Chapter 258: Section 15: The Wager

The small side table beside him had toppled to the floor; Huang Shi already stood ramrod straight. He looked down at his right palm, reached out with his left hand and yanked hard, pulling out a shard of broken porcelain that had stabbed into his hand. The other two men stood dumbstruck as wooden chickens, neither able to utter a word.

From the doorway came the sound of hurried footsteps, followed immediately by Hong Antong's uneasy voice from outside: "My lord! My lord!"

"General Huang... why would General Huang say such a thing?" Zhao Yin'gong rose to his feet, his face ashen, and asked in utter bewilderment.

Huang Shi did not answer. He gently flexed his right hand a few times; fresh blood kept seeping from between his fingers, dripping steadily onto the floor. Once Huang Shi confirmed it was only a flesh wound, he let out a long sigh, turned, and walked toward the door, never glancing at Yuan Chonghuan or Zhao Yin'gong again. Under the astonished stares of everyone present, he pushed open the door and strode out without looking back.

"Let us return to Juehua."

After uttering these few words, Huang Shi strode toward the front hall, his expression utterly composed, feeling in his heart as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted. Behind him, Hong Antong swept a cold glance over the two men in the room, then set his face grimly, gripped his sword hilt tightly, and followed Huang Shi with long, swinging strides. Between Hong Antong's brows showed a murderous air; the government soldiers and servants in and around the hall who saw them all shrank back, pressing their backs tight against the walls as they watched the two men pass.

When they reached the front hall, the personal guards Huang Shi had brought gathered around him. One of them came forward holding Huang Shi's armor, but Huang Shi waved his hand: "No need to change. I do not wish to remain in Ningyuan a moment longer. We return to Juehua at once."

As Huang Shi's party left the Ningyuan government office, several greybeards came running out behind them, shouting from a distance things like "General Huang, please stay," as if hoping to call him back. But Huang Shi's face remained as immobile as marble; he clamped his legs and spurred his horse toward the city gate. The personal guards behind him raised their general's banner and followed Huang Shi away, not one of them uttering a single sound.

On the road, Huang Shi briefly recounted to Hong Antong the content of the conversation just now. Hong Antong was only twenty-two years old this year by nominal age, naturally young and hot-blooded, not as forbearing as Huang Shi. Even before Huang Shi got to the matter of annual tribute, the mere idea of offering amnesty and enlistment was enough to make Hong Antong's fury show on his face, his hair bristling beneath his cap, his face first turning crimson, then immediately shifting to an iron-blue pallor.

"That cur of an official!"

The moment the words "annual tribute" left Huang Shi's mouth, Hong Antong ground his teeth audibly and bellowed: "The Jian slaves plunder and ravage without restraint, committing every evil imaginable. We soldiers of the frontier army long to feast on their flesh by day and sleep on their hides by night — how can we speak of peace?"

Huang Shi gave a laugh: "What Lord Yuan spoke of was amnesty and enlistment, not peace negotiations."

Hong Antong, alone in the world with his entire family dead at the hands of the Jian slaves, cried out through clenched teeth: "The Exalted Emperor once said: bandits too are children of Huaxia, and many have been driven to it by corrupt officials. Thus in the three hundred years since our Great Ming established rule over all under Heaven, toward inland roving bandits we have mostly used amnesty and pacification. But the Tatars, without cause, initiated hostilities, slaughtering millions of Liaodong's innocent people, and now that the situation looks bad for them, they hope to seek amnesty to escape death — where under Heaven is there such a cheap bargain?"

What Hong Antong was citing was the national policy laid down by Zhu Yuanzhang back then. Toward the tax-paying subjects of the interior, the Great Ming's policy had always been to pacify where possible, rather than to brandish the butcher's knife against them. For instance, after the Wenxiang Sect rebellion was suppressed, the Tianqi Emperor merely required the sect leaders to sign guarantees that they would cause no more trouble. The Chongzhen Emperor likewise said things like "the bandits too are my children"; after Zhang Xianzhong and others burned the Fengyang imperial tombs, as long as they were willing to accept amnesty, Chongzhen likewise let bygones be bygones.

But toward foreign aggression, the Great Ming had always upheld a tradition of no compromise, a hardline stance dating from the Ming founder himself. The Yongle Emperor died on campaign against the Mongols. The Zhengde Emperor personally took the field to fight the enemy in defense of the realm... Even someone like the Zhengtong Emperor, a military idiot, after being captured, would not sign any terms for the sake of his own safety. During the Jiajing reign, when the northern barbarians fought their way to the walls of Beijingcheng and the Japanese pirates to the walls of Nanjing, the Great Ming sovereign and ministers had not a second word beyond "fight"; the Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli reign were likewise fought from beginning to end.

"That cur of an official — the gold, silver, and cloth in the state treasury are all the fat and sweat of the common people. The common folk toil from year's beginning to year's end, enduring a thousand hardships to pay their full grain tax — how can it be given away for nothing to the Jian slaves? Not a single copper cash should they get!" Hong Antong cursed a few more times in fury, while Huang Shi listened in silence.

The Great Ming collected only a little over two million taels of silver in taxes each year. The latter annual tribute figure Huang Shi had just mentioned to Yuan Chonghuan was: ten thousand taels of gold, one hundred thousand taels of silver, and one hundred thousand bolts of cloth. Although this was far less than the "one hundred thousand of gold, one million of silver, one million of cloth" that Yuan Chonghuan in history would suggest the court accept, still, as Hong Antong said, on what grounds?

"But..." Hong Antong stopped cursing after a while, his brow furrowing: "Just now, this subordinate seemed to hear my lord cursing that cur official for selling out the country? Using that to curse that cur Yuan seems somewhat excessive — why would my lord say such a thing?"

"Is that so?" When Huang Shi heard Hong Antong ask the same question as Zhao Yin'gong, he merely countered lightly and said nothing further.

After returning to Juehua Island, Huang Shi had originally intended to go straight back to the main camp to find Jin Qiude, but upon entering the camp gate he ran into Wu Mu and Ouyang Xin. The former was pressing the latter to draw various detailed diagrams of the bastion fort. After the Battle of Juehua, Eunuch Wu had long harbored the intention of plagiarizing this fortification into his own military treatise. He had figured that Huang Shi was unlikely to return today, so he had seized the chance to summon Ouyang Xin for detailed questioning.

Now, caught red-handed by Huang Shi, Wu Mu immediately flushed scarlet. He forced a smile and asked Huang Shi why he wasn't staying a couple more days in Ningyuan, while at the same time gathering up the dozens of detailed diagrams from the table — after all, Eunuch Wu still very much treasured the fruits of today's labor. Ouyang Xin, as if granted a great reprieve, promptly slipped away. Ever since Huang Shi had left this morning, he had been trapped by Eunuch Wu for an entire day, drawing until his wrist was nearly broken.

Ever since exchanging views with Hong Antong earlier, it was as if a small window had opened in Huang Shi's chest, so full of suppressed anger and indignation, letting in a thread of fresh, cool air. So after a moment's hesitation, he told Wu Mu the truth. At first, Wu Mu appeared to be listening on the surface while actually busy putting his things away. But gradually, the more he listened, the slower his hands moved, until finally he could not help but stop and raise his head to stare fixedly at Huang Shi.

"Muddle-headed, far too muddle-headed." After Huang Shi had explained the whole story, Wu Mu's face was full of anxiety, and he stamped his feet repeatedly: "Our Great Ming spans ten thousand li in territory and has a population in the hundreds of millions. Yet no matter where you go, if you grab any child at random and ask him: 'Can the Tatar slaves be trusted?' he will surely answer at once: 'They cannot.' After amnesty and enlistment, must we reduce troop numbers and cut pay, must we still build fortifications? If we reduce them, what if the Jian slaves attack again? If we do not reduce them, then aren't we simply giving them an extra share for nothing?"

Huang Shi nodded and said clearly: "Eunuch Wu speaks wisely."

"Of course." Wu Mu puffed out his chest, his hand habitually pressing over his heart. Though no smile appeared on his face, from Huang Shi's past experience, this meant Eunuch Wu was either inwardly pleased or about to launch into a lengthy discourse. Sure enough, Eunuch Wu's voice rose a full octave as he continued: "Is it not said that traveling ten thousand li surpasses reading ten years of books? After all, I have roamed the rivers and lakes for many years and have seen my share of great winds and mighty waves —"

"— many, many of them..."

Watching Eunuch Wu begin to ramble far and wide, fortunately, in the end, he still found his way back on his own: "...It is like us escorting a shipment — if the blade in our hand is not hard, the fellows on the hilltops will never let us pass. A bodyguard who pins his hopes on the bandits' good conscience is the greatest of fools... I feel this has something in common with pacifying Liao: better to rely on oneself than to beg others. Besides, if the Jian slaves could truly change their nature and stop robbing, I would do a handstand and crawl all the way back to Beijing!"

Huang Shi could not help but smile: "Eunuch Wu speaks wisely."

"I reckon that fool was just talking to himself at home, imagining that with a flick of his long sleeves and a couple of coughs, the barbarians would kowtow to him — just indulging in daydreams. Ha, if that fool actually dared to submit a memorial saying he could, with his silver tongue, move the Jian slaves to tears of repentance and reform, then the very next day he would become famous throughout the capital, known as the number-one idiot in every storyteller's repertoire... That fool is raving mad; General Huang need only listen and refrain from joining him in submitting a memorial — why curse him? Let him submit his memorial, let him make a fool of himself."

Wu Mu continued to spray spittle as he ridiculed Yuan Chonghuan for a while, then a look of slight puzzlement appeared on his face: "But why did General Huang curse him for selling out the country? That charge seems somewhat heavy. He is merely a fool with a glib tongue."

"Eunuch Wu is right; I was rash." Huang Shi smiled and deflected the topic.

Although peace negotiations in the Great Ming were mostly unworkable, merely proposing them did not amount to selling out the country. Historically, Yuan Chonghuan not only said so openly, he said it to more than one person. Though others disagreed, they did not on that account label him a traitor. After all, Yuan Chonghuan never openly advocated abandoning territory, which Huang Shi felt showed that Yuan Chonghuan still had some brains.

The Son of Heaven of the Great Ming guarded the land for Huaxia and shepherded the people of Huaxia. Every inch of territory was land bequeathed by the ancestors; every common subject was a descendant of the ancestors' people. Neither the present Yuan Chonghuan, nor the future Chen Xinjia who would propose ceding territory for peace, nor even the Emperor himself, had the right to abandon even a single inch of land. This was also what Huang Shi most admired about the Ming dynasty — a nation rising up to resist foreign invaders and defend its own people — was this not the most stirring and praiseworthy of national spirits?

After chatting with Wu Mu and Hong Antong, Huang Shi felt his heart much lightened. Ever since coming to the Great Ming, Huang Shi had often felt that this country was gravely ill, and Yuan Chonghuan's words today had made Huang Shi feel as though he had fallen into an ice pit: the Great Ming had nurtured scholars for three hundred years — what kind of men had it ultimately produced?

"Fortunately, I came to know Zhang Yuanzhi, Zhang Pan — these true men who would rather be shattered jade than intact tile. Fortunately, I have been able to live among a band of brave warriors. The spirit of these warriors, and my experiences in Liaoyang..." Huang Shi walked out of the tent and gazed at the starry sky. Those heroes and martyrs seemed to be smiling before his eyes; the spittle that Liaoyang merchant had spat still seemed to flow upon his cheek, making Huang Shi involuntarily reach up and touch his own face, his heart stabbing with agony as if pierced: "Had I never known you, I fear I would long since have fallen into becoming a petty man, fallen into becoming a slave who, unable to win, thinks only of bending the knee and begging for mercy."

Though his heart was full of deep emotion, Huang Shi still pulled himself together at once. He summoned Jin Qiude to deploy military affairs. The order he gave Jin Qiude was to immediately dispatch troops to several warehouses on Juehua to move supplies, lest Zhao Yin'gong cut off the Dongjiang Army's provisions and make trouble for the Changsheng Army. This order was carried out to the letter.

After all the various matters had been assigned, Huang Shi saw the look of confusion on Jin Qiude's face, so he dismissed the others and recounted to him alone the events that had occurred today at the Ningyuan government office.

At first, Jin Qiude listened with full concentration and considerable attention, but gradually his face filled with a mocking smile. When Huang Shi reached the matter of annual tribute, Jin Qiude let out a cold, contemptuous laugh: "Only if one can fight can one negotiate peace — but if we can fight, then why negotiate peace? If we cannot fight, will the Jian slaves negotiate peace with us? The ravings of a fool, nothing more. Besides, fattening them up nicely — is that not just making trouble for ourselves?"

Huang Shi nodded gently: "Since ancient times, Han and traitor cannot coexist. Toward those who first draw the blade against us, we can only accept surrender, not negotiate peace."

Upon hearing Huang Shi say that one could only accept surrender and not negotiate peace, Jin Qiude struck the table in approval and exclaimed: "Well said, my lord! In one sentence you have captured the reason why the Great Ming has bestrode the realm for three hundred years. Take these Jian slaves, for instance: though they have rampaged for over ten years, apart from the Khorchin Mongols and those Jurchen tribes that do not border our Great Ming, who dares to collude with the Jian slaves? Is it not all because of our strength?"

The various Mongol tribes had been dealing with the Great Ming for three hundred years, and throughout that long period, Ming state policy had consistently resembled that of the United States of Huang Shi's previous life. Thus, although the Later Jin were fierce and brave, the Mongol tribes still did not fancy the Later Jin's prospects, because the Great Ming had always been famous for its unyielding refusal to compromise. From the current Genghis Khan on down, the Mongols at present were mainly pondering how to take a few more Later Jin heads to exchange for silver from the Great Ming, rather than throwing in their lot with the Later Jin.

Huang Shi likewise remembered the obsequious and servile foreign policy of the Manchu Qing in his previous life — paying indemnities when defeated, paying indemnities when victorious, even letting any random party that came threatening squeeze some profit out of them. Not only did the big rogue states come calling often, but the lesser rogue states all wanted a piece as well. And some people even called such conduct far-sighted and wise, the mark of a great man who can bend and stretch. A fine, proud China — where had the bondservant logic of the Jian slaves dragged it to? Since the very dawn of creation, when had China ever been bullied to such a state?

— Wasn't this kind of peace-negotiation thinking of Yuan Chonghuan's also hailed by certain experts and professors as the inevitable path to saving the Great Ming? Sure enough, the logic of the bondservant never changes; their knees are made for kneeling from birth and can never comprehend the unbending integrity of Huaxia... Though I cannot return to my own era, I firmly believe: the Chinese people, who have already stood up, will never again be deluded by such bondservant logic.

"Though our Great Ming is momentarily in straitened circumstances, no matter how the Jian slaves try to win them over, most of the Mongol tribes are unwilling to act rashly, because they all know that China has no principle of submitting forever — if they board the Jian slaves' pirate ship today, they won't be able to get off tomorrow." Jin Qiude chuckled a few times, his tone full of disdain and contempt: "If the imperial court really intended to negotiate peace, others would likely think our Great Ming is weak at heart, and would reckon that if they rob us today, they can still have a way out tomorrow. Heh heh, I fear then the realm would truly have no days of peace. The Jian slaves spoke to Lord Yuan with humble words — in this subordinate's view, this is most likely a ploy to bolster the resolve of the Mongol tribes and break the Great Ming's encirclement of them on all sides."

Jin Qiude's insight made Huang Shi sigh again. Historically, a certain someone "bold in undertaking tasks" thought himself clever and, without court approval, sent envoys to communicate and negotiate peace with the Later Jin. The Later Jin regime deliberately assumed a low posture, which further induced this certain someone to go offer condolences for Nurhaci's death, and they trumpeted this matter widely among the Mongols. As a result, by the tenth month of the sixth year of Tianqi, when the Ming again sent envoys to mobilize the Mongols, the Ming officials were actually whipped by the Mongols, who furiously rebuked them: "You Han people have no sense — all day you tell us to fight and die, while you yourselves negotiate peace today and offer condolences tomorrow. In that case, we might as well go join the Later Jin."

Jin Qiude tilted his head and pondered for a moment, then suddenly gave another cold laugh: "This Lord Yuan is quite shrewd, isn't he? He seemed to be repeatedly probing to see whether my lord feared him. As for the various plans my lord discussed for striking the Jian slaves, he must be worried that if my lord's plans succeed, financial authority would flow from Liaoxi to Changsheng Island, and he would lose his chance for merit. And as for amnesty and enlistment, he clearly wants to claim the credit for himself, yet wants my lord to bear the risk of being cursed by the entire court and public — hmm..."

"My lord need only have refused," Jin Qiude's eyebrows rose, and a trace of puzzlement appeared on his face: "Why did my lord have to curse him for selling out the country? This offends people, and besides, it has nothing whatsoever to do with selling out the country."

"What do you consider selling out the country?"

Jin Qiude answered without hesitation: "For the sake of personal power, wealth, or life, causing the country to suffer loss."

"Mm, not bad." Huang Shi pondered for a moment, then raised his head and said to Jin Qiude: "I have made up my mind. I will impeach the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Lord Yuan for: presumptuously accepting the kneeling homage of a military officer — conduct unbecoming a subject of the throne!"

Jin Qiude was stunned for a moment, then laughed in spite of himself: "My lord, any clear-eyed person can see at a glance that this is a trumped-up charge."

"Yes, I know. But once this impeachment is submitted, Lord Yuan and I will henceforth be as incompatible as fire and water — any clear-eyed person can see that at a glance as well."

Jin Qiude stared into Huang Shi's eyes for a long time before slowly saying: "My lord, this subordinate dares to beg my lord to think thrice. To so recklessly attack a civil official who has just rendered great service not only does extreme harm to my lord's good name, but is practically an open declaration of war against all civil officials under Heaven."

"My lord," Jin Qiude's tone grew even heavier as he asked in a deep voice: "This subordinate presumes to ask — may I inquire as to the reason my lord is determined to do this?"

"The reason... I think His Majesty still appreciates me a bit more. I think His Majesty, in order to smooth things over, will transfer him away from Liaodong. As for the reason..." Huang Shi tapped his fingers lightly on the tabletop...

Not long after he began conversing with Yuan Chonghuan today, Huang Shi had confirmed that Yuan Chonghuan held military officers in extreme contempt. This discovery stirred an inexplicable agitation in Huang Shi's heart, as if there was a hidden danger in his previous understanding of Yuan Chonghuan, but no matter how he searched, he could not find this concealed peril, which only heightened the unease in Huang Shi's heart.

It was not until Yuan Chonghuan began expounding his views on the Liaodong military tax that Huang Shi suddenly realized: the deduction he had previously made based on the secret letter from the turncoat Liu Xingzuo could not withstand scrutiny. He had wishfully believed that that letter could simultaneously prove the innocence of both Mao Wenlong and Yuan Chonghuan, but he was wrong. That letter only showed that in the eyes of Liu Xingzuo and Hong Taiji, Mao Wenlong would not defect — but it absolutely did not prove that Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong because he had fallen for a counter-espionage plot.

Since Yuan Chonghuan held this contemptuous attitude toward Mao Wenlong, toward Man Gui, and toward himself, then what qualifications did a newly surrendered turncoat like Liu Xingzuo have to earn his trust? On what grounds could he have brought down the Left Chief Commissioner? No, this was absolutely impossible.

Huang Shi suddenly came to a realization: there must be another reason behind this. What was that reason? What exactly was it?

Huang Shi suddenly came to a realization — there must be another reason behind this. What was that reason? What exactly was it?

When Yuan Chonghuan smugly brought up peace negotiations, Huang Shi suddenly saw the light — the fog before his eyes was swept away by the wind in an instant, and the blood-soaked truth appeared right in front of him, nearly too much for him to bear.

In fact, the reason had already been written plainly in the books, but the lingering poison of the Manchu Qing had kept Huang Shi from ever facing this fact. So he had always tried to interpret Yuan Chonghuan's intentions with goodwill, fabricating for himself a story about a stratagem of sowing discord.

"A stratagem of sowing discord. A stratagem of sowing discord." Huang Shi laughed self-mockingly. He had once painstakingly extracted knowledge word by word from the vast ocean of historical sources, and that knowledge had taught him that the so-called stratagem of sowing discord claimed by the slave chieftain Hongli had never existed at all.

Out of vigilance against the Jianzhou rebels, Huang Shi had always chosen to trust the history books written by Han people themselves. He had thought he had already shaken off the brainwashing of the Jianzhou slaves: "But it turns out these lingering poisons planted by the Jianzhou slaves were still hidden inside me, and buried so deep!"

The Liaoshi Records of Three Reigns, the Chongzhen Veritable Records, the Guoque, the Northern Briefs of the Ming's Fall, the Dongjiang Remnants, Zhenhai Spring and Autumn, Questions of a Dongjiang Guest... all of these — as long as they were history books written by Han people — recorded the reason Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong with astonishing consistency. All the Han people's history books laid the reason plainly before your eyes. If you would only open a book and look, that blood-soaked reason was right there within reach.

"But I just wouldn't believe it, just wouldn't believe it. National hero, national hero — that title is simply too exalted. The radiance it gives off is so dazzling one cannot open one's eyes, filling the heart with such awe that one dare not look directly at the man. Even though I knew full well it was forged by the Jianzhou slaves, I still instinctively wanted to defend him, still wanted to find excuses for him, to the point of deceiving myself... I didn't believe the Ming History's isolated evidence about Yuan Chonghuan's stratagem of sowing discord, yet based on a single incomplete letter, I forcibly fabricated a Mao Wenlong stratagem of sowing discord for myself. The moment I saw even a sliver of historical material that might favor him, I was like a drowning man spotting a straw, desperately convincing myself that he too had circumstances that could be forgiven."

These literati even dared to curse the Emperor — would they have been afraid to write down the facts in their books? This is the Great Ming, not the Manchu Qing!

Huang Shi muttered to himself in the empty room. Now that the fog before his eyes had lifted, the vast amount of material he had read rolled past before him like a train.

— After Yuan Chonghuan took office, he negotiated peace with Hong Taiji. While the Dongjiang Army was still locked in fierce battle with the Later Jin army, he cut off the Dongjiang Army's provisions and pay.

— Yuan Chonghuan sold grain to Hong Taiji during the Later Jin's famine years.

— The Ming court received a report: among the peace terms Hong Taiji offered Yuan Chonghuan, one was: kill Mao Wenlong.

— Afterwards, Wang Qia was identified as one of the members involved in the peace negotiations. To clear himself of the charges, he produced a personal letter Yuan Chonghuan had written to him. In the letter, Yuan Chonghuan wrote: "Regarding the Guandong peace negotiations (the peace talks with Hong Taiji), the court already has its proponents. If Wenlong can cooperate wholeheartedly, then naturally there will be no suspicion or misgiving; otherwise, cut off his head, and Chonghuan shall be honored to lend his blade..."

In the end, Huang Shi still did not explain the reasoning to Jin Qiude, because it simply could not be explained clearly: "Treating matters of state and war as child's play, negotiating peace to cover up his own boasts — a man who cuts off supplies to frontier soldiers for the sake of peace talks, a man who kills pro-war generals for the sake of peace talks, a man who grovels and curries favor with the enemy for the sake of peace talks... if such a man is a national hero, then what kind of person deserves to be called a traitor who sells out his country?"

"Our Huaxia is a land blessed with outstanding people, where heroes emerge generation after generation. Who is it that seeks to insult our nation, making a noble title like hero so cheap and debased? That slave chieftain Hongli, who so brazenly turns black into white and tramples upon our nation — how I wish I could flay your skin and feast on your flesh!"

Huang Shi slammed his palm on the table again, and the wound that had just closed split open once more: "Before he has a chance to sell out the country, I will throw away my career prospects if I must, but I will kick this self-righteous Great Bluffer Yuan out of Liaodong. I will sweep the Jianzhou slaves away completely, to end this menace once and for all."