Chapter 125: Standing By

In the encampment of the Wendeng Battalion at Zhaoyuan County, the fire troops were slaughtering pigs and butchering sheep. The Wendeng Battalion had set out from Laiyang on the twenty-fifth and, after four days, hurried to Zhaoyuan. Within a single day they routed Xu Tang's Wenxiang Sect rebels; Xu Tang fled, and Chen Xin then advanced to the border between Zhaoyuan and Huangxian on the pretext of pursuing the remnant bandits. This place was less than a hundred li from Dengzhou. The Wendeng Battalion had already been resting and reorganizing here for several days. After defeating Xu Tang, they swept through the nearby villages where the rebels had gathered and seized several dozen pigs and sheep. The local gentry of Zhaoyuan also contributed some supplies to reward the troops, and with what they had brought from Laiyang, their recent rations had been quite good.

Zhou Hongmo sent men to Dengzhou to report the victory and at the same time delivered Dong Dacheng's head. Chen Xin for the time being did not hand over Li Shengming, saying only that he was still being pursued.

Deng-Lai Circuit Intendant Wang Tingshi and Regional Commander Zhang Keda were overjoyed upon receiving the victory report. Zhou Hongmo's report stated that there were still remnant bandits active in Laiyang, so they did not recall the regular battalion they had dispatched. Wang Tingshi's own personal battalion had not yet set out. He soon received the victory report from Zhaoyuan as well, which let him breathe a long sigh of relief. The Wenxiang Sect's uprising this time had been swiftly suppressed without causing a major disaster, and Wang Tingshi's impression of the Wendeng Battalion greatly improved.

Wang Tingshi was fairly clear on the Wendeng Battalion's situation and knew that the troops all belonged to Chen Xin. The ceremonial silver Chen Xin had given this year far exceeded what Zhou Hongmo had given. The Wendeng Battalion's performance this time also made him think more highly of Chen Xin, since it had, after all, safeguarded his official position. For this suppression of the Wenxiang Sect, he planned to have Chen Xin promoted one rank. After verifying Dong Dacheng's head, he dispatched men to Zhaoyuan to verify the other heads. He himself also intended to make a trip to Zhaoyuan to draw closer to Chen Xin.

Wang Tingshi had been hoping all along that the post of Deng-Lai Provincial Governor could be restored; he was absolutely the most likely person to be appointed. He had also been active at the imperial court, hoping to bring this about. The suppression of the Wenxiang Sect this time was nothing less than a heavy weight on the scale. If he truly could serve as Deng-Lai Provincial Governor, the Wendeng Battalion, a strong army, would be an important asset for him.

Chen Xin arranged matters in camp for receiving Wang Tingshi, putting Huang Side in charge. Originally Song Wenxian would have been most suited for these matters, but he was not here at present. For Wang Tingshi's visit this time, some of the confiscated dirty silver would inevitably have to be coughed up.

He opened the account book that Dong Yu had brought back. The two cavalry squads, with Zhao Xuan, had seized dirty silver from Yaoshan and Liujiazhuang, with military judges and quartermasters accompanying to supervise. The total was over seven thousand taels, all of it amassed by Li Shengming and Dong Dacheng over many years through swindling and extortion. The Wenxiang Sect followers had to pay dues every first month of the year, and along with the wealth they had looted since rising in revolt, all of it had been confiscated by Chen Xin. Xu Tang's dirty silver in Zhaoyuan was even greater. Zhaoyuan was rich in gold; many gentry and officials had mine shafts there, and they also paid no taxes. Xu Tang naturally did not let them off, looting all the way, and the greater part was in turn looted by Chen Xin. From Xu Tang's camp alone, over a thousand taels of gold had been seized.

Wang Tingshi had long been in Deng-Lai and had also once managed the funds and grain for Dongjiang. He knew that after every battle there was inevitably booty, and at least a thousand taels of silver had to be given for his own military merit to be secure. Zhang Keda and the clerks from the Provincial Surveillance Commission who verified the heads also needed to be taken care of. But Chen Xin also had Dong Yu list the damaged weapons and consumed provisions, preparing to ask Wang Tingshi to replenish them. In any case, Wang Tingshi would be using the court's resources, so he always had to trade for some benefit in return.

Just then, the rapid sound of horse hooves came from outside. Chen Xin's brow twitched slightly. In a military camp, aside from officers of Company Commander rank and above, only relay riders and scout horsemen could ride horses. He immediately stood up. Hai Gouzi, who was on duty outside, brought in a letter.

Chen Xin tore it open and saw it was precisely from Qin Lufang, sent from Tianjin. Only one line was written: "The Jianzhou bandits captured Longjing Pass on the twenty-seventh; troop strength unknown." This single line was now enough for Chen Xin. With it, he could decide the appropriate time to arrive at Dengzhou. The moment he had been waiting for over a year had finally come.

"Gouzi, we're going to kill Tatars."

Hai Gouzi looked at Chen Xin with a foolish grin. "I'll go kill them with you, my lord."

Chen Xin looked at his expression and said with a smile, "You're not afraid at all?"

"What's there to fear from Tatars? I'm not a child anymore."

Chen Xin carefully examined this young attendant. Tempered by two years of military discipline, he had grown burly and stout. Apart from that foolish grin on his face, one could no longer see any trace of the original little beggar.

"Gouzi, you're nineteen now."

"Zhang Da helped me figure it out. The year before last I was seventeen, this year, this year I'm nineteen."

Hai Gouzi laboriously calculated. His aptitude in this area was very poor, and he studied with great difficulty. He still recognized fewer than a hundred characters, and even now was only a junior instructor. The military regulations Chen Xin himself had set originally required recognizing five hundred characters for promotion. Later, as numbers increased too much and teachers were insufficient, it was changed to two hundred, mostly numbers, military branches, and colors. Even so, Hai Gouzi still could not meet the standard. Chen Xin had no way to promote him, so he had no choice but to keep him by his side as a personal guard.

"Have any of the settlement households proposed a wife for you?"

Hai Gouzi scratched his head and said, "There have been some, several Liaodong refugees, but I don't want to marry."

Chen Xin patted him on the head. "At nineteen, it's about time to start a family, leave a descendant for your line." After saying this, he asked him, "What has Zhou Hongmo been busy with these past two days?"

"He's taken his retainers to those rebels' homes to interrogate them about gold. I heard his retainers say they've already searched out several dozen taels of gold."

"Go inform him that Xu Tang has fled into Huangxian, and we are to pursue immediately."

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After advancing stealthily for a thousand li, the Later Jin troops launched a surprise attack on Jizhen. The Later Jin's Manchu Eight Banners and the Mongol Left and Right Wings all mobilized, gathering troops from subjugated Mongol tribes along the way. Including the bondservants accompanying them, the total force exceeded thirty thousand men. The Guanning Army of Liaoxi, which faced them directly and consumed over half the state's fiscal revenue, knew nothing of such a large-scale enemy troop movement.

The Later Jin's line of attack did not enter through the Luanhe river valley as Chen Xin and others had expected, but was concentrated on the border wall west of Xifengkou, centered on Hongshankou, stretching from Da'ankou in the west to Longjing Pass in the east, advancing in three routes to converge on Zunhua.

In the early hours of October twenty-seventh, the Left Wing Army was the first to launch its attack. Ajige led troops in a surprise assault on Longjing Pass. After breaching the city, he also killed Mobile Corps Commander Wang Chunchen and Assistant Regional Commander Zhang Ande, who had rushed to the rescue. After daybreak, the Left Wing Army advanced directly to the walls of Han'erzhuang, which surrendered without a fight.

The Right Wing Army, comprising the Plain Red, Bordered Red, and Bordered Blue Banners under the command of Jirgalang and Yoto, likewise launched a covert attack on Da'ankou in the early hours of the twenty-seventh, capturing it in a single battle. Malanyu and Malankou on the west side of Da'ankou were even more feeble; the Jianzhou bandits merely sent someone to demand their surrender, and they capitulated without even being attacked. Huang Taiji's personally led Central Army launched its attack slightly later, capturing Hongshankou city in a single battle during the day on the twenty-seventh.

The Great Wall passes along the line of attack were all lost within a single day. The Later Jin army's losses were minimal. Ming troops on every route fled at the mere rumor of their approach. Panjiakou, Luowenyu, Malanyu, Malankou, Han'erzhuang, Shahe, and Xifengkou all surrendered without a fight, their commanding officers leading all the city's inhabitants to shave their heads and come out to welcome the enemy. The once-mighty Great Wall defense line was practically as if undefended.

Jizhen relied on the Duoyan Mongols as a buffer and had long seen no warfare. Its defense line had long been dilapidated. This year it underwent another troop reduction, and instead of being strengthened, it was further weakened. On top of that, military pay was in arrears, and the frontier troops were all like beggars, utterly incapable and unwilling to fight. Rather than saying the Later Jin's fighting strength was formidable, it would be better to say the Ming army was far too feeble.

The morale of the Later Jin troops participating in the campaign soared. The Mongols, who had originally been somewhat hesitant, also grew greatly in confidence. Out of his extreme contempt for the Ming army's fighting capacity, Huang Taiji believed the Later Jin army could easily capture any border wall pass. Therefore, he did not even leave troops to garrison these already-captured passes, directly appointing the original Ming turncoat officers to remain in their posts, merely shaving all their hair and changing their official titles. Within two days he completed the establishment of local governance and continued his self-guided tour.

On October thirtieth, the main Later Jin army arrived at the walls of Zunhua. Upon receiving the alarm, Yuan Chonghuan hastily dispatched Zhao Lujiao to reinforce. Zhao Lujiao led four thousand cavalry on a three-day dash covering over three hundred li. After reaching Santunying, Jizhen Regional Commander Zhu Guoyan actually refused to allow him into the city to rest and reorganize. Learning that Zunhua had not yet fallen, Zhao Lujiao rushed on to relieve Zunhua. The Later Jin army had long been prepared for reinforcements from the Shanhai Pass direction and waited in full battle array. On November fourth, Zhao Lujiao was annihilated with his entire force beneath the walls of Zunhua by the Later Jin. This famous general, who had worn down Huang Taiji until he lost all temper during the Ning-Jin campaign, became Huang Taiji's first major trophy in this incursion. Immediately afterward, he launched a fierce assault on Zunhua. Some dismissed frontier troops inside Zunhua, nursing grievances, seized the chance to loot and set fires within the city. It too fell in a single day. Provincial Governor Wang Yuanya returned to his office and hanged himself, preserving his integrity to the very end.

On the twenty-ninth, Jingshi received the alarm. On the first day of the eleventh month, Jingshi was placed under martial law. The capital region was in a state of panic, with rumors flying everywhere. The Chongzhen Emperor ordered Minister of War Wang Qia that he must hold the passes, and that if a single enemy rider entered the metropolitan area, he would be punished. Wang Qia had just taken office, and with his head at stake, he could not afford to worry about much else. He urgently dispatched orders for troops from Xuan-Da, Changping, Baoding, and other areas to come to the emperor's aid. Even more distant forces, such as the Three Frontiers of Shaanxi, Ningxia Garrison, Shandong, and the Sichuan Shizhu troops, were also summoned, but their routes were long and they could not be counted on for the moment. Even the Xuan-Da forces were nearly tied down by the Chahar Mongols and only came after taking a risk.

The other prefectures of Northern Zhili had few troops to dispatch. The officials were at their wits' end and even suggested summoning the Tianjin Provincial Governor's personal battalion. The Tianjin Provincial Governor's authority had always been very low, equivalent only to a grain intendant, and his personal battalion numbered no more than a few hundred men. They were truly treating a fly as meat. These lords, who ordinarily had always looked down on soldiers, now desperately needed an army.

On November fourth, the Wendeng Battalion arrived twenty li outside Dengzhou. Chen Xin falsely claimed to have discovered traces of Xu Tang in this area. Chen Xin himself went into Dengzhou to visit Wang Tingshi and Zhang Keda, saying that his own troops had suffered considerable losses and needed them to replenish some equipment and armor, and also hoped the Dengzhou naval forces could help transport his troops back to Wendeng.

This time he gave Wang Tingshi a thousand taels and Zhang Keda five hundred taels. Wang Tingshi was thoroughly delighted and immediately had a batch of cold weapons transferred from the armory and sent to the Wendeng Battalion's encampment. He agreed to arrange ships for transport and asked Chen Xin to stay a few more days, which Chen Xin readily agreed to.

On November seventh, the order to come to the emperor's aid finally reached Dengzhou. Wang Tingshi looked at the order and was at his wits' end. Having stayed in Dengzhou for a long time, Wang Tingshi had a deep-seated fear of the Jianzhou bandits. His own personal battalion and Zhang Keda's regular battalion were both severely in arrears of pay and had low fighting capacity. He then thought of Chen Xin, who happened to be in Dengzhou.

This order to come to the emperor's aid was somewhat more detailed than Qin Lufang's letter. The Ministry of War official delivering the message said that all the Manchu Qing Eight Banners had mobilized, along with the Mongol Left and Right Wings, plus some Khorchin and Kalaqin tribes, but the troop strength was unclear, with some saying a hundred thousand and others saying twenty thousand.

After hearing this, Chen Xin feigned hesitation. Wang Tingshi, on the other hand, strongly urged Chen Xin to go to the emperor's aid, because for a civil official like him, coming to the emperor's aid was a political issue; he had to show the proper attitude. But the capital region was not his defense zone after all. Whether Chen Xin could truly fight well was of little consequence to him, and even whether Chen Xin could return alive was not important. As long as Wang Tingshi dispatched troops, he could pass the political test.

Chen Xin kept Wang Tingshi in suspense and took the opportunity to ask for more weapons, armor, and bows and arrows. These cold weapons wore out even faster than firearms, especially waist sabers, which became unusable after a few hacking clashes. He wanted more to prepare as replacements. Bows and arrows were even more so; he did not produce these items himself, so he had to ask for more whenever the chance arose. After Wang Tingshi agreed to everything and also promised to make up three months of military pay for Chen Xin, Chen Xin reluctantly agreed.

Chen Xin rode swiftly back to the Wendeng Battalion's encampment, immediately sought out Zhou Hongmo, and invited him into his tent for a talk. After about a quarter of an hour, Zhou Hongmo hurriedly left the camp with his retainers.

Nie Hong watched Zhou Hongmo's departing figure and said from behind Chen Xin, "My lord, at least he knows what's good for him."

"Isn't that fine? I gave him Li Shengming's head, so he also gets a share of the military merit. He himself is also afraid of fighting the Tatars, so he'll be away for a few days on the pretext of hunting down Li Shengming. Convenient for both sides."

"My lord is right. When he hesitated slightly just now, this humble one had already half-drawn his dagger."

Chen Xin gave a light laugh. "If he didn't appreciate the favor, he couldn't blame me. This way now is best."

On November eighth, the entire Wendeng Battalion arrived at Dengzhou. The Dengzhou naval forces that Wang Tingshi had assembled were all present by the ninth, and part of the Wendeng Battalion began boarding the ships. At this time, the Later Jin had already been in Zunhua for several days, sweeping the surrounding area clean. Huang Taiji had even already sent the various Kalaqin tribes home and, immensely pleased with himself, dispatched men back to Shenyang to report the victory. The Ming army's weakness made him resolve to strike directly at Jingshi.

On November tenth, Wang Tingshi finally scraped together enough ships. Over sixty military and merchant vessels, carrying more than two thousand troops, sailed out of the water gate and set sail for Tianjin.

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Seeking recommendations.