Chapter 193: 191 Mountains and Rivers as Strategic Strongholds

Zhu Xieyuan, when he was suppressing the tusi in Guizhou, also went to survey the terrain himself.

What is marked on a map, what scouts report — none of it is as solid as seeing with your own eyes. Only by actually setting foot in a place can you hold the war terrain clear in your mind.

Of course, venturing into rebel territory was too dangerous, so Zhu Xieyuan pretended to be drilling troops. Even his private secretary Wang Tingshi did not know he had left Nanchang.

This fellow disguised himself as an old man visiting relatives in Guangdong, boarded a merchant vessel transporting porcelain, and observed the lay of the land along both banks the whole way.

"Master, over there is the Jin River, which runs all the way to Shanggao County and Wanzai County," said the guide, who had been recommended by Regional Inspector Chen Yuding and knew Jiangxi geography well. "If you take a boat up the Jin River, you can land surprise troops at Wanzai County, then cross the mountains and strike straight at Yichun. Yichun is Sweeping King's territory..."

Zhu Xieyuan cut him off: "Isn't Yichun the rebel Zhao's territory?"

The guide corrected him: "No, the three counties of Yichun, Pingxiang, and Yongxin all belong to Sweeping King. If we cannot destroy the rebel Zhao quickly, we could first retake the four counties of Fengcheng, Qingjiang, Fenyi, and Xinyu, depriving the rebel Zhao of a great deal of commercial tax revenue and iron mines."

Zhu Xieyuan nodded in agreement, while inwardly placing even greater importance on the naval forces — in Jiangxi, all troop movements had to follow the rivers.

Back in the day, when Chen Youliang held all of Jiangxi, Zhu Yuanzhang could not devour him until after his great victory in the naval battle on Lake Poyang.

Zhu Xieyuan pointed to the eastern bank and asked, "I see another river inside the riverbank. What river is that?"

The guide answered, "That is the old course of the Fu River. Setting out from Nanchang along the old Fu River course, to the southwest you can head straight for the rear of Fengcheng County — you could send a surprise force traveling by night and hiding by day, concealed in the great mountains southeast of Fengcheng County as an ambush. Setting out from Nanchang along the old Fu River course, to the southeast you can enter the present Fu River, and after reaching Fuzhou, turn into its tributaries. You could send surprise troops over the mountain ridges to strike directly at Yongfeng County and Jishui County, raiding the rebels' root lair."

Suddenly, the merchant boat passed a bustling river-mouth town.

Zhu Xieyuan asked, "What town is this?"

The guide answered, "Xigang Town. This small river is a tributary of the old Fu River course. Don't underestimate it just because it's small — when floods come, this is the only waterway south of Nanchang connecting the Gan River and the Fu River, so several floodgates have been specially built at the river mouth."

Another ten li, and they reached Fengcheng County.

The merchant boat did not put in to shore. Not until they reached Zhangshu Town did they finally stop to resupply drinking water and food.

Zhu Xieyuan dared not disembark. Instead, he hid in the cabin, took out his map, and digested everything he had seen and heard that day.

The next day, once the merchant boat set sail again, Zhu Xieyuan came back out on deck to observe.

This stretch of the channel was magnificent — both banks were mostly mountain ridges, with the Gan River cutting through the middle.

The guide pointed to Xingan County seat and said, "Whoever holds this city controls the north-south chokepoint. Grandfather Yue and Han Shizhong both drilled troops here in their day. Moreover, troops setting out from Xingan County can bypass the riverside mountains and attack Xiajiang County and Jishui County directly by land."

The more Zhu Xieyuan looked, the more his head ached. You could not figure this out just holding a map — only by observing in person did you realize how daunting it was.

Jiangxi's mountains and rivers were simply too suited for warfare; there were far too many places that strategists had to contest.

If he wanted to campaign against the rebels, Linjiang Prefectural City had to be taken — but storming it would be extremely difficult.

Even if Linjiang Prefecture fell, the rebel Zhao could still hold fast at Xingan County seat.

Even if Xingan County fell, the rebel Zhao could still hold fast at Jiajiang County seat, Jishui County seat, and Ji'an Prefectural City — every one of these cities locked down a strategic mountain-river pass.

Moreover, because great mountains were everywhere, the army's line of advance was extremely limited. Even if you could send surprise troops around the rear, you could only send small detachments, because flanking meant crossing mountains and ridges.

The army's single line of advance meant that the rebel Zhao could defend with ease.

The rebel Zhao could simply avoid a naval battle altogether, hide his fleet, and hold the cities, waiting at ease for the exhausted enemy. Once the government troops were worn down, he could advance by both water and land and send them fleeing in utter disarray.

Zhu Xieyuan thought to himself: We cannot take city after city. We must lure the rebels out to fight a decisive battle. Otherwise, fighting a war of sieges against the rebels, we still won't have wiped them out ten years from now.

The riverside cities of Jiangxi were absurd — even the tiny county seats were all built far beyond standard specifications.

The main reason was frequent flooding. Whenever a flood came, it easily wrecked the county seat. Each time a county seat was destroyed, funds were raised to repair it, and it was rebuilt even grander and sturdier. The defensive strength of the county seats here far exceeded that of most prefectural cities in other provinces!

Impossible to storm — a war of sieges was truly impossible.

All the way south, entering the cabin whenever they docked and emerging whenever they left shore — several days later, Zhu Xieyuan arrived at Wan'an County.

Seeing the scale of Wan'an County seat, and then looking ahead at the towering mountains on both banks, Zhu Xieyuan felt his scalp go numb.

According to the guide, auxiliary troops from Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian could only march north to suppress the rebels from this point; otherwise they would have to make a huge detour, making a north-south pincer impossible.

And the rebels would not need to do much — just a few iron chains stretched across the river would leave the troops from Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian completely blind.

Even if the chains were dealt with, Wan'an County seat still sat there blocking the way.

The walls of this county seat were over seven meters high. To the west was the Gan River, to the east great mountains, and to the south more ridges.

If government troops attacked from the south, they would first have to seize the ridges south of the city, or circle around to attack from the north — extremely dangerous. The walls might not seem to match those of Nanchang, but combined with the natural mountain-river defenses, the difficulty of taking this city was no different from attacking Nanchang itself.

Once past Wan'an County, they were in government-held territory.

Zhu Xieyuan met with Fujian Governor Zou Weilian in Ganzhou. After exchanging a few pleasantries, they began discussing bandit-suppression matters.

Zou Weilian sighed: "Ah, after I stationed troops at Ganzhou last year, with military discipline in shambles, provisions lacking, and warships insufficient, I have been reorganizing the army ever since. I had intended to attack Ji'an this spring, but after sending scouts many times, I found it heavily garrisoned everywhere. A few days ago, the rebels' top general, Zhao Yaonian, even came in person with troops to hold Wan'an County."

"How muddled — why did you not launch a surprise attack on Wan'an last year?" Zhu Xieyuan demanded.

Zou Weilian said, "When the Fujian auxiliary troops entered Jiangxi, their discipline was utterly ruined. I had to straighten out the army. Moreover, although the rebel Zhao had not yet occupied Wan'an last year, Wan'an was held by two bandit chiefs surnamed Fang. With just a thousand men garrisoning it, the city would already be hard to attack. If I had sent troops to occupy Wan'an then, the rebel Zhao would certainly have come at us in force. With his naval advantage, he would not even need to retake Wan'an — he could have sailed straight for Ganzhou. Unprepared as I was, I truly dared not move troops rashly."

Zhu Xieyuan said, "Last winter, the rebel Zhao was attacking Fengcheng County and also fighting Guangxin and Fuzhou troops at Jishui. How would he have had the leisure to move south?"

"But from so far away, I had no way of knowing that," Zou Weilian said. "The scouts I sent to Ji'an did not detect the rebel Zhao making any major moves. There is only one possibility: last winter, the rebel Zhao never used his full strength at all. If he had used his full strength, he would have ordered the peasant soldiers to muster. Does the Supreme Commander know that under the rebel Zhao's rule, every household must send men to drill as peasant soldiers? If they were all called up for battle at once, his forces could well exceed twenty thousand!"

Zhu Xieyuan fell silent and dejected. He knew this information, and he had no way to counter it.

The rebel Zhao distributed land to the common people, and to hold on to their fields, every household sent men to drill and form units. Peasants in times of peace, soldiers in times of war — fighting for their own land, their morale far surpassed that of government troops. He had heard that Yang Jiamo was captured by a mob of peasant soldiers.

Zhu Xieyuan changed the subject and asked, "Has the civil unrest in Guangdong and Guangxi still not been quelled?"

"How could it be so fast?" Zou Weilian said. "Governor Shen (Shen Youlong) wrote a few days ago, saying that the Guangdong rebels have largely been mopped up, but next he still has to go to Guangxi to suppress bandits."

"It seems we can only look to Huguang for a solution," Zhu Xieyuan said.

Present-day Huguang had been divided into two theaters of war.

The region of Huguang north of the Yangtze, called Hubei for short, fell under the jurisdiction of Lu Xiangsheng, Supreme Commander of the Five Northern Provinces.

The region of Huguang south of the Yangtze, called Hunan for short, fell under the jurisdiction of Zhu Xieyuan, Governor-General of the Five Southern Provinces.

Zou Weilian said, "Hunan must send troops — they can strike straight into the rebel Zhao's lair. When the time comes, with a three-sided pincer from north, south, and west, the rebel Zhao will surely be unable to attend to everything at once."

Zhu Xieyuan said, "The three counties of Yichun, Pingxiang, and Yongxin are held by the rebel Sweeping King. I will order the various prefectures and counties of Hunan to each raise and train their own troops. We will strike Sweeping King first — it would be best if we could pressure him into surrendering. Only after Hunan's forces are formed can we make a major move. No further operations are possible this year. If we move now, we will certainly be defeated."

Zhu Xieyuan was truly in no hurry to suppress the bandits. During the Tianqi reign, he had campaigned against the tusi of Sichuan and Guizhou, fighting for several years on end, interrupted by a three-year mourning period at home, before returning to serve as Governor-General in Sichuan and Guizhou — nearly ten years in all.

He believed he should first rectify local governance, lighten corvée and taxes, train the army, and only then deliver a fatal blow to the rebels.

Zou Weilian complained bitterly, "I fear we won't make it to next year before the Fujian troops start to mutiny."

"Why is that?" Zhu Xieyuan asked, puzzled.

Zou Weilian said, "My entire family has been carried off by the rebel Zhao. Even my closer clan relatives have all been carried off."

Zhu Xieyuan was instantly speechless.

Zou Weilian said, "Even if I could disregard my aged mother and my wife and children, who would believe it? That rebel Zhao is cunning; he sent men to spread rumors that I have already gone over to the rebels. Now the officers and soldiers in the army all suspect I have already turned traitor. Moreover, these officers and men come from Fujian. I forbade them from plundering in Jiangxi, and I forbade them from skimming military pay — they have long harbored resentment against me. The Fujian troops... I can barely keep them in check any longer. If we do not march out quickly before this year's autumn harvest, those officers will certainly take advantage of the harvest to plunder the villages."

"Within this year, we cannot fight," Zhu Xieyuan sighed. "Since I first arrived in Jiangxi, I have found the government troops hardly fit for use. They need at least a year of training before they can do battle. Moreover, the troops from Hunan have not yet formed into an army, so we cannot achieve a three-sided encirclement. If we force an attack, there is little chance of victory. Just the prefectural city of Linjiang alone would require my main army to besiege it for several months."

Zou Weilian said, "The government trains its troops — do the rebels not train theirs? The longer we drag this out, the stronger the rebel Zhao's power becomes. His territory has had bumper harvests year after year, while the government's jurisdiction is beyond words!"

"Do you have any trusted confidants who can keep the officers and men in line?" Zhu Xieyuan asked.

Zou Weilian shook his head. "None. These Fujian officers are arrogant and domineering to the bone. They all took part in smuggling in the past and have never held the imperial court in any regard."

Zhu Xieyuan's headache grew worse. He had wanted Zou Weilian to split his forces.

No matter how many more Fujian troops were stationed at Ganzhou, they could not deploy when attacking Wan'an County. A third of them could be detached to make a detour to Fuzhou, and some Jiangxi government troops could also be sent to rendezvous there, crossing the mountains from the east to attack Yongfeng County. That would create a situation of four-sided encirclement of the rebels.

But given the current state of affairs, never mind splitting the Fujian army — even keeping them together would likely cause trouble.

Such was the difficulty of being Supreme Commander of the Great Ming. Of every ten parts of his energy, only one could be spent on actually fighting the war.

What were the remaining nine parts of his mind spent on?

Dealing with the Chongzhen Emperor, dealing with court factional struggles, dealing with local civil officials, dealing with domineering military officers, dealing with the supervising eunuchs, dealing with the gentry and local strongmen — and still racking his brains to scrape together funds and provisions.

Whereas the rebels — they only had to focus single-mindedly on rebellion.

Just as Zhu Xieyuan was traveling south all the way, surveying the terrain along the river, the rebel Zhao Han had already marched out his troops ahead of time — not to attack the government, but to campaign against Sweeping-the-Land King.

Pingxiang County had to be taken. Once they seized the passes of Pingxiang County, they could block the greater part of the Huguang government troops, thereby securing their own rear.

(End of chapter)