Volume One: Southern River Command Chapter 27: Dominion

Wei Fufeng remained in Rongzhou for over a month, chiefly concerned with the establishment of the Military Agricultural Commissioner’s Office. He took great care in appointing officials, personally assessing and selecting talented candidates for office.

The Military Agricultural Commissioner’s Office in Rongzhou was officially named the Southern Shu Military Headquarters, while in Luzhou, the office was called the Southern Jing Military Headquarters.

The principal officers included the Agricultural Commissioner responsible for the region, the Commandant in charge of military deployments, the General commanding the troops and subordinate officers, along with officials from both the Governor’s Office and the Transport Bureau.

To win the loyalty of the troops and maintain balance, Wei Fufeng carefully appointed Pang Yu, a surrendered general from Dongchuan, as the first Commandant of the Southern Shu Military Headquarters. Li Chenggang returned south of the Yangtze in Luzhou to serve as Commandant of the Southern Jing Military Headquarters.

The rank-and-file soldiers rotated through the Governor’s Office garrison, and both the Generals and subordinate officers alternated their posts at the White Tiger Hall in Luzhou.

Officers assigned to outlying posts and those serving in rotation at the Governor’s Office were eligible for campaign allowances.

The authority of the Southern Shu Military Headquarters, established by Wei Fufeng, was limited to Gao and Gong Counties—an extension of the governance south of the Yangtze in Luzhou, primarily aimed at countering the Bo tribes.

As for Gao and Gong Counties, they had already slipped beyond effective control of the Prefect of Rongzhou.

In Boda County, however, civil administration and militia remained under the authority of Prefect Xie Cheng’en of Rongzhou, as it had been a peaceful transition. Moreover, Boda County was dominated by powerful gentry, having once been a key hub of trade, resulting in a concentration of wealthy households.

Due to the anti-rebellion campaigns in Western Sichuan, Boda’s commercial routes had fallen into decline. Once acclaimed as the starting point of the Southern Silk Road, Boda was no longer prosperous.

The Prefect of Rongzhou was eager to come under the jurisdiction of the Southern Sichuan Command, his motive being to escape the exactions of the Western Sichuan conflict.

For Wei Fufeng, venturing into Rongzhou was done with caution, lest the powerful Wang Jian of Western Sichuan refuse to relinquish control.

Wei Fufeng had no intention of engaging Wang Jian’s forces; he lacked the strength for such a confrontation.

Thus, he accepted the existing administration in Boda County and made no move against the local gentry, seeking only peaceful coexistence.

However, in Nanxi County, he implemented a system of military land distribution. The bulk of the troops from Yuzhou were allotted land in Nanxi, with a smaller contingent assigned to the Southern Shu Military Headquarters.

Wei Fufeng did not take over Pingshan, Suijiang, or Yanjin in Doucha Pass; he wished to avoid stirring up unified resistance among the Bo tribes.

Yanjin was a salt-producing region, central to the interests of both the Bo people and the salt-trading magnates. Should tens of thousands of Bo and the gentry unite in opposition, the consequences would far outweigh any gains.

Another matter occupying him in Rongzhou was submitting a memorial to the court—a move fraught with both opportunity and risk. On the one hand, it might result in an imperial grant of noble title.

Wei Fufeng knew that many regional military governors, after offering tributes to the emperor, had been ennobled as Dukes or Princes.

Though the Tang Empire was in decline and such titles were largely honorary, the legitimacy conferred by imperial investiture still carried great prestige and social standing.

As a son of a concubine, Wei Fufeng was particularly in need of imperial recognition to enhance his status.

The downside to submitting a memorial was that it required tribute to the emperor; without tribute, there would be no ennoblement.

According to precedent, there were two ways to receive a title: either by offering tribute and seeking merit, or by coercing the emperor into granting one.

Coercion was out of the question—Southern Sichuan was far from Chang’an, and even if it were feasible, Wei Fufeng would never foolishly attempt to pressure the throne.

To do so would be to hand his enemies a weapon and invite both internal and external troubles.

But how much tribute should be sent? Wei Fufeng was deeply uncertain.

The emperor’s appetite would not be small. The newly established Southern Sichuan Command required enormous resources to sustain the army; if Luzhou could not be held, any tribute to the emperor would be in vain.

Furthermore, the creation of the Southern Sichuan Command had in fact been orchestrated by the Grand Eunuch Yang Fugong, who had memorialized the emperor directly. Yang Fugong might now be wary, possibly instructing Yang Shouliang to launch an incursion into Southern Sichuan.

After careful deliberation, Wei Fufeng decided to act flexibly: first, he would express loyalty by petitioning for a change of county names in a memorial to the emperor, then personally lead a thousand soldiers to Chang’an as an envoy bearing tribute.

His true intent was to use the occasion of delivering tribute as a pretext to take a thousand troops out of the region.

In troubled times infested with bandits and rebel armies, leading a thousand soldiers was prudent for both travel and undertaking operations beyond Southern Sichuan.

While remaining in Rongzhou, Wei Fufeng also dispatched four of his Tiger Guards to Chengdu to gather intelligence.

He sought to understand the state of the conflict, the relative strengths of his granduncle Wei Zhaodu and Wang Jian, and the true allegiances of the various prefectures in Western Sichuan.

Three of the Tiger Guards returned, and Wei Fufeng listened to their reports: his granduncle had been encamped around Chengdu since arriving in Western Sichuan, laying siege to the city.

Wang Jian, on the other hand, had used the title of Acting Vice-Commander to launch campaigns outside Chengdu, capturing territories, winning over officials, and courting the local elite, steadily increasing his forces.

The Prefect of Rongzhou, for example, had been compelled by Wang Jian’s strength to submit, and the troops conscripted from Rongzhou were now under his command.

Wang Jian, appointed by the court as Military Governor of the Yongping Army, legally controlled four prefectures in Western Sichuan. All forces conscripted from Rongzhou now bolstered the Yongping Army.

Wei Zhaodu, as Military Governor of Western Sichuan, seemed content merely to besiege Chengdu, failing to leverage his own position to contest Wang Jian’s growing influence. As a result, Wang Jian’s forces had ballooned.

At present, Wei Zhaodu commanded at most two thousand troops directly, with several thousand more from Dongchuan and Shannan West, but Wang Jian’s numerical advantage was overwhelming.

When Wang Jian first invaded Western Sichuan, he had only three thousand men.

With Wei Zhaodu’s arrival, Wang Jian’s rebellious army was transformed into an officially sanctioned command, receiving mass defections and allegiance from Western Sichuan’s forces.

After hearing the reports, Wei Fufeng frowned deeply. He dared not blame his granduncle’s incompetence, but could only credit Wang Jian with exceptional acumen—otherwise, why would the Military Governor of Shannan West, Yang Shouliang, be so wary of him?

Wei Fufeng had once hoped his granduncle commanded ten thousand troops, so that his own contribution of another ten thousand would prove decisive.

But the reality was that he could not afford to send troops; even if he brought twenty thousand men, his granduncle would still lose to Wang Jian. It would only be a futile sacrifice.

Ultimately, Wei Fufeng was newly appointed to Southern Sichuan. He could manage disturbances at home, but to send two thousand men to die in the fighting at Chengdu was a cost he could not bear.

Another key consideration was that the enemy would adapt to shifting circumstances.

Wang Jian, now officially a military governor, aimed to seize Western Sichuan by attacking Chengdu. Should Wei Zhaodu gain the upper hand, Wang Jian could easily reconcile with the defenders inside Chengdu and turn on Wei Fufeng’s forces.

Wang Jian had a reputation as a rogue and a bandit, notorious for turning against even sworn fathers for the sake of profit—a consummate opportunist.

Against such a man, one could either outdo him in ruthlessness or avoid provoking him altogether.

Wei Fufeng chose caution; he had little faith in his granduncle, and as a junior member of the Wei clan, he would be obliged to obey him. Assisting in the fighting would likely bring him only trouble and little gain.

Having reached a decision, Wei Fufeng ordered the formation of a guard force: one hundred Tiger Guards, one hundred Phoenix Battalion, two hundred Flying Plume Battalion, and six hundred Leopard Banner Battalion, totaling one thousand men to remain in Rongzhou.

Wei Fufeng himself led a thousand guards, taking Xiaoxue with him, southward to Doucha Pass in Yanjin County.

His purposes were twofold: to inspect Doucha Pass, and to mislead the Southern Sichuan army so that they would not realize the military governor had left the region.

After Wei Fufeng’s departure, the armies that had not been allocated land returned to Luzhou, their soldiers dispersing among the eight main garrisons, and the officers resuming their duties at White Tiger Hall.

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Doucha Pass, also known as Shimen Pass, was a border stronghold between the Nanzhao Kingdom and Bashu.

In the Qin dynasty, the “Five-Chi Road” was carved through here, and the fortress at Doucha Pass controlled this crucial chokepoint—truly a place where a single man could hold off ten thousand.

Wei Fufeng arrived at Doucha Pass with his army. The five hundred garrison troops, led by their commander, lined up to welcome him.

Wei Fufeng knew that the garrison at Doucha Pass was actually part of the local militia under the Prefect of Rongzhou.

Accompanied by the commander, Wei Fufeng entered the fortress, gazing from the ramparts at the precipitous terrain beyond, while listening to the commander’s complaints and his account of the pass’s origins.

It was said that Doucha Pass was originally called Shimen Pass, as confirmed by the stone inscription on its gate.

During the Shu Han period, Zhuge Liang led an expedition through this pass, renaming it Doucha Pass, though the inscription was never altered.

The commander lamented the absence of trade and frequent harassment by the local tribes, claiming his men lived in hardship.

Wei Fufeng saw through the lie—though the Five-Chi Road was no longer prosperous, it had hardly been abandoned.

As governor, however, he chose to be magnanimous while inspecting the border, promising the garrison a fixed quota of military rations supplied by the Southern Shu Military Headquarters.

The commander expressed humble gratitude, adopting a subservient posture of submission.

On the journey back from Doucha Pass, Wei Fufeng encountered a courier with news: the court had approved the renaming of Boda and Yanjin Counties to Southern Shu County and Doucha County, respectively.

Regarding Wei Fufeng’s proposal to supply twenty thousand piculs of grain annually, the emperor had issued a commendation and an edict permitting the Southern Sichuan Command to escort the grain to Chang’an.

Upon reading the reply, Wei Fufeng was at a loss for words. The emperor’s satisfaction with the tribute of twenty thousand piculs surprised him—was it that the emperor’s appetite was modest, or was Chang’an in desperate need of grain?

Wei Fufeng had decided on this tribute because Luzhou’s stores were sufficient for both army and civilian needs; he had once seized a hundred thousand piculs in Fushun County, transported to Luzhou with nearly a hundred ships.

Still, to deliver twenty thousand piculs to Chang’an would entail significant losses along the way.

One picul weighed one hundred and twenty jin; twenty thousand piculs amounted to 2.4 million jin. Though it sounded like much, it was only enough to feed an army of fifty thousand for two months.

In other words, to sustain fifty thousand troops (on active duty) for a year would require a consumption of 120,000 piculs.

Wei Fufeng’s system for military households allowed them to keep forty percent of the harvest, with sixty percent going to the state.

He also had to pay the soldiers’ wages, part of which could be given in salt.

Wei Fufeng judged that the tribute of twenty thousand piculs was bearable for Southern Sichuan, and having tested the waters with his memorial, now that the emperor was satisfied, he had no choice but to carry it out.

It would be impossible to transport so much grain at once; instead, it would be divided into ten smaller shipments, each of three thousand piculs, with one thousand piculs allotted for losses en route.

Wei Fufeng ordered the Transport Bureau to prepare two thousand piculs for shipment, and instructed the Prefect of Yuzhou to provide one thousand piculs for the Yuzhou forces’ rations.

The grain boats would travel upriver along the Jialing until Xingzhou’s Shunzheng County, where the cargo would be transferred to carts and wagons for overland transport to Chang’an.