HCT – Chapter 239 After the Clouds Part, the Sun Finally Appears

The King of Qi did not maintain his military forces well, yet the local armed strength was not weak. The people of the Qi–Lu region had always been naturally fierce; even though later generations grew soft, some of that ferocity still remained.

The arrival of Fuqiu and Meng Tian merely allowed Li Mu to catch his breath and reopen the waterway from Linzi to the sea, ensuring that when he could no longer hold on, he could retreat at once.

Fuqiu sighed. “General, you’ve worked hard.”

Li Mu gave a bitter smile.

Meng Tian, however, was eager for action and asked for permission to go out of the city to face Qi’s commanders.

Li Mu said, “If you want to fight a field battle outside the walls, go anytime you like. Qi has no real generals. They’re only relying on overwhelming numbers to encircle us, hoping to trap us in Linzi.”

Meng Tian was stunned—not no famous generals, but no generals at all? Lord Wu Cheng’s evaluation of Qi was far too low.

He finally understood why, even after falling into such a disadvantage, Lord Wu Cheng still refused to retreat. Qi’s combat strength was simply too poor.

Lord Wu Cheng believed that if he endured through this crisis, he could crush Qi in one decisive blow, and he was unwilling to give up such a good opportunity.

If they could hold on until Qin reinforcements arrived, then instead of “Qi besieging Li Mu,” it would become “Li Mu using himself as bait to pull in the Qi army and beat them all together.”

Anyone who could be regarded as a true general always had some gambler’s blood in their bones.

Meng Tian became even more excited. “General, shall I be the one to lead the sortie tomorrow?”

Li Mu replied, “Very well.”

With the provisions brought by Fuqiu and Meng Tian, they could hold on for another month. Li Mu thought that a month should be enough time for Qin to force a passage through Chu and reach Qi from the south.

He wondered who the King of Qin would send. Li Mu guessed that Wang Jian was the most likely—Wang Jian cooperated with him best.

When it came to predicting what a rational person would do, Li Mu rarely made mistakes.

By the time Meng Tian and Fuqiu reached Linzi, Wang Jian had already taken command of the Southern Qin army and was marching north at top speed.

Just as Zhu Xiang had predicted, the land between the Huai River and the Yellow River—ravaged by floods and locust plagues—had become almost a barren wilderness. There were walled cities, but to guard against starving refugees, most gates remained tightly shut.  Few people were seen on the roads.

Wang Jian ignored the Chu cities along the route and headed straight toward Qi. No one obstructed him; only small groups of Chu scouts came to investigate.

Although Wang Jian did not attack any city, the Chu people were extremely nervous and immediately petitioned their king for aid.

By the time Wang Jian reached Qi territory, the King of Chu had received the plea for help.

After asking his uncle Li Yuan, even Li Yuan began to panic a little and urged Xiang Yan to return at once.

Xiang Yan abandoned his own fief and attacked Qin with ferocity, hoping to earn himself a lordship. Lian Po was too hard to crack, so he ordered his troops to bypass Lian Po and attack other Qin territories, heading straight for Hangu Pass. As long as he reached Hangu Pass—even without taking it—the achievement of pressing against the pass would be enough to earn him a fiefdom.

But at this moment, the King of Chu was summoning him back.

Xiang Yan nearly drew his sword and killed the envoy on the spot from sheer rage.

This time he truly felt himself breaking down.

If the King of Chu wanted him to return to defend his fief, he should have ordered it when Qin first attacked it.

If the King of Chu was determined to fight Qin to the death, then he should have let Xiang Yan continue his offensive.

When Qin attacked his fief, the king forbade him from returning, and only after the fief was destroyed did he suddenly call Xiang Yan back.

Anyone who saw this would think the King of Chu was deliberately targeting him!

Then Xiang Yan received an even more devastating blow.

Worried that the King of Chu would hide the truth from Xiang Yan, Wang Jian purposely released some of the Xiang clan’s retainers so they could find Xiang Yan and relay the true situation:

The King of Chu had not sent any reinforcements to defend Xiang Yan’s fief, nor had he resettled Xiang Yan’s clan as the royal edict had claimed. After the Xiang clan’s territory fell, aside from Xiang Yan’s wife and children who were in the capital Chen, almost all members of the Xiang clan remaining in the fief were captured by the Qin.

The Xiang clan had nearly been wiped out.

Darkness overtook Xiang Yan’s eyes, and he fainted.

When he awoke, he dismissed everyone and sat alone in his tent for a long time. Half a day later, he summoned his officers.

“After Southern Chu was destroyed, Prince Qi fled to Wei,” he said.

Xiang Yan issued no explicit order, but his officers already knew what he intended. Nearly all the elite troops under Xiang Yan were his private soldiers; he had absolute control over them. Even the commanders who were not originally his household generals were furious at Li Yuan’s actions and willing to support Xiang Yan.

Xiang Yan had always been loyal to the King of Chu and was the kingdom’s only capable general. What madness drove the king to target Xiang Yan? How could such a king possibly lead Chu to survive under Qin’s pressure?

Prince Qi had to be brought back.

Some generals sighed inwardly. If only General Xiang had done this earlier. If he had supported Lord Chunshen and Crown Prince Qi from the beginning and eliminated Li Yuan, the King of Chu would never have replaced the crown prince. With Prince Qi as king, Lord Chunshen as chancellor, and Xiang Yan as grand general—what would Chu have to fear from Qin?

Now nearly all the “sheep” had already run off. Would repairing the pen do any good?

Perhaps it was still better than doing nothing.

The Qi army finally received the king’s orders and hurried back to rescue him; the Chu army circled through Wei, retrieved Prince Qi at Daliang, and returned home to fight for the throne.

Now only Wei, Zhao, and Yan remained on the battlefield.

As the Chu army withdrew, Lian Po immediately marched out of the city to attack Wei. The Crown Prince of Wei begged the Chu army for help, but they were in a rush to escort Prince Qi home and ignored him, bypassing the Qin forces and leaving.

The Wei prince was close to tears and quickly recalled all Wei troops to save Daliang.

Yan, meanwhile, looked away for just a moment—and suddenly the battlefield had only them and Zhao left. The King of Yan had not even issued orders yet when the Yan generals immediately ordered a retreat.

King Yan’s forces had been repeatedly extorted and bullied by Zhao King Yan (Zhao Wang Yan). How could the Yan army possibly trust the Zhao army?

Now three of the five allied states had withdrawn. The coalition had effectively collapsed.

The Yan army retreated faster than they had advanced, desperately wishing they could grow wings and fly back home, just to leave the Zhao army alone on the battlefield so Qin could beat them senseless.

Though the Yan people knew rationally that Qin was their true existential threat, emotionally they hated Zhao more.

Pang Nuan could only retreat helplessly. But before leaving, he seized several Qi cities that Zhao had long coveted—at least he did not return empty-handed.

Zhao King Yan was ecstatic. All his strategic goals had been achieved:

Most of Zhao’s starving population had died,
the epidemic had now spread into Qin,
all the generals who survived Changping and might have favored Zhu Xiang or Lian Po had been sent to their deaths,
and Zhao had seized several Qi cities, expanding its territory.

Zhao King Yan praised Guo Kai to the skies. If Guo Kai’s background hadn’t been so low and the Zhao royal clan hadn’t objected fiercely, he would have granted Guo Kai a fief.

Zhao King Yan felt that outwardly he was Zhao Wuling King, and inwardly Zhao Huiwen King—truly the most formidable king Zhao had ever seen.

Guo Kai and his lackeys chorused their praises, blowing Zhao King Yan up to heaven itself.

Then, Guo Kai quietly spread the word that this military operation had another hidden purpose—cleansing the old generals who had experienced the Battle of Changping.

Zhao King Yan feared the influence Zhu Xiang, Lian Po, and Li Mu held over Zhao. So he first forced the Yanmen commander to his death, then sent the Changping veterans to die as well.

Next, he would target the Zhao generals who had once served under Lian Po.

Lian Po had commanded in Zhao for many years. Almost all mid-level Zhao officers who were born and raised in Zhao had served under him at some point.

Although that wasn’t enough to ensure loyalty to Lian Po—on the battlefield, everyone simply fought as they should, just like the Changping veterans attacking Changping county this time—once Guo Kai spread the rumors, the mid-level Zhao officers who had served under Lian Po all felt uneasy.

They knew they had nothing to do with Lian Po, but the king might not think so.

This was like opening a blind loot box—no one knew who might get picked next.

Thus, mid-level Zhao officers were all anxious, and many began considering escape.

Lian Po and Li Mu were doing very well in Qin. If they defected to join them, perhaps they could even earn merits during Qin’s unification of the realm.

Zhao King Yan was stingy, unkind, suspicious, and cruel. Seeing what happened to the Changping veterans, their hearts turned cold.

In Zhao King Yan’s eyes, however, his reign now shone brilliantly, like oil boiling over roaring flames.

But beneath that flare of brilliance were undercurrents he could not see.

By the time the autumn harvest in Guanzhong and east of the passes arrived, all warfare along Qin’s borders had ended.

While besieging Daliang, Lian Po also opened the route toward Qi. If Qi fell, Qin administration could directly reach the state.

Wang Jian and Li Mu had joined forces to lift the siege of Linzi and were now sweeping through Qi’s remaining cities one by one.

King Zichu returned to Xianyang, but Zhu Xiang headed to the border.

This war, with the allied forces of five states sweeping through like locusts, had devastated the borderlands. Agriculture had nearly halted, and disease was rampant.

Though King Zichu and Crown Prince Zheng both opposed it, Zhu Xiang still traveled to the frontier to oversee the restoration of production.

He arrived at Changping and learned what had happened in the siege.

News from Zhao also reached him—Zhao King Yan had deliberately sent the Changping veterans to their deaths.

Changping had suffered enormous losses this time.

Zhu Xiang sat on a smooth boulder outside the city, staring blankly at the battlefield of the past.

He sat for a long time, like a stone statue.

Crown Prince Zheng worried for his uncle. After King Zichu returned to Xianyang, he had urged his horse forward and rushed to find Zhu Xiang.

After arriving in Changping and learning his whereabouts, he galloped over.

“Uncle, are you alright?” The prince dismounted, eyebrows drawn together. “Don’t be angry. When I destroy Zhao, I’ll drag the Zhao King here to Changping to offer sacrifice to them!”

Zhu Xiang returned to himself, looked up at him, and beckoned him over.

Obediently, the prince sat beside him.

Zhu Xiang looked at his nephew and sighed with regret. “If only Zheng’er were still a child—then I could hold you in my arms and rub your face. So healing.”

Prince Zheng: “…”

Zhu Xiang chuckled, shook his shoulders, stretched his stiff body, and said, “Hurry up and have a chubby child for your uncle to raise.”

“Huh?” The prince didn’t understand why his uncle suddenly said this.

But he did have good news. “Someone in my harem is pregnant.”

Zhu Xiang lit up. “Really? Boy or girl? Ah, both are good! Do you have a name?”

The prince said, “It’s not born yet. How would I know if it’s a boy or girl?”

Though inwardly he guessed it should be a boy.

The pregnant woman was Fusu’s future mother, a lady of the Mi clan.

Lady Mi came from the same clan as Empress Dowager Huayang. It was natural for her to be chosen for the harem. But because of Zheng’s complicated feelings toward Fusu and the Mi clan from his dreams, he seldom visited her residence.

Yet as if fate ordained it, the women he favored never conceived, while Lady Mi—with whom he had rarely shared a bed—became pregnant.

That child would likely be Fusu.

Seeing how eagerly Fusu had rushed to become his son in the dream, Crown Prince Zheng felt his resentment toward that “unfilial child” loosen.

It was fine. He’d simply hand Fusu over for his uncle and aunt to raise. Let’s see if he could still defy him then.

Actually, Fusu wasn’t bad—just unlike him.

Fusu was brave, benevolent, and righteous, caring deeply for others—completely out of tune with Qin’s atmosphere.

A bit like Lord Xinling.

If Fusu ended up with that sort of personality, his uncle would certainly like him.

The prince said, “Uncle, hurry back. Don’t you want to see your grandchild born with your own eyes?”

He considered himself his uncle’s adoptive son, so naturally his child would be his uncle’s grandchild.

He was his uncle’s only blood relative.

Zhu Xiang replied, “Alright. After I finish arranging the relief work, I’ll go back.”

He took one more look at the battlefield of Changping, then withdrew his gaze and walked away with the prince, steps firm.

Though the Qin border had suffered greatly, the rest of Qin enjoyed a bountiful harvest, allowing border residents enough paid labor opportunities to support their families—better even than last year.

As for disease—those who died were simply counted as gone. There was “no epidemic” anymore.

After three years of natural disasters, Qin finally had favorable weather.

King Zichu once again offered sacrifices to Heaven, Earth, and especially the ancestors, informing them that Qin had survived the calamities.

As promised, Zhu Xiang brought him the good news of bumper harvests across Guanzhong and the east.

When winter arrived, a messenger from Li Mu delivered news that the forces resisting in Qi had been almost entirely eliminated—Qin could finally proclaim the fall of Qi.

Unfortunately, due to food shortages, after opening the route to Qi, Lian Po lifted the siege on Daliang, giving Wei a chance to breathe.

Coincidentally, Wei’s king died, and the state entered mourning. King Zichu shamelessly claimed he withdrew because of Wei’s mourning.

“I, a benevolent ruler, uphold propriety and do not strike the vulnerable.”

Zhu Xiang mocked him until even he started believing what he said.

King Zichu cheerfully patted Crown Prince Zheng’s shoulder. “Zheng’er, although you will become Qin Shihuang, won’t people say you took advantage of all I did for you?”

Prince Zheng stared dead-eyed. “Let them say what they want.”

King Zichu laughed until he coughed uncontrollably.

Zhu Xiang hurriedly helped him drink water.

“When is your child being born? If it takes too long, I won’t be around to see it.” King Zichu laughed.

After Qin survived the crisis, the breath he had been holding finally relaxed—and he immediately fell ill.

Given the harshness of winter and the severity of his sickness, the imperial physicians told him gently that he likely wouldn’t live to next year.

Lowering his head, the prince said, “Please endure a few more months, Father. At least until the first month, so you can celebrate my birthday. You’ve never properly celebrated it for me.”

King Zichu said, “That’s true. Since you became Crown Prince, I haven’t celebrated your birthday. I’ll try to hold on.”

He said so, though everyone knew this wasn’t something human will could determine.

But Zhu Xiang believed in Xia Tong.

Winter was a time when all living things rested. After a year of toil, Zhu Xiang finally had time to help care for Zichu.

Zichu had stopped all strong medicines, taking only those that eased his symptoms.

After coughing for so long, his mouth tasted unbearably bitter.

Zhu Xiang prepared the earthen oven and once again experimented carefully with making desserts.

Qin, living alongside the northern nomads, had abundant cattle and sheep, and thus abundant dairy. Zhu Xiang finally managed to produce cream and butter—and made Zichu a cream cake.

Zichu ate happily, then smeared cream on Crown Prince Zheng’s face when he tried to sneak a bite. Instinctively, he mastered the true use of cream.