Chapter 184: The Imperial Edict

A name that would shine in the histories — though he never achieved fame, in the end he was worthy of emulation;

A grace as vast as the flood — unable to repay the state, he turned instead to enmity.

In Changsha, Hunan, at the seat of the Governor-General's office for the five provinces, incense burned in the purified hall as officials great and small gathered in the main hall to receive the imperial edict.

"The bandit forces in Guangdong have scattered, and the region is gradually being pacified.

Moreover, it is far removed from Hunan, so the two princes and the governor there should be given sole charge of its affairs. Jiangxi lies close to Hunan, and all matters of appointing officials and deploying troops are at times connected with it.

The remaining bandits in the areas of Yuanzhou and Ji'an have not yet been cleared out, and they must be soothed, consolidated, suppressed, and defended against.

Let the Grand Secretary and Governor-General Hong Chengchou take concurrent charge of these matters, and let his seal of office be exchanged accordingly.

The Governor, Provincial Military Commander, and Regional Commander and below shall all be subject to his command; troops, horses, provisions, and pay shall all be subject to his dispatch.

Civil officials of the fifth rank and below and military officers of Vice Regional Commander and below who disobey orders shall be dealt with under military law.

All matters of pacification and suppression shall not be controlled from the center; reports shall be submitted after the fact...

Furthermore, We have heard that the two Southern Ming generals have fallen into internal strife.

Let the Grand Secretary and Governor-General make good use of this, and strive to make Yunnan and Guizhou come over at the first sign of our approach, so that officials and people alike cherish virtue and vie to submit — only thus will it be worthy of Our intent to spread culture and enlightenment far and wide.

On the day the task is accomplished, rank and reward shall be generously bestowed. Once the region is settled and a successor is in place, he shall be ordered to return to court, to ease Our longing."

After this lengthy edict had been read aloud in full, the official from the Inner Three Courts who had come to deliver it stepped forward with great deference and presented the imperial edict to Hong Chengchou.

"Your servant Hong Chengchou receives the edict. Long live the Emperor, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years!"

Hong Chengchou, the Governor-General of the five provinces, now past sixty, kowtowed three times, then received the edict and slowly rose to his feet.

He turned to the Inner Three Courts official Chen Wenzhong, who had come to deliver the edict, and smiled warmly: "Sir Chen, you have traveled a thousand li to come here and must be weary from the journey. Please rest for a few days before returning.

This official still has a memorial in reply to submit."

Chen Wenzhong said hurriedly, "Your Excellency's memorial in reply must of course be presented to His Majesty. When I was leaving, the court also gave instructions that I should stay a few more days."

Hong Chengchou nodded slightly. He knew that Chen Wenzhong had come not only to deliver the edict but surely also under orders from the capital to investigate military affairs, so he did not say much to him.

He raised a hand and had someone lead Chen Wenzhong away to rest. After the man had gone, he sat down and stared somewhat blankly at the edict in his hands.

Besides Hong Chengchou, there were more than twenty civil and military officials in the hall.

Judging by their robes alone, the military officers were in the majority; among the civil officials there were only a scant few, such as the Huguang Governor Zhang Changgeng and the Changsha Prefect Guo Yuanruo. The rest were all military officers.

"Your Excellency, this humble officer is somewhat confused by His Majesty's edict."

The speaker was Li Benshen, a Regional Commander under the Han Bordered Yellow Banner who had recently been placed under Hong Chengchou's command.

He had originally been a subordinate general of Gao Jie; after Gao Jie's death he had served as acting Provincial Military Commander, then surrendered to Prince Yu, Dodo, and was granted the rank of Third-Class Jingqini Hafan.

He was now a Regional Commander under the Han Bordered Yellow Banner, garrisoned at Yongzhou, commanding troops transferred from Zhili and Xuanda, numbering over 12,000 men.

Li Benshen had been ordered three days earlier to travel from Yongzhou to Changsha to attend the military conference.

"Oh?"

Hong Chengchou raised his eyes and glanced at Li Benshen, then said with evident interest, "What is it that confuses Regional Commander Li?"

"Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo have turned against each other. This is precisely the moment for our army to advance. Why does His Majesty's will instead require Your Excellency to stand by and watch, with no mention of advancing?"

After Li Benshen finished speaking, he glanced at the men beside him — Liu Fangming, Regional Commander of the Raoying troops, Gao Di, and others. These men were clearly also puzzled, and all looked at Hong Chengchou in bewilderment.

Hong Chengchou did not answer directly, but instead asked Li Benshen in return, "In your view, between Sun Kewang, that 'Lord of the State,' and Li Dingguo, that 'Prince of Xining,' which one is actually stronger?"

"Well..."

Li Benshen was taken aback, not knowing why Hong Chengchou would ask this, but without much thought he replied, "Naturally the rebel Prince of Qin, Sun Kewang, is somewhat stronger in actual strength."

Sun Kewang had been enfeoffed as Prince of Qin by the Southern Ming and was also the acknowledged leader of the Daxi Army; the Yongli court was in fact under his control.

Li Dingguo, though like Sun Kewang an adopted son of Zhang Xianzhong, was far inferior to Sun Kewang in both reputation and actual strength.

Sun Kewang's territory encompassed Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, and part of Sichuan — far larger than the part of Guangxi held by Li Dingguo's lone army. Under his command were such great generals as Liu Wenxiu, Bai Wenxuan, and Feng Shuangli.

Thus, on the basis of strength alone, Li Benshen naturally inclined to the view that Sun Kewang was stronger.

Li Benshen's opinion clearly accorded with the other generals' view of the Southern Ming situation.

Only Bai Guang'en, a sinecure official under the Han Bordered Yellow Banner, gave a cold chuckle and said dismissively, "Sun Kewang is strong, but I fear not much stronger than Li Dingguo. In my view, Sun Kewang's ability in battle is no greater than Li Dingguo's."

This Bai Guang'en, like Li Benshen, had come from the peasant armies. He had later surrendered to the Ming and participated in the great battle of Songshan.

After Songshan, he had returned to Shaanxi to fight bandits under Sun Chuanting; after a defeat, he surrendered to Li Zicheng, and then surrendered again to the Qing.

Because his own troops had long since been wiped out, but he had a considerable reputation within Li Zicheng's Dashun Army and knew many of its generals, Hong Chengchou had specifically requested this man from the Qing court after taking office as Governor-General of the five provinces, so that he could deal with the remnants of the Dashun Army and carry out his policy of pacification and recruitment.

As soon as Bai Guang'en finished speaking, a portly general beside him shook his head and said, "That's not necessarily so. If Li Dingguo could really fight, how is it that he suffered two straight defeats in Guangdong?"

This portly general was named Wang Fuchen. A native of Datong, Shanxi, he was nicknamed "Western Road Sparrowhawk."

Originally surnamed Li, in his early years he had followed his brother-in-law, a certain Liu, into the peasant army. A compulsive gambler, he would stake a thousand pieces of gold on a single throw.

Later he became the adopted son of Wang Jinchao and changed his surname to Wang. He had joined the Datong garrison commander Jiang Xiang in rebelling against the Qing, but soon surrendered to Prince Ying, Ajige, and was spared execution, being instead enslaved in the Sinjeku.

After Dorgon's death, Wang Fuchen was recommended by Hong Chengchou and restored to office. He was now a Green Standard Regional Commander under the Governor-General of the five provinces, and one of Hong Chengchou's trusted personal generals.

It was said that Wang Fuchen was on quite close terms with the Earl Who Pacifies the West, Wu Sangui. He commanded 8,000 troops and was garrisoned at Changde.

Seeing that it was Wang Fuchen, the Governor-General's favored general, who was contradicting him — and since Li Dingguo had indeed suffered two straight defeats in Guangdong — Bai Guang'en gave a hollow laugh and said nothing more.

Hong Chengchou ignored Bai Guang'en's hollow laugh. He swept his gaze over the assembled generals and said in a grave voice, "Li Dingguo is a tiger of a general.

The man can fight. As the saying goes, what made Xiao He also broke Xiao He — it is precisely because this man fights too well that Sun Kewang cannot tolerate him.

Merit so great it alarms his lord..."

The Huguang Governor Zhang Changgeng, who had remained silent all along, nodded in deep agreement upon hearing this: "What Your Excellency says is exactly what this humble official has been thinking.

It is precisely because Sun Kewang cannot tolerate Li Dingguo's repeated victories that he has fallen into internal strife with him. But when two tigers fight, one is bound to be wounded.

This time, with Sun and Li turning their weapons on each other, it is Heaven aiding our Great Qing!"

Hong Chengchou nodded with satisfaction, stroked his beard, raised an eyebrow, and said to the generals, "Tell me — in this internal strife between the two rebels, who will be the one wounded?"

Li Benshen answered without a second thought: "Judging purely by strength and territory, the one wounded will most likely be Li Dingguo."

Wang Fuchen, hearing this, had a different view, but he thought that the Governor-General's question could not be so simple and must have a deeper meaning, so he said nothing.

Zhang Changgeng and the others thought for a while, and all concluded that since Sun Kewang was stronger than Li Dingguo, the one wounded in this Sun-Li internal strife would most likely be Li Dingguo.

Liu Zhong, formerly the Earl Who Pacifies the South under the Dashun regime and now a Regional Commander under the Han Bordered Yellow Banner, was a straightforward man.

After listening for so long, he finally could not hold back: "Since two tigers are fighting, why doesn't our army seize the chance to march south and reap the fisherman's profit?"

Li Benshen likewise looked at Hong Chengchou in puzzlement: "Your Excellency, with the two rebels Sun and Li in internal strife, this is the moment to advance, with an opportunity to seize. Why does the edict require us only to stand by and watch? If we lose this chance, would it not be a regret?"

Zhang Changgeng, Gao Di, and the others felt their hearts stir at these words too.

Hong Chengchou smiled faintly: "This is precisely His Majesty's far-sightedness, which we cannot match. Think about it — is it better for our army to strike while the two tigers are still fighting, or to strike after one is dead and the other wounded?

Which of these better serves the interests of our Great Qing?"

Zhang Changgeng put on a look of sudden enlightenment: "When two tigers fight, if we rashly advance, the two tigers will surely stop and join forces against our army — advancing now is inadvisable.

Hmm, since Sun and Li have fallen into internal strife, it will surely be a fight to the death, and a victor must emerge. At that point, whether Sun Kewang wins or Li Dingguo wins, one side will have suffered a great defeat.

When that happens, if our army advances in force against one dead and one wounded, that will be the best moment — we can achieve double the result with half the effort and reduce our troop losses. His Majesty truly sees farther than we do!"

"His Majesty may be young, but the breadth of his vision — this official truly feels ashamed of his own inadequacy." Hong Chengchou also wore an expression of deep admiration.

"His Majesty is sagacious!"

The generals immediately and with one accord joined in praising the Emperor. After a round of flattery for the young Son of Heaven, Hong Chengchou changed the subject: "The edict assigns the two princes, Pingnan and Jingnan, sole charge of Guangdong affairs.

As it now appears, His Majesty was not speaking without purpose. He must have anticipated that the situation would change after the internal strife between the two rebels Sun and Li.

For the time being we make no move here, but over in Guangdong they can seize the chance to move. At the very least, the two princes can take advantage of the rebels' internal strife to capture all of Guangdong, thereby creating a threat against Guangxi.

In this way, not only can all of Guangdong be taken, but the Ming army can also be tied down — which would be of no small help to our next move here."