Chapter 28: Fire and Fury
Early 20th-century propaganda poster featuring Zhao Mei, depicting her in battle garb to evoke her Qin campaign. The queen's legacy left an indelible mark on her people and their descendents. Consequently, she was often invoked in later centuries to marshal public support for various causes and goals, sometimes even by both sides of the same issue. Considering how shrewdly Mei distorted the lives and deeds of Wu Zetian, Han Lin'er, Li of Ming, and others for political ends, some observe she might have found this fitting.
The War of the Shu Succession represents something of a turning point in Chinese politics and culture. Since the fall of Ming over a century ago, the four great kingdoms of China maintained a delicate balance of power. Song and Yue had been strong allies since the overthrow of the Yuan Dynasty. Qin and Qi had long flirted with the idea of allying each other to counter the southern bloc. Although they never formalized their relationship, the threat of the two kingdoms standing together was enough to keep the peace.
When the last king of Shu died, he willed his throne to his neighbor and friend, the warlord of Yue. Qin immediately disputed the inheritance; although their claim to Shu was tenuous at best, they perhaps feared the southern kingdoms accumulating even more power. Qin declared war on the 25th of December, 1511. Song, naturally, backed Yue.
But this turn of events puts the king of Qi in a rather uncomfortable position, and the future balance of power rests on his word. Staying out of the conflict is not an option. He must choose a side.
Many of his advisors suggest their kingdom should fight on the same side as Qin. Although this could transform the minor Shu dispute into a bloody, protracted struggle consuming all of China, the advisors say they must stand against Song and Yue to prevent future southern hegemony of the Middle Kingdom. Breaking ties with Qin would leave them defenseless against both that kingdom itself and against the Muslim marauders of Kashmir; surely, they argue, Song and Yue would maintain their exclusive ties and leave Qi to fend for itself.
On the other hand, fighting against the powerful southern alliance could utterly ruin their kingdom. In addition, the fusion of Han, Mongol, and Jurchen languages and customs in the north has already produced a Qin culture that is decidedly un-Chinese. Despite a shared struggle against the western Sunnis, many in the Qi court disparage the “regress” of Qin society and feel nothing but contempt for the “Chinese barbarians.”
In the end, Qi sides with Song and Yue against Qin. They form a broad coalition Qin cannot hope to defeat and thus limit the scope of the war. The northern kingdom is denounced for “meddling in Chinese affairs,” formalizing a split between the Han and Qin peoples. With one declaration, Qin becomes a cultural pariah, and Beijing is considered part of the Middle Kingdom no longer.
Although her generals are confident the war can be quickly won, and despite her advanced age, Zhao Mei takes personal command of the White Lotus Army. She knows her place in history as a powerful and visionary queen is already secure. But she intends to prove herself a skillful military commander as well. She marches her army north toward Kaifeng. Meanwhile, the Army of the East moves into Qin Korea, and the Frontier Defense Force waits on the banks of the Yellow River.
Mei reaches the front in March of 1512. She swings her army through Yue-owned Shanxi, utterly defeating a Qin force of 18,000 men. From there, she moves into Qin territory while ordering the Frontier Defense Force to lay siege to Beijing.
The Qin king, Menglin Zhenghu, and his army had hoped to quickly take Song Korea, shutting down the war's eastern front before it opened. But with the Army of the East holding fast and Beijing under attack, he abandons the plan and moves to liberate his capital.
Within the same month, the Korean rebels sponsored by Zhao Mei establish a new kingdom in the province of P'unghae. The Jurchens send a token force to restore order, but without a competent navy, they cannot dispatch enough troops to retake the area.
Menglin reaches Beijing in June. Although the battle costs many more Qin lives than Wu, the king breaks the Song siege.
Mei wants to strike back, but the army--far more mobile, comprised mostly of cavalrymen born in the saddle--escapes to the east. Knowing full well they hope she gives chase, planning to starve her army on the steppes until it is too weak to fight, she does not pursue them further. With the throne of Shu the alliance's only goal, she could simply avoid battle, then force Qin to surrender after taking a few undefended provinces.
But Mei refuses to settle for such an inglorious end to the war. And while Qin may have the faster army, she rules the waves. Leaving the Frontier Defense Force to secure territory, the queen moves her entire White Lotus Army onto the Yangtze Armada. With monsoon season beginning to wind down, she orders an amphibious attack on her opposite number.
The fighting rages on and off for the better part of two weeks. Mei establishes a foothold on the beaches of Liaoxi and delivers a number of crushing blows the the defending force.
But the Qin king, knowing he has no hope of winning a pitched battle, resorts to hit-and-run tactics. Constant raids, unfamiliar terrain, and inefficient supply lines combine to grind away Song's hopes of victory. The soldiers talk of how they'll be cut off from the coast and slaughtered with no possible escape. Morale plummets, and many fear the battle may be unwinnable.
With the fates of her men hanging in the balance, Mei knows she must act quickly. She moves her army from the open plains they traditionally favor into the rugged highlands. She has a detachment of her main force make camp, conspicuously burning wood and roasting meat, telegraphing their presence to their enemies. With scouts reporting the approach of the Qin army, talk spreads through the Song ranks that the plan courts total annihilation. On the eve of the expected Qin attack, Mei speaks to her men.
“I come before you,” she says, “not as your queen. Much could be said of our kingdom's rise to greatness over these past decades. The conquest of Korea, the defeat of Japan. The accomplishments of our builders, our bureaucrats, our explorers. All these things demonstrate our power, our glory, but none of them will matter one whit in the battle we shall fight tomorrow.
“I come before you not as your general. My strategies, executed by my loyal servants, have won us wars in the past. And there is little doubt in my mind that my designs here, this time carried out by my own hand, will win us the day. But sly tactics and clever plans are of little comfort when home is so far away, when the enemy is so near, when victory seems so far from reach.
“No. Instead, I come before you as a warrior! I come before you as someone who has bloodied their hands to survive and to triumph, as someone who knows as well as you the nature of warfare, as someone who refuses to turn away or back down when faced with an enemy!
“Tomorrow morning, the king of Qin will lead his men through that mountain pass and attempt to stand toe-to-toe with the fiercest army that has ever been witnessed by men or gods. I say let him come! Let him witness the fire and fury that burns in our hearts! Let his men feel the cold rush of panic that haunts any who stand in our way! For we are Song, people of the greatest kingdom that has ever existed on this Earth! We will show these northern soldiers the true meaning of terror!”
When the Qin arrive to raid the encampment, the few Song men still in the valley retreat to higher ground. Mei moves her shock troops to cut off Qin's retreat. Archers and artillerymen emerge from hiding and take positions on the hills. They rain arrows, cannonfire, rockets, and bombs down on their trapped enemies. A gong sounds. The barrage ends. And Mei, screaming and cursing to whip her troops into a frenzy, leads her men on a cavalry charge to crush Menglin's battered forces.
The battle breaks the back of the Qin army, and they're forced to flee the province, all the while hounded by the relentless Song aggressors. They race west toward Beijing, but Mei catches up in October and destroys the entire army. After such a convincing show of strength, Qin has no choice but to surrender.
) seen as really progressive: the purpose of execution wasn't punishment or retribution, it was simply meant to remove "harmful" people from society. Hence an execution method that was "moral" in that it was the same for rich and poor and eliminated the apparant cruelty of hanging not breaking the neck or an executioner going all *chop* "Oops I missed."
