Chapter 35: The Mud Mound

Watching Old Yue grinning like a fox, Zhao Huaian felt an increasing sense of bitterness and self-deprecation.

"What else could it be? Is it not because we are lowly and insignificant? Does Commissioner Huang look down on our small band of men?"

Xianyu Yue chuckled, shaking his head. "Second brother, that Huang Jingfu was defeated in a single battle; he returned to Qiongzhou with only four guards left. While your lot may be a ragtag group, you have at least a hundred men, well-equipped with armor and weapons. Why would he look down on you?"

"I'll tell you the truth: Commissioner Huang has already been seized by the Army Supervisor, Master Zhou. His fate is uncertain. So, if you want to return to the Lizhou Army, I'm afraid you’ll have to accompany Commissioner Huang on his grim journey."

Zhao Huaian was stunned. Are the tactics of those in command really this ruthless?

Old Six had told him that their commander, Huang, was truly a good man. He was not only kind to his fellow townsmen but also refrained from exploiting the locals in Lizhou—which was precisely why their military pay had never been issued.

Furthermore, in terms of military capability, Huang Jingfu was no slouch. He had held off tens of thousands of Nanzhao troops for over ten days with a force of only a thousand, even dealing them a crushing blow once. If his army was eventually annihilated, it was only because the reinforcements from Xichuan never arrived.

Zhao Huaian felt that no one else could have done better than Huang Jingfu, yet he was still being taken down?

Old Six was quite fond of their old commander and often spoke of returning. If he found out the old commander had been arrested, he would likely break into a mournful song.

Come to think of it, Commander Huang was also a former superior of Zhao Da. Hearing that he had been brought down like this left him with very complicated feelings.

Alas, the military is a treacherous place.

But who was this Army Supervisor that Old Yue mentioned?

Zhao Huaian had one strength: he was sharp and could always pinpoint the crux of a conversation. The "Army Supervisor" was someone he had never heard of, so he asked Old Yue who this "Master Zhou" was.

When asked, Xianyu Yue seemed hesitant. He signaled for Zhao Liu, who was standing guard outside the tent, to step back another five paces to ensure no one else would overhear the conversation.

Only then did he share some deeper insights with Zhao Huaian, matters closer to the center of power that he rarely discussed voluntarily.

Xianyu Yue explained that the power in the Western Sichuan circuit was actually divided into three centers: the Military Governor Niu Cong, the Army Supervisor Zhou Congyu, and the Great General of Eastern Sichuan, Yan Shihui.

Zhao Huaian had heard the name Yan Shihui from Li Shitai; he knew this was the man who had betrayed Commissioner Song. Hearing it now, he was surprised to learn that he was one of the three giants.

As Zhao Huaian pondered this, Xianyu Yue continued to describe the situation.

Military Governor Niu Cong’s patron was Tian Lingzi, a lieutenant in the Shence Army. Tian was a former attendant from the new Emperor’s private residence and a rising star among the eunuchs. The Army Supervisor, Zhou Congyu, belonged to the Yang family, a well-established eunuch clan.

Back when Zhou Congyu was a junior supervisor, his superior had been the father of Yang Fugong, the current Privy Councilor.

Hearing this, Zhao Huaian paused, unsure. "Big Brother, if I understand correctly, these men are all eunuchs? They can have sons? And they’ve formed eunuch families?"

Xianyu Yue told Zhao Huaian that since the recent troubles, the prestige of the Imperial Court lay entirely with the Northern Bureau. Whoever could bridge the connections with these "Masters" could soar to the heavens.

Knowing that Zhao Huaian had a favorable impression of Li Deyu, he shared a secret: back when Li Deyu was the Military Governor of Western Sichuan, he had specially levied an extra three hundred thousand strings of cash from the locals to bribe the then-Army Supervisor, Wang Jianyan. Later, when Wang Jianyan became Privy Councilor, Li Deyu was immediately appointed Chancellor.

Hearing this, Zhao Huaian couldn't help but click his tongue. He hadn't expected that even Li Deyu, who had accomplished so much, had such a side. It seemed that one truly had to learn how to handle people before one could handle affairs.

At this moment, Zhao Huaian gained a deeper understanding of the power games in the Great Tang.

Watching Zhao Huaian in deep thought, Xianyu Yue was satisfied. He wanted Zhao Huaian to understand these things. He hadn't mentioned them before because Zhao Huaian hadn't needed to know.

But now that Commissioner Song clearly regarded Zhao Da as one of his own, he had to make the stakes clear, or else he would be harming his second brother.

He continued to explain that because the power resided with the Northern Bureau, and these men had no heirs, they had begun to adopt disciples and foster sons to form clans.

The Yang family was one such eunuch clan, holding the top positions in the Northern Bureau for generations. This time should have been no exception, but then Tian Lingzi appeared, usurping Yang Fugong’s position as Lieutenant of the Shence Army.

Thus, the new favorite of the Northern Bureau, Tian Lingzi, had crossed swords with the established power brokers.

Reflected in Western Sichuan, this meant that Military Governor Niu Cong and Army Supervisor Zhou Congyu were at odds.

Zhao Huaian understood, pointing to himself. "So we are the Military Governor's people?"

Xianyu Yue glanced at Zhao Huaian and laughed self-deprecatingly. "Even I am not the Military Governor's man. You and I are, at best, Commissioner Song’s people. And Commissioner Song is a reluctant ally of the Military Governor because of that Yan Shihui."

Zhao Huaian was confused. By the sound of it, Yan Shihui must be formidable if it took an alliance between Commissioner Song and the Military Governor to stand against him.

He asked, "But the Military Governor has the backing of Eunuch Tian, so why fear that Yan Shihui?"

Xianyu Yue suddenly turned serious. "Second brother, it is fine to be bold and daring—in fact, that is your strength—but you must never show disrespect in front of these eunuch Masters. Remember that."

Zhao Huaian curled his lip but said nothing.

Seeing that Zhao Huaian had "taken it to heart," Xianyu Yue explained, "The Military Governor actually lacks prestige; he has never been able to suppress the local powerful families and military commanders. Four years ago, during the Battle of Chengdu, Yan Shihui’s father served as the acting Military Governor of Western Sichuan. Many officers in his camp became his followers. Even after he was transferred to Eastern Sichuan, his influence remained, and his students are still scattered throughout Chengdu."

"Furthermore, Yan Shihui now commands eight thousand troops in Eastern Sichuan—the largest force in the camp. Moreover, his father’s territory in Eastern Sichuan neighbors Western Sichuan, and with his band of loyal clansmen, he acts with impunity, looking down on everyone else."

At this point, Xianyu Yue glanced at Zhao Huaian, adding a warning: "Of course, because of Commissioner Song, you have already offended the Yan clan. That Sixth Young Master Yan was humiliated by you; he hasn't even stayed in the main camp and has already fled to Yan Shihui’s base."

Zhao Huaian waved his hand, showing no fear.

Xianyu Yue was fond of Zhao Huaian’s stubbornness, seeing it as the heart of an innocent man. He did not realize, however, that Zhao Da truly didn't care about some great eunuch like Tian Lingzi or a minor warlord like Yan Shihui. To him, if things went wrong, he could just run—what was the big deal?

However, that was a thought for later. He became curious about Yan Shihui’s purpose in coming to Western Sichuan. His father was already the Military Governor of Eastern Sichuan; why come to Western Sichuan to suffer insults?

Zhao Huaian asked immediately, "Does this Yan clan have ulterior motives?"

Xianyu Yue paused, gave a thumbs-up to his second brother, and nodded. "Exactly. The Yan clan has great ambitions and wants to get their hands on Western Sichuan. That is the reason for the alliance between the Military Governor and the Army Supervisor."

With that, Zhao Huaian understood.

To Zhao Huaian, what Xianyu Yue described as complicated was actually quite simple to someone who had rolled through power struggles: the Yan father and son wanted to be the local emperors of the two Sichuan regions. As for Niu Cong and that eunuch Zhou Congyu, while they had their differences due to factionalism, that was an internal conflict. But the Yan family’s designs on Western Sichuan represented an enemy-versus-us conflict, so the two were cooperating while simultaneously competing.

As for Commissioner Song, who favored him, he belonged to a relatively neutral faction. His foundation was the thousand-strong Loyal Martial Army left by his uncle, and originally, everyone had tried to win him over.

But because of the conflict between his uncle and the Yan family, and having been betrayed by Yan Shihui once, he had no choice but to ally with the Military Governor.

Understood. It was just that. And yet Old Yue had been looking down on him! The schemes Zhao had encountered would scare him to death, humph!

...

There was a reason Zhao Huaian was sharp.

Xianyu Yue was indeed underestimating him, though not out of malice, but because of the bias against those of lower status.

Zhao Huaian had shown some political intuition, but in Xianyu Yue’s mind, that was as far as it went.

In power struggles, the mastery of information was the true core. Someone from the bottom like Zhao Huaian, who had never been to Chang'an and had no friends in the two bureaus, would be completely in the dark regarding the infighting of these high-level circuits if not for a sworn brother like Xianyu Yue.

Only scions of powerful families like Xianyu Yue, rooted in Western Sichuan, could understand these elite networks, allowing them to align themselves correctly at critical moments.

In truth, Xianyu Yue had not told Zhao Huaian why he had joined Commissioner Song’s faction.

It was because he had received news from home that the power struggle within the Northern Bureau in Chang'an had been decided. The final victor was indeed Tian Lingzi, while the veteran Yang Fugong had been stripped of his position as Privy Councilor and demoted to Lantian to raise horses.

Reflected in the struggle of the three Chengdu giants, the Army Supervisor Zhou Congyu was effectively out of the game. For local-born families like Xianyu Yue’s, neither Niu Cong nor Yan Shihui were good choices.

Instead, the neutral but well-armed Song Jian was a better fit. These Chengdu elites needed someone like Song Jian to stand at the front.

Xianyu Yue did treat Zhao Huaian as one of his own, but these elite scions would never completely open their hearts to anyone, because they carried the weight of their entire families on their shoulders.

...

After Xianyu Yue explained the situation in the army, he made it clear: with Zhao Huaian’s current strength, if he entered the regular army, Yan the Sixth would have a hundred ways to kill him.

It was only in the relatively independent local militia that Zhao Huaian had room to grow.

Although the militia lacked official status and had low prestige, they had one special trait: they were armed forces directly under the Military Governor. In other words, apart from Niu Cong, they didn't have to take orders from anyone else in the army.

Zhao Huaian finally understood Xianyu Yue’s well-intentioned efforts, but he still sighed with melancholy.

"Alas, joining the militia—even if I'm not killed by Yan the Sixth, I'll be killed by the Nanzhao people. But so be it. If I am to die, let me die for the country!"

Saying this, Zhao Huaian stood up, striking a tragic, heroic pose as if ready to sacrifice himself for the Great Tang.

Xianyu Yue was amused. Ignoring the rebellious nature of the remark, he smiled and said, "Commissioner Song went to such great lengths, not to have you act as cannon fodder. Don't worry, you'll see tomorrow."

With that, Xianyu Yue yawned, hit the wooden couch, and fell asleep.

Watching Old Yue sleep so soundly, Zhao Huaian felt the urge to kick him awake just to make him get up and relieve himself.

But thinking of how hard Old Yue had been working for his sake, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was left alone to toss and turn.

This was Zhao Huaian’s first sleepless night since coming to the Great Tang.