HCT – Chapter 184 Guangling and the Zhengguo Canal

Guangling was the area that would later become Yangzhou, originally inhabited by the Han-Yue, a branch of the Baiyue.

Back when Wu was powerful, they dug a man-made canal between the Huai River and the Yangtze, known as the Han Canal—later incorporated into the Grand Canal of the Sui dynasty.

The Grand Canal of the Sui wasn’t built in one stroke; it was formed by linking together the ancient canals that had been dug since the Spring and Autumn period, with routes that twisted and turned. The straight Beijing–Hangzhou Grand Canal of later generations was rebuilt under the Yuan dynasty.

During the Tang, Yangzhou flourished along the Grand Canal and became the famed “Yangzhou in March, filled with blossoms and beauty.”

But now, although Guangling had seen some development, its prosperity was far from what it would be in later ages.

Originally, in history, once Lord Chunshen was enfeoffed in Jiangdong, he would further develop places like Suzhou (the old Wu city) and Yangzhou (Jinling).

Now, however, this burden fell on Qin—and onto Zhu Xiang’s shoulders.

Because it had long fallen into disrepair, the Han Canal was already in ruins. Not only did it fail to serve transport or irrigation purposes, it even caused frequent flooding.

But since the canal’s upper reaches lay within Chu territory, Zhu Xiang had no way of repairing it for the time being. His only option was to dig another channel to divert water whenever the Chu tried to use floods as a weapon, so that the city and farmland wouldn’t be submerged, wasting half a year’s hard work.

After Zhu Xiang decided to go to Guangling, Li Mu sighed: “Fine, I won’t try to stop you. But you must promise me this: if the Chu attack Guangling, you abandon the city and leave. Whether Guangling holds or surrenders is none of your concern.”

Zhu Xiang immediately said: “I promise! Do I look like someone who knows how to lead troops? I’ll certainly not make trouble for the generals defending the city.”

Li Mu knew Zhu Xiang disliked war and was self-aware enough, so he agreed to let him go to Guangling.

Besides, Chu was in chaos right now, and Qin held the advantage with its navy. The King of Chu shouldn’t be foolish enough to attack Guangling, only to waste his soldiers’ lives.

As for Zhu Xiang farming there, if Chu troops came and plundered the harvest—well, that was fine too.

From a military strategist’s point of view, Li Mu thought: let them rob it.

A single region’s harvest wasn’t much. What southern Qin lacked wasn’t grain, but people.

If Lord Changping went to farm north of the Yangtze, and the Chu army came to burn and loot those crops planted for the commoners, Wu Commandery would gain many refugees.

Then, when Li Mu led Qin’s iron cavalry into Chu territory, the Chu people’s resistance would be far weaker.

Zhu Xiang wasn’t one to stay idle—he came to southern Qin to work and build. Li Mu wouldn’t stop him from establishing merit over a bit of danger.

Actually, if Zhu Xiang were to go north of the Yangtze alone, Li Mu might worry that he’d suddenly be swept up in hot-blooded zeal and do something reckless.

But since he was taking Xue Ji with him, Li Mu knew how much she meant to Zhu Xiang—he wouldn’t drag her into danger.

Ying Zheng kept winking at Li Mu until his eyelids cramped, but Li Mu just agreed outright.

Ying Zheng was so furious his hair nearly stood on end.

Once again, he felt how useless the title of Crown Prince was—he could order no one. He wished he could overthrow his father right then and ascend the throne!

But then it hit him: even if he ascended now, he wouldn’t be able to govern personally—his uncle would still hold power as regent. That thought quickly died.

“You act like it doesn’t matter! You’d better take care of Aunt’s safety!” Ying Zheng snapped. “Always running off to dangerous places—what face do you have left to scold Father?”

Zhu Xiang tugged on the soft flesh of Ying Zheng’s cheek and said: “Alright, alright—your uncle and aunt will both return safely.”

Ying Zheng gave a cold snort but didn’t resist, letting his uncle pinch his face.

Li Mu said: “Lord Lian seized a group of craftsmen from Han and sent them to you. I’ve tried them out—they’re quite skilled. Take them along.”

Li Mu knew that Zhu Xiang, once in Guangling, would surely work on irrigation projects, so he had already chosen capable men for him.

Zhu Xiang let go of Ying Zheng’s face. “Alright.”

Ying Zheng rubbed his cheek and added: “Take Li Si and Han Fei with you.”

Zhu Xiang chuckled: “No, you keep them. Wu Commandery has more matters than Guangling. I’ll just take Fuqiu with me.”

Ying Zheng retorted: “Take them. Otherwise, take me.”

Zhu Xiang replied: “No one’s coming. I’m your uncle, and you haven’t even reached adulthood yet—you must listen to me.”

Ying Zheng was so angry, he wanted to usurp the Qin throne all over again.

Li Mu said: “Take Meng Tian with you. I’ll give Meng Wu a thousand soldiers under your command—they can dig canals, fight, and serve as your guards.”

Zhu Xiang agreed crisply, “That’s good! I’ll take him!”

Ying Zheng got angry again. When the teacher gives someone, you accept it right away, but when I give someone, you look down on them? Hmph! Just wait—when I become King of Qin, I’ll send Uncle a hundred thousand convicts. Then you can build whatever you like, humph!

Zhu Xiang reached out and scraped Ying Zheng’s nose with his finger, scolding him playfully: “Why are you pouting again? Get angry too much and you’ll get sick. If you fall ill from sulking, wouldn’t Uncle have a lifetime of teasing material? ‘Oh, that Xiaozheng, so narrow-minded he made himself sick from anger!’”

Xue Ji covered her mouth and laughed. “If you don’t want Zheng’er to get sick, then stop provoking him so much.”

Ying Zheng nodded vigorously. Exactly, exactly! Isn’t my anger all your fault, Uncle?

Beside them, Li Si and Han Fei both looked at Fuqiu with suspicion in their eyes.

Fuqiu is going to assist Lord Zhu Xiang? Can he even handle that?

Fuqiu had originally been nervous, worried that he wouldn’t do a good job supporting Lord Zhu Xiang, and was about to decline.

But when he caught sight of Li Si and Han Fei’s identical skeptical expressions, indignation rose in his chest.

What’s with those looks from these two traitors of the Confucian school? Are they looking down on me?

He had to fight for this. He absolutely couldn’t back down. He couldn’t lose to a pair of Confucian traitors!

Straightening his chest, Fuqiu shot Li Si and Han Fei a firm look that said, I’m perfectly capable.

Li Si and Han Fei’s suspicion only deepened.

To them, Fuqiu’s expression just looked… not very clever. Is he really up to the task? As far as we know, no Confucian disciple has ever been especially good at practical affairs. He might not be cut out for this…

Fortunately, the two of them only exchanged looks and didn’t voice their thoughts aloud. Otherwise, their superficial harmony with Fuqiu would have shattered instantly.

After assigning his troops, Li Mu escorted Zhu Xiang to Guangling City, then continued further south.

Zhu Xiang couldn’t sit still, and neither could he.

After the truce with Chu, Wang Jian was able to settle down to business and drilling the Qin army. But Li Mu, who had grown up learning from his father’s style of training soldiers, had always used direct combat practice: taking cavalry to the grasslands to fight for real. To ask him to be as calm as Wang Jian was impossible.

So, every now and then, Li Mu would lead naval forces southward for a sweep, clashing with the tribes of Nanyue or the pirates of the southern seas.

Sometimes he even led cavalry across Yue’s mountain ranges to hunt down bandits in the highlands, just to keep his riders sharp.

Luckily, sea trade provided enough wealth for Li Mu to squander. Otherwise, if he had to ask the King of Qin directly for support, Qin King Zichu would probably scold him to death.

Uncle and Aunt left Ying Zheng behind and crossed the Yangtze to Guangling. But Ying Zheng didn’t spend long sulking—he threw himself completely into work.

He had always been a workaholic. Even as a child, when he toddled around, he was already fiddling with an abacus. Now that his uncle wasn’t watching him, he was like a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar (work)—completely immersed, with no desire to climb back out.

Zhu Xiang had predicted this. He left attendants behind to supervise him, reminding him to sleep on schedule. If Ying Zheng refused, they would record it and report back to Zhu Xiang and Xue Ji upon their return.

Ying Zheng cursed under his breath, calling his uncle a usurping minister who dared to supervise the crown prince’s every move.

Han Fei asked, “So… does His Highness actually rest?”

Ying Zheng threw down his brush and stormed off to take a nap.

Though he said he didn’t want to, his ingrained body clock made him fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Well fed and well rested, it was no wonder Ying Zheng was growing like a weed, taller and sturdier than other noble sons his age.

Han Fei muttered to Li Si, “Why is His Highness always angry since he came back? Is this what Lord Zhu Xiang meant by… adolescence?”

Li Si quickly clamped a hand over Han Fei’s mouth. “Shut up! You’re not Lord Zhu Xiang—how dare you criticize the Crown Prince?”

Han Fei spread his hands helplessly. Didn’t I only say it after he fell asleep?

…

For the first time, Li Mu gave Meng Tian an independent assignment. The young general was so excited that when he came to see Zhu Xiang, he was clad head-to-toe in armor—earning himself a good round of teasing.

While Meng Tian took charge of the soldiers, Zhu Xiang only glanced through the roster of accompanying craftsmen.

Most of them had commoner-style, casual names, not many with proper surnames. But as his eyes swept the list, Zhu Xiang froze at one name.

“Zheng Guo?” His voice trembled slightly.

Xue Ji asked, “What’s wrong with this man?”

Zhu Xiang grinned. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing wrong.”

Oh my, dear Lord Lian—you’re brilliant at catching people! Zheng Guo, a craftsman with a proper name, clearly belonged to the Han royal clan. Where on earth did you manage to nab him?

He hadn’t seen Lord Lian this trip back. Lord Lian lived as though the military camp was his true home, acting as if he didn’t miss Zhu Xiang at all and had no reason to visit him.

But this proved he did think of me.

Tracing his fingers over the two characters “Zheng Guo,” Zhu Xiang’s eyes curved into a smile, resembling those moments when he laughed sincerely with Ying Zheng.

Now that Zheng Guo was here, could the Zhengguo Canal be far behind? Once he had Zheng Guo build a canal in Guangling, he would then recommend him to Xia Tong and have him build the Zhengguo Canal in Guanzhong!

But that canal stretched over three hundred li, and many laborers and convicts would surely die during construction.

Zhu Xiang sighed inwardly, suppressing his unease.

Still, once completed, the Zhengguo Canal could irrigate more than forty thousand qing of Guanzhong farmland. More people would survive thanks to it than would perish building it. It was a necessary tradeoff, like the Dujiangyan system—something that must be done.

Once the Guangling canal was in use, he would recommend Zheng Guo to Xia Tong. With Qin’s current wealth, constructing the canal should be easier than it had been in King Zheng’s time in history.

Zhu Xiang ordered his attendants, “Bring Zheng Guo here. I want to discuss the matter of canal construction with him.”