Chapter 103: Crossing the River

Feng Rang, returning from scouting, was full of shame at having failed his mission.

He had picked up plenty of idle talk among the common folk, but had not managed to lay eyes on a single princely estate.

All the princely estate compounds lay east of the Lüliang Mountains; the yellow-earth lands to the west held no princely fields.

Because this side was truly poor.

Princely fields were invariably the most fertile land in a region. In Ming-dynasty Shanxi, looking at the number of princely estates in a prefecture or county would tell you exactly how much top-grade farmland that place had.

For example, Xi Prefecture's Yonghe County, where Liu Chengzong now found himself, was without a doubt extremely barren.

So barren that the entire Xi Prefecture did not contain a single mu of princely fields.

Liu Chengzong had originally thought that what Cao Yao said — that the first Prince of Qingcheng had sired a hundred children — was just a popular legend.

Who knew that the men Feng Rang had disguised as traveling peddlers to make inquiries everywhere would bring back such shocking news.

The man had not actually sired a hundred; he had only three sons.

But his grandson had twenty-four wives and concubines and sired forty-four children; his great-grandson, excelling his predecessors, sired seventy.

Yonghe County was isolated and its soil barren. The common folk they met might not even know the current reign title, yet most were quite clear on the approximate numbers of the three princely lineages in Shaanxi.

The exact figures varied from person to person and were certainly inaccurate, because they all involved the number three, recited like a rhyming jingle.

Three Princes of the Blood, thirty Commandery Princes, three thousand Generals, three thousand Lieutenant-Generals, three thousand Princesses and County Ladies.

And three hundred commoner clansmen receiving one dan of grain a month.

The numbers were terrifyingly huge.

But the Lüliang Mountains — they could not cross them.

Not only could their main force not cross, even the small squad Feng Rang had taken to scout could not slip through quietly.

If they abandoned the official road to climb over the mountains, the cannons and carts they had painstakingly acquired would have to be left behind; if they took the official road through the mountains, they would have to pass two patrol stations and could only fight their way through.

Just as everyone on Yatou Mountain was fretting over these patrol stations, Wei Qian'er of the cavalry came riding back up the mountain, driving donkeys and mules before him. Once on the mountain, he said, "General! The ford on the opposite bank has been seized!"

For a moment, the several leaders were all greatly alarmed.

Liu Chengzong threw down his account book, a surge of anger rising in his heart. "The government troops have come to deliver more weapons to us?"

Yonghe was so poor it had nothing. The wealthy lands to the east were blocked by the impassable Lüliang Mountains, and now the road back to Shaanxi was cut off by government troops.

Feng Rang shook his head. "Not government troops. They don't look it, and they have no banners. Over a hundred men are gathering civilian boats along the riverbank — they probably mean to cross. The men we sent to observe Yonghe Pass also report that the government troops there are mobilizing."

The men gathered their armor and mounted up, riding west.

Reaching the eastern bank and climbing a hilltop, they saw across the roughly two-hundred-pace-wide river that on the western bank at Yanshui Pass, over a hundred men were running wildly through the village formed by the families of the former garrison troops inside the pass, carrying bundles as they looted valuables and hauling small boats to the water's edge.

Looking south along the eastern bank, banners fluttered atop Yonghe Pass, where men were likewise watching the western bank.

Seeing this, Liu Chengzong said, puzzled, "What are they trying to do? Force a crossing? Can't they just use the pontoon bridge at night?"

From Yanshui Pass, one could take the pontoon bridge directly to the eastern bank. Though the bridge was narrow and the crossing slow, at night the government troops would not be watching the riverbank.

Liu Chengzong and his men had come over by that very pontoon bridge.

"I'm afraid they can't. Look over there." Cao Yao pointed in succession at several ridges on the opposite bank. Staring wide-eyed, he shook his head. "Damn it all, it's swarming with people!"

It was not just Yanshui Pass — from several ridges to the west, layer upon layer of black smoke was rising. All along the meandering riverbank, signs of human activity were everywhere: small boats and rafts being set at the water's edge, scattered formations assembling from the mountain paths toward the riverbank.

Especially at the deserted village on the riverbank north of Yanshui Pass — originally a scattered settlement of a few hundred people, neither so poor they starved nor anywhere near wealthy, farming garrison fields along the river.

Now there too, men armed with swords and spears and wearing white headbands were driving people out of their homes house by house, tearing down the buildings, and forcing them to build rafts.

Everywhere along the riverbank road, men drove donkeys and mules, galloping back and forth. Soon, several large banners rose scattered across the ridges, and beneath each banner, figures resembling commanders gazed toward Yonghe Pass.

Gao Xian asked, "Famine refugees? Bandits?"

No one could give an answer.

Since their uprising began, these men had seen famine refugees, seen bandits, and seen government troops — but they had never seen famine refugees or bandits quite like these.

They had organization, nothing like the disorderly mobs of refugees and bandits, yet compared to government troops, they were far too scattered.

They looked like a group of famine refugee and bandit chieftains who had joined forces.

"Wei Qian'er, bring the troops over." Liu Chengzong stared intently at the mass of peasant soldiers on the opposite bank preparing to force a crossing. Without turning his head, he added, "And the Qian father and son — bring them too. Send men to keep a close watch on Yonghe Pass. If the government troops sally out, signal with the flag."

"Yes!"

Wei Qian'er acknowledged the order and ran off leading his horse. Cao Yao asked, "What, you think we can join forces with them?"

"We don't yet know if they're friend or foe. First bring the troops over; we'll talk once we're ready."

Watching these peasant soldiers occupy the ridges and prepare on a grand scale, Liu Chengzong felt no joy. He said, "These fellows have made it impossible for us to return to Shaanxi by this road."

Cao Yao agreed completely. "Indeed. They're out in the open — there are probably government troops right on their heels. Our men may be elite, but we can't afford a pitched battle, and besides, we've only a few days' provisions left."

"They have provisions."

Liu Chengzong pointed north along the riverbank. "Look over there. They're pushing out carts, pulling boats that way too, and they have quite a few mounted troops."

As it happened, the main crossing point of the peasant army on the opposite bank seemed to be at the northern bend. Once they ferried across to the eastern bank in small boats, they would land precisely on the river beach right below Liu Chengzong and his men.

Cao Yao laughed. "What, you want to seize their provisions?"

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant. They look to have several thousand men — the mounted troops alone number seven or eight hundred. We might not be able to rout them smoothly, and even if we did, there are still the government troops at Yonghe Pass. Caught between two foes, I fear few of our brothers would fancy dying as lonely, wandering ghosts."

Liu Chengzong shook his head. "We could try asking who their leader is, and together strike the garrison at Yonghe Pass. There should be grain in the pass stronghold. Besides… Brother Cao, with these fellows, wouldn't we be able to fight our way through the Lüliang Mountain official road and go plunder a princely estate in Fenyang?"

Just as he spoke, Gao Xian shouted, "They're crossing!"

The deep drone of ox-horns echoed across both banks of the Yellow River.

Liu Chengzong raised his eyes. From every route on the western bank, they were crossing at once. To the north, a dozen small boats carrying scores of infantry crossed first; two squads raced across the pontoon bridge; to the south, boats also ferried infantry across.

On the hilltop of the eastern bank, scouts from the Mule Battalion cavalry waved their flags, signaling that the government troops of Yonghe Pass had sallied out.

Note:

In the early Longqing reign, Shanxi had 3 Princes of the Blood, 46 Commandery Princes, 2,606 Generals, 3,760 Lieutenant-Generals, and 3,117 Princesses and County Ladies.

— An Jiesheng, "Population Growth and Quantitative Statistics of Ming Dynasty Princely Establishments in Shanxi"