Chapter Ninety-Seven: Treating Others with Sincerity

The atmosphere in the hall had grown eerily tense. Everyone knew the Censorate was an organ of oversight; in Kublai Khan’s own words, “The Secretariat is my left hand, the Privy Council my right, and the Censorate is the medicine that heals both.” It was much like the disciplinary commission in another age. As for the deputy chief censor, Mansi Haiya, he was the second most important figure in the Jiangnan branch office.

Aside from Mansi Haiya, the officials and commanders present were all men of consequence. Even those without posts in the Censorate held titles such as pacification commissioner or commander of ten thousand households. Yet this very gathering of eminent figures was solemnly discussing the matter of defecting to bandits under Mansi Haiya’s direction, and strangely enough, everyone felt it was entirely reasonable.

Kang Maozai said with utmost seriousness, “If we merge with the Lake of Chao, then on the Yangtze there will naturally be one overwhelming power. Everything will be decided by Liu Yi, just as those two maritime household commands did in the early days of the dynasty.”

By now everyone had understood. “I think it is better to have one overwhelming power. If the Lake of Chao dominates alone, we’ll have room to thrive.”

“Yes. Though defecting to the Lake of Chao won’t earn us the same attention as defecting to Zhu Yuanzhang or Zhang Shicheng, as long as the Yangtze belongs to us, we can do whatever we want next.”

“Old Kang makes sense. One overwhelming power is bad for Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Shicheng alike, but for us it’s a blessing!”

There were dissenting voices too. “I still think Zhu Yuanzhang or Zhang Shicheng would be better. Over here, the Lake of Chao doesn’t need so many naval commanders and pacification officers, but if we go to Zhu Yuanzhang’s side, at the very least one might be given a marshalship of the navy.”

But consensus formed quickly: if Mansi Haiya’s fleet and Kang Maozai’s fleet were merged with the Lake of Chao navy, a truly monstrous force would arise on the Yangtze. Whether it was the Xu Song Red Turban army upstream, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhang Shicheng, or even Fang Guozhen, famed for his naval strength, all would have to bow before the Lake of Chao fleet.

Once it held undisputed supremacy on the water, the Lake of Chao navy would certainly not be content with dominance at sea alone. The next step would surely be full expansion on land. With the navy as its platform, there would be no direction in which it could not develop.

Everyone soon understood why Kang Maozai had been urging them so earnestly to defect to the Lake of Chao.

If Kang Maozai alone took over with a hundred or so ships under his command, Zhu Yuanzhang would never spare him. But if Mansi Haiya’s fleet and Kang Maozai’s fleet defected together to the Lake of Chao, the situation would be entirely different. Zhu Yuanzhang would most likely even praise Kang Maozai a few times on sight.

Still, it was indeed a highly workable plan. Though there would surely be many disappointed men after the defection, if the Lake of Chao navy intended to expand comprehensively onto land, there would inevitably be many territories and positions opening up.

While everyone was talking with mounting excitement, Mansi Haiya asked in a grave and earnest voice, “Kang Maozai, if the Lake of Chao alone becomes supreme, everyone will certainly gain some benefit—but what of me, as deputy chief censor? My family has long been favored by the state; I must certainly devote myself to the empire!”

The moment Kang Maozai heard this, he knew there was hope. Under ordinary circumstances, when the deputy chief censor presided over so important a council of war, every word would have been about shattering jade rather than preserving intact tiles. But since Mansi Haiya had asked it this way, he was clearly thinking about himself.

Kang Maozai also had to consider Mansi Haiya’s prospects. At once he said, “Your Excellency, Deputy Chief Censor, although the Red Turban bandits in the southeast now number in the hundreds, the only ones truly to fear are Liu Yi’s Lake of Chao band. The other bandits are merely desperate men on land, but the Lake of Chao band are skilled with boats and come and go without fixed pattern. It is precisely because of them that the situation in the southeast has deteriorated to this point. If Your Excellency devotes yourself to the state and does all you can to pacify the Lake of Chao band, then if this succeeds, you may well turn the tide.”

Kang Maozai’s words struck directly into Mansi Haiya’s heart. Though he was a man of deep-rooted loyalty, precisely because he was such a man he was unwilling to die in vain. He was thinking instead about how to preserve a useful life and make a greater contribution to the realm. If he could bring Liu Yi’s Lake of Chao navy under imperial authority, that would be a contribution to Great Yuan hundreds or thousands of times greater than meaningless martyrdom.

In another age, after the fall of Jiqing, Mansi Haiya had defected to Zhang Shicheng. Though Zhang Shicheng was then still a rebel styling himself King of Zhou, the two had maintained a special working alliance and jointly resisted Zhu Yuanzhang until Zhang Shicheng again submitted to Yuan.

If he could maintain such a special relationship with Zhang Shicheng, then naturally he could work with the Lake of Chao band, Liu Yi. And when Mansi Haiya thought it through carefully, he suddenly found that this Marshal Liu Yi, though one of the most formidable men among the Red Turbans, was in truth a most decent and upright fellow.

The reason he was unwilling to defect to Zhu Yuanzhang was mainly that Zhu Yuanzhang, though reputedly virtuous, was not a suitable partner. Many who met Zhu Yuanzhang for the first time spoke with delight, regretting only that they had not met sooner, but the longer they worked with him, the colder the relationship became, until it reached the point of overturning the table.

Though Zhu Yuanzhang was still only a Grand Marshal, with merely several hundred thousand soldiers and civilians under his command, he already had a fearsome reputation in this regard. Everyone knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was lenient toward his own men but exceptionally strict, even harsh, with outsiders. Even many old followers who had served him for years had grievances.

By contrast, Liu Yi’s reputation in this respect was even somewhat better than Zhang Shicheng’s. Zhang Shicheng had begun as a private salt smuggler and used only the old companions who had smuggled salt with him in former years. Liu Yi, however, welcomed all rivers and seas. Men like Ma Shixiong and Chang Shan, who had come from the Green Army and the Long Spear Army, were equally entrusted with important posts.

At once, Mansi Haiya was moved. “Liu Yi commands tens of thousands in the Lake of Chao navy. I fear he may not be willing to accept pacification, though?”

Kang Maozai knew exactly what Mansi Haiya needed. “Why would he refuse pacification? Marshal Liu Yi and Lady Jinhua were both former subordinates of Peng Yingyu and Xu Shouhui. Now that they have changed their banner to the phoenix and dragon of the Bozhou bandits, restoring order and returning to the legitimate standard is only natural. Moreover, since he means to contend with Zhu Yuanzhang’s bandits from Chuzhou, he will of course be willing to accept imperial pacification. It only depends on whether Your Excellency is willing to treat others with sincerity.”

The more Mansi Haiya heard, the more interested he became. “What do you mean by treating others with sincerity? Even if I am willing to do so, the Lake of Chao side must first show sincerity of their own!”