Chapter 567: Pacify Liao in Three Years, Settle the North in Five

Shi Kefa smiled at that, stroking his beard. "In this official's view, Liao can be pacified in three years, and the north settled in five!"

Settle the north in five years?

Why did that sound so familiar? Huang Degong was taken aback, then remembered — wasn't this the boast Yuan Chonghuan had made? He looked at Shi Kefa sympathetically, thinking: His Highness the Crown Prince is a wise and brilliant sovereign — a boast like settling the north in five years is not something to be made lightly!

Besides, what did pacifying Liao in three years mean? Was it three more years of pacifying Liao after the five years of settling the north?

Shi Kefa glanced at Huang Degong, full of confidence. "This official already has a plan for pacifying Liao in three years and settling the north in five. I shall lay it out for all of you now, and I ask you all to help refine it."

Although his post as Supreme Commander of the Seven Provinces was an empty title, he had nonetheless been diligently pondering the great enterprise of the northern expedition against the Qing all these days. Moreover, he had a group of staff officers well versed in military texts around him, helping him mull it over. And they had actually come up with a northern expedition strategy that looked quite promising!

The Grand Governor-General Shi showed a somewhat pleased smile and said, "These days I have been poring over the histories, and I have discovered that since ancient times, conquering the north from the south has been difficult, while conquering the south from the north has been easy."

Did that even need the histories to figure out?

The great warlords present were all a little disappointed — the only one to succeed in conquering the north from the south was our dynasty's own founding emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang! Everyone else had failed.

Shi Kefa said, "And those who conquered the south from the north can be further divided into those who rose from the northwest, those who rose from the Central Plain, those who rose from the northeast, and those who rose from the steppes north and south of the Gobi. Among those who rose from the northwest were the Qin destroying Chu, the Sui destroying Chen, and the Tang destroying Liang; the Han dynasty also first took the Guanzhong region before winning the empire. Those who rose from the Central Plain and won the empire were the Western Jin and the Zhao Song. There has been no case of one rising from the northeast and conquering the whole realm, but those who established themselves in the Central Plain include the Jin dynasty and today's eastern barbarians, and the Khitan also once entered and held the Central Plain. And those who rose from the steppes north and south of the Gobi were the Mongol Yuan."

From this it is not hard to see that before the Five Dynasties, it was mostly with the northwest and Guanzhong as a base that one won the empire. But after the Five Dynasties, only with the Central Plain could one unite the realm. After the fall of the Northern Song, the northeast, the steppes north and south of the Gobi, and Jiangnan all became possible root territories for seizing the empire. The Central Plain and the northwest, by contrast, were no longer the homelands of emperors!

Today the eastern barbarians hold the Liao lands of the northeast and the steppes north and south of the Gobi — two of the three imperial homelands. Our dynasty holds only Jiangnan, and therefore we are at a disadvantage.

And to reverse this disadvantage, we should first pacify Liao, then settle the north — we ought to cross the sea to campaign against Liao! We can divide our forces into two routes: one to take Jinzhou and Fuzhou; the other to strike directly from the sea at the mighty pass of Shanhai! Once all of Liao is pacified, we then march our armies through the pass and drive straight for Yan and Yun!"

Ah! This was military statistics!

This jinshi Shi Kefa truly had real learning after all!

Everyone could say that conquering the south from the north was easy and conquering the north from the south was hard. But who had ever actually analyzed the question carefully? Once Shi Kefa laid out this analysis, the situation became very clear. The key to conquering the south from the north was no longer Guanzhong or the Central Plain, but rather the two regions of the steppes north and south of the Gobi and the Liao lands.

Since the Song dynasty, armies marching out from the Liao lands had entered and held the Central Plain three times in history, and on one of those occasions they failed to hold their ground.

And from the steppes north and south of the Gobi, the realm had been unified once.

Rising from Jiangnan and winning the empire had also happened once.

Our Great Ming already holds Jiangnan, so if we first take the northeast, then fight our way in through Shanhai Pass, while simultaneously launching a northern expedition from the southeast, attacking from north and south in a pincer — that should be quite easy, should it not?

Moreover, the Ming army can also exploit its command of the sea to strike directly at Shanhai Pass. Shanhai Pass is seven hundred li from Shengjing, and seven hundred li from Beijing as well. So whether the Qing army marches from Beijing or from Shengjing, it must drag along a seven-hundred-li supply line!

Anyone who has actually commanded a large army in the field knows how enormous the wastage of a seven-hundred-li overland supply line is!

If transport is by horse-drawn cart, the delivery rate for grain over seven hundred li (allowing for the return-trip fodder for the horses) is only about thirty percent.

That is to say, if ten thousand shi are shipped out, the grain that actually reaches the frontline soldiers is at most three thousand shi — and this is the ideal figure achievable only when the enemy has not intercepted anything at all and the transport personnel are sufficiently diligent.

The Ming army, by contrast, can use water transport to achieve a very high delivery rate — as long as the boats do not capsize, the delivery rate can fully reach over ninety percent!

On delivery rate alone, the Ming army can stand undefeated. With the fighting power of the Model Division of the New Army, even if we cannot defeat an equal number of Qing troops, fighting them to a draw and then sitting down in a standoff should be no problem, right?

One must remember that the Model Army has very few horses, while the Qing Eight Banners troops casually go about with two horses per man!

So once the two armies face off in the Shanhai Pass area, the Qing army's logistical pressure will be enough to make Dorgon vomit blood.

At this point Huang Degong was thoroughly convinced!

Though it was armchair strategy, Shi Kefa had argued it with great soundness!

"Supreme Commander," Huang Degong said with a look of genuine admiration, "this plan of pacifying Liao in three years and settling the north in five is workable! Why don't we jointly submit a memorial to the Crown Prince, proposing this strategy, and ask the Crown Prince, after his enthronement, to send out the New Army across the sea to campaign against Liao, while we march out to take the Central Plain and the Northern Metropolitan Region — we will surely leave Dorgon unable to look after both head and tail!"

"As Commander Huang says, let us jointly submit the memorial!"

Shi Kefa was also rather pleased with himself, and his gaze swept slowly across the great hall, taking in face after face filled with admiration.

Now it all depended on whether Zhu Cilang was truly a wise sovereign. If he really was as brilliant as he appeared, he would certainly adopt this proposal.

"Censor Ji, this official's residence is truly a bit humble, and the hospitality has been lacking — I beg your indulgence."

While Shi Kefa and the warlords of Shandong and Huaibei were "conspiring," Gao Jie was receiving the Shandong Circuit Supervising Censor Ji Kun at his general's residence on Yunlong Mountain outside Xuzhou.

The Yunlong Mountain general's residence had originally been a wealthy merchant's villa, but it had been ransacked once by the invading Qing army, so it was no longer particularly luxurious or splendid. After Gao Jie acquired it, he found the surrounding environment pleasant and the terrain elevated, safe from Yellow River flooding, so he made it one of his general's residences.

Ji Kun entered the residence with him, went into the central hall, looked around, and said with a smile, "Quite fine indeed. In the past two years this humble official has been in and out of at least a hundred residences, and this one can rank in the top twenty."

"Heh heh..." Gao Jie laughed awkwardly. The residences that Ji the King of Hell went in and out of — could those possibly be good places? They were mostly the residences of corrupt officials who had been ferreted out! How could he compare his own residence to those?

Could it be that...

The more Gao Jie thought about it, the more terrified he became!

If he had known Zhu Cilang would send Ji the King of Hell to investigate this matter, he would never have reported that Zhu Cihuan might have arrived in Huang Degong's jurisdiction... That was Ji the King of Hell! Although he probably would not investigate military officers' corruption, there might still be exceptions!

And just because he did not investigate did not mean he could not expose it!

With all that Gao Jie had embezzled over the past two years, could he withstand exposure by Ji the King of Hell?

His heart was uneasy, but his face showed not the slightest trace of fear, and he still politely invited Ji Kun into the central hall.

Once the maidservants of the general's residence had served tea and refreshments, Gao Jie dismissed all the servants and had one of his trusted confidants stand guard outside, keeping idle persons away.

Ji Kun understood that this meant a confidential report!

"Censor, please look at this!" Gao Jie then produced an envelope and handed it to Ji Kun with both hands.

Ji Kun took the envelope, glanced at it, and saw that it bore the words "To be opened personally by Commander Gao" and "Gao of the Directorate of Ceremonial."

Commander Gao was of course Gao Jie, and "Gao of the Directorate of Ceremonial" — could that be Gao Yushun?

"This is Eunuch Director Gao's own handwriting!" Gao Jie said with certainty. "This official and he share the surname Gao, and we have acknowledged each other as kinsmen; we have kept up a correspondence all along."

In earlier years, Ming military officers all curried favor with eunuchs, and many even took them as godfathers. Gao Jie was no exception — he had wanted to take Gao Yushun as a father, but Gao Yushun had not accepted, only acknowledging him as a kinsman and addressing each other as brothers.

Ji Kun took the letter out of the envelope, unfolded it, and was instantly shocked by its contents.

"What? This great eunuch actually brought Noble Consort Yuan and the Fifth Prince to Huang Degong's place, and even wants to conspire with Huang Degong and Shi Kefa to rebel and set up the Fifth Prince as their lord?" Ji Kun could hardly believe it. "Is this real or not?"

Gao Jie lowered his voice. "It is Eunuch Director Gao's own handwritten letter. I still have earlier letters he sent me — a comparison will confirm it!"

Ji Kun still shook his head. "Does he want to get the Fifth Prince killed? And even if he is out of his mind, are Huang Degong and Shi Kefa fools?"

(End of Chapter)