Chapter 430: If You Can Run, Don't Move

Soon, with the next court assembly, one piece of good news and one piece of bad news spread through the bureaucratic ranks of the Great Ming Dynasty.

The good news was that the famous prince among the captives, Hudun Tu, had been beheaded in Qinghai, leaving behind a young son of about ten who could not inherit the khanate, and the Northern Yuan, which had lingered for over two hundred years, was declared collapsed.

The bad news was that the various Mongol tribes convened a Khuriltai assembly to acclaim a new khan, re-establishing the central khan's court, calling him Daiching Khan, seamlessly picking up in the northwest with undiminished power.

The court officials did not think much of this Daiching Khan; the grasslands were full of all sorts of daichings, it was simply another grassland-style dynastic change.

Until people discovered that this Daiching Khan was none other than Liu Chengzong, who had run rampant across northern Shaanxi in earlier years.

The court discussed a more critical point: retaking the Loop, recovering the Hetao.

Due to the course of the Yellow River, the rear loop where Bayannur lies had not yet formed in the Ming dynasty, so what Ming people called the Hetao referred only to the area around Fengzhou Beach in Hohhot, occupied by the Tumed tribe.

Ever since the Chahar attacked the Tumed in the west, and the Jin state attacked the Chahar in the west, the region south of the Gobi had fallen into chaos, felt most directly in the two border garrisons of Yulin and Ningxia — waves of surrendering Mongols were knocking at the passes begging to submit.

In fact, as early as this summer, someone at court had proposed recovering the Hetao; the Hetao had become a no-man's-land, clearly the time to retake the Loop had come.

But concretely speaking, the time having come was one thing, whether the objective conditions for recovery existed was another.

Everyone knew northern Shaanxi was poor; as the saying goes, no people under heaven are poorer than those in Yanzhou. The thousands of ravines and gullies formed by soil erosion in northern Shaanxi made local agricultural conditions extremely poor, yet Yan'an Prefecture still had many fragmented tributaries of the Yellow River.

But the Ordos north of Hengshan was different — it was very flat, so flat there were barely any rivers, and the few rivers that did exist were all seasonal streams unable to support agriculture, while most of the lakes within its borders were saltwater lakes useless for irrigation.

It was arid with little rain, and the evaporation rate was staggering, giving rise to the Mu Us Sea that Huang Shengxiao yearned for day and night.

For the Great Ming to retake the Loop and occupy Fengzhou Beach — easy.

Now that waves of surrendering barbarians were coming over, there were more than enough guides; these surrendering barbarians could even be formed into a standard battalion to serve as the vanguard for recovering the Hetao.

But after occupying the Hetao, they would have to be ready for this isolated exclave to be attacked by the Jin state; with no support able to reach it from any direction in time, this exclave would be lost.

Yet if they abandoned retaking the Loop, a difficult question would land on the Chongzhen Emperor's desk: where should the surrendering barbarians be resettled?

Chongzhen was twenty-two this year. In his heart, he felt perplexed by eight questions and planned to pose them to the scholars selected from across the realm at next year's palace examination.

Those who govern the realm together with the emperor are the scholar-officials, yet now the scholar-officials are of unseemly conduct; he wanted to make the scholars upright again — what should be done?

The eastern caitiffs were originally subordinate barbarians of the Great Ming, with scant land and few people, yet the scale of their rebellion is so vast, even the Three Han have been captured — why?

Heavy troops are stationed at Ji Garrison, Guanning, Laideng, Tianjin, and other places to guard against the eastern caitiffs; as long as the eastern caitiffs are not wiped out, the troops cannot be withdrawn and the provisions cannot be reduced. What method can quickly destroy the eastern caitiffs and restore the territory?

The roving bandits are spreading, the court's money and grain are in deficit, and officials always hope for tax relief. The common people are the foundation of the state, but what method can both show compassion to the people and sustain the army?

The military farm and salt monopoly laws were good methods to fill military coffers in the past, but many attempts have yielded no results; tribute grain and warhorses are both urgently needed supplies for the army, yet they are always in arrears — how to solve this?

The time to recover the Hetao has come, but the eastern caitiffs also want to swallow the Mongol inheritance, watching covetously; moreover, the wilds of Ordos are difficult to supply — how should this matter be handled?

The roving bandits are powerful in the north, sea bandits are harassing in the south, floods and droughts occur frequently — what methods can respond to this?

In the Tang and Song dynasties, civil and military roles were not separated, and the Founding Emperor also employed talent without restricting them to civil or military tracks. How is it that now, in Our reign, military officers cannot serve as civil officials, and how should this matter be resolved?

If these eight questions could be properly resolved, Chongzhen believed that the affairs of the realm could still take a turn for the better.

The Minister of Rites, Yang He, entered the palace several times within a few days. He believed that what the Chongzhen Emperor had said — using the Hetao to lure Liu Chengzong into fighting the eastern caitiffs — still required further deliberation.

"Why are all of you like this?"

Chongzhen furrowed his brow, raised his hand, and patted the stack of memorials piled on the desk: "We wish to recover the Hetao, and the officials in and out of court all say it is inadvisable, that it cannot be retaken. Look, just this memorial here."

As he spoke, he pushed out one memorial and said: "Sun Chuanting, a Ministry of Personnel director living as a country gentry at home, sent this from Daizhou. Even he finds resettling the surrendering barbarians inadvisable."

Yang He glanced at it. This Shanxi gentry's memorial argued that the court's own troops did not have enough to eat, that the common people went hungry to deliver grain to the court, and it was certainly not to feed the Tatar sons beyond the frontier.

It also made sense.

Yang He, ever the good-natured man, helped speak for him: "Your Majesty, Daizhou has been ravaged by roving bandits in recent years; his homeland has become a battlefield. It is unavoidable that a country gentry's words carry a tone of indignation."

"This Director Sun — I, your old minister, have heard of him in the past. It seems he once wrote lines like, 'If the sage ruler awaits with an empty seat, I would sprinkle my blood and tears upon the crimson steps.' He is very talented and also willing to serve the country."

Chongzhen did not reply, casting a sidelong glance at the memorial. Such things proved nothing. He simply said: "Do you also think it inadvisable to let Liu Chengzong enter the Hetao?"

"No."

Yang He shook his head very seriously, organized his words slightly, and said: "This old minister believes that if Your Majesty gives the word, Liu Chengzong will certainly advance his army into the Hetao. Advancing into Fengzhou Beach, he will inevitably fight the Jin army."

Chongzhen nodded. Exactly — that Liu Chengzong had read the sages' books and drunk the Yellow River's water. Use a tiger to devour a wolf — how could it fail!

But he never expected Yang He to follow up immediately with a sigh: "Your Majesty wishes to use Fengzhou Beach, which is not yet in our hands, to lure Liu Chengzong into fighting the Jin army, so as to prevent being attacked on two fronts from Liaodong and Shanxi-Shaanxi. But Your Majesty, he is, after all, a rebel leader."

"From what this old minister knows of Liu Chengzong, he will advance toward Fengzhou Beach, but absolutely not by the route Your Majesty imagines — advancing from beyond the Gansu border toward Fengzhou Beach."

Chongzhen was baffled: "Then from where would he advance?"

Yang He was rather afraid to say it. Reasonably speaking, the Great Ming Dynasty's civil and military officials could not even be commanded like one's own arm and fingers — where did the emperor get the confidence that he could control Liu Chengzong?

Yang He was probably the civil official at court who understood Liu Chengzong best. He had dealt with Liu Chengzong and knew that this man was, first, domineering; second, irreverent toward the court; and third, very compassionate toward the common people.

So he did not doubt Liu Chengzong's character in the slightest. Once the Marshal's Headquarters entered Fengzhou Beach, it would certainly fight the Jin state.

Since the war began, the Jin state had abducted no fewer than a million Han people. How many slaves did the Jin state have now? Less than two hundred thousand.

Where were the rest? Filling the ditches.

On this alone, Yang He could conclude that once Liu Chengzong entered Fengzhou Beach, he would fight the Jin state to the death without end.

But the question was: what about before Liu Chengzong entered Fengzhou Beach?

He felt that, given that Liu the Lion's personality was one that pressed an advantage relentlessly, as long as the Chongzhen Emperor dared to send him an imperial edict to move troops to Fengzhou Beach, Liu the Lion could not possibly rush nonstop toward Fengzhou Beach.

Yang He conservatively estimated that Liu the Lion would personally lead his elite troops from Xining, pass through Xi'an into Henan, go via Xuzhou into the Southern Metropolitan Region, and during this process, no one could question him — if asked, he had the imperial edict, and he was heading toward Hohhot.

Yang He sighed: "He would flaunt the imperial edict as he swaggered along, coercing the officials, generals, common people, and troops along the way. At the very least, Gansu and Ningxia would certainly not be bypassed."

The Chongzhen Emperor, holding the pearl of wisdom firmly in hand, said: "Then let him pass through. I have heard that in the past, Altan Khan also passed through Gansu and Ningxia plenty of times when entering Qinghai."

Oh, how this troubled Yang He. How was he supposed to explain to the emperor that some of Liu Chengzong's actions made him seem like a saint in the eyes of the border troops?

When Altan Khan crossed Gansu and Ningxia, the border troops were arrayed in strict readiness — after all, Altan Khan's Mongol soldiers not only did not issue them grain and pay, but given the chance, might even rob them of their money, grain, and wives.

If Liu Chengzong crossed Gansu and Ningxia, not to mention the border troops of Gansu and Ningxia following him with supplies in tow, even the border troops of Yulin Garrison would be craning their necks in anticipation!

Because Liu Chengzong really would issue them grain and pay, and might even give them wives.

"Your Majesty, if Liu Chengzong leads his army through Gansu, Ningxia, and Yulin, marching to the banks of the Yellow River — Daizhou is not far from the Yellow River. Would a country gentry like Sun Chuanting still be alive?"

Chongzhen's face showed incomprehension. Why would he not be alive?

Yang He said: "He is in Xining, and he already destroyed one hundred seventy gentry households in Lintao Prefecture, seizing five hundred thousand shi of grain. If he fights his way into…"

Before Yang He had even finished speaking, the look in Chongzhen's eyes had already turned wrong.

The Emperor's tone was even: "One hundred seventy households, five hundred thousand shi of grain — when did this happen?"

Yang He froze, then hurriedly lowered his head. He had spoken without thinking — how had he let that slip? But since it was out, he could only report truthfully: "In reply to Your Majesty, it was when the Qinghai Marshal's Office annexed He-Huang. The government troops, to protect the vassal state, were encamped at Lanzhou. Soldiers of the Marshal's Office rode out in all directions and raided Lintao on a grand scale, seizing a very substantial amount of provisions and pay."

Only then did Chongzhen catch the implication. Liu Xiangyu's letter said He-Huang had a bumper harvest this year, and a bumper harvest meant they had only brought in seven hundred twenty thousand shi of grain. No matter how high their taxes, even if they could take half, that was only three hundred sixty thousand shi.

Raiding one hundred seventy households in Lintao yielded five hundred thousand shi of grain?

Chongzhen nearly exploded with rage. Both hands braced on the table, he panted heavily for a long while before raising his head to look at Yang He and ask, "Have We done wrong?"

Yang He's heart lurched. Surely the Emperor wasn't thinking of imitating Liu the Lion and confiscating estates too?

Although he did think confiscation might be useful, the harm would also be enormous. He shook his head: "This old minister does not understand — to what matter does Your Majesty refer?"

Fortunately, what Chongzhen had in mind was different from his.

"In the second year, the court officials wished to donate their salaries to aid military funds. We forbade them from donating their salaries, thinking that if all ministers sincerely served the nation, promoting profit and eliminating abuses, the court would naturally reap the benefit — there was no need to donate salaries and speak of aid."

"In the third year, the court officials proposed that all officials of rank seven and above, both in the capital and the provinces, donate their salaries to aid military funds. Our thoughts were still the same, and We again forbade them from donating."

Chongzhen was no fool. He knew where his power came from. He was merely dissatisfied. His face bore a complicated, unreadable expression: "We have not been harsh toward the officials and gentry. Why will people not simply do their jobs properly? If those five hundred thousand shi of grain had been supplied to the army, they could have sustained fifty thousand troops encamped at Lanzhou for a year. Could Liu Chengzong have taken it from them then?"

Yang He did not take up this thread.

No one could extract those five hundred thousand shi of grain, and no one would willingly hand over their own family's three-thousand-plus shi of savings.

If the court asked local gentry to donate money and grain, anyone who donated a hundred shi would be considered a national loyalist. Short of outright robbery, no one could get their hands on that grain.

Even confiscating estates would not get it.

Yang He thought to himself, when Liu Chengzong sent troops to plunder, to haul away grain, those soldiers knew in their hearts that the grain they hauled back would be for them to eat... even so, Yang He figured there was still, more or less, wastage.

Everyone has selfish motives.

If the court sent men to confiscate estates, sent local troops to do it — could they be trusted? And if the Emperor used his own trusted Capital Garrison or even the Purified Army to do it — could they be trusted?

Even the Purified Army, when hauling money and grain, knew perfectly well that none of it would end up in their own stomachs.

Chongzhen was thoroughly frustrated. This won't do, that won't do. "Then what does Minister Yang think should be done? How can we both make Liu Chengzong fight the Jin over Fengzhou Shoal?"

"It is very difficult. Fengzhou Shoal is too far from Xining. Rather than lure him, it would be better to lure the Three Fools of the Northern Desert."

In truth, Yang He felt distance was not the problem. The problem was that right in front of Liu Chengzong, just over the Qilian Mountains, lay the two oases of Ganzhou and Liangzhou in Gansu.

He would have to fight either way. The Later Jin troops at Fengzhou Shoal might not necessarily be easier to deal with than the Gansu army, and fighting Gansu would be easier logistically. Liu Chengzong might not abandon the near for the distant.

But Yang He did not want to say it. Before the Emperor, it was best never to offer any suggestion.

Otherwise, the suggestion was yours, the execution was yours, the Emperor gave you all the manpower and resources you asked for — and in the end, if the matter failed, who else was to blame but you?

The affairs of the state had reached a point where the problems were no longer isolated to one or two places. Everything was linked in a chain. You could patch this spot, and the problem would be solved — but somewhere else would break because of that patch.

It was just like His Majesty Chongzhen dealing with Wei Zhongxian, then dealing with all the eunuchs, only to discover that without eunuchs it wouldn't work, and then having to assign eunuchs to oversee the army and oversee the government again.

The result was worse than if he had dealt with Wei Zhongxian and then left the other eunuchs alone.

If a system can still run, it's best not to touch it.

But when the Emperor wanted to do something, it could not be refused. Yang He had no choice but to say, "If Your Majesty has this intention, this old minister believes it should not be stated openly. Simply say that the former market grants for the Chahar are to be awarded to him, but he must come to Shahukou to collect them."

"If he is willing to come collect the market grants, he will have to go to Fengzhou Shoal. If he is unwilling to come collect them, then so be it — the court loses nothing, and he has no pretext for stirring up trouble. The border troops of the Five Garrisons will also know to guard against him."

Yang He's thoughts were rather complicated. To some degree, some of his thinking was actually quite similar to Chongzhen's.

For instance, he both wanted the Emperor to focus his mind on the eastern affairs and not think about the west, lest something provoke Liu Chengzong and send him out to slaughter in all directions; yet on the other hand, he also felt that whatever the Emperor did ultimately did not matter.

Provoke Liu Chengzong or not, he was bound to come out sooner or later. Yang He knew perfectly well that Liu Chengzong's ambition was to become Emperor.

Just like this Great Ming — it was not afraid of people meddling. Meddle a bit, and it would fall apart faster; don't meddle, and it would still fall apart sooner or later.

Yang He knew perfectly well when the Great Ming would fall apart, or rather in what form it would fall apart — none of it was something he could control.

At this thought, he became deeply melancholy.

He said to the Emperor, "Your Majesty, please pay more attention to the bandit hordes of the Central Plains. The harm they do to the nation is far greater than the eastern caitiffs and the western bandits."

----- Off-topic -----

Good evening! The baby kept fussing last night — every time she fussed, I woke up. I slept all day today.