Chapter 341: Clansmen

If someone could stand high in the sky and look down, they would surely see the He-Huang valley burning.

From the source of the Huang River to the mouth of the Yellow River, in this great calamity jointly shaped by the Marshal's Manor seizing grain and the Shaanxi blockade, the people's fury has turned every estate into ruins trailing green smoke.

Yet the architects of this great calamity never seemed to care about their anger, only pressing forward with their troops.

On one side, the Marshal's Manor advanced rapidly from west to east, conscripting the plundered common folk everywhere; stubborn resistance meant only death, so people could only flee eastward to survive.

On the other side, Xining Deputy Regional Commander Mo Yujing marched from east to west — a veteran general who had campaigned across the land, determined to exterminate the bandits to relieve the people's suffering — yet his He-Huang soldiers all fired their guns skyward rather than at the enemy, merely driving the bandit troops westward.

The peasant armies throughout the He-Huang valley were squeezed from both sides; aside from those willing to surrender to the Marshal's Manor, the remaining unruly and defiant all fled to places like Nianbo, inciting the Nianbo garrison to mutiny and coalescing into a considerable military force.

Huang Cheng, who had once served in the Gaodianzi Camp, was among them, and his operations went smoothly.

With twenty veteran soldiers from the Marshal's Manor assisting him, and equipment support obtained through Li Wanqing, he easily stormed several estate stockades and gathered several hundred skilled fighters.

In just a few days, a barnyard chicken soared onto a branch and became a phoenix.

But Huang Cheng was very dissatisfied with this outcome; if not for the advice of the "advisors" the Marshal's Manor had planted beside him, he would have already joined forces with other leaders to form a righteous army of over ten thousand.

Then wouldn't he be able to plunder whomever he pleased?

Yet, precisely, the veterans around him unanimously advised him not to absorb others, only to gather camp soldiers, banner troops, or courier station runners with military experience, along with able-bodied stalwarts from the common folk.

These men from the Marshal's Manor ate and slept with him day in and day out; he wanted to argue but dared not resist, so he could only be led by the nose.

But the chance to join forces with others came in the blink of an eye.

Originally he wanted to advance on the West Datong River Fort to attack Chieftain Lu — a descendant of Toghon of the Yuan dynasty, whose chieftain manor surely held great wealth — but before he could march east, wave after wave of routed bandits from the east came fleeing over.

Everyone said the court's Xining Regional Commander was advancing on the Huang River; the routed bandits driven from both sides were squeezed into Nianbo. Leaders from all across the three hundred li of the Huang River gathered together, elected a leader named Ma Anbang, and reached the conclusion to combine forces and flee south.

Because Qi Guoping and Liu Chengzu had fought for power over Zhenhai Camp and bribed the smallpox inoculation physician, over a hundred soldiers died from inoculation at Zhenhai Camp; although Liu Chengzu later publicly executed that physician by beheading, many soldiers and junior officers still left the army.

Ma Anbang was one of the officers who left Zhenhai Camp at that time. A unit commander by background, he led his men in casting off their uniforms before grain prices skyrocketed, and took advantage of the instability east of Xining and west of Lanzhou to gather a gang, turn bandit, and raid homes.

Once the chaos settled, he seized the initiative to capture Nianbo Station, styled himself King Ma of the South, and became the great leader jointly acclaimed by Han and non-Han alike in this He-Huang rebellion.

Huang Cheng wanted to persuade him to join Liu Chengzong, but Ma Anbang had ambitions of his own.

"The court in the east, the Marshal's Manor in the west — who doesn't want to occupy He-Huang? If we join the Marshal's Manor now, what fate awaits us? Will the Marshal stop there, or will he install us in some locality? We'll be cannon fodder — cannon fodder to fight Mo Yujing."

"To the north are Chieftain Lu and the Gansu border army, so we can't go there. But our several thousand strong can head south to Shenjia Gorge; if we retreat we can cross the Yellow River into Huangnan — the Hezhou Guard won't dare march west, and the Marshal's Manor's forces are weak there too. Better still, we can sit and watch the two armies contend: if the Marshal's Manor wins, we join them and attack the court; if the court wins, we accept amnesty and attack the Marshal's Manor. Isn't that better than surrendering now?"

Huang Cheng was dumbfounded: You can do that?

Mulling it over carefully, even Huang Cheng came to agree with Ma Anbang's plan, let alone the others in the rebellion. An army of several thousand camp soldiers, banner troops, peasants, and artisans stirred up a cloud of dust as they rushed toward the Shenjia Gorge river valley to the south — though this road was not so easy to travel either.

Because in the Shenjia Gorge river valley, in a place backed by mountains and facing the water, stood a grand architectural complex comparable to the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, named Qutan Temple.

This temple, the largest and most powerful among the non-Han people of the tri-border region, was established in the twentieth year of the Hongwu era.

At that time, the Ming Taizu had secured the Central Plains, and Ming troops were chasing the remnants of the Northern Yuan in flight across Qinghai; non-Han tribes, ignorant of the truth, also fled chaotically. The monk San Danluozhui built a small Buddhist hall here, and relying on his prestige among the tribes, wrote letters to pacify and summon them, rendering meritorious service to the Ming Taizu.

Thereafter, San Danluozhui went to Beijing to offer tribute and requested the Taizu Emperor to bestow a name and protection upon this small Buddhist hall. Thus the grand name Qutan Temple was settled, and it was built in imitation of the Hall of Supreme Harmony's design, taking thirty-six years in all. The temple master became, by hereditary succession, one of the heads of the Xining Buddhist Registry and simultaneously a great chieftain of the tribes.

The master of Qutan Temple, Banzhuo'er Lingzhen, was a Great National Preceptor enfeoffed by the court, the most powerful man among the non-Han people of this land.

He was himself the headman of the Xina tribe, one of the Thirteen Tribes of Zongka — Zongka meaning He-Huang — a tribe that in the Yuan dynasty was already called the Zongka Chiben, commanding all the tribes of He-Huang.

When King Ma of the South led his army into the Shenjia Gorge valley, he inevitably threatened Banzhuo'er Lingzhen, who immediately mobilized the temple's several hundred monk soldiers and summoned tribal soldiers from every tribe, led troops in an ambush that caught King Ma of the South off guard, and routed his forces.

Banzhuo'er Lingzhen then led his troops north, aiming to suppress the rebellion for the court. At Nianbo and other places, he called on rebel tribal soldiers to surrender; with monk soldiers at the fore, tribal soldiers encircling, and tribal commoners passing intelligence, he shattered the loosely organized rebel forces time and again.

By the time Liu Chengzong saw Huang Cheng again, this fellow had finally grasped why the "Marshal's Manor advisors" had forbidden him from joining forces with others, and was utterly convinced by the veterans who had fought their way out of the northern Shaanxi rebellion.

King Ma of the South's force, once shattered, could never regroup — no one even knew where the men had fled — but Huang Cheng, even after participating in three routing battles, was able each time to successfully command his troops to withdraw from the battlefield.

Hearing the course of the fighting, Liu Chengzong could not help but ask in puzzlement, "Are monk soldiers that formidable?"

"It's not that they're formidable." Huang Cheng, in truth, could not fathom how they had lost the battles: "They always knew where we were. They'd attack when we were resting, and even dared to launch night raids — we never even got a chance to strike back."

At that moment, someone among the chieftains accompanying the army stepped forward, clasped his fist, and said to Liu Chengzong, "Great Commander, I am very familiar with the National Preceptor Banzhuo'er Lingzhen."

The speaker was Ye Bingqian, the younger brother of Chieftain Ye, one of the fourteen chieftain families.

The Ye family's ancestor was Xue Du'erding, a turbaned Hui from the Western Regions, who earned merit fighting the Red Turban rebels and received a rank-four military post in Gansu. Later, when the Ming Taizu took the realm, he sent men to Gansu and Xue surrendered; the Taizu Emperor granted him a chieftaincy, with the official rank of... Squad Commander.

The kind of Squad Commander in the guard-post system who commands ten men.

From then on, Squad Commander Xue and his descendants dwelt in Milagou, controlling the two mountain passes of Qingshiliu Gorge and Yehou Mountain, all the way down to the fifth-generation Squad Commander, named Ye Xiang — a fierce man accomplished in both pen and sword who fought for the court.

He drove tribal tents from Changmu Gorge, beheaded bandit leaders at Rentou Mound, and repelled sea raiders at Ganzhou; his merits were outstanding, and he was promoted to Assistant Commander and formally changed the family surname to Ye.

By this generation, Chieftain Ye Guoqi was transferred to Changping as a Vice General in the forty-eighth year of the Wanli era, and after returning home due to injury, he largely ceased managing affairs.

The Ye clan had over a hundred households of commoner dwellings, over three hundred men and women; according to court regulations, they paid an annual grain tax of forty-eight dan and two hundred fifty bundles of grass, and maintained twenty-five tribal soldiers.

But every year, Ye Guoqi would muddle-headedly deliver the forty-eight dan of grain and two hundred fifty bundles of grass to Liu Chengzu in Xining; his rank was not high, he was advanced in years, and he played dumb, shirking duties in Xining Guard, frequently requesting leave to study — his presence was barely felt.

His younger brother Ye Bingqian, however, was a community religious leader with great local prestige, so when Liu Chengzong invited the chieftains, Ye Bingqian came.

He explained to Liu Chengzong, "Great Commander, it is not that Qutan Temple's monk soldiers are formidable, but that the National Preceptor Banzhuo'er Lingzhen enjoys widespread renown among the people. The non-Han commoners all serve as his eyes and ears; with soldiers and civilians united, holding both popular support and terrain advantage, ordinary men can hardly prevail. Why not let me write him a letter — perhaps I can persuade him to instruct the tribal people to each pursue their own livelihoods in peace."

Having said this, Ye Bingqian glanced at Huang Cheng, then again clasped his fist toward Liu Chengzong and said, "However, General Huang's troops had best not advance further into Shenjia Gorge, or else fighting will be unavoidable."

Ye Bingqian's understanding of Qutan Temple master Banzhuo'er Lingzhen was not because they were both community leaders, but because Ye Bingqian could look down upon the Buddhist Registry from the vantage point of a court official.

In the Tang dynasty, Hui were arrogant outsiders flaunting their wealth; in the Yuan dynasty, they were masters of the ruling class; and by the Ming dynasty, they were commoners forbidden by the Great Ming Code from marrying within their own ethnicity, yet possessing the same right to take the imperial examinations as other commoners.

Thus, non-Han chieftains might be appointed to rank-nine posts in the Buddhist Registry, remaining effectively outsiders, but Hui, as commoners, used Confucianism to interpret scripture — or even abandoned scripture study altogether to become generals or sit for the jinshi examinations.

Liu Chengzong did not agree with Ye Bingqian's words and asked, "Who is stronger, them or my Hunting Camp?"

Ye Bingqian immediately realized Liu Chengzong had misunderstood his meaning, and shook his head: "Great Commander, the reason I advised against General Huang advancing is fear of plunder. The Great Commander need not march troops — just summon him to surrender. Qutan Temple has about five hundred monks in total, with barely over a hundred monk soldiers; they pose no threat."

"Would he be willing to come and surrender?"

Ye Bingqian, for a moment, did not know how to explain, and could only say, "Great Commander, let me write that letter, have him come and surrender. If Banzhuo'er Lingzhen can be of use to the Great Commander, occupying He-Huang will also be easier."

He realized that Liu Chengzong was treating the temple as an independent power — perhaps related to Liu Chengzong's understanding of the Junior Lhazang — but Ye Bingqian had never been to the west or southwest, and only knew the inner workings of this Qutan Temple in Xining.

Qutan Temple in fact had only a few dozen monk soldiers; the so-called "over a hundred monk soldiers" was only because Liu Shizi had deliberately increased the manpower after garrisoning Xining.

Monk soldiers were not the primary force protecting the temple in wartime; for a temple that widely attracted believers, the military protection had always come from feudal lords among the faithful and from the court.

Peace and stability were most advantageous to a temple; if it truly reached the point where a temple needed monk soldiers to defend itself in war, then that temple was nearly finished.

In Ye Bingqian's view, it should be Qutan Temple coming to seek Liu Chengzong's protection, not Liu Chengzong going to conquer Qutan Temple... there was simply no need.

Monk soldiers were merely one of the channels through which a monastery selected for a monk's aspirations and talents.

In Ü-Tsang or areas where Tibetan subjects lived in concentrated communities, monks could make up ten to twenty percent of the population, which meant thirty to forty percent of males were monks. The monastery was a society unto itself, and the existence of monk soldiers was just like the relay station runners in secular society — there to maintain stability.

Tibetan subjects sent their seven- or eight-year-old children into the monasteries, and a tedious, dreary life ran through a young novice's entire childhood. The vast majority of monks had no other choice, nor did they grow resentful because of it.

They followed the monastery regulations, read scriptures that were not too difficult to understand, and did all manner of odd jobs within the monastery. Many passed their entire lives in such quiet calm — even carving scriptures into wooden boards with a knife, one carving that lasted a lifetime.

But there were always some who felt all of this was the source of bitter torment. Some adolescent monks would show themselves more prone to provocation and brawling than others, yearning for secular pleasures yet unable to sever the economic and social prestige the monastery provided.

As the monastery head, he could not have wished more for everyone to be a monk, and he would not let such people leave the monastery. They would become monk soldiers.

Most of the time, monk soldiers were responsible for building new houses, boiling tea, and traveling to various places to do business. During Dharma assemblies they served as keepers of order, tasked with pushing through jostling crowds to clear a path.

More often, monk soldiers acted as teachers for children newly entered into the monastery, using an identity that fell between the secular and the monastic to serve as guides for the clergy. This life would continue until the age of forty, when their status as monk soldiers came to an end.

They did possess some martial ability, but at best it fell somewhere between a brawler and a master of the martial world. Even in Ü-Tsang, no feudal lord wished to see a monastery full of armor, muskets, and cannon.

Thus the primary duties of monk soldiers in peacetime were guarding against thieves, collecting debts — or, put another way, making people "believe" the monastery possessed armed force.

As the proverb well says, they are men who know no loyalty even if the Buddha appears in the sky, and know no compassion even if the small intestines of all living beings spill to the ground.

Not long after Ye Bingqian wrote the letter on his behalf, Banzhuo'er Lingzhen dispatched the iron-staff monks of Qutan Monastery, bringing a few monk soldiers with them to deliver a reply and present a seven-catty gold Buddha statue. Liu Chengzong thus met these men who were neither loyal nor compassionate.

The monk soldiers' attire was all much the same: hair left behind the ears and braided over them, dark eye shadow smeared on with tea-pot-bottom ash and butter, wearing kasaya robes but different from the clergy.

A monk wore his kasaya like a sash tied at the waist, whereas a monk soldier wore his kasaya like a wrapped scarf — his body bundled in folds, a long blade hidden within the robe, a false key and several stones concealed in the sleeves. Strong, powerful, and well-nourished, they looked like men possessed of outstanding brawling and fighting ability.

Liu Chengzong's assessment of these monk soldiers was... fine soldier material.

But it went no further than that.

Banzhuo'er Lingzhen's reply was much the same as what Ye Bingqian had said. In fact, as the letter was being read, Huang Cheng, standing to the side, stared wide-eyed — he even suspected Banzhuo'er Lingzhen had taken King Ma Nan captive.

Because the letter said that Qutan Monastery did not wish to see war, and was even less willing to take part in war. They hoped the Grand Marshal could understand Qutan Monastery's difficulties, and presented a gold Buddha statue. Once hostilities were over, even more generous gifts would be delivered to the Marshal's residence.

Ye Bingqian wore a satisfied smile. He felt Banzhuo'er Lingzhen was very clear-sighted about practical matters, and the reply had not disappointed his expectations. He said to Liu Chengzong, "Grand Marshal, there is no need to strike him. When the war ends, there will be more gold."

Unexpectedly, Liu Chengzong shook his head. He looked toward Basang and asked, "Basang, those over there are all your clansmen. What do you think?"

Basang's face was cold as she shook her head. "Grand Marshal, give the order. I and my slave brats are not of the same clan as the noble monks. My people are suffering for their sake."

"The Great State Preceptor knows how to be sensible. Basang, when the war is over, have the monastery shut its gates. Send men to escort them to Ü-Tsang."

Liu Chengzong shook his head. "What I lack is not gold. What I lack is a He-Huang region without them... Take Nianbo. Mo Zai Jing is waiting for me up ahead."