That’s why I chose to disband the armed forces there from within to resolve the knotty matter of Jiangzhou. As Wang Xiangxin wouldn’t be able to elude me, it’s more advisable to settle the issue in a way that would cause less casualties and cost less money. At least there won’t be much bloodshed, and it’ll spare the people of Jiangzhou some sufferings. Still, now that the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom have got involved in the matter of Jiangzhou, there’s an eighty-percent chance that things will change, and I can’t exclude the possibility that I’ll have to resort to violence in the end.”
After hearing this, Ling Zhang had a general idea of what the current situation in Jiangzhou was like.
“Not a single official of Jiangzhou attended your enthronement ceremony or our wedding ceremony. Are all the officials of Jiangzhou in cahoots with Wang Xiangxin, by any chance?”
“Wang Xiangxin killed the Jiangzhou governor, Sun Tai, the day before my enthronement ceremony and had Zhu You, the then assistant governor, take Sun Tai’s place. All other officials of Jiangzhou who value their lives have knuckled down to him, willingly or affectedly. The terrain of Jiangzhou has also contributed to this tragedy. I mean, they’re unable to escape from that place even if they want to.”
Ling Zhang was taken aback by these words. Jiangzhou was rather far away from the capital city after all. It was not until he gave it some careful thought that he came to realize that the current situation in Jiangzhou was probably dire. Yuwen Tong wanted to disband the armed forces there from within because it was a relatively peaceful solution, one that would allow people of Jiangzhou a chance to gather themselves, but now, seeing as the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom had waded in, there was no telling how things would turned out eventually.
“You said that you want to disband them from within. How do you plan to do that specifically?”
Yuwen Tong replied, “Li Rong, the other assistant governor of Jiangzhou, used to work in the capital city. His family and the family of the Prefectural Tongpan, Cao Hua, are all in the capital city, so the two of them are unwilling to wallow in the mire with Wang Xiangxin. I found them and had them pretend to submit. They’re now working for Zhu You and will play a big part in my plan when the time comes. And then there will also be a targeted assassination of Wang Xiangxin. Once Wang Xiangxin dies, his subordinates will be thrown into panic, but Wang Xiangxin does have a little bit of smarts. He’s gone into hiding and is nowhere to be found.”
“What do you mean by ‘nowhere to be found?’” Ling Zhang was surprised. “Has he fled Jiangzhou?”
