Chapter 140: Mutual Guarantees for the Entire Battalion

The day before entering Shanxi, Wang Jiayin summoned the various rebel leaders to go to Qingjian for a council.

Liu Chengzong left Sky Monkey and the others behind to attack the Yanshuiguan Pass and headed to Qingjian himself.

With over a hundred rebel leaders gathered in a chaotic mob, it truly made Liu Chengzong feel as though he had laid eyes on all the rabble this lifetime had to offer.

Seating arrangements were established, and Liu Chengzong was ranked fourth among the rebel kings. Originally he should have been third, but he ceded that spot to Master Gao.

In the end, it was decided to split the forces into six routes to enter Shanxi simultaneously: Wang Jiayin via Hequ, Unstainable Mud via Jiazhou, Wang Zuogua via Hancheng, Heaven-Confusing King via Yichuan, Gao Yingxiang via Wubu, and Liu Chengzong via Yanshuiguan Pass.

By the time Liu Chengzong returned to Yanshuiguan, the pass gates stood wide open for him.

Chengyun led a few men holding several tall, sturdy horses as he stepped forward and said, "Brother, after you left, someone claiming to be a subordinate of Heaven-Overwhelming King delivered twenty suits of armor, thirty battle horses, and a golden seal belonging to the Overwhelming Marshal."

He looked somewhat flustered. "We didn't know what was going on, so we just let the men go. What is the meaning of this... Has the Heaven-Overwhelming King been pacified by the court?"

"They actually handed over an official seal?"

Liu Chengzong was equally baffled. He told Wei Qian'er to assemble the platoon leaders and entered the official yamen of Yanshuiguan.

Eight chairs were arranged symmetrically left and right within the yamen. The platoon leaders took their seats in order and immediately began chattering away with questions.

Some asked about the appointment of officials, others about troop strength, and some about the gathering of the rebel kings.

Liu Chengzong raised an arm to quiet them, and once everyone fell silent, he said, "Let's talk about the results of the Qingjian council first. There were over a hundred leaders from various factions present, and they claimed that the invading army entering Shanxi this time numbers one hundred and forty thousand."

Cao Yao, Yang Yao, and the others were unimpressed, Shi Chengwei was startled, and only Chengyun believed it, staring with his mouth wide open as he gasped in disbelief, "One hundred and forty thousand?"

"Look at the other platoon leaders; you're the only one who bought it. Those troop numbers are just figures they plucked out of thin air."

Liu Chengzong teased Chengyun before saying to the rest, "If we truly had one hundred and forty thousand men, why would we bother going to Shanxi? We'd march straight on Guyuan and strip the Three Frontiers Viceroy of his post. With over a hundred leaders, there are simply too many people."

"I won't even mention the minor leaders; some of them have fewer troops under their command than the mules Chengyun manages. As for the seating, ranks were assigned in Qingjian."

Liu Chengzong rested his arms on the chair's armrests. "First is Heaven-Overwhelming King Wang Jiayin, second is Zuogua. After those rankings, I was placed right in the middle. Several leaders who claimed to have ten or twenty thousand men didn't even dare to sit further up."

The yamen burst into roaring laughter, and Cao Yao asked, "Then we're ranked third?"

Liu Chengzong turned his palm over and extended four fingers. "Fourth. I let Master Gao take third. We still have a long time ahead of us; there's no need to rush and put on some doomed, short-lived airs."

"As for troop strength, there certainly aren't one hundred and forty thousand. Everyone has seen the Heaven-Confusing King; we even had a meal together a few days ago in Yanchuan. His entire camp barely totals a bit over three thousand men, and only six hundred of them can genuinely be called bandits. Yet once he arrived in Qingjian, he opened his mouth and claimed three thousand combat troops and ten thousand auxiliary soldiers."

The crowd burst into roaring laughter once more.

Sky Monkey did not join the laughter. Wanting to speak up for a friend, he said earnestly, "Heaven-Confusing King was pursued by Li Bei earlier; perhaps he was afraid of being looked down upon, which is why he inflated the numbers."

"Right, that was precisely what he was thinking."

Liu Chengzong reined in his smile and added, effectively letting the matter of the Heaven-Confusing King rest. "I estimate that the forces entering Shanxi across all six routes total only thirty to forty thousand at most."

Cao Yao had long been unable to contain himself. Seeing that everyone had stopped laughing, he simply asked, "General, what's the deal with these official titles? We haven't even overthrown the Zhu family's emperor yet, and now we're inviting a Wang family emperor back over our heads?"

"We sat down there and they handed out official titles. I thought they were just casually spouting nonsense—I am the Overwhelming Marshal, Unstainable Mud is the Earth-Covering General, Heaven-Confusing King is called the Heaven-Confusing General, plus a whole bunch of other generals and lieutenants—who would have thought they'd actually send the golden seals over?"

Liu Chengzong felt quite helpless about this as well. Then he smiled, stood up, and said, "Never mind that. Is it ever a bad thing to have people send you gold? This makeshift opera troupe might fall apart at any moment anyway, so that doesn't matter. What matters is that we still have a long road ahead of us, and more importantly... I've drawn our boundaries."

The garrison commander's office at Yanshuiguan had a map hanging on the wall. Taking advantage of this convenience, Liu Chengzong casually picked up a riding crop and pointed at the map, saying, "South of Taiyuan, north of Jiangzhou, spanning five hundred li from top to bottom—this is the territory for us and the King of Chuang. We won't let them in."

The platoon leaders from the various detachments were completely dumbfounded.

The area Liu Chengzong had circled accounted for nearly one-third of the most fertile land in all of Shanxi.

Yang Yao asked, "General, you've carved out such a massive slice—will they be willing to let you?"

"What if they aren't willing?" Liu Chengzong asked with a smile in return. "Shall we fight a battle? Shouldn't they weigh how they compare to Li Bei?"

The crowd roared with laughter once again. General Li had officially become a standard unit of combat effectiveness.

Joking aside, when it came down to actual combat effectiveness, indeed no one dared to snatch food from Liu Chengzong's mouth.

By now, quite a few rebel kings had clashed with government troops, but only the top four had truly fought real battles. Wang Zuogua had lost, and Gao Yingxiang had been defeated, only for Liu Chengzong to turn the tide.

Only Wang Jiayin and Liu Chengzong had defeated government troops in upright, head-on battles between two armies.

Of the two, Wang Jiayin was slightly more ferocious. While Liu Chengzong waited at ease for the exhausted enemy in Yan'an Prefecture, Wang Jiayin had been roaming inside and outside the border wall since the very beginning of the uprising, constantly stabbing the rear of the Yansui garrison troops.

Without Wang Jiayin, none of the various rebel factions in northern Shaanxi would have had such an easy time. Every time the garrison troops of the double border walls were mobilized, Wang Jiayin was guaranteed to raid their homes from behind.

Liu Chengzong smiled. "Actually, though, it's not as tense as you think. The people in the back didn't even dare to speak. Although they say six routes are entering Shanxi, there are really only three major ones: Heaven-Overwhelming King and Unstainable Mud form one route; us and the King of Chuang form one route; Zuogua and Heaven-Confusing King form one route. Top, middle, and bottom—it neatly splits Shanxi right down the middle."

"Heaven-Overwhelming King's route passed through Kelan Prefecture, encompassing Xinzhou and Daizhou—that's also fertile land. If Zuogua can break through Hancheng, both east and west of the River will be fertile fields... Chengyun, remember to take this map away later."

After giving Chengyun that reminder, Liu Chengzong continued, "However, we did take advantage of having both northern and southern routes as flanks, so the likelihood of being intercepted by a massive force of government troops is low. Our biggest problems are the Lüliang Mountains and ourselves."

Ourselves?

The eight platoon leaders and Sky Monkey all wore blank expressions. Wang Wenxiu stroked his thick beard and said, "Please enlighten us, General."

Liu Chengzong stood up, pressed his hands firmly down on the desk, gathered his thoughts slightly, and said, "You are all people trusted by me, the Lion Liu, but we cannot swallow up that five-hundred-li stretch of territory in its entirety."

"We Shaanxi folk, as soldiers, have seen death too often and hold life cheap. The starving refugees and vagrants have also survived to this day by treading over corpses. The drought in Shanxi is not quite like that; the common folk there suffer some oppression, but they can still survive. I do not wish for our entry into Shanxi to cause the death of common folk who otherwise would have managed to live."

"If everyone surges into one place, I cannot distinguish who is killing and plundering just for a bite to eat, and who is slaughtering the innocent purely for amusement. This damn court, which can neither defend against foreign barbarians nor pacify its own people, regards us as bandits—though its days are numbered anyway, so who cares what it thinks. But we must not view ourselves as ravagers of the people; we are rebel insurgents."

The few platoon leaders who originated from the border troops chuckled softly.

They were laughing not just at this damn court, but at themselves as well.

Every single one of them had shed blood for the Great Ming.

If the Great Ming was a galloping, fiery steed, each of them had once believed they were its flesh and blood, only to realize later that they were merely grass—grass chewed up and swallowed whole into its belly!

Thump, thump. Two sharp sounds.

Yang Yao, sitting in his chair, straightened his spine and slapped the desk. "The General is right! We are rebel insurgents, not ravagers of the people!"

A sense of honor cannot fill your stomach, but once your stomach is full, a sense of honor is terribly useful.

On the other hand, Wang Wenxiu, the other centurion, was much calmer. He stroked his thick beard, glanced at Yang Yao, and chuckled softly. "How many days has it been since you've had a full stomach? I don't care about any Shanxi common folk; my brothers only have full bellies thanks to the General, so whatever the General orders is what I'll do."

Gao Xian exchanged a glance with Liu Chengzong and smiled. "Don't look at the three of us. Platoon Leader Cao is a veteran rebel, while the two of us are at best minor rebels. Too many people have already died in this world, and I also feel that fewer deaths would be better."

Feng Rang chuckled softly without speaking, merely nodding toward Liu Chengzong.

Cao Yao, the veteran rebel, however, had fallen into deep contemplation.

Liu Chengzong asked, "What is Brother Cao thinking?"

"Well... whether people live or die in this world doesn't really matter to me," Cao Yao said, frowning and letting out a long breath. "But there's one thing. We are entering Shanxi—just speaking objectively now, you all listen to my reasoning—what on earth are we going there to do?"

Cao Yao spread his hands and expounded fluently: "The wealthy magnates who annex land, along with corrupt officials and gentry who oppress the good—we strike them down or divide their lands. Equalize the fields and remit grain taxes; every single failed uprising in history has done just that."

"And then there are the imperial princes. That Qingcheng Prince's estate has been around for many years; I've had my eyes on it for a long time. Once we defeat them and get their grain, we return to Shaanxi. I know Chengyun mentioned earlier about infiltrating Shanxi, just like we did in Yan'an Prefecture, leading the common folk to resist taxes."

Having said that, he tapped his finger on the table. "Yet in truth, this is actually helping the court. Those bastards in the court who want us dead dream of doing this very thing day and night."

Cao Yao spread both hands, and his meaning was blatantly clear.

Imperial princes, land annexation, prominent gentry families—the chronic, deeply rooted ailments of the court.

"Fushi County and Ansai succeeded because there were natural disasters, because we had an army, because Wang Jiayin held the border troops at bay in the north while Commander Liu maintained order in Yan'an Prefecture, and because we successively defeated Lu Cheng in Yanchuan through sheer luck and clever tactics, and Li Bei in the Yan River and Hequ... Damn it, that battle was truly pathetic. It wasn't that we couldn't win, it's just—sigh, it doesn't matter."

As this fellow spoke, he even grew irritated with himself, slapping his hands together and saying, "If we go there, equalize the fields and divide the land for the common folk, and lead them in resisting taxes, it will be a case of echoing responses to a single call, winning the hearts and minds of everyone. But aren't you going to leave? Can you take all the common folk with you? What will happen to them after you leave? Will they continue resisting taxes? How can they fight swords and spears with their bare heads?"

"First, they won't have natural disasters. Second, the corrupt officials will have been killed. Third, the wealthy landlord families who collect tenant rents will be gone. Paying taxes won't ruin their households or destroy their families anymore, and the practice of property-donating protection will be gone. As a result..."

Cao Yao waved his hand in a circle among the group. "If we take a trip into Shanxi—leaving aside the north and the south for the moment—at the very least, the autumn grain the court collects in the middle of Shanxi will increase by more than half."

Chengyun had been frowning as he listened, and only after Cao Yao finished did he say, "Commander Cao, what if we leave people behind to continue resisting taxes? We could leave behind injured veterans, teach them how to train, and let them fight the local militias, tax collectors, and banner soldiers."

"That's possible."

Cao Yao first affirmed Chengyun's idea, then added, "There will certainly be such people—people whose lives are filled with such blazing fury that they don't know who to seek revenge against. If you don't point out a clear path for them, they will turn to banditry or hang themselves. They will be utterly determined to do it. But as I said before, Shanxi is not Shaanxi, and other people's homes are not Black Dragon Mountain."

"How many such people are there? If you go to train them, every household has to send an able-bodied man, which means a loss of prime agricultural labor at home. The common folk will disregard their livelihoods, train for half a year, and then fight the government troops. Once the battle is over, these people will be dead, and their villages thoroughly plundered by government troops. The next time we enter Shanxi, the common folk will also pick up blades and spears to deal with you and me."

Cao Yao turned his palms upward and silently shook his head. "The situation in the central region won't necessarily be any better than the north and the south."

Chengyun wanted to say something more. His hand had already risen above his head, but in the end, it fell limply back down. "Then what are we supposed to do?"

Zhong Hu distressfully grabbed his hair-scarf, then looked helplessly at Liu Chengzong. "General, this is too damn complicated. Just tell me—who are we supposed to kill?"

Liu Chengzong smiled and said, "Actually, everything Platoon Leader Cao mentioned, I have thought about. Previously in Shaanxi, we lacked the conditions; our troop strength was limited, and we were either being chased by this person or beaten by that person. We couldn't disperse into the townships to control the villages, nor could we afford to consider long-term matters—except for Xingzi River, that place was big enough."

"And it is true that we won't stay in Shanxi for long; it's a valley sandwiched between two mountains, making it hard to get in and equally hard to get out. But I still want to try. If our departure means the common folk who lean toward us are slaughtered until none remain because they continued resisting taxes, then we simply won't resist taxes."

Liu Chengzong spoke with utter casualness. "People—people are more important than horses, people are more important than money, people are more important than anything else. As long as these people are still around, we haven't lost. If they want to pay grain to the court, let them pay it. At worst, when the autumn grain collection comes around, we'll just take another trip over and target the government offices—what's wrong with that?"

"To take a ten-thousand-step retreat, so what if the government manages to collect some grain? Those village common folk hold us in their hearts; without exorbitant levies and exactions, the grain the common folk harvest will be even greater. We shouldn't expect the common folk to give everything; if they are able to help us when they can, that is enough. Why should others stake their lives for our sake?"

He did not believe the common folk would fight to the death with government troops, and in his heart, he also opposed having the common folk fight to the death with government troops after the army left.

The greatest lesson he had learned from the Chongzhen Emperor was that one must understand people need to eat.

Is it realistic to expect the common folk to abandon their homes, properties, wives, and children to throw themselves into military training, merely to add bricks and tiles to the rebellion's cause?

The common folk need to eat, and to eat, they need to live.

The vast majority of common folk will only resort to rebellion and desperate fighting under one condition: when they are no longer allowed to live, when death is certain either way, only then will a portion of them choose to fight to the death.

"If we leave behind the reputation of a righteous army, this time the common folk will be afraid, next time the common folk won't run away, and the time after that the common folk will line the streets to welcome us. You have to eat a meal one bite at a time, and rebel one step at a time. We do better than the court's government troops—don't we even have that much confidence?"

Liu Chengzong smiled with extraordinary ease.

The drought in Shanxi was less severe, but Shanxi likewise had border troops, and the border troops likewise had no military pay and went hungry just the same.

Yet government troops could not plunder gentry families, could not plunder government offices, and could not plunder the estates of imperial princes. Government troops could only plunder the common folk.

They were different. There were far too many things they could plunder, making the common folk the very last people who needed to be touched.

The returns were low, and the hazards were high.

"There will be no harm. You only need to explain these matters clearly to the soldiers under your respective platoons, while strictly enforcing military discipline. Unauthorized plundering is strictly forbidden. Of the spoils from each platoon, fifty percent will be turned over, twenty percent retained for official use, ten percent distributed to officers, and twenty percent distributed to the soldiers. Just do these two things well."

"This is our first time appearing in the eyes of the Shanxi common folk. Let them know that we are rebel insurgents, not ravagers of the people."

Liu Chengzong repeated this phrase once more, then adopted a solemn expression as he said, "The entire camp shall be bound by mutual responsibility. At every level, from top to bottom, platoon commanders shall vouch for squad leaders, squad leaders shall vouch for section leaders, and section leaders shall vouch for soldiers. Ensure that the soldiers under your command do not harm innocent common folk and that they fight bravely. Anyone who violates this will be decapitated, from top to bottom... Whoever cannot achieve this, go back to Xingzi River."