Chapter 505: Gazing at the Wind

The surrender of Shandan Guard and the opening of its gates had little to do with anyone else — it was mainly because Zhu Houji had done his groundwork well.

Zhu Houji decided to surrender not out of fear, but because Liu Chengzong happened to use exactly the right method of persuasion.

Zhu Houji was a man who looked ahead and behind; the underlying psychology of such a cautious, forward-and-backward-looking nature is a desire to cover every angle.

When you can gather enough information and make a decision, it's called being thoughtful and thorough; when you can't gather enough information and can't make a decision, it's called being indecisive and irresolute.

To put it bluntly, it's greed — hoping every decision is perfectly flawless, maximizing benefit in every way.

Without external influence, he might still have been stuck at the decision-making stage even by the time Feng Rang launched the siege, because no matter what he did, standing in the position of Guard Commander defending a city, covering every angle was simply impossible.

But in that day and night, the Great Ming gave him no useful information whatsoever, while Liu the Lion's letter urging surrender showed him a clear path forward, helping him cut away the extraneous information and leaving only the matters he needed to consider for this battle.

If you can hold it, hold it; if you can't, surrender.

Making the choice became much simpler, because it wasn't really a question at all — Ding Guodong couldn't hold Jiayu Pass, Zhao Zhirui couldn't hold Suzhou, Li Hongsi couldn't hold Ganzhou, Yang Jiamo couldn't hold Gaotai; what gave him, Zhu Houji, the right to hold Shandan Guard at a time like this?

The Battle of Gaotai brought the worst consequence for the Ming forces in Gansu — it wasn't the death in battle of the Gansu-born great general Yang Jiamo that made people realize Liu Chengzong was invincible.

Rather, it was that after the officers and soldiers in eastern Gansu became aware of this situation, the Liangzhou side did not, in a short time, organize the seventy to eighty fortresses and strongholds around Shandan Guard and Yongchang Guard east of Ganzhou, and did not establish a second defensive line behind Ganzhou.

In other words, the Ming troops here were neither organized for defense nor informed of any orders... because the whole of Gansu had been scared out of its wits by Yang Jiamo's death in battle, Li Hongsi's rout, and Wang Xingshan's capture.

A consensus had formed in everyone's mind: the Marshal's army had swept forward irresistibly from beyond Jiayu Pass, advancing to the Ganzhou line in a mere three months. With the garrison commanders all dead, Liu Chengzong's speed of advance would only be faster, not slower — half a month would be enough to push to the walls of Liangzhou.

Their army even moved faster than the Ming army's couriers; there was no need at all to set up some second defensive line east of Ganzhou that would break at the first charge — just setting up defenses directly at Liangzhou was enough.

Even Hong Chengchou never imagined that Liu Chengzong, invincible on the battlefield, would be pinned down in Ganzhou for a full half month by the organizational degradation brought by surrendered troops.

In his planning, if the eastern Gansu fortress cluster centered on Shandan Guard and Yongchang Guard could delay Liu Chengzong for fifteen days after Yang Jiamo's death, he'd be burning high incense in gratitude.

He could never have dreamed that Liu Chengzong would, at such a moment, squat in Ganzhou for a full fifteen days.

This period was quite productive for the Marshal's army. Three standard battalions of over three thousand men each were reorganized into three grand battalions of over five thousand men each; equipment was strengthened, new regulations for supply were established, independent combat capability was enhanced, yet the overall combat structure remained unchanged.

The three grand battalion colonels — Zhang Tianlin, Gao Yingdeng, and Wei Qian'er — were itching for action, their blades already sharpened, just waiting for the Grand Marshal to launch the army eastward so they could see who could carve another chunk of flesh from the Great Ming.

The remaining colonels were not discouraged either. There were still plenty of surrendered troops not assigned to combat battalions; they had all been sent to the various Ganzhou guards to farm military colonies. Once they earned merit later, they too could consolidate the standard battalions under their command into grand battalions.

Although battle rewards would have to wait until after Gansu was pacified, any clear-eyed person could see right now that the colonels of these grand battalions would definitely outrank those of the standard battalions in official title.

But for the three cities east of Ganzhou, it was a time of anxious suspense. Li Hongsi's routed troops fled eastward in a swarm, spreading news of the defeat everywhere. The unstoppable Marshal's army hung overhead like a blade.

The defending commanders of the various guards could not sleep at night. For a full half month, not a single soldier in all of eastern Gansu got a good night's rest, terrified that if they slept too soundly, Liu Chengzong's army would surge in like a tide and drown them without a trace of bone or flesh.

It was at this moment that Shandan Guard opened its gates and offered surrender. In just three days, letters between Feng Rang and Liu Chengzong traveled two round trips. First, Feng Rang sent word of Shandan's gate-opening; Liu Chengzong sent a reply, soothing Zhu Houji's initial fear and anxiety after surrendering, telling him to prepare a list of those who had rendered meritorious service on the night before the gates opened, so that he could bestow rewards when he arrived.

In truth, Shandan Guard was also a thorny problem for Liu Chengzong.

The officers of Shandan Guard were trustworthy, because Zhu Houji handled matters flawlessly. On the night before the gates opened, he had sent the seven officers within the guard unwilling to surrender, along with their families, all to Liangzhou. Those who remained in the city were basically all officers who had no objection to surrendering.

But from Liu Chengzong's perspective, the public sentiment in Shandan Guard was very difficult to manage.

For him, it wasn't a matter of trusting newly surrendered troops or not — it was just about ensuring absolute certainty. He wasn't short of troops at this time; leaving the banner troops in Shandan Guard was simple enough.

He only needed to transfer all weapons, armor, warhorses, donkeys, and mules into Ganzhou, leave behind farming tools and plow oxen, and station even just two chiliarchy headquarters in Ganzhou to guarantee no worries from the rear.

But the problem was that in the three days since surrendering, Shandan Guard had already become a pot of oil boiling over a raging fire. Feng Rang and Zhu Houji... couldn't keep the lid on.

The mere announcement by Feng Rang, on Liu Chengzong's behalf, that everything in Shandan Guard would remain as before and that the Grand Marshal wanted the banner troops to prepare for the autumn harvest — that alone set the whole city in an uproar.

In the city there were four brothers. The eldest was an unsubstantively appointed chiliarch named Li Fengji; the second was a substantively appointed centurion named Li Kaizhao; the third was a military student at the Shandan Guard Academy named Li Congqian; the youngest was an unsubstantively appointed centurion named Li Congxun.

When Zhu Houji opened the gates and surrendered, these four brothers were at the very forefront. They were either unsubstantively appointed or low-ranking officers, and had always had good relations with the rank-and-file banner troops. With Shandan Guard changing its banners, people like them were the most excited.

But as soon as Feng Rang said Liu Chengzong intended for Shandan Guard to focus on farming, the four brothers were pushed forward by the banner troops and kicked up a fierce fuss. Follow the Great Ming and suffer farming; follow the Grand Marshal and still fucking suffer farming — then hadn't the Grand Marshal come for nothing? War!

They wanted war!

The kind of war Ding Guodong and Mi Layin fought when they attacked Gaotai — the kind of war where three-quarters of all spoils from taking a city belonged to every man in that army, living and dead.

The target didn't matter; they only needed the Grand Marshal to point a direction. The poor grunts of Shandan Guard wanted to fight for themselves. They wanted to fight a battle like Hei Chengyin's — the first to scale the city wall, beaten half to death, and promoted straight to Guard Commander the moment he was rescued.

Liu Chengzong looked at Feng Rang's letter, his entire expression like an old man on the subway looking at his phone... Banner troops wanting to fight for themselves was perfectly normal; this was a consequence he had foreseen when he promulgated the reward scale at Gaotai.

Because Gansu was not Shaanxi. Shaanxi's soldiers had starved enough — whoever let them eat their fill, they followed. Gansu's soldiers had a somewhat better life and higher demands; whoever let them live a good life, they would follow.

What truly made his expression complicated were the names of these four brothers.

Fengji, Kaizhao, Congqian, Congxun.

What kind of father would give his children names like these? A whole family that leaped out of the late Tang and Five Dynasties. Fengji — "meeting auspiciousness, turning misfortune to fortune" — a warrior's exclusive, extremely unyielding. Kaizhao — zhao means to strike, to plan, or a frontier region — this name was basically "Li Nation-Builder."

Congxun was the most restrained name among the four brothers; Congqian, the most wildly unrestrained.

Liu Chengzong wasn't very interested in the four brothers. What interested him was the father of these four brothers. What kind of father needed to tell his sons not to be too wild, to be humble; not to be disobedient, to follow the rules; and on top of turning misfortune to fortune, also to expand the frontiers?

Upon inquiring and learning that the four brothers' father was named Li Kesi, Liu Chengzong understood. The root of this issue wasn't in their father's generation — it was their grandfather who loved these names brimming with martial vigor.

Very fierce. Liu Chengzong thought it was rather good. Coincidentally, the three battalions had just finished reorganizing, so he sent a letter to Jiayu Pass, ordering Huang Shengxiao to leave one chiliarchy headquarters to garrison Suzhou and Jiayu Pass, and then bring his troops to Ganzhou.

For Ganzhou, Liu Chengzong appointed Cao Yao as the Gansu Governor-General, placing Huang Shengxiao's artillery battalion, Song Xian of Suzhou Guard, and Hei Chengyin of Ganzhou Guard under his command to garrison the Gansu region, supply military provisions and logistics, plan the distribution of farmland in Gansu, and manage army rewards.

After that, the main army set out to continue eastward. At the same time, he sent a letter to Feng Rang, telling him that since the banner troops of Shandan Guard wanted to follow and fight, and their martial spirit could be harnessed, he should select the able-bodied and organize them into one chiliarchy headquarters, leaving the rest in Shandan to prepare for the autumn harvest.

Liu Chengzong happened to have an empty Ganzhou Battalion structure available. Now that Suzhou Battalion had proven itself a combat-worthy force through the Battle of Gaotai, and Bee-Tail Needle, its army overseer, no longer needed to stay there, she was promoted from battalion vice-colonel to colonel and transferred to Ganzhou Battalion as its colonel.

At the same time, there were personnel changes in Suzhou Battalion. Hu Zhishen was transferred to the Gansu Regional Military Commission as an assistant commissioner. Ding Guodong was promoted to colonel, Mi Layin to vice-colonel. The two chiliarchs under the battalion were both transferred in from outside.

One was called Qi Shuangquan, of Guanzhong soldier origin. He had been a centurion in the old Yan'an Battalion when Ai Mu served as Yan'an Colonel. After the defeat at Wen'anyi, he was stripped of his post by the court and went to join his brother-in-law Ma Maoguan, transporting silver for the court. Who knew the boxes he was transporting were empty, so he joined Liu the Lion. He had followed and fought ever since but hadn't achieved any notable merit; earlier he was still just a squad commander, so for him this counted as a promotion.

The other chiliarch was a lateral transfer, named Feng Dakui, a cavalry officer who had repeatedly earned merit in battle. He was originally from the northern Shaanxi peasant army, a centurion when Yang Yao trained the cavalry battalion. During the great battle in Hehuang, he had charged and routed the government troops under Dong Xueli, and later served as a chiliarch under Zhang Tianlin.

Liu Chengzong marched his troops to Shandan but did not enter the city to rest and regroup at all. He merely set up camp outside the city and assembled all the officers and banner troops of Shandan Guard for an address — counting as a single meeting.

The banner troops of Shandan Guard formed up in two separate formations: the eight hundred elite soldiers selected by Feng Rang in one formation, and the three thousand four hundred banner troops not selected in the other.

Outside the city, Liu Chengzong met Zhu Houji and also met the four Li brothers of Shandan Guard. They could not be called strikingly handsome, but each of them was indeed brawny and powerful.

They didn't seem to be useless little pastries like Hu Zhishen; at least they hadn't neglected the military skills of hereditary guard officers. When casually asked a few questions on military law and regulations, they could answer readily enough.

However, the eight hundred elite troops Feng Rang had selected in Shandan Guard by weeding out the old and weak did not meet Liu the Lion's standards.

Shandan Guard was not like Suzhou or Ganzhou. Suzhou was a border region, and though it had not experienced battle, daily training was ample. Ganzhou was the seat of the Gansu Regional Military Commission, so the officers there were usually quite diligent.

This place, by contrast, lay in the interior of Gansu. The banner troops had only two regular duties: farming military colonies and grazing horses. Military matters were extremely lax.

But at this moment, their martial spirit could be harnessed. To be honest, this was also the first time Liu Chengzong had learned just how much motivation the promise of distributing all the spoils of a captured city could give to banner troops who heard such news.

In truth, taking the high platform didn't bring him much profit — there weren't many civilians there to begin with. But even that little was enough to set the entire Shandan Guard ablaze. What the banner troops saw in those goods wasn't just wealth, but hope — the hope that however much effort you put in, that's how much you'd get paid.

The four Li brothers had backed the right side this time. Four men, and they secured the posts of one battalion commander and three company commanders among the eight hundred elite troops. They were folded into the Ganzhou Battalion of the Bee-Tail Needle, becoming its new enforcers.

Liu Chengzong had led troops long enough to know never to spout bookish talk at soldiers. He had both battalions form ranks and gave a speech simple enough for anyone to grasp: "Those chosen for the Marshal's Army, stick with me and work hard. A soldier eats by the sword — that's heaven's own truth. So long as you keep military law, obey orders, and fight to the death, I, Liu Chengzong, a common grunt who rose from the ranks, will be your backer from this day on. Spoils and rewards, you'll have more than you can carry."

With over four thousand men in two battalions, he could shout his throat raw and still not reach everyone. Fortunately, Zhu Houji was a man who understood things thoroughly. His formation was meticulously arranged — the thirty-eight company commanders had their troops drawn up in long "twin dragons emerging from the water" columns, ensuring that in every company, someone could hear.

"Soldiers move for a righteous cause, and the great righteousness is ours. The court cannot cure the realm's deep-rooted, chronic ills — the imperial clan, the enfeoffed princes, the local strongmen, the corrupt officials and venal clerks. The countless millions under heaven have suffered them long enough. We soldiers will use the force of arms to overturn them all. So you fight not just for me, Liu Chengzong, but for yourselves, and for all under heaven."

"Those not chosen, don't lose heart. There'll be no shortage of campaigns ahead. Stay in the guard, farm the fields well, eat your fill, drill hard, and make babies. No one can swindle your military farmland anymore. Train your martial skills, and next time, you'll march out with me."

The banner troops of Shandan Guard roared their assent. Liu Chengzong then appointed Battalion Commander Li Fengji to lead his unit into the Ganzhou Battalion and follow him as he marched the army east, advancing on Yongchang Guard.

But as the great army set out, disappointment soon came for Li Fengji's Ganzhou Battalion unit.

First, inside the border wall, the commanders and garrison officers of Xinkai Dam, Yangjia Dam Fort, and Nuanquan Fort came to surrender. Then, from outside the border wall, Shanma Lake Beacon likewise sent men to offer allegiance. Huazhai Fort sent no one, but its garrison had already fled ten days earlier.

The scout cavalry reported that Huazhai Fort was now occupied by forty-two sheep... Their shepherd had bolted the moment he laid eyes on the scouts.

Marching further east, the forts along the border wall — Xinhe Fort, Fengcheng Post, Shixiakou Relay Station, and the rest — either surrendered or fled. A few forts even raised the White Lotus and Northern Dipper banner of the Three Tribulations Society on the spot. And as they drew near Muyang River, something even bigger happened.

Yongchang Guard had suffered an internal feud. The surviving Assistant Commander Ge Jin personally delivered the Yongchang defense map to Liu Chengzong's command carriage, and even brought him a piece of news of tremendous weight.

Hong Chengchou had fled.

Good evening!