Chapter 1553 – Attack on Nie Liang and Yang Tao, Sword Pointing to the World (Ninety-One)
Jiang Pengji was busy giving Nie Jun a hard time after the battle, and with countless tasks awaiting her, she hardly had any time to sleep, let alone concern herself with the situation in Zhangzhou. Besides, according to previous reports from the Zhangzhou front, Fu Wang’s troops seemed to be in no immediate danger.
Of course, just because there was no immediate danger does not mean it was entirely safe; who knew if an unexpected event might help Yang Tao turn the tables completely?
Reports from Zhangzhou only came in every three to four days, and none were marked as urgent, resulting in Feng Yi burying them at the bottom, waiting for their lord to have a moment of downtime before reviewing them all. When he heard Jiang Pengji inquire about Zhangzhou, he stood up to dig out the relevant intelligence.
Jiang Pengji glanced at the green panda emblem stamped on the confidential letter and raised her eyebrow.
To save time, Jiang Pengji categorized the information into five levels of urgency. The most ordinary, non-critical reports bore a green panda emblem, marking them as the lowest priority; slightly important yet not life-threatening messages had a yellow panda emblem; the next level was the orange panda emblem, which required swift horse relay; the fourth level was the crimson panda emblem, and the highest level was the pure black panda emblem. With this classification, she could assess the urgency just by looking at the color of the envelope.
Feng Yi had already sorted the reports chronologically, and Jiang Pengji began to sift through each one.
Ever since Feng Zhen and others were ambushed by Yan Lin due to carelessness, they had become even more cautious.
Yang Tao was also well aware of his vulnerabilities, so he didn’t dare make rash moves, leaving both sides locked in a peculiar standstill and peaceful period.
This was precisely why after that incident, you could be sure the intel had largely been the safest green emblem.
Of course, a stalemate wasn’t a good strategy, especially since Yang Tao was in dire need of supplies; delays would ultimately be disadvantageous to him.
After sifting through seven or eight reports, Jiang Pengji finally spotted a confidential letter stamped with a yellow panda emblem; it was not written by Fu Wang nor dictated by him, but rather penned by Feng Zhen himself. He seemed thoroughly incensed after his previous humiliation at the hands of Yan Lin and had been secretly plotting revenge. Teaming up with Yang Si, who ranked among the top three on the grudge list, they concocted all sorts of wicked schemes.
Feng Zhen meticulously analyzed Yang Tao’s current predicament for Jiang Pengji.
For instance, Yang Tao didn’t have deep control over the aristocratic families in Zhangzhou, and while Feng Zhen did not plan to incite rebellion among them, he still hoped to create discord between them and Yang Tao.
For another, as Yang Tao was desperately low on supplies, he could send someone to spread rumors, shaking their morale and bringing them down.
Feng Zhen planned to take a gamble, hinting at a major supply shipment arriving at the Zhangzhou front to lure in the enemy. However, given Yan Lin’s cunning nature, one defeat might not be enough for him to take the bait…
Jiang Pengji frowned as she read through the following reports.
Most intelligence reports were classified as green or yellow, but there was one orange letter that appeared to have just been delivered.
A jolt ran through Jiang Pengji as she opened the envelope, pinching the letter with two fingers and shaking it open for a closer look.
After skimming through, she was almost seething with anger as her previously stifled rage flared up again.
Everyone watched as their lord slammed her palm on the battered bronze desk once more.
A loud bang echoed in their ears, startling a few generals who had momentarily drifted off.
Qi Guanrang spoke up, “My lord, has something significant happened in Zhangzhou?”
Jiang Pengji replied with a cold expression, “That scoundrel Feng Zhen seems to have taken his life for granted and is trying to find a way to meet the King of Hell.”
Everyone looked confused, unsure what nonsense Feng Zhen had pulled this time to ignite their lord’s fury.
“You all take a look for yourselves,” Jiang Pengji sneered. “Does he really think he possesses the strength to single-handedly hold back an entire army?”
They all examined the contents of the letter with a variety of expressions.
Some sighed, impressed by Feng Zhen’s audacity to court death in such a way. Others inwardly grumbled about their lord who, quite ironically, only allowed her officials to burn and raided while denying the common folks that privilege. It was no big deal for her to be on the front lines as bait, but for Feng Zhen to pull such a stunt was nothing short of suicidal.
Yet, this was also a reflection of their lord’s quirky form of affection.
Qi Guanrang remarked, “Zisheng’s plan could indeed be considered sound. Furthermore, even if my lord wished to intervene, there’s a good chance it would be too late.”
Jiang Pengji bore a face that symbolized frustration as she couldn’t help but curse the communication standards of this era once again.
Traveling by foot, yelling to communicate, all while feeling vexed!
Jiang Pengji said, “If he wins, then great; but if he loses, I’ll definitely count his misdeeds against him!”
Feng Zhen still owed her plenty of past debts.
Qi Guanrang added, “If he loses, he’ll likely end up reporting to the King of Hell, and my lord would have no one left to hold accountable for his crimes.”
Feng Zhen intended to use himself as bait to lure the desperate Yang Tao; a win would be fantastic, but a loss would cost him his life.
In the Battle of Zhanjiang, Nie Jun was routed, and Jiang Pengji had also suffered losses of tens of thousands of soldiers, leaving her with no spare forces to support Fu Wang.
Even if she dispatched reinforcements, how could a bunch of land soldiers contend against naval forces?
Qi Guanrang had again left Jiang Pengji speechless, leading her to silently stew in anger, repeatedly muttering Feng Zhen’s name in her mind.
The mastermind of all this showed no hint of awareness; this matter traced back to much earlier.
Feng Zhen was previously caught off guard by Yan Lin. Even though he managed to expose the Zhao family as an example, that bunch in Zhangzhou still sided with Yang Tao. Feng Zhen and the others saw this and simmered in indignation, secretly jotting down the names of those who had flirted with the enemy.
Simply put, if they didn’t come up with a way to turn the tide, they’d surely get a good beating from their lord when they returned!
Driven by the instinct to survive and the pride of the strategists, Feng Zhen and Yang Si planned to retaliate and give Yang Tao a taste of his own medicine!
Yang Tao was not just lacking in troops but also in supplies.
While the former could be supplemented through recruitment or forced conscription, the latter was a much trickier situation.
Without food, how could the soldiers fight the enemy?
Feng Zhen planned to exploit this weakness, stirring up Yang Tao’s morale by fanning the flames with some cleverly crafted ballads, which he intended to have beggars and drifters spread around.
Of course, having witnessed Wei Ci manipulate public opinion to gild their lord in glory, he knew that spreading ballads was the bluntest form of propaganda. Thus, Feng Zhen sent out many to spread false rumors, tackling both avenues with diligence.
For instance, someone’s neighbor’s uncle’s son was a centurion under Yang Tao and knew that there were scarcities of supplies in the army; or a certain person had a relative who was a rice dealer, spreading rumors that incited the common folk to frantically buy rice…
He enlisted people to gossip in tea houses and taverns or disguised themselves as merchants to circulate fabricated news.
The beauty of a misinformed populace is that they’re incredibly easy to deceive; a few bits of half-truths and outright fabrications would keep them spinning in confusion.
It’s easy to whip up rumors and hard to dispel them.
First, they’d sow rumors among the common folks, and by the time Yang Tao and his lot discovered them and tried to clarify, it would already be too late.
Moreover, this wasn’t entirely fabrication; Yang Tao truly was in dire straits at the moment.
