Chapter 352: Travel Expenses

The ninth day of the third month.

As the river warms in spring the ducks are first to know — no one can say how this war will unfold, but all nineteen coffin shops in Lanzhou city are open for business every day, and trade is booming.

Any common household with an elderly family member is hurrying to order a coffin — miss this chance and it's gone; once the government troops and the western bandits clash in a major battle, buying a coffin will be hard indeed.

As the saying goes, many mouths make much noise — Lanzhou has the most people, so Lanzhou has the noisiest mouths.

The court's Shaanxi Grand Coordinator and the five garrison commanders have been debating attack and defense for days, and the entire garrison city is buzzing with rumors about Gansu Grand Commander Yang Jiamo's reply letter.

In his letter, Grand Commander Yang said that even though Vice Regional Commander Wang Xingshan's troops have contracted smallpox, among the five garrisons of Guanzhong, Gansu Garrison will still have to fight on its own.

Yang Jiamo also wanted to come to Lanzhou to fight, but the Chahar tribe's Hudun Tuhao glares hungrily from beyond the border wall — tens of thousands of Mongols so starved their eyes gleam green.

The Ganzhou border troops just fought them in the north, threw away over thirty lives, and brought back more than four hundred heads; even the poorest banner troops complained after that battle — the captured tattered jackets were even more tattered than their own damn tattered jackets.

Yang Jiamo, born into a hereditary Liangzhou Garrison officer family, has served in four garrisons and spent half his life locked in struggle with Mongol soldiers — never had he seen northern Tatars tear down the border wall, form infantry formations, and come in to plunder forts.

And they only cared about seizing livestock and grain, not even dragging away their own tribesmen's corpses... they were so hungry they'd even eaten their warhorses; this sheer ferocity made Yang Jiamo dare not draw away any more troops.

The reason they debated attack and defense for days is that although Lian Guoshi set the grand strategy of urgent advance and a direct strike on Hehuang, the garrison commanders could not reach a unified tactical approach.

The root of it lay with He Huchen.

Of the five garrison commanders — Lintao Grand Commander Wang Cheng'en, Guyuan Grand Commander Yang Qi, Gansu Vice Commander Wang Xingshan, Ningxia Grand Commander He Huchen, Yulin Vice Commander You Shilu — only He Huchen had ever faced Liu the Lion in direct battle.

People valued his advice, but in their eyes he was utterly unreliable.

Because his suggestion was to have these tens of thousands of troops all squat in Lanzhou — if Liu Chengzong did not cross the river, neither would they — squat until late summer, then charge into Hehuang, destroy as much farmland as they could, and come back to squat some more.

Lintao Grand Commander Wang Cheng'en, whose elderly mother was trapped deep in enemy territory, exploded upon hearing this: "Is Commander He perhaps scared witless by the bandit Liu? Wait until late summer? Why don't we all submit a joint memorial to the court and just build a border wall at Lanzhou and be done with it."

Never strike a man in the face — He Huchen's face at that moment just... his face was dark, it couldn't turn red, only a black-purple like stewed pig's liver; he slammed the table and cursed: "Bullshit! Liu the Lion's men are all my Ningxia soldiers — you think I don't know whether he can fight?"

Wang Cheng'en had already steeled himself to quarrel with He Huchen, but at these words his mouth hung open and no words came out.

It was Guyuan Grand Commander Yang Qi, a celadon pipe between his lips, who broke into a scornful smile — he was a Lanzhou native, tobacco had been grown here for many years, and he had a pipe-smoking habit; tilting his mouth he said sourly: "Some of them were my soldiers too. I went off to rescue the capital and that little bastard ran off with my troops."

With that, Yang Qi smacked his pipe down on the table, clasped his fists to the assembly, and said: "Deliberate however you like on how to fight. Until the arms, armor, and warhorses the court has allocated to me reach Lanzhou, the Guyuan Garrison troops are going nowhere."

Yang Qi desperately wanted to ride alone to Hehuang and fight Liu Chengzong one-on-one to the death — he was a man who hated Liu the Lion to the marrow of his bones.

No one surnamed Yang under heaven had ever provoked Liu Chengzong; the Guyuan army had already mutinied once and lost many elite soldiers and strong troops; later, when he went to rescue the capital, a portion was drawn off — some died in battle, some deserted in Shanxi — and he had thought he could return to Guyuan to replenish his forces, but what awaited him was a bare, stripped Guyuan.

Grain gone, troops gone, horses gone.

With no troops at his disposal, the court still conscripted him to suppress bandits and quell rebellions everywhere — what could he do? He recruited a mob of famine refugees and roving bandits from Liupan Mountain, crudely equipped them, and marched off under imperial decree to suppress bandits.

The problem was, his soldiers were famine refugees and roving bandits — so what were the bandits?

The bandits were deserters from the border garrisons.

In this newly formed Guyuan army's very first battle, four hundred government troops were stared down by six bandits for a quarter of an hour; eight men were shot dead; Yang Qi led eight hundred subordinates to reinforce, and with a force of twelve hundred launched a pursuit — only for the six bandits to wheel their mounts and charge, routing him utterly.

It was only because Yang Qi spurred his horse and brandished his blade, shooting two dead and hacking two more to death, that he won that grueling battle.

A Regional Commander — an old man briefly wild with youthful fury, charging at the front and retreating at the rear, as though in a daze he had returned to twenty years ago.

He was too embarrassed to tell anyone what kind of days he'd lived through this past year — what damn suppressing bandits and quelling rebellions, it was the Adventures of Yang Qi from start to finish.

At last, everyone's eyes turned to You Shilu, who sat with his head lowered in silence.

You Shilu had guarded the northern frontier for over thirty years, fought the Mongols in hundreds of bloody battles, his body covered in blade scars; in recent years the frequency of combat had been extremely high, and the peasant armies were especially adept at mobile warfare — sleeping in the open and eating in the wind, he had long since broken his health from overwork.

Last year, during the great campaign to suppress the bandits in Shanxi, he was wounded by an arrow; just as he recovered from his own injuries, his eldest son You Renlong, who had led the troops in scaling the city walls, died from an infected arrow wound to the instep — a severe spiritual blow.

This fierce general who had once struck dead Handan Erma with a single iron mace beyond the border wall was now, in illness, bone-thin and sallow, nursing his health by indulging in wine and women, long since stripped of the heroic spirit of his prime.

He had not even donned armor to attend the council, merely sat sick and listless at the lowest seat in the hall with his nephew You Yangkun; seeing everyone's eyes on him, he said only: "Liu Chengzong is a Yansui soldier, and Yansui soldiers are all good soldiers."

Wang Cheng'en could bear it no longer.

"Grand Coordinator!"

His face dark, he let out a heavy sigh through mouth and nose, clasped his fists to Lian Guoshi, and said: "Your subordinate requests the mobilization of Didao Tusi Zhao Shifan, Hezhou Tusi He Yongji, Minzhou Tusi Ma Guoji, Taozhou Tusi Hou Chengqing, leading Hezhou Commander Han Wanbo, Minzhou Commander Zhao Yingchen, Minzhou Native Officer Hou Xikui, Shengfan Hongji, Taozhou Tusi Yang Chaodong, Taozhou Zanfan Zan Chengfu, and others to reinforce us."

Lian Guoshi frowned and said: "The five garrison commanders have gathered their troops here, along with my two brigades of the standard camp — is that still not enough strength?"

"Generals are the courage of soldiers. I beg Your Excellency to look carefully at the commanders present in this garrison."

Wang Cheng'en rose to his feet, swept his gaze over the assembled commanders, and named them one by one: "He Huchen cowering inside the city, Grand Commander Yang the peasant-army chieftain, You Shilu wracked by age and illness, and that smallpox-poisoned Wang Xingshan with his troops stationed north of the river — how, exactly, do we win!"

In an instant, He Huchen shot up and slammed the table, Yang Qi jabbed a finger at Wang Cheng'en and let loose a torrent of abuse, You Shilu looked down at his own waist, then rose and sent his nephew to fetch his sword from the door — the hall erupted into chaos.

You Shilu was furious — Wang Cheng'en made it sound as if he had shamelessly begged to come here; if the leadership in the Forbidden City hadn't rejected his resignation letter, he'd have long since returned to Yulin to enjoy a peaceful retirement — and now he was supposed to drag his sick body to this cursed place to fight?

Last year in Liaozhou, Shanxi, Li Zicheng took Liaozhou city and sought to settle there to rest and recuperate, posting notices to reassure the people.

The government troops fought brilliantly — just six days after the notices were posted, You Shilu led his troops and drove Li Zicheng out, but he himself was gravely wounded, and his son ascended to heaven.

The rebel forces in Shaanxi were already very strong; You Shilu had no desire to come provoke Liu Chengzong, who was even more formidable than Li Zicheng.

Yang Qi was angrier than You Shilu — You Shilu at least had the excuse of failing health, mounting a horse was a problem for him, but Yang Qi was perfectly healthy; yet what others faced was at worst unpaid wages, while he faced unpaid wages, unpaid grain, no horses, no armor, no troops.

And despite all that, he'd still scraped together a Guyuan army for the old Zhu family — and now he had to come here and take this scolding!

In truth, these grand commanders were not without personal bonds; they had fought side by side many times before — it was just that this time Wang Cheng'en's mother was trapped deep in enemy territory, and he was frantic with worry.

Every day the troops were delayed, the chance that his elderly mother would be discovered and killed by the rebels grew by a fraction.

Lian Guoshi hurriedly soothed the commanders and with great difficulty got the three of them to calm down, when He Huchen clasped his fists and sneered: "Grand Commander Wang, you keep saying you don't want to fight another Sarhu — I tell you, if we march, it will be Sarhu."

Before Wang Cheng'en could open his mouth, Lian Guoshi frowned and said: "Commander He, what do you mean by that?"

"The Huangshui river valley is far narrower than Liaodong, and he wants to rush in and smash the nest, demanding victory in a single battle — whether the army can even deploy in that valley is a question. How do you encircle them? Without encirclement, how do you achieve victory in one battle?"

"Dividing the troops is even more of a joke. The Lu Tusi of Liancheng in northwestern Yongdeng has begged for reinforcements several times and is already at war with the Xining rebel commander Liu Chengzu. Wang Xingshan's Gansu border troops are coming from that direction — who dares take that road except the Gansu army?"

"The remaining four garrisons, even if we divide our forces, can only split into two routes. If Liu Chengzong masses his main strength in the river valley..."

He Huchen fired off question after question, until at last he could not go on — the more he spoke, the more he felt the outcome of this battle would be either Sarhu or Yellow Dragon Mountain.

"If he masses his main strength, then we fight him!"

Wang Cheng'en said: "Are we border troops to say we cannot defeat a mere rebel army?"

He Huchen sniffed — what a coincidence, he'd thought the same thing three years ago, and afterward Liu the Lion's armed forces had the pleasure of acquiring a unit of the Ningxia border troops.

In truth, once these five garrisons of Guanzhong gathered here, many had already spotted the problem — the greatest issue facing the court's border troops now was no longer the shortage of pay and provisions caused by the drought.

Instead, under the impact of mutinies and roving bandits, the troops had been replaced.

Their commander-in-chief and senior officers remained unchanged; the mid-ranking officers saw minor changes, but the junior officers and soldiers had been completely replaced.

Right now the hardest hitters are definitely Gansu and Lintao — otherwise why would Wang Cheng'en's spine be so stiff? It's precisely because they weren't much affected by the mutinies and roving bandits. His generals are present and his troops are intact, untouched by the chaos.

Yang Qi goes without saying — the title "Farm Soldier Chieftain" fits him perfectly. You Shilu's Yulin troops have almost entirely turned over, but that area has many border households from the garrisons; with a little consolidation and training, they'll still be a brave and battle-worthy army.

He Huchen wasn't much better off. Although he reorganized his forces after returning from defeat and could still thrash the Khuduntu, he always felt this new Ningxia army had been thrown together far too hastily and wasn't as formidable as the old one.

At the Yellow Dragon Mountain camp, the scene of that leg-broken wounded soldier hobbling on a crutch, hop-hop-hopping his way to join the Liu bandit, had left far too deep an impression on him.

His son He Zan's psychological trauma still hasn't healed — he's become a staunch anti-war advocate, always convinced that the government troops suppressing bandits for the court is an unjust war.

He Huchen truly did not want to lose again. Otherwise, he felt, one day the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion would use the gilded characters on a commission to write the final annotation on his life.

Qinghai Marshal's Mansion, Externally Commissioned General Training Officer for Ningxia and Other Places — He Huchen.

He Huchen's turtling up inside the city wasn't cowardice without consideration, but rather the result of weighing every possibility and concluding that holding Lanzhou and the Yellow River was the most prudent course.

Though the idea of destroying the farmland was utterly vicious, in He Huchen's view it was the only way to completely annihilate Liu Chengzong. Otherwise, with their loose patchwork of five garrisons going up against Liu Chengzong's extremely high execution capability, their odds of winning were slim.

They could only drag it out. Destroy the grain in Hehuang, hold the south bank of the Yellow River, force Liu Chengzong to invade Gansu — Gansu's grain production is poor. Then Liu Chengzong would either have to act tyrannically against all reason, or suppress his own officers and cause internal strife. Once trouble came, it would be easy to resolve.

But this was like knowing destroying the grain was wrong, yet still having to think in that direction. Sometimes, knowing what one ought to do is meaningless.

Hehuang couldn't afford to drag things out, and Lanzhou could afford it even less.

Liu the Lion could freely consolidate manpower, reclaim farmland, and register households in Hehuang according to his own designs. They could not. They had no way to take back annexed fields, nor could they seize from those who hoarded vast stores of grain.

Most critically, Lian Guoshi could not afford to delay.

Because Yang He was about to arrive. Liu the Lion accepting the imperial edict was Yang He's political achievement — it was precisely by persuading the then-strongest force in Shaanxi, Liu Chengzong, to accept amnesty that Yang He had been promoted into the Ministry of Rites.

Now that Yang He was coming, Lian Guoshi believed he would certainly avoid branding Liu the Lion a rebel. It was even highly likely he was coming precisely to mediate peace. Lian Guoshi could not wait for him to arrive — he had to launch the campaign.

Yang He mediating peace would be Yang He's merit; losing Hehuang would be Shaanxi's crime. Lian Guoshi kept these two things very clearly separated in his mind.

Last year, for pacifying the unrest, the court had already labeled him "atoning for his crimes through service." He'd only escaped punishment by leading his army on frantic marches back and forth to quell the chaos.

If it happened again, he feared the Chongzhen Emperor would simply have the Hongwu Emperor take him away.

Lian Guoshi did not want to be taken away. He had to find a way to have the Hongwu Emperor take Liu Chengzong away instead.

In the end, the Lanzhou heavy forces adopted Wang Cheng'en's tactics. Lian Guoshi pressed the Lanzhou Guard to prepare some weapons and warhorses for the Guyuan army, and then the campaign regulations were promulgated.

One contingent of Wang Shishan's Gansu forces, redeployed to Yongdeng to support the Liancheng Lu Tusi.

The three armies of He Huchen, You Shilu, and Yang Qi, supplemented by Taozhou native troops, to advance westward from the Hekou front.

The strongest contingent, Wang Cheng'en's forces, redeployed to the Hezhou Tusi, to march west along the south bank of the Yellow River, await opportunities to cross the Yellow River northward from Jishi Pass, the Salar Station, Guide Garrison, and other points, then attack Xining and Nianbo from the rear, severing Liu Chengzong's retreat and striking his rear and flanks.

Lian Guoshi personally led Deputy Generals Zhang Quanchang and Zhao Dayin, advancing into Hehuang with the main army, ordering the Lanzhou Guard banner troops to manage logistics and supplies, striving for victory in a single battle.

By the twelfth day of the third month, the long-prepared Five Garrisons of Guanzhong slaughtered sheep and pigs, swore the oath, and launched the campaign. In majestic array they crossed the Yellow River, lime and sulfur spread across ten li, and set foot upon the land of Hehuang.

He Huchen rode westward amid a throng of soldiers, drew a deep breath, and surveyed the Ningxia army's marching column winding through the river valley. He relaxed a little — the soldiers actually seemed fairly at ease.

What he did not know, however, was that in this new Ningxia border army built around the three hundred survivors of Yellow Dragon Mountain, the veterans took especially good care of the new recruits.

"Move it, don't be scared. Fight if you have to, and if you really can't win, just surrender. If there's no time to surrender, just drop your weapons. Let me tell you, Second Master Liu never kills prisoners — he even gives travel money!"