Chapter 72: The Coward in His Shell

Xuanfu, guarding the northern deserts and commanding the southern heartland, protects the Imperial Capital and stands as the foremost stronghold among the Nine Frontier Garrisons of Ming. The town of Xuanhua, once the seat of the former Yuan’s Xuande Prefecture, saw its walls expanded to a circumference of twenty-four li and seven gates opened in the seventeenth year of Hongwu, establishing the site of Xuanfu’s town.

In the fifth year of Zhengtong, Luo Hengxin, then Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate and Inspector of Xuanfu, further widened and heightened the city walls, encasing them in brick and stone. Over six years, he constructed crescent walls, barbicans, and gate citadels, layer upon layer of defenses that rendered Xuanhua impregnable.

The following year, after the city’s reconstruction in the twelfth year of Zhengtong, Yang Hong—then Left Commander of the Rear Military Headquarters, bearing the seal of General Guarding the Northern Frontier, and serving as the Chief Commander of Xuanfu—submitted a memorial requesting reinforcements for the city’s defense. He stationed eighteen thousand elite infantry within the walls, five thousand three hundred picked cavalry, four thousand eight hundred stabled horses, six thousand five hundred divine spears and muskets, and two hundred eighty cannons, their numbers and firepower unmatched among the Nine Town Garrisons.

Yang Hong himself, renowned for his martial achievements, had risen from subordinate officer to commander, holding a place among the senior generals of the court. His reputation echoed throughout the empire, but none could rival his influence in Xuanfu, where his former subordinates filled the ranks and none dared move without his leave. Since Yang Hong took command, the eunuchs appointed as Guardians of Xuanfu were mere puppets, unable to interfere with military matters, let alone fulfill their supervisory duties.

The current Guardian Eunuch, Ge Quan, entered the palace as a self-made eunuch in the third year of Xuande. Because he was already seventeen at entry, he missed the chance to study in the Inner Library, and, being illiterate, had no prospects. For seven years, he swept the floors under the Xuande reign, until fortune smiled and he became a disciple of Xing’an, the pen-holding chief eunuch of the Palace Secretariat. With cleverness and a knack for handling affairs, he soon won Xing’an’s favor, and after more than a decade of mentorship, this illiterate eunuch improbably became the Guardian of Xuanfu—a truly astonishing rise.

Yet, those appointed as Guardian Eunuchs must, besides having seniority and ability, possess at least basic literacy: how else could they read official documents? Without understanding the paperwork, how could affairs be managed? Unable to write, how could reports be submitted to the palace?

Thus, Ge Quan, the illiterate Guardian, was a true anomaly among his peers. Had it not been for Xing’an’s alliance with another Palace Secretariat eunuch, Jin Ying, whose combined support even Wang Zhen, the Chief of the Secretariat, dared not slight, Ge Quan would long since have been replaced for bringing disgrace to his office.

Fortunately, Ge Quan possessed self-awareness. Upon assuming office, he took four young eunuchs from the Inner Library with him. Afterward, he relied on them daily to read documents aloud, dictated his replies for them to write, and hired a legal advisor with scholar’s credentials to assist. In this way, he barely managed to fulfill the bureaucratic requirements. At least outwardly, Wang Zhen could find no fault with him, though he was hardly favored.

After arriving, Ge Quan, like Guo Jing, the Guardian Eunuch of Datong, first sought ways to profit. They had no choice: without money, they could not curry favor in the palace, especially with their patrons. These powerful backers had secured lucrative positions for them with the expectation of generous tribute—without it, who would champion their cause?

Ge Quan’s methods mirrored Guo Jing’s, aiming to carve a share from private frontier trade. But Xuanfu was not Datong. Though both were major garrisons in name, each governed itself. In Datong, the Chief Commander was Marquis Song Ying of Xining; though Yang Hong held high rank, he was not ennobled and could not extend his influence to Datong or manage it as tightly as Xuanfu. Moreover, Song Ying was content to see Guo Jing clash with the Yang family, and with Wang Zhen’s backing, Guo Jing easily took a cut from the Yangs. Ge Quan, however, could never replicate Guo Jing’s success in Xuanfu, no matter how hard he tried.

Xing’an, though a senior eunuch of the Secretariat, was not the emperor’s trusted confidant like Wang Zhen. Yang Hong was not Song Ying, and Xuanfu was not Datong!

Yang Hong had served in the army for forty-two years, nearly thirty of which were spent at Xuanfu. In three decades, Yang Hong had cultivated Xuanfu as his own domain, its roots twined deep and unyielding. To be frank, so long as Yang Hong lived, Xuanfu was not the Ming’s Xuanfu, but the Yang family’s.

Given such circumstances, Ge Quan—possessing only shrewdness and lacking real support from Xing’an—quickly abandoned his ambition, stirring no waves, and after several setbacks, obediently became a shrinking turtle like his predecessors, feigning deafness and blindness, bereft of his initial swagger.

Yet Yang Hong, besides his martial prowess, was adept in human dealings. For decades, his presence in Xuanfu not only cowed the Mongols to the north, who honored him as “King Yang” and sent tribute, but even the present chief of the Oirat, Esen, maintained friendly relations, privately sending him gifts of beautiful women and fine horses. Still, whenever Esen sent gifts, Yang Hong reported them to the court—this alone revealed his mastery of relationships.

Able to inspire such fear among the Oirat and deep trust from the imperial court, Yang Hong could easily handle a minor eunuch like Ge Quan, unseasoned as he was.

After a few hard knocks, Yang Hong turned to win Ge Quan’s favor. Of course, the fat profits Ge Quan coveted were withheld, but the scraps and leftovers were always available, enough for Ge Quan to make his tribute to the palace, though hardly enough to satisfy it. After suffering these blows, Ge Quan learned his place and became another “puppet eunuch,” regularly accepting funds from the Yang family, sending money to the capital, and reporting peace to the palace. In sum, after forty, Eunuch Ge had lost all ambition.

With the Oirat army advancing in three columns and Chief Arla threatening Xuanfu, such an event could not escape the Guardian Eunuch’s notice. Even if Yang Hong wished, it could not be concealed. In light of his supervisory duties, after years of playing the turtle, upon hearing urgent news from Dushi, Eunuch Ge broke his habit of never visiting Yang Hong, took two trusted young eunuchs, and rode in an eight-bearer sedan to the Commander’s Mansion, hoping to learn the situation at the front and report timely to the palace.

To be a Guardian Eunuch with no eyes or ears in the army, forced to visit the Chief Commander to learn military affairs—Ge Quan was truly unique in Ming history.

Able to bend and adapt, he consoled himself: fulfilling duty is no disgrace. As he boarded the sedan, he reassured himself thus.

The Commander’s Mansion was not far from the Guardian Eunuch’s residence—a street and a turn, less than two li in all.

For Ge Quan’s safety, Yang Hong specially assigned twenty personal guards to him, six of whom served as sedan bearers, all tall and robust men. Whenever Ge Quan sat in the sedan and saw these burly fellows outside, he felt a pang of guilt for their trouble.

When the sedan stopped at the Commander’s Mansion, Ge Quan did not alight immediately, but, like others waiting outside, sent a young eunuch with his name card to the gatehouse, unconcerned whether this diminished his dignity.

As the young eunuch went, Ge Quan lounged in the sedan, unhurried and relaxed, showing no sign of anxiety.

He was indeed worried about Dushi Fort, but not about its fall to the Oirat. Rather, he feared how much of the victory Yang Hong would share with him.

Though he had not meddled in military matters for years, he knew that Yang Hong’s foster son, Zhao Mei, commanded Dushi, and Yang Hong’s eldest son, Yang Jun, was leading elite troops to reinforce him. Between them, Dushi had at least eight thousand, if not ten thousand, crack soldiers. With so many brave men defending, Arla could never take the fort.

Arla, that old fox, was surely feigning an attack to satisfy Esen at Datong. Once he met resistance, he would surely withdraw, leaving behind whatever losses. No matter how many, Yang Hong had better share some credit with him, otherwise he would refuse to co-sign the victory report and see how Yang Hong managed without him!

Without the Guardian Eunuch’s signature, no matter how great the achievements at Dushi, Yang Hong could not report them, and even if he did, the court would not recognize them. Holding this trump card, Ge Quan felt confident and unafraid of Yang Hong withholding credit.

As he considered this, the young eunuch returned with news: General Yang was not at home.