208-210: THE COMMANDANT VS THE STRATEGIST
The assassination of Liu Tao had thrown the court of Xincai in disarray. The generals were horrified at their role in the boy’s death, leaving them reclused from court affairs. Lady Hao, still mourning the death of her husband, was now crying for her eldest son too. The young Liu Kun, who had been promised a peaceful life on the side was now thrusted under the spotlight as the new Governor of Jing Province. The new ruler was put under heavy guard, as no one wanted him to suffer the same fate as his late brother. His mother barely left his side, afraid that something might happen to him. And all this mess left the competent members of the provincial administration far too occupied to do anything other than their job.
And this was the perfect situation for one eunuch to take advantage of it all. Having already managed to weasel his way in the confidence of Lady Hao, his position now found itself improved. The grieving mother now relied even more on Bozu, seeing him as the most trustworthy official at court. The regent
Yang Weili and his clique of generals now abandoning politics, Bozu was left with little opposition to his machinations. The eunuch was quick to ensure himself a more substantial source of power than the fleeting favors of Lady Hao. Technically, he was only the personal physician of the ruling clan, which did not mean much in the grand scheme of things. Soon enough, he was promoted to Chief Attendant at court, giving him control over the celebrations and important events at court. This included the funeral of Liu Tao, a sumptuous event that garnered him much good will.
Soon after, Bozu managed to get Lady Hao to appoint him as the Chief Censor of Jing Province. He promised that he would find out what had happened to her son and punish those responsible. And he meant it too. For all his personal ambitions, he was loyal to the Imperial Clan and wanted its enemies punished. While Lady Hao only had authority because Yang Weili insisted on sharing it with her, the regent was too distraught by the death of Liu Tao to oppose Bozu’s promotion. As Chief Censor, Bozu launched a vast investigation. Not just of the assassination, but of the officers, the courtiers, of everyone’s record since the death of
Liu Siyuan. His rise to this level of prominence took many aback, considering that Bozu had only arrived at court the previous year. Many might have looked at Yang Weili or Lady Hao as a counterpoint to Bozu, but the strategist didn’t want anything to do with this and the widow backed him up. So they had no choice but to accept Bozu’s authority.
While Bozu’s investigation didn’t find much, instead blaming Yuan Shu for the death of Liu Tao, he did find other interesting facts. Like the way some of the generals had been conspiring against him. As much as he would have wanted to tie Yang Weili to this plot against him, he found no proof of the regent’s involvement. What he did find was that Commandant Wei Yan was probably one of the ring leaders of this opposition. While Bozu would have loved nothing more than bring Wei Yan to court on charges of treasons, he knew that the army would rise up to save their golden boy. So instead, the eunuch chose to use his influence for a lesser punishment: demotion. Wei Yan was stripped from his office of Commandant and his military command, with orders to report to his home commandery at once.
To replace him, Bozu advised the appointment of the disgraced general Qu Duyi, who Wei Yan had replaced under similar circumstances in the early stages of the campaign. Because of this, the choice of Qu Duyi was quite strange to most officers, who knew how rash and violent the man could be. But Bozu had two reasons for appointing him. First of all, he was no ally of Wei Yan. On multiple occasions he been set aside to allow Wei Yan’s career to prosper. To say that this annoyed the new Commandant would be putting it mildly. But his old feud with Wei Yan was nothing compared to his current belief that he had been sabotaged by Yang Weili, taking to fall for the regent’s failures. Qu Duyi had never been a great supporter of Yang Weili when he was in charge, and his opinion of him had only diminished over the years. Introducing such a man in the inner council of the province would allow Bozu to weaken is enemies’ control over the army. And as expected, Yang Weili did nothing to stop this appointment, no matter how much people pleaded him to act against it.
Meanwhile,
Feng Zian was being joined in his army camps by his son and his followers. Feng Yong found his father in the middle of a siege within Jing Province, following the supply trail to the besiegers. Upon arrival, Feng Zian welcomed his son and the two had a talk. For years, Feng Zian had been disdainful toward his son, first seeing him as an annoyance and then as a disappointment for not becoming a scholar. But Feng Yong’s defense of their home had shifted his opinion, as had the lack of news over the recent months about his situation. While he led a siege against a Jing city, Feng Zian was finally told of his son’s arrival. And when they talked, the father finally admitted that he had respect for his son (although he still did not approve of his marriage). This peace between the two was helped by the recent death of Feng Zian’s wife, with father and son grieving the loss together. Not that it would stop Feng Zian from eventually remarrying to the daughter of the late Wei Yushang (an important official before and during Lü Bu’s control of You Province).
Feng Zian would not be the only one remarrying, however. Yuan Shu had to deal with the fact that his son and heir Yuan Yao had lost his wife, the daughter of Cao Cao. Instead of seeing this as a problem, the Chancellor saw an opportunity to build new alliances. Leaving the governance of the Imperial Capital to Tan ZIlong (as always), Yuan Shu began to search for a powerful lord willing to back up his regime. He finally found a potential ally in June 208 after months of searching. Tao Shang was willing to marry his daughter to Yuan Yao in exchange for an alliance. Considering how both men loathed
Xiao Ru, this was a beneficial deal. However, both sides were convinced that the other would come to their aid immediately. Yuan Shu believed that Tao Shang would drop his war for now and help him defeat Jing Province, while Tao Shang was convinced that his new ally would soon attack Chen Province from the west. In the end, neither helped the other.
The choice of Qu Duyi as Commandant proved a terrible one. As soon as he was sent to the frontline, the general started barking orders and hindering Yang Weili’s strategy. While Yang Weili had been passive so far, this attempt to sabotage his slow but steady plan to win the war roused him up from his slumber. He eventually confronted Qu Duyi about his actions. While the Commandant denied that he was causing problems, he also criticized Yang Weili and warned him that he would force the army to launch an all out offensive against Feng Zian if the regent was too cowardly to do it himself. Using his own authority as Commandant, he then ordered useless assaults on the walls of the cities, wanting them taken as fast as possible, no matter the casualties. Those that refused were brutally tortured on the Commandant orders. This senseless tactic disgusted Yang Weili, who decided that this could no longer go on. When confronted again, Qu Duyi angrily shouted that he was the Commandant and there was nothing Yang Weili could do about it.
This was a big mistake, as Yang Weili did not want to waste time dealing with the angry Commandant. Using his authority as regent, Yang Weili had Qu Duyi fired in July before he could do anymore damage to the campaign. Furious, the general wrote angry missives to Xincai to have the decision overturned by Bozu, convinced that the eunuch would surely back him up. But Bozu had realized that Qu Duyi was too volatile to be trusted. Better leave the campaign in the competent hands of Yang Weili for now than risk a defeat due to a change in command. The Chief Censor publicly opened an investigation against Qu Duyi, backing up Yang Weili’s version of events. Even then, the now former Commandant had to be kicked out of the army camps.
Li Tong, who had been serving as Yang Weili’s second-in-command since the departure of Wei Yan, took the matter in his own hands. He physically fought the taller man and dragged him out of his tent. He then ordered the tent burned, just to be sure that Qu Duyi wouldn’t come back. Qu Duyi tried to rally the soldiers to his side, but his cruelty had turned them against him. They happily forced him out on Li Tong’s orders. For this, Li Tong was praised both at court and within the army, with Assistant Administrator Wei Kang even managing to arrange a better salary for the general as a reward for removing Qu Duyi. As for the disgraced officer, Qu Duyi would return to his home commandery, where he would die from an infected wound in late 210, having never regained the respect of his peers.
But the newfound popularity of Li Tong was too jarring for Bozu. While many believed that it would only make sense to appoint him as the new Commandant, the eunuch quickly shut it down, instead presenting his own candidate. Liu Qi had served on Liu Siyuan’s council before, and was a respected imperial clansman within Jing Province. His nomination was easily approved, even if he wasn’t the most qualified for the job. While having a distant cousin of Liu Kun serving on the council helped showed the unity of the Imperial Clan against Yuan Shu, it wasn’t the main reason of his appointment. The reason why he was appointed was that Liu Qi feared the battlefield and wanted to stay as far away from it as possible. It seemed that Bozu did not want a repeat of Qu Duyi.
As the year advanced, it became clear to Feng Zian that his strategy of sieges would not work. He had managed to conquer two, maybe three cities in Jing territories. Meanwhile, Yang Weili and his far larger army had taken the entire southern Yuan territories, forcing the defenses of Tan Zilong to move up north to defend Luoyang and the neighboring cities. Yang Weili had taken great advantage of Xincai’s strategic position in China, being the place where the Huai River split in two. With this control of the water, the regent was able to gain access to the riverside cities through rafts and small boats. He also managed to cut supply to many Yuan cities, forcing their early surrenders. While Feng Zian knew that they were in the right, that they were the ones fighting for the Emperor, he also knew that this would only work for so long. The Grand Commandant had to produce a win that would stop the Jing momentum, and he had to produce one as soon as possible.
In early January, Feng Zian had moved his smaller force back in Yuan controlled territories. There, he soon encountered the army of Yang Weili, which had become aware of the approaching threat a week ago thanks to their scouts. Between them was the Huai River, stopping them from immediately going at it. But it also meant that for the fighting to start, one of the two armies would have to cross the water, finding themselves with their back against the river. Yang Weili, in an attempt to stop what was certain to be a bloody battle, gave peace a chance and arranged a meeting with his opponent.
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“Prepare the boat.” he ordered the soldiers.
The soldiers were quick to obey their commander’s orders. Yang Weili had made sure to commandeer two small boats for their little river fleet. The other one should be on Feng Zian’s side of the river by now.
He had quickly come to the realization that Feng Zian would never agree to a meeting on their side of the Huai, no matter what assurances Yang Weili offered to his opponent. It didn’t even seem to be paranoia. Feng Zian simply didn’t want to lower himself to this, instead demanding that Yang Weili come to their side. But in Yang Weili’s case, he was definitively paranoid. Feng Zian would be a genius to get rid of him like that, once again destroying the morale of the Jing troops as he had done when he killed Governor Liu.
So a compromise had been reached, one where they would meet in the middle of the river with a small escort. Which is why he was used the boats, to arrange this meeting.
“What is this even going to accomplish, commander?”
Entering the tent was Li Tong, in full armor and clearly ready for battle. This was probably unnecessary, but Yang Weili had agreed with his second-in-command that they should stay on their guards. Who knew? Feng Zian might use this as an opportunity to attack.
“We need to know what kind of man Feng Zian is.”
“We know who he is.” Li Tong replied.
“He is the man who killed our lord.”
“And we promised to accomplish his dream of saving the Han by all means, including this one.” Yang Weili answered back as he put his armored plate on his chest.
Li Tung sounded unconvinced. Understandable, as Yang Weili wasn’t sure of this himself.
“You think he might join us?” the general asked.
“Probably not.” the regent said, trying to hide a chuckle.
“But maybe we can avoid needless deaths.”
“Please enlighten me.”
“We are in the right. We fight to give power back to the Emperor. If he is truly loyal to the throne, surely he can be convinced to just step aside and let us walk to Luoyang.”
“And if this meeting is a trap.”
Yang Weili didn’t answer. The possibility that Feng Zian would use this to assassinate him had not escaped his mind. Who knew what the enemy general was capable of?
“You should let me lead an offensive.” Li Tong advised.
“We have the numbers, and I should be able to ready the troops before the night.”
“No. I arranged this meeting. What would the rest of the realm think of us if I baked out now?”
“They would think you smart.” Li Tong tried.
Yang Weili offered him a half smile, but his mind was already made up. He would meet the enemy commander, and he would come out of it alive. Hopefully. As Yang Weili was about to reply to Li Tong, a soldier entered the tent and saluted his commander.
“General Yang, the boat is ready.”
“Very well.” he said before turning to Li Tong.
“I leave you in charge.”
“This is a bad idea.” Li Tong reiterated.
“Maybe.” Yang Weili conceded.
“But it is mine.”
Yang Weili came out of his tent wearing his full armor. He marched at a slow pace toward the riverside, taking the good wishes of his officers as he passed them. The boat was waiting for him, with three soldiers armed to their teeth as his escort. He personally picked the greatest warriors of his army, unwilling to leave anything to chance. If there was an ambush, then he wanted the bests of the best by his side.
As he put his first foot on the boat, he hesitated. Was this really a good idea? Was he going to walk into an ambush? He stood tghere for a full minute, hesitant to thrown himself toward his potential doom.
“General?” asked one of the escorts.
“Huh? Y-Yes, let us depart.”
He finally embarked and took his seat in the small boat. The escort was in charge of paddling, leaving the strategist to quiver in his seat in anticipation and panic. The mist that had been spreading over the Huai River had done nothing to help him calm his nerves. When they reached the arranged point, the Jing troops found it empty. Was this an ambush after all? Was Feng Zian late? Had the fog made them lose their sight of the rendezvous spot? After a tense ten minutes of waiting, the outlines of the other boat finally appeared. When it came into full view, the escort and their leader were confused. Instead of being filled with soldiers, the boat had two occupants. One seemed to be a simple paddler, probably hired to lead the boat on the river. The other was dressed as a scholar, having neither weapon nor armor. From the way he stood confidently on the boat, Yang Weili guessed that the scholar was none other than his enemy.
“Are you so weak that you people need an escort?” Feng Zian mocked.
“Are you too cowardly to meet me alone?”
“I thought we would bring escorts.” Yang Weili replied.
“Do I look like I need protection?”
Yang Weili would have answered yes, but he stopped himself. Now was not the time to antagonize him. And besides, he was still dumbfounded by how much Feng Zian didn’t seem to take this seriously. It could have been an ambush, a trap, He risked his life by coming here. Yet he had taken neither protection nor weapon, let alone soldiers to protect him. From his proud posture and his confident expression, it was clear that Feng Zian had really expected to be able to deal with whatever problem arose all by himself. Yang Weili wasn’t sure if this was a sign of heroism, stupidity or simple vanity.
“General Feng, I thank you f…”
“Grand Commandant Feng.” Feng Zian harshly cut him off.
“Pardon?”
“I am the Grand Commandant of the Imperial Army, appointed by the Son of Heaven himself! Do not compare me to a simple officer.”
“Is that office worth it if you are fighting for the wrong side?” Yang Weili asked.
Feng Zian laughed so hard that the paddler made sure that the small boat stayed stable.
“Wrong side?” Feng Zian finally exclaimed.
“WRONG SIDE? I am on the right side, the imperial side. You are the rebels trying to take the Capital.”
“I was referring to Yuan Shu. Why serve such a man?”
“Him? Bah! He does not matter here. I am the one you should worry about. And besides, you are not doing any better.”
“And why is that?” Yang Weili asked, curious.
“You follow a dead man. I should know, considering that this weakling died by my hand.”
Yang Weili could see the smirk on the Grand Commandant’s face. The man was boasting. Boasting about killing one of the Han’s greatest heroes.
“I heard a lot about you, ‘Grand Commandant’, but this is not what I had hoped.”
“I will admit that I was also curious about you, General Yang.” Feng Zian answered.
“In good?”
“No.”
“I see.” Yang Weili shrugged.
It was to be expected. His reputation was tied with his time in charge of Yang and Jing Provinces a decade ago. No matter what he did, everyone knew how he failed Chen Wen, a regret he would drag with him to his grave.
“Whatever your opinion of me, can we at least try to avoid needless bloodshed?”
“NEEDLESS!?”
Feng Zian seemed pissed off at this comment. He tried to take a step toward Yang Weili’s boat, leading his escort to ready their weapons. The paddler put a hand on the scholar’s shoulder, only to get a punch to the face that sent him into the water. It seemed to have calmed down Feng Zian, as he sat down while the paddler did his best to get back on board.
“This bloodshed became necessary when you attacked the Han.” Feng Zian said.
“And now that us great commanders are on the verge of an historic battle, you want to deny the will of Heaven?”
“Greatness has never been in my interest.”
“It is not an interest, but a fact. I am great, and I hope for your sake that you are too.”
Yang Weili frowned.
“Why fight? You cannot possibly expect to win this war.”
“I fought worse, with a lot less support from my owns.”
“We have more troops, better resources, more commanders. We have the advantage here.”
Feng Zian laughed again. He ordered the paddler to begin turning to boat around, indicating that he was done with the meeting. But before he disappeared in the horizon, he turned around and shouted.
“And how did that turn out for Liu Siyuan?”
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The battle would happen, as the wrothful and arrogant Feng Zian wanted to add another victory to his list. And he had all the reasons to believe that he would come out victorious. Twice now, the Jing forces had faced him on the battlefield with overwhelming odds in their favors. And both times, Feng Zian had come out on top, proving his superiority. His enemies might be great strategists or generals who had learned warfare, but he
studied it for years. That was what made him such a great scholar, his innate knowledge of warfare. And this knowledge would allow him to triumph once more, proving that Yang Weili was no match for him either. Maybe this would finally shut Yuan Shu up.
However, the fact was that he had less troops than his enemy, and he still had that river between them. Unbeknown to the Jing forces, Feng Zian had been building his own little fleet of rafts in secret over the last week. In what some might call bold, other stupid, the Grand Commandant had decided to gain the initiative by doing the crossing. Since he was not an idiot, he waited at night to at least have the element of surprise. The Jing troops never actually noticed the Yuan troops crossing the Huai River, the mist playing to their advantage. But while they weren’t noticed, the Yuan soldiers found the enemy camp better defended than expected. On Yang Weili’s orders, Li Tong had worked tirelessly to make sure that they were prepared should Feng Zian try a surprise attack. With most of the Jing soldiers still asleep, Feng Zian decided to risk it and ordered an assault. It would turn out to have been a bad idea (especially the part where they all charged screaming instead of being stealthy). The battle went decisively in Li Tong’s favor (Yang Weili was sleeping during most of it), with the Yuan forces sustaining fifteen times more casualties, losing ninety percent of their troops.
This disaster quickly made its way to the Imperial Capital, where Yuan Shu was furious. How could Feng Zian had messed this up this bad? The Chancellor had been winning this war so far thanks to his genius, yet his idiotic general had ruined it. While he tried his best to keep the news of this defeat hidden, it eventually made its way to the imperial court and his puppet emperor’s ear. The fourteen years old could only smile at this. Unlike his predecessor, who seemed to have no issue with his situation, Emperor Qianfei chaffed under the control of the Chancellor and sought to escape it. His first attempt at this had been to send one of his palace eunuch Bozu to Jing Province to tell them that the emperor supported their cause. But this changed little to his immediate situation. With news of the defeat, Emperor Qianfei now started to entertain the possibility of a palace coup against his puppeteer. Surely there were still loyal officials in the capital willing to help him.
And indeed, there were a few loyal subjects in Luoyang, although their numbers had ridiculously diminished due to the purges of
Jiang Xian and the machinations of Yuan Shu (who either bribed to his side or “disappeared” any troublemaker at court). Pei Qian and Pei Hui, commonly known as the Pei brothers, had resurfaced after the defeat of Jiang Xian and rallied to Yuan Shu. Now approaching their forties and thirties, the two brothers had finally realized that Yuan Shu was no better than his predecessor. For better or worse, at least Jiang Xian attended court affairs instead of leaving it to some subordinate. The Emperor had contacted them in secret, sharing with them his desires to remove Yuan Shu from power.
However, the two brothers had warned him to be patient. They had been a part of the attempted coup against Jiang Xian and knew that it would fail if they tried it now. While they might have the emperor in on the plot (for once), the important offices were monopolized by Yuan Shu’s sycophants. Deciding to try and work on that issue, Emperor Qianfei spent most of the pring of 209 hinting that the Pei brothers really deserved an office for their loyalty to the Han and the Chancellor. This immediately raised red flags, and Yuan Shu quickly started to suspect that his puppet might not be as passive as he had hoped. He also had his agents keep a closer eye on the Pei brothers, ending any hope of a potential plot coming from them.
Meanwhile, Feng Zian was writing frantic demands for reinforcements to Luoyang. Yuan Shu tried to deny them at first. Why sent more troops to be wasted under this idiot’s command while they could be used to defend the Imperial Capital. However, he was finally convinced to send around 1500 troops to help Feng Zian slow down the Jing advance. This was in large part due to Tan Zilong, who still acted as the Assistant to the Chancellorship and as de facto Chancellor (as Yuan Shu still refused to attend court out of paranoia). Tan Zilong had a far better understanding of Feng Zian and a lot of respect for the man. He knew that the Grand Commandant was their best chance to win this war. So the troops were sent, although Feng Zian complained that this was nowhere near enough to crush Yang Weili. The fact that Tan Zilong had backed up Feng Zian was quite worrisome to the Chancellor, who had not forgotten how their children were married. This alliance between these two powerful subordinates was certainly a problem.
With his new army, Feng Zian grudgingly had to concede that another frontal assault would not work. Instead, the scholar decided to play it smart. He first started by harassing the garrisons left in the conquered cities. Undermining their morale was efficient, as Yang Weili found himself forced to replace the demoralized troops out of fear that it would lead to desertions. During one of these shifts, Feng Zian would put the city under siege. The demoralized garrisons barely had the time to close the door before the Yuan troops approached. Once they defeated the arriving new garrison, all that was left was to besiege the city until it opened its gates. Yang Weili eventually started to send full detachments led by Li Tong to deal with these sieges, forcing Feng Zian to flee and abandon the fight (often against his will as he was dragged away by his men). To add to this, the Grand Commandant also started to hit the supply lines of the Jing army, leading to delay in the offensive until supply was reestablished. However, Feng Zian’s tactics often took a tole on the morale of his own men, and the constant flights led to desertions. And this time, when he came asking for new troops, it was repeatedly denied by Yuan Shu.
All these actions only slowed down Yang Weili in the grand scheme of things, but it did slow him down. And this slowness had an effect on his support at court, which was just what Bozu needed to make his move. Lady Hao, who had been the one to appoint Yang Weili as regent in the first place, now had grown completely disillusioned with the strategist. Not only had he failed to save her eldest son, but he continuously refused to attend his duties at court. Even the Assistant Administrator Wei Kang, who was Yang Weili’s son-in-law and his staunchest supporter in Xincai, could do little to change the general mood at court. It seemed that everyone agreed that Yang Weili had to be removed as regent. Bozu made his move, and by early February 210 he had ousted the strategist (although he still retained a position as advisor and general in charge of the campaign). Even when his officers pressed him to oppose the corrupt eunuch, Yang Weili did nothing, mostly relieved that he was finally freed from his duties as regent.
But while Yang Weili did nothing, it wasn’t to say that no one opposed Bozu. During his two years of forced retirement, Wei Yan had been plotting against the eunuch. With Yang Weili refusing to take actions, Wei Yan had become the rallying point for anyone opposing the new regent’s growing influence in Xincai. Soon after Bozu’s new promotion, the general came unannounced to the provincial capital with an ultimatum. Wei Yan would play a part in the government of Jing Province, if only to make sure that Liu Siyuan’s vision was not squandered by anyone. With his supporters backing Wei Yan, Bozu found himself forced to negotiate in private with the officer. At first, Wei Yan tried to get back the position of Commandant, but Bozu explained that a fractured leadership in the army would only make things more complicated. Undeterred, Wei Yan agreed to abandon his goals to become Commandant… if Bozu surrendered the office of Chief Censor to him instead. Aware of how important the position was, but unwilling to see what Wei Yan would do if he refused, Bozu agreed, appointing the general as the new Chief Censor of Jing Province.
On the Yuan side of things, their war effort was continuously hindered by disagreements and disputes between the Chancellor and the Grand Commandant. Feng Zian wanted to continue his indirect offensives against Yang Weili, but these were only supposed to be the first step. With enough reinforcements, he would then be able to defeat the demoralized and disorganized Jing army and secure victory. But Yuan Shu, being himself as always, continued to oppose his general. He never sent any troops, instead ordering Feng Zian to turn around and come help defend the Imperial Capital. But the Grand Commandant refused to listen, convinced that his tactic was the right one. Tan Zilong was actually forced by his liege to pull out troops from under him, finally forcing the general in retreating north and abandoning most of Nanyang Commandery to the Jing army.
Still, things might have been salvageable for the Yuan forces. Yang Weili’s progresses were slowing down, and the recent reunification of Yi Province under
Yao Shuren was enough of a threat to make the court in Xincai wonder if this offensive wasn’t putting Jing Province at risk. But then tragedy struck, a tragedy that would unravel everything. Feng Yunxian, the daughter of Feng Zian married to Tan Zilong’s son, tragically died from cancer in late June 210. For Yuan Shu, this was a golden opportunity to break the alliance between his two longtime subordinates. Within a week of Feng Yunxian’s death, the Chancellor had Emperor Qianfei write a dispensation for Tan Huo, allowing him to ignore the usual mourning period and remarry immediately. Yuan Shu then had Tan Huo married to one of his own daughters, Yuan Huiqing. Tan Zilong knew full well how bad of an idea this was, but was forced to accept the match by his lord. And just like that Yuan Shu had successfully broken a dangerous alliance and secured the loyalty of Tan Zilong through marriage! Genius!
But Yuan Shu made the fatal mistake of ignoring Feng Zian’s reaction in his calculations. When the grieving father was informed of what had happened in Luoyang, he was enraged. How dare Yuan Shu show such disrespect? To Feng Zian, this was not just an insult against him, but the whole Feng Clan. And more importantly, this insult proved to be the final straw. For two decades, he had showed nothing but loyalty to Yuan Shu’s cause. He fought his wars, stayed loyal when others betrayed him and endured humiliation after humiliation. No more. According to his sons, Feng Zian’s first words after learning of the remarriage were
“I will skin that rat alive.” He came out of his tent and addressed his soldiers, who had always been more loyal to him than Yuan Shu. He told them of the grave insult put upon him, the slight done by the evil Yuan Shu.
“NO MORE!” he screamed. Feng Zian put his sons Feng Yong and Feng Guo on horseback and ordered them to ride to the Jing camp. By the time they managed to get a meeting with Yang Weili, their father was on his way to besiege Luoyang and kill Yuan Shu.
News that the Grand Commandant had not only switched side but would soon arrive made everyone in Luoyang panic. Their army was no longer theirs. Yuan Shu understood it as it was. He had lost, and he knew it. Now the goal was to save his own skin. In the middle of the night, accompanied by the most loyal sycophants, the Chancellor of the Han Dynasty would flee the Imperial Capital. When everyone woke up the next morning, the officials were left utterly confused by his absence. Even Tan Zilong was shocked, having been left out of his liege’s exit plan. Yuan Shu would spend the following three years bouncing back throughout China before finally settling in the court of his nephew Yuan Tan in 213. This would not last long, as after months of illness Yuan Shu would die the following year at the age of 59. During his “exile”, the new regime in Luoyang would pardon him and even confirm him as Administrator of Nanyang Commandery. But suspicious as he was, Yuan Shu would always believe this to be a trap. His son Yuan Yao, who had also been left behind, would thus serve in his place, first as the de facto administrator before being formally appointed following his father’s death.
The Imperial Capital was quickly put under siege by the army of Feng Zian, with Yang Weili sending a messenger to tell that he was also on his way. With the Chancellor gone, everyone turned toward Tan Zilong for the defense of the city. Many even asked him to take over and petitioned Emperor Qianfei to make him the new Chancellor. But proving to be a lot less willing to be manipulated now that Yuan Shu was out the picture, the monarch refused. Instead, Emperor Qianfei appointed the Pei brothers to key ministries to secure his own position before another puppet master could appear. Feeling betrayed and demoralized by Yuan Shu’s flight, Tan Zilong simply did not have the will to fight. In late August, only two weeks after Yuan Shu’s escape, the doors of the Imperial Capital were opened. The troops did not loot or damage Luoyang, Feng Zian having been clear that any looter would be hanged. Tan Zilong was allowed to stay as Magistrate of Fuyang, where he would retire from politics and live for another decade. He would be assassinated by Yuan Shu’s daughter-in-law (Tao Shang’s daughter) in 220 for his betrayal of the Yuan cause when he opened the gates.
Yang Weili and Feng Zian, now assembled, quickly presented themselves at court and congratulated the Emperor on the removal of the tyrant Yuan Shu. As a sign of thanks to the people of Jing Province, the sixteen years old monarch appointed the child Liu Kun as Chancellor, while his regent Bozu was made Assistant to the Chancellorship and Head of the Grand Secretariat. However, everyone knew that the real power was now Emperor Qianfei. For having launched the war in the first place, Liu Siyuan received great honors. He was posthumously appointed as Duke of Xincai, finally receiving the rank he had been denied in the 180’s. And for the first time in decades, the Emperor held some real power over governance. Had Liu Siyuan been alive, he might have been an overbearing tyrant over a powerless emperor. But in death, he gave room for the Son of Heaven to claim back some of his authority. In a way, Liu Siyuan had accomplished his goal. The Han was on the way of restoration. He had won.
