Chapter 261: Progress

The Gama monk had fallen into a state of existential doubt.

When Liu Chengzong had earlier said he would seize this royal palace for himself, the monk had been inwardly unwilling to accept it.

Nang Suoqianmo Palace was the symbol of the Nangqian King's Zhu clan ruling over the Nangqian region, and moreover, it was their talisman.

Whoever occupied this fortress could rule over six hundred li in every direction.

But because this matter was spoken of in the same breath as the city falling in three days, deep in his heart, the Gama monk felt only scorn for the arrogant Liu Chengzong.

In four hundred years, this fortress had only ever been breached through internal collusion, never once falling to a direct assault.

He believed that the local headmen of Nangqian still held their hearts loyal to the Zhu clan, and that when an opportunity arose in the future, retaking this fortress would allow them to drive out the Liu clan just the same.

They were the eternal rulers of this land, as constant as the rising sun and setting moon.

How should one describe the Gama monk's state of mind?

This was very difficult for him to accept; in his long life, every piece of knowledge he had absorbed told him that this royal palace was the most impregnable fortress under heaven.

Yet in the short span of half a year, it had been breached twice in succession.

The first time could still be called internal collusion, but this time... counting the mountain climb, Liu's army had taken less than two shichen to plant the great banner bearing the character Liu atop this castle.

The defending army's will to resist had been utterly resolute; as the Gama monk climbed the mountain, from the mountain platform to the castle interior, corpses lay piled everywhere.

The corpse of the White Horse Rupon, who had gone out to meet the enemy, was laid out on the platform, his left shoulder blasted open by an iron ball, his right hand still gripping his iron saber in death.

Laid out alongside the White Horse Rupon were sixteen Fierce Tiger Heroes, all draped in tiger or wolf skins, men who had achieved great merit in past wars; some had died from bullets, some from close-quarters combat.

The Blue Horse Rupon died behind the city gate; the suit of chainmail on his body was beyond saving, riddled with holes punched through by shattered iron.

The corridors were stained with blood; the tapestries on the walls were still embedded with bone shards and iron fragments. The corpses had all been carried out, the Black Horse Rupon among them; it took people a long time to identify him from the helmetless corpse.

The deputy general of the Dapon army died on the rooftop platform of the castle; according to the captives, he had been killed by a stray bullet right at the start of the battle.

Aside from that mute Dapon of the Béri army being captured, every Rupon from the deputy general down—three in all—had been killed to the last man.

Of the six Gyapon, three died in battle, one was captured inside the city, and two fled; one of those fell off a cliff and died, the other broke his leg, and at the foot of the mountain he surrendered his saber and helmet, capitulating to the Mongol soldiers.

Of the six hundred-odd defenders, in the end only ninety-four surrendered within the city; over three hundred corpses were found, and there were still men hiding in the mountains or who had fallen into the ravine to the east.

That was a ravine not even the divine eagles would fly across, and the Gama monk did not believe those men could survive.

In truth, Gama understood: the defenders had no chance to resist half-heartedly; when this castle was built, no one had ever considered that anyone might flee.

There was no path of retreat except to defend to the death.

Yet the attacking army had lost only four men, and three of those had been knocked off a cliff by captives making a false surrender.

The last man did not even die in the fighting; he was struck at close range by a Fierce Tiger Hero's musket, and only after the Liu banner was planted atop the castle did he finally succumb and breathe his last.

The Gama monk's worldview collapsed; a fortress as solid as a snow mountain had been breached at the cost of just one man.

In the past, he had worried that Liu Chengzong could not stay long in Qinghai and Tibet, that his power could not extend to the Nangqian region, and that he would be unable to provide protection after his submission.

But now that the Lion Army had taken Nang Suoqianmo Palace in two shichen, he could not help but worry that Liu Chengzong was all too eager to rule the region.

That night, he sought out Liu Chengzong and said, "I no longer want this royal palace. I hope the Grand Marshal will allow my steward to go down the mountain, find a suitable place to build a manor, and grant me some land."

The oil lamp burned long and steady, filling the cramped room with swirling smoke through the night.

Liu Chengzong flipped through the thangka of surgical instruments and skeletal diagrams drawn by Dapon Awang, listening to Master Chen's translation.

He raised his head to glance at the Gama monk, who stood close at hand, his expression uneasy and restless.

What did he mean, build a manor and grant land—as if Liu Chengzong intended to seize all of Nangqian for himself.

The last heir of a great feudal lord family that had ruled six hundred li in every direction for centuries had, in this situation, only two choices.

If he truly wished to relinquish power, then he should pack his bedroll and discuss seeking a grant of land to build a manor in Gurwan or Haibei, and stay out of Nangqian's affairs.

If he wished to hold onto power, then he should sit right here and discuss with Liu Chengzong the matter of being enfeoffed as a Tusi according to the promise, paying tribute through the generations.

In this land of Nangqian, where his family held hereditary rule, granting you a little manor land—would that not be telling every local lord in Ü-Tsang that cooperating with Liu Chengzong brings no good end?

Liu Chengzong raised a finger; his smile carried a hint of anger as he shook his head. "Gama, Gama... my army reclaimed your homeland for you, so many, so many fine soldiers were wounded and died for this, and yet you still regard yourself as an outsider?"

"An outsider?"

The Gama monk bowed and asked, "Then what does the Grand Marshal think I should do?"

"You will be the Tusi here. Go reclaim your lands, bring all of Nangqian back into your hands. If you wish to rebuild Genbang Monastery, then rebuild it—all of that is fine. But the law."

Liu Chengzong looked at the Gama monk and said, "The law will obey me."

The Gama monk shook his head and said, "I will not rebuild it. The great master who founded Genbang Monastery left a prophecy: if this monastery is ever destroyed, then no one may ever rebuild it."

"Then do not rebuild it."

Liu Chengzong did not care about this matter; what he cared about far more was the law. He could not forget a legal code where a human life was worth only a single straw rope.

"What kind of law does the Grand Marshal wish to promulgate?"

Liu Chengzong was in no hurry to express his own thoughts; he merely said to Gama, "You are my official. What kind of law do you think I would promulgate?"

Hearing these words, the Gama monk felt relieved. This was like a promise; with the protection of such an army, no matter what, he would never again need to live in fear.

In truth, what he had feared most was precisely Liu Chengzong treating him as an outsider, for he had also heard that this lion, in the Han lands, was a rebel army that had risen up by striking down landlords.

"Abolish the Tusi nobility, abolish slavery, tear down monasteries, ban usury, equalize landholdings and exempt taxes?"

After saying this, the Gama monk shook his head and said, "The Grand Marshal should promulgate even harsher laws against the slaves, guarantee the power of the nobility and monasteries, and make the nobles and monks offer up even more tribute."

As Master Chen translated these words, he watched Liu Chengzong with extreme caution... he absolutely did not want to be dragged out and hacked to pieces by an enraged Liu Chengzong for translating this sentence.

Fortunately, however, Liu Chengzong did not grow angry because of this; he only asked with a calm expression, "Why would you say such a thing?"

Gama spoke as if it were only natural: "The Grand Marshal is a Han man, and the army is also Han, all rebels of the Great Ming. As I traveled south with the army, I heard no shortage of soldiers talking about fighting their way back to the Han lands, and that they need money, grain, minerals, livestock, and treasure."

The Gama monk said, "The Grand Marshal says I am an official. Since I am an official of the Nangqian region, I must help the Grand Marshal achieve these things. Abolishing the Tusi nobility and slaves, tearing down monasteries and banning usury, and equalizing land and exempting taxes—these cannot help me help the Grand Marshal achieve those goals."

Liu Chengzong nodded. "Go on."

The Gama monk grew bolder and said, "Nangqian spans six hundred li in every direction, yet has only twenty thousand people. The land here cannot withstand intensive farming. A slave cultivating one mu of land for a month needs only thirty tsampa, and can harvest forty jin of grain; a farmer can only harvest fifty jin of grain."

He spread his hands and said, "The slave eats ten jin, I keep ten jin, and of the remainder, five jin is eaten on the road, leaving fifteen jin I can give to the Grand Marshal. A farmer eats fifteen jin, keeps twenty-five jin, and of what is handed up, I keep five jin, and the five jin meant for the Grand Marshal gets eaten on the road."

After saying this, the Gama monk shook his head and said, "The Grand Marshal's army is like the gods in the sky, capable of defeating everything on earth. No matter what you wish to implement, the monks, laymen, and nobles on the ground would not dare to say a word. Whoever dares to speak—rip out their tongues, cut off their heads, flay their skins and hang them on the mountain... but we would gain nothing at all."

Liu Chengzong understood.

It seemed there were always two paths before him.

One path was very easy and simple — just go rob money, or find a way to make others do the robbing. As long as you don't ask where these things came from, you can always get everything you want.

But all of this clearly reminded him: you are a conqueror, not a ruler.

To rule a piece of land is never simply about taking the best things here — just like leaving grain in Heshui County, or relieving disaster victims in northern Shaanxi.

Abolishing some things is easy, but what to replace them with after abolition is very hard.

Twenty thousand people across six hundred li in circumference, a population density of zero point two per square kilometer... even something as simple as Liu Chengzong marching south could temporarily double the population density of this vast land.

The road network is fragmented, covered with high mountains and barren land — for ordinary commoners, talking about commerce is probably too much of a luxury.

The narrow room sank into a long silence.

Chen Shifo watched the pondering Liu Chengzong, racking his brains to think of something to say, to help.

But he could not think of anything.

Until Liu Chengzong raised his head: "I need secular tusi. Nangqian, all tusi, will be secular tusi. No monk officials. Can you do it?"

"Very hard."

This time it was not Monk Gama who spoke, but Chen Shifo: "Having no temples is equivalent to the Han lands having no Confucian schools, no markets, no lending pawnshops... The Han lands have many people, it's worthwhile to build a Confucian school in every county seat. Here, it's not worthwhile."

Liu Chengzong nodded. In truth, there were deeper things that Chen Shifo did not say.

Monks have the motivation to build temples and can profit from them, but if they are secular nobles, they have no motivation to build so many Confucian schools, markets, and pawnshops.

And even if they had that motivation, it was absolutely not Liu Chengzong's original intent.

Only at this point did Liu Chengzong's expression finally relax. He shook his head, still looking at Gama: "I need you to be a secular leader. Can you do it?"

Gama smiled: "I must be a secular leader. I need to marry, have children, to continue the tusi line."

"Then that's settled. But before that, you must recruit an army and go to war. I will deal with the Bili King. You, together with the Mongol herding soldiers, will attack all the nobles in Nangqian who surrendered or rebelled, and reclaim their lands."

Monk Gama had been speaking freely all along, because he understood this land and understood the deeper reasons behind these current conditions.

Just like this room was too cramped, and Monk Gama knew it was because the mountains were too high and the castle was too high — a three-story dwelling needed more support, so the rooms could only be cramped.

Only when it came to fighting did Gama's expression change.

This would be a great purge.

"Great Commander, if that's the case, Nangqian will have no nobles left."

"I am not telling you to kill them. I am telling you to reclaim their lands and hold Nangqian firmly in your hands. I may station some officials — my people need to learn how to govern a region."

Liu Chengzong nodded: "But those lands will belong to you. You will not be the nominal lord of Nangqian, but the actual lord of Nangqian."

To Liu Chengzong, Nangqian was a heaven-chosen land.

The Bili King's army had destroyed the temples, and the war had wrecked the original power structure. When the war ended, these things would slowly repair themselves according to the will of the people on this land, until they were restored to their original state.

The three or four years after the war's end would all be a period of power vacuum and redistribution.

It was very suitable for reform experiments, but how to reform was not for Liu Chengzong to decide — it was for the people here to decide.

"You need to grasp power and push forward some more progressive things. What is progress? It is not only equalizing land and abolishing taxes in one stroke that counts as progress. The resistance is great — inch forward like a pawn... you don't understand this."

Liu Chengzong looked at Monk Gama, stood up, and smiled: "Transitioning from the slavery system of Tubo to the serfdom system — that in itself is progress. From slave to bondservant, that is also progress."

"Abolishing the abuse of corporal punishment, guaranteeing the life and safety of bondservants — that is an even greater, heaven-sent progress."

Liu Chengzong never believed that he needed to ascend to heaven in a single step and achieve perfection in every way.

What he needed to do was not much, nor was it difficult.

He only needed, no matter how great the obstruction ahead, to stubbornly push forward — advancing an inch brings an inch of good.

The greatest significance of the Nangqian tusi's existence, in Liu Chengzong's plan, was to bear the backlash of reform.

If it succeeded, everyone would rejoice. Even if it failed, it would add more experience to ruling Qinghai-Tibet.

"Follow me steadfastly. Don't just fix your eyes on Nangqian alone — Nangqian is too small. You should look toward the whole of Qinghai-Tibet. The tiny changes you make will cause your name to be sung through later generations."

Monk Gama's face showed both the joy of receiving vast lands and the anxiety of facing a strong enemy. Turning the blade on himself — how painful that would be!

"Great Commander, this matter can be entirely handled by the Mongols. If I must fight against those nobles, how can I still recruit an army from them?"

"This matter cannot be entirely done for you by the Mongols. Your land, of course you must conquer it. You can issue your first law: conscript the slaves under the nobles who follow you. Those who fight bravely will be redeemed by you from their masters at the price of one sheep."

"Then, based on their military merit, grant them land ranging from twenty mu to one hundred mu. Surrendered slaves who fight bravely can also receive such rewards."

Gama pursed his lips — so in the end, those lands were still to be granted to slaves.

Liu Chengzong laughed: "How much land is that? You will confiscate the lands of many nobles. Even if you liberate fifteen thousand slaves and give every one of them one hundred mu, that is only fifteen thousand qing of land."

"Go on, quickly." Chen Shifo smiled: "The lands of those nobles are beckoning to you. In the end, you will collect taxes from fifteen thousand people — you'll have profited enormously!"