Chapter 534: Surnames of the Desert South

Liu Chengzong planned to send troops into the desert south.

He had someone escort Fang Zhenghua away to rest, then immediately issued orders to the Yulin Cavalry, summoning He Huchen and Yang Qi to the princely residence to discuss matters.

Both were former Regional Commanders; Liu Chengzong wanted to know what they understood about the Later Jin.

This time, even Yang Qi, normally the most eager to offer plans and advice, kept his mouth shut, not daring to claim any understanding of the Later Jin army.

They had already spent two or three years just in the Marshal's headquarters, and even longer suppressing rebellions in the northwest. After so much time and change, the Later Jin had undergone earth-shaking transformations. If nothing else, the Han commanders now leading troops for the Jin state on the front lines made that abundantly clear.

If even Yang Qi dared not speak, the others had even less to say.

Although among the three Regional Commanders, Liu Chengzong most favored the brave and battle-hungry He Huchen, He Huchen in fact had the shallowest seniority as a Regional Commander. He was a high-ranking Regional Commander equivalent akin to Cao Wenzhao; his closest posting to the Later Jin had been Coastal Defense Mobile Corps Commander at Tianjin, and apart from that he had always circled around the northwest.

On this matter, Yang Qi truly had the most experience. In the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, on Gao Di's recommendation, he was transferred from his post as Regional Commander of Yansui Garrison to Regional Commander of the Shanhai Pass Southern Entrance. At the end of that same year, he was appointed with his original rank and seal to garrison Shanhai and manage Liaodong. Li Bei had been his subordinate back then.

Yang Qi was very shrewd. Summoned suddenly to discuss strategy, and asked specifically about Jin state affairs, then connecting it to the imperial court sending an angel to deliver a message — he could not help but carefully weigh his words as he asked Liu Chengzong, "Marshal, is the court demanding that we send troops against the Jin state?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head at this, then found it a little amusing. He casually pulled out from his official desk the summary he had made of what Fang Zhenghua had said about the situation beyond the Xuan–Da border, and had a Yulin Cavalryman hand it to Yang Qi, saying, "See for yourself."

Looking at the summary Liu Chengzong had made, Yang Qi drew a sharp breath. He then clasped his fists in apology and requested the Yulin Cavalry fetch brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. In a few strokes he sketched out a rough map of the Nine Border Garrisons' strategic situation, which made Liu the Lion's eyes light up.

Though the sketch was drawn rather abstractly, it was indeed done very quickly, almost effortlessly.

Then, taking up his brush, he drew a loose circle over Xuan–Da, Yansui, Ningxia, and the desert south beyond the four garrisons, and said to Liu Chengzong and He Huchen, "Marshal, General He, at this moment an army of four hundred thousand is gathered here."

Liu Chengzong's eyes widened. This man truly would not stop until his words startled the dead. The Later Jin and the Khalkha Mongols — where would four hundred thousand troops come from? Even if you added the border armies of the Great Ming's four garrisons, you still couldn't scrape together... At this thought, it dawned on him. If you added the four garrisons' border armies, it really would be about that many.

Having spoken, Yang Qi clasped his fists toward Liu Chengzong with an expression of excitement and said, "Marshal, this moment is a heaven-sent opportunity for the Marshal's headquarters to attack Liangzhou in the north. Our army can advance all the way to the line of Zhongwei, Guyuan, Pingliang, and Baoji, seizing all the lands of Longxi."

Liu Chengzong nodded. This was the Marshal's headquarters' established strategy, but that was not what he wanted to ask about now. "Then does General Yang know why the Jin state is mobilizing troops on such a massive scale?"

Yang Qi answered as a matter of course, "To come plunder, I suppose. This season, they set out in spring and return in autumn. They cannot stay long in the desert south."

"Why is that?"

"Marshal, Liaodong has the Liao River and the Liao Marshes, which are like natural barriers. Only every winter when they freeze over can troops and horses travel across them. That is why all Liaodong conflicts erupt in the winter and spring seasons. With their main army out in the field, this humble officer estimates that by now Lord Shen of Dongjiang Garrison is already planning to launch a raid from Pi Island to smash their nests."

Liu Chengzong's eyebrows lifted almost imperceptibly. He asked, "In other words, before the freeze, the Jin army will certainly return to Shenyang?"

Hearing Liu Chengzong use a word like "certainly," Yang Qi hesitated slightly, but quickly analyzed, "Though the eastern brigands have sent troops to Xuan–Da in great numbers — one hundred twenty thousand soldiers — the majority are surrendered generals."

"Their great army has come on campaign, gathering suddenly beyond the border. They can breach the walls and enter within a single day, and the various border garrison forces will be unable to react in time, letting them run rampant for a spell. But once the border armies regain their senses, they won't be able to hold their ground."

Having said this, Yang Qi then stated with certainty, "In winter, even if the entire army does not withdraw, the main force will definitely return to Shenyang."

Liu Chengzong laughed at this, not at Yang Qi's judgment, but at the broader situation he described. Yet there was still one thing the soldiers all understood tacitly that went unspoken.

If government troops had sufficient supplies and training, then of course they would at all times burst forth with vigorous fighting strength and would, as a matter of course, fight to the death against the enemy. But the Ming army at present was clearly not in that situation.

When the Jin army breached the walls and entered, the border troops would not immediately burst forth with vigorous fighting strength. They had to wait until the Jin army broke cities and plundered the countryside; only then would the border troops, like divine beings descending to earth, bring out their full combat power and pursue relentlessly.

He had led troops into Shanxi before. Back then, the Ming army had shown little fighting desire against him when he was empty-handed, whereas Gao Yingxiang, laden with massive baggage after plundering, had clearly received very different treatment.

This was just money laundering. If government troops plundered a locality and got a thousand taels of silver, they ran the risk of punishment. But if bandits looted a thousand taels of silver and ran some distance, no one knew exactly which village or town the money came from, and then the government troops wiped them out — that silver was called spoils of war.

Beyond this, Yang Qi also had a blind spot in his thinking.

Liu Chengzong said, "You believe the eastern brigands are advancing into the desert south to plunder Xuan–Da?"

At this, not only Yang Qi was stunned — even He Huchen, who had been listening in at the side, was dumbfounded. They did not understand Liu Chengzong's meaning. If not to plunder Xuan–Da, then what else could it be for?

Surely not to escape the summer heat on the Gobi grasslands?

Yang Qi thought it over and over before affirming, "He will certainly plunder Xuan–Da, and he will certainly not fight a pitched battle with the Xuan–Da government troops."

Liu Chengzong neither agreed nor disagreed with this. He raised his hand and pointed at his own chest, let out a long breath, and only after a long while stood up, walked halfway around the official desk, and spoke. "His target is me."

Yang Qi's analysis stood from the Great Ming's perspective: beyond the Central Plains, everywhere was a barbarian wilderness, filled with savagery and cruelty. The nomadic tribes could not even produce an iron pot; if by chance they looted one, they regarded it as a treasure. They wore looted clothes that did not fit. Every tribe teetered on the edge of collapse and self-destruction at every moment.

But in reality, the great situation under heaven had already changed. Altan Khan's tribute enfiefment at Fengzhou Beach had happened fifty years ago. In those fifty years, the Great Ming had traded with Prince Shunyi's Hohhot, and traded with the Jianzhou Jurchens.

The Khalkha, where the Three Khans of the desert north dwelt, might still retain a relatively primitive Mongol flavor, but apart from that, by now, the Oirats in the northwest, the various tribes of the desert north, the Jianzhou Jin state, and the Great Ming's northern territories — the people living in these places could almost communicate by gestures alone.

People exchanged goods through trade, each supplying what the other lacked. Mongol nobles played the guzheng in the cities they had built; Han landlords rode horses and shot arrows in the outskirts. Though people's lifestyles and dietary habits still each had their own distinct characteristics, they no longer differed as vastly as heaven and earth, as they had in the past.

Pure farming and pure nomadism had become historical symbols on the verge of extinction in these places.

Mongols were not Tibetans, Tibetans were not Han, Han were not Jurchens, Jurchens were not Mongols — yet the distance between the people on this land was closer than ever before.

Faced with Yang Qi and the others' incomprehension, Liu Chengzong explained, "In the present world, four powers stand like a tripod: the Great Ming, the Later Jin, and the desert north. The foundation upon which each stands is population, and each has its own concept for populations of different origins."

Liu Chengzong continued, "The Great Ming is centered on the most traditional Han people; the desert north is centered on the most traditional Mongols; the Later Jin has fused the Jurchen Jushen, Han, and Mongols together and calls them all Manchu... What is the Marshal's headquarters?"

He Huchen thought briefly and said, "Han, Mongols, Tibetans?"

The Marshal's headquarters was an outsider in Qinghai, and had not yet forged a common identity. To the Han, it was the Marshal's headquarters; to the Mongols, it was the Duntawulus; and in the direction of Ü-Tsang where the Tibetans dwelled, it was primarily indirect rule through the three brothers of Huoluochi.

But the broad direction was already set. As Liu Chengzong's analysis unfolded, it made Yang Qi realize his earlier oversight. He spoke, "Marshal, do you mean that the world is not merely the Central Plains, and that the Later Jin's dispatch of troops to the desert south this time — the plundering of Xuan–Da is only to raise military funds, but its goal is to conquer the desert south Mongols?"

Liu Chengzong nodded. "You could say it is both. However, I believe that their massive mobilization is primarily to demonstrate their presence to the desert south Mongols."

"Which is to say, the Marshal intends to send troops into the desert south."

This time, Yang Qi's words carried no questioning tone, because Liu Chengzong had already made himself very clear.

Before this, when Liu Chengzong said that Hong Taiji's target was him, Yang Qi had only thought the Grand Marshal was having a bout of persecutory delusion.

But once Liu the Lion laid out the situation clearly — that the world was not merely the Central Plains, and that Hong Taiji's target was the desert south Mongols — the matter became much easier to understand.

The various tribes of the desert south had long since been shattered by war. Now, while not exactly displaced, each had gone its own way. The fighting men of the various tribes who could wage war, those of resolute character, had followed Ligdan Khan to the Marshal's headquarters; those loyal to feudal lords had mostly followed their nobles to the Later Jin; those of traditional mindset had gone to the Khalkha's Sechen Khanate; the physically robust were most likely serving as barbarian soldiers in the Great Ming's Nine Border Garrisons; and those without any particular ability were probably farming land for the garrison troops inside and outside the Great Wall.

What remained were scattered soldiers and stragglers, gathered in the territory of the Ordos Tümen. The nobles there had originally been part of the Tümed territory. Altan Khan's father, Barsbolad, had been very prolific, fathering twenty-one sons; the Ordos Tümen was the territory of the eldest son, Gün Bilig of the Jinong.

After Gün Bilig's death, the Ordos Tümen fell under Tümed and grew weaker by the day, now split into over a hundred tribes with no unified command over one another.

With the khagan's court fallen into decline, this was the era of greatest ideological chaos for the desert south Mongols. How chaotic was it? Put it this way: at this time, the desert south was fragmented, each acting on its own. One could no longer find a ruler in the traditional Mongol sense. The person closest to being a traditional Mongol ruler was named Liu Chengzong.

Although Liu Chengzong's username was off by a few digits, the password to everything the khagan's court possessed — including the heir — was correct.

The next in line was Sholoi of the desert north, who had only a username and did not even count as a khan. Not only did he lack the password, his keyboard was also missing a few keys; he could not type out complete words.

Further down was Hong Taiji, with strong troops and sturdy horses and a keyboard, possessing the qualifications to enter a username and password, but without the username or password. In his hands he held a system disk called Manchu, preparing to reinstall the system.

Further back still was the Chongzhen Emperor. System? The host hardware had even swapped out your monitor.

In the final analysis, there is no legitimacy to rule in this world that does not rely on fists. But on the other hand, the legitimacy to rule is merely the civilized way of saying fists.

That list of those supporting Liu Chengzong's proclamation as khan was concrete proof of just how big his fists were.

If those people were not tribal chieftains, then others would see Liu Chengzong as someone stealing the fruit of their labor. Conversely, the dilemma facing the Later Jin's Tiancong Khan was the same — the legitimate heir of the Mongol Khanate was with Liu Chengzong, so how could Hong Taiji prove that the Mongols supported him?

By proving it with a hundred and twenty thousand troops marching across Monan.

How many of those troops were elite, and how many were leading horses and carrying grain, did not matter. After Ligdan Khan's defeat and death, the social order of Monan had already collapsed, and no noble of Monan Mongol origin had the strength to resist the Jin state.

Liu Chengzong could guess Hong Taiji's thinking — he only needed one proof, proof that no distance was too great for punishment.

If I come this year, you can only submit. If I leave, whether you rebel again is your choice, but you must guess whether I can come again next year. Guess wrong, and your life is forfeit.

Liu Chengzong could not let him prove it.

The great trend under heaven had long been clear. Climate change meant the same population required more land to survive. The best land under heaven was in the Central Plains, and the Central Plains also had the largest population. The Central Plains' problems could be solved through a single upheaval, with half the people dying. But for the Jurchens, whose population was relatively small, if a portion died, their people and clan would be annihilated.

The contradiction between the Ming and the Jin could not be reconciled.

The Great Ming was too far gone to reverse. Two paths now lay before Liu Chengzong, but only one answer: sit by and watch the Jurchens pull the Mongols along to eliminate the Han, or have the Han pull the Mongols along to eliminate the Jurchens.

The so-called Manchu were nothing but lies. The existence of the Khalkha and the Oirat was the true backing that let the Jin state's Mongol nobles enjoy wealth without worry. The existence of the Great Ming was the foundation that kept those Han turncoat generals of the Jin state highly valued.

"Monan is contested ground we must have. I cannot let the Mongols all fall to the Jin state. Sending troops is imperative, but the Marshal's Manor now finds it difficult to mobilize a matching great army to march on Guihua City."

Liu Chengzong raised his hand and tapped the official desk twice lightly, shaking his head with some distress. The difficulty before him was not the war itself, but the supplies and provisions behind the war.

The Gansu campaign had nearly exhausted the Garrison Herds' livestock. Counting on natural breeding, without three to five years, the several Garrison Herds could not recover. The Marshal's Manor lacked the surplus strength to supply an expeditionary war on the same scale as the Gansu campaign.

Nor could he drain the entire state's resources to supply a Monan campaign whose short-term gains were not that great. The more critical troops still had to be directed toward the Longxi direction. Longxi's vast population and barren land were the direction where the Marshal's Manor could currently reap the greatest potential in a single campaign.

Facing Liu Chengzong's worried frown, Yang Qi's heart felt as though a fire was burning. He had idled away so many months at the Marshal's Manor, always waiting for an opportunity, and now that opportunity had come.

He clasped his fist and asked, "That being the case, which general does the Grand Marshal intend to dispatch on this campaign?"

The reason Liu Chengzong had called the three of them over was precisely because he wanted them to lead troops into battle. Ever since the three Regional Commanders had surrendered to him, their positions had been very awkward. After all, his rising in arms was a rebellion. Not letting the three lead troops was keeping them as idle mouths to feed.

Yet letting the three lead troops to attack their former master — leaving aside whether the three were willing, trustworthy, or would switch sides — Liu Chengzong knew very well that he would look down on them for it. This was precisely why he had kept the three Regional Commanders shelved without important assignments all this time.

This time was different. The enemy they would fight was the Later Jin, the Great Ming's foe. Their opponents were those turncoat generals who had surrendered to the northern barbarians. A perfectly ideal chance to go to war.

Liu Chengzong asked very seriously, "The troops and officers I can dispatch to the northeast are limited, and supplies will be very difficult to deliver to Monan. This campaign is exceptionally perilous. Does General Yang have any thought of leading troops into battle?"

The fire in Yang Qi's heart still burned, but the conditions of scant troops, few officers, and insufficient provisions forced him to cool down. Swallowing, he asked, "Grand Marshal, if you send this humble officer on campaign, I have one request I hope you will grant — let General He serve as my deputy."

Yang Qi liked to drag He Huchen into everything he did, and He Huchen always found it unbearably annoying. But this time, He Huchen did not show his usual disdain. He merely nodded gravely, clasped his fist, and asked, "Grand Marshal, how many thousand men can you give us?"

Liu Chengzong calculated this question in his mind, speaking slowly as he did. "From the five camps of Chahar, Yongshiebu, Khalkha, Khoshut, and Dzungar, draw one thousand horse troops each — that is the main army. I will also draw two thousand horse troops from the ordo at Duntawulusi, all led by Chahar nobles. They know both the people and the land well, and will serve as the vanguard.

"Draw one thousand noble horse troops from the Western Barbarian Brigade to serve as the central army. In addition, there are the Han troops.

"From the Lintao Brigade, draw one thousand banner troops each from the divisions of Shi Xiang, Zhang Yunqi, and Li Chongde. Draw another five hundred each from the three camps of Li Wanqing, Luo Rucai, and Yang Chengzu. Also, transfer one thousand men from Bai Wenxuan's division at Zhuanglang Garrison City, equipped with eleven thousand warhorses and mules — they excel at requisitioning provisions."

After detailing the troop strength, Liu Chengzong closed his eyes and pondered carefully before continuing. "Provisions — thirty-six days' worth of dry rations, twenty thousand-jin cannons. You won't be able to carry more than that. There will be no more supply troops. Guihua City is close to the border wall, so you must solve the supply problem yourselves. I will also allocate thirty-six thousand taels of silver and three thousand seven-jin sheep's-wool padded jackets. This is all I can give you."

Across from him, Yang Qi let out a long breath, then exchanged a glance with He Huchen, the corners of his mouth nearly reaching his ears. He had been thinking the Grand Marshal kept saying troops were few and officers scarce, and they had both assumed that getting four thousand troops would be burning high incense — that they would be sent deep into uninhabited territory, and that volunteering for such a command would indeed require great courage.

Who could have known that what Liu Chengzong called "few troops and scarce officers" meant eight thousand barbarian soldiers, five thousand five hundred combat troops, nearly twenty thousand warhorses and mules, plus thirty-six thousand taels of cash silver and sheep's-wool padded coats worth twenty thousand taels of silver.

And that was all he could give. Yang Qi thought to himself, I've never fought a war this well-supplied!

Yang Qi, overcome with emotion, clasped his fist and declared, "Grand Marshal, if the two of us do not seize Guihua City at Fengzhou Beach on this campaign, then General He will offer his head — no, let General He offer this humble officer's head to the Grand Marshal!"

Liu Chengzong waved his hand. "There are no jests in the army. Offering heads is not necessary. These troops, needless to say, are insufficient to stand against the Jin state. They may not even be enough to overawe the Khalkha forces of Mobei. What do you plan to do?"

"This humble officer is incapable — I cannot stand against them."

Yang Qi nodded in agreement, then smiled slyly. "I know he is there, but he does not know I am there. By the time we reach Ordos, the eastern brigands will likely have already breached the border wall to plunder on a grand scale. In the tenth and eleventh months, the Liao River freezes over, and their army will be anxious to withdraw to Shenyang. We will strike at them from all sides, seizing ample supplies. The troops the Grand Marshal has assigned to this humble officer's command can ensure that before the eastern brigands return in force next time, all of Monan will bear the surname Liu."

Good evening!