Chapter 127: Tailor-Made

The Liu brothers of Qingyang Prefecture were a bit weaker in combat than those two cousins from Yan'an Prefecture.

But they could really run — they took Wu Weifan's twelve hundred men on a seven-day tour of Qingyang Prefecture, dashing from Huan County into Heshui, from Heshui into the Ziwu Ridge, and finally emerging from Zhenning County.

If they'd run into a desperate Li Bei, they'd most likely be finished.

But Wu Weifan was not known for swift marches. He blundered around lost in the Ziwu Ridge, eventually ran out of provisions, found his way back by foraging wild fruit, raided a couple of villages in Anhua County, and charged toward Ningzhou seeking revenge — only for the brothers to flee back into the Ziwu Ridge.

In the end, with no other choice, Wu Weifan had to lead his troops back to Anbian Camp.

Liu Chengzong was now free of threats from the rear, but this battle had yielded enormous spoils, and there were still many wounded. The carts Chengyun had brought were only enough to transport the wounded; those supplies and cannons would take another three or four trips, and besides, he honestly had no idea where to send the cannons.

He'd originally wanted Chengyun to mobilize the common folk, but Chengyun couldn't be bothered to deliver them either, and said, "Why not just leave them all here and let someone else do the hauling?"

Afterward, Liu Chengzong led his troops to besiege Yan'an Prefecture city again, and the fierce general Yang Yanchang once more rode out to battle.

The four hundred banner troops of Yan'an Guard grew bolder with every fight, smashing through three encampments in a row. His subordinate, the great officer and Centenarian Ren Quan'er, grew bolder with every fight too, leading Banner Chief Wang Ziyong, Shi Wanzhong, and Junior Banner Officers Chen Ruji and Lu Bin as they spurred their horses to break the formation, nearly claiming Liu Chengzong's head.

Thereupon the bandit chief Liu Chengzong fled in panic, abandoning countless suits of armor and weapons and three heavy cannons, escaping toward the northern mountains.

Prefect Zhang Nian issued a public notice commandeering civilian carts and personally led laborers to haul the three thousand-jin cannons and the armor and weapons back to the Yan'an Guard siege lines.

A month later, three pieces of news traveled from Yan'an Guard to Apricot Creek Wang Village.

The first: Li Bei, serving as Yan'an Assistant Regional Commander with the title of Guard Commander, had been surrounded and attacked while campaigning against the great bandit Liu Chengzong who held Yan'an Prefecture. Failing to break through, he fought to the death.

The court, following custom, granted his family in Yulin thirty dan of rice and twenty bolts each of gold-woven patterned silk and plain cloth, bestowed one hundred taels of silver for burial, and posthumously promoted him to Chief Commissioner-in-Chief of the Right, upper second rank.

The second: Battalion Commander Ma Ke, for fleeing after defeat in battle, was stripped of his rank and became a frontier soldier of Yulin Garrison once more.

The third: after receiving the news, Yan'an Guard Chiliarch Yang Yanchang led his four hundred banner troops to intercept the bandit soldiers returning in triumph, routed Liu Chengzong, and took one hundred fifty-six heads. This was reported and registered, and he was promoted to Yan'an Guard Commander.

His subordinates Centenarian Ren Quan'er, Liu En, Banner Chief Wang Ziyong, and others each had their own headcounts. After Fushi County verified the heads, all were recorded in the merit register and submitted for commendation and reward.

Before the reward silver had even been approved, Ren Quan'er was already wearing a silver-ornamented black gauze hat, a variegated patterned blue official robe, a bear chest badge on his breast, and leading several brawny personal guards on tall chestnut horses to Apricot Creek Wang Village to pay respects to Chief Liu.

Inside the stone fort at Wang Village, Liu Chengzong was lying on the roof sunbathing with Mei Dianmei. He looked down and laughed: "Whoa, not bad — promoted to the fifth rank so fast!"

Below, Ren Quan'er took off his official hat, dropped to one knee, and bowed his head: "All thanks to Chief Liu's nurturing!"

"Get up, get up, none of that here. Come on up and sunbathe a while."

"Your subordinate obeys!"

This beast in official robes was nimble — he handed his hat to a guard, clambered up the wall cracks onto the roof, and sprawled contentedly onto the bedding spread over the tiles, squinting in the sun.

Pillowing his head on his arms, Liu Chengzong asked: "So, where does the court plan to station you?"

"Saimen Station. Rest assured, Chief, as long as I'm here, not a single government soldier will get through this northern gate of Yan'an Prefecture!"

"Good, I'm quite assured."

Liu Chengzong asked again: "But with you gone, and Liu En transferred to Bao'an Station, your Commander Yang will have no one left to keep him company. Without right-hand men like you, I'm afraid Commander Yang will find it hard to match his old valor."

"Rest assured, Chief, the court has arranged everything. Yan'an Guard still has Vice-Chiliarch Wang, Centenarian Shi, Centenarian Chen, Centenarian Lu, and others — Commander Yang's subordinates are still a galaxy of talent."

Ren Quan'er paused, then added: "And I hired a craftsman to make him a big fishing rod. He doesn't even need to leave the South Gate siege lines — he can just sit on the Fan Gong Well and fish. The Commander now has those two bought women waiting on him, both are pregnant with babies, and there are five children serving at his knee. His days are leisurely, his family blissful."

Two bought women and five children — weren't those the very seven people Yang Yanchang had wanted him to buy back then?

Liu Chengzong smiled. This Ren Quan'er, with black and white identities woven into one, was growing more and more sardonic in his speech.

"Just letting him fish — are there even any fish left in that river?"

"There are, just hard to catch — one every two or three days. I had men dam a stretch of the river and stocked it, watching them spawn."

Things had developed along an unforeseen path.

Probationary Centenarian Yang, once so poor he was ready to rebel, now lived a life like this — eating his fill every day and fishing, and once he'd fished enough, enjoying the bliss of two wives.

Enjoying retirement ahead of schedule — a bit too housebound, but not bad at all.

He nodded: "And General Li — is General Li doing well? And Liu Guoneng, recovering from his wounds at Yan'an Guard — how are they?"

"General Li is very well, in the North Gate siege lines. He has eighty good men guarding him in shifts day and night for his safety. General Liu, Old Master Liu, and Mister Yang often visit him. He also teaches me reading, writing, and martial arts, and shares principles of conduct and military strategy."

The "General Liu" Ren Quan'er spoke of was Liu Chengzu.

"Oh? Military strategy?" Liu Chengzong sensed something off. "What strategy has he been teaching you?"

"He taught me to capture the bandits, first capture their chief."

Liu Chengzong's expression grew odd. He asked further: "What characters has he taught you to write?"

Ren Quan'er sat up on the bedding and traced with his finger as he spoke: "'Zhengde Year Seven Wandering Bandit Precedent: one rank and hereditary succession granted for each named bandit head taken.'"

Liu Chengzong's expression grew odder still: "Then what martial arts has he taught you?"

Ren Quan'er kept writing without looking up, tracing slowly: "Taught me short sword and throwing knife close-quarters assassination... 'Three bandit heads or death in battle, all granted one rank and hereditary succession.'"

The more he wrote, the more unnerved Liu Chengzong became. His hand even went to his waist — and found nothing. Who wears a blade while sunbathing at home?

In the end, he had to pry a roof tile loose and hide it in his hand.

Damn it all — that old wretch Li Bei was rotten to the core, never teaching the kid anything good.

Finished writing, Ren Quan'er looked up and grinned: "He also taught me to eat the sovereign's grain and be loyal to the sovereign's cause. I find that very reasonable — I eat Chief Liu's rice, so I do Chief Liu's work."

Only then did Liu Chengzong exhale in relief. The look he gave Ren Quan'er was full of pity: you silly child, do you realize you just circled the gates of hell?

"Should I deliver Li Bei to Wang Village, or take him to Saimen Station?"

"Leave him here. It's only sixty li away anyway — you can come back and study with him when you're free."

Liu Chengzong was utterly helpless. Everything Li Bei had taught Ren Quan'er — ideology, martial arts, tactics, even writing — was completely tailor-made, single-mindedly aimed at taking his own head through Ren Quan'er's hands.

The man was already dead as far as the court was concerned, yet still so resolute.

Liu Chengzong let out a long breath: "Tell Li Bei this — I'm not releasing him because if he goes back, the court will either charge him with desertion or charge him with colluding with bandits. Tell him to stay here peacefully."

He figured Ma Ke had wanted to secure some posthumous honors for Li Bei's family, which was why he'd reported him killed in action rather than captured — even at the cost of taking the blame for his own desertion.

Or maybe Ma Ke truly believed that once the general fell into his hands, the man was as good as dead.

But in any case, the fact that Li Bei was officially dead was not a bad outcome for him.

"Ah, right — Chief also asked me about Liu Guoneng. Liu Guoneng's left leg wasn't badly hurt, just a musket ball through the calf — it'll heal with rest. His right leg was badly hurt, the bone broken. The medic says he'll be able to stand in the future, but he'll definitely have a limp... I tell you, that man doesn't know what's good for him."

Ren Quan'er sighed before continuing: "He actually blames Squad Leader Cao, says he was playing dead on the ground just fine until Squad Leader Cao hauled him up and got his leg broken."

Liu Chengzong sat up and savored the thought, mulling it over — it really did make sense.

Besides, Cao Yao probably hadn't meant to save Liu Guoneng at the time. Liu Guoneng was blocking his cannon's field of fire, and not wanting to blast Liu Guoneng to death with his own artillery, he dragged him to the rear.

If he hadn't been blocking the cannon's firing line, knowing Cao Yao as he did, Liu Chengzong figured that old scoundrel Cao wouldn't have run out and risked himself to pull him back.

But objectively, Cao Yao had indeed saved Liu Guoneng. Otherwise, given the way their few battle formations had performed in that final pursuit and great rout, Liu Guoneng would most likely have been trampled to death.

Some really had been trampled to death back then, and not a few either.

Afterward, there was no telling whether they'd been trampled by their own men or by the enemy.

A crippled leg was a crippled leg — at least he'd kept his life. How many couldn't even keep their lives?

Actually, come to think of it, Liu Chengzong felt that the de facto commander of Yan'an Guard now was his eldest brother.

Yang Yanchang still couldn't command the banner troops of Yan'an Guard.

The ones actually running things — Ren Quan'er, Wang Ziyong, his uncle's brother-in-law Chen Ruji, the old Liu family's loyal tenant Shi Wanzhong, the old Liu family's blood-kin horse-registered household Liu En, and Old Temple Village's lucky son Lu Bin — were all their own people.

When eldest brother gave orders, it was naturally like an arm directing the fingers.

Not to mention that the banner troops themselves were all rebel soldiers.

Still, Liu Chengzong hadn't expected there to be something even more outrageous in this world.

Ren Quan'er said, "Commander Liu, Mister Yang at Zuantianmao has opened a private school over there and says you should send a few schooled apprentice scholars over."

"Send schooled ones over for what?"

Ren Quan'er, with an expression of exaggerated surprise, said, "Next year is the provincial exam year! Yan'an Guard will register them under the military household surplus-son rolls, so they can sit for the licentiate exam!"

Liu Chengzong was still a bit baffled. A bunch of rebels — he had no objection to them studying, but what were they taking the licentiate exam for? Surely not to become… officials?

He asked, "Is Father planning to have them pass the licentiate exam and take up posts in Yan'an Prefecture?"

Ren Quan'er nodded emphatically. "The old master said, whoever passes the licentiate exam, you're to recognize as an adopted son. Whoever passes the provincial graduate exam, you're to recognize as a sworn brother."

Even the provincial graduate exam was already arranged?

Father's obsession with the old Liu family producing a provincial graduate was just too much — he'd even rather adopt one than go without a provincial graduate son?

Just then, Lin Wei walked past inside the stone fort. Liu Chengzong called out, "Lin Wei! My father's side has set up an academy — a presented scholar and provincial graduates will teach you the exams. They'll register you under a military household, and next year in the third month you take the licentiate exam, the year after the provincial graduate exam. Going or not?"

It startled Lin Wei, who was clutching an account book under his arm in the courtyard. He looked up and said, "I was just doing arithmetic, didn't hear. Sky Monkey took another fort — a batch of grain and fodder's being shipped over. What did you say, Great King?"

"I said, we'll register you under the Yan'an Guard military household surplus-son rolls. Licentiate exam next year, provincial graduate exam the year after. Going or not?"

"I'm already a licentiate — what would I take the licentiate exam for? And I can't take the provincial graduate exam either. I'd have to go to Beijing, and I know too many people there."

Lin Wei shrugged helplessly. Though he really did quite want to take it again and freely become an official or something, that was just a daydream. That road was already cut off for him — he couldn't take the exams.

With that, he held up a hand in the shape of a "five," tucked the account book under his arm, and strode off quickly again. "Great King, keep sunbathing. I've got to hurry and calculate the troop grain — five hundred dan of rice."

Moments later, he swept briskly into the central hall.

Liu Chengzong spread his hands. "See? Can't take the exams. The others have never properly studied — at most they can read a few characters. How are they supposed to sit the exams?"

Father really did come up with one whim after another. Suborning a few minor clerks to pass information, getting a few low-ranking officials to slack off — that was one thing.

But from the look of it, he actually wanted to send apprentice scholars to take the imperial exams under false names.

Liu Chengzong didn't think much of the idea of sending people to take the exams, but having people study — that was excellent.

"I'll send people over to Zuantianmao. You stay here a day and leave the day after. Take a letter back with you to Zuantianmao. We can't just count on apprentice scholars to take the exams — we need to cultivate our own apprentice scholars too."

Since Father had such a notion, Liu Chengzong followed that line of thought further. They had many men under them now, but few who were literate.

And even those who were literate had limited learning — it was hard for them to teach others knowledge.

Meanwhile, the few people who were genuinely cultured all had their own tasks to do, making it difficult for them to serve as teachers and cultivate more cultured people.

They couldn't rely solely on a few presented scholars, provincial graduates, and licentiates, or on training up a few more such people. That wouldn't accomplish anything.

He needed people with a certain level of education — the level didn't have to be high, just enough to help them learn and improve more efficiently in their future lives and battles. That would be sufficient.

The more Liu Chengzong thought about it, the happier he grew. He patted Ren Quan'er, about to head down and go inside to write his ideas down and flesh them out further.

But halfway to his feet, he tucked Mei Dianmei's roof tile under his arm and walked back. He asked, "You're going to Saimen Station. I don't have much to give you as a send-off. Here's what we'll do — in a bit I'll have someone bring you a hundred taels of silver. If you run short of grain at your post, send word and Wang Village will deliver some to you."

"Your humble subordinate thanks the Commander for his cultivation!"

That kid Ren Quan'er didn't know much else, but when it came to the military salute — who knew how Yang Yanchang had taught him — he'd snap off a salute for just about anything you said.

Then Ren Quan'er said, "Truth be told, your subordinate has some thoughts on this. Every guard station has military farmlands. Once I'm there, I'll see whose hands Saimen's military fields are in, and also the local great households that have seized commoners' lands. When the time comes, I'll still need the Commander to step in and wipe them all out."

"Once the military farmlands are reclaimed and we seize a batch of good fields from the great households, if the people of Guaizichuan can be self-sufficient by drawing on the Yan River, why can't your subordinate's Saimen Station do the same?"

Liu Chengzong laughed. Ren Quan'er did have a few ideas after all.

"It's good that you think that way, but the irrigation works have long fallen into disrepair. You can't just ignore the drought. If it were really that easy, Ansai wouldn't have ended up in this state."

Liu Chengzong didn't expect Saimen Station to be self-sufficient, but if they could snatch the military farmlands back, swallow up some great households' fields, and if repairing the irrigation could somehow ease the grain pressure even a little, that would be a tremendous boon.

"Do a good job!" He patted Ren Quan'er on the shoulder. "The great households will be plundered dry sooner or later. The camp's numbers are growing. Whatever Saimen needs, just send word by messenger — I'll back you with everything I have!"

Ren Quan'er saluted once more, bowing his head. "Your humble subordinate thanks Commander Liu for his great kindness!"