Chapter 349: The Efu Has Arrived

"What's so good about being an official, especially a military one?" Chen Xin tossed aside the intelligence report from the capital with satisfaction. The several hundred real-Jurchen heads from Fuzhou had finally pushed him to the very limit of substantive military rank: Left Chief Commissioner of the Left Army Chief Commissioner's Office, bearing the Seal of the General Who Pacifies Liao — the same official post Mao Wenlong had once held. His title of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent was elevated to Junior Tutor of the Heir Apparent. For any future military merit, the imperial court could only pile on empty honorary titles.

This was truly because the ceiling for military posts was far too low. Once you became a Regional Commander, there was nowhere higher to rise, yet under his command he had only a single Main Force Battalion. Troops scattered across different regions were only assembled in wartime and were unfamiliar with one another. The civil officials who controlled military pay and logistics thus gained the basis to command troops — but when it came to actual fighting, they were indeed not very reliable.

It was now the eleventh month. According to the latest intelligence, the Jianzhou bandits were still on their way back to Liaodong and should by now be near old Guangning. Their men were exhausted and their horses spent; there was no hope of them attacking Lushun this year. Chen Xin was slightly disappointed, but this also gave him more time to prepare.

This was the study in the Dengzhou Garrison Regional Commander's residence. Chen Xin did not live separately within Dengzhou city — after all, he had done considerable killing in Dengzhou and still somewhat feared retaliation. He simply lived beside the parade ground, where combat troops patrolled day and night, making it safer.

Liu Minyou sat across from him, warming himself by the fire. After the autumn harvest and tax collection had ended, civil affairs had also lessened. In winter, all kinds of activity decreased, and civil administration work was relatively light. This year's wheat — most of the fields had been planted with green manure crops like mung beans.

These newly built fortified villages had not yet been allocated to individual households; grain was supplied collectively, and income was not very high. After this year's harvest, each fortified village began dividing up the farmland among households, and next year tax grain could be levied. Dengzhou Garrison's investment in the fortified villages would greatly decrease.

Liu Minyou grabbed a couple of soybeans and took a sip of liquor. This was the sorghum liquor they had begun trial-producing this year. The sorghum was mostly planted on newly developed barren land near the mountains. Liu Minyou encouraged the fortified villages near the mountains to open up land for cultivation; sorghum and corn could still be planted to some extent. Both made decent raw materials for food and for brewing.

Distilled liquor had existed since the Tang dynasty, but its purity could not reach very high levels — in the Ming dynasty, twenty-some degrees was the maximum. Liu Minyou, of course, did not intend it solely for drinking. A brewing department had now been set up within the agricultural studies academy at the Wendeng Grand Academy, with six or seven students assigned to it. The instructor was a bankrupt distillery owner who had drifted here as a refugee. He merely taught the students how to make the vessels for extracting distilled liquor and the practical operations. Naturally, he had no theory whatsoever, but in this era, such things were regarded by every family as secret arts passed down through generations. Had he not been reduced to a refugee, he would never have brought them out to teach others.

Distilled spirits were another highly sought-after commodity in the north. Among the Mongol tribes in particular, when the herdsmen's thirst for liquor struck, they would willingly trade a horse for a few catties of liquor. Liu Minyou did not dare use grain to brew liquor. He hoped to produce some relatively high-purity alcohol that could be used to clean the wounds of injured soldiers, thereby further improving their chances of survival.

The disinfecting effect of honey had been verified. Liu Minyou had the general store raise its purchase price, and for a time, those who originally kept bees found themselves in great demand. Many fortified-village households wanted to make beekeeping another source of income for their families.

Beekeeping was far more convenient than raising chickens, ducks, cattle, or sheep. One simply found a spot sheltered from rain under the eaves at home and made a beehive. When someone else had a new queen bee splitting off a colony, you went over to collect it. During the colony split, you would usually get stung until your whole body swelled up, but afterward there was no need for daily feeding — it was very effortless, took up no space at home, had virtually no subsequent costs, and did not produce manure all over the ground. It was extremely suitable for fortified villages as supplementary livestock income. Of course, when harvesting the honeycomb, you would swell up all over again.

Dengzhou had expanded its army and workshops this year, and prices showed a trend of rising. Many assets that had originally lain in cellars now ended up in the hands of refugees who had once been utterly destitute. Demand for certain basic consumer goods was enormous. Grain, salt, and cotton cloth — those involving people's livelihoods — were still supplied by the general store. Other trades were also gradually growing prosperous. Once the more than five hundred thousand mu of land was fully distributed next year and the fortified-village households had their own income, Dengzhou's scale of consumption would expand even further.

The fortified villages held an overwhelming advantage in Pingdu Department. Not only had the vast majority of tenant farmers fled to the fortified villages, but even local civilian households were constantly seeking refuge with them, because they discovered that as soon as they entered a fortified village, they immediately gained a powerful backer. The gentry and government offices no longer dared to come and bully them, taxes were far lower, and the additional military service was not unpaid labor — combat soldiers' income was the highest of all.

The small and mid-sized landlords in the Pingdu countryside had the hardest time, because their tenant farmers and household slaves had all fled. The remaining land had no one to cultivate it. Refugees from other regions might perhaps be tricked into coming to farm it for a while, but sooner or later they would learn the news and then flee. After the eighth month, Dengzhou Garrison set up road checkpoints at places where various roads entered its territory, recruiting fortified-village households on the spot, which further cut off the tenant-farmer labor supply. The remaining local gentry found their situation growing difficult. They did not want to sell their land, but neither could they find enough people to farm it. The only way to compete for labor was to lower rents, but Dengzhou Garrison was distributing land and also provided a support system, so even as they kept lowering rents, they still could not recruit enough tenants.

Reaching five hundred thousand should be no problem.

At this moment, hearing Chen Xin's words, he could not help but glance sideways at him and say, "You don't want to be an official? Then why fight so desperately? Ever since you arrived in this Great Ming dynasty, haven't you been pursuing official rank all along?"

"Exactly — so I'm about to hit the ceiling. Once I'm invested with the general's seal, I'll truly be a general, and the substantive post in the Five Chief Military Commissions will also have reached its limit. After that, rising alongside civil officials through the Three Junior and Three Solitary titles and the like — how boring is that." Chen Xin was also eating soybeans with his liquor. "Right now, Great Ming's military officers were already worthless to begin with. Once you reach Regional Commander of Dengzhou Garrison, the most you can do is swap Regional Commander posts between garrisons — there's no other path upward. Zu Dashou caused such a huge mess, and all they did was strip his Left Chief Commissioner and Junior Tutor titles and additionally revoke one hereditary Ningyuan Company Commander post — they didn't even take away his Seal of Vanguard General Conquering Liao. And look at Wu Xiang: with two hundred seventy heads, he got right back to Regional Commander of the Training Division. Zhang Chun truly defended great righteousness in vain. Not only is he constantly used by Wu Xiang as a shield, but now Wu Xiang — the one who fled first — has been restored to his original post, while Zhang Chun, who fought to the very end, has become a prisoner. How can that possibly command respect?"

Liu Minyou thought of that Wu Xiang and shook his head inwardly. The man would be more than qualified as a merchant. Once restored to his original post in Liaoxi, he had promptly sent people bearing gifts to express his thanks. Even Liu Minyou received a share — a fine steed with a bluish-gray coat. Liu Minyou was very fond of it and planned to make it his everyday mount. This kind of gift was very thoughtfully chosen: something you saw nearly every day, so you were constantly reminded of Wu Xiang — just like the desk calendars given away as promotional products in later ages, a tiny cost that continually deepened the impression.

And yet, he was a military officer guarding the frontier. He had bought those two hundred-some heads back and reported to the Ministry of War that he had launched a night raid on a detached Jianzhou force at Kalaqin. The heads were all genuine. Those who had been demoted alongside him after the Battle of Changshan — Zu Dabi, Zu Dale, and others — were all restored to their original posts, and even Zu Dashou had his hereditary Ningyuan Company Commander post restored.

Liu Minyou sighed and said, "As a business partner, Wu Xiang is beyond reproach. But when you go to war in the future, never fight alongside him. I'm afraid even Zu Dashou would be far better."

"Zu Dashou? He does have some skill in battle, but he also has a bunch of relatives over at Huang Taiji's side. I'd rather partner with a rat than with him."

Liu Minyou picked up that intelligence report from the capital and glanced at it. "The roving bandits are coming. Once they break free of the mountainous terrain along the Shanxi border and enter the plains, they'll most likely transfer you to fight the bandits, and you might well run into Zu Dashou. Huh — Zhang Dahui even wiped out a Jianzhou spy nest…"

Chen Xin tossed a soybean into the air, caught it in his mouth, and then said, "Zu Dashou won't enter the passes. Once he's caught, it could cause the Guan-Ning army to split — he knows this very well. So don't worry about me running into him. This time I've sent Song Wenxian to the capital. In any case, we'll insist that we suffered heavy losses at Fuzhou and still have Jinzhou and Lushun to defend. If they want to transfer us to fight the roving bandits, then give me two thousand horses and add another official post for Dengzhou Garrison."

"Oh? You still want an official post — haven't you hit the ceiling?"

"I'm asking for my subordinates. Now that I'm a seal-bearing Regional Commander, promoting one or two ordinary Regional Commanders under me is no problem. Actually, I do want to go fight the roving bandits. The wider they roam, the more our army can expand its influence. We'll take a publicly funded tour — a seeding-machine propaganda team, so to speak." After drinking the sorghum liquor, his body was also very warm.

After adding the charcoal and returning, he said to Chen Xin, "Just what kind of Regional Commander post do you want?"

"Regional Commander of the Dengzhou Garrison Training Division. With that Regional Commander post, let's see who dares impeach me for training reserve troops." Chen Xin finished cursing and spat toward the brazier…

With a crack, a few sparks burst from the brazier — a piece of charcoal that had not burned through had split open. Huang Taiji paid it no heed. He had just returned to the Shenyang palace; the main army was still two days behind. The first thing Huang Taiji did upon hurrying back to Shenyang was to visit the gravely ill Tong Yangxing (Note 1), after which he summoned Fushun Efu Li Yongfang.

This Efu, who had pioneered the path of Han traitors at the end of the Ming, had graying queues and sat respectfully in the lower seat. On the small table before him were two plates, one of cheese and one of sachima — both traditional snacks of their people.

Li Yongfang had surrendered at Fushun in the forty-sixth year of the Wanli reign. He was the first Ming border general to surrender, setting a very bad precedent. Like Tong Yangxing, he was an Efu. However, Tong Yangxing had married a daughter of Nurhaci, whereas Li Yongfang had only married a daughter of Abatai. To make matters worse, aside from being ugly, she had also died exceptionally early — she had passed away two years ago, leaving Li Yongfang a widower.

When he first surrendered, Nurhaci had trusted him for a time. Later, after the Aita incident in Fuzhou, Nurhaci grew suspicious of all Han people. At the time, Li Yongfang had spoken a couple of words on behalf of the Han people of Fuzhou, hoping Nurhaci would not kill indiscriminately, only to be furiously rebuked by Nurhaci. Thereafter, he gradually fell from favor. Moreover, with a constant infusion of fresh blood from new Han officials and Huang Taiji's more deliberate cultivation of his own civil official system, Li Yongfang's usefulness and propaganda value had both faded, and he gradually withdrew from the Later Jin political scene. This sudden summons from Huang Taiji had truly left him overwhelmed by unexpected favor.

With some sorrow, Huang Taiji said, "The Efu of the Western Quarters is gravely ill and may not last long. It makes me recall events from many years ago. Back then, there were only you two Han Efus, which is why I have called Fushun Efu here to talk."

Li Yongfang shed two hypocritical tears. In truth, Tong Yangxing did not consider himself a Han person. Later, his descendants even fabricated a story claiming that Tong Yangxing had always been a Jurchen, even conjuring up ancestral dreams — all to prove that Comrade Tong Yangxing was an authentic real Jurchen.

Li Yongfang did not believe Huang Taiji had called him here to discuss Tong Yangxing. He had long seen through the true faces of the Later Jin nobility. Huang Taiji, even more so, was a man who recognized only interests; everything he did carried a purpose, cloaked in a disguise. Since he said he had called Li Yongfang to reminisce about old times, then it was certainly not about reminiscing. He had also rendered great service back then — does Efu still remember? He went to find the Ministry of War's dispatch officer Liu Bao in the capital, bought a prostitute from the Ming Ministry of War's dispatch office, was arrested by the Ming authorities… and was executed by slow slicing. When I recall it, though it was many years ago, my heart still aches.

Huang Taiji had called him over precisely to ask about this matter. While at Kalaqin, he had unexpectedly received word that a spy nest in the capital had been rooted out by a group of unidentified persons. This was already the second nest they had lost in the capital — not to mention the one in Dengzhou. During the chaos early that year, the mutinous troops had not cared whether he had backing or not; the entire Dengzhou intelligence network had been severed.

And the pressure from Dengzhou Garrison was tightening step by step. After much thought, Huang Taiji decided to invite Li Yongfang out of retirement. After all, he had long managed the Later Jin intelligence system and had played a vital role in successive campaigns. The Wu Changchun just mentioned was Li Yongfang's son-in-law and also the most outstanding comrade on the Later Jin espionage front. Active in the capital during the Tianqi reign, he had been thoroughly familiar with the Ming court's official circles. Through relentless maneuvering, he had very nearly succeeded in passing himself off as a military examination candidate surnamed Yang — had he succeeded, he would have become a troop-commanding officer and infiltrated the Ming army. In the end, he was discovered by the Eastern Depot, arrested, and executed by slow slicing. The intelligence was sent to Pingdu Department, then transported via the Liao Sea to Niuzhuang, not passing through Ningyuan or other places.

"Yes. Back then, the Chahar were still present, and travel beyond the passes and through Liaoxi was not easy. The Shandong side, on the other hand — once you put out to sea, it was much easier."

All the intelligence was delivered to him. He had shops, large boats, and small boats — sending messages back and forth was extremely easy. When Wu Changchun was arrested back then, Chen Yijing vanished without a trace.

"Oh, so that is how it was." Huang Taiji's face showed a look of disappointment.

Li Yongfang knew that Huang Taiji's urgency was not about the capital but rather fear of Deng and Lai. He hurriedly said, "However, your servant still has other methods. Many old hands were sent to Dengzhou, Pingdu, and other places back then. Though several shops in Dengzhou suffered calamity this time, the people should still be there — only the lines of communication have been cut. Your servant knows all these people. Your servant is willing to make a trip to Dengzhou and help the Great Khan rebuild eyes and ears reaching into Deng and Lai."

"Good." Huang Taiji laughed heartily. "Fushun Efu's whole household is loyal and righteous. Tomorrow, let Bayan enter the palace to serve on duty; I will have important employment for him myself."

Li Yongfang loved this fifth son most of all. Hearing this, he knelt and kowtowed, saying, "Your servant thanks His Majesty for his boundless grace. Even if my body were ground to dust, it would not suffice to repay one ten-thousandth of it."

Huang Taiji gently helped him up. "Efu, be careful on the journey. Deng and Lai have become a mortal affliction to our Great Jin, yet people's minds are not united — many still regard it as a mere skin ailment. On this trip, Efu must, first, thoroughly investigate their army, their pay and provisions, and their military preparedness. Second, you must find what is abnormal about that Chen Xin — whether there are signs of plotting rebellion — so that in the future we may seek out certain Ming officials to carry out stratagems in the Ming capital."

"Zha."

Note 1: The time of Tong Yangxing's death is recorded in the Draft History of Qing as the seventh month of the sixth year of the Tiancong reign. In reality, he was still present for the New Year's greetings in the seventh year of Tiancong. On the seventh day of the first month of Tiancong 7, he even submitted a memorial to Huang Taiji discussing matters concerning Han officials. The various online encyclopedias all contain errors. He probably died sometime in the first half of Tiancong 7; it can be inferred that by the end of the sixth year, his illness was already very severe. (To be continued.)

PS: I've been working overtime every day lately and am mentally exhausted. These past few nights, several chapters were written in a half-dreaming, half-awake state — often I'd fall asleep while writing. I'm afraid the updates can only be like this for the next few days.