Chapter 1416: Who Could Have Foreseen the Tide Turning Like This

Jirgalang and Yoto were both nodding slowly. Amin raised his voice slightly and said viciously, "If we had ten thousand riders in hand, why would we care about firearms? Charge right up to them, and even walls of bronze and iron would crumble before us. Then we'd drive the sheep and slaughter the sheep — I refuse to believe these Han have any real ability!"

"Yoto, go inspect the encampments. Any who go and defile Han women again — those below company commander, deal with them directly by martial law as a warning to all!" Jirgalang instructed. Yoto rose and acknowledged the order.

Hearing this, Amin frowned and said impatiently, "Han curs not worth half a catty of grain — letting the slaves take their pleasure is those women's good fortune. Why bother with it."

"Elder brother, the Han are lowly and worthless, but battle is about to begin. If these wretched slaves waste all their strength on strong liquor and women, how will they mount their horses and kill the enemy?" Jirgalang replied calmly.

Amin had nothing more to say. Yoto also took his leave and departed. Once Yoto was out of the command tent, Jirgalang lowered his voice and said, "Elder brother, the Great Khan and the other three Beile are massing troops at Liaoyang and Shenyang, and several Mongol divisions have gone over as well. The wild men captured from the old forests have also been conscripted. The men we have here can do nothing, and moreover, the Plain Red Banner and the Khorchin Mongols are not of one heart with us!"

At this time, the main body of the Jin state was the Jianzhou Jurchens and the Haixi Jurchens, who also formed the core of the Eight Banners. However, to seize cities and conquer territory and to pacify the four quarters, these people were far from sufficient. So ever since Nurhaci unified the Jurchen tribes, he had continuously dispatched troops into the white mountains and black waters to capture and gather those Jurchen villages and tribes that had not yet submitted — these were commonly called "wild men," and the official term was "Iche Jurchen."

Although these "Wild Jurchens" were relatively backward, they grew up amid the white mountains and black waters and lived a semi-militarized life of fishing and hunting. Compared to the Jianzhou Jurchens and the Haixi Jurchens, they possessed an even greater savage ferocity, making them one of the best sources of soldiers.

The Great Khan and the four Senior Beile jointly controlled the Eight Banners. Among them, only the Bordered Blue Banner line of the second Beile Amin was related to Nurhaci as nephew and uncle; all the others were father and son. Not to mention that Amin's father, Šurhaci, had been imprisoned and executed by Nurhaci. With such history between them, estrangement naturally existed in secret, and they were very guarded against one another. Jirgalang knew well what was in Amin's heart, so he always had to remind him.

To his younger brother's words, Amin gave no reply. He merely spat viciously on the ground and cursed a few times under his breath.

Late autumn and early winter in Xuzhou was likewise the farming off-season. According to the elders, decades ago Xuzhou and Shandong could still grow two harvests a year, but these years it had grown colder and colder, and now only one was possible.

Whenever this topic came up, everyone would say how sagely Zhao Jin was, how Heaven blessed Xuzhou — if Master Jin had not come, how could they ever eat their fill and live good lives?

But nowadays, such praises were no longer heard in private; there were even some complaints, because many of the able-bodied men from Xuzhou, Huai'an Prefecture, Fengyang Prefecture, and the southern part of Yanzhou Prefecture had been conscripted into the army.

At the very beginning, the Zhao Family Army drew men from the agricultural settlement estates, but by this autumn and winter of the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, the garrison troops organized from the agricultural estates were no longer sufficient, and the civilian militia units that were regularly trained in peacetime began to be reorganized into regular forces.

The expansion of the Guards Brigade into the Guards Division went very smoothly. The finest young men of Xuzhou and Pizhou joined in droves. The Guards Division comprised two brigades plus one cavalry regiment. The First and Second Brigades were each three full-strength regiments. The cavalry regiment had eight cavalry companies, with a total of thirty artillery pieces assigned, plus a logistics regiment of two thousand men in support.

The Artillery Regiment was expanded into an Artillery Brigade, with over two hundred artillery pieces and ten guard companies, totaling over three thousand men. The Training Brigade and the First Cavalry Regiment remained unchanged in organization.

The expansion of the Guards Brigade and the Artillery Regiment was, for the Zhao Family Army internally, merely a matter of reassignment and involved no great friction. This was because the General's Office simply selected qualified soldiers from the garrison-trained companies and militia-trained companies stationed everywhere and transferred them into the Guards Brigade, issuing them newer equipment. Command procedures and the like had all been trained, so they could integrate as soon as they were transferred.

As for expanding the Artillery Regiment into a brigade, it was a matter of corresponding equipment and corresponding personnel. Every artillery piece that was manufactured had its corresponding gun crew trained alongside it — this was likewise a process of allocation.

The Guide Army Corps and the Fengyang Army Corps were both expanded into reinforced army corps. The Fengyang Army Corps was reinforced to twenty-five companies with six artillery pieces assigned. The Guide Army Corps was expanded to thirty-five companies with ten artillery pieces.

The Yutou Town Patrol Regiment and the Qingjiangpu Patrol Regiment were merged into a Provisional Patrol Brigade. One quarter of their strength was left behind to maintain public order, while the rest assembled near Qingjiangpu, with Li Dajin as brigade commander of the provisional brigade, under the command of Third Brigade Commander Dong Bingfeng, with their objective to the south.

At present, the northern seas were closed. All the ships and boats the Zhao Family Army could mobilize were assembled near Haizhou Port and Clam Bay. The military camps stationed north of the Yangtze in the Southern Metropolitan Region all began converging on the ports, and then the boats in the Qingjiangpu area were also centrally requisitioned.

Large-scale expansion and large-scale mobilization naturally drained civilian manpower. The common people of Xuzhou and Pizhou, who had always enjoyed the benefits, began to find it troublesome, began to worry about the safety of their own sons and brothers, and began to voice complaints.

However, the Zhao Family Army had never sought to curry favor with the populace from the very start. They had always ruled by strict laws and harsh punishments. Even if people had complaints, they knew what the consequences of resistance would be. The core region under Zhao Jin's rule had grown accustomed to one thing: when Zhao Jin issued an order, everyone had to obey.

There was one movement that made everyone begin to sense something unusual. Many had thought such peace could last another two years, but this movement made everyone feel that there would likely be no more quiet.

The Suzhou Reinforced Regiment stationed in Suzhou began to withdraw to Xuzhou. The Suzhou Regiment and the Xuzhou Patrol Regiment together took over the defense and public security of the Xuzhou-Pizhou region.

Whenever a major campaign came, Li Wu guarded the home base — this had become a habit. Sure enough, after the Suzhou Regiment returned to Xuzhou, the newly expanded Guards Division, Training Brigade, Artillery Brigade, and First Cavalry Regiment began preparations to march north.

Troop movements of this scale, and the preparations preceding them, could not possibly be concealed. Even though the Internal Guard, the Intelligence Bureau, and the patrols imposed a blockade on all sides, this was merely doing what had to be done. When the great army began preparing to move, everyone keeping a close watch on Xuzhou received the news.

The realm had its eyes fixed on Liaodong — who could have imagined that Xuzhou would make such a move at this time? Everyone knew the significance of this move. And no one could have imagined that Xuzhou could act so swiftly. So many troops, so much equipment, and at a time when the waterways could not be used — how many carts, horses, and civilian laborers would have to be prepared? How much grain and fodder would have to be stockpiled? The advance preparations alone would take an enormous amount of time. Yet the Xuzhou Zhao Family Army moved the moment they said they would.

Zhao Jin was young, yet he handled matters with thoroughness and seasoned judgment. A troop movement of such massive scale was certainly no reckless advance. A little inquiry revealed that the Zhao Family Army had already stockpiled vast quantities of grain and fodder along the Grand Canal. These towns and cities served as supply depots, more than sufficient to sustain these Zhao Family Army units, including the Second Brigade and the Pizhou Regiment already dispatched to Linqing.

Where did so much grain and fodder come from? Those paying attention quickly understood. Anyone from the Great Ming court could only smile bitterly in embarrassment, left with nothing to say.

In the past, to transport one catty of grain from Jiangnan to the capital, the various costs, levies, and expenses would amount to nearly four catties. Those four catties were the benefits shared among all parties along the Grand Canal. Now that the Zhao Family Army controlled the canal grain transport, all these exorbitant taxes, levies, and pointless wastages had vanished like smoke.

Transporting several million shi of grain to the capital had required a cost of tens of millions of shi. Now those costs belonged to Zhao Jin. With so much grain and supplies in hand, there was indeed no need to worry about the army's consumption.

Could this be the great change of the realm, the war to end the dynasty? Wasn't it said there were still two years? Didn't Zhao Jin say he would rest and recuperate for two years? Weren't people all saying that the Great Ming still had a chance to rise again in two years?

The eunuch faction had been completely purged. His Majesty was an enlightened sovereign striving for strength. The court could even be described as filled with righteous officials. How had it suddenly come to such a pass?

No one thought the Great Ming still had any chance. With the Zhao Family Army's overwhelming battle strength, how could the Great Ming's broken and battered troops possibly resist successfully?

Some more perceptive people sighed with deep emotion. This Zhao Jin truly left no oversights, truly thought everything through. At present, Chen Sheng commanding the troops was indeed isolated beyond the sea. If defeated by the Tatar slaves, there would be great risk. And, according to conspiracy theories, there was the remote possibility of Chen Sheng breaking away and setting himself up out there.

But as long as Zhao Jin seized the Northern Metropolitan Region and pressed his troops to Shanhai Pass, all these dangers would be nothing to worry about. What talk of being isolated beyond the sea? Liaodong and the interior were, after all, one continuous landmass. Once the Zhao Family Army reached Shanhai Pass, could the troops of western Liaoning possibly hold them back? The elite of Liaodong had fought the Zhao Family Army before — everyone had long since seen the outcome, and there was no need for further speculation.

If there was any chance left at this moment, it was that before Zhao Jin reached Shanhai Pass, the great battle between the Jianzhou Jurchens and the Zhao Family Army forces under Chen Sheng would yield a result. Only if the Zhao Family Army in Liaodong suffered a crushing defeat would morale waver and the Great Ming still have a sliver of hope. Yet even those who proposed this sliver of hope had little confidence themselves. In this world, how often do things go as one wishes? Besides, eight or nine out of ten things in life go contrary to one's desires…

By the time the news spread in all directions, Zhao Jin had only just set out from Xuzhou. There was no grand ceremony, nor any local elders burning incense and offering prayers. Everything seemed like a normal military campaign.

Who did not know the immense significance of this time? For the people of Xuzhou, Pizhou, and the surrounding areas — for all manner of people whose honor and disgrace were bound together with the Zhao Family Army — who did not know that after this, they would likely rise to glory on the coattails of success? It was true that Xuzhou did not engage in plunder and extortion, and Xuzhou did not practice feudal enfeoffment. But this Great Ming realm was a vast market. Relying on Xuzhou's industrial and commercial power, relying on the methods and know-how Xuzhou had brought them, they could more than make a great fortune across this Great Ming realm.

And with such a vast territory, given Master Jin's style of doing things, would he possibly retain those incompetent Great Ming officials? Who would fill those positions? None other than the people within the Zhao Family Army, the Cloud Mountain Firm, and all the other various systems. Everyone inside was certain to have a post. A mere clerk from a trading company might well end up serving as a seventh-rank county magistrate somewhere.