Chapter 701

Facing Cao Bianjiao's concave-convex formation, when Yuan Zongdi finally bitterly reported the estimated casualties, Liu Zongmin nearly fainted.

By rough count, the dead and wounded in this battle from the Chuang camp alone reached over two thousand cavalry; adding the series of engagements since the interception began, the Chuang camp's horse troop casualties were now close to three thousand. This result left the Chuang camp commanders incredulous and at the same time pained to the marrow, each one trembling as they sat on horseback.

The Ge and Zuo Five Camps fared somewhat better, their total casualties unlikely to exceed five hundred cavalry, but even that was enough to make them squawk.

And that was not all — there was also the impact on lost morale. Some horse troops, now birds startled by the mere twang of a bow, had been beaten into cold terror; those utterly demoralized men possessed little fighting strength left.

In contrast, Cao Bianjiao's troops, ever since being encircled, had marched from one victory to another, fighting ever more fiercely amid adversity. Along the way, they had also acquired large quantities of dead and wounded horses for rations. Going forward, trying to hem them in and wear them down would only grow more difficult.

Liu Zongmin's heart was bitter and astringent. He murmured again, "Why? Why are the court's new troops so fierce?"

"What is to be done?"

Whether the Chuang camp commanders or the men of the Ge and Zuo Five Camps, all felt utterly at a loss, as if no measure whatsoever could block Cao Bianjiao's advancing steps.

Hao Yaoqi looked anxious, wanting to speak but holding back, and in the end kept his mouth shut. According to the original plan, he and Li Guo were to lead ten thousand cavalry as the third wave of attack, but that plan had been urgently halted after Yuan Zongdi, Liu Xiyao, and the others returned in defeat.

Hao Yaoqi was full of unwillingness, yet deep in his heart he felt this was the wise decision after all.

Facing the court's new troops, it seemed all previous experience was utterly useless. Reckless personal valor was of no use at all; fighting in his old style would likely just mean continuing to deliver heads and dead-horse rations to Cao Bianjiao.

Over on the roving camp's side, a deathly stillness reigned, the commanders worried and everyone's minds consumed with anxiety. On the Ming army's side, drums and music sounded once more, accompanied by wave after wave of thunderous cheers.

Hearing that resounding cry of "Ten Thousand Victories," the roving camp men were both furious and resentful. Every one of them felt a burning flush on his face, as if the Ming army over there was mocking them.

Yet hearing their drum and music sounds again, a strange change occurred in each man's mind.

Earlier, watching them march while playing tunes and striking up music, they had all thought: do they take this for a grand theater? Or are they singing their way to death?

Now, listening to it, it grated on the ear yet also sounded pleasing. That drum and music seemed to brim with an indomitable momentum, a spirit that regarded death as going home — most rousing to the heart.

The Ming army once more began its march in mighty array, still spread out in dispersed formation. But the roving camp side no longer dared make any rash moves. Watching them form ranks and march all the way to the bank of the Xiangshui River, Liu Zongmin only fretted, "Why has the Chuang King still not arrived?"

He kept dispatching relay riders. At last, near the middle of the you hour (almost six in the evening), as dusk approached, after receiving a rider's report, Liu Zongmin burst into loud laughter: "The Chuang King has arrived with the old camp, and tens of thousands of infantry besides!"

At the middle of the you hour, from the direction of Haozhou, a tide of horse troops came rushing in, a forest of Chuang-emblazoned banners streaming. Among them, some men moved with even greater agility and ferocity than ordinary horse troops — these were the several thousand elite riders of the Chuang camp's old camp.

Far behind these horse troops trailed an even vaster mass of foot soldiers, and still farther off, wave upon wave of starving auxiliaries.

Li Zicheng had arrived with his army. Together with Gao Yigong, Tian Jianxiu, and others, he brought the remaining ten-thousand-odd cavalry of the Chuang camp. Soon, at least tens of thousands of foot soldiers would also arrive, and then the various foot and famine-refugee contingents would gradually converge — men like Luo Rucai and his lot.

After all, they had been traveling with single-minded haste, with logistics and the famine refugees following behind. Compared to Cao Bianjiao's Ming troops, who advanced in formation, stopping and starting, fighting many large and small engagements along the way, which greatly delayed their progress, the Chuang camp infantry keeping close behind the horse troops, along with some able-bodied famine refugees, had moved very quickly.

The endurance of people in this age far exceeded that of later generations. A sixty- or seventy-year-old man, carrying a hundred-catty load, could walk a hundred li in a day as a matter of course. Of course, many of the famine refugee columns — the women, children, and displaced people — were slowed down by having to push carts, haul goods, and drive mules, oxen, and sheep.

The arrival of the main force overjoyed Liu Zongmin and the others. As they haltingly recounted the battle situation ahead in full detail, Tian Jianxiu and the rest were astonished, but Li Zicheng's expression showed little change.

He came to the front and gazed out at Cao Bianjiao's battle formation, remaining silent for a long while.

After a long time, he said, "Against this formation, cavalry cannot be used. Only infantry can be used — or infantry and cavalry combined — to break it."

The men attending him, even the various chiefs of the Ge and Zuo Five Camps, were all markedly deferential. After all, the Chuang camp was growing ever more powerful; though they were an alliance, among the bandit chieftains, they already implicitly took Li Zicheng as their leader.

Niu Jinxing straightened his long beard and his robes. Bumping and jolting all the way on the march, he felt his very bones were about to fall apart. Fortunately, he had finally reached the place. Only Song Xiance, confined to his wheelchair, was still far to the rear.

He had heard Liu Zongmin and the others' account as well. Stroking his beard, he gave a hearty laugh, but felt as if something were stuck in his throat and hurriedly coughed.

He said, "The Chuang King's insight is profound. Cao Bianjiao may be valiant, but according to what Chief Scout Liu has said, their new troops now number less than five thousand. Even if we count them as five thousand, with bird guns making up half, that is only twenty-five hundred guns. Extrapolating from a large formation, when facing battle on four sides, each side would have five or six hundred guns, divided into several layers, each layer no more than a hundred-odd guns. And considering this dispersed formation, each small unit has only a few guns, a dozen or so at most. If our army attacks with infantry, using shields and carts, even if they have fine Eastern Route firelocks that can fire fifteen shots in one go, what of it?"

He gave a grim, cold laugh: "This is the result of an unrighteous army. Our righteous army treats high and low as equals, evens out wealth, imposes no corvée, levies no grain tax — we chastise the unrighteous with great righteousness. One rallying cry, and followers gather like clouds! Theirs is a case of one dead, one fewer. However fierce the new troops may be, slowly grinding them down will wear them to death. The virtuous gain much support; the unvirtuous gain little. Selling one's life for a wayward court will bring no good end in the final reckoning."

The bone-chilling, bitter intent in his words would make anyone who heard them shudder despite themselves.

Although the Chuang camp had been gradually recruiting staff advisors and strategists, most were frustrated scholars from the lower rungs. Their reasons for joining the Chuang camp varied, but most shared one common trait: hatred.

Take Niu Jinxing, for instance — a Provincial Graduate of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, "versed in the books of astrology and the occult, and also well-studied in the military treatises of Sun and Wu." He had once been a private tutor. Because of his daughter-in-law's death, he fell into a bitter feud and lawsuit with his in-law Wang Shijun. Framed by a conspiracy of officials and gentry, he was thrown into prison and stripped of his degree.

And there were Song Xiance, Li Yan, and later Gu Junen and others — all had suffered persecution at the hands of officialdom, or had failed the imperial examinations, and harbored a fierce desire to take revenge on society after their disappointments. They loathed the court, and loathed even more those who continued to loyally serve the authorities, using this to mask their own sense of loss after turning bandit.

After all, in ancient times, with righteousness looming so large, bandits confronting soldiers never had much psychological advantage; they needed to give themselves some mental guidance.

Niu Jinxing's words made everyone feel very comfortable. They thought to themselves: a military advisor is indeed a military advisor — he truly knows how to speak. By merely shifting the tone slightly — for instance, calling the killing of officials and rebellion "executing Heaven's will," or calling raiding homes and plundering "robbing the rich to aid the poor" — the impression given was completely different.

After these down-and-out scholars joined the righteous army, things indeed improved greatly. Especially after they proposed slogans like "Equalize high and low, equalize land and exempt grain taxes," followers truly gathered like clouds. Of course, a large portion of them were coerced — this was something everyone understood tacitly; there was no need to say it aloud.

Li Zicheng smiled. Although he had employed some lower-class frustrated scholars and adopted slogans like "Five years without levies," "No corvée, no grain tax," and "Equalize high and low," when he rallied the masses, what he actually said most often were words like "Follow me and you shall have wealth and rank; do not cross hands and die."

Only by following him in rebellion could one obtain "great wealth and high rank." Why risk beheading to rebel? Aside from those who could not survive, was it not for many about becoming masters over others, about living a life of wealth and rank in the days to come? If one could trample underfoot those one once feared and looked up to, the satisfaction would be even greater.

Someone like Luo Rucai, with his several dozen wives and concubines, several troupes of female musicians in his tent, clad in silks and fine fabrics — was that not perhaps what everyone inwardly truly yearned for?

Even if one could not indulge in pleasures and lose sight of ambition while fighting for the realm, after the rebellion succeeded, one surely must enjoy oneself thoroughly.

Liu Zongmin laughed heartily as well: "The military advisor speaks wisely. Little Cao has already been dragged and entangled here by our army. Attack again with infantry, and the government troops will surely be defeated!"

As for philosophical questions like chastising the unrighteous with great righteousness, Liu Zongmin had no interest. But regarding the ballads that Niu Jinxing, Li Yan, and others had composed and spread — such as "Eat his mother, wear his mother" — Liu Zongmin clapped and cheered. That ballad suited his taste perfectly, fitting his personal ambitions all too well.

Luo Rucai had put it well: "The officials always curse us as bandits, and the ignorant folk curse us as bandits too. Bandits we are — what's wrong with being bandits? When I, Old Luo, was poor and cold, I couldn't even get myself a wife. Now look — the great ladies of official households, the women of rich and noble families — what kind of beauty is beyond reach? In the old days they wouldn't even look at me straight. Now? Which one doesn't humor me, plead with me? Being a bandit is good — I just like being a bandit!"

Of course, Liu Zongmin did not realize that it was precisely this kind of ballad and mindset that saddled the Chuang army with a crushing burden. "Eat his mother, wear his mother" sounded easy, but who would obediently deliver good food and drink to one's mouth? There was no way but to plunder. This was also why, historically, Li Zicheng still had to plunder even after reaching Beijing.

Li Zicheng settled on the plan. In the coming battles, infantry would face infantry, cavalry would face cavalry. When the infantry broke the formation, the cavalry would then mount the assault. They could not let Cao Bianjiao advance a single step further.

The early casualties among the horse troops also made Li Zicheng secretly frown. Nearly three thousand cavalry.

But in recent years he had grown increasingly capable of concealing his emotions, showing nothing on his face. Nor was it appropriate to punish his old brothers for this.

After all, Liu Zongmin and the others had followed him from the very beginning, through fire and water, never abandoning him for all these years. Especially in the thirteenth year of the Chongzhen reign, when they were trapped on Mount Yufu, many commanders surrendered — only Liu Zongmin killed his wife to demonstrate his resolve, swearing his allegiance with the words: "I shall follow you, my lord, unto death!"

That tearful scene moved a great number of officers and men to likewise kill their wives...

Besides, Liu Zongmin came from a blacksmith's background, with a violent temper and unable to bear grievance. If a minor matter led to brothers turning against each other, it would inevitably chill the hearts of the commanders. He had held on until the main force arrived — that was still meritorious. Forget it; a few thousand soldiers — dead is dead.

At the same time, he was secretly alarmed. Cao Bianjiao's troops were so fierce; had it not been that the bulk of them were infantry, while his own side possessed tens of thousands of horse troops — a tremendous advantage — they truly could not have held him up.

Liu Zongmin privately reported the matter of the Ge and Zuo Five Camps. Li Zicheng said nothing on the surface, but secretly a knot formed in his heart. He thought to himself: "The Ge and Zuo camps are full of elite armored soldiers. If I could bring them under my command and unify orders, the Chuang camp's power and prestige would be even greater!"

"And there is also Li Dingguo and his men..." (To be continued...)