Chapter 563: The Northwest

Hong Chengchou and Wang Ji really did guess right.

Liu the Lion truly had no confidence in his own side's logistics, and at the same time he genuinely did want to take control of Guanzhong.

After all, the geographical conditions of the northwest could hardly be called good — there were only a few places that could be considered prosperous, and Liu Chengzong's intentions toward Guanzhong were practically written on his face.

When the various garrison commanders from Qinghai and Gansu gathered in Lanzhou, the military council Liu Chengzong convened at the Marshal's yamen was lively; by evening, the commanders feasted in the Ningxi Garden of Prince Su's City, while Liu Chengzong ascended the Cloud-Brushing Tower to gaze at the Yellow River beneath the night sky.

"Elder Brother, how do you find overseeing Gansu? Any thorny problems?"

Cao Yao leaned on the railing of the Cloud-Brushing Tower. Hearing this, he paused briefly, then shook his head and said, "In name it's a garrison command, but judging by its population, it's really just a large county spread thin — broken and desolate. No big problems, but a pile of small ones."

Having said that, he smiled at Liu Chengzong: "The same problems everywhere else in the Marshal's domain — too much lost on the road, distances too far, garrisons scattered everywhere, grain transport failing, and you still have to assign a bunch of officials and pay their salaries till it hurts."

Liu Chengzong nodded and laughed heartily at this, sighing, "The cost of administration is high — that's the price we pay for surviving."

This was a common affliction across all the Marshal's territories — a regime with no hope in sight. In the long river of history, countless groups like theirs had briefly ruled the northwest by force of arms, many collapsing on their own in a dozen years or even just a few.

Unless they used a fiefdom system, there was only a slim chance of extending their rule to a second or third generation.

The root cause lay in administrative costs. Barren land and harsh roads led to administrative fragmentation, requiring more bureaucrats, clerks, or nobles to govern. Goods from one place couldn't be transported out; needs from another couldn't be met.

Nominally a province, yet in reality its population and output equaled one or two counties east of the Pass, while demanding over ten times the administrative cost. Every minute and every second of rule invisibly consumed prestige.

That's what they mean by "the mountains are high and the Emperor is far away."

And there are no mountains higher than the northwest.

But this was a cost the Marshal's domain had to bear. If they hadn't fled to Qinghai, they would still be a band of rebels roaming the Central Plains, and very likely would already be dead in the endless pursuit.

"Chengyun has been building a rail track in Hehuang — it'll be finished by the end of this year. Judging by the military council, if we can free up our hands, Gansu should also build a road from Jiayu Pass to Liangzhou."

At the mention of the rail track, Cao Yao perked up, because the relay post road from Ganzhou to Hehuang for urgent dispatches had given him some hearsay knowledge of the Hehuang track. He had long wanted to build such a road in Gansu, but then the locust plague struck, and under the disaster both manpower and finances were stretched to the breaking point — the capital for road-building was gone.

"That's good, but for now let's focus on the war first." As Cao Yao spoke, the smile on his face gradually faded: "Another war that empties the state."

"Which one hasn't been?"

Liu Chengzong had noticed that since becoming Governor of Gansu, Cao Yao had grown more sentimental: "War is the most dangerous thing in the world — one slight misstep and you plunge into an abyss of utter ruin."

As he spoke, he shifted tone: "But a rebel force like our Marshal's domain has been swimming in that abyss all along — reaching the shore was always the long shot. To be honest... this preparation for the eastern campaign wasn't a sudden whim. Circumstances forced it. If we don't go to war, I won't even be able to pay the troops."

Cao Yao had been away on campaign since the end of the year before last and hadn't been in Hehuang; his impression of the Marshal's finances was still the old image of ample funds and grain. Besides, back then the Marshal's domain didn't have that many troops to pay. Now, hearing Liu the Lion say he could barely afford the payroll, his mouth fell open: "Huh?"

"Expenses everywhere. Hehuang is too small, and the Marshal's domain is too large. After the northern campaign ended, we had six more battalions drawing pay — and that's after I sealed Yang Qi and his lot up in Monan."

Liu Chengzong shook his head: "There's truly no other way. To keep going, the only path left is war — feeding ourselves off the enemy."

The Gansu campaign hadn't added seven battalions on paper, but the expanded troops from the three large battalions of Zhang Tianlin, Wei Qian'er, and Gao Yingdeng alone came close to two standard battalions. Add the three battalions of Suzhou, Ganzhou, and Liangzhou, plus the miscellaneous transfers and expansions across the various battalions, and the Marshal's payroll army swelled even further.

Without this locust plague, Liu Chengzong could still have managed, but now that was clearly a luxury.

Thinking of this, Liu Chengzong drew a deep breath and sighed: "The northwest... how can it ever recover its vitality?"

"So that's how it is. I was wondering..."

Cao Yao didn't finish his sentence. In truth, when he received word in Gansu that Liu Chengzong planned an eastern campaign, he had felt puzzled.

It wasn't that the interval between two campaigns was too short, but that he knew Liu Chengzong too well. An eastern campaign was a war whose scale couldn't be controlled — it didn't seem like something Liu Chengzong would do.

To the civil and military officials at court, Liu Chengzong was the most terrifying monster coiled in the northwest, but Cao Yao knew that wasn't the case. In truth, the northwest was full of monsters intent on mutual destruction, and it was only Liu Chengzong holding the reins that kept the world from being destroyed.

Every single one of the Marshal's great generals, without exception, was waiting for the Marshal's domain to integrate the peasant armies, the Oirat Tatars, the Mongol soldiers, and the tribal troops, and charge into the Central Plains like tigers descending a mountain with hundreds of thousands of troops — killing whoever could be killed, looting whatever could be looted.

As for how to use the abandoned fields, how to repair the ruined irrigation works, how to restore the shattered population — those were not matters they considered. Among them were many seasoned warriors, but not a single one shared Liu Chengzong's firm belief that the Great Ming would soon be finished.

Cao Yao had known since the day they rose up: only Liu Chengzong truly believed this, and all he thought about were matters three or five years down the line.

As for the others, they didn't even know if they could live another three or five years.

The pessimists believed they themselves would soon be finished; the optimists believed they could deal the Great Ming a heavy blow — even if they died ten years early, they'd count as forerunners in mutual destruction.

Liu Chengzong's conviction was that of a madman past all cure.

Of course, this madness was mutual. They thought Liu Chengzong was a madman for believing the mighty Great Ming would collapse and therefore trying to build a stable regime to contest the realm; Liu Chengzong also thought everyone else was mad for harboring a belief in going out in one blaze of glory.

Now they hadn't died, and were living quite well. Every war the Grand Marshal said they would fight, they won; every crisis the Grand Marshal said they could weather without fighting, they weathered. This was the very foundation that kept the Marshal's domain — a patchwork regime of shattered territories — stable.

"So the Marshal's domain has reached this step too."

Cao Yao lifted his head toward the pitch-black night sky, opened his mouth but said nothing. It was very hard now.

He had joined the army in Henan, been defeated in Liaodong, turned bandit in Northern Zhili, accepted amnesty in Shanxi, turned outlaw again, accepted amnesty in Shaanxi, and then rose up with Liu Chengzong in Yan'an Prefecture. Every step of his life had been pushed along by Heaven, until finally, the moment Liu Chengzong decided to enter Qinghai, he had the illusion of controlling his own fate.

It was brief, and still he could not escape Heaven's pursuit.

Liu Chengzong, unaware of this sense of predestination, asked in surprise: "Which step?"

Cao Yao didn't elaborate, only smiled and said: "Because we're almost unable to pay the troops, we might as well hurry and fight while we still can. Win, and the payroll is solved; lose, and it doesn't matter either — once the war is lost, there's no need to worry about paying troops anymore."

"Are you that pessimistic about the war? Ha!"

Liu Chengzong laughed heartily, leaning back against the railing as well. He raised his index finger and waved it in the air before him: "No need to go that far. The military council set three objectives: first, take Longxi; second, enter Guanzhong; third, seize all of Shaanxi."

Cao Yao was very cautious about the war situation: "I listened at the council too. The battlefront is too long — from Ningxia to Hanzhong, over a thousand..."

"That's exactly our chance for victory. A battlefront over a thousand li — I can't possibly attack everywhere, but the Ming army has to defend everywhere. I didn't say this at the council when everyone was in high spirits, but our brothers are too attached to territory now. We can fight pitched battles, but there's no need to draw defense lines against them. We strike wherever we want — it doesn't matter if our defense line is full of holes."

"If the Ming army attacks, we just give up ground — from Jingning Subprefecture to Gongchang Prefecture, from Gongchang Prefecture to Lintao Prefecture, we can give them all up. Just like before, don't care about that land. There's neither grain nor people on it — the whole vast Jingning Subprefecture has only one thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven people. All empty cities."

Liu Chengzong raised his hand and swept it through the air atop the Cloud-Brushing Tower, as if a map with precisely marked city locations lay before him: "On the northern route, we hit Weizhou, hit Ningxia Garrison City, the two princely cities of the Qing fief — take one and the payroll problem is solved."

"The central route into Guanzhong is hard to enter. The Ming army has left mobile forces like He Renlong there. If they can't hold, we roll right over them. If they hold well, we hit Guyuan and have Prince Han ask them for reinforcements. If they move north, we enter Guanzhong."

"On the southern route, we hit Hanzhong. Our heavy troops have trouble entering that place, but Master Gao and Brother Huang Wa's light troops cross mountains and ridges like walking on flat ground. There's a Rui fief there — another fine place to solve the grain and payroll problem."

Having said this, Liu Chengzong withdrew his hand and tapped the railing lightly twice: "If it's easy to advance, we go deeper; if it's hard, we pull back. Get the Ming army moving, destroy the several battalions under Lian Guoshi and Chen Qiyu — He Renlong, Zhang Yingchang, Yang Yanchang, Zuo Liangyu, Deng Qi, Tang Jiuzhou — and then all of Shaanxi is ours to go wherever we please, isn't it?"

Cao Yao laughed, slowly shaking his head: "It's not that the commanders are fixated on territory. One who holds no office does not plan its affairs. Without a word from you, who among us would dare suggest abandoning land to fight the Ming army?"

At this, Liu Chengzong only smiled. Talking about abandoning land was easy, but actually doing it required a complex relocation process. He couldn't just tell all the brigade commanders at the military council to casually give up ground — it was enough that the brigade commanders directing the campaign knew.

The show still had to be put on — the Ming commanders had to believe he had places he was determined to fight for.

"Does Gansu have to be given up too?"

Cao Yao weighed his words, then still asked the question. He explained: "In other places, the population is easy to relocate, but Gansu is hard to move. Besides, losing Liangzhou would truly hurt... That Hong fellow did a fine job burning it last year. The land in the Wuwei oasis is very fertile — it can produce quite a lot of grain this year."

If he hadn't mentioned grain, it would have been fine, but the moment he did, Liu the Lion felt the pain too: "Gansu, ah. Whoever attacks Gansu will certainly be the Ningxia troops. It depends on whose hand is faster. If I hit Weizhou first, the border troops from Gansu can't possibly reach Liangzhou. If they hit Liangzhou first... we yield it and keep attacking Weizhou."

At worst, it'll be like Octagonal City — turn Liangzhou into a Ming army pleasure town, and this year we'll just keep them bottled up inside again.

"But if we do that, Gansu will definitely become unstable." Liu Chengzong thought for a moment, then said, "Go back and take a look — I remember there are quite a few idle Ming army officers at home in Gansu. How are they doing now?"

"Yes, forty-three households." Cao Yao had long been prepared for this and reeled them off like family treasures. "For example, Ouyang Gun from Ganzhou happened to be at home during the Gansu campaign. He was originally going to take up his post as Vice Regional Commander of Lintao, but when the fighting broke out, he and a bunch of local gentry helped Yang Jiamo raise two Ganzhou battalions."

"That lot never surrendered to the Marshal's Manor even after the fighting ended. They hid all over the city, and when they were found, they wanted to retire to their hometowns. I sent them all to the Great Buddha Temple to keep Bai Yiqing company chanting sutras."

Cao Yao laughed. "The Great Buddha Temple in Ganzhou isn't that deserted ghost place from your time anymore. I tossed a whole pile of former Ming officers and officials in there — from grand coordinators to licentiates, from vice regional commanders to battalion commanders. Anyway, anyone unwilling to surrender gets thrown in there to chant sutras. The army's sitting on Gansu, so they can't stir up any trouble."

"Well done, elder brother."

Liu Chengzong offered a word of encouragement, then said, "But now that war is about to start, most of the garrison troops in Gansu will likely be transferred to Shaanxi. If word of a setback on the front lines gets back, I'm afraid we won't be able to keep them in check. To avoid a fire breaking out in the rear, go back and relocate them, along with their families, all to Lanzhou."

As the most critical transportation hub in the Hexi Corridor, all military supplies for Gansu and Hehuang had to pass through Lanzhou. No matter how the front lines turned out, Liu Chengzong would definitely keep one or two battalions in Lanzhou — more than enough to keep an eye on these people.

"Mm, I'll handle it as soon as I get back."

Cao Yao agreed, and only then did Liu Chengzong ask in a very relaxed tone, "So, elder brother, do you feel like moving around a bit? Attacking Ningxia, or holding Lanzhou?"

Cao Yao answered without a second thought. "Ningxia."

This question required no deliberation. Even if he stayed in Gansu, he would inevitably have to fight the Ningxia border troops. In that case, he might as well take the offensive against Weizhou first and keep the flames of war from reaching Liangzhou.

"But if I go to Ningxia, what about Gansu? How many troops does the Grand Marshal plan to leave to hold it?"

"I plan to have Zhong Hu bring the Training Guard troops over. Outside the pass, the Chijin Tribe will hold Ganzhou. All other troops will be pulled into Shaanxi to fight the court."

Liu Chengzong clapped his hands as he spoke. "Right, I nearly forgot something important. When you go to Ningxia, there's a major matter — the kinsmen of the Qing prince's line. Avoid killing them if you can. Send them all to the Tianshan Mountains."

"Send them to the Tianshan Mountains?"

Cao Yao was baffled. The Tianshan Mountains weren't short of people. Rather than going to the trouble of shipping them off to the Tianshan Mountains, they might as well stay at the quarries at the foot of the Qilian Mountains. Besides, Gansu had mines too where they could settle those princes.

One look and Liu the Lion knew exactly what old brother Cao was thinking. He quickly shook his head. "It's for Dai Daozi. I promised Dai Daozi I'd help him get his revenge. His enemy is dead, so I'll hand the Qing prince's line over to him to deal with. This war came sooner than I expected — he probably won't be back until next year. Once we take it, send the people to him."

"Don't worry. I'll handle Guanzhong and Guyuan on this side. Once all the units are deployed, if the Ningxia front needs support, just tell me directly." (Chapter End)