Chapter 437: Campaign Background

March 15, 1630, the sea off Tianjin.

Five transport ships, flying the "Cao" recognition flag that swept the southern seas unopposed, were waiting on the ocean for the pilot boat to arrive.

The highest-ranking person in this fleet was the newly appointed Northern Army Commander, Zhang Zhongqi.

Before crossing over, Zhang Zhongqi had worked in P2P. Later, when it all blew up, the guy escaped — and ran all the way to the Great Ming Dynasty.

"Cultured people" like Zhang Zhongqi were quite numerous among the transmigrators. After crossing over, not many of them could quickly adjust and catch the first wave of "job placement," so the majority went through secondary training and switched to other fields.

So it really is circumstances that make heroes. In a new environment or an era of upheaval, one doesn't need a trailblazer with three heads and six arms — survival of the fittest. Whoever can meet the unique demands of that particular time and environment will succeed.

It was the same among the transmigrators. Aside from Xia Xianze, who was practically handpicked, the rest who managed to occupy high-level internal positions were all those who, immediately after crossing over, adjusted themselves, found their bearings in that chaotic situation, and rapidly adapted to that strange environment.

These people came from all walks of life. Most had held ordinary jobs before, and many were losers in the old world. If not for crossing over, the current big shots in the Cabinet would have long since faded into the crowd.

As for Comrade Zhang Zhongqi, he clearly struggled to adapt to the new order. This gentleman never found his direction after crossing over, and in this current coal-gas era, there was no use for P2P, so for a time he was very confused.

Confused here and confused there, time was wasted, and then he was given a unified assignment by the big shots who had gotten their act together — as the transmigrators' manpower for mainland operations grew increasingly tight, unemployed drifters like Zhang Zhongqi were eventually "persuaded" into field units.

The most unpopular field assignments were naturally the behind-enemy-lines intelligence departments, with the army and exploration teams a tier below. So after Zhang Zhongqi fought tooth and nail and swore he wouldn't become a dog spy, he could only choose one of the two: the army or the exploration team.

Then, after a few months of training, he was thrown in at the deep end and sent to be this damn Northern Army Commander.

Zhang Zhongqi's title of Commander sounded impressive, but he didn't actually have many subordinates — it was an empty title. Because once the King's Rescue Incident was over, the Special Operations Team and the Guard Battalion would both withdraw, leaving Zhang Zhongqi with only the Flying Tiger Battalion and the Old Parade Ground base, so he was merely a garrison commander.

With the arrival of the pilot boat, the reinforcement fleet led by Zhang Zhongqi began slowly making its way upstream along the Hai River.

In this fleet, besides some supplies and commodities, the most important cargo was three hundred Guard Battalion soldiers.

These soldiers had been left behind in Shanghai, assisting Xiong Dao with demolitions and relocations. Over these past few months, Xiong Dao had used the lingering fear from the cannon bombardment incident to send soldiers and forcibly drive the tenant farmers on those land deeds from their homes.

Aside from a small number who stayed behind to plant potatoes, one part was driven to the construction site where Prefect Fang Yuegong was building the sea wall, another part was shipped to Taiwan, and the remaining people went to the port and started carrying loads, becoming construction workers.

The reason these three hundred soldiers were being sent to Tianjin this time was that after preliminary reconnaissance and assessment, Qian Tieshan, the Special Forces Commander who was actually directing the northern military operations, believed it was entirely possible to fight several annihilation battles against the Tartars, and thus needed a portion of regular troops to join the fight.

Fortunately, the two hundred Guard Battalion soldiers who had arrived in Tianjin earlier had, over these days, become familiar with mounted combat and could be thrown into the battlefield at any time. That being the case, they only needed to supplement some recruits to guard the old nest.

After disembarking at the dock, Zhang Zhongqi, dressed in the martial attire of a Ming officer, met Regional Commander Cao and Commander Qian's party, who were waiting there. After exchanging pleasantries, they returned to the Old Parade Ground, where Commander Qian immediately briefed Zhang Zhongqi on the current situation and some campaign background.

It was now mid-March. The north had entered early spring; the ice plains were thawing, and temperatures were beginning to rise.

The Later Jin main army, having broken through the northern corridor, along with their main force and the large quantities of plundered wealth and captives, was now gathered at Xifengkou, pouring out of the pass day and night without pause.

Once past Xifengkou, it was tantamount to returning home — although the Guanning Army stationed on the Ningjin Defense Line had large numbers of cavalry, this army, which consumed the most military funds from the Ming Court, had long since lost the confidence and capability to fight the Later Jin troops in open battle. Therefore, the Guanning Army did not dare to charge out from that string of fortresses to attack Xifengkou, which was right under their noses.

Based on the situation scouted by frontline Special Operations Team members and historical records, Qian Tieshan believed that by the end of the month, the transmigrators could consider dispatching the entire army.

Historically, during the Jisi Incident, the last Later Jin force to withdraw from Ming territory was the contingent of the Later Jin Beile, Amin.

In just these few days of mid-March, Amin would be sent by Huang Taiji to guard a series of cities along the rear corridor: Zunhua, Luanzhou, Qian'an, and Yongping. Thus, while Amin divided his forces to defend various places, he used Yongping City, the closest to Xifengkou, as his base.

By mid-May, seeing the series of cities ahead being captured one by one by the King's Rescue Army led by Sun Chengzong, Amin would then slaughter all the surrendered Han officials and Han people in Yongping City, take the treasure, and swagger out through Lengkou Pass.

However, this departure of Amin's also planted the seeds of his own death.

Back when Nurhaci was enthroned as Khan in Hetu Ala, he established the Four Great Beile: the First Beile Daišan, the Second Beile Amin, the Third Beile Manggūltai, and the Fourth Beile Huang Taiji.

After Nurhaci's death, Huang Taiji inherited the Khanate.

However, the three Beile of the same rank as Huang Taiji initially held immense power, the four of them jointly presiding over court politics. During this period, Amin and Manggūltai had extremely deep conflicts with Huang Taiji, leading the latter to constantly attempt to eliminate these two and unify imperial authority.

This mission to guard the army's rear was, in fact, a huge pit dug for Amin by Huang Taiji.

Because when Huang Taiji gave the order back then, he required Amin to hold these cities, and at the very least, to keep Yongping City, the one closest to Xifengkou, so as to drive a nail into the interior of Ming territory, making the next army entry through the pass much easier.

Yet this was laughable: since the Later Jin main army had already completely exited the pass, leaving behind Amin's contingent and some surrendered people with dubious intentions — how could they possibly hold the cities?

Although the Ming Army was no good at field battles, if a large army besieged a city and fought this kind of slow siege warfare, the Eight Banner troops would certainly have no chance of victory.

Thus, the always arrogant, imperious, and domineering Amin, utterly disregarding Huang Taiji's brainless order, when Sun Chengzong led the various divisions in a simultaneous attack, brazenly withdrew his troops and exited through Lengkou Pass.

Then Amin went back and was finished — Huang Taiji seized this opportunity, and through the Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers, smashed Amin with sixteen major crimes, among which were the crimes of "abandoning Yongping and cruelly slaughtering surrendered people" and "causing an evil reputation to spread under heaven."

This charge was very reasonable. The Later Jin of 1630 was, in fact, very similar to Britain during the early stages of the First Opium War — though at war with the Han people, they were still in a mentality of cautious probing.

During this entry through the pass, Huang Taiji not only wrote multiple letters to the Ming Court with all sorts of bluffs and deceptions, but also hypocritically accepted the surrender of officials and civilians in many cities, somewhat resembling Japan's conduct during the early stages of their invasion of China... unfortunately, the Eight Banner troops didn't have candy in their pockets.

So the matter of massacring Yongping City became the black mark on Amin's head, ultimately leading to his imprisonment and death — an end exactly identical to that of his biological father.