Chapter 167: A Shocking Sight

On the twentieth day of the second month, the Yongwei Camp had already marched to the borders of Guide Prefecture in Henan—the junction of Shandong, Henan, and Anhui, close to northern Jiangsu, with its seat at what would later be known as the ancient city of Shangqiu.

When Zhu Cilang stepped out of the dragon carriage to stretch his body, he looked around and was utterly shaken by the scene before him.

All around was a vast expanse of white—not snow, but the bark stripped from every tree, leaving bare trunks glaring harshly in the sunlight. In the distance, several refugees were brawling violently over a strip of bark.

The rivers on the ground had all run dry, and the nearby fields were riddled with wide cracks. Nothing remained in the earth, for everything had been eaten—not even a single wild vegetable leaf was left.

The army pressed on, and with every step their hearts grew colder. Through every village and town they passed, nine homes in ten stood empty, the starving dead lay strewn across the land, bones lay scattered in every direction, and abandoned, dead infants could be seen everywhere.

There were none of those scenes from later films of wild dogs carrying off human flesh—for whenever a wild dog appeared, it would be surrounded by hundreds or thousands of people, beaten to death, and eaten on the spot. Some were even cutting flesh from the bodies of the starved dead to eat.

As the army marched past, the locals scavenging for food nearby only cast a casual glance, showing no fear of the soldiers whatsoever, nor any regard for the Son of Heaven's procession—for they were so dazed with hunger they could not tell east from west, and carried not a single possession on them.

Though drought had also struck within Shandong, it covered less than half the province, and the severity there could not compare with this place at all.

The officers and men of the Yongwei Camp stared blankly at their surroundings, and many soldiers who had once been refugees felt a deep bitterness. They thought back to how they too had once been among these people—had the Crown Prince not provided disaster relief in the capital, built cities, and distributed land, they would long ago have turned to a handful of yellow earth, perhaps even been eaten by others.

At that thought, many soldiers silently swore to cherish their current good days and to die for the Crown Prince their entire lives, without the slightest hesitation!

The scenery along the way was much the same—countless disaster victims wandered aimlessly, desperate to find anything to fill their bellies. Some even mixed mud with water and drank it down to dull the pangs of hunger.

Through the dragon carriage, Zhu Cilang's heart clenched again and again. He lowered the curtain, dismissed the palace maids attending him inside, and sat alone, tears streaming down his face.

Afterwards, he ordered the cannibals driven away, had the soldiers gather the bones and bury them together in mass graves, and distributed some military rations to relieve the nearby victims.

But there were too many victims and too few rations. If this continued, before they even reached Fengyang Prefecture, the Yongwei Camp itself would become like the refugees. Zhu Cilang had no choice but to grit his teeth and order the army to continue marching.

When they passed through Xiayi County, the Prefect of Guide Prefecture and officials from the surrounding prefectures and counties were already waiting before the city walls. Having learned of the Crown Prince's procession route, they had rushed over two days early to await him.

In the Xiayi County yamen, Zhu Cilang sat in the seat of honor, coldly regarding the local officials standing in two rows below.

"Prefect of Guide Prefecture!" Zhu Cilang said coldly.

"Your servant is here!" The Prefect of Guide Prefecture scrambled forward and prostrated himself on the ground.

Zhu Cilang said sternly: "With conditions like this within Guide Prefecture, how have you served as the chief official of this land? You have failed the court so utterly—what use is the state in keeping you? Guards! Bring the Imperial Sword!"

The Prefect of Guide Prefecture collapsed to the ground in terror, crying out: "Spare me, Your Highness! Your servant is wronged!"

All the officials shuddered, drawing in cold breaths, their hearts filled with trepidation.

Zhu Cilang said: "What injustice do you claim?"

"Your Highness, ever since this prefecture was breached by the bandit chief Li Zicheng the year before last, the people's livelihood has been difficult. Now with this great drought, grain prices have climbed ever higher. Worse, the merchants and wealthy households have shut their markets—the government cannot even buy grain! How can we provide disaster relief? The people went from eating tree bark and grass roots, to eating earth and stones, to eating human flesh. Watching neighbors devour one another, ethics and morality utterly collapsed—your servant's heart aches beyond measure!"

Having spoken, the Prefect burst into loud wailing, his face full of grief.

Zhu Cilang was slightly startled. He had expected the Prefect to shirk responsibility and cover up the misdeeds under his jurisdiction, but instead the man had directly confessed the true conditions of his governance.

Zhu Cilang sighed. He did not kill him, but said to him: "Your head is temporarily stored on your shoulders. Return at once and open the granaries for relief, organize the gentry and wealthy merchants to donate grain. If necessary, I permit you to use soldiers to seize and search the grain-hoarding merchants and rich households! I will also memorialize the situation in Guide Prefecture to my Imperial Father, and have the Ministry of Revenue allocate grain to you for relief!"

"Your servant thanks Your Highness for the grace of sparing my life!" The Prefect wiped the sweat from his brow and hurriedly expressed his gratitude.

Henan was not within the scope of his jurisdiction on this journey, and besides, even if he killed this Prefect, there was currently no suitable person to take over Guide Prefecture. Better to let him atone for his crimes through merit.

The next day, the army continued its march. When they entered Anhui territory, an incident occurred that enraged him utterly.

The Dragon Scout Night Scouts reported that Sun Yingyuan's force, traveling by water, had marched from Xuzhou to Xiao County when their provisions ran out. With no grain supplied by the local authorities along the way, a supply crisis struck the army, and many soldiers began seizing grain from the homes of surrounding civilians.

Sun Yingyuan had seized Xiao County Magistrate Liu Shijing and demanded to know why he had not supplied the Yongwei Camp with provisions. The Magistrate Liu Shijing wailed: "General Sun, just kill me! My county truly has no grain!"

Sun Yingyuan sent men to inspect the granaries and found them utterly empty—not even a single rat inside. Helpless, he released the Magistrate.

The soldiers had been hungry for days yet still had to march daily. Some, who had been refugees before joining the army and were truly terrified of starvation, recalled what the officers and soldiers had done when famine struck their hometowns. They began seizing grain from the homes of civilians in the southern villages and towns of Xiao County.

After the incident, Sun Yingyuan ordered them all arrested and bound, yet he could not bear to execute them. He felt it was a great pity that soldiers of the Yongwei Camp should die not on the battlefield.

A Battalion Commander named Gu Wei, disregarding the objections of all, forcibly executed every one of his own soldiers who had committed crimes—including his own younger brother. He declared: "Military discipline cannot be abandoned. His Highness has issued the Seven Killings Decree, and we must obey it."

After the two forces joined, Sun Yingyuan immediately knelt and begged punishment: "Your subordinate has failed to discipline his troops. I beg Your Highness to punish me!"

Zhu Cilang looked at him and said: "Military discipline depends on persistence; otherwise it is merely empty words. Go and receive thirty strokes of the rod yourself!"

Zhu Cilang's heart ached. They had not even fought a battle, and already the army had become like this. If even the Yongwei Camp, with its always-strict discipline, was like this, one could imagine what the other Ming troops were like. In the end, it was always the common people who suffered most!

Zhu Cilang held a military discipline assembly in the plundered villages and towns of Xiao County, ordering all offending soldiers summarily executed by firing squad on the spot, and all plundered households compensated tenfold.

At the discipline assembly, Zhu Cilang established the Military Discipline Department, with Battalion Commander Gu Wei as its head, holding powers of inspection, arrest, adjudication, and execution. The department was not subject to any official's jurisdiction, reporting directly to the Crown Prince, with all judgments subject to the Crown Prince's final decision.

After the assembly, Zhu Cilang truly realized the importance of logistics. This was a lesson bought with blood, and he began planning to reform the Yongwei Camp.

As the army continued southward, provisions grew ever more insufficient. Seeing the Crown Prince's worry, Li Tingbiao said: "Your Highness, the government has no grain and the people have no grain, but the gentry, wealthy merchants, and officials have plenty. Your servant has heard that many officials and merchants collude to hoard grain—even letting it rot rather than release it."

A cold look spread across Zhu Cilang's face: "Won't release it? Saving it to fill their graves?"

Yang Tinglin and the others accompanying him were alarmed. He said: "Your Highness, the interests of the gentry cannot be touched! If they are pushed too far, the consequences would be unthinkable!"

"Merely maggots gnawing at the state!" Zhu Cilang snorted coldly and said icily: "I swear here and now—within my lifetime I will restore the Great Ming to an age of prosperity. No matter who stands in my way, I will make sure they die without a place to bury their bones!"

Clenching the Imperial Sword tightly, he looked at Li Tingbiao and said: "The Embroidered Uniform Guard is to proceed ahead to Suzhou City at once. Investigate thoroughly!"