xymnovel Chapter 54 Zhang Ling's Death, the Chu-Han Contention
Chapter 54 Zhang Ling's Death, the Chu-Han Contention
After Zhang Ling took control of Guanzhong, he ordered Zhao Sineng to lead troops to defend Hangu Pass, Zhang Sili to defend Wuguan Pass, and Li Zuogeng to defend the old road to Chencang, thus sealing off the vital passage between Longxi and Hanzhong.
The three men each commanded an army, forming a defensive alliance that locked down the Guanzhong Basin like an iron barrel.
In name, Ziying was made King of Qin, but in reality, all government orders came from the Liang King's Palace.
He acted with great discretion, retaining all former Qin officials, keeping the prefecture-county system unchanged, and not abolishing Qin laws. He simply replaced the guards in the Xianyang Palace with former troops from Hanzhong.
Ziying would ascend the throne as usual every day, review memorials as usual, first send them to the Prince of Liang's residence for inspection, and then Ziying would transcribe them.
Ziying was fully aware of this, but never complained.
He was much smarter than Hu Hai, knowing that his survival on the throne was entirely due to Zhang Ling's single-minded decision.
If Zhang Ling changes his mind one day, he won't even need to prepare a plain carriage and white horse a second time.
Not long after Zhang Ling took control of Guanzhong, forty-eight counties in Guanzhong successively submitted to him. Hanzhong was no exception, and many of the generals guarding Longxi, Beidi, and Shangjun were descendants of the old subordinates who had fought alongside Zhang Jujiu and Zhang Ruotuo. Upon hearing that the Marquis of Jingning's army had entered Guanzhong, they all sent envoys to surrender.
Within half a month, the entire Guanzhong region fell to the Zhang family. East of Hangu Pass, Xiang Yu was engaged in a fierce battle with Zhang Han at Julu, unable to look westward. Liu Bang, meanwhile, was still camped outside Hangu Pass, vying to be the first to become the "King of Guanzhong." Historically, seeing that he couldn't escape through Hangu Pass, Liu Bang turned south and headed towards Wuguan Pass.
But now that Zhang Sili is guarding Wuguan, Liu Bang has lost interest in it.
Liu Bang knew that Zhang Ling was old, too old, and that as long as he died, the Zhang family would collapse.
Zhang Ling also understood this principle well. Zhang Bi was a good successor, but in this chaotic world, he was still somewhat inadequate!
So he wanted to use his life to gain more leverage for the Zhang family.
However, he was not given that chance. Since the beginning of winter, his old injuries had relapsed violently, and he needed help to sit up from his bed. Three different doctors came and went, and the prescriptions were changed from gentle to tonifying to aggressive, and then back to gentle to tonifying, but none of the prescriptions could suppress the long-standing injuries in his body.
Zhang Ling knew that his time was almost up. He had fought for forty years and had no fewer than thirty wounds, large and small, on his body. He had risked his life when he was young and relied on medicine to survive when he was old. It was a blessing from God that he had survived until now.
Xianyang experienced its first snowfall of the winter.
Zhang Ling lay on the couch, so thin he was just skin and bones. The heavy bearskin rug pressed down on him like a mountain.
Zhang Sili and Zhao Sineng both rushed back from their respective defense zones, and Li Zuogeng also traveled all the way from Chencang. The three of them stood guard by the bedside, none of them daring to utter a sound.
"You're all back." Zhang Ling opened his eyes, his gaze slowly sweeping over the three faces. His voice was hoarse, but his tone remained steady, as if he were saying that the snow had fallen quite heavily today. "Guanzhong has just been pacified, and you shouldn't have abandoned your posts. But what I need to say can't be relayed through others; I can only say it to your faces."
He slightly raised his hand to Zhang Sili, who quickly leaned closer and grasped his withered, bony hands.
Zhang Ling looked at his cousin, who had followed him since childhood and fought in battles all his life, and suddenly smiled. The smile was very light and faint, but it made Zhang Sili's eyes suddenly sting with tears.
"You are the Prince of Ningguo, and also a member of the Zhang family. After I leave, I entrust Bi to you."
Zhang Sili suddenly knelt down, his eyes red-rimmed: "Brother..."
"Let me finish," Zhang Ling interrupted him. "My son Zhang Bi, though ambitious, is too honest and not cut out to fight for the throne. After I die, whether he chooses to serve Liu Ji or Xiang Yu, it is up to him. You must protect him."
"Sili, you are brave but lack strategy, so you cannot be fully entrusted with the military command in Guanzhong. You will guard Hangu Pass, but important military and political matters must be discussed with Si Neng. Si Neng."
Zhao Sineng clasped his hands and knelt down, his voice hoarse: "Your subordinate is here."
"How many years have you been with the Zhang family?"
"Twenty-three years."
"Twenty-three years." Zhang Ling nodded. "From a lowly soldier in the Lantian camp to the Lord of Xunquan, every battle you fought was fought with your life on the line. Of all the generals in Guanzhong, you are the most reliable. I entrust Xianyang to you. If Ziying makes any unusual moves, there is no need to ask for orders; deal with him on the spot."
Zhao Sineng kowtowed heavily: "Your Majesty, rest assured, as long as I am here, Xianyang will stand."
Zhang Ling's gaze finally landed on Li Zuogeng.
The old soldier, who had served two generations of his family, knelt at the foot of the couch, tears silently streaming down his face.
"Zuo Geng, you fought alongside me from Handan to Jicheng, and from Jicheng to Linzi. You have more scars on your body than I do. If it weren't for you by my side all these years, I'm afraid I would have died several times over."
Zhang Ling's voice suddenly lowered, so low that only Li Zuo could hear it, "After I die, go to Chencang. Guard the gateway to Hanzhong, and don't let anyone stab the Zhang family in the back."
Li Zuo then prostrated himself on the ground and wept bitterly, choking back sobs and unable to speak, only nodding frantically.
After explaining all this, Zhang Ling felt as if he had unloaded a heavy burden he had carried for half his life, and his whole body suddenly relaxed.
He stared at the rooftop, remained silent for a long time, and then whispered a sentence, his voice very soft, as if he were speaking to himself, or as if he were speaking to some unseen person in the void: "Duke Zhao, Lingwen has not disgraced the Zhang family."
On the fifth day, Zhang Ling died at the Liang Prince's Mansion in Xianyang.
When the news spread, every household in Xianyang wore white mourning clothes.
Ziying personally donned mourning clothes and led all the Qin officials to the Liang King's residence to pay their respects. The mourning hall was set up in the main hall, and the coffin used was the old coffin that Zhang Ling had prepared before his death. He had it made in Hanzhong and kept it in his ancestral home until this time when he specially had it transported from Hanzhong to the battlefield.
Beside the coffin was a black lacquered wooden box, its lid half-open, revealing a box half-filled with wooden hairpins.
Those were hairpins that Zhang Ling had been carving for over a decade, ruining one after another, but he couldn't bear to throw any of them away.
They lie quietly in the wooden box, their cloud patterns simple and their wood color warm and smooth.
After Zhang Ling's death, Zhang Bi ascended to the throne of Liang. Zhang Sili and Zhao Sineng were stationed in Xianyang, while Li Zuogeng was stationed in Chencang. The three of them jointly controlled the military and political affairs of Guanzhong.
On the day of Zhang Ling's funeral, the entire city of Xianyang was deserted.
The hearse departed from the Liang Prince's Mansion and slowly made its way to the ancestral cemetery in the four mountains of the western suburbs. Along the way, people spontaneously set up altars and burned incense, and paper money filled the city, as if it had snowed again.
Zhang Sili led the way, carrying the coffin, with Zhao Sineng and Li Zuogeng on either side. All three were dressed in white mourning clothes, holding white canes, and their faces were solemn.
Following the hearse came three thousand former soldiers from Hanzhong, all dressed in plain armor, holding their spears and halberds upside down, their steps perfectly synchronized.
Ziying stood atop the city wall of Xianyang, watching the funeral procession slowly heading west, and remained silent for a long time.
The Qin banners fluttered in the north wind atop Xianyang, their flagpoles humming as if the crumbling empire were uttering its final lament.
Meanwhile, the Zhang family's banner was already fluttering high in the Guanzhong Plain. Qin's flagpole hadn't fallen yet, but the people standing beneath it had already changed.
After Zhang Ling's death, the political landscape of the world changed drastically.
Xiang Yu decisively defeated the main force of the Qin army at Julu. Zhang Han surrendered with 200,000 Qin soldiers, who were all buried alive by Xiang Yu at Xin'an.
Immediately afterwards, Xiang Yu led the allied forces of the feudal lords westward into Hangu Pass.
Zhao Sineng kept the gates tightly shut and defended the strategic location. Xiang Yu was unable to capture the city after a long siege and feared unforeseen changes in his rear, so he led his troops eastward, made Pengcheng his capital, proclaimed himself the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, and divided the land among eighteen vassal states.
King Huai of Chu had originally promised to enfeoff Liu Bang as the King of Guanzhong, but when Liu Bang's army arrived at Wuguan, Zhang Sili had already closed the gates and refused to let them in.
Liu Bang sent an envoy to negotiate, but Zhang Sili stood atop the city wall and shot an arrow three feet in front of the envoy, coldly saying, "The land west of Hangu Pass belongs to Liang. Liu Bang desires to be king of Guanzhong, but the Zhang family has not yet agreed!"
The messenger reported back to Liu Bang, who remained silent for a long time without getting angry. He simply said, "Although Zhang Ling is dead, his generals still exist. Guanzhong cannot be conquered."
He then led his troops eastward and was enfeoffed as the King of Han, ruling over Ba, Shu, and Hanzhong, with his capital at Nanzheng.
The Hanzhong region, which the Zhang family had ruled for generations, now belonged to Liu Bang; and the Zhang family was trapped inside the gates of Guanzhong, unable to leave.
Xiang Yu's enfeoffment, seemingly giving everyone a fair share, actually sowed the seeds of countless disasters.
Tian Rong of Qi and Chen Yu of Zhao, who had not been granted the title of king, took the lead in raising troops against Chu.
At this time, Zhang Bi received enlightenment from his ancestor and decided to surrender to Liu Bang, while Zhang Sili, Zhao Sineng, and Li Zuo remained silent.
After Liu Bang was welcomed into Guanzhong, he established three laws and enfeoffed Zhang Bi as the Marquis of Liang. Zhang Bi then took advantage of Xiang Yu's northward campaign against Qi to attack the Three Qin regions in the east.
Caught off guard, the Qin generals were caught off guard, and Liu Bang advanced with unstoppable momentum, heading straight out of Hangu Pass to compete with Xiang Yu for control of the Central Plains.
The Chu-Han Contention lasted for four years, with the flames of war spreading from Xingyang to Pengcheng, and then from Pengcheng to Gaixia.