Chapter 135: Suppression and Pacification

Upon receiving the swift cavalry dispatch reporting that Sun Chuanting had led the Qin army to encircle and annihilate Gao Yingxiang's forces, achieving the great victory at Heishui Valley, Chongzhen was overjoyed.

After the destruction of Gao Yingxiang's forces, the only major roving bandit groups remaining within Shaanxi were those entrenched in the northern Shaanxi region—Xiezi Kuai Tuoyang Kun, Zhang Miaoshou, the Dashing General Li Zicheng and others—as well as the forces of Ma Jinzhong, Hun Tianwang, Renyi Wang and others active in the western part of Fengxiang Prefecture.

Although Hong Chengchou had not achieved any notable military results, the greatest benefit was that he had isolated the northern Shaanxi bandits from the Central Plains region, preventing the "roving" aspect of the roving bandits from being fully exploited, and denying Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong any effective support. Combined with Lu Xiangsheng's competence, the large-scale bandit calamity that had historically devastated the Central Plains never materialized.

As for Ma Jinzhong and his associates in the Fengxiang Prefecture area, they harbored no great ambitions and lacked broader strategic vision, never considering attacking Hong Chengchou's forces in northern Shaanxi from behind to relieve the pressure on Tuoyang Kun and the others.

This was because although the roving bandits numbered in the hundreds of thousands, they lacked a banner-waving leader who could rally all with a single call, so the various bandit groups essentially fought independently.

Although Gao Yingxiang had made a great name for himself in the Central Plains, with many bandit chiefs in Henan leading their forces to join him, the roving bandits of Shaanxi did not acknowledge his authority. Those close to him were only Li Zicheng and a few others, mainly due to ties of native place. Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng both belonged to Yan'an Prefecture—though one was from Ansai and the other from Suide, being from the same prefecture already counted as quite close fellow townsmen.

Now that Gao Yingxiang, who had caused the court the greatest headache, had been captured, the remaining bandits were but a sheet of loose sand, and could be broken one by one as opportunities arose.

This great victory served as a powerful deterrent to the bandits of northern Shaanxi, for they knew best the true strength of Gao Yingxiang. Since even the Dashing King, who commanded over ten thousand cavalry and whose elite old-camp infantry numbered nearly ten thousand, had been wiped out, the remaining bandit chiefs ought to weigh their own worth.

Now was the time to capitalize on the momentum of this great victory, employing a two-pronged approach—suppression and pacification combined—to divide and disintegrate the bandits. Pardon those bandit chiefs willing to sincerely surrender, and resolutely strike down the obstinate and unrepentant ones. Especially the likes of Li Zicheng—under no circumstances may they be spared; they must be utterly exterminated.

Chongzhen pondered for some time, then ordered the four treasures of the study to be prepared, and picking up his brush, began to write the imperial edict.

"By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor proclaims: I, who uphold the Way of Heaven above and nurture all directions below, regard all soldiers and civilians under heaven as my own children. Now natural calamities come in unbroken succession, bringing cold and hunger upon the people. Those good folk, trapped in ignorance, have been coerced and beguiled by wicked bandits into gathering in multitudes against the court. Moreover, corrupt officials and cruel clerks plague the localities, stirring popular indignation to a boiling point. Though I dwell in the deep palace, I am well aware of these details. Now the Dashing rebel has bowed his head and his followers have scattered like stars, leaving only one or two bandit chiefs in northern Shaanxi. I have already dispatched great armies to press the attack with remaining valor, and when that time comes, jade and stone will burn together—this my heart cannot bear. I now issue this special edict, sending officials to ride forth with the proclamation, opening a path to life. Any who repent their crimes and sincerely submit shall be treated as refugees. Local officials shall investigate each one's registered origin one by one: those from the locality shall be organized into baojia units according to statute; those from other provinces shall be gathered together and escorted home by assigned officials, and each shall be given two taels of silver for settling down, so that they may dwell peacefully in their native villages and forever cast aside thoughts of rebellion. Local officials shall properly resettle the returning people, and I shall also dispatch Censors and Embroidered Uniform Guard officers to inspect all regions. Should any official be found committing evil deeds, he shall be immediately arrested and imprisoned. Thus decreed."

The roving bandits could never be killed to extinction. To fundamentally eliminate the bandit scourge, both pacifying the people's hearts and ensuring clean governance had to be addressed together. This edict both expressed sympathy for the common bandits and made clear that the court would not tolerate cruel officials who abused the people, dispelling the people's fears of official retaliation upon returning home.

As for the modest resettlement silver, compared to the millions of taels spent annually on bandit suppression, it was utterly negligible. Chongzhen was not really short of money at present. Having successively confiscated the properties of the Count of Chengyi, the Shanxi merchants, the civil and military officials of Xuanfu, Zhu Chunchen, Li Guozhen, and several others, he had obtained millions in ready silver, along with various shops, supplies, and farmland. Added to the profits of the Four Seas Trading Company and the salt monopoly earnings, he could support all manner of expenditures for years to come.

Of course, who would ever complain about having too much money? Besides, having money alone wasn't enough now—grain was also needed. After all, when food ran out, you couldn't exactly serve braised gold ingots or steamed silver dumplings, could you? Could you even bite into them? Were your teeth set with diamonds or what?

Chongzhen estimated that after these successive great victories, Zheng Zhifeng in the capital would certainly write to inform his elder brother. The Zheng family, originally a traditional weathervane faction that had little faith in the Ming court, had definitely shifted its attitude now—this could be discerned from one thing Zheng Zhifeng had done some time earlier.

Some days prior had been the birthday of Empress Dowager Yi'an. Zhang Yan, the Empress Dowager Yi'an, who was of a tranquil disposition and disliked extravagance, had merely shared a simple meal with Chongzhen, Empress Zhou, Noble Consort Tian, and a few others to mark the occasion, with few outside the palace knowing of it. Although Zheng Zhifeng had not been in the capital long, with silver paving his way, he had cultivated excellent relations with the officials holding real power in all the key departments. Having learned of this matter from somewhere, the very next day Zheng Zhifeng, on the pretext of celebrating the Empress Dowager Yi'an's birthday, donated one hundred thousand taels of fine silver to the court, requesting that the court convert the silver into grain in the Empress Dowager Yi'an's name to relieve the orphaned and destitute of the capital.

Pirates did things so directly and forthrightly, it had to be said. Strictly speaking, this was not in accordance with protocol, but then again, the man wasn't doing anything wrong. In Zheng Zhifeng's own words: "I'm a rough man, but this is the heart of a loyal son."

Upon receiving the news, Chongzhen could only accept Zheng Zhifeng's request with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. Though he did not grant him an audience, he did convey an oral commendation of Zheng Zhifeng, and required the Zheng family to continue large-scale grain purchases for shipment to the capital, with the court purchasing in ready silver. Zheng Zhifeng slapped his chest and swore there would be no problem—the court's affairs were the Zheng family's affairs. He stopped just short of saying that the court's subjects were the Zheng family's subjects.

After finishing writing, Li Erxi took out the imperial jade seal and applied it. Once the ink had dried, he immediately turned and hurried out of the hall. Having watched Chongzhen write from the side, he knew the importance of this edict proclaiming to all under heaven, so he personally delivered it to the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters, urging Luo Yangxing to immediately dispatch men to ride swiftly to Shaanxi.

Watching Li Erxi's hastily departing figure, Chongzhen nodded with satisfaction—the lad was growing more perceptive by the day. He stretched his arms and back to loosen his body.

The reconstruction of the Capital Camps was proceeding with great vigor. With Chongzhen's support, Xue Lian and Wei Shichun had carried out drastic reforms of the Capital Camps. The Capital Camps, nominally two hundred thousand strong, actually had fewer than half that number in real troops, and a full several tens of thousands of those were aged or feeble soldiers.

After careful selection, the Capital Camps retained a fighting force of over thirty thousand men—somewhat more than the thirty thousand Chongzhen had estimated, but that was hardly a problem. The Capital Camps also opportunistically expanded to twenty thousand. All personnel within the Capital Camps connected to Zhu Chunchen and Li Guozhen were dismissed and sent home. The aged and feeble eliminated numbered over twenty thousand in total. From among these, choosing the better of the worst, five thousand were selected to form a logistics camp, while the remaining ten-plus thousand became a major headache.

Most of the aged and feeble soldiers had spent their entire lives mixed within the Capital Camps, possessing no marketable skills and having no surplus grain at home. Many were lifelong bachelors. If left unattended, they would either become beggars sleeping on the streets or join the ranks of refugees, becoming hidden dangers to society. But how could so many people be resettled? Yang Sichang, the newly appointed Minister of War, was at his wit's end and could only toss the problem to the Grand Secretariat.

The Grand Secretariat members were hardly more brilliant—after racking their brains for some time without any solution, they ultimately had to hand the difficult problem back to Chongzhen. You are the Emperor; the people of the Great Ming are your people. Surely you cannot watch your own sons starve to death and do nothing?

Chongzhen was indifferent to the matter. In the imperial manor formerly managed by Liu Chao, the able-bodied young men had already been drawn off to form several well-digging teams, with the most capable selected as squad leaders, each leading their own team dispersed to the various prefectures and counties of Shuntian Prefecture to carry out well-digging operations. This had greatly reduced the agricultural labor force of the imperial manor.

Digging a well was not something that could be finished in a short while. In an era relying entirely on human labor, digging a deep well in the fields took anywhere from as little as a month to as long as several months. Shuntian Prefecture alone was enough to keep them busy, not to mention the prefectures and counties of the surrounding capital region.

After the able-bodied young men were drawn away, the women of the imperial manor became the main labor force in the fields.

They had to care for the elderly and children at home, tend the fields, and manage household chores—their energy was simply insufficient. Moreover, there were the imperial manor's workshops, where they could receive ready silver every month, which brought in money faster than working the fields and was far less troublesome.

The local women who had originally worked in the workshops were forced to resign because they could not manage everything, and the workshops were now staffed mainly by women gathered from elsewhere. This made many local women quite envious and resentful, but one could not have both the fish and the bear's paw—they could only watch helplessly as others collected their wages at month's end and went cheerfully to the market to shop.

When Chongzhen summoned Liu Chao and raised the matter, Liu Chao, who had been worrying about the shortage of labor, immediately expressed his willingness to accept this batch of dismissed soldiers. The imperial manor had always been short-handed and could barely manage as it was, but the several hundred thousand mu of land confiscated from Zhu Chunchen and Li Guozhen and assigned to the imperial manor were desperately short of hands.

Because of his outstanding performance managing the imperial manor, Liu Chao had been promoted to the position of eunuch director of the Imperial Manor Administration—a chief eunuch of the fourth rank. Even entering the palace, he would now be respectfully addressed as "Grandpa Liu."

The energetic Eunuch Liu had been worrying that this year's grain harvest at the imperial manor would decline—this worked out perfectly. Although the ten-plus thousand had no combat capability, they had at least developed the habit of obedience and discipline in the army, making them just right for reclaiming wasteland, tending pigs and sheep, and growing crops.

Sun Chuanting had rendered great service this time, but considering that Governor-General of the Five Provinces Hong Chengchou, though having achieved no recent military merit, had for years been rushing about with his pitifully small force of government troops, putting out fires everywhere, Chongzhen did not raise Sun Chuanting's rank, trusting that he would understand the thought behind this decision.

Because Sun Chuanting already held the concurrent title of Vice Minister of War, this promotion would have elevated him to the rank of Minister of War, making him equal in rank to Hong Chengchou. But Sun Chuanting had only served as Governor for a little over a year—promoting him too quickly would easily invite unnecessary controversy. Better to wait until Shaanxi was completely pacified. By then, Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng could be rewarded with the title of Grand Secretary, and Sun Chuanting's further promotion would attract little criticism.

However, failing to reward merit would chill the hearts of those who had rendered service. Since those who had distinguished themselves could not be directly promoted this time, then their families should receive honors instead.

So Chongzhen wrote another edict, specially conferring upon the mothers of Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng the title of Second-Rank Lady, and upon their principal wives the title of Third-Rank Virtuous Woman; and specially conferring upon Sun Chuanting's aged mother the title of Second-Rank Lady, and upon his principal wife the title of Fourth-Rank Respectful Woman. This was fair enough. If any other important minister was dissatisfied—well then, go ahead, go replace those three and head to the front lines to suppress the bandits. Do you dare?

Sun Chuanting's military farming and troop training near Xi'an Prefecture had achieved excellent results, with the summer grain harvest of the ninth year of Chongzhen reaping a great bumper crop. Due to the greatly reduced tenant rents, after paying taxes to the court, farming households basically all had surplus grain at home, eliminating the situation of people joining the roving bandits because they could not get enough to eat.

Chongzhen required Sun Chuanting to rapidly expand the successful experience to the entire Xi'an Prefecture this year. Talents revealed in the process should be boldly employed without undue restriction on their status. Whether xiucai or juren, or clerks and scribes with only rough literacy but rich experience in local governance—those deserving promotion should be promoted, those deserving heavy responsibility should be given it. There was no need to worry about attacks from court officials or denunciations from the literati—the Emperor would bear all responsibility.

The Shaanxi Provincial Administration Commission at this time was not the small area of the later-era Shaanxi Province. The Shaanxi Provincial Administration Commission encompassed the territories of present-day Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu—three provinces' worth of land. The Governor of Shaanxi was a true frontier grandee.

Xi'an Prefecture also covered an area several times larger than in later eras, and concentrated two-tenths of Shaanxi's population. If the entire Xi'an Prefecture could be well governed, it would serve as an excellent model for future prefectural and county military farming and people-nurturing efforts.

Sun Chuanting could now be given free rein over civil administration. What he needed to do was head north to coordinate with Hong Chengchou in jointly annihilating the bandits of northern Shaanxi. In his letter to the two men, Chongzhen gave explicit instructions: all other bandit chiefs might be allowed to surrender, but the Dashing General Li Zicheng alone could not be. See him alive, or see his corpse dead—only a physically eliminated Li Zicheng was the best Li Zicheng.