Chapter 1307: Counterattack, or Too Happy to Miss Shu?

"What? There are still people welcoming the Roving King? Could this be a trap?"

Li Laiheng stopped in his tracks, turned to look at Liu Wenxiu, who had reported the matter, with a look of astonishment, and then said something that rather deflated the civil and military officials of the whole court.

The Grand Strategist Song Xiance stepped out from the ranks and memorialized: "Reporting to Your Imperial Majesty, the popular uprising in the Jiannan Division of Shizhou Guard within the Zhu traitor's territory is no deception — it was launched by good men of the Trade Division of Our dynasty's Ministry of Revenue."

"Again the work of the Trade Division of the Ministry of Revenue?" Li Laiheng said. "It won't be like that one in February, where it barely got started before it fizzled out, will it?"

"Your Imperial Majesty, the righteous army within the Jiannan Division of Shizhou Guard is the righteous army from Tiger Fang Mountain," Song Xiance said with a delighted expression. "The good men who rose up at Tiger Fang Mountain were not wiped out by the Zhu traitors. Before the Zhu traitors' great army closed in on Tiger Fang Mountain, they crossed the river and fled, traveling west along Jingmen Mountain and the Qing River. By mid-March they had shifted into the territory of Shizhou Guard, and on the twenty-second day of the third month they raised their banner near the Jiannan Division, broke the Zhu traitors' defending troops, seized the Jiannan Division and more than a dozen valleys at the junction of Wanzhou and Shizhu, and raised the great banner of welcoming the Roving King."

Li Laiheng frowned, his face full of disbelief: "The Shizhou tribal soldiers are quite skilled in war, and the territory is full of countless watchtowers and fortresses. We have sent troops many times and never broken through. How is it that they are so useless now?"

Shizhou Guard was no ordinary military guard, but a military-civilian Guard Command that governed the people through military administration, established in the twenty-third year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming founder. Before the twenty-third year of Hongwu, Shizhou and Shizhou Guard had existed side by side — the former governing the people, the latter governing the troops. But because of a rebellion by the local chieftains, after it was suppressed Zhu Yuanzhang turned Shizhou into a military-administered zone under the jurisdiction of a single military guard.

At first only 1,500 military households were moved in to garrison and farm the land, and some chieftains were also incorporated. Later, more military households were moved in successively, and they began to multiply and thrive there. The terrain of Shizhou Guard was somewhat peculiar — it was a remote mountainous region, and in the early Ming the population was very small. But the mountains there were not tall; viewed from high above, they were a dense mass of steamed-bun hills, and between these steamed-bun hills were slopes and valleys that could all be cultivated. In addition, there were several very large valley basins that could also be opened up for farming.

In the early Ming, those valleys and slopes were all covered in forest. Over the following two hundred-plus years, they were continuously cleared and turned into terraced fields or high-yield paddy fields, supporting an ever-growing number of military households. It was precisely because Shizhou Guard had so few people in its early years and so much reclaimable land that even by the Chongzhen years, the conflict between people and land there was not particularly acute. The military households living there had not fallen into destitution, and therefore maintained a certain martial strength. They also intermarried with one another, forming many prominent mountain clans. This class of military households, which had benefited from Ming rule, was highly loyal to the Ming dynasty. When the troubled times arrived, Shizhou Guard became an important stronghold of the Great Ming at the junction of Huguang and Sichuan.

In the original history, Ming resistance at Shizhou Guard continued until the fourth year of the Qing Kangxi reign (1665). A few years later, Wu Sangui rose in arms in Yunnan (1673), and Shizhou Guard rose again in response, continuing to resist the Qing. After the fall of Wu Zhou, the place was still not very peaceful. The descendants of the local Ming military households continued to resist the Qing policy of replacing native chieftains with regular officials, and it was not until the sixth year of Yongzheng that Shizhou Guard and Datian Battalion were abolished and regular Qing official rule was implemented.

Under Zhu Cilang's rule, the military households (chieftains) of Shizhou Guard, the Sichuan military households (chieftains) who had withdrawn to Zunyi Prefecture, the military households (chieftains) of Guizhou, and the military households (chieftains) who had fled from Yunnan together formed the Southern Army faction within the Great Ming Army — there had always been north-south discord within the Ming army. Zhu Cilang's army was not entirely a new army; many units had been formed by lightly reorganizing traditional Ming forces, and the ones with the least reorganization were the Ming armies of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Shizhou. Thus this faction of the army had strong independence and a high degree of feudalization, and was not very willing to campaign far from home. But when defending their homes, they were extremely tenacious, and so the Shun army contemptuously called them the home-guarding thieves.

And the Ming army of Shizhou Guard was even better at guarding its home than the Ming armies of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. Although the terrain of Shizhou Guard was not especially precipitous, the Ming army there was extraordinarily devoted to building fortresses, and the terrain of Shizhou Guard could support fortress warfare — the great number of small hillocks were all excellent places to build fortresses, while the valley floors, basins, and slopes below the hills could provide the fortresses with sufficient logistical support.

Moreover, the Ming military households in that region, like the Shun dynasty's fubing households, were rooted in the countryside, and they had been rooted there for over two hundred and several decades, already forming military-household clans as dense as a spider's web.

Therefore, every Shun army offensive against Shizhou Guard would sink into a people's war waged by the Great Ming military households — the front lines could not take the fortresses, the rear areas were harassed by the Shizhou military households, and the Shun army did not dare fight a protracted war at Shizhou Guard because the Ming new army from Huguang would soon arrive to reinforce it. In the end, they could only retreat in disarray.

However, the Ming army of Shizhou Guard also had no interest in attacking Wanzhou and Shizhu, which were under Shun rule, so the war between the two sides grew more and more listless. By the tenth year of joint rule, the Ming and Shun armies were fighting fiercely on the northern front, but the flames of war around Shizhou Guard gradually died down, while smuggling trade between the two sides flourished instead.

Song Xiance said: "Your Imperial Majesty may not be aware, but most of the jianghu good men mobilized by the Trade Division make their living along the Jingmen route (a smuggling route), and they are all loyal to the Great Shun."

"All loyal to the Great Shun? Aren't they just some private merchants?" Li Laiheng said. "Can these people be relied on? There's no trickery, is there?"

Gu Junen, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, stepped out from the ranks and memorialized: "Reporting to Your Imperial Majesty, any private merchant who can do long-term business with the Trade Division of the Ministry of Revenue has already submitted a pledge of allegiance. Moreover, most of them are gallant heroes of the jianghu of Jing and Chu, all of whom admire the heroism of the Roving King and are willing to follow him in accomplishing a great enterprise!"

The Roving King was also a job that could be passed to another person. The first-generation Roving King was Gao Yingxiang, the second-generation Roving King was Li Zicheng, the third-generation Roving King was Li Guo, and the fourth-generation Roving King was Li Laiheng — from Li Zicheng onward, the Roving King and the Shun emperor had been one and the same.

So the Roving King whom the jianghu heroes of Jing and Chu admired, as Gu Junen said, was none other than Li Laiheng!

Hearing Gu Junen put it that way, Li Laiheng finally began to believe it somewhat. He nodded, then looked at Song Xiance.

Song Xiance said: "According to reports, among the good men who followed Trade Division's Niu Jie westward from Tiger Fang Mountain, quite a few are extremely familiar with the terrain around the Jiannan Division, and they also have connections with several chieftains in the Jiannan Division area. That is why they were able to trick open the fortresses and occupy the valleys.

Your Imperial Majesty, this is a rare opportunity to strike back at the remnant Ming Zhu traitors! Even if we do not take the whole of Shizhou Guard, taking half of it would still spread the prestige of Our Great Shun, while also drawing the remnant Ming's troops to reinforce Shizhou Guard and relieving pressure on the northern front."

"Prince of Han, what do you think?" Li Laiheng was somewhat unable to make up his mind, so he asked Liu Zongmin for advice.

Liu Zongmin stroked his white beard, his eyes narrowed, as if deep in thought.

"Your Imperial Majesty, I believe that sending troops to Shizhou Guard is an opportunity for a counterattack. However, the overall situation of the enemy being strong and us being weak is already settled, so we must still prepare for the worst."

"What is the worst-case plan?" Li Laiheng asked, though he already knew the answer.

Although he had said in his early years that he was willing to be a Liu Adou, Liu Adou had only become "so happy he forgot Shu" after being emperor for forty-one years. This was only the first year of Dongping Daxing for him — how could he already be expected to "be so happy he forgot Shu"?

Liu Zongmin said slowly: "The worst-case plan is, of course, the remnant Ming breaking through the Daba Mountains and entering Shu."

The moment his words left his mouth, the great hall fell into deathly silence.

Only after a long while did Li Laiheng sigh and say: "Prince of Qin, Prince of Tang, you two speak as well."

Sun Kewang, the Prince of Qin, frowned: "Your Imperial Majesty, it seems certain that the remnant Ming will enter Shu. The question now is how we fight, and how we leave."

"How we fight? How we leave?" Li Laiheng asked. "In the end, do we fight or do we leave?"

"We need two plans," Liu Wenxiu said. "No, we should have three plans ready!"

"What three plans?"

Liu Wenxiu said: "The first plan is a counteroffensive! The second plan is a decisive battle in Ba-Shu. The third plan is a southward relocation."

(End of Chapter)