Chapter 152: A Wish

Sun Chengzong's great banner appeared atop the south gate tower, proclaiming that Luanzhou had been officially recovered.

Under the night sky, Luanzhou flickered with firelight everywhere; countless Ming soldiers and common folk carried torches, forming groups to hunt down the Jianzhou Bandits in every corner. The Jianzhou Bandits, once so arrogant on the battlefield, now hid in terror like stray dogs, many beaten to death with clubs and hoes by righteous civilians who had brought their own provisions.

That night Liu Minyou stayed in a tent below Kuixing Tower. The Confucian academy and Minglun Hall behind it housed the wounded soldiers. Apart from the Dacheng Hall, soldiers were billeted everywhere else. In the streets, small barricades had been built from door planks and grain sacks; at the alley mouths on the outer side, bonfires were lit or lanterns hung to prevent scattered Jianzhou Bandits from launching sneak attacks.

Outside, the shouts of killing and wailing never ceased. In the other tents around him, snoring rumbled like thunder. Liu Minyou tossed and turned, unable to sleep. In a daze, he heard the sound of hoofbeats entering and faintly caught Chen Xin's voice. He simply got up and headed to the central command tent.

Hai Gouzi stood at the tent entrance yawning. Seeing Liu Minyou arrive, he said cheerfully, "Brother Liu, Master Chen just got back. Shall I announce you?"

Chen Xin's voice came from inside: "Let Mr. Liu in."

When Liu Minyou entered, several lanterns were lit inside, making it fairly bright. Several company commanders and chief officers were there. They all came to greet Liu Minyou. Besides knowing that Liu Minyou was Chen Xin's cousin, they also deeply respected this kind-hearted civil affairs chief.

Chen Xin motioned for Liu Minyou to sit, then said to the officers, "Today we lost over two hundred dead and over two hundred wounded. The killer squads account for seventy percent of that. Combined with the losses at Gu'an, we have only about fifteen or sixteen hundred men fit for combat, and the formations are incomplete. Tomorrow, each unit will consolidate into one full-strength company. The day after, follow me to Yongping. The remaining personnel will stay here to tend the wounded and the supplies. Lu Chuanzong, hand over the consolidated unit to the vice company commander and remain in Luanzhou to command all rear-guard personnel." The men asked no further questions, exchanged a few brief words, and then left the main tent. Chen Xin ordered them to arrange the defenses and then get some early rest — an officer who can rest in any environment is a good officer.

Once they were gone, Chen Xin said to Liu Minyou, "The day after tomorrow, we escort thirty Guangdong red-barbarian cannons to Yongping."

Liu Minyou, somewhat puzzled, said, "We led the main assault today. Why won't they let us rest and regroup?" Chen Xin gave a sly chuckle. "This evening Lord Sun summoned everyone to a meeting at the south gate tower. Ma Shilong and Zu Dashou were at each other's throats. Zu Dashou said I refused to open the gate for the Guanning Army and insinuated that I had looted the money and grain."

"Cao Wenzhao spoke a word in my defense and got a thorough scolding from Zu Dashou for it. Right there in Lord Sun's hall, I had a huge row with Zu Dashou."

"You dared to quarrel with a superior officer? Did you win?"

"Of course I dared. In our Great Ming, civil officials command the troops. He and I aren't even from the same military garrison — what do I have to fear from him? That Zu Dashou relies on having strong forces now; he doesn't even buy the Emperor's account, and the civil officials dare not offend him. Only Sun Chengzong can barely keep him in check. Even Sun Chengzong doesn't dare to discipline him too harshly and probably can't stand him in his heart. Judging by Zu Dashou's build, he could beat several of me in a fight, but when it comes to quarreling, even if you lent him three more mouths he couldn't out-argue me. I made him choke on his words, and a whole crowd of civil officials and loyalist reinforcement troops were delighted. Zu Dashou was driven into a corner and tried to use his official rank to crush me." "And then Ma Shilong stepped in to back you up?"

Chen Xin said smugly, "Naturally. That Ma Shilong was just released from prison and has no trusted confidants among the loyalist reinforcement troops. As soon as it got dark, I went to his place and presented him with thirty heads and three hundred taels of gold. Of course he wants to pull me in as a trusted aide — how could he not stand up for me? Besides, Zu Dashou demanded that he vacate the department government office for the Guanning Army. If Ma Shilong gave in, who among these loyalist reinforcement troops would still listen to him? The two of them started quarreling in the main hall, and after the meeting ended, they went down the city wall and started cursing again, not stopping until they parted ways at the Cross Street intersection. Countless soldiers watched along the way, and they dragged up all the old affairs from the Liaoxi years."

Liu Minyou opened his mouth. Ma Shilong had seen the combat strength of the Wendeng Battalion with his own eyes and was determined to win over Chen Xin no matter what — all the more so since Chen Xin was so tactful and perceptive, giving him full face. Now with the military merit from Luanzhou, Ma Shilong had the confidence to speak firmly and refuse to yield an inch to the Guanning forces.

"Then what did Lord Sun say?"

Chen Xin shook his head and laughed. "Lord Sun long ago cultivated himself to be impervious to fire and water. He's clearly dealing with two large forces. The Guanning faction is stronger and more overbearing. He's certainly propping up Ma Shilong as a counterbalance and didn't make Ma Shilong give up the department government office. But he also didn't want to offend Zu Dashou too badly. Everyone knows I went to the government office first and probably looted the most, and I didn't open the gate for the Guanning Army. So, naturally, I'm the focal point of the conflict. Under the pretext of escorting the red-barbarian cannons, Lord Sun is transferring me and Cao Wenzhao away."

"You're taking only three companies — just over a thousand men — to Yongping?" "That's enough. Wu Zimian's Yansui Garrison is also going. Before the meeting, Wu Zimian and the Guanning Army were fighting over the spoils from a Jianzhou Bandit lair in the southeast of the city. The two sides actually came to blows. Sun Chengzong suppressed Wu Zimian and ordered him to go with us to Yongping. He has several thousand men..."

Liu Minyou said, "Then that still amounts to suppressing Ma Shilong's side."

Chen Xin chuckled slyly. "That's how it looks at first glance. But with our Wendeng Battalion there, Wu Zimian and Cao Wenzhao might well earn merit alongside us, and then they'll lean closer to Ma Shilong's side. That counts as taking care of things. Right now Cao Wenzhao is something of an oddity within the Guanning ranks. It seems Lord Sun intends to promote him — planting another nail in Liaozhen, setting up a model. Which is to say, Lord Sun may once again take up the post of Grand Coordinator of Liaodong and is already mixing sand into the cement." Liu Minyou rubbed his forehead. "You can analyze so much from one meeting? Aren't you tired? Or maybe Lord Sun's arrangement was just casual, and you're flattering yourself." Chen Xin smiled, called in Hai Gouzi, and had him help remove his mountain-pattern armor. His whole body felt instantly relieved. Wearing this outfit in May weather was truly unbearable; the inner lining could be wrung out with sweat.

Chen Xin did not explain further to Liu Minyou. His deliberate targeting of the Guanning Army this time was no momentary impulse. That crew of Zu Dashou's had territory, had troops, and still collected the Liaodong military tax. Even the imperial court now had no choice but to indulge them. Meanwhile, the Wendeng Battalion had to fend for itself.

They couldn't even get their military pay, yet they had killed so many Tatars. Someone was bound to propose transferring them to Liaozhen to guard against the Jianzhou Bandits — just like the Zhejiang troops and the Shizhu troops back in the day.

Chen Xin absolutely did not want to get mixed up with those unreliable people. The Guanning Army had seventy to eighty thousand men; his own few thousand, once thrown into that great dye vat, would be influenced by what they constantly saw and heard — who knew what would become of their combat effectiveness? Going along with their corrupt ways would be easy, but it would be of no help to Chen Xin. The narrow terrain of Liaoxi, crowded with massed armies, was not conducive to his quiet development. That was why he deliberately worsened relations with the Guanning Army, so that later people like Wen Tiren would have a ready excuse to keep Chen Xin in Wendeng.

Liu Minyou stood up. "Then get some sleep early. I'm heading back too."

Chen Xin rubbed his reddened eyes. "Sleep? What sleep? I still have to go inspect the wounded, then check the sentries at the street barricades. Do you want to come see the wounded?" Liu Minyou's voice was low and dejected. "I spent the whole afternoon with the wounded. I don't want to go back. The whole army has already lost over two hundred dead, with several dozen severely wounded and over a hundred lightly wounded. I recognized many of them. There was one from Dongjiang — when he reached Mazidun, he was at death's door. His comrades poured rice broth down his throat for three days and pulled him back. Today he was gravely wounded. Before he died, he asked me to tell you that he believed Master Chen would one day recover Liaodong."...

The next day, the Wendeng Battalion rested and reorganized for a day. Another dozen or so severely wounded men died. Sun Chengzong's command post moved to the department government office; Ma Shilong had already stripped the place bare overnight. Chen Xin attended a meeting, and upon returning, busied himself with reorganizing the troops.

Early on the third morning, Chen Xin, severely sleep-deprived, struggled to get up. Hai Gouzi fetched cold water, and after washing his face, Chen Xin felt much more alert. Just as he finished straightening his official uniform, Cao Wenzhao and Wu Zimian arrived one after the other.

Wu Zimian had fought a pitched battle with the Guanning Army in the east of the city the day before yesterday; over ten men from the Yansui Garrison had been wounded. That night at the meeting, Sun Chengzong had suppressed him, and yesterday he had been transferred out of the city, losing the chance to scavenge for spoils. His face was now a mask of sullen displeasure. Chen Xin had earned the highest merit for the assault on the city the day before yesterday, with the Guangdong red-barbarian cannon unit only ranking second. So Chen Xin's boundless future prospects were assured. Although Wu Zimian was a Regional Commander leading the force, he had no choice but to eagerly come over first.

Cao Wenzhao's troops were mainly cavalry. Because he was something of an oddity, he had been left outside the city the day before yesterday and hadn't scavenged a bit of spoils. He had spoken a word in Chen Xin's defense and been reprimanded by Zu Dashou for it, and was also being exiled to Yongping. Being squeezed out naturally left him somewhat displeased.

Still, both men squeezed out smiles when they saw Chen Xin. Chen Xin first knelt to salute Wu Zimian, then said with a smile, "To fight shoulder to shoulder with Commander Wu and General Cao is truly this humble officer's honor. I should have gone to call on you two, but I was on night patrol too late and rose late — a breach of courtesy, a breach of courtesy." Seeing that Chen Xin did not put on airs, Wu Zimian relaxed and laughed heartily. "General Chen, that battle the other day greatly boosted our Great Ming's prestige. Today, since we're bound for Yongping, we three brothers shall together recover yet another city."

"Let your elder brother here also earn some merit." Chen Xin said with feigned surprise, "You two both earned top merit that day. I've been holding it here for you temporarily. Commander Wu beheaded thirty, General Cao twenty — how could you two have forgotten?"

The two understood at once: Chen Xin was going to share the heads with them. Their faces bloomed with delight. Although Cao Wenzhao was different from the average Guanning officer and liked to fight the Tatars blade-to-blade, he was no blockhead. Killing civilians to claim merit and plundering merchants and commoners — these were things he did too, otherwise his subordinates would rise up and make trouble.

The three men agreed on a rally point and set the departure time for exactly noon. Wu Zimian and the other man then returned to their own camps. Chen Xin used the heads to build good relations with the two, so they wouldn't worry that he intended to hog all the military merit at Yongping. If they refused to put in effort when the time came, his Wendeng Battalion's thousand-odd men alone would be useless.

Right at noon, the Wendeng Battalion marched out from the north gate's barbican and joined up with Cao Wenzhao and Wu Zimian outside the city. Since Yongping was not far, Cao Wenzhao brought only a little over five hundred cavalry and no support troops at all. Wu Zimian's infantry and cavalry originally totaled over three thousand, but for this trip to Yongping he brought only fifteen hundred — over seven hundred retainers and cavalry, plus over eight hundred infantrymen who were not the beggar-soldier type. It looked like he intended to fight seriously this time.

All three company-commander units of the Wendeng Battalion were mobilized, but only at half their authorized strength. In addition, all the cavalry and a Banjiu gun detachment went along, totaling over thirteen hundred men. The day before, they had captured over a hundred Later Jin horses; each killer squad was allotted two to help transport the iron armor.

The thirty Guangdong red-barbarian cannons traveled in the middle of the Wendeng Battalion column. The cannons were all pulled by oxen, making their march extremely slow. Huang Side continued to cozy up to the gun crews. He had already secured one Macau Han Chinese and one Frankish man, offering them ten taels of silver a month. Both men knew how to cast cannons and handle sighting — rare talents. Once this battle was over, they would go to Wendeng.

The force of several thousand first crossed the Luan River via several pontoon bridges the Guanning Army had built a few days earlier, then took the official road toward Yongping. Qian'an, Yongping, and Luanzhou all lay along the banks of the Luan River, and the official road largely followed the river's course. Luanzhou was only forty or fifty li from Yongping. As long as He Kegang's Guanning Army unit kept the Jianzhou Bandits pinned down, once this army arrived and surrounded the city, it might be another great victory like Luanzhou.

A burly man in filthy clothes walked beside Chen Xin, gnawing on a chicken carcass as he went, his face and beard greasy with chicken fat.

He spoke to Chen Xin in the Nanjing official dialect: "General Chen, this humble man is called Chen Tingdong, a kinsman of yours, my lord. I admire you Dengzhou and Laizhou soldiers. The Liaozhen lot only know how to loot; you lot loot but always manage to kill Tatars too." Chen Xin found this both funny and exasperating. This Chen Tingdong from Nantongzhou was an angry middle-aged man. Hearing that the Tatars had breached the passes, he had sold off his family property and gone to Beitongzhou to recruit soldiers on his own. He had gathered over a thousand refugees from Beitongzhou, spent his own money to buy provisions, and led them toward Yongping. But along the way, they had deserted until only two hundred remained. This time he had been sent to help this army transport grain and push the cannons.

This Chen Tingdong was no man of the official world, so Chen Xin did not bother to explain, merely smiling without a word. Chen Tingdong soon finished the chicken carcass, casually tossed it onto the road, licked his fingers clean one by one, called over his standard-bearer, wiped his greasy hands on the grimy red banner, then used the banner cloth to wipe his mouth a few times. Chen Xin could faintly smell a whiff of meat on that great banner.

The man then went to the rear to look after his Tongzhou refugees. Chen Xin breathed a sigh of relief. This man was full of hot-blooded passion and had reportedly even passed the Provincial Graduate examination, yet was so slovenly — truly an eccentric. But in the Jiangnan of the late Ming, all sorts of people existed, so Chen Xin was no longer surprised.

They covered only a little over ten li that day. The next day, before they had even set out, they encountered a relay rider sent by He Kegang to deliver a message. The rider urgently informed them that the night before last, Yongping had learned of Luanzhou's capture. Amin had also arrived in Yongping from Qian'an yesterday afternoon. The moment he arrived, the city had been filled with the sound of slaughter. He Kegang believed the Jianzhou Bandits might be massacring the city.

Wu Zimian, an old soldier who had long fought the Tatar raiders in Yansui, immediately judged upon hearing this that Amin was about to flee. He summoned Cao Wenzhao and Chen Xin to confer, and all three agreed with this assessment. If Amin was fleeing, then the red-barbarian cannons would be useless. Wu Zimian at once ordered the infantry to halt and encamp on the spot to guard the Guangdong cannon unit. All cavalry would set out in advance. Chen Xin pulled the horses allotted to the killer squads and equipped one hundred fifty cavalrymen with two horses each. Together with the central army guard, they set off with Wu Zimian.

That Amin would flee so quickly was completely beyond their expectations. The cavalry moved swiftly, especially the Wendeng Battalion's cavalry, who all had two horses per man; they were the first to reach the walls of Yongping that afternoon. A few faint wisps of smoke drifted above the city. Yongping's south gate was tightly shut, but the west gate was already open. No Jianzhou Bandit banners could be seen on the walls. He Kegang's Guanning Army unit was encamped five li beyond the east gate. Chen Xin saw only a small number of Ming scout cavalry near the south gate. Some scattered civilians were fleeing out the west gate. Chen Xin quickly spurred his horse over. Many of those civilians bore wounds and were covered in blood. The moment they saw it was the Ming army, they all broke down in loud wails.

Liu Po's unit went up to question them and learned that the moment Amin arrived in Yongping, he had begun massacring the city. The killing had gone on for nearly a day. Corpses were already piled like mountains inside the city. The Later Jin army had left only about half a shichen ago.

Chen Xin immediately said to Zhu Guobin, "Take all the cavalry at once and pursue. If you encounter a large force of Jianzhou Bandits, focus on harassing them — kill as many Tatars as you can. If you find small groups, attack resolutely." Zhu Guobin's face was full of grief and fury. He loudly acknowledged the order, then led the cavalry thundering off to the north.

Chen Xin and Liu Minyou, leading the central army guard, rode to the west gate. One look inside made them gasp. On the broad main road running from the west gate to the east gate, several shops along the street were burning, vomiting black smoke into the sky. The ground was covered with corpses piled layer upon layer, unbroken from the west gate to the east gate.

Horses could not pass through. Everyone dismounted and carefully advanced through the mounds of bodies. Many corpses still had blades and spears embedded in them. Some female corpses were completely naked. The streets ran with blood, and the open gutters on both sides of the road rippled with red liquid.

The corpses were so dense in the middle of the road that Liu Minyou could barely find a place to step. Occasionally there was a person still writhing, and men from the central army guard would immediately go check. Almost none could be saved; these soldiers could only harden their hearts and help them along with a final thrust.

Liu Minyou's mind grew somewhat dazed. It was as if the corpses before him had turned into ordinary objects, like stones or rotting wood on a mountain.

Just then, a corpse on the right seemed to stir. Liu Minyou turned his head numbly and saw a woman half-sitting against a wall, her body naked, pressing one right hand to her belly. Her hand was already dyed red. She was gently shaking her head.

Liu Minyou's scattered gaze slowly refocused. The moment he realized it was a living person, he rushed over, stumbling twice over other corpses along the way. By the time he scrambled up and arrived, Chen Xin was already there ahead of him. Chen Xin had taken off his own embroidered armor tunic and draped it over the woman. Then he took out the cotton cloth from his first-aid kit, preparing to staunch her bleeding. Chen Xin gently pulled the woman's hand aside and saw a short knife buried to the hilt. She was beyond saving. His hands stopped. He sighed and looked at the woman.

The woman's lips moved faintly; she could no longer speak. Her eyes were fixed desperately on a pile of firewood beside her. Liu Minyou suddenly understood. He rummaged through the firewood and found a swaddled infant. The woman must have hidden it there when she had nowhere left to flee. Liu Minyou looked closer — the infant had a spear wound through its body and had long been dead.

Liu Minyou carried the infant over to Chen Xin's side, not knowing what to say to the woman. Chen Xin stood up, glanced at the infant, took it into his own arms, covered the spear wound with his hand, then crouched down and said to the woman, "Your child is fine. Alive and well. He's sleeping now." The woman's dazed eyes slowly shifted toward the red swaddling cloth. A trace of color actually appeared on her face. Both of them knew it was the final radiance before death. Chen Xin saw the woman's hand twitch slightly and quickly helped her raise it to touch the infant's face. The woman had long since lost all sensation and could detect nothing unusual. Her lips moved twice. Her eyes suddenly filled with desperate longing as she gazed at the swaddling cloth, then slowly shifted to Chen Xin.

Liu Minyou stood behind Chen Xin and could not see Chen Xin's expression. He only saw him holding the woman's hand as he said softly, "Rest assured. He will grow up. He will surely live out his life in peace and safety." The woman's face tilted upward slightly. In the end, she could not speak. She slowly closed her eyes.