Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 200 Deterrence Fails, Rebels Rise Up

In August, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and other places suffered from severe drought since spring and summer, with the land parched, rivers dried up, farmland cracked, and autumn crops unable to grow due to lack of water after planting.

In Yan'an Prefecture, Shaanxi, there was no harvest in autumn. People dug up grass roots and peeled tree bark to eat, and the fields were littered with corpses of the starving. Locusts came from the west, darkening the sun and destroying the crops. In Datong Prefecture, Shanxi, a dou (a unit of dry measure) of rice cost three qian (a unit of weight) of silver, and people resorted to cannibalism.

Because most of the livestock of the people in the capital region had been captured by the Jurchens, the court had difficulty mobilizing oxen for plowing. They had to use discarded warhorses to pull the plows. People who could not rent oxen or horses had to pull the plows by manpower, and countless people died from exhaustion and illness.

However, the Gyeonggi region was also affected by the drought, with the autumn harvest only reaching about 30% of the usual amount. The people, who had worked hard all year, could only weep at the sight of the sparse crop. The reduced grain production led to market panic, causing grain prices to skyrocket. The prices, which had finally come down, surged again to over one tael of silver per shi (a unit of dry measure), and were still rising.

Meanwhile, the Mongol Tumed tribe broke their oath and raided southwards, rendering the Yansui defense line virtually useless. The northern barbarians launched a surprise attack all the way to the walls of Xi'an. Taking advantage of the weakened state of Datong, the Chahar tribe attacked Datong military fortress, breaching one section of the gate wall and three small military fortresses, and seizing 30,000 shi of grain before heading west.

To the west, Ligdan Khan reappeared in the Ming Dynasty's sights. He had been defeated in his struggle against the Western Sea Mongols and led over ten thousand followers south, only to be routed by Sun Chengzong's troops. Ligdan Khan was shot and killed on the spot, while the remaining seven thousand followers surrendered. Sun Chengzong could not afford to support so many people and was hesitant to massacre them.

In the southwest, the negative consequences of the withdrawal of the White-Spear Army became apparent. Due to the blurred administrative boundaries in the border areas of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, officials and garrisons from the three regions shirked their responsibilities, leading to sporadic rebellions by local chieftains.

But this was rather strange. The local chieftain dared not admit to rebelling, insisting that he was a loyal subject of the Ming Dynasty and that the troublemakers were merely wild men from the mountains, not members of their chieftain's tribe. Taking advantage of this, Qin Liangyu submitted a memorial requesting to return to her hometown. Considering that the southwest truly needed a pillar of stability, Zhu Youjian granted her request.

Qin Liangyu packed up the official document from the court exonerating her husband, along with a large amount of rewards and money and letters sent home by soldiers in the capital, and led her troops back in a grand procession.

Zhu Youjian, though stingy, still spared three thousand White-Spear Soldiers, incorporating them as an independent battalion into the Beijing Garrison, temporarily led by Zhang Fengyi, Ma Xianglin's wife. Since Qin Liangyu's sudden emergence, female generals had become less unacceptable.

Qin Liangyu did not take a boat on her return journey. Instead, she traveled along the ancient Qin-Han post road, passing through Shaanxi and then taking the ancient Shu road home. Along the way, she also helped Hong Chengchou by dealing with the insignificant Tumed tribe herders.

The reason for not taking the sea route was that the sea was also not safe: Chongming County of Suzhou Prefecture was hit by a hurricane in June, another hurricane in July, and three tsunamis in August, which drowned more than a thousand people. Saltwater intrusion damaged crops, and half of the county had no harvest. The risk of transporting troops by sea in the autumn was too great.

Furthermore, Yuan Chonghuan's lawless nature ultimately led to trouble. Zheng Zhilong initially tried to bribe Yuan Chonghuan with money to get him to do him a favor, but Yuan Chonghuan wasn't so easily fooled and thought he was just trying to get rid of a beggar. So, Zheng Zhilong sent his brother Zheng Hongkui, disguised as pirates, to attack the Fujian navy. However, the Fujian navy, having received substantial financial support from Yuan Chonghuan for over a year, was no longer the same as before. Commander-in-Chief Chen Jisheng was no ordinary man either. Despite being ambushed, he maintained his composure, and a major battle ensued between hundreds of ships in the waters off Zhoushan.

This was originally just an action by Zheng Zhilong to warn and force Yuan Chonghuan to back down, but unexpectedly, Zheng Hongkui was used to being arrogant. Their previous experience of defeating Yu Zigao and blocking the imperial navy in the port made him extremely contemptuous of the government navy; and his brother's acceptance of amnesty also made him dissatisfied.

The imperial court harbored malicious intentions. When it offered Zheng Zhilong amnesty, it gave him the high position of general, but it refused to give his subordinates even a minor general position. Instead, it gave them a few positions of chiliarch and centurion to appease them. General is a battalion commander, and chiliarch is a garrison commander. This was purely out of ill intent.

Although Zheng Zhilong repeatedly tried to promote his subordinates, all the relevant memorials were used by Zhu Youjian to "make a fuss." Offering amnesty was one thing; giving Zheng Zhilong Taiwan was because the island wasn't actually under the court's control. But to pay these pirates a salary? No way! Unless Zheng Zhilong was willing to send his precious son into the palace to be his son's study companion.

Knowing full well it was a ploy by the imperial court to sow discord, Zheng Zhilong was helpless. He had no choice but to continue addressing his subordinates using his usual titles. This made the situation even stranger; everyone else was addressed as ship owners or vanguards, but he called them "General." Were they still on the same side?

Zheng Hongkui didn't care what the court was thinking; he only felt the court was incredibly stingy. His elder brother should have been made a king, and they should have been granted several hereditary titles. But the court offered neither tangible benefits nor official honors. What was the point of their surrender? They might as well have been as carefree as pirates!
At least back then, they could fight the government troops whenever they wanted without having to worry about the court's reputation. Kidnapping was also a pillar industry of their fleet, but now they can't do any of that anymore! His brother told him to be ruthless towards the government troops, but he went too far and wanted to completely wipe out the newly established Fujian Navy!

Initially, Zheng Hongkui benefited from the surprise attack, sinking several large ships of the Fujian Navy. Even after the two sides eventually ceased fighting, the losses of the government navy were still greater. However, the problem was that Zheng Hongkui underestimated the government forces. He led the charge with his flagship, breaking into the Fujian Navy's formation, and then dared to board the ship. As a result, he was utterly defeated by Chen Jisheng.

Chen Jisheng was indeed a novice when it came to naval gunnery, but when it came to hand-to-hand combat, his group, despite being equipped with inferior weaponry and outnumbered, had managed to hold their own against the Jurchens. How dare these "white-skinned chickens" from the southeast engage in hand-to-hand combat with them? If Chen Jisheng hadn't insisted on taking prisoners at the crucial moment, Zheng Hongkui would probably have been chopped into mincemeat.

After their leader was captured, Zheng Hongkui's teammates displayed remarkable "pirate chivalry," scattering in droves without any intention of rescuing him. This was quite different from the Jurchens, who had inherited some of the Meng'an-Muke system, where subordinates dared not abandon their leader.

The Ming army was underfunded, and even with full pay, it was no match for the Jurchens. The Ming Dynasty relied on money to maintain military discipline, while the Jurchens went in the opposite direction, relying on brutal military discipline to maintain their high level of organization. If it weren't for the Ming army's patriotic sentiments, their resilience would truly have been inferior to that of the Jurchens.

(End of this chapter)