Chapter 135: Victory Report Spreads, Lu Xiangsheng (End)

Chen Xinjia was overjoyed at the report. The Qing troops had been rampaging unchecked through Xuanfu territory, which had already made him worry that his official position would be unstable afterward — now, all was well.

He swiftly copied the victory dispatch for the files, then forwarded the relevant documents to the Censor’s office, urging them to proceed quickly to inspect and verify, compile the records, and submit them to the Ministry of War.

The Regional Inspector acts on behalf of the Emperor, touring the realm, impeaching local officials, punishing corruption, and also bearing the duty of verifying battle achievements. The current Investigating Censor for Xuanfu had already been replaced from Liu Bangzhen of the seventh year of Chongzhen to Xue Caide. Every Regional Inspector in the Great Ming served a tour of one year and, without special court approval, could not serve a second tour.

Chen Xinjia pressed urgently, so Xue Caide set out from the garrison city and went to Huailai City to verify the battle achievements.

Circuit Intendant of Huailong Ji Shiwei warmly welcomed Xue Caide and his party. After wining and dining, a lavish gift was naturally prepared. Nowadays, the Investigating Censors of the Great Ming no longer possessed the moral backbone of old; taking bribes and corruption were commonplace. However, Censor Xue was a man of principle — he accepted the gift, but the business still had to be done.

The heads had long since been transferred from Shunxiang Fort to Baoan Guard City, and then from Baoan Guard City to Huailai Route City. All two hundred and eighty-one heads were preserved intact with lime.

Xue Caide meticulously examined them one by one, carefully studying them with the three attendant clerks beside him. For each head, he first looked at the queue and hair, then the face, and finally the teeth. He even held them up to the sunlight, turning them this way and that, scrutinizing them closely.

"A genuine slave head!"

"A genuine slave!"

"A genuine slave..."

As more and more heads were examined, the expression on Xue Caide's face grew increasingly astonished. Finally, all the heads were inspected — all two hundred and eighty-one were genuine Tartar heads, not a single one belonging to a woman or a Han Chinese killed and passed off as a false claim.

Xue Caide stood there dumbfounded, finding it utterly inconceivable. In the Great Ming army, falsely reporting battle achievements and killing innocents to claim credit was commonplace. Xue Caide had seen Ji Shiwei's brimming confidence and assured manner and assumed he might have taken some Qing soldier heads, but out of two hundred and eighty-one heads, he was certain the majority would be women or commoners passed off as soldiers. If uncovered, he could extort a hefty sum from Ji Shiwei. He never expected...

He stood there dazed for a long while, then suddenly said, "Bring water."

Ji Shiwei and Feng Shilei behind him exchanged a smile. Stroking his long beard, he stood there smiling — no one could deny his handsome bearing. He ordered a servant, "Bring water for Censor Xue."

Several large water buckets were carried over. Xue Caide casually tossed a head from the pile into one. With a splash, water sprayed everywhere, and then the head floated in the water, a hideous, contorted face glaring ferociously at Xue Caide.

"Face upward means male, face downward means female. The queue and hair are limp and subdued, clearly shaved long ago — this is a genuine slave."

One of the attendants whispered beside Xue Caide.

Xue Caide nodded unconsciously. After carelessly tossing a few more heads into the water bucket, he washed his hands with soap pods, then suddenly bowed deeply to Ji Shiwei: "Lord Ji, a great victory in beheading the enemy — you have bolstered the morale and fighting spirit of our Great Ming. This Censor is full of admiration."

Ji Shiwei was in an exceedingly fine mood. He chuckled heartily: "As a subject of the Great Ming, slaying bandits for the country is one's duty. The Censor overpraises me."

Laughing genially, he invited Xue Caide to take a seat in the front hall, and the two of them were all harmony and goodwill once more.

After the inspection, the Investigating Censor compiled the documents and verified the list of personnel who had rendered meritorious service. When the heads from Baoan Guard were being escorted to Huailai City, Mobile Corps Commander Mao Bin of the Eastern Route and Assistant Regional Commander Zhang Guowei of Yongning had engaged in a fierce dispute. Under Ji Shiwei's mediation, the matter was ultimately resolved satisfactorily.

Baoan Guard City yielded one hundred heads, of which Mao Bin received forty and Zhang Guowei received sixty. Throughout the Eastern Route, everyone was delighted.

In the early and middle periods of the Great Ming, when Investigating Censors verified battle achievements, they were also required to personally visit the battlefield for on-site inspection and summon the meritorious personnel to inquire about the circumstances. No one knew when this practice had disappeared.

The heads were genuine, the documents for the meritorious personnel had been meticulously organized by the Huailong Circuit Intendant's office, and no one had raised any objections. Censor Xue thus copied the merit documents provided by Ji Shiwei in triplicate. In the roster, only one place — a location called Shunxiang Fort under Baoan Department City — drew the Censor's attention: "A mere Garrison Commander of a single fort could actually behead eighty?"

Censor Xue shook his head in disbelief and took special note of that minor officer named Wang Dou.

After the documents were copied, aside from one set kept for reference and one set reported to the Viceroy's office, one set was immediately dispatched by fast horse along with the victory report to the Ministry of War.

At this time, Qing troops were already rampaging through the capital region, and the relay reports were delayed on the road. It was not until the eleventh day of the eighth month that the victory report reached the capital.

The victory report reached the Grand Secretariat, causing a stir. Even the Chongzhen Emperor himself was alerted. The Qing forces were overwhelming, and city after city was falling. Only the Eastern Route of Xuanfu Garrison produced this streak of brilliance — two hundred and eighty-one heads taken. Amidst the pervasive gloom, this achievement stood out with striking clarity.

The Chongzhen Emperor personally read the victory report and even examined the names of the meritorious personnel in the documents one by one. When he came to Wang Dou's name, he paused, pointed at it, and asked those beside him: "Who is this Wang Dou? So fierce and valiant — to actually behead eighty?"

At that time, the Senior Grand Secretary was Wen Tiren, the Minister of Personnel was Xie Sheng, the Minister of Revenue was Hou Xun, and only the Minister of War, Zhang Fengyi, was away commanding troops, supervising the various relief armies in battle against the Qing forces.

Under His Majesty's attention and the Senior Grand Secretary's strict orders, even though the Minister of War was absent, the various officials of the Ministry of War verified and confirmed the facts at unprecedented speed. They then swiftly forwarded the documents to the Chief Surveillance Bureau, which immediately dispatched personnel to Xuanfu Garrison to locate Investigating Censor Xue Caide and examine the original records...

On the seventeenth day of the seventh month in the ninth year of Chongzhen, after the Qing troops captured Changping, on the nineteenth, the Qing western and eastern route armies joined forces — nearly one hundred thousand men surging mightily into the Great Ming's capital region.

Soon after, they captured Liangxiang, then besieged Shunyi. Shunyi County Magistrate Shangguan Jin, Mobile Corps Commander Zhi Guoqi, and Regional Military Commissioner Su Shiyu held the city in stubborn defense. The city fell, and Shangguan Jin, Zhi Guoqi, Su Shiyu, and the others all died in battle. The commoners' wealth and goods were plundered completely.

The Qing army pressed its advantage, capturing Baodi, Dingxing, Ansu, Dacheng, Xiongxian, Anzhou, and other prefectures and counties near the capital. At this time, in the vicinity of the capital, Minister of War Zhang Fengyi had volunteered to supervise the armies, along with Viceroy of Xuanda Liang Tingdong, plus the relief troops from various garrisons, including the capital battalions — altogether over one hundred thousand men — yet they cowered in fear, not daring to give battle, and sat watching as the Qing army plundered to its fill.

Due to the ceaseless memorials of impeachment from the censors, Zhang Fengyi and Liang Tingdong judged that they could not escape punishment. They therefore took large doses of rhubarb daily, seeking death. Because of the excessive dosage, the two died in succession in the ninth month. After their deaths, both were sentenced by imperial decree to the crime of execution by dismemberment, and their family properties were confiscated.

In the eighth month, Regional Commander of Datong Wang Pu attacked Qing troops at Zhuozhou and reported a victory with over a thousand heads taken. It was later verified that the majority were innocent civilians killed to claim credit.

The Qing forces were overwhelming. The Chongzhen Emperor summoned Lu Xiangsheng to lead his army into the capital's defense and again bestowed upon him the Imperial Sword. At this time, Lu Xiangsheng, in his capacity as Vice Minister of War, was overseeing the military affairs of seven provinces — Sichuan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Huguang, Shandong, and Jiangbei. Not long before, he had just inflicted a great defeat on the armies of Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, and others at Chuzhou and Mount Qixiang. Upon receiving the order, Lu Xiangsheng had no choice but to lead his army north to relieve the capital. Li Zicheng and the others narrowly escaped and fled, gaining a chance to catch their breath.

On the twentieth day of the eighth month, Lu Xiangsheng led his army to Zhending Prefecture. The Qing troops had already withdrawn, and the martial law in the capital was lifted.

On the twenty-eighth, the main Qing force exited the pass through Jianchang and Lengkou, playing music as if in triumph and holding aloft wooden placards reading "Officials Need Not See Us Off." At this time, the Qing elite troops were at the front, while the captured population and goods slowly followed at the rear. The bulk of the Ming army dared not pursue. Only Army Supervisor of Yongping Liu Jingyao, furious and indignant, led his troops to fight at Zaohe Village in Qian'an. In a night raid, they killed over two hundred Qing soldiers.

On the eighth day of the ninth month, Qing Prince of Wuying Commandery Ajige reported victory. His army had entered the Great Wall directly, passed through Baoding, reached Anzhou, captured twelve cities, and won all fifty-six engagements, taking over one hundred seventy thousand captives and livestock, and capturing alive Ming Regional Commander Chao Pichang.

On the fifteenth day of the ninth month in the ninth year of Chongzhen, the Qing troops had all withdrawn beyond the frontier. In this calamity, the Great Ming suffered grievous losses.

On the twentieth day of the ninth month in the ninth year of Chongzhen, because Minister of War Zhang Fengyi had died, the Chongzhen Emperor urgently needed a talented and decisive Minister of War to oversee the overall situation. He surveyed the court officials but found none he could use, so he summoned Yang Sichang, who was in mourning at home, to take up the post.

Yang Sichang had previously served as Viceroy of Xuanda. At that time, the peasant uprisings had already become a prairie fire. Yang Sichang had racked his brains and submitted several memorials offering strategies: "Request the opening of gold, silver, copper, and tin mines to disperse their bands. Also submitted six memorials on frontier affairs, with many plans and designs." This left a deep impression on the Chongzhen Emperor, who considered him a talent fit for the Grand Secretariat.

With the deaths of former Viceroy of Xuanda Liang Tingdong and Zhang Fengyi, the Chongzhen Emperor simultaneously decreed the promotion of Lu Xiangsheng to Left Vice Minister of War, with the post of Viceroy of Xuanda and Shanxi military affairs for frontier defense. Lu Xiangsheng requested an audience to take leave of His Majesty and discuss statecraft face to face, but was not granted permission.

"Eighty heads taken — I never imagined that among the guard battalions, there could be such a valiant commander!"

On the twenty-third day of the ninth month, Lu Xiangsheng arrived at Huailai Route City in Xuanfu Garrison. Circuit Intendant of Huailong Ji Shiwei and the relevant personnel of the route city had the honor of receiving Lu Xiangsheng and his party.

As soon as he arrived in Huailai, Lu Xiangsheng could not wait and immediately requested to see the detailed documents in the Circuit Intendant's office.

He had long since read the relevant relay reports about this great victory. The Eastern Route of Xuanfu Garrison had taken two hundred and eighty-one heads — Lu Xiangsheng found it inconceivable. However, all parties had verified it as true, and the Ministry of War was already deliberating how to promote and reward the relevant personnel and provide compensation for the wounded and fallen soldiers. Since the reward silver had to come from the Ministry of Rites, the Minister of Rites claimed his ministry had no funds and that the silver should come from the Ministry of War. The two sides began wrangling, and the matter of promotions and rewards was delayed and could not be settled, leaving the hopeful personnel waiting with burning anxiety.

In this great victory on the Eastern Route of Xuanfu Garrison, of the two hundred and eighty-one heads taken, the troops under Assistant Regional Commander Zhang Guowei of Yongning accounted for sixty, and the troops under Mobile Corps Commander Mao Bin of the Eastern Route accounted for forty. Lu Xiangsheng considered them valiant and daring in battle, but still within the realm of normalcy.

What he had not expected was that among the guard battalions, Baoan Guard City had taken sixty-one heads, and within Baoan Department City, the tally had reached one hundred and twenty — this was truly inconceivable. Since when had the defense officers and troops of the guard battalions become so capable in battle?

What surprised Lu Xiangsheng even more was that a place called Shunxiang Fort, subordinate to Baoan Department City, had taken as many as eighty heads. This astonished Lu Xiangsheng greatly. He also developed a keen interest in that minor Garrison Commander at Shunxiang Fort named Wang Dou.

Hearing Lu Xiangsheng so praise the officers and soldiers under his jurisdiction, Ji Shiwei's face bloomed with smiles. Beaming with delight, he said: "My lord, that Wang Dou is indeed fierce and valiant. In the seventh year of Chongzhen, he and a few night scouts risked their lives to raid the enemy camp, taking ten slave bandit heads in battle. From a mere common soldier, he was directly promoted to Platoon Leader. Who would have thought that this time he would again render such great merit? This is all thanks to His Majesty's great fortune and your lordship's martial prestige!"

Lu Xiangsheng smiled and nodded. He said: "By His Majesty's command, this Viceroy oversees the affairs of Xuanda and Shanxi. This Baoan Department Guard is also a fort under my jurisdiction. They have rendered such great merit — this Viceroy will personally go to commend and console them."

Ji Shiwei hurriedly said: "My lord cares so deeply for the officers and soldiers — this humble official is endlessly moved with admiration. I shall certainly accompany you on the visit."