Chapter 369: Tale of Heroes (Big Chapter, Seeking Monthly Tickets)

The next day, the main force of Dengzhou Garrison set out. By then, the vanguard had already encamped by the Qi River. In the mountains around Linxian, there were still several bands of scattered bandits who had fled that day, some numbering in the hundreds. Whenever the scout cavalry discovered them, Dengzhou Garrison would dispatch a unit to mop them up. The march was very slow; Chen Xin hoped to drive them as far away as possible.

Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army from Great Ming Prefecture remained in Cixian to mop up those scattered bandits. The bulk of the Baoding troops under Baoding Regional Commander Liang Fu also stayed in the border region between Henan and Northern Zhili to prevent any fish slipping through the net from breaking into Northern Zhili. Only one Mobile Corps Commander, Huang Yonggui, was sent with just over a thousand Baoding soldiers to Henan. For the time being, there were no large bands of roving bandits on the entire eastern side of Mount Taixing.

From Linxian toward Huixian, the land along the way was parched and cracked everywhere. Apart from the banks of rivers, the drought in Linxian was also extremely severe. In many places, the problem was not simply desolation, but such a lack of water that not a single blade of grass grew. The areas along Mount Taixing were slightly better, with many mountain springs that could be channeled. Irrigation works and canals could also be built along the banks of the Huan River. But any place farther away was utterly hopeless. Much of the land had been abandoned for quite some time; after inspecting it, some soldiers felt it had been at least several years since anyone had farmed it.

In Chen Xin's previous life, the famous Red Flag Canal was right in Linxian, channeling water from the Zhang River into the Linxian basin, which finally solved Linxian's irrigation problem. However, Chen Xin did not have that kind of mobilization power in Linxian, nor could he afford the time. He could only compete with the local people for the riverside fields. One company of the Third Regiment of the Guard Battalion was left behind to overawe the local clan forces. Most of the captured grain was also left here as their start-up funds.

The personnel from the Farming Affairs Office began recruiting refugees in places like Linxian and Cixian, establishing garrison farms together with the batch of captives left behind. In this place, they could not simply build an enclosure wall and be done with it, as they had in Denglai. They had to construct rammed-earth city walls, which could not be finished in a short time. Another task was seizing land. Chen Xin's instruction to the Farming Affairs Office was: where land is disputed, silver can be given to buy it.

That County Magistrate of Linxian, after being intimidated by Lu Zhi, now dared not interfere in the affairs of Dengzhou Garrison. Before leaving, Chen Xin also paid him a visit. After the big stick, he offered a few carrots. However, his story changed slightly; he merely said that some captives could not be settled, and Eunuch Supervisor Lu planned to arrange for them to farm in Linxian. When the time came, they would pay taxes to Linxian as usual, which would be a great political achievement for Linxian.

The County Magistrate had a sudden revelation, thinking that Lu Zhi wanted to become a landlord. Thus, Chen Xin borrowed Lu Zhi's influence in the middle, and the magistrate was fooled. Of course, he would not go to Lu Zhi to verify the matter. He repeatedly expressed that he would look after those people. He even checked the land registers overnight, then led men to show Chen Xin and his group the abandoned lands where disputes would be relatively few. And so, the first step of the Linxian garrison farm had been taken.

The company left behind, along with some captives, continued burying corpses across the battlefield. It was not that they were kind-hearted. The weather in May and June was scorching, and corpses easily caused epidemics. Since they were going to set up camp here, this was something that had to be done. Although a clerk from the Agricultural Research Office accompanying the army said that corpses could fertilize the fields, no one, from officers and soldiers to refugees, was willing to bury corpses in the farmland. After the government troops left, scattered local residents who had fled also gradually returned to their villages. Only then did they discover they had a batch of new neighbors.

This initial foothold was an important step for Dengzhou. Dengzhou Garrison was currently carrying out a slow infiltration in Qingzhou Prefecture, bringing those unclaimed lands under its administration to absorb the ever-increasing number of refugees. Such actions inevitably led to conflicts with the locals. That was precisely why Chen Xin wanted Tang Dihu to continuously stir up trouble in Qingzhou Prefecture: first, to divert the officials' attention; second, to use banditry to tie down the local gentry. And at this very moment, his orders to Wu Jianzhong had already been sent out…

In the fifth month of the sixth year of the Chongzhen reign, the government troops won successive major victories in Shaanxi and Henan, beheading over ten thousand roving bandits. The Thirty-Six Camps ran back and forth on both sides of Mount Taixing, seeking a soft persimmon to squeeze. Unfortunately, they found none. They could not handle the northern frontier troops, nor could they best the Dengzhou Garrison here in Henan. Their range of movement grew narrower and narrower.

Chen Xin established contact with Cao Wenzhao. The two armies advanced in parallel along both sides of Mount Taixing to prevent the bandits from exploiting differences in the advance to repeatedly flee back and forth. But once implemented, they discovered many difficulties. Many bandits scattered and fled into the mountains. Even these two crack forces could not suppress them all. The Mount Taixing range was a jumble of peaks and ridges, and those bandits had no mountain strongholds to attack. Often, after a day of pursuit, they would not even see a few men. Even the infantry of Dengzhou found it so; Cao Wenzhao's cavalry had an even harder time. He had no choice but to slow his pace and advance gradually.

In early June, Chen Xin, leading the forces of Geng Zhongming, Zuo Liangyu, and others, entered Weihui Prefecture. Deng Qi's Sichuan Army had arrived even earlier than them. Apart from the thousand Sichuan troops led by Ma Xianglin's wife, Zhang Fengyi, the remnants of the Shizhu soldiers that Qin Liangyu had brought in the third year of Chongzhen's reign were all gathered in Weihui Prefecture.

At that time, Qin Liangyu had led nine thousand Shizhu soldiers to reinforce the capital. By now, several thousand had already left earlier under Qin Yiming. Without a pillar of strength like Qin Liangyu or Qin Yiming, the Sichuan soldiers frequently clamored and shouted about returning home. Now that the training of the new recruits in Jizhen was complete, and the imperial court also feared the Sichuan troops would cause trouble, they agreed to let them go home, but demanded they suppress the roving bandits along the way. On the journey from Northern Zhili to Henan, some troops gradually left to return home ahead of schedule. Now, roughly over four thousand remained. Deng Qi led over two thousand, while Ma Xianglin and Zhang Fengyi each led over a thousand. Among them, Zhang Fengyi's unit had already been transferred to the prefectural seat of Huaiqing.

After news of the great victory at Linxian spread, the Provincial Governor of Henan, Xuan Mo, found his objective. He personally came to lead the Eastern Route Army. The assembly point was set at Weihui Prefecture. The Eastern Route Grand Army gathered in force, comprising: four thousand from the Dengzhou Garrison Militia General Battalion, seven hundred from the Dengzhou Personal Battalion, over four thousand Sichuan troops, five thousand from the Capital Training Corps, two thousand Changping soldiers, two thousand militia from Great Ming Prefecture, and four thousand local Mao soldiers from Henan. Among them, the strongest in combat power were the Dengzhou Garrison and the Sichuan Army, but both forces relied primarily on infantry. The soldiers of the other various battalions were of little use in a major fight; the only ones they could depend on were their retainers.

The number of government troops in Henan nominally exceeded twenty thousand, but in reality, each unit had more or fewer men. The Capital Training Corps and the Henan troops had many vacancies, while Zuo Liangyu's force far exceeded its nominal strength. As per Xuan Mo's request, they were stationed in Huixian, awaiting the Provincial Governor's arrival. The area outside Huixian was filled with military camps.

Unable to withstand the pressure of the northern frontier troops, the Thirty-Six Camps attempted a breakout to the west. After being blocked by Xu Dingchen, they could only hole up in Zezhou, continuously tying down government forces through mobility. However, their loose structure made it difficult to form a combined force. Instead, they were divided and crushed by strong armies like Cao Wenzhao's, and their situation grew increasingly dire. Yet their tactic of slipping through any gap they saw forced the government troops to often turn back and give chase, delaying the progress of the northern route government forces.

The roving bandits within Henan remained in chaos. The smaller bands, when pursued, would burrow back into Mount Taixing and flee to Shanxi to rampage for a while. If the Shanxi government troops pressed them hard, they would cross back over the mountains.

The small bands could flee about as they pleased. The largest bands, such as Zijing Liang and the Chuang Wang, could not. They could no longer gather enough provisions in Zezhou. Finally, they too crossed Mount Taixing and entered Henan territory. Half of the Thirty-Six Camps converged within the boundaries of Weihui Prefecture and Huaiqing Prefecture. Only at this point did they finally realize that their chaotic flight had led them into a gigantic encirclement.

To the west and north were the most elite frontier troops drawn from the Nine Border Garrisons. In the middle were Mount Taixing and Mount Wangwu. To the south rolled the Yellow River. To the east, the Sichuan Army, Dengzhou Garrison, and Changping soldiers were the best troops Chongzhen could muster. With the rise of Dengzhou Garrison, Chongzhen was absolutely unwilling to again summon the treacherous Zu family army into the passes.

Chen Xin dispersed his main army by Company Commander units, setting up defenses between the Huixian county seat and Mount Taixing. Geng Zhongming and Deng Qi were positioned between Huixian and the prefectural seat. Zuo Liangyu was transferred to the vicinity of Weihui's prefectural seat. The Henan soldiers strictly guarded every ferry crossing on the Yellow River, confiscating all the boats in one go. The grand encirclement of the roving bandits in Northern Henan was complete.

This year, the Later Jin had also not come to cause trouble for the time being, allowing the Ming court's financial and human resources to tilt toward the roving bandits. The Ming grand army hemmed the bandits in on both sides of Mount Taixing and Mount Wangwu at the border of Shanxi and Henan. Chongzhen received victory report after victory report. Once he confirmed the capital was free of worry, he agitatedly mobilized five thousand Capital Training Corps soldiers to come. They rushed fairly quickly after leaving the capital, reaching Zhangde Prefecture on the tenth day of the sixth month. The most favorable situation for suppressing the bandits since the first year of Chongzhen's reign had emerged.

The most ferocious roving bandits were all concentrated here. As long as the bandits in this region were annihilated, the scourge of the roving bandits would be largely quelled. Places like Huaiqing had already seen much fighting, and many areas had been looted by the bandits. The bandits pounced on Weihui Prefecture like starving wolves, solely to seize enough provisions.

Meanwhile, leaders like Zijing Liang and the Chuang Wang took note of the grim situation. They began repeatedly summoning the heads of the various camps to jointly discuss methods of breaking out. Additionally, they expanded the scope of their plundering. At this time, the most vulnerable government force was in Huaiqing Prefecture. The bandits changed their usual behavior, attacking even those sturdy fortified hamlets regardless of casualties, in order to obtain more food reserves.

A few bands of roving bandits who had just arrived in Weihui looked down on the inland troops and came with great momentum, charging around the prefectural seat of Weihui to plunder. Xuan Mo sent a written order for Tang Jiuzhou, another Vice Regional Commander from Changping, to pursue and suppress them. But the order sent to Chen Xin was extremely peculiar. Besides ordering him to mop up the bandits within Huixian's county borders, it actually demanded he send troops to Qingchi Liuquan Pass to guard the mausoleum of the Prince of Lu's consort, to prevent it from being robbed and excavated by the bandits.

Upon receiving the order, Chen Xin was furious. Yet, this was precisely the kind of matter he could not ignore. If it really were dug up—the Prince of Lu's fief was right in Weihui Prefecture—and if he filed an impeachment, Chongzhen, who felt the most pain for these relatives, would make handling it extremely troublesome. He had no choice but to dispatch two hundred cavalry to rush over. They did indeed encounter a band of roving bandits, routed them in one battle, though the mounted bandits got away as usual.

Over fifty thousand roving bandits had already surged into Weihui Prefecture, belonging to over a dozen large and small bands, along with some local mountain bandits and brigands from Henan who came out to loot a burning house. Weihui Prefecture descended into chaotic warfare, with various bands of bandits scurrying everywhere. Sometimes, the outside roving bandits even fought a battle with the local brigands. The government troops' mobility was also not strong; they followed behind eating dust. Although they frequently proclaimed great victories, the kills were all coerced refugees or the heads of ordinary commoners.

/>

Such chaotic warfare made it difficult to achieve decisive results. Time dragged on and on, and Chen Xin's military provisions also ran tight. The rations Dengzhou Garrison brought with them had been replenished once in Great Ming Prefecture. After setting out, much had been consumed. Chen Xin had left all the captured grain in Linxian. With resupply nowhere in sight, the quartermaster had no choice but to first transfer grain from Linxian, then ship the reserves from the shops in Great Ming Prefecture via the water route to Linxian. Additionally, emergency purchases were made from the Linqing Trading Company, asking them to continue shipping toward Great Ming Prefecture. Transshipment from Linqing caused great losses, with thirty percent consumed en route. Moreover, each time, Dengzhou Garrison had to dispatch troops to escort the shipments back and forth, causing troop fatigue.

Chen Xin first asked Huixian for grain, but Huixian was teeming with grand armies. Even if that County Magistrate sold himself, he could not scrape together that much grain. The men of Deng Qi, Geng Zhongming, and the Baoding Army came daily to the foot of Huixian's walls to shout abuse. After the magistrate provided all the grain from the county granary, he simply hid inside the county government office and refused to come out.

The few hundred dan of grain from Huixian was not even enough to pick his teeth. Chen Xin had no choice but to send another dispatch to Xuan Mo. Xuan Mo quickly shipped two hundred dan. His reply was extremely polite, full of praise for Dengzhou Garrison, but in the end, he said there was no extra military grain for the time being, that supplying various places was difficult, and transport was extremely inconvenient. He said to wait some ten-odd days before there would be any, and requested Denglai to first supply itself.

Lu Zhi's dispatch to Xuan Mo also received no response. He submitted a memorial to the Directorate of Ceremonial impeaching Xuan Mo, but it had no effect for the time being. If even Chen Xin could not get grain, the other guest armies had even less hope. Consequently, the Sichuan Army, Zuo Liangyu, and Geng Zhongming all began seizing grain in the countryside, sometimes even jointly attacking the fortified hamlets of the gentry. Geng Zhongming even handed half of what he seized over to Chen Xin, putting on a show of effort.

These military commanders could act that way. Chen Xin could not. The resupply points Chen Xin had originally set were in Great Ming Prefecture, Kaifeng, and Luoyang. Now, he was stuck in a place that connected to none of them. Kaifeng Prefecture looked closest, only two hundred twenty li away. But the Yellow River lay in between. After crossing the river, the entire two hundred-plus li was all overland route. With the current chaos of soldiers and bandits in Weihui—where roving bandits, government troops, and mountain brigands would all come to rob—no shipment could possibly get through without troops escorting it.

However, military provisions were fundamental and had to be resolved. He sent a quartermaster to Weihui Prefecture to inquire about prices. One dan was worth three taels of silver; in Huixian, five taels per dan. They were completely treating the government troops as easy marks.

He could only urgently send orders to Wang Erya, instructing her to personally rush to Great Ming Prefecture to procure grain and ship it via the Wei River to Qimen Town on the border of Weihui Prefecture. Then he would dispatch troops to escort it ashore near the prefectural seat of Weihui, and from there transport it overland to Huixian. Such an overland route was only a few dozen li, which could greatly shorten the distance.

While laboriously replenishing grain from Linxian, Dengzhou Garrison continued mopping up the roving bandits in Huixian, successively beating back two large bands: Xue Rengui and the Southern Camp's Eighth Great King, driving them into Mount Taixing. It was only then that Chen Xin learned there were three Eighth Great Kings among the roving bandits; Zhang Xianzhong was only the Western Camp's Eighth Great King.

Dengzhou Garrison saw combat almost daily. Besides fighting on the plains, they sometimes also entered the mountains to the north to mop up. Ninety percent of the engagements were trivial skirmishes; by the time they pursued, the bandits had long since fled. In just this half-month period, several more small bands of roving bandits entered Linxian from Mount Taixing. The scattered bandits from that day's rout converged under their banners again, becoming medium-sized roving bandit groups. Lu Xiangsheng quickly went to chase and attack them, but Dengzhou Garrison needed even more troops to transport military grain. They exhausted all their strength without landing a blow, and the surrounding area was crawling with bandits. Everyone in Dengzhou Garrison, from top to bottom, was seething with frustration. They now understood that the word "roving" in "roving bandits" was not for nothing.

Dozens of bands of roving bandits and government troops fought fiercely throughout Weihui. The bandits came and went, killing and looting everywhere in the countryside. After the government troops pursued and drove them off, they also killed and looted. When they met, they robbed each other, with both sides trading wins and losses. Zuo Liangyu and Deng Qi were directly under Xuan Mo's command, chasing and attacking roving bandits in various places. The two also won several victories and gradually gained some notoriety among the bandits.

Amid this stifling frustration and chaos, everyone had been busy directing their units to chase and attack the bandits near the prefectural seat. They had not even held a meeting. They endured until the thirteenth day of the sixth month, when orders finally came for them to go to the prefectural seat of Weihui for a meeting, to prepare to hear Lord Xuan's deployment for a joint attack on the main force of the bandits.

Lu Zhi had a strong opinion of Xuan Mo. Originally, Chen Xin had been leading the military officers and fighting well. With Xuan Mo butting in like this, there had been no unified strategy for ages. The various route armies were all bogged down near the prefectural seat, completely tied down by the bandits. And now, he could not even provide military provisions. Moreover, it was said that Xuan Mo had been waiting for the Capital Training Corps to arrive, which was why the meeting was delayed until the fifteenth of the sixth month. Thus, Lu Zhi felt that Xuan Mo was somewhat slighting the strong troops of Dengzhou. His temper flaring, he also planned to delay and not go, sending a reply asking Xuan Mo to provide the military provisions first.

Chen Xin was already full of anger toward Xuan Mo. He had come to fight the bandits in Henan's territory, yet they were not even given sufficient supplies as guest soldiers. He wondered whose head Xuan Mo was trying to protect. Now, seeing Lu Zhi act this way, he naturally stood on Lu Zhi's side, tossing Xuan Mo's military order aside like waste paper. Consequently, Geng Zhongming and the Baoding Mobile Corps Commander Huang also did not go, thoroughly ruining Xuan Mo's grand meeting.

By this time, Xuan Mo had learned that Lu Zhi was impeaching him. He immediately submitted a memorial impeaching Lu Zhi for eunuch tyranny, not yielding an inch in momentum. However, he also found a way to climb down. He postponed the meeting again to the eighteenth, and rushed to deliver a thousand dan of grain on the sixteenth, stating it was specifically for Chen Xin.

Since the Provincial Governor had provided grain, Chen Xin took the opportunity to climb down. After persuading Lu Zhi to agree, he went to Weihui Prefecture for the meeting, accompanied by the adjutant Xuan Mo had sent.

On the seventeenth, the main commanders and army supervisors of each unit all went to Weihui Prefecture for the meeting. Besides Lu Zhi here with Chen Xin, Deng Qi and Zuo Liangyu also had army supervisors, who had been dispatched at the beginning of the year. That batch consisted of four eunuchs in total, sent respectively to the armies of Cao Wenzhao, Zhang Yingchang, Deng Qi, and Zuo Liangyu.

Chen Xin and Lu Zhi, bringing Geng Zhongming, arrived at the prefectural seat that very day. The prefectural seat of Weihui was the county seat of Jixian. It had only been expanded during the Wanli reign. The city wall was over six li in circumference, with three main gates, and a moat three zhang and five chi wide. It was a city of medium scale. Stationed nearby were over a thousand men from the Henan Personal Battalion, over a thousand Sichuan troops under Ma Xianglin, plus the local Henan troops defending the city, making it seem as impregnable as metal and stone.

The marketplaces in the city were extremely desolate, though there were quite a few onlookers by the roadside. However, their gazes were mostly blank and dull. Many of them had never heard of Dengzhou Garrison, and few could read. They just stared blankly at Chen Xin's great banner.

The meeting place was the Prefect's government office in Weihui. The surrounding streets had been swept clean by Xuan Mo's Personal Battalion. Song Wenxian, who had caught up with the main force, also followed behind Chen Xin and Lu Zhi. The few of them dismounted outside the screen wall and handed their horses to their personal guards to lead away. At the entrance, several sentries from the Personal Battalion stood guard. They looked quite spirited.

The adjutant sent by Xuan Mo led the few men into the Prefect's government office. They were told that Xuan Mo was currently meeting with the two Regional Commanders who had come from the Capital Training Corps. They were arranged to wait in a side hall of the second hall. Upon hearing he had to wait again, Lu Zhi was so displeased he refused even to drink tea. The adjutant awkwardly withdrew to the doorway to wait.

Chen Xin, on the other hand, cheerfully drank his tea and chatted with Geng Zhongming, Mobile Corps Commander Huang, and the others. Only after a full quarter-hour did the adjutant hurriedly enter and say, "My lord Chen, Eunuch Lu, His Excellency Xuan requests you both to come to the main hall to speak."

Chen Xin and the others had just stood up, preparing to go, when Lu Zhi slapped the table and said, in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "I suddenly have an urgent need to urinate. Please ask His Excellency Xuan to wait a moment."

With that, he walked to the doorway and said to the stunned adjutant, "Lead the way!"

Chen Xin chuckled. He sat down and watched the adjutant lead Lu Zhi to the latrine. He wondered how long Lu Zhi's "urgent need" would last; it might very well be another quarter-hour.

Song Wenxian leaned in close and said in a low voice with a smile, "My lord, this subordinate feels that in our Great Ming, the more people involved, the harder it is to get things done. Every time we fight alone, things go smoothly. The moment we're lumped together with other battalions, it becomes vexing."

Chen Xin glanced at Geng Zhongming and Mobile Corps Commander Huang seated below him and also replied in a low voice, "I hear the Sichuan Army can fight. I wonder if we'll be partnered with them."

"This subordinate has heard that Deng Qi is not of the Shizhu Tusi lineage. Not all of his subordinates are Shizhu soldiers either; quite a few do not submit to him. The genuine White Rod Soldiers are led by Ma Xianglin and Zhang Fengyi."

"Oh? Is that so?" Chen Xin did not quite understand. Although they had fought together at Linxian this time, he had not met Deng Qi. All communication was via mounted messengers. After the battle at the Huan River ended, Deng Qi had hurried south in great haste, so Chen Xin knew little. Song Wenxian had also heard this as gossip in the Ministry of War in Jingshi. However, it was true that Deng Qi was later killed by mutinous Sichuan soldiers.

Chen Xin recalled the bloody battle at the Hun River and said flatly, "That General Qin, I still admire. I hear her son Ma Xianglin has also come this time. I must properly befriend him."

Song Wenxian knew Chen Xin spoke nicely, but in reality, befriending these people always had a purpose. As a strong army from the southwestern region with great renown, befriending them was never wrong.

He asked softly, "Then should this subordinate prepare some gifts?"

"Of course." Chen Xin nodded. "But I just thought of something, even better than silver notes."

Song Wenxian was about to ask when someone else arrived at the door. Another adjutant led a military officer inside. The officer was tall and burly, but one of his eyes was covered with a cloth. Chen Xin hurriedly stood up. The adjutant introduced to Chen Xin, "General Chen, this is General Ma Xianglin, come from the Shizhu Pacification Commission."

The attendant then introduced Chen Xin. Ma Xianglin had been stationed at Shanhai Pass for over two years and was already quite familiar with Dengzhou Garrison; he greatly admired Dengzhou Garrison and hurriedly exchanged courtesies with Chen Xin.

Song Wenxian was just marveling at the coincidence and also curious to hear what fine things Chen Xin could possibly give as a gift, though he saw that Chen Xin carried nothing on him — surely he wouldn't give away his mountain-pattern armor.

He watched as Chen Xin helped Ma Xianglin up and studied him carefully for a moment. Even Song Wenxian could not tell from his expression whether he was acting. Ma Xianglin also felt somewhat puzzled — this was the first time they had met, so why did it feel as though this man had so much to say to him?

What Chen Xin was recalling at that moment was that unyielding Sichuan army that had fought to the death beside the Hun River, and this Ma Xianglin had been one of them, ultimately escaping alive. In the third year of Chongzhen he had again followed the army to reinforce Liaodong, and later took part in the campaigns to hunt down roving bandits, until he died at Xiangyang in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen. The Qin Liangyu family could truly be called a household of martyrs — even Ma Xianglin's wife was at that very moment leading troops in battle.

Chen Xin sighed softly. "So it is General Ma of the Hun River bloody battle. I am utterly unworthy of a general's bow. The Hun River bloody battle is the courage of all our Great Ming armies; it let those Jianzhou bandits know that we men of the Middle Kingdom are not to be trifled with. Whenever I think of it, this official is deeply moved."

Ma Xianglin had heard many such words over the years and merely exchanged a few polite remarks. Chen Xin then continued, "I have an unseemly request to make, and I beg General Ma's forgiveness in advance."

"Please speak, my lord."

"This official has long wished to produce a book, to be titled Records of Liaodong Heroes, so that the heroes of our Great Ming in Liaodong may leave their good names to posterity forever. Yet I am not well acquainted with the commanders and soldiers of the Sichuan army from the Hun River bloody battle, and for that reason have been unable to complete it. Meeting the general today, I find myself unable to contain my emotions — a long-cherished wish of many years surges up once more in my heart. Therefore, this official wishes to consult General Ma: besides Generals Qin Bangping and Zhou Dunji, what other valiant warriors were there, and what heroic deeds did they perform?"

Both Song Wenxian and Ma Xianglin's mouths hung slightly open. Song Wenxian would never have imagined that Chen Xin could pull out such a move. Ma Xianglin was even more astonished — that someone would be willing to write a book and establish a record for military men, even if that someone was also a military man himself. The comrades and kin who had fallen beside the Hun River appeared one by one before his eyes, and as he thought of how their deeds might be turned into books and passed down, an inexplicable excitement began to stir in his heart.

Song Wenxian saw that Ma Xianglin's eyes were reddening. He shook his head gently, and inside his sleeve, imitating Chen Xin's manner, he raised a thumb.

By the time Lu Zhi returned from relieving himself a quarter-hour later, he was stunned to see a one-eyed general chatting animatedly with Chen Xin, as excited as old friends who had not seen each other for many years. (To be continued…)

PS: Requesting monthly tickets.