Chapter 1258: Who Is Li A-dou

"What did you say? You want to go south and do some looting too?"

Hearing his son's "ambition," Li Dingguo was rather speechless. Although his family had been bandits for two generations (Zhang Xianzhong and himself), they had now reformed — they had become warlords. So why was Runxing still going on and on about looting? Who had he learned that from?

"That's right!" Li Runxing nodded vigorously and said with a grin, "Ada, I've already arranged it with the Crown Prince. When the army marches on India next year, I'm going along. When the time comes I'll loot plenty to bring back and show my filial respect to you, Ada. You've suffered for more than half your life; it's time you enjoyed a life of ease. Once we have the wealth of India, there'll be enough for all of us to live well. From now on, Ada, you shouldn't keep fighting that villain Wu Sangui to the death in Shaanxi. You should return to Yunnan soon and enjoy your retirement!"

Enjoy his retirement? Li Dingguo was speechless. The Shun dynasty was at a moment of life and death! There was no time even to fight with all one's might — how could anyone think of retirement?

"Who's been spouting this nonsense?" Li Dingguo's face had already darkened, and he fixed his son with a burning stare.

Li Runxing was startled by his father's expression and began stammering, "A-Ada, wh-what are you doing?"

"Speak!" Li Dingguo roared. "Tell me right now — who exactly wants to enjoy their retirement?"

"A-Ada... everyone in Kunming says so!"

"Who, exactly?" Li Dingguo glared at his son.

Li Runxing had always been afraid of his father, Li Dingguo, and dared not hold anything back. He could only stammer, "The Crown Prince, the Prince of Qin, the Prince of Han, the Prince of Sui, the Prince of Tang, the Prince of Song — they all say so. And a whole crowd of marquises, earls, viscounts, and the like all mean the same thing. As for the men of my own generation, every last one of them is rubbing his fists and eager to follow the Crown Prince to India to make a fortune."

"What? Even the Prince of Qin means this?" Li Dingguo could hardly believe his ears.

The Prince of Qin, Sun Kewang, was the eldest brother of the "old western faction." His skill in battle was nothing special, and he had not set foot on a battlefield in years, but his ability to govern and manage finances was not bad. Ever since the Shun and the Xi merged, he had been working alongside Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Gu Junen, and the others, forming the Shun dynasty's domestic administration team.

No one knew better than he how much wealth the Shun dynasty still had and how large a war it could still sustain. Moreover, he was Li Laiheng's father-in-law, and his daughter had borne Li Laiheng several sons — so he clearly could not be one of Li Jicheng's people.

If even he was unwilling to fight and only wanted to enjoy his retirement, then the problem in Kunming was truly serious. The court had probably produced an A-dou!

"This will not do!" Li Dingguo abruptly stood up, paced a few steps, then turned to Luo Hu and said, "Marquis Luo, I must make a trip to Kunming. The military affairs here in Shaanxi I shall temporarily entrust to you."

As one of the eight deliberative princes, Li Dingguo was supposed to return to Kunming to mourn Li Guo, and at the same time perform the rites of a subject before Li Laiheng and accept the invitation to join the deliberative council — all of it mere ceremonial formality, which could be delegated to a proxy if the fighting at the front was urgent.

During this period, the Ming army in Shaanxi had received word of Li Guo's death and was already beginning to stir restlessly, so Li Dingguo had intended to hold his position at Dingjun Mountain until the situation stabilized, and only then return to Yunnan to mourn Li Guo.

But he had not expected that with Li Guo's bones still warm, the Shun dynasty would produce an A-dou. Now Li Dingguo had no choice but to return to Yunnan to shore up the court.

"Prince of Jin, surely it hasn't come to that?" Luo Hu shook his head. "The war in Shaanxi has dragged on for seven years, with no end to victory in sight. The fubing soldiers are exhausted on the battlefield, and the people of Sichuan and Shaanxi suffer under corvée labor. If this goes on, the very foundation of the state will be shaken."

Li Dingguo stamped his foot. "Those people in the soft, comfortable land of Yunnan don't understand how critical the Shaanxi war is — that's one thing. But how can you say such a thing too? Do you also believe that whether we fight or not in Shaanxi is entirely up to us? That if we withdraw our troops, we can sit back and enjoy peace and glory?"

Luo Hu shook his head. He too had spent a full seven years on the Shaanxi battlefield and knew well that there was a considerable gap between the national strength and military power of the Ming and the Shun. To maintain the current situation of the Shun attacking and the Ming defending, Li Dingguo had truly exhausted his mind. Although all his schemes over the past few years had ultimately been smashed on the battlefield by the Ming army under Wu Sangui's command, seeming utterly futile, the more than one hundred thousand Ming troops under Wu Sangui had likewise been firmly pinned down along the thousand-li Shaanxi front, unable to move.

Moreover, as long as the outcome on the Shaanxi front remained undecided, the Zhu Ming court had no choice but to pour enormous energy into Shaanxi and to prepare reserve forces for a possible major defeat there at any moment.

Furthermore, seven years of back-and-forth had turned the Shaanxi war into a "political war" and a "war for hearts and minds."

The moment the Shun army withdrew from Guanzhong, it would mean the Ming army had won this "Seven Years' War," which would enormously boost the morale and confidence of the Ming, while dealing a devastating blow to the military and civilian morale of the Shun.

Li Dingguo said, "Marquis Luo, holding out here in Shaanxi is bitter, but it shields the northern gateway of our state. Since ancient times, armies that take Sichuan have mostly advanced from north to south. Usually they must first seize the Qinling Mountains, then descend upon Hanzhong, break through Jiange, and strike directly at the two prefectures of Chengdu and Chongqing. But now our army is halted north of the Qinling, which means we hold all of the Qinling and can set up defenses at leisure throughout the mountains, making them our shield. The Ming troops do not know the true situation in the Qinling, so how would they dare take such a risk rashly? If they dare not risk it, then I can hold firm, and the Shun realm will remain safe and sound."

Luo Hu nodded gently. Li Dingguo's military strategy was indeed brilliant!

The regimes established in Sichuan throughout history had fallen not only because of their own corruption, but also because they were suddenly attacked by enemies from the north.

Although Sichuan is ringed by mountains, the most critical of those shielding mountains is the Qinling, which can easily be completely or largely controlled by a great power that holds Shaanxi. For a Sichuan regime to control the Qinling, it could only use Hanzhong as its base, while the opposing great power could use Guanzhong as its base.

The manpower and resources of Guanzhong were dozens of times greater than those of Hanzhong, so the Guanzhong side could easily gain complete control of the Qinling through constant infiltration.

And once the Qinling fell into enemy hands, the Sichuan regime could only sit and wait to be raided.

"Prince of Jin, this general understands your painstaking efforts!" Luo Hu said. "Rest assured, as long as this general holds the highlands of Guanzhong, Wu Sangui will not advance a single step."

"With Marquis Luo in Guanzhong, I am of course at ease." Li Dingguo only said half of what he meant. What truly troubled him was the A-dou at court.

"By the way, Prince of Jin," Luo Hu asked, "how should the 880,000 taels of silver and 480,000 strings of copper cash sent by the court be distributed?"

Time to divide the money. Ordinarily a happy matter, but Li Dingguo could not feel the slightest joy.

He glanced at his son. "What did His Majesty say?"

Li Runxing said, "Ada, His Majesty said the silver is all to be divided among the officials, and the copper cash is for the ordinary fubing soldiers. Of that, 80,000 taels of silver is for you."

"What? 80,000 for me?" Li Dingguo was taken aback. "Why so much?"

Li Runxing said, "It's not much, not much. All the deliberative princes get that amount. Marquises get 50,000, earls 30,000, viscounts 20,000, barons 10,000. Below baron, rewards are given according to rank."

"Eight princes is 640,000, plus all those nobles, plus all those officials..." Li Dingguo frowned deeply. "That's nearly the whole 8 million from India, isn't it? What about the fubing soldiers below?"

"The fubing soldiers are rewarded in copper cash," Li Runxing said. "In recent years Yunnan has been producing copper and minting a great deal of coin precisely in preparation for these rewards, so now it comes in handy. Besides, the 8 million taels haven't all been spent — there's still over 1.4 million left. Chancellor Niu has proposed using it to buy back the land certificates. One mu of land certificates is to be redeemed at 2 taels of silver, buying back 700,000 mu first."

"Buy back the land certificates?" Li Dingguo shook his head. "The land certificates were meant to reward merit in the northern campaign. They may be hard to redeem, but at least they're something to hold on to. Once they're bought back, doesn't that mean the court has essentially given up on the northern expedition?"

"That... that..." Li Runxing truly did not know what to say. The Shun court had indeed already abandoned the idea of a northern expedition, and was preparing to focus its looting efforts on India while adopting an entirely defensive posture against the Ming.

(End of Chapter)