Chapter 788: Yuning Circuit

Hou Shilu never once looked at the letter Liu Chengzong had sent into the alley.

Not long after Zuo Maodi left the alley to report back, the old soldiers inside began striking clay pots and singing, making merry.

By evening, the sound of clappers and drums came from inside the Guangyou Granary; then a dozen or so old soldiers in sturdy armor and sharp weapons charged out. Unable to break through the Marshal Army's street barricades, they all fell dead under the powerful bows and heavy muskets.

Zuo Maodi, who had just been about to report back to Liu Chengzong, heard the musket fire and came galloping in a panic to the street corner.

Liu the Lion arrived right after and saw the bodies lying strewn across the street corner — all old soldiers past forty with graying hair and beards. A guess already formed in his mind.

Then he saw Zuo Maodi crouch beside a bare-chested corpse and stepped forward to ask, "Is this Marshal Hou?"

Zuo Maodi nodded and looked up miserably at Liu Chengzong. "This afternoon, Marshal Hou poured out his whole life story to me. At that time..."

"The old marshal was heroic. We must not fail his hopes — erect a fine stele and compose a proper epitaph."

Liu Chengzong turned and ordered his men to collect the old soldiers' bodies and have Hou Shilu's carried to the foot of the Victory Tower.

The Second Brigade was tallying spoils at the Victory Tower; several coffins gathered earlier by the various battalions were there, so Hou Shilu could be buried in a dignified manner.

The next morning, the six hundred-odd Ming troops holding Granary Alley, led by household retainer chief Du Yingfang, placed their weapons at the alley entrance, carried out Hou Shilu's armor and saber, and filed out in surrender.

Du Yingfang had been a household retainer of Du Wenhuan. After Du Wenhuan was imprisoned, his son Du Hongyu served as a general in Nanjing, so Du Yingfang stayed in Yulin helping out the Du family. For this battle, he had been recruited by Hou Shilu to join the army.

The burial site chosen for Hou Shilu was south of Yulin city.

Liu Chengzong planned to build a shared cemetery for the Ming generals and soldiers who had died in this battle. However, since he had promised Hou Shilu burial rites befitting a Left Chief Commissioner, he had a civil clerk draw up an estimate — and found it was indeed expensive.

And there was also the problem of treating some better than others.

Hou Shilu was heroic, but which of the other Ming generals who died in this battle was not?

The Wang military clan, the most powerful faction in Yulin, had fought to the death with their whole household. Eight regional commanders and vice commanders, both active and retired, along with younger clan members like Wang Chengxun, all gave their lives for the nation — they did not even take the chance to send the younger generation out of the city.

Only Wang Pu, Wang Ding, Wang Shiren, and Wang Shichong, who had been commanding troops in the capital, Northern Zhili, Guilin, and elsewhere before the battle, remained as roots for the Yulin Wang clan.

Liu Chengzong and his subordinate generals had made very thorough inquiries about the Yulin great clans' generals commanding troops elsewhere.

They all knew that this battle, for them and for the Yulin generals, was a matter of state; but the next time they met those men's clansmen on the battlefield, it would be a blood feud. Neither side would hold back.

At the Victory Tower in the center of Yulin, a row of oil-fir and vermilion-lacquered coffins stood beneath the cross-shaped central tower.

These coffins had been easy to find. In the chaos just after the city fell, the coffins many military households had prepared for themselves had been dragged outside. After entering the city, Liu Chengzong had the troops put them in order and assign specific coffins to the old generals.

For those who had none prepared, the Marshal Army provided them, commissioning the city's coffin-makers to build them.

To the eyes of the Marshal Army's veteran commanders, Grand Marshal Liu Chengzong's behavior at this moment was a bit odd — he circled the coffins, looking at one, touching another, and sometimes muttering words no one could hear.

"Director Zhang, what's the Grand Marshal doing?"

Left Guangxian, a guerrilla commander in the First Brigade, was a Yulin native. As early as when the siege began, since he was accompanying Liu Chengzong on the eastern campaign, he had asked Ren Quan'er, who was besieging the city, to find a way to get word to his family inside.

He was going with the Grand Marshal to fight the Eastern Invaders, and he wanted his relatives at home to avoid unnecessary casualties in this siege.

Their family was not a century-old military clan like the Wangs or the Du Shis, nor a deeply entrenched great house like the Yous or the Guans, who had held posts in Yulin for two or three generations with intertwined connections.

Left Guangxian's family was like those of Cao Wenzhao, Cao Wenyao, Cao Bianjiao, and Cao Dingjiao — shallow roots, who, in a special historical period, had two generations standing on the front lines and produced a few fierce men.

Their family belonged to the Yulin Guard. The most famous member was Left Guangxian's younger clansman, Left Fu.

In the last years of the Wanli reign, Left Fu served at Hengdao Hezi in Tieling, Liaodong — then called Sancha'er Fort — as a defense commander.

He was there for Sarhu, attached to Ma Lin's northern route army, and escaped with his life. Afterward, he served continuously in Liaodong. When Sun Chengzong was in charge, he was responsible for forward outposts beyond the pass and once captured eight Later Jin scouts alive in a single action — a fierce man among fierce men.

Thereafter he campaigned unceasingly in Liaodong, first as vice regional commander managing colonel affairs, then transferred to the Forward Central Battalion at vice regional commander level. In the sixth year of Tianqi, he took part in the defense of Ningyuan; in the fourth month of the seventh year, he was promoted to regional commander; in the fifth month, he distinguished himself at Ningjin; in the seventh month, he died of illness.

And then there was Left Guangxian, who had joined the army through the military examinations.

If before the Lingdong campaign Left Guangxian still felt he bore some stain as a turncoat rebel general, then after returning from Lingdong, his back was ramrod straight — going home was a matter of bringing glory to his ancestors.

Knowing the city had fallen, he had rushed over from Red Stone Gorge at the first moment and entered the city to go home.

Ren Quan'er had put considerable effort into his matter. Before the city fell, he had ordered his veteran soldiers of Yulin origin to swim the city moat under cover of night, scale the wall, and hide inside the city to deliver the message.

Now Left Guangxian had just finished dealing with family affairs and left a few guards at home. The moment he reached the Victory Tower, he saw Liu Chengzong circling the coffins.

Zhang Xianzhong saw Left Guangxian arrive, greeted him, and said quietly, "Keep your voice down. The Marshal is persuading Hou Shilu to donate money for building the cemetery."

"Hou..." Left Guangxian looked around. "Isn't Hou Shilu dead?"

Zhang Xianzhong pursed his lips toward the coffin. "Lying right there."

But Liu Chengzong heard them anyway. He rose and came over. "Not persuading. I'm explaining to them why their homes got confiscated. In times like these, with locusts flying everywhere, don't go becoming a City God and then shirk the work."

With that, Liu the Lion turned to Left Guangxian. "Family matters all settled?"

"Yes, reporting to the Grand Marshal, all settled. One nephew did take an arrow defending the city, but the rest are fine."

Left Guangxian said, "The arrow hit his arm. He'll recover with some rest."

"That's good. What's your nephew's name, how old?"

Left Guangxian's nephew was named Left Zhu, the same age as his own son Left Xiang — both just twenty.

A general's nephew wounded in the campaign stirred Liu Chengzong's sense of compensation. He asked about the situation, then said, "Fine. The Marshal's headquarters needs men. Once he's healed, send both of them to the Tiger Guard Camp."

"Thank you, Grand Marshal!"

Liu Chengzong smiled, clapped his hands, and said, "Let's go, to the Regional Commander's yamen."

His sense of compensation was not because Left Zhu had been wounded defending the city and he felt he ought to make amends, but because this man, as a destabilizing factor who had resisted the Marshal Army, needed to be bought over.

In other words, his importance was no less than that of Qiu Lei.

That afternoon.

At the Regional Commander's yamen of Yansui Garrison, Liu Chengzong assembled his generals and added a new administrative circuit to the Marshal's headquarters: Yuning Circuit, governing Yulin Prefecture and Ningxia Prefecture.

The man transferred to be Prefect of Yulin was Chen Qihuang. As early as when Chen Qihuang was magistrate of Jingbian County, Liu Chengzong had been grooming him to be Yulin Prefect.

For Prefect of Ningxia, the suitable candidate in Liu Chengzong's mind was Song Xian of Gansu.

When he proposed this name, Zhang Xianzhong looked utterly baffled, wondering to himself who this was — that the Marshal's headquarters had someone even he, the head of civil officials, had never heard of.

He could not help but ask, "Who is this worthy talent?"

Gao Yingdeng, brigade commander of the First Brigade, laughed. "Director, this Song Xian is a famous figure in Gansu — the commander of Suzhou Guard."

Zhang Xianzhong was dumbfounded. Had the Marshal's headquarters run out of people? How could they make a guard commander a prefect?

But he hadn't expected Gao Xiandeng to chime in from the side, backing Liu Chengzong: "The Grand Marshal uses men without rigid conventions. Send Song Xian to Ningxia, and he'll surely put Ningxia's military fields in order."

Then he explained Song Xian's background to Zhang Xianzhong.

Song Xian was a merchant who got his start lending money to the Suzhou Guard's banner troops, and he could burn IOU slips to recruit soldiers.

When Liu Chengzong took Suzhou, he used him to stabilize the local situation, appointed him Vice Prefect of the Suzhou Guard, taught him the Family Field Method, and painted him a grand picture of spreading the Family Field Method across the entire Hexi Corridor.

Later, Song Xian did well in Suzhou, and after Cao Yao became Gansu Commander-in-Chief, he made the picture Liu the Lion had painted a reality, having him spread the Family Field Method throughout Gansu in his capacity as Commander of the Suzhou Guard.

And now, Liu Chengzong was not only going to paint him an even bigger picture than before, but also push him into the seat of Prefect of Ningxia.

The purpose was obvious: to have him continue spreading the Family Field Method in Ningxia.

Zhang Xianzhong couldn't help saying, "Grand Marshal, Ningxia is no Suzhou. The population of a single Ningxia prefecture is probably no smaller than all of Gansu. Isn't this too difficult for Prefect Song?"

"Not difficult, is it?" Gao Xiandeng said. "The civil officials of the Marshal's headquarters just need to farm the land well. Song Xian is an expert at managing land."

Zhang Xianzhong shot him a sidelong glance. What crap was this pure military man spouting?

The civil officials of the Marshal's headquarters managed a great many things!

"The affairs of Ningxia Prefecture are indeed difficult for him, which is precisely why we must send people to help him."

Liu Chengzong pondered for a moment, then said: "Since the Yulin-Ningxia Circuit is established, the local garrison shall also follow regulations and set up a garrison brigade, with a newly appointed Regional Commander. Left Guangxian, Guerrilla Commander of the First Brigade, shall serve as Regional Commander, and Ma Xiang of the Scout Cavalry Battalion shall serve as Vice Regional Commander."

Left Guangxian and Ma Xiang, upon hearing their appointments, both froze in unison. Only after a moment did they exchange a glance, hurriedly clasp their fists, and express gratitude as they accepted their orders.

One was from Yulin, the other from Ningxia — this was truly returning home in glory.

Then, before Gao Xiandeng could even cry out, Liu Chengzong had already said to him: "The Mobile Corps will detach one Thousand-Man Command to garrison Yulin-Ningxia with Left Guangxian."

"Xu Yong fought well in this battle. I originally intended to have you enter the Tiger Guard Battalion as a Thousand-Man Commander for two years, but let's forget that now. Transfer to the First Brigade as Guerrilla Commander; the missing troops will be replenished from the Changping Battalion."

Compared to Left Guangxian's appointment as Regional Commander, when Xu Yong heard his assignment, he initially thought he had misheard.

Only when he realized others were looking at him did he understand that Liu Chengzong was indeed speaking of him, and then he hurriedly, with mixed feelings, expressed gratitude and accepted the order.

This official appointment felt like being slapped across the face, then having a big flatbread stuffed into his arms.

He was a Colonel, and after fighting fiercely, he ended up a Guerrilla Commander.

Yet, seeing the envious expressions of others, it seemed this post of Guerrilla Commander of the First Brigade of the Marshal's Headquarters really was a cushy assignment.

He could only console himself: looking at Left Guangxian's record, a Guerrilla Commander of the First Brigade was equivalent in rank to Vice Regional Commander, and perhaps after a couple of years he too could be sent out to serve as a Regional Commander.

"For the Yulin-Ningxia Brigade, Colonel of Reinforcements: Liu Fangming; Mobile Corps General: Hui Dengxiang."

Liu Chengzong said: "You each have your own troops, so the Yulin-Ningxia Brigade's troop strength is bound to exceed its authorized quota. You have a one-year deadline to resettle the excess soldiers."

As he spoke, he looked toward Zhou Qing in the hall and said: "Also, the troops of Zhou Qing, Ma Xiantu, and Wang Yuncheng — you will combine into a single five-thousand-man grand battalion, with Zhou Qing as Colonel, temporarily placed under the Central Army. The excess soldiers must likewise be resettled."

At this, the officers began clamoring all at once, voicing their difficulties.

It wasn't that they begrudged the troops under their command, but rather that in these times, recruiting soldiers was easy, while disbanding them was far from simple.

Striking soldiers from the rolls was easy to say, but once discharged, these men had no way to make a living and still possessed martial force, making it very easy for them to cause chaos in the local areas.

And for a regime like the Marshal's Headquarters, which relied entirely on military force to govern the territory, there was almost only one path to take: armed confrontation.

Fortunately, Liu Chengzong understood this matter better than anyone.

He swept his gaze over the assembly, and once they quieted down, said: "No need to panic. At present, the Yulin-Ningxia Circuit's troops exceed the quota by over ten thousand."

"The key lies in resettlement, which is why a year has been allotted to resolve it. It's no great matter. There are three directions for resettlement."

"First, skilled craftsmen, military artisans, physicians, and grooms — if they exceed the military establishment, they may be recommended by their commanders and sent to the Hundred Crafts Bureau, the Armory Bureau, the Imperial Medical Academy, and the Imperial Horse Pasturage."

"Second, with the cooperation of the Prefect of Yulin and the Prefect of Ningxia, transfer them to civilian registration and allot them farmland. This is the best option. Right now, both Yulin and Ningxia have very few people, and much farmland has been cleared. Sorting out irrigable land and settling them there is a good thing."

"I estimate these two paths can resettle seven or eight thousand people. As for the remainder, if they are unwilling to enter civilian registration... can the Troop-Training Guard still take people?"

Liu Chengzong was asking Zhang Xianzhong.

The Rites Office managed the Ming imperial clan, usually handled by the Prince of Han and the Prince of Su, who had frequent dealings with the Hexi Military Affairs Office.

But this matter didn't require Zhang Xianzhong's answer at all. Jin Chanzi of the Clan Battalion understood the situation better than anyone. He clasped his fists and stepped forward: "Grand Marshal, a great many people have already been sent to Hexi this year."

Jin Chanzi said: "The batch from Xi'an Prefecture was selected by this humble officer and should already be on the road, but the batch from the Rui Prince's estate in Hanzhong likely won't make the journey this year."

"No matter."

Hearing Jin Chanzi say this, Liu Chengzong felt assured.

According to plan, the Troop-Training Guard should have just sent off a group of people this summer.

Therefore, even counting the Rui Prince's group, the Hehuang region could absorb the remaining over-quota troops from Yulin.

"Then it's settled. First, select the elite for the Yulin-Ningxia Brigade. For the rest, those willing to take civilian registration will be given land and registered. If in the end there are one or two thousand unwilling to take civilian registration, they can be sent to Hehuang."

"Jifang, draft a letter. Tell Governor Du'erbo to have the Hexi Military Affairs Office prepare for two thousand people arriving from Yulin over the coming year."

However, resolving this matter also reminded Liu Chengzong that the first batch of Tianshan Army troops was originally supposed to return last year according to plan.

But last year they were fighting over there and missed the season for returning.

If they were to return this year, the Tianshan Army should be on the road right now.

When that batch of veterans returned, their resettlement would also be a new problem.

This made Liu Chengzong decide to strengthen Left Guangxian's Yulin-Ningxia Brigade.

He said to Left Guangxian: "Half of the Yulin-Ningxia Brigade's officers will be promoted from among your own subordinates. The other half — the Tiger Guard and Feathered Forest Battalions will each detach three hundred and sixty officers of all ranks."

At these words, Left Guangxian, Ma Xiang, and even Liu Fangming and Hui Dengxiang were overjoyed.

The battalion cavalry of the Feathered Forest Battalion meant little to them, but the Tiger Guard Battalion was filled with the finest talents of the Marshal's Headquarters. Having these men become officers of their newly formed brigade would maximize its combat effectiveness.

Most crucially, Liu Chengzong placing his treasures in this brigade meant their chances of being deployed elsewhere to fight were far greater than those of other garrison brigades.

And Liu Chengzong also breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

With positions vacated in the Feathered Forest and Tiger Guard Battalions, even if the Tianshan Army returned, he wouldn't have to break his word — there would be places to settle them. Only then would this matter truly begin to circulate properly.

At this point, the problem of surrendered troops that had been troubling him was finally resolved.

Good afternoon!