Chapter 583: Five Routes North, Converging on Beijing

"In the fourth month of the seventeenth year, We escorted the Retired Emperor south in panic and haste. Before We knew it, three years had passed. Pitiful are the tens of millions of common folk in the northern lands, who year after year gaze southward, waiting for the royal army."

At the joint conference of the two offices before the throne on the following day, the Hongxing Emperor of the Great Ming began with a long, drawn-out sigh.

The time was now the third month of spring in the twentieth year of Chongzhen, and the third anniversary of the Chongzhen court's southward flight was fast approaching. This was no auspicious day! Although Zhu Cilang felt that both he and the Chongzhen Retired Emperor had done rather well for themselves — one had become the Hongxing Emperor of the Southern Ming, content to hold a corner of the realm, while the other had become a carefree, pleasure-seeking immortal Retired Emperor — in the eyes of the realm's men of discernment, the Hongxing Emperor still wore the tall hat of "content to hold a corner" pressed firmly upon his head.

Previously, the Chongzhen Emperor had been there to play the muddle-headed ruler and take the blame. Now that Chongzhen had retired to enjoy himself, the great pot of "content to hold a corner" had to be carried by the Hongxing Emperor himself.

Zhu Cilang knew that conditions for a northern expedition were not yet ripe, but the taste of carrying the pot was unpleasant, and it was politically incorrect! Moreover, there were still many reforms to push forward in the southeastern half of the realm — for instance, the land survey and cadastral verification. This was an extremely troublesome matter, and there was no way a few imperial edicts could get it done! So a certain amount of external pressure was needed to shut the mouths of the internal opposition!

Another example was the household registration reform. This matter was about as difficult as the land survey, and it too would touch the interests of many people, because in the process of household registration reform, not only would the debased registers and slave registers be abolished, but the occupation-linked household registration system would also be done away with, and the number of privileged households (in a feudal society, don't even think about equality for all) would be greatly reduced. On this foundation, a unified system of grain levies and taxes for officials and commoners alike would also be implemented.

In addition, the deepening of the civil examination reform would also make a great many people unhappy! The jinshi examination was gone, and the juren degree effectively no longer existed — passing the provincial examination just made one a petty official, starting from a rank-nine post! If one didn't want to be an official, then one remained a mere xiucai. And a xiucai was still a commoner household, with no privileges at all. At least as a petty official, one was still an official household!

In short, the Hongxing Emperor now needed to stir something up, so that people of every stripe would know how formidable he was!

And the several warlords of Shandong and Huaibei happened to be tired of quiet days as well, so they might as well stir something up together!

"Your Majesty, your subject Gao Jie has twenty thousand fierce tiger guards, all battle-hardened veterans. Last year they were granted land in Xuzhou, and every man now has a family estate. Every one of them is brimming with fighting spirit, just waiting for the northern expedition to win merit and be granted more land!"

Gao Jie, the Earl of Qushan Who Overcomes Hardship, was the first to stand and declare his position, full of grand words, speaking as if it were all true.

In fact, among the six Huaibei and Shandong warlords who had come to court, he was the one who least wanted a northern expedition. Because he now occupied Xuzhou and Haizhou, two territories so rich they dripped with oil. What was the point of a northern expedition? If they won, could he exchange them for even better territory? Unlikely. He might well be sent off to Shaanxi to keep Wu Sangui company.

"Your subject Huang Degong volunteers to be the vanguard! To strike straight at the Yan capital!"

Seeing Gao Jie jump out to put on a performance, Huang Degong was not to be outdone, and also rushed to declare his position and request to fight. But unlike Gao Jie, he was sincere.

The Huaibei territory was too poor! And his directly-controlled territory was also relatively small — for a feudal lord whose economic foundation was land, the amount and fertility of directly-controlled land directly determined his authority within his own faction.

Gao Jie's directly-controlled territory included all of Haizhou (a directly-administered department), which was extremely wealthy. The land tax alone came to no less than one million shi of grain every year!

So Gao Jie's control over his forces had not weakened with the land grants and establishment of guard units. Huang Degong, however, had it hard. The territory Zhu Cilang had first allotted him was Guide Prefecture, which was later seized by Hooge.

After the Battle of Blood Flow Creek, Zhu Cilang had not pressed the victory to recover the lost territory in Henan, but instead allotted Huang Degong a bit of Huaibei land. Moreover, most of this land was distributed to Huang Degong's subordinates — at the time, Zhu Cilang had wanted to continue granting land and establishing guard units to reorganize Huang Degong's army into the various guard armies, so he had left no directly-held land for Huang Degong himself.

But Huang Degong was no pushover. Taking advantage of the opportunity while Zhu Cilang was tied down in Huguang, he sent troops and swallowed up Taoyuan and Suining, two counties belonging to Haizhou. These two counties lay on the west bank of the south-flowing Yellow River, with fertile land and a relatively large population (they had not been affected when Hooge invaded south the last time), and so they became the economic foundation on which Huang Degong depended for survival.

But the profits from two counties were ultimately too meager — not enough to feed him!

"Good, good," Zhu Cilang said, beaming with delight and nodding repeatedly. "After the northern expedition succeeds, among the Nine Border Lords, there will certainly be a place for Minister Huang."

During the previous half-baked northern expedition that echoed Li Zicheng, Zhu Cilang had already expressed his intention to change Northern Zhili into Beiping Province. Later, when establishing the great Jiangdu-Wuhan Prefecture, he had once again confirmed the change of the three capitals — south, central, and north — into two capitals: Jiangdu (south) and Nanjing.

Therefore, after the northern expedition succeeded, Zhu Cilang would not return to Beijing either, but would establish the Nine Border Lords as a protective screen for the Central Plains.

This sounded like turning back the clock to feudalism, but in fact it was strengthening centralization — because the precondition for establishing the Nine Border Lords was taking the vast lands of the Central Plains, Shandong, and Northern Zhili under direct central control.

That is, driving the warlords all toward the northern border.

With a generous smile on his face, Zhu Cilang counted on his fingers: "Liaodong, Daning, Jizhou, Xuanfu, Datong, Taiyuan, Yansui (Yan'an plus Yulin), Ningxia, Gansu — nine garrisons in all, each to have a princely establishment or a military governor! The Wu family gets two, the Dai princely line one, the Tang princely line one, the Lu princely line one, leaving four — for the two Ministers Gao, Minister Huang, and Minister Zuo. As for Minister Shi — Baoding or Zhending, take your pick of one prefecture!"

Hearing Zhu Cilang's method for dividing territory, the four local powerholders — Gao Jie, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Zhu Yihai — all darkened in expression. Huang Degong and Shi Kefa, however, were quite pleased. The two of them had no good territory, so of course they were happy to receive a prefecture.

But Gao Jie, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Zhu Yihai were taking something of a loss. Shandong and Xuhai were such fine places — being sent off to guard the border would be bitter indeed.

Zhu Cilang's gaze swept over the long faces of the four great warlords, and he laughed: "The official fields and military fields in the Shandong and Xuhai regions shall all be disposed of by the various princely establishments themselves. Whatever yellow registers the princely establishments submit, the court will recognize the corresponding fish-scale registers. Except for concealed landholdings, which must be investigated, nothing else will be questioned.

In addition, all six princely establishments may each enclose one county in Shandong, Xuhai, or Huaibei to enfeoff to the cadet branches of their families."

The interests involved here were enormous!

Shandong province alone, according to the Ming dynasty fish-scale registers, had over sixty-one million mu of land. After deducting the land of Penglai County and the seven Deng-Lai guard units under the control of the Deng-Lai Governor's office and the Shandong Regional Commander's office, there remained at least fifty-six or fifty-seven million mu! Of that, how much was official land and military land? And how much was concealed land?

To "wash" all this land into private holdings — the profits involved could be figured out with one's heel.

In addition, Zhu Cilang had also granted the six great warlords the privilege of each enclosing one county in Shandong, Xuhai, or Huaibei to establish a minor princely establishment.

This was equivalent to turning six princely establishments into twelve — the interests involved here were enormous!

Seeing the loyal smiles return to the faces of Gao Jie, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Zhu Yihai, the Hongxing Emperor smiled along with them, then shot a meaningful glance at Left Military Advisor Li Yan.

Li Yan immediately understood, and said with a smile: "The Grand Marshal's Office has been planning the northern expedition these days, and has also had the honor of reading the memorials submitted by all of you. A strategy of a five-route northern expedition, converging to attack Beijing, has now been drawn up."

Zhu Cilang smiled: "Tell everyone about it."

He beckoned to Huang Xiaobao, and this brush-holding eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial immediately produced a map that had long been prepared, spreading it out on a long table in the Eastern Warm Pavilion.

Five great arrows had already been drawn on the map!

The first arrow started from Juehua Island, first crossing the sea to Ningyuan, then following the Liaoxi Corridor to strike at Shanhai Pass and drive straight for Beijing.

The second arrow started from Haisha Island, first capturing Dagu Fort, then following the Tianjin Wei River and the Grand Canal straight for Beijing.

The third arrow struck out from Qufu and Xuzhou, following the canal northward all the way, straight for Beijing!

The fourth arrow sent troops from the Lüliang Mountains, attacking Taiyuan, crossing the Taihang range, and heading straight for Beijing.

The fifth arrow sent troops from Ningxia Garrison, taking the Hetao route, crossing the grasslands, and driving straight for Beijing from the Xuanfu and Datong direction!

(End of Chapter)