Chapter 309: Offering Counsel

Two days later, in the Zhaoren Hall of the Qianqing Palace, Chen Qiyu, granted an audience, finally saw the Emperor again after several years.

"Your minister Chen Qiyu pays respects to Your Majesty! Your minister once awaited execution in prison for grave crimes, yet by Your Majesty's grace, with the boldness of an enlightened sovereign, you set aside all objections and plucked your minister from the brink of death, allowing him to wash away past shame while still bearing guilt. Now you have placed your minister in a high central post—such vast and boundless favor, your minister could never repay in a lifetime!"

With emotions surging, Chen Qiyu ignored Zhu Youjian's attempts to stop him and insisted on kneeling to perform the full three-kowtow grand ceremony, thereby expressing his gratitude to the Emperor. Helpless, Zhu Youjian could only sit upright and receive his grand salute.

"Are your esteemed parents at home well, Minister Chen? For many years you have abandoned home and family to toil for state affairs. Though there were occasional missteps along the way, they were but unintentional errors—all in the past now! Though I am lord of all under heaven, I too have erred! Past events not forgotten serve as guides for the future. I only hope that together with ministers such as Chen, we may look toward what lies ahead, find a smooth road amid the rugged terrain, so that our great Ming endures for ten thousand generations, and the people live and work in peace—then this life shall have no regrets!"

Once Chen Qiyu had taken his seat, Zhu Youjian smiled and first exchanged pleasantries, then rendered his verdict on Chen Qiyu's earlier grave mistakes: none are sages—I too make errors; the past is past, and what matters is the present.

With eyes slightly moist, Chen Qiyu rose and bowed in salute, replying: "I thank Your Majesty for the inquiry! My old mother's health has now greatly recovered; the second-rank lady's title Your Majesty bestowed has made my aged mother seem ten years younger. On the very day she received the ceremonial robes, her spirits so lifted that she broke precedent and drank a cup of wine. Afterwards she sent word to me, instructing me to serve with utmost loyalty and repay Your Majesty's heavenly grace with all my strength! As Your Majesty has said, your minister will not fail the imperial trust—where Your Majesty's hopes lie, there lies your minister's direction! I ask only that Your Majesty observe!"

"Be seated, Minister. For your merits, this is but a deserved bestowal. Your talents and character are both of the finest selection. I only hope you guard against pride and impatience, always maintain clear thinking, and render new achievements for the state. My summoning you to serve in the capital this time is precisely because I value your abilities—whenever there is great matter, you may be called to the palace at any time for detailed discussion. At present, our great Ming shows the first signs of peace across the four seas; the only concern is the jumping jack beyond the passes. Minister Hong went beyond the passes as Supreme Commander half a year ago. During that time, though he captured Yizhou and slaughtered the enemy within the city, he then withdrew by order; afterward he fought several battles great and small against the barbarian relief forces with some gains, yet the two sides now stand locked in stalemate along the Jinzhou line. For months the barbarian chieftain at Shengjing has made no move—how do you analyze this matter? How should we compel the barbarian bandits to dispatch their main force and meet us in decisive battle?"

Hong Chengchou's memorials on the front-line situation arrived every ten days without fail. They stated that the main force of the Jianzhou barbarians under Yoto had now withdrawn north of Jinzhou, no longer attacking the castles behind Jinzhou such as Songshan; only a few small-scale skirmishes had occurred between the two sides, and there was no sign of large-scale troop reinforcements from the Jianzhou direction.

This was diametrically opposite to what Zhu Youjian and the senior officials of the Ministry of War had anticipated—that Hong Taiji, after his main force returned from the western campaign, would soon reinforce Jinzhou. It left Zhu Youjian, who had already ordered the Qin army and the Sichuan troops northward to converge on the capital before joining the Capital Camps and the remaining Yongwei Camp forces to go beyond the passes and give battle to the Jianzhou barbarians, feeling as though he had punched a ball of cotton.

Hong Chengchou analyzed in his memorial that although the barbarian main force had most likely returned, months of campaigning had left them a weary army, and combined with the need to consolidate and digest their gains, this was why they had been slow to send reinforcements south.

Zhu Youjian largely agreed with Hong Chengchou's analysis. After consulting with Yang Sichang and other key Ministry of War officials, Zhu Youjian issued an edict dispatching the logistics camp under the Capital Camps beyond the passes, accelerating the construction of the barracks and granaries around Shahousuo. Once the Qin army and the Sichuan troops arrived in the capital and rested briefly, they would head north beyond the passes to occupy the newly built camps, so as to familiarize and acclimatize themselves with the environment and terrain beyond the passes ahead of time.

This was precisely the principle of "before the army moves, provisions go first"—the daily consumption of grain by over a hundred thousand men was staggering, and preparing the army's supplies in advance was of the utmost importance.

The location of the new barracks was very safe, more than two hundred li from Jinzhou, screened by over a dozen fort-castles ahead, so there was no worry of the Jianzhou barbarians discovering it.

According to the Ministry of War's daily dispatches, Sun Chuanting's main Qin army was still over three hundred li from the capital; in less than ten days they would reach the vicinity of the capital. Sun Chuanting had already left the main force and was riding ahead with his personal guards toward the capital.

Because the White Pole troops had set out from farther away, they would arrive somewhat later than the Qin army.

"In answer to Your Majesty's question, your minister has indeed been pondering this matter constantly of late, and today I shall lay it out for Your Majesty's consideration. Hong Hengjiu's analysis is largely not far off—the barbarian bandits have not sent their main force south, indeed because of weary troops and the onset of cold weather. But your minister believes that so long as the imperial army takes the initiative and achieves a substantial victory, the barbarian chieftain at Shengjing will certainly not sit idly by!"

Chen Qiyu first affirmed Hong Chengchou's judgment, but then immediately offered a different view.

"Oh? What insight does Minister Chen have? Let's hear it! But do not make grand empty claims!"

Chen Qiyu's words stirred something in Zhu Youjian's heart. He was curious what unique argument this minister of considerable strategic vision might offer, yet he did not want Chen Qiyu to merely seek attention with reckless talk, so he added a final word of caution.

"Your Majesty forgive me—this is but your minister's own humble view, not grand talk to curry imperial favor. Your minister believes that the enemy at Jinzhou came south precisely seeking revenge for the defeat at Yizhou, and so though they gained no great profit, they linger and refuse to leave. The troops beyond the passes are the cream of the imperial army; if joined with the Jinzhou garrison, their total numbers far exceed the Jianzhou barbarians. The chieftain leading the barbarians' southern army must think highly of himself, believing he could still shatter and slaughter our forces as easily as before. But after several contests between the two sides, he discovered the truth was otherwise—even at full effort, he could not defeat the imperial army, and so his fighting spirit has been lost. Yet if he withdrew to Jianzhou empty-handed after losing men, he would fear the mockery of his own clansmen, and even more, fear that the barbarian chieftain Hong Taiji might use 'incompetence in battle' as a pretext to strip him of power. Hence he struggles to maintain the standoff with us at Jinzhou. And if we wish to compel Jianzhou to commit its full strength southward, it is not difficult. Your minister believes that since the two armies have faced off for so long, neither able to overcome the other, morale and fighting spirit must long since have slackened. If the imperial army, catching them unprepared, suddenly throws heavy forces at them in a devastating ambush, the Jianzhou barbarian chieftain, shocked and enraged, will surely dispatch his entire main force south in retaliation—and that would precisely suit the imperial army's desire for a decisive engagement. These words are but your minister's shallow views; I hope Your Majesty will consider them!"

Chen Qiyu spoke with a composed demeanor, unhurriedly laying out his views.

After hearing him out, Zhu Youjian could not help but fall into deep thought.

He had to admit Chen Qiyu's analysis made good sense, and his dissection of the psychology of chieftains like Hong Taiji was meticulous and penetrating—his keen observational powers could truly be said to see through men's hearts.

At present, the several powerful armies of the great Ming would soon be in place, and logistical support was in its final stages. At most another month—around the end of September in the tenth year of Chongzhen—over a hundred thousand elite imperial troops would converge beyond the passes and begin the decisive campaign against the Jianzhou barbarian host.

But for now the Jianzhou main force showed not the slightest movement, while the Ministry of War's plan was to await the enemy's arrival along the Jinzhou line, using advantages of terrain and supply to crush the Jianzhou barbarians. So the pressing task was how to lure the enemy from their lair—otherwise...

What Zhu Youjian worried about was that over a hundred thousand troops lingering beyond the passes would not only consume enormous resources, but if the wait dragged on, morale would be ground down to nothing. That was why he wanted to force a decisive battle with the Jianzhou barbarians as soon as possible.

Hong Chengchou might well have already thought of the judgment Chen Qiyu had just offered, but being known for steadiness, he likely was unwilling to risk a sortie, so as to avoid as much as possible the loss of men and the wounding of morale.

"Companion, send someone to the Ministry of War with my verbal edict—summon the Minister of War and the Vice Ministers of the left and right to the palace immediately for audience!"

Zhu Youjian instructed Wang Cheng'en, who stood in attendance at his side.

Wang Cheng'en acknowledged and left through the palace hall door.

Though Chen Qiyu felt the Emperor's eagerness for battle was somewhat hasty, having only just regained the Emperor's favor, he feared that offering remonstrance on this matter might displease His Majesty.

Fortunately, he had made various deductions and plans regarding the war beyond the passes. Since the Emperor had asked, he would simply offer one of those plans and let the Emperor decide whether to adopt it.

If the senior Ministry of War officials disagreed, then let there be a debate before the Emperor, and in the end let the Emperor abandon the notion of swift battle—he himself would never play the role of the blunt remonstrating minister.