Chapter 184: The Crown Prince Musters His Troops

"Thousand Years, these are memorials sent by Shi Kefa and Gao Jie."

Zhu Cilang had just returned to his Grand Marshal's Office, which he had set up inside the former Beiwo Regional Command in the Dengzhou naval fortress. His Chief Clerk Bi Jiucheng and Military Advisor Li Yan came out to pay their respects.

Bi Jiucheng held the two newly arrived memorials in his hands, his brows tightly knit.

The wandering court was not very regular these days. With no Office of Transmission, the upward and downward flow of memorials, official dispatches, and edicts all depended on the Staff Office of the Grand Marshal's Office.

The Hanlin Academy, which had been responsible for drafting edicts, was also gone, replaced by the Chief Clerk's Office of the Grand Marshal's Office. At the same time, the Chief Clerk's Office had taken over part of the Directorate of Ceremonial's duties — in practice, it was the Grand Marshal's Office's "secretariat."

Memorials submitted by the Six Ministries, the various guards, and the localities were all collected at the Chief Clerk's Office of the Grand Marshal's Office, where Bi Jiucheng and Li Yan read them first before passing them on to Zhu Cilang.

Under normal circumstances, however, Zhu Cilang read the reports first thing every morning. After reading them, he would hold a "noon audience" or "afternoon audience" to discuss governance with the commanders of the Marshal's Office guards, the Six Ministries, the Censorate, and other offices, and issue his directives. His directives were generally drafted into edicts by the Chief Clerk's Office, then divided into two categories: one category went to the Grand Secretariat to draft itemized rescripts, which Zhu Cilang endorsed in red, and then the Staff Office transmitted them.

The other category consisted of edicts to the guards of the Grand Marshal's Office, which needed no itemized rescript and could simply be endorsed in red by Zhu Cilang.

But today was a bit unusual. It was already afternoon; unless it was urgent military intelligence, ordinary memorials should have waited until tomorrow morning for Zhu Cilang's review.

"What is it?" Zhu Cilang asked, a little puzzled. "Urgent military intelligence?"

Bi Jiucheng shook his head. "Thousand Years, these are memorials from Shi Kefa and Gao Jie to His Majesty!"

"To His Majesty?" Zhu Cilang hesitated. "What do they say?"

Li Yan smiled. "Shi Kefa and Gao Jie report that they have assembled a hundred thousand troops to rally to the throne and will soon march north to welcome the imperial carriage."

"A hundred thousand?" Zhu Cilang gave a cold laugh. "Where were they before?"

"Thousand Years," Li Yan said, "the question is just which king Shi Kefa means to rally to."

"My Imperial Father, I should think?" Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "This is a good thing. Shi Kefa is truly a loyal subject — a rare loyal subject!"

"A good thing? Thousand Years, are you serious?" Bi Jiucheng was stunned.

Li Yan said, "Of course it's a good thing. With him making such a stir, how many of those noble houses and military families in Nanjing that have enjoyed two hundred years of privilege can keep themselves clear of it?"

"Thousand Years," Bi Jiucheng said in a low voice, "the southeast must not fall into chaos!"

Zhu Cilang smiled. "It won't. A pack of useless fellows! Jiucheng, go summon the afternoon court. Have Su Guansheng, Wu Sanfu, and Zhu Chunchen called in as well. We wish to hear everyone's opinions."

"This subject receives the decree."

The main hall of the Grand Marshal's Office.

The Grand Secretaries and Ministers of the wandering court, the guard commanders of the Marshal's Office, Li Banghua of the Censorate, Military Advisor Li Yan, Governor of Denglai Su Guansheng, Zhu Chunchen — whom Zhu Cilang had just appointed Beiwo Guard Commander — and Wu Sanfu, commander of the Hard-Working New Army, all gathered together and began deliberations.

"That Gao Jie! He actually dares to oppose Thousand Years! He's a Reinforcement Suppression Regional Commander who fled the battlefield and ran a thousand li — that crime hasn't even been pursued yet! Thousand Years, give this subject an order! This subject will lead troops and wipe him out!"

The one shouting for war was the Imperial Uncle Wu Sanfu!

He was formidable now. The New Army he commanded had killed three thousand real Tartars!

What did Gao Jie's paltry strength amount to? Could it compare to three thousand Tartars? Wouldn't they just be wiped out in a casual fight?

Moreover, it was now the end of the fifth month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen. The Hard-Working New Army had trained for more than twenty days in Dengzhou, replenished its ranks, and grown even stronger.

At Dagukou, the Hard-Working New Army's total strength had already exceeded twenty thousand. Then Li Yan and Red Lady brought over three thousand, Su Guansheng recruited another three thousand in Dengzhou, and Zhu Cilang drew two thousand from the accompanying nobles, meritorious officials, officials, and righteous commoners.

The New Army's total strength had now reached nearly 28,500 men!

These 28,500 men were organized into four divisions — front, center, left, and right — each exceeding seven thousand men, including four brigades of sixteen hundred each and a direct-attachment unit of over six hundred. In addition, there were several hundred men directly attached to the Grand Marshal's Office and the New Army Command.

Along with the increase in manpower, equipment had also improved somewhat. The New Army's firearms now numbered nearly 2,600 pieces (Shen Tingyang had scoured around and purchased more matchlock muskets and sent them to Dengzhou), including turtle-foot muskets and matchlock muskets, all of the matchlock muskets fitted with bayonets.

These 2,600 firearms were distributed among eight battalions. The front, left, and right divisions each had two battalions; the two firearms battalions belonging to the center division and two infantry battalions without firearms formed an infantry brigade, all stationed on Haisha Island.

But here in Dengzhou, the more than twenty-six thousand Hard-Working New Army troops — including six battalions of musketeers, three thousand armored cavalry, and four Hongyi cannons — were still powerful enough to give Gao Jie's thirty thousand paper soldiers more than they could handle!

Wu Xiang shook his head and interrupted his son. "It's not just Gao Jie. Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo, and Liu Zeqing will most likely join in too!"

Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo, and Liu Zeqing had not yet declared their positions, but their stance could be imagined — they would certainly make trouble!

Because making trouble cost them nothing. If the sky fell, Shi Kefa would hold it up! And they could also sell out Shi Kefa for profit — why wouldn't they?

Zhu Cilang looked at Military Advisor Li Yan. "Military Advisor, what do you think?"

"They won't come attack Dengzhou." Li Yan said. "If they come... it will be hard to negotiate terms! The only unknown now is Shi Kefa."

"Shi Kefa is not worth worrying about," Hou Xun said with a smile. "He's a xiucai starting a rebellion — three years and nothing comes of it! It's Ma Shiying, Lu Zhenfei, and Qian Qianyi who need watching."

"Qian Qianyi?" Zhu Cilang smiled. Wasn't this the "water's too cold" fellow? The water here in Shandong was very cold!

Hou Xun said, "That man can't accomplish anything... but he's more than capable of ruining things!"

"Ruining whose things?"

Hou Xun smiled. "Shi Kefa's, of course!" He paused. "Also, Qian Qianyi has a disciple we need to win over to our side!"

"A disciple? Who?"

"Zheng Sen!" Hou Xun said. "He is the eldest son of Zheng Zhilong, Regional Commander of Fujian!"

Ah, Zheng Chenggong — son of the richest man in the Ming!

Zhu Cilang nodded. "We know what to do."

Li Yan smiled. "Thousand Years, strategy alone is not enough. It is time to make a grand show of strength! They're just relying on numbers, aren't they? We've been in Dengzhou for almost a month now — it's time to raise a great army from the seven guards of Denglai!"

Zhu Cilang turned his gaze to Su Guansheng and Zhu Chunchen.

These past twenty-odd days, Su Guansheng and Zhu Chunchen had been busy enough to fly!

The two of them had been "working the grassroots." In twenty-odd days, Su Guansheng had covered three prefectures and eleven counties! Zhu Chunchen had covered the seven guards of Denglai, conveying the edict of tax exemption. Both men's horsemanship had improved considerably from all the riding.

And they had not gone out alone — each had brought troops. Now all three prefectures, seven guards, and eleven counties of the two prefectures of Denglai were garrisoned by the Hard-Working New Army. The numbers were small, just one banner of eighty-odd men each.

Few as they were, they were enough to overawe the petty troublemakers!

"Thousand Years, the guard cities of all seven guards are under control!" Zhu Chunchen said. "As long as this subject, the Duke of Ying, the Earl of Xiangcheng, the Duke of Ding, the Marquis of Wuding, the Marquis of Taining, and the Marquis of Zhenyuan each lead one banner of troops and a dozen staff officers, with silver in hand, to recruit soldiers, we can guarantee thirty thousand men within twenty days!"

"Give each man ten taels as family settlement allowance, and give each guard ten taels as reward!" Zhu Cilang said. "Be sure to bring all the able-bodied men of the seven guards to Dengzhou city for Us!"

This time they would be throwing out six hundred thousand taels of silver! Buying thirty thousand able-bodied men and the seven guards of Denglai with six hundred thousand taels — that was a fine bargain indeed!

He paused. "Are there enough weapons?"

"Armor certainly not," Wu Xiang said. "Sabers, shields, bows and arrows are also insufficient, but spears should be enough to go around."

Li Yan smiled. "Getting the numbers together is enough. As for weapons, Shi Kefa will equip us."

Zhu Cilang nodded. "Well said. But the highest art of war is to defeat the enemy's strategy — we'd best avoid actually coming to blows with Shi Kefa."

"What Thousand Years says is most excellent!" Li Yan said. "We need only make a great show of force and first intimidate the Four Garrisons. After that, winning them over will be easy. Among the Four Garrisons, we need only win over one, and Shi Kefa will have no choice but to come before Thousand Years bearing thorns and begging forgiveness!"

This was the advantage of having money and one's own loyal troops! If the Four Garrisons' great armies wanted to move against him, they would have to think carefully about the consequences. Unless the Four Garrisons and Shi Kefa stood united, they basically had no chance of victory.

But how could the Four Garrisons and Shi Kefa possibly be of one mind?

(End of Chapter)