Chapter 196: After the Battle

Lu Xiangsheng's report of victory arrived in the capital by fast horse ten days later. Along with it came the detailed battle account, as well as various spoils seized from Zhushan county town, including a golden seal used by Zhang Xianzhong, a gilt dragon staff, eight command flags and eight command arrows each, a gilt double-dragon iron staff that Zhang Xianzhong had used, engraved with the five characters "Eight Great King's Golden Whip," and a gilt broadsword engraved with the four characters "Heaven-Bestowed Flying Blade."

Zhu Youjian curiously examined these spoils, gaining a deeper understanding of Zhang Xianzhong.

Gilding and such was one thing, but you were a roving bandit, yet you used a double-dragon staff and a golden seal — why not go ahead and prepare a dragon robe and imperial crown as well?

Gao Yingxiang, with all his power, hadn't yet prepared to ascend the throne, yet you, a fly clinging to a horse's tail, dared to entertain such ambitions — who gave you the confidence and courage? Was it a woman surnamed Liang who sang you a song and set you dreaming? Could it be that those two scoundrels Pan Du'ao and Xu Yixian fed you such rotten ideas?

This rebel truly deserved death. I had hoped Lu Xiangsheng would capture him alive, then cut him into pieces like the Gao brothers and leave him to dry in the sun — never expected he'd take his own life.

The courage given by the woman surnamed Liang was used for this — at least it was better than being sliced into dried meat.

The battle report did not mention the name Li Dingguo, whom Zhu Youjian cared most about; presumably the government troops, apart from Zhang Xianzhong, paid no attention to anyone else. Li Dingguo might have died in battle, or might have vanished without a trace. As for Sun Kewang, Liu Wenxiu and their ilk, Zhu Youjian did not give them much thought — alive or dead, it mattered little.

In his heart, Zhu Youjian hoped this future Han general who would resist the Qing could escape with his life, because unlike Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng and others, he did not possess enormous destructive power and influence. A man who reads books and understands reason would not go too far in his deeds, nor would he treat human life as mere grass, but this kind of benevolence and righteousness would severely constrain Li Dingguo's development.

Hopefully he survives. If there's news of him, send men to capture him.

His own arrival had already changed the fates of many people; many things were beyond his control, unless he were an immortal.

As for Fang Kongzhao being able to induce Liu Guoneng to surrender, and then seizing the opportunity to plan the capture of Luo Rucai and He Yilong, Zhu Youjian truly found it hard to believe.

One could only say that Fang Yizhi's old father was lucky — Liu Guoneng surrendered to him simply because he was nearby. Had someone else been Governor of Huguang, Liu Guoneng would still have gone to surrender to them.

Fang Kongzhao was not a man of outstanding literary or martial talent; to put it plainly, he was merely a mediocre bureaucrat. Saying he devised a plan to capture Cao Cao Luo Rucai, famous for his cunning schemes, was rather far-fetched — Zhu Youjian thought it more likely the other way around.

No, someone needed to ask Liu Guoneng what had actually happened.

Still, that this old-fashioned bureaucrat could have raised a great talent like Fang Yizhi secretly amazed Zhu Youjian; he actually believed Fang Yizhi was a genius with no connection whatsoever to his father's upbringing.

Had Fang Kongzhao's old-fashioned thinking prevailed, Fang Yizhi would never have been allowed to read any miscellaneous books beyond the Four Books and Five Classics.

Though Fang Kongzhao's memorial painted the surrender and capture in glowing prose, Zhu Youjian was very curious about what had actually happened.

Since there was the precedent of Zhang Wenyao, Liu Guoneng could likewise be appointed Mobile Corps Commander; after his troops were carefully selected and reorganized, they would temporarily serve under Lu Xiangsheng's command. Surrendered men were exceptionally loyal — Bai Guangxian and Gao Jie in history were examples — though Gao Jie had not appeared yet, and no one knew where he was.

Luo Rucai and He Yilong should be beheaded on the spot. These bandits came from the wilderness and had not a shred of loyalty in their hearts, unlike Zhang Wenyao and Liu Guoneng, who had served in government forces and at least understood obedience and following orders. As for Left Gold King Lin Yangcheng and Old Muslim Ma Shouying, who had vanished without a trace, order men to search and destroy them — those two could hardly stir up much trouble.

Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong dead, the Five Camps of Ge and Zuo annihilated, Li Zicheng on the run — the roving bandits who historically toppled the Ming had essentially been wiped out. Did this count as changing heaven's mandate and altering fate?

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian couldn't help feeling secretly pleased with himself.

In his previous life he had been an ordinary man; having crossed over and accomplished such a great deed, he naturally felt a full sense of achievement.

The only opponent left before him was Jianzhou. Given the strength he now commanded, dealing with the Jianzhou barbarians was not a problem — the key was what method to use to destroy Hong Taiji.

Zhu Youjian actually leaned toward slowly outlasting the enemy.

With the Jianzhou barbarians' current population of barely a million or so, their economic output couldn't match even one percent of a developed township in the Jiangzhe region of later ages.

Liaodong's harsh climate and natural conditions severely constrained the Jianzhou barbarians' own development. Moreover, they were extremely deficient in all resources, and every strategic material had to be imported from outside. As long as the flow of goods in and out of Jianzhou was tightly sealed off, within a few years this semi-slave society would collapse from within — at which point sending a small force of elite troops would easily subdue them.

Given the Jianzhou barbarians' extremely backward production methods and efficiency, had they not plundered large numbers of people and craftsmen from the Great Ming on several occasions, they would still be in the era of wearing animal hides and using bone arrows.

But if he did that, once his deeds were written into a book in the future, countless readers would curse him, demanding why he hadn't mounted his horse and led his troops to crush the Jianzhou barbarians — all that talk of laughing and drinking their blood, satisfying ambition by feasting on their flesh — and he would feel so embarrassed, so very embarrassed.

Spending time to starve and strangle them would sacrifice fewer Ming soldiers' lives, but the drawback was obvious: during the blockade, he would have to hold his nose and continue feeding those scourges, the Liaodong military clans.

As for a direct assault, the time was not yet right. After years of continuous warfare, the soldiers needed ample time to rest.

The method known to everyone on the internet in later ages — shipping troops to the Jin Prefecture area to harass the Jianzhou barbarians from the flank — Zhu Youjian actually did not think highly of.

First, this harassment method required deploying an elite force. Too many men wouldn't do — with more men, how would grain and supplies be provisioned? As for shipping grain by boat, countless commoners in the interior were still waiting for the Zheng family's grain shipments to fill their stomachs.

So the question arises: what exactly are you sending a few thousand men over there to do?

Many people in later ages may never have been to the Northeast, and they project the densely populated, village-linked landscape of later times onto the past. The total population of the three northeastern provinces now exceeds one hundred million.

But what most people don't know is that the Northeast is too vast.

Especially Heilongjiang Province in later ages — everywhere one looked were endless plains and hills, and one might travel dozens of li before seeing a small village of a few hundred people, and that was in the era of population explosion.

When the Manchu Qing entered the passes, their total population was only around three million — and that was after several previous raids into Ming territory to plunder.

Zhu Youjian estimated the Jianzhou barbarians' current total population at between one and one and a half million, of which the Manchu Eight Banners numbered only about five hundred thousand; the remaining million consisted of Liaodong Han Chinese, Han Chinese plundered from the interior, and Mongols.

On such a vast and expansive land with only a million people, you send men over to harass — pray tell, whom are you harassing? Do you know where to go to harass? Do you think you can casually find a densely populated, undefended Jianzhou village, charge in, and start slaughtering?

Travel one or two hundred li without seeing a single person or village, and you send out a few hundred to a thousand men at a time — how much grain must they carry? Over several hundred li round trip, if the Jianzhou barbarians discover you, will their cavalry on the plains let you off?

Direct assault? Too afraid. Harassment? Do you think Ming government troops can harass the Mongol Eight Banners, unmatched in mounted archery? You harass a few times, gain a little advantage, they send the Mongols over to hide and wait; you come out to harass again, the Mongol Eight Banners charge — still harassing? Are you there to harass or to deliver your heads?

Fine, a few thousand is too few — send tens of thousands over. Assume grain and supplies are air-dropped daily by transport planes. What are these tens of thousands going to do? Certainly not harassing — that's a full army, and they'd have to fight the Jianzhou barbarians head-on.

Fine, fight then. Can't the Jianzhou barbarians muster half their forces to beat you? The result is still delivering heads, and the soldiers, weapons, armor, grain and supplies you abandon let the Jianzhou barbarians profit handsomely — is this the Great Ming's Chang Kai-shek?

What? Send troops from the front to rescue them, conveniently joining forces to sweep through Liaodong.

If you can march troops from the front to sweep through Liaodong, then why send anyone around the flank at all? Taking off your pants to fart — utterly superfluous.

This kind of wishful thinking is pure fantasy, utterly useless, yet it attracts fervent adoration from countless military novices in later ages. As if, after crossing over, not shipping troops by boat to harass the Jianzhou barbarians makes you an idiot. In reality, they know nothing about the massive material supply demands of past warfare or the complexity of the roads — many imagine past road conditions were as flat and wide as today's.

Mao Wenlong at the Dongjiang garrison never posed any real threat to the Jianzhou barbarians; his main contribution was gathering up large numbers of Liaodong Han Chinese who refused to be slaves.

As for his sending troops to harass — going out once a month to take three or five heads while suffering dozens of his own casualties — was that useful?

The strategy of occupying islands and harassing from the flank, so popular in later-age time-travel novels, is merely artistic creation dreamed up by some great author.

It's more like the burning of Bowang Slope or the drowning of the Seven Armies in Romance of the Three Kingdoms — artistic embellishment and imagination that never existed in the real Three Kingdoms.

Destroying the Xi'an camp was also a great achievement. Though Zhang Xianzhong died by his own hand, had the government troops not fought so valiantly, he certainly would not have killed himself.

All those who participated in hunting down and killing Zhang Xianzhong were promoted three ranks and rewarded one hundred taels of silver.

But how to reward the generals left Zhu Youjian scratching his head.

He had only just bestowed rewards a few days ago; now there was nothing left to give.

He blamed himself for setting the bar too high — now he couldn't come back down.

He couldn't very well make Zu Kuan a count, could he? Though he had played a crucial role in this battle, he hadn't reached the level for a countship.

If Zu Kuan were made a count, what about his father, his uncle, his granduncle? Would Zhou Yuji, Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong, Cao Bianjiao, Li Chongjin, Qin Yiming and the other chief commanders have no objections?

Zhou Yuji had followed Sun Chuanting to destroy Gao Yingxiang; Zuo Liangyu and others had followed Hong Chengchou to wipe out the bandits of northern Shaanxi — with such great achievements and no countship, the others should forget about it.

Lu Xiangsheng could not be promoted further either — Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting were there for comparison. Further promotion would require adding the title of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, but even Chief Grand Secretary Wen Tiren hadn't received that, which would be indefensible.

Fang Kongzhao should be given some reward as circumstances warranted. Though in reality he might not have much merit, at least to the outside world, he had induced a surrender and captured bandits — not rewarding him would inevitably chill hearts.

Add the title of Left Vice Censor-in-Chief; that is ample reward for his service.

The Governor of Yunyang made no move throughout this campaign, and Lu Xiangsheng never mentioned him in his memorials—clearly he lacks ability and must be replaced at the first opportunity.

Zhang Xianzhong actually had farmland cultivated in both Zhushan and Zhuxi—it seems he intended to use those two places as his base. This time, let the local people simply take over the farming, and grant them a three-year tax exemption.

The County Magistrates and their deputies of both counties died with their entire families for the state. Have the Grand Secretariat posthumously honor them according to precedent, and send men to seek out their families for generous compensation.

Arriving alongside Lu Xiangsheng's report of victory was a personal memorial from Lu Jun, the Prefect of Kaifeng.

The Prince of Zhou wishes to come to the capital for an audience with His Majesty.