Chapter 1205: Madness

Hearing these words — soft on the surface but hard at the core — the Grand Coordinator of Fengyang drew several deep breaths, as if holding something in. He turned to look at the Wolf Mountain Vice General, who gave him nothing but a mournful face in return. At that expression, Guo Shangyou, Grand Coordinator of Fengyang, deflated entirely. He turned back and said in a weak, strengthless voice: "Then we agree to your terms. But after we agree, we ask that your side strictly keep your word — no seizing cities or territory, no killing officials or civilians."

Dong Bingfeng did not take up that remark. He spoke on his own: "Your troops will withdraw to their encampments and may only move within ten li of the camp perimeter. From this day forward, if the government army makes any reckless move, everything discussed today is void. When the time comes and our Xuzhou forces march south, there will be no further accommodation whatsoever."

These demands were just as harsh, yet the Fengyang Grand Coordinator and the Wolf Mountain Vice General were no longer as angry and embarrassed as before. Having already agreed to one condition, agreeing to one more hardly mattered. At this point, this harsh demand seemed only logical. Grand Coordinator Guo Shangyou and Vice General Lu Quanyou exchanged a glance, and both read the meaning in the other's eyes: once this matter was over, they would resign and return home no matter what. Huaiyang was too perilous — the farther away, the better.

After the negotiations concluded, both sides returned to their camps. It had originally been agreed that the withdrawal would begin on the third day, but the government army found every excuse to delay for one more day. During that single day, a fast horse from the west entered the government army's main camp. Soon after, news of Xuzhou's great victory began to spread through Yangzhou Prefecture.

With both sides thus holding their troops in place, the whole of Gaoyou Subprefecture breathed a sigh of relief. Each day they dared to open the city gates for one double-hour to let the city's gentry and commoners come and go. The local leading figures of Gaoyou also went to the Zhao Camp and the government army camp to make inquiries and move about. But this brief calm was soon shattered. According to news from the north, another two thousand Xuzhou troops were marching over from Qingjiangpu, while the government army also began sealing their camp, forbidding outsiders from entering or leaving.

Gaoyou Subprefecture hurriedly shut its city gates. With no government troops left inside the city, they could only pool money to recruit civilian braves for militia training, led by drill instructors and constables to stand watch on the city walls. Among them were men who had seen battle, and they found the movements of both sides very strange. In a standoff between such large armies, the scouting riders and probing horsemen on each side should have been intensely active, hunting and screening each other. By rights, they should have been visible from Gaoyou's city walls at the midpoint.

Yet over these past few days, they saw only Xuzhou cavalry moving about, with no sign of government cavalry at all. Could it be that they were simply keeping the camp shut and refusing to come out? Though the Xuzhou cavalry looked more like a proper government army than the government army itself — that full suit of iron armor, that strict and solemn discipline in everything they did...

Then the militia standing watch on the city walls saw roughly a thousand government troops marching toward the Xuzhou forces' main camp. On the walls, those who understood and those who did not were all dumbstruck. The Xuzhou forces over there numbered close to ten thousand — what were you going to do with just over a thousand men? Deliver them on a platter? That thousand-odd government troops went over and were never seen coming back. What was even more inconceivable was that, right after, another thousand-odd government troops went over, and they too were never seen returning. This went on for about four days. Then someone came from outside the city to report that the government army had already pulled back and dispersed, and the Zhao Camp had also begun withdrawing its forces in batches — but with considerably more men than when they had arrived.

The various battalions and companies of the government army were informed that the Xuzhou forces had already withdrawn, and that they were to be separately assigned to garrison posts. Because light cavalry scouts were no longer being sent out, all information in the main government army camp was completely sealed off. No one knew the situation outside. Hearing this arrangement, everyone merely breathed a sigh of relief and set out without the slightest suspicion.

Once these battalions of a thousand or a few hundred men passed Gaoyou Subprefecture, they would be completely surrounded by the household troops of the Zhao Camp in overwhelming numbers. The officers leading them would then show not the slightest will to fight or courage, directly shouting for everyone to lay down their arms and surrender. In such circumstances, who would be foolish enough to fight to the death? All obeyed the order and surrendered, meekly becoming captives. They would not notice that after surrendering, the officers who had led them would leave the ranks and return to Taizhou and Wolf Mountain.

One company after another, just like that — the Grand Coordinator and the Vice Regional Commander delivered every last man of the number they had promised the Zhao Camp. Under the escort of the militia, these captives would be sent to the eastern part of Huai'an Prefecture. The dredging and construction of the Salt Transport Canal, the planning of farming estates across Huai'an Prefecture, and all manner of places in need of labor awaited their toil.

Without any delay, the Yangzhou great houses that had taken part in the assassination at the tournament ground were all raided and their members seized. Entire families were escorted by government troops and handed over to Dong Bingfeng. Along with them came fifty percent of their recorded family assets.

When these people were delivered, Dong Bingfeng and Zhou Xuezhi finally understood. As it turned out, the moment news of the assassination spread, the Fengyang Grand Coordinator had immediately dispatched his personal soldiers into the city to seize control of the great houses involved. So the Grand Coordinator had long been planning to yield and extricate himself. Moreover, every government official involved this time had made a colossal fortune — the family estates of the Yangzhou salt merchants were no ordinary size.

The Fengyang Grand Coordinator, the Huaiyang Circuit Intendant, the Prefect of Yangzhou, the Prefect of Huai'an, and the Wolf Mountain Vice General jointly submitted a memorial, stating that the government army of Southern Zhili north of the Yangzi had fought a bloody battle against the bandit army, slaying over ten thousand of the enemy, but that the bandit army's strength was overwhelming, the government army was outnumbered, and with over half their men dead or wounded, they had no choice but to fall back and preserve themselves. Both the Grand Coordinator and the Vice General were willing to accept blame and resign from office. As for the three thousand troops sent from Nanjing, they had long since boarded their boats and returned, having no desire whatsoever to wade into these murky waters.

The tense, saber-rattling atmosphere across the Jianghuai region rapidly eased, much to the relief of the officials, merchants, gentry, and commoners of Huai'an and Yangzhou Prefectures. Previously, the populace had been quite discontented with the Grand Coordinator, the Vice General, and the others for rashly starting hostilities; now, some were praising them for recognizing the greater situation and understanding the larger picture. When the Fengyang Grand Coordinator and the Wolf Mountain Vice General prepared to resign, there were even gentry figures who jointly signed a petition to urge them to stay.

More people began celebrating the New Year anew. From the end of the twelfth month onward, what should have been a season of celebration and revelry had instead become days of fear and trepidation. Now at last they could properly enjoy themselves. Some wealthy households also took advantage of the calm to move away, most heading south of the Yangzi, a few going to Xuzhou. Wherever they went, none of them withdrew their business storefronts in Xuzhou and Qingjiangpu.

No one noticed that amid this chaos, several boats entered the Yangzi River, made a brief stop at the Yangzhou docks, and then continued north. There were far too many boats like these; naturally, no one paid them much mind. And so no one knew that those boats were carrying eighteen-pounder cannons. Had the Fengyang Grand Coordinator not agreed to the Zhao Camp's terms, these few cannons would have been the sharp instruments used to batter open the cities of Yangzhou and Taizhou.

Of the Daming government army and the Henan government army, over eleven thousand strong, more than eight thousand were killed or captured. Vice General Zhou Baolu's whereabouts were unknown; he was suspected to have given his life in loyal service to the dynasty. Of the Shandong government army, over sixteen thousand strong, more than twelve thousand were killed or captured. Regional Commander Yang Guodong fled in defeat; over a hundred military officers of Assistant Regional Commander rank and below were captured or killed. The Fengyang government army, over five thousand strong, was annihilated to the last man, from its commanding general on down. The Wolf Mountain Garrison troops and the Fengyang Grand Coordinator's standard camp together numbered over twelve thousand; more than seven thousand were killed or captured, and the remnants retreated to defend Yangzhou.

In the twelfth month of the third year of the Tianqi reign, the court mobilized fifty thousand government troops, proclaiming them one hundred thousand, to converge and exterminate Xuzhou. They returned in catastrophic defeat. Court and commonalty alike were shaken.

This defeat came so swiftly that for a time the court simply did not react. When the various reports reached the capital, even Wei Zhongxian's political enemies did not use this as grounds for attack — they did not even act. No one believed such an outcome was possible. How could they have lost? A military campaign of this scale — how could it have been lost so quickly? Were they not fighting the powerful ringleaders and rebel mobs of Xuzhou and Pizhou? So many crack troops had been dispatched, and the attack had been launched so suddenly — how could they have been defeated?

When the news reached the hands of certain officials, many, after reading the letters, flung the paper away. "A great defeat of this magnitude within a single day — is this battle report some storyteller's script?" "It cannot possibly be right. Do not bring me such countryside legends that defy all common sense!" "Could this be a trap laid by the Wei eunuch faction?" And so on and so forth. In sum, they did not believe it.

However, everyone had countless ties and connections in the provinces. Once the various official dispatches and private letters converged on the capital, this utterly inconceivable great defeat became reality. When it was known that this had truly happened, the entire court, high and low, was struck speechless. They had thought these were merely common rebels running amok — how had they become such a formidable power? Xuzhou lay at the central hub of the realm, adjacent to the vital artery of the Grand Canal, at the waist between the Northern and Southern capitals. With such a bandit army in such a place, what was to become of the empire and its altars?

But this hesitation did not last long. A few days later, paying no heed to the New Year festivities of the first month, everyone immediately began submitting memorials. For a defeat of this magnitude, Zhao Yan, the Minister of War, could not atone even with his death. The Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial and Superintendent Eunuch Wei Zhongxian had instigated much of this, bringing calamity to the state and harm to the people, and should be severely punished. From this defeat, one could see the root cause of every major defeat from the final years of the Wanli reign until now — it was none other than the machinations of the Wei eunuch. So long as the treacherous and evil eunuch faction was dismissed and replaced with upright and renowned ministers, the government army could immediately turn defeat into victory and sweep all before it with irresistible force.

Some even reached out to Grand Secretary Sun Chengzong, who was already supervising the army in Liaodong, saying that now all hopes rested on him, and inviting Grand Secretary Sun to return to the capital to take charge of the overall situation and restore that splendid state of affairs where the court was filled with the righteous.

While everyone was busily submitting memorials and attacking political enemies, they were also somewhat fearful and anxious. Wei Zhongxian was the Son of Heaven's trusted confidant and held the Eastern Depot and the Imperial Guard in his hands; he could overturn the board at any moment. If it came to mass arrests in the capital then, they would all be powerless. Moreover, everyone could sense that the Chu and Qi factions allied with Wei Zhongxian, after their initial speechlessness, had immediately submitted memorials of rebuttal, claiming the cause of this great defeat was that someone had colluded with the rebels, obstructing and acting as an inside agent — every possible excuse was being trotted out. For now, it had merely entered the normal rhythm of political wrangling.

Yet what absolutely no one could have anticipated was that Wei Zhongxian, whose power overshadowed the court and the provinces, remained utterly unresponsive to these attacks. Instead, he made a move that left everyone flabbergasted. Around the time of the Lantern Festival, an edict was issued from the palace, appointing Minister of War Zhao Yan as Supreme Commander and Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial and Superintendent Eunuch Wei Zhongxian as Army Supervisor, to command the various armies in a converging campaign to exterminate the Xuzhou rebels.

The forces specified included twenty thousand from the Capital Garrison, three thousand from the Baoding Garrison, four thousand from the Zhending Prefecture garrison, eight thousand border army infantry and cavalry from Xuanfu, over seven thousand border army infantry and cavalry from Datong, a combined sixteen thousand border army troops from Yulin and Yansui, forty thousand newly trained government troops from the three garrisons of Henan, Shandong, and Daming, and orders for the three provinces of Southern Zhili, Huguang, and Zhejiang to each train and organize their own troops and maintain strict vigilance. Once the various armies had assembled at Hejian Prefecture, they would advance to exterminate Xuzhou.

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