Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 317 The Way Forward

Upon receiving the letter, Zhang Yang immediately took his leave and sent someone to inform Lughachi Korigis.

Korigis is under a lot of pressure lately and is venting at home.

The adopted Jin looked disgusted, tilted her head to the side, and stared blankly out the window, letting Korigis torment her.

A moment later, Korigis let out a loud shout and collapsed onto the couch.

Upon receiving the signal, the servant gently knocked on the door and said, "Sir, it's urgent."

Korigis ignored him, his hands unconsciously kneading. After a long while, he got up, put on a light coat, opened the door, and said, "You'd better give me some explanation."

The servant was startled and whispered, "Prefect Zhang has received a letter from Changzhou, requesting that you come over for a meeting."

"What is it?" Korigis asked, startled.

"The person didn't say anything in detail, and left after delivering the message."

Koliji cursed under his breath. After thinking it over, he still felt that the legacy passed down from his father and grandfather was the most important thing, and Jiangyin could not be allowed to fall into trouble. So he went back to his room, dressed, and called his servants and guards to follow him to the prefectural government office.

Inside the prefectural government office, people came and went, busy at work.

The clerk Ge Daji followed Zhang Yang around, constantly drafting various official documents and sending them to the six departments of the state government.

The first to receive the order was He Shuo, an official in the military office, who was ordered to personally go to each village and speak with the village head in turn, and to conscript ruffians and nameless archers to arrest people, up to a limit of three thousand.

Judge Ma Yuanchong was the second to receive the order. All patrol offices were immediately ordered to reorganize, archers were not allowed to ask for leave, and those who were at home were to be called back, to check the equipment, and to patrol the area.

Next was Kim Jeong-ri, the clerk of the Household Department...

When it was Zhu Daocun's turn, the carriages and oxcarts of the prefectural government office had all been used by the previous "leaders." Zhu Daocun couldn't very well walk to Huangtian Port, could he? That would be too beneath him. So he borrowed a merchant's cart and hurriedly went to Huangtian Port. He instructed Shao Shuyi to reorganize the manpower and to be vigilant in case the situation escalated and thieves sneaked into Jiangyin and disrupted the overall situation.

When Zhu Daocun received the notification, he felt very uneasy. A dignified prefecture had been kidnapped by a salt smuggler, and now he was stuck, unable to advance or retreat. He could only hope that Changzhou would quickly quell the situation and that the Prince of Zhennan would be safe.

While things were in a frenzy in Jiangyin, Changzhou was also busy.

Shou Tong, the Darughachi of Changzhou's Wanhu Prefecture, and Liu Shengzu, the Wanhu Commander, personally summoned their officers and soldiers to inspect the troops and equipment, preparing for an attack at any moment. In reality, it was merely a formality. The Changzhou Wanhu Prefecture's roster listed three thousand military households, but in reality, only half remained. The previous two battles—the siege of Huashan and the suppression of bandits along the Grand Canal—had resulted in numerous deaths, injuries, and desertions, leaving fewer than a thousand men.

Of these thousand men, the losses among the combat soldiers were particularly severe, and now only about a hundred remain.

The two military leaders looked at the dilapidated state of the military camp and remained silent for a long time.

What can a hundred or so soldiers do? They can't do anything but scare people.

Fortunately, there were still 800 military households remaining. Throughout history, auxiliary soldiers have inevitably gone to the battlefield, and the Yuan Dynasty was no exception.

In theory, auxiliary soldiers were supposed to receive training, just not as frequently as regular soldiers. However, this was only "in theory." In reality, almost all auxiliary soldiers lived miserable lives. Not only did they have to farm and herd livestock to provide rations for officers and soldiers, but they were also forced by officers to cultivate private land. These private lands were originally the soldiers' own land, but over time, officers seized them. By the sixth year of the Zhizheng era, very few soldiers owned land. Almost all auxiliary soldiers had become serfs, even worse off than tenant farmers—tenants could choose not to cultivate land or to find another tenant, but auxiliary soldiers had no such option.

There is an urgent need to boost the morale of the military households, improve their treatment, and select the best to promote some of them to combat soldiers.

The plan was good, but it failed at the very first step.

Who is willing to return the military farmland that has already been seized to the soldiers?

Darughachi Shoutong, who owned about one-fifth of the land in the Wanhu Prefecture, stammered, "Let's go to the General Administration to ask for money and grain. Anyway, we still need to ask them to register the people as military households, so we can do it all at once."

Wanhu Liu Shengzu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's very good."

When his father, Liu Tuomu, was in power, his family controlled about 4,000 mu of military farmland. When it came to him, it doubled to 8,000 mu, second only to the Shoutong family's 12,000 mu.

Giving back land that you've worked so hard to acquire for so many years is like cutting off a piece of your own flesh—it's excruciatingly painful.

When the Darughachi and the commander of ten thousand households said this, the deputy commanders of ten thousand households, the commanders of a thousand households, and the deputy commanders of a thousand households were naturally overjoyed and said that they still had to go to the general's office to ask for money and provisions. As for what to do with the money and provisions after they were obtained, of course, the officers would divide them up first, and the remainder would be distributed to the military households, which had been the practice for many years. Thus, the so-called reorganization of the Changzhou Ten Thousand Household Office, which had just begun to take shape, ended before it even started.

In such a system where interests are deeply intertwined and there is a clear division between superiors and subordinates, it is very difficult to expect them to reform themselves internally.

On the 24th, when the soldiers of the Changzhou Wanhu Prefecture had barely managed to eat their fill for two or three days and their morale had somewhat recovered, they received orders to immediately assemble and head to Shilin Village to capture the thieves.

There was no other reason; the people from the patrol and inspection department suffered a great loss there.

Their initial capture went relatively smoothly; they even approached the nunnery and spotted Kuang Putian and more than ten core members fleeing in the distance. However, they hadn't expected that several surrounding villages were within the White Lotus Sect's sphere of influence, and even the sect's leader had joined. Caught off guard, the patrol leader was stabbed to death by the sect's leader, Li Gan. The archers were routed and scattered in all directions. The White Lotus Sect members seized the opportunity to pursue and kill more than a dozen of them.

With the emergence of the White Lotus Rebellion, the government could no longer turn a blind eye and had to mobilize manpower to suppress it. Now it was the turn of the Changzhou Ten Thousand Households Prefecture to take the lead.

However, they moved slowly, and even with the full support of the Changzhou General Administration, they only set out on the morning of the 26th.

A total of eighty soldiers and four hundred auxiliary soldiers marched "mightily" towards Shilin Village.

Ma Yuan Lane, Yang Residence.

Liang Tai was having a meal with more than forty people, and every now and then Yang Xun, the son of Changzhou grain merchant Yang Yuan, would give him a few words of advice.

"We don't know much about the White Lotus Sect. Even if they temporarily defeat the government troops, they will eventually be destroyed," Yang Xunchang said. "It's best not to get involved in this matter."

"Why do you say that?" Liang Tai put down his chopsticks and asked.

Yang Xunchang thought about it carefully, seemingly unsure how to explain, and finally could only say in general terms: "In Changzhou, the White Lotus Sect and the Incense Society are either deeply believed by those who believe in them, or completely disregarded by those who don't."

"We can't recruit any soldiers," Liang Tai commented.

"That's right." Yang Xunchang strongly agreed with this statement. "I don't know how many followers they have, but once they're all dead, that's it. As for coercing people into joining the church, I don't think they have that ability yet."

Liang Tai remained silent for a moment, said nothing, and then picked up his bowl to eat again.

Shao She had once led him, Yu Yuan, Gao Daqiang, Li Fu, and Bian Yuanheng in a deduction about what they would achieve if they started a rebellion with their current strength.

The final conclusion is simple: with six fully trained squads of soldiers at the core, plus some closely connected seafarers, boatmen, porters, and refugees, estimated to number in the hundreds, this force could easily defeat the archers of the patrol office and even the interpreter's Han army, and break through the Jiangyin prefectural government office, but that was all.

Expanding further outwards, for example, attacking Changshu, Wujin, Jinling, Wuxi, Yixing, and other prefectures and counties, you might be able to militarily defeat the government troops, but you wouldn't be able to occupy them. Take Changzhou Wanhu Prefecture as an example: even if you annihilate all their remaining troops on the battlefield, leaving Changzhou without soldiers, you still can't occupy it because you have no soldiers left.

Then Changzhou was in a strange state. You couldn't recruit enough new soldiers and couldn't spare any troops to occupy it. The government suffered defeats and lost all its troops. In the end, it depended on which side the local powerful families and gentry favored.

On this day in the sixth year of the Zhizheng era, could it be you?

If expansion is no longer possible, then there is only one way out: death.

Of course, Li Fu strongly disagreed with this matter.

He retorted, "Nonsense! Although the White Lotus Society has many flaws, so many people suffer under the rule of this dog of a dynasty. Even if all the followers die, there will still be poor people. Have you forgotten the siege of the headquarters a few days ago? I predict that after the White Lotus Society raises the banner of righteousness, it will surely respond from all directions and launch a joint attack on the government. Changzhou will change hands today. After occupying Changzhou, we can open the government granaries, distribute grain, and recruit soldiers. Even if there are not ten thousand people, several thousand will come easily. That will allow us to do great things."

Bian Yuanheng listened with some excitement and wanted to say a few words in agreement, but after thinking about it, he frowned slightly and ultimately said nothing.

He just vaguely felt that Li Fu's idea was too simplistic. What made you think others would respond to you? What if they ignored you and stayed home to protect themselves?

He always felt that something was missing; the disappointment of the people of Jiangnan with the imperial court was not thorough enough.

"Li Fu!" Liang Tai placed the bowl and chopsticks on the table again and said softly, "Don't let a single leaf blind you."

Li Fu glanced at him.

Liang Tai met his gaze calmly. Perhaps because there were outsiders present, he only vaguely said, "Impulsiveness can easily harm both oneself and others."

Li Fu slowly withdrew his gaze, lowered his head, and remained silent.

Liang Tai then looked at Yang Xunchang again and asked, "Isn't there still Chen Bao'er? How is he?"

"Benniu Dam is right by the canal. We received some scattered news last night." Yang Xunchang glanced at Li Fu, then quickly looked away and continued, "I heard that he went home and mobilized his troops, clansmen, and villagers, stormed into the patrol office, and broke through it in one fell swoop."

"How many men does he have?" Liang Tai asked.

"His words carry weight at Benniuba; I heard he's gathered about two hundred men," Yang Xunchang said. "According to passing merchant ships, Chen Bao'er's men, who wear yellow headscarves and call themselves the 'Yellow Headscarf Army,' have begun blocking the canal and robbing merchants for military supplies. But I don't know if it's true or not; that's what some people are saying."

"More than two hundred men, the patrol and inspection department can no longer suppress them," Liang Tai said. "We will definitely have to draw people from the Changzhou Wanhu Prefecture."

Yang Xunchang responded with a sound of agreement, clearly showing his strong approval.

"In this way, there will be no one left in the city," Liang Tai said, looking at everyone. "This is the best course of action now."

He glanced at the crowd but did not make an announcement immediately.

Brother Shao must be quite surprised that things have developed to this point.

Given the current situation, sending the "Mother Tiger" to Huashan is completely unnecessary; there's no need to put pressure on the Prince of Zhennan in that direction. Supporting the White Lotus Sect or Chen Bao'er is also inadvisable. What if you actually occupy Changzhou? The city has so many people, and it doesn't produce food; what will you do after you occupy it?

The landlords, wealthy people, and literati in the countryside have absolutely no chance of supporting your grain supply. Are you going to conquer them one by one?

The best approach was to fish in troubled waters and gain some advantage. If the opportunity arose, he would also intimidate the Prince of Zhennan, completely crushing his spirit. This was his final decision, and what he considered the most rational choice, even if he was scolded by Brother Shao afterward. Besides this, he was also closely monitoring the chaos in Changzhou. Many of his insights urgently needed to be verified by the unfolding situation to determine their validity.