Chapter 1053: Make the Roving Bandits Lose Money (Please Subscribe)

Zhu Cilang had some understanding of the essence of capitalism. This "ism," to be honest, is not quite accurately called capitalism — it would be more accurate to call it "loss-ism." Because most people who throw themselves into the torrent of capitalism to start businesses, dreaming of getting rich, will ultimately lose everything. The successful ones who truly prosper, hold on to the end, and pass down a considerable family fortune to their descendants are only a tiny minority!

And when it comes to losing money, there are of course many excuses one can find — society is corrupt (capitalism is of course corrupt), people's hearts are no longer what they were (now that Emperor Zhu is practicing capitalism in ancient times, those who lose everything are no fewer), and competitors are cheating (Zhu Cilang is cheating), and so on.

But one thing must be admitted: if you lose money, you were wrong!

Someone losing everything proves that this person should not have started a business — the very act of starting a business and going into trade was itself a mistake!

Since entrepreneurial success is only a small-probability event, and even enterprises that were once fairly successful still have a high probability of collapsing in the not-too-distant years that follow.

From the perspective of probability theory, most capitalists' investment and management decisions are also wrong.

Therefore Zhu Cilang, deeply aware of the true meaning of "loss-ism" and the brutality of commercial competition, did not wish the meritorious veterans who had followed him through hardship to throw themselves into the marketplace (opening farms was the same). Because the result of these career officials and career killers switching to trade would most likely be losing everything!

At the same time, Emperor Zhu was also reluctant to put money into feudal government-run industry and commerce. Because he knew that if those feudal bureaucrats stopped being officials and became capitalists, they would most likely lose their entire fortunes. So he did not expect them to make money when doing business for the court. Except for projects where he had no choice but to invest, Emperor Zhu simply refused to fund anything.

Of course, those who cannot do business are merely the feudal bureaucrats, not other officials. Feudal, you see — very backward — naturally they cannot handle capitalism.

Therefore the capitalist path Zhu Cilang was now walking was basically the early, savagely developing free "loss-ism" — that is, first using private money to lose one's way into a capitalism!

Because he worried that Wu Xiang and Wu Sanfu would invest recklessly and lose all the money they had painstakingly scraped together, throughout the journey back to Liaocheng, Zhu Cilang had been recommending investment in Tianjin Prefecture to Wu Sanmei — though it could not compare with Shanghai or Nanjing, it was certainly far more reliable than farms beyond the passes.

Just as Zhu Cilang and Wu Sanmei concluded this fruitless incognito inspection tour and returned to the heavily guarded Liaocheng castle, Wu Sanfu, military advisor of the Marshal's Office, and Zhu Chunjie, Guard Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, were already waiting anxiously in the Liaocheng traveling palace with two pieces of bad news they had just received.

"Your Majesty, the roving bandits have made another major move!"

"Your Majesty, the Embroidered Uniform Guard has obtained intelligence that Li Guo has moved his residence to Kunming, and has appointed the false Prince of Jin, Li Dingguo, as Grand General of the Southern Expedition, and is recruiting garrison militia across Sichuan and Yunnan in preparation for a second campaign against Siam."

"But scouts from the Hexi Military Governorship report that in the bandit-controlled Hanzhong Prefecture and parts of Gongchang Prefecture, all the garrison militia stations are conducting a massive muster! And the bandits are also transporting large quantities of grain and fodder to the Wudu Mountain granary in Hanzhong and the Qiuchi Mountain granary in Gongchang. It seems they intend to attack Guanlong!"

Li Guo's repeated strategy of making noise in the south while striking north had once again fooled the Embroidered Uniform Guard's agents — because of the Shun regime's policies of suppressing commerce and placing large industry and commerce under official monopoly, the Embroidered Uniform Guard found it extremely difficult to infiltrate Shun territory, and the Shun side could easily toy with them.

But because Wu Sangui had long operated in Shaanxi, he had planted large numbers of agents and secret spies in the two prefectures of Hanzhong and Gongchang, and these agents and spies had all been recruited from northern Shaanxi. Many of them had infiltrated the garrison militia stations of Hanzhong and Gongchang and become garrison soldiers. Therefore the reports they sent out about the massive muster of garrison militia in the two prefectures and the transport of grain to Wudu Mountain and Qiuchi Mountain were extremely accurate.

"Last time it was noise in the north and a strike south. This time it should be noise in the south and a strike north, right?" Zhu Cilang paced in the study of the traveling palace. "They certainly know how to pick their moment!"

"Your Majesty," Wu Sanfu said, "the court now has thirty divisions. Ten divisions have been prepared for the Liaodong campaign, one division is deployed in Japan, one in Siam, eight divisions are deployed for coastal and river defense, and five divisions are stationed in Guangdong, Guangxi, and Huguang to block the roving bandits. The remaining five divisions can all be used for Gansu and Shaanxi. If that is not enough, we can also draw two or three divisions from coastal defense, and we can mobilize the Hexi vassal army.

In addition, the Khoshut Khanate in Tibet has already expressed willingness to submit. The Sichuan Border Army stationed in Qinghai can also be used for Gansu and Shaanxi."

The fighting between Shang Kexi and Kong Tingxun and the Khoshut Khanate in Qinghai had dragged on for a very long time. At first the situation was not particularly favorable, but by the middle of the ninth year of Hongxing, the seventy-four-year-old Güshi Khan died of illness in Lhasa, and Güshi Khan's eldest son Dayan Ochir, who had been directing the war in Qinghai, had to return to Lhasa to take the throne. Dayan Ochir did not go to Lhasa alone — he took a large army with him. Therefore Shang Kexi and Kong Tingxun quickly gained the upper hand on the Qinghai battlefield, driving the Khoshut Khanate's forces back in steady retreat, and now they had all withdrawn to Tibet.

And Shang and Kong's forces did not have the ability to climb onto the snowy plateau to fight the Mongols, so the struggle between the Great Ming and the Khoshut Khanate shifted to the negotiating table.

Dayan Ochir Khan agreed to declare himself a subject, but demanded vassal-state status. However, Zhu Cilang refused to sign a "Suzerain-Vassal Treaty" with the Khoshut Khanate. Instead, he wanted to re-establish the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs in Tibet and have Dayan Ochir serve as its commissioner. The powers and status of the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs would be equivalent to an internal vassal of the Great Ming — that is, an office similar to a Military Governorship or a Protectorate.

Because the two sides' demands were far apart, no result could be reached for the time being.

And with the negotiations yielding no result, Shang and Kong's Sichuan Border Army could only remain in Qinghai.

"The Sichuan Border Army stays put!" Zhu Cilang said. "Have Sangui lead the Hexi Army to reinforce Gongchang and Fengxiang, and transfer three divisions of the New Army to him."

"Is that not too few?" Wu Sanfu said. "The Hexi Army is not large in number — being able to dispatch ten thousand men would already be good. Two divisions would be just over thirty thousand. Even adding the Governor-General of Shaanxi's headquarters battalion and the troops of the province, prefectures, and departments, that is only a little over fifty thousand."

Now each province directly under the Great Ming had a Provincial Regional Commander, under whom was a headquarters battalion of a few thousand men, mainly responsible for local bandit suppression and garrisoning important cities and passes. In principle, headquarters battalions could not leave their province to fight.

And the Governors of each province, the Prefects of each prefecture, and the Magistrates of each directly administered department no longer had their own headquarters troops. The military power in their hands amounted to a single battalion of guards. This force could only protect themselves and the safety of the cities they garrisoned, and in principle could not leave the provincial capital, prefectural seat, or departmental seat.

"Fifty thousand is still not enough?" Zhu Cilang laughed. "We do not expect Sangui to attack into the bandits' territory. It is enough if he can hold the bandits at the Zhongnan Mountains and Mount Qi. Just as Sima Yi once held off Zhuge Liang! Seize the bandits by the throat, and grind them down in a war of provisions — grind them until their grain runs out and they go home."

"Is that enough?" Wu Sanfu asked. "Your Majesty, the roving bandits rely on mountain defenses to resist the imperial army. Now that they are delivering themselves to our doorstep to be dealt with, should we not seize the opportunity to inflict a crushing blow?"

"Not necessary!" Zhu Cilang waved his hand. "Holding them off is enough. They are no longer roving bandits — they are settled bandits who have produced a brood of children! So this northward advance of theirs is destined to amount to nothing much. As for a crushing blow, there is no need either. Would Li Guo care about losing tens of thousands of garrison militia? If tens of thousands die, his burden might even be lighter!"

"Your Majesty, what you mean is—"

Zhu Cilang said: "We do not want to kill many roving bandits. We want the roving bandits to lose money! The roving bandits can afford to die, but they cannot afford to lose money! Our dispatching fifty thousand troops costs a great deal, and the bandits' dispatching a large army is likewise a great expense. This expense falls not on the bandits' false court, but on the bandits' garrison militia themselves.

The roving bandits of today have long since put down roots in Sichuan and Yunnan. They are all pampered soldiers with homes and livelihoods now. Kill the old ones and there are still the young ones — trying to kill them all is impossible. Better to bottle them up, keep them from leaving the mountains, keep them from getting any plunder, and let them multiply in the confines of Sichuan and Yunnan. Bottle them up for twenty years, and they will impoverish themselves."

(End of Chapter)