Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Uninvited Guest

Everyone felt that Zhu Yuanzhang had spoken with complete reason. So long as Chen Zhaoxian’s twenty thousand men could be brought over, the Left Camp would stand in an unassailable position, and after that the Water Camp could be dealt with however one pleased.

“Exactly. As long as we take Chen Zhaoxian and those twenty thousand men, we won’t have a thing to worry about!”

“Even if the Water Camp picks up a small advantage and persuades two or three thousand men to surrender, it won’t affect the overall situation at all. We can toss the Water Camp around however we like!”

“I think that once Chen Zhaoxian is taken, we should press our advantage and seize Jiqing City. There are at least several thousand armored troops there who can be won over!”

“I don’t think Jiqing City will be that easy to take. It is one of the great cities under heaven!”

“Exactly because it is one of the great cities under heaven that it can be taken. Once Chen Zhaoxian falls, the Jiangnan Branch Secretariat will have no troops left to use!”

The Yuan naval forces under Manzi Haiya and Kang Maozhi were being tied down by Liu Yi’s Chaohu fleet, while the spear troops, the Miao troops, and the provincial army were all fighting Taiping Route around the outskirts of Jiqing. If Chen Zhaoxian’s men were brought over, they could charge straight to the walls of Jiqing City.

Jiqing City was indeed one of the great cities under heaven, but the greater the city, the harder it was to defend. What was more, the Jiangnan Branch Secretariat now lacked exactly what it needed most: enough troops.

Although the garrison in Jiqing City numbered at least ten or twenty thousand, only a few thousand of them were truly fit for battle. A few thousand fighting men would have been enough to hold an ordinary county or prefectural city, but to defend a super-city like Jiqing, known throughout the world, there were naturally weaknesses everywhere.

Once they understood this, everyone was fired with excitement.

“Come on, everyone, put in a little more effort. Today we must get Chen Zhaoxian to surrender!”

Facing the full-scale assault of the Red Turban army, Chen Zhaoxian was suffering beyond words. Worse still, the bitterness in his heart could not be spoken to anyone. In the end, he could only say angrily, “No matter how many troops the Red rebels bring, I will stand as steady as a mountain. I refuse to believe a pack of roving bandits can fight their way into Jiqing City!”

He could only put it that way and talk tough. Who told him that before this he had already reached an offensive-and-defensive alliance with Zhu Yuanzhang? Recently his entire mind had been fixed on how to join forces with Zhu Yuanzhang to deal with Liu Yi’s Chaohu fleet. Who could have imagined that Zhu Yuanzhang would turn on him faster than flipping a page, concentrating the forces of more than a hundred thousand-man commanders to launch a full assault on Chen Zhaoxian’s rebel army?

Chen Zhaoxian’s camp was already in the condition of a house with a young lord and doubtful ministers. Under Zhu Yuanzhang’s relentless pressure it grew more and more fragmented. By now everyone had their own calculations, and no one paid any attention to Chen Zhaoxian’s full-hearted resentment.

“Young Marshal, you need to make a decision. If you don’t make one, then we will decide for ourselves!”

“Yes. Marshal, things have reached this point, and you cannot escape responsibility. So I think it would be better to let us decide for ourselves!”

What they meant by “decide for ourselves” was naturally to break completely away from Chen Yexian and Chen Zhaoxian’s faction and go their separate ways. This was the one thing Chen Zhaoxian could least tolerate.

“Whoever dares decide for himself will have me to answer to. I may not be able to deal with Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Yi, but dealing with you lot is no problem at all!”

These words were far beneath his dignity. As commander of the whole army, how could he say something so harmful to harmony and feeling? But he was truly raging with resentment.

Before this, he had agreed with Zhu Yuanzhang to work together against Liu Yi, and had even considered many of the details with great care. Yet now it had become Liu Yi and Zhu Yuanzhang beating Chen Zhaoxian to death. It was only because his fury had risen to the point of overturning his heart that he spoke like this.

Still, although these words wounded both harmony and feeling, they did at least suppress the dissent below. The others could only chatter in confusion.

“Then Marshal, you decide first. Tell us, where are we going?”

“Exactly. Zhu Yuanzhang is attacking hard on one side while calling for us to come over on the other. Once we go over, we become family. If we were a commander of ten thousand before, we’ll still be a commander of ten thousand after; if we were a commander of a thousand or a hundred before, we’ll still be a commander of a thousand or a hundred after. They certainly won’t treat us badly!”

“I think we should retreat back into Jiqing City. Even if the Branch Secretariat won’t let us enter the city, at this point they no longer get to decide!”

“I think we should go east and join Zhang Shicheng. Though Zhang Shicheng has always been xenophobic, I think if we bring twenty thousand men over, he’ll have to show some kind of response!”

“That’s exactly the problem. We’re bringing twenty thousand men over. How many troops does Zhang Shicheng even have under him?”

“Then how about going south? The Branch Secretariat may not be able to hold out, but the Jiang-Zhe provincial army is still there!”

“The provincial army is indeed still there, but the Jiang-Zhe provincial forces have already withdrawn. If you don’t make up your minds soon, I’m afraid there’ll be nothing left for any of you!”

“The provincial forces have withdrawn? And who are you?”

While everyone was still talking over one another, the speaker who had suddenly mentioned the provincial army turned out not to be one of their own at all, but a stranger who had somehow slipped in without anyone noticing.

“Who are you? Who sent you here?”

“Speak clearly. If you don’t, I’ll cut you down!”

“Yes. Just who are you?”

Though they were all speaking fiercely, in their hearts they had no confidence at all. Those four words, “the provincial army has withdrawn,” shattered every illusion they had been clinging to.

The reason Jiqing City had held out until now was entirely because the Jiang-Zhe provincial forces in Hangzhou had kept feeding it. Not to mention the Miao troops and spear troops, who had long been supplied with pay and provisions by the Jiang-Zhe provincial administration, even the province itself had drawn troops from every garrison command to the battlefield in Jiangdong. It had even stripped forces from the most remote coastal command of Chuzhou Route, until the Yuan troops left to garrison Chuzhou City were said to be only a few hundred old, weak, sick, and disabled men.

Under such circumstances, the withdrawal of the Jiang-Zhe provincial forces was tantamount to completely abandoning Jiqing Route and Jiangdong Road. Even if the Branch Secretariat possessed divine powers, it still could not defend Jiqing City. Naturally, all the generals in Chen Zhaoxian’s camp were thrown into panic when they heard the news. They even forgot to question this uninvited guest and instead directly asked about his background.

And the guest who had arrived without invitation introduced himself with great composure.

“I am Ma Shixiong. Marshal Chen and all of you commanders should have heard of this old man’s name!”

Though this was their first time meeting Ma Shixiong in person, they had indeed heard of the famous Green Army marshal. They had never imagined that Ma Shixiong would come personally to Chen Zhaoxian’s camp to urge surrender.

“Marshal Ma, it is an honor to meet you!”

“Marshal Ma, are you here as a spokesman for your son-in-law?”

“Marshal Ma, we were planning to go to Chuzhou, but we want to go to Marshal Zhu of the Left Camp instead. Please put in a good word for us before your son-in-law!”

“Marshal Ma, we’ve long admired your name. Please, tell us plainly and help us make up our minds!”