Chapter 229: Conspiracy

In the eighth month of the fourth year of the Chongzhen reign, as the Later Jin army advanced to the Daling River, the Great Ming capital was shaken once more. Everyone still remembered the unending daily terror during the Later Jin incursion in the second year of Chongzhen; only after confirming that the Later Jin forces had halted at the Daling River did they all breathe a sigh of relief.

Everyone wanted to know the battle situation, but the Later Jin army quickly sealed off the Daling River. After Huang Taiji arrived with the main force, large numbers of scout cavalry blockaded the area around the Daling River, with the farthest patrols already reaching south of Jinzhou.

Sun Chengzong was stationed at Ningyuan and delegated frontline matters to the Liaodong Provincial Governor Qiu Jiahe. Qiu Jiahe led troops stationed at Jinzhou and repeatedly dispatched night scouts to reconnoiter the Daling River. Reports came back that a vast host of Jianzhou Bandits, exceeding one hundred thousand, was massed around Daling City. Near the official road outside Daling City there were over twenty large and small encampments, and more Jianzhou Bandits were still arriving. They had begun digging earthworks around the Daling River, piling the excavated earth into ramparts; in some places, the shape of an earthen wall had already formed. As for the situation inside the city, Zu Dashou had been unable to send anyone out with a message. The suicide messengers dispatched from Xingshan, Jinzhou, and other places had also gone and never returned. Now even Sun Chengzong had no knowledge whatsoever of the conditions inside Daling City.

Unlike the previous Jianzhou Bandit incursion, this time it was beyond the passes, a long distance away. Moreover, the roving bandits in the Shaanxi mountains had already grown into a force to be reckoned with, so the Ministry of War dared not draw troops from the three border commands of Shaanxi or the forces of Xuan-Da. The Sichuan White Pole troops had to remain to ensure the safety of Shanhai Pass. Relying solely on the Guan-Ning army seemed unreliable. After much deliberation, Liang Tingdong only ordered the various Regional Commanders near Beizhili to prepare to march, and also sent a directive to Sun Yuanhua to mobilize the Dengzhou Garrison main battalion and the Provincial Governor's personal battalion to proceed by sea to relieve Daling City.

Amidst all this turmoil, the matter of Lu Zhi impeaching Sun Yuanhua went ignored by all. The originally planned imperial inspectorate mission was also forgotten by everyone. Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru, locked in fierce struggle, temporarily ceased hostilities and quietly observed the situation.

The Wendeng Camp began mobilizing a third batch of two thousand auxiliary soldiers. These men were selected from among the civilian laborers who had been repairing roads the previous year. They had undergone basic training during the winter and now, after just one month of intensive training, could be used as logistics troops. However, the pay for these soldiers was five qian of silver per month, with no retirement pension, but they were granted the right to priority land allocation or priority replenishment into the combat troops in the future. When the refugees learned of this, they nearly fought each other to the death for the chance. With these two incentives, Chen Xin hoped their combat effectiveness would surpass that of ordinary Ming combat soldiers.

The retirement pension plan was warmly embraced by the soldiers; no one was unwilling to increase their income by a third. This also made more able-bodied young men eager to join the ranks of the combat troops.

The Wendeng Camp gained considerable fame across the three prefectures of Dengzhou, Laizhou, and Qingzhou, holding particularly strong appeal for the Liaodong refugees. This year, the great drought in the north had likewise affected Shandong, and all three prefectures produced even more famine refugees. Wendeng, legendary for being able to provide full bellies, became their first choice. Every day, an unending stream of people fleeing famine headed for Wendeng; even many local households in Wendeng County switched their allegiance to the Wendeng Camp.

After the sixth month, the number of refugees reached a peak, with nearly three thousand arriving each month, bringing the total population of the Wendeng Camp system to eighty thousand. These long-distance travelers were still predominantly able-bodied young men and women. The Wendeng Camp changed its previous model of settling first and organizing later. Each day, the refugees' native registrations were scrambled and they were organized into military households. Based on the number of able-bodied men, they were grouped into squads of ten men per jia, companies of fifty men per zong, and battalions of five hundred men per tun. Once a full battalion was formed, a fortified village was established, and five thousand mu of land were allocated.

Chen Xin had seized over sixty thousand mu of military farmland from the three guard battalions. Among them, the lands at Weihai and Chengshan were barren; when the guards were first established, their military farmland amounted to only eighty-seven and seventy-four qing respectively, and those were the slightly better plots. The land reclaimed later was even worse. The situation at Jinghai Guard was somewhat better, with fifteen thousand mu of mature farmland at its founding.

Chen Xin used this batch of land to establish twelve fortified villages, distributing it to the original guard households for cultivation at ten mu per household. Those military households, having received their own land, were profoundly grateful to Chen Xin, and many families set up longevity tablets for him.

While they were happy, others were naturally displeased. The Wendeng Camp had forced the original guard officers to surrender their land. Most of these people were rather fearful of the Wendeng Camp; after keeping their own allotted fields, they turned to other businesses. However, some bore grudges against Chen Xin and conspired to go to Dengzhou to denounce him. But in late August, Vice Prefect Deng of Jinghai Guard, Vice Prefect Zhang of Weihai Guard, and Jinghai Guard Licentiate Huang Gongcheng were all killed on the same day. The killers' methods were clean and efficient, a single fatal blade stroke each. The Wendeng County Magistrate came with constables to investigate, and then there was no further word. Privately, rumors circulated in Wendeng that the three had offended Lord Chen and met such a fate. Seeing this display, the officials of the various guards all fell silent and honestly turned to other livelihoods.

After settling the military households of the original three guards, very little land remained, and a large number of refugees still could not be settled. By early September, the Ministry of War's troop mobilization order arrived, throwing Dengzhou into utter chaos. They had long neglected war preparations; suddenly ordered to mobilize troops, how could they possibly do so? All sorts of supplies were incomplete, and more importantly, no one was willing to go to Liaoxi to die. In particular, military pay in the various Dengzhou battalions was severely embezzled, so the soldiers of each battalion were naturally unwilling to risk their lives and fled in droves.

Seizing this moment of chaos, Chen Xin brazenly seized vast tracts of wasteland in Wendeng. Whether it belonged to civilian households or the gentry, he seized it all the same. The Wendeng County Magistrate helped Chen Xin process the land deeds. Over the past few years, he had received quite a bit of silver from the Wendeng Camp, and he had come to understand Chen Xin to some degree. Now, he absolutely dared not oppose Chen Xin. Even if the land deeds were eventually discovered, he would not be beheaded; at worst, he would lose his post and return home to live as a wealthy man. If he refused to cooperate, he was somewhat worried he might not leave Wendeng alive. Chen Xin used the policy granted by the Emperor the previous year to first occupy all unclaimed wasteland. He could also be said to keep his word, giving the County Magistrate even more silver.

This time, with the examples of Huang Gongcheng and the others, the prominent local clans and gentry of Wendeng caused no disturbance. After this batch of civilian land was brought in, most of the refugees were settled, and Liu Minyou breathed a huge sigh of relief. Combined with some land developed in the hilly areas, the refugees who had arrived before the sixth month were basically all settled. The land along the mountainsides was planted mainly with corn and beans this year. Corn was widely cultivated in Shandong and was more drought-resistant than wheat, though its yield was not high in this era. The only advantage was that it could increase the area of arable land. Liu Minyou hoped to enrich the soil while allowing the refugees to eat their fill.

This year, the agricultural research office purchased some sweet potato seeds. Wen Xianming continued his research into cultivation as always. Liu Minyou told Wen Xianming the concepts of seed selection and grafting that he had heard about; as for the specifics, Wen Xianming could only rely on himself.

After the land was seized, civilian workshops began mass-producing agricultural tools, windmills, and other items. The farming households who received land in the third year of Chongzhen harvested their first season of grain in the sixth month. Craftsmen, farmers, and military dependents all began to have purchasing power. The purchase volume of furniture, clothing, sugar, and tobacco increased greatly. All of this was possible because there was sufficient land to settle the population, demonstrating the crucial foundational role of agriculture at this time.

The Wendeng Camp's maritime trade, copper coinage, and cigarette production were all industries with extremely high profit margins. After silver was imported through the fleet, it was distributed to the common people through military pay and monthly stipends. As their lives gradually stabilized, their capacity for consumption also increased. Stimulated by currency, local commerce in Wendeng began to flourish. Merchants from Jinan, Qingzhou, and Laizhou came to Wendeng to purchase goods, and some also came to open shops and sell here.

Liu Minyou was extremely pleased with the development of commerce. He established the headquarters of the money shop inside the old Wendeng Camp and planned to open branches in Qingzhou and Laizhou as well. His goal was to expand the money shop business to Jinan by the fifth year of Chongzhen, thus completely opening up the route between Wendeng and the Grand Canal.

In addition to external ventures, he planned to develop the service sector within Wendeng, allowing more people to benefit from localized high profits and settling a larger population.

The unique demographic and economic structure of the Wendeng Camp allowed Chen Xin to mobilize an army of nearly ten thousand. But to maintain such a scale, it was necessary to sustain the continued high profits of industry and commerce, as well as to acquire more land, thereby solidifying the foundation of the Wendeng Camp.

By the third day of the ninth month, news of the battle situation at the Daling River arrived. The total strength of the Later Jin army was around seventy thousand, including a large number of bondservants. Moreover, contrary to the expectations of the entire Ming court, the Jianzhou Bandits adopted a siege posture. They constructed dozens of li of earthworks around the city perimeter, practically building an outer wall encircling the Daling River, with ditches both in front and behind. Behind the ditches, they set up encampments, with the Manchu Eight Banners deploying two banners in each direction.

Still, no messenger escaped from within Daling City, and the men from Jinzhou could not get in. They only heard the continuous sound of cannon fire from the periphery, sometimes very intense. The Ming army attempted two relief efforts in the eighth month, but both were driven back.

The Jianzhou Bandits' plan to besiege the city and strike the reinforcements was no profound or unfathomable strategy; the Guan-Ning army understood it from top to bottom. Huang Taiji simply wanted to lure the Ming army's elite to their deaths. Sun Chengzong and Qiu Jiahe understood it as well, and they also knew that another major defeat was highly likely. Therefore, Sun Chengzong himself remained in Ningyuan, letting Qiu Jiahe command from nearby Jinzhou. Whether to send reinforcements or not was left for Qiu Jiahe to decide.

When the construction of Daling City was first proposed, Sun Chengzong had maintained a neutral stance, while Qiu Jiahe had been the most enthusiastic. So now, Sun Chengzong had no intention of taking the blame, leaving Qiu Jiahe to bear the brunt. However, his little scheme was seen through clearly by the supervising secretaries of the Office of Scrutiny for Personnel, who submitted memorial after memorial demanding that Sun Chengzong go to Jinzhou to take command.

None of the frontline generals wanted to go to the rescue. Given the Guan-Ning army's limited capability, going meant courting death. But unable to withstand the pressure from the Ministry of War and the Grand Secretariat, they went anyway. This time, the Guan-Ning army's performance was not too terrible. The defending troops at Songshan and Jinzhou each sortied in late August, but it was merely for show. As soon as they had a slight encounter with the Later Jin forces, they fled back in utter disarray, and both times the Jianzhou Bandits pursued them all the way to the walls of Jinzhou.

Chen Xin's intelligence gathering on the Daling River was limited to this. He had no intention of going on a distant campaign and focused more of his energy on the direction of Dengzhou.

Sun Yuanhua's relief force from Dengzhou still had not set out. The intelligence Chen Xin received was that Sun Yuanhua intended to mobilize Kong Youde's personal left battalion, a portion of Zhang Keda's main battalion, and a portion of Zhang Dao's Dongjiang troops. All three units were trying every means to delay, even to the point where the naval force deliberately damaged its ships and then reported that repairs were needed.

On the fourth day of the ninth month, news came from the Dengzhou station. According to intelligence provided by Lu Zhi, Sun Yuanhua was truly unable to mobilize troops and was considering having the Wendeng Camp send two thousand men as an advance force to Liaoxi. However, he was still hesitating, because whether Chen Xin won or lost, it could potentially be disadvantageous to him, so he had not yet made up his mind.

Chen Xin received this news in his office. After reading it, he said to Zhou Shifa, "Regarding that matter we discussed last time, are all the preparations complete?"

Zhou Shifa respectfully replied, "Yes, everything is prepared. For the Jianzhou Bandit's man, we have selected Li Sizhong. This man is the grandnephew of Li Chengliang and the highest-ranking member of his clan to defect to the Jianzhou Bandits. During the Battle of the Four Cities, he was left to defend Zunhua and conducted the defense with discipline, enabling him to lead his troops in an escape. This is a well-known fact, and there should still be people in the Nine Border armies who recognize him. Moreover, this man was captured at Tieshan and his name was never publicly announced after his return; even within our own army, no one knows he was once captured."

"Mm, have the letters all been written?"

"All written. I obtained several samples of Lord Sun's handwriting. The bureau has specialists who can imitate script; after practice, they achieve over eighty percent similarity. The content is all written according to your instructions, my lord. I also plan to place a letter written in the Jianzhou barbarian tongue inside Li Sizhong's clothing to increase its credibility."

"Barbarian tongue? Who wrote it?"

"That Wu Jianzhong brought back from Pi Island. He was Liu Xingzuo's trusted confidant for many years."

Chen Xin smiled and said, "It doesn't need to be foolproof. As long as the court confirms the man is Li Sizhong, with those three men and a few letters, Lord Sun will ultimately be under suspicion. Compared to smuggling and land seizure, this is a matter of fundamental principle. The civil officials are best at reading the winds; even if what he says is true, no one will pay it any heed. That way, no one will stand on Sun Yuanhua's side to make trouble for our Wendeng Camp."

He paused here. In truth, his use of this tactic was not only to cast suspicion on Sun Yuanhua; its more important function was to pressure Sun Yuanhua into quickly dispatching troops to reinforce the Daling River, in order to clear himself of the suspicion of colluding with the Jianzhou Bandits. Once the Dengzhou army moved, under the immense threat of fighting the Jianzhou Bandits, the grievances accumulated over time would erupt. However, in that case, Sun Yuanhua would have an additional charge of colluding with the enemy compared to the original history, and it would likely be difficult for him to survive. Chen Xin recalled his interactions with this man. Overall, he was still an old-style bureaucrat, but he was somewhat better than the average official.

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