Chapter 172: A Major Official Emerges

Liu Chengzong's most pressing task was to figure out the whole story behind this matter.

It just so happened that He Yong, who had just gotten He Renlong's approval, came to deliver the field reports and gazettes. Liu Chengzong immediately demanded that He Yong bring him the ones from the previous two months as well, with silver paid every month.

He Yong handled this with incredible efficiency. He simply drove a cart and delivered everything from the start of last winter straight to Crouching Tiger Mountain, then cheerfully collected twenty-five taels of silver from Lion Camp.

Liu Chengzong carefully pored over the gazettes and field reports. He just felt that this Chongzhen Emperor seemed... seemed like he'd gone mad.

Before the Later Jin invasion, his words and deeds truly befitted an emperor — he had a poised and dignified bearing.

But after the Later Jin invasion, his temperament changed drastically.

It wasn't that he was cursing people out, but he was snapping at everyone he caught, carping about anything he got wind of — basically driven straight into menopause by Hong Taiji.

As for the silver, that was simpler. To put it bluntly, the capital had no money.

So they had to find ways to scrape together silver and ship it to Beijing. The various relief armies had massed at the capital. The wave of mutinies had already passed, and those who remained were loyal, righteous soldiers starving on their feet. From the Nine Border Garrison reinforcements to the Guanning troops, all were owed at least five months' pay.

If you want men to fight to the death, you have to pay them.

So the court had to figure out how to scrape together silver. The old back taxes in the regions couldn't be collected, and more and more people couldn't pay the new taxes either. Last year's taxes had only come in at one-third of the assessed quota.

They could only find another way. The original Chu Military Fund of eight hundred thousand taels had been renamed the Guizhou Military Fund on the spot after the She-An Rebellion erupted. Now that things over there had settled down a bit, they were diverting half of it to the capital.

There was also the retained operating funds from the Ministry of Works in each province. After calculating, it came to a total of one million three hundred seventeen thousand nine hundred sixty taels.

This money would not be easy to collect. As long as an official had a functioning brain, no one in an entire province would willingly hand that money over.

If this money was taken to the capital, it meant the localities would lose all capacity to prevent, stop, or organize against subsequent disasters.

The court knew this money wouldn't be easy to collect, so they planned to dispatch young capital officials down to the provinces to get the money to the capital — in other words, imperial commissioners.

The silver that Sky Monkey mentioned, which was being transported via the Hexi Circuit to Yulin Garrison, was precisely Shaanxi's share of this money.

Understanding the full story behind this matter was very important.

But by the time he had figured it all out, the several outpost commanders' interest in the money had already faded.

Sky Monkey, who had been the most vocal at the start, seemed to have entered a state of post-nut clarity a few days later. Propping his chin on his hand, he shook his head. "Forget it. I've thought it over. Even if we get the money, there's nowhere to spend it... What use are gold, silver, and jewels to me?"

Liu Chengzong threw his head back and laughed. It seemed his education of the monkey was bearing excellent fruit.

In truth, what Sky Monkey said was also the most awkward aspect of the uprisings in northern Shaanxi at the end of the Ming dynasty.

The economy in the vast majority of the region had already been thrown into chaos by the drought. The practical use of gleaming silver in this land was truly limited.

The temptation was, indeed, not that great.

But Liu Chengzong still waved his hand. "You can't put it that way. Gold and silver — Lion Camp can only say we're not in short supply. We don't issue pay either, so I plan to give the brothers a bit of pocket money every now and then going forward."

"Pocket money."

Sky Monkey mulled over the term, raising a hand to scratch his disheveled head. "Spend it where?"

"Spend it anywhere. I believe this money must be robbed. What we do after robbing it isn't important. What's important is that this money cannot fall into the emperor's hands."

Liu Chengzong was utterly serious as he said this. Inside the central army tent, he pointed northward. "Once the emperor has money, he can pay the border troops. Once they're paid, those people will come to deal with us."

In truth, Liu Chengzong felt that while Lion Camp indeed didn't have much need for this silver, Chongzhen needed it even less.

The tour guide of the Jianzhou Tour Group, Hong Taiji, had already returned to Shenyang. Why send Chongzhen any more money?

Zhong Hu, sitting off to the side, said worriedly, "This silver sounds like quite a lot. Robbing it will probably also draw a punitive expedition from the border troops."

"Exactly right."

Liu Chengzong pointed at Zhong Hu. "Then tell me, is it better to let the border troops receive their pay, eat their fill, and then come deal with us, or for our brothers to take the money first and then fight them?"

Zhong Hu looked abashed and said ruefully, "Well, obviously we fight the starving ones!"

"That's the point. But I also think, it's possible... never mind."

Liu Chengzong stopped mid-sentence, feeling the thoughts in his head still needed more careful planning, so he didn't continue. He simply said to Sky Monkey, "Jiusi, you have contacts over in Yichuan. You'll handle the job of gathering intel on that silver."

Once Sky Monkey nodded in agreement, he continued instructing, "Find out exactly how much money, get a rough figure, and how many men in the escort detail."

"Don't let it turn out to be two carts hauling four big chests that we think hold twenty or thirty thousand taels, only to open them and find two hundred. Then the next day the gazette reads: 'Yan'an arch-bandit Liu Chengzong slaughters five hundred government troops, seizes three hundred thousand taels of official silver.' Now that would be interesting."

The men roared with laughter. Sky Monkey didn't delay further; he accepted the mission and went out to get to work.

Seeing Cheng Yun laughing heartily, Liu Chengzong said, "Cheng Yun, I've found something for you to do as well."

"What is it, Brother?"

"Now that every outpost has its own clerk, Sky Monkey is heading south, and we have He Yong in the north. With all the various leaders of northern Shaanxi having entered Shanxi, I need you to go through the villages one by one, starting from Yanchuan, and register the households, population, and farmland of every village and stockade."

"Re... register?"

Cheng Yun was stunned. He asked, "There are only these few villages left. What is there even left to register?"

"Even if only one remains, it must be registered — the common people's population, farmland, water resources, and local products. I reckon there are no large households left by now."

Liu Chengzong shook his head. "The grain tax captains, the village heads, the elders of high virtue and prestige — if an entire village is willing, then when they encounter other bandits in the future, they can invoke my name, Liu the Lion. No more people can die in northern Shaanxi."

Cheng Yun paused, then nodded. "Alright, I understand."

His pause was not because Liu Chengzong was starting to carve out territory, but because of the words "no more people can die in northern Shaanxi."

This was Liu Xiangyu's self-rescue plan.

Back when Liu Chengzong had just returned home, his second uncle spoke of self-rescue and predicted that northern Shaanxi would have no grain to sustain troops, and that the roving bandits would enter Shanxi in great numbers.

But Liu Xiangyu's predictions only went that far. He had also said at the time that by the time the roving bandits entered Shanxi, the court should have come to its senses.

He said the emperor, in his sagely wisdom, would surely remit the taxes of the Qin region, issue decrees for disaster relief, and that the gentry would dig moats and build fortifications, extensively construct waterworks for irrigation, and that every township, county, and prefecture would take in refugees and consolidate villages and wards.

Once the roving bandits returned, with a means of livelihood, they would not rise in rebellion again.

Not a single thing after that came true. The court did not come to its senses, the emperor did not remit the taxes, and the gentry... there were hardly any gentry left in northern Shaanxi.

Cheng Yun paused because he caught Liu Chengzong's meaning — he intended to wrench back the things his second uncle had failed to predict correctly.

But Cao Yao didn't know about this. He asked, "What use is registering the common people? The next time the government troops come, it might well be an encirclement from all sides. When they come, we'll still have to run. Do you want the people to follow you or not?"

"Of course not."

Liu Chengzong shook his head. "I'm not trying to carve out territory. I want to understand this land, find every living person, try to build a decent relationship with them, and also find a way... to let them survive."

"This silver we're going to rob was originally meant to be used for constructing waterworks. We can't build large-scale water facilities in a short time, but we can do some small ones."

But he knew in his heart that, with the drought already an established trend, this was nearly impossible to change through small efforts.

So he simply wanted to preserve the lives of those who remained — after all, if they had stayed this long, they likely had no intention of leaving for the rest of their lives.

Liu Chengzong could not do much more; he could only do his utmost to shield them from man-made calamity and help them endure the natural disaster.

"The government offices can't even get out of the city gates. Besides, in many places north of Fuzhou, there's only a county office with no magistrate. We'll act as middlemen. If that river runs dry in the future, we'll relocate them elsewhere, consolidate villages and merge jia."

"As long as I'm here, they don't have to hand over grain to the court. If I leave, they can stall on what they can stall — who knows, maybe if they stall long enough, I'll be back."

Cao Yao understood. He nodded repeatedly, raising a hand. "So it still comes down to not giving grain to the court."

"Exactly — just not giving grain to the court. Officials, clerks, common folk, all of them can live. As long as they don't work for the court, I won't harm them."

Wang Wenxiu stroked his beard and asked, "What about when those chieftains come back — No-Stick-Mud, Tall Invader King?"

"They've all gone into Shanxi. Any one of them who comes back will be dripping with fat. If someone comes back from Shanxi with his bare ass hanging out, then comes skulking back to snatch these measly scraps from the common folk…"

Liu Chengzong thought it over — that really was a possibility. He said, "If a minor chieftain is so hungry he has no choice, we'll help him survive. If there's one who just loves killing for sport, we'll help him reincarnate."

"As for the big-name chieftains — the Invader King wouldn't do that sort of thing. No-Stick-Mud, from what I've seen, isn't that muddle-headed either. Mixed-Up Heavenly King and Left-Hanger might have already taken amnesty. Even if they haven't, no matter — I think we can talk."

"Lion, I still don't get it. Why?"

Heaven-Soaring Monkey asked, baffled, "Just to do a good deed?"

"This is hardly just doing a good deed. Think about it — we can seize grain and eat it ourselves, but what do we do with seized silver? Nowhere to spend it. To put it bluntly, even if I wanted to let the brothers have a drink, I couldn't find enough wine anywhere."

Liu Chengzong explained, "My head's a bit jumbled too. How to put it — we link up all the villages along the rivers and water sources. This village has sheep, that village has grain. If there's no surplus, forget it."

"Where there is surplus, we can give the combat and support soldiers a bit of spending money. Each outpost camps nearby, and now and then they get leave — go into the village, eat some mutton, drink a couple cups of wine, settle a family member. Then the local people would have silver too, and in time, a market would re-emerge."

As he spoke, Liu Chengzong sighed. "The men who follow me are all decent, honest fellows. I can't keep them cooped up like this forever, letting them suffer."

As for collecting grain, Liu Chengzong had never even considered it. At most, he held a faint hope for the most negligible farming surplus.

But he was also painfully aware that these villages could barely sustain themselves, let alone sustain them.

And the drought would continue. Even if they consolidated villages and merged jia, in the future there would likely be nothing left to merge. When that time came, he would have to take these people elsewhere.

"The youths and young men among these farming households are also our reserve pool of soldiers. If they stay here and can get enough to eat, by this time next year their bodies will be more or less recovered — at the very least, stronger than our current support soldiers."

Speaking of the support soldiers' physical condition made Liu Chengzong's blood boil.

How had he overlooked this point when recruiting?

He had never considered that some men would put on the armor.

The bodies of able-bodied young owner-farmers were far stronger than those of refugees and famine victims who had spent a year or two running everywhere begging to survive.

Liu Chengzong looked at Chengyun. "For those we've registered, do it the way we discussed back in Shanxi. Station one wounded soldier in each village. If anyone wants to learn martial arts or drill formations, teach them."

"As for household registers, start with the villages. If any villagers are acquainted with clerks from the county office, then use the old Yan'an prefectural seat system."

Cao Yao shook his head without speaking. Seeing Liu Chengzong look over questioningly, he quickly shook his head again. "It's nothing, it's good. I just think it's a lot of trouble."

This feeling was all too familiar to him — it was Liu Chengzong's consistent restraint.

Old Cao frowned. "All this effort — what's wrong with openly letting the common folk collude with bandits?"

"Getting the common folk to collude with bandits is easy — just take one step closer. But when government troops arrive, we run, and the common folk can't leave. They'd die. Besides, this benefits us too."

Liu Chengzong said, "We're not occupying this place, only offering temporary protection. No expectations. When government troops come and the common folk turn back to the court, we won't get angry. And don't say 'you' — "

He tapped a finger to his own temple. "In this world, nothing can restrain me except my own heart. If I got angry, would I kill people?"

"I don't yet have the ability to protect them for a lifetime, so I can't expect the common folk to follow me with iron resolve. And this place — northern Shaanxi, with the Great Wall to the north — is hard to carve out as an independent domain. Unless we knock out Yulin Garrison, there will always be a blade hanging over our heads."

The Great Wall was essentially an expressway. If the border troops from Shanxi's Xuan-Da region ever had need, they could cross the Yellow River and use the Great Wall to reach Yulin swiftly.

With that thing sitting up north, and given the current climate, even if you wanted to carve out a domain, you couldn't.

They could only seize this moment, under the cover of the first northern defense line drawn by Ansai chiliarch Ren Quan'er and Yuhe Fort's He Yong, to temporarily establish a secure corridor from Shanxi's Xizhou to the Apricot River in Yan'an Prefecture.

Cao Yao squeezed his eyes, said nothing, paused, then laughed to himself.

In his view, in times like these, people were going to die one way or another — there was no need to consider so much for others.

"Strange to say — I know you've always just wanted to be a decent human being yourself. And I also know you only demand that of yourself. But in times like these…"

Cao Yao shook his head, his face showing not a trace of mockery, but rather a rare admiration. "In times like these, to be able to be a decent human being — I tell you, I can't even imagine it. If I were out there on my own, I'd probably have already started eating people by now."

He made a prediction. "One day, people will definitely build a temple to you — cast a fucking golden statue and worship it."

"True. Being a decent person isn't easy. For over four thousand people to all be decent people together — even harder."

Liu Chengzong nodded. After saying this, he smiled with an easy lightness, looking at the people sitting cross-legged in the tent. "But fortunately, with everyone's help, we haven't done too badly at being decent people so far."

Having said that, Liu Chengzong thought of something else that pleased him. He rose, rummaged beside the cot in the command tent, and finally produced a volume of court gazettes. Showing it off to the group, he said, "Guess who I saw in here today?"

Before anyone else could speak, Chengyun jumped in. "Brother, is there news of Yang Yanchang?"

"Right on the mark."

Liu Chengzong pointed a finger at him, laughing. "Commander Yang is doing quite well in Northern Zhili. He didn't follow Wu Zimian — got himself an assignment recruiting militia, and he's doing a decent job of it."

Chengyun clapped. "That's Monk Wang's old specialty!"

"Exactly. And because of that, he's been promoted again — landed a posting supervising civilian laborers. Tsk, tsk."

The more Liu Chengzong thought about it, the more he wanted to laugh. He said, "I think if those two can make it back alive this time, we're going to see a big official emerge from the ranks of the northern Shaanxi bandits."