Chapter 359: Li Zicheng Is Back at Full Strength

Clank, clank — before the Gate of Martial Valor Hall in the imperial palace of Chang'an came the footsteps of the golden-armored guards changing shifts. Armor and weapons clashed with a faint clatter that reached the ears of Li Zicheng, who was still up late into the night, toiling for the nation and its people.

Li Zicheng raised his head from a great pile of memorials and rubbed his eyes. The changing of the guard outside reminded him that it was already deep into the night. He ought to set aside these headache-inducing affairs of state and go strive at another, even more vexing undertaking — the enterprise of producing a Shun Taizong for the Great Shun dynasty!

This year he was forty by nominal age. Had it not been for the fatuous and benighted rule of the Chongzhen Emperor, which kept him so busy rebelling that he had no leisure to beget children, he would already be a grandfather by now.

Yet he still had neither son nor daughter, and with this fine realm and no one to inherit it — how could a man not grow anxious?

Because of this matter, he had already taken five or six consorts in succession, and had even had men select two widows who had borne sons to enter the palace and attend him.

But those two widows' bellies were just as disappointing — he had tried and tried, and still there was no sign! He had no idea how they had ever conceived their original children.

Could it be that he was getting on in years, his body failing, and he could no longer carry on the line for the Great Shun Celestial Dynasty?

But the Shun dynasty had no shortage of aging generals, and among them were plenty who had gotten sons and daughters in old age. Even his own eldest nephew Li Guo (Li Guo was older than Li Zicheng) had gotten a daughter while marching and fighting on campaign — truly enough to make a man die of envy!

Thinking that he might have missed the best years for begetting children because of Chongzhen's incompetence, Li Zicheng could not suppress a sigh. Then he set aside the affairs of state at hand and rose from his chair — he still had to keep striving! The Shun realm was waiting. If he had no son, to whom would the realm pass? If there was no one to take up his work, what had all these years of toil been for? Just to let that little whelp Li Laiheng have his way?

The very thought of Li Laiheng made his anger flare. Quite a few people were already calling Li Laiheng the "Little Roving King" behind his back!

Was that not cursing this Roving King to never produce a son? Truly infuriating. But angry as he was, he could not kill Li Laiheng now, because Li Laiheng was the only heir. If he truly ended up with no son of his own, then the title of Shun Taizong could only go cheap to this little whelp. He could not let the Great Shun realm perish for lack of a successor, could he? Even if he, Li Zicheng, did not care, the men below him would never agree!

Li Zicheng let out a breath, then patted his chest — still quite robust! Strip off the clothes and it was all muscle underneath. Spending a night with two women was no problem at all, so how could he possibly fail to produce a son? Could it be that he needed to find a physician to take a look?

Just as Li Zicheng was preparing to keep striving at the question of a successor for the Great Shun, light footsteps sounded outside the door, and then a young eunuch came in, kowtowed to Li Zicheng, and said: "Imperial Lord, Minister Zhang of the Military Government seeks an audience."

"Zhang Linran? At this late hour?" Li Zicheng's brow furrowed.

The so-called Military Government corresponded to the Ming dynasty's Ministry of War. After Li Zicheng became emperor, he changed the Six Ministries to the Six Governments, and the Ministry of War was renamed the Military Government. Its current Minister was named Zhang Linran, a turncoat official of the Ming, a jinshi by examination, and before his defection he had been Prefect of Pingyang.

"Quickly, summon him in at once!" Li Zicheng knew that Zhang Linran would not seek an audience late at night unless it was bad news!

He was, after all, the Minister of the Military Government!

Zhang Linran, just past forty and of very imposing appearance, was soon led into the Hall of Martial Valor by the young eunuch. He too kowtowed to Li Zicheng, and only then reported urgently: "Imperial Lord, an urgent dispatch has arrived from the Defense Commissioner of Tong Pass, the Count of Wushan. Wu Sangui's troops have already reached Wenxiang County, and his vanguard is directly beneath the walls of Tong Pass!"

"They came fast!" Li Zicheng drew a sharp breath. "Someone go summon the Marquis of Ru, the Marquis of Ze, the Marquis of Qi, and also the Chancellor and the Grand Military Advisor!"

The men named — the Marquis of Ru, Liu Zongmin; the Marquis of Ze, Tian Jianxiu; the Marquis of Qi, Gu Ying; the Chancellor, Niu Jinxing; and the Grand Military Advisor, Song Xiance — all had their peaceful dreams disturbed, and in the middle of the night were all hauled to the Hall of Martial Valor in the imperial palace of Chang'an.

By the time they arrived, the great hall of the Hall of Martial Valor was already lit with a good many candles as thick as a child's arm, all leftovers from the old Ming Prince of Qin's mansion. In the center of the hall, two long tables had been pushed together, and spread across them was a very carefully drawn map showing the terrain around Tong Pass Garrison, Wenxiang County, Lingbao County, Ruicheng County, and Puzhou. Of these, Tong Pass Garrison belonged to Shaanxi; Wenxiang County and Lingbao County belonged to Henan; Ruicheng County and Puzhou belonged to Shanxi.

At present, Wenxiang County and Lingbao County, which belonged to Henan, were already under Wu Sangui's control. Ruicheng County and Puzhou, which belonged to Shanxi, were still in the hands of the Shun army, but most of Pingyang Prefecture (both Ruicheng County and Puzhou belonged to Pingyang Prefecture) was controlled by the Qing army, and Xiezhou, not far from Ruicheng County and Puzhou, now had Eight Banners troops garrisoned there.

Tong Pass Garrison, meanwhile, was firmly held by 7,000 troops under Ma Shiyao, the Count of Wushan — formerly the Resolute General of the Shun army's old Left Camp and now Guard Commander of Tong Pass Garrison.

Incidentally, after retreating from Shanxi, Li Zicheng had once again reorganized the army under his command. He had reorganized his force of some one or two hundred thousand troops into five camps, thirteen garrisons, plus one garrison command.

As for the five camps, their designations remained the Front Camp, Rear Camp, Left Camp, Right Camp, and the Central Guard Army. But the specific units under them had changed considerably. Some units had been transferred out of the five-camp system to defend territory vital to the Great Shun dynasty, while other units that had distinguished themselves in the Shanxi campaign — crack troops such as Chen Yongfu's command — had been brought into the five-camp army and become part of the Shun elite old-camp force.

After reorganization and reinforcement, the five-camp army's strength had once again recovered to around 85,000! This force was now concentrated near Chang'an, ready at any time to march to the front and give battle to Wu Sangui's great army.

As for the main force of the Huaiqing counteroffensive — the two camps (Rear Camp and Right Camp) of Li Guo and Liu Xiyao — after being transferred to Xiangjing, their designations were changed to Xiangyang Garrison and Yunyang Garrison. Li Guo and Liu Xiyao were appointed commanders of the Xiangyang-Yunyang garrisons respectively, and Li Guo also served concurrently as the garrison commander of Xiangjing.

The tens of thousands of troops under their command were stationed in Xiangjing Prefecture and Yunyang Prefecture respectively, and became the first batch to take part in the "land reform," upgrading from roving bandits to landlords!

Besides the Xiangyang and Yunyang garrisons, whose numbers had swollen because of the "land reform," the Shun regime now also had eleven garrisons: Nanyang Garrison, Chang'an Garrison, Yan'an Garrison, Yulin Garrison, Hanzhong Garrison, Ningxia Garrison, Gansu Garrison, Xining Garrison, Liangzhou Garrison, Qinlong Garrison, and Tong Pass Garrison. However, these eleven garrisons had relatively few troops — the largest was Tong Pass Garrison's 7,000 men — and for the time being no land would be distributed to their officers and men. The "land reform" in the two prefectures of Xiangyang and Yunyang was something of a pilot program; only once it went well would it be rolled out comprehensively.

Once the land reform in the remaining eleven garrisons was complete, each and every one of the more than 200,000 soldiers of the Great Shun would have a family holding of his own — Li Zicheng would have done right by them!

Because the distribution of land had already been announced within the army, the morale of the repeatedly defeated Shun army had begun to soar after the New Year. From top to bottom, everyone was once again full of expectation.

Li Zicheng faintly sensed that the fearless Shun celestial soldiers of the days before entering Beijing had returned!

Looking at his trusted generals and advisors, Li Zicheng, once again brimming with confidence, said: "Hah! Wu Sangui bullies us too far. We've already shrunk back to Shaanxi, and he still won't let us be. This time I'm going to set a death trap in Guanzhong, lure Wu Sangui's troops in, and slaughter them all, to avenge our fallen brothers!"

(End of Chapter)