Chapter 132 Asking the Ancestors

The night wind was chilly and fierce, and the hazy moonlight illuminated the rolling loess mounds of Wangzhuangbao Fort.

Beneath the fort walls on the mounds, bonfires were lit at regular intervals. Men wearing the military uniforms of the Lion Camp and outer cotton armor of the border garrisons sat around the fires, talking animatedly.

Liu Chengzong walked past several groups of soldiers, dragging Li Bei, who was gagged and bound. Hearing soldiers with accents entirely unlike the locals discussing something, he stopped to listen intently.

"My name is Chen Qingdai, platoon commander of the Left Vanguard Center Company. I've been both a rebel and a soldier, and I used to serve under General Meng Rutihu of the Yulin Garrison."

The voice was deep and resonant, carrying a strange, unfamiliar accent that sounded somewhat like a Mongolian, yet his spoken Chinese was quite authentic, albeit foreign to these parts.

Liu Chengzong looked at the back of the platoon commander. He was not as sturdy as imagined, nor very tall, but clad in cotton uniform and armor, he looked solid enough.

He nudged Li Bei with his elbow and whispered softly, "Your man, a subordinate of Meng Rutihu. Who knows where General Meng has run off to."

Someone asked Chen Qingdai, "You were Li Bei's man, so how did you end up in the Left Vanguard?"

The Left Vanguard consisted entirely of Feng Rang's men. Theoretically, its composition should not include Li Bei's subordinates; aside from a few early border soldiers and rebels under Old Huidui, they should have been surrendered troops from Yanshuiguan.

Chen Qingdai replied, "I was originally with the Rear Vanguard, but Vanguard Commander Feng gave me half a bowl of parched flour on the battlefield, so I followed him. The General told us to introduce ourselves. I was born in the Tumet Plain, castrated livestock and forged iron, and I can also set bones. Whoever has a dislocation, come find me to snap it back."

Hearing this, Liu Chengzong understood. Feng Rang was someone who had suffered from hunger; even on the battlefield, he always carried food on his person.

"My father left early, never met him. My mother was a Tartar and so am I. The Chinese she taught me is different from both Shanxi and Shaanxi. Does anyone here know where Shandong is?"

This question was a bit too profound.

Several platoon commanders looked at each other in dismay, unable to pinpoint its exact location.

Someone said it was in the east.

Someone corrected him, saying the east was called Liaodong, which produced Eastern Barbarians.

Another claimed Liaodong was Shandong, but the others refused to believe him, calling it nonsense.

Chen Qingdai shook his head in disappointment. "Forget it. Others said the Vanguard Commander knows, I'll ask him later."

Liu Chengzong said, "Shandong布政司 (Administrative Commissioner's Office) has jurisdiction over Liaodong Military Regional Commission."

Only then did the platoon commanders notice him, and they hurriedly stood up to greet him.

"General."

"General."

Liu Chengzong pulled Li Bei along, squeezed into the circle to sit down, and said to Chen Qingdai, "Go on, you're from the Tumet Plain. How did you end up entering the Han heartland and turning to banditry?"

The Tumet Plain was Altan Khan's territory. During the Jiajing era, Zhao Quan, the leader of the White Lotus Sect in northern Yan, led his followers into the Tumet Plain, recruiting borderland commoners to go and farm there, resulting in tens of thousands of Han civilians living in the Tumet Plain.

They reclaimed fields and built houses called *bansheng*, helping Altan Khan build the Green City on the grasslands, known in Mongolian as Koke Khot, which became modern-day Hohhot.

"The Han uncles and the Tartar uncles were fighting, so my mother brought me to hide in the Han territory. In Datong, we were tricked by border generals and fled to Yulin to buy a few mu of wasteland. My mother caught a chill from the cold and fell ill, borrowed money from a wealthy gentry family for medicine. The illness wasn't cured, the money couldn't be repaid, and the land was gone. I was ten years old that year."

Chen Qingdai's words made Liu Chengzong think of Sixteen. It was hard for a child to survive until now on his own. He asked, "Did you meet General Meng after that?"

"I stuck straw tags on my neck four times, starving every time. The last time I wanted to leave, the blacksmith wouldn't let me, so I used an iron rod to smash him, stole his horse and his knife, and turned to banditry."

As Chen Qingdai spoke, he pressed his lips together, his expression turning complex—not out of shyness, but embarrassment. "I robbed for a few years, and later... later I robbed General Meng Rutihu."

Several platoon commanders burst into cheers, and someone asked, "Did you fight?"

"Didn't fight. If we had fought, I wouldn't have enlisted under him."

Liu Chengzong also clapped and laughed heartily. So this Chen Qingdai had been given a beating by Meng Rutihu before enlisting under him.

He waved his hand toward the others and asked, "What about you lot? Tell us, where were you soldiers before, and how did you enlist? No need to stand, sit down and chat."

With Chen Qingdai taking the lead, the platoon commanders around the campfire shed their self-consciousness and introduced themselves one by one in turn.

This time, however, they were no longer introducing themselves to each other, but rather introducing themselves to Liu Chengzong.

"This humble subordinate Li Longlong, served in the Yulin Garrison for two years, went home in the sixth year of Tianqi to become a post station courier. The General raided the post station, saying it could make parents and children well-fed. Currently platoon commander of the second scout cavalry squad."

"Your subordinate is Qi Yunxiang, executioner of the second division, Left Vanguard of the Guyuan Garrison. The court didn't issue pay. It didn't starve me to death, but my mother went blind from hunger and hanged herself, and my wife was so hungry she took the child and remarried. I know the court has no money."

When Qi Yunxiang spoke of these things, the look in his eyes when glancing at Li Bei was terrifying. "What is there to fear when there's no one left in my family... Currently platoon commander of the fifth squad, Rear Company, Advanced Vanguard. Whenever the General attacks Guyuan, I'll dig out my old mother's remains, get a coffin and re-inter her."

"My turn. Your subordinate Jin Pu, platoon commander of the third squad, Left Company, Right Vanguard. Formerly an elite guardsman under General Lu of the Yulin Garrison. I was the one who escorted the General's body back to his hometown. After burying him, I didn't know where to go. Staying in Yulin meant starvation, and I truly didn't want to be a soldier for the court anymore."

Jin Pu loved to smile, but right now his smile was bitter. He cast a cautious glance at Liu Chengzong and said, "General, truth be told, it's not that we couldn't defeat you. Every day we were half-fed, trained, and fought, yet whenever we went on campaign, we had to plunder the common people's food first."

Seeing Liu Chengzong nod without showing any sign of anger, he dared to continue. "Later, I headed south, met Battalion Commander Yang from Guyuan, and enlisted under the General's banner once again. I suppose this is fate; Heaven simply won't let me be a law-abiding subject."

Liu Chengzong smiled. "This is also destiny."

We originally let you go, yet after burying your General and wandering around, you came right back.

The last platoon commander to speak carried a hint of guilt in his words: "My name is Zheng Hu, a soldier under General Li, an elite soldier. Two hundred cavalry chased Old Huidui all the way from Huanglong Mountain to beyond the borders."

Liu Chengzong had been observing Li Bei all along. With the previous men—whether Li Longlong, Qi Yunxiang, or Jin Pu—Li Bei's eyes had held a look of sympathy and sorrow. But the moment Zheng Hu spoke, Li Bei's eyes filled with fury. He struggled to stand up, only to be held down by his bodyguards standing behind him.

Zheng Hu was terrified seeing him like this, but after all, times had changed. He pressed on: "General Li treated us well. Whatever we ate, he ate; however much we ate, he ate. Sometimes supplies were scarce, and a single chicken wasn't enough to divide among the troops, so he wouldn't eat it himself, giving it to the soldiers who trained the best or were the most emaciated."

"But General, we were starving! We'd rather you ate more, ate until you were stuffed, ate one bowl and wasted two, just so we could have enough to eat."

Zheng Hu sighed, as if a thousand words choked his heart, yet nothing came out. "Chasing Old Huidui, we had a few days of full meals, bringing back so many dead horses, only for the commanding officers in Yulin to seize them. All the spoils were handed over, promised to be distributed later. The bounty silver for enemy heads was also promised to be paid later, but none of it came. They just handed out a few official titles, and a few titles can't fill brothers' stomachs."

"I knew the General was good. When the General fled, I fled too. But the General didn't escape successfully, while Major Ma ran off by himself. What were we supposed to do? Death is easy. With our brothers stripped of weapons and armor, we were all prepared to wait for the bandits to bring their blades over and fight to the death—just fight it out."

At this point, Zheng Hu could speak no further. He shifted his posture, burying his head in his knees like the burly man he was. When he raised his head again, tear tracks streaked his face, and with a sob in his voice, he shouted at Li Bei: "But they brought us porridge! Ah!"

Li Bei's struggles ceased.

It was as if his spine had been ripped out by Zheng Hu's bitter wailing.

At first, it was unclear whose thoughts were triggered by his cries, but Liu Chengzong heard low sobs coming from beside another campfire on the other side.

Soon, the sound of weeping and venting multiplied, rising and falling in succession.

Hunger seemed to be the shared, agonizing memory of the border garrison soldiers from both Yulin and Guyuan.

"Your General Li did nothing wrong. Everything he did was right; don't blame him. And he won't blame you."

Liu Chengzong patted Li Bei, stepped across the campfire to comfort Zheng Hu, and then said to the group: "My name is Liu Chengzong, as you all know. But what you don't know is that I was already a scholar by the first year of Tianqi. How old was I that year? I was the youngest scholar in Yan'an Prefecture, a child prodigy."

"I served as an instructor in Confucian studies in Dafang, a county magistrate in Mizhi, and later a tax official in Yan'an Prefecture. I was imprisoned because I couldn't collect taxes. The common people were all poor, so who could be blamed? I couldn't take the imperial examinations for the juren degree, so I went to take the military examination with my brother, only to be chased out halfway and end up enlisting as a soldier in the Yulin Garrison."

"From the time I enlisted until I returned home, I never received military pay. I was starving, but I never thought of rebelling. In the end, there was no food left in the fort, and we were released. Released, I went home, where hunger couldn't touch me. My entire family had eaten the court's stipend grain, after all. No matter who rebelled, we couldn't rebel, right?"

"Villains plagued the northern villages, and the thousand-户 (Colonel) of the Yan'an Guard extorted grain in the mountains, demanding fifteen hundred tons of dry rations. We scraped it together for him. He took our grain, ran to the north, and let the bandits cut off the common people's heads to take back in exchange for military merits."

"Hey, stop crying. Did you lot chase down a tiger-like general who raided Wangzhuang?"

Hearing Liu Chengzong ask this, Zheng Hu choked back his tears, still aggrieved with breathless gasps, and nodded: "Ganquan. We pursued him for one hundred and seventy li."

"You killed the wrong person. That tiger-like general was me. Displaced refugees rushed into the mountains of my home, destroying our fields. Captives said there was a wealthy Wangzhuang over there. Back then, I still didn't want to rebel; I just wanted to grab some grain to keep my clan alive. But guess what happened?"

Liu Chengzong looked around the circle. Even Li Bei unconsciously fixed his gaze on him, only to quickly look away when Liu Chengzong met his eyes.

Both Zheng Hu and Li Bei were dumbfounded. Killed the wrong person?

Liu Chengzong let out a laugh and said to those around him, "The villages along the road were utterly desolate. Today, the villages in Yan'an Prefecture that still have living residents are all located near streams or rivers, and even then, they barely manage to scrape by with enough food and clothing."

"That Wangzhuang was different. These past few days, I've never seen fields so fertile. I always thought the Xichuan River had run dry, but when I got there, I learned it was because Wangzhuang built a dam, blocking the river flow. When we broke Wangzhuang, do you know how much grain there was?"

Liu Chengzong raised a finger, gesturing for them to guess.

Chen Qingdai guessed one hundred piculs, only to be mocked by Qi Yunxiang: "At least a thousand piculs!"

"Ten thousand piculs!"

Liu Chengzong said, "The grain in the mountain cellars had fermented into wine; the entire estate smelled of rotting grain. It's not that northern Shaanxi lacked grain—the grain was right there! Just that single Wangzhuang held enough to feed a thousand border soldiers for a full year. Is this a natural disaster, or is it man-made misfortune?"

The platoon commanders seated around the other bonfires had also noticed Liu Chengzong was here. They gathered around the outer perimeter, listening to what he had to say.

"Is this Shaanxi's first time suffering a drought? During the Hongwu era, the Yellow River dried up so much people could walk across the riverbed to the other side. In the fifth year of Chengha, a thousand li of land were scorched red, and the court exempted forty-five thousand piculs of summer taxes. From Chengha through Hongzhi, Zhengde, Jiajing, to Wanli, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, and Northern Zhili suffered droughts year after year for seventeen years."

"Only this time, the court refuses to exempt taxes; the court is increasing taxes. Is it because the court doesn't know what state the common people have fallen into? The court knows."

"General Li said he would recommend me for the position of a thousand-man commander. Word has spread among all the vanguards, hasn't it?"

Liu Chengzong surveyed the crowd. Chen Qingdai, Qi Yunxiang, and the others nodded. In truth, they still held a sliver of anticipation in their hearts.

If he became a thousand-man commander, the men beneath him would also secure official positions.

Yet, Liu Chengzong immediately doused them with a bucket of cold water: "If I become a thousand-man commander, or if someone within the camp kills me and takes my head to the court in exchange for a thousand-man commander's post... the court is already like this, the officials are well-fed, but can you eat your fill?"

Zheng Hu was the first to speak up: "We can't eat our fill! Even General Li couldn't eat his fill!"

Qi Yunxiang also chimed in: "Whoever wants to accept pacification can go accept it! I won't submit. If the General doesn't submit, I'll follow the General. If the General submits, I'll go somewhere else. Following the court means starving!"

Soon, more platoon commanders echoed the sentiment, finally raising their fists to shout: "No pacification! No pacification!"

"No pacification is precisely the right choice!"

Things had reached a point where Liu Chengzong could no longer remain seated while talking to the crowd. Dozens of platoon commanders had gathered around him, and even more were pressing inward.

He stood up, raised his hand to quiet the chanting, and said, "You are platoon commanders. In the regular imperial army, this rank exists once per company; here, you have one per squad. Your duty is to inspect morale, unite the brothers' bonds, and understand the situation within the squads. Anyone who is literate, raise your hand let me see."

This turned out to be quite interesting.

People looked at each other, and no one raised a hand.

Qi Yunxiang said, "General, how do you count as literate? I know a few characters, though I can't write many. Does that count?"

A chorus of agreement rose around him; this was universally the cultural baseline of the men.

As for recognizing characters, they knew some, but could hardly write any. After all, they used to be ordinary foot soldiers with no other way.

Liu Chengzong waved his hand. "No matter. When the literate batch from Zuantianshan returns, you will study first. From now on, you must come see me once a month. Aside from training, your job is also to observe the thoughts of the combat auxiliaries, squad leaders, and team leaders."

"When you encounter bullied auxiliary soldiers or unfair treatment by squad leaders, you must speak up for them. You are my mouth in the camp, my eyes in the camp, my hands in the camp. You must tell the combat and auxiliary soldiers why we don't accept pacification—pacification benefits a few, but it is a betrayal of everyone."

The platoon commanders answered in unison, yet Liu Chengzong felt utterly helpless at this sight.

The building of the Lion Camp was a long road. Without senior officers, and with grassroots officers lacking formal education, both the recording of orders and the execution of missions would be severely discounted.

A meal could only be eaten one bite at a time.

At that moment, Li Bei began struggling again. Liu Chengzong truly could not fathom what else he had to struggle about, so he walked over, removed the gag, and asked, "General Li, what else is there to say?"

Yet truth be told, while Li Bei struggled out of habit, he never expected Liu Chengzong to actually release him. He froze for a moment before blurting out, "You are all border soldiers of the court, generations of loyal subjects! Rebellion will only cause more people to die unnatural deaths!"

"Heh, as for that, General Li, you ought to go tell the Chongzhen Emperor."

Li Bei was stunned. "Tell the Emperor what? I'm talking about you lot."

Liu Chengzong stared straight into Li Bei's eyes. "You should tell him to go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple and ask his ancestors—ask the Great Progenitor Emperor why the subjects of the Great Yuan rebelled!"