Chapter 110: Fence-Sitter

Northeast of Yan'an, on Great King Mountain, Liu Chengyun trudged forward carrying a book chest on his shoulder.

After passing through stretches of barren hills and withered woods, the view finally opened wide once they entered deep into the ravine — a stream babbled through the valley, and several freshly dug cave dwellings stretched in a line along the loess cliff face.

Chengyun finally set down the book chest, wiped away sweat, and spread his arms with a beaming smile, gesturing all around. "Brother Lion, what do you think of this place?"

The little valley wasn't bad at all — high ground where you needed it, valley floor where you needed it, and several mountain paths leading out in all directions. Liu Chengzong nodded. "Excellent. How did you find a spot like this?"

With that, he turned and waved to Cao Yao, Yang Yao, and the others. The five squad commanders each led their teams, leading mules and horses, and began staking out their own sections of ground.

Liu Chengzong had returned two days ahead of the main force. He first met with his family on Sky-Piercing Ridge, where they were temporarily sheltering, to get a grasp of the situation, and only then brought the force into Fushi County.

Liu Chengyun sat down on the chest. "It wasn't me who found it. Second Uncle used to be a tax officer — he knew wherever people fled. After you left, we hid out in places like this."

He turned and pointed to a cave not far off. "That was originally a grain cache. After Second Uncle scouted the terrain, he had it dug through and set a stove inside. The flue runs a hundred paces long, all the way to the cliff on the other side of the mountain. We cook and boil water here, and all the smoke goes out over there."

Liu Chengzong swung down from his horse and handed the reins to Guo Zhashi, who had followed him. He looked around and nodded to himself.

His father had chosen this place extremely well. It was no good for farming, but as a temporary winter camp, it could not have been more suitable.

"Is there still grain in the mountains?" he asked.

Liu Chengyun nodded. "From the moment word came that you were back, Second Uncle started moving grain. He didn't stop even when you came home. Right now we have over a hundred dan, but if we need more we'll have to figure something out — the family has no grain left either."

As he spoke, Liu Chengyun stood and opened the book chest, rummaging through it. "You really should have stayed home a few more days. While you were gone, Second Uncle, Second Aunt, and Big Brother were all very worried about you. Don't think that just because Second Uncle and Big Brother didn't say much when you were home for those two days, they weren't overjoyed inside."

Liu Chengzong pressed his lips together at these words and looked up at the sky, letting out a soft sigh. "Do you think I didn't want to stay home longer? I can't even go back to Black Dragon Mountain... Did Father tell you, Chengyun? Right now there's no one near the prefectural city who can stand against us — why can't we go back and live on Black Dragon Mountain?"

This Great King Mountain lay just over ten li south of Black Dragon Mountain, while Liu Xiangyu and the others were on Sky-Piercing Ridge, another ten-plus li to the east.

Neither place was their home.

Chengyun's hands paused over the books. Somberly, he said, "Wherever the family is, that's our home. As for Black Dragon Mountain — best not go back for now."

He resumed rummaging through the book chest and after a moment pulled out four thick volumes, handing them to Liu Chengzong. "Brother, the family has been waiting for your return all this time. These three — the first was compiled by Second Uncle and Mister Yang. It contains maps of Yan'an Prefecture, intelligence on prominent households everywhere, princely estates, pastures, mines, the financial strength of each clan, their lineages, officials, and backers. The most detailed coverage is for nearby Fushi, Ansai, and Ganquan."

A thick volume, handed into Liu Chengzong's hands.

Then Liu Chengyun brought out the second volume. "This one Second Uncle and Big Brother compiled together. I've flipped through a few pages — excerpts from military texts, field medicine for battle wounds, troop organization and training, daily supply calculations, that sort of thing. I couldn't make much sense of it; you can look it over yourself later."

Another thick volume, handed into Liu Chengzong's hands.

Finally, Chengyun pulled out two large volumes, tilted his face up with a click of his tongue, and grinned. "Now it's my turn. This volume was my idea — I worked with my father-in-law to compile a record of all the godchildren he's taken in over the years everywhere he's been, and everyone he knows."

He handed it over. "Father-in-law has come around too. Anyway, with a worthy son-in-law like me, the bigger the stir we make outside, the safer he is in the city. The day the authorities catch and kill us, his whole family gets dragged down and finished along with us... This volume may not always be useful, but it can still serve for smuggling, buying and selling, and gathering intelligence. Who knows — it might prove invaluable someday."

Liu Chengyun sighed with feeling as he turned to the last volume, his expression growing serious. "This one — after you left, Song Shouzhen and I worked together to register every single person from Lion Camp, Monk Wang, Zhang Tianlin, Collapsing Sky, and all the other groups. Right now, counting Sky-Piercing Ridge and the Yan'an Guard, plus the stout fellows helping people resist taxes in every village and the prominent households willing to contribute grain — over nineteen hundred people in all. They're all in here."

Four volumes, resting in Liu Chengzong's hands, weighing heavy on his heart.

These were not four books — they were the key to holding Yan'an Prefecture in his grasp.

Just then, Guo Zhashi returned from tethering the mules and horses and told them the quarters had been tidied up.

Liu Chengzong placed the books back into the chest, picked it up, and walked with Chengyun toward the cave dwellings. As they walked, he asked, "This tax resistance all around — how exactly is it being done?"

"Mainly on two fronts. The local grain chiefs are dealt with through intimidation — we rally the villagers to resist taxes, and when manpower is needed, we provide it. We go sit in the grain chief's house and won't let the common folk pay taxes to the grain chief, nor let the grain chief deliver taxes to the county office. Dealing with the authorities relies on speed."

Chengyun explained in detail. "At Yan'an Prefecture's three gates plus the Little West Gate, we've planted eyes everywhere, and among the runner-constables too. After what happened last time, the runner-constables in both the prefectural and county offices were wiped out clean. A lot of the new hires are our people. Sometimes word has barely gone from the prefectural office to the county office, and our people are already on the road with the news. By the time the authorities get there, they find nothing."

He laughed and summed it up. "A lot of the villages along the river have had their households struck from the county registers, but the people are all still living there. Big Brother led men to take out the prominent households, so every family has surplus grain. This year, Fushi County's autumn grain tax and levies probably brought in just over seventy taels."

They entered the dwelling. Liu Chengzong inspected the cave's furnishings — all had heated brick beds, tables, and chairs, not bad at all. He pulled over a bench and sat. "That's not even enough to cover the runner-constables' and clerks' wages and food stipends. Will they accept that?"

"They have no silver, but we do! Yang Yanchang alone gave us five hundred taels. After you left, Big Brother Chengzu led men to resist taxes and struck nine grain chiefs, landlords, and gentry who insisted on collecting grain. Every time, we took all the gold and silver and left half the grain for the common folk."

At this, Chengyun turned mysterious. "Brother Lion, the next time we go into the prefectural city, we can't go robbing grain shops anymore."

Liu Chengzong frowned. "Why suddenly bring up grain shops?"

"Because our family has opened a grain shop." Liu Chengyun couldn't help laughing as he said it. "It was another godson of my father-in-law's — I've no idea how he has so many godchildren — who wanted to trade grain. Father-in-law discussed it with Second Uncle, and they put up three hundred taels as capital to buy up grain from both banks of the river, plus a little of our own grain."

Liu Chengzong's frown deepened. "We don't even have enough grain for ourselves, and we're selling it outside?"

Chengyun quickly shook his head. "The grain we contribute isn't for sale — it's given away. Like that Clerk Zhang from the county revenue office, Vice Magistrate Meng — you know him, Brother — and several other clerks. Every month they go to the grain shop and collect one dan of millet. Same for several runner-constables in the prefectural and county offices who handle matters for us. They take our grain and do our business. A few gentry tried to file complaints and got beaten right out of the city by the runner-constables."

Liu Chengzong's brow smoothed out. So the clerks and runner-constables in the county seat were all drawing their salaries from the Liu family now?

What would you call this — early-stage infiltration?

At any rate, if things kept going this way, the imperial court's Yan'an Prefecture would be nothing more than a city, and very soon it would lose all ability to govern.

"Was all of this my father's idea?" he asked.

"Right. After you left, Second Uncle and Mister Yang discussed all these matters and arranged for us to carry them out."

Chengyun nodded. "Brother, let me ask you something... How to put it — let me think."

He scratched his head and ears, groping for words, and finally asked, cautiously and hopefully, "Can we really... rebel against the imperial court and succeed? I don't mean fighting back and forth with government troops the way we do now. What I'm asking is — can we really win?"

"Officials we've killed, rebellion we've raised — there's no road left but to topple the Great Ming completely." Liu Chengzong looked straight at Chengyun. "Why do you ask?"

Chengyun shook his head at first, then sat up straight. "I don't know either. I've been doing a lot lately, running all over the prefectural city and the villages. The more I see, the more my thoughts wander... Let me tell you something, and don't get worked up. Second Uncle says you're impulsive and quick to anger, and that if you knew about this, you'd definitely kill someone."

"Tch. Me, impulsive and quick to anger?"

Liu Chengzong pointed toward the door and laughed freely. "Who doesn't know that I, Liu the Lion, have always been refined and easygoing? Speak freely."

Liu Chengyun nodded. He too thought Brother Lion had a very good temperament. So he said, "The old family home on Black Dragon Mountain has been seized by someone."

Liu Chengzong said nothing. The ease on his face faded, his breathing grew heavier. Sitting on the bench, he leaned back slightly, thumbs hooked into the leather belt at his waist, and smoothed down his clothes.

Chengyun stopped mid-sentence, carefully watching his expression, too afraid to go on. Finally, feeling that leaving it half-said was truly inappropriate, he added, "Prefect Zhang Nian's concubine has a brother. He moved into the Black Dragon Mountain... Brother, where are you going!"

Before the words were even finished, Liu Chengzong was already on his feet. But he did not, as Chengyun feared, head out the door to call for Cao Yao and haul over the cannon unit. Instead, he walked around behind Chengyun and patted him on the shoulder.

Liu Chengzong's voice was calm. "A great house built by the whole clan's combined effort — Big Brother and I barely got to live in it for more than a few days. Just days ago I was regretting not killing Zhang Nian. See? Those who deserve to die will die sooner or later. Go on — why didn't Big Brother kill him?"

Chengyun felt that Second Brother had returned from his eastern journey steadier than before, but also more frightening.

He said, "Second Uncle and Mister Yang's thinking is — don't touch Zhang Nian, and for the short term, don't draw government troops down on us... That's exactly what has my head in a mess. I don't know how to put it to you. Second Uncle's plan is clear: sooner or later the Supreme Commander will send a great army east to suppress the rebels, so we cut off Yan'an Prefecture's contact with the outside world and try to delay that moment as long as possible."

Chengyun was deeply troubled, clutching his head in both hands and sighing. "The idea is to wait until the government troops come up from Fu Prefecture and find the prefectural city perfectly peaceful. Then, once they move east to engage the righteous armies, the whole area around the prefectural city rises up at once and cuts off their retreat... But I don't think it'll work."

Liu Chengzong sat back down on the bench. His anger was gradually subsiding.

If there was a longer-term plan in mind, then letting that dog of a creature live in the old family home for a few days was not out of the question.

"Why won't it work? Let's hear it," he said.

Liu Chengyun suddenly said bitterly, "All of them are fence-sitters, every last one of them!"

"What do you mean, every last one of them is a fence-sitter?"

"Those villagers — they said they'd resist taxes, but out of a hundred only two or three would step forward. Once our people went over, then they all resisted. Once we left, some kept silent, some ran to the county yamen to report us."

"Those yamen runners — they take our grain, but their hearts aren't with us. If we don't threaten them, they won't do the work properly. If we do threaten them, then we're no different from bandits."

"And Yang Yanchang from Yan'an Garrison — he's just a probationary battalion commander, but he used us to become a big official. The news that you were coming back from Shanxi nearly scared him to death. He was terrified you'd be captured and drag him down with you. He only thinks of himself!"

"Even Second Uncle — Second Uncle and Mister Yang, and Eldest Brother…"

The short-statured Chengyun viciously denounced everyone one by one. When he reached his family, his tone finally softened a little. He drew a deep breath and said, "They all have talents to govern the realm, but I know they don't believe — they don't believe we can overthrow the court."

"I wanted to persuade them to believe, but when the licentiates, the provincial graduates, and the presented scholars sit together, no one listens to me. When the rebel leaders sit together, still no one listens to me. People only tell Chengyun to do this, tell Chengyun to do that. They don't know what it's like down below. When the government troops come, they still want to rise up together — they won't be able to rise! All of them are fence-sitters!"

Liu Chengzong did not know what ideological transformation the group that stayed home had undergone during this period, but he knew Chengyun must have suffered a great shock.

Still, he could more or less guess — it was simply that people discovered the government troops had not arrived as expected, life had grown stable again, and that rebellious drive had deflated.

Only those with no road left to walk become desperate men.

That was perfectly normal. Otherwise, the world would be one where the barefoot fear the shoe-wearers, and the shoe-wearers fear the hat-wearers.

But in reality, porcelain fears stone. No one doesn't want to live a stable life.

Scraping by is more stable than rebellion. Once you rebel, controlling one area is more stable than making bigger moves that draw in government troops.

He stood and patted Chengyun. "Chengyun, you've done very well. Big Brother, me, and Mister Yang — we've all done very well too, better than I imagined. You're right, people are all fence-sitters. As long as the Guyuan Supreme Command can send large numbers of government troops… people's hearts will all stand on the court's side. They won't be able to rise."

Liu Chengyun raised his head. "Then what do we do? You said if we destroy the court's rule, we can win."

"If they can't rise, they can rise slowly. People's hearts stand with the court because of the government troops — that's very easy to solve."

Liu Chengzong said this as simply as stepping out to take a piss. "Everything the family has done won't be in vain. These are all extremely important things. But there's one point — if we can't annihilate government troops in formed units, then everything we've done is useless effort."

He tapped his own head. "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."

This gesture meant: these words aren't mine, they're from that other him inside my head.

Chengyun paused and thought for a long while, then asked, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun — what does that mean?"

"Before, I wasn't sure either whether we could actually win. But coming back this time, with you telling me all this, with everything the family has done — I now know we will ultimately prevail."

Liu Chengzong said, "In the east I met many leaders. Some had magnanimity that surpassed the age, some led from the front, and there was one who would bury every fallen subordinate… That's too extravagant. You have to understand, that was a force where men dropped dead as they marched, and he would dig a pit and bury each one properly."

"I admire every one of them. Every one of them has a gun barrel. Yet in them, I find it very hard to locate confidence in defeating the court — because they only have gun barrels. What does 'political power grows out of the barrel of a gun' mean? To say that, you must have political power but no gun barrel."

As he spoke, Liu Chengzong raised a hand and draped it over Liu Chengyun. "Our clan is building political power from nothing. This is hard, so it will be slow — but don't be impatient. Fence-sitters… hah, the good thing is precisely that they're fence-sitters. Once my gun barrel sweeps away the government troops, watch which way they lean!"