Chapter 1266: Kill Wu Sangui?

"Advancing west onto the plateau — can it really be done? The great Tang of ancient times suffered plenty of losses on that plateau!" Over the years, Li Dingguo had read widely in the histories, and he was very clear about the losses the Tang had suffered on the snow-covered plateau. "I've heard from people who have been up there that unless you were born and raised there, even drawing breath on the plateau is hard!"

Ai Nengqi nodded and said, "Fourth Brother is right, but we are not without a foothold on the plateau. Does Fourth Brother still remember the Western Sichuan campaign in the first year of the Joint Reign? We chased the remnants of the Ming army in western Sichuan up onto the Tibetan border highlands, and pursued them west all the way to Do Kham and Litang before withdrawing."

"I remember now," Li Dingguo said with a smile. "That campaign was commanded by Third Brother Ai, and it won our Shun two Ming pacification commissioners' territories!"

These two pacification commissions were called the Dongbu Hanhu Pacification Commission and the Changhexi, Yutong, and Ningyuan Pacification Commission. By the time the Shun entered Sichuan, they had already been brought under the control of the Khoshut Khanate, and Gushi Khan had stationed officials and a small number of troops at Muya City near Dajianlu.

But the force Gushi Khan had placed at Muya was far too small to withstand the Ming troops retreating from western Sichuan, and Muya was quickly occupied by the Ming. After that, Ai Nengqi led the Shun army up onto the Tibetan border highlands, first defeating the Ming troops, then beating back the Mongol force sent by Gushi Khan, and firmly seized control of that stretch of territory.

Ai Nengqi said with some pride, "Back then we also established a Western Barbarian Military Commission there, with six prefectures under it — Zagunao, Jinchuan, Muping, Mingzheng, Gebu, and Badi — and we moved three thousand fubing military households from Sichuan to garrison the various prefectures. We also built Western Barbarian City at Dajianlu in Mingzheng Prefecture. Western Barbarian City was completed in the fifth year of the Joint Reign, twelve years ago now. The three thousand fubing households originally settled in the six Western Barbarian prefectures have now produced a second generation, and the number of households has grown to five thousand. Add to that the men of the Qiang native officials in the six prefectures who have submitted to us, and we can field eight to ten thousand men!"

The Greater and Lesser Jinchuan, which in history took the Qianlong Emperor seven hundred million taels of military spending to subdue, could not raise so much as a ripple when faced with the first-generation fubing of the Shun — they were pacified without the slightest trouble!

An army that has survived a hundred battles in an age of chaos is truly ferocious!

Ai Nengqi continued, "Besides the six prefectures of the Western Barbarian Commission on the highlands, the thirteen prefectures and counties of the Chuanbian Commission are also all on the highlands. We settled five thousand fubing households there as well, and with the growth of population since then, there are now ten thousand households!"

Besides the native chieftains of Greater and Lesser Jinchuan meeting their doom, the native chieftain forces under the jurisdiction of the Sichuan Regional Military Commission also suffered disaster in the Western Sichuan campaign more than ten years ago.

The territory of the Sichuan Regional Military Commission roughly corresponds to the later Liangshan Prefecture and Panzhihua City, and the native chieftain forces there were also very powerful. When the Shun and the Xi joined forces to take Sichuan, the troops of Ma Shiying, Yang Zhan, and Zeng Ying, who had been defeated on the Chengdu Plain, fell back for a time to the area of the Sichuan Regional Military Commission, the Tianquan Commission, and the Lizhou Commission (Tianquan and Lizhou being close to the Dongbu Hanhu Pacification Commission and the Changhexi, Yutong, and Ningyuan Pacification Commission). In order to wipe out this remnant Ming force and open the road to Yunnan, the Shun court launched the Western Sichuan campaign.

In that campaign, the native chieftain forces within the Sichuan Regional Military Commission were also completely eradicated by the Shun army — not won over, but eradicated! Because the territory of the Sichuan Regional Military Commission bordered Yunnan directly and was the strategic throat between Sichuan and Yunnan, how could the Shun dynasty permit pro-Ming reactionary native chieftains to entrench themselves there? So in the first years of the Joint Reign, great effort was expended, and after six years of continuous mopping-up operations, the local native chieftain forces were essentially wiped out.

Afterwards, the Shun court established the Chuanbian Military Commission (the Shun imitated the Tang system, and also used military officials to govern civil affairs, with the military commissioner serving as the highest local official), and set up thirteen prefectures and counties under the commission — this was effectively carrying out the policy of replacing native chieftains with regular officials!

Ai Nengqi said, "Just by drawing troops from the Western Barbarian and Chuanbian Commissions, we can assemble ten thousand men. They are all people who have lived on the highlands for a long time. Although the Western Barbarian and Chuanbian regions are not as high as U-Tsang, they are still far higher than the Sichuan lowlands."

"In addition, in western Yunnan there are also the Lijiang and Yongchang Commissions, which are likewise on the highlands. The fubing households in these two commissions also number over five thousand each, so raising ten thousand troops from there is no problem."

Liu Wenxiu smiled and said, "Fourth Brother, what do you think? With twenty thousand highland fubing, can we fight our way into U-Tsang?"

But Li Dingguo's brow furrowed more and more tightly, and he did not answer Liu Wenxiu's question, seeming lost in thought.

Seeing Li Dingguo's expression, Sun Kewang knew he was planning some great campaign again, so he asked, "Fourth Brother, are you scheming another grand operation?"

Li Dingguo nodded and said with a frown, "Advancing west with twenty or thirty thousand fubing to strike the Khoshut is no problem. The Khoshut have been comfortable on the plateau too long; all they do is chant sutras and pray to Buddha — they've forgotten how to fight! Seven or eight years ago, Shang Kexi and Kong Tingxun, those two running dogs of the Tartars, beat them black and blue. But Second Brother and Third Brother, don't forget that north of U-Tsang lie Xining Prefecture and Qinghai Prefecture of the Hexi Garrison. We can climb onto the plateau from the east, but can't Wu Sangui also advance from Xining and Qinghai? Xining and Qinghai are not low either!"

"Fourth Brother, you mean—" Sun Kewang looked at Li Dingguo.

Li Dingguo gritted his teeth. "So we must kill that man surnamed Wu! As long as Wu Sangui is not removed, whether we advance south or march west, I cannot rest easy!"

"How do we kill him?"

"We can do it this way..."

"Achoo!"

In Wuhan, inside East Lake Palace, the Duke of Liang, Wu Sangui, who was attending a joint conference of the Grand Marshal's Office in the Hall of Diligent Governance, sneezed again. It seemed he had caught a chill.

Zhu Cilang asked with concern, "Changbo, are you all right?"

Wu Sangui replied, "Thank you for Your Majesty's concern. This subject has merely caught a slight chill; it is nothing serious."

A slight chill? Emperor Zhu thought to himself: You've most likely caught a cold, and who knows if it's influenza. Just don't pass it on to Us!

Whatever he thought in his heart, Emperor Zhu could hardly have Wu Sangui quarantined. After all, the man was the Duke of Liang who had overcome great hardships, and right now he was working so diligently on planning the campaign against Shu.

After sneezing two or three times, Wu Sangui resumed explaining his strategy for pacifying Shu to Zhu Cilang, Li Yan, Yan Yingyuan, Qi Yuanbi, Feng Sizhong, Qin Mingtao, Zhu Chunjie, Wu Sanfu, and the others.

"This subject believes that the campaign into Shu cannot be won by clever stratagem; it can only be achieved by main force! To enter Sichuan, one must first pacify southern Shaanxi; to pacify southern Shaanxi, one must first break through Dasan Pass, Heshangyuan, and Wuzhangyuan, then advance by forced assault along the Sanguan Road all the way to Yangping Pass!"

Hearing Wu Sangui's plan, Emperor Zhu could not help frowning deeply. "Changbo, how many men would die in such an approach? How much time would it take?"

"The deaths of tens of thousands of soldiers are unavoidable," Wu Sangui said. "As for the time required... that depends on how many troops Your Majesty intends to send to southern Shaanxi. If twenty divisions are dispatched, advancing on several routes, we should be able to push through to Yangping Pass within a year."

Twenty divisions was roughly three hundred thousand men. The Ming army was now said to number a million, but the troops that truly belonged to first-line field units amounted to only forty or fifty divisions.

Zhu Cilang turned his head to look at Li Yan, Yan Yingyuan, Qi Yuanbi, and the others.

Li Yan said, "Since ancient times, the pacification of Sichuan has mostly been achieved by entering from southern Shaanxi. Although some have used unorthodox stratagems, men like Li Laiheng and Li Dingguo are no ordinary opponents, so it is better to rely on strength than on cunning."

Yan Yingyuan also said, "What the Duke of Liang has described is the main southward route of attack. If we can truly commit three hundred thousand troops, we should be able to advance on three routes. Besides the Sanguan Road, we could also add the Baoxie Road and a route through southern Longxi. That would force the roving bandits to divide their forces to defend, and divided forces are weakened."

Qi Yuanbi then said, "If we want to make the bandits divide their forces, we could also send a detached force through southern Gansu into Songpan to make a surprise attack on Chengdu Prefecture."

"Take the Songpan route?" Zhu Cilang looked at the map. That would mean crossing the grasslands and climbing the snow mountains...

Qin Mingtao said, "Your Majesty, the Guards Army could be sent on such a mission! Difficult as the Songpan route is, it certainly would not stop them. Even if the surprise attack on Chengdu does not succeed, taking the territory of the Songpan Guard would threaten the flank of the roving bandits in southern Shaanxi." He paused. "In addition, the court could also draw troops from U-Tsang to serve as guides and to assist in the fighting. There are many Qiang tribes in the Songpan area, all of whom follow the Lamaist faith. If we can obtain the aid of a great lama, they should help the court's official army."

Emperor Zhu finally nodded. "Very well then! Send ten thousand or so elite troops to give it a try!"

(End of Chapter)