Chapter 456: Defection

Chen Qiyu had never considered whether he could actually buy Ren Quan'er's loyalty.

He had met Ren Quan'er several times back when he was inspecting Yan'an — though this Yan'an Guard Commander was very young, Chen fully recognized his talent in both civil and military affairs.

The Yan'an Guard's situation was no ordinary difficulty. Ever since Liu Chengzong had run wild there, the place had no troops to speak of, no weapons to speak of, and was plagued by severe drought. Bandits were swarming everywhere from all directions — whoever you put in charge there was doomed.

Yet somehow, under the successive commands of Yang Yanchang and Ren Quan'er, the Yan'an Guard could advance to repel enemies a thousand li away and retreat to sustain its military households — they brought this dead end to life.

Chen Qiyu was not a man who couldn't tolerate a grain of sand in his eye. In the end, if sand got in your eye, you just rubbed it out — no need to pick a fight with the sand. In Chen Qiyu's eyes, Yang Yanchang and Ren Quan'er were both grains of sand of no consequence.

What truly occupied his mind was the Yan'an Battalion — among the local battalions he could mobilize, this one stood out most in military bearing and discipline, and its weaponry and equipment were exceptionally fine.

Looking across the realm right now, there were armies that could march without quartering in commoners' homes; there were armies with three to four thousand horses and mules in a single battalion; there were also battalions fully armored and armed, with over three hundred and sixty war chariots and as many as eighty-one cannons of various calibers.

But apart from the Yan'an Battalion, not a single battalion satisfied all these conditions at once. Typically, the well-equipped ones had poor discipline, and the well-disciplined ones had shoddy equipment.

When they set out from Yan'an Prefecture, they even brought their own dry rations.

This Yan'an Battalion, outstanding in conduct, equipment, and bearing, had one overriding problem — it wasn't Yang Yanchang or Ren Quan'er as individuals, but that from top to bottom, you simply couldn't find a single person the court could trust with confidence.

In the past, the Yan'an Battalion couldn't be transferred out, so no one ever dug deep. Last year, when Chen Qiyu began entertaining the idea of keeping this army by his side, he devoted considerable effort to investigating — and the deeper he dug, the colder his spine grew.

Although all official positions in the Yan'an Battalion were court-appointed in name, Chen Qiyu was absolutely certain: put someone else in as Regional Commander or Guard Commander, and never mind commanding these arrogant, battle-hardened soldiers — if he survived three months, it would only be because he'd sunk to their level.

Because this wasn't a problem of one Yang Yanchang or one Ren Quan'er — it was that officers at every level had followed Yang Yanchang up from the rank and file, and the vast majority had murky origins.

The Yan'an Battalion and the Yan'an Guard had six men who truly held power.

First, Regional Commander Yang Yanchang; second, Guard Commander Ren Quan'er; third, Chief Battalion Commander Lu Bin of the Frontier Gate Post; and the three Chiliarchs of the Yan'an Battalion.

This Lu Bin was unproblematic — a native of Fushi County, his entire clan slaughtered by bandits, leaving only the two brothers to enlist. All of this was traceable.

But the three Chiliarchs were different. One was called Shi Wanzhong, of Suide refugee stock. Another was Chen Ruji — his household registration was in Fushi County in northern Shaanxi, but his accent was pure Guanzhong. Both had murky origins, no roots to speak of, appearing suddenly in the Yan'an Guard four years ago and rising steadily through battle merit.

The last Chiliarch, at least, had a traceable background — Liu Xiangshan. His military record said he was from Yanchuan, but the county, township, and baojia household registers over in Yanchuan had all been lost in the early bandit chaos, so his pre-enlistment history was utterly unfindable.

His enlistment record was bizarre — he was made a Platoon Commander right from the start. His service record was heroic enough: he took his three sons and followed Yang Yanchang to relieve the capital, lost two sons beneath the walls of Luanzhou, and brought back the heads of two Eastern Tartar slaves and three surrendered soldiers.

The name was also highly suspicious. Liu was no major surname in Yan'an. Now Liu Xiangshan was a Chiliarch in the Yan'an Battalion, and his sole surviving son served as a Company Commander in the same battalion — and this Company Commander's name was Liu Chengguang.

Chen Qiyu had even sent men to find the roster of Shaanxi soldiers who fell at Luanzhou. Among those surnamed Liu with the generation character Xiang, there was one; with the generation character Cheng, there were three. Two of them were Liu Xiangshan's sons — one called Chengjia, one called Chengshun.

To the west, there was a Xiang-generation man named Liu Xiangyu. This man here was called Xiangshan. Xiangyu had two sons, named Chengzu and Chengzong, plus a nephew named Chengyun. Here, there were Chengjia, Chengshun, and Chengguang.

The moment Chen Qiyu saw these names, his blood pressure spiked. Damn it all — Yun, Shun, Jia, Chang, Guang, Zong, Yao, Zu — they'd nearly assembled the whole set. How could there be no connection?

And yet, precisely — there was no connection.

Yanchuan was far too treacherous. When Chen Qiyu entered northern Shaanxi last year, he'd traveled following the goats, not daring to go anywhere. He sent a trusted aide — with the mindset of a man resigned to being blown up by a landmine — to go village by village in Yanchuan asking about Liu Xiangshan and Liu Chengguang.

This trusted aide was a formidable man himself. He charged through the minefields twice, going and coming back — a level of reckless daring that would have had Li Zicheng kowtowing to him as a master and Gao Yingxiang abdicating his throne.

But he still couldn't bring back any useful intelligence. For all that the common folk of Yan'an Prefecture bitterly hated Hong Chengchou, they were extraordinarily warm toward Chen Qiyu's men.

Often, the moment the aide entered a village and opened his mouth, some disabled-but-indomitable old man would rush to tell them exactly where Master Xiangshan had once taken a tumble and where Young Master Chengguang had wet the bed as a child — all described in vivid, lifelike detail.

The aide had risked life and limb charging through the minefields, only to return and transform a hundred doubts into a thousand helpless sighs, reporting truthfully: "General Chengguang was restless from childhood — his footprints cover all nine villages and eighteen strongholds of Yanchuan."

Chen Qiyu thought to himself, well, that is quite restless — and finally set his mind at ease.

But this was entirely because the aide didn't want trouble and didn't explain in detail. The whole of Yanchuan County, having endured the earliest droughts, wars, and bandit plagues, now had only nine villages and eighteen strongholds left — and all of them were in treacherous mountain fastnesses.

Two of those strongholds were so desolate they didn't even have a village earth-god shrine — yet Young Master Chengguang had supposedly wet the bed there. That the Yanchuan City God's temple wasn't dedicated to this father-and-son pair, Liu Xiangshan and Liu Chengguang, was something Chen Qiyu's trusted aide found deeply unjust in his heart of hearts.

It was precisely because power in the Yan'an Battalion was so highly concentrated, dependent on the Yan'an Guard's support, with a command structure simple in origin yet difficult to control — that Chen Qiyu had set his sights on Ren Quan'er.

This was not merely a contingency against Yang Yanchang, but also Chen Qiyu's contingency for splitting the Yan'an Battalion apart.

Chen Qiyu didn't care whose man Ren Quan'er was, nor whether he'd been serving at Yang Yanchang's stirrup since childhood as a banner soldier. The status of Five-Province Supreme Commander was enough to let him disregard any bond of allegiance under heaven.

Right in front of Lian Guoshi, he laid out his terms to Ren Quan'er.

The demand: retake Lanzhou and hold it. The promise: promotion to Assistant Regional Military Commissioner, independent command of a force, appointment as Deputy General of the Supreme Command Battalion.

The Supreme Command Battalion — Chen Qiyu's own direct battalion as Five-Province Supreme Commander. Deputy General — the commanding officer of the Supreme Commander's battalion, at the rank of Vice Regional Commander. Assistant Regional Military Commissioner — the minimum official rank required to hold the military post of Vice Regional Commander.

Chen Qiyu, as the realm's foremost Supreme Commander wielding military authority over five provinces, was offering Ren Quan'er — a man from seven generations of impoverished military households, who at age five had been carrying blades and lifting matchlocks for Yang Yanchang — the position of the realm's foremost Vice Regional Commander. It could not be refused.

Beyond this incomparably tempting offer, before departure Chen Qiyu also had Ren Quan'er read the recent battle reports submitted from all quarters — they were appallingly grim.

In the two months since the various generals had tailed the bandits into Henan, every unit had been ceaselessly reporting merit. Over a hundred thousand bandits had, in two months, suffered over eight thousand killed in battle, with routs too numerous to count.

But no one could take any joy in these reports, because the corresponding reality was city after city falling, and officials vying to die in duty.

First, the counties of Xunyang fell. Then Xingshan County in Jingzhou Prefecture — a county seat ringed by mountains, rising amid the peaks — was breached. Magistrate Liu Dingguo was killed.

After that, the horde broke Xunxi, broke Fang County, broke Baokang, besieged Nanzhang, seized Dangyang, and pressed straight up along the river into the densely forested, peak-stacked region of Guizhou and Badong — the whole court was shaken.

Court deliberations ordered the deployment of five thousand troops from the Zhen'gan Battalion in western Huguang to suppress the rebellion. But the Zhen'gan Battalion had only two thousand men. Vice Regional Commander of Huguang Yang Zhengfang, himself of Zhen'gan Miao stock, led the vanguard to retake Dangyang, while Huguang Regional Commander Xu Chengming recruited another thirty-six hundred as reinforcements.

Jingzhou's Circuit Judge Liu Chengying, sensing that calamity had arrived and their forces were insufficient, rode alone to the three Tusi domains of Shinan, urgently explaining the crisis. He led five thousand Shizhou native troops out of the mountains, fighting successive battles at Xiangxi Dam and Pingyang Dam, taking over a thousand heads.

Yet up ahead, Kuizhou Prefecture was utterly unprepared for the bandits. Suddenly facing a great foe, the Prefectural Judge and Circuit Judge all fled. Only the Deputy Prefect He Chengguang remained to manage the prefectural affairs, leading the officials and populace in a desperate defense of the city. When their strength was exhausted and the city fell, He Chengguang staggered back to his office, straightened his robes and cap, and sat upright in the hall. The bandits entered, killed him, and threw his body into the river.

Then Daning was besieged. Magistrate Gao Rilin sought aid but received none. He could only lead the militia in a desperate defense at the north gate. Defeated and captured, he cursed them without yielding and was dismembered and burned.

Those who died with him included the Confucian Instructor Gao Xi and the Patrol Inspector Chen Guojun — their wives and daughters perished alongside them. Immediately after, at Wushan, Commander Wang Yongnian and Patrol Inspector Guo Zuanhua led their troops in pitched battle and were annihilated to the last man.

Chen Qiyu handed these battle reports to Ren Quan'er and said, "General Ren, you see it now. The Yan'an Battalion must retake Lanzhou City and block Liu Chengzong. The hope of annihilating this bandit horde rests upon your shoulders."

Ren Quan'er straightened his spine ramrod-stiff: "Rest assured, Your Excellency — this humble officer will not betray your expectations!"

Chen Qiyu was completely at ease. The young man before him was a very traditional feudal general — unlike the battalion officers, the guard commanders under the hereditary system were true feudal generals.

In one hand, the profit of promotion and ennoblement; in the other, the ideal of defending home and country. How many generals shed blood in vain seeking such an opportunity? No general was immune to this.

"Take the battle reports back with you. Let General Yang see them too. The safety of the realm rests in your two hands, Commander Ren." Chen Qiyu looked at Ren Quan'er's face, where a hint of beard had just begun to grow, and clapped him on the shoulder. "Your moment has come."

Watching Ren Quan'er's retreating figure as he took his leave, Lian Guoshi asked, "Does Your Excellency truly intend to make the Yan'an Battalion your Supreme Command Battalion?"

He felt as though an elite battalion that might have been gathered under his own command was slipping away from him.

"Do they not deserve to be my Supreme Command Battalion?"

Chen Qiyu was in excellent spirits, his smile playful. Then he withdrew the smile and said, "Half the Yan'an Battalion. I've also promised Regional Commander Yang Yanchang that if he retakes Lanzhou City, I will recommend him as Regional Commander of Lintao."

Only then did Lian Guoshi say in surprise, "Your Excellency means to dismantle the Yan'an Battalion?"

"What else? Watch them remain a solid iron plate, return to the ungovernable Yan'an Prefecture after the war, and casually fight their own private wars whenever they feel like it — obeying orders but ignoring summons?"

Chen Qiyu's face was cold, and his tone very low: "Brother Junyu, don't forget — last year brought locusts. Every region was too busy fighting to exterminate them. The eggs in the soil became swarms this summer, able to fly from Taiyuan all the way to Jiayu Pass. This year, the north will see men eating men."

Lian Guoshi very much wanted to say that he had ordered locust extermination last year, but saying it or not made little difference. Last year, armies from every region massed in Shanxi and fought everything to ruin. With something like locust extermination, no single plot of land could play a decisive role.

What was more, with years of continuous warfare, there were far too many places with no people left.

This situation made Lian Guoshi, a grand coordinator, sigh like the most ignorant peasant in the fields: "Heaven is calling in its harvest of men."

He no longer believed this war could be ended by their material strength. In the end, only when enough people had died, when the number was sufficient, would the calamity subside.

"Man's will conquers Heaven."

Chen Qiyu said this with finality, then returned to the main subject: "If the Yan'an Battalion goes back, they will inevitably take to the wilds as bandits. Better to disband them here on the spot, and while these soldiers can still fight, have them do more for the court and the common people."

He looked at Lian Guoshi and said: "Therefore, in this battle to retake Lanzhou, we must still rely on Brother Junyu's two battalions as support. Show your ability. Let Yang Yanchang, who has been pushed to the front lines, see clearly — if he turns bandit and flees to the Liu rebel, this is what he will face!"

"Liu Chengzong cannot give him the Lintao Regional Commander post. Use both threat and inducement, both methods at once, to make him serve the court with all his heart."

Chen Qiyu spoke no further with Lian Guoshi. He turned and left the tent, raised his head to gaze at the low-hanging fiery clouds on the horizon, and remained silent for a long time.

Heaven clearly has the virtue of cherishing life, yet everything man needs will inevitably spoil.

Ren Quan'er returned to the Yan'an army's main camp at Anding County. Inside, all the officers were gathered in the assistant regional commander's tent. They had just learned from Yang Yanchang that holding Lanzhou would earn the Five-Province Supreme Commander's recommendation for the Lintao Regional Commander post. Their excitement was beyond words.

Whether it was Shi Wanzhong, Chen Ruji, or Liu Xiangshan, none of them had ever imagined Yang Yanchang could become a regional commander. If this self-styled general could become a regional commander, did that mean they, too, might one day hold such a post?

They were eagerly discussing the future when Commander Ren Quan'er's arrival brought everything to an abrupt halt. Their smiles froze into awkwardness as they looked at Ren Quan'er, not daring to speak.

Liu Xiangshan, the most senior and respected battalion commander, asked: "Commander Ren, the Supreme Commander summoned you. What happened?"

"Master Shan, the battle report was something the Supreme Commander showed General Yang. The strong among the roving bandits rampage at the front, the weak fill the ditches behind. Nearly ten thousand are already dead."

Ren Quan'er set down the battle report, looked around at everyone, and said: "To retake Lanzhou, he wants me to serve as Vice Commander of the Supreme Command's Supervised Brigade."

Everyone immediately cheered, and excited congratulations resounded throughout the tent.

But Ren Quan'er waved his hand to stop them and said: "For this battle, I have already found three scapegoats. Lian Guoshi, He Renlong, and Zhang Yingchang will lead troops to assist our assault on the city. The Yan'an Battalion will turn coat beneath the city walls and kill them all."

At these words, everyone was stunned. The atmosphere inside the tent visibly congealed.

Times had changed. The poor men of northern Shaanxi back then had each now won titles for their wives and sons, becoming men of consequence whose single stomp could shake the whole Yan'an Prefecture three times over. Making them strike bandits was easy; colluding with bandits was also easy. But defecting to bandits... cutting off a man's road to wealth was like killing his parents.

Liu Xiangshan looked at Yang Yanchang. They had forged a deep brotherhood on the royal escort campaign and were the backbone of the Liu clan kinsmen in the army. His hand had already moved to his saber hilt, waiting only for a word from Yang Yanchang.

Shi Wanzhong had not thought of drawing his blade, but a flush of anger rose on his face. The Lintao Garrison had been nearly emptied. There were vacancies for regional commander, vice regional commander, and even assistant regional commander. By rotation, someone among them was bound to get one.

"Do you dare kill me?"

Facing the drawn swords and nocked bows, Ren Quan'er smiled easily. A short knife slid from his sleeve, and he raised his hand to lightly point it at Liu Xiangshan: "Grandpa Shan, let go of the hilt. Never mind that killing me is not so easy — killing me cuts off the road to seeking refuge with a superior when you reach a dead end in the future."

"What is more, the Five-Province Supreme Commander trusts me precisely because he does not trust you."

Yang Yanchang had never seen such a situation in the camp and hurriedly jumped out to smooth things over: "Hey, it hasn't come to that. Brother Liu, we haven't reached that step yet. Listen to me — why would we throw away fine official posts and insist on turning coat? In my view, we should discuss it with the Grand Commander and have him cede Lanzhou to us."

"The court has treated us well, and treated you, Commander Ren, well too." Yang Yanchang first placated Liu Xiangshan, then turned back to Ren Quan'er and said: "With the Grand Commander, we are all brothers. What is there that cannot be discussed?"

"There is no way to discuss it." Ren Quan'er looked at Yang Yanchang, his eyes smiling: "Between you and me, there can only be one regional commander. If there are two, I will have no way to keep watch over you."

"You turn coat and join the Marshal, and I will send your family over to you. I can see Grandpa Shan becoming the Lintao Regional Commander too. If you want to be a loyal servant of the court, I will take your head today."

Yang Yanchang's mind went blank: "This... why? Ren Quan'er, why must you make things hard for me?"

"In this world, Zhang Nian treated Hundred-Household Ren well, Yang He treated Fortress-Gate Thousand-Household Ren well, and Chen Qiyu has treated Commander Ren generously. Only you owe me a debt. You ordered me about for a full fourteen years, and I have only kept you under house arrest for four. Yang Yanchang, you still owe me ten years!"

Yang Yanchang had never realized Ren Quan'er held such a grudge. He spread his hands and said: "But I never harmed you. We both go become regional commanders, all the brothers find a way forward — isn't that good?"

Ren Quan'er suddenly gave a cold snort of laughter. His gaze swept over Yang Yanchang, then moved to Liu Xiangshan, Shi Wanzhong, and Chen Ruji in the tent. He said: "People treated Hundred-Household Ren well, treated Thousand-Household Ren well, and treated Commander Ren even better. But what about Ren Quan'er?"

"Only Chief Liu treated Ren Quan'er well. He healed Ren Quan'er's wounds, gave Ren Quan'er food. He only asked me to keep watch over Yang Yanchang. If I cannot keep watch, I will kill you."

At these words — thunk — the short knife was flung into the desk. Ren Quan'er suddenly exploded forward, lunged, and pressed Yang Yanchang's head down against the blade: "I ask you only one thing — will you turn coat or not!"