Chapter 154: Contradictions

As feudatory princes, Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao were already independent of the local military and civil administration in Guangdong. In their actions they answered only to the Qing court, not to the Guangdong authorities.

In name, the Governor-General of Guangdong was the province's highest military and civil official; in practice, Li Shuaitai, as Governor-General of Guangdong, had to take orders from the princes — at least in military matters he had no independent command authority.

And when the princes acted, they needed only to notify him; there was no need whatsoever to consult the Governor-General of Guangdong for his opinion. In fact, the two feudatories of Pingnan and Jingnan were already semi-independent.

They were merely waiting for the Southern Ming Yongli regime to be completely finished, after which the two feudatories would obtain their lands in perpetual enfeoffment.

All military, civil, and fiscal authority in the province would fall into the princely households, making them true feudatory princes — and by then the Qing court could only treat them as it did Korea.

A feudatory prince who obeyed summons but not decrees had always been a great taboo for any central government — and this court was a barbarian court at that, so it was bound to be extremely wary of the emergence of Han feudatory princes.

Down through the dynasties, cases of reducing the feudatories had occurred again and again. The Ming dynasty itself had seen the Jingnan campaign arise from reducing a feudatory.

Who could be certain these Han feudatory princes would not become another Prince of Yan?

As a kinsman of the Great Qing, as a proper member of the Han Banners, and as one who had long regarded himself as a Manchu, Governor-General Li Shuaitai of Guangdong could not help but consider the future.

Though the matter was still far off, that did not hinder his sincere heart of "worrying for the state and the people."

As early as the fifth year of Shunzhi, when the Qing regent Dorgon ordered Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, and Geng Zhongming to lead their old troops south, he had granted them extremely broad authority, promising that in the future all three princes could obtain a province in the south as their hereditary enfeoffed domain.

To this day, although Dorgon had been dead seven years, the Qing court had not denied the promise he had made to the three princes.

It was only that the Prince of Dingnan, Kong Youde, had died at Guilin, and Geng Zhongming had killed himself out of fear over the fugitive-slave affair. Now only Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao, who had inherited his father's princely title, remained.

Dorgon's promise to the three princes back then was to some extent because, after entering the pass, Manchu troops had suffered too many casualties.

Relying on a few tens of thousands of Manchu Eight Banners plus an equal number of Mongol Eight Banners was simply not enough to defeat the Southern Ming, nor to carry out effective occupation of the interior.

Dorgon therefore adopted the policy of using Han to control Han, ordering Kong Youde and the other two, who had surrendered to the Qing years earlier, to lead their old troops south.

To encourage them to risk their lives for the Qing court, he enfeoffed the three as princes, and at the same time promised that in the future the three princes could each select a province in the south for perpetual enfeoffment.

By now, the circumstances behind Dorgon's original enfeoffment had changed. The Southern Ming regime held only a few southwestern provinces, while the Qing court already possessed more than half of China.

Although the Southern Ming had gained the support of the Daxi Army and was now confronting the Qing army in Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong, and elsewhere — and although the great Southern Ming general Li Dingguo had twice defeated the Qing army, slain Prince Nikan in battle, and burned the Prince of Dingnan Kong Youde to death — the overall Ming-Qing standoff still favored the Qing, with the Ming at a disadvantage.

After all, the southwestern provinces were too ruined; in neither manpower nor resources could they compare with a Qing court that held more than half of China. Thus, in the eyes of the world, the Qing court would sooner or later destroy the Southern Ming and secure the realm.

Since the Qing court was certain to win the empire, Dorgon's original promise of perpetual enfeoffment to the three princes had become a headache for the court. On one hand, the Southern Ming was still resisting.

On the other, the main forces the Qing court now used against the Southern Ming were all Han.

If the court repudiated Dorgon's policy at this moment, it would inevitably plant in the Han officials and Han generals serving the Qing the thought that "when the cunning hares are dead, the hunting dogs are cooked," and it would also alienate Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao from the court.

If the situation shifted as a result, the loss to the Qing court would certainly outweigh the gain.

That three princes had now become two was not necessarily a bad thing. If the Qing court truly honored Dorgon's original promise of enfeoffment, then in the future it would have one fewer province to give away — clearly a very economical outcome.

Although the Shunzhi Emperor did not see it that way, he could not withstand the pressure of the entire court of civil and military officials, and could only hold his nose and accept the matter. Still, it was not as though he had done nothing.

Back when Geng Zhongming died over the fugitive-slave affair, Shunzhi had kept delaying Geng Jimao's inheritance of his father's princely title, precisely with the idea of giving away one fewer province.

That idea was rather petty, and it was only his mother's repeated persuasion that finally let Geng Jimao inherit the title. Otherwise, the present Prince of Jingnan would probably still be holding some insignificant rank like First-Class Jingfan Hachi.

Divining the sovereign's will was an essential knack of officialdom, let alone for a Governor-General of Guangdong who "worried for the state and the people." Thus, since taking office, Li Shuaitai had shown considerable resistance to the Pingnan and Jingnan feudatories.

He dared not move on major matters, but his petty maneuvers never stopped. In the months since taking office, apart from the standard camp troops he had brought from the north, he had finally managed to infiltrate the Guangdong Green Standard somewhat.

By now he could command a few thousand camp soldiers to some degree. If the two Guangdong feudatories truly harbored disloyal intentions, these few thousand camp soldiers would be the Governor-General's greatest safeguard.

Beyond that, Li Shuaitai had repeatedly memorialized the Qing court, hoping the court would establish a Manchu city in Guangzhou and appoint a garrison general.

With Manchu troops stationed there, Guangzhou would be in no danger of being lost, now or in the future — and as long as Guangzhou did not fall, the situation in Guangdong would never completely rot.

Unfortunately, Guangdong lay in the south, where the climate was too hot; northern Manchu soldiers simply could not endure such weather, and so the Qing court had long delayed approving Li Shuaitai's request.

Last year, when Li Dingguo's great army invaded, men like Hahamu who had come from Beijing could not wait to lead their troops back north to escape the heat as soon as Li Dingguo's army withdrew — which only left Li Shuaitai's request without any support.

Upon learning that Shang Kexi had already dispatched troops to reinforce Xinhui, Li Shuaitai had nothing to say. The two feudatories' dominance in military matters was not something he could interfere with.

But as for Shang Zhixin, who was leading the reinforcements to Xinhui, Li Shuaitai held him in considerable contempt.

In his view, the heir of the Prince of Pingnan — Shang Zhixin, who had just turned twenty this year — was a living, breathing wastrel, and a wildly arrogant, domineering, hot-tempered wastrel at that.

That Shang Kexi had not sent a great general to the rescue, but instead dispatched his own insufferably conceited son to command the troops, gave Li Shuaitai no small worry over the fate of Xinhui.

And Shang Zhixin, leading his troops out of the city to relieve Xinhui, was himself full of resentment, unable to understand why his father had agreed to that brat Geng Jimao's request and put him in command.

Though both belonged to the Han Banners and both were feudatory princes enfeoffed by the Qing court, Shang Kexi was of the Han Bordered Yellow Banner, while Geng Jimao was of the Han Bordered Blue Banner.

As heir of the Prince of Pingnan, Shang Zhixin found Geng Jimao thoroughly disagreeable in every way.

By age, Geng Jimao was actually a year younger than him, so watching the younger Geng Jimao inherit a princely title and become a prince, while he himself remained a mere heir — though the Qing court had also enfeoffed him as a duke — still left him a head lower before that brat Geng Jimao, which vexed him greatly.

In outsiders' eyes, the two feudatories of Pingnan and Jingnan were one body.

Back then, Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, and Geng Zhongming had together been called the "Three Miners of Liaodong," had crossed the sea together to surrender to the Qing, had afterward led their troops south together, and now were risking their lives together for the Qing court in the south.

Thus, in closeness and in relations, Pingnan and Jingnan were inseparable in both public and private matters, and ought to have had no conflicts. Yet in fact the two feudatories were bitterly at odds — the reason being that both wanted Guangdong as their own perpetual enfeoffment.

And the Qing court was equivocal on the matter. What was worse, the court had not only given no clear answer as to which feudatory Guangdong belonged to, but had also stuffed both feudatory princes into Guangdong together!

Blood tests today; should be able to leave the hospital tomorrow.