Chapter 1275: How to Become a Loyal Martyr, Part One

Baoji Prefecture, Erli Pass.

Wu Sangui, Governor-General of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Military Commissioner of Hexi, Grand Protector of Anxi, Left Commissioner-in-Chief, and Duke of Kenan, clad in full armor, strode into the central command tent set up at the forward position of Erli Pass.

This central command tent, though called a tent, was in fact a bastion fort located three to five li north of Erli Pass. After seven or eight years of prolonged stalemate, fortifications now dotted the Guanzhong front, and bastion forts had been built at every point of any importance.

Inside the great hall of this forward command bastion occupied by the Governor-General's headquarters, officers already stood in dense ranks. As Wu Sangui approached, all rose, clasped their fists, and bowed slightly. Every face was alight with eagerness.

Ever since Wu Sangui had returned from Wuchang Prefecture to the Shaanxi front, the somewhat weary Shaanxi army had at once regained its spirit. Order after order for reorganizing armaments and discipline went out, and the staff officers, quartermasters, and judge advocates of the Governor-General's headquarters all suddenly seemed injected with chicken blood, every one of them descending on the troops to inspect this and that, pressing every branch of the forces to intensify training, combat readiness, and military discipline, and also beginning a comprehensive inspection of the supplies in every warehouse.

And arriving in Shaanxi almost at the same time as Wu Sangui were large numbers of Guards Army troops advancing from the direction of Huguang!

By this point, the officers on the Shaanxi front all knew in their hearts that a major operation was imminent, yet everyone still felt somewhat uneasy. After all, the tug-of-war here in Shaanxi had gone on for so many years, and both sides had strong bastion fortifications to rely on; achieving a breakthrough would not be easy, and even if it succeeded, the dead and wounded would lie in heaps.

But what happened on the twentieth and twenty-first days of the first month took everyone by surprise.

The reports coming back from the forward strongpoints, the enemy intelligence gathered by scouting cavalry and patrols sent out on reconnaissance missions, and the information obtained from civilian laborers who had slipped over from the roving bandit army all pointed to one shocking fact — serious trouble had broken out in the roving bandits' rear! A large-scale popular uprising had erupted in the Jiange Pass area. The rebels had stormed Jiange Pass, burned and seized the grain, gunpowder, and weapons the roving bandits had stored there, and then withdrawn to Great Sword Mountain. With their rear ablaze, the forces of Li Dingguo, who had held out for seven or eight years in the zone where the Guanzhong Plain met the Qinling Mountains, could finally hold on no longer. Beginning on the twentieth, they had pulled back from all their forward strongpoints. Moreover, there were signs they were abandoning such key positions as Dasan Pass, Wuzhang Plain, Heshang Plain, Chencang Mountain, and Jinya Pass!

Could it be that the Shaanxi campaign had finally been won?

Everyone found it somewhat unbelievable, but on careful reflection, they also felt that this endless tug-of-war ought to have reached the point of victory by now.

This tug-of-war, to put it plainly, was a contest of national strength!

How much national strength did the roving bandits have? How much did the Great Ming have? Moreover, Guanzhong was the Great Ming's home ground. The supplies for the roving bandits' army of tens of thousands came mainly from Sichuan and Hanzhong. Their military farms on those "plains" in Guanzhong were a complete joke — the grain they produced each year could not even feed a few thousand men. That they had held on for so many years was truly a miracle.

And behind that miracle, the land of Hanzhong Prefecture, Gongchang Prefecture, and the several prefectures and subprefectures of Sichuan Province near Shaanxi had probably been scraped clean!

The popular uprising over at Great Sword Mountain was surely also because the roving bandits had scraped the land too hard!

The roving bandits' luck, it seemed, had run out.

Wu Sangui smiled as he took his seat, looked at the delighted gazes cast at him by his subordinate officers, and gestured for everyone to sit.

"This marshal's resolve is set. I shall use elite troops to smash the roving bandit forces at Dasan Pass and Heshang Plain, break through the Sanguan Road, and drive straight for Maling Pass (in Feng County, Hanzhong Prefecture)! Which of you generals wishes to take the main assault? Who wishes to lead troops in pursuit?"

Wu Sangui's words were well chosen — he did not say the roving bandits were about to flee, for that would have made it inconvenient to claim credit!

His words had barely faded when someone rose to volunteer.

"Marshal, your subordinate Liu Sheng wishes to lead his troops in the main assault on Dasan Pass!"

The first to volunteer was Liu Sheng, a man Zhu Cilang had sent to Wu Sangui's side. Wu Sangui had long since understood this, but he had nonetheless promoted him generously, making him Commander of the Hexi Army — Wu Sangui's current offices were three: Governor-General of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Military Commissioner of Hexi, and Grand Protector of Anxi.

Of these, the Governor-General of Sichuan and Shaanxi had no directly subordinate troops, while the two military commands of Hexi and Anxi each had their own armies, with a standard establishment of twenty thousand men and a single commanding general. Wu Sangui did not personally command these two commanders. Instead, he gave one post to Liu Sheng, whom Zhu Cilang had sent to his side, and the other to his sworn brother Wu Guogui.

"Marshal, your subordinate Wu Guogui wishes to lead his troops in the main assault on Heshang Plain!"

Wu Guogui was Wu Xiang's adopted son and had always followed Wu Sangui; he now held the post of Commander of the Anxi Army. He too had connections with Zhu Cilang — one of his own brothers, Wu Guoyong, also an adopted son of Wu Xiang, had followed Zhu Cilang after the Battle of Tianjin and was now also a Duke of Kenan.

Seeing both of his trusted men step forward and volunteer before anyone else, Wu Sangui nodded with satisfaction.

Dasan Pass and Heshang Plain were ready-made achievements, with little risk, so of course they went to his own men. Besides, Liu Sheng and Wu Guogui had both led troops in Shaanxi for seven or eight years — their merits and hardships were piled high!

"Marshal, your subordinate Shang Kexi wishes to lead his elite troops in a thrust along the Chencang Road!"

"Marshal, your subordinate Kong Tingxun wishes to follow Commander Shang in the thrust along the Chencang Road, to pursue relentlessly and annihilate the remnants of the roving bandit forces."

Next to volunteer were Shang Kexi and Kong Tingxun.

These two were "empty-title military governors" — they had the titles of military commands and had armies, but no territory. In practice, they were two mercenary leaders.

Still, these two had fought hard on the Shaanxi battlefield, playing the full match, and had previously defeated the Khoshut tribe in Qinghai, so they seemed to have some use.

Moreover, their two "empty-title military commands" also had an establishment of twenty thousand men. To Wu Sangui, this was extremely valuable!

Wu Sangui's two military commands had grown out of the three hundred and sixty Chiliarchs of the early Green-Bordered Banner, and before that from the Guanning Army plus part of the Shaanxi Ming army. The number of military households was very large; although several rounds of reductions had been made during the westward migration, there were still more than seventy thousand households. After all these years of breeding and multiplying, the problems of too many military households and too many surplus males had also emerged!

Zhu Cilang had entrusted the Shaanxi theater to Wu Sangui in part to help Wu Sangui "out of his predicament." With the Shaanxi war ongoing, the Wu family army could break through its establishment ceiling — the combined strength of the Hexi Army and Anxi Army now exceeded eighty thousand men.

On the Shaanxi front alone there were as many as fifty thousand!

But the military households and surplus males of the two commands following Wu Sangui were still too many — even an establishment of eighty thousand was not enough to absorb them all.

So Wu Sangui had also recruited the armies of Shang and Kong to Shaanxi, then used his own Hexi and Anxi troops to replenish their losses, and by now had all but turned the Shang and Kong armies into branch forces of the Wu family army.

Now the volunteering of Shang Kexi and Kong Tingxun was also a matter of tacit understanding.

The fat meat of Dasan Pass and Heshang Plain went to the core forces of the Wu family army; the risky pursuit missions went to its branch forces.

As for the two Guards Army divisions Yan Yingyuan had brought from Huguang, plus the one Guards Army division and three New Army divisions already on the Shaanxi front — an army of nearly ninety thousand men — they could of course only be assigned secondary tasks.

Of these, three New Army divisions were now deployed on the Qishan front, with Shi Kefa's adopted son Shi Dewei serving as army commander.

The remaining three Guards divisions, commanded by Yan Yingyuan, were all placed at the disposal of Wu Sangui, the Governor-General of Sichuan and Shaanxi.

Wu Sangui turned his head and looked at Yan Yingyuan, who had cooperated fully and never once volunteered on his own, and said with a smile: "Commander Yan, your Guards Army is the Son of Heaven's own force — the elite kept in reserve for the finale."

First he placed a tall hat on Yan Yingyuan's head, then pointed out the Guards Army's role, and only finally said to Yan Yingyuan: "Once the great army takes Maling Pass, we shall divide into two routes. Then Sangui will lead troops south to Chengdu. As for Hanzhong and Chongqing, I must trouble Commander Yan with those."

(End of Chapter)