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In the historical record, many considered Dong Zhuo's death a good thing—a cause for universal rejoicing. A brutal tyrant had finally fallen from power. The common people cheered, congratulated one another, and believed that henceforth, peace would reign across the realm, and they could finally settle down to lives of happiness and joy.
But happiness and joy are forever the most elusive things to grasp.
The so-called Heavenly King Hu of Diaoyin was overthrown with almost no effort. All that remained was a ruined county town and fewer than three thousand civilian households. Originally, Diaoyin should have had some gentry families or powerful local magnates, but they had all clearly long since relocated.
The doors of their former residences had been pried open and turned into dwellings for Heavenly King Hu's underlings. Eating, drinking, defecating, and urinating—they had turned the place into a foul, chaotic mess. Fortunately, Heavenly King Hu at least understood the principle that a rabbit does not eat the grass by its own burrow, and had not subjected the common folk eking out an existence within Diaoyin's walls to too much oppression. Of course, there were the sporadic incidents of robbery, violation, and the forceful seizure of women... Such things did not only occur in Diaoyin during the Han dynasty. It is merely that they were either made public or covered up.
When Fei Qian reclaimed Diaoyin, there was none of that scene so often depicted in conventional understanding—no vast, surging crowd of grateful village elders lining the roads, bearing vessels of food and drink, waving little red flags and shouting fervent welcomes. None of that. There was only numbness. Only fear. Only frantic, flustered avoidance. Only frightened eyes peering from behind the cracks of door panels.
Fei Qian fell silent, watching as a squad of soldiers went to post the proclamation reassuring the populace, and proceeded along the streets beating bronze gongs and shouting the announcements.
"Young Master, you had better let me accompany you to Chang'an," Huang Cheng said, walking over and taking his place beside Fei Qian.
Fei Qian pondered for a moment, but still shook his head. "That will not do. If you, too, head south, then who will command the troops here?"
"But the Young Master's safety..." Huang Cheng was still uneasy.
"I will take Huang Xu with me, along with Ma Yan," Fei Qian stated. "Two thousand Han cavalry and one thousand Hu cavalry—that number should be just right." A force of three thousand, all cavalry, would be enough to make any onlooker feel it was not a force to be trifled with, yet not so large as to provoke the notion that the guest intended to overpower the host. After all, Fei Qian was not heading south to Chang'an to wage war; he was merely going to extract some people and incidentally reap a few benefits.
Huang Cheng finally nodded. In his heart, he made a firm resolution that in a moment he would seize Huang Xu and give him the most thorough and meticulous instructions, or else he would not be able to set his mind at ease. As things stood, the only direct-line troops under Fei Qian's command were those of the Huang clan. And among the Huang clan, the only one whom everyone deferred to and willingly followed orders from was Huang Cheng alone. Then came the Ma family, father and son, and Xu Huang.
In Pingyang, Jia Qu was now in charge of military agriculture, the academy, and civil administration. Du Yuan oversaw supplies and logistics. At the same time, Fei Qian had transferred Xu Huang to take charge of military affairs and training.
As for the original Yong'an county seat—after Fei Qian had exchanged correspondence with Cui Jun of Xihe—Chang Lin had cheerfully resigned his minor clerical post there and turned around to take up Xu Huang's former position as Prefect of Yong'an. Cui Jun was pleased to see this come to pass; after all, Yong'an and Xihe were closest neighbors, and having a somewhat familiar Prefect of Yong'an to serve as a bridge between them was a fine choice.
Linghu Shao had taken over a large portion of the work originally handled by Jia Qu, and spent every day running up to Peach Mountain. The man had been tanned dark by the sun, but by the look of him, he was enjoying it as sweetly as malt sugar.
Ma Yue had returned to Beiqu to take up the training of newly recruited cavalry. Ma Yan, meanwhile, was to be arranged to accompany Fei Qian south. In Puzi County, Chen Rui and Zhang Lie still remained as partners; Fei Qian had not touched that arrangement—for now, there was no need.
Ever since Fei Qian had successfully channeled the grievances of the rural magnates of Hedong over the debased currency toward other provinces and commanderies, Cui Hou had grown busier than ever. Several large merchant caravans shuttled back and forth without pause; the furthest among them, it was said, had even reached You Province. The main goods were leather armor, spearheads, and arrowheads. There were also some mineral products.
The Lüliang Mountains were truly a treasure trove. The first things to be discovered were limestone and clay. As exploration pushed deeper into the mountains, coal and iron were also found. Fei Qian could not recall whether the Lüliang Mountains qualified as a peripheral mining zone of the later Shanxi coalfields, but judging by current circumstances, even if they mined fiercely, they might not necessarily exhaust it all—after all, it was merely being used to fire brick kilns and smelt iron. Still, this coal—perhaps it could be used for heating this winter? With it, the livestock might perhaps be spared from freezing en masse and dying off.
The iron mine was an unexpected delight, and it had simultaneously brought in substantial revenues. The largest orders from Ji Province and You Province were for spearheads and arrowheads. As for lamellar armor, the buyers found it too expensive and refused it outright. It seemed that the conflict between Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan was unavoidable.
"I will strive to return within this winter," Fei Qian said to Huang Cheng. "Normally speaking, no one should turn their attention here. Right now, the vast majority of them are all staring at Chang'an. The only thing to worry about is Budugen marching south. Relying on Xihe Commandery alone probably won't be enough to hold them off."
During this period, they had swept through quite a number of Hu tribes, and the Xianbei had been the primary contributors to the pool of forced labor. No matter how one looked at it, after all this time, some word must have reached them. However, by normal reasoning, Budugen should not personally lead his forces south, since he still needed to guard against Kebineng. But nothing in this world is absolute.
"...Then, if the Xianbei do march south, how should we handle it?" Huang Cheng asked.
"Fight while negotiating," Fei Qian said with a smile, lifting his chin to gesture toward the two Hu tribes currently encamped outside the city. "And when fighting, don't let it be only us doing the fighting. When negotiating, of course, don't wrap everything up all at once either."
How many troops could Budugen dispatch southward? At most, it would not exceed ten thousand. Yet now, Yuvluo alone already commanded close to eight thousand troops; adding the Eastern Qiang under Li Nagu, they were not at the slightest numerical disadvantage. Moreover, with the carrot of the "imperial edict" dangling before Yuvluo, even if Budugen secretly sought to sway Yuvluo to his side, it would not be so easy. Apart from Fei Qian, who else could bring Yuvluo any closer to the throne of the Southern Xiongnu Chanyu? As long as Yuvluo remained unmoved, Li Nagu would naturally not act rashly either.
"Furthermore, I intend to make a trip to Jing-Xiang as well," Fei Qian said to Huang Cheng. "Shall I carry a letter home for you?"
Huang Cheng let out a simple, honest laugh and nodded, somewhat delighted. In these times, to be able to survive and send a letter home to one's family was already a thing to be thankful for. Because on this southward journey, Fei Qian would be traveling entirely with cavalry, covering two hundred li a day would be the simplest of matters. If necessary, they could even cover four to five hundred li in a single day and night—only, doing so would drain the horses' stamina. This time, apart from planning to bring Cai Yong back from Chang'an, Fei Qian also wanted to swing by Jing-Xiang.
After all, although his father-in-law, Huang Chengyan, had sent over a dozen artisans in response to previous letters, it was still far from sufficient. Now, with an actual mine and both demand and orders, it was naturally time to expand the scale somewhat. Beyond the idea of stockpiling as much as possible before the natural disasters erupted on a massive scale, Fei Qian's primary aim was to bring back onto the stage the great killing device—the "Great Yellow Crossbow."