Chapter 363: If the Bandits Besiege Luoyang, What Should I Do?

"At the start of this month, the bandit Li Jiyu of Dengfeng rose in violent revolt because of the famine. Within ten days he gathered tens of thousands, stormed Dengfeng, and has now gone to join Li Chuang and the other bandits."

"Throughout western Henan, bandits are rising everywhere. We hear reports from all over, and everywhere children are singing folk rhymes."

Wang Dou asked, "What folk rhymes?"

Those merchants told him, and two in particular were very famous: "Eat his mother, wear his mother, fling wide the gates to welcome the Chuang King — when the Chuang King comes, no grain tax to bring." And: "Beg for a sheng at dawn, plead for a ge at dusk, poor men lately can hardly stay alive. Open your gates early and bow to the Chuang King, and he'll see that both great and small rejoice and thrive."

Wang Dou thought to himself: Li Yan and the others have already surrendered to Li Zicheng.

These merchants all spoke at once, each voicing worry over the situation in Henan. Merchants are in fact the most sensitive to the current state of affairs. Their various sources of information are even better informed than the government offices. Wang Dou listened quietly to their talk. He had detailed intelligence from the Intelligence Division on Kaifeng and other places in his hands, but it was still good to hear what these merchants had to say.

They all claimed Li Zicheng had several hundred thousand men. Wang Dou thought that impossible. When Li Zicheng first entered Henan, he had about a thousand core, trusted followers. Even with Yidougu, Wanguanzi, Li Jiyu, and the others throwing in with him, plus those famine refugees, he might have over a hundred thousand. Talk of several hundred thousand was just rumor spread by passersby.

The possibility of besieging Luoyang, however, was real. Historically, Li Zicheng had taken Luoyang — actually, he did not storm it; the defending officers and soldiers opened the gates themselves. Luoyang's walls were as strong as Kaifeng's, and it even had a Regional Commander inside. If the defenders had been just a little more diligent, as with Kaifeng's walls, Li Zicheng could only have stared at Luoyang in frustration.

The fall of Luoyang City may well have been incited by those two folk rhymes. A political offensive is sometimes more terrifying than a military one.

Wang Dou next asked those merchants about their grain stockpiling in Kaifeng Prefecture. They had purchased roughly over five thousand dan of grain and fodder, spending altogether several tens of thousands of silver taels. The worse the disaster in Henan became, the harder it was to buy this grain and fodder. The merchants had already expended tremendous effort, and Wang Dou could not ask more of them.

When they delivered this grain to Wang Dou, he would raise the price slightly above their purchase cost as compensation for their trouble. They would take the receipt approved by Wang Dou back to the Eastern Route to collect the silver.

They naturally trusted that Wang Dou would not withhold payment, and the benefits in return were of course many. One of them was that in the future, after Wang Dou developed the lands beyond the frontier, those merchants who had helped him could enclose large tracts of land and claim pasturelands. This stirred the interest of many Eastern Route merchants, who were very willing to serve as the vanguard for Wang Dou's great army.

Afterward, Wang Dou asked them about their commercial operations in Kaifeng and other places. They all complained bitterly, saying business was hard to do. Any industry that could turn a profit was monopolized and controlled by others, and trying to get a foot in the door was extremely difficult.

In fact, Kaifeng had a huge population, so business opportunities should also be plentiful. Inside the city, for instance, were the Henan Provincial Administration Commission, the Kaifeng Prefectural government, and government offices at every level. Large numbers of officials and their families lived within the city, along with the residences of many retired officials and country gentry.

Besides all these, Kaifeng City had its own special product: the princely estates.

Among all the princes, the Prince of Zhou was the most prolific. His fief was Kaifeng Prefecture, and by now his clan descendants numbered over five thousand. Forty-eight of them had been enfeoffed as Commandery Princes. Princely mansions stood thick as a forest in the city. Apart from the Prince of Zhou's mansion, there were also the Qujing Prince's mansion, the Huating Prince's mansion, the Yuanwu Prince's mansion, the Ruijin Prince's mansion, and so on and so forth.

Each Prince of the Blood and Commandery Prince had his own designated civil and military officials, soldiers, and servants. The whole of Kaifeng Prefecture could be said to center on the Prince of Zhou's mansion. The officials and soldiers, great and small, who served them, plus the commoners and merchants whose lives revolved around them, formed the various strata of Kaifeng's population.

So it was no surprise that most of the city's commerce served the Prince of Zhou's mansion and the various officials and nobles. Over several centuries, the city's commerce had been monopolized by local official-merchants. For an outsider to try to get a foot in the door — how impossibly difficult. When these Eastern Route merchants came here, they naturally did not want to be street peddlers carrying their wares on shoulder poles or run some tiny little business.

Wang Dou also sank into thought. His own power had not yet extended to the Central Plains and other regions, so he had no way to provide protection for these merchants. Official-merchants, official-merchants — in this era, the most powerful were precisely the official-merchants. They were deeply entrenched everywhere. Unless backed by a high official or a high-ranking military officer, the merchants under their protection could not gain a foothold anywhere.

Moreover, these were chaotic times, with bandits everywhere and roving brigands filling the countryside. Unless escorted by the army, long-distance transport was out of the question. At present, the Great Ming's road conditions were also poor, and logistics could not keep up. Most importantly, what could the Eastern Route sell?

Grain, ironware, weapons — these might be the Eastern Route's signature goods in the future, but Wang Dou would not sell any of them to the outside.

After those merchants left, Wang Dou summoned his officers to his central army tent to discuss matters. Gathered inside the tent were Chi Dacheng, Xie Yike, Wen Fangliang, Gao Shiyin, Li Guangheng, Wen Daxing, Sun Sanjie, Zhao Xuan, Wu Zhengchun, Shen Shiqi, Gao Xun, and the other Company Commanders. There were also some accompanying staff advisors and clerks.

Among them, Wen Fangliang, Gao Shiyin, and Sun Sanjie exercised command over Wu Zhengchun, Shen Shiqi, and Gao Xun, the three Company Commanders of the B-class units.

On the Eastern Route, steady men like Zhong Xiancai, Yang Guodong, Zhong Diaoyang, and Lei Xianbin were holding the fort. With several A-class and B-class units inside, presumably no one would dare to make a move against the Eastern Route. Besides Wang Dou, no one else could mobilize the Shunxiang troops on the Eastern Route. Anyone who dared entertain crooked thoughts would suffer the merciless blows of the Shunxiang Army left behind.

Wang Dou looked at each man in turn. To accompany the army on this campaign, every officer felt it an honor. They all knew that for every expedition, the officers fought tooth and nail for a spot. Wu Zhengchun, Shen Shiqi, and Gao Xun in particular had expressions of barely concealed excitement.

Wu Zhengchun, however, was a man of few words, and Gao Xun was deep and self-contained, so their faces did not show much. Only Shen Shiqi had a look of obvious satisfaction. He sat ramrod straight and proud, occasionally casting a glance at Wu Zhengchun across from him.

In truth, after Wu Zhengchun married Chen Suniang in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Shen Shiqi had more or less set his mind at ease. The guy finally had a wife — surely he should give up now? Though Shen Shiqi had once been the victor in love, he still constantly worried that his own wife and this fellow might still have a lingering attachment.

Unlike the ferocious demon he was to the outside world, Shen Shiqi was quite henpecked and never dared utter half a harsh word to his wife. Over the years, Shen Shiqi and Wu Zhengchun had been locked in fierce competition. At first, Shen Shiqi had climbed above Wu Zhengchun. Then Wu Zhengchun, through determined effort, had climbed above him.

Now that the two were finally equal in rank, there was one more thing that left Shen Shiqi brooding unhappily. After Wu Zhengchun married Chen Suniang, Chen Suniang gave birth to triplets — all of them survived, and all were sons. This was hailed as a marvel of the Eastern Route, and even Wang Dou had personally gone to see them.

Since Chen Suniang loved to eat meat every day, the notion that women who eat meat will bear sons spread like wildfire across the Eastern Route.

Over the years, Shen Shiqi had only one son and one daughter. This made him feel outdone by Wu Zhengchun, and he was thoroughly uncomfortable about it inside.

"We hear that whenever the bandits take a city, they raze it completely to the ground. General, in my humble opinion, Li Chuang and those bandits have never had any grand ambition. This is the behavior of roving brigands, not enough to establish a firm base."

The Staff Division had already compiled intelligence from all over Henan, and Staff Division Ambassador Wen Fangliang was reporting to Wang Dou.

Wang Dou smiled faintly. "I have heard that the Chuang bandit has no taste for wine or women, eats coarse grain and plain food, and shares both hardship and comfort with his subordinates. This man is tenacious and unyielding, rising again and again after repeated defeats. He cannot be underestimated."

In Wang Dou's view, Li Zicheng's nerves had probably been tempered into steel rebar. Several times he had been beaten down to just a dozen riders fleeing for their lives, yet he quickly rallied his forces and rose again. In ten years, who knew how many times he had failed, yet he never lost heart — like an indestructible cockroach.

Tempered by years of warfare, the man could be called an outstanding tactician. Of course, he clearly lacked strategic vision. After the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, his military successes should actually be attributed to the corruption of the Ming court. By then, the Great Ming was already beyond saving. Most of Li Zicheng's opponents were third-rate Ming troops, and the various military commanders were obviously holding back, preserving their strength, unwilling to exert themselves further for the Ming.

Li Zicheng, however, saw himself as invincible under heaven. As a result, the moment he faced the truly elite Manchu armies, his true colors were immediately exposed. Within a single year, his hundreds of thousands of men vanished like smoke and ash.

The fighting power of the Chuang army was nowhere near as strong as Li Zicheng imagined. In terms of combat effectiveness, Wang Dou believed the Qing army surpassed the Liaodong army, which surpassed the Shaanxi Qin army, which surpassed the Chuang army. Li Zicheng vastly overestimated his own strength. Advancing on the capital too quickly was his fundamental strategic blunder, exposing his short-sightedness. Perhaps this was the common failing of most roving brigands.

The peasant rebel armies of the late Ming were simply not on the same level as heroes like Zhu Yuanzhang in the early Ming.

Of course, for the present, Wang Dou took Li Zicheng and the others very seriously, because he had to take responsibility for the lives of the thousands of officers and men under his command.

"The bandits have already taken Lushan, Jiaxian, Yiyang, Yanshi, Yongning, and other places, forming an encircling posture toward Luoyang. In this student's view, the Chuang bandits' attack on Luoyang is inevitable."

Gazing at the huge map, Qin Yi pondered for a long while, then slowly spoke while stroking his beard.

Wang Dou's eyes lit up. After the Staff Division had finished presenting all the enemy intelligence, Wang Dou had let everyone speak freely. Each man offered his own opinion, but only Qin Yi's words struck Wang Dou to the heart. Wang Dou relied on foreknowledge; Qin Yi relied on "solid skill." In this regard, Wang Dou was not his equal.

"Why does Mr. Qin say that?"

Wen Fangliang asked.

As a clerk and advisor of the Staff Division, Qin Yi had the good fortune to accompany the expedition. Not many of the advisors in the Staff Division had this honor.

Qin Yi cupped his hands toward the assembly. "The wealth of the Prince of Fu is famed throughout the land. If they take Luoyang, the Chuang bandits will have an incalculable amount of gold, silver, and treasure to support their army. With one call, a million will answer, and the blaze will spread beyond any hope of extinguishing. For all these reasons, this student believes that Luoyang is a city the bandits will certainly take!"

Wen Fangliang said, "Luoyang's walls are high and thick. It won't be so easy to take."

Qin Yi said calmly, "The common people of western Henan grow more famished and bitter by the day, yet the Prince of Fu still lives in extravagant luxury, debauched and besotted, unwilling to part with a single grain of rice to relieve the disaster victims. Both soldiers and civilians seethe with resentment. The bandits are already known to be fabricating songs and rhymes to stir the people's hearts. There may be men of talent and intellect within their ranks. When hearts and minds are divided, even if the walls are thick and solid, they might as well be empty if calamity arises from within."

The men were silent, all pondering Qin Yi's words deeply. And Qin Yi was a native of Henan, quite familiar with Luoyang and the surrounding areas. What he said was very likely to come true.

After a long pause, Wang Dou said, "According to Mr. Qin's words, if the Chuang bandits besiege Luoyang, what should our Shunxiang Army do?"