54. Whose Surrender Memorial is Better Crafted

It turned out that the imperial court's actions were not solely because the summer grain had been successfully stored in the granaries, providing both food and funds to wage war. It was also because they had learned that Kublai Khan had resolved to annihilate the Song dynasty in a single decisive campaign, having already ordered Bayan to command tens of thousands of Mongol and Han troops to march south.

Between the Song and the Mongol empires, there were actually quite a few "underground operatives." After all, the northern Han people—or, to use a term more fitting for the era, the considerable population of northern "Jurchen and Khitan subjects"—harored a deep, irreconcilable hatred for the Mongols and intended to rely on the power of the Southern Song to resist the Mongol armies. A large number of surrendered northerners served in the Southern Song administration. Inevitably, some of these individuals naturally mingled among the southward-fleeing defectors.

The situation in the north was much the same. Because of the indiscriminate massacres and exterminations the Mongols inflicted on various ethnic groups during their southward advance, their rule in the Central Plains was far from stable.

Of course, once Kublai Khan, accompanied by the Han warlords, made a ferocious incursion into Karakorum and wiped out the Khan's personal Keshik guards, the degree of Sinicization in the Yuan imperial court deepened significantly. Their rule in the Central Plains then found reliable allies and vested interest groups, beginning to stabilize gradually.

Prior to this, however, many people in the north had maintained clandestine communications with the Southern Song. Not just a single prefecture or county, but entire provinces and circuits would secretly conspire with the Southern Song.

All in all, someone had tipped off the Song dynasty that Bayan was leading the massive Mongol-Han army south, and it was expected to happen at any moment.

No wonder the imperial court was in such a panic, hastily recruiting the brave warriors of the Huai River region, selecting elite imperial guards, and racing day and night toward Ezhou.

"Let them come, then," Zhang Xun exclaimed aloud in initial shock. After thinking it through, however, he realized this did not seem to pose any insurmountable problem. They had long been bracing for Bayan's arrival; a day earlier or later made no real difference.

Wang Anjie had not run over to terrify Zhang Xun, but merely to deliver the news. Zhang Xun's reputation had spread throughout the upper and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and even at the temporary imperial capital, he was well-known.

Moreover, since Zhang Xun had helped out his younger brother Wang Xiaojie, it was only proper to let Zhang Xun prepare in advance. Regardless of whether the flames of war actually reached Changzhou, this intelligence was valuable.

After seeing the two Wang brothers out the door, Zhang Xun turned right back and began to conceptualize a memorial of surrender.

When he picked up the brush, however, he suddenly remembered that he seemed to lack this sort of "superior" talent. How was he supposed to weave together his concern for the people's safety, his endurance of humiliation, and his wretched clinging to life, crafting a tone that made surrender appear an absolute necessity?

It is truly when one puts brush to paper that one regrets having read too few books. What was to be done? Should he go rummaging through his elder brother's study to see if there were any historical surrender memorials he could plagiarize?

On second thought, his elder brother Zhang Cheng was a man of lofty and heroic spirit. Let alone surrendering, he would rather be captured than yield. If he heard that the Mongols had broken into Changzhou, he would undoubtedly hang himself.

The only reason he wouldn't jump into the water is because he knew how to swim. Zhang Xun had learned to swim as a child from this very same cheap older brother. Hailing from Jiangdong, handling boats and swimming were the most basic of skills.

"Chujiu, Chujiu!" Zhang Xun suddenly remembered and shouted toward the outside.

"Coming, coming, coming!" Chujiu, who had been on guard in the corridor, immediately responded and ran to the outer doorway.

"Go into the city right now and ask if there are any prefectural students surnamed Kong," Zhang Xun subconsciously instructed Chujiu.

His mind had immediately jumped to this because the Kong family was far too famous for their "generations of writing surrender memorials." But the moment the words left his mouth, Zhang Xun regretted them. Was this the kind of matter one could just go around asking people about?

If word got out right now that he was planning to write a surrender memorial, the Southern Song imperial court would simply waste no time in lopping off his head.

"Forget it, forget it, come back. Don't go asking." Chujiu had already turned and dashed off to obey the order, but Zhang Xun called him back.

"What is all this about? Look at how you're bossing Chujiu around like a spinning top," Li Rang said as he walked in from outside, just in time to see Chujiu spinning in the corridor.

"Ah, just asking when the prefectural imperial examinations are being held this year," Zhang Xun immediately fabricated an excuse.

"Soon, sometime next month. First, take a look at this." The prefectural exams concerned whether Li Rang would be qualified to participate in the provincial examinations next year, but Li Rang himself did not seem particularly invested in it.

"Hmm?" Accepting the letter, Zhang Xun saw it was from Li Zhu.

Upon careful calculation, Li Zhu had left Wuxi more than half a year ago. At this time, the Yangtze River waterway was still in the hands of the Song army, and the Mongol forces had not yet broken through the Han River estuary to force their way into the Yangtze. Therefore, news from Chongqing could still be swiftly delivered to Changzhou. Once the Mongol army crossed the river, sending anything back would become exceedingly difficult.

Let's see what the matter was. After rapidly reading through it once, Zhang Xun understood the situation completely. Li Zhu had audited all the official documents of the entire commandery, and through successive visits and investigations, he had arrived at a chilling figure.

At present, within the Sichuan territory under the administration of the Song court, there were fewer than eight hundred thousand people, and able-bodied men numbered no more than one hundred and seventy thousand at the most generous estimate. Chongqing was still the largest town in the Kui and Xia circuits, yet its population under administration did not exceed two hundred thousand.

With just this small population, let alone mobilizing to respond to the military situation in Jinghu, it was already somewhat difficult for them to even ensure their own self-preservation.

Now, the imperial court's investment in Sichuan had drastically decreased. Even though Li Zhu was simultaneously farming and fighting in Chongqing, it was difficult to sustain. Therefore, Li Zhu hoped that Li Rang could urgently dispatch one hundred thousand bushels of grain, along with urgently needed cloth, iron, and currency, and ship them to Chongqing.

The Li family of Wuxi naturally possessed these items, but they did not have enough boats. Others might not have known, but Li Rang was well aware that Zhang Xun had privately built hundreds of large cargo junks.

He had originally thought these were prepared for Lu Xiufu to gather the summer grain for the Runzhou and Jiankang granaries of the Directorate of Agriculture, but later he discovered that after Lu Xiufu finished using them, he did not take them to Hangzhou, simply leaving them behind in Changzhou instead.

Consequently, Li Rang had run over to borrow boats from Zhang Xun. If the boats traveled quickly, they could make the trip from Changzhou to Chongqing in a month and a half. By then, they could also load up on some medicinal herbs, leather, timber, and silver on the return trip from Chongqing, treating the whole venture as a commercial enterprise.

Ah...

Putting aside the fact that those cargo junks were all prepared for Bayan, just sending boats upriver right now—what would happen if they were captured by Bayan halfway?

It wasn't that he looked down on Gao Da, but rather he feared Bayan dismantling Gao Da with his bare hands.

If Gao Da were crushed by Bayan and the Mongol army entered the Yangtze River, forget about medicinal herbs and silver; even the grain being shipped over could not be protected, and it would all end up benefiting the Mongols.

"Didn't the imperial court just dispatch Prefect Wang's troops toward Ezhou? You can just tag along with Prefect Wang's forces." Wang Jian had shared official ties with Li Zhu back in the day.

Otherwise, Wang Xiaojie wouldn't have sought out Li Zhu first upon arriving in Changzhou. It was only because Li Zhu had gone to Chongqing that Wang Xiaojie came to find Zhang Xun instead, introduced by Li Rang.

"What about the return trip?" Going to Ezhou with Wang Anjie provided at least some safety net, but the return journey was far from guaranteed.

"You won't be coming back; I'll compensate you for your boats at market price. By the way, what do you need so many boats for?" Li Rang finally remembered this point now that the conversation had reached this juncture.

"Fine, fine, fine. Chujiu, come here and take my cousin to the shipyard." Interrupted by this question, Zhang Xun immediately changed the subject and told Chujiu to guide Li Rang to the shipyard.

Having just rested for a brief moment, Chujiu hurried back to the doorway. Since Zhang Xun had consented to his request, and Li Rang still needed to send grain to his father, he pressed no further, stood up immediately, and followed Chujiu out the door.