Chapter 148: All-Out Offensive

Fenzhou City.

Li Shien, the Vice-Commissioner of the Ji-nan Military Defense Circuit, stepped quickly out of the prefectural yamen.

He thought to himself that he had suffered another polite rebuff.

The full title of the Military Defense Circuit Commissioner was to oversee the military defense of a designated region; it held an official seal of authority only for border defense, allowing its holder to command guard posts and garrisons while remaining subordinate to the supreme commanders and regional inspectors.

Its duties included drilling garrison troops and local militias, apprehending bandits, suppressing popular uprisings, and managing garrison horses, provisions, and military agricultural lands.

Originally established in response to specific crises, these positions had become permanent fixtures to strengthen local defense.

Li Shien had been busy with one particular matter lately: grain.

Though his post was that of a Military Defense Commissioner, the position in Shanxi was extremely awkward. The garrisons in Fenzhou Prefecture had originally been the pasture guard units of the imperial princes, and they still answered to the princely estates to this day.

Sole allegiance to the princely estate would not have been a problem and could have been easily resolved.

However, the deterioration of the military agricultural lands made the garrisons economically dependent on the princely estate, leaving no alternative. He who eats the master's rice does the master's bidding—that was only natural.

As for Li Shien, though a native of Northern Zhili, he had spent his early years following his father to an official post in Xizhou and studying there, giving him a deep understanding of Shanxi's conditions.

Thus, upon taking office, Li Shien knew precisely what his duties as Military Defense Commissioner should be.

Restructuring the garrisons was out of the question; that was not something a fourth-rank official could accomplish.

The primary purpose of a Military Defense Commissioner was the suppression of domestic rebellions, so his mission was to ensure that no uprisings broke out in Fenzhou Prefecture.

The drought had persisted for several years, growing more severe with each passing season. It was only this year that the drought in Shanxi had eased slightly, yet the lives of the people west of the Lüliang Mountains remained destitute.

Fenyang, where Fenzhou City was located, lay east of the Lüliang Mountains, but that did not mean the region west of the mountains was not part of Fenzhou Prefecture.

Therefore, after consulting with numerous prefectural officials, he took charge of water conservancy and city wall construction. He temporarily planned to restore the long-abandoned water conservancy facilities in Ningxiang, Shilou, and Lin counties, and to heighten the city walls to guard against the incursions of rebels from Shaanxi.

The plan was excellent, but executing it required money.

Here lay the difficulty. Those three counties were utterly impoverished; the household revenue offices of the county yamens could not produce even a thousand taels of silver, leaving him with no way to begin.

Meanwhile, the prefectural yamen was tightfisted, plunging the matter into a dead-end cycle.

Today, he had once again entered the prefectural yamen to discuss water conservancy projects and the organization of militias in the three counties. As soon as the others heard of it, they knew money was required, and without waiting for him to speak, they began bitterly complaining of their poverty.

In the end, having dragged it out until dusk, he could only slink out of the yamen in dejection.

With the workday over, he decided to have a couple of drinks to drown his sorrows.

Just as he stepped out of the yamen, he heard someone calling from nearby: "Brother Shien! Brother Shien, do not leave!"

Wondering which old friend had come to Fenzhou Prefecture, Li Shien turned his head.

It was a slightly aging middle-aged scholar wearing a cloud-brocade square cap, dressed in a light blue dark-patterned Daoist robe, with jade pendants and a sachet at his waist. He cut an elegant figure, though his garments were travel-stained and a treasured sword hung at his side as he walked swiftly toward him.

Try as he might, Li Shien could not recall this person, so he raised his hands and asked, "May I ask who your excellency is?"

"Brother Shien, it is I! We both studied at the Xizhou Academy. During the earthquake of the forty-second year of the Wanli reign, the county academy collapsed. You were reading in the back hills, and I was the one who called you out, supported you as we ran down the mountain path, right before the mountain crumbled like thunder."

The elderly scholar was deeply emotional. As he reached Li Shien, he said, "You forgot? Che Cai, a licentiate from Xizhou!"

At his words, memories gradually surfaced. Li Shien's expression relaxed, and he stepped forward to embrace Che Cai, saying, "Old Brother Che! How many years it has been! Are you still in Xizhou?"

In truth, Che Cai was nearly ten years older than Li Shien.

"Still in Xizhou. Later, you passed the provincial examination and then the metropolitan examination. After you left, I served for two years as an instructor of Confucian studies in Xizhou, and then... ah, it is a long story."

Old friends meeting again, Li Shien turned back to instruct his attendants to prepare a carriage. He grasped Che Cai's arm and walked forward, saying, "If it is a long story, we will talk slowly. We have plenty of time tonight. Since you were in Xizhou and did not come to find me, we must share several cups later!"

When the driver arrived, the two men rode out of the city directly toward East Wen Lake. They secured a private pavilion in a lakeside restaurant, ordered three meat dishes, three vegetarian dishes, and two pots of Fen wine, and opened the windows to listen to the fishermen's evening songs while watching the setting sun.

After three rounds of drinks, Che Cai slowly recounted his experiences over the years: "My family has been an only son for three generations, and my aging father always hoped to hold a grandson sooner. My wife and I have been married for over a decade without a child. Who knows whose fault it was? I thought of taking another wife, but that was just a fleeting thought."

"Brother Shien knows that my family has tilled the soil at Mt. Zaowang for generations, never wealthy until my generation began studying. Back at the prefectural academy, the fellow boarders never stopped mocking my family's poverty, yet before I even earned my scholarly degree, Sushang followed me."

Li Shien set down his wine cup, nodded, sighed, and asked, "Brother Che, to this day, you still have no heir?"

"I adopted a distant nephew, but who does not wish for a child of their own? Last winter, Sushang permitted me to take a concubine. I found a musical entertainer's daughter from Fanjiashan in Yonghe County. She has a pleasant appearance, understands charm, and can play the zither and dance. A short time ago, I brought her into my home."

Hearing Che Cai say this, Li Shien cupped his hands with a smile of envy and said, "Since that is so, Brother Che, with a beauty by your side enjoying the blessings of an earthly paradise, what more could you ask for?"

***

There was little joy on Che Cai's face; instead, it bore an unspeakable sorrow, and his eyes held a profound hatred: "Yet seven nights ago, soldiers entered Mt. Zaowang—soldiers from the Fenzhou Garrison!"

Li Shien had just raised his wine cup to toast Che Cai, but upon hearing this, he froze, and the smile on his face solidified: "Soldiers of the Fenzhou Garrison?"

"The flag-troops of the Fenzhou Garrison crossed boundaries to wage war, and the Military Defense Commissioner knew nothing of it?"

A blazing fury seemed to burn in Che Cai's eyes: "My concubine's surname was Du. She had a younger sister not yet betrothed, and their family was truly impoverished. Three days after her sister entered my household, she returned home to invite family and friends for a banquet. I promised the younger sister to find her a good match, so I went to Lin County to visit friends."

"Had it not been for that, if we wished to share wine and joy today, I would have entered your dreams dressed in plain white mourning clothes!"

The wine cup dropped.

Li Shien hurriedly shook his head and said, "I... Brother Che, I truly did not know the Fenzhou Garrison had crossed borders. That Regional Commander Zhang Zhan stationed his forces in Shilou half a month ago to defend against the routed troops returning from Northern Zhili to save the capital. How dared he cross boundaries?"

After a brief flurry of panic, Li Shien regained his composure and hurriedly pressed on, "What has become of Mt. Zaowang now?"

"Gone. Mt. Zaowang and Fanjiashan are both gone. Not a single person was left alive. The estate on Mt. Zaowang was put to the torch; I could not even recognize which charred corpse was Sushang. Fanjiashan was also utterly slaughtered. Until her dying breath, Niangniang was still wearing the patterned silk robe I made for her."

The old scholar sat in his armchair, his fists pressing hard against the underside of the table. In truth, he did not know why he had sought out Li Shien.

The military disaster in his hometown was not the first bad thing he had encountered.

In fact, in Lin County, he had failed to find his old friend; that place had suffered military devastation as well.

The great rebel Buzhanni from the Shaanxi region had led his masses from Jiazhou to seize civilian boats, mounted small cannons to bombard the Kehuzhou Ferry, and then moved his entire army across the border. Thousands of troops and horses rampaged through Lin County for two days before heading north straight toward Xing County.

When Che Cai left the city of Lin County, he heard that the garrisons of Kelan and Shilu were mobilizing troops. However, the Regional Vice-Commander of Hequ in the north had been defeated by Wang Jiayin, and the two rebel armies were attacking Kelan Prefecture together. The garrison might not be able to hold them off.

As Che Cai traveled south, he heard that the giant bandit Gao Yingxiang from Shaanxi had first captured Wubao, forcing the garrison commander of Mengmen Pass to flee, after which the Qinglongdu Patrol Office was slaughtered to the last man. Immediately afterward, a force of several thousands swept across Yongning Prefecture.

In fact, he had been captured once along the road when more than a dozen rebel cavalrymen swept down, tied him up, and intended to demand ransom from his family. But for some reason, upon learning he was from Yonghe County in Xizhou, they let him go.

They only took his traveling funds.

At the time, Che Cai had rejoiced at having survived a disaster, little knowing that upon returning to Xizhou, what awaited him was the destruction of his family.

These past few days he had drifted in a daze, completely unaware of what he should do, incapable even of gathering and burying the corpses.

Two days ago, he tried to seek out the Yonghe County yamen, but before he had walked many steps south, he overheard villagers gossiping in a resting village.

They said that a General Liu from Shaanxi had defeated the Fenzhou Garrison flag-troops in Yonghe County and had executed more than four hundred flag-troops who took part in the slaughter of Mt. Zaowang and Fanjiashan.

Che Cai did not believe it, nor did he dare go to Yonghe County.

In Lin County, he still had some silver, but now his home was burned down, and he possessed not a single coin to his name. If he fled there and happened to be captured by bandits, this time he would have no money to give them.

Only then did it occur to him that the Military Defense Commissioner of Fenzhou Prefecture was his former classmate from their days as licentiates, which led him to seek out Li Shien.

Che Cai recounted all these events to Li Shien, leaving Li Shien utterly dumbfounded.

How had things suddenly come to this?

That so-called General Liu came from Xizhou, General Gao entered Yongning Prefecture, not to mention General Mud going to Kelan Prefecture, and General Wang fighting at Hequ.

The Yellow River defense line in Shanxi was virtually undefended.

Above all, there was the matter of the Fenzhou Garrison that Che Cai had described.

"That bastard Zhang Zhan—he just went and got the troops under my command destroyed?"

Seventeen hundred flag-troops! Li Shien's heart was bleeding.

The Fenzhou Garrison had never been at full strength. Though theoretically it should have had nearly four thousand flag-troops, many of these troops were scattered among the eastern and western princely estates and various royal manors, leaving only two thousand men who could be normally mobilized.

Strictly speaking, perhaps two hundred remained—all hereditary military officers from commanders down to centurions who had failed to secure substantive posts.

Now, nearly all of them were wiped out.

Li Shien no longer had the heart to drink. The pleasing scenery outside the window had also turned surreal in his eyes.

Bandits had crossed west of the Lüliang Mountains; he knew that.

Yet the experiences of his former classmate filled his heart with an indescribable sense of disorder.

What were these people doing? What were the soldiers doing, and what were the bandits doing?

The flag-troops relied on the protection of the princely estates, growing increasingly lawless in an increasingly chaotic world.

The rebels defeated the imperial troops, yet established yamens right there in the mountain valleys, bringing their crimes to light for public trial and punishment.

Events happening merely a few hundred miles away had become two entirely different worlds, simply severed by the Lüliang Mountains.

Was this peaceful and serene scenery outside the window—this false vista—still worth looking at?

He turned to Che Cai and asked, "Brother Che, what are your plans for the present?"

With a pale and ashen complexion, Che Cai shook his head. Having suffered an unprovoked catastrophe that destroyed his family, what plans could he possibly have?

"My mind is in utter turmoil right now. I must report this news to the prefectural yamen as quickly as possible and inform the prefectures of Taiyuan and Pingyang so they can coordinate defenses along the Lüliang Mountains. Since Brother Che has no plans, why not stay by my side for a while and assist me? What does Brother Che think?"

Things having reached this pass, Che Cai knew this was merely Li Shien's modest phrasing; there was nothing he could assist with, save for Li Shien finding him a place to land on his feet.

After Che Cai expressed his gratitude, Li Shien stood up abruptly. "There is no time to lose; I am going to the prefectural city right now!"

***

On the fourth day after Liu Zongzong annihilated the seventeen hundred flag-troops of the Fenzhou Garrison.

March 11th in the third year of the Chongzhen reign.

The news was first conveyed to Military Defense Commissioner Li Shien by Xizhou licentiate Che Cai.

Following that, Li Shien transmitted the news to the prefectural city. The prefectural city's response strategy was to first dispatch scouting cavalry west of the Lüliang Mountains to gather intelligence on the various counties.

However, upon the repeated insistence of Military Defense Commissioner Li Shien, who vouched for the authenticity of the source, the message was finally dispatched late that night by fast courier from Fenzhou Prefecture eastward to the Hongshan Post Station between Pingyao County and Qi County.

Because it was already late and there were no boatmen left on the Fen River, the mounted courier lost time searching along the banks for a boatman. Consequently, the message was only transmitted from the Hongshan Post Station to Taiyuan and Pingyang on the morning of the twelfth.

In the end, it was still a step too late.

The delay was not in the defense lines established by the government, but rather in the fact that just the day before, forty flag-troops from the Ningshan Garrison in Zezhou, escorting two red-barbarian heavy cannons mounted on four-wheeled carriages, had already passed through Xizhou city and entered the territory of Yonghe County.

Yet the master of those two red-barbarian cannons, Master Huo, was no longer among the living.

Liu Zongzong was sitting in the main hall of the Huo Family Fortress, calculating numbers together with Chengyun. What they were calculating was not how much silver should be distributed to the combat and auxiliary troops under his command, but the number of vehicles required for transporting supplies.

They needed to establish a supply line between Yonghe County and Yanchuan County.

However, it was not the rear supplying the front, but rather the front supplying the rear in reverse.

Master Huo had been a local gentryman of a unique sort: he owned few fields and stored only a thousand-odd *shi* of grain, yet his household possessed a staggering twenty-two thousand odd taels of silver.

Even after subtracting the share distributed to the soldiers, the silver reserves in Liu Zongzong's battalion headquarters remained sufficient to cast a thousand-jin red-barbarian cannon.

The officers and soldiers of the Lion Battalion had already received their respective shares. At present, the Lion Battalion remained in a state of having silver without knowing how to spend it, prompting everyone to display an extraordinary spirit of dedication.

Below the platoon commanders, nearly all officers spent their silver purchasing weaponry for their subordinates. Not only were they buying, but some were selling as well, and the replaced supplies were sold in turn to the logistics platoon.

Now the logistics platoon had mountains of various weapons, armor plates, cotton-padded winter clothes, and military equipment.

They could not carry these items forward; the baggage transport platoon could not bear the weight.

Liu Zongzong intended to transport these items back to Xingzi River and have Lin Wei mobilize the artisans of the royal manor to sort them out, repairing damaged armor plates and weapons.

Just then, Wei Qian'er reported from outside the doorway, strode into the hall, and said to Liu Zongzong, "General, the flag-troops from Zezhou have stopped at Sangbi Mountain, and the men they sent ahead have been detained."

Liu Zongzong put down his brush and smiled. "Haha, what did the men they sent have to say?"

"They came to have Master Huo send people to fetch the cannons, but I was worried they might learn about the Huo Family Fortress from the common folk, so I sent men to keep an eye on them from a distance."

"What are we waiting for? Chengyun, continue your calculations here. Send word for Li Wanqing to lead his troops into Yanchuan."

Liu Zongzong stood up, rubbing his hands together. "Order the left platoon to break camp and go retrieve my cannons!"