Chapter 140: Hatred Born from Love

Liu Yi had not expected Hu Qiuping to have such a bold idea, and his eyes lit up instantly. "Giving Sister Ping to me was a grave mistake on the part of Deputy Commissioner Zhu! Sister Ping, tell me in detail how we might give the world away."

Hu Qiuping was also filled with burning resentment toward Zhu Yuanzhang. She had once believed that Zhu’s feelings for her were sincere; back in Haozhou, he had pestered her incessantly and proposed marriage several times. After he took control of Jiqing Road, he remained preoccupied with her, even going so far as to use his connections with Zhao Junyong and Sun De'ya to demand she marry him. She had fully expected her life to improve once she crossed the river.

As a young widow, Hu Qiuping did not harbor many illusions about life, yet before crossing the river, she had still indulged in countless unrealistic dreams. No one, however, expected that Zhu Yuanzhang would simply toss her to Judge Liu of Zhenjiang without even sparing her a glance.

As the saying goes, love turned to hate; Hu Qiuping naturally loathed Zhu Yuanzhang to her very bones. Moreover, despite the various excuses he had offered, it was clear he had never truly cared for her. She had already learned that Zhu Yuanzhang had given her to Liu Yi solely to demonstrate his "sincerity" so that Liu would commit his troops. Liu Yi had only requested a marriage alliance with the Left Camp without specifying any particular individual; Zhu could have easily satisfied him with a general's daughter like Guo Ninglian.

Therefore, upon arriving in Zhenjiang, the thing weighing most heavily on Hu Qiuping’s mind was not vying for favor, but how to exact a cruel revenge on Zhu Yuanzhang. Now that she had finally found an opportunity, she said, "My husband truly possesses the temperament of both a king and a hegemon. Since my husband is willing to give the world away, the heroes of Haozhou will naturally follow the path of righteousness!"

While the Left Camp was now filled with fierce generals, whenever the topic of their roots came up, the answer was always "Haozhou." Even those not born there had ancestral homes nearby. Even Hu Qiuping and Guo Ninglian were beauties from Haozhou. Hu Qiuping volunteered herself: "If my husband wishes to pay a thousand gold for a horse's bones, why not let me set an example? Deputy Commissioner Zhu treated me as nothing, casting me aside like a worn-out shoe, but here with you, my husband, I can soar to the heavens. With me as an example, the clansmen of Haozhou will naturally look to my husband as their leader!"

Liu Yi shook his head. "The heroes of Haozhou alone are not enough. If you want me to give the world away, Sister Ping, I must have a vision that encompasses the entire world."

Although the top generals of the Left Camp were from Haozhou, Liu Yi felt that merely absorbing Zhu Yuanzhang’s Red Turbans from Chuzhou was far from sufficient. His greatest hidden danger was not a lack of territory, but a lack of true scholars. Most of the successful candidates and graduates had been lured away by Zhu Yuanzhang. While he had no shortage of martial officers, the number of capable scholars under his command could be counted on one hand.

Hu Qiuping had already thought of a solution for him: "Then naturally, we must open the imperial examinations. Even if we cannot hold a full imperial exam, we can hold provincial ones; if not those, then commandery or scholar exams. As long as we hold the examinations, we are not just roving bandits, but the legitimate authority of the realm!"

Though the imperial examination was a stagnant system with many flaws, in ancient China, it was the symbol of dynastic legitimacy. Even for roving bandits, holding examinations could attract a wave of usable talent. The Southern Song Dynasty had managed to sustain itself largely because of the imperial examinations, which continued even as the state faced setbacks and relocated for decades.

At present, the territory controlled by the Zhenjiang Privy Council Branch was merely half of Zhenjiang Road and Jiangyin Prefecture. Discussing the "opening of the imperial examinations" was premature and perhaps even laughable, yet Liu Yi took Hu Qiuping’s suggestion very seriously. "Opening the imperial examinations—that is indeed a brilliant idea. I will discuss it with Qin Conglong and the others later. However, to open the examinations, we must first seize Songjiang Prefecture. That is not so simple!"

Liu Yi had been planning the conquest of Songjiang Prefecture for a long time. After taking Jiangyin Prefecture, this goal had become tangible, but he was well aware of the immense difficulty involved; the slightest misstep could lead to total defeat.

This was the first time Liu Yi had revealed his plans for Songjiang to Hu Qiuping. But these days, consumed by love turned to hate, Hu Qiuping was obsessed with revenge, and her mind was fixed solely on how to dismantle Zhu Yuanzhang. "Since my husband intends to take all of Jiangzhe, I am willing to accompany the army on the expedition. Songjiang is newly pacified and hundreds of miles from Jiangyin; even with fierce generals guarding it, there is the risk of being unable to reach it in time. I am willing to hold Songjiang on my husband's behalf!"

Liu Yi had not expected this charming, persistent little woman to show such resolve, but this was precisely the problem that worried him most. Between Songjiang and Zhenjiang lay the main forces of Zhang Shicheng’s group. Although Zhang lacked ambition, his group was highly cohesive and had quickly digested their spoils of war. The area around Pingjiang Road had been turned into an iron fortress by Zhang; breaking it would likely be a protracted siege that might even gamble away the fate of the nation.

Liu Yi was unwilling to take such a risk, which was why he decided to bypass Pingjiang and capture Songjiang. However, the fact that Songjiang was hundreds of miles from his base in Zhenjiang and Jiangyin had always been a thorn in his side. Zhu Yuanzhang was the perfect cautionary tale: he had started as a Deputy Commissioner of the Privy Council and a Pacification Commissioner of the Secretariat for the Longfeng regime, but because the central government could not reach him, his Yingtian group had declared independence in the south and eventually replaced Han Lin'er's regime.

Songjiang was an incredibly wealthy territory. In another timeline, the Hunanese Zeng Guofan had sent the Anhui native Li Hongzhang to reinforce Shanghai, ostensibly to raise funds for the Xiang Army, only for Li to build up his own power with the Huai Army. Liu Yi naturally did not want to dig his own grave, so he had been mulling over this dilemma.

Now that Hu Qiuping had volunteered, Liu Yi asked immediately, "Sister Ping, this is no trivial matter. Tell me, on what grounds can you hold Songjiang for me?"

Liu Yi expected a string of lofty, unassailable reasons, but Hu Qiuping provided a very simple one: "Because I am a person of Haozhou!"

Before Liu Yi could fully grasp her meaning, Guo Yunyu had already stood up. "Husband, for those words alone, Qiuping must be the one we send to Songjiang!"