GBP Chapter 592 Should we fight to the end or back down?
Chapter 592 Should we fight to the end or back down?
Panda spent three years in Tianjin, knowing that as long as Wen Tiren remained Grand Secretary, he would never return to the capital. He became somewhat despondent, spending his time amassing wealth and indulging in affairs with his concubines, oblivious to the world around him. He was completely unaware of Liu Ye's numerous misdeeds. What wouldn't a man who, as a commoner, dared to imprison a county magistrate and force the governor-general to resign, and who, after being pacified, dared to confront the Nanjing Imperial Guard and even burn the garrison eunuch alive, dared to do?
He didn't doubt the authenticity of these events; someone like the eunuch guarding Nanjing couldn't be faked, and any falsehood would be immediately exposed. The question was, how should one deal with such a figure? Should one confront him head-on or back down?
Just as Panda was struggling with his dilemma, Qin Tian chimed in, "General, if we're talking about offending people, Lin San is no slouch either. When he was summoned by the emperor, he inexplicably beat up a eunuch and chased him through several palaces. I heard his name was Cao Chun, or some kind of head of the Eastern Depot..."
With a loud "thud," Panda slumped heavily into his chair, his face paling. If there was anything civil officials feared most, it was the secret police, especially the Eastern Depot—a veritable nightmare for them. Yet this burly man had beaten up Cao Huachun, the Eastern Depot's chief eunuch, in the inner palace and was unharmed. Who were these people?
Panda decided to back down. He was merely a military commissioner who had lost a political struggle and was far removed from the center of power. His head wasn't any harder than those of the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, the garrison eunuch, or the head of the Eastern Depot. As the saying goes, "A scholar can't reason with a soldier." Faced with this group of unreasonable warriors, it was best to be tolerant and avoid immediate losses. If this visiting army wanted to borrow grain, let them borrow it. Even if they didn't return it, he had plenty of ways to make up the shortfall. Consider it paying to avoid trouble.
He said weakly, "Since your ministry is fighting against the Tartars, I have no reason not to support you. Tomorrow I will order someone to take inventory of the granaries and allocate some grain to your ministry temporarily. Please go back and wait patiently for one more day..."
Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Liu Ye was very satisfied. He patted Panda on the shoulder and said, "Lord Panda is sensible and considerate of the big picture. Very good, very good!" Then he led everyone out the door.
As Yan Guang turned and walked to the door, he said something in a low voice, but Panda heard it.
"General, actually, dealing with a minor official like the Military Commissioner is quite simple. With your relationship with the Grand Secretary, you could just find him and say a word. Why make such a fuss?"
"Why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut? There's no need to go through all this trouble..."
Upon hearing this, Panda, who had been dejected, was instantly enraged. It turned out that this general was one of that old scoundrel Wen Tiren's men!
The thought of being relegated to the impoverished and remote city of Tianjin, ruining his promising future, and with the best outcome being nothing more than earning some money and returning home to become a wealthy man, while the glory of becoming a high-ranking official or a prime minister would be forever out of reach, filled Panda with hatred for Wen Tiren.
Hatred instantly replaced fear. Panda gritted his teeth as he watched Liu Ye and the others leave, making up his mind.
Liu Ye was unaware of this change. After leaving the military affairs office, he instructed Lin San: "Now that the food supplies are no longer a problem, the next step is to mobilize troops from Tianjin and Baoding to assist our army in intercepting Abatai. You have been to the capital and entered the palace, so you know the way well. Quickly take the head to the capital, find Chief Minister Wen, and have him persuade the emperor to order the Ministry of War to approve our operation and to mobilize surrounding troops to cooperate with our army."
Lin San replied, "Yes, General, I will depart immediately."
"Remember, you must bring back the Ministry of War's order within three days at the latest. Don't miss this great opportunity for Abatai to pass through Tianjin." Tianjin is only a little over two hundred li from the capital. Theoretically, it should be possible to make a round trip in three days by riding day and night.
"As ordered!"
After leaving the military affairs office, Xu Zhong, the commander of Tianjin Garrison, took the initiative to find Liu Ye and said that the barracks had been vacated and were just waiting for the Qionghai Army to move in.
Liu Ye was quite satisfied with this efficiency. Only after resting and recuperating could he have the strength to fight the Later Jin to the death. He initially wanted to express his gratitude, but then he thought that although the garrison was corrupt, Xu Zhong was a local strongman in Tianjin and might still be of some help. It would be better to offer some practical thanks and win him over. Anyway, it wouldn't cost him any of his own money; it was just a way of giving something away—every victory brought rich spoils. Last time it was against the bandits, and this time it was against the Tartars. The ships were loaded with hundreds of chests full of gold, silver, and valuables looted from the Tartars.
"Thank you for your trouble, Commander Xu. Our troops are temporarily stationed in Tianjin and are unfamiliar with the area, so we will have to trouble you again. I will have someone send some local products from Guangdong to your residence later to express my gratitude."
Being a man navigating the officialdom, Xu Zhong naturally understood what "local products" meant. Someone of Liu Ye's stature wouldn't actually bring a few salted fish from Guangdong as a gift; it must be something of gold or silver—a tacit understanding between them. He was overjoyed. Rumors circulated that the Earl of Pingnan was a capable warrior and quite arrogant, but he hadn't expected him to be so easy to deal with. He quickly declined, saying, "It's nothing, how could I dare accept the Earl of Pingnan's local products?"
Arranging barracks was really just a piece of cake for him. Like other garrisons, the Tianjin Sanwei had serious problems with military households shirking their duties and receiving salaries without working. The huge garrison barracks actually had very few soldiers. Many military households had their own places to live. Apart from the land they cultivated belonging to the garrison, they were no different from ordinary farmers. All they had to do was clean up and the barracks would be vacated.
Liu Ye smiled and said, "Commander Xu, please don't be so polite. I'll be troubling you a lot in the coming days."
The next day, Liu Ye sent Qin Tian with men to find Panda and request supplies. He had assumed it was a done deal, but Qin Tian was surprised to find no one there.
"General, the gates of the Military Commissioner's Office are tightly closed, and all the soldiers have disappeared. According to the gatekeeper, Panda went to inspect the three guard posts in Tianjin to check the troops and distribute rations."
Liu Ye found it strange. Hadn't he already intimidated Panda yesterday? Why was he acting like this again? Inspecting the troops and distributing rations according to the number of men was the duty of the military commissioner, but why now of all times? It was rather suspicious. Besides, Panda had been in Tianjin for over three years. Didn't he know how many troops were actually in force and how many were receiving salaries without actually working? Why was he going through with this bureaucratic formality?
He was unaware of the conflict between Panda and Wen Tiren, nor did he know that things had gone wrong because of a single sentence from Yan Guang. Without knowing the ins and outs, he naturally couldn't understand Panda's intentions. He could only instruct Yang Youji: "Have someone keep an eye on the military affairs office. The inspection of the three guards and the troop count are probably just formalities. They're not here today, but they'll be back tomorrow."
However, Qin Tian sent people to stake out the area from morning till night, but the gate remained tightly closed the next day, and Panda seemed to have vanished into thin air.