Chapter 384: Doing Good Deeds (Begging for monthly tickets.)

Huang Taiji strolled unhurriedly to the center of the hall, turned slightly with his hands behind his back. He had let hardcore supporters like Yoto and Jirgalang take the floor first; observing that no one jumped out in fierce opposition, the momentum had been built. Only now did he step forward to make the decision.

He looked over every minister present one by one and spoke calmly: "Now that the Chahar Khan has fled, where our Great Jin must strike — Liaoxi, Liaonan, Dongjiang, or perhaps break through to raid some part of the Ming realm — yet whether we attack Liaoxi, Dongjiang, or break through, the Dengzhen troops from Liaonan will surely come in force. As Yoto said, holding Fuzhou last time does not guarantee holding it every time. If we cannot hold Fuzhou, and Gaizhou is again garrisoned with heavy troops, once Fuzhou is lost, the land between Gaizhou and Fuzhou will be lost in a single morning. The Jinzhou cavalry already numbers over two thousand, and their infantry is especially battle-worthy. How many troops must I leave at home to deal with them? If Gaizhou cannot be held, then what of our lands in central Liao?"

"Since we raised troops to strike the Ming, Heaven has given Liaodong to us, and the Ming state regards us as mortal foes. We must therefore understand that this is a struggle that cannot be paused. Our state and the Ming state are locked in a life-and-death contest — on this point there should be no doubt. We, a small state, war against a great state, just as one fells a tree with an axe: first strip away its branches and twigs, and the tree will topple of its own accord. Thus every year we must open battle on at least one front; we cannot allow the Ming state to catch its breath. Yet the Dengzhen Nikan at Jinzhou and Lushun have repeatedly damaged our military prestige. Our Great Jin was founded by force of arms; if prestige is not established, all undertakings become difficult. This year when Ingguldai went to Joseon to requisition grain, a Joseon minister actually received him, while at Cheolsan, Seoncheon, and elsewhere, Dongjiang troops swaggered through the streets, and Joseon's local officials indulged and abetted them. The island raiders of Dongjiang, riding on Chen Xin's momentum, have grown wildly arrogant, stirring up chaos, daring to venture a hundred li inland even in broad daylight. This is the consequence of the defeat at Shenmi Island. If Joseon treats our Great Jin this way today, I ask you: if we allow the Dengzhou garrison to run rampant in Liaonan, how will the various outer-subject Mongols regard our Great Jin in the future?"

The hall was utterly silent. Huang Taiji's voice rang with sonorous force, carrying a natural authority. Compared to Manggūltai's roaring shouts, it held an added composure.

"Ever since that Chen Xin seized and occupied Lushun and Jinzhou, not a single day of peace has passed in Fuzhou. His light cavalry and roving troops range freely between Fuzhou and Jinzhou — ambushes, landmine cannons, poisoning, ghost arrows, ground crossbows, cattle-killing — every extreme method is employed. When our armored riders pursue his scouts, they fall into ambush time and again. When our main army gives chase, he vanishes into the distance. This year alone, the three banners garrisoning Fuzhou have lost over two hundred of our warriors, and over seven hundred Han troops and Aha. More than three hundred ox- and horse-drawn grain carts have been burned or destroyed. North of Fuzhou, everywhere is jittery and on edge. Only when the main army is nearby do people dare leave the forts to farm. Balipu and Motapu have been raided one after another — to the point that a single ox is left to do all the plowing."

Huang Taiji turned slowly, his eyes blazing with intensity, sweeping his gaze one by one over the Later Jin nobles before him. "And this is while our main army is still at home. He is already this brazen."

"If this can be endured, what cannot!" Huang Taiji's voice suddenly rose to a roar, the bellow reverberating through the hall. Every minister was slightly startled, watching this Later Jin Khan warily.

Huang Taiji's voice continued. "Some say provisions are insufficient — one dan of grain costs three taels and five qian. Is that expensive? Compare it to the time when a dou of rice cost eight taels — what then? Today there is still grain to buy and sell; in past years the grain shortage was far worse. Does that mean we stop fighting wars? Everyone wants to go to Liaoxi, wants to enter the passes. That is only because Liaoxi has people, grain, and pay to plunder. I ask you: was the Battle of Sarhū fought for plunder? Was the Battle of the Hun River fought for plunder? If we do not eliminate Chen Xin in Liaonan, how can we march far afield? In cunning and loathsomeness, he is no less than Mao Wenlong; in battle strength, he far surpasses Mao Wenlong. If Mao Wenlong was a fox, then the troops at Jinzhou today can be called jackals and tigers. In the third year of Tiancong, Chen Xin had barely two thousand troops, yet he dared blunt our blade at Guan. A year later, four thousand. Now, two years after that, his troops number nearly twenty thousand. He is no mere skin rash like Dongjiang — he is the critical juncture of life and death for our Great Jin. I shall say this today: if anyone, with the vision of a rat, obstructs this in any way, he is the enemy of our Great Jin. I have already dispatched the Two Yellow Banners to transport grain between Fuzhou and Gaizhou. This campaign must be carried out. If none of you will go, I shall personally lead the Two Yellow Banners and fight to the death beneath the walls of Lushun."

Haoge knelt and shouted, "I am willing to follow the Great Khan, to break through Lushun and capture Chen Xin alive!"

Jirgalang, Sahaliyan, Yoto, and others also knelt. The youngest, Dodo, was the most excited, his voice the loudest. The other Gūsa Ejen also knelt one after another, declaring their willingness to follow the Great Khan. For a moment the hall was filled with roaring shouts, the crowd stirred to fervor.

Dorgon had been slightly distracted and only now snapped awake. Seeing everyone else kneeling, he turned his head to glance at the two sullen-faced senior Beile at the head of the room, sighed inwardly, and knelt as well. He was a moment later than the others. Ajige beside him tilted his head to look at him, his eyes holding no brotherly affection — rather a hint of schadenfreude.

Dorgon ignored him. His mind was still troubled by the nearly certain expedition. Dorgon truly did not wish to go. He had personally experienced the ferocity of that army and held little optimism for this campaign. Moreover, part of his Bordered White Banner troops were still in Fuzhou. Last year he had lost over a thousand men. After Huang Taiji returned from the Chahar expedition, he set a new rule: apart from the population distributed to various officials, newly acquired population from the state would first be used to bring banners with fewer than thirty Niru up to strength (Note 1). Dorgon was initially pleased, but later saw it was all arranged for Huang Taiji himself. The current Two Yellow Banners were converted from the former Two White Banners, totaling just over thirty Niru. This clause benefited the Two Yellow Banners the most. Huang Taiji first replenished his own ranks with the strongest able-bodied men; only then did the others get their turn. The numbers looked the same, but the quality was vastly different. The Bordered White Banner received very ordinary able-bodied men; even the new Manchus from the north were the leftovers after the Two Yellow Banners had picked. So he felt he had come out at a great loss. But now Huang Taiji had built unstoppable momentum; even if he was utterly unwilling in his heart, he could only be swept along by it.

Huang Taiji simply ignored all practical difficulties. With a rousing speech he seized the moral high ground, elevating the matter to a question of life or death for Later Jin. In effect, he got things done while making each banner solve its own problems. And yet he managed to make it all seem so full of righteous conviction.

As the shouting gradually subsided, Manggūltai asked darkly, "What Eighth Brother says makes sense in principle. But fighting is one thing — even if we take it, what then? That Dengzhou garrison is far to the south across the Liao Sea. We have no warships to coordinate. Even if we tear Lushun out by the roots, he can simply escape by ship. To capture him alive — how easy is that? We lose troops and officers, while for Chen Xin it is merely the loss of a detached force. The foundation of Denglai remains intact; within a year it will be replenished. Then the naval forces of Dengzhou, Wendeng, Dongjiang, and Tianjin will gather. Has Eighth Brother considered how many troops we would need to garrison Lushun? Too few, and they cannot withstand a single strike; too many, and supplying them becomes dire. If we let him reoccupy it, are we to fight this same battle all over again?"

Dorgon, still kneeling, cheered Manggūltai inwardly. That question hit the mark. Because Lushun bordered the sea, the area south of Jinzhou was just a long narrow strip. Later Jin had no navy. The Ming army could strike wherever it pleased — they would not even know they were coming until the landing. As long as Dengzhou held a large army, Lushun could not be held either. Later Jin did not have the strength to keep contesting it with Chen Xin — mobilizing the entire army and storming fortifications like this. If this happened two or three times, Later Jin would have no need to fight anymore.

The others remained kneeling. Many turned their heads slightly, watching Huang Taiji's reaction from the corner of their eyes. The hall fell utterly silent.

Huang Taiji smiled faintly and turned to look at his Fifth Brother. Everyone else was kneeling; only Daišan and Manggūltai still sat in their chairs. Huang Taiji had no need to put on a show for others. He met Manggūltai's fierce glare coldly. Daišan still wore that listless, calculating look, as if none of this concerned him.

Huang Taiji and Manggūltai stared at each other for a moment. Then Huang Taiji spoke coldly: "The Third Beile is as blunt as ever, knowing only how to raise a blade and hack at men. Had the Third Beile listened carefully to what Yoto said earlier, how could he not be astonished by the number of Chen Xin's troops? He is but a Regional Commander — where does he get the money and grain to support an army of tens of thousands? And how dare he train troops in secret? When Chen Xin was in Dengzhou, he dealt with Zhou Yanru's trusted man and formed a mortal enmity. Fortunately, Zhou Yanru is still at court. I have no need to capture Chen Xin alive. I need only take Jinzhou and Lushun, and his standing at court will collapse. Chen Xin harbors the ambitions of a Cao Cao or Wang Mang. As long as we gather enough evidence, then use gold and silver to find some Ming censors to impeach him for maintaining a private army and harboring seditious intent." Huang Taiji paused, then smiled faintly. "When the time comes, Ming court officials will naturally help us do good deeds. Let us see how much energy he has left to deal with our Great Jin."...

Three days later, inside a fortified village of the Plain Blue Banner, Zhang Zhong sat in the main room. Before him lay a pouch, and between his fingers he held a stick of Wendeng incense — something he had looted back in Shanxi. He had seized over a dozen packs in total, but most had been turned over to the Niru Ejen. Zhang Zhong ordinarily could not bear to smoke it. Today he had just returned from labor service, and this was his reward to himself.

Zhang Zhong now owned three Aha, placing him among the middle-propertied class of banner households. Even among the armored soldiers in the banners, many still had no Aha. However, after the campaigns of the early Tiancong years, conditions were better than before. In those households without Aha, the armored man, his wife, and children all had to till the fields themselves and bear various labor duties and taxes.

He had just returned from one such labor duty. The Later Jin Niru system required not only sending troops to war, farming, and raising horses, but also providing labor services for the entire Jin state — such as hunting, ironworking, repairing city walls, boiling salt, providing relay horses for Joseon envoys, transporting Joseon trade goods, and so on, over thirty items in total. For households without bondservants, the burden was crushing. Huang Taiji showed particular concern for these impoverished people. While garrisoning Yongping, he had specifically ordered that armored soldiers who were the sole laborers at home must not be detained; if they missed the planting season and fell into poverty and hunger, the Niru Ejen would be punished.

Zhang Zhong had the Niru Ejen's favor, so he could pick the better labor assignments. This time he had gone to Yaozhou to boil salt. According to the unwritten rules there, he brought back a large sack of salt — enough to last at least a year without worry.

"Mute girl, leave those chores for Huang Shan to do when he gets back. Sit down, let's talk." Zhang Zhong spoke to the woman busying herself in the courtyard.

The mute woman, her belly swelling with child, was tending to Zhang Zhong's precious horse. Later Jin's military discipline was strict; if arms or horses were in poor condition, the Niru Ejen would be directly demoted. On the eve of a long campaign, horses would also be requisitioned for centralized grazing — this directly determined whether a soldier could accompany the army on campaign.

Hearing him, she turned and smiled at Zhang Zhong, dropped the basket in her hands, and went to the main room to pull up a stool and sit down. Zhang Zhong gazed at her with a beaming smile, his eyes full of delight. The mute girl tilted her head to look at him, then stood up again to find a razor. Carefully she shaved Zhang Zhong's head; the short stubble fell along his forehead.

"I'm about to go to Liaonan to fight those Nikan. If I can capture new bondservants, I'll have those two bondservants farm the land, and your father won't have to work the fields anymore."

The mute girl's hand trembled. She quickly stopped shaving and came around in front of Zhang Zhong, babbling urgently, her hands gesturing nonstop.

Zhang Zhong chuckled. "It's nothing. Those Nikan in Jinzhou are easy to handle. I can take on ten of them by myself."

The mute girl broke into a happy smile. She pointed at her own belly, then at a Guanyin statue enshrined in the main room. Zhang Zhong nodded. "I know — you want me to do more good deeds, so Guanyin will send us a son."

Zhang Zhong patted his head, and the mute girl moved back around to continue shaving him. Zhang Zhong said softly, "Still, in war, no one can guarantee safety. If I don't come back, the silver is buried under the horse trough. Use it sparingly — it'll get you by for a while."

The mute girl stopped her hand again and began to sob quietly. He pulled her around in front of him and pressed his ear to her swollen belly. Softly he said, "Son, when you're born, just don't be mute, that's all... Mute is fine too. Your father doesn't want to go to war — boiling salt would suit me just fine. But your father has no choice. I've got to earn you some food. Remember this: your father is from Liutiao Village in Liaoyang. Our family graves are there. If your father dies, every Qingming you must remember to visit your father's grave."

The mute girl wept, waving her hands repeatedly at Zhang Zhong. Zhang Zhong suddenly lifted his head and said to her, "You make sure you eat your fill. Don't scrimp for my sake. I've fought how many battles now, and I don't have a single scar on me — I won't die. Don't begrudge the silver. If it runs out, just dig under the horse trough."

Just then the gate banged. A shifty-eyed, rat-faced bald head poked in — his household bondservant had returned. Behind him came Zhang Zhong's bondservant father-in-law, both carrying firewood on their backs. Zhang Zhong hurried over to take the load from his father-in-law, then turned and began punching and kicking the other bondservant, cursing nonstop: "Huang Shan, you dog of a slave, shirking and cheating at every turn, making an old man carry so much — I'll cut you down with one stroke!"

"Aiyo, master, spare me! It was Old Tan who insisted on carrying it — your slave tried to talk him out of it!" The Aha called Huang Shan begged frantically for mercy.

Zhang Zhong was relentless, landing several more kicks. His nutrition was far better now than before, so his blows carried some force. Huang Shan howled in misery.

The mute girl hurried over and pulled Zhang Zhong back, babbling and pointing repeatedly at the Guanyin statue. The fury on Zhang Zhong's face melted away. He nodded repeatedly. "I know, I know — do good deeds."

Seizing the opening, Huang Shan scrambled up and kowtowed to Zhang Zhong without stopping. His father-in-law also came over to placate him. "Master, Huang Shan did try to dissuade me. I heard from the villagers that you'll be leaving soon, so I thought I'd store up a bit more."

Zhang Zhong grunted a few times. This father-in-law always called him "master," so he never knew what to call the old man in return. Thus he generally used no form of address at all and just spoke directly.

Huang Shan now raised his head, tilted it to look at Zhang Zhong, and an amused expression crept onto his face. The father-in-law looked too: Zhang Zhong's head was only half-shaved — a yin-yang head.

Huang Shan fawned, "Master, let your slave shave your head for you."

"Get lost and feed the horse! I've got my wife to shave my head."

Zhang Zhong turned and went back into the main room. Huang Shan put away the firewood and felt his way over to the horse pen. Just as he was about to feed hay, he suddenly spotted a bag of black beans on the ground — also horse feed, but normally the mute girl handled it. She had forgotten to take it with her just now.

Huang Shan turned to glance at the courtyard. Old Tan was lighting the fire; Zhang Zhong and his wife were nowhere in sight. He grabbed a handful of black beans, tossed a few in front of the horse trough, then stuffed the rest into his own mouth.

Note 1: From Veritable Records of Qing Taizong, Volume 20: "For banner divisions with fewer than thirty Niru... gather their able-bodied men under separate command and settle them in a separate fort; later, when captives are taken, replenish them to full strength." (To be continued...)

PS: Begging for monthly tickets.