Chapter 642: Ma Chu's Lifeline

The term "Hunan" actually appeared quite early — by the Dali reign period of the Tang dynasty at the latest, this region was already called Hunan Circuit.

Of course, the Hunan Circuit of that time did not cover all of present-day Hunan Province, only the Changsha and Shaoyang area.

The broad prefectural and county framework of later Hunan actually had its origins in the Ma Chu period.

Under Ma Yin, the Chu state seized Yuezhou, which had belonged to the E-Yue Surveillance Commissioner; Langzhou (Changde), which had belonged to the Jingnan Military Governor; and Chenzhou and Jinzhou (around Huaihua), which had belonged to the Qianzhou Surveillance Commissioner.

Only at this point did the later Hunan Province essentially come under a single regime.

Yet even now, Ma Chu had only carried out a rough integration, because throughout western Hunan there still existed large numbers of minority peoples called the Xidong Man, or the Tu Man, the Beijiang Man, the Nanjiang Man, and so on.

In later times, most of them were divided into the Dong, Miao, and Tujia peoples.

Among these Xidong Man of western Hunan at this time, the most sinicized were the Langzhou Xidong Man.

Before the founding of Ma Chu, the Langzhou Xidong Man leader Lei Man and his sons Lei Yanwei and Lei Yangong had carved out Langzhou for themselves, and were enfeoffed by the Tang court as Military Governor of Wuzhen, becoming a fully legitimate Tang military province.

The Lei family's Wuzhen Army occupied the rich lands of Langzhou, drew in Yang Xingmi of Huainan and others as allies, and repeatedly sent troops to attack Jingzhou, Yuezhou, and Tanzhou (Changsha), flourishing for more than thirty years before being destroyed under the combined assault of the two great warlords Gao Jixing and Ma Yin.

After the Lei family's destruction, the Tu Man warlord Peng Shichou, based in Xizhou (Yongshun County, Hunan), began to rise, and at the height of his power became the leader of the alliance of all the Tu Man of western Hunan and eastern Guizhou.

However, although Peng Shichou was called a Tu Man, he was in fact Han Chinese; his uncle Peng Gan and father Peng Jian were both natives of Jizhou (Ji'an) in Jiangxi.

During the Huang Chao rebellion, these two had gathered troops to protect themselves and became warlords controlling the Jizhou area.

Later driven out by Yang Xingmi's Huainan forces, they fled to Ma Chu for self-preservation. After arriving in Ma Chu, Ma Yin settled them in the Xizhou area to pacify the local Beijiang Man.

So Peng Shichou was not a Xidong Man. Although he was born in Jizhou, he grew up in western Hunan, lived among the various Xidong Man from childhood, and gradually became their leader.

At that time, Ma Chu's rule over the Langzhou Man relied on establishing the Wuping Army Military Governorship in Langzhou, with members of the royal clan stationed there.

In Chenzhou and other places, they relied on the Peng family to keep order. Peng Shichou's paternal cousin was even married to the second Chu king, Ma Xifan, as his principal wife, and became the Worthy and Compliant Consort of Chu.

The Worthy and Compliant Consort was ugly but an excellent household manager, decisive in action, and Ma Xifan both respected and feared her, so the realm of Ma Chu was very stable.

But before long, the Worthy and Compliant Consort died, and Ma Xifan lost all restraint. In order to build great palaces in Tanzhou and live a life of wine pools and meat forests, he began imposing heavy levies of gold and silver on the various Xidong Man of western Hunan.

Peng Shichou had already built up his power in Xizhou and the surrounding areas, so naturally he would not permit Ma Xifan to collect taxes in western Hunan. With the channel of communication provided by the Worthy and Compliant Consort also gone, the two sides immediately ignited war.

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First, Peng Shichou led tens of thousands of men from the three prefectures of Jin, Jiang, and Xi in a great eastward offensive against Chu, seizing the Chu-held prefectures of Chen and Li, and burning and plundering the garrisons Chu had established in those two prefectures.

Then Ma Xifan dispatched his subordinate, the Jingjiang Military Governor Liu Qing, and the Decisive Victory Commander Liao Kuangqi, leading a great army to campaign against Xizhou.

The two sides fought a great battle around Wangcheng. Peng Shichou's Man troops were inferior to the Chu army in equipment and discipline, and were promptly defeated, fleeing westward in panic.

The Chu army pursued them closely to Peng Shichou's home base of Xizhou, forcing him to fall back to his mountain stronghold, relying on the natural defenses of sheer cliffs on all sides to resist the Chu army.

At this point, the fighting descended into a brutal war of attrition.

On the Chu side, first the Decisive Victory Commander Liao Kuangqi was ambushed and killed, but then Peng Shichou was defeated by Liu Qing using fire attack. Unable to hold his mountain stronghold, he could only flee deep into the mountains. He sought help from the Shu ruler Meng Chang, but Shu refused.

At the same time, although Peng Shichou was Han Chinese, the various Xidong Man had come to regard him as one of their own, and his prestige was not damaged by his defeat.

On the contrary, the invading Chu soldiers were seen as aggressors, provoking the various Xidong Man to resist continuously. As a result, although the Chu soldiers drove Peng Shichou fleeing from place to place, they could never eliminate him.

Seeing this situation, Peng Shichou — a true warlord — took the initiative to submit. He sent his son, leading the subordinate tribal chieftains Tian Hongbin, Qin Xingfang, Xiang Cunku, Luo Junfu, and others, bearing the seals and maps of Jin, Jiang, and Xi prefectures, to sue for peace with Chu, voluntarily giving Ma Xifan a way to step down.

Ma Xifan truly could not keep fighting either, so he went along with it and agreed.

The two sides signed the historically famous Xizhou Covenant at Xizhou, stipulating that Xizhou and the surrounding lands would forever be under the Peng family's leadership.

Ma Chu formally appointed Peng Shichou as Prefect of Xizhou. If Chu wished to collect taxes or conscript troops there, it had to consult with the Peng family and obtain their consent.

The Peng family, in turn, summoned the chieftain of Nanningzhou (present-day Huishui County, Qiannan, Guizhou), Mo Yanshu, along with the eighteen stockades.

The chieftain of Duyun (present-day Duyun, Guizhou), Yin Huaichang, and the twelve Man tribes under him.

The Zangke Man leader Zhang Wanjun led more than thirty great and small Man chieftains from Greater Bozhou (Zunyi, Guizhou), Lesser Bozhou (Zitong, Guizhou), and Yizhou (Fenggang County, Zunyi) to come forward.

Together they swore a blood oath of allegiance to Ma Chu, honoring Ma Xifan as king, so that Ma Chu nominally gained vast territories in western Hunan, eastern Guizhou, and southern Guizhou.

This was an extremely important event in Chinese history, marking the return of the minority peoples of western Hunan, eastern Guizhou, southern Guizhou, and southeastern Henan to the nation after the fall of the Tang.

The Xizhou Covenant also erected a great bronze pillar that survived into later ages, its inscription clearly recording the circumstances of the covenant between the two sides.

From then on, under the Peng family's restraint, the Tu Man of western Hunan, eastern Guizhou, and southern Guizhou gradually accepted Central Plains culture, and there were no more large-scale rebellions.

By the Ming dynasty, the various Xidong peoples of this region even repeatedly helped the Central Plains dynasties send troops to suppress the Wo pirates in the southeast and resist the Manchu invasions.

The native peoples of southeastern Chongqing still have the tradition of celebrating the new year on the twenty-seventh or twenty-eighth of the twelfth month, precisely because back then they were conscripted to fight the Wo pirates in the southeast and had no time to celebrate the new year, so they moved the date earlier.

When the late Ming heroine Qin Liangyu led her White Pole troops on campaign, they were by no means all Shizhu soldiers; there were also large numbers of Tujia soldiers from Youyang, Xiushan, and other places in southeastern Chongqing.

And before Qin Liangyu, during the Wanli reign of the Ming, the various Xidong tusi centered on Xizhou (Yongshun County, Hunan) had frequently sent troops to the northeast and southeast to fight for the court.

The Peng Shichou now facing Zhang Zhao was the founding ancestor of the Yongshun Peng family tusi, which would be passed down for more than eight hundred years, through the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, until the sixth year of Yongzheng (1728), when it was finally brought under regular administration through the policy of replacing native chieftains with state-appointed officials.

To this day, among the Miao, Dong, and Tujia peoples of western Hunan, Guizhou, and southeastern Chongqing, Peng, Tian, and Xiang are all extremely common surnames.

And the son Peng Shichou had sent out to sue for peace back then was none other than Peng Shisong, who had now come as tribute envoy to seek an audience with Zhang Zhao.

Zhang Zhao had received Peng Shisong for less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and immediately realized that the man before him was one of the founders of the Yongshun Peng tusi.

Zhang Zhao understood that his return to the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, would have to be postponed again.

This was the advantage of a transmigrator — he knew whom he could trust and whom he could not.

The Yongshun Peng family before him was the candidate he could most trust to hold western Hunan and eastern Guizhou, and one he could also rely on to integrate the native peoples and chieftains of all western Hunan and Guizhou.

Peng Shisong was no ordinary man either. Back when his Peng family was in mortal danger, he had dared to risk death at the hands of the Chu army and come down from the mountains to seek peace. How could such a man be incompetent?

Although this man was rough and uncouth, ignorant of ceremony, and blunt by nature, he was indeed, as Zhang Shaodi had said, steady and mindful of favors.

The first thing he said upon meeting Zhang Zhao was to distinguish the Beijiang Man, led by the Peng family, from the Langzhou Man, dominated by the Lei and Xiang families of Langzhou.

Because Peng Shisong was very clear that there was nothing wrong with the Langzhou Man helping Ma Xi'e seize power — if the Peng family had the chance, they would do the same — but plundering and burning the city of Tanzhou was going too far.

That was a way to make mortal enemies! And once that happened, whether Ma Chu recovered its strength or the court took control of Hunan, someone would inevitably have to be held accountable for it.

Zhang Zhao nodded, indicating he understood the difference between the two, and with a smile asked Peng Shisong about his father Peng Shichou's health, and about the means to quickly stabilize Xi, Chen, Yi, Greater and Lesser Bozhou, and Nanningzhou.

Because the covenant partners of these prefectures were King Ma Xifan and the state of Chu. Now that Zhang Zhao was going to absorb the separatist regime of Ma Chu, he would inevitably have to conclude new covenants with these Xidong Man peoples.

Peng Shisong was greatly astonished. He had not expected Zhang Zhao to ask, not how to pacify Ma Xi'e, but how to stabilize the various Xidong Man peoples.

Of course, Peng Shisong was also deeply concerned about this matter. He had risked leaving both his sons in Tanzhou precisely for the sake of the Peng family's future.

If the Son of Heaven of China does not agree to and abide by the Xizhou Covenant, then the flames of war will blaze up again.

Zhang Zhao looked at the astonished Peng Shisong and smiled. "Ma Xi'e is not the rightful heir of Chu, and he is cruel and has lost the people's hearts. I need only send one general with fifty thousand armored troops, and destroying him will be as easy as taking something out of a bag.

On the contrary, the lands west of Xi and Chen have only just submitted to the royal civilizing influence. If they are mishandled, they will once again flee back to the mountains and forests and resist the court.

Would not the hundred thousand and more lives lost in the bloody wars between your Peng family and the Ma family in years past have bled in vain?"

When Peng Shisong heard Zhang Zhao speak thus, he performed a full prostration, pressing his forehead to the ground.

"Does the Sage truly intend to treat the people of the various stream caves of the North and South Rivers the same as the Han people of Tan, Yue, and the other prefectures?"

Zhang Zhao helped Peng Shisong to his feet. "Under Heaven, no land is not the king's land; to the shores of all the lands, no man is not the king's subject. So long as you chieftains of Chen, Xi, and the other prefectures obey the court's laws and follow the court's commands, why should I not treat you the same?

I have no intention of exterminating you, and I imagine you also do not wish to raid year after year, only to be surrounded and annihilated by the court's great armies, do you?"

Peng Shisong stood up and, stirred, grasped Zhang Zhao's sleeve. "The chieftains of the stream caves west of Tanzhou — apart from brutes like the Lei clan of old — so long as they receive equal treatment from the court, are not cut off from trade, and are not cheated and plundered over salt, sugar, iron, and the like, will absolutely never harbor rebellious intent."

Peng Shisong had understood Zhang Zhao's implied meaning, and Zhang Zhao also knew what Peng Shisong was talking about, because the word both men used was "chieftain."

Zhang Zhao was signaling that he was willing to recognize these chieftains' authority to lead their people, while Peng Shisong was seeking equal treatment for these stream-cave chieftains with Han officials.

In history there is a term called "replacing native chieftains with appointed officials." In the Ming and Qing periods, that followed the tide of the times, but at this moment, employing native officials was the best choice.

The most important thing now was not to send appointed officials into the lands of these minority peoples.

It was to draw these minority peoples — whose appearance, customs, and even culture were close to those of the Han — into this great family.

First let their tribal leaders grow accustomed to accepting the court's leadership, so that they come to regard themselves as members of the court.

The two sides continued conversing for a while, and at last Zhang Zhao said, "I have heard that Xizhou has fair mountains and clear waters, and is a place of outstanding people and favorable terrain. If I have the time, I would truly like to go and see Xizhou."

Peng Shisong understood instantly, and at the same time was deeply shaken. For how many years had the stream-cave barbarians west of Tanzhou never received such regard from the Son of Heaven and the court? He immediately declared,

"My family is called the head of the stream-cave barbarians, but in fact we are people of Jizhou. Since my ancestor the Anding King (Peng Gan) came to Xizhou, we have never forgotten our identity.

If the Son of Heaven could visit Xizhou, it would be the supreme glory of all the stream-cave barbarians of the North and South Rivers.

When the time comes, the chieftains of Xi, Chen, Yi, Nanning, Greater and Lesser Bozhou, Duyun, and the other prefectures will all present to the Sage the most beautiful maidens and the strongest warriors of their clans, to express our loyalty."

Zhang Zhao pretended to consider for a moment, then nodded. Peng Shisong could not yet speak for the stream-cave barbarians; the one who spoke for them was still his father, Peng Shichou. So some things could only be discussed with Peng Shichou.

"Very well! After Tanzhou is settled, I will make the trip. Your father is also a hero of China, and has rendered great service to the court by pacifying and recruiting the various stream-cave barbarians. If I could meet with him, it would be a splendid occasion."

Peng Shisong was overjoyed. He had even given up his two sons, and now he had finally received an unprecedented reward: the Son of Heaven of the Central Plains, so far out of reach, was going to Xizhou.

He prostrated himself on the ground and said through tears of gratitude, "On behalf of the people of the thirty-seven prefectures of the stream caves west of Tanzhou, your subject kowtows in thanks for the Sage's heavenly grace."

Seeing that Peng Shisong had already reached an agreement with the Emperor, Zhang Shaodi immediately stepped forward and said to Peng Shisong,

"Peng Erlang, the Sage has shown your Peng family such great face. Quickly now, offer the Sage your counsel and help eliminate that villain Ma Xi'e!"

Peng Shisong rose to his feet, his face streaming with tears, and said solemnly to Zhang Zhao, "Eliminating Ma Xi'e is not difficult. As the Sage said, he is cruel and has lost the people's hearts. Thirty thousand elite troops are enough.

But to stabilize Chu, there are three matters that must be heeded.

First, prevent Ma Xi'e from fleeing back to Langzhou. Langzhou was originally Ma Xi'e's base, and the local barbarians there have just helped Ma Xi'e sack Tanzhou. If Ma Xi'e escapes back to Langzhou, dragging him out again will be difficult.

Second is Yuezhou. Yuezhou is the richest prefecture in Chu apart from Tanzhou and Langzhou.

Now Tanzhou has fallen into the flames of war and will be hard to restore, and the stream-cave barbarians of Langzhou are growing powerful — it will not be long before it is lost. Only Yuezhou, with its abundant produce, has been a key stronghold of Hunan since the two Han dynasties.

The Prefect of Yuezhou, Wang Yun, is the son of the famous general Wang Huan. Huan was a tiger-minister of the Ma clan, wise and brave, and loved his soldiers like sons. Therefore the Yuezhou army mostly submits to and would die for Huan's son Yun.

Moreover, the Yuezhou navy is called the Yisheng Command. It resists Jingnan to the north and holds off the Tang state to the east. To gain the land of Chu without gaining the Yisheng Command navy is no different from entering a mountain of treasure and coming away empty-handed.

The third is Ma Xizhan, Military Governor of the Jingjiang Army at Guizhou. Guizhou is the gateway for spying on Lingnan, and Ma Xizhan is the only one among the sons of Prince Wuxin who is a qilin child of deep wisdom and steady courage.

He has guarded Guizhou for more than ten years and is deeply supported by the people. If the Sage can treat the Ma family well and win over Ma Xizhan, he can gain the ten prefectures of Lingnan, and also use the opportunity to spy on the Han state of Lingnan."

All substance, not a word of filler! This Peng Shisong truly is a treasure. Zhang Zhao was delighted!

Wang Yun, Prefect of Yuezhou, was a rare naval commander of Ma Chu. In history, it was Wang Yun who defeated Ma Xi'e.

But just as he was about to capture him alive, Ma Xiguang's words "do not harm my elder brother" let him go, which so enraged Wang Yun that he would never again support Ma Xiguang.

Guizhou is the later Guilin. For the Pearl River Delta region of Lingnan, this city is what Xiangyang is to the Jianghan Plain.

Once Guilin is held, one can descend like Mount Tai pressing down, straight along the Li River and West River to charge into Guangzhou.

And to the north, Guilin can reach the Yangtze through a tributary of the Xiang River. A thousand years ago, the First Emperor of Qin built the Ling Canal here, linking the Xiang and Li Rivers.

Although the Ling Canal has long since silted up, dredging it is no great difficulty.

Zhang Zhao rubbed his hands eagerly and turned to Peng Shisong and Zhang Shaodi.

"I intend to bring the Chu province back under the court. Ma Xizhan is of the Chu royal house — can he be won over by me?"

"He can!" Zhang Shaodi nodded firmly.

"This Ma Xizhan — it is a pity he was born of a courtesan, otherwise he would certainly have succeeded to the throne of Chu.

He deeply understands the greater cause, and has long been heartbroken by Ma Xi'e's atrocities. Your Majesty need only send a court minister south with me, and he can certainly be won over."

Zhang Shaodi was right. In history, Ma Xizhan was literally angered to death by the fraternal strife between Ma Xi'e and Ma Xiguang.

Once he died, Guizhou fell into the hands of the Southern Han. He was indeed the anchor of Ma Chu in Lingnan.

So long as Zhang Zhao took the Chu province, treated the Ma clan well, and summoned him with the greater cause, he could certainly be won over.

Zhang Zhao was now at ease. He immediately appointed Zhang Shaodi as Chief Clerk of Langzhou and Military Supervisor of Langzhou, and Peng Shisong as Chief Clerk of Hengzhou and Military Supervisor of Hengzhou. The other generals, including Li Yanwen and Liu Yantao, each received rewards.

Then Peng Shisong volunteered to slip back to Xizhou to recruit the various stream-cave barbarian troops for Zhang Zhao and bring them to assist the attack.

Zhang Shaodi also requested the mission, willing to go to Yuezhou for Zhang Zhao to win over Wang Yun, Prefect of Yuezhou and Chief Commander of the Yisheng Command of Ma Chu.

Zhang Zhao therefore sent Yang Jiye, bearing an imperial edict that enfeoffed Wang Yun as Count of Yueyang and prepared to elevate the Yisheng Command navy of Yuezhou into the Yisheng Garrison of the imperial army.

And to meet with the stream-cave barbarian chieftains and also control the land of Ma Chu, Zhang Zhao had to consider the question of garrisoning Hunan.

But at present, he truly had no regional commander available to use.

After much thought, Zhang Zhao decided to take a slight risk. He promoted Luo Shande, nicknamed Shan Zhu'er, the Left Divine Might Guard General of the Gentlemen who had followed him south, to Governor of the Jianghuai Province and Commander of the Wuning Guard of Xuzhou Prefecture, and ordered him to hurry to Xuzhou to take command.

Then he summoned Guo Wei, who had only just arrived in Xuzhou two months earlier, to Hunan.

Zhang Zhao prepared to appoint him Governor of Hunan Province and Military Governor of the Wu'an Army at Tanzhou, to pacify Hunan on Zhang Zhao's behalf.

In the tenth month, Zhang Zhao ordered Zhang Zhaojiu (Ma Shacai) to lead twenty thousand infantry and cavalry to the banks of the Li River.

The terrified Ma Xi'e immediately dispatched his top general Zhu Jinzhong with twenty thousand troops, and also recruited fifteen thousand Xi-dong tribal soldiers from Langzhou, advancing to the banks of the Li River. The two sides faced off at Xiaodukou Town, east of Lizhou's prefectural seat.

This place would later become Jinshi City in Hunan. Jinshi lies in the transitional zone where the Wuling Mountains' foothills give way to the Dongting Lake basin, with the Li River forming a natural dividing line.

The southwestern bank of the Li River is the Wuling Mountains' foothills, while the northeastern bank is the edge of the middle and lower Yangtze plain. The terrain slopes from south to northeast, and the position is extremely important—known as the Gateway of the Nine Li, it is the northeastern entrance to the Dongting Lake plain.

However, Zhang Zhao's move was entirely a feint. What worried him most now was the Southern Tang's Ezhou and Jiangzhou naval forces coming to cause trouble, so before sending Zhang Zhao to press toward the Li River, Zhang Zhao once again dispatched an imperial envoy to Jiangning.

But this time he did not send a ruthless man like Wang Jiulang; instead he sent a moderate like Lü Yin.

Zhang Zhao planned on the one hand to rebuke Li Jing for sheltering rebels like Gao Baoxu, and on the other to bestow upon Li Jing gems, spices, and the like, while also demanding that he drill his naval forces and prepare to help the court attack Ma Chu's Yuezhou in a pincer movement.

First, this would placate Li Jing, making him feel that the destruction of Nanping and Ma Chu had nothing to do with him.

Second, it would give Li Jing a false impression—that the court still trusted him, that Sage Zhang still relied on him to guard Jiangnan—dispelling Li Jing's determination to fight to the death.

But inwardly, Zhang Zhao continued training the navy intensively at Jiangling. Once the Nanping navy was fully under the control of Du Lun Chixin and Zhao Yanjin, Zhang Zhao would send warships south into Yuezhou.

Of course, if Zhang Shaodi could persuade Wang Yun to surrender, that would be best of all.

In the Southern Tang, Liu Renzhan, Military Governor of the Qinghuai Army at Shouzhou, and He Jingzhu, Military Governor of the Wuchang Army at Ezhou, were burning with anxiety over Li Jing's hesitation.

As the Southern Tang's most steadfast resistance faction, both men believed this was the Southern Tang's last chance.

If they could use their naval advantage to seize Jiangling and Yuezhou, and prevent the Zhou state from building a powerful navy, the Southern Tang could still hold out.

But if both the Flying Tiger Army of Nanping's Jiangling and the Yishengdu naval force of Ma Chu's Yuezhou fell into Zhou hands, the Southern Tang would be finished.

He Jingzhu had in his early years followed the great Yang Wu general Li Jian. Though short in stature and ugly in appearance, he was brave and decisive, an excellent archer, and highly skilled in naval warfare.

On one hand he corresponded frequently with Liu Renzhan to discuss strategy; on the other he repeatedly submitted memorials to Li Jing.

At the same time he actively began to move, sending his yabing officer on a death-defying mission into Yuezhou, intending to win over Wang Yun, the Prefect of Yuezhou under Ma Chu, to the Southern Tang's side.

The key now lay in how Wang Yun would choose.

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