Chapter 676: The Shun Is Not Afraid!

"The New Year is approaching, all is peaceful and auspicious, and everyone is rejoicing — why does His Majesty sigh?"

The speaker was none other than the Grand Military Advisor Song Xiance, who was overseeing the construction of the Yongling mausoleum, and his mood could not have been better! For he had actually found such an excellent treasure-site for Li Zicheng in the great mountains near Chongqing Prefecture. It seemed that Li Zicheng, the Grand Progenitor of the Shun, had not spent these past two-plus years pretending to be alive for nothing.

By comparison, Zhang Xianzhong, the Grand Ancestor of the Xi, had fared far worse — he had been buried carelessly near Chaotian Pass. Song Xiance had gone to look, and it was a grave-site that would cut off his descendants and end his line. The fact that Zhang Xianzhong's four adopted sons had now all cast off the Zhang surname and reverted to their own family names only proved how great the Grand Military Advisor Song's skill truly was.

And so, with the Yongling mausoleum at Bishan anchoring the realm, the Shun dynasty's two hundred years of rule were rock-solid. Whatever three-pronged punitive expeditions or five-hundred-thousand-strong armies came, it was all wasted effort.

Li Guo sighed again. "Now that the tyrant of the Southern Ming has dispatched five hundred thousand troops against us, and our dynasty has only just settled Sichuan, with the people's hearts not yet steadied — how are we to respond?"

"Your Majesty need not worry," Song Xiance said with a smile. "The Eight Deliberative Princes and His Highness the Crown Prince are now discussing countermeasures. I am certain they will produce a plan to repel the enemy and secure Sichuan."

The Shun now had not only the Eight Princes in deliberation, but also the Crown Prince overseeing the army. Thus Li Guo, as emperor, could govern with folded hands, without having to labor at court every day or personally lead troops into battle. Military and civil affairs alike were handled by the Eight Deliberative Princes and the army-supervising Crown Prince — and when those nine had settled on a plan, it was essentially beyond error.

"What plan to secure Sichuan could they possibly have?" Li Guo sighed. Being emperor brought him no joy at all. He wondered whether Zhu Cilang found being emperor just as unpleasant.

"What five hundred thousand troops? It's surely all bluff and bluster. Our Shun isn't afraid in the least!"

"Five hundred thousand is probably real enough! Wu Sangui, Zhu Cijiong, Zeng Ying, and Qin Yiming — those four garrison commands alone amount to no less than three hundred thousand. Would Zhu Cilang himself have fewer than two hundred thousand?"

"And the military funds?"

"Several million in bonds have already been issued. And there's the whole glittering world of Sichuan besides!"

"Aren't you afraid the Tartar caitiffs will strike at your rear?"

"I hear the Tartar caitiffs are also campaigning against the Khalkha Mongols. Presumably they can't spare the troops?"

"Then what do we do? How many men can we field?"

"Two hundred thousand, surely. We should strike first. If Zhu's three great armies get moving, our two hundred thousand won't be enough!"

Chongqing Prefecture, Yonghe Palace, within the Hall of Joint Governance. The Eight Deliberative Princes were deliberating together with Crown Prince Li Laiheng — in truth, Li Guo could have joined them and spoken freely, helping to paint the most magnificent picture of the Shun peasant regime's future. But Li Zicheng's eldest nephew Li Guo always felt awkward about it and was unwilling to take part in the deliberations, feeling it beneath his dignity. So he had sent Li Laiheng in his place, and had even granted him the title of "Army Supervisor."

Of course, in doing so he also meant to cultivate Li Laiheng — under the Eight Princes' deliberative system, the positions of Li Guo and his son Li Laiheng looked none too secure, so father and son had become unprecedentedly united. Li Guo did not suspect Li Laiheng of plotting to usurp power, and Li Laiheng did not worry that the old man would strip him of his crown-prince throne.

"Prince of Jin, you mean to strike first and gain the upper hand?" Li Laiheng, presiding over the deliberations, asked Li Dingguo, who had just proposed a preemptive strike.

The form of the Eight Princes' deliberations was naturally rather egalitarian: the eight deliberative princes sat to the left and right of the imperial throne. The throne itself now stood empty, while Li Laiheng had a chair placed beside it.

"We must strike first!" Li Dingguo drove his fist through the air. "We have only this little bit of territory — it cannot withstand the trampling of Zhu's armies. Even a protracted standoff and tug-of-war would wear us down beyond endurance. Though we have two hundred thousand garrison troops, there are still places that must be held; we cannot possibly send them all out to guard every pass!

Moreover, our equipment still cannot compare with Zhu Ming's. They have firelocks, Hongyi cannon, and Hongyi small cannon. And what do we have? Only great wall-guns and general's cannon — utterly inadequate. So sitting and waiting for the enemy to come attack us will not do. We must strike first!"

Although Li Dingguo had displayed his prowess at Heshangyuan and thrashed Wu Sangui, he still held the Ming army's firearms in considerable dread. The late emperor Zhang Xianzhong had been killed by Qing artillery fire! And the Ming army's firearms were now even stronger. So he did not want to clash head-on with the main force of the southeastern Ming army, but rather to strike at the weaker western Sichuan garrison and the Ming forces in Yunnan.

"If we strike first, where do we strike?" Li Laiheng asked.

"Southward!" This time it was Sun Kewang who spoke.

Sun Kewang said, "Of the four garrisons surrounding us, the western Sichuan garrison is the weakest. Let us concentrate our strength to smash western Sichuan, then descend upon Yunnan. Once Yunnan is taken, we can advance or retreat as we please."

What Sun Kewang proposed was in fact an "escape route." Historically, he had advocated striking southward, and if worst came to worst, going abroad to carve out territory in the "Southern Seas."

Li Laiheng turned his head to look at Liu Zongmin.

Liu Zongmin's brow was knotted into a ball. The Shun had now implemented a garrison-militia system separating military and civilian administration, under which the Eight Deliberative Princes no longer directly governed prefectures and counties, but instead directly commanded military garrisons.

The military garrisons of the Eight Princes and the Shun emperor were distributed across the various regions — that is, the Shun's prefectures and counties were divided into nine sectors, with all the military garrisons in each sector belonging to one deliberative prince or to the Son of Heaven of the Shun himself.

Among them, the military garrisons of Li Guo and Li Laiheng occupied the center, while the Eight Princes' garrisons were stationed in the eight directions. Because the four princes Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, Yuan Zongdi, and Liu Fangliang had long since occupied their territories and settled their subordinates, they had not been moved after the Shun-Xi merger, and their garrisons remained arrayed on Sichuan's eastern and northern fronts.

The garrisons of the four princes of Xi origin, by contrast, were placed on Sichuan's western (mainly southwestern) and southern fronts.

In other words, if the Ming army attacked, the greatest pressure would fall on Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, Yuan Zongdi, and Liu Fangliang. And if the Shun campaigned southward, the greatest beneficiaries would be Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo, and the rest.

"Once Yunnan is taken, how do we divide it?" Liu Zongmin asked.

"Still divided into nine shares!" Sun Kewang said. "One share for each of the Eight Princes, and one share for His Majesty."

Li Laiheng sighed, thinking: This emperor's lot is far too meager — taking the same single share as his ministers.

"Then how do we deploy the troops?" Tian Jianxiu asked.

He had originally held territory in the western part of Jingzhou Prefecture, but it had later been seized by the Hard-Trials New Army commanded by Wu Sanfu, and he had now fallen back to Kuizhou Prefecture. Though he still held a share of territory, his force's vitality had been damaged, and now he was again tasked with resisting the Ming army's main force, leaving him unable to spare troops for Yunnan.

"We four will just contribute a bit more," Sun Kewang said. "Let the Prince of Jin take overall command!"

Among Zhang Xianzhong's four adopted sons, the most capable fighter was Li Dingguo, followed by Ai Nengqi, then Liu Wenxiu; Sun Kewang was the least skilled in battle.

Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, and the others raised no objection. Li Laiheng nodded and said, "Right, that's settled then. I'll go to Bishan and report to His Majesty!"

Bishan, the Yongling detached palace.

It was called a detached palace, but it was in fact merely a landlord's compound. Li Guo had been staying there during his inspection of the imperial mausoleum project, and it was in this detached palace that Li Laiheng and the Second Military Advisor Gu Junen reported the results of the deliberations to him.

"Attack Yunnan?" Li Guo frowned. "Can it be done?"

"Your Majesty, this subject believes the southward strategy is feasible," Gu Junen said. "In Emperor Zhu's dispositions, Yunnan is still a gap. This Emperor Zhu is unlike his father Chongzhen — his fences are built very tight. Once he has swallowed a piece of territory, it is very hard for others to take it back. Even the eastern barbarians could do nothing about it, let alone us. If we do not strike now, then once he has fenced it in tight, we will be trapped and suffocated in Sichuan."

After Zhu Cilang took power, the Great Ming had indeed lost quite a bit of territory. But what was lost had never been territory actually controlled by the court, nor places Zhu Cilang considered vital to defend. And once Zhu Cilang had firmly secured a place, even Dorgon had been unable to seize it.

So Gu Junen was now very worried that the western Sichuan garrison would be reinforced by the Great Ming court!

"Imperial Father, I also think that's the right of it." Li Laiheng had earlier said he was willing to be a Liu Adou, but now that Liu Adou's prospects looked secure, he had a new goal — to strive for a grand burial as a former emperor!

Sichuan alone did not look secure enough; if they added Yunnan, the problem should be largely solved. And if worst came to worst, they could keep striking southward.

(End of Chapter)