Chapter 197: Hami Garrison Advance Post Troops

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General Ren has returned to his loyal Simen Battalion.

The day he left Lion Bay, Liu Chengzong's guards watched him for a long time from the mountainside.

No one could figure it out — this Martial Virtue General of the imperial court gave Marshal Liu medicines and tonics worth several hundred taels, yet was beaming with delight over one tael and five mace of pay.

But Liu Chengzong said Ren Quan'er had every reason to be happy — he was the first man in the entire Lion Camp to receive his military pay.

One tael and five mace of silver per month, higher than the one tael and four mace standard of the capital troops and the Guanning Army.

Ren Quan'er had barely left when He Yong arrived.

He delivered the latest court gazettes to Yanchuan, collected some silver as usual, and had someone bring back news about Yansui Garrison and Suide Prefecture.

Wang Jiayin's seizure of Fugu County had enormous impact, igniting a new wave of rebellion across northern Shaanxi. The runner Zhang Xianzhong also revolted, joining forces with the Eighteen Forts of Mizhi and pledging himself to Wang Jiayin's command.

The wounded soldiers of Lion Camp continued as before — recuperating on one hand, studying on the other.

How the starving people came to be, how the starving troops came to be, and why the people must be pacified.

Once they understood these things, their daily schedule was divided into four two-hour blocks.

For one block after breakfast and one after lunch, Song Shouzhen led the clerks in teaching them to read.

For one block before lunch and one before dinner, Liu Chengzong led them in studying court gazettes and military dispatches.

And outside of teaching, Liu Chengzong was calculating their grain and fodder, deeply worried about the future.

One day, as they were studying the court gazettes, a dozen clerks were reading to the wounded soldiers when one clerk stepped forward and asked, "Marshal, what does 'raising troops in a puddle' mean?"

Liu Chengzong felt displeased the moment he heard the phrase. Frowning, he explained, "'Raising troops' means starting a rebellion, and 'puddle' means a pool of standing water. You must be reading Yang He's memorial."

Yang He had concealed He Huchen's defeat from the court.

In his memorial, he described Wang's forces occupying Fugu as battle-hardened border troops with extensive ties to the barbarian tribes beyond the passes, claiming they were colluding with the Tatar raiders to assault the border walls.

As for Lion Camp, it did not even merit a name in the memorial — merely described as bandits everywhere between Yan'an and Qingyang, all nothing more than "raising troops in a puddle," especially easy to clean up.

To be honest, when Liu Chengzong saw this memorial, he was half-tempted to assemble all six outposts and march on Guyuan for an armed courtesy call on the Supreme Commander.

He himself could not fathom it, no matter how hard he thought — why was Yang He so blatantly biased?

Yang Dingrui had a guess about this: "He advocates pacification, while Hong Chengchou advocates extermination. Naturally, his memorials must show that Yansui grows worse the more it is exterminated, while other regions remain calm and peaceful thanks to pacification."

Yang Dingrui finished and laughed. "So you, in the memorial, are just a petty bandit raising troops in a puddle, certainly no Heaven-Spanning Marshal. This is not a bad thing."

Though it was not a bad thing, it was not necessarily a good thing either.

Liu Chengzong shook his head. "It just means that Shaanxi probably won't send troops to exterminate me for a while."

"Isn't it good that they won't come to exterminate you? A perfect chance to rest and recover. Even the border troops don't fight as frequently as you do."

What kind of army fights over a dozen full-mobilization battles in a single year, one after another?

If they kept fighting like this, they would turn into a band of madmen — madmen who carried war and slaughter wherever they went.

"But that means Wang Jiayin's pressure will be far too great."

Liu Chengzong stood on the cliff at Lion Gully, biting his nails in agitation. He asked, "Sir, what do you think — once the six outposts return to camp, should I go to Guyuan?"

"Guyuan?"

Yang Dingrui did not answer immediately.

The wind swept through the river valley, the wild grass swaying across the land. The two men sat side by side on the earthen ridge of an abandoned dry-terraced field, watching the lush green trees in the valley and the setting sun sinking in the west, burning half the sky crimson.

He asked, "Lion, in these chaotic times, you command a powerful army yet commit no offense against officials or commoners. What exactly do you intend for the future?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "The realm is about to collapse. It shouldn't be this way. I want to set it right."

For a rebel leader to say such a thing ought to have drawn laughter.

Yet his words made Yang Dingrui unable to laugh, because the causal relationship was not that rebels emerged in droves and thus the realm was about to collapse — rather, the realm was about to collapse, and so rebels surged forth.

From south to north, from east to west, there was not a single province free of tax resistance, mutiny, rebellion, or insurrection. They rose and fell in cycles, like trying to hold down a gourd only to have the ladle pop up.

Lion Camp was merely one among them.

Yang Dingrui said, "You cannot set it right."

"Just this year alone, the drought in northern Shaanxi has eased slightly, but it is spreading into Guanzhong and Shanxi. Shandong and Northern Zhili suffer severe floods. Huangzhou Prefecture in Huguang is stricken by drought. Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong are flooded, with drought-stricken Chaozhou Prefecture wedged between the two provinces. With such conditions, how can you set it right?"

Liu Chengzong turned his head, his eyes full of shock. This man never set foot outside Lion Bay in northern Shaanxi, yet he understood the disasters of the entire realm so thoroughly?

After a moment of reflection, he understood.

He could see the military reports that He Renlong could see, and Yang Dingrui and his father could see the official reports of Yan'an Prefecture — likely at an even higher clearance level than his own.

So he smiled and said, "Sir, you possess great talent — why are you so despairing of the world?"

"Should this world not inspire despair? You have no idea how many times I disappointed others during my years serving in Yan'an Prefecture. Always disappointing others — I was quite disappointed in myself as well."

Yang Dingrui shook his head. "What great talent? I could accomplish nothing at all."

"I wouldn't be so sure. Even if the drought worsens, even if it lasts eight or ten years, even if flood, drought, locusts, and plague all come in turn — some people will still survive. As long as people live, there will always come a day when the world is set right."

Liu Chengzong was keenly aware of the difficulties ahead, but his heart was not discouraged. "Maybe twenty years from now, someone we've never heard of will become emperor. Is that impossible? It's possible."

"Even if war rages for thirty years, anyone could win. Maybe ten years from now, I'll have a fierce general like Fan Sanlang under my command. Anything can happen in this world. Only one thing is certain."

Liu Chengzong looked straight into Yang Dingrui's eyes. "Anyone can win. The Great Ming will definitely lose."

Yang Dingrui gave a soft laugh and did not continue on these matters. Starving troops, with a little incitement, would believe their own strength could take revenge on those who had ignored the destruction of their families and their lives.

But Yang Dingrui would not be incited.

He merely asked, "Going to Guyuan — how would that work? Just two days ago, Chengzu was talking about summoning the commoners with surplus grain into the mountains, fortifying Yan'an Prefecture and clearing the countryside. Why... are you planning to have Fourth Master Liu ride out with blade dancing to face the Guanning Army?"

The mere image of his father, pipe clenched in his teeth, donning armor and mounting a horse, made Liu Chengzong throw his head back in uncontrollable laughter. "Hahaha!"

Then he quickly waved his hand and said, "If we go, you all must come with me. Pingliang Prefecture is far more distant than Pingyang Prefecture — we couldn't rush back to reinforce them in a short time."

"Master Gao, who is in Shanxi, sent word. He is coming from Jiangzhou in Shanxi with his men and has already passed through Hancheng. He'll arrive in a few more days. They're bringing a large amount of grain and fodder, and my cannons."

Liu Chengzong raised his hand and drew a circle over Lion Bay. "Once you and I have designed the arrangements here, we can have Master Gao's men cultivate and manage this place."

"I've calculated the grain and fodder. With the six outposts out foraging, we can gather enough provisions for this winter. But Yan'an Prefecture's potential is exhausted. Next year we'll face more enemy troops, and grain and fodder will become a major problem."

"I can't stay here any longer."

Liu Chengzong had just spoken when he saw Yang Dingrui smile. "That is indeed a problem — but have you thought about why?"

"Why?"

Liu Chengzong didn't understand. He spread his hands. "Yan'an Prefecture only has so many great households. What 'why' is there?"

Yang Dingrui shook his head. "No. It's because your thinking is wrong. In your eyes, everything is either black or white. That way, even if you go to Guyuan, after a year or two — even without a major government army expedition against you — you'll still have to move elsewhere to feed yourselves. At root, Lion Camp is no different from the roving bandits."

Liu Chengzong was about to speak, but Yang Dingrui raised a hand to stop him and continued. "You don't harm the common people — you even help them. That is a matter of personal integrity and morality. This one can't be struck, that one can't be robbed — you are trapping yourself."

"The roving bandits 'rove' for two reasons: one, they can't beat the government troops; two, they move to find food. And Lion Camp? You still have to move to find food."

Liu Chengzong was fuming inside. Lion Camp's honor, his pride — the vast majority of it came from precisely this.

And now Yang Dingrui was saying it amounted to nothing?

Damn it — 'If any among the ministers, officials, and common people dare to openly reproach me for my faults...' — Teacher Yang, do you realize how dangerous this is? A three-thousand-li exile is waiting for you!

Liu Chengzong glanced at his teacher and asked, "Then, sir, do you mean I've done wrong?"

"Of course you've done wrong."

At these lightly spoken words, Liu Chengzong nodded very seriously to Yang Dingrui. "I wish to hear the details."

Yang Dingrui was about due to report to Jiayu Pass.

He said, "First, your refusal to use the people's labor is you leaving yourself a path of retreat — you worry that after you leave, the common folk will have no one to look after them, so you won't let them lean on you."

"But if you leave yourself a path of retreat, sooner or later you'll use it. Of course, that's not the big problem — bandits are everywhere anyway, and protecting one patch of peace for as long as you can is still something."

"The biggest problem is grain-raiding."

When Yang Dingrui spoke of grain-raiding, he frowned involuntarily.

Liu Chengzong figured that as a former official, the man surely disliked this matter, so he asked, "Is grain-raiding wrong?"

"What could be wrong with grain-raiding? It's an expedient when there's no other way. If you don't raid grain, what do you eat?"

Yang Dingrui shot back a question, then added, "But your men only know brute force when raiding grain — they have no intelligence."

What was that supposed to mean?

For that remark alone — out the pass with him.

Yang Dingrui, advance sentry soldier of the Left Thousand-Household Division of Hami Garrison, was utterly oblivious to his own situation. Seeing Liu Chengzong lower his head in thought, he struck while the iron was hot. "Think about it — there are only so many local tyrants and evil gentry. Even counting the princely estates, how much can you seize?"

"You want to enter Guyuan. Although the Guyuan Garrison mutinied last year, plenty of military forts remain. You go in, open the granaries, distribute grain — even if the government troops resist, those deserters and fugitive soldiers were all born on the frontier. The dead fall in battle, the living fill the ranks — charging into enemy lines, sleeping in snow and frost. Can you afford not to recruit them?"

What an enormous temptation. Liu Chengzong shook his head decisively. "I can't."

"Exactly. Now that news of the Ningxia army's defeat is spreading, if the Guyuan garrison troops aren't too hungry, they'll hole up in their forts and dare not provoke you. If they are hungry, they'll welcome you with baskets of food and jugs of drink. Once Lion Camp enters Guyuan, you'll inevitably expand the army again."

Yang Dingrui used his hand to draw several nested circles on the earthen ridge. "The larger your forces, the more unstable your army's morale becomes."

He pointed to the innermost small circle. "Lion Camp's foundation is over a thousand Yansui troops and two hundred-odd Guyuan soldiers."

"Then came the famine refugees of northern Shaanxi — over two thousand more. Now you have nearly two thousand Ningxia soldiers."

Yang Dingrui drew another circle outside as he spoke. "Think — how many soldiers will you recruit entering Guyuan? Two thousand?"

"When a large force controls a small force, you can break them up and mix them into your units. But when a small force controls a large force — if you break them up and mix them, who is breaking up whom?"

"Even with ample provisions you must guard against internal spies. Once supplies run short and you face a siege, Lion Camp will be riddled with holes from head to toe."

Liu Chengzong nodded inwardly. Not bad — what Teacher Yang said was actually useful. The Jiayu Pass assignment could be rescinded.

"Then how do we solve this?"

At his question, Yang Dingrui looked at him as if he were an idiot. Even the Great Ming court couldn't solve the problems of deserters and turncoats after supplies ran out — and you, Lion Camp, an anti-government armed force, think you can solve it?

He waved his hand. "It can't be solved. The only thing you can do is treat your soldiers well and do everything possible to avoid running out of grain. So the most important thing is still grain-raiding."

"Grain-raiding requires method. Yan'an Prefecture is manageable — wasteland and abandoned fields everywhere. Even if you eliminate all the great households that own land, after you leave, the court won't be able to use this land either."

"But Guyuan is different. There are vast tracts of princely pasturelands and estates there, and your men are short on grain... Ten thousand men and horses — you need to prepare at least fifty thousand dan of grain and rice a year just to avoid collapse. To eat their fill, you'd need a hundred thousand dan."

"I estimate that if you raid the princely estates freely in Guyuan, you could get enough provisions for two or three years. But don't get happy just yet."

Yang Dingrui raised a hand as he spoke. "You have to transport it back. That grain will then only last a year and a half."

"Unless you stay there. But the problem is, Guyuan has transport links in all four directions — Ningxia to the north, Lintao to the west, Fengxiang Prefecture's Guanzhi Sub-Defense Command to the south, and the secondary border wall to the north."

"Either you don't hold that place, or if you do, the government troops will encircle you. Win or lose, you definitely won't be running away."

Yang Dingrui spread his hands. "So you can't stay there long. Once you leave, the princely estates will be gone from the region. Lion Camp will have solved land annexation and the burden of the princely estates for the court — and then they'll turn around and send troops to strike you."

"If that's how it is, then there's nowhere we can go, sir."

Liu Chengzong wasn't being blindly optimistic — he just felt the court didn't have that kind of strong consolidation capability. If they really had that ability, would it have fallen to people like them to rise up in arms?

The problem would have been solved long ago.

"You can go, and it's very much worth going. But the method of grain-raiding must change. You can occupy a few military forts, but don't attack cities, don't assault princely residences, don't execute the chief villains, and don't redistribute farmland."

Liu Chengzong spread his hands. "Then wouldn't I be going for nothing?"

"Not for nothing. Raid grain — take the grain, seize the silver, but leave the chief villains enough for a year's sustenance and their lives. Take a portion of the grain and distribute it to the common people. You'll still win their hearts."

Yang Dingrui said, "You haven't enslaved the common people. They'll still farm the land, still deliver grain to the princely estates and the landlords. In autumn, raid again, and do the same. Local production won't be ruined, the court's tax collection will falter. From Guyuan, follow the Qingshui River north, plundering all the way to Ningxia Central Garrison."

"And that grain I distributed to the common people — after I leave, let them be robbed of it?"

"If it's robbed, it's robbed. You're not the common people's father or mother. If they can't hold onto the grain you gave them, who can they blame? If they rise up and resist, they'll become just like you."

Yang Dingrui drew another circle. "And they can share the pressure."

"Then, sir, do you want me to seize and hold Ningxia Central Garrison?"

"No — absolutely not. If you get bottled up by government troops at Ningxia Central Garrison, your only escape is into the Tengger Desert, and going in there is death too."

Yang Yanchang said, "Troops from Lintao, grain from Lanzhou, iron from Gongchang, tea from Minzhou, horses from Xining — do you still not know where you ought to go?"