Chapter 103: A Sudden Card Draw!

Zhu Youjian gently set down the two memorials in his hands, his brow deeply furrowed.

These were the Later Jin intelligence plans he had ordered Wang Tiqian and Tian Ergeng to submit several days ago.

They were terrible.

No — calling them terrible was being far too generous.

The disappointment in Zhu Youjian's eyes was nearly overflowing.

Page after page of "dead agents," "live agents," "double agents," "local agents" — every term from Sun Tzu's Art of War piled up and paraded out, like a grand paper military review.

Even though Tian Ergeng's grandfather had been Minister of War, his plan was no better.

Both proposals talked in vague generalities about sowing discord among the Later Jin, probing the enemy's strengths and weaknesses, and some sections even proposed burning their grain supplies.

But how exactly would any of it be carried out? Who would be sent? How would they infiltrate? How would they transmit intelligence?

Nothing at all.

They had not even mentioned the famine inside the Later Jin realm or the relations among the Four Beile — things he himself knew from later history.

Zhu Youjian rubbed his brow.

He had always held ancient military strategy in deep reverence and never dared to claim he was cleverer than the ancients.

But this time, he simply could not stomach the absurdity and crudeness of these two proposals.

He sighed inwardly.

With a plan as worthless as dog shit, how was he supposed to contend with that Later Jin spymaster, Li Yongfang?

Anyone he sent would probably cross Shanhai Pass and be bundled up and sent right back before their feet even touched the ground.

Still, he could not really blame Wang Tiqian and Tian Ergeng for this.

Zhu Youjian understood perfectly well that this was not a matter of their ability, but a structural sickness that had festered in the Great Ming for over two centuries.

The Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard — the sharpest blades and keenest eyes and ears of the Ming — had always been turned inward, never outward.

Their power, their wealth, their very lives and the lives of their families were all bound to the capital, to the world inside the Forbidden City.

To send them beyond the passes into that frozen wasteland to run intelligence operations was nothing short of a three-rank demotion in their eyes.

Who would go? Who would even want to go?

Making them draft these proposals had indeed been forcing them to do the impossible.

Zhu Youjian racked his brains, momentarily at a loss for where to begin.

He could recall a few civil officials who had died for their country, he knew of a whole roster of capable military commanders, and he even remembered Song Yingxing, the author of the Tiangong Kaiwu.

But on the matter of intelligence work, his "commander card pool" was a complete blank.

Was he really going to have to start this crucial piece from scratch, groping forward as a complete layman?

Mao Wenlong should have been an expert — but right now, Mao Wenlong was a bit of an unknown quantity!

Zhu Youjian sank deep into thought.

He rose and paced back and forth before the imperial desk, the sunlight stretching his shadow long one moment and short the next.

Since there was no one to use, he would simply have to sort out a framework himself.

The objectives of intelligence warfare came down to two things.

First: know yourself and know your enemy — understand the enemy's situation.

The Later Jin at this point should still be in the period of joint rule by the Four Great Beile.

Hong Taiji was powerful, but he was still far from the point where his word alone was law, as it would be in later times.

So what were the attitudes of the other three Beile — Daishan, Amin, and Manggultai — toward Hong Taiji? And what was the actual distribution of power and influence among the Four Great Beile?

What was the state of the Later Jin's domestic economy and production? How long could their grain reserves sustain a war?

What were the main commodities in the external smuggling trade they depended on for survival? Which trade routes were they using? And on the Ming side, who were the people secretly colluding with them, working from the inside?

If he could clarify all this intelligence piece by piece, its value would probably be worth five divisions.

Once he knew these things, the possibilities were endless.

For instance, could he use diplomatic correspondence, tilted smuggling privileges, and other such means to deliberately elevate the status of the other Beile, making them a check on Hong Taiji?

Or, for example, in official documents, could he refer to Hong Taiji only as "the Fourth Beile" rather than "ruler," thereby driving a wedge into their sovereign-vassal relationship?

One had to realize that the Later Jin at this stage absolutely did not believe they could sweep the realm; Ming recognition might still carry a little weight with them.

Second: pull the firewood from under the cauldron — weaken the enemy's strength.

For example, by guiding the Han population of Liaodong to flee back to the Ming, shaking the foundations of their rule.

Or, for another example, by subverting and enticing some of their commanders to defect…

Defect?

Zhu Youjian's footsteps halted abruptly. A thought like a lightning bolt instantly tore through the fog in his mind!

(Ding! Great Ming Supreme Emperor Zhu Youjian, it is time to draw a card!)

That was it! There was a card — a commander card that, in a sense, was SSR-tier — that he had never drawn.

It was not because of bad luck or an oversight, but because this card was simply not in the Ming card pool at all right now!

Liu Xingzuo!

Nurhaci's son-in-law, the key figure who would later betray the Jin and defect to the Ming!

Zhu Youjian spun around, the excitement in his heart nearly making him throw his arms up and shout.

Every thread of thought suddenly became clear in that instant!

He had been stuck in a mental rut all along, always thinking he had to find intelligence operatives trained by the Ming itself to counter the Later Jin.

But that Later Jin spymaster Li Yongfang — had he been trained from scratch?

He had not!

He was nothing more than a Ming turncoat commander!

The reason he had been able to run his intelligence operations against the Ming so brilliantly was nothing other than his intimate familiarity with the Ming bureaucracy, its army, and its networks of influence!

Then turn it around — use his own methods against him!

Liu Xingzuo was once Nurhaci's son-in-law, positioned within the Later Jin's inner circle of power. Could his knowledge of the Later Jin possibly be any less than Li Yongfang's knowledge of the Great Ming?!

This was nothing short of a heaven-sent key to breaking the deadlock!

The gloom that had weighed on him for so long was swept away in an instant. Zhu Youjian felt utterly invigorated. He turned his head and asked Gao Shiming, who had been standing in attendance the whole time:

"Companion Gao, in the past Liaodong memorials and military dispatches, is there any mention of a man called 'Liu Xingzuo'?"

Gao Shiming thought hard for a moment, then had no choice but to shake his head and reply: "In reply to Your Majesty, forgive this subject's ignorance, but I truly... have never heard of this man."

Zhu Youjian's brow furrowed slightly at these words.

That shouldn't be. How could a figure this important leave no trace at all?

He thought for a moment, then prompted: "When Yuan Keli served as Governor of Denglai, the recovery of Jin Prefecture and Lushun was reportedly thanks to intelligence passed by this man."

"Ah!"

Gao Shiming looked as though he had just woken from a dream. With sudden realization, he exclaimed: "Could Your Majesty be speaking of Liu Aita?"

Seeing Zhu Youjian nod, Gao Shiming hurriedly continued: "Your Majesty, such a man does indeed exist!"

"This subject now recalls — both Yuan Keli and Mao Wenlong mentioned him in their memorials back then. If Your Majesty will grant a moment, this subject shall go fetch them at once."

With that, he strode briskly over to the left side of the great hall.

There, at some point, over a dozen enormous bookshelves had been erected in neat rows, their shelves filled, sorted by category, with memorials and duplicate copies of every kind.

This was precisely the fruit of Zhu Youjian's order, issued after his enthronement, for the Directorate of Ceremonial to organize the archives of official documents.

— The screen, you ask? That was already a relic of the previous version.

Gao Shiming searched briefly among the shelves marked "Liaodong Military Dispatches," and soon returned bearing two memorials in his hands.

"Your Majesty, please look. Liu Aita is mentioned in these two memorials."

Zhu Youjian took the memorials and opened them, unable to contain his eagerness.

The first was precisely the military dispatch from Mao Wenlong, Regional Commander for the Pacification of Liao, reporting the "Great Victories at Manpo and Changsong," dated the third year of Tianqi.

Zhu Youjian remembered that when he had stayed up late reading this dispatch before, his entire attention had been seized by that one line: "This officer employed not a thousand men, yet the enemy dead numbered over twenty thousand, and their horses dead over thirty thousand" — an absurdly exaggerated battle result.

He had been utterly stupefied, his scalp tingling, and had not noticed in the slightest the name "Liu Aita" mentioned in passing.

The second was an explanation from Yuan Keli, then serving as Governor of Denglai, regarding the initial recovery and subsequent loss of Jin Prefecture and Gaizhou, as well as the "Victories at Manpo and Changsong."

In it, the words "the barbarian son-in-law Liu Aita made a pact to serve as our agent within" were also clearly recorded.

It was him!

Zhu Youjian raised his head, his eyes burning as he looked at Gao Shiming: "And this Liu Aita — has he since returned to the Ming?"

Gao Shiming thought again for a moment, then shook his head: "In reply to Your Majesty, the memorials only say he made a pact to serve as an agent within; after that, there is no further mention. This subject... has no recollection. Perhaps Your Majesty could ask Supreme Commander Sun. In the third year of Tianqi, he was precisely the Governor-General of Ji-Liao."

"Master Sun?" Zhu Youjian was taken aback. "Is he still in the capital?"

Gao Shiming nodded and replied respectfully: "He is. The Supreme Commander felt that the Mongol matter was more pressing. Since yesterday, he has been racing about the capital, pressing the various ministries to issue the funds, grain, and transfer orders. He has not yet left the capital."

Zhu Youjian stared blankly for a second at these words, then couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh.

Master Sun — I never imagined that after just speaking with you yesterday, I would need to find you again today!

With a wave of his hand, he declared in a ringing voice: "Prepare the shoulder sedan. Go at once and invite Master Sun to enter the palace for an audience!"