Chapter 1236: Extremes and Even Greater Extremes

Similar voices could be heard in the capital as well, but these voices only sounded in the shadows, uttered with fury and despair. No one could hear them, and no one wanted to. On the surface, everyone knew only one thing: the Donglin purists would never bow to the rebels and were determined to restore clarity and order to the Great Ming.

Some assumed that the Jiangnan region, having dealt extensively with Xuzhou, would surely counsel restraint. Yet to everyone's surprise, Nanjing, Changzhou, Suzhou, and Songjiang all offered their full-throated support. One urgent letter after another was rushed by fast horse to the capital, every one of them demanding that troops be dispatched as quickly as possible.

"…The Southern Directly Administered Territory has long suffered under the rebels' scourge…" A line from one of these letters was quoted again and again during court deliberations. Whenever it was spoken, everyone would dab at the corners of their eyes, half in earnest, half in pretense, to show their righteous indignation.

Word had it that several great houses of the Southern Directly Administered Territory in Jiangnan had already arrived in the capital with silver in hand, paying calls and bestowing gifts everywhere to push with all their might for a joint punitive campaign against Xuzhou. A closer look at the backgrounds of these great houses revealed them all to be families that had reaped enormous profits from cotton cloth, and who were deeply entangled in the export of southern goods and maritime trade. With this layer of connections in play, the fervor of the remonstrating officials and purists blazed hotter by the day.

The upright purists, the Donglin partisans, while advocating for the joint campaign against Xuzhou, were at the same time nervously guarding against a counterattack from the eunuch faction. After all, Wei Zhongxian's clique had led every previous siege of Xuzhou. Though they had never won, they at least understood the Xuzhou rebels far better than their own side's armchair strategists. If their own side blustered and boasted here, and the eunuch faction seized on some error or omission, that would mean real trouble. Yet to their surprise, the eunuch faction kept a very low profile. It almost seemed as if the purists targeting Xuzhou had let them breathe a sigh of relief. Still, the Donglin ranks, high and low, warned one another that they absolutely could not afford to overlook the eunuch faction. Once they returned in triumph from this great victory, they would rid the state of that evil.

It was just that the previous joint campaign against Xuzhou had mobilized nearly sixty thousand government troops, and less than twenty percent had returned. Even allowing for the empty payroll slots from embezzled military funds, the actual losses were substantial. For this joint campaign against Xuzhou, they would have to commit an even larger force, no matter what, to have any confidence of success. But where were the troops to come from? When Wei Zhongxian had transferred border troops from Shanxi and Shaanxi back then, he had already been deemed utterly deranged. The passage of those tens of thousands of border troops had likely been akin to a plague of locusts. Locusts devour grain; border troops devour people. The regions they passed through would surely be left devastated. This was precisely why, during the court deliberations to recall Wei Zhongxian, many officials from Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan who had previously stayed aloof had advanced and retreated in lockstep with the Donglin partisans.

But the troops from the inland military garrisons could no longer be trusted. Baoding Garrison had suffered a crushing defeat. Denglai Garrison had been annihilated. The newly established Daming Garrison had collapsed entirely. Langshan Garrison, north of the Yangtze in the Southern Directly Administered Territory, was reduced to thirty percent of its strength. It was clear that inland troops were utterly unfit for battle. After much deliberation, the only forces they could use were the border troops. Were they to follow the eunuch faction's example and transfer the great armies of Shaanxi and Shanxi? Would that not be repeating the same disastrous mistake…?

Solutions are devised by men. The officials of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue quickly came up with a plan. The Xuanfu Garrison troops would form the main force, with fifteen thousand drawn from them. Jizhou Garrison troops would provide support, with eight thousand drawn. The capital garrison would contribute twenty thousand. Troops from Baoding Garrison, Zhending Garrison, and Shandong would total twenty thousand. Five thousand border troops from the Shanxi Garrison, and ten thousand newly trained troops from Henan. In total, eighty thousand government troops, proclaimed as one hundred thousand, would march south to suppress the Xuzhou rebels. At the appointed time, troops from Huguang and Jiangxi would be ordered to reinforce the Southern Directly Administered Territory. The southern forces would total over thirty thousand, proclaimed as fifty thousand. The northern and southern routes would strike Xuzhou in a pincer.

The moment this plan was proposed, it convulsed the capital. Many asked in astonishment if this was madness. Xuanfu was the capital's northwestern gateway, and Jizhou Garrison its northeastern gateway. Moreover, Jizhou Garrison was still tasked with providing support and serving as a screen for western and eastern Liaodong. Was this not plunging the capital into peril and disregarding the Son of Heaven's safety?

Officials of Shandong origin were all frantic. Some submitted blood-written memorials at the palace gates. Some mobilized friends and family to send in petitions. This great army marching south to Xuzhou would inevitably pass through the various prefectures of Shandong. Would this not utterly ruin Shandong? A great army on the march carries only three to five days' worth of provisions; the rest must be requisitioned locally. The Shandong region had suffered successive years of disasters and warfare. Would this not sever the region's very lifeline?

However, the isolated and outnumbered Shandong officials were quickly suppressed. A reason for daring to transfer the great armies of Xuanfu and Jizhou Garrisons was also swiftly provided.

The troops of Xuanfu and Jizhou Garrisons were all meant to guard against the Mongol Chahar tribe to the north. This tribe was the direct domain of the Khagan of the steppes, the direct lineal descendant of Genghis Khan. The Khagan of this generation was Ligdan Khan. However, the Mongol tribes on the steppe were fracturing and splintering. The Khorchin tribe to the east had grown very close to the Jianzhou Jurchens and had already begun forming alliances. Meanwhile, the Tümed tribe to the west had long since established its independence centered on Köke Khota, where the fame of Altan Khan reigned supreme. The Mongols of the northern steppe had only nominal ties to begin with. And further west, the Oirat tribe and the Chahar had always been mortal enemies.

This generation's Ligdan Khan had initially shown some ambition to strengthen his rule. But after converting from the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism to the Karma Kagyu school, he became estranged from the other Mongol tribes that devoutly followed the Gelug school. Then came the rise of the Jianzhou Jurchens, who steadily encroached upon Ligdan Khan's territory. Several joint offensives by the Jianzhou Jurchens and their allied Mongol tribes had routed Ligdan Khan. Left with no choice, Ligdan Khan could only migrate westward, defeating the weaker third-generation Altan Khan and beginning to entrench himself in the Köke Khota region. The adversaries that the defenses of Jizhou and Xuanfu Garrisons were meant to counter were no longer there.

As for the Jianzhou Jurchens in the Liaodong Garrison region, ever since Sun Chengzong had taken command in Liaodong, he had been rebuilding fortresses and recruiting troops there, and the situation had gradually stabilized. For the past year or so, the Jianzhou Jurchens had not launched any offensives. The rumor that they were building thousands of wheelbarrows to bypass the Ming defenses had also been proven false. More crucially, Pi Island had been reporting frequent victories, and then frequent urgent calls for help. The Grand Coordinator of Denglai, Yuan Keli, had stated very clearly in his memorials to the court that the Dongjiang Garrison on Pi Island was already tying down a large force of the Jianzhou Jurchen barbarians. During the winter and spring months when travel was easier beyond the passes, the main Jurchen army was laying siege to it. In other words, the barbarians were pinned down by the Dongjiang Garrison and unable to move for the time being. Coupled with the increasingly solid defenses of the Liaodong Garrison, there was no need to worry too much about the Jianzhou front either.

Since the Chahar had migrated west and the Jianzhou Jurchens were pinned down, the troops of Xuanfu and Jizhou Garrisons could now be redeployed.

"…The elite border troops are invincibly brave. The moment the celestial soldiers arrive in Xuzhou, the rebel masses will crumble into dust. Perhaps before they even reach Xuzhou, the mere rumor of such military might will scatter them. A swift battle and a swift resolution are certain…"

The plan drafted by the Ministry of War officials was exceedingly thorough. Assembling troops from every route to strike Xuzhou in concert—with such overwhelming superiority, and with the elite border troops present, a swift battle and swift resolution were assured. Or perhaps the sheer scale and might of this force would terrify the Xuzhou rebels into collapsing without a fight. It would not take much time at all; the various forces could return to their home garrisons without delaying their defensive duties.

Some muttered "armchair strategizing," and others "a Zhao Kuo of the Ming." But once this plan was proposed, no one could actually find any fault with it. News of the Chahar tribe had long since spread throughout the capital. By now, "…the Chahar people number fewer than forty thousand, their horses fewer than fifty thousand, their men and mounts old, weak, weary, and sickly, unable to withstand a single blow…" These matters, verified and disseminated by Shanxi merchants, had long been common knowledge, and everyone had long since breathed a sigh of relief.

More critical was the matter of the border troops. In the hearts of all the officials, gentry, and commoners of the Great Ming, the border troops of the nine frontier garrisons were the finest elite under heaven. They clashed year-round with the barbarians at the frontier outposts, long inured to blood and iron, peerless in their ferocity and valor. The Great Ming had seen no shortage of turmoil. Back then, those White-Clad Divine Soldiers of Liu the Sixth and Liu the Seventh had ridden across the length and breadth of the land, and the inland government troops could not withstand a single blow. But what happened in the end? Jiang Bin brought a mere thousand or so border troops from the Liaodong Garrison and crushed them. During the Wanli reign, nearly three hundred thousand Japanese pirates invaded Joseon. What happened in the end? They were beaten back to Japan by just over forty thousand border troops from the Liaodong Garrison. And need one even mention who had held back those barbarian iron cavalry to the north that had threatened the Great Ming for centuries? It was none other than the border troops.

Of course, there had been a few times when they could not hold them back. But most of the time, they did. With such elite border troops, and nearly thirty thousand of them committed at once, dealing with the Xuzhou rebels would be as easy as chopping melons and slicing vegetables. The only concern was speed. After suppressing the rebels, they had to return to their home garrisons as quickly as possible, lest the northern barbarians exploit their absence.

Once this plan was proposed, the Donglin partisans suppressed all opposing voices. Pushed by the Minister of Personnel, Zhao Nanxing, and the Senior Grand Secretary, Ye Xianggao, it was sent before the Son of Heaven himself, respectfully requesting the imperial decision. Among all civil officials under heaven, the foremost figure was the Senior Grand Secretary, and the second was the Minister of Personnel. With these two taking the lead and a flock of their partisans clamoring below, there was absolutely no way the court officials could block it. The key still lay with the attitude of the inner court.

By now, the Seal-Holding Eunuch Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial, Wang Tiqian, was no longer so obedient to Wei Zhongxian and had been in secret communication with the Donglin faction. He would be easy enough to handle. The key still lay with Wei Zhongxian. Although he had kept a low profile, a powerful eunuch who attended the Son of Heaven daily could still overturn the heavens and earth. The eunuch faction surely knew that once this military campaign succeeded, their own doomsday would immediately follow.

Yet to everyone's surprise, the inner court offered no obstruction whatsoever. The Tianqi Emperor approved the plan. The Directorate of Ceremonial, the Directorate of the Imperial Horses, and every other office raised no hindrance. The inner court and outer court reached a consensus on this matter. According to word out of the palace, the Tianqi Emperor had once asked Wei Zhongxian for his opinion. Wei Zhongxian had merely said it was feasible, but that a seasoned and prudent figure must be used to oversee the great army.

The eunuch faction actually did not obstruct it? What exactly were they plotting? The Donglin partisans, who had been prepared to mobilize their purist remonstrating officials for a vicious brawl, instead grew paranoid and suspicious. Soon after, many officials in the capital belonging to the eunuch faction began currying favor with the Donglin faction one after another. They no longer sought to keep their official posts; they only asked to be able to extricate themselves peacefully. Only then did the Donglin partisans realize that the eunuch faction truly would not obstruct this, and that the eunuch faction's doomsday had indeed arrived.

Scholars and men of letters everywhere were brimming with high spirits. From the Wanli Emperor's weary neglect of governance to the eunuch faction's tyranny under the Tianqi reign, the time had finally come again when the court was filled with the righteous. Henceforth, a thousand hardships, ten thousand perils, and countless vexations would all vanish like smoke. Governance would surely be pure and enlightened, the nation strong and prosperous, and the golden age of the Three Dynasties restored.

News arrived that at Tianjin, Linqing, and other points along the Grand Canal, every public and private granary would fully supply military provisions. Fodder, oxen, horses, and other military supplies would also be ample. This boosted everyone's confidence even further. Even the opposition from Shandong officials dissipated. No one could have imagined that the wealthy magnates of Jiangnan, who begrudged paying a single coin more in taxes, would actually take the initiative to communicate with the grain merchants along the canal and undertake such a deed beneficial to the state and the people.

"…How can a catty of grain compare to a foot of cloth? How can it compare to a catty of salt? Not to mention a catty of wine, or a catty of iron…" A capital literatus wrote this, but few could understand it. It was dismissed as mere raving.

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