Chapter Seventy-Eight: I Want It All

The Red Turbans of Chuzhou were now under the dual leadership of two marshals: Zhu Yuanzhang held the title of Grand Marshal of Chuzhou, while Liu Yi was Grand Marshal of Chaohu. Although Zhu Yuanzhang’s rank and strength both surpassed those of Liu Yi, nothing significant could be accomplished without Liu Yi’s consent. Thus, when Zhang Shicheng heard this, he slapped the table in excitement. “Old Zhu, you’re not trying to pull a fast one on me, are you?”

For him, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity granted by fate. Though the provincial administration and its satellite offices commanded many troops, they were all former subordinates whom he had already bested. What he truly feared was crossing the Yangtze and encountering the Red Turbans of Chuzhou, led by Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Yi. Now, Zhu Ding brought precisely the news Zhang Shicheng most wanted to hear: as long as there was internal strife between Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Yi, the entirety of Jiangnan would be his for the taking.

Zhu Ding spoke with absolute confidence. “How could I dare deceive you over such a matter? Zhu Yuanzhang and I share the same surname—he is from the Jurong branch, I from Jiangyin, but we are kin all the same. We have just acknowledged our family ties. This time, he even entrusted me with a grand gift for you. As long as you can help him deal with Chaohu, any conditions may be discussed. In fact, I think there’s no need for negotiation at all—we should take everything!”

Though Zhu Ding was nominally Zhu Yuanzhang’s envoy, his loyalties clearly lay with Zhang Shicheng; after all, only Zhang Shicheng could solve his most pressing difficulties.

Zhang Shicheng quickly grasped the situation. “Right! We want all of Zhexi, Zhedong, and Jiangdong. Once we take all of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, we can establish our own realm in the southeast!”

Though Zhang Shicheng had accepted the Yuan court’s offer of amnesty, he still styled his regime as the “Great Zhou,” using the reign title “Heaven’s Blessing,” and had never relinquished his imperial ambitions. Now, with Zhu Ding’s arrival, that dream of empire was rekindled. Zhu Ding continued, “At present, both the Chuzhou Red Turbans and the provincial administration are in Jiangdong. The provincial troops are concentrated at Jiqing Circuit and Taiping Circuit. If we cross the river now, our advance will be unstoppable. What’s more, I still have three thousand troops in Jiangyin. The volunteer marshals and commanders of Pingjiang and Changzhou are all old friends of mine—I can muster at least ten thousand more volunteers for you!”

The more Zhang Shicheng listened, the more delighted he became. “Old Zhu, let’s do as you suggest. As soon as we take Jiangnan, you will be my Right Chancellor in the Great Zhou!”

In the Yuan hierarchy, the right held more prestige, and the rebel armies had continued this tradition. Thus, the Left Chancellor was second only to Emperor Zhang Shicheng of the Great Zhou. Zhu Ding immediately knelt before him. “Thank you for your boundless grace, Your Majesty! After we cross the river, should we inform Marshal Liu of Chaohu, so he’ll be on guard against Zhu Yuanzhang?”

Though he spoke of notifying Liu Yi, the real intention was to set Liu Yi and Zhu Yuanzhang against each other, hoping they would destroy one another and leave Jiangdong for Zhang Shicheng to seize effortlessly. But Zhang Shicheng laughed. “No hurry. Once we cross the river, a clash with the Chuzhou Red Turbans is inevitable. Under such circumstances, Chaohu will doubtless hope we and Zhu Yuanzhang wear each other down. In that case, why not first help Zhu Yuanzhang take care of Chaohu?”

Although the naval forces at Chaohu were somewhat weaker than Zhu Yuanzhang’s Left Camp and, in theory, should have been the ones Zhang Shicheng sought to win over, he preferred that the Red Turbans’ internal strife become as fierce as possible—ideally, a series of continual upheavals. “Chancellor, leave Zhu Yuanzhang’s side to you. You know I am a man of my word: if you can pull this off, you will indeed be my Right Chancellor!”

Whether Zhu Yuanzhang destroyed Liu Yi or Liu Yi destroyed Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhang Shicheng would be the ultimate victor either way.

Hangzhou Circuit.

Winter seemed to have arrived especially early this year. The wealthy had already donned their robes, yet the northern furs that usually sold best were long since out of stock.

Though both Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen had accepted the Yuan court’s amnesty, the sea routes remained blocked. The grain transport ships that once set out annually had been halted for years, and starvation loomed even in the capital. The shortage of northern furs and ginseng was but a trivial matter.

Maritime transport had once been the provincial government’s chief concern. The court daily pressed for news of the grain ships, and the administration strained to rebuild the sea transport system. But after the Chuzhou Red Turbans crossed the river, the administration had ceased to care as much about shipping.

The Provincial Left Chancellor, Dashit Temur, was a man of deep roots, skilled at acquiring wealth, currying favor, and getting things done—often through equivocation. He now pondered how to keep up the pretense. “We’ve already committed every available soldier, yet the satellite office is still unable to retake Taiping Circuit. Left Chancellor, back in the day you turned the tide at Jiqing, repelling Xiang Pulue. Can you not repeat that triumph now?”

Left Chancellor Zuo Dana Shili, who had rushed back to Hangzhou, answered clearly. “The Chuzhou rebels have sixty or seventy thousand desperate men, all with nothing to lose. Xiang Pulue had tens of thousands, but only a thousand or two could be called true desperadoes. Though we have thrown all our troops into the siege, our only result thus far has been mountains of corpses and rivers of blood!”

The Yuan army had lost Taiping City in a single day, yet after months of assault, they had only reached its walls, and had found little recourse against that formidable bastion. Dashit Temur picked up on the true import of Zuo Dana Shili’s words. “So you’re saying it can’t be taken?”

Though Zuo Dana Shili had come from the satellite office, as Provincial Left Chancellor he now spoke for the province. “It can be taken, certainly, but all our forces are tied up in Jiangdong. Every circuit and every prefecture is left with only a few hundred old, weak, sick, or wounded men. We must make preparations now, or we’ll face another disaster like Xiang Pulue!”

The very thought of Xiang Pulue’s campaign in the twelfth year of Zhizheng—how he had swept through Jiangsu and Zhejiang, even seizing Hangzhou, the seat of the provincial government—reminded Dashit Temur that he must continue to equivocate. At least then there had been the fallback of Jiqing, but if another Xiang Pulue rose now, there would be nothing left to rely on. “Then which troops should we withdraw from Jiangdong first for rest and reorganization, in your opinion, Left Chancellor?”