Chapter 361: Nanshan

The sixth year of the Chongzhen reign, the twenty-second day of the third month.

The fourth watch of the night was still pitch-dark. On Qijia Mountain at Hezui Nanshan, outside the gate of Majuan Fort, several large iron pots and earthen stoves had been set up on the threshing ground. Women who had risen early were kindling fires and cooking, preparing food for the men about to head out to work.

This fort belonged to the Western Qi Tusi family and was called Majuan. In the past, it had been a hamlet where horse breeders lived together, with only a dozen or so households.

But now, nearly a thousand people were crammed into this fort. Makeshift wooden shacks and cloth tents had squeezed the courtyards and threshing grounds both inside and outside the fort into a chaotic mess, and many people had even laid bedrolls directly on the threshing ground.

Extinguished campfires sent up wisps of green smoke. Snoring and sleep-talk rose and fell in waves. Satin-faced bedding mingled with tattered sackcloth — it looked like a disaster zone.

Qi Zhaozhou stood on the upper level of the fort, looking down at the fort packed with sleeping refugees, and sighed helplessly.

He was the second son of the Tusi Qi Tingjian, not yet twenty years old. His family had lived for generations on their ancestral lands at Sanqi Fort, south of Xining. He had only come over here after the New Year to hunt and amuse himself, never imagining that war would arrive so suddenly and he would be unable to return.

As soon as word came that Liu Shizi had raised troops at Ju'erwan, Qi Zhaozhou's elder brother, Qi Xingzhou, sent a message via tribal soldier telling him not to go anywhere but to hide in the mountains, and informing him that the old Qi family could not get involved in this fight — their father was in Liu Chengzong's hands.

These two sons of the Qi family were exceedingly filial and shared a deep brotherly bond. The thought of raising troops or anything of the sort never even crossed their minds.

The younger brother wanted to walk right into the trap, believing that if the family must die, they should die together, neat and whole; the elder brother told him absolutely not to come, to stay in the east and hide well.

Qi Zhaozhou followed good advice. Although he was young, his fine education allowed him to remain utterly unflustered in a crisis. He first sent men west to scout the battle situation, then gathered the horse breeders and formed a small mounted troop of forty men to protect his family's property.

But war is one of humanity's cruelest acts. In the face of the great tide of war sweeping across the hundreds of li of the He-Huang Valley, a handful of people, to say nothing of influencing the course of battle, could scarcely even preserve themselves.

The Marshal's Manor advanced so swiftly that Qi Zhaozhou saw Yang Yao garrisoning Hezui first, and only a day later did the scouts he had sent west come running back to tell him that the court's tribal army had suffered a crushing defeat at Shangchuan.

The Marshal's Manor's troops had already sealed off Hezui — what use was the news of the western tribal army's defeat to him now?

In the days that followed, Qi Zhaozhou busied himself in the Nanshan mountains, liaising with Tusi stewards, gentry, and tribal chieftains, and arranging for nineteen families to jointly protect themselves in this war, advancing and retreating together.

In the He-Huang region, neither tribal chieftains nor Han gentry wielded as much authority as the Tusi.

And the Tusi's ambiguous attitudes were remarkably consistent. In the end, their decision was to contribute no troops to the Marshal's Manor, nor to exert any effort for the court, but simply to hide in the mountains and watch who won and who lost.

This war caused Qi Zhaozhou's understanding of his own side's camp to deviate from reality.

The education Qi Zhaozhou had received since childhood was that the Tusi swore fealty to the Great Ming Son of Heaven for generations, and the entire family stood ready at all times to fight at the court's command.

But the reality now was that his father, Qi Tingjian, was over on Liu Chengzong's side, which made him an outsider in this war. For three whole months, every piece of news he received each day brought him both joy and worry.

Later, however, as the court advanced its troops, he had nothing left to worry about.

Because before the court's grand army reached Hezui, a Marshal's Manor general named Zhong Bao had first surged into the Nanshan mountains with over thirty-two thousand commoners from the He-Huang region, and immediately demanded that the nineteen families contribute eight hundred dan of processed grain.

Eight hundred dan of processed grain — that was a hundred and thirty thousand jin of rice and flour.

The chieftains and leaders of the nineteen Nanshan families were seething with indignation. They jointly elected Qi Zhaozhou as their head and mustered five hundred men to go and argue with reason.

The talks between the two sides were very civilized, with no blades or guns drawn. Zhong Bao simply proposed, quite naturally, that since they had dared to bring troops to meet him, the eight hundred dan no longer counted — make it eighteen hundred dan.

The nineteen families agreed with beaming smiles, offering the Marshal's Manor eighteen hundred dan of processed grain to serve as rations for the thirty-thousand-plus commoners during the war.

As for how this result came about, Qi Zhaozhou felt it had little to do with the eloquence of Guard Commander Zhong Bao of the Marshal's Manor, and everything to do with the overwhelming persuasiveness of that superbly equipped hand-cannon cavalry troop.

Although they had contributed grain, Qi Zhaozhou's enthusiasm for the Marshal's Manor cooled considerably. Instead, he began to think Liu Chengzong had something wrong with him.

Truth be told, he had originally thought the outcome of this war between the Marshal's Manor and the court was anyone's guess. As long as his father and brother were safe, he had no particular resistance to it.

Even when Zhong Bao came demanding grain, he didn't care about fifty dan or a hundred dan of grain.

But after meeting Zhong Bao, Qi Zhaozhou felt the Marshal's Manor's chances of winning were slim, because the commander-in-chief was not wise enough.

At such a critical moment, to not keep such crack troops and fierce generals on the battlefield, but instead dispatch them to resettle refugees — there had to be something wrong with his head. Just wait for defeat!

With this mindset, when Qi Zhaozhou saw from the mountain Yang Yao leading his horse battalion in a head-on rout of the Three Garrisons' frontier army cavalry, his astonishment was beyond words.

Even more so when the Three Garrisons' Regional Commander, who had come on with such aggressive momentum, was directly reduced to a cowering quail. The twenty-thousand-strong army suddenly developed a special affection for the soil, and for ten days straight they raised their iron shovels high and toiled with heads bent.

Setting aside the strategic situation, the blow to morale from this tactical shift alone was easy to imagine.

This was the first time Qi Zhaozhou recognized the combat strength of the Marshal's Manor. After that battle, he deliberately sought to get closer to Zhong Bao, hoping to extract more intelligence about the Marshal's Manor from this Guard Commander under the Grand Marshal.

To this end, he even yielded the Majuan Fort on Qijia Mountain to Zhong Bao. He had originally intended to curry favor with Zhong Bao this way, but he never expected that Zhong Bao was also a fellow with something wrong in his head. He was quite grateful to Qi Zhaozhou, yet his crack troops and fierce generals still slept out in the open, while instead he recruited over four hundred starving refugees to come live in Majuan Fort.

Every day he just came over for a meal, chatted with the refugees, and then went off to busy himself with other matters.

"Young Master Qi, couldn't sleep at night?"

Hearing the familiar voice behind him, Qi Zhaozhou knew at once that Commander Zhong had come for his meal again.

He turned his head, and sure enough, there was Zhong Bao in full helmet and armor, holding a bowl of congee in one hand and a rolled flatbread in the other, acting as if he were in his own home. He greeted Qi Zhaozhou, then led a few soldiers to find a spot to sit and eat on the second level of the fort, paying no mind to anyone else.

Qi Zhaozhou sat down beside him and nodded. "I slept until midnight, then couldn't fall back asleep. Judging by your appearance, General, you slept quite well last night."

Zhong Bao was a big man with poor table manners. In his armor, his frame seemed even larger, like a bear devouring its prey, tearing and bolting. He stuffed an entire rolled flatbread into his mouth in two bites, gulped down half a bowl of rice congee in one go, and only after swallowing did he say, "What's there to keep a man awake?"

Qi Zhaozhou rather envied Zhong Bao's quality of sleep. He asked, "Last night the Three Garrisons fired cannons — did the General not hear it?"

"Oh, that. Young Master Qi truly comes from a great house."

Zhong Bao and the guards around him burst into laughter. "I started as a guard for the Grand Marshal. When the Grand Marshal was awake, I was awake; when the Grand Marshal slept, I was awake too. Let me tell you, being able to sleep is a blessing."

"The cannon fire was so loud — how could anyone sleep through it?"

"Taking the cannons so seriously is wrong, not clever. Young Master Qi is destined to be a general himself one day. Can you fly?"

Qi Zhaozhou was stunned. From the first part, he had thought Zhong Bao was about to teach him something valuable. Who would have expected a question like that? He was completely dumbfounded. "Fly?"

Zhong Bao chuckled, then raised a finger and said with a solemn face, "If that cannon isn't aimed at you, what are you worried about? If that cannon is aimed at you, can you fly?"

Qi Zhaozhou pondered this carefully. It seemed to make sense, but what if a cannonball hit you and you were just gone — how could one not take that seriously?

Still, he did not intend to argue with Zhong Bao. Zhong Bao was clearly a rough soldier who had fought and killed in the army. Qi Zhaozhou had seen many men like him; they had long since become indifferent to life and death. In any case, they had no hereditary Tusi office to inherit, so there was no point in discussing this topic.

He nodded in acknowledgment and thanked Zhong Bao for imparting battlefield experience, then changed the subject and asked, "General Zhong, there's something I'm especially curious about. If this battle isn't finished by the time those eighteen hundred dan of grain are eaten up, what will you do?"

Zhong Bao paused for a moment. In his heart, he did not think this question would ever arise.

These past few days, he had been having his guards observe the condition of the refugees, who had been organized into sixty Hundred-Household units, carefully checking for anyone showing signs of smallpox. He reckoned the time was nearly upon them.

All thirty-two thousand-plus commoners had come from Lanzhou and Hekou. There was smallpox over there, so there was bound to be some among these people too.

That was precisely why he had refrained from staying in this fort and had his guard cavalry bivouac in the open — so that when someone broke out in smallpox, they would not be infected.

Once someone among these commoners came down with smallpox, the Three Garrisons' frontier army would also break out in it. Then the moment for the decisive battle would have arrived. He trusted that the Grand Marshal would not miss such a golden opportunity to smash the Three Garrisons' frontier army.

However, he did not intend to tell Qi Zhaozhou this information.

Zhong Bao merely thought for a moment, then said, "Then your nineteen families will have to contribute another eight hundred dan of grain to the Marshal's Manor."

Qi Zhaozhou felt he had only made a fool of himself. He shook his head and said, "General Zhong, you know as well as I do how much grain the fort has stored — seventy or eighty dan at most, enough to last another ten-odd days at best. We're up in the mountains; every household's reserves are about the same. What do we do when it's all gone?"

"We'll deal with 'when it's gone' when it's gone. The Grand Marshal ordered me to settle these civilians."

Truth be told, Zhong Bao had never considered what would happen when the grain ran out, and even now, he saw no need to think about it.

Brooding over such things was useless. Military orders are as immovable as mountains.

That was how it was on the battlefield — an order to advance meant advancing, even at the cost of your life. And it was the same off the battlefield. The Grand Marshal said to settle the civilians, so he would settle the civilians at any cost.

So Zhong Bao reached a conclusion easily: "First we slaughter the sheep, then the pigs. Kill the donkeys and mules, then the oxen and horses. By the time everything's eaten, this battle will surely be over."

Having said this, Zhong Bao offered Qi Zhaozhou some reassurance: "But don't think I'm bullying you nineteen families. This is no bad thing for you. Even if the imperial court wins, keeping the people of Hehuang alive is itself a great merit."

"If the Marshal's headquarters wins, I will report your grain contributions truthfully to the Grand Marshal. I imagine the Grand Marshal will not treat you poorly either."

Qi Zhaozhou did not speak right away. He merely leaned back a little, and only after a pause did he sigh with emotion: "If all the soldiers and officers of the Marshal's headquarters are like General Zhong, I fear the imperial court cannot stop you west of Lanzhou."

He had discovered a defining trait of the Grand Marshal's headquarters.

These officers had no experience in governing localities, but their execution of military orders was extremely forceful — and that forcefulness was built on the immense authority vested in the officers receiving those orders.

Their strength was channeled in a single direction, with nothing to hinder them. At least since Zhong Bao had entered the Southern Mountains, Qi Zhaozhou had seen no one restrain Zhong Bao's conduct in any way.

This made him feel that throwing in his lot with the Marshal's headquarters might not be such a bad choice for the Western Qi Tusi family after all... At least for now, during the Marshal's headquarters' eastern campaign, they were not as unreasonable as he had previously imagined.

After all, Liu Chengzong's Marshal's headquarters, as the Shaanxi rebel army, did not have a very good reputation.

The vast majority of people throughout Hehuang thought the same as Qi Zhaozhou: when Liu Chengzong mobilized his troops, there would certainly be plunder.

But Zhong Bao had not plundered. Although his peremptory tone was little different from outright robbery, if after the war Zhong Bao really could report the grain contributions truthfully to Liu Chengzong, then the outcome would be worlds apart from looting.

"General Zhong..." Qi Zhaozhou began, then, seeming to realize his question was a little awkward, gave a dry laugh before asking, "Why haven't you plundered? And since you could clearly settle the refugees here and have the nineteen families hire them and provide grain, why let the Marshal's headquarters supply their rations?"

"Ha!"

Zhong Bao let out a contemptuous sneer. "You think we're the imperial court's soldiers? The Grand Marshal has military law — plundering is forbidden."

Qi Zhaozhou's eyes widened. "The imperial court has military law too."

"Military law isn't just a few clauses. I'm rather worried about Young Master Qi leading troops someday." Zhong Bao shook his head with a smile. "Whether military law can be enforced depends on rewards and punishments. Think about it, Young Master Qi — what do government troops gain by not plundering? And what punishment do they face if they do?"

Without waiting for Qi Zhaozhou to answer, Zhong Bao supplied the answer himself: "If they don't plunder, the court withholds their pay, gives them too little grain for a campaign, and makes it hard to earn promotion even with severed heads... And it's because of people like you that so many promoted officers in the court's army all share the same surname!"

There was strong personal grievance behind Zhong Bao's words. This very issue had once kept him from becoming an officer, and he had remained a common soldier right up until he joined Liu Chengzong.

"And if they do plunder, what can the court do about it? These five garrison border armies — the court uses them to fight in Shaanxi, uses them to fight in Shanxi, and uses them again to fight in Hehuang. Even if they plunder, what can the court do?"

Having said his piece, Zhong Bao lifted his head with great pride and declared, "The Grand Marshal gives us soldiers enough grain, distributes spoils of war to every soldier who fights, and lets us trade those spoils directly for whatever we want. The Grand Marshal even gives us spending money now and then. Who would abandon a life like this to go robbing?"

Qi Zhaozhou shook his head. "Surely the discipline of an entire army can't be this good. What if they run into a wealthy household?"

"A wealthy household? You think we're common bandits?" Zhong Bao shook his head. "If they're on our side, no one dares rob them. If they're the enemy, then just wait for your share of the spoils — no need to rob."

These words were very persuasive. Qi Zhaozhou felt that if the imperial court lost this war, he ought to join the Marshal's headquarters' army.

Zhong Bao was thinking along the same lines. He added, "As for your question — why don't I let you hire the civilians and provide grain yourselves — it's because then those civilians would become your people."

The burly Zhong Bao glanced at Qi Zhaozhou, sighed and shook his head as if he found him disappointingly unambitious, and said, "The Marshal's headquarters differs from the imperial court in many ways. In many respects it falls short of the court, but on the most fundamental things — whether in military affairs or governing localities — it is far stronger than the court... Even I."

Zhong Bao pointed at himself. "Even I know that feudal princes are useless to the court, and landlords are useless to the land. Think about it — can this world survive without farmers? Can it survive without soldiers? But without landlords? Nothing would happen at all."

Qi Zhaozhou thought to himself, This is bad. The Marshal's headquarters harbors deep hostility toward families like his own.

Rubbing his hands together, he asked, "General Zhong, could I... serve as a soldier under your command?"

"In the future, when the Grand Marshal sends my cavalry unit out on assignment, every man will be an officer. You're quite shrewd. We'll talk after the war is over." Zhong Bao was secretly pleased — this Qi Zhaozhou had some real ability, and recruiting him would be a good thing. But he did not agree, waving his hand dismissively. "If the court wins this war, you'd just rebel again. There's no point."

Just then, a guard hurried upstairs and whispered a few words into Zhong Bao's ear. Zhong Bao's eyes instantly went wide.

Smallpox had broken out.

Someone among the refugees had come down with smallpox!