Chapter 265: The Denglai Military Turmoil

Since being appointed Governor-General of the Five Provinces, he first annihilated Liu Fangliang at Guguan, successively recovered the two prefectures of Zhending and Baoding, and then immediately set his strategy to attack Taiyuan — he was elevated to a Grand Secretary, granted the title of Grand Tutor, and held the Imperial Sword.

Between this year and the next, Chen Qiyu's fame had already surpassed that of Hong Chengchou in bandit suppression — truly one man bearing ten thousand honors and humiliations, at the height of his glory, with fortune shining upon him.

Naturally, none of this could have been possible without the Chongzhen Emperor's unconditional trust in Chen Qiyu, nor without the arduous efforts Chen Qiyu had poured into the great cause of bandit suppression.

Shocked to hear of this defeat, the various peasant armies hated Chen Qiyu to the bone. Li Zicheng, who had just marched his troops to Yonghe Pass in Pingyang Prefecture, Shanxi, was both more fearful and more furious — he simply could not believe this fact.

Yonghe Pass is located thirty-five kilometers west of Yonghe County town, a ferry crossing with a long history; the pass fortress was first built in the eleventh year of Wanli.

Yonghe Pass was a vital thoroughfare for traveling west to Shaanxi, and also the necessary route for the Dashun army to march east. Legend has it that this was the site of the old Yonghe city from the Tang Dynasty. Li Zicheng naturally knew the importance of this location, and always maintained heavy troop defenses there to protect his route of retreat westward.

"Chen, you old dog! You killed my beloved general and seized my Taiyuan! If I do not avenge this, I swear I am no man!"

Not bothering to appreciate the marvelously natural cliffs outside the pass before him, Li Zicheng, upon hearing the news of Taiyuan's fall, angrily kicked down his third subordinate.

"Your Majesty, this place has treacherous terrain, broad sandy shores, and a majestic bearing — together with the Gate Tower, the Poetry Pavilion, the River-Watching Tower, and the rest, it forms a complete defensive system. Since Taiyuan has fallen, we may temporarily remain here and watch how events unfold." Song Xiance said with some concern.

After speaking, afraid Li Zicheng would not agree, he added: "Given the temperament the imperial troops have shown over the years, they are now united in blocking our eastward march. But once time drags on, changes are certain to occur. We could—"

Before he could finish, Li Zicheng suddenly drew his blade, his face red as he roared:

"Song Xiance! At this moment my million-strong army marches east — the court's weak troops will surely be reduced to ashes, and officials and generals everywhere will surrender to our Great Dashun at the sight of our banners! To advise me otherwise at this time — what is your intention?!"

"Could it be you are a spy sent by the court!"

Li Zicheng's state seemed somewhat out of control. Seeing this, Niu Jinxing, who had wanted to speak up in support of Song Xiance, fell silent instead.

That was true enough — recently the Dashing King's moods seemed prone to violent rage. Even Niu Jinxing greatly agreed with what Song Xiance had said, yet at this moment Li Zicheng was unusually adamant about continuing eastward, clearly having been enraged to the extreme.

To step forward and speak at this time would not only fail to dissuade him, but would also damage one's own position as Chancellor. Faced with such a Li Zicheng, even Liu Zongmin dared not say much. The generals looked at one another in consternation, and in the end all chose to remain silent.

Seeing no one object, Li Zicheng gave a satisfied cold snort and said:

"Chen, you old dog, seized my Taiyuan — I will make him pay with his life and family! Order the three armies: tomorrow we leave the pass, straight for Taiyuan, and burn Chen Qiyu's Governor-General headquarters to the ground!"

At Li Zicheng's single command, several hundred thousand Dashun troops — on the very next day after news arrived of the imperial army recovering Taiyuan — split into multiple columns and marched east out of Yonghe, all heading toward Taiyuan. It seemed old and new grievances were to be settled together.

Before long, Chen Qiyu, stationed at his newly established Governor-General headquarters, received a letter of challenge. Its language was exceptionally crude — the general gist being that Li Zicheng, enraged, was telling Chen Qiyu from afar: you are an old dog, and sooner or later I will kill you.

This letter of challenge was not written by Song Xiance, nor even by Niu Jinxing. Judging by the crooked, uneven characters on the yellow silk cloth, it seemed to have been personally written by Li Zicheng in a fit of extreme fury.

Chen Qiyu laughed after reading it. His next move was to order the letter passed around for every soldier to read, saying it would let the troops see the gap between this so-called Yongchang Emperor of the Great Dashun and the Chongzhen Emperor of the Great Ming.

Of course, the Chongzhen Emperor's calligraphy was not written by his own hand — imperial edicts were drafted by Grand Secretaries according to his wishes — so there was no real comparison to be made. But Chen Qiyu understood that ordinary soldiers would not think of that. Passing it around for them to see this ridiculous bandit emperor of Dashun was fine as well.

Sure enough, with the help of some civil clerks, after the entire camp finished reading the letter of challenge, they all burst into roaring laughter. The officers even memorized certain phrases and shouted them wherever they went, laughing scornfully at anyone they met.

Next, Chen Qiyu ordered the letter of challenge Li Zicheng had sent him brought to the capital and delivered to Wang Cheng'en, saying it should let the whole world know just how ridiculous this Li Zicheng truly was.

Just as the world was discussing this, an army marched with banners furled and drums silenced, quietly arriving outside Jiaozhou city in Denglai Prefecture.

Wiping the fine sweat from his brow, Yang Yufan asked: "So this is Jiaozhou. Why have the prefect and the local Assistant Regional Commander not come out to welcome this general? Has something happened?"

Hearing this, Assistant Regional Commander Yang Kele understood his elder brother's meaning. He turned and ordered the troops behind to prepare for battle, and after requesting permission from Yang Yufan, he rode forward with several household retainers holding the court's banner aloft, shouting loudly:

"The court's Regional Commander stationed at Santun Camp has come by imperial decree to suppress the rebellion in Jiaozhou! Why do the officers and troops in the city not come out to welcome us!"

After shouting for a good while, not a single soldier appeared on the city walls, nor was any reply heard. Looking at the wide-open city gates and the empty streets, Yang Kele led his retainers back and said with a frown:

"General, I fear something is amiss. Since we have just arrived, we should not rush into the city."

Yang Yufan gave an "mm" and nodded, saying: "Transmit this general's order: have the troops withdraw five li and set up camp. Send scout cavalry day and night to circle Jiaozhou — report immediately if they see or hear anything!"

"Strange. Three days now — have all the people in the city died off or what?"

For three consecutive days, several batches of scout cavalry were dispatched, yet all returned without results. The entire city of Jiaozhou seemed as if dead — no sound could be heard, no pedestrian could be seen.

Before coming, Yang Yufan had heard Li Fengxiang's faint, veiled warning, and had in fact already been keeping his guard up.

According to this favored eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, this matter was far from as simple as it appeared on the surface. It was highly possible that some great figure would be implicated — perhaps someone even greater than Imperial Son-in-law Gong Yonggu, so great that even the Chongzhen Emperor might find it troublesome.

Li Fengxiang's meaning at the time was for Yang Yufan, upon arriving at Jiaozhou, not to ask too many questions or meddle too much — only to carry out the imperial decree to suppress the rebellion at the patrol inspection office. Otherwise, once he sank into the mire, he would regret it for life.

So then — could this great figure have some connection to the current situation in Jiaozhou?

Yang Yufan was racking his brains when suddenly the sound of horse hooves came from far to near. A scout cavalryman strode quickly into the tent, clasped his fists, knelt on one knee, and said:

"General, there's movement!"

"What's going on?" Yang Yufan asked hurriedly.

"The brothers captured a few commoners east of the city who had come out to draw water. According to them, not long ago, on the day after a group of salt workers returned from Jinan, that Zhang fellow emptied the patrol inspection office, killed the prefect and the Garrison Commander, and has long since taken those salt workers downriver to become bandits."

Just then, Yang Kele also strode into the tent, breathing heavily, and said indignantly:

"Elder brother, I've learned as well — that Zhang fellow didn't just go downriver to become a bandit. Before leaving, he also looted the city clean and abducted a large number of women. The city's silence is not from an ambush — it's the aftermath of chaos!"

As he spoke, Yang Kele grew even more alarmed, and said:

"Elder brother, the situation in Denglai is no longer what it once was. After Chen Jin was taken away by the mounted police, Chen Hongfan occupied Penglai and raised troops in rebellion. Word has it he has already made contact with Liaodong and plans to defect to the Jianzhou barbarians!"