Chapter 250: Seeking Counsel

That evening, Hong Chengchou and Shen Shiyu lodged in the rear courtyard of the Circuit Intendant's yamen. Li Zhiyuan sent someone to order a top-grade banquet from the finest restaurant in the city and had it delivered to the yamen, along with four young and beautiful maidservants. Wu Sangui, however, did not come to dine with Hong Chengchou, using the pretext of visiting elders and old acquaintances such as He Qian and Li Lu.

Around the hour of You, the sky had gradually darkened. After bathing and changing clothes attended by two maidservants, Hong Chengchou, clad in a blue Daoist robe, paced forward with the two maidservants following on either side behind him, while a servant of Li Zhiyuan led the way ahead holding a lantern.

After several turns left and right, they arrived before a courtyard. Li Zhiyuan, dressed in dark casual clothes, and Shen Shiyu stood smiling beneath the lanterns at the courtyard gate in welcome: "Supreme Commander, please enter!"

Hong Chengchou stepped into the courtyard first.

In the center of the spacious courtyard grew a lush locust tree with thick foliage, and in the southeast corner a wooden trellis was covered with climbing grapevines. Beneath the grape trellis sat a stone table and several stone stools, upon which rested a teapot and several teacups—clearly used by the master for enjoying the cool air and leisure. Several pots of brilliantly colored flowers whose names none could tell were scattered at the base of the grapevines, greeting the arrival of summer with their resplendent yet fleeting beauty.

"Ningsi truly possesses refined leisure and elegant taste! Could it be that Ningyuan is such a nourishing place? I observe that Ningsi seems to have the air of one who has forgotten his home in his joy! Hehehehe!"

Hong Chengchou teased, addressing Li Zhiyuan by his courtesy name.

"Your words, Lord Hong, shame this humble official! Where is there any talk of forgetting home in joy? At best it is finding pleasure amidst hardship! Lord Hong, Brother Shen, please enter!"

Li Zhiyuan replied with a wry smile as he gestured invitingly with a respectful hand.

In the spacious and bright flower hall stood a square table and three armchairs. The windows of the hall were all thrown wide open, and the cool early summer breeze that swept in was supremely comfortable.

After the three took their seats, two of the four maidservants stood behind Hong Chengchou at the seat of honor, while the other two stood respectively behind Li Zhiyuan and Shen Shiyu, ready at any moment to attend to the diners. Figures moved about in the courtyard and beyond the gate, and the faint clinking of armor plates came intermittently—several dozen of Hong Chengchou's personal guards, armored and armed, were patrolling back and forth.

"Lord Hong exterminates bandits and destroys rebels, rescuing our August Ming from a perilous situation. Your merit towers above the present age—truly you are the pillar of heaven supporting our Great Ming! Forgive this humble official for speaking bluntly: had you not toiled these ten years, the roving bandits would long since have grown too powerful to control! Though this humble official had never met you before, your great name has long thundered in my ears. To see you today is the fortune of three lifetimes! I borrow this cup of wine to express my admiration for Lord Hong!"

Li Zhiyuan, seated at the side, raised his cup with both hands, his words filled with reverence for that famed minister Hong Chengchou. Having spoken, he drained the cup in one go.

Li Zhiyuan had passed the metropolitan examination in the second rank in the early years of Chongzhen, then remained in the Ministry of Revenue for a year of observation before serving successively as a prefectural or county magistrate in the Southern Direct Administration and Huguang provinces. In the seventh year of Chongzhen, having offended Wang Yongguang, then Minister of Personnel, he was packed off to Ningyuan as Circuit Intendant, where he remained to this day. Though his rank had risen to the fourth grade, officials all regarded this post as a road to peril, knowing that once one went beyond the passes, unless one secured the patronage of a Grand Secretary, even returning inside the passes would only land one a sinecure.

Past forty years of age, Li Zhiyuan was unwilling to see his official career end thus. After arriving in Ningyuan he too wished to achieve some administrative accomplishments to win the attention of the grandees in the capital. But in western Liaoning, where only those who held the sword had a say, he was but a powerless civil official who had been pushed aside. Having come beyond the passes with only a few servants, facing a pack of rough men who did not even fear the Emperor, he had no strength to resist at all.

After several attempts, when he discovered that even the clerks within his own yamen paid only lip service to his orders, Li Zhiyuan was forced to accept reality and turned instead into a mud-and-wood idol who meddled in nothing. Seeing that he knew his place, the garrison commanders of Ningyuan no longer made things difficult for him, and even occasionally shared some benefits with him. Li Zhiyuan accepted whatever came—not because he did not wish to refuse, but because he dared not, lest he find every step impossible in Ningyuan.

"Ningsi's words are excessive praise! Though I have achieved some small success in suppressing the bandits, it rests on nothing more than His Majesty's trust, the support of the court ministers, and the valor of the soldiers—and moreover the aid of men of talent such as Kungang. By the grace of heaven alone have we reached today's situation. This is not my achievement alone!"

Hong Chengchou smiled and raised his cup for a small sip, his regard for Li Zhiyuan growing several degrees. Beside him, Shen Shiyu drained his cup dry, and the maidservants hurriedly refilled the wine and served the dishes.

Though Li Zhiyuan's words smacked of flattery and currying favor, they happened to scratch exactly where Hong Chengchou itched.

As the Great Ming's decade-long intractable crisis came to a perfect close with the successive annihilation of nearly a million roving bandits, looking back on all the hardships along the way, Hong Chengchou sighed inwardly—yet also often secretly gloated over the decisive role he had played in it all.

Though Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting had also played very important roles in suppressing the bandits, had he not struggled to hold the line while the bandits were gradually gathering strength, where would the great victories Sun and Lu later won have come from? I, Hong Hengjiu, am the one who planted the tree; the rest are merely enjoying the shade beneath it.

"What Brother Ningsi just said was most incisive! The roving bandits have plagued the northern lands of the Great Ming for ten years. Had Lord Hong not held the line alone, the present Great Ming would still be a sieve riddled with holes, with consequences too dire to contemplate! This is the consensus of court and country alike! Lord Hong possesses grand strategy and a fearless heart. With great boldness and great perseverance, pitting the weak against the strong, you ultimately swept away the host of bandits, purified the realm, and restored to the Great Ming a bright and clear world—this is truly the threefold immortality of the sages! Even the scholar-generals of the High Tang were no more than this! Pillar of heaven supporting the Great Ming—this title Lord Hong deserves without question! Today we must drink a great cup for Lord Hong's sake!"

Shen Shiyu spoke with fervor, then raised his cup and drained it. Li Zhiyuan hastily lifted his own cup to follow.

"Kungang's words go too far! Hehehehe! How could I be compared to the sages of antiquity! Had you not these years diligently assisted me, managing my daily military affairs, some oversight might well have slipped through in the suppression of the bandits! If we can achieve something beyond the passes this time, I shall surely recommend a talent of Kungang's caliber to His Majesty, so that the Great Ming may not leave such worth hidden in the wilds!"

Shen Shiyu was a native of Lantian in Shaanxi, from a wealthy family. Among his ancestors, some had served as Prefect of Fuzhou and Judge of Xingyang. His father had passed the provincial examination during the Wanli reign but never took office, instead remaining at home to care for his parents. Shen Shiyu passed the provincial examination in the third year of Chongzhen. Seeing thereafter that the situation in the northern lands of the Great Ming seemed to be rotting, he discussed the matter with his father and resolutely abandoned the brush for the sword, presenting himself at Hong Chengchou's headquarters. Over the following years he helped Hong Chengchou handle daily military affairs and the flow of official correspondence with the Emperor, the court, and the localities, earning deep appreciation and affection from Hong Chengchou.

During this time Hong Chengchou had several times intended to recommend him to the court, but each time Shen Shiyu politely declined on the grounds that the roving bandits were not yet pacified and he could not in good conscience take up a local post. Hong Chengchou, regretful, also resolved that once the Great Ming was settled within and without, he would spare no effort in recommending this talented man who cared nothing for fame or gain to the Emperor and the court, so that he might have a platform to display his abilities.

After three rounds of wine, Hong Chengchou set down his chopsticks and gave a light cough. Shen Shiyu hastily glanced at Li Zhiyuan, who, startled for a moment, immediately understood. He waved his hand, and the maidservants hurriedly left the flower hall.

"Ningsi, you have served as an official here for several years and must know something of the conditions beyond the passes. I have been commanded to serve as Supreme Commander overseeing Ji and Liao, and I wish to rectify the military, nurture the people beyond the passes. Unfortunately, I know very little of the ways of western Liaoning. What counsel can Ningsi offer me? If you have any good strategies, speak them freely!"

Hong Chengchou looked intently at Li Zhiyuan as he spoke.