Chapter 43: The Return of Li Yan

At Yanlizhai, Dang Shousu stood with a pale face, kneeling on the ground in silence. Behind him, the Red Maiden still maintained her composure. In this recent heavy defeat, not only had Dang Shousu lost five thousand brave soldiers under his command, but Mo Gao had also managed to bring back only several hundred combat troops. Although Dang Shousu’s main force remained intact, a wave of panic had swept through due to the rout of the eight thousand levies. In the end, it was thanks to the Red Maiden’s assistance that the situation was stabilized.

Inside the military tent, Li Zicheng’s brows were tightly knitted, and the array of generals surrounding him all remained silent.

Tian Jianxiu, Liu Zongmin, Li Yan, Li Guo, He Jin, Niu Jinsheng, Yuan Chengzhi, Yuan Zongdi, Gao Yigong, Song Xiance, Hao Yaoqi, Li Laiheng, and Gu Jun'en were all present. None of them had expected that an initial probing battle would be lost to the imperial troops, which felt somewhat unimaginable to the victorious rebel commanders who had rampaged across Henan without suffering a single defeat.

Dang Shousu, with a pale countenance, said in a muffled voice, "Chuangwang. I have lost to the imperial troops. Now the imperial troops have occupied Liuyuan Kou and set up camp; breaking through their defenses will be even more difficult than before. I ask for punishment, and I am willing to accept whatever the Chuangwang decides! Even if you behead me, I will have no complaints!"

Li Zicheng retorted unhappily, "Rewards for merit and punishments for offenses are the rules of the military. Since you lost the battle, punishment is naturally due."

Beside him, upon hearing this, Tian Jianxiu’s heart skipped a beat. Was the Chuangwang actually going to execute an old brother from the Eighth Unit?

Immediately, Tian Jianxiu hastily interjected, "Chuangwang, this battle can only be considered a minor setback. Several thousand levies were never meant to break the imperial elite anyway. The troops of the Shandong Garrison... Liu Zeqing, is it? I’ve heard they have a few hundred personal guards who can fight, but being checked temporarily is of no great consequence."

After listening, Li Zicheng glanced around the room. Fortunately, neither Yuan Shizhong nor Luo Ruchai was present at Yanlizhai; otherwise, this family scandal would have spread far and wide.

With this thought, Li Zicheng waved his hand and said, "Of course I won't kill people indiscriminately. Dang Shousu has followed me, Li Zicheng, through the east and west; he is an old brother. However, there are rules in the army, and those who do wrong must be punished. The punishment must match the magnitude of the mistake. Dang Shousu, I fine you two thousand silver taels as a penalty for underestimating the enemy and advancing rashly."

Dang Shousu immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "Understood, Chuangwang. This subordinate accepts the order!"

Li Zicheng nodded and swept his gaze over the assembled officers.

Naturally, the men straightened their chests one after another, yet they did not dare to display any bellicose expressions. For a moment, the atmosphere in the tent became exceptionally strange.

Li Zicheng was well aware of the negative psychological impact brought by this minor setback.

Pondering this, a slight shadow was cast upon Li Zicheng's heart.

From the macro perspective of history, after the Battle of Luoyang, Li Zicheng possessed the strength to overthrow the Ming Dynasty. That was the historical trend—those who complied with it prospered, and those who resisted perished. But from the perspective of someone living through it, Li Zicheng was merely an entrepreneur who had failed many times and suffered countless miserable defeats. Examples of a single defeat leading to the annihilation of an entire army were numerous. This was far from enough to let him relax or grow complacent.

Just as Li Zicheng was filled with such worries, his peripheral vision caught sight of Li Yan looking directly at him, confident and spirited, standing out distinctly from the rest.

At that moment, Li Zicheng suddenly remembered Li Yan's fine qualities.

Li Yan was, after all, the very first person to be defeated by Zhu Cilang, and naturally he understood Zhu Cilang's background inside and out. Moreover, Li Yan was also his trusted strategist; both in terms of insight, vision, and capability, he was far superior to a bunch of rustic commanders!

After all, these were the two individuals with the highest education levels in the entire army.

With this thought, Li Zicheng looked over with high expectations.

Li Yan did not disappoint Li Zicheng's hopes.

He stepped past the others and came forward. When everyone's gaze converged upon Li Yan, they had already cast aside their former prejudices and began to wonder what Li Yan would have to say.

Indeed, after a brief moment of contemplation, Li Yan spoke up, "Chuangwang! The imperial troops are nothing to worry about!"

"Oh?" Li Zicheng was overjoyed and immediately responded, "Please speak, Sir!"

Li Yan wore a confident smile, scanned the crowd, and finally bowed to the Chuangwang before continuing, "Ever since the Chuangwang raised the banner of rebellion, you have weathered hardships and endured immense difficulties. The imperial troops once possessed fierce generals like Cao Wenzhao and renowned commanders like Hong Chengchou. After several trials and tribulations, they still could not crush the Chuangwang. This is mandated by the Will of Heaven. Tracing the root cause, it is simply because the fortune of the Great Ming has run out!"

As soon as Li Yan uttered these words, Li Zicheng's expression was deeply shaken.

Seeing that Li Zicheng attached importance to his words, Li Yan turned serious and continued, "The people of Great Ming are impoverished and the state is exhausted. Above, there are no monarchs or ministers endowed with brilliance, wisdom, and the capacity for practical unification; below, there are no gentry willing to bravely sacrifice themselves for the country and uphold the realm. Meanwhile, our rebel army is full of surging vigor, acting in accordance with Heaven's will. Overthrowing the Great Ming is precisely an action that conforms to the Heavenly Dao. This is why the imperial troops are nothing to worry about!"

Upon hearing this, Li Zicheng's expression was no longer merely serious, but solemn. Even the other generals felt a sense of grandeur and no longer dared to harbor the slightest bit of prejudice. As for Niu Jinsheng and Song Xiance in the corner, their eyes were blazing with light as they marveled at Li Yan's brilliance.

To people of later generations, such remarks might seem like common sense. But to those living in the thick of it, they were trapped in the fog of the immediate situation. Most people could perhaps sense that their rampages across Henan were formidable, but they were incapable of articulating the underlying reasons. In other words, this was political correctness—an ideological endorsement of the legitimacy of their military and political authority.

Indeed, as soon as Li Yan's three-part argument was delivered, the atmosphere within the entire military tent shifted instantly.

The morale of the rebel army seemed to be revitalized, and the men began to murmur and discuss animatedly among themselves.

"Using levies to wear down the elite imperial troops was originally our plan to sap the enemy's strength. That the imperial troops were able to counterattack and rout them in one stroke was an unexpected mishap. In my view, General Dang Shousu's battle cannot be counted as a failure," Niu Jinsheng took the lead in speaking.

Tian Jianxiu also chuckled and said, "Quite right. Our armored combat troops haven't even gone into battle yet, and our cavalry hasn't charged their formations either. This fight with the imperial troops has only just begun."

"That's right, once we put on our cotton armor, those lead bullets won't amount to much!" Liu Zongmin slapped his thigh and hurriedly chimed in.

"We have a million troops and hundreds of thousands of fighting men; are we going to be afraid of a mere six thousand imperial soldiers?"

"Indeed..."

Seeing that the men had regained their confidence, Li Zicheng breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was fully capable of boosting their morale himself, there was a fundamental difference between the Chuangwang personally rallying the troops and the subordinates recovering their morale on their own.

Observing this, Li Zicheng sighed with admiration and said, "Sir is truly my Zhang Liang!"

"I dare not accept such praise. It is entirely due to the Chuangwang's generous favor." Li Yan's expression remained calm and completely poised. "Actually, in this subordinate's observation of past and present imperial commanders, even if they can dominate for a time, they inevitably find themselves constrained by various factions and ultimately meet their ruin. Even formidable armies like those of Sun Chuanting and Luoxiang Xing were defeated by factors outside the battlefield. The Battle of Zhuxianzhen, where the imperial troops collapsed without a fight, is proof of this."

After Li Yan finished speaking, everyone looked over, and the tent fell into an exceptional quietness.

Seeing this, Li Yan smiled, cupped his hands in a salute to the assembly, and said, "To train a formidable army and win battles is naturally valued by the Chuangwang and respected by all generals within our rebel army. But in the eyes of the imperial court's civil and military officials, it brings endless trouble and boundless jealousy. To name just one example... This Qin Xia was formerly merely a secretary in the Linqing tax-collection branch office in Shandong, yet he took the initiative to invite the Shandong Garrison troops into Henan to suppress the bandits. Just this alone will make the Shandong provincial authorities bitterly resent him, hating him for showing off too much and making the Shandong officialdom look incompetent."