Chapter 279: Seven Counties

A rout is like a mountain crumbling.

In a single day, two battalions of troops either surrendered or died; only one daiben army remained, too weak to fight alone. Gathering the scattered remnants and the corvée laborers who had been transporting supplies, they defied the King of Béri's military orders and fled eastward, pursued by the Lion Army.

In the high mountains and deep valleys along the border between Nangchen and Béri, places untrodden for years, thorny brambles grew everywhere — yet in a single day they were trampled into a level road by the routed soldiers.

In the end, they were stopped by the Jinsha River, and the entire army was annihilated, sounding the death knell of the Kingdom of Béri.

Liu Chengzong sent an ultimatum to Markham, informing Döndrub Dorje that his army was advancing, and that if Döndrub Dorje surrendered everything, he would still have the chance to live out his remaining years in peace on a manor.

But Döndrub Dorje did not accept his goodwill. The Lion Army, with Li Laochai as the vanguard, thrust into Do Kham. Before they even reached Markham, Döndrub Dorje, under the protection of his personal guard, fled eastward in panic, escaping into the great Songpan grasslands.

Zhang Tianlin gave chase, pursuing all the way into the grasslands without finding Döndrub Dorje. Only when he came face to face with Ming troops from Songpan did Zhang Tianlin withdraw.

Taking the surrender of the Béri nobles in Markham went fairly smoothly, especially the chieftains from the former territories of the two myriarchies of Nai Zhu and Sha Er Ke in the southern part of the Béri domain, who were particularly eager to submit to Liu Chengzong.

Liu Chengzong found this situation strange. According to the experience he had gained in war, these nobles would rather fight him than surrender. Why now were they coming to pay homage bearing gifts, willing to submit as long as they were given a place to live?

A Liu, a newly joined commander in the Lion Army, provided the answer: "Grand Marshal, they have most likely already lost their domains."

A Liu's guess was spot on.

No sooner had these nobles arrived in Markham than envoys from the chieftains of Zagyü, Jinchuan, and other places arrived, offering congratulatory gifts to Liu Chengzong in the name of Mu Yi, the chieftain of Lijiang, and incidentally claiming credit for themselves.

The credit they claimed was naturally for attacking the chieftains of Wasi and other places. For a time, both sides gathered in Markham, causing Liu Chengzong no end of vexation.

The domains of these several minor chieftains all lay on the border between Béri and the Mu chieftain of Lijiang. In the past, they had often fought each other while cloaking themselves in the authority of the King of Béri and King Mu.

This time, seizing the opportunity of Döndrub Dorje's stubborn resistance against Liu Chengzong, the chieftains to the south launched a massive offensive northward and achieved unprecedented gains.

They were nothing but a flock of vultures feasting greedily on Béri's corpse.

Liu Chengzong had no energy to deal with them.

Among the many nobles of the former Béri lands, some had died in the war and some had fled. The scattered remnants and defeated soldiers had turned into bandits, rampaging unchecked across this land. Liu Chengzong's forces could basically only garrison a few official strongholds in scattered positions, and he had virtually no real control over the region.

On one hand, he selected a group of soldiers who had performed outstandingly in the war from the Lion Army, and at the same time sent orders for Basang to lead his troops into Béri, preparing to reorganize several teams of officials.

On the other hand, he sent someone to find Baitu Taiji, who was stationed in Chamdo, and asked him to dispatch some Mongol troops to maintain order.

The bandits and brigands knew the terrain well. Some numbered no more than a few dozen, some no more than a handful, but they were everywhere. His own forces were limited; if he scattered them across the land in this kind of security war, his combat advantage would shrink drastically, making it not worth the cost.

Precisely for this reason, Liu Chengzong maintained a fairly pleasant demeanor toward these petty chieftains who came shamelessly claiming credit before him. He did not dwell on their northward attacks, merely ordering them to submit their maps and for each chieftain to maintain their original borders.

Of course, this was just Liu Chengzong's way of putting it. Whether the chieftains actually handed over their maps once the envoys returned was another matter entirely.

He had no binding power over the chieftains to the south, nor much inclination to bind them. At present, his mind was fixed on only one thing: digesting the fruits of this war as quickly as possible.

This place was, after all, far too distant from their main base north of the sea, and its productivity was far inferior to that of northern Shaanxi. If it had been an army without experience in mobile warfare, it would have collapsed the moment the battle ended.

But even though the Lion Army had rich experience in mobile warfare, it was already very close to the edge of command breakdown.

It was a very subtle feeling, with no concrete, absolute manifestation, but Liu Chengzong could sense this mood from the intense unease the soldiers were displaying.

When they had set out, their objective had been to help Nangchen Karma reclaim his domain and, incidentally, carry out some technological plundering by taking the craftsmen here away with them.

That is to say, when the troops were dispatched, there had been no plan to occupy this place. Unfortunately, the war was won far too easily; without their forts and stockades, the enemy troops could hardly withstand a single exchange.

Within a matter of ten days to a month, he nominally ruled a territory stretching over a thousand li in length and breadth, yet he had only a little over five thousand soldiers. Even if they were spaced one li apart like relay riders, they could not cover a tenth of this land.

This situation made the soldiers feel uneasy from the bottom of their hearts, not to mention that their lifeline was not contiguous with the region north of the sea. The lifeline here began at Dajian Road, passed through five post cities — Béri, Dergé, Lhündrup, and Chamdo — and led to Sichuan.

To restore morale, he had to digest the fruits of the war as quickly as possible, making the soldiers truly feel that this land was theirs.

However, this problem was soon resolved with the arrival of Baitu Taiji.

The Lion Army had attacked from the northwest toward the east, traveling a long and distant road, but it was very easy for Baitu Taiji to come here from Chamdo. Following the four post cities, he entered Dergé on the sixth day after receiving the message.

In the following days, the Mongol herding soldiers sent by Baitu arrived one after another. Two thousand troops were stationed to graze in the area from Markham to Dergé. The tribal followers of this force were mainly those of Guru Taiji and the Junior Lhatsun.

Along with this army, Baitu also brought Liu Chengzong over a thousand prisoners.

They were all the children of Béri nobles and headmen.

On the surface, nobles everywhere were vying to offer tribute and surrender to Liu Chengzong, but in reality, since the collapse of the Tibetan Empire, the nobles of the Kham region had not been so panic-stricken in seven hundred years.

When the great army of the King of Béri collapsed with a thunderous crash, and the victor of the war was Liu Chengzong, famed for protecting slaves, every remaining noble felt endangered.

In just a few short days, the nobles managing household affairs across the region personally rushed to Markham to offer surrender, making a final effort to retain their domains.

On the other hand, families everywhere had their eldest and second sons who had become monks in monasteries return to secular life, dispatched them to pack up the family fortune, and sent them racing without pause to Chamdo, and from there fleeing onward to Shigatse, to attach themselves to the Tsangpa Khan of the Karma regime.

They had no ability to ask the Tsangpa Khan to uphold justice; they merely wanted to preserve a spark for their families. That way, even if their domains were confiscated by Liu Chengzong, as long as the Tsangpa Khan recognized them, there would still be a chance to return in the future.

But the road to Shigatse passed through Chamdo.

As early as when Liu Chengzong was still blocked on the west bank of the Jinsha River by the King of Lingtsang, Baitu Taiji had already reached an agreement with the Jampa Ling Monastery and occupied Chamdo without shedding a single drop of blood.

In this war between Liu Chengzong and Döndrub Dorje, aside from Xie Erhu and a few other minor tribal leaders attached to Liu Chengzong, the many Mongol nobles contributed very little effort, essentially taking charge of the important task of waving flags and shouting encouragement.

Yet both Liu Chengzong and Baitu Taiji and the others were satisfied with this state of affairs.

After all, from the perspective of Baitu and the others, they had led their tribal followers to Nangchen not to have their people die on the battlefield, but because they wanted to enter Tibet and earn a khan title for themselves.

The Mongol nobles were, from the bottom of their hearts, willing to fight for Liu Chengzong; they needed the daily goods produced at Gurban.

But that Lion would not let them loot.

Without looting, the tribal followers had no motivation to fight. Liu Chengzong could restrain the Mongol chieftains from looting, but the Mongol chieftains had no way to restrain their followers from looting.

Therefore, the Mongol chieftains, led by Baitu Taiji, did not dare to help Liu Chengzong fight.

People feared that if looting during battle was discovered, and Gurban subsequently refused to do business with them, that would be a truly difficult problem to solve.

So, by merely waving flags and shouting a little, and moving to Chamdo and Riwoqê to occupy the gateway into Tibet, they could serve as a diversionary support for Liu Chengzong without bringing much trouble upon themselves. This was basically the best possible outcome.

As for Xie Erhu, who steadfastly followed the Liu Lion into battle, his situation was different from the others.

His tribal followers had always been in the Qaidam Basin. He had come to Gurban not to do business, but because he wanted to obtain a piece of grazing land from Liu Chengzong.

If he could move his grazing land north of the sea, his followers could all eat vegetables. Fighting a battle was just a minor matter.

To put it bluntly, he was just after those two mouthfuls of pickled vegetables.

Given this environment, some of the noble youths fleeing the chaos in Kham disguised themselves as pilgrims, others as herders. After enduring countless hardships to reach Chamdo, they discovered it was full of Mongols.

What greeted them was Baitu Taiji's order concerning the picking up of stones.

In fact, as these people had been arriving in Chamdo one after another, Baitu had guessed they were most likely Béri nobles, but since he needed them to pick up stones, he did not openly reveal their identities.

The monks of Qiangbalin Monastery were all out picking up stones on his orders, let alone this bunch of pilgrims trying to enter Tibet — everyone was treated the same, all sent to pick up stones.

They couldn't pick ones too big, couldn't pick ones too small, only stones just the right size to fit into the Six-Unity Cannons.

Originally, in Taiji Baiyan's plan, not only were these "pilgrims" to pick up stones, they were also to carry stones — hauling them all the way to Lhasa, even as far as Shigatse.

Once his war with the Tsangpa Khan was over, he would hand these people over to Liu Chengzong.

But since Liu Chengzong had come asking for them, and Baiyan saw that the rations these people carried were nearly gone, he simply sent them all over at once.

These men, captured by Baiyan, delighted Liu Chengzong, who was just about to begin confiscating the noble estates.

He clapped Baiyan on the shoulder and said, "If this lot had really run off to the Tsangpa, every one of them would be a bandit chief in Kham by now."

Baiyan was living quite comfortably in Chamdo, already provided with a Chinese-speaking interpreter. He chuckled, "I nabbed them on the fly and sent them to you. Great Marshal, the soldiers you wanted — here they are. What do you plan to do next?"

"No rush. Let's go inside the chieftain's manor and talk."

Liu Chengzong led Baiyan into Döndrup Dorje's chieftain's manor. The two sat down upstairs, and only then did he smile and say, "I told you to bring your own followers. Why did you bring Guru and Lhazang's men instead?"

Baiyan gave a sly chuckle. "My men are picking up stones. What's the difference? They'll obey orders too."

"It's not about obeying orders." Liu Chengzong waved his hand. "I plan to form a new army and establish seven counties here. This army will serve as officials in each county. I trust you, so naturally I trust your followers."

Baiyan was dumbstruck.

He had assumed Liu Chengzong only wanted men to maintain public order. From the sound of it, he meant to simply take the followers for himself.

Baiyan thought to himself, Thank goodness I brought my sworn brothers' men and not my own followers. Being "trusted" by you doesn't sound like a good thing at all!

Baiyan frowned. "This matter — even my brothers' followers might not be willing, let alone my own. Great Marshal, I need men to march into Tibet and fight!"

"Where's your mind going? This is a good thing. Do you think I want to organize an army like this?" Liu Chengzong raised a hand. "I've conquered this land, yet I'm dividing a portion of authority and giving it to you, and you don't know a good thing when you see it. Are you going back to Haibei or not, later on?"

This truly was a stopgap measure Liu Chengzong had no choice but to adopt.

His shortage of men was secondary; the key issue was the language barrier. They would certainly have to learn the language, but that problem couldn't be solved in a few months.

Meanwhile, the situation in the Beri territory was a power vacuum at the local level. The old nobles were either dead or had fled. Even those still alive on the estates lacked the military strength to deal with the banditry.

If his men were to fill this void, language was a hurdle they had to overcome. Delay a few months, and he might have to fight another war.

To solve this problem, he could only choose a compromise strategy. The Lion Army had very few soldiers who understood the Western Tibetan languages, but many who understood Mongolian. The Mongol herder-soldiers had very few who understood Chinese, but many who understood the Western Tibetan languages.

Moreover, the Mongol herder-soldiers could serve as local security forces, making up for the manpower shortage.

For Liu Chengzong, although he wanted to protect the rights of the slaves, Basang's slave-soldiers were not as reliable as Baiyan's Mongol soldiers.

He knew what the Kokonor Mongols wanted, and as it happened, these were things that, to a large extent, only he could give and only he was willing to give.

But Basang himself didn't even know what he wanted — how could Liu Chengzong give it?

Therefore, in his conception, this new bureaucratic system would be jointly composed of Lion soldiers, Baiyan's soldiers, Basang's soldiers, and A'liu's soldiers.

Only when Baiyan heard Liu Chengzong ask whether he was returning to Kokonor did he realize what Liu Chengzong meant by establishing officials. "Great Marshal, are you saying that our two houses are one family, and with officials in the region, the road home is secure?"

"That's exactly what I mean. I'm not trying to swallow your troops. You'll be using this road too."

Baiyan did not dwell on this point. He merely let his eyes wander around the room, then stood up and looked at the map on the wall. "Great Marshal mentioned establishing seven counties. Which seven?"

Liu Chengzong, unsure of his intent, rose and pointed at the map. "Markham, Luhuo, Dêgê, Gonjo, Chamdo, Lingtsang, and Nangqên."

"Chamdo? Marshal, you want Chamdo?"

Baiyan's ears seemed to have been fixed on that word alone. He turned around, rubbing his hands. "Now I agree with the Great Marshal's officials. But the Great Marshal must promise me — from Riwoche westward, that belongs to me."

From Riwoche westward?

Liu Chengzong thought for a moment. That would be entering Tibet proper.

He asked, "You're not planning to return to Kokonor?"

"I don't have much pastureland in Kokonor. Last time I entered Tibet, I took a liking to Bumthang." Baiyan grinned. "This time, with such a large army and the cannons the Marshal gave me, I want to settle and pasture at Bumthang."

Having said this, Baiyan looked at Liu Chengzong. "Though it is a bit far, I can still send men to Korwan a few times a year. If this entire route is linked into a single line, it won't delay my trade at Korwan. With the Marshal's market at Korwan, I can live quite well here too."

Liu Chengzong first smiled, then his expression turned serious. He sat up straight and said, "If you want to settle and pasture in the west, I have three requirements. None are difficult, and none will affect your pasturing."

"First, you must accept an official rank from me. No other messy, random titles count. Second, you must enforce my laws — no other laws count."

"Third, a government office must be established there as well, with officials dispatched to govern the region. The army will likewise fall under my military structure. However, within the area where you pasture, whether it's taxes or the tamba levy, I will not interfere."