Chapter 297: I Knew You Would Turn Traitor

Daming Prefecture, Daming County.

In the command headquarters of Liu Liangzuo, Regional Commander of Henan under the Great Ming, two would-be traitors sat facing each other in silence, wanting to weep but having no tears.

Because they had just discovered that someone had made monkeys of them!

The one who had made monkeys of the two of them was none other than the Great Ming's Army-Soothing Crown Prince, Zhu Cilang — the story of Wu Sangui switching sides, the story of the Tartars suffering a great defeat in Shanxi, the story of the new army attacking Tianjin by water — all of it was pure fabrication!

The Tartars had not reached the point of being "finished" — the Tartars were still very much "in business"!

With a single counterattack, they had driven the roving-bandit host that had earlier seemed unstoppable from Zhending Prefecture all the way to Kaifeng Prefecture — Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu ran so fast that in the blink of an eye they were across the Yellow River.

And Wu Sangui had also come south from Taiyuan, entered Huaiqing Prefecture by way of Zezhou, and by now had most likely crossed the river and entered Luoyang.

When word of this reached Daming Prefecture, Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo naturally did not dare linger in battle either, and hurriedly gathered their troops, preparing to flee back to Guide Prefecture.

But just at that moment, dire tidings arrived simultaneously from Suizhou and Shangqiu.

On the twenty-fifth day of the eleventh month, Zhu Chunchen led three brigades of the new army in a sudden occupation of Suizhou! The same day, Governor of Henan Lü Daqi, escorted by two thousand provincial-guard troops and one brigade of the new army, entered and occupied Shangqiu!

Fine indeed — Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo were at the front resisting the Qing, and Zhu Cilang sent "central-army" troops to seize their home bases behind them.

This was no small problem!

These two warlords were both rich men — how could you be a warlord without money? Their armies were private armies, both money-making tools and gold-devouring monsters. Without three or four hundred thousand taels of silver in hand, how were they to carry on as warlords? How were they to keep things circulating? All that silver was now stored in Suizhou and Shangqiu.

Besides silver, there was of course grain. Soldiers gather where there is pay, but without grain they fall into chaos on their own — so the two commanders had naturally stockpiled grain in their home bases. The silver and grain stored in Suizhou and Shangqiu were their very foundation!

And now their foundation had been seized by Zhu Cilang just like that — what were they to do?

"How could this happen? How could this happen..." Liu Liangzuo shook his head over and over, unable to make sense of it no matter how he tried. "We both sent memorials urging the Thousand Years to take the throne, and all these days we've been properly obedient. He told us to march north, and we obediently did as he said — so how could he suddenly strike at us? Isn't he afraid of chilling men's hearts?"

Old Xu Dingguo had suffered grievances during Chongzhen's reign, and so bore considerable resentment toward the House of Zhu. Hearing Liu Liangzuo speak thus, he gave a heavy snort: "What hearts do the Zhus have left? This realm has long been a contest between the House of Li and the Tartars, and now that Li Zicheng has been defeated, it seems he is finished."

Liu Liangzuo frowned slightly. His younger brother Liu Liangchen had long since fallen into the water and become a traitor, so he too naturally harbored thoughts of going over to the Great Qing. Had the Qing troops not been tied down by Li Zicheng and the Dai prince, unable to move south for the time being, he might well have surrendered already.

But he also knew how things stood over in the Great Qing. The Great Qing would not hand out silver to Han troops like his — they had to go and seize money themselves to keep their armies going.

But seizing money was not easy either — you could not just go and seize it whenever you pleased. You had to go and seize it alongside the heavenly soldiers of the Eight Banners. Otherwise, with the paltry strength Liu Liangzuo had, whom could he rob? The forces in the hands of Li Zicheng and Zhu Cilang might not be enough to fight the Eight Banners, but wiping him out would be child's play.

So Liu Liangzuo had to bring a sum of silver sufficient to maintain his army when he went over to the Tartars. Otherwise, before the Tartars could even march south, his army would fall apart for lack of money to hand out as rewards.

And if his army was gone, how was he supposed to go on being a traitor?

Seeing Liu Liangzuo silent, Xu Dingguo grew somewhat anxious. His own strength was too small — the troops under his command numbered only a few thousand, and of those who could actually fight, there might not even be a thousand. With such unpresentable strength, even if he went over to the Tartars, it would be hard to win any real favor.

And besides, if Liu Liangzuo did not become a traitor, Xu Dingguo did not dare become one either!

"Commander," Xu Dingguo said, "are you truly willing to fall into Zhu Cilang's hands and be penned up in Nanjing for the rest of your life?"

"That..."

Liu Liangzuo did not dare! His younger brother held office in the Great Qing, and moreover he had all along kept in contact with the Great Qing through that brother.

If he went to Nanjing to live as a rich man, his dealings with the Tartars would surely be uncovered by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and then, even if he escaped beheading, he would have to spend the rest of his days on Big Yuan Island.

Liu Liangzuo shook his head. "Our foundations are all in Suizhou and Shangqiu, and now Zhu Chunchen and Lü Daqi have occupied those two cities with more than ten thousand men. Within Fengyang Prefecture there are also Ma Shiying and Huang Degong with twenty or thirty thousand men, plus a division of the new army..."

Xu Dingguo gritted his teeth. "What's so terrible about that? It's only our families! The Commander's son is with the army, and this old man's sons are with the army too. As for the rest — abandon what must be abandoned!"

"And the silver?" Liu Liangzuo asked. "Will the men under us follow us without silver?"

"Seize it!" Xu Dingguo said. "Silver can be seized!"

"Where?"

"Right here in Daming Prefecture!"

Liu Liangzuo glared at him. "This is the Great Qing's territory — Northern Zhili!"

"Then... then go to Kaifeng Prefecture and seize a haul."

"Kaifeng Prefecture's city was long since ruined by the great flood, and that place is roving-bandit territory besides!"

That wouldn't do either!

"Go to Shandong — seize the Eastern Depot Prefecture!" Xu Dingguo gritted his teeth. "the Eastern Depot Prefecture is now Liu Zeqing's home base, and it's rich land along the Grand Canal besides. He's off leading troops against Hejian Prefecture right now, so this is our perfect chance to grab a haul, and then head north to join the Great Qing."

They could not take Liaocheng, the seat of the Eastern Depot Prefecture, but there were plenty of prosperous towns around Liaocheng — grab what they could!

He drew a breath and lowered his voice: "To be frank with you, this old man still holds a top-secret and supremely important piece of intelligence that can be offered to the Tartars!"

Top-secret and supremely important? Liu Liangzuo immediately thought of the matter of "Wu Sangui turning against the Qing."

"Does it have to do with the Prince Who Pacifies the West?" Liu Liangzuo asked.

"Exactly!" Xu Dingguo looked at Liu Liangzuo. "So you know of this matter too?"

Liu Liangzuo nodded.

Xu Dingguo laughed. "Then let us offer this intelligence to the Great Qing together!"

"That..." Liu Liangzuo frowned deeply. "Let us set that matter aside for now. First we march on the Eastern Depot Prefecture, seize a haul, and leave!"

"Very well, just as the Commander says!"

The two traitors had it all nicely worked out — first grab a haul on Liu Zeqing's turf.

But did it never occur to them that Zhu Cilang might send troops to seize Liu Zeqing's home base as well?

The Crown Prince's strength in Shandong was far greater than his strength in Henan. Li Ruolian, Regional Commander of Shandong, had under his direct command alone seven brigades of the new army from the Dengzhou and Laizhou guards — more than ten thousand men — and Su Guansheng, Governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou, had another three thousand provincial-guard troops.

The Prince of Lu's establishment in Qingzhou now also had left, center, and right guards, plus the Qingzhou city-defense battalion, and an Andong Guard reorganized on the model of the seven Dengzhou-Laizhou guards — altogether no fewer than ten thousand men.

In addition, Shi Kefa had six thousand supreme-command troops, and Gao Hongtu had four thousand provincial-guard troops, all elite soldiers selected from the throne-rallying volunteer army Shi Kefa had brought to Shandong.

Shandong was simply not a place where Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo could run wild!

Just as the two of them were leading their troops toward the Eastern Depot Prefecture, Li Ruolian, Shandong Guard Commander, was leading four brigades of the Dengzhou-Laizhou new army and one guard from the Prince of Lu's establishment (also a brigade's worth of strength), together with accompanying civilian laborers — a host of no fewer than fifteen thousand — in a vast, imposing column into Liu Zeqing's home base, the city of the Eastern Depot Prefecture!

At the same time, the order commanding Liu Zeqing to withdraw his troops to the Eastern Depot Prefecture had been brought by his nephew Liu Zhigan to Liu Zeqing's headquarters in Dezhou.

"Uncle, the Thousand Years wishes to invite you to Nanjing to enjoy your retirement..."

Hearing this, Liu Zeqing's mouth fell open, and for a long while he could not make a sound.

"Uncle," Liu Zhigan took out Zhu Cilang's order and presented it with both hands to the dumbstruck Liu Zeqing, "the Thousand Years has already sent Li Ruolian with fifteen thousand troops to occupy the Eastern Depot Prefecture. If Uncle is unwilling to go to Nanjing, then all the savings you have stored in the Eastern Depot Prefecture will be gone! Without money, what will you do in the days ahead?"

"Th-this... this..." Liu Zeqing finally recovered himself somewhat and stammered, "Then what about our troops?"

Liu Zhigan said in a low voice, "His Highness the Thousand Years means for your nephew and Li Huajing to divide command of it."

(End of Chapter)