Chapter 193: A Corner of the Realm

On the seventeenth day of the sixth month, the fifth day since they had garrisoned at Lion's Bend.

In the morning, Liu Chengzong visited the wounded soldiers at the supply outpost, and took the opportunity to have the physician change the dressing on his right arm wound.

After the dressing change, he walked out of the supply outpost camp and saw from a distance a mule train returning fully laden, winding its way along the river valley.

As it drew near, the mule train was led by Chengyun, who reported with a complicated expression, "One hundred loads of grain, totaling one hundred thirty-six dan. A gift from a chief to the north called Lone Wolf."

"Lone Wolf... I don't know him."

Liu Chengzong did not recall ever dealing with this chief, and asked, "Why is he sending grain?"

"A good brother of Li Laochai. He used to have over two thousand men under him. This is grain Li Laochai borrowed from him."

A good brother of Li Laochai?

Liu Chengzong asked, puzzled, "He neither followed Li Laochai to Heshui, nor lifted a hand to rescue him in his hour of peril — what kind of good brother is that?"

"Ah, it's not that he didn't want to rescue him, he just didn't have the ability. Lone Wolf went to Bao'an County, but ran into two companies of border troops in the mountains. He was beaten down to just three hundred men — he could barely save himself, how could he go rescue Li Laochai?"

Liu Chengzong paid particular attention to the number Chengyun used: two companies.

If he had said one company, that might just mean a single unit, but two companies... Liu Chengzong felt it was very likely a precise military designation.

He asked, "Two companies — is that one hundred border troops?"

"Stow the grain properly and take a full inventory." Chengyun ordered his men to enter camp and get to work, then turned back and sighed, "Right, one hundred men. They chased two thousand men and routed them, broke them and scattered them. Other than Lion Camp, everyone else has it hard."

Liu Chengzong deeply agreed.

But right after that, Chengyun delivered an even more important piece of news.

Over four days, through seizing, transporting, and borrowing, Li Laochai had delivered a total of two hundred forty dan of grain to Lion's Bend.

During these four days, Lion Camp's warhorses, donkeys, and mules had all been sustained by grazing, and the soldiers' rations had been mixed with smoked meat prepared earlier.

Even so, they had still eaten through two hundred twenty dan of grain.

Their stockpile of dried meat could last another twenty-three days, and the grain could last another twenty-two days.

Liu Chengzong knew he did not have much time left to decide — Lion Camp had to divide its forces.

After meeting with Chengyun, Liu Chengzong returned to the camp headquarters to meet with Sky Monkey. He inquired about the psychological state of the officers and soldiers in each outpost, as reported by the discipline officers, and after confirming there were no abnormalities, he summoned his men for a council.

The so-called camp headquarters was a dilapidated courtyard, long fallen into disrepair.

Of the seven rooms in the large courtyard, six had collapsed. The one remaining room did not look very reliable either, so no one dared use it. Liu Chengzong simply made the courtyard itself his headquarters, setting out ten chairs and nine long benches.

The map was hung on the north side of the courtyard. Once all seven outpost commanders had arrived, Liu Chengzong got straight to the point: "We routed He Huchen and should be resting and reorganizing in the mountains for over a month, but Li Laochai's provisions were abandoned in the mountains, so our supplies are insufficient."

"Right now the camp has too many men and horses, and grain is too difficult to procure. If we muster and move as one, we'll eat every place empty the moment we arrive."

"At present, Fu Prefecture in southern Yan'an and Ning Prefecture in southern Qingyang are both fairly stable." He turned and pointed to the map: "The supply outpost stays put. Six outposts of troops will forage across the various counties."

Cao Yao asked, "General, how long will we be out?"

"Let's set a term of one month for now. None of these places are far. With Fu Prefecture city as the center, the farthest point in any direction is no more than three hundred li. If anything happens, you can return within five days at the latest."

Liu Chengzong had been doing his utmost to avoid this situation, but by this point, Lion Camp had grown so bloated it was unavoidable.

"General, shall I go to Ning Prefecture then?"

Vanguard Commander Yang Yao had passed through Ning Prefecture on his way to Pingliang earlier and was fairly familiar with the area. After receiving Liu Chengzong's nod of approval, he looked around and asked, "There are plenty of good fields belonging to wealthy households and gentry over there. Who will partner with me?"

Liu Chengzong naturally turned his gaze toward Wang Wenxiu.

But Wang Wenxiu was not enthusiastic about this mission. He shook his head and said, "General, the rear outpost has too many wounded. I'd like to go to Yichuan — it's also closer to Lion's Gully."

In their battle against the Ningxia troops, there had not been many soldiers killed in action or severely wounded, but nearly all the lightly wounded in camp were soldiers from the rear outpost. Wang Wenxiu did not have many men he could deploy.

Liu Chengzong nodded and said, "Then the rear outpost will go to Yichuan. We still need one more to go to Ning Prefecture in Qingyang Prefecture. Who will go?"

Cao Yao glanced at Feng Rang. Feng Rang understood and said, "Then, General, Commander Yang and I will go to Ning Prefecture. With him leading the way, things will be easier."

With the personnel for Ning Prefecture settled, next was Fu Prefecture. This area was closer and lay along a north-south route, making it easier to arrange.

The final decision was: Cao Yao, Zhong Hu, and Gao Xian would go respectively to Luochuan, Zhongbu, and Yijun, the three counties of Fu Prefecture.

Yang Yao and Feng Rang would go southwest to Ning Prefecture; Wang Wenxiu would lead his troops to garrison at Yichuan.

Once the destinations were set, Liu Chengzong admonished the commanders: "For this division of forces, all of you leave your wounded behind. Procuring provisions is naturally the top priority, but the rules for grain collection remain the same as before."

"Each outpost will carry one thousand taels of silver. What I am about to say — have your clerks write it all down."

Liu Chengzong paused briefly, waiting for the clerks to take out the paper and brushes they carried and begin recording, before he continued: "No harming the innocent. No brutalizing the common people. Even when dealing with wealthy households and powerful gentry, you must be selective."

"Those who bully men and violate women, seize people's fields, lend at usurious rates, brutalize the common people, annex farmland, and create refugees — those are precisely the ones we strike. Strike them with great fanfare, so all the common people know it was Lion Camp who struck them."

"But for those virtuous and worthy gentry who build bridges and repair roads, relieve the poor, keep rents low and reduce interest, or who can earn the support of the surrounding common people — not only must you not strike them, you must put on a full display of Lion Camp's respect for them. Others know to leave behind good fortune; we too must leave behind goodwill."

"In dealing with the common people, when soldiers need to purchase daily necessities, spend money where money is due. Let the common people be willing and unafraid to do business with us. As for how much to pay, you may give a little extra at your discretion. These matters must be clearly communicated to every soldier in the camp."

"Northern Shaanxi is our homeland. If the elders and folk of our homeland do not support Lion Camp, if they see us as bandits, then sooner or later our fate will be annihilation at the hands of government troops."

After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, the outpost commanders all nodded in agreement. Once the clerks had finished recording, he continued: "We have just fought a hard battle and need time to recuperate and rebuild. Do not think yourselves invincible and go off attacking county seats, prefectural seats, or provincial cities."

As soon as he finished, several outpost commanders chuckled softly. Cao Yao said, "General, rest assured. We're all exhausted — no one has the energy to go assault walled cities."

Liu Chengzong laughed along with them, then added: "Right, each outpost is to leave me five clerks. While you go out to collect grain, I can't be idle here at Lion's Bend either. I'll use this time to give lessons to the wounded soldiers. These wounded men are all heroes and good men. In the future, officers for each outpost will be promoted from among them first."

Having said this, he looked at everyone with a long pause, then said with a smile, "Lately I've been considering that in the future, each outpost will operate independently more often, to prepare for expanding the army later."

"Expanding the army again?"

Wang Wenxiu exclaimed in shock, "We can barely feed six thousand men and six thousand head of large livestock as it is. If we expand again, General... where in northern Shaanxi can support so many soldiers who don't do productive labor?"

"The expansion I'm talking about isn't increasing troop strength. If the next two years go smoothly, I plan to first merge two outposts into one battalion, then another two outposts into one battalion, ultimately forming a Lion Army with a three-battalion structure."

Over the course of more than a year, as Lion Camp took shape, Liu Chengzong had already begun planning the next step.

"It will be fixed as the Left Battalion, Right Battalion, and Central Army Headquarters Battalion. The left and right battalions will each have a colonel and a lieutenant colonel, with six subordinate outposts — vanguard, rear, center, left, right, and supply. The center outpost will be directly under the colonel and will carry the artillery unit."

As Liu Chengzong finished speaking, the outpost commanders below began counting on their fingers. When he finished calculating, Wang Wenxiu looked up: "Isn't this still expanding the army, General?"

At five hundred men per outpost, six outposts made three thousand; the Central Army Headquarters Battalion, it seemed, would be directly under the commanding general, and they would also have to add Shi Chengwo's engineering outpost — bringing total troop strength to nine thousand five hundred.

Add in the officers' personal guards, and the strength would push past ten thousand.

Liu Chengzong laughed, "The greatest advantage of dividing into battalions is that one battalion can garrison one location, and when it's time to fight, they combine. That way, the local area can support them. There's still a year and a half — who can say what changes lie ahead?"

"Besides, don't you all want to move up a bit, lead more troops — ten thousand battle-ready soldiers? Brothers, with ten thousand battle-ready soldiers, we could swagger sideways through Shaanxi."

The crowd burst into roaring laughter.

Du Wenhuan couldn't even mobilize ten thousand troops from his defense zone.

Cao Yao asked with a beaming smile, "Then General — no, we should call you Grand Marshal now — so Grand Marshal, when do we set out?"

Being called Grand Marshal for the first time, Liu Chengzong couldn't help but smile and shake his head, then said, "We set out tomorrow. There's one more thing — since everyone's here, I want to discuss with you all where we go from here."

At these words, the squad leaders immediately reined in their smiles and turned solemn.

"Last night, my brother and I talked on the mountain until very late, discussing where to go. Mister Yang offered three proposals: go to Qinghai, go to Hanzhong and enter Sichuan, or go to Nanyang and take Huguang from the south."

The courtyard fell dead silent.

Liu Chengzong had thought this would provoke a huge reaction from the squad leaders — like a single stone stirring a thousand waves.

But after he dropped this explosive news, the squad leaders just looked at each other, and no one spoke.

He first looked at Sky Monkey, who acted as if he hadn't heard a thing.

Then he looked at Cao Yao — Cao Yao was quite composed, seemingly waiting for someone else to speak. But when he looked at the others, it was no good.

Yang Yao met his gaze with difficulty and said, "Grand Marshal, I grew up in Guyuan Prefecture and served in Guyuan Garrison. As for these five places you mentioned, this humble officer has indeed heard of them all, but beyond their names, I know absolutely nothing about them."

Wang Wenxiu also said with a pained face, "Same as him. The farthest place I've ever been is Xi Prefecture."

Zhong Hu was even less worth counting on: "I'm from Yanshui Pass. As a kid I only ever went to Xi Prefecture. The farthest I've ever been from home in my life is right here — Yellow Dragon Mountain."

Gao Xian knew the full story — from Ansai to Yuhe Fort.

Feng Rang and Cao Yao, both men from Henan.

Cao Yao grinned, biting the dry skin on his lips with a crooked mouth, and cupped his hands to the crowd: "Much obliged. Cao here has been to Liaodong, and I know my way around the Northern Metropolitan Region and parts of Shanxi and Henan, but I've never been to any of these five places."

You win.

Liu Chengzong sighed.

"Don't sigh, Grand Marshal — the brothers only have this much life experience." Cao Yao laughed. "The Grand Marshal is a certified scholar, he knows these places, so just tell us about them."

Liu Chengzong thought about it and realized he was right — he'd taken it for granted. There probably weren't many people under heaven who could describe the terrain, advantages, and disadvantages of all five places at once.

The one in his head counted as one.

"Three paths, and truthfully none of them are good. Hanzhong into Sichuan, Nanyang down to Huguang — given the current situation, going there is a dead end. But looking at the greater trends under heaven, in five or ten years, they could be worth considering."

"Hanzhong is surrounded by mountains on all sides. To the north, over two hundred li of mountain road to Fengxiang Prefecture; to the south, another two hundred-plus li of mountain road into Sichuan. Block the passes and you're dead. Nanyang is also ringed by mountains, and Huguang is more or less wrapped in mountain ranges too."

Liu Chengzong raised two fingers and said, "But both places have rich, fertile farmland — you can grow crops and sustain an army. In eight or ten years, they'll be places every strategist must contest."

"The downside is that Sichuan, from the Bozhou campaign to now, has seen twenty years of war in forty years. The people's livelihood is ruined, everything awaits rebuilding. And entering Sichuan is hard, but leaving is even harder. At the same time, you'd first need to fight your way through Guanzhong."

"Nanyang down to Huguang isn't easy either. That place would also face heavy encirclement by court troops. To take Nanyang, you'd need to fight through Shanxi and Henan."

"So these two paths, for now, aren't even worth calling contingency plans. Therefore, every squad should take note going forward: if you encounter locals from Sichuan, Huguang, or Henan, do your best to keep them with us."

Sky Monkey asked very earnestly, "What about Qinghai? If we run into locals from Qinghai?"

"Monkey, Qinghai... that place used to be called the Gagan Regional Command. After the Wanli reign, the Tumed tribe launched a massive campaign to seize Qinghai and occupied it."

Liu Chengzong organized his words to explain this, then said, "If Lintao Garrison hasn't fallen, it won't be easy to run into Qinghai locals."

Only then did Sky Monkey understand — so the Qinghai Liu Chengzong was talking about wasn't even under Ming rule at the moment, and there was a Lintao Garrison right next to it. He pondered very seriously and said, "Then we can't go there, can we? That's just like going north to occupy Guihua City."

"If we run off there, Du Wenhuan might not even bother to stop us. Getting out is easy, getting back is hard. You don't just want to be Grand Marshal — you want to be a Khan too?"

"Whoa, you've got some big ambitions."

Liu Chengzong said this with a grin, then continued, "Getting there isn't easy either. You'd have to fight west through Shaanxi. Ever read Romance of the Three Kingdoms? Ma Chao had Qiang tribesmen under him — that place was Qiang territory in ancient times."

"Even if we got there, we'd inevitably have to fight the sea Tartars. That land can only support so many people. The more land we take, the less they have. So unless we can't hold off government troops in the mountains of Shaanxi, even mobile warfare here is better than going there."

"Still, that place has two advantages. First, there's no Great Wall — big mountains to the north cut it off from Gansu, and a small mountain pass to the east faces Xining directly."

"Second, if a bunch of desperados like us can carve out a domain there, it should be very easy to absorb deserters from the Gansu and Lintao garrison border troops."

"The good thing is that further west, it's either vast desert or snow mountains — no need to worry about enemies at your back. But that's about it. Don't get too rosy a picture. Let me mention a place everyone knows: Guihua City."

"Going to Qinghai is only slightly better than attacking Taiyuan, or attacking Xi'an, Taiyuan, Guihua City, Xuanfu, Datong, and Beijing. If attacking those places is certain death with no chance of survival, then going to Qinghai is staking your life on a gamble."

"Since no one has any other suggestions..."

Liu Chengzong stood, raised his hand, and tapped lightly twice on the hanging map. "Then for now, we'll treat it as a fallback. If one day the court throws the whole nation's strength into crushing the mountains of Shaanxi, we'll temporarily crash through there and hide out for a couple of years. We could even take Xining City — we don't necessarily have to enter Qinghai."

"When the realm falls into chaos, we can rally our forces and burst out from the corner of the world again. That wouldn't be out of the question."

Stubborn Bandits — Source: