Chapter 85: Building Momentum

At the Tongzhou grand camp.

Zhang Fengyi, Minister of War, stared at the several intelligence reports on his desk, deeply astonished.

These were deployment maps of the Qing vanguard camp around Tianjin, with every unit marked in detail.

Zhang Fengyi drew a deep breath and sighed inwardly: just how had the Night Scouts dispatched by the Crown Prince managed this? Even the Night Scouts of the border troops at Jinzhou dared not venture within five li of the Qing camp to reconnoiter.

Zhang Fengyi calmed himself and carefully studied the Qing deployment—he was preparing to send out his troops.

The Chongzhen Emperor had already issued several imperial edicts urging him to march, and some military pay and grain had been gathered for him. If he did not seize this chance to strike, once the provisions ran out there would be no opportunity at all.

On the thirtieth day of the seventh month of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Fengyi personally led twenty thousand men of the Capital Camps, while ordering Regional Commander Dong Yongwen of Baoding, Regional Commander Zu Dale of Shanhai Pass, Regional Commander Ma Rulong of the Ji Garrison, Regional Commander Liu Zeqing of Shandong, and Regional Commander Meng Ruhu of Shanxi—six routes totaling fifty thousand troops—to encircle the Qing forces around Tianjin and retake the intercepted grain tribute.

Against the Qing vanguard camp of ten thousand guarding the grain, the battle lasted three shichen, and nearly the entire Ming line collapsed across all routes.

In particular, Liu Zeqing's Shandong troops collapsed at the first touch—truly as the legends said, even the Yehe cavalry, the finest horsemen and archers among the Qing forces, at full gallop could not catch up with the fleeing Shandong soldiers.

Zhang Fengyi fled all the way back to Tongzhou, preparing to take poison and die in atonement, until he heard that the forces of Meng Ruhu, Regional Commander of Shanxi, and Zhou Yuji, Mobile Corps Commander of the Capital Camps, had raided the Qing grain depot and recovered part of the tribute grain—only then did he breathe easier and barely preserve his life.

Upon receiving this news in the capital, Zhu Cilang finally resolved to move against the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants as soon as possible.

The thirty-first day of the seventh month, Chessboard Street in Beijing's inner city.

Yesterday's rain had cooled the entire city considerably, increasing foot traffic on every street.

The capital's grain shortage had been superficially resolved; the long queues before grain shops were gone, and the great taverns flanking Chessboard Street had regained their former bustle.

Suddenly, from the third floor of Dezhuang Hotpot on Chessboard Street, a loud voice rang out: "The Shanxi merchants of the capital are colluding with the Jianzhou barbarians, intercepting the grain tribute, conspiring with the enemy and betraying the nation!"

As he spoke, he scattered leaflets from upstairs, drifting down like falling snowflakes.

This sudden scene made passersby on Chessboard Street curious; unable to resist, they picked up the leaflets and read them carefully—and what they read kindled fury in their hearts.

"The Eight Great Shanxi Merchants conspire with the enemy and betray the nation—may they die a miserable death!" someone shouted in rage.

Nor was it only Chessboard Street—similar scenes unfolded on every major thoroughfare of the capital, and the beggars and street ruffians who had vanished for days reappeared throughout Beijing.

Clutching stacks of leaflets, they shouted everywhere: "The Shanxi merchants collude with the barbarians and betray the nation!"

These beggars and ruffians had originally been the eyes, ears, and rumor-spreaders of the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants in the capital; since being taken into custody by the authorities and receiving several days of "good" education in the cells, they had finally turned over a new leaf and become new men.

Spreading rumors and propaganda was their specialty—old hat, second nature, every one of them a level-eight veteran.

In just one shichen, the entire capital was seething; everyone was cursing the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants in fury.

The people were so agitated—patriotism was one thing, but most importantly, grain prices had been driven so high by these damned traitor merchants that the capital's populace had long been simmering with resentment, and now they finally had a legitimate outlet.

"Traitors to the nation deserve a miserable death!"

"Beat to death the inner traitors colluding with the Jianzhou barbarians!"

Outside the mansions of the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants in the capital, common folk had already gathered in crowds, with even more onlookers drawn by curiosity.

In the crowd, some ruffians loudly incited those around them, fanning the flames—they shouted abuse and hurled bricks and such at the merchants' mansions.

These ruffians had originally been the hired thugs the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants used to suppress rivals and do their dirty work—who would have thought that today they would be dealt with by their former lackeys using the same methods? Truly, karma had come around!

The managers of the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants in the capital were all trapped inside their mansions; in desperation they sent household retainers charging out through the weakly guarded back gates to report to the authorities. Those retainers braved death to break through the encirclement, carrying large sums of gold and silver to fetch help.

At the Fan mansion in the capital's inner city, hearing the shouting outside, Fan Yongshan paced back and forth in his study, extremely agitated.

"What's going on? Who exactly leaked the information?"

"Fan Tong has disappeared lately—could he have betrayed us? Impossible. Fan Tong is an important figure in the clan; he would never betray the Fan family. Could he have been..."

Countless thoughts flashed through Fan Yongshan's mind. Suddenly he had a foreboding feeling, then he comforted himself inwardly: "As long as the court hasn't grown suspicious of us, no one can touch us."

Before long, Fan Yongshan grew increasingly restless. Sensing a tremendous crisis closing in on him, he immediately summoned all the core members of the Fan family in the capital.

Fan Yongshan looked at the family's core members before him and said gravely: "Everyone remember—if the authorities summon us for questioning, we must insist we knew nothing about the grain transport affair beforehand. Repeat it ten thousand times in your hearts: we are honest merchants and would never conspire with the enemy or betray our nation. Send someone to notify the other seven families—they must hold firm!"

That was what he said, but he had no confidence at all that they could bluff their way through. Thinking of the ten thousand Manchu heads piled in the skull mound at the Western Market, he could not help but shudder.

The situation in the capital was observed by the men of the Five Wards Troops and Horses Office, yet they made little show of response—merely sending out a few token patrols to maintain order.

Though the propaganda outside proclaimed the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants traitors, without official confirmation from above they could only turn a blind eye and await orders.

However, some yamen runners who had been tempted by the merchants' gold and silver began dispersing the crowds besieging the mansions of the eight traitor merchants, and the scene briefly descended into chaos.

Upon hearing of this, Feng Ying, Minister of Justice and Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, immediately organized personnel to investigate and gather evidence, while also dispatching Shuntian Prefecture runners to patrol the streets, fearing the situation might spiral out of control.

Zhu Cilang had not ordered the Shuntian Prefecture and the Five Wards Troops and Horses Office to stand aside beforehand—he merely wanted everyone in the capital to know of the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants' treason and seize control of public opinion—but he had not expected the people's emotions to run so high that they were ready to tear the traitors apart with their bare hands.

The common folk's motives were good, yet some still fished in troubled waters, seizing the chaos to smash, loot, and burn the merchants' shops—even ordinary Shanxi merchants who had not betrayed the nation were caught in the crossfire.

Yet the behavior of the traitor merchants was baffling. Under normal circumstances, a shop facing vandalism and looting should first protect its valuables—but these traitor merchants' actions were inexplicable. They cooperatively tossed all the valuables from their various shops out into the street themselves.

When Zhu Cilang learned of this, he sneered coldly. These traitors were not only using this to draw the crowd's attention and relieve pressure on their mansions—they wanted to blow the matter up and throw the entire capital into chaos! Once people tasted the sweetness of plunder, they would only grow more frenzied.

The capital of the Great Ming, the foremost place of virtue—if it fell into too great a disorder, no one could answer for it. Before long, the Shuntian Prefecture and the Five Wards Troops and Horses Office all turned out in force to maintain order in the city.

With everyone busy looting and making trouble in the streets, the crowds outside the mansions of the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants thinned considerably—though some still refused to leave and kept surrounding them.

The traitors' minds worked well enough. Shanxi merchants, after all—they had money! They simply scattered wealth a hundred paces from their mansions, luring the ruffians besieging their gates into a mad scramble.