Chapter 131: The White Pole Troops

Just as Gao Yingxiang's forces besieged Shouzhou, the area outside the Shi-zhu Pacification Commissioner's office in Chongqing Prefecture was bustling with excitement, the festive atmosphere like a holiday. Countless able-bodied men of Shi-zhu gathered from all directions, joy shining on every face. The square was lined with stalls selling all manner of food, fresh fish and cured meat, needles and thread, cotton cloth, pots and pans, and other goods.

A long row of wooden tables was set up below the steps before the office, covered with clean white cotton cloth, bearing writing brushes, ink sticks, inkstones, paper, and thick registers filled with names. Dozens of clerks and scribes sat behind the tables, while the arriving young men were herded into several long queues by the hoarse shouts and shoving of yamen runners sent over from Chongqing Prefecture.

Today was the day the world-famous Shi-zhu White Pole troops received their military pay.

A month earlier, after the Chongzhen Emperor issued his decree, the Grand Secretariat and the Ministries of Revenue and War had sent dispatches to the Sichuan Governor's office, ordering it to allocate two hundred thousand taels of silver to the Shi-zhu Pacification Commission for paying the White Pole troops' wages. The arrears from previous years would be made up later once the imperial treasury was more solvent. The silver allocated by the Governor's office would be deducted from taxes due to the central government.

Since the White Pole troops first followed Pacification Commissioner Ma Qiansheng to put down the Bozhou rebellion in the twenty-seventh year of Wanli, they had fought countless battles for the Great Ming, suffering more than ten thousand casualties in total. The heaviest losses came in the Battle of Hun River in the first year of Tianqi. Three thousand White Pole troops, with the stubborn, unyielding spirit peculiar to Sichuan men, fought the Eight Banner soldiers in bloody combat for an entire day, and were nearly wiped out to the last man. Qin Liangyu's elder brother Qin Bangping died in that battle; her other elder brother Qin Minping broke out with a hundred-odd survivors.

In the Battle of Hun River, the White Pole troops inflicted heavy casualties on the Eight Banner army, destroying several thousand of their so-called elite soldiers. The Jianzhou barbarians, who had always arrogantly believed themselves invincible, henceforth trembled at the very name of the White Pole troops, and from that day the Shi-zhu White Pole troops' fame spread throughout the realm.

But the court's senior ministers had always valued only the elite regular armies. Toward native chieftain forces like the White Pole troops, their attitude was summon-when-needed, dismiss-when-done; military pay was issued only sporadically during wartime, and even then the shortfalls were perpetually left in arrears. During the Jisi Incident of the second year of Chongzhen, after receiving the court's order to come to the defense of the capital, Qin Liangyu sold off her family property to fund the army, rallied three thousand White Pole troops, and marched thousands of li north to aid the throne.

The Chongzhen Emperor at that time issued a special edict commending her, summoned Qin Liangyu to an audience at the Pingtai terrace, bestowed upon her money, livestock, wine, and other gifts, and composed four poems in praise of her achievements. Only after Hong Taiji withdrew his forces did Qin Liangyu lead her troops home.

Toward this extraordinary woman Qin Liangyu, the transmigrated Chongzhen Emperor felt profound respect. Putting himself in her position, he knew that had he been in her place, he could never have matched this heroine's great righteousness. This woman warrior—the only one in China's several thousand years of history to be recorded in the official histories, and one for whom even the Manchus erected monuments and wrote biographies—deserved in this life dazzling glory, not the obscure, bitter end she met in the original course of history.

For the fierce and battle-hardened Sichuan army, he likewise felt genuine admiration. Whether in the present day or in the Eight-Year War of Resistance of later ages, the Sichuan troops had made enormous sacrifices for the nation. Because in the veins of Sichuan men flows unyielding blood, and on their bones is engraved the inscription of fearing no death. In peacetime Sichuan folk are optimistic and easygoing, but when the nation and its people face crisis, most of them choose to march boldly to their deaths, offering their bodies in service to their country.

Inside the crude main hall of the Shi-zhu Pacification Commission, Fu Zonglong, the Sichuan Governor in his scarlet official robe, was conversing with Xie Chong, the Prefect of Chongqing. Qin Liangyu, in a brocade robe, sat humbly at the lower end of the seating, listening quietly, while her son Ma Xianglin stood in attendance behind his mother.

In the nearly one year since Fu Zonglong had assumed office as Sichuan Governor, he had exploited the Heaven-endowed natural advantages of the Land of Abundance, calling upon officials and gentry to make donations and reduce rents, using the proceeds for the local government to build water conservancy works and support agriculture and sericulture. He had completely reversed the lazy, negligent governing style of his predecessor Shao Jiechun, often traveling among the common people in plain clothes to understand local conditions and customs, his footsteps reaching every prefecture and county of Chengdu. For the Great Ming officialdom—where transportation was extremely inconvenient and officials at every level had always held themselves aloof—this was indeed a rare and commendable act.

Fu Zonglong had made the long journey to Shi-zhu in person this time for two purposes: first, to personally supervise the distribution of military pay, and second, to read aloud the Chongzhen Emperor's edict before the assembled crowd, to show the court's respect for this heroine—something the Emperor had specifically instructed Fu Zonglong to do in a personal letter.

In the third year of Tianqi, Qin Liangyu had once submitted a memorial to the Tianqi Emperor, bitterly denouncing local officials and army generals who envied her military achievements and, because of her gender, treated her with contempt and neglect. The Tianqi Emperor thereupon issued an edict ordering all civil and military officials to receive Qin Liangyu with proper courtesy and to harbor no suspicion or disdain toward her.

As Fu Zonglong raised his teacup to take a drink, Xie Chong spoke up: "Your Excellency the Governor, the hour is growing late. As for the matter of distributing the pay... shall we...?"

He truly did not wish to continue conversing with Fu Zonglong. This Governor was by nature stern and cold, never smiling or joking in speech. When two officials chatted, they ought to discuss local customs and amusing anecdotes of official life—but this Excellency instead asked questions like how much annual revenue Chongqing Prefecture brought in, what share of the harvest tenant farmers paid in rent, whether the gentry were guilty of excessive exploitation... questions that were hard to answer. This wasn't conversation at all—it was a Censor conducting an interrogation.

Fu Zonglong set down his teacup, rose expressionlessly, and strode out of the office in large steps. Xie Chong and Qin Liangyu hastily rose and followed.

Standing before the office, Fu Zonglong clasped his hands behind his back on the steps, gazing at the sea of heads in the square and the joy on every face. He nodded to himself: morale is usable, popular support is usable—His Majesty's move will indeed win great loyalty.

Xie Chong stepped forward, raised both hands and pressed them downward. Several Chongqing Prefecture yamen runners beside him immediately bellowed at the top of their lungs: "Silence! Silence! His Excellency has something to say!"

After several shouts, the various clamor and noise gradually ceased. Even the children who had been chasing and playing fell quiet. The bustling square suddenly became utterly silent, broken only by the occasional cry of an infant.

Xie Chong nodded with satisfaction, then turned aside with a respectful gesture: "Your Excellency the Governor, please!"

Fu Zonglong swept his dignified gaze across the crowd in the square, then said in a deep voice: "An imperial edict! Pacification Commissioner of Shi-zhu, Qin Liangyu, and all below, kneel and listen!"

Qin Liangyu, though past sixty, strode briskly to the incense table that had been set up below the steps, turned to face Fu Zonglong on the platform, and knelt. Ma Xianglin knelt behind her. The common people in the square, along with the clerks and yamen runners, all prostrated themselves as well. Though they did not know what this was about, since their superiors knelt, they naturally followed suit.

Fu Zonglong reached into his robe and drew out a scroll of bright yellow silk bearing an auspicious cloud pattern. Slowly unrolling it, he began to read aloud in a loud voice, pausing at each phrase:

"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Since ancient times, no dynasty has held the Mandate of Heaven more righteously than the August Ming. The Mongols were cruel and tyrannical, leading beasts to devour men. Our Founder rose up in resistance as a commoner, and the Han people of the realm answered his call. Countless martyrs shed their blood and laid down their lives, until at last the Mongols fled in panic to the north, and the dress and civilization of our Huaxia were restored. The Jurchen barbarians of today, descended from the Tungusic stock, dwell constantly among wild beasts, and their nature is no different from beasts. Long lurking between the White Mountains and the Black Waters, they covet the fair mountains and rivers of Huaxia. Since the Tianqi era, taking advantage of the weakness of our regular armies, they have repeatedly cast wolfish glances upon the Central Plains, gnawing at the flesh of our Great Ming, their ambition to emulate the Tartar bandits growing ever more apparent. Fortunately, there are the White Pole troops of Shi-zhu, who marched ten thousand li to die in Liaodong; the fiery spirit of Sichuan men has been witnessed by all under Heaven. Among them is one of the Ma family, a certain Qin, who in a woman's form looked down upon all the heroes of the realm, sold her family fortune to relieve the nation's distress, and led her own kin to the rescue time and again—a feat of such valor that all the world sighs in admiration. How could such a heroine's name not be known to all under Heaven? How could the sacrifices of the White Pole troops go uncompensated? Therefore, We hereby elevate this Qin to the rank of Imperial Edict Bestowed Lady of the First Rank, Commissioner-in-Chief of the Left, and Regional Commander of Sichuan. The late former Pacification Commissioner of Shi-zhu, Ma, is posthumously granted the rank of Commissioner-in-Chief of the Left, and a shrine shall be erected for his worship. The court allocates two hundred thousand taels of silver to comfort the loyalty of the White Pole troops. Respect this."

Prostrate on the ground, Qin Liangyu's body trembled slightly, and large tears fell from her eyes to the earth. More than ten years of fighting for the nation, more than ten thousand sons of Shi-zhu bleeding and dying—today at last the court had acknowledged them. The orphans and widows who had lost their loved ones would finally receive compensation, and her husband could smile in the underworld. The Emperor's grace is beyond repayment—let the sons of Shi-zhu repay it with their hot blood!

Fu Zonglong rolled up the edict and said in a deep voice: "Lady Qin, please rise. His Majesty has specially bestowed upon you a suit of mountain-pattern armor, and instructed me to convey to you: take care of yourself, and when the Great Ming's seas and lands are pacified, you are invited to the capital for an audience with His Majesty!"

Qin Liangyu solemnly knocked her head three times on the ground, then straightened up and declared in a loud voice: "To receive such favor from His Majesty, I, your subject Qin Liangyu, shall not fail His Majesty's grace. I offer this remaining body in His Majesty's service!"

Though the common people below could not understand what the edict actually said, they understood the final phrase—two hundred thousand taels of silver. After kowtowing, they rose to their feet.

As a few people began clapping and leaping, gradually a thunderous roar of cheers resounded across the entire square. Some White Pole troops who were laughing and dancing suddenly thought of their fathers and elder brothers sleeping forever in Liaodong, and could not help sobbing—those men would never see this day. Today's pay had been bought with their fathers' and brothers' lives.

The distribution of the two hundred thousand taels of military pay took an entire day to complete. Whether deceased or on active service, every White Pole soldier registered in the rolls received twenty taels of silver. These twenty taels served both as military pay and as compensation for the fallen.

The Chongzhen Emperor naturally knew that a little silver like this was far from enough for the White Pole troops who had bled and died. But first, transporting military pay overland from the capital to Sichuan, thousands of li away, would be time-consuming, labor-intensive, and unsafe—Sichuan's own tax revenues had to substitute instead. Second, although the fiscal problems had eased somewhat, there was still not enough to pay the Sichuan army's full monthly wages and compensation; he could only issue this for now, and once the salt merchant problem was resolved, there would be sufficient silver to cover it.

But twenty taels of silver was already an enormous fortune for the people of the Shi-zhu native chieftaincy, who were not wealthy. Spent frugally, it could sustain a family of five for several years. For the Emperor's kindness, all were filled with gratitude and devotion.

The next day, Fu Zonglong returned to Chengdu Prefecture. After several days of rest, five thousand White Pole troops assembled and, under Qin Liangyu's command, marched north to Hanzhong Prefecture.

Sun Chuanting, the Governor of Shaanxi, had submitted a memorial to the court requesting that Sichuan troops be sent to garrison Hanzhong, to prevent the roving bandits in the Fengxiang Prefecture area from entering Sichuan through Hanzhong. The Ministry of War accordingly issued orders dispatching the White Pole troops to garrison Hanzhong, the strategic key point at the Sichuan-Shaanxi border.