Seizing five thousand troops to aid in defending the city

Zhang Xun also caught sight of his second brother-in-law, Zhao Tong, who had been selected as the fourth reserve general of the southeast and appointed as the vice-commander of Liyang. It was actually quite natural; his grand-uncle was the chancellor and Duke of Ji, making it effortless to secure a minor official post through hereditary privilege.

Coaxed by Zhao Huai, the various generals each brought only a few dozen personal guards and hurried off to the temporary imperial capital. Before their departure, Zhao Huai, using Zhang Xun's name, presented each of them with a thousand strings of cash.

Even if the imperial court did not hold it against them, dealing with the lower-level bureaucracy, processing documents, and making formal requests all required spending some money. With a thousand strings of cash in hand, at least they would not face deliberate harassment.

If I had known, I would have given them a bit more myself.

Ah well, now that everyone had been sent off, what was the use of saying such things? Since it was a rare gathering of in-laws, Zhao Huai brought Zhao Tong along to have a long and nostalgic chat with Zhang's mother. Zhang's mother even asked how her second daughter was doing, noting that the couple now had two children and it would be wonderful if they could bring them along for her to see. By the way, Zhang's mother also introduced her three grandchildren to the two of them.

After the family reunion concluded, Zhao Huai sat down to speak with Zhang Xun. First, he expressed gratitude to Zhang Xun for assisting Ma Yong in recruiting soldiers; second, he praised Zhang Xun for his wise decision to keep these five thousand men; and finally, he inquired about Zhang Xun's views on the current situation.

He truly was a prominent general from a chancellor's family; his speech was well-structured and crystal clear, covering just those few matters. As a relative by marriage to the old Zhang family and currently serving as a circuit surveillance official, Zhao Huai regarded Zhang Xun almost like a close family junior.

As for Ma Yong's two to three thousand men, Zhang Xun had his own selfish motives, but since money had indeed been spent, he accepted the thanks. As for keeping these five thousand men, Zhang Xun honestly hadn't thought that deeply about it.

It was just that old saying: while I myself was prepared to kneel and surrender, that didn't stop me from admiring and respecting those with integrity who resisted to the bitter end.

If it cost a couple of cash, so be it. In any case, the tributes prepared for Bayan were already fully arranged by Zhang Xun. As long as Changzhou could be preserved intact, everything spent would eventually be earned back.

However, since Zhao Huai asked, Zhang Xun could only say that he had an old friendship with Zhang Shijie, Wang Anjie, and the others, and since they had come in desperate straits to seek refuge, refusing to take them in would be an act lacking in morality. A gentleman values trust and promises, treats friends with sincerity, and must not change his stance simply because the times do.

Initially, Zhang Xun had only wanted to restore his image in the eyes of the Changzhou townspeople so that he could lead the surrender in the future. He had no idea how it happened, but the rumors grew more and more outrageous, and now Zhang Xun was praised as the premier talent of Jiangzuo.

It was spoken of as if he were a rare treasure in the heavens and entirely unique upon the earth.

It was just that Zhang Xun himself felt nothing, but the officials, gentry, and literati classes outside all claimed that Zhang Xun possessed ultimate filial piety under heaven, mourning his father for forty-eight months. While other people merely inquired after their parents' well-being daily, Zhang Xun even observed his parents' bodily excretions every day, to the extent of preparing soft paper specifically for his mother.

He was truly on the verge of entering a newly revised version of the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars.

Even a new version of the Three-Character Classic might be rewritten; "Xiang, at age nine, could warm the bed" might well have to be changed to "Xun, at age nine."

As for the ordinary urbanites and peasant classes, the rumors were even more fantastical, claiming that Zhang Xun stood nine feet tall, wielded a massive brass mace, could split mountains and part waters, was capable of subduing dragons and capturing tigers, and possessed unmatched valor.

The rumors could not be allowed to spread any further, or else Zhang Xun would be attaining sagehood on the spot.

Yet there was no helping it now; the persona had already been established. Thus, taking in Zhang Shijie and the others had become an act of treating friends with sincerity—something that absolutely had to be done.

Naturally, Zhao Huai accepted this explanation. He had also heard many rumors; although the Master did not speak of strange powers and chaotic spirits, he felt that Zhang Xun's generous loyalty and virtuous filial conduct must contain seven or eight parts of truth.

As for mourning for forty-eight months, that was indeed true, because it was Zhang Cheng who had forced Zhang Xun to squat at home for four years.

No matter how one investigated, it was true, and the entire commandery knew it.

As for the final question regarding the current situation? How was he to answer that? Ezhou had fallen, the natural barrier of the Yangtze River had been breached by the Mongols, and now the Mongols occupied the upper reaches of the river while the Song court held the lower reaches.

Drawing a parallel to the history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, if the strategic towns along the river—including Huangzhou, Jiangzhou, Chizhou, Wuhu, Anqing, Tongling, and Jiankang—were to resist desperately, holding out effortlessly for a decade or eight years would pose no problem at all.

The crucial point was: would they actually resist to the death?

You and I actually know the answer to this question in our hearts. Most of the garrison commanders in these places were either part of Lü Wenhuan's clan or had old ties with them; who could guarantee that the moment Lü Wenhuan arrived, they wouldn't simply gallop out and surrender?

This single remark reduced the nearly sixty-year-old Zhao Huai to silence. In truth, how could Zhao Huai not know? Why else would he have been persuaded by Ma Yong to rush over and seize these five thousand troops?

It was precisely because he felt utterly disappointed by the current situation yet powerless to alter the grand design. Therefore, he could only make as much preparation as possible within his own sphere of capability. If Liyang could be held to the death, then Guangde and Dusong Pass in the rear could be preserved. At least one flank route attacking Hangzhou would not surrender.

The reason he was willing to dispatch Ma Yong to Changzhou and provide him with a certain amount of grain and funds was the same as his reason for garrisoning Liyang. Changzhou lay directly on the crucial artery of the Grand Canal and was the sole route for the Yuan army to attack Hangzhou.

Note this: the sole route!

Because if an army of two or three hundred thousand wished to secure stable supplies and logistics, they could only rely on the Grand Canal. The Liyang-Guangde-Dusong Pass line could accommodate a breakaway force of a few thousand men, but not a massive army. The route was filled with hills and mountainous terrain, roads were rugged, and there was no water transport support.

Why did Sun Shicai fight desperately to the death with Zhang Liao and his eight hundred men? Because at that time, if one wanted to launch a Northern Expedition, one had to pass through Ruxu Dock, cross Hefei and Chaohu Lake, merge into the Fei River, and advance into Henan via the numerous tributaries of the Huai River, such as the Ying River, the Guo River, and the Bian Canal.

Why did Cao Cao, upon heading south, attack Liu Biao first? Aside from the desolation of Huainan and the inconvenience of grain supply, another point was that grain could first be transported to Nanyang, then moved via water transport along the Han River to Xiangyang and Jiangxia, and subsequently down the Yangtze River.

An army of hundreds of thousands could only depend on water transport.

Unless one followed the example of Emperor Wu of Han, with tens of thousands of cavalry followed by five hundred thousand infantry transporting grain and hundreds of thousands of horses. A mobilization scale of this magnitude could drive the empire's households to be halved and leave the populace devastated.

Changzhou still had no definite defense forces, and Zhang Cheng, the representative of the prestigious Jiling Zhang clan of the commandery, had already gone to garrison Yangzhou and resist Liu Zheng.

Once an emergency arose, the one stepping onto the front line to resist in Changzhou would most likely be the Zhang Xun before him.

Zhao Huai hoped to obtain some hints or answers from Zhang Xun. The vital towns along the river could no longer be saved, but as long as Changzhou could be held, the Song royal house would still not lose the status of a ruler of Wu and Yue.

At worst, they could follow the example of King Qian of Wu and Yue, paying tribute year after year and coming to court every season. As long as they could preserve the sacrificial bloodline and ancestral offerings of the Zhao family, those of them who had enjoyed the Zhao family's grace for centuries would have fulfilled their ultimate loyalty.

Instead, this question rendered Zhang Xun silent in return. Zhang Xun had no desire to hold Changzhou to the death and had even prepared himself to actively open the gates.

Either next month or early next spring, the moment Bayan arrived, he would kneel and surrender.

"If these five thousand-odd troops are rigorously drilled, they will become the mightiest force among the three armies." The moment Zhao Huai uttered these words, Zhang Xun understood—he was waiting right here for him.

"But I don't understand military affairs!" Zhang Xun blurted out somewhat recklessly.

"As long as the right person is employed, anything is possible."