Chapter 550: Tranquil Peace

Liu Chengzong handed the affairs of Kangning Prefecture over to Liu Guoneng. Despite the earnest efforts of officials, local chieftains, and his old friend Muya to keep him there, he turned right around and headed back to Xining.

It wasn't that he didn't want to stay a few more days in Kangning Prefecture — it was just that the weather had turned cold and winter was coming on far too fast. If he didn't set out now, he wouldn't make it back before the new year... The war situation changed by the moment, and in Kangning Prefecture any news was delayed by over a month. It truly made him too restless to sit still.

Liu Chengzong's journey north was fraught with extreme peril. First, he ran into a windstorm at the Yellow River source — the bridge was blown clean away. Fortunately, the post station at Huangyuan Station was built of stone. He holed up there for four full days before the postmaster found a boat on the bank to ferry him to the northern shore. But he'd barely been back on the road for two days when he reached Kuhai Station and ran straight into a snowstorm. This time he was stranded for eleven days.

These past few years, the weather across the entire realm has been abnormal, and the territory controlled by Lion Liu was the place where the weather was most abnormal of all.

To the heavens, Qinghai was like a forgotten corner. When other places got no rain, it rained — and rained especially hard. When other places got no snow, it snowed — and snowed especially fiercely.

The crux of it was that the Golog region had little farmland and no shortage of water to begin with — so what was the point of all this rain? One fierce gale, and the bridge would be swept away, people and livestock blown flying. One torrential downpour, and the river valleys would flood, the farmland soaked to ruin.

If he had encountered disasters like these on the road in earlier years, Liu Chengzong would most likely have died en route.

Fortunately, Liu Chengzong had once established an autonomous guard and county here, running in parallel, reviving the ancient names of Duogandan Guard or Duogandan County. The Guard Commander and concurrent County Magistrate was named Zou Feng.

Duogandan's environment was harsh. It was one of the highest-altitude places under the entire Grand Marshal's headquarters' jurisdiction. Originally, it wouldn't have warranted establishing a guard post and county administration — after all, across a stretch of land over a hundred li north to south and over three hundred li east to west, the registered commoners numbered just over three thousand. Even counting men and women, young and old, you couldn't scrape together the registered banner troops for a single guard.

Still, though the population was small, they were still capable of clearing the road. Even so, it took a full ten days.

Fortunately, once they left the boundaries of Duogandan, they entered the Heka Grasslands. Lion Liu gave his horse free rein and galloped at full speed. In a mere three days he covered four hundred li of road, arriving just as Qinghai Lake froze over. He rode all the way onto Dragon Colt Island, rode out under the old horse and red banner, and faced the wind and snow as he entered the new city, decked out with lanterns and streamers to welcome the New Year's Eve.

It was already the twelfth month — the eighth year of the Chongzhen reign was about to arrive.

The Grand Marshal's sudden return to the new city from Kangning Prefecture not only boosted the morale of the soldiers and civilians of the new city, but also overjoyed the family he had left behind at the Grand Marshal's residence in the new city.

Actually, Lion Liu had not originally planned to stay long in the new city. The whole journey had been one windstorm after another, then a snowstorm, and it even started snowing once he entered Hehuang. The imminent locust plague was no longer a concern.

In the past, he had feared that a winter too cold would freeze the crops to death. But now, the insect eggs in the ground were like a sword hanging over his head. Weighing two evils, the exceptionally cold winter instead delighted him. What he feared now was a warm winter. As long as it was cold enough, the insect eggs underground could be frozen to death.

As for this winter's crop... it had already been mostly chewed up by locusts while still green shoots anyway. The harvest in the spring was of no consequence.

He only wanted to see his family briefly, then immediately rush to the front lines to take a look at Jingning Subprefecture.

But just as he entered the new city, paid his respects to his mother, and returned to the long-missed Grand Marshal's residence, seeing his three long-missed wives — Fan Sanlang, Bai Liuxi, and Yun Jiaoyue — he truly felt like having a good rest. This year had been far too exhausting.

He had always been a man of vigorous energy. This was true of all leaders, whether government troops or peasant army commanders. Having the situation on every front line packed into their heads, going days and nights without sleep, catching a brief nap on horseback and then leading the army on the march into battle — it was routine. But that didn't mean they were innately gifted. The vast majority had cultivated this ability through experience, or rather, had been forced into it.

What sustained them was not merely their own energy, but also the enormous system behind them.

Decision-making, command, and execution were tasks on entirely different levels. The mental stimulation of making decisions full of challenge for one's own enterprise was completely different from mechanically executing tasks for someone else's.

Yet even so, this entire seventh year of Chongzhen had been a bit too exhausting for him.

He had fought from the beginning of the year to the end. Returning to the Grand Marshal's residence in the new city, his taut nerves suddenly relaxed, and a long-absent wave of exhaustion violently swept over him. It made him change his mind and decide to let the situation on the front lines dictate his actions. If there were no unexpected developments, he would spend the new year at the residence in the new city or Lanzhou before heading to the front.

But the enormous Grand Marshal's headquarters would not let him rest.

After expressing his longing to his three wives, early the next morning, Lion Liu had just ordered the Feathered Forest Cavalry to issue the summons for the Mongol consorts when a guard from the residence came to report that the Prefect of Xining, Yang Dingrui, was requesting an audience.

The eight consorts from Chahar — though there were distinctions between close and distant, and Lion Liu had not even touched several of them — were, after all, each a lady who commanded her own armed forces. Having been away for a year, now that he was back, he ought to see them all.

It was just that they did not all live in the Grand Marshal's residence in the new city. As powerful allies in his proclamation of the Khan title back then, they possessed absolute freedom and their own armed forces. They had mansions in the new city, ordos outside the city, grazing lands along the shores of Qinghai Lake, and property such as their own troops and tribal followers.

Although Lion Liu had indeed requisitioned quite a few of their troops, each of them was still very much like a free tribal chieftain. Who knew where they might be at this moment.

Yang Dingrui had come over from Xining City. As early as when Liu Chengzong first arrived at Dragon Colt Island, he had sent word to the Xining Prefecture office inquiring about the front-line situation. Now, he had several attendants carrying documents into the residence. Before they had exchanged more than a few pleasantries, Lion Liu asked about Jingning Subprefecture, and the conversation shifted from the distant horizon to right before their eyes.

"Brigadier Wang first sent the vanguard, Wei Qian'er, into Jingning Subprefecture, and later had Colonel Yang Chengzu replace Colonel Wei. Rest assured, Grand Marshal, the takeover of the three towns of Jingning Subprefecture went smoothly in every respect."

"Replaced — then where did Wei Qian'er go?"

"Colonel Wei is still garrisoned at Tongwei. Jingning Subprefecture..."

Speaking of the situation in Jingning Subprefecture, Yang Dingrui wore an expression of profound compassion as he rifled through the documents, slowly shaking his head. "The place lives up to its name — utterly tranquil."

These words had not originated with Yang Dingrui. They had come from Wei Qian'er, written in the official dispatch sent back to the Grand Marshal's headquarters after he entered and garrisoned Jingning Subprefecture.

The vast majority of the Grand Marshal's headquarters' generals, when out on campaign, followed one very redundant procedure: in their spare time, they would prepare an extra copy of front-line intelligence and send it to Liu Chengzong.

Sometimes, when Liu Chengzong was personally commanding them, this procedure naturally posed no problem. But at other times — for instance, right now — Wei Qian'er was assigned to Wang Wenxiu's command, yet besides reporting information to Wang Wenxiu, he still sent word to Liu Chengzong.

If Liu Chengzong was too far away or couldn't be found, Wei Qian'er would send the report to the Grand Marshal's residence in Lanzhou.

Wei Qian'er was not the only one who did this. All of the Grand Marshal's headquarters' direct-line colonels did the same — or rather, those who did this were precisely the direct-line colonels.

In essence, this was no different from currying favor with a superior through bribes. Both were practices very difficult to stop yet very easy to form, just by different means. After all, as soon as one person sends a gift, others will send gifts too. Eventually, it evolves into a situation where what gift you send doesn't matter — what matters is avoiding being the one who doesn't send a gift.

It was the same with the high-ranking generals of the Grand Marshal's headquarters disregarding the chain of command and insisting on sending intelligence to Liu Chengzong. Everyone else sends it — are you not going to?

Gao Yingdeng was all the way over in Gansu, yet like a traveling frog, whenever he had a moment he'd send a dispatch to the Grand Marshal's headquarters office in Lanzhou.

Liu Chengzong read through Wei Qian'er's letter expressionlessly, set it aside, and paused for a long moment. Only then did he narrow his eyes in bitter resentment, let out a long breath, and then sigh.

"Ah."

As early as when he set out from Kangning Prefecture, Liu Chengzong had received Wang Wenxiu's report on Jingning Subprefecture, which said that the area had not been captured by the Grand Marshal's army, but that the gentry and commoners had spontaneously changed their banners and sought the protection of the Grand Marshal's headquarters' mighty name.

Because of this, Liu Chengzong had felt a hint of self-satisfaction rise in his heart. Our Lion Liu could, by name alone, shield tens of thousands of lives across one subprefecture and two counties from the suffering of war and military disaster. He'd made something of himself.

He had an impression of Jingning Subprefecture. Liu Chengzong remembered it very clearly: it was the eighth month of the third year of Chongzhen. He had led his army across Long Mountain for the first time and entered Guyuan, spreading out the Lion Battalion in a continuous line for twenty li. He had so frightened the defending general of Wating Pass that the man retreated three staging areas, the inspectors fled in panic, the post station soldiers opened the city gates and surrendered, and the border troops all begged for mercy.

His forces spread throughout Guyuan Garrison, and the southernmost point his military edge reached was Longde, a county under Jingning Subprefecture. That small, four-sided town was simply built. At the time, he had wanted to besiege it, but Yang Dingrui had strenuously dissuaded him. Later, he had merely arrayed his troops outside the town to make a show of force and opened markets with the rural commoners to buy winter clothes, hats, and bedding.

The reason Lion Liu remembered the time so clearly was that a major event had occurred that month. After gathering the surrendered troops of Guyuan, he had sent Luo Rucai and Yang Chengzu to Pingliang, creating that endlessly reincarnating nuisance, Jin Chanzi.

They breached Pingliang City, and the Lion Battalion reaped rich rewards in that operation. Their later ability to gain a firm foothold in Qinghai and establish the Grand Marshal's headquarters had relied entirely on the gold, silver, wealth, and fodder from the Prince of Han's mansion.

To be perfectly honest, by Lion Liu's standards back then, aside from the several hundred thousand mu of river valley land along the Hulu River, the other two million-plus mu of Jingning Subprefecture were all mountainous tableland. With just over sixty thousand people across one subprefecture and two counties, it was a bitter, harsh place that could work a man to death.

But back then, Liu Chengzong was still too young. He hadn't been to Qinghai or Kangning, and in his mind he always thought his home in northern Shaanxi was the poorest place. By his current standards, Jingning Subprefecture had a lower altitude, a dense network of waterways, a high degree of development, a suitable climate, abundant forests, and ample mountain tableland farmland. It was a rare blessed paradise in Longxi!

Unfortunately, according to Wei Qian'er's letter, the Jingning Subprefecture of now was no longer the Jingning Subprefecture he had seen in the past.

Place names, you see, generally describe a place's characteristics. If they use negative characters — things like Bitter Water, Angry Gully, or Human Head Mountain — then the name fits, and it's probably a decent place. But that's not the worst-case scenario. The worst case is when they use adjectives that express beautiful wishes.

A wish is a wish precisely because it cannot be easily fulfilled.

Places with 'tranquil' in the name are eight or nine times out of ten especially chaotic. Places with 'peaceful' in the name — walk three li carrying a shovel, dig a couple of casual scoops, and you'll uncover an ancient battlefield.

It was only after Wei Qian'er led his troops into Jingning Subprefecture that he understood: what shielded this one subprefecture and two counties was not that simple, blunt Grand Marshal's headquarters banner. It was the fact that for a hundred li in every direction, you couldn't find a single four-legged livestock animal, a single well with clean drinking water, or a single river not clogged with corpses.

His large encampment of nearly five thousand troops galloped all the way to the subprefecture seat of Jingning on the banks of the Hulu River. Along the entire journey on the official road, he did not spot a single living thing.

There weren't even beggars preying on wealthy households. When mealtime came, the wilderness was desolate and silent. For twenty li around, not a single wisp of cooking smoke could be seen. Everywhere, chilling gusts of wind blew in bursts, as if haunted.

The subprefecture seat of Jingning flew a filthy Grand Marshal's banner. On its four walls were only seventy-four defending soldiers. They were troops of Lu Menglong, the Right Assistant Administration Commissioner for Guyuan. When Gao Yingxiang and others first raided Jingning Subprefecture, three hundred Guyuan soldiers had come to reinforce, and then all died outside the city. Only these seventy-four, wounded at the time, had taken refuge inside the city and escaped disaster.

Wei Qian'er gathered the entire city's population. Counting the defending soldiers, men and women, young and old, there were a total of seven hundred thirty-two people. Among them, over half the men were missing either palms or fingers.

Longde County, Zhuanglang County, and Shuila City were in similar straits — the whole of Jingning Subprefecture had only 1,997 people left.

Wei Qian'er simply moved all the living into Jingning Subprefecture. He had the wounded treated and the sick cured, ordered the troops to clear the corpses and wells inside the city, and assigned a Battalion Commander to serve as acting Subprefect. Leaving behind army provisions and six hundred soldiers to guard the baggage, he then led the main force out of Jingning Subprefecture and back to Tongwei County.

His main camp held close to five thousand men, and Jingning Subprefecture could not possibly supply him, so he had discussed it with Assistant Regional Commander Yang Chengzu and sent him into Jingning Subprefecture.

After all, Yang Chengzu's camp had only a little over two thousand men. If they went and cleared a few wells, at least drinking water would not be a problem.

Only after handling these matters did Wei Qian'er write to Liu Chengzong, recounting in detail the intelligence he had gathered. The state of Jingning Subprefecture was so harrowing that even a man like him, who had crawled out of heaps of corpses, nearly broke down.

Before Gao Yingxiang entered Jingning Subprefecture, the population here was already only a little over twenty thousand. Four years had passed since Liu Chengzong last entered Jingning Subprefecture. In those four years, this land had endured three years of severe drought, two hailstorms, three waves of locust plagues, two great battles, one smallpox epidemic, and one great upheaval of popular revolt.

Of the two great battles, one was between Wang Laohu and Yang Qi, the other between the remnant forces of Shen Yikui's Red Army Ally and Li Hongsi.

The great upheaval was when, during the drought, tens of thousands of refugees from Pingliang, Longzhou, Huating, Wu'an, Zhuanglang, Jingning, and other places went out plundering.

When Gao Yingxiang attacked the seat of Jingning Subprefecture, Right Assistant Administration Commissioner Lu Menglong, in a state of utter despair, dared not hold the city — the city walls were unsafe for Ming troops. He went out to meet the attack with the heart of a man resolved to die, and fell in battle. Li Zicheng attacked Longde, which fell in a single day; County Magistrate Fei Yanfang died with his entire household. The people of Zhuanglang County rose up in mass response, launching an uprising and splitting into bands to go out plundering.

Jingning Subprefecture had few poor households left to begin with. The remaining people all attached themselves to the great households, banding together just to survive. But the great households were also wiped clean during this phase.

This Zhuanglang County was not the Zhuanglang Garrison where Liu Chengzong had established a county in the Zhuanglang River valley, but rather a subordinate county of Jingning Subprefecture.

Later, government troops came to the rescue. The armies of Zuo Liangyu, Tang Jiuzhou, and Deng Qi fought a great battle in Jingning Subprefecture against Gao Yingxiang and the others. Many people in Jingning Subprefecture city today who are missing hands or fingers are survivors of that great battle — they were all soldiers back then.

Those captured by the government troops were killed if they could be. Those captured by the peasant army, if they would not surrender or were not worth recruiting, had their hands or fingers chopped off and were released.

After that, Deng Qi's Sichuan troops mutinied, dealing the death blow to the already tottering Jingning Subprefecture.

Yang Dingrui watched Liu Chengzong's face shift between dark and bright as he finished reading Wei Qian'er's letter, and asked, "Now that Jingning Subprefecture has submitted, what does the Grand Marshal intend to do?"

"The chaos of war cannot go on any longer. We must pacify Longxi and establish order as quickly as possible." Liu Chengzong furrowed his brow and said, "If we let them keep running wild like this, soon there won't be a single person left in all of Shaanxi!"

Good evening!