The Qin Family Army and the Zhou Family Army used to be evenly matched in strength. Now, after more than ten years of resting and training, their combat power had likely grown even stronger.
But what if the Qin Family Army got pinned down by the Chao Kingdom?
Then who would they count on to fight those joint forces?
The Imperial Guard in the capital?
But how many men did those Imperial Guards even have? And they were the Emperor's personal guards—their primary duty was to protect the palace and the capital.
Back in the day, the Zhou Family Army routed the armies of Da Yuan, Northern Qi, and several other kingdoms so badly that they chased them right to their doorstep and nearly overturned their dens. If those rulers hadn't submitted their surrender fast enough, and if the previous-previous emperor hadn't been such a muddled fool, and if the years of war hadn't truly left the people "with no means to make a living," Da Xia would never have withdrawn its troops. Those kingdoms would have been completely wiped out by the Zhou Family Army long ago—there was no way they would still be causing trouble at the border today.
But the old emperor, knowing perfectly well that Da Xia was a prime target in the eyes of neighboring kingdoms, still favored scholars over generals. Maybe he thought that even though the Zhou Family Army was gone, their fearsome name alone was still enough to scare off petty enemies. Or maybe he honestly believed the Zhou Family Army hadn't been all that formidable to begin with—and that those small kingdoms only got pushed back to their own borders because they were too weak to pose any real threat. Either way, because of this mindset, Da Xia had produced barely a handful of notable military commanders over the past several decades.
That said, the previous emperor must have considered the possibility of those kingdoms joining forces, because as a precaution, he arranged a marriage alliance with Northern Mang.
Throughout history, truly great generals are rare. If you look back, how many military commanders are still remembered today?
Very few. Why? Because leaders who can command vast armies and fight with genuine courage are extraordinarily hard to find.
The military is not like the literary arts, where you can just theorize on paper.
The northwest was relatively barren, and the imperial treasury wasn't well-funded, so there was simply no money to support large-scale military drills. With limited resources, a lack of strong leadership, and constant harassment from neighboring small kingdoms, the Northwestern Army never got proper training. As a result, their combat readiness was poor and their fighting capability was weak.
Are these kingdoms doing this on purpose?
Fang Zichen was terrified by his own thoughts. Maybe it was because he and his mom had watched too much Empresses in the Palace back in the day and gotten poisoned by it—now he could see conspiracies and schemes in everything. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became, and he couldn't sleep a wink all night.
Damn it. He'd only come to Hezhou to put in his time and go back. But now he'd been here nearly a year, and to be worthy of that meager monthly salary, he'd kept himself busy, diligently doing his duty. Only now did he realize he'd been far too careless from the start.
Maybe he should never have come. If he'd stayed in the capital, even if Da Yuan attacked, it wouldn't have been his problem—when the disaster came, the big shots would handle it—it wasn't his problem. But now? He was only one prefecture away from those small kingdoms.
If what Lin Xiaoxia said was true—that they started planning this four years ago—then they won't hold out much longer. War is probably coming soon.
Because once word gets out, the moment the Qin family catches wind of even unconfirmed rumors, they'll start deploying and preparing regardless of whether it's true or not.
There's been no major movement yet, so the Qin family must be staying on guard while investigating the truth. But as long as the intelligence remains unverified, their readiness will be "loose"—they can't enforce the highest level of alert. Because if maximum alert is declared, merchants from both kingdoms won't be able to cross the border, and a lot of people would lose their livelihoods.
Chao Kingdom has a similar geographic position to Da Xia—both are flanked by other kingdoms. Who knows whether their troop build-up is meant to attack us or someone else?
And hey, maybe they're just building an imperial mausoleum?
Back in the day, Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum was as grand as a major city. If the Chao emperor wants to build a large-scale tomb, he'd definitely need to conscript a huge number of laborers.
[Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇): the founder of the first unified Chinese empire in 221 BC, who standardized writing, weights, measures, and currency, built the Great Wall, and was buried with the famous Terracotta Army]
Still, large-scale conscription and grain stockpiling will cause a lot of commotion. No matter how well it's hidden, you can hide it for a while, but not forever.
Given enough time, people will figure out who you're planning to hit.
The key is to catch the enemy off guard. So Chao Kingdom probably won't wait too long.
The Qin family is a tough bone to chew—hard to crack—so that campaign will take time. And meanwhile, to prevent the Northwestern Army from sending reinforcements, the small states around the northwest will certainly stir up some trouble to pin them down.
Right now, they fight a skirmish now and then. If those clashes start happening more frequently, we'll know whether those petty states have joined forces.
If they really have allied, then when the Qin Family Army and Chao Kingdom have worn each other down to "mutual ruin," those northwestern minor kingdoms will likely launch a full-scale offensive.
Fang Zichen thought it over, couldn't sleep, got up, and wrote a letter to Xia Jinghong.
This was a matter of grave importance, so Fang Zichen finally decided not to skimp on silver. But if he sent the letter the same way as last time, it would take forever to reach the capital—by then, the "cabbage would be cold." In the end, he had it personally delivered by one of the Imperial Guards.
They still needed to recruit more troops.
But the total troop count for a single prefecture was capped at around ten thousand at most. Constantly recruiting soldiers and buying horses could easily raise suspicion of rebellion—so this had to be reported up the chain of command. Only if Xia Jinghong approved could he recruit openly. If not, he'd just quietly recruit ten thousand men on his own—and when the enemy did attack, it wouldn't be his fault. Then again, maybe he was just overthinking everything, suffering from paranoid delusions!
After all, Chao Kingdom and Da Yuan were separated by Da Xia—one in the south, one in the north. They were far apart!
---
The Liu family's arrival always made the household lively. Guaizai was the happiest of all. As soon as he finished his practice sheets, he'd drag Liuliu out to play. Whether it was riding the "drop tower" he'd made, playing with the spinning tops Fang Zichen had newly crafted for him, or zipping around on his bicycle, he was in constant motion. The village roads were still dirt paths—bumpy and potholed, not great for riding—so the children would take the bicycle over to the cement road. Downhill all the way—it felt like flying.
Back in the capital, Guaizai had gotten bored of bicycle riding long ago, but since coming to Hezhou, he hadn't touched his bicycle at all—he'd been too busy following Fang Zichen and Zhao Ger around. Now he'd fallen in love with it all over again. Some of the village children he'd befriended tagged along too, and a whole bunch of them gathered on the cement-paved open area in front of the paper mill, chattering and playing together beautifully.
Guaizai had the most toys—and his were the newest and most novel, too. The little girls and gers were too timid to ride the bicycles, so Guaizai handed out his paintbrushes, building blocks, scooters, and wobble cars for them to play with instead.
The little friends were thrilled—they'd never seen anything so fun before.
The wobble cars actually belonged to Gungun and Dandan, but they didn't mind the other children using them. The others hopped and danced alongside, perfectly happy just to be part of the lively crowd.
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