Chapter 296: 294: To Seek Office, One Must Not Form Factions

Within Jiangxi, many merchant vessels were commandeered to transport soldiers, grain, and fodder to their designated assembly points.

Though these commandeered merchant ships received no pay, each was issued a tax certificate. Based on the vessel's cargo capacity, the certificate entitled it to twenty discounted transit-tax assessments when passing through the Jiujiang customs barrier.

Moreover, any ship could be substituted for the crossing — the customs clerks recognized only the tax certificate itself.

The merchants were quite satisfied with this. In every war since ancient times, civilian laborers and merchant ships had always been commandeered. Even if Zhao Han gave them nothing at all, they would hardly dare complain; a discount card for transit fees was already excellent.

It was a tangible, concrete benefit. Even if they could not use it themselves, they could resell it to other merchants.

This practice had already been tried once the year before.

Out-of-province merchants marveled at it. After returning to their home regions, some even voluntarily spread the word, all saying that Heavenly King Zhao treated merchants with great benevolence.

Summer.

The Southern Circuit Army from Guangdong —

Jiang Dashan led three thousand regular troops north, conscripted three thousand peasant-soldiers and five thousand civilian laborers in Jiangxi, for a total of eleven thousand men. They exited Lake Poyang and advanced up the Yangtze. First they would seize the seat of Linxiang County as a foothold, then attack Yuezhou Prefecture (Baling County seat).

Jiang Liang led two thousand regular troops and continued to garrison Guangdong.

The Northern Circuit Army in Hunan —

Huang Yao led three thousand regular troops, two thousand peasant-soldiers, and conscripted four thousand civilian laborers, for a total of nine thousand men. They marched out from Changsha to attack Xiangyin.

Li Zheng led two thousand regular troops, two thousand peasant-soldiers, and conscripted four thousand civilian laborers, for a total of eight thousand men. They marched out from Changsha to attack Ningxiang and Yiyang.

The Central Circuit Army in Jiangxi —

Zhao Han took personal command, leading one thousand household guards.

Zhang Tieniu and Liu Zhu led five thousand regular troops, three thousand peasant-soldiers, and conscripted nine thousand civilian laborers, for a total of seventeen thousand men, advancing through Guangxin Prefecture into Zhejiang.

The Eastern Circuit Army in Jiangxi —

The five thousand new troops Fei Ruhe had raised, plus three thousand peasant-soldiers and eight thousand conscripted civilian laborers, for a total of sixteen thousand men, marched on foot from Hukou to attack Dongliu County (Dongliu Town, Dongzhi County, Anhui).

The above, counting civilian laborers, totaled sixty-two thousand troops committed.

In the overall strategic plan, the Great Unity Army resembled a crab, extending two enormous pincers.

One pincer to shear off the Dongting Lake plain, the other pincer to shear off the entire Jiangnan region.

The fight had to be decided swiftly!

By the end of the fifth month, Nanchang had become a transit hub. Apart from the Huguang armies, every other major force had to pass through here, and vast quantities of grain and fodder also had to be requisitioned merchant ships for transport.

Gu Gao, Wu Yingji, and Huang Zongxi were simply left behind in Nanchang, because the naval forces were heading off to war.

The riverbank was densely packed with ships, the river surface everywhere crisscrossed by vessels in motion, and countless laborers hauled supplies at the docks.

The three famous scholars wandered the docks. The scene before them somewhat exceeded their expectations.

"The Jiangxi troops are certain to win this war," Wu Yingji remarked with feeling. "For a military operation of this scale, not a single person shows panic, nor a single word of resentment. Hawkers seize the chance to do business, laborers earn money hauling cargo, and merchants stir at the first rumor. Even the officials heading out of the city on duty all wear pleased expressions — war means they can rise in rank."

"War here seems not to disturb the common people," Gu Gao said. "Those conscripted civilian laborers I've seen also appear very willing."

Huang Zongxi said, "I just asked around a bit. The Great Unity Army's system for accompanying civilian laborers was changed last year. There is no marching pay, only a monthly grain ration. It is not forced conscription; people volunteer."

Gu Gao was quite puzzled. "Just meals provided, and people still volunteer?"

Huang Zongxi explained, "Children under twelve cannot receive land allocations. In the territories Zhao Zhuochen originally held, some children have now reached the age of twelve but, for this reason, have no land. If a family member serves as a civilian laborer, those landless children can obtain farmland back in their home village. Even if they are not yet twelve, it can be reserved in advance, and the land is allocated as soon as they come of age."

"No wonder those civilian laborers, with only rations for pay, are so eager to go to war." Wu Yingji sighed.

"Does Jiangxi have that much land to distribute?" Gu Gao asked.

Huang Zongxi explained, "Jiangxi has been continuously sending out migrants to populate war-torn regions. Each time new territory is taken, after Jiangxi sends migrants, some land is vacated back in the home villages — exactly what gets distributed to those laborers' children. There is also this: some women marry out, but their land allotments remain with their natal families, leaving them with no land under their own names. As long as the husband serves as a laborer, a woman who has lost her land can also receive land anew."

Wu Yingji sighed with emotion, "This whole series of land policies is truly formidable. 'Farming and warfare, farming and warfare' — the ancients did not deceive us!"

Gu Gao murmured to himself, "Here in the Great Ming, everyone dreads war. Look at those under Zhao Zhuochen's command — officials, military officers, soldiers, drifters, merchants, peasants — all of them actually look forward to war."

Huang Zongxi said with amusement, "Only the great landlords suffer, their landholdings whittled down to almost nothing."

Suddenly, over a dozen large ships came sweeping in with great momentum.

"Mr. Zhao is here!"

Someone in the know suddenly pointed at the fleet and shouted.

All units of the Great Unity Army were forbidden from using their commanders' surnames as banners; they could only fly the Great Unity Army flag and their unit designation banners.

Yet this approaching fleet flew banners bearing the character "Zhao."

Because the shipping lanes near Nanchang were far too congested, Zhao Han's fleet did not dock, but sailed directly from a tributary of the Gan River toward the Xin River.

The three famous scholars acted at once. They hired a small boat and, by dusk, caught up with the fleet where it had moored.

Presenting the naval force's letter of recommendation, the three were soon granted an audience.

"Gu Gao of Wuxi (Wu Yingji of Guichi, Huang Zongxi of Yuyao) pays respects to Mr. Zhao!"

"Ha ha, you three need not stand on ceremony."

Zhao Han invited the three famous scholars to sit, his gaze involuntarily lingering a few extra moments on Huang Zongxi.

Wu Yingji cupped his hands and said, "This student had originally intended to come to Jiangxi to beg Mr. Zhao to dispatch troops to Jiangnan at once. I never imagined there would be no need for this student to say a word."

"You, sir, are from Guichi?" Zhao Han asked.

Wu Yingji said, "Indeed."

Zhao Han smiled. "Go to Hukou and assist General Fei with planning as a guide. After he takes Dongliu County, his next objective will be your home region."

Wu Yingji said, "This late-born scholar's talents do not lie in military affairs."

As he spoke, Wu Yingji produced several essays, all concerning how to maintain public order, stabilize commodity prices, and steady the markets in Jiangnan.

After reading them carefully, Zhao Han realized this man was no ordinary scholar, but rather a student of social and economic matters.

"In this essay of yours on pacifying banditry, you show a deep familiarity with the river pirates of Jiangnan," Zhao Han said with a smile.

Wu Yingji replied awkwardly, "In my reckless youth, I once roamed the rivers and lakes with a sword and associated freely with the knight-errants of Jiangnan."

"Excellent!"

Zhao Han said, "When the great army reaches Lake Tai, I will assign you a task. Summon those Lake Tai pirates to surrender. Have them hand over their boats and obediently become law-abiding farmers receiving land. I do not want their small fishing boats — they may continue fishing. Past crimes will not be pursued, but if they offend again, new debts and old will be settled together!"

"Relying on your prestige, sir, we can surely force the water bandits to surrender!" Wu Yingji was overjoyed — he had just arrived to offer his service and already had a chance to earn merit.

Zhao Han's attitude toward government troops and bandits had already shifted. Unless a man had stirred up enormous public fury or was notorious far and wide, the rest were all permitted to lay down their arms and return to the fields; he no longer mandated that their leaders must be executed.

The times were growing more chaotic by the day. Take Zhejiang, for example — many common folk there had experienced eating human flesh.

Not just eating corpses, but killing living people to eat them!

How are you supposed to investigate and track that down?

Even the captives sent to the mines in the early days were now being released in batches. For instance, the Guangxin troops captured in Jishui County — so long as they had not worked themselves to death in the mines, they were all sent back to their native places, and they could even receive land allocations. Fei Ruhe's clansmen were also among those being released.

It amounts to reform through labor, more or less.

Those whose crimes were light: one year in the mines, then release. Those whose crimes were somewhat heavier: three years in the mines, then release. Those whose crimes were grave: at least five years in the mines.

Setting fixed terms like this is good — it gives the labor reform prisoners something to hold onto, and prevents them from staging mining slave revolts.

Zhao Han turned his gaze to Gu Gao: "Sir, are you a son of Gu Donglin?"

"A nephew," Gu Gao replied.

Zhao Han smiled. "When Gu Donglin founded the Donglin Academy, he wrote a couplet that I am extremely fond of — truly a motto for all scholars. 'The sound of wind, the sound of rain, the sound of reading — every sound enters the ear; affairs of family, affairs of state, affairs of the world — every affair concerns the heart.'"

Gu Gao cupped his hands. "Sir, you praise it too highly."

Zhao Han continued, "I also recall an essay that seems to contain lines like these: 'Puppets in Lanxi and Siming; infants in Shanyin and Xinjian, nothing more. Was it all to block the one from Loujiang from emerging?'"

The three renowned scholars' faces changed drastically.

That was an essay by Gu Assistant Magistrate, the leader of the Donglin Faction. As a commoner dismissed from office and living in his hometown, he had regarded the sitting Chief Grand Secretaries as puppets and infants — a mere man of the cloth could sway the selection of the Ming Chief Grand Secretary.

Gu Gao hastily rose and bowed. "Those were words spoken in jest, not written at the time of those events."

Indeed, they were not written at the time — it was a summary essay Gu Assistant Magistrate wrote several years after that struggle, carrying a flavor of "strategically despising the enemy," not implying he could replace the Chief Grand Secretary with absolute certainty during the political fight.

But words like these were enough to make any ruler deeply wary!

Some say the Donglin Faction represented such-and-such a class, or represented the Jiangnan financial magnates. Yet those who opposed the Donglin Faction also included great Jiangnan landlords and great merchants. This sort of thing cannot be judged in black and white.

It was simply factional strife!

Once entangled in political struggle, even the purest person becomes filthy and sordid — and the Donglin Faction was naturally no exception.

At the very beginning, there was no such thing as the Qi, Chu, and Zhe Factions versus the Donglin Faction. They fought and slapped labels on each other. After slapping labels back and forth, they came to believe them themselves, and simply went ahead and formed real factions. Many officials who had merely spoken up on the sidelines were also classified as belonging to this or that faction — as soon as you spoke or acted, you were inevitably branded as part of some faction.

And then they stopped distinguishing right from wrong. If a man in my faction was rotten to the core, he still had to be protected; if a man in your faction was excellent in every way, he still had to be destroyed!

Only by completely controlling the court could one govern the realm according to one's own vision.

First came the struggle between the Grand Secretariat and the Six Ministries — both wanted to hold power. The conflict between ministerial authority and departmental authority was the core of factional strife. Next came the struggle between the Grand Secretariat and the supervising censors — ministerial authority and oversight authority exploited each other while simultaneously being as incompatible as fire and water. The supervising censors, caught between the Grand Secretariat and the Six Ministries, acted as the shit-stirring stick.

In the end, the Ministry of Personnel and the capital evaluation became the vortex where ministerial authority, departmental authority, and oversight authority all clashed.

And imperial authority sat high above it all. Rather than saying it was hollowed out, it is more accurate to say that imperial authority lost control over the functional departments, because factional strife had thrown the central institutions into chaos.

Zhao Han asked, "Sir, do you intend to form a faction in Jiangxi?"

"I would not dare," Gu Gao hastily denied.

"Would not dare, or do not wish to?" Zhao Han asked.

Gu Gao explained, "There is no need."

Zhao Han smiled. "Why is there no need?"

Gu Gao replied, "Whether it is the Donglin Faction or the Restoration Society, their purpose has always been to expel the wicked and corrupt, select the worthy and capable, and govern with diligence. But Jiangxi is already well governed. Even if Donglin men or Restoration Society scholars came to Jiangxi, on what grounds would they form a faction? The cause for forming a faction no longer exists."

"If you wish to hold office in Jiangxi, you must leave the Restoration Society!" Zhao Han laid out his stance directly.

When Gu Gao boarded the ship at Nanjing, he had only said he was coming to Jiangxi to observe governance, and did not admit he intended to take office in Jiangxi. But at this very moment, he made a promise on the spot: "I am willing to leave the Restoration Society."

Zhao Han smiled and asked Huang Zongxi, "And you, sir?"

Huang Zongxi said not a word. He simply handed over that essay titled "On the Prince."

(Seeking monthly tickets.)

(End of chapter)