Chapter 150: 148: It Wasn

The two sides faced off.

Zhao Han ordered the bugler to stand ready, then said to Tian Younian once more: "Prefect Tian, with the situation as it is, do you still intend to feign surrender?"

There was truly no fight left to be had. Tian Younian's advantage lay in his many archers, but his disadvantage lay in exactly the same thing.

His strength at this moment was only half of Zhao Han's, and he was surrounded on three sides besides. If Zhao Han attacked regardless of casualties, the archers could only loose a single volley — those with quick hands might manage a second arrow — and then they would have to face close-quarters slaughter.

"Ah!"

Tian Younian unstrung his bow, cast it aside together with his saber, and walked out alone from the battle formation, saying: "Send two men over. Tie me up and be done with it."

Zhao Han really did send men, who bound the fellow up tightly and marched him over with ropes all over his body.

"My apologies," Zhao Han said with a smile by way of explanation. "Prefect Tian trains his troops well; I must take some precautions. Besides, your surrender came far too abruptly — I truly find it hard to believe."

Tian Younian, hands and feet both bound, turned his head and shouted: "All of you, lay down your weapons! This man does not kill indiscriminately!"

While Huang Yao and Huang Shun were taking in the surrendered troops, Zhao Han asked curiously: "Prefect Tian seems to know me quite well?"

"I have xiucai from Luling under my command," Tian Younian explained. "Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster. Before fighting a war, one must first scout the enemy's situation. After the autumn harvest last year, I already sent out scouts. Everything you have done, I long ago scouted out clearly."

"Well played!"

Zhao Han was not surprised by this. Most likely it was not only Tian Younian's scouts — Li Maofang and Wang Siren had probably sent scouts as well.

Tian Younian continued: "With a rebel like you, one must either swiftly exterminate you or take the earliest chance to join you. At the very start, I made an agreement with Governor Li and Assistant Commissioner Wang to march together after the Lantern Festival. And we could not divide our forces, to avoid being destroyed piecemeal by you. Later, when you took Fenyi County, I mustered my troops, intending to besiege you inside Fenyi's county seat and have them bring their troops over quickly to join the encirclement and attack."

"You think I can succeed?" Zhao Han asked.

Tian Younian gave a bitter laugh. "Whether you can succeed is still hard to say for now, but this Great Ming realm is certainly finished."

Tian Younian's home was in Shaanxi, and he himself came from a military family. No one knew better than he how rotten the Great Ming had become. His entire family had been slaughtered by the roving bandits — aside from his parents, there were also three sons and two nephews. Some time ago, his father and elder brother had also died in battle. What hope could he possibly have left?

The only hope left was to rely on battlefield merit to win titles and emoluments for his wife and sons.

Yet Tian Younian had been in Yuanzhou for over four years. First he had cleared out the bandits, then exterminated rebels, and every year he had presented bows and arrows as tribute to the Emperor.

For all these various merits, only once, in the fourth year of Chongzhen, had the Emperor bestowed a commendation — sending him two taels of silver as a reward and raising his monthly salary by six dan of grain. After that, there was no further response: no promotion, no reward. Even the bow-making subsidy specially approved by the Emperor had been embezzled by some bastard or other — in any case, that silver never left the capital.

Tian Younian's path to promotion had been blocked dead by the court. If he wanted to rise further, he would have to send silver to the Ministry of Personnel.

Or else, he could achieve great merit in the campaign to encircle and annihilate Zhao Han!

That was why Tian Younian trained his troops so zealously. He could only stake everything on earning merit by subjugating Zhao Han, because all the silver he squeezed out had gone into training his troops — he simply had no money to send gifts to those fools in the Ministry of Personnel.

Now, at this moment, ambushed and surrounded by Zhao Han, his last hope was shattered. And he still wanted to protect his concubine and son inside the city, to preserve the last remaining incense of his Tian family line. What way was left to him besides surrender?

Not only surrender — he would sell out his comrades too.

Tian Younian suddenly said: "Governor Li Maofang and Assistant Commissioner Wang Siren should already have received my secret report. They are likely mustering troops and heading for Fenyi County as we speak."

"The Duchang righteous army is already gone?" Zhao Han asked.

Tian Younian replied: "Gone a month ago. The government troops besieged the city for many days. The rebels started fighting among themselves, and after slaughtering each other, they offered up the city and surrendered."

Neither Zhao Han nor Tian Younian knew that a major event had suddenly occurred in the north. Li Maofang and Wang Siren would not be coming to Fenyi County.

The previous winter, the roving bandits had rampaged across Henan, and the court had urgently transferred troops from six provinces to encircle and annihilate them.

Before the government troops could complete their encirclement, the bandits burst out of the cordon and headed straight for the ancestral tombs of old Zhu's family — Fengyang.

At this very moment, Li Maofang and Wang Siren had already dispatched their troops, leading an army of several thousand by water and land to reinforce the Central Capital, Fengyang. Compared to old Zhu's family tombs, the Zhao rebel of Luling was nothing — he could be left for a slow, leisurely extermination later.

Even if Zhao Han had not made his night raid around the rear, and had been besieged by Tian Younian inside the Fenyi county seat, the final outcome would have been much the same — because Tian Younian would never have gotten his reinforcements.

As for the Chongzhen Emperor, he had always clutched his private purse strings tight and refused to let go.

But since he had already dipped into it once for disaster relief, a second time was inevitable. With his own ancestral tombs in danger, and tens of thousands of troops short on pay, Chongzhen finally drew upon the inner treasury a second time — this time to issue pay to the soldiers on the front lines.

Hmm, the Emperor's ancestral tombs were threatened, and the troops seized the chance to clamor for pay.

One could not really blame the troops. They had been pursuing the roving bandits even through the snow during the New Year, yet their pay silver was long overdue.

How could you not pay overtime wages during the New Year?

…

Seeing that Zhao Han had finished taking in the surrendered troops, Tian Younian suddenly said: "Give me a thousand soldiers, and I will lead them to trick open the prefectural city gates."

"Done!"

Zhao Han immediately had his soldiers change clothes, donning the government troops' uniforms and taking up the government troops' weapons, then clustered around Tian Younian to go trick the city.

Tonight's battle was utterly bizarre. Zhao Han had expected a bloody fight, but who could have known Tian Younian would surrender so cleanly and decisively.

What followed was a performance. Shouts of slaughter rose everywhere inside the military camp — men shouting as they ran, all the way to the foot of Yuegong Ridge.

Tian Younian, his hair disheveled and blood smeared on his face, went to trick the city under Zhao Han's personal escort. He was even more impatient than Zhao Han, because his concubine and son were inside the city — the only kin he had left alive in this world.

The prefectural city was already in an uproar. The soldiers who had fled back from the camp, along with those who had been guarding the grain stores by the river, had all fled to the various city gates. They wanted to get inside the city to take shelter, but the garrison inside refused to open the gates, fearing some trick that would cost them the prefectural city.

"Make way!"

Tian Younian bellowed.

"His Excellency the Prefect has come!"

"His Excellency has beaten back the rebels!"

"…"

The fleeing soldiers were overjoyed and hastily parted to open a path for Tian Younian.

Tian Younian roared angrily: "You lot who fled the field — I will deal with your crimes tomorrow!" He reached the base of the wall and bellowed up at the gate tower: "I am Tian Younian! The bandits have been beaten back. Open the gates at once and let me in! Also, send men to find a physician — the army medics have all fled. I have wounded soldiers who need immediate treatment!"

This fellow commanded such prestige in the prefectural city that a single furious order was enough. The garrison troops dared not say another word and hurried over to open the city gates.

Zuo Xiaocheng was mingled among the fleeing soldiers as well. He strained to push forward, but Zhao Han's troops blocked him — he could not squeeze through at all. He could only shout: "Your Excellency! I am Zuo Xiaocheng, the xiucai from Luling!"

No one paid him any heed.

Suddenly, the city gates swung wide open. Zhao Han led his troops, clustered around Tian Younian, and poured inside.

"Kill!"

Once inside the city, Zhao Han skewered a gate guard with one thrust of his spear, and over a thousand soldiers charged toward the gate tower.

Tian Younian shouted at the top of his lungs: "I have already surrendered! You lot, surrender quickly too!"

Pity the sky-shaking shouts of slaughter drowned everything out. Countless officers and soldiers were caught utterly off guard, cut down and scattered in flight — no one was listening to him at all.

Even Prefect Tian has joined the rebels?

Hearing the sounds of killing inside the city gate, Zuo Xiaocheng went pale with terror and immediately bolted for the riverbank to escape.

His mind went blank; he could not grasp what was happening.

He had thrown in his lot with Xie Xuelong, only for Xie Xuelong to be defeated and killed. Then he came to attach himself to Tian Younian, and this one was even more impressive — he actually surrendered directly to the rebels.

Inside the city, chaos erupted completely. Some people even began setting fires, hoping to take advantage of the disorder to loot money and valuables.

Seeing the flames soaring skyward, Tian Younian grew frantic at once. "Quick, detach a unit of troops and follow me to seize the prefectural yamen — my son is still inside!"

Prospects and the like — he could no longer care about any of that.

That son, barely over a year old, was the very flesh of Tian Younian's heart, the sole remaining bloodline and incense-offering of the Tian family.

After Zhao Han secured the southern gate tower, he immediately said to Huang Yao, "Take your men and follow Mr. Tian to occupy the prefectural yamen!"

Clustered around and running, Tian Younian soon reached the yamen's entrance. He shouted at once, "Open the gate — I am Tian Younian."

The yamen's main gate swung open quickly, and Huang Yao led his men in to seize the place. Tian Younian, however, paid no attention to any of that, trotting straight toward the rear courtyard, where his concubine was huddled with his son, trembling with fear.

"Xi'er, don't be afraid — I've come back," Tian Younian soothed gently.

He was already nearing fifty, and all three of his sons had died. This youngest child had not come easily.

Even this concubine — originally no more than a maidservant — had, through the son's elevation of the mother, been showered with favor. After giving birth, she was immediately taken as a concubine, and he even planned to promote her to principal wife as a second match later on.

Not until daybreak did Tian Younian patrol the city and rally the remnant troops. His concubine and son were held as hostages, with Huang Yao assigning men to guard them.

Everyone had already toiled through the night, and after working until mid-morning, no one was in the mood for talk. They simply dispatched soldiers to hold the city in shifts and maintain public order.

He slept soundly until dusk. Zhao Han finally rose and ate, summoning Tian Younian to drink with him.

"Mr. Lizheng — Tian Younian," Zhao Han raised his cup, "my thanks for your assistance!"

Tian Younian was in truth inwardly dejected. He downed a cup of wine and said, "I know your methods. In a couple of days, you will free the household slaves and exchange their contracts for hired-labor agreements. If you trust me, I will help you take the entire Yuanzhou Prefecture. If you do not trust me, I will simply follow you back to Ji'an."

Zhao Han smiled. "It is not that I mistrust you, sir, but I have no intention of seizing Yuanzhou. After one more day of rest and reorganization, I will immediately march the army back. Oh, and the craftsmen of the Yuanzhou Armory — I intend to take every one of them with me!"

"Very well, I will help you assemble the craftsmen," Tian Younian said.

Zhao Han could not help but laugh. "You surrendered so swiftly, sir, and now you cooperate in every possible way — even now, I still find it a little hard to believe."

"This official post of mine was purchased," Tian Younian said. "Do you know what post I bought in the first place?"

"Please, tell me," Zhao Han said.

A cold sneer crossed Tian Younian's face. "County Magistrate of Jiangning. It cost me over ten thousand taels of silver!"

Impressive. Jiangning, though attached to the walls of Nanjing, was absolutely brimming with squeeze — to have been able to buy that post, he must have been truly formidable.

Tian Younian continued, "The silver I raked in at Jiangning — most of it went to feed the Donglin Faction. At the time, Wei Zhongxian was wielding power, and the Donglin Faction was in dire straits. How rare it was for me to offer fuel in snowy weather. After Wei Zhongxian fell, guess what happened?"

"The Donglin Faction turned their backs and refused to acknowledge you?" Zhao Han asked.

Tian Younian sighed. "I carried on in Jiangning for another year, and even wiped out the bandits there — and I still had to send silver just to land a post as a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue. I held that lucrative post for only a single year before being sent out to Yuanzhou as Prefect. They gave no thought at all to our old ties!"

From County Magistrate of Jiangning to a Ministry of Revenue secretary was a jump of two ranks — unquestionably a promotion.

From a Ministry of Revenue secretary to Prefect of Yuanzhou was a jump of four ranks, but that one is harder to judge. A lucrative capital post exchanged for a prefectship in an impoverished region — it all depended on how things developed afterward.

"Once I reached Yuanzhou," Tian Younian gave a mirthless laugh, "the Donglin Faction simply forgot about me. All our former connections — gone. In the end, I am a man from Shaanxi, and a mere juren at that. I was never one of their own. Those bastards are masters of burning the bridge after crossing it!"

The rank of Prefect is something of a hurdle; further promotion beyond it is exceedingly difficult.

Some unlucky souls go from one place to another, serving as Prefect for twelve years or more, then slowly wasting away as an Assistant Administration Commissioner or Administration Commissioner, spending their whole lives endlessly shuttling around the provinces.

Tian Younian was precisely the type who could rise no further. The summit of his official career would at best be an Administration Commissioner of the lower third rank — and without paying silver, he could not even manage that.

With no hope of promotion, no family to drag him down, and yet a bloodline that must be preserved — what mental burden was there left in joining the rebels?

Had there been any chance of normal promotion based on his administrative record, Tian Younian would never have chosen to join the rebels.

(End of chapter)