Chapter 657: Dare We Ask: Where Is the Food?

North of Jianmen Pass, Guangyuan Crossing.

This water-and-land port on the banks of the Jialing River had by now become a gathering point for great armies. A month earlier, the four co-ruling kings of the Xi had arrived with more than two hundred thousand troops, and in an instant little Guangyuan Crossing was bursting at the seams.

The town itself could not possibly hold them all, so both banks of the Jialing River outside Guangyuan Crossing were packed solid with linked encampments.

Before marching into Sichuan, the four co-ruling kings of the Xi had been full of confidence, certain they could take all of Sichuan. The battle at Heshangyuan had gone so brilliantly that it startled even them — so a dead godfather really could boost one's fighting strength!

But after they entered Hanzhong and drove the Shun garrison troops all the way to Guangyuan Crossing, the confidence of Zhang Kewang, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, and Zhang Nengqi had already begun to waver.

Because they discovered that the hearts of the Sichuan people had all gone over to Li Zicheng, who had faked his survival... Back when the four of them had followed Zhang Xianzhong in conquering Sichuan, the Sichuan people had hated their Xi army to the bone. Yet the Shun army had only been here how long? How had the people come to submit so willingly, with joy above and below?

Zhang Kewang, Li Dingguo, and the others found some peasants near Guangyuan Crossing and asked around, and only then learned that shortly before the Xi army had come back, the Zhaohua county yamen sent out by the Shun court had just completed two major policies: land enclosure and land distribution by headcount. Nearly one hundred thousand poor and lower-middle peasants throughout Zhaohua county had received the land they had dreamed of... Although it averaged only a little over two mu, not quite three mu per person, it had still won the people's hearts for the Shun regime.

These four adopted sons of Zhang Xianzhong believed more than anyone in the doctrine that winning the people's hearts wins the realm. For had not their old emperor fallen to defeat and death precisely because he was too cruel, too unreasonable, and had utterly squandered the people's hearts?

Otherwise, why would he have left a comfortable life as emperor in Sichuan to go to Luoyang?

Since the Xi had lost the people's hearts while the Shun had completely won the hearts of the Sichuan people, the plan to take all of Sichuan could only be abandoned... They could not very well keep fighting when it was plainly unwinnable, could they? The Shun and the Xi were, after all, heroes who had fought the realm together. For them to slaughter each other and let the Ming's dog emperor and dog officials reap the benefit would be too stupid, wouldn't it?

Moreover, the Xi was now ruled jointly by four kings, with no emperor, only a leading national lord, so there was no political obstacle to submitting under the Shun banner.

The only question was how to transplant the concept of "co-rule" into the Shun court... In the eyes of the four co-ruling kings, their old emperor had met such a miserable end precisely because there had been no one to check him. He had become emperor, yet still ended in military defeat and a wretched death, without even leaving behind an heir — a profound lesson!

Besides, in the view of the four Xi kings, this co-rule by the various kings would also benefit the big factions on the Shun side.

So while the four of them were encamped at Guangyuan Crossing, they were not only negotiating with Li Guo, but had also sent envoys to Long'an Prefecture, Hanzhong Prefecture, and Yunyang Prefecture to lobby Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongdi, and Liu Zongmin, trying to draw the three of them into co-rule as well — all together, eight kings, to properly put Li Zicheng, that Shun Gaozu who had died and still pretended to be alive, in his place.

The day after Li Laiheng left Guangyuan Crossing, Huang Shu, whom Zhang Kewang and the others had sent to see Yuan Zongdi and Liu Zongmin, returned with good news.

"... The Marquis of Ru and the Marquis of Mian both think the National Lord's proposal is excellent. For everyone to become kings together, deliberate on policy together, and jointly support the Crown Prince in taking Sichuan — that is the best plan!"

Zhang Kewang laughed: "Good, good, good... With the support of the Marquis of Ru and the Marquis of Mian, the matter of eight-king co-rule is nine-tenths certain to succeed."

Zhang Dingguo added: "With the combined strength of eight kings, plus the Li family's personal troops, taking Sichuan will be as easy as turning over one's palm!"

These words were no boast.

Without the four Xi kings joining them, the forces of Li Guo and Li Laiheng, father and son, were still somewhat stretched. After all, Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, Yuan Zongdi, and Liu Fangliang had each pulled away a portion of the troops. The veterans left to Li Guo and Li Laiheng numbered only twenty or thirty thousand — certainly not enough to take Chengdu.

But the four Xi kings brought at least one hundred thousand battle-ready troops! And the generalship of Li Dingguo and Zhang Nengqi could absolutely be counted first-rate — neither Li Zicheng nor Zhang Xianzhong was their equal! How could Ma Shiying possibly hold them off?

At the same time, up on Jianmen Pass, Li Guo and Li Laiheng, father and son, were discussing the feasibility of eight kings and one lord co-rule with Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Gu Junen.

"Your Highness, Crown Prince, this is the way of the Eight Pillars of State of Northern Zhou!" Gu Junen, well versed in ancient and modern precedents, immediately found a historical reference. "It is not the Son of Heaven wielding sole authority, but it is far better than letting the Ming army destroy us after we have crippled each other!"

Song Xiance was habitually counting on his fingers. "The elite troops Zhang Xianzhong left behind have been divided among his four adopted sons... With them helping in the fight, the foundation in Sichuan is beyond question! Crown Prince, you would at least have the situation of Emperor Zhaolie of Han!"

Li Laiheng laughed: "Good, good. If my Ama becomes Uncle Liu the Imperial, then I can be Liu Adou too!"

Liu Adou was, after all, a true ordained ruler for forty-one years!

After his kingdom fell, he still served seven years as the Duke of Anle, with a fief of ten thousand households. Forty-nine years of glory and wealth in all, not even counting his earlier days as crown prince.

If Li Laiheng could have Liu Adou's prospects, he would be more than content...

"How did the Eight Pillars of State of Northern Zhou actually work?" Li Guo asked about Northern Zhou's politics.

Co-rule was certainly unpleasant... but there was no choice — they had to survive!

Now that the Ming and the Qing had made peace, the great encirclement could come at any moment. If they could not seize all of Sichuan before the main Ming army arrived, then before long they would be dead!

"It was simply several pillar families and generals dividing up the military prefectures!" Gu Junen did not really understand it in detail either, so he just went along with the current Shun and Xi situation. "What we have now can also be considered a fubing system, except it is not the fubing system where soldiers and civilians are unified, but the pre-Kaihuang-reform Sui-dynasty fubing system with separate military and civilian household registers. From now on, it will just be a matter of how many military prefectures the Crown Prince and the Grandson directly control, and how many each of the eight kings separately controls... Actually, we are not much better off right now. Nominally it is not co-rule, but don't the Marquis of Ru and the Marquis of Mian still hold their territories and live their own lives just the same? In that case, better to merge and co-rule!"

Eight kings and one lord co-rule was indeed better than the current feudal fragmentation. At least the co-ruling kings would all be at the center, and the whole state would have centralized authority — it was just that Li Guo, this Shun Taizong, would have to share power with the eight kings...

Of course, Li Guo did not dare eliminate the eight kings and their factions and followers now. Otherwise, the Shun's military strength after the merger would lose more than eighty percent — what the hell would be left to fight with!

Li Guo sighed: "Then so be it... Junen, you go with the Grand Strategist and Left Assistant Niu to draft the terms. Tomorrow, have Laiheng take them and negotiate with them! Once it is settled, we all march into Chengdu together. From then on, we share the realm and enjoy wealth and honor together!"

Just as Sichuan was about to undergo an earth-shaking transformation, Zhu Cilang had just returned to his capital, Nanjing, in triumph. But behind the surface glory, his mind was full of worries.

It was not because of the possible variables on the Sichuan battlefield. Ma Shiying's urgent reports had flown into Nanjing like snowflakes, all of them cries for help — Zhu Cilang had already issued an edict to Wu Sanfu, ordering him to seize Gucheng and Yiling Prefecture when the opportunity arose, to relieve the pressure on Sichuan.

Nor was it because of the bills that Wu Sangui and Zhu Cijiong had just sent — both of them were lions, opening their blood-red mouths wide to demand money from Zhu Cilang, and together they could not be stopped at ten million taels... The reason both gave for needing money was that they owed loan sharks! But Zhu Cilang would not repay their loan-shark debts for them. He would only help them negotiate with their creditors, striving to lower the interest rates and extend the repayment deadlines — with good communication, there was no deal that could not be reached. Even if it could not be reached, it did not matter; it could be resolved through legal channels... The current Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review was Li Banghua, Li the Blue Sky — let him adjudicate it. As for violent debt collection and the like, Wu Sangui and the Third Crown Prince Zhu could handle that themselves.

The reason Zhu Cilang's brow was furrowed was that the price of brown rice in Nanjing had broken through one tael five qian of silver again!

Although this was the season when the summer grain came to market, the upper reaches of the Huai River had seen continuous heavy rain for days, and the water levels at Qingkou and Hongze Lake had risen sharply!

Once the Huai River flooded, it could casually wash away ten million shi of rice... How could Nanjing's grain prices not rise?