stubborn thief

On Tongguan Plain, soldiers and horses stood in a fierce battle array.

At Tongguan Ferry, a thousand sails gather.

The official road along the bank was damp with mud and riddled with potholes from being trampled by horses' hooves.

Liu Zhu, a scholar from Xingping County, rode a strong horse and followed the cavalry leading the way. The horse's hooves left deep and shallow hoofprints as they walked toward the Marshal's headquarters outside Tongguan City.

His eyes were fixed on the Imperial Guards leading the way, his attention focused on the horse's rump.

Liu Zhu thought to himself, "This horse is really strong!"
The horse was incredibly strong, with a cavalryman in full velvet armor sitting on its saddle. Behind the saddle were two large and small fur blankets, a thick stack of tent cloth, a quiver of arrows, and a musket. The horse's tail, which was tied up, swayed gently as it moved, and its steps remained light and nimble.

The imperial guard leading the way was named Feng Chaoyu, a native of Xi'an. He was not talkative, but fortunately, he was young and did not glare at Liu Zhu.

Feng Chaoyu said that the horse was named Longju, a breed of horse selected by the Grand Marshal on Longju Island in Qinghai. It was a reward for meritorious service on the battlefield, and even in the Marshal's army, there were not many people who could ride this horse.

Faced with Feng Chaoyu's self-praise, Liu Zhu responded absentmindedly, his heart filled with trepidation at the upcoming meeting with Liu Chengzong.

He was just a disappointed man.

Zu Kuan's Guan Ning Army plundered Xingping County, resulting in the extermination of his entire clan; the change of regime in Shaanxi also disrupted his plans to go to the capital for the imperial examination this year.

He could only return to his hometown to observe mourning for his parents, feeling lost and helpless.

The Marshal's Office decided to go to war. Troops from various places were being rotated through the Guanzhong Plain. The chaos of war caused turmoil, and Wugong County was also thrown into chaos.

As the troops from Guanzhong entered Henan, the impact of the war on the local area expanded further, and all the affairs of horses, mules, grain, fodder, officials, artisans and commoners were tilted towards the war.

The Marshal's Office quickly began recruiting students, successful candidates in the provincial examinations, and those who had passed the imperial examinations in Shaanxi. Liu Zhu, as a successful candidate in the provincial examinations, was no exception.

If this were during the Ming Dynasty, no one would disturb his mourning period. However, the Shaanxi Provincial Administration Commission of the Marshal's Office obviously wouldn't care so much. When the Red-Armored Cavalry knocked on the door, he had no choice but to comply.

Liu Zhu had no choice; fortune and misfortune were inescapable, and he made his way to Tongguan.

He even tried to comfort himself on the way.

Among all the reserve officials, his academic achievements were only those of a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial civil service examination), neither the youngest nor the most composed; nor was he the scholar who was closest to or most distant from the Marshal's Office.

However, just as the reserve official who had been recommended and recruited arrived at Tongguan, he met Feng Chaoyu, a member of the Imperial Guards—Liu Chengzong wanted to see him.

In the minds of most people in the world, Liu Chengzong is a ruthless and cunning killer.

Meeting Liu Chengzong was no different from meeting the King of Hell.

Just thinking about it sends chills down my spine.

But when he actually met Liu Chengzong, the situation was different.

Tongguan City, the headquarters of the General of Guannei Road was built on the original site of the former Tongguan Garrison Office. Because no corvée labor was conscripted and there was a shortage of laborers, and Zhang Tianlin was not stationed in Tongguan for a long time, the office here was built very small.

The vast open space remains exactly as it was at the end of the war.

Liu Zhu waited in the so-called 'garden', watching the officers and soldiers of the Marshal's Mansion rushing in and out of the yamen, passing on military intelligence. In the gaps between these exchanges, he actually saw a small courtyard in a corner of the garden, with a tomb in the courtyard.

The tombstone belongs to Zhang Eryou, the commander of Tongguan Guard during the Ming Dynasty, and his wife and son.

The tomb was of very low standard, looking like that of a centurion, but the epitaph was written by Liu Chengzong.

The content is very simple: it says that Zhang Eryou, courtesy name Dingyuan, was a native of Tongguan Guard. In the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, he served as the commander of the guard. The guard city was hit by a plague, and many people died or were injured.

Marshal Jin Mingbo led his army to the city. Zhang Eryou led three hundred plague soldiers out of the city to challenge them to battle. The eldest son died in battle. Although Jin Mingbo won, his entire army was infected with the plague and advanced eastward to besiege the city.

With the defenders exhausted of arrows and stones, Zhang Eryou spurred his horse, drew his bow, and charged into the encirclement, fighting to the death. His wife and young son gathered medicine and detonated it at the guard post, dying together moments later.

When Eryou died, Tongguan fell, and Jin Mingbo's entire camp was wiped out. There was no one to lead the horses westward, and the plague could not advance a single step into Guanzhong.

Liu Zhu didn't know why Liu Chengzong would leave such a tomb for the Tongguan Guard Commander in this newly built Guannei Road General's Office, and even personally write the epitaph.

Liu Chengzong must have hated Zhang Eryou to the core; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he wanted to be utterly destroyed.

From Liu Zhu's perspective, however, this was a meaningless war.

His family was living peacefully in Xingping County when, because Liu Chengzong moved from Qinghai to Shaanxi, and Zu Kuan moved from Henan to Shaanxi... his whole family was wiped out.

The people of Shaanxi were perfectly fine in Shaanxi, but because this so-called Jin Mingbo was near Tongguan, the general in Tongguan, who was suffering from the plague, led his troops into Guanzhong.

The two armies fought a fierce battle at Tongguan Pass. The dead did not lose, and the living did not win either.

If there is any mishap, millions of people in Shaanxi who have nothing to do with this war will be plunged into the plague.

They were a pack of wild beasts.

A pack of armored, knife-wielding, crazed beasts kills another pack of armored, knife-wielding, crazed beasts—it's an endless cycle.

In the compound of the General's headquarters, towering trees survived the battlefield, and sunlight filtered through the gaps in the branches and leaves. The midday sun in early spring should have been warm, but the lingering fear of walking among beasts chilled Liu Zhu's heart.

Just then, guards outside the yamen, clad in red armor and carrying bows and swords, announced loudly: "Liu Zhu, a scholar from Xingping, enter the yamen!"

The sudden call startled Liu Zhu, who quickly straightened his clothes and entered the yamen with trepidation.

The main hall of the yamen was not the scene he had imagined, where the Grand Marshal sat high in the warm pavilion, with civil and military officials standing on both sides.

The government office had five bays across the front, and it was extremely spacious.

The main hall of the yamen was three bays wide and three bays deep. There were no tables or chairs in the hall or on the floor, and the doors of the side rooms on the left and right were all open.

In the left side room, several young clerks sat facing each other, handling official documents; in the right side room, a long table was set up, and more than a dozen red-armored military officers squeezed into the side room to eat.

The spacious main hall, however, left Liu Zhu with a rather chaotic impression... maps, weapons, luggage, everything was there.

The warm pavilion was decorated with a whole map, the shape of which resembled the Henan region.

The items laid out on the ground were also strangely shaped, including more than a dozen large pictures. Some were made from whole sheepskins or cowhides, while others were made of paper or cloth. Some of the large pictures were pieced together from smaller ones.

It looked like it included Shaanxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunan, Sichuan, Qinghai, Tibet, northern Mongolia, southern Mongolia, and a few other places that Liu Zhu couldn't recognize at all.

Near the pillar by the left side room in the main hall, a tiger skin was laid on the ground, and a chair was placed on the tiger skin. A young man was sitting in the chair.

As soon as Liu Zhu was led into the main hall, he realized that it was Liu Chengzong.

Liu Chengzong wore a skirt of armor, but no outer armor. He was only wearing a chainmail vest and sat on a chair, resting with his eyes closed and holding a goose-feather sword.

Upon hearing the report from the Imperial Guard that Liu Zhu had arrived, he finally raised his eyelids, glanced at him, and used the scabbard of his goose-feather saber to push the map.

The picture shows many wooden figurines, and from time to time, imperial guards move the figurines according to the reports sent back by the various troops.

Liu Chengzong stopped at the end of his scabbard and said, "This is Henan Prefecture."

Liu Zhu thought that Liu Chengzong was testing his military strategy, so he quickly looked towards the scabbard.

Centered on Tongguan, cavalry terracotta warriors with flags on their backs were scattered throughout Henan Prefecture, spreading outwards. Some ran fast, some ran slow, creating a terrifying battle line.

Meanwhile, from Xi'an Prefecture to Tongguan, a steady stream of marshals' troops continued to march to Henan.

Unstoppable momentum.

This puzzled Liu Zhu, because Liu Chengzong's expression did not seem like that of someone who had gained an advantage in the battle, but rather that his offensive had been thwarted.

Therefore, he dared not answer without permission.

"In this place, the wealthy families have been completely expropriated, and even the horses and mules of ordinary people have been confiscated for tax purposes. After six years of severe drought, the people are impoverished. Along the Yongning and Ruzhou line, there are hundreds of thousands of starving people who are desperately in need of relief."

At this point, Liu Chengzong raised his head and looked directly at Liu Zhu for the first time: "How will you provide disaster relief?" Before this, Liu Shizi had already led his troops out of Tongguan.

The intelligence coming back from the front lines was all about Zhang Tianlin's Guanzhong Brigade capturing cities one after another.

Except for Luoyang, all the provinces in Henan surrendered without resistance, which made Liu Shizi overestimate his prestige in Henan and believe that he was the popular choice.

Upon leaving Tongguan, witnessing firsthand the desolate landscape and ruined cities of Henan, my heart sank.

Those prefectures and counties that surrendered at the first sign of trouble had cities so dilapidated that they could hardly be called city walls. The broken walls and ruins were all covered with half a foot of soil, and it was clear at a glance that this was not the result of the recent war.

Before the marshal's army arrived, these cities had already been in a state of disrepair for a long time after being captured.

In Yiyang County.

Along the roadside, the people were destitute. Even the gentry who came to greet the procession outside the city wore old clothes. There were no horses or mules to be seen. There were only two oxcarts, which were pulled by oxen.

They're really dirt poor.

Liu Shizi had a strange mentality. If a local gentry wore gold and silver and appeared extremely wealthy, no matter how obedient he was, he would harbor malicious intentions and want to ruin them, causing their families to be destroyed and their property to be plundered.

But these so-called gentry wore faded and worn-out robes, and their satin cotton trousers underneath were worn at the knees and other places. Without carriages and sedan chairs, the worn-out satin trousers were exposed as they moved, which inexplicably made him feel a sense of goodwill towards them.

Only after asking did I find out why the local gentry didn't have a horse to ride.
Sigh, so it turns out I was the one who did it!

It was at that time that Liu Chengzong realized that in the hearts of the people of Henan, the Marshal's Army was not the dominant force in the Northwest, but rather a bunch of cowards who were adding fuel to the fire in Henan.

In the shortest possible time, Zhang Tianlin repeatedly sent reports of victory to the central command of the Marshal's Office, and completed the collection of large livestock in the areas he passed through with extremely high efficiency.

After he finished this task, his men captured Mengjin and arrived in Xingyang. The 60,000 troops in Guanzhong had all assembled and were leaving the pass one after another. Only then did the Guanzhong Brigade send a letter to Tongguan, summarizing the disaster situation in the counties along the way when the Guanzhong Brigade was collecting livestock.

It is said that the counties along the way, especially Yongning and Ruzhou, are full of starving people who urgently need relief.

Zhang Tianlin confiscated all the horses, mules, and carts in Henan Prefecture and specifically targeted wealthy families for robbery. In Liu Chengzong's view, this was not only not a problem, but also a good way to maintain military discipline.

The mess in Henan was not caused by Zhang Tianlin, but because Henan Prefecture had been dysfunctional for several years, just like Xi'an Prefecture had been a few years ago.

Having witnessed this firsthand, Liu Shizi turned back to Tongguan and summoned reserve officials from Shaanxi to prepare manpower and resources for disaster relief in Henan.

However, his question left Liu Zhu completely bewildered—"The living Yama asked me how to provide disaster relief."

He thought to himself that Liu Chengzong probably meant to ask which route and through which channels the grain, fodder, and silver supplies would be distributed if the Ming Dynasty were to provide disaster relief, and how the fierce Marshal's army should intercept them.

Liu Chengzong waited a moment, but didn't hear the answer he wanted. He sat down in his chair and shook his head: "No disaster relief? That's not good."

People's fates are different.

For example, Zhang Jinyan, the governor of Shaanxi Province, was disliked by Liu Chengzong for his character and conduct. Liu asked him questions, and if he didn't know the answers, his political future was over.

But Liu Zhu is different.

Liu Chengzong needed officials who had blood debts with the Ming army.

He had no reliable officials in his eyes.

Therefore, even though Liu Zhu remained silent, leading him to mistakenly believe that there would be no disaster relief, he still tried to find a suitable place for him in his mind.

But Liu Zhu misunderstood this and replied, "What the commander-in-chief says is absolutely right. The Ming Dynasty will not provide relief for the famine in Henan."

What the hell are you talking about?

Liu Chengzong frowned slightly, not understanding, and said impatiently, "I'm not asking whether the Ming Dynasty will provide disaster relief, I'm asking you whether it will provide disaster relief."

Liu Zhu was stunned. Only then did he realize that the Grand Marshal's Mansion, a rebel group, actually planned to provide disaster relief in Henan.

Liu Zhu's worldview was shaken.

He suddenly realized that Liu Chengzong, this rebel leader, was actually the only person in the world capable of providing disaster relief in Henan.

The Ming Dynasty's system was designed so that the capital city was either incapable of or not suited to provide disaster relief.

In such a vast country, given the transportation capacity and conditions of this era, it was simply impossible to provide assistance to most disaster-prone areas.

By the time the imperial court's reinforcements arrived, everyone was already dead.

Therefore, starting in the third year of the Hongwu reign, Emperor Taizu required each county to establish four granaries outside the four gates of the city, with about 40% of local taxes retained for unforeseen needs.

Later, during the reign of Zhu Di, based on the experience gained from the Jingnan Campaign, he requested that four granaries be established within the city.

In addition to the granaries built by the local governments and those repaired by the garrisons, almost every county had more than ten granaries, and prefectures had even larger granaries.

This system functioned effectively until the Wanli era. It was only after the Wanli era that the Tianqi and Chongzhen periods saw local areas utterly powerless against natural disasters, while central government disaster relief efforts proved ineffective.

Now, the Ming Dynasty is struggling to survive. Henan cannot support itself, and there are no good places in Shanxi, Beizhili, or Shandong either.

On the contrary, Shaanxi under Liu Chengzong's rule had the geographical advantage of being close to Henan and was indeed able to provide surplus grain for disaster relief.

To be honest, this was very counterintuitive for Liu Zhu.

Shaanxi has suffered more from war than any other province in recent years, and it is also suffering from drought. How could it possibly have surplus grain?

So much so that he instinctively asked, "Is the Grand Marshal going to provide disaster relief in Henan?"

Liu Shizi glared at him: "What, can't I provide disaster relief?"

The Grand Marshal's Mansion will be rolling in money by now!

Firstly, Shaanxi entered a period of peace and tranquility after the war.

Although there was a drought, all the long-standing tax arrears in various places were waived, and the newly collected taxes and grain were less burdened with additional and harsh levies. For those who survived, it was a time of relief after hardship.

Secondly, the Marshal's Army, which could devour Shaanxi without moving, took advantage of the great battle to send 100,000 troops to Liaodong to eat, causing the Later Jin dynasty to be destroyed and the Dalahan grassland to be nearly empty.

This allowed Shaanxi to accumulate some wealth.

The fact that the Ming Dynasty could allow local areas to continue functioning without government officials, with people fighting each other, was essentially the Ming Dynasty fighting itself.

Only when the intensity reaches an extremely high level will people raise the flag.

Liu Shizi certainly doesn't have that ability.

In places like Henan, where there are no government officials, people who want to plunder will raise the banner of the Ming Dynasty and seize the land.

If there's fighting in the front and chaos erupts in the rear, things will become very difficult.

Seeing that he was sincere about disaster relief, Liu Zhu's resistance to the Marshal's Mansion disappeared completely. He cupped his hands and said, "If the Marshal's Mansion were to save Henan from disaster, it would be a great undertaking that would save countless lives. I am willing to offer my advice to the Marshal's Mansion."

"First, we should assess the disaster situation and population in each county, and then divide them into different categories. The extremely poor should be given food to sustain their lives, the moderately poor should be given wages to ensure their livelihood, and the slightly poor should be given cattle to raise to ensure their survival. In this way..."

Before Liu Zhu could finish speaking, Liu Chengzong slowly nodded and interrupted, "There isn't that much time. The fighting is still going on ahead. Since you think you can help with disaster relief, you're willing to do your part."

"Have you seen the boats at Tongguan Ferry?"

Liu Zhu nodded hurriedly and said, "The student saw it."

"Three hundred grain ships, three hundred soldiers, two thousand laborers, and one hundred thousand bushels of miscellaneous grains are ready in the coming days."

Liu Chengzong looked at Liu Zhu and said, "Sixth rank, Vice Prefect of Henan. If you are capable, go and change into your official robes. The troops will arrive at Tongguan Ferry in the next two days. It is a great undertaking that will save countless lives. Go ahead and do it."

"If you can't do it, just go back to your hometown of Xingping and be a leisurely scholar." (End of Chapter)