Chapter 271: Dark Night

In the main building of the Danba estate, the sunroom beside the bedroom.

It was located at the very center of the building's third floor, with a large balcony outside connecting to the corridor, where sunlight could reach Master Danba's reception hall even during the day.

Liu Chengzong, still asleep, furrowed his brow and reached out across the bed until his hand grasped the wrist cord of his goose-quill saber, and only then did his brow slowly ease.

Not long after, he sighed and opened his eyes. Clutching the goose-quill saber and wrapped in a wool blanket, he leaned by the window and lifted the silk curtain — the sky was still dark.

The Danba estate had become a vast military camp. The fields within the walls were filled with tents, and the night sentries' campfires glowed in scattered twos and threes, their colors blurred and dim.

After dressing, Liu Chengzong opened the door and stepped into the hall. Standing at the doorway, he glanced back at the comfortable bed, his expression complicated.

The oil lamp in the hall had been burning for half the night. The incense clock used by the Lion Army's night-duty soldiers had burned down to its base. Fan Sanlang, half-draped in a wool blanket, sat on the couch, the low table before her covered with items like firearms and short blades.

A matchlock arquebus was propped beside her as well — the place looked like an armory.

When Liu Chengzong emerged, Fan Sanlang was just lifting a mold filled with lead from the charcoal brazier and setting it on a stone pot to cool. Seeing him awake, she was visibly startled: "Commander, up so early? There's water cooling on the windowsill, it's still warm."

Liu Chengzong nodded groggily, took the warm water, and sat on the hall couch. Gazing at the pitch-dark balcony, he gathered his wits before speaking: "The bed's too soft, I couldn't get used to it... what time is it?"

In truth, it wasn't just the bed he couldn't get used to — the pressure on him was immense.

The entire territory of Nangqian had been retaken, and the battle lines had been pushed to the Boli border, but war had never been the objective.

He wanted to win the people's hearts, mobilize Nangqian's population for his purposes, and at the same time further strengthen his soldiers' sense of honor. This was extremely difficult.

The Lion Army had a strong sense of honor.

In the war in Shaanxi, every man had been like a hero. They had joined the Lion Army for a mouthful of food, but in the course of the war, they distributed surplus grain to the common people, traded fairly with them, and judged the rebel armies from the stance of protectors — all these actions earned them the love and respect of the populace.

This love and respect, in turn, further reinforced the soldiers' sense of honor.

But here, that link was missing.

This kept him from stopping his thoughts even in sleep.

Fan Sanlang glanced at the incense clock: "The fourth watch just sounded. There's still one shichen until daybreak."

The "watches" they spoke of were the drumbeats struck on the clappers during the night patrol.

As Fan Sanlang trimmed the solidified lead bullets from the mold, she said: "Three matters came in during the night. Bai Yan sent word that they've narrowed the search to two mountains. If the bandit leader is still on the mountain, they'll catch him today."

"The outpost soldiers report the opposite bank hasn't reinforced the valley, but hunters have entered the mountains. The garrison troops stationed in Nangqian have found three more monks who speak Chinese and are sending them to the front lines..." Fan Sanlang reported the night's developments: "Several letters came from home, none marked red, so I didn't wake you."

As she spoke, she looked up at the bleary-eyed Liu Chengzong: "Why don't you sleep a bit more?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head, took the letters, and trimmed the oil lamp. "No more sleep. I'll look through these letters."

The letters were long, all sent by Yang Dingrui. They summarized the recent situation in Haibei — trivial matters like how many muskets and cannons had been built, how much goods had been sold, and so on.

Beyond that, there was news from the east. Yang Yanchang and Ren Quan'er had both written to him.

The more Liu Chengzong read, the more silent he became. Fan Sanlang watched his complicated expression and waited until he finished before asking: "Commander, what's happened?"

He shook his head, set down the letters, leaned back against the cushion, and sighed up at the ceiling. Only after a moment did he say: "The court is distributing famine relief in Shaanxi. A drop in the bucket... You get some sleep, catch up on rest."

The letter said the Emperor had dispatched Censor Wu Sheng with one hundred thousand taels to Shaanxi for famine relief, with Xi'an Prefecture Judge Shi Kefa overseeing the relief operations.

This news meant little to Fan Sanlang, a native of Shanxi.

She did as told, placing the three loaded hand cannons to the side and arranging them facing the wall to prevent accidental discharge, waiting for daybreak to unload the powder. Then she leaned against the cushion, wrapped the blanket tight, and closed her eyes.

For a moment, the hall was very quiet.

Reading Yang Dingrui's letter left Liu Chengzong with mixed feelings.

But the personal letters from Yan'an's God of War Yang Yanchang and Commander Ren still filled him with a sense of warmth and familiarity.

Seeing these letters, he couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face.

It was quite difficult for Yang Yanchang to report on his work to Liu Chengzong these days. The purpose of this letter was to plead poverty.

Yang Yanchang said he attached particular importance to this batch of relief silver, but too many armies in Shaanxi had their eyes on it. The Yang-faction officers were busy fighting a war of words in official dispatches with the officers from Guanzhong and Yulin.

The letter gave some introduction to this so-called Yang faction. The term Yang Yanchang used was "our own people." Liu Chengzong looked over the names mentioned and realized they were all the mainstays of Yan'an Prefecture's resistance against the roving bandits.

No — the mainstays of resistance against the Bandit Liu.

Assistant Regional Commander Yang Yanchang, Commander Ren Quan'er, Battalion Commander Shi Wanzhong, Battalion Commander Chen Ruji, Battalion Commander Lu Bin... all major figures in Yan'an Prefecture.

Come to think of it, whether from his perspective or the court's, this group of people had all been raised by him.

Only, on his side, it was "raised" as in nurtured; on the court's side, these men were military officers who had risen to prominence on the merit of fighting him.

After the great Yan'an bandit chieftain Liu Chengzong fled to Qinghai, these men of Yan'an Prefecture had loyally devoted themselves to their duties, bringing great stability to public order, and were rewarded with promotions one after another.

Yang Yanchang's objective was to intercept five thousand taels from the relief silver to pay the back wages of the Yan'an Battalion.

After the Liu family's large-scale migration westward, the God of War's days had grown rather hard. The newly formed Yan'an Battalion had started falling into wage arrears again, and he could only barely sustain himself with the aid of the Farming King Gao Yingxiang from Lion's Bend.

Yang Yanchang wrote in his letter that Liu Chengzong had been of considerable help to the region.

He said that last year, the situation in Shaanxi had rapidly deteriorated. Liu Chengzong had successors in the north — the Shen brothers had emerged from Ningsai Fort, likewise drawing their main strength from unpaid Liaodong-bound border troops, and were extremely aggressive, attacking cities and seizing territory.

However, those brothers' approach was for the entire army to shave their heads, change their clothing, and fully adopt barbarian customs, dressing as much like Mongols as possible, and passing freely inside and outside the border walls as if entering no man's land.

After the court began famine relief, the roving bandits of Shaanxi all crossed into Shanxi in great numbers. The Shen brothers, meanwhile, struck westward, their military edge once pointing straight toward Pingliang.

But because Liu Chengzong had already campaigned through the west once, the defenses of every city had been strengthened, making it difficult for them to traverse Qingyang and very hard to enter Yan'an Prefecture.

Under the long-term manipulation of the Liu family, Gao Yingxiang, Yang Yanchang, Ren Quan'er, and others, Yan'an Prefecture had become a bizarre place within the Great Ming's borders.

By all reasoning, with no bandits left now, they should have been able to collect taxes.

But the consolidation of villages and tithings in several counties in between had been overseen and carried out by Liu Chengyun. The common people had always been half-civilian, half-bandit, and held no goodwill whatsoever toward government troops.

After Liu Chengzong left, Commander Ren Quan'er, under the pretext of training civilian militias, dispatched many militia leaders to the localities, and every few days he would organize a wartime evacuation drill for the people.

Nominally evacuation drills, they were in fact tax evasion and draft dodging, with coordination between various places and a simple system for passing messages.

If troops entered Qingjian during the day, every village in a chain would set off skyrockets. Within two ke, all the people, livestock, chickens, ducks, and grain within a ten-li radius would be completely withdrawn into the mountains — not even a chicken feather would be left for the government troops.

Entering at night was even easier. An old man on a small hilltop would crack a whip, and the sound would carry to the next village.

This placed higher demands on the village manpower resources of Yan'an Prefecture, but the common people did the math and found it worthwhile. Each village only needed to provide a few young men to keep watch around the clock, and in return the entire village's tax grain was exempted. It was well worth it.

Of course, this system wasn't just for defense against government troops. If bandits came, they received the same treatment.

Ren Quan'er wrote in his letter that he practiced this for no other reason — Commander Liu had once said, let no one even think of taking the common people's things.

Of course, in his letter, Commander Ren could not help but worry.

He had three purposes in writing.

First, to report good news to Commander Liu: he had been promoted again for his merits in defending the region, and was now the Commandant of Yan'an Garrison.

Second, to ask when Commander Liu would return — the 3,208 loyal Yan'an Garrison banner troops under Commander Liu were always ready to raise the Liu-character banner high.

Third, to ask whether what he was doing was right.

The current situation was that even if Liu Chengzong returned, it would probably be very difficult to collect grain in Yan'an Prefecture.

Originally, Ren Quan'er could have filled the Yan'an Garrison banner troops to full strength, but later he realized he could not fill them — after several years of famine and two years of war, there were no wealthy families left in northern Shaanxi.

When Commander Ren lost his greatest means of generating income, relying on the garrison military fields and the Ansai princely estate Commander Liu had left behind, he could not support 5,600 soldiers.

He thought of finding a way through the common people, but after half a year of intensified drills, when he suddenly looked back, Ren Quan'er discovered that in Yan'an Prefecture, he could not raise grain either.

As long as he did not demand grain or money from the common people, he could swagger through Yan'an Prefecture like a deeply rooted great tree — no stirring of wind or grass on this land could escape his notice.

If he wanted to demand money and grain from the common people, he could always get it the first time.

But when he led troops through those villages again, the people were gone, the villages empty — nothing at all.

Sending men to ask afterward, the surrounding villages all said they knew nothing. They had seen that lone tree on the hilltop topple, and only knew that troops had entered — they had no idea they were the Commandant's troops!

It took Ren Quan'er a long time to figure it out: he had thoroughly carried out Commander Liu's intent — the common people's escape drills had been a resounding success.

No one could levy money or grain on this free land — including himself.

This letter left Liu Chengzong not knowing whether to laugh or cry. He truly had not expected that a casual remark he had made at some forgotten moment would be taken to such an extreme by Ren Quan'er.

Wang Ziyong's reply was much simpler. Commander Wang was uncomfortable serving as an official under the court. The court believed that Cao Wenzhao's Guanning Army had approached Pingliang, and that Wang Ziyong's grain escort failing to keep up bore some responsibility.

And the current situation in Yan'an Prefecture was that it was very hard for Wang Ziyong to recruit men for Liu Chengzong, so he planned to bring some of his own men over himself and quit working for the court.

Setting down the letters, Liu Chengzong felt his entire being surge with vigor.

This strength from northern Shaanxi spurred him to keep thinking — thinking about what people wanted, thinking about how he could obtain the things they wanted.

In truth, northern Shaanxi was very harsh. There were natural disasters and man-made calamities; people's standard of living was declining rapidly and severely. Everyone realized something was wrong, and discontent was like a boiling pot — one day it would blow the lid off.

They had no choice. Countless people tore at each other, fighting for hope of survival. The old order had long since collapsed.

Some believed their own lives had gone wrong and they had to find a way to change.

Others believed their country had gone wrong and they had to find a way to protect it.

In the building of a new order, he was merely one among them, having chosen one side — he had never been alone.

Although the empire's strength was within his expectations, in the end, they were many and the enemy few. The people's greatest hardship was rations — rations made any decision far simpler.

The starving people and starving soldiers of Shanxi and Shaanxi were like desperate ants on a hot pan, frantically scurrying but unable to climb out.

People could no longer imagine how life could get any worse. Everyone wanted to cross the line, but did not dare.

So they needed someone like him, bearing the crime of being wanted with a bounty, to lead the masses and charge a path to survival on that hot pan. As long as he said there was a path, there would be people willing to follow him.

Amid the hardship, hope always still shone through.

But here, the situation was far more difficult.

At first, Liu Chengzong had wanted to place himself in the role of a rescuer. After seeing the plight of the slaves, he even felt something of a savior complex, looking down on this place with condescension.

But through the march, he was trying to understand this place, to analyze it.

The enemy's military strength was not great, but the old order was incomparably solid. The greatest difference from northern Shaanxi was that before his arrival, people's standard of living had not declined.

Nobles had a noble's standard of living, slaves had a slave's standard of living — it had been this way for centuries, and people were adept at living under this order.

Even slaves, by following the rules of slaves and completing the work of slaves, found it came naturally to them, and thus they could find ease amid hardship.

In other words, people did not need him.

In fact, for the tralpa and duiqiong still beside the nobles, their standard of living had even declined because of his arrival.

To fight him, the nobles demanded grain and soldiers from every household of their subjects, adding frost to the snow of an already impoverished life.

The common people of Shaanxi hated the Later Jin because of increased taxes; the common people here would likewise hate him because of troop levies and grain requisitions.

He could not look down on others from on high, as if what he gave was good and those who did not appreciate it were simply ungrateful.

Invite a sheep onto the bed and drive a person into the pen — the person is uncomfortable, and the sheep is out of place.

Just like this bed with its thick mattress in Danba Manor — it was more comfortable than the crude cot in the army's command tent, but he did not need it.

Based on this line of thought, Liu Chengzong gradually found the key, constructing his next strategy in his mind.

In broad external direction, naturally he must seize all the land he could conquer, but in war, he needed to prioritize among the different local nobles.

For nobles who submitted to him, he could grant them appropriate authority, or use the method of slicing flesh with a small knife, giving them hope of a single night's peaceful rest.

But for enemies who prepared for battle on one hand while hoping for peace talks on the other, he must uproot their entire clan as quickly as possible.

The longer it dragged on, the heavier the burdens and pressure on the nobles' subjects, the more obvious the decline in their standard of living, and the more they would hate him.

In the end, even someone who wanted to liberate slaves would fall into the predicament of being opposed by the slaves themselves.

But if he struck fast enough, the nobles would not yet have piled too many burdens onto the common people. Once the war ended, the slaves' personal property and lives would be protected, and the resistance to change would be far less.

Liu Chengzong rose silently, took off his wool blanket and draped it over Fan Sanlang, then turned and walked into the darkness toward the balcony.

Dawn was about to break.