Chapter Seventy-Three: The Yuan Army's Counterattack

This time, Zhu Yuanzhang came to the negotiations with aggressive intent, but in the end, he had to wrap things up hastily. The key factor was that what cannot be gained on the battlefield cannot be obtained at the negotiating table either. Having suffered a major defeat at Zuoying, and needing Liu Yi and Lady Jinhua to personally come to their rescue, they entered the talks with their momentum already diminished by thirty percent.

Only a resounding victory could resolve the present predicament. But before Liu Yi could finish formulating his thoughts, Sun Yueyong was the first to object: “My husband has always been wise and valiant, but isn’t this too hasty? Leaving aside how we might achieve such a great victory, what would we do afterward? Zhu Yuanzhang has always eyed us covetously. If we win another decisive battle, I fear Zuoying might not see the dawn.”

Only then did Liu Yi realize he had oversimplified things.

At present, Liu Yi and Zhu Yuanzhang maintained a fragile and delicate balance. It was precisely this precarious equilibrium that allowed Zhu Yuanzhang to tolerate Liu Yi inheriting part of Guo Tianshu and Zhang Tianyou’s legacy. However, once this balance was broken, it would inevitably lead to civil war. Even if the Yuan army stood at the gates, Zhu Yuanzhang would not hesitate to turn his weapons on Liu Yi.

Moreover, though it sounded easy, a major victory was extremely difficult to achieve. Despite his own high prestige, the Chaohu Navy was a patchwork force drawn from various systems, unlike Zhu Yuanzhang’s Zuoying, which he personally built up and led. Tensions ran throughout its ranks, and a single defeat could cause it to collapse.

On this matter, Sun Yueyong’s insight surpassed his own. “Yueyong, you truly are my wise and virtuous wife. I thought you were just a gentle companion with a brush and ink, but now I see you’re my most trusted advisor. It seems we must stick to our old ways: steady and methodical, seeking not total victory, but never defeat.”

Sun Yueyong had feared Liu Yi might act recklessly, regardless of the cost. She hadn’t expected him to accept her advice so readily, changing his mind at once and even praising her effusively. “We’re husband and wife—you needn’t flatter me so. Besides, this strategy of steady advance and seeking not total victory but never defeat was yours in the first place!”

Liu Yi was about to extol her further when a commotion erupted outside, followed by the crackle of firecrackers and the sound of weeping: “Marshal Guo Tianshu has passed!”

“Marshal Guo has fallen in battle!”

“Marshal Guo Tianshu of Chuzhou has died in action!”

One major divergence between the history of this world and that of the alternate past was that Zhao Pusheng had managed to rescue the gravely wounded Guo Tianshu from Hucun. Although Guo Tianshu was barely conscious and unable to speak, the mere fact that he was alive deterred many would-be usurpers from harboring ambitious thoughts.

Guo Tianshu was not a competent commander—neither a founder nor a capable steward—but as long as he lived, he remained the preeminent figure in the Chuzhou Marshal’s Office. The reason Guo Yunyu was able to control the negotiation process was because Guo Tianshu was still alive. Zhu Yuanzhang, to be certain of this, even stationed Li Shanchang at Guo’s side to prevent any mishap.

But neither ginseng nor rice broth could prolong Guo Tianshu’s life for a moment longer. In truth, the final days of this marshal were filled with torment; his passing brought him release.

For some reason, upon news of Guo Tianshu’s death, Liu Yi’s sorrow abruptly evaporated, replaced by a surge of resolve. “This is the Guo family’s legacy. You and I must not let Yunyu grieve any longer!”

That would be no easy task. Over the next few days, Guo Yunyu was nearly drowned in tears, but the Yuan army outside the city gave the Red Turbans of Chuzhou no chance for elaborate mourning. They advanced by land and water, mounting another counterattack.

Previously, the main contest between the two sides was along the Fangshan line between Jiqing Road and the Taiping forces. However, after the Chuzhou Red Turbans suffered a crushing defeat, and with both Marshal Guo Tianshu and Deputy Marshal Zhang Tianyou—the two highest-ranking commanders—killed, Zhu Yuanzhang’s Zuoying lost over four thousand men on the battlefield. Many Green Army units and local gentry who had defected after crossing the river immediately switched allegiances. The Red Turbans found themselves beset on all sides, and the Yuan army’s offensive pressed right up to the walls of Taiping.

Looking out from Taiping’s ramparts, one saw Yuan camps, columns of smoke, banners, and countless siege engines stretching as far as the eye could see. The Mongol commander Haiya’s Yuan navy had become active again, launching frequent attacks and attempting to cut the waterway between Taiping and Chuzhou.

The situation grew increasingly tense. The Zhejiang Provincial Administration in Hangzhou seemed to have thrown all its resources into the fight. The Red Turbans even saw the banners of the “Coastal Ten-Thousand-Household Commandery.”

Despite its name, the “Coastal Ten-Thousand-Household Commandery” was not actually stationed on the coast, but in the remote prefectures of Wuzhou and Chuzhou in eastern Zhejiang. In Wuzhou, it comprised twelve wings of one-thousand households each, and in Chuzhou, a deputy command with seven wings. Now, the Jiang-Zhe administration, exhausting all it had, mobilized all nineteen wings, leaving behind only a few hundred elderly and infirm in Chuzhou, and much the same in Wuzhou.

Were it not for the ongoing conflicts in Fujian, the Jiang-Zhe administration might even have transferred troops from Fujian to support Jiangdong.

As a result, many—including Zhu Yuanzhang—began to question Liu Yi: “Where are Zhang Shicheng’s troops? Where are the forces of Zhu Zong, Wu Hong, and Yu Guang? Where is Fang Guozhen? If Marshal Liu hadn’t crossed the river to besiege Jiqing, we might have already taken Jiqing and all of Jiangdong.”

Previously, Liu Yi had predicted the Jiangdong campaign with great confidence, believing that once the Chuzhou Red Turbans crossed the Yangtze and threatened Jiqing, Zhang Shicheng in the north and Zhu Zong and Wu Hong in Jiangxi would follow their lead into Jiangdong.

But reality proved otherwise. Fang Guozhen, along the eastern coast, seemed content after being granted amnesty. Zhu Zong and Wu Hong, as Red Turban commanders under the Xu-Song White Lotus banner, had always been eager to campaign in Jiang-Zhe, but now found themselves powerless. Most surprising of all was Zhang Shicheng, who, after defeating Tuo Tuo’s four hundred thousand Yuan troops at Gaoyou the previous year, had accepted Yuan amnesty and remained in Gaoyou, living in comfort and content to be a wealthy landowner.

Though everyone cursed Fang Guozhen and Zhang Shicheng as hopeless incompetents, their ire also fell upon Liu Yi, blaming his poor judgment. At a recent council of war, Liu Yi brought up the matter himself: “I hear everyone outside is cursing Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen.”