Borrowing the carefully trained carrier pigeons of the Zhao clan, Shentu Yang reported everything happening in Jiangnan, down to the smallest detail, to Yin Shuhuai far away in Youzhou. Voluminous reports were carried by the grayish pigeons from the misty, rainy south to the thawing north of Yanbei. Tucked inside these dense official documents were hidden acrostic letters the Duke of Yan wrote to the Emperor.

I miss you.

I miss you very much.

Do you miss me?

Shentu Yang was truly no literary genius, and even his love letters were written in a dry, plain style completely devoid of artistic flair.

Fortunately, Yin Shuhuai was not a literary emperor either. Sitting alone in the warm northern spring sunshine, he read the intelligence reports Shentu Yang sent back from Jiangnan. Tucked inside the pages was a dried tuberose, a wild flower Shentu Yang noted was unique to the local area. Yin Shuhuai brought it to his nose and took a gentle sniff, and indeed, he seemed to catch a scent unique to Jiangnan.

As a gentle breeze brushed past, Yin Shuhuai looked at the swaying peach blossoms, casually picked one, and pressed it into the report alongside the tuberose.

Thus, that very evening, the Duke of Yan, far away in Jiangnan, received a letter written on elegant paper decorated with gold peach blossom patterns. It still carried the faint fragrance of the flowers.

Yet, on such a romantic peach blossom letter, only a single line of text was written in a cold tone: “The Zhao clan can be utilized, but the Jiangnan gentry must be divided and conquered.”

Feeling a bit slighted, Shentu Yang took a little bite of the paper, looked at the tooth mark on the beautiful stationery, and then carefully smoothed it out.

Fueled by a mixture of lingering frustration and pent up energy, over the next few months, Shentu Yang led eight hundred heavy cavalry, twenty thousand naval troops, and the first batch of rebel forces that had surrendered to recapture the six commanderies of Jiangdong and the nine commanderies of Jingxiang in rapid succession.

The battles to reclaim each commandery followed a uniform pattern. Shentu Yang would lead his grand army to arrive aboard massive warships. The surrendered rebels would haul the siege weapons off the boats and assemble the massive mobile siege towers. After a relentless bombardment that left the rebel defenders battered and bloodied, they would seize the momentum to scale the walls and batter down the city gates. The imperial forces waiting in the rear would then flood into the city like spilled mercury, firmly securing Shentu Yang’s rear lines.

Because the soldiers from Youzhou were initially poor at naval warfare and suffered from the unfamiliar climate, a number of them fell sick one after another. Shentu Yang had no desire to see his troops suffer non combat casualties. Fortunately, he and Yin Shuhuai had anticipated this before their departure, sending twenty thousand naval troops and one thousand medical soldiers to escort the army south.

These naval forces and medical soldiers played a crucial role in the campaign to stabilize Jiangnan. Not only did they keep imperial casualties to an extremely low number, but in several battles, they achieved total victory without even fighting. This was primarily because the local river pirates and rebel forces, upon seeing the massive warships sent by the court capable of holding ten thousand men, alongside an array of fully equipped smaller warships, realized the overwhelming disparity in combat power and promptly surrendered.

Upon surrendering, the wounded prisoners of war and rebels were moved to tears by the medical soldiers who carefully bandaged their wounds and treated their illnesses. Furthermore, under Shentu Yang’s instruction, Wu Yang, the leader of the first rebel group to submit, frequently visited the prisoner camps with his men to offer warmth and comfort. Using his own experience as an example, he demonstrated the court’s excellent treatment in every possible way. Seeing this, many other rebel leaders simply chose to surrender to the court as well.

Fighting and accepting surrenders along the way, by the time Shentu Yang completely reclaimed the six commanderies of Jiangdong and the nine commanderies of Jingxiang, his original army of one hundred thousand had expanded to two hundred and sixty thousand men. This figure was achieved even after Shentu Yang had carefully screened the recruits, filtering out the old, weak, sick, and disabled among the rebels, as well as the executioners whose hands were stained with the blood of innocent civilians.

Now everything was in order, and it was time for state agricultural military colonies!

Looking at the Jiangnan commanderies now firmly within his grasp, Shentu Yang’s first order of business was to replace all the local governors and inspectors with his own men. His second order of business was to initiate a thorough land and population survey across Jiangnan, reclaiming all ownerless fields for the imperial court.

It is worth mentioning that what Shentu Yang defined as “ownerless” was based on the data reported during the last land survey two years prior, which had originally triggered the rebellions in Qing, Yan, Ji, and Xu provinces. Following the Emperor’s decree, Shentu Yang had led his grand army to suppress the rebellion in those four provinces and subsequently forced the court to move the capital to Jixian.

The nine commanderies of Jingxiang and the southern part of Xu province, located far south of the Yangtze River, had escaped that particular investigation because the court was too far away to help at the time. However, they did not escape it entirely, as Shentu Yang had now come to settle the score. He used the survey data from two years ago as a baseline, directly confiscating all the hidden fields of the great aristocratic clans and treating them as ownerless land.

Such predatory actions naturally provoked intense resentment among the local gentry. Yet, the Jiangnan aristocratic clans harbored their anger in absolute silence. This was because any clan bold enough to voice their anger had already perished under the butcher knives of the rebel forces. The fault lay in the fact that Jiangnan was vast but sparsely populated, with incredibly remote roads. The one hundred thousand troops led by Shentu Yang were unfamiliar with the terrain, meaning their rescue efforts were often delayed. They could only follow behind the roaming rebel bands, helping to gather the corpses of the tragically slain gentry and quietly confiscating the estates left behind by these ruined families.

As for the one hundred sixty thousand river pirates and rebels who had surrendered, since they were captured prisoners, their personal conduct was naturally a mixed bag. Adhering to the principle of separating the wheat from the chaff, Shentu Yang, who only wanted elite troops in his ranks, left the one hundred sixty thousand captives in the deep rear, ordering Zhou Tai to train them. In between training sessions, they were put to work cultivating the ownerless fields left behind by those fallen aristocratic clans.

Aside from feeding the court’s army of two hundred sixty thousand, these confiscated ownerless lands were used to recruit displaced refugees to cultivate state colonies, clear wasteland, construct water conservancy projects, and dig canals. This ensured that the court’s warships could travel smoothly down the waterways to every commandery in Jiangnan and ultimately enter the Ba-Shu region directly, preventing the past tragedies from happening again.

In his report to the Emperor, Shentu Yang noted with great satisfaction that the major aristocratic clans of Jiangnan (specifically the ones still alive) were indeed good people who knew how to return a favor. Out of gratitude to the imperial army for saving their families from the blades of the wandering bandits, they had specially contributed grain, money, labor, and resources to help the court resettle refugees and build waterworks. The local gentry had provided powerful support that allowed the court to reclaim Jiangnan and suppress the rebellion within a few short months, particularly the Zhao clan of Xuzhou.

“Their family’s carrier pigeons are exceptionally useful. I have already taken that particular retainer into my own service, and once the army returns to Youzhou, I will have him train carrier pigeons for Your Majesty…

The soldiers dispatched to Champa have successfully found the rice varieties Your Majesty requested. The rice in this region is exactly as Your Majesty described, yielding three harvests a year.

I have already ordered the soldiers to plant this new rice in the six commanderies of Jiangdong and the nine commanderies of Jingxiang. Once the seeds are successfully cultivated, the commanderies of Jiangnan will undoubtedly become the court’s granary, capable of feeding the entire realm from a single region…

The guide who led the soldiers to Champa this time was none other than the Zhao family’s merchant caravan…”

Although the scandal involving the Zhao clan leader had brought utter disgrace to their name, looking at the facts objectively, Shentu Yang would still not forget the contributions the Zhao clan and the local elites had made to the court.

Out of appreciation for the close bond between the military and the civilians, Shentu Yang petitioned the Emperor to permit the establishment of a Salt Transport Bureau in Jiangnan. This allowed the Zhao clan and the local elites, who had provided grain and tools for the court’s two hundred sixty thousand troops and nearly a million local refugees, to use salt vouchers issued by the bureau to obtain salt from Youzhou, thereby rewarding the local elites for their merits.

This carrot and stick approach successfully placated the Jiangnan gentry, who had lost vast amounts of land and slaves to the land survey. After all, the refined salt from Youzhou had already won over the powerful factions across the realm a year ago, and the aristocratic families of Jiangnan were no exception.

If they could trade those ownerless fields for a steady stream of refined salt, a careful calculation made it unclear whether they were losing or profiting. Finding joy in their misery, the Jiangnan gentry even felt that Shentu Yang, who took the trouble to secure benefits for them, did not seem quite so loathsome anymore.

To curry favor with Shentu Yang, some local elites even carefully selected beautiful women to present to the Duke of Yan, hoping to win him over. To their surprise, before the carriages carrying the beauties could even pass through the gates of the military camp, they were driven ten miles away by Shentu Yang’s personal guards.

Shentu Yang thought to himself: I am a man destined to be the Empress! How could I possibly mess around outside?

After this incident, Shentu Yang went out of his way to write a confidential letter to the Emperor, solemnly vowing that his heart belonged only to His Majesty and that he would strictly maintain his male virtue while away from home.

Yin Shuhuai did not bother to acknowledge Shentu Yang’s occasional bouts of dramatic behavior. Sensing the compliance and submission of the Jiangnan gentry from the correspondence, he not only approved the request to establish the Salt Transport Bureau but also ordered imperial examinations to be held in Jiangnan to select talented individuals to serve as officials in the court.

In addition, Yin Shuhuai issued an imperial decree ordering the naval forces to escort merchant caravans back and forth, while simultaneously sending another two hundred thousand soldiers to Jiangnan to establish military agricultural colonies.

With nearly half a million troops stationed across the Jiangnan commanderies, it was highly unlikely the local gentry could stir up any significant trouble even if they wanted to rebel.

Now that Jiangnan was firmly in the hands of the court, it was time to turn their attention toward the Shu region.

A few brief words on paper concealed countless hidden conflicts and a veritable sea of blood and corpses.

Looking at Yin Shuhuai’s familiar and skillful balance of kindness and authority, Shentu Yang could not help but smile. He brought the letter, which carried the scent of ambergris, to his lips and gently kissed the imperial seal on the signature.

Come to think of it, the letters the Emperor sent him were getting larger and larger.

Half a month later, the two hundred thousand soldiers assembled by the court arrived in Jiangnan under the escort of the naval forces. The Jiangnan gentry, who had also received the salt vouchers from Youzhou and the court’s decree to recruit talent, were ecstatic. They all began to daydream about entering the imperial halls by morning and earning a fortune by night. Some even stepped forward voluntarily to offer their services as guides for the imperial army’s entry into Shu, seeking a stepping stone for their careers.

The resentment and reluctance they felt when their hidden fields were forced into state hands had vanished completely.

Noticing the unified support of the local Jiangnan elites, Shentu Yang smiled, knowing that everything was ready to begin planning the entry into Shu.

Hearing of this, another faction of the Jiangnan gentry, who had been thoroughly subdued by Shentu Yang’s combination of pressure and conciliation and felt forced to fall in line, also swarmed to the Duke of Yan’s tent. They volunteered to serve as guides to lead the grand army into Shu, with their sole demands being permission to participate in the imperial examinations and access to the salt vouchers from Youzhou.

As long as the profits were large enough, they were perfectly capable of being loyal and patriotic subjects!

Shentu Yang had not expected that the Salt Transport Bureau he established in Jiangnan on a whim would yield such a marvelous effect. These local gentry, who possessed a rebellious streak but were too cowardly to confront him face to face, choosing instead to resist in secret, could actually be so enthusiastic and easy to win over. Yet it was not entirely surprising. The affairs of the world could be summed up by the saying: “The world swarms for profit, and the world bustles for gain.” Seeing the court’s excellent treatment of the Zhao clan and the first batch of those who surrendered, the Jiangnan gentry naturally flattered the court in every possible way to secure a piece of the pie.

At this moment, Shentu Yang was like a person standing by a pond feeding fish, tossing down a handful of bait to watch countless koi fish scramble frantically for it.

In any case, under Shentu Yang’s direction, the plan to develop Jiangnan and secure the Shu region proceeded in an orderly fashion.

Keeping in mind the cautionary tale of how he had caught the Luoyang court off guard by attacking their home base, Shentu Yang chose to remain stationed in Jiangnan personally despite the compliant behavior of the local gentry, sending Zhou Tai ahead to Shu with fifty thousand troops instead.

Because every commandery in Jiangnan was busy building waterworks and clearing canals, the court’s naval forces could sail directly into the Ba-Shu region along the waterways. The Governor of Yi Province, who had previously relied on the natural mountain barriers and considered himself beyond the reach of imperial authority, lost his geographical advantage. Upon hearing that Shentu Yang had ordered Zhou Tai to lead fifty thousand troops into Shu, Yin Huaizhang, who had served as Governor of Yi Province for twenty years, could no longer sit still. He immediately led the governors and inspectors of the various commanderies in Yi Province down the river to visit Shentu Yang in Xu province.

Hearing that the Governor of Yi Province had arrived with a large entourage, Shentu Yang, who had been staying in Xu province for nearly half a year, smiled.

“I will not see them,” Shentu Yang said concisely, leaving Yin Huaizhang and the dozens of local officials waiting outside the military camp.

Yin Huaizhang was a member of the imperial clan, a descendant of Changsha King Yin Lu. Biologically speaking, he was a cousin to the current Emperor, Yin Shuhuai, though the two cousins had never met in their lives. Regardless, as a member of the nobility and a feudal lord governing an entire region, Yin Huaizhang had never been subjected to such slight. True to the saying that “when the master is insulted, his subjects must die,” the personal guards who accompanied him to Xu province could not bear it, drawing their swords on the spot to force their way into the main camp.

However, before they could make a move, they were awed into submission by fifty thousand troops standing ready.

Stranded outside the military camp, Yin Huaizhang and the various local officials stared in terror at the fifty thousand soldiers arrayed before them, all of whom were heavy cavalry in full armor. Had the court really become this wealthy?

Yin Huaizhang silently clenched his fists hidden inside his sleeves. The Ba-Shu region had always been a self contained domain thanks to its natural defensive terrain, but this did not mean he was completely cut off from the outside world. In fact, over the recent period, secret agents from Ba-Shu had frequently sent reports regarding the transformations in the Jiangnan commanderies back to Shu.

The various changes taking place in Jiangnan had made the officials of Yi Province acutely aware of the court’s true intentions in marching south. The court simply wanted to use the opportunity to seize control of the military and political power in Jiangnan and Yi Province, while conducting new land and population surveys to reclaim the financial and military authority of the Shu region for the central government. Neither of these prospects was acceptable to the local officials and elites of Yi Province.

Unfortunately, Zhou Tai’s entry into Shu was backed by an imperial decree, and behind him stood a steady stream of imperial forces, along with the undefeated Duke of Yan to support him.

As long as the officials and elites of Yi Province did not want to launch an outright rebellion, they had no choice but to comply with the imperial decree and watch Shentu Yang, Zhou Tai, and the others slice away their authority. And if they dared to rebel… well, there was little else to say. If they won, they would still have to face a continuous wave of millions of imperial troops and the undefeated Shentu Yang; if they lost, their entire clans would be executed.

Oh, right, the Governor of Yi Province, Yin Huaizhang, might escape the execution of his extended clan. Being a member of the imperial line, even if he failed, it would at worst mean the death of his immediate family. The others would not be so fortunate; the execution would be so thorough that even the eggs in their homes would have their yolks shaken apart.

For a moment, the officials of Yi Province and the local elites found themselves in a complete dilemma, utterly unsure of what to do.

Shentu Yang had no interest in paying attention to the trembling officials of Yi Province. He had not seen the Emperor for nearly half a year. The carrier pigeons flying to Youzhou could do nothing to ease his intense longing. Suffering from lovesickness, Shentu Yang could only kiss the peach blossom letters from the Emperor over and over again, trying to visualize His Majesty’s expressions from those few words as he wrote them.

Even the stationery was fragrant.

He wanted to go home.