When Zhao Hanzhang received the edict from the court, she was leading a group of students from the academy to harvest wheat in the official fields.
Chang Ning was shocked to receive the edict and couldn’t wait for the government official to invite her back to the county government, so he rode out of the city on horseback.
The academy was on a farming break, so Zhao Hanzhang simply brought the students to harvest wheat.
Fu Tinghan, the professor, was also among them. Although he didn’t understand why he needed to be there, he couldn’t refuse Zhao Hanzhang’s invitation, so he was now standing in the field with her.
Chang Ning stopped his horse by the roadside, holding the document as he hurried along the path, eventually finding Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan among the crowd and shouted urgently, "County Lord, there is an important document from the court."
Zhao Hanzhang paused, holding the sickle in her hand, wondering what important document needed to be sent to the fields.
She glanced at Fu Tinghan and strode forward to take the document.
Chang Ning entered the field and stood beside her, lowering his voice, "Prince East Sea claims that Gou Xi is plotting to hold the emperor hostage to command the dukes, intending to rebel, and has summoned troops from all over to join in the attack. Due to your previous efforts in saving Yu Yang, your battle fame spread far and wide, hence Xiping is also on the list, requiring one thousand soldiers."
Zhao Hanzhang twitched her mouth and asked Chang Ning, "Do we have a thousand soldiers in Xiping?"
Chang Ning considered her expression and replied cautiously, "It seems we don’t."
Zhao Hanzhang slapped the document into his arms, "Tell the envoy I got it, and I’ll try to gather the troops and horses."
Chang Ning was startled and became a bit anxious, "Is the County Lord going?"
"I’m not going," Zhao Hanzhang replied, "I’m not foolish enough to meddle in their civil war."
Chang Ning heaved a sigh of relief and nodded, "Right, the County Lord shouldn’t get involved."
If it were the Inspector’s conscription, Chang Ning would be anxious if Zhao Hanzhang didn’t go, given they were within Yu State, but as for the court’s conscription...
They’re so far away, and we are so weak, so we could easily find an excuse to evade it.
Zhao Hanzhang also thought the same. She didn’t believe that everyone on the list being drafted would actually go to aid Prince East Sea.
But...
Zhao Hanzhang lowered her eyes. According to history, Prince East Sea waged war against Gou Xi in the fifth year of Yongjia, yet it’s only the second year of Yongjia now.
What prompted Prince East Sea to campaign against Gou Xi now?
"That’s not right," Zhao Hanzhang suddenly furrowed her brows, "If he’s campaigning against Gou Xi now, what about Liu Yuan?"
Liu Yuan was preparing to amass a large army to attack Luoyang. Upon hearing the news of the fallout between Prince East Sea and Gou Xi, he rejoiced and decided to hold back his forces, waiting for them to clash before making his move.
Liu Kun in Bingzhou sensed his intention and, while organizing his troops to block Liu Yuan, wrote to Prince East Sea, hoping he could ally with Gou Xi to jointly campaign against Liu Yuan. He could persuade Tuoba Yilu of the Xianbei Tribe to send cavalry, so there was no need to worry about that.
If Prince East Sea agreed, then the Western Jin might not have fallen in history.
So, in this case, Prince East Sea didn’t agree either.
Zhao Hanzhang, while cutting wheat, gathered the court’s documents, information from Ji Yuan, and Zhao Ming’s letters to understand the court’s movements. Frankly, when she learned that Prince East Sea refused Liu Kun’s proposal, she sighed regretfully.
Although she didn’t like the Jin State much, it was still a unified regime, and as long as it stood, there was a limit to the chaos in the world.
Once it ceases to exist, the already suffering people would become even more miserable.
Prince East Sea refused Liu Kun, and few soldiers and horses from across the land responded to him. In the end, it was his army alone against Gou Xi’s forces.
Gou Xi was someone who could reduce Shi Le to a lone commander; Prince East Sea’s subordinates went out to battle one after another, either killed or captured by him.
Fortunately, the battles didn’t seem too intense; only the generals at the top were killed, with more soldiers captured than killed.
The reason Zhao Hanzhang knew this was because Ji Yuan told her, "After three battles, Gou Xi’s forces doubled."
This indicated many soldiers were captured.
Zhao Hanzhang felt a bit awkward and asked, "Did Prince East Sea regret it?"
Ji Yuan replied, "Not regretting now, but will soon enough. Liu Yuan is ambitious and predatory; he’s lurking nearby. Instead of consoling and allying with Gou Xi, Prince East Sea waged war against him, simply courting death."
Zhao Hanzhang thought the same. "But it’s strange, why did Prince East Sea suddenly want to attack Gou Xi?"
Historically, Prince East Sea waged war against Gou Xi because the emperor could no longer tolerate Prince East Sea’s overbearing and brainless actions and secretly contacted Gou Xi to call for a campaign to quell the rebellion.
When Prince East Sea found out, he was furious and immediately launched an offensive against Gou Xi.
But that was after the fifth year of Yongjia.
Ji Yuan shook his head, "I don’t know either."
After a pause, he added, "Maybe Zhao Zinian knows."
Zhao Hanzhang immediately understood and ran back to ask Zhao Ming.
Zhao Ming indeed knew, but was too lazy to explain verbally, so he went to the study, rummaged through it, and handed her a letter.
Zhao Hanzhang immediately recognized Zhao Zhongyu’s handwriting.
Zhao Zhongyu had specifically written to Zhao Ming, telling him to hold onto Xiping and not to heed the edict to deploy troops easily.
Up until now, Zhao Zhongyu still believed Xiping was under Zhao Ming’s control.
One could only say that Prince East Sea’s campaign against Gou Xi was an inevitability of history and a prematurely advanced historical process due to certain people.
From the moment Prince East Sea led the court in fleeing Luoyang, everything changed, yet seemed unchanged.
When Gou Xi saw how selfish and incompetent Prince East Sea was, abandoning the people of Luoyang to flee, he was in rage and led his army straight for Luoyang.
At that time, the tension between him and Prince East Sea was palpable, but they temporarily reconciled under the persuasion of the emperor and Fu Zhi.
Gou Xi returned to Yan State afterward, while Prince East Sea continued to hold sway over court affairs in Luoyang.
With Yu State lying between them, it seemed unlikely they would clash immediately.
But Liu Yuan had proclaimed himself emperor a year earlier than in history and also sent troops to Luoyang a year earlier. Although Wang Yan eventually repelled Liu Yuan, the court and local governments suffered significant losses, and the officials harbored deep resentment.
At this time, a natural disaster struck Yongzhou, yet Luoyang, separated only by a small Hongnong, turned a blind eye, providing no relief or inquiries, leading to a refugee crisis and ensuing chaos.
Luoyang was also adversely affected, with grain prices in the city soaring, causing unbearable hardship for the people.
Gou Xi felt that if the people of Luoyang stayed, they would either starve or be killed by Liu Yuan’s southern advancing army; it was better to relocate them, taking those they could away.
As long as the emperor was there, so was the Great Jin; as long as the people were there, the court would not fall.
So he earnestly persuaded the emperor to relocate the capital.
Of course, he had his personal interests; relocating to Cangyuan brought them closer to Yan State, where Prince East Sea’s influence was far less than his.
The emperor was quite tempted; Zhao Zhongyu cryptically remarked in his letter, "His Majesty summoned Fu Zhi for a private discussion, and Fu Zhi remained in the palace for half an hour, with no one knowing what was discussed."
"Rumors spread privately in the court that the emperor intends to secretly lead people out of the capital to Yu State, effectively solidifying the relocation of the capital. Prince East Sea, therefore, became furious, believing Gou Xi was the main culprit," Zhao Zhongyu said. "This is internal strife, waged for the personal interests of two people; there’s no value in it. Consider the edict and official document nonexistent."

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