Chapter 456: All Parties (Part Two)

The two probing forces Ma Shilong had dispatched sent back word one after another.

First came the cavalry.

After rounding Zunhua City, the five hundred cavalry found that no one had come out to intercept them — the city really did seem to be empty. Later, at the mountain pass leading east, the cavalry were blocked by Later Jin horsemen.

Shuotuo was a seasoned campaigner; there was no way he would allow a tail to hang on behind him in such a situation, so he had left three hundred cavalry at the pass to block pursuit.

Neither side had any desire to fight, so they simply settled into a standoff. Though the Ming force did not charge forward to attack, they immediately sent out multiple scout riders to slip into the foothills to the north and south, intending to keep following behind Shuotuo and see just what was going on.

After this cavalry force reached a stalemate, the five thousand infantry received their orders. They set out at daybreak from what later generations would call Shimen Town Garrison City, hurried forty li on foot, and reached the walls of Zunhua at noon — whereupon they were scattered in a rout...

This sort of situation was perfectly normal. The combat strength of a motley army rushed in from all over was utterly chaotic; on top of that, the soldiers had force-marched to Zunhua without even a moment to catch their breath before the White Armored Soldiers who came out of the city cut them down and scattered them.

Yet this was enough.

Ma Shilong, who held two hundred thousand troops in his hand, did not care in the slightest that those men had been routed. What Ma Shilong cared about was real intelligence: had the Tartars' main force truly left? Was there an ambush lying in Zunhua?

Through this two-pronged probe of cavalry and infantry, solid intelligence came in: the number of Tartars who had come out of the city was extremely small, and after scattering the attackers, they had hurried back inside without even bothering to clean up the battlefield.

This intelligence, combined with the reconnaissance reports coming from the cavalry's direction, allowed Ma Shilong to now be certain: Shuotuo really had left, and had taken the main force with him.

Since that was the case, what was there to wait for?

And so Ma Huihui immediately gave the order: Zu Dashou was to lead three thousand of his own elite cavalry to pursue in "hot pursuit" on Shuotuo's tail... he was absolutely to make sure Shuotuo's entire force... left something... behind — they could not be allowed to just slip away scot-free like this.

Old Ma himself would personally lead a hundred thousand troops, with the fierce general Cao Wenzhao under his command at the head, setting out from Jimeng (present-day Jixian), preparing to fall upon Zunhua City like ravenous tigers pouncing on prey, attacking from all sides in a circling assault. They were absolutely determined to make the Tartars inside the city (three hundred men) unable to defend both front and rear, seizing the first victory in the great cause of recovery! And venting the foul anger of two hundred thousand men being bottled up by two thousand for so long!

As the saying goes, a single hair pulled affects the whole body. The trouble stirred up by the Transmigrators this time was truly enormous, and so on this day, April 2, 1630, the war situation between Ming and Qing in North China underwent an earth-shaking, fundamental shift, shattering the previous silence in one stroke as every power began to react.

At noon that day, the Transmigrators set out from Yongping City heading for Santunying; at the same time, Shuotuo's force began its assault on Santunying; in the direction of Zunhua, a small number of White Armor troops who had come out of the city routed the probing force Ma Shilong had sent.

Even as every force was mobilizing and clashing, there was yet another power that responded in timely fashion to the war situation — the Minister of War, Regional Commander of Military Affairs, Bearer of the Imperial Sword, Wearer of the Embroidered Python Robe, Grand Secretary of Wuying Hall, Sun Chengzong, Old Man Sun, who was holding the fort at Shanhai Pass.

Old Man Sun had actually received word the day before: wolf-smoke signals had appeared in the direction of Qian'an.

The main operational objective of the Ming army forces entrenched around Shanhai Pass in recent days had been the Yongping Three Cities, with Amin at their head.

Shanhai Pass was only a hundred li from Yongping. Before this, the two sides — much like Ma Shilong and Shuotuo facing off — had been sending out scout riders in all directions, exerting military pressure on each other and maintaining small-scale contact.

After receiving the signal report the day before, Sun Chengzong immediately intensified reconnaissance efforts, sending out large numbers of scouts, wanting to figure out the reason the Tartars had raised wolf-smoke.

Old Man Sun's current situation was actually quite awkward — the Later Jin forces occupied the line from Yongping to Zunhua, making communication between him and Ma Shilong extremely difficult. The old man was now effectively trapped at Shanhai Pass.

In real history, Sun Chengzong and Ma Shilong did not manage to communicate and coordinate until May, when they formulated a general offensive plan, agreed on a time to launch simultaneously, and ultimately drove all the Later Jin troops out in one stroke.

So after learning of the wolf-smoke the day before, Sun Chengzong did not dare pin his hopes on the Ming army attacking Qian'an City.

After all, he and Ma Shilong had not yet worked out a plan; the Ji Garrison would absolutely not risk launching a major army offensive, much less fight all the way to Qian'an — that would mean Zunhua and Santunying had already been taken, and Old Man Sun, who knew the Ming army's combat capability all too well, considered that impossible.

In fact, as far as Old Man Sun was concerned, the wolf-smoke at Qian'an County being set off by accident by some careless Tartar was the most reasonable explanation.

Unexpectedly, after nightfall, a scout rider returned with an important report: fighting had broken out at Yongping City that afternoon, and the tremendous sound of cannon fire had been heard outside the city. From a distance, it looked as if someone was attacking the city walls, with gunpowder flashes visible.

Old Man Sun could no longer remain calm.

A lone wolf-smoke signal did not prove anything, but now that something had also happened at Yongping City, he had no choice but to consider the possibility that Ma Shilong had split his forces and circled around from the direction of Tangshan to the south.

Yet the seventeenth century was just this maddening — no matter how Old Man Sun jumped up and down in frustration, the two-hundred-li round trip by fast horse meant that information was not only transmitted slowly, but also subject to misjudgment, errors, and omissions, leaving Old Man Sun unable to make a decision for the longest time.

So all he could do was send out several more waves of scouts through the night to conduct intensive reconnaissance on Yongping and Qian'an.

At dawn the next day, the first wave of scouts, who had ridden back at breakneck speed, brought Old Man Sun a startling piece of news: the night before, all four gates of Yongping City had been shut, and the city had been filled with clamor and noise. From a high vantage point, many fires could be seen; it looked as if someone was massacring the inhabitants and burning the city.

Dumbstruck, Old Man Sun's first thought was: could it really be Ma Shilong who had taken Yongping? And judging by this style, was it not likely Zu Dashou personally leading the troops?

By late morning, the second wave of scouts, who had risked their lives to get close to Yongping, returned. This time the news was even more chilling: it was not a city burning, nor a massacre; the natives in the city had been making a racket all night long having a barbecue.

Furthermore, Yongping had already been taken by the Zhenguo General... Assistant Regional Regional Commander... Cao XX! (Ancient battle flags bore only surnames, not given names; the scout riders had only seen a single enormous character: Cao.)

Sun Chengzong dropped back into his official armchair with a clatter — the sheer volume of information was too immense; the old man needed to concentrate blood flow to his brain to think, and his legs could no longer support him.

Amid the vast chaos, it took a good long while before Old Man Sun managed to fish that wealthy southern Regional Commander out of his memory, and then recalled their previous exchange of letters.

"Is what you say true? You were not deceived by the natives?"

After pondering for a long while, Sun Chengzong still felt that what the scout riders were saying was too fantastical; he could not bring himself to believe it.

"My lord, absolutely true!" the scout rider replied. "The southern soldiers were wearing green padded coats. Our man spoke with them across the gate and asked a few questions."

The scout rider paused, then added a few more details: "The battle flags atop Yongping's walls have already been changed to that Regional Commander's. Outside the city, natives are digging pits to bury Tartar corpses. Our man went to look — over a thousand of them, all headless elite Tartar soldiers."

"If that is so, then Amin's entire force has been annihilated? I fear the Tartars at Qian'an did not fare well either!"

At this, Sun Chengzong clapped his hands together. "Someone come! Summon Regional Commander Zhu and Vice Prefect Zhang to see me at once."

In a moment, the old general Zhu Mei, who bore the seal of General of Ningyuan Vanguard and was acting Regional Commander of Shanhai Pass, along with Zhang Chun, the Military Defense Vice Prefect of Yongping Circuit, came hurrying in to see Lao Sun.

These two, one civil and one military, were key figures dispatched by the court to Shanhai Pass to assist Lao Sun in controlling the nearly fifty thousand troops stationed there.

After listening to the scouts' intelligence once more, these two were also dumbfounded. "Can this truly be?"

The scout: "..."

Just then, the scouts who had earlier been sent to the more distant Qian'an City also returned. The arrival of this crew of scouts put an end to the debate over truth and falsehood: Qian'an County had already been recovered. The city was now governing itself, just waiting for the County Magistrate to come take up his post!

Forcibly suppressing all his questions about this Commander Cao, Sun Chengzong held a brief discussion with the two civil and military officials, and in the end they decided that the old general Zhu Mei would personally lead a cavalry force to set out immediately for Yongping City to investigate the truth.

Meanwhile, Sun Chengzong and Zhang Chun would ready the troops at Shanhai Pass; once word came back from Yongping, they would dispatch additional infantry from there.

And so the old general Zhu Mei immediately selected three thousand elite cavalry, set out from Shanhai Pass, and headed straight for Yongping City.

Zhu Mei, an old general past fifty, was a man of considerable prestige, it must be said. Over the course of his long military career in service to the Ming Emperor, he had "five times borne a general's seal" and participated in many campaigns against the Later Jin. He could be counted among the ranks of old warhorses like Lian Po or Yan Yan.

This time bearing the seal of General of Ningyuan Vanguard was the old man's last time taking the field, a temporary assignment — the old man had already retired and gone home, only for the Later Jin to invade, prompting the court to summon him back into service.

Galloping at full speed with his three thousand elite cavalry, it was already afternoon by the time Zhu Mei reached Yongping City. The troops then came to the only intact drawbridge, outside the West Gate, and after communicating clearly with the officials and civilian militiamen defending the city, Yongping opened its gates.

After this, Zhu Mei learned everything about the Transmigrators at Yongping. Upon receiving the news, Sun Chengzong, disregarding his advanced age, rode at full gallop all the way to Yongping.

Once he had confirmed that all the reports were true, the utterly shocked Old Man Sun immediately intended to muster troops and horses and hurry after the Transmigrators toward Santunying.

But by then the sky had already darkened; it was nightfall on April 2. The Transmigrators, having left the city at noon, had already left Old Man Sun far behind. So Old Man Sun had no choice but to suppress the impulse and wait until the next day to set out.

Yongping was a hundred and fifty li from Santunying, so after leaving the city past noon, the Transmigrators did not ride at full gallop — they could not reach Santunying in half a day, so there was no need to exhaust themselves to death.

Besides, according to the telegrams coming from Santunying, the situation there was as steady as Mount Tai, so there was no need for the Transmigrators to rush to the rescue.

Aside from sending a telegram to Zhang Dongdong, who was holding the fort in Tianjin, telling him to hurry to Santunying to prepare to deal with major figures like Old Man Sun and Ma Shilong, Qian Tieshan took no further action. The force setting out from Yongping camped that night on the same riverbank flats north of Qian'an City where they had previously bivouacked.

Early the next morning, the entire company set out, following the old road they had taken out of Santunying back toward the Yanshan Corridor. By high noon, the Transmigrators could already hear the distinctive crack of Type 38 Rifles from the mountain path.

And at that very moment, Aisin Gioro Šoto and the troops under his command had also reached the final pass.