Chapter 1759: Nobles, Off to the Mountains and Countryside with You!

The first day of the tenth month of the first year of Chongzhen, at Tangzhi Mountain.

After the fierce fighting on the second, both sides had suffered no small losses and were somewhat exhausted, men and horses alike, so on the third the battlefield at Tangzhi Mountain seemed unusually quiet. Only the occasional crack of a sniper's shot reminded the soldiers of both armies, resting and regrouping, that this was still a battlefield where over a hundred thousand troops of the Great Ming and the Later Jin were gathered.

When Zhu Youjian returned to camp the previous night, he was utterly exhausted. After listening to the reports of Gao Hongtu, Zhu Chunchen, and the others, he said nothing, merely gave orders that the loyal fallen be properly laid to rest, then washed up and went to sleep.

He slept until noon the next day. After breakfast, he received in the imperial tent Zhang Fengyi, Yuan Chonghuan, Hong Chengchou, and the others who had just arrived with their troops — by now the main cavalry and infantry forces of the Ming army were nearly all assembled. Eighty or ninety thousand troops were deployed west of Tangzhi Mountain, centered on Gao Hongtu's wagon camp. The business of setting up camp did not require Zhu Youjian's attention; Zhang Fengyi, Yuan Chonghuan, Hong Chengchou, and Gao Hongtu were all experts at building fortified camps and would naturally arrange everything.

Zhu Youjian asked a few casual questions, then turned the conversation to the "settling of accounts." The deaths of Zhu Guobi, Zhao Zhilong, and Xu Yunzhen, and the severe wounds of Li Shouqi and Li Zunzu, were of course an important reason for the initial victory at Tangzhi Mountain.

Had these nobles not led their household retainers and guards to be cut down by the Later Jin cavalry, the wave assault Zhu Youjian launched would not have achieved such great results.

Although the crimes of this lot of nobles far outweighed their merits, with this "life-redeeming merit" at Tangzhi Mountain, Zhu Youjian could not make things too ugly for them — after all, today's frontier generals are tomorrow's nobles!

If Zhu Youjian exterminated these nobles to the last man, then men like Man Gui, Zhao Shuaijiao, Zu Dashou, and Hou Shilu would all feel a chill in their hearts.

Even those men of the imperial guard before his tent — was not the goal they strove for also to become nobles who would endure with the dynasty?

So Zhu Youjian could now discipline the nobles, but he could not wipe them out. Even Zhu Yuanzhang in his day first pacified the four quarters and only afterward slaughtered a batch of meritorious officials — and even he did not kill them all. Otherwise, where would all those hereditary Guard Commanders have come from?

At present, Zhu Youjian had not yet reached the time when "the high-flying birds are all gone" and "the cunning hares are all dead," so he could not openly tell his subordinates that he was an emperor who betrayed his comrades and killed meritorious officials!

Therefore, Zhu Youjian's goal for now was not to "flip the table" (it was his table, after all — how could he flip it?), but to take away all the good things on the table, and then move aside the things that got in the way.

Zhu Youjian glanced at Zhu Chunchen, who was an eyesore (everyone else is either dead or wounded — how is it that you are completely unscathed?), frowned, and asked: "How goes the settling of accounts for the Capital Camps? How many casualties, how many desertions?"

That was far too blunt!

But Zhu Chunchen had a thick face indeed! Without changing expression or missing a heartbeat, he stepped forward and reported: "Your Majesty, the Capital Camps are indeed unaccustomed to battle, and moreover contain many old soldiers and weak troops. Facing the slave rebels' great army, the losses were indeed severe — in just two or three days, more than sixty thousand men were lost, and of those, deserters accounted for the greater part. This subject has been lax in disciplining the troops, and begs Your Majesty to punish him."

Not "killed in action" — changed to "deserted." They all fled before the battle, and can't be caught now!

Zhu Youjian nodded and asked again: "Then how many truly usable soldiers remain?"

"Fewer than —" Zhu Chunchen deliberated a moment. "Fewer than fifty thousand."

"That many?" Zhu Youjian's tone turned grim.

"Let this subject think again." Zhu Chunchen gritted his teeth, his face a picture of pained reluctance. "Fewer than thirty thousand."

"Thirty thousand." Zhu Youjian smiled. "Thirty thousand is enough."

Enough? Zhu Chunchen thought to himself: Only thirty thousand, and after eating phantom payrolls how many would be left? A single soldier, with pay and provisions plus horses, equipment, armor, and all sorts of miscellaneous rewards, costs at most thirty taels a year. Thirty thousand soldiers is only nine hundred thousand taels — how could that be enough to live on?

As if seeing through Zhu Chunchen's thoughts, Zhu Youjian smiled and said: "Thirty thousand soldiers won't yield much in phantom payrolls!"

"Your Majesty, this subject, this subject —" Zhu Chunchen tensed up at once and dropped to his knees with a thud before Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Youjian waved his hand with a smile. "Rise, rise. We shall not punish you. We leave you thirty thousand troop quotas precisely so that you martial nobles can make a living. Whether you eat phantom payrolls or take these thirty thousand quota soldiers to win merit and build a career — that is up to you. Duke of Chengguo, do you nobles prefer to eat phantom payrolls, or to win merit and build a career?"

"We subjects naturally wish to win merit and build a career!" Zhu Chunchen loudly declared the lie.

Zhu Youjian nodded with a smile. "Good! Good! We have been waiting for you to say that!"

What? Zhu Chunchen's heart trembled at these words. He had said the wrong thing again! This young emperor was surely up to no good!

Zhu Youjian continued: "Winning merit and building a career are actually two matters — winning merit for the state, and building a career for oneself. And right now there happens to be an opportunity that satisfies both — one can win merit for the state and build a career for oneself at the same time. Duke of Chengguo, are you willing?"

Of course he was not willing — but Zhu Chunchen did not dare say so!

"This subject is willing!" Zhu Chunchen said with a solemn face.

"Good!" Zhu Youjian said. "The slave rebels gained no advantage in this incursion, and now We have pressed them back to Tangzhi Mountain. They can accomplish nothing more, and their withdrawal is only a matter of time. But our Great Ming's war to pacify the slaves has only just begun! To pacify the slaves, relying solely on defense will not do — we must attack!"

Attack?

When Zhu Chunchen heard those two words, his heart nearly shattered.

"Your Majesty," Yuan Chonghuan interjected at this point, "this subject also believes we should attack. To destroy the slave rebels, we must pacify Liaodong; to pacify Liaodong, we must advance step by step and fortify as we go in Liaoxi!"

Why is it always Liaoxi? Zhu Youjian glared at Yuan Chonghuan, thinking: You Yuan Chonghuan are a bit single-minded, aren't you? You've been stubbornly grinding away in Liaoxi your whole life — why haven't you learned any lesson at all?

"Liaoxi must of course be taken — without Liaoxi, how can there be Liaodong?" Zhu Youjian had no choice but to patiently explain to Yuan Chonghuan once again. "But the key to taking Liaoxi is not that narrow corridor alone, but the entire Liaoxi mountain region — from the main range of the Yan Mountains eastward to Mount Yiwulü, all of it must be seized, all of it must be controlled, all of it must become land where our Great Ming raises troops and farms. Only thus can Liaodong be recovered, and only thus can the slave rebels be pacified and destroyed!

And now the slave rebels have invaded and been defeated. The Mongol tribes beyond the Jizhen and Liaoxi border walls, ravaged by years of war and drought, have suffered catastrophic losses and can no longer stand on their own. Having earlier followed the slave rebels and played the jackal to their tiger, they have surely tried to steal a chicken only to lose their bait rice. This is the perfect moment for us to strike beyond the passes and seize the Yan Mountains and the Liaoxi mountain region!"

Zhu Youjian had once again put forward the strategy of "taking the Yan Mountains."

"Your Majesty," Yuan Chonghuan had already heard Zhu Youjian speak of this two or three days earlier, but he still did not much approve. "The Yan Mountains and the Liaoxi mountain region are far too vast, with countless valleys and basins, and have always been the territory of the Kharchin Mongols and the Inner Khalkha Mongols. Even though the Kharchin and Inner Khalkha tribes have suffered catastrophic losses in recent years from natural and man-made disasters, with their populations sharply reduced, it will still be very difficult for us to firmly control the Yan Mountains and the Liaoxi mountain region. Simply sending troops in will not do!"

"Of course it will not do!" Zhu Youjian said. "We must also enfeoff guard stations and establish military colonies!"

He turned his head to look at Zhu Chunchen and said, enunciating each word: "Duke of Chengguo, the Yan Mountains and Liaoxi are vast — there is much to be accomplished there! Are the martial noble houses of the capital willing to go north beyond the Great Wall, receive enfiefment of guard stations, and hold a region in perpetuity?"

"Your Majesty, what did you say?" Zhu Chunchen did not understand.

Zhu Youjian smiled and explained: "We shall give you thirty thousand troop quotas, and enfeoff the Yan Mountains beyond the border wall to you. The thirty thousand troop quotas can be divided into ten Guards and twenty Stations, garrisoned across the Yan Mountains. These ten Guards and twenty Stations will all implement the feudal system, just like the native chieftains of the southwest. A noble enfeoffed with a Guard or a Station becomes a lord of his domain — mounted, he commands troops; dismounted, he governs the people — and the title is hereditary in perpetuity. Moreover, We shall issue pay and provisions to these ten Guards and twenty Stations — the total pay for the ten Guards and twenty Stations will be issued according to the pay and provisions of thirty thousand Capital Camp troops. Duke of Chengguo, are you tempted? Would you like a Guard Military-Civil Command Office of your own? This is hereditary wealth and honor in perpetuity, and your family's dukedom of Chengguo remains yours as well!"

(End of Chapter)