Chapter 86: Dire Warnings

A table had been set in the second hall of the Luoding Department Magistrate's yamen, laid with a few simple dishes. Zhou Shixiang and Song Xianggong sat facing each other, each with a cup of wine before him, though neither had touched a drop.

The weather had already turned warm, and Guangdong, lying in the far south of the mainland, was considerably hotter than the north at this time of year. Both men wore only a single thin shirt, yet even so they still felt the stifling heat.

Outside, there was no clear sun to be seen, and the air was oppressively close; it looked like rain.

After picking lightly at the dishes for a while, Song Xianggong could no longer hold back the doubt in his heart. He raised his head and said to Zhou Shixiang, "Does the Battalion Commander truly mean to sell Luoding to Tang Sanshui?"

"As long as Tang Sanshui is willing to buy, I am certainly willing to sell."

Zhou Shixiang smiled and set down his chopsticks, then gestured for Lin Wan'er, who was attending them, to withdraw. Only after the girl had reluctantly left did he say to Song Xianggong, "One is willing to sell, the other willing to buy — a case of Zhou Yu striking Huang Gai.

In this deal, no one comes out the loser."

"No one loses in the deal, but has the Battalion Commander considered..."

Song Xianggong hesitated, unsure whether he should speak his mind truthfully, and if so, how to phrase it so that Zhou Shixiang would not find it grating.

While he hesitated over how to begin, Zhou Shixiang said cheerfully, "Master Song need not hem and haw.

If I am not mistaken, what you wish to say at this moment is that my selling Luoding to Tang Sanshui is highly improper — that it smacks of colluding with the Tartars, or amounts to the act of a traitor to the Han, is that not so?"

At these words, Song Xianggong gave a bitter smile. "Since the Battalion Commander already knows, why still sell?"

"If I do not sell, will Luoding remain in the possession of the Great Ming?"

Zhou Shixiang sighed softly and shook his head.

"You saw Lei Xianchu's attitude with your own eyes.

I offered Luoding and the entire camp of over ten thousand men in exchange for a single county of his — why would he refuse? In the end, our origins are not legitimate.

In the eyes of those governors and inspectors of the Yongli court, we are nothing but a band of bandits and rebels unfit to be brought to the table. When they have use for us, they heap office and rank upon us; when they have no use for us, they turn their backs and disown us.

To put it bluntly, in the eyes of Governor Zhang Xiaoqi of the Four Prefectures, my Taiping Camp is probably nothing more than a chamber pot — brought out when needed, shoved back under the bed when not, and thrown far away once it stinks."

These words left a bad taste in Song Xianggong's mouth, and he could not help saying, "The Battalion Commander's words are rather harsh."

"Harsh they may be, but the words are crude and the reasoning sound. If you savor them carefully, Master Song, is there anything wrong in what I said? If we were of proper guard-battalion stock, would Zhang Xiaoqi or Lei Xianchu look down on us so?"

Recalling Lei Xianchu's reaction upon hearing Zhou Shixiang's terms that day, Song Xianggong was likewise at a loss for words, and could only sigh. "It is a pity Secretary Cheng was not in Gaozhou. Had he been there, the situation might have taken quite another turn."

"Even if Cheng Bangjun himself had come to handle this matter, he would not necessarily have done any better than Lei Xianchu."

Zhou Shixiang had no expectation that Cheng Bangjun, a secretary in the Ministry of War, would speak on the Taiping Camp's behalf.

Had that fellow truly come to Luoding to deal with matters, he would likely have flown into a rage upon seeing what the Taiping Camp had done — for he represented the Yongli court, while the Taiping Camp had acted like roving bandits, herding people along by force.

In the eyes of the Yongli court, which represented orthodoxy, that was surely an unpardonable crime, perhaps even more detestable than the Qing army that had crossed into the pass.

By comparison, Lei Xianchu, a simple military man, had behaved far better than a civil official would have — at least he had not burst into curses on the spot.

And County Magistrate Pang Tianci's attitude had also been within the bounds of normalcy; officials close to the people were always far more pragmatic than the pure-minded censors.

After expressing his anger, he still had to weigh his own standing and whether the other party might turn hostile and kill.

Song Xianggong was silent for a while, then still tried to dissuade Zhou Shixiang.

"Gaozhou has not yet sent a formal reply, and yet you are in such a hurry to sell Luoding to Tang Sanshui.

What if Gaozhou agrees to our terms, and by then Luoding has fallen to the Qing army — what would we have left to exchange with Gaozhou? And how would we explain it?"

Zhou Shixiang knew that Song Xianggong still harbored illusions about Gaozhou, so he asked him, "Gaozhou is little more than a hundred li from here. A fast horse could make the round trip in a day; if not one day, then surely two.

Yet it has been four days now — why has there been no word at all from Gaozhou? If they truly cared about Luoding, truly cared about us, do you think they would drag it out this long?

Since Gaozhou will not receive us, why should we shamelessly cling to them and beg? If Lianzhou and Leizhou are closed to us, we shall go elsewhere.

A tree dies when moved; a man lives. The world is vast — as long as my Taiping Camp is united in purpose, where is there that cannot shelter us?"

Song Xianggong was somewhat startled. "Why is the Battalion Commander in such haste to leave Luoding?" He could not help being surprised, for this was already the sixth time Zhou Shixiang had said in his presence that they must leave Luoding at once.

Zhou Shixiang hesitated slightly, unsure how to explain to Song Xianggong that his judgment was based on historical memory from later ages. After a dozen or so seconds, he finally said, "I will not hide it from you, Master Song.

I have a premonition that the Yongli court is about to suffer a great calamity."

"A great calamity?" Song Xianggong was startled, not knowing what Zhou Shixiang meant.

Zhou Shixiang nodded and said in a low voice, "The Yongli court now relies on the Daxi Army to hold the situation together. But this Daxi Army is the old following of that great bandit Zhang Xianzhong.

Do not forget, Master Song, that it was these very men who dug up the ancestral graves of Zhu Youlang's family. Do you think Zhu Youlang truly trusts the men who dug up his family's graves?"

His words showed not the slightest respect for the Yongli Son of Heaven in Anlong Prefecture, calling him directly by name.

Song Xianggong was himself a man who had changed allegiance several times, so how much loyalty could he bear toward the Zhu emperors? Thus he felt little at Zhou Shixiang's direct use of the Yongli Emperor's name, but he was quite unimpressed by the judgment itself.

"Times have changed.

It was the great bandit Zhang Xianzhong who desecrated the Fengyang imperial tombs. The Daxi Army is now led by Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo, and the rest.

Since marching north out of Yunnan and Guizhou, they have fought dozens of battles, great and small — one cannot say they have not given their all. Why would Zhu Youlang not trust them?

Without the Daxi Army, he could not even rest easy in Guizhou, and might well have died for his country like the Longwu and Shaowu emperors.

If the Battalion Commander concludes from the desecration of the imperial tombs that Zhu Youlang does not trust Sun Kewang and his men, and that the Yongli court is therefore about to suffer a great calamity, I fear that is rather too speculative."

"The Daxi Army has won many victories against the Qing these past few years, but have you considered, Master Song — Li Dingguo twice felled famous princes, and his blade pointed straight at the Yangtze.

The southern half of the realm seemed within reach by the day, so why did he suddenly turn his army toward Guangdong?"

Song Xianggong did not accept suspicion as the reason, so Zhou Shixiang had no choice but to bring out a second one: that there was trouble between Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo.

Otherwise, with the fighting going so well that even the Shunzhi brat was thinking of dividing the realm at the river, why would Li Dingguo suddenly leave Hunan and lead his troops to Guangdong? Could Guangdong as a second front be more important than Hunan as the main front?

Or was retaking the province of Guangdong more important than pressing on in one surge all the way to Beijing?

This question gave Song Xianggong pause. In an instant he felt there was indeed something wrong between Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo, yet he could not say exactly what.

He could not be blamed for this; after all, his understanding was limited by his station and circumstances, and he could not grasp the true course of the greater Ming-Qing situation, still less the struggles among the Ming and Qing high commands.

While he wavered, Zhou Shixiang spoke again, this time half in truth and half in jest.

"When I was in Xinhui, I heard it said that Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo of the Daxi Army are united in appearance but divided in spirit.

Sun Kewang considers himself the most exalted in status and secretly harbors ambitions of setting himself up as ruler, while Li Dingguo is utterly loyal to Zhu Youlang. If that is truly the case, then conflict between the two is only a matter of time.

If Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo fall into internal strife, Li Dingguo will surely have to withdraw to Guangxi, concentrate his main force, and fight Sun Kewang. And if that happens, the Yongli court will be facing disaster.

Whether Sun Kewang wins or Li Dingguo wins, it is a calamity for the Great Ming! To say nothing of the distant future — the moment Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo start fighting, do you think Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao in Guangzhou will not seize the chance to occupy all of Guangdong?

By then, whether Luoding or Gaozhou, none of it will remain in Ming hands. That being so, why should I not make a deal with Tang Sanshui over Luoding and exchange it for a sum of grain and supplies?

Am I truly supposed to lead the brothers to die in Luoding as burial companions for the Yongli court? And do not forget, Master Song, our fighting men are pitifully few."

What Zhou Shixiang said was indeed alarming, yet it sounded plausible enough. Song Xianggong could not digest it all at once; he sat with his mouth open, not knowing what to say.

"Think further, Master Song.

What great matter could have made Cheng Bangjun hurry back to Anlong Prefecture? And why is it Zhang Xiaoqi, not Le Tongwu, who holds the situation in Gaozhou?

Zhang An stated it plainly: after entering the city, he saw no Daxi Army at all, only Gaozhou troops under Zhang Xiaoqi. Where have Le Tongwu's soldiers gone?

Why did Lei Xianchu and Pang Tianci, when they came, not breathe a word about Cheng Bangjun? I probed several times by indirection, trying to learn Le Tongwu's situation, yet the two of them likewise refused to mention it.

Why is that? If Le Tongwu were truly in Gaozhou, what would there be to hide?

Their furtiveness convinces me that Le Tongwu is not in Gaozhou at this moment — that there is not a single Daxi soldier left in Gaozhou city, and that Zhang Xiaoqi has few troops in hand.

Otherwise he would never have gone back on Cheng Bangjun's earlier agreement and conceived the idea of swallowing us up!"

"To my mind, Zhang Xiaoqi's refusal to approve our transfer is on the one hand because he looks down on our origins and our deeds, and on the other because this Governor most likely truly has no troops to garrison Luoding, and is counting on us to stay planted here and block the Qing army for him.

Why else would he ignore us so completely, not even sending a word in reply? That posture is like scattering us as free-range ducks — as long as we can block the Qing army for him, whether we live or die is no concern of his, the Governor of the Four Prefectures.

It is not that I wish to sell Luoding to the Qing army; it is that those Ming officials do not take us seriously. He does the first day of the month, I do the fifteenth.

Either way, we cannot remain in Luoding a single day longer."

Only after Zhou Shixiang had said all this in one breath did he notice how terrible Song Xianggong's expression had become. He realized he had perhaps spoken too much and too quickly, and that the other man could not take in so much at once.

He paused, preparing to change tack so that Song Xianggong could thoroughly abandon his illusions about Gaozhou. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Song Xianggong's right hand, resting on the table, suddenly begin to tremble.

Then the shaking fingers clenched tightly into a fist, and he heard the man's steady voice: "Since the situation is so critical, then truly we cannot remain in Luoding a single day more. But where does the Battalion Commander intend to go?"

"Xiangshan County!"