046 Huai'an Military Camp

When the authorities in Yingtian Prefecture had ever witnessed such a menacing formation, they hurried to report the arrival of the Crown Prince to Ma Shiying. Enraged, Ma Shiying refused even to grant an audience, immediately issuing an order to throw the "Crown Prince" straight into the dungeon to quell the rising public clamor in the streets. At the same time, he dispatched secret envoys to the military camps of Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing north of the Yangtze River.

The news from inside Nanjing City was swiftly intercepted by the informants Wang Lanping had left behind. Rumors were of little consequence; this "Crown Prince," whether genuine or false, had to die. Moreover, Ma Shiying's son, Ma Ming, had taken command of the defenses of Nanjing, and the garrison troops were stepping up their combat preparations. These various signs clearly indicated that Ma Shiying was making a move against him. His actions at Xiangshan must have left Ma Shiying sitting on pins and needles. Yet, there were not many troops left in Nanjing city; the majority had been transferred by Wang Lanping himself to Xiangshan. Ma Shiying was not so foolish as to be caught unprepared; he would certainly summon the four great generals under his command. Which one would he call upon? Among the forces of the Four Garrisons, only Liu Zeqing’s Huai'an army was stationed closest to Nanjing.

Wang Lanping hastily summoned a soldier, dictated a set of instructions, and ordered him to ride at a gallop to the Huai'an military camp to find the Deputy Regional Commander of Huai'an, Zheng Sen.

Zheng Sen had been stationed at the main Huai'an military camp for some twenty days now, yet he still could not quite figure out what Wang Lanping had actually sent him here to accomplish. He was utterly powerless to do a single thing because Liu Zeqing simply despised the sight of him. Had it not been for the fact that he was the son of Fujian Regional Commander Zheng Zhilong, he would likely have been executed with a single stroke of a blade long ago.

Liu Zeqing had consistently suspected that Zheng Sen was an informant planted by Wang Lanping within his own ranks, yet he suffered from a lack of concrete evidence. With so many posts across the realm to choose from, why had Zheng Sen specifically come to Huai'an? Furthermore, Wang Lanping’s current prestige and momentum were soaring, eclipsing even his former superior. A deep, smoldering fury burned within Liu Zeqing: on what grounds had his former subordinate been enfeoffed as a marquis, while he himself had only managed to secure the title of an earl? This grated heavily upon him, filling him with a sense of humiliation and making his temper increasingly volatile.

Within this Huai'an prefectural camp, Liu Zeqing reigned supreme like a local tyrant. He struck his soldiers on a mere whim and cursed them at the drop of a hat. Fond of sipping wine and completely disregarding military prohibitions, he invariably resorted to bloodshed whenever he got drunk. Upon seeing him drink, the ordinary soldiers in the camp would flee as if avoiding a plague, or else they would simply drag a few local peasants from outside and place them within his immediate reach.

The local officials, including his own subordinate generals, harbored a bitter, bone-deep hatred for him yet remained utterly helpless, unable to devise a single countermeasure. Every few days, they were forced to deliver fresh seasonal vegetables and meats to the military camp; the slightest delay or negligence would result in a punishment of fifty military staves at the very least.

Not only did Liu Zeqing indulge in drunken debauchery and boundless extravagance within the camp, but he also used armed coercion to force local officials to construct a luxurious new official residence for the regional commander. On the pretext of insufficient military funds, he frequently plundered the surrounding prefectures and counties, sinking to a level where officials grew resentful, the populace cursed him, and the soldiers loathed him.

Every single day was a torment for Zheng Sen. He could no longer bear anything about this place—it was entirely a bandit stronghold wearing the sheepskin of the Ming military. Before his departure, however, Wang Lanping had personally instructed him that upon reaching the Huai'an camp, he only needed to do two things: play the fool and curse Wang Lanping. This proved exceedingly difficult for Zheng Sen. What made it even more unbearable was that he was treated like a prisoner here; aside from wandering around his own command tent, wherever he went, Liu Zeqing’s men dogged his every step.

On this particular day, Liu Zeqing sent someone to invite Zheng Sen to the central military tent, claiming he wished to host a banquet of food and wine. Summoned by the regional commander, Zheng Sen dared not refuse. Stepping out of his tent, he followed the messenger, but soon noticed that soldiers were moving back and forth through the camp with great frequency. Piles of military equipment were stacked neatly about, and looking into the distance outside the camp, he could see a steady stream of soldiers continuously marching toward this sector. Zheng Sen thought to himself in secret: It appears they are mustering the troops. What could this be for? Have the Manchu bandits or the Shun rebels broken through?

Harboring an anxious and unsettled heart, Zheng Sen arrived at the central tent. He lifted the door curtain and stepped inside to find Liu Zeqing, stripped to the waist and displaying his brutish physique, already drinking ahead of time, attended by two waiting maidservants.

"Ah, Deputy Regional Commander Zheng has arrived! Ha-ha, take a seat, take a seat. Forgive my discourtesy for starting the wine without waiting for you," Liu Zeqing nodded slightly toward Zheng Sen, appearing unusually cheerful today.

Zheng Sen let go of the curtain and walked over with a sense of trepidation. Ever since he had assumed his post, this was the first time Liu Zeqing had invited him to drink. What could it possibly mean?

Offering a formal salute, Zheng Sen said, "Many thanks to the General for bestowing this feast. Does the General have some joyous occasion today?"

Liu Zeqing laughed heartily and pointed to the seat beside him. "Sit down and talk, sit down and talk. You there, fill General Zheng's cup with wine and attend to him properly. General Zheng, take her to your tent later. Ah, camp life is so dreary; one must know how to find a little amusement for oneself. Ha-ha, eat and drink first—bottoms up!"

Faced with the young woman stepping forward to serve him, Zheng Sen felt his face flush red, and his movements appeared thoroughly awkward, drawing continuous bouts of hearty laughter from Liu Zeqing.

The two men drank cup after cup, chatting about inconsequential topics. Zheng Sen found it increasingly difficult to sit still; Liu Zeqing was acting far too abnormally today. What on earth was he plotting?

After three rounds of drinks, Liu Zeqing suddenly signaled for the two maidservants to leave. Looking quite solemn, he said to Zheng Sen, "Brother, you've been wronged these past few days. Come, let your elder brother pour you another cup."

"I wouldn't dare. To the General," Zheng Sen replied, uncertain of the motive, and tossed his head back to drain the cup.

Liu Zeqing simply pulled his seat closer to Zheng Sen, draped an arm around his shoulder, and breathed a heavy gust of alcohol into his face as he said, "Don't take it to heart. Your elder brother isn't targeting you; it's just that you've been running too close with that Wang Lanping, and I can't stand the sight of him—can't stand him at all. Your elder brother is a rough man who doesn't know how to beat around the bush, so don't take offense."

Zheng Sen forced a smile. "Not at all, not at all. The General's forthright manner commands my admiration. As I have said before, I am cut from the same cloth as that Wang Lanping. The man fancies himself brilliant and acts with stubborn arrogance. During the battle of Huaining, had I not led hundreds of sworn brothers in a desperate, life-or-death charge, how could he have achieved what he has today? Yet in the end, he was enfeoffed as a marquis while I received nothing at all, and to top it all off, he banished me to this remote corner with a nominal deputy regional commander title just to fool me. This was nothing less than banishment in disguise!"

Liu Zeqing burst into loud laughter, poured himself another cup, and drank it down. "Listening to your words, it sounds like you find this place unsatisfactory after all. Do you still feel aggrieved as a deputy regional commander?"

Zheng Sen quickly cupped his fists in a salute. "No, no, that is not what I meant. I only meant that Wang Lanping feared I would steal his merits and casually found some patch of land to banish me."

Liu Zeqing curled his mouth in a crooked smile and gestured with a cross shape of his fingers. "Be content, my brother! Years ago, when your elder brother climbed from a common foot soldier to the position you hold today, it took a full ten years. And yet you are still unsatisfied, heh!"

Zheng Sen continued, "It is not that I am unsatisfied, but rather that I feel a sense of injustice. We both emerged from the bloody battle of Huaining, yet he enjoys leisure and comfort within the city of Nanjing. By what right should I be stuck eating plain greens and radishes in the military camp every day? It just sticks in my craw."

Liu Zeqing narrowed his eyes slightly. "Brother, let us speak plainly without falsehoods. I don't believe a single word of what you are saying. We are all grown men—why not be straightforward? Did Wang Lanping send you to my camp to spy on me?"

A shock rippled through Zheng Sen's heart: *So he had known all along!* He hurriedly tried to offer an explanation, but Liu Zeqing cut him off, pressing a hand down on Zheng Sen's arm.

"Don't bother explaining; even if you spoke, I wouldn't believe it. Still, it matters little—I do not fear him. He is merely an unfledged whelp whose milk-whiskers haven't even fallen off yet. What does he rely on other than his status as a top military scholar? I, on the other hand, climbed out of piles of corpses through genuine blade-and-spear combat. I hear that in the imperial court, he even exposed the matter of my clearing out the city of Anqing right in front of all the civil and military officials and the Emperor himself. Heh, you tell me—I had neither grievance nor enmity with him, yet he stabbed me in the back."

Hearing this, a wave of tension gripped Zheng Sen's heart. The army was undergoing frequent troop movements—could it be that they were preparing to move against Wang Lanping? Surely not! The Marquis was garrisoned in Nanjing; was Liu Zeqing intending to launch a siege on Nanjing City?

Maintaining a forced smile, Zheng Sen said, "Mayflies attempting to shake a giant tree—utterly ignorant of their own meager strength. General, are you not still sitting here quite comfortably, eating meat and drinking wine?"

Liu Zeqing tilted his head with a proud smile. "That is so. In this day and age, having backing in the court makes it easy to hold office. Grand Secretary Ma is our man; even the Emperor must grant him three points of respect. What can a mere Wang Lanping possibly do to me?"

Zheng Sen chuckled. "The General is wise. That fellow is far too unacquainted with the currents of the times. I long ago made a clean break with him; from now on, I am the General's subordinate."

Early that morning, Liu Zeqing had received a secret missive from Ma Shiying urging him to lead his troops into Nanjing at double speed. The letter painted a heavily exaggerated picture of Wang Lanping's recent activities in Xiangshan, accusing him of hoarding military power with the intent of staging a mutiny. It argued that they must seize the initiative and strike a preemptive blow before Wang Lanping could instigate a revolt, mobilizing the sixty thousand troops from the northern bank of the river to secure advantageous terrain and control the situation. This piece of news practically brought a smile to Liu Zeqing's face even in his dreams. He had finally caught his opportunity; this time, old debts and new accounts would be settled with Wang Lanping all at once. Upon receiving the order, Liu Zeqing immediately mobilized his forces, preparing to rush back to Nanjing in the shortest time possible. However, his tens of thousands of troops were stationed across various outer regions, and assembling them would take a few days. That was why he was drinking freely in the camp first, while simultaneously attempting to win over Zheng Sen. With Zheng Sen on his side, Zheng Hongkui’s naval forces would not dare to make a move, and even Zheng Zhilong in Fujian would be forced to remain obedient.

Seeing that Zheng Sen still held back the complete truth, Liu Zeqing grew somewhat displeased. "Brother Zheng, why persist in such hypocrisy? To tell you the truth, when you arrived, did you not see the troops mustering in the camp?"

Zheng Sen feigned surprise. "I was just about to ask the General. Could there be a military campaign? Have the Manchu bandits broken through?"

Liu Zeqing laughed heartily. "Not at all, not at all! Your elder brother is going off to settle a score. It is simply that this brat Wang Lanping does not know the immensity of heaven and earth; with a mere few tens of thousands of men, he dares to attempt a mutiny. It is utterly laughable! In the past, I thought the kid had some real weight to him, but who would have ever imagined he could do something so utterly foolish? Among the regional commanders and governors of the Jiangnan region, which of them does not command a hundred thousand troops, and which of them does not harbor ambitions of hegemony? Yet who dares to stick their neck out as the first bird? Whoever sticks their neck out courts death."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Sen sprang to his feet in a start, crying out in astonishment, "A mutiny? Wang Lanping is going to stage a mutiny?" Zheng Sen had been completely unaware of this.

Liu Zeqing possessed a fair share of worldly experience, and seeing Zheng Sen's reaction—which was far too intense to be feigned—he realized the man might genuinely be in the dark. He chuckled in a low voice and said, "Indeed. That kid is like a rat licking a cat's backside—he is courting his own doom. Your elder brother is telling you this out of goodwill, so you must not be foolish and entangle yourself with him any longer. Your honorable father, Regional Commander Zheng, is currently at the height of his power in the southeast, and your uncle is also honored as a naval regional commander. Your Zheng family can be considered figures of paramount importance in this Hongguang court; you must not be implicated because of this brat."

Zheng Sen's mind was a tangled mess of chaotic thoughts, but he played along with a perfunctory smile, "Thank you for the General's warning; I shall bear it in mind."

Liu Zeqing, already harboring a degree of intoxication, patted his round belly and said, "Very well, gathering these troops will still take a few days. Go and rest for now; when the time comes, you shall march back to Nanjing with me." With that, he raised his voice and shouted toward the tent flap, "Bring those two women in."

Emerging from the central military tent, Zheng Sen was utterly baffled and at a loss. *How could this be?* Such a monumental matter—why hadn't the Marquis given him advance notice? A mutiny—this meant rebelling against the Ming dynasty! If this news proved true, he would indeed need to ponder his next steps carefully. Zheng Sen was resolved never to commit an act of treason.

Plunged into gloom, Zheng Sen wondered what the Marquis was truly plotting. Could a situation of mutual slaughter among Ming armies really come to pass? With over a hundred thousand Ming soldiers locked in combat outside the walls of Nanjing, what would happen if the Shun rebels and Manchu bandits seized the opportunity to break through? How would they ever salvage the situation?

Zheng Sen wanted to find an opportunity to slip away from the military camp, but when he glanced back, he saw ten of Liu Zeqing's soldiers shadowing him like reflections, following his every step. It was enough to drive a man to distraction.

Toward evening, a military officer rushed frantically outside Liu Zeqing's central tent and reported, "General, we captured a spy who came looking for Deputy Regional Commander Zheng. This man carries a tally plaque of the Capital Garrison; he must have been sent by Wang Lanping."

Inside, there came only the sound of heavy, rumbling snores. The officer called out several times, then lifted the curtain with trepidation and stepped inside, raising his voice to shout the report once more.

Snoring deeply, Liu Zeqing rolled over, startled wide awake. Shoving aside the two women lying beside him, he roared, "Good! I knew that brat wouldn't sit still. Bring the spy into my presence! And as for these two bitches, throw them to the boys to amuse themselves, then find some patch of ground and bury them when they're done."

"Understood!"

Before long, the spy was dragged into the tent. It was none other than the man dispatched by Wang Lanping. Tossed before Liu Zeqing by two soldiers, his body was covered in scars and bruised raw; he looked as though he had only a single breath left in him, yet it seemed nothing had been forced out of him yet, otherwise he would have been executed long ago.

After slipping into the military camp, this spy had never found an opportunity to approach Zheng Sen's tent, and daring not to return without reporting, he had simply lingered near Zheng Sen's quarters until he was discovered.

Liu Zeqing stepped forward and ground his boot forcefully against the spy's face. "Don't play dead with me! Speak—what did Wang Lanping send you here to do?"

The spy groaned in agony a few times but refused to open his mouth.

Liu Zeqing was a seasoned veteran of brutality; he had seen plenty of such tough bones, and no one had ever managed to maintain their defiance to the end in his hands.

"Men, flay him! Keep slicing until he talks," Liu Zeqing waved a hand, knowing no one could endure past a hundred cuts under this form of torture.

Soon, soldiers brought in a set of implements and bound the spy to a wooden cross. An elderly man with a grin walked into the tent carrying a wooden box. Before the terrified gaze of the spy, he began pulling out items one by one. It was clear he was an old hand at this; cutting tools of all sizes and varied purposes were complete, ranging from bone-skinning blades and marrow-crushing mallets to a round axe meant for cleaving skulls.

The old man first picked up a sharp ox-ear dagger and waved it before the spy's panicked eyes. Suddenly, a flash of cold light pierced the air, and a human ear appeared in his hand.

"Ahhh!"

By the time the spy had fainted five times and been revived each time with cold water poured over him, with the bare white bone gleaming through the flesh of one of his calves, he finally broke and could hold out no longer. He began to speak.

After listening to the confession, Liu Zeqing burst into loud laughter and ordered his men to bury the spy alive.

As it turned out, Wang Lanping had instructed this messenger to relay a message to Zheng Sen: the Scholar Army would return to Nanjing on the fifteenth day of the fifth month; Zheng Sen was to closely monitor the movements of the Huai'an camp and exhaust every possible means to prevent the Huai'an army from disrupting Wang Lanping's plan to control Nanjing. Once the Scholar Army secured control of Nanjing, Zheng Sen would seize the opportunity to assassinate Liu Zeqing and assume the post of Regional Commander of Huai'an.

Liu Zeqing laughed heartily. The fifteenth day of the sixth month—that was still thirteen days away! The Huai'an army was at most a five-day march from Nanjing. Before the Scholar Army could march into the city, the Huai'an army would arrive first, occupy the city for defense, and then, coordinating with Gao Jie's massive forces, launch a pincer attack from within and without to eradicate Wang Lanping in one fell swoop.

Liu Zeqing issued an order to keep Zheng Sen under house arrest within the camp. Fortunately, there was ample time since the date of Wang Lanping's advance was still distant, so the pace of troop assembly could be slowed accordingly.