Chapter 526: Why Does Everyone Know I'm About to Enter Sichuan?

Zhu Cilang's main army headquarters had now been moved into the princely villa that Zuo Mengmei had originally arranged for him.

It was a summer villa, situated beside a body of water called Jade Lake. Jade Lake was very close to the county seat of Gong'an and not far from the Yangtze either. The surrounding area should have been a bustling place thick with villages, yet the vicinity of this princely villa was layered with dense woods, cutting the villa off from the surrounding farmland and villages and forcibly enclosing a patch of cool shade.

From the layout alone, one could see that real care had gone into this villa. After Zhu Cilang moved in, although he saw no great luxury, he felt comfortable everywhere, and it was indeed very fine.

But comfort was not the reason Zhu Cilang chose this place for his headquarters. The main reason he stationed himself here was convenience of command.

Although the situation on the Huguang front was gradually turning in Zhu Cilang's favor, Li Zicheng's advantage of interior lines still remained. By contrast, Zhu Cilang's great army had to be distributed along a relatively long outer line.

The earlier rendezvous at Hudukou had no military significance; it was a political rendezvous.

After the rendezvous, the various parties met and conferred, haggled and bargained: those who should be given offices were given offices, those who should be promised rewards were promised rewards, those who should be intimidated were intimidated, and those who should hand over hostages handed over hostages.

After this round of maneuvering, an army that had been about to scatter like sand was once again kneaded together by Zhu Cilang. In He Tengjiao's view, this was an extremely difficult matter, but for Zhu Cilang it was a trifle.

Because he and people like Zhu Cizhao, Zuo Mengmei, Jin Shenghuan, and Zhang Yong still had common interests!

They were all northerners who had come south with nothing but their two fists! Only by uniting could they find food in the south. If they did not unite... heh heh, the southern landlord class's big blades were no good, but they had pens that could stab people!

So under the sway of common interests, everyone unanimously supported Zhu Cilang taking a further step — he had to advance! If he did not advance, and they relied on the Chongzhen Emperor, sooner or later none of them would come to a good end!

After the great unity of the Hudukou rendezvous, the troops naturally had to be redeployed and defensive positions set up along the river. From west to east, they occupied Yidu, Zhijiang, Songzi, Hudukou, Lower Baili Isle, the bridgehead north of the river, Gong'an County, the Jade Lake traveling palace, Shishou County, Diaoxiankou, Shimen Mountain, Tashi, Huarong County, Dongting's Junshan, Baling County, Linxiang County, and other places.

Seen on a situation map, it was a long, winding snake formation. But Zhu Cilang also knew he could not scatter his forces too much, so most of the strongpoints held only a few hundred to a thousand men, posted as a screen. The main force was still deployed at Hudukou and Gong'an. The former faced Jiangling directly; the latter was where Zhu Cilang's army stored its grain. Gong'an itself was a land of fish and rice and also part of the Prince of Chu's domain. Part of the grain collected the previous year had been stored in Gong'an — several hundred thousand shi of white rice, more than enough to keep Zhu Cilang's army fed.

And in order to learn of enemy movements in time, Zhu Cilang had also accepted the suggestion of the old lady Qin Liangyu and ordered men to build beacon towers along the river. The moment Li Zicheng's army was discovered trying to cross the river, they were to light the beacons at once as a warning.

Once all these arrangements were complete, the Crown Prince very composedly went on "vacation" in the Jade Lake villa together with Wu Sanmei.

Let them wait... in this age, warfare had both a fast tempo and a slow tempo. Two armies could face off for half a year or even a year.

But Zhu Cilang did not think he would have to wait that long. At most one or two months, and Li Yan and Zhu Yujian should have turned Li Zicheng's "home" upside down!

And Li Yan and Zhu Yujian's skill at fighting the landlords indeed did not disappoint Zhu Cilang. He had been comfortably recuperating at Jade Lake for less than twenty days when the beacon towers to the east began sending up wolf-smoke one after another.

"Do we know where it is?" The Crown Prince, dressed in a thin silk Daoist robe and holding a fan, stood before a map table made by pushing several tables together. He Tengjiao, Yan Yingyuan, Du Yinxi, and the old lady Qin Liangyu had all been invited over to look at the map with him.

"Either Shishou or Baling." Qin Liangyu already had an answer, so she spoke first. "Outside the county seat of Shishou there is a Shishou Mountain, which happens to command the Yangtze shipping lane. As for Baling, it is a strategic point adjoining Dongting, the Xiang River, and the Yangtze. If the roving bandits mean to make a major move, they must go to Baling."

"A major move?" Zhu Cilang asked. "What counts as a major move?"

"Enter Hunan, press on Wuchang, advance into Jiangxi... if this were a few years earlier, Li Zicheng would certainly have done so." Qin Liangyu said, "But now that he has made himself emperor, he is increasingly unwilling to take risks. So most likely he will strike at Shishou!"

It had to be said, the old lady had dealt with the roving bandits so many times that the moment Li Zicheng moved, she could reckon his intentions almost to the letter.

"What is his purpose in taking Shishou?" Zhu Cilang pressed.

Qin Liangyu said, "Of course it is to draw our main force to Shishou... Shishou is also a point of importance. It is close to Gong'an and threatens our rear. How could the Crown Prince sit by and ignore it?"

"A decisive battle at Shishou Mountain... are we confident?" Zhu Cilang glanced at Yan Yingyuan, who was now acting in the posts of Li Yan and Wu Sanfu and had become Zhu Cilang's senior advisor.

Yan Yingyuan said, "If we can fight a decisive battle at Shishou Mountain, our chances of victory are extremely good."

Zhu Cilang looked again at Qin Liangyu. The old lady smiled and shook her head. "If the chances of victory are great, then the victory will not be great... Li Zicheng knows he would lose, so why would he stake heavily?"

"Right, right!" Zhu Cilang nodded repeatedly. "Li Zicheng's aim must be to lure me into a trap, then use Shishou Mountain to pin down our main force while he strikes elsewhere."

He Tengjiao said, "Elsewhere... a return to Xiangyang? His old nest at Xiangyang is about to be taken by Military Advisor Li. It seems he can no longer keep his composure!"

Du Yinxi said, "Hanyang Prefecture is the critical place. If Hanyang falls, our naval squadron can enter the Han River and the Jing River."

Zhu Cilang looked again at the old lady. Qin Liangyu smiled without speaking.

"Commissioner-in-Chief Qin, what do you think?"

Qin Liangyu said, "Why should Thousand Years guess blindly?"

"Not guess?" Zhu Cilang thought for a moment. "Then what should we do?"

Qin Liangyu said, "Since the advantage lies with us, there is no need to try to fathom what Li Zicheng wants to do... Your Highness can take the initiative and attack Jiangling!"

"Attack Jiangling?"

"Take Jiangling," Qin Liangyu said, "and the whole board comes alive! Li Zicheng will be unable to hold either Hanyang or Xiangyang, and even withdrawing west into Sichuan will become all but impossible. Then his only choice will be to fall back to Shaanxi and Henan and fight the eastern barbarians to the death!"

Zhu Cilang looked at Yan Yingyuan again.

Yan Yingyuan shook his head. "The Yangtze shipping lane has not yet been opened, so the heavy cannon cannot be brought over. We have only twenty-four three-pounder battalion guns available. Jiangling's walls are strong; I fear it will not be easy to take."

Qin Liangyu laughed. "Without those what-do-you-call-them three-stick guns, can our Ming army no longer fight?"

Ah, how can we fight without three-pounder cannon? Zhu Cilang thought to himself: nowadays, fighting a battle is all about artillery!

He Tengjiao stroked his beard beside them. "Your Highness, what Commissioner-in-Chief Qin says is excellent. When this subject attacked Jiangling, I did not even have three-pounder cannon, and did I not very nearly succeed?"

Which is exactly why it was only "very nearly"!

Zhu Cilang held out little hope for He Tengjiao's military ability. Better to hear what the old lady had to say.

Qin Liangyu smiled. "Thousand Years, how cannon should be used, this old body does not know. But this old body has led troops all her life. What kind of soldiers can fight and what kind cannot, this old body can tell at a glance.

In this old body's view, the hundred thousand troops under the Crown Prince's command deserve to be called the finest army our Great Ming has produced in decades!"

Well, of course!

In decades, when had the Great Ming ever had an army paid in full? Now, whether it was Zhu Cilang's K'nan New Army, He Tengjiao's and Chang Yanling's Hunan Braves, Zuo Mengmei's and Zhang Yong's "Yunnan Army," or Jin Shenghuan's force about to enter Guangxi, all of them could now draw their full pay and provisions.

That point alone was something that had not happened in decades!

Zhu Cilang nodded. "The old lady speaks truly!" He thought for a moment. "Then we march north to attack Jiangling! Li Zicheng wants to maneuver Us, and We want to maneuver Li Zicheng... let us see whether Jiangling matters more, or Shishou!"