Chapter 508: The Feast at Hongmen Buries Them

Zuo Menggeng stared at Huang Shu, his breathing quickening.

Huang Shu said, "He Tengjiao may be a civil official, but he is no loyal subject. These past two years he has done plenty of hoarding troops and aggrandizing himself! As far as I know, when he first took charge of Hunan he secretly plotted to carve out territory with Fu Shangrui, Yan Qiheng, Zhang Kuang, Wu Jinxi, Zhou Daqi, Chang Yanling, and other Hunan local grandees. They swore an alliance, divided up the territory, privately recruited troops and bought horses, and intercepted tax revenues. His conduct is exactly that of a regional warlord!"

So this He Tengjiao was no proper Governor either; these days he had done plenty of out-of-line things. The most out-of-line of all was swearing an oath and pact with officials including Circuit Intendant of Pian-Yuan Fu Shangrui, Prefect of Baoqing Wu Jinxi, Prefect of Changde Zhang Kuang, Circuit Intendant of Heng-Yong Yan Qiheng, Provincial Administration Commissioner of Hunan Zhou Daqi, and Regional Commander of Hunan Chang Yanling, after which each of them recruited troops and divided up the defense of Hunan's territory.

At present He Tengjiao controlled Changsha Prefecture; Fu Shangrui had his troops stationed in Chenzhou, Baojing, Jingzhou, Yongshun, and other places along the Yuan River; Yan Qiheng garrisoned Hengzhou; Zhang Kuang controlled Changde; Zhou Daqi was posted in the eastern part of Yuezhou Prefecture; and Wu Jinxi controlled Baoqing Prefecture.

Meanwhile Chang Yanling, the nominal Regional Commander of Hunan, controlled Yongzhou, Chenzhou, and, in the southern part of Hengzhou, Guiyang Subprefecture, Linwu County, Lanshan County, and Ningwu Battalion — that is, the territory where Hunan bordered Guangdong.

In addition, Yuezhou, which adjoined Jingzhou Prefecture, was controlled by the Zuo family army that had fled there. The Zuo army's territory now comprised most of Jingzhou in Huguang, Shizhou Guard, and Yuezhou in Hunan.

In other words, a single Hunan was now divided among at least eight parties, with He Tengjiao and Zuo Menggeng being the two strongest among them.

If those two sides could join forces, they would be enough to become the decisive power on the Huguang battlefield!

Huang Shu continued, "Moreover, Zhu Cilang has been in Wuchang with his troops for all these days, yet He Tengjiao, close by in Changsha, has not gone to pay his respects. Clearly he harbors disloyalty!"

Zuo Menggeng shook his head. "He is merely loyal to the Emperor... but what use is that? Strategist, all these days how many men have we sent out under the Prince of Chu's name to contact Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, and Zuo Maodi? Has a single one of them responded?"

Huang Shu laughed. "Young General, all those men are dissatisfied with the Crown Prince; they simply do not wish to be the bird that sticks its neck out."

Zuo Menggeng frowned. "And we are to stick our own necks out? Can that work? Don't let the Crown Prince shoot us dead with one matchlock musket!"

Huang Shu sneered. "Raising troops to rally to the throne is of course out of the question now, but we can still pull He Tengjiao along and go over to the Roving King together!"

Zuo Menggeng's brow furrowed deeply, and he lowered his voice. "Strategist, do you think the Roving King can defeat the Crown Prince?"

Huang Shu said, "Young General, at present the Roving King and Zhu Cilang are evenly matched... neither can do anything to the other. But you, Young General, command a hundred thousand troops and sit like a tiger at Jiangling. Once you seize the Prince of Chu and He Tengjiao, and offer up all of Hunan to abandon the Ming and submit to the Shun, then even if Zhu Cilang can hold Wuchang Prefecture, he can only watch helplessly as the land of Hunan falls into your hands."

Zuo Menggeng fell silent, still hesitating.

Huang Shu knew his proposal was somewhat wishful thinking, but the situation left no other choice. He gritted his teeth. "Young General... you cannot compare yourself now with He Tengjiao, Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and the rest! At worst, they will be relieved of military command over a cup of wine and can still live out their days as rich men in the southeast. But if you, General, ever lose power, your head will be sent a thousand li!"

And wasn't that the truth! Those others had not offended Zhu Cilang so gravely; they had merely hoarded troops and aggrandized themselves — that was simply the nature of a warlord, nothing so terrible. Moreover, when Zhu Cilang first arrived in the southeast his control was limited; he could not even fully command the Southern Metropolitan Region. For territory beyond his reach, Zhu Cilang delegated authority to those below and let them manage it themselves.

So although He Tengjiao and the others were warlords, and perhaps had their conflicts with Zhu Cilang, those conflicts were not irreconcilable.

But Zuo Menggeng was different! He had wanted to enthrone the Prince of Chu as emperor...

Huang Shu went on, "Young General, if you cannot decide when decision is needed, I fear disaster will arise within your own walls. Is there no one in Jiangling city who would like to trade your head for a lifetime of wealth and rank?"

"This, this..." Zuo Menggeng drew a sharp breath. This was the most terrifying thing of all!

At last he made up his mind and said through gritted teeth, "It seems there is no choice but this!"

Huang Shu let out a long breath of relief. Zhu Cilang would not spare Zuo Menggeng, and just as surely would not spare him, Huang Shu!

Huang Shu quickly said to Zuo Menggeng, "Young General, your subordinate will set out at once for Hanyang, and no matter what, will obtain the Roving King's edict for you."

"Good, then I must trouble you!"

Huang Shu added, "At present the hearts of men inside Jingzhou Prefecture's city are unfathomable. Young General, you must not trust others lightly, and above all you must not reveal your subordinate's destination. Otherwise great disaster may befall us at any moment!"

"Very well, very well," Zuo Menggeng said. "Strategist, just slip away quietly. To the outside I will say I have sent you to Chongqing to contact Ma Shiying and prepare the way for the army's advance into Sichuan."

Huang Shu's worry was not without cause, for by this time several factions had emerged within the Zuo family army itself.

Zuo Menggeng was of course one of them. The three thousand household retainers his father had left behind were still absolutely loyal to him. They numbered only three thousand, but they were the most formidable fighting force in the entire Zuo family army system.

Jin Shenghuan, the former Garrison Regional Commander of Chengtian Prefecture, was another major faction. Though he had few core household retainers, he had scraped together militia troops under his command during his garrison duty in Huaiyang, so he could be considered to have strength in numbers. Moreover, while garrisoning Chengtian Prefecture he had concluded many large deals with Li Zicheng's side and had profited handsomely; his military funds were now ample. So Zuo Menggeng also guarded against Jin Shenghuan, not daring to let his troops enter Jiangling city, and instead sent him off to garrison Yiling.

In addition, Qiu Lei and his daughter Zuo Mengmei counted as another faction. Although Qiu Lei had few household retainers, it mattered little, because his own daughter Zuo Mengmei ran the household of the Prince of Chu, Zhu Cizhao.

And the Prince of Chu, Zhu Cizhao, was a prince with an "actual fief" — in theory, the lord of Jingzhou. In practice, though he could not control the whole of Jingzhou Prefecture, the two counties of Jiangling and Gong'an were under the Prince of Chu's palace control. With population and territory, the Prince of Chu's palace guards naturally became strong and well-equipped. Using the troops Qiu Lei had brought into Jingzhou Prefecture as a foundation, they established Left, Center, and Right Guards, each with an authorized strength of 5,600 men — fully manned and well armed. Their weakness was that the units had been formed too recently, were insufficiently trained, and had never fought any hard battles.

Besides these three major factions, among the troops Zuo Liangyu had left behind there were also several minor factions: Li Guoying, Lu Guangzu, Xu Yong, Hao Xiaozhong, Zhang Yong, Ma Jiaolin, and others. Of these, the four Regional Commanders Li Guoying, Lu Guangzu, Xu Yong, and Hao Xiaozhong were all Liaodong men, previously considered Zuo Liangyu's own trusted followers, and now they were close to Zuo Menggeng. Zhang Yong and Ma Jiaolin, on the other hand, were Shaanxi men, and naturally close to Jin Shenghuan.

On the whole, this Young General Zuo Menggeng still held some advantage within the military group Zuo Liangyu had left behind, and so he remained its leader.

Whether it was Jin Shenghuan or Qiu Lei and Zuo Mengmei, on the surface they all deferred to Zuo Menggeng. But beneath that surface calm, undercurrents of course surged without cease.

Although Huang Shu slipped out of Jiangling city quietly under cover of night, how could he evade the eyes and ears of the princely palace and the Jingzhou Prefect's yamen?

And so, the very day after Huang Shu quietly left Jiangling, in the heavily guarded great hall of the princely palace, a father and daughter began to plot in secret.

"The Prefecture's scouts have also returned, and like the scouts of the palace Provost Office, they followed that fellow Huang to outside Jingmen Battalion's walls. The man first went west, then turned back north at the Zhang River, and has now entered territory controlled by the roving bandits. I fear he is going to sell out the young prince! Daughter, what are we to do? The palace guard has more than sixteen thousand men, but after all they have never fought a hard battle. If Li Zicheng's men are brought here by Huang Shu, we are finished..."

Qiu Lei spoke with a worried face, while Zuo Mengmei listened in silence, her expression and bearing unmoved, not even the ornaments on her head stirring. Because the Prince of Chu, Zhu Cizhao, was full of rebellious spirit, Zuo Mengmei's situation was extremely perilous. Zhu Cilang clearly would not tolerate her and Zhu Cizhao. And Zuo Liangyu had been the couple's patron; now that the old man was dead, the Young General Zuo Menggeng was a spineless one who knew only how to flee, and was moreover secretly in contact with Li Zicheng.

If the Zuo family army went over to Li Zicheng, Zhu Cizhao and Zuo Mengmei would fare no better either!