Chapter 357: Crown Prince Zhu of Many Soldiers and Generals

"Your Highness, this subject has no particular views on reforming the government." Zhang Huangyan's expression was somewhat grave. "This subject only wishes to leave for Penglai as soon as possible. These days I have been watching the news from the north. The Northern Metropolitan Area is now Tartar territory, and most of Shanxi is also under Tartar control. They have also massed tens of thousands of troops on the borders of Shandong and Henan, and they are still constantly enticing surrenders and recruiting rebels to swell their forces. Their ambitions are not small!"

Zhu Cilang had been so busy with all manner of new policies lately that he seemed not to have placed military matters in a position of great urgency, and this made Zhang Huangyan somewhat worried.

Moreover, the news coming from the north was not good either. The Tartars' rule over the Northern Metropolitan Area and Shanxi was growing firmer by the day, while Datong had been surrounded by the Tartars for many days now, and no one knew when it might fall.

As for Li Zicheng, he had shrunk back into Shaanxi and recently abandoned Kaifeng Prefecture as well. It looked as though he was preparing to shut his gates and defend his own territory! And no one knew whether Dorgon would let Li Zicheng be and strike first at the Ming forces in Shandong.

Chen Rui, the Minister of War, took up the topic with full confidence: "The court has also been stepping up its war preparations these days! At the end of last year, three more foreign-officer regiments arrived in Nanjing. Together with the earliest-arrived Shi Rui'en foreign-officer regiment, we can now field four Western-style infantry regiments. In addition, a foreign-officer artillery regiment is also about to reach Nanjing.

By this autumn at the latest, we will have four Western-style infantry regiments, one 800-man Western-style artillery regiment, four arquebus regiments, and two cavalry regiments. Our usable model elite troops will number close to 20,000, and if we count the baggage troops as well, we will have 25,000 men."

A Western-style infantry regiment was an infantry regiment using Maurice-of-Nassau square tactics, with nearly 2,000 men per regiment. At present one regiment had already been formed, while three more would complete formation in the summer and should be ready for combat by autumn.

The arquebus regiments and cavalry regiments were essentially the former arquebus brigades and cavalry brigades. While forming the Western-style infantry regiments, Zhu Cilang had also expanded and renamed the infantry brigades subordinate to the various divisional armies.

All infantry regiments were to be expanded uniformly according to the model regiment's establishment, reaching a scale of 2,000 combat troops and 500 baggage troops (one baggage battalion), so as to facilitate future re-equipment and conversion into Western-style infantry regiments. The two cavalry regiments were expanded to a scale of 1,600 combat troops and 500 baggage troops — that is, one additional 500-man baggage battalion was added.

And among all the infantry regiments, cavalry regiments, and artillery regiments of the various divisional armies, only four model regiments, four arquebus regiments, two cavalry regiments, and one artillery regiment currently possessed true, formidable combat strength.

These eleven regiments were not assigned to any division, but were all incorporated into the Model Army, with Wu Sanfu serving as its Regional Commander.

Zhang Huangyan's brows were knitted. "Your Highness, the foreigners' art of war may not necessarily be applicable here. And can their methods of waging war compare with ours? Besides, four Western-style regiments amount to only 8,000 combat troops in total, and infantry at that. What use could they possibly be?

This subject believes the expedient course is to build more fortresses, train more local militia, and select capable officials well versed in military affairs to serve as local administrators in Shandong, Henan, and elsewhere.

Furthermore, since Li Zicheng has abandoned Kaifeng Prefecture, should the court not send troops to recover it? If we can win over the powerful families of Henan for our own use, we might be able to delay the Tartars' southward advance. The more time we can buy, the more elite troops we can train!"

Zhu Cilang's brows knitted as well. The northern defense line truly gave him a headache — not because Dorgon was aggressively pressing forward, but precisely because of Dorgon's restraint in Henan and Shandong.

Dorgon's restraint was like drawing back a fist, ready at any moment to strike with full force. Yet the officials the Ming had posted to Henan and Shandong, along with the local gentry loyal to the Ming, kept expanding recklessly, eager to seize every scrap of territory they could. This made the defense line extremely loose — fortified everywhere, yet defensible nowhere.

So once Dorgon struck in earnest, the Ming's paper-thin northern defense line would be swept away in no time. At most, the Dengzhou-Laizhou Peninsula and the Taiyi Mountains could hold out for a while.

"Your Highness," Zhang Huangyan said after a moment's deliberation, "this subject has one more suggestion. The court should continue to maintain contact with Li Zicheng and arrange a joint northern expedition — using attack as defense, to throw the Tartars off their stride."

"The roving bandits are faithless. If the court deals with Li Zicheng, it will surely come to grief!"

No sooner had Zhang Huangyan made his second suggestion than it met with opposition from Chen Rui, the Minister of War.

Zhu Cilang also frowned slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Judging from the present situation under heaven, the Ming and the Shun ought indeed to join hands. But between the Ming and the Shun there was no foundation of trust at all, and without trust, how could there be cooperation? The matter was fine to think about, but impossible to carry out.

He sighed and turned his gaze toward Hou Xun.

"Master Hou," Zhu Cilang looked at Hou Xun, "what does Zuo Liangyu say? Is he willing to receive you?"

Apart from Li Zicheng, Zuo Liangyu was another figure who gave Zhu Cilang a great deal of trouble.

On paper, Zhu Cilang's army was quite large. The various divisional armies of the Hard-Working New Army alone comprised six divisions plus eleven regiments. Of these, the infantry divisions — the Vanguard, Rear, Left, Right, Center, and First Divisions — had each been expanded from their previous 8,000 men to around 11,000 (including baggage troops and division-level direct units). The six divisions alone numbered 66,000 men. Add the Model Army's 25,000, and the total strength reached 91,000. In addition, the several thousand men of the Xiaoling Guard New Army were in fact also organized on the divisional-army establishment. Thus the total strength of the New Army's divisional armies was already approaching 100,000 — truly a case of many troops and many generals!

But of this 100,000-strong army, very little could actually be deployed, because the backbone of the divisional armies was the 50,000-odd men Zhu Cilang had brought from the north. After entering Nanjing, these men and the 20,000 men of the Yangtze River Navy had for the most part been given silver and homestead land. They were then granted leave in rotation so that they could settle down and establish households in Nanjing — and so these 70,000-odd men became 70,000-odd households, forming Zhu Cilang's base of support in Nanjing.

With them in place, Zhu Cilang could do as he pleased in the southeast!

Beyond these 70,000 base households, there were now also several thousand Xiaoling Guard New Army men, some ten thousand Huai'an troops, and thirty thousand Huaixi troops. The Huai'an troops were Lu Zhenfei's force, with only some of their officers drawn from the Hard-Working New Army's original followers. The Huaixi troops were new soldiers that Li Yan and Zhu Chunchen had recruited for Zhu Cilang.

These later arrivals did not enjoy the immediate privilege of being allotted houses and land — they would have to serve ten years, or achieve a certain amount of military merit, before they could obtain land. Nor would they get homestead land in Nanjing, nor the one or two hundred taels of settling-in allowance, and still less could they obtain paddy fields in Jiangnan. After all, the number of base households was limited, and Zhu Cilang could not possibly grant every follower the treatment of an "original follower."

And those "original followers" with their generous treatment, after receiving their homestead land and farmland, had all spent considerable time getting things in order. Some busied themselves taking wives, while others brought their families from Shandong or Huai'an to Nanjing for reunion. Because the leave was granted in rotation, the whole resettlement process had dragged on even longer. To this day, the four divisions stationed in Nanjing were mere empty shells, with large numbers of "original followers" still on leave. Only the two divisions sent to Fengyang and Shandong were essentially at full strength, but both bore the heavy responsibility of guarding the frontier and could not possibly be used for a campaign against Zuo Liangyu.

So the only troops Zhu Cilang actually had on hand for a punitive expedition against Zuo Liangyu were the Model Army's eleven regiments (which were also at full strength). But of these, the four model regiments had not yet completed their training, and the artillery regiment's training had only just begun.

Moreover, Zuo Liangyu was not like those useless ennobled favorites in Nanjing. Even if he could not defeat Zhu Cilang in the field, he still had the two strong cities of Wuchang and Hanyang to defend.

Once the Huguang campaign turned into a protracted war, would Dorgon and Li Zicheng simply stand by and watch without sticking a foot in? How would Zhu Cilang extricate himself then? A war against Zuo Liangyu could not be allowed to end in a draw, because a draw would mean that two power centers capable of balancing each other had emerged within the Ming dynasty itself!

By the same token, Zuo Liangyu did not dare lightly raise the banner of rebellion. He could not make himself emperor, after all — the Zuo family army was not a roving bandit host, and if he tried to become emperor, his followers would surely scatter. And Zhu Cizhao could not become emperor either, because Chongzhen had not yet stepped down! How could a filial son ascend the throne himself first? That would be utterly improper — the name would not be right and the words would not carry authority, so it would have no power to rally support. Therefore Zuo Liangyu could only "purge the court of evil ministers" — that is, bring down Zhu Cilang. And to do that he would have to march on Nanjing. Otherwise, what "evil ministers" could he purge? He might as well just carve out his own territory in Huguang and quietly make a fortune. And if Zuo Liangyu marched on Nanjing, he too could only win, never lose! Therefore Zuo Liangyu also did not dare force a showdown.

As for Zhu Cilang, his strategy was to stall and wait for change — after all, Zuo Liangyu could not live much longer. Once he died, the Zuo family army would be much easier to deal with.

"Thousand Years," Hou Xun said with a slight frown, "this subject has been in constant correspondence with Lord Zuo these days. In his letters, Lord Zuo says he can marry his daughter to the Prince of Yong, but that he is advanced in years and in poor health, and cannot undertake a western campaign into Sichuan. Moreover, the Prince of Yong is too young to become Prince of Shu, so he hopes the Prince of Yong can be re-enfeoffed as Prince of Chu."

Zhu Cilang thought to himself: So he means to carve out Jing and Chu for himself?

"Very well!" Zhu Cilang nodded and smiled. "We shall presently ask Imperial Father to issue an edict enfeoffing Cizhao as Prince of Chu, with his fief chosen at Jiangling!"

"Jiangling?" Hou Xun was taken aback. "That is the fief of the Prince of Jing."

Zhu Cilang smiled. "The Jing princely line has already been abolished. The present Prince of Jing is merely an idle prince — what need does he have of a fief? Let Jingzhou be enfeoffed to Cizhao. Wasn't Zuo Mengmei's birth father, Qiu Lei, the garrison Regional Commander of Jingzhou? With him there in Jingzhou looking after Cizhao, We can rest easy!"

Zhu Cilang could hardly be described as sentimental toward the Ming's princes and commandery princes — he stripped them without the slightest hesitation! Any line that ran afoul of "losing one's fief" was basically stripped clean from prince down to commandery prince. He did not care whether these princes and commandery princes bore any responsibility, or whether they had ruled well or badly — all were abolished first and questions asked later.

Against this backdrop of mass abolition, a few princes were also re-enfeoffed — the "Thirty-Three Princes" now residing in Nanjing were such re-enfeoffments: first abolished, then re-enfeoffed. What was abolished was the iron-capped princely and commandery-princely lines; what was re-enfeoffed were princes and commandery princes who would be demoted one rank each generation, with treatment far inferior to before, and not everyone got even that.

Zhu Cilang paused. "Furthermore, grant the Prince of Chu's establishment 200,000 taels of silver. Master Hou, take the silver with you and set out for Wuchang as soon as possible.

Once you reach Wuchang, be sure to warn Zuo Liangyu and Qiu Lei to watch out for Li Zicheng! We fear that after Li Zicheng suffers one more defeat, he will move south into Huguang!"

"This old subject receives the decree."

(End of Chapter)