Chapter 297: Restoring Production, Stabilizing the Region

Although he had won battle after battle, Chen Qiyu still did not dare to be too bold.

Within Shanxi province, apart from Datong, although Taiyuan Prefecture had already been recovered and it looked like the entire prefecture would soon be retaken, Chen Qiyu nevertheless stopped his advance after the Battle of Fenzhou.

Last time, Chen Qiyu had only been able to be outwitted by the roving bandits because of his carelessness; since his reappointment this time, he had been cautious throughout. Of course, his choice to prepare for steady, step-by-step advances at a time when everyone else was eager to claim merit was also the result of deep deliberation.

First, with Taiyuan already taken, the gateway to Shanxi was wide open. Although many of the regions below were still occupied by the roving bandits, recovering them was merely a matter of a single push southward. Moreover, Li Zicheng had likely already fled back to Tongguan long ago, so recovering Taiyuan was only a matter of time.

Second, Taiyuan Prefecture had been recovered for less than a month, so there were surely remnants of bandits still lurking. Even the Zhen and Bao region, which the Chongzhen Emperor had personally overseen and rectified, could not be called completely stable—let alone the countless remaining bandit elements within Pingyang Prefecture, Zezhou, Luzhou, and Qinzhou below Fen and Liao.

It was precisely these two points that made Chen Qiyu halt his steps, begin tallying gains and losses, rebuild the recovered areas, and formulate new bandit-suppression plans. The war between the official army and the roving bandits clearly still had a long road ahead.

Chen Qiyu had never fought against the Dajin, but he had considerable insight into suppressing bandits.

In many battles, even when the Ming army gained an advantage, it was difficult to convert that into a decisive one, because the main camp of the roving bandits consisted of mounted bandits with horses. In many cases, they could simply flee when they could not win, then regroup after the official army left, forming a force once more.

Chen Qiyu had once told the historical Chongzhen Emperor that the main force of the roving bandits had only a single main camp—once that main camp was completely destroyed, the remaining bandits only needed a little soothing to make them pick up their hoes and return to their villages to farm.

The historical Chongzhen Emperor knew this reasoning well but sneered at it. The generals across the realm pursued the roving bandits relentlessly, yet their own strength was constantly being worn down, while the bandits' main camp remained untouched—until in the end, the Ming was dragged down by exhaustion.

Moreover, since the third year of Chongzhen, the Ming army had begun to focus primarily on infantry. Even when there were small numbers of cavalry, the officers simply did not dare to pursue, fearing that after chasing they would be hit by a sudden counterattack from the roving bandits and lose their precious cavalry resources.

Thus, to this day, Li Zicheng often suffered great defeats with no small number of dead and wounded, yet he only grew larger and larger, reaching the point of proclaiming himself emperor and founding a state in the year Jiashen. This closely resembles a line Sun Chuanting said in *The Ming Dynasty Disaster*:

"Li Zicheng can afford to lose ten or eight times, but I cannot afford to lose even once."

It goes without saying that Sun Chuanting had already seen the nature of the roving bandits very clearly, and Chen Qiyu's current thinking was much the same as Sun Chuanting's.

Losing Taiyuan once had already wounded the Ming army to the bone—Li Zicheng had nearly seized the opportunity to roll straight through them. It was only thanks to the morale raised by the Chongzhen Emperor's personal expedition and the addition of the Imperial Guard that the tide was turned. If he made another mistake now, he would become a sinner before the whole realm—how could he not be cautious?

Zhang Nai had come over to the right side at Liaozhou. That sounded nice, but Chen Qiyu could not figure out whether this bandit was replaying the old trick from the Chexiang Gorge incident, or genuinely wanted to follow Bai Guangen's example. Unable to determine this, he had no choice but to submit a memorial requesting instructions from the Chongzhen Emperor.

In response, the Chongzhen Emperor, who had just returned to the capital, was comparatively magnanimous. He quickly decided to accept Zhang Nai's surrender, though thereafter Zhang Nai would be transferred to serve as Vice Guard Commander of Shanhai Guard, holding the rank of Mobile Corps Commander, stationed at Funing City.

Moreover, the court required Zhang Nai to completely disband his followers and hand over the defense of Daizhou City to the official army. The next day, he was to bring only fifty men from his old camp to take up his post.

Historically, this Zhang Nai had taken the initiative to ally with the Ming against the Manchu invaders, showing that he had some sense of the bigger picture. In the end, he died fighting at Shiniuzhai in Hunan, refusing to surrender to the Dajin—he could be counted as a Han Chinese warrior.

For these two reasons, the Chongzhen Emperor felt that Zhang Nai should still be given one last chance. However, after all, the habit of roving bandits surrendering and then rebelling again had become commonplace—many times Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had revived from the ashes through feigned surrender—so precautions were necessary.

After much deliberation, the Chongzhen Emperor's disposition of Zhang Nai was much the same as that of Lin Yangcheng, who had surrendered at Taiyuan. Lin Yangcheng had been sent to serve under Huang Degong guarding Xifengkou, while Zhang Nai was appointed Vice Guard Commander of Shanhai Guard and transferred to Funing City to garrison and guard against Wu Sangui.

In truth, for the Chongzhen Emperor, the posts given to Lin Yangcheng and Zhang Nai were both places that were beneficial to keep them but harmless to let them go—dispensable either way.

Xifengkou had lost its effectiveness as a frontier defense since the Tianqi era, and it would be very difficult for Huang Degong to restore its function in haste. As for Shanhai Guard, there was no need to even mention it—the Guard Commander there had long been in bed with the Liaodong army, and the local guard station soldiers feared the Liaodong army even more than they feared the court.

Sending Zhang Nai to take up his post—if he truly wanted to contribute his efforts for the court, it might produce a special effect. Even if he seized the opportunity to rebel again, the Chongzhen Emperor could completely pacify him with a turn of his hand.

Funing City was a place of constant warfare. Not far to the north was Shanhai Pass; a few li to the west lay the newly demarcated territory of the Wuliangha; and to the south, coastal defense was under Commissioner-in-Chief Zhang Mingzhen of Tianjin. None of these were easy characters to deal with, so no major disorder could arise there.

On the third day of the first month of the nineteenth year of Chongzhen, the Dashun army guarding Liaozhou began surrendering unconditionally to the Ming army.

The disbanded Dashun troops handed over their armor and weapons before being sent back to their places of origin as commoners. The roster of the old camp was personally compiled by Zhang Nai and handed to the newly appointed Prefect and Garrison Commander, numbering over three hundred men in total.

Apart from those of the old camp who had warmed themselves by the fire with Zhang Nai that night, the rest were those who had heard the news afterward and fled over. Fifty of these old camp members would follow Zhang Nai to take up their posts at Shanhai Guard.

Of the remaining men, aside from a few guilty of heinous crimes who were sent back to their places of origin, most received low-ranking officer positions in guard stations and were transferred to serve the court in Shandong's Denglai, Yunnan, Sichuan, and the Xuan-Da Nine Border regions.

After a period of reassignment, virtually none of the original Dashun army remained within Liaozhou's borders. Most had been sent back to their places of origin, and even those appointed to official posts were scattered across the far corners of the realm, making it difficult for them to ever gather again.

Funing City was also one of the larger cities near Shanhai Pass, with no small number of surrounding villages, towns, and population. Combined with its special geographical circumstances, many Mongols of the Wuliangha tribe had recently moved in as new residents. In addition, the Shanhai Guard headquarters and several local government offices all maintained their main bureaus within the city.

When Zhang Nai arrived at Funing City by water route, it was already the seventh day of the first month of the nineteenth year of Chongzhen. Xu Biao, the incumbent Guard Commander of Shanhai Guard, received him with great warmth and made no disparaging remarks whatsoever about Zhang Nai, who had formerly been a bandit.

Although Zhang Nai had fought across the north and south with Li Zicheng, he was still far too inexperienced in officialdom.

Under Xu Biao's honeyed words, Zhang Nai and his old camp subordinates let down their guard completely, were very satisfied with the hospitality, drank themselves into a stupor, and were thus plied with liquor until they collapsed within the city.

Although Xu Biao was not stationed at Funing by order, he was after all the Guard Commander of Shanhai Guard. Since Funing was the only sizable city nearby, if he did not lord it over here, was he supposed to go live in some small village town instead?

Though deeply displeased with Zhang Nai in his heart, he still did not dare to openly murder a Vice Guard Commander personally appointed by the Chongzhen Emperor.

After all, times were different now. Nearly all the military commanders in the capital region were loyal to the Great Ming. Huang Degong, Yang Yufan, and Zhang Mingzhen were all formidable characters—if he were charged with a crime, even with some military force under his command, he would have no possibility of escape from their hands.

So Xu Biao merely sent his household retainers the next day to place Zhang Nai and his party under separate surveillance, forbidding them from coming or going, while secretly sending a letter to contact Wu Sangui, planning to get rid of this hot potato by sending it to Shanhai Pass as soon as possible.