Chapter 209: Extreme

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Liu Chengzong stepped onto the Anhua Plateau.

South of Qingyang Prefecture lies the largest loess plateau surface under heaven.

From north to south it stretches two hundred twenty li at its longest, and reaches a hundred li at its widest from east to west, lying between the Malian River and the Pu River to the east and west, and bounded by the Jing River to the south, spanning the area of Qingyang Prefecture and Ningzhou.

On the way here, Yang Dingrui told Lion Liu a great deal about Ningzhou.

He said the terrain here is flat, that it was once the place where the Zhou dynasty laid its foundations, and it is known as the Granary of Longdong.

After passing Yima Pass and heading further south, if you halt your horse on the heights and gaze out, the vast flat plateau fills one with boundless delight.

But traveling through it is another matter entirely.

Large stretches of connected wasteland have sprouted wild grass, and the terraced fields among the hills have even grown into woods; there is not a trace of a granary to be seen, which instead made Liu Chengzong feel as if some great battle had been fought here.

The villages they came upon were all ruins; only around the standing fortresses were there stretches of mature farmland as far as the eye could see.

"What's going on here?" Liu Chengzong rode his horse through the knee-high wild grass, flicking his horsewhip as he asked, "Where are the people?"

It was normal for drought to leave fields barren, but they shouldn't be barren to this extent — even fields near water sources were abandoned, and in some places there were clearly fields that had been harvested, yet no trace of people.

Apart from those forts, it was like entering an uninhabited zone.

Little Whirlwind was delighted, stretching out his long legs to race wildly through the wilds, so happy he rolled on the ground.

Colonel Mei was different; she had the bearing of an officer, sitting on Red Flag's rump, her claws pressing down on her longbow as she held her head high and looked around, every inch a leader on inspection.

The Ningzhou bandit Hu Sanzha was at the front, hacking a path with a firewood knife, panting heavily from the effort. He turned back, caught his breath, and grinned: "Commander, Ningzhou has people, it's just that they've all fled into the mountains to avoid taxes, digging burrows to scrape by. Once the summer tax grain is settled, they'll come out again."

Liu Chengzong simply dismounted as well, dropped the reins, and walked forward; Red Flag followed closely behind him, step for step.

He asked, "Why has this place become like this?"

Liu Chengzong had seen plenty of barren mountains and bald ridges in northern Shaanxi.

Flat land is a scarce environment there — even at a place like Liujiamao on Black Dragon Mountain, the common folk would plant grain on a tiny patch of level ground.

But here?

Land the size of ten thousand Liujiamaos stretches out in one continuous expanse.

Such fine land, all thrown away here with no one to farm it — Lion Liu thought he'd left the country. Was this something Chinese peasants could ever do?

"Ah, how did it get like this, Commander? Well, that's a long story."

Hu Sanzha had never spoken so much to Liu Chengzong before. He organized his thoughts and said, "The court has three places with heavy taxes: Susong, Jiangxi, and Ningzhou — for Zhang Shicheng, Chen Youliang, and Li Siqi respectively."

"At first, in the Hongwu era, compared to the four counties of Qingzhou, Ningzhou's taxes were double. Ningzhou's grain had to supply eighteen granaries in places like Ningxia, and the common people couldn't afford to deliver it. The officials said to pay in silver instead. Elsewhere, a dan of grain could sell for eight qian of silver."

Hu Sanzha raised his hand: "Ningzhou's millet was cheap — a dan of grain could only sell for four qian, so they ended up paying even more."

"When the Wanli Emperor raised taxes, places like Heshui and Anhua added four li and three hao per mu. No one knows why Ningzhou got hit with seven li and four hao. Anyway, the more they raised taxes, the fewer people farmed the land."

Hu Sanzha laughed as he spoke, spreading both hands: "After that, raising taxes became pointless — raise them however much you like. Ningzhou used to have under twenty thousand people and over a million mu of land. Now, I'd reckon maybe two hundred thousand mu?"

With mealtime at hand and not a wisp of cooking smoke in sight, Liu Chengzong lost the desire to talk. He nodded and said, "Find a place to rest."

He truly had not expected that Ningzhou, so crucial in his plans, would be in such a state.

Such a fine place, ruined utterly by tax collection.

The less tax they could collect, the more they raised taxes; the more they raised taxes, the fewer people farmed the land — precious fertile fields all turned to wasteland.

That night, they camped on the plateau at Dongzhi Town. The fertile land around them was wildly overgrown with weeds, desolate and empty, with only two fortresses, one to the north and one to the south, standing solitary on the plateau.

A pitiful sight.

Troops from Lion Camp fanned out in all directions, led by scouts and accompanied by clerks, surveying and mapping the terrain and roads within a hundred-li radius, preparing for the future.

This region, which should have been fertile and prosperous but was instead utterly desolate, was in Liu Chengzong's mind the ideal pre-planned battlefield.

Twilight had passed, and an oil lamp was lit in the commander's tent at camp.

A map was spread over the tiger-skin rug. Liu Chengzong held the oil lamp for light with one hand, while with the other he held a flatbread and traced westward along the Jing River on the map.

His hand finally stopped at the southernmost tip of Ningzhou, at the spot marked Yilu Horse Post.

Yilu Horse Post itself was insignificant, but south from there lay Changwu County of Binzhou, the northwesternmost part of Xi'an Prefecture; west from there, one entered the Jing River valley.

At the valley's westernmost end was the destination of his journey — the seat of the Han prince's fief, Pingliang Prefecture City.

Staring at that place, he turned his head and shouted outside the tent: "Find me a soldier from Guanzhong!"

To threaten Pingliang Prefecture City, they would inevitably have to enter the Jing River valley, which meant they must split off a force at Yilu Horse Post to hold a defensive position and block any reinforcements that might come north from Guanzhong.

On the other hand, the Three Border Supreme Command at Guyuan might not necessarily remain indifferent to his advance either.

He needed to determine, as precisely as possible, the troops Guanzhong could mobilize, then decide how many men to leave garrisoning Yilu Horse Post or even Changwu County, to eliminate worries from the rear and focus his full strength against Cao Wenzhao advancing from the west.

The Guanzhong soldiers of Lion Camp had gone with Wei Qian'er to scout the terrain, but before a Guanzhong soldier arrived, Liu Chengzong met someone unexpected.

Gao Ying'en.

"Brother Gao, what brings you here?"

Gao Ying'en was exhausted from the journey, his men worn and horses spent. Seeing Liu Chengzong was like seeing family, and he poured out his grievances: "Commander Liu, I've had a terrible time finding you — I nearly died on the road."

"Died on the road?" Liu Chengzong was inwardly astonished and quickly asked, "What happened? This route should have been quite safe!"

"Don't even mention it. I thought you had taken Heshui County, so I went in and had a bowl of congee, only to discover it was a congee station set up by the county magistrate. They nearly caught me."

Gao Ying'en waved his hand. Not standing on ceremony, he plopped right down on the tent floor: "Got anything to eat?"

On the road, he had happened upon Heshui County Magistrate Jiang Yingchang recruiting civilian militia, and everywhere were famine refugees.

Gao Ying'en had thought Lion Camp had taken the city and opened the granaries to distribute grain to the people, so he'd foolishly gone over and drunk a bowl of congee. Only when the county's licentiates began registering people did he sense something was wrong and promptly turned tail and ran.

Liu Chengzong pointed to a small wooden crate beside him: "Freshly baked flatbreads, help yourself... What's happened?"

"Nothing too major. That friend of yours at Yuhe Fort is still sending messages to Yanchang County. My brother was afraid you wouldn't know, so he sent me rushing to deliver the news to you — the Guanning Army has entered Shanxi."

Liu Chengzong's expression had been relaxed, but at these words his face grew stern. He sat down on the tiger skin as well and asked gravely, "How many troops?"

Gao Ying'en said, "Around five thousand in total. I hear they entered Shanxi and won three battles in three engagements — all the famine refugees and roving bandits captured in those three fights were slaughtered to the last man."

"All killed?"

Liu Chengzong swore: "What madman leads troops like this?"

Gao Ying'en's expression turned strange. He had been about to reach into the wooden basket for a sesame cake, but halfway there, he pulled his hand back at those words. "Vanguard Officer, it's Yan'an Adjutant General Yang Yanchang."

Go fuck your mother.

Liu Chengzong waved his hand decisively. "Impossible! How could Yang Yanchang ever slaughter everyone without mercy? Who's the commander?"

In the Chuang Brigade, some had long said Yang Yanchang was one of Liu Chengzong's men. Gao Ying'en had heard rumors of this, but in his heart he could not be sure.

The man was already an Adjutant General — how could he be one of Liu Chengzong's men?

But now, seeing Liu Chengzong's reaction, Gao Ying'en understood.

He continued: "Yang Yanchang has only five hundred troops. The grain transport officer behind him is Mobile Corps General Wang Ziyong, leading fifteen hundred men. Both are officers from the Yan'an Guard."

Liu the Lion said nothing, only spread his hands before his face, utterly speechless inside.

Which genius picked these officers?

With a vanguard and rearguard like this, Liu Chengzong had little interest left in who the commander was — it was clearly a lineup that would have tied even Guan Yu and Yue Fei's hands.

"The commander is named Cao Wenzhao, a Shanxi man who served in the army in Liaodong. He was a Mobile Corps General before, now promoted to Deputy Regional Commander of the Yansui West Route. Never heard of him before, but he's ruthless."

Liu Chengzong shook his head. This wasn't about ruthlessness — the man was simply a madman.

Who doesn't know how to kill? These days there's fighting everywhere. Not just soldiers and bandits — even scholars can kill.

After a battle, seeing red, executing all the prisoners in a rage — that's normal.

War is a matter of life and death. The moment you stand on a battlefield, you should know you might die.

In this age, that's not out of line at all.

But when it happens three battles in a row, there's no emotional reason left.

It's because he simply wants to do it.

What benefit does it bring, besides forcing the peasant army to transform from people just trying to scrape a meal into class enemies?

"He's the kind who stands at Chongzhen's side, buying the Great Ming more time. You could call it a solution — since he can't deal with the drought or the feudal princes, isn't killing you starving bandits who gather in crowds good enough?"

Liu Chengzong sneered, then said to Gao Ying'en: "Shaanxi has a drought, so slaughter all the rebels in Shaanxi. When Shanxi follows with drought, slaughter all the rebels in Shanxi. Same thing."

"Compared to these bastards, the soldiers and officers of Shaanxi are just trying to get a meal."

Liu Chengzong's smile was ice-cold. "Having a creature like this around isn't bad for us. Before, only the leaders knew that getting caught by the court meant certain death, but the common bandit soldiers were fine. Now the common bandit soldiers will know too — lose a fight and you die. Then it's kill or be killed."

Gao Ying'en felt this deeply. He nodded. "My brother thinks the same. He had word spread to everyone in the Chuang Brigade. Now all three battalions look completely different."

"When you go back, tell Master Gao: forget the vanguard and the grain transport — those three thousand Guanning troops, if there's a chance, wipe them all out. Leave not a single one... Who doesn't know how to kill?"

Liu Chengzong said: "This is no longer about each man serving his own master."

Gao Ying'en drew a deep breath, his expression turning bitter. "We're going to kill all of them too?"

"What else can you do? Let them go so they can kill more people? When two sides clash, the extreme one wins."

Liu Chengzong spread his hands. "He's gone extreme. If you stay conciliatory, you're the one who suffers. We're not as big as the court — if we want to win, we have to be more extreme than him."

"Fine. I'll pass these words to my brother."

Gao Ying'en finally picked up the sesame cake he had been wanting for so long. Eating as he spoke, he added: "Right, the people from Yuhe Fort said your advance into Qingyang Prefecture has shaken the entire Three Borders of Shaanxi. Supreme Commander Yang He, worried Qingyang Prefecture would fall, is leading troops toward Ningzhou."

"Huh?"

Liu Chengzong was stunned. He truly had not expected Yang He to come to Ningzhou himself. "How many troops is he bringing?"

"Three hundred." Gao Ying'en raised three fingers. "Though he may also transfer troops from Guanzhong."

Things were not going the way Liu Chengzong had imagined.

The Three Borders Supreme Commander coming to Ningzhou with three hundred men — wasn't this a sheep walking into the tiger's den?

But the problem was, Liu Chengzong did not want to capture him, and even less to kill him.

A relatively moderate Three Borders Supreme Commander like this, one who had basically done nothing useful in suppressing bandits — Liu Chengzong liked him very much.

Just like with the Han Prince's Estate. Liu Chengzong's plan was only to besiege the Han Prince's Estate. The goal was not to drag the Prince of Han out and butcher him, but to lure Cao Wenzhao over.

But for you, a Three Borders Supreme Commander, a man worth ten thousand in gold, to come running over and deliver yourself to be captured — that was just annoying.

"Where is Cao Wenzhao right now?"

"He just set out, heading toward Ning— oh, the Marshal means Cao Wenzhao." Gao Ying'en caught himself halfway through, then shook his head. "I don't know either. In any case, he hasn't reached Wang Jiayin's position yet."

Liu Chengzong nodded to show he understood. He chatted with Gao Ying'en a while longer about matters at Lion's Bend. After the man finished eating, Liu saw him out of the central army tent, then sat cross-legged alone on the tiger-skin rug, deep in thought.

After turning it over and over, he still felt he could not strike at Yang He.

The ideal scenario was to deal with Cao Wenzhao in Qingyang Prefecture. His ultimate goal was to shift to Longxi and establish a base, even a regime, there.

Taking out Yang He right now would draw all the court's fire onto himself — it would do nothing to help achieve his objective.

On the contrary, it would create enormous resistance.

That night, Liu Chengzong sought out Yang Yao and asked: "How far is it from here to Guyuan?"

"About four hundred li. The mountain roads aren't easy. What's wrong, Marshal?"

"Yang He should be on his way to Ningzhou right now. Cao Wenzhao is still in Shanxi. I'm thinking — could we leap into Guyuan and strike there?"

Yang Yao did not grasp the connection. He simply addressed the matter at hand: "The mountain roads are tough. Going from Zhenyuan to Guyuan, you have to cross the Liupan Mountains. Though Pingliang isn't easy either — heading north you have to pass Xiao Pass."

"But going west from Pingliang Prefecture is actually quite manageable. Cross the Liupan Mountains and you're into Longxi."

Nowhere was easy. Liu Chengzong shook his head, deeply troubled by the situation.

He felt he needed to prepare for two outcomes. Ideally, defeating Cao Wenzhao perfectly and leaping into Longxi would naturally be best.

If complications were inevitable, then like a man with too many lice to feel the bites, casually taking the Han Prince's Estate along the way didn't seem like such a big deal either.

Better to first see where Cao Wenzhao was.

Liu Chengzong went to find Wei Qian'er and told him to send a trusted man to go back with Gao Ying'en. "Go to the Saimen Battalion Headquarters. Find Battalion Commander Ren. In the Yan'an Guard, his word is law."

Wei Qian'er nodded. "And after I find Battalion Commander Ren?"

"Have him arrange it. Pick a reliable man from the Yan'an Guard, find some family matter to use as a pretext, go into Shanxi, and locate General Yang. Find out the next line of advance, learn the exact position, and report back immediately."

After Wei Qian'er acknowledged the order, Liu Chengzong urged, "You must have someone tell Ren Quan'er to come up with a good excuse — under no circumstances let Cao Wenzhao suspect Yang Yanchang... I recall both of his wives were pregnant last year. See if the children have been named yet. General Yang ought to name his children."

Note:

The acreage, population, and heavy taxation of Ningzhou are referenced from the *Ning County Gazetteer* compiled by the Ning County Local Gazetteer Compilation Committee Office.