Chapter Eighty-Four: Liaodong and the Southwest

After Wang Zaijin took office as Military Commissioner of Liaodong, he first led his men on an inspection of the situation beyond the Pass. He then submitted a memorial to Zhu Youxiao, requesting that a new city be built eight li outside Shanhai Pass. It would also be called the Outer City and would serve as a bulwark against the Later Jin.

At that time, Yuan Chonghuan, one of the advisers who had accompanied Wang Zaijin beyond the Pass, wrote directly to Grand Secretary Fang Congzhe, arguing that Wang Zaijin’s strategy of constructing a city was flawed. A fortress should instead be built at Ningyuan. In his memorial, he made the bold declaration: “Give me troops, provisions, and funds, and I will defend this place alone!” Fang Congzhe submitted both memorials to the emperor and asked him to decide between them.

Zhu Youxiao first read the two memorials. Wang Zaijin believed that Liaodong was consuming far too many resources and that, if matters continued this way, the burden would cripple the national treasury. The best course, therefore, was to relocate the people of Liaodong into the interior, which would greatly reduce expenditure.

Yuan Chonghuan, on the other hand, proposed building a fortress at Ningyuan and establishing a line of defense from Shanhai Pass to Ningyuan. From there, fortifications could gradually be extended all the way to the Liaodong territories occupied by the Later Jin, trapping the enemy to death behind a chain of walls.

Zhu Youxiao, however, had some reservations about Yuan Chonghuan’s bold declaration. If he were given troops, provisions, and funds, what exactly did it mean to defend the place alone? Was he saying that all the credit would belong to him? And as for trapping the Later Jin to death behind fortifications—did he have any idea how much that would cost?

He first summoned Xu Guangqi and asked how much had been spent on Liaodong over the years. The result showed that, from the intercalary fourth month of the forty-sixth year of the Wanli reign to the ninth month of the first year of the Taichang reign, the court had disbursed a total of 10,515,723 taels, according to the Veritable Records of the Ming.

So much money had been spent in a little over two years. Yet according to Xu Guangqi, the court’s total revenue for the current year would not even reach five million taels.

Zhu Youxiao asked Xu Guangqi for his opinion. After hesitating for a moment, Xu Guangqi replied, “Before taking up his current post, Commissioner Wang served as Chief Supervisor of the Ministries of Revenue, War, and Works in Liaodong, where he was specifically responsible for managing military funds.”

Zhu Youxiao now had a clearer understanding of the matter. Xu Guangqi evidently approved of Wang Zaijin’s strategy as well.

At the court assembly the next day, Zhu Youxiao presented the two memorials for the ministers to discuss. Unexpectedly, most of them declined to offer an opinion, claiming that they did not understand the situation well enough. This actually earned them a measure of respect in the emperor’s eyes. But after thinking it over carefully, he understood their motives. The previous dispute between Xiong Tingbi and Wang Zaijin had frightened everyone. They feared that the person they supported might ultimately run into trouble. Even if they themselves escaped implication, their choice might still affect the emperor’s opinion of them.

What a gathering of self-protective gentlemen.

At that moment, Sun Chengzong stepped forward and expressed his willingness to travel to Liaodong and conduct a personal inspection, so that he could determine which proposal was more practical. Zhu Youxiao had already decided to adopt Wang Zaijin’s plan, but since Grand Secretary Sun had volunteered to go himself, the emperor naturally did not wish to dampen his enthusiasm.

There was another, more important matter to address that day: the strategy for the southwest.

After the siege of Chengdu was lifted, Qin Liangyu and Lu Qin captured Erlang Pass and Futu Pass, then joined forces with the White-Pole soldiers stationed at Nanping Pass. Together, they retook Chongqing and killed the rebel general Zhang Tong. They went on to recover such important rebel strongholds as Hongya Mound, Guanyin Temple, and Qingshan Mound, advancing all the way to Yongning. After suffering defeat, She Chongming fled to Shuixi. By the twelfth month of the first year of the Tianqi reign, Qin Liangyu had completely suppressed She Chongming’s rebellion in Sichuan.

After the rebellion was put down, Zhu Xieyuan, Qin Liangyu, Lu Qin, and others all submitted memorials. They offered their views on everything from the causes and course of She Chongming’s revolt to the proper measures for dealing with its aftermath. All three agreed that although She Chongming’s rebellion had certainly been driven in part by his swelling ambition, the excessive exploitation of the native chieftains by local officials had been the most important cause of the uprising.

As for the postwar settlement, all three believed that the native chieftain system should be replaced with direct imperial administration, though they differed somewhat on how this should be done. Zhu Xieyuan and Qin Liangyu advocated conciliation as the principal approach: some authority should be left in the hands of the native chieftains, while regular imperial officials were appointed alongside them. Lu Qin, however, believed that every native chieftain who had taken part in the rebellion should be executed, after which regular imperial officials could be installed. Only then, he argued, could lasting peace be secured.

Zhu Youxiao first sent the three memorials to the Grand Secretariat for discussion. Everyone there scoffed at Lu Qin’s proposal, arguing that the Great Ming had always treated the frontier peoples with benevolence and righteousness and had upheld the principle of mercy. How could all the native chieftains possibly be slaughtered?

In truth, Zhu Youxiao strongly supported Lu Qin’s view. He had thought of the ethnic policies of later generations: if the upper structure of the native peoples were destroyed, the common people beneath them would be far easier to govern. An excessive devotion to benevolence and righteousness would only encourage such men to grow more arrogant and lawless.

He therefore brought the memorials before the assembled ministers at the morning audience for open discussion. Most maintained that the court should act with benevolence and righteousness. Only a few ministers argued that the native chieftains who had participated in the rebellion should receive some form of punishment, so that others would be deterred from following their example.

Then a Vice Director of the Ministry of Justice offered an opinion entirely different from the rest. Stepping forward, he said, “Your Majesty, I believe that pardoning those native chieftains would be no different from encouraging other chieftains to rebel. Such a course must never be permitted. In my opinion, every chieftain who took part in the rebellion should be executed, his property confiscated, and his entire clan exterminated. Their estates should be taken into the hands of the imperial government. As for those chieftains who did not participate in the rebellion, they should receive suitable rewards. Only then will they understand how they ought to conduct themselves in the future.”

Zhu Youxiao was delighted. He promoted this Vice Director of the Ministry of Justice, Hong Chengchou, to a higher post within the ministry and appointed him Imperial Commissioner, granting him an Imperial Sword. Hong Chengchou was ordered to travel to Yongning and oversee the replacement of the native chieftain system with direct imperial administration.

The emperor also ordered Zhou Yuji to accompany him with an artillery battalion and a supply battalion. Although She Chongming’s forces had been all but destroyed, An Bangyan was still causing plenty of trouble.

Before Hong Chengchou departed, Zhu Youxiao summoned him for an audience. The two held a thorough discussion of official exploitation and the problem of rebels surrendering only to revolt again. Zhu Youxiao believed that a dead rebel was the only good rebel. Naturally, after executing them, several corrupt officials would also have to be put to death, so that the local native people would trust the court. The officials sent there in the future needed to understand that the native inhabitants could not be exploited at will.

He also instructed Hong Chengchou to deliver an oral decree to the governor of Sichuan, ordering him to prepare a group of regular imperial officials. Once Hong Chengchou had finished his purge, the officials were to be installed immediately and Yongning brought swiftly under control.