Chapter 855: Grand Strategy

On the eighth day of the fourth month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the Qing army marched into Shanhai Pass. Dorgon immediately ordered everyone within Shanhai city to shave their heads. Fan Zhiwan, Li Yutian, Tang Tong, and others dared neither to commit suicide nor to resist, so they could only obey the Qing side's commands.

Dorgon was delighted. He likewise granted Tang Tong a princely title. Moreover, since Fan Zhiwan and Li Yutian were the first major civil officials he had won over, he also granted them marquisates and dukedoms, bestowing lavish rewards without stint.

Every gentry member, great and small, within the pass city also shaved their heads, as did all the Ming troops in every camp—all uniformly adopting the queue.

Apart from Tang Tong's division, Dorgon ordered all these horse and foot soldiers to be subordinated to Prince of the Pacified West Wu Sangui, and the former troops of Liu Zhaoji were treated the same way.

Earlier, Liu Zhaoji had died, and Wu Sangui had immediately led his retainers to exterminate Liu Zhaoji's personal guard retainers in the city. The remainder had no will to resist and were thus absorbed by Wu Sangui. Now when the Qing troops barked orders for them to shave their heads, some tried to resist, but they were quickly suppressed.

Dorgon also issued proclamations to every village, declaring his intent to spare the submissive and share in peace and prosperity. Those who had fled into the mountains and valleys came forward one after another, shaved their heads, and surrendered. That same day, Dorgon ordered Dodo to lead troops westward, while he himself remained at Shanhai Pass to handle various affairs.

On the ninth day, Wu Sangui's subordinates Wu Sanfu, Yang Shen, Guo Yunlong, and others who had been left to guard Ningyuan shaved their heads. The Liaodong Provincial Governor Qiu Minyang and Military Defense Circuit Intendant Zhang Dou, among others in the city, committed suicide to preserve their integrity. That same day, Zu Dabi, Zu Dale, Zu Dacheng, and the other Zu clan officers and generals in Jinzhou all shaved their heads as well.

Under Dorgon's strict orders, they selected twenty thousand elite troops to accompany the Qing forces of the Two Red Banners and the former Two Yellow Banners—Dudu, Luoluohuan, Ashan, Baiyintu, and others—stationed outside Yizhou and Jinzhou, and marched to Shanhai Pass. These troops were placed under Wu Sangui's command to join the main Qing army in the western campaign.

At the same time, the Qing army garrisoned a number of troops in the various cities of Liaoxi. It could be said that without the slightest effort, Dorgon had effectively annexed the vast territory of Liaoxi.

Not only that, the dozens of former Qing red-barbarian cannons that had been captured during the great battle of Jinzhou and placed in the various cities of Liaoxi were also brought along with the army.

When Dorgon saw these red-barbarian cannons, he could not help but stroke them, choking with emotion: "Our great cannons have returned."

He wept with deep feeling, and the surrounding Qing generals all shed tears as well.

On the eighth day, when Wu Sangui opened the pass, an express rider galloped to the Lengkou section of the Great Wall and informed the Marquis of Jibei and Ji Garrison Regional Commander Yang Guozhu, who was still holding firm at the Great Wall, of the matter.

Though alarmed, Yang Guozhu was not thrown into disorder. He still selected crack troops to defend Lengkou, Xifengkou, and other points, only withdrawing the troops from Jielingkou.

He then led his main force to hold the city of Qian'an, intending to block the caitiffs' incursion from both the east and the north, preventing the calamity from spreading.

At this time, someone urgently urged Yang Guozhu to leave immediately—to go beyond the frontier via the west bank of the Luan River, passing through places like Mantaor and heading toward Xuanfu. Or at least to hold the city firmly and not go out to give battle! Otherwise, the caitiff slaves were overwhelmingly powerful, and if they fought in the open field outside the city, disaster was more than likely.

The person who gave Yang Guozhu this warning was none other than the Intelligence Division agent who had previously advised Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen. He was also the courier who had delivered Wang Dou's personal letter this time, the one containing news of the Crown Prince.

After delivering the letter, he had remained at Yang Guozhu's side.

Now he urged Yang Guozhu with even greater urgency, but the old general only sighed and said, "I do not fear death; I only wish to die for a worthy cause."

He said, "I guard the border wall, wishing only that no foreign caitiff may take a single step inside. How then could I sit and watch as barbarian caitiffs rampage unchecked outside?"

The Intelligence Division agent sighed inwardly. This outcome was the same as when he had advised Cao and Wang that day.

Yet, were it not for the loyal integrity they held fast to in their hearts, how could they inspire such admiration?

He likewise made a deep bow, turned, and left, then spurred his horse and galloped urgently out of the city.

Watching the direction in which the courier departed, Yang Guozhu's expression was somewhat complicated. As Ji Garrison Regional Commander, he had a duty to defend his territory. He could not simply hole up inside the city and sit idly by while the slave bandits burned, killed, and plundered outside.

Moreover, he harbored a hidden worry in his heart. He could not see through Wang Dou, and did not know what he intended to do.

He murmured in his heart, "If a day of choice comes, how should I conduct myself?"

That day when the Dashun regime had urged surrender, Yang Guozhu did not oppose Wu Sangui and others seeking wealth and rank in a new dynasty, but in the end, he himself resolved to remain a solitary loyalist of the Great Ming. For generations, his Yang family—his father, his elder brother, his sons and nephews—had all died in battle for the Great Ming. He, Yang Guozhu, also had this heart, only to give his utmost loyalty to the Great Ming.

Therefore, if a choice had to be made in the future, what was he to do?

Yet on one point he could rest assured: looking across the Great Ming, no one treated the common people better than Marquis of Yongning Wang Dou. In the future, under his governance, the people need not worry about lacking good days.

So, he had nothing much to worry about.

Still, he summoned his subordinates and asked their intentions—whether to go or stay, respecting each man's choice.

His subordinates all wished to advance or retreat together with their grand commander. While gratified, Yang Guozhu still instructed them: "If misfortune befalls me, you may hold the city firmly, or flee into Xuanfu Garrison. The Grand General Who Subdues Caitiffs will certainly not treat you poorly."

On the ninth day, Qing troops appeared outside the city of Qian'an. Yang Guozhu led his cavalry out to battle and gained considerable kills.

On the tenth day, the Qing troops grew more numerous. Yang Guozhu fought relying on the city and again gained kills. Dodo urged surrender, but Yang Guozhu refused. That day, the main Qing forces poured in continuously from Jielingkou and Shanhai Pass, their numbers swelling by tens of thousands, finally massing outside the city of Qian'an.

On the eleventh day of the fourth month, Dorgon appeared. He personally sent envoys to urge surrender, and also had Wu Sangui, Fan Zhiwan, and others call out to persuade him. Yang Guozhu rejected them all with righteous and stern words.

Dorgon then stated that this Qing western advance harbored no ambition, but was solely to avenge your sovereign and father, coming purely to exterminate the roving bandits. If Yang Guozhu would not surrender, that was acceptable, but Dorgon hoped he could join forces and advance west together to suppress the bandits. Yang Guozhu still refused.

At the hour of Si, Dorgon ordered the attack. Yang Guozhu deployed his troops for battle relying on the city. He saw the Qing banners on the opposite side like a sea, their men and horses like a tide, and the roar that erupted was like a tsunami. He looked at the troops around him—over ten thousand men, though numerous, seemed so insignificant compared to the caitiff slave battle lines across from them.

Yet as far as the eye could see, the dense forest of firearms, banners, and flags stood firm. Every soldier he saw bore an expression of resolve, without the slightest trace of fear.

He abruptly drew his blade and roared, "All officers and men, today let the slave bandits know that our Great Ming dynasty also has men of loyalty and heroism! Kill the slaves!"

All the officers and men under his command roared along with Yang Guozhu. They shouted with all their might, their gazes steady, without fear. Their overwhelming, mountain-toppling shouts rolled across the earth like spring thunder, soaring over this majestic and vast land of You and Yan.

For the soldiers and civilians of Xuanfu and Shanxi, the news that the capital had fallen in just two days was something no one had anticipated. Wen Daxing, chief of the Protectorate's Intelligence Division, wished to resign to take responsibility for the failure. Wang Dou refused, ordering him to redeem himself through meritorious service.

The Intelligence Division closely monitored the situation in the capital. The matter of the roving bandits extorting wealth for military funds naturally did not escape their eyes. They meticulously gathered intelligence and published it in the Xuanfu Times.

Like a thunderclap, the roving bandits' actions in the capital, spread by the newspapers, swiftly reached every corner of Xuanfu Garrison, the Protectorate, Shanxi, and Shaanxi.

"Clamped with five wooden boards, torments of the utmost cruelty..."

"Bandit soldiers broke down doors house by house to extort wealth, every household drained to the dregs..."

"Women defiled in great numbers, the common people wailed until they had no tears left..."

"Suicides by hanging seen everywhere, scholars and commoners alike filled with remorse..."

"Back then they opened the gates to welcome the bandits; today they regret it beyond remedy."

The newspapers expounded on this at great length, page after page, shocking to the eye, making one's hair stand on end just to read or hear of it.

Even "Sunrise in the East" and "Admirer of Jin Ping Mei," who often took opposing stances in the papers, spoke with one voice, condemning the roving bandits' madness and depravity. If they had their own reasons for hating ennobled officials and corrupt mandarins, why did the bandits not spare even the common people?

What crime had the common people committed, to suffer such calamity?

The Xuanzhen Times had originally been published once every six days. After the extortion-for-military-funds affair was published, new content appeared every day, revealing all manner of details and stirring up wave after wave of uproar throughout Xuanfu Garrison.

Yanqing Department remained as bustling as ever. This place had many old literati and gentry, as well as families of outside officials and wealthy merchants. The Manfulou Teahouse near the City God Temple had been especially packed in recent days. After listening to the storyteller read the newspaper aloud, all the patrons sighed.

One man sighed, "The common people of the capital are so pitiful. The roving bandits are truly deranged."

Another sneered, "Pitiful? Pitiful people must have detestable traits. Didn't you hear what the newspaper said? Back then, every official and commoner in the capital wanted to welcome the bandits, saying, 'When the roving bandits come, I will open the gate and invite them in.' Well, now the gates are open—have they gotten the result they wanted? They aren't worth pitying!"

Yet another added, "With the capital's fortifications, if only the army and people had been united in purpose, holding out for a year or half a year, even several years, would have been effortless. How could it fall in just two days? The capital fell in two days because the officials and commoners themselves worked together to make it happen. You reap what you sow. Everything they've gone through is their own doing."

The first man sighed. Some of the old literati and old gentry sitting in the teahouse also remained silent and speechless. After migrating to Xuanfu, though they had increasingly integrated into the whole, it was not that they harbored no discontent in their hearts, nor that they had not held expectations for the Dashun regime in the capital.

But now all their hopes were gone, leaving only creeping horror — and a secret relief in their hearts.

……

Datong Garrison, Lingqiu County, the opera stage on Wenchangge Wuyamen Street.

After the storyteller on stage finished singing the news, a troupe began performing the events in the capital. The audience packed tightly below wept without exception, many even wailing aloud.

The stall owner craned his neck to watch. Hearing a customer call for the bill, he hastily wiped his tears and scrambled to take the money. He listened as several customers sat at the stall. One sat stunned and said, “How can this be? Weren’t the righteous armies supposed to impose no corvée and no grain tax, with strict military discipline that forbids the slightest offense?”

A man beside him sneered, “That was just the roving bandits’ lying talk to fool the people. They’re masters of fake virtue. Now they can’t keep up the act, so their true faces show.”

Another sneered too, “Indeed no corvée and no grain tax — so they have no money and no rice, and can only survive by looting. The most capable man in the Great Ming today is Marquis Yongning, and even under his rule taxes and levies are collected. What virtue do the roving bandits possess that they dare collect no grain?”

Yet another looked at him with unfriendly eyes and said, “Sun Sanlang, are you still longing for the roving bandits like before? Be careful — if the bandits come, can you even keep your wife safe?”

That Sun Sanlang sat there blankly, deaf to everyone’s mockery and jeers. His expression was dull, his face holding only a wooden emptiness.

Judging by his dress, he too came from a poor household, and there was a trace of resentment on his face. Such a man was the most discontented with reality and had been the main force that once longed for the Chuang army.

But seeing him now, one knew the faith and hope in his heart had shattered, leaving only terror and utter bewilderment.

……

The Protectorate, Monan Eastern Garrison, a garrison farmstead at Shachengbao.

“…No, don’t take my family’s rice! This is the last bit of grain we have — without it, the whole family, young and old, will starve to death…”

“…I beg you, heavenly soldiers, my lords, don’t take away our daughter…”

The troupe performed on stage. The woman on stage wailed with piercing grief, her despair stabbing at the heart with every cry. The garrison folk below also wept in waves.

……

Scenes from such troupes played out everywhere — Guihua City, Taiyuan Prefecture, Pingyang Prefecture, even parts of Shaanxi and so on — interspersed with newspaper readings and news singing. Wherever they went, audiences surged like the tide, stirring an overwhelmingly powerful response.

Now even old women in the countryside knew something of the capital’s events and understood that the roving bandits were beasts in human guise, no good thing at all.

Of course, the Xuanfu Times was rich in content. It did not speak only of the roving bandits; it also told how the slave bandits had once again pressed close to the passes with ill intent.

But the main focus was still on the roving bandits’ doings in the capital — the extortion of ill-gotten gains to aid military funds, the plundering of the common people, and all manner of details, exposing their true faces and dispelling the people’s wishful thinking. As for the Tatars…

They needed no more propaganda.

That was for the ordinary common folk, whom the Intelligence Department reached through newspaper readings, opera troupes, and the like. As for the gentry, officials, and officers in Xuanfu Garrison, the Protectorate, Shanxi, and elsewhere, they had the means to buy newspapers. They too cared deeply about the capital’s events and naturally never missed a single issue.

When they saw the newspapers, they too were utterly shocked. In truth, they had vaguely heard something of the roving bandits’ deeds in the capital, but they had not known the details as the newspapers gave them — article after article that made one feel as if one were there in person, hair standing on end.

They were also the ones who felt it most keenly. The roving bandits torturing and extorting officials, officers, and gentry in the capital was as if the torture were being inflicted on their own bodies.

They dared not imagine what they would do if one day the same fate befell them.

Once, when the roving bandits pressed toward the capital, their feelings had been mixed. Some had privately debated whether the Great Ming’s mandate was exhausted and whether they should surrender to welcome a new master, changing dynasties to live new lives.

But now, all such thoughts were gone.

As the newspapers and other propaganda spread in all directions, reactions surged from every region — shock, disbelief, terror, and more — until at last they merged into a single voice.

Send forth the troops, exterminate the roving bandits!

The tragedy of the capital must not be reenacted in Xuanfu, Shanxi, and elsewhere.

While the roving bandits were still in the capital indulging themselves and forgetting to return, they must strike first and gain the upper hand.

An inconceivable thing: never before, not for a single day, had the minds of the people in Xuanfu Garrison, the Protectorate, Shanxi, and elsewhere been so united. Regardless of gender, regardless of age, regardless of class, all shared a single mind — exterminate the roving bandits!

For a time, all eyes were fixed on Marquis Yongning, Wang Dou. Everyone was asking: when would Marquis Yongning march?

……

On the seventh day of the fourth month, inside the Grand General’s residence in Xuanfu Garrison City, the man everyone awaited and watched, Marquis Yongning Wang Dou, was calmly writing something.

Although Wang Dou had gone to Guihua City to serve as Grand Protector of the Protectorate, his Grand General’s residence in Xuanfu Garrison was still kept. Everything remained as it had been. Especially after news came that the roving bandits had taken the capital, his main command headquarters had even moved into Xuanfu Garrison City.

Now, in his office, at that huge, thick desk, Wang Dou was writing in a thick ledger. It was densely filled with over a hundred items, and Wang Dou was pondering several of them.

He looked at one item inside: “…Below the county, establish townships; below the townships, establish bao. All township heads are to be appointed by superiors, at the rank of Principal Grade Nine. Each township shall establish one patrol station, with the patrol chief at the rank of Deputy Grade Nine…”

He thought it over and changed it to: township heads and bao heads are all to be appointed by superiors; bao heads are also not to be elected by the bao people, and they shall receive treatment at the Deputy Grade Nine rank. The clerks and scribes for each township, originally about fifteen to twenty people, are changed to twenty to thirty people.

One very important reason for the Ming’s decline and fall was that imperial authority did not extend below the township. When the Qing soldiers entered the pass at the end of the Ming, resisters numbered in the thousands and tens of thousands, but for lack of organization, the local righteous people ultimately became a disorderly mob. How could they be a match for the organized, elite Qing soldiers?

Therefore, extending imperial authority down to the townships, registering households and ordering the people, is especially important.

As for township heads and bao heads not being elected by the local bao people, that is to prevent township authority from ultimately being seized by powerful local figures.

After all, the common people are mostly ignorant and shortsighted, and they carry a gene for timidity and fear of trouble. If they can avoid sticking their necks out, they will. The final result is that local governance falls into the hands of local strongmen.

So it is all changed to appointment by superiors. Only thus can one command from the center to the localities as easily as an arm moves a finger.

He looked at the source of local funding. Originally it was allocated by the central government. He thought it over and instead wrote: “Local farming households and the like shall only maintain the regular tax and be exempted from all miscellaneous levies. But mining operations and the like shall be nationalized and operated by the various local government offices themselves. Fifty percent of the profits shall be turned over to the national treasury; the remainder shall be kept locally for operating funds and official bonuses.”

On education, he revised and wrote: “Each township shall have at least one primary school. Each county shall have at least one middle school. Each province shall have at least one university.”

Education is extremely important and brooks no neglect. Currently, every township in Xuanfu Garrison already has several primary schools. Originally, considering that everywhere else in the Great Ming had a hundred things waiting to be done, Wang Dou had not rigidly stipulated how many primary schools each township must have. Now, on reflection, he felt a rigid stipulation was necessary.

He also looked at the item on training former Ming officials and officers. All must enter the Xuanfu Garrison Military Academy and Civil Affairs Academy for training, lasting from half a year to a full year. During the training period, they must also go to Xuanfu Garrison, the Protectorate, and the Jingbian Army and other places to “observe governance.” Only those who pass may be assigned as officials and officers throughout the Great Ming.

The Great Ming originally also had “governance observation” regulations, but they were only for Metropolitan Graduates, and only as internships in the central ministries and courts, not for grassroots tempering. On the whole, what one could learn was mostly still how to “be an official” rather than how to “do things,” so the results were poor and must be changed.

That item originally read: “The Military Academy and Civil Affairs Academy shall be moved to the capital.” Wang Dou thought it over and revised it to: “They shall remain in their original locations.”

Xuanfu Garrison, the Protectorate, and such places should remain as influential areas and exporters of advanced culture.

He also looked at the first-phase training roster appended to this item. On it were the dispositions and fates of certain people.

“Wang Pu: after training, transfer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for duty. If he refuses, execute him.”

“Wang Pu’s father, Wang Wei: after training, transfer to the General Staff for duty. If he refuses, execute him.”

“Wu Sangui: if he opens the pass, exterminate the Wu and Zu clans entirely. If he does not open the pass, after training transfer to the northwest to join the western campaign. If he refuses, execute him.”

“Sun Kewang: after training, transfer to the northwest to join the western campaign. If he refuses, execute him.”

“Li Dingguo: after training, transfer to the south to join the Nanyang campaign. If he refuses, execute him.”

“Zheng Zhilong: after training, transfer to the south to join the Nanyang campaign. If he refuses, execute him.”

“Zheng Chenggong: after training, campaign against Dongfan, expel the Dutch. If he refuses, execute him.”

Wang Dou’s gaze lingered long on the names Li Dingguo and Zheng Chenggong above. He considered changing the entry to “Refuse to comply, grant amnesty,” but in the end kept “Execute them” unchanged.

And the next article: “Designate the Two Capitals and Thirteen Provinces, Monan, and Liaodong as Shenzhou. Prohibit all fiefs and enfeoffed states within Shenzhou territory. Establish the Anxi Protectorate, with a raiding range reaching the Caspian Sea. The Anbei Protectorate, with a raiding range reaching the Arctic Ocean. The Andong Protectorate, with a raiding range covering Dongfan, Australia, Hawaii, and the west coast of North America. Establish the Annan Protectorate, with a raiding range covering the Southern Seas, India, and other regions.”

“This is a hundred-year objective. To mobilize the people’s strength and rouse the nation’s initiative, establish a fief-lord system. Those of outstanding merit may all be enfeoffed and rewarded. Whoever conquers ten thousand square kilometers of land for the state shall be rewarded with ten square kilometers of land — roughly fifteen thousand mu, the territory of one village — and granted the rank of State Scholar.”

“Whoever conquers one hundred thousand square kilometers of land for the state shall be rewarded with one hundred square kilometers of land — roughly the territory of one township — and granted the title of Baron.”

“Whoever conquers one million square kilometers of land for the state shall be rewarded with one thousand square kilometers of land — roughly the territory of one county — and granted the title of Viscount.”

“Regardless of origin, regardless of family status, regardless of gender, all who render merit shall be rewarded. The maximum fief shall be one county, with an upper land limit of five thousand square kilometers, stopping at the rank of Count.”

“A lord’s military strength is capped at one thousand. They possess personnel and administrative authority, and economic autonomy, but must remit taxes to the central government and have no educational or diplomatic authority. In legal matters, they may possess partial local laws, but the supreme law is the central state law. Should any territorial law conflict with central law, central law shall take precedence over territorial local law.”

“Furthermore, lords shall hold central civil and military offices, with unified administrative and military orders. In peacetime they enjoy the treatment of their noble rank; in wartime they are subject to military command discipline.”

Wang Dou studied this article. Throughout the successive dynasties of the Central Plains, external expansion had always been feeble — for many reasons — but the failure to rouse the people’s initiative was certainly one. Thus when the Central Plains was strong it expanded outward; when weak, its territory shrank considerably.

As mighty as the glorious Tang was, at its territorial peak it reached the Aral Sea to the west — yet when it weakened…

In former days, ten thousand li of territory in the Western Regions; today, the frontier pass lies at Fengxiang.

There are many reasons why conquered lands were not held, but the common people never benefited from the dynasty’s expansion. On the contrary, every military conscription ruined families utterly, so everyone cried that war was perilous, war was perilous, and regarded expansion as bitter toil.

Look instead at the Western nations, ceaselessly expanding their territories and colonies — precisely because their citizens also reaped benefits from expansion, naturally every man was eager.

Thus Wang Dou established the fief-lord system precisely to rouse the nation’s initiative. Though it carried future perils, the advantages clearly outweighed the drawbacks.

Moreover, even if in the future these lands did not belong to the Central Plains’ territory, they would still be part of the Han cultural sphere, and in time could readily form an economic, military, and cultural alliance.

To expand into a territory and hold it also required a vast population. Wang Dou looked at the population sources listed after this article: besides encouraging migration, there was also exile.

He stared at the line above: “Initiate five great judicial campaigns, exiling one million five hundred thousand people from Jiangnan.” He looked at it for a long time, thought for a long time, and in the end still changed it to: “Initiate seven great judicial campaigns, exiling two million people from Jiangnan.”

Wang Dou read and revised article by article. He lit a cigarette and smoked.

His gaze was deep, his expression calm. A magnificent epic, ten thousand li of rivers and mountains, all bloomed beneath his brush. Every line he wrote, even every word, concerned the fates of thousands upon thousands of people — yet he simply wrote and revised, calmly.