Chapter 357: To the Central Plains

Chen Xin's main army had been dragging its feet without setting out. The Fifth Battalion completed its troop replenishment within a month, drawing one Mandarin Duck Formation company each from the First and Third Battalions to form the Fifth Battalion's First Brigade, which would serve as the battalion's combat core. The two newly established company-level units each activated a mobilization headquarters, further reinforced with some junior officers and non-commissioned officers.

This Fifth Battalion was also a mixed battalion, with reinforced cavalry and artillery. Chen Xin transferred two cavalry platoons from Jinzhou and assigned all the second class of the accelerated cavalry course to it, setting up the framework of a full company headquarters, though in reality it had only a little over three hundred men. He hoped that during this extended campaign they could gradually capture horses and mules to expand the cavalry and dragoons, forming a battalion with high mobility. Only then could they effectively deal with the roving bandits. The reason he chose Zhong Lao Si was that Zhong Lao Si was familiar with all infantry and dragoon subjects, and also liked studying new things. With a bit more tempering, he would be material for a battalion commander.

The original directive from the Ministry of War required the Militia Regional Commander to lead the troops. Chen Xin naturally would not let Liu Minyou go do that. He asked Wang Tingzhi to send a field report to the Ministry of War, volunteering to take command and defend the capital, while fabricating an illness as the reason for Liu Minyou's absence.

As soon as Liang Tingdong saw it was Chen Xin's request, he immediately approved it. He assumed Chen Xin was trying to earn merit and gain benefits, so naturally he would not quibble with Chen Xin over such a minor matter.

The situation with the roving bandits had shifted again by this time. In the third month, some Shaanxi roving bandits ran rampant in Sichuan, breaching Baizhang Pass, and government troops suffered another defeat. The Thirty-Six Camps in Shanxi spread from the long mountain ranges into Northern Zhili. In particular, after the battle of Wu'an, the Changping army was routed, the troops at Jingxing Pass were routed, and the local Henan troops collapsed in succession. Of the original seven thousand local Henan government soldiers, almost none remained, and they had no will to fight. The roving bandits seized this opening, entering Wu'an from Shexian in large numbers. Forces like Zijin Liang and the Dashing King captured Zezhou north of Mount Wangwu and pushed south into Jiyuan and other places. Breakthroughs were achieved at both Mount Taixing and Mount Wangwu, and the vast North China Plain lay right before the roving bandits' eyes.

The remaining troops around Northern Zhili were all being redeployed toward the areas along the mountains. Various localities also began organizing militia and civilian braves, preparing to resist the roving bandits. Urgent orders pressing the Dengzhou troops came every few days. Seeing that Chen Xin still had not moved by the tenth day of the fourth month, even Wang Tingzhi grew somewhat anxious. After all, the Ministry of War's pressure fell first on Wang Tingzhi's head.

So he had no choice but to keep pressing Chen Xin. Chen Xin seized the chance to demand benefits, nearly cleaning out the Dengzhou armory of all its mail armor. Chen Xin's own stockpile, plus the several hundred suits Liang Tingdong had sent, made Zhong Lao Si's brigade the first brigade fully equipped with mail armor. Chen Xin planned to have them focus on mobility; mail armor should be sufficient against the roving bandits.

The reason Chen Xin delayed so long was also to complete the intensified training subjects for those mobilized soldiers. The marching portion could be trained en route, but formation combat and infantry-artillery coordination were not easy to practice on the move.

Although the main army had not moved, the intelligence, foreign affairs, trading company, and special service teams had already set out in advance. Their assembly point was at Great Ming Prefecture, and they would bring a batch of grain from Linqing.

Great Ming Prefecture belonged to Northern Zhili and bordered Wu'an directly. There was a trading company branch established there the previous year. Chen Xin had initially hesitated somewhat about whether to stockpile enough grain at Great Ming Prefecture, fearing that a sudden raid by the roving bandits might take the prefecture. But after reviewing the local situation reports sent by the Intelligence Department, he immediately approved Great Ming Prefecture as a relay station between Linqing and Henan. He was not worried about Great Ming Prefecture being captured, because the name of the local Military Defense Circuit Intendant was Lu Xiangsheng.

Lu Xiangsheng had already led a local civilian braves force to Wu'an. But Chen Xin knew of Lu Xiangsheng — a formidable figure in the late Ming. He served as both a civil and military official. A Metropolitan Graduate by background, he nonetheless dared to swing a blade and cut people down, and he did it very well, at least more ferociously than many generals.

Men like Lu Xiangsheng and Xiong Tingbi were anomalies among the late Ming literati. They held civil official status, yet personally trained troops and devised strategies, and could even lead from the front. But such men were far too few.

Within a few years, Lu Xiangsheng rose from Prefect of Great Ming Prefecture to Grand Coordinator of Yunyang. If even his old lair of Great Ming Prefecture could be captured, Lu Xiangsheng certainly would not have been promoted. So Chen Xin reasoned by this logic that Great Ming Prefecture should be fine and could well serve as a forward base.

By the time Chen Xin was about to set out, Liang Tingdong had already changed Chen Xin's reporting destination to Zhending Prefecture. Chen Xin did not yet know the reason for this adjustment, but from his historical knowledge he knew that the roving bandits were still far from becoming a real power and did not yet have the strength to push directly into Northern Zhili. Perhaps by the time he was halfway there, Liang Tingdong would adjust his destination even further south.

After dragging things out into the fourth month, Chen Xin felt the timing was about right. This stalling was merely a way of crying hardship — gaining benefits was one aspect, but it was also to tell the imperial court that Dengzhou Garrison truly faced great difficulties, and that scraping together this force had taken enormous effort. During this waiting period, Jinzhou resumed its offensive against Fuzhou and began sowing wheat again. They took over twenty Jianzhou Bandit heads and killed over a hundred bondservants. Both sides resumed brutal scout warfare in the mountains east of Fuzhou, though the Later Jin showed no signs of reinforcing southern Liaodong.

By early fourth month, the Dengzhou Garrison relief force had finished assembling at Pingdu Department. Besides the Fifth Battalion, there were also the reinforced Third Brigade of the Guards Battalion, the Guards Battalion artillery battery, the central army reconnaissance cavalry, the special service team, the main logistics team, and other directly attached units. What Chen Xin brought this time was a simplified version of the Dengzhou Garrison. Even the civil affairs section had over a hundred people accompanying, mainly officials familiar with garrison farming and some craftsmen.

Chen Xin also felt it was about time to set out. Otherwise, if the court grew anxious, they would transfer the Guanning Army back to defend the capital. That would undoubtedly increase the Guanning Army's leverage, and with the Guanning Army's equipment and mobility, dealing with roving bandits would be a piece of cake for them.

Another anxious person was Lu Zhi. This campaign against the roving bandits carried little risk but great political benefit, especially with the gimmick of defending the capital involved. It was a chance to demonstrate loyalty to the Emperor in grand fashion, which was very useful for an Army Supervisor like him.

When dealing with Wei Zhongxian, the Chongzhen Emperor had recalled the supervising eunuchs from various places, but that did not mean he stopped using eunuchs. From the second year of Chongzhen onward, he frequently dispatched inner court officials as army supervisors.

The performance of the civil officials disappointed him more and more. Even the circuit inspectors and censors who supervised those civil officials were met with Chongzhen's full suspicion. In the entire court, it was instead the eunuchs by his side who gave him more reassurance. Through these eunuchs sent out, he could at least obtain some information.

During the Dalinghe campaign, he had insisted forcefully, sending three eunuchs to supervise the Guanning Army. This time, with the roving bandits breaking through Mount Taixing, he gave silver to reward the troops and also dispatched eunuchs. Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Liangyu, Zhang Yingchang, and Deng Qi each had an army supervisor in their command. This invisibly put some competitive pressure on Lu Zhi, so he urgently needed to go to the Henan theater to earn merit.

The men Lu Zhi personally brought included two hundred of his personal guards, and also Geng Zhongming's troops.

On the twelfth day of the fourth month, all the expeditionary forces of Dengzhou and Laizhou set out from Pingdu Department. Wang Tingzhi personally came to Pingdu Department to see them off with a grand ceremony. He had someone specially calculate an auspicious hour and set the departure for the first quarter of the Wu hour.

On the grand parade ground of the Third Battalion, the expeditionary troops all stood in solemn silence. The Dengzhou soldiers, as the main force, were utterly silent. Five thousand soldiers held their heads slightly high in the unique posture of the Dengzhou Garrison, exuding a natural pride. Even Geng Zhongming's adjacent troops were infected by it. Although they still could not shed the habits of the Ming army, their pay over the past year had been more ample than before. Geng Zhongming still drank his soldiers' blood and pocketed their pay as before, but his skimming from ordinary camp soldiers had decreased, and their morale was far higher than that of the average Ming army.

The civilian households of Pingdu Department city and the garrison farmers of the surrounding fortified villages came spontaneously to see them off. Most of these mobilized soldiers came from the fortified villages of Pingdu, all selected as training standouts from each village. Because the population base was large, the quality of the recruits surpassed that of the previous batches. Whenever those garrison farmers spotted their own sons or brothers in the ranks, bursts of cheers erupted.

For this march, Chen Xin abandoned the plan of landing at Tianjin. The original plan made by the Military Orders Department was to transport them by the Dengzhou and Wendeng naval battalions to Tianjin. At that point, if the Ministry of War issued no new orders, they would proceed via Baiyangdian and Zhulonghe to Zhending Prefecture. If the Ministry of War changed the destination and required them to go to Wu'an or elsewhere, they would take the Grand Canal from Tianjin to land at Linqing or Dezhou, then march along the Wei River to Great Ming Prefecture. Provisions and fodder could all be transported by water, greatly reducing wastage.

However, Chen Xin wished to take the overland route across Shandong. First, to complete the marching training subject for the mobilized soldiers and drill battalion-level long-distance marches, providing experience for future large-scale operations. Second, to display the Dengzhou Garrison's combat power to the Shandong officialdom. To his surprise, Xu Congzhi actually took the initiative to send someone to make contact, expressing that he would provide provisions for the Dengzhou-Laizhou army at Jinan, and also sent orders to the prefectures under his jurisdiction, instructing all localities to provide convenience for the Dengzhou-Laizhou troops. He also hoped the Dengzhou Garrison could set out as soon as possible.

Later, Chen Xin thought it over and understood. Xu Congzhi had few capable, battle-worthy troops under his command. At present, between Eastern Depot Prefecture and Wu'an lay only the long, narrow strip of Great Ming Prefecture. The areas along Eastern Depot Prefecture were all prosperous regions, naturally extremely resistant to the roving bandits. Hearing that the roving bandits were coming, the whole area was already in a state of panic, with local gentry everywhere contributing money to recruit civilian braves.

Stopping the roving bandits outside Eastern Depot Prefecture would also prevent them from entering Shandong. Moreover, Eastern Depot Prefecture contained something even more critical — the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal cut through Eastern Depot Prefecture from south to north. If any single point were captured by the roving bandits, the entire Grand Canal would be paralyzed. The capital's tribute grain and commercial goods depended entirely on this canal. So Xu Congzhi absolutely dared not take this lightly. His own Provincial Governor's Battalion had also been redeployed to Eastern Depot Prefecture, but the Dengzhou Garrison clearly gave him greater reassurance.

At the first quarter of the Wu hour, Wang Tingzhi raised the great banner on the command platform. The expeditionary officers of Assistant Regional Commander rank and above knelt in worship before the platform in order. The standard-bearers of each unit also lined up before the platform. Wang Tingzhi, waiting until the generals had finished kneeling, was deeply satisfied. Although the soldiers still did not kneel, it was still better than when Xiong Mingyu had visited. He loudly addressed the officers below the platform: "The world regards our Dengzhou and Laizhou as the foremost strong garrison under heaven, producing the finest soldiers under heaven. Today, as you gentlemen lead troops to suppress the bandits, you must be even more diligent, to repay His Majesty's high expectations. You must never harbor thoughts of fleeing from battle. For a military officer, both hands grasp advantage. Success brings honor to your family and fame to yourself, with promotion in rank and increase in salary — this is advantage grasped in one hand. Death in battle brings posthumous titles for your sons and temples erected in your name, with blood sacrifices for a hundred generations — this is advantage grasped in the other hand. Thus in life you gain advantage, and in death you also gain advantage…"

"Why does this speech sound so familiar?" Chen Xin mulled it over carefully in his mind. Only after a long while did he recall it was Qi Jiguang's original words from the "Veritable Record of Military Training," meant to encourage military officers. But when Grand Commander Qi said it, it had some flavor. Coming from a civil official like Wang Tingzhi, it sounded more like sarcasm.

Wang Tingzhi finished speaking after only a short while. After three rolls of the drums, the great army set out. Over five thousand men in full gear, with a large number of supply wagons accompanying, formed an exceedingly long column.

Wang Tingzhi and the other civil officials descended the platform to bid farewell one by one to Chen Xin, Lu Zhi, and the others. Chen Xin could not see the slightest hint of worry on his face. This was already the fourth time Wang Tingzhi had sent him off on campaign. The first was during the Jisi year, when Wang Tingzhi was still the Dengzhou-Laizhou Circuit Intendant. One could say he had climbed up step by step on the back of Chen Xin's military merits. If there were further changes in the court, he might become a Grand Coordinator or a Minister.

Chen Xin cursed him inwardly, but kept a smile on his face as he exchanged pleasantries with the civil officials.

Both sides of the main road outside the camp gate were packed with commoners. There were also quite a few Boy Scout and student groups beating drums and gongs. Whenever the rarely seen artillery or cavalry passed by, they erupted in enthusiastic cheers and applause.

Three monks also mingled in the crowd, carefully scrutinizing the passing troops.

"Between the two company banners, two small cannons." Li Yongfang silently noted in his mind. Another burst of noise came from nearby. He looked and saw several large bronze cannons, likely the type that had appeared at Fuzhou. This time there were four in total. The barrels were larger than those of the small cannons, but the wheels were the same. Li Yongfang also recorded this in his mind, to verify with his subordinates after returning.

There were not many cavalry among this batch of Dengzhou soldiers, but the infantry all appeared robust and young. Many seemed to be new recruits, because Li Yongfang had many garrison farmers nearby, and several of their neighbors had just been conscripted. But these new recruits all had a strong bearing, which secretly alarmed Li Yongfang. The military banners of each brigade differed slightly, but all bore a flying tiger insignia.

By the time all the Dengzhou soldiers had passed, Li Yongfang still did not know exactly how many men had gone by. He roughly estimated four to five thousand. Last came Chen Xin's Regional Commander red banner, inscribed with the large characters "Dengzhou Garrison Regional Commander, General Who Pacifies Liao, Chen." A military officer wearing mountain-pattern armor quickly passed by, escorted by a group of cavalry.

This was the first time Li Yongfang had seen Chen Xin. He saw that Chen Xin was tall and large, his face full of heroic spirit, his features seemingly rather refined. He was secretly astonished. The intelligence gathered previously varied greatly — some said Chen Xin was a crude martial brute, others said he was a pretty-faced boy. Now, having seen him with his own eyes, he seemed to be neither.

One of his subordinates leaned in and said in a mosquito-like whisper, "Elder, shall we hurry ahead and assassinate this Chen Xin?"

Li Yongfang hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "They're all wearing mountain-pattern armor on the march, and he's surrounded by guards like clouds. We have no bows or crossbows — we can't kill him. We have other matters to attend to. Go find that Jiang Guocheng and send word of the Dengzhou troops' expedition back to Liaodong."

The subordinate looked somewhat unwilling and cast a fierce glance at the distant Regional Commander's red banner. This Regional Commander had by now slain several thousand Later Jin soldiers. Though the number killed each time was not large, he had never compromised, and he never stayed quiet. His men did not fear the reputation of the Later Jin troops at all. Not content with fighting through the winter, they rested only during the two coldest months, and by the second month they were raiding Fuzhou again. Their military reports had even covered it.

Li Yongfang knew without thinking that the Southern Four Garrisons could neither fight nor withdraw. And if they kept up this kind of harassment, the Dongjiang Garrison would also take advantage of the chaos to plunder. Even more troublesome was that it would boost the Ming army's confidence.

Gazing at the words "General Who Pacifies Liao" on that red banner, Li Yongfang sighed softly. "The previous General Who Pacifies Liao was killed by a civil official. Who knows who will kill this General Who Pacifies Liao. It would be best if he died at the hands of the roving bandits."