novelAbuy Chapter 49 Nanniwan
Chapter 49 Nanniwan
Eleven days after Li Chengye and his men captured Zhoujiabao, Hu Tingyan, the governor of Xi'an Prefecture in Shaanxi Province, received a report.
Upon seeing the news that his friend Zhou Chongli's entire family had been murdered and their land divided, he was so enraged that he slammed the pen holder on his desk to the ground: "Outrageous! What kind of bandits dare to be so arrogant! They even dared to rob local officials and wipe out entire families! Someone, call Wang Lian from the garrison!"
"Yes."
Before long, Wang Lian, the battalion commander of the Shaanxi Fubiao Battalion, walked in.
Upon seeing Hu Tingyan, he immediately saluted without saying a word: "What orders does Your Excellency have for this humble servant?"
"A band of roving bandits has emerged in the Huanglong Mountain area. The local officials are incompetent and cannot control them! Master Zhou Chongli and his entire family have been murdered! I order you to immediately lead men, together with the soldiers of Yan'an Guard, to wipe out this band of bandits on the spot and investigate the matter swiftly!"
"Yes." Wang Lian clasped his hands in acceptance and turned to leave.
Unexpectedly, just as he reached the door, a voice called out from outside, "Wait a minute."
Hu Tingyan glared angrily, wanting to know who dared to obstruct his orders, only to see that the person who came was his advisor, Lu Pan.
Lu Pan walked in and said to Wang Lian, "Commander Lu, please wait a moment. Lord Hu still has some matters to arrange. He will summon you after everything is settled."
Wang Lian didn't look at the advisor, but only at Hu Tingyan, clearly only obeying his orders.
Lu Pan wasn't angry; he just smiled and looked at Hu Tingyan.
Hu Tingyan always sought the advice of his advisor from Shaoxing before making any decisions. Although he angrily gave the order this time, he still waved to Wang Lian, saying, "Commander Lu, you can go now. I'll call you later."
"Yes." Wang Lian didn't ask any more questions and withdrew.
After Wang Lian left, Hu Tingyan's face showed obvious anger: "Lu Pan, have I been too kind to you? How dare you obstruct my orders in public?"
Lu Pan paid no attention to Hu Tingyan's anger, but sighed first: "My lord, how could you be so foolish? In this situation, how can you easily send troops to suppress the bandits? Besides, it is your personal guards who are being mobilized."
Seeing his distress, Hu Tingyan forgot his earlier anger and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Didn't you hear that His Majesty fell into the water and caught a chill a few days ago, and has been bedridden for months without recovering?" Lu Pan continued, "Our Great Ming Emperor is of the element of fire, which has always been incompatible with water. Before His Majesty Tianqi, didn't Emperor Zhengde also die from drowning? This time, His Majesty has been ill for almost three months after falling into the water."
I'm afraid... His Majesty's illness may not be easy to cure.
"You mean...?" Hu Tingyan understood the implied meaning and quickly stopped.
Seeing that he understood, Lu Pan stopped talking about it and instead brought up another matter: "Now, Eunuch Wei relies entirely on His Majesty's favor to seize power, form cliques, and dominate the court. If something were to happen to His Majesty, what would become of Eunuch Wei's power?"
Besides, you, sir, have already erected a shrine for Eunuch Wei. In the eyes of others, you are already one of his "own people." So... how will you face the consequences then?
"This..." Hu Tingyan's heart skipped a beat.
Recently, he had also vaguely heard rumors that His Majesty was seriously ill and difficult to cure. At first, he was worried, but later he was busy and forgot about it.
The advisor is right. His Majesty's prolonged illness is definitely not a good omen. How could I have forgotten that!
Lu Pan continued, "If His Majesty were to unfortunately collapse, and you were to launch a large-scale campaign to suppress the rebels, no one would thank you if you succeeded; but if you failed, it would all be your fault. In that case, it is better to remain still than to take any action."
"You have a point," Hu Tingyan nodded. "But are we just going to let those bandits go unchecked?"
"Strictly order local officials to supervise their local militia and annihilate the enemy within a specified timeframe. Whoever's territory they are responsible for is in charge. Remember, sir, never proactively deploy troops, lest you give them a handle to use against you!"
"So be it, so be it," Hu Tingyan sighed. "With the court in such a state, even if we wanted to guard the local areas and maintain order, I'm afraid we couldn't. It's just a pity about my good friend Chongli..."
Lu Pan quickly reassured him, "Master Zhou still has nephews and nieces living elsewhere; the bloodline is not yet severed. Please take good care of them in the future."
"That's true." Hu Tingyan then remembered that his friend's second son seemed to be studying in Xi'an Prefecture. "Then I'll keep an eye on them in the future. For now... that's all I can do."
After saying that, he waved his hand wearily.
Meanwhile, Li Chengye, far away in Huanglong Mountain, was unaware that it was precisely because of the turbulent political situation in the capital that he had narrowly escaped a large-scale siege that was about to begin.
On the 22nd day of the eighth month of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, the Tianqi Emperor died in the Forbidden City, and Prince Xin ascended the throne as the Chongzhen Emperor.
Less than three months after Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, the powerful eunuch Wei Zhongxian died near the imperial mausoleum on his way to exile in Fengyang.
The following year, Hu Tingyan, the governor of Shaanxi, was dismissed for "ineffective suppression of bandits, cowardice and fear of battle, which led to the rise of the bandits," and was replaced by Liu Guangsheng.
However, Liu Guangsheng's abilities were far inferior to Hu Tingyan's, and he dared not act rashly because he could not see the political situation clearly.
In addition, the drought had not ended that year, and floods broke out in many places, leading to a resurgence of people turning to thieves, and this time on a larger scale.
Li Chengye, who was in Huanglong Mountain, led his troops south along the eastern foot of Huanglong Mountain after capturing Zhoujiabao. He fought in four counties, breaking through cities and strongholds and robbing wealthy households. He obtained a lot of grain, grass and cloth.
He also conducted public trials of local tyrants and was known locally as the "Iron-Faced Judge".
Although Li Chengye had considered that if he wanted to move quickly under the siege of the government troops, he should not take in too many people or carry too much heavy supplies.
However, due to the severity of the disaster and the exploitation by officials, people continued to flock to the mountains to seek refuge.
Left with no other choice, he began searching the mountains for a place to gather and settle more people, and eventually found a place in the territory of Yan'an Prefecture—a place that, 270 years later, would have a more well-known name: Nanniwan.
"Brother Yang, what do you think of this land?" Li Chengye asked.
Yang Chong looked ahead and saw that the ground was covered with weeds that were half a person tall.
He took his knife and chopped at a small tree next to him. The tree was not tall, but its wood was exceptionally solid, and he couldn't cut it down with one stroke.
"How can this land be considered good? How can we grow crops here? What made you think of coming here?" Yang Chongwang clearly did not think this was good land.
Old Qin, standing nearby, joked, "You're like Yang Shitou (Yang the Stone), and you still won't admit it? Your head really is as hard as stone. In a normal year, this land would be considered average farmland at best, but now, it's top-grade farmland!"
Yang Chongwang looked at Li Chengye, puzzled, and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Master Qin explained, "The land in the mountains doesn't lack water! But when the plains get dry, like our hometown of Baishui, even though it's near the Wei River and Luo River, it can't retain water, and the land quickly becomes parched."
But the mountains can gather moisture, so even a light rain can collect the water. Therefore, in a year of severe drought, barren land with water in the mountains is good land! Do you understand?
Yang Chongwang then realized what was happening and asked Li Chengye, "Chengye, how did you know about this place?"
Li Chengye smiled but remained silent.
He naturally found it based on the reputation of Nanniwan in later generations' memories.
After consulting with several elderly farmers, whose accounts were largely the same as Qin's, it was confirmed that this was a good place for reclamation during a famine.
But when he bent down to examine the ground closely, he saw that the soil was full of pebbles and couldn't help but look troubled: "The land is good, but it would probably take a year to clear it out."
"That's true," Master Qin agreed. "Normally, clearing land takes three years: the first year involves deep plowing, collecting stones, and sowing some seeds, not for the sake of harvest, but just to get rid of all the weeds; the second year involves re-cultivating the land; and the third year involves clearing the land and removing all the weed roots, only then can the land be considered truly cleared."
The people around sighed.
Poor families, how could they possibly have the resources to survive three years of no harvest and still continue cultivating the land?
"This land still needs to be developed," Li Chengye said to Master Qin and Yang Chongwang. "I think this famine won't end for the next few years."
Since the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, northern Shaanxi has suffered from drought for three years. Although some rain fell this autumn, it was mostly torrential rain and downpours. After the rain stopped, the ground was dry, and the drought was not eradicated.
We've robbed some large households now, and we still have surplus grain to support land reclamation. But in another two years, I'm afraid even the large households will run out of surplus grain. At that time, there won't be anything left to rob, and what we grow in this land will be our life-saving grain.
Moreover, clearing land can also provide some decent work for the elderly and weak who follow us, which will help to stabilize the people's hearts.
Upon hearing this, Yang Chongwang and others, who had initially expressed some opposition, fell silent.
Since the capture of Zhoujiabao last month, within just one month, two to three thousand people have fled into the mountains to seek refuge, and the momentum has only increased.
They could not drive these people out of the mountains.
That would be tantamount to pushing them to their deaths, so we must make plans for the long term.
However, to reclaim wasteland, one needs oxen and farm tools, but where can these be found?