“So, strategists can’t just seize the throne, huh?”
Chapter 238: Yuan Ji’s Passing
As the mother of the third generation of Taishi Path and the famous Lady Lu, who was evidently favored by Liu Yan for her mastery of ghostly arts, it’s quite the surprise that she’s popped up in Hanzhong instead of Chengdu, where Qiao Yan had heard the news.
Li Ru shared all the intel he got from Chengdu with Qiao Yan after returning to Chang’an, which naturally included the scoop on Lady Lu.
Liu Yan’s faith in metaphysical arts, from the early days with Dong Fu to now with Lady Lu, really brings a certain… well, it’s hard to say if it’s funny or absurd for Qiao Yan.
Maybe you could call it a sign of the times.
As she assessed the woman in front of her, Lady Lu maintained a rather aloof, ethereal demeanor, reminiscent of a fortress that remains undisturbed despite being in ruins.
But whether it’s because contemporary Taoism hasn’t formed into a complete belief system like in later years, Qiao Yan figured if she were to ask anyone whether they believed they were loyal subjects to the Han or trusted Lady Lu’s skills, they’d definitely pick the former.
That said, Qiao Yan still inquired, “May I ask if you have something to say, madam?”
Lady Lu looked at Qiao Yan and replied calmly, “A month ago, I did a divination for Liu Yizhou. The results warned of a great calamity approaching, yet Liu Yizhou received the decree of the Grand General, claiming fortune outweighs disaster and disregarding my words. Now, what I see as I head north, indeed, is calamity.”
Qiao Yan pondered the meaning behind Lady Lu’s words and found it intriguing.
It was likely that Lady Lu had mentioned the omen of disaster to Liu Yan just around the time the decree for the Grand General arrived in Chengdu, influenced by the news of Zhang Lu’s defeat.
Given the usual inside-outside coordination between the mother and son, if Qiao Yan had genuinely intended to attack Yizhou at that time, it would align well with what she told Liu Yan, making it a clever way to gain Liu Yan’s trust.
But coincidentally, just then, the Chang’an court’s decree arrived, and the one major calamity turned out to be that Liu Yan’s carriage and the former home of Dong Fu had been set ablaze.
This could very well lead Liu Yan to suspect that Lady Lu had orchestrated this to make her prophecy come true.
To prevent being grilled by Liu Yan, Lady Lu came up with the excuse that she was just visiting her son in Hanzhong.
Qiao Yan had someone inquire about the timing of Lady Lu’s visit, and indeed, it was right after the Grand General’s ceremony, which made her realize something.
So she asked, “If, as you say, you’ve fallen into my hands today, does that not count as a calamity?”
Inside, Lady Lu scoffed at the absurdity that turning misfortune into real disaster was something she could have anticipated.
The military advance from Chang’an and the decree of the Grand General happened in quick succession. Compared to the back and forth of first attacking Zhang Lu and then trying to pacify Yizhou, this came even faster.
She had already recognized when heading to Hanzhong that this northern move wasn’t wise and could lead Liu Yan to suspect her. But considering Hanzhong’s terrain and the established missionary presence of Zhang Lu, she figured she’d be fine staying there even if things went south.
Overall, the goals they had aimed to achieve through this charade with Liu Yan were mostly accomplished.
As for Zhang Lu, who could be quite unpredictable, there was no telling if he’d seize Hanzhong for himself after being driven back from Wudu without Liu Yan’s support.
If that happened, she’d easily become a sacrificial pawn, so it was smarter to arrive earlier.
Being an important figure in the Taishi Path and leveraging the Han Dynasty’s teachings on filial piety, Zhang Lu wouldn’t dare disrespect her anyway.
But what Lady Lu never imagined was that barely twenty days after her arrival, a whole bunch of nasty guests would show up.
In the playful gaze of Qiao Yan, Lady Lu picked up on the implications in her words.
If she couldn’t even predict this surprise attack, how could she claim to possess supernatural powers?
Then Qiao Yan continued, “Or perhaps, lady, you’re willing to risk your life to verify and achieve immortality? If we could witness such a thing, it wouldn’t be a waste of our trip to Yizhou.”
While feeling distressed, Lady Lu’s carefully cultivated image helped her maintain a calm expression, only responding, “The General honors the Emperor’s will, favored by Hanzhong’s fate, which obscures divine secrets—perfectly normal. I only know a calamity is coming, but not where it will arise, so the General is clearly a step ahead.”
What an interesting remark…
Qiao Yan showed no reaction, but Lady Lu noticed a certain scholar accompanying Qiao Yan sporting a rather peculiar expression on his face.
It’s truly no wonder he had that special reaction.
As soon as he heard the phrase “favored by Hanzhong’s fate,” Xun You couldn’t help but picture that poisoned snake he sent into a hot pot—the kind of bizarre scene that made him question his life’s choices.
Just as he thought that, he saw Qiao Yan gesturing for him to step aside for a private chat.
“Seems Lady Lu isn’t just an ordinary visitor to Zhang Lu. If a mother comes to visit, given Hanzhong’s various city defenses, it would be the stronger garrisons at Mianyang and Nanzheng that would be more secure,” Qiao Yan chuckled. “We can’t exactly claim that where we are right now, called Chengu, is actually all that stable.”
After taking a few steps, she added, “I was initially considering that with Lady Lu here, she could serve as leverage against Zhang Lu, but it appears that’s not going to fly.”
Xun You replied, “But Lady Lu’s presence isn’t entirely useless; at the very least…she has provided the Marquis with a rationale to seize Hanzhong from Yizhou.”
Some reasons may seem ridiculous, but as long as the people of Yizhou believe in this stuff, even using it wouldn’t hurt.
Besides, Xun You thought that with Hanzhong being noted as “the Northwestern Jiangnan”, spring plowing was approaching, and with Guanzhong prioritized for cultivation, Hanzhong shouldn’t be left out.
Though the several counties of the Hanzhong plain were nowhere near as vast as Guanzhong, the mountainous region surrounded it offered plenty of space compared to the Huanshui valley of Jincheng, and the climate there was far better suited for growing crops.
There was no way their military expedition would return after merely scaring Liu Yan; snatching a piece of this juicy meat from his hands would be all the better.
Qiao Yan remarked, “In that case, I’ll leave the operation in the capable hands of the strategist.”
Xun You, having recovered from the fatigue of traversing the mountains before officially entering Hanzhong and attacking Chengu County with his troops, after giving the situation some thought, replied, “Please, Marquis, divide your troops into four teams, aside from those keeping watch at Chengu County—”
“One team will enter the Mi Cang Mountain from Chengu County, making their way around to the southern part of Nanzheng, donning Yizhou military garb.”
“Another team will advance east to seize Longting, cutting off connections between the Hanzhong plain and the other areas of Hanzhong County.”
“A third team will guard the passes between Mi Cang Mountain and Daba Mountain, ensuring Liu Yan can’t intervene in this battle.”
Qiao Yan mulled over Xun You’s plan and said, “We’ll proceed as you suggest, strategist.”
Completely clueless about what was happening, Liu Yan had been pondering a few days ago the possibility of sending Liu Zhang to Chang’an. It was only after Zhao Wei and Pang Xi urged him to bide his time that he reluctantly shelved the idea.
Zhao Wei hailed from Yizhou, while Pang Xi was a key figure in the Eastern State’s gentry. It was rare for these two factions to agree on anything, which made Liu Yan wonder if he had indeed been too hasty in showing goodwill—maybe waiting a bit longer wouldn’t hurt.
However, thinking about those carriages he indiscriminately burned, which had consumed who knows how many precious woods to forge, Liu Yan felt a pang of pain.
If the outcome of this waiting game turned against him, he would suffer a second loss, which didn’t sound like good news at all.
At this moment, he found that Yizhou’s isolation was a geographical advantage for his power here, but on the flip side, it made communication painfully difficult.
In such a specific time, this actually became a disadvantage.
What would the envoys returning to Chang’an say about him in front of the Son of Heaven?
And how would the Chang’an court respond?
He probably couldn’t have guessed that, due to the circumstances in Yizhou, he would accidentally facilitate Qiao Yan’s rise to the Grand Marshal position.
She was no longer in Guanzhong; she had already moved to Hanzhong.
Of course, Liu Yan wasn’t the only one caught off guard—Yuan Shao was as well.
This news, blocked by the towering mountains and Shu roads, hadn’t reached Liu Yan’s ears, but it had already arrived in Guandong.
“The Grand Marshal… how could it be the Grand Marshal!” Yuan Shao’s face fell upon hearing this news.
Back when Qiao Yan brought Liu Yu back from Youzhou to welcome him to the throne in Chang’an, Yuan Shao had already been furious once.
Gongsun Zan could have simply dealt with Liu Yu but instead let him get rescued on the seaside, and then he still had to ask the court in Ye City for a reward—talk about a mood killer.
To make matters worse, after Liu Yu ascended, the authority of Liu Bian as the Emperor was further diminished, forcing Yuan Shao to pull even harder on the regional powers.
At that time, Qiao Yan held significant power as the General of Cavalry, almost on par with the Grand General title.
Yet, surprisingly, this seemingly hypocritical move earned her a good reputation among the Ye City courtiers.
In their eyes, Qiao Yan stepping down from the Grand General position for Liu Yan and her backing of Liu Yu’s ascension made it easy to confirm her loyalty to the Han. If that’s the case, all Yuan Benchu could do was defeat her and make Liu Bian the one true, legitimate Emperor of the Han, thereby gaining a battle-hardened Han general as an ally!
Yuan Shao almost choked on that blatantly arrogant argument.
But it made sense; those courtiers who came from Luoyang to Ye City probably didn’t oppose Qiao Yan’s stance—they just didn’t dare bet on her successfully attacking Chang’an, nor did they want to put themselves at Dong Zhuo’s threat.
If Qiao Yan ultimately emerged victorious, they could be Liu Yu’s subjects again.
Asking them to join in the cursing? Absolutely out of the question.
After Qiao Yan sent Liu Bian a New Year’s gift, Yuan Shao felt even more that she had ill intentions, particularly skilled in her snarky jabs and long-distance backstabbing.
To his amazement, even before March this year, Qiao Yan had welcomed yet another promotion.
From General of Cavalry to the elevated ranks of Grand Marshal!
A Grand Marshal under twenty years old!
“Isn’t this supposed to be called overstepping?” Yuan Shao fumed. “Just because she welcomed the Emperor to the throne, that puts her above the three dukes—what kind of sense is that!”
Look at his own situation; after splitting from Yuan Shu and the Ye City court, the highest-ranking Yuan relative who had supported Liu Bian’s ascendancy was him. Yet even with his grip on Ji Province and Qingzhou, he still hadn’t snagged the Grand General title.
Yuan Shao was already scheming that after the year of Yong Han changes its era, he would pick an auspicious time to marry Liu Bian’s little daughter, borne by Lady Liu, as Empress, and conveniently become the Grand General.
But then, Chang’an threw him a curveball.
Qiao Yan went straight for the Grand Marshal title!
Ju Shou eyed Yuan Shao’s expression, knowing that what he was really asking was likely not just why Qiao Yan could achieve such an absurd fast-track promotion to Grand Marshal.
It was more like, why couldn’t he, as a power supporting the Emperor’s rise?
However, if Ju Shou were to say, Yuan Shao actually pulling off such a stunt wouldn’t help their current situation at all.
So he simply replied, “If you ask those officials in Ye City about this problem, they’ll only tell you, if this Grand Marshal position was obtained against the rites, then why are Lord Lu and General Huangfu in Chang’an making no objections?”
These people wouldn’t suddenly unite against Yuan Shao just because Qiao Yan held a higher position than him.
The only way for them to align with Yuan Shao would be if Qiao Yan camped outside their walls and brazenly declared that should Ye City fall, those supporting Liu Bian would die alongside her.
But clearly, Qiao Yan wouldn’t make such a foolish decision.
She even sent Yang Xiu last winter with cotton clothing to comfort his aging father in Ye City, proving that her respect for the Han bloodline didn’t waver due to her status.
If Ye City fell to her, Liu Bian would likely come out fine, and these officials could re-enter governance.
This January, cotton cloth from Bingzhou had even arrived in Ye City for sale, aligning with the trend sparked by Princess Yang’an last year.
And with the first Leping Monthly Report sent by Qiao Yan as a New Year’s gift to Liu Bian, the second promptly reached Yang Xiu, who delivered it to Yang Biao; high officials in Ye City began inquiring about it, even looking for ways to buy a copy.
To Ju Shou, both instances were extremely dangerous signals.
Military strength and agricultural yields lagging behind weren’t yet fatal, but being gradually assimilated internally was bound to trigger further chaos eventually.
Ju Shou could only be thankful that, after a winter of recovery, Ye City’s military defenses had stepped up a notch, making their defenses against the Taihang Mountains and River North County a bit sturdier.
The agricultural acreage in Qingzhou and Jizhou was also larger than in Liangzhou and Bingzhou, and after quelling the internal bandits, they could gradually close the gap.
But all of that hinged on Yuan Shao letting go of some unnecessary competitive spirit and not recklessly competing with Qiao Yan.
Yuan Shao was frustrated, but in the face of an unfavorable situation, he put this thought on hold.
He also didn’t have the excess energy to ponder how to become Grand Marshal without incurring backlash.
Because, during the latter half of this February, something happened here that might not be significant for the Ye City court but was very important to Yuan Shao.
Yuan Feng’s eldest son, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu’s brother Yuan Ji, passed away.
