Chapter 536: The Goods Have Arrived

Even with an imperial angel tucked in his pocket, Yang Qi still couldn't relax as he led his troops north.

Because the support Liu Chengzong gave him was extraordinarily strong — an extremely high official post, unparalleled authority, and battle-hardened soldiers — but when it came down to it, this was worlds apart from Cao Yao's Gansu Governor's Office.

Gansu was conquered by Liu Chengzong personally leading the army. The local forces that needed to be pacified were pacified, a garrison was left behind to take over the territory, the various guards were gathered on the oases, the Marshal's Office's civil administration was established, and immigrants from Hehuang could be received through the Qilian Mountain passes controlled by the Five Yellow Tribes.

But in Monan, the Marshal's Office had not a single inch of land, not a single soldier, and in the short term could not possibly receive any support from the Marshal's Office.

This was more like Liu Chengzong backing a peasant army leader who had been defeated by government troops — giving him soldiers, uniforms, provisions, and fodder, and sending him off to carve out a new domain.

Yang Qi was not blinded by greed for gain. He knew perfectly well that this expedition was not the best opportunity for him. The best opportunity would have been the Marshal's Office sending troops to Guyuan — low risk, high chance of success. Give him a thousand elite cavalry to ride through, and he could take Guyuan.

But sending troops to Monan was more like a gamble — gambling that the Later Jin army would not stay long in Monan, and gambling that this Marshal's army could reach the battlefield before they returned to Shenyang.

Yang Qi was gambling, and so was Liu Chengzong. Only in this gamble, Liu Chengzong could afford to lose, while Yang Qi could only win.

The Monan Army sprang into action the moment they set out. The three Chief Commanders were their own men, and they drew up a plan with extreme speed. The core point of this plan was not taking Monan, but minimizing the burden on the Marshal's Office in Hexi.

Yang Qi, Wang Cheng'en, and He Huchen were all consummate professionals at leading troops, especially starving troops. They knew best when an army would grow hungry, and when it could no longer endure hunger.

From the moment they set out, their lives entered a countdown. At best, they had one month of full combat effectiveness. At the cost of depleting that effectiveness, they could stretch that time to three months.

After three months, the Monan Army would lose most of its combat effectiveness, and then die in the winter of the seventh year of Chongzhen.

Not the army dying in winter — the three of them dying in winter. This army might turn bandit or scrape by in disgrace, surviving until the day they saw Liu Chengzong again, but before that, the enraged soldiers would certainly kill them first.

It was not that they were particularly loyal to Liu Chengzong. The troops assigned to the Monan Governor's Office were practically the lowest-loyalty troops the Marshal's Office had.

The five-thousand-man Mongol cavalry division was entirely formed from surrendered troops. The nobles they had served for generations had, to a greater or lesser extent, all met violent deaths because of Liu Chengzong.

The thousand-man Western Tibetan Iron Cavalry battalion had few surrendered troops and more prisoners of war. On their first day joining the Marshal's Office, they were thrown into the Haibei quarries for labor reform. Only after coming out did they receive armor, warhorses, and iron spears, and continue serving in the army.

The three thousand men of the Lintao Brigade — most of the soldiers believed joining the Marshal's Office was fate's arrangement. They had muddle-headedly welcomed the infighting in Lanzhou City and bizarrely changed their flags and allegiance.

Shi Xiang, who had defected on the battlefield, gripped the Lintao Brigade's troops like a minor independent warlord. There was no ideological reform, and they lacked identification with the Marshal's Office. All they knew was that one day they followed General Shi in switching banners, the old masters of Lanzhou were wiped clean, and the Grand Marshal gave us men pay and land.

Li Wanqing, Luo Rucai, and Yang Chengzu's fifteen hundred men were the Marshal's Office's second-line old-timers. And picking five hundred out of three thousand, with the battalion commander doing the choosing himself — without a doubt, these were not shock troops, but second-line old-timers weeded out as not very useful.

And Bai Wenxuan's thousand men — elite troops, true, but first, a bit too few, and second, their loyalty within the Marshal's Office was also on the low side.

The most loyal, ironically, were the two thousand Chahar elite cavalry that Dunta Wulusi had transferred from the Ordo — the Mongol Khatun's dowry, who had followed all the way from beyond Liaodong to Qinghai. Both soldiers and warhorses had been raised fat and strong at Qinghai Lake. They were superb troops.

But the problem was that the baseline loyalty of the Marshal's Office's soldiers was already nearly at other people's ceiling — let them burn, kill, and plunder out there living the good life, and they probably wouldn't want to come back to the Marshal's Office, but the moment they couldn't get enough to eat, the first person they'd think of was Liu Chengzong.

So Liu Chengzong could afford to lose. Even if this army was utterly shattered in Monan, as long as there was a chance, those who survived would still find a way back to him.

But the three Chief Commanders could not afford to lose. After all, if they failed to take Guihua City, He Huchen would have to bring back Yang Qi's head.

So Yang Qi's plan was to win over every force that could be won, unite every power that could be united, and by any means necessary put down roots in Guihua City in Monan, holding on until the day Liu Chengzong took Yulin.

First at Gulang Gorge, Wang Cheng'en personally climbed Yingpan Ridge and successfully persuaded the six hundred-plus Liangzhou soldiers of Ding Shaoyin's unit, who had been besieged on the mountain for a long time, to surrender — freeing up a thousand-man battalion of Zhang Tianlin's troops who had been setting up defenses at the mountain's foot.

After that, He Huchen rushed north to Liangzhou to urge Li Hongsi and Cao Wenzhao, who were holding Liangzhou City, to surrender, attempting to draw them into jointly attacking the eastern caitiffs. The result was that Cao Wenzhao nearly shot him dead with arrows.

He Huchen was thoroughly enraged and cursing as he turned back from Liangzhou City to Gulang Gorge. He thought to himself... fine, don't come, but you bastard, what the hell did you shoot arrows at me for?

Though he knew why Cao Wenzhao shot arrows at him — after all, if the Liangzhou troops really moved together with him, they might be disarmed the moment they left the city. And besides, even if they moved together, whose orders would they follow?

But He Huchen actually had another doubt in his heart. He did not understand why the Liangzhou troops had no enthusiasm for fighting the eastern caitiffs — in the Marshal's Office, no matter who you asked, hearing they were going to fight the eastern caitiffs would make them excited.

This was certainly not because they thought the eastern caitiffs were some easy-to-beat rabble. Although not many in the Marshal's Office had actually faced the eastern caitiffs in battle, the Mongol troops under their command, except for the Oirat, had all felt the oppressive pressure of the Later Jin's western campaigns. And the Great Ming had been fighting the eastern caitiffs for so many years — at the very least, everyone knew they were not easy to deal with.

The reason for the excitement, well, was actually very simple. It was not some national fervor or patriotic ambition — just two words: silver.

Although the Marshal's Office was now a regularized army, this army, composed mainly of deserting border troops and vagrant peasant soldiers, inevitably had a slight deviation in values from normal people.

After all, even Liu Chengzong's Grand Marshal's Code stated in black and white: private looting is forbidden, violators lose their hands.

Then without a doubt, organized looting, even if it did not count as spreading positive energy in the Marshal's Office, was still considered a core value — a method of getting rich through hard work.

Thanks to Hooge's visit to the Marshal's Office, every inch of land under Liu Chengzong's rule was abuzz with legends that the northeast abounded in silver. They said the Later Jin had so much silver they couldn't spend it all, and had to pay three or five times the price when buying things.

This meant that fighting them, you couldn't come out on the losing end.

He Huchen's failure to persuade the Liangzhou Guard to surrender was of no consequence to Yang Qi and the others. The Liangzhou campaign would begin soon anyway, and it wouldn't tie down Liu Chengzong's main army for long.

After that, they split into four columns. The first to set out was He Huchen, with the Chahar Battalion as the vanguard, heading along the southern edge of the Tengger Desert straight for Luanjing Beach west of the Helan Mountains.

The second column was led by Shautu Taiji, following behind with the imperial angel Fang Zhenghua, traveling along the north bank of the Yellow River. The third column was led by Wang Cheng'en, carrying a letter from the imperial angel Fang Zhenghua, heading straight for Ningxia Central Garrison.

The last column was Yang Qi. Taking Bai Wenxuan with him, he chose the most unusual advance route — cutting straight across Song Mountain, aiming for Dieliesun Fort, which belonged to Jinglu Guard and lay between the two border walls on the east bank of the Yellow River.

The reason Yang Qi split into four columns was, first, to increase the speed of advance; second, to reduce the pressure on supplies; and third... to eat as little of their own grain as possible.

He Huchen and Shautu Taiji were traveling beyond the border, aiming to eat Yinchuan's grain. Wang Cheng'en was traveling along the south bank of the Yellow River, aiming to eat the grain of Ningxia Central Garrison.

And as for Yang Qi himself, he not only planned to eat the grain of northern Guyuan, but also planned to see how well the Great Ming had trained the Guyuan troops in the years since he left, and was thinking of taking a batch of men with him.

Their division of labor was very clear. With Wang Cheng'en and Shautu Taiji as the core, carrying Fang Zhenghua's letter, they would bypass Hong Chengchou and the border generals and deliver it to the garrison eunuchs along the way, ordering them to provide thirty thousand shi of provisions, and they would then send troops to attack the eastern caitiffs.

After all, the high frontier officials mostly looked down on the imperious eunuchs in their hearts. This had nothing to do with the latter's physical incompleteness, but was related to the low rank and high power that came with their professional nature. Similar to eunuchs were the censors.

Censors were very formidable at specific times. Grand Commanders, Grand Secretaries, the Emperor — there was no one they could not or dared not denounce. But what use was that? Most of the time, this was just a gun that fired wherever it was pointed.

The gun was not formidable; what was always formidable was the person firing it.

In theory, this was the Emperor's gun, but powerful ministers could sometimes borrow it and play with it too.

Eunuchs were the same. What people feared was the Emperor, not the slaves running around everywhere.

If the Emperor wanted to deal with a minister, he could do it without the eunuchs speaking up. If the Emperor did not want to deal with a minister, even if the eunuchs slandered him, it was the eunuchs who would die.

But the eunuchs garrisoning the localities were different. Sooner or later, they would return to the Twenty-Four Offices of the Forbidden City. The words of the Eunuch Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial held weight with them.

Of course, Yang Qi also had a backup plan. If the eunuchs in Ningxia wouldn't play along either, then they could only seek out acquaintances. All of them were Chief Commanders — who didn't have a few things they wanted to do but couldn't, a few people they wanted to eliminate but couldn't?

This time was the opportunity.

The four columns of the Monan Army raced along the Tengger Desert and the Yellow River. Over at Cao Yao's Gansu Governor's Office, a single letter had Liu Chengzong rushing back from Lanzhou to the new city west of Xining, beaming with joy — Batur Khong Tayiji's first trade caravan had already reached Jiayu Pass.

Cao Yao wrote in the letter that the leader of the caravan was Batur Khong Tayiji's younger brother. Batur had written specially in advance to apologize to Liu Chengzong, saying he was terribly sorry, but he truly had no one else around him who could take on this task, and could only send this money-grubbing younger brother. If his younger brother said anything he shouldn't, he hoped Liu Chengzong, for his sake, would refrain from killing him.

Just reading this letter, Liu Chengzong wondered what kind of goddamn treasure of a brother this Batur Khong Tayiji had. Who introduced someone like that?

Liu Chengzong rushed to the new city and went straight into the New City Academy, asking around about what kind of character Batur Khong Tayiji's younger brother was, that his elder brother valued him so much.

The person who could answer this question for him was the leader of the Dörbet tribe, Dalai Taiji.

Dalai Taiji was an anomaly among the Oirat nobility. As far as Liu Chengzong knew, most of the Oirat nobles who stayed in the Marshal's Office were like the Guoshi Khan — after receiving their titles, they indulged in food, drink, and pleasure, their ambitions gone. But Dalai was different. He had received the title of Dörbet, yet like those young nobles, he was diligently studying at the New City Academy.

Others learn everything; Dalai only studies cavalry tactics — and within cavalry tactics, specifically the scout-cavalry methods.

Probably got traumatized by the scout cavalry back on the Heka Grasslands.

Seeing Liu Chengzong again, Dalai was delighted, thinking he was being summoned to muster troops. He spurred his horse over, three-eyed gun in hand, startling the young Feathered Forest riders. Only when he heard Liu Chengzong's question did his expression shift, and with a complicated look he sighed: "Chökur — that man has no sense of loyalty or honor."

The younger brother of Baatur Khong Tayiji, third in line. He shares the name Chökur with that Chökur Tayiji who ran off to Qinghai to contest territory with Liu Chengzong. His full name is Chökur Ubashi.

In the fifth year of Tianqi, their younger brother Ching Tayiji died. Chökur and another younger brother, Bai Baatur, fought over Ching Tayiji's inheritance. The two brothers quarreled fiercely. Their father tried to mediate together with Dalai Tayiji of the Dörbet tribe, but could not dissuade them. With the support of the Torghut tribe, Chökur killed his younger brother Bai Baatur.

Afterward, their father raised troops to attack Chökur. Dalai Tayiji of the Dörbet tribe also joined the campaign, and together they attacked the Torghut tribe.

What was originally a family inheritance dispute was forcibly dragged into a great three-way melee among the Oirat tribes, which raged all the way until the first year of Chongzhen. Because of this, the Torghut tribe fled west to the Volga River.

Even now, if you ask Dalai Tayiji who he detests most, Feng Rang — who has him besieged at Daqing Mountain — would at best take second place. Chökur wins without any suspense.

What puzzled Dalai Tayiji, however, was that even after hearing his account of Chökur, Liu Chengzong's face remained thoroughly delighted. This made him wonder aloud: "Commander, do you bear some grievance against the Khong Tayiji?"

Grievance?

Liu Chengzong was puzzled too. "Why do you ask?"

Shouldn't the question be, what makes you say that?

Dalai had been studying Chinese so obsessively lately he was nearly possessed by it. He shook his head slightly, then said: "Commander, you aren't thinking of using Chökur to sow discord between him and the Khong Tayiji, are you?"

"Why would I sow discord between them? I'm happy because of the Oirat goods manifest."

Liu Chengzong smiled and shook his head. The goods Baatur Khong Tayiji had shipped were roughly what had been agreed upon at the time — only, because the trade route was blocked, the Persian brocade satin, silk, and Bukhara gemstones originally planned were fewer than expected.

But correspondingly, the furs and livestock shipped were more than planned.

Seventy thousand corsac fox and yellow fox pelts, eighty thousand ermine pelts, eighty thousand sheepskins, six thousand stoat pelts, three thousand wolf pelts, one thousand two hundred sable pelts, five hundred lynx pelts, three hundred leopard pelts, one hundred white rabbit pelts.

The pelts they brought alone exceeded the Marshal's Manor's total annual pelt trade volume.

Not to mention the five thousand Tianshan warhorses delivered, which would greatly aid the breeding program for the warhorses on Dragon Colt Island at the Marshal's Manor.

Most importantly, the fifty thousand sheep and one thousand three hundred cattle delivered to Jiayu Pass — if grain ran short, they could relieve the urgent crisis; if grain was sufficient, then within two or three years, Gansu's livestock industry could quickly advance another level. Settle the Liangzhou city problem before this winter, open the north-south trade route, and next year the Marshal's Manor's Garrison-Pasture Battalion could recover its vitality.

Compared to all this, even if seven or eight more Chökurs showed up, Liu Chengzong wouldn't feel the slightest bit unhappy.

Dalai Tayiji asked: "Then does the Grand Marshal not worry about him at all? This is a barbarian who disowns his own kin."

"What do I have to worry about? He killed his brother — I'm not his brother."

Liu Chengzong blinked with an expression of utter incomprehension. "Besides, he's merely devoid of loyalty and honor, not stupid. Is he stupid?"

Dalai shook his head. "He just has a rash temper."

"Then that settles it. Losing his temper at others is a rash temper; losing his temper at me in the Northwest is stupidity." Liu Chengzong finished speaking, clapped his hands excitedly, and said to Dalai: "Come, let's go meet him together!"

Good afternoon!