Chapter 293: All Under Heaven Is Vast

The truth was, Liu Chengzong stayed on in Nangqian and insisted on delaying departure until the twelfth month not merely to arrange the land reclamation.

He was also waiting for someone — waiting for envoys from Tibet.

By his reckoning, word that Kham had changed hands should have had ample time to reach the snowy highlands. The northern and southern routes connecting Tibet to the Central Plains dynasties had both fallen under his control. Could the men up in the snow mountains still sleep soundly?

In truth, even if envoys from the snow mountains did come, he would not be able to negotiate anything constructive with them. What they could offer, he would not think much of; the demands he would make, they would not submit to either.

Pie does not fall from the sky. Liu Chengzong had gradually begun to grasp the substance of building a regime. Beyond the Central Plains, building a regime from scratch was far harder than fighting a war.

In this bizarre and tumultuous age, people always ended up on paths they had never imagined. Originally, he had only wanted to carve out a safe haven at Xining and Qinghai Lake, to complete his own transformation from roving bandit to separatist regime, while gaining a little strategic depth so the government armies could not wipe him out in a single stroke.

If he had to name some lofty, impractical hope beyond that down-to-earth thinking, it was nothing more than giving the generals and soldiers who followed him a basic understanding of the new dynasty's new Northern Caitiffs.

After the Great Ming's prolonged border blockade, and especially the Great Ming and Later Jin's two-front pincer attack on the Northern Yuan Khan's court, the tottering Mongols, following the Wanli years that produced so many gods of war, had long ceased to deserve the name Northern Caitiffs.

If at this very moment the world's impression of the Northern Caitiffs was merely one of weakness, then Liu Chengzong intended to stay half a step ahead of everyone else: the new dynasty's new Northern Caitiffs would be the Oros. In his mind, that was already inevitable.

Under the encirclement of the three powers — the Great Ming, the Later Jin, and the Oros — the Four Oirat tribes, being less tightly blockaded, still had fight left in them, but isolated in the far northwest, they had no staying power. As for the Northern Yuan's khan's court and the Mongols of Qinghai, they would inevitably have to attach themselves to a Central Plains dynasty.

But that thinking shifted once he arrived in Nangqian. Abolishing feudalism and establishing prefectures and counties — to him, that was the Mandate of Heaven.

The Mandate of Heaven is not something held by the virtuous. It meant that after entering Nangqian, even if he gave no orders, the Lion Army would move in that direction on its own. It was where the army's heart lay.

Everyone wanted to do something. All he could do was guide them — after all, the things his people wanted to do were far too many.

If you judged by that old saying about the Mandate of Heaven resting with the virtuous, pick any ten Lion soldiers at random to become slave masters, and eight of them would be more virtuous than the lords here.

Exploitation and oppression exist everywhere, but there is a vast difference between one kind of exploitation and oppression and another. At least they lived in a world where it still took natural disasters, man-made calamities, and land annexation to oppress them.

Between direct rule and systemic reform, he had chosen a path of boundless merit, but it was also far more arduous, requiring many times the effort while yielding very little result in the short term.

In reality, though another path lay before him, the path of directly turning into a slave master was impassable for Liu the Lion, because his army had faith.

Faith has always been an ordinary thing, not noble in the slightest. The only difference lies in what one has faith in.

Some have faith in money, some in morality, some believe there should be no imperial court at all — but most soldiers of the Lion Army believed that people ought to be able to eat their fill.

They had crossed mountains and rivers, traversed grasslands and snowy peaks, not to come here and enslave others.

This made it impossible for Liu Chengzong to extend further into the Tibetan snow mountains. You cannot have both fish and bear's paw. This approach had countless benefits; its drawbacks were only two: first, it tied up manpower; second, it lost money.

He no longer had the spare strength to enter the snow mountains.

The reform of abolishing feudalism and establishing prefectures and counties in Kangning Prefecture had consumed too many personnel, and based on the experience here, Liu Chengzong realized that if the reform of abolishing feudalism and implementing prefectures and counties could not be completed, war alone would bring even greater calamity to the common people.

Living like livestock is still living; dying comfortably still leaves you a dead man.

In any case, the snow mountains had no outside forces interfering, nor could they internally produce a power strong enough to fight its way out. They were like this now, and they would still be like this twenty years later.

Therefore, drawing the border at Nangqian and Chamdo, sealing off the snow mountains' contact with the outside world, and sending Baigan Taiji's Mongol army into the snow mountains to serve as a mutual horn — that was the most advantageous choice at present.

But when it came to dealing with the Tsangpa regime up in the snow mountains, for Liu Chengzong, whether negotiations could proceed was one matter; whether they came to negotiate at all was another.

He was thoroughly displeased. Your lordship here is a regime, no matter how small — how can there be no diplomacy?

With this frame of mind, Liu Chengzong actually did end up waiting for someone to come discuss diplomacy with him. But it was not as he had imagined — they did not come down from the southwest, but rather a tribute mission from Hami in the northwest, calling themselves Moghulistan.

Hearing that distant name, Liu Chengzong felt as though he were dreaming.

It was not that no one had ever offered him tribute before, but those tributes had all been like gifts, or even like Liu Chengzong leading his army to extort bribes — arriving at a place, the local headman would offer him some tribute, a far cry from the tribute rendered to the imperial court.

But this tribute mission was different. They had come all the way from distant Hami, traveling as far as Haibei, and then been guided here to Kangning Prefecture on his father's instructions.

Standing on the third floor of the manor, Liu the Lion spotted them from afar — over two hundred Xining Guard banner troops escorting a party of a dozen or so, leading yaks and warhorses, their clothing utterly unlike that of the Central Plains or Kham. They had lit a campfire by the Zhaqu River and were waiting. Liu Guoneng, who had brought them, was bounding toward the manor, still turning his head curiously to gawk at his surroundings.

Liu Guoneng and Liu Chengzong were old acquaintances. Up close, he showed no reserve at all, grinning as he said, "Grand Marshal, I've brought you farm tools."

With that, he presented the cargo manifest.

Pickaxe heads, sickle blades, hoe heads, axe heads, saw blades, plowshares, hammer heads, and so on — over four thousand pieces in total, all just the iron heads, plus several crates of nails. The manifest also bore the names of the fourteen tusi of Xining.

Liu Chengzong looked at the manifest, overjoyed, and laughed. "The tusi of the Hehuang Valley got all this together?"

"All good stuff." Liu Guoneng nodded. "Right. Earlier, the Grand Marshal was thinking of selling these goods to the Mongols — call it planning ahead. Now we've ended up using them ourselves first."

Although the quantity of these farm tools and implements was still very small, and the wooden handles and plow bodies would still need to be made by Kangning Prefecture itself, it was already enough to solve Kangning Prefecture's most urgent agricultural needs.

Liu Chengzong nodded heavily several times, then clapped Liu Guoneng on the shoulder and smiled. "How have you been in Xining? Getting used to it?"

"Used to it!"

Liu Guoneng laughed heartily. After Liu Chengzong gestured for him to sit, he said, "Actually, I didn't come this time just to ship goods and escort the tribute mission from the Hami region. I also came to ask the Grand Marshal for men and an official post."

At this, Liu Chengzong's brow furrowed slightly. Puzzled, he asked, "What do you mean?"

"The Old Master has taken up the post of Prefect and wants to establish two additional counties — one in Haibei to hold the Qilian Mountains, and one in Haixi to guard the salt pools. The candidate for Haibei magistrate is Chen Qindai. He sent me to get the man from you, Grand Marshal."

"Furthermore, the Old Master, taking pity on my bad leg and the trouble it causes in drilling troops at Xining Guard, intends to appoint me to Haixi. I have come specifically to see the Grand Marshal to request the commission and seal."

Liu Guoneng finished speaking and waited for Liu Chengzong's reply.

"Hold on, let me think." Liu Chengzong pondered for a long while, then raised a hand. "Your appointment as magistrate is no problem. But isn't this backwards? Wouldn't it be better for you to go to Haibei and Chen Qindai to Haixi? What was my father thinking?"

Liu Chengzong felt that Liu Guoneng's appointment as magistrate was entirely unproblematic — he was, after all, a certified scholar, and a leader from the early days of the uprising. Moreover, many of his clansmen were in the army; with their help, holding a county was a trivial matter.

And Chen Qindai was proficient in the Mongol tongue; guarding the salt pools and dealing with the Mongol tribes there would also be easy.

Why would his father send Liu Guoneng to guard the salt pools and Chen Qindai to hold the Qilian Mountains?

Liu Guoneng smiled. "The Old Master's thinking was this: at the salt pools, the Grand Marshal left General Zhong Hu with twelve hundred soldiers. I would come out from Xining Guard and bring some more clansmen, holding Fort Nanshan, which General Zhong built at Nanshan Pass. The troop strength would be ample."

"Chen Qindai is a border soldier, and he started out as the Grand Marshal's warrant officer. Haibei has many Mongol tribes, and the Qilian Mountains connect to Zhangye and Suzhou. Gansu border troops have already started showing up, so he needs to be sent as magistrate."

Liu Chengzong pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed heavily. The emergence of Xining Prefecture was bound to attract deserters from Gansu. What was coming, he could not stop.

After a moment's thought, he asked Liu Guoneng, "How is the situation in Gansu?"

"How could it be? The banner troops everywhere under heaven are all the same. That place is no better than northern Shaanxi. The cold kills the crops, the military farms are all ruined. From Gaotai Battalion to Shandan Guard, the close-in land has to be planted one year and left fallow the next; the outlying land has to be planted one year and left fallow three or four years just to recover its strength. And when you get a harvest, don't you have to hand half of it over to the court? Hah."

Liu Guoneng smiled bitterly and shook his head. "The only thing that place has going for it is vast land and sparse people. And the garrison troops have nowhere to run — Lanzhou catches deserters, and Gansu is surrounded by enemies on all sides. Now that Xining Prefecture exists, anyone who wants to run is running here."

As he spoke, he drew a letter from inside his coat and presented it to Liu Chengzong. "This is the Old Master's official dispatch."

Having gotten a rough grasp of the situation, Liu Chengzong unfolded the letter and read as he spoke. "What's the story with that tribute mission? Hami has yaks? Shouldn't they be riding camels?"

"We swapped their camels for yaks at Juerwan; the camels all stayed up north." Liu Guoneng said, "These people were on their way to pay tribute to the Emperor. At Jiayu Pass, they heard that the Marshal's border market had opened at Juerwan, so they brought their goods here. Their words were exceedingly humble."

As he spoke, his expression turned deeply exaggerated, and he shook his head. "We all thought everyone beyond Jiayu Pass was an enemy. Does the Grand Marshal know how the headman of the Turpan region addresses himself to the Emperor? 'Your slave.'"

Liu Chengzong was utterly astonished. "No way?"

Liu Guoneng told Liu Chengzong to wait a moment, called a guard to fetch the tribute envoy's memorial, and presented it to Liu Chengzong.

One look and Liu Chengzong was dumbfounded. It read, clear as day: In my youth, I sent men back and forth, and tribute never ceased. In recent years, due to local hardship, I have not rendered tribute — we slaves have sinned. Now, following the old custom, I offer tribute of various native products and local goods, and have specially dispatched Envoy and Administrator of State Affairs Shili and others to journey to the Golden Palace, kowtow, and pay court — may Your Majesty be informed.

Was this diplomacy?

He knew of small states serving great ones, calling themselves little brothers or even sons; he knew of marriage alliances where they called themselves nephews. But speaking like this in a memorial — wouldn't it cause upheaval back in their own country?

Liu Guoneng watched his complicated expression and let out a laugh. "Not really. These Tartars want to enter and rule the Central Plains too — they even thought about seizing Ganzhou once. Utterly useless. We beat them back every time. On the road I already told them: this is the territory of the Qinghai Marshal's Office. Forget about scamming tribute. If you want to trade, you need the Grand Marshal's consent. So they came."

"On the way, this Administrator of theirs complained to me the whole time about the Tibetans. At first, when he saw Tibetans, he was ready to start a fight."

Liu Guoneng spoke while laughing, recounting the amusing things he'd seen on the journey. "This Administrator Shili said on the road that they've been fighting the Tibetan tribesmen for a hundred years."

"Huh?" Liu Chengzong's expression was utterly baffled. "He's in Turpan — how does he fight Tibetan tribesmen? In his dreams?"

"No!"

Liu Guoneng laughed heartily, waving a hand to explain. "To the west, this Moghulistan of theirs is still quite large. At the far western edge are two cities, called Yarkand and Khotan. You know Khotan Garrison, right — one of the Four Garrisons of Anxi from the Great Tang."

"The Four Garrisons of Anxi — I know them. Our ancestors' land."

Liu Chengzong nodded. "Go on."

"They once had a Khan called Sayyid who took that area — about a hundred years ago. Bandits from Ü-Tsang kept raiding them. Once, over ten thousand men fought all the way to Yarkand, destroyed temples and tombs, burned, killed, and plundered several myriarch towns."

Liu Guoneng said, "They were originally at war with the Kazakhs and the Oirats to the north. Because of this, they made peace with the north and wanted to head south, climb the mountains, and strike Ü-Tsang. But then this Sayyid Khan died on the road. Getting into Tibet from that side is far harder than this route."

Hearing this, Liu Chengzong suddenly understood. He knew that Sayyid, the founder of Yarkand, had died on the southern campaign, countered to death by the high-altitude magic of Ü-Tsang — up in those snowy mountains, even the gods and buddhas filling the sky probably had no idea someone was coming to beat them up.

So that was why Sayyid had decided on the southern campaign. Surprised, he laughed. "Descendants of the Tubo still have that kind of ability?"

"They do. From what I heard from Shili, the Tibetans have huge ability. They come down the mountain whenever they feel like it to raid them and take slaves. The summer trade between that area and the western Moghuls was ruined because of this."

Liu Guoneng suddenly remembered something and raised a hand. "And that Xie Erhu."

"What about Xie Erhu?"

Liu Guoneng said with utter seriousness, "Don't think just because he's meek with you — happy over a bit of pickled vegetables, riding at your command — that he's harmless. Back in Chuodan, he's a local tyrant. His followers used to run off to Hami to rob all the time. They're famous for being well-equipped."

Liu Chengzong froze, blinking. "He went from Chuodan all the way to Hami to rob — could he even haul back enough fodder to cover the trip?"

"What else was he supposed to do? Who else was he supposed to rob? Jiayu Pass — couldn't crack that, right?"

Liu Guoneng raised a hand, pointing north. "And that other one — that Chiliarch Daiqing who used to pasture north of the lake, the one who followed you south to war. What's his Taiji called? Choktu of the Khalkha, the one who came running from the northern desert, pasturing outside Jiayu Pass."

"Raiding Hami was like New Year's to him — he'd go every holiday. He's the greatest enemy in Shili's mouth. He tried to raid Jiayu Pass once, and the defending general used crouching cannons — he barely escaped with his life."

This journey had been a huge eye-opener for Liu Guoneng. He shook his head at Liu Chengzong, sighing with emotion. "This world is too vast. Those we find utterly submissive may be terrifying enemies to others. The great desert is full of countless fierce soldiers and bold warriors — men like Xie Erhu. If you can provide them with ample fodder and provisions, they'd all be willing to fight for the Grand Marshal's Office."

The words went in Liu Chengzong's left ear and straight out his right. He acted as if he hadn't heard.

Liu Guoneng had never served in the border army, and he didn't know the grain situation in Kangning Prefecture — Liu Chengzong couldn't even supply himself. His township officers, stationed across the counties, had already taken up hunting after work to find themselves winter snacks.

"Provide ample fodder and provisions" — that was useless, empty talk. If he had ample fodder and provisions, the day the grain appeared, Gansu would be surnamed Liu by tomorrow, and the day after, all of Shaanxi would no longer be surnamed Zhu.

The Lion Army was lucky just to eat its fill. In these times, everyone lacked grain. There was no place that lacked bold men who dared to fight and kill.

Liu Guoneng could see he didn't care about this, so he didn't press further. He only said, "The Grand Marshal should meet this Shili. Best to keep him by your side for a while. He knows a great deal of intelligence about the northwest. According to him, that Choktu also wants to enter Qinghai. The old master set up two counties west and north of the lake precisely because of this."

"And he also said, if you're interested, he can go back and tell his headmen: they come from Yarkand, we come from Kangning Prefecture, and we pincer Ü-Tsang. Or we come from Xining, they come from Turpan, and we pincer Choktu and those Mongol bandits."

"Heh. Heh heh."

Liu Chengzong was so amused by this that he broke into a foolish grin. Finally, he slapped his leg and said, "I can meet him. I can even keep him here. But a joint army — forget it. They wouldn't want me coming over. If I went over, wouldn't I have to take back our ancestors' land? That's Anxi, after all."