Chapter 244: 242 Wang Zhiliang

Wang Zhiliang, Governor of Southern Huguang, absolutely deserved the description "versed in military affairs."

When he received his appointment, he said this to the Chongzhen Emperor: "The rebel Zhao is a stationary brigand. He uses land redistribution to beguile the hearts of the common folk; the longer he has, the stronger he grows. But Huguang's troops have all marched north to suppress the roving bandits — Southern Huguang has long had no soldiers to use. Even if we order the local gentry to organize and drill militia, it will take a full year to forge a battle-worthy army, and by then the rebel Zhao will have swallowed prefectures and annexed counties. Only by forming a firearms battalion can we raise a force in a short time. I beg Your Majesty to grant us matchlock muskets, cannons, and gunpowder!"

This time Chongzhen was very generous and immediately decreed that firearms be allocated to Wang Zhiliang.

After that, Wang Zhiliang was driven utterly beyond exasperation.

The cannons were all antiques — who knew which generation of ancestors they belonged to — so mottled with verdigris they could have gone straight into a museum.

Three thousand matchlock muskets were issued, including three-barreled pole guns from the early Ming. There were also relatively newer-style bird muskets, but if one out of ten was usable, you could count it as your ancestors' accumulated virtue and burn high incense in thanks.

As for the gunpowder, it was neither powder nor grains, but — damn it all — solid lumps!

Were the musketeers supposed to first smash the lump gunpowder into pieces and then load and fire it?

Before leaving the capital, Wang Zhiliang went to see Chongzhen once more and laid out the condition of the munitions he had received, telling the Emperor everything.

Chongzhen was also furious and immediately ordered a rigorous investigation.

The investigation is still underway now, but there is no need to investigate, because the gunpowder factory has blown up and vanished.

It really was not some "fire dragon burns the warehouse" trick; improper storage of gunpowder caused a massive explosion.

History calls it the "Anmin Factory Disaster": Within a radius of over ten li of the capital, the earth's axis seemed to rock and shake without cease… city walls were shattered, for a dozen li around not a single intact building remained, trees all lay prostrate and instantly withered. Residents and passersby lay piled upon one another, their dead bodies all scorched black… According to investigations, over ten thousand residents were killed or wounded; the eunuch Wang Fu attached to the factory and the bureau official Zhang Zhixiu both perished; the armory was nearly emptied; five thousand taels of silver were disbursed for relief.

The city walls were shaken and collapsed; for over ten li in every direction, not a single intact house could be found, and the nearby weapons and equipment storehouses were completely destroyed.

Poor Chongzhen, already short of money, still had to produce five thousand taels of silver to succor the dead and wounded.

Wang Zhiliang set off for his post empty-handed, summoned the three-province officials of Huguang, and arranged for the local gentry to organize and drill militia.

The Huguang three-province officials were equally helpless. For several years running, they had been simultaneously handing over tax revenues to the imperial court and raising provisions and fodder for the Governor. Huguang was one of the main theaters for suppressing the roving bandits, which was why they had no leisure to stamp out the rampaging rebels in Southern Huguang. Where would they find the funds, supplies, and manpower to deal with Zhao Han now?

The three-province officials simply played dead.

Wang Zhiliang had to go out in person and, with difficulty, persuade the gentry of Yuezhou and Changde Prefectures, scraping together over six thousand militia volunteers from all sides.

Just at that moment, word came that the rebel Zhao was marching troops into Huguang.

Wang Zhiliang immediately led his troops and rushed with all speed to Changsha.

Changsha had to be held; otherwise, the entire Dongting Lake plain would lie exposed beneath the rebel Zhao's blades!

"Lord Yuqing, you have finally come!" Wang Qisheng, Prefect of Changsha, was so moved he nearly dropped to his knees on the spot.

Wang Qisheng could be counted an able official, but his skill points were all allocated to construction. The achievements that had earned him promotion after promotion were all building dikes, building city walls, building canals — resisting bandits and rebels was truly not his strong suit.

After inspecting the city defenses, Wang Zhiliang was particularly satisfied with the newly built barbican and praised it: "With this, Changsha can be kept from falling." He then asked, "I have brought over six thousand militia. How many troops does Changsha itself have?"

"Over eight thousand militia," Wang Qisheng replied.

County Magistrate Yang Guanji suddenly asked, "This junior has also read military texts. Should we not detach troops to garrison the high ground outside the city, forming a pincer posture with the defenders within?"

Wang Zhiliang answered, "If we had crack troops, that would naturally be the way. But our troops, yours and mine, have been drilling for too short a time — how can we split our forces and send them out of the city? With weak troops facing a strong army, we must not sally out for reckless field battles, and we must not divide our forces at will. Every man must be used to defend the city. Since Changsha does not lack troops, I shall transfer three thousand militia back to hold Xiangyin, to prevent the rebel Zhao from bypassing Changsha and advancing north!"

Under Wang Zhiliang's arrangements, Changsha had eleven thousand defenders, and Xiangyin over three thousand — two cities to block Zhao Han's advance into the Dongting Lake plain.

The Dongting Lake plain was the core and essence of Huguang. If it fell, Huguang would be more than half lost.

The four Tao brothers, leading over four thousand troops, were also assigned to garrison within the city.

"How did the Governor get here so fast?" said third brother Tao Yunfeng. "Now that the city has over ten thousand defenders, can our four thousand-odd men really deliver the city at the critical moment?"

Second brother Tao Longzhi was also uneasy: "That Governor Wang really seems to know how to fight. The moment the Governor arrived, the city defenses were arranged perfectly — far better than what the likes of us could do."

All four brothers were scholars. Lately they had been frantically reading military texts, and their armchair strategizing could now bluff people, but they did not even grasp the most basic military common sense.

Eldest brother Tao Aizhi said, "Do not panic. As long as we act as inside agents, Changsha will certainly fall in a single battle. The four thousand-odd troops our Tao family recruited are all a motley mob. But look at the other militia in the city — what difference is there from the Tao family's motley mob? Once chaos erupts, the whole army will surely collapse!"

Several days later.

"Report! Ten thousand rebel troops, advancing along the Liuyang River, are now within thirty li!"

"Scout again!"

Wang Zhiliang ascended the gate tower and gazed at the houses outside the city, feeling a moment of bewilderment.

He had studied under "the Master West of the Pass" Feng Congwu, majoring in the "Guan School." The founder of the Guan School was Zhang Zai — the very man who proclaimed, "To ordain conscience for Heaven and Earth, to secure life and fortune for the people, to continue the lost teachings of past sages, to establish peace for all ages to come."

By Feng Congwu's generation, taking the Guan School as a foundation and fusing the Cheng-Zhu School of Principle with the Yangming School of Mind, a wholly new Guan School had emerged in the late Ming.

All late-Ming schools of thought were like this, displaying a trend of great academic synthesis.

Zhang Bingwen, for example, cultivated a School of Principle that had fused with the School of Mind and leaned toward practical learning. It was a pity that the Manchus broke its spine; although it later developed and grew into the "Tongcheng School," it lost its core philosophy, leaving only textual criticism and prose — an empty shell.

The forerunner of the Tongcheng School advocated practical learning, and Feng Congwu's Guan School likewise advocated practical learning.

Every late-Ming school that sought change advocated practical learning, championed applying knowledge to real use, championed shunning the abstract and cleaving to the concrete!

Although Wang Zhiliang was a Shaanxi man, he too belonged to the Donglin Faction, and his teacher Feng Congwu was precisely the northwestern leader of the Donglin Faction.

Study, practice, doubt, reflection, perseverance — these were the five-word motto of the new Guan School.

Wang Zhiliang now had nothing left but "doubt"; he did not know how to "practice," nor how to "reflect." Before coming to Southern Huguang, Wang Zhiliang had carefully studied Zhao Han, and his entire worldview had been shattered.

Wang Zhiliang discovered that the Jiangxi rebel Zhao was actually putting the "Four Sentences of Hengqu" into practice, as if he were a wild Guan School disciple who had sprung from the earth.

"Great Unity under Heaven" — that was ordaining conscience for Heaven and Earth.

Equal-field land distribution — that was securing life and fortune for the people.

Restoring the lost chapters of the Mencius and advocating academic freedom at White Egret Isle Academy — that was continuing the lost teachings of past sages.

Rectifying local governance, bringing peace and stability to Jiangxi, seeming to harbor a will to set the realm aright — that was establishing peace for all ages to come.

This was no rebel. If this man seized the realm, he would surely be a sage sovereign for the ages!

Wang Zhiliang did not want to fight such a man; he even felt an impulse to bow and offer his service.

But — he ate the sovereign's grain, he must be loyal in the sovereign's affairs; he had no choice.

Wang Zhiliang sighed, then went to inspect the city defenses once more.

Though the city supposedly had eleven thousand defenders, they were all green militia recruits, and the commanders of the units were all local gentry. These gentry had no idea how to fight; even how to defend a city had to be taught to them step by step by Wang Zhiliang.

Damned exhausting!

Fortunately, the eunuch army supervisor was afraid to die and had stayed behind in Yuezhou Prefecture without coming; otherwise, Wang Zhiliang would also have had to divert energy to deal with the eunuch.

In the afternoon, Li Zheng led the main army forward. A few li from Changsha city, he pitched a large camp backed by hills and fronting the water.

Both Wang Zhiliang and Li Zheng sent out scouts to reconnoiter the situation.

Moreover, the scouts from both sides each took small boats and faced off across the narrow Liuyang River at a distance.

"Kill!"

The Great Unity Army scouts, manning over ten small craft, charged straight at the government scouts.

The government side immediately retreated; there was simply no catching up. Pursuing to within one li of the city outskirts, the Great Unity Army scouts went ashore to observe. One of them even carried a telescope.

At once, they spread out to reconnoiter further, seeking out local commoners to ask about the situation.

"Report!"

"Changsha city is tightly defended. Days ago, a high official arrived with reinforcements. Some say several thousand men came; some say over ten thousand."

Li Zheng was now somewhat vexed. He should not have waited for Huang Yao's orders. If, after taking Liuyang County, he had immediately led his troops straight for Changsha city, with the Tao clan as inside collaborators, they might well have taken it.

Sometimes, Zhao Han hired men to lecture the officers on military principles, and Li Zheng had finally grasped what was meant by "speed is the soul of war."

What else could be done now?

To storm Changsha with Li Zheng's current strength, even if everything went smoothly, would take at least three to five months!

Summoning Xiao Zongxian, Chen Fugui, Hu Dinggui, and the other officers great and small, Li Zheng laid out the situation and then asked, "Let us all discuss this together. How should we proceed with the attack?"

Wan Sitong, who shared a name with the Qing-dynasty historian, suggested, "Why not simply bypass Changsha and strike Xiangyin ahead?"

Li Zheng shook his head. "Changsha city blocks the river route. Army provisions cannot be shipped past it, and overland supply trains are easily raided. Moreover, if we besiege Xiangyin for long without taking it, our army risks having its supply line cut. Then the whole army will go hungry and face the danger of being attacked from front and rear."

"What I mean to say," Wan Sitong explained, "is to send a picked force, traveling by night and hiding by day, to launch a surprise attack on Xiangyin. Once we hold Xiangyin, Changsha becomes an isolated city."

Xiao Zongxian said, "We can send some scouts to Xiangyin to gather intelligence. If Xiangyin is heavily garrisoned, we leave it alone; if it is lightly held, we send picked troops to take it by surprise."

Hu Dinggui said, "Forget all that. Let's start redistributing land in the villages and towns around Changsha first!"

Li Zheng laughed. "We haven't even finished redistributing the land in Liuyang. Where would we find enough hands to come over to Changsha to oversee land redistribution?"

"Then split the army and move south," Hu Dinggui said. "And do it openly and conspicuously. Detach one column to help Military Commissioner Huang attack Xiangtan. Once Xiangtan falls, Military Commissioner Huang can bring his main force north and join us in a combined assault on Changsha. At the same time, when the Changsha garrison sees us dividing our forces, they may well come out of the city on their own. Then we'll fight the bastards outside the walls!"

"That's a good idea," Xiao Zongxian said in support.

Li Zheng swept his gaze over the assembled men and nodded. "Since no one objects, we'll march a detached force right past the city walls and see if the government troops inside take the bait. Best if they do; if not, we'll truly split the army and head south!"

Wang Zhiliang sat atop the city wall, watching the Great Unity Army detach a column and march south. He merely passed down the order: "Pay them no heed. Hold Changsha city, and that is all."

Xiangtan could be lost; Changsha could not.

(End of chapter)