Chapter 192: The Long-Lived Woman

A single rain, and Nanniwan flooded again.

Lion Camp trudged with difficulty to Lion Bay, and the Liu family of Black Dragon Mountain gathered once more.

A year — an entire year the Liu family had not sat down together for a proper meal.

Even last year on the Mid-Autumn Festival, when Lion Camp garrisoned at Great King Mountain, Liu Chengzong had only managed half a meal at Drill Sky Hill before rushing back in a frenzy to eat a second round with his subordinates.

This time he could finally share a proper meal with his family, but those eating with him were not all family.

Liu Laoye was staying temporarily in a cave dwelling at Lion Bay; there had been a village here before, but the houses and courtyards were all long-neglected and uninhabitable, so they could only clear out a few cave dwellings.

Fortunately the cave courtyard was spacious enough to set three tables — one for the Liu family, one for Zhang Tianlin, Luo Rucai, and the other leaders, and one for the leaders' bodyguards.

Somehow or other, Li Bei ended up seated at the table.

Ha, this defeated general sat right at their family table — his father to the left, Yang Dingrui to the right, squarely in the seat of honor.

And what's more, Li Bei was quite familiar with both his father and Teacher Yang.

A dead man on the Great Ming household registry, sitting among a crowd of conspirators plotting rebellion — how to put it, he wore his ease with utter naturalness.

It seemed Li Bei had already grown accustomed to living among the Liu family, but he was absolutely not accustomed to eating with Liu the Lion.

Liu Chengzong was perfectly aware of this.

Li Bei could not let go of having lost to him, and he could not forget that Li Bei had nearly trained Ren Quan'er into a master assassin.

And during the meal, every time Liu Chengzong tried to steer the conversation toward where to go from here, his father and Teacher Yang would deflect the topic.

So the meal was eaten with great strain.

Only when evening came, after the meal, as Liu Chengzong stepped out of the house, his elder brother Liu Chengzu caught up with him; the two brothers climbed a hill ridge, sat on the rocks gazing at the sky full of stars, and Liu Chengzong's mood finally eased a little.

Liu Chengzu said, "Apricot River is fine. Steward Lin sent word to set your mind at ease — the winter wheat harvest brought in over two thousand four hundred shi, plus another six hundred shi in rent."

That Apricot River Royal Estate was safe was a very welcome piece of news.

Still, Liu Chengzong did the math — the early frost this year had killed the wheat, and the yield reduction was severe.

Over there they had five thousand mu of their own fields and six thousand mu of tenant-donated land, all well-irrigated, rare good fields for northern Shaanxi, and this was all they got.

He sighed and said, "With this pittance of grain, forget about helping anywhere else — feeding the estate tenants alone will be a struggle."

Liu Chengzu, however, was quite optimistic. He nodded and said, "I think it's all right. There are only six hundred or so people over there — self-sufficient with surplus to spare. Next month we'll send a batch of farm tools over, and then we can start clearing land here."

"Besides, it's not like we won't plant again. This year's weather is decent."

Liu Chengzong nodded, saying little more.

Only then did his elder brother smile and say, "Still brooding over what happened at dinner with the family? Father and Teacher Yang are winning Li Bei over — they want him to work for us."

"Can he even be used!"

Liu Chengzong turned his head. "How much does he know about our affairs? The several battalion commands, the two royal estates, and this place — he knows everything. Getting his official post restored is exactly what he'd use all this for."

"Then what can we do — kill him?"

Liu Chengzu let out a short laugh. "When we pulled out of Apricot River, I thought about killing him, but I was afraid of causing trouble for you. Since we can only keep him around, might as well give it a try."

Liu Chengzong understood exactly what kind of trouble his brother meant.

Even now in Lion Camp, the surrendered troops from Li Bei's command still formed the backbone of the combat soldiers.

"Keeping a man like that around is a constant worry. Truth is, it's my fault — back then I had neither the nerve nor the confidence."

Liu Chengzong sighed and shook his head. "Now, someone like He Huchen — I let him go just like that, no fear."

That battle against Li Bei was truly a fate-deciding fight; even now, recalling it, Liu Chengzong still felt lingering dread.

It was from that battle onward that Lion Camp, after the winter reorganization, gained the strength to face a thousand-strong government army column head-on.

Liu Chengzu smiled and asked, "I noticed you kept wanting to talk about what comes next. Do you already have a plan in mind? What do you intend to do going forward?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head.

He tilted his head up to look at the star-filled sky, then lowered it again, shifted on the rock to a more comfortable sitting position, spread his hands, and said, "Right now it's not about what I intend to do. The King's Duty Army has won victory in the capital region, retaken the four cities of Yongping, and with the court's hands freed, they'll turn their full strength against Shaanxi."

"Shaanxi officials are petitioning for joint governance of the two provinces, while Shanxi officials are denouncing Shaanxi for failing to defend against the bandits. This year has been truly exhausting, and what's coming will be even more so."

Liu Chengzong tallied it up — from the uprising in the second year of Chongzhen until now, across Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, he had led his troops over three thousand li, and if you counted the bandit suppression in Yonghe County, he had fought more than thirty battles.

He was almost always either fighting or on his way to fight.

"Once the court imposes joint governance over the two provinces, the trick of hopping back and forth across the border won't work anymore. At most, we can play that game for one more year. So right now I'm a bit undecided."

After Liu Chengzong finished, Liu Chengzu slowly nodded and asked with a serious expression, "Undecided about what?"

"The biggest problem before me right now is provisions. Lion Camp has six thousand men, over two thousand warhorses, and more than three thousand donkeys and mules. The day before yesterday, Chengyun ran the numbers for me — all of these eat five hundred sixty shi of grain a day."

Liu Chengzong raised his hand, stated this utterly outrageous figure, then added, "Even if we put the livestock out to graze, we still need two hundred shi of grain every day. So..."

At this point he grew very frustrated — he had clearly been extremely restrained in recruiting soldiers, yet in the end he had still inevitably walked down this path.

This path where an army is driven onward by rations.

"You can't garrison all your troops in one place. You have to split them up."

Liu Chengzu had different experience in this regard. His men had always been dispersed — the total number was not small, but the grain pressure had always been very low. Yet as he spoke, he laughed himself and said, "But if you keep splitting them, you might end up with no troops left yourself."

This was particularly amusing — Liu Chengzu could not even clearly explain how it happened; he only felt that the biggest leech beside him was his younger brother.

And this leech was one he had raised himself.

Little Lion had always sacrificed a great deal for the family, so from the very beginning, starting with drawing government army fire, Liu Chengzu had been behind the scenes continuously supplying fresh blood to Lion Camp.

First sending out that batch of veterans under Gao Xian, then Chengyun, then Liu Guoneng, and finally Yang Yanchang.

Thinking back to last year, for two or three months, Liu Chengzu had once been the largest peasant army alliance leader near Yan'an Prefecture seat, with Zhang Tianlin, Monk Wang, Li Wanqing, Liu Guoneng, Yang Yanchang, and others all gathered under his command awaiting his orders.

But he had never opposed giving blood transfusions to Lion Camp — troops when troops were needed, men when men were needed.

Transfusion after transfusion, all these old brothers who had once joined forces with him became Lion Camp's second-line units.

He had directly raised his second brother into the most powerful rebel chief in Shaanxi.

Now Liu Chengzu's own main force had only about a thousand men left, and many of those were newly recruited refugees.

Liu Chengzong said, "I've been thinking about this too. Lion Camp is now the target of all arrows. Once the court imposes joint governance over the two provinces, getting grain won't be so simple then."

"So I want to take advantage of the moment and send men to Qingyang and Weibei to get grain. Governor Yang in Guyuan doesn't understand military affairs. Hong Chengchou, who originally garrisoned Hancheng, does understand military affairs, but he's gone to Yansui Garrison. Both those places are very safe."

"But this is absolutely no long-term solution. If the court suppresses me in Shaanxi, I'll seize the Shaanxi-Shanxi border region. If the court coordinates suppression across both Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, we'll need to leap to a third province — but right now, where is there a third province?"

The only province bordering northern Shaanxi was Shanxi.

Liu Chengzu drew a deep breath and let out a long sigh through his nose. He said, "Actually, Mr. Yang and Father have thought about this too. They mentioned a few directions. I didn't tell you because I thought some couldn't be accomplished in the short term, and the one that could be accomplished, you wouldn't accept."

Wouldn't accept?

Liu Chengzong tilted his head and asked, "Brother, tell me about the one I wouldn't accept."

"Head west. Lion Camp has sufficient troops and strong fighting power. Guyuan to the west lacks soldiers and can't stop you. Lintao's situation is about the same. Gansu is an even more unlucky place, beset by enemies on all sides. If you don't provoke them, they won't move against you."

Liu Chengzu finished, then pointed west. "Charge all the way to Qinghai, seize the Sea Tatar territory, rest and recuperate, and quietly wait for the situation in the realm to change."

Qinghai over there is the territory of the Tumed tribe. To the east and north is Gansu Garrison; to the south is Ü-Tsang.

Let's put it this way: in northern Shaanxi, unless your imagination was truly colossal, you wouldn't even bring this up.

Liu Chengzong was dumbfounded. "Who came up with this idea?"

"Mr. Yang, of course. Mr. Yang said that place has the aura of a king. Two months earlier, no one would have even thought of it. But now, Lion Camp really does have the ability to fight its way there. Gather over ten thousand men and migrate over — you'd have talent and you'd have generals. You might not be able to accomplish the great enterprise there, but you could presumptuously declare yourself king and set up a little Liu family court. That's not out of the question."

With just this military strength, he'd presumptuously declare himself king?

But as Liu Chengzong mulled it over carefully, it really did seem possible.

Among the border troops under his command, you still couldn't say every single man had experience fighting other border troops, but experience fighting Mongols — probably every last one of them had plenty.

Old adversaries. Far too familiar.

But this plan was basically absurdity opening the door for absurdity.

Under the moonlight, Liu Chengzong's expression was extremely strange. He thought for a moment and said, "This idea... I find it hard to judge."

Liu Chengzu nodded. "When I first heard it, my reaction was the same as yours. You say it can't be done? It can be done, and the benefits are considerable. With Gansu at your back, you recruit Gansu deserters on one side and fight the Mongols on the other. The court will endlessly send reinforcements to Gansu, and Gansu will endlessly produce deserters."

"And I've heard there's no drought over there. But the biggest drawback — the reason I thought you wouldn't accept it — is also that you could accomplish a great enterprise there."

Liu Chengzu said, "But it could only be a great enterprise. You could establish a small court, but anything more would be impossible. You might not even receive word when upheaval comes to the Central Plains."

Liu Chengzong blinked. That wasn't a problem for him!

He knew when upheaval would come to the Central Plains.

Although he didn't know the exact year, the window to settle the realm would open after the tenth year of the Chongzhen reign.

But even so, this plan was still pretty absurd.

Running that far away basically meant withdrawing from the contest for the Central Plains.

This gave him a strong interest in the other, short-term unreliable directions his brother had mentioned.

If running to Qinghai didn't count as absurd, then what did?

He asked, "Brother, what were those other directions you mentioned? Tell me about them too."

"Mr. Yang proposed three directions in total."

Liu Chengzu spread his hands and counted them off. "The first, and the most achievable, is Qinghai, which I just mentioned."

"The second is to first seize Hanzhong, then enter Chengdu — also a kingly domain. The third is to first seize Lu'an Prefecture in Shanxi, then pass through Huaiqing into Henan, and ultimately occupy Nanyang."

Liu Chengzong found this very strange. He asked, "Brother, what made you think going to Qinghai was stranger than these two?"

"The other two plans aren't strange. Going to Qinghai is strange. But these two plans are far too difficult."

Liu Chengzu said, "Only going to Qinghai lets us survive. How did you feel fighting in the Yellow Dragon Mountains this time?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head decisively. "Not good. I never want to fight on mountain roads again in my life."

"Mr. Yang said: Hanzhong is a hundred li east to west and forty li north to south. Beyond it, mountains wrap around on all four sides. Mountain roads of two to three hundred li are the only way through to Sichuan and Xi'an Prefecture. In a place like that, lose one battle and you're finished."

"Even if by luck you enter Sichuan, Sichuan just went through over a decade of major warfare. Veteran commanders and old soldiers are everywhere. We'd be strangers in an unfamiliar land. What do you think our chances of survival would be?"

Liu Chengzong said nothing. He nodded and asked, "What about Nanyang?"

"Shanxi is also wrapped in mountains. Henan would be a good destination. Commander Cao is from Henan, but he hasn't been home in over a decade either. He was young when he left home and can't be of much help."

"There's no drought in Henan right now. Just imagine what it looked like when the starving people rushed into Black Dragon Mountain. The gentry and great households are the pillars the common people lean on. Are you ready to fight a war against the common people?"

"But fighting on this route wouldn't be too hard. It just has no way out. The court could mobilize troops from all four directions to suppress you there. It would be even more exhausting than being on the run."

At this, Liu Chengzu laughed. "We might not even manage to presumptuously declare ourselves king before our family is wiped out."

In truth, Nanyang really was a good place.

Gain a firm foothold there, and you could advance south into Huguang and west into Sichuan — all rich, fertile lands.

But Liu Chengzong also shook his head. "It's just that things aren't chaotic enough yet. To gain a firm foothold now, we have to stay close to the Nine Borders. The elite soldiers on the frontier who lack food and clothing — they are our greatest advantage."

Leave the Nine Borders, and we lose that advantage.

But not leaving the Nine Borders also means taking the most brutal beatings.

Liu Chengzu spread his hands. "So in terms of strategic decisions, the family really can't help much."

"It's still useful. I spend all day staring at this tiny patch of northern Shaanxi. Look at Mr. Yang's perspective — he's directly surveying the whole realm. These are plans made for years, even a decade ahead."

Liu Chengzong said with admiration, "Both these routes will be of great use many years from now. In Sichuan, you could declare yourself king, but it's still the same point: unless you first take either Guanzhong or Huguang, once you enter Sichuan, you can't get out."

"So I believe the two routes Mr. Yang mentioned can be combined. Once Guanzhong can no longer threaten us, first take Nanyang, then move down into Huguang, take Sichuan in the west, and split the realm in two along the Taihang Mountains."

Liu Chengzong's smile was full of dreams. He raised a hand and said, "The west side goes to us, the east side to the Emperor. Brother, do you remember that poem? The one by Feng Yansi."

Liu Chengzu thought for a moment. "You mean 'The Girl Who Longs for Life'?"

"Yes, 'The Girl Who Longs for Life.' We'd hold the western half of the realm, and every year, cross from the Taihang Mountains into Northern Zhili to see the Emperor once."

Liu Chengzong jumped down from the rock in delight, clapping and singing as he danced. His song carried far through the mountains.

"A spring day feast, a cup of green wine, a song once through. I bow again and lay forth three wishes: First, may my lord live a thousand years. Second, may I, your handmaid, ever be hale. Third, may we be like the swallows on the beam, year after year, ever meeting again!"

The Stubborn Bandits — source: