Chapter 196: Southward to Ganzhou

The fifth month of the ninth year of Chongzhen.

The Great Unity Army captured the three counties of Yichun, Pingxiang, and Yongxin. The bandit chiefs Sweeping King and Nine-Headed Bird were defeated and killed. The bandit chief One-Foot Ice fled to Wanzai County to run amok. The bandit chief Mountain-Quelling Tiger fled to Chaling County to run amok.

In addition, they picked up Yongning County, which was remote and poor, for free.

The troops stationed in these four newly occupied counties would be busy for the rest of the year, because many scattered bandits had fled into the mountains and repeated bandit-suppression operations would have to be organized before they could be mopped up.

The administrative divisions were adjusted once more—

Ji'an Prefecture: Luling, Jishui, Anfu, Taihe, Yongxin, Yongning, Yongfeng, Wan'an, Longquan.

Linjiang Prefecture: Qingjiang, Xingan, Xiajiang, Xinyu, Fengcheng.

Yuanzhou Prefecture: Yichun, Fenyi, Pingxiang.

Ouyang Zheng became Prefect of Ji'an; Yuan Yunlong (whose niece married Fei Ruhe) became Prefect of Linjiang; Liu Ziren (a poor xiucai from Yanshan) became Prefect of Yuanzhou.

Fei Yuanjian transferred to serve as County Magistrate of Jishui, while the Fang brothers, who had offered up their land and submitted, served as county magistrates in Yongxin and Xiajiang respectively.

Even Huang Shunde and Liu Fang, who had been transferred away from the Regional Commander's headquarters because they married into great clans, were each promoted to county magistrate of poor counties, since they had made no mistakes in their subsequent work.

Old brothers were not treated shabbily, and newcomers who worked diligently were not treated shabbily either. Zhao Han observed the rules but also cherished old ties.

In addition, the regulations for town-level offices were completely finalized. Henceforth, town-level offices would no longer be reduced: large counties would set up six towns, medium counties four or five towns, and small counties three towns.

As for the imperial court.

Zhang Qiping, Governor of Baoding, was transferred to serve as Governor of the Southern Huguang Circuit. He assumed his post in mid-May, raising troops to assist Jiangxi with bandit-suppression matters.

Zhu Xieyuan, Governor-General of the Five Southern Provinces, in view of the overall situation, ordered Zhang Qiping to drill his troops quickly, and they agreed to jointly attack the rebel Zhao in Luling after the autumn harvest.

At most they could delay until the autumn harvest. The Fujian troops were already on the verge of exploding, beginning to ignore Zou Weilian's military orders and plunder the surrounding townships of Ganzhou Prefecture on their own. Zou Weilian could only impose minor punishments as a warning, not daring to really execute anyone to assert his authority, lest he easily trigger a mutiny.

Just this year, Ningxia had already seen a mutiny erupt.

Zu Dashou's younger brother, Zu Dabi, nicknamed "Madman Zu the Second," had been transferred last year to serve as Regional Commander of Ningxia. This fellow was as corrupt as ever, and the Governor was incapable of raising enough military pay. The frontier troops, utterly unable to survive, rioted over pay and killed Wang Ji, Governor of Ningxia.

At the same time, Hong Taiji began reforming internal administration, establishing the Three Inner Courts: the Inner History Court, the Inner Secretariat Court, and the Inner Literary Court.

After the Three Inner Courts reform was completed, Hong Taiji ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, changing the reign era to "Chongde," changing the dynastic name to "Great Qing," changing the ethnic name to "Manchu," fixing the capital at Shenyang, and assuming the honorific title "Broadly Benevolent and Sagely Emperor." Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi were all enfeoffed as princes.

The enthronement ceremony lasted over twenty days, copying the entire set of Ming institutions.

Once the enthronement was complete, Hong Taiji immediately dispatched a hundred thousand troops in three columns through Xifeng Pass and Supreme Commander Pass.

The Ming Censor of Border Inspection, Wang Zhaokun, died in battle. The Manchu Qing army invaded the northern routes of Juyong and Changping. Wang Pu, Regional Commander of Datong, rushed to the rescue and reported the merit of killing over a thousand Manchu Qing soldiers.

The Qing army fought all the way to Liangxiang and Shunyi, which later became the Fangshan and Shunyi districts of Beijing.

The capital was placed under martial law.

Lu Xiangsheng was promoted to Supreme Commander of Seven Provinces and inflicted a great defeat on Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng. Just as he was about to follow up the victory and encircle the roving bandits, he was suddenly transferred to the capital to resist the Manchu Qing. The roving bandits, who had been beaten and sent fleeing everywhere, thus once again had a chance to catch their breath.

Because military pay was in crisis everywhere and the Manchu Qing were rampaging through the capital region, multiple units began to riot over pay. The Chongzhen Emperor grew increasingly dissatisfied with Hou Xun, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

Chief Grand Secretary Wen Tiren, sensing the imperial will, began arranging for his partisans to impeach Hou Xun.

The moment the Tartars withdrew, Hou Xun, that Minister of Revenue, would be thrown into prison!

Incidentally, the Prince of Tang, Zhu Yujian, raised troops to come to the emperor's aid and was stripped of his title and reduced to commoner status...

"Wang Tingshi is hedging his bets on both sides," Zhao Han said, producing a deciphered secret letter.

Pang Chunlai leaned in to study it for a moment, then passed the secret letter to Li Banghua.

After reading its contents, Li Banghua said with a smile, "A capable Governor-General has arrived; of course he won't lean wholeheartedly toward our side."

"This inside contact may have some use in the future, but he absolutely cannot be relied upon as a mainstay," Pang Chunlai said.

That old fox Wang Tingshi, seeing that Li Maofang was a disgrace, had come over to throw in his lot with Zhao Han. Now that Zhu Xieyuan had arrived and particularly valued him, the fellow had begun actively working for the government again.

Hedging his bets on both sides, offending neither.

If Zhao Han won, he would be a meritorious official who followed the dragon; if Zhu Xieyuan won, he might be reinstated as an imperial official.

He wanted to claim every advantage—he was simply daydreaming!

Even Li Fenglai, a mere merchant, knew enough to send his son as a hostage. And the scholars who came over from Nanchang and Fengcheng to join them had seized Regional Commander Yang Jiamo along the way as a pledge of loyalty.

Only that Wang Tingshi offered nothing, his actions timid and hesitant, unwilling to go all out.

Pang Chunlai suddenly said, "Yang Jiamo has been kept for half a year and consumed quite a bit of grain. It's time to behead him."

Li Banghua shook his head. "It's useless. Such a petty trick cannot possibly provoke Zhu Xieyuan."

"Whether it's useful or not, behead him first and talk later," Pang Chunlai said with a laugh.

Zhao Han suddenly said, "Judging from this intelligence, Zhu Xieyuan's temperament is extremely cautious. Sending him Yang Jiamo's head will not only fail to enrage him into marching, it will instead make him see it as a ploy to goad him into battle. He will certainly hold fast in Nanchang, drilling his troops, and refuse to come out and fight."

"Dragging this out favors our army," Li Banghua said.

Although both sides were developing, Zhao Han was clearly developing faster, especially with military equipment being produced all along.

According to intelligence sent by Xu Ying, the Nanchang Arsenal was also expanding its scale, but in both scale and production efficiency, it was far inferior to the rebel side.

"Dragging it out will certainly mean we win, but being perpetually surrounded by government troops is no solution either," Zhao Han said with a smile. "My idea is to send Yang Jiamo's head and scare Zhu Xieyuan into staying put in Nanchang drilling his troops. We'll take the chance to march on Ganzhou and deal with the Fujian soldiers there first."

Li Banghua firmly opposed this: "I do not agree to sending troops against Ganzhou. Wan'an is a natural stronghold; our army need only station a small force in Wan'an County seat to block tens of thousands of government troops. After capturing Ganzhou, we would instead have to dispatch more troops to garrison it, to guard against the Guangdong and Guangxi troops who could return at any time."

Pang Chunlai seconded this: "I agree with Mr. Meng'an's view. The most advantageous strategy for our army is to use a small force to defend Wan'an, Pingxiang, and Yongxin, using the mountain and river terrain to block the troops from Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Huguang. In this way, we can calmly maneuver our main force and lure the Jiangxi government troops from Nanchang into a decisive battle!"

Li Banghua continued, "I understand the Chongzhen Emperor's character. He tolerates local governors-general and governors dragging things out, even for two or three years, as long as the situation does not continue to deteriorate. However, Chongzhen does not tolerate a major defeat by a governor-general, nor does he tolerate the situation continuing to deteriorate. Our army need only win a single great victory over Zhu Xieyuan, and this Governor-General will likely be unable to keep his post."

"Once Zhu Xieyuan is replaced, where will the court find another capable high official to send as Governor-General?" Pang Chunlai said with a laugh. "At that point, the entire board will come alive."

Zhao Han shook his head and sighed. It was already the ninth year of Chongzhen. If history followed its original course, in eight more years Chongzhen would hang himself.

And he himself was still bottled up in Jiangxi. Where was the time to slowly grind things out with Zhu Xieyuan?

Zhao Han said, "We are contending for the realm. We cannot pin our hopes on the emperor being fatuous or the government being incompetent. Zhu Xieyuan is holding his troops back for now, but when he moves, it will surely be a three-pronged pincer attack. We must seize the initiative and smash one prong of the government forces first! The rumors we began spreading last year have surely fermented over these six months. The Fujian troops are internally chaotic, their commanders at odds—we can seize this chance to win in a single battle!"

Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua exchanged a glance, their expressions somewhat helpless.

They had chosen the safest course, but Zhao Han insisted on taking the risk, and the one who truly made the decisions could only be Zhao Han.

Given Zhao Han's temperament, once he made a decision, no amount of persuasion from others would change his mind.

Several days later, at the city gate of Nanchang.

A blood-dripping human head was placed in the very center of the road outside the gate, weighed down by a sheet of liansi paper. Written upon it: A small gift, hardly worthy of respect — offered to Supreme Commander Zhu for his gracious acceptance.

It was quickly recognized as the head of Yang Jiamo, the former Regional Commander of Jiangxi.

The officials and soldiers of Nanchang were thrown into terrified alarm. The entire city was placed under martial law, for they believed Zhao Han was about to bring his troops to attack.

Zhu Xieyuan reassured everyone: "The rebel Zhao dares not assault Nanchang directly. He means to provoke me into sending out troops for a decisive battle. I do intend to send out troops, but our training is not yet complete, and the government forces from the southern circuit of Huguang have only just begun recruiting. Worry not, gentlemen. When the time is ripe, we shall advance on three routes at once and encircle the rebel Zhao with the force of a thunderbolt!"

Thereupon, Zhu Xieyuan restrained his subordinate commanders, forbidding them to cross the border and pillage Fengcheng County, while sending out scouts to observe the rebels' movements.

He soon received word that Zhao Han had ostentatiously dispatched his naval forces southward, while the Great Unity troops in Fengcheng and Qingjiang counties had instead vanished without a trace, as if they had all been redeployed to attack Ganzhou.

This left Zhu Xieyuan shocked and uncertain, unable to tell whether Zhao Han was deliberately luring him into sending out troops, or had truly concentrated all his strength to strike at Ganzhou.

It was both!

Zhao Han was in the process of moving troops to Wan'an County for assembly, but the main army in the northern counties had not stirred, and peasant soldiers could be recruited for battle at any time.

If Zhu Xieyuan held his forces back, Zhao Han would go and strike the Fujian troops at Ganzhou.

If Zhu Xieyuan dared to send out troops, Zhao Han would immediately recall his naval forces, recruit peasant soldiers from the northern counties, and join with his regular army to fight a decisive battle against the government forces!

This was, in truth, an open scheme. Zhu Xieyuan quickly reasoned it through: the rebel Zhao, counting on the government troops' lack of readiness, was forcing him into a difficult choice.

Zhu Xieyuan chose to continue training his troops. He could only trust that Zou Weilian would be able to hold Ganzhou city without defeat.

Ganzhou city was imposing and solidly fortified. Zhao Han of course could not assault it directly, nor did he truly intend to take it — capturing Ganzhou would, on the contrary, be disadvantageous for defending his southern territory.

Zhao Han kept moving troops and supplies, encamping at the foot of Mount Egong in Ganzhou Prefecture, confronting Ganzhou city across the river.

Zou Weilian hurriedly withdrew the main Fujian force back inside Ganzhou city. He had not been entirely idle, having already built several hundred small skiffs. He had not even bothered to apply tung oil — they were all single-use fire-attack vessels.

Once the right opportunity was found, he would burn Zhao Han's entire naval force to ashes!

As for his father-in-law Fei Yinghuan, he had left for Fujian the previous winter. As a department magistrate of Fujian, he could not remain in Jiangxi indefinitely; otherwise, he would inevitably arouse Zou Weilian's suspicion.

Strangely, after Zhao Han arrived at Ganzhou, neither his naval nor his land forces made much movement.

Instead, he brought a large number of peasant association core members, who, under the protection of small squads, went deep into the countryside to establish local peasant associations. For the time being, there was no rush to redistribute land, because there were not enough grassroots officials. They merely set up peasant associations to resist rent and taxes, while helping the local peasants train as peasant soldiers.

(End of chapter)