Chapter 1082: So You're Sima Yi After All! (Seeking Subscriptions)

On the first day of the fourth month of the twelfth year of Hongxing of the Great Ming, at the Tianjin traveling palace.

The Zhu Emperor, who only last night had savored a rare tall Japanese beauty, was now in high spirits, looking over a map together with Wei Zaode, who had been brought back to serve once more as Chief Grand Secretary; Shi Kefa, who had done little more than play a supporting role in the Liaodong campaign; Zhu Cijiong, who had been driven to distraction by the Mongols hiding and fleeing across the northern steppe; and Wu Sanfu, the Great Ming's "number one messenger."

The map had been brought from the northwestern front by Wu Sangui's elder brother Wu Sanfeng — Wu Sanfeng had been summoned to Tianjin by Zhu Cilang, and along with him had come a pack of villains surnamed Zu. The Zhu Emperor was preparing to have Wu Sanfeng and that pack of scoundrels surnamed Zu supervise the division of city jurisdictions between the two feudatories of Jianzhou and Heilongjiang, and also take charge of escorting the families of each city's lord to Nanjing.

This was work they were all thoroughly familiar with; if they did it properly, they were certain to do it well!

And if they did not do it properly, there would be no beheading — Zhu Cilang was a benevolent sovereign, after all!

However, the Zhu Emperor was just then preparing to establish a colonial foothold in Alaska, and was exactly short of exiled convicts. The Wus and the Zus were not afraid of the cold anyway, so going over there to settle would be quite suitable.

As for the northeastern tribes that dared resist the relocation and the redrawing of districts, there was nothing more to say — the army that had pacified Liaodong had not yet had its fill of killing!

"Your Majesty, look here: in the Qishan area, twenty infantry regiments have already been deployed, of which eight are elite infantry regiments belonging to the Eighth and Ninth Divisions of the Army. In addition, there are three cavalry regiments drawn from Hexi, Anxi, and Shuofang. With that many crack troops blocking the way, that Li Dingguo who styles himself a match for Zhuge Liang will likely never get out of Qishan. Once the reinforcements Changbo has assembled arrive, the roving bandits will have no choice but to retreat in utter defeat!"

The one explaining the front-line situation to the Zhu Emperor was none other than Wu Sanfeng. He had rushed all the way from Shaanxi, and though the journey had worn him out, his spirits were entirely undimmed.

Zhu Cilang smiled faintly, but in his mind there still floated a name that made Wu Sangui terrified — Sima Yi!

Li Dingguo was already a match for Zhuge Liang, and Wu Sangui, digging in deep behind high ramparts at Qishan and not daring to give battle — could he still call himself the Great Ming's Cao Zhen? He was plainly a match for Zhongda!

And the reason Wu Sangui had adopted this turtle-shell tactic of deep trenches and high ramparts was not that he had heeded the Zhu Emperor's words and decided to fight a protracted war against Li Dingguo. Rather, after fighting several hard battles against Li Dingguo by the Jian'an River south of Qishan, he had felt he was no match for his opponent, and only then had fallen back to the Qishan area to build forts and hold fast.

"Tell me about the Battle of the Jian'an River," Zhu Cilang said, truly bringing up the one subject that should not be brought up, and asking directly about the Battle of the Jian'an River, which had been fought fiercely in Xihe County back in the second month.

At the Zhu Emperor's question, Wu Sanfeng let out a sigh. Only after sighing did he say dejectedly: "Xihe County, through which the Jian'an River flows, lies exactly between Qishan and Qiuchi Mountain. The terrain is not high, and within its borders flow the Yan River and the Jian'an River, so it is fairly well watered. Placed in the east, this patch of land would be nothing but barren mountains and foul waters that no one would give a second glance. But the bitter barrenness of Gansu and Shaanxi is beyond the imagination of people from elsewhere. And so on the slopes along both sides of the Yan and Jian'an Rivers, many terraced fields had been opened up.

And that heaven-cursed Li Dingguo actually took a fancy to these terraced fields. Last winter he sent troops into Xihe and seized all the terraced fields along both banks of the Yan and Jian'an Rivers. At the time, Changbo had just arrived at Qishan and had decided to establish a defensive posture first, which was why he did not send troops to contest Xihe with Li Dingguo.

But who could have expected that Li Dingguo would actually open military farms right before the front lines? After the start of spring this year, he sowed millet on the terraced fields along both banks of the Yan and Jian'an Rivers. Changbo thought there was an opportunity to be seized, and so dispatched crack troops to the Jian'an River to attack the bandits' farming soldiers. He never expected the bandits to have scouted it out in advance and hidden crack troops among the hills on both sides of the Jian'an River. And since our army is not skilled at mountain warfare, and was suddenly ambushed and caught completely off guard, it was cut into several pieces on a mountain road beside the Jian'an River by bandits who burst out without warning. Changbo himself was surrounded by the bandits, and it was only thanks to the great general Wu Guogui, who seemed to fight through the encirclement at the risk of his life, that he broke out. Still, in that battle our army lost several thousand men and suffered a blow to its strength."

"Your Majesty," Wu Sanfu, the number one messenger, hastily added as soon as his elder brother Wu Sanfeng had finished, "the organization, equipment, and training of the court's great army are not well suited to mountain engagements. The roving bandits, on the other hand, because they have long occupied Sichuan and Yunnan, have specially trained mountain troops. Their soldiers are mostly infantry, with few long spears and many swords and shields, and they are skilled at crossing mountains and ridges. They often operate in companies of a hundred men, flexible and mobile, and are very difficult to deal with.

Furthermore, the terrain from Qiuchi Mountain to Qishan is generally high in the south and low in the north, descending step by step, and it is only at Qishan that there is a height advantageous to northern armies. Therefore, on the Xihe battlefield, the roving bandits hold the high ground and have the momentum of splitting bamboo."

"Then why fight at Xihe at all?" Shi Kefa asked.

This Shi Kefa had "moved house" to Tianjin. The Zhu Emperor's northern development strategy was built on the twin cities of Tianjin and Tianhe (at the mouth of the Liao River), with Tianjin serving as the sea-route hub between North China and the Northeast. And so Shi Kefa, the "Beijing Minister of War," naturally had to shift his post to Tianjin.

Moreover, after moving to Tianjin, his official title had also changed. He was no longer the Beijing Minister of War, a title that no longer matched reality, but rather the Governor-General of the Northern Seas, in overall charge of the defense of the two provinces of Liaoyang and Hebei, and with authority over the five great garrison commands of Anbei, Beiping, Daning, Jianzhou, and Heilongjiang.

Meanwhile, Shen Tingyang, the Beijing Minister of Revenue who had previously overseen northern livelihood and financial affairs, was transferred to serve as Governor of Hebei and concurrently Prefect of Tianjin — the great development of Tianjin now rested on him.

And Zhu Chunchen, who had "rendered meritorious service" in the Liaodong campaign, was reassigned to a civil post, becoming Governor of Liaoyang and concurrently Prefect of Tianhe — the people of "Yingkou" now rested on him.

Qin Mingtao, who had commanded the young soldiers and displayed awe-inspiring prowess, was also promoted, becoming Governor-General of the Liaodong Armies, equivalent to commander of the Liaodong Army Group, stationed at Shenyang, ready at any moment to stamp out resistance from the tribes of Jianzhou, Heilongjiang, and other places. If the tribes of Jianzhou, Heilongjiang, and elsewhere all proved obedient and compliant, then Qin Mingtao would lead his army into the Khorchin steppe.

"Governor-General," Wu Sanfeng naturally did not dare ignore Shi Kefa's question, "the battle of Qishan is not only a contest of military opportunity, but even more a contest of logistics. The reason our army does not dare commit too many troops is that provisions are insufficient and transport is difficult. And the bandit army is likewise constrained by its supply lines. But once the Li bandit opens military farms at Xihe, even if he harvests only a hundred thousand shi of millet a year, it will greatly ease the difficulty of transport from his rear!"

The roads into Shu are hard indeed!

Li Dingguo had stationed a hundred thousand troops at Qiuchi Mountain, and the Hanzhong basin alone could never supply them no matter what. But if supplies had to be transported from the Chengdu basin, then for every shi of rice delivered, the consumption along the way would probably amount to eight or nine shi. For a hundred thousand troops at Qiuchi Mountain, with each soldier drawing five dou of rice, the monthly grain requirement would be fifty thousand shi. That would mean shipping four to five hundred thousand shi out of the Chengdu basin — five to six million shi a year!

Wu Sanfeng continued: "Therefore my second brother is now assembling troops and preparing to attack Xihe once more. Even if he cannot retake the land of Xihe, he must destroy as much of Xihe's grain as possible. As long as Li Dingguo's military farming at Xihe fails, then the Qishan campaign will be assured of at least not losing."

"Is there confidence in fighting Xihe again?" Zhu Cilang paused. "If there is no confidence, you may hold Qishan until next year. By then the Second Division of the Young Guards will have finished its training and can be assigned to Sangui. The roads to Gansu and Long are long; it is best to use crack troops!"

Part of the reason Zhu Cilang had spent such a great sum to train the Nine Border Youth Army was that the country was too large, and the places where troops were needed were often far away. Without especially elite troops, relying entirely on overwhelming numbers would let the burden of logistics drag the Great Ming's finances to ruin.

Wu Sanfeng, however, shook his head and said: "Military farming is not only about tilling the fields; it also means building forts to hold them. If the roving bandits are allowed to succeed in their farming, then the area south of Qishan will become a key stronghold for the bandits' troops, and retaking it will likely require storming dozens of strong walls. The losses then would be great.

Besides, the Western Regions are also unstable at present. If the Qishan campaign drags on much longer, I fear trouble may arise."

"Does Sangui have that many troops?" Zhu Cilang asked.

Wu Sanfeng said: "My younger brother is preparing to summon the armies of Shang Kexi and Kong Tingxun as reinforcements. Then he will draw crack troops from Hexi and Anxi. By this summer, he will be able to assemble a hundred thousand mighty soldiers at Qishan!"

Zhu Cilang nodded lightly and said: "Changbo is a veteran of military affairs. With a hundred thousand troops fighting at Qishan, even if he does not win, he will not suffer defeat. Let it be so."

(End of Chapter)