Chapter 176: A Plan of Response

Staring at the map, Zhu Cilang frowned deeply. It seemed the roving bandits around Huoshan had to be eliminated — otherwise, with just the Five Camps of Ge-Zuo, they could pin down half of the Central Plains' troops. To the north, Li Zicheng had now fled toward Gansu, and since he hadn't been eliminated yet, continuing like this was no solution.

But the Huoshan area was far too vast. Huoshan was only part of the Dabie Mountains, which stretched over seven hundred li in length and three hundred li in width. More than a hundred thousand roving bandits seemed like a large number, but once they entered the Dabie Mountains and hid themselves away somewhere, the government troops would have no easy way to find them no matter what.

Zhu Cilang mused, "Have any of you sent people into the bandits' ranks to learn about their situation?"

Shi Kefa smiled and said, "Your Highness is wise. Your subject has indeed sent men to infiltrate the roving bandits, and they have gathered some intelligence on the bandits' internal affairs."

Zhu Cilang's face lit up with joy. "What did they learn?"

Shi Kefa replied, "The current bandit leaders in the Central Plains are: Yellow Tiger Zhang Xianzhong, Cao Cao Luo Rucai, Old Huihui Ma Shouying, Gleaming Eye He Yilong, Left Golden King He Jin, World-Changer King Liu Xiyao, and Chaos-World King Lin Yangcheng. The first two have joined forces, and the latter five have combined into one group, known as the 'Five Camps of Ge-Zuo.'"

Shi Kefa cleared his throat and continued, "Among these men, Old Huihui Ma Shouying is the leader. The various bandit bands all revere him as their alliance chief and overall commander. This man was born in the border troops and is quite capable — hiding the bandits in Huoshan was his idea."

Zhu Cilang frowned. "This Old Huihui — is he the one who forced Zuo Liangyu to the brink of suicide? And the one who, in the ninth year of Chongzhen, killed Regional Commander Wang Jinzhong, who had come to his camp at Xichuan in Henan to urge surrender, then moved his camp and left?"

Shi Kefa said in surprise, "How does Your Highness know this bandit so thoroughly?"

Zhu Cilang said coolly, "After Gao Yingxiang was killed, this bandit still dared to flaunt his might at Kaifeng, dealt Zuo Liangyu a heavy blow, opened a new front, and even killed the Regional Commander who personally came to summon his surrender. The court has long regarded him as one who is 'treacherous and deceitful, obstinate in his wickedness.' Even if he wanted to surrender, this prince would not agree!"

Zhu Cilang added, "What about Zhang Xianzhong? Is he content to remain subordinate to Old Huihui?"

Zhu Cilang was still rather concerned about Zhang Xianzhong. After all, this man was as famous as Li Zicheng, and in the late Ming he had even established a Daxi regime and played at being a local emperor for a few days.

There were many versions of Zhang Xianzhong's early life — some said he had been a constable, others said he had been a merchant. What interested Zhu Cilang most was the story of Zhang Xianzhong selling dates. According to the tale, when Zhang Xianzhong was ten years old, he followed his father to Zizhong in Sichuan to sell dates. The father and son tied their donkey to a stone stele in front of a wealthy man's gate, planning to retrieve the donkey after selling all the dates.

When they finished selling and went to fetch the donkey, they found the rich man's household retainers beating their donkey. The reason was that the donkey's dung and urine had dirtied the rich man's stele. Although the Zhangs apologized profusely, the retainers would not accept it — they insisted that the father and son kneel down and lick the dung and urine off the stele with their tongues.

In a strange land facing ruthless bullies, crying to heaven brought no answer and calling to earth brought no door. The Zhangs had no choice but to swallow their anger, kneel down, and lick the donkey's dung and urine off the stele, mouthful by mouthful...

It was said that from then on, Zhang Xianzhong hated the people of Sichuan with a passion. Zhu Cilang didn't know whether this story was true or false, but he thought that if he ever captured Zhang Xianzhong alive, he would personally ask him: did you actually lick that dung or not?

Shi Kefa naturally had no idea the Crown Prince was wondering whether the man had licked dung. He replied, "Zhang Xianzhong indeed refuses to remain under another's command. In strategy he is no match for Ma Shouying, but when it comes to ferocity in battle, he far surpasses him. That's why he prefers to go off and operate on his own with Luo Rucai, the 'Cao Cao' famous for his cunning."

Zhang Guowei chuckled and said, "Your Highness, your subject has heard that the leaders of the Five Camps of Ge-Zuo have gradually begun to fall out with one another. Add to that Zhang Xianzhong's refusal to accept Ma Shouying's authority — this may be our opportunity! We could take advantage of it to summon their surrender!"

Zhu Cilang waved his hand. "Let us not discuss surrender for now. Wait until this prince has beaten them into submission! Without the deterrence of absolute military force, even those who surrender are just coming to freeload — once they've eaten their fill, they rebel again. Haven't the roving bandits done this sort of thing often enough?"

"This..." Zhang Guowei was momentarily at a loss for words and could only wait until the Crown Prince hit a wall with the bandits before raising the matter again.

Zhu Cilang mused, "Just now, Minister Zhang mentioned — why is it that whenever the bandits' old camp is present, they can muster tens of thousands of troops in an instant? Why do the bandits' numbers keep growing? The more we suppress them, the more there are?"

This question struck at the very root of the matter, leaving Zhang Guowei and Shi Kefa unsure how to answer. In truth, both knew the reason, but some things were not easy to say in front of the royal family.

Shi Kefa steeled himself and said, "Whenever the bandits take a city, they loot everything in it and forcibly conscript the common people as starving soldiers. Once the people have lost their money and grain, in these times of unending natural disasters, their only choice is to follow the bandits or starve to death. If they follow the bandits to attack other cities, they might at least plunder some money and food."

Zhu Cilang said coldly, "Would the conscripted commoners follow the bandits so willingly? To serve as underlings for the people who robbed them of everything they owned — if it were you, would you be willing?"

Seeing the Crown Prince staring at him, Zhang Guowei gritted his teeth and said, "Your Highness, the displaced commoners are beyond the government's ability to manage. We can only let them wander, and they end up joining the bandit ranks."

Zhu Cilang sighed softly. At the end of the day, it came down to the people struggling to survive. Ordinary folk only rebel when they cannot get food to eat — no one who is well-fed and content ever thinks of becoming emperor.

A life of thirty mu of land and an ox, a wife and children and a warm kang — that was enough to satisfy all their fantasies about the future. At this moment, Zhu Cilang felt that suppressing the bandits was a political problem, not a military one.

To completely eradicate the roving bandits, one must first pacify the people's hearts. And to pacify their hearts, one must first give them food to eat. With the current natural disasters causing grain shortages, and grain coming from the land, there was simply too much idle land along the way here.

Zhu Cilang then asked Zhang Guowei and Zhu Dadian whether there would be any problem supplying the Yongwei Camp with follow-up provisions. The two patted their chests and guaranteed there would be absolutely no problem — however much was needed, they could provide.

Although various regions were suffering disasters, the Jiangnan area remained a land of plenty — the Ming's largest grain-producing region. Its conditions were far better than those of Henan, Shaanxi, and other areas, so supplying two hundred thousand troops with provisions over an extended period was entirely without difficulty.

Afterwards, Zhu Cilang made some simple deployments, ordering the two men to guard strictly along the Yangtze River against the bandits, focusing mainly on defending Luzhou, Anqing, Chizhou, Nanjing, and other places.

After everyone had dispersed, Zhang Guowei and Shi Kefa each returned to take up their posts in Nanjing and Anqing. Since their paths ran together for a while, they began to chat.

The smile on Zhang Guowei's face gradually faded. "Xianzhi, what do you make of this?"

Shi Kefa said, "It seems His Highness has set his eyes on the land of Fengyang Prefecture."

Zhang Guowei gave a bitter laugh. "Let us only hope our Highness is merely thinking about it, and never makes an unwise choice."

Shi Kefa frowned deeply. "Yusi, I am not worried about the situation in Fengyang. What worries me is His Highness setting his sights on the land of Jiangsu and Zhejiang — that land is far better than what's here."

Zhang Guowei was startled. "Surely not? If that were the case, it would be a disaster!"

The Donglin Faction had originally wanted to support the Crown Prince in Jiangnan. If the Crown Prince intended to make a move on the landlords of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, he would be making an enemy of their Donglin Faction.

Shi Kefa sighed. "I hope I am overthinking it. Let us see how His Highness handles the situation in Fengyang."