Chapter 1413: Claiming a Hundred Thousand

He had assumed this Second Master Chen would say something about loyalty and righteousness; he never expected such a contemptuous sigh. The private adviser was speechless for a moment, his face ashen as he was dragged away.

Chen Sheng returned to his seat, slid his long saber into its scabbard, and looked up. "Duobao, what do you think?"

The guard called "Duobao" was two or three years younger than Chen Sheng, sturdily built. He was a member of the Chen clan, but he had come to join them rather late, so he could only serve as a personal guard.

Chen Duobao, put on the spot, glanced left and right to make sure no one else was there, then scratched his head and said, "Big Brother, I don't really understand. That man had a bit of a point..."

Before he could finish, Chen Sheng snatched up his scabbard and struck him with it. The blow sent him staggering, his face twisted in pain. Chen Duobao clutched his shoulder, not daring to speak. He knew Chen Sheng had held back; with Chen Sheng's martial skill and strength, even with the blade still sheathed, that blow could have killed a man.

"Has a dog eaten your brains? Who taught you to spout such nonsense!" Chen Sheng barked harshly.

Hearing the commotion inside, personal soldiers came running in, but upon seeing the scene, they tried to withdraw. Chen Sheng stopped them. He stood up and said in a low, grim voice, "I'll tell you why that pedantic fool was confused. He saw that our Zhao Family Army is strong, he saw our sturdy ships and powerful cannons, our fine weapons and armor. He saw our chance to achieve great things here in Liaodong. But does he know what's back in Xuzhou? This Provisional First Division, which he thinks is incomparably mighty, counts for nothing in Xuzhou. Whenever the Master decides to act, he can reorganize and mobilize more divisions at any time. We are nothing. And don't even mention how outsiders see Liaodong as isolated beyond the sea. Our Xuzhou has ships, big ships. This vast ocean is nothing."

No one understood why the usually taciturn Second Master Chen had said so much this time. Hearing this, they had no other thoughts, only a surge of pride. Our Xuzhou has mountains of gold and silver. Our Xuzhou is omnipotent. Our Xuzhou has everything. We are the ones destined by Heaven.

Outsiders looked at this Provisional First Division and saw terrifyingly fine equipment, terrifyingly abundant supplies and provisions. But those truly born in Xuzhou knew this counted for nothing. Xuzhou had far, far more than all of this.

After he finished speaking, the personal soldiers withdrew. Chen Duobao, grimacing in pain from the beating, hastily took his leave as well. As he went out, he stole a glance at Chen Sheng and found the other man looking at him with a meaningful gaze. He immediately shuddered and lowered his head, not daring to raise it again.

When no one else was left in the room, Chen Sheng sat there, took a deep breath, and slammed his hand down heavily, making the tea table beside him creak and groan.

"Just what kind of bastards has Xiaoyong been messing with!" No one heard these words.

After Lu Da's Fengpei Regiment arrived at Fuzhou, Chen Sheng began mustering and inspecting the troops. There were six infantry regiments and five infantry battalions, totaling over twelve thousand men. There was one cavalry regiment and five cavalry companies, totaling over fourteen hundred riders. There were over fifty cannons, along with more than four thousand civilian laborers and assorted personnel accompanying the army, and several thousand head of cattle and horses.

As October arrived, the wind at sea had already picked up, yet the fleet gathered here still streamed in an endless flow, transporting supplies. There were now two ports of departure: one at Dengzhou, the other at Tianjin.

The supplies stockpiled in Dengzhou itself had mostly been shipped out. It now mainly served as a relay station for supplies shipped from the port of Haizhou. The supplies stockpiled in Tianjin, however, were immensely abundant and flowed out in an unending stream. The Chongzhen Emperor had already lost his temper several times over this, but he was powerless to stop it.

The reason for his anger was simple. What Tianjin had stockpiled were all tribute grain and other supplies meant for the capital. Those in charge of them were all ennobled favorites, eunuchs, and powerful civil officials. As a result, whether it was the ennobled favorites bound to the dynasty's fate, the eunuchs who were the emperor's household slaves, or the scholar-officials who shared the realm's governance with the Son of Heaven, they all secretly sold off supplies, pocketed the silver, and curried favor with the Zhao Family Army.

Not long after everyone learned that the Zhao Family Army was reinforcing Liaodong, another rumor spread as a warning, quickly circulating throughout the land: the Second Brigade, together with the Pizhou Reinforced Regiment, was stationed at Linqing, and the Qingjiangpu Ironclad Patrol Brigade and the Yutou Town Patrol Brigade had been drawn north to rendezvous with them.

The Zhao Family Army had suddenly stationed over ten thousand troops right on the border between Shandong and Northern Zhili, and at a key junction on the Grand Canal no less. People across the land no longer dared to view the Zhao Family Army with their old eyes. Everyone understood now that ten thousand Zhao Family Army troops were worth a hundred thousand or more of the imperial army.

In other words, the Zhao Family Army could sweep through Northern Zhili, storm the capital, and change the dynasty at any moment.

That the Zhao Family Army would do this came as no surprise. Seizing the realm and overturning the dynasty was already a matter of an arrow on a drawn bowstring, a state that had to be unleashed. Everyone seemed to understand that Zhao Jin's talk of wanting to carve away the lands of Shandong and the northern part of Southern Zhili was nothing more than a stalling tactic.

News from Xuzhou seemed to confirm this even further. Zhao Jin had already issued a military order: his most elite Personal Guard Brigade was to be expanded into a Personal Guard Division. This was a force of roughly fifteen thousand men. Given the Zhao Family Army's strength, the Personal Guard Division plus a few newly formed regiments and battalions would be enough to completely control Shandong. Besides, the Third Brigade and several patrol regiments had yet to move at all.

Discussions of moving the capital were once again being fervently debated in the capital. There were also pedantic Confucian scholars who swore with conviction that Zhao Jin did not understand the need to recuperate and let the people rest. By abusing civilian labor and exhausting the military so recklessly, he would likely provoke popular uprisings everywhere and throw his own ranks into chaos. This, they said, was the fortune of the Great Ming's realm, the ability to outlast a strong foe until it defeated itself.

Others traced back to past events. The Oirat tribe had even captured Emperor Yingzong, yet they collapsed from internal strife. The later Dayan Khan, the Little Prince, did not last many generations either. And Altan Khan, at a time when he could have utterly destroyed the Great Ming, who would have thought that in his old age he would become addicted to wine, women, and Buddhist teachings, letting his grand enterprise wither away on its own? It seemed Zhao Jin was following the same path. And before Zhao Jin weakened, he had still dealt the Jianzhou Tartar slaves a heavy blow. What was this, if not Heaven protecting the Great Ming?

Such self-deceiving arguments were quickly refuted. People did the math: even without the immense profits and provisions Zhao Jin earned from his own industries, commerce, and agricultural estates, Shandong alone could fully supply him.

How could Shandong, impoverished and broken, possibly supply him, especially a unit like the Zhao Family Army that spent money like water? The calculation was simple enough. All the taxes and corvée labor the Great Ming had once apportioned to Shandong had gone unpaid these past two years. The digging of ditches and wells, once forbidden to the surrounding prefectures and counties because of the Grand Canal, was now permitted. The clerks and runners who once manipulated things for their own gain had now been purged and brought to heel.

Without such a heavy burden, without so much pointless waste, the manpower and resources Shandong could provide were already enormous. Meeting the Zhao Family Army's needs was naturally more than sufficient.

To speak of exhausting the military recklessly—it would be better to say that the Great Ming side had simply gone too far in the past. Xuzhou did not even need to lighten taxes and corvée labor for the people of Shandong to be overwhelmed with gratitude. In contrast, to maintain the defenses of the capital and Northern Zhili, to sustain the vigilance and blockade against the Zhao Family Army, the Great Ming provinces not under Zhao Jin's control were all imposing additional levies and conscriptions. The local regions groaned in unbearable misery. Now, the population fleeing to Shandong and the Jiangbei region of Southern Zhili grew larger by the day. So who exactly was defeating itself?

They could not win in a fight. They had no capital to drag things out. What was to be done?

More and more officials in the court were abandoning their seals and leaving without even tendering their resignations. Deserters from the garrisons everywhere were also increasing. Even the most loyal figures were beginning to feel despair.

The Chongzhen Emperor had already lost his temper several times during court assemblies, even breaking down in tears in a loss of composure. But no one could offer any decent solution. In the Grand Secretariat, Sun Chengzong and Wang Zaijin; Sun Chuanting, the Supreme Commander of Datong and Shanxi; and Xiong Tingbi, the Supreme Commander of Liaoxi—all advised moving the capital, going to Shanxi or Shaanxi, using the natural defenses of the mountains and rivers to hold out and plan for future recovery.

If these men had said such things in the past, they would have been attacked en masse by the "pure stream" censors, exploited by political enemies, and ultimately stripped of office and thrown into prison. But the situation was different now. Each of them held large armies in their hands. Even if they themselves were loyal ministers who abided by the court's laws, they still had to consider whether the troops under their command might mutiny.

The leaders of the "pure stream" faction, who had once clung rigidly to the great moral principles and barely knew how to compromise, now held views very different from before. The attitudes of Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou were no different from anyone else's. The Son of Heaven must guard the national gate, absolutely no negotiating peace or ceding territory, absolutely no retreating half a step, and no repeating the disastrous mistakes of the Two Songs. There was nothing wrong with this great principle in itself. But the Great Ming of today was not the Great Song, and Zhao Jin was not the Jin Kingdom or the Mongol Yuan.

The Two Songs still had the strength to fight the Liao, Jin, and Yuan; they did not even need to be so retreating and weak. But the Great Ming, before the Zhao Family Army of Xuzhou, truly had no means of resistance.

Then again, even the great Confucian scholars privately shared an understanding: this Zhao Jin of Xuzhou was no Tartar slave or barbarian. Xuzhou was also Chinese, Han land. It was not that he lacked the qualifications to receive the Mandate of Heaven.

As for the eunuchs, Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun had indeed done many things, but their subordinates did not cooperate. Back when they purged the eunuch faction, purging the Wei Zhongxian clique, many had been imprisoned and dismissed. If they had truly brought calamity to the country and people, that would be one thing. But back then, everyone had thrown themselves forward wave after wave to root out Zhao Jin, working so hard for the Great Ming's realm, only to end up like this. Those who took the blame accepted their bad luck; those who watched from the sidelines were chilled to the heart. Who would still put their heart into doing things?

With the civil and military officials like this, and the inner court and outer provinces like this, the Chongzhen Emperor was truly at his wits' end. He could only spend his days kowtowing before his ancestors' spirit tablets, bitterly confessing his own incompetence and bitterly denouncing his subjects for all harboring selfish motives.

It was at this very moment that news came from Liaoxi: the Jianzhou Jurchens had already begun massing their great army, preparing to attack Fuzhou...

Prior to this, the Jianzhou Jurchens had begun pushing westward. Ningyuan had once again become an isolated city. All Ming army strongholds and remnants east of Ningyuan were completely swept away. Only this time, the Jianzhou Jurchen troops did not attack the city. And after this offensive, they began to pull back, withdrawing to the position of Jinzhou.

This advance sent the Liaoxi border army into a panicked retreat, with part of the troops pulling back inside Shanhai Pass. But messages and word also came through, saying this offensive was a warning, telling the Liaoxi border army to know its place and not to fish in troubled waters.

The troops originally massed at Guangning began moving south toward Gaizhou Guard. A large army also arrived from the Liaoyang-Shenyang area. Goryeo troops also crossed the Yalu River to rendezvous with them.

News arrived piece by piece. Nurhaci had appointed the Second Beile, the Bordered Blue Banner Lord Amin, as the main commander, with the Bordered Blue Banner Meiren Janggin Jirgalang as deputy commander, and the Plain Red Banner Meiren Janggin Yoto as deputy commander. The Bordered Blue Banner and Plain Red Banner forces totaled over twenty thousand, including five thousand cavalry and seventeen thousand infantry. In addition, there were over five thousand Khorchin Mongol cavalry, ten thousand newly surrendered Han troops, and four thousand Goryeo soldiers. Together with civilian laborers and conscripts, the total was fifty thousand, claimed as a hundred thousand.