Chapter 137 Left and Right Hands

Who was Flying Mountain Tiger again?

Liu Chengzong spent a long time trying to remember who Flying Mountain Tiger was.

It was not until Sky-Reaching Monkey reminded him that he recalled he was Feng Rang's guide.

Liu Chengzong wondered aloud, "What on earth gave him the guts to kill Feng Rang?"

That was the Left Vanguard, one of the earliest three vanguards under Liu Chengzong's command. They had followed him in attacking prefectural cities, assaulting Yanshuiguan, entering Shanxi, and fighting Li Bei.

That vanguard was the most combat-effective and best-equipped unit in the army. Why would someone like Flying Mountain Tiger dare to pull off such a stunt?

This foolish act of his had brought quite a bit of trouble to Liu Chengzong, who now had to comfort Sky-Reaching Monkey.

After all, that was Sky-Reaching Monkey's subordinate. What if the monkey took it the wrong way and thought this was a move to eliminate dissenters?

To his surprise, Sky-Reaching Monkey did not think along those lines at all.

He merely sighed and said, "Flying Mountain Tiger was originally a leader in Yijun. High King Chuang sent me to Yijun precisely to find him and Crimson Wolf. He had a few thousand men under his command, but none of them were reliable. After we merged forces, I streamlined them down to seven hundred men and came north to help you."

"When we merged camps, he already had some grievances. I allocated another three hundred men to him, bringing his total to a thousand, and only then did he feel better."

Sky-Reaching Monkey raised a hand to rub his forehead, shook his head, and said, "By the time you and I joined forces, I never heard him express any displeasure. If he had something on his mind, he should have told me."

Now that the man was gone, saying anything was too late.

A few days later, Feng Rang led the Left Vanguard back. The troop was short by more than forty men; the combat soldiers were extremely alert, the auxiliary troops were uneasy, and morale was low.

Flying Mountain Tiger was brought back on a donkey cart with a piece of cloth covering his face. When Liu Chengzong lifted it, the body was already frozen stiff, lying on its side with a gaping hole smashed into the back of the head.

"Was it really necessary?"

Liu Chengzong covered the face again and had people carry him off to the woods to be buried.

Once Feng Rang had settled his troops, he brought Chen Qingdai and two others, carrying two small pouches, to see him.

The two pouches contained more than a hundred palm-sized small iron plates. Feng Rang said, "There are only a hundred and thirty here; the army definitely still has more."

Liu Chengzong picked up an iron plate and examined it. The casting was crude and rough, with the words "Exemption from Death" inscribed on it.

Ever since arriving in Yijun, starting who knows when, Flying Mountain Tiger had begun distributing these death-exemption plates to his former subordinates within the army, and these tokens had silently circulated through the ranks.

It was not until a plate was handed to a discipline officer, who then passed it on to Chen Qingdai, that Feng Rang became aware of the matter.

Following the clues, Feng Rang confronted Flying Mountain Tiger, who had been very frank, claiming the plates were given to him by local leaders in Yijun named Earth-Looting Tiger and Hao Xiaoquan.

There had been no intention of rebelling, he claimed; he merely felt that having such an item on his person provided an extra layer of insurance, just in case government forces captured him one day, so it might save his life.

"He was out of his mind. I gave him a kick."

Feng Rang shook his head and said, "That single kick ruined everything. That very night, before the death-exemption plates could be collected, he allied with the Earth-Looting Tiger from the outside—one pretending to be government troops, the other instigating surrender from within the camp."

Even now, whenever he recalled that night, Feng Rang still felt a lingering fear. "Chaos broke out in the middle of the night. The rear-guard captain was killed by his own men. For a brief moment, everyone in the vanguard felt endangered, unable to tell friend from foe. It only improved slightly when the various units assembled, but only three units gathered around me while two went over to Flying Mountain Tiger's side. It was a hair's breadth away from a full mutiny."

With that, Feng Rang jerked his chin toward Chen Qingdai. "He even pulled a few men away from my side over to Flying Mountain Tiger's camp. The cannons in the camp were already set up; if Flying Mountain Tiger hadn't backed down, I was ready to fight."

Speaking of this, Feng Rang looked thoroughly helpless, shrugged, and said, "Who would have thought that as he walked over, the moment Flying Mountain Tiger mounted his horse, this guy grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, smashed him to death with a mace, and dragged him out like a dead dog? The mutiny was snuffed out just like that."

Liu Chengzong blinked, looked at Chen Qingdai, and smiled. "Making you a discipline officer is a waste of your talent. You should be a vanguard leader."

"It's not a waste, General. Didn't you say that night outside the fortress? What we discipline officers do is precisely this—rallying the soldiers and preventing them from surrendering."

Chen Qingdai stared with wide, earnest eyes, stood at attention, and said, "He made it impossible for the soldiers to stay united and wanted to lead people to surrender. By smashing him to death, the soldiers had no one left to lead them to surrender, so they united again."

Put that way, it actually made a certain amount of sense.

After saying this, Chen Qingdai squinted and smiled. "I grew up on the streets of Yulin and got into plenty of fights. I've seen plenty of standoffs like this. Neither side dares to make the first move. As long as I walked over and nobody struck me, then smashing Flying Mountain Tiger to death would resolve the issue."

Liu Chengzong smiled and asked, "Aren't you scared?"

"I was scared. After smashing Flying Mountain Tiger, I didn't dare move, afraid I'd be hacked to pieces by flying swords. But when they didn't hack me, I dragged him out."

After offering Chen Qingdai a few words of encouragement, Liu Chengzong turned to Feng Rang and asked, "Are the forty-plus brothers who died in the army all buried?"

"They're all buried."

With that, everyone's gaze converged on the death-exemption plates laid out on the table, falling into a profound silence.

Liu Chengzong stared at those crudely crafted iron plates.

These little trinkets possessed far greater power than letters urging surrender.

They were also a warning to him.

Human nature was a complex thing; he had still been thinking too simply.

Take Flying Mountain Tiger, for instance. On the surface, it looked as though he had simply been kicked by Feng Rang and thus driven to rebellion.

In reality, however, the man had harbored resentment against his arrangements all along.

He had originally been the leader of a few thousand outlaws. After merging camps with Sky-Reaching Monkey, they selected seven hundred able-bodied men, willingly taking a back seat to the Monkey in exchange for being made a commander of a thousand.

Yet once Sky-Reaching Monkey threw in his lot with Liu Chengzong, Flying Mountain Tiger was reduced to an eighty-man captain. Anyone in his position would have felt a thorn in their side.

With the slightest provocation, that thorn would begin to ache.

While the Lion Camp was stationed at Apricot River, he could only endure the ache.

When the Left Vanguard went to Yijun alone and encountered his former subordinates once more, the thorn in Flying Mountain Tiger's side only grew more painful.

Looking at the iron plates, Liu Chengzong wondered: how many of his own men carried this same thorn in their hearts?

"Do you know who distributed these plates?"

Liu Chengzong's silence made Feng Rang somewhat anxious. Hearing the question, he hurriedly replied, "Hong Chengchou. Hong Chengchou, the Shaanxi Censor. Both Earth-Looting Tiger and Hao Xiaoquan in Yijun accepted government death-exemption plates. As for Crimson Wolf, I don't know whether he took one or not."

Hong Chengchou.

Liu Chengzong silently repeated the name. He was an old acquaintance, of a sort.

Though they had never met, he had heard this man's name countless times. The earliest instance was at Yuhe Fortress, where the idea of scattering He Renlong's troops had originated from Hong Chengchou.

"That sounds like something he would do. The man is capable both civilly and militarily, not an easy opponent."

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said to Feng Rang and Chen Qingdai, "I understand. Let this matter rest. Brother Rang, in the future, do not treat your subordinates so harshly. Qingdai did an excellent job this time; can you train a group of discipline officers while also overseeing the discipline officers of all the units in the Left Vanguard? Can you do that?"

"I... am I getting a promotion?"

Overjoyed beyond measure, Chen Qingdai fumbled for words, cupped his fists, and said, "Many, many thanks for the General's promotion!"

"Do not let down my expectations. Look around the Left Vanguard, and report any discipline officers suitable for promotion to me. From now on, each vanguard must have a primary and secondary commander, as well as a primary and secondary discipline officer. Each unit must also have two captains and two discipline officers."

With that, Liu Chengzong told the two men, "You may return first, and properly comfort the soldiers. If there are still death-exemption plates within the vanguard, whether through open investigation or secret inquiry, find a way to collect them. Do not blame the soldiers; focus on education. This is a matter that harms all our brothers."

The two men acknowledged the order and withdrew. Liu Chengzong looked at the death-exemption plate in his palm, his gaze turning icy.

Hong Chengchou.

In his memory, this man truly was the lifelong nemesis of the peasant armies.

He served under imperial decree to wipe out the peasant armies. When Chongzhen hanged himself on the crooked-neck tree, when the Great Ming turned into the Southern Ming, when the Later Jin became the Great Qing, and when the peasant army became the Great Shun and ultimately the loyalist camp of the Southern Ming—

Everyone else changed, yet this son of a bitch never did. He was still out there wiping out peasant armies.

He sent a verbal message to Cao Yao.

A few days later, Cao Yao hurried back in a rush from Yanchuan, bursting through the door to ask, "Rangzi isn't dead, is he?"

"He's alive, alive and well," Liu Chengzong replied. "You don't have this sort of thing on your side, do you?"

"Pah! You must have forgotten what kind of person Cao Liu'er is. Let me tell you, the minds of us artillerymen are as solid as a rock. Even if he handed out life-saving plates to everyone, not a single person in the artillery vanguard would listen!"

If anyone else had said that, Liu Chengzong would not have believed it. But coming from Cao Yao, Liu Chengzong truly believed it.

This bunch naturally wanted to oppose the imperial court. What Cao Yao wanted was not to overthrow the Ming to become emperor—or rather, to overthrow the Ming and support someone else as emperor.

Cao Yao simply did not want an emperor at all. Not only did he not want an emperor, but he also didn't want viceroys, prefects, or magistrates... He just wanted to be answerable to no one, with his highest ideal being a mountain king, farming the land with his wife, completely detached from the court.

The troops take after their leader, and of this Liu Chengzong was certain.

Among their circle of officers, Cao Yao could be considered outstanding.

Liu Chengzong said, "Then I can rest easy. I called you back to discuss this matter—Hong Chengchou, what are your thoughts?"

This time, he genuinely needed to find an ally to consult.

Fighting wars, procuring grain, training troops, and even receiving those letters urging surrender from all over previously—he had been able to figure all of those out on his own without panic, requiring no outside advice.

Only this time did Liu Chengzong feel uncertain.

Their group from Yuhe Fortress had originally set out with the intention of planting wedges into the rebel forces, acting as spies in name.

And that was just Yuhe Fortress. The fortresses of the border troops all faced the same dilemma at the time; Hong Chengchou might not have made that suggestion exclusively to He Renlong.

How many border troops throughout northern Shaanxi were carrying the identity of a hidden wedge? And how many peasant armies throughout northern Shaanxi had already been partially subverted?

Nobody knew.

Cao Yao shook his head. "What's my view? There's nothing we can do about him. He can subvert our soldiers, but we can't subvert him. Besides... people fear having no way out."

In truth, letting the border troops out, or issuing death-exemption plates, were both ways out.

Liu Chengzong nodded. "You think just like I do. The government didn't send troops to attack this winter, but they've done plenty of things, all aimed at disintegrating us."

Liu Chengzong had once thought that the phenomenon of everyone feeling endangered only existed among unorganized peasant rebel groups like Budan Ni or Huntian Monkey.

Yet in reality, he could not escape it either. After this incident, even with the Lion Camp's strict organization, he inevitably began to harbor suspicions about other leaders.

The trouble Feng Rang encountered this time stemmed entirely from his men making contact with other leaders in Yijun.

Those two leaders he had never even heard of, Earth-Looting Tiger and Hao Xiaoquan, used the death-exemption plates to approach Flying Mountain Tiger.

Flying Mountain Tiger might not have been utterly determined to surrender to the government forces; in all likelihood, he merely wanted to keep a death-exemption plate on hand so that if they were ever defeated, he would still have a way out.

Yet while one person was fully committed, the other was keeping a death-exemption plate on hand, and instantly the minds of the army were no longer of one accord.

"If you ask me, you shouldn't worry so much. Set off for Shanxi as soon as possible and get far away from these scheming bastards."

Cao Yao's view of the matter was utterly relaxed. "If we can't afford to offend them, can't we afford to hide from them? There are plenty of ways to deal with them. Didn't you set up discipline officers in the army specifically for this? If you still can't guard against it, and they drive me to exasperation, I'll have my troops shave their heads."

Liu Chengzong was stunned dumb by the remark. He could understand the discipline officers, but asked, "Shave your heads for what?"

"Shave a *bulanger* hairstyle and braid two queues, and we'll all bloody pretend to be Mongol Tatars. The moment the government troops see us, they'll want our heads."

Cao Yao curled the corner of his mouth in a fierce grin. "Exemption from death? Exemption my ass!"

Liu Chengzong was amused. "You might as well just advise me to lead my troops out of the passes, take four thousand elite tiger-troops straight down to Bansheng, chase Chahadai away, and make myself the Prince of Shunyi."

"Hahaha!" Cao Yao laughed so hard his stomach hurt. "Stop joking, we can't beat Chahadai."

Laughter aside, once the mirth subsided, Liu Chengzong raised a hand and tapped the table. "Marching on Bansheng is just a joke, but what you said actually provides a line of thought. Relying on things easily visible on the body to determine one's stance can cut off people's ways out."

Shaving a *bulanger* hairstyle was essentially the same principle as the early wokou pirate disturbances, where the pirates all had their hair shaved off; since their hair couldn't grow back immediately and surrendering would still get them branded as wokou and executed anyway, they had no choice but to fight to the death.

At this, Liu Chengzong couldn't help smiling. "But bloody hell, pretending to be Mongol Tatars would be too miserable. Besides, if we do that, how are we going to recruit soldiers in the future? Right now, we are a righteous army; we don't harass the common people, and the folks near Yan'an prefecture city aren't afraid when they see us—sometimes they even feed us intelligence."

"If you shave your head to look like a northern barbarian and we march into Shanxi, all the national hatred and old grievances of the common people will be stirred up. Won't local militias block and attack us all along the way to the death?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said, "Hair must absolutely not be shaved, especially not northern barbarian hair. Otherwise, Chengyun will be the first one to have my hide. My uncle was shot dead by the Tatars."

Cao Yao spread his hands. "Then aside from that, what other ideas do you have? Shave them bald? Changing clothes definitely won't work, and shaving bald won't work either. We need to make the imperial court want to slaughter anyone they see the moment they lay eyes on them, right?"

At this, Cao Yao suddenly raised a hand and slammed it onto the table. "If you ask me, this malicious scheme wasn't even cooked up by Censor Hong. Every debt has its debtor—are we just supposed to let him scheme against us behind our backs? We should march straight south to Hancheng, take the city, and finish him off."

"That's an option too, but the roads around Hancheng are difficult to traverse; we can only go through Mount Huanglong. We don't have anyone familiar with the terrain, making it far too easy to walk into an ambush. Moreover, Guanzhong in the south extends in all directions; while our men are familiar with mountainous terrain, matching up against government troops on the plains is quite difficult."

Liu Chengzong noted the idea, then added, "Besides, that only treats the symptoms, not the disease. Hong Chengchou isn't the only one in the government forces; others will use alienation and subversion in the future."

"Then let's use tattoos—on the web of the thumb, the left hand for opposing, the right hand for Ming." Cao Yao even made a stretching gesture with his hand. "Even if someone surrenders, the moment they stretch out their hand, their head is forfeited to the government."

That was an idea as well.

Liu Chengzong nodded. "Though even if we tattoo them, just tattooing the left hand will do—opposing Ming."

Cao Yao asked, "Then what is the right hand kept for?"

"The right hand? I don't know about the right hand. One is enough."

Liu Chengzong stood up, walked out of the room, and took a deep breath.

The right hand? The right hand was being kept for the Qing.

Oppose the Ming, restore the Chinese.