Chapter 598: Containment

Liu Chengzong felt like a ghost.

What did it mean to be an army of the king? He merely led his troops north, and wave after wave of Ming soldiers defected to him in full formation.

In truth, the troops flocking to him were not many — only the two battalions of Ren Quan'er and Yang Yanchang — but because he had just taken in three surrendered battalions earlier, it created this illusion in his mind.

Moreover, there were groups of Pingliang soldiers emerging from the mountains, officers arriving before his formation stripped to the waist, baring saber wounds and arrow scars, claiming to be injured soldiers who had been fostered at the Prince of Han's estate years ago.

This left Liu Shizi deeply uneasy.

For one, he was gripped by retrospective fear — he was lucky he had not yet clashed with Zhang Yingchang and Cao Bianjiao, for in his current state, with those two men's cunning, they would surely have slipped infiltrators into the surrendered troops.

For another, three days ago he had marched south with four battalions of combat troops, a force of less than twenty thousand, yet in just these three days his main army had swollen to over thirty-five thousand infantry and cavalry — he could barely keep eyes on everyone anymore.

The organization was far too chaotic.

There was the Yan'an Guard, the Yan'an Battalion, two small Zhen'gan battalions, plus three scattered battalions from Guanning, Pingliang, and Huguang.

Among them, the eight-hundred-strong Liaodong troops and the four-thousand-strong Zhen'gan troops had virtually no combat effectiveness — more than half the Liaodong troops were wounded, and the Zhen'gan troops were in no better shape.

Aside from the personnel, every cart was fully loaded, and the army mules were nearly worked to death, carrying grain contributed by the Xianyang gentry and horse meat offered by the Guanning Army.

To be honest, Liu Chengzong felt his combat strength was plummeting at an alarming rate, and the situation was perilous.

Originally, Zhang Zhen's three small Gansu battalions had wanted to pursue Zhang Yingchang as far as Binzhou, but when Liu Chengzong learned of this idea en route, he flatly refused.

Forget it — Zhang Yingchang and He Renlong could be fought anytime; the urgent task for the three small Gansu battalions was to quickly prepare tools in Yaozhou city for smoking meat and tanning leather.

Aside from smoking the butchered horse meat and tanning the horse hides as quickly as possible, they had no other proper business to attend to.

Of course, they also needed to conscript craftsmen to repair the armor and weapons damaged on the battlefield.

The moment Liu Shizi entered Yaozhou city, Zhang Zhen, Ding Guodong, and Mi Layin urgently reported intelligence on the fighting to the west.

Liu Chengzong waved his hand dismissively. "The Ming army has indeed fought its way into Fengxiang Prefecture, but the situation is not that dire. Brigade Commander Wang already informed me of the situation long ago."

Fengxiang Prefecture had lost two strongholds in total. The first was Dasan Pass, which Luo Rucai had been holding.

Because the area around Dasan Pass was all mountain ridges and gorges, with only that one road, Luo Rucai had learned in advance of the Sichuan Ming army's direction of advance and planned to take the initiative, ambushing them for a spell.

But the Sichuan Ming troops that came were the guest army under Long Zaitian.

Those men were naturally adept at traversing mountains and fording rivers. In Luo Rucai's eyes, there was only one road, but for Long Zaitian, who had come on expedition with four war elephants, those obstructing trees simply did not exist — the low hills were full of elephant paths.

One stomp of an elephant's foot created a step infantry could scale; one lean of an elephant's body, a scratch to relieve an itch, could topple dead wood.

As for the dense underbrush, needless to say, driving the war elephants through it could carve out an elephant path wide enough for the main force to pass.

By the time Luo Rucai realized what was happening, Long Zaitian had already bypassed Dasan Pass and entered Fengxiang Prefecture.

Realizing it too late, Luo Rucai sprinted in pursuit for seventy li, and counting the twenty li he had earlier advanced to set the ambush, he had covered ninety li in a single day and night.

Only then did he fight a battle outside Baoji city against Long Zaitian, who had already set up camp.

The enemy was rested and waiting, and had a fortified camp. Not only did he fail to breach the camp, but his formation was broken by the war elephants, and he was so frightened that he led his aggrieved troops slinking back into Baoji city. Dasan Pass was thus occupied by Long Zaitian.

However, the main reason for the defeat lay not with the soldiers, but with Luo Rucai's command.

Wang Wenxiu criticized him mercilessly, and the usually arrogant Luo Rucai accepted it all with genuine humility... He could not tell anyone that the reason he lost the battle was that he had not given it his full effort.

Just as the soldiers under Zhang Tianlin's great camp all pinned their hopes on Zhang Tianlin gaining rank and title in the Guanzhong campaign, the officers and men under Luo Rucai thought the same way.

But the situation here was different. Long Zaitian had more troops, and Luo Rucai had never been confident of annihilating them in the first place.

So he got a crooked idea — he wanted to present the Grand Marshal with an auspicious omen: the four war elephants.

That was like fighting cavalry on the battlefield while still thinking of killing the men but sparing the horses — victory was impossible.

The other lost stronghold was Longzhou, which Yang Chengzu had been defending. Wang Wenxiu had ordered it abandoned on his own initiative.

Because the massive Ming offensive in the Longxi direction made it impossible for Li Zicheng and the others to hold, Liu Chengzong suggested that the five Chuang Army battalions and the five Henan battalions withdraw into Fengxiang.

Longzhou was a small city with walls too low. Wang Wenxiu judged it would be difficult to defend against the government offensive, so he ordered the defending commander Yang Chengzu to withdraw and fall back to the more defensible Qianyang city to the south, setting up defenses along the terrain at Caobili in Anshang Township in the northwestern outskirts.

So for the short term, Fengxiang Prefecture had troops, cities, and grain — the battle situation was not critical.

The Marshal's army had never placed much importance on attacking and defending cities, but rather on field battles.

During this period, Wang Wenxiu's main focus, much like Chen Qiyu's, was on hauling grain and fodder to safe locations.

Ever since the Ming army began reinforcing the west, Wang Wenxiu, with the assistance of Fengxiang Prefect Li Jiayan, had been transporting reserve granary stores from small cities like Longzhou, Qianyang, and Baoji to the Fengxiang prefectural seat.

In fact, the problem on Wang Wenxiu's side right now was not a need for reinforcements, but rather the hope that Liu Chengzong would write to Li Zicheng and Zhang Yichuan, transferring their troops to the east, and only moving them back to Fengxiang Prefecture when a battle was needed.

These two large factions were causing Wang Wenxiu more mental strain than the Ming army bearing down in force.

After all, no matter how many Ming troops came, at worst Wang Wenxiu could fully contract into Fengxiang's prefectural city. The city had ample grain, and enough troops, firearms, and cannons to rotate — he could hold out until the end of time, and eat until the emperor dropped dead.

Wang Wenxiu had already detected over twenty thousand Ming troops moving toward Fengxiang Prefecture, but he was not panicked.

What truly unnerved him somewhat was precisely the reinforcements of Li Zicheng and Zhang Yichuan withdrawing into Fengxiang Prefecture.

Over twenty thousand men, more than ten thousand large draft animals, eating and chewing day in and day out — the matter of army provisions aside, the key issue was that troop strength and equipment dictated tactics.

Wang Wenxiu had only ten thousand men. Facing over twenty thousand enemy troops, he could withdraw into the city to defend with a clear conscience.

But once those twenty-thousand-plus reinforcements were added, it became thirty thousand against twenty thousand. If he then chose the tactic of shrinking inside the city, the morale of all three groups of soldiers would plummet rapidly.

Liu Chengzong strongly agreed with Wang Wenxiu's assessment.

However, his starting point for considering this issue was different — it was not based on army provisions or morale, but rather on his realization that he had tactically led the peasant armies astray.

Not to mention Zhang Yichuan, even Li Zicheng was starting to think about relying on the Marshal's headquarters' logistical base in Guanzhong to fight positional warfare against the Ming army.

From Liu Chengzong's perspective, supplying Fengxiang Prefecture's limited logistical provisions to the slightly weaker forces of Li and Zhang, to fight positional warfare against the Ming army on the Guanzhong Plain, was very... brainless.

The heavy Ming troop concentration now appearing in Longxi included both border troops from Ningxia and Yansui, and combat troops from Changping — they had profound strength and powerful combat capability.

Even Li Zicheng's army could gain no advantage on such a battlefield.

It was not that he was not formidable, but that his army was simply not created for such campaigns.

On his first night stationed in Yaozhou, Liu Shizi took up his brush and wrote a long letter to Brother Huangwa, analyzing for him the current situation where the rebellion-suppressing armies were massing in Shaanxi, leaving Henan and Huguang empty, and demanding that he and Zhang Yichuan jointly lead their troops in a thrust into Henan.

Maneuver onto a larger battlefield, and pin down the Ming court's forces in Henan, Huguang, and Shanxi.

To achieve a strategic posture where they could attack when advancing and defend when retreating.

Not long after this letter was sent off, Liu Chengzong had just lain down in his clothes to sleep when he was roused by the Feathered Forest Cavalry on guard outside his door.

He Yong had arrived.

Liu Chengzong mused that this He Yong could really run.

According to the intelligence he had, the Pingliang troops said Zhang Yingchang and He Renlong should have just entered Binzhou by now — so how had He Yong come running over on his own?

Entering the main hall of the Yaozhou yamen, He Yong, dressed in plain clothes, looked rather embarrassed to see Liu Chengzong and moved to salute at once: "Troubling the Grand Marshal to rise — truly this humble one's fault!"

"Enough, let's dispense with such formalities between us." Liu the Lion waved his hand. "You didn't follow General He into Binzhou city?"

"Ah? Enter Binzhou city?"

He Yong was feigning ignorance, shaking his head. "General He didn't enter either. He merely escorted Marshal Zhang to the banks of the Jing River, then led his troops to Qingyang."

"Qingyang?"

Liu Chengzong furrowed his brow in thought for a moment. Revealing an army's position — this was a rather delicate situation.

It was very likely He Renlong had deliberately had He Yong tell him. He thought it over, then asked anyway: "General He isn't entering Binzhou — what is he going to Qingyang for?"

"Why enter Binzhou?"

He Yong countered with a question, then spread his hands. "Zhang Yingchang is the commander of the Grand Coordinator's standard camp, not our commander. We can't reach Grand Coordinator Lian or Supreme Commander Chen, so why should we listen to him?"

Liu Chengzong suddenly understood. So He Renlong had simply led his troops and withdrawn from the battlefield.

He smiled. "General He does not intend to be my enemy?"

"General He would absolutely never be the Grand Marshal's enemy." He Yong hastily waved his hands, speaking with utter sincerity. "The General led his troops to besiege Yaozhou only under orders."

"Now that contact with Xi'an Prefecture is lost and the five-battalion officers have fallen apart, the General is withdrawing his troops to Zhenning County in Qingyang Prefecture. The Grand Marshal may rest assured — General He will absolutely not cause the Grand Marshal any trouble in taking Guanzhong."

Liu the Lion, hearing this explanation, laughed in spite of himself.

He slowly shook his head, thinking to himself that when it came to lying low, no one in the world could beat his old superior He Renlong.

Fight when it's advantageous, leave when it's not — he was even more of a roving bandit than Li Zicheng.

Having figured out He Renlong's war-aversion, Liu Chengzong straightened up in his chair and asked He Yong: "General He sent you here — aside from these matters, is there anything else he wanted you to say?"

"General He said he hopes the Grand Marshal, mindful of past ties, will not attack our unit."

Liu Chengzong was actually somewhat dissatisfied with He Renlong's current state.

If He Yong had not come tonight, Liu the Lion had originally planned to convene a war council first thing the next morning.

He would first have Ren Quan'er and Yang Yanchang lead troops, supervising the forces of Zhang Shangxuan and Zu Chengyong, to knock out Zhang Yingchang and He Renlong in Binzhou city.

But since He Renlong had sent He Yong running over to declare his stance... Liu Chengzong thought briefly, and between forcing a surrender and stabilizing the situation, chose the latter. He spoke: "In that case, go back and tell General He that once this battle is over, the General will be a pillar general of the court in Shaanxi, and will certainly be promoted in rank and ennobled."

"And he is to garrison Zhenning properly and not go running about."

He Yong was secretly alarmed to hear these words.

He Renlong's single battalion had achieved no merit whatsoever in this campaign, yet Liu Chengzong was saying he could become a pillar and be promoted and ennobled after the battle.

Even He Yong, a mere household retainer by origin, could guess that the Marshal's Manor was likely about to make a major move against the western coalition forces.

Only if the court troops of Ningxia, Yansui, and Shaanxi were wiped out in one fell swoop would He Renlong, the sole survivor, have any chance of promotion and ennoblement.

Whatever the case, He Yong had accomplished his mission and hastily saluted to take his leave: "Grand Marshal, this humble one must return to report to the General. I take my leave now."

Liu Chengzong rose and saw He Yong out beyond the hall, then called him back just as he was leaving: "Go back and tell General He — it's time to think about a way out."

Early the next morning.

The great drum at the Yaozhou department yamen thundered, and Liu Chengzong summoned the colonels of every battalion under his command to the hall for a council of war.

He hadn't realized it before summoning them, but once they were assembled, Liu the Lion himself was startled — right now in Yaozhou alone, he had nine battalion colonels at his side.

And that was not counting the Tiger Guard, the Feathered Forest Guard, Wei Qian'er stationed on the north bank of the Wei River, or that half-battalion from Pingliang.

Liu the Lion had a clear sense of his own command ability and his army's level.

The battalions directly under the Marshal's Manor had larger establishments and more pack mules and wagons accompanying the troops, making them correspondingly harder to command.

What he was most familiar with was directly commanding five to six battalions, between twenty and thirty thousand troops — at twenty thousand he was in his element; at thirty thousand he felt slightly strained.

Once the command exceeded that number, the feeling of being beyond his capacity set in.

And beyond the command problem, stationing too many troops in a single area also had a considerable impact on the local environment.

"At present, the Ming army has Zhang Yingchang and Cao Bianjiao's two forces in Binzhou, with four thousand five hundred troops; south of the Wei River, there is Zu Dale's battalion, with Lu Xiangsheng's force from Yunyang reportedly following behind; in Qianzhou, Administration Vice Commissioner Duan Fuxing is holding the city."

On the hanging map, intelligence gathered by the Feathered Forest cavalry from relay-station scouts everywhere had long been compiled and precisely marked.

Liu the Lion pointed each out one by one, then swept his hand westward and said: "The remaining Ming troops are all in Fengxiang."

"The current situation is in our favor, but none of you must grow careless. Last night I sent word to Li and Zhang's forces in Fengxiang, inviting them to leap into Henan and tie down Henan and Huguang troops for us."

"To the north, we'll have to rely on ourselves."

Liu Chengzong smiled as he spoke, because the direction his finger pointed was Yan'an Prefecture and Yansui Garrison.

That region was his old home.

"Therefore our army should first cut off Binzhou and Qianzhou. Ren Quan'er!"

Ren Quan'er sat toward the rear among the nine battalion colonels in the hall, listening to the commander's address with shining eyes. At the sudden sound of his own name, he shot to his feet with a clang: "Commander, your subordinate is here!"

This drew a hearty laugh from Liu Chengzong, who raised a hand toward Ren Quan'er and smiled: "Just the same as before — excellent!"

"Your unit, together with Zu Chengyong's Huguang Battalion, is ordered to combine forces totaling six thousand and advance to besiege Binzhou." Liu Chengzong finished, then looked at Ren Quan'er and asked: "Are you confident?"

Six thousand besieging Binzhou, defended by four thousand five hundred — Ren Quan'er turned it over in his mind. The difficulty was actually rather high.

But this was his first battle since returning to Liu Chengzong's command, so Ren Quan'er gritted his teeth and said: "Commander, if you could assign the Pingliang troops to your subordinate, your subordinate guarantees he will take Binzhou!"

The Pingliang troops?

Liu Chengzong understood Ren Quan'er's plan the moment he heard it — this was definitely a coordinated strike from within and without. He nodded: "Good. The fifteen hundred Pingliang soldiers are assigned to your command. Take it if you can; if you can't, pin them down tight and wait for reinforcements — Yang Yanchang."

To be honest, Liu Chengzong knew Yang Yanchang quite well. He knew the man had some ability, but for a long time had no room to use it, forced to be merely a regional fierce general.

Although Yang Yanchang had been forced to surrender to the Marshal's Manor, Liu Chengzong didn't know that — he still thought the fellow was fairly trustworthy.

"Subor— your subordinate is here."

"Your unit, together with Zhang Shangxuan's Zhengan Battalion, is ordered to combine forces totaling seven thousand six hundred and reinforce Qianzhou. Coordinate with Brigadiers Zhang and Shi to take it as quickly as possible."

Yang Yanchang listened — this mission sounded simple, someone would be coordinating with him — and immediately nodded. "Your subordinate accepts the order."

But the two officers assigned to work under them, Zu Chengyong and Zhang Shangxuan, wore very different expressions.

Zu Chengyong looked at Zhang Shangxuan's face with nothing but sympathy.

Without question, their two newly surrendered battalions did not enjoy the same trust here at the Marshal's headquarters as the Yan'an Battalion and the Yan'an Guard — and clearly, the Yan'an Guard's status was higher than the Yan'an Battalion's as well.

Zu Chengyong had heard it clearly: the Grand Marshal wants us to surround Binzhou; but for your side, it's to take Qianzhou as quickly as possible.

"Zhang Zhen, I order you to take Ding Guodong back to Yan'an Prefecture. Recruit defectors and rally rebels on the spot. If you can raise a force to strike Yulin, then punch through and link up with Yang Qi of the Monan Commandant Headquarters to jointly attack Ningxia — throw the Ming army's front and rear into utter chaos."

"If that proves impossible, then garrison the various counties of Yan'an. Should the fighting in Guanzhong turn against us, our army will withdraw from Yan'an back to Longxi."

Zhang Zhen heard this — now this was a genuinely easy job. Hadn't the Grand Marshal just said it himself: they were going back to Yan'an Prefecture.

He and Ding Guodong immediately cupped their fists and accepted the order.

The two were just feeling pleased when they heard Liu Chengzong say to Mi Layin, "General Mi, you stay in Yaozhou and finish smoking the horse meat."

Having said this, he didn't even wait for the slow-witted Mi Layin to respond before raising a hand and slapping the table.

Lion Liu addressed the remaining Zhang Tianlin and Gao Yingdeng. "Your two battalions will rest and reorganize for three more days. Eat and drink your fill, then follow me as we turn the army back west and exterminate every last Ming soldier who dares enter Guanzhong!"