Afterward, capitalizing on the momentum of his fresh army, He Chunhua defeated the Grand Marshal’s assaults twice, and won both encounters decisively.
From the sovereign down to the court ministers, the entire Yuan court was greatly heartened.
He Lingchuan tossed the letter aside and gazed out the window into the heavy downpour, lost in thought.
Dusk steadily gathered, and two bolts of lightning split the sky, practically brushing the eaves of Shuyu Pavilion.
The swift, which had already fallen asleep, was startled awake with a jolt.
The turmoil within the Yuan Kingdom was perhaps much like the stormy skies before him.
The soul-snatching mirror asked He Lingchuan, "The Grand Marshal has clashed with your father. Who do you think will win?"
"The Grand Marshal’s army has attacked Shihuan City for five months without breaking through; morale is bound to suffer. He Chunhua, on the other hand, built up a well-fed, well-drilled force in Yazhou before marching north to suppress the rebels. Heh—one is exhausted from drawn-out fighting, while the other is rested and primed for battle."
"So your father will win?"
He Lingchuan shook his head. "What kind of man is He Chunhua? He would never exert all his strength to defend the realm to the death on behalf of an enemy."
He had seen through He Chunhua's ambitions long ago. His original self's convenient father had never forgotten the blood feud of the He family for a single day; how could he devote his life and bleed himself dry for his foes?
"He originally had two options," He Lingchuan analyzed. "Either wait until the Grand Marshal routed the court's forces and hadn't yet secured his foothold, then strike hard."
"Hoping to play the oriole stalking the praying mantis, eh?"
"Even if the Grand Marshal managed to capture the Yuan capital, he would be exhausted. That would indeed have been a great opportunity for He Chunhua. But such a calculation is impossible to disguise; others aren't blind, and anyone could see through it." He Lingchuan pondered for a moment. "If he blazoned his ambition to seize the realm's cauldron so openly before all other factions, not only would he receive no aid in the future, but people would likely plot against him from the shadows. As the saying goes, he who strays from righteousness finds few supporters.
"If He Chunhua had to fight the Grand Marshal alone, and then beat back every other faction, even if he emerged victorious in the end, his strength would be severely depleted, wouldn't it?" He shook his head. "If things played out like that, never mind the Grand Marshal fighting in isolation—wouldn't He Chunhua be fighting a lonely war as well? In his ledger, that's almost certainly a losing bargain.
"Back when the Grand Marshal launched his rebellion, he didn't rise alone either; he had Nian Zanli coordinating with him from Xunzhou. A man of He Chunhua's caliber would never willingly put himself in such a bind."
"Like father, like son—a scheming father and a cunning son," the soul-snatching mirror sighed. "You're probably the only one who sees through him so completely."
He Lingchuan gave a slight smile. "The Yuan court has plenty of smart men, but what difference does that make? Does the King of Yuan really have no doubts in his heart? Yet he has no choice but to convince himself to trust He Chunhua. People believe only what they want to believe—especially when grasping at their final lifeline. Heh, he must believe, whether he wants to or not."
"So his other option was marching north to defend the king?"
"Righteousness is the most convenient banner to raise," He Lingchuan said leisurely. "Under the guise of rallying to the throne, he can march his vast army north and draw upon the Yuan court's resources at will. When I returned to the Yuan Kingdom last time, one of the main reasons He Chunhua dragged his feet on marching south to suppress the bandits was his fear that logistics would collapse. But things are different now. Only a handful of forces capable of resisting the Grand Marshal remain, and every one of them is a precious lifeline. As long as there's a shred of hope, the nobles in the Yuan capital won't dare drag their feet; they have to do everything in their power to raise military supplies for him."
With the Grand Marshal at their gates, the nobles of the capital could no longer afford to be stingy about their fortunes.
"Think about it—how many years have they milked the people dry? To save their own skins, they'll have to cough up most of that fat. Otherwise, if those few armies turn around and leave, the capital is finished." He Chunhua had steeped himself in Yuan court politics for decades; He Lingchuan couldn't hold a candle to him when it came to mastering the levers of power. "So long as He Chunhua is confident in his strategy and troop strength, choosing to march north right now is the most advantageous move. Heh, isn't that far better than fighting a lonely battle?"
He sighed. "With Shihuan and the capital battered into such a wretched state, the common people of Yuan are the ones truly suffering."
War was a flesh-and-blood millstone, and commoners were always the first to be fed into the grinder.
"You analyze He Chunhua at length, yet say very little about the Grand Marshal," the mirror said. Having spent several years together, its understanding of its master grew day by day. "It seems you still think He Chunhua will win."
"From the perspective of the Yuan commoners, I'd actually prefer it if the Grand Marshal won."
The mirror asked in surprise, "Why?"
"The Yuan Kingdom's corruptions run far too deep; it's a ship sinking under its own weight. Even if the court wins, it would merely patch up this rotten mess and drag things out a little longer. If He Chunhua wins, he was once of the royalist faction, so rooting out entrenched evils won't be easy for him. Not to mention anything else, with all the foreign debt Yuan owes, can he afford not to pay it back? And if he wants to repay those debts, the common people will have to suffer once more.
"If the Grand Marshal wins, at least the Yuan Kingdom will have a chance to tear down the old order and start from scratch." A clean sweep of that sort would at least be thorough. "For the common folk of Yuan, that might actually be better."
Yet He Lingchuan always felt that He Chunhua's tricks didn't end there.
Or perhaps, Nailuotian's machinations went far deeper.
"A few months from now, things should become clear. We'll wait and see."
***
With permission from Island Master He, the Bailong tribe held a ceremony on Suoding Island to acclaim their new chieftain.
At the same time, this tribe officially joined the Yangshan Archipelago.
Over the next fortnight, Lei Ni, Guan Ke, Qiu Hu, and the others were busy arranging housing and work for the tens of thousands of newcomers. As He Lingchuan had said, the archipelago was still in its pioneering stage, with endless tasks waiting to be done. The guard needed hands, the chamber of commerce needed hands, Suoding Island—which catered to the Golden Shipping Route—needed hands, and agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and side industries needed hands too. Bringing in more people would only speed up progress.
Clever Bailong children were already learning how to sail boats and catch fish. The seasonal runs of large yellow croaker and cuttlefish happened to pass through the Yangshan Archipelago along the ocean currents!
During this period, the waters were astonishingly packed with fish. Casting a net blindly with one's eyes closed would haul up pure silver!
Never mind forty thousand people—even if another four hundred thousand arrived, there would still be work for everyone.
As for the Bailong warriors, aside from the two hundred-odd critically injured in the Battle of Storm Bay who were still recovering, the rest were enlisted into the Yangshan Guard to begin training for naval warfare.
Most Bailong people were landlubbers who got seasick and vomited whenever the waves picked up. After arriving in the archipelago, however, they had to learn swimming and diving, and apprentice under Min Tianxi and other former pirates to master essential skills like helmsmanship, boarding vessels, and close-quarters combat in water.
Qiu Hu gave them little time to adjust; just eight days after their units were formed, he marched them out to begin clearing pirate dens along the Golden Shipping Route.
It didn't matter if they were clumsy; they could train while fighting.
Combat was, after all, the best way to integrate a unit and hone its fighting strength.
Yet not all the news He Lingchuan received was good.
Just seven days after the Bailong people arrived at the Yangshan Archipelago, three branch offices of the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce in the Ya Kingdom were abruptly raided. In their warehouses, the local Maritime Trade Office and prefectural yamen uncovered undeclared ironware, medicinal herbs, ores, and consolidated shipping manifests.
Needless to say, the branches were heavily fined, the contraband goods were confiscated, and the storefronts were ordered closed for two months of rectification.
Chapter 1080