Chapter 766: Superstition

Zuo Liangyu's emotions collapsed.

Nine years ago, during the Ningyuan mutiny, Qiu Lei had helped him raid military supplies.

After the incident, Qiu Lei took the blame alone, leaving Zuo Liangyu still a free man.

He threw himself at the feet of Vice Minister of War Hou Xun, became his running dog, and for all these years of service, spent a fortune, risking his life on campaigns and leading troops into battle — all for nothing more than keeping Qiu Lei alive.

Hou Xun treated him very well, gave him a future, an official post, soldiers, provisions and pay, but could not possibly stake everything on helping him get Qiu Lei out.

Recognition itself was already a great kindness; no one would gamble their own political future to rescue someone utterly unconnected to them.

The Chongzhen court had no shortage of high officials pulling strings to get condemned prisoners out of jail, but those were mutual rescue operations between offensive and defensive alliances at court; a low-ranking officer of no standing like Qiu Lei had no value worth rescuing.

In fact, his greatest value was precisely staying in prison, serving as a leash to yank Zuo Liangyu back.

Of course, between Zuo Liangyu and Qiu Lei, it was hard to say who had it better.

After all, Qiu Lei had managed to spend nine years inside a Chongzhen-era prison — that was a top-tier credential in its own right.

The Chongzhen court's prisons were a gathering of winds and clouds, the Great Ming's most formidable talent reserve base.

When Qiu Lei first went in, the cells were packed with eunuch-faction men awaiting death or exile; later, once the eunuch faction had mostly been shipped out, Yuan Chonghuan and that whole batch of governors and supreme commanders who had rushed to the emperor's aid during the Jisi Incident filled the vacancies — there was even Qian Shisheng's chief examiner Qian Longxi, who did six months inside for having recommended Yuan Chonghuan.

That wave had barely left when they were replaced by Wu Xiang's batch, the ones who lost the battle of Dalinghe.

Plus governors-general, supreme commanders, regional commanders, prefects, and magistrates from all over — too many to count.

Wave after wave died or were released; the Ministry of Justice changed ministers four times — two successive ministers, Qiao Yunsheng and Han Jisi, each ended up locked inside the great prison themselves, becoming Qiu Lei's neighbors.

The jailers had all inherited their fathers' jobs and turned over a whole generation, and Qiu Lei was still in there, running the place as the prison boss.

Hey, all old friends.

The world Qiu Lei had seen was probably far broader than what Zuo Liangyu, out there hacking away with his head down, had ever experienced.

Later on, by the time Zuo Liangyu was fighting alongside Hong Chengchou, he no longer clung to the obsession of getting Qiu Lei out; he just hoped his brother could live decently inside — he sent plenty of silver, kept him alive, made sure he ate and drank well, and that was enough.

That was why, when Hong Chengchou was running wild in Ningxia, Zuo Liangyu had looked at him with such profound meaning.

Even from washing horses to leading troops, when Zuo Liangyu ran all the way to Hetu Ala and, on the way back, didn't abandon Feng Rang to flee into Beijing — it was all because, in his heart, he was turning over the thought that maybe following Liu Chengzong really could get Qiu Lei out.

What if, someday, Liu Chengzong decided to strike Beijing?

Once they fought their way in, wouldn't Qiu Lei just get fished out?

Of course, this was nothing more than Zuo Liangyu's fantasy; nine years had long since worn away his confidence in ever rescuing Qiu Lei.

So much so that when Liu Chengzong called Zuo Liangyu over to deliver things to Qian Shisheng, he was still cursing Liu Chengzong in secret.

"That bastard's got way too many sly tricks!"

To Zuo Liangyu, there was no need to guess; he had been avoiding Qian Shisheng all along, not even wanting Qian Shisheng to know his name.

The whole point was to keep the court from learning that he had surrendered.

Now Liu Chengzong had specifically called him over — it had to be deliberate.

And he'd brought three chests of gold bars; that last chest alone weighed a full fifty jin!

Zuo Liangyu thought to himself, so many soldiers fight and die for you, and I've never seen you reward anyone with gold bars — you just fob them off with silver bars.

Yet now, for an old man like Qian Shisheng who has achieved nothing and is of no great use, you bring out over a hundred jin of gold as a parting gift!

This brute's rewards and punishments are utterly chaotic!

He may win battles, but one still has to think twice — pledging absolute loyalty to him might lead to a bleak future.

But he never, ever imagined that the heaviest chest of gold was actually meant for Qian Shisheng to find a way to mediate from within and secure Qiu Lei's release!

In that moment, Zuo Liangyu felt as if his head had been trampled by a cavalry column; tears surged uncontrollably from his eyes. He thought himself a truly petty man, to have cursed Liu Chengzong in his heart.

He really deserved to die.

He dropped to his knees and kowtowed on the spot, blurting out, "Liangyu has no father; the Grand Marshal is my father!" — he wanted to become Liu Chengzong's adopted son.

"If that money had been for Qian Shisheng, then it's 'This brute's rewards and punishments are utterly chaotic!' But if it's spent on me, well, that's a different story..."

Even his own father wouldn't help him rescue a friend.

Liu the Lion, however, looked perfectly normal, as if nothing was strange about it at all; with Qian Shisheng as witness, he accepted an adopted son eleven years his senior.

And as for Qian Shisheng, this whole matter... it was perfectly normal for Liu Chengzong to act this way.

To be precise, no matter what Liu Chengzong did at this point, nothing would strike Qian Shisheng as strange.

It was Zuo Liangyu's move of acknowledging an adoptive father, on the other hand, that made him take a much higher view of the man.

He had never before thought Zuo Liangyu was anyone special, but this time was different — he was far too good at seizing an advantage.

Liu Chengzong's intention to help get Qiu Lei out was already an enormous gain for him, and then he used the occasion to acknowledge an adoptive father on top of it.

Winning twice over.

An age reversal between adoptive father and son was not uncommon, because an adoptive father is not a real father; one with the substance of a father-son relationship is called a foster father.

Take Mao Wenlong of Dongjiang Garrison, for example — he had both foster sons and adopted sons. The foster sons were truly raised as his own children, while the adopted sons were men repaying a life-saving grace by acknowledging him as adoptive father.

The underlying meaning, really, was that sovereign and subject are distinct and cannot swear brotherhood.

As for the parting gift Liu Chengzong gave him, Qian Shisheng offered no refusal whatsoever, but neither did he accept it; he simply said that if it was to be given, it should be given in front of Gao Qiqian.

Qian Shisheng was not a young man like Zuo Liangyu; at over sixty, he had seen far too much to be easily moved by such small favors.

In truth, far from being moved, he was even a little annoyed.

Because he genuinely admired Liu Chengzong — including the parting gift he had prepared for Liu Chengzong, that policy essay from his own palace examination.

As a Grand Secretary of the Great Ming, no matter how much he admired Liu Chengzong or how favorably he viewed the Marshal's Army, even if there was mutual respect, each still served his own master; it was impossible that after a single diplomatic mission, he would present Liu Chengzong with some grand strategy to enrich the state, strengthen the army, and conquer the Great Ming.

That policy essay was of no use to Liu Chengzong; it was merely an examination from the final years of the Wanli era, some answers on the development of state affairs in response to the Wanli Emperor's questions.

But it was a crucial stroke that had altered the course of Qian Shisheng's life. To give something so precious to a cherished friend despite their age difference — that was a matter of great significance.

And as for what Liu Chengzong gave him — to be honest, that sable coat pleased Qian Shisheng immensely.

A gift, ideally, should be something of no practical value.

If, on that foundation of valuelessness, you add a touch of soul, then it becomes the most precious thing one person can give another.

But gold bars were different.

Because gold bars have a price, and whatever has a price is base.

Qian Shisheng was a Grand Secretary of the Great Ming Empire. Never mind thirty gold bars — even thirty thousand gold bars meant little to him.

Even just putting them on display, he would still have to figure out how to clear a room for them... he had no way to spend them.

Of course, if thirty thousand gold bars were delivered to the emperor's private treasury, they might solve some real-world problems for the Great Ming, but they meant nothing to Qian Shisheng's inner world.

Because he had power. Power is intangible, yet it far surpasses gold and silver.

This meant he simply had no place to spend money. Wherever he went, he never needed to carry silver — or rather, even when there was an occasion to spend, his official salary was more than enough.

So why did Liu Chengzong give him gold bars?

The Marshal's Mansion was a regime built squarely on the bonds of regional native-place ties. Excluding the Mongols, ninety percent of those in power were Liu Chengzong's fellow provincials from Shaanxi.

Liu Chengzong had money, power, and an army. He lacked nothing — except a good name.

And he, Qian Shisheng, was a high-ranking court official on the verge of retirement, with complex personal connections and immense prestige among the scholarly circles — and moreover, a Jiangnan official whom the Shaanxi warlords had no means of reaching.

Liu Chengzong had repeatedly brought up sending him back to the capital, and now, at their parting, was giving him gold bars. What was he trying to do?

It was easy to guess.

Which made it rather dull.

Qian Shisheng did not even need to do anything actively. Whether he returned to the capital in office or retired to his hometown, in his socializing and conversations, Liu Chengzong's good name would inevitably spread.

Because no one would not be curious about that battle east of the ridges that reversed the fate of the realm. Of the tens of millions of scholars and commoners in the half of the empire beyond the Marshal's Mansion's control, Qian Shisheng was the sole eyewitness to that battle.

Liu Chengzong was not too ashamed to keep him — he chose not to keep him because it was better for the Marshal's Mansion's development.

What a damn political animal!

Elder Qian was fuming, but he could not refuse. He could only say, if you want to give them, do it in front of Gao Qiqian.

Because the Chongzhen Emperor also had thirty gold bars. He had to go back and lay all sixty bars before the emperor — these were for His Majesty, and these were for his minister.

How the gold bars were disposed of was Chongzhen's business.

Otherwise, if he returned with only thirty bars, Chongzhen would surely suspect in his heart that Liu Chengzong had given fifty... no, a hundred bars, and that he had pocketed at least seventy.

Qian Shisheng even suggested that the gold bars intended for freeing Qiu Lei should best be split evenly between him and Gao Qiqian, right in front of them.

The matter of freeing Qiu Lei was easy to handle, yet also difficult to handle. He truly dared not guarantee he could pull it off.

Freeing Qiu Lei was easy, but with Zuo Liangyu now in Liu Chengzong's camp, the matter became difficult.

No one could say for certain what the emperor would think.

Chongzhen followed neither reason nor law. Whoever he wanted dead, he would have killed. It was truly hard to say.

But since Liu Chengzong had raised it — and raised it last, making it seem the most important request — Qian Shisheng did not refuse.

He made a two-pronged plan. After returning to the capital, he would mobilize his friends at court and find a way to bypass the emperor to rescue Qiu Lei.

If that failed, Gao Qiqian would step in and take the diplomatic route.

Qian Shisheng pointed out that Liu Chengzong was holding a Great Ming hero, Ma Shaoyu, under house arrest in Xi'an Prefecture. Ma Shaoyu was a Sichuan native and fellow provincial of Chen Xinjia, the Grand Coordinator of Xuan Prefecture. Chen Xinjia could most likely persuade Yang Sichang, and with Gao Qiqian added, they should be able to convince the emperor to exchange hostages.

The moment Liu Chengzong heard how troublesome it was, he immediately wanted to drop the whole thing.

"Why not just blackmail him? I'll mass troops beyond the Miyun border and declare that if Qiu Lei isn't freed, I'll fight my way in."

But Zuo Liangyu was too afraid to let that happen and hastily urged, "Godfather, you mustn't!"

Was this a joke? Qiu Lei was sitting comfortably as the boss of his prison cell, and suddenly stirring up trouble on the border like this — wasn't that roasting his good brother over the fire?

More crucially, even if Chongzhen was muddled, the court officials were not. They would never accept such a threat.

The worse the battlefield losses, the less they could yield. This was not about face, but a hard-nosed calculation of interests.

The Great Ming was the biggest power. Even being that big, it had suffered losses. Yielding would only make the opponent stronger, whereas fighting stubbornly to the death could inflict costs large and small on the other side.

And when it came to bearing costs, the Great Ming could endure more than anyone else.

So Zuo Liangyu was terrified — what if Chongzhen's fierce temper flared up and he had Qiu Lei executed?

Listening to Zuo Liangyu's analysis, Liu Chengzong could not help but ponder: the emperor executing Qiu Lei — that... would be a good thing!

He was concerned about Qiu Lei's matter not because Qiu Lei was so important, but because Zuo Liangyu was important.

Since Zuo Liangyu had already joined the Marshal's Army, and he still had several Regional Commanders leading troops under him, Qiu Lei squatting in a Great Ming prison was a weak point in the armed forces under Liu Chengzong's command.

If the Great Ming later put Qiu Lei in command of troops, then what would become of Zuo Liangyu?

If Zuo Liangyu ran into trouble, men like Xu Yong would become difficult to handle. If they rebelled, that would be simpler — just fight them. Liu Chengzong was a professional in that regard.

The real trouble was precisely if they did not rebel, which would tie up far more of his attention.

If the Great Ming really could chop Qiu Lei down with one stroke, Liu Chengzong would actually be relieved.

Liu Chengzong suddenly felt he had been truly foolish. He should never have asked Qian Shisheng to rescue Qiu Lei.

He should have brought Zuo Liangyu to swagger around in front of Gao Qiqian. Chances were, once Chongzhen heard of it back in the capital, fury would surge to his heart and he would slaughter Qiu Lei.

That would be far simpler than fishing someone out of prison.

But alas, things had already reached this point, and too many people were in the know. He could not expose the darkness in his heart and had to proceed as Qian Shisheng had proposed.

The twenty-seventh day of the sixth month.

Sixty li beyond the Miyun border, Gao Qiqian received word that he was to receive Qian Shisheng and escort him back to the capital. He deployed his troops and set up six encampments to wait.

The seven thousand Guanning troops he had pulled from the Liaodong defense line — he had drawn them all out from within the border.

He had no choice. Gao Qiqian was terrified.

By all reason, this matter could have been handled right near the border wall. He did not need to pull all his troops out; he could have simply sent a ceremonial mounted escort outside to bring Qian Shisheng back.

But Liu Chengzong had distributed over ten thousand heads to the border troops of the Ji Garrison's Western Sector, and at this moment, Gao Qiqian simply dared not let Liu Chengzong anywhere near the border wall.

The Chongzhen Emperor had written just yesterday to curse him, saying he was incompetent at guarding the frontier and had actually allowed the border troops to leave the border without authorization to collect the heads Liu Chengzong was handing out.

The scolding left Gao Qiqian rather dazed and deeply aggrieved. He thought to himself, I only just arrived at Miyun a couple of days ago — I'm not familiar with a single soldier or officer here. Telling them not to go out — well, they'd have to listen first.

What was more, even the Liaodong soldiers he had sent to deliver his orders had gone out beyond the border to collect heads.

Can something like this even be banned?

If there's silver lying on the ground, aren't you going to pick it up?

But to be fair, Gao Qiqian felt the Liao troops were still better — they only cared about taking advantage. If there was credit to claim, they'd claim it; if they couldn't claim it, they'd trick the Ji Garrison troops, saying Lord Gao was collecting heads. If they couldn't trick them, they'd just rob them, then hide the heads themselves — the very picture of disowning all ties.

The Ji Garrison troops were no good — they repaid kindness, sought to return favors, and were superstitious to boot.

Ever since they'd received those heads beyond the border, by now they all regarded Liu Chengzong as a god beyond the frontier who controlled the barbarian heads.

Having seen the inscription saying the tally of beheadings reached eighteen thousand, they believed Liu Chengzong still had idle heads in his hands.

So much so that word spread through the army that in Miyun, some soldiers privately carved wooden figures they called the Barbarian Head God, worshiping them morning and night, hoping for more divine manifestations and another distribution.

Gao Qiqian thought to himself, isn't this just sick? What Barbarian Head God — pure unorthodox worship!

The next step would be fabricating demonic books and heretical talk to stir up rebellion.

That was, until Gao Qiqian met Liu Chengzong.

Fine armor and sturdy horses arrayed before him, ten carts of barbarian heads at his side, the little wooden chest opened before his eyes — twenty-five gold bars laid out in perfect order, catching the midday sun, nearly blinding anyone who looked.

Bathed in the glittering gold, Liu Chengzong stood heroic, towering, and brimming with divinity: "The Chief Supervisor has overseen the Guan-Ning Army's defense against the barbarians for many years. Officers and soldiers alike have toiled and labored. These heads are but a small token of Chengzong's regard — I earnestly hope you will not refuse them."

Gao Qiqian was dazzled by the flash of gold.

In that moment, he swore in his heart: whoever dares say there is no Barbarian Head God again — the Barbarian Head God will manifest sooner or later and take your head away!

?? Good evening!

? (End of chapter)