Chapter 686: Heavy Taxes

Watching the departing figures of the Sun family party, the smile on Wang Zhaojing's face faded. In a deep voice he said, "Big Brother, with the way Sun Chuanting spoke and carried on, he must have seen something along the road, guessed something. Are we really just letting them go? Should we..."

"Who would believe it if he told? Besides, they still need something from me. And even if he claimed I was plotting rebellion, what proof would he have? A scholar like that—let him go!" Zhao Jin said with a laugh.

Sun Chuanting's visit, from arrival to departure, lasted barely half a shichen. To the Zhao Camp, it was truly an insignificant trifle. Moreover, inside and outside Yongcheng County, the Zhao Camp's outer perimeter agents and eyes were everywhere; all kinds of intelligence flowed back and forth constantly. There was no worry about what Sun Chuanting might do or say. A mere district magistrate didn't have that kind of ability or influence.

What surprised Zhao Jin and the others was that after Sun Chuanting left Xuzhou, he stayed in Yongcheng County for over a month, and then was transferred to Shangqiu County to serve as magistrate. Shangqiu County was the seat of Guide Prefecture. Being magistrate of a prefectural seat was far less comfortable than being an independent little kingdom out in the countryside, but for a newly appointed jinshi magistrate to be moved around so readily, without having to put on a show of grinding through two or three years of seniority, was ample proof of the Sun family's deep background in official circles. Sun Chuanting, for his part, never claimed any credit for blocking the Liao Tax; he simply kept stalling, stalling until his transfer to Shangqiu.

After Sun Chuanting had visited Xuzhou, the Zhao Camp, both overtly and covertly, planted agents and bought informants in Yongcheng. After all, the magistrate's business was mostly conducted inside the county yamen, and under the eyes and ears of those clerks and runners, little could be hidden. Sun Chuanting and Mr. Tian had once said, "... Yongcheng is too close to the tiger; one cannot stay long..." "... Zhao Jin has great talent and will surely invite great calamity. Regarding Zhao Jin, touch nothing whatsoever, lest you become entangled in the karma..."

All these words reached Zhao Jin's ears, but he and his companions merely laughed them off. Guide Prefecture was already Xuzhou's outer periphery. The Zhao Camp only controlled the rural gentry and local strongmen outside the county and prefectural seats; they couldn't be bothered to reach inside the walled cities. From now on, there would be no further dealings.

After the latter half of the tenth month, the Xuzhou salt market, the general market, and the great market at Qingjiangpu all entered their final busy season of the year. Once the waterways froze over, the number of merchants from various places would drop by more than half. Everyone seized this time to hurriedly stock up on goods to sell during the Spring Festival. Even Wang Ziyang brought twice the usual number of camels and carts to the Zhao Camp. The grasslands were already cold, and now was the most profitable time to sell spirits there. For most people, the busy farming season was over. No matter how the year had treated them, they now had a bit of leisure, whether content or resigned.

It was precisely at this time that the crushing power of the Liao Tax began to show. After successive severe droughts, Shandong, Henan, and the northern part of Southern Zhili had seen no major disasters for three years running. The common folk were slowly recovering, and the Zhao Camp's refugee stockades had seen almost no new arrivals. Yet at the start of this winter, refugees began pouring into the villages and stockades from the direction of Shandong and Kong Family Village again. When asked why, they were all bankrupt farming households...

As the twelfth month approached, the Xuzhou census was finally completed. Excluding the population of the estates directly under the Zhao Camp and the estates of Cloud Mountain Temple, Xuzhou had over eighty-one thousand households, totaling three hundred sixty thousand people. As for the Zhao Camp's controlled estates in Xuzhou, Pizhou, Kong Family Village at the three-province border, the estates near Lake Luoma mainly populated by refugees, and the Suzhou estates at the Fengyang Prefecture-Xuzhou border, the total population was one hundred ten thousand. The moment this figure was announced, every man in the Zhao Camp, high and low, stood a little straighter.

Every civilian clerk in the yamens of Xuzhou's one department and four counties who had participated in the census made a personal copy of the register based on the household and population counts they had uncovered. And they all did the same thing: when they returned home, they instructed their sons, nephews, and disciples to preserve this register carefully. If the Zhao Camp remained, they would serve them, and this register would make things much more convenient. If the Zhao Camp fell, this would be the foundation of your fortune—no local landlord or farmer would be able to hide anything anymore.

By the twelfth month, the markets in Xuzhou and Qingjiangpu were still bustling, but some shops had already closed early. The ones that remained were all local merchants selling local New Year's goods. In the twelfth month, the letters from the capital, which had not come for two months, began arriving again.

"... The Son of Heaven, at the request of Left Vice Minister of War Yang Yingpin, has ordered the conscription of eight thousand troops from the Yongshun Pacification Commission in Huguang and five thousand troops from the Baojing Pacification Commission to aid Liaodong..."

Back when Xiong Tingbi had proposed mobilizing the southwestern tusi troops to aid Liaodong, the entire court had found this policy feasible, and it had been maintained and carried out ever since.

"It truly is lamentable. In the Ministry of War's registers, the troops drawing pay across the realm must number over a million, yet both civil and military officials deem this million-strong army unusable and must go conscript those uncivilized barbarian natives in the southwest. Even more lamentable is that these so-called 'Wolf Troops' of barbarian natives are indeed more effective than the Great Ming's own soldiers." Wang Zhaojing sneered as he commented.

Now, whenever they read the court gazettes and letters, Zhao Jin arranged it as much as possible during the morning and evening briefings, so that all his companions and trusted men could listen. Everyone listened very attentively.

"Liaodong Military Commissioner Xiong Tingbi, on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, submitted a memorial outlining his strategy for the Liaodong campaign, stating: 'At present, there are three strategies for subduing the enemy: first, to recover lost territory; second, to send troops to attack and sweep them out; third, to hold fast to strategic strongpoints. Recovery and offensive sweeps are premature. The best strategy is to hold firm: deploy heavy troops to defend each strategic location such as Qinghe, Aiyang, Fushun, and Sancha River, actively defend, and use defense as a form of warfare...'"

"... Xiong Tingbi further elaborated his strategy in detail, proposing that, for ease of expedition and garrison, to counter the Later Jin's one hundred thousand troops, it would be necessary to recruit and mobilize one hundred eighty thousand officers and men, along with ninety thousand horses. At an annual pay of eighteen taels of silver per soldier, for one hundred eighty thousand men, that amounts to three million two hundred forty thousand taels. Also, each soldier is to be given five dou of rice per month, totaling one million eighty thousand dan of grain. Each horse is to be given three sheng of beans per day; for ninety thousand horses, that amounts to nine hundred seventy-two thousand dan of beans. For fodder, one bundle of fifteen jin per day; excluding four months when green grass is available, for eight months the total required is twenty-one million six hundred thousand bundles, or double that if the bundles are small. None of this can be cut..."

Hearing this proposal, everyone in the room fell silent. Zhao Jin, Chen Sheng, Ji Xiang, and Wang Zhaojing all understood something of military strategy and often discussed the principles of offense and defense in their spare time. The method Xiong Tingbi proposed seemed very dull, utterly devoid of aggressive spirit, yet it was the most reliable approach at this moment. Originally, Liaodong and the Liao Garrison were Ming territory, but aside from the border walls, there were no internal defense lines or preparations. Every time the Later Jin army of the Jianzhou Jurchens came, they drove straight in unopposed, attacking wherever they pleased with utter impunity. Now, Xiong Tingbi was setting up a defensive line internally, not rushing to recover the areas the Jianzhou Jurchens had overrun and destroyed, but building a line of defense to isolate those areas outside. When the Later Jin army came, this line could hold them off in a stalemate, buying the Great Ming time to build up and prepare, until the moment was right to counterattack and strike back.

Every previous defeat in Liaodong had always shocked the court and the public. Even Wang Youshan's letters were filled with lament, saying the Jianzhou Jurchens were but a single prefecture on the frontier, a tiny, insignificant state—how could they have routed the Great Ming's grand armies so disastrously? The implication was that for an empire as vast as the Great Ming to actually lose to a tribal power as minor as the Jianzhou Jurchens was simply absurd. Xiong Tingbi, however, this time placed the Great Ming in a position of weakness. His arrangement was very clear: there must be absolutely superior numbers, ample supplies, guaranteed security in defense—and no mention of offense.

Listening closely, this kind of strategy seemed very "self-defeating" and carried a rather craven undertone. But for those who understood warfare, it was the most appropriate course. Such a strategy could at the very least guarantee no defeat. It could ensure that when the Later Jin army attacked, they would not completely annihilate a Ming army every single time, utterly destroying or devouring that force, and would not perpetuate this trend of one side waning as the other waxed.

"Big Brother, everyone, do you think this approach is very sound?" Wang Zhaojing asked with a wry smile, then shook his head and continued explaining.

"... Censor Liu Guojin recruited Liaodong locals as soldiers, enlisting over one hundred seventy-four thousand men, and stationed them in places like Zhenjiang, Kuandian, Aiyang, and Qinghe in the Liaodong region. Half a month later, the newly recruited troops at Qinghe had deserted. At Zhenjiang, Kuandian, Aiyang, and other places, over half had also fled..."

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other in dismay. In other words, Xiong Tingbi's strategy was correct, but it simply could not be implemented. Maintaining a superior force—when the new recruits in some areas had already completely deserted, what superiority was there to maintain?

"... The Censor Inspecting Liaodong, Chen Yuting, also stated in his memorial that desertion among the newly recruited troops was severe. According to reports submitted by various commanders: Xiong Jin's unit had over one thousand nine hundred deserters; Yang Yuwei's unit, over one thousand five hundred; Bian Weipeng's unit, over two thousand six hundred; Li Ruzhen's unit, over four hundred seventy; Zhao Shuaijiao's unit, over four hundred ninety. Due to the high number of desertions, troop strength is weak and thin; urgent orders to increase recruitment are requested..."

The next line made everyone's expressions turn even more peculiar. Everyone knew the habit of commanders pocketing the pay of non-existent soldiers; it was not unusual for a force to be several hundred or even a thousand men short of its paper strength. But now, even these commanders who padded their rolls were reporting deserters. This showed just how severe the desertion situation was. The troops these commanders led were different from the new recruits mentioned earlier—they were all veteran generals of the Liao Garrison, and their battalions were considered the backbone of Liaodong, possessing combat effectiveness. Yet even these units were suffering such severe desertion. It truly left one speechless. They had just heard that Xiong Tingbi's strategy was sound and feasible, but when contrasted with what followed, it became a joke.

Someone let out a sigh; no one was in the mood to speak. Wang Zhaojing cleared his throat, his expression turning even more solemn than before, and said in a muffled voice, "There's a calculation here that I must share with everyone. Regarding the matter of the Liao Tax, after we blocked it, we couldn't be bothered to pay it any more attention. The people in the yamen didn't care either. Looking at it now, it seems we were somewhat careless."

"... In the ninth month, due to insufficient military funds for Liaodong, an additional levy of three li and five hao of silver per mu of land was imposed, totaling a nationwide assessment of two million three hundred ten thousand taels. At the end of the eleventh month, the Son of Heaven, at the request of Yao Zongwen, the Supervising Secretary for the Inspection of Liaodong Troops, ordered an additional levy of three li and five hao per mu, increasing the nationwide assessment by two million taels. At the time this letter was sent, there was word from the Ministry of Revenue that the Son of Heaven intended to further levy an additional two li of silver per mu on all provincial lands to cover the shortfalls of the Ministries of War and Works. In addition, there were also thirty-seven thousand carts and seventy-four thousand head of cattle..."

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