MLMD -Chapter 138 One Wave Hasn’t Subsided Before Another Arises

The sudden attack startled Zhang Zongheng and his party, who were busy on their journey. Although Zhang Zongheng had served as the governor of Xuanda for three years, commanding tens of thousands of troops, it became painfully clear that his professional competence as Xuanda’s governor was abysmal—he didn’t even have basic military knowledge.

When volleys of arrows, gleaming with deadly light, flew toward the group, all he could do was leap from his horse and, at a speed entirely disproportionate to his size, dive behind a roadside boulder. Beyond that, he had no idea what to do.

“Whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…”

Sharp arrowheads whistled through the air, piercing dozens of guards in an instant and felling them to the ground. After two rounds of arrow fire, seventy or eighty of the three hundred guards had fallen. Before the rest could react, black-clad and black-armored riders drew long swords from their saddles and slashed down at the remaining guards, who were still clustered chaotically on the road.

“Kill…”

The gleaming cavalry sabers, driven by the momentum of charging horses, swept across the neck of a guard. Only as the rider thundered past did a jet of blood erupt from the guard’s neck, and the man fell into a pool of his own blood before he could even cry out.

“Ah… bandits!” It was only then that Zhang Zongheng’s terrified scream rang out. “Come protect me! Drive these scoundrels back!”

Objectively speaking, Zhang Zongheng, though greedy, was not stingy. He knew that these three hundred guards were his lifeline, so he provided them with ample rations and decent equipment: all wore light armor, carried long spears and finely crafted waist swords, and trained several days each month.

Zhang Zongheng’s investment had some effect. Although over a hundred guards had been killed in the arrow volleys and ambush, the remaining guards, regaining their senses, charged at the black-clad men under the leadership of their first few commanders.

The black-clad men, having thoroughly scattered the convoy, stopped not far away and reformed their ranks. The leader, eyes hidden beneath his black scarf, let out a cold sneer as he watched the more than two hundred guards charging toward him. He lowered his voice and shouted: “Everyone, ready the crossbows… fire!”

“Whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…”

Another volley of dense crossbow bolts flew forward, felling dozens of the leading guards again. Yet, to their credit, Zhang Zongheng’s guards were courageous; the deaths of their comrades did not deter them. Over a hundred remaining guards pressed onward bravely.

After this volley, the leader sheathed his crossbow back into the saddle and drew his long sword, charging the advancing guards.

“Kill!”

The fierce fighting raged along the narrow official road. Although Zhang Zongheng’s guards were competent, the outcome had essentially been predetermined: prepared against unprepared, mindful against careless, and numbers against few. In less than half an hour of combat, not a single guard remained on the road, save for the black-clad men and the coachmen crouching by the carts.

The leader of the black-clad men walked calmly down the road as his hundreds of men cleaned the battlefield. If they found any guards still clinging to life, they would deliver them to the afterlife.

The crouching coachmen nervously assessed the audacious attackers. Generally, whether bandits or robbers, those who raided convoys would not harm the coachmen, so they were not particularly afraid.

At this moment, a black-clad rider ran over to report to the leader: “Sir, we’ve captured Zhang Zongheng.”

The leader’s eyes lit up. “Take me to him immediately!”

Soon, behind a large boulder, he found the former governor of Xuanda, who had once commanded tens of thousands of troops—though now, he was a pitiful sight. His hair disheveled, clothes in tatters, he sat against the rock, eyes wide with terror.

Beads of sweat covered Zhang Zongheng’s forehead. Gasping for breath, he shouted at the approaching black-clad men: “Gentlemen, take whatever money you want! Just please, I beg you, do not harm me!”

The black-clad men said nothing, their bloodied long swords pressing against his throat. Frozen in fear, Zhang Zongheng screamed: “Good sirs, take whatever you want! I have no grudge with you—please do not kill me!”

“Pah…” The leader spat contemptuously, kicking him to the ground and pressing a foot to his chest. “No grudge? As expected of Xuanda’s governor—you’re forgetful. Did you forget that a few days ago at the inn in Datong Prefecture, you robbed our silver?”

“So you are Yue Yang’s men from Wulizhai!” Zhang Zongheng finally understood; the trouble had arisen from the silver heist a few days ago.

“Do you understand now? You can die.” The leader was none other than Shunbao. With a cold sweep of his hand, a flash of steel, and a geyser of hot blood, Zhang Zongheng’s head was severed cleanly from his body, and he fell silently into the blood-soaked ground.

After killing Zhang Zongheng, Shunbao turned to his men and ordered coldly: “Clean the battlefield immediately, and take all the carts.”

“Yes!”

Half an hour later, the black-clad men drove hundreds of carts away along the road, leaving only a trail of corpses behind…

News of the brutal murder of former Xuanda governor Zhang Zongheng and his hundreds of guards near Shaguo Fort quickly spread throughout the Ming court. Emperor Chongzhen was greatly shocked and immediately ordered the newly appointed Xuanda governor Lu Xiangsheng and Xuanda circuit inspector Xu Dingchen to investigate and provide an explanation to the court.

But how could Lu Xiangsheng and Xu Dingchen possibly find the culprits? After more than half a month of investigation, they could only learn from the coachmen that the group who killed Zhang Zongheng drove the carts westward after the massacre and then vanished without a trace. In an era without DNA or fingerprinting, pursuing a headless case was nearly impossible.

As for Shunbao and his men, after seizing all of Zhang Zongheng’s possessions, they circled Shaguo Fort and then drove the carts overnight toward Wulizhai, arriving on the third day. When Yue Yang and his men opened the boxes on these carts, they were stunned by the gold and silver inside.

According to inventory, the carts held 20,000 taels of gold, 470,000 taels of silver, and a considerable number of antiques and paintings.

The sheer wealth left Yue Yang and Shunbao dumbfounded. Yue Yang sighed: “The ancients said, ‘A magistrate in three years can gather 100,000 taels of silver.’ I thought it was a legend, but today I’ve seen it firsthand. Zhang Zongheng had only been governor for a few years, yet the wealth he plundered is almost equivalent to our annual salt revenue. Officials like him are not rare in the Ming; with such parasites holding the entire court, can the Ming still hope to survive?”

Shunbao’s thoughts were simpler. Looking at the overflowing carts, he joyfully asked Yue Yang: “Young master, with all this silver, can we expand the army again?”

“Expand the army, expand the army—always thinking about expansion!” Yue Yang laughed and lightly hit him on the head. “I didn’t realize you were such a bureaucrat at heart. You’re already a sixth-rank defense officer—what more do you want? To become a first-rank official?”

Shunbao sheepishly scratched his head and smiled awkwardly.

Yue Yang thought for a moment and said: “Shunbao, you and the brothers worked hard this trip. Back at headquarters, each of the men will receive fifty taels of silver from the quartermaster. You will get two hundred taels. The rest of the silver I have other uses for. You must remind the brothers to keep quiet—no word of this must escape. Understand?”

“Yes, young master!” Shunbao replied, slapping his chest in delight.

Meanwhile, the case of Zhang Zongheng’s murder remained unsolved. Just as the enraged Chongzhen was about to scold Lu Xiangsheng and Xu Dingchen, another matter drew the court’s attention.

In April of the seventh year of Chongzhen (1634), Censor Wu Gan requested grain relief for famine. From last August to this month, Shaanxi had suffered drought, leaving thousands of miles of barren land and widespread famine, with people turning to cannibalism. Hunger bred chaos, and the Ming generals killed innocents to claim merit. People in central plains counties feared officials and soldiers more than bandits. On the sixth day, Emperor Chongzhen ordered the treasury to provide famine relief.

Due to Yue Yang’s presence, some historical events deviated. Historically, Shanxi, like Shaanxi, suffered famine and roving rebels arose. But thanks to Yue Yang, Wulizhai’s bumper harvest greatly alleviated Shanxi’s famine. The large-scale development of Wulizhai allowed him to gather displaced people, preventing the widespread banditry that would have otherwise occurred.

Even so, Yue Yang’s efforts only changed Shanxi’s situation. In another region and timeline, other events still unfolded. Rebel leaders Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, and Li Zicheng were surrounded by Ming forces under Governor Chen Qiyu. They were trapped in Chexiang Gorge in Xing’an (later the Han River area east of Shiquan, Shaanxi). The gorge was an ancient plank road, perilous and hard to escape. After two weeks of rain, the trapped peasant army’s horses and food were exhausted. Li Zicheng used Gu Jun’en to plot surrender and lured Chen Qiyu’s officers with treasures. In July, over 36,000 rebels escaped Chexiang Gorge.

“Chen Qiyu’s mismanagement deserves death!” Yue Yang cursed furiously at the courier report. The Ming court had a chance to eliminate Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong, but due to Chen Qiyu’s stupidity, they were allowed to escape, sowing disaster for the future.

Throwing down the courier report, Yue Yang walked out of the dispatch office with his hands behind his back. Just as he was about to go eat in the backyard, hurried footsteps approached. A soldier ran up and reported loudly: “Sir, urgent news from Datong! Hong Taiji personally leads the Manchu army and is currently assaulting Datong!”

“What? The Manchus are coming?” Yue Yang exclaimed in shock.