Chapter 1836 - 588: Great Xia’s 7 Counties, Xia Envoy Not Coming—Cowardly? (2)
Chapter 1836: Chapter 588: Great Xia’s 7 Counties, Xia Envoy Not Coming—Cowardly? (2)
As a staff advisor of the Heyang Dominance Mansion, Fang Tianqing shared honor and loss alike with his lord Chu Tianming, and while worried, he was also the first to offer a countermeasure.
Relying solely on the manpower and resources of Heyang County to deal with Great Xia was impossible, so if they wished to pass the Landgrave’s trial and vie for the position of Little Landgrave, they had to open up a new path, feint in the east and strike in the west: overtly dispatch one hundred thousand troops to march south from the Jiuqu Blood Corridor in a feigned assault on Great Xia, while covertly concentrating Heyang’s elite forces to advance westward in a real attack on Cai Qiu—this was the response strategy he devised for Chu Tianming.
Looking back now, this stratagem of his could be called supremely brilliant.
At the start of the year, he entered the Xia Camp alone, lobbied Great Xia Minister Xia Chuan, and took East River City without expending a single soldier.
If that battle record was of little consequence to Chen Cang, then Heyang’s elites launching a surprise raid on Cai Qiu, seizing half of Lin Chu’s territory within days, and thereafter breaching the Lin Chu County City, taking the entire Lin Chu County by March, and now extending the flames of war into Cai Qiu Baisui County—this record was nothing short of astonishing.
Now throughout Chen Cang, who is not stirred to boiling fervor by it?
The Little Landgrave’s seat for Lord Chu Tianming is almost nailed into the board.
Yet the more this was so, the more Fang Tianqing’s heart muttered uneasily.
The reason was simple: in March, when Chen Cang swallowed an entire county’s territory of Cai Qiu, the intensity of war between the two vassal towns visibly dipped a little; the reason was that Chen Cang shifted into a defensive posture, while Cai Qiu, having formally signed a truce agreement with Great Xia, began a fierce counteroffensive, seeking to retake Lin Chu.
Though there was no sign of the war calming, the upper echelons were much more at ease; by rights, it ought to have been the time for Lord Landgrave to fulfill his promise.
Yet three months have passed, and the Landgrave has never once brought it up.
At first, Fang Tianqing felt he was simply being impatient; after all, this was the grave matter of establishing a Princely Heir, and with Chen Cang now enjoying the brightest limelight among the Four Vassals, it naturally had to be treated with utmost seriousness—so it was normal for the Landgrave to delay.
But as the delay stretched longer and longer, Fang Tianqing slowly came to a realization.
The merit the lord has earned this time seems a bit too great; leaving aside the Landgrave’s trial, at present Chu Tianming, this Heyang Eldest Prince, is basking in such prominence within Chen Cang that the Landgrave’s other four sons simply cannot compare.
The calls for the Landgrave to officially enfeoff him as Little Landgrave have grown ever more intense; from the Goverment to the other counties within the vassal town, and even within the army, voices abound—this is beginning to trespass on taboo.
It is not that his position threatens the Landgrave’s own, but that such frenzied and fervent clamoring clearly places the Landgrave in a bind, making it seem as though this Little Landgrave title can only be handed to his eldest son Chu Tianming.
What kind of man is the Landgrave—how could he allow himself to be so coerced?
Once Fang Tianqing understood, he sharply perceived that someone was stirring up trouble!
"In all likelihood, it’s being orchestrated by Yanling County. Chu Tianxu is busy with reforms in his county, yet can still spare the effort to stage such a show—I underestimated him..."
Setting aside Fang Tianqing’s inner conjectures for now, even though he prided himself on being preternaturally clever, he was not so foolish as to think his wit sufficient to sway Landgrave Chu Longteng’s mind; thus, regarding matters on the Landgrave’s side, he was, for the moment, at a loss for countermeasures. All he could do was urge his lord Chu Tianming to wait patiently, and to dutifully follow the Landgrave in the campaign against Cai Qiu: so long as his achievements were solid, even if the Landgrave was reluctant, in the end this Little Landgrave seat could only be his.
As for himself, he naturally had to cooperate with Chu Tianhe and see to the affairs here in the Southern Slope.
Though Great Xia has not yet formally established feudal towns, it already possesses the reality of Feudal Towns.
From the end of last year’s northern expedition by Great Xia until now, this three-way contest centered on Chen Cang, Cai Qiu, and Great Xia has in fact approached its conclusion.
Though Fang Tianqing was self-confident, he had to admit that, up to this point, the greatest winner was not Chen Cang, but Great Xia.
In a single northern expedition, Great Xia swallowed the Northern Five Towns, and moreover uprooted the hidden hands that two vassal towns had buried in the Southern Slope Territory; it even won three consecutive battles against Cai Qiu, and while Cai Qiu and Chen Cang were locked in a major war and unable to spare forces, it advanced north via the Bone-Eroding Path to seize half of Evergreen Valley.
In both reputation and tangible gains, it could be said to have reaped a full harvest.
If Chen Cang’s one hundred thousand troops had not marched south to occupy Dongchuan, driving a wedge into the Southern Slope Territory, then the current situation would be nearly perfect for Great Xia.
Fang Tianqing could even foresee that, had Chen Cang’s one hundred thousand troops not been stationed in East River City, once Great Xia signed the truce with Cai Qiu and shook hands in peace, it might even lend Cai Qiu a helping hand.
For Chen Cang, that would be almost unacceptable.
To fight on two lines and confront two Feudal Town Level forces simultaneously—Chen Cang does possess that capability; the problem is that behind those two stand two more.
What Chen Cang fears most now is the Three Vassals and Great Xia forming a four-way alliance.
The Three Vassals each harbor their own schemes, and Great Xia, newly risen, temporarily lacks the strength to intervene in the Moao River’s affairs; thus the prospect of a four-way alliance is not high—but with many matters, one fears above all the first step.
Hezang and Wei Bo are also supporting Cai Qiu, but though the slogans shouted by the two are thunderous, their armies have not moved at all; at most, at the start of the year Li Gangfeng showed his face once, and that was only because Cai Qianshan nearly got killed.
Great Xia’s flexibility in posture is enough to make Fang Tianqing somewhat fearful.
Who would have thought that, at the start of the year, it was locked in ferocious combat with Cai Qiu, both sides committing a total of several hundred thousand troops, with rumors even claiming that Great Xia beheaded tens of thousands and captured over a hundred thousand?
Then by March, Great Xia turned around and signed a truce agreement with Cai Qiu, even returning those over ten myriad prisoners of war—though for compensation—but what are a few taels of silver compared to these Cold Resistance Level elite soldiers?
In April, Chen Cang fell into a defensive posture; on the one hand this was a choice made by the Goverment, but on the other, it was also related to Cai Qiu’s sudden increase in troop strength and surging morale.