Chapter 664: The Preparatory Meeting

These words made Zhao Jin smile bitterly, but he wasn't afraid to explain plainly: "You have to stay in Xuzhou. Without you holding things down here, I can't run around everywhere with peace of mind. Bingfeng is one of our own brothers, but his family is too tightly intertwined with the Xuzhou Guard. Those people from the three Xuzhou Guards are useless in a fight, but their minds are full of schemes."

"Put that way, Bingfeng's situation in Xuzhou is pretty much the same as Zhang Hubin's in the new refugee stockade," Chen Sheng said in a muffled voice.

Zhao Jin smiled bitterly again and just shook his head, saying, "Some things are best kept in the heart. Why spell them out so plainly?"

Chen Sheng was equally dismissive of this and replied, "You're the one who brought it up first. And now you do things and speak without any of your old inhibitions — you've gotten very direct!"

After a full day of arranging patrols and giving instructions, Zhao Jin's mouth was parched and his tongue dry. Chatting with Chen Sheng was a relief. He walked over, picked up the now-cold tea, and drained it in one gulp. Letting out a breath, he said, "The court's repeated defeats in Liaodong have cost them all their face, and that's made a lot of people on our side lose their inhibitions too. Everyone's minds are growing impatient. If I don't make things clear, many will feel uneasy in their hearts, and there's no guarantee they won't stir up some kind of trouble."

Chen Sheng was stunned for a moment, then fell silent. Before he could speak, they heard Wang Zhaojing calling from outside: "Is Big Brother in? Another letter has come from my father, about the military situation in Liaodong."

After calling out, Wang Zhaojing entered. Seeing Chen Sheng there as well, he greeted him with a smile and, without any need for discretion, unfolded the letter and began to recount its contents. As he spoke, Zhao Jin and Chen Sheng exchanged a glance. Just moments ago they had been talking about impatience. In the past, whenever Wang Zhaojing read a letter from the capital, though he remained fairly composed, anyone who knew him well could see his anxiety and unease. Never before had he been as relaxed and at ease as he was now. It seemed not everyone was in a hurry after all.

"... The letter came in great haste. Two horses died on the road. The expense was enormous..." Wang Zhaojing could even make a quip or two.

The contents of the letter, however, were not something to be spoken of so lightly. In early June, Nurhaci led forty thousand troops straight for Kaiyuan. The Kaiyuan Regional Commander, Ma Lin, was the very same general who had led one of the four routes under Grand Coordinator Yang Hao. His entire route had been annihilated, and he alone had escaped with his personal guards. Yet after suffering such a crushing defeat, Ma Lin learned no lesson whatsoever. He didn't even seem to realize that Kaiyuan City was now the front line between the Great Ming and the Jianzhou Jurchens. Not only did he fail to concentrate sufficient defensive forces inside Kaiyuan City, he didn't even treat the situation as wartime. The city gates remained open as on any ordinary day, and the troops were quartered in their barracks just as in peacetime.

When the main Jianzhou Jurchen army drew near, the entire city's defenses collapsed in an instant. Only a little over a thousand troops outside the city managed to flee inside in time. This paltry force wasn't even enough to block the city gates, and the Jianzhou Jurchen vanguard charged straight in.

The defenders were a complete mess, and even the attackers couldn't manage a fully coordinated assault. All the Jianzhou Jurchen Jin army could do was seize one city gate and let the follow-up forces pour in. On a smaller scale, the battle situation was identical to what had happened near Sarhu months earlier. The main Jianzhou Jurchen army broke through Ma Lin's encampment. Regional Commander Ma Lin, escorted by his personal guards, fled out through another exit. This time, the Kaiyuan Regional Commander Ma Lin once again had the chance to escape. The veteran personal guards of the Ma family were no less elite than those of the Li family; if he had wanted to run, he could have.

Perhaps out of shame, perhaps unwilling to flee a second time, perhaps for other reasons — this time, Kaiyuan Regional Commander Ma Lin did not run. But the troops he could use were too few. His personal guards and household retainers were quickly ground down by the overwhelmingly superior Jianzhou Jurchen forces. Ma Lin died in battle. Yet there were also very persistent rumors saying that Ma Lin had taken his own life inside his own residence. From the Vice General down, all died in battle...

Kaiyuan was caught in a surprise attack. The nearby Tieling Guard dispatched three thousand troops to reinforce them. But rather than reinforcements, these three thousand men were more like a meal delivered to the enemy's doorstep — the Jianzhou Jurchen conveniently annihilated them along the way. Though no definite news had yet reached the capital, based on the assessments of the old hands in the Ministry of War, Tieling was in critical danger and likely could not hold.

"This time Ma Lin didn't run again. At least he preserved his honor and lived up to the name of the Ma family military house," Wang Zhaojing remarked with emotion.

In the Great Ming today, anyone who could rise to the rank of Regional Commander, Vice General, or Assistant General had traceable roots. Coming from a hereditary guard officer background went without saying — their ancestors' and fathers' positions were never low. Ma Lin's roots were truly extraordinary. His father, Ma Fang, had once been acclaimed as the Great Ming's foremost brave general, known by contemporaries as "Grand Marshal Ma," a name of thunderous renown. In terms of seniority and standing, he was a full generation above even Li Chengliang of Liaodong Garrison. Of his two sons, the second, Ma Lin, was the most accomplished, serving as Vice General and Regional Commander in Liaodong, a man who ruled his own corner of the realm.

At the mention of the title "Grand Marshal Ma," Zhao Jin chuckled, but his assessment was far from polite: "What use is suicide? If he'd been able to take his personal guards and run one more time, at least he'd have preserved a bit of strength for the Great Ming. Dying there for the sake of his own face — what good does that do?"

Harsh as the words were, they spoke the truth. The old Wang Zhaojing would have argued and defended the point, but now he merely smiled and folded the letter shut. Zhao Jin sighed and said, "The Great Ming is truly in trouble. The Man... the Jianzhou Tatar slaves win every battle by completely devouring an entire Ming force. There are hardly any routed soldiers or defeated remnants. They don't even leave the Great Ming a chance to regroup and fight again..."

Every time the Jianzhou Jurchen Jin army clashed with Ming forces, each battle was a total victory, and each battle was a war of annihilation. The Ming officers and soldiers who fought had only two paths: be killed to the last man, or become captives. There wasn't even much in the way of scattering and fleeing. If troops were merely routed or forced to retreat, there was still the possibility of rallying and reorganizing them to fight again. But with this kind of process, every time battle was joined, the Great Ming lost a portion of its fighting strength completely, with no way to replenish it, while the Jianzhou Jurchen grew a portion stronger. With this ebb and flow, the consequences were obvious.

"Yang Hao is finished. The court and the various factions will demand his head to answer for the blame. Let's see what Xiong Tingbi can accomplish now!" Wang Zhaojing remarked with emotion.

The He Family Village, where the Zhao Character Camp was based, bustled with activity once again. Estate managers and stewards from Xuzhou and the surrounding areas gathered together. They didn't linger long after arriving. Zhao Jin crisply and efficiently assigned them their tasks: get a clear picture of every single person under their jurisdiction. Every man, woman, old and young in each household was to be thoroughly investigated. Even large livestock like oxen and horses had to be clearly accounted for. He also plainly laid out the system of rewards and punishments. Those whose investigations were thorough, careful, meticulous, and swift, and whose results were clear and accurate, would be rewarded with a year's worth of regular wages and given priority for future promotion. As for those who did a perfunctory job and whose errors were discovered in the subsequent review, the luckier ones would be sent to the yamen prison. Those with worse outcomes — well, they could deal with that themselves.

The estate managers and stewards of the subordinate manors and refugee stockades were different from the clerks and runners in the yamen. They were equivalent to Zhao Jin's slaves and servants. Ruhui had also sent word among them that this relationship would be made explicit going forward. The manors currently belonging to the Zhao Character Camp were in reality the sole property of Zhao Jin, but in name they belonged to Zhao Jin, Cloud Mountain Temple, He Family Village, Kong Family Village, and even the new refugee stockade that had no formal status at all. The names didn't match the reality, and the estate managers and stewards always felt uncertain in their hearts. But that would no longer be the case. Within this half-year, all the manors, villages, and stockades would have their contracts and deeds revised anew, clearly establishing everyone as people of the Zhao family. Naturally, the refugee stockade would no longer be called that either; its people would be reclassified as manor households and manor retainers.

Once these things were made clear, those who had still been muddled or hoping to exploit loopholes understood: the properties, the fields, the people — all belonged to Zhao Jin alone. Their futures, their very lives and deaths, were held in Zhao Jin's hand. This time, the assignments and arrangements were highly efficient. Once the estate managers and stewards from all routes had assembled, they were given their instructions and immediately sent back, without a moment's delay.

Treating one's own people this way was acceptable, but when it came to the head clerks and head runners of Xuzhou's one department and four counties, they had to be treated with courtesy. Everyone certainly held Master Jin in awe, but if you traced the connections through Zhao Zhentang and Chen Sheng, these people could barely be considered elders to Zhao Jin and his group. Moreover, since the goal was to win them over, the attitude naturally had to be different.

The farthest distance between Xuzhou's one department and four counties was no more than a day and a half to two days by horse. The clerks and runners of the various yamen were normally in contact for official business. When Zhao Jin suddenly sent out invitations to every place, summoning everyone to gather, they had certainly communicated among themselves beforehand. They must have had many speculations about the purpose of Zhao Jin's summons. No one would think Zhao Jin merely wanted to invite everyone over for a gathering and a banquet.

The yamen were not monolithic entities. The various factions were normally engaged in open and covert struggles. When an opportunity like a summons from a superior or a powerful figure arose, they would always elbow each other out — I can go, you can't. Such incidents were far too common. Yet Zhao Jin's summons this time did not produce this situation. Not coming might very well mean losing one's life. It was better not to let a contest of egos involve matters of life and death. Besides, everyone had a vague guess that Zhao Jin was summoning them perhaps to give them an explanation.

Ever since the Zhao Character Camp had appeared, aside from the leading figures among the clerks and runners in the departments and counties, who were doing better and better, the lives of those working below them were far worse than before. These disciples, old associates, and hangers-on didn't dare say anything to the Zhao Character Camp, so they inevitably spent their days complaining to their superiors. Everyone was deeply worried. Shrewd and worldly-wise as they were, they could see that within the Zhao Character Camp's current system, the clerks and runners in the yamen were becoming more and more dispensable. Even those with official status didn't know what the future held, let alone those below them without status — the unregistered runners and auxiliary helpers. Yet they also knew that if this resentment kept accumulating, trouble was bound to erupt sooner or later. In all likelihood, these people who could no longer make a living would stir up chaos. But the blades and spears in the Zhao Character Camp's hands were exceedingly sharp. It was very possible there would be a great slaughter, and then complete silence.

But this summons led everyone to guess and deduce many things. For instance, Zhao Jin hadn't given out many invitations this time, yet every single invitation had gone to someone of sufficient standing within the yamen. Some of these figures were official personnel who drew salaries and grain stipends; others were unregistered runners and auxiliary helpers with no official status. But all of them represented a faction that fed off Xuzhou's officialdom.

For example, Clerk Li of the Punishment Office in the department yamen represented the Punishment Office, and Clerk Liu of the Revenue Office represented the Revenue Office. Both of these men were clerks whose names were registered with the Ministry of Revenue. Yet if you committed a crime in the city, and the case meant you'd be thrown into the main jail, and you needed to pull strings or make a covert move against someone, you could only go to Mister Kang of the Punishment Office to handle it. This Mister Kang was the headman in charge of criminal cases, but he himself held no official status — his family had passed this trade down through the generations. And under Clerk Liu, there was the Meng family, responsible for taxes and fees on the Yellow River, and the Liang family, responsible for the autumn levies in the department city.

Thank you, everyone. We're in the last third of the month — do you have any monthly tickets on hand? Please cast them for Great Ming Wufu!