Chapter 595: Collapse

Liu Chengzong led the great army north.

That night, while he was eating horse-meat shaobing in Maoling, the magistrate of Xianyang County, Zhao Jichang, sat in desolation atop the city wall the whole night through.

Truth be told, compared to the other officials of the Guanzhong counties, Zhao Jichang was actually quite familiar with Liu Chengzong — he had used Liu Chengzong as teaching material years ago.

He was a man of Xiezhou in Shanxi, a Provincial Graduate of the first year of the Tianqi reign, and after passing the exam he served as an instructor in Jiexiu County. Jiexiu belonged to Fenzhou Prefecture, and beside it lay a Fenzhou Guard.

While Zhao Jichang was serving as instructor in Jiexiu, it happened to coincide with the Shaanxi bandit horde holding their great assembly at Qingjian, where they laid plans to split into six columns and invade Shanxi in force. At the time, Liu Chengzong was one of the six column leaders. He led troops into Shanxi and operated in the area around Xizhou and Shilou in Fenzhou Prefecture.

The Fenzhou Guard had poor military discipline. Not only did they lose to Liu Chengzong on the battlefield, but after the battle they were judged by Liu Chengzong for killing civilians and passing them off as enemy heads — over four hundred men were executed.

Government troops judged by bandits — how rare was that?

The incident had an enormous impact in Fenzhou Prefecture at the time. The name Liu Chengzong, in particular, became a joke at gatherings among the scholar-gentry class of Shanxi.

Because in their eyes, the composition of this entity Liu Chengzong was deeply perplexing.

Liu Chengzong had immense momentum and formidable fighting strength, yet as a roving bandit he was utterly unprofessional.

Once he struck into Shanxi he did no proper business, instead relentlessly pursuing and attacking the local eight-legged-essay bandits of Shanxi, showing more zeal for bandit suppression than the government troops themselves. After that, he cleaned up the Fenzhou Guard, which was government troops in name but a plague upon the people in reality.

It stood out as suppressing soldiers and bringing peace to the people.

So among those six column leaders back then, everyone else went by bandit nicknames. Only Liu Chengzong, in Shanxi, was called General Liu by the people.

Back in Jiexiu, Zhao Jichang taught the county school's licentiates. Learning of Liu Chengzong's deeds through hearsay, he went around telling everyone that General Liu was a righteous army and that what he did was profoundly gratifying.

And at this very moment, the battle unfolding east of Xingping and west of Xianyang was, for many Xianyang commoners watching the excitement, equally profoundly gratifying.

The vast majority of commoners had no idea who was coming from the west, nor who was coming from the south. Who were government troops and who were rebels — none of that mattered to the commoners watching the excitement.

All people knew was that a group of Liao troops had come from the south bank of the Wei River, arrived in the Xianyang countryside to set fires and loot, and even claimed that they were rebels attached to the rebel army.

This matter, for the people of Xianyang, was a logic problem.

The commoners already knew they themselves were not rebels. Yet the Liao troops said they were rebels attached to the rebel army, and were also carrying out plunder in the outskirts, and then they were chased off by Tatar soldiers.

Solve: who are the government troops, and who are the rebels?

The answer was obvious. Without a doubt, the Liao troops who came first were the rebels — they had clearly already usurped a royal title, and then bit back, calling the Great Ming a false court and themselves the rebels.

And the Tatar soldiers who came later were clearly northern household retainers attached to the court!

The Tatar soldiers galloped up beside the bustling crowd. They scared off the commoners but did not pursue or plunder them; instead, they seemed somewhat flustered, as if frightened themselves. Afterward, with a look of regret, they picked up the liangpi that a peddler had dropped, and ate until their bellies were round and full.

Apart from the household retainers of those great generals known for their strict discipline, who else could keep Mongol soldiers under such tight control?

So when the commoners watched the army coming from the south be routed, scattered, and have a batch of men surrendered and taken in, they clapped and cheered from the loess tableland, jubilant, as if they themselves had won the battle.

People inquired everywhere: who was this general who could command a golden-winged great roc?

"Ah!"

Others might not know who it was, but the magistrate of Xianyang, Zhao Jichang, knew.

What general? That was Liu Chengzong, who had led his troops from the northwest and attacked into Guanzhong!

On the contrary, the side that crossed the Wei River north with sixteen thousand men, only to be shattered and scattered within three shichen, was the government army of the Great Ming.

Compared to the delight of the Xianyang commoners, Zhao Jichang was filled with shock at the Marshal's Manor's military strength.

And a fear that drenched his back in cold sweat.

Because he, Zhao Jichang, was no longer an instructor in Shanxi — he was the magistrate of Xianyang.

He must live or die with the city!

As the magistrate of Xianyang, Zhao Jichang knew, first, the geographical position of Xianyang City, and second, Liu Chengzong's objective in attacking Guanzhong.

Xianyang was known as the Nine Passes, Nine Defenses, Nine-Mile Mountain, with nine city gates. Among them, the south gate, because it faced the Wei River, was named Weiyang Gate.

Barely one li southeast of Weiyang Gate lay the Xianyang Ferry, known as the greatest crossing in Qinzhong.

The Xianyang Ferry led directly across the Wei River's south bank to the city of Xi'an Prefecture.

Since Liu Chengzong had already attacked into Guanzhong and routed and taken in the Ming army's blocking force on the Xianyang tableland, his next step was clearly to assault Xi'an Prefecture.

Before he attacked Xi'an Prefecture, how could this city of Xianyang be held?

Within a single day, Zhao Jichang dispatched three successive waves of mounted couriers racing toward the city of Xi'an Prefecture.

The first wave was to lodge a complaint with Chen Qiyu, reporting that the Liao troops from Huguang were plundering over a hundred households outside the city and had burned countless houses and residences.

The second wave was to send an urgent warning to Chen Qiyu, saying that fighting had broken out here, and at the same time to request that Xi'an Prefecture send reinforcements to Xianyang City.

The third wave was to tell Chen Qiyu that the battle on the Xianyang tableland was over, the court's government troops had suffered a crushing defeat, and if no reinforcements were sent, this humble official could only give his life in loyal service to the state.

Xi'an Prefecture was not without troops. In the city of Xi'an Prefecture alone there were the Left Guard, the Front Guard, and the Rear Guard, plus a Qin Princely Escort Guard — banner troops were plentiful.

But, well... when Zhao Jichang sent the letters, his heart was anxious.

Actually, calculating the time, Xianyang was forty li from Xi'an. By the time the battle on the Xianyang tableland ended, the second wave of mounted couriers he sent probably had not even entered the city of Xi'an yet.

However, Zhao Jichang also had no idea what was going through Liu Chengzong's mind.

He had clearly achieved an overwhelming advantage, yet did not press the victory to expand his gains.

The Marshal's army neither crossed the river to attack, nor advanced east to besiege the city, but instead, without a sound, struck camp and headed north.

Be that as it may, as night fell, calm returned to the Xianyang tableland, and Zhao Jichang atop the Xianyang city wall finally let his suspended heart settle back into his stomach.

Never in his wildest dreams did he expect that after dark the Marshal's army would actually wheel around for a return strike — a cavalry column came back from the north, torches raised!

At first, three or five Tatar soldiers in red hats, riding slightly smaller Mongol horses, raised torches and roamed the outskirts.

A moment later, a majestic armored cavalry column arrived. Every man wore red cloth-faced iron armor, their bowl helmets topped with tall helmet plumes, all riding powerful Qinghai steeds. Long lances stood like a forest, and under the firelight the bulging muscles on the warhorses' chests cast vast shadows.

For a time, the bells atop Xianyang's walls rang unceasing. The scholars and commoners within the city rushed up onto the walls, staring at one another in shock, all so terrified that their faces lost all color.

It was the Tiger Guard Cavalry of the Marshal's Manor who had come!

Outside the Xining Gate, Ma Ke looked down at the flickering silhouettes atop the wall and said with a smile to Zuo Guangxian beside him, "This defending commander doesn't know how to hold a city — far inferior to you and me."

And he was not wrong.

Although the Marshal's army had never fought a defensive siege battle, the Tiger Guard Battalion, and indeed most of the Marshal's Manor's officers, had all cultivated an extraordinary eye for it.

Whether a defending commander could hold a city — they could tell at a single glance, and could even expound on it with clarity and conviction.

That they possessed such skill was not because they had much experience attacking cities, but entirely thanks to the Liangzhou City Defense Regulations gifted by Hong Chengchou.

Of course, when the vast majority of people in the Marshal's Mansion first came across this book, it did not go by that name, nor was the author Hong Chengchou.

Instead, it was called the Marshal's City Defense Manual, and everyone believed the author was Liu Chengzong.

This book was just like the Famine Relief and Plague Control Manual, the telescope, the cashmere surcoat, the goose-feather officer's saber, the Hequ great horse — all things of that sort.

The moment a common soldier distinguished himself and his rank of honor rose from Valiant Rider to the third class, ninth grade of Breaker of Arrays Commandant, whether or not he was given a substantive post, this whole set of gear would be issued to him in full.

Zuo Guangxian found this amusing. He was a military examinee from a Yulin landlord family, and had read this book before taking the military examinations.

The real name of that city defense manual was The Life-Saving Book, written by Lü Kun, a Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice during the Wanli reign.

The Wanli reign was the juncture where Great Ming's civil economy and national military power were at their peak and beginning to decline. Lü Kun had already seen the dynasty's accumulated ills at the time and often submitted memorials criticizing the Wanli Emperor in extremely fierce language.

In his memorials, lines like these often appeared:

"Your Majesty has long ceased to hold court; the people's hearts are lax to the extreme, the prying of treacherous villains runs deep, and the guard officers merely go through the motions."

"Memorials go unanswered — something unseen in former reigns."

Or, when pushed to anger, he would directly curse:

"Your servant observes Your Majesty does not know that the wealth under Heaven is finite. If the sovereign desires riches, then the realm grows poor; if the realm grows poor, how can the sovereign alone be rich?"

"Today the people's livelihood is utterly destitute, yet levies increase daily and exactions grow ever wider, gathering the grievances of ten thousand families upon a single word, forging the enmity of the ninefold court across the four seas — your servant secretly grieves this!"

As early as the second and third decades of the Wanli reign, Lü Kun already knew that one day righteous armies would surely rise up in swarms across the land, yet the realm had been at peace so long that everyone was like swallows nesting in a hall, losing all vigilance in the comfort of life, and when war came they would not know how to save themselves.

Therefore, wherever he held office, he left behind books on warfare and defense.

For instance, when he served as magistrate in Xiangyuan and Datong in Shanxi, he had stone tablets carved in the cities to tell later generations and the common people how to defend the city.

When he retired and returned home, he found the old city of his hometown Ningling in Henan utterly displeasing no matter how he looked at it, feeling the city was truly hard to defend, so he proposed expanding the city walls and specially left behind The Life-Saving Book for his fellow villagers.

But at the time, all goods were cheap and people's lives were comfortable; no one took Lü Kun's groundless worries seriously at all.

In fact, because Lü Kun proposed expanding the city, nine out of ten of his fellow townsfolk cursed him, since expanding the city meant contributing money and relocating — it brought great trouble to people's lives.

And no one paid any attention to this Life-Saving Book either.

Only later, after the city was expanded and Lü Kun was gone, did the Ningling people's condemnation of him turn to mixed praise and blame… By now, in the Chongzhen reign, the people of Ningling living in the new city Lü Kun had expanded, thinking back on this man, surely all praised him.

However, at the time there was a Ningling presented scholar named Wang Yin, who was very interested in The Life-Saving Book and had it carved and printed — only thus was The Life-Saving Book published.

What Zuo Guangxian had seen was the edition printed by Wang Yin.

However, because Wang Yin had been fostered since childhood by the Qiao family of Ningling, he was called Qiao Yin.

Now, however, this set of The Life-Saving Book, passing through the hands of Hong Chengchou and falling into the hands of Liu the Lion, had been completely reworked and issued to all officers of the Marshal's Mansion army, becoming a well-known and important book throughout the northwest.

If nothing else, Zuo Guangxian knew better than anyone what was unique about this book.

Any random squad commander from the Marshal's Mansion, these military men, given four or five hundred men and stationed in a county seat for three months —

they might be unable to encourage farming or assess taxes, but holding off an assault of several thousand men, so long as the firepower gap was not so absurd as to make defense impossible and they had grain in hand, holding out for a year or half a year would likely pose no problem at all.

Ma Ke had only to glance at the city to see that Zhao Jichang did not know how to defend a city, simply because the lanterns on the wall were hung high, illuminating the defending soldiers in bright light.

Zuo Guangxian urged, "Enough, the Grand Marshal didn't send us here to attack the city. Who cares whether he can defend it or not — hurry up and shoot the letter up there."

Ma Ke gave a soft laugh, drew his bow and nocked an arrow. With a whoosh, he shot the letter up onto the gate tower.

Zhao Jichang had originally thought they had come to attack the city, but discovering that the Marshal's Army armored cavalry had actually shot a letter onto the wall, he hurriedly ordered men to climb a ladder and retrieve it.

In a moment, the county vice magistrate and private secretaries inside the city all gathered around Zhao Jichang, raising torches so he could read the letter. The vice magistrate even asked, "Your Honor, are the rebels offering terms of surrender?"

Zhao Jichang, however, wore a complicated expression. He turned the letter over and read it three times before handing it to the vice magistrate and turning his head to look down from the wall.

He saw the soldiers below leading donkey carts creaking and groaning up to the city, unloading several chests of valuables.

"I truly don't understand." Ma Ke shook his head, looking at those wooden chests, and turned to ask Zuo Guangxian, "Why does the Grand Marshal want to transport the valuables from Xingping County to Xianyang, and have the Xianyang gentry buy them back… They're not even their own things — who would buy them?"

Zuo Guangxian said nothing, craning his neck to look toward the top of the wall. Only after a long while did he say, "I'd say the gentry in this city will most likely buy them."

What those chests held were all the valuables Zu Kuan's troops had plundered from Xingping County. Selected by the Liao soldiers, they were basically all rare treasures — small in size and high in value.

When the battle began, these items had been hidden in the locust grove to the west, guarded by over thirty Liao soldiers. But after the defeat, the Liao soldiers fled westward pushing the carts, only to be caught by Khoshut cavalry roaming west of Xingping County, who delivered the valuables to Liu Chengzong's camp.

Gold cups and silver goblets, enamelware and jade objects, gauze caps and kesi robes, along with some calligraphy, paintings, and antiques.

These trinkets were of no use to Liu Chengzong, but neither did he intend to let the Guanning soldiers' painstaking efforts in gathering them go to waste. So he simply set prices and had Ma Ke and Zuo Guangxian transport them to Xianyang, ordering the magistrate to assemble the gentry to purchase them at fair prices.

Only one condition was extremely harsh: the prices Liu Chengzong set were not in gold, silver, or copper coin, but in grain, livestock, and fresh vegetables.

On one hand, due to the earlier locust plague, grain prices on the Guanzhong Plain had also soared fiercely; on the other hand, antiques and artifacts could not fetch good prices in times like these.

With one falling as the other rose, even at fair prices, if valued in gold and silver, those buying this batch of goods would in fact still lose quite a bit.

But just as Zuo Guangxian had predicted, Zhao Jichang assembled the gentry atop the wall and very quickly sent a reply down to Ma Ke and Zuo Guangxian, telling them not to be impatient, that the city was discussing whether they could take the entire batch.

Because Zhao Jichang's heart had stirred the very first moment he unfolded the letter.

The first line of Liu Chengzong's letter told him that the rebellious Zu Kuan's cavalry had been routed and driven off, and instructed him to take in refugees and defend the city well, lest the people under his governance be attacked again by marauding soldiers.

Setting aside for the moment the sense of incongruity that Liu Chengzong, as a rebel leader, was telling him, an imperial official, such things —

at least in Zhao Jichang's heart, he believed Liu Chengzong clearly had no intention of besieging Xianyang.

If you do not attack, I need not consider matters of war, defense, surrender, or flight.

With that foundation, Zhao Jichang felt that other matters — having the gentry buy some things — did not seem too difficult to discuss.

Just as those atop the wall were discussing the purchase, Zhao Jichang heard the runner guarding the Weiyang Gate come to report: "Your Honor, a detachment of rebel troops has come from the west, moving at extreme speed, and has seized the Xianyang Ferry outside the city!"

Zhao Jichang thought to himself, This is bad: because of this batch of valuables, Xianyang city has already lost its will to defend.

Liu Chengzong, ah, Liu Chengzong!

You had best hurry up and take the city of Xi'an Prefecture!