Chapter 24: Self-Rescue

Liu Laoye seemed to know exactly where the roving bandits would head.

Liu Chengzong knew many people, and all of them had predictions about the direction the roving bandits would spread.

Earlier, his elder brother Liu Chengzu and Cao Yao had made a prediction, believing Wang Zuogua would strike south toward Yao Subprefecture and Tong Subprefecture under Xi'an Prefecture — prosperous areas with mature handicrafts and iron-smelting industries, offering immense plunder value.

But that was the view of old soldiers judging others by their own standards. Now, seeing that his father also had predictions about the bandits' movements, Liu Chengzong immediately showed great interest and asked, "Father, do you think the roving bandits will leave Shaanxi?"

"Roving bandits — that's a fine name!"

Liu Xiangyu nodded emphatically. "In today's northern Shaanxi, the poor cannot survive without turning to banditry; they have no choice but to become bandits. In my view, 'roving bandits' does not mean refugees turned bandits, but rather bandits who rove."

"Northern Shaanxi's poor are an endless stream. From what I have seen and heard as a tax official, northern Shaanxi can provide the ground for recruiting bandit soldiers but lacks the grain to sustain them. Within a thousand li, the place with the heaviest grain tax and the weakest military force is none other than Pingyang Prefecture in Shanxi."

Pingyang Prefecture lay southeast of Yan'an Prefecture, across the Yellow River. In ancient times it was called Hedong. Its terrain and landscape resembled the Guanzhong Basin — fertile soil, ample rainfall. Crossing the Yellow River east from Hancheng in Shaanxi brought one straight into Pingyang Prefecture.

"Once the roving bandits grow powerful and northern Shaanxi can no longer sustain their forces, they will inevitably invade Shanxi in great numbers. The opportunity for northern Shaanxi to save itself will come at that moment."

The older, the wiser — Liu Chengzong had never thought about things like self-rescue. Now, hearing Liu Xiangyu's analysis, he gained an even clearer understanding of the peasant army's next developments.

The peasant army's true invincibility did not lie in winning every battle — they could not win. Against organized government troops, they could not win a single engagement.

But as long as the objective conditions that gave rise to them remained unchanged, an endless stream of fresh strength would forever flow into the peasant army.

Liu Xiangyu had made the reasons very clear: the peasants faced starvation, and the government troops had no pay.

The former turned commoners into bandits; the latter turned refugees into soldiers.

If such conditions did not change, then no matter how ferocious the government troops' combat power, even if they could annihilate the rebels a hundred times, the rebels would rise again from this same soil a hundred and one times.

Corruption rendered administration inefficient. When the court wanted to collect two hundred thousand in taxes, the money extracted from the local populace already reached a million.

Even at such a time, Liu Xiangyu was still thinking about self-rescue.

"How does Father plan to save us?"

"When the roving bandits enter Shanxi, the court should have come to its senses. With the Emperor's sagely wisdom, he will surely exempt Qin from land taxes and issue an edict for disaster relief. We, the gentry, will repair moats and build forts, extensively construct waterworks for irrigation, and every village, district, and county will take in refugees, consolidating villages and merging tax units. When the roving bandits return, if they have a means of livelihood, they will naturally not rise in rebellion again."

Liu Xiangyu's words were simple, and the reasoning was simple too: we Shaanxi peasants have always been honest and docile. As long as there is still a mouthful of food to eat, we will never take pride in rebellion.

At the same time, he placed great hope in the court, counting on disaster relief and tax exemptions.

But in Liu Chengzong's eyes, this was entirely a fantasy born from a gap in the information he received.

What his old man saw was that the people of Black Dragon King Temple Mountain had a hard time making a living, but after some waterworks were built last year, the land could still be farmed this year. Yan'an Prefecture's seat had not yet fallen into chaos. Some places were indeed in dire straits, but he had not seen them with his own eyes and had no real concept of them in his mind.

The greatest destruction imaginable was nothing more than an entire village fleeing into the mountains and vanishing without a trace.

So he believed that the court simply had not provided disaster relief yet, and once it freed its hands to do so, the matter could still be resolved.

The Xingping Village that Liu Xiangyu had single-handedly preserved, like a paradise beyond this world, made it seem as if every village, with just a little care, could also summon the power to turn the tide.

Yet this was the conclusion he had reached even with two sons serving in the border forts, after everything they had seen and heard and reported back to him.

For other gentry, the high-walled compounds they lived in were a border wall, blocking out the blood-drinking barbarians beyond. Normal gentry and officials had difficulty knowing what the real situation in northern Shaanxi was — even though they were right there in northern Shaanxi.

"Father, if we are to build a fort, build it now. If we are to train troops, it is best that all of Xingping Village become soldiers. I have calculated: every squad of fifty men — the able-bodied men between twenty and fifty can still form five more squads."

"Likewise, we can form four squads of able-bodied women. The remaining children twelve and older can form three more squads."

"These twelve squads of militia, combined with the one squad of active trained soldiers — if the trained squad drills daily and three militia squads drill each day, then each month the trained soldiers drill twenty-four days and the militia drill six days."

"Even if we only build a fort for self-defense, they will follow orders more readily. In an emergency, they will seek out their squad leaders and not panic excessively. Even if things truly become hopeless, when fleeing for their lives, not too many will fall behind."

In truth, this was precisely the purpose of normal militia training: six days of drill per month, so the militia understood commands and became familiar with camp formations. In an emergency, if each man sought his leader without panic, the training was considered highly effective.

And over months and years of accumulation, they would also acquire uncommon military knowledge, able to adapt to the needs of being incorporated into the regular army in wartime.

Liu Chengzong had deeper plans in making this suggestion. He raised his hand and pointed at the military texts he was reading, saying, "We can also pick out those among the villagers who can read. During the afternoon group drills, they can teach the others to read. When the new manual is compiled, we can teach it to them."

"Father also said that northern Shaanxi does not lack military strength — recruiting soldiers is easy. As long as the militia learn these things, if the situation deteriorates beyond control in the future, we can have them recruit soldiers on the spot, give them a little training, and make them all squad leaders."

This objective was somewhat grand, and it drew a sidelong glance from Liu Xiangyu.

Even excluding the women's squads and youth squads, the trained soldiers and militia alone made six squads — a scale of three hundred men. If one day the situation changed and they suffered losses leaving only half, there would still be over a hundred squad leaders.

Then, gathering refugees, fifty men per squad would mean five thousand militia — more than a full-strength battalion.

In the Great Ming, a standard battalion was typically three thousand strong.

Liu Xiangyu was somewhat moved. These were all preparations to be made early. If the situation truly deteriorated to the point where they needed to form a battalion, then the state of affairs would surely have fallen so far that the court had no time to concern itself with local areas raising troops without authorization.

From this alone, he could sense that his son was far more pessimistic than he was about the next stage of the situation.

"If it truly reaches that point, preparing then will likely be too late..." Liu Xiangyu shook his head, collected himself, and said, "I must still discuss this matter with the clan elders before deciding. For now, there are several things I need you to handle next."

"For the earthwork, timber, and stone needed to build the stockade, have Chengyun find a kiln. In the next few days, you and Chengzu will scout locations to see where is suitable for building the stockade, survey the area, and calculate the materials and labor required."

"Also, regarding the trained soldiers' weapons, Yan'an Guard has only allocated four bird guns. We could probably request some more three-eyed guns, quick-fire lances, and the like, but gunpowder is insufficient, and that will cause major problems when the time comes."

As he spoke, Liu Xiangyu searched through the pile of books heaped like a small mountain on the desk. From one volume, he extracted several sheets of paper tucked inside and handed them over, saying, "After much thought, I still believe we must use crossbows. For dealing with roving bandits, the repeating crossbow is best."

The drawings Liu Xiangyu handed over showed precisely the construction of each component of a repeating crossbow. He said, "Take this to find a carpenter. First make one. If it is suitable, make more and teach the militia to drill with them."

Note: Any private individual possessing personal or horse armor, shields, fire tubes, cannons, banners, signal sashes, or similar prohibited military equipment — one item: eighty strokes of the heavy bamboo; each additional item increases the penalty by one degree. Private manufacture adds one degree to the penalty for private possession; all such crimes are capped at one hundred strokes and exile to three thousand li.

Incomplete items are not prosecuted and may be surrendered to the authorities.

Bows, arrows, spears, sabers, crossbows, as well as fishing forks and grain forks, are not within the prohibition.

— The Great Ming Code, Military Statutes, Military Administration, Private Possession of Prohibited Military Equipment